25 July, 2024

The Eternal Now

 On the claim of the "eternal now" as the only existing time, as opposed to the past or the future, I opine:

True: The past is gone and the future is yet to be, so the only living‒and malleable‒time is contained within the present. And yet, what was, is; what is, will be. The present is (was) built upon the past and the future is (being) built upon the present. What was has led here and here is whence what follows stems. Each moment, however alive, passes quickly, merging with the past, a time that once was and used to be the "now". What is now is a remnant of what was and a vision of what will be. Yesterday is a now in retrospect, tomorrow is a now in prospect. Thus, the now is not only now ‒ spanning over past and future times in constant parallels, the only time known to man to be alive, it lies in eternity. 

The Eternal Now © Ladanseuse
English concept dated 25. 7. 2022, edited & published on 25. 7. 2024

23 July, 2024

A New Dawn over the River of Life

 Each new daybreak brings the gift of a fresh start, yet another chance. It is the Universe lending its generous hand; an extra long glittery string of starlets, carefully threaded. You owe so much to Higher Wisdom; it leads you and comforts you.

Life flows like a river, never to stop, even if you get stuck on one spot. Follow life, give in to the rhythm of infinity, let drum beats make your heart dance. Life is to be fulfilled for as long as it is, as long as you are, as long as it can. The river is to be kept alive, not let it dry out, realize your dreams. To protect your inner river, fight for it, use its life-giving source and become Mother, give life to your brain children!!! 

Such is a conception arising out of your womb: an inner cry that has been heard out; a longing that has seen the light of day; a materialized dream.
The past has been swallowed by the dark, with the sun comes a rebirth.
🌞🌺🌹🌸🌊
A New Dawn over the River of Life © Ladanseuse
English translation of Nový úsvit nad řekou života dated 23. 7. 2024,
based on the Czech concept dated 24. 3. 2023, both published on 24. 3. 2024


21 July, 2024

The Glitter of Cosmic Boroughs

In the garth stands high a gem of a majestic plum,
a carpet of violets has ascended to the skies
and fused itself into psychedelic stars;
the giant constellation of Canis Major has effloresced through the dark,
from behind shrouds has emerged a winged angel,
a duckling ruffling her plumes;
crimson Luna has perfused into a love-apple
with a glittery tail of cosmic boroughs.

The Glitter of Cosmic Boroughs © Ladanseuse
English translation of Třpyt vesmírních měst dated 21. 7. 2024, based on the Czech concept writ. during Liter Art on 23. 5. 2024 using [transl.] tomato (love-apple), duckling, dog, plum, lecho; published on 21. 7. 2024

18 July, 2024

Glowing Sahara

 In the still of infinity glows Sahara, lying bare, 
the wind blows in her, disheveling strands of her hair;
mills of God grind slowly but surely;
Luna has surfaced, surfing on duny waves, like an alchemyst,
in her flare, love's embrace, dream-filled heart quakes
Lady Night has spread out her astral canvas.

Glowing Sahara © Ladanseuse
English translation of  Žhnoucí Sahara dated 18. 7. 2024,
based on the Czech concept writ. during Liter Art using given words [transl.] Sahara, the still, Luna, mill, love, edited & published on 18. 7. 2024

15 July, 2024

In a Lunar Womb

My heart's tears in rainfall
bespatter a gelid stone;
my life, the inner I, dreams of mine
are in existence, having weight –
why waste 'em
on the one
of a cloudy visage,
in whose core rages a storm,
flashing dagger-like lightnings;
whose heart, turned to a rock out of spite, slumbers,
even unalive in its non-love toward me,
and won't caress, devoid of gentleness?!

Tick tack...
hours pass,
the time of my life is wild in flight
even if I...
stuck in place, spinning circularly, going backward,
a starry-eyed soul on a pilgrimage enshrouded in the dark,
unaware:
What's the direction of my steps?
Where's an embrace in hopelessness?
Which soil to plant my love in for its growth into flowers?

To lift the veil of darkness
– I wish 
to rest enveloped in a shine, intertwined with rays of light, dwelling in a womb of glow;
to feel a touch of kindliness, the peace of serenity, a gleam of happiness...
to live
my dreams
in love
with reality.

In a Lunar Womb © Ladanseuse
English translation of V lůně luny, dated 15. 7. 2024, 
based on the Czech concept written during AM at RM's on 11. 4. 2024, edited & published on 4. 7. 2024

Note: Womb (lůno) as "uterus", or "a motherly life", fig. "heart"; Luna, the pale blue shining Moon, here in the sense of "shine", "light", "ray"

02 July, 2024

The Bosom's Blossom

I feel amour
if in my vicinity 
my kindred floweret has being. 

Permeating her emeraldom,
to the grove of scapes and foliage I withdraw,
into those dreamscape shapes I metamorphose;
supping aqua along with her,
my hands outstretched to the heavens,
I expand into space.

I espy shadows flickering around her,
her silvery gleams;
there is a sense of her breathing inaudibly,
filling a void by her own Self...

Existing quietly,
 I sing and dream;
with not a word on my tongue, 
I hold the heart of a flower in my arms.

The Bosom's Blossom © Ladanseuse
English translation of Srdéčka květ dated 2. 7. 2024,
based on the Czech concept at V kůži Roselyne (In Roselyne's skin) workshop with Cécile da Costa in Ponec Theater on 23. 3. 2024,
edited & published on 2. 7. 2024

03 June, 2024

The Dream That Came to Life

A fenestella comes open wide,
a surreal field of infinity
unfolds before my sight;
through it, I slip outside
to peregrinate over a wide plain...

Lo, a river! Meandering ahead of me, it allures;
my inner voice speaks up, urging me:
Walk alongside it!
Thou behold? The remote glow – follow it!

And so I undulate, flow with the river
wherever it carries me,
here and there, I hit a crag,
I disperse in fluidity in all possible directions –
'till these advances poured into a confluence remain in union...

In peace do I bide,
in sunshine am I drowned,
like a girlie in a craddle lulled,
 rocked on the wavelets of a foamy calm.

The grail is near at hand,
glistering in my palms like a gem,
so now I can fall into a placid slumber
and dream...
the dream that's come to life!

The Dream That Came to Life © Ladanseuse
English translation of "Sen, jenž stal se životem" dated 3. 6. 2024,
based on the Czech concept written during AM at RM's on 14. 3. 2024, edited & published on 2. 6. 2024

30 May, 2024

The Heart's Wistful Cry

Those crying eyes of mine,
shedding tears of the heart:
Am I a hopeful as a pilgrim to starshine,
to the fervour of the sun,
to a sphere permeated with scents
wherein balm is my lullaby?

Caught in a circle under a spell:
Whereto my steps shall I take: perhaps over here, therein, out there?
I beg the Universe
to reveal to me
that which is out of sight,
the brightness of daylight.

Time passes by like a river's flow,
the current of lament, the sea of woe,
for I'm in quest – quest – quest of
the dream of renascence in fruition,
the dimension of calm,
a fortunate outcome.

The Heart's Wistful Cry © Ladanseuse
English translation of "Teskná mantra srdce" dated 30. 5. 2024,
based on the Czech concept writ. during AM at RM's on 24. 11. 2023, edited & published on 30. 5. 2024

26 May, 2024

Inner depths

I am within, 
trembling, having gotten in,
the heart which expands, glows and shines;
with my hair like radicles,
intertwined in the Earth's nucleus,
curled up in a ball of wool,
I withdraw into a sanctum.

Via feel  'n' warmth,
bewildered, I transmogrify
into an expansive twine
in the merge of twin lines.

My heart,
a gift I give,
in palms conjoined;
in a whirly chafe
I am outstretched;
in unity
warmness ignites.

Like a planet
I spin round the Sun
in the orbit of conjunction;
feeling dizzy,
in the unknown
I find myself, caught unawares.

Deep
therein
my domicile I identify;
from within 
opening wide,
my kindred spirit
I carry inside,
caressing it inwardly.

Inner Depths © Ladanseuse
English translation of Niterné hlubiny dated 26. 5. 2024,
based on the Czech concept written on 9.11.23 & published on 9. 5. 2024

08 May, 2024

The Glow of My Soul

In one spot do I abide,
unaware of where a path of mine is to be found;
in my way a wall of silence stands...
with the scales unbalanced,
I long for a dreamlike harmony.

I unite my heart with Universum
so as to weld the disconnected,
so as star dust rises to form one loop;
gravitating toward a luminous aureole,
I thrust my soul into the arms of a glow.

Conceived by the feeling of interconnectedness,
the circulation of annular infinity, I am;
in a warming bath
my heart expands,
my heart is filled.

My soul,
in a bond of lights,
ablaze,
it glows.

The Glow of My Soul  © Ladanseuse
English translation of Záře duše mé dated 8. 5.2024,
based on the Czech concept, writ. during Authentic Movement at R. M.'s on 2. 11. 2023, edited on 5. 5. 2024 & published on 6. 5. 2024

20 November, 2023

The Platan

 Almighty gardian of Infinity,
you have rooted me in the reality of worlds;
connected with the Earth, I am outreaching towards the heavens,
with my arms outstretched to Entirety;
touching my dreams,
I evanesce into thaumaturgic dimensions.

The Platan © Ladanseuse
English translation of "Platan" dated 20. 11. 2023,
based on the Czech concept of 5. 10. 2023, writ. during Authentic Movement at R. M.'s, edited & published on 19. 11. 2023

19 November, 2023

Wayfeeling

As I traipse through the landscape of the Uknown,
feeling my way, not knowing where to go,
I am weighing my steps with care,
shivering with disquiet.

Whoever, whatever it is that is blocking my path,
there is a sense of cold, a sense of warmth;
contours are vanishing, noisy echoes filling the space.

I have been surrounded
by the expanse of Endlessness,
an expanse unbounded.

Fleeing is a touch;
my body has gone missing
and my soul has merged with Immensity.

Wayfinding © Ladanseuse

English translation of "Tápání" dated 19. 11. 2023,
based on the Czech concept, dated 21. 9. 2023, writ. during Authentic Movement at R. M.'s, edited and published on 17. 11. 2023

15 November, 2023

This Naked Lullaby

Aerated by a loving breath I am,–
feeling my soles rested upon a cushiony moss,
my soma afloat in a void,
a caressing, slightly cooling touch.

In your palms' bassinet my skin is being laid;
enclasped in safety I wish to dwell,
deliquesce in Immensity,
forever feeling Acceptance.

My heart
with melody resounds,
my soul
with peace is inspired.

Swaying
is
this naked lullaby.

This Naked Lullaby © Ladanseuse
English translation of "Ukolébavka nahá" dated 15. 11. 2023,
based on the Czecch concept of 31. 5. 2023, writ. Tělesnění at R. M.'s,
edited, published on 15. 11. 2023

26 January, 2023

Constant

 Home is found
where my heart pounds;
and all that's settled in my bosom
is at home.
💓
Albeit in an altered attire,
even with a change of scenery,
or if the sea of time passes by,
the same heart throbs at the core.
💓
The eternal essence in a changeable form,
wine will be wine,
be it in this or that flagon,
retaining its sweetness.
🍷
Constant © Ladanseuse
English translation of "Konstanta"

23 January, 2023

Amber Butterfly

 I'm not a butterfly emerged from its chrysalis,
but a Monarch ensnared in amber resin;
a butterfly that's to have spread its wings,
risen up to the welkin longingly,
but got lodged in a golden dream.
🌞
Laid to rest eternally in a warming womb,
it tastes like honey, soft to touch it is,
turned to tinder by a spark easily,
eternalized in its beauty,
with its wings concealed.
🌞
Captive to amber,
like a stone within a stone,
in a motionless slumber
lies a tiny butterflied form,
its spirit
permeated by eternity,
dwelling in luminosity.
🌞
A flutter of butterfly wings
in flickering flashes of light
through the smoothness of glassy facets
is seen by the one
who's a fate-stricken star-gazer
with metamorphic visions.
🌞
Amber Butterfly © Ladanseuse
English translation of "Jantarový motýl" dated 23. 1. 2023, 
based on the Czech concept of 1. 11. 2O22 finalized on 23. 1. 2023

26 April, 2022

Gushes of Tears from Your Deep

 A breeze – you are – my face is fanned by;
a high tide – which off my footsteps wipe;
a plume – tickling me in my palm;
a foam – gently caressing my soul;
the voice of yours – murmuring – charms.

Here – you are – my second half – close to touch;
breath – rushed from your lungs – has enveloped me mistily;
the sapphire – of your eyes – has fluidly penetrated me;
my bosom – by peace of your heart – has been swollen
in the ardent embrace of the sun.

An ocean – you are – quietly on the flow,
engulfing – my whole being – in emotion
and then – submerged in waves – the ocean ebbs far off,
beyond reach – not a drop to be hold of.

The open arms – of a tranquil lake – I dream of,
to go down – below its waterline,
getting drunk with tenderness, getting drowned in love,
only – to dwell – in your depth.

Gushes – of tears – from your deep
only – do I aspire – to wipe dry,
drowning – I am – your solid ground.

Gushes of Tears from Your Deep © Ladanseuse
English translation of "Slzy prýštící z hlubiny Tvé", dated 25. 4. 2022, edited on 17. 1. 2023

18 April, 2022

Continuum

Water, which wells up from the springs of life, is a continuum: It flows on and into the eternal ocean of time. It continuously ebbs and flows, its foamy waves washing ashore, thus influenced by the cool silvery moon, which it elementarily constitutes, just as it forms the essence of our physical Self as we are born of a watery womb and out of our heart gushes a carmine intravenous stream circulating within us and flowing out of us in sync with a lunar cycle. As if the inner was symbiotic with the outer: Both is of identical nature.

The flow of water is wavy like locks of hair as you caress them and they slip through your fingers; it undulates like mountain tops, femininely curvaceous; it spins in a whirl of chaos, voraciously devouring everything in the deeps of her eyes; efervescent, it bubbles in a velvety foam as you float in her arms; it burbles softly like a stream or rages widly like a torrent... Water is a life-giving force, water is a lady, water is life in all of Creation.

As it cleanses and washes away, water is a cathartic transformation: both on the physical plane and in the psychical sphere, it banishes evil and gifts good. As if along with monthly blood sorrow and all doom flowed out while room was given to a new seed of joy in life. Relieve yourself of that old, useless attire, immerse your body in the waters of a lake, washing off dirt and gloom; throw Morana, the winter of woe, into the river flow so as it carries it away and revives sunshine and sunheat within you; may bitter wails be washed away by the sacredness of your tears, mightfully gushing out as the heart speaks its truth through them; dance in between drops of rain, which will flush the dust away, erase footsteps, quench your thirst and cool the burning heat down.

Water is the embodiment of the adage that "what is soft is strong": with its gentleness, fluidity and pliability, it will – despite appearances  overcome rigid hardness.... or, in Keith Richard's words, "The strong guys are gentle, always. It's only weak guys that come on strong.", or, using Bruce Lee's simile, "the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind", whereas "the stiffest [immobile] tree is most easily cracked". Its strength lies not in aggression, but in a certain kind of a flexible persistance with which it will pulverize stone eventually. Water is stronger than ice: That "water hears and understands' renders it shapeable, welcoming and open, whereas by freezing it stiffens, becoming inflexible and unyielding, thus "ice does not forgive'. May ice melt, becoming water, as we need more humaneness, and tenderness in this world, we need to open ourselves to love.

Bruce Lee speaks of water "making its way through the cracks" that is "not assertive, but adjust[s] to the object and [thus] shall find a way around or through it'. As if our surroundings as well as ourselves were water:. "We are always in the process of becoming and nothing is fixed," and so only if devoid of inner ossification, with an empty mind, "formless [and] shapeless, like water," can we "change with the ever-changing" and "outward things will disclose themselves." His wisdom says: "Flow in the total openness of the living moment. Moving, be like water. Still, be like a mirror. Respond like an echo."

Water is one of the fundamental substances of the universe without which there is no life – birth, flow, change, catharsis, good, eternity. My relationship with her is multilayered; I love her; she is both without and within me..

Continuum © Ladanseuse
English translation of "Kontinuum"
Completed from excerpts of my own thoughts on 4.7.21, 30.10.21, 13.-14.4.22,
spiced up with quatations by Keith Richards and Bruce Lee

05 April, 2022

A Merge with Eternity

If you can
discern
whence stems a dread
of dark shadowiness 
amidst a sunlit day,
then you comprehend
why in the heart
ceaseless unease can dwell.

If you can
penetrate
the essence of life
before you deplete it completely,
then you learn
of whence we came,
the source of our fragility.

If you believe
in the existence of reliables,
then tell me
what it is supposed to be
when each moment passes.

If you say,
only that which prevails, matters –
is it in seach of a safe guarantee
that is trustworthy?
Or, your attachment to it
renders you wishful it would last for eternity?

Where find certainty?
All is at risk –
each step taken on your path
can be fatal,
but not to go on
means to reject life,
which life won't accept.

And so you know
there is no way of relinquishment
and keep this senseless battle on,
hurting as you sense it's in vain.

Certain instants
belong to silence
in the time
when retreat means your victory,
open your heart,
there exist moments 
wedded to eternity.

A Merge with Eternity © Ladanseuse
Original text undated; edited, translated into Czech, and published bilingually on 5. 4. 2022

We, Stories

This dictum 
echoes in my ears:
"In stories we will turn".
but we are these
stories that breathe!

We'd better detect 
means of their portrayal
before breathless we are,
before reminiscences we become!

We, Stories © Ladanseuse
Translation "My, příběhy" on 5.. 4. 2022
Written in Czech on 23. 12. 2021, edited & published on 2. 4. 2022
"In stories we will turn", a paraphrasis of In the end, we'll become stories" by Margaret Atwood

03 April, 2022

Love and Doom

 Upon leaving this place I knew of being awaited by a new world – a world in which I could fully perceive its beauties with my mind veiled in a sweet nescience, with my sorrow drowsing at the edge of an abyss; a world in which my senses would be inspirited by joy to dive into inner peace with a heart keen-sighted and open to all.

Observing the undulating sea, I can sense its cruel lovingness and feel its salty flavor all over my body; the sea is bitter-sweet, the deep of the endless blue, the deeps of marvels and presences. I can hear its swaying murmur, the hum of cicadas and the rustle of stone pine needles... as branches swing and oleanders open their lovely flowers to a realm of scents, sounds, and touches that awakens a wild love and affection within me.

Steep, murderous crags of the mountains loom above the azure ocean lying in their womb. A landscape with thousands of dwarf trees and bushes scattered throughout... the mountainous skyline... windowless and roofless houses with only walls left, houses with protrudent wires and bright bare bricks, houses with alabaster plaster and gleaming windows... a barren and deserted land, a plundered and desolate land, a captivating and wild land, nobody's land, a land of death that still abounds in germinating resilient life... a corner of the earth that reeks of abandonment and has permanently become home to suffering, a corner of the earth with the palpable presence of a war the menacing eyes of which have always been blind and the heart of which has invariably been insatiable... And these ruins used to be homes, which people have left or in which they have found death – who knows? This horrifying query hovers over this wasteland, brimming with wildlife but filled with human demise...

Thereupon, all turns to life... a life which dwells in little houses drowned in a flood of flowers... in tens of cafés resonant with music and utterances, food-scented locales with a tempting offer of ice-cream... on overcrowded paths and beaches of a pulsating town. And the thrum of car and motorcycle engines, the pounding beat of discotheques, the wail of the wind, the hubbub of thousands of voices, the tolling of bells, the roar of waves furiously crashing against the cliffs and murmuringly washing ashore – waves that rock in their soothing arms but that are also capable of slaying...

It is a July summer... The blazing sun is merciless, but life is rich in percepts in shadowy, watery and green places. All the trees bow to the sea in silent reverence, out of voiceless necessity – what for? –  and create an oasis of peace and a shelter from the sun; they rise upwards, the trees, so salubrious, magnificent and tranquil...

Along the sea shores there are hundreds of people lying, sitting or walking around... on the beach... under Asianesque reed sunshades in bars fringed with surfboards and perfumed with the sea, each with its own background music... in cafeterias with tens of chairs and small tables... at the stalls with popcorn, ice-cream, pictures, bijouterie, hats, bathing suits and other clothing, CDs, seashells, fruit – at the stalls with perhaps all that exists...

All these places are filled with people... and sentimental images of little houses and pensions in an inundation of blooming greenery: cacti, grapevines, fig trees, oleanders, palms, stone pines... whereas the mountains above them hide their terrifying void...

Love and Doom © Ladanseuse
Somewhere in former Yugoslavia, in a July; original edited and published on 2. 4. 2022
Translation "Láska a zkáza" on 3. 4. 2022

31 March, 2022

The Land of a Thousand Roads

 The world is like a land of a thousand roads and a thousand faces,
despite which it can be nameless and roving it aimless –
so tell me how is the Earth endowed with a face,
how do our steps leave a meaningful mark on it?

You can say, I know you world even though you are unknown...
for you need not see a road to know there is one:
The road will appear the moment you step upon it.
There is no shepherd but you,
standing before endless horizons of worlds,
and you feel that it is obscurantism to be bound and suffer silently,
and you know that beauty is formless,
pain tasteless,
thoughts boundless,
and that your empty hands are but self-deceit.

Even if the world is no bed of roses,
it is not devoid of hope – 
which unfolds in immense spheres,
wherein there is no power to demarcate them –,
that besides cesspits there exists beauty in it.

You, standing in front of a canvas with a paintbrush in your hand,
spread fanciful threads within star clusters,
and there is a sun burning in one of your palms and a moon bathing in another;
you were borne by Infinity, so you paint light like a child,
for you know that, although you will not survive it here, your creation will still prevail...

You feel that clinging to that which is from without is tying you down,
that you had better let be that which is meant to be –
that is is advisable to give space to and allow growth of that which is to grow,
and dive into your own depths...
Although you cannot avoid dark waters
or the storm that you carry within –
you cannot escape from yourself or the world itself –,
you must not extinguish the light shining far off.

Peacify yourself, knowing that
even a loss can be liberating,
the act of breaking away can be a magnet,
for that which often binds you is a conjecture –
bulwarks of the mind disquieted by immeasurability...
It is no mistake to see more,
it is no mistake to go further,
it is no mistake to delve deeper.

You stand on the threshold of a new world that is the land of a thousand roads...
and it is wise to give it a face, to give meaning to your steps in it–
or else hell is cold and cold is hell.
This is not the end of the story – it is but one closed chapter.
Nothing concludes with an ending – all is just a continuous transformation.

The Land of a Thousand Roads © Ladanseuse
English translation "Krajina tisíců cest"
Undated original edited & published on 30. 3. 2022

30 March, 2022

A Little Tenderness

I went:
Close your eyes,
outstretch your arm,
open your palm.

And then:
If this was the only thing
I would ever tell you;
if this was the only thing
I would ever give you;–
it would be this...

Thereupon, 
onto your palm
with my finger
did I draw
a
h e a r t.
💓
A Little Tenderness © Ladanseuse
English translation "Něžnůstka" 
Original written based on an older concept on 30. 3. 2022

The Dern of Thy Heart

I know which way leads to the human heart,
being familiar with the secret it holds... 
💗
It is contained in the story of a gardener and his tree
that bears these tidings:
When the gardener dies, the tree grows on,
but when the tree dies, the gardener dies twice.
🌲
If you locate the tree
and protect it, nurture it, and foster its growth;
if you discover that you love the tree 
you actually love the gardener,
for it is part of him:
You love that into which he's put himself;
that which is dearest to his heart.,,
💕
The Dern of Thy Heart © Ladanseuse
English translation "Taj srdce Tvého"
Undated original published on 30. 3. 2022 & last edited on 16. 1. 2023

30 November, 2021

Metamorphosis

 The endlessness of forms, the immense variability of fragile and fleeting beauty, myriads of fluttering wings of aerial angels ‒ my virtual collection consists of over eleven hundred images of butterflies, a result of my unswerving fascination. Nothing is random: All that comes near us, that fulfills us, that we surround ourselves by, has a deeper meaning. Shamans, interconnected with nature, believe in "spirit animals" that play a role of guides in our lives, thus I ask myself: Is it the butterfly in my case? Whence has become part of my corporeal canvas the very Monarch Butterfly (or, its white morph, rare among its colored, usually orange, mates), on the spiritual meaning of which in relation to my own life I am about to reflect in the following lines.

In view of the monarch's life cycle, I must be in the stage of a cocooned caterpillar (chrysallis) that has yet to become a butterfly: It indicates a passage from passive inner development into active physical manifestation, which results from metamorphosis (egg-larva-pupa-butterfly); the inner transformation the butterfly undergoes until its rebirth ‒ like I, a human being, do in my life, thus resonating with my spiritual path.

The monarch migrates for thousands of kilometers for several generations until its "super" generation reaches its destination. It caries a message of unwavering faith that, even though our journey that we embark upon covers a great distance and leads through the unknown, uncertainty, changes and obstacles, we can stick to it successfully to come home in the end ‒ where we are meant to be and belong to in life. It is a creature of the spiritual world, connected with its entities (ancestors, angels...), that, despite its apparently fragile beauty, symbolizes strength, endurance and joy.

This butterfy is typically active in daylight only, being drawn to it, and uses its inner compass in accordance with the sun when migrating (as opposed to moths that are nocturnal, thus symbolically related to darkness). Figuratively speaking, it is our inner guide that leads us through the dark along the right path to the light.

That which appears to be the end is but a new beginning, a transition from the the old (that which is going) to the new (that which is coming). I believe that all in nature is in the process of a continual, ever-lasting transformation, in which sense the end ceases existing: There is no ending ever, all but metamorphizes. Energy ‒ the immaterial and unpalpable, yet perceptible and perceived, which is the essence of all life ‒ endures. The butterfly shares the symbol of transmutation and resurrection with Phoenix, which is also depicted on my body but, mainly, impressed on my psyché, as I have gone through its inner fiery transformation.

Truth be told, I do realize the importance of pursuing my soul purpose and fulfillment in life, with my inner voice being quite incessant in this regard, the more so when I am middle-aged but still struggling with its materialization. My dwelling in the spiritual world (that of dreams, visions, ideas, thoughts and feelings), my preoccupation with it, is dividing me from the material world to a fault ‒ as the monarch's metamorphosis depicts ‒, as things can only be manifested in the physical world. Art transforms non-matter into matter, the "dance in my heart" is expressed through my physical body used as a tool. Therefore, without a connection between mind/spirit and matter/body, nothing sensorially perceptible comes out of it. There occurs a transformation from imagery to the physical (or, bodily movement as in dance), not vice versa, in my case, so having a vision (as a mental image) is a must, but it still needs materializing. Only then can I reveal, verbally or nonverbally, my inner world ‒ via poetry or dance.

In the aftermath of past trauma, we may be filled with paralyzing fear and a loss of (self-)confidence, which hinders the free flow of a creative and loving energy of ours, affecting our creative self-expression and deeper connection with another/others both in an artistic and societal setting as we struggle with a sense of personal deficiency and vulnerability. That is closely familiar to me... The time for my dance creation was ripe long ago, but I will never feel quite ready (that is/would be a futile waiting) and could only procrastinate ad infinitum, so it feels rather like "now or never" ‒ it is just that it feels as if I was to jump off the cliff believing that I will not fall but spread my wings and fly. Only after my longing has prevailed over my fear can I make it. I am self-aware enough to know that, once I find the resolve in me, from that critical point on, I will be able to stick with it and persevere ‒ in the same vein as I have vowed I will never give up on dance (only if paralyzed or dead, seriously). 

The best aspect of it ‒ and, simulataneously, the biggest challenge of all ‒ is that it depends on me mainly, on my overcoming inner obstacles, not (so much) outer ones. Should we believe in ourselves, no-one else need to (however morally uplifting it feels when somebody else does!), nor can anyone stop us! Even though my path remains stony in this, at times I do experience those shiny moments which my healthy self-confidence shines through, during which I am connected with my inner creative force and emanate inner peace. Tormenting and destructive self-doubts disappear then and I recreate my ideas into reality in flashes of happiness with a childlike spontaneity. I observe myself as if from the outside and behold myself treading my path with faith in its rightness and meaning while attracting to myself the longed-for, as in such moments all springs from my full awareness deep inside that I am innerly complete, that I am infinite within, that I can do it, thus I will make it! And it is in that time when the dance in my heart, the love of artistic creation and human connection springs out.. 💕

Metamorphosis © Ladanseuse
Written bilingually, in Czech "Metamorfóza", on 5. 10. 2021, edited & published on 29. 11. 2021

22 November, 2021

The Essence of Art

What seems to be a sad paradox of the present time is the fact that despite the quickening and simplification of mutual contact and communication people appear to be growing apart, as if their communal time has shrunk into a couple of fleeting moments, as if the space they perceive by their path, around themselves, was just a few meters distant from them. It saddens me at times ‒ which may be why I am so drawn to art, which defies indifference, as it builds bridges that arch over such distances, as, through it, the creative relates self-expressively to the world, with which (s)he so connects as the creative energy comes out from within, from the spiritual into the material, as if it was within him or her wherein, unconsciously and spontaneously perhaps, lay the pure power of co-existence, which expands, and a certain connectivity of a world suddenly complete.

Art is strong. It is a world in and by itself, a sphere of distinctiveness the form of which is dependent on its creator, for it is the creator who says: This is how I see the world! Thus we can look at the world through different eyes, from a unique perspective. Art is a light that transcends itself and its partakers in a life-giving force in the embodiment of our earnest longing for spiritual deliverance ‒ such art is London's Star Rover in the undying poetry of life, since, even if restricted, it will throw off its hurtful shackles and slip out of darkness. It springs from the soul that knows no physical boundaries. In this, it is larger than life ‒ at least the ephemeral physical one.

The notional realm has no end, being chiaroscuro, clair-obscur, fumbling, and reveals itself in an impalpable artistic message personified by people themselves. May my inner world be the heart and soul, may anything be my kingdom, it is the outside world that represents contact ‒ albeit not only with beautiful materialized dreams, but also with empty and needless cruelty ‒ and it is life, rhythm, motion, direction, growth. And I cannot get arrested, or I will die ‒ but now that the faraway is unfolding before my eyes and thoughts are whizzing past in the crazy of world of ephemerality, I am falling to the hard ground; now I am getting lost but without going astray as I notice a fixed point while dancing in a musical embrace.

We fear that whatever we create will be taken by time ‒ that said, as though during our life we each drew our own picture that will speak on of what we were like, thus leaving our mark on the map of the world. There exists no world ‒ we are the creators. We are footprints in the dust of roads, writings engraved in stone, echoes among mounts, ships at a stormy sea, trees reaching up to the sky, raindrops in sun heat ‒ we are life. We create, recreate ourselves, our own essence through our artistic creation. Art ‒ whether it be a paint, a sound, or a motion ‒ is a dream build upon thoughts, our mark of a gone life in infinity; art is a way toward us.

It is through art that passing moments endure, being captured, transmuted, immortalized. Not everyone will understand them, but the perceptive will try to grasp them. One must be open to get the message. Understanding dwells in the acceptance of distinctness. There is wealth and beauty to be found even in the unseen, unheard, and unnoticed. The secret lies in the art of feeling ‒ feeling art. In that, art teaches us how to live.

It is my conviction that the essense of true art inheres within its spiritual outreach. Despite working with palpable tools to self-express in the outer world, it is not only to play with superficial forms but to stem from inner wealth, shaping an immaterial energy, thus allowing the select of us create something that will exceed themselves in space and time. Something of this kind must not be marginalized or suppressed because where there is art, there is the heart ‒ and the heart is life. The artist cannot but make art, he or she must hallmark it by distinctness, put the heart into it and let it sing and weep, look for its essence. Even the best technically created harmony feels empty unless it is a living story and dream.

Uniformity is not of art's own, it is not monolithic, neither does it obey the principle of fixed delimitation ‒ the only limitations lie in our fear and humanity itself.  Just as the piano has a certain number of keyboards but the music it makes is infinite, the body as a tool is delimited in space but the creative soul knows no boundaries. Thus, each of its pieces can be differently colored, like a mozaic, and into each of them another human fate or experience in many a rendition and intensity can be projected. It is such freedom of expression that endows it with expanse and development, although it has its "buts": If art is limited or, God forbid, banned, the mere miserable existence of a more or less dead form or even its demise is imminent; if it is absolutely limitless in its freedom, it can be enriched or degraded by it. In this, art reflects its creator.

Therein arises the question of authenticity. Can authenticity be referred to all that is original, an artistic act as unique as a newborn child, which is not yet another blind carbon copy of whoever or whatever? Or, does authenticity spring only from the source of a tradition that sees to the preservation of certain features to make a given creative act what it is proclaimed to be? Even if your life is intertwined with that of others, the uniqueness of your human experience is beyond doubt; thus, if you tell your story in your own words and put yourself, your true Self, into it, you, as an artist, remain genuine.

Art is my pillar. It is "the little something" that is all that suffices to make my whole world shine. As if, out of a sudden, my nameless life and faceless existence gained content and meaning. It is to me what water is to a river. It is the breath that sustains my beating heart. Music speaks to me and I do not know what it says, but I can feel it and understand, so I cannot remain motionless, with it moving my body on an emotional wave, I feel like dancing, perhaps because my inner world has never been blind to beauty or to pain either, and this world within me wants to live, open its arms to freedom and never be silenced.

Art is liberating, cathartic and healing. It is abstract in its dancing poetry, soulful and divinely inspired. With its self-expression stemming from inner imagery, divergent from any externally given or reality-based form, you, as a creative, free from any dictate, are given total freedom in authenticating and materializing your own unique percepts. The interrelationship of us and God is not necessarily religious, and I feel it on a spiritual plane as an omnipresent, all-embracing and all-permeating energy that infuses wisdom and inner guidance, animation and creative inspiration into our soul, as if the Universe was re-creating and expressing itself through us. You draw from within that which is sourced from without all there is.

To the one whose views are earthbound and conservative, whose focus is on the material and pecuniary, the world of art(ists') is "peculiar" while I am the embodiment of an impractical nefelibata who places art upon a pedestal as I weave my long-winded emotive stories. If only I could, I would devote my life to art solely but for being a soul trapped in the material world, faced with the need for a means of subsistance, not by choice but of necessity, and art is my life but not (yet) living, even in need of investment itself, so I will struggle on the material front while nurturing the dream of an artistic breakthrough. The more the one who measures any endeavor against profitability (seeing it as an end, not a means to an end) equates my creative dreams to "pointless" pursuits, the longer I dilly-dally, literally dancing around it, in fear, so, with my external and inner critic united, there you go....

The more so, amid predominant materialism, capitalism and underappreciation of art as something "dispensable", one's genuine love of art that exceeds business is applaudable. What if, to some, it is a reason to live, this making it a must? Dance is everything to me and permeates my life to the point of being synonymous with it. What would a society be without culture? It would become but soulless, empty, dead.

And yet, mine is a rebellious heart that will scream, "The critics must be silenced!" and "Carpe diem!," and go on dancing this ever-lasting dream and will not let me rest until I go and fulfill it in reality, as this calling toward artistic creation I feel so strongly drawn to is a purpose to live for that stems from undying passion and, as I would like to believe, indomitable spirit. What I see as an inevitable part of success is the cessation of living in my head and the adoption of a can-do attitude with courage, faith and trust in myself and my odyssey.

The Essence of Art © Ladanseuse
Original English groundwork undated, 
text expanded upon and translated into Czech on 18.. - 19. 11. 2021 to be published bilingually on 22. 11. 2021

16 November, 2021

Self-perception

The only way leads through unrestraint because only that can open the door to any challenge out there. 

Self... used to be my identity: the breathing existence of a tangled mass of thoughts, silenced being in the roar, a self-defeating fear, a miniscule stary fraction, dust floating in the air, something so familiar that it became mystification... Did it form in emptiness, or was it nought in space?

Now... in a kind of peculiar vegetative state, in the interspace, in the intertime, Self is gone... and there has arisen a haunting question, What is Self? What on earth is it in essence?  Self is beyond itself, Self has ceased being itself, if it ever existed at all ‒ thus, is Self a mere concept, a construct serving our own urge for egoism; is my Self truly identical to your Self, with our Selves in the sphere of the absolute ‒ and ‒ can it be unique in the relative world only? Self has become meaningless, is nought, since God knows what it is.

The inner entity has come to dwell within me ‒ effortlessly, as if it was part of me from time immemorial, being both all-embracing and itself exceeded by all, all-enduring, ever-lasting, constant, unshatterably certain and calm. I am a soul, as if I had no body, was no-body, could be anywhere, anytime, and yet remain changeless.

While Self used to be represented by run-aways, now my being is interpenetrated with a higher power, as if transformed into a kind of alter ego; everything and everybody that my eyes are set upon, all is focused upon and seen through, for fear has vanished... As if Self has entered another dimension. Boundaries are nonexistent, this is getting to the core of things.

If Self is not, what is left? Consciousness? Consciousness of what? Of that all is limitless? How can I be a victim if I respect no limits? Limits created by my mind out of fear of infinity... and the mind identifies itself with Self.

If my life has been like reaching the end of a tunnel, whereat there is nothing but a wall, against which I am hammering and can only reverse..., then I can no longer grow, I have no freedom anymore. But, I need to grow and expand within ‒ I cannot get arrested, become a bogus, turn into a shadow...

All that is onging will continue. All the people will keep on passing through my life as until now. My feet will step onto familiar ground a hundred times and my mind will get lost in unknown places many times more. Even fear will come, and fear cannot be discarded nor eliminated, but ‒ just as anything else unfavorable and unwanted ‒ it can be accepted as something that creates balance; it can interpenetrate me, just passing through and out of me, leaving me unchanged. There is no need to suffer from it ‒ I can go through fire, I may be in pain, it may be uneasy, but I can do it without being burnt, and that will be it. 

Given all that has ever flashed through my life, only that which prevails, that which withstands all changes is of merit.

I can always escape into solitude, possibly craving for being the only living thing in the boundless horizons, only if I am certain that all these walls that devide me from the embodiment of my pier ‒ another human being, my precious one, a strenghening bond ‒ can be torn down anytime. Will I be able to gain strength unsupported one day?

Now... I fear not, even though I cannot be more open...

Break free from Self. Break down the wall. Let things pass through you and go. Become a constant authority. You need no crutches that will not support you, no strange faces that will overlook you, no inner heat that will burn you. Just be and stay in wisdom.

All the weakness, the pettiness of labor, the pain... all of it has led me as far as here, to the other side, and had me seeking deliverance.

Power, power, power... There is no Self... no restrictions... no victimization... There is just creativity... like the passing of time and the beating of my heart... I can but be a life, I am a life, not an arrested existence that is just growing old, but a life that has no end.

I cannot be any Self unless I know what that is. All is just the substance... immaterial and prevailing. What a strange feeling it is, even head-spinning, roving the stars...

Self-perception © Ladanseuse 
Written on 26. - 27. 9. 2005, translated into Czech, edited & published on 16. 11. 2021

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