Pareidolia - seeing things in the sky

 

Angry Sky Goddess

I came across another one of my Pareidolia videos - can't recall exactly how I created this. Anyway, the face is from a Marilyn Monroe video found somewhere on the web. 

When I get a chance, I'll post a few more Pareidolia videos.

Forest Protectors Revealed

After completing the panoramic "Hidden Nature" series, I continued to wonder about the issue of invisibility/hiding and exactly how far I had taken that - such that the figures perhaps have become a too-faint hallucination against the jungle foliage pattern. Had the background itself became the subjective foreground overwhelming a viewer's ability to decipher / discover the (intentionally concealed) subjects?

I set out to make work that in some ways was a visual simplification of "Hidden Nature." In these new pieces, the Forest Protectors would be less concealed, faces revealed within the chaotic canopy leaves and branches.

Forest Spirits 01

Forest Spirits 02

Forest Spirits 03

Forest Spirits 04

Follow-on note: for the Upstream Gallery's "Small Works 2020" show in January, I had these images output onto a metallic white paper, creating quite a nice optical depth.

Forest Protectors Embodied

I liked the faces of the Forest Spirit protectors emerging through the leaf canopy of the forest. I started to think about how in reality, the leaves and branches would be swaying or shuffling in the wind, constantly changing the appearance and visibility of the Forest Protectors. With an eye towards earlier forest Goddess animations, I played around with similar a layered approach, with the addition of sound, to build new animations (saved as short .mp4 videos). Here is a sample of a few:

Note that the SW tools I use included IOS apps including D'efect, GlitchArt, and Hyperspektiv. Final layering and sequencing is done in PS on my Mac.

Winter Glitch

Winter Glitch along the Hudson from Mark Gilliland on Vimeo.

A glitch test of footage from along the Hudson River.

Hypervision -- Spirit of Place

One year in 40 seconds from Eirik Solheim on Vimeo.

Images from the same spot through one year. Audio captured at the same place.

Time-lapse speed-up of human perception yields a powerful sense of Mother Earth energies unfolding in a yearly cycle.

New Work: Pachamama

While working on new Plant Spirit imagery, I've been listening to some podcasts by Dr. Bruce Damer recounting his new myth about the 'Great Mother' and the evolution of our Earth's biosphere - a hyper-conscious intelligence embodied within and emerging from the neuronal net of plants (root brains), bacteria, and mycelia fungi. (His podcast is called Dr. Bruce's Levity Zone - or you can subscribe via iTunes. Look for episodes from 2013, esp. those recorded at Symbiois festival or at Burning Man.)

Out of this, I began playing with a few elements imaging Pachamama (Great Mother). A couple of examples below.

Time of Awakening Series

With the projected roll-over of the Mayan Calendar from Bak’tun 13 to the new age of the Fifth Sun this Winter Solstice (Long Count = 13.0.0.0.0), I've been watching and taking note of a parade of interesting celestial events over the last sixth months (starting with the solar transit of Venus, the second of a pair of transits this cycle – the previous transit occurring in 2004). I decided to make a set of commemorative banners to celebrate this unique time period. Of course, to honor the Mayan Long Count vision, I utilized Mayan glyphs, symbology, mythology in these images.

For archeologists and linguists, understanding of Mayan symbols takes on a syncreatic flavor, with some meaning derived from the context of use within codexes and monument carvings, other meaning derived from analyzing the spoken dialects of the region to better “explain” the associations of specific glyphs to various objects, actions, etc. - which often relies upon homonyms of “sound alike” words to expand the meaning context. More visionary archeologists apply a mytho-astromonical analysis to better understand the cultural memes presented, and hope to reveal more esoteric meanings within and between them. The stories and meanings are reflected in the stars. As Above, So Below.

For myself, a mixed astrological / astronomical / archeological / mythical framework flavored by shamanic journey work and dreams enhances my own personal understanding of the mytho-poetic and esoteric meanings originally intended by these glyphs.

Here are the six images that I created:

Venus Transit – June 5, 2012    

1) In the top register, Venus’s path across the solar disk is recorded. Below, in sequence: an image of the solar corona, an image of Venus (with its glyph superimposed), and at the bottom, a glyph for a building or temple (i.e.; earth). Inside this building are two others glyphs: a skull representing the opening to the underworld, topped by one of the 9 Underworld gods. On either side, Vision Serpents open their mouths emitting the heads of ancestor figures - yielding prophecy, instruction, and/or desired communication.

Total Solar Eclipse – November 13, 2012

2) In the center, the total eclipse of the solar disk (marked with the solar deity ‘Ahau’ glyph) reveals the glowing coronal ring in the darkened sky. Directly below, a trio of rabbits guide the full lunar disk through the heavens. (The Mayans saw a rabbit in the moon rather than a human face.) At the bottom stands the goddess Ix Chel in her guise as Grandmother who rules over the moon, the tides, and lunar mysteries. A serpent in her headdress swallows the sun, revealing the total eclipse.

Jupiter / Moon Conjunction – November 29, 2012

3) This commemorates the first of two Jupiter–lunar conjunctions which occur in the last quarter of the year. Jupiter is emerging from the mouth of a Pleiadian sky dragon. (The Mayans believed their ancestors descended from a race of beings who originated in the Pleiades.) At the top, the Pleiades (7 Sisters) watch over this conjunction. The Mayan glyph for this star cluster is a rattlesnake’s rattle.

Pyramid Alignment – December 3, 2012

4) On this night, the planets of Mercury (hummingbird as messenger between the spirit realms, drinking medicine nectar from a Datura flower), Venus (sky jaguar holding the Venus glyph), and Saturn (emerging from a Vision Serpent), come into alignment vertically over the three main Egyptian pyramids in the Giza complex. Such a syzygy occurs once every 2,737 years. The Mayan turtle glyph (i.e.; Earth) in the bottom register of this image shows the three original “hearth stone” stars that mythically founded Mayan civilization. (We now refer to these three stars as Orion’s Belt.) The pyramids at Giza have been shown to exactly map the projection of Orion’s Belt.

Dark Rift Alignment (Winter Solstice) – December 21, 2012

5) On Winter Solstice, during the day, Mayan astronomers understood that the Sun would conjunct the center of the Milky Way (more specifically, the Dark Rift stretching long the central galactic horizon.). Although they could not see the actual alignment during the daylight, they knew that the band of the Milky Way would rotate to a near vertical overhead (in the same way that all of the visible stars rotate during the course of an evening around the axis of the North Star). Likewise, they understood that at midnight on Summer Solstice, the Pleiades (their source of origin) would rise to its zenith in the same sky location.

 The Dark Rift was known as the “Dark Road” or the “Royal Road”. It represented a path to ancestral origins, to the spirits, watchers and gods who resided in the sky realm. The turning of the Milky Way to its most vertical extent during Winter Solstice was mythically envisioned as the raising of the World Tree connecting the three realms (Heaven, Earth and the Underworld). At the base of the tree can be seen a god of the Underworld with his mouth open like a cave entrance deep into the earth. At the top of the tree is found a celestial bird, a symbol of the Polar Star. The arms of the tree (forming the “foliate cross”) symbolizes galactic plane overhead. In the top register appears a blue sky/star band glyphic pattern with a pair of sky gods rowing the celestial canoe across the heavens.

 At this year’s solstice, astronomically both Mars and Venus appear on opposite sides of a linear alignment with the sun. These are shown in the banner on each arm of the foliated cross (along with associated glyphs).

Jupiter / Pleiades / Moon Conjunction – December 25, 2012

6) This commemorates the second of two Jupiter–lunar conjunctions which occur in the last quarter of the year. Jupiter is held by the lunar rabbit and surmounted by a celestial crocodile (related to both Jupiter and the Vision Serpent). At the top, the Pleiades watch over this conjunction. (The Mayan glyph for this star cluster is a rattlesnake’s rattle.) Along the bottom register, a row of Buffo toads dance. This is the species of toad from which Mayan shaman, priests, and royalty extracted a DMT-based potion for use during vision quests.

CIrcle of Spirits

I just completed a new piece based upon journey imagery that I received a week ago. The work combines three sources of guidance from three different realms - the sky world, the tree world, and the ocean world.

CIrcle of the Spirits

In the nighttime sky, the Pleiades star cluster is overlaid with a constellation of an owl carrying a rattlesnake in its beak. (The rattle is the Mayan symbol of the Pleiades). The ocean quadrant is populated by whale and dolphins singing song lines of the deep (deep ocean, deep time). The forest quadrant presents a cathedral of redwood trees, the spirits of which are gathering in a ritual circle (called forth by Lady One Death, the great dark spirit of nature).

Do Trees Communicate?

Watch this fascinating video.

Another source of information about tree (and plant) inter-species communication that I highly recommend is Stephen Harrod Buhner's "Lost Language of Plants." His work focuses on the pheromone signaling shared within plant communities as well as the impacts of industrial chemicals (medicines, solvents, caffeine, but especially estrogen analogues) which are disrupting such communication pathways - even when found only in trace amounts "in the wild." He also discusses the notion of "mother plants" that act to establish a foothold in an environment, then providing (via chemical extrusions and physical mechanisms such as shade and humidity moderation) a more hospitable ecosystem for a wider plant community to develop and thrive.

Spirits of the Redwood Forest

Redwood Spirit Circle ©2012

I just completed this image based upon a journey that I undertook a few months back. During the session, I found myself in a deep redwood forest with sunlight filtering in long beams down to the soft, damp, needle-covered ground. The scent of the redwoods filled the air.

I was wondering about this location - was I understanding it correctly or not? How did I come to be here? How did this connect with my original journey intent querying about running for public office?

Slowly I realized that I was not alone, but surrounded by tall, elongated translucent white figures shimmering in the sparkling light of the woods. I immediately understood them to be the Spirits of the Redwood trees themselves. I queried them as to their purpose coming to me. One replied that they came to call me into their circle and to offer me their strength and courage from their perspective of a thousand years of watching the world go by. "Stand tall. Be strong and courageous as we are. We will be with you." I felt honored by their presence and their support.

Tree Protector

Mahakala Tree Guardian

While journeying to meet with my guides, part of the discussion turned to the need for me to create a Tree Protector thangka, honoring and celebrating my deep connection with the tree spirits. I was shown the basic "layout"as a mandala and understood that Mahakala (The Great Dark One) would be the central deity. This did not particularly surprise me as Mahakala is my Heart Chakra protector, as well.

His powerful mantra is: OM SHRI MA HAKALA HUNG PHAT

I create several images to date using this basic theme - one belonging to the Jewel Tree series.

Jewel Tree of Mahakala

The Jewel Tree image also contains the Hummingbird - symbolic messenger between the our world and the spirit worlds of the Ancestors and Illuminated Ones. The flowers shown are Datura, a beautiful, yet dangerous visionary plant used by Native American shamen in the Southwest and in California.

Mahakala Mantra Chant

By Lama Karta