Springtime!

The energy is really starting to flow now! Everything is waking up. Spring bulbs blooming, trees leafing out, birds singing.

Gif by Bill Tavis - tumbler site: http://billtavis.tumblr.com

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.

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.

The Fungal Fantastical (with Paul Stamets)

Amazing short video clip with Paul Stamets talking about the complexity of plant communications and how fungi fit in...