Am fost amândoi lupi, stârnind admiraţie, respect si teama, pana când mi-ai spus : Mă simt rău. Nu pot să mă ridic si raman aici, in poiana ireala si paşnică ca să te admir!

Confruntata cu frica, dezonoarea si remuşcarea... pana dimineaţă sper să-ti mai prind si să-ti pastrez in rânjetul meu sticlirea ochilor tai de fiara!

In toi de noapte mi-ai adus pulpa de ciuta...Dineu de neuitat!

însă ghearele mele zdrelesc deja lutul să-mi facă un ultim culcuş...corpul meu devine trunchi, labele radacini si ramuri.

Devin din ce in ce mai nemişcata, pupile-mi verzi si imobile abia mai pot să-ti urmareasca ritualul ultimului dans in jurul cozii si-n jurul meu.

Vei deveni Marele Lup al cerului albastru, liber de orice, stăpân al unui regat al sensurilor..Un lup singuratec.

Aici in poiana scaldata in soare, imi este din ce in ce mai frig!

The skies are a penetrating blue -- so tonight I may catch sight of the moon, raise gentle cones and sweeping glimpses of light, shed light on my childhood and the lost years of those I love. The African coral tree up the road looks not unlike a laminated parrot. The moon is already like a slice of raw onion in the sky.

I think of the charge of the Goddess and understand how far I have come and how far I have still to go:

"And you who seek to know Me, know that the seeking and yearning will avail you not, unless you know the Mystery: for if that which you seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find it without.

For behold, I have been with you from the beginning, and I am That which is attained at the end of desire."

The Mystery is there and we know it in our hearts for what it is, that we are both centre and periphery, that the truth is always to do with compassion. And that we are always lost and yet found, powerless and empowered.

This is the first of several posts that I made in a private journal exploring some aspects of my research work on the calendar used for festivals and rituals related to Demeter. After many wonderful comments in private, I made the decision to bring this work public and cross post the core material here. This is an on going process of discovery and exploration.

=========================================

I have begun a cycle of work with Demeter that will lead to interesting places. Among them, are a set of rituals I need to do, many will be just me, myself, and I, others will have invitations sent out to them on a small scale. These rituals follow what is called by some the Demetrian Wheel of the Year. As you might imagine the fall is rather busy for this harvest Goddess, which makes my life more than a little interesting right now, but I have plans and plots that will make this work without too much stress (I think). What’s bugging me is the fact that the year as laid out for Demeter’s festivals is not meshing with what I understand of growing cycles here in California. I’d sum up for you, but that really wouldn’t help – so here is the long version…

(dates are contemporary approximations of when the rituals happened in the past – the ancient Greek Calendar being rather different than our current one. The Description of what happens comes from Jennifer Reif’s “The Mysteries of Demeter” – a good book over all. )

October 7 Rites of Proerosia Preplowing rites. Blessings and magic for to

prepare the sacred field

October 15 Stenia Festival Bawdy humor, sacred sexuality. Barren

Demeter becomes Fertile Mother.

October 16 Arkichronia Festival Creation of fertility talismans. Combining

Earth and Underworld powers.

October 22 Thesmophoria Proper Celebration of Demeter’s sacred laws.

Remembering our divinity.

October 23 Rites of Nestia & Kalligenia N = The Sadness. Queen Persephone leaves

her beloved Plouton/Hades and the

Underworld. K = The Rejoicing. Ascent of the Maiden. Reunion of Demeter and Kore. Planting.

January 10 Festival of Haloa Celebration of new green growth in both

cultivated field and wild nature.

March 1 Festival of Chloaia Festival of flowers, of Verdant Demeter and

Kore, and of the green earth.

April 12 The Lesser Mysteries Ceremony of the whole festival cycle.

Purification. Consecration to Demeter.

May 15 Thargelia The Harvest. Demeter the Harvest Queen.

The seed and the Maiden are matured.

June 7 Kalamaia the Threshing. Freeing the seed grain from

the chaff, honoring Triptolemos.

June 28 Skira Festival The Maiden’s descent. In love, Plouton and

Persephone unite. The grain is stored. The fallow period begins and in the following months, Demeter becomes the Crone.

September 20 The Greater Mysteries aka The Eleusinian Mysteries Proper

The Sacred Drama. The reconciliation of

Demeter, Plouton, and Persephone. The Rite

of the Cista Mystica. The Thanatos Rite.

The Crowning.

Now… the cycle as stated here, starts in October and everything is geared toward the Greater Mysteries being the end of the cycle … so in a way, that helps me. I could do nothing now, i.e. skip the GM/EM… which just sounds wrong, or go ahead with a small thing, and then do something a bit bigger next year as a way to complete my year of processing.

The other odd thing to my poor wiccan brain is that the reason the cycle starts in October is that the planting apparently starts in October. Now maybe I am just to Temperate focused but that just sounds wrong to me. Eve in Greece, or it did back in olden days… I don’t know what its doing know… Mum… do you recall from your days in Greece? Meanwhile here, where we have a supposedly Mediterranean Climate the plants are completing a cycle of growth and harvest. We are not preparing the soil for planting. We are preparing for dark time, and a time for the land to lie fallow. Reif talks about the Proerosia as a rite of “pre plowing” – am I just not understanding? Is this something we do to prep the soil before winter so that it will be ready to take seeds and grow in the spring? … But she also has planting happening at the Rejoicing during the Kalligenia. So again with the confusion.

New growth in January I get. “The hills turn green with winter rain” is a powerful line in one of the songs from the Spiral Dance. And by March we have flowers so that I can see… but the rest is messing with my head.

So I am trying to sort out this planting cycle thing Part Two

… June through October is not a fallow time in California. Though honestly is there ever much of a fallow time in CA? I went looking for growing season information starting with Wheat:

Wheat ( Triticum aestivum L. ) can be classified as winter or spring growth habit based on flowering responses to cold temperatures. Winter wheat development is promoted by exposure of the seedlings to temperatures in the 38 degrees to 46 degrees F (3 degrees to 8 degrees C) range. Such types are usually planted in the fall which exposes the seedlings to cold temperatures during late fall and winter. Spring-types, however, do not require exposure to cold temperatures for normal development and can be planted in spring. Both winter- and spring-types, when properly grown in Minnesota, head in the late spring or early summer and mature by mid- to late-summer. this from: http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/cropsystems/DC2547.html

grrr. Everything I am turning up in my web searching is showing me exactly the same thing as what I thought I knew from two years of working in the Produce industry and from actually paying attention to both what comes in at Whole Foods and to the Farmers Markets. While we might get classified by some as a Mediterranean climate, we have the growing cycle of the Temperate Zones only better. But overall the cycle is similar.

What all this means food wise is that the summer fruits are ending now. While you will see peaches and nectarines in the stores, they are past their peak. Ditto for all of the berries. I have been told that Pears are coming into season – the interesting ones, not the year round crap, so I need to try some of the good stuff and enjoy.

Oranges have become a year round crop, so I can’t actually tell what their natural cycle is. Same for Apples. I did find notes that January is the month to tend to Apple planting and apple trees. I know that fall is “apple season” in my head. Back east is was when we would get the organic apples in to the farmers market. And apples last through winter because they store well so that is why they are one of the common fruits used in the fall for feasts. Same with onions and potatoes. If you store them right, they will get you through a lot of tough times.

The vegetables I am less clear on. Artichokes are summer. Cucumbers are traditionally summer but are force grown now for year round use, same with all the lettuces, celery, carrots, and tomatoes. The heirlooms you get in the summer though. Corn is a late summer / early fall crop. Here’s a lovely blog by a Bay Area gardener who is growing corn: http://mybayareagarden.blogspot.com/ The squashes have specific seasons depending on their nature: Winter squash or Summer squash. The Zucchini have been over grown so most people don’t know that they are a squash let alone that they are supposed to have a season. *sigh* Pumpkins of course are a fall/winter veggi. I *might* get one from my attempt to grow them this year, which would be way cool.

So I am back to the fact that I am not convinced that the cycle as practiced in ancient Greece fits contemporary Northern California, or really any of North America for that matter. What to do about that is another matter. …

See it’s the May date that really starts my problems. The Thargelia – Harvest in May. For Temperate zones this is the beginning of summer. While we all call Summer Solstice The First Day of Summer, in Pagan/Wiccan terms Beltane is the first day of summer and Summer Solstice is the Height of Summer and the Height of the Gods power – hard to be the beginning and the height of something at the same time, how did you get to the top of the apex anyway? Here things are still reveling in life and growth and sex for Goddess sake. Who wants to be harvested now? Just after Beltane? Yuck! So now. That does not work for me. Ditto the Kalamaia on June 7^th – Thressing and seed from the chaff? That’s John Barleycorn time. Nope, not working for me. Skira Festival June 28^th – the Maiden’s descent. Excuse me? What is she doing going down in the bright sun? And then Demeter is supposed to be a Crone at the height of the growing season for this region. I don’t think so. Nope, also not working for me.

Ok… Wiccan wheel of the year – starting at harvest for a visual:

August 2 Lammas First harvest

Sept 21 Mabon Harvest festival threshing. Seed from the chaff

Nov 1 Samhain New years. The dead. Mourning and Celebrating.

Preparing for fallow period.

December 21 Yule Festival of Ligts during the dark. Land lies cold. No

growth. Dark nesting seeds.

February 2 Imbolg Milking of the lambs, celebrating new life in the

sheep. One last storm before spring.

March 21 Ostara flowers and green growth

May 1 Beltane Vibrant life growth all around

June 21 Litha Height of growth and sun.

But what if we pushed all of those back a few months? If the Thargelia is actually a cognate to the first harvest that the Celts and contemporary wiccan’s celebrate as Lughnassad / Lammas, and Kalamaia is what we celebrate at Mabon / Autumn Eqinox, then the Maiden descends into the underworld with her lover at oh I don’t know… Samhain? Heck, I’m easy… it could be any date about two weeks after Autumn equinox, so the 1^st of October even. Which for contemporary pagans works out nicely since some of us end up doing the Greater Mystery anytime in the first two weeks of October, and really that makes much more sense to me (though why that would be I think is a separate diatribe) .

It also seems to me that the Rites of Proerosia happen out of order here in Northern climates. I suspect, though I need to do more digging because its not a rite I am familiar with yet, that it has more cognates with Imbolg magic and that level of preparation before spring than it does with Mabon’s harvest magic. If I am correct, I would vote to move this rite to early February between Haloa and Chloaia – honor the human work that needs to go into helping the land be ready to produce on an agricultural scale vs celebrating what nature does naturally when the rains come (Haloa) and after plowing and work has been put into the fields (Chloaia).

Hmmmm….

Alternatively move Proerosia to January when the land here is rich and wet and able to receive. Prepare it for the work ahead. Then push Haloa and Chloaia each back. That puts Haloa in February as the celebration of green growth as the rains begin to slow and trickle off. Chloaia at Beltane and the Festival of flowers. Move the Lesser Mysteries to June / Summer Solstice – the height of Demeter’s power with so much growth happening all over the place. Then we are in sequence with the other dates for the local harvest. That feels better, it doesn’t leave the whole summer without festivals to honor the Goddess who brings us the yummy stuff.

Haha! The damn cycle does map to the stuff in my head!! So this is what I think it should look like:

January Rites of Proerosia Preplowing rites. Blessings and magic for to

prepare the sacred field

February Festival of Haloa Celebration of new green growth in both

cultivated field and wild nature.

May Festival of Chloaia Festival of flowers, of Verdant Demeter and

Kore, and of the green earth.

June The Lesser Mysteries Ceremony of the whole festival cycle.

Purification. Consecration to Demeter.

August Thargelia The Harvest. Demeter the Harvest Queen.

The seed and the Maiden are matured.

Autumn Equinox Kalamaia the Threshing. Freeing the seed grain from

the chaff, honoring Triptolemos.

October 1 Skira Festival The Maiden’s descent. In love, Plouton and

Persephone unite. The grain is stored. The fallow period begins and in the following months, Demeter becomes the Crone.

Pre Thesmophoria

October Stenia Festival Bawdy humor, sacred sexuality. Barren

Demeter becomes Fertile Mother.

October Arkichronia Festival Creation of fertility talismans. Combining

Earth and Underworld powers.

Thesmophoria Main

October Thesmophoria Proper Celebration of Demeter’s sacred laws.

Remembering our divinity.

October Rites of Nestia & Kalligenia N = The Sadness. Queen Persephone leaves

her beloved Plouton/Hades and the

Underworld. K = The Rejoicing. Ascent of the Maiden. Reunion of Demeter and Kore. Planting.

October 10 – 25 ish The Greater Mysteries aka The Eleusinian Mysteries Proper

The Sacred Drama. The reconciliation of

Demeter, Plouton, and Persephone. The Rite

of the Cista Mystica. The Thanatos Rite.

The Crowning.

Now this still leaves me with what to do about all the damn rituals I need to celebrate… but if I can get Demeter to agree to this calendar, then I think I have something to work with. I see a meditation in my future.

==========================

A few days later... I learned more... that changed my world view again!

The footage below was found on YouTube regarding the discovery of this bowl:

The report from the Christian Telegraph now follows:

Scientists find ancient bowl that may call Jesus a magician

In what is certainly to be a controversial speculation too hard for many Evangelical Christians to swallow, scientists claim they have found an ancient bowl that refers to Jesus Christ as a magician, reports Michael Ireland, chief correspondent, ASSIST News Service.

A team of scientists led by renowned French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio recently announced that they have found the bowl, dating to between the late 2nd century B.C. and the early 1st century A.D., that is engraved with what they believe could be the world's first known reference to Christ.

In an online article by Jennifer Viegas of the Discovery Channel posted to the MSNBC website, scientists say the engraving reads, "DIA CHRSTOU O GOISTAIS," which has been interpreted to mean either, "by Christ the magician" or, "the magician by Christ."

The MSNBC article says that if the word "Christ" refers to the Biblical Jesus Christ, as is speculated, then the discovery may provide evidence that Christianity and paganism at times intertwined in the ancient world.

"It could very well be a reference to Jesus Christ, in that he was once the primary exponent of white magic," said archaeologist Goddio, who is co-founder of the Oxford Center of Maritime Archaeology.

In her article, Viegas says that Goddio and his colleagues found the object during an excavation of the underwater ruins of Alexandria's ancient great harbor. The Egyptian site also includes the now submerged island of Antirhodos, where Cleopatra's palace may have been located.

Viegas says that both Goddio and Egyptologist David Fabre, a member of the European Institute of Submarine Archaeology, think a "magus" could have practiced fortune telling rituals using the bowl. The Book of Matthew refers to "wisemen," or Magi, believed to have been prevalent in the ancient world.

According to Fabre, the bowl is also very similar to one depicted in two early Egyptian earthenware statuettes that are thought to show a soothsaying ritual.

"It has been known in Mesopotamia probably since the 3rd millennium B.C.," Fabre said. "The soothsayer interprets the forms taken by the oil poured into a cup of water in an interpretation guided by manuals."

Fabre added that the individual, or "medium," then goes into a hallucinatory trance when studying the oil in the cup.

"They therefore see the divinities, or supernatural beings appear that they call to answer their questions with regard to the future," he said.

Viegas writes that scientists theorize the magus might then have used the engraving on the bowl to legitimize his supernatural powers by invoking the name of Christ.

Goddio said, "It is very probable that in Alexandria they were aware of the existence of Jesus" and of his associated legendary miracles, such as transforming water into wine, multiplying loaves of bread, conducting miraculous health cures, and the story of the resurrection itself.

Viegas explains that while not discounting the Jesus Christ interpretation, other researchers have offered different possible interpretations for the engraving, which was made on the thin-walled ceramic bowl after it was fired, since slip was removed during the process.

Bert Smith, a professor of classical archaeology and art at Oxford University, suggests the engraving might be a dedication, or present, made by a certain "Chrestos" belonging to a possible religious association called Ogoistais.

Klaus Hallof, director of the Institute of Greek inscriptions at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy, added that if Smith's interpretation proves valid, the word "Ogoistais" could then be connected to known religious groups that worshipped early Greek and Egyptian gods and goddesses, such as Hermes, Athena and Isis.

Hallof additionally pointed out that historians working at around, or just after, the time of the bowl, such as Strabon and Pausanias, refer to the god "Osogo" or "Ogoa," so a variation of this might be what's on the bowl. It is even possible that the bowl refers to both Jesus Christ and Osogo.

Fabre concluded: "It should be remembered that in Alexandria, paganism, Judaism and Christianity never evolved in isolation. All of these forms of religion (evolved) magical practices that seduced both the humble members of the population and the most well-off classes."

"It was in Alexandria where new religious constructions were made to propose solutions to the problem of man, of God's world," he added. "Cults of Isis, mysteries of Mithra, and early Christianity bear witness to this."

The bowl is currently on public display in the exhibit "Egypt's Sunken Treasures" at the Matadero Cultural Center in Madrid, Spain, until November 15.

Report from the Christian Telegraph

author’s note:

“I’m gonna do what I gotta do to get the union back!”
                     --  from the movie Hoffa
 

THE KISSING FISH

The kissing fish
arc out of the lake.
One coming from the north.
One coming from the south.

They meet in mid-air
and for one still moment
their mouths adhere.

And all the people who’ve gathered
round the bank
to witness
the twilight summer ceremony
see something that looks like magic
and may very well
be perfect--

because in that brief interval
a dream hope
becomes a union made real.

But once complete
the rainbow must fade--
the lovers break

with a collective sigh
from the crowd
as the shallow bodies
flutter helplessly down...

and when they smack
flat on the water
in double ring of spray,
those bodies fracture
into a mass
of tiny yellow leaves--

but like all that falls
the leaves decay, become
a scattering of feathery seeds
rolling with the waves.

And as the small fish
dimple the surface
to feed on the new remains,
again we recognize
Perfection.

© 2008, Michael R. Patton
dream steps
earnest audio

Once we had got over our initial hilarity at the location, which was essentially a scout-hut with bar at the back of a housing estate, we soon realised what an absolutely perfect site it was: private, comfortable with bar and food, and no prying eyes of locals. Inside, the stage area was decorated with curtains and a beautiful arched painting of Nuit. She took my breath away and I looked at her often throughout the day.
Unfortunately the DuQuettes were absent, so the number of talks dropped to 6. First off were Peter Grey and his partner on Babalon. Each read their own incredibly evocative and thrilling interpretations of Babalon, the Whore, the Scarlet Woman. (I notice a discrepancy here in my understanding of their work, and TGW’s notes – this I think reflects my bias in favour of Babalon.) Their Babalon was a strong, indefatigable woman, independent and raw; she was the Babalon of two people in love; and the Babalon who challenged all preconceptions including those of Thelema. They called on Thelemites to reject dogma and to commit blasphemy to infuse new life into a partially degenerate philosophy that needed to change to respond and be relevant to the times. The raw sexual language was beautiful, challenging and ultimately deeply arousing. I later overcame my innate shyness to ask them for copies of their work because I very much want to read through both texts at my leisure.

A couple of talks later, this particular image of Babalon was shaken to its roots by Melissa Harrington who spoke about Thelema and The Feminine. (I would just like to say I admired her spirit and thoroughly enjoyed her talk. It's only because she posed such interesting ideas, that I feel able to engage in discussion and disagree with some of her points of reference.) Her first words, though not unkind, were to Peter Grey and partner, saying, "Come back when you've had children and tell me again about Babalon." I prickled at what I felt was a rather dismissive statement. Her talk went on to question the role of women in Thelema; that because the structure has been so male dominated since its inception, that there are not enough provisions made for women, either in a spiritual sense or practically in the form of crèches at rituals. She looked at the audience and marked everyone as a first generation believer, and wondered how on earth anyone could be expected to bring up a child in Thelema with the lack of structure and openness to families and children. This was a fair point, but one that could have been made in isolation. Instead she cited Crowley's behaviour with a string of women, the drugs, the abandonment and death through negligence of some of the children. She found this an unacceptable basis for a religion; that women were essentially given sexual freedom but not the power to deal with it. This is true, and perhaps because I don’t see Crowley as a prophet, but more as an inspired madman, I have no issue in taking the good and leaving the bad: when you start talking about “religion” then people start wanting absolutes; they want their prophets to be flawless and their gods to be manifest in dogma. Untidiness irritates such people. And such people irritate me. Whether it is directly Crowley's responsibility or actually a failure of responsibility by the women themselves, I find harder to say, and the discussion smacks to me slightly of arguing how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Are the personality flaws of Crowley then, still relevant now? Can't we take the best of his work and just move forward with it? If we are looking to him as a cult leader, then his personality flaws certainly create stumbling blocks; but if he is an inspiration, in the true sense of the word as a source that inspires us to other things, then I don’t see that it matters.

Another thing that riled me slightly, was that all of these points could have stood strongly on their own without bringing in the image of Babalon. She said that Babalon was a whore, and a male wet-dream, that ultimately Crowley did not question the motivation of whores and the desperation that drove them to whoredom. A fair point to a degree. But she ultimately robbed Babalon of any power, citing her childlessness as indicative of the barren nature of her symbolism, and that consequently this barrenness was being expressed in current day Thelema by the lack of provision for women and children, and the concomitant outcome that no one at the conference had been brought up as a Thelemite. Two points need addressing here: one - I HATE the way women who have had children then interpret everything in their lives thereafter from the perspective of motherhood as the pinnacle of female achievement. I understand that to them it is the most momentous thing of their lives. But to invoke childlessness as an expression of barrenness, negativity, lack of self, lack of will, slavery to male sexuality is in my opinion entirely missing the point of Babalon. She is an independent woman figure desired by man. She holds tremendous power. I have seen so many women lose any sense of self and individuality to their children; so many merge and become solely the power engine for their brood. Rightly so. If you are going to bring a being into the world, it is your responsibility to give that being everything you can. I am not criticising this. What I criticise is the assumption that childless women are less because they do NOT sacrifice themselves for their children. (This was implicit rather than explicit in her talk; it was unaddressed and hence bugged me big time.) For me, Babalon is a powerful Goddess that represents the ultimate in freedom. Does feminist freedom always have to be entirely and utter split from men? Can't we be free and still in relationship with men? And if it is right to sacrifice yourself to your children whom you love, why is it suddenly wrong to sacrifice yourself to a man you love? The second point is that my understanding of Thelema is that it is a spiritual path which requires a spiritual awakening: it needs you to make the realisation of will to undertake the path; it is not a philosophy that can be taught at Sunday school. It is the philosophy of adults searching for a way to the divine. By trying to force a familial pattern of parental guidance on Thelema, she is trying (in my opinion) to make a tomato out of a chestnut.
Her second partial criticism was how women often came to Thelema through a male partner, but that often the women remained in Thelema once that original partnership dissolved. She used this as indicative of the non-woman friendly feeling in Thelema. Again, I disagree and believe that the reason for this is perhaps slightly more complicated. Thelema, the Gnostic mass and other tenets, are very sexual; to an outsider they could appear (indeed in some ways ARE) sexually aggressive. In today's world I think there are very few women who would feel comfortable entering such a scene on their own, however great their interest. So perhaps the fact that women often approach Thelema through a male partner is less about emphasizing the male dominance and male leadership in Thelemic male/female relationships, than it is about reflecting the sad status of our society, that women are often frightened of overt, public expression of sexuality and feel safer approaching it all through a male partner whom they trust will keep them safe (at least until they have gained trust and confidence in the community).
The second talk was The 5 Senses in AMOOKOS and Tantrik Traditions, by Mike Magee. This was a fairly basic introduction to the idea of Tantra; the balance of Shakti and Shiva, the balance of male and female internally. The only new bit of information for me was gleaned from a training level in the AMOOKOS tradition, where initiates were called on to practice sense focus for a period of 26 weeks: one week they would focus on sight and keep a journal about (for example) the different shades of grey they saw through the week; the second week focused on taste; the third on hearing; the fourth on touch; the fifth on smell and the sixth represented ether and was a week of meditating on the present, of grounding and feeling utterly in the moment. This sequence was repeated over the 26 weeks, by the end of which you would have an extensive diary of your sensory experiences, which often led to certain changes in the initiate and the integration of disparate memories and sensory experiences. An integrity of being seemed to be the ultimate focus, but the final outcome depended entirely on the initiate's own experiences and it was up to them to apply interpretations and learn from their experiences. This is a practice I am considering working through, as it could be very useful for my Kundalini practice.
Following Melissa Harrington, there was a talk by Charlotte Rodgers on Taboo & Blood Rites. There was in my mind very little information on generic blood rites, and it was more of a personal journey using blood; this was fascinating and I warmed to this woman greatly. She discussed the difference between venous blood and menstrual blood. She cited personal experience, which I don’t think it is appropriate to go into here. She touched on the subject of Mayan yoga, as in Maya/illusion. Performing this type of yoga in front of mirrors covered in blood symbols draws out aspects of self. This encourages a splitting of self to enable working on manifest aspects of self.

After this there was a talk on Goetic Magick by Jake Stratton-Kent. His experience seemed focused primarily on the Grimoirum Verum. The content of his talk passed me by, the prime interest for me came in the question time where he talked more openly about spirits with whom he had what he termed a "marriage type relationship". These relationships were concrete things that he worked on as any other kind of relationship. I enjoyed the matter-of-fact way that he spoke about spirits. His relationship with them seemed more concrete than my own, but the way he spoke of them as such an integral part of his life - "I get along with some spirits better than I do with some people" - this rung true for me, and I felt he was speaking my language.
The final talk was given by a young German man, David Beth, Into the Meon - Inside Voudon Gnosis. His English was excellent, but unfortunately he assumed that everyone in the audience was privy to certain knowledge, that TGW and I mostly certainly were not. Consequently we were unable to follow the thread and missed out on learning much of anything. I'm sure that wasn't the case for the more learned people in the audience. What did strike me was that in his tradition blood shares a cosmic essence with the “upper world”. The junction where these two essences meet in the adept is the hieros gamos. He also spoke of a concept called Las Prise des Yeaux, which is a form of esoteric vision of objects where you view the spiritual essence in all things animate and inanimate (another practical exercise in the offing).

This is a censored and curtailed version of the event, and hence the text at times appears a little choppy, for which I apologise. I took some hefty secateurs to it to make it publicly palatable :-) Some things are not appropriate for public consumption, some things are too personal to me to convey. Let it just be said, that this was a hugely important day for me, made all the more enjoyable by the company of TGW. I will definitely be going next year.
© starofseshat 2008

Well, yesterday I attented a meeting of the Danish Lodge of Research, Friederich Münter (I am a corresponding member), on this very subject. The presented lecture was written by one of the original founders of the lodge, who is also a member of Chevalier bienfaisant de la Cite Sainte in Belgium. It was a very thorough paper focusing on the historical spread of the rite and the masonic climate in Europe in which it proliferated, and later diminished (or consolidated), up until today.

The complete answer to my question goes beyond the scope of this blog, but basically what happened was this: the convent at Wilhelmsbad, 1782, agreed that the Strict Observance (SO) had outlived itself, and that Willermoz' Rectified Scottish Rite should take its stead. But the SO was capitulated before agreement had been reached on how exactly to implement the higher degrees of the new system. So the Danish freemasons simply decided to bring home the three Craft-degrees and skip the higher degrees (and the managerial aspects of the order) until the next convent could agree on their design. Unfortunately Prince Ferdinand von Braunschweig, who was the head of SO and took charge of the renewal, died before this could happen. But there was already an existing Grand Chapter in Denmark, and some of its members were loath to give up their status, and others had been promised positions under the new, rectified system; so this institution carried on and handled the leadership (as a grand lodge of Denmark), as the newly imported rite didn't come as a fully fledged organisation, and it had been decided not to take on Willermoz' high degrees. Not until 1817 and 1819 did Prince Carl von Hessen-Kassel, the ruler of the Danish freemasons, start Scots (St. Andrew's) lodges in Denmark, and in 1819 he also instituted a Masonic Directorate to handle the ruling of Masonic affairs. But the faulty system that was introduced in 1782 was never really repaired, because Denmark and Germany ran afoul in political matters. And instead, the Swedish Rite found its way here in 1853 and marked a new beginning.

So, things might have been very different, had the issues at Wilhelmsbad been resolved; imagine: a national regular grand lodge working the full vision of Willermoz (rather than the priories that exist today) ... It also explains why Denmark ended up being, by some, considered the last remaining vestige of Strict Observance in Europe (even if that was only due to bad luck and/or lack of leadership).

Pictures: the shield of Lodge of Research Friederich Münter; portrait paintings of Prince Carl von Hessen-Kassel and Prince Ferdinand von Braunschweig (from Wikipedia).

Mau mudik, jauh-jauh hari sudah sibuk ngantri beli tiket (KA), terima THR yang nggak seberapa buat beli oleh-oleh, baju lebaran . . , pake baju lama aja , oleh-oleh buat bapak, buat ibu, buat adik, buat keponakan yang banyak, setelah dihitung-hitung sisanya super mepet, bahkan setelah dipotong ini dipotong itu hanya cukup untuk hidup super ngirit di bulan berikutnya, sampai terima gaji berikutnya.

Ya sudah toh cuman setahun sekali, lagian tiap tahun ya seperti ini keadaannya.

Sholat Ied sudah, ketemu teman masa kecil sudah, sungkeman sudah,

Suguhan hari lebaran sudah tertata rapi di meja, tamu-tamu juga datang dan pergi setiap saat (maklum, di desa bapaknya jadi lurah) . Anak-anak kecil silih berganti berdatangan, perlunya hanya cium tangan sambil mengharapkan ang-pau, isinya paling-paling cuman seribu rupiah, tapi kali sekian rumah kali sekian hari ditotal-total ya banyak juga dapetnya. Bapak dan Ibu nggak brenti-brentinya terima tamu dengan senyum lebar di bibir, dia juga ikut-ikutan senyum sambil bersalam-salaman , walaupun sudah nggak kenal lagi, karena sudah sekian tahun pergi meninggalkan desanya , merantau ke kota, mencari penghidupan yang lebih menjanjikan.

Setelah tamu-tamu pulang yang tersisa hanya gelas, cangkir dan piring-piring kotor, tissue-tissue bekas disana-sini, asbak yang penuh dengan puntung rokok, dan bau khas yang tertinggal.

Sampai dua hari menjelang waktu libur habis, dia bersiap-siap untuk kembali ke kota , kekehidupannya yang biasa.

kopernya udah disiapkan,  oleh-oleh berupa jajanan khas desa sudah tersusun rapi dalam boks bekas mie instan yang diikat tali rafia, besok pagi-pagi banget dia harus sudah ada di stasiun, karena tiket KA untuk pulang belum di tangan, jadi harus ngantri dulu.

akhirnya setelah tiket terbeli, duduk di bangku kereta api, sambil menarik nafas lega yang panjang ,yang ada dibenaknya hanya sisa-sisa kenangan saat lebaran di desa, besok dia sudah harus kembali bekerja, hanya untuk bayaran yang nggak seberapa, yang hanya cukup buat bayar sewa rumah petak dan makan 2 kali sehari plus kopi pahit, tapi ia bahagia karena kewajiban sebagai seorang anak terhadap orang tua (atau masyarakat ? ) telah terpenuhi. Setahun dijalani, menunggu saat lebaran berikutnya tiba, dan mengulang ritual lebarannya, . . . hmmmmmm!!

"Yohualtecuhtli, the Lord of the Night, Yacahuitzli, has arrived! How will his labor go? How will the night pass and the dawn come?"

Following up on my earlier article on how the priests greeted the dawn, above is my rendition of the traditional prayer saluting the dusk. It is a modernized composite of the two variants recorded by Sahagun and Tezozomoc. (To read Dr. Seler's translation of the Tezozomoc version, click HERE and search within the book for youaltecutli. The only hit is on page 357, containing the prayer in question.)

This prayer was traditionally offered around sundown, as a particular constellation called mamalhuaztli, the Fire Drill, rose from the east into the darkening sky. It was accompanied by the offering of incense, being another one of the nine times a day the priests would offer copal to the Teteo.

You may be wondering exactly what constellation mamalhuaztli is, as its rise was the traditional signal to perform this rite. The bad news is. . . we're not sure. Partially because the records suck, partially because the constellations have drifted in the sky over the past millennium or so. We have enough information to know that this constellation was in the vicinity of the Pleiades, and apparently some scholars think the Fire Drill was three stars that are part of them. However, the stars in Orion's belt are another popular theory, and at least one guy seems to consider the Northern Cross a candidate, though his credentials are suspect at best. The link above to the original language of the prayer includes some of Seler's deductions regarding the identity of this constellation, though sadly the whole thing isn't available. Go HERE for a very brief discussion on the Aztlan mailing list hosted by FAMSI regarding the Orion vs. Northern Cross debate if you're curious.

Due to this uncertainty, I'd advise taking the obvious route of observing this prayer either at sunset or right at full dark. It's not perfect, but it should be in the ballpark I'd think, and archaeoastronomy isn't my strength. So, good enough for me, and it seems a reasonable alternative for modern practice in the face of a gap in our knowledge. However, if anyone does have a good background in this branch of astronomy and can help out, I'd be interested in hearing what you have to say about the identity of the Fire Drill constellation.

UPDATE 10/2/08:

Well, my dear friend Shock answered my plea for archaeoastronomy help on this issue! This subject is one that's close to her heart, and she's studied the scholarship on this area extensively. This is what she had to say regarding the identity of the Fire Drill:

"Anyway… About the fire drill constellation. It’s Orion’s Belt, clear as day if you look at the evidence. The Pleiades couldn’t possibly be it. It’s a seven/six star cluster within Taurus and used as a reference point for the Fire Drill in the primary source material. Taurus itself couldn’t be it for these same reasons and the fact that its other noticeable stars aren’t in a straight line. The Cygnus idea makes little to no sense considering that Sahagun clearly states in book 7 of the Florentine that the constellation is near the Pleiades. Cygnus is NOWHERE near the Pleiades in the night’s sky. In book 7, look up two parts. First, the fire drill part in Nahuatl and then Sahagun’s commentary in Spanish under Castor and Pollux. Several things are clear; the Fire Drill needs to be by Gemnini and it needs to be by Taurus. It also has to be a straight line of three bright stars. The straightness is reiterated in the Nahuatl text numerous times. And what’s right by both of these, with three bright stars? Orion’s belt. And then you have the comparative ethnography stuff from FAMSI, plus there’s more stuff similar to that which is closer to Mesoamerica."

So, it does look like the best candidate for the Fire Drill constellation is the stars of Orion's Belt!

Also, I've been informed that the guy who favors the Northern Cross as the Fire Drill is a third-rate "scholar" connected to the godawful "Mayalords" site, so I'd recommend ignoring him beyond the value of knowing what the crap arguments are out there.

Thanks Shock!

If you're particularly interested in this subject, I recommend watching the Comments on this post for more.

BEFORE THE ZAR

I am ready for the Zar.
Bathed, perfumed, hennaed,
my hands and feet tattooed
with the proper designs,
silver amulets encircle my
arms, throat, ankles.

I have made
the ritual prayers.
I dance to open paths
sweet incense bathes my soul.

This is old country,
possessed with Zars,
Selfish demons that
demand and torment
belabor and befuddle,
Creep up by our side
when we toil by day
sidle into our thoughts
when we pray at night for rest.

Beloved!
The Zar never purges
these troubling Spirits,
but
beguiles, baffles, bothers,
hopefully placates
and ultimately restores
Spirit to Flesh.

I beat out the rhythm
DUM (space) teka-tek
DUM (space) teka-tek
gird my loins with faith
and prepare to do battle.

But hear my cry!
If my demon refuses
to quiet his Hell within,
then throw the stern net
of your reason over me.
Pin me down with your lucidity.
Use your strength and increase it again with pain.
lay down your full weight upon my twisting limbs,
nail me to the Earth with your body and power.
and if I still dance out of control,
twisting under your hips,
stiffen your cock and pin me down hard
and growl into me:
“Woman, be still,
And know I am Man!”

Janekohutbartels
‘teela’
copyrighted, 2008

Happy New Year.

************************************

Truthiness.

That's TV host Stephen Colbert's for "the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true."

When Colbert first coined the word on his show he used the Iraq War as an example.  "The facts may have proved us wrong." He said.  "But didn't the invasion just feel right?"

Truthiness, then, is the opposite of skepticism. Where a skeptic questions the validity of things that can't be proven true, --  like, say, that a certain Alaskan governor is ready to be Vice President -- the Truthi-ac just plain likes her.

Truthiness is also completely antithetical to Jewish tradition.  We don't just feel things and then decide they are so.  We scrutinize, we agonize, we analyze.  There are endless debates about everything from whether or not one can eat rice on Passover, to whether we light the menorah from right to left or left to right, to whether or not pastrami on white is a punishable offense.

As Humanists we question everything.  I once read that the believer only has to justify the existence of God, and the atheist the existence of everything else.  Well, for many of us, that leaves everything else.

So why, then, are we Humanists, we skeptics, here on this day - among the holiest for those who believe? You might say because of tradition.  Or because you wanted to be a part of a community of like-minded people.  Or even that you married a Jew and you had to come.

For many of us, the traditional Rosh Hashanah Torah readings are about the birth of Isaac and the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael, and the Abraham/Isaac story.  For those of you who are a little rusty, here's how they go.  (more or less)

God has promised elderly Abraham and Sarah that Sarah will have a son. They are both skeptical, to say the least.  In fact, they laugh at him.  So when Sarah does not quickly bear a son for Abraham, she allows her husband to have a child with a slave girl, Hagar. Ishmael is born.

Thirteen years later, when Sarah is ninety and Abraham 100, they finally have a son, Isaac, born, tradition says, on Rosh Hashanah.  Suddenly, Sarah doesn't want competition around. So she tells Abraham to cast both Hagar and Ishmael out into the desert.   Abraham, to his credit, thinks this is a terrible idea, but God, believe it or not, gives him the go-ahead.  Luckily, God also steps in just in the nick of time to save both mother and child.

This would seem like a good time for "they all lived happily ever after," but the next thing we know, God asks Abraham to prove his devotion by sacrificing Isaac to him.  This time, Abraham isn't skeptical at all.  He simply obeys. But God steps in (just in the nick of time) and tells Abraham that it was all a test.  God wanted to make sure that Abraham would obey - and since he would, he didn't have to.

I asked my eight year old son, Avery, what he thought of the first story. Of Hagar, Sarah and Ishmael. "Impossible" he said.  "Sarah is too old to have a baby."

"What about Abraham?"  I asked.

"Oh, he's a man, he can have babies any time."  Already a wiseguy and a skeptic.

When Peter first asked me to speak at Rosh Hashanah, I immediately thought of these stories and how they were among the reasons -- along with all that standing up and sitting down --  I stopped going to traditional High Holy Day services.  I just didn't buy it.  I could believe that Sarah, in her jealousy, would cast out the mother and illegitimate son of her husband.  But even if Hagar and Ishmael did survive - I'm not buying that God came down to make it so.  And I'm with my son - maybe some of us are having children later in life....but 90? I don't think so.

I also don't believe that God spoke to Abraham and told him to kill his own son. I don't believe God ever comes down and tells anyone anything.  Makes it sound like God is a Junior High School Vice Principal: "Don't make me get Vice Principal Adonai down here!"  I don't buy it.  I just don't.  Doesn't have Truthiness, I guess.

So the story isn't true. It's a myth.  So what? Picasso said that "Art is a lie that tells the truth."  I say, "A myth is a lie that tells the truth."  So this is our myth.  The myth repeated on Rosh Hashanah. But what truth does it tell?  And what is truth anyway?

As Humanistic Jews, we don't particularly depend on this myth, or even connect it to the holiday.  Humanistic Jews believe that "We possess the power and responsibility to shape our own lives independent of supernatural authority."  So we don't believe or necessarily even tell the Rosh Hashanah story.  We don't even acknowledge a supernatural authority.  Why, then, do we honor the holiday at all?

It must be because whether we believe them or not these stories have something to teach us.  Something that transcends our skepticism and cynicism.  Because even if we don't think they are absolutely true, we also know that "truth" isn't all it's cracked up to be.  Because I am talking about "truth" as opposed to accuracy. Truth goes beyond the facts.  Real truth has, well, Truthiness.

In the case of the story of Sarah and Abraham, the Human saga is the truth.  The laughter of surprise and disbelief.  The doubt, the jealously, the pride, the hardness of heart.  These ring true.  And if we are skeptical about other aspects of the story...so what?

Maybe we don't need to believe in something to see the truth in it.

Like the Tooth Fairy.  The last time my daughter, Rachel, lost a tooth, the Tooth Fairy "forgot to come."

She was hysterical.

My son - the skeptic - was extremely helpful: "Oh come on. The tooth fairy is like Santa Claus," he said.  "It's just made up."

My daughter looked stricken. "Mommy, is it true? Is the Tooth Fairy made up? Like Santa Claus?"

Now I had a problem.  My husband and I don't want our kids to believe in Santa Claus - the commercialism, the materialism, the fact that if they believed they'd feel terrible that he doesn't come to our house. But the Tooth Fairy?  She's about the wondrous - dare I say miraculous -- process of growing up.

"Ok," I said, I'll tell you the truth." And then I lied. "The first time, the tooth fairy really does come.  But after that, she tries to get to every child who loses a tooth, but she just doesn't have enough magic.  So she counts on parents to check to see if she's left a present. And last night, Daddy and I forgot to check."

And just like that, she believed again.

I am moved at the ability of faith to supersede all reason. I am amazed by my own daughter's ability to understand and forgive. And I realize - I didn't lie to my daughter.  Because there is a magical fairy-like quality to that first lost tooth.  Even for children who willingly suspend their disbelief, the Tooth Fairy matters.  And not just because of the cash. The tooth fairy is part of the ritual of childhood. She is only the vehicle of the myth, not the truth of it. The truth is, the myth of the Tooth Fairy soothes the pain of a losing a tooth, the fear of growing older, the embarrassment of having two front teeth way too big for your face...or of not having them at all for a while. The tooth fairy is part of the mythical time we call childhood.

There's a truthiness to that.

For me, at least, the fact that Rosh Hashanah rituals have been carried out for thousands of years is important. There is a cumulative power in generations of repetition of the same acts, the same words, the same stories on the same days. I may be skeptical of the reasons people perform these rituals, but I don't question the validity of ritual itself.

So we humanists can believe in the Truth of this Holiday, its essence.

In the idea that once a year, we should take stock of our lives.  Look back on our actions and see what we think of them.  Were we jealous? Hard-hearted? Prideful?  Did we hurt others to better ourselves? Were we good parents, looking out for our children - and not "sacrificing" them to our jobs, our busy lives?

We may be skeptical about the particulars of the holiday's stories.  Or about the words in the traditional liturgy that tell us to look outside of ourselves for truth.  But we still believe in looking for that truth, and in using whatever myths, traditions, and rituals will help us discover the truth of who we are - and what we will become.

But one last thing about the Tooth Fairy.

I heard a story on NPR a few years ago, about a little girl named Rebecca who had a friend named Rachel Loberfeld.  One day, Rachel Loberfeld told Rebecca that she knew who the tooth fairy was. The night before, she had seen her own father taking her tooth from under her pillow.  Rebecca ran all the way home and told her mother that she knew all about the tooth fairy.  "It's Rachel Loberfeld's Daddy." She said.  "Ronnie Loberfeld is the tooth fairy."

I love this story.  Because it tells me that even in the face of facts, people find a way to hold on to magic. And who is to tell us where the magic may lie?  In the stories of Rosh Hashanah?  In the ritual of lighting candles?  Of blessing the wine?  For me there is magic - and truth - in simply meeting here, on this day, holy or not - as a congregation, a community that in its very joining, is helping each one of us to find his or her own truth. Together, on this day, we give each other the support we need to be honest in our assessment of our lives.

The night of my Tooth Fairy fiasco, as I tucked my daughter in, I felt something under her pillow.  It was a note: "Dear Tooth Fairy," It read "I'm sorry I didn't believe in you.  I know you're very busy. Love, Rachel."   It's hard to be cynical about that.

So on this Rosh Hashanah I wish you all a good year.  One filled with unanswerable questions. And maybe some discoveries.  And hopefully, some Truthiness.

La Shana Tovah.

Split LP 2006, strictly limited to 500 copies.

Dead Reptile Shrine is one of most original and astonishing bands that grew out the black metal genre - raw guitar, insane vocals, enigmatic occult lyrics and some ritual ambient. Torturium brings cold northern black metal in it's best. This was released by Bestial Burst and some copies should still be available, ask through http://personal.inet.fi/business/bestialburst/. Honestly this is among best split albums I've heard.

Dead Reptile Shrine:
1. Alpha Qabalstica
2. The Dual Principle of Light pt.II
3. Apocalypsis
4. Axis Mundi
5. Winds of War, Names of Death

Torturium
6. Spirit Above the Open Grave
7. Black Glaring Torches
8. Bestial Nights

ABSORB (60.77 mb)

A Malaysian couple have been beaten to death by four close family members in a ritual apparently intended to help one of them stop smoking.

They reportedly smashed the husband and wife's heads on a table, and beat them with broomsticks and motorbike helmets at a house in Kuala Lumpur. The couple's 14-year-old daughter was also injured and taken to hospital...

Mohamed Ibrahim was seeking help to stop his smoking habit, while his wife was suffering from asthma and a liver ailment.

Following this, a 23-year-old male relative suggested that the couple undergo a ritual which involved all family members joining forces to beat up the couple to rid them of their ailments.

Well, it certainly was effective. Worked as well as any other superstitious crap medication.

They ain't smoking anymore. Or breathing.

This new generations, at least in the modern Western societies, have been bombed with information and options to a much higher degree that any generation before. Even adults are having a hard time figuring out how to live their lives surrounded with hundreds of TV channels, thousands of commercials creating and shaping their needs, millions of consumer goods dragging credit cards out of their wallets, all the internet goodies giving them an illusion that there’s absolutely no need to go away from their computers at all… It is so understandable that adolescents fall prey to all these temptations in their teenage years of confusion, fragility and many searches.

When in my teenage years, I used to spend a couple of hours each day roaming with my dog around forests and another couple of hours per day listening to music in darkness just to sort out my daily confusions, thoughts, existential dilemmas and emotions. I can imagine that these modern teenagers have the same dilemmas blurring their beings on the one hand, and many more distractions that keep them from actually facing and digging through them, on the other.

And there’s yet another thing that keeps my mind busy lately, thinking that we parents could help and support them a bit more than what we actually do. I read that some anthropologists claim that puberty is an invention of modern times and that ages back teenagers did not face the same periods of confusion between the childhood and the adulthood as they do now. The crucial point seems to have been the rituals of maturity.

Becoming a fully responsible adult seems to had been a more clear-cut achievement, with people knowing just how long they were children and from which point on the childhood was gone. In some cultures they have sent them to monasteries for a year or so, to go to savannah to kill a lion, or just let them have their 12^th or 14^th or whichever birthday; and from that moment on they were to kiss their childhoods goodbye, leave their warm families, go into the world, build their own house, get their own goats and cows and field and lives; and be fully responsible for themselves.

Our modern kids do not have any of that; what they have is many years of lack of clarity, many years during which the liberties of a child are confused with the responsibilities of a grown-up person, where they want to enjoy the comfort of the family house, but not share the responsibilities of the household. And this long passage is not only killing for us parents, but also for the teenagers, adding tremendous weight to their already not easy search for identity, meaning and a way to live.

I can count myself as somebody who, though not with the best childhood possible, have been fortunate enough to affirm his adulthood and maturity with three initiations in one life. The first one was my suicide attempt at 16 – a clear and fully responsible choice to step out of the painful-but-safe known into the complete unknown. The second was to leave, again, the known and pre-set life and jump into the void of roaming, with no money and maps, in a heavy-duty hippy style, around Middle East and Africa for half a year. No mommy and daddy around to get me out of troubles, only me and the big, uncontrollable world. The third one was the 13 months of obligatory military service in the Yugoslav army – where my needs, wishes, thoughts, feelings, values… did not matter a thing. Yet there I was, finding my way through the day, one after another. Ok, I was not enjoying every bit of these passages, but they were actual thresholds and every single time I came out on the other side more firmly grounded in the reality of this life. And, despite all of that, it still took me another decade or so in order to start acting and living as a fully responsible and mature human being.

So, no matter how irritated sometimes I can get while observing my three teenagers dragging themselves around the house, whining over petty little things that happen to them during the day and resisting to take on even little discomfort or responsibilities, if I look with my heart I can see they are not having a nice time. Sometimes having no problems and facing no boundaries can make you numb and ignorant of everything. Which is painful.

So I am seriously considering creating certain maturity rituals, perhaps encouraging them to take a year off, go pick oranges in Australia or something to make money and afterwards backpack around the world a bit. Or go to a humanitarian mission for a few months somewhere on the other side of the planet. Or go work somewhere for a year and then see if studying is still such a boring and terrible idea. Or… Hm. Do you have any ideas for initiating teenagers, in a humane way, into the adulthood and reality of life?

"Anyway… About the fire drill constellation. It’s Orion’s Belt, clear as day if you look at the evidence. The Pleiades couldn’t possibly be it. It’s a seven/six star cluster within Taurus and used as a reference point for the Fire Drill in the primary source material. Taurus itself couldn’t be it for these same reasons and the fact that its other noticeable stars aren’t in a straight line. The Cygnus idea makes little to no sense considering that Sahagun clearly states in book 7 of the Florentine that the constellation is near the Pleiades. Cygnus is NOWHERE near the Pleiades in the night’s sky. In book 7, look up two parts. First, the fire drill part in Nahuatl and then Sahagun’s commentary in Spanish under Castor and Pollux. Several things are clear; the Fire Drill needs to be by Gemnini and it needs to be by Taurus. It also has to be a straight line of three bright stars. The straightness is reiterated in the Nahuatl text numerous times. And what’s right by both of these, with three bright stars? Orion’s belt. And then you have the comparative ethnography stuff from FAMSI, plus there’s more stuff similar to that which is closer to Mesoamerica."

So, it does look like the best candidate for the Fire Drill constellation is the stars of Orion's Belt!

Also, apparently the guy who favors the Northern Cross as the Fire Drill is a poor-quality "scholar" associated with the atrocious "mayalords.org" site, so I'd recommend ignoring him beyond the value of knowing what the crap arguments are out there.

Thanks Shock!

Incidentally, I have updated my other post with this important information for convenience and clarity.

I have been thinking about sport quite a bit recently, how it fits into the canon of play, how its place differs in different kinds of society etc. I really enjoyed the olympics and para-olympics and was really proud of our teams and their successes (second only to China in the para-olympics). My own involvement in sport is pretty low  - I do yoga, go to the gym and swim, love skiing (I sound like a lonely hearts column!) - but I was always one of the last to be picked for teams at school which tells you all you need to know. I watch sport more than participate and that's  been my main involvement in it as an adult.

I used to go out with a Chelsea supporter. When I say supporter I mean paid up member with season ticket who attended all home and away games; for whom a pair of lucky knickers was an essential part of match day preparation; who wanted a daughter so he could call her Chelsea. I quickly also became a Chelsea supporter too because it was the only way to know what his mood would be when I picked him up for work on Monday morning.

I am glad - now- that he introduced me to the delights of the beautiful game and I too became a member of the Chels for a while, until it became impossible to get pairs of tickets, because I enjoy watching football with someone I can dissect the match with afterwards. I now console myself with watching on tv or use my Wasps season ticket instead for some live and affordable rugby.

I learnt quickly enough that there are aspects of football that are highly similar to organised religion - communal singing, "silver-ware", match-day rituals, special clothing that marks you out as "believing" (and I use that word advisedly) in a certain team, a liturgical calender in which you play different games at different times but you know when things begin and end, and you can keep going with pre-season friendlys and qualifiers, a bit like the saints days during ordinary time. There are saints and sinners and politics and ecstacy and prayer.

So I wasn't surprised by many of the aspects of Iwan Russell-Jones's talk at Greenbelt in August. He talked of the importance sport has for so many, the ways that religion and sport have been intermingled (eg the singing of Cwm Rhondda at the beginning of Wales games) and he pointed out two over-arching things  about sport that allow it to become religious:-

1. sport conveys beauty, truth and meaning
2. sport communicates metaphors for life

One he didn't say that I would add, though he did imply it is that sport allows you to feel a sense of something beyond yourself, an emotional and almost spiritual sense of freedom to express joy, anger, pain. If you have been to any games you will absolutely know what I mean whether your team won or lost.

What I found most interesting about his talk was the seriousness which he accorded to the faith of sport. I personally am in no doubt that sport fills a hole in our playfulness that the decline of religion has left and I think it is the multiplicity of these that makes it so powerful:-

• Fate - plays out on the field as the header that bounces of the goal, the decision of the ref about the penalty kick or the sudden onset of rain affect the play of the game
• Communal Identity - the whole crowd is behind the team, you are bound together by the way that you support, what distinguishes an Arsenal supporter from a Chelsea supporter (taste, discernment, integrity...oh hang on...)
• Frivolity - go to any match, check out the wigs and make-up
• Progress - through the league, through the season...
• Self-actualisation - defining yourself and your relationship to the world, communicating your identity to the world

So how do we respond to this? How can we deal with such a serious religion, particularly as it doesn't acknowledge that it is one?

Russell-Jones suggests three ways -

1. Affirm the unknown God - acknowledge that a player or supporter does undergo religious experiences in reference to their team or chosen sport, and then point out that what they are worshipping goes by a different name in reality
2. Name the idols - point out how badly let down people can be by this religion  which is a fickle and heartless mistress, constantly waiting to kick you in the teeth (check out this season's Wasps scores and you will see what I mean!)
3. Learn to play in the fields of praise - Karl Barthes said "our daily bread must include playing" , we should acknowledge our own enjoyment and need of play and respect a passion that expresses the in-most parts of a person.

What does it boil down to? The last thing one should do in relation to sport is to say "It's only a game".

The Magnificent Monarch: Charles II and the Ceremonies of Power, by Anna Keay Hambledon Continuum, 319 pp. £25.

The notoriously sybaritic Charles James Fox, apparently without a trace of irony, described the reign of Charles II as ‘a disgrace to the history of our country.' Anna Keay's important and lucid book adds weight to a number of recent biographies which have helped to revise the picture of the ‘merry monarch', stressing the shrewd and serious operator behind the louche stereotype.

Concentrating upon Charles II's use of and participation in ceremony, Keay demonstrates that far from being indifferent to court ritual, the king was an assiduous observer of royal ceremony. Charles carefully used this to sustain and increase his power, evidenced by his desire to maintain etiquette even in the straightened circumstances of exile in 1650s.

The book is full of arresting details, such as Keay's revelation that Charles II touched 100,000 of his subjects for the ‘King's Evil' (scrofula) during his reign, amounting to 2% of the entire population. This dedication to the ritual was in marked contrast to his father's reluctance to perform the ceremony.

As the 1680s progressed the court became more formal, access to the king more restricted and its rituals more consciously modelled on the French. The public rising and going to bed of the king, the leveé and couché, were introduced, grand new public rooms built in Windsor and a prospective ‘English Versailles' planned (but never completed) at Winchester. If the emphasis on the earlier years of Charles II's reign had been upon munificence and approachability, in the king's later years, it was upon magnificence and power. The Maundy Thursday ritual of washing the feet of the poor, emphasising the monarch's humility, was tellingly performed by a stand-in - the bishop of London - during the 1670s.

Keay is very strong in unpicking what Charles hoped changes at court would achieve politically but she spends little time in considering whether these alterations secured the desired result. For example, she discusses Charles' decision to reintroduce public dining as an attempt to counter the ‘public relations fiasco' of the Dutch raid on the Medway in 1667. One wonders just how effective such royal spin was against verse libels as hostile as the Fourth Advice to a Painter which pictured Charles as a Nero-like figure who

‘when the Dutch fleet

Arriv'd,

Saw his ships burn'd and, as they burn'd, he

Swiv'd.'

Equally, how did Charles II's care for court decorum square with the notorious activities of courtiers like John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, the 2^nd Duke of Buckingham, and the king's bastard son, the Duke of Monmouth? Did the French influence displayed at court in antagonise a Protestant nation, fearful about Louis XIV's pretensions to be ‘Universal Monarch?'

Nonetheless, this is a very valuable book which reminds us of the court's persistence as an influential institution in an era widely depicted as dominated by Parliament. Keay clearly demonstrates that, despite the challenge posed by the regicide and revolution, royal ritual, ceremony and gesture remained powerful forms of political communication.

• As much as written and spoken language.

It is controlled by conventions in the way it is used

• We usually make eye contact with someone and perhaps smile before shaking hands

Ritual kinds of NVC are common

• Mexican wave
• Rugby teams initial display on the field

NVC may be involuntary or unintentional

• Ticks
• Turrets syndrome
• Pupil dilation
• Blushing

Specific to nations or cultures

It relates to our perception of others

• First impression
• Appearance
• Assumptions

NVC helps build and maintain relationships

• Positive relationships need positive feedback

It relates to the idea of feedback

• See interview

Nobody, okay, that’s hyperbole, but most don’t trust the CBI, the Cops, the IB and the judiciary.

Most don’t trust the politicians.

Most don’t trust people of the other religion. (again an exaggeration, I agree, but it’s not way off the mark)

Most don’t trust people of other regions

Most don’t trust the other sex

Most don’t trust the rich

Most don’t trust the poor

And yet we meet each other every day. Do business. Abuse. Eat. Celebrate. Riot. Condemn. Pontificate. Sleep and Forget.

I have this little ritual in the morning.  I wake up around 5:45 or 6, go straight to the fridge and get my sea salt, take it, have a glass of water, wash out my laundry from the night before, hang it up, eat some breakfast, then I grab my laptop and head out in the hallway (where I am now) to check things online.  I do this in pretty much the same order every morning.  Sometimes I sleep a little late, if I'm very tired or if we've been up late the night before.  Sometimes I skip the laundry, but overall it's the same.  Sameness, ritual, it keeps me slightly more sane.

I've been falling into a groove here in Acapulco.  I feel some days a bit like a gerbil in a maze, chasing the cracker.  Other days this groove feels safe and familiar.  Either way, this groove has become so familiar to me that I think I could almost do it without even being awake.  Almost.  But the one element of this pattern and ritual that I never can foresee is the yoga class.  Sure, I arrive to the room the same time each day.  I have my water, my mat, my ipod.  I grab my towels, walk down the same side of the steps, sign in, put my things away and set up.  I usually sit in the lobby and chat or listen to music, and get ready for my class.  But even in all of this pattern, with its sameness and its rhythm, the unknown still lies in those 90 or so minutes of class.  No matter how much the same I do things, the classes never are.

I've said before that I don't think one can ever truly prepare for an experience like this.  You can't really know what it will be like to be here until you are here.  This is all for a good reason.  I expressed to a friend last night that I feel like I've started over in my practice.  Sure I have in my body and in the muscle fibers all of the memory of the asanas.  Sure I have the built up strength of years of repeating this yoga over and over.  But the intensity of this Training, and the profundity of what it's doing to my body make me feel like a brand new yogini.

Jim said last night in lecture, The only bad class you have is the one you don't do.  But I am a labeler.  I can't help it.  I say constantly, yeah that was a good/bad class.  Some days I say, yeah that was a great class or yeah that was a terrible class.  Why?  I guess in my flesh I want to quantify and qualify my experiences.  I long to grade myself and measure what I'm doing on some invisible scale.  It doesn't even matter.  Whatever system I am using is flawed anyway.

So my goal is to just let the yoga be.  Let the ritual be what it will be, and let go.  90 percent is showing up, that's what the teacher's say.  And for the most part, that choice has already been made for me.  I show up without even trying most days.  It just happens.  So, the rest is easy right?  Well, not always.  But you know what I mean.

My practice became a ritual for me.  I built it into the fiber of my day, like washing my clothes or eating a meal.  But once I'm on the mat, all bets are off.  Those 90 minutes are unique each and every time.  And that's how it should be.

Namaste

Das ständige Wiederholen eines Klanges oder der Stimme führen Dich in einen Trancezustand. Hast Du den Zustand erreicht, ist es erheblich intensiver, was Du dann auf der seelisch-sexuellen Ebene erlebst. Indian Summer ist ein Ritual mit höchstem Anspruch - auch an meinen Gast.

Aktiv sollst Du sein, in den Berührungen, die Du mir gibst, in den Ritualen, die Du mit mir zusammen erlebst. Komm mit und erlebe den Gipfel des tantrisch sexuellen Feuers ! Indianische Klänge, animalische Lust und feurige Liebe erwarten Dich.

Mehrere Vereinigungen gehören dazu um den Gipfel zu erreichen. Pures Glück, Sinnlichkeit, Erotik und ein nie aufhören wollendes Gefühl. Der Weg dahin führt Dich über meine Tantra Massage, bei der auch ein Feuerritual unsere beide Seelen verbindet und reinigt.

Erlebe diese Massage heiß und auch wieder leicht, wild und auch wieder zärtlich. Fühle die spezielle französich tantrische Lingam Massage bevor Du mit mir verschmilzt zu einem Ganzen. Lasse Dich einweihen von mir und der Kunst des tantrisch sexuellen Erlebens. Tauche ein mit mir in die indianisch schamanische Welt.

~ Feuer Ritual - Trancezustand - inspiriende Tantra Massage ~ Austausch von Berührung, Zärtlichkeit ~ mehrere Vereinigungsrituale ~

Dieses mehrstündige Ritual wird angeboten von MAREIKE Tantra Escortservice Düsseldorf Köln.

Ich freue mich auf Dich!

]]>