Blue Tit (An Elfchen-11 word poem)

 

Blue

Tit chirps

Faerie nature sliver

Listen! Look! Feel! Now!

Paradise

An Autumn Evening Walking Back from the Zoo

Twilight-Blush clouds
Ruby-orange
 
Autumn-Trees burn
Eerie-fireglow!

20-10-12

Featherstone 2013 Faerie Gathering

*The Featherstone 2013 Call*

Calling all faerie folk, all ye queer and gentle creatures, inverts, perverts, sodomites, Uranian lovers, Sapphists, finger artists, nancy boys, camp queens, dolly fruits, closet cases, switch hitters, stone butches, longtime companions, confirmed bachelors, strange sisters and loving comrades!

We invite you all to the 7th annual winter gathering of the Albion Faeries at Featherstone Castle in Northumberland.

Steal away from the humdrum world, from the hustle and bustle of the everyday. Leave behind the mundane and the conventional. Join with us in creating an enchanted domain of freedom and discovery.

Ignite your passions, delight your senses, take risks, learn and teach, appreciate and be appreciated, commune with nature, embrace whimsy, transform yourself, delve deep into the profound, dissolve in laughter...

We will share and listen at heart circles, cook and eat delicious meals together, dress up, dress down, frolic in the love temple, snuggle by the fire, drum, sing, dance and make merry.

We will gather from Friday, the 25th of January until Monday, the 4th of February, 2013. Arrive when you can, leave when you must.

This gathering is a co-creation of all who are there. Come with intention and help us manifest felicity, wonder, and joyful togetherness.

Please visit our website at www.albionfaeries.co.uk/featherstone2013 where you’ll find more info about the gathering and a link to our online registration form.

We also have a facebook page at www.facebook.com/EurofaeriesFeatherstone2013 which will have updates as the gathering approaches.

We welcome all adult faeries (16+), irrespective of gender or sexuality.

LoveSpirit

  

A poem inspired by the poet James Broughton  
and the LoveSpirit Spiritual Movement

LoveSpirit

The Love that once I sought-I am become!

Universal Spirit my lover is!

The Beloved I am!

Legion my beloveds are!

Seek not I to be-loved

To become a lover my goal is

Unrequited love’s lesson:

“Expect not your love to be requited

Love thrives not

In the confines of exclusivity

Universalize your love!”

Love follows not

The rules of investment banking

Give without reservation

The returns will be interesting!

Check out Love Spirit at http://lovespirit.org/
the multi-denomonational LGBT spiritual movement

Can Drugs Help to Heal Your Spiritual Wounds?

There are ancient tribal traditions, which have used hallucinogenic drugs in spiritual ritual as a means of invoking the Wisdom of the Ages.

The tribal shaman- often a ‘two-spirit’ (LGBT person) would imbibe the liquor obtained from soaking certain macerated roots or seeds in spring water and then enter a trance state- walking between the worlds of the mundane and the divine! Stories told of these spiritual journeys would offer the tribe guidance in times of uncertainty. The shaman was venerated and respected for undertaking this dangerous ordeal.

There are cultures today in South America and East Africa, which use elaborately extracted plant alkaloids (psycho-active substances) to induce epiphany-like states during tribal rights of passage.

For example the roots of two Amazonian rain forest plants are used to make the drink used in the sacred Ayawaska ceremony of South America. Shamanic healers supervise an induced hallucinatory state, which may be accompanied by energy cleansing vomiting. Participants later report an intense and unique spiritual experience. There is the sense of communing with the divine with profound and life changing consequences. In recent years an industry of Ayawaska tourism has materialised for westerners looking for a fast track to spiritual enlightenment experience.

Another example is the use, by Western Central African peoples, of small fragments of the Iboga plant root bark in spiritual ceremonies, learned from pygmy forest dwellers, to promote radical spiritual growth, stabilise community structures and resolve pathological problems. There is now a growing awareness in the west of how the prolonged hallucinatory experiences which often evoke past events in a participants life may have the potential to cure the spiritual starvation state symptomatic of western drug dependency culture.

Mainstream gay culture seems to have got its knickers in a twist over sex and substances. Repetitive sexual arousal and psycho-actives swallowed like smarties have been sold as the birthright of the post-guilt era pervert. We have opened the flood gates and the result has been an outpouring of a hitherto deeply repressed need to express our queer natures. But without the framework of a guiding spiritual context we are left with a sad, bloated yet undernourished feeling.

Radical Faeries today are reclaiming their roles as tribal shamanic healers. They are experimenting with the use of plant based entheogens (substances capable of internally generating a sense of oneness with spirit) in the context of pagan ritual. Moving away from the exhaustingly repetitive and empty habits of sex and recreational drugs as a means of temporarily escaping the banality of everyday existence, they are finding ways in which Joy comes through the ritual practice of Sex, and the judicious use of, among other substances, Alcohol, Tobacco, Coffee, Tea, Mushrooms, Callamus Root and Morning Glory Seeds.

This is spirituality, Jim, but not as we have known it! You can become a part of this revolution. Check out the Euro Faeries and dare to attend a gathering at Featherstone Castle in Northumberland or Folleterre in Eastern France. I look forward to seeing you there!

Folleterre Faerie Fire Song

Chorus:
Sitting round the Faerie Fire
At Folletere- at Folleterre
Sitting round the Faerie Fire
On this Magic Land!
With the Singing , the Dancing, the Strumming, the Drumming
Dressing-up and Dressing-down
And Happy, Laugh-y Days

Sitting in the Shadows
Feeling Sad and Lonely
Aching from the Pains of a
Dark and Hurtful Past
With the Coldness of Hatred and Shame and Envy
Swirling all around us like a
Thick Black Haze

Chorus
Sitting round the Faerie Fire
At Folletere- at Folleterre
Sitting round the Faerie Fire
On this Magic Land!
With the Singing , the Dancing, the Strumming, the Drumming
Dressing-up and Dressing-down
And Happy, Laugh-y Days

Feel the Light and Warmth
From the Inside Growing
Glowing like the Fire with its
Dancing Healing Flames
It's the Source of Love and it's
Burning Brighter
Melting down the Icy Cold of
Dark Dark Days

Chorus
Sitting round the Faerie Fire
At Folletere- at Folleterre
Sitting round the Faerie Fire
On this Magic Land!
With the Singing , the Dancing, the Strumming, the Drumming
Dressing-up and Dressing-down
And Happy, Laugh-y Days

Back this project and help to create some Faerie Magick

Back Big Joy Project

Gay Spirit Warrior

Gay Spirit Warrior: An Empowerment Workbook for Men Who Love Men

By John R. Stowe

I bought this book when I first moved to Brighton from Newcastle 12 years ago.

I was moving away from the oppressive North to The Gay Mecca and I was going to radically change my life!

I started the workbook and managed to get to chapter 4.

Then life got in the way!

Then things got really tough!

Ultimately I found myself faced up to the consequences of having neglected my spiritual self. For me this manifested as creative exhaustion, emotional paralysis and preoccupation with a fear of aging and ailments.

Then The Edward Carpenter Community came to the rescue.

I attended my first Laurieston Gay Men’s Week in September 2009, returned the following year and then was back again last year. The magic of these weeks gave me the space and sanctuary I needed to properly attend to my spiritual growth. The book seemed to feature fairly prominently in the 2010 September week and I returned to Brighton with a fellow Brightonian ECCer with a joint resolve to work through the book together.

We worked through a few chapters at a time then met up over lunch and glass or two of wine about once a month. We shared with each other our thoughts about each chapter, the progress we’d made with the set tasks and the impact we had felt from having carried out the exercises.

It was interesting for me to compare the experience of having tried to do the book alone in the past with the completely different situation of having a fellow traveller there to spur me on and make sure I didn’t get tempted to skip the awkward and challenging exercises.

The book is in two major parts. The first part helps you to get you in touch with some of the wounds gay folk have had to endure growing up in homophobic families, religions and schools and to register the consequential impact this has had on the ways we relate to ourselves and others, the fear we have of disclosing our true nature and the effect this has on our emotional availability for intimacy.

The second part introduces some Gay Archetypes and helps to develop a personal and healing connection to each of these. We therefore start with the Magic Boy. We all have an inner child who is playful, joyful and creative but is likely also to be sad, hurt and fearful because of a whole range of difficult past experiences. There are exercises designed to help you to contact this aspect of your self and to begin a self-healing, self-nurturing process.

Next chapter is The Sacred Androgyne (we have a greater dose of the feminine in our gay male nature than the average straight bloke). Ancient societies and cultures recognized the special qualities of feminine acting boys and gave them important roles in their sacred rituals. In this chapter there is the chance to acknowledge, honour and own our feminine aspects. A chance to heal some of the hurt inflicted on us by a society, which invalidates any gender expression other than the male/ female of a very strict either/or gender binary.

Next is The Lover. We all can identify with this aspect of ourselves and of others. What an interesting chapter this was for me! It was really eye opening and penny-dropping. If you are intending to work through the book I would hate to spoil the surprise! Suffice it to say there is more insight, healing and inner development in store.

I’ve just finished the chapter on The Elder and I’ve yet to work through The Shaman Healer, The Warrior and The Explorer. And then there’s a final section, which is called Taking Your Place- (I presume as a nicely rounded Gay Spirit Warrior).

Sadly last year my Gay Spirit Warrior partner had to drop out of our process because of family pressures and so inevitably, ever since, the impetus to complete the book has dwindled. Given that I’m reasonably highly motivated to finish this book I do have to ask myself why is it that it is taking me such long time to finish it?

I think it’s something to do with the practicalities of having enough time. This is an activity book that will give returns in proportion to the time and emotional energy invested. You would be wasting your time giving it a quick skim read. Each chapter has 6 or 7 suggested activities each of which could take up to 1or 2 hours each to carry out meaningfully. I’m also dragging my feet because as with anything which threatens to change me-even if it’s likely to be for the better- I find excuses to do it really well-tomorrow or at the weekend when there’s more time and when I’m likely to have more energy to deal with the challenges. But then social life, visitors, parental illness, friends, culture, holidays all seem to push my best intentions aside.

Having worked through just over half of the book now (in just over 12 years!) it’s easy to see that if you have enough time on your hands and if you’re really interested in getting a better understanding of yourself it’s a book which could well change your life by helping you to understand how society’s take on your sexuality may have negatively impacted on your development and, by providing you with a route map for healing and growing into your power as a thriving, nurtured, self respecting, uniquely gifted man.

What I’d really love to do- once I’ve finally worked my way through to the end- is to run a Gay Spirit Warrior Book Group or Heart Circle –maybe on-line which would provide the peer group energy needed to support and stimulate what could otherwise be a pretty tough and solitary practice.

If there’s anyone interested do get in touch gaysocrates@gmail.com and give me that final impetus I need to just get on and finish it!

Men of Brighton: 6 Good Reasons to Wear a Sexy Dress for Pride

1 If you’ve never done it before, there’s no better excuse than a Pride Parade to slip into something slinky. ‘But being gay doesn’t mean I’m a woman’ I hear you say. That’s fine! Wearing a frock won’t change your gender but it could just get you in touch with the feminine side of your nature.

2 As gay men we have programmed ourselves away from anything, which on top of our wayward sexuality, might attract disapproval. Consequently, although our limp wristed, camp comedians are tolerated by society at large (if they are funny enough to be really laughed at!), the gender portrayal that we seem most comfortable with is that of the Straight Acting Male. What? You’re gay? You would never have guessed! So straight acting! Well done you! At the other end of the spectrum we have the screaming queen who seems to have no shame at the blatant portrayal of a feminine-like sexuality without so much as the slightest attempt to tone it down. Those who, over the years have been able to get away with it, have repressed and concealed any clue as to their true sexuality- often taking their macho caricature to an almost ludicrous and camp extreme. Those who don’t pass, often aggressively camp it up; attack being the best form of defence for them. But what are we scared about? Put something frilly on and celebrate that Anything Goes in 2012!

3 Wearing a dress can face us up to our internalised homophobia. Slip on those nylons and feel the discomfort. What’s wrong? What nasty taboo are you breaking? You are allowing yourself into a domain reserved for women and you’re boldly going where you as a man have not been before! You were told from an early age by parents, teachers and peers that any hint that a man might behave in a feminine way [like for instance fancying the pants off the boy sitting at the next desk] must be jumped on and annihilated at all costs.

4 And if we’re uncomfortable with being perceived as feminine-acting what’s so bad about that? How about facing yourself up to your internalized misogyny. We exist in a patriarchal society. We have subliminally incorporated our sense of superior male entitlement right into the core of our personalities to the extent that we are hardly aware of it. We might even deny its existence until we catch a glimpse of a high riding hemline in the mirror and we are horrified. You are flying in the face of all your programming by blatantly disregarding the eleventh commandment: ‘Thou shalt not behave like a sissy’. Enjoy the subversion. Stand in solidarity with yo’ sistas and become an Effeminist!

5 ‘But what if people get the wrong idea and think I’m a tranny?’ Good! Let them think you have trans issues and enjoy their squirming disapproval. Feel the depth of your own internalised (or overt) transphobia and learn to love your inner girlie persona. Feel the danger of creating an ambiguous gender portrayal in the presence of people who might erupt into violence when faced with anything other than a simple gender binary. Buy some daring red lippy from Boots and get a girlfriend to do your nails in a nice sparkly pink shade.

6 ‘But I don’t look any good in a dress!’ Get over yourself. You clearly haven’t looked hard enough to find THAT dress. When you find it you will be transformed into the Belle of the Ball! And always remember the three golden rules for looking absolutely fabulous: Accessorize! Accessorize! and Accessorize!

SEX, SEX, AND MORE SEX!

Hello queer child! Now that I have your attention, read on and be afraid!

I am the accursed Troll of Queerdom. You should be pleased to be making my acquaintance and grateful for all I have done to make your queer youth more tolerable for you than mine was for me.

I have tasted of the Tree of Knowledge and my punishment is that I now know I am always right. Because I have wisdom to give in abundance you need to keep quiet and listen attentively. You will be helped by hearing about everything I have learned.

I have opinions about everything. Your opinion will inevitably be wrong because you are young and you do not have my wealth of experience. I am an intellectual and I have suffered. I am bitter with the truth that the world is intrinsically bad.

People in general- and you, in particular, my pupil- are not to be trusted. You have no self-awareness. Your understanding comes from your projections and the reflections of these, which, you see as mirages in the shadows. Nothing you believe to be so is true.

Know of me. Know of my name. See how clever I am! Show respect to me. Worship at my shrine! I am your master, your elder and your better.

I am old and disgusting. I am repulsive. I am grotesque. I am decaying. Death is ugly. And, as eternally youthful and immortal as you believe yourself to be, you are dying too- young one. Look at me now beautiful baby. I am your ancient, vile reflection from the future. Be very afraid!

I am righteously indignant that I am not fully appreciated. That I am not approved of after the pain of all my hard work. Why does no one pat me on the head?

I am angry that my looks no longer command attention. The easy access to erotic adventure- free to me when I was seen as sexy and alluring- is gone forever.

I am disappointed and sad that my trove of wisdom is way past its sell-by date. My grip on the modern world is tenuous so I continually hark back to how the world used to be. It gives me a sense of security.

Sometimes I regret the choices I have made. And I find ways to re-live my life through the advice I liberally dispense to today's youth.

I am scared about the degenerating state of my body. I am afraid of chronic illness and pain. I want to believe that death doesn't worry me. But I'm petrified!

Young One- do you love me?

If you do, then you have the wisdom of youth and I am ready to learn!

Contact me at gaysocrates@gmail.com

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