Summer Solstice (Litha) 2023

Rose Pentacle - clay body in progress - 2023, DS.
The photo at the bottom of the post was taken
during a slightly earlier stage of its development.

 

(Glenys Livingstone of PaGaian Cosmology writes:)

“As it says in the tradition, this is the time of the rose, blossom and thorn, fragrance and blood. The story of Old tells that on this day Goddess and God embrace, in a love so complete, that all dissolves, into the single Song of ecstasy that moves the worlds. Our bliss, fully matured, given over, feeds the Universe and turns the wheel. We join the Beloved and Lover in the Great Give-Away

of our Creativity, our Fullness of Being.”

(Áine Órga of HeartStory.org writes:)

    “I often conceive of life as being a wild and dangerous dance. It starts slow, speeds over time, careening wildly, until it gradually slows from exhaustion, and finally dies. This pattern is visible in human and animal life, but also in the changing seasons on Earth, and throughout Cosmos as stars and planets are born, collide, and die...

    “The Summer Solstice is the peak of the dance. It is that time in your time, that moment on Earth, those millennia in the life of a star, when performance and creativity are at their most prolific. It is the time when dreams are manifested, art created, offspring born.

    “Beyond it is the inevitable spiral back down. But right now is the time to dance.”

- Both of the lucid quotes above can be found on this Naturalistic Paganism page regarding the Summer Solstice (or Litha)... which takes place today. Other articles of interest on the same theme are on the following pages: Heart of England Forest... We Moon... Ex Pat Explore... The Guardian.

***

(Blog note: As of later today, Trans-D Digital Art can only be accessed from https://. The USA link is embedded in the egg/stone logo in the first side-bar image to your right. This was necessary as I've noted inexplicable fluctuations in traffic and traffic sources in the past few months which lead me to conclude that all is not as it should be in Blogger Land. Well, at least in my miniscule portion of it.

I'm sure everyone realizes (or should) that blogging has been a precarious venture since its very early days. But, as the entire "information highway" has become a virtual mine-field, well, it is in ones interests to tread very carefully. Case in point: whom, after all, am I addressing? I've no idea. It's this lack, among others, that has given me such a writer's block, that Trans-D has become more of a YouTube channel than a meaningful conversation. I am very sorry for this.*

In the event that this is or is not the last post on Trans-D depends upon a number of factors. One factor is the inevitability (and necessity) of creating a future venue - a website - that will explore the object disclosed above: the Rose Pentacle (or, Rose Pentagram) and its related artwork. Superstition informs me, however, that discretion on my part is the wisest course of action. That being said, I've posted some excerpts from my note files below to establish a starting point... a preview.)

* This block emerged around the time of the Hygeia post... my first unfinished post. A lingering sense of doubt paralyzed me for months thereafter... that is, until this day.

***

The Rose and the Pentagram conjoined within a circle is a code formation describing a collection of emotional and physical states that can never be entirely (logically) explained. At the same time, its geometry requires that it must continuously refer to itself and describe its own anatomy... and, in doing so, intimate truths it can never fully disclose; truths which are implicate in its geometry but, of  which we cannot wholly decipher.

Allegedly, there can be no perpetual motion... but the conundrum is that the properties inherent in 5 expresses just that possibility. 5 is a dynamo... not merely as a "number" but as an implicate expression of a living force. Within its domain, living structures are set in motion. Expression, motion: emotion. The dynamo does not stop expressing itself at any given point in time or space.

If we are alive, we are alive in the expression of five... and that's the good news.

***

What force is Love? Better, yet, what force is Emotion? Perhaps, we first have to define "force." Obviously we are not discussing the well-known physical forces... and, yet, it is the force of emotion which essentially drives the physical world.

One might say that emotion is a force in the realm of consciousness... but what is consciousness? We tend to place intellect at the top of the hierarchy, but, as it works out, emotion and intellect are ultimately (and intimately) connected. Nothing is so emotionally gratifying to many people as a good idea. The "good idea" is, of course, a creative act... and the creative act inevitably defines us, pools our resources, moves us. It unites the fields of consciousness and, by rote, effects the physical world as well.

So, emotion moves us. Emotion is consciousness in motion, but, unlike motion in the physical world, it is diffuse, organic, independent of direction... and often hidden. We are not always privy to its manipulative properties. We are not always consciously aware of what we refer to as "our consciousness." Memories influence us, but they are not always consciously remembered... nor, when remembered, accurate. We seem to have some kind of internal threshold protecting us - limiting  us - from certain elements of knowledge and, most importantly, self-knowledge. At some point, we seem to reach the perpetually existent border of the "unknown." We may know many things but, inevitably, we cannot know all things... and, apparently, nothing before its time. Reason fails us. The door is hidden, the key misplaced - we don't know where "to turn."

Hence, the inevitable creation of a symbol... and our reliance on kismet... or magic.

At their very cores, the rose and the pentagram are interchangeable; they operate as one force:

I love, therefore, I am.

Rejection Letter from Walt Disney Studios, 1938

Rejection letter to an aspiring young artist, 1938
(click to enlarge)

June 7, 1938

Dear Miss Ford:

Your letter of recent date has been received in the Inking and Painting Department for reply.
Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparing the cartoons for the screen, as that work is performed entirely by young men. For this reason girls are not considered for training school.

The only work open to women consists of tracing the characters on clear celluloid sheets with India ink and filling in the tracings on the reverse side with paint according to directions.

In order to apply for a position as "Inker" or "Painter" it is necessary that one appear at the Studio bringing samples of pen and ink and watercolor work. It would not be advisable to come to Hollywood with the above specifically in view, as there are really very few openings in comparison with the number of girls who apply.

Yours very truly,
WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS, LTD.

By:
Mary Chase

Time for a Change

Well, it's been over a year since Trans-D came into being, and while I liked the original graphic scheme (a snippet can be found here) - which seemed to be compatible, color-wise, with my own work, I was beginning to get turned off by the predominant shades of brown. I am always happiest with black! I'll still be tweaking it as time goes by, but, unless a whole lot of people inform me that they HATE it  - and really, you're allowed - and prefer the original, this... is... it!

(Later...) Okay, I guess I sort of worked out the bugs in this design, so hopefully it appears okay, regardless of varying monitor screens. Of course, depending upon what sort of gadget you're viewing this blog on, the background might not appear at all, but I just added the screen shot above for reference.

I also learned something new: .png files, regardless of the dimensions, do not change much in actual byte size. Which is kind of cool.

By the way, the background is the result of scanning some round glass cabochons with a scrap of black fabric laid over them. Interestingly, the cabochons were laid flat on the screen, but somehow took on a perspective in the  scan... a happy accident related to optics I hadn't foreseen.

But, no, the fabric is not velvet - thank you very much! ;-)

Selections from The ShadowBride....

ShadowBride graphic - 2007, DS

A sampling of a few recent (1999 - 2010) poems, most appearing originally on one of my former websites, "The ShadowBride."

***

Lost Tales of Anonymous Women

Because she was not treasured, 

Time took over,

(And Time treasures no one)

And Time had its way with her;

Worse than serial killers, 

Worse than evil stepmothers, 

Worse than wild dogs. 

Like a disease, like a grub, 

It ate, and ate outwards, 

Till her skin hung like dried fruit 

Off a brittle stalk, 

Till all that was pink and white 

And frilly as Cinderella's slipper 

Blackened like an eel but

Would not slough off.

Because she was not nurtured, 

She could not live, 

She could not die...

While the briars wound around her 

Like New Year's resolutions 

And tore, like meathooks 

Into her eyes, her heart, her spine. 

And. all the time, the blood fell, 

Perpetually, chronically, 

Drop by drop,

Like an ocean 

Filtered through a water clock, 

Like scabs in the desert sand, 

Like tears on an iron pan, gone

Hissing into oblivion.

Because she was not honored, 

Her mind became a morgue, 

A silent hallway lined with silent drawers:

Each a keepsake box 

Stuffed with muffled accusations. 

And these, in turn, 

Became her windows, 

Blank as prison doors, 

Dull as an Arctic horizon,

Where a ship 

Would not appear, 

Where a dove 

Would not alight, 

Where she'd not

Let down her hair.

Because she was not pleasured, 

The ghosts moved in to stay. 

They rustled in the wallpaper, 

And groped between her legs. 

She let the dust accumulate 

In snowy landscapes on the floor, 

And let the mold grow on the ceiling, 

Its constellations hovering there

Like spells, like curses,

Like soot, like ashes, like dirt;

While, cast in the corner, 

Blackened and spent ,

Each one her heart's desire 

Or next-to-last lament, lie

A life's supply of wooden matches.

- 2000, Dia Sobin

Port of Dreams

It is always dusk

Behind the moon’s bloodless mirror

The skin is cast off

Layer by layer, submerged,

The pulse ebbs, the airs thicken

And so the blind swimmer

Sets forth

Across the border

To where a starless sky slants

Into a water, slack,

Encoded

W/ the moon’s toneless melodies

- 1999, DS

The Others

They cannot penetrate the aluminum air 

where souls lay sleeping...

migrant birds,

mute and flockless,

cast 

in a perilous density.

I am hollowed like a gourd,

a Chinese lantern.

The Others brush the walls of my interior 

like moths within a globe 

but I am blind, flameless.

Only hymns remain

encrypted in my bones,

worn as epitaphs on Martian tombs,

the heart's own hieroglyphics

hermetically sealed...

And though a memory might stir 

of the initial fracture 

or a featureless twist emerge 

from beneath this dull fabric,

I circle alone 

transfixed, wingless.

- 2000, DS

These Walled Cities

These walled cities 

They are yours 

The minarets the domes 

Patterned windows 

Frameless holes 

Streets cobbled with skulls 

Of both the faithless

 and the faithful 

Now ground beneath our heels 

Anonymous as stones 

I am the anchorite 

In the catacombs

The woman in the wall 

Skin mouldering with self-betrayal 

Brain embalmed with lamentations 

Incantations I can't recall 

Glass nails scimitars 

Nothing penetrates 

Still a light swells inside of me 

As prayers resonate in the citadel 

Bell-like tones enticing me 

But forbidden to me 

Always forbidden 

Yet, some things come to me 

The eye of an owl 

Snakes in the courtyard 

A star's detritus 

Some things come to me 

Memories of rain the wind 

Sensations in the silken skin 

A scent a bead a feather 

(But I came for love 

I came for love only)

Now I lay 

Beneath the walls 

I lie outside them 

The terrible baying of dogs 

spreads blood red on the horizon 

It is your city 

It is always your city

- 2000, DS

Mystica Femina

I know where the burning woman goes

I have seen the ashes.

I have seen the skies darken w/ her cries,

The scarlet tides,

Blackened with denial.

Oh, yes, I know what was done.

My mother was once her friend...

Whether on the corner

Or in the market-place,

Or in a burning bed.

But, even she did not love her.

Nor did all the others.

They could not even see her

As if their eyes were singed shut

By her blazing hair.

What of the ashes then?

Fire by fire consumed.

I see her dancing

Upon the ashes of a Father

That was not, in fact, her own.

After the procession,

They (all) moved on.

- 2010, DS

Of "Demonic Creativity"... and other things (Revised)

Yes, I've taken a short hiatus from this blog, in order to attend to another project. That is, finishing the tale in which this character will appear.

Meanwhile, there are a few things happening in cyberspace that have recently come to my attention and that I'd like to mention in this post...  one being an elaboration of my previous Trans-D discussion regarding that tricksy, enigmatic collaborator, the muse.

 Matt Cardin is offering a home course in "Demonic Creativity"

 - available as a free PDF document - in which he discusses the muse, and its many different aspects, both from its historical and psychological standpoints, as well as ways in which the muse enriches our lives as well as our art, and techniques one can use to discover and/or commune with ones own unconscious intelligence(s).

I was initially put off by Cardin's use of "Demonic" in the title, but, ultimately, he was referring to the Daemonic, which originally referred to more benevolent human guides, and ones inner, hidden genius, before it was corrupted, and, well, demonized by Judaeo/Christian mythology.

I've just started reading it, and although it's addressed primarily to writers, I feel safe in recommending it to anyone interested in a thorough discussion of the muse and its many facets.

***

And then, over at Scientific American, we have the flip-side of the same discussion... that is, the drier, mechanistic, neurological theories dealing with the eccentricities of the artist and/or creative.

"People who are highly creative often have odd thoughts and behaviors—and vice versa.

Both creativity and eccentricity may be the result of genetic variations that increase cognitive disinhibition—the brain’s failure to filter out extraneous information.

When unfiltered information reaches conscious awareness in the brains of people who are highly intelligent and can process this information without being overwhelmed, it may lead to exceptional insights and sensations."

The above quote is found in the article... but to read the rest, you have to fork over $8, so be advised.

***

 ATTENTION ALL DIGITAL ARTISTS! I've just been notified that MOCA is holding a competition in its Salon. Video artists may also apply. You may or may not have to be a member.

Should I enter? I don't know, as I can barely afford the $30 fee... but I'm thinking on it.

Meanwhile, the deadline is October 30

***

Lastly, I've came to the realization that this blog is not appearing as it should in many cases - up to and including to myself! Apparently, Google Blogger has these disagreeable moods, when it decides it can't bear to load the page as it's been told to.

The example shown above is how Trans-D looks on a good day (and yes, that brownish text box should blend right in to this brownish text box). If GB has PMS, however, or is suffering a migraine, you may be seeing all sorts of anomalies... weird fonts, weird colors, a blank background, or little question marks where images might be. If this is the case, my advice to you is to reload the page, and you may have to reload it more than once. If you're still getting something other than the provided swatch, then I can't help you - your internet program might need upgrading, or your computer may lack certain fonts... meaning, I'm too lazy to change my template!

Virtual Reality - (with Addendum, July 19, 2019)

I think the thing I sometimes forget most about "virtual reality" is that it is not reality; it is not even a reflection of reality. It is, at the most, a counterfeit reality, in that it presents us with a view of life, but, intrinsically, it has no life. There is no true life force running through the blips and bytes of the world wide web. Your monitor may light up like a candy store but if you reach your hand in there's nothing there. It may as well be an hallucination. You can't even be sure that those false images that fly before your eyes are the same false images others might be seeing; perception, after all, is a relative, subjective collection of sensations. And, computer monitors are a dime a dozen.


Of course, the same may be said of the "official" reality in which you exist... you can see things and touch things, but beyond that, every now and then it might occur to you that you are, for the most part, living in your head. Meanwhile, communication with other entities is almost an unspoken, subliminal "gentlemen's agreement": let's pretend that what we see has meaning... let's pretend that what we see exists. We're, of course, not seeing the exact same thing, but we can assume our differing viewpoints are similar enough, and we can imagine we're sensing and experiencing similar things. There are, after all, other life forces and senses that come into play within a true life experience.


In virtual reality this is not the case. Along with the falseness of the reality presented, everything false follows in its wake... a false sense of identity, a false sense of camaraderie, a false sense of communication... while, in ones actual reality  - "meatspace", that is - very little is happening. Synapses may click and codes may coalesce, but the vitality, passion, desire and communion - that is, the immeasurable phenomena, or noumena, which truly make us human - is never engaged and will never come across. One might be fooled into thinking otherwise, but this is ultimately a spurious experience. Nothing has happened. One has not grown. Nothing has essentially changed. One may as well sit down and do a crossword puzzle.


Virtual reality then, is nothing more than a shallow mental exercise... a false construct, a false life, a video game. What you see is not what you actually get.


Every now and then, however, a light peeks around the perimeter and one has a moment of clarity and disillusionment; and this moment, I guess, is mine. It will mean nothing to you. Your day will not change, nor will mine. You will not know me any better... I will not know you at all. Several minutes from now, I may change my mind. But it will not matter, and "matter" will not come into play.


And so the game(s) continues...


***


And that, comrades, was a spontaneous essay I posted yesterday on PMB... it was also taken down less than 24 hours after. But, why(?), you ask... (or don't ask, as the case may be).


It's like this, and hear me out. "Spontaneousness" and the internet - specifically in the form of social networking (and while blogging might fit into this category, emails would not) - make disastrous bedfellows, specifically for the creative person. All varieties of monsters may be spawned and the minute they've been spawned on the web, they often cannot be retracted. Not only that, but, let's say you innocently leave a comment on a blog somewhere - worse still, you make a habit of using your real name - well, presto (!), not only are your words carved in cyber-stone on many programs and blogs, but search engines (such as Google) ensure that they can be read world-wide for eternity. I'm not even going to address all the cyber-piranha that might be interested in such innocuous information - in a cumulative sense - for the purposes of profiling.


The real problem arises, however, and this is why this particular post was moved here, is that many artists, writers, musicians, etc. who use a digital medium for their work - and specifically the same computer to both create and access the internet, are not merely leaving their work exposed to predators, but are possibly endangering their psyches as well.


The fact of the matter is, a creative state is an "altered state". The "you" that is operating in an elevated, muse-orientated mist is not the you who should be social networking 10 minutes later. You are still too vulnerable at this time. The spontaneity that you've brought to your work is not going to translate on the WWW. It will not be well-recieved. Essentially, It will not be "received" at all because your audience, those whom you are attempting to communicate with, are simply not operating on the same level as you are. You may as well be "speaking in tongues". Freshly out of creative work, you're virtually naked and in every sense as vulnerable... In other words you have no business being online. Wait for several hours - until your creative high has dissipated - before you go online and visit your favorite haunts. But, even then, keep this in mind:


The internet's real purpose is to distribute information, sell products, and to entertain. All social interaction is generally of the most superficial kind. Do not go online anticipating high communion... the WWW is certainly not the place to bare your soul, and neither is it a place to safely speak your mind. 


Be forewarned. In many ways, the web is outright bullshit, and in time it will only get worse.


UPDATE: 2 other articles that address this subject and might be of interest: click here and here.



For your listening pleasure:




(My special thanks to Greg at The Daily Grail for this inspired video link...)

***

Eight Years in the Future - July 19, 2019

Greetings to whoever is presently reading this post. Well, someone has... and quite recently, too. So, I decided to reread it myself. (Thanks, mysterious human, for bringing this to my attention.)

I think the first and original section of the post - in yellow - is probably where I should have left off. The second part  - the later addition in white - sounds a tad peculiar to me now. I must've been having a really bad day... or felt violated in some way.

Do I still feel as paranoid about the web? Not exactly... I think what bothers me most about the web these days is the rampant capitalistic commercialism... but I'm not even going to go there. My biggest actual fear as a blogger is the fear of being misunderstood... mistranslated, or effectively censored by my lack of commercialization. In any case, things are hardly "indelible" on the web. They vanish all the time. And who cares?

However, if the copy (above) in white should suddenly vanish, well, it isn't magic; its housecleaning.

Okay, well, maybe it is magic in a sense. I'm kind of manipulating the past from the future. Which is cool.

But, you know, I'm not even sure I agree with the first half of this post anymore. In the end, I think i Just like the graphic - that is, the graphic still strikes me as true - in that, what we actively seek on the web - though seldom get - is a mind-meld.  I also like the comment section... I love positive feedback. Well, okay, I love any feedback... so, thanks LC and BG from the present future past! Whatever.

So, as it now stands: I may erase this entire post except for the graphic, this addendum, and the comments. I'm not even sure the video is still present... on my browser its a black hole. Anyway, call it Art... the Art of Creating Missing Information. Very existential, no? ;-)

Welcome to Trans-D!

Greetings!




Digital art - as a medium and a discipline  - is still in its infancy, and while it's impossible to describe or predict all the many styles, directions and permutations that presently exist or will evolve, one has to start somewhere. And I think it's important that the artists who use a digital medium take that initial step and attempt to describe for themselves and others what is actually occurring before the critics, spin-doctors, and art historians have the last word.

Granted, formulas and formulations, descriptive criticism, etc., are already out there (I have yet to read them), but, in this day and age, with oceans of information continuously lapping at one's door via the latest technology, it's difficult for an artist to find the time and/or patience to navigate and assimilate all the information floating around. Individual, solitary artists, like myself, who do not presently live in cosmopolitan areas, find themselves in a type of vacuum. I think this is especially true for digital artists, because it so easy to fall under the spell of a medium which does not require or involve a great deal of interaction with the world at large. The digital artist does not need to go out in the field to paint landscapes or portraits. .. and there is not even a necessity to go out of the door to accrue supplies. Gone are the days of the great salons, the great exhibits, the tiny smoke-filed cafes, the glaring rivalry.

So, the purpose of this blog is not merely to carve my own niche in the digital world, but to establish a spring board and a forum, so that digital artists - and those creatives interested in either digital art, art in general, or art theory -  might begin to discuss and develop their own theories and descriptions of what they do. Multi-media is implied. It is never too early to begin to place oneself and ones work in a more or less historical perspective. I would also like to interface with artists who work in a similar vein as myself, that is, digital artists whose work might fall under the category of Transdimensional or Transfigurative, but this does not exclude artists in other mediums or those who may find these terms of broader interest, specifically those in "paranormal" fields and other fields to which Transdimensionalism, and theories thereof, might apply.

I will be posting links, and in some cases, representational information on this blog showcasing related digital artists, and eventually related artists and or theorists in different fields. Presently, however, if you are or know of an artist whose work might be related to the work shown on this blog or work that my fall under the headings of Transdimensional or Transfigurative, please inform me and/or introduce us.

Also, I would also like to post a series of digital art resource links on the sidebar that will be helpful to other artists, so, once again, either contact me or leave links in the comment section. As of now, the link section on the sidebar of this blog is a work in progress.

Meanwhile, I began writing small, random essays late last year, which will also appear on this blog as well as more detailed descriptions of Transdimensionalism and Transfigurativism. It should go without saying, that my ideas are as yet not fully formed - nothing is, shall we say, carved in stone -  and all feedback and suggestions are welcome.

As for myself, I would probably fall under the category of a Transfigurativist, or Transfigurist (a descriptive term I invented for my work in 2007) , however, it is one of my Transdimensional - definitions of these terms are on the sidebar of this blog* - offerings I have posted above. My approach to Transdimensionalism is through the use of patterns and symmetries, but I imagine there are as many approaches as there are artists who are drawn to this concept. Certain fractal art, for instance, might also be included within this category. In the end, I believe "categories", ultimately depend upon the individual artist's intent.

Cheers!

Dia

Contact:

araqinta@att.net

(Important: Include the word "Trans-D" in the subject line.)

* As of this writing, the only related word I could find in Wiktionary is this definition of "Transdimensional". (This is perhaps not altogether too far off!) ;-)