The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors is a nonprofit organization that often gets referred to as a cult due to its association with alternative thinkers, visionaries, and hippies. Founded by famed visionary artists Alex and Allysen Grey, the group was created to help expand human creativity and to create a space for artists and other creatives to practice.
The Church of Sacred Mirrors is separate from the Chapel, and may be why the group is often referred to as a cult. The Church allows them to claim religious status, and to do that, they say that their faith is in creativity itself.
Needless to say, the Chapel and all of its members are incredibly interesting. This article will explain more about its founders and about the Chapel itself.
What Is the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors?
If you’ve ever held an album by Tool in your hand and found yourself staring, mesmerized, at the beautiful psychedelic artwork on the cover, you’re not alone. The images on these albums are among the most popular of visionary artist Alex Grey – a good choice for the band, since very few artists share a similar breadth of consciousness as the phenomenal musicians in Tool, let alone the ability to transcribe that into visual art,
But Alex and his partner, Allysen, don’t only spend their time creating mindblowing pieces of art. They’re also dedicated to finding new avenues in which visionary art can be brought to the rest of the world. In doing so, they hope to be helping elevate the consciosness of the everyday individual.
Some have called Alex and Allysen Grey’s Chapel of Sacred (CoSM) a cult, and it certainly might look that way from the outside. Although there is a church associated with the group – The Church of Sacred Mirrors – the group is really a non-profit organization that was created so that there could be a permanent exhibit for some of Alex’s famed works, entitled Sacred Mirrors.
Or at least, that’s what they wrote on paper. In practice, the CoSM functons as a multi-faith place of worship where people can come to meditate, contemplate, and honor the use of art as a spiritual path.
Ultimately, the CoSM wants to create a model by which people can live based on the iideals expressed in the artwork of its numerous contributors. Considering the vast significance of many of the visionary pieces that have been created by CoSM’s members, this is a very admirable goal.
Activities at CoSM
If you do get a chance to look a little bit closer, you’ll realize that you surrounded by bright, creative individuals who follow their own creativity as a spiritual path. However, the chances of getting to look this closely are slim, as only invited members can attend the more private events.
Right, so perhaps this is a little culty.
That’s not to say that outsiders can’t visit the location. If you take a gander during the day, or stay overnight at Grey house, you’ll be able to peruse the incredible art, the numerous creative altars, a massive esoteric library, the parlor, the Mushroom Cafe, and the gallery. There’s also a kitchen and dining hall that serve food throughout the week.
The CoSM also participates in monthly Full Moon ceremonies, and have been doing so consistently since 2003. They have also been known to host weddings, baby blessings, memorials, and other “private celebrations” that promote love and commitment.
So What Are the Sacred Mirrors?
What, exactly, are the Sacred Mirrors? They must be pretty important if these guys are willing to dedicate an entire church and chapel to them.
And important, they definitely are. As human beings, we have only one consistent goal throughout our species’ existence: the expansion and development of the consciousness faculty. All other things proceed from this, and it’s really the evolution of our consciousness that shapes the world around us – not the other way around.
However, many people are hesitant or even downright terrified to acknowledge this. By acknowledging your own significant role in creation, you also take on tremendous responsibility. The reward is expansion and growth as a person, but this requires discipline, courage, and the ability to overcome the fear of the unknown.
One of the biggest challenges that people face with this idea is the fact that consciousness isn’t really a tangible thing. There are no devices that can measure someone’s level of consciousness, nor can it be charted on a graph. In a highly scientific society that values numbers, quantities, and evaluations, talk about consciousness can provoke a lot of discomfort.
The Sacred Mirrors, a series of art installations created by Alex Grey between the years of 1979-1989, helps to address this issue and encourage people to adapt to their nonphysical aspects.
The series is a thorough examination of both the physical and nonphysical anatomy of the human being.
- Those unfamiliar with the concept of nonphysical or occult anatomy (the word occult just means ‘hidden’) should know that this refers to the various aspects of our body and that scientists have not yet developed tools for accurately measuring.
- This includes systems like the chakras, or ‘’energy wheels” such as the term means in Sanskrit. Like the heart pumps blood through the body, the chakras help to distribute the vital life force throughout the body.
- The energy meridians are another part of our nonphysical anatomy; they are the mirror image of our physical nervous system. The meridians have become mainstream knowledge (despite aggressive resistance from scientists who cannot seem to quantify them) thanks to practices like acupuncture.
The Sacred Mirrors provides us with not just a glimpse, but an in-depth look at ourselves and our potential as human beings. We are able to see ourselves in a more complex and multifaceted state through these images. Those with the willingness to grow and evolve will certainly find these paintings revelatory.
The experience of the Sacred Mirrors is one of transformation and reflection. The life-sized images take individuals on a journey through a series of different points of evolution. Beginning with the selfish, ego-identified awareness and evolving into a more community-oriented, technology-based and ultimately theocentric awareness, these paintings take us on a journey of what it truly means to be human.
The Artists Behind the Masterpiece: Alex & Allyson Grey
These masterful pieces were created by artists with a fascinating perspective on life. Alex and Allyson Grey are both incredible visionary artists who have a unique way of perceiving the world.+
Who Is Alex Grey?
Alex Grey is a lot of things. He is most well-known for his role as a mystic visionary artist, but throughout his sixty-odd years he’s fulfilled a number of different roles in society.
While he always somehow managed to devote time to his visionary art and psychedelic paintings, he has also served as an accomplished student of human anatomy, a professor, and an employee at numerous different vistas. Somehow, he almost always managed to incorporate his passions into his job, whether that means painting billboards for advertising companies or studying under esteemed artists.
He met his life partner in 1975. Following an epic journey involving the consumption of psychedelic medicines, the two found themselves intertwined on an artistic journey that carried them through the next half-century of life.
Together, their works of art covered not only canvas. Alex and his wife also explored live-action performances and live paintings in front of massive audiences.
Alex’s paintings continue to reflect his own evolving consciousness, as well as that of our society at large. Through collaborations with popular artists such as the band TOOL, Alex Grey’s art has managed to make its way into the mainstream and appear on all manner of different mediums, ranging from jewelry to cartoons to books and T-shirts.
Who Is Allyson Grey?
Allyson Grey was first called to express herself artistically after a psychedelic experience in 1971. Guided by one of the many books of Ram Dass, she found herself called to share her inner being with the world through art.
She began to see the symbolic representation of human thought in three stages: Chaos, Order, and Secret Writing. These three symbols she incorporates into her work and views as worthy of a lifetime of contemplation.
Her art reflects these symbols as well as the structure and formation of human thought in general. She shares these art works, as well as her deep inner knowledge regarding life, spirituality, and the nature of being, with all those who are interested.
Conclusion
Alex and Allyson Grey are two of the most prolific visionary artists alive today. Their work has influenced the lives of millions of people across the globe and will surely continue to do so for centuries to come. As their works deal with symbolic representations of timeless truths, there’s no doubt that future generations will find them just as profound as we do today.
Alex and Allyson are currently working at building immersive social structures for the development and sharing of visionary art. Through structures like the Entheon and the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, the two have created actual physical environments in which people can experience their own personal journeys as well as those undertaken by Alex and Allyson.
