Thanks Caroline for wonderful writing! Bringing me back to the best parts of the pilgrimage to Glasgow I took part in 2021. Some of the most wonderful days were when we walked along the sea in Northumberland, perhaps especially between The Holy Island of Lindisfarne up towards Edinburgh. I get inspired to write about it when I read your text / Nicklas
Beautiful.....you evoke the raw elements and subtle energies embedded in the planetary gnosis ... and the gentle Jonathan at Clearwell, from whom I ordered some ochres for my wife here in Canada, whose ancestors were also freeminers . My own ancestors left flint tools in the soils of my grandfather”s farm for us to discover a few thousand years later in a place now called Denmark. So this revelation of flint’s origins is mind blowing. What then obsidian? Dragons blood? I once encountered a translation of jade as dragons sperm- unverified, but sufficiently compelling to never question otherwise. Thanks for this invitation to get back outside to interface with the genius loci, as often as possible- but never often enough
Yes! I only just returned from there again a few hours ago, knowing I had been sleeping on rubble, walking down steps that are the remaining edges of what houses my (now conniving) government, 120 miles north east in Whitehall. So much removal; everything lugged and forced from here to there - stones, goods, migrant people, thrust onto ships with little thought for what their absence will let rush in. What fills the gap? Sometimes tiny herbs, valerian, tourists. But other times anger, mistrust, collapse. Half a lifetime of T'ai Chi, and a lifetime of life-drawing, has meant I spend a large amount of time looking for what's not there, perceiving yin, finding spaces in my pushing hands partner's awareness, or when drawing, studying the shapes of negative spaces, outlining them, and using them to give form to what is. Absence says as much about form as presence. Greetings to you from here.
Indeed! With the tai chi space just quietly reminding us to rest in this space and just become aware of the subtle, vast emptiness between present and absent
Peco, thank you. But also, please feel free to speak here whenever you are moved to. It is no small new joy for me to have found a welcoming rookery here on Substack, where we can flap our wings and call to each other over the tree tops sometimes.
Slartibartfast's link isn't working. Is he still pining for fjords?
Will look and fix once home!
Now fixed. Was in the actual cove mentioned in the piece, hence no signal. Bliss.
'...it became clear that the best postures for a human to meet the land are walking, externally, and wonder, inwardly': yes!
Thanks Caroline for wonderful writing! Bringing me back to the best parts of the pilgrimage to Glasgow I took part in 2021. Some of the most wonderful days were when we walked along the sea in Northumberland, perhaps especially between The Holy Island of Lindisfarne up towards Edinburgh. I get inspired to write about it when I read your text / Nicklas
I love that part of coast but have only seen it from the train many times. I would love to walk there one day with my sister.
Thanks for the mention!
Was a great piece.
Beautiful.....you evoke the raw elements and subtle energies embedded in the planetary gnosis ... and the gentle Jonathan at Clearwell, from whom I ordered some ochres for my wife here in Canada, whose ancestors were also freeminers . My own ancestors left flint tools in the soils of my grandfather”s farm for us to discover a few thousand years later in a place now called Denmark. So this revelation of flint’s origins is mind blowing. What then obsidian? Dragons blood? I once encountered a translation of jade as dragons sperm- unverified, but sufficiently compelling to never question otherwise. Thanks for this invitation to get back outside to interface with the genius loci, as often as possible- but never often enough
Today’s gift is a new perception
‘…a fecund absence...’
The building blocks of life. That absence is there in all and everything.
A different lens to view the world can be so suddenly and disturbingly exciting! Thank you
Yes! I only just returned from there again a few hours ago, knowing I had been sleeping on rubble, walking down steps that are the remaining edges of what houses my (now conniving) government, 120 miles north east in Whitehall. So much removal; everything lugged and forced from here to there - stones, goods, migrant people, thrust onto ships with little thought for what their absence will let rush in. What fills the gap? Sometimes tiny herbs, valerian, tourists. But other times anger, mistrust, collapse. Half a lifetime of T'ai Chi, and a lifetime of life-drawing, has meant I spend a large amount of time looking for what's not there, perceiving yin, finding spaces in my pushing hands partner's awareness, or when drawing, studying the shapes of negative spaces, outlining them, and using them to give form to what is. Absence says as much about form as presence. Greetings to you from here.
Indeed! With the tai chi space just quietly reminding us to rest in this space and just become aware of the subtle, vast emptiness between present and absent
I wish I could say something, but the writing is beautiful and I would only be interfering.
Peco, thank you. But also, please feel free to speak here whenever you are moved to. It is no small new joy for me to have found a welcoming rookery here on Substack, where we can flap our wings and call to each other over the tree tops sometimes.
Beautiful. I can imagine I've heard you read it even when I don't click the play button.
Hey Dan, true! But you can still click away...
Yes, and it is a very good gift. Thank you!
Been hiding away a bit re online life apart from here, as you'll have noticed. Good luck with the 30/30, I miss it!