Synesthesia: mixing of the senses, in this case visual and auditory.

 Imagine your piano is a forest; each note is a firefly dancing in its own cadence.  Individually, they are nothing but a lone spark in the night, but together they are the most beautiful melody.  Put this together with the night happenings of the forest, and you have a song; a song of beauty, energy, purity, a song of dancing when no one is looking, a song of deep bubbling love.

It is one of the grandest quests we have, to understand, inspire, and keep opening up the universe of possibilities.  It keeps our inner wonder alive and thriving, as well as clearly shows that there is something out there bigger than any of us; something beautiful that we are a part of. 

I can think of no other task more deserving of our energy in this moment.  Go team humans!

Highlining, Public Speaking, Kitboarding, Free Soloing, Crazy Rope Swings, and last year I submitted and adventure idea to Teva with my friend Andrew.

 I feel that doing scary things puts us in a place of Satori meditation, slams our awareness into the present moment, and creates an environment for extreme growth.  It is what happens when we travel, learn something new, ask someone to dance, or do something that scares us.   We live!

So,  what now?

I’m embarking on an amazing (and a bit scary) journey.  My friend Kate Jaworski and I are writing Lucid an Electro-Opera.  It is the awakening of the human spirit, a musical, multimedia, dance experience taking the audience through a woman’s journey in and out of dream-space, lucidity, and the angular physical-world chaos, to a place of connected peaceful presence. 

Kate is an incredible musician, a lighting designer, an exuberant creator, and passionate bright being.  I love writing, analyzing, organizing, creating, and know how to manage chaos (thanks BES!). We both love the world deeply, are infatuated with the human spirit, and feed on the deep pulsing undercurrent of our community universe.  We are a great team. 

A Lucid proposal has been submitted to the Black Box theater at CUAtlas (thanks for the help Ali!).  The Black Box Theater is a magical space with movable seats, and state of the art sound, lighting, and projection setups; it is perfect for this particular show.  They are in the process of selecting next year’s productions right now, and hopes and dreams fly high, so take a moment and help us envision this dream as a part of all of our world. 

Stay tuned!  Lots of things in the works.  Kate is working on writing electronic music, we’re setting up our recording studio.  I’m learning the basics of all-things theater, music, and dance related.  We’re meeting with costume designers (found an awesome one!), choreographers, dancers, photographers, musicians, videographers, enlightening gurus, etc.  Wham. Bam. Life!

Rough dates for the show will be February/March 2012; it is something you won’t want to miss.

Is your spirit hungry for something like this?  We know; that’s why we’re writing it.  Check out Letters to the Universe: planning our escape in the meantime; it’s a refreshing breeze.  Kate and I also started it together.

 The show itself is pretty dang exciting, but wow, even the creation process has been a beautiful whirlwind. 

Letters to the Universe, I’d like to introduce you to The World.  Letters, the world is amazing, full of beauty, knowledge and spirit, but also frequently misunderstood.  World, Letters to the Universe is a baby, fresh, honest, bright, curious, and with a new and positive perspective; and yet also perceptive, and wise beyond many lifetimes of experience.  I’m sure you’ll get on just beautifully, and create many amazing things together.

In a universe where some of the people I connect with most deeply are scattered around the world we must find ways to continue to share.

We share under different names to free up the writing a bit, and each makes it what is needed.  Some write a lot, some a little, some share their own experiences; some bring together writings that impact them.  It is a free-flowing place for us to discuss, to write, to share, and be in the journey along the path of life.  It is a few amazing people around the world who are going through layers of life, working into the depths of truth, and following that most-important of paths.

And so a place has been created to share these thoughts, journeys, understandings, and questions.  It is a place where shadow and light dance together, letting the humanness in each of us freely bloom.

As one friend puts it artfully “This world is brimming with inspiration and positivity; so much that it almost always causes me to lose my breath. I want this growth for humanity – however it may arise, I want internal art for everyone.” aworkinprogress

As Rumi says ”The Real Work”

What is your real work?

http://letterstotheuniverse.us/

We were in the mountains above Boulder celebrating the winter solstice and a full lunar eclipse. It was a secret time after darkness ended, but before the lightness began to return, we gathered, shared, and played. Here is a great stop-motion of the event, taken by someone with a nice camera in a part of the world that was a bit clearer.

Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse from William Castleman on Vimeo.

The winter solstice is a really special time for me. It marks the end, and the beginning, a time for reflection on what the last cycle has added to my life, and a moment of thought for what I’d like to bring to the next one.

Last year we used fire and air to set dreams free in the universe. This year we wrote on wood, and specifically a prAna block became a shared space for the desires and hardships of life. The masterpiece of our energies was burned during the eclipse, setting free the weighted energies of our lives.

I shared the night with my closest friends, people who I have grown to love, who have intertwined their lives with me deeply over the last year, people who make each day a jewel of ruckus beauty.

As the eclipse ended, the cars and people left. I sat on the hearth for a long time and watched the world return to full-moon glory. The fire warmed my back, the lights of Boulder smiled at me. I listened to the universe inside my heart, and smiled.

I am peaceful, strong, open, and ready.

I slept for an hour, woken by the shifting fire. I headed down the mountain to a BES meeting, a satellite measurement, and a date.

Life is moving beautifully.