Into the Deep Blue (Smurf) Conciousness

A post by Black Dogs Star "The Blue One" , hit me like a poke in the third eye with a blunt instrument shedding new light on my own experience with the blue energy/entity and compelling me to write up this chronicle.

I first began consciously resonating blue energy when the “National” petrol company did a Smurf promotion in the early eighties, like many others it was my first introduction to Smurfs and I was on holiday with my family in Ireland at the time, so coincidentally I was also introduced to the leprechaun. Strange that back then I associated smurfs with petrol (a polluting fossil fuel) whereas now they represent to me a greener Smurf consciousness.

The blue energy remained largely unconscious to me for many years until the early nineties when I began to hear about "project blue book" (the alien agenda) there was a seminal Radio 1 show at the time by Rob da Bank entitled “the Blue room” and  The Orb did a song with the same name. I read Whitley Strieber’s “Communion” which describes the short stocky blue troll (Smurf) like aliens and I underwent some near misses with extra terrestrial consciousness at Bear Mountain. I also became aware of the Hindu/Buddhist deities which are often represented with blue skin and became aware that my Celtic/Druid ancestors also used to paint their skin blue. To this day in the United Kingdom the royal family are referred to as having blue blood. Around the same time I began to resonate the Blue Cat. The seminal Drum and Bass Jungle techno label “Metalheadz” used a blue cat for its logo and I was introduced to little known “Magic Roundabout” feature film entitled “Dougal and the Blue Cat”, I began to resonate the Jaguar (another cat with a blue hue) courtesy of DJ Rolando “the Aztek Mystic,” while the musical blues continued with the Helicopter tune by Deep Blue and the number one song by Deep Blue Something.

The Smurfs came back into consciousness when the DJ team “The Jedi Knights” did an interview in Jockey Slut magazine talking. They talked  about the Internet being an old school network, remarking that the future is in “Lucid dreaming” possibly the first time I had heard of the concept.

They discussed  the new school electro they were releasing  on clear records, as opposed to old school electro.  “The Smurf" was a classic  old school / early 80's electro track beloved of breakdancers and b-boys.

They also mentioned they wanted to see a new smurf for the nineties, within days the "news of the world" featured spaceman smurf on the front cover and the song "Spaceman" by Babylon Zoo quickly went to number one with its speeded up  “smurf " vocals.

I visited a friend who I knew to be a magician and tarot reader to see that he had put Smurf stickers all around his mirror. When I remarked on the coincidence he told me he had found them in a skip along with a "Papa Smurf" cuddly toy which he gave me.

That  Christmas I went to Germany where I was briefly mistaken for DJ Smurf from Kool fm. (My own DJ name was Blue 5

I threw a birthday party around this time and a couple of friends and I incorporated a smurf into the design for the flyer, we went on to paint a large backdrop of the image altering the ying yang slightly to be a sacred chao.

The Smurfs came thick and fast, they released a computer game and album within weeks, including a great cover version of “I wanna be a hippy”

 I went to see the DJ/producer Roger Sanchez play the main room at The End (Roger S was stylin the white kangol at the time) in the lounge The Jedi Knights and Matthew “Bushwacka" B played possibly the best electro set I’d ever heard. All that was missing was the Smurfette.

A months later a neighbour at Clays Lane threw one of its less infamous but no less memorable party’s.It was in fact a rather sedate barbeque. I went along in a newly purchased the shiny blue shirt and white Kangol. Imagine my shock when who else should turn up but a beautiful young lady dressed in a short mini dress of the same shiny blue material as my shirt and with flowing blonde hair.

The amazing synchronicities began to subside. The blue energy faded into the background occasionally resurfacing.  "Remember me" by blue boy and again more recently went I learnt of the “ka-ohm” atom said to exist in the heart said to resonate the colour blue, is that the reason for the use of the colour blue for the heart chakra in Tibetan Buddhism.

In my meditational practise I sometimes  visualise a blue moon radiating light. To my heart chakra.

Click the links for more on 

The Blue Dragon

The Blue Ray Circle Story

The Big Blue Fence

Blue and Green Doors

Blue and Yellow

Blue Five

Blue Helicopters

Deep Blue

Stormy Weather

Halle Berry - Storm

I have recently being listening to the podcasts of aeolus kephas which inspired to me write up this blog post. I have been meaning to chronicle these ideas for while.My love of rain storms and lightning developed as a child , when my parents used to take my brothers and I caravaning on a regular basis.

 In the late 80's early 90's  I transition from the hardcore punk scene to the hardcore rave scene and its only now I remember that wonderful track by the little known Bristol based psychedelic punk rock  band "The Seers" entitled "Lightning Strikes". 

I remember the pure pop of the Lightning Seeds and the Bristol outfit "Massive Attack" released a track called "Weather Storm" on the "Protection" Album.

The free raves of Spiral Tribe, Tribal Energy and Circus Warp were often weather sensitive being out in the countryside under the stars. While the first commercial raves I attended were Perception and Raindance .

 The pop rave of the Shamen fueled an interest in Techno Shamanism.  I read "Thee Grey Book" by "Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth" and it prompted me to observe weather conditions, along with my dreams, what I want to eat, how to keep fit , who and how I wanted to love... 

 I was aware of Native Ameicans Raindances and Sundances.  While magicians from my own European culture were said to be able to effect the weather. Many ancient and indegious cultures named deities in reference to the natural elements. Similarly in modern fairy tales e.g  Star Wars both the Jedi and Sith use Force "Lightning" while in The X-Men Storm manipulates the weather.

When I got into DJ'ing  two key records in my collection were white labels by an outfit know as "Satin Storm." I had a crush on early Metalheadz "Chemistry and Storm".

   In these days of media spin doctors, the expression "whipping up a storm" is often used, but on a number of occasions for me,  it took on an alternative meaning. 

Perhaps the first was when my flat mate Krissy G invited the Pirate radio station "Rush FM" to broadcast from a studio in his bedroom, at first my other flatmate Johnny Jedi and I found this pretty Kool, but the novelty soon began to wear off as a succession of dj's entered the house at all hours of the day and night leaving their rubbish in the hall and stairs and failing to close the door properly. Polite requests and notices to "be considerate" falling on deaf ears . While "Rush FM" were upstairs churning out the drum and bass/jungle to the airwaves, Jonny Jedi and I retreated to the more underground tekno sounds of plink plonk records downstairs. While Jonny Jedi considered the occult significance of the lightning bolts on the plink plonk logo, I had recently received some plink plonk stickers so put one on the front door (which the pirates kept failing to close), imagine our surprise when shortly after I'd done this the radio station antennae was taken out by lightning solving the issue.

Johnny Jedi and myself Steve Skywalker began to go with the flow. I had purchased a series of drum and bass records on Moving Shadow entitled "Storms from the East" our DJ names incidentally were inspired in part by another dynamic duo of Storm trooping DJ's "The Jedi Knights" producing tunes on clear records at the time and later on global communications . I had been fortunate enough to hear "the Jedi's DJ's down at "monk on fire" and began to ponder a new meaning to Whipping up a Storm as once again I was caught without a brolly in a downpour as I left.
Not long after, Johnny Jedi and I threw a moving house party which despite carefully planning took an unexpected turn when at the last minute I decided to make a slight change to the DJ line up, shifting a certain female DJ friend "Peelee" to an earlier slot and my friend Horton Jupiter to later slot,Horton didn't take this well and decided to abandon the melodic tekno set he been planning and instead play a hard industrial set (to annoy me ?), but what even he hadn't foreseen , was the violent thunder storm that erupted as he took to the decks which shook Clays Lane to its very foundations .
I moved on from Clays Lane to Old Steet put DJ'ing on the back burner as I studied Kung Fu and Tai Chi while living for a year at the Buddhist Temple of Supreme Hidden Thunder. My Kung Fu teacher was mixing eastern mantras with electronic sounds and got Friends Lovers and Family producer Phil Earl from Law & Auder to help produce the tracks ,we threw some launch parties for the records including a memorable one where my friend Alex Shaolin (deep frequency.com) played a mellow hip hop set on what was a warm summers evening in faringdon, Phil who was next on the roster brought a box of jungle tekno and as he stepped up to the wheels of steel the clouds gathered and within minutes the heaven s opened as thunder and lightening rained down to sound of a master at work. As the last of the razor sharp beats played out and Phil moved on ,as quickly as it had begun the skies cleared and and sun shone.
I love a little synchronicity ,to me its the essence of taoism and as I moved from Kung fu to Capoeira , I began listening and playing more and more live music , I even began to learn a little berimbau "the original single string instrument" and ( lightening conductor ) I will never forget the first public roda I attended in covent garden led by Master Ousado the roda went on for hours with many different London schools present the Capoeira was played in a variety of different styles but built to an acrobatic and competitive climax and the music led /followed the game ,as the light failed and the bodies tired the rhythms reached a final peak and as all good rodas do it ended in unison and the call of the berimbau. the crowd felt silent for and for a split second everyone held their breath ,then their was almighty clap of thunder and the crowds were scattered to the four corners as the lightning struck rain lashed down.

Click the links for more on  on Tempests and Divine Winds

Oranges and Lemons says the bells of St Clemence and the Cult of Tango

I first started really resonating Orange as a young child. My first childhood bedroom had a white and orange decor with a touch of the magic roundabout. Three walls were white the wall behind the headboard of my bed was orange. I had a chest of drawers and a bedside cabinet, both were predominantly white but the top draw on each was orange.

At some point in the late eighties early nineties , The makers of Tango advertised Orange Tango with it catchphrase "you know when you’ve been Tango'd"  This had multiple meanings. One for the kids in the playground who mimic'd its head slapping antics with a craze that according to national newspaper had to be banned.
For me and other members of the exploding "rave scene"  the "You know when you've been tango'd" catchphrase of Orange Tango had quite a different meaning! 

For me this alternative meaning was reinforced because my brother and I had been travelling up to London at the weekends for our dose of hardcore rave at the "Orange club"

I remember The Orange and Lemon Tango brands were popular at the raves of the time and the mental connection was strengthened in my mind by the words of the popular the rave anthem by "Liquid" entitled "sweet harmony" with its refrain "Bitter sweet, bitter sweet harmony".

As time passed I put my raving days behind me. I studied psychology at Uni and at some point became aware of the banned film "The Clockwork Orange". After leaving Uni I spent one summer working a camp at Bear Mountain, Orange County NY state where I heard stories of UFO's and Eckankar

On return to the UK I took up martial arts and was  exposed to the Buddhist /Taoist teachings of my Kung Fu Master.

My middle name is Clemence (a family name) So the popular nursery rhyme "Oranges and Lemons says the bells of St Clemence." has always held a personal significance for me and even more so after I found myself  living in a Buddhist Temple within the sound of bow bells.

Imagine my horror when one day whilst at the Temple one of my fellow students turned up with some kind of ritual Axe with "Oranges and Lemons say the bells of St Clemence written on it".

It was around this time my mother, who was devout Christian (Roman Catholic) and involved in the Charismatic renewal movement told me all an Easter advertising campaign around the concept of "J.I.M" (Jesus in me) This may or may not have had some connection to the Evangelical Christian movement and the "Holy Trinity Church" Brompton that was doing the Alpha course in the early days.
The "Jesus in Me" concept seemed harmonious to the Christian Buddhist movement. Those Buddhists/Christians that see Christ Conciousness as a state of conciousness comparable with the Buddha’s enlightenment or achieving union with the TAO

So when the following Easter in contrast to the "Jesus in Me" commercials the makers of Tango ran the "Cult of yellow tango commercial" my curiosity was peaked again. I felt like it had special significance . In the commercials everyone in the yellow tango cult wore yellow robes,  enjoyed peace and love and were followers of JIM.

This personal relevance was strengthened as The Buddhist  Temple where I lived for a year, sleeping on the floor was named "The Yellow Dragon Centre" and whilst attending the Buddhist ceremonies we regularly wore yellow robes.

The personal connection seem closer still because around the time the Yellow Tango commercials were aired I had been given a temporary job in a marketing agency that was doing some work for the "Blue Dragon" Chinese food brand. I had heard a great story which involved black and white playboy bunnies and the two the guys that were responsible for the Tango campaign. (apparently one was black the other one white) This further resonated the Taoist nature of the philosophy and seemed to mimic the Black and White Steve dynamic that was playing out at the Yellow Dragon Centre.

To this day I seem to be the only person that obsesses about the meaning behind the commercials , years later they flirted with a "Green" campaign for Apple Tango, a purple campaign for blackcurrant tango, Orange Tango with added kick (Ginger) and even Blueberry Tango sweets called "Blue Balls"

Orange is of course also connected to "The Orange Order" in Northern Ireland who took their name from "William of Orange". Recently my dad who is interested in family history traced our lineage back to the House of Orange (The Grandfather of William)

I sometimes wonder how much of the above is true and how much imagined but the cult will forever be alive in my dreams.

Black Dogs, Smurfs, Elephants, Horton Jupiter, the Moon and the Stars

I have just read The Black Dog Star's blog post entitled "RAW eggs " and was pondering my own resonances with the Black Dogs, Elephants, Horton Jupiter , The moon and the Stars
When I first discovered The Black Dog Star's blog I was reminded of the time I was hypnotised by a stage hypnotist and his "Black Hypno Dog" this coincided with some research on hypnosois as part of my Psychology degree around the same time I was listening to alot of tekno and the group "The Black Dog" were openly discussing occult themes I remember seeing them play live at "Vapoursapce" and was blown away by the Egyptian Black Dog statues (Anubis) on stage. but this wasn't half as freaky as the time a few years later I was given a lift home by my employer at The Brook Street employment agency in Holborn when I was forced to sit in the back of her convertible sports car with two Black Dobermans!
I started resonating the elephant when I went to a private secondary school in Bristol entitled Queen Elizabeths Hospital (QEH) it was commonly referred to as Queer Elephant's House by kids from other schools , prior to this my only resonance with the elephant was the Tarzan TV series and the classic Disney movie Dumbo which was the favourite of my younger brother for a while.
At the age of about twenty three ( a mere psychik youth ) while living at the infamous Clays Lane Housing Coop. My friend "Jonny Jedi" and I threw a classic party we co designed the flyer which was a "Sacred Chao" with a Smurf sumperimposed (I was undergoing a Smurf obssesion at the time) and my neighbours input to the flyer design was to suggest we add an elephant to the design which seem to fit with the smurf/earth conscious vibe we wanted to promote. One of the guest dj's at the party was my friend "Horton Jupiter" one of the founding members of the Clays Lane Jedi Chapter (Click here for the full story). Horton now fronts "They came from the stars ...I saw them" those of you fammiliar with "The Stars" tongue in cheek channelling will get the connection with QEH . I had never heard of "Horton the Elephant" until reading Black Dog Star's post, a few years later I left Clays Lane and moved to old street where my Kung Fu teacher had opened a Buddhist Temple it here I was first introduced to the elephant headed deity Ganesh.
From Kung fu I moved to Capoeira and my Capoeira school "Capoeira Angola Palmares" has the moon and star as its emblem I have always wondered about the symbolism.

The Robin / Probably a Robbery (Part 1) - Renegade Soundwave

Reading JK's post about synchs concerning the Robin http://rundonotwalk.blogspot.com/2009/03/robin-sparrow.html
I was prompted to reply. I have resonated "The Robin" since I was a young child when my first ever football kit was the red and white of Bristol City (The Robins) which I supported.
I was conscious of the Robin in classic "Robin of Sherwood" and "Batman and Robin" television series of my youth .

Batman ,Robin (The Boy Wonder) & Catwoman

In my  youth nother and her 4 sisters used to  communicate by way of a "round robin" chain letter as they were separated across the globe.
I forgot about "the Robin"  until I was much older when I was very into dj'ing and had my bike and many of my records were "robbed" by "a friend" this event confirmed in my mind my Spiral Tribe status the stolen records, which  were now "illegal music" , I entertained the  idea that the Spiral Tribe ethos contained within in it the concept of communal living and perhaps even communal property, Spiral Tribe also resonated with me the idea of "nodes in cyclical time" and that positive outcomes can come about as a result of otherwise misfortunate events. The "Robin" of my records prompted me to move house and my next home was to be a buddhist temple for  the next 12 months ( a life changing move ) I've had become aware that shamanic gifts (found items) while they can be magical and meaningful to the recipient have potential to be someone else's misfortune.
I imagined that stolen items might take on an energy and like a soul that wants to return to source, perhaps stolen items at the moment they are stolen begin a journey home. For me stolen records become can become particularly powerful by acting as kind of sonic tracking device (assuming they don't end up on the shelf or rubbish dump) stolen bikes evoke for me the similar idea and in some communities (e.g. Amsterdam and now London) bikes are good example of a communal property much like newspapers on a tube or property that belongs to an organisation.
It was around the time my records were robbed that I first listened to the radio 1 dj Rob da Bank on his Blue Room programme, not to be confused with the Kiss presenter Robin Banks, I could connect both these dj's to Banksy the stencil graffiti artist ( Banksy, Goldie 3D and Inkie all have a Bristol Barton Hill Youth Club/skateboard ramp connection ) and from banks to ,the Templars but that's another story......
Probably the only other significant robbery in my life was while I was in Brazil , I was staying in a guest house and while i'd been out my bags were robbed (probably an inside job) The main items stolen were a Bad Boy Capoeira T-shirt and the last of my Wagamama t-shirts ( these were the unofficial t-shirts of my kung fu school at the time ) we had no official t-shirts but had received a shamanic gift of a box of wagamama t-shirts ) sadly the t-shirts stolen from me in Brazil were intended as present for my Capoeira teachers Mestres Lazarao and Mestres No of Group Capoeira Angola Palmares .
The events surrounding the robbery were quite eventful, I had been sitting meditating in my hotel room when my rucksack mysteriously fell over , I found this strange so checked it to find I had been robbed of above items ,we notified the hotel that we were leaving and the reasons why (we suspected an inside job).By the time we had reached the end of the road we were arrested and accused of leaving without paying, only the intervention of lawyers from AFS Brazil and support from Mestre Lazarao avoided a night in the cells.

Probably a Robbery - Part 2 can be found here

Probably a Robbery -The Shadow  (part 3) can be found here

The Hardcore Continuum

Yesterday I listened to the Simon Reynolds "Hardcore Continuum" lecture.

I haven't had a chance to check out much of the debate it has generated, but it really resonated with me. 

In my view many of these "new" genres are really conjured up in the years preceding their first appearance as on recorded medium

 seeds  are sewn in fleeting moments of DJ's mix.  Are germinated then evolved from the dreams and splinters in the minds eye of the dj's and ravers , to be recreated in the studios of producers and recorded on wax or cd's ,  days, weeks, even years later.

I started to think of my own personal journey the moment when I entered the the continuum , and its intersection with other musical styles in my lfe

ie my own Fwd evolution & re-evolution

-church music (organ and acoustic/folk music)
-recorder , piano,  guitar , violin and clarinet lessons.
-70 and 80 pop
-80's ska, rock & metal
-Hardcore punk, early US electro and rap
-Indie rock and dance
- breakbeat & acid house,bleep techno, house

- Hardcore Rave,

- Jungle / Drum and Bass , Techno and Trance

- Rare Groove , New Jack Swing , Hip Hop, R&B
-Deep House ,Tribal House , Chicago House ,Detroit House, 

-Acid techno
-Speed Garage , 2 Step ,UK Garage , Breaks, Tech House
-Salsa
-Capoeira
-Samba,Forro,Pagode,Axe
-Psi Trance
-Rio Funk, Crunk, Grime, Dubstep
-Dub Reggae
-Funky & Bassline

Oxum and Xango - Sandra and Steve - Oshun and Shango

Today my attention was drawn to the similarities between the descriptions of Oxum/Oshun and my wife (Love, Intimacy, Beauty, Fiery Temper, Enjoys Cooking ). I noticed she is the favourite wife of Xango/Shango and was drawn to the links with aspects of myself ( Xango the Sky God /my alias Skywalker) Xango, God of Thunder, my longstanding interest and experiences around Thunder & Lightning / (My Buddhist Temple is Temple of Hidden Thunder) Xango sounds like tango and I went through a period of obsession around the fruit drink Tango and the dj tango, my wife loves the Tango

Does this makes sense to you ? What does it mean ?