Summer Learning Community // Prescription for Harry Smith

Reading:

• “Alchemical Transformations: The Abstract Films of Harry Smith;” by Jamie Sexton.

• Think of the Self Speaking: Harry Smith, Selected Interviews; by Harry Smith (Author), Rani Singh (Editor), Allen Ginsberg (Introduction). See below...

Viewing:

• No. 3: Interwoven (1946)

  No. 7 (1951)

• No. 10 (1956)

• No. 11: Mirror Animations (1956)

• No. 12: Heaven and Earth Magic (1962)

• No. 14: Late Superimpositions (1965)

• No. 15 (1966)

• No. 16: Oz—The Tin Woodman’s Dream (1967)

• Early Abstractions :  Nos. 1–5, 7, and 10 (1939-1956)

*See here for a complete list of Smith’s films.

Listening:

• Harry Smith Interviewed by P. Adams Sitney (1965).

• Anthology of American Folk Music

Meditating:

• Practice “Free Range Meditation” pp. 82- 84 in Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics. See below…

Dreaming:

• Try Liminal Dreaming! Watch the video below and try these practices to get started.

Humans have an inherent drive to play with our experience of the world. Yet in our explorations of consciousness we frequently ignore the potential of the or...

Ritual & Performance:

• Experiment with ritualizing the film viewing experience. Make an altar. Light some candles. Burn some incense. Employ intentionality and use your imagination to make the experience Magickal.

• Try dressing up in Magickal clothes for the film screening experience. And then maybe wear your outfit outside and see what happens when you bring your Magick into the real world!