Who Cares?: September 2009

Wild Woman

This summer I came across a book series called The Ringing Cedars of Russia. It is written by a Russian businessman - now turned spiritual writer and businessman (over 10 million copies sold in 20 languages!) - and is about his acquaintance with a young Russian woman, Anastasia who lives as a recluse in the depths of the Siberian Taiga.
In some respects the series reminds me of the books by Carlos Castaneda about his encounter with the Mexican shaman don Juan Matus. But somehow this Russian series is even further away from "normal" reality, and personally I don't buy most of the content.
However, I picked bits here and there that I liked - and what I REALly do like is, that it seems to have inspired loads of people all over the world, particularly in Siberia, to create their own eco-villages and to becoming aware of the power of plants, especially the power of homegrown plants.
I am already preparing my garden in order to be ready for spring and a journey into The Secret Teachings of Plants.

Natural History no. 13

It's troll time!!

You might ask who cares about trolls these days?
However, trolls are still very much alive in the Scandinavian worldview, and I reckon it applies to many other parts of the world.
In Scandinavia you are taught about trolls from early childhood - as a matter of fact - children grow up with a certain ambiguity about trolls, because on the one hand they are taught about the appearance and lifestyle of trolls etc. and simultaneously on the other hand they are reassuringly told that trolls don't exist in reality.
Luckily kids are generally good at coping with complex statements, so most of them are not traumatized by this ambiguity.

To me trolls represent the blurred borderline between man and nature. However, in today's urban lifestyle "wild" nature has almost vanished and there is no need for a border anymore. Trolls belong to a time when nature seemed mysterious and threatening for man, contrary today where it is more the other way round.

But you can actually do an attempt to approach trolls. Like mystics who are exploring the inner alchemical state of nigredo in absolute darkness, you can do a similar thing: spend a night out ALONE in a deep forest with no artificial light and come back and let me know:
Did you get a glimpse of them??? I am all ears ;-) What if?
Understandably most people don't dare this - it's actually more trembling than you might expect - please check it out for yourself! And many people do not even have the opportunity, because they live too far away from a big forest. We haven't got many big forests left these days.
But one thing is for sure - you can always READ about trolls while you are indulging in a cup of troll tea.

And here is a little tip: If you have danced all night with the most enchanting dance partner and you happen to notice a tail sticking out under your partner's skirt or trousers, then you know for sure that the one you are taken by is a troll. BEWARE! Or should I say CONGRATULATIONS!?

Finally I want to let you know, that trolls can be tamed and trimmed to a certain degree - as long as you do it with love and a twinckle in the eye ;-)

This video-installation by Joss James, Anne Mølleskov and Ingrid Weiss was shown as part of the exhibition Who's that tripping over my Bridge? at Frederiks Bastion, Copenhagen, 2002.

Educational?

Today I saw loads of educational posters at the exhibition AUTOPSI.

The boards were beautiful as they were and reminded me of a time where the world was easy to grasp.

This is how the golden oriole was depicted (the breeding couple in the bottom right hand corner):

Today this bird is more rare and might rather be depicted like this:

At the moment it is possible to see modern object pictures at the exhibition Blikfang og Blærebilleder at Medical Museion.

What is on show is the images that researchers are using to illustrate their lectures at conferences and seminars. These images must also be highly communicative in order to make clear points.

However, I reckon kids today would rather prefer interactive media such as Wii, when learning about the incomprehensible world....