Forest Goddess Variations

My recent Pachamama series got me interested in playing around more with the emergence of a figure from (within) the positive space of a veil of leaves. Here is a selection of Forest Goddess image variations including some calling upon her guise as animal spirit totem.

But a few of the Goddess variations I played with stand out in terms of 'hidden mystery' and embodied forest spirit energy. Check these out:

Offering Mandala for Pachamama

I've been thinking for quite awhile about Navaho healing sand paintings. As part of the ceremonial process, real objects such as stones, herbs, flowers and meaningful "trinkets" are incorporated into the visual symbology of the mandala. These temporary mandalas can often be built-up via layers, reminding me of a Peruvian shaman's medicine bundle offering (despacho).

Cut flowers are as transient as any ceremonial sand mandala when it comes to making "art", so I decided that I'd construct a digital version of a floral offering... using photos of actual blooms from my garden - in this case, Mexican Sage, Rose and Datura.

This is one of the images I came up with based upon what I had been making for the Pachamama series (showing her hidden spirit face emerging through forest leaves.

Pachamama Offering Mandala

Fractal Ocean of Being

OK, so I renamed this series from when I worked on the first image... As originally posted last January (1/30/14), I had been playing around with a new fractal generator (for iPad from Kai of Kai Power Tools fame) and got very intrigued by the idea that the infinite froth of space / edges within a fractal map might be a great visual metaphor for the for the unseen particle froth of the quantum realm. From that, it was a short step to thinking about the infinite expression of Tara throughout space & time as being like the quantum foam.

Below is the original image from this series and a follow-on images using essentially the same elements ('deity particles') but a different space/time foam.

Green Tara Emerging From Ocean of Being #1

Green Tara Emerging From Ocean of Being #2

This image (below) from the fractal series is a "close up" of Tara's energetic self-manifestation and blessings for all beings.

Green Tara Self-Manifestation

Dakini Redux

Early in December I had my 60th birthday. One thought that bothered me concerned what would happen to my artwork when I'm dead and gone? Would anyone really be able to trundle through endless directories of work on my computer to discover everything? True, a lot of stuff is posted on my various websites, but... So, over the holidays I printed out a bunch of my images and organized them into presentation binders.

Well, some older images bothered me greatly and I decided to go back in to rework them. Below is an example of the before and after state of one of my Dakini images. By removing a lot of the background (photo of a golden geometric pattern from a ornamental door) and remixing the figure's layers, I think the newest version is much more dynamic and allows the Dakini figure to be read better.

Dakini "before"

Dakini "after"

Visionaries Group Show at Blue Door Gallery

Several of  my Plant Spirit pieces are in the current show at Blue Door Gallery in Yonkers.

Sept. 6 thru Oct 11, 2014

Blue Door Gallery

13 Riverdale Ave, Yonkers, NY

914.375.5100

www.BlueDoorArtsCenter.org

New Work: Plant Spirits

I've been working on-and-off on my series of Plant Spirit images for several years, posting some earlier versions previously on this blog. Ultimately, once I have enough "inventory," I plan to produce a set of divination cards from these based upon journey work to commune with each particular plant spirit.

Below is a sampling from the current batch / current versions of images. The latest versions will also get posted to my Shaman Dreaming site under the "Plant Spirit Medicine" viewer link.

Black and Blue Sage

Honeysuckle

Peony

Redwood grove

Salvia Divinorum

Reworking Stuff

Even with digital work sitting around the studio (actually, filed on the computer), there comes a point when one just has to "face the music" and rework images that have grown to be bothersome - not quite what was envisioned, somehow awkward & improperly resolved. The digital equivalent to taking out the palette knife and scrapping away part of a painting...

With that in mind, I thought I would offer up two examples from the Plant Spirit series which show how the earlier work was modified into a better result. Or at least I think so. Mostly this consisted of simplifying the primary colored energy fields. I still haven't decided which version of Mugwort will be the "official" one. (You can add a comment below as to which version you prefer and why, if you'd like. I'd be interested in hearing your opinions!)

Mugwort - current version (?)

Mugwort - current version (alternate)

Mugwort - earlier version

Brugmansia - current version

Brugmansia - earlier version

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.

Rorschach Re-Imagined: Native American GIFs

Nicholas Galanin (b. 1979, Sitka, Alaska) is a conceptual artist inspired by, and extending, generations of Tlingit creativity. His work strikes a balance between the traditions of his heritage and an incisive contemporary approach to manifesting ideas visually.

To coincide with the exhibition "Your Feast Has Ended" at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, Galanin collaborated with Seattle-based artist and designer Christian Petersen on a series of animated GIFs that "deal with the ideas of psychology and interpretation" and how ideas (symbols) transform over time. The traditional Native American imagery created by Galanin transforms into the ink blots of the Rorschach test.

Original article: Rorschach Re-Imagined: Artist Nicholas Galanin’s Native American GIF Psychology

Fractal Foam of Being

I started playing with a fractal app for the iPad. Shades of 1980s! As I fooled around, I happened across a few interesting rendering settings that made me think of quantum energy fields. That got me wanting to create an image of emergent space filled with manifestations of Tara, Medicine Buddha, Mahakala, Dakinis and other protectors.

So this is the first image I came up with. At low rez (screen rez) it's hard to see the fine detail in the various "atoms" of Medicine Buddha who follow the sweeping curves of the fractal spaces. But there is a sense of pattern and energy exchange / flow in any case.

Can't wait to get this printed out LARGE (30"x36") to reveal the full details!

Green Tara in Field of Self-Manifestation

Mudras

I've started to play around with various iPad graphics apps trying to see what might work for my imagery. I fell in love with 'Percolator.' I've been using it to create starry energy fields / auras around a figure, especially focused on CUs of the hands while in a meditation or yoga pose. Thus, the notion of the current MUDRA series.

I printed a number of them on this wacky silver 'holographic' paper which creates an interesting low-fi visual where black prints clearly but any color becomes a shimmery coat over the silver sparkle, seen best as certain angles. Well, I can't reproduce the effect directly via .jpgs. These have to be seen in person. (They are being shown in 'Photography Takes Over 2014' at the Upstream Gallery in Hastings-on-Hudson - opening Sunday Feb. 2, 2-5pm.)

I have included a few of the 'base' images below (on white background).

And here is a colorful variant on one of these that I particularly like:

Terence McKenna Quotes

Over the last few months I have been collecting a few short snippets from various recorded McKenna talks (as posted on the Psychedelic Salon).

Here are four of them:

#1 - The felt presence of immediate experience is all you'll ever know...



#2 - Reclaim experience. Do not give your authenticity away!



#3 - What is the Primary Datum? Being Here Now!



#4 - The Plant Teachers as a gateway on the Path.

iPhone Case

I got a good discount offer from VistaPrint in my email yesterday so I decided to create an iPhone case. What do you think? Should I go into production?

Planetary Mandala

I recently started work on a new series the I have been thinking of as planetary Goddess mandalas. I suppose this might seem astrologically influenced, but not exactly. More shamanically attuned / intended.

The original notion was to work with a double exposure technique using the Goddess bodies overlaid by sacred flowers, tree branches and leaf textures. In the heart of each mandala appears the particular astronomical body. The Goddesses hold court in each image - 4 in the Solar mandala, 3 in the Gaian mandala, 2 in the Lunar mandala, and 1 in the Venusian mandala. Additionally, various associated birds and power animals appear (Earth -> owl, Moon -> hummingbird, Sun -> hawk, Venus -> bat and rattlesnake).

Gaian Goddess Mandala

Lunar Goddess Mandala

Solar Goddess Mandala

Venusian Goddess Mandala

These pieces are current on view in the "Double Exposure" exhibit at the Blue Door Gallery in Yonkers thru April 27th. www.bluedoorgallery.org

Green Tara Visualization

It's taken me quite a bit of time to finish this series of images for the Tara Self-generation visualization practice. (I took the empowerment over a year ago...) In order to simply present the sequence, I decided to put together a gif animation combining the images with associated textual instructions.

The sequence is based upon my notes from the original empowerment ceremony as well as study of the booklet "The Yoga of Enlightened Mother Arya Tara" from Tharpa Publications. The images present the core sequence - including a "no self" meditation practice at the end, but excluding the ceremony's typical framing prayers and offerings.

Green Tara Visualization

Raising of the World Tree (video)

I recntly came across this video which shows the Milky Way unfurl over the Southern Ocean along the coast of Australia. Watching at 00:45 into the clip, a beautiful view of the Milky Way rising to a vertical position is recorded - what the Mayans would refer to a the "Raising of the World Tree."

The video by Alex Cherney, titled Ocean Sky, was awarded the overall winner at 2011 STARMUS astrophotography competition.

Ocean Sky from Alex Cherney on Vimeo.

Be sure to watch this full screen to get the best appreciation of the fantastic lime-lapse starry sky imagery.

Raising the World Tree - Wakah Chan

Maya people honor the Ya'axche or Ceiba Tree (Kapok) as an energetic connection flowing between the Cosmos (sky), Earth, and the Underworld; it's seen to be the embodiment of the cosmic axis, Wakah Chan, connecting the multiple levels above and below a flat Earth (held in place by the four Bacabs, cardinal directions of north, south, east and west). This Sacred Tree of Life is at the center of a complex mythology of Celestial Gods, heros, and deities of the underworld, Xibalba. As World Tree, Wakah Chan also symbolizes the "raised up" path to the Mayan's ancestral home at the center of the Milky Way.

On Winter Solstice, at the beginning of the last calendar round cycle in 3113 B.C., a mythological event / ceremony took place, "The Raising of the World Tree", in which the cosmic axis was reset to center upon rotation around the North Polar star. This "raising" ceremony repeats every calendar round (and thus to be reenacted on December 21, 2012),  establishing a new "heaven" and new "sun" (cosmic age).

Raising Wakah Chan

In addition to my 2012 celestial conjunction series ("Time of Awakening"), I created this image specifically focused on raising of the Wakah Chan - two shamans (male and female) are raising the Cosmic Tree (seen as a Ceiba tree) with the Milky Way crossing at the top, centered on the North star. The celestial bird perches in the top branches of the tree. Below the tree, a frieze of guardians spirits protect the entrance to the Underworld.

This composition is based loosely on Mayan carvings depicting the World Tree and the ceremonial raising of Wakah Chan. Below, I have included one such reproduction (a drawing of a carved stone temple panel) which inspired my piece.

World Tree as Foliated Cross

The Milky Way is depicted as the tree of life where all life came from. Near Sagittarius, the center of our galaxy, the World Tree meets the Ecliptic. The Ecliptic is represented as the horizontal bar crossing the vertical axis of the world tree, with celestial crocodiles, or perhaps vision serpents, at each end of the cross bar. The World Tree is in the form referred to as a "foliated cross." At it's base, a major element of the World Tree includes the K'awak Monster, a giant head with a kin in its forehead. This monster is also a mountain or Witz monster (and represents the entrance to the Underworld). On either side of the "raised up" tree stand a pair of Mayan priests or shamans. On top of the World Tree perches the celestial Quetzal bird, the Principal Bird deity, Itzam Ye.

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.

What do you want? (Dance of the Skeletons)

Official video for the song What Do You Want? from the Gotye album Boardface

Animated and directed by Lucinda Schreiber
Lucinda on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/user1657924

*******************************************
What do you want?
What do you want from us?
To ask you this much is just a matter of trust
Not an affront
What do you want?

Few here'd be true to your point of view
If they knew
What you want
Who here would choose
To walk in those shoes
Even you can't

So what do you want?
What do you want from us?

What do you want
What do you want that you cannot say?
Show us the faith we're supposed to display
Come what may...
You can't!

So what do you want?
What do you want from us?
It's a matter of trust
That you tell us just
What you want from us

Visionary Art by Fred Tomaselli

Artwork by Fred Tomaselli

Starry Night

Incredible Timelapse Video of the Night Sky Recorded Using a Fisheye Lens.

French photographer Stephane Vetter captured this outstanding time-lapse of the night sky using a Sigma 8 mm fisheye lens, meaning that what you see in the video is a true representation of the entire visible sky. Titled Leonid and Zodiacal Light, the brief but jaw-dropping clip was shot November 17th of this year and includes a five-hour star trail and Vetter even takes time to label signifiant stars and other objects visible in the sky. Make sure you watch it full-screen.

 Originally posted on Colossal.com.

Kundalini Chakra Mandala

Nice found image from Psychedelic Experience on Facebook:

by Karmym

Find more images and information on Psychedelic Experience's Facebook page.

Dec 21, 2012 Is Right Around the Corner

Interesting take on the cycling of the Mayan calendar round:

December 21, 2012:
Meeting Zero-Point and Beginning Anew

By Eden Skywritten Nov 8, 2012 . 13 N’oj . 8 Seed

Dec 21, 2012 is a date carved in stone by the Ancient Maya over 1300 years ago that indicates the completion of a World Age Cycle. It clearly marks the end of a 5,125 year cycle, and many independent researchers and indigenous messengers affirm it is also the completion of a nearly 26,000 year cycle.

This infamous date, now scarcely 40 days away, marks an end and a beginning simultaneously, called a “Creation Day” by the Maya, literally a return to Zero-Point. 

What does this really mean? It is a question we are all being summoned to ask ourselves. As we each witness and experience the turmoil and rapid change taking place on Planet Earth, it is clear our future is unknown, with all too many factors and influences to possibly account for. There are endless predictions, projections and hypotheses put forward to proclaim our possible collective future, but in reality no one can be certain of the path ahead.

This rapidly approaching Dec 21, 2012 Synchronization date can be understood as an alignment of vast timing cycles, both celestial and planetary in nature, that was recorded precisely to alert us of the potent opportunity of these times we are now living through. The Maya say we will be entering “The Fifth World.” The Aztecs call it the Dawning of “The Sixth Sun.” By whatever name, we are approaching the Turning of World Ages, and every single one of us in an essential player in these planetary moments!

Read the full article here on the 13Moon website.

Shaman Art - Starry Web

Well I have been in the hospital for a week now and today, being a bit bored,  I decided to take a photo of bedside myself that my wife shot (yesterday) and convert it to "art" using a handful of iPhone apps. So, here is the result. It's interesting enough that I think I want to try to work on a few more - see if a series develops based upon Ecstatic Body Postures.