Arto Antero Alexander Alli (11 November 1952 – 9 November 2023) was a Finnish astrologer, filmmaker, theatre director, and writer. He wrote esoteric books on

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

astrology Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...

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". Accordin ...

8-circuit model of consciousness The eight-circuit model of consciousness is a holistic model originally presented as psychological philosophy (abbreviated "psy-phi") by Timothy Leary in books including ''Neurologic'' (1973) and ''Exo-Psychology'' (1977), later expanded on by ...

. He lived in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, where he conducted workshops and staged paratheatrical productions, some of which have been released as video documents.

Early life and education

He was born in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, Finland, where he maintained citizenship.

Film and theatrical work

Alli called 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 is considered one ...

. He conducted private paratheatrical workshops in the San Francisco Bay Area (1977–1983 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 René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was an Austrian poet and novelist. Acclaimed as an Idiosyncrasy, idiosyncratic and expressive poet, he is widely recognized as ...

'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, philosophy and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main mo ...

s, personal mythology and the use of

ritual A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...

to transform

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, an ...

. Like his colleague

Rob Brezsny Rob Brezsny (born 21 June...) 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 pe ...

, Alli proposes a

free will Free will is generally understood as the capacity or ability of people to (a) choice, choose between different possible courses of Action (philosophy), action, (b) exercise control over their actions in a way that is necessary for moral respon ...

approach to astrology, which provides clients with information to make decisions rather than

deterministic Determinism is the metaphysical view that all events within the universe (or multiverse) can occur only in one possible way. Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have developed from diverse and sometimes overlapping mo ...

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) and ''State of Emergence'' (2020), Alli presents detailed accounts of the theories, methods, and processes of an original Paratheatre medium he has been developing since 1977. These books include his notes on how these methods can be applied to live performance. From 1991 to 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 writer, futurist, psychologist, and self-described agnostic mystic. Recognized within Discordianism as an Episkopos, pope and saint, Wilson ...

Hakim Bey Peter Lamborn Wilson (October 20, 1945 – May 22, 2022) was an American anarchist author and poet, primarily known for his concept of Temporary Autonomous Zones, short-lived spaces which elude formal structures of control. During the 1970s, Wil ...

, 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. *Alli, Antero (2023). "Sacred Rites: Journal Entries of a Gnostic Heretic". 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) *''Blue Fire'' (2023; 90 min)

References

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

Notes

External links

Antero Alli's ParaTheatrical ReSearch WebsiteAntero Alli's Films, Music & Book catalog Website
* * at

reviewed a

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alli, Antero 1952 births 2023 deaths 20th-century astrologers 21st-century astrologers Finnish astrologers Finnish expatriates in the United States Finnish film directors Finnish theatre directors Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute alumni Writers from Helsinki