Exchanging wood for stone:
Impossible are man's inclinations.
This brings up some differences between the art I have been talking about and art that has been designed purely for commercial reasons. Commercial art exploits what is most familiar changing it only slightly in order to make it seem new. It uses only the lust from sex and, therefore, all intimacy is lost. Intimacy makes people feel too much and become uncomfortable. The art that I am the most concerned with is designed to cause transformation so that the initiate can deal with a new world that is totally unfamiliar. The familiar, if used at all, is only an enticement for moving deeper into an intimacy that would unite us all as one being. In that case the familiar is exploited once again but as a means rather than an end.
139-140
Departing and returning black.
Blackness and the spirit exchange elements.
The soul, who has gone over to the other side and then returned, has exchanged some of its qualities with the elements with which it has come in contact. The new qualities that are brought back by the soul remain with it whether the person is consciously aware of it or not. A powerful work of art will change people whether they know it or not in a similar way that Native American rituals are believe to have a great influence on the whole world without any of us being aware that the rituals are even being performed.
141
Exchange the oriole for the ape
Not caught hunting for their glory.
I truly believe that the effects of art and/or ritual will occur regardless of the number of people participating. The Muse is mostly concerned with transformation and intimacy.
142-143
The Great Circle is wide, wide.
The Little Circle is exchanged for it.
I have worked mostly with small groups and have even performed for myself alone. Each effort is just as valid. The quality of the experience is more important to me than the quantity of participants. It is my hope that our intimate efforts link up with others on a level that is more difficult for us to perceive (the collective unconscious?).