Prophets Visit (a new art series)

My latest art project is photographs of the Prophets and Sages and Gods of various religions visiting famous places around the world...because it is art, dammit! And maybe, just maybe a little bit of mystic mumbo-jumbo social / religious / political commentary about how the founders and deities of various religions are just tourists and really fun to hang out with...because I am insane, dammit! And before you scream Sacrilege! and Heresy! and Blasphemy!--remember that I grew up in the arms of Wicca, and other pot smoking hippy religious philosophies...because my parents allowed me to hang out with my aunt, dammit!

If you want to follow the art series, stalk me on DeviantArt...because I am a very humorous artist, dammit!

And remember for just a dollar a month, you can encourage my insanity on Patreon...because I have bills to pay, dammit!

Or you could just buy random stories and rants from me on Amazon...because I have a soapbox and I am not afraid to use it, dammit!

Three Prophets visit the Denver Broncos at Mile Hi.

In this installment, three Prophets (Moses, Muhammad, and Jesus) visit the Mile High city and decide to take in a football game at Sports Authority Field at Mile Hi. Knowing that the Denver Broncos are better than the Oakland Raiders, they dress accordingly. Go Broncos!

Bad cover for Lunatic with a Soapbox

An ugly temporary cover for Lunatic with a Soapbox.

The other day, I decided that considering that the third collection of articles that I wrote for the Hearthstone Community Church's monthly newsletter was ready, it was time to write the introduction and slap a temporary cover on the ebook, so that I could upload it to Smashwords.

I have mixed feelings about this cover. Mainly about the background. I originally planned on having this cover photograph taken downtown where all the street preachers do their work. Unfortunately, that is a two person job...and well, everyone knows how hard it is to get schedules to match up with one another.

The pose itself is more or less what I originally planned. Before anyone asks, I know--one should not mix an Inner Order tool with an Outer Order robe. But until I can afford to replace my Temple garb, this is what I have to work with. Besides, I am not sure that a white robe, or even a red one, would work any better for the final photo.

What I really think that I need is a big howking-a** pentacle. You know the type--one you can see from space. But I do not own one of them. I wonder if a "Beware of dog" sign would be an ok substitute. Probably not. (The house came with a Beware of dog sign; it is currently in storage...because I did not know what else to do with it.)

So anyways, the collection of articles that I wrote in 2012 for the Hearthstone newsletter is now available on Smashwords (99 cents), and should be available in a couple of weeks on Barnes&Noble and Apple.

Jewelry inspected and blessed by the Secret Chiefs

This dragonfly necklace has been inspected by Secret Chief Mortimor.

Over this past weekend, I was taking photos some of my wife's jewelry, including several new pieces. One of the new pieces was this dragonfly necklace which Mortimor personally inspected. I presume that he approved of it. He might have even blessed it---I am not completely sure. Either it was a blessing, or he wanted me to play more attention to him.

Lucky kitty foot not included.

Step one in the secret blessing ritual.

Step two in the secret blessing ritual.

Ok, looking at the photos, it is probably not a Secret Chief blessing of the jewelry; it seems to be merely that the Secret Chief in question wanted more petting and less photography. And he is such a cute kitty, who am I to refuse?
(All implications that the Secret Chiefs approve of my wife's jewelry are meant to be taken seriously. Some Secret Chiefs promote esoteric Orders; mine promote my wife's jewelry business, so that she will buy them freeze dried salmon kitty treats. Obey the Secret Chiefs---go buy some of my wife's jewelry right now. And remember that the piece he blessed is available for sale right now.)

If you want the esoteric information that the Secret Chief is guarding, you must give him a bribe.

Is Nicolas Cage an Alchemist?

Nicolas Cage has been around for a long time, hasn't he?

For those of you who missed it, last week a photograph went up for auction on eBay. It was a photo that was found in an album of civil war era pictures (1870s), complete with an unusual number of death shots (whatever that means to a non-historian). It was the only photo that did not identify the person in the shot. But never fear---the eBay seller jack_mord knows who it is.

It is Nicolas Cage.

And how is this possible? How could a picture of Nicolas Cage exist in an album of civil war era pictures. Simple, according to jack_mord, Nicolas Cage is "some sort of walking undead/vampire, et cetera, who quickens/reinvents himself once every 75 years or so. 150 years from now, he might be a politician, the leader of a cult, or a talk show host.”

There are just a couple of problems with this vampire theory. One, the photo itself---ain't vampires supposed to be invisible to film? Two, Nicolas Cage has been out and about in the daytime---shouldn't he be a little crispy and deep fried after being exposed to sunlight?

So alas, Nicolas Cage is not a vampire.

But never fear, the Amazing Golden Dawn Newshound that I am knows the truth about this photo.

Nicolas Cage is an alchemist who has been kicking around since before the civil war.

My proof for this theory is the fact that a few years ago, Nicolas Cage admitted on a late night talk show that he was interested in 17th century German philosophy. We all know what that means---Nicolas Cage has been studying the Rosicrucians and their amazing life-extending alchemical techniques.

I guess that Nicolas Cage forgotten the first rule of being an immortal alchemist---do not allow any records to exist that proclaim your immortality. The Third Order is obviously upset---the photo with its million dollar asking price has been removed from the listings on eBay.

And Nicolas, if you are reading this, you are always welcome to sit in lodge with me.

Delay in posting

Mugwort in mortar and pestle.

Apologies to all who are waiting for the next post. I need to edit some photos for Celtic Soul Jewelry and Pottery before bouncing back to my own stuff. My test project for Smashwords is also on the back burner. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Freaky fact of the day---I have been taking pottery photos for six years now (I realized this fact when doing a "brute search" on the computer today for a photo that my wife needed to consult). For instance, this photo of a mortar and pestle was taken six years ago. I find that kinda amazing; time has flown by.

Minor business accomplishments today

Today, I finally got around to setting up a blog page for my wife's business---Celtic Soul Jewelry and Pottery. I also set up a Facebook fanpage for it. She does not need them yet, but one thing I have learned---it is better to set up your pages before you need them (it is nice when the spiders can find them). So if you are interested in following the developments, including photos of her latest work, of my wife's business, check out the new blog. Besides, setting up the new web presences, I also took about three hundred photos (about one gigabyte) today; I think maybe a dozen are usable. It was a bad lighting day. Hopefully, tomorrow is better for photography. 

I do my own artwork

I do my own artwork and photography. That needs to be understood if the the following statement is going to make any type of sense. I don't care if you think it is a waste of time or not. One of the recent comments that was tossed about in the flurry of the latest Epic of Hurt Feelings is that someone was wasting a whole bunch of their time playing around with photoshop. I was disappointed to learn that the photoshopped images were actually being farmed out (outsourced)---being done by an internet artist---and not being done by one of the people involved in the ruckus. *sigh* Does it change the humor level of the images? No. But it did seem like an enjoyable way to vent. And I am equally disappointed by the person who thought that someone should be doing "Work" rather than playing around with photoshop. Playing around with photoshop is work (I also edit all my own artwork and photos---hence why they look like they were done by a six-year old). I do not like the implication that art and photography and photoshop are not proper activities for an Adept to engage in. It is part of my skill set (it might end up being my "earn-the-rent" job). What next? It is a waste of time to pet my cat or make love to my wife? It is a slippery slope when you start deciding what is proper for an Adept to do in their spare time---one cannot be in circle all the time (literally, not figuratively). Even if one does not like the use of photoshopped images, one should not say that the activity of making them is complete waste of time---there would be less murders in the world if more people were busy using photoshop instead (or curses, or drunken and disorderly, or fill-in-the-blank). That is my dime of wisdom for the day.

Celtic Soul Jewelry photo day

Decided to spend the day photographing pictures of the jewelry that my wife is making for her online Etsy shop: Celtic Soul Jewelry. She caught me in the right mood, and I had uploaded three articles that I wrote to internet the night before, so I decided that today was as good as a day as any to fix the bad set of photos that previously been uploaded to Etsy. How bad were they? You didn't see me give a link to them, did you? My professional standards kicked in, and you know how I get---I refuse to give links to sites that I consider eye-sores. I think the primary problem was that the lighting and backgrounds for the pieces were bad. So today, the seven pieces that she had already up on Etsy got new photos. I am still not happy with the thumbnails; I need to actually figure out the best way to do this project for that site. Nevertheless, I am much happier with the new photos. And hopefully, it was a slow news day on the internet, and I didn't miss anything of importance today. Tomorrow, I got to write a newsletter column and a blurb for the June 10th Hearthstone Community Church Open Full Moon Ritual which I am leading (hello boys and girls, it is story time). Oh, if you are curious, all three pendants seen in this photo are available in the Etsy shop: Celtic Soul Jewelry.