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”

Personalized autograph option located in the drop-down menu.*
(*If you have animal companions for which you'd like Zeena's personalized blessings - as well as for yourself - simply send your and/or the animals names to [email protected] to be added in the calendar inscription.)​

-ORDER HERE-


About the paper:
*All images are printed with classic look on Hahnemühle photo art print paper.
*High quality inkjet printing process.
*Paper surface is fine matte and textured.
*Weight of 250 g/m²
*Dimensions: 300x200mm / 8”x11½”
*Suitable for cropping and framing after use.

 The calendar is printed on fine art quality premium paper suitable for cropping and framing after use.
Dimensions: 300x200mm / 8”x11½”

Personalized autography option located in the drop-down menu. If you have animals (or a group of animals) for which you'd like Zeena's personalized blessings, simply send your and their (the animals) names to [email protected] to be added to her personalized message. To ORDER click HERE.

To U.S. Customers: If you're ordering this as a gift, please consider that due to severe restrictions on parcels entering the U.S. from overseas, delivery is only allowed via ship and can take up to 8 weeks to reach destination. You will receive an email notification the day your order is sent, with tracking number, so you can follow its status.  

Message from Zeena about the calendar below. 
​*A brief history of World Animal Day (and month) at the end of this post.

“How many of our lives would feel incomplete without our magical familiars, totem animals, or service and emotional support animals? How many of us also feel compassion for the unseen, forgotten, unloved, feral or endangered animals? Within my 'Blessed Beasts' calendar, each tableau reveals the deeper emotional intelligence of the lovely creatures depicted. Sometimes it's in their expression, their body language, a knowing glance or an attitude which conjures a sense of loyalty, companionship, nobility, or wisdom. For pagan and shamanic religions, all animal species have inherent magical powers associated with and symbolizing different aspects of different gods. On the basis of my Tibetan Buddhist yogic training, I patiently develop a rapport with the animals I photograph by chanting specific tantric Buddhist mantras which gradually relax and open the beasts to loving-kindness and the liberating vibrations of these ancient sacred syllables. Hence the title, 'Blessed Beasts.'

​​In relation to the theme of the 2021 calendar, as well as October being World Animal Month, I ask you to consider donating or volunteering to any animal welfare organizations of your choice (if you don't already). In these difficult times, during the world-wide pandemic and its collateral damage, let's not forget the brave warriors who risk their own safety, health and emotional well-being to continue caring for animals in need. I have my preferred animal aid organizations to which I regularly contribute. But it really doesn't matter whether you do so for a small animal protection group in your own town, or to the neighborhood feral cat lady or bird man who contributes their free time caring for injured and sick wildlife, or whether you choose a reputable international organization – please consider making a donation to help any of them!

​For more information on spiritual practices for your animals, including prayers for sick and dying animals, I recommend Lama Zopa's Enlightenment for the Dear Animals website at https://enlightenmentforanimals.org/

In closing, I send blessings and prayers to all animals and those humans who help them, and especially those who have suffered and perished this year as the result of natural and man-made disasters.
May the creatures you aid today return to you as Enlightened Mother Beings of your future lifetimes!

-Om Mani Padme Hum-

~Zeena"

Brief History of World Animal Day/Month:
'World Animal Day' is celebrated each year on October 4th. World Animal Day was originated by the specialist in canines, Heinrich Zimmermann. He organized the first World Animal Day on 24 March 1925 at the Sport Palace in Berlin, Germany. Over 5,000 people attended this first event. The event was originally scheduled for 4 October, to align with the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi, a nature lover and patron saint of animals and the environment. However the venue was not available on that day. The event was moved to 4 October for the first time in 1929. Initially he found a following only in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Czechoslovakia. Every year Zimmermann worked tirelessly on the promotion of World Animal Day. Finally, in May 1931 at a congress of the International Animal Protection Congress in Florence Italy, his proposal to make 4 October World Animal Day universal was unanimously accepted and adopted as a resolution. Today, World Animal Day is a global event that unites the animal protection movement agencies and has expanded to encompass the entire month of October with different events globally.  

​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

IF YOU MISSED GETTING A 2017 ZEENA CALENDAR: There are still a VERY few left! 
First come first serve gets you 10 Euros off. Autograph options in description at http://www.zeenaschreck.com/…/2017_ZEENA_Calendar-Meditatio…
Thanks to writer/journalist Nicholas Diak for these images of his own personally autographed ZEENA calendar!

Zeena curates a day of programs for Network Awesome on Saturday 12/12/15, dedicated to the famous and infamous female photographers and filmmakers who have inspired and influenced Zeena's own photography.

The stream of programs will remain in the archives at:  http://networkawesome.com/2015-12-12

PROGRAM GUIDE:
​
1. Masters of photography - Diane Arbus (documentary, 1972)
Diane Arbus (March 14, 1923 – July 26, 1971) was an American photographer and writer noted for photographs of marginalised people—dwarfs, giants, transgender people, nudists, circus performers—and others whose normality was perceived by the general populace as ugly or surreal.
In 1972, a year after she took her own life, Arbus became the first American photographer to have photographs displayed at the Venice Biennale. Millions viewed traveling exhibitions of her work in 1972–1979. Between 2003 and 2006, Arbus and her work were the subjects of another major traveling exhibition, Diane Arbus Revelations. In 2006, the motion picture Fur, starring Nicole Kidman as Arbus, presented a fictional version of her life story.

2. Interview: Charlie Rose - Annie Leibovitz

Annie Leibovitz, considered one of America's best portrait photographers, developed her trademark use of bold colors and poses while at Rolling Stone.
Photographer Annie Leibovitz was born October 2, 1949, in Waterbury, Connecticut. In 1970 she took a job at Rolling Stone magazine. In 1983 she began working for the entertainment magazine Vanity Fair. During the late 1980s, Leibovitz started to work on a number of high-profile advertising campaigns. From the 1990s to the present, she has been publishing and exhibiting her work.

3. The Films of Maya Deren (3):
Ritual in Transfigured Time  (1946)
Witch's cradle  (Maya Deren , M. Duchamp - 1943)
Meshes of the Afternoon  (1943) Soundtrack by Seaming (Commissioned by BIrds Eye View)

Maya Deren (April 29, 1917 – October 13, 1961), born Eleanora Derenkowskaia (Russian: Элеоно́ра Деренко́вская), was one of the most important American experimental filmmakers and entrepreneurial promoters of the avant-garde in the 1940s and 1950s. Deren was also a choreographer, dancer, film theorist, poet, lecturer, writer and photographer.
The function of film, Deren believed, like most art forms, was to create an experience; each one of her films would evoke new conclusions, lending her focus to be dynamic and always-evolving.[1] She combined her interests in dance, Haitian Vodou and subjective psychology in a series of surreal, perceptual, black and white short films. Using editing, multiple exposures, jump cutting, superimposition, slow-motion and other camera techniques to her fullest advantage, Deren creates continued motion through discontinued space, while abandoning the established notions of physical space and time, with the ability to turn her vision into a stream of consciousness.
Perhaps one of the most influential experimental films in American cinema was her collaboration with Alexander Hammidon Meshes of the Afternoon (1943). She continued to make several more films of her own, including At Land (1944), A Study in Choreography for Camera (1945), and Ritual in Transfigured Time (1946)  – writing, producing, directing, editing, and photographing them with help from only one other person, Hella Heyman, as camerawoman. She also appeared in a few of her films but never credited herself as an actress, downplaying her roles as anonymous figures rather than iconic deities.

4. Leni Riefenstahl - The Immoderation of Me (2002)

The journalist Sandra Maischberger meets Leni Riefenstahl in this documentary about the controversial director and German actress. In 1926, Leni Riefenstahl began acting and quickly becomes a silent film star. Fascinated by the power of oratory Hitler, she joined the Nazis to become the official documentary of the propaganda films of the Third Reich. After World War II Riefensthal resumed making documentaries, that are authentic masterpieces, on African cultures and marine biology. In 2002 she released her latest film: "Wonders underwater". (Biography by RaiStoria)

5. The lives of Lee Miller

Model, muse, photographer, artist, war correspondent & gourmet chef.
Born: 23 April 1907, Poughkeepsie, New York, USA.
Died: 21 July 1977, Farley Farm House, Muddles Green, Chiddingly, East Sussex, England.
Lee MILLER first entered the world of photography in New York as a model to the great photographers of the day such as Edward STEICHEN, HOYNINGEN-HUENE and Arnold GENTHE.
In 1929 she went to Paris and worked with the well known Surrealist artist and photographer Man RAY, and succeeded in establishing her own studio. She became known as a portraitist and fashion photographer, but her most enduring body of work is that of her Surrealist images. She returned to New York in 1932, and again set up her own studio which ran for 2 years and was highly successful. It closed when she married a wealthy Egyptian businessman Aziz ELOUI BEY and went to live with him in Cairo, Egypt. She became fascinated by long range desert travel and photographed desert villages and ruins. During a visit to Paris in 1937 she met Roland PENROSE, the Surrealist artist who was to become her second husband, and travelled with him to Greece and Romania. In 1939 she left Egypt for London shortly before World War II broke out. She moved in with Roland PENROSE and defying orders from the US Embassy to return to America she took a job as a freelance photographer on Vogue.
In 1944 she became a correspondent accredited to the US Army, and teamed up with Time Life photographer David E. SCHERMAN. She followed the US troops overseas on D Day + 20. She was probably the only woman combat photo-journalist to cover the front line war in Europe and among her many exploits she witnessed the siege of St Malo, the Liberation of Paris, the fighting in Luxembourg and Alsace, the Russian/American link up at Torgau, the liberation of Buchenwald and Dachau. She billeted in both Hitler and Eva Brauns houses in Munich, and photographed Hitlers house Wachenfeld at Berchtesgaden in flames on the eve of Germanys surrender. Penetrating deep into Eastern Europe, she covered harrowing scenes of children dying in Vienna, peasant life in post war Hungary and finally the execution of Prime Minister Lazlo Bardossy.
After the war she continued to contribute to Vogue for a further 2 years, covering fashion and celebrities. In 1947 she married Roland PENROSE and contributed to his biographies of PICASSO, MIRÓ, Man RAY and TÀPIES. Some of her portraits of famous artists like PICASSO are the most powerful portraits of the individuals ever produced, but it is mainly for the witty Surrealist images which permeate all her work that she is best remembered.
Lee Miller died at Farley Farm House in 1977.

​
6. Movie - The Hitch-Hiker  (Dir. Ida Lupino, 1953) 

A film noir directed by Ida Lupino about two fishing buddies who pick up a mysterious hitchhiker during a trip to Mexico.
The movie was written by Robert L. Joseph, Lupino, and her husband Collier Young, based on a story by blacklisted Out of the Past screenwriter Daniel Mainwaring (who did not receive screen credit). The film is based on the true story of psychopathic murderer Billy Cook.
It is regarded as the first mainstream film noir directed by a woman; in 1949 Norwegian director Edith Carlmar made the lesser known "Døden er et kjærtegn". The director of photography was RKO Pictures regular Nicholas Musuraca.
In 1998, The Hitch-Hiker was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."


BONUS FILM (NOT in the Network Awesome program)

​NEGATIVES  (1968) ; Glenda Jackson, Diane Cilento
​
The almost forgotten British drama Negatives (1968) was the first feature film directed by Peter Medak, whose name was later made by the likes of The Ruling Class (1972) and A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1972). It's one of those intense and wordy pieces, scripted by Peter Everett from his own novel, which have a respectable amount of visual flair as well.

Theo (Peter McEnery) and Vivien (Glenda Jackson) are a bickering and dislikable couple who spend their evenings in bizarre role-playing games. He takes on the persona of notorious cellar murderer Dr. Crippen, while she alternates between playing his doomed wife Cora and his mistress Ethel Neave. A morbid state of affairs which is bound to end badly, the catalyst being the arrival of glamorous photographer Reingard (Diane Cilento).

Eccentricity turns to outright insanity when Reingard suggests Theo finds himself a new hero - WW1 fighter ace Baron von Richtofen!

*Because the YouTube uploader disabled viewing this film on other sites, you will need to WATCH NEGATIVES directly from the YouTube channel that posted it.
Zeena highly recommends it in conjunction with the theme of female photographers!

The last 23 copies of the limited first edition of The Zaum of Zeena sold out within 48 hours of going online!  A fantastic turnout of support for Zeena's work! Because so many people continued ordering after the close of sales for the 1st edition and petitioned for a 2nd edition, we now have word from the publisher HEINZFELLER NILEISIST that a 2nd edition of The Zaum of Zeena is on its way!
If you missed out on the first edition, you can pre-order on this site NOW for the 2nd edition which will be ready in approx. 2 wks. Ordering inquiries should be sent to [email protected].

A Collection of Interviews, Essays,
Quotes and Images
by
Zeena Schreck
Edited by Frank Haines
Published by HEINZFELLER NILEISIST
New Review of The Zaum of Zeena 
by Luca Piccolo below in this post.
[La versione in lingua italiana di questa recensione si trova sotto il testo in inglese.]
This fine art zine was presented especially for the 10th annual
NY Art Book Fair 2015, at MOMA/PS1, Sept. 17-20, 2015
From the original Premiere Limited Edition of 50 -
Only 23 copies are left of the original first printing.  

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 Zaum of Zeena 
A Collection of Interviews, Essays, 
Quotes and Images
by
Zeena Schreck
Edited by Frank Haines
Published by HEINZFELLER NILEISIST

This Premiere Limited Edition of 50 
is presented especially for the 10th annual 
NY Art Book Fair 2015, at MOMA/PS1
Sept. 17-20, 2015
Premiere edition is $9, available exclusively at the
HEINZFELLER NILEISIST booth -
Table A21, in the Zine & Small Press Tent. 
(Look for the large grid altar structure that should be noticeable upon entering the tent.)

If you are in NYC this weekend stop by, get your copy!

A more detailed description is in today's Daily Offbeat.

Zeena's Photography on Pinterest at https://de.pinterest.com/ZEENA_Art/zeenas-photography/

Portraits Gallery of Zeena on Pinterest at https://de.pinterest.com/ZEENA_Art/portraits-gallery-of-zeena-schreck/

Interview with Zeena Schreck by Luca Piccolo for Italian art magazine WSF (Words Social Forum). Zeena discusses art, magic and her creative development and inspirations. 

Intervista con Zeena Schreck a cura di Luca Piccolo per l'art magazine Italiano WSF (Centro sociale dell'Arte) 21 Febbraio 2014. Zeena parla di arte, magia, della sua evoluzione creativa e dell'ispirazione. Per leggere la versione italiana con gli artworks di Zeena, clicca qui: http://wordsocialforum.com/2014/02/21/lo-zaum-di-zeena/

How do you define Art?
There are many different types of art and reasons why people feel driven to create. In my case I use a holistic approach. There has always been an inseparable unity between my spiritual practices and my art. This holistic approach to art, exactly like the tantric techniques I practice, is when all activities and aspects of life are a part of an ongoing “work in progress” contributing to the ultimate completed work – both art and spiritual work. So this informs all activities, whether you're buying art supplies, rehearsing, eating, carrying out your personal grooming, painting, having sex, sleeping, cleaning, wrapping a package, driving, parenting, contemplating, helping a sick friend, singing, etc. – absolutely all aspects of your life are carried out in as mindful a way as possible in order that each small part contributes to the greater body of work, which you eventually shed and leave behind. Your Magnum Opus – this life. 

In this sense, I guess you could say I'm an inspired artist, rather than one who's perfecting or developing a particular school or type of art or an artist who's more interested in technical aspects of the craft. Inspired art is literally having the breath of divine or spiritual energies stir within you so that you are no longer your usual persona; the composite of your habits, conditioning, tastes, biases, circumstances, etc.. Instead, you are a medium for the energy which is inspiring (breathing into) you to create. In antiquity, this phenomenon was known as being inspired by a Muse. I was born with this type of inspiration to create. As early as I can remember, I had an impulse to draw and would just sit in the middle of the floor, or on the roof of our house, or blocking the stairwell just to draw. I drew on absolutely anything available in the house – often to the irritation of my parents! I was a drawing maniac. Drawing gave me a whole-body peaceful sensation and I'd get an uneasy feeling of something being “wrong” if I couldn't immediately draw when the impulse struck. I had no idea where that idea came from. Even now I can't adequately articulate it, like a dream you can't fully describe. Much later I learned that in ancient times being born with creative inspiration was considered a gift from the gods. It was thought that if you didn't honor that divine inspiration, or gift, and fulfil your destiny to create, the gods would not look favorably upon you. They considered it a slight against their generosity when humans wasted potential that not everyone's granted. So you'd forfeit your gift and that divine inspiration would be passed on to another more worthy. That's what the phrase “the muse has left” originally meant. That you waited too long and the divine inspiration was permanently taken from you. So maybe as a child I had some kind of karmic “memory” of something similar to this mythological phenomenon. 

As a child, I never wanted the usual things kids ask for as gifts; games, toys, dolls or popular clothes. What really got me enthused was getting art supplies and materials, particularly materials to make my own puppets with. Somewhere in storage, I still have a box of my childhood drawings and some paper puppets I made, which are quite humorous considering the influences I was exposed to growing up. I have a newspaper clipping about a junior art competition that I won at six years old. Around the same age I began creating theater pieces and ballet shows with neighborhood friends. Then my grandfather taught me how to use an old camera and I fell in love with photography. By fourteen I began training in drama and theater. I made experimental films with class-mates and wrote monologues and scenes for presentations and showcases. I watched as many foreign films as possible, what Americans considered art house films, and that spawned a growing desire to live and work in the European film industry. And then later I began musical composition. So, the point is, this creative inspiration couldn't be curtailed. 

In tantric Buddhist practices there are many factors that determine why a person has predispositions for certain things. So aside from this inspiration to create, there are certain organically recurring themes in much of my art. One of them, which you have noticed, is nature and animals. Another common theme I see over the years is that I like working with light and shadows, and extremes. Sometimes I work with very vibrant colors and other times I focus on only black and white. I also make use of space as an important ingredient of a work. In art terminology I'm referring to “negative space.” I do this in my music and soundscapes as well. Silence is very important, both in tone and on a canvass or in a photograph. Creating an empty space, or conveying and expansiveness, allows the viewer or listener to focus attention and open their mind to what isn't readily perceived. Negative space is important on many levels. Without the "negative space" there would be no way to reflect upon the contrast of an object in the picture, or the notes in music. Space is also very important in the spiritual meaning as well. I'm referring to the tantric understanding of emptiness.

I view art as a form of communication - on many different levels and experienced differently by each artist. In my art I try communicating an inseparable circulation of energy between inner and outer worlds, the dream state and the waking state, the subtle and the coarse, the ultimate and relative realities, the mystical and ordinary, the feminine and the masculine. Art is also a reflection. Whatever I create to some degree reflects what I'm experiencing or have experienced. This is also true for any works of art throughout history. You see or hear a reflection of the tone, energy or living standards within which the artist was creating. I find that fascinating. To give you an example, as I'm writing this, a neighbor is playing his radio on the street outside of my window and a piece by Johann Sebastian Bach is attracting my attention. I notice as I listen to it how much, in addition to the talent, precision and energy of the composer, there is also an aspect of a musical time-capsule involved in which the pace and way of life from the composer's time is reflected in the composition. The viewer's, or listener's, inner world is also reflected back while taking in a work of art – and that gets back to the communication element. As an artist, you are remotely communicating with people in all different times – as Johann Sebastian Bach is with me and my neighbor at the moment! I've always found it fascinating when I see how differently one piece or work can be perceived by different people. How often it happens that you perceive one mood or feeling in a work of art and someone else perceives something totally different in the same work of art. That's because your state of mind contributes to how everything is perceived, including art. 

My art is also heavily inspired by dreams and mystical experiences. Those messages can be strikingly clear, with unambiguous meaning, or they can be delivered in a language of symbolism and atmosphere. All art originated as communication between the waking, spirit, and dream realms. Cave paintings, animal totem sculptures, drumming hypnotic rhythms, oracular chanting or the embodying of characters in morality plays – all of these examples of art were originally informed by mystical and oneiric experiences. Not so long ago, before our developed worlds' compulsory anthropocentric-humanist ideology, inspired art was always synonymous with mysticism, animism, shamanism, divinity, religion and magic. This is what art is for me.

What is Magic for you?
First of all, thank you for spelling it correctly, and for not adding a “k” at the end of magic. I should make it clear that the word “magic” has neither a positive nor negative connotation. My book Demons of the Flesh explains in detail the origins and meaning of the word magic. To give you a brief summary, magic is a method or technique. The word stems from the ancient Greek magike tekhne or “art of the magi”. From Demons of the Flesh:  

Along these lines, one of my first Buddhist teachers told me that, to understand the complexity and discipline of Dharma practices, it was very good that I was an artist because Dharma practices are more akin to an art than religion. He suggested that possibly the best way for me to teach was through my art. That, of course, was music to my ears!


To describe what Magic is for me, it helps to provide the largely agreed upon definition of magic, cross-culturally and by many different persuasions. This excerpt from my notes at a 2009 presentation in Berlin on this subject, Magic, Media and Meditation, briefly summarizes that:

As with art, magic also is a form of communication on many obvious and subtle levels. Poor communicators have difficulty practicing magic successfully. A magician might think he's a perfectly good communicator because he talks, writes, and reads a lot. But test his communication skills with non-human beings and it becomes immediately clear whether or not he's capable of making contact with The Other. For example, those with no connection at all to animals, or who cannot even try to communicate with an animal but rather try to control it, would be poor magicians. Similarly, someone who feels silly or embarrassed trying to communicate with a non-visible entity, which is necessary to practice theurgy, invocation, prayers, spells, visualizations, and basically any kind of magic, will be a poor magician. Good communication skills, therefore, doesn't mean anyone who has a lot to say, or who continuously talks to fill gaps in conversation. On the contrary very effective magical results can come from communicating clearly but softly. Or through undisturbed emotions. Or in a language that only you and the being you're communicating with know. 

There is an inherent energy to everything; constantly vibrating subtle particles that form all matter. We now know that focused, directed thoughts can change the molecular structure, quality and energy of matter. So, that requires clear communication in a focused state of mind. Considering that, you can imagine how the motivation of an artist and his or her state of mind will affect the final outcome of the work. This is true for all aspects of living and dying. Not only in creating art. 

For example, if you go to a restaurant and have a meal prepared by a cook who is angry that he has to work late, impatient for his shift to be over, and resentful that he's working on a Saturday night when he'd rather be doing something else, you will be eating those toxic emotions through the food. There's a difference in the way food tastes when prepared by someone who loves you and is thinking loving thoughts into the meal (even if the food isn't perfectly prepared), compared to a similar meal at a busy food-chain prepared by a wage-slave cook. So our thoughts are very important when creating works of art. If we have a scattered, distracted, emotionally disturbed mind, it definitely manifests in the art. If we focus our motivation for what we hope to achieve in creating art, even if it's only thinking or repeating one word or phrase, that thought will carry into the artwork. The subject matter could even be unpleasant or disturbing (i.e., a war photographer or art and poetry created from experiences within repressive political regimes or violent families). If there's a compassionate motivation while working on the art, the effect of the compassionate thoughts will exist within the work, despite the possibly harsh appearance or tone of the finished work. Naturally, the reverse is also true: Art depicting pleasant subject matter created by an emotionally disturbed state of mind will also absorb and convey that energy. 

So, as a magical technique, one of the most important things for any artist to remember before beginning is to be clear about the motivation. In a very small way, it's how to begin understanding magic in the context of an ongoing, never ending practice. 

There is, of course, so much more to the subject of magic - too much for one interview. But that can give you a small idea of how I utilize magic in my creations.

Often in your photos your subjects are landscapes or animals, why this choice?
The simple answer is because that's what I like best. Being surrounded by animals and nature simply feels good, so why not do what makes you feel good? Which is why I live in the forest of Berlin and not in the city center. The most beautiful secret about Berlin is that it has the largest body of forestry of all the European capitals. To contrast that, consider one of the most famous films to come from Berlin, Metropolis, and its depiction of the industrialized worker-drones filing off to factory jobs. Well, that was a reflection of Berlin city life in the 1920s. But what the film depicted of how industrialized living affects the psyche is even more true today in any metropolis. City living creates a disempathic, anhedonic malaise that drains your vitality and strains the immune system. You have limited freedom of movement and space, so you confine yourself to a very selective and guarded personal space. Living packed into cities like human slaughterhouses compartmentalizes everything and fosters a desire to segregate. But in nature, boundaries are less defined. So you have a feeling of expansion rather than constriction. In Japan the Forest Agency created the idea of “forest bathing” and it's now officially recognized as a stress-management activity everywhere. I notice that whenever people come from the city center to visit me, they always comment on how much instantly better they feel just being around trees, lakes, wide open spaces and no traffic or streets. When I do portraits of people, taken in nature settings, there's a noticeable difference in the expressions. People are more at ease in nature. In city environments, under hectic and rushed conditions, people's expressions are much different. Even happy people display a subtle tension because they can't fully relax, anticipating the next interruption from whatever electronic devices - I can't work that way.

What do you think is necessary to do Art? 
Patience. Self-discipline. Practice. Trust. Gratitude. A sense of humor. And what in Sanskrit is known as lila, divine creative play. A “priming of the minds canvas” is necessary. Clearing away mind-clutter in order to reach certain trance or meditative states helps you to become completely absorbed while working. If you prime yourself before beginning to work, then the art flows freely. You don't have to “think” of what to do. This expansive meditative state of mind creates a type of enthusiasm (literal meaning: an energy infusion from pure and powerful forces) which also affects the final product. 

So, because of the way I work, I'm very selective about who I work with and what projects I agree to. I carefully consider the energy, ability and mental state of the people I work with because that also affects the final result of the project. In choosing an apprentice or assistant, it's very important for me to work with those of a similar temperament to maintain a cohesive and conducive atmosphere during the creation. When it comes down to the task of actually doing the work, choosing those who are undistracted, have good focus, and who aren't preoccupied with trivia, impatient or waiting for the “fun” to begin. That's what's important. And this is true of all inspired artists. It's a particular temperament and a way of working whereby you have a clear vision and you can only work with people who understand that way of working. In other words, I am not what I call a “congregational artist” - someone who only engages in art to feel a warm fuzzy sense of community with “like-minded people.” You may as well join the Hare Krishnas, if that's what you're looking for.

In order to create, you also need the fire in the belly. An urgent sense of time passing and impermanence. It's the knowing that if you don't seize the moment when you have it, you'll never get that shot exactly the same again; you'll never record that track exactly right without completing itnow ; you'll never film that scene exactly the same way tomorrow. The fire in the belly is the sense of urgency. That there is no time to waste. That regardless of circumstances, availability of materials resources, time, financial conditions or obstacles, artists who are inspired to create have an unstoppable fire. Being truly inspired to create means you can't say you have to wait to buy a new notebook in order to write. You will either write with whatever you have or you will find a way to make one appear for you. You won't say you need to wait until you have more time to begin painting. You make the time or you sacrifice time from meaningless activities in your life. You won't say your creative juices just aren't there without the right sexual partner in your life. You will integrate your desire for the right sexual partner into your creation. Then maybe, like Pygmalion, your Galatea will actually appear in your life. You won't be an uptight geeky nerd about what materials or instruments you use, or can't do without. If you have a fire within you to create music, you will create your own instruments. If you're truly inspired, you won't even want to drink or take drugs to stimulate creativity because you'll be intoxicated by the process of creating. When you have the proper inspiration and inner fire to create, it's like a baby that's ready to be born – it can't be put off for a more optimal time to happen. It happens to you and like being in love, you can't resist it.

Have you other project in work-in-progress?
I'm working on three different projects simultaneously, involving music, writing and art. Generally, I don't talk about works in progress until they are completed or near completion. But for this interview, I've included some examples from the photography project I'm working on. Consider this interview, as well as my past, present and future work, all as fragments of my Gesamtkunstwerk, or inspired-holistic art project...A work in progress.