I like the idea of doing both tarot on the train for people in exchange for payment on the train (a risk yes) and then also painting a symbol of the reading onto their body as well as my own. This creates a connection and a bond between us which is bodily. It is also fun 'child like' face painting/body painting activity, returning the sacredness to a feminine transgressive/erotic action of giving whilst also being 'outside' or transgressive any money system, it is purely giving (whilst not paying).
Written Element
Here is the research question:
How does the theory of 'psychomagic' present itself in 2 films of Alejandro Jodorowsky?
I will be applying Jodorowksy's own theory of 'psychomagic' to his 2 most known films 'El Topo' and 'The Holy Mountain' from the early 1970s in a close film reading. 'Psychomagic' is a term the filmmaker created himself and "combines art, Eastern philosophies (particularly Zen Buddhism), mysticism and modern psychotherapy to allegedly heal patients with emotional problems, the principle relies on the belief that the unconscious mind takes a symbolic act as fact" (wikipedia definition, under 'Psychomagic (psychotherapy)'. Please note the actual research will be psychomagic as defined by Jodorowsky.
An example of this theory of 'psychomagic' symbolism can be seen in the film 'The Holy Mountain'. Near the film's beginning a group of people within a city square in Mexico in a mythical/realist landscape surround a miniature version of the sacred Mexican (Aztec/Mayan) pyramids. Toads dressed in military and royal costumes are put into the pyramids as if it is a game and then shot with guns by bystanders. The image is bloody and the animals are actually killed for this film, blood is splattered across the pyramids, symbolising the bloodshed and residue of 'sacrifice' from these ancient cultures and of one culture by another ie the colonisation of Mexico by the Spanish. The amount of blood shed caused in Mexico, referencing also the 'western' and 'mexican stand off/shoot out' as spectacle through film and history this performance psychomagic act is very gruesome and traumatic. The replacement of people with toads helps release the unconscious, in a dream-like shamanistic ritual, where the innocence of animals and our projection upon them as harbouring human qualities, is paradoxically healing as an image of centuries of barbaric bloodshed, colonisation, oppression and layer upon layer of violence symbolising a cycle which cannot seem to end. For me it is the most transgressive image in the film, reflecting a culturally specific yet completely universal theme of war, domination, greed and violence in the name of 'sacrifice'. This image is healing in its confrontation, releasing attachment to power and 'civilisation' as a means to peace. Now we see it as a game for our filmic spectatorship, confronting us through a psychomagic release of gratuitous violence inflicted upon animals- symbolic of humans. Here the performance spectacle and 'psychomagic act' is both political and holistically spiritual in meaning, everything is connected and implied, including the spectator and the filmmaker in this image. No one escapes implication in this image, I chose this example as it is easy to read, ever topical and universal across all cultures in the world. Everyone is affected by violence and colonisation.
Bibliography
Jodorowsky, Alejandro, El Topo, Mexico, Peasant Productions, 1970
Jodorowsky, Alejandro, The Holy Mountain, Mexico, Allen Klein ABKCO, 1973
Jodorowsky, Alejandro, Psychomagic, The Transformative Power of Shamanic Psychotherapy, Vermont, Inner Traditions, 2010
Jodorowsky, Alejandro, The Way of the Tarot; Spiritual Teacher in the Cards, Vermont, Destiny Books, 2009
it is quite flexible and open. I am loving reading Jodorowsky's healing psychomagic vision, it relates a lot to what I already have been exploring for many years!
