Is 2016 the Year of the Pig in Byron Bay ... or For Just Getting Stoned?-)

A stone pig with wings looking into
a rainy sky at the 2016 BBWF

A rainbow in the sky as I took the Byron Bay
turnoff off the M1 Friday

The last time I spent three days in Byron Bay for the Somara conference it rained all three days I was there. 
"Somara 2016 is a 6 day event from Feb 2-7 covering traditional and modern use of shamanic medicines, for healing and personal evolution.
So Ma Ra
The winged seed of wisdom exemplifies our focus and vision. The seed is the most condensed form of in-form-mation . Combining the ancestral wisdom of the past with the present climatic conditions to produce offspring that harmonise past and present into an abundant and graceful future. In this way we are seed. The winged seed can fly from its parents and sprout in new terrain far from the shadow of its parents influence and experience the visionary flight before sprouting deep into earth upon landing. In this way we are winged. Somara is an ideal archetype of our highest aspirations as human curators, custodians and stewards of earth.
Our mission is to faithfully, honourably and with deep integrity, gather ancient and traditional shamanic medicine practices from a diversity of cultures and wisdom lineages and responsibly transmit the essence of this wisdom in order for individuals to connect, heal and inspire themselves and others while dreaming a harmonic world into being."
Not in Kansas Anymore?

Trying to fly with winged seeds?

A rainbow over the Yellow Brick Road pavilion
 on Friday 2016

This weekend I spent three days once more at Byron Bay and all three days it rained, as well.

The painting I saw at Somara in Byron Bay earlier this year

When I was at Somara in Byron Bay earlier this year, I met an artist painting a pig mural to cleanse the spirit of the land as this retreat was built on an old pig abattoir site.
Pigs on the Wing?

Bryan Itch painted the pig mural at Starseed Gardens
Photo: Jennifer Casidy

Pigs on the Wing Pink Floyd tribute band artwork

The rainbows and pig themes resonated with my last post about Magda Szubanski, because she was one of the stars of the movie 'Babe' about a pig that wanted to be more than just a pig on a farm.

And pigs might fly, too?-)

Magda Szubanski, Rainbows, The 2016 Byron Bay Writers Festival, Jung and Synchronicity

Peter? St. Peter ... the rock, or the stone of madness?-)

The artist who made the stone winged pig was named Peter like Madga's father's name. 

Is a rock also a stone?

Hieronymus Bosch:
The Extraction of the Stone of Madness

Magda starts off her book with a chapter titled, 'The Stone of Madness' about the hypothetical procedure in the 15th century involving trepanation and extraction of a stone, thought to be the cause of the patient's madness and Magda viewing the Hieronymus Bosch painting of the procedure.

Reminds me of a song John Paul Young sung ('Hey, St Peter') in Hobart about St. Peter, as well. 
The APIA Tour: Rules Are Made to Be Broken ... or, What Would Jesus Do?-)

John Paul Young and the gang in Hobart, June 2016

The original band members who sung 'Hey, St Peter' were wearing raincoats in parts of their film clip for the song, too.

I wonder if they were expecting rain ... or rainbows, too?-) 
And on the subject of 'Babe', rain and John Paul Young have a listen to the lyrics he sings in this song below.
Sounds like he could have been singing about the 2016 Byron Bay Writers Festival:-)

Shouldn't the Tin Man be looking for a heart?-)

I noticed the guy trying to extract the "stone of madness" in the Hieronymus Bosch painting looks dressed a little like the Tin Man out of 'The Wizard of Oz', so maybe he is in search for a heart as well?-)

'The Shining'  meets 'The Wizard of Oz'?

The Secret of 'The Revenant'

Liam Pieper, Matt Nable, Tom Keneally,
Anneli Knight at the 2016 BBWF

I also met and bought a book from a guy who claimed to have hung around Germany's biggest LSD dealer and the dealer who shared the same surname (Pieper) as the author I met claimed to be the dealer who supplied Pink Floyd with LSD, back in the day.
Although, Liam did say that being a Pieper you could take what he said with a grain of salt, which to me translates that Liam might also be telling porkies (lies) about the drug dealer, as well.

My brain seems to be full of coincidental connections from my weekend and year in Byron Bay and on the road, but then again it might just be full of the rocks and stones of madness. 

The Art of Organ Donation?

The answer is probably blowin' in the wind somewhere for me on that one.
The Windmills of My Mind