Ground Water Pollution: Beauty & the Beast

On the Edge of Horseshoe Pond
CC Jean Stimmell:4/30/15

Like a  beautiful

 abstract painting:

Petroleum paints

the marsh's

edge.

Spring Renewal, Wetland Bliss

CC Jean Stimmell: 4/29/15

Mayflowers carpeting the beaver pond edge

Vigilant blue herons guarding their nests

Spring renewal, wetland bliss

CC Jean Stimmell: 4/29/15

“Rising to Spirit Descending to Soul”

Feather in Tidal Pool (Kittery ME)
CC Jean Stimmell: 4/13/15

Michael Meade says that The Age of Enlightenment  is over; we now live in an era of “Endarkenment.” *

He says the essential cosmological condition of living on earth is going back and forth between light of day and the dark of night: "that’s the essential cosmological condition of living on earth: in order to be able to absorb genuine light...a person needs to be grounded, and part of grounding is a descent into darkness."

 "In alchemy it was called “Circulatio”, the kind of rising into the light and followed by descending into the dark, and then returning to the light... It’s also called “Rising to Spirit Descending to Soul”, and it’s what modern culture refuses to do—it won’t allow a little bit of descent, a little bit of loss of momentum, a little bit of loss of... gross national product—whatever they want to call it—they’re so afraid of losing that little bit that they hold on, manipulate, and cheat against life and what happens then is a big descent, like we’re in now." 

* Shrink Rap Radio # 216, August 21, 2009, The Light Inside the Dark Times, with Michael Meade

At the end of my rope

Black & White Rendition at Hampton Beach
CC Jean StimmellL 3/29/15

Today is April 5th

In the old days, when I worked as a stone mason,

you could always start work by April first,

knowing the snow would be gone.
You could count on it...

But no longer!

The garden is submerged
under a foot of snow.
The driveway's slick with ice.
More snow predicted for tonight.

Unpredictability is the new normal
since us humans have screwed up
Mother Nature's thermostat.

The heron signifies those who fear the disorder of the world

I was mesmerized by this heron I recently photographed on Assateague Island in Maryland. Her stare pierced me with a primal blast of wisdom beyond anything our modern world has to offer. Could she be – in essence – a mythological creature? 

I did some research and found my answer in a bestiary.

A bestiary is a compendium of beasts. Such a book could be called a natural history of mythical creatures because they collected information about each animal, starting with what was known from ancient times.[1]

Originating in the Ancient world, bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals, birds and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each beast was usually accompanied by a moral lesson.[2]

Here’s what one Medieval Bestiary said about my heron:

General Attributes: “The heron is a bird that is wiser than all others, because it does not have many resting places, but lives near to where its food is. It nests in high trees, but gets its food from the water. It never eats carrion. It is afraid of rain storms and flies high above the clouds to avoid them; thus when a heron takes flight, it means that a storm is coming.”

Allegory/Moral: “The heron signifies those who fear the disorder of the world, and to avoid its storms fly high above it in spirit.”[3]

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[1] Bestiary: The Natural History of Mythical Creatures by Terryl Whitlatch

[2] wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestiary

[3] The Medieval Bestiary. http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast540.htm