Transforming "Spiritual Warfare": Day 27 (Missouri)

 Nocturn. Night scene painting from the Ozarks in Missouri, by Frank Nuderscher. Courtesy WikiCommons.

Dark vessels of transformation.

Blog image by SolStock of Deviant Art.

Nocturn (above) was painted by American Impressionist painter Frank Nuderscher. It now resides in the collection of the St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. Nuderscher spent his whole career in Missouri & became best known for his Ozark landscapes. Just perfect. I selected this particular painting because it reminded me of the image I chose as the background for this blog -- an image I can't quite get over. Both have the trees over dark, not quite still waters. Both have the Moon & the clouds. When I look at either image, I see a lazy river turned scrying bowl, a pool cradling the slow flow of transformation. Beneath the gently moving surface reside mysteries -- mysteries to be discovered by the devoted seeker. The atmosphere murmurs secrets, inaudible from the outside. I want to crawl inside. I want to be there.

In addition to enchanting waterways, there are other reasons to want to be in Missouri, the fungi being up there near the top of my personal list. If you have the time & inclination, please visit this Missouri Fungi Flickr Group page. Just scroll down & down & down, feasting your eyes on the best overall collection of fungi photographs I have seen on the internet thus far. Hands down.

While scrolling & scrolling & scrolling through the aforementioned gallery, I took note that there was an abundance of black cup fungi (& other vessel-shaped sable specimens) in the collection. Very nice. I am fond of black jelly cups -- when you gaze into them, they are dark, velvety, rich & mysterious -- just like those Missouri waters.  

The cauldron -- a symbol of water, transformation & regeneration, a sacred source of healing & inspiration -- can be found everywhere. 


Little black cups 
scattered across the rich Missouri soil,
Little black cauldrons of change
stippling the forests' debris.
Dark vessels 
brimming with mystery.

Wellsprings of the saprophyte's secret,
won't you attend to my call?
Take leave from your alchemical works
for another needful transmutation:
hate/bigotry/oppression  ∆  pure love

 May Love & Liberty Prevail, in Missouri.