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Masks and Magic

  
 
trouser the trouserian
10:56 / 16.05.05
Following on from Haus' suggestion in the Post-modern magick thread, let's discuss the use of masks in relation to magick. As Haus noted, there's a very wide range of influences here - from the use of masks in shamanic practice to the Greek & contemporary theatre traditions.

Personally, I've mostly used masks in a group setting, and most of that practice has been geared towards possession by a character emerging out of the mask, in a similar manner to that described in Keith Johnstone's book IMPRO. I've also been influenced by the work of Gordon MacLellan - a fine mask-maker and creator of madcap performances.

Johnstone has in interesting approach to masks & possession. He categorises masks into two types - half-face masks (which leave the mouth exposed) who can speak, and Full-face masks that do not speak. Masks have 'unformed' personalities and sometimes they need to be 'taught' to speak in language. Occasionaly, other 'masks' will interpret for them.
Masks further develop their personas by becoming attached to particular props (clothes, objects, hats, etc.) and also develop through interaction with other masks/performers.

One of the first masks I created using Johnstone's approach was a character referred to as "the cyborg" - a half-face mask made from old radio parts. "The cyborg" was originally created for an initial workshop exploring mask-possession. The "cyborg" could not initially form coherent words, and when other performers were first introduced to it, they initially backed away, as it looked very scary. However, it transpired that "the cyborg" was itself terrified of human beings and did not 'understand' why people were backing away from it. "It" went and hid in a far corner of the space, and I found the experience so disturbing that it broke the mask-trance.

There are a lot of similarities, IMO, between full-on possession by a spirit and full-on mask possession. It's a difficult experience to describe, particularly as there are so many shades to it.

thoughts, anyone?
 
 
Gypsy Lantern
11:09 / 16.05.05
Parallels there with the masked Egungun dancers of the Yoruba. The Egungun are the spirits of returned ancestors who possess the masked dancers during festival time and give prophecy, dispense justice and regulate the ethical parameters of the community. They appear in elaborate masked costume - sometimes traditional carved masks, but sometimes even WW2 gas masks and suchlike - and are robed from head to foot. If someone catches a glimpse of the dancer beneath the costume, they are - or at least were - instantly put to death, along with the exposed dancer and every woman present!

Good piece on the Egungun here
 
 
trouser the trouserian
11:41 / 16.05.05
Article by Gordon MacLellan Masks in Magic

One thing Gordon refers to in his article is the complementary relationship between masked performers and musicians. Some years ago I participated in a workshop led by Gordon on the theme of "the four seasons" - we were divided into four groups - one for each season. In the first part of the workshop, we improvised masks for our allocated season, followed by making musical instruments. In the second half, each group attempted to articulate the 'feeling' of their season through dance and movement, and another group attempted to reinforce this with appropriate rhythms & other sounds. It was highly enjoyable - both in practical terms (making masks out of old bits of cardboard and drums out of old margarine tubs!) and in exploring different ways of creating 'sacred performances'.
 
 
Unconditional Love
16:30 / 16.05.05
A comparative analysis of large groups of tribal Asian masks reveals, I believe, a general unity of style and meaning. This unity constitutes strong evidence that the masking phenomenon had a common origin. Thus, in cases where the original meaning of masks and their accompanying rituals is lost, we may attempt to infer insights by using data surviving in other, better preserved, masking cultures.

Thus, although the Scythian 'animal style' may be site and period specific, the idea that animals have power, both awe-inspiring and worthy of harnessing, is something also recognised by the Nepalese shaman, the monk in a Tibetan monastery and the American Indian totem carvers of the Pacific Northwest. So too, the human yearning for wisdom and compassion, embodied by the bodhisattvas, affects us all.

Whatever you're calling the link">the above from the second page of the article

great mask images
 
 
Unconditional Love
16:39 / 16.05.05
work please

http://www.asianart.com/articles/murray/index.html

if it doesnt
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
20:21 / 07.07.05
(Apologies for the length. Found myself rambling on a bit.)

Just making my first tentative steps into mask work.

I've been trying to "fine tune" my interactions with Loki a bit--create a more stable communication during my regular altar services. Brainstorming ideas, I thought about the film The Mask and decided that making a ritual mask might be a good idea. I asked for Loki's blessing on the project and he seemed to find it acceptable.

I started with a plain silver-coloured full face mask, bought for a few cents from a party supply shop. I planned to use this either as a base or as a mold. I prepared for the next blot by assembling as many arts and crafts supplies as I could and having them to hand around the altar.

The first attempt at adapting the mask was interesting. I was advised to include a mirror on the altar and then encouraged to put the mask on and glue strips of red tissue-paper over it in layers, as for papier-mache. Since I am very short-sighted (I had to take my glasses off in order to put the mask on) and the room was dark except for the votive candles, I couldn't properly see the mirror. I got a powerful impression that instead of adding paper to the mask I was removing a layer of skin.

After letting the mask dry for a couple of days, I went back to it. I felt strongly that the red paper layer was a temporary feature; I removed it but saved it in case it might be needed later.

Instead of covering the mask, I thought it would be a good idea in future to exploit the reflective surface by adding extra candles to my temporary altar next time, creating a new surface by illusion. Loki may not have been associated with fire historically, but it's certainly a part of his nature now and one which I make a point of celebrating. Again I sought his blessing and guidance for the next stage.

In the end I used two of the cheap plastic masks I'd bought previously, one translucent silver and one opaque white mask as a liner. The white mask I painted red; the colour is just visible through the surface of the silver mask. I glued red feather "hair" onto the brow, and added a black cloth hood to cover the back of my head. I also added eye-pieces made from child-sized mirrored sunglasses, painted inside with transparent red nail varnish to further obscure my vision, creating disorientation. The finishing touch was to bore holes in the lips of the mask and "stitch" them closed with a thick length of plastic thong. The whole thing is very affecting to wear, emotionally speaking. You can't see properly, breathing is more difficult, and no part of your face or head is visible when looking into the mirror.

I put it through its paces for the first time around six this morning. My plan was to wear the mask and ritually unstitch the lips when the time seemed right. This action would symbolise the opening of a channel of communication, allowing me to recieve any message more clearly.

What actually transpired was considerably more chaotic. I'd prepared for the ritual by forgoing sleep and eating only a very light meal that evening; the blot also included moderate libations of beer and brandy. After I put the mask in place, I took a couple of photographs for my records and then looked into the mirror. I muttered something along the lines of "fucking hell" and thought I saw the mask's lips move.

There followed several long seconds of scrabbling with the thong. I had to get it unstitched then and there. It was too tough and the reinforced mask too thick to allow me simply to tear it out, so I had to unpick the stitching. Only when this was done did I think of just taking the mask off.

The rest of the service wasn't much more together. I leave a minidisc recorder running during all my deity work in case I need to make notes and don't have a free hand. This morning's disc consists largely of silence, punctuated by bouts of hyperventilation and swearing.
 
 
grant
21:12 / 07.07.05
Just for kicks, I googled "Loki mask" and got a huge number of hits... for the Jim Carrey movies The Mask and Son of the Mask. Because the Mask in them is a mask of Loki that possesses its wearers while giving them amazing powers.
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
01:11 / 08.07.05
Heh--yeah, like I said, that's sort of what gave me the idea.

I didn't go all green or anything though.
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
01:35 / 08.07.05
The main benefit I saw from using the mask was that it pretty much cut out the background drone of "what the hell am I doing, this is just ridiculous, who do you think you are messing with this stuff ect. ect." that one gets during this kind of work.
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
01:25 / 09.07.05
BTW, here's a photo if anyone's interested.
 
 
Illihit
01:41 / 09.07.05
I've been wanting to make a mask for a while, but I have a few questions:

Do you guys get a certain quality of items, or do you just use any item and it's the motivation behind it that counts?

Do you have a predetermined layout of the mask, or do you just put things together on the fly?

Mordant: That certainly is an intimidating mask. I think the only way you could get closer is to become a giant.
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
01:45 / 09.07.05
I'm new at all this but my instinct was that I would have to put a bit of work in to make the piece meaningful in a ritual context. There were nicer, more expensive masks on offer in the shop, but my gut told me that a bespoke would go over better than an off-the-peg.
 
 
--
05:20 / 09.07.05
I wore an eyeball mask awhile ago in a dada invocation ritual. I was trying to look like one of the Residents, I think. It was a very disorientating experience because the eyehole I made was very tiny, plus I was blaring the "Third Reich & Roll" album and I had a strobe flight behind me on fast-motion. I might have been naked, I forget. I'm not sure what the point of the ritual was, but because it was Dada maybe the point of it was the fact there was no point. I did go into some automatic writing at the end, but it was mostly incomprehensible.
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
18:09 / 15.09.05
Johnstone...categorises masks into two types - half-face masks (which leave the mouth exposed) who can speak, and Full-face masks that do not speak.

This is interesting to me--been doing a bit more work with my full-face mask and that's definately my experience. This mask doesn't speak--it dances. Not wild ecstatic dancing, more slow and stylised. It seems to mesh with some other stuff I've been doing in the areas of breathwork and Reichian character-armour busting. I plan to make a half-face mask soon to see what that allows; the full-face one is rather heavy, figuratively speaking, and can't be used too often.

Also been doing work with props and accessories, with some interesting results. Every so often, there will be this strong urge to go to one or other of my shrines, take up one of the items associated with the being that shrine represents. What will follow is rather odd: I'll find myself spontaneously kind of play-acting, having a sort of two-way exchange where I'll say something and then respond to myself as that being. This can go on for a while and get pretty intense, with some serious lectures lasting a good forty minutes. Sometimes a mirror will be involved, and it's interesting to note the striking changes in expression and posture between me and me-as-[insert name of God/dess]. What's actually said in these exchanges isn't always available for conscious recall, but they do seem to be helpful overall. Does this sound like a technique worth developing? It's not possession, because I remain in full conscious control, but is it a valid way of exploring the mysteries of a God or a spirit? What, if anything, is taking place?
 
 
trouser the trouserian
08:42 / 16.09.05
Mordant:

... the full-face one is rather heavy, figuratively speaking, and can't be used too often.

I've only done stuff with full-face masks a couple of times, but one thing I did find (particularly with a heavy mask) is that moving around in the mask sometimes brings out a new 'posture' - the mask carries my body in a different way (that's the best way I can describe it) and that this posture/way of moving can - over time - become part of the mask's "character".

One time when I was doing mask-work in a group, we laid out a large array of props and let the masks 'choose' the props they wanted (again something that Johnstone talks about). Props can help the mask stay in character (and masks can get very possessive about their props).

Does this sound like a technique worth developing?

I think spontaneous dialogue (whether one's consciously steering it or not) can be a useful way of finding out more about a persona or spirit's character. Not only is it a basic improv exercise, but there's also lots of magical examples where dialogue is important. I'm thinking of the flyting exchange between Loki & Othinn as a good example, also the many Indian texts which are basically conversations between Siva & Sakti in which information is imparted.
And props can be v. helpful with this sort of play - swapping hats to bring out different characters in close succession, for example. I do feel this kind of exploration is superior to purely internal (i.e. "astral") dialogues, if only as it's much more physical. You might notice, in retrospect, for example, how your speech patterns change when you take on a different character, or if you use yr arms in a different way. So, yeah, I'd say keep going with it and see where it takes you.
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
10:53 / 17.09.05
Funny you should mention Loki--one or two of the exchanges I've had have been with him, or at least an echo of him, and have essentially consisted of a Lokasenna-style dose of the (unpalatable) truth. Not pleasant, but useful, even theraputic. There's other texts in the Eddas that also consist of information imparted as dialogue; I'm thinking specifically of The Beguiling of Gylfi and The Lay of Alviss.
 
  
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