We are in the aftershock and reverberation zone from last night’s eclipse and indeed from a summer of one solar-lunar event after the next. Are your ears ringing? Are you a little unsteady on your pins?
Most of the people I’m talking with are just slightly frazzled (not quite as bad as after the total solar eclipse of two weeks ago); bank balances are on the low side; but we seem to have come through this unusual sequence of events in approximately one piece. We do need a little dusting off; that may be about settling down, or settling into the new routine that will inevitably arrive with the post-eclipses phase.
This weekend I will be blogging from the American Psychological Association (APA) conference in Toronto, where I have been invited to present my photography, and the theory behind it. It looks like the theme of gender and sexual orientation is going to be all over this conference: the one story that broke so far involves the APA determining that it’s really not a good idea for psychologists to try to offer ‘therapy’ for people who are gay or lesbian and help them become ‘straight’. The link is included in a comment below.
The APA has been dancing with the issue of queer since the mid-70s when it removed homosexuality as a mental disorder from its diagnostic manual, the DSM. Now, 35 years later, there are many movements to begin including any vague form of ‘gender dysphoria’ back into the DSM as a kind of mental disease.
I’ll be following this and other issues as I can. My own presentation, called The Inner Gaze and the Inner Goddess, is Friday at 9 am. Tomorrow’s edition of Planet Waves is dedicated to the topic I will be covering.
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I’ll be checking in from Toronto later tonight, though I won’t get to the conference until tomorrow.
Thank you BKoehler – you are always so gracious.
Just a line to say I love you Patty
My nephew and his girlfriend were found dead on Tuesday – probably drug overdose or tainted drugs. Their baby was alone in the crib for 18 hours, but is ok. It has been a wake up for my entire family and friends of family, with a definite shift in how we see each other. The eclipse was in my fourth house, and the nephew was a Cancer born on July 5 – 8th house tragedy waiting to happen. I’m just glad I told him I loved him the last time I saw him, but I don’t think anyone in the family realized how much they loved him until he was gone. Now we are looking at each other with open eyes – without the beam so to speak.
Please don’t comment on this. I’m just offering my note on what happened in the eclipse shadow and I don’t know if it proves astrology or not. I’ve never gone through an eclipse without losing someone or something, and gaining something else.
Mystes your first note was probably accurate – it’s been one shudder after another here.
Hoo boy! I had forgotten about this last eclipse. Just before I read this post, I said to myself (aloud), “Huh, something has really…shifted…not the best word, but…my molecules feel like they’ve been rearranged.” Yeah, like that.
For me, it’s felt mainly good. A rough patch a couple of days ago, then some sparky mental energy the past few days. Not unpleasant, exactly, but I might have done or said something without consideration, something I’d regret. I didn’t, but I sure felt like it! The naughty little girl in me has been very near the surface. She can be a lot of fun and she can be a hellion. [I don’t think I’ve thought of that word for eons.]
The other theme for me is reconnection with family. I’m once again feeling “plugged in” to the side of my family I’ve felt disconnected from for a couple decades. It happened quite unexpectedly and has left me, as you say, a bit unsteady on my pins. It’s like an old broken circuit has been repaired, or refurbished somehow.
And Eric, I’m thrilled for you and for the APA — they so sorely need an infusion of you. Your imagery alone should loosen some of the calcification, don’tcha think? And the theory behind it should help the head cases’ (said with affection) minds busy while their chakras are drinking in.
-cyn by the bay
Eric, I’m sure you’ll find your sealegs at APA in no time. I expect the experiential nature of your work ought to tilt a few bonnets here and there. Stay smooth…
(and forgive my earlier Eclipse shudder, please. Just tired. . . )
Really? REALLY? This has been one of the hairiest Eclipse cycles I have ever seen. Seems like the anaesthesia *really* has taken hold.
Too tired to explain, but seriously people – better breathe on a mirror, and soon.
M
Dearest Eric,
For the past three nights I have been drawn to area cemeteries, almost with an urgency that is hard to describe, Lately I have been working in a facility that has a very large one situated to the rear of its property, a sacred feeling takes over at its site. Last night, I had an overwhelming sensation to go into it and dance naked in the moonlight….after seeing the photo in your fine art section of Book of Blue, with the goddess next to the headstone, I suddenly knew I was not alone nor do I think I ever will again.
Peace,
Thank you Len. I have no idea how it’s going to go – but my co-sponsor wrote to me last night and assured me that it would go brilliantly. By pure serendipity, Ange, one of the first models I worked with (in Paris in 2005) will be at the presentation. She is the woman depicted in the first photo of the “Inner Goddess, Inner Gaze” article that will be distributed to subscribers in the morning.
By the way, everyone seems to think Book of Blue is a subscription site. It’s not, at this point; the whole thing is offered free. That is likely to change, once we figure out an appropriate business model. For those who appreciate this project and want to invest their energy, prints of my work are available. Check the “fine art prints” page for about 15 selections; and please inquire directly about any other photos you see on the site.
Congratulations, Eric, on getting this form of exposure for your artwork. It’s like being featured in an invitation-only gallery. Hopefully this will lead to something truly supportive on several levels. Go with the bliss!
-Len