The Narrative Within

Backtracking and Walking on Rocks

Posted on August 18, 2014 by Art for Housewives

Day 18

The other day, while putting my walking sandals back on at Mar Tango, I left my notebook behind. When I discovered the loss, I had to backtrack quite a bit to recover it. This put me behind my time schedule so, once on Krios Beach, I took my swim near the camping site which meant, to get into the sea, I had to walk on rocks.

lost then found notebook

Backtracking is something we’ve all done at one time or another. In Italian, there’s the expression “tornare sui propri passi” which means retrace your own steps because, for some reason, you must start over again. Often this saying is used when someone has realized they’ve been wrong about something so, as a result, must make a change. Reflection often inspires this kind of change.

I’ve been keeping notebooks for years. Moleskins are for home and tiny ones like the one above are for my purse. Strange as it may seem, I feel naked without one. And as long as I have a notebook and a pen, I feel at home wherever I am. To lose a notebook would be to lose all of the ideas and observations I’ve written down which would be like losing a private patrimony.

Keeping notebooks is a form of backtracking because your write something down so that you can retrace it in your mind at a later date.

Below are a few sketchbooks and notebooks by others that I find interesting:

others:

Nicholas Stevenson Sketchbooks

Stephanie K. Birdsong via shoulda-woulda-coulda

Francesca Woodman‘s notebook

Dieter Roth Diaries

The Sketchbooks of Cynthia Korzekwa

Today’s mantra comes from the Allman Brothers Band “Blue Sky” and it’s “I’m just walking down the road”. And that’s exactly what I’m doing–just walking down the road because the sky above follows me wherever I go.

Walk down the road. Om. Walk down the road.

related links: A Traveling Sketchbook + sketchbooks on my Pinterest + On Keeping A Notebook pdf by Joan Didion

Posted in Health & Healing, Paros | Tagged backtracking, notebooks, Paros, sketchbooks, walking | Leave a comment

Foraging on Paros

Posted on August 17, 2014 by Art for Housewives

Day 17

Because there’s more and more people and less and less natural resources, feeding everyone is already a problem and will become even a bigger one in the not too distant future. So while on the promontory, I look around to see if there’s anything edible, anything foragable.

It’s August and thus most everything is dried out and brown. But during the spring nature is generous and the area is full of wild plants including sage, oregano, thyme, milk thistle (great for the liver thus good to take if you’ve had too much alcohol), cactus and helichrysum.

On the path, there’s a carob tree, wild fig and bamboo (bamboo shoots are edible). I’ve also seen chamomile in Livadia, some wild greens like horta (amaranth), and a plant that looks like plantain, too.

the wreath on my door is made from wild herbs like thyme and oregano collected here on Paros

So why not find out what’s foragable in your neighborhood? If you’re from my hometown, San Antonio, you might want to read FREE FOOD: FORAGING IN SAN ANTONIO.

from BEBINA BUNNY’S CABINET OF CURIOSITIES

Edible Ice plant

As for today’s mantra, I will first say that I simply adore the PLAYING FOR CHANGE idea and should use more of their videos for my mantras. The idea of people all over the world getting together to sing creates harmony in more ways than one.

Keith Richards’ “Words of Wonder” is the point of departure for today’s mantra. It’s a rather naughty little song but does have the phrase “giving thanks and praise” in it. And nature is to be thanked for all that she gives us.

Thank you Thank you. OM Thank you Thank you Thank you.

Related links: Urban Foraging Guide pdf + Eat Bamboo Like A Panda + Edible Chamomile +Parian Dried Fruit Compote recipe + Blood Orange & Black Olive Salad Recipe + Words Of Wonder Lyrics + Eat The Weeds

if you are interested in learning more about foraging and edible weeds, try the Eat The Weeds youTube channel

Posted in Health & Healing, Paros | Tagged Bebina Bunny, edible weeds, Foraging, Paros | Leave a comment

Do not lose yourself in translation

Posted on August 16, 2014 by Art for Housewives

Day 16

At the port, a line of cars waiting to get on the ferry to leave Paros. Finally, the chaos begins to dissipate.

Some days the walks are more difficult than others. Maybe because of the heat. Maybe because I’m distracted by thoughts which keep me on my physical path but lead me off the spiritual one. Today, for example, I wanted to be home reading “The Gnostic Gospels” by Elaine Pagels.

Religious fundamentalism really spooks me out. I don’t criticize the rights of others to have their own beliefs but I do criticize those who want to impose those beliefs on me. And before you tell me that it’s in the Bible, please be able to answer the following questions: 1. in what language was the New Testament written? (hint: it wasn’t English) 2. who wrote the New Testament and when? 3. who was Constantine? 4. what was the Council of Nicaea?

Organized religion is not for me but I do seek spirituality. And this spirituality comes from efforts made by me and not from dogma imposed by someone else. For this reason, I read about Gnosticism with interest.

The Gnostics believed that you can know God only by knowing yourself. That the Kingdom of Heaven is within you and that gaining insight into one’s self is the only way of having a key to Heaven’s gates. Even the Oracles of Delphi professed “Know Thyself”.

Michelangelo said of his work: “it’s in the stone” meaning to make sculpture, all you had to do was chisel off the excess because the masterpiece was already there inside waiting to come out.

So as I walk, I try to chisel.

Conformity does not lead to a transcendental experience.

Today’s mantra comes from a special song by The Youngbloods. It’s “Get Together” and just the title alone is a mantra in itself. But, because of all the hatred and violence people are slinging around these days, I’ve decided that “Smile on your Brother” would be more appropriate.

Smile, smile. OM. Smile on your Brother, smile on your Brother. Smile.

Related Links: Meaning of the Song “Let’s Get Togther” by the Youngbloods + The Gnostic World View: A Brief Summary of Gnosticism

Posted in Health & Healing, Paros | Tagged Gnosticism, Know Thyself, Paros, Walking as a spiritual practice | 2 Comments

The Promontory

Posted on August 15, 2014 by Art for Housewives

Day 15

August 15th is a Greek holiday–the Assumption of Mary. And tonight boats will make their way into the port illuminated by candles. Then there will be a big fireworks display and everyone will go “oooh & ahhh”. We will watch from our roof while drinking ouzo! Hronia Polla!

Path to Promontory, Paros

The highlight of my walk is reaching the promontory.

This is what I see when I turn around.

Several years ago, I took this same walk to Krios most every day for 3 months. At the time, I was reading The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth, a book that had a tremendous effect on me. It made me see myself as a woman in a completely different way.

Promontory Path, Paros

For one, I realized just how “materialized” I’d become…a solid mass with no flow. But one day, after reading and reading and walking and walking, I suddenly felt ethereal, like a Cosmic Goddess, and one with the universe. And it came naturally for me to stand on the promontory looking out where the sea mates with the sky and assume an orant posture.

from the promontaory, Paros

My idea is that once upon a time, we communicated with the world around us in a more telepathic way. But a growth in demographics made telepathy more difficult and, instead of sensation, we became dependent upon the spoken word. And when the written word took over, women lost their sacred place in the universe. There’s a fantastic book about this concept, The Alphabet Versus the Goddess by Leonard Schlain, that describes how a shift from a right brain dominated society to that of a left brain dominated society totally obliterated the reverence once given to women.

Instead of men and women have complementary roles, men dominate our society and the effects of this domination are described in a past post, Empathy and Ecofeminism.

My mantra for today comes from Carol King’s “I Feel The Earth Move” because motion, inside & out, protects us from stagnation.

Feel the Earth move. OM. Feel the Earth move.

related links: The Alphabet vs. The Goddess Lecture by Dr. Leonard Shlain VIDEO +

Posted in Health & Healing, Paros | Tagged Leonard Schlain, Paros, Path to Promontory, The Great Cosmic Mother, Walking as a spiritual practice | 3 Comments

Stairway to Heaven

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Art for Housewives

Day 14

Taking one step at a time:

The Tamarisk

boats before the stairway

There’s a house past the Blu Lounge that has a marble plaque commemorating Bud Colburn (1917-2004). I don’t know who he is but the plaque, written in Greek, basically says this: With the best memories for the wonderful man who built this house. Good night, Bud, God is near you.

Blue Star from a distance

The Stairway to Heaven

The promontory near Krios has a very special and spiritual significance for me that I will elaborate upon tomorrow. So, the path leading up to it is like a stairway to heaven.

In the Bible (Genesis 28: 10-19) we are told the story of Jacob’s Ladder. Jacob is running away from his twin brother, Esau, who wants to kill him for have stolen his inheritance. So Jacob flees from Beersheba but, at dusk, tired of running, he decides to get some sleep. While sleeping, Jacob has a dream about a ladder that goes high into the heavens and has angels going up and down it. Then God appears and says he will give Jacob the land where he is sleeping and that his descendents will be like the dust and scatter themselves everywhere. There are many interpretations of this story but it’s undeniable that the ladder acts as a bridge between heaven and earth. In other words, the ladder unifies the here with the there.

Vertical territory.

Our cat, Volver, like most cats, likes high places. It gives him the possibility to observe better what’s going on around him thus makes him feel safer. It’s an instinct cats have inherited from their ancestors who had to climb high to protect themselves from predators.

Volver on roof

Volver on Angeliki’s roof

Volver on the stairs

Volver on the stairs going up

Volver’s destination

Originally, I had intended to get my mantra from Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” but eventually decided upon the Los Lonely Boys’ “Heaven” because of the phrase “How far is Heaven?” It made me think of taking car trips with little kids who are always obsessively asking “how much further?” For me, it’s important not to think of the walk as a departure-arrival situation. It’s the steps in between and what happens within me that I want to focus on. For it is this that makes the walk a spiritual practice.

Heaven is Here. OM. Heaven is Here.

Lift yourself up so you can get a better view of the world around you.

Posted in Health & Healing, Paros | Tagged Jacob's Ladder, Krios, Walking as a spiritual practice | Leave a comment