Message from Zeena:

My heartfelt thanks to Christy Alexander Hallberg for publishing the outtakes from our interview. As is often the case when being interviewed, off-topic questions organically come up and in this case Christy was able to inadvertently document what many have asked me about but which I haven't publicly discussed - my spiritual path and how I got to where I am now. As Christy presented this additional interview material to me as a birthday present, I not only thank her sincerely for that but also hope that anything of what I said is of some benefit to others on their own spiritual journey. Remember that every day you wake up and have the advantage of being alive, in a human body with human conscience and cognizance, and all the potential that comes with that, is a gift and a chance to begin a new life of your choosing.

And last but not least, because my root Lama, who I speak of in this interview, also has his birthday so close to mine (same time of the year), I extend all the best birthday wishes and long life prayers to the Very Venerable Thrangu Rinpoche who turns 91 in a few days! Below is a video of last years prayers to him by his monastery in Canada. For those unfamiliar with Tibetan Buddhist types of liturgies and rituals in this video, this gives an idea of the practices to which I'm initiated, for which I'm so very grateful!

As we enter into the dark months of the year, may your heart be filled with light and non-judgment and you become a beacon of radiant compassion and loving-kindness to all sentient beings around you. 
​
-Om Mani Padme Hum-
​
Zeena
P.S. As I first listened to the interview, the point where I'm describing the intermediate state of consciousness between one life before reincarnating into the next life, in Tibetan Buddhism known as the Bardo Thödol, which spans forty-nine days, I noticed that the total running time of this interview coincidentally came to forty-nine minutes!

In various Vedic, Mahayana and Vajrayana schools of Buddhism, the intermediate, transitional, or liminal state between death and rebirth is known as the Bardo. There are also several other kinds of Bardo states. But for the purposes of this Halloween message, let's take a moment this weekend, transitioning from October to November, to focus on the symbolism of the Bardo of death as we enter the month most associated with death.

Whether it's Halloween, Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead), All Saints' Day (La Festa di Ognissanti ; Allerheiligen) or All Souls' Day (Giorno dei Morti; Allerseelen), in general the entire month of November is the seasonal change into darkness, when harvesting is finished, accounts settled, supplies and necessities stored for winter, and when visits to cemeteries and liturgies to the deceased are performed.

With these thoughts in mind, I send out heartfelt blessings of the season, that you may have positive connections with the dearly departed beings (humans and animals) who have touched your life in meaningful and profound ways. Think loving thoughts to them and remember that everything in this life is impermanent, beginning from the moment we're born. So value the preciousness of all that you have - in this moment, while you have it - so that you have no regrets or sadness once it has passed.

Relevant to theme, I'm sharing a lovely video clip I recently discovered - a most noble goodbye to a stalwart Jack-o'-lantern, by Joe Pera (please watch til the end; it's only 2½ minutes!).

The title of this post, "Last Day of a Bummer Year" is a reference to the below 1988 letter to me from my godfather Kenneth Anger, penned on his personal stationery bearing beautifully intricate artwork by Bobby Beausoleil.

If '88 was "A Bummer Year", then thirty-two years later, as we come to the end of 2020, how should we classify this year? Surely Kenneth, and most of us, will be happy to see the door shut on this year.

Whatever your usual New Year's Eve celebrations, most everyone throughout the world will be having a quiet, lockdown New Year's Eve this year. There are myriad self-help articles and endless updates on every platform about the pandemic and how to deal with it in practical medical and psychological ways. I don't have anything to add to all of that, on that level. 

I know many who have lost loved ones this year, not only to Coronavirus but countless other ways. Many are feeling grief, pain and sorrow because they couldn't see their loved ones one last time before they passed. Others have been separated from family, friends or partners, unable to travel due to quarantine or lockdowns. In times like this, it's important to remember that we're never truly separated from the mind streams of those we love, not even after physical death. If you consider yourself a true mystic, magician or spiritual being of any kind, it's important to develop the mind, and the ability to focus, so that we may connect with those we've lost or are unable to physically be with. 

This WWII song "We'll Meet Again," sung by Vera Lynn who died this year at the age of 103 years shortly after the first lockdown, is as relevant to our feelings of loss and disconnect in the current world-wide situation today as it was eighty years ago. 

I extend my wishes and prayers that all of you stay physically and mentally healthy, that you have strength to get through these difficult temporary times and that you try to do whatever possible to generate loving-kindness, joyfulness and life affirming thoughts for yourselves and others. Try to not spend too much time taking in disaster oriented news but do stay connected to animals, nature and real-life offline experiences within your immediate environment. It is more important to stay grounded and compassionate than hateful, divisive and accusatory, which doesn't help to heal anything. If we remember that everyone is experiencing their own pain and suffering through all of this, and their own experiences of Impermanence, we can hopefully try to remain calm if and when heated and stressful situations arise. 

My thoughts and blessings for a strong and healthy New Year 2021 are with you all. Through the power of our combined magic and prayers, may we see positive changes in the year to come!

I close now with the closing words from Kenneth Anger's above letter to me, "Keep Well" !

Om Mani Padme Hum & SLM
-Zeena

Medicine Buddha mantra blessings to anyone ill or experiencing mental and psychic disturbances, also for the wellbeing of all animals: 
​Tayatha Om Bekandze Bekandze Maha Bekandze Radza Samudgate Soha

​On this day, to commemorate the 100th Armistice Day, Zeena issues a highly personal glimpse into her first hand experiences of death and impermanence. This limited edition 2020 calendar features solemn yet beautiful reminders of Impermanence in its many guises. Whatever your personal battles, great or small, we all experience the same pain, grief and suffering from death, loss and impermanence. Whatever your religion, sexual orientation, race, or political leanings, there is no escaping the one great unifier: Death.
​
Most prefer to look away from that truth, or conversely attempt to glamorize, parody or mock such uncomfortable realities. Yet this beautifully printed, gallery quality art calendar doesn't pander to the ironic or flippant but looks at the greater meaning of death and impermanence in a compassionate and bare manner.
 
Each image reveals Zeena's eye for minimalism, composition, symbolism and tableaux. Several of the artist's first-hand experiences from serving as death's midwife to humans and animals are conveyed. April hints at the life-long trauma to civilian children of war in a still life comprised of WWII souvenirs of the boy, Bernd-Peter S., who wrote in his Tagesbuch of the ordeals he and his classmates endured through the end of the war. In March, we see a religious funerary rite for a loyal canine, Manfred. In October the cremation of feline familiar Mephisto, captured on film, through the small cremation viewing hole. July was the birth month of Zeena's friend, the multi talented musician John Murphy; her stark portrait taken shortly before his untimely death. To all the aforementioned Zeena performed traditional Tibetan Buddhist death rites. These and all the other months are visual reminders on the constant, unpredictable and uncontrollable cycles of life and death.

This calendar is printed on fine art quality Premium Paper suitable for cropping and framing after use.
​Dimensions: 200x300mm / 8”x11½”

Personalized autograph option available in the drop-down menu at this link:
​
https://www.zeenaschreck.com/store/p46/2020-Calendar-Meditations-on-Death-and-Impermanence-by-Zeena.html

In today's The Sun, Zeena talks about fabled Jayne Mansfield death curse.
Excerpted: "Artist Zeena, who used to practise magic and is now a Buddhist, claims it was beyond her father’s powers to cause the crash.
She said: 'His curses were fits of anger.
'This needed a focused ritual.'
But she is in no doubt LaVey was a man you would not want to cross.
Zeena, who also knew serial killer Charles Manson, said: “I could deal with Manson in a more rational way than I could with my father.'
The film dwells on LaVey’s kooky TV persona, yet Zeena describes a 'brutal' man who almost killed her mother Diane Hegarty more than once."
Read the whole article here: ​https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/6230856/jayne-mansfield-satanic-sex-cult-film/

Thanks goes out to author Jamie Mason for posting this very thoughtful message in response to a correspondence he had with Zeena relating to his mother's recent death. Below you will find his kind message, and below that, the letter from Zeena to which he's responding.

If there are any other requests for blessings at next week's Summer Solstice ritual, please write clearly what the blessing is for (i.e., deceased being, or sick person or animal), briefly state what the purpose of the blessing is. They will be added to the ritual.-Om Ami Dewa Hri-
​
Jamie's message below:

The following is the email from Zeena to Jamie to which he refers:

Sent: Saturday, June 17, 2017 6:30 PM
Subject: Re: Letter to Zeena Schreck [pls. forward]

--[BEGIN]--
​Dear Jamie,
 
Thank you for your recent letter. I appreciate your explaining the complicated and challenging upbringing you surely experienced. 

For now, because of the timing, I will address the issue which first inspired you to write: 

I'm very sorry for what you are experiencing surrounding news of your estranged mother's death (which is now over a month ago) and the accompanying hostility from family. 

I understand and empathize with your mixed emotions about your mother's passing, a once in a lifetime experience. Such dysfunctional family situations are especially difficult at the time of death, when unexpected behavior among family inevitably arises and emotions are raw. 

Nonetheless, right now, your mother's consciousness is still wandering within the 49 day transition between this life and where she will take form next. Her Bardo phase will end approximately on June 29, so her consciousness is still able to perceive faint traces of this world, and connections to it, albeit it with more difficulty with each passing day. 

However, she can still be contacted. So it was very fortunate that you happened to make contact at this time and that the time coincided with this Summer Solstice ritual.

The mother-child bond is very revered within the Tibetan tantric practices and teachings. With applied focus techniques I've learned from my heart lamas (the old-school first-generation of exiled lamas), I will focus especially on the aspect of dissolving the karmic sources of pain and suffering on both of your sides so that there should be no clinging to resentments, animosities or hostilities. Such destructive emotions only cause worse problems for all concerned. There is nothing more she can do to you now. Now you are in a stronger position to be for her what she couldn't be for herself or others.

The part of the ritual where I do the blessings and release for the deceased will occur at roughtly 9:45PM CET, which would be about 12:45PM PST. It would be good if you could simultaneously perform whatever mind clearing meditation that you know, focusing on only peaceful thoughts. If it helps stabilize your visual field, and the mind from wandering, use the support of a white candle flame to gaze upon, allowing yourself to become relaxed within the warmth of the flame for several minutes, keeping the breath even and relaxed.

From that warmth, allow peaceful, loving thoughts to emanate for your mother, visualizing her perfected self, free of the defilements she had in worldly life. Then visualize her being absorbed within the Pure Light, released from cyclic suffering and uncontrollable rebirth. Try to not think but just experience non-judgmental loving-kindness. This is one reason why these practices are called "the Heroic Path." Because to emanate loving-kindness, especially to those who've hurt us most, requires a heroic constitution, carried out from a place of strength, understanding and compassion. 

May you have Peace within the Eye of the Storm,

Om Mani Padme Hum

Zeena
--[END]--

​Jamie Mason's books are available online and personal writings on his blog at ​https://jamiescribbles.wordpress.com/

R.I.P. Jutta Winkelmann, German director, author and 1/2 of the '60s counter-culture creative partnership with photographer & twin sister Gisela Getty, both of whom were and are (respectively) my friends.
Lighting a candle on my shrine tonight for Jutta;
May she quickly reach the Pure Light of Nirvana.
May her loved ones, and everyone, have peace and freedom from the pain and suffering of loss
and this cyclic existence. May they have happiness and the causes of happiness.
OM AMI DEWA HRI
-ZS
This is Jutta Winkelman's last interview, from three weeks ago, for the German magazine Der Stern, 
Below is a short video clip about the two sisters, in English:

"On this darkest night of the year, may all survivors of war and violence be blessed with strength, perseverance, peace and an end to suffering. 
May we take a moment of silent contemplation, during our Yuletide festivities, to honor those who have perished as the result of war and mindless violence."
-Zeena Schreck, Winter Solstice 2016

Photo of Gen. George S. Patton's dog, Willie, mourning Patton's death.
"How awful war is. Think of the waste." -Gen. Patton, moments before the car collision in Heidelburg, Germany that ended his life on Dec. 21, 1945.

Zeena and the Admins wish you a very Happy New Year - 2016! To celebrate the transition from this year to the next, Zeena curates a day of programs for New Year's Eve, reflecting the symbolism, reality, speculation and metaphysics of Death. 
Tune in to Network Awesome anytime after midnight tonight for an unconventional New Year's Eve fest.

Playlist:

1. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXAMINES WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DIE
Life After Life: What happens when we die? Is there an afterlife? Does consciousness survive physical death? These are some of the most baffling questions known to us


2. Doc - The Tibetan Book of the Dead (2004)
LEONARD COHEN NARRATES A DOC ON AN ESSENTIAL PART OF BUDDHISM, THE BOOK OF THE DEAD
Death is real, it comes without warning and it cannot be escaped. An ancient source of strength and guidance, The Tibetan Book of the Dead remains an essential teaching in the Buddhist cultures of the Himalayas. Narrated by Leonard Cohen, this enlightening two-part series explores the sacred text and boldly visualizes the afterlife according to its profound wisdom.
Part 1: A Way of Life reveals the history of The Tibetan Book of the Dead and examines its traditional use in northern India, as well as its acceptance in Western hospices. Shot over a four-month period, the film contains footage of the rites and liturgies for a deceased Ladakhi elder and includes an interview with the Dalai Lama, who shares his views on the book's meaning and importance.
The Tibetan Book of the Dead: Part 2 - The Great Liberation), 2004
Part 2: The Great Liberation follows an old lama and his novice monk as they guide a Himalayan villager into the afterlife using readings from The Tibetan Book of the Dead. The soul's 49-day journey towards rebirth is envisioned through actual photography of rarely seen Buddhist rituals, interwoven with groundbreaking animation by internationally acclaimed filmmaker Ishu Patel.


3. The Storyteller: The Soldier and Death (Jim Henson, 1987)
JIM HENSON'S BRILLIANT 1987 SERIES STARRING JOHN HURT IN THE TITLE ROLE
The Soldier and Death
Taken from an early Russian folk tale retold in English by Arthur Ransome and is also inspired by Godfather Death.
A soldier returns home after 20 years of war, with three biscuits in his knapsack. On his way he meets three beggars to whom he gives the biscuits; in return one gives him a ruby whistle, one the jolliest dance, and the final man, who gets the last biscuit despite the soldier being hungry himself, in return gives him a pack of magic playing cards and a musty sack that has the power to trap anything ordered into it. Using the sack, the soldier manages to trap a flock of geese, and so manages to feed himself. Upon arriving at an abandoned castle overrun with small devils, he plays them in a game of cards, winning 40 barrels of gold, and when they try to kill him, he captures them in the sack only letting them go when they promise to never return. He makes one of them swear to serve him and keeps its foot as leverage. Quickly becoming rich and famous because he removed the devils from a palace that is owned by the Tzar, his luck runs short when his son becomes deathly ill. Calling upon the devil, the soldier is given a glass goblet that allows the owner to see Death. If Death is at the foot of the person's bed (as was the case with his son), he or she will recover if sprinkled with water from the goblet. If Death is at the head of the bed, nothing can be done. Then the Tzar becomes ill and the soldier, seeing Death at the head of his bed, makes a bargain with Death: his life in exchange for the Tzar's. Death takes his offer and gives the illness to the soldier, curing the Tzar. Lying in his death bed, he summons Death into his sack, and stops death from happening everywhere. But as time goes on, he sees people everywhere who are waiting for death that will not come. So he frees Death, who fears the soldier and his sack so much that he refuses to take the soldier's life. The soldier, old and weary of life, seeks out a way to die. He travels down to the underworld, forcing the devils at the gates (the same ones from before) to give him two hundred souls and a map to heaven. Terrified of the sack, the devils agree to his demands. Upon reaching the gates of heaven, he asks to be let in with the souls while begging for forgiveness from God, but he is denied by thegatekeeper. He gives the sack to one of the souls, asking the soul to summon him into the sack when he has passed through the gates. But since there is no memory in heaven, the soul forgets and the soldier is condemned to live forever upon the Earth. In closing, the storyteller remarks (with a smile) that the soldier is still probably about his business. As the Storyteller tosses the bag aside, a devil emerges from the bag unnoticed by the Storyteller, but noticed by the dog who dismisses it as his imagination.


4. Doc - The Egyptian Book Of The Dead
A LOOK AT THE SACRED TEXT OF THE EGYPTIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
The Book of the Dead is an ancient Egyptian funerary text, used from the beginning of the New Kingdom (around 1550 BCE) to around 50 BCE. The original Egyptian name for the text, transliterated rw nw prt m hrw is translated as "Book of Coming Forth by Day". Another translation would be "Book of emerging forth into the Light". "Book" is the closest term to describe the loose collection of texts consisting of a number of magic spells intended to assist a dead person's journey through the Duat, or underworld, and into the afterlife and written by many priests over a period of about 1000 years.


5. Doc - A Certain Kind Of Death (2003)
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PEOPLE WITH NO NEXT OF KIN DIE?
Unblinking and unsettling, this documentary lays bare a mysterious process that goes on all around us - what happens to people who die with no next of kin.
Dead bodies in various stages of decomposition are seen, but not played for shock factor. Instead, you learn a little about each person, both what they were before death and what will happen to them afterward. They are followed from the discovery of the body to the final disposition of the remains, and each step in between.


6. Movie - A Matter Of Life And Death (Powell & Pressburger, 1947)
A JAW-DROPPING FANTASY OF A DOWNED PILOT WHO MUST JUSTIFY HIS EXISTENCE TO A HEAVENLY PANEL BECAUSE HE FELL IN LOVE WITH AN AMERICAN GIRL WHEN HE REALLY SHOULD HAVE BEEN DEAD.
Also known as Stairway to Heaven, A Matter of Life and Death is the remarkable British fantasy film that became the surprise hit of 1946. David Niven stars as Peter Carter, a World War II RAF pilot who is forced to bail out of his crippled plane without a parachute. He wakes up to find he has landed on Earth utterly unharmed...which wasn't supposed to happen according to the rules of Heaven. A celestial court argues over whether or not to claim Carter's life or to let him survive to wed his American sweetheart (Kim Hunter). During an operation, in which Carter hovers between life and death, he dreams that his spirit is on trial, with God (Abraham Sofaer) as judge and Carter's recently deceased best friend (Roger Livesey) as defense counsel. The film tries to have it both ways by suggesting that the heavenly scenes are all a product of Carter's imagination, but the audience knows better. Among the curious but effective artistic choices in A Matter of Life and Death was the decision to film the earthbound scenes in Technicolor and the Heaven sequences in black-and-white. The film was a product of the adventuresome team known as "The Archers": Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.
[END]

posted by: Admin

On Monday, I posted a memorial to my friend and music colleague John Murphy.


As follow up to that memorial, I'm also paying tribute to John's life's work by curating a full day of programs and music clips, reflecting 36 years of John's career. 

As with any artist, I believe his work should speak for itself, without needless commentary.

My gratitude is extended to friends at Network Awesome, and in particular Cory Vielma (who performed with John and me this year at WGT), for featuring this retrospective in their programming.

The stream of programs will remain in the archives at Network Awesome at this link: http://networkawesome.com/2015-10-15​

~Zeena 

PROGRAM GUIDE:

Live Music Show:

SPK - Metal Dance live
John Murphy - My Father of Serpents
Krank / The Grimsel Path "Verdant Hum"
Last Dominion Lost "Towers of Silence"
KnifeLadder: Dervish - Live at Le Zebre de Belleville, Paris 06.10.12
KnifeLadder | Head Of The Serpent
DEATH IN JUNE- Come Before Christ and Murder Love
THE ASSOCIATES - KITES
Die Weisse Rose live at WGT Leipzig 2009 (2)
Recorded at Wave Gotik Treffen Leipzig
Special Guest this Evening : John Murphy on the drums!
Of The Wand And The Moon & John Murphy
NIKOLAS SCHRECK and JOHN MURPHY LIVE - 27. 09. 2014 Tower Transmissions Club Puschkin Dresden
Last Dominion Lost (Shell In The Chamber) on The Network Awesome Show
Zeena Schreck - Ritual Performance WGT 2015
Whitehouse: John Murphy + Konzetrat - Creativisme Clearance.wmv
Featuring John Murphy on percussion.
WHIRLYWIRLD - WINDOW TO THE WORLD (Dogs in Space tribute)
Krang - Quick warp ( 80's Industrial Noise John Murphy )
Last Dominion Lost – Stagma
Whirlybird - Boys of the Badland 
Andrew King with John Murphy: London
Andrew King - A Song for John Murphy (Schmerz) 




Art Film:
​
Beatup - A film about John Murphy in a squat in London 1980 with Nick Cave and Anita Lane. Music by Ollie Olsen. Made by Michael Buckley.


The Network Awesome Show:

John Murphy Taped Live from NK, Berlin.
July 23-27th, 2012
in Episode 7 featuring:
Last Dominion Lost live performance of "Whispers"
http://www.auditionrecords.com/ar072.php

​
Talk Show:

1. KnifeLadder - John Murphy interview from Heathen Harvest

2. John Murphy interview for Melbourne-based Ghost Productions


Documentary

Krautrock The Rebirth of Germany

Krautrock was one of many major influences on John Murphy's music. It is therefore fitting and poetic that John made his final home in Berlin, Germany.


Movie

Dogs in Space

Movie about Melbourne Post Punk scene (with John Murphy cameo credited as Leanne's brother, also seen playing keybord @ timecode 35:30)

This is an interview excerpt with John Murphy and Douglas P. [Death in June] talking about Dogs in Space:

DP:  Following on with that John, when I first visited Melbourne in the mid 1990s, which was probably our first live show with Boyd and yourself as a percussionist, your name and my association with it seemed to arouse a huge amount of curiosity.  What did you do in Australia before leaving for England?
JM:  Slept a lot!  [laughter]  I left on January the 1st, 1980 to go to England, in January 2nd I arrived in London, but I'd been involved since '77 in the local... we'll say the 'alternative music industry' in Melbourne, from mid '77 onwards.   I'd been involved in playing from drums in punk bands through to getting involved in early electronica and stuff with other local musicians and we did reasonably well, but we just thought the grass was greener elsewhere.  We just felt that we could only get so far up and then we hit a brick wall.
DP:  Is that the 10% that you allude to that still continue in music?  You said that 90% of the people you had worked with had fallen by the wayside.  These people like Nick Cave you worked with, and Roland S. Howard, didn't you?
JM:  Well I never actually worked with Nick Cave, but I knew him from '77 onwards, and Roland as well, but basically people like that I'd known from the beginning they'd continued on, but there was a lot of people who just were probably equally as talented in their own way, but just got fed up with literally banging their heads against the wall.  They felt that way and the just fell by the wayside, decided they wanted to go in other areas, but I kept on - I can't say much more than that.  For some reason I was just compelled to keep going, even if I was considered peculiar by a lot of the people back in Melbourne.  I didn't get a lot of appreciation, a lot of people actually were quite antagonistic as times, so at times it was difficult.
DT:  I'd imagine that through your involvement in the music scene, you led into involvement in the film Dogs In Space as well?
JM:  Well, yes, I got involved in that, because I sort of had known the director.  Back in '79 in the punk days, I appeared as an extra in his first ever film.  Then I met him again in '85 or '86 and I heard he was doing this film about the formative years of the late 70's/early 80's in Melbourne, and I heard he roped in this other person I know to do the soundtrack and he was getting all the information wrong, as I remember quite well before I left to go overseas.  So I sort of stuck my foot in the door and demanded to be involved with it, originally just as the musical advisor, but I eventually got to be assistant music director, and I wasn't meaning to be an actor in it.  He basically roped in everyone he could to act as extras, and I just played a few different roles, but he wanted me to play myself as a younger person which I found a bit difficult, and I tore the ligaments on my left knee the second day in the recording studio doing the soundtrack of the thing, so I ended up in the film playing a Hell's Angel on crutches!  [laughter all round]  And I actually was on crutches.. it was an amusing experince!
DT:  I watched it again recently, and I looked out for your name in the credits, and I guess it must have been you listed as "Leanne's brother", as well, and Leanne was Lucio's girlfriend, that fat chick that turned up at the house...
JM:  That was the Hell's Angel character, he was meant to be from the country, with the dorky brother who sort of demands....
DT:  Were you the guy with the beard, were you?
JM:  I was the sort of biker type on the crutches, you know....

Many who worked with John knew he had been struggling with illness for quite a long time. But he concealed exactly how ill he already was. Music was his entire life and it was clear that the thought of retirement, or resting out the illness, was not an option in John's mind. I was therefore very fortunate to have John perform with me earlier this year at WGT. It was a musical ritual invocation to Seth, the ancient Egyptian god who guides safe passage through death to immortality. It was to be John's second to last performance. 

On the night and early morning of John's passing, he was not alone. He was surrounded by a lot of love from his wife, Annie, and a small circle of close friends. I was among them. At his request, and according to his religious beliefs as a Gnostic Christian-Tibetan Buddhist, I conducted the customary Tibetan tantric Buddhist and ancient Gnostic Sethian transference of consciousness rites which bridged his passage from this waking dream reality into the ultimate reality of pure light. It was a peaceful process. John is now liberated from all pain and suffering. 

The Chiseler Online Magazine interviews Zeena about her memories of actor Christopher Lee:

The interdisciplinary avant garde artist spoke exclusively with the Chiseler about the legendary actor.

Zeena “met Christopher Lee as a result of being co-producer for the CD ‘Christopher Lee Sings Devils Rogues and other Villians.’ Specifically, I first met him at the apartment in Los Angeles that Nikolas and I rented for him and his wife Gitte to stay in while we worked on the recording of ‘Christopher Lee Sings Devils Rogues and other Villains.’”

Long before Lee recorded with the symphonic power metal group Rhapsody of Fire, he was involved with “Christopher Lee Sings Devils, Rogues & Other Villains (From Broadway To Bayreuth And Beyond).“

“Nikolas knew of Lee’s love of classical music, opera and Broadway musicals. But at that time, the general public only knew Lee for his vampire roles and had little awareness of his musical talent and appreciation,” Zeena explained.

Lee maintained that his one regrets was his decision not to become an opera singer.

“Nikolas conceived of the idea to spotlight Christopher Lee’s considerable singing talents,” Zeena said. “But he knew that to do that effectively, such a project would need to focus on musical selections one would automatically think of Lee singing, appropriately sinister villainous characters from Opera and musicals.

“Lee was very enthusiastic at the proposal. So it was through helping Nikolas with the planning, production and coordinating of that project that I got to know Christopher. We recorded it at a studio in Crossroads of the World in Los Angeles. A considerable amount of work and expense went into finding suitable, classically trained musicians and a musical director (Dean Shepherd, who was fantastic) who had the right skills and temperament to work well with Lee.”

The friendship endured long after the work was completed.

“We stayed in contact throughout the years following that album,” she said. “We’d see him whenever he was in Berlin for the Berlin Film Festival and the ‘Cinema for Peace’ benefit.”
[...]
“It goes without saying that Christopher was a very colorful person,” Zeena said. “But for me, the most interesting conversations with him revolved around his descriptions of his WWII work as a British Intelligence officer. He talked about parachuting into German enemy Waffen SS camps and, well, he did what the British government trained him to do, which was not pretty.”

“I got the impression he was still rather haunted, even decades later, by some of his experiences during the war. Even though he believed that what he did was for virtuous and just reasons,” she added.

Zeena was present during the meeting of two masters.

“I remember a funny incident when Nikolas and I were having high tea with Lee at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. When we finished, we left the hotel to meet with Ferdy Mayne (Fearless Vampire Killers) who lived nearby. Together with Lee, we bumped into Bela Lugosi, Jr., whom we also knew (the attorney son of Bela Lugosi who’s a dead-ringer for his father),” Zeena said.

“To us, this was just business as usual. But then it dawned on Nikolas and me, that we must have known a lot of vampires, for the odds of that happening! Around the same time, Nikolas and I were also well acquainted with vampire actors Robert Quarry, Maila Nurmi, William Marshall, Barbara Steele and Ingrid Pitt.”
[...]
“He definitely had an interest in magic beyond the roles he played,” Zeena said. “But we need to make a distinction between 'interest’ and 'involvement.’ He had no first-hand involvement in any magical, occult or satanic groups and even declined direct invitations from such groups.

“He liked horror fiction of authors like H.P. Lovecraft, Bram Stoker, Algernon Blackwood, etc. But that was purely a literary appreciation. He also had an interest in John Dee, The Golden Dawn and other 19th and early 20th century magical groups,” she explained.

“However, it should be stated that Lee had an interest in a wide variety of eclectic subjects, which had nothing to do with occultism. He was simply very well-read and inquisitive by nature,” she added.

Lee was in the enviable position to be able to satisfy his many curiosities.

“As a result of his years in British intelligence, he’d known figures like Dennis Wheatley, his cousin Ian Fleming, etc., and had heard of their experiences with Aleister Crowley. In fact he was lifelong friends with Dennis Wheatley and agreed with Wheatley’s views on the occult. But their friendship grew out of their mutual intelligence work, not because of occult or magical interests.

Christopher Lee was instrumental in getting Wheatley works to film. Wheatley’s The Forbidden Territory was made into a movie starring Ronald Squire as Sir Charles rather than Duke de Richleau in 1934.

“It was Lee who convinced Hammer films to buy the rights to Wheatley’s books for the films he would star in,” Zeena said. “But it should be clarified that Lee was very dismissive and wary of occultists, black magicians or satanists.”

During Zeena’s involvement in the Lee album, she had the opportunity to ask Lee about the rumor that her father knew Christopher Lee.

“When Nikolas and I got to know Lee, we were able to discuss this rumor with him in detail,” Zeena said. “Both Lee and his wife Gitte refuted the rumor vehemently. Lee explained that, as a result of working on the U.S. TV movie Poor Devil, with Sammy Davis, Jr. (who became a Priest in the Church of Satan), Davis tried to ingratiate Lee into accepting an invitation at the behest of my father, offering Lee a copy of The Satanic Bible, personally inscribed and signed by my father.

“Lee still had the book in his collection and, on one of Nikolas’s visits to London for preparations of the CD, Lee showed Nikolas the book referring to it as a cheap paperback from the '60s witchcraft fads. Lee didn’t take it at all seriously,” Zeena said. “His wife Gitte recalled another time they visited Sammy and his wife Altovise in Los Angeles, when again Sammy tried to serve as middle-man between Dracula and the Black Pope, and again to no avail.

“Lee had no interest. He said Sammy was nuts about my father but Lee saw my father as a 'Johnny-come-lately opportunist and con-man’ within the occult. Lee expressed that he had no intention of ever meeting LaVey. Then, Lee pointedly looked me in the eye and said 'I’m very glad that you had the sense to get out of all of that destructive rubbish, expounding on what he called the ruinous effects of that type of belief system,’” she concluded.

The levelheaded enchantress also got to see the work that went into his actor’s preparation.

“Lee took personal responsibility to research his roles, to learn what he could about the characters and the historical context, in order to bring a more believable performance to each character,” Zeena said. “His interest in devilish and monstrous roles was purely a matter of aesthetics and literary appreciation - but not at all a personal lifestyle.

“I think he considered the villainous roles he played as having allegorical and moral significance. Sort of like morality tales for a new generation. I don’t think he expected to actually inspire people to want to become the characters he played. He was part Italian and had a very strong sense of religious moral ethics. So even though he befriended Wheatley and personally researched the villainous roles he would play, it was really out of a dedication to portray those roles in as real a way as possible, to understand those characters from their own points of view and to make them believable,” she said.
THERE'S MORE - READ THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE

Zeena's Next Workshop is May 31, 2015 
1:00PM – 4:30PM 
50 Euros per workshop
Seating is limited - preregistration is necessary.
Deadline to register is May 29, 2015
To pre-register for the next workshop, scroll to the end of this post and choose “Workshop1-Teaching w/ Practice” on the PayPal drop down menu below.

The Next Workshop Theme is: Sleep and Dream Yoga 

The theme of Sleep and Dream Yoga will be split into two parts. 
Part 1: May 31. 
Part 2: June 28.

This month's workshop continues from last months theme of Death, Dying, Loss & Impermanence 
The main topics covered will be:
*The transitions between waking, sleeping and reawakening. 
*Explanation of the seamless continuum of spiritual practices through changing states of consciousness. 
*Priming the mind before sleep, as preparation for dreamwork.
*Explanation of the significance of Sleep and Dream yoga with relation to death and the death-related meditation and yoga practices.

After the opening teaching (described above), Zeena guides the group through a mantra chanting session, utilizing both struck (audible sound vibration resulting from friction between or striking of two forms of matter) and unstruck (thought vibration/the sound of the celestial realm) mantra meditation practices. 

This month's mantra will be the mantra to Amitabha:  Om Ami Dewa Hri

Following the mantra chanting session participants settle into a silent seated meditation of calm-abiding and stilling of the internal monkey-chatter thoughts. 

Both the mantra meditation and the meditation of calm-abiding are necessary foundations for all other forms of advanced spiritual practices. When performed together with one's teacher, these meditations build an important connection to the generations of lineage holders who have transmitted the same methods to your own teacher. For this reason, meditation together with the teacher produces stronger results than only meditating alone.

The workshop concludes with a Questions & Answers period.

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If you don't have a PayPal account, you can send your registration fee by bank transfer - for details please contact: [email protected]. 

If you cannot attend the workshop but are interested in booking private training sessions with Zeena in Berlin, or for overseas Skype consultations - scroll to the END of this Teachings Page or contact  [email protected].

Zeena's Next Workshop is April 26, 2015 
1:00PM – 4:30PM 
50 Euros per workshop
Seating is limited - preregistration is necessary.
Deadline to register is April 23, 2015

The Next Workshop Theme is: 
Death, Dying, Loss & Impermanence 

*To pre-register for the April 26 workshop use the PayPal drop-down menu below, choose “Workshop1-Teaching w/ Practice  50 Euro”.

*If you don't have a PayPal account, pre-registration can also be done by bank transfer by writing to: [email protected]. 

*If you do not live in Berlin but are interested in booking a long-distance consultation with Zeena, 
Skype sessions are scheduled between Tuesday and Friday, 4PM-7PM Berlin time. For information on how to book a Skype or private in-person session, go to the end of the Teachings page on this site. For questions, write to [email protected].