guerilla gourmet

Last night I found myself at a renegade restaurant at a large loft a few blocks from home, talking to a charismatic black butch artist who was wearing a Wallace kilt. Her large canvases of naked women were scattered thru the loft, as she was a good friend of the host of this guerilla gourmet experience. Our conversation was lively, and at some juncture she exclaimed, “But of course, I’m an Aquarian”. I laughed out loud, answering “Well, of course! I’m one too!”

Over the years, I’ve come to realize that many of us Aquarians share an affability of perspective, almost as if we are all immigrants from some other land, who can relax in each others presence, knowing our strange ways are nothing but familiar to each other. Beltane being the season that Aquarians are conceived, and having spent the last weekend with an Aquarian friend, my birth sign has been on my mind. A perfect May evening, this event was in itself also a perfect Aquarian happening. With the full moon beaming in thru the huge loft windows, thinking about the stars and planets was inevitable.

These renegade restaurants are collaborative efforts between established chefs who want to branch out into something new or test an edge, artists, whose works go up on the walls, providing them with exposure, musicians who get a venue to play in, and the host, who gets to priestess the rite. The guest list seems to be both open and closed. You have to know someone, but there was in no way any feeling of exclusivity. There can’t be that much profit in it other than the pleasure and the networking, as the price is minimal. The food itself, well, incredible! It’s a ritual of connection, of people breaking bread together and entertainment for the sheer pleasure of it, with no big stars or focal point other than the collaboration. It’s damn Aquarian, and at the moment, it's one of the hottest trends in town.

The theme was Spanish, and the chef was moonlighting from his job at a well known French restaurant in the city. Over sangria, listening to a great flamenco guitar player, I talked to a couple who are part of overseeing the Peace Corps in Cameroon about magic, witchcraft and culture. We talked about the strange experience of so many of us in this culture trying to revive an animist perspective, of getting people to believe that magic is real, while in Cameroon, it’s not something to believe in. There, it’s considered a fact of life, as real as the exquisite tapas we were consuming. Witchcraft and sorcery are commonplace and widely respected and feared, as there is just as much emphasis there on the hexing as the healing. It was a great conversation, and once again, I was struck by what an incredible experiment and endeavor this is, the reawakening of magic in this culture. The power of it is immense, this I both believe and know.

As we talked, I kept imagining the Temperence card of the Tarot, with two cups, one holding magic, the other ethics, being poured back and forth to an even mix. Can this be accomplished? Or does the very bringing back of magic means that the cups themselves will inevitably hold hexing and healing? Mostly, I thought about how little we know, or are in control of, and what a wild ride this one lifetime has been!

By the time I came home, my Aquarian mind was spinning. I went up on my deck and made my saluations to the brilliant silver disk of the moon, asking for sleep and sweet dreams. Mercifully, my wish was granted, and I woke to my son bringing me coffee and a bouquet of flowers. Loving this lifetime, loving this ride. It's groovy.