The Art of Magic and The Supersensual with Amy Hale Phd, Begins March 13
Four week class taught live and online via Zoom
Thursday March 13- April 3, 2025
7 pm - 8:30 pm ET (NYC time)
Admission: $100 Paid Patreon Members / $135 General Admission
Please note: All classes will be recorded for those unable to attend
Magic, esotericism and the supersensual are aspects of the human experience that have been central to art and expression from the beginning of time, just as artfulness and aesthetics are central to magical practice. In this class—informed by a blend of folkloristic, art historical and ethnographic approaches—we will explore the importance of magic to the current moment and the multiple ways in which magical and esoteric art shapes and expresses our visual and embodied relationship to the numinous.
Over the course of four weeks, we we will undertake a survey of magical art, including spiritual abstraction, surrealism, feminist art of the 1980s, and the work of some of the best contemporary magical artists. We will also look at magical art outside of a gallery setting and the relationship between art, aesthetics and communities of practice as seen in the art and craft of Freemasonry and friendly societies, Pagan and Occult devotional art, magical tools and psychedelic art, as well as folk art, craft, outsider art, visionary art, and art brut. We will investigate the aesthetics of magic, and explore the role of clothing, jewelry, body art, décor, and the creation of sacred spaces as strategies of not just expression but also as an essential aspect of magical and spiritual practice. We will also consider recent scholarly debates about esotericism and magic, and the reconsideration of diverse magical themes in modern and contemporary art movements across the globe.
As a final project, students will be guided in building and sharing an altar with the group, based on our study of the cross currents between function and aesthetics, creating meaning in personal sacred spaces, and how altars serve as a conduit for our spiritual practices and relationships.
Amy Hale is an Atlanta based writer and critic with a PhD in Folklore and Mythology and is an Honorary Research Fellow with Falmouth University in Cornwall. She has written widely on surrealist Ithell Colquhoun and also on magic and contemporary art.
Images: Two paintings by Barry William Hale; Baphomet Rex Mundi, 2015 and Untitled, undated.
Four week class taught live and online via Zoom
Thursday March 13- April 3, 2025
7 pm - 8:30 pm ET (NYC time)
Admission: $100 Paid Patreon Members / $135 General Admission
Please note: All classes will be recorded for those unable to attend
Magic, esotericism and the supersensual are aspects of the human experience that have been central to art and expression from the beginning of time, just as artfulness and aesthetics are central to magical practice. In this class—informed by a blend of folkloristic, art historical and ethnographic approaches—we will explore the importance of magic to the current moment and the multiple ways in which magical and esoteric art shapes and expresses our visual and embodied relationship to the numinous.
Over the course of four weeks, we we will undertake a survey of magical art, including spiritual abstraction, surrealism, feminist art of the 1980s, and the work of some of the best contemporary magical artists. We will also look at magical art outside of a gallery setting and the relationship between art, aesthetics and communities of practice as seen in the art and craft of Freemasonry and friendly societies, Pagan and Occult devotional art, magical tools and psychedelic art, as well as folk art, craft, outsider art, visionary art, and art brut. We will investigate the aesthetics of magic, and explore the role of clothing, jewelry, body art, décor, and the creation of sacred spaces as strategies of not just expression but also as an essential aspect of magical and spiritual practice. We will also consider recent scholarly debates about esotericism and magic, and the reconsideration of diverse magical themes in modern and contemporary art movements across the globe.
As a final project, students will be guided in building and sharing an altar with the group, based on our study of the cross currents between function and aesthetics, creating meaning in personal sacred spaces, and how altars serve as a conduit for our spiritual practices and relationships.
Amy Hale is an Atlanta based writer and critic with a PhD in Folklore and Mythology and is an Honorary Research Fellow with Falmouth University in Cornwall. She has written widely on surrealist Ithell Colquhoun and also on magic and contemporary art.
Images: Two paintings by Barry William Hale; Baphomet Rex Mundi, 2015 and Untitled, undated.
Four week class taught live and online via Zoom
Thursday March 13- April 3, 2025
7 pm - 8:30 pm ET (NYC time)
Admission: $100 Paid Patreon Members / $135 General Admission
Please note: All classes will be recorded for those unable to attend
Magic, esotericism and the supersensual are aspects of the human experience that have been central to art and expression from the beginning of time, just as artfulness and aesthetics are central to magical practice. In this class—informed by a blend of folkloristic, art historical and ethnographic approaches—we will explore the importance of magic to the current moment and the multiple ways in which magical and esoteric art shapes and expresses our visual and embodied relationship to the numinous.
Over the course of four weeks, we we will undertake a survey of magical art, including spiritual abstraction, surrealism, feminist art of the 1980s, and the work of some of the best contemporary magical artists. We will also look at magical art outside of a gallery setting and the relationship between art, aesthetics and communities of practice as seen in the art and craft of Freemasonry and friendly societies, Pagan and Occult devotional art, magical tools and psychedelic art, as well as folk art, craft, outsider art, visionary art, and art brut. We will investigate the aesthetics of magic, and explore the role of clothing, jewelry, body art, décor, and the creation of sacred spaces as strategies of not just expression but also as an essential aspect of magical and spiritual practice. We will also consider recent scholarly debates about esotericism and magic, and the reconsideration of diverse magical themes in modern and contemporary art movements across the globe.
As a final project, students will be guided in building and sharing an altar with the group, based on our study of the cross currents between function and aesthetics, creating meaning in personal sacred spaces, and how altars serve as a conduit for our spiritual practices and relationships.
Amy Hale is an Atlanta based writer and critic with a PhD in Folklore and Mythology and is an Honorary Research Fellow with Falmouth University in Cornwall. She has written widely on surrealist Ithell Colquhoun and also on magic and contemporary art.
Images: Two paintings by Barry William Hale; Baphomet Rex Mundi, 2015 and Untitled, undated.