Back and Forth - A Photo Journal of Reveries

Juxtaposition on today

"Magic is just science we don’t understand yet.

 - Arthur C. Clarke

Containing Keys

 In creative work — creative work of all kinds — those who are the world’s working artists 

are not trying to help the world go around, but forward. Which is something altogether different 

from the ordinary. Such work does not refute the ordinary. 

It is, simply, something else. 

Its labor requires a different outlook — a different set of priorities."

 - Mary Oliver

An invitation

...and a gazing within

“At worst, ​one is in motion; and at best, 

Reaching no absolute, in which to rest, 

One is always nearer by not keeping still.”

 - Thom Gunn 

.

 “You can recognize a pioneer by the arrows in his back.”

- ​Beverly Rubic

Layers

Ravenwind Botanica Coriander Oil Infusing

"​Close some doors. 

Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, 

but simply because they no longer lead somewhere.”

​ - ​Paulo Coelho

Art supplies/animal findings

"But when I lean over the chasm of myself - 
it seems my God is dark
and like a web: a hundred roots
silently drinking.
This is the ferment I grow out of.
More I don't know, because my branches 
rest in deep silence, stirred only by the wind."
  - Rainer Maria Rilke

Slow Food - Nourishing Body and Soul (organic potatoes and healthy fat)

“Of all evil I deem you capable:  therefore I want good from you. 

Verily, I have often laughed at the weaklings 

who thought themselves good because they had no claws."

 - Friedrich Nietzsche

Calendula: Summer Bottled

The teacher who is indeed wise 

does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom 

but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind." 

 - Kahlil Gibran 

 - and Gone Again

Light from Darkness - A New Moon Solstice

It's that time of year again.  :)

"To yield is to be preserved whole.

To be bent is to become straight.

To be empty is to be full.

To be worn out is to be renewed.

To have little is to possess."

 - Lao Tzu

...and when you go into the Darkness, you can find Light.  Today, the Winter Solstice, is the shortest day of the year lightwise, and the longest night.  Take this opportunity to go within, to be quiet, to be present with what is, even in the dark corners.  To rest.

Our ancestors who didn't have electricity would have spent this time being less active out of necessity - spending more time around the fire, more time sleeping, more time in quiet and stillness.  But they knew the wheel of the year turned and that this severe Yin Darkness marked the Yang Birth of the Sun.  Because when you go to an extreme of Yin, you get Yang, and an extreme of Yang, you get Yin.  That is the paradox of living within dichotomy.  For however dark it is, the light is always within that darkness, waiting...

And this is a special Solstice, for it is also the New Moon.  So we have the increasing energies of the Moon waxing, becoming Full.  Even the Yin Moon is moving toward being Yang, Full.  Use this time and potential energies wisely, what will you birth?

Speaking of birth, today is also my Birthday; I'm going into my forties which is a trip in itself, but a whole other blog post.  :)  I was born at high noon on the day of the longest night.  When I think about this and how it influences me... I see it as my being able to be with the Dark, residing there, but also being able to shine out with what is Light within that Darkness.  I can see how my life has followed this path.  I've never shied away from difficulty or unpleasantries, wanting to see what they too had to offer.  And in so doing, I have found that Darkness holds the brightest Light.

In this vein, my collagework has reflected this regard for both the Light and the Dark; the fullness of experience.  Collage has helped me through dark times and I have been doing workshops sharing this ability of collage to facilitate transition, presence, transformation...
If you are local, I will be offering more workshops at Mountain Mystic in Front Royal, VA.
See this group on Facebook for more details and updates:

Renew and Release:  Collage as part of the Healing Process

Here is my latest collage work, finished this morning:

Eternal AutoPsychoNautica

Under morning light coming in the window:

Yin

 Outdoors under daylight:

Yang

This collage showcasing the merging of the macrocosm with the mircocosm, with its scenes of the Universe, electron microscope pictures of plants, seemingly alien underwater creatures, the meandering waterway, the reptilian eye, the spider weaving, and other various compatriots, including the man stirring his way down the river with a boat full of cut flowers for sale,...   serves to represent the exploration within and the brightness to be found there; a brightness the world so needs right now.

Consciousness is Life knowing itself, ALL interconnected, 

ALL integral aspects the the whole gloriousness that is HERE NOW.

Eternal AutoPsychoNautica

~~~