Posts for Tag: esoteric book conference

Neither Spirit Nor Smoke May Escape

Alas, the clouds came in and sealed over just as the lunar eclipse was just to get started.  I made do just fine with a live stream of an observatory feed on the internet.  Magickally, kept things simple.  I had been contemplating spending the alchemical Easter doing a distillation but some household matters came up which needed tending and I shifted to more of "get your lead out" spring cleaning vibe instead.  A great productive day after that.

I have heard back from the EBC and I am not a featured artist this year.  That's actually okay, as had I gotten a slot, I'd then have had to figure out how to resolve the conflict with the already-scheduled trip #2 to Ashland this year.  There is an option for me to sell some art there, maybe, but I think it's best to just keep energy going toward the journal publication option.  I also had an idea for what could be a proposal for an art installation that would run from summer to fall as part of the Carkeek Park Heaven & Earth 6 exhibit.  The idea is based on the Notre Dame photos too, something along the lines of making a symbolic cathedral viewing experience.  Roughly.  Sort of... Anyway, I still have time to think about that.  The facts that it's practically right next to my parent's new house and the title this year is "As Above, So Below" are nudging me.

Put the mixture into an earthen pot, and place over it an alembic or distilling vessel, rendered airtight with clay. Let it stand one day and one night before you put it on the fire. Then expose it to gentle heat, and let it distil continually for five or six days and nights. Thus let it flow by drops; carefully lute your glass receptacle so that neither spirit nor smoke may escape, and when the liquor distilling assumes a blue or pallid colour, then abstract nothing further.

- from Chapter 2, The Testament Of Cremer, Abbot Of Westminster, And Brother Of The Benedictine Order

I've had a few phone calls from Vegas.  A's geared up and ready to rock and roll on whatever this is that she's doing.  It's just going to be for a few hours one night, but I'm still totally all over it.  It appears that my offer of help for getting ready ahead of time may involve digging holes.  Speaking of phones, my Euro-trip candy bar died on me over ECCC weekend, but I went on eBay and bought another.  I went for a full keyboard on this disposable model, and it will do WiFi too.  Getting it up and running took about 10 minutes and mostly involved swapping the SIM out of the old and into the new.  That will be nice for all the travel I have coming up. 

On other tech fronts, I've solved my stove and cooler share for MayFire.  And I got a strategy for being in town from roughly DMC's Beltane until MayFire set-up, so as to facilitate my ride-snagging on the front end.  On the back end, I'm good with either being dropped at the Temple, or couch-surfing in town.  Most likely those details will still be unplanned when I begin my trip.  Which doesn't bother me, and it's interesting to think how once I would have lost my mind over that.  I'm actually looking forward to nailing down a day to run around all over by myself.  I have a lost photo safari to honor, and fisheye and macro effects in Vegas are going to be interesting.

Persist In The Asperity Of Fire

I actually got an application sent off to the Esoteric Book Conference on Tuesday, which was their deadline.  I wasn't sure I was going to do it as I couldn't think of a bookish-enough presentation topic, and then I decided I would put in an application as a visual artist.  I'd like to share some of my alchemical photography from Notre Dame in Paris.  So, the application is in with some sample images and we'll see what happens.

I am confirmed as heading up the Mars affinity group for MayFire.  The last time this occurred the infamous Transformation Safety Agency came into being and people had to check their baggage and fly; we had a 10-year-old "Iron Man" in cardboard and aluminum foil armour shedding his symbolic lead; and "the big finale" was 'Ease on Down the Road' from the Broadway musical The Wiz, because "you don't carry nothing that might be a load..."  With that as the past precedent, there's no telling what's gonna happen this year.

Let the Calcinatory Furnace be made square, in length four foot, and three foot in breadth, and let the thickness of the Walls be half a foot; after this manner: Luna, Venus, Mars, or other Things to be calcined, must be put into Dishes or Pans of most strong Clay, such as of which Crucibles are made, that they may persist in the Asperity of Fire, even to the total Combustion of the Thing to be calcined.

- Geber, from his Book of Furnaces

I just found magickal pants that look like my peacock hair on eBay.  They are my size (meaning waist size) and are in a new-but-used state.  I made an offer a bit below the "buy now" and it was accepted.  I will hem the life out of them and they will be great.  This is the largest-sized pair of Phoenix Rising pants I've ever gotten my hands on.  I've sworn not to buy directly from the clothing designers at full price due to their sizing, which insists I am at least 6" too short for the rest of me.  I buy their pants used and do alchemical things to them.  Some might say I Frankenstein these pants.  This pair is going to be epic.  Memo to self:  order more hair color now, so it arrives before you leave for Nevada.

Went to the fabric store to get last minute things for this weekend in Portland.  Also went to see CATWS for a 2nd time, since it was playing right around the corner with a perfectly-timed matinee.  So many feels.  When I got home (Tuesday afternoon around 4ish), there was a message on the phone.  From the guy who runs the Esoteric Book Conference, and is an esoteric press/publisher, who also puts out a periodical.  They like my photos, and want to talk with me about putting them in the next issue of the Clavis Journal.  I called back.  I'll upload some stuff for them to review before I head south this weekend.  That I did not expect.