Fantasmatic Work

Atu XIV, Art, Thoth Tarot

« Every woman should have a Man like Sir Shumule at home and at her service. He should be placed in a glass cage, taken out for her intellectual and erotic needs, to satisfy both the high and the low, and then locked up again. SS has a fantasmatic work to accomplish. » — Emma La Luce 

Dear friends, beautiful and happy people, 

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. 

Today is the 8th day of the Thelemic Holy Season, on which we traditionally meditate on the Qabalistic Mystery of the Path of Samekh, that is, the XIVth Tarot card, titled Art and attributed to the zodiac sign of Sagittarius — though I’ve never quite managed to decide whether my favorite Sagittarius is Britney Spears or Lucky Luciano. 

The story of my life!… 

Let’s talk about Art, then. 

I recall addressing the question “What is Art?” for the benefit of a high school student’s exam revisions—a cheerful, slacker-ish, ultra-privileged kid from an upper-upper-class family, and thus utterly likable. 

Here’s the explanation I gave him, prefaced with the following advice:

Make the most of high school to stock up on good memories!… Life is long… And you only really laugh willingly in high school, or at the sight of an old lady slipping on a patch of ice and sprawling in the street with all her packages… in both cases, enjoy it while it lasts!… it doesn’t last long!... 

On Art

I just received the following request:

“My Philosophy revisions for the Baccalaureate are currently focused on the theme of Art. How would Sir Shumule define Art?” 

Easy. I’d stick to the definition of the Ancients: ‘Anything that has nothing to do with Survival or Procreation is Art’.

Example: Imagine that, in the height of lust and desire, I find myself on a clear spring morning on the Garigliano Bridge, trying to chase down an exceptionally sexy but exceptionally fast young girl, hoping to force her to satisfy my lechery. 

As athletic and breathless as this chase scene may be, it clearly stems solely from the instinct of Procreation. 

But then, just as I think I’m about to catch my frightened prey, a Malian refugee nicknamed Daddy Cool bursts forth, charging toward me at the speed of an Usain Bolt launched with a steady hand! 

Built like two Mike Tysons, Daddy Cool is on a quest for the heroic act that would allow him to regularize his administrative status in France – He shouts at me: “Leave that young lady alone!!!” as he barrels straight toward me. 

Daddy Cool’s sheer size instantly switches my brain into Survival mode: I subtly perform a graceful little sidestep (a rather inglorious maneuver known in sumo as the henka), and the unfortunate Malian, carried by his momentum, flies over the bridge’s railing: an eighteen-meter free fall headfirst into the Seine, where he plunges and disappears… 

As choreographically flawless as my move may have been, it was inspired only by Survival. 

I then lean over the edge of the bridge, toward the exact spot where Daddy Cool sank, and give him a majestic middle finger. 

That middle finger is Art: a pure act of passion, useless, driven by what Kandinsky calls “Inner Necessity,” yet carrying a strong emotional charge and a multitude of messages condensed into a single Symbol. 

— Sir Shumule 

Meditating on this, go forth, dear friends, under the protection of that spiritual sphere whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere, which we call GOD. 

Warm kisses from the Bahamas.

 

Love is the law, love under will.

☉︎ in 6° ♈︎ : ☽︎ in 8° ♓︎ : ♃︎ : Ⅴⅹⅰ.