Ancient Magic is alive in Montreal this summer!

The statue of this couple, with the smaller ones below, were found in a funerary circumstance. 

Statuary group of Panehesy and Tarenu / Sandstone, Middle of the New Empire (1292-1190 BCE)

Egyptians believed strongly in the bonds of life after death. Photo © Lena Ghio, 2023  

FRANÇAIS app de traduction à gauche

THE EXHIBITIONS

One of my life's great interests is the history of astrology and magical practices starting in ancient civilizations. Prehistoric humans began calculating time as we know it by observing the solar year and lunation. This is very significant because human knowledge began to accrue with each cycle in all civilizations. Two articles I published on this blog: THE PHENOMENA OF EVOLUTION CAPTURED and THE MOONS OF SATURN, GRAVITY AND THE EVOLUTION OF LIFE, are based on experiments I did with lunar cycles and they illustrate the power our ancestors were observing. If we have more verbal knowledge and technical skills than they had, we have totally lost our direct connection with the infinite creative force they accessed. 

This summer, Pointe-À-Callière Museum of Archeology is presenting Egypt. Three Millennia on the Nile. There are so many exquisite sculptures, drawings, artifacts and more that illustrate the efforts the Egyptians of the Middle of the New Empire put into crossing over to the other side.

Simultaneously, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is presenting Thought and Splendour of Indigenous Colombia, Portable Universe. Again, we are exposed to an ancient civilization that followed the cycles of heaven but with a totally different approach to the great force. For them, death did not exist, it was merely a natural transition to join their ancestors that were already on the other side. This exhibition benefitted from a major collaboration with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art who possessed some of the pieces you will see during the exhibition.

Votive Figurines (Tunjos) in the Form of Persons Seated on Stools / Columbia, Eastern Cordillera (Muisca Tradition) Tumbaga (gold-copper alloy) Museo del Oro, Banco de la Republica, Bogotà / votive objects are used to communicate with the "other side" either to express gratitude or ask for favour. Photo © Lena Ghio, 2023  

MAGIC

Magic is, for the most part, about transformation and manifesting intention by using the great creative forces around us. The two extraordinary exhibitions you can see in Montreal this summer show two distinct approaches to those powers. One is about surrendering and seeking deeper harmony with nature, the other attempts to subjugate the force with minutia  to compel the manifestation of complex desires to carry personal wealth across the doorway of death. At the heart of both approaches is art. All art lovers know that art is a form of magic. In these two civilizations, art is used to dialogue with the mysterious.

When you visit Egypt. Three Millennia on the Nile, you will be swept up by the beautiful art, the sublime craftsmanship and the detailed obsession with extending life. Christian Greco said the Egyptians were not obsessed with death but with extending life. The scenography of the exhibition is designed to make you experience the crossing over to the other side the way the Egyptians imagined. It is breathtaking. You will observe that every detail is documented and dated.

Conversely,  Thought and Splendour of Indigenous Colombia, Portable Universe asks you to rely on your intuitive nature, to listen and apprehend what the mysterious is allowing in the lives of these ancient people of Columbia and what it will allow you to experience during your tour. Contrary to the East, they let go of the minutia to instead trust that the divine force would provide for them better than they could imagine if they were in sufficient harmony with it. The exhibition includes later works that show the influence of the European invaders and Christianity on the Aboriginal cultures, and the beautiful works of contemporary artists of Columbia. 

Today, our magic can be far removed from nature. We have dominated many forces with technology. Yet, the mysterious is still with us.

EMERGE ART and water practices of Egypt

Emerge Art, Untitled / detail
showing talisman reflected in the
water.
Photo © Lena Ghio, 2023  

To demonstrate that the ancient people did observe phenomena they considered magical, I have made the following experiment.

Below, two versions of the same Emerge Art, Untitled, that I produced in response to the enlightening conversation I had with Christian Greco, Italian Egyptologist and Director of Museo Egizio in Turin Italy, an important collaborator for this summer's extraordinary exhibition at Pointe à Calières.  It was the second time that he introduced a project in Montreal, the first had been Majestic Queens of Egypt in 2018. At that time, M. Greco mentioned that people who worked on building the pyramids had observed the power of words and letters. This time, I asked him if the current exhibition showed us a people who used and understood astrology and astronomy. The reply was a resounding yes. In all the civilizations approaching the time of the birth of Christ, even though they were not in communication or didn't even know of each other's existence, it was important to align actions, decisions and celebrations with the calendar of celestial mechanics. 

Then M. Greco revealed that for ordinary Egyptians, the alignment with natural forces was modest and daily: "Since these were uncertain times, people would place a bowl of water over a talisman of protection to imbue the water with the talisman's power of protection to keep them safe throughout the day." He revealed these practices became prejudicial around 500 AD. The birth of Christianity was revolutionizing humanity's relationship to nature. People were told then, by the "new" religious leaders, that these practices were paganism and that it was against God. 

To produce Emerge Art I install a composition around the bowl of water to animate it. Here I have installed two art pieces given to me by artists, the Tarot card 14 Temperance, and a book about talismans underneath the bowl. Both the Tarot card and the talisman invoke the ArchAngel Michael. 

Above left, you can see the talisman reflected in the bowl of water. The Emerge Art below is one of the many images the scrying experiment produced. There are 3 main images that I find intriguing: the man with an elaborate turban on the left, the strong slender beak of a bird (Ibis?) on top of his head and the 3/4 profile of a person wearing a white shirt and dark jacket that appears to be looking in from some other dimension on the right. There is also a Sun on the left, and a sliver of Lunar symbol on the right.

I speculate that the belief systems of both ancient cultures you can explore in Montreal this summer were based on the observations of real phenomenological events. 

Interesting articles: 

https://www.foxnews.com/science/1300-year-old-egyptian-mummy-had-tattoo-of-archangel-michael

https://news.umich.edu/the-history-of-angels-u-m-research/

LENA GHIO 

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