Home > Austin Osman Spare

He was the son of a London policeman. As a child, he showed an affinity for art, and he briefly attended an art school. At the age of 13, he left school to become an apprentice to a stained glass maker. During his teen years, his fascination for the occult grew apace, heavily influencing the work he produced. In May 1904 one of his drawings was exhibited at the annual Royal Academy exhibition in London, generating a storm of publicity for the young artist.

In October 1907 Spare exhibited his drawings at the Bruton gallery in London. His work resembled that of Aubrey Beardsley, but was full of grotesque, sexualized human figures and magical symbols. These elements appealed to avant-garde London intellectuals, and brought him to the attention of Aleister Crowley. Spare became a Probationer of Crowley's order Argenteum AstrumArgenteum Astrum also known as Argentinum Astrum Argentinium Astrum ( Latin for "silver star") or Astron Argon ( Greek for "silver star"), and often referred to as A∴A&there4 was a magical order created by Aleister Crowley after leaving the Hermeti ("Of the Silver Star") in July 1909, but was not initiated as a member, although he contributed four small drawings to Crowley's publication The Equinox. Crowley later characterized Spare as a " Black BrotherA Black Brother as characterized by Crowley and others, a renegade occultist, who does not contribute or who opposes the liberation or exaltation of humankind.", meaning that he did not approve of the goals of Spare's magical philosophy.

In 1917Events January 2 The Royal Bank of Canada takes over Quebec Bank. January 22 World War I: President Woodrow Wilson calls for "peace without victory" in Europe. January 25 The Danish West Indies is sold to the United States for $25 million January 25 Anti-, during World War IWorld War I (also known as the First World War , the Great War the War of the Nations and the "War to End All Wars") was a world conflict occurring from 1914 to 1918. No previous conflict had mobilized so many soldiers, or involved so many in the field of, Spare was conscripted into the British army, serving as a medical orderly of the Royal Army Medical Corp in London hospitals. He did not see active service, and was commissioned as an official War Artist in 1919. He visited the battlefields of France to record the work of the R.A.M.C.

Although regarded as an artist of considerable talent and good prospects, Spare chose not to get involved into the London art scene, but lived a rather secluded life financed by pictures (portraits in particular) he sold for very small sums to friends and neighbors. Spare expressed contempt at the idea of selling his works at higher prices - an option he could easily have had. He worked very quickly and often finished drawings in minutes.

Spare's artistic and magical publications include Earth Inferno, The Book of Pleasure, The Focus of Life, manuscripts of 'Logomachy of Zos' and 'Zoetic Grimoire of Zos' which remained uncompleted at his death on May 15, 1956.

His iconoclasm and aversion to moralism as well as his sigilizationA symbol designed for a specific magical purpose is called a sigil . The plural is sigla''. Occultists may prefer to employ the anglicized plural "sigils". The term sigil derives from the Latin sigilum meaning "seal. The old norse binding rune is an examp served to distinguish his personal style of magic (the " Zos Kia CultusZos Kia Cultus is a form, style, or school of magic developed by Austin Osman Spare. It focuses on one's individual universe and the influence of the magician's will on it. Consequently, it is highly personal. While the Zos Kia Cultus has very few adheren") from others, and were influential on the Western esoteric tradition that later came to be known as chaos magicHistory Following the death of Aleister Crowley, magic as practiced by the still somewhat sparse occult subculture in Britain tended to become more experimentalist, personal and a lot less bound to the magical traditions of established magical orders..