Machinima film-maker and poet Celestial Elf interviewed for Wizzley

Please say a bit about your videos?

My films are machinima films, which is to say that they are machine-cinema, cinema which is filmed within the machine of an online virtual world.
This medium is a wonderful vehicle for exploring all sorts of environments and creating films that would be beyond any manageable budget in the 'real' world, in terms of locations and costumes, in terms of hiring actors and of the time involved in setting up, filming and editing films.
Filmed within a machine, but imbued with the spirit of the content creators who have made the animations and environments which I use, and blessed by the very real people at the other end of the link, wherever they may be around the world in day or night, sharing the moment with me and then via film with you, wherever you may be, its a very magical process.
For example of this magic I share here The Mermaid Queen, which features The Mermaid Queen song by and used with permission of Lisa Thiel.

In a very powerful way, the stories that we see in our modern media are partisan, written and created to valorise and homogenize specific ways of viewing the world and the world affairs of our times, they prescribe our culturally determined set of responses. I consider these perspectives as largely corporate endeavors to control the individuality of humanity and conform us all to best market practices, its not a personal thing, its about business... Despite the rise of internet led individualist media that allows people to communicate outside the box, the path from cultural corporate think to individual freedom and social cohesion within that new stance is still obstructed in my opinion by the habituated forms of expression; corporate medias have to a large extent replaced any alternative methods of representation, storytelling and communication. In response to such an occlusion of the wonderful and diverse perspectives of our natural spirits and the ensuing personal, cultural, social, spiritual, environmental and ecological damage that we see around us resulting from such monocultural shortsightedness, I see the approach of simply subverting the genres of entertainment towards a new info-tainment, creating new stories and cognitive parameters. Independent films such as mine, I consider a small step to opening such gateways towards a more inclusive and cooperative society in spiritual and material harmony with each other, the environment and the world.
In terms of content then, my films explore themes of nature, the pagan traditions and the sacred, gifting an insight of how we may become aware of these aspects and in being aware of them, we may remember them in our normal daily lives.
By way of an example of such alternative perspectives, I share here my butterfly's tale, which sets out the ecological cause of butterflies.

What inspires your poetry?

Is this a trick question? I think that creative people may have a problem in limiting their inspirations, I certainly do because I find everything to be so amazing.
In terms of inspiration, the list is long, perhaps it includes everything that i ever saw-read-heard-thought and felt...
Certainly creatures, clouds, stone circles, lightning, the sky, the earth, my heart, your heart, birds, ravens, crows, owls, butterflies, beetles, bats, pagan festivals, norse mythology, the traffic jam, randomness, old friends, new friends, lightness, the sun, darkness, the stars and moon, modern art, ancient art, that fly which just flew past my ear haha, corn, frogs, that look in your eye just now as you read this list :D
In terms of authors the list is a little more manageable, I would include the visceral power of Allan Ginsberg in Howl, the indefatigable infinity in Jack Kerouac's lesser known work The Scripture of the Golden Eternity, the wisdom of Khalil Gibran's Prophet, The Crazy Beautiful buddhist wisdom embodied in Glenn H. Mullin's translation of the Second Dalai Lama's poetry Mystical Verses of a Mad Dalai Lama (he was also known as the Melodious Laughing Vajra), along with nearly everything by Allan Watts, Ram Dass's insightful Be Here Now, and Peter Berefsord Ellis's great book on The Druids.

My poetry then follows spiritual themes, of a non denominational nature, although tending towards the pagan and the nature based, to recognize and embrace the divine nature within all of us. My poems are keys, sometimes to unlock a closed situation and allow new light to show a path out of life's confusing avenues, other times to unlock the gateways to the inner worlds, to lead an inquiring soul onwards towards their next step...