BLOODSUCKER, SAVANNAH BROWN

the rules of nature are apparent in this poem, but so are the stories we tell about them. here we have a narrative not only retold, but shared by the next generation after being passed down (in classic oral tradition fashion).

but the writer isn’t concerned with her absence. instead, she uses it to imagine a darker, more esoteric part of this story, something that she concludes must have been present: our instincts in the face of desperation. how all creatures make calculations about their survival, what methodology will work best, when to swoop down and attempt to take.

this is a version of putting the pieces together, ‘concocting’ the perfect attack or defense or set of motions. there is logic in this, but one motivated by bodily instinct. the intuition that drives how we create order for ourselves and, eventually, how we conduct business with the outside world. we are all doing what we need to do, and this is a practice so tied up in our biology, it may as well be flowing through our blood.

-liv

A PYTHAGOREAN TRAVELER, PATTI SMITH

the story of the pythagorean traveler came to me in my musings on alchemy... one who is following the geometry of the cosmos! one guided by a profound light that is not obvious nor centric but everywhere, disseminated in overcast, diffused and all encompassing. a light that does not illuminate but envelops.

the writer holds a sense of awareness within this amorphous and omnipotent shroud. she asks if the clouds know her, questioning the harmony of her chaotic production within their decomposition. the resounding YES is implicit. it's as if she is standing there, IN the cosmos, not drifting but voyaging through the vastness, and the alchemy happens inside of her. in this poem there is patience, observation, discernment– the pillars of alchemy. there is an identification with the mathematical principles of matter and energy and movement. with these, the writer situates herself with humility amongst the stars, sensitive and open.

perhaps the line most alchemic is the image of the pythagorean traveler “adding to his shoulder a music not heard but attained.” like the alchemical production of gold so ardently explored by mystics of the past, one is always seeking the secret chord-- enlightenment beyond the obvious perception, music made for ears that can not only hear but discern, transform, unlock, know. to hear music is to have gold, to attain music is to create gold from the elements! i see the pythagorean traveler as the alchemist, trailed by the wisdom of time and adventure, the lessons of a journey, wielding these along with the faith of one who has found god somewhere, in the magic mind of an artist.

-sum

FROM THE LIGHT OF DYING STARS

▶︎ •၊၊||၊|။|||| |

tracklist:

1. Spectral Analysis - The Voidz
2. Telomore - Mystery Jets
3. Decks Dark - Radiohead
4. Reflektor - Arcade Fire
5. The Man Who Sold the World - Midge Ure
6. The Book Lovers - Broadcast
7. Dream Brother (Nag Champa Mix) - Jeff Buckley
8. Lazarus - David Bowie
9. Conversion - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
10. Elegie - Patti Smith

MEETING A VAMPIRE ON THE WAY HOME

♫⋆｡♪ ₊˚♬ ﾟ.

tracklist:

1. New Air - Ben Seretan
2. Goo Goo Muck - The Cramps
3. The Mullets are Moving In - Doss
4. Kitchen Witch - Ariel Pink
5. (She's My) Vampire Girl - Groovie Ghoulies
6. Molly Sells Molly By The Seashore - Sorry Mom
7. Oh! - The Linda Lindas
8. Free To Decide - The Cranberries
9. I Know You Love Me, But Do You Think of Me, Romantically - Charles
10. Something About Us - Daft Punk
11. Kinda Bonkers - Animal Collective
12. People Are Good - Depeche Mode
13. Funny How Time Slips Away - Billy Walker
14. Summer's Cauldron - XTC

A SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS, PINK FLOYD

it’s october, so i had to throw a little on-the-nose spooky in here somewhere. and what an album to deliver that feeling. for those uninitiated, this is pink floyd’s second album, and is the only one to feature all five members of the band. it’s a transitional record that would set the stage for the roger waters/david gilmour partnership after original frontman & visionary syd barrett left the group. you can hear the band simmering in changes — fear and unease for the future, the shock of a turning point already set in motion, and the last threads of syd’s childlike whimsy — all while still finding ways to marvel at the world.

saucerful is a confusing composition of whispered mantras, whooshing vocals, clanging instruments, and cosmic surges, twisting through distinctive landscapes that feel loosely linked but not together, and that’s part of the adventure. the synergy is in the way the album advances, how it marches along with a foreboding sense of what’s to come. crossing the boundaries between each song (seven of them) is like a shift in gears, a turn of the wheel towards somewhere you only thought would ever be peripheral.

 to me, the album art does such a beautiful job at capturing the otherworldly, experimental nature of this record. and guess what? when i looked into it, i learned that the collage of elements features a painting called alchemical cosmos by johann daniel mylius, a 17th century writer on alchemy. i’m serious! the universe always knows first...

- liv

I CAN HEAR THE HEART BEATING AS ONE, YO LA TENGO

a scarlet potion simmered and gave us the sound of this album! when I think of the turn from summer to fall, the dance between sweltering indulgence and vivid reflection, the quieting of cicada noise and tuning in to a deeper resonance, this is the first record that comes to mind. an alchemical reaction indeed. hearts in a cauldron beating as one, at least for the night.

i think the alchemy of this album is what it combines – the shadowy, romantic, indie-slowcore, sometimes groovy, sometimes shoegazey, sometimes ghostly, somehow gut-wrenching range. it feels like this album seeped out of the cracks of the earth. maybe the band got together in a room and squeezed their eyes shut and played music until this came out of them in sweat and tears, under a spell? i hear in this a delicate surrender to the depth of feeling. i see summer rain steaming on pavement, the scent and sight causing heads to tilt just a bit, magnetism tugging at forces unearthed, a realization of depth, something distinct felt all the way.

i hear the song “green arrow” sometimes in a recurring dream... it stirs something, it bites, though does not poison. it unearths, and i think this is the true task of the alchemist.

- sum

FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST BROTHERHOOD

what better piece of content for this month’s theme of alchemy than fullmetal alchemist brotherhood?? this is a show everyone should watch, no matter how old you are, where you’re at in your life, what is calling to you. the wisdom in this show is ever-flowing – and so is the character development (event the sidest of side characters is a full person with a rich internal world that aptly reflects the external one in question). but back to the alchemy…

at the beating heart of the story: remarkable individuals known as alchemists. they have studied and practiced their way to understanding how to transform matter based on the principle of ‘equivalent exchange,’ meaning something of equal value must be lost if something new is to be created. this alchemy can certainly be seen as something magical or even miraculous, but the process is a science grounded in certain laws, concepts, and limitations. a system of order in a world seemingly even more chaotic than our own. that’s the brilliance of fullmetal – how it uses magic to reveal truths about ourselves, while simultaneously revealing the humanness in that magic. behind every system, no matter how foreign, how mystifying, there are traces of us.

- liv

THE MAGICK OF MATTER, FELIX FLICKER

some call them wizards, others called them alchemists, today one might refer to wielders of magic as condensed matter physicists (I admit the "ones" who might make those references are probably experts and academics). my friend felix flicker, who happens to be the author of this book who and who also happens to be an expert in quantum matter and theoretical physics, makes a case that speaks to me. i imagine his take would be celebrated in the philosophies of alchemists of bygone eras. he elaborates on the study of condensed matter physics, the study of states of matter and how they emerge from the quantum realm, and refers to this practice interchangeably with “wizardry.” how things become, from mysterious sources. scientists or wizards or spellcasters, the ones who have inventoried what is and what has been can influence what can become.

felix makes the case, as far as i can understand, that the process by which we arrive at newness and innovation is magic itself. the distance between what is now and what will be, the potion and spell between, THIS is the great tool of the alchemist, the wizard, the scientist. i really appreciate the unique elixir of sorts this offers to the mind, this beautiful idea that our experiences in the world and our positioning in time have everything to do with how we feel and engage with all that is beyond our comprehension, and how we experience magic as we KNOW it.

this book leaves me with the question, in alchemy, physics, spirituality…is everything just magic until it is understood? or is everything always magic, and when we come to understand, are we now keepers of the divine?

-sum