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.

Coming Soon: 
ZEENA's sequel to 'Bring Me the Head of Geraldo Rivera' - 
BRING ME THE HEAD OF F.W. MURNAU.
Inspired by this recent news story THE HEAD OF NOSFERATU DIRECTOR F.W. MURNAU STOLEN FROM HIS GRAVE IN BERLIN , Frau Schreck will issue a limited edition vinyl single, musically reflecting the theme and implications of this unusual occurrence. 
 
News of its release will be posted to this blog as well as on Zeena's Facebook page.

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 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/

“The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord comes,” (Joel 2:31). 

Peace! Š-L-M! Salām! Shalom! Šlama!

A heartfelt thanks goes out today to my dear artist friend Frank Haines, who sent me his latest book, aptly titled, Frank  Exchanges. 

Frank organized the 2013 New York performance, “Zeena Schreck, Live from the Eye of the Storm.” Over the course of our lifetimes, Frank and I have worked, lived and loved in many of the same cities - San Francisco, Vienna and Berlin - but it wasn't until 2012 when our paths finally crossed and we began plans to collaborate on various art projects.

Frank Exchanges is a labor of love spotlighting twenty-six artists who have traveled through Frank's life at various times. I had the privilege of meeting many of these talented and hard-working artists as a result of my collaboration with Frank for our New York performance. So it's wonderful to learn more about this community of creators and creatrixes in this volume.

Frank is inspired by and works with artists who understand and embody the integration of spirituality, magic and the creative process. He also has an appreciation and understanding of the feminine energy central to creativity. This could be because he's been nurtured and mentored by many female artists, including his two sisters and his life's partner, Jackie Klempay. It could also be because he really digs feminine mystical artists. Conversations with Frank are often peppered with references to female artists who inspire him. So it's not surprising that the introduction to his book explains the genesis of Frank Exchanges, as related to two female artists and how the “direct interview form, where the content reflects a conversation” shaped his desire to publish his exchanges with artists he knows:

[...]

From that launching point, Frank manifests Frank Exchanges. A collection of essay-interviews that reveal complex philosophical and religio-magical perspectives from artists who have experienced struggle, love, pain, poverty, doubt, loss, euphoria and all of the usual challenges artists face in a society which devalues visionary thought. It offers a glimpse into the minds of ambassadors from another state of consciousness. In a strictly materialistic culture, both art and spirituality are often viewed by society as worthless, when they don't contribute to economic and industrial productivity. So it's refreshing to see artists intelligently interviewed by one of their own, rather than being asked inane questions by someone who can't relate to the creative spirit!
~Zeena

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.

Zeena's next Vajrayana-Dharma workshop will be in Berlin on MARCH 29, 2015 
Space is limited, so please reserve your place in advance. No walk-ins on the day of the workshop.
Deadline for pre-registration is March 26.
More details and pre-registration at http://www.zeena.eu/index.php…

Private consultation sessions arranged through: kch_info@yahoo.com