Antero Alli is a professional astrologer who has authored books on

experimental theatre Experimental theatre (also known as avant-garde theatre), inspired largely by Wagner's concept of Gesamtkunstwerk, began in Western theatre in the late 19th century with Alfred Jarry and his Ubu plays as a rejection of both the age in particular ...

astrology Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Di ...

and

Timothy Leary Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from bold oracle to publicity hound. He was "a her ...

8-circuit model of consciousness The eight-circuit model of consciousness is a holistic model originally described by Timothy Leary, later expanded on by Robert Anton Wilson and Antero Alli, that suggests "eight periods ircuitsand twenty-four stages of neurological evolution". ...

. He lives in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, where he conducts workshops and stages theatrical productions, some of which have been released as films.

Film and theatrical work

Alli was born on November 11, 1952, in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. He calls his work in experimental theatre ''paratheatre'', a term borrowed from the writings of

Jerzy Grotowski Jerzy Marian Grotowski (; 11 August 1933 – 14 January 1999) was a Polish theatre director and theorist whose innovative approaches to acting, training and theatrical production have significantly influenced theatre today. He was born in Rzesz ...

. He conducted private paratheatrical workshops in the Bay Area (1977–83 and 1996–2015), some of which evolved into public productions and provided the material for his films. In late 2015, he relocated to Portland to continue his work. Between 1976 and 1999, Alli wrote and directed a series of plays exploring mystical themes: ''Circles'' (1976), ''Coronation at Stillnight'' (1977), ''The Conjunction'' (1978), ''Chapel Perilous'' (1983), ''Animamundi'' (1989), and ''Hungry Ghosts of Albion'' (1999). Between 1992 and 2002 Alli co-curated the Nomad Film Festival, a Pacific coast touring venue featuring short experimental films and videos. After 1993, he focused on underground feature-length art films with mystical themes, such as ''The Oracle'' (1993), ''The Drivetime'' (1995), ''Tragos'' (2001), ''Hysteria'' (2002), ''Under a Shipwrecked Moon'' (2003), and ''The Greater Circulation'' (2005), a cinematic treatment of Rainer Maria Rilke's ''Requiem For a Friend''. In 2015, he stopped making feature films to return full-time to creating intermedia ritual-based theatre works such as ''Turbulence of Muses'' (2016), ''Bardoville'' (2017), ''Soror Mystica'' (2017), ''Fallen Monsters'' (2018), and ''Escape from Chapel Perilous'' (2018). Over the next four years, he returned to cinema with three features, ''The Vanishing Field'' (2020), ''The Alchemy of Sulphur'', and ''Tracer'' (2022).

Writing

Alli's books span a number of subjects, but all share common themes with his paratheatrical efforts:

archetype The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that ...

s, personal mythology and the use of

ritual A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized ...

to transform

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

. Like his colleague

Rob Brezsny Rob Brezsny is an American astrologer, author, and musician. His weekly horoscope column "Free Will Astrology" – formerly "Real Astrology" – has been published since 1980, and by 2010 was syndicated in around 120 periodicals. Caree ...

, Alli proposes a

free will Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded. Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to ac ...

approach to astrology, which provides clients with information to make decisions rather than deterministic predictions; in his introduction to ''Astrologik'', Brezsny calls Alli's approach "a rowdy and iridescent system of astrology that liberates and never ensnares." In ''Towards an Archaeology of the Soul'' (2003), Alli presents a detailed account of the theories and processes that go into his own paratheatrical creations. In 1991–1995, Alli was editor/publisher of ''Talking Raven Quarterly'', a Seattle-based literary journal featuring the writings of

Robert Anton Wilson Robert Anton Wilson (born Robert Edward Wilson; January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007) was an American author, futurist, psychologist, and self-described agnostic mystic. Recognized within Discordianism as an Episkopos, pope and saint, Wilson ...

, Hakim Bey, and Brezsny, among others. In 2006, Alli taught a course on his book ''AngelTech'' at

's Maybe Logic Academy.

Books

*Alli, Antero (1987). ''AngelTech''. New Falcon. *Alli, Antero (1988). ''All Rites Reversed: Ritual Technology for Self-Initiation''. New Falcon. *Alli, Antero (1988). ''The Akashic Record Player: A Non-Stop Geomantic Conspiracy''. New Falcon. *Alli, Antero (1990). ''Astrologik''. Vigilantero Press. *Alli, Antero (1993). ''Letters, Essays and Premonitions''. Vigilantero Press/Vertical Pool. *Alli, Antero and Sylvie Pickering (1996). ''The Vertical Oracle''. Vertical Pool. *Alli, Antero (2003). ''Towards an Archeology of the Soul''. Vertical Pool. *Hyatt, Christopher S. and Antero Alli (1988 then 2006). ''A Modern Shaman's Guide to a Pregnant Universe''. New Falcon. *Alli, Antero (2009). ''The Eight-Circuit Brain: Navigational Strategies for the Energetic Body''. Vertical Pool. *Alli, Antero (2020). "State of Emergence: Experiments in Group Ritual Dynamics". The Original Falcon Press. *Alli, Antero (2022). "Experiential Astrology: From the Map to the Territory". The Original Falcon Press. *Alli, Antero (2023). "Last Words: Towards an Insurrection of the Poetic Imagination". The Original Falcon Press.

Filmography

*''Requiem for a Friend'' (1991; 40 min) *''Archaic Community'' (1992; 80 min) a paratheatre video document *'' The Drivetime'' (1995; 88 min) *''The Oracle'' (1993; 70 min) *''Lily in Limbo'' (1996; 27 min) *''Tragos: A Cyber-Noir Witch Hunt'' (2000; 105 min) *''Roadkill'' (2001; 27 min) *''Hysteria'' (2002; 83 min) *''Under a Shipwrecked Moon'' (2003; 96 min) *''Orphans of Delirium'' (2004; 82 min) a paratheatre video document *''The Greater Circulation'' (2005; 93 min) *''The Mind is a Liar and a Whore'' (2007; 92 min) *''The Invisible Forest'' (2008; 111 min.)'' *''To Dream of Falling Upwards'' (2011-2021; 120 min) *''Flamingos'' (2012; 90 min) *''dreambody/earthbody'' (2012; 80 min) a paratheatre video document *''The Book of Jane'' (2013; 117 min) *''Out of the Woods'' (2015-2021; 87 min) *''The Vanishing Field'' (2020; 72 min) *''The Alchemy of Sulphur'' (2021; 109 min) *''Tracer'' (2022; 93 min) *''The Celebrants'' (2023; 32 min)

References

Antero Alli Recordings with The Radical Change Group
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Alli Interviewed
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Film Threat
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Alli's WebsiteAlli Interviewed
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Key 64

External links