In Search of An Ancient-Future

Lenticular Cloud, B.C. - Pandora's Box - digital - Dia Sobin, 2008

"It is never any definite experience which gives me pleasure, but always the quality of mystic adventurous expectancy itself - the indefiniteness which permits me to foster the momentary illusion that almost any vista of wonder and beauty might open up, or almost any law of time or space or matter or energy be marvelously defeated or reversed or modified or transcended….that sense of expansion, freedom, adventure, power, expectancy, symmetry, drama, beauty-absorption, surprise, and cosmic wonder (i.e. the illusory promise of a majestic revelation which shall gratify man’s ever-flaming, ever-tormenting curiosity about the outer voids and ultimate gulfs of entity)….the illusion of being poised on the edge of the infinite amidst a vast cosmic unfolding which might reveal almost anything..."

- H. P. Lovecraft, from a letter to James F. Morton, March 12, 1930, borrowed from this beautiful Teeming Brain essay: Autumn longing: H.P. Lovecraft by Matt Cardin

***

One morning, a few weeks ago, I awoke with a strange "realization"... which came in the form of an actual (albeit silent) declaration: I am an Ancient-Futurist.

Ruling out "divine-intervention" (and various psychological disorders), it must've been the punch-line of something I dreamt. But, that's dreaming for you; fragments remain in the conscious mind, but you've lost the big picture. Then again, in the following morning's dream, I learned the (Monty-Pythonesque) historical "fact" that Medieval swords and shields were cunningly fashioned from bread dough. It wasn't exactly a eureka moment, but, in the dream, it almost made sense.

But, back (or fast-forward) to the Ancient-Future, which, at least, is something to conjure with. In actuality, I've always been attracted to ancient/futuristic themes. The 2008 image (above) "Lenticular Cloud, B.C. - Pandora's Box" is an example, a literal translation of the meme. Carved in stone, Pandora perpetually clutches her box of plagues, while, overhead, an unidentifiable aerial object interacts with an ancient structure. It's fairly easy to decipher. But, that particular morning, my unconscious mind seemed to be referring to something less literal, a fertile abstraction from the subliminal realm that begged for a response.

It's not as if marrying the past with the future is all that weird.  In the timeless, non-local realm of the unconscious, the dead interact with the living, landscapes from one's childhood - those which no longer exist - arise revitalized, uncontaminated by any fate that eventually befell them, and, often, even oneself is clothed in a younger countenance, as if, somewhere along the way, the experience and effects of time passing have lost significance altogether.

Not even the conscious mind is utterly persuaded by the minutes ticking away on a clock. The minute our focus shifts from the time-centered televised-world to some personal place where we are emotionally, intellectually and/or energetically engaged, huge chunks of time can fall away leaving us mystified and perplexed. Where did that time go?

But, then again, what is time to begin with? According to the Realists, "Newtonian time" is a structure and a dimension in itself, in which events occur sequentially. According to the Presentists, only the present is real and neither the past nor the future exist. From the standpoint of Eternalism, time is also a dimension, married to space in a "block universe". But, according to this plan, although every moment is real and relative to the observer, time does not "pass"; it is a static vista, and neither the past not the future can be modified.

Practically speaking, the measurement of time is a gentlemen's agreement - its increments, as we know them, are fabrications. We experience the passing of time as growth and decay - the old and the new - now and then... but, through all of it, time has no substance, no physical structure, no meaning in itself. In that sense, it's both subjective and relative. We record it in our lives by the events that occur synchronistically. In that way, time is a series of events that coincide with a designated incremental structure.

Chronometry - the measurement of time - is the the time we're most familiar with as we change our calendars and check our watches. Periodic time covers the cycles of the moon and certain biological aspects of organisms. Sidereal time is measured by the stars. Judeo-Christian time is generally linear with a beginning and end.

Obviously, the Ancient-Future could not exist in a linear time frame. It has more of a chance within the philosophical concepts of the East where time is cyclical and quantic. Or, better still, couched in actual quantum descriptions of time - not to be confused with a Quantum Clock - specifically that of quantum entanglement. However, here we're referring to a particle's speed of light - that is, Planck time - in a theory that proposes time is continuous; or, utilizing  the Chronon, which is a proposed quantum unit of time relative to a particle's charge and mass.

from the Wired article: Quantum Entanglement Could Stretch Across Time

Ultimately, the Ancient-Future - and/or the necessary bridge between the two - is forged In the creative imagination: in the musings of science fiction writers - and the quote from H.P. Lovecraft above is key - the diagrams of sacred geometers, the organic landscapes of fractal artists, or by anyone harkening way, way back to some speculative mysterious source (while often using a timeless, fundamental set of tools, such as mathematics), to steal a glimpse of an equally as speculative and mysterious future. But, the key word here is mysterious; that unknown factor which occasionally pulls us out our televised-world-induced stupor to confront the sheer magnitude of our collective ignorance. There is something almost sacred about this sense of the mysterious (and our ignorance!), but, not in any officially religious sense. In other words: it can't be googled.

Which is not to say I didn't try googling Ancient-Futurist/Futurism... but, apart from some mysterious social networker, an electronic musical composition or two, and another scary Christian hybrid theology, I drew a blank. There is Retro-futurism, which is interesting but not quite the same. There are a few jewelry designers using Ancient-Future as a descriptive term (one or two whose designs resonate). There are theories in the speculative range, such as the paleocontact hypothesis (a guilty pleasure). Design-wise, there's Steam-punk and Cyber-punk, of course... which sometimes hints, stylistically, at what I'm trying to describe; as does Futurism, in a marginal sense.

And, yet, what was I really referring to by the term that fateful morning? "Days of Future Past"? Or, perhaps these "Days of Future Past" (which can be found here in its entirety). Histories of things to come? Archaeology in the inner-galactal realm? Say, a type of psychic archaeology, if you will. Or maybe something as tangible as the event photographed (via the Hubble) below, an actual collision of galaxies, 330 million light-years away (and a fate predicted for own galaxy in the far future...).

Stay tuned. Further explorations will ensue!

When galaxies collide... found here.

Note: It has recently come to my attention that, synchronistically, the ever-intrepid (and ever-prolific) Tam B, over at the previously mentioned blog, seems to be tackling a similar set of themes from a variety of perspectives. But, no, she and I are not comparing notes, and we are arriving at our destinations independently. Meanwhile, check out her latest post: a collection of some real-time ancient-futuristic dwellings!  

Next up: Artifacts from an Ancient-Future... Featuring the Work of Tom Beddard

When Inner Worlds and Outer worlds Collide

Kepler-62f (Artist's Concept)

"Exoplanets including WASP-3b, HAT-P-5b, GJ 758 b and c, HD 178911 Bb, HD 177830 b, TrES-1, and HD 173416 b have been discovered in Lyra. In January 2010 the Kepler Mission announced the discovery of the additional planets Kepler-7b, Kepler-8b, and three planets around Kepler-9 are expected to be the first of many discovered by the mission, which has a significant part of its field of view in Lyra.

In April 2013, it was announced that of the five planets orbiting Kepler-62, at least two -- Kepler-62e and Kepler-62f -- are within the boundaries of the habitable zone of that star, where scientists think liquid water could exist, and are both candidates for being a solid, rocky, earth-like planet. The exoplanets are 1.6 and 1.4 times the diameter of Earth respectively, with their star Kepler-62 at a distance of 1,200 light-years."

- excerpt from the Wiki entry for Lyra


"Claiming to be an extraterrestrial from a planet called 'K-PAX' about one thousand light years away in the Lyra constellation, Prot (rhyming with the word "goat", played by Kevin Spacey) is committed to the Psychiatric Institute of Manhattan where psychiatrist Mark Powell (Jeff Bridges) begins to evaluate him as a delusional."

- via the IMb synopsis for the film K-PAX


"In the film Contact, the message intercepted by Jodi Foster's character is coming from Vega, the brightest star in the Lyra constellation."

- excerpt from the Wiki entry for Lyra

"...I created my own female ET religious order at some point in the early 1970's, for a sci-fi children's story: the Makyrr. The Makyrr were an avian race, originating from somewhere in the constellation of Lyra, who seeded a number of habitable planets with a variety of organic life. Andromeda, however, is not a representation of a Makyrr, who wore winged headdresses and had more bird-like features."

- an excerpt from my previous post, Andromeda: She Who Waits

"There is one group of entities who are mammals, yet are oriented toward Lyran principles (Lyra being the mother group), and whose features are very different from humanoid. One particular group resembles what you call alien. The body type of these entities would be what you call ectomorph, very thin, almost frail and birdlike. The facial structure is more angular, sharper, resembling a bird, though these are still mammals. The eyes are birdlike. The hair is not feathered, but is of a different quality that can resemble feathers, if you are not touching it or in close proximity to it. It was also ceremoniously adorned in a certain way that made it look like feathers."

- excerpt from a "channeled" message, 1992, Lyssa Royal Holt



"Even if humanity ultimately takes the dirtnap, the discovery of a living extrasolar planet seems almost inevitable. I wonder what our response will be, gazing at some tantalizing and alien world orbiting another star. What will we have done to ourselves -- and how might our collective predicament color our reception of a confirmed extraterrestrial biosphere?

Although real enough, the new Earth will also play a formative role in our imaginations; it promises to be a liminal frontier as well as an astrobiological focal point -- the locus of new myths, an imaginal haven forged of memes old and new, a distant and beckoning mirror."


- Mac Tonnies, 2006, excerpt from this archived Posthuman Blues blog entry

***

Okay, maybe "collide" is too dramatic a term, but, it sounds more aesthetically pleasing than "converge". And, while reality isn't exactly imitating art in this instance, it's alluding to it. 

In this case, I'm referring to the recent discovery of the habitable planets, Kepler-62e and Kepler-62f, in the constellation Lyra. I wasn't even aware that there are at least 2 known star systems in that constellation, but, hey, the more, the merrier.

For whatever reason, Lyra has always attracted the creators of science fiction, specifically it's largest and most brightest star, Vega. Other popular speculative hotspots would include Alpha Centauri, the Pleiades constellation, and Sirius, but, my heart has always belonged to Lyra, although Cygnus (in which another "habitable" exoplanet was recently found) and the Pleiades are also personal favorites.

Why is it that certain stars attract us? And, more importantly, why are we moved to create new mythologies about them? Because, we are creating new mythologies - specifically alien, ET mythologies - seemingly on a daily basis. Case in point, Zeta Reticuli, home to Betty and Barney Hill's gray aliens; an older meme, perhaps, but an effective one.

Lyssa Royal Holt, via her guide Germain, has created an entire alien-classification system (see the "message" link above). Oddly enough, she - and/or her muse - may have been describing the "Makyrr" (in the quote above).

Below, (for your amusement) is an excerpt from a 1999 draft of "The Legend of the Kastar and Makyrr" which was to appear in the appendix of an adult sci-fi version of an original children's story of mine. Odd thing about the Makyrr... but, after all these years they still resonate with me, and have become an element of my own, personal mythology, to the degree that they continue to resurface in things I write. Although this excerpt is rather dry, I'm hoping it may inspire you to ferret out your own private aliens... my guess is that many of us harbor, at least, a few.

***

(Note: Actually, this was not the intended post for this time-slot. I've been working on something else that was to introduce a succession of posts - of which this may have been one. I know I also mentioned another Patron Saint post in the works. This too is on hold. For reasons beyond my control, all labor-intensive work is almost impossible to pull off at this time. Bear with me.)

(Additional note: Incidentally, regarding Metastructures, which seems to be constellating on this blog lately, the original name of the violet "trident" symbol, and, arguably, the most important symbol of the four (it was, essentially, the code-breaker) was... Lyra. Also, for a short time, I privately referred to the deck as "Lyraen Temple".)

***

"It was the second band of settlers that concerns us here, however, and these came from a system in the vicinity of Antares. They called themselves the Kastarae, or Kastars. This was not so much the name of their species as it was a designation of their status which was, more or less, that of an elevated biologist; biology having become an almost arcane science on their home planet at that time. Though human-like in proportion, they were, for the most part, reptilian, with blunted features and webbed extremities. Their eyes were most singular in that the lids were transparent and the pupils elongated slits. The irises were a pale, metallic color and it was said that to look into the eyes of a Kastar brought madness to even the most stalwart of psyches.

The band that arrived on Zin were composed of nine males, renegades predominantly, who came, not so much in the interests of their home planet, nor with the intention of studying the mineral composition of Galazindra. Their mission, covert in application, altruistic in intent, was to design and propagate new organic life forms, experiments which were strictly forbidden at all points in their planetary system, and with good reason; it was just such experiments that eventually decimated all members of the female gender. There were, allegedly, no females of the species remaining. The males propagated themselves by cloning.

They settled west of the great ocean that divided the two major land masses of Zin, on an arid peninsula comprising what is now considered Mohan, bordering on what is now a desert. (see "Galadan"). The remnants of their collapsable domes can be found there still; they were made of materials designed to last long after their creators. Unbeknownst to the Kastars, however, they had not arrived on an utterly deserted planet. East and north of their encampment, across the great ocean in an area that eventually became the doomed Ebwydya, existed a settlement of an entirely different race. These came from a system located in the constellation of Lyra. They called themselves the Makyrr.

Apparently, as in the case of the Kastarae, whether by some design of fate, or merely an embellishment added by later chroniclers, the Makyrr numbered nine. In contrast to the reptilian nature of the Kastarae, however, the Makyrr were the vestiges of a predominately avian race and were vaguely bird-like in appearance, their beak-like noses furrowing into nondescript thin lips, their skin - while not fully feathered - exhibited a pale down in various ares of their anatomy, similar to the hair on a human body. The major difference, however, lay in the eyes; the eyes of the Makyrr were uniformly dark with an enlarged round pupil, and the color of the iris, which entirely filled the eye, varied from indigo, to violet, to a deep sienna. Unlike the fixed, metallic stare of a Kastar, the eyes of a Makyrr induced tranquility.

An interesting symmetrical aspect was that the Makyrr were wholly female in gender. Unlike the Kastarae, however, the Makyrr were an exclusively mystic order, members of a race that most certainly had a thriving male gender, though, comparable to the human monastic orders on Earth, the Makyrr were not disposed to consort with them. Which is not to say the Makyrr did not breed. They bred, in fact, female progeny that were wholly Makyrr, through a self-induced process of parthenogenesis. And, this was not the only ability the Makyrr possessed. Amongst their many attributes, levitation - a recessive expression of their ancestor's ability to fly - and weather manipulation among them, they could, under certain circumstances it was said, reverse the state of decay in certain organisms.

The presence of the Makyrr on Zin has never been fully explained, though it is likely that some variety of breeding program was, as with the Kastarae, part of their agenda. In the case of the Makyrr, it was most likely confined to forms of vegetation, possibly extending to several simple organisms which contributed to said flora's survival. Certainly the amazing variety of plant life that was said to have flourished exclusively in Ebwydya gives credence to the legend, but unfortunately, apart from a handful of place names, little physical evidence exists. Ebwydya was decimated by an asteroid in the third millennium and, as to the fate of the original Makyrr, history is silent."

- Excerpt from The Legend of the Kastar and the Makyrr, 1999, Dia Sobin

Makyrr - early sculptural model - DS 1984

HerStory: The Legacy of Judy Chicago

Driving the World to Destruction - Acrylic and oil on Belgian Linen - Judy Chicago, 1986
(Click on images for larger view.)

"I knew that I didn’t want to keep perpetuating the use of the female body as the repository of so many emotions; it seemed as if everything - love, dread, longing, loathing, desire, and terror - was projected onto the female by both male and female artists, albeit with often differing perspectives. I wondered what feelings the male body might be made to express. Also, I wanted to understand why men acted so violently.”

- Judy Chicago, describing her Power Play series (examples above & below)


"The “PowerPlay” series allowed Chicago to exploit and improve upon the cartoonish neo-expressionism of Schnabel, Kostabi, the German Neue Wilde, and other heroes of the moment, turning their pretense at angst and anomie into actual sociopolitical statements, rife with actual anger and confusion. In depicting man’s struggle to manifest aggression and maintain dominance over woman, Chicago was able to convey, even in the cruelest and most violent images, a sense of universal tragedy. Everybody loses, the “PowerPlay” paintings and studies insist, and men are as trapped in and diminished by their roles as women in and by theirs."

- Peter Frank, Huffington Post, via this David Richard Gallery blog page 

"... I found out that many women before me had broken through female roles and made themselves into successful, independent and creative people. Yet the struggles and successes of one generation did not necessarily guarantee greater ease to the women of the next. Instead of the work of one woman attesting to the potential of all women, the work was ripped out of its natural context by male historians. One historical period would allow women more freedom... Then male dominance would assert itself again. The women's achievements would be left out of recorded history, and young women could not model themselves upon the struggles and accomplishments of their mothers."

- Excerpt from Through the Flower; my struggle as a female artist

- Judy Chicago, 1973, 1977

"H. W. Janson, author of the best-selling art history textbook, History of Art (1962), was often quoted as saying that a survey necessarily included only the high points of Western art and that no women artists met that standard."

- excerpt from the .pdf file: Stepping out of the Beaten Path: Reassessing the Feminist Art Movement  by Judith Brodsky and Ferris Olin

***

Last month, I added a new section of links on Trans-D's sidebar devoted to women artists throughout history entitled: Women in Art: HerStory. I've included links which cover female artists from the manuscript illuminators of the Medieval period to the Guerrilla Girls of today, in hopes of partially filling the chasms that exist in what is generally referred to as "art history" - specifically that being taught in the latter half of the twentieth century, and, to some degree, into the 21st - and, a more comprehensive view.

In the 70s, as a young artist, I possessed two books which, to this day, have held honored positions on my shelves. The first was the biography of Georgia O'Keefe, (who will eventually be included in my Patron Sainthood series). The other is a signed paperback entitled "Through the Flower; my struggle as a woman artist" by Judy Chicago, whom I was fortunate to meet in 1994 at one of her lectures held in Connecticut. Happily, Judy Chicago is a living treasure - therefore, no "sainthood" yet!

But, that was it. Apart from Marie Cassatt, O'Keefe and Chicago (before I'd read her book) there had been no other female artists I'd been introduced to... certainly not in art school. If I judged the world situation by what I gleaned from textbooks at the time - and Janson's tome, referenced above, was required art school reading - there were no female artists of note... ever!

To some degree, the absence of women in art history textbooks has been remedied. But, are the fates of women vastly improved? It depends on who you ask.*

Then again, there seems to be a subliminal movement these days to undermine and devalue historical context across the board... as if nothing before the advent of present-day technology has any validity or viability, nor any meaningful relationship to the events of the present day. But, this is a crippling form of tunnel vision, which endows the more unfortunate aspects of our collective past a regenerative power.

Many younger women might be reminded that women in the western world weren't able to vote until 1918, and then, only over 30 years of age. And it wasn't until 1967 - less than 40 years ago - that the Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women was proclaimed. The subsequent - and legally binding document - the United Nations' 1981 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, though signed by the United States, was never ratified, and, worldwide, in the countries in which it is recognized, is rarely enforced.

The Dinner Party - installation - mixed media - 1974-1979, Judy Chicago

Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Brooklyn Museum

Regarding Chicago, however, while "sainthood" can wait, there's never any time like the present to give credit where it's due... and, in terms of women in art history and herstory in general, no artist has contributed as much as Judy Chicago. 

Back in the 60's and 70's she was the proverbial fly in the ointment. Born July, 20, 1939, she was the first woman to singlehandedly fight the gender bias in the male-dominated art establishment that surrounded her, and she pulled no punches. In regards to her own art, she ignored the gender-imposed limitations of her time and sought instruction outside the traditional venues; she learned to spray paint in an auto body shop, learned to work in plastics, and trained in pyrotechnics for her own displays. In1970, in Fresno, California, she founded and taught the first feminist art program, and, in the following year, a program at CalArts in Los Angeles. In 1971, she - along with Miriam Schapiro, and, initially, Paula Hays - opened the first female-centered art installation, Womanhouse.

Around the same time, Chicago began questioning documented history, specifically searching for women's contributions to the arts and the sciences which, up till that time, was an obscure, "underground" line of inquiry - a parallel "herstory" desperately in need of rescue and redemption. She began ferreting out the stories of those uncelebrated women, which, in 1974, inspired one of her most notorious, timeless, and critically-acclaimed installations: The Dinner Party, ultimately a collaborative work that would take 6 years to complete.

Detail of The Dinner Party installation: Elizabeth Blackwell's setting - 1974-1979, Judy Chicago
Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Brooklyn Museum

The Dinner Party is described on the Brooklyn Museum site, where the installation is now a permanent exhibit, as: "an icon of feminist art, which represents 1,038 women in history; 39 women are represented by place settings and another 999 names are inscribed in the Heritage Floor on which the table rests. This monumental work of art is comprised of a triangular table divided by three wings, each 48 feet long."

Above and below are several details of The Dinner Party, with their corresponding links.

Dinner plates From The Dinner Party installation (Left to right):
Georgia O'Keefe, Petronilla de Meath, Hypatia, Trotula.
1974-1979, Judy Chicago

Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Brooklyn Museum

Since the time of The Dinner Party, Chicago has been prolific as an artist, committed as teacher, and, as an activist, remains a perennial force to be reckoned with. Combining her broad understanding of the human condition and an intimate relationship with her own personal, visionary process, Judy Chicago is as vital and relevant today as she was at any point in the past.

She now resides in New Mexico with her husband, photographer Donald Woodman, teaching and working under the auspices of her non-profit feminist art organization, Through the Flower.

The Three Faces of Man - Sprayed acrylic and oil on Belgian Linen - Judy Chicago, 1985

Above is another of Chicago's paintings from her Power Play series: The Three Faces of Man. Metaphorically concise, to the point of being grotesque, it's pretty powerful stuff. But, hey, wait a minute, wasn't this cat in the news not too long ago? Life imitating art seems to be the order of the millennium!

Below is a 2010 YouTube video of Judy Chicago discussing feminist art. Another video - as the recipient of the 2011 Governor's Award, can be found here. Also, a recent (March 1, 2013) PBS special featuring an interview with Chicago - "Makers: Women Who Make America" - can be found here.

By the way, I recently learned it's "Women's History Month", so, despite the fact that this post has been sitting in draft-mode since January, now seems like a fine time to post it.

Well, sort of. That is, if "history" months - be they women's history month, black history month or national dog history month - weren't just so much patronizing BS. You'll note, for instance, there seems to be no cause for a designated "White Male History" month...

Anyway, it gets worse. I learned today that "International Women's Day" was held on March 8. Oh, you missed it, too? Well, look at it this way: if you were fully human, or, maybe just male, every day, in the official world, would be your day.

***

* In regards to woman in the sciences, they are perhaps in need of redemption more than women in the arts. Nature, the international journal of science, has several articles addressing the subject, found here, here, and here... with a more optimistic viewpoint found here.



Judy Chicago's quotes and images have been posted here with permission from the artist.

Judy Chicago:
Website: http://www.judychicago.com/
Through the Flower: http://www.throughtheflower.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThroughtheFlower


Update 6/24/13: Two members of the Russian Punk band, Pussy Riot, become special guests at the Dinner Party.  Also: the NY Times article, and a New Statesman article: Pussy Riot: "People fear us because we're feminists".

Andromeda - She Who Waits

Image: Andromeda - Digital - 2006, DS
Litany Against Fear - 1965, Frank Herbert

"In Frank Herbert's 1965 novel Dune, the Bene Gesserit are a secretive matriarchal order who have achieved somewhat superhuman abilities through physical and mental conditioning and the use of the drug melange. Under the guise of humbly "serving" the Empire, the Sisterhood is in fact a major power in the universe, using its many areas of influence to subtly guide mankind along the path of their own plan for humanity's future."

- Wiki entry for "Bene Gesserit"

If serenity is the flip-side of fear, then that might explain why my 2006 image,"Andromeda", came to mind recently. But, it's hard to say, because Andromeda was a muse-generated image, and, in that tradition, no pre-meditation was involved, nor significance implied. I simply knew when my work was correct, incorrect, and when it was finished - not consciously what it represented.

In keeping with muse tradition, the name "Andromeda", itself, was spontaneously given. But, figuring it might be a clue to where I want to go with this post - as I came to the conclusion I should post the image -  I did my obligatory pre-post web-search.

The Greek myth of Andromeda, itself, told me nothing. A damsel in distress is saved by a hero, in this case Perseus... eventually begets his spawn, and then is transformed into a heavenly body: the "Chained Maiden". *

That story.

Regarding the Andromeda galaxy, while there are a couple of anomalies (see here and here), the most remarkable thing about it is the possibility it may crash or merge with our own Milky Way in about 4.5 billion years.**

Perhaps that's what "she who waits"  is waiting for...

Originally, my own take on the image, was that it reminded me of an icon of some extraterrestrial - or, perhaps, futuristic posthumanist - religious figure. Something along the lines of Frank Herbert's Bene Gesserits from his 1965 sci-fi (or, better yet, "psi-fi") novel Dune.

Then again, I created my own female ET religious order at some point in the early 1970's, for a sci-fi children's story: the Makyrr. The Makyrr were an avian race, originating from somewhere in the constellation of Lyra, who seeded a number of habitable planets with a variety of organic life. Andromeda, however, is not a representation of a Makyrr, who wore winged headdresses and had more bird-like features.

Then, I got to thinking about female religious orders... but, specifically those of fiction and fantasy, and utterly unrelated to Christian nunneries and the like (i.e., those orders devoted to the prevalent patriarchal dogma). And, it came to me that perhaps many women unconsciously enfold their own inner Bene Gesserit; a subliminal response to the male deities, male saviors and male excuses for the subjugation of the female gender, with which women been conditioned with since infancy.

And then the eureka moment arrived when my cousin, with whom I'm staying - and who is, apparently, Catholic - mentioned that a new Catholic pope was being designated today. Ah, said I...  so, there you have it... Andromeda, the perfect, heretical response. So serene, she's like the still point on an axis... silently smiling... waiting... waiting.

Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear

(an incantation)

"I must not fear.

Fear is the mind-killer.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

I will face my fear.

I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.

Only I will remain."

- Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965

P.S. Incidentally, there may have been a female pope at one point in history, illustrated as one of the major arcana cards of the earlier tarot decks: see Pope Joan.

*  Interestingly, the name "Andromeda" actually translates from the Greek into: "ruler of men".

** (Update: 6/7/13) Then again, according to this recent article, Andromeda already has collided with the Milky Way in the long past!

***

10/13/15 Update: 

I've just exchanged the Andromeda image for the Litany Against Fear/Andromeda mash-up you now see at the beginning of the post. Recently, I printed it out and hung it on the wall by my computer. Feel free to do the same.

Fear of Living Theatre presents...

Fear of Living Theatre - Pen and Ink - 1981, "N.S." (click to enlarge)

Translatable comic captions (frame by frame):

FEAR OF LIVING THEATRE presents "Antonia and Olga" (Modern Romance #1)

1) On sunny days, people stare out their windows.

2) On dark days, people stare out their windows.

3) One dark day...

4) Antonio, a hot young stud...

5) happened to be staring out his window...

6) while, across the street,

7) that cute slut, Olga

8) was staring out hers.

9) Their eyes met.

10) He got hard, right off the bat.

She got sick, and almost threw up.

11) He tried to communicate.

(Balloon: "Hey sweetie, wanna fuck?")

12) She was not impressed.

(Balloon: "Drop dead, dickhead!")

13) He tried to spit at her, but she was too far away.

14) She would've shot him, but she'd left her gun at the laundromat.

15) So, the next day...

16) He put up Venetian blinds -

she put in an air conditioner.

17) (Balloon: "And that's all, folks!")

END

***

I'm back... sort of. Although I'm still in transition - a woman without a permanent address - I do have some web access, so, I thought I'd put up one more FOL.

Apparently, I'm still feeling the "fear". 

Normal posting will commence sooner or later. At which point, this post, and both the previous and the initial Fear of Living posts will be removed (from this spot) and posted on a separate pages.

Peace out.

More "FEAR" !

"Fear of Living" promotional panel - pen & ink - 1981, DS (as N.S.) - Published in the East Village Eye, 1982

Translatable comic captions (frame by frame):

1) Why are these men smiling?

2)  A) They're stiffs.

3)  B) It's all done with strings.

4)  C) Drugs.

5)  D) Plastic surgery.

6)  E) They're being paid for it.

7)  O)

8)  X) (Balloon: "I don't know but I wish they'd stop!")

psi)  FEAR OF LIVING COMICS

9)  9) You call this smiling?

"Fear of Living" "People" panel - pen & ink - 1981, DS as (N.S.) - Published in the East Village Eye, 1982

Translatable comic captions (frame by frame):

1) FEAR OF LIVING COMICS

2) "People,

3) People

4) who need

5) people...

6) are the luckiest people

9) in the

10) world..."

11) (Lower half) (Balloon: Frankly, I like cats better...)

END

***

Why more "Fear of Living"?

Oh, I guess I'm just "in the mood", so to speak... whether y'all are or not! ;-)

(Besides which, I always hated that Streisand song...)

Incidentally, for those who can't read english... or, just can't read my cartoon writing, I'm going to add a paragraph of translatable script below, as I did just now in the previous panel.

(Note: If these strips appear blurry - trying clicking on, and viewing the larger size...)

MORE "FEAR"!

Comic Relief - "Fear of Living"

FOL Comic Panel - Pen and Ink - 1981, DS (click to enlarge)

Translatable comic captions (frame by frame):

1) FEAR OF LIVING

2) It snowed last night...

3) 10 people were killed

4) Because they did not stay in their houses!

5) 6 of the dead will be buried...

6) The other 4 will soon appear on a TV talk show,

(Balloons: "So, what's it like to be dead?"

"It could be worse"

"I miss my cigarettes")

7) write books, and endorse a laundry detergent.

"DEADLY SNOW"

8) (T-shirt:"You, too, can be a star!")

Remember: death sells!

9) So, next time it snows, do yourself a favor...

(Balloons: "It's kind of quiet here, but we like it."

"And it's cheap, too")

10) Get out of the house!

(Arrow text: Your house)

(Lower 1/2)  END

(Balloon: "Not me, I hate snow!")

Time: 1981.  Place: Lower East Side, New York City.  Consciousness: Enhanced.

Just dug this out of the files a few minutes ago and had my first and last laugh of the day (it being midnight). You kind of had to be there.  But, I don't know, it's still relevant in the sense that, as bad as anything ever is, the media blitz makes it worse. At least, that was one of my pet themes with "Fear of Living Comics"... I'll let you figure out the rest of them.

Anyway, if you're out there right now (and still have power), Jada, this one's for you! :-)

Added note, for the sake of context: "Fear of Living" was a short series of comic strips - 5 or 6 panels  -  I inked in Manhattan in 1981 as "N.S.". The first (above) was never submitted, but the others were published as small spots in The East Village Eye.


Below is a "glam" shot of myself  taken around that time by a photographer friend.

The Artist Not at Work ,1983 - Photo Credit: Steve MacNichol

More "FEAR"!

In Search of a Virtual Window (Updated)

Labradorite Window detail - Digital - DS 2013
(Click to enlarge.)

The graphic above (Note: Original graphic has been replaced with a different version.) charts the progress of the labradorite window I mentioned in my previous post. Of course it helps to know what sort of portal one means by "window" before one attempts to create a virtual one. In the very early days of this project, the window was opaque, and for the most part metaphorical. I wanted something that was so organic that it appeared to have literally grown into place. The "place" was in the middle of a stone slab. I didn't think too much about the slab. I knew it was on the ground. As far as the "labradorite window", originally the idea emerged from a line of a poem I wrote in 2009:
"I lie on a bed of labradorite; of labradorite is my window."

I pretty much abandoned the poem, as my muse had little else to say, but the idea of a labradorite window intrigued me. I wanted to see it, which is pretty much the definition of art for an artist: that is, things we need to see. I'm not sure when I began fashioning it's size and overall shape... but, I had in mind a stained-glass-like "rose window"; the sort one sees in the great cathedrals, but on a smaller scale, and, as mentioned, not really a window at all. I also knew the panes of labradorite would fit together in an organic array, which is when my mind hit upon the idea of the meteorite. Below is the results of my initial attempts at developing a meteorite "shell". I thought that it only remained to fill in the pockets of my faux meteorite via my airbrush tool.

Wrong. After a number of failed attempts I just placed the whole project in the "Someday Maybe" file and moved on.

It was only recently that I began playing with it again. For whatever reason, I started airbrushing a metal swirl pattern over my meteorite, and, during this process, it came to me finally just what sort of window I was seeing in my middle eye.

Yes, the labradorite window is still in the center of stone slab lying flat on the ground... but it is not just some weird mineral deposit, as I imagined previously. It is an actual, translucent stained-glass window created to represent a metaphorical portal to an ancient, underground chamber.

Ah, but that's another story. Meanwhile, I'm progressing slowly with the project, though it feels like more of a craft project at this point, and a labor-intensive one at that. The previous image showed a view of the window laid over the framework of the faux meteorite shell... the new one displays, instead, the marble-like slab in which the window is embedded. The grey/green segments represent blanks awaiting to be filled. I'm experimenting with labradorite patterns presently, and there's a long way to go... and it suffers in a low-resolution format but, I think you get the idea. Incidentally, that purplish segment represents a variety of labradorite known as "Peacock". The whitish stones represent Rainbow Moonstone, another variety of labradorite.

As it stands, it's going to be fairly chaotic in meat-space for me over the next few weeks - the big move is about to take place -  but, I've begun laying the plans for my next Patron Saint post. See you then!

"Meteorite" Window in full - DS 2011
(Click on for larger view.)

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!