Semesilam: The Eternal Sun
by José Gabriel Alegría Sabogal
Semesilam: The Eternal Sun is a compilatory volume, gathering the artwork that José Gabriel Alegría Sabogal produced between 2012-2017. This ‘definitive anthology' includes the long out-of-print Handbook of Sacred Anatomy and A Second Nature (Aeon Sophia Press, 2014 and 2017, respectively), along with further, unpublished works from the same period and an extended photographic record of Sabogal’s osseous works on human skulls and bone fragments.
In the new prologue to Semesilam, Sabogal offers personal insight into the diverse circumstances that played a role in producing this corpus, including the motifs, symbols, and ideas behind them, and further interpretations of various images and themes – Gnostic Symbolism, Angelic Iconography, and Symbols of the Unconscious among others – which have been crucial to his artistic process. Within this myriad of symbology and meaning, the Sun is at the forefront, a recurring symbol and inspiration for the book’s title, Semesilam – here identified as an inscription often found on the so-called Abrasax Gnostic gemstones, pointing to the everlasting nature of the solar orb.
The material from Handbook of Sacred Anatomy constitutes a Mutus Liber that explores mystical interpretations of human remains, while A Second Nature was significantly inspired by Jungian analyses, delving also into the mysterious Akephalos, the headless figure – symbolically suggestive of both the dragon and contemplation of death – used by surrealist author Georges Bataille, who, in an uncompromising non-rational way, sought to create its own visual associative language.
A new preface by Frater Acher, and an epilogue by Gabriel McCaughry (founder and owner of Anathema Publishing Ltd), both give testimony to Sabogal’s long-standing personal, literary, and artistic relationships – the fruits of which have taken the form of several publications and have inspired the artwork compiled here.
Semesilam features a new and carefully designed layout by artist and typographer Joseph Uccello, which enhances the presentation of this collection, thereby making it available as a fine edition, showcasing material that has been otherwise out of print for a considerable while. Certainly, a worthy addition for those who are interested in José Gabriel’s body of work.
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Table of Contents
Preface, by Frater Acher
Prologue for Semesilam, by José Gabriel Alegría Sabogal
Book I. A HANDBOOK OF SACRED ANATOMY
A Note from the Author to the Reader
A Handbook of Sacred Anatomy
Index of Images (for Book I)
Book II. A SECOND NATURE
Introduction: The Two Natures
The Power of Books, the Power of Images, and a Book of Images
Angels or Manifestations: The Beheld
Metamorphoses
Death & Imagination
Symbols
Bone Works
A Second Nature
Index of Images (for Book II)
Acknowledgements
Verses
Epilogue
Portæ Lucis — Solarization of the Crypt, by Gabriel McCaughry
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Illustrated throughout by José Gabriel Alegría Sabogal.
Fine typography and layout by Joseph Uccello.
Collector’s Edition - Limited to 1300 copies
240 pages. Hardbound 100pts. Cover Material: Napura Sangha [Dark Brown] highly textured material. Gold foil blocking and Blind Deboss details on the cover and back-cover. Full Colour interior. RainbowCo. "Spruce" (Dark Teal colour) textured Endpapers. Black Headbands. Printed on Accent Antique Alabaster 150 gsm archive-quality paper. Comes with a numbered tipped-in carton-plate signed by the Author.
ISBN: 978-1-989339-24-4
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Press, reviews, endorsements
Author Talk by José Gabriel Alegría Sabogal at Watkins Bookstore in London, discussing Semesilam and IAO - watch on YouTube here
Interview with José Gabriel Alegría Sabogal on the BiblioSophia channel - watch on YouTube here
Seminar by José Gabriel Alegría Sabogal at the Occulture Conference in Berlin - watch on YouTube here
“A Second Nature [Book II of Semesilam]… features a pristine selection of drawings and paintings collected over the relatively short period from 2014 to 2016. Right upon opening the book we realise that it can be read in many different ways. Whichever access route we choose though, once we delve into its manifold visions of the daimonic – some perfected in beauty, some in grotesqueness – we should be prepared to tremble… The book’s name is inspired by the essential theological debate about whether Christ’s body – and therefore the body of all humans – “was both divine and human in one body, as wine and water, or if these natures were divided, as oil and water in one cup” (p. 11). Thus the book in the body of its shape-shifting daimonic images confronts us with the essential question about our own mortality and divinity. And whether or not we will be able to lift ourselves up into the world of the sublime through the experience of fission…highly recommended to any practical occultist as well as aspiring artist. It also is a book that creates immense anticipation to see the works of this outstanding artist which emerged since its publication…”
Paralibrum - read the full review here
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About the Author
José Gabriel Alegría Sabogal is an artist and art historian, born in Berlin and raised in Lima, Perú. He is currently completing his doctoral research with the Max Planck Institute for Art History, Bibliotheca Hertziana, Rome. His research interests include religious iconography and Sanskrit philology, the comparative study of religion, and Gnosticism in particular. His visual work makes use of the line technique found in renaissance copper plate engraving but applied to drawings. Both the themes and their treatment José explores are essentially anachronistic and follow the initiative of developing a symbolic language that aspires to a timeless nature.
