WRITINGS

      When I am not infront of my easel painting, I am usually infront of my Mac working out some new piece of writing. Recently, I completed The Hidden Passion, a Visionary novel.
      A fair sampling of my writings is offered below...

Read the Back Cover

A novel that elucidates
the Gnostic worldview
in a clear and compelling narrative

Now available at GnosticQ.com
List Price: $21.95

- For a limited time only -
Discount price: $ 18.95
only at GnosticQ.com

- Paperback
- 447 pages
- Size: 5.5" x 8" x 1"
- ISBN 10 - 0-9782637-0-7
- ISBN 13 - 978-0-9782637-0-6

                             THE HIDDEN PASSION MAKES
                    THE GNOSTIC GOSPELS COME ALIVE..!

      This is the tale of the Gnostic Christ, based on the ancient sources. In a compelling narrative, L. Caruana seamlessly weaves over 1500 sayings from the Nag Hammadi texts to recount The Hidden Passion of the Gnostic savior.
      Wandering round Galilee, increasingly hailed as the Messiah of the Five Seals, the Gnostic savior preaches divine awakening through compassion. But he must still contend with Judas, his dark twin, and Magdalene, his promised bride. At once earthly and spiritual, the Nazarene's love for these two is finally transfigured into a higher, hidden passion.
      Each page of this novel rings with the authentic message of the lost gospels. By combining numerous narrative fragments from the Nag Hammadi texts, The Hidden Passion makes the Gnostic Gospels come alive!
      Complete with a map, diagram and glossary, this novel elucidates the Gnostic worldview in an eloquent, engaging narrative...

Read the entire Manifesto in
THE VISIONARY REVUE
The On-line Journal of Visionary Art
at http://VisionaryRevue.com

A Limited Edition of
200 signed and numbered copies
is now in print.
Copies may be purchased
through the shop at GnosticQ.com

U.S. $10 Price includes shipping Euro €10 Price includes shipping _________________________________________

     ...WHAT  IS VISIONARY ART?

     The sources of the visionary experience are many and varied: dreams, trance, madness, meditation, entheogens... This little book examines them all, pursuing both 'Visions of Light' and 'Visions of Darkness'. Through the art and writings of Fuchs, Klarwein, Giger, Venosa, Johfra, De Es, Grey and more, this new and unusual movement in art is put into proper perspective.

     "...Concise as an instrument for presenting the current state and dimension of the visionary phenomenon." - DE ES Schwertberger

     "Thank you so much for your Manifesto of Visionary Art - an intelligent analysis of the worldwide phenomena... Your online journal is terrific." - Alex Grey

Cover art: Francois Schlesser

      In 1945, on a hill overlooking the Nile, a sacred text was accidentally unearthed after having been buried for seventeen hundred years. Within its aged pages, there appeared the cryptic inscription '...enter through the image.'
      To think in images means to make connections between things, based on the structure of imagery rather than the logic of our language. An ancient image-language persists in us, appearing nightly in our dreams - but it remains unconscious. Meanwhile, myths and works of art have gradually elevated aspects of this language into consciousness. By looking at myths and sacred works of art, this study elucidates the narrative patterns and image-clusters which also occur in our oneiric creations. And, by identifying these image-patterns, we are able to reconstruct the ancient image-language at the heart of all dreaming, art and myth-making. For, with that forgotten knowledge, we may 'enter through the image' to its more ancient understanding of life. Indeed, by the end of the book we come to see life as 'a gradual unfolding of the Sacred'.

A few sample pages
of a work in progress.

     Emmanuel and Sibylla, living in a cave above the village of Mellieha, struggle to understand what each has found in the other. For her, Emmanuel abandoned his noviciate in the Roman Catholic church. For him, Sibylla escaped the house of her rich and powerful father. Having foresaken the values of their island's longstanding traditions, they must now discover a different, deeper meaning in their love.
     Enter Nordin, an elderly Canadian archaeologist who meets the mysteriously haunting Sibylla under unusual circumstances. While his dig beneath the village church yields limited finds, he discovers in Sibylla a rich source of ancestral habits and memories. As Nordin begins to dig ever deeper into Sibylla's complex personality, Emmanuel stumbles upon a rich cache of Malta's history within the labyrinthine turnings of his own cave. Philosophical by nature, a self-confessed heretic, he begins to explore the myths and images underlying his own faith.
     A novel set in Malta - the sunny Mediterranean isle resplendent with ruins from cultures past. The tale unfolds among Neolithic temples, Phoenician sanctuaries, early Christian catacombs, Muslim cemetaries, and the auberges of the Knights of Malta. A celebration of Malta's cultural heritage, this novel disentangles the many beliefs at the root of Malta's complex history.

CONTENTS

I. THE WANDERING

Introduction,
Childhood in Toronto
Vienna
Back to Toronto
Malta
Munich

II. THE WORKS

The Mystic Diptych
Enter Through the Image
Christ Alchemist
Symbolic Thinking
The Harrowing of Hell
The Eternal Rise and Fall
The Sacred Life Journey

CONCLUSION

Dreams

     Here is the life of L. Caruana: the wanderings from place to place, with temporary respites in Toronto, Vienna, Malta, Munich, and Paris. All the while, dreams uprise unbidden from within, demanding expression in visionary works of art. The Mystic Diptych, Christ Alchemist, and The Harrowing of Hell - all of these paintings are explored in depth, revealing their initial inspiration in dreams, their amplification through the myths and symbols of ancient culture, and their ultimate expression of a new life-philosophy.

METAMORPHOSIS
Featuring the works of
fifty Visionary artists, incl:
Ernst Fuchs, Robert Venosa,
Maura Holden, Oleg Korolev,
Kim Evans, Andrew Gonzalez
With a special introduction
by L. Caruana.

Copies may be ordered at: The Beinart Surreal Art Collective

      Metamorphosis: Fifty Surreal and Fantastic Artists
     This book presents the work of fifty contemporary Surreal and Fantastic Artists. We have endeavored to compile a balanced publication, showing the extremes of both 'light' and 'dark' themes. The two extremes are usually presented separately, but we believe they belong together under the umbrella of human experience. By featuring the work of established artists such as Ernst Fuchs, Alex Grey, Victor Safonkin, Andrew Gonzalez, Martina Hoffmann, Laurie Lipton, Chet Zar, Kris Kuksi, Brom and Robert Venosa alongside that of relatively unknown - though extraordinary - artists, we have aimed to bring a host of new artists into the public eye. We hope that this publication will be the first of a series that will provide exposure for many more artists in future.
                         Jon Beinart - Publisher

Featuring the works of
numerous Visionary artists
including: Ernst Fuchs, Alex Grey,
Mati Klarwein, De Es Schwertberger,
Robert Venosa, Martina Hoffmann,
and L. Caruana.
With essays on creative inspiration
by Philip Rubinov Jacobson,
Ken Wilber, Michael S.Bell
and L. Caruana.

This is the HARD-cover first edition
printed in English.
728 pages with 550+ color plates
and 250+ b&w repr. and photos.
Apprx. 14.5 x 10 inches.

Note:
The publication of this book is presently 'on hold'.

     An evocative book on an art that expresses multidimensional states of creative experience. From the erotic to nature to dreams, from trance to myth to drugs, from visions to visitations, this new book explores the varied sources of artistic inspiration.
     Philip Rubinov Jacobson introduces us to a spectrum of imagery and writing, including original art and essays by L. Caruana.