All Posts by bojanb

Visiting -Svetac and Brusnik islands in Adriatic

 ..goving over the sea never repets 


Coming from the 2D world by default and continuing on the surface of the 3D world – the sea is exciting and never the same 

The destination is ahead, but being on the sea with the winds gives me the opportunity to be present and connected even more as ALL is ONE. This time, the 2D and 3D worlds merged even more, fish and sponges below and birds above were close neighbours!

These feelings also came to me when Neja Rojc shared this blissful time with me. Neja is deeply connected to animal kingdoms, whoever and wherever these animals are.

It was a simple visit to two islands in the open sea of the Adriatic. One is the small pure volcano island of Brusnik, and the other is the island of Svetac. It was a “call” to get to know the places and not the people. Anyway, no people were supposed to live here, as we were told beforehand. But there are actually 4 people living on Svetac.

My first impression when approaching Brusnik was WOW, such a crowded place with spirits dwelling in small and big black rocks scattered all over the island.

The rocks! Mineral & crystalline matter, the great body of Gaia lives and gives the heartbeat, the pulse we all relate to … In the middle of nowhere, in the presence of all connectedness, it was magic and much more real …

Get to know more about Neja: Terra Anima Society for Deep Ecology and CENTER KIRON

 


wherever- however-whatever we "do", we live traces, which are NOT forgotten BUT embedded  

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Released by MED Land project / film, photography, editing: BB  text editing - proofreading: Tadej Turnšek, godfather of the story Barbara Ćeferin

Posted by bojanb
a couple of years ago

In between – Aine

If I was to describe the 4 weeks' time of Inbetweening with Áine, I’d use the sentence ‘Is that so?’ from a story about Zen master Hakuin that Áine told me one day on the boat.

A very ‘humble, disciple, and great master in one’-soul; young, full of passion to learn, to experiment, to be persistent, but also willing to surrender when need be…; is that so.

Formally we got stuck with the maintenance work on the boat that was not finished in time to do the planned MED trip BUT! we took this trip from day to day heading through MED Land tasks that always need to be done.. for the good reason to create conditions where we can meet and exchange what and for what we are ..

Aine started a new Youtube channel for MEDLand Project, and created three videos during her time here – including a video specifically about our In Between-time:

What is Med Land Project? -intro on youtube

This video briefly describing what Med Land Project is, why it exists, where it operates, how it came to be, and what it aims to do. If you are interested in a deeper explanation, please hop over to this video:https://youtu.be/7YPMWxGlpPY by Aine

In Between: Nalu's Engine Surgery

  video:https://youtu.be/D8V8dTYc3c0 by Aine


In Between: Handover

s video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6LHy09eUAY by Aine

AND :  image review-selection of Ainas pics from that time, that I can point out :

1,2 - dynamic composition, by default static- main object in the center BUT here  front and background is in a dynamic relationship and makes photos beautiful 

3 - again every bit has a sense here..I start and end looking where the eyes should be and I do not miss them! 

4- a detail with a lot of stories that light and color speak directly 

5- the light dominates here! light has a form..

6- if you forget about the bike and observe only shadow ..photo starts to "move on " 

_________________________

images of a storyteller :-))



...wrigting, droving, filming, photografing ...  storytelling 

follow her here https://www.youtube.com/c/AineDonnellan

and Instagram of-course : https://www.instagram.com/ainedonnellan/

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NEW channel! where all WGO MEDLand videos appear

subscribe :-)) 

Posted by bojanb
a couple of years ago

In between – handower…

The times in which we are living is...MEDLand project is...

In Between

The engine, the heartbeat of Nalu was handover to Drago..in Sučoraj, just 60km from Nalu home port but long enough to traveland meet Nikša, the archeologist from Sučuraj* and stop at the stone circle-new land art structure on Hvar island : 

 

THIS GEOPUNCTURE CIRCLE IS DEDICATED TO THE SACREDNESS OF LIFE. Erected at the end of May 2022 at the Stari Grad Field - Hvar island in Croatia, in the olive growth of Aldo Čavić. It is a creation of Slovenian VITAAA Art Group - creators: Marko Pogačnik, Marika Pogačnik ,Ivana Petan,Aleš Križnar, Nataša Hrast, Simona Čudovan.



 * Nikša Vujnović - does very interesting guided tours in and around Sućoraj! and you can find him in souvenir shop in port >< recommended by medlanders 

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Released by MED Land project / film, photography, editing: BB  text editing - proofreading: Tadej Turnšek, godfather of the story Barbara Ćeferin

Posted by bojanb
a couple of years ago

In between-Nalu’s engine surgery 

The times in which we are living is; 

In Between

MEDLand project is;

In Between

The engine, the heartbeat of Nalu is also; 

In Between

HOW come? A dear friend, Japec Jakopin, who has cared of the Medland project's well-being from the very start; originally as a board/team member, defining the 'why, who, how, when & for whom' this project is aimed – and continuously helping to maintain Nalu – has donated her a truly prima boat engine. 

Without Japec and many others, this project would just exist on paper, and not in the water, crossing long distances over the sea to MED islands with Nalu.

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Released by MED Land project / film, photography, editing: BB  text editing - proofreading: Tadej Turnšek, godfather of the story Barbara Ćeferin

Posted by bojanb
a couple of years ago

Natural space is fundamentally a free space..

Ivana Petan(the author of the story),

actively participated in the project many times and in many ways, from the very beginning and even before, helping to restore the boat, Nalu, that we are now using. She is a member of the core team. She expresses her creativity mainly in the form of ceramic art works, as well as with geomancy stone installations group projects.

As an artist, she participated in three MedLand-related exhibitions (1,2,3). As an expert in geomancy, she did her part in the story: a discourse with the island of Ikaria. On our 2021 trip, she did the entire observation of the places we visited. Her observations have left a strong mark, since so much is changing in the way we experience and bring into awareness our relations, especially with the land. The title of the project (MedLand) is about the land – the potential of the land, small or big, or the entire Mediterranean that changes through periods, along with our perceptions and relations with all other conscious life. Ivana's interactions go beyond, like looking behind the curtain :-)) 

Ivana Petan & BBimages

The present writing is a trace of this years' MedLand project. Visits to the agro-agriculture project Southern Lights in the Peloponnese, Zlatka, a Slovenian who has lived in the western part of Crete for more than 30 years and grows olive trees, and meeting a Cretan initiative for the revival of the importance of the carob tree were pre-planned. All other stops on the way connected the path into a semantic whole. The focus of this writing is not primarily on people, but rather on the natural space, seen and experienced through the eyes of geomancy. Natural space is fundamentally a free space; without names, borders, properties, coats of arms and flags, with its roots in the connection of different beings, forms, memories, wisdom, impulses, which with their unique breath co-create the harmony of life, approaching and distancing, with change as the only constant. In addition to visible physical materiality, nature also has its invisible energetic face: conscious beings who become visible through heart communication and intuition.




All writing is a personal experience of spaces I've visited: their qualities, the possibility of their connection and cooperation with each other and with humans, human contribution, and a presence of the impulse of the birth of some different world and existence in respect, co-creation and well-being of everything visible and invisible as a living whole.

The Ionian Islands. I experienced them as an energy door, a transition to the eastern part of the Mediterranean, which stimulates and significantly moves its whole. The Ionian Islands offer tempting gifts of the beauty of nature and people, of a friendly and decent life, as a lure to extend the journey to the

Aegean part of the Mediterranean,in which the rising sea depths potentiate everything else: the appearance of space, a sense of the elements, approach to life, its rules and myths that establish it, the determination and courage - not only for survival, but also for life. Due to its conditions and characteristics,living in the Aegean space of the Mediterranean requires deep perfection and awakens stronger emotions, decisions and binding promises.

However, before entering the Aegean Sea, rises another passage: the Peloponnese peninsula. A vast space of different landscapes and qualities. Although I have always respected it very much, it was only now that I slowly began to become aware of not only its width and height but also its depth. It proved to me to be the centre of the life energy of the entire Mediterranean. The Peloponnese being led me into its underworld that glows golden. Its core carries a balancing organ that appeared to me as a globe-shaped organ, incessantly dancing left-right, up-down, actively bringing and maintaining vital energy needed for power harmonization of the space, perpetually in motion. However, I sensed the blockage in the upward passage by a metal plate, and as a result, there is no cosmic impulse to cooperate with Gaia. Therefore, a balance organ is stopped in its motion, standing frozen and forgotten, speaking of forgetfulness of the crucial importance of natural space for human life, of their interdependence. Simultaneously, it awakens thinking about ways of active human change and establishing a new balance on the wings of cooperation and connection with nature, which enables respectful life of all human and nonhuman beings. I disconnected the plate and sent it into transformation into Gaia and performed a Tear of Grace for the Peloponnese. Like acid rain, a tear began to melt the metal plate. In its place, an empty white space opened up as the quality of a white goddess; of the new wholes ready to enter the red creative goddess phase.

Firs finger of Peloponnese

The westernmost Greek island is Othonoi. I see it in the shape of a small dragon with its head facing southeast. It appeared to my senses as an island of joy and permission to live. I experienced it as a space of powerful impulse for the new: when old ways of life are left behind, the opportunity for new ways of understanding, communicating, acting opens up. Othonoi is sending us a message that it is possible to come into contact with the possibilities of new possibilities of dwelling and consequently to see and realize the (not-yet-embodied) potentials.

As a symbol of the quality of the island, a being with arms outstretched towards the sky (as an inverted symbol of peace or a tree) appeared in my vision.

The symbol of the quality for the whole of islands Paxos and Anti Paxos, which were next islands along our way, appeared to me in the form of a rhombus. With its sides, the rhombus opens a space of individual inner rest, of gathering within, introverted activity inside, which leads to the cleansing of outdated patterns, the clarification of desires and the formation of the intention-direction of life. As an earthquake of the inner world that gives birth to a new view, a new vision of the outer world and own individual role in it, preparing for a new path, a new cycle, and pointing to the natural rhythm of endless spiritual maturation.

The shape of the islands remain incomprehensible to me for now.

Zakynthos island awakened a range of emotions in me: from the confinement, impermeability and compression in a bag of consumerism and tourism, disconnection from the depths of the earth and the height of the sky, breathing hard due to the prevailing male principle and abuse of natural space, to the sincere contact with joyful nature in the interior of the island. In the centre of the valley in the island's middle, I sensed a spiral rising into the sky, energetically charged by four surrounding places on four sides of the island. It is strongly rising high in the sky but lacks grounding. The form of the island appeared to me as a being walking forward and looking back. And the quality of the island I recognized as knowledge to incorporate the ancestral wisdom into the present and keep it for descendants.

In the vast olive grove of a friend Dimitris Therianos(update21:film by Ida Glušič), I felt the joy and love of its cultivation. Each olive tree is connected invisibly with all others as a part of the whole, the last showing to me as the respiration system of one organism. Connecting with them, I felt the olive tree as a female tree and saw its unique feature: the olives dance! The old olive tree we last visited showed itself imbued with many times and periods. It radiated a particular mysticism, arousing awe. I experienced it as an archetype of ancestors, as a silent sage that regulates the life of an olive grove.

As a symbol of the quality of Zakynthos, a circle inside a rhombus appeared to me.

The Peloponnese peninsula has shown to me in the shape of a being with a tail that faces west, bringing in an energetic influence from the East. I felt it played the role of the centre of (primordial) life force (hara) in the Mediterranean, sending it into the wholeness through the “tail, legs and arms”. When I visualized myself in the middle of the Peloponnese, I felt strong forces from all sides, as if I were standing on a big draft, at the centre of an imbalance. It took a lot of effort to manage standing up straight. When I asked the Peloponnese about its readiness for the “new”, it was confused, perhaps even frightened, as it could not relate to the meaning of my question. Then Demeter appeared. She ritually outlined a circle around herself on the ground with the stick and hit hard in its middle. A strong spring rose from it and began to rain on the Peloponnese. Is this rain a message about the growth potential of something new?


Pylos lies on the outside of the left foot of the Peloponnese (1st toe of the Peloponnese). I experienced it in his comfortable, peaceful life, backed by prosperity present on all levels: an abundance of food, a year-round friendly climate, the absence of industry. In addition, the security of living is based on following the tradition and its successes, meaning that the question of the possibility of something new and different is unknown and never asked.

As a symbol of the quality of Pylos, the letter V appeared to me - the door of Gaia gifts into space.

In the village of Koroni, the feeling and view of the place and the port speaks to me of chaos, disorder, inaccessibility, loss of identity. I feel her ignorance of current changes in space and potentially new ways of living even more strongly than in Pylos.

As a symbol of the quality of the village, a spiral from earth to sky appeared to me.

I feel the primary energy potential of the left foot of the Peloponnese (1st toe of the Peloponnese) in the opening from the earth to the sky. Here, Gaia messages and qualities are brought into the light. However, this flow is being obstructed by poor grounding. Space is not present in the actual moment but stays in its closed world, with the heavy energies of struggle, fear and lack of freedom from the past. The space sleeps.

 

I feel the cape of the tail of the Peloponnese (2nd toe of the Peloponnese) as an energy pillar that expands horizontally into the environment and thus connects, collects and balances the qualities of two neighbouring capes of the Peloponnese (left and right feet of the Peloponnese). The presence of the element of air is strong, and here, for the first time since my arrival in Greece, I feel the imposing, breathtaking power of the rocks - compared to the left leg of the Peloponnese, I feel here in its tail much more primal strength.

This space is a space of a dragon of air. Along with this quality which is an aspect of the primordial strengths of Gaia, this space also breathes with the cosmos, with spiritual guidance and the influx of new possibilities of incarnations.

In the village of Porto Kagyo (on the right side of the tail of the Peloponnese - 2nd finger of the Peloponnese, we find the chapel of St. Nicholas. I read his gesture of the crossed upward index and middle fingers, and under the latter connected to the thumb and fourth finger, depicted on all the icons, as the wisdom of the embodiment of one's spiritual potential. Balancing one's fire and water quality brings the realization of spiritual potential (connection of thumb and earth quality).

As a symbol of Porto Kagyo quality, I saw a thread that descends from heaven to earth, here fertilizes with the message of incarnation, and returns to the cosmos in an arc, gifting the cosmos with new information (a new record in Akasha).

The next stop on the Peloponnese was Gytheio (deeper in the bay between Peloponnese's tail and the right foot - between its 2nd and 3rd toes, on the right side). As I connected with the city, a white goddess spinning in a circle appeared to me in the hill above it. It is not in full potential, but it does not sleep completely (like most of the Peloponnese we sailed by then).

As a symbol of Gytheio quality, I saw a spiral extending horizontally into space.

Near Gytheio is the village of Skala. In its nearness, we visited the Southern Lights, an agro-farming project. I felt their collaboration with plants as an attitude of respect for the earth. I felt the plants in their freedom, joy, contentment. They form a golden ray net that opens into space and sends out new information. The place is grounded, with Gaia and Pan participating.

I felt the impulse from the cosmos in the space of the Southern Lights project is weaker. It might be due to poor free-flowing energy, perhaps because the community rules restrict the freedom of life choices of the participants. I strongly feel the potential for developing new ways of working with plants - plants with plants and people with plants. However, its realization requires the development of individual responsible freedom that supports, preserves and enriches the well-being of the whole - in the relationship between the community people. Only as free and horizontally distributed does the energy for embodying the new have free flow at all levels.

At the entrance to the Southern Lights project grows an old eucalyptus tree. As a key, I received a purse with gold coins there, representing the potential of the project to enrich the world with knowledge about the coexistence of man and nature, to bring new and upgrade old knowledge into a different, for this time relevant whole. The realization of this depends on the freedom of creativity, on one side for nature, on the other side for community members who, by making their own decisions, cocreate with their unique contribution.

The Southern Lights project embodies the primary potential of the Peloponnese region: agro-agriculture as an intuitive exploration into the ways of encouraging forest creation by planting and combining plants grows out of respect for nature and connection with spiritual guidance embodied in new ideas of connecting and collaborating with nature. Thus, it is possible to create a new whole (white goddess) for further co-creation.

Also, we visited the land of the emerging farm of Panos and Kali, active members of the Southern Lights project. At the site of the emerging plantation, I saw a tree of life growing, and at the site of a future living-house, I felt a strong presence of the element of water.

I felt the connection of both lands with the energy threads.

Kayres village lies in the interior of the Peloponnese, at the foot of Mount Parnon at an altitude of 950m. From the Karyes name was born the name Kayratide (translation: young girls from Karyes), which originally meant local priestess dancers who every year danced a local ritual dance in honour of Artemide Karyatide. Later, this name came into use for all female sculpture supporting pillars (the most notable is Erectus on the Acropolis).

I felt Kayres as a yin area with feminine quality. We visited 2500-year-old plane trees, strong earthly giants and at the same time ethereal ones, as if invisibly touching the sky. In addition to the wisdom they carry, Ent also conveyed me their grief over neglect and forgetfulness from the people. The reason for this cessation of the coexistence of man and nature, the plane trees whispered to me, is the predominance of reason and its non-recognition of nature as a conscious being.

In front of the plane trees is the spring where the temple of Artemis once stood. I felt space as a strong golden pillar of energy connecting earth and sky.


Our way back to Gytheio high Taygetos mountains followed us all the way, with the highest peak Prophet Elijah (2405m). When I connected with him, I felt him kissing the sky.

Energetically, I experienced the right foot of the Peloponnese (3rd toe of the Peloponnese) as connected to the cosmos and the element of air. On its cape, there is the village of Profitis Illias. I experienced it as a peaceful and pure village, in harmony and silence. This silence was too quiet, communicating not of living in peace, but of sleep and isolation, of living in its rhythm and time, far removed from world reality. Here, again, I met a space that sleeps and knows nothing about the “new”.

Behind the village, there is a dragon-shaped mountain, rising boldly to the sky with its buttocks in the sea.

As a symbol of the quality of Profitis Illias, I saw a spiral descending from heaven to earth.

During our sailing to Crete, I first connected with the Peloponnese: the being of the Peloponnese thanked us and greeted us with an invitation to return. Demeter of the Peloponnese blessed us and sent us golden wheat. I then connected with Crete and felt the presence of Minoan culture and the culture of the (Neolithic) goddess.

We moored in Kissamos (former Castelli), a town in the westernmost bay of Crete. The request for a key dropped a golden anchor in my hands. When I connected with the island, it opened to me in quality that felt like some other time and origin and at the same time being in the present moment. Like a particular knowledge of the connection between the past and the present, where growth potential is coming from the old wisdom, upgraded for the present time. I felt Crete as an individual holon, grounded and unconditional. As a space of connecting hara chakra with heart chakra: a place where courageous insights, recognitions, getting to know oneself and decisions how to place oneself always include ancestors and tradition. I felt a space behind me - a connection to the causal worlds.



Connecting with the Crete being, a vague image of two feminine figures first appeared to be - a warrior and a Neolithic goddess -, as if the being was too weak to show herself clearly in her essence.

As a symbol of Crete, I saw golden threads in the shape of a pyramid-facing-up and a pyramid-facing-down. The threads ran only vertically. I got the impulse they also needed to run horizontally to connect Crete with the rest of Greece. By combing the threads horizontally and breathing back into causal spaces, bees appeared and began to fly around Crete. I asked Demeter of the Peloponnese to send the grain. Golden grain and bees met and connected on the way between the Peloponnese and Crete. Simultaneously, a Peloponnesian balance-organ woke up, moving around its axis and thus balancing the space of the Mediterranean. As if the connection of grain and bees - the Peloponnese and Crete - gave the balance-organ a power for restarting its life cycle. In this way, Crete presented to me like a womb of the Mediterranean.

After the exercises, the symbol of Crete also changed: from the point of meeting the golden threads of the lower and upper pyramid, a horizontal spiral of golden energy began to twist into space. There was also a change in the vision of the being of Crete: clearly, I saw a woman in a long golden dress with bull horns on her head, turning clockwise and sowing seeds all around her from the highest Cretan peak Psiloritis (2456m, Oros Idi mountain area).

Here in Crete, I felt an openness to the new for the first time in Greece.

Dear friend Zlatka, who hosted us for a few days, opened some exceptional natural spaces for us.           story about Zlatka 

Mouri is a village closest to a natural place called Island (Nisi) - its name comes from the fact that it is impossible to get anywhere from it, as there is a mountain on one side and a canyon on the other. I felt Island as a space unrelated to the notion of time we know; he lives in timelessness/omnipresence.

At the entrance to the place, there are ruins of a church, full of frescoes inside. From one of its remaining walls now grows an old carob tree. I felt the place as a place of Sofia/Christ presence, more precisely, as a place of meeting Sofia/Christ in oneself - with the potential of love, forgiveness and compassion for oneself. 

Near the village of Syrikari (Sirikari) is a forest of old chestnut trees. The energetic key for entering the place was a burgundy bag with stone arrows. I experienced the space as a place of healing, health and inner peace. The chestnut tree presented herself to me as a female and cosmic tree that brings cosmic energy into space in the form of silver rain.

From Zlatka place, we continued towards the east of Crete, towards the secrets of the carob.

In the central part of Crete, we visited places and people associated with reviving the importance of the carob tree. First, we met a 1000-years-old carob tree in the Rethymno region. As I stood in her circle, she immediately accepted me into a circle of friends, thus showing her as a tree that makes friends quickly and easily. I also felt carob as a woman’s tree. When I connected with her, I saw that she feeds on the direct sun energy she stores in the fruit: the carob is a golden tree. (WGO story :Coming Back to the Carob Trees)

Every new experience of Crete was slowly disclosing it to me as a place connected to roots and ancestors and at the same time connected to the cosmos. Translated to the human body, this speaks of the connection between hara (life force) and the heart (spiritual perception). This connection awakens the potential of passionate creation and living one’s truth, not forgetting the wisdom and knowledge of the past.

At one point, connecting with a being of Crete ignited a spark in my heart. At the same time, however, I felt pressure from above that prevented the spark from glowing into the embodiment. I intuitively connected it with the (rational) existential fear, which many people solve today by ceasing traditional (self-sufficient) ways of care, focusing on owning material things, consumerism and finding a comfortable life. This possession-based life approach has revealed to me as restricting the free life flow, and as a way that closes the heart to free intuitive experiences.

Above village Melidoxori (Melidochori) in a Heraklion region lives Kostas, a master grafter of carob trees. The space of his farm and the surrounding landscape is like a vessel in which the sun is bathing. Here, heaven and earth kiss and procreate. It is a powerful yin space of abundance and prosperity that gives, gives, gives. This landscape is the womb in a different sense than the place of Komolithi in western Crete: it is the granary of Crete, where Gaia openly gives herself to all beings and thus ensures their lives.

Here again, I experienced the carob as a tree with sun fruits, as food fertilizing life with the life energy of the sun, awakening the life force. Carob is like a mother: independent, self-sufficient, with the knowledge and strength to survive without additional watering, caring for others and making immediate friendships. Carob thrives in different soil types, protects the soil from erosion, can survive on winter amount of rain and protects the space from fire.

In addition to carob trees, Kostas’ farm also includes old black oak trees that grow around the estate. They complement each other energetically: carob as yin and black oak as yang. I saw the black oaks sending energy threads to the carob trees, thus connecting and grounding them into the holon of the space.

On Kostas’ holon, there is also a big rock with dragon quality. Eagles, sunbirds, nest there. This quality of eagle also lives in Kostas. Likewise, the sun of Gaia is vibrating in the joyful, passionate, sincere, unobstructed way of Kosts’ communication, speech, attitude and response to the trees and garden, and not to forget, even in his deep need for abundant hospitality and gifts to visitors. He is embodying this unconditional giving quality that is born in this landscape.

We crossed part of eastern Crete, the Lasithi region and part of central Crete, the Heraklion region, went past Agios Nikolaos, then along the local road from Elounda to Naples and finally towards the village of Tris Ekklisies (Three Churches) in the southern part of Crete. Landscapes opened up to me in the power of the elemental world and Sidhe.

Not far from the village Tris Ekklisies we visited an old carob forest, unique in the Mediterranean. In this dry and rocky landscape, I felt that the carob loves solitude, does not long for visitors. Even without the latter, it is present, complete and self-sufficient. Here I strongly felt Sidhe living next to people in their invisible reality of a parallel world. Hidden, they are waiting for the awakening of people, for their realization of nature as a conscious being ready to participate in co-creation.

On the way back from Crete to the Peloponnese, we stayed overnight on the island between them, Kythira. I felt it as an island of hospitality, tolerance, peace and lightness between the two powerful spaces of the Peloponnese and Crete. A being of the island appeared to me like a woman spinning with open arms, happy, content, smiling, reconciled to herself and all that is; integrating and caring for every being that comes along.

As a symbol of the quality of Kythira, sea waves appeared to me.

The main lesson of this travel through Greece I may condense in the sentence: "Instead, as an animal, let give ourselves a possibility to live as a plant." It comes from olive, chestnut and carob. I felt plants connect into one organism. They cooperate and support each other without fear of being left without free space and opportunities for life. They do not build cohesion on equality and through supporting the same paths, forms, characteristics, but on complementing, enriching and changing the whole by supporting differences. Fluidity and the freedom of growing each being/seed into its unique plant are encouraged. In this way is each time created a new unique whole. The interconnectedness and cooperation in nature become visible to the human heart because the heart connection recognizes the plant not as a dead thing for human management, but as a conscious being, open for cooperation and co-creation. The world of plants is teaching me that space truly lives in its potential only if its beings are interconnected and at the same time independent, sincerely supporting the well-being of the whole. For only as a part, they exist and are themselves able to grow.

The coexistence of natural space with people and people with people, seen and felt on this Greek trip, was often opposite of the latter. I felt the absence of integration replaced by fencing and isolating identities without being aware of the need for connection and cooperation. Above all, bare rational conception and action have once again proved to be the general activator of human oblivion of the natural (organic) way of coexistence lived by the plant world. View on monocultural cultivation of olives, planted geometrically in flat rows in an otherwise varied Cretan landscape, felt strongly unnatural. Trees of almond, carob, citrus fruit and other variety that once had their place among olive ones, have long been cut down. An experience of seeing monoculture olive groves, in reality, showed me the consequences of human recourse to primary rationality. The accumulation of individual property and the restriction of the free flow of energies at all levels causes instead of trust only reign of fear, instead of a varied and unmanageable horizon just a pure and monotonous vertical visibility.

Visited Greek islands mostly live and function as closed worlds. At the beginning of our journey, the inner seeing of the sea space of the Mediterranean, where we intended to sail, was revealed to me as connected with golden threads, which - as I can conclude now - remain hidden and unlived. Isolated - both spaces and people - thus lose the possibility of connecting into mutually supporting waves of a unique rhythm of exchanging experiences and creating something synergistically larger. And, does not the current state of the world encourage us to make such changes? 

This non-recognition of the whole, which is created by connecting different approaches, ideas and professions, I experience as an obstacle for opening new individual paths of understanding and working into the highest good of the whole, which means the highest best of each of its parts in its uniqueness.

The path I see is a balance of heart and mind in their authentic qualities and roles, offering humans a friendship and cooperation with nature, with Mother Gaia. I experience Gaia as already transforming and inviting people to recognize her by deviating from the old understanding of the world. Should we join her with confidence on the way to the new, despite not knowing what and how it will be? Human ignorance has no power to stop Gaia's changes, but it prevents them from seeing them and establishing an inner relationship with them.

And how did everything I experienced affect me? Due to the felt drowsiness, disbalance and absence of the space itself, I, a lover of Greece, was impressed by the sadness and awareness of the powerful changes that should take place. Powerful breakthroughs of the living presence of the space itself were too rare this time. As if human ignorance of the current state and unwillingness to make internal decisions about individual path have left a deep fog on the natural space and hidden from us its rebirth, its breathtaking beauty and strength. However, I also understand this “absence” of natural space feeling within me as an invitation and an incentive for change. These feelings of inconsistency did not silence my desire to explore even more deeply the spaces touched this time in their hiddenness. They also triggered my innerness for dissection and insight of everything that still needs to go into the process of transformation, forgiveness, and change, learning to be a student of the plant world.

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Released by MED Land project, June 2021 /story by Ivana Petan , photo/editing: BB;  

Posted by bojanb
a couple of years ago

ABOVE expectations..


2021 MED Land destinations were Peloponnese and Crete. Ivana Petan, Ida Glušič, Matej Michalec and BB were the team.

MEDLand 2021 Ivana, Maček, bb first days to the first Greek island

Maćek produced 5 WGO films about the trip and Storytelling encounters on the Peloponnese, all on MED Land >WGO 

BB did two main stories, and one together with Ida (yet to be published).

Ivana did report of her geomantic encounters with the beings of the places we stopped (yet to be published).

Ida was making WGO films, and she made the first one, a film with Dimitris Therianos, even before we meet, while waiting for us to pick her up! AND a special film for the main story about Zlatka from Crete (yet to be published).

The last MED Land trip in 2021, from Pylos (Peloponnese) to Stari Grad (Hvar island in the Adriatic) was above expectations.

We decided to postpone “the sailing back from Crete“ to our home port to the end of July, when all planed stories were done, but we still had a 1000 km long sailing trip to reach our home port on the island of Hvar in the Adriatic. We wanted to have additional time for this long trip and focus on yet another theme.

The theme I was longing for on our long trip back to our home port in the Adriatic was to observe, experience and communicate with elements, like waves, streams, winds ...

I could not get the promised crew till the 1st of October and left 16 days later than planned. I met our new crew member Iva here for the first time, when I picked her up with the car on the way to Split. From there, we continued by ferries to Ancona and Patras, and from there on by buses and taxis to the boat. Iva has never before on a sailing boat before, but she is a person strongly connected to nature, especially to Iceland, where she lives now.

There was over 80 NM from Peloponnese to Zakynthos island (main port Zante)  – and since I had to fix some things on the boat, we started late and it was already dark when we arrived at the main port of Zakynthos island.

VIDEO - Iva has never been on a sailing boat before! But in a few hours, she already confidently took over the rudder :-))

 


Jana Prepeluh, an artist from Slovenija, was the second team member, with her last sailing experience on Nalu, when we did our first research trip to Greece for the MED Land project in September 2016! Jana was waiting for us on Zakynthos and spent some time with the Therianos familly.

It was a full moon day when the weather started to turn unstable, windy, rainy, stormy, forecast for several days to come! Uh-oh, what to do? I missed the super stable sunny and warm weather. I knew very well that if the weather changes around full moon, it means it will stay unstable ... And indeed it was.

After two, three hours of sleep in the port of Zante, a strong noise of the boat hitting the pier woke me up! It was a serious situation because of the very strong wind and big waves in the port. Luckily, I found some big plastic drums on the road and tied them between the boat and the pier. Next thing was to find a better place. In two hours, I found a better place, but in the meantime, the wind picked up much more! It was impossible for Iva and me to push Nalu away from the pier. At that very moment, early in the morning, young strong men appeared on the pier and helped us to do the maneuver! The wind became even stronger, and we had to stay in Zante for two more days and hope for a one-day gap with less wind, just enough to reach Ithaca. Jana joined us in Zante, but because the boat was moving so much, she got sea sick already in the port … Not many would be willing to go out sea sick, but Jana, as strong as she is, did it. And all the way for the next four days, she did everything to be positive and overcome sea-sickness . 

..two more days in Zante..in a safest part of the port..

Marketplace in Zante

Late in the night, in strong rain and wind, we reached Vathy, the main port of Ithaca. The port was empty, but a man approached us, greeting us: ”I remember you! Yes, here you can tie the boat, and electricity and water are free – a leftover of previous boat, take it, and welcome!“ On Ithaca, we had a one-day stop to meet with Leila again (MED Land story).

She always inspires me! What she did and how she lives now on her farm, full of experiments, will be in the upcoming update of her story.

The next port was Gaios on the island of Paxos, and the already normal procedure was to tie the boat in heavy rain and strong wind. The early morning ritual was to get some diesel, which happened in15 minutes ... ”Welcome, you are here again!”, with a big smile from the diesel truck that drives through the port to fill up boats. We had to take of as soon as possible, since we had another long trip to reach Othonoi island – the last Greek island before Otranto, the passage between Albania and Italy, and AGAIN with only one-day gap of less winds on the route to reach the destination.

North of Othonoi, we had to wait again, but it was a must-stop anyway to meet Yiannis Katehis (MED Land story) , who also  became a harbor master, apart from being the vice president of three islands. He is a hyperactive activist and a never-ending inspiration for me. My brother, I could say ... He spent with us one wonderful day, in his studio, with his mother serving us the best pasta and with long, great conversations that we had in a coffee shop. The update will tell more! 

Yiannis' success on Othonie is finally a proper ferry line every day ...

... AND fresh SPRING water for the whole island. More in the update >>>  

In the port, there was a single Italian sailor on a much bigger boat than Nalu, also waiting for the right time to cross Otranto towards Italy. I decided to take of early, very early in the morning, when the winds started to go down. And Jana was not ready to go with me this time. She stayed on Othoni for another couple of hours to join the Italian sailor, who decided to do a much shorter route to Italy, which was not convenient for us considering the forecast for the following days. This was the best solution!  After 22 hours on the sea with big waves and also rain during the last hours, Iva was still in a positive, relaxed mood. And finally. the port of Brindisi! I was sure it was going to be calm inside, but it was NOT.

We arrived to Brindisi in the night and tried to moor in two places - but still to much movement up and down. Morning came soon, and I walked to all marinas in the port to get a place.

Naval Balsamo was definitely the best bet: very kind family business, also boat-building and repairing site, all that you need was here for a fair flat price! 

Here, I discovered that the engine cooling system is leaking water! I took off the part that was leaking, and since they could not weld copper here in marina, they took me immediately by car to the car cooling system mechanic. In a good half an hour, I was back and the job was done! 

BEST pizza place. Strict COVID regulations in pizza restaurants brought us to this family shop with TOP pizza and all that we needed for food. After two visits, we were already "friends" and we got extras like pasta, vegies etc. as a gift.

As always, I talked to other people in the port who we also waiting for the wind to go down. And that is how I met Tomaž, who was on an even smaller boat  - a wooden sailing boat from Sweden - waiting to cross the Adriatic. “Good, we sail together than“ - and that is what we did, two Slovenes with two funky sailing boats, the only wooden boats in the port. We started the next evening, a 33-hour trip to reach the Korčula island. When we came out from the port, there were still big waves and NE wind - a difficult direction for our route, but we knew that sooner or later the wind will go down :-)) Still in the night, when I could already use autopilot since the sea calmed down, I found out that the autopilot was not working any more. ”Tomaž, Tomaž, Tomaž“, was my call on Channel 9, and I asked him to sail in front of us, so we could follow his lights. The trip over the open sea in a tandem was really much easier :-)) . **We crossed the deepest part of the Adriatic, and observing water, waves, light, clouds here was very inspiring for me. One of  the inspirations was that the see, as well as rivers, are (in many cases) the places where the primeval earth forces can be very dynamic, more dynamic than on solid land.

All in all, the trip was intensive, but also very inspiring . The key for this experience was that Iva, who NEVER EVER did a sailing trip before, was completely “in” all the time, happy, relaxed and reliable to do anything that was needed, including taking over the rudder under the sails for many hours. She was happy being on this trip, so I could be in tune with what was going on and relaxed, even when I was wet, cold and tired. In this way, the true wave that was taking us over was being at the right place at the right time and meet “good” heartful people who were really helpful and touched my heart deeply. The landing on Korčula was a welcome story for as again: the marina stuff did not charge us, and the police and custom registration process upon arrival to Croatia was very relaxed.

We did miss 16 essential days of good weather, but I would not change it after ALL! I had to be really open to observe, experience and communicate with elements such as waves, streams, winds, in conditions that where pulling me to survival mode! Exactly opposite to where I wanted to be ... And what happened was that I reached this blissful in-tune moments, to be first of all in experience mode and be inspired, like in the middle of the Adriatic, above the deepest part of this big bay, in a very deep way. If you feel blessed at the end, then EVERYTHING had meaning ... That is how the life should be ... Ready for next passage.

It took another night and day to reach the island of Šćedro - a small island along Hvar island. Nobody could expect that this small island under its "bigger brother" could be an entire world of its own! I keep coming back to understand more about these two close, and yet so different individuals-islands. “Yes, it is like this,” I heard a whisper, “because these two islands grew up long ago in different evolution times, when dragons were the most active.” Which one is older? “It does not matter, all is also now.”

Šćedro island

Šćedro island

And the last challenge on this trip awaited us on the way back, already in Split, where I have parked the car, a borrowed car :-)), and found out that a whole exhaustion system was stolen! And also the car battery was completely empty, because I left the lights on :-)) It was already the middle of the day, and even though I had battery cables to connect to cars from people that wanted to help, it didn't work. BUT, very quickly, situation started to go in a different direction. The nearby housekeeper of the Naval Museum is a mechanic who had special cables. He managed to start the engine and even take me to a very kind car exhaust mechanic at the outskirts of Split. Of course, there was no way to get the original exhaust system, so he made a new on in just 3 hours :-)) . Meanwhile, Iva was in the port waiting with my luggage, including the money that I needed. Mechanic was far from the port, and luckily a taxi stopped ... "We are the cheapest in town! Take a sweet from me to calm down ... “ were his first words, and quickly we found out that we have common friends since he was from Sarajevo. Like Ibrahim Spahić. The exhaust system was repaired just in time, since I was in a rush to return to Slovenia because my computer was also broken, and a repair specialist was on his way. I reached him in time! I had to leave the computer with him since its motherboard was broken, but Primož lent me one with my disk inside, so I was able to work without any delay for the next few weeks :-))

Why do I write all this?

This time, it all started in Ancona on the way to Greece by ferry with Iva. We had time almost all day, and I went "for a walk" alone and with an open heart. The first encounter was with a refugee from Sri Lanka, and when I sat on the bench next to him to eat, I offered him some food. I saw him as a person in trouble. He refused to take any food, and in short conversation he convinced me that he is not in a bad situation at all! He sees opportunities, knowing where and how to go to continue his life, and he is also in contact with his family!

I went on towards my destination, an old big palm tree in the middle of the town ... A friend. I could not find her ... I circled persistently around the area. Finally, I came to the "no tree any more" place, just a tree stump! WHY? Last time, it looked heathy, strong, biggest among many in the park, which were still there. For me, this palm tree was playing an important role as a pilar of vital connections and interactions blessing and interacting with Ancona. I stayed there for a while, and slowly, the palm tree appeared to be still there! Still existing on a nonphysical level, but actively present ... Still living. This is beyond imagination, but to grasp some of this, I had to open my heart very much, and this kept me going. Focused, peaceful observation, as well as acceptance of the adventures that come my way, being aware that I am doing my best, gave me a very special experience that I love to share with you, straight into the universe. THANK YOU ALL!

Ancona >>>

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Released by MED Land project, photos by BB, film by : Ida Glušič;  voice, words : ZlatkaFerlez

Posted by bojanb
a couple of years ago

Zlatka from Crete

Zlatka grew up in Slovenia, but "I was hitchhiking from Chania to Kissamos. It was 1985 or 1986. So somebody stopped, and it was him." After 35 years, many of which alone, she is still an olive grower and producer of very high quality olive oil. She takes care of 800 trees and a small farm around her house.

"You don't need a lot of machines and you don't need a lot of olive trees. You don't need to go for quantity, but rather for quality. Then, you have to find the market and sell it. There are a lot of olive trees here, a lot of oil, and it is sold very cheaply. People can not deal with life. It's a shame!"

IdIda has been involved in the project since  Zakynthos island, the entire 2022 journey. After completing her undergraduate studies at the university, she decided to improve her storytelling skills, especially through video. She took her challenges in the MedLand project very thoroughly and seriously.

The backyard of and for Zlatka are inspiring nature points. Waking around, visiting places, valleys, trees, rocks, beaches is an essential part of her life. Zlatka also showed us around, and gave us the possibility to fall in love with Crete very quickly!

Be ready to act 

"I think Crete and Greece are regions that will suffer most from climate change. Hot waves can destroy everything, there can be too little or too much rain. Three years ago, it started to rain on the the first of January and stopped in April. In between, there were three floods. Bridges, properties lost, unbelievable."


"Everybody knows that climate is changing and that everything can be different, and it will be different. But nobody knows how, in which way, and when."

"The nature is so rich, the climate is so mild. It's nice to be here."

"I will continue with oil until I get too tired. Because I know I can retire in four, five years. So what I am going to do exactly, I don't know. How many olives will I keep, because they are still family olives. Not all trees are mine, they are also theirs. But we know which ones are theirs and which ones are mine. I'm only taking care of them. So one day, I can just give them their olives back and keep my own. Maybe, I don't know. I really don't know. This is hard work and it's a lot of work."

"I think my life is here, that I belong here. Not in Slovenia. For many reasons. I don't know, maybe nature, climate, social life, everything. I have friends in Ljubljana, many of them from our student days. I lived in Ljubljana nine years. I like to visit Ljubljana and Slovenia, but not to stay there. There is no particular reason. Just that my life is here. Everything, my soul. When I came here, I knew that it was for me."

Be ready to act 

"For a long time, there are people saying that Crete should be green. Organic. But there are different economic interests. There are all this olive sellers, who are Greeks but who became economical strong in this field. They are buying the oil from people very cheaply. First, they were selling oil by themselves. Now they just leave their oil in a factory. So the factory is selling and people get their money on their bank account. The problem is the market, how to get on the market. Because if big companies take the oil, how can you find your own way. The problem is also the disconnection between people, and the government is not offering any help.

There are some people who have a vision of a green Crete. It should be like that. There are a few small olive oil producers, or green houses, that have their own organic label, and their sales are good."

"There are so many changes happening because of climate change. And it all impacts olive growers and us. How to deal with these impacts? We need to be prepared for any change that can happen. We can not wait like we did in the past. But now, we need to be prepared to start watching what is going on: the winters, rain … everything is changing. Heat waves are more common, there are more hot days in summer and less cold days in winter. If there is not enough cold days in winter, olive trees can't bloom. They can not prepare themselves for olive growing. It happens throughout the Mediterranean due to climate change. The farmers need more advice from scientists. How to deal with climate change. How to cultivate soil."

"Crete is becoming more like Africa, warmer, with less water and more intensive rain. All this impacts olive growers. We need help and advice. We know that this change will be more intensive in Crete than in the north. Northern climate will become more hospitable for olives than our climate. There is a problem. People will start to grow olive trees in northern parts. Because they have colder winters needed by olive trees to bloom, and less hot or dry summers."

"The biggest problem is the way they cultivate olives here. They use a lot of pesticides … 

More and more people think that we need to protect the nature on which we depend. They try to find the way to produce in a more organic way. It is not easy here. As I mentioned, I have olives at nine places. Some places have nine trees, some maybe hundred, so you don't have an ecological environment to protect them. Its not easy because many don't want to cooperate."

An estimated 33 Mio olive trees live on Crete! And the number continues to grow. It is a monoculture!  Carob and Chestnut trees that saved them from hunger in WWII are now almost extinct.

What we need from science is that it shows us how to reduce the impact of climate change on olive growth. How to use water. They know about the weather. They know when the weather will change. They should advise us on when we should react so that we are not too late or too early.

We need to be ready all the time. Be ready to act. 

 

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Released by MED Land project 2021 June/ film Ida Glušič  editing:Ida Glušič, BB, photo: BB, voice : Zlatka

Posted by bojanb
a couple of years ago

Exhibition »VENICE – EMBRYO OF THE NEW EARTH SPACE« is extended

 'Summary' : Six years ago, MED Land project started in Venice, and in 2020, Venice was again inspiring me in a new way. This year, the book “Venice - Embryo of the New Earth Space” was published, and the exhibition with the same title, on display in ZRC SAZU Atrium gallery from 22 December 2021, has been extended to 21 January 2022
NA DAN ZAPRTJA RAZSTAVE BOM V GALERIJI, da vam predstavim zgodbo projekta in da podpišem NOVO fotografsko knjigo, »Benetke – seme novega planetarnega prostora«, ki ponovno nagovarja izvorni prostor projekta MED Land: Benetke. Projekt je potekal v letu 2020, kjer nič ni ponovljenega , in se spogleduje z Benetkami kot prostorom inspiracije za preskok v novi svet in nove čase.


Še posebej pozivam tiste, ki ste podpirali, donirali in na različne načine sodelovali v projektu, da vam poklonim podpisano knjigo! Sicer pa je glede na izredno malo, butično naklado (120 knjig) in zelo kvaliteten tisk cena le 35 EUR! Pričakujem vas med 12h in 20h!

Risbe Marka Pogačnika (originali in fotografije Bojana Breclja, serija 3+2, natisnjene na arhivski papir in unikatno uokvirjene – format 27x41cm + okvir) – so zelo ugodno naprodaj: 250 EUR.

Kontakt: Galerija Fotografija, +386 1 25 11 529; info@galerijafotografija.si

NAJPREJ PA SI JIH OGLEJTE: Atrij ZRC SAZU, Novi Trg 2 do petka, 21. januarja 2022 do 21h (vstop brez PCT!)

Posted by bojanb
a couple of years ago

From Peloponnese(GR) to Hvar islaland, sailing and photography

 IZREDNA priložnost, da veš več o fotografiji in jadranju 

EXCELLENT opportunity to know more about photography and sailing >> in english below 

 pridruži se na deset dnevno pot po morju, na barki-jadrnici iz Grćije (Peloponeza ) do Jadrana (otoka Hvara -Stari Grad) kjer boš lahko ispopoplnjeval v fotografiji pod mentorstvom Bojana Breclja- Delavnica je idividualna-usklajene s tvojimi usmiritvami in izkušnjami-znanjem. Osnovna tema delavnice je sporazumevanje s svetlobo ( in senco ki rišeta podob,. mi pa jih dojemamo v neštetih oblikah- procesi opazovanja, tehnična znanja…

> Točka kjer isplujemo je Pylos, zahodna stran Peloponeza.  2-3 oktober 

>jaz bom v marini  1 oktober - petek zvečer

potujem iz Lj : 

29.9. GoOpti > Venezia ferry port 6.30,  38 Eur 

Venezia > Patras  33h(21h naslednji dan ) 95 EUR , prespim 23 EUR in naslednji dan bus do Pylos via Kalamata xxEUR

Prispevek za ućne ure, hrano, gorivo in vsi ostali stroški( dovoljenja za plovbo in pristanišča) so 280 EUR 

Pluje se z nočnimi postanki in malo daljšim na Itaki in Othoniju in Korčuli kjer bomo vstopili v Hr vode… 

Dan za tem pristanemo na Hvaru -Stari Grad, od koder je veš trajektov dnevno v Split. Od Splita do LJ , bom potoval z BlaBla car .. kar sproti urejam .

Priporočam da pogledaš MEDLand stran >> WGO da vidiš kako potujemo in  STORIES >> da vidiš kaj ustvarjamo 

Za vse pojasnila in prijavo SE JAVI NA 041765714 oz’ in bojanbrecelj5@gmail.com

PROSTORA JE ZA MAX DVA !    Srečno, bojan

in English : 

Join a ten-day trip by the sea, on a sailboat from Greece (Peloponnese) to the Adriatic (island of Hvar-Stari Grad) where you will be able to perfect your photography under the mentorship of Bojan Brecelj- The workshop is individual-coordinated with your composures and experiences- knowledge. The basic theme of the workshop is communication with light (and shadows that draw images, and we perceive them in countless forms - observation processes, technical knowledge…

The point where we start sail is Pylos on the  W side of the Peloponnese. October 2-3

I will be at the marina October 1 - Friday night

I travel from Lj:

29.9. GoOpti> Venezia ferry port 6.30, 38 Eur

Venice> Patras 33h (21h the next day) 95 EUR, sleep 23 EUR and the next day bus to Pylos via Kalamata

Contribution for lessons, food, fuel and all other costs (permits for navigation and ports) are 280 EUR

WE sail with night stops and a day or two stop on Ithaca and Othoni and Korcula where we will enter Hr vode…

The day after that we land on Hvar - Stari Grad, from where there are several ferries a day, to Split. From Split to LJ, I will travel with BlaBla car ... which I will reserve whene we anchor in Stari Grad.

I recommend you look at the MEDLand page >> WGO to see how we travel, and on STORIES >> to see what we createFor all explanations and registration, CALL 041765714 or bojanbrecelj5@gmail.com

SPACE IS FOR MAX TWO! , Good luck, Bojan

Nalu, Med Land Project

 

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Released by MED Land project 2021 June/ film Ida Glušič  editing:Ida Glušič, BB, photo: BB, voice : interview with Korinna Miliaraki

Posted by bojanb
3 years ago
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