Grassroots Moo
www.enabling.org/grassroots/

  1 Sea Midi  2 Torrey   3 Melusina   4 Thalassa
 5 Note   6 Coral   7 Creation  8 Emergence


 
 
 
 

...If the earthly no longer knows your name,
Whisper to the silent earth: I'm flowing.
To the flashing water say: I am.
-Rilke,  Sonnets to Orpheus

Torrey
a mermaid who swims in deep waters
and skims the crest of the waves,
and seeks sanctuary
in the underwater treasures of Thalassa.
NEXT

 

Melusina (mermaid)
Her hair as golden as the sun,
Her eyes show secrets, known to none.
Her skin adorned by shells and things
I do not know the song she sings.

Her confidence, though silent speaks
Her soul powerful, never weak
Her love for life lies within
And with each day, she's born again.

copyright 1997 by Carole Robinson robinson@mcn.org
http://www.eliki.com/realms/kat/poetry.html
NEXT
 

Thalassa

Thalassa (Greek for sea), home to Torrey, the mermaid,
is an underwater cavern  with  sparkling turquoise waters
where fish  swim gracefully through tranquil  currents.

Here, you glide through luminous caves and grottoes, SIT on a
Seaweed Mat  or Puffy  Fish Mattress... and LOOK at the Wave Cave,
Sponge Spa, Cavern Tavern, Ethel Mer-man's  Comedy Club, Reef
of Belief,  Billow Pillow,  Shell Dell, Driftwood Den,  and Golden Grotto.

Several sea-leaf poems lie scattered on the ocean bottom,
drenched with  the inky  blue script of a squid's pen.
Their titles read:  Lament, Lament2,  Poem-for-the-Earthbound,
and Seachanty.  Among them is a Note to Visitors.

 

Nearby, above a subaquatic window, a Stalactite message board
descends  from the  cavern's roof, illuminated by a Ray of Light.....

You may LOOK or EXAMINE objects and interior rooms.
You may also SIT  Seaweed Mat, SIT Puffy Fish Mattress,
STAND, PET CoCo, READ Note, READ   (Name  of  Note)
on Stalactite,  and TACK (Name for Your Note) on Stalactite.
READ Note to Visitors
NEXT
 
 


 
 

Note to Visitors
To my Mer-Friends -
Please feel free to explore my underwater domain while I am frolicking
with dolphins and attending water ballet lessons. You may LOOK at the rooms,
read sea poetry and leave a note for me on the Stalactite message board....

But be wary of sidestroking through the Coral Cliffs without fully experiencing
Thalassa first. You will need the pearls of wisdom and the golden booty before you dare
to scale that rocky terrain or peer down into the abyss.... But do not be afraid!....
There are wonders here, and most of them are also inside of you....
love from Torrey the Mermaid
NEXT
 


 
 

Coral Cliffs
The Coral Cliffs are the underwater mountains near Thalassa where creatures
of  the Cyberdeep face the dark Abysses of their hidden selves and seek
to scale the highest Elevations below the sea's surface.

Here, they confront the challenges they most fear, and the deep Sea Crawlers
which  most threaten them. Yet in the process they gain Self and Soul....

You are invited to LOOK, scale the peaks and descend
the abysses, overcoming your inner and outer obstacles,
as they are reflected in the Cyberwaters.
NEXT
 
 
 

Self-Creation

from Torrey's Earthly Creator, June 14, 1997
With the help of Bob, Ted, and Cleo at Grassroots, I visited the Moo
several times, began developing Thalassa, and felt a self that I hadn't expressed
in several years  - my poetic, mythical self -  re-emerge.
 

For days, my imagination was stimulated by ideas for Thalassa....Soon, I had
created an evocative undersea home - with rooms reflecting various facets
of my personal and spiritual quest and playful sense of humor.
And I began to create Coral Cliffs, adjoining Thalassa.

My experience felt similar to Jungian sandplay (play therapy for adults) - following
inner  guidance while positioning  figurines in the sand, and telling stories about them,
personal myths ....deep internal processes that I had not previously articulated.

Everything I've created in GrassRoots is likewise expressing deeper layers of my  psyche.
At this stage in my life, I AM a mermaid...... swimming deep beneath the surface
and resisting the demands and necessities of earthly reality.

But after describing  the warm, safe, hospitable interiors of Thalassa, I felt compelled
to create adjoining Coral Cliffs, which I realize now are the menacing cliffs
of earthly demands which pull at me, causing me much unrest.

I had to create my sanctuary first, a refuge of joy and creative delight....but once
I was at home there, I became aware of the cliffs that border Thalassa,  that
rise up to the surface of the waves, and stretch toward the earthly shore -
the cliffs that I must scale in order to return to earth again.....

With a swish of her tail and a splash, Torrey the mermaid
descends into Thalassa
 

from Torrey's Earthly Creator, July 12, 1997
Not until my turn in our online group, when I openly expressed my conflicts, fears,
 pain and anger, as well as appreciations,  was I able to fully describe Coral Cliffs
and begin to encounter the Sea Crawlers lurking in its dark abysses.

Perhaps I needed the full attention of my cybercompanions - to verbalize my struggles
and feel heard, understood and supported - in order to tolerate ways in which I do not
feel heard, understood or supported in tackling the issues that are facing me.

The Coral Cliffs are not quite as threatening to me now - although I know that on
the other side are currents leading to shore, to the earthly terrain from which
I have found solace in cyberspace and cybersea....

I only touch the earth tentatively, but already find new friends there, delights that
lead me to fear the shore less....and a deeper self-acceptance that will help me
begin tackling those  earthly demands which are not delightful.

I need to feel ok playing with dolphins and starfish... to value Thalassa for its own sake,
not begrudging myself the tasks I neglect when I frolic underseas.  But I cannot
fully enjoy my marine companions or sea successes when bound  by fear of
the Coral Cliffs or the steps I must take on earth, away from water......

Here I celebrate creativity and companionship; I glide and surf the breaking waves... But
I know that they can only soothe and sustain me if I also don legs underwater, and
learn to sidestroke, then crawl, then eventually to walk more firmly on land.....

With a swish of her tail and a splash, Torrey ascends through the water....
NEXT


In the crystal stream of ocean
Fishes glide with tranquil motion,
Float in life that's sorrow free;
Yet your throngs, in splendor moving,
Show your festive spirit, proving
How much more than these ye be.
Goethe, Faust
NEXT
 
 
 

Will Torrey swim to shore,
and embrace the earth as well as the sea?

Torrey  Melusina   Thalassa  Note   Coral  Creation   Emergence  Links
 

CREDITS:
Water02.jpg background from Mermaid's Rest
Lure.gif and animated fish5.gif  from The Mermaid's Gallery
Mermaid.gif by Howard Pyle, at Mermaid's Net
Worldsm.gif, Mermaid Tales Around the World, at Mermaid's Net
Blustery Sea,  seablus.gif,  cropped, originally BlusterySea.gif,
copyright 1997 by Valan Evers, QuantumNetwork
Neptune's Treasure, here entitled neptune4.gif, cropped, taken from
a photograph from the Mermaid Collection by Jason Gold,
copyright 1994 by Jason Gregory Gold. All rights reserved.
Disney Midi music "Under the Sea" The Little Mermaid, Disney Midi Music
 

OTHER MERMAID LINKS
Where Mermaids Dwell   SeaTails Online
Sirenophilia: Mermaids     Indelible Ink Mermaids
Mermaid Clip Art   Anderson's Little Mermaid     Water Spirit Legends

WATER AND FISH LINKS
Coral Reef Fishes     Web Fish Catalog
Yahoo Marine life    Web Fish Site Picks    Ocean Planet*
Yahoo's Oceanography       Netscape's Fish Cam

MOO RESOURCES
Grassroots Moo      GrassRoots Moo Help
Mutt Lite (Windows)     Mud/Moo Connectors Links
Telnet (W95)     Moo Directory   Rachel's Super Moo List
 

Thalassa,  http://www.webwinds.com/thalassa/torrey.htm
This site expresses my experience in the Net-Psy Simgroup mailing
list, which included chats at Grassroots Moo and Moo-room creation.

copyright 1997 by  Torrey. 
   Created July 12, 1997.
 

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