TO YOUNGER CATS: listen!

I studied and listened to her singing deeply. Learning from masters of any craft is very personal, and I took the task seriously growing up while masters like Ella Fitzgerald, were still gigging and being interviewed. It deepened my performances, and honed my craft the way iron sharpens a blade. When a master is alive their new, and their old work vibrates differently. It is because there is always the chance you might meet them, and in the music world you never know who will invite you on stage. - Gregory E. Woods (percussionist) 10/31/18 

LOOK IN THE EYES!

Tamara Fleming, photographer. (2017] daughter of Eddrenia Pridgen

The book: http://mfonfoto.org/

Business Owner at Tamara Fleming Photography

She Is Striking!

Demi Moore in an oddly striking, and compelling outfit emphasizing quality. It is a soft feel with hard lines in her expression coming from intelligence and experience that feels like a sensuous coil around the loins, the heart... All the elements of the attractiveness within maturity that enhances the perception of maturity vibrates within soul. Understanding these elements tells a lot about a man.

 - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 10/15/18

TOUCH.

Fatherhood is the theme here. This shot reminds me of the way 

Black fathers prior to the 1980's tried to invest in their sons. 

photo by Russell Frederick. (2015)

II. 

The mystique.

Mommy and many other women I studied growing up held their mystique quietly. Their silence around their mystique bound this particular knowledge in an unseen perception felt by touch. Touch is unseen translating one essence to another. Ignorance makes it an elusive serpentine energy, embracing the essential within what balances a son is first insinuated by their mother's touch.

Touch.

There is that word again. Touch begins renewal, awakening and feeling. 

Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 

10/30/18 

the Okey Doke gets the weak mind.

Discovery at Monticello Plantation.

With the return of the deep feel of white men, in the White House, dominating and demeaning, and taking advantage of all and everything around them; it is appropriate to return to the many milestones and people who embodied and instilled this into this country. One of the primary men was Thomas Jefferson. The following is an article on Thomas Jefferson to get a feel of how he is regard in the fresh revival of his time under the lead of Donald Trump.


Thomas Jefferson’s iconic Monticello property in Virginia is a national landmark that scholars have long been studying. The plantation estate and the people who lived and worked there hold a significant place in the history of the nation. While there is a great amount of documentation about Jefferson’s primary home, archaeologists recently launched a new initiative to reveal more about the original activities on the grounds. It was amid those efforts that researchers made a discovery in that completely stunned historians. Read on to find out more about the groundbreaking find! 

Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, primarily resided at his Monticello plantation in Charlottesville, Virginia before he moved to the White House in 1801. Now regarded as a historical landmark, Jefferson began construction on Monticello (which mean “Little Mountain” in Italian) in 1768. 

The sprawling grounds have been well-studied, and an image of the plantation’s main house is even ingrained on the back side of the U.S. nickel. Despite great scrutiny of the estate over the years, a recent discovery on the property revealed details about a long-held mystery that utterly shocked historians. 

Thomas Jefferson was 26-years-old when he started building Monticello on land that he inherited from his father. The massive 5,000-acre plantation was primarily used to cultivate tobacco and wheat. But like many plantations of the time, Monticello has a controversial legacy linked to one of the dark parts of American history. 

to be continued... 

Complex this Subject.

Gaye McDonald. "The study of black skin is a look into our spiritual past where many answers to perplexing questions wait to be found and explored." - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories

Photographer Pierre Granger shooting a Elilith model, Eliska Cerna, in Prague. 2018.

Pierre Granger. "There are many subjects to study and of them is the subject of Beauty and Femininity... The Art of Femininity is special in cultures far removed from Europe, known for its distain of the feminine... In your work is a revitalization of this principle, which is not part of the vernacular even today..." -Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 9/4/18 

Intrigue

Women's Portraits Only (WPO)

photographer Mark Daughn said, "Have to say, I love this shoot! 

Tara Birdsong played the character to perfection!" [June 2018]

Photographer Mark Daughn's study of light upon Luana Lani with two lights, a honeycomb grid on the main with white light, and a second light behind and camera right with a red gel on a gridded head. This was set for one of his 2 day teaching workshops in LA. 

Photographer Mark Daughn of Shayla Love.

This image was all natural light with a gold reflector as fill, as a lot of you know I love natural light when it works! It worked for me this time and I love it.

Large window to camera left and reflector very close to model on camera right.

Shayla Love did a remarkable job conveying the attitude I was looking for.~ Mark Daughn June 5, 2018 

Dark Characters (2)

Morticia Addams from the TV series, The Addams Family in 1964.

In 1964, using a long coal-black wig, the brunette Carolyn Jones ( born Carolyn Sue Jones in Amarillo, Texas, on April 28, 1930 – August 3, 1983 ) began playing Morticia Addams on the television series The Addams Family, a role which brought her success as a comedian and a Golden Globe Award nomination.
(WIKI)

Brooke Shields as Morticia Addams in the Broadway musical, June 28, 2011!

She replaced Bebe Neuwirth in that role.

Kim Novak as Gillian 'Gil' Holroyd in

'Bell, Book & Candle' a 1958 romantic comedy.

Kim Novak as Gillian "Gil" Holroyd in "Bell, Book & Candle" , a 1958 American romantic comedy Technicolor film directed by Richard Quine, based on the successful Broadway play by John Van Druten and adapted by Daniel Taradash. It stars Kim Novak as a witch who casts a spell on her neighbor played by James Stewart. Rounding out the supporting cast are Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs, Hermione Gingold and Elsa Lanchester. The film is considered Stewart's last as a romantic lead. (Wiki)

Dark Characters

Maila Nurmi as the 1950's character Vampira she created.

Maila Elizabeth Syrjäniemi (December 11, 1922 – January 10, 2008), known professionally as Maila Nurmi, was a Finnish-American actress and television personality who created the campy 1950s character Vampira.

The daughter of a Finnish immigrant, Nurmi was raised in Oregon and relocated to Los Angeles in 1940 with hopes to be an actress. After several minor film roles, she found success in the Vampira character, television's first horror host. Nurmi hosted her own series, The Vampira Show, from 1954-55 on KABC-TV.

After the show's cancellation, she appeared in the Ed Wood cult film Plan 9 from Outer Space. She is also billed as Vampira in the 1959 movie, The Beat Generation where she plays a beatnik poet,as well as in the crime film The Big Operator (1959). She was portrayed by Lisa Marie in Tim Burton's 1994 film Ed Wood.

In the early 1950s, Nurmi was close friends with James Dean, and they spent time together at Googie's coffee shop on the corner of Crescent Heights and Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. She explained their friendship by saying, "We have the same neuroses." (Wiki)

(* Of course, her unusual figure was a key factor to her success, as Vampira claimed to be gifted with the following measurements: 38-17-36! Huh?) 

Eclectic Ladies

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, waited for me every fall, or so I thought when she came around every October.

Elvira

Cassandra Peterson (born September 17, 1951) is an American actress best known for her portrayal of the horror hostess character Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. She gained fame on Los Angeles television station KHJ-TV wearing a revealing, black, gothic, cleavage-enhancing gown as host of Elvira's Movie Macabre, a weekly horror movie presentation. Her wickedly vampish appearance is offset by her comical character, quirky and quick-witted personality, and Valley girl-type speech. (Wiki)

Where to place value.

Actress, Jaclyn Smith is 72 years old. She is fine, easy on the eyes, any man would say, but for those of us who enjoy watching good looking woman age she has what has become fashionable: facial surgery! She is smooth in essence similar to the way she was young on the 1970's series Charlie's Angels. Every four days she applies Alboline to her face in a hot shower, and each night she sleeps on a slant propped up by three pillows because it helps her breath better with allergies she has. She claims it is good for her back. The facial crème, sold in stores, is not from her line.

She said her hair got her, her first acting job on the McCloud series in the 1970's. She was originally one of the Brett girls. She'd been seen on a Brett commercial. That got her the job. Now, she works with hair stylist Jose Baer as a team creating wigs with less hair, rooted color and lots of different colors so that the wig does not look like a hat.

Jaclyn Smith, before she became successful, initially starred for five years on the hit series, Charlie's Angels. She has appeared in over 50 films and series. As testament to her skill level she played Jacqueline Kennedy in one film, and starred in the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation series. She created a business empire covering fashion to skin care to home furnishings during the expanse of four decades! Two astonishing things about her clothing line are a line of clothes made of vegan leather and that her brand has been worn by 100 million women! To top that she has been in business 33 years!

"There is equity in 33 years!" she said. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 4/19/18

Jaclyn Smith, actress was (born October 26, 1945) and became a successful American actress and businesswoman.

There Are Wives, and There Are Wives!

A dark mysterious woman needs to be her story. 

But, it is from birth mystery starts its procedure. 

Middle age wives make deeper the experiences. What they know they translate with skill directly penetrating to the soul, into the meat of their marriages. There is an honesty in the right woman made wife to a man. It keeps the store of ideas and wants and the need to please under careful understanding. If a husband is to be one of purposes outside the scheme of merely existing she must herself be capable of shifting great amounts of energies into various places, with practiced skills, into her husband! It is a priestess at work.  

I am purposefully clear about these things, but many outside of maturity and unskilled beyond say, their lower chakras, have no real value beyond chatter and compliance to roles given. They would think I was vague intentionally. I am not. Depth is not the place to teach the simple. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories [July 6, 2018]

prayers run deep in every moment of vulnerability.

This Deep Knowledge.

Conscious Conception is the intention to call forth life onto this earth, into a mother’s womb with the loving intent, consent and support of the father. 🤰To agree as partners to acknowledge the responsibility of caring for that life unconditionally in all ways and forever. To do this as a partnership with united hearts and some type of connection to the Divine, Great Spirit, Creator, God, the Goddess… or insert whomever you connect with as a spiritual guide.❤- -

Sacred Motherhood Blueprint
September 21, 2018





Iona Heart Jeanine Pavati Baker pioneered the rebirth of this back in the day an wrote of her conscious conception in her book of same name. Including her 6 free births including a set of twins. Hugs to u mama. Xxoo

First amazement, then unlearning.

Eunice Gayson is the first Bond Girl!

Seducing Helena Price is difficult under her spells. She is in control. Bible says, "A man that cannot control his spirit is like a city without walls." What does that mean in this spirit, this moment when a woman opens her legs your direction? Enthralled is not the time to decide to be strong of spirit when a woman has your loins in her invisible grip...

.
~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories [October 24, 2018]

AGE in Qualities of...

Yasmina Rossi in an arresting moment tender to the thought of getting old, and being fine!... - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories [July 4, 2018] 

"Helen Mirren humbles the silence of being better, and arouses the loins, the sense of manhood a man may need challenging. Being an ideal of a woman is the imperfection of perception and exalts the depth of her perceptions she put into the world from hers..." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 7/4/18 

HIV: There Hope?

What is HIV?

HIV . HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is an incurable virus, which can cause a life-threatening condition called AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).. A person who has been infected with HIV is said to be HIV-positive. There are two main types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. The most aggressive form of the virus is HIV-1.. If untreated, HIV can cause so much damage that the infected person's immune system no longer works properly. When this happens, the person is said to have developed AIDS.. 

Although HIV reproduces very rapidly, it is referred to as a 'slow virus'. This is because it takes a long time - many years, in most cases - before it causes so much damage that a person gets ill. HIV differs from other viruses in that it specializes in attacking the very immune cells - white blood cells known as Helper T cells, or CD4 cells - that are designed to rid the body of infections.. By infecting and ultimately destroying Helper T cells, HIV seizes control of the body's immune system. Infected cells no longer behave as they should and instead of helping to fight the disease, they actually spread it.. There is no cure for HIV, so although drugs can help to keep the virus under control, they cannot completely get rid of the infection. 

HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. HIV attacks cells in the body that fight disease and uses them to reproduce. HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is the virus that causes AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.) HIV is transmitted though blood, semen, vaginal fluid and breast milk. HIV attacks the part of the body that fights disease, the immune system. Specifically speaking, white blood cells. People infected with HIV may have increased difficulty fighting disease over time. 

When an HIV+ person reaches a certain level of immune deficiency they may receive an AIDS diagnosis. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome(AIDS), a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections. Infection with HIV occurs by the transfer of blood, semen, vaginal fluid, pre-ejaculate, or breast milk. Within these bodily fluids, HIV is present as both free virus particles and virus within infected immune cells. The four major routes of transmission are unsafe sex, contaminated needles, breast milk, and transmission from an infected mother to her baby at birth (perinatal transmission).

HIV is transmitted via sharing of needles, blood, breast milk, joint and spinal fluids. [source] 


That said, there is a cure outside of the business of healthcare in the States. - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories [Oct. 15, 2018]

A Look in Shadows.

2 Black women definitively grounded in their African roots.

As I see it:

We, African Americans, lock ourselves into our ancestry by hair too late in the long history of our relationship with Europeans. It is not spiritual paths African Americans, for the most part, follow; it is fashion. Locked away in our relationship with Euro-Americans is a past in our present that senses where to place one's self in their estimation of ourselves, and who we are as a people.

Rastafarians made stands in the early 20th century in Jamaica because they'd gone home through scripture and culture back to Africa as their Mother's land. That spiritual power preceded the fashion of locking kinky hair during a time when the dreadlocks made the statements conformity could not make! The dreadlocks of the true Rastas, and the holy people in Black lands is far away from the conformity Black Americans embody and deny in one glance towards white Americans for acceptance.

Having a job depends upon their understanding and acceptance of our culture. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 6/30/18

To Know this Stage...

Bliss is a whisper upon the soul, a feeling in that region of the heart one sings from, into and because songs cannot begin to end here. - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 4/11/18

IN Between

Sun lit the room.

"I love the story of light and shadow. The way it is a nuance and an announcement is as intriguing as changing light, falling darkness and the space in-between. Light and shadow shift perception as wine shifts mood and sensation, and tobacco lifts pain, mood and spirit in the old ways of my Ancestors in ceremony. This play is where Spirits create mystique, compel questions to arise from the stillness..." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 10/09/18

Sunlight from the window upon Nella taken by Kenneth Lysgaard‎.2018.