The Fetish Machine

The study circulates in several language versions; the theme remains the same: ritual identity, stigma, theatrical self-production, and the strange administrative perfume of esoteric legitimacy.

The apron sequence is left deliberately calm as even occult textiles occasionally deserve a little air.

Erweiterungen zur Geschichte der Fraternitas Saturni. Fotos und Texte von und zu: Eugen Grosche, Der Berg Ipf, Der Putsch 1962, Wolf Rösler, E.P.H. Barth (?)/Amenophis, Karl Wedler, Margarete Berndt, Karl Spiesberger, Walter Englert, Guido Wolther, Walter Jantschik, Horst Kropp, Johannes Maikowski, Dieter Heikaus.

Here the argument of Fetish, Self-Induction, Stigma and Rôleplay is condensed into a deliberately artificial scene. It is not a reconstruction of a historical event but a visual commentary on the mechanisms described in the essay.

The fetish need not reside in a single object. It can migrate into the entire apparatus: robe, insignia, magical circle, mirror, gesture, rank and scenery. The set itself becomes the fetish.

Repetition completes the mechanism. The set must be revisited, inhabited and performed. The worn track along the circle makes that repetition almost archaeological: the Grand Master is not doing this once; he has been doing it for decades.

Mirror magic closes the circuit. The magician does not merely try to produce an apparition; he produces himself as the magician capable of producing apparitions. The mirror returns the image of the rôle that created it. Costume, office and reflection thus supply their own evidence.

After the constructed image, back to surviving objects: keys, vessels and garments through which Saturnine authority acquired weight, texture and portability.