oceans * chubasco, open doors, water planet, gaiatlantis

illustration Zen Del Rio

chubassco * ocean of winds

The ocean of emotion is our drama queen of choice, as we love surfing her big, beautiful waves. We endure long lulls, undertows, rip currents and backwash, in wait for her mountainous waves to surge up into moving walls of water. As cyclone or hurricane, she is smaller than a low pressure, but more intense. We monitor her placement and direction in relation to our swell window, as we know she is attracted to warmer waters and needs them to exist and survive. As typhoon not soon to be forgotten, it can well be a femme fatale attraction for those fabled few who believe it’s an honor to die at sea, doing what you love.

We await her, as we know “a woman is gonna have her way with us, one way or another.” She is “tropicalexotica,” a dashing dancer who cannot be anchored down. She is indefatigable, untiring and irrepressible. She loves change and upheaval, although she secretly wants to settle down. She is reduced by cooler waters, as we are grateful for her calm after the storm. As migratory mestiza she is unharnessed high drama, and without parameters. She rebels against limitations, with merriment, and clears a way to see our truth. Her tenacity is unmatched, as she is guilty, nary by association, with the more presumptive male storm energies of a Poseidon or Neptune. Still, she has fun with it as she is seasonal, and continues to astonish us.

She serves as reminder for those of us afraid to let it all out, for those of us always steaming, but who never blow. Are you an overly cautious “control freak,” always hiding under your shell? Welcome to your nightmare date. Be aware that you will be receiving a woman into your life that will stir things up. Our “Lady Chubasca” can flatten all but the most grounded of individuals. She’ll wipe you off the map and knock your huarache sandals right off. She is an avenging angel who wields a bewitching broom and Latin whiplash. She is of unforgiving rape and pillage and likes rough sex too. Impersonal and heartless, she has little consideration for others or anything that lies in her path. Too driven and without sentiment, she is seen as ruthless and thoughtless, and can be a “speed freak.” She is sporadic, erratic, and overly enthusiastic. She then becomes scattered, and if she spreads herself out too thin, she loses her drive and impetus. Overstepping her jurisdiction, she loses all “karmic authority.” Still we are without recourse, as she is “mommy tempest” or the rival woman. She is temperamental and can be destructive, and keeps us on high storm watch alert, as she can deviate without warning. She is unpredictable, and if tidal surges go unheeded, we fear there will be bad blood to be had. Times get tense as she can be confrontational. We know she feeds on warm water drama, as we brace for the itinerant torrents of overflowing floods and her rainfall furies. Her stormy character can be alarming. She can be extroverted and a bit macho, which is annoying or worse, as she is overly playful, while angry and overbearing. Rambunctious and ramshackle, she is a terror, and we are yet again in hot water, left to ponder her altogether loopy and baffling behavior.

Plan for her arrival. Look out for yourself and others. Be responsible. This is no time for foolish behaviours. Steer clear. Don’t get caught up in her havoc or chaos. Find safe harbor. Keep your cool by keeping your distance. Give her space. Respect her strength. Are you being pulled out to “see.” Do you need to be ripped out from your mooring? Banish boredom and raise your anchor. Signal for help.

Do you need to change your direction, in life, and in love? Know what’s up. Check your “Dateline.” She is Kali and Shiva, destroyer and rebuilder. Are you easily blown away? She will decimate any and all unneeded materials. You may well have to salvage what’s left and move to a new home. She is “positive destruction.” See what’s left standing. Gain clarity and “accept the outcome with equanimity.” See the value of your few material possessions and then assess what really matters…. in life, and in love.

Illustration Odile Schlossberg

open doors * ocean of waves

Breaking waves are like music to our hearts. We in turn answer to the siren call of the surf and the magnificence unto our sea of joy. We are ecstatic surfer with the wave as our canvas, out upon the ocean of emotion that we all share. We tend to lined up, empty rows in a ready made organic wave field, with “each wave washing away all that has come before.” As surf gypsy, we are laughing all the way to the wave bank, knowing that “every wave’s an expression of the very serendipitous gift of life unto itself, and the planet.” It’s a “wave party,” and we are content, alone within the wave garden of Eden, as we know again, like any good tube ride, that the “celestial wavefield of dreams” is fluid and individual, and ephemeral. And so it is that the courtship unto the surfer as an open door, begins within the “love shack” chamber. We are content with life within the tube, and our Mother Ocean’s womb, as we “empathize like water,” knowing full well, that “if the mind stays open, the tube stays open.”

She’s always open to you. She’s always there for you. Her negative ions purge your negative emotions out from within you, as her “undulating windows of opportunity” are of simple sustenance. We exit her waters cleansed, quiet, and at peace, as it’s the renewal of spirit and her knack for emotional regeneration that leaves us so awestruck. Her majesty bestows an awareness upon us, down to the very waterdrop, as her moon pulls us into states of lucid dreaming, and out of our watery feelings. We eavesdrop upon her near “nirvanic symphony” and are hypnotized under the spell of her transAtlantic trance. She is rhythmic and seductive, and has gifts of an intimate and personal nature. She has a romantic story to tell. If invited in, it’s best to be receptive to her invitation. Her natural beauty may surprise us, and we find we are soon engaged and falling in love with her. She leads a picturesque and austere life, one naturally in tune with our need for sensual freedom. We feel happy and free, and give “thanks and praise,” while she shares prizes that peel and gifts that encircle us. Our intuition is free at play, as we base our timing upon the opening and closing of her gifts. There is a gaiety and festive nature to her grace and talents. She is artistic with a surprise talent for suffering our elation upon her creative canvas. We are “seers, from within” her “holy” splendor, buried deep in sport, like undines or graceful sea animals. Her inward nature yields an inner satisfaction and soft glow that opens our hearts and leaves us in emotional union. Her healing ripples through us, and we ride forevermore as “beach happy born agains,” knowing that we can never turn our backs on the truth, nor her love.

Her love is intoxicating and sometimes the ocean of emotion just gets to be too much. There are too many doors, and we have to ask which one? We wonder “shacked or shoaled,” looking out from under her lips, and out upon our life and near death experience. We would love to just languish and hideout behind her placid walls, but she will have none of that, as she just spits us out and sends us on our way. As the unaware wavehog is just “take, take, take,” and guilty of an unnatural surf aggrandizement, it can be demoralizing and unfortunate if our decisions are hasty, with recovery nothing but frivolous folly.

Be a conduit for the ocean. Listen to her. Immerse yourself in her beach beauty. Let your love of her beauty pour through you. What feelings does she evoke in you? Display them for others. Feel fully. Let her romance you. You will never forget the feeling. Share your sense of wonder with others. Come out into the world. It’s a chance you have to take. Windswells last for half a day. Be opportunistic. Ecstasy and “happiness is meant to be shared.” Live in harmony. Are you an open door unto another, and for others? Be open to new possibilities. Opportunity knocks. Use your gifts wisely. Go within and enjoy. Enjoy the ocean and have fun. Never forget the feeling. Romance yourself. Be potent. Unsheathe your stick. Waves are open doors unto the Unknown. Be open like her. How open are you? Stay open. Surfers are open doors unto the ocean of humanity, and only you know the feeling. Take those feelings into everyday life. How free are you? Express your love. Ride free, live free, be free. Radiate joy. Get wet so that you can experience her joy. Slither and slip slide away through waves, and life. Joy ride. Cherish your waterdance. Let her touch your heart. Celebrate the music and rhythm found within.

Nuevo Mundo by David Artavia

water planet * ocean of rocks

The ocean is the common bond that unites all surfers, and it is the local surf spot which is the bond for local surfers. Via this bond, we gain a sense of direction as a surfer in relation to our ocean and earth. “Solar heat and global winds create high and low pressures with converging fetch, with waves pulled by gravity across the ocean floor, and over the earth’s unseen bottom contour. In effect, you are riding sun, wind, gravity and tectonic and littoral drift, all at once.” Hence we ride in harmony with natural law.

illustration David Artavia

The earth acts as a chalice for our mother ocean. She is our home and our provider. She nurtures us with our life essentials. She is our life support system. She works without fame nor fortune and is not deluded my material aims. She helps keep us on the good green road, as her dharma sum total is our greatest treasury. The earth is naturally healing. As earth pearls, we are down to earth, and earthy. We are her custodians and guardians, as watermen and waterwomen of our Water Planet. As eco pathworkers, we marvel at her generosity, and indulge freely in the experiential assets of her oceanic and marine ecology. She is knowing and trustworthy, and asks us, as water brothers and sisters, to live a natural life, unto the laws of nature. Because like us, she works best from a point of eco librium.

painting by Flavio Caporali

The destruction of our natural world is the destruction of humanity. Earth changes affect everyone. No one is spared. We can’t ignore the warning signs. She is not to be taken for granted. Everyone needs clean water. It’s an enormous hurdle and challenge for our planet. Water quality is not something that we can sidestep. It’s a call to action for all of us. The earth is seemingly a toxic trap. Until we can accept the existence of toxic buildup and learn of and measure its extent, pollutions and toxins will continue to prevent real enjoyment and satisfaction, and happiness, in our lives. “Unpleasant surprises are inevitable as the responsible elements and entities are inventoried and sorted out.” Our mother ocean and earth is in pain. Our smog is on her breath. Our destructiveness in the world is due to us as a peoples losing connection with our natural world. We are no longer in touch with nature. Money is our all consuming passion and has led us to a ruthless disregard for our rock. Our stubborn refusal to see that we mistakenly put work ahead of life, has left us for sofa sloths and feeling helpless and angry. Our Mama is no couch potato. As her sea level rises, her el Nino brings us drought and flooding. Unseen dangers might seem invisible within her waterworld, but our foolhardy response only heightens her fear and trepidation. Toxic surfboards and the surfwear industry, and their manufacturing process, only leave her in greater disharmony and closer to death. Ocean and earth matters are expanding into greater and greater chaos. The question is will a correspondent unity in spirit afford us a rebirth?

painting by Flavio Caporali

Change the tide. Bring out into the open that which festers below the surface. Counteract this “necessary evil” with your unseen and invisible intent and commitment to restore “the whole earth, and nothing but.” Take responsibility for the “restoration equation.” Use hemp. Wear organic cotton. Renew. Buy post consumer waste products. Recycle. “Be the change you wish to see.” Ride your sk8board and bicycle. Take the bus. Clean up the pollution in our own bodies, then clean up the environment. Eat organic. Purify your body. Eat well. Purify the planet. Vote with your watershed in mind. Insure your future. Plant a tree. Be in harmony with the Natural Way. Think globally, act locally. Surfers can be agents for change. Wear eco compatible neoprene. Our efforts have paid off. Don’t waste what we have here. Our foundation of watermen and women have taken collective ownership for our one planet as a “one water peoples.” Be a reliable resource. Join your local beach cooperative. Start a surfer’s guild. Take care of her. She is a sacred entity. The “way of beauty” requires daily maintenance. “Surfing drops barriers of race, religion and geography.” Uphold life. Personal effort is required. Whether working alone or with others, stop and consider things. Change and correct. Strength and fortitude is required. Spiritual self discipline is an inner shift. We must soften. Take the sensual path. “Chi flows in curving lines like water.” As part of the collective conscious, use your communal imagination. Water absorbs negative energy. Give thanks and good praises. Unite body, mind and spirit in “one love.” You are your own reclamation project.

Blue Moon Whale Song by Stephen Bibb

han's by Stephen Bibb

Gaiatlantis * ocean of rays

Surfing dispels the myth that “the Source” is separate from life. Divinity is divine. In every wave, we again find our natural way. Surfers are extrasensory intermediaries in our return to Natural Law. As surfers, we are concerned with not just our ecology, but with energy and the energetics of that liquid force itself. The surfer as sentient soul leaves an incorporeal legacy to surfing’s successors via the ever unfolding, fractal relationship between the surfer ethereal and his shimmering wave. Surfing is a gift and a blessing, and any surfer worth his or her saltwater is grateful, and pays deference to our deep “surfology,” the harmonic convergence of all international surfers and oceans, the worldwide over. Illustration Autumn Skye Morrison Our Mother Ocean and Earth is all encompassing. Her “collective feminine spirit” spawns from the “deeper phenomena” of her sensual nature. Her planetary rhythms and vibrations emanate from her ancient seas as our “feminine rising.” She is exalted for her sensitivity and grace, and as mythical entity, is our “earthly ethereality.” Her eternal truths are spelled out at sunrise and sunset, run day and night, and span north to south, and east to west. She is the way, the “whole earth in spirit,” and has the power to heal. As our “collective shamaness,” she is supernatural, nontemporal, and nonspatial. She is our planetary Priestess of the Pacific, and all oceans, and patroness to our ocean and earth’s collective soul. She is well begotten, charitable and bountiful, and lavishly shares of her abundant and well decorated garden of Eden. Gaia gives, and in turn, ours is a natural attraction. As cosmic ocean children, we know she “depends upon a rich supply of airborne nutrients and resources,” so we as “responsibility holders” to the deep ecology and good green soul of our ocean and earth, work to uphold her “natural balance.” Like our Amazon, Afrikan and gypsy women, her dark haired kelp beds and rich complexion of minerals and nutrients help inspire our hippie children, with saltwater dreadlocks, to be conscious party to the wise woman trinity of mother, daughter and the holy soul, and in turn, our mother ocean, waterwoman and Gaiatlantis. Hence, as gaiatlantean “amphibia,” we are active and generous in knowing that “nature flows in harmony and balance.”

Illustration Maritmo

We are nature and we are imbalance, in one, and at times in violation of natural law. What destroys our ocean, destroys ourselves. Our “abulia” is not excuse enough for our “not listening, nor seeing.” There is no guarantee that tectonic plates won’t shift, that we won’t be “lacking in oxygen,” and that despite our rainforests, that our dry deserts won’t become “hard.” Have we “allowed false witness or swindle” by our mother ocean and earth? Are we fatigued and overcome by “earth changes.” If deserted, she can take care of herself. She can be “cool and emotionally detached.” She can be “protective like a mother.” Her “soft rumble” is often a sign that she has become “unsociable and bad tempered,” if not “downright mean and nasty.” She “prods persons into action” when things matter.

Come together and care for our mother ocean. “Earth mothers” unite and teach the ways of our mother earth. Reestablish equilibrium. Shift from “man against nature” to surfer in harmony with the wave, from ocean to cresting ocean, and from sea to shining sea. Get your liquid groove on. The common goal of man is to be at one with himself, and our ocean and earth. Return to nature and restore yourself to your natural state. Be gentle. Soothe and heal. Be part of a collective soul retrieval. Sink into the shadows without having the need to be acknowledged. Dawn the light of your inward sun. Know our ocean and earth mothers as one. Show her endless gratitude. Move to the rhythm of nature. Ebb and flow with the tides of life. Be like water. Penetrate, retract and expand. Find your level. We’re only visiting. Wash up upon the shore. We have a collective need to be closer to nature. Wiggle your toes. Wiggle your nose. Sense what’s coming. As guardians to gaiatlantis we are the caretakers for an unborn generation. Share of the task. Think tribally, act locally. Sing your songs. Listen to others. It’s a mutual admiration society. Receive of the universe. Lower your walls. Be uninhibited. Wish goodwill to all. Be of your body. Blend with the universe. Feel things out. Magic happens. Cry. Understand the interconnectedness within our ocean and earth. Know harmony between our humanity and her nature. Live her way. As co creators, live in relationship and in harmony. Let your serenity show of your appreciation for this life. And “may there be peace in your heart, so there may be peace on the planet.”

Flight into Golden Light by Stephen Bibb