yarn, cow leather, cow teeth, hematite, red ochre, red brick powder made from a Drury Brick Co, a Vermont brick company in acrylic matte medium, waxed thread, vinyl

66 x 66 x 2 in.

M/Other represents families that are not blood. The rug visualizes a gateway towards temporary worlds within the ordinary world. The white circular frame symbolizes the salt used in these protection circles. The pulverized substance is a brick made by Drury Brick Co, a Vermont brick company. I live in Vermont. If I do not have access to something that can produce a powder from something found in the location where the work is being displayed, my second option is using something from the location of the production of the work. 

On Rugs:

If you think of my work as a family tree, my rugs are the parents to the carpet beaters, the bells, the needle and possibly future work. The rugs represent a more of an archetypal or totemic figure—the Whore, the Crone, the Warrior, the Mother and the Heretic, to name a few. 

I see rugs as objects of spatial transitions and a protective barrier—their soft borders protecting whether they are on the wall, floor or resting on one's shoulders. Keeping in mind notions of the occult, the rugs take on the motif of the magic circle which, in itself, is a boundary but it is also more than that—it is a passage, a gateway, a portal between the natural and supernatural. The rug is not necessarily used to hide something from us but to reveal the hiddenness in the world, our world—the world-in-itself vs. the world-for-us.

Detail

Steel, goat horn, kyanite, amethyst, cotton 

13 x 38 x 3 in.

On Carpet Beaters:

Sometimes the hidden world reveals itself without any magic circle to serve as a boundary. The carpet beaters, bells and a needle with thread are all not quite pure nature, not quite supernatural and maybe unnatural. They are manifestations of the hidden world revealed in our world. I hope these works lead us to ask whether there is a history hidden within history and what is a new take on history(1).* Now let's think of the magic circle as defined with the rugs—not as a circle but as a game or a playground where magic and the occult happen upon. Think of Marlowe’s The Tragedy of Doctor Faustus (1593) and how tools, both of the natural world and secular-sacred objects, are used to play the game of magic(2). 

My carpet beaters are secular-sacred objects that are a play on a broomstick and a magic wand. When I started making my rugs, I started looking into how rugs were cleaned before technology. Truth be told, I was poking around a local antique store, came across a wall of antique metal carpet beaters, I bought two of them and the rest is history. I was already into occult writing and developing my own sigilic** writing. I turned the head of a carpet beater into a sigil and used the handle as an opportunity to tell more of the story of the sigil through the handle materials. I would like to think that with each swing of the carpet beater, the whoosh through the air is the whisper of the beater’s name. 

**A sigil is a type of symbol used in magic. The term usually refers to a pictorial signature of a deity or spirit (such as an angel or demon). In modern usage, especially in the context of chaos magic, a sigil refers to a symbolic representation of the practitioner's desired outcome. It is a hidden language.

Steel, goat's horn, lady fern, burdock, patchouli root, cotton, wax

13 x 38 x 3 in.

On Carpet Beaters:

Sometimes the hidden world reveals itself without any magic circle to serve as a boundary. The carpet beaters, bells and a needle with thread are all not quite pure nature, not quite supernatural and maybe unnatural. They are manifestations of the hidden world revealed in our world. I hope these works lead us to ask whether there is a history hidden within history and what is a new take on history(1).* Now let's think of the magic circle as defined with the rugs—not as a circle but as a game or a playground where magic and the occult happen upon. Think of Marlowe’s The Tragedy of Doctor Faustus (1593) and how tools, both of the natural world and secular-sacred objects, are used to play the game of magic(2). 

My carpet beaters are secular-sacred objects that are a play on a broomstick and a magic wand. When I started making my rugs, I started looking into how rugs were cleaned before technology. Truth be told, I was poking around a local antique store, came across a wall of antique metal carpet beaters, I bought two of them and the rest is history. I was already into occult writing and developing my own sigilic** writing. I turned the head of a carpet beater into a sigil and used the handle as an opportunity to tell more of the story of the sigil through the handle materials. I would like to think that with each swing of the carpet beater, the whoosh through the air is the whisper of the beater’s name. 

**A sigil is a type of symbol used in magic. The term usually refers to a pictorial signature of a deity or spirit (such as an angel or demon). In modern usage, especially in the context of chaos magic, a sigil refers to a symbolic representation of the practitioner's desired outcome. It is a hidden language.

underglaze, vinyl paint, waxed thread on stoneware
7 x 4 x 6in.

Video of the bell ringing can be found on Vimeo.

The demon Saranyt earliest found recording is in the Elizabethan book called The Book of Oberon (1577), the author/s unknown. According to its writings:

“He can raise dead men, and cause them to take again their own shape, and to speak with men. He can teach one the seven arts or sciences liberal, and he appears like an ass with a woman's face.”

I thought nothing of this entry until I came across a passing mention of the Hindu Goddess Saranyu in the “Infinity sign” entry in The Women’s Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects (1988):

“...Some said it was the mark [the infinity sign] of the twin gods known as the Sons of the Mare (Asvins), born of the Goddess Saranyu who took the form of a mare [a female horse]…” (pg. 10)

And in Gertrude Jobes, Dictionary of Mythology, Folklore and Symbols (1962), the entry “Saranyu” states: 

“Hindu goddess [Saranyu] of the morning light. Daughter of Tvastr. By Vivasvat mother of the Asvins and the primeval twins Yama and Yami. She assumes mare form and disappears.” (pg 1400)

It also seems like the author/s or The Book of Oberon conflated Saranyu with one of her twin children, Yama, who becomes the King of the Dead. According to Hindu Myths (1975) by the acclaimed scholar of Sanskritand Indian textual traditions, Wendy Doniger, she translates a story “Yama rejects Yami” from the Rig Vega, the oldest known Vedic Sanskrit text. In one of her explanatory footnotes, Doniger writes:

“He [the the original text] may be Yama. If it is Yama, then the ocean may be the metaphorical ocean separating morals from immortals.” (pg 63)

Receiving immortality is one way to raise the dead in their mortal form and voice. 

Major trade routes between India and Europe were well established by the 16th century. It was and still is today very common to demonize what we dislike, detest or want to vilify. The Christian demonization of the Hindo goddess, Saraynu, is straightforward. What surprises me is that I have yet to find any contemporary sources, including Michelle Belanger’s 2015 The Dictionary of Demons, or just any sources that make this leap. I did find a reprint of 1879 book, Demonology and Devil-lore by Moncure Daniel Conway, an 19th century American abolitionist and radical writer, where Conway writes: 

“But the descriptions of the Erinyes by the Greek poets—especially of Æschylus, who pictures them as black, serpent-locked, with eyes dripping blood, and calls them hounds—show that Saranyu as morning light, and thus the revealer of deeds of darkness, had gradually been degraded into a personification of the Curse.” (pg 8)

Two things—first, Conway never recounts Saranyu's story from Rig Vega where it is actually Saranyu’s shadow double, Sanjna, that curses Yama’s foot. And secondly, Conway links Saranyu, the morning light, to Lucifer, the morning star:

“The fabled ‘fall of Lucifer’ really signifies a process similar to that which has been noticed in the case of Saranyu. The morning star, like the morning light, as revealer of the deeds of darkness” (pg 19)

Though Conway was living in London while writing Demonology and Devil-lore, Conway clearly did not know about The Book of Oberon and Saranyt and what I have explained in the above text. But that's ok, Demonology and Devil-lore seems to be an epic 774 page attempt to find links between the divine in non-abrahamic religions and their demonization. 

On Bells:

My bells are secular-sacred objects and are idols. Each idol bell is a demon as described in actual grimoires*** or the bible. I chose bells as a form because of their importance in religion and rituals of the past and present. Bells are associated with mystical happenings and communications with deities, ancestors and the supernatural. In ancient Greece, gods, goddesses and other spirits were painted onto terracotta bells. Ringing a specific bell summoned on that spirit to appear. Later in European history, Christianity turned these idol bells into objects associated with witchcraft used to call in demons and evil spectors—those same evils that were once our ancestors, gods, goddesses and daemons. Christians also altered the iconology and societal position of the bell by placing large metal bells on top of towers at churches to call for and announce the arrival of the holy spirit and to remind parishioners to come to church. Their bellows became the echoed protection for these holy angels during their travels between heaven and the church from demons. The invocation of my idol bells are a modern consideration of the animism one can experience in their ring—similarly to the intentions of the makers of ancient idol bells.

The bells are named after the demon, not who or what is demonized. I choose to do it this way because in most religions, including Wicca (witchcraft), one is not supposed to call for demons because you will/could be possessed and all hell will break loose. I disagree. Some demons got a bad rap and those are the ones I am interested in. The demons I have researched, I have deemed, through said research, to be of a demonized person/s, thing, or supernatural therefore, I want to call out and call in for them. Demons are other people.

***A grimoire is a textbook of magic ("book of spells", "magic book", or a "spellbook"), typically including instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms, and divination, and how to summon or invoke supernatural entities.

underglaze, vinyl paint, raw pearls, waxed thread on stoneware
9 x 7 x 4in. (bell only)

Video of the bell sound can be found on Vimeo

The demons Jambex and Garsone first appear in the Elizabethan grimoire, The Book of Oberon (1577), author/s unknown. I used the 2015 translation by Daniel Harms, James R. Clark, and Joseph H. Peterson. Jambex is called upon in love magic. He prefers to appear in a female form and is skillful in compelling the love of men. Garsone is noted in the grimoire to be a “good and true spirit.” They are called upon to help find treasure and can reveal divine secrets. When they manifest, they assume the form of a man. 

There are centuries old grimoires that describe, in so many words, gender fluid, queer presenting demons. Sometimes there is just nothing to tie the demon to anything but a larger historical discriminatory practice or trend, like the demonization of homosexuality in Christian Europe. Years ago I came across this scholarly essay, “The Demons' Reaction to Sodomy: Witchcraft and Homosexuality in Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola's "Strix" by Tamar Herzig in The Sixteenth Century Journal. The essay lays out specifically the demonization of homosexuals in sixteenth century Italy. She lays out how medieval theologians stressed demons’ disgust at sodomy but by the fifteenth century, theologians of the time began to connect sodomy and homosexuality with the expanding crime of witchcraft. By the sixteenth century, demons were homosexuals and homosexuals were demons. This transition in views began to shape some demons’ characteristics in writings of the time to resemble how queer culture of the European Middle Ages shamed, vilified and criminalized that community. Jambex and Garsone are the sixteenth century demonization of the Other—the Other being a queer, gender-fluid, and trans person/s. 

On Bells:

My bells are secular-sacred objects and are idols. Each idol bell is a demon as described in actual grimoires*** or the bible. I chose bells as a form because of their importance in religion and rituals of the past and present. Bells are associated with mystical happenings and communications with deities, ancestors and the supernatural. In ancient Greece, gods, goddesses and other spirits were painted onto terracotta bells(3). Ringing a specific bell summoned on that spirit to appear. Later in European history, Christianity turned these idol bells into objects associated with witchcraft used to call in demons and evil spectors—those same evils that were once our ancestors, gods, goddesses and daemons. Christians also altered the iconology and societal position of the bell by placing large metal bells on top of towers at churches to call for and announce the arrival of the holy spirit and to remind parishioners to come to church. Their bellows became the echoed protection for these holy angels during their travels between heaven and the church from demons. The invocation of my idol bells are a modern consideration of the animism one can experience in their ring—similarly to the intentions of the makers of ancient idol bells.

The bells are named after the demon, not who or what is demonized. I choose to do it this way because in most religions, including Wicca (witchcraft), one is not supposed to call for demons because you will/could be possessed and all hell will break loose. I disagree. Some demons got a bad rap and those are the ones I am interested in. The demons I have researched, I have deemed, through said research, to be of a demonized person/s, thing, or supernatural therefore, I want to call out and call in for them. Demons are other people.

***A grimoire is a textbook of magic ("book of spells", "magic book", or a "spellbook"), typically including instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms, and divination, and how to summon or invoke supernatural entities.

underglaze on stoneware, waxed thread
13.5 x 3.5 x 3.5 in.

video of the bell sound can be found on Vimeo

Her ringing invokes the philosophess of the Underworld bearing knowledge of time. Her yellow moon lights the three ways—that has been, that is, and that will be. She is inspired by Kore, also known as Persephone, Queen of the underworld, Goddess of spring, the dead, the underworld, grain, and nature. Cults of the earth goddesses— whether Kore, Persephone, Demeter or Gaia—have been noted in many ancient and modern texts to be the most popular and longest-formed cult of ancient Greece and Rome that continued well into the Medieval era of Europe. In the ancient western world, the Cult of Kore was well established in Alexandria, Egypt and carried great influence in the Coptic religions. For example, her high festival, the Koreian, was celebrated on January 6th—a date so important to this group of people that it was assimilated to Christianity as the feast of Epiphany in order to persuade pagans to Christianity(1). In a 1978 translation of the gnostic text titled Nag Hammadi, found in Egypt, that dates back to the 4th century ADE states:

Now the creator has control in the place that is between the earth and heaven. He is called Zeus, that is, life. Plutonius Zeus is lord over the earth and sea. And he does not possess the nourishment for all mortal living creatures, for [it is] Kore who bears the fruit.

Many prominent symbols are associated with Kore. Two specifically, the pentacle and the apple, are ancient symbols so ubiquitous among religions, orders, sects and groups from around the world and through the millennia that it seems to belong to everyone at one point. For the pentacle, many scholars believe its commonness is due to its prevalence of five-pointed forms in nature. The apple’s association with Kore is surprising. One of the reasons is that when you cut an apple transversely to reveal the seeded core*, it is in the shape of a five-pointed star—the pentacle.

By the Medieval period of Europe, Christianity which was the majority religion, still had a hard time rooting out all the Kore and Persephone cults, hence, Christians began to malign common Pagan symbols like the pentacle as satanic and associated with witchcraft, and tying the apple to the forbidden apple in Genesis in the Bible or in later centuries the poisonous apple in the Brothers Grimm, Snow White and other folklore. 

Also by this period, Kore, herself, along with Persephone, were denigrated to demons. According to the magical book, Buch Abramelin, penned in German between 1387 and 1427 by Abraham von Worms, Kore specifically became direct subordinates to Satan and Lucifer(4). Kore is also mentioned in two other texts. The first in Les Farfadets(1821) by the Frenchman Alexis-Vincent-Charles Berbiguier where Kore is called the queen of Hell. The second, Collin de Plancy’s Dictionnaire Infernal (1844) calls Kore, called Persephone here, the “sovereign princess of evil spirits” and suggests her name means to crawl like a serpent and her “ interpreters see in her the fatal serpent.”

*Some etymological experts believe that core could have derived from the goddess Kore but there is no proof of this, just speculation. 

On Bells:

My bells are secular-sacred objects and are idols. Each idol bell is a demon as described in actual grimoires*** or the bible. I chose bells as a form because of their importance in religion and rituals of the past and present. Bells are associated with mystical happenings and communications with deities, ancestors and the supernatural. In ancient Greece, gods, goddesses and other spirits were painted onto terracotta bells(3). Ringing a specific bell summoned on that spirit to appear. Later in European history, Christianity turned these idol bells into objects associated with witchcraft used to call in demons and evil spectors—those same evils that were once our ancestors, gods, goddesses and daemons. Christians also altered the iconology and societal position of the bell by placing large metal bells on top of towers at churches to call for and announce the arrival of the holy spirit and to remind parishioners to come to church. Their bellows became the echoed protection for these holy angels during their travels between heaven and the church from demons. The invocation of my idol bells are a modern consideration of the animism one can experience in their ring—similarly to the intentions of the makers of ancient idol bells.

The bells are named after the demon, not who or what is demonized. I choose to do it this way because in most religions, including Wicca (witchcraft), one is not supposed to call for demons because you will/could be possessed and all hell will break loose. I disagree. Some demons got a bad rap and those are the ones I am interested in. The demons I have researched, I have deemed, through said research, to be of a demonized person/s, thing, or supernatural therefore, I want to call out and call in for them. Demons are other people.

***A grimoire is a textbook of magic ("book of spells", "magic book", or a "spellbook"), typically including instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms, and divination, and how to summon or invoke supernatural entities.

underglaze on stoneware, waxed thread, mother of pearl
13 x 5 x 5 in.

video of the bell sound can be found on Vimeo

Abraxas is a composite being. They appear as a man, often armored, with legs of a serpent and head of a cock. They carry a whip in one hand and a shield in the other. Their appearance is similar to a charioteer and in some descriptions, they appear the be riding a four horse chariot—each horse representing the four elements. In Gnostic mythology, Abraxas is said to have the body of a serpent with a lion head surrounded by ray like those of the sun, an image that seems to harken back to the Persian sun god said to share the same name. 

On Bells:

My bells are secular-sacred objects and are idols. Each idol bell is a demon as described in actual grimoires*** or the bible. I chose bells as a form because of their importance in religion and rituals of the past and present. Bells are associated with mystical happenings and communications with deities, ancestors and the supernatural. In ancient Greece, gods, goddesses and other spirits were painted onto terracotta bells(3). Ringing a specific bell summoned on that spirit to appear. Later in European history, Christianity turned these idol bells into objects associated with witchcraft used to call in demons and evil spectors—those same evils that were once our ancestors, gods, goddesses and daemons. Christians also altered the iconology and societal position of the bell by placing large metal bells on top of towers at churches to call for and announce the arrival of the holy spirit and to remind parishioners to come to church. Their bellows became the echoed protection for these holy angels during their travels between heaven and the church from demons. The invocation of my idol bells are a modern consideration of the animism one can experience in their ring—similarly to the intentions of the makers of ancient idol bells.

The bells are named after the demon, not who or what is demonized. I choose to do it this way because in most religions, including Wicca (witchcraft), one is not supposed to call for demons because you will/could be possessed and all hell will break loose. I disagree. Some demons got a bad rap and those are the ones I am interested in. The demons I have researched, I have deemed, through said research, to be of a demonized person/s, thing, or supernatural therefore, I want to call out and call in for them. Demons are other people.

***A grimoire is a textbook of magic ("book of spells", "magic book", or a "spellbook"), typically including instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms, and divination, and how to summon or invoke supernatural entities.

Detail

underglaze on stoneware, waxed thread
13 x 4.5 x 4.5 in.

video of the bell sound can be found on Vimeo

Biddy was a 17th c. nickname, a cutesy name for Brigid or Bridget and was used in referring to the Goddess Brigid. Though I could not find any direct link, I think it’s interesting that “Biddy” is also a derogatory word for a woman, especially an elderly one, regarded as annoying or interfering. According to some etymology sources, the negative “Biddy” emerged in the late 19th century. Maybe this link began during the later life of Biddy Early, an Irish herbalist and healer of the mid 19th century who was accused of witchcraft in 1865 by local landlords and the priesthood for her insightful ways of helping the poor and sick. Her trial for witchcraft was so sensational that newspapers across Europe and America reported on it. She was the last person to be put on trial for witchcraft in Ireland and she was found innocent. Maybe because of her notoriety in some circles and her elderly age during the trail, Biddy Early may be the namesake for the derogatory term, biddy.

On Bells:

My bells are secular-sacred objects and are idols. Each idol bell is a demon as described in actual grimoires*** or the bible. I chose bells as a form because of their importance in religion and rituals of the past and present. Bells are associated with mystical happenings and communications with deities, ancestors and the supernatural. In ancient Greece, gods, goddesses and other spirits were painted onto terracotta bells(3). Ringing a specific bell summoned on that spirit to appear. Later in European history, Christianity turned these idol bells into objects associated with witchcraft used to call in demons and evil spectors—those same evils that were once our ancestors, gods, goddesses and daemons. Christians also altered the iconology and societal position of the bell by placing large metal bells on top of towers at churches to call for and announce the arrival of the holy spirit and to remind parishioners to come to church. Their bellows became the echoed protection for these holy angels during their travels between heaven and the church from demons. The invocation of my idol bells are a modern consideration of the animism one can experience in their ring—similarly to the intentions of the makers of ancient idol bells.

The bells are named after the demon, not who or what is demonized. I choose to do it this way because in most religions, including Wicca (witchcraft), one is not supposed to call for demons because you will/could be possessed and all hell will break loose. I disagree. Some demons got a bad rap and those are the ones I am interested in. The demons I have researched, I have deemed, through said research, to be of a demonized person/s, thing, or supernatural therefore, I want to call out and call in for them. Demons are other people.

***A grimoire is a textbook of magic ("book of spells", "magic book", or a "spellbook"), typically including instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms, and divination, and how to summon or invoke supernatural entities.

Detail

underglaze and glaze on pink porcelain, waxed thread
12 x 4.5 x 4.5 in.


Sound of night
Fire in the deep
no shine on the horizon
the old power
Waking Up the Chaos
Glacial cold
Womb raider
Waiting for the salt
Rebirth mode

video of the bell sound can be found on Vimeo

On Bells:

My bells are secular-sacred objects and are idols. Each idol bell is a demon as described in actual grimoires*** or the bible. I chose bells as a form because of their importance in religion and rituals of the past and present. Bells are associated with mystical happenings and communications with deities, ancestors and the supernatural. In ancient Greece, gods, goddesses and other spirits were painted onto terracotta bells(3). Ringing a specific bell summoned on that spirit to appear. Later in European history, Christianity turned these idol bells into objects associated with witchcraft used to call in demons and evil spectors—those same evils that were once our ancestors, gods, goddesses and daemons. Christians also altered the iconology and societal position of the bell by placing large metal bells on top of towers at churches to call for and announce the arrival of the holy spirit and to remind parishioners to come to church. Their bellows became the echoed protection for these holy angels during their travels between heaven and the church from demons. The invocation of my idol bells are a modern consideration of the animism one can experience in their ring—similarly to the intentions of the makers of ancient idol bells.

The bells are named after the demon, not who or what is demonized. I choose to do it this way because in most religions, including Wicca (witchcraft), one is not supposed to call for demons because you will/could be possessed and all hell will break loose. I disagree. Some demons got a bad rap and those are the ones I am interested in. The demons I have researched, I have deemed, through said research, to be of a demonized person/s, thing, or supernatural therefore, I want to call out and call in for them. Demons are other people.

***A grimoire is a textbook of magic ("book of spells", "magic book", or a "spellbook"), typically including instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms, and divination, and how to summon or invoke supernatural entities.

Detail

underglaze and glaze on teal porcelain, brass rings, waxed thread
9 x 7.5 x 4.5 in.

break of day,
a sea salted dive sealed
like a lamb to the water,
swallowing hole.

video of the bell sound can be found on Vimeo

On Bells:

My bells are secular-sacred objects and are idols. Each idol bell is a demon as described in actual grimoires*** or the bible. I chose bells as a form because of their importance in religion and rituals of the past and present. Bells are associated with mystical happenings and communications with deities, ancestors and the supernatural. In ancient Greece, gods, goddesses and other spirits were painted onto terracotta bells(3). Ringing a specific bell summoned on that spirit to appear. Later in European history, Christianity turned these idol bells into objects associated with witchcraft used to call in demons and evil spectors—those same evils that were once our ancestors, gods, goddesses and daemons. Christians also altered the iconology and societal position of the bell by placing large metal bells on top of towers at churches to call for and announce the arrival of the holy spirit and to remind parishioners to come to church. Their bellows became the echoed protection for these holy angels during their travels between heaven and the church from demons. The invocation of my idol bells are a modern consideration of the animism one can experience in their ring—similarly to the intentions of the makers of ancient idol bells.

The bells are named after the demon, not who or what is demonized. I choose to do it this way because in most religions, including Wicca (witchcraft), one is not supposed to call for demons because you will/could be possessed and all hell will break loose. I disagree. Some demons got a bad rap and those are the ones I am interested in. The demons I have researched, I have deemed, through said research, to be of a demonized person/s, thing, or supernatural therefore, I want to call out and call in for them. Demons are other people.

***A grimoire is a textbook of magic ("book of spells", "magic book", or a "spellbook"), typically including instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms, and divination, and how to summon or invoke supernatural entities

Detail