Judith Hoch

Do You Believe In Magick?

For hundreds of thousands of years, humanity communicated spiritually with sacred symbols. As an anthropologist and artist, I discovered sacred symbols from Africa, Asia, and the South Pacific. I asked myself, what are the oldest symbols of my own ancestors who came mainly from Europe and the British Isles?

I discovered, through the work of the late, great anthropologist, Marija Gimbutas, that ancient European symbols were similar to those of many ancient cultures with which I was already familiar. Many people are surprised that my inspiration for this series of works came from Europe, not from Africa or New Guinea. I invite you to read my essay Do You Believe In Magick? which provides more information about the origin of the indigenous symbols in my works.

“The role of the artist I now understood as that of revealing through the world-surfaces the implicit forms of the soul, and the great agent to assist the artist was the myth.” — Joseph Campbell

I hope that the bliss that transforms me when I’m working translates through my art to you. Many of the power symbols in my work came to life long before the religions of Christ, Buddha, and Mohammed. I use the spelling of “Magick” with a “k” because I refer to the transformation of consciousness that can happen when one is under the spell of an artwork that radiates with spirit. This is the “High Magick” spoken of by alchemists and yogis, mystics and seekers.