Friday, December 24, 2010

Ritual Actions of the Muses: Lab Notes

'Lunar Eclipse'
Dec. 20, 2010

Our first session began on the evening of a total lunar eclipse, which ended up playing a part in the session for me.


After choosing a trinity to work with in my personal warm-up, I decided to shift it to something more dynamic when we entered the first group ritual.  It was an immediate morphing of each component of the original trinity into the forces of Moon, Earth, and Sun (which felt even more charged given the impending Lunar eclipse that was approaching).  Throughout the evening I discovered various aspects of each force and explored finding movement and sound for each layer that was revealed to me.

After several group rituals exploring our trinities, we moved on to a group ritual of approaching the Muse.  Dividing the room into two areas, the first area that we would enter from No Form was dedicated to the melding and compositing of the three forces of our trinity.  The second area was delegated to the realm of the Muses, leaving it an unknown as to whether or not we would encounter the Muse there.

I experienced the first part of the ritual as a merging of parts of myself specifically using tones that initiated in the belly and the heart and met in the solar plexus,  directing outwards from there.  The commitment and power of this vocal tone steeled me to enter the Muses' realm. 

Immediately upon entering I had a strong vision of being hooked up somewhere around the heart and solar plexus area with a thin flexible clear tube that ran vertically upwards.  It was as if the Muse was extracting my 'tone' from my body as a pale opalescent liquid.  It was not frightening or unpleasant at all, and felt very natural, if a little exciting.  Eventually I became aware that I had been transformed into a large blue ragged winged creature.  Part of the pattern on my wings appeared slightly illuminated in a dark brilliant blue.  All the while I was continuing my toning, by this time it had become a pattern of two notes.  I remained stationary there until I had the sense that I had served my purpose and returned to the trinity area.  



After reconnecting to my trinity and finding a somewhat quieter merging of the forces I decided to enter the Muse realm one more time.  This time the atmosphere was quite different, quieter and calmer.  It seemed to me that the Muses were resting, hidden somewhere, but were allowing me to visit this foreign landscape with a pale sky and soft hills in the distance.  The colors were muted and I had the sense that it was early morning.  I stood there taking it in until the vision slowly changed into a blanker, icier version and I took that as my cue to leave. 

Both times that I entered and exited the Muse realm I experienced a strong electrical feeling on the surface of my skin, like supercharged 'goose bumps'.

My final time in the trinity area I experienced a feeling of completion, with a gentle slow rotating approach back to No Form.