The Museum of Lost Wonder 
Text and art by Jeff Hoke 
(Red Wheel/Weiser, 2006, hard cover, $49.95)

To say this is an unusual book would be an understatement.  As author and illustrator Jeff Hoke notes, this museum in a book is designed to uncover a forgotten way of looking at the world and induce wonder into our lives.

As a former curator and museum exhibit designer for over 25 years, Hoke based his work on the original museums of the 1600s—places full of speculation, mystery and paradox that had no trouble displaying the latest technological gadgets side by side with questionable artifacts or strange oddities from far-off lands. As Hoke notes, this was an exciting era in both art and science in which epiphanies of the inner world were just as important as discoveries of the outer world.

Rather than separate fact from fancy, Hoke encourages readers to engage “seemingly disparate ways of looking at things so you can decide what’s meaningful.” Further, Hoke invokes Alchemy as a central process of transformation—a means of refining consciousness in connecting inner and outer worlds, and using each to view the other. 

If you choose to enter the museum (you’ll find your admission ticket printed on the cover), what a ride it will be! The seven exhibit halls encourage us to observe, ponder and experience a new manner of relating with ourselves and the world. As the halls borrows their themes (and names) from the various stages of alchemy, one’s participation is key in helping to creatively transform base matter and ideas into divine inspiration. 

For example, the first room invokes ‘Calincato’ at the Hall of Technology. Here we explore the fire within and the beginning of everything by decoding various creation tales. As with each exhibition hall, we are invited to create a paper model—each cleverly designed to turn 2-dimensional ideas into 3-D reality. In this case, it’s a stunning model of the universe, replete with stars and black holes, and created so that it actually spins.

Another hall, The Observatory, is devoted to Sublimatio and our vast Imagination. Here we explore dreams, hypnosis, celestial music and are given several creative instructions on how to have visions. The do-it-yourself model is a Hypnotrobe, loosely based on a visualization device used by Tibetan monks.

Other exhibit halls include "Solutio" (Hall of Aquaria), Coagulatio" (Zoological Garden)," "Mortificatio" (Mausoleum of History), "Separatio" (Science and Faith), and "Conjunctio" (Gallery of the Arts).

Lest the wrong folks venture in too far, there are various disclaimers along the way: “The weary, bored and disenchanted are welcome but there are elements here that are not suitable for closed minds and cold hearts. Side effects may include doubt, irrationality, and synaptic pathway realignment. Enter at your own risk!”

In short, this is a delightfully enthralling book, filled with amusements and amazements. Each high quality paper page is filled with numerous illustrations and tidbits of wonders, and the models (printed on a stronger paper that holds up well to cutting them from the book, creasing and gluing as necessary) are equally attentive to detail.

In the Hands of Alchemy: The Art and Life of Jerry Wennstrom  
(DVD, Sentient Publications, 2006, $14.99)  

Jerry Wennstrom is an artist who once gave up everything to explore a journey into surrender, intuition, deep knowing, and what might be summed up as the meaning of life. (See Interview this issue for more.)

This unique DVD includes three short features from different periods in Wennstrom’s life. The oldest is a 15-minute homage to his work (filmed in 1979), revealing a fascinating look at some of his very early art, most of which was soon after destroyed. The newest is “Studio Dialogue”, a presentation by Jerry and his wife, counselor, musician and Certified Death Midwife Marilyn Strong, along with questions and answers before a live audience at their studio on Whidbey Island in Washington.  

The main feature, and title of the disk, is a 29-minute documentary that delves deep in rich exploration of both Wennstrom himself and the art that became part of his journey through life. For Wennstrom, being present, in the moment, open to all of life, is key. Many of the topics he comments upon are thusly ones that look at transformation, mystery, the honesty of presence, and faith in the emergence of things. Conversations with the dark also highlight this film, along with brief commentaries by friends, art folks, the poet David Whyte, and a group of Tibetan monks. As Wennstrom notes, “Life is simply being available, artistically and humanly for other people….It is being present to where surrender leads…to where everything unfolds.”