#Elijah Rael

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

“Gorge Nights.” Milky Way with Jupiter and Saturn over The Rio Grande Gorge the year of The Great Conjunction. Seen from Taos, NM. Photo: Elijah Rael (Sep 11, 2023) :: [Robert Scott Horton]

* * * * *

“...This is the solstice, the still point of the sun, its cusp and midnight, the year’s threshold and unlocking, where the past lets go of and becomes the future; the place of caught breath, the door of a vanished house left ajar...”

-Margaret Atwood

+

I am an abyss that I am trying to cross.

W.S. Merwin

+

[wdr2-rlbmut]

Taos wears its winter coat with grace, proving that beauty blankets our city in every season. Snow-kissed streets, a sight to behold...

by Elijah Rael from elijahraelphotography_nm "San Francisco de Asís Mission Church is a historic and architecturally significant building on the main plaza of Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico." ~~ Wikipedia

[nmnomad]

Photographer 📸 Elijah Rael, aka @elijahraelphotography_nm on Instagram - "San Juan de Los Lagos with snow." ❄ Talpa, New Mexico

[mutant-distraction]

Elijah Rael

Full moon setting behind a tipi from Taos, New Mexico

[wisco-warrior]

Elijah Rael Photo

[everylittlethingshedoesismagic]

Photo (c) Elijah S . Rael

[mahouhqs]

⠀ ⠀ ⠀⸢ ⠀ ⠀魔 法 処 𝗠𝗔𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗢𝗞𝗢𝗥𝗢 𝗦𝗖𝗛𝗢𝗢𝗟 𝗢𝗙 𝗠𝗔𝗚𝗜𝗖 ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀RESERVED [ 3 ] ― Cha Eunwoo of Astro; Korean Pureblood ― Kim Jongin, Kai of EXO ― Manoban Lalisa, Lisa of Blackpink (Amarin Skeleton, pureblood position) ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀WAITING FOR ARRIVAL UNTIL 28.11 [ 3 ] ― Choi Beomgyu of TXT as Choi Seojun ― Kim Seokjin, Jin of BTS as Levant Kim (Herbology Professor) ― Reol as Nakamura Riyoko ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ARRIVED [ 22 ] ― An Jaehyung as Raven Alina Ho (Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor) ― Bae Jacob of The Boyz as Youngjun Bae ― Cheng Xiao of WJSN as Meng Rushi; Chinese pureblood ( Skeleton Meng ) ― Choi San of Ateez as Saetbyeol ― Hirai Momo of Twice as Shinoda Izumi; Japanese pureblood ― Han Jihyun, Actress as Han Hera; Korean pureblood ― Hwang Hyunjin of Stray Kids as Nero Hwang ― Jeon Jungkook of BTS as Mok Minjae; Korean pureblood ( Skeleton Mok ) ― Kang Hyunggu, Kino of Pentagon as Yoo Hikari; Uwabami Position ― Kim Hyungseo "Bibi", Soloist as Seon Jinae ― Kim Minjeong, Winter of Aespa as Ji Chaeyoung; Metamorphmagus position ― Kimata Syoya of JO1 as Arata “Benjamin” Keito; Animagus position ― Kim Taehyung, V of BTS as Mae Noel (Skeleton Kwak; halfblood) ― Lee Min-hyung, Mark of NCT as Lee Raiden ― Lee Yong Bok, Felix of Stray Kids as Phoenix Darius Lee ― Minatozaki Sana of Twice as Namigata Sara; Japanese pureblood (Skeleton Namigata) ― Park Chaeyoung, Rosé of Blackpink as Han Rael "Elijah" ― Park Sooyoung, Joy of Red Velvet as Kwon Haru; Korean Pureblood ― Sevdaliza as Ashavan Anahita; International pureblood, Ancient Studies Professor, Animagus position ― Shin Ryujin of Itzy as Kitally Jang; Uwabami position ― Song Minho of Winner as Woojin Han; Alchemy Professor, Lycanthrope position ― Tao Tsuchiya as Amatake Ren, Actress; Japanese pureblood ( Skeleton Amatake ), Seer position ― Tuan Yien, Mark as An Jing Xuan; Chinese pureblood ( Skeleton An ) ― Uchinaga Eri, Giselle of Aespa as Watanabe Karin; Animagus position ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀PUREBLOODS Korean: ( 4/4 ) Japanese: ( 3/4 ) Chinese: ( 2/4 ) International ( 1/5 ) Thai ( 1/2 ) ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀BEINGS Animagus ( 3/3 ) Metamorphmagus ( 1/1 ) Uwabami ( 2/2 ) Lycanthrope / Werewolf ( 1/1 ) Seer ( 1/1 )

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

In northern New Mexico/southern Colorado, the monsoon season which normally commences in July instead started at the end of May... with the result that a normally fairly arid region has been turned very green. The gorge of the Río Grande del Norte between Taos and the Colorado-New Mexico border. Photo: Elijah Rael (June 5, 2023)

[Robert Scott Horton]

* * * *

“One thing I’ve learned in the woods is that there is no such thing as random. Everything is steeped in meaning, colored by relationships, one thing with another.”

― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

“The Land before Time:“ The Gorge of the Río Grande del Norte near Taos, NM. Photo: Elijah S Rael (2023) ::  [Scott Horton]

* * * *

The point where grace and synergy are reconciled is worth seeking out. In the meantime, here's a synergy-based perspective.

Being Acted Through :: by Joanna Macy

Here's a discovery we can make along our ecological Pilgrim's Progress: the discovery of what can happen through us. If we are the rocks dancing, then that which evolved us from those rocks carries us forward now and sustains us in our work for the continuance of life.

When I admired a nurse for her strength and devotion in keeping long hours in the children's ward, she shrugged off my compliment as if it were entirely misplaced. "It's not my strength, you know. I get it from them," she said, nodding at the rows of cots and cribs. "They give me what I need to keep going." 

Whether tending a garden or cooking in a soup kitchen, there is the sense sometimes of being sustained by something beyond one's own individual power, a sense of being acted "through."

It is close to the religious concept of grace, but distinct from the traditional Western understanding of grace, as it does not require belief in God or a supernatural agency. One simply finds oneself empowered to act on behalf of other beings—or on behalf of the larger whole—and the empowerment itself seems to come "through" that or those for whose sake one acts. This phenomenon, when approached from the perspective of ecology, can be understood as synergy. This is an important point because it leads us to reconceptualize our very notion of what power is.

From the ecological perspective, all open systems—be they cells or organisms, cedars or swamps—are seen to be self-organizing. They don't require any external or superior agency to regulate them, any more than your liver or your apple tree needs to be told how to function. In other words, order is implicit in life; it is integral to life processes. This contrasts with the hierarchical worldview our culture held for centuries, where mind is set above nature and where order is assumed to be something imposed from above on otherwise random, material stuff. We have tended to define power in the same way, seeing it as imposed from above. So we have equated power with domination, with one thing exerting its will over another. It becomes a zero-sum, or win-lose, game, where to be powerful means to resist the demands or influences of another, and strong defenses are necessary to maintain one's advantage.

In falling into this way of thinking, we lost sight of the fact that this is not the way nature works. Living systems evolve in complexity, flexibility, and intelligence through interaction with each other. These interactions require openness and vulnerability in order to process the flow-through of energy and information. They bring into play new responses and new possibilities not previously present, increasing the capacity to effect change. 

This interdependent release of fresh potential is called synergy. It is like grace, because it brings an increase of power beyond one's own capacity as a separate entity.

[Thanks to Ian Sanders]

[wisco-warrior]

Elijah Rael Photography

[wisco-warrior]

Elijah Rael

[nmnomad]

Featured Photographer 📸 Elijah Rael, aka @elijahrael_photography on Instagram - "Looks like Pueblo Peak is having a bubble bath." (at Taos, New Mexico) https://www.instagram.com/p/CZDIqWAPYjq/?utm_medium=tumblr

[nmnomad]

Featured Photographer 📸 Elijah Rael, aka @elijahrael_photography on Instagram- "Grateful to have snow on the first day of the year. 2022.” (at Taos, New Mexico) https://www.instagram.com/p/CYfR3I4FdiW/?utm_medium=tumblr

[nmnomad]

Featured Photographer 📸 Elijah Rael, aka @elijahrael_photography on Instagram- "Winter scene downtown" ❄️ (at Taos, New Mexico) https://www.instagram.com/p/CXjzL1kvWpf/?utm_medium=tumblr

[nmnomad]

Featured Photographer 📸 Elijah Rael, aka @elijahrael_photography on Instagram - "Fresh snow on this Classic GMC from Northern NM." (at Taos, New Mexico) https://www.instagram.com/p/CVGzueCv7eI/?utm_medium=tumblr

[mahouhqs]

⠀ ⠀ ⠀⸢ ⠀ ⠀魔 法 処 𝗠𝗔𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗢𝗞𝗢𝗥𝗢 𝗦𝗖𝗛𝗢𝗢𝗟 𝗢𝗙 𝗠𝗔𝗚𝗜𝗖 ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀RECEIVED APPLICATIONS [ 24/10 ] ― An Jaehyung as Raven Alina Ho (Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor) ― Bae Jacob of The Boyz as Youngjun Bae ― Cheng Xiao of WJSN as Meng Rushi; Chinese pureblood ( Skeleton Meng ) ― Choi San of Ateez as Saetbyeol ― Hirai Momo of Twice as Shinoda Izumi; Japanese pureblood ― Han Jihyun, Actress as Han Hera; Korean pureblood ― Hwang Hyunjin of Stray Kids as Nero Hwang ― Jeon Jungkook of BTS as Mok Minjae; Korean pureblood ( Skeleton Mok ) ― Kim Hyungseo "Bibi", Soloist as Seon Jinae ― Kim Minjeong, Winter of Aespa as Ji Chaeyoung; Metamorphmagus position ― Kimata Syoya of JO1 as Arata “Benjamin” Keito; Animagus position ― Kim Seokjin, Jin of BTS as Levant Kim (Herbology Professor) ― Kim Taehyung, V of BTS as Mae Noel (Skeleton Kwak; halfblood) ― Lee Min-hyung, Mark of NCT as Lee Raiden ― Lee Yong Bok, Felix of Stray Kids as Phoenix Darius Lee ― Minatozaki Sana of Twice as Namigata Sara; Japanese pureblood (Skeleton Namigata) ― Park Chaeyoung, Rosé of Blackpink as Han Rael "Elijah" ― Park Sooyoung, Joy of Red Velvet as Kwon Haru; Korean Pureblood ― Sevdaliza as Ashavan Anahita; International pureblood, Ancient Studies Professor, Animagus position ― Shin Ryujin of Itzy as Kitally Jang; Uwabami position ― Song Minho of Winner as Woojin Han; Alchemy Professor, Lycanthrope position ― Tao Tsuchiya as Amatake Ren, Actress; Japanese pureblood ( Skeleton Amatake ), Seer position ― Tuan Yien, Mark as An Jing Xuan; Chinese pureblood ( Skeleton An ) ― Uchinaga Eri, Giselle of Aespa as Watanabe Karin; Animagus position ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀RESERVED [ 4 ] ― Cha Eunwoo of Astro; Korean Pureblood ― Choi Beomgyu of TXT ― Kim Jongin, Kai of EXO ― Lee Seokmin, DK of Seventeen ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀PUREBLOODS Korean: ( 4 / 4 ) Japanese: ( 3 / 4 ) Chinese: ( 2 / 4 ) International ( 1 / 5 ) ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀BEINGS Animagus ( 3 / 3 ) Metamorphmagus ( 1 / 1 ) Uwabami ( 1 / 2 ) Lycanthrope / Werewolf ( 1 / 1 ) Seer ( 1 / 1 )