sensually the smoke curled upward. . .

Cigar smoke. Seraphim Fiero by Jessica L. Drake. [2013]

JLD Imagery - Photography by Jessica L. Drake.

Similarities

cigar smoking elegantly Star Blue Coat 

small breasts of a younger Dolly Parton 

Mystique, not a mistake in nature.

Cigar smoker in dude's attire.

Cigars & white women have their appeal by sophisticated standards, but Black American women with some age and maturity upon them wax the halls of one's perception onto a canvas elegant and prime for something beyond the pale.

These are all dreams. Dreams that come true are our reality.

- Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories
8.23.16

Black women's maturity has a tendency to elevate the science & Art of Being in an indescribable way meant to be experienced, not analyzed from a distance. - Dawn Wolf, 4.12.16

Holy Smoke tradition

Cigars as ceremonial tool is sacred, powerful and effective in each realm.

- Alowan Chanteh Inyan Wichasha

8.23.16

Cigar smoking old Cuban woman in Havana, Cuba. photo by Ania Blazejewska on Flickr.

Old Cuban Lady with Cigar

Photo by SCLR13 on Flickr

Refreshing Beauty 7



Chinese top model Zhang Xin



Cherokee D'Ass in 2013

classic African-American beauty by Patina Edochié 2

cigar & sexy Evelyn N. Williams by Soulestial Studios

 

a cigar moment

Rachel Aziani smoking

"There are two sides to seductive powers: one is feminine and the other masculine. It is difficult to tell which is the most powerful, but the power lies in the lure and the release and the unspoken agreements a body makes to another body..." ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories (jan. 2015)

Love the Way

Sunny Leone gallery

"The Way of the a Warrior is based on humanity, love, and sincerity; the heart of martial valor is true bravery, wisdom, love, and friendship. Emphasis on the physical aspects of warriorship is futile, for the power of the body is always limited." - Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido (the Art of Peace)

classic African-American beauty

"You'll see a biker talking to a lawyer, a steelworker talking to an accountant  I'm a Democrat, and now I'm good friends with a Republican. That's the way it is [in a cigar club]." - Bill Eakin, American steelworker

smoke sacred, sacred smoke

People out of synch, out of touch with the sacred of Tobacco miss out on a single thing: relationship of the present, and the quality of Tobacco as a Sacred Being. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 6.11.13

Xanny

 May 20, 2013

Deeper Understandings

sacred space upon a hill by Rizza Dela Cruz

SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 2014

Partzufim - Divine Personas, Holy Family


Partzufim: (Aramaic, “Countenances,” “Personifications”). First outlined in the Zohar, this metaphysical concept is more fully devel­oped by Isaac Luria. According to the Lurianic cosmog­ony, after the catastrophe of the Breaking of the Vessels, the shattering of the primeval structure of light, the ein sof reconstitutes the fragments of the cosmic order into five “countenances” or “visages” that are able to mediate between supernal and material realities in a way the pri­mordial vessels were not. Think of the Partzufim as analo­gous to a “patch” for a faulty computer program.'


The biblical proof text that Chayyim Vital offers for the partzufim is Gen. 2:4, where he reads the compound word behibaram, “when they were created,” as a notarikon, breaking it up into be-Hay-baram, “Through ‘5’ He created them,” “them” being all of positive existence (Etz Chayyim, Gate III, 39). 


The Partzufim interact with humanity in the work of tikkun. These countenances also constitute and encompass the personal dimensions of God that are described in biblical and rabbinic writings, since they symbolize the male and female principles operating within the Godhead. In fact, the partzufim constitute a kind of “holy family,” a familial metaphor for the divine pleroma. In some writings, the various partzufim are assigned the names of biblical figures: Jacob and Israel; Rachel and Leah. Presumably, one can map the functions of the partzufim on the celestial level through studyingthe biographies and actions of those biblical characters. Other partzufim get titles, such as Yisrael Sava, “grandpa Israel,” for Abba.


 This aspect of Lurianic thought has a complex relationship with the sefirotic structure of classic kabbalah, not unlike the “wave/particle” phenom­enon in quantum physics. Thus whether the divine struc­ture manifests itself as the sefirot or as the partzufim de­pends on certain conditions, but they are essentially two aspects of the same divine force. The five countenances are:

Arikh Anpin: The “long/great countenance,” also called the Atik Yamim, “Ancient of Days.”
Abba: “Father,” the male aspect of the divine gamos is linked to the sefirot of Keter and/or Cho­chmah.
Ima: “Mother,” the celestial mother is tied to Binah.
Zer (or Zaur) Anpin/Ben: “The short/lesser countenance.” Product of the union of Abba and Ima, it is tied to the lower six sefirot: Chesed, gevurah, tiferet, netzach, Hod, and Yesod.
Kalah/Malcha/Bat: “Bride/Queen.” The feminine counterpart to Zer Anpin, she is linked to malchut.


The Partzufim, like their sefirotic counterparts, are also integral to the notion of the restoration of the Adam Kadmon, the cosmic human. In a kind of inverted “imi­tatio dei,” all human actions that advance the cause of cos­mic restoration are mimicked by the Partzufim.2 Thus humans help to activate them and ensure the healing flow of divine energies between higher and lower worlds. by GEOFFREY DENNIS   




1. Scholem, Kabbalah, 140–44.
2. Faierstein, Jewish Mystical Autobiographies, 28–29. Also see Green, Jewish Spirituality, vol. 2, 65–70.

Cooly, Milana inhaled her cigar curled in a cat's posture she purred someone responded with a corresponding shudder...

Interracial Sex Taboo for Many Porn Stars

Black man fondling a middle age white woman.

Interracial Sex Still Taboo for Many Porn Stars

by Aurora Snow Mar 5, 2013 4:45 AM ES

When I first got into the adult-film business about 12 years ago, one of the most confusing things my agent asked was whether I “did interracial.” I was completely baffled. So the old man clarified: “Do you do black guys?” I was shocked at what seemed a racist question. As I sat on his dusty couch in a small, smoke-filled office, it suddenly felt like I was in another era: the black-and-white one.

I timidly answered: “Sure, I guess so. I don’t know what the difference is. It’s just skin color.”

Today, I know that on-camera race relations are a complicated topic—particularly the way they have been translated in porn’s fantasyland.

“Racism exists, and it exists in porn,” says the iconic, award-winning porn star Kristina Rose, who has been featured in more than 400 adult movies. With that number of films, it is easy for fans not to notice if a performer has avoided interracial. But TMZ last month took the time to point out that in making more than 100 films,Alexis Texas, another award-winning porn star, has never worked with black guys.

Texas refused comment for this story. A representative of her agency, LA Direct Models, told me Texas had no interest in speaking about the topic to anyone, suggesting that TMZ blew the issue out of proportion. Interestingly enough, according to LA Direct Models’ online listings, only about 20 percent of its performers are willing to film interracial scenes. (Another agency, Spiegler Girls, is more typical of top agents: 75 percent to 80 percent of its performers say they shoot interracial material.)

One reason for some actresses’ reluctance might be size. Because of the way porn is cast, most black male performers have disproportionately large schlongs. The sheer size of these guys can be intimidating. I know one male performer who is as big around as a soda can. (I refused to work with him, afraid of his size, at the beginning of my career.)

But what’s more often behind the taboo is career anxiety. Most girls in the industry hear at some point from their agent or another performer that an actress can increase the longevity of her career by refusing interracial scenes—at least until directors have stopped using her.

READ MORE

cigar smoker laying naked...

AHhhh...

Amazzonian Samyra

a sexy woman in the shadow smoking a cigar.
July 22, 2013

Oh, yeah. Maybe one right now. I got a porch. It is a balmy day and the mist settled on all the trees in the nearby forest compliments the warmth of this day in the fall of the year. A good cigar? Oh, yeah. Today, right now would be a good cigar moment with my cat, Teacher, sharing the moment... - Gregory

Black WOMEN telling stories

The strong image of Black women is strong within my thinking about things that need to be thought of in the light and the scope of what their essence embodies within my purposes in life. Intertwined with mine are the story lines of existence we trail from a common point of time, and of geography to a present day condition with limits on our image together, and the actuality of combining forces to be together in theory and practice. It is the together piece that is difficult to ascribe to in personal relationships because of belief, the tasks of survival, and the things, like magic, that often have to be set aside to get ahead, and that is an illusion itself because magic is the elixir, and dreams are the channel, and action is the movement we need to come together and be together. ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 5.14.13

CB Photography is Chris Barnes

April 29, 2013

model: Andrea Moné

... big Black woman at the beach in scuba outfit. Must be an adventurous soul.

Andrea Moné

Chris Barnes, photographer

I understand the depths of shadows and dark brooding lines in there. But, it is the depth of darkness we come from we fear most in the relationships we need and pursue, and there is the fear of what lies deep in the darkness of our surroundings, and within our souls. Those are journeys we must make, steps we must take to see the light darkness leads towards. How else can a dream come to light, a bird come to alight after a long day into the somberness of night time, or the adventurer know the end of a path and the beginning of another? ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 5.14.13

Black gentle woman on a bridge

Andrea Moné

Chris Barnes, photographer

black couple naked

"What are the symbols she is resting upon? What symbols do our lives rest upon?"

Our foundations rest upon the strength of the symbols we are founded upon as an entity, and the symbols that define and direct our thinking, thus our words themselves are symbols of who we are. 

"Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks..." my mother often quoted when addressing a problem created by my spoken words. It rivaled against the absurdity of the old saying, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me!" 

As a child I depended upon the words my mother and father shared with me. They entered me, took root and grazed and fed me until I became the words I nurtured." ~ Gregory E. Woods 5.14.13 

Black Diva conservative

Black actress Aisha Tyler smoking a cigar is as sexy as her necklace challenges the notion of God, the look in her eye dares the senses, and the contrast in her projected personality against the facts of her life that contradict the formula many Blacks deem necessary to be Black make her funny, interesting, compelling and desirable to be around.- Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 11.22.13 

AMONGST THE GREATS

Awesome Man Stuff

Asana in the Mountains
September 10, 2013

"There is an incredible beauty at play here, and simply because one has not attempted to ascend into the higher realms of being does not mean others have not. Everything that is not believable cannot be explained away with simplicity. Nor with simplicity can the mysterious be conveyed to the dull or the crude, the timid and the fearful.

I know a small handful of yogis in the Washington DC metropolitan area who do things like this in the mountains we have around here. It isn't for sport. It is much deeper." - Gregory E. Woods 9.13.13

Clint Eastwood, & company
Sept 10, 2013

"I'd love to drink a beer with these four men, or smoke cigars if they smoke, but individually one-on-one what could an average man contribute to a conversation with men who've accomplished so much and spent the bulk of their years in pursuit of excellence as a daily routine?" - Gregory

actress Mila Kunis

a good CIGAR has its moments

elegant black man at Coney Island in New York by the Sartorialist

CIGAR MOMENT

“The thing to understand about cigars has to do with elegance, timing, impeccability (not for everyone, but warriors get this piece), and precision. The right moment to smoke a cigar is the moment you need to be stilled, to reflect, to be in the present moment and no where else.” – Alowan Chanteh Inyan Wichasha 1.9.13

Smoking!!!

I Love Redheads

July 8, 2013

www.iloveredheads.org


Washington DC has joined the ranks of other states and municipalities imposing bans on smoking in public. Outside of the practical, and at the time, respectful agenda of keeping restaurants, and buildings smoke free I have no respect for the way the movement carried their momentum after those initial victories. After those accomplishments they've become mean spirited, and myopic. As if pollution, and public health centers solely around tobacco and cigarette smoking the public follows this logic pathetically. How far does myopic, simple-minded approaches to complex problems get to travel?

These 'victories' are narrow. They plainly say that other measures to fight against the systems in place to continue polluting air, water, and land are subordinate to the dangers of tobacco. Why is that? That answer rest squarely within the culture, and mindset of its people. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 7.12.13

MOON TALK

"The hunger teaches us to conserve our energy and prepare for the kind of hunt that requires special tenacity and dedication. February's full moon is my favorite because there is a sense that nothing is farther from its goal than it is in that moment - still it shines, knowing who it is, how to tell its story and how to mirror that Light and Fire we crave as Spring takes root in our hearts. So, in a sense, this moon says, 'Empty is receptive and only when we starve for warmth can we see how important the Source really is...' This moon shows us how the hunger is the teacher." - Turtle Whisperer (Gail Dickert) 2.26.13

Moon full in the darkening sky
by Santee Featherarms

I left my favorite cigar store last night with a borrowed cell phone and $10 cigar. I was on the phone in a conference call about matters of life and death. As I stood still on the street I felt a pull I couldn't feel inside of the store. I stepped back in listening to my brother's deliberations. The feel lessened.


Later outside in a park my head and body felt ascension, and I looked up from the conversation into the full head of the Moon. As you, or anyone knows the Moon doesn't give you many words, but she says something to you. If receptive she can add to the conversations about life and death with assurances a human touch cannot convey. Between the strength of the smoke, the listening ears of my brothers, the stillness of the night in DC, and the quiet assurances the ground gave I feel I was able to peer deeply into the issues at hand. I was open to possibilities and receptive to truths. - Dawn Wolf,  Keeper of Stories

the COLD WAR

The Cold War taught us Russian women were mannish, and devoid of sexual appeal, or thoughts. American movies convinced us the real enemy to our way of life was Communism, and Russia was the devil incarnate. As the propaganda told it color was not a part of the Russian image in the mainstreams of thought and rhetoric. Steel was the metal of the people, and hard gray was the color of Communism, and the Soviet Union. The Cold War created divisions and encouraged illogical thought into the minds of school age children and in place in curriculums nationwide were the justifications of our inconsistencies. The cold War was the white man's way of publicly masturbating.

The end of the Cold War was a desperate time for the War Department, and the attendant culture around it. To re-group and shunt to the side the notion of peace building or any other vocation outside of war we prepared for invasion, and tighter restrictions upon the American public's notion of freedom. Unable not to agitate and engage in war is part of a spirit deeply reflected in the now late great former major of New York city.

I was in one of my favorite places to smoke cigars in Washington DC watching CNN news, sharing laughs, jokes and conversations and passing the Hookah pipe around. On TV Piers Morgan was interviewing the mayor, and Mayor Koch expressed how appalled he was that the man up for Defense Secretary confirmation did not like, or believe in war! It was an astounding statement that caught my ear, but was insignificant, it seemed, to the other men assembled, and smoking in the shop.

Americans like to believe their stories irresponsibly. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 2.03.13

This picture of a Russian woman in the 21st century
shows the lingering imagery of our collective pasts.

2009

The inexplicable moment distinguished by a good cigar, the soft murmur of snow falling upon snow, gentle cold winds, a moon, and a fire buring deep in the forest of the mountains in Virginia.

–Gregory E. Woods

Just Blowing Smoke...: The Best Talent

Just Blowing Smoke...: The Best Talent