Sacred Sight - A Midsummer Daydream...

I had the opportunity to attend a celebration of Aboriginal dance and visual storytelling today.  

When I arrived at the Aboriginal Day presentation, I was captivated by these dancer's physical commentary on the environment.  

Harmony comes through humility.
"Be like water..." it says in the Tao te Ching.

Today is Midsummer 

The end of the pendulum swinging toward light (for this year).  

It feels like more than a seasonal turning point...the flooding in southern Alberta, oil gushing into the the Gulf of Mexico, the European economy on the rocks...

  

...Who knows what is going to happen...therefore I return focus on what I can do, right here, right now.  Take pictures.  

As I watched the women's shawl dance, i was struck by the similarity of the ribbons to hanging feathers...to Isis with her sheltering wings.

  

I have wanted to take photos of dancers in regalia for a long time, so this was exciting for me.  I'd have changed the backgrounds to something more natural and regal...but that's where photoshop comes in.

  

People in the community joined the dancers in sign language, clapping, dancing and song (about SpongeBob...).

  

Are there wings sheltering us? 

The feather and/or eagle motif are presented in so many reverent cultural activities.  Have birds achieved harmony in this world?  

In the world and yet above it?

  

How do we live in harmony?? For real --- Between; men and women, adults and children, human beings and nature?  AND individually; between our physical, emotional and spiritual bodies???

How will it all come together?

It starts with each of us achieving equilibrium within...which, from what I have experienced, will take a lifetime to work out.

But as all the parts of me come together; woman, mother, artist, student, teacher --- A ripple effect continues to infinity...We never really know who -- or how -- we affect change, but somewhere, sometimes along the journey...

We reach out and...

    

...Someone else reaches back.  

The light lingers now

It is post thunderstorm, dark clouds circle my place, but above there is a break in the darkening sky...I'm glad the rains cooled the air.  

I am also thankful for heat and the sun, photography, bright dancers, drum beats, spray parks, ice cream, and now...bed.

Happy Solstice!

All Dancers are with the group "Red Thunder - The Next Generation" and are members of the Crowchild family (siblings and cousins).

Sacred Sight - The Tao of Giggling...

Verse 65 in the Tao Te Ching talks about living simple-hearted.

Yesterday I had a great afternoon, chatting with my Mom.  We talked about many things.  Both of my Grandmothers are transitioning out of lives that could be over in a heart-beat.

Any of ours could be.  Life is such a strange and beautiful journey and sometimes more beautiful in death...

I think that is why I'm fascinated by this gnarly tree in Hawaii...The photo was taken a long time ago.  I was a different woman and she, who snapped the picture, is dead.  Naivete is gone, but the child within flourishes.  

I still love this crazy photo and the antics involved.  It was taken before I knew much about "serious" photography, with a crappy little camera...which I dunked in the seven sacred pools a few hours later, after slipping on a rock.  

Would have been more funny if it didn't hurt so much, pride mostly.

This shot wasn't on the roll of film that went for a dip...

The thing about experience and education, is that you eventually learn "why" things are good.  Exposure, framing, color temperature, lines..

I love the universality of this windswept tree, weathered to a point of organic purity.

Simple-Hearted 


I can also see what is good about life, having lived for a while.  I know why life is good.

I also continue to consider, IF I died in this moment -- What would I be most grateful for?  It sounds cliche, definitely family, friends and me.

Now I'm going "back to the very beginning, a very good place to start" -- so I can know it for the first time.

Then, in the now.

"I love to laugh.  Ha ha ha ha...Loud and long and clear....I love to laugh...Ha ha ha ha...it's getting worse every year."

Is it possible that Julie Andrews really has solved this anti-gravity issue way back???  But we were to serious about taking ourselves seriously?

I love to giggle (see below).  It's my first night in St Thomas, I was giddy and sis was fatigued.  My adrenals really came through for me...my toes were energized by sand and surf!

So...laughing with self...I took a picture of our polarities...Tee hee...She was so NOT humouring me...as in the case below.

The HaHa Treatment:

Humour is the new-old approach I will take with writing, creation and well, anything.

There are so many ways to be inspired or burn off steam; food, exercise, sex, travel...all good -- but there is something about a sustained belly laugh...

Universal archetype stories, even the most serious ones, can eventually elicit a few giggles.  Sometimes, however inappropriate, even more so.

Here are some of my life favorites!

Life is an opportunity to Laugh:)!

Sacred Sight - "Get Busy Living"

Where am I?  Who am I?

As a visual artist and screenwriter, I struggled with the point of my skills...I wondered if it was valuable?  Did I have anything to say?  Does it matter?

Matter -- a fascinating concept....

For a long time I was passionate about camera equipment, then the identity/notoriety of being "in film" and finally, leaving a legacy.

One day however, I realized that whether or not I "made it" felt empty.  As far as film is concerned, I've made no-thing.  I was somewhat paralyzed by wanting my opus.  Too much time was spent thinking of what others thought of me...not what I thought of me.

I use my skills every day, but never how I'd expected. 

Life, on purpose...

I think the best summation regarding purpose I've heard, comes from a Wayne Dyer interview, on some of the best advice he's received;

 "Don't die with your music inside of you."

Aquarian Starstone Chart - Rebecca Christenson - 2005

(Created as a storytelling tool after researching leylines)

What uplifts me?  What music do I actually make?  So far it's pretty pictures and random graphic design, laced with the odd poem and reams of data downloads.  As time progresses, I am able to see patterns and make sense of my journey.  I think?

Mind-prisons are interesting and necessary, until they aren't...

This leads me to contemplate the character Red (played by Morgan Freeman), in The Shawshank Redemption.   The monologue from Red's third parole hearing is a great screen moment...

Now that my cage doors are opened and I have freedom, what do I do?  What about world peace?  What about walking in the sunshine and diving in the tropics? 

Do I go forward, or freak out and do something that will send me right back into personal lock-down?

Me in Trunk Bay - One of the biggest surprises of my life - 2006

Red walked in an uncertain daze for awhile.  He was unable take a leak without his Manager's permission.  Programming takes time to undo...

Who are "They"?

What fills my time now "they" are gone?  There is no one telling me who I am, what I should like, how to be, who to love, determining my personal value?  Transitions are not easy.  At times I look around at a world I don't feel part of, and know what it requires to rejoin...but stop myself.

I don't want that world.  I wait in the space in between for some indication of life-path...and assemble random creations, all part of a bigger picture.

"First Telling" Sample Book Cover - Aquarian Creations 2008

Artwork by Jennifer Christenson - Layout Rebecca Christenson)

"Get busy living"

Red began to follow a treasure hunt set up by a friend who loved him...

I'm doing that as well.  Personally, there are vast treasures awaiting discovery within.

AND, in a tradional-epic sense, the global grid of sacred sites awaits reactivation... When we re-member how...They'll lay dorment, as long as it takes.  Much like Red's out-of-place obsidian, beneath a conspicuous oak tree.  

Am I courageous enough to want my version of Zihuatenajo?  It is "not too much to ask".

"3 Friends on the way to Molokini" - Rebecca Christenson - 1998

"I hope I can make it across the border.

I hope to see my friend and shake his hand.

I hope the pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams.

(beat)

I hope."

Screenplay by Frank Darabont 
(based on the Steven King Novella - 
Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption)

Hope implies a better future... 

I know it isn't very Zen or Now-ish, but I am an eternal optimist.  I accept and love what is, while making daily improvements to my world.

Time is an illusion unto itself, besides hope springs eternal!