The Rose Window

Hey Vocal Ramblers!
This month I’m experimenting with some special extra resources for these Lunar Ramblings (please forgive any technical hitches as part of my Substack learning curve).
All feedback welcome - thank you!

Here in the UK, summer is burning out; the trees are entering early autumn, discarding their leaves and fruits early to survive drought. The brittle, crisp earth gasps like an open-mouthed fish for the rain dropping from the Sturgeon Moon skies. Last week, Greenpeace Activists tattooed ‘Our House is on Fire Andy’ on an extinguished wildfire site in North Wales, calling on the new Prime Minister to take action on climate change. This is small fry compared to the devastating collapse of a glacier in Nepal, due to melting snow and permafrost; my heart goes out to the thousands of people impacted. Water, in all its states - frozen and flowing - is so precious, yet AI data sites guzzled 4.5 trillion litres last year, equivalent to the water needs of over 600 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa.

In the swelling tides of the dreamy Piscean Full Moon, Dolly Parton flew to the skies, accompanied by a global chorus of loving tributes. Dolly not only followed her own dream but carried us all along her rhinestone-studded, magical musical trail, generously sharing her prolific creativity, sassy wisdom, and well-earned wealth to encourage and support others. A day later, groundbreaking artist Yayoi Kusama returned to the endless infinity she conveyed in mesmerising dots, partly as an escape from hallucinations. Both rose from impoverished, abusive childhoods to become incomparably unique stars in our skies.

Stars form when clouds of dust and gas collapse under gravity, generating immense heat. Water acts as a coolant, enabling gases to solidify into a protostar. When the centre reaches 10 million degrees, hydrogen atoms are compressed into helium. The inner pressure of this nuclear fusion releases a huge amount of energy, which, combined with the outer pressure of gravity, forms a light-emitting star. Leftover debris forms a spinning disk around the star and collides to form rocks and eventually orbiting planets.

Reconciling the hellfire and brimstone dualities of her church upbringing, Dolly said: “I think it’s like a battery: you’ve got to have the negative and the positive to be a complete person.” By being fully herself, Dolly brought light to millions, encouraging everyone to be a star. On arrival in New York, Yayoi Kusama recounts that she climbed the Empire State Building, “to grab everything that went on in the city and become a star.” Refusing to conform, she fused her psychological distress with art, making her viewers stars within massive, multi-layered installations.

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The Piscean twin fish swim in opposite directions through the waters of duality, balancing gravity and light, logic and intuition, individual and society. Artists are often found at the fulcrum of oppositions, challenging social norms and illuminating new pathways. As part of a series of political Happenings in New York during the 1960s, Kusama staged the first US homosexual wedding, saying that love must be “liberated from all sexual frustration imposed by society. Homosexuality is a normal physical and psychological reaction, neither to be extolled or decried.” In an interview with Andy Warhol, Dolly affirmed her LGBTQ allyship, saying “I don't judge people. I don't care what people do in their bedrooms, and people shouldn't care what I do in mine.” In her last Substack post about her song Shattered Image (1976), she said the lines she loved best in the song were: ‘If you live in a glass house, don’t throw stones. Don’t shatter my image till you look at your own. Look at your reflection in your house of glass.’

Creativity enabled both artists to navigate their inner waters - for Yayoi Kusama, art was ‘self-therapy’ saying, ‘If it were not for art, I would have killed myself a long time ago.’ She drew empowerment from art, affirming that “I am too busy with myself to worry about a man-woman problem. Since I find a refuge in my work, I cannot be bullied by men.” Dolly also described songwriting as therapy saying, "It’s my way of expressing myself…You have to search for a long time because I’ve written a lot of songs. But yes, there are pieces of me, of course, in everything I write."

Connecting all known realms of existence, water is crucial for the formation of stars and the continuance of life here on Earth. With vast constellations of dots, Yayoi Kusama reminded us of universal infinity and unity. In World on Fire (2023), Dolly reminds us that we’ve “still got time to turn it all around” - to rise, show some love and make a change. As I write this, thunder cracks open the purpled skies with a tympanic rumble, as if in heavenly accord.

Welcome, Vocal Rambler!

Ramble - walk, go, act of wandering about…..

As I’m trialling these additional resources, I’d love to hear how you get on.

REFLECT - on where the tides of this Full Moon might lead you

RESONATE - allow your vocal expression to reverberate freely

RAMBLE - out into the world with any thought, action or creation it inspires

🌛 Lunar Tuning - Full Moon

🎤​ Vocal Tuning - Wave Breath

Take three easy, soft breaths and relax

On the next out breath, release on a SHHHHHHHHHHH 
Gently experiment with seeing how long you can extend the wave.

🎨 Creative Tuning - prompts for rambling, doodling, noodling, journalling

What oppositions am I currently experiencing or exploring?

How could these be bridged, reconciled or fused to become a source of creativity?

Who are the stars in my life and how do they inspire me to shine more brightly?

What are my unique qualities and what helps me amplify and channel them?

What small action could I take today in response to the climate crisis?

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