Vertigo of the Hero
André Masson
In a long life, Masson made time for everything. A pioneering surrealist, he was the most willing adopter of automatism, or the process of automatic drawing where the hand is allowed to run unchained on the canvas with no conscious decisions affecting its movement. He pushed these ideas further still, scattering sand or mud onto a surface and letting the organic shapes it feel in guide the direction of his work. A young rebel of Surrealism, he plumbed the depths of his subconscious until he, reaching the bottom, sought out structure once again. By the end of the war, having survived active duty and sharing a studio with Joan Míro, he abandoned the Surrealists and his work became structured, often depicting scenes of violence or eroticism. Condemned by obscenity laws under Nazi rule, he fled to America where he became a fatherly figure to the burgeoning Abstract Expressionist movement, until he returned to France to paint landscapes. In the evening of his life, he returned to a less disciplined form, retaining parts of all he had learned to produce moving, erotic works of the subconscious mind.
Wednesday 12th August
Today we meet one of the more profound celestial events of the year: a total solar eclipse, as the Sun and Moon come together in the fiery constellation of Leo. For a brief moment, the Moon passes directly before the Sun, bringing Sun, Moon and Earth into an extraordinary alignment. In biodynamic practice, eclipses are traditionally regarded as times when the usual relationship between cosmic rhythms and the Earth is disturbed, and so the garden may be better observed than worked. There is something deeply humbling in this interruption of light. Leo carries qualities of warmth, vitality and outward expression, yet during the eclipse even this great summer force is momentarily veiled. Perhaps we too can allow the day to become a moment of stillness, to turn inward and witness a rhythm far greater than our own. The path of totality will cross Greenland, Iceland and northern Spain, while much of Europe, including Britain, will experience a partial eclipse. For a few extraordinary minutes, day and night seem to touch, reminding us that behind the familiar rhythms of the garden and the seasons are movements of immense scale, worthy of our reverence.
40 Relief - The I Ching
Relief in the South West brings gain...
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