Ontological Graffiti

Ontological Graffiti is Michael Bertiaux’s magnum opus. More than 40 years in development and a decade in production, this work now stands at over 470 pages and is without doubt his most substantial and important book yet.

Ontological Graffiti provides for us a vibrant vudutronic, spiritualist, art-grimoire. It presents the strange narrative of certain magical work conducted at the infamous ‘Hyde Park Lodge’ in Chicago during the period 1965-1975. The lodge was a ‘ritual collective of occult initiates’ who would meet monthly under the directorship of Dr. Hector-Francois Jean Main.

Ontological Graffiti contains the séances, lecture notes and descriptive texts for this intense period. This material accompanies the series of large acrylic magical paintings produced by Bertiaux, who was assigned to capture through his art the messages and images of various ‘transcendental consciousnesses’ which manifested during the course of their workings. The Lodge later discovered that rituals conducted using these paintings deepened the connection with the spirits, Loa, and ‘Other Minds’. In addition, the book also offers the reader countless drawings, collages and ‘passeports for contacting and travelling within the spirit realms.’

Everywhere in the Gnostic Continuum, ‘mind’ is active. The Hyde Park Lodge was able to tap into extra-dimensional, transcendental mind-forms, and develop methods to understand and make use of inner-plane communications. Ontological Graffiti details the work which allowed this ability, and serves as a magical record of a group of seekers discovering Gnostic and Vudu pathways and making use of the tremendous energy and knowledge gained from traveling them.

-Michael Bertiaux