time to go to the moon kids

When I was a child, like many, I had a fascination with the moon. I remember my Dad returning from a business trip with fluro painted rocks (obviously from his trip to the moon) that could glow in the dark. Mine was green and my brothers was, his favourite colour, orange. Together we would switch the lights off and pretend to be spaceman explorers discovering rocks on the moon. When I heard that an old school friend Craig Reeves had created a children's show about a man on the moon, obviously my inner child was very excited! 

His creation is so full of joy and imagination. Such a lovely little gift for the little rascals of our time. 

I asked Craig of Pickled Pepper Productions a few questions on their latest wonderful creation; Moon Man Dan.

For those who don't know - who and what is Moon Man Dan?

Dan is a Moon Man, the keeper of our Moon.  He lives in a ‘Luna-Caravan’ and has adventures with his Moon friends, The NoOms and the MoOnMoos.  At the end of the day, the Moon Clock chimes, and Dan readies The Moon for bed. He pulls the blanket that gives The Moon it’s shape, checks through his MoonMan Telescope that the Earth is happy and ready for bed, and when all is right, he turns on the big Moon light.

What's the inspiration behind the Moon Man Dan project?

Moon Man Dan was inspired by a younger me, having conceived the idea many years ago as a young boy looking up at the night sky. The notion of looking out at our Moon and projecting a character from an imagination spoke out to me. Personally, The Moon has been a place of wonder and mystery, echoed I am sure over the century’s by millions of stargazers to all who have stared up at the night sky.  Its simple and alien landscape is the perfect stage for our characters to engage with our young audience and bring the notion of a world beyond our own

How have children and adults responded to it?

Pickled Pepper Productions has had some fantastic and exciting feedback from both parents and children, it has simply been overwhelming to see and hear. During production of the concept and episode design, we presented Moon Man Dan to children of different age groups. This activity allowed us to understand where Moon Man Dan works or needed attention, since, the concept has seen many tweaks and alterations over the years to bring us to where we are today. Our research has ensured that sounds are stimulating, characters are engaging and that our concept achieves its goal of bringing The Moon and space to the attention of children through entertainment. We believe that this detail in our craft and development is key and why we have had such a great response to our work. 

What is next in store for Moon Man Dan?

Moon Man Dan, The Gravity Lever has been created with a personal budget and a team full of passion. We are children’s TV professionals with experience working on many award winning shows such as In The Night Garden, Peter Rabbit, Teletubbies, Shaun the Sheep, Octonauts and Abney & Teal to name but a few. With many of us having been made redundant from our long standing positions, The Moon Man Dan project has kept us together over the past three plus years and hopes to secure our continuing contribution to the children’s TV industry. We are currently collating our feedback in order to present to investors and commissioners from all walks of the children’s media world, both in the UK and internationally.

- I wish them all the best of luck! You can stay tuned with them on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.

stonehenge spiritual rituals in crappy british weather

The Summer Solstice is the most important day of the year at Stonehenge and a truly magical time to be there. It's a time of celebration that brings together England's New Age Tribes (neo-druids, neo-pagans, Wiccans) with ordinary families, tourists, travelers and party people - 10,000's of them! 

At the heart of Druidism lies a love of Nature and of her changing faces as the seasons turn. Eight times a year, once every six weeks or so, Druids participate in a celebration that expresses this love and last year I was kindly invited to join the druids for their celebrations at the British pre-historic monuments where they have exclusive access to perform their energetic rites at the stones. 

This is a time of fertility and celebration: bonfires, maypoles, dancing, and outdoor festivals have been traditional during this time for most of human history. In some modern Pagan faiths it is believed that this holiday represents the highest ascendancy of masculine divinity.

In my experience - in true British style - it was so bloody wet! We slept in cars and did various meditations throughout the 12 hour long overnight ceremony which required commitment especially in England's summer downpours from sunset to dawn. First we did a meditation in a remote field where in a circle, affirmations to connect with the divine were made as we meditated together. At one point during the speech of one of the elders a huge gust of wind blew at the most divine point of his speech, that put all my hairs on end as the sensations overcame my being and I felt a wave of dizziness while I meditated in the muddy field that my wellies were sinking in to.

Around 4.30am we arose for the final sunrise meditation at the stones. The rain poured down on us as words in the old English were proclaimed in the ceremonious celebration of mother nature and love for humanity.

Throughout my life I've been a part of many different spiritual practices which in my heart I feel is an cathartic way of connecting and healing one's being; whether through ritual, ceremony, contemplation or creation, while demonstrating a humility for mother nature that which envelops, nurtures and unites us. This time round, perhaps given it lacked the mystical mantras of a foreign language but was grounded in the stories that preceded Christianity, I found the experience really intriguing and a little bit funny.

I mean there I was, in my white gown over waterproofs and wellingtons, walking around in divine cosmic time to meditate on ancient stones while hearing words such as "Walk forth torch bearer!" in the country I was born. In one aspect it was amazingly powerful within me. I mean the energy created by this devotional act was to a vibration of cosmic levels that if you haven't experienced - you might think I was nuts. Yet, in another aspect, lets call it an egoic identification with personality, I felt like I was in a funny play where the characters all spoke English with funny accents using old linguistic terms and funky props to connect with their truth and the divine. My inner cynic would've written it off as some ridiculous ritual, but as one beautiful soul brother I met in Nepal reminded me "isn't life one ridiculous ritual?" and who am I to say what is the best path to take or rite to make in order to create a sacred space for divinity? And the truth is, after the ceremony, something did change within me. I became friends with a pain that had haunted me for far too long. Perhaps it took for me to meditate under the stars, in the shitty British weather, aligned to the divine shifts of the cosmos and Earth's seasons at some old stones to finally say "its ok to let go now".

See here for more info on the Druid order and special thanks to Cristel who I met at a yoga retreat in India for the kind auspicious invitation. There are more images on my photoblog.

I love you, I'm sorry, forgive me, thank you.

'Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.' - Martin Luther King Jr.

Katey Brooks - B****, Don't Kill My Vibe - Acoustic Remake 

"Ho'oponopono" is a beautiful Hawaiian ritual whereby one makes an affirmation "I love you, I'm sorry, forgive me, thank you" to all the relationships from ones life that need atonement. I know while my adventures in the outside world are probably more interesting, I really want to illuminate how cathartic and beautiful this little ritual is.

To make mistakes is to be human and sometimes the people who hurt us the most are those who know us the most intimately. I wish I could say I am the perfect human being that does no harm, but I've screwed up, said the wrong thing or pressed someone's buttons enough times.

I sat my third Vipassana the other day in Bogota, Colombia. The first time about 5 years ago was incredibly painful, I sat with multiple cushions supporting my twice fractured coccyx, a wooden floor-stool to support my curved spine while I struggled through my mind's OCD behaviours around herbal tea and light switches, as I committed to 10 days of daily 11 hours sits of mediation and went on the proverbial cosmic journey. That time I came out and stopped eating meat without a rationale besides "I didn't feel like eating it anymore" and I recall visiting a shop with my boyfriend trying to find a shampoo and having no idea how to choose. I became that equanimous! The second Vipassana I sat was 18 months ago. Shortly afterwards my father called Interpol...another story...

from Burning Man via The Atlantic

Now this last silent 10 day sit was different. For one thing I only had one cushion to support my body and my mind was incredibly well-behaved and present. A fire burned through my spine however in the agony of sitting in stillness for 11 hours a day and to be witness to it without judgement, nurturing the act of equanimity, was incredibly challenging for me. Nevertheless I had epiphanies, time travelling realisations and outbreaks of spontaneous emotions while every now and then transcended the pain that felt like a knife had been lodged in my back.

It's taken the last couple of weeks to integrate the experience spending time as a recluse out of the travel community while hanging out with a friend on the outskirts of Bogota. During the full moon my friend and I both set our intentions and did a little fun Ho'oponopono ceremony together which involved cheerful smiles and cheesey music. The results for us both afterwards were incredible though, so much so, that I felt compelled to share.

I find people come in to our world to be vehicles for something deeper within us, whether they shine a light on a vulnerable area of the subconscious or simply teach us that the journey to love is found through forgiveness for another... as much as for oneself. Easier said than done sometimes and I am not one to preach, although in my experience, if there was more forgiveness and acceptance in this world, it'd probably be a much more peaceful and happier place.