Hollerbeier Haven August 2007
"Even the mere layman can enjoy and benefit in many ways from the practice of painting"earthstars". Certain geometric and numerical configurations have always been held "sacred" since the stone age. Painting or pecking symbols in the rock cliffs has been so easy that even a "caveman" could do it. I like to make the analogy between "hex sign painting" and growing plants. Perhaps more precisely planting seeds. They both are creative acts. When planting a seed, all of the components of the mature plant are there in a very compact form. The results of the "planting" are not always known and the conscious intent of "planting" can be misleading.
"Growth" occurs sometimes in such away that is not always anticipated. The subcon-
scious mind needs only to be exposed to a conscious experience in order for it to manifest that experience's essence into a creative result......all the stylized intent in the world cannot be a substitute for the irrational power of the paradox. Making a connection with the "Living Universe" is inevitably paradoxical and the results frequently a surprise!!"
Hunter Yoder +++
Hunter Yoder, Hexologist, born and raised in Berks County, PA. Attended Kutztown State University and received a BFA in Painting. His work has been showa at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and in Europe. He currently lives in Park Slope Brooklyn with his wife and 2 daughters.
"My point of origin in all of this has always been the hex sign. Painted them on my father's barn in Richmond Township near Virginville when about 16 years old. He grumbled at the extra cost and expense since the "job" was to just paint the whole barn, ha! But there they were, actually inscribed into the wood, the usual three on the front "bay" and one on either end, none on the back bank side. Eight pointed stars, with a radiating outer border. Made a big impression. I also grew up and went to school with the Claypoole family. You might know the father, Johnny. He took up hex sign painting from Johnny Ott of Lenhartsville, not too far down stream.
I loved Ot's work. It still was pretty visible then. He was basically a commercial painter with a little something extra. The interior of the Lenhartsville hotel, the main dining room is the "Sistine Chapel" of PA Hexology. He decorated all the walls free-form. I think he may have owned the place at one timne. Ott is referred to by Lee R. Gandee in his book "Strange Experience:" A "rain" hex sign Ott painted evidently was left outside too long causing so much rain that the Delaware River flooded, causing 4 million dollars damage. Quite a large sum of money back in the fifties."
Hollerbeier Haven, August 2007, holding my version at the time of a Lee Gandee Hex Sign with “Lo Shu” magic square in the center with my ghetto van in the background in Brooklyn. This was a publication of "The Three Sisters" a New Age Braucherei concern that I was briefly involved in at the time, The publication was taken over by Urglaawe a cult like "Heathen" group that deleted or misplaced this page in their website. September 14, 2023
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