Damanhur

The New Renessance

Simon Posford
Syntheisaia

Rebecca Hoffberger
American Museum
of Visionary Art

Keith Critchlow
Sacred Architechture

Ralph Dorazio
An Artist’s Life

Alex Stark • Crystal and Spore •Kelly Hunter

Megen Lee • Thomas Morgan • Alexander Krivosheiw
Vibrata Chromodoris • Zena Grey
Photo of the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors by Dean Chamberlain

Since the last issue
of CoSM Journal of Visionary Damanhur
Culture, The Chapel of Sacred The Temples Of Human Kind
Mirrors (CoSM) opened in
New York City. For us it’s been pg 6-8
an experience of creative commu-
nity and artitstic exploration you
could say it’s been a rush. A Sacred
Geometry workshop, the Dieties and
David Best Simon Posford
Demons Masquerade Party, A Night of The Sacred Burn Syntheisaia
Mythic Revelry, The Ecstatic Aesthetic, and pg 28-30 pg 16-18
four full-moons.
In November, Eli, Marisa, Alex and Allyson
went to visit the intentional community of Damanhur, near Turin, Italy, where Rebecca Hoffberger
exquisite Temples have been cooperatively built inside a mountain. With the
generous sponsorship of the Grace Foundation, CoSM is publishing a beautiful American Museum of Ralph Dorazio
picture book about Damanhur. Beginning an exchange with this Italian commu- Visionary Art An Artist Life
nity, CoSM will also host a weekend of Damanhurian wisdom, brought to us pg 12-14 pg 9-10
by Esperides Ananas in mid April. The CoSM Community would like to make
a pilgrimage to the Temples in the coming year. This issue of CoSM Journal
features images and the essential story of Damanhur.
“Twelve Criterion of Sacred Architecture” is an offering by the
Keith Critchtlow
brilliant architect and living guru of Sacred Geometry, Keith Critchlow. Keith
Twelve Criterion of Sacred Architecture
has been consulting with CoSM about the design for the permanent home of the pg 21-24
Chapel of Sacred Mirrors. Keith considers himself an integral architect, some-
one who has studied the formal proportions and harmonics of architecture from
multiple wisdom traditions.
The Temples of David Best always burn on the Sunday before Labor Zena Grey pg 20 Tom Morgan pg 15
Day. This occurs at the festival of Burning Man in Black Rock Desert, Nevada,
where 30,000 people gather to celebrate creativity and community in one of CoSM Gallery
the world’s harshest environments. CoSM Journal dedicates an article to the Vibrata Chromodoris and Alex Krivosheiw
profound work of David Best. pg 45-48
The power of Rebecca Hoffberger’s imagination and the strength of
her will manifested a mecca for visionary art. For an artist like Ralph Dorazio,
the studio was a sacred space in which you carve your dreams. Simon Posford
Crystal and Spore
designs and constructs soundscapes that confer their own psychedelic splendor to Designing Language
the receiver’s ears. In this issue, CoSM Journal covers the architects and space pg 35-36
shapers that mirror the soul.

Alex Stark Kelly Hunter

Alex and Allyson send our deepest love and pg 38-40 Geomancer Star Gazer pg 33-34
gratitude to you for your support of CoSM.
We look forward to seeing you in the Chapel. Megen Lee
Texsitle Exsistance
pg 25-26
Photo Gallery
p.3
pg 43-44 p.4
 Published by
Cosm Press

Chief Editors:
­­DAMANHUR In the foothills of the Alpine
mountains, on a warm August night
over 27 years ago, a circle of Italians sat
Alex Grey, Allyson Grey around a campfire. Gazing at the many
Creative Directors,
constellations in the night sky, they witnessed a meteor passing long and slow,
Graphic Design, leaving a trail of stardust in its wake. Falco, a star gazer, artist, and visionary, took this
Production as the sign. The moment was right to begin digging a tunnel into the mountain behind
Eli Morgan, Marisa Scirocco them, to build a new universal temple dedicated to the flowering soul of humanity.
Advertising:
Marisa Scirocco

Contributing Contributing Writers:

Artists: Keith Critchlow
Dean Chamberlain Alex Stark
Alex Grey Zena Grey
Allyson Grey Kelley Hunter
David Best Tom Morgan
Ralph Dorazio Sijay James­
Vibrata Chromodoris Alex Grey
Alex Krivosheiw Allyson Grey
Eli Morgan Eli Morgan
Marisa Scirocco Esperide Ananas
Dan Adams Criag Ingutti
Lynzee Dava Mahalia Pugach
Sijay James Delvin Solkinson
Damanhur
CoSM Press
Web Master: 530 W. 27th Street,
Peter Terezakis Fourth Floor
­­­­ New York, NY 10001
Mac Technical Director
Eli Blaine Website: www.cosm.org
Email: journal@cosm.org

Cover Art: The Hall of Earth, Temple of Humankind, Damanhur

Back Cover : David Best http://davidbesttemples.org

CoSM Journal, published by the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, provides

a forum for the emergence of Visionary Culture. CoSM Journal
shares with it’s readers the work and stories of artists, thinkers, and
community builders who are dedicated to transformative living, and
committed to the integration of wisdom and the arts. CoSM Journal is
offered to inform, connect, and inspire this evolving global awareness.

The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (CoSM), located at 540 W. 27th St., 4th
floor, is a sanctuary in New York City for contemplation and a center
for events encouraging the creative spirit. The Sacred Mirrors, on
display in the Chapel, are a series of paintings that allow us to see
ourselves and each other as reflections of the divine. CoSM
provides a public exhibition of the Sacred Mirrors and the most
outstanding works of mystical art by Alex Grey. The Chapel of
Sacred Mirrors is a 501(c)(3) organization, supported solely by
charitable donations from the community. If you would like to
make a contribution to the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors,
please send checks to 725 Union Street, Broolyn, NY 11215,
or make donations on-line at www.cosm.org.

­­­­
Hall of Mirrors, Temple of HumanKind
 Using picks, shovels, buckets and wheel barrows the intrepid band dug
with great fervor all night. In the morning a fresh team came to commence the
digging. Groups of people worked continual four-hour shifts for the first fifteen
days with only hand tools. Enthusiasm strengthened their union and friendship
as they considering their dig inside the mountain to be synonymous with
digging inside the self. On the full moon, workers leaving the dig would lay on
the ground behind the house and gaze at the stars, experiencing contact with the
universe through Mother Earth. The secrecy of this excavation was maintained for
the first sixteen years of building, when the local Italian government discovered the
magnificent underground Temples and the extraordinary intentional community
that had formed around them -- the community called Damanhur.
Damanhur, Egyptian for “City of Light”, is a federation of
communities with its own unique social and political structure, its own
Constitution, its own currency, over 50 businesses and services, its own
daily paper, its own schools, and a University open to researchers
of all ages from all over the world. Every year thousands come
to Damanhur to study and to meditate in the magnificent In April ‘05, CoSM will host an evening program and
underground Temples of Humankind. The Temples are day-long workshop presented by Esperide. Look for details for this
richly ornamented with stained glass windows and domes, and all CoSM programs in the events section of www.cosm.org.
pictorial mosaic tile floors, elaborate hand painted For more information on Damanhur, visit www.Damanhur.org
murals, and intricately carved pillars and architectural
elements. The digging, the building, the artwork
continues and Damanhurians believe only one tenth of
their work is completed.
Through extensive investigation and energy
experimentation, Falco rediscovered Selfica, an ancient
science based on a basic forms of the universe: the spi-
ral. Knowledge of Selfica originates with the Egyptians,
the Celts and the Arabs who utilized it until the 8th
century B.C. Damanhurians teach that tapping into the
extraordinary intelligent energies of “Selfica” leads the
seeker on an inner voyage beyond normal limits, guided
with sweetness and humor by selfic beings. Selfica is a disci-
pline which allows the concentration and direction of vital and
intelligent energies not ordinarily available to the human experi-
ence. Through the mastery of “Selfica”, trained Damanhurians can
create devices which interact with human beings in an extraordinary
manner. Damanhurians attest that recipients of “Selfic” energy can expand
perception, enhance healing and psychic ability. The Temple of Humankind at
Damanhur is considered to be the largest selfic device on our planet.
Esperide Ananas, M.A., a native Italian with a degree from
New York University, has been a member of the Damanhur community since
1992. In 1993 she graduated from Damanhur’s School for Spiritual Healers. Esperide
now travels the world representing the work and world of Damanhur. She expert-
ly leads seminars on healing, sensory reawakening, past lives research, and the
Damanhurian investigations into Atlantis and other ancient civilizations.
p.7

Seamless forms, sculpture that
carves away all but the essence of
shape and subject. Using wood
from around the world, Ralph
Dorazio created sculpture with
an almost liquid appearance.
For 50 years, Dorazio constantly
produced art in the Manhattan loft
where he lived. Dorazio’s artistry
in wood led to a collaboration with
sculptor and architect, Frederick
Kiesler, and later to design sets
and properties for the Erick Hawkins
Dance Company. Teaching part time
at Pratt Institute and other schools,
Ralph, like so many dedicated art-
ists, never worked a full-time job.
Everyday was devoted to sculpture.
“You need time to create. As an artist, you
can choose money or time. I chose time.”
Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1922,
Dorazio’s father, his grandfather and uncle were
all stonecutters and masons from Abruzzi, Italy
where most of the men from their small town were
artisans who worked with stone. Fascinated by
the art & architecture of ancient civilizations,
Ralph’s first love was history, the subject for
which he received a Bachelor‚s degree from Wayne University. When America
entered World War II, Dorazio enlisted in the Navy, serving in the Pacific. Never
having seen the ocean before, he
recalled the full-moon on the open water as one of the most beautiful experiences of
his life. After the war, he returned to Detroit to embark on his chosen career in journalism.
After six months working for the United Press he resigned to move to New York City
and begin art school. Studying many mediums, he found his passion sculpting wood.
A devoted husband for 40 years, Dorazio had no children but sculpted
wooden toys for his nephew, Eli Morgan, who grew up proud to have a real working
artist in the family. Dorazio taught 3D design and sculpture to private students at a
small Upper West Side art school, and influenced young artists until his final days. Ralph
Dorazio died on the full moon in November of 2004 at the age of 83. While being treated for
the illness that would take his life, he continued sculpting in his hospital room.
Ralph Dorazio was a real artist.

p.9
In loving Memory of Ralp Dorazio 1922-2004
 Rebecca Hoffberger is the
founder, developer and full-time director of the American
Visionary Art Museum (A.V.A.M.) in Baltimore. In 1995,
she turned a 35,000 square foot warehouse into one of the
most talked about art venues in the country. The museum
features art which “arises from an innate personal vision that
reveals foremost in the creative act itself,”. A.V.A.M. the reali-
zation of Rebecca’s vision, was designated a national museum by
Congress, and it won the Urban Land Institute’s highest award for
architectural design. Hoffberger takes no salary and is not an artist herself, but
her gift of persuasion has raised well over $10 million from donors. Rebecca’s championship
of visionary art, regarded as one of the last uncharted fields for contemporary dealers and
collectors, has resulted in an upsurge in popularity and support for the genre.
(www.avam.org).

Alex Grey: You’ve created a center that is a beacon of vision for seeing beyond
the shadows which normally cloud our vision.

Rebecca Hoffberger: Human beings are hard wired for transcendent experience.
This museum intends to bring that possiblity into a grass roots audience.

AG: This museum invites people to consider their own creative spirit.
What do you look for in a work of art?

RH: I loathe contemporary art that is egoic, witty and self-adulating. I like art that
creates acts of social justice -- subversive in the loveliest sense of the word and true per-
formance art. I love a quote by Dorothea Day, of the Catholic Worker: “All our prob-
lems stem from our acceptance of this dirty rotten system”. We ask art to astonish us
and make life more beautiful. I look for artists who are proficient craftsmen, work with
incredible detail and wonderful style, that is not full of anger and diabolic imagery.

AG: Why do you create shows based on themes rather than personalities?

RH: It’s because I don’t want to treat human beings and their art as objects, even
though we practice the best care and presentation of the art objects. I pick themes
that foster creative thought and expression, big themes that have bedeviled or inspired
humankind…The lives of artists are very important to viewers. Most museums avoid
explanation, but many people may not recognize the painting “Starry Night” but they
know the story of how Van Gogh cut off his ear for a woman.

AG: The theme shows postulate the reemergence of content over form in art.

RH: There’s nothing more beautiful than a crystal or biological form under high magnifica-
tion. But when museums worship objects they defy the true reason that museums came

p.12
 into being -- to be places of wonder that reveal wonders from the hand of
“man” -- the rare, the exotic, the new, not mauseliums, repositories for dead
objects.All the shows at American Visionary Art Museum last for one year.
We opened with “The Tree of Life” --- the art of forest rangers and hermits,
and the
misuse of trees. The tree of life is a shared symbol in so many cultures. Even
shamans of the Russian tundra, where no trees exist in the environment,
have the tree of life as their central symbol.The next theme was “Wind In
My Hair”. In all the ancient languages the word for “wind”, “breath” and
“spirit” were the same word. All breaths are
twinned -- inspiration with expiration -- except for the first breath which is
pared with the last one. After years of planning, our “War and Peace” show
opened a week after 9/11. What a coincidence that was. Your “Cosmic Christ”
was probably the most popular entry in the exhibition. We often found people
sitting in front of it and meditated. Your work was included in the show “Love:
Error and Eros”. We gave part of our proceeds of that show to the “House of
Ruth” the battered women’s shelter. Most rapes, abuse and murders occur
from people who once said “I Love You”. We did the addiction show, “High
on Life: Transcending Addiction”. Baltimore has one of the highest rate of
heroine addiction. We wanted to remove the statistics and address what
it means to be human and addicted. It’s a myth that addiction is a contem-
porary urban thing. Many of the worst abusers are wealthy suburbanites,
yet there’s tremendous discrepancy in the way the law treats addicts.The
last show was called “Golden Blessings of Old Age: Out of the Mouths
of Babes”, showing the work of the elderly and some art of the very young,
as well. The current show is called “Holy H2O: The Fluid Universe”. The
ancient Romans destroyed themselves because of the lead in their pipes.
The water in Washington D.C. is dangerously full of lead. This exhibition is
about the spiritual and the playful aspects of water, too. Mermaids, snow, ice,
tears, and our bodies made mostly of water. Next year’s show will be “Race,
Class and Gender: The Three Things That Contribute Zero to Character”.
We’re going to have a “Race Machine” that allows people to see themselves
reflected as other races.
AG: That’s by the artist Nancy Burson, a good friend of ours.
RH: In 2007 we’ll have a show about housing that might be called “Best
Nest: Low Income Housing”. We’ll have all kinds of micro and macro
shelters. The artist, Hunterwasser, designed beautiful, colorful housing
for less money and protested ugly and uncreative housing for the poor.
The show after that will be called “All Faiths Beautiful: From Atheism to
Zorastrianism; Respect for Diversity of Beliefs”. It will show the beauty
of religions and edit out the supercessional aspects. In 2009 we’re planning
“The Marriage of Art, Science, and Philosophy”. Some of the greatest
artists have also been scientists. The show is dedicated to Abel Wahlman
who saved many lives by bringing the water system to Baltimore and later
to Israel and Egypt.
In 2011/2, the end of the Mayan calendar, the show will be “Cycles, Wheel
and Spirals: The Roll of History, Karma, and All Things Round”. We are
p.13 all so attracted to the aesthetic of the curve.
AG: The whole notion of “Outsider Art” seems wrong to me. Art at A.V.A.M.
comes from an inner calling, whereas most of contemporary art takes exoginous
influences and manipulates material to be in tune with art historical imperatives
outside of the heart.
RH: I love your art, Alex, because there is never any meanness in it. Even when
you show the degradation of the environment in “Gaia”, or the horror of the
“Nuclear Crucifixion”, the work is imbued with love and caring. The divinity
of what it means to be alive is so awake in all your work. The “Sacred Mirrors”
peel away the outside of our image and get down to the essence of what we truly
are – sacred. I have three copies of Mission of Art. In my slide talk called “True
Vision” I include artists like George Fox, originator of Quakerism, Emmanual
Swedenbourg, one of the greatest minds of his time, Reverend Howard
Finster, your work, Alex, Hunterwasser and William Blake, all of whom used
nudity, not to shock, but to get down to another layer.
AG: ... baring the soul and naked before God.
RH: George Fox preached in Nordic towns stark naked and the phrase
“crazy as a fox” referred to him. St. Francis was also said to have preached
naked as did William Blake with his wife, who received guests naked, as in
the Garden of Eden. In the “True Vision” slide show, I end with your work
showing the nakedness that is unachievable beyond the body. Yes, any force
can do that with the right intention. Art that affirms a mechanistic, materi-
alistic view is very dangerous.
AG: So, you think there is such a thing as toxic art?
RH: Yes, but I would show “toxic” art as long as the bio next to it described
the life of the artist and why the work was toxic.
AG: By contextualizing it, the toxic is transformed into a study. Studying pathol-
ogy we can understand and heal it. The artists bios explain how the artist was led
to create the work.
RH: We never try to explain a work of art in “art speak”. The judgments we
make separate us from others. According to Jewish teaching, after the Messiah
comes, you wouldn’t be able to distinguish a evil person from a good person.
AG: A sanctuary like The American Visionary Art Museum can stand for
“the
still small voice” of conscience mounting controversial exhibitions that allow
us to reflect on where the human race has gone wrong and what is left to
celebrate.
www.avam.org
p.14
Not of Our Time
Quiet as the flight of an owl
My fate is settling in
To this evening land
Where friendships are old
And not of our time
The glide of an owlet’s wing
May be touched and not felt
From inside out of the unheard flap
The grail of night may be felt and not touched
Hazak, hazak, strengthen thyself
For another Winter’s brood
Of deaths and daggers through the collar bone
thomasgmorgan.com
The poetry of
Tom Morgan
A fine steeple may pierce
The ribs of Christ tonight
And spare his broken people
From defeating themselves
Such a spear for time
Might work beyond election
Cycle of Fenians for monk and warrior poet
A Christian talisman, moonlighting a way out of
And not of our time.
Here’s to Winter
Here’s to Winter, came the toast
A globlet of blood, upon sands in the throat
Murderous, with fast new cars for eyes
We fly at the hazardous season
A carved wood may chair my sight
Through blasphemous gloom and terror’s flight
Hazak, hazak, another year
Here’s to winter, and to hell with fear.
Have you ever been shpongled? Of the countless electronic music acts hot on
the international trance-dance scene, Shpongle stands out as true innovators.
Known for his experimentally adventurous studio techniques, Simon Posford has
established a reputation with the psychedelic projects, Hallucinogen, and Shpongle.
After a recent live performance at Spirit New York, Alex Grey had the pleasure
of interviewing this modern digital maestro about his ability to permeate beautiful
music with hauntingly, bizarresoundscapes.
AVG: We’ve enjoyed Shpongle for many years and wondered about the man behind it.
What are the conditions under which your music is composed? Do you hear sounds
in your head first, or do you experiment, hear the sound, and then recognize it?
A bit of both, really. But we’ll always start with an idea of what
we want to achieve.
AVG: How does that come to you -- as a feeling -- a sound -- a vision?
SP: Inspiration come from everything one experiences in life. Working on new
music we always have an idea we want to achieve that comes to us visually.
Before we start doing anything with the computers, Raja Ram and I sit down
and talk very visually. One vision that comes to mind is a lake, shimmering
in the sky and we try to make a sonic equivalent of that. We also have a
journey image on the first album where we’re going through rock pools and
hear dripping sounds. Then there’s sunlight reflecting off the pools and a
beautiful rainforest. You go under a waterfall and stand under it and feel
the raw power of the water all around you and then go under the waterfall.
On the other side is a cave with colorful stalagmites and stalactites - a
kind of psychedelic cave.
AVG: You’re the only musician I’ve ever heard describe a visionary prelude
to creating music. I can imagine Beethoven walking through and experiencing
the storm before creating the “Pastoral” or Schubert’s “The Trout”. I don’t
remember a contemporary musician describe visuals as a point of departure.
SP: If you talk about a musical track using language, you’re really never
going to get close to making the best music. I mean you can say things
like, “we want it to be full-on with lots of drums”. But listening to a
tune is an emotional experience. To achieve an emotion, a closer way to get
there is to describe it as a visual image you can explore in your imagination..
AVG: I love the idea of the narrative in music. Vagner used it and Peter
Gabriel’s been known to use narrative as a metastructure. People experience
your music as entheogenic because of the depth layering, which is endless like a hall
of mirrors, infinite in all directions. I don’t know how the mixing of your music
works, but it seems like you have a lot of layers happening
simultaneously.
p.16
 SP: We do like to use a lot of sounds. We put aside a certain amount of
time to do a track and then just keep adding sounds as we like. Work in the
studio has to be very flexible... it’s a creative process. Sometimes you
come up with a sound, and then you have to let the sound take you where it’s
going to take you. More often than not, a tune has you hanging from the
coattails as it makes itself. Do you see the work in your mind before you start?
AVG: Yes, and it also evolves, like you were saying with your music.
You start with a crystallized vision. Then you come to an impass and it
seems to solve itself. Like a grunt, I’m working for a force that works
through me to make itself realized or perceptible. I think people are drawn to the con-
temporary sacred in your music. Last night, while you were playing at Spirit New
York, a video showed endless clips of sacred dance from all over the world. It was
exciting to see an interfaith perspective as well as street dancing -- universal dance
which was inspiring. How does the element of spirituality relate to your work?
SP: The video was made for us with very little input on our side. Music can be a
spiritual and tribal experience, but we don’t force that. Spirituality may be the effect
rather than a cause. I don’t think you can make music spiritual. People connect to
things that are universal, though, taking one back to their roots. I do believe that we
are all one and music can return you to the source.
AVG: I’m interested in a non-specific contemporary sacred art that’s not a
dogmatic adherence to one tradition or another. In your music you bring in
the entire history of music. You can take a shamanic song and mix every
element of the sacred, mundane and profane making it a holistic approach.
This may not be conscious on your part.
SP: No, it isn’t really. Everything is accessible and you can dip into any pool of con-
sciousness and experience from around the world, using music from India or Brazil,
whatever we can find or what’s available.­
AVG: The music has a world centric sound…
SP: …rather than being tied to a certain genre.
AVG: The most utopian element about the trance scene is the international flavor
because the entire world is part of the movement.
SP: It is an international scene, for sure -- from Israel, to Europe, America,
Australia, Latin America, Japan...
AVG: Ecstasy has created an experience of
collective mind and bonding and
community that is inaccessible in any
other venue. Do you think that’s an
important element in the work and in
your relationship with the audience?
SP: I think so. The utopian aspect of
the scene draws a certain
character of people.
p.17
AVG: I like to call these substances “utopiates”. I wasn’t tripping at the
party that you DJ’ed the other night and had a vision of universal dance and
plasmatic bodies above that merging and becoming a stained glass mandala. I’d love
to paint that. What was your first instrumentvideo showed endless clips of sacred
dance from all over the world. It was exciting to see an interfaith perspective as
well as street dancing -- universal dance which was inspiring. How does the ele-
ment of spirituality relate to your work?
SP: Piano. I had a friend that was a child prodigy that I watched and taught myself.
My grandfather was a composer in the 40’s who wrote musicals that I can’t play
because I can’t read music.
AVG: I heard that Jimi Hendrix couldn’t read music either.
SP: Once my parents saw my potential and motivation they got me piano
lessons and that killed any passion I had for the instrument immediately. I
could learn to play a piece of music by watching and imitating so I’d ask
the teacher to play the piece of music I was to learn and I’d watch and
figure it out that way. I’d pretend, but I wouldn’t learn to read the
music. I continued to play music without the lessons and had a band at age
9 or 10 we called “Electric Light Failure”. Played in bands all through
high school and picked up a guitar, bass and drums.
AVG: It’s unusual for a DJ to be capable of playing so many instruments.
SP: I’m more of a musician than a DJ.
AVG: Have you seen Danny Gomez’s music video animation, “Flashback”?
[www.tripatourium.com: art, eyecandy]
SP: Yes. I knew nothing about it and someone sent me the link. I was
amazed with the flash animation – it’s on a new level, so psychedelic and
deep and rich – and it was my music! It fit really well.
AVG: With the album title “Hallucinogen”, you are embracing mind expanding
possibilities. The music is “entheo art”.
SP: DMT provided me with the most inspirational, life-changing, religious,
mystical experience I’ve ever had. It gave me a paradigm of the universethat
includes wisdom from Robert Anton Wilson, Terence McKenna, all religions, all
great teachers. I connected with the essence, the Tao of the universe. You could do
yoga and meditation for a hundred years and maybe not get to the place you get to
with thirty seconds on a pipe. Meeting some kind of uber-consciousness or entity
during one DMT experience, I could see the thoughts from my brain as visual
hieroglyphic, holographicmulti-dimensional hallucination, flowing to this entity
that was getting off on them. I heard a little flurry
of flute from music that Raj had createdand
which I had to insist that he recreate in the
studio to use in a piece of music. I’ve only
done DMT three times in my life, but if
listening to the music could achieve the
same affect as a chemical hallucinogen it
would be a powerful thing and something
worth striving for.
p.18
 Everything
Everything is shades of gray
Is moving particles
Is rearrangements of the
fabric of time
A box of thin, chalky,
orange light seeps through
But not enough to kill the dimness
As I look down at myself
All I see are rolling mountains of
light and dark
As I look ahead of myself
All I see is the bullet piercing the hand
As I look to the side of myself
All I see is…everything
Is patches of ephemeral reflecting light
www.spiritfirefestival.org
Is pictures scrawled on the mirror by some
nameless individual
The coffin turns from orange to blue
And I’m watching the sun rise
Through a slight carving in the wall
A small prosthetic eye
Watching over my every motion
Awkwardly positioned on the longest of fingers
Boaring makeshift holes through you
The shadow of the bullet
Traces along the thin, black arm
As it nakedly approaches
Piercing the third eye
Enabling you to see again
Now you see.
Now you see everything.

skullcandy.com

1 p.20

One: As A Mesocosm
Mesocosmos is a sacred space where we contemplate our unity with the Creator. This
sacred space, which represents the paradigm of all time and space, be it called Shrine,
Temple, Synagogue, Cathedral, or Mosque, is intrinsically dedicated to the act of
contemplating ultimate reality. This sacred precinct is subject to universal laws and
is therefore a reflection of the cosmos. Thus we call it a Mesocosm, the link between
the macro and microcosmos.
Two: As an Anthropocosm
Anthropocosm is a concept describing how the parts of a sacred space are integrated
through proportion related to the human body. In the body, the limbs are for motil-
ity, poise and communication or movement in the world. The head, heart, and guts
function as symbolic triads such as thinking, feeling, and willing. Facts, values, and
execution are another triadic level of expression, while science, art, and technology are anoth-
er. The mind is drawn toward the ideal of Truth; the heart or our values are drawn
toward the ideal of Beauty; the guts or will is drawn to the ideal of the Good. Each
affinity gives rise to one of the triadic modes of approaching reality: skeptically in the
scientific mode, mystically in the artistic mode, and dogmatically as in the moral mode.
In the sacred space the ideals of the body may also express the spatial quality, the
design of the building, and the experience of the building itself. The Temple is the
body and the body is the Temple. Anthropocosm expresses appreciation of the essen-
tial human condition as archetype. The universe is a living being with soul and spirit, a traditional
doctrine that should not be misconstrued to imply the anthropomorphizing of the Creator.
Three: As the Intervals between One and Two
This is a musical analogy expressing the relation between unity and diversity. Music
teaches us basic ratios defining the principle of the octave within sound. A single note
recurs above or below in a sliding scale of sound in eight intervals, a universal law of
eightness – seven steps before repetition in the next octave. A chromatic scale has
been developed with thirteen steps, or twelve intervals before repetition in the next set.
The proportional intervals of sound, which we call tuning, are related to the progression
that characterizes the divisions between one, a point on the scale, and two, it’s octave
recurrence.These intervals are expressed in the acoustics of a sacred building as well as
in its symmetry and proportional ratios. Plato made analogy between the sacred space
and a musical instrument by implying that wholeness and harmony occur through
correct tuning. We speak of the attunement of mind and spirit, and the word
atonement makes reference to the relationship between harmonic music and the spirit.
Four: As Containing Its Own Soul
This refers to the analogy between the soul and the perfect sphere. Both as a
principle of unity and a model of the cosmos, the sphere represents the ultimate
undivided, undifferentiated whole. Each sacred building exists within its own
sphere, representing its metaphysical perfection and its physical limitation.
p.21
As space is to the soul of a sacred building, so the materials are to the body. The
sphere is the primary and essential form from which differentiation in a sacred building
take place. All solid figures are special cases of the sphere. There are five mathemati-
cally regular sold figures -- the Platonic solids. Plato drew analogy between the geo-
metric solids and the four states of matter/energy and the fifth as the ground of being or
heavenly whole -- the ether. The Cube represents the earth or physical plane; the
Icosahedron represents “water”, the emotional or rhythmic plane; the Octahedron as
“air” and the intellectual plane; the Tetrahedron as “fire” and the spiritual, inspira-
tion or intuitive plane; the Dodecahedron as the “ether” of the divine level and the
ontological state that unifies, embraces and permeates the other four planes. Space
thus defined becomes a crystalline, harmonic symbol of the psychic modes. Form in
the sacred space is founded on principles emerging from these archetypal forms all of
which relate to bodily proportions.
Five: As Reflecting the Steps of Jacob‚s Ladder Or The Stations of Wisdom
In all genuine traditions there is the recognition of the stations of wisdom in the scale
between Heaven (Unification) and Earth (differentiation and uniqueness). Jacob‚s
Ladder is such an image or icon arising out of the Abrahamic tradition of the Old
Testament. According to Kabalistic teaching, this image is based on a series of ten
stages and eleven intervals, with the ten sepheroth or spheres of light placed on a
central axis on a model which is called the „extended tree. This tree of knowledge
or gnosis as it is called, is a scheme upon which the ten interpenetrating levels of
subtlety of universal laws are demonstrated. These levels represent the stages of the
ascent of the soul to reintegration with its Creator, which may be described as a state of
complete unification. These stages are more or less explicit in the design of a sacred edifice.
Six: As Parts Relating to the Whole and to the Subtle Body
The parts of any building must relate to the whole of that building. The most profound
sacred edifices are expressions of the fulfillment and perfection of the art of building
and craftsmanship. The mark of all truly sacred and profound buildings is an integral
interdependency of part to whole, of design to execution, and of theory to practice.
In the Hindu tradition it is stated that the soul of both the donor and architect are
inseparably involved in the success of the final form. This involvement of the subtle
bodies of those responsible for the Temple are responsible for the success or failure
with regard to the Temple‚s form, linking pure principle with realization, relating the
subtle/psychological with the spiritual domain.
Seven: As the Heart of the Community
A hermit‚s humble cottage or cell is as profoundly a sacred space as a magnificent
cathedral. The sacredness and dedication to spiritual values of the hermit‚s hut is as
much the heart of the community spiritually as the major edifice of a cathedral that
serves as a visual center. The symbol of the heart is analogous to the sun as the cen-
ter of the solar system ˆ source of life and light. The divine liturgy delivered in the
cathedral and the meditation activities which realize divine presence within the daily
life of the hermit-monk are as vital to the community as any bodily nourishment.
p.22
The Platonic Christian term „perichoresis refers to the total permeation of all matter
by spirit much as blood permeates the body for nourishment. Likewise, sacred space
is designed to be as irresistible as possible to spiritual and intelligible presence, the
locational heart in the spatial sense and the central organ for the dispensation of grace
in the metaphysical sense.
Eight: As a Grace-Receiving Space
The word most appropriate for spiritual presence is grace. The grace-receiving space is
specifically designed to be a receptacle for receiving the blessing of spiritual presence.
Grace is a state of consciousness, understanding, or serenity that aligns one‚s life or the
communal life resulting in a more wholesome, enriched existence. The common factor
in describing grace is a life-enhancing positivity and sense of rightness and affirmation.
In the Hindu tradition, if the proportions of a sacred image or building are correct then
worship is permissible and most likely to be effective. Grace cannot be legislated, yet
canonic rules are common, like prayer formulae, which the perennial philosophy and the
lives of saints affirm to be effective.
Nine: As the Integrality of Permanence and Change in the Time Dimension
An understanding of time as the flowing image of eternity is fundamental to
understanding the way in which the outer form of a sacred building relates to its
inne essence. There have always been inner, intrinsic, and hidden rules that govern
consciously or transcendentally through number, geometry, harmony, and the laws of
cosmology. Architecture has been called frozen music, an analogy bringing out the
static mode of the principle of harmony in built form, in contradistinction to the
necessity of the time dimension for the expression of music. As music is to moving
time, architecture is to eternity. The center of sacred space is without dimension, as
the central moment of time is without duration. Style and cultural expression are the
outer manifestation of principles, laws and proportions that are timeless and styleless.
Ten: As Placing
As time is the flowing image of eternity, place is the unique expression of all
space. Each place is unique yet centrally answers to the three dimensions of all space.
To experience the significance of space as a sacred center, each person is encouraged
by the design of the sacred place to experience simultaneously the uniqueness of their
situation and the unifying significance of this place with all places. Each experiencer of
the sacred space becomes simultaneously central to his/her own ground of being and
potentially absorbed into a state of nondifferentiation. Each place within the sacred
area is a potential source of identification with the essence of the individual and the
creative principle. To be centrally placed gives one a balanced view of the conditions of
existence, hence the value of symmetry in the sacred edifice.
Eleven: As Canonic Proportion
The role of canons of proportion is to develop a state of being or a state of mind that
is poised between the principles of existence and existence itself. Entunement, atone-
ment, right action ˆ all describe this proportional thinking and action. Canons of
proportion are based on the perennial wisdom of sages who set out rules for conduct
that release the spirit and essentialize laws of cause and effect. Canonic law is based
on harmony, cosmology, number and geometry that act as a framework for the multitudinous
melodies of individuality to discover the common scales on which all melodies are based.
p.23
All of the senses by which we experience the physical world have canonic prescriptions
that transmute impressions into perception, perception into knowledge, and knowledge
into wisdom. Canonic prescription links the knower to the known, the participant
in knowledge to the principle of knowledge. Access to the significance of existence
requires an understanding of canonic law. The true meaning of tradition lies in this
knowledge of a core of truth that is „pulled through‰ history, placing the permanently
knowable in the midst of the ever changing.
Twelve: As That Wholeness Embodying the Highest Knowledge
Available to Be Carried Within the Form for Future Generations
A sacred edifice in the highest sense is a crystallization of the principles of the
civilization that it expresses. This means that the frozen melodies are available, so
to speak, to the conscious awareness of any receptive experiencer, regardless of time.
A magnificent cathedral is built as much for the single individual‚s enlightenment
as it is for the experience of the collective. The wholeness of the edifice or its decay,
mutilation, or remodeling has a direct bearing on the fullness or lack thereof of the
experience of the indwelling spirit. Even a fractional part can release the significance
of the whole to the timely meeting of a receptive soul. Essential knowledge signifies
an understanding of what it means to be fully human from a theological perspective, a
cosmological perspective, and an anthropological perspective. Each leads to an integral
state of being as well as an outward harmonic expression. This essential knowledge
simultaneously answers three major challenges: How did things arise? What is their
nature? How will they resolve? The answers unite the outer with the inner, which is
the key to the integral state of harmony.
Finally, the definition of a profane space is one that falls short of this ulti-
mate knowledge of expression: either a willing or ignorant denial of the principle of
wholeness and thus the realization of integrality. It is not necessarily in opposition to
sacred space but rather a partial state and “false ceiling” to the wholeness of things.
From the perspective of wholeness all space is sacred: it is up to each of us whether or
not this is realized. This is the real meaning of response-ability.
Keith Critchlow, integral architect, is an internationally known lecturer
on Islamic art and Sacred Geometry who has authored over a dozen books
including Islamic Patterns (Inner Traditions) and Order In Space: A Design
Source Book (Thames & Hudson). For many years Dr. Critchlow was
Director of Research and Traditional Arts at the Prince of Wales Institute of
Architecture in England. He was born in the UK in 1933, and educated at
the famous Summerhill School and the Royal College of Art. Committed to
designing only sacred buildings, Keith’s most acclaimed structures structures
are the Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medicine in India, and the
Krishnamurti Centre in the U.K.
Edited by Allyson Grey
p.24
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Burning Man is an annual experiment in
temporary community dedicated to radical
self-expression and self-reliance. An event that
draws over 25,000 participants, this gathering has
been held annually for over 25 years, in the Black
Rock Desert, 120 miles north of Reno, Nevada, the
week around Labor Day. Art offerings make this temporary
community a pinnacle of creativity on the planet. Long time Burner, Molly
Steenson, writes that at Burning Man, “You’re there to breathe art… to build a
community… to survive 107 degree heat… to ride your bike with your eyes closed…
to burn the Man and leave no trace.”
Sculptor and architect, David Best has annually made one of the largest
contributions, a major Temple, many stories
high, built with the assistance
of hundreds and burned to
the ground, 24 hours after
the ritual burning of The Man.
The Temple is an offering for all
who have experienced loss.
Notes and commemorative objects
are placed in the Temple during
the prior week, and destroyed in
the fire as a symbolic act of
purification. Tears flow the
night the Temple burns.
What follows is an excerpt
from an interview with
David Best who spoke
with Mahalia Pugach.
p.28
 The first time I went to Burning Man I was a spec-
tator, not a participant. The next year I built some
kind of yahoo junk. The following year, I spent five
months planning a structure as a tribute to Michael
Heflin, a dear friend who died in a motorcycle
accident. About 2,000 people wrote names of lost
loved ones on the walls of this structure. We weren’t
planning to make a place for people to grieve. It just
happened. Then Burning Man asked me to create
“The Temple of the Mind.”
The next year it was “The Temple of Tears”, dedicated to
people who had taken their lives. The following year, “The Temple of
Joy” was about celebrating gifts. Last year was “The Temple of Honor”. Instead
of a lot of patriotic bull, I wanted to honor those we’ve lost. I always stay at the
temple and listen to stories of loss. Holding hundreds of people, and having them
cry on me is a different type of art. Every year is the same, no matter what the
temple is called. Burning Man is hot, harsh, and exhausting, and people let go
of emotional baggage. The structure has to be the most beautiful I can create,
because people bring their most painful experiences of loss. I want to make a place
where the disreputable and betrayed can come as they are. The most unforgivable
sin can be forgiven. I create a car for The American Visionary Art Museum in
Baltimore. Baltimore has one of the highest substance abuse and murder rates in
the U.S., so we made a car, from the junkyard and dumps, that was about sub-
stance abuse in a black community. Doing a car for The Pittsburgh Children’s
Museum, a black Minister gave me a bunch of materials, so I made the car a
tribute to him. The car was named “The Kingdom of God” to pay tribute those
who have faith, even though I don’t particularly. There was room in the car for
the satanic kids, Buddhists, hedonists, and anybody who wanted a ride in
“The Kingdom of Heaven.” At the San Francisco Exploratorium I asked to
work with developmentally challenged people with AIDS. We made a vehicle to
transport them to the next life. The car changed into a spiritual object. I like to
work with people who are challenged. Spirituality and religion are nothing without
caring action. In my studio, I shut out everything. I don’t bring bills or reviews,
good or bad. When I’m rolling, I can work twelve hours a day. I’m fifty-eight
years old, but recently did a thirty-six hour day. I created a stage set for Elton
John that was sixty feet tall. For the next Burning Man I’m planning a temple
that’s a mile long. First I have a vision and do a drawing of the building.
The temple ends up looking like the drawings, but I’m not rigid about it.
I’m not an architect so I just have fun creating the temples. I’m always in
awe that it gets finished, because three hundred people work on a temple.
p.29
I’d like to remove my name from the credit. I work with jfound objects from the
dump, flea markets and antique stores. I like to use discarded objects that were never
meant to be art objects. I ask poor inner city kids to bring a rock or bottle cap that
represents their uncle who was shot or their mother who died. Mundane objects are
powerful transformative symbols when incorporated into art. Everything gets
mentally neutralized — diamonds with rhinestones — one isn’t treated more
importantly than the other. Something that costs more doesn’t necessarily go
into the middle of the piece. People leave tokens of value in the Temples to be
burned. This guarantees that it can never be taken away or used as an art object.
I’ve played with the idea of building temples that survive, but they have to be burned.
There’s a finality to they’re impermanence. My work and life
majorly transformed the year two friends of mine were
dying of cancer. I was approached to create some-
thing for 9/11. I’d be glad to do a project involving the
people who died in Iraq. I’m not a healer, politician,
or peacemaker, but someone has to build temples for
those who have died. I can’t stop wars. I can’t
erase the thousands of deaths in Iraq or help people
forgive the loss of their children, but I could can
make a place to grieve.
As long as I can handle the desert
environment, I’ll invest my time in art outside
the world of private collectors and galleries.
The impact I’ve had with the temples is
more significant than anything created in
mainstream art. Twenty thousand people cry
tears of release as they watch a Temple burn.
I want to reach as many people as I can,
create the space for everyone to gather,
commune, and grieve, and then burn it
down. The whole process is a miracle.
www.davidbesttemples.org
 www.movingventures.com ellen@movingventures.com
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 Star Gazer
by Kelley Hunter
“It is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.” We‚ve been singing
this tune since the 60s. Increasingly we feel this New Age
glimmering in and out of reality, like photons of light that
pop into virtual reality. If we can catch onto a photon
with our awareness, we become dream weavers.
Let the Sun shine in.
The New Age takes the name of the
constellation that rises at dawn on Spring
Equinox. Earth tilts and wobbles, so
we slip backwards through the twelve
zodiac constellations slowly but
­ subtle celestial quintessence, the cosmic
surely, thank god/dess, or life would
be the same old, same old. This
26,000 year round is called the
Great Year or the Precession
of the Equinoxes. The turning
of a cosmic age is a gradual
process. The constellations
are not all the same size, and
it is not easy to say when
we move from one to the
other. An international
group of astronomers in
1928 drew artificial lines
to demarcate constellation
borders, but the cosmos does
not stay in such coloring book
lines. The Age is not defined
solely by the spring equinox; all four
cornersof the Medicine Wheel in the
sky, including Fall Equinox and the
two Solstices, align with new constella-
tions. This time, the Winter Solstice is the
first to shift across the backdrop of fixed stars,
now lining up between Sagittarius and Scorpio. This sea-
sonal holy-day marks a turning point of the year, when the Earth is tilted to one
extreme, its northern hemisphere toward the Sun. Here lies the thickest cream of
the Milky Way and the cosmic crossing of the zodiac band and the plane of our
galaxy. We look through this area when we try to see into the galactic center,
the heart of the Milky Way.
p.33
The Winter Solstice on this point may signify the beginning of a new
Great Year, a New Age indeed. A prominent astronomer pointed to 1998
as the year of this triple alignment of Solstice, Ecliptic and Galaxy; the Mayans
called it for 2012. At each Winter Solstice, we align more closely and deeply with
the heart of the galaxy. Veiled from even our most sophisticated technology, this
heart center is said to be a huge black hole, a phenomenon littleunderstood.
Is it a light-eating monster, a passage into another universe? Or
is this immense void the dark aetheric dancing ground of
Shiva-Shakti, the cosmic creator?
Aether is the fifth element, the invisible
ground from which the four Elements emerge
into manifestation: fire, earth, air and water.
On the Solstice we are tuning into this
web of super-natural dark energy. The
whole galaxy circles around this center.
Our Sun is responding by increasing
solar flares that charge up the elec-
tro-magnetics in our whole planetary
system, creating dramatic shimmer-
ing auroras, the dance of god/dess.
The shamanic figure of the constella-
tion Ophiuchus rises between Scorpio
and Sagittarius. Known as Serpent-
Charmer, he holds a huge snake
wrapped around his body, surfing the
galactic stream. Like Shiva, he dances
in the cycle of creation and destruction
empowered by his serpentine Shakti.
The Moon cycle helps us to download
and ground the new frequencies. The
first New Moon of the year on January 10
suggests that we are crossing a bridge.
A new dynamic is coming into form,
reverberating with sacred geometry. The Chapel
of Sacred Mirrors is a demonstration and temenos,
or temple, of such reality. Celebrate the monthly
flowering at each Full Moon.
Cherish moments of stillness to listen, honor and join in
the dance of the shaman and the dark goddess. Frequencies shift to another
level in March and May. Whatever we can imagine can be. Remember: the uni-
verse contains unlimited potential. We create it together.
M. Kelley Hunter
www.heliastar.com
p.34
 OPEN SOURCERY
re:creating media and becoming the message

Map is territory. The language of its design speaks volumes

luminant lexicons about the shape of the landscape. Visionary cultures anticipate
communication consciousness and build towards a whole system design science. The core
principles of the process will be visible in every facet of the
plant medicine culture connection multidimensional technology. The extended applications of the
the unfolding momentum of a thousand visionary experience lie in crafting the tools of expression. Design Delvin Solkinson is a per-
civilizations coming to a cusp, pervades the entirety of modern culture. The future implies maculture designer and
a deeper level of integration of technology and design into all plant path poet from the
the eschaton’s scriptural rebirth lush elphinstone rainfor-
elements of every day life: heavily mediated experience. est. He runs an intentional
words are water Evolutionary paths push us towards organic synthesis. press, co-produces ritual
gatherings, does eco-ed-
passing through the perforations ucation and creates
Speaking the language of design requires a sense of the intention
pourous like the information itself community permaculture
behind the message. The media of modern culture are external gardens. Currently he
examples of applied creative process. A medium is created to spends his time working
symbient syntax express the visionary, but the vision itself is partly borne from on the galactik trading
relanguaging light its freedoms and limitations. From paint to pixels, the pure card oracle complex
emancipating the Word and giving presentations
message remains the same. Intrinsic design denotes the on visionary culture.
deeply embedded fundamental organizational principles that
underlie all phenomena. To speak the language of design, is to Sijay James is a
speak the language of light, to speak the creative principle and multimedia designer and
new systems consultant
determine the parameters of its expression. living in the rainforest
of west coast BC.
His company Onbeyond
metamedia cartography Metamedia offers cutting
Words are fragments of a program architecture. In the time edge design and vision
before time, language was birthed around tribal campfires where mapping the destination and embedding memes in the interface to a variety of intentional
the process of communicating with language was also the evolutionary projects and
process of creating it. As our shamanistic forbearers realized, polyfunctional experiential array collectives. He is an inte-
encompassing the intuitive creative potentials gral part of the Crystal
language is the product of a design process. It is not simply a and Spore interactive
means for communicating, it is a kind of communication itself. and integrating the organik inspiration Visionary Environment,
It is both the content of its meaning and the context in which with a technological orientation a touring multimedia
that meaning is delivered. Experiencing the text means giving workshop/presentation
designing the future by being involved in the unfolding on cultural creation
it skills. By having a transformative relationship to words it is and communication.
possible to evolve our healing practice. constructing frameworks for expressing the infinite
acknowledging the ineffable source
What comes now is the intentional deprogramming and
reprograming of our language. This is a ritual process in which global collective alignments on a galactic level
dysfunctional pattern programs are identified and deleted or re:sacralizing the means of communication
remixed. These can be replaced with conscious program by re:forging the languages.
patterns grounded in an applied awareness of the real, long
term impact of our actions on all levels. Repatriating the planet
can be done by redefining our style of ideation and imbedded
development. Visionary language communicates beyond words
by learning and adapting to the limitlessness of the human
imagination. Liberate language and build more worlds!

p.35
www.crystalandspore.com p.36
 “The secret
of the...blessings to be
found in the holy places lies in this
principle, that the holy place is no longer a place; it has become a living being.”
Himalayan Voices -Hazrat Inayat Khan
Vibration Alchemy For those of us who live in urban areas it is a delight to be able to travel to the pris-
tine areas of the earth still in existence. Often we return from these forays into the wild
with bits and pieces of shells, rocks, or wood, which we then cherish by honoring them
in special places in our homes and offices. It is as if the power of that place could be
captured and stored for use later on. This, in fact, is exactly what is happening, and we,
as instinctive creatures, are using our powers of intuition, identification, and intention
to capture the sacredness of the land.

For rural dwellers, this process works in reverse, as they often pilgrimage to the
larger cities to seek the benefit of temples and the sacred rituals that a collective
can provide. They return to their farms and villages with idols and images which
they then place in special places in their homes. Yet both urban adventurers
and rural pilgrims are seeking the same thing: an identification with
that other which heightens our awareness of the Mystery.
And this is at the heart of sacredness as a human
experience. Its poles are the wilderness and the city
temple, and they come together in that most
human of all institutions: the home.

1 p.38
alexgrey.com
 In order to understand what makes
a place sacred it is first necessary to
acknowledge that all of nature and
therefore all places partake of the sacred.
Nevertheless, cultures around the
world recognize that certain places are
somehow more numinous than oth-
ers, often ascribing these locations with
particular powers or characteristics. This
custom has persisted into the modern era,
with particular springs, wells, or stones as
having reputed power to heal specific ail-
ments. But what is this sacredness
which we seek in a place? Our search for
sacredness is an attempt to reconcile within ourselves the
separation which we experience from the very thing we
are searching for. That other which we seek can be
experienced in many ways, and each culture will
define it according to its history and needs. What
is common to all of us, however, is that the expe-
rience of the sacred is a re-union with those parts
within ourselves which are felt to be separate,
disjoined, forgotten. The search for sacredness is a
longing for reunification, for a return to origins, to the
center from which life itself springs.
It is interesting to note that the word “origin”
stems from the Latin word orere, meaning to turn to
the east. This is an allusion to the fact that the sun,
and therefore all of life, originates in that direction.
From this point of origin, the sun traverses all four
directions and these are therefore seen as the anchors
of sacredness in the landscape. The center, often called
tai chi or “supreme ultmate”, represents the physical center
around which material reality circles, but it also implies the
transcendance of the physical in the moment of creation. It also
implies the un-formed, un-named tao, outside of space and time,
from which reality springs.
Another clue to the sacredness of place is the fact that the words “tai chi”,
in its original meaning, also refers to the ridgepole of a trussed roof, and
therefore to the structure which supports it. The “tai chi” can therefore be
understood as a simultaneous reference, on the one hand, to the realm of
p.39
nature in its allusion to the four directions, and also to the man-
made reality through the metaphors of building and construc-
tion. Here were have come full circle again to find sacredness
in the opposites of wilderness and temple. This would imply an
impossibility of reaching an understanding of the nature of place,
were it not for one fact, that the tai chi and the fourdirections are
centered around one other dimension of existence: the vertical.
Sacredness in place must perforce consider the vertical as the
primary dimension along which spiritual knowledge travels. It is
because of this connection with the divine as expressed in the
vertical dimension of the landscape that the earliest holy
places were created. This is so by virtue of its prima-
ry relationship to consciousness. This relationship
is mediated by the horizon line, which separates
the heavens from the earth and on which we, as
mediators of that relationship, stand. Above, all
is open, clear, bright. Below it is closed, dark,
mysterious. Both are essential to life. At the
psycho-spiritual level there is a need for this
duality, for the polar opposites which we
also embody, and which are a reflection of
the world outside of us. In psychological
terms this translates into our longings (sky),
and our reality (earth), our ambitions and
ideation of the future (sky) and the inevitable
realization of the actual (earth). We exist
suspended between these two poles.
Whether we find it in a temple or in the
wilderness, it is to our homes that this
sacred insight must ultimately travel, for it
is in our personal lives that the fruitfulness of
this encounter can be most realized. Creating
sacredness in our lives is a fundamental imperative
in human nature. Humans seek the sacredness of place
because this is our primary relationship to the realm of the
physical. It is through the experience of space and time that our
true nature as spiritual beings can be made manifest. The land, the
skies, the waters, and our interpretation of them through the
vehicles of architecture and design are part of this under-
standing of self as vehicles of the sacred. We seek
sacred places because we are sacred in our-
selves, because it is in the experience of the
sacred that we are most human, and
paradoxically, most physical.
1
 www.lightingdesigns.com
www.nemo.org

www.galleryinthewoods.com
 Vibrata Chromodoris was
given her name during a med-
itation in 1998. Along with the
name she was shown a vision
of waves of energy, undulating
and expanding infinitely in all
directions as a continuum. It
was the triggering event for a
profound change in her work,
and since then she has been
in perpetual dialogue with the
vision through her paintings.
Her images include elements of
symmetry and rhythmic pattern-
ing, geometry, and the use of
beguiling perceptual distortions.
Adobe Illustrator is one of her
primary design tools, though the
majority of the work is done by
hand, with an ordinary brush.

Mutual Reception, (top left)

2001, 14” x 11”,
acrylic on canvas

Medicine, (bottom left)

2002, digital image

Aeon, (right) 2003

panel 1: The Dark Goddess,

29” x 46”, acrylic on canvas

panel 2: The Savioress,

29” x 46”, acrylic on canvas

The Dance: Coinci-dance,

(back) 2003, digital image

p.45 www.Vi br a ta .com

 Alexander Krivosheiw
Alexander Krivosheiw’s
Dragon Doors were com-
missioned by Alert Garcia
for his residence on the upper-
west side of New York City.
The bronze doors are fabricat-
ed out of 3/32 evendour silicon
bronze. There are 12 painted
glass panels inserted inside the
door. Each door weighs close
to 350 lbs while the archway
itself comes close to 300lbs
totaling the whole project to
weigh around 1,100 lbs. Each
scale was hand cut to varying
sizes.

www.alexanderssculptures.com
p.47
 2
1
9
11 10
17

6
20

3 16
4 12 21
5

13
7
15

18
14 24
8
19 23

1. Michelle Wortman & Guy Aitchison 2. Titine & Filip Lu 3. Sharon Fulcher,
Alex Grey, Zachariah Gregory & Ken Jenkins, COSM Halloween, 2004
4. Jonett Ford & Ayelen Liberona 5. Sophia, Brigit, Morgana, Aphorodite & White Tara,
CoSM Halloween, 2004 6. Loretta Leu, Sarah & Paul Booth 7. Oliver Vernon
8. Piovra Caffe, Damanhur 9. Sean Nobel Wolf 10. Zena Grey & Nick Vergara 22
11. Craig Ingutti, Eli Morgan, Serene Zloof, Lynzee Dava, Zachariah Gregory &
Marissa Scirocco, CoSM Halloween, 2004 12. Esperide Ananas & Babbuino Damanhur
13. Marisa Scirocco & Eli Morgan 14. Zachariah Gregory 15. Imani & Drummers,
Full Moon Gatherings, 2004 16. Jef Hernandez 17. Robbie Wootton
18. Allyson & Alex Grey 19. Courtney Loggins Full Moon Gatherings, 2004
20. Lauren Peterson, Melissa Meltzer, Zena Grey 21. David Lilly, Claudia C,. 25
22. Alex Grey, Anthony Ward & Allyson Grey 23. Guests at CoSM Halloween, 2004
24. Paul & Alexsis Crisofi CoSM Benefit Dinner 2004
25. Drum circle, Full Moon Gatherings, 2004 26. Thoth, Ecstatic Aesthetic at CoSM, 2005
1
p.43 1
www.parashakti.org

This winter solstice issue we have shared in the craft, wisdom, and beauty
created by contemporary artists and thinkers from around the world,
each one of them committed to making their place and time sacred.
This is the essence of visionary culture: making your life a sacred space
and tapping into a deeper consciousness of creation.
CoSM is honored to serve this growing international community.

We welcome all forms of transformative art. If you’d like to be a part of

CoSM Journal please contact us. We’d love to get your feedback, hear about
your community events and your creative endeavours.

Peace & Unity

Eli Morgan and Marisa Scirocco
CoSM Creative Directors