CONTACT:
russ@afiretender.org
Now, let's set the scene:
There is a sacred place
on a remote island.
During sacred times, spirits
of all kinds gather
there to play.
Drums are their common heartbeat.
Fire plays host. Its job is connection.
Presiding over all, it
comes and goes in and
out of all dimensions as
it pleases, shape-shifting
as it does so.
There is a sacred place
on a remote island.
During sacred times, spirits
of all kinds gather
there to play.
Drums are their common heartbeat.
Fire plays host. Its job is connection.
Presiding over all, it
comes and goes in and
out of all dimensions as
it pleases, shape-shifting
as it does so.
Peeling
darkness
away;
it reveals the wonder.
it reveals the wonder.
WELCOME!
Here's a site you can come to again and again, for FREE, to strengthen your connection with your still, small voice inside. It consists of images and tips on how to use them.
Here's a site you can come to again and again, for FREE, to strengthen your connection with your still, small voice inside. It consists of images and tips on how to use them.
Unlike images on Tarot cards
these images have no interpretations attached
to them until you see them.
The
only book to refer to is what is written in your heart; these
images are here to help you follow that voice where it leads
you.
Here's how they arrived:
In May of 2005, a man with 35 years experience in the healing arts sat down at his computer to print out photos he took at drum and fire gatherings on the island of Maui, Hawai'i his home.
Everything went wrong. As he began printing he was amazed to see the pictures he was sure he took were not what was being produced. At first, he was ready to throw his computer and printer out the window!
But he looked again...and again
and each time he was drawn deeper...not into them, but into
himself. There was so
much going on than he ever could have
captured by design. Stunned, he felt compelled to
document his response in the picture you see. (Selfies
weren't a thing then!).
much going on than he ever could have
captured by design. Stunned, he felt compelled to
document his response in the picture you see. (Selfies
weren't a thing then!).He resolved to learn how to work
with them because he sensed they were meant to be worked
WITH. He literally turned to them to teach him what they
were here to do. Russ began using them with others and
himself and he realized what was happening:
These
images were guideposts without directions until YOU read
them!
Perhaps it would be
useful to just go right to the images.Russ
says, "I started working with them because they elicited
so many multi-layered responses from me. I started to
bring others in to see if there was really something going
on or if I was just nuts. To my wonderment I discovered
the people who were viewing them were having similar
"hits", yet were seeing things in them that were far
different than my own interpretations. Almost without
exception, whatever came up was deeply personal!
And
everyone kept asking me, 'What is this?' as if I
knew!
The only words that came to me were from my Brooklyn past. What usually happened was the person would see a metaphor in the image for something that they were going through in that moment. All I could say was 'Tell me more...'. Then, something would connect that offered clarity to them. Once that started to happen consistently, I only had one answer for those who questioned me; 'This, is this.'"
The only words that came to me were from my Brooklyn past. What usually happened was the person would see a metaphor in the image for something that they were going through in that moment. All I could say was 'Tell me more...'. Then, something would connect that offered clarity to them. Once that started to happen consistently, I only had one answer for those who questioned me; 'This, is this.'"
In this way, you can, without being told anything else, see how they touch you. STORY IMAGES will get you to the picture viewer.
IS THIS
MAGIC? Not really, it's kind of mundane yet very special.
That
night; my printer had a glitch in it that caused the
distribution of the inks
to misfire. It had nothing to do with conscious digital
manipulation through
PhotoShop or the like. What you see is what physically got
born. Because
I had no idea what happened, the images "spoke" to me
on a visceral,
heart-centered way. It was a pure experience untrammeled on
by my
preconceptions or understandings. I printed out everything
in my camera
for fear the printer would get back to normal!
Over the next few days I was able to back-engineer and
figure out what
had happened. From then on I was able to duplicate the
process knowingly.
I built a body of art around what I learned about working in
dim light, with
fire and my printer.
What made these particular images so powerful was I
didn't have anything
to do with them! They clearly came through me, even if it
was a fuck up.
They literally jumped out of nowhere and struck a chord in
me that taught me
how to use them for the benefit of others. They inspired me,
I didn't inspire
them. In total, that night produced around 100 one-of-a-kind
images, never
to be repeated. Those are the only images you will find
here.
Images
from the story of this...
tend to strike deep primal and archetypal chords that lend
themselves to progressively deeper explorations of self, in
the moment. You will find many thematic connections among the
images here that will have special significance to your
particular situation at the time you view them.
These images are here to help you access YOUR still-small voice in the moment. Since YOU are the final arbiter of their meaning, I've prepared a little guide to help you get the most out of your experience with them.
These images are here to help you access YOUR still-small voice in the moment. Since YOU are the final arbiter of their meaning, I've prepared a little guide to help you get the most out of your experience with them.