Circumambulation- Part 2 / The Beginning
The Imprints, the Book & the Walk.
Circumambulation is the ritual act of walking in a circle around a sacred object, shrine, or holy space.
The circumambulation of a book made real.
1- IMPRINTS
In my Brooklyn Gowanus studio I did imprints of feets and hands and paws. Yes, I got to touch the sweet feet of many babes and the paws of some lovely pups. Some cried. Dogs were surprisingly chill.
2- THE BOOK
A woman who came with her baby was selling books in her instagram stories which felt like a beautiful offering, a way move books you wanted to share.
One book, the 'Opening the Mountain: Circumambulating Mount Tamalpais, A Ritual Walk' jumped out at me. So I bought it- $10.
It turned out to be a book about a hike in Marin County and anytime I would meet someone from SF I would say 'Oh I want to do this hike at Mount Tamalpais' and they would always lovingly say, 'oh yeah Mount Tam'.
About the book From Counterpoint Press: In 1965, Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder and Philip Whalen gathered at the base of Mt. Tamalpais, a lovely small mountain in Marin County that anchors the San Francisco Bay on its northwest side. Inspired by Tibetan and Indian practices of walking clockwise–“the way of the sun”–around a venerated object, they “opened the mountain” by completing the first circumambulation. The practice has continued almost uninterrupted for forty years, with Matthew Davis finding an organizing role on April 8, 1971, the Buddha’s birthday, when he first led the walk. He has led the celebrations more than 140 times since.
The ritual walk – slightly less than 15 miles in length – marks the four quarters of the year. Ten way stations have been established for ceremonial chanting and prayer. With 80 remarkable photographs by Michael Farrell Scott, lovely drawings and maps, chants and poems, this book documents not only this particular spiritual practice but offers guidance for others wishing to establish similar practices in their own areas.
3- THE WALK
This year of 2026, I have done a couple of in-store events- maybe the start of it's own kind of circumambulation. The first in February was at Super Simple in Palm Springs and then this past June at Esqueleto in Mill Valley. (Boulder is on the calendar, and then hopefully Taos & Kauai??)
But guess what? Mill Valley sits at the base of Mount Tamalpais.
And guess what else. A friend, a jeweler & silkscreen artist who just printed my new Clay School T's and Totes and who's family lives in Marin and who hikes Overlook mountain here in Woodstock (a local pilgrimage hike) said she was going to be there and would do the hike with me.
Game on.
Our Circumambulation in pics
"In 1992, twenty-seven years after making the first circumam-bulation, Snyder and Whalen responded to David Robertson's persistent questions on their ideas and intentions about "open-ing" the mountain, a revealing phrase they both used in their poems.
According to Whalen, "it is about getting Buddhist tradition or feeling established in this country, where it is so foreign, where it is so disconnected from anything real."I! They wanted to, as Snyder put it, "consecrate Tamalpais as sacred mountain for future generations to do the same kind of pilgrimage on." And, as Whalen said, it's about doing, being active, about how you feel about yourself: "This was something to do, something that you actively, physically, and mentally, of course, do." In essence, Whalen said stop worrying and walk: At that time it stopped me from worrying a lot. I was worrying about a whole lot of things right then. I didn't have to worry as long as I was busy walking around the mountain. So I could feel relatively at ease with myself. I was able just to open up to things and see them and feel comfortable, instead of feeling that I'm no good, or that I'm great. You're just there. A part of the scene.
Snyder concluded: "It is too burdensome to say that it must be a Buddhist ritual. I would rather think that it is open for anyone to be as creative as they like. They can stop at those points we stopped at, or they can stop at other points."!
Later he reflected: I see no reason to consider those particular chants as absolute or even necessary. I have advised people to use the idea of "stations" in their own way feel what they feel, stop at other points where they feel drawn to it, and use it as a moment of mindfulness, or, contribute whatever songs or words they might. ... After all, Allen, Philip and I just made it up, with some Yamabushi background.
Thank you! Thank you KT and family! Thank you Esqueleto! Thank you Mt Tam! Thank you Snyder, Whalen & Ginsberg!
Excerpt from the 'Footnote of Howl' / Allen Ginsberg
Holy forgiveness! mercy! charity! faith!
Holy! Ours! bodies! suffering! magnanimity!
Holy the supernatural extra brilliant intelligent kindness of the soul!