Leviathan Anima Mundi

[Exclusive Print / Originally printed in 2022.]

by Jose Gabriel Alegría Sabogal

The Ophite Diagram is central to and beautifully presented in Jose Gabriel Alegría Sabogal's 2022 book: IAO: Ophite Iconography.

"There was undoubtedly a personal fascination with this figure since the first time one was confronted with its description. Where did it all come from? How was it possible that no artist had attempted to reconstruct such an awe-inspiring vision, such a detailed map of the other world (or worlds)?

Ten years passed between reading the description of the Ophite Diagram, and finally starting to draw it. There seemed to be no time for such a cyclopic endeavour, moreover, the description seemed incoherent, with circles upon circles that did not even fit inside one another. Deciding its structure took considerably longer than drawing it at last, it might not be devoid of errors. We will be thankful for any contribution or correction that could be made to this diagram, that is still too ambitious for our own skill.

Highly detailed descriptions or “maps” of the underworld tend to appear as rather late developments in religious history, as the case of the Bardo Thodol. These absolute certainties for what is completely beyond life tend to be considered the esoteric or even magical aspects of a tradition. It might also be the case that they mostly pertain to oral traditions that have been kept as an initiatory secret and are now lost to the modern world." ~Excerpt from IAO, p.97.

24” X 24” - Printed on lavish and highly-textured Velvet Fine Art Paper 260 gsm paper-carton.

Limited to 160 hand-numbered copies.