Writing the Tale

 

“To some extent, mythology is only the most ancient history and biography. So far from being false or fabulous in the common sense, it contains only enduring and essential truth, the I and you, the here and there, the now and then, being omitted. Either time or rare wisdom writes it. Before printing was discovered, a century was equal to a thousand years. The poet is he who can write some pure mythology to-day without the aid of posterity.”
— Henry David Thoreau

 

Shifting through possibilities of being
learning to open and allow
my real self to emerge
Casting shadows everywhere
especially within
Losing fixed points
I dance to the song I hear
soon the wheel will stop
and the ball click into place
my present identity fixed
The author is revealed
for no one else will
write my story
and no one will be blamed
At any point I can write finis
leave the scene and start anew.
— Gary A Rosenberg

 

Blessings, G

 

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Night of HekateHekate’s Night by G A Rosenberg

 

Interseedinterseed by G A Rosenberg

 

What are the Rules? A Consciousness Stream

 

“If Life is just a game…

What are the rules?”
— Vajra Krishna

 

Kindergarden rules yet most adults lose the simplicity. Kindness works but when it doesn’t learn to accept and deal with it and others according to our truest natures (the law of Thelema)…. oh yeah discovering those natures would be high on the list. As would most of what Richard Bach put in the Messiah’s Handbook in the book Illusions (http://jungian.info/library.cfm?idsLibrary=14) and what Johnny Depp said about confusion (“I cultivate confusion because I like what it does to my face”). Above all first use the fear and then lose the fear. It may be a friend but it all too easily overstays its welcome.. Remember that the people in our lives are there because we drew them (and the image i get is at least two meanings of draw both with a pen and with a deck of cards), They are here to both teach and learn from as we are to them. Did I mention be kind? If so rewind and here it again. Not only be kind to others but save kindness for ourselves. Let’s add the law of Callahan’s as stated by Spider Robinson (“Shared joy is increased, shared pain is lessened and thus we refute entropy). Oh yeah and most of all, the game is kind of like Special Olympics, everybody wins tho it may be a very long blink of an eye game.
Blessings, G

 

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Stop and Smell the FlowersStop and Smell the Flowers by G A Rosenberg

 

Shapes that pass in the nightTravelling Towards Escher Land by G A Rosenberg

What is my Process?

 

“All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.”
― Oscar Wilde

 

At least once a month I get asked by someone how I create my pictures and what process I use. I usually explain that it is all done digitally in Photoshop with a combination of stock photos and some really great filters and some brushwork. I wonder if explaining even close to a step by step would be interesting but still people ask.
Tonight I’ll pull back the curtain a bit and do a kind of step by step of how the picture below was made.
I enjoy playing with fractals. At the very least a fractal can be played with and maneuvered into an eye pleasing mandala and occasionally I get some inspiration.
Tonight I started with the fractal creation program Chaotica HD and started playing with colour and pattern…When I ended up with something I liked, I pulled it into Photoshop and doubled it upon itself (Took one half and reversed it so that the result was symmetrical). I then played with colour a bit more.
At that point I knew this was not going to be a mandala but had no idea what it wanted to be. I copied the layer, took the layer and made it into a 3D ring and then angled it blending it with a screen. I then copied that layer several times, angling the rings in different ways and blending them together until I had the shadows of two rings each including the whole background.
What next?
I brought in a cat head and started blending it in before I stopped because that wasnt what it was… A face within the fractal, a woman?
I started looking through my collection of photos and found one of a woman on a cross. This seemed to fit somehow with the stormy nature of the fractal… I removed her from the background and played around with the colours a bit… Doubling the layer than inversing the colour then playing with different blend modes until she shone with that red blue combination and was just veiled enough that people may question whether it was a woman or a man.
I played around with the blending… and then wanted some more texture in the background. I have this great add-in Postworkshop 64 that adds all kinds of paint effects and I found one that worked, adding the texture and giving it much more of a windswept effect.
After that it was just a matter of listening to what needed to be in. The butterfly, the figure watching both needed to be there. At this point i was pretty open and engaging in dialogue with the picture… I knew a child needed to be in. The picture was about ongoing life not death and resurrection even the figure on the cross (and why it had to be a woman) was about sacrificing the self to the self akin to the Hanged Man in the tarot. I needed something to represent the child. Thinking in terms of Thelemic themes, it had to be Horus…and somewhat akin to the Aeon card in the Thoth tarot, i wanted him to convey the idea of silence (the finger held up). So I found an appropriate picture of a child and blended in the Hawk’s head…and added a slight corona. I then stylized in the symbol for the scarlet woman, Babylon on the woman.
I then liked the picture overall so added an oil painting filter over it… and blended that in with the bottom layer and the picture was finished.
Hmmm I don’t know that I’ll be asked this question again soon. Thanks for your patience in reading it.
Blessings, G

 

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At Play With PassionAt Play With Passion by G A Rosenberg

 

Somehow it BreathesSomehow it Breathes by G A Rosenberg

Path or Direction?

“A path is only a path, and there is no affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you . . . Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself alone, one question . . . Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn’t it is of no use.”
― Carlos Castaneda

 

I have reread this passage many times and put a lot of thought into it. Tonight it struck me in a new way. If as I’ve talked about before, our path is not one that we follow as much as one we choose each step of the way then maybe it is not so much about choosing a path with heart as choosing to have heart in every part of our path. That is choosing each step we take with commitment and yes with love. The distinction may be a fine one but of late I have been investigating the concept of responsibility. Maybe I’m just paraphrasing the line from Sondheim that it is not so much do what you like as like what you do. To me that also ties in with the Thelemic law of ‘Do what Thou Wilt’. If we are making choices according to our true will than those choices will by their very nature be ones that are heart-filled.
Blessings, G

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Buffeted by Cosmic WindsBuffeted by Cosmic Winds by G A Rosenberg

 

Answer His Question2Answer His Question by G A Rosenberg

Cracked Eggs and Foil Wraps

“Pan, who and what art thou?” he cried huskily.
“I’m youth, I’m joy,” Peter answered at a venture, “I’m a little bird that has broken out of the egg.”
― J.M. Barrie

 

Ageless youth
innocent of consequence
yet in full presence
the new age has begun and
the hawk has flown free
he shows the way
for those brave enough
to find their own
not to blindly emulate
in form but in passion
for no two dances are the same
Adore the sun and fly the sky
Burn out the dross and lose all anchors
the morn has come
and the child conquers

— G A Rosenberg

 

Blessings, G

 

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DiceyDicey by G A Rosenberg

 

Winged foilWinged Foil by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – November 9 2011

“The way to find out about happiness is to keep your mind on those moments when you feel most happy, when you are really happy — not excited, not just thrilled, but deeply happy. This requires a little bit of self-analysis. What is it that makes you happy? Stay with it, no matter what people tell you. This is what is called following your bliss.”
–Joseph Campbell

To me, what Campbell called ‘following your bliss’ sounds a lot like Crowley’s ‘true will’. Living to the purpose of one’s soul. Can prem mean much more than that? What can be more important than the true expression of one’s very being? Dr Campbell in this quote has given a large signpost to discovering what one’s true will may be. Namaste
— G A Rosenberg

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She Reflects by G A Rosenberg