JOHNZEUS.COM

You Americans are unique amongst the world’s nations and cultures. With a can-do spirit you hit slumps and slowdowns, rise again and soar for the moon, stars and beyond. Indeed your great nation and it’s people are blessed, you have been for generations the beacon of hope and freedom for untold millions around the globe.

You live in the most exceptional country in the world, you have a lot to be thankful for. Sometimes I wish my father had sailed to New York rather than Halifax when he left Europe in the 60’s, then I too would have been born American.

During my college years I studied American History and American Politics. While in high school I worked weekends as a busboy and saved money to further my education. I remember a specific day in grade ten when I played hookie from school and with great joy purchased a bus ticket to Buffalo to visit the offices and possibly volunteer in the Reagan 1984 election campaign. I got in trouble for it later, suspended from my school’s Rugby team, grounded by my parents but had no regrets. It was what I wanted to do, and a great learning experience in US politics.

Today America faces the greatest of threats, the loss of your individual independence and the very freedoms endowed by the Creator. For too long you have allowed your rights to be eroded gradually and subtly. You have for the most part failed in your duty to watch and safeguard the very liberties you take for granted. And now because you have allowed your governments, radicals and terrorists to manipulate and denigrate those very same freedoms, you may be in danger of losing them.

The world is a better place with a free and strong America. My hope is that the greater majority of Americans do all and give all to maintain their individual rights and freedoms for the greater good of your nation and for the rest of the world.  ^

Thought of the day by John Zeus, Toronto, Canada

Amongst the tribes of human kind, myths speak of supernatural creatures inhabiting the deep woods of the earth. Myths come from the same place that dreams and art come from, they bubble up from the depths of our soul as we seek to interpret the world around us. They can’t be forced or contrived, but can be reinvented and reconstructed to satisfy the human need to explain the world we live in and our place in it. By reinventing our myths, the stories we tell ourselves determine who we become and who we are.Click on image to enlarge.

Image: Deer Man by ASHe Levesque
More artwork from this artist on Society6
Story by John Zeus

The Deer Man (cont’d)

At first glance at “Deer Man” by ASHe Levesque, I was instantly wowed. To think that someone could express such mythos, power and gentleness into a beautiful and vivid image was impressive. The expression on the subject’s face allowed me to feel engaged as if I were a part of the art piece. It brought me back to my ancestral home in the woods, back to a connection forged long ago.

Deer Man is a combination of human, animal and nature. He teaches us that we can never be separated from the natural world, that we are part of the earth. He represents our longing for nature, our need to feel an emotional bond with the ecosystems and other creatures with whom we share the planet.

Something in us dies every time we destroy an ecosystem. We feel a loss of connection. From the depths of our soul, Deer Man speaks to us about what we have lost and gives us hope for what we can save. He connects us by restoring our consciousness of the natural world. To preserve the earth we must love and respect the earth as much as we do our own lives.

John Zeus

About Deer Man – Statement By ASHe Levesque, Artist

When asked about my inspiration to create Deer Man, a tale of my youth unfolds. All through my childhood my parents would take my siblings and I camping for summer vacations. Nature is the most powerful form of hallucinates. It awakens a child’s mind and senses that no other place could. Our nightly ritual around the fire would involve singing, laugher, and of course a spooky story or two. We would be then sent off to our tents leaving the adults to their world. Inside we would whisper and watch distorted images being illuminated across the canvas like a movie screen, cast from the night sky and fire in the distance.

Our stories would unfold of the creatures and animals that lived on the other side of the thin canvas that were either here to protect us or drag us into the abyss of the night.

Deer Man is the protector of all that is pure and innocent. His powerful body protects us, while his angelic eyes search for purity and kindness in all.

ASHe Levesque

Collect affordable gallery quality Art Prints and other products by Society6 artists from around the world.

Story by John Zeus
Artist’s statement and bio by: / “Deer Man” created by: ASHe Levesque
Browse more artwork from this artist on Society6

British philosopher Alan Watts* inspires us all to do what we desire.

…Do what you love!

“So I always ask the question: What would you like to do if money were no object? How would you really enjoy spending your life?”

“Better to have a short life doing that is full of what you like doing than a long life spent in a miserable way.”

Source: * Alan Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) was a British-born philosopher, writer and speaker.

December 20th, 2000 | Oia, Santorini Island, Greece.

In December of 2000, I embarked on a journey to build a shrine on a cliff edge on Santorini Island (ancient Thira) over the caldera of an ancient underwater volcano.

My pilgrimage to Ancient Thira, a.k.a. Santorini started with a dream inspired by an angel…

Click on the gallery below to scroll through full size images.
Music Tie-in, listen to: Stairway To Heaven.mp3 – Led Zepplin

December 2000, building my shrine overlooking the caldera of an ancient volcano. Location: outside Oia village, on a remote hiking trail northern tip of Santorini Island.

I constructed the shrine out of tin, glass and ceramic tiles and painted it. Inside there’s an alter made of volcanic rocks, an icon of the Old Testament Archangel Uriel, an oil lamp, matches, olive oil, personal keepsakes. It is cemented to a boulder at cliff edge. The caldera is in the distance. The sea below me is very deep almost bottomless, the crater created by the eruption.

Uriel’s shrine cemented to boulder on cliff edge.

Lighting the oil lamp one last time before I leave the island. — at Santorini Island, Greece.

The shrine was visited by my friend Jennifer in 2007: This is how it looked after years of exposure to the sun, rain, wind and saltine air. Haven’t been back to the island since i built the shrine. According to Jennifer it has become a popular stop along a remote hiking trail. Hikers have been maintaining it, writing their names on the rocks, making offerings and leaving possessions. I don’t know when I’ll get back there again. if you are interested in lighting the oil lamp for me let me know. I’ll send you a map and instructions. I buried something special to me under the rocks.

December 2000 | The last eruption in Santorini was the largest in the ancient world. In legend It buried Atlantis which is suppose to be underneath me in this photo. Volcanologists predicted another eruption around 2000 that will sink the island. It didn’t happen.

AEGEAN SEA

A reproduction on wood of this Icon is in the shrine. The inscription reads Archangel Uriel written in Byzantine script. More on: Uriel – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I found an Iconographer Greek Orthodox Monk in Athens. Told him my story and what I saw in my dream. He painted this image of Uriel in traditional Byzantine style on wood.

The Book of Enoch describes Uriel as one of seven archangels who preside over the world. “One of the holy angels, who is over the world… the leader of them all.”

Two of many dogs that call Oia home without belonging to anyone in particular.

Click on link to access photo journal:

• Dad’s 80th – A Big Fat Greek Surprise Birthday Party.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends! Have a wonderful holiday! Gobble Gobble.

Many blessings…Remembering with thanks is what causes us to trust, to believe and to have hope.

Photos are of heritage breed turkeys.

“ELLAS! Your people created Western Civilization and shone their light on the world for 3000 years. From the ashes of economic collapse they will rise and shine their light again. Be strong, stand united and strong, believe in your dreams, have faith and have hope.”

Hymn To Liberty

I know you of old
Oh divinely restored,
By the light of your eyes
And the edge of your sword.

From the graves of our people
Shall your spirit prevail
As we greet you again-
Hail, Liberty, Hail!

Long did you dwell
Amid the peoples that mourn
Awaiting some voice
That should tell you to return

Ah, slow broke that day
and no man dared call,
For the shadow of tyranny
Lay over all.

Oh, unfortunate one!
The only consolation you had
were the past glories,
and remembering them you cried.

Long you have awaited
for a freedom-loving call
and in despair one hand
hits the other one.

And you cried:
ah! When do I raise my head
in this desolate land?
and the answer was chains, cries so sad.

Then you shifted your gaze
tearfully, clouded in haze
and on your garment dripped blood
from your children’s tortured hearts.

With blood-stained clothes
I know for a fact
that you secretly sought help
in stronger hands of foreign lands.

On your journey you started alone
and alone you came back
doors do not easily open
when you need them so bad.

Someone cried on your breast,
but no response at its best;
another promised you help,
but he tricked you no less.

Some, allas! in your misfortune rejoice
and with such a cold poise
“go find your children” said they
as doors were shut in your face.

The foot slips and slides
and in such a haste it steps
on stone, or grass
reminders of a glorious past.

The miserable head shamefully leans
and the image it brings
is of a poor beggar, going door to door
with no interest in life any more.

Yet, behold now the sons
with impetuous breath
Go forth to the fight
seeking freedom or death.

From the graves of our people
shall the spirit prevail
as we greet you again-
Hail, Liberty, Hail!

The Hymn to Liberty is a poem written by Dionýsios Solomós in 1823 that consists of 158 stanzas, which is used as the national anthem of Greece. It was set to music by Nikolaos Mantzaros, and is the longest national anthem in the world by length of text. In 1865, the first three stanzas and later the first two officially became the national anthem of Greece and later also that of the Republic of Cyprus. Source: Wikipedia

Ὕμνος εἰς τὴν Ἐλευθερίαν

Σὲ γνωρίζω ἀπὸ τὴν κόψι
τοῦ σπαθιοῦ τὴν τρομερή,
σὲ γνωρίζω ἀπὸ τὴν ὄψι,
ποὺ μὲ βία μετράει τὴ γῆ.

Ἀπ’ τὰ κόκκαλα βγαλμένη
τῶν Ἑλλήνων τὰ ἱερά,
καὶ σὰν πρῶτα ἀνδρειωμένη,
χαῖρε, ὦ χαῖρε, Ἐλευθεριά!

Ἐκεῖ μέσα ἐκατοικοῦσες
πικραμένη, ἐντροπαλή,
κ’ ἕνα στόμα ἐκαρτεροῦσες,
ἔλα πάλι, νὰ σοῦ πῇ.

Ἄργειε νἄλθῃ ἐκείνη ἡ μέρα,
καὶ ἦταν ὅλα σιωπηλά,
γιατὶ τἄσκιαζε ἡ φοβέρα,
καὶ τὰ πλάκωνε ἡ σκλαβιά.

Δυστυχής! Παρηγορία
μόνη σοῦ ἔμενε, νὰ λὲς
περασμένα μεγαλεῖα,
καὶ διηγῶντάς τα νὰ κλαῖς.

Καὶ ἀκαρτέρει, καὶ ἀκαρτέρει
φιλελεύθερη λαλιά
ἕνα ἐκτύπαε τ’ ἄλλο χέρι
ἀπὸ τὴν ἀπελπισιά,

κ’ ἔλεες· πότε, ἄ! πότε βγάνω
τὸ κεφάλι ἀπὸ τ ‘ς ἐρμιές;
καὶ ἀποκρίνοντο ἀπὸ πάνω
κλάψες, ἅλυσες, φωνές!

Τότ’ ἐσήκωνες τὸ βλέμμα
μέσ’ στὰ κλάϊματα θολό,
καὶ εἰς τὸ ροῦχό σου ἔσταζ’ αἷμα,
πλῆθος αἷμα Ἑλληνικό.

Μὲ τὰ ροῦχα αἱματωμένα
ξέρω ὅτι ἔβγαινες κρυφά,
νὰ γυρεύῃς εἰς τὰ ξένα
ἄλλα χέρια δυνατά.

Μοναχὴ τὸ δρόμο ἐπῆρες,
ἐξανάλθες μοναχή·
δὲν εἶν’ εὔκολες οἱ θύρες,
ἐὰν ἡ χρεία τὲς κουρταλῇ.

Ἄλλος σοῦ ἔκλαψε εἰς τὰ στήθια,
ἀλλ’ ἀνάσασι καμμιά·
ἄλλος σοῦ ἔταξε βοήθεια,
καὶ σὲ γέλασε φρικτά!

Ἄλλοι, ὠιμέ! στὴ συφορά σου
ὁποὺ ἐχαίροντο πολύ,
σύρε νά βρῃς τὰ παιδιά σου,
σύρε, ἐλέγαν οἱ σκληροί.

Φεύγει ὀπίσω τὸ ποδάρι,
καὶ ὁλογλήγορο πατεῖ
ἢ τὴν πέτρα, ἢ τὸ χορτάρι,
ποὺ τὴν δόξα σου ἐνθυμεῖ.

Ταπεινότατη σοῦ γέρνει
ἡ τρισάθλια κεφαλή,
σὰν φτωχοῦ ποὺ θυροδέρνει,
κ’ εἶναι βάρος του ἡ ζωή.

Ναί· ἀλλὰ τώρα ἀντιπαλεύει
κάθε τέκνο σου μὲ ὁρμή,
ποὺ ἀκατάπαυστα γυρεύει
ἢ τὴ νίκη, ἢ τὴ θανή.

Ἀπ’ τὰ κόκκαλα βγαλμένη
τῶν Ἑλλήνων τὰ ἱερά,
καὶ σὰν πρῶτα ἀνδρειωμένη,
χαῖρε, ὦ χαῖρε, Ἐλευθεριά!