Black Artists in Horror: LUZIFER PRIEST!!!

"Hell Priest" photos by Brian Kerner, IG @brian_kerner_photography

"Hell Priest" photos by Brian Kerner, IG @brian_kerner_photography

​ARF: Please tell us a bit about yourself.
Hi! My name is Luzifer Priest, you can call me Priest, I prefer they/them pronouns and I’m from Philadelphia. I’m a witch, a succubus, a siren, a dancer, a writer, a model, art pornographer and event producer in no particular order. I don’t have a favorite medium perse. They all feed my soul in essential distinct ways as well as excite all of my senses so, I don’t like to limit myself. I’m also a Sagittarius with a lot of Sag in my chart so you know how that goes, haha. I’ve always had an affinity for rebellion, adversarial character archetypes and the dark aspects of pretty much everything — the shadow. I was a black sheep in my family and as a dark skin little girl — a black sheep and scape goat in society, so I tend to be more drawn as a witch and creator to subjects that honor the rich full spectrum of the human experience. Light and dark in perfect balance. Above and Below. Luzifer Priest is a name I choose recently to honor all that my life has shaped me into but also allows space for me to become.

ARF: What made you cross over to the dark side?
Honestly, I was spawn from the darkness! But for real, I was never one of those kids who was afraid of scary shit. Quite the contrary, I was always very drawn to the dark nature of things. When I was six my favorite movies were Child’s Play, Pinocchio's Revenge, Sleep Away Camp. Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark? was my shit, but I was always thirsty for more tho, because I could tell the kids horror was censored. So always being drawn to horror really shaped my desires. I always wanted things like ghosts, spirits, witches, vampires, Faeries, werewolves, and the like to be real. When I came into young adulthood a partner of mine introduced me to metaphysics and witchcraft and it was like "ohhhhh shittttttt all that shit IS real!" So around about 20 is when I started pursuing the dark side seriously.

ARF: What inspires you?
Nature is my greatest muse. Nature tends to influence a lot of my work — I just wanna fuck, sing, dance and play in the woods. Love and being in love inspires me. Music inspires me. My favorite musician and composer is Chris Corner of IAMX and Sneaker Pimps. Also, Willow Smith, anything metal, trap or dark wave. I inspire myself. The “pursuit” of enlightenment, seduction, spell casting, the occult, my mom mom, fucking, being a whore, being kinky — all inspire me. Black people and being black myself. Queers and People of Color being joyful and thriving while creating the individual and collective worlds they desire. Fairytales, Faeries, religion, Astrology, God,Satan, Lucifer, Trickster spirits — all inspire me.

"I want motherfuckers to get weirder, get more vulnerable, go there!"

Bloody Crocker Photoset from LTV by Molly Ace, IG @mollyaceisdead

Bloody Crocker Photoset from LTV by Molly Ace, IG @mollyaceisdead

ARF: Do you feel as if you are rewriting the history of Black Satanic Witches? Do you feel that the world is ready to witness your lived experiences and creations?
It’s so funny that you ask because yes and absolutely yes! I feel like through living my own truths and following my path I have helped to co-create the reality of what it can mean to be a Black Satanic Witch especially one in this country. So in that sense, for sure putting myself out there in the ways that I do as an artist allows people to experience me and my perspective being a Black Satanic Witch. Gaining more visibility and mainstream acceptance is creating history. I feel like the world is soooooo fucking ready to witness my lived experiences and creations. I feel like for so long I’ve still been hiding for fear of rejection, oppression, judgement, but I’m feeling more accepting and loving of myself, and beginning to see myself and the world change in the ways that matter to me. I believe these are good times for allowing yourself to be who you truly are, a divine creator. I feel like we’ve devalued it for so long and that’s for sure symptom of the values our society pushes on us, but now we crave it. Connection to our infinite selves, and the infinite creative universe — so fuck yeah! I’m about to be weird as shit this year. Naked as fuck, fucking and sucking, singing, dancing, creating and slaying all for my joy.

ARF: What’s your biggest issue with most ‘mainstream alternative’ burlesque troops?
They still predominantly represent white, gender conforming, slim — or because of the popularity of sexualizing “blackness” and being “exotic,” curvaceous, tan humans, sometimes with tattoos or colored hair. There isn’t much difference from what has always been depicted in the history of burlesque. The point is we want to be careful when labeling things as alternative or radical or even feminist if we’re continuing to perpetuate the same ideals and not valuing the very people we enjoy and consume. I’m very excited about these times though, because even with what I just said, there are so many talented queer performers of color who are ascending and creating the best fucking troupes, shows and art I’ve ever fucking experienced and I’m so eager for more. Also! I want motherfuckers to get weirder, get more vulnerable, go there!

6SEX6 photo by @redlitephotos

ARF: Please tell us about Raspberry Royale!
Raspberry Royale! Well, Raspberry Royale is an all queer PoC burlesque troupe I started with Jessa Jordan and Lilith Von Terror. Lilith, Jess and I were very unimpressed with our experiences within Philly's gay performance and burlesque community to say the least. To say the most, lots of corny white people and their micro aggressions, sexual harassment, comedians making sexist jokes and creating a corny environment for humans to get naked on stage in —  being tokenized and feeling undervalued, etc. Just wack shit! All of us have history together as friends, or connected through friends of friends, so we came together and got RR poppin. Jess was sharing all their experiences with me in the scene and they were like, "let’s start a troupe." I think I remember them saying they had already been kinda talking to Lilith about it, so then things got into motion, in secret and came together really beautifully and swiftly. Since our birth in 2016, we’ve evolved into a troupe of five performers. Lilith, myself, The Deva Arazel, Icon Ebony Fierce, and Mia Secreto with new guest performers every show. We produce shows quarterly and pretty much just do what the fuck we wanna do. We love to produce shows that are fun, creative, empowering to queer and gender non-conforming PoC and safe for everyone. Right now Raspberry Royale Presents: The Divine Feminine is in pre-production. (IG @Raspberryroyale)

ARF: Tradition vs the New Art Renaissance of Black Queers: where do you see yourself in that world?
Well, I see myself as being very rooted in both — I was a performer before the new Art Renaissance. I sang in things for school and at my families wedding in my adolescence. I am most known for performing both singing and dancing. My generation was also apart of the emerging age of the Internet, so I feel very comfortable in virtual reality as well. I love creating worlds for people to step into. I like seducing people. I like casting spells and media has always inspired me in that it’s all witchcraft, spells, basically the power of influence.So New Media Art is super fun for me as a witch because I’m crafting spells. I love the power of symbolism and programming. So creating whole worlds on the Internet allows me to understand myself as a witch and creator — it improves and influences my performing and my performing influences it. Producing events allows me to satiate my desire for physical connection. I love planning events that are stimulating to all of the senses. It’s like one big fucking party to me and I want everyone to be happy, have a good time, eat good food, connect, feel inspired and feel very, very fucking aroused. So basically, I’m just all up in everything and in my own little world at the same time!

ARF: What are your top three horror films? *you know we had to ask that question*
Five is my lucky number and life path number tho, hehehe... Black Swan, May, Get Out, Hellraiser, Evil Dead

"It’s about sex and death though for real, I love fucking and transformation."

6SEX6 photo by @redlitephotos

6SEX6 photo by @redlitephotos

ARF: What is Lifting the Veil and what do you have in store for us this year?
Right now I’m coming out of a hibernation period in time for Imbloc to start planting seeds for the Spring! Basically that just means all of the queer femmes of color, witches and weirdos in my life are about to carry on creating these whole new worlds with our intentions and inspired actions! Lifting the Veil is one of those things for me. It’s a three- day dark arts and harvest festival I’m curating this fall. It’s a festival that seeks to honor and explore the approaching seasons of coldness and retreat, the shadow self archetype, the left hand path, and the ability of the spirit to prevail in what seem like our darkest times. It’s about sex and death though for real, I love fucking and transformation. The first Lifting the Veil was an online unfolding (unveilandunravel.com) in which each segment an artist and I created a new media piece together exploring a different occult or esoteric theme. I really wanted to expand Lifting the Veil 2 as well as bring that element of physical connection to it. The designer I worked with on LTV, Jon Lewis, and I were talking about how dope the fringe festival was and an interactive life and death festival was born. I also want to feature collabs of my own as well as other solo work from other occultists, witches, satanists, light workers, pagans etc. who feel drawn to making this kind of art in all mediums. Lifting the Veil 1 was more me fleshing out the idea and seeing what works, doesn’t work and where I want to go. In addition to the LTV festival, I’m still producing local shows on my own and with Raspberry Royale If you’re in the Philadelphia area and you desire to connect in the flesh come to Luzifer Priest Presents — Psychedelic Soul: A Tribute to Childish Gambino March 1st and Raspberry Royale Presents: The Divine Feminine March 10th both will be at Front Street Dive.