Njord

 

wisdom ~ wonder ~ will

 seemingly simultaneously  sympathetic science superstition search somehow shines shifting sentiments 

shadow shapes surface seams seen surprisingly solid surroundings streaked symbols slipping secret sanctuary

technique ~ technology ~ truth

 

Collected and crafted combinations contributing communicative creative consciousness

Curatorial  complexity contained crowded collaborative community chosen cornered by me

Cosmic centering ceremonies contrast colonial cultural conditioning about conquest and control

Curiosity challenges constraint complacency  comfort comes change cycles  caring continues 

Celebrating connectivity commonality celestial compatibility current channel charge contemplation 

show and tell at the lost and found

Time is talking in it's sleep.

Impossible to imagine the dream that provokes the moan and mumble,

the incomprehensible utterance that is the voice of the world.

                        mindless babble- thoughtful drone- persistent hum,

                                                  all story- our story, is this story,

never meant to be understood as a complete and separate thing ,

 but descriptive of process.

 

 

salus - audhumla

 Salus  is a Roman Goddess associated with public health and sanitation, my painting of her based on a  coin struck in the time when the sewer system was seen as a sacred devotional teaching and practice of a benevolent and wise being who choses to share and give of themselves blessing and knowledge to people to benefit the whole of the community.

the more sophisticated and concentrated the social interaction or psychic engagement becomes a spiritual urbanization of human values puts avoiding sickness as a key directive for future survival.

Clean as protection of illness that passes from one to another

- not all sharing is intentional-

-not all spiritual expressions are healthy-

carry away from this place through dark and deep unobstructed  flow

out and away not here to stay or down below to grow

Audhumla is the Cosmic Cow subject of this larger painting,

 a product of my imagination inspired by popular English translations of primordial Norse origin of life story.

Before the Gods

Between Fire and Ice

A most inhospitable  place of extreme energetic polarized opposition

frontier of  flame and fog - frost and melt - crust and drip

salts and substances deposited and transformed a material mineral essence that was no longer  a singular fixed  nature of fire or ice

elementary individuation of forms the building blocks of relationship, connective tissue, chemical exchange

nutritious collections encrusted in the space between

fertility in place 

Life in balance

food for the first food

Licked up by the most ancient great giver - milk flowing- feeding all worlds - all nature of beings

unsophisticated original being

transforming the space around it without awareness, intention or will

a simple hunger for the undigestible, oblivious not - god  begins the cycles of giving 

what sustains what

what is born from what 

seemingly solitary singular body with no sense of family,  kinship or belonging

no sense of flavor for what little there was to survive on

how could you know what you were starting?

with nothing and no one to compare

friend and feast

Yet Another Summer's End

 Communication between things naturally exists .

life experience need not be bound up in a moral narrative and relationship with sacred teaching.

It can be viewed as part of a common theme of biological activity involving revolving periods of conscious directed action, and times of unconscious rest , sleep or dormancy.

The other side of Life.

Life cycles , Life spans, Life times

Generations enmeshed in regenerative revolutions returning reflexively

perennial rotation  geosynchronous distribution  deciduous dynamism 

Transmutation between things naturally exists .

There is a transformation that takes place in the sharing of something from one being to another.

The substance expressed is rarely consumed entirely, often selectively noticed and reacted to.

What is taken in is a digested translated adaptation interpreted composition of the original subject.

Lots of little changes in a extended balanced continuation of  forms 

Resiliency generators - complexity developers -  wonder workers

Detritus dimensional doorways  nothing is wasted, nothing forgotten, nothing stays the same

Little things make a big difference in the long run.

Acknowledging the magic of intention as making a " gift " a special exchange,

Accepting something and expressing gratitude for being the recipient  of something thing they are free to reject is the distinctive feature in differentiating blessing from burden.

Essential qualities of recognition in benevolent action as a force that guides nourishes and heals.

structure of interaction- observational sensitivity

The image above a work still in progress,

The Herbs that grew from Miach's grave placed on Airmed's Cloak.

 Flexibility is in large part dependent on oppositional applications of force or pressure in a channel of limited space.

a point of restriction of possibility

a condensation of opportunity

choice is often   one way or the other 

  a simple switch or valve - hold on or let go

Naturally occurring support structures exist around us and within us.


The branching crotch between trunk and limb,

carrying on the movement, in time and space.

 directed dividing

 a border expanding with a respect for the point of connection.

a common reference beyond  individual sense of center - balance - base .

a feeling of attachment - of being part of something-

recognizing a conductive pathway of blessing
representing the exchange of vital energies and the interactions of spirits
between here and there.

 

essential harvest of external host

 

The image above a work in progress,

The Herbs that grew from Miach's grave placed on Airmed's Cloak.

The  repeated phrase ,

" joint to joint , sinew to sinew"

 Emphasizing the connective joining and bonding of independent free moving elements in the whole of the body in action.

The points of connection between spirits ,

and people  is articulated,

a hinged arrangement,

hanging balance

enter and exit

beginning and end

Outer space and Inner space

the other side of the reservoir - water color on paper18"x24"  

The image above is the painting I was working on when writing the last blog post.

Taken out on the back deck in natural sun light with a smart phone, a traditional transparent water color technique with multiple layers of pigment penetrating  the absorbent surface .

All of the light that the viewer sees is from the whiteness of the paper behind or underneath the paint.

A quality of the medium that has a particular appeal to the eye and a unique way of shaping the thought process- puzzling ability of the person working with it.

I was hoping to capture elements of what I saw and felt,

 walking in almost complete darkness away from the comet.

The Energy in the form of light -  had specific individual sources,

 the few visible planets miles distant,

 the stars light years away, 

the lightning bugs yards from the eyes,

 that receives the energy and perceives the differences, presences,

 individual character  qualities  without direct knowledge of location or subjects. 

Recognizing and appreciating kinship, the relationships between things as the natural and truthful way of things.

We are here to honor the Gods and not gods!

Kindred Spirits!

Beings of belonging

Presences  of connection

Like and likeness

Kind and kindness

Knowing witnesses sharing meanings through lives

This is our way of thanks

This is our way of respect

This is our way of joining together

This is our sustained invitation

 all that care about caring

 all that be in our being

all that see the light

all that enjoy the glow

above and below

large and small

now and then

companions

inside and out

 

host attention awareness - visiting awareness attention

Neowise over Ashokan photo by Eric Sheflin

What we expect to see can differ from how and what we look for.

At some point sense becomes localized, meaning and reference internalized.

The other is a presence put together with what information we can gather, and a great deal of our own imagination and conceptual structure.

Sensitivity and exposure the major components of  contrast and definition in recording.
Recording is communication, a muse inspired art involving mind, memory ,and feeling shared.
More than subject object spiritual dimension messaging the medium is a third party channel.
Visiting company- intelligent conduit-creative matchmaker -spirit trap capturing the moment.



There is a special quality to the lingering summer twilight on the adjusting vision and mood of the viewer.
After the dramatic sunset the intermission transition of sensory stimulation shifts with environmental scene changes.

fast!

My Wife was flipping on and off the high beams on the familiar way to our nearby landmark where we would meet a friend to show us the comet.

A few patches of misty fog as you might expect in the mountains,
 hangs low twisting surface silhouettes in space without shine or shadow.

The parking lot looked full, but we found a spot before the complete darkness of a moonless night set in.
The road was the closest crossing of the city owned reservoir to get to home, closed to vehicular traffic for a number of years it is now a walkway over the dividing wier  between east and west basins.

Walking out over the gap with our masks on looking for the shapes and sounds of our friend, telescope and camera.
I had brought along some cheap field binoculars of my dads for my wife and nineteenth century opera glasses in a reproduction reenactors cartridge box for myself.

I had seen the Hale - Bopp comet years ago visiting a recovering father out west having been released from the care of the neighbor to the south.
The significance of the phenomenon not being one that was sought out at that time,
This time I am not a simple witness but a stalker searching for a guide in the form of a passionate hobbyist to point me in the right direction.

The right place at the right time-the sky dome all around ,finding a friend without trouble to point out the international space station arcing across the intermitted strobe and running lights of air traffic,
My old opera glasses hyper extended in a wobbly way, but I was able to peep the suns light bouncing
off the orbital platform .

I had watched the initiatory launch on television,
 of the nations human space booster with a returning descending first stage accompanied by an east coast autonomous spaceport drone ship named ,
 " of course I still love you"
The home port near the hospital where my dad died, the funeral home that cremated him.
There are people living in the light moving across my wonky bent lens.
Through dust and scratches smoke stained eyes still see bright otherness motioning, suggesting a determined pathway exists.
Safe Home to the crew not yet returned in their vessel, all of us spirits in transit, lights on the move.

I was a dimly  perceivable presence in a pandemic socially distanced viewing opportunity sitting on the black top letting the horizontal barricade cut a line over the reflecting water.

 Orienting and grounding gravity lying on my back looking  up and out,
 feeling safe as long as I wasn't trampled in the dark by the children and attendant adults who's voices carried in the night before the comet would let itself be seen.

The light of the comet that we see is like that of the moon , planets and international space station, reflected sunlight.

Atmospheric conditions tend to set the limits for visibility as well as line of sight.
The difference from the luminous ambient glow of surroundings is detected first by peripheral vision enhanced and on alert a motionless light anomaly visits familiar space ,
presence of autonomous other?
Ghost and guest , unexplainably experienced by the naked eye for all to see.
A steady breeze made for little regular lapping waves on what my friend was hoping would be a flat reflective surface for the image he would capture.

It was hypnotic
The light
The sound
The feel
I take My mask off so My glasses stop fogging up.

Just out of my vision,  I hear a familiar voice observing the telescope and laptop imagery of the comet ask my friend,
" Did I see you at a party of the Perrins'? "
surprise magic friend encounter!
I mask up.
My Wife was able to get the image above from the familiar voices husbands new hand held phone with special long exposure application for photos of the night.
I think he said he had to be perfectly still and steady for seven minutes to get it,
 he shared it in less time than it took to make it,
in My Wife's phone before we said  thank you and goodbye.
The opposite view of the other side on the return was equally a surprise light show of fireflies, blinking among the pines magic friend encounter! with a glow that was not reflective of a singular source of radiant energy like the sun or stars but a multiplicity of individual bio luminescent beings backsides broadcasting breeding intentions with internally generated brightness.

I'm currently working on a painting of that view while writing this and thinking about the reflective body of collected grains and particles of frozen  cosmic smoke that are blown by the solar wind in the vacuum of deep space as a tail that is a trail of atmospheric debris melting away from the surface of an object with an unknown center, the composition of the inner circle is hidden.
 a mysterious core,
 a solid material composition and substance that
is manifest as a spectral shroud held together with its own agency independently
 responding to internal and external electro magnetic dynamism and gravitational fields .
travelers outside of our solar system, outside of our immediate family or group believed to be the source of the earths waters and the seeds of life on this planet.

amusing rhetorical fluency

wild thing

People teach fear.
People teach blame.
fear of what is not in our control.
fear of what is wild and untamed..
People glorify domestication, artistic expression,technological advances,industrial commercial market exploitation.

People teach that you can not proceed forward without future revenue projections responsibly.
People teach dependence on artificial systems and manufactured specialization.
People teach  competitive sport, cultural and societal rule and morality.singular responsibility
People teach good - bad= life- death=right-wrong=winner-loser=happy- sad=sharp - dull-on=off.
                                        SAFE   -    UNSAFE

                            certainty                -  uncertainty
           civil                                    -hostile
                                         healthy-sick
                                             self-others
                                                 us-them
People employ metaphors and use symbols to exchange information and speculate on the success or failure of the imagined productivity of various spaces or beings contained therein.
People own things for amusement and self benefit - believing that as a possession it is possessed and empowered by the will of its master..
People reaffirm and recognize their own value judgement as to how things are expected to behave,
 when they are not working right, broken,sick, worthless or unwanted.

Private property is not seen to have its own free will and destiny, its own life and reason for being.
A border and boundary both physical and metaphysical that exist  in peoples minds,
any other occupier of claimed space are trespassers.
Material substance is a thing people can touch hold and identify with in a life experience that is moving and changing with time.
Things become references, reminders, relationships that add a sense of permanence and purpose to peoples lives and livelihood.

Spirit in stuff                    People love stuff       Love in stuff          Stuff of love
Affections and appreciations for inanimate objects and animate life forms, living in the past present and future!

People can  be gentle and considerate in Interactions with other things
respect spirit- unrecognized autonomy- individual potential - Life force
bursting forth on the scene
emerging from a hide away within
coming back around
again unaware

characteristically distinctive irregularities of pattern transition within dimensional persistent parallel symmetry

Explicitly vague overview of interior complexity and nuance ,
 the truth of the matter  never an
obvious omnipresent exterior conscious perception of universal standards of reality,
but of multiple awareness,
many minds, many thoughts, many ideas, many spirits, many desires,many skills,
 many dreams
naturally at home in all beings great and small, multifaceted adherents to their own world views.

Individuated expressions of image and the imaginings of the viewer as well as the process of imagination and the private extra dimensional realities contemplated, considered, contained,crafted.

Constantly- making up our minds, forgetting the role of memory, confusing-then and now, here and there, self and other,

 alone in our thoughts, our feelings, our experience, our reaction, our recognition.

Consistently fluid motions changing structural cohesion properties in the characterizations of circumstance .
harmony and dissonance in orders and arrangements, the composition of all subjects and objects
matter that matters moment to moment to matter that matters, immaterial  minds mingling.

out of body experience - sensory awareness - exterior consciousness - non local resource

spirit exchanges - circulated conceptions - regenerative information - comfort foods - shared dreams

There exists a natural split between what is, perceived or not;
 and what is remembered,
 expression and communicative intention are not limited to current human language trends.

The interrelationships between elements and energies- abundant living and non living systems complexity built upon interior and exterior interaction as part of something -that is part of something.
our shared reality is not a product of individual awareness, but collective narratives.

Observation and description , no matter how clinical, scientific, or scholarly- is story telling.
presenting ideas for the consideration of others is Art.

The human directing management limiting access of control and connection between letters and words, paragraphs and pages,sentence and chapter, organ and body,illusion and magic,
 Saw a lady in half ?
The Audience and Act.
The Performer and Venue.
The Industry and Trade.
The Sky and the Sea.
The Group Mind???
The collected distribution and circulation of  mindless groups of codes and pathways, definitions and proportions unimaginable, in the community of the cosmos with no sense of Natural cohesion,
No Belief necessary!
No understanding required !
No Guarantee delivery !
No Judgement review !
Nothing special except the special specter in knowing nothing of the trick or tale.

.

what can you say?

Lines of communication can easily be crossed unintentionally.
Unusual encounters and strange events, juxtapose themselves on an internal dialogue,
 between the process of understanding and discovery,thoughtful attention floats and travels.
 this constant search for meaning is a structural function of communication that takes place within  individual awareness,and collective transient expressions of directed energy or force applied, message              signal                                                                       influence     test
 a  conversation that is interrupted by a third party outside of the control , language,and intelligence of the individuals or identities routinely referenced.
Characterization of experience,
Expressions of perceptions,
speaking your mind,
speaking for yourself,
talking to yourself,
talking out loud,
or so you think.
Lines of communication can easily be crossed intentionally.
Routine behaviors and common assumptions,assert themselves as the ways of things,
below the reach and grasp of reality,  transmissions of unknown sources are received.
an unrecognized dialog of give and take that is intentionally ignored, and not addressed
rational self interest a shadow of social anxiety casting personal doubt upon the back and forth
cause            effect                                                                              hope     fear
intuition is information from somewhere, how does one chose to respond or react to this idea?
sharing with others the unique sudden thought.
Uncertainty of offerings,
Challenge of acceptance,
listen to your heart,
listen to your loves,
hearing with compassion,
hearing spirit guidance,
or so you think.

honorable mention

Just as I have come to understand the disservice done to ones own sense of truth and knowledge in simplistic value judgments, it is also insulting to the various subjects and objects that make up experience with potential reason, feeling, sense outside of  perception, characterization,description process, a miscommunication and transmission of disinformation that sends a message,treating others as play things and props for entertainment and amusement, often without consent or permission is nasty.

If the expression and opinion is based upon respecting the unique individual moment transpiring genuinely, authentically, sincerely between multiple subjects and objects out side of mind and imaginings, culture and myth, expectations and desires or fears.
Trusting - Hoping - Wishing

Veneration is the quality of appreciation, caring for and bringing attention to,elevating,
 promoting, to revere or show reverence for something is to see it as  above the common base,
stood up ,put up on stage, up on a pedestal for a time in it's turn.

Displaying  of recognition or recognition of displaying qualities and virtues explicit in others.
Discovering of appreciation or appreciation of discovery in the great ways of things all around.
Developing of participation or participation of development of truthful arrangements free of traps.
Directing of attention or attention of directing the benevolent exchange between spirits existing now.

Judgment of and by others outside of ones own knowledge takes place - unseen witnesses to observations and opinions of unintended audience , misaddressed attention in conflict - contest
 ceremony - customary competition - the promoting of disrespectful exchange, occasions of discrediting debate,spectacle of cruel sport! arguing about nobility! fighting about virtue!
looking for winners!
labeling losers!
to decide what is worthy of respect?
what can be celebrated or worshiped?
what can be mentioned and honored ?
The names , shapes and forms of things are not the contents , but the package,
not the ingredients,but the label, not the book, but the cover. not the champion but the trophy,
not the god but the idol.

 Honoring the mentioned -assuming ,ignoring,the rest, the unnoticed, unpicked ,unworthy, unknown.

 The discovery or establishment of Spiritual Hierarchies is the opposite of my pagan experience.

The need to seek to think well and speak well of things at special times is the simplest reverence .

all you've got to do is get through

sincere searching - spiritual schooling - spectral surrounding

Learned behaviors about learning from others lessons of living loving and  leaving our bodies.

Groups of special interest or common goal form and congregate amplifying collective movement.

Source of shape, shared space,aesthetic sensibility, thought process,energetic response, similarity .

Structure is fluid, not static, relationships retroactively rumored to realization, reactions and rewards,

reinforced, reviewed, revived, released, remembered occasional manifestation of mass and substance.

Recognized recognition serving feeding instinct dance composition inspirational gathering influence.

Repeated resourcing replicating results, reality sharing attention awareness  attitude alignment.

Special symmetry serendipity exchange situational satisfaction in losing sense of self shape shifting.

Interaction appreciation, spontaneous system signal significance, style, selective respective reverence. .

Tune in again ! next time...

Rituals of the Seasons are  repeated .

Anticipations and expectations somewhere in the beat..

Episodic cliff hangers, drama going down, special to that time, that station; that show!

The narration is hard to follow at times, garbled static inconvenience and uncertainty with moments of tender clarity

In dealing with these spiritual others - with other people around - there is a correlation between ,
resemblance and assemblage.
A distortion of the group perceptual lens ,a bias in group comfort in decision making and event planning.

What is coming through? is different than, what are we looking for? or at?
What , can  -you- see  ? is different than ,this is how we agree to see things.

The difference between a group of people recognizing the occurrence of  natural blessing,
 and those that seek to shape and influence - a group of people,
 with their mastery of elements of control of blessing is profound.
The vane and delusional tendency of arrogant individual  interpretation of spirits ,
still exists with groups of people!

Our ability to describe others and speak on their behalf is not our magic power or religious duty.

The occasions focus is not a function of the assembled gifts of ritual participants.
Not a celebration of people for people, of group for group,or a groups ability to define what and how people are expected to behave and judge one another.....
 articulated in harmonious chorus ,
 right there!
on the spot !
on this and every sacred seasonal sacrifice !
synchronous unity of wise intention and great knowledge are rumored to take place!

A manifesting mistake in a  groups ability to idealize the story,
the actions and characters of others to suit the needs of the people ....
so they will pass on the habit of group story making people.
Spiritual community and Entertainment industry.

Time slot , producer,director, manager + anticipated future audience reaction.
Let the fans of the talent show form their own clubs leagues and licensed  networks
but don't let the players unionize,
competing stadiums, theaters, auditoriums,schools,programs,publishers,platforms, providers,parties,all needing to validate their existence by filling their space with people.

ownership of product is protected
control of market projected
peoples attention directed
professionalism takes on the aspect of it's profit potential.

This common people practice in dealings with living people are not the same  as the efforts to communicate appreciation and gratitude to a number of non- physical spirit guests,
 kindred spirits.

Seasonal Ritual is not based around attracting a future audience of living people, it is about tuning in to different kind of people - spirit friends and family of favorites.

One of the unique qualities that these,
 spirits - ghosts - gods seem to have ,
is the ability to see our inner intentions and motives ;
not so much reading our minds as seeing our hearts :

                                       *
They seem to know what cards are in our hand, perhaps they dealt them to us.
Maybe  we felt like we found them, or discovered we had been holding on to them,
caring for them, keeping them safely near by.

Some times it is not what we see, or of being seen.
But the feeling of being looked after by beings who've been around from the beginning..
Before we began telling stories, before listening to stories or believing in anything...
Before collecting cards, before playing games, before choosing a channel.....

Benevolent bonding basics = Treasure Company

Seasonal Song of Change! a catchy tune, a special time, a passing sensation!

No purchase necessary!

The Show is not of our making, but of our partaking
.
Seasonally repeated ritual creates an opportunity to recognize the less than obvious connections to  easily overlooked and taken for granted spiritual contacts with non - idealized ,
often transient beneficial agents and influences outside of our awareness of immediate presence .
Improbable, unpredictable,unrepeatable, Live, imperfect , nonstandard, unexpected.

forces with feeling, energies with identities,exciting times , action with intention, fire between beings.

The occasions focus is honorific of the central concept of gratitude and support for,
creating, building, lighting, caring for, feeding the breathing, living spirits of our shared world.
People living and dead, known and unknown are part of the spiritual human cast playing with us.


Our ability to describe others and speak on their behalf is not our magic power or religious duty.

The Show is not of our making, but of our partaking

habitat and reputation

"Feel free to have a look!"

My practice is rooted in sharing.
Conceptions of sacred space,
 activities of worship and reverence without trickery,
 threat or illusion.

The showing of respect!
The respecting of the show!

Sacred Ritual need not be secret ritual.
Special Ritual need not be social ritual.
Serving Ritual need not be selective ritual.
Sacrifice Ritual need not be scary ritual.
Sensitive Ritual need not be static ritual.

?!twenty- twenty!?

I'm told that my first word was " see ! ? ".
That is to say, that the story I was told about my first repeated vocalizations, often accompanied with  a physical gesture, the moving hand, the pointed finger.
            " see ! ?"

Do the details of baby Bryan's first words show a predisposition for perceptual sharing?
or second sight??
How " true " is my memory of the story recorded in my baby book?
Vision Test + Vision Quest
Can you read the top line on the chart from left to right please?
Spatial measurements of scale and distance..
It is not enough to look in the right direction....
Can you discern meaning or understanding.....
Are you able to articulate an expression of that awareness that communicates to others?

Time - Numbers - Years
References , Symbols, Stories
see what I'm saying here?
or , reading what I've written?

The others communicate by way of our natural organic perceptual pathways behind our eyes,
 before any shared cultural interpretation,
outside influences of unrecognized background manipulation of our nervous system pathways,   structure and function around available light, attracted to the warm glow of life force.

We are collectors  - We are seekers - We are sensitive

Cyclic psychic sensors sampling and sorting,
energy traveling other lives, other stories, sources beyond selves ,
shared and commonly witnessed shapes of experience.

A contextual frontier between a shared external stimulus and the inner voice.

Who's thought?- Who's idea ?-Who's feeling?- Who's memory?

Does it matter that We are the matter ?

 We are the material substance that this energy flows through?
 We are the unification of left and right,
 stereo spirit receptors,
polarized reconciliation of opposites,  sacred space of origin and end,
 different  time travelers - individual responses - separate bodies.

Dimensional expressions - projected preferences - ego manifestations

                                       Love Magnets!
                                             " see ! ? "