As you may or may not recall at this long removed date, over the summer I did a series of four photoshoots with two friends from the Green Musheen Discord. I got the first two, a Conjuration of Alkes and Wizard Rizz with Lavender Laura, out in a … halfway reasonable timeframe. The third, Devotional Images of Aphrodite with Luxa Strata, came out in October. And, now, finally, I have finished processing the fourth and final of those shoots: the Conjuration of AOS ZOS, my second shoot with Luxa.
The Conjuration of Alkes and this Conjuration of AOS ZOS were/are both attempts at spirit photography, a classic genre that has always been at least half grift. For these shoots, I recruited competent practicing magicians who were willing to be photographed while performing a conjuration ritual in the hopes that, in addition to whatever the primary purpose of their enchantment was, we would capture some photographic evidence, however ephemeral, of the spirit contact taking place.
As with our Aphrodite shoot, the day before, Luxa was a delight to work with. The ritual, conjuring the spirit of Austin Osman Spare for communion and instruction, was of their own design. They constructed the altar at which they worked from my collection of ritual bling. The costume was from his own collection.
The set we built pushed the limits of my camera equipment. Even using my 35mm prime lens opened up to f1.8, there was just barely enough light for my d3600 to focus. I had hoped that working at the extreme limits of my camera’s sensitivity would create more opportunities for uncanny artifacts and apparitions. It absolutely made for some phenomenally dramatic images.
Luxa’s ritual was incredible. As desensitized to magical energy as I seem to have become over the last few years, it was fucking palpable in that room and, I think, can be felt through these images. You can certainly see it in her face.
From the two hundred plus images I shot that night, I whittled the set down to these twenty-two in order to tell the story as concisely but completely as possible. There are another seven, which I’ll share tomorrow, that were too good to delete but would have been redundant here, and a few more that were just good altar porn that I’ll use in future projects.
Unfortunately, ritual efficacy did not seem to translate into apparitions in the photos. None of the three orbs I managed to catch that night were even half as impressive as those in the Alkes shoot with Lavender Laura. The best of the set can be seen here, hovering by Luxa’s armpit near the center of the photo:
Luxa, herself, had this to say about the project:
I do some necromancy work with Austin Osman Spare as an ancestor and magical teacher. The ceremony being conducted here was for the purposes of conjuring the shade of AOS so that a communion could take place, and so that we could attempt some spirit photography. I used the “Formula of the White Sabbath as first told me by a Witch” by Spare as part of the ceremony I designed, along with sigils, hand gestures and symbols divined for the purposes of the operation. The ceremony had the effect of inducing a strong feeling of spiritual ecstacy, which I think is evident in the photos. It was a fun and successful operation, and it felt sexy as hell when ZOS joined the party. I appreciate the opportunity to get weird!
They were also kind enough to offer us an excerpt from the ritual, itself:
The Prayer of Communion by Austin Osman Spare
We who are about to partake of each other shall walk past all amorous sickness and deaths, for we are within the magical equinox.
Amen.
We who proudly make unto ourselves every graven image shall have great copulations and are allowed to love our Gods, for we know the Sacred Alignments.
Amen.
We who do not crucify- nothing shall hurt us that is of the ‘Nature’, neither our comings and goings from the womb, for we have the Key to all aesthetics.
Amen.
In this, the sacred moment (here occurs the symbolic eating of flesh and blood) we forget our enemies: therefore, let our dead children sleep. And let our dead loves arise, so that they too may watch and enjoy our ecstasies. Let their animation be power to our memories and so resurge all ecstasy, for in this day there shall be no inhibitions. Amen. Thou insatiable peripheral quadria of sex.
Amen.
I am so grateful to Luxa for volunteering for this project, and for flying out to KC to work with me, and for bringing such power, authenticity, vulnerability, and sincerity to the work. I very much hope that we will be able to work together again.