Written in the Stars by Bodhi Smith

May 29, 2020

"written in the stars" a new impression from bodhi smith...

"these ancient writings were carved into rock hundreds of years ago, with symbols meant to trace the stars and zodiac through eternity...the deafening silence of their meaning leaves me astounded, and my soul breathless" ― bodhinku, written in the stars

"light is the shadow of god" ― plato, phaedrus

"oh please just let me sit here under the stars, on the threshold of two worlds. lost in the eloquence of silence" ― jalaluddin rumi, hush don't say anything to god

"and i, infinitesimal being, drunk with the great starry void, likeness, image of mystery, i felt myself a pure part of the abyss, i wheeled with the stars, my heart broke loose on the wind" ― pablo neruda, all the odes

"i love the milky way...she is my beautiful temptress that visits me constantly in my visions, both awake and asleep. she is made up of the light glowing from billions of suns, shining eternally, leading me into and through the darkness, guiding my path...and my meaning is destined to be forever written in those stars of hers" ― bodhinku, written in her stars

my choice of the perfect tune to listen: "written in the stars" by westlife (just click on any words in the blue links to listen to the songs)...it has the same name as my new impression here before you, and this love song is lovely, chiming in with the re-echoing of my love for the milky way...

"stay with me, don't fall asleep to soon, the angels can wait for a moment. come real close, forget the world outside, tonight we're alone its finally you and i...it wasn't meant to feel like this, not without you, because when i look at my life, how the pieces fall into place it just wouldn't rhyme without you...when i see how my path seems to end up before your face, the state of my heart, the place where we are was written in the stars...don't be afraid, i'll be right by your side through the laughter and pain together we're bound to fly. i wasn't meant to love like this, not without you, because when i look at my life, how the pieces fall into place, it just wouldn't rhyme (wouldn't rhyme) without you...when i see how my path seems to end up before your face. the state of my heart, the place where we are was written in the stars...we made a few mistakes, like sometimes we do. been through a lot of hard ways but i made it back to you...because when i look at my life, how the pieces fall into place it just wouldn't rhyme without you...when i see how my path seems to end up before your face, the state of my heart, the place where we are was written in the stars...the state of my heart, the place where we are was written in the stars" ― westlife, written in the stars

"stars burn clear all night till dawn. do that yourself, and a spring will rise in the dark with water your deepest thirst is for" ― jalaluddin rumi, hush don't say anything to god

"there's a secret current behind the stars that carries you to the end of you" ― bodhinku, secret of the stars

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MEANING

"do not believe anything you hear, do not believe anything you see that is written. believe what you hear from your heart, believe what is written on your soul by the stars ― bodhinku, what is written

as i have stated many times before, i love the milky way...she is my beautiful temptress that visits me constantly in my visions, both awake and asleep. she is made up of the light glowing from billions of suns, shining eternally, leading me into and through the darkness, guiding my path...and my meaning is destined to be forever written in those stars of hers...

and combine that with my spiritual respect and mystical awe of this location, sky rock: an enormous collection of paiute petroglyphs carved into the sky facing surface of one giant volcanic rock...the symbols are meant to add meaning to the stars as they trace the movement of the heavens overhead each night...in other words, thoughts written in the stars by ancient native americans who lived here hundreds of years ago...

how could i possibly not name this, "written in the stars"? it's truly the only name making total perfect sense for this new impression...

and, i am adding new memories of days spent hiking with besos (my new australian shepherd pup) and taking pictures in the eastern sierra of my california. images that come from my heart with these new experiences, especially under the milky way and the stars (just like today's new impression of sky rock)...

here are a few more quotes from bodhinku to deeper realize this meaning, because honestly, the stars are truly written inside each of us, we just need to see that and believe in ourselves...

"i dream my photograph, and i photograph my dream..." ― bodhinku, my dream

"take in the stars, the milky way, the universe, everything in reflections of light and memories..breathe, let it be, for this is true meaning right now, embrace it and fall in love with that silent peace welling up inside you" ― bodhinku, silent peace

"quietly in silence, i adore the milky way...i have been obsessed with staring at her beauty for these past couple of years. i am amazed and fascinated by how beautiful she is, no matter what position in the sky, or location on this planet she is found. and i am further obsessed in trying to create photographic impressions of her to show the world just how much i am in love with everything about her...she is the most beautiful thing my eyes have ever witnessed, glowing and lighting up my sky like nothing ever has before, or ever will again. she speaks to me with her silence, so much clearer than any mere mortal words with her thoughts permeating into my own. i love being with her all night long, just humbled by her grace and majesty, so magical and mystical, as she sings her silent songs to me and blinks at me with a billions eyes full of love...i feel her, i see her, i listen to her, and then i simply breathe, and my spirit is wrapped up into the whispers of her sighs, and i exhale her love...i simply adore her. all of her" ― bodhinku, milky way silence

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STORY BEHIND THE IMPRESSION

"sitting here on this night, under this glowing milky way, i feel so utterly lost in silence...and at the same time, i'm found, knowing my meaning is written somewhere into all those billions of stars above me" ― bodhinku, written somewhere

captured in the late evening hours of may 21, 2020, this is "sky rock" in the eastern sierra mountains in the vicinity of bishop, california...it is a massive volcanic rock facing upwards towards the sky covered with hundreds of native american symbols, called petroglyphs, carved into its surface by the ancient paiutes who inhabited this area hundreds of years ago...

to stand before sky rock is astounding...i am always in awe and feel blessed to visit this spiritual place that has been here for so long...

but to really be mystified, to stand before sky rock under the stars, is nothing short of breathless...

i often come to this spot not to take a single image, but instead to meditate and find myself again spiritually...the aura of this place seems to refocus and realign me...and to share its mystique to others dear to my heart, i've even introduced the magic of sky rock personally to close friends, one who even proposed to his wife at this very spot...and the look on a person's face, the first time they witness and realize the beautiful magnitude they are beholding before them, is amazing in itself...

if you have not been following my work for very long, you might not know that i had photographed this location last about 8 years ago, and was able to capture some glowing red lenticular clouds over top of sky rock at sunset (my composition, "up" can be seen here: "up" by bodhi smith)...this image was dedicated to the memory of the late galen rowell of bishop, ca...i was always inspired by his ability to find a mixture of extreme adventure, adrenaline, nature, and beauty in his photography. then, after capturing my "up" impression in april of 2013 (only about 6 months after galen and his wife passed away), a friend pointed out to me that galen had captured a similar picture to mine, 25 years prior called "sky rock" by galen rowell which was unknown to me at the time i captured my impression of sky rock...

for years now, i have always had a vision of creating an impression of sky rock under the full milky way, but for many reasons, i just never was able to capture it...and like i said above, on many of my visits, i did not even bring my camera along, just visited sky rock for my peace of mind...

now, with the current situation we find ourselves in, there are nice side effects to be found to our advantage as a photographer (if you look closely)...one is less pollution as less people are driving about and many industries have shut down or cut back on their operations, making the air cleaner, and photographic images clearer and sharper. another is less obvious, and that is the fact there are less lights being used...less car lights, street lights, house lights, business lights, etc...this creates less light pollution and when combined with less air pollution in the atmosphere, makes our skies darker at night, and more brightly lit with stars, more vivid and beautiful...

and last week, i decided to shoot the stars over sky rock finally, as the conditions are perfect and might never be the same again...and i decided to add some adventure: i was going to find the 4×4 track that would allow me to car camp close behind sky rock, instead of having to hike up from down by the owen's river in the light, stay half the night, and climb back down and out in the dark... spending most of the night on cold rocks instead of on top of my cozy futon in the back of my jeep...

so, me and my aussie shepherd hopped in the new 2020 jeep grand cherokee 4×4 to really break it in on some tough tracks, and made our way early in the morning...

i found two ways to go, so i decided to explore both, one way in and then the other way out, and return back to sky rock later in the afternoon via the easiest and safest route...

neither route was a picnic...but the first way i chose was much shorter, and as it turned out, it was also just crazy dangerous. having driven it once now, i have no need or the desire to ever drive it again. it was mostly an easy drive, taking it slow to avoid vehicle damage from rocks, especially sharp ones that can shred a good tire...but basically insanely hazardous all only because of one crux: a short downhill portion that descended a cliff with one turn that was steep, rocky, and crumbling...

in hind sight, at the crux i should have gotten out of my grand cherokee. then walked the track down to the bottom first, and i would have seen how dangerous it was by getting a better feeling underfoot. then walked back up the track on the cliff, got back in my vehicle, and then should have promptly turned my vehicle around to go the long way back and try the other route...

instead, i just got out and observed it from above and decided to go forward since i was so close to sky rock (classic mistake!) and i was confident in my knowledge of my vehicle and in my 4×4 driving skills...

once i dropped down onto the steep and crumbling slope of the track, there was no way of going back, reverse was not an option at all unless i wanted to flip my jeep off the cliff...

and i needed all of the clearance i had in my jeep grand cherokee, and even scraped bottom once (no damage done thankfully) as the ugly turn on the steep, rocky, crumbling, and slanting track pushed me towards the edge of an ugly drop-off...

my jeep was dangerously bounding off rock tops, not because of speed (i was not even going 1/2 mph) but because of gravity. and this was pushing my jeep dangerously out of control, too close to the unstable sheer edge of the cliff...

and i do not know if i was just lucky, or skilled, or both, but fortunately i made it down unscathed, knowing it could have been really really bad, and knowing i never want to try it again, up or down, neither...

rest of the drive was slow and easy to sky rock, and in euphoria i finally made it with my vehicle for the first time in so many years of visiting...

so, now test the other route...i just hoped for nothing worse than the way in, or i would have to navigate that nasty crux section upward this time, and i was not so sure i could make it safely...

the second route turned out to be much longer, and because i could not go faster than 4-5mph due to rocks, for the track was really just two tire trails circumnavigating a giant rock pile for over 4 miles...but this way had no crux, and was relatively free of danger, just the occasional sharp tire puncturing rock to avoid here and there...a fact that makes me never want to drive this jeep track in the dark either...

made it out safely, went into town for some supplies, and slowly drove back out to sky rock via the second route with no incidents...

later that night, alone with my doggie, we were treated with the starry sky in the eastern sierra being one of the clearest, and cleanest i have ever seen. i swear i could see the colors in the core of the milky way with my own eyes instead of having to rely on my camera lens to pick it up. and i truly believe that my eyes and photo you see here got the benefit from this...i was blessed to finally get to see and capture such an amazing night sky over sky rock...

this area is a virtually an unspoiled place in california, especially at night when the world disappears and everything goes to sleep. the commitment of noise falls to zero, and the silent peace of sky rock and the milky way rise to perfection...when you visit here, under these conditions, you will truly know how this was all "written in the stars"...

"the universe and the light of the stars come through you, into me" ― jalaluddin rumi, in the arms of the beloved

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MEANING OF SKY ROCK PETROGLYPHS

"if the fate that lies in front of us is truly written above in the stars, then the path to the stars is truly written inside each of us, we just need to look inward and see that for ourselves..." ― bodhinku, inside each of us

the paiute native americans made this dynamic landscape their seasonal home as they hunted various migratory animals for over 10,000 years. throughout the owens valley, their ancestors began to carve petroglyphs into the soft rock; perhaps for practical reasons such as astronomical calendars, or communicating with other travelers by leaving signposts behind, or as ceremonial symbols from visions of a spirit journey. some symbols are vaguely recognizable as corn stalks, hunters, longhorn sheep, deer, and celestial calendars; others are more cryptic and resemble concentric circles, crosses, and grids. unfortunately some of the petroglyphs have been vandalized or chiseled off and stolen. in an effort to conserve the remaining sites, both the federal government and the locals have removed the locations from maps and websites.

the general thinking these days about the petroglyphs created by the paiute peoples is that this rock art is primarily the work of their shamans. the petroglyphs are thought to be recordings of the visual images experienced by the shamans during their altered states of consciousness. therefore, any meaning is highly idiosyncratic. the "meaning" or "story" is specific to an individual shaman and his particular experience. they're not the elements of a shared language. the recurrance of certain abstract symbols or patterns at different sites created over many centuries arises, in part, from human physiology. under certain stimuli, the human optic nerve generates very similar visual images. so one cannot characterize the creator of these petroglyphs as verbose. it might be closer to the mark to say that the guy was keeping an extensive scrapbook of what he saw during days of fasting or while using other means to alter consciousness....

MORE QUOTES FOR EXTRA MEANING

the next song selection is from one of my favorite musicals, the greatest showman with hugh jackman and zach effron ..."rewite the stars" by zendaya and zac effron...(just click on any of words in the blue links to listen to the song)...

"you know i want you. it's not a secret i try to hide. i know you want me, so don't keep saying our hands are tied. you claim it's not in the cards. fate is pulling you miles away and out of reach from me. but you're here in my heart, so who can stop me if i decide that you're my destiny? what if we rewrite the stars? say you were made to be mine, nothing could keep us apart. you'd be the one i was meant to find...it's up to you, and it's up to me. no one can say what we get to be. so why don't we rewrite the stars? maybe the world could be ours tonight...you think it's easy. you think i don't want to run to you. but there are mountains and there are doors that we can't walk through. i know you're wondering why, because we're able to be just you and me within these walls. but when we go outside, you're going to wake up and see that it was hopeless after all...no one can rewrite the stars, how can you say you'll be mine? everything keeps us apart, and i'm not the one you were meant to find. it's not up to you. it's not up to me, when everyone tells us what we can be. how can we rewrite the stars? ...say that the world can be ours, tonight. all i want is to fly with you. all i want is to fall with you, so just give me all of you. it feels impossible (it's not impossible). is it impossible? say that it's possible...how do we rewrite the stars? say you were made to be mine? nothing can keep us apart because you are the one i was meant to find. it's up to you, and it's up to me. no one can say what we get to be. and why don't we rewrite the stars? changing the world to be ours. you know i want you. it's not a secret i try to hide. but i can't have you, we're bound to break and my hands are tied" ― zendays and zac effron, rewite the stars

"do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate on the present moment...like the stars, come out from behind the clouds! shine" ― siddhartha gautama buddha, the dhammapada

"if you are quiet enough, you will hear the flow of the universe. you will feel its rhythm. go with this flow. you will notice things. the path to happiness lies ahead" ― siddhartha gautama buddha, the dhammapada

"he who defends with love will be secure; heaven will save him, and earth will protect him with love" ― lao tzu, tao te ching

“the reason why heaven and earth are able to endure and continue this long is because they do not live for themselves” ― lao tzu, tao te ching

"i don't know whether the universe, with its countless galaxies, stars and planets, has a deeper meaning or not, but at the very least, it is clear that we humans who live on this earth face the task of making a happy life for ourselves. therefore, it is important to discover daily what will bring about the greatest degree of happiness" ― dalai lama xiv, the art of happiness

"you're my star, a stargazer too, and i wish that i were heaven, with a billion eyes to look at you!" ― plato, phaedrus

"night air, good conversation, and a sky full of stars can heal almost any wound" ― beau taplin, remedy

"i’ve never known a joy more elegant or effortless than the one i have found with you. our energy is infectious, the chemistry is wild, and your crazy and my crazy are perfectly aligned. i am positively convinced we were written in the stars, and if not, i will carve our names into the sky myself" ― beau taplin, the wild heart

"the lyrics of this love are etched upon the walls of this beating heart the melody echoing within me during waking hours and dream filled sleep. i must have written them in the stars many lifetimes ago with these unsteady hands filled with longing, inspiration found in the unseen and the unspoken, that to this day ring deep within my aching soul...the celestial wind whispers a lonely lullaby over the mountain peaks and through the trees, seeming to call your name somehow into my sleeping soul. i wonder if you know that you live there, nestled in between the breaths of air and beating of my heart, where time stands still and eternity waits on the edge of the horizon. i wonder if you know that it’s you that holds me even while you are so far out of reach; you who are the lyrics of a love song etched deep within the walls of this aching heart, singing a timeless song written in the stars" ― c. ara campbell, written in the stars

"we are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. life is eternal. we have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. this is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity" ― paulo coelho, the alchemist

"everything is written in the soul of the world, and there it will stay forever..." ― paulo coelho, the alchemist

"a certain darkness is needed to see the stars" ― osho, the secret of secrets

"if hers are the stars in the nighttime sky, mine are the haunted empty spaces in between" ― nicholas sparks, dear john

"yours is the light by which my spirit's born: - you are my sun, my moon, and all my stars" ― e. e. cummings, 100 selected poems

"and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart...i carry your heart [i carry it in my heart]" ― e. e. cummings, i carry your heart

"when i have a terrible need of (shall i say the word) religion, then i go out and paint the stars" ― vincent van gogh, letters to theo

"at present i absolutely want to paint a starry sky. it often seems to me that night is still more richly coloured than the day; having hues of the most intense violets, blues and greens. if only you pay attention to it, you will see that certain stars are lemon-yellow, others pink or a green, blue and forget-me-not brilliance. and without my expatiating on this theme, it is obvious that putting little white dots on the blue-black is not enough to paint a starry sky" ― vincent van gogh, letters to theo

"looking at the stars always makes me dream, as simply as i dream over the black dots representing towns and villages on a map...why, i ask myself, shouldn’t the shining dots of the sky be as accessible as the black dots on the map of france? just as we take a train to get to paris or calais, we take death to reach a star. we cannot get to a star while we are alive, any more than we can take the train when we are dead. so to me it seems possible that fevers, tuberculosis and cancer are the celestial means of locomotion. just as steamboats, buses and railways are the terrestrial means. to die quietly of old age would be to go there on foot" ― vincent van gogh, letters to theo

"be clearly aware of the stars and infinity on high. then life seems almost enchanted after all" ― vincent van gogh, letters to theo

"there must be a glowing light above. the joy must escape in light through the stones and shine dimly into the darkness. it is impossible that this sacred festival of destiny should not send a celestial radiation to the infinite. love is the sublime crucible in which is consummated the fusion of the final being, the human trinity springs from it. this birth of two souls into one space must be an emotion for space" ― victor hugo, les miserables

"once upon a time, there was a girl who talked to the moon. and she was mysterious and she was perfect, in that way that girls who talk to moons are. in the house next door, there lived a boy. and the boy watched the girl grow more and more perfect, more and more beautiful with each passing year. he watched her watch the moon. and he began to wonder if the moon would help him unravel the mystery of the beautiful girl. so the boy looked into the sky. but he couldn't concentrate on the moon. he was too distracted by the stars. and it didn't matter how many songs or poems had already been written about them, because whenever he thought about the girl, the stars shone brighter. as if she were the one keeping them illuminated...one day, the boy had to move away. he couldn't bring the girl with him, so he brought the stars. when he'd look out his window at night, he would start with one. one star. and the boy would make a wish on it, and the wish would be her name. at the sound of her name, a second star would appear. and then he'd wish her name again, and the stars would double into four. and four became eight, and eight became sixteen, and so on, in the greatest mathematical equation the universe had ever seen. and by the time an hour had passed, the sky would be filled with so many stars that it would wake the neighbors. people wondered who'd turned on the floodlights. the boy did...by thinking about the girl" ― stephanie perkins, lola and the boy next door

"your salary is not love and your word is not love. your clothes are not love and holding hands is not love. sex is not love and a kiss is not love. long letters are not love and a text is not love. flowers are not love and a box of chocolates is not love. sunsets are not love and photographs are not love. the stars are not love and a beach under the moonlight is not love. the smell of someone else on your pillow is not love and the feeling of their skin touching your skin is not love. heart-shaped candy is not love and an overseas holiday is not love. the truth is not love and winning an argument is not love. warm coffee isn't love and cheap cards bought from stores are not love. tears are not love and laughter is not love. a head on a shoulder is not love and messages written at the front of books given as gifts are not love. apathy is not love and numbness is not love. a pain in your chest is not love and clenching your fist is not love. rain is not love....only she is love to him, and he is love to her. only together they are love" ― pleasefindthis, wrote this for you

"loneliness adds beauty to life. it puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better" ― henry rollins, the portable

“the best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the celestial bodies, nature and god. because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that god wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. as longs as this exists, and it certainly always will, i know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. and i firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles..." ― anne frank, the diary of a young girl

"my mother always says when you fight destiny, destiny fights back. some things, they're just written in the stars. you can try but you can never escape what's meant to be" ― aisha saeed, written in the stars

"suspended as we were, i pictured us up there with the stars. another story written in tiny lights. we were a constellation put in the sky...two people holding hands, floating peacefully above everything else, in a beautiful, perfect moment” ― jessi kirby, in honor

"if you follow the ancient maps written on the stars, no person will ever understand you. so if you could read these maps, would you follow them? and forever be misunderstood?or would you close your eyes tightly and pretend to be like everyone else?" ― c. joybell c

“he treated the stars as though they were love songs written to him by his beloved" ― pat conroy, south of broad

“i wish i could read that she's written there. instead, i pretend the letters are stars. the words, constellations" ― isaac marion, warm bodies

"cause and effect was written by the stars of the universe. there is a vibrational effect in every action, just as there is a vibration that rings from every letter in every word. no cause occurs without effect, and no effect occurs without cause. no unjust action goes without penalty and no action or thought flows unnoticed throughout the universe" ― suzy kassem, rise up and salute the sun

"he sang his last song. and the words of that have never been written down. but it was sweet and of great beauty, and those that heard it were changed utterly. some say it was the song that moves the stars" ― catherine fisher, sapphique

"there is another language beyond language, another celestial place beyond heaven. precious gems come from another mine, the heart draws light from another source...what's inside" ― jalaluddin rumi, the soul of rumi

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ABOUT THE IMPRESSION

"the deafening silence of her meaning leaves me astounded, and my soul breathless" ― bodhinku, inside

the impression which you see here is comprised of two separate exposures taken within a couple hours of each other and put together as one...in my photography i always use filters to create longer exposure effects and to balance the light in my composition in camera...i often use as many as four filters at time, and i always use at least one filter...no filters were used in the exposure of the stars, but for the exposure of sky rock and its petroglyphs, to get the effects and balance and saturation i was looking for, i used two filters...for this, i chose to use the magnetic 3.0nd progrey antarctica filter (and progrey g-120z holder) to allow for a much longer exposure (10 stops) to smooth out the clouds in the sky (for blending purposes) and allow for more saturation of the reds in the rocks to be present in the image...plus in combination with the 0.9gnd progrey g120 aurora filter to help balance in-camera overall the image the way i envisioned it, as the tops of the rocks were much more brighter, about 3 stops brighter than the rest of the darker parts, especially the darker rock of sky rock and the shadows on the petroglyphs at the fulcrum point of the image composition...

i wish to openly thank my sponsors who have always supported me through both the good and bad times...for truly this long exposure impression would not be possible without the use of my trusty dolica tripods in combination with the progreyusa filters which i use with every photo i take...

"in sweet silence of the star light, i see her radiance glowing bright above, i feel her angelic innocence, i play in her magical wilderness...i know my focus is always up to her" ― bodhinku, bright above

"contemplate without thinking. stop the world. slow down everything. shut off the noise. relax. seize this moment. reconnect. feel and sense what surrounds you. listen to all the colors of light that envelope you. see the melody and harmony that floats about unnoticed. taste the solitude of all this wonderment. smell the beautiful silence. now discover your peaceful serenity. then, reach out and touch your faith with all your senses. this is my world. awaken!" ― bodhinku, my world

above all else as always, i hope this message and impression find you well.

namaste,
bodhi

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