h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Dear Space and Time Spirits ... ..

I am having a very intense time right now .. this time is very beautiful in its intensity ..... and poetic ... and deep .....and I need to write .. and write .. and write .. and write .. ..

Having been clearing out the family home for days and hours and weeks ..) I have many spirits and word paintings flutering in and out of my soul ...

.... and many thoughts about old photographs .. and memories ... and echoes .... and dust particles ... ......and story-cycles .. and transformations ... and stories turning into spirit ...

...so I am going to start to jot down some lists and word paintings here over the next few days .... as a sort of healing/creative process .... and see where it takes me .....



firstly ...


during this curious and intense time I have been listening to my Philip Glass CD of Rumi poems set to music .....included on this CD is the Rumi verse entitled Spirits ....


and I quote .....

<<>> ...... Rumi/Spirits

which I had never heard before till I acquired this CD ... so I've just listened to it over and over .....

.....and all the spirits of my ancestors .. and emotion-spirits and poetry-spirits (and some other spirits ...of strangers I never met before .. )... are sort of flying in and out of my soul ..

....except ...with me ....they fly in and out of the top of my head .....rather than through a window in the centre of my chest ...

wonder if that's OK?

...have to ask Rumi ..

or you guys ... .... or my ancestors ... or those passing stranger-spirits .... ... or the Spirit of Poetry ... or The Spirit of Dust Particles ... ....

maybe I should wear a hat ... ... but then the spirits couldn't fly in and out ...and that would make me sad ....or mad ... or glad .... hmm

talk to me spirits of poetry and beauty!

or send cupcakes

Thoughts on old photographs .....

....I have looked at hundreds and hundreds of old photographs in the last few days whilst clearing out the house of my father..... these photographs go way back into the early 1900s ....ghostly sepia ... ah ghostly sepia! ....how curious to be related to these people of the sepia world .... they all had their stories ... .. from childhood to their dying ... they all had their dreams and their tragedies ... their pain and their delight ...



When I was younger I used to be afraid of these photographs of my ancestors ... as if my story was somehow inferior to their stories ... I knew they had all been involved in wars and great suffering ...I felt in awe .....



... but this time when I looked at them I wanted to talk to these people ... I wanted to know their stories (the same way I do with everyone I meet) .. but I didn't feel inferior ... I just felt like me ... which is a good feeling ... and I wanted to tell them my story .... and watch them make excuses and try to ease out of the frame ... hahah ..... zzzzzz ... yawn .. .....



Sometimes I am haunted by photographs ..... I love to take photographs .. but somehow when I take a photo I feel the need to try to transform it in a sort of arty way .. so that it goes on a journey ... sort of like letting the spirits fly in and out of the top of my head .. ..... hmm



Portraits of ancestors are good for historical reference though I think ... when a kid five generations on wants to know about life in the 1900s ... what his great great great great grandfather looked like .. that kind of thing ....



Sometimes I worry that photographs can trap the spirit .... I read once that some shaman peoples(I think ...... but don't hold me to this ...) cannot be photographed ...even if you take a photo they don't appear when the photo comes out... they resist the camera ....because their spirit might be trapped by the process of photography ...

I wonder if this is true ... hmmm .....



If I show someone a photograph of myself I always say that it somehow looks like me but it isn't me really even though it is ...

Before I am photographed I like to wrap tinsel around my antennae to disguise them .....

...actually that last sentence is really stoooopid .. just when I was getting all deep and serious and poetic ... anyway .. what would Gregor Samsa think of me disguising my antennae with tinsel .. sorry Gregor .. I would prefer to be a handsome roach in photographs rather than look like me ... honest I would ....

Oh, dear, you're going to like the next Gheorgheniplex......Which was already drawn and sent to the art department BEFORE you wrote that about Gregor Samsa, cross my heart and hope to die... Great minds think alike...

Afraid of photographs. Yep. Been there.

From one nutcase to another: My theory about my terror of photographs at an early age is that photographs, like really good paintings, contain biometric energy and are interactive, hence the reward of studying them.

Hence the fear of sensitive people that this was somehow trapping the spirit...nope, just some stray ectoplasm...

What do I know? I probably *should* wear a tinfoil hat.

Hey Gorgeous,

So nice to hear from you again. It gives me great joy like when I see this lovely butterfy outside our apartment. I´m not keen on photos either, I don´t feel like the person looking out at me from the mirror either.



You and Chris have a lovely day.

I believe the fear of a camera capturing your spirit is rather widespread among native populations. I've read accounts of Native Americans refusing to be photographed for that reason. I don't remember reading that a shaman doesn't show up in a photograph, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if a genuine one could somehow affect his energy field. Well, I know that kirlian auras can be influenced. I've seen it happen.

We live in such an amazing place, this realm where we can walk with one foot on the ground and the other out there in the ether. I was more accomplished at it when F was still here. Just being around him, observing him was inspirational. With him gone, I am drifting back into my natural stolid skepticism. My senses are dull, my mind has become unimaginative, I see everything in the sepia of your photographs. I feel like I've lost myself somehow.

I need an afternoon with you in Chelsea, reading Tagore.

.... wow .... ...

what an extraordinary gift ...... three of my dearest amazing friends appear in my life and my inbox .. and all on the same evening ... how lucky I am ... how extraordinarily lucky .... ...

... and thankyou for your individual and deep and remarkable insights .... ..... and a tantalising synchronistic preview there from the DG Gheorgheniplex fellow nutcase artist ... ... ...

.... hmm ...good word ..although probably is a haunted word ....wounded by history .. like lunatic ... and crazyperson ... and asylum ....and mad ....and witch ..

hmm ... (notes for later thoughts ..... can words be haunted?? haunted words .....words in pain ... words that need healing .... words that need a word-shaman .... a word-shaman .... is the poet/writer potentially a word shaman???)

ah so much to think about ..... that's why I like lists ... lists! lists! I must make lists!



anyway .. .. not a painful word for me though ... it makes me think of a little sponge cake ... with walnuts in it .. and a cherry on top ..maybe with sweet white icing ... contained in one of those crinkly paper cases that you got at kids' tea parties ... I always kept the crinkly paper case to put things in later ...once I had got over crying from the trauma of the kids' tea party ... so shy I was .. ah ...

but wait! wait! .. how can I speak of cake when your insights await my attention ....



I have just had this beautiful mental (another haunted word ...mental) picture of a collection of amazing magic crystals .. some raw .. some polished ... as if like encountering fellow humans ... and each crystal is different ... and each crystal has many many facets which all reflect .. interpret ... the light .. in different ways .... but somehow the crystals go through changes and transformations when in contact with each other .... and ....

wow .. wait .. ... ... back in a minute ...

OK ... .. now where was I ....

could you all stop being so interesting please? .. so I can get on with my life .. ... no wait! wait! .. you are my life ...

now .. ah yes Hyp luvvy ... how often do I think of our afternoon at the Chelsea Physic Garden ... remember the lovely cafe? and the magic poppy we saw ....I loved that Physic Garden ... I often imagine that we are there again .. and we are talking about all the things we talk about .... and I think of you every time I hear Tagore mentioned ... you coming to London again soon?

the magic realms are magic for sure .. .. Hyp luvvy ..are you still writing and painting and drawing? ...and if not why not??? ... will you tell me more about kirlian auras ... and F ... and everything? pleeeeze?????

......

Elektra luvvy ... ...hullo you ... .. ....I love that about the butterflies .... .... and mirrors .... and mirrors .... uh oh ..... now you got me thinking about mirrors ...

(makes note for later thoughts .....word paintings about mirrors .. must make lists about mirrors ....)

.....

and then ... and then .... wait a minute ... <<>>>> what??? who said that????




(makes note for later thoughts ... what is biometric energy?? ... photographs and paintings are interactive???? like magic crystals ...)

faints

I love it love it love it .... and I haven't even started my posting yet ... which was going to be about ornamental wooden boxes full of kirby grips and buttons ...

but that will have to wait .... and anyway .. who needs kirby grips and buttons .... I do! I do! .. well ..buttons anyway .. not sure about kirby grips ... you have them in the States? like hair grips .. sort of thing ..

wait for me magic spirits!! ... take me with you ...

Send me pictures of kirby grips...I imagine this as something technical used on a space station......

You can help me with a question (this might have to wait for next Tuesday)...

How do we get people out of the metasystem and into the eternal now, like where you are?

Last night, I lay in bed, feeling my neglected etheric body and wondering if anybody believed in the puir wee thing anymore...

I should have remembered that Hypatia mentioned Kirlian photography...

So maybe's there's hope.

You know, the thing with feathers that perches on the soul?

We seem to be in danger of losing our ability to sense the etherial. Simple, overused example. We know that there are sounds that exsist that are above or below the range of human hearing. Because we can't hear them doesn't mean they aren't there. Also, we can sense their vibrations if we allow ourselves to do so. There is that strange awareness of ~something~, but we just can't put our finger on it.

I blame modern technology. It is fabulous in a sense, but it is also terribly distracting. And all of the noises, vibrations, radio waves, microwaves, electric lines, etc., interfere with our built-in radar.

But it is technology that is proving the things we sense are real and not imagined. We can prove that the sounds out of the audible range are there. Kirlian photography proves that auras exist. We can use microscopes to see the invisible.

One question that has always interested me is whether there is actually a separate plane or whether it is right here but just out of sight, hearing and touch? And now there is string theory, which is absolutely fascinating.

Helen, I write very little these days. I have that fabulous book you sent me about nurturing our creativity that I should reread. Right now I'm struggling with the stupid script for the stupid Mystery Night play. I don't want to do it, so it is slow going. As to the painting and drawing, I am rearranging furniture in my house to create a small studio. I still enjoy botanical illustrations in colored pencil and watercolor. And I'm working on a sketchbook of places I've visited in England. One of these days I'll put it all together with vignettes about those places. It will make a great memory book for my old age. The turps bother me so much that I will probably never do oils again.

yay Hyp luvvy ... and I'm really happy to hear that you are creating a studio space in your house in which to practice your art ... ..

I remember seeing the sketches you included your travelogue that you published on h2 .. and I was like .. awesome! .. (as my teenage nephew and nieces would say .. ...



so the vocation still calls you ...splendid! ... and if any of the sketches and vignettes from your memory book .. or botanical drawings and paintings .... are ever available on preview ..... I'd love to see .... even on email .... copyright respected ... amd everything ...of course .... and I'll only drive you crazy by going on about them for .. let's say ... 200 yrs ... ... hahaha .. hmm



our neighbour has worked as a professional artist her whole life .. but now she is retired she has created a little wooden studio shed in her garden .. and I go in there just to inhale the lovely atmosphere of paints and canvas and it all ... .. so great ... I love it ...



Yes ... ah yes ... interesting innit ..very interesting points that you and DG are raising around the whole Mind Body Spirit enquiry ...very fascinating to talk to wise intelligent people like you guys ... (I just called you wise and intellligent .. have I earned a coffee now ... ...?? thanks .. .. )



serious though ..the world of sound vibration fascinates me particularly ... (Chris is involved in the world of sound healing .. sonic artistry etc .. and he likes to find the sonic resonance of his environment .. especially small spaces with tiles on the wall .. like steam rooms and public toilets etc ... ...crazy Celts .. .... and he's into overtone chant etc .. its amazing ... I feel the whole atmosphere vibrate when he's in flow .. ...)



we live in a very New Age alternative area .. all sorts of Mind Body Spirit practices going on ...there are some very dedicated hard workers out there ...

I have very great respect for the pure essence of the healing arts .. we know people who work in pretty much all the areas .....

and I get furious with the charlatans ... don't even start me .... ... messing with all that ancient wisdom and knowledge ... some years back I had a very serious run-in with an extremely dangerous and influential charlatan .. guru type .. who was damaging a lot of people .....I took him on .. eye to eye .. face to face .. I would go on more about it but I still tremble to this day .... hmm



I never had the vocation to work as a healer or therapist ... I wouldn't be a good guide ... and I think it is essential to take it seriously ..

I think .. especially when starting out ... that inner journeying has to have the right preparation .. else it would be like attempting Everest without the right guide or equipment .. if someone asks me about inner journeying or Mind Body Spirit healing or anything .. and they do .. frequently .. I don't know why .. ... I try to guide them to a qualified practitioner or guide for the journey route they are interested in ..



I wonder how much of the way we see .. and vibrational sensitivity etc ... is affected by brain chemistry .. brain types ... ??

there is an autistic gene in my family .. and people have often suggested that I might just be a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic .. know what I mean .. hahahah .. although ... hey ... I say bring on the lizard visions! ...I like my picnic .. hmm



I have concluded ... through trial and error .. mainly error .. that Balance is a rather amazing friend to me ...and takes me through all areas of Mind Body Spirit enquiry .. Balance is a compassionate friend to me ... it allows my error .. it allows my idiocy .. my tiny attempts at freedom .. my hunger for spirit and grace ... it is wise and winks at me with sparkling eyes ... good old fashioned Balance ... when I was younger I always thought that Imbalance was more poetic ..but now I don't ... I think Balance is my social and personal responsibility ..



I love the mystery! .. I love that strange awareness of something that I can't quite put my finger on ...I love the way it comes and goes and haunts me with its elusiveness ... ah yes ...

hmm

you guys sure set me thinking ....

thankyou ....



I love the diversity also .. everyone bringing in totally different aspects of human experience ... one of the finest people I ever met was a total sceptic about absolutely everything to do with Mind Body Spirit ...and just about everything else .. .. a down to earth solid sceptic .. he drove me crazy .. delightul person ... dead now .. dust to dust .. nothing more ... ...



and then there are kirby grips on spacestations .. .. huh????? ... .... and the thing with feathers that perches on the soul .... huh??????

love it love it love it

gotta go .....

Mirrors and Photographs ....and some other things ... this is an art slot .. ignore me ... I too will pass .. ....



mirrors (subtitle: I whisper to my mother and my friends)

And somewhere between ideas and fears and idiocy and absurdity ... I remember the day we stood at the mirror together .. the long mirror in your room ... mother and daughter ... and I said that I thought you looked like an intense novelist and that I looked like a crow .... and we laughed ... how I loved those laughter times .....

I found your silver handmirror just the other day when I was clearing out your room ... no glass left .. just the frame ... I am going to fill this empty frame with a photograph of you .. or maybe I will create a photograph of a totem made out of hair grips and fragments of memory .. and think about you and your silver laughter .. and whisper to my friends who live in other dimensions ..





mirrors .. (subtitle: not I not I (said the fly in mine eye))

I carry a little clamshell-style mirror in the pannier of my bicycle .. it is very useful for extracting bugs that fly splat into my eye so that I can't see anything ahead of me except for black sticky bug shapes ....

This little mirror is in fact two mirrors in one .. open the clamshell .. one side is a magnified mirror .. the other side is regular.

Sometimes I use the magnified mirror when extracting the bug ... and it magnifies all the crowsfeet lines around my eyes ...which is strange .. and I go away having a bit of a panic about ageing .. and wondering if flies get wrinkles when they age .. which I don't think they do because insects just don't .. and I don't think any other mammals get wrinkles do they? .. except elephants are born wrinkly .. so that helps .. and I don't this is a word painting any more I think this is just stooopid ... ....

Sonic healing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWMOmBohlTE

Farinelli sang to the king of Spain, every night for 9 years, as music therapy for his depression.

Er, and I once raised the dead in music therapy...well, that young lady wouldn't get up off the floor (developmentally disabled adult class), and I was afraid to use force, so I held a New Orleans funeral, complete with kazoos (except for the fellow who always insisted his kazoo was broken, he got a triangle).

We went from sad, slow music on the piano ('Frankie and Johnny') to something upbeat and cheerful ('Happy Days Are Here Again'), and she cheerfully got up. I declared a miracle, and sent them home on the bus.

More beautiful music (at least, I think it's beautiful):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJB5Rqc1m0Y

(Common element between the two videos: You have to be 'different' to sing like that.)

wow. (faints)

you've done me in now boy .... you've really done it this time .. ..

I really get it. I really really get these two videos ...... I have .. in fact ... always been obsessed by the Castrato ...and now I am obsessed with the 5th Element Diva ... I am totally obsessed with this ... the 5th Element Diva .... which I never even saw before ....

s'cuse me .. just going a bit bonkers here for a moment .... .....

.......... thankyou for reminding me of everything I need to be reminded of ...... (except to go buy a can of peasoup ... ... which I have to go do now ... ...)

music/sonic frequencies are for sure a hotline to the inner kingdoms .. the magic realms ... the dream brain .... ... a way of travelling ... a cure .. a prayer .. a surrender ... a guide ... a miracle in fact ....

C has an obsession with falsetto .. he can sing in falsetto .. (naturally .. no physical adjustment needed ... ) ... very magic ... very very amazing ... a cure .. a healing ... a connection .. (but he's shy to talk about his sound healing work .. so I won't go on)

hmm ...

... I want to join that class of yours .. I really do ... ... serious I do ... ... wah again .. because you know what??? another connection .... .... spontaneous play ...

...because I think that play .. true innocent anarchic spontaneous play .. not childsplay .. more like Holy Fool Play ... ... is another inroad into the etheric realms or the magic realms .... or into the mystery of moment ...or art

I used to be involved with classes a bit like these ones that you led ... in the therapy centre ... I loved them .. I miss them .. hmm ..



for me it is always about finding ways to surrender to the mystery of moment ... to not own the moment .... (like in childhood when the world around was a scary yet mysterious place ... ) even despite the day to day responsibilities of life .... just tiny things like a doodle in the margin .... a whisper ... a word rearrangement .. a chant ..... the mantra of moment ... the heartbeat of moment ...

what? .....

beacause I don't own the moment ..and .. for me .. therein lies the mystery ..... perhaps the Great Spirit (or whatever the name .. or not name) owns the moment .....



and that's that ...



unless it isn't ..



On my Philip Glass DVD (yes I am obsessed) ... ... Philip talks about how .. for him ... music is like an underground river .... it is there all the time under the surface of everything ... all he has to do is learn to sharpen his senses ... listen .. and bring it forth ....

the wellspring! .. yay! ....

...

have to go ...... next week is emails ... .. pending for all ye who have written me amazing emails ......and thankyou .. ah yay ... I can't multitask .. else I get brainfizz ... .. it is h2 or emails ... .... except there's on Monday .. and lots of other things on this amazing site ... so ...... but ... emails first .....

Heh-heh.

Be in the moment - and write emails.

I can't tell you some things except in emails - there are already ers going, 'What the - ? That's bally nonsense, that is, in the moment, my Aunt Bessie's blue bustle, and why aren't they discussing more important things...such as scientifical science..grumble...'

Do I know what you mean? Yes. Was this more or less exactly what I dreamt last night? Er, yes.

Do I want to talk about it in public? Er, no.

I'll work things into a scifi story, instead. Oh, wait, I did - see Monday's .

(Somehow I could have guessed C. could do that. Talented fella.)