Photograph by Maxine Pennington
Wanderers Of The Desert, Nacer Khemir
I desire to be surrounded by nature, to see the sunset every night, the moon rise, the stars and the milky way, walk at dusk and wake up at dawn. Look out into the horizon and be aware of the vastness of this planet and the whole universe. To be surrounded by animals, plants, water and all their sounds. Feel the sun caress my skin and talk to the trees. To simply be in Gaia’s essence connected to all her elements.
Cut a chrysalis open, and you will find a rotting caterpillar. What you will never find is that mythical creature, half caterpillar, half butterfly, a fit emblem of the human soul, for those whose cast of mind leads them to seek such emblems. No, the process of transformation consists almost entirely of decay." But the butterfly is so fit an emblem of the human soul that its name in Greek is psyche, the word for soul. We have not much language to appreciate this phase of decay, this withdrawal, this era of ending that must precede beginning. Nor of the violence of the metamorphosis, which is often spoken of as though it were as graceful as a flower blooming.
Perfect Days,
Wim Wenders
By her changing face we measure time and it is the Moon who watches over the arrival of children here on Earth. Let us gather our thanks for Grandmother Moon together in a pile, layer upon layer of gratitude, and then joyfully fling that pile of thanks high into the night sky that she will know. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our Grandmother, the Moon.
We give thanks to the Stars who are spread across the sky like jewelry. We see them at night, helping the Moon to light the darkness and bringing dew to the gardens and growing things. When we travel at night, they guide us home. With our minds gathered as one, we send greetings and thanks to all the Stars. Now our minds are one.
Photograph by Maxine Pennington
Solange Knowles, When I Get Home
All that you touch
You Change.
All that you Change
Changes you.
The Only lasting truth
Is Change.
God
Is Change.
Octavia E. Butler
Laurie Anderson on The Power of Art
Bijoy Jain,
Studio Mumbai
"Silence has a sound, it may be quiet, but we do hear it within ourselves; that is the sound of our breathing. It is synchronous in all of us. Silence, time, and space are eternal, as are water, air, and light, our elemental constructs. This abundance of sensory phenomena, dreams, memory, imagination, emotions, and intuition, stem from this pool of experiences, embedded in the corners of our eyes, in the soles of our feet, in the lobes of our ear, in the timbre of our voices, in the whisper of our breath, and in the palm of our hand."
Give you the world if it was mine
Blow you right to my door
Feels fine
Feels like
You're mine
Feels right
So fine
I'm yours
You're mine
Like paradise
I'd give you the world if it was mine
Feels fine
Feels like
You're mine
I'm yours
So fine
Like paradise
I'd wash the sand off the shore
Give you the world if it was mine
Blow you right to my door
Feels fine
Feels like
You're mine
Feels right
So fine
I'm yours
You're mine
Like paradise
Ooh, what a life
Ooh, what a life
Ooh, what a life
Ooh, what a life
I wanna share my life
Wanna share my life with you
Wanna share my life
I wanna share my life
Wanna share my life with you
Wanna share my life
I wanna share my life
Wanna share my life with you
(Ooh, what a life)
Wanna share my life
Wanna share my life with you
(Like paradise)
Wanna share my life
Wanna share my life with you
Wanna share my life
Wanna share my life with you
“It is my belief that the present state of restlessness that traps the modern individual has its roots in a dysfunctional relationship with the ances-tors. In many non-Western cultures, the ancestors have an intimate and absolutely vital connection with the world of the living. They are always available to guide, to teach, and to nurture. They represent one of the pathways between the knowledge of this world and the next. Most impor-tantly—and paradoxically-they embody the guidelines for successful living—all that is most valuable about life. Unless the relationship between the living and the dead is in balance, chaos results. When a person from my culture looks at the descendants of the Westerners who invaded their culture, they see a people who are ashamed of their ancestors because they were killers and marauders masquerading as artisans of progress. The fact that these people have a sick culture comes as no surprise to them.”
oletha imvula uletha ukuphila,
Sumayya Vally
“They who brings rain, brings life” IsiZulu proverb
“Wielding the comings of rain is a tradition practiced by cultures across geographies. To possess the power to command rainfall is by inference possessing the power to dictate the flow of the natural cycle and climatic conditions. Across Southern Africa, rain-making rituals are directed towards royal ancestors because they were believed to have control over rain and other natural phenomena. One of these is the Moroka of the Pedi tribe in South Africa. Here, a series of fired and unfired clay vessels are assembled as a temporal space to hold gatherings. Over the course of DAS, a series of performances which draw on the traditions of rain-making and harvest are performed in the space where the hands that formed the pots also work to un-form them. The rituals include the use of water, which allows the un-fired pots to dissolve over time, revealing areas and niches of gathering contained by the pots, as well as rhythmic drumming that evokes the sound of thunder at the end of each day.”
“Wielding the comings of rain is a tradition practiced by cultures across geographies. To possess the power to command rainfall is by inference possessing the power to dictate the flow of the natural cycle and climatic conditions. Across Southern Africa, rain-making rituals are directed towards royal ancestors because they were believed to have control over rain and other natural phenomena. One of these is the Moroka of the Pedi tribe in South Africa. Here, a series of fired and unfired clay vessels are assembled as a temporal space to hold gatherings. Over the course of DAS, a series of performances which draw on the traditions of rain-making and harvest are performed in the space where the hands that formed the pots also work to un-form them. The rituals include the use of water, which allows the un-fired pots to dissolve over time, revealing areas and niches of gathering contained by the pots, as well as rhythmic drumming that evokes the sound of thunder at the end of each day.”
Heremakono, Abderrahmane Sissako
“All colonized peoples have been victims of cultural aggression, as the colonizers attempt to impose their own cultures, presented as superior to indigenous cultures, which are deemed primitive or deviant by the colonizers’ standards. This is the “civilizing mission” that the Europeans called upon to impose domination over their African colonies. Rwanda did not escape this cultural agression that, in addition to Christianization, was marked by a racial interpretation of the country’s social and political structure. This is, many decades later, what resulted in the Tutsi genocide of 1994.”
A Book of My Own,
Scholastique Mukasonga
Mafruha Ahmed & Worms Magazine
“Hey, I'm in the motions of writing a recipe book but in the process, I would love your feedback. I wanted to create a small mailing list where I can share recipes with you twice a month for 6 months. What I would love is images - the good, the bad, the ugly..Other things: if you changed the recipes; if you liked/disliked it; if you had company; if you were listening to music et...
I hope to create a zine to go alongside the book including your images, anecdotes, thoughts & ideas on the recipes shared..
Maf x”