the besz-mass - transformation by michael staley

8/13/2019 The Besz-Mass - Transformation by Michael Staley

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Typhonian Ordo Templi Orientis - Austin Osman Spare and the Besz-Mass - Transformation - Michael Staley

TRANSFORMATIONAustin Osman Spare and the Besz-MassMichael Staley

O Zos, thou shalt live in millions of forms and every conceivable thingshall happen unto Thee! (Focus of Life, p.8)

The following essay explores Spare's work in the light of its passionate core- the Besz-Mass, which he sometimes spelt as 'Bess Mass' and similarvariations. Consideration of Spare's work makes it plain how difficult andindeed ultimately futile it is to attempt to isolate the various elements ofsomeone's work. In Spare's case, the various strands of magic, mysticism,sorcery, sigillisation and philosophy all spring from a common core,expressing the same thing in different terms, formats and media. In theprocess, each aspect throws light on the others.This isn't a scholarly treatise. My interest in Spare is assimilative: thatis, it is of most interest for the light it throws on initiation, or magicaland mystical experience as I undergo it. In this process there are some

extraordinary cross-currents generated. There is an example of this later inthe essay, when a picture of Spare's was the focus of a dream which alsoinvolved a magical practice I was then developing; this highlighted arelationship between the subject-matter of the picture and the magicalpractice which, though obvious in retrospect, was a revelation to me at thetime.The Besz-Mass was a term used by Spare to describe the transformation whichunderpins his art, sorcery and philosophy. Besz was the dwarf-god of ancientEgypt who was the ever-changing, ever-transforming one; besz is a Chaldeanword meaning 'to transform'. Besz or Vesz is the dwarf-god or bud-will who isthe Ever Coming One, whose nature is not Being but Going, and who isperpetually creating itself anew through a process of continual change. TheBesz-Mass thus celebrates the perpetual dance of transformation, through which

undifferentiated primal energy is patterned as transient, fugitive form. Thesepatterns flower, decay and fall back into primal energy, arising again infresh configurations, new incarnations.This insight is not unique to Spare, but has always been at the core ofmysticism, as of magic. In the Hindu system, for instance, phenomenalexistence is cast as the glamorous play of illusion, sometimes called themaya, or the Dance of Shiva. The word 'magic' comes from the same root asmaya; hence magic is the manipulation of the maya, glamour, illusion. Much ofmagic, or Magick, as a means of attaining enlightenment, consists of realising

what is in essence the illusory nature of manifestation, and finding the eye

behind the myriad masks. There is a doctrine that the maya with all itsdiversity is akin to a play, in which all the parts are played by the sameactor, Brahma, who has become so immersed in each part that he has forgottenhis real, continuous identity. Because each part is an aspect of the whole,the whole can be assimilated via any of the parts; hence William Blake'sepiphany of seeing the whole world in a grain of sand.Spare left behind a substantial body of work. Besides his pictures, there areseveral grimoires, as well as essays on subjects such as sorcery andcartomancy. He was an extremely gifted artist; and, whilst not isolating hisartwork from the other channels of expression which he used, the artwork I


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regard as quintessential. In much of his written work, the heart is in theaccompanying artwork; thus, for a real understanding of Spare, it is to hisartwork that we turn. The output was prolific, and the diversity isastonishing. It ranges from commissioned portraits that brought in the breadand butter, through to his automatic drawings which were often pencil andwash, to the vital and compelling pastel pictures of the 1940s and 1950s.However, in even the most apparently prosaic portrait, done in a short timefor beer money, there is a vitality and a fluency which puts it on a par withhis more overtly 'occult'work. Kenneth Grant, writing in the catalogue forSpare's 1949 exhibition, sought to define what he regarded as so extraordinary

about the artist's work:... I believe the answer lies in Spare's ability to see unflinchingly thevision of the Soul of Form - the Besz-Mass of Matter with which he is, andhas been, continually preoccupied. He is not looking to unmask the soul ofspirit, but the soul of sense, of the earth-lust essence which goes tocompose the faces, the eyes, the lips. We feel that a separate life existsin each particle of the face, that the whole is a series of complexcombinations, not at rest, but battling interminably with each other in thefatal frustration of force which can never cease so long as all these willsare forever at war. And yet there is somehow generated in the observer ofthese disquieting mirrors of himself a state of peace and tranquillity.... Incomparable as a draughtsman of the Face and Form, he, like his brother

in the realm of the word - Arthur Machen - has no equal in the ability tocatch those undertones that lurk beneath the simple and seeminglycommonplace form of Things.Some would describe him, perhaps, as one who has come face to face with allEvil, dipped his brush and pen into its venomous rivers, and, with unerringskill, traced patterns of sin and madness on the face of humankind. I wouldprefer to say that he has seen the power of Form, of Matter Herself,throbbing with a deadly lust, blind and fatal, at the very Heart of All.

Amongst Spare's later work, of the 1940s and 1950s, there are many finedepictions of the Besz-Mass. One is Mind and Body, a magnificent pasteldrawing on wood which featured in his 1953 exhibition, and which wasreproduced as the frontispiece to The Witches' Sabbath (Fulgur, 1992). In thecentre of the picture is the head of a man. To either side, images of the head

fall away, like echoes shading into infinity. The grain of the wood has beenheightened, emphasising the shimmering transformations of form, and suggesting

subtle, filigree interconnections between the diverse elements of the picture.

Above the man's head is that of a woman, smiling enigmatically, a snake around

her brow. Below the man's head is a mass of protean matter, almost a'primordial soup', out of which primitive, predominantly reptilian formsemerge, gazing up at the man's head. The protean matter is the raw materialout of which is woven myriad form in the course of the Besz-Mass. The pictureemphasises that all the forms and faculties, no matter how complex and

highly-developed, are transient, sharing a common origin. Spare commented onthis picture in his Introduction to the 1953 exhibition catalogue:No. 19: "Mind and Body" - or the contexture of consciousness: The snakesymbol is energy and the unconsciousness: the woman's head is the somethingwe call 'subconsciousness' (the more fertile part). The male head symbolizes

the consciousness and the body: Many consider and others more glibly thinkof the subconsciousness as being inferior to normal consciousness, whereas,it is the mind, our hidden omnisciences, with illations reaching across therafters of firmament (as nerves, veins and arteries). The Ego is merely the


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echolalia-echopraxia of something greater. Other heads represent theemotional range, instincts and past lives. At the base - the Bess-mass,benthos and forms we evolve through and revert to. The whole picture, asymbol of the great dualities: mind and body - male and female.

Spare had a love of arcane words which might seem initially to be clumsy andobscure. However, as Gavin W. Semple notes in his introductory essay toAxiomata (Fulgur, 1992), the vocabulary is precise. Echolalia is a term usedin psychiatry for the compulsion to repeat mechanically words just spoken byanother person; the term derives from the word 'echo'and the Greek lalia,'talk, chatter'. Spare's reference to the Ego being "merely the echo ofsomething greater" is similar to another of his remarks, in the sameexhibition catalogue, that "we are shadows of a great reality, trying toescape our substance, and, wandering, have fallen into drunkenness ..."Illation is inference, derived from Latin illatio, 'a bringing in'. Benthos is

the bottom of a sea or lake, and signifies in particular the animals andplants living there; it is derived from the Greek bathus, 'deep'. All theseelements have been expressed in Mind and Body, and it imparts a wonderfullyclear insight into the Besz-Mass. Here the Besz-Mass is the transientpatterning of 'mind-stuff', the 'first matter'. Spare's reference to"subconsciousness" is not simply to the personal subconscious, but to thewider and deeper ranges of consciousness of which we are not immediatelyaware, but of which we are part. The subsequent reference to "the mind" makesthis clear: again, here is meant not simply the human mind, but cosmic or

deeper mind of which the human mind is a refraction or echo.Transformation is the theme of much of Spare's artwork. The automatic drawingsare of fluid, weaving line, out of which the picture arises. This gives afreshness and vigour to the picture which makes it appear to shimmer andoscillate. Spare's automatic drawings arose from allowing the line to flowwhere it willed, then heightening or accentuating forms which suggestedthemselves from the weaving. This produces a picture which is vigorous and ina state of flux and flow - where figures come to the fore, appearing to move.The effect of such a picture on the viewer is stimulating and compelling,giving an impression of magnetic lines of force which spill out from thepicture and insinuate themselves into the awareness of the viewer.Art is not a static thing, but dynamic. It unfolds over time; there is an

interplay between the art and the viewer. This is particularly marked in thecase of Spare's pictures. There is a field of awareness between artwork andviewer, which is constantly changing. For instance, I have been fortunate inhaving unlimited access to a 1955 pastel, Ghostly Amalgam. This pictureinspired the short story of the same name in the previous issue of Starfire.It depicts a tomb, bathed in hues of mauve and purple. In front of the tombstands a figure in a winding sheet - the classical representation of a ghost.Around the tomb there is a seething amalgam of shapes and shadows, a multitude

of ghostly figures which come to the fore and fall back again. These figuresmove, are in a state of flux and flow; the whole picture is dynamic. Sometimes

the shrouded figure seems to glow, to gain vitality, and be on the verge of

taking flesh. After several years of contemplating this picture, still thereemerge and come to the fore faces and shapes not before noticed. Doubtless theeffect is not confined to this one picture, but is common to many if not most.

Many of Spare's pictures have no apparent occult theme: for instance, hispastel portraits. The remarkable thing about them, however, is theirfleshiness, their presence - particularly the eyes. They seem on the verge ofcoming to life.The interplay between a work of art and the viewer can go beyond the specific


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piece, as the following example will illustrate. There is a Spare picturecalled Sacred and Profane, a 1954 pastel on wood, which is a collage ofimages, some of which are drawn from various religions, others of which aresecular. These images seem to emerge from the background, and to jostle eachother for room. Also breaking out from the background here and there, andlicking around the figures, are tongues of flame. These flames burst forthfrom the Sacred Fire which is at the core of creation. At the heart of thisprofusion of image and flame is a whirling, seething whorl of energy, theBesz-Mass.At the time when my attention was caught up in this picture, I was developinga magical practice which became the Lam-Serpent Sadhana. In the course of this

work the picture took on new meaning, and it became apparent to me thatanother form of this sacred fire was the Fire Snake, or Kundalini, a mask ofwhich is the Lam-Serpent. This dawning insight rose fully into awareness inthe aftermath of a dream one night, the dream revolving around the picture.In the dream, my living-room fire was alight [I have a coal fire] and Inoticed that the pastel had transferred itself to the inside walls of thechimney. It was extremely appropriate, given the subject of the picture, forit to be consumed by fire, but I felt regretful at the prospect of itsimpending destruction. I awoke from this dream, pondered it awhile, and thenfell asleep again. The dream continued, and I was in an hotel room. Once again

the pastel was transferring itself to another medium, this time to a huge

piece of paper. As it did so, I noticed that it was larger, augmented byvignettes around the sides. I looked at the vignettes on the right-hand sideof the picture, and realised that they formed a series from bottom to top. The

bottom-most vignette showed a group of people who were standing around,expectant, waiting. The next vignette showed these same people, but nowclearly touched by a gathering ecstasy, which I realised was the awakened andrising Fire Snake. Thus it continued, each succeeding vignette reflecting therising ecstasy of the people. Each vignette was exquisite, recognisably bySpare in his 'automatic' style, and seemed in terms of position to correspondto a chakra. It was this which drew a parallel between picture and practice,heightening the vitality and passion of both.The illustration which accompanies this article [not at this URL] is of a 1953

pencil drawing by Spare entitled Slip-Stream of Memory, and it has beenincluded because it is a particularly fine example, incorporating elements ofSpare's automatic artwork. A slipstream is defined as "a stream of air behindany moving object". To the right of the picture is a portrait; the figure isin pensive mood, immersed in contemplation of a fugitive stream of memoryfalling away behind and to the side. This stream is a seething mass ofelemental and qliphotic faces billowing in the wake of the portrait, theslip-stream not only of personal memory but reaching further back, beyondpersonal consciousness to the origin of form in the Besz-Mass. This brings tomind the Buddhist insight that there is a constant stream of perception, frominstant to instant, and the only connections in this stream of perception arethe ones imposed by the ego as an act of memory. Contemplation of this picture

gives a sense of the Besz-Mass; allow the mind to flow with the line.The depiction of elementals, familiars, satyrs and the like is common inSpare. Often they are intrusive, resurging into awareness from deeper levelsof consciousness, emerging from depths outside the usual awareness of thesorcerer. The perception of most of us is of a central unifying identity orego, around which sensations coalesce. This might be characterised as a'bundle of awareness'. The bundle is not a static entity with fixedboundaries; instead, awareness ebbs and flows, sometimes reaching out,sometimes shrinking back. In Spare's view:


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... identity is an obsession, a composite of personalities, allcounterfeiting each other; a faveolated ego, a resurging catacomb where thephantomesque demiurguses seek in us their reality.

Faveolate is a lovely adjective indicating a pitted, cell-like structure, likea honeycomb. The ego is thus not a single entity, but rather a multitude ofpersonalities, of drives or Ids; indeed, one of his best pictures is calledMan is a Bundle of Ids, and depicts the synthesis of several different suchIds. On a larger scale, there is the Universal or Cosmic Self, it too is likea honeycomb of personalities, of aspects which appear to be autonomous.Sometimes these shards of consciousness intrude into the waking world;sometimes they can readily be identified as part of what we considerourselves; sometimes not. This is because there are no hard and fastboundaries, no definite division between 'self' and 'other' - just as the'personal' subconscious shades into the collective unconsciousness, so weshade into the ocean of consciousness of which we are a part.Like the Play of Brahma, like the Dance of Shiva, like the perpetualtransformation of Besz, the continuum of consciousness appears to divide,coalesce and reform. Via the Besz-Mass, apparent entities crystallise from the

sea of consciousness, flourish awhile, and then fall back, emerging again insome other form. As we become aware of this perpetual ebb and flow, then wecease to be caught up in these transfigurations, and realise our cosmicidentity. Spare's artwork is a powerful celebration of the Besz-Mass, and

contemplation of his pictures is a direct route to in-seeing.Eternal Self! these millions of bodies I have outworn! (Focus of Life, p.12)

Michael Staley

with permission:STARFIRE II,2, 1998

BCM StarfireLondon WC1N 3XXEngland

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