The Path Of the Artist: Music’s Magical Legacy A Deeper Look at the Warlock Asylum Band

“I got so enmeshed in (The Invisibles) that I was producing holographic voodoo effects and found that I could make stuff happen just by writing about it. At the conclusion of volume one, I put the King Mob character in a situation where he was being tortured and he gets told that his face is being eaten away by bacteria and within a few months my own face was being eaten away by infection. I still have the scar. It’s a pretty cool scar too but at the time it was really distressing. Then I had the character dying and within a few months, there I was dying in the hospital of blood poisoning and staph aureus infection. As I lay dying, I wrote my character out of trouble and somehow survived. I used the text as medicine to get myself out of trouble. Writing became a way of keeping myself alive. As soon as I was out of hospital I made sure my character had a good time and got a laid a lot and within months I was having the time of my life.” (Grant Morrison)

Grant Morrison is a comic book writer and playwright. Some of his successful titles include such works as the Animal Man, Doom Patrol, JLA, The Invisibles, New X-Men, Fantastic Four, All-Star Superman, and Batman. In the above quote, Morrison relates how the art he created directly affected his life, even when it came to his physical health. Reinforcing the opinion of Grant Morrison, is another writer, Alan Moore, who authored such titles as “V for Vendetta” and “Watchman.” Alan Moore is an icon, not only in the comic book world, but the world of art in general. Here are some of his thoughts:

“There is some confusion as to what magic actually is. I think this can be cleared up if you just look at the very earliest descriptions of magic. Magic in its earliest form is often referred to as “the art”.  I believe this is completely literal.  I believe that magic is art and that art, whether it be writing, music, sculpture, or any other form is literally magic.  Art is, like magic, the science of manipulating symbols, words, or images, to achieve changes in consciousness.  The very language about magic seems to be talking as much about writing or art as it is about supernatural events.  A grimoire for example, the book of spells is simply a fancy way of saying grammar.  Indeed, to cast a spell, is simply to spell, to manipulate words, to change people’s consciousness.   And I believe that this is why an artist or writer is the closest thing in the contemporary world that you are likely to see to a Shaman.”


The work of an artist has been discussed in circles of esoteric thought, politics, and religion. In Japanese Shinto, the cosmos is divided into three sections; the physical world, the spiritual world, and the divine world. The divine world is the home of the creator, and according to the writings of Toshu Fukami, Chairman of the International Shinto Foundation, it is an artistic realm. Although the idea of art influencing reality is not a popular topic among the present generation, it was common knowledge at one time. The famous Italian painter, Giorgio de Chirico, was once noted as saying:

“To become truly immortal, a work of art must escape all human limits: logic and commonsense will only interfere. But once these barriers are broken, it will enter the realms of childhood visions and dreams.”

So far in our discussion we have reviewed some artists’ thoughts about the divine power that emanates from art itself. Recognition of art as a “magical” work is seen widely in the world of music. The foundation of contemporary music today is the Blues. Although it is not discussed among the present generation, the Blues was considered to be the “devil’s music” at one time, largely due to its roots in Hoodoo, which also known as African-American folk magic. Molefi K. Asante and Ama Mazama in the Encyclopedia of African Religion, Volume 1, page 317, states:

“…the primary vehicle that communicated the Hoodoo spiritual folk practice was the blues and popular “race records” of the early 20th Century. Countless blues songs from the early 20th century integrated Hoodoo motifs in their lyrics. These songs spoke of Hoodoo, conjure, mojo, charms, dust, tricks, magical roots, and gopher dust.”

Stephanie Rose Bird in the classic work; Sticks, Stones, Roots & Bones: Hoodoo, Mojo & Conjuring with Herbs, made a similar observation on pages 5-6:

“The use of the terms my mojo and his (or her) bag of tricks are often included in the lyrics of traditional African American blues songs, particularly those of the legendary Muddy Waters, who is also called the “Hoodoo Man.” Unfortunately, the lyrics have been misinterpreted. Mojo was interpreted as a metaphysical aura of sexual power or prowness, and the trick bag interpreted as a metaphor for various forms of misleading behaviors. In reality, a mojo and a trick bag are one and the same: a bag of charms that serves as an amulet purposes ranging from attracting a lover and maintaining a relationship to drawing luck or attracting money.”

Early Blues music was laced with themes of Hoodoo, which were often sung in code, and sometimes indicated musical wars between rival bands. The advent of the Blues and it’s magical roots has succeeded in enchanting every generation following its inception. The Blues would later transform into other forms labeled as other genres, among these are Funk, Rock n’ Roll, and etc. Muddy Waters is noted as saying: “Blues had a baby and they called it Rock n’ Roll.”  The influence of the Blues’ magical roots has also influenced Rap music. Readers may recall a track by rapper Notorious B.I.G. entitled Kick in the Door. The music from this song contains a sample from the legendary Blues tune entitled “I Put A Spell On You” by Screamin Jay Hawkins. the cover art and music can be heard in its entirety below:


Art was endeared by ancient indigenous people all around the world for its magical properties. Art was a way to transform a particular fate, in most cases, for a beneficial purpose for the people of the land. In certain parts of Africa the outcome of a war was first painted on cave walls by an artist so that the outcome of the battle would fall in accord with the illustration rendered. This is why the game of Chess was developed. Playing Chess is an occult practice. Diego Rasskin-Gutman in Chess Metaphors: Artificial Intelligence and the Human Mind, page 88, states:

“Chess as a board game is part of an ancient tradition of communication with the gods that is far removed from the ludic sense it has known for the past 1,500 years. Indeed, board games seem to have begun with a mystical character that gradually changed from astrological consultation to secular entertainment.”

Returning back to the world of music, it was once the popular view that artists, specifically musicians, possessed a gift from the “gods” and the affairs of the world could be shaped by the artist. Thus we find the famous quote by Plato appropriate in this part of our discussion:

“Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul; on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace, and making the soul of him who is rightly educated graceful, or of him who is ill-educated ungraceful; and also because he who has received this education of the inner being will most shrewdly perceive omissions or faults in art and nature, and with a true taste, while he praises and rejoices over and receives into his soul the good, and becomes noble and good, he will justly blame and hate the bad, now in the days of his youth, even before he is able to know the reason why; and when reason comes he will recognise and salute the friend with whom his education has made him long familiar.”

It’s sad, in some ways, to witness the abundance of ignorance surrounding the world of art and its magical origins. Another form of music that was designed to communicate “magical” ideas is Jazz music. Since its beginning, Jazz music was closely associated with Voodoo.  Jazz in Print by Karl Koenig, states on page 153:

“Jazz was originally the accompaniment of the voodoo dancer,..”

Jazz music, with all its magical roots branched out and reshaped itself into other forms. One of these forms held court on its own meeting grounds in Cuba, a genre of Jazz, later termed Latin Jazz, which later became known as Salsa. In an online article entitled History of Latin Dance, we read:

“Salsa has its roots from the fusion of Cuban and Puerto Rican music and the jazz culture of New York. To look at its etymology, ‘Salsa’ literally means ‘sauce’. Evidently, it derives its name from a strong flavored sauce. The dance form originates from the time when the slaves were given the liberty to dance to their own beats, on the streets. The congregation on the streets to perform these dances was called ‘Santerias’. “

Here we see that “Salsa” is closely connected with another shamanistic form, or as the article would describe “Santerias.” The article continues to describe another form of Latin music that is also magical:

“Mambo grew as a dance form of the Haitians in Cuba. Back home in Haiti, ‘Mambo’ means a voodoo priestess who perform the rituals of witchcraft, through dancing. The music of Mambo is a blend of the Swing and Cuban music. It was Perez Prado, who introduced the dance in a night-club in Havana, in 1943. The Mambo craze did not last long however. Its biggest contribution to the Latin American dances is that it led to the origin of Cha Cha Cha. “

Although Blues music was seen as the “devil’s music” in the eyes of the Church in its earlier stages, it soon became acceptable. Jazz ,however, came under Federal investigation, and it was due to the increasing sexual relations between Jazz musicians of African descent and “white women” that marijuana became illegal. Rudolph Joseph Gerber in Legalizing Marijuana, page 9, writes:

Anslinger’s legislative campaign laid the foundation for the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. Prior to its enactment, no reliable scientific research had shown any statistical connection between marijuana and criminal behavior. …The 1937 Tax Act hearings conflated more so with ancedotes than objective research. Here is a sample of Anslinger’s testimony:

“Most marijuana smokers are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their satanic music, jazz and swing result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes.”

We see in the above quote a reference to Jazz music as “satanic music.” It was also listed, though later in the testimony, along with marijuana, as inciting sexual relations between white women and Negroes, and this led to the America’s first law that prohibited the use of marijuana.

Blues and Jazz music merged with the elements of Country Western, Folk, and Gospel music to form what is now known as Rock n’ Roll. Rock music, like its parenting genres is also connected with divination. A History of Rock and Dance Music by Piero Scaruffi, states:

“This shift in rock music (grafted onto the historical synthesis of the bard, the punk and the sound sculptor) coincided with the boom of “free jazz”. Rock’n’roll had been born at the confluence of blues and country music, but after 1966 blues and country/folk became mere ingredients (two among many) of a much more complex recipe. The lengthy “acid” jams of the Velvet Underground, of Jefferson Airplane, of the Grateful Dead and of Pink Floyd, relied on a loose musical infrastructure that was no longer related to rhythm’n’blues (let alone country music). It was, on the other hand, very similar to the format of jazz music played in the lofts and the clubs that many psychedelic rock musicians attended, and that had rapidly become the second great pillar of the counterculture (the first one being the movement for civil-rights and pacifism). Basically, the indirect influence of free jazz became prominent in rock music during the psychedelic era, fueling its musical revolution and emancipating rock music from its blues foundations. Before 1966 rock music had been more a part of the blues tradition than rockers wanted to admit; after 1966 rock music became more a part of the jazz tradition than rock musicians wanted to admit.”

Rock music has also been known to communicate messages that are from the “other side” to say the least. One of the most successful Rock bands in music history, selling over 200 million records, Led Zeppelin, were noted for their use of magical imagery. In the book Led Zeppelin and Philosophy, we read:

“…and Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page says of Crowley: “I feel Aleister Crowley was a misunderstood genius of the twentieth century.” Page was so enamored of Crowley that he named the occult bookstore he owned-“The Equinox”-after one of Crowley’s publications, he purchased one of Crowley’s former residences..”

Aleister Crowley is a highly regarded magician in the world of Western occult practice. He is also seen as a very controversial figure, since his turn of the century ideas may have been far too liberal for popular acceptance during the time he lived, and due to such, he was labeled by many as propagating “satanic” thought, but a closer look at his perspective illustrates otherwise. He spent his entire life promoting the philosophy of Thelema. Wikipedia states the following under the topic Thelema:

“The religion is founded upon the idea that the 20th century marked the beginning of the Aeon of Horus, in which a new ethical code would be followed; “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law”. This statement indicated that adherents, who are known as Thelemites, should seek out and follow their own true path in life, known as their True Will^[5] rather than their egoic desires.^[6] The philosophy also emphasizes the ritual practice of Magick.”

Not only did Crowley influence Led Zeppelin, but was also instrumental in adding some controversy to the legendary album cover of the “world’s greatest band,” the Beatles. Their famous album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band, includes a depiction of Aleister Crowley:

The blog page Aleister Crowley Today quotes John Lennon as stating the following:

“The Beatles apparently took Crowley’s teaching very serious — Beatle John Lennon, in an interview, says the “whole idea of the Beatles” was — Crowley’s infamous “do what thou wilt”:….”The whole Beatle idea was to do what you want, right? To take your own responsibility, do what you want and try not to harm other people, right? DO WHAT THOU WILST, as long as it doesn’t hurt somebody. . .” (“The Playboy Interviews with John Lennon and Yoko Ono”, by David Sheff and G. Barry Golson, p. 61)”

Those who are familiar with The Beatles’ masterpiece, Sgt. Pepper, are well aware that the album begins with the lyric; “it was twenty years ago today.” Aleister Crowley died “twenty years” before the release of Sgt. Pepper in 1947. It was The Beatles’ 8th album and included 13 tracks. The numbers 8 and 13 represent the pentagram in astrology. The planet Venus makes the shape, when viewed from Earth, of a perfect pentagram in 8 Venusian years, which is equivalent to 13 Earth years, as it move through the zodiac. Notice the illustration below:



For those who understand astrological language a little more in-depth, the online article, entitled Pentagram of Venus, states:

“This is the diagram on the zodiac that Venus makes in eight years. After that period, Venus, the Sun, the Earth and the stars are again in the same relative positions. It means that Venus, seen from the Earth, is in the same position with respect not only to the Sun, but also to the stars. This happens because five periods of Venus take eight years (When we round Venus’ synodic period to a whole number 584, we can calculate that 584×5=2920 days, 2920/365 = 8 years). Take a particular point in a synodic revolution of Venus, for instance the greatest elongation east which places it in one zodiacal constellation. After an interval of 584 days (or nearly 19 months) later, greatest elongation east will take place again, this time almost seven constellations away. These events repeat every nineteen months and the result is that in eight years the eastern elongation point will return close to the point where it started – only about two degrees less – making a pentagram on the zodiac .”

The Sgt, Pepper album was a Thelemic album that was to propel the “free love era” of the 1960’s. The album was completely Venusian in concept, qualities exemplified in the themes of Aleister Crowley’s work, upon which we find the Thelemic slogans: “Do what thou will shall be the whole of the Law.” “Love is the Law, Love under will.”

Interestingly, Venus is the planet that rules artistic expression,as well as, love. It orbits the Sun every 225 Earth days. Venus rotates once every 243 Earth days. The sum of these numbers is quite interesting: 2 + 2 + 5 = 9, 2 + 4 + 3 = 9  Here we see that Venus astronomical movements when abbreviated appear as 99. The number 99 is the sum of 9 x 11, as in the date 9/11. The Beatles finished recording their first record, Love Me Do, on September 11th, 1962. Approximately, 39 years later the infamous terrorist attacks occurred in America. 9/11 is a reference to the Venusian goddess Ishtar, whose attributes are love and war. 39 is a unique number as it is the inverse of “93” a very significant number in Thelema. Under the topic 93 we read:

“It is common for Thelemites to greet each other with “93” in person as well as in the opening and closing of written correspondence. This custom derives from Aleister Crowley’s guideline that Thelemites should greet each other with the Law of Thelema by saying “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.” Since saying the entire Law can be cumbersome, using 93 has become a kind of shorthand…..In informal written correspondence, one often finds the number singularly at the head of a letter and in the form “93 93/93” at the end. In this case, the initial “93” stands in for “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law,” and “93/93” stands for “Love is the law, love under will.” Crowley often used this form himself within his own letters.”

Before we continue further into this discussion there is an important topic that I should briefly cover. The purpose of this article is to illustrate that music is a magical art form. However, today we find a whole slew of “hallelujah” Christian radicals suggesting that contemporary music is promoting a “luciferian agenda.” What these idiots fail to realize is that Christianity is a luciferian religion. Christianity is said to promote the teachings and ideas of Jesus Christ, but what escapes the notice of most of these fools is that Jesus admitted himself to be Lucifer. In Revelation Chapter 22 verse 16, we read:

“I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.”

In the Biblical passage above, Jesus describes himself as the “morning star.”  The phrase “morning star” translates from the term “lucifer.” Terry David Silvercloud elaborates on this in his book The Shape of God. On page 198 it states:

“A particularly nasty irony for those who for those who believe that “Lucifer” refers to Satan, is that the same title (“morning star”/ “light bearer) is used to refer to Jesus,..The term is also used to refer to Jesus in Revelation 22:16.”

Another Rock band that is noted for their open use of occult symbolism is Red Hot Chili Peppers. Red Hot Chili Peppers have said they are into Chaos magic (the asterisk tattoos are representative of the Chaosphere). Founding member of the group, Anthony Kiedis, is also involved in The Kabbalah Center. Many of our readers may remember a song by The Eagles entitled Hotel California. The Hotel California album is #37 on the Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Albums of all time. According to the magazine, Don Henley said that the band was in pursuit of a note perfect song. The Eagles spent 8 months in the studio polishing take after take after take. The controversy behind the song is astronomical, to say the least. Rumor has it that the song is actually based on Anton LaVey opening the first Church of Satan in a hotel in California in 1969. One of the members of the Eagles’ band breaks down, while on the road and seeks help in what appear to be a “hotel” only to discover a ritual going on. It’s one of my favorite songs. Lyrics from the song are as follows:

“..please bring me my wine..he said..we havent had that spirit here since 1969” ( wine was never served in the Church of Satan because it is considered a “holy” sacrament)

The Reader should note that music, like the human life-span goes through an 18-year growth and development process before it is absorbed into mainstream society (corporate America), similar to an 18 year-old trying to get a job after high school. It is the same with music. The Golden era of Rock n’ Roll lasted for 18 years, from 1955-1973. Rap music saw the same rise, from 1979 to 1997. Shortly after the decline of Rock n” Roll, the world witnessed the rise of Funk music. Funk music, like its predecessors, is a magical art form.

Famous Funk band, Grand Central Station, founded by Larry Graham, a form member of Sly and the Family Stone. Metaphysical themes are seen in some of their album art:


One of the forerunners responsible for the movement of the Experimental Jazz  and Funk era is the infamous, and often misunderstood, Sun Ra. We are told the following about this musical genius in the online article Sounds From Tomorrow’s World:

“By the time he left Chicago in 1961, eventually settling in New York and later Philadelphia’s Germantown, he was the leader of the Arkestra (a big band like no other in jazz), and a composer and arranger of some of the most avant-garde jazz of the time. He was also the architect of a philosophy that informed his music, his life, and the lives of those around him: a synthesis of Black Nationalism, Egyptology, futurism, occultism and Southern Baptist preaching.”

Sun Ra openly discussed his “metaphysical connections” and recognized his talents as an artist and used such to advance the causes of world unity. In a similar way to the Beatles, Sun Ra recognized the magical power of music and used it to affect the consciousness of modern man. In 1974 Sun Ra put out the film called Space is the Place. If you haven’t seen the film, I would advise you to make it a part of your collection. Here is a sample of the film as it appears on YouTube:


Following the expertise of Sun Ra, we have George Clinton of the infamous Parliament Funkadelic. Many of our readers may remember the constant themes of the “Mothership” in George Clinton’s music. The “Mothership” concept can be heard even in old Negro spirituals dating back decades ago in hymns like “Swing Low Sweet Chariot.” Although, modern scholars would have us believe that ancient man was “primitive,” and needed to be redeemed by religions that were responsible for killing entire populations, still African-American slaves understood the concept of being taken up by a spacecraft, a “chariot,” and carried off to the place that their ancestors came from. This influence was seen in the music of Paliament Funkadelic. Below is a video illustrating the group’s message:


A discussion about the magic of Funk and Soul music would be incomplete if the legendary singer James Brown, properly titled the “Godfather of Soul,” were not mentioned. While Brown did not publicly admit involvement in the occult arts, many shamans around the world identified Brown’s dance movements with their own ritualistic steps. In the article Rare Grooves Our of Africa, we read:

“The singer Roger Damawuzan from Togo recalls one evening in 1968, as a cultural center a concert film with the “Godfather of Soul” was: “James Brown turned completely through during this show, his musicians he had towels Around, around him . calm down I was fascinated because it reminded me of what we do here in the African region in voodoo rituals. “

While the magicians of the musical world were trying to use their power to shift the consciousness of the people, the political realm was starting to get frustrated with their artistic influence. Prominent artists began calling attention to the current revolutionary movements that were occurring in America. One of the pioneers in this process was former Beatle John Lennon. In the video below, we see Lennon openly introducing Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, on primetime television in order to create awareness of the Black Panther Party’s agenda (click the words “Watch on Youtube” to see video):


The idea of a “revolutionary artist” was about to soon end. In a December 1980 issue of Time Magazine we find the following:



The above photo is a little bit chopped, but it is taken from the December 15th, 1980 issue of Time Magazine, which appeared on newsstands as early as late November of that year. In the lower part of the photo is a book written by former President Richard Nixon entitled The Real War. In the documentary entitled The U.S. vs John Lennon, Walter Cronkite suggests that Lennon was in the Top 3 of Richard Nixon’s enemies. In the book, The Real War, Richard Nixon writes:

“…It makes no sense to use a sledgehammer to kill a fly. That kind of enemy calls for a less powerful but more effective weapon- a fly swatter….In today’s world purity is no excuse for pusillanimity. Every day lost mounting our own strategic counter-offensive narrows an already perilously thin margin of safety…Perhaps a nation that equates celebrity with wisdom, that looks to rock stars and movie actresses as its oracles deserve to lose..World Wars I and II were not Woodstocks.”

The book basically discusses how to silence artists who use their craft to create awareness on certain political issues that the government refuses to face. Shortly after this issue of Time Magazine was made available to the public, displaying Nixon’s book on Ronald Reagan’s desk, John Lennon was assassinated. Readers may want to investigate the online article Lennon Murder Truth. Just about 6 months to the date of Lennon’s assassination, the leading “World Celebrity” Bob Marley died.

Marley had been subject to a few assassination attempts on his life during the period of 1976-1980. Some still speculate that the  health issues causing his death may have been influence by outer sources. Speculation about Marley’s death in connection with the CIA are discussed thoroughly in the online article Was Bob Marley Murdered?. The article states:

“By 1980, Bob Marley was the most popular ‘Third World’ muzik star on the planet and his immense influence was growing geometrically. The final straw that prompted clandestine covert operations against Marley was probably when “Bob put the immortal words of HIM Emperor Haile Selassie I to muzik in the brilliant composition entitled “War”. When they heard: “Until the color of a man’s skin makes no more significance than the color of his eyes, there will be war… Until there are no first or second class citizens of any nation – war… Until the ignoble and unhappy regimes that hold our brothers in Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, have been toppled and utterly destroyed – War. And until bigotry, prejudice and malicious and inhuman self interest have been replaced by tolerance, understanding and good will… everywhere is war.” When the CIA types heard that song, they brought in the heavyweights and the battle went to another dimension. Unfortunately, Bob Marley never really knew that he had already been “Marked For Death”. And as Del Jones chronicles in his “Culture Bandits” series of books, Bob was soon eradicated as a revolutionary 3rd World Icon and replaced in the early 1980’s by an androgynous (blurred gender), surgically altered, cosmetically bleached Michael Jackson.”

The author, cited above, claims that Bob Marley wasn’t aware that he was targeted by certain authorities, other references reveal something quite different. Bob Marley also had a “magical” moment. Timothy White, in the book Catch A Fire, notes the following:

Bob Marley relates to his mother Cedalle while he was living with her in the Unite States of a disturbing dream that he had. In the dream there’d been a short man dressed in khaki and an old fedora who came through the front door of the house and stood next to the sofa as he had dozed. The man had dug into his jacket pocket and produced a ring, set with a black jewel embossed with some sort of insignia? He took Bob’s hand and pushed it onto his forefinger, saying, “This is all I have to give you”. (page 214).

Shortly before that “Smile Jamaica” concert Bob and members of his band the Wailers were targets of an assassination attempt on Bob’s life because of his political involvement. Three days after the concert Bob disappeared, when he resurfaced , he spent a period of convalescence in Miami, New York and Delaware. He then secretly traveled to England. While there, some of the ranking Rasta’s in London put him in touch with officials of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. In the course of meeting with a number of Ethiopian exiles, Bob was granted an audience in London with Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, son of HIM Emperor Haile Selassie 1 of Ethiopia.

…As Marley was leaving, the crown prince said he had something for him. “This belonged to His Majesty,’ he said. “you are the one who should wear it.” He showed the Rasta a ring. Bob was dumbstruck. It was the ring he had seen in his dream in Delaware a black stone bearing the figure of the Lion of Judah. Crown Prince Wossen slipped the ring onto bob’s forefinger, just as the man in the dream had done.

Bob Marley’s “magical ring” protected him from a violent death, as he died of cancer. However, note that in shamanism, as well as, Chinese medicine, certain diseases are considered a sign of magical attack upon the victim.

The deaths of John Lennon and Bob Marley ended the era where the musician was fully aware that music is a magical force, one that was often revered in many circles as more profound than that of the shaman. Now would begin a movement from the mysticism of art to the captivation of the mind, commonly known as entertainment. Pop music would now replace men of courage with feminine-masculine archetypes. Entertainers would now be introduced as artists to seduce the masses with agendas that did not serve the best interest of the public. Experiments in this department began with the late Michael Jackson.

Michael Jackson ruled the world of music in the early 1980’s. The American public was familiar with his work as an artist in the 1970’s while working with his brothers, The Jackson 5. Here is the thing with Michael Jackson. So far in our discussion we have talked about musicians who knew that their craft (music) was a form of magic, the majority of these studied the occult arts as inspiration for their music, and they used these skills as a way of spreading messages of peace and love among people. So how is it then that Michael Jackson, who openly admitted to being a Jehovah’s Witness, and has no association with the occult, can come up with the concept of Thriller? More importantly, knowing the power of music was Jackson’s Thriller a catalyst for an event that was about to take place? The video Thriller was released on December 2, 1983.

The Thriller video is filled with “zombie” symbolism. Approximately six months after the video was released “zombies” began to fill the streets of urban America in the summer of 1984. The “crack epidemic” had begun. For the first time in American history, elements of the political world were able to use the reality-bending power of the musician to influence change as they saw fit. The reader is encouraged to compare Michael Jackson’s Thriller video with a scene from New Jack City showing the crack addicted Halle Berry:



Unfortunately, Michael Jackson realized that he was being used by the powers that be a little too late. Once he tried to step away from the elements of the political world that controlled him, the media circus went to war on his character. The two YouTube videos seen below, illustrate the heights of Michael’s deteriorating relationship with the adversarial forces that try to control artistic expression:



While the King of Pop dazzled audiences all across the world during the 1980’s, another form of music was beginning to climb to new heights, Rap music. Hip-Hop culture was the biggest movement since the Civil Rights era of the 1960’s. It was almost as if the ancestors of these urban youth blessed their descendants with another creative form brought to them by means of “spirit possession.” How is it that millions of young people would align, all in the same mind, and create an art form that complimented other aspects of a rising culture all at the same time? Not only was it Rap music, but also break dancing, graffiti, locking, popping, a new slang, and the DJ providing the foundation. Wikipedia describes Hip-Hop in the following words:

“Hip hop music, also called Rap music or Hip-hop music is an American musical genre in which rhythmic and rhyming speech is chanted to musical accompaniment. It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching, breaking/dancing and graffiti writing.. Other elements include sampling (or synthesis), and beatboxing….While often used to refer to rapping, “hip hop” more properly denotes the practice of entire subculture. The term hip-hop music is sometimes used synonymously with the term rap music.”

The article goes on to describe Rap music’s origin in the traveling Griots of Africa. Here is a video of Brikama Griots:


Rap music began with simple themes, but by the mid-1980’s the music became more complex, due to innovative groups like Run-DMC, EPMD, the Fat Boys,  and Whodini. However it was during the late-1980’s that a new sound in Rap music began to emerge, one that even caught the attention of musicians worldwide, the sound of Public Enemy.

The Bomb Squad became the standard for production in the Rap world, as international attention on the group’s message was felt globally. Public Enemy sparked a return to political consciousness in music that had been missing since the assassinations of John Lennon and Bob Marley almost a decade prior.  The beat of the streets was about each one teaching one, but soon after the group’s rise other interpretations of these messages in different parts of America were felt in Rap songs like “Cop Killer” by Ice T, or NWA’s controversial “Fuck The Police.” Themes such as these led to congressional hearing about the censorship of Rap music. Some even held Public Enemy partly responsible for the Rodney King riots with songs like “Burn Hollywood Burn.” In an effort to stifle Rap music’s revolutionary nature, former head of the CIA, then President George H.W. Bush decides to invite members of N.W.A. to the White House. Wikipedia states:

“In March 1991 Eazy-E accepted an invitation to a lunch benefiting the Republican Senatorial Inner Circle, hosted by then-President George H. W. Bush. A spokesman for the rapper said that Eazy-E supported Bush because of his performance in the Gulf War.”

Shortly, after Easy-E’s visit to the White House a changed occurred in the Rap world. Rap acts that promoted political awareness in their music could no longer get signed. Eventually, the spokesperson of the Hip-Hop culture, Rap music personified, has become an instrument of the powers that be. Writer, Cedric Mohammad has this to say:

“Hip Hop culture, the music and of course, radio, the records, the videos and other forms through which people can project messages and images that may spark a movement. Now, in the specific sense, I believe I began writing on the murders of Biggie and 2PAC, because of two very simple facts that I think are glossed over and those facts are: that at the very time of their murders, in the case of Biggie in particular, but in the last days and weeks of their lives it is a documented fact, it has been reported that both 2PAC and Biggie were under government surveillance by federal agencies….In the case of the Notorious BIG, ATF, New York City and Los Angeles under cover police officers and, I believe, the FBI were all following his car at the very moment he was shot. Lil’ Cease of Junior Mafia has publicly acknowledged that he was shown photographs of himself, Puffy, Biggie, the car, by the FBI after the murder took place and the FBI questioned him about certain individuals who were being photographed. So, Voleta Wallace asked the question best, “Why, if the FBI was following my son the night he was murdered, why don’t they know who is responsible for the murder?” And then of course, there’s the other logical question, which is maybe they know a lot more than they’ve indicated about that murder.”

Rap music, during the time of its inception, was completely magical. It was scientific. The idea of creating a sample from a record that was recorded in generations prior, and loop it over and over again, then synch it with a drum pattern is an act of divination, also known as ancestor worship. It creates a de ja vous effect and the artist is able to bend time-space continuum. Once again, however, the artist that promote love, peace, and unity were rejected for more sublime messages, as record companies no longer marketed the art of Hip-Hop, but a form of entertainment posing as the former.  There are some  rappers, however, that pay homage to their magical roots.

Despite rumors about the government’s involvement with the deaths of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G., the power of music as a magical tool was the ultimate weapon, which led to their demise. Unaware of the magical power of music, the Notorious B.I.G released two albums with morbid themes, Ready to Die and Life After Death. Two weeks after releasing his second album, Notorious B.I.G. was assassinated.

Six months earlier Tupac Shakur was killed. Prior to this, Shakur recorded material under the name Makaveli, after the Italian painter who faked his own death. The album was released two months after his death.

The symbolic War of Armageddon will occur in heaven. It is a struggle to capture the consciousness (heaven) of the people. It is a war between the powers that be and progressive artists who still feel that they can use their craft for the purpose that it was given to them, in order to change the world. Remember, the “world” is an idea, but the planet will always survive. Music is a divine force that was given to mankind via “divine intervention.”

Battles between the musicians and politics goes back to the days of slavery in America and many millenia before. Slaves were not permitted to beat drums or other instruments, due to the belief that it could inflict harm on the slave owner, which at times resulted in the slave master’s death. This is covered briefly in Alex Haley’s Roots. Another author, K. O. Laurence, makes a similar observation in his work Tobago in Wartime. Page 98 states:

“..slaves were not permitted to beat any drum or similar instrument or to blow horns or shells…”for that or any other bad purpose.”

Music as a supernatural force is evidence by music itself. Think for a second. What gave “primitive” man the intellect to even create instruments, and for what purpose were they invented? The answer probably lies in the same mind that guided man to gather leaves and put them in a pipe and smoke them? how could a “primitive” man know what leaves could be smoked and those that couldn’t? More importantly, what inspired him to do all of this anyway? Interestingly, the flute is one of the oldest instruments discovered to date. The Divje Babe flute is said to date back 43,000 years ago.

The war between the worlds of art and politics can be seen by the history of war in America itself. It should be noted that at the height of any musical movement America goes to war to recapture the “consciousness” of the people who have been influenced by new musical developments. This is a subject that is indeed one of note. The planet Venus rules art, love, and war.

Rap music reached its height in the late-1980’s with the rise of Public Enemy. Soon after, the Gulf war began, and has been the central focus of America’s armed forces ever since. Yet no one ever notices that America has maintained its conflict with these Arab states for the same length of time that Gangsta Rap has ruled teenage “consciousness.”

The same parallel appears in the history of Rock n’ Roll. America’s conflict with Vietnam dates back to the mid-1950’s, which was the same time that Rock n’ Roll was established. The conflict began to escalate during the musical “British Invasion,” and in 1975 shortly after the Golden Age of Rock music.  The same can be said about the Blues and Jazz. These patterns of creating wars during a time that a new music form is established, is a testimony to music’s magical unifying power. Music’s influence over our aspirations and moods is quite well-known, but what is unique about music, and the power behind it, is its unifying effect on people of all walks of life. The Civil Rights movement, for example, would not have been successful if it didn’t have a musical accompaniment. History reveals music’s unifying effect in the example of a man who was able to bring people together from three different continents and set the tone for the Abolitionist Movement that would occur decades after his death. This man was none other than Ludwig Van Beethoven, but first let us visit the world that Beethoven lived in.

While it is not discussed in detail among the present population, Ludwig Van Beethoven, was born in a time of political turmoil that was occurring throughout the Arab world, Europe, and Africa. Before the birth of Beethoven, the vast amount of Europe was ruled by the Moors. Although, the history of the Moors’ dominion in Spain is well-known, scholars are hesitant to talk about this empire’s influence on the rest of the land mass. Scottish folklorist and antiquarian, David MacRitchie (also rendered McRitchie), is quoted by author Ivan Van Sertima in the book Golden Age of the Moor, where McRitchie notes:

“The families with the name Moor, Moore, Morris, Morrison, too, and other derivatives of Moor, had Moors as their ancestors,…Families with Moors in the coat-of-arms ranged from Sicily to Finland, and included Britain, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Denmark and Sweden…not only did the Moors in their European conquests leave their learning, their culture and their arts. Their blood, the blood of Africa, was to remain and flow in the veins of many a European, be he aristocrat or commoner. …It is this African cultural heritage which set in motion the expansion of Europe.”

While the Moors did spread new ideas in the areas of medicine, religion, and science, they fell upon their own egos as they also perpetrated and created a caste system, instituted laws making taxation without representation. These conditions eventually led to the demise of an empire that is commonly called in European history “The Dark Ages.” The European nations paid tribute to the Moors well into the 18th century. In the book, United States and Barbary Powers, it says,

“the English, French, Dutch, Danes, and Swedes, and I may say all nations are tributary to them.”

David MacRitchie in the book, Ancient and Modern Britons, says that the word “blackmail” is the result of this tribute paid to the “black army”, or “black oppressors” as the English referred to them. However this oppression was soon to end and the unfortunate fate of slavery would even befall the Moors. Below is a 17th century portrait of an American soldier paying tribute to the Bey of Algiers:

Beethoven was born during the time that the Moors were heavily resented in Europe. In some respects, Beethoven lived in an era that was almost the inverse of what we see in politics and race today in America. It was a time where the Moors were the oppressors and Europe had broken free from the regime for a few centuries. Taking these factors into account, we find that Beethoven had to overcome obstacles due to his own “Moorish heritage.” In the July 16th, 1969 issue of New York Magazine, page 49, we read:

“A woman who knew the Beethoven family in Bonn describes the young man as having “a dark-brown complexion”; portraits of the composer clearly show that his nose was broad and somewhat flat: people at the Viennese dismissed his uncouth manner with terms like “black Spaniard” and “blackamoor,”

Alexander Wheelock Thayer, who wrote the first scholarly biography on Beethoven, noted:

“Beethoven had even more of the Moor to his looks than (Haydn) his master.” (Haydn, a collection of letters revealed, was called “my fine blackamoor” by his patron, Prince Esterhazy. …”

Despite the turbulent political condition that Beethoven was born into, his music helped the world come to a better place. Jennifer Viegas describes Beethoven’s contribution to the world in her classic work Beethoven’s World:

“When Beethoven was born in 1770, extremely wealthy monarchs and their appointed regional leaders ruled most of Europe…By 1827, the year of Beethoven’s death, most of these things had changed.”

While Beethoven’s music is often perceived as relaxing, in the era that he lived it was quite revolutionary. A brief history of Beethoven’s life in comparison to what was going on in the political world at the time illustrate this aspect of our discussion quite vividly:

In 1787 Beethoven travelled to Vienna. This was the turning point in his career. He spent several weeks organising his future life during which time it is supposed he met Mozart, who would later be his teacher. This is the same year that the Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship was ratified by Confederation Congress.

In 1800, Beethoven organised a new concert at Vienna including, notably, the presentation of his first symphony.  This is the same year that Great Britain passes the Act of Union to join Great Britain and Ireland into the United Kingdom.

In 1804, Beethoven scratches out dedication of ‘Eroica’ symphony to Napoleon, after Napoleon declares himself Emperor. This is the same year that New Jersey becomes the last northern state to abolish slavery.

These are just a few example of how Beethoven was able to fuel the world through his art, and like the musicians of power, discussed earlier in this article, Beethoven was an occultist also. In a letter to the Countess Erdody, Beethoven wrote the following:

“May God grant you greater strength to enable you to reach your Temple of Isis, where the purified fire may swallow up all your troubles and you may awake like a new phoenix.”

I recently discovered a book, written in 1896 by Sir George Grove entitled Beethoven and His Nine Symphoniess, mentions the following on page 890:

“Beethoven is still a magician ; and it has pleased him on this occasion to raise something supernatural ; to which this critic does not consent.”

B. J. Gibbons in the book Spirituality and the Occult, states on page 29:

“When Beethoven declared that ‘Every tree seems to say, Holy, Holy’ we are hearing an authentic echo of the occult tradition.”

Beethoven was an occultist is to the point, but what our research indicates is that music is an occult science. The instruments used music are in themselves tools of divination and once the elemental correspondence of the instrument, which are identical to the aspects of the pentagram:

Drums = Earth 

Piano, keyboards, synths = Water

Guitar, string instruments = Fire

Flute, wind instruments = Air

Singer, voice = Spirit

Artist’s name = Divine

The musicians involvement with his craft open the door to the world of the divine. The emotional energy that a “fan” directs towards an artist, gives that artist “good fortune.” This means that the more an artist is adored by his/her “fans” the more good fortune will appear into that musician’s life. It also means that the artist has a lot more power the wider his/her admirers increase. He can take the emotional energy that is directed towards him by his fans and channel it for himself, or use it to cause change in the world. It is due to such that  there is a lot more importance in voting for artists than it is to vote for a politicians. Art rules people’s emotions, moods, and thoughts. Artists rule the world. This is the same understanding that people had of artists hundreds of years ago.

Music sets the tone for society, so it is important for us to participate in artistic voting. What do we get from the music that we listen too? What is the musician giving back to society? If a particular musician feels that they are worthy of being a superstar based on how they look, vote NO!  If a musical act feel that they are entitled to stardom because they sound like another singer, vote NO! I could just listen to the person who they are imitating, as they possess no originality on their own. If a musician makes a song about how much money he/she makes, and makes you feel that you are nobody because you are wearing a certain t-shirt, vote No! Choose the music that you listen to like the food that you take into your body. If you cannot afford to take a vacation to a foreign land then find the time to listen to the music of the said country. Collect music from different genres. How can the world be desegregated if the musical genre that we listen to is segregated? Vote No!

We have covered a lot about the magical history of the musician. We encourage the reader to search and support musicians who are trying to use their “magical ability” in a way that is enjoyable and productive for human society.

Alan Moore and Grant Morrison, cited earlier in our discussion, spoke about how the art they created influenced their lives to the most minute detail. Today, there are musicians who have proven that music can be used to change reality, as it has in their own lives, and they now seek to use the same musical formulae to make this world a better place. The group that I am speaking about is Warlock Asylum. Since I am a member of Warlock Asylum, I thought it would only be fair to post a recent interview that was conducted by Amadi about the making of the legendary Kiss of the Immortal album!

 Amadi: I’m glad that you were able to make it down today. I got a chance to listen to the album. This is really some incredible work! People need to study this album on all levels, even the art work is slamming. Now I just wanted to run a few question by you and see where you guys are at in all of this. I must ask, what does the name “Warlock Asylum” mean?

Messiah’el: The name came to me in a dream. I thought it sounded a bit poetic, but also rugged, like Led Zepplin, or Judas Priest, or what have you. I didn’t really think about what it meant at the time. Funny thing was that I hear this word in my head as I’m waking up one morning, right around the time Steve and I started doing music together. An “asylum” can be a sactuary, a safe place for warlocks. A place that you can be whatever it is you need to be.

Amadi: So Warlock Asylum consists of Steve Berson and Messiah’el Bey and according to your website: “Warlock Asylum, a meeting of minds from Uptown, Manhattan and Greenpoint, Brooklyn, is the collaboration between poet / sound designer Messiah-el Bey and multi-instrumentalist / engineer Steve Berson.   Together they have created a trip-hop soundscape over which Messiah-el drops spoken word, poetry and vocalized hooks, for their first album…” What artists have left a lasting impression on you and why?

Messiah’el: Wow, there’s a lot of artists that Steve and I enjoy, but those that left a lasting impression were, according to our website, Public Enemy, RZA, Fela Kuti, Portishead, Dead Can Dance, Babatunde Olatunji, Tricky, Common, The Last Poets, Squarepusher, The Beatles, Dr. Buzzard, and Gil Scot Heron. When music comes from the “other side” to the mind of the artist, you can kind of feel it, in how it is presented. It speaks to your heart. If an artist cannot speak to your heart, they are nothing more than an entertainer. I think these acts have left a “lasting impression” on us because they were not afraid to be themselves and they put a lot into what they were doing. For myself, John Lennon is probably my biggest influence musically and poetically. It’s  a Libra thing. I can’t speak for Steve, but I know Public Enemy is one of his favorite bands. I grew up with a lot of instruments around the house. My oldest brother played bass since I could remember, and my cousin, Al “Purple” Hayes, worked with the “Bomb Squad,” and Ice Cube. Another cousin of mine, on my mother’s side of the family, Shamar Moore, gave me the ambition to pursue my dream as success is possible once it is real in your heart.

Reflecting back on things I could see how Steve and I compliment each other as a production team. I started off playing the guitar and keyboards as a youth, but later got more into hip-hop production. I was known for this on the underground. Steve is an multi-instrumentalist, but has a lot more knowledge about rap music than myself. A person like me? I have collections of Rock music never released in the US. I am also a writer. There was a time that I pursued the idea of being a rapper. I made out okay. I was the first rapper to perform and the Jazz club Sweetwaters. I opened for Miss Jones, Brand Nubian, Crystal Waters, and etc, but I felt a little limited with the “he-to the she-to the be” sort of thing. I was more drawn to spoken word and felt that there was, and is, a lot of potential in it. I remember reciting poetry over beats by Black Moon when they were in their Enter Da Stage era. I also knew that Madonna’s Justify My Love song is really a spoken word track. So I took the incentive to try to take that genre to another level. I’m clear now and that’s what we’re going to do. I feel that when a poet really has something to say and the music behind him or her is good, you need to be in front of an audience that is not filled with other poets, if you catch my drift. You need to get it out in the world.

Amadi: Just out of curiosity, how did you meet Steve?

Messiah’el: Uhmm..that was a very unique experience. I met Steve when I was working on The El Fuma project. Qiniso and I finished the album, but we needed to get it mastered. I found  few numbers to some mastering studios in the Village Voice. I left a message at a mastering studio called Total Sonic Media. I waited for about a day, but didn’t hear back from them. So I called another studio while on lunch. I was on my cellphone and was talking to this engineer, who said that the work I needed would cost me about $200 an hour. I just listened knowing that his services was out of my price range. Then I walked underneath these telephone lines while crossing the street, and the next thing you know I was talking to Steve from Total Sonic Media. Evidently, the call switched over when I walked underneath the telephone line. It was a bit embarrassing because I was talking to Steve like he was the other engineer. So I had to kind of figure what happened while I was talking to him without telling him what just happened. Steve’s price was a better bargain, so I went to his studio and we’ve been family ever since….When I met Steve his energy reminded me of one of my brothers that I was real close to growing up, a very familiar spirit. Later, I discovered another “interesting” coincidence. Steve is a Sagittarius and his mother was a Libra. I’m a Libra and my mother was a Sagittarius. Our mothers both passed in the same year, which occurred about a year before we met. I did take note that it seemed like this was the start of a new beginning of something. I didn’t think about this until now, but the first track that was recorded for the Warlock Asylum album, Kiss of the Immortal, is a song called Mother’s Last Kiss. I am not sure how it was for Steve, but I know that there were certain friends of mine that my mother was fond of when she was alive, and I am sure Steve is on that list today. I strongly feel that certain things come together by the influence of the outer worlds. It is the same with children. Sometimes parents are pulled together by the unborn child, so that he or she can make their way into the world. It is the same with some musical acts. There is an outer force pulling people together to bring about a certain event or change.

When I first met Steve, he was working with a group called Invert. Sometimes he would add some ideas to a song that I was trying to get together. He could easily sink in a bass line, or throw a keyboard riff down. We parted from our groups around the same time. When we started working on the Kiss of the Immortal album, we weren’t a band at that time. We were just meshing ideas together on a spoken word project that had no working title. Let me take that back. The album started off as an instrumental album, the vocal tracks came later. I feel that some people talk too much on their albums. Sometimes you just want to listen to the music and not hear about the issues that the artist has. Although we began with this approach, it was whole and we complimented each other very well.

Amadi: I guess that leads into our next question; what remarkable occurrences did you have while creating the album?

Messiah’el: I guess how long it took for the album to come out, 7 years. Laughs. That was just one of the most remarkable things that occurred because we finished the album in a little under two years, but for the next five years there’s was always an obstacle. Sometimes while trying to master the album the equipment would act funny. It got to the point that Steve had even commented that maybe it was due to some “adverse current” that usually manifests itself when a masterpiece is being created. What’s even more ironic about all of this is that the poltergeist effect that we were experiencing in the studio stopped, and we were able to complete the album when Steve started getting serious with Megan. This is one of the great things that came out of those seven years.

Amadi: What synchronicity did you see after the completion of the album, between what was mentioned in the lyrics, and your day-to-day life?

Messiah’el: I am not about to lie in this interview. Laughs. On some levels I knew that the art I was putting could shift my reality, but I learned about this the hard way. In 2000, I released a cd entitled; Ghetto Wars Part 1: The Glass Onion, featuring “La Bruja,” Nathan P., Ngoma, and many other poets. In any event, the term “Glass Onion” represented things that “you can’t see that make your cry.”

The night that I released the cd was great, but the next day my father called to inform me that my mother had a heart attack that she never really recovered from. Nathan P. was getting ill, things of this sort. At the time I really wasn’t connecting these experiences together, because there were many good things to come out of it all. It’s just that what you put out in the world could shift your paradigm depending on what type of artist you are. Some people can put stuff like that out and nothing happens.

It was the next occurrence that really awakened me to how art can shift your reality. This is something that Steve can testify to. When I was working with El Fuma, we did a track called Incarcerated Diva. It was a fictional song about a guy being in love with a woman who is incarcerated. The song starts off with a skit where I am talking to this Asian woman, posing as my love, but she is in prison. Guess what? About nine months later the same situation occurred. I remember asking Steve if he could clean up a message that this Asian woman left on my answering machine. It would be her last message to me in quite some time because she was heading to prison. We were going to use it to finish up a track, like an outro, but the message had too much static. It’s kind of good that it didn’t work out because we lost touch.

So one of the things that I thought about as we started making more tracks was pretty much like, what I would like to see actualized in some way, shape, or form? Love. Basically the Kiss of the Immortal album is about the Ancient Mesopotamian Sacred Marriage Rite. For those who don’t know, the Sacred Marriage Rite is the reason why women wear “white’ at the wedding. Basically, it was a New Years festival that occurred in the beginning of spring. The king of Babylon, who represented the god Marduk (later known as Yahweh), had to have intercourse with a priestess of Ishtar in front of an audience of about 300 people, and if the king did not have fifty orgasms during this event, he was not fit to rule the land. It was a rite to raise up his kundalini. The important thing here is that the god that the king represented, Marduk, is associated with Jupiter. The priestess of Ishtar represents the said goddess, Ishtar, symbolic of  Venus. So here it is Steve, a Sagittarius, which is ruled by Jupiter gets married to Megan a Taurus, which ruled by Venus. Now some may say this a simple coincidence, but the thing is that these same correspondence occur with the bands that Steve and Megan are married too. So while Megan is married to a Sagittarius, Steve, she is musically engaged to the other sign that Jupiter rules, as both members of her band Lunic are Pisces. Steve, on the other hand while being married to Megan, a Taurus, which ruled by Venus, he collaborates with myself , a libra, the other Venusian sign.

While Steve met the love of his life, I became a warlock. I began teaching mysticism and magic to people through my writings. So it seems like our lives were being molded by what we were putting out in the world, but in ways that were unexpected. I guess our next album should be about becoming a millionaire. Laughs.

So I find it interesting that an album that depicts an urban variation of the Sacred Marriage Rite fits right in line, astrologically, with one of the producers of the Kiss of the Immortal album. I’m not saying that the album was the cause of this marriage, but it’s kind of like a friend that introduces two people who decide on their own to get married. After a while Steve and I began to look at “Warlock Asylum” as an energy with a mind of its own.

Amadi: Do events like these still occur?

Messiah’el: It occurs when Steve and I need to do something for “Warlock Asylum.” I remember an experience that happened earlier this year that was a little “interesting” to say the least. From time to time we’ve been talking about bringing in a female vocalist to play “Lilith” that’s depicted in the Kiss of the Immortal cd. The first cd is about the male perspective on life and love, the 2nd, the female perspective. In any event, this was on my mind earlier this year.

One night I had a dream of seeing a woman with black hair, singing on stage while Paul McCartney was standing behind her. The woman stepped off the stage and I woke up. The dream stayed on my mind because it was so vivid and the face of the woman I’ve seen before, but couldn’t remember where. 

The next day I went over to visit Steve and Megan. It was Megan’s birthday. It had been a while since I had been to their house, as it was a warm cozy night, then the lady I saw in the dream walked through the door. Now I remember who the lady was in the dream. It was Lisa “Lucky” Dispigno. I had met Lisa at Steve and Megan’s wedding, but you know how it is when you meet people at a wedding, you meet and greet, and then you kind of forget about them when the wedding is over. So I was slightly intoxicated at Megan’s birthday party, a little bit nerved, so I just got some conversation up about how Steve and I met, but I also wondered about the “Paul McCartney” symbolism in the dream. Usually when stuff like that occurs, it may have something to do with similar zodiac signs. So one day , while moving furniture I mentioned to Lisa her zodiac sign, and she looked at me surprised, like “how did you know that?!!”  Later, I discovered that she was born on the same day as Sir Paul McCartney. I guess “Warlock Asylum” is bringing another piece of the puzzle together, as I am sure this rising star will shine on the whole world soon, and yes there are a few collaborations in order. I use “Lucky” in describing Lisa D. because after these things happened, Steve and I started performing live. Our first show, as Warlock Asylum occurred ten years to the date of my mother’s passing. It was the first time I performed in ten years. I never realized that I was depressed over some things and put the stage off for so long.

Amadi:  I notice the Egyptian and Sumerian influences behind the album cover. I notice the placement of your eyes and the dark colors used. What was the concept behind the album cover for Kiss of the Immortal? Is it more than just what meets the eye, or are you conveying a message to your fans through the album cover itself?

Messiah’el: The album art took a little while, but fortunately a woman from Poland who just happens to publish a book about the same themes that I have written about sends me an email. Unholy Vault Designs saved the day because we weren’t agreeing on anything, when it came to the album cover. Sometimes you need to have someone who specializes in what you need done, get it done. ..Steve had the concept of the eyes. it was interesting because after we put the cd out, I saw the same ‘eyes in the cloud’,’ sort of thing in Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Amadi: Where do you see the band going in the future? What are your plans for your genre breaking work with Steve?

Messiah’el: I see us making a big splash in music. You have one life. One chance. When you have passion for your art success is guaranteed. It’s like being knee-deep into sex. You just have to get that nut out. Now if we approach each aspect of life with that same passion, it’s a wrap. I’m just getting my energy right. This city needs a “Warlock Asylum!” We need a Warlock Asylum.

We are going to release a single this year and get some video footage up. Really dig into the promotion of this thing. Besides, Warlock Asylum has really helped us in life and we need to return the favor.

Personally, I’ve been vibing with some really good artists, Lunic, OutofaWhole, Lisa D., Magnificent Creatures, Nikkole, Ngoma, and many others. I think one day it would be nice for us to organize ourselves create our own label. Why let life be a “what if?!” Give it your all and answer the question for yourself. Be fearless. Forever, knowing that the only way you can get trapped in hell is if you die not accomplishing what you were sent here to do, and that is not religious thinking my friend, that’s reality.

Amadi: I would like to thank you for answering a few questions. it has definitely been a journey just listening to the magic behind the music. You can get a copy of the Kiss of the Immortal album at the following links:

http://www.warlockasylum.com/



mp3 download: