Charleston with Kyle: Treespirit shoot, amazing people, miracles and disasters, animal communion
excited Belenen takes first driving shift
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annnd it's rainin'.
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at a stoplight I notice the gorgeous light and take photos of Kyle in the back ;-)
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later Kyle takes a turn and I don't waste the pretty light -- or my glitter :D
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such a good shot of my serpent!
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Kyle makes scaredyfrown
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and then laughs at zir own silly :D
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ohhh my God/dess this light <3
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we got lost and stopped for stretching and bananas and water at a strange little place with a lovely fountain, quite in the middle of nowhere. We arrived here just after we went through a town that felt so incredibly hostile that my heart was racing and I felt sick (way more than earlier that day when someone randomly slammed on brakes in front of me and I narrowly avoided smashing into them). it was so scary -- and it felt specifically anti-queer, in a way I have never felt before. This place, especially the fountain, felt like a haven from that, restoring us.
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"Live Well" was on the trash receptacles -- which we found when we each picked up some trash as a thank-you to the place
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after a brief sleep, we went to meet up with the TreeSpirit people! this is Jack, the photographer/organizer. When ze spoke about the Angel Oak and surrounding forest, ze got choked up and I felt so connected -- I did not realize that ze felt trees like that.
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Jess is on Jack's shoulders, illustrating part of the idea for the shot
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:D Jess and I talked a lot over the day and I felt a really strong connection to zir. I want to share many trees with Jess <3
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when I first walked up to the tree, it overwhelmed me as soon as I touched the bark. I cried intensely, with an emotion I have no words for (this happened at least three times when I touched the tree). After my eyes were clear again, I saw this, right next to where my hands were.
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♥
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Kyle does yoga -- the Tree pose. Several people joined, but I had my camera put away.
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Kyle took photos of me with the Tree...
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don't know if you can tell at this size, but a piece of bark clung to my forehead where a bindi would be placed.
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{worshipful}
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I was weeping here
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I was only half-in-this-world... and there was a lot of pain mixed in to what I was feeling.
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this one really captures the ecstasybelongingtruth part of what I was feeling.
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while we sat around waiting for the cops to let us leave (oh yeah, during the photo the giftshop person called the cops after screaming at us. The cops were polite and mostly amused.), this little creature climbed on Tom.
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(that's Heidi in the background)
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happy Kyle!
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this was the view from a branch that touched the ground -- I so wanted to walk up that little pathway.
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At one point after the photos were taken and the cops had calmed down, I went back out to the tree, where Jess was meditating, and asked to join zir. Ze said yes so I sat with zir and felt the amazing connection of human-tree-human, and it glowed, ohmygod. Then Kyle came over and we held hands and the three of us shared with the tree. It was SO beautiful.
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the full image -- "Angels." I love the ghostly folk running to the tree.
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a detail -- that's Kyle on the right with outstretched leg, arm reaching up to hold hands with me (that line is my favorite part of the whole shot; look how it echoes the two branches that stretch over us). My other arm is reaching up the tree trunk.
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after we got back and had food and lots of talking about the experience, Heidi and Tom invited Kyle, me, Jess, and Margaret over to their place. As we walked out of the restaurant, I saw this huge flock of vultures on a tower. Vultures have great spiritual significance to me.
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After we swam (in a pool with a SLIDEEEEE), we made a little fire that spun spirals for an hour.
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fire swan
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eye of Horus
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pretty perfect crescent!
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then we found a baby king snake floating in the pool
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(Kyle took this)
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(Kyle took this)
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in Margaret's hands
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in my hand, tasting Jess
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(Kyle took this)
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(Kyle took this)
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(Kyle took this)
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(Kyle took this)
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in Heidi's hands
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on Jess' chest
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I am Renenutet's.
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I felt such a connection with this little creature -- ze seemed to enjoy my presence and was very calm in my hands.
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Next morning, we went for coffee and the first place was closed, so we found another (after calling to ask if they had comfy couches) and it was AWESOME. When I forgot my camera battery there, they wrapped it up and left it outside after closing, so I could come back and get it. YAY for coffeehouses that answer the phone after they're closed. The owner was there and talked a lot with Kyle and I -- everyone there was just so fantastic.
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Kyle played with these two musicians and it was really perfect.
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Kyle dances when ze plays ♥
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an aqua aura wire-wrapped by Jess
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I sooo loved that they had tied that ribbon to the tree.
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Kyle got an amazing staff at a gamer/spiritual/craft/etc shop that ze looked up for one of the people ze talked to at the coffeehouse.
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we plucked loquats from the tree and ate them warm with sunshine.
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Margaret and Jess
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I have no idea what Margaret was talking about but clearly Jess gets it! Margaret seemed pretty awesome but I didn't get to talk to zir as much as I wanted. Hopefully we'll stay in touch.
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I love Jess' expression.
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the seeds were so pretty and made me so happy. I brought mine home.
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Anna eats a loquat while Kyle runs off to talk to the people with the windsail.
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pretty Kyle's back ;-)
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Kyle has a waterproof camera, can you tell?
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it was almost a full moon
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my footprint
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the third spiral that called to me
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after our tire blow-out, we sat on the side of the road for quite a while.
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after the tow-truck's clutch went out -- here's the transfer from one to the other. The first two-truck driver was massively racist and the second was virulently ableist. I felt really unsafe trapped in vehicles with them, no way to escape -- I couldn't manage any words in response and felt pretty shitty about that too.
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I LOVE this one.
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next morning, after a very brief sleep, we stopped in Augusta for coffee -- and toys (because there was a toy shop across the way). I got a purple lipstick pen that LIGHTS UP VIOLET when you write with it. omfg.
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cutie!
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this was on the side of the newspaper-box containing a college magazine.
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After someone drove next to me very threateningly, I pulled off at an exit. We stayed for much talking (we were working on repairing a disconnect that happened during/after finals) and food at this gas station -- left the lights on and ran the battery out. After finding no one to help there, we pushed the Samurai down the hill to Waffle House, where Kyle simply waved jumper cables at the people inside and someone came out to help. Annnnd that was the final misadventure before we made it home.
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animals, art -- photography, connections, conversations with strangers, destined happenings, kylei, music, nature, photos, plant magic, risk-taking, serpents, spirituality, the essential belenen collection, those passing through, travels, tree-hugging, trees, turning points, wanderlusting, wildness
I'm in awe at these. No words.
Also, I'm madly in love with those earrings. Make me a pair? :P
I love how all the elements are represented in this set. I don't know if that was intentional or not, but it is pretty awesome!
Amazing photos, as always. <3 I miss your wisdom and sharing!
004ap3bb makes me homesick for Charleston--or, really, the Naval base at Goose Creek. There was a vast city of crows that lived in Crowfield (aptly named!) near the freeway, with the base in their territory. I got lost trying to get to the interstate to go home a few times before the crows showed me I could just follow the great black avian cloud and be safe.
004br2zk: <3 Sleek little snake. Ze just hung around and investigated after you fished zir out of the pool?
004cf05z: ~applauds~ Composition, lighting, and the fact that Kyle looks just so at home in the surf. Awesome. Also, footprint: omfg. <3
My sympathies about the many necessary repairs on the way home--I would've been so stressed out. I salute you two's resilience.
*squees at kingsnake cuteness* Plus that first photo of the beach sand...calls to me in a way I can't quite put my finger on. I love it.
Also, I'm kinda in love with that skirt and those earrings. You're always so fabulous. ;)
<3 7y7y7y7y7y
gahhhh. i'm so love with the photos of you connecting with that tree. it's so f'ing amazing... kyle is adorable, too ;)
are these the images out of 1000 you took? will you make a post of the outtakes? :D
I love that Angels photo! Is it going to be published in something? Will it be part of an art exhibit? It looks amazingly surreal. I thought it was a painting at first.
And this http://pics.livejournal.com/belenen/pic/0048sfqa is my favorite photo of you from this set! It also makes me realize how much you resemble Kate Winslet.
I'm not looking at facebook much at the moment as it makes me sad, so I'm out of touch with you even more than usual I think... I rarely check here, so nice to see you! I'm glad you're having such good experiences :-) :-) xxxxx