Notes for Dan's Omega Zoom Intuitive Making event June 2021
Casual Alchemy 6.8.21 a “course plan” omtchrs Climate Changing
“The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of contemporary violence.
To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands,
to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence.
The frenzy of our activity neutralizes our work for peace. It destroys our own inner capacity for peace. It
destroys the fruitfulness of our own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.”
WHAT’S? Happening?
It’s personal: age stage, medical, political, spiritual, “standing”, visibility
Shifting WorldView: Each reveals different layer of reality; “I believe different things in different places” Fedrico Fellini
Time is changing: from chronos to *Kairos* Slows Down, different frequency WAIT!
Encounters w Disorder Cognitive Kaleidoscope Everything still there but jumbled-replaced-repositioned less insulatedPickup new frequencies/ sm tear in mind fabric more empathy, protected
Each ordering we choose is seemingly a self-evident virtue until it is challenged
Poignant encounters with just how much realities and physical space overlap and abrade at once
the urgent need/compulsion to rearrange those deck chairs
Civility Membrane May Thinout, more gets through Archetypal energy ofMisanthrope, Scamp, Hermit
Astrological Movements jessicadavidson.co.uk/tag/apocalypse/
Emerging Archetypes TRICKSTER/Scamp appears Time to Dismantle, Re Arrange, Re-Order
HomoSpiritus www.friendsofgnosis.ca/thenaissance-and-homo-spiritus/Religion is the attraction of the soul to God QuakerInward Light en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theurgy
Aging/Eldering accelerated stages of dementia, erratic behaviors Joan Halifax,Andy Fisher
learning to live in twilight w dated and worn forms. like my website surrendrng uncertnty-embracng-mud
Interests/Foci Changing
Responses/Out “discovering adjustments to personal sustainability”
WHY? To get more access to core themes, your psychic fuels, the Values that drive your actions
HOW? Two Word Answer: Play More Be Creatively out-of-control; Trust Intuition
Like Boiling a Frog: incrementally move boundaries of ego out with regular contact w coincidence, accident, Kairos, Others and Nature “Collaborate” = Merge, Dissolve, Emerge
Honor Indirect Attention, different valence, nutrient mix from sharp limelight attention
Use noticing, casual attention. Avoid the Full Frontal approach see what develops
Try using more Organic language: terms from farming, gardening, cooking, words about the Body
1. Alone/ Quiet/ Still…in the moment feeling/watching
En-Trance encounters w Chance, Accident Wow of Now, Deep Breath, Do a Body Scan
Recognize/Accept/Honor who you are It’s taken years to grow into who you are
Be in Nature Alone see “derive” (da reev) Sunset 8:30
Be Open to the game changing Prep/Resp may precede Event
Be Playful and Joyful Just Notice/Touch, perhaps Arrange Altars:“a sacred empty space that invites psyche”
Be Curious and Alert to accidents, coincidences messages. But do ask if these shiny objects, side trails
are in service of wisdom or a distraction
Expect/Invite Visitors via Needs, Dreams, memories, Old Clans, themes, “Oh, you again”
2. Alone/Active only slightly more self-aware/directing, but still alone
Just Note/List where care/ordering/attention/time/hiding ACTUALLY goes: (Diary)
Ways in World: Social media profile, groups, family, How you ReOrder, Self-Soothe,
of Where you ARE: Eating? Buying Ways in World: Social media profile, groups, family,
How you balance Tech/Nature? Your “Smokey Life” range of reactions to profound disorder.
natural and cultural upheaval, Dismantling Overwhelmed? Angry?
VIOs? Stuffies an attraction to an inanimate object: fetish, talisman, Why Important?
Who Shows Up? Dreams Repeated Patterns?
Language. Collect ORGANIC images, ideas and words: cooking, foraging, ripening,
Notice and Be Alert to Technical and mechanical -based words, images and ideas
Be Wary of JARGON: words that isolate Altars, anima…Talk WITH not AT them
Review NEEDS contours for Wonder (awe, Nature wiki/Derive play mystery,“feeling in” )
for Dexterity (transforming, hand-spirit, Infinite Play), for Stories (how you fit into the world),
for the Organic/Sensual/The Feral/The Carnal The Need to Belong, to Provide, to Dominate,to Submit
The Need to Lump and the Need to Split
Clans, NowRecognize, Find, Tweak affiliation Disfiliation changes Ascribed earned
New and Old Who’s showing up, (Cameo Roles) sticking in your Stories?
Look at Cave Drawings of people, tools, animals See Etsy. Pintest algorithm
Matterings/Projects Trance-Catchers via Cards, Tools, altars“a sacred empty space that invites psyche”
Clues to speak to merging selves. Witness Plurality Practice Impermanence What Else could these Be?
Try renaming/positioning objects? “art dolls” “fetishes” “stuffies” “outsider art”
Use Empties as Altars Buddha Board, jars, boxes, (DollarStore) See what comes
MakeCards, Tools, Masks, Effigies (“dolls, puppets?”), See Jenny Mack YouTubes
What do you need tools for? Protection, sorting, aggression honoring, awe inspiring, skills demo
Try Haiku 5-7-5 Nature-Now-Contrast words and objects!
Seek New Knowledge/ perspective see list"A different language is a different vision of life" Frederico Fellini
3. With Others FIND Ways, Places, People TO PRACTICE and MODEL over and Over….
Role of Artist/Teacher as Steward of The Imagination TRUST THE CAPACITY OF THE Other
Just Ease discovery of preferences; collaborating/merging/blending w imagination;
Model creative strategies to facilitate making; developing/modelling Ways to “Step Aside”
Help inflect exploring over exploiting; Responding to chance, accident to explore/experiment with degrees
of control, safety, merging, emerging Learning to better engage, resonate, enliven
to listen to understand more, to get delighted
Help Access Deep Patterns of S’elf : Games, Giving, Getting, Organizing/Destroying
Play with Childen 3-4 yo Play/Dana VIO Winona description Images from albums
Maple seed insects, sand Buddha’s
Games Trust the Players rules to be made up. Create pieces, cards, spinners but no rules GamePieces “Points? ”thorns?
Just enough Prep to indicate, resonate with deep idea of “game” Game of Empties? $5 at Dollar Store
Consider “Sonder “ when you realize everyone you see, pass by has their own complex life.
like yours - with similar heartache happiness, routines,- Honor the Ordinary
Practice Gifting, adornment, costuming Organic, intimate: like planting a seed
Develop playful persona to listen to: via puppets, masks, GameName (anagram)
Matterings/Projects ”Place Such Objects in your Home, Gift them to Others “Collaborate”/Dissolve Collect
Kits Select psyche-related, iconic shapes, materials S’paper, dwood Just sand this.Stay with the Common: dirt, rust, smoke, fowers/grass (pounding as Disorder) Outlining as Order
Share/LearnNew Knowledge, perspective Poems, Quotes What you’re discovering to be “true” .
Find “touchpoints” for sharing taoist-farmer-f12c Process Art Revgrafti
surrendrng-to-uncertnty-mud
Notes from an earlier Version Imaginal Toolmaking
Notes and FAQs on my 2 1/2 -hour introductory workshop
We are all makers. Like beavers keep chewing, we humans have to make to stay alive. We make breakfast, time for visiting, our way; we make deals, we make up and we make trouble. We make products, our living, our families, our peace; we make friends and enemies, this and that...
Every form of making works on several levels. There's the "practical" level. We make things that look like other things we have and use and seem to need: knives, forks, spoons, pots, chairs, benches, beds...
My interest as a researcher, is in the"imaginal" level of making. What "else" does something do? What does a thing mean? Or what meanings are getting mattered by these things? On this level, humans are the ways that certain energies get themselves into the world. Because we "make", we are a part of a intricate process... not unlike how bees pollinate flowers and make honey and, and, and
Well, no matter. I am a very practical maker and believe and trust and know that the imaginal level of making is always happening.
So what happens in an Imaginal Toolmaking Workshop??
We make lots of different tools, practical and imaginal. We make a mallet. We might re-handle spoons and forks; we might re-sharpen metal into knives; ... and we learn more about just what tools do. Tools help direct our attention and our physical energy for the tasks of living... Those screwdrivers, hammers, drills all have their purposes.... and so do the sticks tipped with shells and feathers. Wands are just tools for collecting and directing energy. Just a specialised form of a screwdriver... (maybe a screwdriver for the soul)
What Skills? What Activities?
selecting materials, cutting, shaping, sanding, drilling, joining
What's the take-away? well, a wooden mallet and several other tools or tool-like items of your choosing.
Is this really weird? yes and no. It depends on how weird you are or want to be. (And the word is spelled "wyrd"...look it up!).
Some people make the mallets, spoons and knives... others see the what the wands and small sculptures are all about. Anyway, it's only two hours. How bad can it be?
Show me the stuff! OK Here's Kim Vergil's work in March-April 2008
The Hag Bird Skull Hatched