Join Our “Mail Order Mystery School” Correspondence Course This Summer!

ENROLL HERE!

Now, for the first time ever, you can learn the real teachings behind Witch-craft … Age-Old Wisdom which gives you greater health, personal power, purpose, peace of mind, and methods for destabilizing Patriarchal power and authority.

Each lesson comes to you complete with secret instructions enabling you to practice ESP, project your astral body, develop self healing, and become a MYSTIC MASTER.

Yes, YOU CAN LEARN the secrets formerly reserved for Coven initiates easily, quickly…within the privacy of your own home.

Mail Order Mystery School is a correspondence course designed to initiate Adepts in degrees of inner illumination over the course of nine months.

Each month, participants will be sent a package containing instructions for exercises in journaling, art making, meditation, and solitary ritual that will be distributed in the following order: Oaths signed, Void, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet, Light.

“I am a witch I bow to no one. No one bows to me. The Goddess stands beside me. The Goddess sets me free.”

Mail Order Mystery School is designed to facilitate personal study and evolution – it does not include direct mentorship or initiatory assessment by Eliza Swann or faculty members affiliated with The Golden Dome School.

 

Applications for “The Hermit” artist intensive are now open!

We are pleased to announce our tenth Artist in Residence Program:

The Hermit: Panpsychic Poet                                                                                                 
September 15th – 22nd, 2019                                                                                                           
29 Palms, CA
APPLICATIONS ARE AVAILABLE HERE, DUE BY JUNE 1st

“And the sea of sand? It’s water you can walk on, it’s time.” – Paul Thek

“However beautiful a song may be,
it is just a tune to those
who do not understand its meaning.” ― Milarepa

The worldview that everything is alive, everything interrelates, and everything communicates is essential to The Hermit. The Hermit retreats not be alone, but to be connected to everything, not to be silent, but to learn to communicate. In the Hermit’s cave the song of the rocks, the sand, the rotation of the planets, the animals, the plants – the myriad songs of the world become clear. The Hermit is able to discover true words that speak directly to the nature of things, rather than approximate words that represent ideas with symbols. With this awareness, the Hermit realizes that words have a vibrational power that creates great change. At The Hermit intensive, we will be learning to hear and to speak. This is fundamental to the practice of magic and the creation of art.

We will be occupying a comfortable house in 29 Palms, California on ten acres of land close to the entrance of Joshua Tree National Park. Each day, The Hermits will go on a personal quest to learn the songs of the world. We will also be studying planetary magic, divination, and the “Panpsychic Poetry Method” with Eliza Swann, Lily Benson will instruct us in the basics of hypnosis and video making, and Saewon Oh will demonstrate the divine art of plant communication. Through combined practices of poetry, video making, ritual, trance, and plant communication, we will attempt to learn the world song and how to sing along with it.  Please see the syllabus here, and please read the FAQ thoroughly before applying here.

FAQ:

Who is eligible for this residency? This residency differs greatly from previous residencies – it is a “deepening session” designed to accelerate the studies of those who have already attended a seven day residency with us – folks who have attended the “Shape Changing, World Changing” intensive are also welcome to apply. If you are new to the Golden Dome School, you are welcome to submit an application – but first priority will go to folks who have already attended a session. Pending funding, we will have another session that is open to all in November of this year.

Is the structure of this residency different? Yes! We will not have “visiting artists” – everyone who participates is expected to stay for the duration of the seven days so that we can go deep. This residency group will be smaller than previous groups. Each Hermit will be given a robe to wear during ceremonies. There are assignments, texts, and a communal art project built into the syllabus. We will be showing the communal art project this year.

Are there scholarships available? At present, we do not have scholarship funds available for “The Hermit.”The Hermit is facilitated by:                                                                                                          Lily Benson is an American filmmaker, visual artist and hypnotist. Her work examines feminist history and reconstructs it into new narrative forms.
Saewon Oh is an herbalist, medicine maker, artist, teacher and founder of Sun Song, a line of handmade herbal remedies designed for meditative and earth-based healing practices. She teaches workshops, guides tea ceremonies and offers herbal consultations in Los Angeles. She’s also a member of Nine Herbs Charm, a multi-disciplinary artist collective engaged in an on-going, process based collaboration with nine specific plants.
Eliza Swann is an interdisciplinary artist, intuitive, writer, educator, and community organizer based in Los Angeles and New York. Eliza is the founder of The Golden Dome School, a curatorial and educational platform that studies intersections of art, metaphysics and ecology.

 

 

 

 

Enrollment is now open for: Our ‘Tarot Initiates’ Certification Program in Los Angeles June 23rd

The Golden Dome School is pleased to offer a “Tarot Initiates” certification program.

ENROLL HERE

In the last 15 years of reading Tarot cards for herself and her community, Eliza Swann has developed a system of intuitive Tarot study based on combined practices of energy healing, hypnosis, alchemy, and ceremonial magic. During this course, you will learn the foundational lore and symbolism contained within the Tarot, the Golden Dome system of ethics for readers, how to offer readings and reflections, and how to work with the Tarot ceremonially.

To become a Golden Dome School “Tarot Initiate”, you must complete one four hour class, and one hundred hours of personal study, followed by a one on one check-in at the end of your hundred hours. This program is suitable for beginning and advanced practitioners alike who are searching for a systematic study of Tarot history, symbolism and practice.

The first Tarot Initiation class will take place in Los Angeles at Pieter Performance Space. You can sign up for this class HERE.

Pieter Performance Space
June 23rd, 2pm – 6pm
420 W Avenue 33, Los Angeles, CA 90031
*you can get to Pieter on the Gold Line

REGISTER FOR THE CLASS HERE FIRST PLEASE – SPACE IS LIMITED

An overview of the course:

4-hour group tarot course = $47

100 hours of personal study guided by a workbook = free

1.5 hour check-in with Eliza = $150

You will receive a certificate in the mail once all three stages have been completed.

FAQ

What is the purpose of receiving this type of initiation? Many tarot practitioners are self taught, and this is a perfectly valid way to work with this tool. The “Tarot Initiation” is for folks who feel more comfortable receiving a formal system for study and practice.

What if I don’t want to become a professional Tarot reader? No problem! This course is of benefit to those who want to use it to open their understanding of the Tarot, to develop a personal practice, or for those who wish to develop a professional practice.

Will the “Tarot Initiates” program be available online? No, we do not offer online classes.

I am brand new to the Tarot – can I participate? Yes – anyone at any level of experience is welcome.

Will you tell me what deck to purchase? Once you have enrolled, you will receive an e-mail with deck requirements.

Eliza Swann is an interdisciplinary artist, intuitive, writer, educator, and community organizer based in Los Angeles and New York. Eliza received a BA in Painting from the San Francisco Art Institute, trained in hypnotherapy at the Isis Centre in England, Hindu cosmology and yoga with Dr. Vagish Shastri in Benares, India, Tarot and Western Magical Practice with the Builders of the Adytum Western Mystery School, and received a Master’s degree in Fine Art from Central St. Martins in London. Eliza has exhibited her work internationally, most recently at the University of California Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz), the Women’s Center for Creative Work (Los Angeles), Elephant Gallery (Los Angeles), and the Art/Life Institute (Kingston, NY). Eliza has lectured at UCLA, the Hammer Museum, the San Francisco Art Institute, Central St Martins, CalArts, and is currently a Visiting Professor at Pratt Institute. She has contributed critical writing to BOMB, Arthur, Contemporary Art Review LA, and Perfect Wave Magazines. Eliza is also the founder of The Golden Dome School, a curatorial and educational platform that studies intersections of art, metaphysics and ecology.

 

The Golden Dome School has a booth at the Other Places Art Fair, March 16th & 17th 2019

Please join The Golden Dome School at the Other Places Art Fair. The booth features ceramics by Laura Stinger, fairy photos by Eliza Swann, custom flower essences by Saewon Oh and tinctures, teas and cathartic remedies by Patrick Mansfield and Kwonyin.

Fairy, Eliza Swann, 2018

Kwonyin, by Lexi Tsien, 2018

Ceramics by Laura Stinger

Season Oh of Sun Song, photo by Kate Berry

Patrick Mansfield

Fairy, by Eliza Swann, 2014

 

 

 

Shape Changing, World Changing

 

“Shape Changing, World Changing: A Magician’s Guide to Movement”
Joshua Tree, CA
January 5th and 6th, 2019
Led by Eliza Swann, Laura Stinger and Patrick Mansfield

The Magician can traverse many worlds at will, moving through and mapping a multiverse of realities and dimensions. During this two day intensive, Eliza Swann and Laura Stinger will introduce movement exercises and thought experiments that assist us in moving through the “Four Dimensions of the Magician.” These worlds are known as the Objective World, the Subjective World, the Symbolic World, and the Unified or Holistic World. For two days, we will embark on inter-dimensional experiences through guided imagery, movement, divination, and philosophical discussion.

Support the GD!

NEW ITEMS ARE UP IN OUR SHOP! Do you want to learn about the anatomical structure of your aura? Receive nine months of magical mail? Stand up for the Goddess of love with a beautiful t-shirt or pin? We have new merchandise designed to cast a love spell on the Earth and support the work of the Golden Dome School while you’re at it! Did you know? The Golden Dome produces free and at-cost lectures, retreats and performances year round with no outside funding? This shop helps us fulfill our mission to facilitate accessible creative spiritual networks of support and connection across the country!

Goddess Take the Wheel! T-Shirts!

“The Anatomy of the Aura” is a 40 page illustrated workbook designed to help beginners learn to read and repair auras. This exercise book includes easy-to-understand explanations of the layers of the aura and the chakra system in the human energy field. There are also exercises designed to help you read the auras of plants, animals and the moon! Enjoy!

YES GODDESS is a band featuring healer artists Edgar Fabian Frias, Season Oh, and Eliza Swann. The phrase is a spell, an affirmation, a celebration and a rallying cry to celebrate the Goddess and the sacred feminine that lives in us all! We define “feminine” not as a gender, but as a construct encompassing many aspects of our world that have been erased, conquered, and shamed such as: intuition, emotions, the body, creativity, sensitivity, care, interdependence, nurturance, and love.

These YES GODDESS Unisex T-Shirts also act as a protection spell!

The spell ingredients are: angelica flower, angelica root, bat power, bee power, butterfly power, cat power, cinnamon fern, earthworm power, lemon, patchouli, psilocybin mushrooms, red pine, salvia flower, seahorse power, seashell power, spider power, spiral power, sword fern, and a “Venus” figurine.

Mail Order Mystery School is a correspondence course designed to initiate Adepts in degrees of inner illumination over the course of nine months.

Each month, participants will be sent a package containing instructions for exercises in journaling, art making, meditation, and solitary ritual that will be distributed in the following order: Oaths signed, Void, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet, Light.

“I am a witch I bow to no one. No one bows to me. The Goddess stands beside me. The Goddess sets me free.”

Mail Order Mystery School is designed to facilitate personal study and evolution – it does not include direct mentorship or initiatory assessment by Eliza Swann or faculty members affiliated with The Golden Dome School.

 

Justice, Artist Residency, 2018

“Justice”, Wurtsboro, NY, Oct 1st – 7th, 2018

Facilitated by: Chiron Armand, Mireya Lucio, Linda Montano, Lavender Suarez, Eliza Swann

For our ninth artist-in-residence session we are working with the Tarot card “Justice” where we are introduced to the mysteries of law, order, balance, and equilibrium.

The figure pictured as “Justice” on most Tarot decks is modeled after the ancient Egyptian Goddess Ma’at, with her balancing scales and magic feather (often pictured as a sword). The concept of Ma’at, which is personified as a Goddess, is a more fluid and pervasive notion than ‘justice’ or ‘law’ as we now understand these words. Ma’at is the ultimate force that operates the cosmos – she is an energy that maintains balance, regulates the movements of the stars and the cycles of the seasons, keeps cycles of life and death in balance, and creates complex, synergistic, and self-regulating systems of order that maintain creation. Ma’at’s ideological opposite is Isfet – injustice, chaos, and violence. During this artist intensive, we will seek to understand how principles of justice and balance can be found in ourselves, our communities, our world, our planet, and our cosmos, as well as navigating our relationship with Isfet – injustice, chaos, and violence. Through combined practices of performance, community building and magic making, we will study the balancing forces in nature as they pertain to renewal and revolution.

We will be living communally in a house in the Catskills for a one week session that consists of a series of performance centered art exercises, tarot instruction, sound healing, intuitive development exercises, and lectures offered by visiting artists. We will do a group performance at the end of week. All Golden Dome gatherings seek to provide our community with expansive methodologies for reconciling our selves and our work to each other and our world.

The faculty members for the “Justice” program are: Chiron Armand, Mireya Lucio, Linda Montano, Lavender Suarez and Eliza Swann.

 

The Resurrection of Care, Performance, Maiden LA, Echo Park Lake, 2018

 

The Golden Dome School has begun the tradition of performing “The Resurrection of Care” ritual each year in response to Bohemian Grove’s “Cremation of Care” ceremony (please see below for the history and meaning of this action).

This “Resurrection of Care” invites Los Angeles artists and mystics to respond to our culture’s violence, ecocide, caustic hierarchies, and exploitative capitalism.

This year we will be activating Echo Park Lake – turning the water into a programmed flower essence to increase care, compassion, and heart centered action. We will walk the perimeter of the lake, ritually infusing the water with intention. Everyone present at the ceremony is invited to actively participate and to speak. The ceremonial officiants this year are Lisa Dring, Edgar Fabian Frias, Saewon Oh, Estella Sanchez, and SA RA with Sarah Manuwal, Merkel, John Sanchez, Emilia Turner and Christian Toscano.

History: The notorious Bohemian Club, an ultra-exclusive all-male club, has membership that includes business leaders, government officials, former US presidents, military elite, bankers, media executives, and other men in positions of power. Political and business deals are developed at the Club’s annual summer gathering at Bohemian Grove in Monte Rio, CA. An early meeting for the Manhattan Project took place there in 1942, which subsequently led to the use of the atomic bomb in World War II.

At the annual Bohemian Grove gathering, members stage the 135-year old “Cremation of Care” ceremony on July 7, in which the body of “Care” is symbolically cremated and banished from Bohemian Grove, paving the way for drunken celebration, male bonding, capitalistic scheming, warmongering, and – according to many reports – excessive public urination.

In response, the Golden Dome School developed “The Resurrection of Care”, an annual ritual performed by Golden Dome artists. The play narrates the resurrection of the cremated body of caring, underscoring that life on Earth is worth caring for. Each year we re-instate our vow to care for ourselves and all of the people, plants, animals, water, earth, air, and spirits that are threatened with annihilation by unfettered greed and exploitation.

 

The Chariot, Artist Residency, 29 Palms, CA, 2018

“The Chariot: Wherever You Go, There You Are”

March 11th – 18th, 2018

29 Palms, California

“Know that the Self is the rider, and the body the chariot; that the intellect is the charioteer, and the mind the reins / The senses, say the wise, are the horses; the roads they travel are the mazes of desire” – Katha Upanishad 1:3:3

“The evolution of the human being is the evolution of will, and ‘will’ cannot evolve involuntarily.” – G.I. Gurdijieff

For our eighth artist-in-residence session we will be working with the archetype of the Chariot. With this image, we are asked to cultivate willpower, discipline, and self-control alongside the balancing qualities of receptivity, responsiveness, and flexibility.

During this residency we will concentrate on performance art. We will specifically examine methods for endurance, duration, and energy raising for the purpose of cultivating willpower and effective rituals.

The Chariot, seated at number seven in the Tarot, utilizes the seven colors of the rainbow to attain self mastery. Over the course of seven days we will learn some strategies for cultivating free will, the Alchemical art of the Tarot, rainbow magic, plant communication and breath-work. We will work on a performance ritual that will be presented publicly on the last day of the residency.

The application form includes practical information about the program including pricing, sleeping arrangements, and information about meals. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until February 15th, 2018. Please be aware that the residency programs generally fill up in advance of the application deadline date.

This program is facilitated by Edgar Fabian Frias, Asher Hartman, Saewon Oh, Laura Berlin Stinger, and Eliza Swann.

We will be occupying a comfortable home with a hot tub on five acres of desert land in close proximity to Joshua Tree National Park.

SHE HAS RISEN, Performance, Art in Odd Places, with support from The Foundation From Contemporary Arts, New York, NY, 2017

The Resurrection of Care, Los Angeles, CA, 2017

“The Resurrection of Care” 2017
at the Gaylord Apartments SWIMMING POOL
3355 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90010

The Golden Dome School has begun the tradition of performing “The Resurrection of Care” ritual each year – a short performance that invites Los Angeles artists and mystics to respond to our culture’s violence, ecocide, caustic hierarchies, and exploitative capitalism.

The notorious Bohemian Club, an ultra-exclusive all-male club, has membership that includes business leaders, government officials, former US presidents, military elite, bankers, media executives, and other men in positions of power. Political and business deals are developed at the Club’s annual summer gathering at Bohemian Grove in Monte Rio, CA. An early meeting for the Manhattan Project took place there in 1942, which subsequently led to the use of the atomic bomb in World War II.

At the annual Bohemian Grove gathering, members stage the 135-year old “Cremation of Care” ceremony on July 7, in which the body of “Care” is symbolically cremated and banished from Bohemian Grove, paving the way for drunken celebration, male bonding, capitalistic scheming, warmongering, and – according to many reports – excessive public urination.

In response, the Golden Dome School developed “The Resurrection of Care”, an annual ritualistic play performed by Golden Dome artists. The play narrates the resurrection of the cremated body of caring, underscoring that life on Earth is worth caring for. Each year we re-instate our vow to care for ourselves and all of the people, plants, animals, water, earth, air, and spirits that are threatened with annihilation by unfettered greed and exploitation.

The 2017 ritual stars artists Edgar Fabian Frias, Tanya Love, Lindsay Minnich, Candy Pain, SA RA, Laura Berlin Stinger, and Electric Sound Bath.

Organized by Patrick Mansfield and Eliza Swann

The Lovers, Artist Residency, 2017

The Lovers: The Entasy and the Ecstasy

Wurtsboro, NY

September 17th – September 24th, 2017

The faculty members for The Lovers program are: Lily Benson, Brendan Landis, Mandana, Linda Montano, Mollie McKinley, Ariana Reines, and Eliza Swann.

“The important thing is not to think much but to love much; and so do that which best stirs you to love.” ― Teresa of Ávila

For our seventh artist-in-residence session we will be working with the archetype of the Lovers where we are introduced to concepts of interrelatedness and indeed the great Mystery of creation itself. As Starhawk says, “All began in love, all seeks to return in love. Love is the law, the teacher of wisdom, and the great revealer of mysteries.”

Through combined practices of performance, writing, tarot, alchemy, and art making we will learn to offer ourselves and our community acceptance and love as an act of renewal and revolution. Together we will work toward destabilizing the authority of conventional structures of knowledge and power through an engagement with love, care, magic and the formation of new communities of learning.

We will be living communally in a house in the Catskills for a one week session that consists of a series of performance centered art exercises, tarot instruction, plant communication, intuitive development exercises, and lectures offered by visiting artists. We will do a group performance at the end of week. All Golden Dome gatherings seek to provide our community with expansive methodologies for reconciling our selves and our work to each other and our world. Please see the syllabus for detailed information on course offerings.

The Hierophant, Artist Residency, 2017

The Hierophant: Liberation! Movement!

Joshua Tree, CA

March 19th – March 26th, 2017

Facilitated by: Asher Hartman, Edgar Fabian Frias, Madre Jaguar, Laura Berlin Stinger, Eliza Swann

For our sixth artist-in-residence session we will be working with the Hierophant archetype where we are introduced to concepts of liberation, spirit, revolution – and the opposite polarity – slavery, bondage, and materialism. Five is the revolutionary point between one and ten where we become a bridge between the material and the transcendent.

Typically, the Hierophant is depicted as The Pope, a spiritual authority figure who acts as a mediator between the people and the Divine. Mastery of the Hierophant card is achieved through reclaiming personal power by creating a direct and intimate connection to the Divine that is not mediated by any hierarchy.

In this time of political upheaval, climate change, and threats to the freedom and safety of many beings on Earth – how can we use our magic to shatter oppressive systems and turn toward care? How can we learn to take our power back and reconnect to our souls and the soul of the world? Over the course of seven days we will learn tactical magic skills, the Alchemical art of the Tarot, the art of the pendulum, the art of reiki, breath-work, and we will work on a performance ritual. This ritual will be performed publicly on the last day of the residency.

This program is facilitated by Asher Hartman, Edgar Fabian Frias, Tanya Love, Laura Berlin Stinger, Eliza Swann

We will be occupying a comfortable home with a hot tub on five acres of desert land in close proximity to Joshua Tree National Park. Our home functions as an Ashram and therefore no drugs, drink, or cigarettes are permitted on the premises.

The Golden Dome School does not discriminate on the basis of creed, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, height, weight, or physical ability. We welcome all belief systems.

Queer Ancestors Rite

October 21st, 7pm – 9pm

Los Angeles, Pieter Performance Space

SIGN UP HERE

Queer Ancestors Rite is open to everyone and this time, will call forth to the altar Xochipilli and Xochiquetzal the Mexica goddex of medicines, flowers, lovers, sex workers, two spirits, art, music, dance and sex. The two goddex are twins and parallels. This is an exploration to strengthen and balance this side of us in a collective manner.

We will explore with ritual insight through the ancient practice of spontaneous divination facilitated by Edgar Fabián Frías, MA and the integrative Huarache Constellation developed by Yunuen Rhi, MA. Spontaneous Divination is an ancient practice shared by many cultures worldwide and allows the individual to access other realms and contact guides and ancestors. The Huarache Constellation process has been developed by Yunuen Rhi and is inspired by the Zulu side of Family Constellations and the Poetics of Maria Sabina, Mazateca priestess of the mushrooms.

This workshop is presented in collaboration with The Golden Dome, an autonomous educational and curatorial platform dedicated to studying intersections of art, metaphysics, and ecology.
https://golden-dome.org

Sunday 10/21 from 7pm – 9pm

Pieter Performance Space
420 W Avenue 33
Los Angeles, CA 90031

$35 for early registration and payment by October 17, 2018
$40 at the door or for registration after October 17, 2018
(sliding scale upon request)

Yunuen Ri, MA is a two spirit martial and performance artist, reverse anthropologist, and healer. Her roots are in Mexico, the United States, and Korea. She has cultivated herself
in western, eastern, and native medicine pathways and practices as a way to deepen the
understanding of “selves.” Rhi’s performance work incorporates ritual and psychomagic
elements.

https://isuini.com/en/about-isuini

Edgar Fabián Frías, MA MFT is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, educator, and psychotherapist. Their work traverses across academic, social, historical, and relational planes, building bridges and weaving webs. Their practice is amorphous and expansive and rooted in both connection and in the magic that emerges from it.

edgarfabianfrias.org

The Emperor Artist Residency, teaching artist Saewon Oh, Joshua Tree, CA, 2016

Saewon Oh is an herbalist, medicine maker, artist, teacher and founder of Sun Song, a line of handmade herbal remedies designed for meditative and earth-based healing practices. Her work engages creative collaboration with plant consciousness. She teaches workshops, leads tea ceremonies and offers herbal consultations in Los Angeles.

The Emperor Artist Residency, Joshua Tree, 2016

“The Emperor: Songs for the Arch-Preposterous”

Joshua Tree, CA

February 28th – March 6th, 2016

Maja D’Aoust, Diva, Asher Hartman, Grace Kredell, Matthewdavid’s Mindflight, Saewon Oh, Eliza Swann

“Divine sound is the cause of all manifestation. The knower of the mystery of sound knows the mystery of the whole universe.” ― Hazrat Inayat Khan

For our fifth artist-in-residence session we will be working with the Emperor archetype where we are introduced to concepts of authority, rulership, and power. In our current capitalistic, patriarchal, plutocratic, militarized, and corporatist society our relationship to power has become wounded and dysfunctional. Starhawk, in her book Truth or Dare, distinguishes three types of power: “power-over,” referring to domination and control; “power-from-within,” meaning personal ability and spiritual integrity; and “power-with,” pertaining to social power or influence among equals. Through the combined practices of meditation, alchemy, and art we will learn to offer ourselves power and transcendence in a society that does not readily give its visionaries agency or place.

We will be living communally in a house in the desert for a one week session that consists of a series of sound centered art exercises, alchemical breath work, tarot instruction, plant communication, psychometry exercises, and lectures offered by visiting artists. All Golden Dome gatherings seek to provide our community with expansive methodologies for reconciling our selves and our work to each other and our world. The chanting performed over the course of “The Emperor” session will be recorded, remixed, and distributed on tape and digitally through the Golden Dome publishing imprint in late Spring. Please see the syllabus for detailed information on faculty and course offerings, and please review our archive and blog for a sense of what the Golden Dome experience embodies.

 

 

The Empress, Artist Residency,Woodstock, NY, 2015

The Empress: Magic is the Science of Love

Woodstock, New York

Duration: September 20th – 27th

Facilitated by: Frank Haines, Dr. Neil Goldsmith, Zeljko McMullen, Linda Montano, Eliza Swann, Christian Toscano

“Yes the miraculous does exist, for life is a series of miracles, if we understand by miracle not the absence of cause, but rather the visible effect of an invisible cause, or the effect on a lower plane due to a higher plane.” – (Meditations on the Tarot, Anonymous)

The Empress wears a crown of abundance, her eyes are the green of growth, the eagle on her shield represents alchemical rebirth, renewal, and resurrection. She sits at number three in the tarot. This number represents synthesis, resolving the tension created by duality through the birth of a third unifying principle – love.

The Empress in her boundless acts of regeneration and creativity represents the Tree of Life. To the Ancient Egyptian Alchemists, the Tree of Life symbolizes the hierarchical chain of events that brought everything into existence; its spheres demonstrating the order, process, and method of creation.

Alchemical thinking is essential to the artist as it illuminates the deeper meaning of process. At the Empress gathering, we will dive deep into the meaning of making, learning to co-create in a world that is alive and dynamic, where everything is part of an interconnected whole – an ecosystem. Many of the chemical theorems in Alchemy began to develop when Stoic thought met ancient Egyptian technologies of metallurgy, fabric dying, and perfume making in the 3rd century. An Alchemist is psychically involved with the creation of an object, mutually exchanging life forces with their materials in harmony with the greater psycho-physical unity of all things, unifying themselves with their work through the magic of love.

We are at an interesting moment in the rebirthing story of planet Earth. Our Industrial Growth Society’s economy depends on an ever increasing consumption of resources. Our precious planet’s body is not only dug up and turned into goods to sell, it is also a dumping ground for the poisonous by-products of our industries. It is time for us to consider our process, and to honor all that our Mother has created.

The word ecology comes from the Greek oikos, which means “house”. It is the work of all human beings to attend to the health of our esoteric and exoteric houses, bridging this duality with the magic of love. We will be living communally in a house in Woodstock for a one week session that consists of a series of heart centered art exercises, daily tarot meditations, Tree of Life meditations, medicinal plant workshops, fabric dying workshops, and lectures offered by visiting artists. All Golden Dome gatherings seek to provide our community with expansive methodologies for reconciling our selves and our work to each other and our world.

The High Priestess, Artist Residency, Joshua Tree, 2015

 

 

 

 

THE HIGH PRIESTESS: “The School For Psychic and Water Based Mediumship”
Joshua Tree, CA
March 27th – April 2nd

Facilitated by: Liz Armstrong, Genevieve Belleveau, Maja D’Aoust, Ryan Ingersol, Ron Rege, Eliza Swann, and Laurie Weeks

“She alone dares and wishes to know from within, where she, the outcast, has never ceased to hear the resonance of fore-language. She lets the other language speak—the language of 1,000 tongues which knows neither enclosure nor death. To life she refuses nothing. Her language does not contain, it carries; it does not hold back, it makes possible.”
― Hélène Cixous, “The Laugh of the Medusa”

The High Priestess represents wisdom, illumination, inner knowledge, and intuitive understanding. In traditional tarot imagery, The High Priestess holds a book in her lap that destines her to study and knowledge – because she is not reading it, we are given reason to think that this volume is nothing other than herself. The High Priestess represents a wisdom akin to vertical memory, which Plato describes as the memory of the transcendent self: “Seeing that the soul is immortal, and has beheld all things both in this world and the nether realms, she has acquired knowledge of all and everything….thus it would seem that research and learning are wholly recollection.” (Plato, Menon 81).

In an effort to mine the wisdom of our transcendent selves, “The School for Psychic and Water Based Mediumship” consists of a week long series of automatic painting and writing activities centered around sustainability, spirituality, and consciousness. We will be exploring desert terrain, engaging in collaborative art and writing exercises, investigating patriarchal language systems and exorcising the alphabet, visiting local spiritual centers, practicing regular meditation, and participating in lectures offered by visiting artists. This series of workshops takes place in Joshua Tree and will culminate in the creation of a High Priestess ‘zine as well as a public presentation of our findings in Los Angeles.

This gathering seeks to traverse boundaries of medium, materiality, representation, and embodiment to provide its community with tools to create vocabularies for reconciling our selves and our work to each other and to our world. How can art contribute to cultural and psychic hygiene for the benefit of our planet? How do art and language function in a patriarchal society? What language do we have for mystery within our current systems? What can we do as artists to enact change? The Golden Dome is interested in fostering a co-creative environment of experimental pedagogy that fosters community, collaboration, feedback, and the collapse of boundaries between life and art. Please see the syllabus for detailed descriptions of our lessons. Faculty members include: Liz Armstrong, Genevieve Belleveau, Maja D’Aoust, Ryan Ingersol, Ron Rege, Eliza Swann, and Laurie Weeks.

Photographs by Natalia Molina and Monica Uszerowicz

Guadalupe Maravilla, The Magician, Artist Residency, Woodstock, NY, 2014

Guadalupe Maravilla (formerly Irvin Morazan) is a multidisciplinary artist  born in EL Salvador and moved to New York city area in the 1980’s as part of the Salvadoran civil war diaspora. Guadalupe currently lives in Richmond VA  where he is a Tenure-Track professor at VCU. He received his BFA from SVA and his MFA from Hunter College. Guadalupe has performed and presented his work extensively throughout the past few years in venues such as El Museo Del Barrio, Performa 11 &, 13, Central America Biennial X (Costa Rica),  XI Nicaragua Biennial, Exit Art, Sean Kelly Gallery, Metropolitan Museum, Jersey City Museum, Caribbean Museum (Colombia), and MARTE Museum (El Salvador). Residencies include R.A.T. Mexico City, LMCC Workspace, SOMA (Mexico City) and Skowhegan. Awards and fellowships include: Creative Capital Award, Joan Mitchell Emerging Artist Grant, VCU Fountainhead, Dedalus Foundation, Art Matters, Cisneros Foundation and the Robert Mapplethorpe Award.

Frank Haines, The Magician, Woodstock, NY, 2014