Peaceful Hippo

Welcome to my Webspace!

My Blog      Websites & Activities

My Songs      My Poetry      My Writing (Prose)

Remembering Walter Wakelin      Phydeaux Speaks!


"I pledge Mother Earth as my one country
I pledge Humanity as my one people
I pledge Life as my religion
I pledge Love as my prayer
I pledge Peace and Freedom as my birthright
And the birthright of all humanity.
My heart beats one with all my Relations. "

- Grandmother Drum pledge
from Whirling Rainbow Project

"You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour,
now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour.
And there are things to be considered:
"There is a river flowing now very fast.
It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid.
They will try to hold on to the shore.
They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly.
Know the river has its destination.
The elders say we must let go of the shore and push off into the middle of the river,
keep our eyes open and our heads above the water.
And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate! "At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally.
Least of all, ourselves.
For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt. "The time of the lone wolf is over.
Gather yourselves!
Banish the word 'struggle' from your attitude and your vocabulary.
All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. "

"WE ARE THE ONES WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR."

- Oraibi, Arizona Hopi Nation
 

Many people used to know me by Harry Smothers or J. Random Folksinger. Most people know me as Moss Bliss.  My mother knew me as Gerald "Moss" Bliss. I turned 70 on Dec. 4, 2022, have shrunk to 5'9" due to age; long brown hair, beard (usually... ), blue eyes, and generally am not bad looking for an increasingly old man.

Member of

SerpentStone Family since 1996
Temple of Wicca (2003)
Universal Life Church (1996)
Progressive Universal Life Church (1996-? closed)
Church of Spiritual Humanism (2010)
Sponsor of The Witches' Voice, Inc.
(#753) (1999-2021 - closed)

I live in Blaine, TN, where I have lived off and on since 2010 (with 1-year stops in Sevierville, Knoxville, and Dandridge). Prior to that I spent 12 years in Asheville, NC, and previously have lived in Greenville SC, Camden/Bishopville SC, Sterling KS, Browns Mills NJ, Denver CO, Grand Junction CO, Colorado Springs CO, Talladega/Sylacauga AL, and Detroit MI, in no particular order, after having been born and raised in Norwalk CA.

I got married just after Thanksgiving 2016 to the former Louise Suzanne Sellick, a Canadian woman who variously lived in Montreal PQ and Green Hill NB. It has been a struggle. We have three cats: Cecil (18 pounds) and Narasimha (14.5 pounds), both black shorthaired, and Gremlin, whom we picked up from the local ferals as a tiny kitten (his litter mates wanted nothing to do with us), a short-haired tuxedo cat (now he's over 17 pounds), all with green eyes.

I was diagnosed as disabled, with bipolar disorder and memory deficit disorder as well as a bunch of minor things. They lied. I have been totally off psych medications since November 2003, and while I'm much better without the drugs, yeah well there was a reason for the misdiagnosis and I'm a far cry from "well". As it turns out, doctors have been ducking a more accurate diagnosis of Asperger's for most of my life (I remember telling a doctor at 12 that it sounded to me like I had a form of autism). I have moderated groups at various online sites on helping each other escape from damaging psychiatric drugs, although Yahoogroups closed 12/31/20 which will likely close most of these groups.

Religion, or spirituality, is very important to me. I, personally, am a monist in my beliefs. Those of you who know me know that this does not make me humorless; if you cannot laugh at your beliefs, you are taking things too seriously. Follow your own heart, and you will know what is right for you.

My Music

My musical tastes run to Folk and Filk, Pagan songs and Labor hymns, with excursions beyond those boundaries. Reading tastes include SF/Fantasy fiction and non-fiction, especially on a variety of religion and spirituality subjects. I have 3 books in print, 2 containing my lyrics to s/t/o/l/e/n/ borrowed tunes displaying my wicked sense of humor and the 3rd with mostly original songs and a couple of short stories and poems. I have been taped at several science fiction conventions, pagan festivals, and on Free Radio Asheville. I've started recording everything I could possibly play, forming Project Moss in 2003 and continued to 2010. I actually only got one subscriber to that. I have dozens of fans worldwide... I have written many excellent original songs, and my songs "Raven and Crow", "Fifty Years Ago" and "All The Love In the World" draw cheers and tears everywhere I play them. Irysa RavenForest is fully responsible for providing the wonderful inspiration for the "Raven and Crow"; the love my parents have held for each other for over 50 years provides the inspiration for "Fifty Years Ago", and "Mary Ellen-or Rigby" is a whimsical look at the Beatles' Eleanor Rigby returning to life as a vampire -- set to the music of Stan Rogers' "Mary Ellen Carter". My song of forgiveness in the face of religious intolerance, "Mother, Forgive Them", has picked up by several Internet Radio Stations. You can hear all these songs and others at My Lyrical Life. I recorded a CD in 2013, titled "All the Love". It finally got published in 2018 and can be purchased for $15 from me or you can purchase the MP3 files at my Bandcamp page for $10 , including a few songs that wouldn't fit on the CD, or purchase them for $1 per song. All my lyrics are published on THIS website; select My Lyrics on the menu above. And I have a YouTube channel. I have more recordings since then, done from my computer or live rather than in studio, which can also be found on my Bandcamp page.

My Podcasts

I asked Jupiter Broadcasting back in 2016 to start a podcast about desktop Linux, but they put me off despite frequent prodding. In late 2018, Rob Hawkins and Isaac of mintCast announced that they were looking for replacement hosts. I started (with a bunch of others) in October 2018. In April 2019, Tony Hughes and I started Distrohoppers' Digest, about the fun and excitement of trying out the various distributions of Linux. And then in April 2021, I was asked to take over as the voice of Full Circle Weekly News. In May 2021, I decided to leave mintCast after 2.5 years, but I returned in March 2020 and continue to this day.  mintCast was founded in 2008, and my status as a co-host of the program currently sees me as 5th on the list in terms of number of episodes hosted.

mintCast
 
Distrohoppers' Digest
 
Full Circle Weekly News
 

 

That's about it about me. If you have any questions, please email me!

E-Mail Me Here!


Winner of the Purple Pentacle Award

May 22, 2000

 

This site is owned by Mordewis ap Llys and Gerald L. "Moss" Bliss, who are the same person.
All materials written by me are protected under the Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license.

Last Update : July 6, 2023