The Transdimensional Moment (revised & completed 1/1/2026

 

Timestamp: December 15, 2025 - 4:08 pm. Cellphone photo, DS.

"I’ll walk where my own nature would be leading:

It vexes me to choose another guide:

Where the gray flocks in ferny glens are feeding;

Where the wild wind blows on the mountain side.

What have those lonely mountains worth revealing?

More glory and more grief than I can tell:

The earth that wakes one human heart to feeling

Can centre both the worlds of Heaven and Hell."

- An excerpt from an untitled poem written by the perennially relevant, 19th century British poet and author, Emily Brontë in 1846. Read the full poem here.

(December 31, 2025, 8:00 PM.)

I am presently watching a beautiful twilight sky here in Albuquerque during this final daylight hour of the year 2025. Not quite as beautiful as the clouds I found earlier in December (in a similar timeframe), when the photo (above), and, specifically, the cloud (below) were taken. (Note: All 4 cloud formations in this post share the same tree.)

Timestamp: December 15, 2025 - 4:58 pm. Cellphone photo, DS.

The moon, which almost seems strangely full - strangely, because (I swear) it was in its new phase only 3 or 4 days ago - is nested in a pale puff of clouds. Then again, somewhere else in the world or outside of it, the moon is full, depending upon our hypothetical watcher's perspective.

The color of the sky is one shade of an indescribable iridescent blue/grey color I've seen nowhere else other than NM. The much paler clouds hover ghost-like there, darkening as the night cycles by. They'll continue to shift and transform - so slowly you won't even notice - till the early morning, before they drift away.

On this day, however, when the clock strikes midnight, an official transformation will take place: the year 2025 will slide into year 2026, AD (CE).* For some of us, it already has. For some of us it hasn't quite yet, which is why I wanted to post so late in the day. Because it's all so relative, and relativity is important when attempting to define a transdimensional moment. 

I confess, I've spent weeks attempting to rethink and redefine transdimensionalism after the content of Once Upon a Transdimensional Day forced me to fully realize that all previous attempts on my part were in adequate.

I want to apologize for leaving that post hanging in mid-air for weeks, with that prematurely-made promise: "Text to come." I didn't intend to lie; I just overestimated my ability to write that text. I didn't foresee the severe case of writer's block that would follow...

(This post is being written live; more appears below the jump!)

(Update, January 5, 2026: For my other 2026 post, see The Fool's Heroic Journey.

"Keep Going" (Featuring the Work of Jada Fabrizio)

"keep going" - diorama, mixed media - 2017, Jada Fabrizio
(All images can be clicked on for enlargements.)

"I believe that art should make you feel something, it should touch you, make you think, laugh, cry. I consider myself an alternative reality photographer. I sculpt my own characters, build dioramas, and light the scene to create surreal visual fables or freshly minted fairy tales for adults... Each image is purposely unresolved. They are, in essence, stories in need of an ending."

- Jada Fabrizio, quoted from the Monmouth Museum Journal.

***

Once upon a time... (in 1979... which seems like a lifetime ago because, relatively speaking, it was) two young, punked-out, female artists recently transplanted from the east coast (USA) met in a warm, sunny place called San Diego, California. As it so happened, they met in an art supply store where one girl was a cashier. She (Jada, then a painter) was a striking, dark-haired girl with a tiny - but fashionable - peculiarity... something the second girl (me, then a cartoonist) picked up on from the get-go. (Inset right, from 1980, my cartoon alter ego Rude Girl.)

Looking down at her hands, I noticed she had only one of her fingernails painted... I think it was on her left pinky - at least that's how I remember it - but it wouldn't have mattered anyway, nor even the color (blue?). That one fingernail was like a code word... a subliminal prompt... and immediately we struck up a conversation. We found we had a great deal in common... up to and including a certain alienation from the overwhelming "whiteness" of the west coast.

Girls - color photograph - 2013, Jada Fabrizio

Less than a year later, Jada high-tailed it back to New York... myself following soon after. We found ourselves on the Isle of Manhattan involved in all sorts of mad (and often pointless) (but, always fun) adventures. In time - and not very long - I (at least) would look back and say: "Gee, why did I ever leave California?"

Jada, however, was in exactly the right place. Some people are lucky that way. They never regret the past nor lose sight of themselves...

They just keep going...

For the Angels

A detail from a work in progress - with a borrowed element from
Sandro Botticelli's (1489) Cestello Annunciation - © 2016, DS

It's the beginning of a new year... and one that is particularly welcome; especially after 2016, the year when, for many people (including myself), everything went to hell. We lost a lot people last year - the death of David Bowie was the first bad omen - and, all in all, it was a little creepy; you'd think they all were "abandoning ship" or something.

"For the Angels" was to be my last post of that year - as opposed to the first of 2017 - wherein I expressed my gratitude to certain friends of mine - the true angels - who helped me out in the past 6 months, literally saving me from an eviction, and figuratively saving me from the wolves howling at my door.

Actual poverty is almost like a disease; it's debilitating in more ways than a comfortably-placed person can conceive of. Society, for instance, treats poverty as if it were a crime; taking the self-righteous position that the impoverished are at fault for their own failure. Very often, those whom we refer to as friends take the same position; they see you drowning and advise you to swim. Your true friends, however, are those who throw you a line at the crucial moment, and it is to these friends - and they know who they are - this post is dedicated.

Artists, of course, are traditionally poor... "the starving artist" is so cliche that even some artists are under the impression they really can live on air alone. The "mad artist" in the garret is another cliche. And, as it was, I blogged about artists and mental institutions quite a lot in the second half of last year, most likely because the idea of residing in one became more understandable as the days moved on.

But, it is a new year... and, thus far, the worse that can be said about it is the surrealistic coronation of multi-millionaire billionaire King Donald in the coming week. As I mentioned in the previous version of this post, a man in Canada has predicted Trump will be behind bars before the end of the year... which would be the best-case scenario, had VP Pence  - known in Twitter circles as the "Man from Glad" - not been waiting in the wings. So, for most Americans - and most people in the free world - it looks like a lose/lose situation. Although I have little more to say about the matter, our friend Hawkwood over Shadows in Eden has written rather extensively (and accurately) about Agent Orange, and so I direct you here (and here).*

A Mojo Magic Square (with update)

Mojo Magic Square - digital - © 1981, 2014, DS

(click to enlarge)

"Mojo is magic, magical ability, and the power to get things done. "Mojo" first appeared in the 1920s in the southern United States from the Gullah word "moco" (magic), Gullah being Creole spoken by some groups of African-Americans.  The ultimate root of "mojo" was the word "moco'o," which means "shaman or medicine man" in the African language Fulani.  "Mojo" spread first into mainstream Black English and then general usage primarily through the popularity of jazz and blues music.  Muddy Waters got his 'Mojo working' and Jim Morrison of The Doors called for the Mojo Risin'."
- Quote found here.

"Think joie de vivre, that sense of being alive, joyful, and fully present in the moment. The path to finding your mojo differs for everyone. For some, mojo is a sense of purpose and meaning in your life. For others, it’s reclaiming optimal health or sparking their creativity. Some seekers find mojo by getting in touch with the divine, while others get their mojo by getting in touch with their sexual prowess. For many, it’s all of the above."
- Quote found here.

"So what is a mojo? It is, in short, the staple amulet of African-American hoodoo practice, a flannel bag containing one or more magical items. The word is thought by some to be a corruption of the English word "magic." Others state that it is related to the West African word "mojuba," meaning a prayer of praise and homage, as it is a "prayer in a bag" - a spell you can carry. A third possible derivation is from the Bantu/Kongo word "mooyoo," the magically-charged ashes and ground up bones of an ancestor that are encased in the front of a nkisi ndoki - a fetish-statue made in the form of a human being or animal. This connection with the bones of the dead is interesting, because historically, many mojo hands have indeed contained small bones, either of animals or of humans.

Some root workers top off their mojo bags with parchments upon which are printed medieval European grimoire seals and sigils of talismanic import, particularly the Jewish-derived seals from the Greater Key of Solomon and The 6th and 7th Books of Moses, both of which are sold as sets of seals printed on parchment paper, and are used without reference to the rituals given in the texts of the original grimoire books.

These last items surprise many Caucasians, who are unaware that a strong vein of Germanic and Ashenazi Jewish folklore runs through traditional African-American hoodoo. Still, however strange it may seem to cultural anthropologists in search of "African survivals" in hoodoo practice, it is a fact that John George Hohman's "Pow-Wows or the Long Lost Friend" - first published in America in 1820 and translated into English in 1856 - has long been a staple source of inspiration for conjure-workers in both the African-American and European-American Appalachian traditions, and many a black hoodoo practitioner can cite chapter and verse of "Albertus Magnus," "The Black Pullet," "Secrets of the Psalms," "The 6th and 7th Books of Moses," "8th, 9th, and 10th Books of Moses," and other occult books of European origin."
- From an article found on Lucky Mojo.

A Sator Magic Square in Oppède, France.

"The earliest dateable Sator Square was found in the ruins of Pompeii, which was buried in the ash of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Examples may be found carved on stone tablets or pressed into clay before being fired. Its translation has been the subject of speculation with no clear consensus.

It seems that, in all early examples, it is a Rotas Square that reads "ROTAS OPERA TENET AREPO SATOR" from top to bottom, and from left to right.

The Sator Square is a four-times palindrome, and some people have attributed magical properties to it, considering it one of the broadest magical formulas in the Occident. An article on the square from The Saint Louis Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 76, reports that palindromes were viewed as being immune to tampering by the devil, who would become confused by the repetition of the letters, and hence their popularity in magical use....

The square has reportedly been used in folk magic for various purposes, including putting out fires (the spell is "TO EXTINGUISH FIRE WITHOUT WATER" in John George Hohman's Long Lost Friend), removing jinxes and fevers, to protect cattle from witchcraft, and against fatigue when traveling. It is sometimes claimed it must be written upon a certain material, or else with a certain type of ink to achieve its magical effect."
- From the Wiki Sator Square entry.

***

Well, it's officially a new year in the western world, but, in the Far East, the lunar new year doesn't occur till February 2nd. (More about that later...) So, it's a relative thing, and if your "mojo" isn't quite working the way you'd like it to, you've got a whole month to get yourself in gear. Now, while "gear" isn't necessarily the operative term when defining the word mojo, dynamo, or dynamic kind of is; so, in the last analysis, you know your mojo is working when your inner world is moving seamlessly in synch with the outer world. My guess is, if one can get that down, then, regardless of all the circumstances beyond one's control, he or she will be A-OK... and as much of a contender in this game of life as anyone else is.

As it happens, mojo is a word that's been used - in various corrupted forms - quite a lot in recent years. Originally it was Hoodoo charm (although not to be confused with this hoodoo) bringing good luck and psychic protection to its bearer. Now, it's a catchword most commonly utilized by motivational speakers, executive coaches, "life" coaches, and self-help gurus when describing formulas for increasing ones productivity*, particularly in the workforce.

But, just exactly what do I mean by the word Mojo?

Mojo is animism... the dynamic energy fluctuation that makes an organism tick. If ones wiring is in top form, ones inner force pulls back and then moves forward in sync with ones conscious desires and motivations. In other words, ones Mojo is "working". On the other hand, if ones wiring has gone awry - for instance, in the case of a series of set-backs, intense trauma or injury of any kind, or just plain chronic disappointment - then ones Mojo is thrown off its game. It isn't as if you've lost it... it's that it's blocked from true expression; in other words, it's broken.

Case in point: the magic square (first image above) is something I've had on my desktop for the past 2 years. Why is this? Well, that's a good question! Before this period, I had just gone through a series of unfortunate events, and was holed up in an unfamiliar town with absolutely no clue - and no hope - for a "brighter future." Without going into details, my mojo was, in fact, at the lowest point of its existence...

Labradorescence... Though the Eye of a Flatbed Scanner

4 separate scans - shot from 4 different angles - of a labradorite pendant cabochon
(click to enlarge)

"An Inuit legend says that long ago the Northern Lights fell from the sky and were trapped inside some rocks off the coast of Labrador. One day, an Inuit warrior came upon these rocks and tried to set the Northern Lights free. With blows from his spear, he was able to release most of the lights, but some still remained to be permanently imprisoned within the rocks. The trapped Northern Lights are what give the stone we know today as labradorite its brilliant flashes of light and color."

- Labradorite lore via this web page


"Labradorescence is a side-effect of the molecular change which occurs in large crystal masses of anorthosite, producing an iridescent play of colors. This labradorescence, or schiller effect, is the result of light diffraction within the lamellar intergrowths – fine, adjacent layers of the separate materials (lamellae) comprising the whole rock phase – created when conditions do not allow for sufficient diffusion to the materials' equilibrium composition.

The cause of this optical phenomenon is phase exsolution, or phase (state) instability, occurring in the Bøggild miscibility gap (An48-An58); under the appropriate heat and pressure conditions the separate molecular components will coexist but not mix to a solution, producing the phenomenon."

- Via Wiki's labradorite entry


"Labradorite is said to represent the "temple of the stars"... It brings the light of the other planetary beings to the soul of the user. The labradorescence is a luminescence, derived from extraterrestrial origin, which is enclosed in the mineral to bring the galactic evolved energies from other worlds to the Earth plane."

- Via this web page

***

Originally this post was going to welcome in the new year and feature a long-standing work in progress, "Labradorite Window". Well, that was the plan, at any rate. But, as it so happened, and so often happens, neither the image (nor the order of the day) really cooperated, while, at the same time, something new was added to the mix. That is, the above scan - of a favorite pendant of mine - representing yet another facet of a mysterious gem, known as labradorite.

Labradorite is named for the area it was "discovered" in 1770: Labrador, Canada. In reality, however, it has been found in numerous places, and traced as far back in time as the ancient Greeks, who knew it as "Black Moonstone".

I've only known about labradorite for around 15 years, finding my first piece - a sphere - in a metaphysical book shop here in CT. I stared at it for a long time initially, thinking I must be hallucinating, it was that unearthly beautiful. I felt a similar awe when I encountered my first comb jelly years before (see here). Maybe it's just something about flashes of electric blue light found in unlikely places that mesmerizes me. In any case, I learned the mineral's name and bought the sphere, which was astoundingly inexpensive, all things considered.

But, even a few years later, I could find very little about it online. Today, on the other hand, there's hundreds of links and images extolling its virtues; though often the memes being shared are repeated and distorted along the way. The information you might find is sometimes technical, but, far more often, overwhelmingly esoteric, and not always accurate.

I had scanned my labradorite pendant in the past, but never from different angles... and the one anomaly I missed, and one point of this post, was just how inaccurate a scanner can be. It doesn't, after all, faithfully record a 3D object. It interprets the object, and, when confronted with transparent or translucent objects, the scanner compensates for its disability by creating a new object altogether! (By the way, when scanning the labradorite, the scanner cover was left open, and nothing was placed on top of the pendant.)

If you looked at the above image, for instance - which is actually 4 separate scans combined - you might imagine the labradorite cabochon is solid and opaque in places. While the scan is, in a sense, describing how labradorescence actually works - possibly similar to recent scientific efforts to produce an invisibility cloak (?) - the image is hopelessly wrong. Looking at it, we might safely assume the schiller effect is floating across the surface of a chunk of brownish substrate. Looking at the images below, however - courtesy of my monitor's camera - the reality is something else again. In these three shots I am shining a small flashlight through the pendant. Though one can see the inclusions that may have created the overall pattern, the "substrate" does not exist. There is nothing remotely opaque in the cabochon. It is, for the most part, transparent.

Or is it? Wiki's description of labradorescence is muddied with technical terms. ("Extra-terrestrial" in the third quote is actually preferable... and, it might not be be all fantasy; apparently labradorite is found in meteors...) A simpler explanation is given by Merriam-Webster:  "A play of colors or colored reflections exhibited esp. by labradorite and caused by internal structures that selectively reflect only certain colors." (Other descriptions, in laymen's terms, may be found here or here.) But, I'm not sure any definition of labradorescence really describes the situation with the scan. Perhaps there's something about labradorescence that is, as of yet, unknown. After all, the rough gem is often found attached to just such a substrate as we see in the scan. Is the scanner actually showing us a residual image of the gem's past recorded in the labradorite's many layers, or is it a holographic-like mirage created by the scanner's deficiencies?

If you've ever witnessed labradorite in the flesh, you can attest to its innate mystery. And, if you, like a number of other people - including myself - are utterly transfixed by the sight of it, you, too, might attribute your fascination to some "unknown" factor.

As for my labradorite window, well, it's got a long way to go. Meanwhile, feast your eyes on some gorgeous specimens of the stone (which can be found as shown below: in the rough, as spheres, and as jewelry. But, also in sculpture: see here and here)... and have a happy new year!

Note on the above images (click to enlarge): The link to the first, on your left, can no longer be found. The sphere in the center, however, is sold here... and the beautiful pendant on your right can be found (as of this writing) in this Etsy shop. Incidentally, the morpho-butterfly-wing-under-glass effect found in this pendant is similar to my own.

A later added note: For all you alien lovers out there, there's actually several connections between this post and my last, "The Doors of Perception"... Funny how one can forget their own personal mythology consciously, but, on an unconscious level, the same roads are travelled again and again!

2012 - the Year of the Dragon

"Unlike the wicked, fire-breathing dragons of Western mythology, China’s celestial dragon symbolizes potent and benevolent power. Dragons are ancient, majestic, wise, and intelligent, and Dragon years are considered particularly auspicious for new businesses, marriage and children. Dragon years also tend to boost individual fortunes and the world economy.

It’s also true, however, that all five of the Chinese Dragon years — Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water — tend to magnify both success and failure. So while they can mark huge achievement, disasters can be equally immense. The Year of the Fire Dragon (1917, 1976, and 2036) typically wreaks the most havoc.

However, the Year of the Water Dragon (1992, 1952 and 2012) is noted for its calm, visionary intelligence, and balance of right brain creativity with left brain logic.

What influence might the Water Dragon, which rules from January 23, 2012 to February 9, 2013, have on the powerful energies already anticipated at that time?

Like all Dragons, the Water Dragon is an innovative, fearless leader. But the Water Dragon is also far more sensitive to others’ needs, and is more likely to be progressive and diplomatic, as well as socially and environmentally conscious. Because Water bestows a more peaceful disposition, this Dragon will act wisely and intelligently, and unlike his fellow Dragons, is willing to set aside his ego for the good of all."

2012 - Year of the Dragon

The 2011 holiday season is now behind us and 2011 is now history, and I imagine that very few of us are particularly sorry to see the back of it. But, as it stands, the end of the year and the western New Year celebrations have always left me a little cold - okay, a lot cold - quite possibly because my birthday happens to fall on December 31. Yeah, you'd think I'd be out there partying like mad and having a grand old time, and I confess, in my twenties and thirties I really did try. But I failed. Now, I just find the whole enterprise, all the New Year's hype and forced sentimentality, abysmally depressing. As in, yuck.

And, no, I don't dig having to add a higher digit to my age, either.

Then, of course - and lest we forget -  one can't escape all the gloom and doom via   soothsayers who will insist that the world's about to fall down the crapper in 2012. Well, it's always something. This time it's due to misinterpretations of the Mayan "Long Count" calendar. As it happens, according to this particular calendar, 2012 does mark the end of a Mayan cycle. It does not, however, indicate that there aren't any further cycles to transpire.

Interestingly, others have marked this period as the "return" of Quetzalcoatl, the Meso-American "feathered-serpent" god, which, if you think about it, could very well be representational of a dragon.

Anyway, when I realized that the Chinese Lunar Year of the Dragon is due to begin the 23rd of January - the day of the new moon - I put on my proverbial dancing shoes again. THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON - how cool is that? And it falls on a date with a fairly auspicious number - 23. It's so nice to have another day to start the year again!

Contrary to western tradition, the dragons of the east are magnificent creatures and not evil at all. Interestingly, the Chinese people believe that they've descended from dragons, which is of particular interest to me, in light of my own dragon Princess. (And, speaking of reptilians...)

That being said, the minute I realized that this is a Dragon year, I felt inspired to create my own lucky talisman image, hence the 2 images - variations on the same theme - above. I incorporated all traditional Eastern elements in my design, including the red lozenge-shaped emblem with the gold symbol of good fortune, the large dragon character, and four additional Chinese characters for longevity, happiness, prosperity and love. I used actual jewel scans to create the images, notably carnelian, pearl, obsidian and gold. I'm working on one with jade also, and if it works out, I'll add it to the post. 

(UPDATE: The jade dragon can be found here.)

Meanwhile, feel free to "borrow" a talisman for your own personal use - non-commercial only, or it won't be so lucky... well, that is unless this "starving artist" gets a piece of the pie!  :-) -  and, most importantly,  have a most fortunate year!