Can You Alter Your Physiognomy To Become More Powerful?

Or More Beautiful? Or Even Invisible?

OUT OF THE DARK. 1996. Karina Pawlak. Pastel on paper. Limited edition print available here

The Russian mystic Gurdjieff told his pupils that a person who masters the art of “plastics” can completely alter one’s appearance. A person could become beautiful or hideous or invisible.

P.D. Ouspensky in In Search Of The Miraculous described an interesting incident:

A very interesting event took place in connection with his [Gurdjieff’s] departure. This happened at the railway station. We were all seeing him off at the Nikolaievsky Station. G. was standing talking to us on the platform by the carriage. He was the usual G. we had always known. After the second bell he went into the carriage — his compartment was next to the door — and came to the window.

He was different! In the window we saw another man, not the one who had gone into the train. He had changed during those few seconds. It is very difficult to describe what the difference was, but on the platform he had been an ordinary man like anyone else, and from the carriage a man of quite a different order was looking at us, with a quite exceptional importance and dignity in every look and movement, as though he had suddenly become a ruling prince or a statesman of some unknown kingdom to which he was traveling and to which we were seeing him off.

Some of our party could not at the time clearly realize what was happening but they felt and experienced in an emotional way something that was outside the ordinary run of phenomena. All this lasted only a few seconds. The third bell followed the second bell almost immediately, and the train moved out.

I do not remember who was the first to speak of this “transfiguration” of G. when we were left alone, and then it appeared that we had all seen it, though we had not all equally realized what it was while it was taking place. But all, without exception, had felt something out of the ordinary.

I too had an unusual experience.

In 2000 I exhibited my paintings at the El Mocambo Tavern in Toronto. It was a night event. I spent the day installing my art. The bar was open during the day. Customers watched me install the art. I chatted with a few bar flies. One man I chatted with quite extensively. He told me he was an Alice Cooper fan.

After finishing the installation, I went home to change.

I grew up with a cartoon show called Jem and The Holograms. A scientist father leaves his daughter, Jerrica, a music producer, his holographic computer named Synergy. Jerrica uses Synergy to transform herself into a glamorous rockstar named Jem. She communicates with the computer via a red Jemstar imbedded in her earrings. Before going on stage she rubs her earring and says, “Showtime Synergy!” This starts the transformation. Jerrica goes from an ordinary woman into the bigger than life Jem. The magnificent glamorous Jem sings for The Holograms and fights crime.

The concept of a sudden transformation captured me. The saying “Showtime Synergy” stayed in my head.

I spent weeks planning my outfit for the El Mocambo night. I wanted to look the part of the artist. A bit gothy, a bit metal, a bit classy, but not snobby classy.

After getting dressed and putting on my makeup, I rubbed my earring and said, “Showtime Synergy.”

What followed was interesting.

I walked into the El Mocambo. The Alice Cooper fan who I chatted with earlier was still there in the same seat by the bar. “Hi” I said to him as I passed on my way to the back where the bands I booked were setting up.

He stopped me. “I love your art,” he said.

“Thank you,” I said. A bit puzzled as to why he didn’t say it to me earlier.

“The moment you walked in,” I knew you were the artist, he said.

“I did chat with you earlier,” I said.

“Oh, it couldn’t’ve been me,” he said. “Trust me, I would have never forgotten. I saw your assistant putting up the paintings and I thought to myself, ‘The artist must be really something.’ And here you are, absolutely stunning.”

Of course there was no assistant. It was me. Seeing how mesmerized he was, I didn’t try explaining this.

At the moment I dismissed it as a case of a man not recognizing a woman with her makeup on. And I wouldn’t have thought further of it if other people at the bar who saw me earlier didn’t also act like I was a different person.

I mean I was wearing makeup when previously I wasn’t. But it wasn’t anything as exaggerated as you see on TikTok nowadays. I didn’t wear lashes or a wig.

I expected arguments from the bands about sharing drum kits. It was usually the case with these particular guys. When I walked up to the stage, they magically fell into agreement.

People poured into the El Mocambo. I felt like the centre of attention. I felt like a magnet. People lined up to talk to me. One woman bought a $25 print and waited for a half an hour to get my attention so I can sign it. One group of people said they saw me through the window and had to come in.

I felt magical. It was unreal. A very different experience from my day to day.

By the time I got home, the sun was coming up.

I slept for 12 hours. When I woke up I felt as if it was another life I woke up from. I also felt complete and utter exhaustion. Sure it was a long day I had. But the exhaustion seemed greater than warranted.

NOCTURNAL MOTHER. 1996. Karina Pawlak. Pastel and pencil crayon on paper. A self portrait influenced by the psychology of Carl Jung. Limited edition print available here.

So What Happened?

I transformed more successfully than I thought was possible at the time. My earring wasn’t magic, but what I did was.

I channeled energy from somewhere. From where?

Carl Jung wrote about the collective unconscious. An ocean of primordial images and concepts that permeate our collective mind. According to Jung, an archetype can possess you. It then infuses you with a corresponding energy.

Did I allow an archetype to possess me and infuse me with energy? An archetype of what? An archetype of the great artist or magician?

Keep in mind that there are many ways to describe this kind of phenomenon. Jungian terminology is just one. Language also fails to really describe certain experience. In consequence mystical talk often comes across as cliché.

What is for sure, is that I wasn’t myself. One may say, “but maybe it was a higher you.” No. This was not a case of a higher me. This was something else. Over the years and through meditation I have come to know something of the “higher me.” The higher me is more aware and more conscious and not so performative. The Karina at the El Mocambo was “high” on some energy that wasn’t her own. It was a fun ride though.

Isn’t This What Actors Do?

Marilyn Monroe’s friend, Amy Greene, described this one time:

I’ll never forget the day Marilyn and I were walking around New York City, just having a stroll on a nice day. She loved New York because no one bothered her there like they did in Hollywood, she could put on her plain-Jane clothes and no one would notice her. She loved that. So, as we we’re walking down Broadway, she turns to me and says, ‘Do you want to see me become her?’ I didn’t know what she meant but I just said ‘Yes’ — and then I saw it. I don’t know how to explain what she did because it was so very subtle, but she turned something on within herself that was almost like magic. And suddenly cars were slowing, and people were turning their heads and stopping to stare. They were recognizing that this was Marilyn Monroe as if she pulled off a mask or something, even though a second ago nobody noticed her. I had never seen anything like it before. Reference here.

Marilyn Monroe channeled the energy of the love goddess archetype. And she could turn it on and off.

Marilyn Monroe

A very drastic example of this phenomenon appeared in the show Family Matters. The geeky Steve Urkel became the cool and suave Stefan Urquelle. Jaleel White, the actor who played this role was amazing. The difference was stunning. Of course this was a comedy show. The geeky character of Steve was an exaggeration as was Stefan, but the difference was something else. The whole physiognomy changed.

Our personalities all have a certain range. We are not the same with our mothers as we are with our lovers (well, usually not). And each person elicits a different version of us. However, there is a range and it remains stable over a person’s life with some variation over the years.

We don’t leave a range and become drastically different without something happening. And that something is a change in energy. Life events can evoke certain energies or alter energies. Sometimes people become different due to trauma. Accidents and disease can alter personalities. So can healing. Drastic changes affect our physiognomy and the way people perceive us.

And this can be done intentionally. Actors can learn to mimic characters. But the best actors learn to channel archetypal energies. They become the character.

This can be taught. In a way it is like learning how to be possessed by demonic energy. Some would even argue that it is in fact that.

Most of us do this for fun. For example when we play our favorite song and pretend to be a rockstar singing it. It gives us a high.

Some actors get hooked on the energy and start to identify with a character. The consequence is a losing of the self. A not knowing of who you are anymore.

However, it can serve as a tool for getting to know yourself. If you manage to observe yourself under the influence of an archetypal energy, you will learn something about the instrument that you are.

Both me and you can take the same drug, but the resultant behavior and personality on the drug between you and me will vary. There will be overlap, but there will be distinctions.

Getting to know the disintinctive behavior of you under the influence of an energy helps you understand the instrument that you are. This understanding can help you predict your own self.

How far can you change your physiognomy by merely changing your energy (without props)? I am uncertain whether Gurdjieff was implying more than I have discussed here. Perhaps there is another level of change he meant. Perhaps he was even suggesting that a young person can appear old, or a man can look like a woman, or a black person a white person, or a short person a tall person? What I do know is that one can willingly change their physiognomy and energy to great effect.

Now how exactly do you go about changing your physiognomy? What can you expect? How do you recognize archetypal possession in others? How can you tell that you are attracted to someone due to their possession and not their actual or usual self? I am going to get into these questions in a follow up article. Stay subscribed and get it delivered to your inbox.

Thank you for being here. It is an honour to have you read me.