On the consensus machine, the inversion of protection, and the dissolution of democracy. Democratic societies are built, in theory, on a set of interlocking protections: a free press to hold power to account, independent scientific institutions to establish what is verifiably true, legal frameworks to protect individual rights and dissent, and — the keystone of Read More
Big Sur, California, to Baja California Sur, Mexico Elemental, nourishing, a retreat from the driven madness of the world, Big Sur, Esalen in particular, rooted deep in the intrinsic power of nature, held between mountain wilderness and vast ocean, the redwood forests, the remote valleys, the oak lined ridges overlooking the Pacific… Esalen, on the Read More
I am not really feeling it myself, and my friend Natalie doesn’t feel ready for what would be her first ceremony either, and we decide to let the idea go. So, we are sitting in Petite Leon café, meeting with a serendipitous group of enthusiastic plant experts from Mexico city, looking to collaborate in regenerative Read More
Creating balance with the inner and outer spaces we inhabit. On his way back to earth, having just walked on the moon, Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell experienced a radical transformation in consciousness. As he approached our planet from beyond its sphere of influence, taking in the exquisite poise of earth, moon and sun gyrating Read More
Life, Love and the Human Spirit Ever the irreverent rogue, defiant of establishment and death, there was my father, on the slow road. Nine lives cashed in, prostate cancer in remission, driving himself from his off-grid, country shack to dialysis in Palma, three times a week, until my younger brother Hieronymus (after Bosch, no less) had Read More
Having to pee three times a night is great for star gazing, especially when you live in a field in an oasis in the desert. And then there’s a full lunar eclipse. Gotta be cool, right! So I watch her rise, magnificent, low in the evening sky, sailing through the palms. Silhouetted, their skirts swish Read More
It was perhaps an inevitability, given that I am currently living in an old trailer in a dark field with an obfuscating hedgerow adjacent, perfect for a little bandit to make away with my new TV and silver flute and the lovely pineapple I had been ripening. It’s a poor country. The little shit took Read More
They left I felt their absence every day The curious thrill of knowing, there is this thriving silent throng of dangerous vital existence right outside my door I missed that life force.
I’m sitting here with a cuppa in the early morning sun in my field in BCS. I’m taking in the expanse of tall shimmering palms, stretching out towards the jagged mountain ridges that divide this primal peninsula. There’s a swarm of bees hanging low, 5 meters away from my little trailer home here. I have Read More
Right, so this little sojourn, to which you are invited, is predicated on the ongoing exploration of the idea that there are two fundamental forces in the universe, namely fear, (withdrawal) and love, (expansion) and that we get to chose in which direction we lean each and every moment, mid pandemia or otherwise. Like every Read More
What scares me is not death. What scares me is having our freedom to live responsibly taken away. This, it appears, is more ominous and imminent a threat than death by any virus old or new.
The idea of arresting increasing climate related disaster was recently taken up by the Extinction Rebellion (XR) movement in the UK. XR represent a confrontational if disruptive demand to hold government accountable for the denial or dallying of their roles in practices shown to disrupt climate stability. Greenpeace, NRDC, and countless other environmental and humanitarian Read More
After an especially dark and internal winter, the light of new creativity and power have been welling up from within those murky depths, the looming horizon becomes present, the Phoenix rises – it must be spring! Here’s a graphic to honour the phenomenon.
Everything you and your mum need to know about the new distributed currency and the decentralised information revolution – how and why to get onboard, in a nutshell. Bitcoin was born out of an extraordinary innovation to resolve the loss of faith in, and the failings of central banks, sovereign states and governments, after the economic collapse of 2008 in particular. It does Read More
I had forgotten how completely and utterly fucking nuts India is. It’s so scuzzy and chaotic you still can’t believe it. But vibrant, colourful and exotic like nowhere else. Hop on your moped and into the foray and it’s adrenalin carnival all the way…
an ode to sex, desire, rebellion and fallen women Found this artwork in centre camp at burning man a few years ago (tracked down the artist through the playa vine for attribution) then stumbled across this poem and thought… they belong together! Autobiography of Eve by Ansel Elkins Wearing nothing but snakeskin boots, I blazed Read More
reflections after watching the haunting film of the same name.
Just as an individual person dreams fantastic happenings to release the inner forces which cannot be encompassed by ordinary events, so too a city needs its dreams. A Pattern Language is the seminal (1977) work of architect Christopher Alexander et al. describing a functional system to meet humanistic needs in the design of buildings, the Read More
On his way back to Earth, having just walked on the moon, Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell experienced a radical transformation in perspective and thus consciousness. As he approached our planet from beyond it’s sphere of influence, “he was filled with an inner conviction as certain as any mathematical equation he’d ever solved. He knew Read More
This morning, through the twilight, the sound of lovemaking enters me through the open window – such an arousing, hauntingly beautiful sound – a sound that could heal the world. Strange though… whenever this ardent song strays on the breeze, it’s only ever that of the woman I hear, never the man lost in his own rapture. Read More
No one can be certain the body is not a plant created by the earth to give a name to its desires – Lucien Becker
“A helping Hand-book for victims of Follies of Youth” A numinous gem found in the library of the Maha Mantra Meditation Hall – a Hare Krishna temple in Penang, Malaysia, where I stayed for a brief spell back in 1990. At that time, this was a marvellous place to meet wild, free spirited travellers looking Read More
As a moon struck writer and mad surfer of consciousness, it surprised me how insightful and self reflective a tool okcupid turns out to be! An intelligent and compelling, new(ish) paradigm of social networking for potential lovers, whether casual shag or serious spouse! We’re all looking for a potential mate at times and I have Read More
Dulce et decorem est pro patria mori. Oh yeah – that Hallmark holiday where we pay lip service to the duped warriors of the nation sent out as fodder to feed the military industrial complex and protect corporate interests at large (America – global arms dealer #1, America – consumer of oil #1, hmmm) Yet Read More
After a meteorologically and sociologically intense week working at the airport, helping to build out the framework of the city before the event “begins,” the collective switch is thrown that last Sunday of August, and the living beauty emerges, fleshing out the body of Black Rock City like a complex luminescent bloom on some other worldly plane. The Read More
My new Naturopathic doctor said “Dude!” as she rolled up her sleeves, “your Testosterone, T3 and Dhea levels are way lo-ow – ya need ta eat more meat boy,” and then she spat a splooge of tobacco juice into a can by her desk with a pth-twang and eyed me all, like, this is America Read More
I have a clear visual dropping down over Kris silently, head down, fins up, gyrating through the vast body of blue light in a cool calculated descent, until facing the hapless officer upside down and presenting her with the instrument of her elimination, while still below us, the great reef wall reaches off into the Read More
From the Alchemist’s Kitchen To be eaten naked in order to get a tan whilst breakfasting in the hills. This multi-tasking is favourable for making family back in bleakest midwinter England jealous
Photo album at FB: Amazon to Andes … descending over the Amazonas, vistas of jungle, thatched roof, thin pillars of smoke, winding muddy river through low cotton cloud… we land, dismounting steel, into a welcome wave of humid heat, across hot tarmac, through tin pot airport, 3 wheel moto-taxi driver hustle and away, tearing like Read More