Karyn Crisis/Gospel Of The Witches

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014 KARYN CRISIS: Gospel of the Witches/// Groundbreaking vocalist and visual artist Karyn Crisis reveals new details of her newest musical project, Gospel of the Witches. Gospel of the Witches features Karyn Crisis' unmistakable vocals and mystical lyrics, over music composed by Ephel Duath mastermind Davide Tiso. With Tiso playing all guitars and bass, the all-star lineup is completed by Danny Walker of Intronaut on drums, and Ross Dolan of Immolation on vocals. A 13-song album is currently in the pre-production stages. Tracking begins in June with producer Jamie King (Between the Buried and Me) at The Basement Recording NC. In addition to the core lineup, the album will contain a guest appearance by Mike Hill, frontman of Tombs. Karyn Crisis speaks about Gospel of the Witches: "The album is a bold statement and an epic, unabashedly emotional work of devotion to the ultimate expression of the power of the fires of transformation: The Witch. Davide has a haunting ability to generate undeniably emotional landscapes with his guitar, and these songs twist and turn into darkness and then transmute into heartbreaking beauty and light. As a testament to Ancient Ways and the union of opposites, I explore the feminine power in my voice on this album and couple it with Ross's intensely masculine vocal power to create a consistent theme of thickly layered vocal choruses. Danny will round out these 13 dark mantras with thunderous drums. Take the tendrils of my unstoppable voice into the Great Mysteries... or run for the hills." A Kickstarter page has been set up to raise money for the recording, mixing, mastering, artwork and manufacturing costs: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/540114326/karyn-crisis-solo-album Some of the rewards for fans who donate through Kickstarter include: vinyl, CD and digital versions of the album; t-shirts; and original Karyn Crisis artwork – from a "hardbound lyric book with handwritten lyrics and drawings," to an opportunity to collaborate directly with Crisis on an original painting. An early demo version of a new song, "Howl at the Moon," has been posted here in video form: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/540114326/karyn-crisis-solo-album/posts Karyn Crisis' influence on the underground dates back to 1993 when she began fronting New York City metal band Crisis. Her extreme vocal range, from angelic melodies to demonic growls, paved the way for countless women to follow. A visual artist as well, she designed all the band's album covers and shirts. Other musicians to be part of Crisis' lineup over the band's 13-year career include Norman Westberg (Swans), Sammy Duet (Acid Bath, Goatwhore), and Roy Mayorga (Amebix, Soulfly). Posted by Curran Reynolds at 11:46 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Pinterest Labels: GOSPEL OF THE WITCHES, KARYN CRISIS, NEW RELEASES

Psychic Science Lecture Series and My New Website!

I've started a new website with a corresponding blog here: KarynCrisisHeals.com And I'm also about to launch my Psychic Science Lecture Series (which will be available as a SKYPE lecture soon)

Mini Prints

I've re-stocked my Etsy Shop "Secret Arts" with a variety of Mini Prints from both my "Points of Light" and "Tarot" shows! Check them out HERE: SECRET ARTS

Points of Light Paintings

It's been so long since I've added an update here, but I've been deep in rehearsals for the forthcoming Ephel Duath album. Davide and I head to Florida to record with Erik Rutan mid-January. Below are photos of some of my "Points of Light" paintings about Mediumship. More photos from the show can be seen on my Facebook page here:www.Facebook.com/KarynCrisisOfficial

Ancestor Pathworking

Tuesday October 30th I'm leading an evening of Guided Meditation for Spiritual Mediums I sit with in Circle once a week. I'm honored to have the privilege!

Points of Light

I've been working on oil paintings on panel for my upcoming solo gallery show at Articulated Gallery in San Francisco opening September 1st. Below are a few IN-PROGRESS shots. Something different I'm doing this time around is painting on panel, rather than canvas, and framing all the pieces.

The concept was to be Mediums, Witches, and Healers, yet my Spirit Guides had other plans...

I don't tend to think like an "artist" in the sense that I don't have a process of thinking I go into to create works of art, and I don't keep a sketchbook. My paintings are given to me in image form, clairvoyantly, complete and with details and colors...and from there I look through my paint swatch book to find the colors I see in my mind's eye and try to capture the facial features and light in a drawing or self-portrait photo. I also find when I try to "think" my way through a painting that it ends up a disaster! I have to relax into that place of trust and moment of now and I feel my Guides telling me to just keep my brush going and they'll figure it all out...and when I'm able to stay in that connection, I am simply watching the paintings paint themselves. I am the channel.

So I had an intention for the concept of this show and even a beginning...but it lacked the connection as I was trying to control too much and focus on the end point. The works in progress here are the ones which were determined to be painted after Spirit got my attention, bringing my mind-mess painting to a halt! Throughout this process I've been reminding myself that the focus, while still on Mediumship (things seen and unseen) is on the "Points of Light", and that is what I'm calling this Gallery Show...

I rarely listen to music painting, but this time around I've been listening endlessly to the new Ephel Duath album! We got the drum tracks and some of the bass back. I'm endlessly dreaming of playing these songs live. And I've also been breaking from those songs to listen to Jason Walton's (bass player of Agalloch) project Self Spiller and their cd "Worms in the Keys." He gave Davide and I a copy when we recently saw Agalloch at Great American Music Hall.

Sisters of Necessity

Today I dropped off my painting for the "Myth" Group show ay Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco. My wonderful camera is not functioning, so I borrowed one to get a few snaps. Sadly, they are blurry and a bit washed out, but until I can get pro photos, this is the best I've got to post! Opening night for the show is Saturday, July 14th 6-10 pm. I chose the Daughters of Necessity (the Three Fates). One spins the thread of life, one determines its length, and one cuts the thread when time has come for death. I titled it "Sisters of Necessity Weaving our Cords of Life" and re-worked the idea a bit. Instead of literally showing 3 daughters, I decided to show one with 3 sets of hands doing the weaving, length-determining, and cutting, and played with the idea of hair and its similarities to these threads that record our life story, since hair holds our DNA and is therefore a record-keeper as well. The colors of the threads were chosen from an Ancestral Alignment ritual for a Sacred Tree Cord from Raven Grimassi's "The Cauldron of Memory".

The Flame Leads the Way

Today a new friend of mine gave me a mediumistic reading, and afterwards he began to ask me about my Tarot paintings. He's a Tarot reader and offered me very specific feedback that changed my perspective about my own paintings! The reading he gave me beforehand was all about taking something and turning it slightly to completely change the perspective of it, so this talk about my paintings was just in line with the reading and was a great eye-opener! One of the things he was curious about was my use of the colors orange and red. At the time, I explained to him that orange, for me, is the color of self-empowerment and resides in our inner-experience, or can be found within, while red (representing many actions and emotions) was the expression of outward power, or the motion of inward power outward to its interaction with the world outside of self. All day I've been preparing Ephel Duath packages to send out and have let my mind open to the idea of perspective. As I took a break and walked to get dinner, I began talking with one of my Spirit Guides and we continued this discussion about perspective. She showed me the image of a flame and I instantly got the message: the flame is a representation of the path of our energy, or inner-knowing to its experience out in the world..in other words, it is the example of what happens when we let the universe and knowing and journey within travel outside ourselves to interact with others: it is light from the darkness, it lights the way and attracts others looking for the same experience. Candles, further, are lit in places of dark, darkness, and shadows. An absence of light, darkness is connected to the idea of secrets, the unknown, the occult, what is hidden. We think of finding the truth in that darkness: we meditate there, we have Spirit Circles in darkened rooms, we feel we are finding secrets in a darkened library, we hold our rituals in darkened rooms, we look for ghosts in shadowy buildings, we seek treasures in forgotten antique shops on side streets, and we tip toe into the unbeaten path, and we instinctively feel that old, dusty books containing information from our ancestors hold keys to finding the deeper truth about our present. Again, like the black holes in our universe, from that darkness comes the light; the knowing and the awakening, and our understanding of this is literally "brought to light" out in the world, where we experience ourselves and see ourselves reflected in others. At the center of a lit candle is a magnesium blue (Spirit), then yellow flame (intellect, knowing, inner-communication), glowing outward from this orange (self-power), then a red halo that connects to the space around this flame (outward projection of power and the interaction of what's within). I unknowingly used this idea in several of my tarot paintings: With "The Emperor" I wanted to convey the youthful idea of expanding empowerment that, especially for others, finds itself out in the world leading and inspiring. The orange and red here convey a sense of relaxed confidence and trust in personal power. With "The Fool" I painted the body in yellow ochre tones with orange and red outlines (as his body meets with the atmosphere), and his triangle of manifestation is orange "Strength" uses red to depict the struggle for balance within oneself in attempt to portray a united personality out in the world And in "Calling in the Four Quarters", rather than typical violet or green energy coming from the Healer's hands, I rather chose the color of clairvoyance, inner-knowing, intellect and communication to be the energy she's sending out into the world around her, where she's surrounded by her own self-empowerment which is changing the shape of the space around her.

EPHEL DUATH UPDATES!!

So much exciting news for EPHEL DUATH. For anyone just catching up with my projects, I've joined my husband's (Davide Tiso) band: Ephel Duath as vocalist. While ED has a history of albums and touring, we recently recorded our first EP together, "On Death and Cosmos", and it's on pre-order sale right now through Agonia Records. The rhythm section for ED is also something to talk about: Marco Minnemann on drums and Steve Di Giorgio on bass. Can't get better than that!! There are several awesome special-priced package deals, including one direct from the band, and the first pressings are almost sold out as of today, and the EP hasn't even been released yet! Thanks to everyone who made this happen, it's so very exciting. Davide is already well into writing and working on pre-production for the full length album. For all the udpates about EPHEL DUATH, keep an eye on our official Facebook page here: EPHEL DUATH OFFICAL FACEBOOK FIRST PACKAGE DIRECT FROM BAND: -"ON DEATH AND COSMOS" EXCLUSIVE PACKAGE DEAL- Limited edition of 66 hand numbered copies of a Karyn Crisis shining skull giclee print in a black mat + "On Death and Cosmos" digipack EP + autographed photo, ALL SHIPPED DIRECTLY FROM THE BAND. Customers number 6 and 66 will have a special bonus item included in the deal! Package deal's price is $39 for US and $44 everywhere else, includes shipping. To order send your payment to Karyn's paypal address: kcrisisleather@yahoo.com, upon receipt of payment we will send you an email confirmation. All orders will be shipped within 3 days. PACKAGES FROM AGONIA RECORDS: Ephel Duath’s EP “On Death and Cosmos” is available to pre-order at a special discount price from now until 21st of June only. The EP is available in three different version: -Digipack EP -Limited 200 copies 10” Black Vinyl + e-card for digital download -Limited 100 copies 10” Red Vinyl with silver and white splatter + e-card for digital download All orders placed while the pre-order lasts will be shipped prior the release date (North American orders included). HERE ARE SOME LINKS: RED SPLATTER VINYL, DIGIPAK EP, BLACK VINYL, T SHIRT

Out In

San Francisco is a strange city, and one of its wonderful secrets is that is has so many nooks and crannies of unexpected nature and very different neighborhoods. Not a far walk from my apartment is a favorite patch of forest of mine. On the way to a small grove of redwood trees where I partake in ancient rituals involving ancestor path working is an enormous tree with sprawling roots. One of the roots has a flattened area, just room enough for one person to sit and feel embraced amongst its twisting branches. After listening to Davide record parts of a song for the forthcoming full-length Ephel Duath album, I felt I needed to get out into nature. I came here today to work on an interview for Ephel Duath.(published interview links can be found here Ephel Duath Official fb and here Karyn Crisis Official fb page. Thanks to all who've reviewed, spread the word, and posted links! This place is a special gift for being with Spirit in nature, and I always leave feeling recharged. Often I wish I could live inside this tree like Mr. Fox, even though Davide and I have brought alot of nature into our apartment. Ahhh. Back to work!

The Shining

Recently, I had the pleasure of designing a Tshirt for my band, Ephel Duath. At first, this was a challenge. I don't consider myself great at designing logos or tshirt designs. But Davide encouraged me to go for it, so I did. I made a triangle stamp and used it to create a skull, playing with the idea of transformation in a skull; bones being something that lasts long after our spirit departs our physical body, and it remains as a symbol of eternal life as well as a literal body of dna; something that is a record-keeper of our experiences and ancestry...and the triangle being a symbol of transformation and manifestation.The tshirt was a collaboration with graphic designer Dehn Sora who added the letters and text. The shirt is special issue, limited to 100 pieces and can be ordered here:EPHEL DUATH LTD ED TSHIRT Drawing this tshirt design inspired me so much that I continued to draw and came up with a book full of tattoo designs based on line drawings. I felt compelled also to create some small works to sell: a series I call my Shining Skulls. "Shining" as a reference to clairvoyance. These drawings will be for sale in my etsy shop,here:SECRET ARTS And...I have more in the works....

Three Daughters of Necessity as One

Getting closer to finishing this painting for the Modern Eden Gallery show! Hopefully just 2 more layers to go...then I will begin sketches and photos for my September solo show!

Curiosity Opened the Doors...

As a natural born medium and a scorpio to boot, naturally my interests and experiences in life have found me asking deeper questions about life and death that have taken me on very interesting path! My most recent art show was a group show at Articulated Gallery where I painted a darkly humrous painting of 2 women using a ouija board...before that was my solo show at Sacred Rose Tattoo of the major arcana of the Tarot. These paintings are now for sale in my etsy shop:Karyn Crisis' Etsy Shop "Secret Arts" Currently, I'm painting for 2 shows: one coming up in early June: a "Myth" themed show at Modern Eden Gallery. I'm painting Necessity. I got the idea from my Spirit Guide who brought to my attention a passage in a book about pathworking with your ancestors. The passage was about preparing a Sacred Tree Cord and the representation of the divine triformis principle and its inclusion of the idea of the Three Daughters of Necessity who each: spin the thread of life, determine its length, and cut it when time has come for death. Instead of literally painting 3 sisters, I am painting one who's hand-weaving cosmic threads. I have several layers to go still and alot more detail, but here's a progress shot from last session.

my upcoming solo show in September at Articulated Gallery (also in San Francisco) will be : Mediums, Witches and Healers. As I study the organized art of mediumship by sitting in a Spirit Circle regularly and read for people, I will be painting different aspects found here: transfiguration mediumship with ectoplasm, always an interesting topic!, various witches and their tools, and healers in sessions working with Guides. Something new I'm trying is painting on panels which I'll be framing for the show, so the show will be framed work rather than canvases! This will be surely another intersting show, and I can't wait for opening night of this one. My tarot show was abuzz with excited energy and I was blessed to have a variety of tarot readers who came to check out my deck and give me feedback. See you there!

UPDATES SOON!

And a quick note that I'm offering Reiki/Creative Visualization/Guided Imagery Meditation Sessions In SF. For appointments, email me: kcreiki@gmail.com

Karyn Crisis Sings for Ephel Duath

Ephel Duath Music News:

Steve DiGiorgio (Death, Testament, Sadus, Obscura), Karyn Crisis (Crisis, Karyn Crisis Band) and Marco Minnemann (Paul Gilbert, Necrophagist, Kreator, Tony MacAlpine) join EPHEL DUATH in the upcoming EP due in spring 2012.

The complete line-up presents itself as follows:

Davide Tiso - guitars
Karyn Crisis - vocals
Steve DiGiorgio - bass
Marco Minnemann - drums

Being fully into the preproduction process and about to record drums for the EP, the band will keep posting regular updates and videos of the recording.

In the meantime, check the upcoming issue of Outburn Magazine (#62, on sale December 27 in the US) - it will feature an interview in which Davide Tiso discusses details on the forthcoming release and Ephel Duath's career.

Phantasmaphile

One of my favorite blogs, Phantasmaphile, mentioned my Tarot paintings tonite. So thankful! This is an inspiring blog filled with occult and visionary art that I love to read in the early a.m. as I'm preparing for my day ahead. Wish I lived closer to attend many lectures by Pam Grossman and other contributers at the Observatory. filled with artists of vision:Phantasmaphile

Prints now available of my Tarot series

I'm now offering limited edition giclee prints of my Tarot paintings in my etsy shop on a made-to-order basis here:MY ETSY SHOP

Major Arcana Tarot Show notes

The day I began to study Tarot in the forest I wrote in my sketchbook regarding the major Arcana cards: "My goal is to depict visually the state of consciousness each archetype portrays. This requires study of the Trumps and their meanings, rather than to just interpret artistically the names of each archetype."

I saw the deck in a full vision, then I went deeper into each card as I studied it, channelling more information and visual details. I took extensive notes, but didn't stop there. As I began to sketch out all the paintings and paint them, the channelling continued during the work itself, and the tarot began to study me.

Painting each one was intensely meditative.


I've always had a great respect for the tarot. Whenever I think of it, I feel a particular hum, a frequency, and I feel the antiquity and the seriousness of it. Even more than that, I feel the presences who created it, whom I call the "Council" .

Because I can feel the presences and sometimes see them, (though all those years ago I didn't realize I could communicate with them and feel their emotions and discern their personalities yet..so) the tarot used to scare me. I could sense the Council who watch over the cards, the creators of the system.



I believe, as with many esoteric systems, Tarot was passed down as a legacy and given to humans. Much in the way other magicians throughout history were given magickal rites systems in visions from the archangels...or healers were given "remembrance" of a system during a vision quest, etc. These systems are far too complicated and deep for them to have been created by one person. I believe they are so so much older than we can imagine.



I've wanted to paint a Tarot deck for more than 15 years, but I hadn't felt ready until recently.
I felt it wasn't right to start until they felt I was ready. And so..my Guides have taken my hand and are leading me through.

In fact, with this deck, I'm having to paint many things I've not painted before and don't really know how; water, for example. I painted these paintings in 2.5 months (building the canvases from scratch to painting all of them), and that's an amazing accomplishment for me, using oil paints. I don' tuse turpentine or any thinners, just walnut oil...although on the final layers I did use some alkyd to speed the drying time. It took me 15 hours a day of painting..and usually one day a week I crashed. if I had to go get groceries, I'd make sure to jog there. When painting something I didn't know how to I'd just hear "keep the brush on the canvas, we'll work it out for you."

In terms of deciding what images to include within each card, my focus was to, instead of hiding meanings in obscure or outdated symbols and images, to bring forth the essence of each personality (which the major arcana is: the Archetypes) within the Figure of each card which we travel through on our path. Since the figures themselves mirror back to us certain personality traits and their strengths and weaknesses, I felt it was important to make those traits very present.



Natural elements I've reserved for the pip cards, since that is their domain. While a spirit/personality moves through growth cycles of the majot arcana, the pip cards affect her journey elementally, spiritually, mentally, and physically...
choosing which ones of these influences should be imbedded within amajor aracana card so depends on the time and place interpretation of the reader, I felt to make this deck more concentrated within each card's essence...rather than clutter with symbols that might not pertain to the actual reading. Perhaps this is because my ability to read (as a clairvoyant/clairsentient/clairaudient) began with no tools, so I'm coming from a different place..but I believe in studying the structure and procedures proper of a system. Being so visual though, I find that many decks' visual vocabularies actually give me an unrelated or confusing image of the archetype at hand many times...or takes me on a vocabulary journey : attaching an image to a word, then to another word, then to an adjective..to finally find out what the original images mean.


Clairvoyants, for example, use a particular system to "see", but each clarivoyant "sees" in a language that is their own, which also speaks and uses the language of the readee of the moment. Yet each clairvoyant has a "master" language that they see and visually speak from a place of neutrality, and this langauge can speak/see/interpret with any other person's language.

and so in the tarot also, there is a clairvoyant lanugage depicted in imagery. A "master tabluea" if you will, upon which a reader will meet with their own master language. Together these will communicate and build a bridge of communication with a readee. The Tarot is the teacher here, the reader is the medium/channel for the readee.


I wanted to search deeply into Tarot...and I knew as I did the tarot would see deeply into me!






The photos here are of me outside Sacred Rose Tattoo in Berkeley, CA, where I presented my Tarot show for the month of October. SR2 Gallery is located inside.