At Possum's Party

Image: Heidi Holder (from her 1992 book, Carmine the Crow).

Bel Homme XXXII

Image: Sukhdeep Mann (photographer unknown).

Winter's Herald

Image: "Winter's Herald" by David Hollington.

Tan Lines and Cityscape

Image: Drasko Bogdanovic.

Running Hare XVI

Image: Artist unknown (Wildlife Christmas Cards).

Bel Homme XXXI

Image: Michael Taggart.

The Beauty of the Hare

Write George Ewart Evans and David Thomson in The Leaping Hare:

The beauty of the hare is in her speed, her graceful turning this way and that, the subtle wide circles she makes in her flight to elude her pursurer and leave no constant line of scent.


Image: Cara Lockhart Smith.

Boys Will Be Boys VI

Image: Subjects and photographer unknown.

Mountain and Moorland

Writes Jill Mason in The Hare:

Mountain or Blue Hares have inhabited Britain for at least 12,000 years. They are often referred to as White hares. . . . They are found principally in Scotland where they share their habitat with grouse and tarmiga. They have also been introduced to some of the Scottish islands. Generally they have similar habits to the Brown hare although sometimes they gather in large groups.

The Mountain hare utilises the land that the Brown hare shuns, preferring open mountain and moorland. They tend to only be found at elevations above 1,500 ft (9500 metres). . . Mountain hares can also be found on the Isle of Man. There are none elsewhere either in Wales or England.


Image: Chris Sharratt.

Morning Light

Image: Subject and photographer unknown.

Cosmic Hare

In the NGC 6357 Nebula, 8000 light-years from Earth, there is a distinct image of a colossal hare!

Notes Wikipedia:

NGC 6357, is a diffuse nebula near NGC 6334 in the constellation Scorpius. The nebula contains many proto-stars shielded by dark disks of gas, and young stars wrapped in expanding "cocoons."

This nebula was given the name War and Peace Nebula by the Midcourse Space Experiment scientists because of its appearance. They said that in infrared images the bright, western part resembles a dove, while the eastern part looks like a skull.

This nebula includes the open cluster Pismis 24, which is home to several massive stars. One of the brightest stars in the cluster, Pismis 24-1, was thought possibly to be the most massive on record, approaching 300 solar masses, until it was discovered to be a binary system with each star exceeding 100 solar masses.


Image: Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images of Pismis 24-1, the "core" of NGC 6357. (Photo: HST/NASA/ESA)

Bel Homme

Image: Paulo Pascoal photographed by Mikel Marton.

Autumn Hare II

Image: "Autumn Hare" by Karen Davis.

Says Karen: "My work is inspired by nature, music, spirit, stories, folklore, surrealism, the energy and magic that surrounds us and by the interconnection of all living things.

"I grew up and still live in the Wiltshire countryside surrounded by chalk white horses on hills, standing stones, the call of owl and bark of fox.

"I often imagine the inside of my head being like a house. It has hundreds of rooms and endless doorways. Each one is stored with inspirations,characters, magic and ideas that one day will come out in the form of a painting, wooden creation or maybe even words. I hope to share as many as I can in this lifetime."


Recommended Off-site Link:
Moonlight and Hares: The Website of Karen Davis

See also the previous posts:
• Starlit Hare
• Autumn Hare
• Autumn Beauty
• Autumn Hare (2008)
• Bel Homme XIX

Just in Time for Halloween . . .

Mask: "Hand felted Hare animal mask/head dress suitable for performance, dance or theatre" by Gladys Paulus.

Photography: Bella West.

See also the previous posts:
• Halloween Hare
• Hallowtide Transformations
• Man Pretending

Autumn Hare

Image: Artist unknown.

See also the previous posts:
• Autumn Beauty
• Autumn Hare (2008)

Bel Homme XXIX

Image: Subject and photographer unknown.

A Unique Position

Writes Simon Carnell in Hare (2010) . . .

Most of the salient characteristics of hares can be usefully presented in the way they differ from rabbits. Hares are generally much larger: longer and leggier, giving an impression of stature enhanced by their generally much longer ears. They reach weights of five kilograms in the far north, averaging three in temperate zones (with some exceptions) and two at the equator, frequently occupying a unique position as the only animals of their weight in a given environment. The brown hare is about the size of a domestic cat. Rabbits are gregarious with relatively complex family groups; hares mostly solitary with minimal pair bonding among promiscuous adults and relatively little parental care of their young. The relatively complex coat colour of hares, including seasonal changes, is linked to their reliance upon camouflage as well as speed. Their speed, camouflage, lack of family life and even size are linked as adaptations to their principal behavioural difference from the rabbit, namely, the fact that they do not burrow.


See also the previous posts:
• Life Above Ground
• Almost Invisible
• An Extraordinary Capacity
• Antipathy
• The Difference

Mindful Lovemaking

Writes Terry Sanderson in The Gay Man's Kama Sutra:

Our goal is happiness, and if we live life nobly, with the good of others always in our hearts, happiness will surely follow. And if we do this, as well as always striving to appreciate the best things in life, we will attain happiness not only for ourselves but for others, too. It becomes a self-perpetuating cycle, a wonderful wheel of life.

We must place the act of sexual congress in this context, too, for love is a sure and essential route to happiness. The fusion of our body with that of another is a perfect ecstasy that takes happiness to another sphere and transforms it, like magic, into bliss. Lovemaking that is mindful of the needs of your lover, as well as your own desires, is lovemaking that feeds the soul and nourishes the spirit.

See also the previous posts:
• A Source of Joy for the Beauty of Life Itself
• The Body: A Holy Place of Romp and Renewal
• Body and Soul
• Animal Energies

Art: Roger Payne.

Bel Homme XXVIII

Image: Subject and photographer unknown.

Running Hare XV

Image 3: "Moon Run" by Anna Pugh.

Morning Light

Image: The Leveret.

Emanation

em·a·nate (verb): to flow out or issue forth; originate.

Image: The Leveret (July 2013).

A Source of Joy for the Beauty of Life Itself

Writes Toby Johnson in Gay Spirituality: The Role of Gay Identity in the Transformation of Human Consciousness . . .


Sex has psychological aspects. Entering the altered state of consciousness with another person opens us to him and him to us. Sharing orgasms with another person stirs feelings of connection and intimacy. It opens us to his "karmic patterns" (which is why we should exercise caution about whom we get involved with). It deepens true love when that is present. It boosts our self-image and raises our energy level. Being in love and full of sexual vibrancy makes us feel good. Even without the emotions of "true love," having a satisfying sexual connection with another man makes us feel alive.

Having sex that feels good and makes us self-assured and confident in our worth as a person and as an attractive human body changes our behavior. We can be kind and loving, happy and generous, sharing our joy with other people. "Everybody loves a lover" says the old song lyric.

When we seek spiritual answers as gay people, we are necessarily looking for sex-positive and gay-positive answers. This puts us in a special place in the evolution of religion.

The experience of attraction to another man (or, for a lesbian, to another woman) is a source of joy for the beauty of life itself.

– Excerpted from Gay Spirituality
by Toby Johnson
p. 29

Recommended Off-site Link:
• Toby Johnson's Official Website

See also the previous Leveret posts:
• Gay Consciousness, Sex, and the Evolution of Religion
• Affirming Our Essential Goodness
• Wrestling with the Angel
• Hallowtide Transformations
• The Body: A Holy Place of Romp and Renewal
• Body and Soul
• Gay Identity
• Animal Energies

Image: Kat Harding (from The Gay Man's Kama Sutra by Terry Sanderson).

Golden One

Image: Mary Claire Smith (card design for Roger la Borde).

Bel Homme XXVII

Image: Subject and photographer unknown.

Usurper

In the following excerpt from Hare, Simon Carnell explores the hare's role in the persecution of witchcraft in England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Naturalistic explanations include the fact that [the hare] is nocturnal, solitary, somewhat mysterious, popularly (and learnedly) believed to be lascivious; sometimes seen in 'parliaments' or sitting in coven-like circles with other hares. It has been suggested that, like the cat, the hare is singled out as a 'human-in-disguise' because it 'usurps the right to state.' By assuming its form, witches were probably also thought to be usurping some of the positive associations the animal had acquired as a symbol in Christianity, stolen away and inverted. . . . Or rather, stolen back, since in northern Europe, at any rate, Christianity tapped into the power the hare derived from Celtic and British paganism. According to Dio the ancient Britons not only tabooed hare flesh (a sure sign of a sacred function) but used hares for the purpose of divination. Boudicca is said by him to have released a live hare on the field of battle for some such purpose.


See also the previous posts:
The Hare-Witch
Creature of Mystery, Creature of Magic
Hallowtide Transformations
Eyes of the Hare

Image: "Tryst" (artist unknown).

Morning Light

Image: Subject and photographer unknown.

Ballet Men

Thanks to my friend Brian I've been made aware of a recently released "mini-documentary" from Australia called Ballet Men. Produced by The Australian Ballet, the film features four of the company's dancers – Adam Bull, Christopher Rodgers-Wilson, Cameron Hunter and Cristiano Martino – talking about their ballet journeys and demonstrating their grace, power and athleticism. It's definitely worth taking a look at!




For more, click here.

Tan Lines XXXIX

Image: Subject and photographer unknown.

An Ancient Motif

Writes Simon Carnell in Hare (2010) . . .

In many bosses on the ceilings of parish churches in Devon and Cornwall, as well as in a stained glass window in Paderborn Cathedral in Germany, there is a motif of three hares running in a ring, linked by their ears. This has been interpreted as an allusion to the indissoluble unity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Though as recent researchers have discovered, it's an ancient motif which also occurs in Buddhist China and in Iran. In contexts, that is, separated by thousands of miles and 500 years.


See also the previous post: Ancient and Enigmatic.

"Hail to the Seasonal Prince"

Image: Mikel Marton.

"I Have Become Your Brother . . . One of Your Kin"

.

Jubilation is my name

and rejoicing is my countenance.

I am like a young meadow wreathed in dawn,

like a shepherd’s pipe among the hills.

Hear me, you swelling valleys.

Hear me, you waving meadows.

Hear me, you happy songful forests.

For I am no longer lonely among your splendors,

I have become your brother and one of your kin.

Greet me, fair likeness of myself,

Glad earth that Love has fulfilled.

Nearness is still far,

Grace is yet but a forward step.

You are in me as eternally mine.

You have come over me

as buds come upon a spray.

You have sprung forth in me

like roses in the hedgerows.

I bloom in the red-thorn of this love.

I bloom on all my branches

in the purple of these gifts.

I bloom with fiery tongues,

I bloom with flaming fulfillment,

I bloom out of the Holy Spirit of God.

– Gertrud von Le Fort

“Hymns to the Church”

Image: "Spring Hares" by Andrew Haslen

Bel Homme XXVI

Image: Subject and photographer unknown.

Swimming Hare

Writes photographer Andy Smith:

“I captured this swimming hare last Friday, something I’ve never witnessed before. The hare was outside the hide and a group of volunteer newt collectors were working their way down the field collecting newts from the the traps that were sunk into the ground. The hare, seeing them, panicked and ran backwards and forward not knowing which way to go. On reaching the waters edge it suddenly just jumped in and disappeared into the reeds. I followed the splashes and the movement of the reeds then it came into view in a gap where I managed to fire a burst of shots. It then clambered out of the water and with great speed disappeared from view.”

– Source

See also the previous posts:
Wet Hare
Hare By the Sea
The Sea Hare

Image: Andy and Jan Smith Photography (May 2010).

Beauty and the Beard

The following is excerpted from a February 20, 2013 article by James Thilman.

While both dead sexy and totally awesome, beards are also a boon to your overall health. Researchers discovered that men with beards and moustaches actually enjoy numerous benefits including, but not limited to, instant handsomeness.

A study from the University of Southern Queensland, published in the Radiation Protection Dosimetry journal, found that beards block 90 to 95 percent of UV rays, thereby slowing the aging process and reducing the risk of skin cancer.

Got asthma? Pollens and dust simply get stuck in that lustrous facial hair. Additionally, all that hair retains moisture and protects against the wind, keeping you looking young and fresh-faced. What’s more, shaving is usually the cause of ingrown hairs and bacterial infections that lead to acne.

Have you tossed your razor in the trash yet?

To conduct the study, researchers left bearded mannequins, along with less attractive, follically-challenged ones, in the blistering sun of the Australian outback and then compared the amount of radiation absorbed by each.

Recommended Off-site Links:
The Amazing History of Beards – Greg Voakes (The Huffington Post, April 3, 2012).
The Troubled History of Beards – Daniel Lew (Damn Interesting, March 28, 2006).
Travels with My Beard – Rajesh Thind (BBC News, February 1, 2006).
Growing a Beard: The History and Philosophy Behind the Current Trend – Greg Brian (Yahoo! Voices, January 11, 2008).
Beards are Sexy
Sexy Men with Beards
Beards Are Beautiful

Image 1: Subject and photographer unknown.
Image 2: Hal Hunter (photographer unknown).
Images 3-5: Subject and photographer unknown.
Image 6: Photography by Travis Rock.
Image 7: Subjects and photographer unknown.

Tan Lines XXXVIII

Image: Subject and photographer unknown.

A Merman Named Eric

Note: The following is written by Elise Solé and was first published April 3, 2013, by Shine.

Like any other 22-year-old Floridian, Eric Ducharme loves to swim, except when he dives into the water, he trades his swim trunks for a floppy tail.

Ducharme is a self-proclaimed merman, a mystical male counterpart to the mermaid. As the legend goes, these seductive sea creatures with the upper body of a human and the tail of a fish, make themselves visible to ships during thunder storms and would lure the opposite sex into the water with their siren-like singing.

According to a story in The Daily Mail, Ducharme says he eats, sleeps, and breathes mermaids and mermen and tries to impersonate them whenever he can. "It's a lifestyle. It's a path in life that I have chosen," he says during a Wednesday night episode of TLC's My Crazy Obsession, a reality show that follows people whose adoration for objects has become an obsession.

His love for all things mermen began as a child when, according to his website, his grandparents took him to an underwater theater and a woman in a mermaid costume swam by blowing kisses to the audience; at age six, Ducharme's father hired two mermaids to swim up to a dock where the boy was eating his birthday cake. When he was 13, Ducharme created his company Mertailor, LLC and sold his own handcrafted tails made from garbage bags and various fabrics. Three years later, he put on his first show, swimming as the mermaid prince in the Weeki Wachee Springs Little Mermaid show. "Eric is obsessed with mermaids," says his mother Candy Ducharme. "We have our own passions. That's Eric's life."

"It's taking me a really long time to kind of understand my place in life," Ducharme says of his obsession. Three times a week, he slips into his shiny handmade fin to swim Florida’s natural springs, an hour and a half drive from his home in Crystal River. He calls it "mermaiding" a time to escape the pressures of the real world. "When I put on a tail I feel transformed," says Ducharme, who can hold his breath for four minutes at a time. "I feel like I'm starting to enter into a different world when I hit the water."

And although his boyfriend Matthew Quijano was initially shocked, he's accepted the mermen lifestyle. "When I first met Eric, I was introduced to the subject of mermaids, on our first date," he says."Your jaw just kind of drops and you're just like, 'wow.' When we go swimming I don't even see him because he swims off to his own little corner, it's all about getting away from the rest of the world…Sometimes we have to ask people what's with the scolding looks because they're just like, 'why is there a guy in a tail? It's supposed to be a girl,''' Quijano says, shrugging. "Haters gonna hate."

No matter. Business at Mertailoris booming. His mermaid and mermen wet suits (made from silicone, urethanes, and latex rubbers in different colors and textures of scales and fins) range from $185 for the spandex tail to $2,759 for the silicon version and there's even a kid's tail priced at $169. The tails have been featured in photo shoots on Germany's "Next Top Model", in advertisements for Skittles and on "Saturday Night Live" in the music video "I'm on a Boat" featuring T-Pain. Ducharm's client list even includes Lady Gaga.

Ducharme's mission is to make his costumes available to "every aspiring mermaid and merman who dreams of life in the sea."

See also the previous posts:
Merman
Merman II
Merman III
Merman IV
Merman V

Eostre at Spring Equinox

Image: Wendy Andrew.


See also the previous posts:
Eostre – Goddess of New Life Beginnings
The Easter Hare
Remembering Eostre
Celebrating Eostre
The Goddess Ostara
Sacred

Bel Homme XXV

Image: Subject and photographer unknown.