{"id":207,"date":"2004-06-14T15:39:00","date_gmt":"2004-06-14T15:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=207"},"modified":"2004-06-14T15:39:00","modified_gmt":"2004-06-14T15:39:00","slug":"207","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=207","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

A Caravaggio moment<\/strong><\/p>\n

We spent the weekend at the Front Range Pagan Festival (one of three annual festivals in Colorado that I know of), held at a private campground southwest of Denver.<\/p>\n

It’s a low-key (sometimes too low-key) event, with lots of kids and dogs–no stages for performers, no communal kitchens, etc.<\/p>\n

The image that I will take away, in fact, involves some of those kids. On Saturday night, as the drummers were drumming and people were singing, two of them, seated on camp chairs, were lost in a game of chess over to the edge of the bonfire circle. An older boy, maybe 12 or 13, shone a flashlight down on the board, while the orange light of the fire caught lit the sides of the players’ faces, while also striking part of the older boy’s features under his floppy Army-style boonie hat. <\/p>\n

To add to the composition, a girl of about 3 years was peering in the shadow over the edge of the chessboard, uncomprehending but captivated by the movements of the chessmen. <\/p>\n

Their stillness and the composition of the group were classical, and the lighting was worthy of Caravaggio or some other Old Master. I wished for my camera, but I don’t think any film emulsion (or the digital camera) would have captured that little girl in the shadow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Caravaggio moment We spent the weekend at the Front Range Pagan Festival (one of three annual festivals in Colorado that I know of), held at a private campground southwest of Denver. It’s a low-key (sometimes too low-key) event, with lots of kids and dogs–no stages for performers, no communal kitchens, etc. The image that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s6xQTg-207","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":703,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=703","url_meta":{"origin":207,"position":0},"title":"The four o’clock creeps","author":"Chas S. 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She has pale blue skin and lives in the ocean, but she is hobbled\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4785,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=4785","url_meta":{"origin":207,"position":3},"title":"Fields Books to Close on Polk Street and Move Online","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The last time that I visited Fields Book Store, San Francisco's long-time esoteric bookshop (older than the Golden Gate Bridge), was the last time that I was in the city. I can't remember what I bought \u2014 something \u2014 and I spent a while skimming the last volume of Mircea\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"books\"","block_context":{"text":"books","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=books"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2942,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2942","url_meta":{"origin":207,"position":4},"title":"R.J. Stewart and the Old Ones","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"July 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"In this essay from 2006, R.J. Stewart discusses some of his teachers in occultism, particulaly Ronald Heaver (that's Mr. Heaver to you), also known by the pen name of \"Zadok.\" (Bill Gray also figures in the essay, hence the plural.) Before recounting my meetings with Ronald Heaver, I would like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"England\"","block_context":{"text":"England","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=england"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":768,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=768","url_meta":{"origin":207,"position":5},"title":"Steve Stirling’s Wiccans","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"November 24, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"For reading on last week's train trip to Washington, D.C., I brought Steve Stirling\u2019s The Protector\u2019s War; it is the second of a post-apocalyptic trilogy, following Dies the Fire. 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