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the story of this...



CONTACT:

russ@afiretender.org




Now, let's set the scene:

  There is a sacred place
on a remote island.

During sacred times, spirits
of all kinds gather
there to play.

Drums are their common heartbeat.

Fire plays host.  Its job is connection. 

Presiding over all, it
comes and goes in and
out of all dimensions as
it pleases, shape-shifting
as it does so.


Peeling darkness away;
it reveals the wonder.

IMAGES            THUMBS            TIPS             AN EXPERT'S VIEW

WELCOME!

Here's a site you can come to again and again, for FREE, to strengthen your connection with your still, small voice inside. It consists of images and tips on how to use them.

Unlike images on Tarot cards 
these images have no interpretations attached
to them until you see them.

The only book to refer to is what is written in your heart; these images are here to help you follow that voice where it leads you.

Here's how they arrived:

In May of 2005, a man with 35 years experience in the healing arts sat down at his computer to print out photos he took at drum and fire gatherings on the island of Maui, Hawai'i his home.

Everything went wrong. As he began printing he was amazed to see the pictures he was sure he took were not what was being produced
. At first, he was ready to throw his computer and printer out the window!

But he looked again...and again and each time he was drawn deeper...not into them, but into himself. There was sohealer medic much going on  than he ever could have captured by design. Stunned, he felt compelled to document  his response in the picture you see. (Selfies weren't a thing then!).

He resolved to learn how to work with them because he sensed they were meant to be worked WITH. He literally turned to them to teach him what they were here to do. Russ began using them with others and himself and he realized what was happening: 

These images were guideposts without directions until YOU read them!

Russ says, "I started working with them because they elicited so many multi-layered responses from me. I started to bring others in to see if there was really something going on or if I was just nuts. To my wonderment I discovered the people who were viewing them were having similar "hits", yet were seeing things in them that were far different than my own interpretations. Almost without exception, whatever came up was deeply personal!

And everyone kept asking me, 'What is this?'  as if I knew!

The only words that came to me were from my Brooklyn past. What usually happened was the person would see a metaphor in the image for something that they were going through in that moment. All I could say was 'Tell me more...'. Then, something would connect that offered clarity to them. Once that started to happen consistently, I only had one answer for those who questioned me; 'This, is this.'"


Perhaps it would be useful to just go right to the images.
In this way, you can, without being told anything else, see how they touch you.
  STORY IMAGES will get you to the
picture viewer.

                    IS THIS MAGIC? Not really, it's kind of mundane yet very special. That
                    night; my printer had a glitch in it that caused the distribution of the inks
                    to misfire. It had nothing to do with conscious digital manipulation through
                    PhotoShop or the like. What you see is what physically got born. Because
                    I had no idea what happened, the images "spoke"  to me on a visceral,
                    heart-centered way. It was a pure experience untrammeled on by my
                    preconceptions or understandings. I printed out everything in my camera
                    for fear the printer would get back to normal!

                    Over the next few days I was able to back-engineer and figure out what
                    had happened. From then  on I was able to duplicate the process knowingly.
                    I built a body of art around what I learned about working in dim light, with
                    fire and my printer.

                    What made  these particular images so powerful was I didn't have anything
                    to do with them! They clearly came through me, even if it was a fuck up.
                    They literally jumped out of nowhere and struck a chord in me that taught me
                    how to use them for the benefit of others. They inspired me, I didn't inspire
                    them. In total, that night produced around 100 one-of-a-kind images, never
                    to be repeated. Those are the only images you will find here.


Images from the story of this... tend to strike deep primal and archetypal chords that lend themselves to progressively deeper explorations of self, in the moment. You will find many thematic connections among the images here that will have special significance to your particular situation at the time you view them.

These images are here to help you access YOUR still-small voice in the moment. Since YOU are the final arbiter of their meaning, I've prepared a little guide to help you get the most out of your experience with them.


   If you'd like to learn more how to work with these images, check out these TIPS


  If you'd prefer to work with, or view a particular image,
the
THUMBNAILS are here.


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