Austin Osman
Spare,The Book of Pleasure,(1913)
Spare’s “book of pleasure,”subtitled (Self-Love)The
Psychology of Ecstasy is a “grimmoire” of great magical import. It’s undeniable
“genius” undoubtedly resides in its unprideful righteousness and earthy
delivery. Spare’s ethos is set out in whispering arabesques that elucidate his
polemic of Self-Love, distilled through the aesthetic of the neither-neither.
In Hindu this relates to the concept of neti-neti, literally neither one thing
or the other, in translation this relates to a concpt of “inbetweeness,”which
is intrinsic to Spare’s system(although he abhorred systems).
A difficult text, full of blind corners and orobourtic aphoristics, those who work on it’s auratic
contents should deal with it in the manner of a Taoist text which must be
worked upon. By careful study they may very well achieve some semblance of the
unknown pleasure of which Spare speaks. “so fledge thy wings,ye humble ones”….
Through the gnostic attainment of “supreme bliss,”based on
Spare’s dictum, funambulatory(literally a tight-rope walker) pathways are
revealed perpetuating clandestine knowledge and otherworldy experiences of freedom,
pleasure and power, the answer being to live “Self-Love” now, not hereafter.
The book of pleasure exalts the foundation of all (left-hand) adeptness in occult
thought (i.e to-day) of our Babylonian
12/60 system. It is the most most lucid of ensorceling magics,nothing easier- yet
as difficult as asking a question to one’s soul? What is not written must be
arbitrarily guessed through sleight of mind, repressions, obsessions and the
idea that one can bend ones will to an original impulse, begatting communion
with ones own silent watcher,sensorium and lifeforce.
The grimmoire generates and radiates New Aeon Kaaotic occult
strains, in a word-rendering that effulgurates a “less is more” attitude it radiates these fecundic energies through cryptic
prose, possibly induced through trance states and is at least partly automatic.
It is arbitrarily accommodating to the
needs of an acolytic attitude which manifests itself in Spare’s terms as “does
not matter-need not be.” The book elucidates a complex modus operandi, centring
around the notion of the Promethean edict of “stealing the fire from heaven,” for
“ultimate wish-fulfillment.” Thus it is Spare’s intention that the reader
is transformed by the concept of “as if,”re-ified “as now,”by virtue of
the neither-neither.
The great secret of the system lies in the symbionce between
the atmospheric self(I),”the body considered as a whole,”the Zos(symbolized by
the hand) and the Kia which is the playground of the Zos and relates to the
communal cosmic mind,(symbolized by the eye).This for myself as an artist is an
interesting metaphor for my practice in a way that harnesses initial
inspiration, the notion of immediacy and liminality(that pervades my practice)
and the execution of my art of which Spare”s practice and current of magic and
philosophy is intrinsic. The book, written between the years 1908-1913,is
lesser for want of an editor, yet it’s
edict stands righteous and poetic,predating Surrealism by a good twenty years.
The book is illustrated with allegorical plates of sublime
symbolism,(such as “the self’s vision of enlightenment,”and “the dwellers at
the gates of Silent Memory”)automatic drawings and extracts from the arena of
anon complete with sigil’s,a form of sorcery where a magical wish is formed by creating
a glyph from ones wish(apart from those letters which repeat themselves)charged
with energy,visualized at a time of
disappointment and then destroyed and forgotten by the conscious mind in order
for it to be reified in “as now” reality. The “alphabet of desire,” is also
utilized which is based on sexual principles reating to nature, one begatting
the other.
One of the most interesting item’s in Spare’s “book of
pleasure,”is a solo-rite known as the death posture from which I created a
short film-loop for my final b.a exhibition. The ritual uses a voluntary
ephixiation along with the utter “negation of thought” in order to send the
magical wish into the unconscious mind,or what Spare calls the “storehouse of
memories.”Although I have only managed the posture symbolically,I am forever
attempting it’s fulfilment through my own surreality,to reify “in flesh” what
can be found on the astral plane.
Arguably one of the great and most eccentric and interesting
books of the twentieth century,this tome has been a major inspiration to me
since I first read it a decade ago. As I have travelled my chosen artistic path
it’s meanings have grown within me,continually revealing itself to me again and
again. A new hardback limited edition and printed from an original facsimile
with Kenneth Grant’s original 1970’s preface, has been made available by
London’s Jerusalem Press,I shall be purchasing it.
