The Summing Up

In Retrospect

Jean François Sablet 1781 MORGES, VAUD 1745 - 1819 NANTES.

Vestal Virgin Before a Burning Altar. (detail)

Well, it has been a year.

The Introduction:

Well, here we are at another juncture. 2024 fading, 2025 on the horizon.

I was going to write about the last year with the passing of comrades, brothers and sisters, but have decided to only write about one thing in particular in the introduction, perhaps the most important:

The birth of our beautiful grandson Sorrel Aengus Dierly. Born on the 25th of November. Here he is being held by his Mum Suzanne, our wonderful daughter in law. We are beyond happy; this was our peak experience of the year.

We just got home from visiting them at home, where he is doing well with his sweet parents. So happy!

The Entry: This is a bit of a catching up, bringing forth some of my writing, and some of my favourite poetry. Not a long entry, as I imagine most folks are feeling a bit overwhelmed at this point.

Some writing that I thought was timely…

During the Summer of 22’:

I spent a lot of time meditating this last year, especially in the summer months, where we sat out in the back garden in all of its glory (and trauma from the heat this past summer.) During those sittings I had a remarkable moment of gnosis. We were sitting under the Dogwood Tree, just out the back door. It was early evening, perhaps 6:00pm. We (Mary and I) were sharing the evening glass together. I was slowly breathing in and out, and then I stepped through what I call a mental membrane. Life became extremely vibrant. All of my concentration centered on my breathing. I realized that I was breathing in billions of lifeforms, each expressing consciousness in its own way. All that I perceived inwardly and outwardly was life in all of its exuberant abundance and variation. The air, land, trees, water were teaming with awareness – consciousness. I cannot put it into words properly it seems… Yet there was a glory in the recognition of what was eternally present. Time, stopped. I became unaware of breathing. The world brightened. I sat in what is best described as that infinite moment in between.

After a bit, I realized I was breathing again, and all was returning to normal. I gave thanks. It was one of those events that reassures, even in the midst of such turmoil.

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Alcaeus of Mytilene…

An Invitation

Why wait we for the torches’ lights?
Now let us drink while day invites.
In mighty flagons hither bring
The deep-red blood of many a vine,
That we may largely quaff, and sing
The praises of the god of wine,
The son of Jove and Semele,
Who gave the jocund grape to be
A sweet oblivion to our woes.
Fill, fill the goblet–one and two:
Let every brimmer, as it flows,
In sportive chase, the last pursue.

Alcaeus and Sappho, Attic red-figure calathus, c. 470 BC, Staatliche Antikensammlungen

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Christina Rossetti:

De Profundis

Oh why is heaven built so far,
Oh why is earth set so remote?
I cannot reach the nearest star
That hangs afloat.

I would not care to reach the moon,
One round monotonous of change;
Yet even she repeats her tune
Beyond my range.

I never watch the scatter’d fire
Of stars, or sun’s far-trailing train,
But all my heart is one desire,
And all in vain:

For I am bound with fleshly bands,
Joy, beauty, lie beyond my scope;
I strain my heart, I stretch my hands,
And catch at hope.

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Books are important to me. I dream about them, producing them, reading, reading, reading:

First Dream: Printing
A couple of months back, I dreamed I was in my studio, working on a book. I was printing on parchment, or vellum using the serigraph/silkscreen method. The ink was made of platinum, or silver. You had to hold the printed page up to catch it in the right light. In the dream, it was the penultimate art piece of my life… in the dream. This of course is all open to interpretation. Perhaps it reveals the fact that I miss working with serigraphic work, or that there is a piece of art yet to come, or there is a process in motion with my inner life?

The jury is still out on that. It has resurfaced again and again though in my thoughts, so I am saying process at this point.

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‘I’ and ‘you’ are but the lattices,
in the niches of a lamp,
through which the One Light shines.
‘I’ and ‘you’ are the veil
between heaven and earth;
lift this veil and you will see
no longer the bonds of sects and creeds.
When ‘I’ and ‘you’ do not exist,
what is mosque, what is synagogue?
What is the Temple of Fire?
– Mahmud Shabistari

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2020

In The Time Of Dreams:

So this has been a time of dreams… Have you felt it, have you experienced it?

As some of you may know I spent many years as a silk screen artist/printer. I primarily printed T-shirts… (with air brushing thrown in) but my one great desire that I never really got to was printing posters and books. I got caught up in the idea of wearable art… Perhaps now that’s going to change with the way the world is going.

So here is how this all ties into dreams. A few weeks ago, at the beginning of the social distancing isolation period… I was having very restless nights as I am sure many of you were as well.

Dreams were becoming more and more vivid and as that was happening it seemed like I was diving deeper into that realm. (I have times when I think the dreamtime is where I really exist.) Some of my best art, at least in my opinion comes from dreams that I have had.

This is about one of the dreams I had…

In The Dream: I was in a bright sunny studio with my silk screen/serigraph setup, and I was engaged in printing a book of art, dreams, thoughts, and philosophy. The sheets of vellum I was printing upon were of exquisite quality. I was printing with silver or platinum ink that reflected light. It was a moment in dreamtime that was… Perfection. The sensations were all emotional. Producing something of great beauty to which I had been striving for all of my life.

Dream state with me now like other important dreams have. Is this a moment of precognition?

Is it just the inner workings of a fevered mind during this time of pandemic?

Is it desire?

Maybe it is all of these. I do admit I have the desire to do silk screen work again and I love the idea a huge project it will take me weeks, maybe months to complete.

Of course, the lack of funds is an obstruction, but it has never stopped me before, nor would it stop me now if I choose to go down this path….

But let us enlarge a bit…

Dreamtime is where we often start a new life, the new ways of existing. I sincerely believe that we are at a juncture in time, if time even exist anymore… that is at a crossroads for humanity and the planet.

I do not want what was considered normal back again. I want a gentler world where people plant gardens for the present and fruit trees for the future and all the various iterations that these symbolically mean.

Everything we do in the creative that is not tied to survival has been said to be art. A garden, a painting, a beautiful dwelling, a story whispered to a child falling asleep, a song sung alone or in chorus with others are all the most human of expressions. Perhaps a world more filled with art. Perhaps a world born anew, where the barriers of our sleeping awareness at last intermingles with the Dreamtime, with the Imaginal, with Original Mind.

If there is a dream to wake up from, it is the dream of the State. Not so much a dream, as a nightmare. (1)

But, Back To Dreams:
Let us, perhaps follow those messages that come unbidden. Let us, heed the voice that comes from the Sibyl within. Now is the time, now is our time to bring the dreaming into reality. Change the world for the better. Dreaming a new one into existence.

Pax,
Gwyllm
(1) History in general is a catalog of bad decisions, poorly thought-out planning disagreements. It has little to do with the actual workings of the world. In the true world, As I see it (and of course this is just an opinion) 99.99 percent of humans get along fine with each other with the occasional disagreements.
Wars and violence are an anomaly, and I have come to think truly symptomatic of hierarchy and outmoded neolithic behavioral patterns. (of course, humans are capable of violence and there is plenty of evidence of pre-neolithic behaviours along these lines) I shan’t go into all details here, but it does indeed start within the complex of religion married to state and those earlier civilizations….

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I want to wish you all a brilliant New Year. We can do this, the world is entering a period of rapid change, and change should be embraced.

Tell your family, friends, neighbors if you dare that you cherish them, love them. We are here so briefly; let it be lived in love.

Happy New Year,

Gwyllm