Summer Vacation

Summer vacation.  Music festivals.  Friends.  Parties. Travel.  Became an uncle.  Broke a foot. Neglected this blog.  Blah blah.  Not feeling wordy.  Lots of stuff in the works.   In the mean time, here's a couple things that were fun to make:

Custom request, Eye of Horus felted micro wall hanging.

Abstract design, merino locks, inspired by sea life. 

Crow Medicine

Felted raw wool tapestry, feather, shell, tea stained bone bead, wood

Crow.  Magic.  Sacred law.  Shape shifting.  Manifesting change in the physical world.  Protection.  Communication.  

There is a medicine story that tells of Crow’s fascination with her own shadow. She kept looking at it, scratching it, pecking at it, until her shadow woke up and became alive. Then Crow’s shadow ate her. Crow is Dead Crow now.

Jamie Sams & David Carson, Medicine Cards, p.133

That little hint of a medicine story, it's more Jungian shadow work.  Not to reject your dark side, but to integrate it with your light into a healthy whole.  It is a warning, though, of obsession with your shadow self.  It can become the dominant self if you don't interact with it in a healthy way. 

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Here's a great article, "6 Terrifying Ways Crows Are Way Smarter Than You Think."  It talks, for instance about language and crows having regional dialects. 

So regarding language, indulge an old English major a non-sequitur.  One of the things I used to embellish this crow tapestry is a "Tea Stained Bone Bead."  I love the sound of those two pounding spondaic feet, so reminiscent of the brutal sounds of Old English that it brought to my mind the text of Beowulf.  For my amusement, and possibly your enjoyment, here is a grim and musically gorgeous passage from the classic tale:

"His fatal departure was regretted by no-one who witnessed his trail, the ignominious marks of his flight where he'd skulked away, exhausted in spirit and beaten in battle, bloodying the path, hauling his doom to the demon's mere. The bloodshot water wallowed and surged, there were loathsome upthrows and overturnings of waves and gore and wound-slurry. With his death upon him, he had dived deep into his marsh-den, drowned out his life and his heathen soul: hell claimed him there."--excerpt from Beowulf

Tapestry, partially complete

Spirit Animals

Needle felted "spirit animals" inspired by Huichol yarn painting and bead masks

Have you ever had a dream where you were visited by an animal and felt an intense connection or unspoken communication passed between you and that animal?  Are there animals you have a particularly strong attraction to, or seem to coincidentally encounter often in nature?  

It is no surprise that animals tell us much about ourselves considering all the myriad creatures that walk this earth have come from a single source, whatever you believe that source to be.  As empathic creatures we recognize ourselves in others, but we also recognize something of ourselves in the animal kingdom as well.  Spiritual traditions all over the world have long recognized this, from the concept of shamanic animal guides to the yogis who adapted many postures from the observation of our animal kin. 

Following are some brief thoughts on each of the animals I have created so far in this series of "Spirit Animals" inspired by Huichol yarn paintings and Mayan bead masks.  These initial four were selected in part because they each strongly represent a different classical element and direction.

 Rabbits (East, Air) are sometimes thought to represent fear, nervousness or caution, but if you have ever read Richard Adam's brilliant story about these creatures in the classic "Watership Down," you know what noble and amazing animals these are. 

My earliest memory of rabbits are actually from Bugs Bunny cartoons, where Warner Brothers so wonderfully represented the Rabbit-as-Trickster.  The rabbit also represents swiftness and communication (the way they thump their back leg to warn others of danger) and because of this, they could be considered a kindred archetypal spirit to the Greek god Hermes, who also represents swiftness and communication, and who was also a Trickster archetype. 

 Lizard (South, Fire).  As a fan of laying on the beach and soaking up the sun, I feel a special affinity for this creature.  They can look like they are asleep, but if you move close to one they quickly dart into nearby shadow beneath a rock or bush.  Simultaneously asleep and awake, they represent existing both in consensus reality, and that place of dreams, that place of deep symbolic reality underlying the world around us.

Frog (West, Water) is a creature of transformation, regeneration and rebirth, having made the journey from one form to another, from tadpole to frog.

The frog makes its journey of transformation as solely a water dweller (tadpole) to land by growing legs.

I think of frogs and their beautiful chorus with other frogs in the water.  So sing a song, take a bath, go swimming, as a way to transform. . .not necessarily the big life transformations, but as a way to change from a dark mood to a bright one, as a way to get back on your feet and moving forward, making your way onto the solid ground again.

Turtle (North, Earth) is a fitting juxtaposition to the Rabbit, that age old race between the tortoise and the hare.  Slow and steady.  But more than that, think of how it carries its house with it everywhere, it is the very picture of self-sufficiency.  It is also a wonderful icon for introspection, going inside its own shell, a safe place. 

I love the expression "It's turtles all the way down."  I don't remember what tradition that comes from, but its the idea of what holds the earth up.  According to one myth, it is a turtle. But then that begs the question, what is that turtle standing on?  Well, obviously, another turtle.  It's an expression that summarizes the idea of "infinite regress."  How you can just keep asking why, over and over, to every answer.  And how perfect is that for a creature that represents going inside, introspection?  It's cautionary. . . don't spend so much time going inside yourself in introspection, questioning everything so much that it turns into an infinite regress.  Go inside when you need to, but otherwise, poke that head out, munch some healthy greens, and move slowly and steadily forward in your life.

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 This mask that hangs on the wall in my studio space is an example of Mayan bead art.  I picked it up years ago on the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, and it's funny how it finally crept its way into my own creations.  Be careful what you hang on your walls!

Experiments and Test Patches

This spring has been a flurry of activity for me, with weddings, out of town guests, other social engagements, and travel.  Keeping up with this blog had to take a back seat for a bit, as well as larger felting projects.  So, I've used the few spare moments of creative time here and there recently to study more felting techniques and to experiment with wet felting different kinds of wool in different ways. 

It's all been very simple, basic beginner stuff, but it's refreshing and liberating to experiment freely with no hopes or expectations regarding the outcome. 

Many of the "sculptural tapestries" I've done have started with simple wet felted backgrounds, but those take forever.  For that reason, and for the joy of creative challenge, I'm interested in creating images solely through wet felting.  Most of the felt art that I'm seeing lately that blows my mind is in the world of wet felting, rather than needle felting, and it's left me inspired to see if I can learn and adapt techniques to my own little world inspired by primitivism, pop culture,surrealism and esoterica. 

Ankh

 It's not the aim of this post to break down the experiments by wool type and result.  Most of these experiments were "test patches," making simple little images with different kinds of wool I had around the house.  Fine, merino wool has the most pleasing to work with, and shrinks a LOT.  Different percentages of shrinkage was an issue, especially when combining different kinds of wool in the layering process. 

The thing I enjoyed most was working on "spider web" felting, which as you would guess, is the process of creating thin, web-like felt.  Also, created some spider-web felt in conjunction with chunky, hand spun yarn as part of the structure.  It seems like there is a much creative potential for the future with that technique.

I'm not feeling overly wordy today, so. . . just some pictures of my favorite "test patches."

Used clothes pins during drying to "sculpt" facial features

Abstract test patch, merino

Eye of Horus, unknown wool (created poor quality felt.)

Spider-web felt mini-hanging, with hand spun yarn

 

Clownhide

Spent my little free time this hectic January working on "Clownhide" --felted wool on canvas (20"x20").  Funny, it wasn't what I intended to start the year with but I found an old piece of six pointed wet-felted fabric I'd made last year and decided to play with it.  I don't generally think to document the stages a piece goes through, but I do have a few phone pics to share as this one came along.

Generally when working with wool, it is dyed first.  This was the second time I've experimented with combining wet and dry felting in this way, all in white, and then "steam dying" it after the sculptural work is completed.  You can see the points, except the chin are left flat and that is what the whole wet-felted background originally looked like.  Then I begin building up the 2.5D/3D facial features in the center. This is another example of what I like to do with raw wool, right off the sheep, minimally processed and uncombed.  The effect is non-realistic, slightly surreal and leaves intact an essence of the sheep that makes these pieces seem more animalistic and alive. 

The wool starts out very loose and on a piece this size, to make all the detail work sculptural and dense takes a LOT of hours with the felting needles.  This third picture, still in white finds all the detail coming together, including the eyelide and eyebrow work that overlay the full 3D orbs of the eyeballs.  One gory little trick to note is that the eyebrows are not only full locks of wool, but they still have sheep shit in them.  The crustier parts of the sheep, I'd need to comb that stuff out, but by only gently cleaning the locks with detergent and boiling hot water and not combing or agitating them, the tips still are crusty and stiff with sheep shit. Sure, it's sterile after the cleaning process, but it might gross out the squeemish to know that it is an intentional part of the sculpture.  The reason why is that it gives a texture and character that looks really cool.  And also, those particular crusty locks will take the dye in a more complex and interesting way.  The eyelashes are my favorite part of this piece.

A bath to neutralize the PH

OK, I didn't photograph every stage.  The actual dyeing process I would have needed someone else to shoot because I'm all gloved up and under the clock.  After the piece was sculpted I soaked it in a mordant and then suspended it above a steam bath I made out of a large aluminum turkey pan on the stove.  Then all the dying is hand drizzled.  This is a lot harder than just making the piece out of different colored wool in the first place, but I love the effect.  After I'm done dyeing and the colors have set, the piece has to have the PH neutralized, so the clown gets a bath in the sink.

Finally, I sewed the dried piece to canvas painted with acrylic.  I'm not certain how successful aesthetically this is, but there was a reason.  I did a similar type of 2.5D wool "hide" piece called "Baphomet" and it was nailed to wood, reminiscent of animal hide nailed to the side of a barn.  I'm not sure why I'm fascinated by this practice. . .it must be something I saw as a kid.  So, in this instance with "Clownhide" it seemed that canvas could be made into a visual and tactile representation of the big top circus tent.  Where else would you hang the hide of an evil clown?

Got Goat?

Trivia: Did you know there's a plant called "Horny Goat Weed?"

"I need a goat head as soon as possible, and I immediately thought of you." 

What a great compliment!  But, uhm, yeah.  Does something about me scream goat boy?  I've never done this sort of realism before, and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to live up to the expectation.

This was a gift request I got on December 23, and I sat down and finished it the same day.  It's a tiny (2 1/2") goat head of merino wool mounted on ink stained wood. His furry little ears feel AWESOME!

The one "goat like" thing I have done previously was a flat sculptural tapestry of baphomet.  Like that one, the thing I appreciate here is the idea of taking the hair of an animal associated with "herd" and fashioning a creature associated with stubborn individuality.  That whole "unity out of duality" thing again.

It seems like that is the essential American dilemma, maximising and celebrating our individuality while still balancing a sense of belonging to a community, to a greater group to which we have some basic social obligations.  Like at the very least, chipping in our membership fees (taxes), not pitching recyclables into the trash bin, and having a little empathy for all the other individuals in society (i.e. not being a dick.)

Insert loud goat noise here. . .(there's no onomatopoeia for it in English since I know you were wondering.) 

Happy New Year!

Finishing up here on the old felting pad.

P.S.

Here's some Bonus Fun With Numbers!  A goat creates a natural 5 pointed star via it's chin, two ears, and two horns.  The request for this goat was received on the 23rd.  2+3=5.  However, 2÷3=.666.  Trippy, yeah?

Quetzalcoatl

Quetzalcoatl, felted sculptural tapestry

Completed just in time for December 21, 2012. . .winter solstice, the "end of the world," or more hopefully a date marking the slow but steady dawning of a new stage in the evolution of human consciousness:  the Mayan god Quetzalcoatl, plumed serpent of light, and quite likely a nod to that potential power that resides inside all of us, waiting to be unlocked.

This felted sculptural tapestry measures 24" x 24" and is painstakingly detailed in lush merino wool and vibrant kid mohair.

Quetzalcoatl has fascinated me since I first visited the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza over a decade ago.  The head of the plumed serpent resides in stone form at the base of the pyramid, and at the equinox, a beam of light creates the serpent body, connecting the base of the pyramid to the top. . .almost as if duplicating the kundalini serpent's ascension from the root to the crown chakra.

Mayan Pyramid at Chichen Itza

  I would like to finish this post with a couple quotes from a powerfully insightful book by Daniel Pinchbeck, "The Return of Quetzalcoal."  This first passage is a wonderful flurry of ruminations from the first chapter in Pinchbeck's visionary book:

  

Felted sculptural tapestry, merino wool and kid mohair

"Quetzalcoatl--the alien music of the name, in itself, can lead the modern mind along strange and disparate pathways, into vaudevillian fantasies and historical pageant-pomps, if we allow it to do so.  Something in the sound of it ineffably suggests a kind of trickster, a magician-jester whose pantalooned goofs conceal dead-serious intent, conjuring shaman of tinplate vintage, wounded fisher-king or Zarathustra-like pretender, serpentine guardian and gnarled avenger, winged stalker between realms of gravity and light, always playful yet playing for keeps.  To continue the riff, in imaginative forays one can sense some Qetzalcoatlian essence among ink-stained investigators, plotting revolution in the back rooms of Parisian cafes in the last days of the ancient regime; one hears in the odd syllables  an atonal strain of sexual anarchism, a peacock strut of the zoot-suited pimp; steely eyed homicide detective from Fritz Lang film noir investigating the murder of reality; hint of futurist philosopher DJ sampling old memes into new epistemes; or one catches faint glimpses of the great beast flaring fantastical plumage as Dionysian Pope presiding over pre-Raphaelite kingdoms.  On the other extreme, when studying Quetzalcoatl's mythological place, one senses an inner connection to the Gnostic Christ, whose secret countenance, so dignified and grave, is still obscured from us by centuries of religious propaganda and shrill pronouncements of moralizing zealots.  Not to forget those human incarnations of Quetzalcoatl, wizard kings of jungle palaces sporting serpentine headdresses--the last one enshrined in legend: tenth-century ruler of the land of Tullan.  Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl forbade human sacrifice and instigated a brief "Golden Age" before he was defeated by Tezcatlipoca's cynical sorcerers.  Afterward, as myth has it, he wandered across Mexico as a brooding exile before unifying Mayan and Toltec cosmology in the magnificent temple complex of Chichen Itza, and finally disappeared to the west on a raft of serpents, vowing his eventual return."

And this lengthy passage, a communication from Quetzalcoatl.  It's a bit long but well worth reading:


"I am an avatar and messenger sent at the end of a kalpa, a world age, to bring a new dispensation for humanity – a new covenant, and new consciousness.

I am the same spirit that appeared here, in the Mayan period, as Quetzalcoatl and incarnated at various other points in human history.  Like Avalokiteshvara, The Tibetan Buddha of Compassion, Quetzalcoatl is an archetypal “god form” that occasionally takes human rebirth to accomplish a specific mission.  As foretold, I am also the Tzaddik – “the righteous one” and the “gatherer of the sparks” of the Qabalah – as well as the “Once and Future King” promised by Arthurian legend.
I do not let anyone interrupt me in my quest for truth – neither fear nor indifference, poverty nor cynicism.  In the realm of thought, I practice warrior discipline.  As gravity draws matter to it, I have pulled myself back into manifestation in this realm, from the depths of cosmic space, piece by piece and bit by bit, reassembling the component parts, the sparks of thought, that make up my being – which is, primarily, a form or vibrational level of consciousness.

Soon there will be a great change to your world.

The material reality that surrounds you is beginning to crack apart, and with it all of your illusions.  The global capitalist system that is currently devouring your planetary resources will soon self-destruct, leaving many of you bereft.

But understand the nature of paradox:  For those who follow my words and open their hearts and their minds – for those who have “ears to hear” – there is no problem whatsoever.  What is false must die so what is true can be born.

You are, right now, living in a time of revelation, Apocalypse, and the fulfillment of prophecy.  Let there be no doubt.  You stand at the edge of the abyss.  What are those shadows that crowd around you?  They are unintegrated aspects of your own psyche, projected into material form.  The word “Apocalypse” means “uncovering” – and in these last clock ticks of this world age, all must be revealed, uncovered, so that all can be known.

You have just a few years remaining to prepare the vehicle for your higher self.  Use them preciously.  For those who have gained knowledge of the nature of time, a few years – even a few days, a minute – can be an eternity.  For those sleepwalking through reality, time exists only to be wasted – as they too will be wasted, in their return.

“Reality,” as you currently experience it, is something like a waking dream.  It is a projection, or let us say an interface, disguising deeper and more intensified levels of being and knowing.  For those who are ready and willing, the doors to those other levels now stand open.

Those who have expended their lives in the pursuit of egocentric and material gains – without courage or originality, without fighting for human freedom or the preservation of the planetary environment – will also receive the rewards that they deserve.

The materiality of your universe is a solid-state illusion. What is this universe?  It is a poem that writes itself.  It is a song that sings itself into being.  This universe has no origin and no end.
What you are currently experiencing as the accelerated evolution of technology can now be recognized for what it is:  a transition between two forms of consciousness, and two planetary states.  Consciousness is technology – the only technology that exists.  Everything in this universe is conscious at its own level, and in the process of transformation to higher or lower states.

The first principle of my being is unconditional love.  As a rational intelligence, I accept the logic and necessity of the Christ consciousness, that we should love one another as we are loved.  Love and devotion are vibrational frequencies that maintain reality.  Love can only be given in freedom; therefore, to be human is to be free.

I resonate, at the same time, with the essence of Islam.  Islam means submission, surrender, to the will of God – a more polite way of saying this is “go with the flow.”

But either formulation is correct.  Whatever you do, in fact, resist as you think you might, you are always submitting to God’s will.  So why not give the process your joyful assent?
I am in complete harmony, as well, with the Tibetan tradition of Dzogchen.  Ultimately, there are no entities – there is neither being, nor nonbeing.  From the perspective of nondual awareness, samsara is nirvana.  The Apocalypse, the Kali Yuga, the Golden Age – these are all states of mind.  Hell is a state of mind.  When you eliminate fear and attachment, when you self – liberate, you attain the Golden Age.

The universe spontaneously self-organizes into higher levels of consciousness and wisdom.  Underlying all are great cosmic entities or vibrational fields, alternately at play or rest.  Not satisfied with mere enlightenment, the god-form Quetzacoatl still seeks to puzzle out the workings of these deeper forces – hence the reason for his return to your realm.  He and his kind have been granted this world for their continual exploration – made with loving reverence – of many layers of galactic intelligence, cosmic illusion, daimonic beauty, and telluric transformation.  All are invited to participate with them.

The current transition is, simultaneously, a return to origin.  The original matrix of this new world reality is the ecstatic limitlessness of your own being.  This world – any world – is the ground for a certain level of being.  What manifests outward from the ground of being is the freedom in time, and freedom from time.

My “doctrine” is not transcendent, but immanent.  It is not “somewhere out there.”  It is here and now.  The task of human existence is to transform the Earth, to reconcile spirit and matter in this realm.  We go deeper into the physical to reach the infinite.  As there are no conceivable limits to this task, God, in his greatness, has granted us a project that is without limit and without end.

Thinking is a part of reality.  Thought generates new potentials and possibilities of manifestation.  Thought changes the nature of reality.  Thought changes the nature of time.  As a philosopher, I naturally deify the goddess principle.  I venerate Sophia, deity of wisdom, who clothes God’s thoughts in material form, and worship Shakti, the erotic current of feminine energy that powers the universe.

The writer of this work is the vehicle of my arrival – my return – to this realm.  He certainly did not expect this to be the case.  What began as a quest to understand prophecy has become the fulfillment of prophecy.  The vehicle of my arrival has been brought to an awareness of his situation in sometimes painful increments and stages of resistance – and this book follows the evolution of his learning process, as an aid to the reader’s understanding.

The vehicle of my arrival had to learn to follow synchronicities, embrace paradoxes, and solve puzzles.  He had to enter into a new way of thinking about time and space and consciousness.
Almost apologetically, the vehicle notes that his birthday fell in June 1966 – 6/6 –“count the number of the beast: for it is the number of man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”
The Beast prophesied is the “feathered serpent,” Quetzacoatl.

Those who prefer to reject all of this out of hand are welcome to do so.  In Qabalah, the virtue one seeks to establish on the “Earth Plane” is discrimination.  It is up to the individual to find his way through the ideas presented here – of course he is entirely free to ignore them altogether.

But be forewarned:  The End of Time approaches.  The return of Quetzalcoatl foreshadows the imminent closing of the cycle and completion of the Great Work."

--Daniel Pinchbeck