Draft for photo book in progress H O M E S T E A D S for mystic voyagers paradise is a just a great landscaping job! and living in a temple means you just add altars to your house and ...heaven is what you think it is but ! your surroundings can help you stay there. Have a romance with life in the near reaches of heaven. Social architecture by Jim Channon with photography by Luna Johnson flower settings by Val Gervais follow on film by Will Kendall Œœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœ photo imagery oeœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœ ONCE UPON A TIME IN A PLACE FAR AWAY So, the three acre parcel of land ...artesia...came into my hands in 1990. It was a pasture land with a slight role downhill. The land had grasses of sorts and the last known job it performed was to host sugarcane grown in North Kohala Hawaii during the mid-century years of the nineteen hundreds. It had slowly grown back a very hardy breed of mixed grasses and occasionally hosted some livestock. But techncally measured the soil had many shortcomings and most of all nature had not been allowed to do her magic. It was an empty stage. As a painter I am drawn to a blank canvas. My journey began with an auspicious opening volley! When I walked upon this land where I now stand in 1989 a most unusual thing happened. I had a mini-rapture. I wandered forty odd steps on to the trhee acre plot from a northerly direction...and paused. No sooner did I stop as than my legs began to slowly but surely fill from the feet up with a most vibrant tingly and warm energy. Ckicken skin is one way to describe it. I was frozen with anticipation not knowing where the sensation would stop. In less than a minute the flow arrived and circled around in my belly. I had an over whelming feeling of being possessed by this land. It was telling me in no uncertain terms through the vapors …..”you are mine!” ...ie...”you are meant to be here with me”!. Now this was most significant because I had up to that moment been on a nearly three year search for the right place to live for the rest of my life. Like a good virgo I had made a bucket list of the qualities I needed for the perfect site. But in this case … at this moment … mother earth was radically changing the game. Here she was announcing I … had found... my dream land … quit searching! I closed the land deal with the finest feelings of love I have ever experienced. Later I checked my bucket list and 32 of the 33 items were present. I find my most detailed prayer requests inevitably deliver the most amazing results. Its crtical in todays world how can we expand our vibrational field beyond the impatient current mindset of rush rush buy buy and never find a moment for more expanded field awareness. Sacred space is most importantly an idea that expands our capacities to move out into larger fields of wonder and discovery. I have had Universe give me this message many ways! But, the message was now embodied in me. I was simmering in the awakened solution of lifeforce I somehow knew was real ...but hiding like a treasure chest just waiting to be uncovered in a future magical botanical forest with a shire inside. SOME YEARS LATER When I asked the heavenly spirits of Gaia what kind of intelligence our earth had … I was given answers that at first embarrased me they were so obvious and simple. They relayed that Gaia herself was a conscious being and so I imagined her intelligence to include sentient skills for sure and other thoughtful processes but I was clearly operating in a preprogrammed mental layer waaaay too much like the components of cognitive mind. That mind is polluted with industrial age principles about always being a producer among other biases. Is there room for my renaissance mind and my romantic child? The bigger answers to earths operating intelligence were more like earth, wind, water, fire, and trees. At first, these didnt seem like mental processes ...they seems like simple elements. But when you understand the absolute magical alchemy inside soil ...then you know that to make soil appear and be useful she has more layers to her than any six course meal you could consume. Soil sufficient to nurture a fine range of plants when all the many ingredients are studied reveals a vast array of working components including continuous transportation and communication links and more. The other elements spoken of above also all can have an intelligent hand in soils creative potential. And the seasons created by an intelligent orbit are then further used to build soil and trim trees and spread seeds so the intelligence is extremely dynamic and always working as a larger intelligence to get all the working pieces to play together. And so as I proceed to unpack the various realms of the land called Artesia around me now I know we are working always with mother nature. At a very primal level. And she is magic, and generous, with her own story to tell. I SEE THE PROMISED LAND If you listen to the top of the line universe players … they will hasten to add that at the heart of our planet are huge deposits of minerals of all kinds each contributing to a highly dynamic buzzball called OMNI EARTH which has an interior not unlike a human body given the number of dynamic mineral exchanges, civilizations, and electric convergences that collabrate to make certain of earths power zones way more potent than others if you are interested in ascending your potential or lounging in bliss. In other words the earth has prearranged some of her vibrational treasures in what have become very special incubators for spiritual awakening. Maybe you have met some friends who are regularly on the road of spiritual pilgrimage and seek out the vortexs and portals of uncommon potency. Often they add some element to increase the working vibration they discover. Each such visit awakens another layer of conscious awareness. So, as an elder and some one who is servicing the character and bounty of my own land.....I thought I would endeavor to create such an environment ...even different realms full of unique character with a magical mythology and the potency to activate myself and others vibrationally. I am creating sacred space to wonder around in and this is my evidence that our earth is loaded with intelligent services! Œœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœ HOW TO SEE MAGIC IN AN EMPTY FIELD OF GRASS During any mystical adventure which happens only occasionally for humans ...the precious elements of nature have many magical powers to offer and I have experienced them while journeying.. Two particular things come to mind. The history of pleasure is one. And another, exotic settings with nature I now call social inventions, where the set was dreamed up from the setting. The activities like picnics for example were gleaned from many different renaissance cultures where the paintings remain to clarify the experience.. When these two elements are thematically married with mythic headlines …the journey of creation can begin …. for a realm of deep play. With this supportive environment I will invade the romantic mind of the seeker to create a juicy state of wonder Eventually, we can richly layer any experience that gives one a deeper felt sense of discovery and wonder. I believe this is the social architecture and naturalchemy of a paradise world! We are now, some twenty years after purchase, naming places on this my land called Artesia. This is proto-mythology. We are modelling the future experience we can dream of creating. We add story to enrich the settings. This process is the eighth layer of creation since occupying the land. It began with bringing in a sacred grand father/mother tree and casting a majestic stroke on the space that was to become a sacred haven for those now seeking the elements of paradise. We speak of paradise a lot but if GOD said …..”Send up the work order” how saavy would you be about that turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Its been a long road since the renaissance and even then there were on a handful of people who imagined clearly the possibilities that abound. THE AUSPICIOUS FIRST MOVE After sitting with that idea of an elemental stroke that was truly Auspicious..... a friend called and asked me if I wanted a Banyan tree? Mmmm? I must have been making enough noise with my thoughts to get the angels to go to the work order desk. The friend that called was about to go on a six year round the world journey and the banyan next to his single-wall construction home was growing at a healthy pace. In two years a big wind or a small hurricane could bring her down on his home and poof she would be splinters. He also happened to have a huge chain saw and was willing to trim her for the ride to my place on a big truck with low boy trailer. We discovered she had a ten ton root ball underneath so we would have to get around that since the flatbed trucks had a five ton limit. Without much hesitation it was obvious we somehow halve her and proceed from there. In case you havent noticed banyans can spring roots from above and below … there was no danger of demise here. My 3D mind immediately saw the twin trunks with their own root balls underneath loading on the truck for two runs. Then the tie-breaking idea popped into vision that the trunks planted five feet apart would create a space in between that could house a small bridge between them and the tree could then be a gateway into the walking labyrinth of the gardens to come. And so we gently and reverently cut the tree in half at the base between two well established trunks. Yes, we included prayers and love for the tree all the while. Nature loves to make a contribution and can earn merit for such a auspicious placement, but pray it into the situation. She is now 60 feet tall and a 110 feet wide and houses a shrine for the Hawaiian God of the Harvest Lono with three statues in the caverns of her rooted trunk. As you drive on the property she is the first thing you see after a slow Buddhist curve that emerges on a slight rise for emphasis. My mind took me to grand homes of the past where the early site of an ancient tree established the vintage of the place. As time went by and various important themes emerged the mythic sculptural pieces I added were easily embraced by the tree. First there was a surfboard shaped slab of wood that needed an African goat head mask I had been saving. Here was a chance here to tell a story to humanize the “Men who stare at Goats “ film I was a part in that had depicted men killing a goat with telekinesis. Here we had “goats staring at Men” and the mask was just comedic enough. Then my concrete formed tri-headed evolving man sculpture from Papua New Guinea was perfect to exemplify the prevailing wisdom and native intelligence here abouts as touted by Gilda Radner my most beloved American mystic comedianne. “Its always something” … “ you never know what it is “ ...and “nevermind!” The rest of this creative project of social architecture ...will continue in the forthcoming highly illustrated book. I imagine some of you will kick in the some reinforcing ideas if you have time to read this. Thanks Jim
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 20:10:54 +0000
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