Featured Creature: The Mask of Mephistopheles

Excerpted from Marge Hollander's Digest of Demons and Devils:

This golden horned mask was commissioned by the nineteenth century Italian actor Arturo del Volto.  In 1831, under the patronage of an unknown nobleman, Arturo was paid to facilitate the creation of the mask at a local smithy in Umbria.  The mask was to be used as a special costume piece for the role of Mephistopheles in a production of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust at the Teatro delle Visioni.  It is wondered by many occult historians if Arturo made some deal with his own devil due to the apparent curse of tragedy and death that followed the mask after its forging.  Arturo would wear the mask only once.

Accounts of the mask's creation indicate that odd materials were added to the forge during the casting process.  Timber was brought for the forge fire that gave off an unpleasant smell when burned and bystanders remarked on the odd color of the flames once it had been added.  During the casting, the process had to be halted multiple times.  The flames within the forge were burning so hot that they threatened to consume the forge itself.

Featured Creature: Key of Vz

I must tender my apologies this week.  I've been struggling the past two weeks with summer migraines and I've gotten rather behind on things.  There is a piece of fiction coming for this piece that I will post soon.  Until then, please enjoy the gruesome mystery of the Key of Vz.

Featured Creature: Chaska of the Chaldean Abyss

Excerpt from Liam Hofstadter's report for the Department of Extranormal Phenomena (DEP), Superhuman and Supernatural Threats in the New Millennium:

"The Vykhrova Prirvu is a magickal container said to contain a portal to the whirling abyss.  Highly prized within the occult community, it grants its bearer a variety of powerful effects.  Adept mages use these containers to absorb spells cast at them by opposing wizards.  Any mage in possession of such an item is said to be nearly unstoppable.  The spells for creating such an artifact are complex and costly, but the gain to the bearer is by far worth the effort as the magus becomes impervious to magickal attack.

New Abstract: Osiris Emerging from the Cup of Bones

Like the Pair Dadeni, the Cauldron of Rebirth, here we have the Cup of Bones with Osiris emerging.

From the Sketchbook Archives: Dream Shard

Images I recorded from a dream / nightmare. I think the image was from a dream but turned quickly into a story upon waking.  In the dream there was a black rectangular cuboid that was very shiny.  At its base was a grotesque substance that looked as though the feeling of illness were given a physical form.  It was olive colored with dark eggplant purple bubbles emerging from it. It had integrated itself into a building and was sticking out of a brick wall.

Devils Head I: Dilemma of the Dark Votive

This is the beginning of a series of four pieces all of which were created from the same source material.  Each had its own voice and message, so I've chosen to give them each separate posts.

This piece struck me as the revelation of a dark device.  Some votive to an ancient devil suddenly discovered in your possession, its raspy voice whispering from the half light of a candle lit room.  What if the Monkey's Paw whispered to you in the night?

Reading from the Book of Night

In the twilight of the underworld,
The sun within waxes and wanes.
Days stacked like logs in the wood pile
kindle and burn on the mount of knowing.
Harlequin wall totem reads from the great book. 

The mother day sprays light to inoculate the reading
and fertilize the thoughts for growth.
Father predator spits darkness into her.
A deception that by her nature she converts into light.
His light within reads the necessity and
sees the voice and light needed for the reading.
Between them all, a darkness gestates
the darkness of absence, of emptiness,
of the void.
A darkness through which all things pass
to reach the light of the coming day.

In the desert of ignorance,
the scarab rolls its children into a sphere of darkness
tucking them safely into that fecund enclosure
knowing that at their birth,
they will eat their way to the light.

Recommended LIstening:
Subheim
Hollow
Approach

{Digital images manipulated in Photoshop}

Murder in the Maze Part II: The Game

The Murder in the Maze game is fairly uncomplicated.  First take a deck of cards and pull out the number of cards equal to the number of people playing, being sure to include the ace of spades.  Second, deal the cards out to everyone face down so that no one can see anyone's  cards.  Everyone then looks at their cards and shows no one.  Whomever has the  ace of spades is the murderer.  Everyone turns off their flashlights and retreats into the maze and the fun begins.

As soon as the lights are out, the player who is the Murderer begins counting to 60 to give everyone a chance to hide.  The Murderer then begins to seek out the other players and when he finds them, taps them on the shoulder to let them know they have been killed.  The Murderer flees and the killed player begins to count to 20.  At 20, the victim screams "Murder in the Maze!"  Everyone turns their flashlights on and proceeds through the maze to the scene of the crime.  The dead tell no tales, so the victim is unable to identify his/her killer and must remain silent.  However, the remaining players can accuse whomever they like as they try to discover the murderer.  The catch is that the murderer is hiding amongst the accusers and could be actively accusing someone else.  This is where the intrigue truly begins.

This is the Trial phase of the game with everyone acting as accused and accuser except the unfortunate dead.  The trial and accusations are based  on who passed who in the dark and how close everyone was standing to the victim when the lights came on.  After official accusations are made, everyone votes on who they think is the killer with majority ruling.  That player is then forced to show their card, revealing that they are the murderer...or not.  Many an innocent man or woman has gone to their death during this phase of the game.  If that player IS the murderer - Great Fun!  You Win!  Start again!  If that player is NOT the murderer (SHIVER) the previous victim and the wrongly accused leave the maze and everyone turns off their flashlights and retreats into the maze once again.  This continues until you find the murderer or the murderer gets everyone.  Many of the games ended with the last survivor and the murderer facing each other after Murder in the Maze had been called and the lights came up!  Good scary stuff!  I do recommend playing this game only with people you trust.  It can get pretty creepy in complete darkness.

The two pieces included here were also part of the planned deck for Murder in the Maze.  The butcher knife was to be the murderer card while the two daggers were to indicate the second murderer.  I will explain the second murderer in my next post!

{Graphite on Paper}

More Maze History and Art: