Worlds They Rise and Fall, gathering in the deep forest, shaman bands, these days, qualities, spoon?

I gave this song to Jean. It’s by the Incredible String Band and is a very good description of what it’s like to be in a relationship with someone like Jean.

Worlds They Rise and Fall

Worlds they rise and fall within her eyes
She gives the eagle wings
To fly her skies
Upon her breath the four worlds live and die
and sometimes
Its all I can do is bow to her

But when the moon is misty through the trees
Right now she says I want to be
Your girl, your little girl

Stars they rise and fade, around her dance
For her the steep is climbed
The gulf is spanned
She lives, she lives, the bards sing, around her stand
and sometimes
Its all I can do is bow to her

But when the moon is misty through the trees
Right now she says I want to be
Your girl, your little girl.

——————

Written as part of the invitation to a psychedelic trance gathering put on by Atrium Obscurum, the crew I’ve worked with for about 8 years

Sacrificing what we are for what we can be at Tribal Tejas.

Along a narrow country road, turn off on a one lane dirt road, through trees, into a meadow, and in the meadow, a shelter where some nice people (people just like you and me!) will talk with you about leave no trace and what to do if things get intense. You pay a small fee for two nights of camping with your tribe and non-stop music from Friday night to Sunday morning.

Drive on down the road into the forest, up hill and down dale, past more meadows… starting to see tents in the forest now, other people walking along, look, there’s a dome, people working, people laughing, people in love and you can tell that they too are brothers and sisters.

Welcome to Paradise! Sisters and Brothers, Welcome!

Shortly after sunset Friday there will be an opening ceremony, to which all are invited. We will give thanks for this beautiful land, for those who were here before (Caddo and Cherokee Indians), for the presence in our lives of those we love, for those we love and who are no longer here. We will give thanks for those who worked to make this gathering happen, for those who create and give to us the music, for those who traveled long distances to be here, for every single person at this gathering. Giving thanks for the forest, for the sky, for life, for love, for hope, for ecstasy, for peace, for nothing less than the opportunity for rebirth. Everyone is invited to bring something meaningful to place on the altar in the front of the dance floor.

The ceremony shifts into its next phase, the part where music fills the air, the trees, the meadows; the part where the dance is ecstatic and we begin to connect, riding the music, whirling, stomping (Oh yeah, it’s Tribal alright!), lifting up our arms, our hearts, our love, our vulnerabilities, our sadness, our joy, our very selves. Lights sparkling, people talking, dancing into the dark, hugging, swaying, skipping, flow artists flowing… The darkness is good and it’s safe and if you need a hand someone will help you.

First time travelers: as you can see, these gatherings are not about going to hear some music. They are transformational gatherings, where we’re all involved in making it happen, i.e., co-creating – and in every case, working toward a higher vibe, a higher experience, a tranceformation for everyone.

Join us! Bring your self, your being, your pain, your hope, your gratitude, and your respect for life and the lives of those who no longer here. Join us in lifting up the Native Americans whose land this once was, lifting up the Ghost dancers, the Shamans of the past, and yes, lifting up ourselves and our Sisters and Brothers.

———————

Shaman bands

I was listening to a concert performance of Daughter, a song by Pearl Jam (Rock and roll will forever stand!). It’s a grim song, about a girl with learning difficulties who is abused. It ends with the words, “the shades go down…” And then there is a shift into a different direction with the words, “It’s okay, it’s okay” back and forth between the singer and the audience and some very raw guitar work building, building. “This my chance. This is my voice. This is my life. This is my hope!” After my involvement with Jonathan’s Place (where children go when they’ve been removed from their families in Dallas County) and after patients and others confiding that these and other bad things have happened to them, I experience this song on a profound level.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.” I get it that it may never be all the way okay, but sometimes it is okay. “This is my voice.” Light in times of darkness. “This is my life!” Hope when there isn’t any. “This is my hope!” “It’s okay, it’s okay.”

And I started thinking about bands that are more than entertaining.

Or can be much more than entertaining. Or are sometimes more. Bands that can be transcendent and can lift one’s consciousness.

Shaman Bands (for me)

Grateful Dead

Incredible String Band

Beatles

Van Morrison

Bob Dylan

Pearl Jam

——————–

These days

Every day I open my computer with dread for the appalling thing(s) of the day. Actually, I check in on CNN, Google News, NYT, Fox, and others several times/day. I see mass shootings. Third-rate sycophant nominated for a critically important security job (Ratcliffe for DNI). Senate delays for gun control legislation. Racist presidential rally (“shoot them – haha”). The resurgence of white nationalism. Lies upon lies. Bullying. The grossest trivialities in the highest office (the President of the United States feuding with TV personalities). And on and on.

And almost every day, there are appalling things and I have the constant consciousness that whatever moral fiber the US had is slipping away fast. This corrupt and treasonous “King of Debt” is bankrupting America. Everything and every person he touches becomes dirty.

I don’t have a conclusion or answer. It’s just what’s happening.

—————–

Some of the qualities I admire in people (not inclusive)

Brave

Honorable

Honest

Kind

Walking The Path

Competent

Productive

Loyal

Respectful

Aware

Modest

Consistent

———————–

We were dozing in bed and Jean asked, “Do you want a spoon?” Thinking she was dreaming about offering me a spoon, I said, “No thank you.” Later I asked her what she was dreaming about and she said, “I wasn’t dreaming.

I was asking if you wanted to spoon.” Doh!