Photo collage and mirrors on board. Dimensions and materials variable, site specific.

A ritual performance space used to invoke unthought, progressive aspects of the divine feminine.

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The image of the solitary witch or magician marking out sacred spaces using geometric and other symbolic devices to invoke the numinous is a perennial one. However, this installation is intended to be a feminist statement of intent in which the body is defined within specific, self-determined practices and ontologies as a sovereign, meaningful entity in its own right. The space is explored using Irigarayan concepts of the divine feminine, through which one may cultivate experiences of an unparalleled fluidity, interrelationship, and ecstatic engagement with all aspects of sentience. The space is used to cultivate magical states of incubation, contemplation, and dynamic interaction with the prima materia of existence. The tripartite levels within the piece denote the upper world of spirit and chthonic dimensions on and below the ground. The third, intermediate, apparently ‘empty’ zone is a ritual performance space loaded with potential, which can be influenced, mirrored and transformed by human activity. The mirrors in each section reflect the hermetic dictum ‘as above so below’ but also capture the movement of the ritual participant and the space in between which is alive with infinite possibilities. The body engages with spirit in this ‘magical space’ which awakens one to the duality of nature and the dynamic interaction that is possible between all forms of matter. The lines of force that emanate from the body become entangled with the angles of form and the spirits of place enticed into the installation.

       The imagery collaged on the piece is drawn from photographic documentation of ritual practices in the local environment. The magical circle in this case being delineated by the images captured by a camera scanning the environment in a 360 degree turn at specific locations in the landscape of Liverpool and images of the body immersed in altered states of consciousness. The collage is wrapped and molded around this 3d sculpture to convey the lines of force, geometric dimensions and angles found in symbolic esoteric models such as the Kabbalistic tree of Life, which reflect the energetic structures of the natural world and the cosmos. The starting point for building the sculpture was the shape of ‘Chirzpa’ a shape/sigil representing Britain in the Angelical grimoire of Dr John Dee and Edward Kelley. Rendered using seven collaged squares and triangles which create pyramidal structures. An additional upper section is made of four units which correspond to the cardinal points and the gateways to higher dimensions of the spirit/cosmos which in Kabbalistic symbolism have four stations or sephira. The installation is modular and can be adapted to each location by adding new sections which reflect the local environment. The seven modules in the lower part of the installation can be rearranged to form the shapes which correspond to the ‘Parts of Earth’ of Dee and Kelley’s magical system. Thus, creating a magical space that can connect one’s consciousness with any part of the globe and the sentient forces that inhabit each one.