October 2022

 
 

5 Doors* is a monthly online magazine/gallery featuring new music, cinema, art, and writing from artist JD RUDOMETKIN and guest artists. It is also a communal space where monthly rituals are curated. * This gallery is best experienced on a desktop/laptop computer.

IT IS ESSENTIAL TO VIEW THE BOOK BELOW ON A DESKTOP/LAPTOP

(Experiencing SPOTLIGHT on a phone screen will significantly compromise its integrity)

click on each image to advance within the book

THE PYRAMID - phase I +II

— OCTOBER UPDATE —

We are now considering materials for the outer shell. Cloth is a possibility. As is metal. Even polyurethane panels seem plausible, emitting light of various hues from the inside, out. Wood feels less viable, but may work. If you have an idea about which material would be best and the desire to express that idea—please let us know here.

We intend, with your help, that this structure will be a sacred space dedicated to the pursuit of understanding, which can be perceived in logic as well as through other methods of sensorial and kinesthetic apprehension as yet unknown to science or the common mind.

If 5Doors enriches your life in any way, please consider supporting it with a donation. Thank you kindly for your patronage, which allows us to continue sharing this work with you.

2022 Archives Below

 
 
 

September 2022

 
 

5 Doors* is a monthly online magazine/gallery featuring new music, cinema, art, and writing from artist JD RUDOMETKIN and guest artists. It is also a communal space where monthly rituals are curated. * This gallery is best experienced on a desktop/laptop computer.

JOURNAL FORWARD

When journaling, we often consider our life as if it were a retrospective—writing about what has been. This is a useful tool. It can help us process emotions and fine tune adjustments as we strive to make better decisions.

But let’s try something new.

For the month of September, let’s keep a journal that imagines how our lives will be. Words are powerful tools of creation. Words are the offspring of the ideas we have about who we are. If we want to create new neural pathways in our minds, we can do so through the act of re-scripting our imagination. And here’s a paradox: Write without thinking too much. Simply begin. Deep inside, you know what you want. So write it out. Don’t hesitate. 

Here are a few steps to follow:

  1. Write first thing in the morning before you begin your day (coffee drinkers—drink your coffee first :) ).

  2. Set a timer for 10 minutes and write like mad. Write about the person you want to be. The kind of relationships you want to have. The type of work you long to be involved in creating.

  3. Write in the present tense. For example, instead of writing, “I want to be more patient and not lose my temper around loved ones,” write this:

“I am patient. I care about the ones I love. I channel my anger into creative solutions.”

At the end of September, we’d love to hear back from you about how this form of journaling worked. You can let us know by contacting us here. 

I want to thank the yogini Jordan Lydia Verla for giving me this idea. I have been journaling for decades and it felt as if I had reached a place of stagnation. She inspired me to try this method of Journaling Forward and it ignited a spark. Next month a video of Jordan and I will be released in which we discuss this type of journaling as well as a host of other ideas and methods that initiate the transmutation of consciousness. 

THE PYRAMID - phase I

— SEPTEMBER UPDATE —

Structural Engineer and builder Clarence Hensel kindly donated his talent and time to creating the CAD renderings of the pyramid seen below. Thank you so much Clarence, we really appreciate you!

We have found a welder/fabricator who will now begin creating the custom fittings for the corners and joints.

Thank you to those who have already donated to the Pyramid Phase 1 goal of $1500. All those who donate will be named & featured on a GRATITUDE placard, which will be placed inside the pyramid after final construction is complete (if you do not wish to be named, simply let us know). All donations of whatever amount are greatly appreciated.

If 5Doors enriches your life in any way, please consider supporting it with a donation. Thank you kindly for your patronage, which allows us to continue sharing this work with you.

2022 Archives Below

 
 
 

August 2022

 
 

5 Doors* is a monthly online magazine/gallery featuring new music, cinema, art, and writing from artist JD RUDOMETKIN and guest artists. It is also a communal space where monthly rituals are curated. * This gallery is best experienced on a desktop/laptop computer.

The new single, “Concrescence” from Step Jayne was written + produced by JD Rudometkin. You may purchase the single on Bandcamp by clicking the “buy” button below.

THE PYRAMID - phase I

Thank you to those who have already donated to the Pyramid Phase 1 goal of $1500. All those who donate will be named & featured on a GRATITUDE placard, which will be placed inside the pyramid after final construction is complete (if you do not wish to be named, simply let us know). All donations of whatever amount are greatly appreciated.

If 5Doors enriches your life in any way, please consider supporting it with a donation. Thank you kindly for your patronage, which allows us to continue sharing this work with you.

2022 Archives Below

 
 
 

July 2022

 
 

5 Doors* is a monthly online magazine/gallery featuring new music, cinema, art, and writing from artist JD RUDOMETKIN and guest artists. It is also a communal space where monthly rituals are curated. * This gallery is best experienced on a desktop/laptop computer.

Phase One construction of the Pyramid has begun. The ESSENCE: “A Space for Communal Regeneration.” It is being built adjacent to Super X Gallery in Pioneertown, CA. We have procured a metal artisan who is ready to fabricate the connections pieces needed (see Specifications below). We are seeking your help in creating this community space.

$1500 Needed for Custom Fabrication Connection Pieces  

All those who donate will be named & featured on a GRATITUDE placard, which will be placed inside the pyramid after final construction is complete (if you do not wish to be named, simply let us know). All donations of whatever amount are greatly appreciated.

Our first Tabula Rasa Gathering at Super X Gallery is on 7.10.22. This months gathering includes a brief lecture and guided meditation as well as ambient music, group singing and a singing/toning session. In the future, we will be hosting these types of gatherings within the Pyramid. We hope you will join us!

If 5Doors enriches your life in any way, please consider supporting it with a donation. Thank you kindly for your patronage, which allows us to continue sharing this work with you.

2022 Archives Below

 
 
 

June 2022

 
 

5 Doors* is a monthly online magazine/gallery featuring new music, cinema, art, and writing from artist JD RUDOMETKIN and guest artists. It is also a communal space where monthly rituals are curated. * This gallery is best experienced on a desktop/laptop computer.

Continuing with the Black Pyramid theme, the following painting explores the Egyptian God Anubis (Greek rendering of name) and the condition of a human heart. To procure this piece, CONTACT ARTIST.

Featherweight

Oil on Wood Panel 20.5 x 23” (52.07 x 58.42cm)
$800 + shipping

By weighing the heart of a deceased person against Ma'at (or "truth"), who was often represented as an ostrich feather, Anubis dictated the fate of souls. Souls heavier than a feather would be devoured by Ammit, and souls lighter than a feather would ascend to a heavenly existence.

 

If 5Doors enriches your life in any way, please consider supporting it with a donation. Thank you kindly for your patronage, which allows us to continue sharing this work with you.

2022 Archives Below

 
 
 

May 2022

5 Doors* is a monthly online magazine/gallery featuring new music, cinema, art, and writing from artist JD RUDOMETKIN and guest artists. It is also a communal space where monthly rituals are curated. * This gallery is best experienced on a desktop/laptop computer.

A new gallery in the high desert

This month, 5Doors is excited to announce the opening of SUPER X GALLERY. Artist JD Rudometkin is the co-founder and co-curator of the gallery, which is located at Super X Ranch in Pioneertown, California. Co-founder Artist Alice Batliner is the owner of Super X Ranch and is co-curating art events with JD in the space.

photo: Laurie Marie

We encourage you to visit the Super X Gallery website to find out more about this unique art space in the high desert.

Just prior to the Covid 19 Pandemic, JD and Alice combined to co-curate the art event DUENDE—a muli-media performance, which included several artists from the high desert community in and around Joshua Tree, CA (See video below). Alice and JD are excited to continue to produce soulful, multi-media events which explore ideas/consciousness through art, cinema, music, writing as well as rituals.

If 5Doors enriches your life in any way, please consider supporting it with a donation. Thank you kindly for your patronage, which allows us to continue sharing this work with you.

2022 Archives Below

April 2022

5 Doors* is a monthly online magazine/gallery featuring new music, cinema, art, and writing from artist JD RUDOMETKIN and guest artists. It is also a communal space where monthly rituals are curated. * This gallery is best experienced on a desktop/laptop computer.

This month’s door is Ritual. As always, thank you for your support in the procurement of art/music and through your kind donations. We are here because of your generous contributions.

SHAMANIC RITUAL: ENTERING THE BLACK PYRAMID

We are inevitably programed. We do not always prefer the programer who is creating the format or the content to which we sub-consciously and/or consciously subscribe. This month’s ritual journey inward will program/re-program your mind, body and spirit with love and wisdom. It is recommended that you find a quiet room without distraction. Sit or lie down and use headphones or a quality sound system. Repeat as needed.

Words and Music for Ritual (c) JD Rudometkin 2022

If 5Doors enriches your life in any way, please consider supporting it with a donation. Thank you kindly for your patronage, which allows us to continue sharing this work with you.

March 2022

5 Doors* is a monthly online magazine/gallery featuring new music, cinema, art, and writing from artist JD RUDOMETKIN and guest artists. It is also a communal space where monthly rituals are curated. * This gallery is best experienced on a desktop/laptop computer.

This month’s door is Writing. Art is also present in the form of corresponding drawings. As always, thank you for your support in the procurement of art/music and through your kind donations. We are here because of your generous contributions.

BLACK PYRAMID

He has circumnavigated the Black Pyramid for 8 months, and feels that his bride—in her ash wedding dress—is waiting there inside the structure for him. But she is veiled. And there is no door here. So he performs his ablutions, fingers his beads, aligns all things according to their parameter. According to all the stories he has heard from his own mouth—mumbling incantations to the god who will show him the way back into her. It is stubborn desire that pushes him on. While others would have given up, he continues to circle the structure.  

And finally, at the beginning of the 9th month, a turn of destiny—perhaps a strength of will—has begun to bend the senses. First he hears in color—the sound of amber, for instance, then he begins to sense the sharp taste of iron in his own mouth. And now his eyes begin to open. And suddenly, each side of the Black Pyramid has taken on a new form. On the northern wall there are rough hewn faces staring back at him he had not seen. And look, etched into each side of the pyramid, a geometry he had not noticed. After a few moments of stillness, he beings to sense a thin line of pure light emanating from the eastern facing wall. A window? A stained glass?  

A door.

The door is narrow. He cannot enter therein. So he fasts for 7 days and on the 7th day goes without water—turns his body sideways—and slides through the narrow gate. His body temperature drops by 2 degrees. As he pushes further in, the pathway begins narrowing and now it is hard for him to breath. Shall I turn back? Am I hungry? Does the Dark Bride even know my name? And do I care?

He continues to ask such questions as he moves further into the darkness. But god only knows those questions don’t matter here. Matter has become something akin to make believe. And so his body presses forward—obscuring the mind—and spiraling down into the abyss where she waits for him.

And who is she? This Dark Bride of the Black Pyramid. Where does she come from? What causes her heart to beat? Who is her creator if it is not him. Questions persist as he slides sideways in her direction. 

He can only cover 10-15 meters per day. And now, after 3 days journey into the eastern facing wall, his mind has nearly gone blank. A white sheet within the holy book. Finally, at the end of the 3rd day in utter darkness he’s nearly reached the bottom. The blackness is without reason and so his mind has created reasons of its own and sees all manner of strange things. Flying octopi. Underground Birch. A chartreuse nectarine. And because these things are unknown, the fear of shadows has returned. And so pressing forward toward the Bride in Black he has begun to mumble again and speak all manner of gibberish squaller—reciting the many ancient stories he’s told himself about her and about himself for years. And inevitably these so called facts have become questions:

Did I ever ask her who she was? As if in prayer. And did I ever care? How can I learn to care about another, when all I know are these familiar stories I have told and retold unto myself? 

You must go into the abyss. There is an answer there. 

So he pushes on. And after several more hours of uncomfortable oblique slides, the passageway finally opens up into a room. But as the hall expands into a room, it is not the glorious light of heaven he is expecting. It is darker than pitch black. And so his mouth has begun moving again—nonstop. His tongue cannot seem to quit. Its frightening here because he cannot see what he wants to see. The mind twitches in pain. He sweats. And yet, some part of him feels her here, the Bride in Black—in this quiet room—far below the surface of the earth. 

It is here in the pit of the Black Pyramid, that she sits on a wooden stool before him, waiting for the coals in his mouth to cool. 

She has waited here for years in this quiet room. Known him to be a man of fire and measured generosity. And also known that somewhere within him there is a will to commune. She has heard his incantations over and over echoing down from the world above. And she has waited patiently to speak. And above all, to be heard. Heard anew—outside all of his systems and beliefs. Heard outside the context of any god they’ve ever known. She has waited to reveal herself here in the pit of this Black Pyramid. But he can’t seem to shut the fuck up. 

How long does it take before you WANT to learn to listen? To care.

They sit there in the quiet room as he spills 8 more hours of gibberish until his tongue runs out of fuel. And now there is a silence in the pit. His stomach moans. He is exhausted, and sits down on the stone floor. The only sound—his breath within the darkness. And over the next 8 hours of silence he finally begins to hear the pulse of his own blood. And he then begins to recognize her breathing too. It is as if her breath has become his breath and they are breathing in the same body. His lungs her lungs. His lips, hers. She tastes familiar, but still he cannot fathom who she is. And in the silence of the night, he slowly begins un-telling all his stories. He lets go of all the things he believes he knows about the world, and who she is. And who he is. The man finally cares enough to ask: 

“Who are you?” 

And there is a sincerity in his voice that she has not heard before. There is vulnerability. He has taken down the eastern facing wall. And here, as she sits facing him—wearing her black wedding dress in absolute darkness—she begins to speak.

At first it is only a whisper. Whispers of common things. Hairdryers and tonic water. But still he listens. It is not what is said, but rather the beats between each word that know her best. The cadence and her tone. And when she knows she is heard, the other chambers of her heart begin to swell and push forth the hidden concerns of darker matter that’s been brewing in her chest. 

“Yes my love” he says—and that is all. And opens the door.

And now she walks toward him in utter darkness, in this chamber far below the surface of the earth. It is in this quiet room that the bride removes her veil. And she kneels, as if in prayer. And it is here that she finally spills herself wide open into pools of blood once clotted in the knot of her stomach—where all their scars have been. And she goes on and on until the well runs dry. Until she knows he knows her. 

In the pit of the Black Pyramid he has become the witness. He has unwound the knots of his ambition—and fear. And despite himself, he has become the care giver. The one who cares.  

Writing and Images (c) JD Rudometkin 2022

 

If 5Doors enriches your life in any way, please consider supporting it with a donation. Thank you kindly for your patronage, which allows us to continue sharing this work with you.

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