Holy Pigeon Pages (original) (raw)

The randomness that has been keeping me engaged lately:

Carolyn Casey’s Winter Solstice broadcast
Her solstice talks do reiterate the same concepts, the main one being the “composting” of the year’s bad juju (though it could ongoing bad juju such as war and poverty). The mantra is “the longest night, the wheel is turning, what shall we give to the night?”

Carolyn always weaves in current events – often obscure and funny news stories – to keep the discussion fresh. I love her reference to the 1% Japanese super car crash (shouldn’t that be a name of a band?). The headline was “super car crash destroys 8 Ferraris in Japan.” Evidently, one Toyota Prius was spared when a car spun out on a Japanese freeway and totaled 8 Ferraris (no one was hurt).

I’m also loving the didgeridoo in this particular solstice talk. It fits so well with the story Carolyn tells of the synchronous sounds of the jungle. I was in a half awake, half dreaming bliss state while listening to this, and when the didgeridoo stopped, it was a pleasant jolt, like dropping into total peace. I love the magical pause that these kinds of instruments can enable!

La Casita de Kaleidoscopes
This is a store in Campbell, California that sells a range of kaleidoscopes – from the cheapy kind that are sold in toy stores for kids, to the most amazing, inventive, and beautiful kinds that are like works of art.

I bought a mid-priced kaleidoscope there recently that has been keeping my mind in a happy state of wonder. The beads and trinkets are suspended in oil, resulting a in a clear, crisp image that transforms with subtle fluidity – the brain can’t help but be fascinated by it. You never get the same image twice, and some of the beads produce the most delightful ephemeral bursts of light. I think kaleidoscopes are a safe way to experience a bit of psychedelia, and I have no doubt that they can also be used as part of a healing form of meditation, in the same way that some people use crystals and other “mystical” objects. The kaleidoscope I bought has a wind up music box inside of it, but there are others with more inventive features. I remember seeing one with feathers inside that had a perfume pump you could squeeze to make the feathers flutter into new permutations.

I’ll probably be adding the smaller scopes to the paraphernalia of gifts that I stuff into my sea-faring bottles, but this store has inspired me to think about making my own kaleidoscope on a large scale. I’m envisioning a human-sized version of the cellscope, which contains a movable object chamber filled with oil, that could be brought to festivals like burning man where there would be enough space to build the tube. I’ve seen the basic prism kaleidoscopes on a large scale before, but never the cellscope, probably because it would yield a blurry image or an image that’s too dark if the dimensions of the tube aren’t exact. But I’m sure it can be done, and I’m sure that a few kindred souls will be moved to giggles by it!

Anyway, I’m in the research and sketching stage of this project at the moment. Some items on my reading list include:

Simple Kaleidoscopes - although it’s marketing for children, this is one of the best instructional and inspirational books I’ve seen so far.

The Kaleidoscope Book: A Spectrum of Spectacular Scopes to Make

Kaleidoscope Artistry - the late author, Cozy Baker, was the diva of kaleidoscopes! She is the prolific author on the topic as well as renowned collector.

I’ve also joined the Brewster Kaleidoscope Society, named after the inventor of the kaleidoscope, David Brewster.