Bel Homme

Image: Ahrah Banga.

For a New Day . . . and a New Year

Compassionate Creator,
Thank you for this new day,
its beauty, light, and possibilities.
Thank you for the chance to begin again,
free from the limitations of yesterday.

Today may I be reborn.
May I become more fully
a reflection of your radiance
and an embodiment
of your transforming love.

Give me strength and compassion.
Show me the light within myself and others.
Help me recognize the good that is available everywhere.

May I be, this day, an instrument
of love and healing.
Lead me in your ways
so that I may know life in abundance.
Ground me in a constant awareness of your presence
so that I may know and embody
your peace, wisdom, and courage.

Amen.

Adapted by Michael Bayly from a prayer by Marianne Williamson
in her book, Illuminata: Thoughts, Prayers, Rites of Passage (1994)

See also the previous posts:
• For the New Year
• Morning Light – January 1, 2013
• Love
• Morning Light XLV
• Reevaluation in the Gay Man’s Quest for Authenticity
• Day 1 of the “7 Days of Sweat Challenge”

And at The Leveret’s brother site, The Wild Reed, see:
• A Blessing for the New Year (2020)
• A Blessing for the New Year (2019)
• Anew
• Move Us, Loving God
• Prayer of the Week – August 3, 2015
• Prayer and the Experience of God in an Ever-Unfolding Universe
• The Prayer Tree

Image: The Leveret.

Light-Bearer

Images: St. Jinx.

See also the previous posts:
• Faeries
• Winter Solstice Blessing
• Winter Solstice (2009)
• Let the Spiral Turn and Turn
• Sol Invictus

And at The Leveret's brother site, The Wild Reed, see:
• Celebrating the Coming of the Sun and the Son
• Reclaimimg the Hour of God
• Christmastide Approaches

Solstice Star

People all around the world will be celebrating the once in a lifetime “Solstice Star” on December 21. The phenomenon actually involves Jupiter and Saturn coming so close to each other on the night of Winter Solstice that they will appear as one bright star. The last time they appeared this close in the night sky was during the Middle Ages, 1226 CE to be precise.

Related Off-site Link:
Jupiter and Saturn Will Form Rare “Christmas Star” on Winter Solstice – Eric Betz (Astronomy.com, December 7, 2020).
The Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, the First of Its Kind in Centuries – ABC News, December 18, 2020).

See also the previous posts:
• Winter Solstice Blessing
• Let the Spiral Turn and Turn
• Winter Hare

Tan Lines

Image: Subjects and photographer unknown.

See also the previous post:
• Tan Lines – 8/22/08

Nanabozho

In Anishinaabe aadizookaan (traditional storytelling), particularly among the Ojibwe, Nanabozho (also known as Nanabush) is a spirit, and figures prominently in their storytelling, including the story of the world's creation. Nanabozho is the Ojibwe trickster figure and culture hero (these two archetypes are often combined into a single figure in First Nations mythologies, among others).

– Source

See also the previous posts:
• Nanabush
• The Great Hare
• A Powerful Hero
• Xōchipilli
• Hare of the Agave
• The Self-Sacrificing Hare
• A Certain Power
• Good Luck
• Among the Egyptians
• Totem Animal

Image: Pictogram of Nanabozho on Mazinaw Rock, Bon Echo Provincial Park, Ontario.

Yesteryear

Images: Subjects and photographers unknown.

See also the previous post:
• Yesteryear (Part I)
• Yesteryear (Part II)
• The Art of Wilhelm von Gloeden
• The Art of Guglielmo Plüschow
• The Art of Felix d'Eon

And at The Leveret's brother site, The Wild Reed, see:
• Manly Love
• Reclaiming the Power of Male Touch
• The Archetype of the Double and Male Eros, Friendships, and Mentoring
• A Fresh Take on Masculinity

Hare Trinity

Image: Jenny Gregory.

See also the previous posts:
• Ancient and Enigmatic
• Enigmatic and Impossible
• Three Hare Tor
• Sacred

The Art of Ismael Álvarez

Writes Ismael on his official website:

My name is Ismael Álvarez. I was born in Ayamonte, Huelva, Andalusia, Spain. The son of a civil guard and of a gypsy mother, nothing else could come out than a restless ass like me. My mother is perhaps the one who gave me good handling of the pencil, since during pregnancy, while others have a craving for chocolate and the like, she took to drawing. She filled entire notebooks with voluptuous women, with big breasts, huge asses, and sex, a lot of sex.

I studied Fine Arts at the Complutense University of Madrid, the city in which I have lived since I was very little. It is in Madrid where I started working as an illustrator, designer and photographer; going through the world of fashion, television and acting. Now living in Barcelona.

My work can be found in publications such as VOGUE Japan, Rolling Stone Magazine, The Sunday Times, Playboy, GayTimes, etc. I've always liked trying in different fields, that's why it's hard for me to say no to the different offers they offer me, and you can find me in an internationally famous magazine as well as in a photocopied neighborhood fanzine.

I love art, in all its aspects. I adore Gustav Klimt, Warhol and Lichtenstein. I am fascinated by Tom from Finland, he marked my professional and personal life, he is the god of homoerotic art. I adore the world of eroticism, and even pornography.

Related Off-site Link: Ismael Álvarez’s Official Website

See also: The Art of Stefano Junior | Saul Lyons | Alexis Vera | Mauna Nada | Ego Rodriguez | Liam Campbell | Richard Vyse | David Jester | Aaron Moth | Travis Chantar | Douglas Simonson | Guglielmo Plüschow | Vilela Valentin | Dante Cirquero | Nebojsa Zdravkovic | Brenden Sanborn | Wilhelm von Gloeden | Richard Haines | John MacConnell | Leo Rydell Jost | Jim Ferringer | Juliusz Lewandowski | Felix d'Eon | Herbert List | Joe Ziolkowski

Standing Hare

Image: Maggie Vanderwalle.

See also the previous posts:
• Standing Hare (2015)
• Standing Erect
• A Perfect Combination
• The Land Around
• Sacred Glade
• Harvest Blessings
• Winter Hare
• Moongazer

Bel Homme

Image: Subject and photographer unknown.

Silhouette

See also the previous posts:
• Hare in Morning Mist
• Afoot
• Song in Autumn
• Hare’s Breath

Image: Photographer unknown.