habit and inclination

a tradition of carrying on - a tradition of carrying on

Acknowledging gratitude for the capacity of benevolent and kind blessing to be shared .
Found in many forms by many names ,often unexpectedly.
Sacred space at a sacred time of peace to appreciate and revere Gods and not - gods.
The Earth- The Sun - The Season - The Year
Familiar - Friend - Family
Simply worshiped in a fashion with no expectation of special treatment over others.
Associated feelings both positive and negative are  the " gift" of our experience.
Shared,Symbolically,Sacredly
Appealing to the energetic good that pulses through all things, the light and warmth at hand.
Giving of  attention,
Sacrifice as affection,
Love as connection,
Between bodies, between beings, between times, between places
Returning to be together
 Gathered offerings of genuine thanks for being around.

family tree

recognition of belonging, without effort, without decision,without choice.

the place that one finds themselves - is not of ones own making.

the form and structure of natural living and non- living relationships its origin and divisions.

growth patterns radiating outward from an invisible center before our time, between our selves.

not self identification or an individual  collection of beliefs , customs and habits, ritual activity.
             
   humble human heredity hope happens
                   
 born from and branching from beginnings from before...
           
 part of a greater - Body , part of a greater -  Life Story ,

not an idealized construction of beauty , but the simplest truth of being.

what you are.

twelve twelve of twelve twelve

My Wife mentioned the twelve twelve on twelve twelve full moon at about nine thirty that evening,
 in bed while turning out the light.
I awoke at twelve o six, got out of bed putting on my glasses,
 gathering my journal and a pencil with a carved tip.
I went down to my basement shrine with a cup of tap water.
 pouring some into the sacred well at the bottom of the stairs and then down again to the left.
Lighting a tea light candle in front of that and settling down for the familiar and regular practice of observing and revering natural cycles with unnatural attention.
I am fortunate to have been gifted and privileged to be able to give.
Sharing the root of the matter .
Beginning with the Earth Mother,
even though the timing for this ritual is prompted by sky watching. the lunar phases being special in a sharing relationship between myself and other people.
These are not the times when I gather with others to perform holiday group ritual eight times a year.
These are the times when I make offerings on my own for support, inspiration and understanding in my work and learning as a facilitator of group spiritual practice as a Druid Priest
A functional ballast for the high holiday- on the spot- social spiritual - keep to the point projection.
The Moon ,new and full is my time to keep my mouth closed and my mind open.
I am not alone in speculating about the long barrows of ancient Europe and line of sight relationships to distant bodies movement beyond the horizon.
Sun - Moon-Planets- Stars
all rising and setting
turning above and below
all of us
for a long long time
celestial directors and the observant people of the earth, on the earth and in the earth.
vision quest - incubation
My basement just after midnight with the sweet aroma of gifted vintage home made mead dribbled on statuary and sculpture, my floor almost clean except for the split ash that remained from the kindling creating of the day now passed.
So it was such special conditions that night that I scribbled down my omens in my journal, said my thanks, blowing out the candle , concluding the regular personal effort involved with,
the hard to stay in touch with,
in order to go upstairs,
go open up the kitchen door,
so I could go outside,
My bare feet  and boxer shorts with glasses on face and journal in hand move out into a crisp brightness,
the wood deck shoveled of heavy snow many days ago has had a couple days to thaw ,freeze, and melt to crust up between boards collecting with new stuff and drift starkly contrasting dark and light in the moon glow.
It was not slippery or cold, but crunchy twinkly , no sound of wind, but the brook behind my home is running from the mountain melt north and melding with the moon beams, making magic, on an otherwise still night sky gazing to my south.
 pulsing in harmony light and sound.
High Fidelity
true to the original

fun forming favorite folksy family friendly festivities

Tradition comes from somewhere...................you don't just make it up!
or abbreviate the word to Trad and use it as part of a Pagan Priestly Blog !
Tradition comes from somewhere and ends up someplace different, maybe.
It seems that the details and formula of what is being passed on can contradict the spirit originally intended. especially if force or deceit is involved.

That makes me mad, like the word Mad in this Pagan Priestly Blog !
abbreviated from the word madness.
Madness comes from somewhere and ends up someplace different, maybe.
between interpretation and presentation an injustice can be done to the original inspirational resources.
                                   = Muse =           ............you don't just make it up!

                                                          art imitates life

Mythic material and spiritual characterization are not simple literary devises to be played with in a profane way.
 when treated as a prop re-imagined ,or reverse engineered,respect for the integrity and autonomy of the actual original body and individual identity is disregarded, contextually removed from the facts of its own being.
 special sensitivity to  a subjects authentic spiritual response is the gentle guide of genuine experience.


Beginning with Sacred Holiday Rituals honoring Planet Earth  as our broadest base of common ground, shared object of veneration, thing to thankful for.

 The majority of the  worlds religions do not acknowledge = The Earth Mother = as the one that upholds the ritual and practice as not God or Goddess.

Organized Theology , Religious Practice- is often attempting to shape life into art.

                         = Cosmic =                                                             ......you don't just make it up!

shadow cast inclusion occlusion reflected celestial twinkles

telescope or stethoscope,
what they got to say?
a specially crafted tool to try to understand what is going on beyond peoples natural perceptions.

extending our senses, projecting our thoughts,seeking relationships, recognizing pathways, networks
structures and orders that  are a inseparable part of our being, though not of our knowing, or making.

observation of cyclic phenomenon leads to appreciation of pattern and repetition, time and movement.
a piece of a puzzle, of a piece, of a puzzle, of a piece...... belonging to......a part of....relating too..
aligned with...interconnection containing breaks, rests, pauses, distance and intervals.

religion or culture,
what they got to say?
a specially crafted tool to try to understand what is going on beyond peoples natural perceptions.


extending our senses, projecting our thoughts,seeking relationships, recognizing pathways, networks
structures and orders that  are a artificial part of our believing, thoughts and words of controlling, or making.


observation of cyclic phenomenon leads to appreciation of pattern and repetition,
 time    and     movement.


a piece of a puzzle,
 of a piece,
 of a puzzle ,
of a piece......
belonging to......
a part of....
relating too..
aligned with...
interconnection
 containing breaks,
 rests,             pauses,     distance      and             intervals.

The Harbor Casino

 A painting that I never had a image of,,,,,, till now!
 a portrait of place- of people - of a time.
 I picked up a wood panel, I found, on the bank of the Hudson River a quarter century ago,
working the subjects composition and structural forms defined by the dark drawing,
 pulled from a sketch on location.
With gesso and acrylic paint I built up on the surface over a few weeks to try to capture the spirit of the place,
or at least the way I remember a thing that I appreciate,
 collections of details highlighted, reflected, assembled,
characters interacting in space,oriented with directional reference,
 attitude, obvious and subtle,explicit and implicit
atmospheric interior shapes symbols social and cultural contained on a two dimensional plane.

 A Real Place depicted by brushing wet paint from a pointy hairy brush from My often trembling hand to a solid hard surface.

A picture with meaning to others than myself, with an unknown, unseen audience in space and time.

Human company-environmental sensitivity-awareness of surroundings- community climate
                                                        shared comfort
A reverence for what is honestly real, with a natural distaste for idealized mass produced fakes .

          - Social realism - Metropolitan animism - Locale spiritualism - Creative mysticism -

intersection of tug boats tunnels and trains- hang out - hold out  - hide away- that is no more.....

............been found out, bought out, and built over, but the spirit of the times in that place continue in people  now far from that busy place ,Time travelling refreshments, home made kielbasa served,
in another dimension, that I am fortunate enough to rediscover.
remaining a real place full of real people represented in pigment on panel, and now pixel on screen.

Know - Thank - You

What is it that draws people together?
People (other than myself) are the main influence on this spiritual experience of living in a human body and sharing group ritual worship  that I have.

Make of it what you can.

All of the words, the thoughts and forms that I communicate, my most personal incites are other peoples' work, recognized and related, reassembled, reformed, rearranged, reviewed, remembered.
ruminated,regurgitated, reiterated,returned , rewound, reborn, reused, reserved, remaining revered.

Comparing, learning, feeling, discovering something sympathetic between souls more scribble than smart.

People and Religion  - can't  have one,  with out the other.

Again,  it seems that people are the main influence of the pathway between tradition and innovation.
Irreconcilable differences between cultural interpretations of respect for human ways are the basis for conflict and destruction on this Earth.
No Great Cosmic battle or supernatural warfare threatening life on the planet.
People stuff is.    Human Spirits in flesh and blood, independently or part of a larger effort combining words and actions to work our will in this life.
                                                                   

Hospitality seems to be the key concept  to being open and welcoming to interaction.
Appealing to a shared ability to provide minimal comfort to others, often strangers, with the hope that it is appreciated and recognized as a good gesture, and not taken advantage of.

The Fires that people make, build, and burn can be welcoming or threatening.
Humans claim control, contrivance, contents, contention, characterizing communication.
Cultural complications, competitive,class,combining ,contradicting, cost consumption.

People make fire- People are aware of, take care of - their dead.
Tool use,Knowledge passing,unique among the multitudes of  other life on earth.
Free to fool ourselves and others,pretending, practicing,partaking,participating,promising.
You can't fake the fire- You can't fake your life/death.
Timeless Truth Trusting Transmission,
Released from matter and matters,
of influence and persuasion , rules of membership, activities and accomplishments.

social acceptance and rejection are reflected in exclusive and inclusive behaviors,
This sense of being in just the right place , or awkwardly out of place .
Spirit inside,  or ghost outside
                          Knowing what we do not want to take part of.
As a regular holiday host of a diverse spiritual community, animal, plant,other, living and dead.
multicultural, multiform, multitude,magic mix..... another cannot tell another who they can and cannot honor in their heart. sincere worship, and true learning are personal gifts, sometimes shared with others, sometimes not, best to keep things friendly, set the tone, for everybody to play nice.

Hoping that one is honored by receiving an invitation is less offensive than pronouncing the not invited by name.
The gentle language of kindness is different than shouting  get out and stay away.

The common feature of The Kindred Spirits is not a uniformity or purity of character,
but by the kind nature of the relationship.
Benevolent  and caring

Banishing, excommunication,casting out, identifying people or peoples with illness and misfortune, cursing or binding are not part of the religion I have practiced and shared, individually or promoted with group.
A rotating elected organizational management committee has the authority to make statements as a council as it pertains to the organization .
People who come together and agree on a statement do not  necessarily produce a proclamation that is true , outside of the clubhouse rules.

Why a group of druids?, dedicants?, initiates?, priests? would take it upon themselves to make a statement as officers of the mother grove now?
SAMHAIN
with well timed and planned accusatory resignations..???
getting the same magnification from the same media as "founder scandal" ???
The social media presentation opinion pressure has calls for holding the leadership accountable for inactivity, or cover up??? this group makes a statement using the group platform to produce something of little scholarly,or artistic merit.
It is the product of flawed, imperfect,people...........the only kind I've ever known.

 Speaking for a Religion is speaking for more than the current active memberships opinions.

I'm sorry if My basic respect for the dead, with associations of peace and rest are offended by claims of a dead person's past behavior continuing to threaten and do harm to the living,
to protect the "community" especially children, the monster must be destroyed completely.
No piece of it can remain, No memory, or thought, don't utter the name...
...erase the records, burn the books!
cultural purity and the dirty, blemished, scared,evil?
Yes it is Genuine Folk Custom,...... but not my thing.......un- welcoming


I am here to honor the Gods and not gods, to offer praise to what I value.
I am not here to discredit  people, their deeds, their spirit as a religious dictate .
Wasted Sacrifice is not what my religion is about .
It should not be such a prominent feature of the organization it's groups and subgroups.
Fortunately our kindred spirits  know how people are, and accept us and our offerings.

                          Know                          Thank                                  You

sharing blessing

Worship is an expression of appreciation and respect for something beyond the self.
Somehow there is a sense of being touched and blessed on the inside from the outside.
Beginning with all that has been before being born back through the ages.
Place of countless lives, home of regenerative spirits, changing forms and ways of being.
Earth is stage of all drama of which we briefly play a part.
Holy because we are here, sharing.
Original all encompassing platform and the elevating of a subject for special consideration.
Our way of acknowledging gift and giver with thanks for giving.
Reciprocal premise,Axial roots broader and deeper than imagining or understanding.
Gratitude and praise should not be reserved or limited to an exclusive class of beings.
Honoring what seems good, where ever and whenever encountered
Careful not to perpetuate what we know to be false,or harmful.
This is the essential separation,   division made sacred, and set apart to be shared.

       

anecdotal attention assembly associations

Actuality
ambiguous- authority- asleep -alert
Awareness is not central to understanding the exchanges that take place between the inner world and outer world of Living Beings.

Born with various senses and sensitivities, adapting and developing a nervous pathway of the relationship between the behaviors exhibited by the other autonomous actors in our waking world.

A growing sense of Then and Now branch,
 the inner and outer experience as perceived and interpreted.
 The referencing habit emerges from the precociousness,
 the distinction between,
 that which has been, and that which is becoming.

The Way it goes.

The Story unfolds.
The contacts  and comfort of  complex characters,
The construction of caring connectivity and curiosity,
Subjects and objects, symbol and meaning.
Predictive predisposition, anticipatory antenna adjustment
Enjoyment and appreciation = quality reception = reference
Inner world of memory of  past connected to the real time outer world of the active  sensual perceptions or dreams .

Don't judge a book by its cover.

The True nature of a thing is different than the assembled roles it is cast in internal narrative.
There are differences between the messages and the messengers,
the observers and the observed,
the dreamers and the dreamed.

The independent agency of a thing is different than the message it seems to carry.

The attentions shared--- however momentary---- are a non- physical contact between the inner worlds and outer worlds of living beings in separate bodies--- different forms --- passing thoughts.

Some how there is an influence, an exchange, a language between worlds.

between things.

conductive bridge

Beginning and ending with this Earth,
 the place that is our home and center of the life and death process,

A common feature shared by all peoples, animals,plants,
Born into an environment that they adapt,  struggle and grow in , being for the time in a body ,
with no memory of a preexisting form, only the connections of flesh,
 survival instincts passed on by parents.
 Cycles of activity followed by rest, a pattern of on and off, in and out that perpetuates and circulates.
The continuity of the whole lies in the symmetry and balance with consciousness and unconscious .
Dynamism distributing difference deliberately.

We are individuals ......for the moment
made physical to share a common experience,
This uniquely personal, profound Life.
An unobservable realm of feeling,  judgment and spirit,within our self and everything that has ever lived and sensed the Earth.

The Living sense the presence of familiar and favored interactions , naturally responding to the actions and activity taking place around them.

The waking experience of good or bad reaction and anticipating outcomes is the basis of awareness,
not of the self, or other, or mortal existence but of the associations of favorites with comfort and well being.

the Sun will rise again                                                                              there will be another Day

the Summer will come again                                                                  there will be another Season

the Moon and Stars will shine                                                                there and here, now and then

the Years and Ages will pass                                                                  there is a place connected





                                                   Favorite Things - Beneficial  Relations



There is nothing that is common or average about the life/ death experience of Individuals.
There is everything unique in the variety of  death/ life  conditions  present or perceived .
Combinations of coincidence and consequence, opportunity and ability,
inherent qualities of expression bound to coming to a conclusion an eventual end, with little to say about time and way.

Life experience is not dreamed and imagined yet it is structured and composed by these,
 original emanations, accompanying feelings, companion spirits,directional guides.
Influence of the unseen unknown revolving center, within all things.
Out comes, destinies , fates some where unperceived by the hero, the will, the ego, the self identity.

Awareness, consciousness, intelligence, and understanding are not necessary or vital aspect of Life.

Appreciation is .

Action is.

From  common material springs forth our uncommon individual lives.
Feeling perceivers uniquely responding.
Learning  reactors characteristically growing.
Leaving impressions from spontaneous expressions.
Outside of the form and shape of our Lives.

Beyond the body.
 a viewpoint from a different perspective.

What we hold on to,
What we keep to ourselves,
Favorite things we wish we could take along, or leave behind.
Things we care for, and care about, cannot be bound and contained.
Free to move,   Free to sense,   Free to love.
Beyond time and dimension,
Within  feeling and generation,
Our interior thoughts a transparent reflection,  a deceptive projection.
Of a place that we think is our Self.
Situational odyssey- no characters are solitary, no soul is ever alone.

Compassion is connective.                              sincerity is essential.
Influence is felt.                          sensitivity is reconditioned.
                                                 Things are brought together.
Stuff will pop up.                                                                      or disappear.
                                                      we are the ways
                                                       the ways are we

Heart centered, Love connected,Passion powered

The photo above taken at the last equinox ritual,
 after I had made sacrifice, making the appeal for a sign, before searching for the omen.

Thankfully  technology captured this image of the natural circulation- communication-center.

The Vital element in Spiritual conductive inter-dimensional distribution of blessing,
  the focus of cosmic anatomy,
 and our own.

More than fleshy organ, or container of life blood,the center is a place of returning.
A moving  reconciliation of opposites ,
An energetic pressure pathway pumping,
Feeling beyond time and space,
so deep,
so personal,
so sincere,
SO STRONG!
power that keeps things going, hidden from sight.
Love
Love between things
the eternal externalization, the continued current , cycling of the whole.
Love Language
The heart felt expression / impression is the key feature of authentic sharing.
specially chosen care and attention on sacred occasions in recognition of the spirits that see into you.
directed desire dramas develop  if a gift is not freely given, the ritual is not understood.
True Love - Real Deal -No Joke
Basic sense of caring appreciation radiating genuinely within most everything,most everywhere.
Naturally occurring bonding stimulation behaviors.
Favorites - Friends - Family- Function - Force

The combination of  forms and spirits we feel for,
we feel love.
we give love.

impression of expression of long- a -go

The intended audience is rarely the only audience.
The wren may vocalize to another wren, but I can hear and recognize the song,guess at the activity.

The chipmunk may direct its cry of alarm and aggravation at Me specifically, but I am not obliged to give it My personal attention.

Communication and community are not concepts to be limited by a language of chosen identity.

We are swimming in a spiritual sea of influencing expressions - responding and reacting unknowingly.
Our destination,
Our interpretation of a message,
 piece of art,
or religious activity / belief is not necessarily identical in intent with its creators / practitioners at the time.
Our observations and opinion is not what make a subject valid or real.
judgement - appreciation - value - recognition

Pagan is the word for pre-existing spiritual folk beliefs of uncultured peoples,described as rustic and unsophisticated by an elite Social and religious order of Professionals.
Pagan was vulgar, common, wild, raw,unenlightened, old fashioned,illogical,irrational ,crude,unsafe, illegitimate to the clerics who originally used and wrote and read the word,
The term applied to others, not the name a people chose for themselves, about themselves.
not the intended audience;
or so they believed.
The word passed on from the minds and hearts to others souls unknown.
like me!
Is it crazy to believe that a natural common relationship of participation exists outside of individual awareness? and group belief ?
Free Spirited contributors in a drama beyond this dimension are WE.
no need to seek admission.
no special rules or treatment.
nothing to buy or sell.
nothing to prove.
just a sense of awe.

give -given - giving
Great

System sustainability in supportive relationship between the holding capacity of a Space= IT's ability to support Life upon it.

provide for people,    provide for chipmunks,        provide for wrens  ,  all oblivious to most but the most basic sense of personal comfort or discomfort, hunger and thirst.
The power and energy expressed through life activity.
Spirit Food distributed between bodies, between places, between times.
a natural awareness of competition for resources among inhabitants of this world.
a finite and limited mortal existence requiring cyclic transition and transformation of relationship to territory, range,habitat and home

The Spiritual practice that I promote and share involves a simple and honest perception and awareness broadening.
My expression, a combination of recognizable words and imagery as illustrated and published as editorial and prayer a long time ago, with the help of others.
An appeal to concise common sense communication over manipulative consumer product desire.
A few hundred people owned the contents of this creative contribution containing clever choices .
My Sacrificial Altar and offering!
Did they get it?
received? accepted?

continued for cryptic content coherency..........

The word Horse represents the domesticated animal that was not to be itself consumed.
 Horse is the Living breathing, eating  Work ....  the vocation vehicle of association and relationship....Spirit Transport.... caring partnership trust necessity

medium of delivery,   getting things out and about farther and faster than we could on our own.
It is not a machine designed for purpose, but a living force of its own.
It is not a way to make your living.
You have to look after it,care for it, house it,protect and keep it safe and well.
You have to sense happy from hurting.
You have to keep clean.
Avoiding  the spreading of common unpleasant and undesirable misconceptions, attitudes and beliefs.

Especially the tendency to think that person or group that make something up,
  become possessors  of an exclusive truth of superior relationship.
 Idea management- thought control-psychic industry
Infotainment platform click bait success recipe for feeling good by staying hyper engaged .
Attracting more readers by creating what they desire is not communication.
It is not Human expression.
It is not Chipmunk expression.
It is not Wren or Horse.
My impression
It is an expression of industry.
 It is a manufactured waste of personal attention,extracting the natural vitality of the creative contents of community. not my turf, the mechanism is inherently exploitative, unappreciative,energy suck.
professional pagan properties
The Idea
balance
More or Less

The presentation pose and posturing for the public pretensions striped bare.
Thought and form, idea shared beyond time and typeface through technology.

Authentic  audience awareness advanced.

hard to put in place

 

The build up to the Harvest Moon has a reflective pull on My observations  .
 Summer,with its emphasis  on sweat ,sunny or showery long Daylight , energetic extension of time
.
The Action - The Work- The Achievement - The Accomplishment- The Attitude- The Associations

What We Do is part of the difference We Make In This World.
What We See of the World is shaped by how we See Our Self.

Cosmic community  conversations  coinciding with anniversary s personal and public.
Special Events  of a specific limited place and time that carried a message out and beyond to others.
The Moon Landing, and later The Woodstock Festival on the anniversary of' the publication of,
 Rip Van Winkle.
Medias inspirational portal and group belief.
An uncommonly Peaceful but challenging  Journey within distance  magic- sound - sight - Self and Space.
lost time
Unnatural events
A uniquely contemporary artificial communication creation expanding the concept contained in a controlled craft of claimed ownership.
Competing corporate constructs capabilities of selling a sense of  discovery,
 having shared a sense of being there, on a fantastic journey to another place,
 a combination of amusement and amazement , psychic stimulants,promise of personal possession.

  A different vantage point, arrived at with a distributed map of privileged experience, a guided story, mythic journey,dream memory employing recording and editing technology to empower  popular products for people.............the specially  informed.
the recordings repeated remembered referenced  ritualized realized

Iconic worship of momentous moments mentioned = inspirational spirit summoned.
World Views Shared
popular memory magnified multiplied public opinion
heard it before?

Perhaps this is the place,
 to push the parameters of a perceptive priestly peering  practice participation perspective platform .

I don't know how I appear to others who gather for Holiday Ritual.
I am not always together,prepared or appreciative of group gathering,
I find it challenging to play with directing and assisting the excited spirits of others.
My obvious sense of mission is in performing a Ritual of Sacrifice.
 To Thank The Thirsty Spirits Season.
hoping to please ....     kind
wanting to help ....     caring
sharing to keep  ....    giving
by acknowledging the invisible Audience watching us, or Me anyway,
or so it seems, perhaps my own reflection, or the reflections of others .
Energy of Attention ,confluence of feeling and thought,
Seasonal lure that attracts Me to look into the deep inner workings contained in exhibits and presentations.
Prone to take the bait.
 Reverence of respecting relationships between what has been and what has yet to be.
It is wrong to put words in others mouths.
Wrong to misrepresent.
Wrong to spread lies.
Wrong to take by force, or force to accept.

SPIRITS are FREE  ~  TRUTH  is  Knowledge
 Awareness of the appetite of  Spirits that see and savor the sweat and effort made in honest  gifts freely given.
simple breath and action, thought and gesture, life ritual of sustenance- chosen effort.
My  service to sacrifice and season, the regular refreshing educational event reminder.
My Art is to get out of the way....... of the message, and the medium.
My place, pointing to portal.

The formula of ritual mostly the same ,the application method differing from expectations of precise formality or of spontaneous madness.  no need to fill roles, or play parts.creative directive pressure is taken off the task and strain of coordinating complex on the spot, awkward or uncomfortable circumstance in an effort to engage and be inclusive socially .
 Allowing people to observe at a comfortable distance is more important than promising a sacred opportunity at group event.
 Offering hope of a  turn for people to try out for, to take part in ritual occasions is a possibility,
 but not a  necessity, or standard .
It can easily distort the window-bust down the gate-blow out the seams.
group beliefs, popular feeding behaviors. forgetting what an occasion is really about.
I present it this way, to interpret- accept - reject - ignore.

The success of  ritual is not judged by performances of people,
 the collected work and bundled special talents of the gathered group,
 or the groups perceived experience of how things felt,
or what brings them back,
 but that of acceptance of spirit allies on the other end of the fire and well.

Pareidolia

Deep within, there is a desire for recognition within the perceptive field,an inbuilt mechanism to attempt to anticipate the future actions of a being, by the expressions revealed, at the point where the senses and the awareness intersect with the body and soul.

The reflex to identify and individuate the- character- will-mood-spirit-intent- is a precognitive, communicative mind reading wish that is part of the ancient habits of  flesh and form.

Face to face intimacy, authenticity is a function of life process continuation, trust, understanding,
 of empathy and telepathy are part of natural survival,
 a shared  force of life, a common trick of the trade.
Fertility in familiarity.
Ancient echoes the need for instantaneous responses to questions unasked,

safe or dangerous?

to see what is -  a  - head !

looking for the head, the controlling ,deciding agent, the intelligence, the mind behind the face.
is it aware it is being observed? is it aware of its observers?
seem interested in interacting?
is it responsive in expression?


approval or disapproval ?

happy                        sad ?

How we look when we see.....How we see when  looking....
what kind of look was that? in the eyes of another.

The eye of the beholder is less aware of their own (facial) appearance in relation to their active  engagement with a subject, physical or imaginary.
The more expanded the dialogue becomes,
The more the discourse increases in volume,
The more exaggerated the spiritual mask ,
The more manipulated the exchange,
see  the   difference............... how animated
symbolically representing, the many true faces, with real expressions of life, individual style, opinions, tastes ,special ways of being, that change from day to day,
 the more distance is made between the genuine essence of the personal passions,
 qualities  of  vital uniqueness of breaths, of thirsts,of thoughts.

Social Spirits are similar simple story showing a predisposition for moving with masks and memory .
A container of context and continuity in changing creative culture community clairvoyance.
Group acceptance,audience behavior,participatory dynamics,mood of the moment, tide of the time.
Passing acquaintances, maybe?
Face familiar, possibly?
Crossed paths, common friends, shared interests,favorite collections, preferred memories
desired outcomes are not all achieved in the same way, at the same time.
to see eye to eye- look them in the eye
Magic  Drama is not playing pretend.
The unintended outcomes of efforts and the accidental discoveries may not be all loving and kind ones.
awareness of the feelings of others, what made them happy, the look on their face.
see it in their eyes.
Being engaged in the direct experience of presence and persona,
 is what real life and real living are about.

The real story. recognizing real person hood.

Faces as wished for, Beings and behaviors picked up through books, and other medias are mechanized reproductions fixed by convention,
 popular puppets of expectation,trapped in a role not of their making.
They lack the character of will- spirit- autonomy that I have come to see in the company of other faces,
face to face.

Petrichor

A call and Response
Living Spirits Living
Signs of Life
Patterns of Existence
Models of Perception

not to overlook the looking after of things around you.
caring for the well being of others.
paying attention to the interactions and activities in surroundings.
noticing the differences among and between,
stimulating awareness, understanding,belonging.
thankful for being able to direct effort to making the world a better place,
in small ways.

                                                                           

 Cosmic Model not to scale

The simple pleasures

pastime of profundity 

STORY SHARING

The scatology trails of secret agents , serpentine serendipity symbol string solid and stretchy 

strong sense of connectivity in the face of logical calculated controlled communication.

SPIRITS MOVE DIFFERENTLY

The change of pressure provides the work in the transfer and exchange

The porous nature of surface, behavior over time and temperature

All here to experience

wet and dry
how and why

pointed or directed attention, beyond the obvious, beneath the obvious,
vantage and perspective- hidden buried treasure

                                 Truth,  you are the song of sweat.

                                  ART, you are the dance of efforts.

                                  Love, you are the gift of giving.

Mysterious Mill Moss Metal Middle Millipede Message Meaning Multiple Mind Market Manufacture Manipulating Modalities Microcosm Magnetism Macrocosm Mix Magic
Moment
Being part of the scene
not a matter of choices, or an exercise of free will,or purchasing admission.

 Unexpected Group desire
There is a passing Spirit of the moment that takes place in the congregation of  common calling.
The Magic event  an experience, a gathering ,a mass movement of many.
Passions and intellects- compounded consciousnesses ,conglomerated conceptions.
spirit swap sedimentation safety sanitary self selection serious sacrifice service sensitivity
sacred seasonal expectation

Common contact communication goes both ways , back and forth,
down and up, in and out.

A feeling in the air,
awaiting an unseen vaporous manifestation,
gentle breath of thirst,
ground that is refreshed,
respiration among the roots,
the generational passage of unknown souls,
 of unique desires, tastes , habits
linger softly and securely beneath  structure
within the symbolic sensation saturating setting
that support the solid center thought of as " this".

an arranged arrangement,  to a point.

The Uninvited , have been observing  rituals.
The Unknown ,  have been participating in blessing.
The  Undefined , have been sustaining everything all along.
The Shapes and forms of subjects and objects we chose to recognize,in the ways we are permitted to
making a close and detailed examination of, giving to them attention, significance, power,exchange and change of thought, inspiration of idea, refreshing fertility of appreciation,
the winged seed not long in fixed location and predicament
all children of destiny
all family of fate
all part place, and person per chance.

dart dam eht

 naturally,
 instinctual assessment of threat potential in surrounding area is part of the survival mechanism of being,

alarm and flight are responses to situational existence.

freedom of movement.

disengagement must be a possibility.

 making a exit being magic

 to seemingly disappear-impossibly escape - vanish.

 the essential option  of get away and emergency safety.

always

a way out.

devout observational devotion observing

perceptual conditioning and group behavior are linked.
a shared quality of anticipating and wanting a future result that is hoped or wished for.

                           ! Desire I See ! See Desire I ! I See Desire !

the manipulation of the behavior of life forms by appealing to the senses of  other life forms is the stock and trade of mother nature herself.

enchantment and illusion are part of the influence of the directing other.
Some knowledge of  attraction and desire outside of the individual blossom and bee.

Some working system, integrated intelligent enveloping patterned horizon


Groupings of various things interact and settle in over generations,
learning how to live and grow ,
 due to function and form .
 an apparent axis of Tradition and Novelty in an attempt to keep up with the Times.
Communicate beyond...
Learn from the Stars,
Listen to the the Dead,
what has been...
way back when......
it goes far back.

My  work is a product of how I view the world and how I preserve and value memory.

finding comfort, knowledge and blessing,
 for the arrangements and clusters of groupings,
 that are representative and repetitive,
of  the forms and shapes ,interacting in a greater surrounding recognition of idea.

Symbol sense combination code,
 safely shared,  somehow stored , somewhere beyond single sensitivities and self.
The interpretation is relative,
The intention is key,

A true love of things as they are ,

 not  expectations.

climate craft

Expressions of Reverence and Gratitude may be seen as cultural constructions that are an overlay of preexisting patterns seemingly inherit beneath the understandings and comprehensions of language.

Anticipating empathy, predicting interaction, receptivity capacity reacting, responding to recognition.

 A Symbol Story Structure System that is the way that sense is made of what is sensed.

A Place that exists between feeling and awareness of individuals that is raw and uncultured.

A Space that exists beyond interior wilderness and celestial indicators......

                ....... beneath identity, self, art and culture of peoples ........

The presence of a number of Spirit Agencies associated with living and dying things,

                                                                     of this world.

Religion as a Cultural Artifact is inherently a Political - Social expression.

People are Given the World and it"s Life to use as they see fit by the authority of story telling traditions that put an emphasis on human interest.

A pan cultural bias toward collectively valuing the distributor of gifts.

fixing symbol to interpretative appetite - the Spirits feed from what is Made.

Culture-Industry-Technology-Economy - Mythology

relating to super human controlling forces and influences,

and our place, in relationship to them.  

form constants and allied phenomenon

uncommon bonds
point of reference
reverence for,
appreciation of,
shared moments
spiritual company
special times

memory based , emotion associated shared thread of perception in a broader tapestry of existence.

outside - round

There are many containers, themselves made up of many containers.

Sacred - Spaces of sorts = Special things with boundaries and ports.

Limits to what they can hold within,

Limits to how much they can expand,

Limitations that unify and polarize,

Contained in the interconnections of containers.

Collectively  contrasting contents character

with what is perceived beyond,

outside of the container we find ourselves in,

unrestrained from the center we spring from.

The Limits are what hold us all together,

The Limits divide this from that,

The Limits give us something in common.

Limits give us something in common with the UNCOMMON.

                               -- " --

The place I did not know when I began

Surprised to find myself referenced in a published book that I had no knowledge of.
Purchased used,  on- line ,
 it arrived on Earth Day.

I am identified as the Chief Artificer ,  designer of the Druid Nematon ,
on the very same page number that matches ,
 My ADF membership ID#?

Published the year that I had began a relationship with My Own Property.

The books subtitle," Contemporary Pagans and the Search for Community"!

My words first written by the, "News from the Mother Grove" editor, and placed in the context of a larger narrative work by a Language Artist  unknown to Me, a few Years later.

My concept of Sacred Space is a place that is cut off and made separate and special,
 different from normal use and activity,
unusual in that ease and accessibility,  function and utility are questioned by the unobservant.

Little makes sense and is obvious, odd home of the others, out of the way or hidden.
carefully approached, respectfully entered, realm of mystery and wonder.

Exclusive container  - Sacred enclosure

not the place for normal dealings ,with normal beings.
It can not be a space  for any body and everybody to do anything at.

Where is the normal Human Garbage from occupying the space?
SACRED SANITIZE!

The Priestly task of cleaning and clearing,
 precedes any ritual presentation and depositing of offerings,
 in the creation and maintenance of Sacred Space .



It  is not the hosting and facilitating of gathered group worship.
It is not the control of directors and programs,counsels or committees.
It is not subject to our rule,
It is not object of our possession.

 The Book was published  a couple years after My Wife and I were Married Mid Summer with community, now twenty Years passed....
 no longer a Senior Druid of an ADF grove,
a Year before I was to become an ADF Priest .
My work, My Sacrifice, My Art of Sacred Space applied at  a new Home,
growing into a fraction of what is recorded above,
The extended family, of interaction ,of playful arrangement and composition appreciation;
 an awareness of environment surroundings.
                                                        SACRED SPACE

Belonging is not in membership, but being contained within.

trying to get out of your own work

I am trying to back out of shot , about two thirds of the way through this Video,

 that my Son made for Me,  with his phone,  of My Sacred Grove,  or My Nematon.

Mine in the sense that I am the only person who has worked on making the space .

I had wanted to record the seasons new growth, untended winter into spring .

This is the place I did not know when I began .

Mountainside morning Sun

River down East

Stone up North

I alone have dug this well.

I carved the channels and ditches with my hands, shovel and pry- bar.

I raised up the Earth and stacked the Stone.

I heaped up mud and clay, sod and loam.

I planted Sweet Flag outside of the inner circle.

I have assembled and constructed  the center.

This is the place I did not know when I began.

This is  My Son's camera work ,

Beginning at the sacred groves entrance facing the setting sun.

center from below looking up

reorientation,

Drawing from a base broader than experience and imagination of individuals or groups,

Questionable foundations  may be the common theme in animal and plant response and movement.

Truth is deeper than our knowledge of it,

 Balance response takes place beneath the controlling awareness of the individual.

All Things can be disoriented by adjusting their perception of where they are in relation to everything else.

approximation proclamation

reproduction  ~ production

The Flower Moon has come and gone,
appeals to every sense of every life all around.
Attention getting expressions of a magnetic World Making Love .

Nature is not self contented and at peace.
Moving
opening up   spreading out   restless   blooming
not contented with containment or care of control.

 Natural Communities are not a concept or awareness of identities of participants,

A system of  interactive exchanges with a shared temporal experience with a relation to proximity .
Neighborhoods, Territories, Environments,

The many Beings, The many Spirits that share precious Time connected.
Spirits of the Season
Time for Living
Changing states of matter
Solid ~ Liquid ~ Gas
Energy - absorbed ~ passed through ~ reflected.

Breath of  the crashing wave
Dancing light on the water
Sound of the gentle rain
Permeable Place that is .
Form that we find ourselves in.

repeated resonant reverence, cycles and circles

the respiration of anaerobes.
A continued contribution following in the common established  patterns connects and creates.
The Atmosphere a process of Earthly respiration developed when Life had to Hide from the Sun.
So it is with what is exchanged with whom and how.
Habits of inhabitants on Habitat habitually living and dying, aspiring and desiring

Center of attention

attention to Center

Centered attention
Climate of reverence

The Waters of Life ! ! !
above and below
through and around
within  and between

Stuff of all beings
moving and remaining
throughout the ages

ONE WORLD
ONE  PLANET
ONE EARTH

sensitive sacrifice symmetry

Ritual is not an everything goes affair,at it's center an appreciation for something contained within.

more than a progression of binary couplings

The ability to express appreciation of exchange in the principles of Life/ Death energy transference and the lines of connections and attachments that together sustain and support one another by being.

making landfall - taking shape

I am far left of the team - 1979  

Fertility is the potential
emerging from and contained within


The news clipping found in my attic when looking for something else.
The  crease in middle suggestive and significant in symbol and season.
The vertical axis of centerfold separating the team of creators, left background from observers,with backs turned cropped in the far right.
It was the Summer of My coming of age when the photograph was taken
The image that you see is the light  and shadow of the form of the bend in the fiber of the paper- unfolded but holding on to the memory of place and position.
Newsprint no longer content with a flat two dimensional form,bulging into three dimensions.

Material Being

magic trip

spirits journey

Beginning with an exit.
A funny way to start.

Voyage of the curious.
Peoples of the art.

operative of Bonewits founded ADF

I found the title of this blog post from a link within another blog post referencing the personal Social Media account post of Author / Founder of Group characterizing the  Groups new leader, a couple years ago.

Funny that gate keeper and hostile takeover have popped up this spring in my essential magical current within the organization I have associated with for thirty years, referenced in this blog title.

Funnier yet that I could see a photo of the Author / Founder with his real name readily available to anyone with technology today, not so before I was yet thirty years of age with treasured books and a passion for study and practice relating to the Pagan Past.


Runes were a part of a cultural expression of specific peoples ,real people in a real time and place.
I never met Author/ Founder in person, but I did meet the other Author ~ Founder referenced above.
I began a practice that involved and incorporated other peoples, other spirits,other ideas,
 all real in this time and space.
My sense of reverence and appreciation is not limited to supernatural wonders and ancient ways.


?Funny?
 associations for Me
 the chicken or the egg?

keeper - gate

My Wife gets back from the city, and I feel I have to ask her if my last blog post was OK.
She said that I had not mentioned his referencing book ends, books and chapters, Our Son, so literary.
I had him read over what I had posted last, and this post , title, image and first two lines.
He said I didn't really give my opinion on the gate keeper controversy,She said the same.

For Me the Gate Keeper is the gateway with intelligence, will and sense of purpose of it's own.
Existing unnoticed , disappearing doorways. that do not open and close by your own control.
It represents the acknowledgement of spiritual help in the form of a spiritual contact.
It is good to be in the habit of acknowledging spiritual assistance.
One can never be certain where you are going to find yourself.

The gate is outside of oneself , not a product of individual imagination, not a construct of group desire,
The gateway experience  is not one of automatic mechanistic predetermined paths .
It is preceded by discovery.
landmarks
clues.

 It becomes problematic when this gateway representative of initial spirit help,
                 Druid    Drama    Door    is treated as a superfluous imposition on the ability to have direct contact and control by some who mistakenly think the door is a game in the mind of the group, or worse a special exclusive talent to be claimed by group or individual.

The present controversy contrivance conspiracy is not about the truth of the claim of cultural appropriation of the Gate Keeper in Ritual, It is about testing the organizations ability to timely and fairly investigate complaints / accusations.
It is also election politics, no cover up
Gate Keeper                Keeper Gate

gate keeper

equinox e-bay eggs

Fortunate and timely for me that I could seek counsel from my son on spring break from his first year at Bard.

There is an uproar on the clergy council list, a few of the members  have expressed the need to remove the gatekeeper from the core order of ritual.

The  Gatekeeper followed by the spirits of inspiration take us to where we want to be.

They are recognized appreciated and respected as conductors of appreciation and respect.

The process is one of  ascending and uplifting the platform, the -altar- the attention, the spirit.

another step away from the common or normal perception of experience on our way to a different place.

away from home.

The Earth Mother is  Our Familiar Home.

I took it upon myself to fix the personas  of gate keeper and spirit of inspiration  to those that were called upon here , my new-old home with my yet to be born son in the belly of my wife , not knowing it would be the last ritual we would share as members of  Green Man Grove.

This was breaking with a tradition of promoting group experimentation with under represented god forms and cosmology that would or could change from ritual to ritual. such rotational devotion strategies tend to create spin off fragmentary groupings people with a greater or lesser degree of acceptance and belonging in what the group is doing, or scheduled to be doing at any given time.

          

         The outsiders are offered to outside of the ritual area without insult or provocation between the gate keeper and the spirits of inspiration in ritual transition in the holiday rituals of Our Whole Grove.

I explained to my son how difficult it was for me to know what people think of an aspect of ritual when I am involved in the process...... What did he think about the gate keeper? 

He said it was important for new people to be able to have an introduction to the relationship of the portals spatially to one another, to get an idea of what they are, and how they are used by the group.

He likes the clear cut, " Let the gates be open"-"Let the gates be closed" as a definitive sacred time changer , easy and simple concepts to grasp , the gatekeeper the guide for the ritual journey combined entrance and exit. making it clear to the assembled beginning and ending.

That is what I recall , in my own words of the thoughts of  a long time ritual participant on this full worm moon - on this vernal equinox.

eventuate elementary episodic ecological environment envelope excitement

The inner workings of inner space
distant sensing ...... dream voyage
telepathic transit ..... dimensional divisions

does diametric determinism dominate discourse directing developed divisive disposition dynamic dilemmas?

If memory and imagination are the spiritual connective tissue - conductive pathway.....
 and passion - feeling,  make up the volume and substance of the body its' flow,
currents tides, things that pull at you unseen.....
The atmospheric  pressure, and contents we respond to.

Has the asking of, " choose a favorite! " been elevated to sacred duty? reason for being?
 socially accepted, corporately promoted appreciated,expected.

But is it really an expression of free will and agency of individual sense of right action to contribute to a popularity contest that promotes factionalism and polarization?
this is the reward? this is the cost?of acceptance? of recognition?

Is the encouragement of models of political theory an example of social cohesion or social coercion?
Are the spectacles of witnessing struggle of competition related to social aggression?
Predatory behavior a perceptual prioritizing,
 a justification for psychic violence and physical brutality, the harming or disturbing-defeating, killing, ending and erasing of another.

How much is the challenging of ideas, criticism of projects,review of procedures supportive for a aggressively counter productive opposition and confrontation between and within.
Environmental standards of group behavior:

 PLAY  NICE!

is there a split in group behavior ( shape )  based around

  ?comfort access - safe space ~~~~ way out - adventure novelty?

Disengagement is not just a phenomenon of the individual and social awareness ,
A  proto-instinctual impulse exists that seeks to distance " things" from threat  and harm.
 Inter species - inter generational guardian angels involved with the preservation and well being of the young things that don't know any better.
All creatures great and small have spiritual assistance with " being" .
Survival is not the invention of a individual .
Survival spirit helpers set the stage in a symbiotic sail - surf - slide through life/death experience.
The relationship preexists with or without the knowledge awareness or consent of entities known or yet to be discovered.