I had just finished reading Scott Alexander-King's book Animal Dreaming on Friday night(see my last post) and saw that Scott had sent out the word on his Facebook page that he would be giving a talk at the Mind, Body and Spirit Festival in Brisbane, where I live.
Scott's talk at the MBSF in Brisbane,29th June, 2013
I haven't seen Scott in person since my first
Byron Bay Writers Festival in 2011, where I bought a copy of his bookAnimal Dreaming.
I didn't really want to go to the festival, as I'm trying to watch my pennies and didn't want to have to pay $18 to get in, plus another $12 to park.
The funny thing was I got lost trying to find the $12 car park and found one of the last remaining spots in Alexandria St(Alexandria - Alexander-King?-). It was just outside the bird pavilion of the
Brisbane Exhibition Grounds, and it was free, so I saved myself $12:-) The funny thing was I bought a deck of the World Animal Dreamingcards after Scott's talk and when I got home found out the crow card was #29 and the date of the talk was June 29thand there was a heap of crows flying around him just outside the window as Scott was giving his talk. I also bought his new book,Earth Mother Dreaming.
Scott being mobbed after his talk
There is always plenty of free spots when you get back to your car, hey?-)
I cut it a bit fine mucking around and getting lost and only managed to get to the talk as it was just literally starting. After the talk I went for a walk around the Festival, since I was already there and had paid my admission.
A sign for sale at one of the stalls. A sign?-)
I feel uncomfortable at these shows, because while there are genuine folk there, there are also snake oil salesmen and woman trying to get you to buy their services or products.
I got the feeling that I should avoid the reading room?-)
I liked some stalls and felt cynical about others, but hey, who am I to judge, right?
Is that a Broo F O that I see in the above photo?-)
Broo F O?
A Crystal bed? Good vibes, right?-)
I expect Indy Jones by at any moment now;-)
I Finish one book and come home with another, just what I needed. I just can't break this reading habit.
Scott Alexander-King's book. I've enjoyed doing posts on these animal dreaming archetypes and I feel it has really helped me to identify different aspects of my psyche in a shamanic sense.
Me(left) with my older subnormal brother
This picture just about sums up the story of my life;-)
And before you think all this Dreaming stuff is for trippy hippy types with their head stuck in the clouds thinking everything is
"All good"(a saying that truly pisses me off, by the way), let me tell you that I have known right from the "get go" that
everything is not all good, and I don't pretend it all is, but it might be all part of some cosmic (but cruel at times)learning curve.
The world is heavy, man;-)
I have always felt the constant weight of the world on my shoulders and have always thought of the constant unfairness of life and its meaning. My brother has always been the constant yin to my yang and if I ever need proof of the unfairness of life, I need look no further than the above baby photos. He can't talk and still craps his pants at nearly 50 years of age. I don't think he has ever used a toilet in his life, apart from the early failed attempts to train him, so you can imagine the strain on my parents lives looking after someone like this that is constantly smashing the house up with his wild tantrums.
A more recent shot of my brother
I'm not saying that my life has been all bad, but it has been far from all good, so I'm not some naive airy fairy type of person, and I guess if I didn't have an out of body experience at around 11 years of age, then life may have been lived through a lot darker lenses on my part.
Verityby Damien Hirst
I reluctantly included the above background of my life, because I feel it has a lot to do with 'Dolphin Dreaming' and the idea behind it and why it appeals to me so much.
I love the above Tori Amosclip,Taxi Ride, as my father drove a taxi, but we didn't own a family car, so the family got driven around in an off-duty taxi cab all the time ... which was sometimes embarrassing. "Dolphinis one of the Spirit's midwives. She is present when we are born; she helps us take our first breath and then pilots us through life in much the same way she guides boats from port, reminding us to breathe as we embark on all creative ventures. The time spent in the womb is sacred. It shapes our view of the world before and after we are born. Realizing what life was like for both you and your mother while she was carrying you will help explain why you act and react toward life the way you do, the way you feel toward your family, why you hold your breath in times of stress and why your view of yourself has developed as it has. Your sense of security and confidence, your relationships and even the type of employment you seek, are all determined by the quality of time spent in your mothers womb and the conditions under which you drew your first breath."
"What you do with this this understanding and how you let it affect you is the key to a healthy, happy experience. Dolphin prompts you to review your life by asking questions that may trigger heartfelt reactions to your time in your mother's womb. Ask yourself what life was like for you and your mother during this time ... see this as an opportunity to reclaim your power, to rebirth and to finally honour the first breath you ever took."
One reason that I could never buy the notion of Christianity was the idea of only living one life. Looking at my brother I could never understand this notion of being judged on just one life, so reincarnation has always appealed to my way of thinking about life. I will never buy the 'only one life' idea of some religions, it just won't gel with me, I'm afraid.
Verity the Nude Pregnant Woman Statue with the Chapel in the Background
Thanks to my friend Mike Perry who synched just at the right time once more with these beautiful pictures he took that I've re-posted here from his blog - Verity The Pregnant Nude Woman of Ilfracombe
UPDATE:
Life can be rather cruel and ironic at the same time it seems, as I received this t-shirt in the mail the day of my brother's funeral under Covid social distancing conditions of no more than 20 people allowed to the funeral and with all mourners having to sit apart from each other, which somehow seemed to sum up my brother's life to me and what I think his birth/life did to the family members there at his farewell.
I had just received this book in the mail on the day I listened to the latest42 Minutes podcast, and Julian Lennon released his new album the day after this podcast was aired.
I wrote on this blog not long ago how I was going through my old magazines to finally read the ones that I had just thrown into the pile without reading and yesterday I pulled this magazine out of the pile randomly,thinking what am I going to sync with in a travel magazine, since I hardly have traveled at all in my life. Turns out there were heaps of things in this magazine I've been synching with lately, enough for a few posts at least. For instance, Mark LeClair had this picture below on his Facebook page this morning, with the caption -
I often write my name as Daz, which in Australia is a shortened version of Darren or Darrel. So, the da(y)zcaught my eye when flicking through the above magazine and I see this ad-
My English friend Mike Perry had just written a post about the village he had spent a few days (daze;-)in, in which they were having some kind of scarecrow festival The Red Sky and The Invasion of the Scarecrows and what do I find in the above magazine after telling him about a mountain town not far from where I live that holds an annual Scarecrow festivalin October?
I didn't really want to go to the festival, as I'm trying to watch my pennies and didn't want to have to pay $18 to get in, plus another $12 to park.
The funny thing was I got lost trying to find the $12 car park and found one of the last remaining spots in Alexandria St (Alexandria - Alexander-King?-). 
I liked some stalls and felt cynical about others, but hey, who am I to judge, right?
Is that a Broo F O that I see in the above photo?-)
I Finish one book and come home with another, just what I needed.
