The Helicopter crash

I am with Rich and with katy.

 She needs pulling through very deep slushy mud. After doing so, we come to a Graffiti workshop space in Bristol. I decide to write the word CONE , as a tag, so I spray it on a wall. There is a filming crew just near me, who have been allowed to film us. It is permissive graffiti, we have been allowed to use this space. 

The walls are like old abandoned ruins, and the atmosphere is smelly with aerosol spray. I meet a girl, who I fancy, and I travel with her parents to a train station, and meet up with new friends at the train station. 

I wanted to get her off track, away from following her parents but instead I end up going to visit this growing project in Scottish boarders. 

 Its on north facing slope in a very poor area. It is winter, at Imbolc time. I talking with an artist and journalist about the project, and about how this new initiative have been working to get people involved. It has been hard work the tell me. Its not going to be easy to keep it going they say. But there has been success on projects further north than this. So all is possible.

 While we are there talking about project (we can see the sea in the background) a helicopter flying noisily overhead preventing us from talking. It crashes to the ground, and I am reminded of the dream where I saw this happen before. The artist gets on the phone to call the emergency services. 

It has crashed next to the community centre. The artist I am with shows me the art work that is in the community centre. Its made out of something like glazed ceramic and it will last a long time. Longer even than the building that contains it. 

I feel I'm getting left behind. I see others who are moving forward while I remain stuck in a rut. It feels awful.

Gaga

I'm in wellow and Gaga is showing us some of his sculptures. 

He has been carving these 3 relief heads. They are of different saints or holy people. They have decorations around the faces. 

Gaga seems to be really pleased with one of the carvings of the heads. Its one that seems to stand out above the rest. 

We are moving the sculptures out of the studio. We are carefully putting them into boxes. I have been doing some sculpture in the studio and my sculptures are being moved as well.

Darkness as an Ally

I have escaped from being killed...

People were plotting to get rid of me, because I was getting in the way of their plan. 

Basically I was helping this farm to get its feet back on the ground again, by getting it organised and sorting out the problems that it was having. There were these few people who were put in charge of certain aspects of the farm deliberately to make a mess of it so that the farmer would go bankrupt. I could see this happening all too clearly, and so I put myself in such a position to stop this happening. 

I was aware of them plotting to kill me because I overheard a conversation that they were having. I got out of this building just in time before it exploded. I hid in the dark. I stayed there for a long time, long enough for the darkness to become my ally.

The Escape

Its all a plan to try and get rid of me, and any other rebels who won't conform...

The roman emperor has discovered that there are rebels amidst his tribe, and he knows all too well that they won't conform, and will be the downfall of his empire, if he doesn't do anything to get rid of them. 

So, he has planned a special celebration day, as a disguise to round up the rebellious, a day where he will get rid of everyone of them in a display of public sacrifice. 

I know this for some reason, and, being a rebel, I also know exactly how to avoid it; I have a plan to run off to the woods and live a wild survival life hidden amidst nature until the corruption has gone from the city. 

-

It is important that no one suspects I know anything. So I keep quiet right up until the day of the celebrations, and make my plan. 

There's a wall all around the city, with security posts dotted along it, with armed security guards keeping a close eye on all that happens at the city walls. There's a little bit of wall which I have climbed over before which leads straight to the woods, an area I am familiar with. 

I have a friend who has been hanging out with me who I will sneak out with me, right at the time when they will want to know where I am. 

-

The time rapidly approaches for the celebrations. The plans become sharpened. Everyone is gathering in the central square. Me and a friend have about an hour left before we will be found. I decide the time is right to make our escape; everyone's attention is on the celebrations and we can sneak away unnoticed, and my the time they realise we're gone, we will be hidden away in the woods. I call her. She comes, and together we begin making our way to the bit of wall that is near the woods which we can climb over. 

Just as we are approach the wall, a guy spots us from the distance and comes over to see what we are up to. He immediately suspects that we are planning on climbing over. He doesn't however suspect that we are the rebels as he knows nothing about underground rebel movements, he just thinks we are trying to escape the city walls for a while to have some fun. 

We don't want anyone to see us leave, so we abandon our plan to climb over at this point and ignore the mans comments about us breaking the law. 

I decide that we need to go over to the other side of the city where there is more space, and try and escape there. Sometimes the roads to the outside world are left open, and if one is quick you can avoid being seen by the guards. We make our way quickly and quietly across the city. 

Driving and Football.

Driving from the back seat of the car is never a good idea. I've nearly crashed about 5 times now, and I have passengers I'm taking places. 

One of the places I'm trying to get to is lammas. I have explored the routes beforehand. I know that the quickest route is to get out and walk across the fields, as a short cut. But when we try to get across the fields we find out that a new quarry has been built and its blocking the way. Its a huge monstrosity of a quarry, a scar on the landscape. We have to navigate our way around it without being seen, as its a private land 'no access' place, and we would be in a lot of trouble if we get caught. People are relying on me to lead the way. 

-

We are playing a football match at the back of church. The football is a little bead about the size of a pea. Its not very satisfying. Neither team is trying that hard, yet it is an important match to play, whoever wins this one will go through to the finals and potentially make loads of money. 

I rouse my self to action, and score a goal. I figure out a new way of playing which may be cheating - I pick the ball up with my toes and throw it into the goal. I use blankets to stop the other team progressing. 

I think I will get told off by the referee. 

The Dinosaur Mask Mass

I'm in st william's church, our usual spot near the front and mass is going on. Its a special occasion mass, I'm not sure which one, but the priest is wearing red and he is giving out special blessings and gifts to people in the community who have been doing good deeds. 

Many of the gifts that are being given out are costumes and masks. They are made out of a synthetic fabric that is a bit like a tough foam that lots of children's toys are made out of. A dinosaur mask comes my way and I put it on. It fits quite well. I watch the priest giving out other gifts. He talks in a very traditional way. He is an old man with grey hair, and well shaven. My dad gets a gift. Many other people get gifts which are like dinosaur costumes in the same style as my mask. 

Now communion is being given out. We are all queuing up for it like usual. I am wearing my mask now. It has all this small holes and slits for the eyes, so I can see, but only just. The vision is all disjointed and blurry. 

I am going up to receive communion now. I am one of the last to go up. I wonder weather I should take my mask off to receive it. I decide at the last minute that it would be a good idea. When I do, there are a number of people at the front pushing there way to get communion. There are only a few hosts left. The priest tells off the people who are pushing. There is no wine left. I get a communion but it is a broken piece. I remember however that its the symbolic side to this ritual that counts, not the reality. 

The Axis Mundi

I meet him in his allotment shed. He demonstrates these acrobatics to me which seem quite impossible, almost showing the capabilities of a monkey or other such creature that can traverse any trunk or branch effortlessly. 

Ill try to explain exactly what he did. There is a central beam to the allotment shed made out of a solid tree trunk. It is perhaps oak or ash. It is carved and decorated. It runs from south west to north east, at a slight upwards slope. At the southwest end is a springboard or flexible wooden board as part of the wall. I watch him jump up into the air, kick his feet against this spring board and move horizontally along the tree trunk beam, guiding himself with his hands, which are aided by the carvings in the tree trunk. This all happens in a flash, and before I know it he is at the other end of the shed. 

He repeats this motion, just to show me that he has mastered it. I attempt to traverse the beam in the same way I saw him do it, but realise on first attempt that it is way beyond my capabilities. I notice also, when closer up to the beam that it has skulls incorporated into the beam toward the north end, which make it look like a totem pole or similar spirit pole. I get the feeling this is a magical pole, an axis mundi, and this is the reason why he can traverse it with ease. He has built it in line with his spiritual truth, and navigates it as a way to shift between the different realms of reality. 

- 

I'm with pete and a bunch of friends down by the park. We are all on a mission to climb up a tall tower. There is conflict as to how we get up this tower. I want to go one way but the others want to go another way. 

I climb up a lamp post and put a graffiti sticker at the top. One of my friends tells me not to do it, at which I feel I am doing something wrong, and the nervousness makes me put it on badly. I blame my friend for distracting me and we part ways for a while. I meet another friend who is doing graffiti and I feel comfortable with this friend. 

Eventually we all meet up again at the top of the tower. It is windy and cold. I look out of one of the windows and its a very long way down. 

The Madman

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere there is a madman.

 We happen to have accidentally crossed paths. This "we" I mention, is a traveling group of festivalers; the wanderers who live on the festival circuit supporting the crew. 

We are in a warehouse, or a big empty farm barn. The madman has ambushed us in this barn. He has people working for him, who have been infected by his psychosis. For the sake of telling the story I will call these people his henchmen. 

His henchmen surround us from the edge of the barn while the madman is in the center, wielding a gun. He is pointing it at us, from one person to the next, and giving instructions in a loud fearful voice. 

"I don't want any funny business! Just do as I say and no one will get hurt!" 

We stay motionless, fearing for our lives. 

I am at the back of the group, slightly hidden by a pillar. I have an apple in my hand. I have been eating the apple. My mobile phone is in my pocket and I consider trying to call 999. I know that the consequences of getting caught could be dire, but if I get away with it, we could get ourselves out of a tricky situation. 

I put my hand down into my pocket and press the numbers for 999. I don't dare take the phone out of my pocket let alone whisper anything down it. Too much risk. I just hope somehow that the person on the end of the line will be able to hear the madman's voice giving orders and realise that something is up and come find us. 

We are being kidnapped. That seems like what is going on. I don't hold much hope for the phone call bringing any relief. I have a new plan. I will eat a message into the apple and leave it somewhere to be found. 

I start nibbling and pressing my thumb nails into the apple to make words and symbols so that if someone finds it they can know what has happened. 

One of the henchmen spots that I am up to something and so he comes over. I quickly abandon my message and destroy it in two huge bites of the apple. 

He reaches me and grabs the remains of the apple off me and takes it to the madman. The madman, despite his craziness has an acute perception and intuition. Even though my message has been destroyed, he reads my two big bite marks immediately as a sign of something covered up in a moment of hurry. 

"I know what you're up to! These two bite marks are no ordinary bite marks, they hide the signs and I can read through them! You are trying to alert people to our presence!"

I am worried now for my life as I think I will get shot. But the madman is also fearful, and he doesn't want to attract attention by making unnecessary noise. We all get ushered along to some vans that are waiting for us at the edge of the barn on a dirt track. The back of the vans are opened and we are being rounded up into the vans. 

Just as we are ready to set off, a noise of cars is heard in the distance driving quickly. All of a sudden there is a screech of tyres and breaks and flashing lights. The police have arrived. 

As quick as a flash, the madman and the henchmen jump into the vans and drive off with us in the back. The police follow closely behind keeping speed, while we stand and crouch in the back of the vans like cattle, trying to keep our balance, wondering what will happen next, while I am wondering weather it was my phone call that alerted the police to us. 

-

We seem to have gained some space between us and the police, though they are still hot on our trail. We are driving through woodland and a bridge is approaching. The madman has a plan. He asks the driver of the van he is in to slow down when he gets to the bridge. He gets a grenade out of his pocket and pulls the plug on it and drops it onto the bridge. His hope is that it will blow up the bridge just as the police are driving across it, preventing them from following us, and maybe taking a few of them out with the bridge. What follows is that the grenade rolls off the edge of the bridge and into the stream below, much to the dismay of the madman, and the relief of us. The chase continues. 

 -

The wood thickens and the paths diverge in many different directions. We are taken along windy narrow tracks and we loose the police. It feels like we have been driving for hours and I imagine that the fuel on the vans must be running low. 

We enter a clearing and the vans stop and we are let out. The madman has some new plan. The look on his face has changed. Somehow I can see that he is running out of ideas and is afraid. Cracks are appearing in his dictatorship and he doesn't know what to do next. His expression has changed from what was once a tyrant, to what is now a lost and confused teenage bully. 

I feel a strange sense of pity for the madman. What could have been the causes of his madness and why did he end up in such a state of mind? Is there not another suffering human being, who didn't get the love he needed when he was young, or was he always this way?

He is still pointing his gun at us, but we know now that he won't use it. There is too much fear in his eyes, and he is becoming a gibbering wreck. He is also becoming delirious, as if a possessive force was taking over his consciousness... 

-

I'm taking with my friends. 

"I met a guy in a dream who told me he had hanged himself. He was very fearful. He couldn't stop fantasizing about death. He hanged himself in some woods, to shock his friends because they didn't understand him. His bouts of psychosis confused them and they couldn't help him to release the possessive spirit that had a grip over him. He hanged himself because this possessive spirit got the better of his conscience and he had no choice."

"It sounds like someone I knew", my friend says.

"He had a name badge on his shoulder", I say, "it said Jeffery" 

"Yeah, that's him. You dreamed of my friend."

"He was really suffering. He wanted to be free of his suffering. He wanted his soul to get to a safe place, away from all the torment." 

-

The madman breaks down in front of us. He collapses in a heap. The henchmen are confused and don't know what to do. I and a few friends go over to the madman and I put an arm around him. 

"When did you die, Jeffery?" 

"Years ago. I hanged myself. Please help me. I don't want to be in this nightmare any longer". 

I feel an overwhelming sense of sadness and pain. I ask the angels to come and help this stuck soul, to help him be free. Immediately I see a sense of relief in his face, as if a burden was lifted. 

I weep uncontrollably and the landscape changes around me. 

Within the woods a temple appears full of stone carvings of the gods and goddesses. The sun is shining on the faces of the deities and somewhere deep inside me, I know them to be alive, even though they appear as stone in front of me. At the entrance of the temple, a young teenager lad walks quietly and peacefully up the steps and into the temple.