Engaging with The Hermetic Unconscious
10 Questions with New Mexico artist Marlene Seven Bremner
Traversing the symbolic aesthetics of alchemical magick and the somnambulistic energy of surrealism, New Mexico artist Marlene Seven Bremner’s work is both otherworldly and explosively vital. There are very few artists who incorporate the esoteric in such an authentic way. The Prismatic Citadel caught up with Bremner to the tune of 10 Questions:
Let me put on my turquoise turban and guess that you are a.... Scorpio! Did I guess right?
Close! I’m a Sagittarius Sun and Rising, but I have Venus, Saturn, and Pluto in Scorpio. So there’s definitely some Scorpio energy in my chart.
How did you get introduced to hermeticism and magickal truths?
From a really young age I was unconsciously obsessed with the Sun and Moon in my art. Like most kids I had a very active imagination and animistic view of the world. I loved being out in Nature, talking and singing to trees and naming them. I remember specifically not wanting to lose the belief in magic like most of the adults had around me. As a teenager, when I discovered entheogens and started listening to the Doors with lyrics like “the day destroys the night, the night divides the day,” and reading Castaneda, Yogananda, Krishnamurti, it was like I was rediscovering something I had already known.
My first real introduction to Hermeticism was through my training in Polarity Therapy, a form of hands-on energy bodywork that facilitates balance between the polarities and the elements. This led into my interest in alchemy and the occult, which I engaged in for years before circling back to the teachings of Hermes and diving into the Hermetica.
When I really started diving into Hermetics, it was mostly self-guided study, with many wonderful friends, teachers, and mentors along the way that helped reveal new paths of inquiry and sources of wisdom.
What work of yours do you feel required the most intense awakening or catharsis to manifest?
I would say The Composition of the Waters , which I completed over an eight-month period in 2016. It was the first time that I allowed myself to paint something spontaneously, what would be considered a surrealist automatic painting. I really wanted to allow things to emerge from the unconscious and see where it led, with no agenda. It ended up opening a lot of intense emotions within me that needed to be felt, processed, and integrated. Through this I experienced an alchemical dissolution where the lines between the subjective and objective worlds became very blurred. Dreams and reality merged, and I was flooded with a symbolic view of the world. At times I thought I might lose my grip on reality altogether. It was intensely cathartic, and also frightening to walk that line. Luckily, my creative practice gives my life the structure and routine that allowed me to keep one foot on solid ground, even as I allowed myself to open into this more liminal experience. The experience deeply instilled in me the truth of the oneness of the cosmos and the All existing within me.
What is your opinion on the Pluto into Aquarius transit of 2023? Does it begin the Age of Aquarius?
I can’t say whether it begins the Age of Aquarius, because I haven’t done enough research on this. I know there is a lot of disagreement between astrologers and astronomers about what signifies the beginning of a new Age. However, I think we will be feeling Pluto’s transformative effects through the sign of Aquarius, especially when it finishes its retrogrades over the next year and a half or so. I think we’ll see a shift of power where it becomes more diffused through the collective, and with that a restructuring of society. I expect there will be more of a focus on human rights and equality, but how this comes about might not be a smooth ride. The drive for change will override concerns for how this is manifested.
The idealism, creativity, imagination, and technological sides of Aquarius will likely be on overdrive with Pluto’s transit. I suspect one of the main themes will be our increasing contact with AI, as well as virtual reality and social media, and the clash between their idealized benefits and the real dangers these technologies pose to humanity, both physically and psychologically. On an individual level I think we’ll experience a lot of deep psychological transformation, with the underlying drive for freedom and breaking free from limiting Saturnian constructs that we’ve been feeling with Pluto in Capricorn.
You just wrote a book, The Hermetic Marriage of Art & Alchemy: Imagination, Creativity, and the Great Work, coming out in July 2023. What do you want people to take away from reading it?
The central message I want people to take away from this book is that creativity and spirituality go hand-in-hand, and that we are all creative beings. I want people to feel empowered to alchemize their fears, limitations, blocks, self-criticisms, and to break open the prima materia of their unlimited creative potential. Alchemy is above all a sacred art, and there is so much to learn from it regarding the creative process: the procreative powers of Sol and Luna and how they relate to the conscious and unconscious in the act of creation; and the magical Mercurius that helps us to find that perfect creative flow, through which we experience our connection with the Creator. I want people to feel the power of their true imagination and see it change their lives for the better.
How do you feel about cults? If you started a cult, what would be the tenets?
I’ve always been a more solitary person, and not really one for joining groups, let alone starting a cult. But if I were to just offer some general tenets for living a creatively inspired and authentic existence, not as a cult leader but just as a Hermetic creator, I would say this:
· Spend time in nature and learn all you can from your observations;
· Look at the world symbolically and interpret your reality as though it were a dream;
· Pay attention to your dreamlife and engage with your unconscious, which is communicating to you through dreams, the body, synchronicity, visual stimulus, life experiences—literally all the time the unconscious is there with you, so pay attention because it’s a huge part of who you are and plays a significant role in your life;
· Allow space and time for contemplation, meditation, self-reflection, and study;
· Follow your inspiration and always ask yourself if what you’re doing is in service to the divine essence within you and if it’s helpful for the world;
· Find some way to be creative every day, even if it’s just expressing yourself through clothing or preparing a meal with love and attention.
In terms of motifs, what does the peacock mean to you, and the snake?
To me personally, peacocks are a symbol of unfolding beauty and personal revelation. Their tail feathers that look like a psychedelic array of eyes evoke the connection with the divine and seeing through the veil of consensus reality. Alchemically, they represent transformation, particularly the color returning to the world after the long dark night of the nigredo, when hope and illumination return, and one feels they are on the other side. So, they’re also a symbol of rebirth and awakening.
Snakes are multivalent symbols in general and for me personally. I think of them as the life force, that vital energy that connects us with our primal, earthly natures, and which rises up the spinal column in search of enlightenment. They are sexual and primal, instinctual and spiritual, undulating—they are energy itself. They are at once sinister and wise, conveying deep knowledge and connecting us with all time, past, present, and future. As the ouroboros they represent the endless cycles of death and rebirth, and the continual transformation of energy from one form to another.
It seems you developed a lot of your style in the Pacific Northwest, but you now live in New Mexico. How do you feel about the desert? Have you ever visited Sedona, Arizona, with its energy vortexes?
Moving to New Mexico from the Northwest was a great decision for me. I lived in Colorado for 10 years before moving to the Northwest, so in a way it’s like coming home to be in the Southwest again. My time in the Northwest allowed me to connect with the water and earth elements. I felt healed by the rain and the moody darkness, and it brought out my Lunar aspects and allowed me to process and express some deep, dark parts of myself. But there came a point where I felt completely saturated, both emotionally and physically. I moved to the Southwest in the same spirit that people with certain illnesses move to dry climates for their health. I feel like this is a time for me to connect with the Solar archetype and contemplate vast concepts, and to feel an inner spaciousness.
I haven’t been to Sedona since I moved out here, but I’d like to check it out. The area around Taos and NM in general is quite the energy vortex, and that’s been interesting to experience. There’s the “desert hum” which I sometimes hear for spans of time, and it’s like nothing else I’ve experienced. It’s a strange thing because not everyone hears it, and yet its unmistakable when you do. It seems to be within you and outside of you at the same time. I heard a similar hum in the Australian Outback. Sometimes it will be a continuous sound that’s just present for weeks on end. There’s a reason they call NM the ‘Land of Enchantment,’ and I’ve certainly been enchanted.
Alongside offering prints of your incredible works on your website, you also have an offer to write a donation-based poem. Do you have a favorite poem that has arisen from that?
I’ve written so many!! Hundreds upon hundreds of poems, mostly for strangers on the street, and most of the poems I’ve never seen again. I take pictures sometimes when I really like one, and I have boxes of unrequited poems for people who made a request and then never returned. There’s a short one that I wrote for a young human whose topic was “Art,” at the Ballard market in Seattle, 2018.
I am a work in progress;
an artistic
masterpiece
unfolding over years
as I perfect
the composition
of my life.
Attention to the colors,
the subject
and the form,
remembering the light
as it comes
from one source.
What is your process when you paint? Do you listen to music, and if so, can you recommend something? Do you paint naked or only on Wednesdays? Require wine or absinthe or something? Dish it all!
Hahaha, well nothing too crazy, to be honest. I have painted naked because it gets incredibly hot in my studio during the summer, and it’s a survival mechanism.
I have a simple ritual of setting up my studio and picking out music, cleaning and prepping my palette, and then contemplating the painting for a while before I begin. I’ll usually burn some frankincense, maybe take a micro dose or an edible, and then I just go at it for the next 3-8 hours. I often consider planetary influences, and when it makes sense, I time certain parts of the painting process to align with specific celestial events, incorporating ritual.
With music the key element is just finding something that allows me to enter a flow state without having to flip through songs. Audiobooks and podcasts are great but not always what I need. The most frustrating thing to me is not being able to find something good to listen to and having to change the music constantly. Yet that is usually a reflection of my own lack of focus in that moment!
I listen to all kinds of stuff, just depending on my mood and what I’m working on. If I’m in an early stage of a painting, which is usually more cathartic and expressive, having something energizing or intense is nice. If I’m fine-tuning details, which takes a lot of focused concentration, I like instrumental, electronic, or piano music.
One of my favorite things to listen to, and that I highly recommend, is the Melee Report, by my partner Jonah Emerson Bell, aka DJ Blind Stallion Space Wizard. It’s an amazing weekly radio show with an astrological theme, and he’s brilliant and hilarious, and always finds the most eclectic music.
I’ve had the latest Beirut album, ‘Artifacts,’ on repeat lately. I’ve also been in love with Nubian music since I got to hear and see it performed live while traveling in Egypt, so that’s a go to and excellent for getting absorbed in the creative process.
The elemental and planetary relationships made manifest in Marlene Seven Bremner’s creations are lush and vibrant. Consider investigating her many works on her website.