Unfolding Metaphors of Healing
Holding, Homing, Metamorphosing
Speaking Susurrations
of Subterranean Sensations
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What does “Body Metta Spore” mean?
A mettaspore (or metaspore) is a metaphor for the mystery of intertwined life on this planet.
Metta: the Pali word for loving-kindness.
Also relevant – the etymology of “Meta:” word-forming element of Greek origin meaning 1. “after, behind; among, between,” 2. “changed, altered,” from Greek meta (prep.) “in the midst of; in common with; by means of; between; in pursuit or quest of; after, next after, behind,” in compounds most often meaning “change” of place, condition, etc. This is from PIE *me- “in the middle” (source also of German mit, Gothic miþ, Old English mið “with, together with, among”).
Spores: the trillions of tiny migrating mycological DNA-containing reproductive specks often invisibly and strangely supporting ecological balance.
These merge to illuminate the interconnected relationship of all that is above, below, around, and present and within. Our body is the medium of sensation and experience on Earth, grounding us into self-knowledge and tactile relationship with all of life and landscape. Spirit is beyond flesh, yet it seems that embodied experience is at the crux of human learning.
“Body-Metta-Spore” or “Body-Meta-Spore” not only describes my evolving scopes of practice (somatic, therapeutic, ecological, and artistic) and the ways they bleed into each other, but it is also a response to the individualistic and commercialized healing model of “Body-Mind-Spirit.” Body-Meta-Spore emphasizes relationships, ecosystems, and a culture of care. Our human bodies are just one of many, living among each other, breathing each other, traveling and transforming together. I wish to actively co-regulate with the personages of Earth’s Biosphere, and to co-create communities that are symbiotic with them and remember a spirit of reverence. Health, no matter which dimension, is a multi-species affair, each body and life shaped and dependent on another, nested within each other.
Sometimes my doings are visible to the eye, like flowers or fruiting bodies of fungi, yet at other times engaging in more hidden worlds of connectivity and communication, like mycelium or endophytes. I hope to meet you in a place where we
dance in the cycles and spirals, gusts of
metaspores connecting terrestrial flesh and space,
breath, ground, and grace.
Service is but Magic
Moving through the world
And mind itself is Magic
Coursing through the flesh
And flesh itself is Magic
Dancing on a clock
And time itself the magic length of God.
_ _ _ _ _
(“God is Alive, Magick is Afoot,” as sung by Buffy Sainte-Marie)
Sketches on this page were created by Pomona Za, except for the title lettering which was created by Jeff Giarrusso