Poly-All-In. Installment 1: Folly.

Installment 1 of an itch-driven yet somewhat spontaneous series of reflections on life as a modern day polytheistic animist.

Image appreciatively poached from the Open Gyre. 

I have been having this conversation in my head.

I have been having this conversation in my heart.

I have been having this conversation with my beloved kindreds.

And this current stint here in the sprawling majesty of the Desert continually reaffirms this sentiment.

No matter how I approach this concept, there is only one inevitable conclusion: IT is a Poly-All. 

Just Look at the breadth of diversity of all things in this incredible, vast Universe! I gasp!

Inner Space, Outer Space, both reaching, reaching, reaching ad infinitum with endless variations we can scarcely imagine.

"There is a place with four suns in the sky — red, white, blue, and yellow; two of them are so close together that they touch, and star-stuff flows between them. I know of a world with a million moons. I know of a sun the size of the Earth — and made of diamond. There are atomic nuclei a few miles across which rotate thirty times a second. There are tiny grains between the stars, with the size and atomic composition of bacteria. There are stars leaving the Milky Way, and immense gas clouds falling into it. There are turbulent plasmas writhing with X- and gamma-rays and mighty stellar explosions. There are, perhaps, places which are outside our universe. The universe is vast and awesome, and for the first time we are becoming a part of it." -- Carl Sagan, Planetary Exploration

How can there reasonably be only One-Big-Beardy with a plan -- a plan which tends to the smallest details of our human lives? 

No.

This shit takes a team.

I imagine the layers of the Unseen are as magnificently complex, diverse & interlaced as those with which we interface daily being living organisms on our delicately balanced planet. 

I believe it is best to give credit to all the varied, beautiful & essential Parts of the System rather than try to mono-simplify things for the convenience & security of my little mammalian brain.

As the Other-sides of Everything, the Spirits are equally diverse, "big" & "small." Our awareness can appreciate a scant few in the Great Scale of the Universe, but none of Them are truly knowable. So we Love them as we can, from our human frameworks & proclivities. 

And if you dig Big Beardy, this is a good thing. But I say it is folly to think for a moment that he is the only One. 

Theism digram by Moma Fauna.

Wandering: More Lessons in Seeing & Perspectivism

“We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.”

― Anaïs Nin, “Seduction of the Minotaur”

As the ice has begun breaking up so very early, we chose to resume our habit of wandering. This time, we ventured to Point Wornzoff & found an unexpected lesson in the art of seeing. Or is it understanding?

We descended the steep grade onto the beach & were taken aback by the number of people there -- it was uncharacteristically populated, crowded even. The voice of one of the Little Lad's friends chimed from below & a small hand waved about frantically from the relative throng. But a after a moment of focus, it became clear that more than half of the beach's population stood silent, unmoving & they spread far down the beach, away from where most humans choose to venture...

What I immediately noticed was that these frozen persons might have been more alive -- more real -- than most people that move & breathe.

And I found myself absolutely captivated by the beauty & horror of this collection of persons. Completely faceless, yet so expressive it pained me.

And of course, we had need to speculate on their origin, their stories, the meaning of this collection of personalities constructed of burlap, straw, concrete & rebar, lavishly strewn across the ice without explanation.

My husband felt they were post mortem sculptures of real people -- a most unusual memorial service.

I could not shake the feeling that I was standing among the crypts in the Tarot's Judgement card & felt a curious need to move among them with caution -- never to touch their cold yet very alive bodies.

Whatever they were, are, they made their indelible impression. They changed us.

***

It wasn't until later in the week when I learned what these sculptures "really mean," or rather, what the artist intended for them. Across a steamy hot tub a friend explained in her chirpy Moldovan voice that they are the Faces of Depression...

I can see that. I even understand that.

I can also see a memorial 

& a Last Judgement 

& even a memento mori. 

I see much more than that, but I will keep that close, without further elaboration, as I prefer to leave the seeing & the knowing & the understanding to each person & their Selfs.


So much of the Magic of Life lies in the perspective of our Be-ing.

What He Said. (About Animism, Occultism & Housekeeping, Part 3)

A final tidbit of What-He-Said (for now, anyway...)

“Everywhere we look is nature — thoughts of the gods. These thoughts — living elemental beings — had a relationship with human beings in the past. Now they want to enter into a relationship with human beings once again. If one takes some object seriously, one discovers that it arose through a process — it reveals a history. They're wonderful exercises for this. At lunch one can say for example: ‘The salt is now Mr. Salt. How does he look, this is Mr. Salt?’ One can approach the creative elements of imagination in this way.” 

--Manfred Schmidt-Brabant, The Spiritual Tasks of the Homemaker

What He Said. (About Animism, Occultism & Housekeeping, Part 2)

More of what he said:

“How can the community within the home approach this elemental world?" 

"A beginning is made when someone makes it his task to take every object into his hand in as attentive away as possible and use it as if it were a living being. This is a long process. Mankind has become accustomed to viewing objects in a rational and functional way, which also influences how things are treated. This doesn't mean that one should become sentimental or sacrifice clarity. One can hit a nail with a hammer exactly and carefully and still express loving interest.”

--Manfred Schmidt-Brabant, The Spiritual Tasks of the Homemaker

What. He. Said.

What He Said. (About Animism, Occultism & Housekeeping, Part 1)

"...(you/I/we) can't know..." The old adage of the Not-So-Little-Anymore Lad shot through my mind as I lifted this book from the shelf with more than a little bit of suspicion. But you must engage to know...

“The etheric world does not consist of solid, measurable, graspable aspects, but rather of processes, movement and interpenetration. It is thus not a world of things but of living beings. If one enters it one becomes aware that it is only in the physical world that things appear lifeless. For wherever material is handled, there are processes. Rudolf Steiner gave an often cited example: to the homemaker who complained to him that her household responsibilities gave her no time to read his lecture cycles he answered gravely, ‘When you clean your living room, you release elemental beings. When you read a lecture cycle, you release no elemental beings.’ This means that cleaning has an influence. Everywhere dirt gathers elemental beings are held fast. For them the moist cloth means release. This is practical occultism.”   

--Manfred Schmidt-Brabant, The Spiritual Tasks of the Homemaker

Muditā or "Facilitating Bliss"

A Witch "Queen" & her tools. 

"Muditā (Pāli and Sanskrit: मुदिता) means joy; especially sympathetic or vicarious joy. Also: the pleasure that comes from delighting in other people's well-being..." -- Wikipedia

A kindred spirit recently mentioned the Japanese concept of jiri rita enman, or the harmony of self-benefitting & benefitting others. In his correspondence, he mentioned this concept from an act of 'doing for the sake of doing' which may or not be quite the same as a practice I call "Facilitating Bliss." Where this behavior may differ from jiri rita enman is that I engage in certain activities quite consciously -- with premeditation -- knowing that I will benefit from the experience of Muditā, or gaining joy from the joy, growth, advantage or bliss (& sometimes recovery) of others. 

Facilitating Bliss is a relationship style, a "practice," "tradition" or "Lifeway" (to use a specifically animistic term). It is a way of engaging, relating & cultivating. It is a supporting role, sometimes essential, but rarely central to the stage. I do this for the benefit of my persons (particularly the human ones) & for the experience or sensation of Muditā. It happens that this practice has additional benefits -- if the persons in my world are being enriched, our world in general is enriched -- everyone & everything becomes increasingly juicy.

I also do it because I believe that anything I can do to honour the Old Ones, the spirits of place, or my kindreds is worth my energy & dedication. 

This means that sometimes I assist & participate in things that may or may not be my "thing" in an aesthetic or ceremonial way but still serve to Facilitate Bliss. And as Graham Harvey so eloquently stated,

"It isn't about (me) you. It isn't without (me) you. 

There is only one world. We live in it together."

A ceremonial or mock hazing of sorts: returning to the tweenage years.

Wandering: Squirrelhenge

Out of the ordinary weather conditions often call for out of the ordinary adaptations. When in the stillness of the aberrant heat, the fungi fail to call, listen for the voices of others...

Wandering: Waiting, Worrying on the Cusp

Heart/Yoni/Cup Fungi. 

I don't ever recall chomping at the bit quite so hard whilst waiting for the Hunt. 

It is probably because I/we know this Winter was awfully warm & dry.
And the Spring was awfully warm & dry.
And the Summer has been awfully warm & dry.

And I think we are all just a little afraid that They might not return.

And then, without Them, who would we be? 

Who would I be?

Idols & Animism. Wherein Lies the Power?

A portion of the large shrine at a Women's Mysteries ceremony,
a shrine populated by many, many persons.

Goddess figure.

This week I was assigned the job of taking photographs at a Women's Mysteries ceremony where a large credenza was filled with images, symbolic representations & figures of goddess forms. The task gave me pause to consider a simple question with no clear answer: Wherein lies the strength of an idol, icon or other symbolic object?  

Surely some would quite automatically argue that the power lies in the deity/spirit the idol represents, in the connection or entanglement to the godform or spirit, but as a photographer & animist, I would argue differently. Or rather, I would argue that while there is indeed often an external influence present, there is also something else.

Goddess figure.
Possibly Blodeuwedd.

When you spend years behind a macro lens, you invariably see that something else -- something in the small worlds that tells you that these "things" or, as I prefer these persons, have their own strength that resides within, independent of external correspondences. They have an identity, speech & attitude of their own -- if you ask them, they will tell you so. 

Moving across the terrain of this latest spiritual assemblage was no exception -- even the offerings had something to say. (Note: It may seem peculiar, but the little figure dedicated to Bast had a particularly strong character & later as I sorted photos, "he" [owner's designation] seemed to dominate my photos.)

So, while I do not deny the potency & influence of the godform which inspired a specific icon, I also cannot deny the inner sprit of the "things" which represent them. It may not be obvious to the casual observer of these images, but for me, just looking at their photographs tells me so many secrets. 

And if the truth is to be told, I must confess that I am not sure which was more personally compelling that evening; the women & their stories, the ceremony & it's story, or the opportunity to be in the presence of (& the honour of photographing) some incredibly beautiful, beloved & dynamic "object persons" with so many stories of their own.