Tuesday, December 31, 2013

AWESOME DISPLAY FROM THUNDER & LIGHTNING BEINGS OVER BIG ISLAND of HAWAI'I / MY FLUTE CONCERT FOR THEM :)




Recorded on the morning of 30 December 2013, near Pahoa, Hawaii, during a lull in the massive thunderstorm that has been passing through for the last 48 hours. For a while the thunder beings continued to speak, but no rain was falling, so I went with my flute out into the back yard here on the lower slopes of Mauna Loa and played for them.
My Odell Borg 'High Spirits' native American F# aromatic cedar flute is named 'Aihe-waniwa Tui-Ruru Kotare-Kaitiaki Magellanic Thunder Song'.
The Cloud Camera is an experimental high sensitivity camera mounted to the catwalk of CFHT. The purpose of the camera is to take pictures of clouds and other weather at night, even on moonless nights. It only operates from sunset to sunrise.
Because of its sensitivity, even very faint things in the sky can appear very bright. The moon looks a lot like the sun and the planets appear brighter than we are used to seeing them. Even a crescent moon is so bright it saturates the image like the sun does to normal cameras. You can usually tell the difference because when the moon rises you will still see stars but when the sun rises all the stars disappear.
Everything in the sky rises and sets at a different time each day. The “Guides” tool annotates images and movies with approximations of constellations (in red), the names of the five brightest stars in the view (in white), and the planets plus our moon and the sun (in blue). These positions are recalculated for each image to make sure the positions are accurate.
This camera is facing East towards Hilo and you can usually see the lights of the city and the belt road through Hamakua along with boats and barges on the ocean. You can also see inter-island and mainland flights arriving and departing from Hilo airport.
- See more at: http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2013/12/30/video-lightning-explodes-over-hilo-hawaii-on-cloudcam/#sthash.C7MJEvHJ.dpuf


THUNDER AND LIGHTNING BEINGS PUT ON SHOW


MAUNA KEA, Hawaii – An incredible image was captured over night on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea. The view is facing Hilo, and it shows last night’s unusual thunderstorm over the east side of the island.
At one point, the lightning is seen occurring with such high frequency that is appears as a fixed light on the cloudcam, which takes a picture every 60 seconds and compiles time-lapse movies from those pictures. Thunder and lightning is rare over Hawaii Island, maybe happening only a handful of times each year.

The Cloud Camera is an experimental high sensitivity camera mounted to the catwalk of CFHT. The purpose of the camera is to take pictures of clouds and other weather at night, even on moonless nights. It only operates from sunset to sunrise.

Because of its sensitivity, even very faint things in the sky can appear very bright. The moon looks a lot like the sun and the planets appear brighter than we are used to seeing them. Even a crescent moon is so bright it saturates the image like the sun does to normal cameras. You can usually tell the difference because when the moon rises you will still see stars but when the sun rises all the stars disappear.

Everything in the sky rises and sets at a different time each day. The “Guides” tool annotates images and movies with approximations of constellations (in red), the names of the five brightest stars in the view (in white), and the planets plus our moon and the sun (in blue). These positions are recalculated for each image to make sure the positions are accurate.

This camera is facing East towards Hilo and you can usually see the lights of the city and the belt road through Hamakua along with boats and barges on the ocean. You can also see inter-island and mainland flights arriving and departing from Hilo airport.





There is another show going on above the clouds atop Mauna Kea, as East Hawaii is getting drenched below. A coating of fresh snow has returned to the 13,000 foot summit. - See more at: http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2013/12/30/video-lightning-explodes-over-hilo-hawaii-on-cloudcam/#sthash.C7MJEvHJ.dpuf
There is another show going on above the clouds atop Mauna Kea, as East Hawaii is getting drenched below. A coating of fresh snow has returned to the 13,000 foot summit.
The Cloud Camera is an experimental high sensitivity camera mounted to the catwalk of CFHT. The purpose of the camera is to take pictures of clouds and other weather at night, even on moonless nights. It only operates from sunset to sunrise.
Because of its sensitivity, even very faint things in the sky can appear very bright. The moon looks a lot like the sun and the planets appear brighter than we are used to seeing them. Even a crescent moon is so bright it saturates the image like the sun does to normal cameras. You can usually tell the difference because when the moon rises you will still see stars but when the sun rises all the stars disappear.
Everything in the sky rises and sets at a different time each day. The “Guides” tool annotates images and movies with approximations of constellations (in red), the names of the five brightest stars in the view (in white), and the planets plus our moon and the sun (in blue). These positions are recalculated for each image to make sure the positions are accurate.
This camera is facing East towards Hilo and you can usually see the lights of the city and the belt road through Hamakua along with boats and barges on the ocean. You can also see inter-island and mainland flights arriving and departing from Hilo airport.
- See more at: http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2013/12/30/video-lightning-explodes-over-hilo-hawaii-on-cloudcam/#sthash.C7MJEvHJ.dpuf
MAUNA KEA, Hawaii – An incredible image was captured over night on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea. The view is facing Hilo, and it shows last night’s unusual thunderstorm over the east side of the island.
At one point, the lightning is seen occurring with such high frequency that is appears as a fixed light on the cloudcam, which takes a picture every 60 seconds and compiles time-lapse movies from those pictures. Thunder and lightning is rare over Hawaii Island, maybe happening only a handful of times each year.
From the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope:
- See more at: http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2013/12/30/video-lightning-explodes-over-hilo-hawaii-on-cloudcam/#sthash.C7MJEvHJ.dpuf
MAUNA KEA, Hawaii – An incredible image was captured over night on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea. The view is facing Hilo, and it shows last night’s unusual thunderstorm over the east side of the island.
At one point, the lightning is seen occurring with such high frequency that is appears as a fixed light on the cloudcam, which takes a picture every 60 seconds and compiles time-lapse movies from those pictures. Thunder and lightning is rare over Hawaii Island, maybe happening only a handful of times each year.
From the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope:
- See more at: http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2013/12/30/video-lightning-explodes-over-hilo-hawaii-on-cloudcam/#sthash.C7MJEvHJ.dpuf
MAUNA KEA, Hawaii – An incredible image was captured over night on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea. The view is facing Hilo, and it shows last night’s unusual thunderstorm over the east side of the island.
At one point, the lightning is seen occurring with such high frequency that is appears as a fixed light on the cloudcam, which takes a picture every 60 seconds and compiles time-lapse movies from those pictures. Thunder and lightning is rare over Hawaii Island, maybe happening only a handful of times each year.
From the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope:
- See more at: http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2013/12/30/video-lightning-explodes-over-hilo-hawaii-on-cloudcam/#sthash.C7MJEvHJ.dpuf
MAUNA KEA, Hawaii – An incredible image was captured over night on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea. The view is facing Hilo, and it shows last night’s unusual thunderstorm over the east side of the island.
At one point, the lightning is seen occurring with such high frequency that is appears as a fixed light on the cloudcam, which takes a picture every 60 seconds and compiles time-lapse movies from those pictures. Thunder and lightning is rare over Hawaii Island, maybe happening only a handful of times each year.
From the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope:
- See more at: http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2013/12/30/video-lightning-explodes-over-hilo-hawaii-on-cloudcam/#sthash.C7MJEvHJ.dpuf
MAUNA KEA, Hawaii – An incredible image was captured over night on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea. The view is facing Hilo, and it shows last night’s unusual thunderstorm over the east side of the island.
At one point, the lightning is seen occurring with such high frequency that is appears as a fixed light on the cloudcam, which takes a picture every 60 seconds and compiles time-lapse movies from those pictures. Thunder and lightning is rare over Hawaii Island, maybe happening only a handful of times each year.
From the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope:
- See more at: http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2013/12/30/video-lightning-explodes-over-hilo-hawaii-on-cloudcam/#sthash.C7MJEvHJ.dpuf
MAUNA KEA, Hawaii – An incredible image was captured over night on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea. The view is facing Hilo, and it shows last night’s unusual thunderstorm over the east side of the island.
At one point, the lightning is seen occurring with such high frequency that is appears as a fixed light on the cloudcam, which takes a picture every 60 seconds and compiles time-lapse movies from those pictures. Thunder and lightning is rare over Hawaii Island, maybe happening only a handful of times each year.
From the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope:
- See more at: http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2013/12/30/video-lightning-explodes-over-hilo-hawaii-on-cloudcam/#sthash.C7MJEvHJ.dpuf

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

RICKY MAYNARD, TASMANIAN PHOTOGRAPHER & INDIGENOUS ACTIVIST :)

 RICKY with PAINTED ROCKS
 Mine on left, one from central Australian artist, 1996
RICKY WITH PHOTO OF ANCIENT PETROGLYPHS ON TASMANIA
 HONOURING THE ANCESTORS

 THE OLD CHURCH AT WYBALEENA FLINDERS ISLAND
 FURNEAUX ISLANDS LANDSCAPES
 VANSITTART ISLAND
 THE REAL PEOPLE
 OF AUSTRALIA

 GLADYS


Ricky Maynard is an internationally-known indigenous Australian photographer and activist. Originally from northern Tasmania, he and his wife Anita were living on Flinders Island, Tasmania when we did this interview in February of 2013. Soon thereafter, the Maynards moved to Clark Island where they are working with indigenous youth who have been in trouble with 'white civilization.' In these interviews we talk about many things, from what it's like living on Flinders Island...regarded as 'the worst of the worst' places in Australia from the perspective of the indigenous people, from the days of 'terra nullius' to the not so distant past...to Ricky's numerous international sojourns as artist-in-residence...to various dimensions of photography and artistic creativity in general.
Ricky is very much a photographer of the 'old school', and in many ways could be thought of as the 'Ansel Adams of Australia.' He works almost exclusively in large format black-and white film photography, and his primary goal as photographer and artist is to tell the real story of his people, the indigenous people of Tasmania, who were subjected to the most brutal treatment of anyone in Australia. A big part of Ricky's story is dispelling the institutionalized myth that the indigenous people of Tasmania are extinct. They are, in fact, very much alive and well, despite what the 'powers that be' have tried to do for the last 200 years!
THANK YOU RICKY AND ANITA...KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK! :)


RICKY MAYNARD INTERVIEW WITH JEFF PHILLIPS, FEB 2013 (PART 1 of 2)
http://youtu.be/O90KWmYTtAQ
'ON THE BRINK' RADIO #49 (AUDIO OF SAME INTERVIEW)
TECHNICAL NOTE: Please forgive the poor audio quality, it has resulted from a video capture anomaly, have corrected as much as possible with EQ etc.
https://soundcloud.com/jeff-arohanui/on-the-brink-radio-49-ricky

 RICKY MAYNARD INTERVIEW WITH JEFF PHILLIPS, FEB 2013(Part 2 of 2)


ON THE BRINK RADIO #50  (Audio of same interview)

 https://soundcloud.com/jeff-mahalocules/on-the-brink-radio-50-ricky
'PORTRAIT OF A DISTANT LAND' Message Stick
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/messagestick/s…ries/s2377561.htm
FOR AN IN-DEPTH PRESENTATION OF THE REAL HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA SEE JOHN PILGER'S BRILLIANT DOCO 'THE SECRET COUNTRY'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j_r0Wgg0T0
DAVID STANNARD 'AMERICAN HOLOCAUST' (documents the genocide of Native Americans from the time of the Columbian invasion)

BBC'S 'SURVIVING PROGRESS' (recommended by Ricky)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT9FfECB8A8

JEFF PHILLIPS
BIG ISLAND HAWAI'I
10 DECEMBER 2013

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

EQUINOX GREETINGS from AOTEA, SPRING ARRIVES WITH A ROAR! Jeff Phillips :)

 VIEW FROM TE AHUMATA, EQUINOX EVE
 TE AHUMATA IS THE LARGEST OUT-CROPPING
OF QUARTZ IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
 A POWERFUL WINDOW OF TIME, 'DAY OUT OF TIME' IN JULY
 TO SPRING EQUINOX IN SEPTEMBER
 DEDICATING NEW MEDICINE WHEEL ROCKS 
AT EQUINOX SUNRISE ON MEMORY ISLAND
 MEDICINE WHEEL ROCKS LOOKING NORTHWEST
 EQUINOX SUNRISE WITH RAINBOW
 RAINBOW ARC
 SUNRISE RAINBOW ARC RISING
 SACRED CEREMONIAL GEAR WITH MEDICINE WHEEL ROCKS
 CEREMONIAL GEAR AT TWIN POHUTAKAWA TREES
 TEDDY & WALLY WITH SPECIAL ROCKS
 CREATURES & GEAR AT OTHER POHUTAKAWA TREE
 TWIN POHUTAKAWAS LOOKING SOUTHEAST
 PAINTED ROCKS FOR SUNBEAM MEDICINE WHEEL
 13 NEW PAINTED ROCKS AND LIESBET'S CENTRAL ONE 
FOR ORIGINAL AOTEA MEDICINE WHEEL
 REJUVENATED ORIGINAL MEDICINE WHEEL AT MEDLANDS
(OUTER CIRCLE IS QUARTZ FROM TE AHUMATA)
NEW MEDICINE WHEEL FOR NIKKI AT SUNBEAM

Australia and New Zealand begin their seasons on the first of the months that have solstices and equinoxes, but I've been telling them for 13 years now that the seasons are defined astronomically and don't really start on the first of any month but at specifically-defined moments in time that have to do with planetary orbital mechanics and geometry. The spring, or vernal equinox down under (austral, as opposed to boreal, up north) occurred at 8:44am on Monday morning.

I did quite a bit of ceremonial activity to usher in the coming season of growth, warmth and blossoming and to honour the equal balance of day and night, of yin and yang, of polarity and partnership, burning sage, chanting and offering my prayers to the Great Spirit, drumming and shaking my shell and gourd rattles, and playing my flute, 'Aihe-waniwa RuRu Kaitiaki Thunder-Song' to Black Elk's seven grandmothers and grandfathers of the four directions, above, below and within.

The day before the equinox I made a journey up onto Te Ahumata, a beautiful sacred mountain near here that I'd climbed with Liesbet two or three times. The magical week I spent back in late July was on her base, and there I really came to know what it feels like to be in a place that has lots of 'precious things' intact in the ground where they belong. Te Ahumata has lots of gold and silver, and is said to be the largest out-cropping of quartz in the southern hemisphere. I came down in almost total darkness, and was blessed with an awesome view of Venus in the west with the arc of the Milky Way and the Hunab Ku between Scorpio's stinger and Sagitarrius's tea-pot spout.  When I returned to Medlands, I went to the beach and was able to see the entire span of the Milky Way in her full splendour, as well as the large and small Magallanic Clouds...so inspiring!

TE AHUMATA PHOTOS
https://picasaweb.google.com/103250190528562753850/TEAHUMATAGREATBARRIERISLANDJUNE2012 

On the equinox I also dedicated two medicine wheels. The first was a refurbishment of the one Liesbet and I made here about 3 years ago, with some new painted rocks; the second is a new one I made out at Sunbeam on the base of Te Ahumata. Nikki and I did a little ceremony around it with drums, shakers and sage. 

Liesbet is at Arni's property on remote Flinders Island Tasmania, where our 'Mother Earth Temple' is located, and hopefully did some synchronized ceremonies and flute-playing in the kiva there for the equinox as well!

OUR MEDICINE WHEELS
http://www.renavigating-the-human-process.blogspot.co.nz/2012/06/our-medicine-wheels-jeff-phillips.html

OUR 'MOTHER EARTH TEMPLE'
http://www.renavigating-the-human-process.blogspot.co.nz/2011/12/mother-earth-temple-new-project-by-jeff.html

Spring definitely came in with a 'roar' yesterday, as a huge low-pressure system came down from tropics bringing almost hurricane-like conditions, winds over 120 km per hour and about 60 mils of rain in about 18 hours. I was somehow inspired to venture out into the blast...the rain was so hard I couldn't even see. I managed to get one photo as well!

Here's wishing everyone a WONDERFUL NEW SEASON, whether it's spring down under or autumn up north...may the beauty and power of being here now resonate in all of our souls, may we 'walk in beauty' and compassion, ask more of ourselves, and live simply so that others may simply live.

JEFF PHILLIPS
MEDLANDS BEACH
AOTEA
MOTHERSHIP EARTH

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

"GREETINGS FROM AOTEA 'THE DAWN': 'WALKING IN BEAUTY' HERE AND NOW" by Jeff Phillips :-)


BEAUTIFUL ANIWANIWA
MEMORY ISLAND with ANIWANIWA
MEMORY ISLAND with TAIOWA GOING TO SLEEP
MEMORY ISLAND AS I SEE HER EACH MORNING
AMAZING DOUBLE-ANIWANIWA 3 DAYS AGO
WHAT MY DESK LOOKS LIKE NOW
MY FIRST HONEY-BEE ROCK
MY SWEET MOREPORK or 'RU-RU' GUARDIAN/FRIEND
MY LOVELY DOLPHINS or 'AIHE' GUARDIAN/FRIENDS

TWIN POHUTAKAWA FRIENDS/GUARDIANS with ANIWANIWA
MEDICINE WHEEL HERE...BEING RECREATED NOW
MY OUTSIDE TABLE with TEDDY, WALLY and PLANT FRIENDS
TEDDY and WALLY with my native American cedar flute 
'AIHE-WANIWA RURU-THUNDER-SONG'
WHOLEMEAL BREAD and INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIAN FLAG
MIXING COLOURS FOR A 
CELESTIAL PAINTING BACK-GROUND


TE AHUMATA SUNSET

TAIOWA SHINES HIS BEAMS UPON AWAKENING

PEACEFUL EVENING RIVER

MORNING VIEW FROM ATOP MEMORY ISLAND

GREETINGS FROM BEAUTIFUL AOTEA, or Great Barrier Island, to me, one of the most special places not only in all of New Zealand but in the whole world that I've experienced so far. 'Aotea' means 'the dawn' in the ancient pre-Maori polynesian language, and Medlands Beach, where I am now, is where Oruawharo, an ancient and legendary explorer/navigator, first landed here who knows how long ago.

Today is THE most absolutely beautiful day in many weeks, and with all the extremely miraculous happenings of late, the full moon coming up tonight (called the 'harvest moon' in the northern hemisphere), and then the austral vernal equinox next week...I feel a tremendous amount of power and beauty streaming through, inspiring and uplifting me. I have SO much to be thankful for.  Words fail me in my attempt to share this beauty and power, but I wanted to send this posting to you...my friends wherever you may be, members of my family of life, mitakuye oyasin, and true 'people of one heart.'

I want to say THANK YOU to ALL OF YOU who are reading this now, for being there and for doing what you do and being who you are and for being in touch with me, for making me possible, for being wonderful friends and fellow crew of Mothership Earth.

I LOVE YOU :)

I cannot begin to describe how magical, how enchanted my weeks on Aotea have been since I arrived a couple months ago. I've been in deep solitude, not being around other people very much. A series of unending miracles brings me to the present moment...a morning so beautiful that I can barely make myself sit here at the computer to write this. I want to thank my awesome friends John and Peggy-anne Garlick who have been letting me care-take their lovely home(s) here at Medlands, the place where I have spent more time than anywhere else and the closest thing I have to a real 'home' since leaving America in 2000.

The Garlicks on this very day are beginning a week-long tour of some extremely beautiful and powerful areas in the desert southwest of America, places I know and love dearly. They will be visiting the Grand Canyon (I've urged them to walk down to the river in order to meet the spirit of the Canyon in person), Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, and Monument Valley, which is in the Four Corners area that the Hopi refer to as the 'navel of the Earth.' This is one of the most powerful places on Earth, and also one of the most grotesquely violated by 'wasichu' industrial civilization. When I was there I felt energy conflicts so powerful as to be unsettling, spooky, even. I highly recommend a brilliant book called Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey for anyone who loves to read and wants to explore the desert southwest multidimensionally through the mind of a person who I liken to a cross between Mark Twain and Rachel Carson.

I would also like to thank the New Zealand Department of Immigration for giving me a 'special deal' that allowed me to stay a while longer than would normally be allowed so that I could take care of the Garlick's place in their absence.

And I especially want to thank the beautiful spirit of Aotea, who I've been getting to know since I first started coming here in 2006. YOU ARE AWESOME! She has been blessing me with rainbow after rainbow, visits from dolphins, on-going relationships with moreporks (a small native owl, known as 'boo-books' in Australia). Nothing I can create or share can express the purely magical feelings of being here and that I experience as I am embraced ever more deeply by Aotea. She is Gaia, she is Mother Earth.

Another dimension making being here and now all the more powerful is that my beautiful partner of five years, Liesbet Verstraeten (who has been 'doing her own thing' apart from me for over a year now) has been back on Flinders Island, Tasmania, for just about one lunar cycle now, staying at our friend Arni's place, a remote property by the sea with no electricity at all and where Liesbet and I spent 6 weeks in 2009 (and made a film 'The Chronicles of Balarnia' about this) then 4 months in 2011. This 4 month period was THE most intense and powerful time of our lives as we dedicated ourselves to being true 'people of one heart'; to not only surviving but thriving in the possible absence of 'civilization' (while remaining vegetarian), which entailed the creation and nurturing of 10 gardens of various kinds; and most powerfully, the design, construction and activation of what we came to call the 'Mother Earth Temple', a 'stone-chakra medicine complex and inter-dimensional park' that started off as our 8th medicine wheel but evolved into what is by far our biggest, most complex and most powerful art-project ever.


DJED-PILLAR IN CROWN CHAKRA WHEEL

VIEW OF LUNAR CYCLE WHEEL ON TOP OF KIVA

DESCRIPTIVE PLAQUE AND CHART

SOUTH CELESTIAL POLE, 
MAGELLANIC CLOUDS and DJED PILLAR

MOSAIC-ED ENTRANCE TO KIVA

AERIAL VIEW OF ENTIRE COMPLEX

What is so powerful about the past month is that even though Liesbet and I are physically apart, we are still a kind of 'spiritual partnership', two creative beings who share an immense love of life and who have each been gifted a tremendous amount of creativity in honour of the dream-time ancestors and all ancient indigenous peoples, connected by the power and beauty of all we did together for five amazing years. For the past month Liesbet has not only been back on Flinders Island, which is a 'sister island' to Aotea, spiritually and geographically, but she has also been with the Mother Earth Temple and kiva, which is the first time that either of us has been there since we left in November of 2011. When I spoke with her about a month ago, she expressed great anticipation at being with the MET again, and I have felt that she has both  re-activated the complex as only she could do, being of its two creators, as well as RECEIVING many memories, inspirations and motivations old and new and other amazing and cosmic benefits that may be totally unknown.

I have felt her presence and activities there sending waves of power and inspiration to me here, as if 'rainbow bridges' of true and deep spiritual connection are being created and maintained, connecting our hearts with the hearts of mitakuye oyasin and Mother Earth, and linking our two favourite island-paradises in the worlds known to us! Plus, a few weeks ago I got a native American cedar flute, an F# Odell Borg, identical to Liesbet's! We've tried to do some synchronized 'jam sessions' with her in the kiva at the MET and me on top of Memory Island, where I go each day at sunrise and sunset, play flute, burn sage, sing, shake my rattles and offer my prayers to the seven grand-mothers and grand-fathers!

JOIN US FOR SYNCHRONIZED 'JAM SESSIONS' THIS COMING FULL MOON TONIGHT (a window of time centred on 23:00 on the 19th) and the EQUINOX (a window of time centred on 8:00 on the 23rd)

These past few weeks have been some of the most powerful and productive that I can remember. I've been getting up between 5 and 6am every day, and going to sleep between 9 and 11pm. I've been doing heaps of everything I do, including working on several paintings and hundreds of rocks; getting better on flute and recording on two different pianos; helping two community gardens and the garden here, and eating HEAPS of brilliant fresh veggies including greens, broccoli, cauliflower, and kale; catching up on thousands of digital photos; capturing dozens of hours of video footage (including the 19 hours from  Flinders Island 2011 and the making of the Mother Earth Temple = a new film project); down-loading dozens of new 'Music from the Hearts of Space' radio show; doing heaps of activism, including my 'shining for cetaceans' series; recording my weekly radio show; making a rock-garden for Peggy-anne here, re-making the medicine wheel here and making a new one at my friend's property at Okupu (where I was house-sitting during the very cosmic week back in late July); and spending a lot of time out with the spirit of Aotea. I am going to go and camp out a night or two here as the weather is getting nicer.  I might go and try to see some penguins swimming in the ocean by the light of the full moon, as Liesbet saw some when she was here in April!

GOTU KOLA 
('penny-wort' or 'arthritis plant')
CENTELLAS ASIATICA (L) and UNIFLORA (R)

Another of the many wonderful blessings I am experiencing here is that, for the first time ever, I have not one but two varieties of gotu kola, a small ground cover plant that many people have, but they are unaware that this plant is regarded as THE most important in the entire Ayurvedic medicine tradition of India and Sri Lanka. I've gone to great trouble for the past year to get these plants for all my friends in Australia and New Zealand, but I've hardly ever gotten to eat any of the leaves. You're supposed to eat 3-4 leaves daily for immense health and cognitive benefits, as well as increased longevity; gotu kola is also associated with the crown chakra in the Ayurvedic tradition.  Thanks to botanist Hugh Wilson at Hinewai Reserve on Akaroa, I learned that a variety indigenous to New Zealand exists, and at a plant nursery in Oratia I was able to find some. I had it couriered out to the Garlicks, and I've been nurturing her as well as some of the other variety I got from Nikki at Sunbeam, where I was house-sitting during the 'sacred week out of time' in late July.

OK...thanks for reading this! I better go and paint and garden and swim in the ocean! THANKS for being there, thanks to everyone who is supporting me from loving my art-work, many blessings on everyone! Let us ALL try to ask more of ourselves, to live simply so that others may simply live, to ask not what our planet can do for us but what we can do for our planet.

SENDING 'AIHE TOHORA PAIKEA WANANGA MITAKUYE OYASIN ANIWANIWA RU-RU HINE AHU ONE HIRAKIMATA HARATAONGA TE AHUMATA WAITAHA ROPEWAI AOTEA' SUNSHINE FULL-MOON LOVE AND GREETINGS :)

NAMU AMIDA BUTSU

JEFF PHILLIPS
AOTEA
MOTHERSHIP EARTH
18 SEPTEMBER 2013


LINKS TO HEAPS OF RECENT AOTEA PHOTOS:






https://picasaweb.google.com/103250190528562753850/AOTEAGREATBARRIERISLANDNEWZEALAND20136

BELOW IS A CHRONOLOGICAL SELECTION OF PHOTOS FROM THE LINKS ABOVE, FROM THE MORNING I LEFT AUCKLAND UNTIL A COUPLE DAYS AGO