Talks, readings and Networking in India

Flying north from Bengaluru (old name Bangalore), I arrived in the ancient holy city of Varanasi (old names Benares, Kashi) for the week-long 144th International Convention of the Theosophical Society. There was also a cruise along the Ganges and a walk along the ghats. From there, I flew south to Chennai to visit Adyar, World Headquarters of the Theosophical Society and the Krishnamurti Foundation. And then further south again, to Pondicherry where I gave readings in schools in Auroville. Thanks go to Culture Ireland for grant support for this leg of the journey involving readings and networking.

Indiahhhhhh!

Not long back from a six-week magical mystery tour of India, my favourite country in the world. A mix of spiritual pleasure, research and writer's work, it began in Karnataka. Travelling with fellow Buddhists, I stayed in a Tibetan monastic guesthouse while attending the teachings of the Dalai Lama for two weeks. From there we spent Christmas in Mysuru (old name Mysore) and did some sight-seeing at Mysore Palace, St Philomena's Cathedral and Sri Chamundeshwari Temple atop a high hill. Then off to Bangalore for two days rest.

OCTOCON THE NATIONAL IRISH SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION

The Trance Mission Diaries: Friday 19th October 2018, 7pm – 8pm THE TRANCE MISSION DIARIES is a performance art piece about life, the universe and everything. It tells the cosmic tale of a ruined lightship, a lost crew, a forgotten mission. With creator/narrator O.R. Melling, electronic sound artist Cha Krka, and vocalist Sylvia Teva. “I felt I was in … Continue reading "The Trance Mission Diaries"

THE TRANCE MISSION DIARIES

A ruined lightship, a lost crew, a forgotten mission. Memoir as cosmic myth narrated by O.R. Melling with electronic sound by R. O'Sullivan plus guest vocalist. Fasten your seat belts for a test pilot flight into life, the universe and everything. Bray Arts Club, May 1, 2018. Klinkerdin Experimental Art Space, the Commonground, Bray May 19, 2018. #AreYouCrew (Image thanks to Brant Wilson, Bittbox)

The Trance Mission Diaries

It's showtime! Next Saturday, March 3, my first original performance art piece will be happening at the Klinderdin Experimental Art Salon held in the Common Ground, Beverly Studios, Church Lane, Bray, Co. Wicklow, Ireland. I've done a few performance pieces in the past - The Life of Merlin on the Main Stage at the Mythic Journeys Conference in Atlanta with John & Cailtlin Matthews, Ari Berk, Toby Froud, and William Todd Jones; a gloriously wild piece with poet Michael Casey, in memory of Joseph Beuys, at the Ballyvaughan Poetry Festival in County Clare and some years after that, a performance of the work of Irish poet Frank Golden, In Daily Accord, at the Burren College of Art also in Co. Clare along with Frank and another poet, John Doorty. I love peforming but my own work hasn't created the space for me to do it until now. I've written a half-hour piece to be performed with an electronic sound artist and back-up vocalist and I'm ready to take it on the road. (May also put it online, we'll see.) My own version of Laurie Anderson crossed with Spalding Gray, The Trance Mission Diaries is memoir masquerading as cosmic myth and metaphor for life. More to come! #AreYouCrew

Emerging from the Dark

Well we may be heading into the dark of winter but I am just coming out of my cave and re-entering life! It has been a long year of mourning and depression and very little work but I am back writing again at last. I'm revising the book I wrote about my mother's dying and death and I am also working on a small performance piece that I will be doing with two others - a man who works with electronic sound and music and a singer. I am moving slowly though. Softly softly ...

Three Books

Slowly but surely I am working my way through three books. I completed The Night Shifts, a Tale of Dying, Grief and Family Madness before Christmas, but have agreed with my agent that I need to put the book aside for a time and look at it again when the grief is less raw. That said, I am pleased I wrote it - a catharsis - and really I had no choice in the matter as the words poured out of me like tears. I look forward to a re-reading and re-working this summer. Meanwhile, I have read the original manuscript of The Celtic Warrior-Princess as well as the film script of same and have made notes for the final rewrite. But I confess I am not going ahead just yet. I am, in fact, about to embark on a new work of non-fiction about my experience walking the pilgrimage of the Camino Santiago. I kept notebooks as I walked from southern France over the Pyrenees and across northern Spain to the cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela and then on to the coast to Finisterre. I look forward to delving into my memories and seeing what I find there. Life is an epic journey, a sacred quest, and all such pilgrimages are a reflection of the Great Pilgrimage.