Telling Tales - Charis Books

Thursday May 9th, I'll be speaking at Charis Books in Little Five Points and, for the first time, sharing my personal experiences performing as Oracle.  Orace@WiFi began as an art project and an experiment, centered around a finding a way to connect with my audience and playing with random chance.  I was completely surprised at the astounding coincidences and inexplicable results of this home-brewed system of divination.

Now that the project is over (March was the last time I took calls), I'll be speaking at Charis and sharing the experiences that changed my understanding about the workings of the universe.  Yep. Interesting stuff indeed.  Come, bring your questions.  Copies of the Oracle@WiFi book will be on sale and I'll be signing copies after the talk. Talk begins at 7:30pm

Wife Or Girlfriend?

Will I get back with my wife who left me or my girlfriend from 30 years ago?

Remember before Facebook when getting back together with a lover from 30 years earlier would not be even remotely possible? I wonder how it's going...

A Day At The Races

How can I make the retreat a success?

This question was concerning an upcoming meditation retreat hosted by my Zen Buddhist group, Red Clay Sangha.  I mention that because, as you can tell, I was at the race track in New Orleans and the names of the placing horses were quite interesting considering the question. First place horse was named "Special Energy" with "True Karma" coming in third.

Time to Get Funky

James Brown once said, "I only got a seventh-grade education, but I have a doctorate in funk, and I like to put that to good use." 

Which direction should I take my own photography?

Trust the Force, Luke

I was born in the year of the snake. This is my year, so what's to come?

I was about to enter the zoo when this person called.  Zoos are nice but you know, when all you have is a cell phone with it's extremely wide angle lens, you try to take a powerful photo of the monumental elephant, the lens diminishes his presence and it's more like looking at a far off donkey. But I found these three I really liked and felt were capable of multiple meanings. So I emailed them and entered the Reptile House.  After I received the question, I wondered why, if I'm such the fancy oracle, why didn't I intuitively hold out for the reptile house?  Bemoaning my lack of psychic abilities and pining about "how cool would that have been" to have sent a photo of a snake when a friend asked me, "what if?" What if I had taken a photo in the reptile house?  "Look, here's a snake!" What could that photo mean?  All that would say is "you are a snake" and they already know that. The point of this exercise (well one, there are so many) is not to explore what we already know but to go beyond and consider other possibilities, other eventualities. So perhaps, intuitively, I actually did do the right thing. Along the same lines, another friend said, "You, Beth Lilly, are not doing anything. Trust the Oracle, trust the process".

Dating Best Friends

Will me and my best guy friend ever date?

The middle photo was a real surprise for me. At the time, I was trying to photograph a woman doing jumping jacks without appearing to be a stalker (a real talent if you can develop it) I was focusing so closely on being nonchalant that I didn't notice until after taking the picture how perfectly she appears to be suspended from the tree limb - suspended in time - held in stasis.  So I read these sets of images as 1. This idea of dating your friend is a trap 2. It's keeping you suspended in time, preventing you from moving on and developing other relationships and 3. There will be relationships after relationships after relationships, all as wonderful and dear and special as this one. Enjoy all of them to the utmost, for what they are, I say.

Electrifying Art!

Am I on the path towards my life's purpose?

People often ask my help on how to deciphering their "reading".  Often, that's just a jump start on the process of free association and other times, it's figuring out how to the structure the relationship of question to images.  For instance, sometimes, I think all three images put forward the same idea, just shown in slightly different ways,  like when a student asks me a question and I rephrase my answer in multiple ways until I find one that makes sense to them (based on their life experiences etc) Other times, it makes sense that the first image describes the situation, the second suggests a direction to take and the third shows the consequences of following that path.  For this question/image combo, it only makes sense to me if I consider the question a two-parter.  First, am I on the path? The first image says clearly you are on a path.  The second half the second half of that question, you must clarify what your life's purpose IS. The second image says, well, you are clearly plugged into your art/dreams/ideals and the third, to me, says every once in a while, you're going to "take a bath" (have disappointments) (yick! cold water from the hose!!) but you just got to take it and shake it off.

Oracle@Wifi Predicted New Pope!!!

Well, maybe. "What's the name of the next pope?" was the question posed by my second caller on Thursday. Here's the photos I took for him. Of course, I didn't know his question until AFTER I emailed him these images. I think I nailed it. Don't these images just scream "Argentina"???

 

 

New Oracle Results from March 7

As I might have mentioned, for those days that I'm performing for the the Oracle project, I find going to an unfamiliar city helps me see the world with a fresh perspective as well as have access to new situations.  This month, I travelled to New Orleans.

Over the next two weeks, I'll be posting the readings I did there.  Here's the first set of images and the caller's question.  I took these along the banks of the Mississippi.

Am I going to move out of New York State?

Explore The Unknown

LeBeau, the Oracle's intrepid scout

Mark your calendars,  I will be taking calls for my cell phone camera art project, "Oracle @ WiFi"

Date:  Thursday March 7
Phone: 404.805.5431
Time:  9am - 5pm EST

How to participate:
1.  Call me on my cell 404-805-5431
2.  Keep your question a secret!
3.  I'll get your email address and after I make three photographs, send them to you (takes about 30 minutes).
4.  After you get your images, reply back and tell me your question.

Remember, you have to reach me live. They wouldn't be random photos if I got to choose when I responded to a voice mail! (you can't trust me)

My Next Studio

Where will my next studio be?

New construction, rural area, near a bus stop?  The real question is, what was someone hoping to accomplish by posting a list of the Ten Commandments in a sparsely travelled area, quite a way from the road, where no one would be able to see it?  OK, obviously I saw it and took a photo so now you've seen it so....hmmm.

My New Office Space

Where is my new office space?

The second image tells me it will be in a cubicle.  Sorry.  :  )

Document, Documentation, Documentary

What does it mean to document?

Gather around, photographers, it's time for deep thinking. What is it that we are doing when we document? What is a document?

The first image - To document isolates something out of the flow of real-time perceptive experience,  making it more vivid, colorful, subjective, personal, etc, etc. Note - the cow artist's signed name is "Elsie". Her real name??? Hmmm)

Second image:  You can't tell but it is pouring down rain.  Wet laundry hung out in the rain to dry. (Can you imagine my excitement over the symbolic possibilities when I saw this one??? I slammed on brakes, did a U-ie and boldly trespassed to get this image for you.) So to me, this second image speaks to the paradox of documentary work.

Third image - elevation.  The mere act of selecting something for the subject of a photograph elevates it out of it's quotidian meaning.  (quotidian - a new word for me!)  such as when I photograph something so common as a ramp.  Now, suddenly, it is ****symbolic*****

Help My Son

How can I help my son?

I'm not sure if the intent of my first photograph is obvious.  The subject of the photograph is not the house, nor the act of looking through a car windshield at a house.  My subject was the black rectangle (that is a sticker on the windshield) and the white thin rectangle (a piece of ice that had fallen on the windshield) superimposed on the scene.

It could be an issue of imposing a world of black and white on a disorganized, organic world.  Whether you interpret that as a suggested solution to the problem or the cause of the problem, I leave that for you to decide.  Or you can reject my idea completely and come up with your own, which I heartily encourage you to do.

What Do My Dogs Dream About?

What do my dogs dream about?

Like us, they dream in images that are self-referential. And I am quite sure, they dream about you.