"Invisible Hands Help”

The Wisdom of Hilma af Klint

‘Swans, no 17, group IX/SUW, series SUW/UW’ by Hilma af Klint (1915)

Something a bit different today. On the weekends, I typically publish ‘Present Sense’ which includes a new essay along with sensory recommendations - something to SEE, HEAR, SMELL, TASTE, TOUCH, BALANCE and ENVISION. Those suggestions range from films, books, music, podcasts, recipes, nature discoveries, and audio guided meditations.

But to be honest, the past week has been rough, dealing with the aftermath of the L.A fires. It’s been challenging to think clearly, or focus on anything. Stringing words together feels like carrying loads of cement while moving through quicksands. Everyday life tasks require herculean efforts. I’m grateful that I get to volunteer these days. It doesn’t just help the fire victims, but it also channels my anxiety and depression into a productive cause. I don’t have much creative capacity right now, but I can manage simple and repetitive actions – such as organizing donated goods, passing out water, cooking meals for first-responders.

I do have a small creative celebration to share though. I worked on a special project a few months ago and it was published this week. I wrote a piece on the artist Hilma af Klint for ‘Noted,’ a fascinating newsletter dedicated to note-takers published by

Jillian Hess

.

‘Noted’ was one of the first newsletters I subscribed to and Jillian and I have since become friends. Every time I go to NYC, we make sure to get together and it’s always a sweet highlight of my visits.

Jillian is an English professor at the City University of New York (CUNY) and the author of ‘How Romantics and Victorians Organized Information: Commonplace Books, Scrapbooks, and Albums.’ She’s dedicated her career to studying hundreds of notebooks, and she is currently writing a new book titled ‘Noteworthy,’ which will be published by Penguin Life in the U.S. and Viking in the U.K.

I’m honored to have a piece featured on her newsletter. I’ve been fascinated by Hilma af Klint’s art for years, and upon learning more about her note-taking method I was excited to write about her. It was no small feat: I spent two months researching everything I could find on Hilma’s work. I read her biography (which was interesting, though frankly tedious to get through – as academic books can sometimes be), and sifted through my other books on the artist (including the beautiful ‘Notes and Methods’ as well as the fun graphic novel ‘The Fives Lives of Hilma af Klint’).

Hilma af Klint was a true visionary – someone who was guided by the spirit world to create the first works of abstract art. She was a spiritual seeker, influenced by the Theosophical Society and the Anthroposophical movement. She was also light years beyond her time, as someone who embraced the fluidity of gender and lived with her female lover (Thomasine Anderson).

I invite you to read the full piece here:

Guest Essay: Hilma af Klint’s Notes from the Spirit World

As with most essays, a lot of information had to be edited down, both for length and clarity purposes. So I wanted to share a passage which didn’t make it into the final piece. It’s a message from one of the spirit guides which Hilma and four other women (known as “The Five”) channeled during one of their séances. It pertains to our creative labor but it also feels particularly fitting to this current moment, amidst so much loss, to receive a little encouragement from the beyond.

In Joy,

Sabrina

September 16, 1903

You are bewildered by what we have told you, but the phenomenon we are trying to explain is truly bewildering. What is this phenomenon, you ask? Well, beloved, it is that which we want to call the secret growing. How often have we heard you say that everything is futile, that nothing comes of all your labors. Yet like amorphous buds your endeavors sprout in all directions. You see everything as formless and you forget that this is a sign of life. Gradually the formlessness takes on more precise contours and the steadily growing roots feed an ever stronger plant, which will one day explode with an abundance of leaves and flowers. You know this is so, but you must perceive this knowledge with such vividness that you dare to build on it. You have to feel with certainty that even the smallest effort to grow in goodness leaves a clear trace inside you. When you do not see an outer result, this must not discourage or tire you in your efforts, for just as invisible hands help and tend every plant on this Green Earth, so every budding sprout of goodness is tended and shaped and protected by invisible powers and when the time comes your eyes will open and you will see the beautiful plant that grew in secrecy, the product of your noble endeavors and your pure intentions. Accept our account as a greeting from us so that you shall never tire when all seems lost.¹

image of the featured note, written on loose sheets found in the notebook of The Five (from Hilma af Klint, Notes and Methods)

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1. Hilma af Klint Notes and Methods, p.29