After the ceremony, guests enjoyed collaborative art-making and gourmet snacks in the Mushroom Cafe. As we danced, drumming was provided by percussion group Kidimandi, who will be returned for the  on April 27th Full Moon Celebration. See you at the next Full Moon at CoSM on Saturday, May 25th.

Alex and Allyson Grey open the ceremony with gongs.

Alex painted along with Stephen Larsen’s talk.

Stephen and Robin Larsen performed poetry.

Delvin Solkinson encouraged everyone to participate in the upcoming CoSM Journal and reported on the four-season permaculture certification.

Evan Pritchard sang and played guitar.

Dr. John on the sitar.

Alex and Allyson.

Mike Smith serving up rich gluten-free walnut brownies in the Mushroom Cafe.

Guests get creative on a free-style collaboration

Kidimandi drumming for dancers in the dining hall.

 (Photos By Scott Corman)

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Link to Entheon Kickstarter Page:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alexgreycosm/entheon-the-alex-grey-visionary-art-experience

Dear Cosmonauts,

We have been inspired by the recent success of Kickstarter for funding projects large and small.  Just this month, two movie projects have generated millions of dollars by rallying their dedicated fans. If artists projects can be financed by friends, there is no limit to creative freedom.  In that spirit we announce the launch of the Entheon Kickstarter today!  Check it out, make a pledge, and build Entheon with us.

Many of you know that, for five years, CoSM was a vital center for visionary art and culture in Manhattan that closed in 2009 after finding the perfect site to build the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, a historic 40 acre retreat center in the Hudson Valley of New York.  CoSM’s heroic team beautifully restored three buildings on the property, the office, the studio, and the guest house, to hold ceremonies, events and workshops. But sadly, the attraction that drew tens of thousands of visitors in Manhattan, the inspiring installation of art, is still wrapped in storage.

The time has come to bring the paintings back. Our plan is to build a permanent exhibition space for these iconic artworks along with paintings and sculpture by some of the most accomplished mystic creators of our time. This home for visionary painting and sculpture, performance and dance, will be a destination you can visit anytime of year to commune with and contemplate the art, now and for generations to come. That transformative environment will be called ENTHEON, a place to discover the creator within.

After two years of working with the Wappinger Town Planners and the Rhinebeck Bank, construction of Entheon, the visionary art experience, has begun at CoSM. New technologies in 3D scanning, modeling and printing are being utilized to bring this unique architectural design to life.

Entheon Altar DJ booth unveiled April 19, 2013, San Francisco

We need your help to create CoSM’s most ambitious project to date. Estimated cost of construction, complete with all the required amenities of a two-story building (including elevator, bathrooms, parking and paved road with lighting) will be over $1.5 Million Dollars. The bank is offering a loan hundreds of thousands dollars short of what is needed to completely finance this extraordinary sculpture that is a building.

Front view of Entheon, designed by Alex Grey – 3D Model by Ryan Tottle

Build Entheon with us by going to the Kickstarter website and checking out the really awesome and original premiums you can receive for helping us reach our goals and super goals. Share this message and kickstarter link with friends and post it on your facebook. Then plan to come and see the temple of art that you helped to build.

Love,
Alex and Allyson

Check out cosm.org for more info on upcoming events!

The post Entheon Kickstarter appeared first on Alex Grey.

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, Alex & Allyson held a workshop on Sacred Relationships. Couples and singles reflected on the art of loving deeply. Art Church begins with a drawing meditation accompanied by electronic or ambient music. One of CoSM’s favorite loving couples, Maren Good and Michael Unger, brought “The Planetary Gongs” for this special Art Church and bathed the audience with rich sonic frequencies. Come to Art Church with basic creative materials, a sketch book or journal, pens or watercolors, and let your creativity flow. An uplifting creative presentation always follows the meditation. Check the calendar for details each month.

Alex & Allyson creating art at the monthly Art Church drawing meditation.

We had a full house for February Art Church.

Allyson painting her secret writing with watercolors.

 Michael Unger playing the Planetary Gongs.

Maren Good playing the Planetary Gongs.

Susan Zuka drawing.

Alex & Allyson presenting a slideshow on Sacred Relationships.

Join us for Art Church! Here are some upcoming dates:

The post Sacred Relationships appeared first on Alex Grey.

Alex’s recent TEDx Talk, “Cosmic Creativity: How Art Evolves Consciousness”, was performed at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on January 13th, this essential twenty minutes offers a journey through Alex’s art, distinguishing phase shifts of awareness and showing how visionary icons of interconnectedness are transformative.

On stage at TEDx, Maui.

Alex speaking about the night he met his wife, Allyson.

Alex addressing the TEDx crowd.

The post TEDx – How Art Evolves Consciousness appeared first on Alex Grey.

February 16th 2013:

On Friday February 16th, CoSM launched it’s first Visionary Salon event, a new format we will be using to create more wisdom, art & music events.

For this event, friends of ours from Moksha Family Art Collective’s “Dusthead” came up from Florida to play for us at CoSM. Their music is intended to find sounds to activate the pineal gland and stimulate feelings that bring you back to ancient memories and deeper parts of the self.

The evening opened up with a discussion between Alex & Allyson and Billy & Susan from the band. They discussed the creative process and the path of being an artists or musician. Following the discussion, the music began joined by Alex & Allyson live painting. A long time CoSM community member and student of the Greys, Martin Cash also was painting at the event.

Alex & Allyson having a discussion with Billy and Susan about their music and creative path.

Dusthead performing.

Susan dancing.

Allyson painting.

Adrian Barona playing the flute.

Alex painting.

 Kevin Kage, Alexandra Marie, Adrian Barona, Susan Zuzka Allan and Bill DeHorta

Billy DeHorta

Alexandra Marie

The post Visionary Salon with Dusthead appeared first on Alex Grey.

A bobcat on CoSM property.

CoSM Pigeons.

A family of racoons looking for buried treasure.

The post CoSM Wildlife appeared first on Alex Grey.

3/20/2013 – A retreat is related to withdrawal from ones everyday life. Our next journey will be to the Paradise Artists Retreat in Santa Fe, New Mexico where we will paint, share the Body & Soul Ritual, consult individually with artists about their work and future, lecture and live-paint with electronic musicians. Why would artists go on a retreat? Optimally, we would focus and go within during our creative time. It would be uninterrupted and have periods of introspection allowing oneself to advance their creative work that distinguishes their passionate focus.

When we gather together in retreat with respected colleagues we learn from each others techniques, how to improve our skills, add to our tool box, a deeper understanding of our craft. We see how other people do it. Brothers and sisters share similar interests, concerns and visions. Artists leading workshops at the Paradise Retreat are each masterful and visionary in their approach to painting, creating an energy field that envelopes a web of talents.

The Body & Soul Ritual is a group drawing experience we have led all over the world from Moscow to Buenos Aires.
Join us at the Paradise Artists Retreat in Santa Fe next week for the full journey.
During the Body & Soul Ritual we create seven chakra drawings from root to crown, during music keyed to each energy center, with a nude yogini to inspire our work. A brief meditative vision practice initiates each drawing to glimpse of the interplay of body and soul. Through this focused drawing practice we activate our light bodies and pour the energies directly into our work.

The class will begin with advice on proportions, design and technique. Bring a sketch book and drawing supplies — watercolors, colored pens and pencils, simple portable materials you love. Paper and pencils will be available. All levels of ability are welcome.

We will also lead The Ritual in support of MAPS Psychedelic Science Conference in Oakland, California April 18th. A Body & Soul Ritual weekend will be held at CoSM in Wappinger, New York May 10-12.

Love,

Alex and Allyson

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Join us this Sunday for Art Church. Bring art supplies and meet us in the library at 1pm for an experiential drawing meditation. Then, two creative Wizards of Woodstock, Isaac Abrams and Paul McMahon, will entertain and enlighten us about their art, music and life. Isaac Abrams’ art was selected for the cover of the original 1967 book, Psychedelic Art. His work was included in the Whitney Museum exhibition “Summer of Love” and later at the MicroCoSM Gallery in Manhattan. Paul McMahon, musical shaman (a.k.a. The Rock ‘N Roll Therapist), founded numerous enlightened alternative community spaces including the a-famed Mothership. As if it’s not enough that Paul’s paintings were exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he is a brilliant and illuminated composer, guitarist and bard.

The post 2013 Visionary Permaculture appeared first on Alex Grey.

“Creative artists are mankind’s wakeners to recollection: summoners of our outward mind to conscious contact with our inner selves, not as participants in this or that morsel of history, but as spirit, in the consciousness of being. Their task, therefore, is to communicate directly from one inward world to another, in such a way that an actual shock of experience will have been rendered: not a mere statement for the information or persuasion of a brain, but an effective communication across the void of space and time from one center of consciousness to another. … The mythogenetic zone today is the individual in contact with his or her own interior life communicating through their art with those ‘out there.’ ”  – Joseph Campbell, Creative Mythology

Any artist in touch with the imaginal realms has stepped into what Campbell calls the mythogenetic zone. So, it’s a legitimate question to ask, “What mythology are our artworks communicating?” The mythology that CoSM is promoting is that we are on the cusp of the emergence of a planetary civilization and that world-wide there is a Love Tribe who recognizes that the human relationship with nature is sacred and needs healing. Art can evolve our consciousness through the contemplative reception of a new map of awareness. Through art, we can upgrade our mythic psychic program. It’s crucial — if we think the earth is crashing and that there is no hope, that is a mythology of doom. If we believe that humanity is entering a consciousness phase shift toward recognition of our common unity, this is a mythology of transformation. Here’s another myth: God is the divine artist and the cosmos is the evolving masterwork of creation. We are here to appreciate and co-manifest the holy unfolding aesthetic spectacle.

Join us on Saturday for the pre-Full Moon Experiential Workshop on the Mythic Imagination with two of our dearest friends, Stephen and Robin Larsen, PhDs, experts on archetypal and transpersonal psychology and it’s relationship to our own personal journey. Bring journaling and sketching materials. This is what will happen:

Using a thousand-year-old Welsh story, Taliesin, the tale of the wizard and bard, the Larsen’s will lead us through an archetypal story of initiation and transformation. Ultimately, we’ll be invited to find the seeds of our own hero’s journey in the bard’s tale of becoming. The Larsen’s propose that we will all leave with a magical tidbit of inspiration for some life choice or creative project of our own.

Stephen Larsen, PhD and Robin Larsen, PhD were biographers and long-time friends of the renowned mythologist, Joseph Campbell.  From Campbell they learned to discern the profundity of myth, and how deeply it permeates our lives and culture. Stephen is a respected psychotherapist, professor and author of The Shaman’s Doorway, The Mythic Imagination, and about forty other volumes. Stephen directs a clinical center dedicated to helping people with neurological dysfunction and brain injury (stonemountaincenter.com). Stephen contributed an essay to Alex’s book Transfigurations. Robin earned a doctorate degree in art history, has exhibited her brilliant visionary art for decades and co-authored six books with her partner Stephen, one with Joseph Campbell. Together the Larsen’s authored numerous books on the art of relationships including The Fashioning of Angels, in which one chapter focuses on the relationship of Alex & Allyson. Stephen and Robin are co-founders of The Center for Symbolic Studies (symbolicstudies.org) in Rosendale, New York.

After the experiential workshop, participants are invited to join Alex, Allyson, Steve and Robin in the CoSM Dining Hall for a delicious, healthy dinner created by staff and volunteers.

Dinner guests adjourn to the library where all are welcome to convene for the Full Moon Ceremony beginning at 7:30pm.

The post Mythogenetic Zone appeared first on Alex Grey.

January Full Moon Ceremony 

TALAT (Jonathan Talat Philips) started the January 2013 Full Moon journey by leading an experiential Pre-Full Moon Workshop entitled ”Warrior Healing.” After the workshop, participants and staff shared a delicious dinner, and then adjourned to the library where the gongs marked the opening of the ceremony. Alex and Allyson,Talat, Evan Pritchard, Dante Bucci, Alysun Panichi and Brian McGarvey all  made inspiring offerings of music, wisdom, poetry and interactive experiences. Following the ceremony, Dante performed his mystic rhythms to a captivated audience. Fire spun. The Mushroom Cafe filled with joy and jubilation as people convened and enjoyed delectable treats together. The night ended the way every Full Moon ceremony has been blessed for the past ten years, by howling at the moon.

Here’s What’s Coming up at the February CoSM Full Moon Ceremony 

Stephen Larsen, PhD and Robin Larsen, PhD were personal students and the authorized biographers of the renowned mythologist, Joseph Campbell (A Fire in the Mind).  From Campbell they learned to discern the profundity of myth, and how deeply it permeates our lives and culture.  Stephen is a renowned  psychotherapist, professor and author of The Shaman’s Doorway, and The Mythic Imagination, among many others. Stephen contributed an essay to Alex’s book Transfigurations.  Robin earned a doctorate degree in art history, has exhibited her brilliant visionary art for decades and co-authored six books with her partner Stephen, one with Joseph Campbell. Together the Larsen’s authored numerous books on the art of relationships including The Fashioning of Angels, in which one chapter focuses on the relationship of Alex & Allyson.  Stephen and Robin are co-founders of The Center for Symbolic Studies (symbolicstudies.org) in Rosendale, New York.

Stephen and Robin, two of our dearest and most trusted friends, will lead the February Pre-Full Moon Workshop.

Don’t miss “The Mythic Imagination: An Experiential Workshop” at CoSM, Saturday, February 23rd https://www.z2systems.com/np/clients/cosm/event.jsp?event=1204

Following the ceremony, rhythms will be provided by Kidimandi, percussionists extraordinaire, including the beloved Bridge brothers, Martin & Carl and their friends who will lead the post-ceremony dance beats.

February Full Moon / Kidimandi Link:
https://secure.cosm.org/np/clients/cosm/event.jsp?event=1042

CoSM Chef,  Ian Arremony, making delicious avocado wraps in the kitchen

Jonathan ‘Talat’ Phillips teaching his “Warrior Healing” Pre-Full Moon Workshop

Allyson and Alex leading the January Full Moon Ceremony

Expert on Hudson Valley indigenous people, Evan Prichard playing traditional flute.

Brian McGarvey & AlySun Panichi performing sacred prayer songs

Dante Bucci performing at the Full Moon Ceremony

Allyson sharing the Parsha.

CoSM’s Beekeeper and CFO, Matt Dudin inviting membership.

People having fun in the Mushroom Cafe

CoSM Staff, Laura Bellizzi, Mike Smith and Joness Jones in the cafe.

Friend celebrating the Full Moon at CoSM.

Dante Bucci performing a post-ceremony concert

Remember to bring your sketch book or journal when you come to CoSM.

Rachel Havens, Isaac Sorenson & AlySun Panichi

Howling at the Full Moon!!!

JOIN US Saturday, February 23rd AT CoSM for the next Full Moon Ceremony!
(click banners for event page)

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