Despite many commendable efforts, my attempts to record a video message for tonight’s anniversary update have been wholly thwarted! And so I am, in good humor, shifting to a format a little more ordinary, a little more usual of LCM: text, with some images at the end!
One year ago today I officially launched Little Cosmic Missives via an email announcement. What an incredible journey it’s been! One never knows from the outset how it will shape out, how it will evolve. What intentions will be laid by the side along the way; what others might be picked up. I did not write as many non-missive posts as I hoped; and while I did not achieve 52 missives (one per week), I did bring forth 42! More than 3, less than 4 a month. In looking back however, what is most amazing to me remains all of you. Where would I be without you? Patti Smith reminds us that the only real difference between madness and being an artist is whether one is able to bring something back from that place beyond the mind’s fringe, fraying tattered jeweled ends of conscious awareness. Can you bring something back and present it to the world? Is it interesting and relevant enough that even one, two, three people might wholly engage with it? As one who is well acquainted with madness, and becoming more acquainted with artistry, I find I agree with Patti’s sentiment. We do go to the same place; we receive the same images, same feelings, same wild stirrings. It took me seven years of introducing myself as a writer to be able to actually present and build a portfolio of my work online. For those seven years, I prided myself on my general lack of discipline and routine in writing. This chaotic period of dramatic ups-and-downs in the creative process was the great compost heap from which my ability to craft and cultivate a true discipline emerged. I am so grateful for it! The whole of it; every step of the way.
Now I find myself at another fascinating edge of my evolution. After a year of regular writing and publishing my writing online, I have birthed 42 beautiful poetic missives, dreams, visions (and many more written that were not to be published). Around 200 pages worth. Many of you have asked, “When’s the book coming out?” To which I would dutifully respond: “I will not put together a book of these writings unless/until I receive precise instruction to do so from a vision.” Well, a few months ago (February 11th, around 3am) I received just such a vision. In the fertility of restless sleeplessness, I left my bed and went into the study to receive whatever might be bursting its way through. After some hours sitting quietly in the dark, the lightning bolt struck. I collapsed onto the ground and received precise visual instructions for a book: ODES FOR A GOLDEN AGE. I was shown the cover, the fonts, the gold-embellished spine, the Lombardic capitals on the title page, the table of contents with page numbers, all images to be included (and where), and which missives in which order, from start to finish. It was absolutely crystal clear to me. I recorded enough of the vision to cement the memory, and the very next day put it all together in a word document. Then began the InDesign journey. I designed the book exactly as shown, and found a lovely little press in Minnesota that would print and bind a small run for me. These arrived just before my wedding under the April eclipse (perfectly, as I had always wished to have a book in print before marrying). I am keeping a few as prototypes and giving the rest away as moved.
Now I have a book ready to be published, an effective and elegant platform to engage with my readers, and a disciplined practice of regular writing! How much things can change, in a year. I am now moving into the next steps of my vocation—finding the right agent to represent me, guide me in the general process of publishing and cultivating my willingness to be more and more public. I am eagerly opening into this coming horizon. Of course, if any of you have ideas or guidance here, I am always interested in what you have to say! I feel like a thousand doors are open before me, beckoning me forth. I cannot know which I will choose, only that there is no wrong answer. And that it is only thanks to you all that I have arrived here. I hold so, so much love and gratitude for each one of you, for my beloved spouse Calvin, for our dear little pear-shaped bear Persephone (so patient with us), and for our families, near and far. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for your support this past year—it really wouldn’t have been possible without you. Here’s to another year of journey, of learning, of amazing, of whimsy and wonder and golden transformation. What are you doing to help bring about the dawn of a new golden age for the world? For me, I humbly offer that which comes through me, these little cosmic missives, that they may work their magic, that they may be free; that we may all be free~
42 Missives (in order):
1| SING TO ME WOE, JOYOUS WOE
2| STRENGTH IS
3| DESCEND NOW, INTO THE FORGE OF DESPAIR
4| THE WEIGHT ON OUR HEART IS BURNING
5| FIVE ‘BIRDS’ (Vision)
6| FOR THE GARDEN IS THE MIND
7| PRECIPITOUS PROSPERITUS
8| TREASURE WORLD (Dream)
9| YOU ARE READY (Dream)
10| CONTACT IS CONTRACT
11| IN~SIGNIFICANCE
12| (UN)CONSCIOUS HEART
13| DIFFERENTIAL REVERENCE
14| FORGIVANCES FORGRIEVANCES
15| LULLS IN LABYRINTHS
Cybeleversary - The Story of a Name
16| THE BURNING TOWER AND THE CLEARING (Vision)
17| WELLCOME TO ~WARP SPEED~
18| THE MELDING OF RESENTMENT
19| HYPERINTENSIFICATION AMPLIFICAT(ION)
20| “THY WILL BE DONE”
21| SOME ANTICS SEMANTICS
22| ENTIRETY
23| ATLANTEAN (Dream)
24| SUPER CONDUCIVE ATMOSPHERE
On Dimensions and Dimensional Mapping
25| A POUNCE OF GOLD
26| PREPARE THYSELF
27| THE NEED TO KNOW
28| THE PURPLE DRAGON
29| IN OCTANNUUM CYCULORUM
30| ABSOLUTION
31| ARCHITEXTU(R)AL INFRASTRUCTION
32| THEIR EYE, DRESSED IN DAISIES, IT FELL FROM THE SKY
& A WORLD BECKONS ITSELF INTO BEING
33| FINITE DIVINE
34| THE THRESHOLD
35| DESTINIA
36| OPENING IN TO THE NEW
37| PROGNOSIS
38| PREDIALECTION
39| THE MEND IS HERE
40| ILLUMINATION IS INCINERATION
41| REST AND BE BLESSED
42| FOREVERLOVE