The Garden of Insane Delights
Today was party time in Izzieland. We saw the welcome return to civilized weather. Sunny but crisp and crunchy and a respectable maximum temperature of 27 celsius forecast and delivered
All the weeds are looking happy, lush and green. It was such a relief not needing to water them after last night’s rain
It was time for celebration. Got all snaked up and wore a most special emerald green hat for a visit to the old lurking grounds of a certain old lunatic asylum in Fremantle. It would be a day spent ruminating, plotting, planning and doing a whole pile of squiggly stuff that should have been done yesterday.
The rituals would begin with a detour to Buratti art gallery which presently has an exhibition of Aleister Crowley paintings and other esoteric art work.
Visited this place for the solstice only to find that it was closed over Christmas and would not reopen until Wednesday 2nd January 2013. So instead of gawking at assorted beastly art works had to make do with second best - a certain deck of cards.
But the lure of Wednesday 2nd being the very first opening day of the new year, I figured it was just too auspicious to resist. After all this is a day that has been devoted to matters concerning the invisible worlds for the last eleven years and that would be just the perfect entree before the main course in the Garden of Insane Delights
But the gallery turned out to be still closed. They must have decided to take an extended holiday or maybe the owner had been smitten down by legions of Angels doing the work of the Lord. Either way the doors were locked and there was only the sign announcing the dates of the Christmas break with no mention of any extensions. Was a bit miffed. Had visited the website recently and found no reason to believe the place would not be open today
It was a good sign not to be upset. It did help that having the extra time meant being able to pay a visit to the bottle shop around the corner from the gallery and still have time to get back on the same bus ticket
Arrived at the old asylum just before 2pm and would be able to spend the next three hours there squiggling, drooling over new decks courtesy of the Cat and doing a bunch of annual change over rituals.
Sticking to the good intentions of using stuff instead of just hoarding it, had found amongst the stacks of empty journals a pretty pale grey and purple one from Pepperpot. While having a soft spot for leather and hand made paper and having quite a stash of those, it turns out they are pretty useless with fountain pens. The paper is simply too rough and scratchy.
Even on the food front managed to improvise. Brought along some Lebanese flat bread and a packet of Waterthin wafers which are essential ingredients for the toast to the new serpent year
The usual ingredients include wafers, red wine and brie or camembert cheese. Replaced the cheese with hummous to avoid temptation from visiting a supermarket.
The new year’s resolution to live lightly and use what I already have rather than be tempted by new bright shiny things that just end up gathering dust or passing their use by date in the case of food will be taken most seriously indeed. Until getting a new job such indulgences are not only unnecessary but unaffordable
It was kind of sad squiggling in the last 8 pages of the very decadent and mysterious looking “Book of Secrets’ courtesy of the Cat - like so many of the most beautiful and prized possessions of the serpent. It looks just like some seriously mysterious darkest of Grimoires and had beautiful off white paper with line drawings of pens, quills, globes, perfume boxes and all sorts of possibly sinister objects. But best of all the paper was the kind that let a fountain pen just glide along effortlessly. It was the sort of journal that just begs to be written in.
So then it was time to start the new purple journal. Did not get past the first page when the emerald ink ran dry. Had topped it up for New Year’s Eve but then again been squiggling lots more than usual lately. It’s about the only thing you still can do when the weather is sizzly, sultry and generally disgusting.
Then there were decks to drool over and others to shuffle to see what exciting events could possibly be in store for the new year
It was also the day to wear for the very first time a gorgeous new serpentine accessory - a spirally green glass snake on a chain. But first the critter had to get a drink of delicious D’arenburg grenache grape juice. Less a sip and more like being drowned.
But soon the guardians of the gate came lurking to lock up. Had intended to go for a quick coffee followed by a walk to the beach to watch the sunset. This time there definitely would be one. That was the map. The territory turned out quite different. Even being a special snaky day and all that could not stop the sudden crash where the week of sleepless nights finally caught up.
There were no inspirations or sudden insights but it was still a relaxing day and a chance to get back to tried and true rituals which had been sadly lacking over the last 13 months
Maybe next week will be able to visit the art gallery. According to the today’s paper this year is going to be a feast on the culture vulture front.
So here’s to a lighter brighter leaner python and a big fat juicy baggage free year
All the weeds are looking happy, lush and green. It was such a relief not needing to water them after last night’s rain
It was time for celebration. Got all snaked up and wore a most special emerald green hat for a visit to the old lurking grounds of a certain old lunatic asylum in Fremantle. It would be a day spent ruminating, plotting, planning and doing a whole pile of squiggly stuff that should have been done yesterday.
The rituals would begin with a detour to Buratti art gallery which presently has an exhibition of Aleister Crowley paintings and other esoteric art work.
Visited this place for the solstice only to find that it was closed over Christmas and would not reopen until Wednesday 2nd January 2013. So instead of gawking at assorted beastly art works had to make do with second best - a certain deck of cards.
But the lure of Wednesday 2nd being the very first opening day of the new year, I figured it was just too auspicious to resist. After all this is a day that has been devoted to matters concerning the invisible worlds for the last eleven years and that would be just the perfect entree before the main course in the Garden of Insane Delights
But the gallery turned out to be still closed. They must have decided to take an extended holiday or maybe the owner had been smitten down by legions of Angels doing the work of the Lord. Either way the doors were locked and there was only the sign announcing the dates of the Christmas break with no mention of any extensions. Was a bit miffed. Had visited the website recently and found no reason to believe the place would not be open today
It was a good sign not to be upset. It did help that having the extra time meant being able to pay a visit to the bottle shop around the corner from the gallery and still have time to get back on the same bus ticket
Arrived at the old asylum just before 2pm and would be able to spend the next three hours there squiggling, drooling over new decks courtesy of the Cat and doing a bunch of annual change over rituals.
Sticking to the good intentions of using stuff instead of just hoarding it, had found amongst the stacks of empty journals a pretty pale grey and purple one from Pepperpot. While having a soft spot for leather and hand made paper and having quite a stash of those, it turns out they are pretty useless with fountain pens. The paper is simply too rough and scratchy.
Even on the food front managed to improvise. Brought along some Lebanese flat bread and a packet of Waterthin wafers which are essential ingredients for the toast to the new serpent year
The usual ingredients include wafers, red wine and brie or camembert cheese. Replaced the cheese with hummous to avoid temptation from visiting a supermarket.
The new year’s resolution to live lightly and use what I already have rather than be tempted by new bright shiny things that just end up gathering dust or passing their use by date in the case of food will be taken most seriously indeed. Until getting a new job such indulgences are not only unnecessary but unaffordable
It was kind of sad squiggling in the last 8 pages of the very decadent and mysterious looking “Book of Secrets’ courtesy of the Cat - like so many of the most beautiful and prized possessions of the serpent. It looks just like some seriously mysterious darkest of Grimoires and had beautiful off white paper with line drawings of pens, quills, globes, perfume boxes and all sorts of possibly sinister objects. But best of all the paper was the kind that let a fountain pen just glide along effortlessly. It was the sort of journal that just begs to be written in.
So then it was time to start the new purple journal. Did not get past the first page when the emerald ink ran dry. Had topped it up for New Year’s Eve but then again been squiggling lots more than usual lately. It’s about the only thing you still can do when the weather is sizzly, sultry and generally disgusting.
Then there were decks to drool over and others to shuffle to see what exciting events could possibly be in store for the new year
It was also the day to wear for the very first time a gorgeous new serpentine accessory - a spirally green glass snake on a chain. But first the critter had to get a drink of delicious D’arenburg grenache grape juice. Less a sip and more like being drowned.
But soon the guardians of the gate came lurking to lock up. Had intended to go for a quick coffee followed by a walk to the beach to watch the sunset. This time there definitely would be one. That was the map. The territory turned out quite different. Even being a special snaky day and all that could not stop the sudden crash where the week of sleepless nights finally caught up.
There were no inspirations or sudden insights but it was still a relaxing day and a chance to get back to tried and true rituals which had been sadly lacking over the last 13 months
Maybe next week will be able to visit the art gallery. According to the today’s paper this year is going to be a feast on the culture vulture front.
So here’s to a lighter brighter leaner python and a big fat juicy baggage free year