2024
Sacred Sites.
TASCHEN - The Library of Esoterica
featuring Artwork by Barry William Hale & Scott Wilde ARCARNORUM 231
A visual pilgrimage through holy mountains, great pyramids, and golden shrines, Sacred Sites celebrates the ways we transform the world around us through ritual, creativity, and worship. Essays, interviews and more than 400 images explore spaces ranging from ancient temples to modern works of spatial art.
“A decadent feast for the eyes, laced with belladonna.” - The New York Times
“The ‘Library of Esoterica’ acts as a bridge between the dark halls of history and the vast data at our fingertips.” - Los Angeles Times
“From Machu Picchu to the Louvre—the book journeys through sacred sites in art and ancient history.” - Artnet News
2024
Arcana Arcanorum
Hardcover
A comprehensive exploration into the esoteric meanings of the sigils and names from Aleister Crowley's holy book, Liber Arcanorum.
In 1907, in the midst of a mystical frenzy, Aleister Crowley received a series of arcane sigils. These sigils were said to be the final form of the Major Arcana of the Tarot, as witnessed by Osiris in the Egyptian underworld. For each arcana, there are shown two sigils: the upright form of the card, showing the triumph or virtue, called the "House of Tahuti," and the averse form, showing the downfall or vice, called the "Prison of the Qliphoth". Each sigil was said to represent a spirit, which is also given a name, that the spirit might be called.
Published without commentary in The Equinox in 1912, the enigmatic sigils of this work have intrigued and inspired occultists for over a century. Notable explorations include Kenneth Grant's Nightside of Eden (1977) and Robert Fitzgerald's A Gathering of Masks (2010), where practitioners documented their experiences summoning these potent spirits.
In this book, Robert Stein presents an initiate's perspective into the system as a whole. He further explores in depth the significance of each individual sigil and its corresponding name.
Complementing this analysis, Barry William Hale offers a series of 22 mesmerizing drawings, each piece ingeniously merging the upright and averse spirit of each tarot card into a single, unified form.
Arcana Arcanorum is a journey into the depths of occult wisdom, bridging the gap between historical texts and contemporary interpretation. Whether you're a seasoned practitioner, a tarot enthusiast, or a curious seeker of hidden knowledge, this book serves as a vital key to unlocking the mysteries of the Major Arcana and the spirits they represent.
2021
Correspondences
Conjuring Strange and Ancient Larvae:
Barry William Hale and the Negotiations of Occult Performance
Amy Hale
Abstract
Barry William Hale is an Australian artist and occultist whose art and performance has effectively crossed boundaries between occult-friendly spaces and traditional arts venues. What I will be exploring in this essay is the interplay between the artist’s own conception of his work and the other conditions of performance that inform its reception and interpretation. While Hale’s work sits within a long tradition of occult performance art that seeks to both produce a transformative effect and introduce symbols and concepts to a wider, non-practitioner audience, I argue that the venues in which these works are performed provide their own interpretive frameworks that inform the audience, creating a layer of safety and social acceptance for spiritual practices/traditions that would otherwise be considered heretical or taboo.
2019
2019
Exhibition Catalogue
BARRY WILLIAM HALE
at the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft & Magick
2017
The Book of Black
Author: Faye Dowling
From fine art to street style, the aesthetics and motifs of the gothic are entwined with the heart of today's alternative visual culture. Vampires and demons have become screen icons of the modern underworld. Skulls, crosses and religious iconography represent symbols of rebellion for a new gothic generation, a shorthand for an allegiance with a modern day underworld where monsters and misfits rule the world.
Structured over three defining chapters (Gods & Monsters, The Kingdom of Darkness and Dark Arts/Higher Power), The Book of Black provides an exploratory visual narrative through which to reveal and celebrate the artists, aesthetics and styles of today s gothic visual arts, presenting seminal gothic artworks alongside emerging artists of today.
Art + Australia
Magical Appropriations: Barry William Hale after Imants Tillers: Darren Jorgensen
This essay published in Art + Australia (Specialist publication) compares two artists. One is the canonical postmodernist Imants Tillers, whose canvas board works have been among the most theorised of Australian art. The second is Barry William Hale, whose younger art practice draws on magical practices to create images of demons and invoke spirits. The essay takes the appropriations of Tillers as a precedent for the invocations of Hale, establishing correspondences and differences between generations of Australian artists.