Posts Tagged ‘dreams’

The Dreamreader at the Library

Dream, Textuality | Posted by jmoore
Feb 05 2012

My wife Audrey and I are in our house. She wants to read a book I have. It is volume IX from a X volume set and she hasn’t read the other books. It’s a translation of a Japanese novel, by one Musakami, close to Murakami, but the “S” was prominent. I look into the book. The words are highly decorated. This text was printed beautifully. At the top of each page are interesting decorative pictures …a spider, a sword, a scroll… and other symbols. The book mentions “God” a lot, and I find this to be strange, coming from an Eastern source, especially as the God in question seems to be a Biblical one. The story is about a Ninja and as I read the book (together with my wife?), we watch a Ninja, fully covered and wrapped in black cloth, lightly treading through soft snow up a small mountain. The Ninja seemed to be a kind of monk.

Feelings: Surprise

Reality Check: I was having a slew of Japanese related literary dreams in 2010 to early 2011 (about Yukio Mishima among others), but this theme hasn’t come up for awhile. I guess it is saying, “Hey Justin, don’t forget about this thread of your inner life. It’s not over yet!” As a young boy I of course had a fondness for Ninjas… remember those Teenage Mutant Turtles?

The name in the dream, Musakami, is similar to Haruki Murakami whom I definitely want to read (and am reading now). Murakami’s novel’s A Wild Sheep Chase and Dance Dance Dance both have a lot of dream related stuff in them from what I hear.

~

So, the Haruki Murakami novel I wanted to read is checked out by another patron at the Public Library where I work. But now that I am a member of the Mercantile Library I look up Murakami in their catalog. Well, they don’t have A Wild Sheep Chase but they do have Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World also on my reading list. I go get it on my lunch break and start reading it over a bowl of spicy white bean chili and rice. It’s very humorous. Each paragraph is like a stanza in a poem. The translator has obviously done an excellent job.

hardboiled1

The book contains two narrative threads, one the “Hard Boiled Wonderland” is about a data launderer, who washes information for clients by processing it from his right to left brain. He gets hired by a mysterious scientist who lives in a lab far beneath an office building. You take the elevator all the way down, go through a maze of bureaucratic hallways, then take a ladder down several stories, pass through some caves, go underneath a waterfall from the underground river into the scientists lair, where he is working on “listening to skulls”. He has learned how to resonate the skulls of humans and animals via some kind of acoustic measurements…and now he has a plan to erase sound from the world. He says this will aid our evolution, implying that it will perhaps help us get full blown telepathy. And evolution is never easy he says.

The second narrative is “The End of the World” which takes place in small mysterious town -presumably so far in the future it looks like the past -or at the edge (End ?) of the world. The narrator of this section comes to the town. Everyone in the town is given a job by the Gatekeeper. The character is to become the towns Dreamreader. He must go to the Library every night at sundown and read the “old dreams” stored in the Library.

…and that is about as far as I’ve gotten. But it certainly seems like my dreams were leading me to the write reading material, for inspiration on my own stories and more. I can’t wait to learn more about the Dreamreader and the “old dreams” he reads.

To become a Dreamreader the narrator had to undergo a procedure from the Gatekeeper. An initiation. The Gatekeeper takes a knife and heats it up in a fire. After it cools he stabs the man in both eyes, but this doesn’t hurt him. This helps him to read the old dreams, kept inside of skulls. The Librarian tells him how to do this, “Before your eyes the skull will glow and give off heat. Trace that light with your fingertips. That is how old dreams are read.”

russianunicornskull1The Dreamreader narrates, “Dreamreading proves not as effortless as she has explained. The threads of light are so fine that despite how I concentrate the energies in my fingertips, I am incapable of unraveling the chaos of vision. Even so, I clearly sense the presence of dreams at my fingertips. It is a busy current, an endless stream of images. My fingers are as yet unable to grasp any distinct message, but I do apprehend an intensity there.”

I relish reading more and seeing where the right and left brain converge, into one skull-story.

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A Champion of the Soul

Dream | Posted by jmoore
Nov 04 2011

jameshillmanI thought the readers of this blog would want to know of the passing of psychologist James Hillman, who died on October 27 at 85 from complications with bone cancer.

Just the little I’ve read of his amazing work has had a profound and long term effect on me. Perhaps the most influential was when I was at Antioch college. I was in crisis mode. I was telling a counselor that I wanted to go into Psychology, except I was having issues with the head of the department who was a big behaviorist with a picture of B.F. Skinner hanging above his desk. The school counselor suggested I read Hillman’s book “We’ve Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy - and the World is Getting Worse” written in conversation with Michael Ventura. I never did read that one, and I never did study psychology in academic setting.  The teacher was very hostile towards Wilhelm Reich and Carl Jung, even at a radical school like Antioch. I dropped out after the term.
 
Later I did read “The Souls Code: In Search of Character and Calling” by Hillman which is basically his thoughts about the Daemon, or Holy Guardian Angel if that’s your preference of terms. It was excellent. In it he talked about various well known individuals early lifes, and how by looking into them, the pattern, as set out by the daemon, for a persons life work could be seen in these early experiences. I still have “The Dream and the Underworld” sitting on one of my bookshelves awaiting attention. I’m sure it is essential reading for aspiring Oneiromancers.
 
In the New York Times obituary of Hillman they quoted him from 1976:
“Some people in desperation have turned to witchcraft, magic and occultism, to drugs and madness, anything to rekindle imagination and find a world ensouled. But these reactions are not enough. What is needed is a revisioning, a fundamental shift of perspective out of that soulless predicament we call modern consciousness.” 
 
Gyrus wrote of this, over on his Dreamflesh blog, “However else Hillman has inspired me—and he’s inspired me very deeply—I just have to admire someone for whom witchcraft, magic, occultism, drugs and madness are ‘not enough’. Obviously he didn’t take the path of trying all of these and going through the other side. And obviously I don’t agree with him if he’s dismissing them outright (I don’t think he is). But it’s an important message for all of us mad druggie occultists. Something more is necessary.” 

Eric Clarke and I had a good chat about James Hillman at the Esoteric Book Conference after party. Eric emphasized how James Hillman wasn’t into the “victimization” that is part of so much modern day therapy and New Age fluff. In a review of “One Hundred Years of Psychotherapy…” the Library Journal wrote that Hillman “contend(s) that therapy encourages self-preoccupation, leaving no attention or energy for the woes of the outside world. Similarly, the ‘inner child’ movement has created a population of self-centered, juvenile adults who feel they have little power. Political apathy, a dying environment, and an inability to form real relationships are among the ills resulting from this solipsism.” Rather than fall back on endless hours of therapy and introspection people can pick themselves up and set about doing the real work, based on the call of their daemon, that will change themselves and this world. By writing this I’m not dismissing the validity of soul retrieval and our inner young ones. These aspects need to get reintegrated. Health is the goal -and a return to meaningful work and life, not an endless round of sessions delving into troubled pasts, which in many instances seems to prevent people from moving forward. A good therapist would be one you don’t need to see forever.
James was also an adept dream teacher. His most famous words for dream interpretation were “Stick with the image”. Don’t over-interpret the image. Carry the image with you. It has its own energy and is its own interpretation.

James Hillman was a champion of the imagination and the soul. His tireless work aimed at the reenchantment of this world.

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The Mnemosyne Working

multidimensional art | Posted by jmoore
Aug 24 2011
mnemosyne1 

The Mnemosyne Working is an experiment in Multidimensional Art, a chance to apply the principles and practices I sketched out in M.O.M.A., a Manifesto Of Multidimensional Art, which is essentially a Qabalah of Art Magick. The main tenet of M.O.M.A., is that though we live in a multimedia age, multimedia art projects are not enough. Artists need to expand their canvases to encompass the subtle planes of reality and adjacent dimensions of the multiverse. Multidimensional Art does however recognize the need to reify astral workings by creating artifacts, recordings, writings installations, and what-have-you to ground the work in this plane of reality.

When the multimedia artist engages with the powers and beings of multidimensional reality vast power is unleashed. Creating a work that exists in a multiplicity of formats and facets allows the invoked energies to flow outwards to the eight directions, as well as the spaces between, within, and without. 

My approach to multidimensional art stems from my lifelong interest in the arts, but more specifically through my study of the working methods of groups like Negativland, Coil, Nurse With Wound, and Current 93. It comes from studying the work of multimedia artists like DJ Spooky, but thinking of how the kind of projects he does might translate into a magickal context. It comes from my practice of Active Dreaming as taught by Robert Moss. And it stems from correspondence and conversations with Nigel Ayers, Oryelle Defenestrate-Bascule and countless peers. My voluminous reading in myriad subjects has also shaped the approach I am now taking.

In that respect recent reads like the aforementioned DJ Spooky’s Rhythm Science, Nigel Ayer’s The Bodmin Moor Zodiac and his related works have given me much good compost to sprinkle on my garden. Oryelle’s Telequadrivium Bookweb and the rising ubiquity of digital books have caused me to rethink what books are and can be in general. Nadia Choucha’s Surrealism and the Occult: Shamanism, Magic and Alchemy in the Birth of an Artistic Movement and Stewart Home’s The Assault on Culture: Utopian Currents from Lettrism to Class War are excellent histories on what are otherwise more obscure aspects of the art movements which shaped the 20th century. The list goes on and is too long to fully annotate all the inputs I’ve had to digest. (I’ve worked in a library for over ten years. Excessive reading is an occupational hazhard.)

The Mnemosyne Working as a whole will be made up of a series of magickal practices, writings, musick, radio broadcasts, visual art, performances and whatever other mediums inspiration and vision lead me to do this work in. Much emphasis will be placed on the Ars Memoria or Art of Memory and the building of a Memory Palace that is also an Internal Library. Memory is the theme that will run through all of the work, though other themes will emerge as they relate to Memory’s children.

Mnemosyne, or Memory, is Mother of the Nine Muses. As such, the Mnemosyne Working seeks to engage each of the Nine Muses in a creative union. As mentioned above there will be a radio broadcast dedicated to Mnemosyne, and one each for Calliope, Euterpe, Terpsichore, Urania, Clio, Polyhymnia, Erato, Melpomene, and Thalia. I already have a poem and some music written for Calliope, and a historical poem inspired by Clio. More is underway.

ninemuses1

And though the Work is already begun, a launch of sorts will be my talk at the Esoteric Book Conference this year. Formally my talk is about Harahel, the Libray Angel, one of the 72 angels of the Shemhamphorasch. However much of my talk is also about Librarys in general, about Multidimensional Libraries that exist on the astral and imaginal planes and how these can serve as a Memory Palaces or Memory Libraries for the enterprising mage, and how libraries themselves represent the memories of mankind.

The idea of working with Mnemosyne and her children came from a dream I had in the fall of 2010. It was part of a group dream experiment where everyone in Robert Moss’s online dream forum incubated a dream for the following intention on the same night: “How can we bring the Sacred Feminie back into our daily lives?” This is the dream I received:

The Muses of Thermopylae

I am an observer. I am looking at a female painters model, and a painter who is making a portrait of her. She has read hair and is standing in front of a hedge. In her left hand she is holding the Earth. I think of her as Gaia, but also as one of the Muses. I then see the painter start to brush strokes on his canvas. He is going to paint the image as a tarot card, and I think it will be used as a kind of door.

Then I am scanning a list of the nine Muses on Wikipedia looking for a name. I read the name “Thermopylae”. The entry next to it says she is the Muse of Gates and Doors and the Opener of Doors.

I layed in bed for a little bit after the dream attempting to slip back into it, but found myself inside the library where a library women was pointing out some graffitti in the stacks.

I awoke feeling pleased. I know a few painters, but didn’t recognize the guys face only his back. The dream itself looked like a painting. The women I didn’t recognize, except as Gaia.

I had some research to do on the word Thermopylae. It turns out it is a place, most well known for the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. However I was most interested in what I learned when I looked up the Greek word Thermopylae in my trusty copy of The Oxford Classical Dictionary. The word means “Hot Gates” from its sulfur springs (Wikipedia told me that this is derived from the myth that Heracles had jumped into the river there in an attempt to wash off the Hydra poison infused in the cloak that he could not take off. The river was said to have turned hot and stayed that way ever since). It was the meeting place of the famous Amphictiony. The Amphictionies were “dwellers round about” and was a name for various leagues connected with temples and the maintenance of their cults. The Oxford Classical Dictionary says, “most important was the Amphictionic League organized around the temple of Demeter at Anthela near Thermopylae and later associated with that of Apollo at Delphi. In the earliest known form the league consisted of twelve tribes. The League, in cooperation with Delphi, administered the Temple of Apollo and conducted the Pythian Games.” Then it goes on to explain how the League was governed by hieromemnons, a type of religious official and judge. It then says, “the League was not without political importance. An old Amphictionic oath forbade destroying cities within the League or cutting off their water supply. Later Panhellenic legislation included decrees concerning Dionysiac guilds and currency.”

It turns out the word Hieromemnon means “one of sacred memory”. Robert Moss thought this would be a good title for a male who is wedded to the cause of the Goddess. After sending some emails about all this to Hermaphroditic ChaOrder of the Silver Dusk and the Horus-Maat Lodge, Oryelle declared me Hieromemnon of the Silver Dusk.

Soon thereafter I constructed and performed a ritual invocation of Mnemosyne, dedicating myself to her service in the process.

In working on my talk about the Library Angel for the Esoteric Book Conference I hadn’t given much thought to Mnemosyne until the end of putting my amassed material together. It was then that I realized, in speaking so much about books, libraries, archives, and the need to preserve documents relating to esoteric history that I was doing the work of Memory, Mother of the Muses.

May it continue.

The Library of Alexandria was but one part of the Musaeum of Alexandria. And the Musaeum or Mouseion was the Temple of the Muses. Creative thinking in any area arises from the collision and fusion of multiple streams of thought. This often happens through coincidence, or synchronicity. The Library Angel is a being who provides “cross references” and who puts the right book into your hand when you need it most. If you find yourself at a library, engaged in creative research, you can have no better allies on your side than Mnemosyne and the Library Angel. Mnemosyne will give you access to the memories of mankind, and the Library Angel will provide the right memories for you. The human who sips from this ferment is primed to practice the Ars Combinatoria or art of combination. By adding magick into the cauldron the celebrant will be ready to remix reality itself. 

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Further Back and Forward

Events | Posted by jmoore
Apr 18 2011

coin_janus_225-212

 

2011 has so far been a very blessed year, and April is proving to be a very productive month.  I have had the pleasure of participating in some very fun events. On April 2nd, I participated in a reading  and launch for a chapbook put out by Don’t Forget to Flush Productions, the bathroom child of Chuck Byrd, who also read at the event. The book Holy Shit! It’s Tales from the Crapper #2 contains my piece, “The Alchemy of Shit” in which I wax poetic on territory originally mined by Coil on their album, Scatology, delving into the interior of Earth, claiming the muddy nigredo of the soul, and transforming all that shite into gold. Other great readers that night included Luke Radkey, and the marvelous Mark Flanigan.

This event was followed by a blast of a Neato Torpedo gig at Mayday last Thursday. We played alongside our comrades Hearts of Palm, and newcomers to the Cincinnati experimental music scene, Fractal Fractal, and Bad People.  It was all the more enjoyable as Andrew Hissett, was able to join us on the drum kit (the last few gigs he wasn’t able to play with us, though he is a member).  Brave Dave had made an excellent video, mostly of rocket ship space footage, and his step-daughter dancing, to go along with our astral domine. Thanks to the good folks at Art Damage, John Rich & John Lorenz for organizing the show.

Much of the year had also been spent getting some beuracratic paperwork done with regards to my radio show, On the Way to the Peak of Normal. Finally things are squared away. Much kudos go out to Brian “Thriftstore Leather” Riley for his infinite patience, and for being the best damn partner in radio crime one could ask for. (By- the-way tune in this Thursday 10PM to Midnight EST to WAIF 88.3 FM Cincinnati, for the second in our ongoing series exploring the Seven Deadly Sins. Our last sin was Gluttony, broadcast on Thanksgiving Day, now we are moving into the apocryphal realm of Vanity. Brian and I will be joined by Professor Nutbudder & Monster Syd.) Brian and I also recorded a special ultra-space-lounge-thrifty mix, this past winter, that will only be available to those who call in and pledge to our show in the upcoming spring memberthon. We have some other treats in store as well.

This week I’ll also be heading over to some secret studios in my neighborhood of Northside to add some electronic treatments to the second album of The Hela Cell, a boisterous avant-punk outfit I have been privileged to work with, headed by Dave Glasser and Dan Hall.  

Looking further forward, and faster, I was nudged by net friend, and fellow Silver Dusker, Dharma Buford to submit a proposal to the Esoteric Book Conference, which takes place in Seattle every fall. I wrote and submitted my proposal on the last possible day, the deadline.  I am delighted to announce, a little belatedly here on this blog anyway, that I will be speaking at this years Con, held on September 10th & 11th. My subject will be The Library Angel and It’s Oracle, and will be a further expansion and reinvigoration of the original paper I wrote.  I am very excited about this opportunity to meet so many people from the Occult and Pagan communities, some of whom I have been online friends with for years (especially those in the Hermaphroditic Order of the Silver Dusk & Horus Maat Lodge) but most of whom I’ve never met in person. I can feel the magick sizzling in the air already.

I have a number of other writing, radio, & recording projects in the works. Chuck and I are at work on a flip-book featuring a detective story from each of us, that will be a split from Aurore Press and Sothis Medias. Horus-Maat Lodge brother, and psychedelic rocker Adam Smietana and his band The New Captains are due to play a live set on the next edition of Silver Star Radio, on May 5th. Brian Riley is also working to bring some more live music to the air. We also have plans for Brian Burke to come to the studio and read his Anti-Car Manifesto, originally published in Streetvibes, and an appearance of Neato Torpedo on the air this June. Thanks for staying tuned to further developments in Astral Weather.

As usual none of this could have been possible without the support of my family and all my creative friends and allies!

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MOMA: Manifesto Of Multidimensional Art

multidimensional art | Posted by jmoore
Apr 15 2011

horus1M.O.M.A.

MANIFESTO OF MULTIDIMENSIONAL ART

Being the founding document, in Class B of

S.M.A.C.

the Society for Multidimensional Art Concepts

and/or

the Sothis Medias Artist Collective

0. All created things manifest in this physical existence have their origins on the Astral and Subtle Planes. While physicality is common throughout the multiverse, material existence is but a dot on the continuum of consciousness. As such reified physical creations are not seen as being the only legitimate form of creativity. While artifacts, in whatever medium or media, are not to be denigrated, they are seen more as correlaries for something already existing in one of the many Astral Worlds or Imaginal Realms. Because conditions in the Astral World culminate and later manifest in the physical, the Multidimensional Artist seeks to create and sculpt the ideoplastic substance of the Ether into scripts and scenarios that will later be reflected here in the physical world. All impulse’s arise out of the mystical void.

I.AD0PT, ADAPT, ADEPT: The Crowning achievement of Multidimensional Artists will be their own enlightenment, individuation, initiation and adepthood. The Adept Ad0pts new behaviours as needed to Adapt to changing circumstances. The power to create comes from the Indwelling of the Divine. The impetus to create comes from the Godhead and connection to the world of spirits. The Multidimensional Artist is an Agent who seeks to reestablish Intelligence, by connecting with various beings, be they Spirits of the Land, or more Cosmic personalities, such as those associated with the Dog Star or Alpha Centauri, for example.

II. SEEKERS, KEEPERS AND SPEAKERS OF ECSTATIC & ENSTATIC WISDOM AND SACRED MEMORY: The Multidimensional Art Movement (M.A.M.) is one of Ecstasy. The Artist seeks out Ecstatic states, be they archaic, contemporary, or future forms of Gnosis. This is the Ecstasy of the shaman, the Greek Ekstasis of being outside oneself, where an individual is able to apprehend the true nature of the multiverse. The contemplation of Enstasis, of standing within oneself is also valued for the discipline and discernment it brings. Ecstasy can be seen as the gathering of new knowledge and insight, while Enstasy is the act of synthesizing the knowledge into useful vessels.Dancing, walking, movement, the beating of drums, and the clash of cymbals are just a few of the activities appropriate for entertaining Ecstasy. Writing, recording, and meditating are appropriate Enstatic activities. The Multidimensional Artist, being resourceful by definition, is able to appropriate pre-existing methods and brainstorm new modes of each. In addition to seeking out modes of Ecstasy and Enstasy, the Multidimensional Artist is a Keeper of Wisdom, and Speaker of Wisdom. These go hand in hand because wisdom is not meant to be kept to oneself, but given to others. Messages are both stored and transmitted. The various Arts of Memory are studied and applied.

III. THE GRAIL or SOUL FAMILIES, LINEAGES & VESSELS: One of the duties of a Multidimensional Artist is to create suitable vehicles for the containment of the Work. These vessels become bubbling cauldrons of inspiration. The people who drink from them then become Inspirators. This is how knowledge is passed, in a non-linear fashion, from one node of Multidimensional Artists to another. The blood of previous Artists, that is to say Magicians, Saints, Heroes and Adepts is mingled into the Grail of her own Understanding. The genealogy of Soul Families, as well as actual ancestors is an appropriate avenue of investigation in this regard. Drink of this vital blood –the knowledge of all past and future works of Art- and be refreshed. While the Multidimensional Artist is aware of tradition, she works to safely expand its parameters through exploration offering up new insights, publishing her findings, administering the Communion within the Community. Sharing the Work becomes an act of Sacrament. The Gift given by the blood of other Artists is returned through our own Gifts.

XI. OtherWorldly Knowledge: Knowledge is the Gateway to Universe B and the myriad other universes making up the Multiverse. The Multidimensional Artist is an Astral Cartographer whose duty is to map out the many territories he explores, but never losing sight of the maxim that the map is not the territory, all the while working to refine and add detail to the many interconnected maps which exist for navigating the labyrinthine tunnells of reality. The Multi-Dimensional artist is also concerned with World-Building in the broadest sense of the term. This includes everything from psychically terraforming the existing landscape, to creating new villages, towns, and cities on other planes, to the actual building of worlds, atom by atom.

IV. CHAOS: Multidimensional Artists work to keep Chaos playful and benign. They allow the inner wildness of the wilderness to come out of its shell. The Multidimensional Artist is at home throwing lavish banquets, is a consumate hostess of conferences, parties and all social gatherings from picnics to potlatch. Carnivals, festivals, and celebrations are all appropriate modes for the sharing of wealth. Nature is studied, and techniques of biomimicry are employed. The Multidimensional Scientist does not see evolution in terms of survival of the fittest, but working through what Peter Kropotkin termed Mutual Aid.

V. ORDER: The Multidimensional Anarcho-Activist is a Speaker for Trees, Animals and Plants. The benevolence of the Godhead is extended not only to humans but to all forms of life. The Activist uses his powers to stop the encroach of the Imperium over every aspect of life. Agitprop, pranks, and feral disobedience are employed. Anticorporate magick is used to restore Order. The Investigative Poetry of Ed Sanders is one possible method used for recording herstories that would otherwise be eradicated by the oppressors of Love, Light, Life and Liberty. The tendency for Multidimensional Anarcho-Activists to dwell in Utopian and Dystopian Fantasylands must be balanced by taking a stake in the Great Work of Transformation. The entire culture must be alchemized. The discontents of civilization must be shaken up and distilled in the Alembic of Art, for civilization has not yet been achieved.

VI. TRUTH AND BEAUTY / STELLAR MAGICK: The Multidimensional Artist is a servant of both Truth and Beauty. The two are not always aligned with eachother. Sometimes to tell the Truth a poet must express herself in terms most vile and ugly. Truth and Beauty must be upheld for their own sake. When dark Truths are exposed it creates opportunities for the beautiful to grow. The culture of misinformation, doublespeak, newspeak and a politics which is centered on Mammon as opposed to Earth and her children is inherently ugly. This dark reality cannot be ignored. As an investigator of new territories it is the job of the Artist to add to the sum total of knowledge, not censor or subtract from it. At the same time she must be an Inspirator –the worlds antidote to Conspirators, Imperators, and Dicktators. Visions of the beautiful must be elucidated to bring them into reality. Pictures of alternate paths and ways of living must be made. New Maps must be written that show how to reach New Worlds.

The stars have always been an inspiration to humanity. Sothis, the Greek word for Sirius which translates as the Star of Isis, is the Sun of our own Sun. In other words, our solar system rotates in an orbit around Sirius, just as Earth and her sister and brother planets rotate around Sol. Sothis is a higher octave of the solar vibration. Some say our origin is from the Stars and our destiny also lies among them. We are made of starstuff. The Multidimensional Artist is a Divine Astrologer whose goal is to make Contact with other Intelligences from the Stellar Realms.

VII. ORGONE ACCUMULATION: The Artist is a Multidimensional Accumulator of Orgone, well versed in the crafts of Love. Not only are techniques of Tantric-Taoist-Kama-Sutra-Sex-Magick known and employed to the delight of their lovers, but they are used to generate whole body kundalini orgasms that ejaculate out of the heart, third eye and crown chakras seeding the Astral Plane with altruistic children. Healthy sexual self expression is acknowledged as being a tool (always kept well pumped and primed) for breaking down the rigid Character Armor that is a precondition for the cancerous growth of fascist societies (see the works of Wilhelm Reich, especially The Function of the Orgasm and The Mass Psychology of Fascism). The Multidimensional Accumulator of Orgone is also a Healer, engaged with the practice and study of various vibrational healing modalities. Art therapy is also employed as a means for working through our own issues, neurosis, rigidities. It is most especially used for soul recovery.

VIII. MULTIMEDIA & MULTIDISCIPLINARY ART: While it is not enough for the Multidimensional Artist to work merely upon one plane of existence, it is acknowledged that much of the Work to be done is on the physical plane. As such any and all mediums for the working of Artistic Magick are fair game. While talent may specifically lie in one area for any individual artist, other mediums should not be dismissed, but rather explored so as to create iterative feedback loops informing a wide variety of disciplines. The Celtic God Lugh/Lleu is one possible patron in this area, as he is a master of many arts, and uses his mastery of them to open doors. Saraswati the Hindu Goddess of Knowledge, Music, and the Arts, is one possible matron. Devotion to the Work is in service to the Goddess.

IX. ONEIROMANCY / LUNAR MAGICK: The Multidimensional Artist is an investigative Dream Journalist. Dreams play a lead role in this art movement, as it is in the dream world where most acts of creation occur. Adept dreamers –or Oneiromancers- are as comfortable navigating the astral landscape as they are the physical. The dream world is acknowledged as the real world. Dreaming encompasses a wide variety of discipline and terrain. The intrepid explorer Robert Moss has laid a strong foundation in his approach called Active Dreaming,which is his personal synthesis of contemporary dreamwork, and ancient techniques including shamanism. This groundwork will be built upon further.

The Oneiromancer is attuned to the fluctuating rhythms of the M00n. The phases are studied, and the effects utilized for the benefit of the Artist. Plantings of Multidimensional Seed Thoughts can be done on both the New M00n and Full M00n. Plantings on the New M00ns are appropriate when the swift uprising of strong shoots is desired. F00l M00ns are sterling when it comes to the sinking down of deep roots. It is appropriate to communicate with the Intelligences of the Lunar Sphere.

X.STEWARDS OF THE QUEENDOM: The Multidimensional Artist is a steward of the Queendom of Earth. They are Gardeners and Wildcrafters alike. Seeds which were planted in the Void grow their roots in Heaven and the branches tumble down to our material Universe. The Queens and Kings who act as Stewards of this realm wear the Crown of Creation, for they have opened up the gates of reception and transmission of Divine Knowledge between the worlds. They do not rule with the iron fist of the Dicktator or Imperator, but as egalitarian equals. They do not see themselves as being elevated above humanity. Humiltiy is their watchword. But partaking as they do of many channels of reality, greater responsibilities are given to them. Part of that responsibility is awakening our fellow humans from the dangerous sleepwalk that has lead us to a brink where multiple systems, both Planetary and human are on the precipice of falling and failing. The extinction of many forms of Life, including are own are the stakes in this game. Part of being a steward includes working with and getting to know the Elemental forces of the Land. The Steward remembers that we nourish the Land just as the Land nourishes us. Soul must be restored to the Land. In that sense, while the Multidimensional Art Movement is multiversal in its scope, the work of individuals shall also be deeply rooted in the particulars of their own watersheds and bioregions. As the movement spreads, stewards shall arise from all corners of Earth to speak for Her.

As Michael Moorcock wrote in The Dreamthief’s Daughter, « There is something to be said for dedicating one’s life to an impossible cause. »

Let us now continue in the Great Work.

-Justin Patrick Moore

Cincinnati, Ohio

March 3rd, 2011

Note : A syllabus will be made available for those who wish to delve deeper into the ideas that gave birth to M.O.M.A. and the Society for Multidimensional Art Concepts. However, the advanced student is expected to write and study from her own syllabus.

This manifesto originally appeared in Silver Star Journal.

Also Available as a PDF in the “Essays” page.

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The Lions of Dreamland

Dream, Textuality | Posted by jmoore
Apr 12 2011

active_dreamingThis book could have just as easily been called “Community Dreaming”, and therein lies its strength. I see it as a sequel to one of his previous books “The Three Only Things: Tapping the Power of Dreams, Coincidence, and Imagination”. Where that book gave the individual a useful toolkit for opening themselves up to the deeper workings of the multidimensional universe, “Active Dreaming” sets the stage for taking those personal journeys out into the community. This is of great importance. In doing so, Robert is gently helping people reach out to and create something he calls, “The Place of the Lion”. What is the Place of the Lion? Through one of the stories Robert tells he shows that it is a place of “wild freedom” where a person can see past the limiting consensual hallucinations which have placed cages around and bars around what humanity thinks is possible.

The book is filled with inspiring stories and practical exercises. Personally, my favorite section is the appendix, “Dreamland: Documents of a Possible Future.” This dreamland has nothing to do with Area 51 (thank goodness), but shows a neutral society, or “Switzerland of the Mind” which has come into existence after a technological Singularity wreaks soul loss and ecocide across the planet. The Priestess-Scientists who guide this community are using the power of dreams to help repair the planet. This book will certainly benefit those who take the time to not only read it, but work with the material laid out in its pages. It is accessible to the beginner in dreamwork, while also giving some new games to the frequent fliers who have already been playing at this stuff for awhile. Coming from one of my favorite publishers, the dream elucidated between these covers really does give a road map to a New World.

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Viral Emissions: The Work of Nigel Ayers

Dream | Posted by jmoore
Mar 28 2011

Nigel AyersI had the following dream on October 18th, 2009 while on my honeymoon in Maine.

Nocturnal Emissions Tribute
I am at home in Cincinnati. I am part of a Nocturnal Emissions tribute show that is going to happen at the Southgate House. In fact, I have to go to a meeting in the parlour of the Southgate House to discuss the show with other people involved. My friends Paul Bartley, Andrew Hissett and I will be performing one of cover versions of a Nocturnal Emissions song. Inside the parlor we talk about the logistics of having the Nocturnal Emissions tribute.

Then my wife and I are sitting on a park bench talking to a guy named Adam who works at the library with me. I call him Adam West, though I’m thinking of Herbert West. He is talking to me about the Nocturnal Emissions tribute show. He says, “You guy’s sounded good. Especially your keyboard part, the pattern you copied from my keyboard.” Images of going to his apartment to copy some code from his keyboard into my Korg MS2000 fill my mind. I am excited about the feedback.

It seems there was a tribute CD put together as well and a book. Nigel Ayers has come into town for for a release party associated with the cd/book. I am at the release party. People are talking about the book. Andy Hissett and I flip through it, really surprised by some of the contributors, such as Metallica, and other even more mainstream people. It is laid out in a very graphic, collage style. I point at the cover and say, “It looks like it was designed by R. Crumb” the famous comic artist. Adam is quick to point out that it wasn’t R. Crumb but another “crumb” who draws in a similar style and may even be a pen name of Crumb’s. Inside the tribute book is a book of R. Crumb’s comics about roots / blues / country musicians. I want to buy a copy of the tribute book. There are two versions. One is an oversized folio and is signed by Nigel Ayers. The other is octavo sized. I look at the octavo: it is made up of loosely bound cards, flexi vinyl discs, and other bric a brac. The folio is the same, but the flexi discs in it are so oversized I don’t think I’ll be able to put them on the turntable. So I decide to buy the small one and ask Nigel to sign it for me. It’s twenty bucks.

Then Nigel and I get to talking. I tell him I want to review the book for Brainwashed, “after I’ve had time to sit with it,” I say. He understands. I explain to him, “I reviewed your Nightscapes album.” He seems appreciative.

The book is held together by elastic bands going through a hole in one corner of the hard board. Holding it, it turns into a bracelet, made up of over-the-counter style drug packets, pill holders, the kind that are cased in plastic and foil, that you have to punch the foil out to get to the pill. This is an accessory that Nigel made to come with the book. Nigel says to me, “I’m a multimedia artist. I don’t limit myself to specific forms, only to what needs to be created.” He is a writer, musician, video and visual artists.

About a year after this dream I finally got in touch with Nigel. I shared the dream with him, and then I asked him if he would do an interview with me. The interview is finally done and is up now on Brainwashed.

I’ve also reviewed his recent album “In Dub Volume 1,”  and the  ‘zine he produced between 1990 and 1999, “Network News” which is now available as a print-on-demand trade paperback.

This dream also inspired some of my own work in another area. After having it I begin to obsess over “multidimensional art”.  Last winter I’d planned on writing a Manifesto of Multidimensional Art, or MOMA. I wrote some notes down, but nothing came of it, and yet the idea and desire to write it never left my mind. Somehow, at the beginning of march I was infused with an upsurge of inspiration (Thank you Mnemosyne).  Once I saw the way to structure the manifesto -in the pattern of the Qabalistic Tree of Life- writing it came easily. It is now available in the Spring Equinox edition of Silver Star: A Journal of New Magick. Shade, the editor, also published my poem Earth Goddess.

Image above is of Nigel Ayers.

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A Drink for Dream Archeaologists

Dream | Posted by jmoore
Mar 12 2011
chateau_jihauWhen on a whim I popped open “Uncorking the Past”, a book about ancient alcoholic beverages, I hadn’t counted on the possibility of slipping into the world of Neolithic Chinese shamanism. Nor had I expected to learn about how a dream inspired the label for a brew released by Dogfish Head, a recreation of the worlds oldest alcoholic beverage dug dug up by a team led by biomolecular archaeologist Patrick E. McGovern, who wrote the book. But such are the gifts of the Library Angel.
The discoveries have sprung up from Jiahu, an ealy Neolithic site in the Henan province of North Central China. Among the things discovered at the site were instruments made from shell, flutes, bones, and drinking vessels. Chemical analysis of the residue put the historians on a path of research leading to the scientific literature, and further study to investigate what plants were in the area at the time in the field. What they were able to conclude was that the people in the region brewed and drank a complex beverage consisting of a “grape and hawthorn-fruit wine, honey mead, and rice beer.” The author then speculates on how this beverage may have played an important role in a “shamanistic funeral feast associated with the musicians of Jiahu”, though he also surmises the imbibing of the beverage to be widespread throughout the community. They had just discovered the a drink 9,000 years old. 
    
After a bit of media hype they started thinking about bringing the old drink back to life. With the help of Sam Calagione, owner and brewer of Dogfish Head, and his experimental brewer Mike Gerhart, they were able to recreate the heady liquid.  But only after facing many challenges, false starts, and near misses. Later with the help of another Dogfish Head brewer, they tweaked the formula to give it a sweet and sour flavor, to match Chinese food. It was during this time when “Sam had slipped into shamanistic revelry. He recounted a dream in which a naked Chinese Neolithic girl, with long hair flowing down her back and buttocks, had approached him with the beverage.” Acting on the dream he commisioned designer Tara Macpherson to create the label (attached below). The designer had “placed a seemingly enigmatic tatoo, which had also been part of Sam’s dream, on the lower back of the the celebrant” gracing the label. The sign is the Chinese word for “wine”. The brew was named Chateau Jiahu, and it’s gone through a few incarnations. My own action plan based on this sequence of events is to find a bottle of the liquid past and crack it open.  
Source: Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Other Alcoholic Beverages by Patrick E. McGovern.

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Dreams of China Mieville

Dream | Posted by jmoore
Feb 22 2011

china_mieville1The Tain and The Tain

I inhabit a crossroads where speculative literature, the occult and experimental music intersect. The thoughts, ideas, and personalities which daily percolate through my brain are later distilled as dreams in the alembic of my soul as I sleep creating a wonderful feedback loop. It should be no surprise that some of the characters I dream of are caricatures of authors I admire, both living and dead. I document these encounters in my dream journal. One of the most important things I learned from reading Aleister Crowley is that the diary, or the magickal record as he often called it, is the primary tool of the magician.

A fragment from July 2010 initiated a series of episodes revolving around China Mieville and his work. In it I am reading what I take to be part of the Bas-Lag Trilogy, but it takes place between The Scar and Iron Council. Waking up from this experience, I was very excited and when I got the chance, looked up Mieville’s bibliography to see what, if anything he had written between two aforementioned books, and learned he had written a novella, called The Tain. This was very significant to me on many levels. Celtic motifs have been recurring elements in my dreams, and as part of my research into Celtic folklore I have begun making my first tentative steps into Irish mythology and the Ulster cycle, and the tales which culminate in The Tain Bo Culaigne. I read Mieville’s The Tain and enjoyed it thoroughly, though I couldn’t find a scrap or hint of anything which seemed to point in the direction of the Irish Tain epic.

Mieville’s Tain was in part, however a riff based on a tale by Jorge Luis Borges, and this provided me with other joys. The word tain can also mean “a tinfoil used for the backing of mirrors” and this is the sense that Borges and Mieville use it. The novella takes the familiar post-apocalyptic trope and spins it on its head. The setting is a London where the surviving humans get by on their own wits while the failing military tries to impose martial law. The people are under attack by otherworldly beings called imagos who have come into this world from the other side of mirrors, from the reflections in pools, metal, anything that reflects. The novella itself is a reflection on the injustices of our own society, but the approach is never heavy handed, he never has to belabor the point at the expense of the story. Told with two monologues, the voice of the imagos is heard alongside that of the human narrator, creating what is essentially a view on both sides of the mirror.

I also spent some of this time delving into the Tain Bo Culaigne but must admit I still haven’t gotten into the thick of it yet. I tried out several translations, and have finally settled on one by Randy Lee Eickhoff. Now it sits once again in the lower portion of a book pile, of which I have many.

Sharing a Taxi with China

Then in October of 2010 I shared a taxi with China (in a dream). I get into a taxi. China Mieville is in the front, but also a passenger. We are in Northern Kentucky, either Covington or Newport. We get to talking. I tell him that I’m also a writer, and that I have written one novella that year, and a few short stories. “I’m going to revise the novella soon,” I say to him, “but I thought I’d work on the short stories.

Then I start telling him what I have read by him, clearly geeking out in fan mode, saying, “And I’ve read a number of stories in your short story collection, including The Tain.” He seems to be slightly annoyed by mention of The Tain. He says, “Oh yeah, The Tain.” I ask him when the taxi slows to a halt, “Is this where you live?” Thinking I might come by sometime. He doesn’t answer but all manner of information starts passing between us telepathically: He wrote The Tain while he was experiencing a block, or blocking himself from writing a much longer work. Still there is a knowing smill in Mieville when he beams this information to me. Thoughts of Borges and Mirrors pass between us as well. HE is dressed in a loose punk rock style, with a chain going through a loop in his jacket on his shoulder. Then more information passes between us about his publishing history. His most recent book, which is [in the dream] his first book King Rat, was self-published and done up nicely. Mieville, now established is moving into self-publishing.

I cannot account for the veracity of my dream. In fact aspects of it seem to be pure invention. As King Rat is not China’s most recent book, but his first book. It seems to have been traditionally published. The point of the matter is I awoke from this dream in a creative frenzy with tons of energy to get words on the page. I also felt it would be good for me to go ahead and self-publish, which I have recently done, in the most basic way, by uploading my novelette Trepanning for Gold as a free PDF. I also do not claim this was the “real” China Mieville visiting me in a dream, but rather a form my dream producers latched onto, a person who inspires me, and whose likeness in a dream inspired me to continue doing the necessary work.

King Rat

The next dream I had about China took place the day after the winter solstice. I am in my neighbor’s house. There are a bunch of people there, and everybody is kind of punk rock. The guy tells me that China Mieville lives in the neighborhood, and when he shows up I am very excited because I think I’ll be able to show him my manuscripts. Everybody is smoking. There is a nervous energy. Things speed up. I leave. China walks with me, and I tell him, “Hey, I’ve read a few of your books and short stories.” He seems pleased that I have done so.

I then say “And I just got a copy of King Rat from Earthling Publications. It’s really nice.” Mieville seems very fond of the book. He says, “Oh yes. Henric. Ratty,” and something else related to one of the characters in the book. Then I am some type of factory. I squeeze beneath some oil tubing spigots to get to the next scene.

A few weeks after the dream I finally got around to reading the book, and I wrote a review of it for Brainwashed which is up this week. King Rat was an important book for me in a number of ways, but two stand out: 1) the way he incorporates his love of music into the story 2) the way he twists a traditional fairy tale or legend (in this case The Pied Piper of Hamelin) and uses it as a sinister plot device.

I wouldn’t presume that China has the time or inclination to take a look at my stories, but I do know that my dreams of him have spurred my writing onwards. Consciously or subconsciously everything we writers read has an influence on us. Utilizing the energy and inspiration from our dreams can help a writer work consciously with the influences that are best suited to a person at a given time. In our dreams we also have direct access to teachers and masters of whatever art it is we are given to pursue. Tapping into them can be a source of tremendous strength and power.

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Trepanning For Gold

Fiction | Posted by jmoore
Feb 15 2011

trepanning1Freedom waited on the other side of my last week at Chemco, the penal factory where I sweated off my debts to the corporate world.  On Saturday nights they let me out with the City Pass I’d earned.  I’d go to Club Eurydice to try and get out of my head.  After being whipped like an unloved dog all week you need that.  Plus I needed to talk to a contact I’d met there before going back north to Toronto, where I hoped to see my daughter Jena again.
I wrote her a letter every week.  I don’t know if she got them.  My ex-wife had stopped sending me pictures of her five years ago.
I was looking forward to seeing the Swine Gods of the Afterlife play that night while knocking back cold beers with Erik.  Their sordid brand of blistering electronic music was like a drug.  When it tore out of the loudspeakers the noise of my internal chatter dispersed and I lifted into takeoff, the stress of my indentured servitude temporarily forgotten.
Outside the uncertain possibility of reuniting with my daughter I had no prospects.  Sanmonto, the Corp where I had handled the encryption of genetic research data blacklisted me.  I sold their codes to a rival upstart company in the clone biz, Raellaerian, trying to earn some extra cash for my family.  I got caught, sacked, tried by the Corporate Judge and his jury of CEOs, sentenced with work-punishment at Chemco for ten years.  Elizabeth promptly divorced me.  I keep telling myself it could have been worse.  I’d never touch a computer professionally again.  On the bright side I had maintained my legal identification, so at least I wasn’t one of the countless strays existing on the bare fringed wires of society.
I’ve made it further than most.  Surviving the factories takes a lot of emotional willpower: it would be easy to let apathy override and step into a vat of hydrochloric acid.  Earning my City Pass had taken six years of grim determination.  Being able to leave for eight hours on the weekend kept my strength alive.  The end was in sight.  At Eurydice I’d finalize my plans with Erik: he had access to a car from the collective he belonged to in the Covington shantytown and said he’d drive me as far as Toledo, having a delivery to pick up there anyway….

*********************************************************************

Read the rest of my novelette, “Trepanning for Gold” , which received an honorable mention in the first quarter of the 2009 Writers of the Future contest. I have just added it as a PDF in my new Fiction library here on Sothis Medias. All the works posted there are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives 3.0 License. I have one other story there so far, but will be adding more. I have also created a Reviews section, with a list and links to the music and book reviews I write for Brainwashed.com. They are not all there yet, but there are a substantial amount and I will be working on adding more. I plan on making Trepanning for Gold available as a chapbook from Lulu.com. I’m still working on it. I’ll let you know when it is ready. In the meantime enjoy the work.

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