possible anthology

[daniel]

I am thinking about putting together an anthology of short essays and personal narratives on subjects related to shamanism in a contemporary context. I have a friend who is a publisher and wants to work with me on producing short books. I am interested in seeing if there is a potential movement toward writing that embraces shamanic and mystical dimensions in a very pragmatic and non-New Age way.

Part of the stimulus for this is my thinking about how we are in a global initiation crisis, and people need more models of modern initiatory journeys and experiences. I think that is one reason my book is doing well, and I would like to see other voices in the mix. In indigenous cultures, initiation is only complete when it is witnessed to by the larger community of the tribe or village. I believe that many have been experiencing initiatory processes but this needs to be witnessed by the larger community, and published writing is one powerful way to do this.

I would say the maximum word length would be 6,000 words. If anybody has material, I would prefer to see a one-page outline first, before reading the entire piece. If people want to try writing something for this anthology, they can also take a few weeks and send it to me after the Christmas break.

[daniel]

communicate about individual pieces via email - daniel@breakingopenthehead.com .

Thoughts on the larger project can be left here.

[nyk]

It is my assessment that as far as solicitation of writers in BOtH is
concerned, it appears that the finest here are mostly female (near
as I can discern).

That's good, and a chance to follow up on that issue of female speakers.

[gandydancer]

Thank you Daniel. I feel that you and your friend have your finger right on the pulse of what is needed right now as we find ourselves between two stages of the growth of humankind. When I was little the old way of being was still working - God was in heaven, Mother Mary would still intercede for us and speak with Him to convince Him to forgive us for our sins, and Baby Jesus was a lovable baby born of a virgin who would grow to an impotent and kind.........well it gets vague right there because I was raised Catholic and nobody spoke much of the grown-up Jesus.

By the time I had my own children to bring up I didn't believe in any of that and even turned away from the church in disgust as they continured to support the Vietnam war and it became clear that they were just part of the military/industrial complex, which my type of person discussed a lot back in those days. So my girls were brought up without any religion at all. I thought that my expressions of spirituality were adequate, but as it turned out they were not and my girls both turned to fundamental christianity. To this day I remember a talk with my sister in which she told me FIRMLY, "Don't worry, they'll get over it". How I clung (not a word I guess, but nevertheless clung) to her words through that difficult time! But she was right, they did get over it.

So here we are now with my girls grown and children of their own and still nothing meaningful to offer their children. And what's worse, these children of today were brought up in both a parental atmosphere and a societal atmosphere of to be "in touch with your *feelings*! So what do you get? You get kids such as Polix who really are "in touch with their feelings" and yet just floundering. It truly is the responsibility of the adults and parents of today to do something for these children, but the first problem that one runs into is that at the same age that kids need rites of passage is the same age that kids psychologically need to begin to break away from the parent and join the tribe of kids their own age - they don't want any weirdo shaman stuff if none of their friends are doing weirdo shaman stuff too.

Now here is what I feel is so special about Daniel's suggestion about a book such as he suggests: I feel that when the time is right for something it will be a success. If it is in the air already and only needs the person/people who are in that same wavelength to put words/music to it, it will be a success. And I feel that the time is right.

I would imagine that the people that would submit articles would not necessarilly be trained professional writers, but people who are experiencing transformations who also just happen to be able to write. For me this brings a freshness and a newness to such an adventure and goes along with the thought that while the old idea that capitilism would bring competition in which the best would survive, it actually has done the opposite in that the survivors are the ones most willing to use any means available to get rid of competition. I am also thinking of the problem that musicians face in getting their music heard whatwith the end of the small local radio stations to the big conglomerates. Perhaps I could speak of a time before we all became spectators, for instance of the days that there was no TV and even very little radio, when the community produced their own music, their own storys, and so on. Of course, my imagination may just be working overtime here?... But this is what I imagine.

I emailed Daniel's post to three people and spoke with two of them this morning. I will make another post and relate our conversation when I have time.

[magicbean]

I am interested in seeing if there is a potential movement toward writing that embraces shamanic and mystical dimensions in a very pragmatic and non-New Age way.

YES. Practicality is a huge void in mystical literature. I think a book of this type of essay would supercede the gender issues of the other thread.

So many psychedelic writers alienate the average joe. I cannot tell my Aunt Shirley, for example, that McKenna might have been on to something and have her not snort her Lipton out her nose. It's too foreign. If this community really wants to reach more hearts, you have to approach people gently and on their own terms. Almost an invitation to a little dinner party or town supper of the soul. Coaxing little animals out of a hole.

As far as I can tell from my short time here, BOtH personalities have kids, find jobs, pay taxes, go to school, worry about rent, take care of elderly parents, argue with spouses, wipe their noses, and even screw up. A book of essays that illustrated to the not-so-mystically inclined that normalcy and ability to integrate with a wider community...that's just an awesome opportunity!

Um. Is that what you were suggesting or am I cheerleading for the wrong team?

[magicbean]

I would imagine that the people that would submit articles would not necessarilly be trained professional writers, but people who are experiencing transformations who also just happen to be able to write.

This too. Emphasizes the normalcy.

I think too that any variety or size of transformation could count. Even small things, like "I smoked pot once and then figured out how to train my dog to sit and goshdarnit didn't that make my neighbors happy." A lot of literature reaches far, far out and there's a valuation on how far down the rabbit hole can you go. Fuhggedit. Baby steps are good. It's how we all learn to walk: slowly.

[sacha]

Hm. Well, I emailed Daniel about doing an article that would be based on a combining, reworking and expansion of the posts "The Awakening" and "The Scope of the Change" which can both be found in The Dimensional Shift. These aren't very personal... they probably don't have very "normalcy," either... but if I did write up something more personal, it would probably sound like it had even less normalcy ...:rolleyes:

(Oh, and Daniel said go ahead with the article I proposed.)

[nyk]

Sacha - in particular - I had in mind for this.

:)

[graffitirun]

less normalcy ...

yes, please less nor, mal see

[gandydancer]

Oh! I was thinking something quite different. If the book would be of the sort that the others here are thinking it would not work at all for the people that I talked to about it. In fact I feel a little embarrassed that I have talked to them now.

The ideas that came up so far for us were my friends daughter who is only about 15 but writes extremely well. Her mother is a shaman of sorts and she (the daughter) may have been interested in writing about why she did not want a ceremony when she had her first menstrual period. Or a re-working of a poem that she wrote about seeing her grandmother die.

Also a college sohpmore who is very talanted who did have a very successful girl to woman ceremony.

And also a new story of Adam and Eve, and a new story of the birth of Jesus that was more of a story told of Mary and Joseph's relationship that would take up at the time they were on their way to Bethlehem.

And a transformation of a woman who through her study of Sedna's father was forced to go into the relationship with her own father and accept and forgive.

These girls and women would not want their story to be in a book that was mostly about using entheogens for transformation, though the occasional story might be ok.

Magicbean, I was not thinking that this book would be for the dinner party or church supper crowd, nor for little animals in holes either. I really need to say that I did not like your comments about Aunt Shirley and so on. I know that I would not be interested in writing for that crowd, nor do I think my friends would. I really have no interest in "reaching more [closed] hearts". I feel that there are a lot of people out there who do not need anyone to open their heart or mind, but I do feel that there are a lot of people out there who want to connect with others who already have opened their hearts and minds. In fact, during just the few minutes that I spent on the phone talking to the shaman this morning, she twice put words to something I was trying to explain to her, and her words helped me in a way that is more than I can get into right now because it was/is no small thing...

I want to mention that I do have much respect for all the people who are speaking up here--just trying to see what others have in mind, which it seems may be different than I was thinking.

(Sacha, I have not read your's yet, it may be different than I think :D)

[gandydancer]

Hi Sacha, I did read your posts and liked them. But my favorite was one you did not mention, The Tree of Life post. More later..

Actually I think a good ayahuasca transformation written by a shaman would be a good thing to throw into the mix :D

[nyk]

since today is t-day i guess i should contribute a tidbit, at least to the
spirit of the venture...

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/9740/pu800800ai7.jpg

[photo and notes by nyk fury 23 november 2006]


pu - the uncarved block

the sole purpose of yang is
to develop precision -
acute awareness
within a yin body

[nanouk]

Does it say: "God created Himself", Herself", or H-self"?

Great composition!

~n~

[nyk]

Itself.

God is creating itself. Right now.

[nyk]

The following is perhaps a better composition; it has much more expanse.
I just completed it a minute ago. Forgive the cold and soggy appearance
of my current work. It is extremely cold and soggy here right now!

http://img470.imageshack.us/img470/1731/iceland800tu8.jpg
[composite by nyk fury 24 november 2006]


Think seven years old. On the shore, where land meets the sea.
Naked. Feral. Alone. Completely surrendered. Your soul is a deep,
dark singularity. Irreducible, numinous.

[nanouk]

Itself...yes i agree with that :) and yeah, i like the latter better, Qualitywise anyway, ;), it is how i want to see my own nearly sevenyearold boys to see the world, love the sepia!
~n~

[nyk]

The seven year olds already are this way in large measure. And they
have a hard road ahead because the world will not let them keep such
a vision intact. You know how it is.

Can you feel you inside of this vision right now? That's what the picture
is for.

Yesterday I was outside of the car for a little bit. No coat as usual.
Very cold wind, though the rain was temporarily on hold. I was of course
tensing against the cold automatically. I then decided to just completely
relax and enjoy it. So, I stood there and gazed thru the structures
of a kids playground and to the sea beyond it, and consciously
sloughed off my reactive tensions. It was harder dealing with the
automatic reactions than the cold itself actually, but I did. And it
was, though painful, exhilarating. I felt like that illustration above
(the background is from Iceland).

I think we are always in that situation, though it may not be so
clear. And we can anytime surrender to our naked simplicity. Just
remember. And then let go.

[Isaiah Mpski]

Yeah Romeo.
Send her a ticket on the Titanic.
I'll send you the numbers next week if you think you know what klove is about,Ying and Yang Jr,.

[nyk]

I just love Kate Winslet's eyes.

And have already begun construction on a top-notch igloo castle
on that iceberg for her reception.

;)

[nanouk]

the melting one's? no thanks! if it isn't good enough for the polar bears...
~n~

[nyk]

Solid.

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/9676/liongatekh6.jpg
[by nyk fury march 2006]

[magicbean]

Magicbean, I was not thinking that this book would be for the dinner party or church supper crowd


Oh, OK. I personally have a great interest in reaching and communicating with wonderful people who are haven't yet had the mystical world touch them yet. The new age/occult language and literature that's out there can be *very* alienating to many people, and that's all I was commenting on, and thinking how exciting it would be to publish something that would begin to bridge the gap between me and you and the works we do and the many Aunt Shirleys out there. That's what I imagined from the brief proposal description and if that wasn't it, oh well. No big deal to me. The words "pragmatic" and "not new agey" in the first post were what caught my attention. What you're describing sounds pretty new agey to me, but hey, it's just opinion. And I guess what really matters is what Daniel was thinking of, maybe he'll clarify for us sometime...

last thought: What?! You and your friends don't care about my Aunt Shirley?! I'm so offended! (It's a joke, just relax and laugh.)

[gandydancer]

A quick post and then a longer one... Magicbean I wanted to be careful to not sound picky, nitpicky, etc. It is so hard, in just so few words, and with no emotion to the voice, and so on. I've been reading your posts long enough now to know that you are a person that I don't need to beat around the bush with--that's all it was, and I mean that as a compliment to you. Good will come of being direct for both of us.

You are right, we all need to understand what we're talking about here!

[gandydancer]

personal narratives on subjects related to shamanism in a contemporary context. I have a friend who is a publisher and wants to work with me on producing short books. I am interested in seeing if there is a potential movement toward writing that embraces shamanic and mystical dimensions in a very pragmatic and non-New Age way.


This seems like an interesting discussion to me! What does this mean? I know what "very pragmatic" means, is it possible to even speak of the mystical in this manner? As for non-New Age, I'm not sure what that means. Thoughts?

[nyk]

I don't know. I think that we are coming quickly to a dead-end with
the capabilities of literature. It has gotten to be more and more a
rehash, and a strained one at that.

Who is going to read this stuff these days anyway, other than a handful
of brokenheads? Most people are preoccupied with becoming self-devolving
machine elves.

Not to discourage carrying forth with such things. I am all for it. I just don't
think there is much of a receptive audience anymore. Dark night of the
world.

[nanouk]

nyk wrote: "The seven year olds already are this way in large measure. And they
have a hard road ahead because the world will not let them keep such
a vision intact. You know how it is.

Can you feel you inside of this vision right now? That's what the picture
is for."

I am aware that they are, and trust me, there is no way i am going to let anyone or anything monochromize their minds and visions...and yes, i am inside that vision, i am a mind traveller... ;)

Love and Respect,
~n~

[Lowlight]

Hey NYK

Do you have a website of your photos? Have you got them published? I really like your work. Beautifully gloomy and filled with unspoken meaning.

Thanks

[nyk]

Do you have a website of your photos? Have you got them published?

Not presently. I may or may not hang my stuff locally next year. Beyond
that I don't know. And I seem to have an increasing ambivalence con-
cerning publification of my work. That includes music too.

[nyk]

...and yes, i am inside that vision, i am a mind traveller... ;)




Hey Nanouk-

Here is that 'resonance' picture you wanted to see.



http://img104.imageshack.us/img104/3848/probabilityjunctionkn4.jpg
[photo by nyk fury july 2006]

[nyk]

If I were to offer something for the anthology it would be something
like this...

http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/5554/seahorsesmwk6.jpg

Is this more than 6000 words? :skeptic:

[nanouk]

Aphew words, like a fish out of water - or, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink...

~n~

[Isaiah Mpski]

Unless it gets drunk.

[nanouk]

nyk wrote:

"Here is that 'resonance' picture you wanted to see."

Mountain-Fountain, yes it is beautiful visual poetry! Universal, even my young children saw the resonance, and said they wanted me to take them there one day, i said: -" i'll take you there, but you will have to sit down quietly and listen, while i tell you a story..." and sacha's Pachamama story was read...the fountain of inspiration ;)

Have a fantastic Night/Day everyone, and much love to Charlie, and his wife, it is so great to be here, in 2006, i am having my (landlord's)friend's last Cuban souvenir, a nice H. Upmann cigar, some live Portishead in New York on CD, and a glass of Somerset "Katy" cider before bed to celebrate life, and the living, ;)

Life Is Good.

Love and Respect,
~n~

[jezebelle]

daniel
do you want say, my story of ayahausca and peru how they changed me?
jez

[magicbean]

I have a few things I might consider writing anonymously, but I am still a confused pup and don't know what the soul of the anthology might be...

[nanouk]

daniel
do you want say, my story of ayahausca and peru how they changed me?
jez

Tell us, Pleeez?

:D

Yours Intentedly,

~N~

[whitewave]

I like this idea. In fact, I had a similar idea to this earlier this week when I felt that my next writing project would be to write about my initiatory experiences with the animals of Block Island in a non-fiction format--just putting down what happened, instead of filtering the experience through poetry, as I did in my recently published book [I]Bluebell: The Apocalypse Diary. [I]

I do still believe in the transformative power of what we call "literature," because of its capacity to defamiliarize the mundane, to make us see what we take for granted in a new way. When we see something in a new way, we can potentially realize the power that collective visions hold of us, it makes the veil a little thinner, I think, and brings us closer to realizing we have the ability to create a different way of being. However, most literature, and by that I mean creative writing where there is a focus on the word as well as on the story, is not in touch with the dimensional shift taking place right now, although there are some stunning exceptions. David Mitchell's [I]Cloud Atlas [I]comes to mind. This book is exceptional because it combines visionary storytelling with visionary language--nothing is sacrificed on either side. It is a work of art where both hemispheres of the brain are activated. Personally, reading a work of art like this is more deeply affecting for me than reading non-fiction, but I think this may not the be the case for most in our current time, thus the need for an anthology like Daniel's. As for not being new-agey, I think I get what you mean. Lynn Andrew's books would be an example of new-age books on initiation, or [I]The Celestine Prophecy.[I]

The most important thing I've been discovering, is how to best be of service. I was wondering why I got the idea to re-hash the experiences in [I]The Apocalypse Diary[I] as non-fiction. Maybe it's because this is a way I can best be of service. By saying, yes, this happened to me.

Daniel, thanks for the synchronistic spur. I will see what comes out and send it on if I feel it is what you are looking for.

[Isaiah Mpski]

You want to be of service huh?
Lets buy Daniel a place in Mexico.I'll put in ten grand.
How bout you princess?

[jezebelle]

"Tell us, Pleeez?"

I'm working on it in-between, myself and the regular daily stuff.
thanks for asking, very sweet.
I'm on the trail
love, jez

[Humming]

Hey Daniel,

I am very interested in writing about the connection between music and shamanic practice.

I emailed you about it.

[Caprinardo Delirio]

i will consider writing about my own self-shamanic healings with cannabis.

[drew hempel]

Just that Daniel has made this open-ended offer is good enough for me.

Writers are the "farmers" of the city. Distribution is controlled by the few, stingey elite and farmers (writers) are overworked, cranking out monopolistic culture of monocultural crops that only provide superficial nutrition.

After a while readers do not remember what it meant to be "healthy."

So it seems the answer to farming is also the answer to writing. Community-supported agriculture with an increasing reliance on indigenous technical knowledge is the way to go for food production.

Breaking open the head means breaking open the GATT-WTO secret elite production systems.

I'm too radical I think. Music? Nonwestern! Evolution? None! Practice? Full-lotus!

My favorite esoteric writers: Rene Guenon's book "The Reign of Quantity;" Ouspensky's "In Search of the Miraculous;" the book "Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi" and Master Professor Nan, Huai-Chin's 4 books; "Taoist Yoga: Alchemy and Immortality;" and the book "Nothing Ever Happened" by David Godman (on H.W.L. Poonjaji) -- then there's the Koi-San books like the essay by Dr. Richard Katz: "Healing and Transformation" in the book "Therapeutic Aspects of Altered States of Consciousness."

The oldest religious ceremony is worshipping the snake -- 80,000 years old!

The Koi-San represents that healing and they don't use drugs -- only a little sometimes for the females.

All drug visions are guided by music in these cultures and are based on gender relations.

In our culture drugs are a tool based on the philosophy of "containing" infinity through "controlling" Nature.

So the principle of reality can easily be lost - it's not the "light" nor the "vision" nor the "bliss" -- but the truth of formless consciousness that creates everything else.

This truth lies behind the meaning of zero -- the reason the Mayans were afraid of zero. It's the Eternal Feminine.