(561) Sat 4 Mar 89 16:51 By: Tony Iannotti To: Zhahai Stewart Re: Noses of God (Summary of AC's polytheism) St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:62d6 1264866c Here are the results of the Crowley's Favorite God Poll. The numbers represent the number of books, essays, letters, rituals, etc. that deal with the God in Question, rather than an absolute number of mentions. Offhand, I would say that Egyptian was his favorite flavour, and Horus his favorite God, though Ra and Mercury would appear to Place and Show. I threw a couple of Norse Pantheon types in so as to make the Luciferians feel better. Also, strictly speaking, I suppose that Set is part of the Egyptian Pantheon too, but the number of works dealing with him would not significantly affect the Egyptian Factor anyway. Odin 3 +Freya 0 ------------------------------- 3 Satan 17 +Shaitan 2 +Set 18 +Lucifer 4 -------------------------------- 41 Saturn or Chronos 24 +Mars or Ares 38 +Venus or Aphrodite 14 +Jupiter or Zeus 31 +Mercury or Hermes 52 -------------------------------- 169 Osiris 47 +Horus 59 +Ra, etc. 53 +Isis 38 +Thoth or Tahuti 29 +Heru etc. 16 -------------------------------- 252 Caveats: I do not represent this to be an exhaustive search. Exhausting, yes, but Crowley's writings fill many shelves and filing cabinets, and the time involved (not to mention some travel) would be prohibitive to getting a complete answer inside of a year. This sampling is only from material that has been recorded electomagnetically. Luckily, most publishers of current editions have done their typesetting on computers, and so we have the majority of Crowley's books now in print in the index. It also means that his early poetry, now almost completely out of print and/or demand, is not represented as well as might be hoped. Tony Inter Alia --- * Origin: OPERA DEII = BaphoNet-by-the-Sea (718)499-9277 (Opus 1:107/293) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (562) Sat 4 Mar 89 16:52 By: Tony Iannotti To: All Re: Crowley on Eclecticism (Short) St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:62d6 1264868b From: _Magick Without Tears_ by Aleister Crowley [Crowley on Syncretic Religion, and Names of Gods] 3. Now then to your old Pons Asinorum about the names of the Gods! Stand in the corner for half an hour with your face to the wall! Stay in after school and write Malka be-Tharshishim v-Ruachoth b-Schebralim 999 times! My dear, dear, dear sister, a name is a formula of power. How can you talk of "anachronism" when the Being is eternal? For the type of energy is eternal. Every name is a number: and "Every number is infinite; there is no difference." (AL I, 4). But one Name, or system of Names, may be more convenient either (a) to you personally or (b) to the work you are at. E.g. I have very little sympathy with Jewish Theology or ritual; but the Qabalah is so handy and congenial that I use it more than almost any --- or all the others together --- for daily use and work. The Egyptian Theogony is the noblest, the most truly magical, the most bound to me (or rather I to it) by some inmost instinct, and by the memory of my incarnation as Ankh-f-n-Khonsu, that I use it (with its Graeco-Phoenician child) for all work of supreme import. Why stamp my vitals, madam! The Abramelin Operation itself turned into this form before I could so much as set to work on it! like the Duchess' baby (excuse this enthusiasm; but you have aroused the British Lion-Serpent.) Note, please, that the equivalents given in 777 are not always exact. Tahuti is not quite Thoth, still less Hermes; Mercury is a very much more comprehensive idea, but not nearly so exalted: Hanuman hardly at all. Nor is Tetragrammaton IAO, though even etymology asserts the identity. In these matters you must be catholic, eclectic, even syncretic. And you must consider the nature of your work. If I wanted to evoke Taphthartharath, there would be little help indeed from any but the Qabalistic system; for that spirit's precise forms and numbers are not to be found in any other. The converse, however, is not so true. The Qabalah, properly understood, properly treated, is so universal that one can vamp up a ritual to suit almost "any name and form." But in such a case one may expect to have to reinforce it by a certain amount of historical, literary, or philosophic study --- and research. --- * Origin: OPERA DEII = BaphoNet-by-the-Sea (718)499-9277 (Opus 1:107/293) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (563) Sun 5 Mar 89 15:47 By: Tony Iannotti To: All Re: Invocation of Isis, Part 1 of 2 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:62d6 12657df2 To demonstrate Crowley's worship of entities other than Satan, here is a nice little invocation of Isis, one of the few divine individuals not yet identified as Satan by our resident Satan expert. Three participants are assumed (taking the parts of Nepthys, Horus, and Harpocrates calling to Isis). Most probably it was written for and performed by (respectively) Leah Hirsig, Crowley and Frank Bennett -- (Frater Progradior). Note that the Horus part identifies himself as the Slayer of Set. _INVOCATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT -- (ISIS)_ [From the papers of Frater Progradior Ritual used at Cefalu] DIALOGUE: M.A.: Fraters et Sorores, assist me in making clear the one Mystic Ceremony. Brethren - what is the Hour? Bro.: It is the Hour when Luna is simulating the MidHeaven. Brethren - what is the place? Sis.: It is the summit of the Sacred Mount whereon is the Assembly of the Gods. Brethren - for what purpose are we gathered together? For.: For the purpose of invoking our Lady ISIS, the Holy Spirit, that being purified in heart and of right aspiration, we may be initiated into the Sublime Mysteries of Her nature. Brethren - how do we hope to attain an end so sublime and exalted? Sis.: By the aid of the Most High, the Lord of the Universe; by the Love and Devotion which we bear to our Lady ISIS; by the Unity of our purpose, the Unity of our aim, the strength of our unconquered _Will_, and by our knowledge of the names whereby the Holy Goddess may be most readily invoked. Brethren - it is sufficient: Let us now, being of one heart, one mind, and of one accord, exalt ourselves with fervour, that in very truth, our Goddess, the Holy Spirit, may descend upon us from Her Throne on High; and may we, being uplifted in ecstasy, comprehend the Love, Beauty and Truth that is in Her, who is indeed the very Spouse of God. So Mote it be. --- * Origin: OPERA DEII = BaphoNet-by-the-Sea (718)499-9277 (Opus 1:107/293) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (564) Sun 5 Mar 89 15:48 By: Tony Iannotti To: All Re: Invocation of Isis, Part 2 of 3 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:62d6 12657e06 [Crowley's Invocation to Isis, Part II] _Nepthys_ Hail unto Thee, HOLY SPIRIT! Thy Sister Nepthys invokes Thee. O ISIS, Hear us! " " " " " Nepthys, who dost aid Thee in gathering together the Scattered Members. O ISIS, Hear us! " " " " " Nepthys, who supportest with Thee our Lord Osiris, invokes Thee O ISIS! " " " " " Nepthys, who weepest with Thee at the resurrection of Osiris, invokes thee. O ISIS! " " " " " Nepthys, who cometh rejoicing with the sound of the drum and the Sistrum, invokes thee. O ISIS! " " " " " I, NEPTHYS, bid Thee come to thy Temple. O ISIS! " " " " " Thou Lady beloved of us all. O ISIS! " " " " " Come without fear; behold thy enemies are scattered. O ISIS! " " " " " I, NEPTHYS, Thy Sister, love Thee. O ISIS! Hear us! " " " " " Bring thy gladness into the heart of thy sister, " " " " " O ISIS! Hasten unto us! delay not! for our hearts are open to receive Thee. O ISIS! " " " " " NEPTHYS, the initiator into the Mysteries, awaits thy coming. O ISIS! _HARPOCRATES_ (Standing in the Sign of Silence) Hail, O Hail, HOLY SPIRIT! Hoor-pa-kraat, invokes Thee. O ISIS! Hear us! " " " " Thy son, born maimed from the womb, invokes Thee. " " " " Thy son, exalted in glory, invokes Thee, O ISIS! " " " " Hoor-pa-kraat, Enthroned upon the Lotus, invokes Thee Thee. " " " " O ISIS! the Lord in the Silence invokes Thee. O ISIS! _HORUS_ (Standing in the Sign of the Enterer) Hail Holy Spirit Horus thy Son invokes Thee. O ISIS! We invoke Thee. " " " The Avenger of the Death of Osiris invokes Thee. " " " O ISIS! The Slayer of Thy Enemies invokes Thee. " " " O ISIS! The Hawk-Headed One invokes Thee. " " " O ISIS! The Slayer of Set invokes Thee. " " " O ISIS! Horus, Lord of the Two Worlds, invokes Thee. O ISIS! --- * Origin: OPERA DEII = BaphoNet-by-the-Sea (718)499-9277 (Opus 1:107/293) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (565) Sun 5 Mar 89 15:48 By: Tony Iannotti To: All Re: Invocation of Isis, Part 3 of 3 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:62d6 12657e1b [Crowley's Invocation to Isis, Part III] _LITANY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT - (ISIS)_ Hail Holy Spirit Hail! Thou Spouse of God! Hear us, we beseech Thee. " " " " Thou Queen of Heaven!......................Hear us! " " " " Thou Mother of Nature!.....................Hear us. " " " " Thou Bride, Mother and Daughter of the Crucified! ...........................................Hear us! " " " " Thou Immaculate Virgin of Eternity!........Hear us. " " " " Thou Scarlet Woman who ridest on the Beast! Hear us. " " " " Thou Radiant Queen of Beauty!..............Hear us. " " " " Thou, our Lady of Sorrow!..................Hear us. " " " " Thou, clothed with the Sun!................Hear us. " " " " Thou, who standest on the Moon!............Hear us. " " " " Thou, whose head is the Diadem of the Twelve Stars.. ...........................................Hear us. " " " " Thou, who art Crowned with the Throne......Hear us. " " " " Thou, who art horned as the Moon!..........Hear us. " " " " Thou, our Lady of the Earth!...............Hear us. " " " " Thou, our Lady of the Amber Skin!..........Hear us. " " " " Thou, whose Countenance is as grass refreshed by rain ............Hear us. " " " " Thou, Lady of Love and Victory!............Hear us. " " " " Thou, Crowned with Light, Life & Love......Hear us. (Extended arms) " " " " Osiris, thy Lord, awaits Thee..............Hear us. " " " " Osiris, Slain and Crucified, awaits thee...Hear us. (Cross arms) " " " " Osiris, Risen and justified, awaits thee. .Hear us. " " " " Osiris, the Great Bull of Ameritus awaits thee. ....................................Hear us. " " " " Osiris, bearing the Royal Uraeus upon his forehead awaits thee................................Hear us. " "'' " " Lo! The Opener-of-ways, bids thee come.....Hear us! --- * Origin: OPERA DEII = BaphoNet-by-the-Sea (718)499-9277 (Opus 1:107/293) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (566) Sun 5 Mar 89 15:55 By: Tony Iannotti To: All Re: Crowley on Mary St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:62d6 12657ee7 And to further demonstrate Crowley's non-reliance on Satan, here are three poems from his book _Amphora_, privately issued in 1908 or 1909, and later published as _Hail Mary_ in 1912. _Prologue_ Mother and maiden! on the natal night Embowered in bliss of roses red and white, Westward three Magi move to minister To Him with gold and frankincense and myrhh. Those Pagans gazing on the Heavenly Host Were blest of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; And me, though I be as an heathen Mage, Thou wilt accept in this my pious page. _I_ The worlds were drunken as with wine When shimmering from the throne divine, The soul of Mary fixed its ray Within that meek and maiden clay The stars in mightier music rolled; The sun acheived a gladder gold; The moon lest pure acclaimed the morn; -- Mary Immaculate is born. Rejoice, O children of the earth, At your salvation brought to birth! This is the perfect period. Mary is born that shall bear God. _Amen_ [And just for it's rhythm:] _Feast of the Nativity_ The Virgin lies at Bethlehem. (Bring gold and frankincense and myrrh!) The root of David shoots a stem. (O Holy Spirit, shadow her!) She lies alone among the kine. (Bring gold and frankincense and myrrh!) The straw is fragrant as with wine. (O Holy Spirit, shadow her!) There are three Kings upon the road. (Bring gold and frankincense and myrrh!) She has thrice blest the Name of God. (O Holy Spirit, shadow her!) There stands her star above the sky. (Bring gold and frankincense and myrrh!) She hath thrice blest the Trinity. (O Holy Spirit, shadow her!) Her joyful ardour hath sufficed (Bring gold and frankincense and myrrh!) She is delivered of the Christ (The angels come to worship her!) _Amen_ --- * Origin: OPERA DEII = BaphoNet-by-the-Sea (718)499-9277 (Opus 1:107/293) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (567) Thu 2 Mar 89 2:19 By: Teuton . To: Rowan Moonstone Re: Re: Halloween, Pt. 2 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:2a4e 12601262 I'm sorry Rowan, but I'm afraid I have to partialy disagree with you on some points. In my studies of Teutonic history I looked in for a time into the possibility of Celts and Teutons being of the same race. I didn't find anything to establish that, but my research did lead me through certain Celtic (or Keltic as some prefer) subjects. As for Halloween, I came to understand that it arose mainly out of one dark event!! Brought on by the clash and joining of Celtic and Christian religion. A night when there were HUMAN sacrfices. Anight when Children and animals were sacrificed to demons. The clash/joining led to modern Black magic and Satan worship. This was not a direct decendant of either Celtic or Christan religion but a joining of the rebellious counterparts of both!! I came to learn that such thing as dressing up in costumes and masks was a way of trying to fool the evil spirits of the night by making them think that the person in the costume was one of them. While I don't doubt most of what you said or question you at all, I do think your taking a rose colored 2nd rate explanation of Halloweens origins. It seems to have been born out of a very DARK union that both white witches (i assume thats what you are) and christians would just as soon forget. It was born out of a massacre commited by the worse elements of both beliefs. Well, since I'm not the all-knowing or all-seeing What's-It!! If I made any mistakes i welcome rebutals!!!! Since I, Like You, am trying to Learn! Nice to meet you all!! See you around! :) TEUTON . --- TBBS v2.0 * Origin: *Chrysalis* Multi-User (214) 519-0728 Dallas, Tx (124/4214) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (568) Fri 3 Mar 89 17:56 By: David Schaal To: all Re: Things Keltic St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:2a4e 8f0b1263 Here's something I wrote a wile back for Keltria: The Coming of Lugh by Iarwain Lugh the Il-Dana came to the Tara Lugh Samildanach came to the palace of the Tutha De Lugh, master of all arts, came to Eireann The gate keeper did not recognize Lugh The gate keeper asked the Il-Dana his name The gate keeper asked Lugh Samildanach what skill he possesed Lugh said: I am Lugh Samildanach I am Lugh the Il-Dana I am Lugh, master of battle The gate keeper said: We have no need of a battle master King Nuada de Danann is our battle master Nuada Airgitlamh is our battle master Lugh said: I am Lugh Samildanach I am Lugh the Il-Dana I am Lugh, master of healing The gate keeper said: We have no need of a master of healing Diancecht de Danann is our master healer Diancecht is master of all herbs and healings Lugh said: I am Lugh Samildanach I am Lugh the Il-Dana I am Lugh, master of knowledge The gate keeper said: We have no need of a master of knowledge Oghma de Danann is master of all learning Oghma is master of all knowledge Lugh said: I am Lugh Samildanach I am Lugh the Il-Dana I am Lugh, master of Sailing The gate keeper said: We have no need of a master of sailing. Mananan mac Lyr de Danann is our master of ships. Mananan mac Lyr, son of the sea, is our master of sailing Lugh said: I am Lugh Samildanach I am Lugh the Il-Dana I am Lugh, master of sorcery The gate keeper said: We have no need of a master of sorcery The Badb de Danann are mistresses of all sorcery The three sisters Macha, Nemhain and Morrigan are mistresses of all witchcraft Lugh said: I am Lugh Samildanach I am Lugh the Il-Dana I am Lugh, master of smithing The gate keeper said: We have no need of a master of smithing Goibniu de Danann is our master of smithing Goibniu is a master of all crafts Lugh said: I am Lugh Samildanach I am Lugh the Il-Dana I am Lugh, master of the battle I am Lugh, master of healing I am Lugh, master of knowledge I am Lugh, master of sailing I am Lugh, master of sorcery I am Lugh, master of smithing I bid you, unless you know of another who is master of all these arts, take me to Nuada Airgitlamh, take me to Nuada, king of the Tutha de Danann. The gatekeeper went to Nuada. When Nuada heard of Lugh's coming he said: Let him come in, for never has his like entered this fortress Lugh the Il-Dana was admitted to the Tara Lugh Samildanach was admitted to the palace of the Tuatha De Lugh master of all arts found his place amongst the Tuatha de Denann -dave --- Sirius 0.50 * Origin: The Joint Point (1:282/341.12) Minneapolis --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (569) Wed 8 Mar 89 0:13 By: Tony Iannotti To: All Re: Fun with Religion St: Pvt --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:62d6 126801bc I flung out of chapel and church Temple and hall an meeting-room Venus' Bower and Osiris' Tomb, and left the devil in the lurch, While God got lost in the crowd of gods, And soul went down in the turbid tide Of the metaphysical Lotus-eyed, And I was -- anyhow, what's the odds? [...] Yet by-and-by I hope to weave A song of Anti-Christmas Eve And First- and Second-Beast-er Day. There's one who loves me dearly (vrai!) Who yet believes me sprung from Tophet, Either the Beast or the False Prophet; And by all sorts of monkey tricks Adds up my name to Six Six Six. Retire, good Gallup! In such strife her Superior skill makes _you_ a cipher! Ho! I adopt the number. Look At the quaint wrapper of this book! I will deserve it if I can: It is the number of a Man. Aleister Crowley, from "Ascension Day" in _The Sword of Song_ I find some folks think me (for one) So great a fool that I disclaim Indeed Jehovah's hate for shame That man to-day should not be weaned Of worshipping so foul a fiend In presence of the living Sun, And yet replace him oiled and clean By the Egyptian Pantheon, The same thing by another name. Thus when of late Egyptian Gods Evoked ecstatic periods In verse of mine, you thought I praised Or worshipped them -- I stand amazed. I merely wished to chant in verse Some aspects of the Universe, Summed up these subtle forces finely, And sang of them (I think divinely) In name and form; a fault perhaps -- Reviewers are such funny chaps! I think that ordinary folk, Though, understood the things I spoke. For Gods, and devils too, I find Are merely modes of my own mind! Aleister Crowley, from "Pentecost" in _The Sword of Song_ --- * Origin: OPERA DEII = BaphoNet-by-the-Sea (718)499-9277 (Opus 1:107/293) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (570) Wed 8 Mar 89 23:44 By: Staeorra Rokraven To: All Re: Hunters Warning pt 1 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:855a bd801268 HUNTER'S WARNING - I have a tale, all grim forbode of one who sought the night. He mounted, then in darkness rode to work upon the height. - Control and power over all, the essence of his quest. The people he would hold in thrall. Ill omen was his crest. - He found a cliff beside the sea. A glowing circle cast, with magic burnt the Sacred Tree and drawing sword, stood fast. - The ocean swelled, and gale winds cried- a storm of ice and chill. Bright lightnings slashed and burned the sky imposed by dark'ning will. - A gateway through the Other World was opened by his hand, For from the clouds a funnel swirled and Bifrost's road did stand. - A raucous army then came down and rode upon that coast. Weird hoofbeats rang upon the ground from steeds who were as ghosts. - Just from the Hunt they had returned to challenge fox, and deer. And from the leader, one eye burned and sighted down his spear. - 'What magus honors not my name?', a booming voice then cried. 'What fool does play this ill wrought game? Best answer quick - or die.' - 'My title matters not, O Lord.', the sly tongued one did speak. 'We share the spirit of the sword- your wisdom I would seek.' - 'My secrets will I gladly give to all who share my way- but test ye must, to die or live- one chance to go or stay.' - 'Though death is not the thing I crave, your questions will I bear. And favour lacking, to the grave and thralldom will I swear.' - 'But I am learn'ed, wise and strong so if your test surpassed you must then swear before your throng your power you will pass.' - --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: InterVisioN "The ParaNormal Connection" 603-547-6485 HST (1:132/123) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (571) Wed 8 Mar 89 23:46 By: Staeorra Rokraven To: All Re: Hunters Warning pt 2 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:855a bdc01268 - The Hunt Lord scowled, and it was done, then said with frosty breath: 'Unto me you will answer one- what purpose does serve death?' - 'My foes have often met their end. I glory in the kill. My way will use the death to bend the people to my will.' - The Goddess Freyja then impart: 'What say you of the dove? What use to you are things of heart? Regard ye what of love?' - 'I scorn all love, I favour wrath, tis best left for the meek. And peaceful ways cross not my path, tis only for the weak.' - 'War is my art, so answer this:', spoke grim one handed Tyr. 'Affairs of state, when go amiss- is honor in your sphere?' - 'All honor I return to friends and other Lords deserved. I say again, foes meet their ends when wrath has been incurred.' - 'Unto us now, one more reply before you hear our will. of spells and power - magic high, of what does this fulfill? - 'To honor you, I would enshrine, the world then I would take. To snare, all shiftless peoples bind with forces I would wake.' - All Asgard's dwellers, looking grim, then nodded to this king. Triumphant mein came over him- his darkened soul did ring. - --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: InterVisioN "The ParaNormal Connection" 603-547-6485 HST (1:132/123) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (572) Wed 8 Mar 89 23:47 By: Staeorra Rokraven To: All Re: Hunters Warning pt 3 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:855a bde01268 - But Odin set his rage filled face- the mages blood ran cold. 'Ye think that thou hast won our grace with naked evil bold?' - 'All death is but the way to birth and peace is men's desire. Our way is to renew the Earth- despoiling not in ire.' - 'This and the magics meant to heal and guide on wisdom's path. So this is why the powers wield- you have incurred our wrath.' - 'But go in sorrow - life we give, along with this one curse- That ever long as you shall live your life now is reversed.' - 'Harm with your magic, and you die a death forever long. Hurt with your guile, and you shall cry- your way is twisted, wrong.' - They rode like leaves upon the wind. Ensorcelled mage grew mad. He wanders - never trust or friends. Just woe, dark soul, nomad. - Pay heed, all seekers on the path to shadow's knowledge earned. To evil go, you gain the wrath of Powers great and stern. - - J.A. Bordeaux 8 Mar 89 --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: InterVisioN "The ParaNormal Connection" 603-547-6485 HST (1:132/123) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (573) Thu 9 Mar 89 20:46 By: Staeorra Rokraven To: All Re: Three sonnets St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:855a a5c01269 THE CLOUD SCULPTORS - The air finds flight in forms of lofty wind As one with nature's children taking part And soaring up to go and find a friend Then join with water spinning wispy art. - This nature's process has eternal known The way to hang up on the sky these drapes But wonder not how these soft clouds have grown From fleecy strand filled webs to take their shapes? - Perhaps the artist's brush a thing unseen With living tools the Elder Gods express Those firey ones whose scales and talons gleam To grace the heavens with their soft caress. - Now see the strokes of carving wings along With falling rain - the strains of Dragon song. ----- 9 March 1989 ----- -- A DREAMING DESIRE - A spark comes coiling to the edge of sleep From realms arcane which have become unknown And from this psychic well does beauty leap A vision cherished for to call my own. - This wispy strand now takes it's shape in fire And fueled by sources boldly to enchant Then forming curves from wish of heart's desire A Woman's eyes all graced with Elvish slant. - The shield maid's arms then reach and wanting clasp We intertwine within her streaming hair Then sighing voices send a heartfelt gasp As fragrance heralds tawny skin now bare'd. - This honored Lady may in shadows walk But fate may someday find my heart unlock. ----- 9 March 1989 ----- ---- TO THE BONFIRES - A circle gathered round a roaring pit All joining hands to bask within it's glow And under Moon crowned sky all starry lit We sing and praise the Power's shadowed flow. - For some the flames form dancing Dragon's wing And other smoke wrought visions climb the air For all a caring closeness will this bring And psychic current bonding hearts to share. - We charge this timeless place between the worlds To call the Goddess' love within our hearts And join with her our joyous souls unfurled Our spirits dance with her by ancient arts. - This night forever captured in this glade To see old souls re-met and friendships made. ----- 9 March 1989 ----- ------ - J.A. Bordeaux (S.R.) - --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: InterVisioN "The ParaNormal Connection" 603-547-6485 HST (1:132/123) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (574) Wed 15 Mar 89 2:24 By: Mike Nichols To: All Re: Watchtowers ( 1 of 5 ) St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:19a2 1300126f RE-THINKING THE WATCHTOWERS or 13 Reasons Air should be in the North ======================================= by Mike Nichols copyright 1989 by Mike Nichols (fondly dedicated to Kathy Whitworth) INTRODUCTION It all started 20 years ago. I was 16 years old then, and a recent initiate to the religion of Wicca. Like most neophytes, I was eager to begin work on my Book of Shadows, the traditional manuscript liturgical book kept by most practicing Witches. I copied down rituals, spells, recipes, poems, and tables of correspondences from every source I could lay hands on. Those generally fell into two broad catagories: published works, such as the many books available on Witchcraft and magic; and unpublished works, mainly other Witches' Books of Shadows. Twenty years ago, most of us were "traditonal" enough to copy everything by hand. (Today, photocopying and even computer modem transfers are becoming de rigueur.) Always, we were admonished to copy "every dot and comma", making an exact transcription of the original, since any variation in the ceremony might cause major problems for the magician. Seldom, if ever, did anyone pause to consider where these rituals came from in the first place, or who composed them. Most of us, alas, did not know and did not care. It was enough just to follow the rubrics and do the rituals as prescribed. But something brought me to an abrupt halt in my copying frenzy. I had dutifully copied rituals from different sources, and suddenly realized they contained conflicting elements. I found myself comparing the two versions, wondering which one was "right", "correct", "authentic", "original", "older", etc. This gave rise to the more general questions about where a ritual came from in the first place. Who created it? Was it created by one person or many? Was it ever altered in transmission? If so, was it by accident or intent? Do we know? Is there ever any way to find out? How did a particular ritual get into a Coven's Book of Shadows? From another, older, Book of Shadows? Or from a published source? If so, where did the author of the published work get it? I had barely scratched the surface, and yet I could already see that the questions being raised were very complex. (Now, all these years later, I am more convinced than ever of the daunting complexity of Neo-Pagan liturgical history. And I am equally convinced of the great importance of this topic for a thorough understanding of modern Witchcraft. It may well be a mare's nest, but imagine the value it will have to future Craft historians. And you are unconditionally guaranteed to see me fly into a passionate tirade whenever I'm confronted with such banal over-simplifications as "Crowley is the REAL author of the Third Degree initiation," or "Everyone KNOWS Gardner INVENTED modern Witchcraft.") --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: 64th DIMENSION BBS! 'Most Perplexing BBS in Kansas City..' (1:280/64) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (575) Wed 15 Mar 89 2:25 By: Mike Nichols To: All Re: Watchtowers ( 2 of 5 ) St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:19a2 1320126f CONFLICTING TRADITIONS The first time I noticed conflicting ritual elements was when I was invited as a guest to attend another Coven's esbat celebration. When the time came to "invoke the Watchtowers" (a ritual salutation to the four directions), I was amazed to learn that this group associated the element of Earth with the North. My own Coven equated North with Air. How odd, I thought. Where'd they get that? The High Priestess told me it had been copied out of a number of published sources. Further, she said she had never seen it listed any other way. I raced home and began tearing books from my own library shelves. And sure enough! Practically every book I consulted gave the following assoications as standard: North = Earth, East = Air, South = Fire, West = Water. Then where the heck did I get the idea that Air belonged in the North? After much thought, I remembered having copied my own elemental/directional associations from another Witch's Book of Shadows, her Book representing (so she claimed) an old Welsh tradition. Perhaps I'd copied it down wrong? A quick long-distance phone call put my mind at ease on that score. (When I asked her where she'd gotten it, she said she THOUGHT it was from an even older Book of Shadows, but she wasn't certain.) By now, I felt miffed that my own traditon seemed to be at variance with most published sources. Still, my own rituals didn't seem to be adversely affected. Nor were those of my fellow Coven members, all of whom put Air in the North. Further, over the years I had amassed lots of associations and correspondences that seemed to REQUIRE Air to be in the North. The very thought of Air in the East offended both my sense of reason and my gut-level mythic sensibilities. There are good REASONS to place Air in the North. And the whole mythological superstructure would collapse if Air were in the East, instead. If this is so, then why do most published sources place Earth in the North and Air in the East? RITUAL TAMPERING Suddenly, I felt sure I knew the reason! Somewhere along the line, someone had deliberately tampered with the information! Such tampering is a long and venerable practice within certain branches of magic. In Western culture, it is most typically seen among Hermetic, Cabalistic and "ceremonial" magic lodges. It is common among such groups that, when publishing their rituals for public consumption, they will publish versions that are INCOMPLETE and/or deliberately ALTERED in some way from the authentic practice. This prevents someone who is NOT a member of the group from simply buying a book, and performing the rituals, without benefit of formal training. It is only when you are initiated into the lodge that you will be given the COMPLETE and/or CORRECTED versions of their rituals. This is how such groups guard their secrets. (And it is a telling postscript that many scholars now believe modern Witchcraft to have "borrowed" its directional/elemental correspondences from ceremonial magic sources! What a laugh if this was Crowley's last best joke on his friend Gerald Gardner!) I remember the first time I became aware of such deliberate ritual tampering. A friend of mine had been making a study of the so-called "planetary squares", talismans that look like magic squares consisting of a grid of numbers in some cryptic order. There are seven such squares -- one for each of the "old" planets. While making this study, he began coloring the grids (more for his own pleasure than anything else), making colorful mini-mosaics, using first two colors, then three, then four, and on up to the total number of squares in the grid. Six of the planetary squares yeilded pleasing patterns of color. Then there was the Sun square! Against all expectation, the colors were a random jumble, with no patterns emerging. Thus, he began his quest for the CORRECTED Sun square. And I became convinced of the reality of ritual tampering. --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: 64th DIMENSION BBS! 'Most Perplexing BBS in Kansas City..' (1:280/64) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (576) Wed 15 Mar 89 2:26 By: Mike Nichols To: All Re: Watchtowers ( 4 of 5 ) St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:19a2 1340126f 7. MYTHOLOGICAL: In Celtic mythology, north is invariably associated with air. The pre-Christian Irish gods and goddesses, the Tuatha De Danann, were "airy" faeries (later versions came equiped with wings, relating them to sylphs). The Book of Conquests states their original home was in the north, "at the back of the north wind". And when they came to Ireland, they came in ships, THROUGH THE UPPER AIR (!), settling on the mountain tops. (It has always struck me as odd that some modern writers see mountains as a symbol of earth. The crucial symbolism of the mountain is its height, rising into the air, touching the sky. Virtually all Eastern traditions associate mountains, favorite abodes of gurus, with air. A CAVE would be a better symbol of earth than a mountain.) In Welsh mythology, too, Math the Ancient, chief god of Gwynedd (or NORTH Wales), is specifically associated with wind, which can carry people's thoughts to him. 8. YIN/YANG: Many occultists believe that the four elements have yin/yang connections. Both air and fire are seen as masculine, while earth and water are seen as feminine. If air is associated with the north point of the magic circle, and earth is east, then one achieves a yin/yang alternation as one circumnambulates the circle. As one passes the cardinal points of east, south, west, and north, one passes feminine, masculine, feminine, masculine energies. This alternating flux of plus/minus, push/pull, masculine/feminine, is the very pulse of the universe, considered of great importance by most occultists. That it was equally important to our ancestors is evidenced by standing stones in the British Isles. At sites like the Kennet Avenue of Braga, the tall, slender, masculine, phallic stones alternate precisely with the shorter, diamond-shaped yoni stones. 9. GENERATOR: This argument flows out of the previous one. Practicing magicians often think of the magic circle as a kind of psychic generator. Witches in particular like to perform circle dances to "raise the cone of power". Hand in hand, and alternating man and woman, they dance clockwise (deosil) around the circle, moving faster and faster until the power is released. This model has an uncanny resemblance to an electrical generator, as man and woman alternately pass each of the four "poles" of the magic circle. These poles themselves MUST alternate between plus and minus if power is to be raised. This means that if the masculine fire is in the south, then the masculine air MUST be in the north. If the feminine water is in the west, then the feminine earth MUST be in the east. If any adjacent pair were switched, the generator would stop dead. 10. MASCULINE/FEMININE AXIS: When you look at a typical map, north (the cardinal direction) is at the top. Any north-south road is a vertical line, and any east-west road is a horizonatal line. Likewise, a "map" of a magic circle makes the vertical north-south axis masculine (with air and fire), while the horizontal east-west axis is feminine (earth and water). This makes logical sense. When we look at the horizon of the earth, we see a horizontal line. Water also seeks a horizontal plane. Feminine elements, considered "passive", have a natural tendency to "lay down". Fire, on the other hand, alway assumes an erect or vertical position. Air, too, can rise upward, as earth and water cannot. Masculine elements, being "active", have a natural tendency to "stand up". --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: 64th DIMENSION BBS! 'Most Perplexing BBS in Kansas City..' (1:280/64) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (577) Mon 27 Mar 89 18:02 By: Ben Levy To: Josh Gordon Re: Cult awareness St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:3948 127b9053 This whole thing is all the more funny/sad/sick when one considers the allegations of Ryan's aids that the whole fiasco was a result of a succesful MKULTRA sub-project 68 program. I tended to ignore said allegations until I came across sworn testimonies and photos that prove to my satisfaction that Mark Lane was a primary "functionary" for Jone and Pimples Temple. About a month before the masacre he split, disappeared for two years, then turned up in DC as Willis Carto's lawyer (Carto runs Liberty Lobby, the neo-nazi group that bought 100 shares of AT&T just to get into the stock holder's meeting to bitch about AT&T's affirm. action program). Lane is a known opperative of several different three letter agencies. --- * Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (578) Sat 1 Apr 89 7:12 By: Shadow Hawk To: All Re: Poems St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:1029 39801281 Well, at the request of some, I will repost some poems here in Metaphysical along with some new poems. Some are too long to put in one message, so they may be broken up in two parts. Hope you all enjoy... --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: Baker Street Irregular * Ft Walton Beach FL (1:366/222) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (579) Sat 1 Apr 89 7:14 By: Shadow Hawk To: All Re: Poem1 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:1029 39c01281 The Goddess is Alive Moon shines down upon a sea of Light, Shifting sands lay singing in the Heart of the Night. I look upon a scene that grips me to the core, White-clad maidens are dancing on the shore. Sweet sounds slip from moon-lit throats, Wind whipped hair abound, Lit by the light within and without, The Women circle 'round. As I stand, water engulfs my feet, My body sways to your Heavenly Heart beat. Wind and wave and fire light, Pale in my mind Earthly delight. Time slips by me as you hold your embrace, And windblown spray covers my face. Protected deep within your Womb, I feel the tender pain of Life's bloom. Candles flare high as the Dance progressed, Deep inside with a healing touch you blessed. All around, wind, wave and fire shout of your life, Your light speared deep within, soothing my strife. Divine Mother, Goddess of Light, To you I come seeking protection from the night. Come home to shelter within your arm, Surrounded by Love, hidden from harm. Holy Mother, Queen of Heaven and Earth, From you we all trace our Birth. Heavenly Goddess, light from above, Shine down upon us, we pray for your Love. --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: Baker Street Irregular * Ft Walton Beach FL (1:366/222) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (580) Sat 1 Apr 89 7:15 By: Shadow Hawk To: All Re: poem2 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:1029 39e01281 Eagle Soaring high above Granite cliff, Eagle rises on wings of fire, Wings outreached for winds light lift, Eyes searching desert for Heart's Desire. Flying free beyond Earth's bounds, Circling higher, clouds surround, Wheeling and turning, Eagle in Flight, Death on the Wing, beauty to sight. Lord of the Air, secure in his Might, Wings gleaming brightly in the Sun's searing Light. Spotting the Prey, the Eagle falls, Faster and faster, the Death calls. Quick is the strike, painless and true, Talons grip for a moment or two. Endless circles, life and death in the sky, Eagle is soaring, his Life's purpose to fly. Soaring high with wings of Golden Light, Earthbound we watch with mounting delight, Master of the Air, King of his domain, And in the end, only Eagle will remain. --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: Baker Street Irregular * Ft Walton Beach FL (1:366/222) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (581) Sat 1 Apr 89 7:17 By: Shadow Hawk To: All Re: poem4 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:1029 3a201281 The Goddess I go through life dreaming, Of a mate I never knew, Love and life pass me by, And the cold grows through and through. Women I see with eyes grown jaded, Women I touch with fingers grown hard, Women I smell covered in perfumes, Women my heart will love then discard. Promising Love until the end, Our paths grow separate and finally end, Where two became one, one becomes two, And the search goes on once more for You. I see you in the Crescent Moon, I feel your body as I touch a tree, I smell your breath when I hold a rose, You rule my life, my soul, I'm never free. I look for my Goddess in the Women of the World, But I know within that you are like the Pearl, Hidden away deep in the shell of Life, And mortal flesh leads only to strife. Deep in my self I must find the place, Where at last I will find your smiling face. Goddess, Lover, Mother Divine, It is for you that my heart does shine. To merge with you in Bliss Divine, To hold you, to love you, inseparably entwined, This is my dream, my heart's desire, To be with you always, burning in your fire. Mortals love, and mortals tire, But my Love for you grows higher and higher, Hold me in your arms lovingly near, And keep from me all thoughts of fear. Promise me always together we will be, And in the end your Love will free, My Love, my Life, my Soul I pledge, To once more be with you at Chaos' Edge. My Love for Your Love is the balance I need, My Soul for Your Soul is the Quest I receive, To Lose you then find you is the Loneliest path, But Lover Divine, I am coming home at Last. --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: Baker Street Irregular * Ft Walton Beach FL (1:366/222) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (582) Sat 1 Apr 89 7:18 By: Shadow Hawk To: All Re: poem5 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:1029 3a401281 Night Wind Night Wind whispers gently through the trees tonight, Soon, softly, soon they whisper in delight, Flights of Night Visions take wing in the night, Off to the slumbers of children to bring Joy and Fright. Over house, street, mountain and meadow, Night Wind flies swirling, fast and then slow, To windows of children, it's dreams to bestow, Dreams of Heros, Dragons, Maidens and more. Little faces move in the night, Eyes seeing Night Dreams of Horror and Delight, Innocent faces asleep in the night, While mighty undertakings go on with Inner Light. Strong do they battle, they play in the night, While parents lie dreaming of their own fear and delight. Deep in the Heart of the Night Wind they soar, No longer Children, but Adventurers and More. Explorers and Travellers, Saints and Devils, The Children of Day become Night's greatest Messengers, Carrying word of Great Cities, Underground Oceans and Life, Back to the day to see the Sun's light. And in the morning as Night Wind retires, Bright little faces alight with the glow, Tell Tales of Valour and Strife into he night, and condescending pats on their Heads is their plight. Off to your play they are told in the Day, Enough of this dreaming they are told is the way, That they are growing up and that this is the Real Way, Dreams are for nighttime, and not for the day. Dreams are for Dreamers, now you go and Play, And the Mighty Warriors on the Night go into the Day, Playing with dolls and trucks and clay, The mighty forget Night's battles along the way. But Deep in the forest, the cave, and the Dark, Night Wind lies Dreaming and awaiting the Time, When Night visions once more take to flight, And Children of Day become Warriors of the Night. --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: Baker Street Irregular * Ft Walton Beach FL (1:366/222) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (583) Sat 1 Apr 89 7:19 By: Shadow Hawk To: All Re: poem6 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:1029 3a601281 Passage There is a pull inside of me, That yearns for my Soul to free, A desire to ride upon the light, And not on this world to gaze with sight. Calling me home, I know not where, This geas is laid, if only I dare. Calling me forth the pull is strong, Is it here or there I truly belong? Less and less is holding me fast, Freedom calls and the die is cast. Enchanted song fills my ears, And upon my cheek are a few wet tears. Reaching blindly for the Sun, I burn my fingers and am undone. Wanting only a little joy in life, Instead I find only endless strife. Why do I fight when it never ends, And always seems my Soul to rend. Hollow Victory stands unmasked, And my deepest questions die unasked. Listening to the Sounds of Time, Only discord seems to rhyme. Here or there only Time will tell, When finally I depart this shell. Humor hides the pain within, Never more to let others in. Icarus unbound I flew too high, And dared to try to touch the Sky. Foolish thoughts we mortals dream, Washed away by Time's uncaring stream. Shining armor fades with rust, And on my heart grows another crust. Jagged rips in my soul will heal, But to trust again seems unreal. Alone my fate for time to come, Any other way and I am undone. Wandering unseen throughout the land, Only silence to take my hand. Harden my heart for one last stand, Living untouched as I walk through quicksand. Born in strife and then to die, All the time we wonder why. Endless circles in Time we weave, Until the end our souls will grieve. Tears for the Love we thought we had, Restless Dreams that leave us sad. Desires drive us until the end, Self made demons our hearts to rend. What is the answer only time will tell, Do I stay in this hollow shell? Is there more in Life for me, Or is there only agony. --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: Baker Street Irregular * Ft Walton Beach FL (1:366/222) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (584) Sat 1 Apr 89 7:20 By: Shadow Hawk To: All Re: poem7 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:1029 3a801281 The Prophet Hot black coals where eyes should be, Staring, staring, endlessly. Into the future, visions to see, Of Time and Space his mind is Free. Secrets unfold before the sight, Life and Death unveiled by the Light, Stern words tumble from his Lips, Bits of the future given in little sips. Visions shared for all to hear, But all he receives is people's fear. "Go Away", they shout and jeer, And the only response is a compassionate tear. Tears for the Living, Tears for the Dead, But there is no where that he can lay his head. Fire in his eyes for all to see, And in his heat is Agony. Tears for the Living, Tears for the Dead, And the wilderness has become his bed. Fire in his Eyes, Agony in his Heart, But from his fellows he must depart. No man is a Prophet in his own land, Family and friends they don't understand. Wandering over the land and sea, Alone in a Reality only he can see. --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: Baker Street Irregular * Ft Walton Beach FL (1:366/222) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (585) Sat 1 Apr 89 7:21 By: Shadow Hawk To: All Re: poem8 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:1029 3aa01281 Shadow Hawk Deep in Shadow, hidden from sight, Wandering by, like a thief in the night. Slipping through cracks in Reality's wall, Flying alone through Chaos' Hall. Alone in the world, away from the Light, Except for the company of the Goddess of the Night. Deep is the Well of Humanity's Soul, And deeper still the place I must go. Hawk on the Wing, silent in flight, Hunter unseen, hidden by night. Lost in the Shadow, beyond mortal sight, Ascending beyond the Gods' lofty height. Wings of Fire carry me free, Far from this place I will be. Left behind the ones I knew, Fellow travellers there are but few. Chaos spins by unblinking eyes, Reality splits and reason flys, None can follow me in this Place, Lost to the world without a trace. Realities come and Realities fall, Yet onward I fly heeding the Unknown call. Farther and faster the message I heed, Flying alone, spurred on by need. None may go where Chaos hold court, But there my mind seems to cavort. Alone and silent I scream in the dark, While visions and sunbursts tear me apart. Realities flow with plastic speed, Angels and Demons from me do feed. The world whirls wildly around the Tree, But soon, I know, I will be free. --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: Baker Street Irregular * Ft Walton Beach FL (1:366/222) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (586) Sat 1 Apr 89 7:23 By: Shadow Hawk To: All Re: poem9 part 1/2 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:1029 3ae01281 Storm Lightning flashing, wind howls through trees, Storm is rising, Mortals flee. Like armies marching, clouds parade by, Thunder shaking, rain hides the sky. Earth trembles under Titan's fist, As Elementals meet in their violent tryst. Jagged bolts from Heaven descend, Earth and Tree their goal to rend. Fierce are the powers of the storm, Chaos rules and dissolves Reality's form. Fear walks the Earth in the Lightning's stark Kiss, While rain hides the Shadows in Unholy mists. But like all things this to must pass, And after a time, storm ceases to harass, The wind abates and the thunder mutes, And Lightning ends it's violent pursuit. Sun peeks shyly from behind Thunderhead, And a faint rainbow across the sky does thread. One lone frog begins to sing, And a few bright birds take to wing. Slowly the mortal creatures crawl forth, To bask in the Sun's strengthening warmth, But even as the light returns to day, Elsewhere Storm will enter the fray. Storm into peace, night into day, This is the circle, the Divine at play. First one then the Other is the cycle of Life, No stagnation, no quiet, just unending strife. --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: Baker Street Irregular * Ft Walton Beach FL (1:366/222) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (587) Sat 1 Apr 89 7:24 By: Shadow Hawk To: All Re: poem9 2/2 cont. St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:1029 3b001281 Storm (cont) The Circle of Life is the Game we play, While upon this Earth our bodies decay, And when our storm of Life goes by, Into the Light we must all die. Life into death, dark into light, This is the Circle, the Divine delight, To experience death, and be reborn from the night, To once again behold Divine Starlight. Circling endlessly Eons fly past, But even this too in the end won't last, When the last sparrow falls and Life draws to a close, The last to die is one final rose. When all is merged in Divine Bliss, And nothing is left the Divine to kiss, Then up from the wells of Chaos will flow, New Life, new forms the Divine to know. Cycle upon cycle, Life upon death, The Eternal cycle, Brahman's breath, Form into Chaos, Chaos into form, This is the Rule to which Life will conform. One rule for life, one rule alone, That nothing is Changeless, and Chaos follows form, One Rule for Day and One rule for Night, That Nothing is Eternal in the Eternal's sight. --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: Baker Street Irregular * Ft Walton Beach FL (1:366/222) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (588) Sat 1 Apr 89 7:25 By: Shadow Hawk To: All Re: poem10 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:1029 3b201281 Jewel Sparkling like a priceless gem, Your eyes glisten, a living diadem. Touched from the past brought forth Today, And once again my Heart is brought to bay. I remember when we rode the Field, Banner flying, raised the shield, And then the time we loved and lost, As the unforgiving sea claimed a deadly cost. Once in a village, poor and downtrodden, Once with new birth our life was broken, Lover I remember you when, Ages past we wandered a glen. Many lives have come and gone, But for a while, with you I would be alone. An oasis in the desert of life, An island of Joy in an ocean of Strife. It seems so strange the day we met, Our eyes crossed briefly and our gazes met. Stars in our eyes we heard them say, But then you had to turn away. Departing you went with backwards gaze, My eyes followed you gently and my heart was ablaze. Visions of the Past and Future days, And all I could see was the Sun's bright rays. It seems so fateful that you walked in that day, And to your smile my heart fell prey, Eyes that dance filled with moonbeams of light, While under your breast beats a heart filled with Life. Into my arms I call you to me, Eager our love to set free, Into the air, like Hawks on the wing, My love I give to you without any strings. You say that you need time to be sure, Lover, I tell you, that our love will endure. This lifetime or next, only time will see, But sooner or later, our love it will be. Shining like diamonds caught in the sky, A beacon for others, calling them to fly, Showing no limits, teaching others to be free, Visions of Love and Life we will be. --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: Baker Street Irregular * Ft Walton Beach FL (1:366/222) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (589) Sat 1 Apr 89 7:29 By: Shadow Hawk To: All Re: poem12 1/2 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:1029 3ba01281 The Shaman's Call The Night Bird's call draws evening near, Stars and planets in the Darkening Sky appear, People of the day to their beds retire, Except for some Old Souls about a fire. Sounds begin to rule the night, As the Sun's bright rays fade from sight. Evening noises begin to grow, Cricket, Owl, and Wolf's lone howl. Deeper into the Night we go, The landscape lit by the fire's glow, One old man begins to sway, And one lone drum begins to play. Boom goes the drumbeat soft and slow, Tapping out the Heartbeat of the World Below, Boom echoes the drumbeat's call to go, To begin the ride to the World Below. The flames leap high into the night, And the World around us takes to flight, Senses shift in the darking light, And the Darkest Cave draws our sight. Enter the Cavern, down we speed, Into the Underworld the Drumbeat leads. Faster than Dragon, than Hawk, than Snake, Down the path the Shaman's feet race. Deeper and deeper into the Womb of the Night, Till up ahead appears the Light. Boom thunders the drum, and the walls seem to shake, And out of the Cavern I stop by a lake. I look around and I see Land so bright, That I know mortal eyes have never beheld this sight. In the Sky wheels Gods and Dragons in Flight, While bathing in the Lake is the Goddess of the Night. Her eyes see me clearly#and I'm pierced by their Sight, There is no hiding in the Night of Her Light. The Animals come to Her call#as she sings, And drumbeat from above gives me wings. Into the Sky my form changes still, On Hawk wings I ascend from the hill. Higher and higher into the Magical Sky, I soar on Wings lit in Magical Fire. --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: Baker Street Irregular * Ft Walton Beach FL (1:366/222) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (590) Sat 1 Apr 89 7:30 By: Shadow Hawk To: All Re: poem12 2/2 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:1029 3bc01281 Shaman Call (cont) This Bond, this chain, this freedom sublime, The Shaman's gift, boon, bane, the Drumbeat Divine. The Dream that brings Visions into the Night, The Night that is brighter than any Daylight. The sight of a Tree draws me near, The Great World Tree has brought me here. The Tree of All Knowledge grows out of sight, Even Hawk eyes are dimmed by it's light. Form changes swiftly, Snake am I now, Across the World Tree I wander uncowed. The Tree of Life, of Knowledge, of Power and Death, The Tree that for Shaman will give Shaman Breath. The Drum fills my body, My brain is on fire, Visions of Forces dance in the Light, And the drumbeat caresses me, somewhere in the Night. The Tree fades from view, My Soul takes to flight, And into the World, Dragon Stalks the Night. Back to the Cavern the worm passes nigh. Drumbeat calls, caresses, commands, Back to the Waking World the drumbeat demands. Up through the cave I ascend in the Night, Form shifts so slightly in my bemused sight. Dragon claws to Human feet, And to the fire where the Shaman meet. Around the fire slowly the Drummer keeps beat, Drawing home the Voyagers to the fire's night heat. Glazed expressions look into the night, But in Shaman's eye is still the Light. Slack faced expressions for others to see, But in Shaman's eye, is the Fire that Frees. Shaman stares into the fire, Then quietly into the night he retires. Off to his rest he fades from sight, Until the Drum calls once more to Night's Light. --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: Baker Street Irregular * Ft Walton Beach FL (1:366/222) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (591) Sat 1 Apr 89 7:31 By: Shadow Hawk To: All Re: poem11 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:1029 3be01281 Tattered Dreams A gently cast word was all you said, An insight I missed, and I was undone. All my dreams went up in smoke, And all the hopes have died. Gone is the quest for Mother Divine, And Reality's cruel light on me does shine. The armor is rusted and the reasons worn, And the mighty Quest of it's mystery is shorn. Grand dreams of the Goddess and Love to be found, When all is revealed dreams fall to the ground. It is all Oedepus they say with glee, And with a few long words pass judgement on me. Nothing so simple as to turn on the light, But did you have to strip me of my Dreams in the night? What reason now to strive for insight, When it all means nothing in the Afterlife There is a hole in my chest where my Heart used to be, And the cold is so deep I am in agony. Feeling nothing but pain and loss, Is this the Abyss that I must cross? My footsteps falter and my sight is dim, And the path seems so less Glorious than it used to be. Gone is the desire to search for the right, Lost is the Quest in reality's cruel light. Now I lay me down to sleep, Is there a Lord my soul to keep? These are the questions that haunt my mind, And all my friends try hard to be kind. Feeling betrayed by my own desire, And now my Love is on the funeral pyre. Ashes to ashes Love will return, But is there anything left in my Soul to burn? --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: Baker Street Irregular * Ft Walton Beach FL (1:366/222) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (592) Sat 1 Apr 89 7:32 By: Shadow Hawk To: All Re: poems13 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:1029 3c001281 The Gift I offer to you with these my hands, Gifts of Wonders and far off lands, Visions of Castles and Fairies by Night, Flights to the Moon by broad Daylight. In Love I offer these treasures rare, But all I get is a bemused stare, Hiding behind your walls so strong, Do you think I believe that your Love is gone? Fear is the lock that binds the door, Love is the key that I search for, Holding you near is what I desire, To join me in Love's burning Fire. Kindred souls call from the Abyss, When Love's barbed arrows have flown amiss, Fortunes change and time flys by, But remember my Love, my Heart's desire. Time heals all wounds and such they say, But it causes memories to fade away, Remember me with outstretched arms, Gifts of love surrendered to your charms. Time will pass, as time will do, But always my thoughts will return to you. Perhaps some day when fortunes change, And Fate our hands have rearranged. Our paths will cross again some day, And for your heart these words I say, Take my hand for my heart beats True, And Love is the Gift I would give to you. --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: Baker Street Irregular * Ft Walton Beach FL (1:366/222) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (593) Sat 1 Apr 89 7:41 By: Shadow Hawk To: All Re: poem6 1/2 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:1029 3d201281 Pain Sitting alone once more in the room, Noone there to disturb the gloom. Heavy weighs the hours that pass, Deep is the hour that holds me fast. Tis better to have Loved and Lost they say, But it seems this ache will never go away. Love is fleeting, never standing still, But in the end of pain we drink our fill. What holds my heart in grasp so cold? Eager it seems my soul to enfold. Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here, The Trail of Love has much to fear. Time goes by one second at a time, Still from this darkness I must climb. Without love my Life stands still, And once more I walk on Love's cursed hill. Laughter fills my ears with Life, And gentleness empties my heart of strife. Slowly I open, once more to the one, That all of my cautious ways has undone. Deep into my life she wends her way, She who has entered my Heart to Play. Giving my Love the one priceless gift, Promising always our Love to uplift. (cont) --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: Baker Street Irregular * Ft Walton Beach FL (1:366/222) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (594) Sat 1 Apr 89 7:42 By: Shadow Hawk To: All Re: poem6 2/2 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:1029 3d401281 Pain (cont) Cold grips my heart and my mind stands still, Once more I must swallow this bitter pill. Dreams dashed in the cruel hard light, Then once more I embrace the night. Cold fills my heart in the Dark of Night, And to my room I take solitary flight. Shunning once more the light of Day, Pain once more is here to stay. Where is the one who's love I'll share, The lady of my Heart's desire. One who will love me and never stray, One who's heart is here to stay. Lonely in my room at night, Looking for my love in Dream's light. Cold is my life without Love's Fire, My Heart lies waiting like a Funeral Pyre. Phoenex rising from ashes grown cold, Heart once more by love sold. Heart beats quicker as she draws near, As the heat begins to sear. Once more I open, drawn by Her light, Like a flower that dies once alone in the night. Fearing hurt by Love's consuming fire, All my defenses fall on the pyre. Giving my Love all in Love's name, I give myself once more in the Game. Trembling at my Lover's side, Fearing. --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: Baker Street Irregular * Ft Walton Beach FL (1:366/222) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (595) Fri 7 Apr 89 3:39 By: Tim Maroney To: Mike Nichols Re: Awful truths of ritual tampering unveiled! (1 of 3) St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:954a 12871cfb MN> By now, I felt miffed that my own traditon seemed to be at variance MN> with most published sources. [...] The very thought of Air in the MN> East offended both my sense of reason and my gut-level mythic MN> sensibilities. [...] Suddenly, I felt sure I knew the reason! MN> Somewhere along the line, someone had deliberately tampered with MN> the information! Lest the reader become breathless with anticipation, we must announce at this point that it is not Mr. Nichols's tradition that has suffered this foul inversion, this base perfidy, the altogether dangerous rearrangement of the most sacred symbols known to humanity, the compass directions and the ancient Greek elements! Instead, it is simply that everyone else is wrong and he is right. And banish at once those ideas that such a sacred communion of ideas is subject to multiple interpretations, that North might be Airy by one reckoning and Earthy to others equally valid. The Platonic ideals of the directions and the elements are real and immutable; they live on the Eleventh Astral Plane and I visited them last Wednesday. The purity of the derivation of Nichol's attribution is obvious from the mystery of the source itself. As witness: MN> After much thought, I remembered having copied my MN> own elemental/directional associations from another Witch's Book MN> of Shadows, her Book representing (so she claimed) an old Welsh MN> tradition. Perhaps I'd copied it down wrong? A quick MN> long-distance phone call put my mind at ease on that score. MN> (When I asked her where she'd gotten it, she said she THOUGHT it MN> was from an even older Book of Shadows, but she wasn't certain.) Then again, perhaps her Aunt Mary whispered it in in her ear or she made it up. The least we can say is that this seems at variance with the even more tedious section above (not quoted here) about how laborious the process of copying the Book of Shadows once was. Now, apparently, copying the main Book of Shadows of one's life is not only the work of a moment, lightly forgotten, but copying the ONE TRUE UNTAMPERED WELSH 99.9% PURE BOOK OF SHADOWS is nothing one would be likely to remember having done with any clarity. (more) --- * Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (596) Fri 7 Apr 89 3:40 By: Tim Maroney To: Mike Nichols Re: Awful truths of ritual tampering unveiled! (2 of 3) St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:954a 12871d18 MN> It is only when you are initiated into the lodge that you will be MN> given the COMPLETE and/or CORRECTED versions of their rituals. MN> This is how such groups guard their secrets. (And it is a MN> telling postscript that many scholars now believe modern MN> Witchcraft to have "borrowed" its directional/elemental MN> correspondences from ceremonial magic sources! What a laugh if MN> this was Crowley's last best joke on his friend Gerald Gardner!) Nichol's boundless sense of wit never fails to fill the reader with a thrill of delight. But the joke bears some explanation. It is thoroughly laughable that Neo-Paganism for the most part uses the CM direction-element attributions, because obviously .. er ... what was it again? I can find at least three different elemental attributions of the directions in six pages of the basic CM instruction manual Liber O. What CM reading on this weighty matter is "authoritative"? Why is there any preferred attribution at all, rather than one of convenience? Why should I feel any less at ease in a workspace banished with one symbol-pairing rather than the other? MN> I remember the first time I became aware of such deliberate MN> ritual tampering. A friend of mine had been making a study of MN> the so-called "planetary squares", talismans that look like MN> magic squares consisting of a grid of numbers in some cryptic MN> order. [...] he began coloring the grids [...] Six MN> of the planetary squares yeilded pleasing patterns of color. MN> Then there was the Sun square! Against all expectation, the MN> colors were a random jumble, with no patterns emerging. Thus, MN> he began his quest for the CORRECTED Sun square. And I became MN> convinced of the reality of ritual tampering. Could even the basest skeptic among us deny that this is evidence of the most solid nature? Pray tell us, what is this corrected square, so that our minds may be boudlessly filled with the effulgent light of the Norsemen. (more) --- * Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (597) Fri 7 Apr 89 3:41 By: Tim Maroney To: Mike Nichols Re: Awful truths of ritual tampering unveiled! (3 of 3) St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:954a 12871d2d Only messages 1, 2 and 4 of the 5 turned up here, spelling out points seven to ten. Without commenting on the other points, these four are wonderful examples of the kind of mythical synthesis that happens in ritual practice. Nichols's arrangement sees parallels with the Tuatha De Danaan, the Eastern symbolism of mountains, the Northern (!) Wales wind god, the fact that his arrangement is boy-girl-boy-girl using what he assures us are the correct attributions of the elements to the genders, an analogy to electrical generators, and something about a "MASCULINE-FEMININE AXIS" meaning that males must face each other and females must face each other. He carefully ignores the ideas that perhaps male should face female to symbolize their union, that electrical motors switch rapidly between polarities, that mountains are of Earth (and quite a lot of it too), that perhaps the Eastern elemental systems are preferable to those of Greek philosophy, that perhaps he should not use the Eastern mountains without the Eastern elements, that every god or other came from some direction or another and that by careful reading one could "prove" any attribution of the directions by these means, and so on. Nor indeed does he consider any idea contrary to his attribution. And why should he? This is all for effect. However, I am bothered by the preposterous and self-serving conclusion that Nichols's arrangement has a sacred direct line of transmission from the Unseen Ancient Welsh Elders while everyone else was duped by ritual tampering. There are senses in which Earth is male and Fire is female. Water may be female to the average American, but it is male to the dweller in the flood-zones and the fisher caught at sea. And history is a thing of evidence, not wild-eyed and self-pleasing speculation. Tim Maroney --- * Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (598) Fri 21 Apr 89 20:21 By: Michelle Hass To: All Re: My resignation, Pt. 1 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:c75e 1295a2b7 This originally was posted to EarthLink, and was my formal resignation of my moderatorship. Acting moderator at this point is Blanche Nonken. Perhaps I should explain why... For all on EarthLink: this is why I resigned the moderatorship. MK-H * CHILDHOOD'S END, OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND REJECT THE CONCEPT OF GOD by Michelle Klein-Hass * For most of my life, I have been the embodiment of the cliche of the "seeker". I have been through everything from Hebrew Christianity to Tibetan Buddhism with stops in Scientology, ritual Magick, Native American-influenced Neo Paganism, unorthodox Vaishnavite Hinduism (I never BECAME a Hare Krishna but chanted and meditated in a similar fashion) and other "new age" (that term goes much farther back than the contemporary Crystal Weenies) practices. I began my search in 1975 when my father, a wonderful man who was suffering for four years with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, finally succumbed to that disease. I couldn't handle it. I was an intelligent, slightly bookish kid with a faith in the god of my Jewish ancestors that was founded, in a large part, by the instruction my father gave me. He was devoutly Jewish in his own way, although he poo-pooed the Kosher laws and went out looking at potential candidates for auctions (he was an auctioneer and a successful one at that...if it weren't for his illness he probably would have parlayed his abilities into a small fortune) even on Saturday, the Shabbat. But he loved his god. He was fiercely proud to be Jewish, and attempted to instill that pride in me. When my father took ill, he took it in stride, but fought fiercely against it. He didn't see the disease as "god's will", not as "god's punishment", but a challenge to surmount. He loved his life, and fought for it with every breath he took. He was finally defeated by his disease, but he never surrendered. In a way, his concept of a deity was much like the Deism of the Founding Fathers. There was a great design, and a great designer, but when it comes to your own life, you are the architect of your fate. To quote a favorite quotation of his, "God helps those who help themselves." His politics were of the classic conservative variety, the conservatism of limited government and free markets. In the face of the fanaticism of the New Right and Reaganism, he would've probably disowned his affiliation with the Republicans, but that's merely conjecture. When Dad finally died, I really freaked. God was supposed to be just, right? Dad was a good man, why didn't the god he was so faithful to heal him? I resolved to try to find out why. The worst situation was when I adopted Messianic Judaism, a variation on Born-Again Christianity with a definate overlay of Jewish traditions. I had to swallow something even worse than the concept of god being unjust in not healing my father. Since my father didn't "accept Christ", but stubbornly stuck to his Judaism, not only was he --- * Origin: Tahuti-Net / Eagle Rock, CA (213) 258-5724 (Opus 1:102/862) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (599) Fri 21 Apr 89 20:25 By: Michelle Hass To: All Re: resignation 1a St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:c75e 1295a334 In essence, what the last part of this post was all about was how Messianic Judaism was so hurtful to me, and about how Born-Again Christianity in general was responsible for the problems that Reaganomics caused. Part 2 follows. MK-H --- * Origin: Tahuti-Net / Eagle Rock, CA (213) 258-5724 (Opus 1:102/862) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (600) Fri 21 Apr 89 20:27 By: Michelle Hass To: All Re: resignation pt.2 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:c75e 1295a37a (continued from last post) I eventually kind of faded away from my initial "decision for Yeshua ha'Moshiach" after becoming entangled in a nasty political feud at a local church that I was attending; and being totally powerless to do anything because "the Bible says that women should remain silent in church." I also questioned the Biblical attitude about sex. Why was it that god made sex so pleasant if it was so damn sinful? My final break came when I fell in love with a young man and desired him sexually. When I finally "gave in", I realized that, no, I wasn't struck dead by lightning. No, I didn't feel guilt. I just felt GOOD. And apparently, feeling GOOD was a sin if you weren't feeling GOOD because of being "spirit filled" or in a state of religious ecstacy. My voyages continued, through Magick and Neo-Paganism, until last year around this time when I was introduced to the philosophical works of Ayn Rand by my friend Laura Rift. Our husbands were off on tour in Europe with their band (Zoogz Rift and Nonentity, aka Zoogz Rift and His Amazing Shitheads) and we spent some time together hanging out. I liked a lot of what I was reading. Here was a person who, rather than damning the mind, CELEBRATED it. Here was a person that believed that humanity, by using reason and logic, was capable of fixing their problems. I began to feel like that woman in "So Long And Thanks For All The Fish" by Douglas Adams who all the sudden realized, while having her afternoon tea, that "...[T]he world is a good and perfect place. It is in fact very easy." Humanity had the ability, through USING their brains rather than sitting on them, to solve all their problems. Through freedom of enterprise, nagging problems like hunger and unemployment could be solved, and no-one would need to sacrifice themselves to do it. There was a crystalline beauty and simplicity, without being pat about it, to her writings. And above all, the definate ring of truth. One thing was for sure, however. I absolutely could NOT handle her metaphysics. Sure, organized religion was the root of a horrible amount of evil. The Reagan Administration, with its ethical base in the twisted code of Fundamentalist Christianity, had left us with a very scary budget deficit and an economy wracked by the selective deregulation of some industries, the regulatory clampdown of others, and the downright governmental coddling of others. Small businesses felt the bite of regulation and taxation, while certain tax incentives given during the Reagan administration allowed arbitrageurs to go in and take over companies, gut them, and carry home the profit. Rather than the examples of Hank Rearden, Dagny Taggart, and Francisco d'Anconia of "Atlas Shrugged", the ideal tycoon began to resemble Gordon Gekko of the movie "Wall Street" and Alexis Carrington-Colby and J.R. Ewing of the TV prime time soaps "Dynasty" and "Dallas". It was, at its base, the ends- justify-the-means ethic of the Fundies that gave us the ruins of the Reagan Administration. But I digress. (more next post) --- * Origin: Tahuti-Net / Eagle Rock, CA (213) 258-5724 (Opus 1:102/862) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (601) Fri 21 Apr 89 20:29 By: Michelle Hass To: All Re: resignation, Pt.3 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:c75e 1295a3b6 (continued from last post) Anyhow, I rejected such a horror. But as a Neo Pagan Shamanist, I could not reject the goddesses and gods that I felt so damn close to. I had experienced too much that could not be explained by "mere" materialist means. I felt a deep and abiding love for the Earth Mother and the Sky Father, as Chiricahua Apache tradition referred to the Neo-Pagan concepts of goddess and god, and couldn't let them go. And besides, through the "shamanic journey", I felt that I experienced them and experienced both my "lower", animal, instinctive self in the form of the Power Animal, and my "higher" self in the form of the Inner Shaman during those journeys. The journeys made me feel good, and gave me a feeling of self-confidence. The reading of a remarkable book, "Snapping" and a few other scientific studies of religious ecstacy and altered states of consciousness, made me realize what caused the experiences. The drumming, the chanting and dancing of the ceremonials, the drumming during the journeying exercises, and the drumming, chanting and intense heat of the sweatlodge all worked to plasticise perception, to make reality seem malleable, and induce hallucinations, "visions" if you will. It is similar to the effect of the singing, chanting, rhythmic music and "speaking in tongues" at a Fundie revival, the chanting and ecstatic dancing in Sufi and Hindu practice, and similar practices in in other religions. In a situation where fasting and sleep-deprivation are also combined, the "snapping" experience and subsequent hallucinations are even more intense. When these experiences are combined with the persuasion techniques, "love bombing" and whatnot used by the mind-controlling cults to cause conversion, the effect is the zombie-like state that cult members find themselves in, a twisted, endless dreamtime. Now, I am not saying that I believe that religion is a bad thing for all. If you feel comfortable abandoning your reasoning mind for awhile, that's OK, I guess. Most religious groups whose rituals have elements of altered states of consciousness, of the ecstatic, are NOT cults or cultish. If those groups also use methods of mind control, milieu control and coersion, they are cults. I would say that P.E.I. Bonewits' "Cult Evaluation Frame" is a good guideline to figure out whether a religious group is a cult or not. I still firmly believe in the freedoms of religious expression that the Constitution ensures. I will not put down anyone who wishes to continue on any spiritual path they choose. But as for myself, I realize that although I may have benefitted from the practices I used in my practice of the Shamanic Neo-Paganism, it has ceased to be beneficial, and in fact an impediment to my perception of reality AS IT IS. (continued next post) --- * Origin: Tahuti-Net / Eagle Rock, CA (213) 258-5724 (Opus 1:102/862) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (602) Fri 21 Apr 89 20:31 By: Michelle Hass To: All Re: resignation, pt 4 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:c75e 1295a3ef (continued from last post) In the metaphysical universe of Rand and her philosophical heirs, as well as the universe of her predecessors Aristotle, John Locke, and other neo-Aristotelian philosophers of the Age of Reason, reality is totally consistent. Existence exists. The world is the world. What you see is by and large what you get. Any inconsistencies can be blamed on faulty perception or faulty conceptualization, rather than reality being illusive. There are no other worlds, no "true reality" beyond this one. Reality is knowable through your senses, by the process of conceptualization your mind uses to interpret the raw data from your senses, and through the process of reasoning known commonly as "the scientific method." If reality is reality, no reality BEYOND reality is possible. Thus, extending this logical process, there could be no supreme being. A supreme being or beings would entail the negation of any ability we have to perceive and conceptualize. If the world we perceive is an illusion, maya, whatever, and that the true world is unknowable, than ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN at ANY TIME and ANYTHING YOU KNOW CAN BE TRUE, FALSE OR TRUE *AND* FALSE AT THE SAME TIME. Since a lot of you are hackers, imagine trying to program a computer this way. A variable can mean one thing one time, another contradictory thing another time, or both or neither at the same time. The instruction "lprint" (I program in Turbo Basic, so naturally all my metaphors would come from this...sorry all you C and Pascal hackers!) would mean "print to the printer" in one line of the code and "randomize a three-digit integer" in another. No matter how you beg or cajole the computer, it won't do what you say. The computer knows, by the logical axioms it uses to interpret the code, that "lprint" means "print to the printer", and will mean "print to the printer" in the foreseeable future. The computer will either reject a variable that is defined one way in one line and another in another, or act on the assumption that "this code defined A as A and whenever A shows up as a variable it means A" and not do what you want it to do. So it is with reality. Like Zoogz Rift says in one of his tunes, "Reality is what it is/Regardless of what you would like."* I really would LIKE to believe in Earth Mother and Sky Father as more than idealized representations of things in nature, as divine entities. But they aren't. Earth and sky are sacred in that they are special, and important, and they are the only planet and atmosphere we have. To despoil them is not just "Ecocide", but suicide qua you and murder qua the rest of your fellow human beings. Deifying them is not the answer to the ecological holocaust, but science and rational conservation working hand in hand to help our planet out of danger IS. (concluded next post) --- * Origin: Tahuti-Net / Eagle Rock, CA (213) 258-5724 (Opus 1:102/862) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (603) Fri 21 Apr 89 20:33 By: Michelle Hass To: All Re: resignation: conclusion St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:c75e 1295a42d (continued from last post) So, there you have it. I have been through quite a spiritual journey. From Reform Judaism to Hinduism to Scientology to Tibetan Buddhism to Messianic Judaism/Born Again Christianity to White Magick to Shamanic Neo Paganism to reason and reality. It's as if I'm coming off some kind of Disneyland ride and emerging into daylight again, squinting my eyes to adjust to the bright sunlight of reality. It isn't a bad reality either. It simply lacks a deity pulling the strings. In the book "The King Of The Swords" by Michael Moorcock, the hero, Corum Jhalen Irsei, is walking through a heaven in ruins with the demigods Rhynn and Pwyll. Rhynn explains that the two of them have slain all the gods in the realms of Chaos and Law. Corum is horrified. He objects to the fact that they had slain the "good" gods of Law as well as the Lords Of Chaos, which he saw as evil. Rhynn tells him to find the good he so admired in the Lords of Law in himself, and furthermore told him that "the Multiverse is better off without gods." It is a reality where one cannot avail themselves of divine intervention, but one also where the only authority one has to answer to is one's own conscience, and the only law one need concern themselves with is to not infringe on the natural rights of others while pursuing their own goals. Does that sound like "An It Harm None, Do What Thou Wilt"? Sure it does. It's not a bad way of summing up Objectivist ethics. To paraphrase someone whose name escapes me right now, religion is an old explanation for the ways of the world that has outlived its usefulness, at least where I am concerned. This is why I am doing the exact opposite of what the Church of All The Worlds did when faced with the contradiction between Ayn Rand and their metaphysics, and resigning from the Neo Pagan movement. I wish you well. I will continue to fight with all the strength I have to protect your right to freedom of worship and freedom of speech. I will probably continue to put out the X-Hate anthologies, seeing that the Fundies are perhaps the greatest threat to America's Constitutional freedom that's out there. And I will continue to extend my hand of friendship to all of you. (If you're out there, Rowan Moonstone, please get in touch with me through Blanche Nonken!!! Or write...my address has not changed!) I wish you the most joyous and glorious of Beltanes...and who knows, that curly haired, pudgy lady with the clear plastic dweeboid glasses ahead of you as you dance around the maypole may well be me. Yours in Reason, Michelle Klein-Hass 19 April 1989 * From "A=A" by Zoogz Rift (c) 1988 Miss Anne Thrope Music --- * Origin: Tahuti-Net / Eagle Rock, CA (213) 258-5724 (Opus 1:102/862) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (604) Fri 28 Apr 89 23:50 By: Jack Ofshadows To: All Magicians Re: The Dweller On The Threshold St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:3948 129cbe59 The following is from a very good book called:DIVINATION BY MAGIC,by Noud van den Eerenbeemt. The subtitle is:Secret instructions of an Esoteric lodge,contained in letters from an initiate to a neophyte,... *****************Quote***************** There are powers of memory and powers that lie hidden to the soul.And as above(we have quoted this before) so below,or shall we say,as below so above? when these powers fall from the macrocosm on unprepared,ignorant people,they suffer from mental cramp and emotional disturbances,which then express themselves in the form of megalomania,passion,delusions of grandure and genius,insanity,possession,spontaneous astral projection,ect.This is why in the occult systems of India,such stress is layed on not attracting such powers lightly. "Anyone who does not percieve the essential character of Saturn,the 'Dweller on the Threshold',will come to regret it.It is fatal to expose oneself to the influence of certain radiations without having activated the corresponding force center in one's own personality." ** To which I might add: ** The Dweller On The Threshold refers to the darkness and opposition within the psyche of each magician at the beginning of their training.We must gain addmittance from this "Guard" within.If we choose the Dark over the Light,the Guard will eventually judge and execute us;if we force the doors,the guard will die,and open us to ALL passing forces-no matter how destructive to us and others. --- * Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (605) Fri 28 Apr 89 23:57 By: Jack Ofshadows To: All Re: Dweller On The Threshold 2 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:3948 129cbf28 **************************************** The Dweller On The Threshold is the ancient name for a part of the personality which manifests when the novice starts using magic. It is like a monster-within that will misuse the Art in some way, and must become an ally, or it will act as an enemy. An example would be the best way to explain this. There was a student of magic who was one of those individuals who did not like anyone, and had difficulty getting people to like him. What he did not realize, was that his misanthropy was a defence against extreamly destructive self critisism. Instead of using the Art to improve his life, he began to use it to control the women in his imediate domaine. Because he did not like the women he screwed, and only used them for his own gratification, he used Love Spells and Spells Of Domination instead of Love and Caring to seduce. What he was told ,over and over, by his teacher, but his Dweller blocked him from remembering, was that Love Spells are a two way street; they not only affect the target, but also the Magician. One of the women he seduced was an obveous mistake who twisted his emotions this way and that, and finally left him. After the breakup, the magician could not disengage,and made a fool of himself publicly several times, began drinking heavily, and finally killed himself in a messy violent way. The Dweller On The Threshold, in this case, consisted of his extream dislike of other people;which, in addition to keeping him safe from the wrong people (teaching magicians and hookers) also made his sex life a disaster. Once he was able to use the Art to overcome the resistance of his sex partners, by implanting the suggestion that they loved him, the Art also allowed him to become enfatuated with a sociopath. An obsession was started with someone who was better at the endgame of useing those who they like; was imune to his 'charms,' and used him for her own perposes. It could also be pointed out that the Hooker was doing to him what he was doing to himself and the other women in his life. Karma? The seeds of one's own distruction? Who knows? But one thing is for sure, he would still be alive today if he had made a friend of his Dweller. --- * Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (606) Tue 2 May 89 6:26 By: Jack Ofshadows To: Magicians Re: Magic Force 1of2 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:3948 12a23351 Casting Spells and Working Magic. What makes Magic Work. By Jack Of Shadows. Some writers of occult books assert that all one has to do, to use magic to affect external events, is to concentrate. This is a partial error. Concentration is a necessary skill to employ; However, it is not what makes the spell work. The magician must assume a state of consciousness, which, in the tech language of ritual, is called 'merging,' if he is to effect EXTERNAL events. A Work such as a wisdom spell, which only effects the operator, and occasionally the external world as a secondary effect, only requires concentration, because it is an act of self suggestion. Merging, however, is an altered state of consciousness which puts the magician in touch with the Akasha principal, the name for a Etheric substance which the objects of the physical world are only a small part of, the part that is solid enough(lower in frequency) to activate biological receptors, and can be seen in the visible light spectrum. Having a backround in physics enhances, rather than refutes an understanding of this principal, as long as the existence of metaphysics is understood. As you know, the model explaining why a magnet has permeability is just that, a model. No one has ever seen all those atoms line up, pole to pole, to create magnetism; no one really understands magnetism, only how to use it. The reason for the elusive nature of magnetic force, is an illusion caused by our limited present knowledge of matter in general. To state the truth simply is: ( this will blow your mind off its hinges if you think hard enough about it), THE MAGNETISM COMES FROM OUTSIDE THE MAGNET, not inside as has been postulated by other sources. --- * Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (607) Tue 2 May 89 6:32 By: Jack Ofshadows To: Magicians Re: Magic Force 2of2 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:3948 12a2340c The magnet is a transformer of the force, whose origin is in the Akasha principal, not the metal. The same principal is true of all physical plane objects.This is the reason for all the herbs and stones used in magic; they are reflections of force aspects, of the Akasha Principal. They are hard representations of more rarefied energy. This energy is the force,which when acted upon, produces work in the form of external manipulation of objects and what is referred to by the ignorant as coincidence. . As you know, Nuclear Force comes from the splitting of atoms, or does it? There is a point in the squiggle calculation of the propagation of Nutrons in a Reactor, where you must ASSUME that the energy is released. No one has an adequate explaination of WHERE it comes from, only theoretical models that SEEM to explain some EFFECTS. U-235, when subjected to critical mass conditions,transforms a type of force, which, in keeping with its nature, splits the atom AFTER it is released. Take the time for each reaction and devide it into parts, then devide the parts, and divide and divide. The point where force is released cannot be accurately determined with 100 percent certainty when fission of atoms takes place. The Akasha principal, naturally passive,when acted upon by the active principal of the Merged mind, produces forces: Electrical, chemical, Nuclear,and Magnetic; which, when seen in the correct light, are all aspects of the same force. THE SAME FORCE. --- * Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (608) Sun 30 Apr 89 12:21 By: Phil Nicholls To: All Re: Metaphysics St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:417b 129e61b1 NEW AGE movement and metaphysics, what do they have in common? Metaphysics is that branch of philosophy that attempts to address questions related to ontology, epistemology and cosmology. Lately, advances in particle physics have made the division between physics and metaphysics less clear. Nonetheless, metaphysics is a respectible intellectual outlet and has been since the days of Aristotle. Now, anyone going into a book store and looking under "metaphysics" will find- astrology, astral voyages, psychic powers and various other forms of paperback pulp. The New Age movement in this country has, at least to the uninformed, rendered metaphysics equal to mysticism. I do not dismiss mystics. Most of the mystics I know are quiet, contemplative people who laugh at the idea of publishing a book on their insights since, by definition, contemplative knowledge is personal and not transfered by means of language. Those who attempt to publish books on mysticism or about mystical insights are those seeking the quick buck. Let us reserve this conference, then, for discussions of true metaphysics: not mysticism, but the nature of existence itself. Let us wield the rational and the empirical into something more powerful than either can be alone. --- RBBSMAIL 17.2A * Origin: THE SKEPTIC'S BOARD (415) 648-8944 (RBBS-PC 8:914/207) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (609) Wed 17 May 89 13:54 By: Magenta Griffith To: All Re: Satire St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:d649 12b16ecd This is by request - YOU ASKED FOR IT! The Lady's Brothel (to the tune "Nonesuch" also used for the "Lady"s Braisle" For She will bring the bugs in the Spring And laugh when She's deflowered. When She's in heat, She'll give you a treat, But you'll get disemboweled. She rots the grain and spreads ptomaine, When fruits of fall displease Her. The moons and suns all turn their buns In joint attempts to freeze Her. - by Steven Posch-Coward (1980) --- * Origin: FIRE OPAL - A Gem of an OPUS [Minneapolis, MN (612) 822-4812] (Opus 1:282/8) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (610) Tue 16 May 89 22:21 By: Golden Angel To: All Re: Wisdom is needed!!! St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:e868 12b0b2a6 I think that before people discuss their ingenous facts, & infinite wisdom they should learn more about, which they speak of, the way one grows is by proving all things, that's how we obtain wisdom. As far as Mystic's are concerned their are some who are true mystic's & do write what they have learned for those who choose to walk that path may. Be- cause if they did'nt write about it their would only be one of them, & I myself Know a few of them who are beyond most human's comperhension, & no I'm not krazy!!! Some may think that the spiritual world does not exist, I myself has seen proof & hope that you non-believers do someday wake up & see it also. I just walk in the way of "EYAH, ASHER, EYAH" >>>MEANING >>> I AM THAT I AM OR I SHALL BE WHAT I SHALL BE >>> I LOVE & ACCEPT ALL FOR THEIR WAY & DO NOT JUDGE OR CONDEM THEM FOR THEIR WAY. "KODOESH, KODOESH, KODOESH" "ADONAI t'SEBAOTH" TAKE IT LIGHT, CATCH YOU ON THE NEXT, FLIGHT!!! BE ME THE ((( GOLDEN ANGEL ))) I'M OUT!!! --- * Origin: The Message Center! - (719)-471-3783 (Opus 1:128/36) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (611) Tue 30 May 89 16:57 By: Warren Stott To: all Re: Snakes, what snakes? St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:3fc4 872e12be A Brief History and Analysis of Saint Patrick and the Myth (Part 1 of 5) Much of the history and life of St. Patrick is inextricably entangled in legend. The legends have been perpetuated and embellished through the years to the point of mystery. Some of these legends served in Patrick's time to further his missionary efforts among the pagans of Ireland. Today, however, they are a source of great debate. The tales of magic and miracles have been weighed by historians, both ecclesiastical and agnostic, with the few authenticated writings of Patrick himself. The resulting picture is still subject to much interpretation. The information presented here is intended to be a cursory overview dealing primarily with the nature of Patrick's missionary effort. Patrick was probably born in Briton between 385 and 389 CE. Many accounts hold that his father was and a minor administrator for the Roman Empire, a deacon of the church and himself the son of a priest. The rules of celibacy among the clergy were apparently not strictly adhered to in fourth century Briton. A Roman subject and Christian by birth, Patrick lived on his fathers estate until he was sixteen years old. Patrick's own writings say that he was not devoted to study in his youth and (1)"knew not the True God." It is clear from other historical evidence that Briton was subject to periodic attack by Irish raiding parties. Many Britons were kidnapped and sold as slaves in Ireland. Sometime around 403 CE Patrick himself was carried off by a band of raiders. He was sold to an irish king who held him as a herdsman for ten years. During this time Patrick learned Gaelic and an appreciation for the Irish countryside. This was also when he found his "true God." Later in his live he wrote that each day of his enslavement he "said a hundred prayers and nearly as many at night." Patrick's writings tell of visions that began after years of enslavement and prayer. The visions came in his sleep, guiding him toward his escape. "You are soon to return to your native land." was one message telling him to prepare for escape and "Your ship is ready." telling him when. Historians presume that after a decade of working herd animals on the slopes of the Irish highlands, he was in good health and well able to make good his escape. Patrick writes that he walked two hundred miles to where a boat was "waiting" for him. He was refused passage at first but after a silent prayer, and presumably God's intervention, the sailors let him aboard. In the course of returning to Briton, a number of miracles and tests are attributed to Patrick. He is said to have converted the sailors after being stranded in an unpopulated area of Gaul. Legend has it that the party was near starvation when Patrick was challenged about the nature of his loving God that would let these men and His disciple starve. Patrick is said to have testified as to his unshaken faith and only shortly there after to have miraculously found a herd of wild pigs immediately on the road ahead. This is one of the many legendary miracles that historians tend to discount as being exaggeration of mere coincidence. (Continued) --- msged 1.99S ZTC * Origin: === Tech Pubs Consulting === (1:104/904.7) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (612) Tue 30 May 89 16:58 By: Warren Stott To: all Re: Snakes, what snakes? St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:3fc4 874f12be A Brief History and Analysis of Saint Patrick and the Myth (Part 2 of 5) Patrick finally made his way to civilization and indirectly back to his family in Briton. Here again Patrick was influenced by visions. This time the visions suggested that he was to bring Christianity to the pagans of Ireland. "We beseech thee, holy youth, to come and walk among us again." From this point the history of Patrick's travels and teachers becomes convoluted. It is presumed that the self-enlightened youth would have required formal education and acceptance by the church to continue on to his calling. His travels and tales of him suggest that he studied for a number of years in Gaul and Briton, and perhaps even Rome. During this period his travels brought him into contact with a number of other men who would become saints themselves. This in itself created a number of stories and legends leaving unclear not only where and when Patrick studied but also confusing the stories surrounding these other one-day saints. Regardless, this teaching brought him firmly under the influence of Rome and the church. He, however, was not the one picked by the church to open Ireland to Christianity. By this time their were already a small number of Christian settlements and monasteries in the south and east of Ireland. Most of these Christians were refugees from strife in Europe and Briton. They had, of course, had an impact on the natives and converted some number of Druid and pagan folk. Likewise, some early clergy practiced a mixture of the old pagan religions and druidism by night and Christianity by day. Word came to Rome of this heresy and the charge to convert Ireland and punish the offending clergy was born. One Deacon Palladius was selected by Pope Celestine to be the first bishop of Ireland in 431. Palladius is thought to have been a greek with little knowledge of the Irish people, language, or culture. It is not surprising that his missionary efforts were less than wholly successful. Palladius founded a few churches in the northeast of Ireland though the known Christian settlements and monasteries were mostly in the south. He met with tremendous resistance from the local king, Nathy, and the native pagans. Unwilling to stay in this hostile environment and away from his homeland, Palladius soon sailed from Ireland for home. A chance landing in western Scotland gave him opportunity for a more successful missionary effort among the Picts which ended with his death the following year in 432. An Irish saying has it that (2)"The Lord gave Ireland not to Palladius but to Patrick." It is not clear who actually raised Patrick to the rank of bishop and sent him to Ireland. This too is lost in the legends but it is generally held that St. Germanus and not the Pope was responsible. Patrick came to Ireland in 432 landing at the sight of Palladius' failure. (Continued) --- msged 1.99S ZTC * Origin: === Tech Pubs Consulting === (1:104/904.7) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (613) Tue 30 May 89 16:59 By: Warren Stott To: all Re: Snakes, what snakes? St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:3fc4 876212be A Brief History and Analysis of Saint Patrick and the Myth (Part 3 of 5) He realized that the common people would follow in conversion if he could first convert their leaders. He made great show of his strength against the chieftains and kings and sought opportunities to challenge their faith. Legend has it that Patrick was as willing to raise his left hand in a curse as his right in a blessing. Stories abound of the miracles Patrick performed throughout his travels; he turned the fertile lands of king Nathy into a salt marsh, he changed the dogs of the local chieftain Dichu into stone, he healed the injured and raised the sons of one converted chieftain from the dead. There are many incidents in legend of Patrick performing acts of druidical magic much to the astonishment of druids and chieftains alike. Beyond the attributed magic and miracles, there is the more realistic historical view that Patrick brought more than Christianity to the pagan masses. Historians have long credited the spread of Christianity with the spread of literacy and vice- versa. The missionaries brought with them books, albeit Christian books, and written language which proved to be the brightest of offerings to cultures that relied on the oral histories for recording the past. This was no less true of Ireland. There was a practice at the time of the high king lighting the first Beltane fire each year. Fires were extinguished all over the country to allow the king to bring forth the new fire thus demonstrating his power and ability to provide for his subjects through the grace of the Gods. The fire was light on a high hilltop so people for miles around could see this event. Brands from this fire were taken through the countryside to light anew the peoples own fires. This symbolized that all blessings flowed from the Gods, through the high king and on to the population. It was held at the time that should any fire be raised before the king's fire it would mark the end of the these times and the fall of the king. Patrick's coup de grace was no doubt the lighting of a Beltane fire on a hilltop near by before the king's fire was light. Many people saw this a sign that Patrick had indeed unseated the king and supplanted his new God for the old. Patrick had made good the prediction and tightened his grip on the ruling class of Ireland. Modern non-ecclesiastical historians take exception with the authenticity of much of the St. Patrick tale. First there is the question of separating the legends from the man. Though there was a man named Patrick who served as bishop in Ireland, much of the legend surrounding him appears more likely to be a composite of Patrick and a number of other bishops and clergy, some earlier than Palladius. Secondly, the accomplishments attributed to Patrick at once reinforce the multiple persona of Patrick as well as discredit most of the legends as pious wishful thinking or simple exaggeration. (Continued) --- msged 1.99S ZTC * Origin: === Tech Pubs Consulting === (1:104/904.7) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (614) Tue 30 May 89 17:00 By: Warren Stott To: all Re: Snakes, what snakes? St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:3fc4 880412be A Brief History and Analysis of Saint Patrick and the Myth (Part 5 of 5) There is much about St. Patrick that will never be known for fact. There is much that might be left to faith among the Christian or heavily Church indoctrinated. The facts are that there was a man named Patrick who served as a missionary to Ireland. He is credited with forming the Church of Ireland and was canonized for his service. In terms of the snakes of Ireland and Patrick, the lesson is clear that history and the recording of history is subject to the predisposition of the historian. Patrick, it would appear, did little more than any other missionary of Christianity did for his charge. Patrick, like many missionaries, is guilty of the destruction of historical artifacts and at the same time should be credited, in part, with bringing literacy to Ireland. These are the sins and accomplishments of a man who followed his faith and the calling of his "true God." The corruption of his story and his religion were largely not his doing. Timeline: 385 Probable birth year 431 Palladius to Ireland 432 Patrick to Ireland, Palladious' death 444 Native clergy and an episcopal see at Armagh 457 Patrick resigned as head of the Church of Ireland 461 Patrick's death Footnotes: 1 "Confession" Saint Patrick, the date of this document is still in contest. All quotes used are form Confession unless otherwise footnoted. 2 Several twentieth century historians have proposed that Palladius and Patrick were one and the same. They base this generally on chronology and specific interpretation of the legends surrounding both men. 3 "The Life and Acts of St. Patrick Jocelyn, Monk of Furness (date unknown). 4 "The Flowering of Ireland" Katherine Scherman, Little, Brown & Co. 1981. Additional Commentary: This article was not written to defend Patrick just as it was not written to be specifically pagan sympathetic. I researched and wrote this article to answer a question for myself and as such, was primarily interested in fact of history. I am not justifying or defending anything that Patrick or the expansion of Christianity or, specificaly, the church did. I just wanted to know where the nonsense about the snakes came from. In researching the subject I found for every non-ecclesiastical history there are several by church scholars and more by wanna-be historians with no credentiuals except "faith." I also found that the magickal acts attributed to various saints including Patrick is really heady stuff. These guys are supposed to have done stuff that makes the best of the current crop of magick users look like toddlers. This raises the question of how did the church differentiate between the magick performed by these ancient saints and that attributed to witches. Of course the answer is the Saint called down a miracle and the witch was in league with the devil. I guess it would be wise then if challanged about an act of magick to claim it was a miracle. Who knows, it might lead to a new high paying carrier. -Warren- --- msged 1.99S ZTC * Origin: === Tech Pubs Consulting === (1:104/904.7) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (615) Wed 31 May 89 11:06 By: Warren Stott To: All you folks Re: More Snakes, what snakes? St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:3fc4 58c512bf (reposting message) A Brief History and Analysis of Saint Patrick and the Myth (Part 4 of 5) Legend has it that Patrick's deliverance of Ireland to Christianity took only 15 to 25 years. This appears to be far too short a time to have accomplished the establishment of the Church of Ireland and the baptizing of "thousands" of pagans. Further, there is the question of deliverance. The suggestion is that Ireland as a whole became a Christian country in this short period of time. There is significant evidence that widespread pagan and pagan sympathetic religion was practiced throughout the fifth and sixth centuries in much of Ireland. Considering that Patrick appears to have died in 461, his accomplishments are, at best, chronologically misrepresented and at worst, completely over stated. The story of St. Patrick driving the serpents from Ireland into the sea is an excellent example of the corruption of fact by the historians that first attempted to record Patrick's life. This tale has been interpreted by some as a metaphor for the conversion or banishing of the Druids and other pagans during this time. This has been used by both Christians and pagans for their own purposes and actually serves neither. Many historians now view the tale as a fabrication of one man in the name of pious fervor. The story goes that Patrick spread his missionary zeal throughout Ireland for a number of years, finally coming to what is now County Mayo on Clew Bay. Here Patrick fasted and meditated the forty days of Lent atop the 2500 foot high peak known today as Croagh Patrick. Observing this peak it is clear this was not a hospitable place for a old man alone. Even today, the peak is seldom visible through the clouds and is subject to freezing temperatures and wet winds off the ocean. When the days of Lent had passed, Patrick (3)"gathered together from all parts of Ireland all the poisonous creatures... By the power of his word he drove the whole pestilent swarm from the precipice of the mountain, headlong into the ocean." Modern historians as well as geologists and anthropologists have a different story to tell. As Katherine Scherman puts it, (4)"This legend was invented some seven hundred years after Patrick lived, to explain the then-unaccountable fact of Ireland's freedom from snakes. The island actually lost its reptiles and amphibians fifteen to twenty thousand years earlier. Most of the plants and animals of the British Isles had been killed or driven south as the ice cap grew. When the glacial sheet waned they began to come back. But before they could reach Ireland the melting ice raised the water level, and the land bridge that had connected Wales and Ireland during the Ice Age was broken by the re-creation of the Irish Sea... The only animals that got back to Ireland were those that could swim or fly... Two amphibians and one reptile made it; the natterjack toad, the smooth newt and the brown lizard, all innocuous little creatures. Ireland's snakelessness was commented on as early as the third century A.D. by the grammarian Gaius Julius Solinus: 'In that land there are no snakes, birds are few, and the people are inhospitable and warlike.'... It was his (Patrick's) twelfth- century biographer, Jocelyn, credulously reverent, who chose to explain his country's odd deficiency by tacking yet another legend to the top-heavy halo surrounding the saint." (only one more to go) --- msged 1.99S ZTC * Origin: === Tech Pubs Consulting === (1:104/904.7) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (616) Sun 4 Jun 89 10:18 By: Geoff Gilpin To: All Re: Eliade on "Satanic" verses (1) St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:e389 524012c4 I don't know about you, but synchronicity turns up for me mostly when I'm reading. I'll be wading through a cookbook, a 19th century British novel, and a biography of a dead philosopher when BINGO they all mention the Marquis de Sade at just the right moment. This psychological trapeze act happened a few months ago as I was finishing the third volume of Mircea Eliade's A HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS IDEAS. I'm not up to a full-blown review, but let me say that this is one of the finest works of comparative religion that I've seen. The analogies with Joseph Campbell's THE MASKS OF GOD are inevitable. Both authors cover much of the same territory with a zeal for synthesis. And both men are born teachers. Campbell is probably the better writer; his loose and intimate style makes friends more easily than Professor Eliade's prose, which is sometimes stiff and academic. (I will always imagine Joe Campbell sitting in the bleachers at Wrigley Field, discussin' Dionysus with Mack and Jimmy over a Schlitz.) Unfortunately, Campbell's passion for pattern-finding can distract. He'll introduce (so to speak) the Tlingit shamans of British Columbia and, in mid-sentence, jump over to Confucius and then to the Gnostic heretics. This is fine when you're getting started and you need to know that Isis is the same thing as the Virgin Mary. But after a while you've learned that lesson and perhaps you'd like to know more about those Tlingit shamans with a bit less digression. This is where Professor Eliade shows his stuff. The HISTORY begins with the earliest humans and walks a stately path through the ages, one religion at a time. We end up around the Reformation, when Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism have pretty much taken on their modern forms. (It's sad that Professor Eliade died before he could complete volume four, which would have covered African and Native American beliefs.) It is a wonder to see a man so at home with the world, so close to the earth's most obscure cultures and faiths. When he lingers in a particular era, he speaks in the present tense, as if he himself were a shaman feasting on charred mastodon and summoning the tribal spirits to the campfire. And he speaks of the things to come (the orthodoxies and heresies that are ancient history to the rest of us) in the future tense as natural outgrowths of whatever culture he is currently inhabiting. This is one book that can be labelled a "timeless classic" without resorting to cliche. --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: APPLEGATE (1:139/630) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (617) Sun 4 Jun 89 10:20 By: Geoff Gilpin To: All Re: Eliade on "Satanic" verses (2) St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:e389 528012c4 But we were talking of Synchronicity. There I was, safely enthralled in a work of comparative religion, when the Ayatollah stunned the world with his cowardice by sentencing Salman Rushdie to death for writing a novel called THE SATANIC VERSES. By now, anybody who cares has read SATANIC VERSES, and we've all learned what Fundamentalists do to people who write books. But maybe you didn't know what Mircea Eliade had to say about the central event of Rushdie's novel. I don't mean the plane crash, but the "blasphemous" sequence in which Mohammad (or "Mahound") trance-channels the Quran to the Archangel Gabriel, who proceeds to feed it right back to him. Or two versions of the Quran, actually, one of which seems to acknowledge polytheism in the form of three Arabic goddesses. Sure enough, just as I got to this "blasphemous" part, I come across the following in Eliade: "Ibn Ishak affirms that when the Prophet, on the order of Allah, proclaimed the true religion (Islam, 'submission'), his fellow citizens did not oppose it for such time as he did not speak evil of their gods. The tradition tells us that after verse 20 of sura 53, which concerns the goddesses Allat, Al'Uzza, and Manat, there followed three verses: 'They are sublime goddesses and their intercession is certainly desirable.' But later Muhammad took the stance that these words were inspired in him by Satan. He thus replaced them as follows: 'They are naught but names yourselves have named, and your fathers... And yet guidance has come to them from their Lord.'" "This incident is instructive for two reasons. First of all, it shows the sincerity of the Prophet: he recognized that, in reciting the words dictated by divine inspiration, he had been deceived by Satan. In the second place, he justifies the annulment of the two verses by the omnipotence and absolute freedom of God. In effect, the Quran is the only Holy Book which knows the freedom to annul certain passages of Revelation." A footnote adds: "Most probably Mohammad considered the three goddesses to be intercessory angels; in fact, the belief in angels was accepted by Islam and, later, angelology would play an important role in Shi'ism. But taking into account the risk which the intercession of the goddesses (= angels) would represent for his strictly monotheistic theology, Muhammad abrogated the two verses." Eliade, like Rushdie, acknowledges that the original "Satanic" verses were born of political expediency. The two differ somewhat on the "abrogation" of the verses. Where Rushdie sees the turn-around as the product of a confused mind spinning different versions of scripture to suit circumstances, Eliade finds evidence of divine freedom. Maybe it's a little of both. In any case, regardless of who those goddesses were, it's nice to know that the deceased Eliade and the buried-alive Rushdie could have their rendezvous at just the time appointed by synchronicity. --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: APPLEGATE (1:139/630) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (618) Tue 30 May 89 10:14 By: David Rice To: All Re: Ghosts? St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:9a7b 12be51ce 06-Aug-88 06:39 MST Sb: APn 08/05 0731 Forrestal Ghost Copyright, 1988. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. MAYPORT NAVAL STATION, Fla. (AP) -- Ghosts are fine, traditional things to have around ancient English castles, but the Navy says rumors of one stalking the depths of the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal have spooked a few sailors. Flickering lights. Bumps in the night. Locked doors opening. Voices on disconnected telephones. And a vanishing figure in a khaki uniform. The figure's even got a nickname: George. At least that's what some of the men say aboard the Forrestal, in its fourth month of a six-month deployment in the Indian Ocean and the North Arabian Sea. They were interviewed by Lt. James E. Brooks, who detailed the story of the ghost in a 12-page news release issued last month. The report about George hasn't ruffled any Navy feathers, Mayport Navy spokesman Lt. Park Balevre said Thursday. "I thought it was cute. I think most people did." "What Lt. Brooks had in mind was a fluff piece to show the lighter side of the Navy," said Balevre. But according to Brooks, some sailors don't think the ghost story is at all cute. George lurks in two of the ship's below-the-waterline storage areas, one of them a former morgue, spooked sailors claim. "I've got one guy working for me now who refuses to go down there alone. Our last chief petty officer in charge, who has since transferred, refused to go down there at all," says Petty Officer Daniel Balboa, in charge of the officers' mess. "I've never seen any ghosts but you can hear weird things down there," said Balboa. "I was taking inventory one night and heard a noise like deck grating being picked up and dropped," he recalled. "I'd turn around and look but didn't see anything. When I turned around to begin my work again, the noise started again." One night, Balboa said, he was checking temperatures in food-storage freezers and kept finding open doors he had shut behind him. "It is impossible for anyone to open the reefer (refrigerator) doors from the outside, behind me. To open them from the outside requires a key since the doors lock automatically. "I had the only key with me. That incident puts me on the verge of believing," he said. Some say the ghost is a chief killed during a 1967 flight deck fire that killed 137 sailors in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam, Brooks wrote. Others guess he's a pilot whose body was once stored on the ship. Petty Officer James Hillard hasn't ventured into the haunted areas since he saw George last year while checking out odd footsteps. "He was wearing a khaki uniform, like an officer or chief would wear," he says. He followed the apparition into a compartment but "there was nobody in there, and I swear that is where he went," Hillard said. Mess Specialist 2nd Class Gary Weiss saw a khaki-clad ghost go down a ladder to pump room No. 1. Whoever went down into the pump room never came out and the ladder is the only access, he said. Hillard said he once was helping move supplies when a telephone that was reportedly disconnected kept ringing. "The phone rang and I answered it. This time there was a faint voice calling, `Help! Help! I'm on the sixth deck!' Rumor had it that a crew member was killed down there. I'm very scared to go down there alone. If I do, I get out of there as fast as I can," Hillard said. Others are dubious. "I think it's the guys' imagination," said Senior Chief Petty Officer James Williams. "I'm not superstitious but when I go down there by myself, I find it uneasy. When that happens, your imagination is going to play tricks on you." --- * Origin: The Astro-Net. 714-662-2294 (Opus 1:103/503) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (619) Wed 7 Jun 89 13:52 By: Joey Swails To: David Rice Re: Navy Ghost? St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:417b 12c7699b I don't think that a large group of 18 to 24 year men in a potentially life-threatening situation, isolated at sea and drowning in boredom, could be a more likely bunch of candidates for such mass-hysterical nonsense as this. I don't think I would feel very comfortable hanging around a morgue in the guts of an old ship, myself! Sailors have been under a lot of stress lately - i bet they get nervous every time someone strikes a match these days - and this is exactly the time when reports of this type are likely to crop up. The Navy has some pretty sophisticated photo-imaging hardware; perhaps a bit of investigation could put the question to rest. Probably, though, the Navy does not want to encourage such things aboard their vessels. --- RBBSMAIL 17.2A * Origin: THE SKEPTIC'S BOARD (415) 648-8944 (RBBS-PC 8:914/207) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (620) Fri 16 Jun 89 23:19 By: Chuck Haynes To: All Re: Meditation St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:e919 ba6012d0 WORLD HEALING MEDITATION By John Randolph Price In the beginning In the beginning God In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And God said Let there be light; and there was light. Now is the time of the new beginning. I am a co-creator with God, and it is a new Heaven that comes. as the God Will of God is expressed on Earth through me. It the Kingdom of Light, Love, Peace, and Understanding. And I am doing my part to reveal its Reality. I begin with me. I am a living Soul and the Spirit of God dwells in me, as me. I and the Father are one, and all that the Father has is mine. In Truth, I am the Christ in God. What is true of me is true of everyone, for God is all and all is God. I see only the Spirit of God in every Soul. And to every man woman and child on Earth I say: I love you, for you are me. You are my Holy Self! I now open my heart. and let the pure essence of Unconditional Love pour out. I see it as a Golden Light radiating from the center of my being. and I feel its Divine Vibration in and through me, above and below me. I am one with the Light. I am filled with the Light. I am illumined by the Light. I am the Light of the world. With purpose of mind, I sends forth the Light. I let the radiance go before me to join the other Lights. I know this is happening all over the world at this moment. I see the merging Lights. There is now one Light. We are the Light of the world. The one Light of Love, Peace, and Understanding is moving. It flows across the face of the Earth, touching and illuminating every soul in the shadow of the illusion. And where there was darkness, there is now the Light of Reality. And the Radiance grows, permeating, saturating every form of life. There is only the vibration of one Perfect Life now. All the kingdoms of the Earth respond, and the Planet is alive with Light and Love. There is total Oneness, and in this Oneness we speak the Word. Let the sense of separation be dissolved. Let mankind be returned to Godkind. Let peace come forth in every mind. Let Love flow forth from every heart. Let forgiveness reign in every soul. Let understanding be the common bond. And now from the Light of the world. the One Presence and Power of the Universe responds. The Activity of God is healing and harmonizing Planet Earth. Omnipotence is made manifest. I am seeing the salvation of the planet before my very eyes. as all false beliefs and error patterns are dissolved. The sense of separation is no more; the healing has taken place, and the world is restored to sanity. This is the beginning of Peace on Earth and Good Will toward all, as Love flows forth from every heart, forgiveness reigns in every soul, and all hearts and minds are one in perfect understanding. It is done. And it is so. --- FD 2.00 * Origin: Casa de La Luz-Alamogordo, NM, (505) 434-3937 10PM-6AM MDT (1:308/1001) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (621) Sun 18 Jun 89 19:25 By: Paul Seymour To: All Re: Threefold Law St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:d65 9b2012d2 Karma, The Three Fold Law, & Grace "As you sew, so shall ye reap". "What goes around, comes around". "Whatever you send out returns three times". These are all sayings very familiar to all of us, all of them examples of a supposedly Universal Law of cause and effect, action and reaction. Of course many of the religious systems try to furnish us with some sort of "escape clause" that will allow man to either alleviate suffering fo past misdeeds, or to escape responsibility totally. Let us take a little closer look at these three ideas and ther inter-reationship. It seems that, on one level, we do live in a mechanistic universe, one pretty much ruled by cause-and-efect. This Newtonian universe seems to react in a very mechanical fashion, i.e. every action "produces an equal and opposite reaction". A good analogy for this is the example of one billiard ball striking another. The energy from the striking billiard ball is transfered to the one struck and is used to push against the first, imparting motion in the same direction. This brings the second law into play, i.e. an object in motion tends to stay in motion untill acted upon by an outside force. The principle of Karma basically says the same thing; i.e. any negative or positive action or thought remains that way, until it expends its energy by acting upon the originator. Of course this also makes implicit the idea that thoughts or mental energy have a reality of their own, one that interacts with the physical universe. If this idea is accepted, it then implies the existence of at least one more "world" or order of the universe, one with a non physical "reality", and one where the basic fundamental rules of physics (as we know them) may not truly apply. The magician can be described as one who "walks between" these two worlds. "Walking between two worlds" implies that an individal is connected with both and can move between them at will. The purpose of magic is to manipulate one world for the benefit of the other, i.e. to manipulate the unseen world for the express purpose of influencing events in the physical. Unfortunately there does not seem to be a "free ride" anywhere in the universe, and when an individual acquires the power to do this, they also aquire a great deal of responsibility! By accepting the power to exert "leverage" in the unseen world, an individual seems to also accept a multiplied succeptibility to influences initiated in that world. This is why negative workings are so dangerous! This may also be the reasoning behind the "law of three fold return". Now comes the hard part! If all of this cause and effect stuff is absolute, how can any individual ever hope to "pay off" the debts for all of the "stupid" things they have done not only in this lifetime, but in many others? Must we "pay off" all past transgressions on a one for one basis? Is there no ecape clause in this "contract" we seem to have for living in the universe? This "escape clause" is called Grace by the Christians and by other names in other systems, but it does exist in all. Basically, the idea is this: "Once a lesson is completely learned and one grows beyond a need for this lesson, it need not be repeated, even if the 'books' are not balanced". This is the "Enlightenment" sought by the Buddhist that allows the "breaking" of the wheel. This is also the core principle behind the idea of "Divine" forgiveness, but that is a topic for another essay. Paul G. Seynour, SYSOP 1:301/9 --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: The Mountain Oracle "Witches & Pagans & Druids.....Oh My!" (1:301/9) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (622) Wed 14 Jun 89 19:06 By: Eric Marsh To: Joey Swails Re: Re:magic Vs. The New Real St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:417b 12ce98c3 Your point about provability is well taken. It is possible that these two realms (science and metaphysics) may never find common ground. Then again, who knows. Yes, a couple of years ago I did read the Tau of Physics, and have read a number of other such since then. The most recent was a book called Beyond the Quantum, and since I loaned to to a friend I don't have the writer's name. It refers to something called the "Aspect" experiment that supposedly demonstrates that either the universe is completely non-deterministic or that it is possible to pass a message backwards in time. Ever hear about it? Unfortinetly the details of the experiment were not properly documented. As for my belief in magic, it is simply that I have seen more than my share of what I consider to be highly unlikely events occur as a seeming result of some sort of an altered mental state. A good example is a friend who recently won a white and gold Ninja 500 three days after doing a working for a new white motorcycle. You mentioned your experience with the Crowley-ites. I have also observed that sort of thing seems to be pretty commonplace when one attempts to use scientific means to validate or invalidate this sort of thing. My current thinking is that we each create or alter our realities to some degree as a result of our world view, and that there is some overlap when different "realities" meet. Thus, one who believes in a largely inflexable mechanical universe will tend to cast that reality to some extent on those who have different perspectives. Just an idea anyhow... Eric --- RBBSMAIL 17.2A * Origin: THE SKEPTIC'S BOARD (415) 648-8944 (RBBS-PC 8:914/207) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (623) Sat 24 Jun 89 11:07 By: Paul Seymour To: All Re: Circle Ritual - Part 1 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:d65 58e012d8 CIRCLE CEREMONY WATER Blessings upon thee, O creature of water, I cast out from thee all impurities and uncleanness of the spirits of phantasm, confusion, or any other influence not for the free will of all. SALT Blessings be upon this creature of salt; let all malignity and hindrance be cast forth thencefrom, and let all good enter therein. Wherefore I bless thee and invoke thee, that thou mayest aid me. MIXING I take this salt of the Earth, Blessed with the will of Fire; I take this water of spirit,Exorcised with mind of merit; I mix them with words of power, Dedicated to every Tower. By the power of moon and sun, By the power of Spirit,earth and sea, God and Goddess are part of One, As I Will, so mote it be! CASTING OF THE CIRCLE I conjure thee, O circle of power, As thou encircle every Tower. That thou beest a place of Truth, Joy and love, Encircling Flight of Eagle, Hawk and Dove. Mighty Aegis of the Lady and Lord, Rampart of thought, action and word. To work in Peace, Powerful and Free, Who walk between two worlds conjure thee; A boundary to Protect, Concentrate and Contain, That Power raised here be not in vain. Wherefore do I bless thee and consecrate thee, in the names of Cernunnos and Aradia. --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: The Mountain Oracle "Witches & Pagans & Druids.....Oh My!" (1:301/9) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (624) Sat 24 Jun 89 11:08 By: Paul Seymour To: All Re: Circle Ritual - Part 2 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:d65 590012d8 SEALING OF THE CIRCLE (seal with water/salt mixture) With potion of earth and water, I seal the sacred circle, Linking air and fire! With potion of earth and air, I seal the sacred circle, Linking fire with water! With potion of earth,air,and fire, I seal the sacred circle, Linking water with the Earth! As the four directions are brought to merge, Let influence of the mighty ones converge! (Seal with Censer) With Incense and air of Mind, East to South,I do Bind! With Incense and air of mind, South to West, I do Bind! With Incense and air of Mind, West to North, I do Bind! With Incense and air of Mind, North to East Completion Find! (Seal with Candle) With the Fire of emotion and will East to South, our dedication fulfill! With the Fire of veneration and Will, South to West, our allegiance fulfill! With the Fire of Devotion and Will, West to North, our consecration fulfill! With the Fire of Commitment and will, From North to East, This inscription fulfill! Within the circle All wills be free, The circle is sealed, So Mote it Be! --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: The Mountain Oracle "Witches & Pagans & Druids.....Oh My!" (1:301/9) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (625) Sat 24 Jun 89 11:10 By: Paul Seymour To: All Re: Circle Ritual - Part 3 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:d65 594012d8 SETTING THE WATCHTOWERS Ye Lords of the Eastern Tower, Airy Lords of Spirit; Let your influence of Power, Aid our minds with merit! I do summon, stir and call you up, to witness these rites and to guard the circle. Ye Lords of Southern Power Fiery Lords of Will. Pray do grace your Tower, Your Powers to fulfill! I do summon, stir and call you up, to witness these rites and to guard the circle. Ye Lordsœ of the Watchtowers of the West, Watery Lords of Death and Initiation; I do summon, stir and call you up, to witness these rites and to guard the Circleœ. Ye Northern Lords of the Earth, Though we be yet but Mortals; Bless our work with worth, Boreas, guardian of Northern portals. I do summon, stir and call you up, to witness these rites and to guard the Circle. Goddess and God, I would know, As 'tis above, so 'tis below Blessings on this work, please bestow! This be my will, true and free, I do so will, so mote it be INVOCATION OF THE ELEMENTS Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Elements of astral birth, I call you now; attend to me! In the Circle, rightly cast, Safe from curse or blast, I call you now, attend to me! From cave and desert,sea and hill, By wand, blade,and pentacle, I call you now, attend to me! This Is my will, so mote it be! --- QuickBBS v2.03 * Origin: The Mountain Oracle "Witches & Pagans & Druids.....Oh My!" (1:301/9) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (626) Mon 29 May 89 22:34 By: the Bard To: All Re: for your consideration: St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:8b4a 12bdb447 Just a few observations from my quotes file: Political power emanates from the barrel of a gun. -Mao Tse-Tung A generation which ignores History has no past....and no future. -Lazarus Long Beware of altruisim. It is based on self-deception, the root of all evil. -Lazarus Long Never underestimate the entertainment value of a Spode in a public arena. - Sir Elric ap Moray You can have peace, or you can have freedom. Don't EVER count on having both of them at once. -Lazarus Long Register Mongols, not Crossbows! -Ioseph of Locksley A .45 beats 5 aces....every time. -anonymous "If my Government does not trust me with a gun, then I DARE NOT TRUST my Government!" -Bumper sticker It is better to die on your feet, than to live on your knees. -Delores Ibarruri Among other evils which being unarmed brings you, it causes you to be despised. -N. Machiavelli Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. -George Santayana When the smoke cleared away, it was the man with the sword, or the crossbow, or the rifle, who settled the final issue on the field. -George C. Marshall Before you steal that, consider whether you can run faster than 1100 feet per second...... -Ioseph of Locksley This is a very vicious animal: when attacked, he defends himself. -Notice said to have been posted in the Paris Zoo Stupidity cannot be cured with money, or through education, or by legislation. Stupidity is not a sin; the victim can't help being stupid. BUT: Stupidity is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is DEATH...there is no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically and without pity. -Lazarus Long The two highest achievements of the human mind are the twin concepts of "loyalty" and "duty." Whenever these twin concepts fall into disrepute, GET OUT OF THERE FAST! You may possibly save yourself, but there is no way to save that Society...it is doomed. -Lazarus Long --- * Origin: <<>> (Opus 1:114/29) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (627) Fri 2 Jun 89 7:12 By: the Bard To: All Re: Poem St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:8b4a 12c23990 ********************************************************************* ******* MY HARP AND LUTE copyright 1989 W.J.Bethancourt III My Harp and Lute are wood and wire, crafted lovingly and slow Their music brings me from the pain of this frail World here below and takes me to the Doors of Heav'n; whither upward I would go. My Drum's a heartbeat, keeping time, Marks the measure of the tune Counts the moments of the Dance Sets the sygil of the Rune. On that rock I build my Song Singing to the rising Moon. Harp and Lute, and Drum....and Words; Words to sweep, and twist, and roll, Words the weft to weave the web Woven with a single goal: A Web to catch My Lady's heart; A Web to touch My Lady's Soul. ********************************************************************* ****** --- * Origin: <<>> (Opus 1:114/29) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (628) Wed 28 Jun 89 2:23 By: David Schaal To: all Re: tree meditation St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:0 24a9d8ad@ FMPT 12 Since it came up, I thought I would post an outline for a tree meditation. Tree Meditation Outline 1. Relaxation Use any type of relaxation method you feel like. Often will get combined with control of breath. 2. Controlled Breath Gets the person concentrating. 3. Awareness of Physical Body May include breath, heart beat, etc. 4. Visualization of becoming a tree. This can become quite involved. You may start by visualizing a walk in the forest, working with all senses, smell, hearing, taste, touch as well as sight. You can either visualize becoming a tree or entering a tree that already exists in the forest. Note that you should ask the trees permission first! 5. Send roots into the earth from feet. Send the roots down into the earth, down farther and farther into the earth. (Trance induction--as you go futher down in the ground, you may add that you are going into deeper meditation.) (We usually stand, if you sit, you may want to visualize the roots coming from the bottom of your spine instead of the feet.) a. Feeling the dirt. b. Sending roots to meet water. c. Sensing the pulse of the Mother Earth. 6. Sending branches into the sky from crown of head. Similar to 5. a. Feeling the breeze through the branches. b. Sending branches up to meet sunlight. c. Sensing the pulse of the sun's energy. 7. Drawing the water and earth energy from root into trunk. 8. Drawing the sky energy from leaves into trunk. 7+8 can be done as a part of 5+6. Note: We stress Water, Earth and Sky as they represent the Keltic triad. You can add Fire to correspond to the four Wiccan quarters if you wish. 9. Allowing energies to mix and grow (combination of three worlds). 10. Feeling self as conduit for energies. a. Sending earth and water energies out through branches. b. Sending sky energy through roots into ground. 11. Sensing the presence of other trees. a. Feeling roots mingling beneath the earth. b. Feeling branches mingling in the sky (holding hands) c. Sending energy around circle through clasped hands. 12. Establishment of group mind/affirmation of the Grove. 13. Reversal of above 12 steps to return to human form. Reversal is done after the meeting/ritual is finished. Just follow the steps backwards. It usually is quite a bit shorter than the original. The above is an outline (duh!). I have added a few comments which I hope will be of some explanation. If you feel the need to write out a full meditation for your first use, that's ok, but after your firstfew attempts, try doing it ad lib. You will find that certain portions will receive more effort while others may be shortened as your needs change. Allow others to lead the tree meditation at different meetings. -dave --- Sirius 1.0m * Origin: The Joint Point in Minneapolis (1:282/341.12) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (629) Fri 30 Jun 89 3:29 By: David Schaal To: all Re: Keltria--Druidism and Keltic Magick St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:0 24ac7bb4@ FMPT 12 Ye Gods, another neopagan organization! I thought I would post this since someone expressed interest. -dave What is The Henge of Keltria? The Henge of Keltria is a positive path Druidic tradition dedicated to protecting the Earth, honoring our ancestors, revering the spirits of nature and worshipping the Keltic Dieties. Our focus is on spiritual development achieved through the study and practice of the Druidic Arts and Keltic Magick. Through training, networking, resources, ritual and communications we strive to provide a religious and spiritual framework through which each individual can reach his of her own full potential. What does the Henge offer? Currently the Henge of Keltria Publishes "Keltria: A Journal of Druidism and Keltic Magick" on a quarterly basis, and an introductory 31 page booklet "The Henge: An Introduction to Keltrian Druidism." Classes in neo-pagan Druidism are offered in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area on an ongoing basis. Campouts and workshops are held on an irregular basis in Northwestern Wisconsin. Future plans include a book of ritual, bardic songbook, correspondence courses, theological journal and membership directory. For more info, send a business sized SASE to: The Henge of Keltria P.O. Box 33284 Coon Rapids, MN 55433 --- Sirius 1.0m * Origin: The Joint Point in Minneapolis (1:282/341.12) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (630) Fri 30 Jun 89 17:45 By: Magenta Griffith To: All Re: The Charge of Ma Bell St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:d7e0 12de8da3 Listen to the words of the Phone Goddess, who in days of old was called Mama Cass, Ma Barker, Moms Mabley, the last of the Red Hot Mamas, and by many other names not mentionable in mixed company. Whenever you have need to make a call, preferably long distance, and better it be when the rates are high, then shall ye assemble your funds in some convenient place to pay me, who am Queen of all Highway Robbery. These ye shall assemble, ye who are fain to bankruptcy yet have not sent me all your earnings. To these shall I send bills as are yet unheard of. Ye shall be free from bank accounts, as as a sign that ye be truly free ye shall be naked from my rates. And ye shall sing, talk, shout, trade gossip and love, all at your own expense. Let your fingers do the walking through my yellow pages. Let none stop you or turn you aside, just call information. For mine is the dial tone that opens upon the busy signal of life, which is the princess phone of immorality. Mine is the poverty of the masses, and call now, pay later. For my law is profit before people. Today I give knowlege of facts you do not wish to have, and tommorrow calls that will sell you things you do not wish to own. For behold, I demand everything in sacrifice. I am the next best thing to being there, and my bills are sent out upon the earth. (- Magenta G. and Steve P-C, 1982) --- * Origin: The Terraboard, Minneapolis, MN (Opus 1:282/341) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (631) Sun 2 Jul 89 1:12 By: Jack Ofshadows To: All Re: Religion and Civil Rights 1of4 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:32c7 12e2098e GUIDELINES ON DISCRIMINATION BECAUSE OF RELIGION.--- ---------- -- -------------- ------- -- -------- (effective June 15, 1966; amended July 13,1967; November 1,1980) (PART 1605) Section Table of Contents ------- ----- 1605.1 "Religious" nature of a practice or belief............. 1605.2 Reasonable accommodation without undue hardship as required by Section 701(J) (paragraph 950) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ...................... 1605.3 Selection Practices................................... Appendix A to Sections 1605.2 and 1605.3 --- Background Information * * Sec. 1605.1 "Religious" nature of a Practice or Belief. --- In most cases whether or not a practice or belief is religious is not at issue. However, in those cases in which the issue does exist, the Commission will define religious practices to include moral or ethical beliefs as to what is right and wrong which are sincerely held with the strength of traditional religious views. This standard was developed in UNITED STATES VS. SEEGER, 380 U.S. 163 (1965) and WELSH VS. UNITED STATES, 398 U.S. 333 (1970). The Commission has consistently applied this standard in its decisions. The fact that no religious group espouses such beliefs or the fact that the religious group to which the individual professes to belong may not accept such belief will not determine whether the belief is a religious belief of the employee or prospective employee. The phrase "religious practice" as used in these Guidelines includes both religious observances and practices, as stated in Section 701(j) (paragraph 9500, 42 U.S.C. 2000e(j). * Sec. 1605.2 Reasonable Accommodation without Undue Hardship as Required by Section 701(j) (paragraph 9500 of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. --- (a) PURPOSE OF THIS SECTION. * This Section clarifies the obligation imposed by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, (sections 701 (j) (paragraph 950), 703 (paragraph 954) 717, (paragraph 982)) to accommodate the religious practices of employees and prospective employees. This section does not address other obligations under Title VII not to discriminate on grounds of religion, nor other provisions of Title VII. This section is not intended to limit any additional obligations to accommodate religious practices which may exist pursuant to constitutional, or other statutory provisions; neither is it intended to provide guidance for statutes which require accommodation on bases other than religion such as Sec. 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (paragraph 999.6C). The legal principles which have been developed with respect to discrimination prohibited by Title VII on the bases of race, color, sex, and national origin also apply to religious discrimination in all circumstances other than where an accommodation is required. * (b) DUTY TO ACCOMMODATE. (1) Section 701(j) (paragraph 950) makes it an unlawful unemployment practice under Sec. 703(a) (1) (paragraph 954) for an employer to fail to reasonably accommodate the religious practices of an employee or prospective, unless the --- * Origin: ThelemaNet San Francisco * (415) 751-9308 (Opus 1:161/93) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (632) Sun 2 Jul 89 1:17 By: Jack Ofshadows To: All Re: Civil Rights 2 of 4 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:32c7 12e20a39 employer demonstrates that accommodation would result in undue hardship on the conduct of its business. (2) Section 701(j) (paragraph 954) in conjunction with Sec. 703(c), imposes an obligation to reasonably accommodate the religious practices of an employee or prospective employee, unless the labor organization demonstrates that accommodation would result in undue hardship. (3) Section 1605.2 is primarily directed to obligations of employers or labor organizations, which are the entities covered by Title VII that will most often be required to make an accommodation. however, the principles of Section 1605.2 also apply when an accommodation can be required of other entities covered by Title VII, such as employment agencies (Sec. 703(b) (paragraph 954) or joint labor-management committees controlling apprenticeship or other training or retraining (Sec. 703(d) (paragraph 954)). * (c) REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION. (1) After an employee or prospective employee notifies the employer or labor organization of his or her need for a religious accommodation, the employer or labor organization has an obligation to reasonably accommodate the individual's religious practices. A refusal to accommodate is justified only when an employer or labor organization can demonstrate that an undue hardship would in fact result from each available alternative method of accommodation. A mere assumption that many more people, with the same religious practices as the person being accommodated, may also need accommodation is not evidence of undue hardship. * (2) When there is more than one method of accommodation available which would not cause undue hardship, the Commission will determine whether the accommodation offerred is reasonable by examining: (i) The alternatives for accommodation considered by the employer or labor organization; and (ii) The alternative for accommodation, if any, actually offerred to the individual requiring accommodation. Some alternatives for accommodating religious practices might disadvantage the individual with respect to his or her employment opportunities, such as compensation, terms, conditions, or privilieges of employment. Therefore, when there is more than one means of accommodation which would not cause undue hardship, the employer or labor organization must offer the alternative which least disadvantages the individual with respect to his or her employment opportunities. * (d) ALTERNATIVES FOR ACCOMMODATING RELIGIOUS PRACTICES. * (1) Employees and prospective employees most frquently request an accommodation because their religious practices conflict with their work schedules. The following subsections are some means of accommodating the conflict between work schedules and religious practices which the Commission believes that employers and labor organizations should consider as part of the obligation to accommodate and which the Commission will consider in investigating a charge. These are not intended to be all-inclusive. there are often other alternatives which would reasonably accommodate an individuals religious practices when they conflict with a work schedule. There are also employment practices besides work scheduling which may conflict with religious practices and cause an individual to request an accommodation. --- * Origin: ThelemaNet San Francisco * (415) 751-9308 (Opus 1:161/93) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (633) Sun 2 Jul 89 1:22 By: Jack Ofshadows To: All Re: Religion Civil Rights 3 of 3 St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:32c7 12e20ad6 * (i) VOLUNTARY SUBSTITUTES AND "SWAPS," Reasonable accommodation without undue hardship is generally possible where a voluntary substitute with substantially similar qualifications is available. One means of substitution is the voluntary swap. In a number of cases, the securing of a substitute has been left entirely up to the individual seeking the accommodation. The Commission believes that the obligation to accommodate requires that employers and labor organizations facilitate the securing of a voluntary substitute with substantially similar qualififcations. Some means of doing this which employers and labor organizations should consider are: to publicize policies regarding accommodation and voluntary substitution; to promote an atmosphere in which such substitutions are favorably regarded; to provide a central file, bulletin board or other means for matching voluntary substitutes with positions for which substitutes are needed. * (ii) FLEXIBLE SCHEDULING. One means of providing reasonable accommodation for the religious practices of employees or prospective employees which employers and labor organizations should consider is the creation of a flexible work schedule for individuals requesting accommodation. The following list is an example of areas in which flexibility might be introduced: flexible arrival and departure times; floating or optional holidays; flexible work breaks; use of lunchtime in exchange for early departure; staggered work hours; and permitting an employee to make up time lost due to the observance of religious practices. * (ii) LATERAL TRANSFER AND CHANGE OF JOB ASSIGNMENTS. When an employee cannot be accommodated either as to his or her entire job or an assignment within the job, employers and labor organizations should consider whether or not it is possible to change the job assignment or give the employee a lateral transfer. under the HARDISON decision. * 2. The religious practices of some individuals and some groups of individuals are not being accommodated. * 3. Some of those practices which are not being accommodated are: ---Observance of a Sabbath or religious holidays; ---Need for prayer break during working hours; ---Practice of following certain dietary requirements; ---Practice of not working during a mourning period for a deceased relative; ---Prohibition against medical examinations ---Prohibition against membership in labor and other organizations; and ---Practices concerning dress and other personal grooming habits. * 4. Many of the employers who testified had developed alternative employment practices which accommodate the religious practices of employees and prospective employees and which meet the employer's business needs.* 5. Little evidence was submitted by employers which showed actual attempts to accommodate religious practices with resultant unfavorable consequences to the employer's business. Employers appeared to have substantial anticipatory concerns, but no, or very little, actual experience with the problems they theorized would emerge by providing reasonable accommodation for religious practices. * END --- * Origin: ThelemaNet San Francisco * (415) 751-9308 (Opus 1:161/93) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (634) Wed 28 Jun 89 0:14 By: the Bard To: All Re: A small song...again.... St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:bbba 12dc01d1 FROM THE BLACK BOOK OF LOCKSLEY: * THE CHILDISH EDDA -Bela of Eastmarch, KSCA Ron Ellik -tune: "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp" Yggdrasil, where Nine Worlds clash is a noble piece of ash That shelters Norns and Gods and all that crew There, a Dragon gnaws the base of an Eagle's resting place, And four Harts, a Goat and Squirrel are there too! Frigga took a year, or so, and, except for mistletoe Got from everything an Oath for Balder's good Evil Loki wished him harm, so he hired Hodr's arm And the staff the Blind God threw was kissing-wood! Tyr vowed Fenris-Wolf his hand if he couldn't break the Band That All-Father's wisdom made both light and hefty Lupine muscles strained away, but the magic held its' sway - And from then on, till The Time, they called Tyr "Lefty!" When Thor went out to fish, he quickly got his wish, and he hauled a Jormangandr from the Bay But Hymr cut the cable, and Thor was only able To brag about the "one that got away..." When Thor called upon the Giants, they didn't show defiance, But they soon got rid of him, and of his Hammer For the sea he could not swallow, and old Grandmaw beat him hollow, And the House-Pet caused an awful katzenjammer! Asa-Thor became a "her" for to repossess Mjollnir And unto a frosty brute his troth did plight But the vittles that he ate would an army more than sate And the chefs at Utgard always rued that night! Each God's Apple every day, kept the doctor far away 'Til a Giant captured Ydun from their Halls Loki fetched home Bragi's Bride with Her health-food store beside Plus a char-broiled eagle underneath the Walls! Odin said to Mim: "I think I would sort of like a drink." Answered Mim: "That will cost you your left eye! For you've come up very late to the Well at Wisdom's Gate And the set-up prices, after hours, are high!" Oh, the Giants brought their War up to Bifrost's very Door And the battling wrecked Asgards perfect clime Jromungandr, Hel and Fenris dealt out Death in doses generous And, in fighting, did the Aesir pass The Time! * --- * Origin: <<>> (Opus 1:114/29) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (635) Wed 28 Jun 89 14:39 By: the Bard To: All Re: Song..... St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:bbba 12dc74f9 * LORD OF THE DANCE -Anonymous recorded by Joe Bethancourt "Celtic Circle Dance" She danced on the water, and the wind was Her horn The Lady laughed, and everything was born And when She lit the sun and its' light gave Him birth The Lord of the Dance first appeared on the Earth (Chorus): Dance, dance, where ever you may be I am the Lord of the Dance, you see! I live in you, and you live in Me And I lead you all in the Dance, said He! * I danced in the morning when the World was begun I danced in the Moon and the Stars and the Sun I was called from the Darkness by the Song of the Earth I joined in the Song, and She gave Me the Birth! I dance in the Circle when the flames leap up high I dance in the Fire, and I never, ever, die I dance in the waves of the bright summer sea For I am the Lord of the wave's mystery I sleep in the kernel, and I dance in the rain I dance in the wind, and thru the waving grain And when you cut me down, I care nothing for the pain; In the Spring I'm the Lord of the Dance once again! * I dance at the Sabbat when you dance out the Spell I dance and sing that everyone be well And when the dancing's over do not think that I am gone To live is to Dance! So I dance on, and on! * I see the Maidens laughing as they dance in the Sun And I count the fruits of the Harvest, one by one I know the Storm is coming, but the Grain is all stored So I sing of the Dance of the Lady, and Her Lord: * more * --- * Origin: <<>> (Opus 1:114/29) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (636) Wed 28 Jun 89 14:40 By: the Bard To: All Re: song.....(end) St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:bbba 12dc7514 Lord of the Dance (cont.): The Horn of the Lady cast its' sound 'cross the Plain The birds took the notes, and gave them back again Till the sound of Her music was a Song in the sky And to that Song there is only one reply: The moon in her phases, and the tides of the sea The movement of the Earth, and the Seasons that will be Are the rhythm for the dancing, and a promise thru the years That the Dance goes on thru all our joy, and tears * We dance ever slower as the leaves fall and spin And the sound of the Horn is the wailing of the wind The Earth is wrapped in stillness, and we move in a trance, But we hold on fast to our faith in the Dance! * The Sun is in the Southland and the days lengthen fast And soon we will sing for the Winter that is past Now we light the candles and rejoice as they burn And we dance the Dance of the Sun's return! They danced in the darkness and they danced in the night They danced on the Earth, and everything was light They danced out the Darkness and they danced in the Dawn And the Day of that Dancing is still going on! I gaze on the Heavens and I gaze on the Earth And I feel the pain of dying, and re-birth And I lift my head in gladness, and in praise For the Dance of the Lord, and His Lady gay (repeat verse 1) Does anyone out there in cyberland have any verses to this that I may have missed? BTW: verses marked with (*) were NOT recorded on the "Celtic Circle Dance" album. -the Bard * one I know the Storm is coming, --- * Origin: <<>> (Opus 1:114/29) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (637) Sat 15 Jul 89 10:49 By: Warren Stott To: All Re: Prefect love and anti-trust St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:3fc4 563912ef "Do as thou will shall be the whole of the anti-trust law." And it came to pass that on the last day of the reign of king Lyndon, the Attorney General was called before his majesty. There he was charged with the first of the great acts of defiance; to restrain the Lords of Blue. "Restrain them" said Lyndon, "that they shall not compete freely in the Games of Commerce from their city of Armonk. Restrain them that others may run the race unfettered even as the Blues are bound." The words poured like ice and fire upon the brow of the humble servant of the bench and the badge. "Restrain them that you shall set the holiest of precedence. Bind them as is the law." With no recourse but to comply in the face of majesty, he took up this mark upon history and his name and went forth to do Lyndon's bidding. He delved into the science and craft, at first with apprehension, and planned war against the mysteries hidden in the realm of Monopoly. To him he called many a man willing to witness and testify of repression and tyranny. So fervent were they that they provided him with the most secret, oath and patent bound, materials of the realm. From this he did gain a confidence that knew no bounds. Soon, he massed the troops of the legal clan. He lead them into battle in the righteousness that comes of certainty and fear, armed with brief and pad, against the Lords of Blue. And the day did dawn that the Lords of Blue did fall before the bench. The readers of the sooth foretold that this was the unleashing of the terrors of the realm previously held in check by those same Lord's that now bowed down low. The terrors, it was foretold, would lift the fog from the realm of Monopoly and set upon the world a market so diverse that if defied the reckoning of mortals and the Giants of Industry alike. The fog lifted as this, they said, shall not settle again. The veil be pierced for all time. Ah, now the times of Lyndon have been long past and this tale reduced to mere myth. But the sooth be said and the fog it be lifted. It was a mere generation before the Lady of Bell, too, was drawn from the realm with jeers and banter. She came raising a fuss and stink beyond even that of the Lords of Blue. She invoked Rates and Service in her own name to the terror of all mortal life. But alas, she did fall before the bench, no less. It was only then that we came to realize that she was gravid and heavy with Baby Bells which she did birth in great gory show before the bench. And as their mother, they were of nature to the old realm of Monopoly, only smaller. Yet, in those days, still shrouded in the mists and as yet, even beyond the most profound readers of bone and card, came again a vision of terrors released by the words of Lyndon. For behind the mist there came others. The Sprint and the unpronounceable one, Mci, at the head of a host of alternative carriers. Just as the Titans did usurp the Gods of old, they came forth from the mists and ranged freely and with malice over the whole of the western world. And the Lady Bell laughed in fiendish glee, for the sooth of old was in full flower. For now, where there was once the tyranny of the One, now there was the horror of the Many. --- msged 1.99S ZTC * Origin: === Tech Pubs Consulting === (1:104/904.7) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (638) Sun 16 Jul 89 12:56 By: the Bard To: All Re: Humor St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:bbba 12f06701 DETERIORATA PT. 2 (The Dark Horde version!) Go nastily amid the Peace and Tranquility, and remember what satisfaction there may be in Genocide. As far as possible, without surrender, move into other people's space. Lie often, and loudly, and listen to the lies of others, even the slow and incompetent - examples can be made of them later. * Seek out meek and inoffensive persons: they are annoying, but fun to kill. Do not bother comparing yourself to others: Those greater than you will eventually be eliminated, and those lesser then you are dead already. Fart in Grand Processionals. * Keep your swords and knives sharp, for all around you are cha'gua, and looking for an excuse to kill you. * Rape first, then pillage, and then burn. * Exercize caution around Vikings and Celts. They are crazier than we are: a Celtic Mongol is an awesome thing indeed. Make him or her your Friend. * But let Life not blind you to the happier side of things: many Hats are swaggering, tinplated dictators with delusions of adequacy, and everywhere Life is full of Incompetence. Advance yourself. Especially do not feign meanness, neither be cynical about Hate: you are not likely to run out of either. * Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the joys of defenestration and evisceration for more mature pleasures. Nurture a deep-seated suspicion of chag'ua women with big boobs: you never can tell. File your teeth regularly. Discipline is important: practice holding it in between events. * You are a Scourge of the World, no less than Atilla or the Great Ghengis Himself: you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the Known Worlde is going to pieces in a most laudable manner. * Therefore, do your utmost to annoy the Powers-that Be, however you may conceive of Them: BoD, King, or the People's Will; and, whatever your plans of conquest, as you wade thru the morasses of Peace with fire and sword, annoy your Soul. * With all it's Truth, High Resolve, and Courage, the Known World still has it's Ugly Spots and Fubba-Wubbas. Be thoughtless. Strive to be miserable. -found carved into the back of a MidRealm fighter at Pennsic, AS 23. No damn Copyright. Post no Bills. This means YOU! Courtesy of Ardjukk Afraid-of-His-Cats and the Western Irgun of the Dark Horde. *end* --- * Origin: <<>> (Opus 1:114/29) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (639) Sun 16 Jul 89 12:11 By: Magenta Griffith To: All Re: The Origin of Music St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:d649 12f06179 One of the stories of Creation is that the Goddess and the God turned into different animals, and mated in each form, and that is how all the kinds of creatures came to exist. She turned into a ewe, and He turned into a ram, so there were sheep, and so there still are. She turned into a hen, and He turned into rooster, and so we have chickens. Well, turning into all the animals and mating as each was very tiring, even for the Goddess and the God. Consequently when They were finished, They rested a good long time. After a while, though, the Goddess started feeling frisky again. And as it is, so it was, the God was still tired, and not yet ready to begin the games again. So the Goddess stood up, and started teasing Him. She shook Her hips, and threw back Her head, and waved Her arms. She shouted and wailed, like She was a cat in heat, and She stomped Her feet and thrust Her belly out. Pretty soon, Her movements became a dance, and Her noises became a song. She danced faster and faster, and sang louder and louder. After a while, the God got up, and joined Her in the dance. But He was still very tired, and She danced faster and faster, and so did He, until finally, He danced too fast, even for Him, and dropped down dead at Her feet. She was so entranced by Her own dancing, and so enchanted by Her own singing, that She didn't realized what had happened. She picked up the body of Her consort and danced with it. As She danced, Her hands moved of their own accord. She made the first drum by stretching His skin over His two largest ribs, and the drum began to beat. She put His teeth, and the smallest bones of His body into His skull, and that was the first rattle, and it began to shake. She drilled holes in His thighbone, and wind whistled through it, and that was the first flute. She drew His hair across two of His smaller ribs and that was the first lyre. She turned all of His skin, His bones, His hair and His whole body into music. Last thing, lying on the ground, was His penis. She picked that up, and popped it in Her mouth. And when She did, She stopped singing, and Her feet stopped dancing, and She realised was She had done. She spat out the penis. She took it, and gathered all the rest of the body of Her consort. She lovingly buried Him, and She planted an ash tree on the spot. But, She had created music, and invented the musical instruments, and what She had done She could not undo. When we play music, when we sing, when we dance, we are the Goddess, consorting with the God in yet another way. And since the God became the Tree, so we make our instruments from wood, rather than bone. That is how music came to be loose in the world, and music is with us to this day. *M* --- * Origin: FIRE OPAL - A Gem of an OPUS [Minneapolis, MN (612) 822-4812] (Opus 1:282/8) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (640) Mon 17 Jul 89 22:12 By: Kihe Blackeagle To: All Re: The Birth Of Writing St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:fa0a 12f1b180 (a paraphrase of old tales) When the world was young and young indeed, the Eldest Dragon had a marvelous cout of glossy scales. Irridescent colors played across them, never staying the same for any length of time, shifting with the light of Sun and Moon and Stars; dancing under the whispering breeze and scattering joyous sight wherever he went. The aeons passed. The Earth changed. The Eldest became known as "Yang", and he listened long and respectfully to the First-Born that he met, and his memory was honed by the sharpness of the Satyr's wit -- his ears were blessed by the first Nightingale -- his heart was purified by the wisdom of the Celestial Counselor (known later as the Ki-Rin) -- and his blood was stirred by the trumpetings of the Stag. And these were but a few of those with whom Yang spoke in the Time of the Dawning. But then the world began to change, and Yang awoke one autumn morning before the time of Man's empires to realize that many of his first acquaintances were no longer to be found where once they had dwelt. A sudden pang rushed through him, for the Old One realized that these new-come creatures called "men" would never hear the wisdom or know the joy of the sights the other Elders could have brought to them. It was the second rush of fear that chilled Yang even more. He realized of a sudden that even he who had been there could not remember the *second* song of the Nightingale (no one would EVER forget the first -- or could they?).... The Satyr's last jest with him was also grown dim behind the veil of even the dragon's stupendous memory. As the Sun came from behind a cloud, he looked down at his own glittering scales and realized he, too, was not the same as he had been. The Past was being lost -- how could he save it for Man? The Eldest moped around his remote mountain lair through the rest of that year, and most of the next, before he came upon the answer. Musing one day, he looked down at the floor of his nest-cave and saw several scales that he had shed recently. Each was marked by a peculiar yet differing pattern of color, fixed in time by the last shift before coming free of his skin. And on one or two he noted that the veinings resembled -- PICTURES! There, that one was a house, and here was a well, and over there: turn it upright, and the head and limbs of a Man could be guessed. Another year passed, or maybe ten -- Yang never was good at keeping track of time -- before the Eldest Dragon invited the First Emperor and his Court into the mountain retreat. And there he presented them with the first scrolls, upon which were recorded all the wisdom and every tale which the Dragon Yang had been able to remember (and felt to be worthwhile in recording). The Emperor became greatly agitated as he saw the importance of this, for by this time the Man was far advanced in years and terrified that his people would forget what he had taught them. Reverently, he asked the dragon to join his court and record yet a little while longer, and teach the ministers and learned folk this new thing, this writing. And it came to pass in the fullness of time that the Emperor died in bed, and Yang wept to see the gentleness of his spirit go. One last thing the dragon wrote, and that upon a tortoise's shell using his own blood for an ink and his own talon for a brush: the first written eulogy. *************** Pax ... Kihe --- TBBS v2.0 * Origin: *Chrysalis* Multi-User (214) 519-0728 Dallas, Tx (124/4214) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (641) Sat 22 Jul 89 20:24 By: Paul Seymour To: All Re: Summoning, by Jack of Shadows St: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @EID:d65 a30012f6 Recently,I was doing a Work of Magic to promote healing; at a certain point, I felt it would be right, and I summoned the "Intelligence" of Jupiter. A LARGE presence showed up and "taught" me about the natu and labor relations. HE also gave me insight to the problems of a friend of mine-advice that ultimately saved my friend's life. I suspect that there are three sources for intelligence in the realm of life forms. One is from the assending of life forms in the material plane, evolution; from the Elemental kingdom as a paralell evolution, this includes the Spirit of other kindoms such as mineral and vegetable; and the third was born when the great sun of potent- iality first reached forth, and Life came forth, the Spirit and Intelligences of the planets and fixed stars. In time, because of the decisions made reality of such beings, the power and force of Gods was felt by men/women, and those who worked became great; The race of mankind rose, and great people created/became great Gods, and those who knew such things became the writers of the Ancient Books. Can you see the power of the infinite, and its inevitable unfolding? Is it possible to undo what is mere thought, the ultimate unleashing of potentiality? I think we all benefit from the limitless expanse of current thought. If thoughts are indeed things, we have created, as a race, the solution to all the problems of our time, such solutions are stored by the universe into the Intelligences. Just think, and realize you create. Bring forth life in all its potential. Be not small in thy creation O Lord and Lady. Be not limiting in thy subs- tance. Know thee the entity Satan? He is but a recent birth, with pretentions of grandure. Let us look to our spiritual elders for validation. The greatness of total potentiation surrounds you and presents the pos- sibility of change and muchness. I perfer to relate to the planets as the physical manifestation to an object that exists on many planes at the same time. In this case, the planet Jupiter is a Planet, Spirit, and Intell