Sorcery is a deliberate act of causing metamorphoses by the employment of Elementals. It forges a link with the powers of middle nature, or the ether, the astrals of great trees and of animals of every kind. Will is our medium, Belief is the vehicle, and Desire is the force combining with the elemental. Cryptograms are our talismans and protectors. – Austin Osman Spare

Manifested from the frictions between the known and repressed desires of his subconscious, Austin Osman Spare’s sorcery annexed him to power over his SELF, while tuning him in with the realms of incomprehensible beyond. I’ve tried for days to figure out how to describe this man, but when reading over his life, the facts do nothing to ornament who exactly he was…but that’s the deal with A.O.S.

Dressing the Wounded During a Gas Attack by Austin Osman Spare

A.O.S.’s method

An essential part of Spare’s technique lay in deliberate forgetfulness, and this is the part which a novice finds extremely difficult. The reason he gives for forgetting the desire at the time of invoking it lies in the fact that for the operation to succeed the conscious mind must have no inkling of the transaction. Consciously formulated desires take time to materialize; subconscious desires can be made to materialize very swiftly. Consciousness of the desire vitiates the entire process, so a method had to be found of forgetting the desire during the period of magical evocation. Spare called the process “union through absent-mindedness” and advocated the yogic method of emptying the mind of all but the Sigil. This is not always successful so as an alternative he suggests the sigillization of perennial desires, desires that are sure to arise periodically, as for instance the desire for beautiful women. Several such desires are then sigillized, scrambled together, and laid aside for several days. On reassembling the cards upon which they have been drawn, the operator is unable to remember precisely what sigillizes what! The rite is then comparatively easy to accomplish for it requires only concentrated thought.

Yes, he was had a sacred bond with a Salem Witch who initiated him into the Occult. Yes, he is accredited as the originator of Chaos Magic. His life reads both luminous and diabolic. But, there’s an overwhelming tide that washes over his chronicle and drowns it into the depths of didactic irrelevancy. There’s something greater at work. I know it. But I’m struggling to find the right words, because biography just isn’t descriptive enough to define his shape. It’s on the tip of my tongue…

An illustration from Spare’s sketchbook

I have to go inside incomprehensibility for anything to make sense. Duality is where Spare hides. An entire life governed by powers which can’t be expressed through language. The in between zones of thought and forgetfulness, the space in between life and death…how can you begin to describe what can’t be put into words?

Night Fantasia by Austin Osman Spare

ART. IMAGERY. SYMBOLS. Once you focus here, you’ll see A.O.S. staring right back at you. His life isn’t described. It’s expressed. It’s that feeling you get but don’t know why. Symbols were the translators for him to communicate with the Universe and the Anti Verse…and the only way to understand him as a man. Language could never capture what Spare was reaching for. At a very early age, A.O.S. displayed heightened artistic abilities which led to prominence amongst the upper crust of London’s fine art world. It’s as if he were born into this…a mortal caught between the material and metaphysical. Duality orchestrating it all. Art was his life and the oracle to his magic.

On Spare’s contact with Paranormal Entities

He was, however, in almost daily contact with a familiar, a spirit-guide, known as Black Eagle whom he had clearly seen and drawn on several occasions. But he was convinced that Black Eagle was not the sole source of his automatism. Spare had but to turn his head suddenly and he would sometimes catch a glimpse of the familiar spirits that constantly surrounded him. Several times he had “caught” one of them long enough to make a lightning-swift sketch.

An illustration from Spare’s sketchbook

Spare’s frequent traffic with denizens of invisible realms led to his evolving a graphic means of conjoining all thoughts- past, present, and future- in the ever-fluid ether of Consciousness. His graphic symbology represents a definite language designed to facilitate communication with the psychic and subliminal world.

A.O.S.’s Sigilization, “The Alphabet of Desire”

Spare believed that the individual must create their very own language, their very own means of understanding and interacting with all that exists. Each of us are unique and bound to existence in different ways, thus we must each find our own, very specific method of expressing ourselves to the higher dimensions of consciousness. Spare developed a system of Sigils to jettison him into these astral planes.

Austin Osman Spare

When vividly visualized, the emblem or Sigil mysteriously stirs the subconscious and a corresponding image, or set of images, arises in the mind. In proportion to the power of belief in the Sigil, so is the clarity of the image which it evokes. If the Sigil taps a layer of ancient or cosmic memory, some astonishing images surge into the mind and the skillful sorcerer is able to project them into the astral mind-stuff of other individuals, so that they imagine the image to be a palpable presence.

Is it that we’re all imprisoned in language? Believing in only the things which we can talk about or categorize? Is the only reason why the metaphysical world can’t exist because we can’t describe it through our ABC’s? This is an idea which I have been battling with personally for some time. So is it mere “coincidence” that I found this quote recently? Is it “coincidence” that it was said on my birthday? Language is the main means of communication within civilizations, yet every one varies from another. What’s beyond this? Haven’t you ever felt something so powerful inside only to see it deflate as you spoke about it or wrote it down? Have you ever been at a loss for words? There has to be more. There is more. We all feel it. Maybe we just aren’t meant to share it with others. Perhaps if we let go of trying to define it, we’ll see it staring right back at us.

Austin Osman Spare

At that time, gaze into and beyond the immediate vista, into the Aeon- the spaciousness beyond your meannesses, beyond your borrowed precepts, dogmas and beliefs- until you vibrate in spacious unity. Indraw your breath until the body quivers and then give a mighty suspiration, releasing all your nervous energy into the focal point of your wish; and as your urgent desire merges into the ever present procreative sea, you will feel a tremendous insurge, a self-transformation. And the Devil himself shall not prevent your will materializing.

- Cornbluth