Carl Abrahamsson

Explores the role of magic and the occult in art and culture from ancient times to today • Examines key figures behind esoteric cultural developments, such as Carl Jung, Anton LaVey, Paul Bowles, Aleister Crowley, and Rudolf Steiner • Explores the history of magic as a source of genuine counter culture and compares it with our contemporary soulless, digital monoculture • Reveals how the magic of art can be restored if art is employed as a means rather than an end and offers strategies to rekindle intuitive creativity Art, magic, and the occult have been intimately linked since our prehistoric ancestors created the first cave paintings some 50,000 years ago. As civilizations developed, these esoteric forces continued to drive culture forward, both visibly and behind the scenes, from the Hermetic ideas of the Renaissance, to the ethereal worlds of 19th century Symbolism, to the occult interests of the Surrealists. In this deep exploration of “occulture”--the liminal space where art and magic meet--Carl Abrahamsson reveals the integral role played by magic and occultism in the development of culture throughout history as well as their relevance to the continuing survival of art and creativity. Blending magical history and esoteric philosophy with his more than 30 years’ experience in occult movements, Abrahamsson looks at the phenomena and people who have been seminal in modern esoteric developments, including Carl Jung, Anton LaVey, Paul Bowles, Aleister Crowley, and Rudolf Steiner. Showing how art and magic were initially one and the same, the author explores the history of magic as a source of genuine counter culture and compares it with our contemporary soulless, digital monoculture. He reveals how the magic of art can be restored if art is employed as a means rather than an end--if it is intense, emotional, violent, and expressive--and offers strategies for creating freely, magically, even spontaneously, with intent unfettered by the whims of trends, a creative practice akin to chaos magick that assists both creators and spectators to live with meaning. He also looks at intuition and creativity as the cornerstones of genuine individuation, explaining how insights and illuminations seldom come in collective forms. Exploring magical philosophy, occult history, the arts, psychology, and the colorful grey areas in between, Abrahamsson reveals the culturally and magically transformative role of art and the ways the occult continues to transform culture to this day.

The Unseen Forces That Drive Culture Forward

Occulture

Kenneth Anger

Alf Wahlgren

Anton LaVey & Jayne Mansfield as Portrayed by Walter Fischer

California Infernal

• Includes never-before-published material from LaVey, including transcripts from his never-released “Hail Satan!” video • Shares in-depth interviews with intimate friends and collaborators, including LaVey’s partner Blanche Barton, his son Xerxes LaVey, and current heads of the Church of Satan Peter Gilmore and Peggy Nadramia • Provides inside accounts of the Church of Satan and activities at the Black House, personal stories and anecdotes from the very colorful life of the Black Pope, and firsthand explanations of key principles of LaVey’s philosophy With his creation of the infamous Church of Satan in 1966 and his bestselling book The Satanic Bible in 1969, Anton Szandor LaVey (1930-1997) became a controversial celebrity who basked in the attention and even made a successful career out of it. But who was Anton LaVey behind the public persona that so easily provoked Christians and others intolerant of his views? One of privileged few who spent time with the “Black Pope” in the last decade of his life, Carl Abrahamsson met Anton LaVey in 1989, sparking an “infernally” empowering friendship. In this book Abrahamsson explores what LaVey was really about, where he came from, and how he shaped the esoteric landscape of the 1960s. The author shares in-depth interviews with the notorious Satanist’s intimate friends and collaborators, including LaVey’s partner Blanche Barton; his son, Xerxes LaVey; current heads of the Church of Satan, Peter Gilmore and Peggy Nadramia; occult filmmaker Kenneth Anger; LaVey’s personal secretary Margie Bauer; film collector Jack Stevenson; and film historian Jim Morton. Abrahamsson also shares never-before-published material from LaVey himself, including discussions between LaVey and Genesis P-Orridge and transcribed excerpts from LaVey’s never-released “Hail Satan!” video. Providing inside accounts of the Church of Satan and activities at the Black House, this intimate exploration of Anton LaVey reveals his ongoing role in the history of culture and magic.

Infernal Wisdom from the Devil's Den

Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan

Three decades of conversations with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, provocateur, artist, gender revolutionary and leader of the bands Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV and more Published for legendary artist and musician Genesis Breyer P-Orridge's 70th birthday in 2020, Sacred Intent gathers conversations between Breyer P-Orridge and his friend and collaborator, the Swedish author Carl Abrahamsson. From the first 1986 fanzine-based interview about current projects, philosophical insights, magical workings, international travels, art theory and gender revolutions, to 2019's thoughts on life and death in the the shadow of battling leukaemia, Sacred Intent is a unique journey in which the art of conversation blooms to the highest degree. With (in)famous projects like COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth (TOPY) and Pandrogeny, Breyer P-Orridge has consistently thwarted preconceived ideas and transformed disciplines such as performance art, music, collage, poetry and social criticism, always cutting up the building blocks to dismantle control structures and authority. But underneath P-Orridge's socially conscious and pathologically rebellious spirit, there has always been a devout respect for a holistic, spiritual, magical worldview--one of "sacred intent." Sacred Intent is a must read for anyone interested in contemporary art, deconstructed identity, gender evolution, magical philosophy and the responsibility artists may carry and contain within their work. The book not only celebrates an intimately deep friendship spanning over four decades, but also the work and ideas of an artist who has never ceased to amaze and provoke the status quo. Also included are photographic portraits of Breyer P-Orridge taken by Carl Abrahamsson.

Conversations with Carl Abrahamsson 1986-2019

Genesis Breyer P-Orridge: Sacred Intent

• Explores the author’s extensive connections with infamous occultists and organizations, including Genesis P-Orridge and Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth, Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan, and the Ordo Templi Orientis • Details the underlying occult impulses and magical experiences guiding the author’s artistic journey, his experiences in psychedelic culture and the punk subculture, and his experimentation with sex magic, occulture, and sigil magic What does it mean to live a life as an occultist? There may be no single answer, but for Carl Abrahamsson, it has entailed work in music, art, and film as well as deep engagement with renowned occult figures and organizations for more than 40 years. Illustrating the possibilities of a life infused with magic, Abrahamsson reflects on his decades spent in the company of some of the most unconventional thinkers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. He reveals his involvement with psychedelic culture, the punk subculture, and numerous occult figures and organizations, including Genesis P-Orridge and Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth, Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan, the Ordo Templi Orientis, and a branch of the American Golden Dawn. Interwoven with his occult experiences and meetings with infamous practitioners of magic, Abrahamsson describes his evolution as a multidisciplinary artist, always imbuing his diverse artistic practice with a developing occult philosophy. He also details his ongoing efforts to disseminate the occult arts via publishing companies like Psychick Release, Looking Glass Press, Edda Publishing, Trapart Books, and the occultural journal The Fenris Wolf—as well as fieldwork in Tibet, Nepal, and India through the Institute of Comparative Magico-anthropology. Through each encounter and reflection on the magical, shamanic, and mystical practices that structured his own life, Abrahamsson illuminates how it’s possible to experience a life of wisdom and miracles.

Life in the Occult Underground

Meetings with Remarkable Magicians

The Fenris Wolf

Ruby Ray

Photographs 1976-1982

Ruby Ray : Kalifornia Kool

Anton LaVey & Jayne Mansfield as portrayed by Walter Fischer

California infernal

Swedish author Carl Abrahamsson traveled to Las Vegas and the annual "Adult Entertainment Expo" between 1995 and 2010. He met porn stars, producers, fans, and an assortment of weird people. This book collects his mind-boggling snapshot portraits of people in the adult industry: famous as well as infamous. It's a colourful bonanza of weirdness and beauty, of humility and hubris, of voyeurism and exhibitionism, of despair and excitement. Get ready for an absolutely unforgettable and wild ride to smut-land!"What the hell was I really doing there? I quickly realised that I'm an ambitious voyeur more than anything else. The cameras have been my protection against an incomprehensible and threatening world. And, as I now realised, against hundreds of porn stars." - Carl AbrahamssonTrapart Books, 2021. Paperback, 218 pages, with 200 color and black-and-white photographs, and an introduction by the author/photographer.

Snapshots from the Colorful World of Adult Entertainment

In Too Deep

An occult thriller set in an international environment. Unearthed plans and designs stemming from radical inventor Nikola Tesla could solve the world's energy problems. These plans suddenly generate a vortex of interest from various powers. Thrown into this maelstrom of international intrigue is Victor Ritterstadt, a soul searching magician with a mysterious and troubled past. From Berlin, over Macedonia and all the way to Nepal, Ritterstadt sets out on an inner quest. Espionage, love, UFOs, magic, telepathy, conspiracies, LSD, and more in this shocking story of a world about to be changed forever."It's a thrilling roller coaster ride through psychedelic adventures, juicy romantic interludes, metaphoric dreamscapes, high Himalayan yoga enclaves, telepathic portals, 60's flashbacks, magical constructs, secret government pursuits and many more twists that kept all three of my eyes open. It's a story that you'll definitely want to keep non-stop reading, which I enthusiastically recommend." - George Douvris, Links by George"Mother, Have A Safe Trip is a highly entertaining and thought-provoking novel. Chock-full of psychedelia, the book is also a much welcome addition to the far too few fictional works published dealing with psychedelic culture." - Henrik Dahl, Psychedelic Press"The dialogues are great. But it's too short. I wanted more." - Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Artist"It's a wonderful read. A lovely book." - June Newton/Alice Springs, Photographer

Carl Abrahamsson

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