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KCH is happy to announce a new apparel category! The 'Notable Quotes' collection, developed from follower-based requests of popular quotes by Zeena combined with original background designs. As we're continuously developing our apparel collections, we're grateful for suggestions like this from our customer base. 
Also New: Celebrating the Five-Year Anniversary of the EP Bring Me the Head of FW Murnau featuring the front and back CD covers on a classic front and back T-shirt design.
All shirts offered in a variety of colour choices including classic black. Details about the designs and shirts are in the individual listings (click on images below to go directly to each listing).

The Path is the Goal is a Buddha-Dharma theme that emphasizes the importance of the journey in spiritual practice rather than fixating solely on the destination, such as Enlightenment or Nirvana. The same idea can also be applied to secular, worldly goals.

More than ever before, we live in a world driven by and focused on instant gratification and addiction to the hypnotizing effects and dopamine hits from billions of endless social media streams, news, and advertising, all competing with each other for our attention. ​

These monthly visual meditations nudge us to get off the hamster wheel and reground ourselves in the organic world, to breathe fresh air, to move our bodies, and to contemplate the value and meaning of our everyday lives and spiritual practices and to not dismiss the little things that happen “along the way” as meaningless. The Path is the Goal underscores the gradual transformative process of spiritual practice and life, which cannot be forced or rushed. The atmospheric images contained in this calendar, of different paths, remind us symbolically that there are many spiritual paths to follow, yet we're all reaching the same ultimate destination.

The monthly images serve as reminder to experience the present moment fully and that the effort, motivation, and practices we engage in are as important, if not more so, than the attainment of an imagined spiritual endpoint, or in secular terms, a goal that may change over time or never come to pass, within this lifetime. So it is more important to find meaning and worth in the process (the Path), regardless of the outcome. The outcome works itself out when we're fully engaged in the process!

About the Calendar:
The finely structured, matte surface of Fuji Crystal Archive DPII photo paper (234 g/m²) provides an extremely natural and noble appearance. The matte finish makes it virtually free from unwanted reflection and resistant to fingerprints. Archive quality suitable for cropping and framing after use.
Dimensions: 20.3x30.5cm / 8”x11½”

***Everything in our website shop is 15% off until July 31st when using coupon code: SUTEKH24

​About the shirt design:

The classic design with unique stylized image of Sutekh, encircled by an incantation from the ancient Greek Magical Papyri, is suitable for spiritual work focused on receiving clear messages in dreams, nightmares (of a revelatory nature) and heightened lucidity in hypnagogic/hypnopompic states of consciousness.

About the shirt:
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Comes in two variants:
*Sutekh-24 Unisex classic tee as well as a Long-sleeved version. 

Colors: Blackest night, bull's blood maroon and royal purple
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• 100% cotton
• Fabric weight: 5.0–5.3 oz/yd² (170-180 g/m²)
• Open-end yarn
• Tubular fabric
• Taped neck and shoulders
• Double seam at sleeves and bottom hem

Don't forget to check out our many other Seth/Sutekh related apparel & items in 
Magic & Mysticism Apparel and Set of 5 Sethian themed postcard size flexi-magnets !!!

Zeena's in-depth interview by Annette Lamoth-Ramos featured in this issue was the first after many years hiatus from mainstream media spanning her early life until the early '00s. After much interest and feedback generated from this interview, VICE invited Zeena to write her own column, 'From the Eye of the Storm' .​

In February 2024, VICE media announced they are stopping both the online and print magazines. BUT we have unearthed a limited number of print copies - 10 in English and 13 in German - all in original (not pre-owned) condition. Signed and numbered on the lead photo by Zeena, there's also an option to have it personalized on the TO ORDER PAGE.

Condition: Original, Mint to Very Good. Excellent binding, pages are unmarked and clean.
Binding: Softcover
High quality six-color printing on all pages, glossy cover.
114 pages. 8½”x11” / 21½cm x 28cm.​

The only differences between the English and German versions are:

The English edition originally came with a paper wraparound advertisement on the cover for the action-adventure game Dishonored (see image). To offer collectors this item exactly as it was when it hit the stands twelve years ago, we're leaving it on.

The German edition doesn't have any advertising on the cover but features a short write-up about photographer Florian Büttner, who did the photo shoot with Zeena and who gives his impressions of that experience. (See image below for the original German text, English translation follows.) This is photographer profile is only in the German edition and not included in any of the other VICE language editions of the same issue.

“If you have strength of character, you can use that as fuel to not only be a survivor but to transcend simply being a survivor, use an internal alchemy to turn something rotten and horrible into gold.”
~Zeena Schreck

The three lengthy pieces in 'Transcend' totals nearly 52 minutes altogether, affording the listener ample meditative journeys of contemplation and sonic catharsis, ending with an exhilaratingly triumphant sense of dashing through space and time, releasing the ballast of all pain and suffering, emerging as a Victor.

The succinct titles focus on specific Buddhist themes, directing the mind toward wider and deeper understanding of ones own spiritual path and experience.

The album's official release, June 4th, 2023, is Saga Dawa Düchen, a date of immense Buddhist importance commemorating the birth, enlightenment, and Parinirvana of Buddha Shakyamuni.

'Transcend' debuted at Snow Gallery NYC on June 3rd, 2023, for their third exhibition in a series, 'Movement of the Triangle,' inspired by Kandinsky’s 'Concerning the Spiritual in Art.'

The exhibition also marks the first time originals of Zeena's visual art are shown together with works of her late godfather Kenneth Anger.

Album cover for Transcend is a detail from a larger piece, 'Ladders,' original art by Zeena Schreck on display at Snow Gallery until end of July, 2023.

Credits:
released June 4, 2023

Recorded in Berlin, Germany.

Sound Engineer: Robert Mayson, NYC.

Promo videos of the album linked below, by Courtney Sell.

Album is in digital download format only.​

German online music magazine African Paper posted a great review of Zeena's 'Bring Me the Head of F.W. Murnau". Scroll below for the English translation of the original German language review.
Digital downloads of the album are at Zeena Schreck Bandcamp.

Perhaps one has to be well-travelled to realize that they're one of those people who don't settle for the illusion of home - I'm talking about an illusion here insofar as the ideas you have about your own life, that are always illusory in a certain way - you can or want to let those illusions in. The famous silent film director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau wrote to his mother from Tahiti, where he was shooting his last film Tabu, that he only felt homesick to a limited extent, because no country, no house, no person's companionship could really give him any sense of home. He became particularly aware of this on the island at the other end of the world, which he felt bewitched by.

The compact but intense sound collage-like album, which Zeena Schreck - formerly of Radio Werewolf - composed about a fictional post-biographical episode surrounding Murnau, with accompanying videos by a certain Tnopud Salocin, begins with an excerpt of this letter, appropriately framed by the sounds of tropical tides and delivered in a slowed down, androgynous voice. The haunting tale that forms the backdrop to the music is about the abduction of the director's head from the cemetery in Stahnsdorf near Berlin - something that some may think is an urban legend but that actually happened a good ten years ago, and so the master's homelessness outlasts his physical life.

A feature of the album is the constant blending of the director's life and work. “Ill Omens”, whose melange of alienated, perhaps sampled instruments is reminiscent of a slightly sepia-toned grey, could be a congenial score for the bizarre skull robbery, and yet the tension, the coarse-grained and flickering humming and hissing, after which only the death bell remains, is reminiscent of many a film scene from Murnau's oeuvre. "A Drive up the Coast" is like a peaceful little miniature [fairground]: organ and waltz rhythm evoke a carnival atmosphere, and when you hear the sound of rain and the honking of a vintage car toward the end, you might even think of California, where Zeena herself spent her early years.

While the first three tracks have an effect of a soft introduction, the rest of the compositions get more to the point. With ritualistic percussion by drummer Hisham A. Bharoocha, hand drums and rattles, odd reverbs and orchestral quotes, "Tabu," which contains lyrics from the film of the same name, is a furious celebration of the dark side of the exotic, and contains in Zeena's recitation the warning to respect the eponymous taboo. In “The Phantom Bridge”, which draws from a pivotal scene from Murnau's best-known film Nosferatu, the voice sweeps like murmurs through a room, flanked by dusty bright bells. In a whisper, the voice tells of unknown places and things, but also of life leaving the body, while water ripples in the background. For anyone familiar with Zeena's background in Vajrayana Tantric Buddhism, entirely different dimensions might open up here, in the vampire's quotes.

In the final track, “Endlich Daheim”, which opens with the rattling of an old film projector, and whose lyrics are by Zeena herself, the whole spooky story about the open grave is revealed, in which the director seems to have actually found his home, decades after his physical death.

“Bring Me The Head Of F.W. Murnau” is a beautiful, concise piece of music that wraps the aura of old, fantastic film scores in a delightfully experimental guise, and at the same time doesn't seem implausible for a second. All this and the appreciation of the master is in no way disturbed by the fact that the signature of the musician herself is always present and sometimes becomes explicit through small and not so small hints. The already mentioned echo of a faded fairground somewhere in Karloffornia and the reference to tantra could also be purely coincidental and a projection of the reviewer. Less so, however, is the title which refers to an early Radio Werewolf release (and indirectly to another classic film, Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia) - but at that time it was about the head of an unpleasant journalist.

When past and present, life and afterlife, one's own and the other's are intertwined in this way, it becomes clear once more how illusionary the perceptions of time, space and what one takes for the self are in the end. The fact that you can still feel Zeena and the world of Murnau throughout is not a contradiction in terms. -admin/African Paper 
​[Original German Version HERE.]

In the Sethian Liberation Movement, the birth of the ancient Egyptian deity Seth/Sutekh is celebrated annually for a thirteen day cycle between 16th-29th of July. To mark the conclusion, Zeena releases two additional new designs to her Magic and Mysticism apparel collection. Descriptions below! You can also check them out on our new Etsy shop! 

-SLM

Big thanks to author and industrial music scholar Nicholas Diak for his great review of Zeena's Bring Me the Head of F.W. Murnau in the latest issue of Exotica Moderna. Fans of Exotica-Industrial mixes will especially appreciate his take on Zeena's 'Tabu' track:
“Bring Me the Head of F.W. Murnau (BMTHOFWM) is the debut studio release of multimedia artist Zeena Schreck. Created in response to the theft of the skull of German director Murnau, that made the news back in 2015, BMTHOFWM is a concept EP that dives into the world of Murnau, his films and his legacy. The release proper is mostly spoken word recitations of Murnau's letters and film intertitles (such as those from his most renowned film, Nosferatu), over field recordings and minimalist industrial pulses.
Schreck's EP is of interest for fans of exotica for her track Tabu, which is an homage to Murnau's final film, Tabu: A Story of the South Seas, from 1931.
​The track begins with some old school industrial clangs and beats before it transitions to Schreck reading text from the film as the music eases into a subdued form of primitive exotica with shakers and primal drumming that evokes the likes of Martin Denny and Les Baxter. BMTHOFWM is a niche release, but it situates itself at that interesting pop culture intersection of silent film appreciation and aesthetics to the realm of Tiki and exotica. It is an excellent CD for collectors who indulge in exploring the newer forms of exotica.”
- Nicholas Diak

Bring Me the Head of F.W. Murnau CD Available on this site: HERE
Or download at Bandcamp digital download* [*This Friday Feb 5, Bandcamp will again waive it's revenue share!]
​
Exotica Moderna is a quarterly publication showcasing the latest in tiki art and culture published by House of Tabu.

​For Black Friday weekend beginning now until Nov. 30Th, get a 20% discount on all Featured Products on this site and at Zeena's Bandcamp site.
Use this discount coupon: Blackweekend20 when ordering! Good on all music, new products, apparel, limited editions and vintage items!

The Blessed Beasts 2021 calendar is now almost completely sold out (only 16 left). Grab one while you can and don't forget to use the discount code: Blackweekend20 
*Personalize autograph option for you and your animal companions also offered.

​Review and Interview: Zeena Schreck and her debut Bring Me the Head of F. W. Murnau   
Tuesday, August 4, 2020 by Nicholas Diak

During the summer of 2015, the skull of German silent film director F. W. Murnau was stolen from his tomb. Remnants of wax from lit candles present at the scene spurred the hypothesis that occult work was afoot while the macabre nature of Murnau’s stolen skull drew parallels to his legendary horror output, in particular his influential expressionist film, Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922).(1)
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    Shortly thereafter, inspired by the event, multimedia artist Zeena Schreck announced a “sequel to Radio Werewolf’s mystical, musical piece Bring Me the Head of Geraldo Rivera” that would be appropriately titled Bring Me the Head of F. W. Murnau.(2) Five years later, Bring Me the Head of F. W. Murnau (BMTHOFWM) was released in March of 2020.

   BMTHOFWM marks the first studio release proper of Zeena performing music solo. Prior to this EP, Zeena had been a part of many musical collaborations and projects, such as Radio Werewolf, and had released some of her live ritual performances, such as her appearance at Wave-Gotik-Treffen, on compilations and YouTube. Per Zeena in regard to releasing a concept album instead of an album of her ritual performances:

“I definitely have future recording plans which will be in the areas of dark ambient and ritual music. [T]his first solo release was experimental in the sense I'd never done such a precise theme as concept album like this before. I like working within specific parameters though. Even in past recordings, when it might not seem obvious, I've almost always had in mind a particular framework within which to create the music. But this album was much more of a specific theme than I would normally do.”(3)

    BMTHOFWM certainly has a thematic laser focus, concentrating on Murnau and some of his films, while capturing a certain silent film aesthetic, though paradoxically, with sound. Zeena pulls this feat off – a silent film with no images but instead with sounds – by incorporating elements of field recordings, minimalist-industrial, exotica, spoken words, and incantations, in conjunction with the brilliant German expressionist/Caligari style artwork that emblazons the release’s cover art that evokes some of the classic horror posters of the era.

    Though Murnau is the subject of the EP, the filmmaker did not have a strong influence on Zeena at the beginning of the project:

“[Murnau was] not a huge influence. It was only his films Nosferatu and Faust that I had known and really liked since childhood, when they'd play on late night TV. I knew he'd worked with the occultist artist/architect Albin Grau on the sets for Nosferatu but working with an occultist doesn't automatically make you one. There is also the tie-in of my last name being the same as the actor who played Count Orlok, Max Schreck, in Murnau's most famous film Nosferatu. I'd also remembered the scandalous rumors about his untimely death that my godfather Kenneth Anger wrote of in Hollywood Babylon, rumors which, by the way, I've since learned weren't true. But aside from these things, I hadn't much knowledge of his life prior to embarking on this project. I know far more about him now.

Originally, I'd planned that this [release] was only going to be a single; not more than a two-track novelty piece inspired by a quirky event. But then, as I began researching more about Murnau and put flesh on the bones of this project, certain metaphysical portals started opening up. More material for more tracks developed than could be narrowed down to just a single. Yet I didn't want this to be a full album either. So, the logical middle ground was to make it an EP.”(4)

    Through the process of researching Murnau, Zeena also visited the director’s home and his grave, gathering field recordings that would be incorporated into the compositions of BMTHOFWM:

“[I] intermingled various sounds from both locations in just about every track except the opening one, ‘Letter to Mother.’ Some of those field recordings were used in a straightforward manner, such as a fox barking, birds singing, the sound of some machinery or a metal gate clanging. Those can be detected fairly clearly enough. But other sounds used, I distorted in the editing to achieve certain auditory effects.

When I visited Murnau's grave, for the photo shoot to the CD, I was focused on getting the photos but hadn't intended on capturing field recordings at the same time. I'd already compiled field recordings taken at the former Murnau house in Berlin, which coincidentally happens to be right in my neighborhood. In addition to that, I'd painstakingly searched for specific samples corresponding to the exact years of Murnau's creative life and his death, such as the sound of the precise year and make of the car he was in when it crashed, leading to his death. Or a snippet of a song that would've been popular at parties in Hollywood that he may have attended. Things like that.

[Scroll down to see a personal message from Zeena.]
​Those who pre-ordered the digital EP from Bandcamp, check your email as you'll receive the new release via download link that's been sent directly to you. Those who pre-ordered the limited edition, signed and numbered physical CD, your orders were sent as soon as they came in; you should have them any day (if you haven't already).
There are still some limited, signed & numbered CDs available HERE!
You can sample tracks on the Zeena Scheck Bandcamp site at:
​https://zeenaschreck.bandcamp.com/releases

FOR REVIEW COPIES of the physical CD and/or Interview requests to Zeena, please write to: [email protected] 
FOR SHOPS AND RETAILERS and any questions regarding your order, please write to: 
​[email protected] 

"My heartfelt thanks to all you sweet, kind patrons of the arts who already pre-ordered my debut solo EP! I recognize so many of your names and have wonderful memories of your kind support over the years! Honored to have such a wonderful, eclectic following of alternative music aficionados. It's thanks to people like you who keep independent art and artists going! Some of the initial impressions shared with me have given me such joy and even greater, creative inspiration! By all means, feel free to post your impressions of my new CD publicly too - in comments below or anywhere on my online sites!
Thank you again and may the light of the Morning Star shine brightly upon all of your paths toward Liberation and Enlightenment!"
​--Zeena

That also includes all autographed products, vintage collectibles, apparel, and the new 2020 Calendar "Meditations on Death & Impermanence"
ALL items in our Featured Products shop will be reduced by 20% until Monday Dec 2, 2019!!!

​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.
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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

Two of Zeena's illustrations from her book 'Demons of the Flesh: The Complete Guide to Left-Hand Path Sex Magic', co-authored by Nikolas Schreck. The first is Dakshineswar - Kali and Shiva. ​In the original publication, all illustrations were printed in black and white. Now for the first time, this vibrantly colored piece is presented in its original form for this shirt.
​The second is 'The Contending of Hours and Seth', depicted in classical ancient Egyptian art style.
For mature audiences and collectors; probably not suitable for work :)

From 'The Manson File: Myth & Reality of an Outlaw Shaman' is 'You don't see the light.' - one of nine installments in Zeena's photo montage/mixed media suite entitled, "God Bless Charles Manson" from 2009. The entire collection was originally published as chapter plates in the 2011 expanded editions of 'The Manson File: Myth and Reality of an Outlaw Shaman' (English and French editions), authored by Nikolas Schreck. The whole suite can be seen at this link http://www.zeena.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=86&Itemid=88

For the ZEENA Art apparel collection, only two of the original nine images have been selected.

The second one is: 'To Remain Silent.' and features a quote by Ezra Pound that Zeena found fitting to the conditions of both animals and humans who are on death row.

Anyone who would like to request one of the other images from Zeena's original series can special order from  [email protected] for the same price.