AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PORTLAND, OR ART COLLECTIVE AND ART “RELIGION”
WE †he HALLOWED
Originally written as
“WE †HE HALLOWED – A ‘NON-PROPHET’ ART RELIGION”
or
“WHAT WE WOO IS SPOOKY”
“HAUNT” – the 18th card in Eric Millar’s ongoing Disruption Generator card series. A W†H specific “tarot” dispatched from a word generator that is then illustrated & posted, daily, by Eric. This one, “Haunt,” is especially divinatory: if there was one word I’d consider to be the most powerful, the most enigmatic and important to describe WE THE HALLOWED, it would most certainly be “HAUNT.” Mainly because the members of this art collective are referred to as HAUNTS (Haunters if you’re into that whole brevity thing) as they encapsulate our biggest TETHER (or philosophical tenet)– the major idea that unifies all of us incredibly individualistic weirdos– into a collective of artistic seekers:
No one knows what happens when you die. Therefore, the only way to achieve immortality, for certain, is to Haunt On after we’re gone through the art and ideas we created while we were here.
The card, along with Elizabeth Kennamer expressing that I need to properly introduce WE THE HALLOWED (along with myself) on our podcast, PRAGMAGICK, were the unsubtle synchronicities that converged into the universe poking and prodding me into reassessing and introducing what WE THE HALLOWED is, was and intends to be.
I’m finding that there’s confusion as to what or who or what woo we do here, exactly, as WE THE HALLOWED. This is understandable, as I, W†H’s self-ordained Revelator, am unable to reveal the psychic machinations that are now afoot as We The Hallowed becomes an “egregore”–a living thoughtform with it’s own laws and mechanics. But I can illuminate a near-sighted trajectory via our present and past projects as a means to soothsee upcoming ones.
ARTS, CULTURE & OCCULT BLOG
Currently we’re in a productive frenzy constructing/reconfiguring the WE THE HALLOWED collective’s newfound trajectory as an online occult, arts and culture resource (or blog…yuck) that was largely unplanned. Because of the fall of the notorious DISINFO.COM and thus, the end of my consistent weird and woo-based journalistic output, we naturally decided to turn what was an otherwise humble hub for the collective’s many projects into a pragmatically consistent and content-based resource. So, I became wethehallowed.org’s defacto “editor” – orchestrating and curating the multitude of articles, stories, art and music from current W†H Haunts*, as well as helping to midwife the fantastically original occult-based media projects such as the aforementioned custom tarot of Eric Millar’s Disruption Generator.
*If you would like to submit articles, stories, art, music or anything related to the arts and their metaphysical musings, magick methods or general esoterica, please submit your work to wethehallowed@gmail.com , subject line: YOUNG HAUNT for consideration to become either a one-time or consistent contributor.
PODCAST NETWORK
I like to imagine WETHEHALLOWED.ORG filling up a good portion of the void left in DISINFO’s wake as an arts, metaphysics and media resource as well as becoming a sort-of podcast “network” that currently connects PRAGMAGICK with two other Portland occult podcasts– The ALEXXCAST and MY ALCHEMICAL BROMANCE, who’s hosts, Alexx Bollen and Reverend Erik, respectively, are also writing contributors to this newfound “blog” (yuck).
“SALONS” & EVENTS
I foresee W†H’s growth from an intimate metaphsyical arts community into a “philanthropic non-prophet” organization. This is evidenced by our past and future SALONS where we showcase these metaphysical methods to the public as we will at our NEXT ONE featuring techniques from ORACLE Elizabeth Kennamer. It also be a filmed talk-show& PRAGMAGICK episode. This is an updated idea long underway as showcased in my 2014 talk-show pilot shown below. This proto-pragmagick will be reformatted as a video-based WE THE HALLOWED / PRAGMAGICK take available through YOUTUBE.
The goal is to craft the future salons with the participation with local charities, thus pragmatically attempting to improve the somatic outside. As of now, our SALONS provide philosophical, therapeutic and spiritual ideas and exercises from local luminaries for MEMBERS / PATRONS as a means to better our collective mind individually.
Mainly, we’ve been showcasing artistic PERFORMANCES at W†H events, uniting many genres and mediums. We had a year long residency at The Waypost that successfully showcased and celebrated various artists’ enigmatic, individual works, and hosted live podcasts with enigmatic guests as seen here:
SMALL-PRINT PUBLISHING & DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION
As a straight forward art collective, WE THE HALLOWED also acts as a small publishing house, digital record label and multi-media marketing resource for our collective works as well as each members’ individual projects.
Last year, we designed print editions of our first LIBER YOSOTROS (pictured on the left) – a “zine” comprised of current members’ unique designs, illustrations and musings via metaphysical non-fiction, poetry and short stories that printed hi-quality limited copies and is now sold on AMAZON.
Also in the works is ERIC MILLAR’s many illustrative projects such as the W†H Tarot, THE DISRUPTION GENERATOR, comics and booklets.
We plan to print a lot this year, largely collecting the most exciting articles and visual art hosted on wethehallowed.org
THE RECORD LABEL & DIGITAL MUSIC DISTRIBUTOR
W†H has a RECORDING COLLECTIVE of various musician-members coming together to experiment and release AUDIOMANCY. We released/distributed our first AUDIO SIGIL (pictured left), an experimental compilation of W†H HAUNTS and WAYFARERS (guests) compiled by HAUNTER Iohannes Pontes. This is the first of an ongoing, sporadic series of HAUNTER-CURATED COMPILATIONS of which the second sigil should be released sometime in 2019.
W†H is also the label & legal entity used for the release of high quality MUSIC and ALBUMS of wholly ORIGINAL SONGS from projects such as the entire DAKOTA SLIM discography who just released & digitally distributed “CACTUS CROWN” and is poised to release a print edition with storybook in 2019. Other releases include the EP and full-length from SPARE SPELLS as well as any of my many music projects.
W†H plans to release experimental material from member and contributors such as RUUNE, specifically, as well as the musical musings from various audi-oriented HAUNTS of W†H.
THE “WOO” & THE “SCRIPTURE”
The “woo” comes with our collective folklore that connects our disparate works (no matter the artistic medium)–philosophical tenets fittingly referred to as the aforementioned TETHERS (listed below). This “quasi-scripture” is designed to bend to each member’s whim as a means to evolve these philosophical -isms, creating a constantly updated “scripture.”
In 2019, we plan on releasing our current iteration of The TETHERS much the same way we did our LIBER YOSOTROS. These tenets were made to bend at the whims of every HAUNT as a means to self-destruct, reaffirm or hold steady as we discover metaphysical, spiritual and philosophical CONSTANTS that we all share as individual artists, collectively. From the essential elements that make up an artist’s somatic reality (The 23 SCHEMATA), to the organization roles needed to sustain an art “religion” (The EXCEPTIONS) to a LEXICON of language specific to WE THE HALLOWED’s folklore – the plan is to print and illustrate this art collective manifesto that takes the aesthetics of “holy scripture” to expound on ideas of metaphysical and philosophical self-improvement methods and musings that enhance the artistic process.
Is it meant to be taken seriously? Not too much, as it itself is an artistic testament to the magickal weight that accompanies each artist, a neat and cheeky throwback to the radical pamphlets of yesteryear–all the while discovering the metaphysical TETHERS that bind all creators.
VIDEO PRIORITIES & YOUR SUPPORT:
I, Revel Keats Ross, primarily operate and finance these ambitious ventures… all, of course, with the aid and contribution of these brilliant artists’ work and camaraderie. That said, support via donation or subscription truly supports our many-medium media ventures.
Supporting our PATREON not only supports my continuing cross-platform creation as a writer, composer, journalist and filmmaker, but also helps maintain the various unglamorous backend / website & social media maintenance needed to market and distribute these creations and turn wethehallowed.org into the magnetic and magickal hub for wierdos and witches it so wants to be.
Also, I plan on creating a weekly VIDEO GRIMOIRE companion to PRAGMAGICK, and releasing frequent videos across a multitude of mediums (video essays, reviews, talk shows and artistic shorts) so…that’s exciting.
AAAND THAT’S ABOUT THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT.
AS FOR 2019 & BEYOND:
HAUNT ON, HAUNT ON, HAUNT ON!
KEATS ROSS (Revelator Rosz of W†H)
www.wethehallowed.org
www.dakotaslim.net
www.pragmagick.com