South Paradiso Dreams

Mark my words, someday I'll have my very own custom made leather jacket from South Paradiso Leather! Now I just need to manifest the funds to pay for it! Magick, do as you will!

Mindflowers for You!

I've been away so long! I'm house sitting and have limited computer access...I have so much to tell you all, but no time! I'll be blogging regularly again very soon...but meanwhile...

Look at this: Blessing by Mati Klarwein 1965



Listen to this: F2 The New Folk Podcast

Tracklisting:
The Angels of Light, "Promise of Water"
Larkin Grimm, "Ride That Cyclone"
The Entrance Band, "Grim Reaper Blues"
Quinn Walker, "Wind Chimes"
Mariee Sioux, "Friendboats"
Phosphorescent, "Wolves"

Watch This: Terence Mckenna

Dear Dad,

~Witchcrafted~

If you happen to require the services of a real witch...don't forget I'm here for you! I just made a customized Love/Sex charm bundle for a friend of mine. I really love how it turned out...originally she had asked me for just a love charm...but what's love and romance without great sex!?



The fétiche is comprised of various herbs, roots, oils, and stones. Notice the little pins...I used glue and rolled them in real gold dust and magnetic sand. Magnetic sand is used in Hoodoo for attraction...the gold dust is symbolic of Lover's Alchemy, the perpetual goal of spiritual growth and evolution...the transmutation of a base metal to gold! The pins secure 4 tiny silver heart milagros ("milagros" means "miracles" in Spanish) Check out my etsy shop for if you're interested in your own customized fétiche!

Jim's Skull Gallery

Aren't these skull sculptures incredible!? Check out Jim's Skull Gallery for more Neo-Tribal goodness!

Out with the Old ~ In with the New

It's Sale Time Again! I like to see my etsy shop inventory turn over quite regularly...so I must have a nice little sale now and again! EVERYTHING in my shop has been marked down...YES, even the Black Forest Relics!!! If you've been eyeing one of these, snatch it up now because things are changing very soon! I'll still offer these...but I'm turning my focus torwards new endeavors. I have an amazing line of handmade jewelry in production called Woodland Echoes that will be sold in my etsy shop. I can't tell you too much, but I will tell you that Courtney Brooke is helping me photograph some things for the shop and it's going to be Magical!!!



Also, Steve Quenell and I collaborated on an AMAZING work of art to represent my new shop! It's like BAM...you've just entered the Psychedelic Forest!!! Deep SUPERNATURAL Magic!!! He just modified the original into an etsy banner and is working on another banner for the blog that will accompany the new shop! Steve Rocks!!! He's a Creative Machine! I just fed him ideas, key phrases, and sent over a few images...he worked his digital magic...and then Poof...a mystical dream come true! Check out his website...it will move you!

Patrick Wolf

I think Patrick Wolf is fabulous...and I want his feathery coat!

Happy Full Moon!

I just wanted to let you know that my pal Leila of Red Heart 13 is having a GIVEAWAY contest! The winner will recieve an original, signed and numbered work of art: Skeleton Krew no.022 Midnight Matilda. Her Skeleton Krew series is a macabre take on Victorian Memento Mori! Here's a little sneak peak...click HERE for contest details!



Red Heart 13 "In a world of masquerading romantic tragedy holds places of splendid melancholy, a world filled with vampires and dark stories created through odd relics and whimsical jewelry."

Connect the dots.......

Haute Macabre posted a lil' something about Clint Catalyst which promted me to write this blog post! I discovered (re-discovered) Clint Catalyst several years ago by sheer accident. I was searching for a black chandelier for my apartment and simply googled "black chandelier". I never did find a chandelier, but I found something even better! One of the first things that came up in my google search was a link to Jared Gold's old website...which appealed to every one of my six senses for obvious reasons.

It was just a curtain page that linked to his Myspace page which his was his primary networking tool to get the word out about his couture clothing under his "Black Chandelier" label. It was like opening Pandora's Box! Jared had just wrapped up an amazing runway show at the Los Angeles Theater...OMG the clothes...My eyes were popping out of my head!!! Not to mention the meticulously styled models, Jeffree Star in particular caught my eye! The event was curated by Clint Catalyst and was was billed as "the wildest front row in all of Fashion Week." I thought to myself, "who the hell are these fabulous people!?" Attendees included all kinds of amazing artists and musicians that I love, like Liz McGrath and Dame Darcy...fabulous I tell you!

I immediatly sent a friend request so I could see what Jared was doing next. And about this Clint Catalyst guy...he looked really familiar so I started poking around his Myspace page. After looking at his photos I realized he used to grace the pages of a couple Gothic/Industrial lifestyle magazines I used to read: Industrial Nation and Permission. Permission magazine was first published in the early 90's in Chicago by a guy named Jayson Elliot...he and I hung out with the same circle of people. It was a really exciting time...the climax of Chicago's Industrial scene. Chicago is the cradle of the Industrial music, home of the legendary Wax Trax Records and bands like My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, Die Warzau, Ministry, KMFDM, Sister Machine Gun, and the Smashing Pumpkins! Even though there was a lot going on, it wasn't enough to keep a magazine going. Jayson started touring with local bands to spread the word about Permission and gather new material for future publications. Somewhere along the way he fell in love with San Fransico...I remember when he came back from touring and he said "Chicago sucks, I'm moving to California!" So off he went, it was 1992. I never saw him again but I continued to follow Permission...which got better and better!

You have to remember this was BEFORE the Internet...and BEFORE Lollapalloza...BEFORE Urban Outfitters and Hot Topic. There was no radio play of alternative music either! Unless you were lucky enough to live in close proximity of a College or University that hosted a New Wave or Punk radio show...you might be able to rig up your antenna just right and tune in. And you might remember the television show dedicated to alternative music called "120 Minutes" on MTV. It aired late on Sunday nights beginning in 1986. (After the first Lollapalooza the show totally went down hill.) Aside from a few great 'zines that were in circulation, Permission was one of the first note worthy magazines of it's kind. Prior to that it was Propaganda which had more gothic feel...mostly because it was based in Hollywood/Los Angeles. The LA scene was more Death Rock than Industrial...and probably had something to do with the fact that LA was home to bands like Christian Death...and the legendary HELTER SKELTER. (You see, Goth and Industrial are two separate entities, sibling children of Punk and New Wave.)

Anyway, back to Clint...

Rites of Passage...

Body Modification has been an important part of my life since I first pierced my own nose when I was 15. Back then, body piercing was totally D.I.Y. You had to do it the punk rock way and stick a safety pin or something through your lip or nose. Below is a pic of my old pal Shannon...circa 1991, she was 18. She had a really cool mom who let her paint her room black! She gave me my first tattoo (I was 16) using a needle, thread, and India Ink! Me, Shannon, her sister Michelle and our friend Carol all had matching Yin Yang tattoos! It's hard to believe we all have kids now...time flies!



The first place in Chicago to legally offer body piercing was a a tattoo shop called Body Basics. The shop was owned by The Reverend Mad Jack, one of the most influential people in the Body Modifcation scene in Chicago. He was a Tattoo Artist and Master Piercer, and really felt like he was participating in an ancient trade. Shortly after this, another side of Body Modification came up from the underground. The revival of Circus Sideshow Culture. The Jim Rose Circus Sideshow was founded in Seattle by Jim Rose in the early 1990s. They came to prominence while performing on the second stage at the 1992 Lollapalooza. Acts included fire eating, sword swallowing, knife throwing, body modification piercing show like ritual suspension, and other dangerous stunts. Performers drew inspiration from circus and carnival sideshow acts of the early 1900's that featured "freak show" exhibitions "human oddities" including "born freaks" such as midgets, giants or persons with other deformities, or "made freaks" like tattooed people. The show featured people like Paul Lawrence aka The Enigma, who had undergone extensive body modification, including horn implants, ear reshaping, multiple body piercings, and a full-body jigsaw-puzzle tattoo. His tattooing process began under the needle of Katzen the Tiger Lady, whom he eventually married and performed with under the moniker "Human Marvels." (This gave way to the burgeoning Circus Culture we are seeing these days.) Soon after we saw more extremes in the industry like tounge spliting, branding, and scarification.


Enigma and Katzen...the Human Marvels

Bands like Genitortures and the Impotent Sea Snakes incorperated bondage and piercing into their acts. So body play performances became pretty common at some of Chicago's Punk/Goth clubs.



The following year (1993) I turned 18. I caught wind that an old friend of mine, Mike Leatherman, was piercing. He turned up at a Punk hair salon called Milio's Hair Studio where my roomate Nicole and my friend JoJo worked. Soon after he talked the owner into letting him pierce there....they already had a tattoo artist, so why not? Mike trained under the auspices of Cliff Cadaver of Hollywood California. Mike's business card said "Get a Hole with Soul", he put emphasis on ritual adornment and rites of passage. That's Mike pictured below.



Like Mad Jack, he held the art of body modification in high esteem. He was into the shamanic rites of passage of indigenous peoples and followed the doctrines of FAKIR MUSAFAR "Father of the Modern Primitive Movement" He taught that by using your body, modifying your body, you can go into states of consciousness and discover the true nature of life and yourself. This ideology was really appealing to me. I was already familiar with altered trance states because of my Occult studies. It was in alignment with all the initiations and rituals I read about. Below: Fakir Musafar's far out body play from waist training to ritual suspension with meat hooks, inspired by Native American flesh offering ceremonies!



In addition to the spiritual aspects of Body Modification, the erotic component in all of this was also very alluring. My (ex)boyfriend and I got our tounges pierced during this time. For me, this rite of passage marked the period of time where I embraced my sexuality, particularly the darker violent aspects of it where the lines between pain and pleasure are obscured. It was at this point of my life that I was liberated from the guilt and shame I associated with sex due to parental and religious conditioning. Tounge piercings and other blood-letting ceremonies are an act of spiritual purification in many cultures. In India, devotees of certain gods and goddesses undergo fasting, praying, and penance ceremonies. This is a spiritual discipline, a training of the mind and the body to endure and harden up against all hardships, to persevere under difficulties and prove their religious devotion.






Penance can get pretty extreme!


Within the next few years I collected many piercings (I've taken all of them out since then) and I started getting tattooed as well. I met an awesome tattoo artist named Deb Brody. She tattooed my leg from ankle to knee with swirly tribal work and big trippy looking flowers. I wanted something to represent growth and blooming. I started Columbia College that year to major in Fine Arts. I was totally disenchanted with the Fine Arts program by the end of my first semester...boring! I decided to take a few Women's studies classes the next semester instead. One was called "Women in Art, Literature, and Music" and the other one was called "Exploring the Goddess". This was the culmination of my Feminist/Riot Gurl kick! Once again I found myself really identifying with Warrior Goddesses...It was the Goddess, Kali that I identified with the most. Goddess of Death and Destruction, Liberator from the bonds of Illusion. All the Death and Destruction I had experienced up until that point was meant to make me stronger. I destroyed every false ideology fed to me as a child. Destroyed anything that kept me from evolving...including my own ego/self. I liberated myself from all false belief systems imposed upon me. I destroyed all negative, parental, religious, and social conditioning about who I was told I was supposed to be. I found her image extremly empowering and had her tattooed as an entire half sleeve om my right arm by my friend Kim Saigh. Kim started another piece on my lower back a few years ago but eventually I'd like my entire back done, so it will need to get re-worked. I miss my friend Kimmy, she was casted for the Reality TV show LA INK and moved to Los Angeles! Below is a couple shots of my half sleeve...I'm about to get it totally re-done because as you can see it's become quite faded after 10 years...



Kali is not Death personified in the sense that you might think. She is seen standing on her husband Shiva who is laying in the Satva (corpse) pose, thus symbolizing the death of negativities and the complete uprooting of negative patterns to such a point that, like a dead body, they will not come to life. The Hindus call the age we live in the Kali Yuga which means the Age of Kali, The Age of Darkness/Ignorance or The Iron Age. They believe death is a condition of creation. Kali is the destroyer of ignorance...and she will not stop her dance of destruction until humanity is enlightened...which is the beginning of the Golden Age. This is like many other End Time Prophecies throughout the world.



Below is a photo of me during that phase of my life...it was right before I got pregnant with my beautiful daughter Maya LeVey. After I had my daughter I slowly shed this identity. I was inspired by the Sadhus and dreaded my hair. The Sadhus are the dreadlocked holy mystics of India, devotees of Kali and Shiva. I suppose dreading my hair was my rite of passage between girlhood and womanhood. My daughter's father was in a band...they got signed to Sony Records...so he hit the road to go on a tour while I was pregnant. I was on my own, so I had to be strong...like a Warrior. I was used to "survival mode" cause my Dad was always coming and going when I was a kid...which left me to fend for myself emotionally, as I had a very mentally unstable Mother. Looking back I can sympathize with her...raising a child alone is exhausting sometimes. For most of my life I subconsciously, associated Men with disappointment and being inherently unreliable...this part of my journey brought all my buried feelings of loss and abandonment to the surface. I took me a while to sort it all out...to forgive and reconcile with my own parents. They just didn't have the capacity to be anymore to me than what they were because they were busy struggling with there own demons. They of course had fucked up parents too...I knew it was my shoulders to stop perpetuating the cycle...to heal myself and re-shape family Karma.



I've been through so many changes since then. After my son was born I cut off my dreads. I needed to shed my identity and everything associated with it. I'm ready to put the last decade of my life behind me. It's been a long road out of Hell! This is me a couple of months after my son Solomon was born, it was the last picture taken of me with my dreads (my crown). The other pic is my actual dreads after I chopped them off (notice the purple ruler) my hair was past my bum!






For the last couple of years I've been in Hermit mode...gathering strength and rebuilding myself. I'm finally at the crossroads of a new life, a rebirth, so it's time to get tattooed! Patrick Cornolo just started a piece on the same arm as my Kali tattoo...the face of Mahakala! He is a wrathful diety like Kali.The Western mind often mistakes wrathful dieties for evil beings or demons...but it is not so! Here's what it looks like after my first session!



Mahakala is a manifestation of Avalokiteshvara, the God of Compassion. It is said that that by assuming a wrathful form he would be able "to subdue the degenerate beings of this Age of Darkness." Also he saw that even beings who practiced Dharma were unable to escape from the Bardo realms (time between rebirths where beings may face great anxiety and terrifying experiences) and he thought that in wrathful form he could also protect them in that way. And lastly, he thought that the beings in this Dark Age were poor and needy, experiencing only suffering after suffering, and that in wrathful form he could provide them an antidote to that suffering so that by simply making the wish (for protection) their needs could be met.



A crown of five skulls is worn by all manifestations of Mahakala and represents the transmutation of the five negative afflictions of human nature into the Five Wisdoms (positive virtues): Ignorance transforms into the Wisdom of Absolute Reality, Pride becomes the Wisdom of Sameness, Attachment becomes the wisdom of Discernment, Jealousy becomes the wisdom of Accomplishment, Anger becomes Mirror like wisdom. It's relevant to observe that the Crow is visualized in Tibetan Buddhism as an incarnation of Mahakala, whose name literally means the 'Great Black One.' The Crow is also the symbol for the Nigredo stage of Alchemy! He's most commonly depicted as black in color...but manifests as blue, red, and white as well. I'm getting the Red Mahakala...for energy, protection, and power.