Post by cortwilliams on Dec 11, 2012 18:02:35 GMT -6
Psychogeography is a science devoted to the study of the exploration of the emotional and psychic aspect of geography. As Henri Corbin noted in his essay "The Symbols of the North", geography once possessed a spiritual, as well as a physical dimension. In addition to being a means of orienting oneself in terms of space, it was also a means of orienting one's self in relation to a spiritual center. The earth was seen as the center of the cosmos, and the earth itself had at its center an axis mundi(a world tree, a mountain, etc.). This worldview provided a means of orienting one's self spiritually, of placing oneself in relation to an ordered cosmic whole. A consequence of the emergence of the modern worldview was the loss(or at least de-emphasis) of this notion of sacred geography. The existential consequences of this paradigm shift made itself known in terms of a the profound sense of disorientation as recorded, for example, in modernist literature. For all its countless benefits, the shift to the modern world-view has the drawback of a profound unmooring-No more is earth the center of the cosmos, but a tiny dust-mote hurtling through the starry voids.
The psychogeographer seeks to rediscover or recreate this sacred dimension of space. I present a couple of basic methods of this "resacralization of space." The first is very simply to take an aimless walk(perhaps flipping a coin at each intersection to determine whether to go straight or turn, or perhaps simply following one's gut feeling and going where the mood takes you), and to record the subjective impressions of the terrain explored via this method-Does a given street, field, etc, seem to exert an emotional influence, and if so, what kind? The psychogeographer thereby maps the psychic/emotional dimension of locality. The maps of various psychogeographers acquired in this fashion could then be correlated and super-imposed on each other.
The second method was hinted in my essay "Local Psychic Geographies." Every town, neighborhood, etc has its own set of folkloric history to it-Memories of past residents, crimes committed, buildings which once stood, maybe a ghost story or two, The psychogeographer can then double as a local historian/folklorist, accumulating data on the memories and legends attached to a given place.
Through his or her work, the psychogeographer thus awakens the Genii Loci(spirits of a place) and makes them more real, both for her/himself, and for those with whom he/she shares his/her work-Doing the work of re-awakening the elder gods and the accompanying retinue of spirits which haunt the very sidewalks we sleep-walk through every morning.
Hail Satanis!
Cort Williams
The psychogeographer seeks to rediscover or recreate this sacred dimension of space. I present a couple of basic methods of this "resacralization of space." The first is very simply to take an aimless walk(perhaps flipping a coin at each intersection to determine whether to go straight or turn, or perhaps simply following one's gut feeling and going where the mood takes you), and to record the subjective impressions of the terrain explored via this method-Does a given street, field, etc, seem to exert an emotional influence, and if so, what kind? The psychogeographer thereby maps the psychic/emotional dimension of locality. The maps of various psychogeographers acquired in this fashion could then be correlated and super-imposed on each other.
The second method was hinted in my essay "Local Psychic Geographies." Every town, neighborhood, etc has its own set of folkloric history to it-Memories of past residents, crimes committed, buildings which once stood, maybe a ghost story or two, The psychogeographer can then double as a local historian/folklorist, accumulating data on the memories and legends attached to a given place.
Through his or her work, the psychogeographer thus awakens the Genii Loci(spirits of a place) and makes them more real, both for her/himself, and for those with whom he/she shares his/her work-Doing the work of re-awakening the elder gods and the accompanying retinue of spirits which haunt the very sidewalks we sleep-walk through every morning.
Hail Satanis!
Cort Williams