Dark Moon Underworld Journy

Again Dark Moon had evolved into another kind of habitat, an environment Neph is very familiar with: mythology! Greek mythology. And this time Dark Moon is a journey from The Underworld, up through the caverns and winding ways to, well a mystical carnival, which could feel like the Elysian Fields. Follow along with Neph, her Felhound and Guardian as we tour!

  

 The moment the land, they find themselves in water and spy a gazebo. But heading to it, they realize they should have gone into the cave entrance. So after a quick dance . . . they headed back.

 

 The entrance was a bit intimidating and they found they could not fly up to the top, but upon taking a note from the welcome sign, and briefly looking through it, they found there was a reason for that! Apparently the idea was to explore cthonic reality of the Underworld with its meandering passage ways, hidden nooks and crannies, and cryptic messages. The passageways were indeed confusing, many dead ending at a place to dance or a waterfall.

 But they finally came to a couple of sets of stairways several meters apart. One looked more inviting than the other. Later they were to find out that one was more dangerous too! Making note of the ways up, Neph, her Guardian and the Felhound continued on through this water level of the Greeted by glowing growths that changed colors, the passageways began to seem more inviting.

Another opening appeared! Wading through the glowing cave dwellers was a delight while heading toward the small opening to another passageway they spied. Where would it lead?

 Apparently to a lovely plum sunrise over a veridian sea! Perhaps later, the top was the goal, as the note said, "Now Dark Moon is now an Underworld Journey to? Well travel upwards and see! Do not avoid the journey! Traverse the Underworld. Create your soul." Who would want to miss that?

 So after enjoying the sunrise they retraced their steps and acended the set of stairs they found most inviting. There were two ways to go. Turning to the right they discovered a cozy library! Embedded in the books a poem that fit the mood soothed the trepidation that filled the soul. 

"In Xanadu did Kublai Khan
A stately Pleasure-Dome decree,
Where Alph, the sacred river ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea."

Neph read aloud to her Guardian while the Felhound stood faithfully at their feet. It was a meaningful moment, wine, company . . . good lighting. What more could one ask? This part of the cave was so cozy.

 

 

 But onward they journeyed through a long passageway. It was getting hot and the Felhound in particular was glad of the water in a barrel along the way. Neph gathered a dipper of it for him to lap up. And they they were off again toward a warm glow, that got warmer as they approached!

 

 This must be volcanic! The raging fire from the stone was sure to be the Forge of Hephaestus. Neph decided to try her hand at forging some weapons . . . who knows what lie ahead? The fire raged, the bellows blew, her Guardian took a stance of protection as was his way. The Felhound growled.

 

 But this is hot work! And soon Neph was wet with perspiration, her arms sore from weilding the tools of iron. Creation is a hard work, just as any mother in labor! And LO! The hot fire charred her skin! Neph had taken on not the pallor one would expect in a world without sun, but instead a sooty shade of ebony.

Her Guardian, as they are wont to do, suggested they move on.

 

 The Temple of Hephaestus appeared just further on. "Speak the word 'lumen' was inscribed in the ancient runes carved into stone pillars to invoke the magic of the ruins; it is a worship of solitary dance.

 

 Continuing north (but who could tell in this maze?) one approached the Dark Goddess Hecate herself! The Council Table with wine and food bespoke the solemn nature of this gathering space. Goddess speaks when touched, she tells her tale, and that of Persephone . . . but the historical tale.

 

 Where now? The secret, and only way up, is around the bend behind the Dark Goddess! And you must climb a rope to get up there, but turns out, it's worth it! Upon climbing a fantasy land invites bliss.

 Elven pathways lead to flowered fields and yes, the mystical carnival! Elephants, and chirping herds of small animals live in the big top tent. A carousel waits to be ridden, white weasels run playfully in the underbrush, and a wishing well grants your desires. Wine, cake, and dances let you relax around the playful animals and colorful views.

Confirming the travelers decide an overveiw is needed and spying a stairway hidden in the brush, well actually they spied the ferris wheel and figured there must be a way up, they decided to continue to climb

 

 The view was worth it.

 

 Much later, another day

 You can often find Neph with her friends Zube and Maurizio hanging out with the owls in the stone circle ruin that has been taken over by the owls. Yep, this is out the back way from the water level of the caverns. There is a small bog with bridges that lead to a shack. This is deceptive, for actually the little shack is the Museum of Dark Moon History where you can pictures of previous versions of Dark Moon. There have been nine previous versions! Each picture, or set of books about, have a link to this blog on that version, or a blog by someone else  about Dark Moon, or a machinima.n So enjoy!

Spirit, Life, Death, Birth, Claudia222 Jewell

 Yes, that is me! I was reading profiles and came upon a link to Spirit by claudia222 Jewell. Clicking on the link led me to a fantastical art installation that offered a free avatar! Here she is! This avatar allowed me to blend into the scenery. Interestingly, I suddenly felt that I understood the beauty of this strange place, when in this avatar. What was at first a chaos of surrealistic organic forms took on a new meaning. Recently you may have heard me say things like, "I am sick of 'dark' art," and this did appear dark to me at first. But in this alien avatar I was allowed to slip into a fantasy that made sense of my surroundings . . . or seemed to. I don't really know what the artist had in mind, but here is my take. You see, I once had the idea to do a painting of a jungle in the wrong colors, the colors of the insides of our bodies. I wanted to show that organic shapes, in growth, in decay, in life and death, shared a certain form and beauty, the rhythm or fractaline  mirrors of seeming opposites. That is what I found here! Claudia has organic forms looming threateningly about, yet possessing a strange beauty that makes me think of life and death, and the relationship of the two. Of course this build is called Spirit!

 What I saw here was a spirit leaving a dying body, community rushing to help, little spirits and Goddesses standing by in witness and blessings, perhaps midwifing the death. With the music at the sim on, this brought me to tears.

I was touched by the expressions of the faces of the 'helpers.' The serious concern of a technical expert, and a loving compassion shown through these creatures while they worked.

But it all became too much for me as I stood witness with two others of what seemed to be the birth of a baby, threatened by predators, guarded by its mother, in one of the many floating islands of the build. I had to leave . . . and I went on to check out another build by Claudia at JASS.

 

  One must fly up about 500 meters to get to the build. I did not catch a name. But here is the link!  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Jass/126/56/559  From the distance the build looks like a glob of cellular matter. How perfect is that? If Spirit is Death in Life (is it?) then this is BIRTH! Here abundance and erotic sensuality run rampant! But there were threats too! I came across some scary brain eating octopus and had to fly of to another orb of the build!

 When I did I found a lovely, lovely sort of insect Goddess, spirit, guardian? Well she was a bee I think. She was so serenely protective of me I felt completely safe embraced in her arms, as she flew me around the rest of JASS. YES! You can sit on these lovely creature's and they will fly you around! But be warned, they are bees after all!

 

 Pollinating flowers seemed a fitting activity for us! How erotic is that? Flying into plant genitalia to help them reproduce? Tee hee. The shapes and textures of the flower, the orbs, each object we flew through seemed wet and pulsating. This was conception, gestation in a hybrid that transitioned botany and biology.

 

 Here we are in a particularly juicy flower reminiscent of a vulva. Above us a lovely moth Goddess emerges from a chrysalis.

  Then we were off looking for more flowers, my lovely Bee Goddess holding me securely.

 I noticed faces all seemed familiar, and wondered if these snake Goddess, and the rest, were the artist's face?

 And lo~ what seemed to be a nursery, or at least a symbolic one. One of the womb-like orbs holds the head of an infant, supported by eagles. How delicate is an infant's scull? As delicate as an egg? How does it hold the potential of a future life, or of many past lives? Do we dream of that utero? Finally, I gave up my lovely Bee Goddess, she flew off smiling beneficently, to dance the cosmic organic dance of life.

 THANK YOU CLAUDIA222 JEWELL!

WHAT JOY THIS HAS BEEN!

The first stop to get your ave is Spirit: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Art%20Screamer/55/191/83
Then after exploring that, go to JASS: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Jass/126/56/559
(Don't forget you have to fly up! I have set the Slurl right to the Bees! So follow the red arrow! OH! And use "sounds" not the stream at JASS!)

Newly Discovered Mayan Temple

 As you all know, Dark Moon has been a Tropical Rainforest for a while now. I like to wander about the jungle exploring. I have already informed you that I had discovered an ancient Mayan Calender on the land; I unearthed it while terraforming . . . but I have discovered more! I was just hanging near the monkeys up near the canopy level of the forest, making sure they had enough bananas, when I noticed a shape in the distance I had not seen before. Maybe some of the lianas had died back, I don't know.

 At any rate, I wandered over to the edge of the hill, near that old bench (I really should replace it, it is rotting) to look more closely. I was not quite sure what I was seeing. But there, in the distance appeared to me some sort of stone structure! Was it Mayan? How did I not notice this before!

 I hurried over to the head of the Red Orchid trail. It is a steep path, but the orchids give off a nice guiding light, and the moon was full, I had my walking stick, so I decided to hike over.

 It gets a little dense further down by the river . . . the river I had forded so many times while exploring.

 Once down to river level I looked up and could barely see the stone roof above the riotous growth of the understory of the jungle. This was going to be a chore, I could see! Ah well, with pet macaw, I set off.

 The river is low this time of year, and the full moon guided my steps across it. It was a bit of a hike up to the east trail through the palms, but I like this area. There are toucans that live nearby.

 There is a very old side trail up a ways to the left here. I managed to scramble up and came to a wall, but I still had no concept of the overall structure, what it was, how big it was . . . I continued forward.

 Finally there was a place where the earth met the stone low enough for me to climb up! From here I could look up and see the top of what turned out to be a pyramid! It was definitely Mayan! I got excited.

 But where was the entrance? How could I get in, or up, or anything??? The Mayan pyramid was buried in the undergrowth. Palms, shrubs and overgrown crotons surrounded it! I even found that somehow I had circumnavigated the building and was farther away! But there was a foot bridge leading back.

 The bridge led through the jungle, and I saw where I had made a wrong turn. Although the drop off to the north was dangerous, I managed to scurry around the north side of the stones, and making my way through the dense underbrush came to so stairs. Now this looked like the main entrance!

 The stairs were a bit of a climb. Being out of breath and sweaty, I found my heart pounding with exertion and a bit of trepidation! This appeared to be a Mayan Temple! Who knows what rites had been performed there? Who knows what secrets . . . or ghosts the temple held? I approached cautiously.

 My macaw seemed to feel my anxiety and flew off as I reached the top platform. There was a small room there with a low roof. I guess he did not want to go inside, but I could not see how there would be a problem. The crowning room was too small and open to be claustrophobic, and some of the stones had fallen out of the back wall. I thought it would be okay. (Macaw by Vinnie Baxter)

 But suddenly the floor of the little room fell away with a loud rasping sound that made me spin around in alarm! I looked down to a chamber at the bottom of a precarious ladder! I was wet with the rain that had began falling washing my perspiration from my climb off my forehead and into my eyes. I could not see clearly and my eyes were now stinging. So I was torn. Do I descend or not? What was in there?

 I decided to go inside. I looked up to be sure I could get out. There was a warm light, some torches burning! This was kind of nice, actually! So after making sure I could get out, I looked around.

 On the far wall, there was another Mayan Calendar! I wondered what mysteries it held!

 So I decided to look more closely, in a leisurely sort of way. Spreading out a blanket and a picnic I magically materialized (you knew I could do that, right?) I examined the calendar. Low and behold, it was ancient, and hi tech! Who knew? Turns out if you click on this calender you can see exactly what the Mayans are anticipating in 2012! Yes, embedded in the calender is a wonderful documentary in Spanish, with English subtitles about the current Mayan world! I highly recommend watching this film!

  I got so involved I forgot to eat the fruit I had brought! But I learned a lot about the indigenous people of Meso America and their spirituality. So please, feel free to come relax in this lovely Mayan Temple (made by Aral Levitt). Cuddle up on the rug and watch a video! (Lovely cuddle rug by Lionna Dumouriez)

Dark Moon welcomes guest and has lots of educational information about rainforests, Mayans, Afro-Caribbean spirituality, and herbal medicines. Please get a notecard from the welcome sign when you come in, and be sure to click on objects! And thank you Aral for this marvelous Mayan Temple!

Dark Moon slurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dark%20Moon/88/171/20
Aral Levitt's shop B A H I A  T I K I : http://slurl.com/secondlife/Bahia/167/170/23