It is so weird when you get insights into bits and pieces of Lady Olivia's dramas from random places. Finding information by opening a book to a random passage is a form of divination known as bibliomancy. It's not a technique I tend to practice much, but sometimes things just jump in your lap. <grin>
In earlier posts on "The Winged Pegasus" from Psyche, I commented that I could not quite sort out how Lady Olivia was getting five stars from a four-cornered square. The specific line that was bugging me is, "And beyond the Square of Pegasus is Al Janah, the Wing, and this is the Fifth Sun and it is a mystery." There are two things I've found that could apply here, and represent the solution of "a mystery."
The first is Al Janah, which is the star Algenib. In the earliest Greek traditions, Pegasus was simply a beautiful, magical horse; his wings were added later, toward mid-Classical times, according to Richard Hinckley Allen's Star Names. But he also mentions that earlier versions of the constellation from Phoenicia and from Egypt saw it as a boat. In Egypt, particularly, the name is Pag Sus, meaning to stop a vessel at the change of the Nile flow. This could represent the mystery of the addition of the wing, as I found from a quick scan of Donald P. Ryan's Ancient Egypt on 5 Deben a Day. In it, Ryan relates that because of the current, ships can drift down the Nile quite swiftly from Upper to Lower Egypt, but once they delivered their cargoes in the Delta region, they had to raise sail to return to Upper Egypt (southward) against the current. So, one aspect of the mystery of the Wing's appearance/disappearance could be this Egyptian symbolism of coming to a halt and raising the sail, e.g., the ship's wing.
However, there is a link further with the "Fifth Sun" that ties in with the "Fourth Sun" segment set in ancient Aztec myth. Central American natives had a creation mythic sequence including the prior existence of several "Suns," each of which had been destroyed through one form of elemental tragedy or another. According to the Aztecs at the time of the Spanish conquest, we are currently living in the time of the "Fourth Sun," which was created when Quetzalcoatl shed blood from his generative organs as a sacrifice to allow the Sun's birth. It was in acknowledgment of his blood sacrifice that the Aztecs offered the blood of others to the Gods—they truly believed that without such nourishment, the world would cease to exist. (That, and it made a really great terror mechanism to keep rebellious conquered peoples in line!)
The "Fifth Sun" is what the supposed 2012 controversy is about, where some speculate that the end of the Maya Long Count calendar on Winter Solstice 2012 marks the end of the "Fourth Sun" and a transition to a new, "Fifth Sun." Since these transitions have always been accompanied by earthly catastrophes, there has been a great deal of speculation about "earth changes," and other doom-saying surrounding this issue. The only problem is that the Maya themselves continued the Long Count calendar on a number of stelae beyond the 2012 date, and did not themselves have a prediction of catastrophe. We know a great deal more about what the Maya believed now than we did even 20 years ago because of the archeologists who cracked the Maya hieroglyphic language—and we've uncovered a culture very much at odds with the peace-loving priest-astronomers who were once theorized to inhabit this culture.
So the "Fifth Sun" is a parallel to our Western "Age of Aquarius," which will dawn officially in about 150 years. (To date, the Spring Equinox point is still in Pisces.) This clearly ties in with the Pegasus constellation being the well or bucket the Aquarian figure draws water from that he/she pours down to feed the Southern Fish, Piscis Australis. In terms of psychic transformation, which is the whole point of these mystery dramas, you could say that Pegasus represents the turning of the tide where we "raise sail" to head into the future. Lady Olivia's drama is encouraging us to draw on the serpent wisdom of the past through many cultures, and the depths of the ocean, both of which represent the intuitive, feminine side of knowledge channeled up from the Collective Unconscious (to use Jung's terms).
So each part of this journey using Manannan's Wheel takes you higher into levels of Aquarian insight, in which you may gain a "mystery" or "gift" of knowledge from the gods in the process. These mysteries can be anything, from a power object you see to a spirit guide, or even an interaction with one of the Divine Beings that gives you insight into your life and reason for being on Earth. The idea of constructing the etheric vehicle and traveling through all these spheres is to let your conscious mind yield control to the unconscious, so that your intuitive insight is activated. The more you study the symbols, deities, stars, and relationships, the more profound your insight is likely to be.
And you never know—chance opening of a book to a passage may bring something wonderful into focus for you that you never expected. You may learn something new you didn't realize before.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Mary Greer's Who are you in the Tarot?
Archpriestess Mary Greer has just published a new book on using the Tarot, called Who are You in the Tarot? She has an ongoing discussion of the principles of the book at her Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Who-Are-You-in-the-Tarot/187962907927558. I've been using her system for selecting cards for meditation and information for years, ever since I got copies of her books, Tarot for Your Self and Tarot Constellations. The new book updates the system and contains additions that make it well worth the purchase.
Personality, Soul, and Year Cards
The first set of cards in Mary's system are computed numerologically from the month, day, and year of your birthdate. You add up the numbers, e.g., 10 + 31 + 1956 = 1997, the sum the digits down until you get a number between 1 and 21: 1 + 9 + 9 + 7 = 26 = 2 + 6 = 8. This card represents your Major Arcana Personality card for this incarnation. Then you sum the card's digits down to a single number between 1 and 9, which is your Soul number, the purpose for which your Soul incarnates to learn additional lessons. In my case, my Personality and Soul cards are the same, indicating that I'm doing intensive learning this lifetime. Whew!
I've been doing artwork meditating on the cards for years. The card on the left, which I've named "Parthenos," represents the Greek Goddess Artemis. The term means "one who is complete in herself," in other words, who stands in his or her own strength. To me, this represents the power of integrating the parts of oneself, and standing on one's own two feet. (I've subtitled the card, "The Last Sight Actaeon Saw as a Man," for those of you who are mythology buffs.)
Year cards are based on the month and day of your birth plus the current year, and run from birthday to birthday. For example, my current year card is 10 + 31 + 2010 = 2051 = 8. Oh, joy, I'm living another Strength year. Holy foreclosure, Batman! <grin> The card sequence steps forward by one card each year in a 10-year cycle, then the cycle restarts one card forward of where the last cycle started. This way, you get another chance to learn the Card's lesson, if you missed it the previous time around, or to go on and learn a Card's lesson at a higher spiritual level.
My current cycle continues to 2018 (2 + 0 + 6 + 9 = 16), which is the first time I get to encounter The Tower, a card I'm not particularly looking forward to playing with. Then my cycle resets in 2019 (2 + 0 + 6 + 0 = 8) to another Strength year. Gee! I think I'd like to pass on the whole 2017-2019 sequence, and just stay in my Temperance year, 2016. But it doesn't work that way, darn it! <grin>
Name Cards and Gifts from Parents
When you were born, your parents gave you a name—their gifted lesson to you for this lifetime. As you grow and change, you may choose to take on new names of various sorts, which shift and moderate your parents' gift, and lets you focus more pointedly on things you want to learn. In 2008, I legally changed my name to Michael Artonn Starsheen, which works out to 17, or The Star, which is a higher octave of Strength (1 + 7 = 8), focusing me more nearly on my Soul lesson this time around.
My birth name worked out to 13, Death, which involved an intense struggle for identity and transformation in my case. Other names I've used bring different gifts for me to learn, but the transformation I've achieved from Death to The Star has been profoundly satisfying.
To calculate your name card, you assign a digit from 1-9 to each letter in your name:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
A B C D E F G H I
J K L M N O P Q R
S T U V W X Y Z '
Michael adds up to 33 (4 + 9 + 3 + 8 + 1 + 4 + 3), Artonn to 28 (1 + 9 + 2 + 6 + 5 + 5), and Starsheen to 37 (1 + 2 + 1 + 9 + 1 + 8 + 5 + 5 + 5), then the whole name adds up to 98 (33 + 28 + 37) and 17, The Star.
Personality, Soul, and Year Cards
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| My Strength Card |
I've been doing artwork meditating on the cards for years. The card on the left, which I've named "Parthenos," represents the Greek Goddess Artemis. The term means "one who is complete in herself," in other words, who stands in his or her own strength. To me, this represents the power of integrating the parts of oneself, and standing on one's own two feet. (I've subtitled the card, "The Last Sight Actaeon Saw as a Man," for those of you who are mythology buffs.)
Year cards are based on the month and day of your birth plus the current year, and run from birthday to birthday. For example, my current year card is 10 + 31 + 2010 = 2051 = 8. Oh, joy, I'm living another Strength year. Holy foreclosure, Batman! <grin> The card sequence steps forward by one card each year in a 10-year cycle, then the cycle restarts one card forward of where the last cycle started. This way, you get another chance to learn the Card's lesson, if you missed it the previous time around, or to go on and learn a Card's lesson at a higher spiritual level.
My current cycle continues to 2018 (2 + 0 + 6 + 9 = 16), which is the first time I get to encounter The Tower, a card I'm not particularly looking forward to playing with. Then my cycle resets in 2019 (2 + 0 + 6 + 0 = 8) to another Strength year. Gee! I think I'd like to pass on the whole 2017-2019 sequence, and just stay in my Temperance year, 2016. But it doesn't work that way, darn it! <grin>
Name Cards and Gifts from Parents
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| My Star Card |
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| Death as Transformation |
To calculate your name card, you assign a digit from 1-9 to each letter in your name:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
A B C D E F G H I
J K L M N O P Q R
S T U V W X Y Z '
Michael adds up to 33 (4 + 9 + 3 + 8 + 1 + 4 + 3), Artonn to 28 (1 + 9 + 2 + 6 + 5 + 5), and Starsheen to 37 (1 + 2 + 1 + 9 + 1 + 8 + 5 + 5 + 5), then the whole name adds up to 98 (33 + 28 + 37) and 17, The Star.
Court Cards and Lesser Lessons
Mary's system continues using numerology and astrology to find significant life lessons. The Court Cards in the Tarot represent aspects of personality, as well as persons you encounter. Mary uses the Sun, Moon, and Ascendant from your Natal Chart to identify significant aspects of your personality in the Court Cards, which you can then use as significators in a reading to represent that aspect of yourself. Fixed signs correspond to the Kings, Cardinal signs to the Queens, and Mutable signs to the Knights.
In my case, with Sun in Scorpio, Moon in Libra, and Ascendant in Capricorn, my significant Court cards are the King of Cups (Sun), Queen of Swords (Moon), and Queen of Pentacles (Ascendant). I could use any of these to explore aspects of myself in a reading, and I pay close attention when one shows up in a reading—telling me to pay attention to that element of the reading!
Your Soul card number also highlights specific life lessons you focus on in the Minor Arcana cards. The Minor Arcana cards represent everyday situations and energies we experience in our lives, while the Major Arcana represent archetypal, existential lessons we experience for soul growth. Since my Soul number is 8, all of the Minor 8 cards are mine: The 8 of Cups (Daydreams), The 8 of Pentacles (The Student), The 8 of Swords (Travel to a Higher Plane), and The 8 of Wands (Pause Between the Battles). Sheesh! That sounds awfully familiar! <grin>
Making Use of These Special Cards
First off, you can use any of these cards as a significator in a reading to represent yourself, particularly if you want to look at how that particular card's lessons are manifesting around you. Second, if one of these cards appears in a reading, look at its placement and think about how that particular energy may be manifesting in your life at that time. For instance, if I'm doing a Celtic Cross spread and the Queen of Swords shows up in my place of Feelings, it tells me that I'm being too detached and analytical, thinking about my feelings rather than experiencing them. <shrug> I do that, a lot. So my "Inner Teacher" is counseling me to break through the old thought patterns and allow myself to feel my emotions, something that's hard for me, but a necessary part of incarnate experience.
(See, even writing that was an example of being analytical about my feelings. What can I say?)
A Tarot Journal
One of the other things that I've done in the past, and recommend for new students of the Tarot, is to keep a journal of all the readings you do over the course of a year. Keep a record of your year cards and other significant cards, and look at when and where they show up in your readings. Since these cards are specific to the life lessons you've incarnated to experience, when they show up persistently in readings from week to week, it should tell you to pay attention to the lesson! I don't usually do more than one spread of this sort per week; you can get overwhelmed really quickly with this!
Other cards may also show up consistently in your journal, identifying other lessons that you need to listen to. As someone whose major lesson is Strength, I have a serious tendency to overdo things, and I get the 10 of Wands and the 4 of Swords a lot when I'm hitting my limits. If I pay attention and slow down a bit, I'm less likely to end up flat on my face! Similarly, if I get the 7 of Pentacles frequently, it's time for me to learn some more Patience, again, darn it. <grin>
Lastly, Meditating and Shamanic Journeying
I'm pretty sure I also got this idea from Mary's books, although I've been doing it so long, I can't really say for sure. All of the cards are gateways into the inner planes of archetypal and energetic forces that act upon our lives, and through which we learn and grow. As such, meditating on one of your significant cards can be a valuable experience, as it helps you think about and integrate all of the various lessons the card has to teach you.
A more profound interaction is possible through a Shamanic journey into the card! Make sure that you set up your ritual space to give yourself shelter before trying this, and that you won't be interrupted. When you've consecrated your sacred space, take the card you wish to learn from and focus on the image. Build the scene up strongly in your mind, until its every detail is clear to you. Then visualize the border around the card as a doorway, and mentally step through the door into the card's landscape.
You may end up talking to the main character in the Card, or to minor characters you might otherwise not have noticed. You may end up close to the main action shown in the card, or elsewhere—but it's the place your soul has taken you to learn what you can. The people and other beings, and the landscape itself, with which you interact give you significant insights into the lessons the card is trying to teach you. Pay attention to anything they say, or to anything they give you, as these represent important clues as to how to work with the current lesson of the card.
When you're done, re-visualize the border of the card as a doorway back to your sacred space, and step back out of the card. You can leave the card by doing this at any point; you can never get lost. Then write up your journey in your journal so you can refer to it and remember it later.
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| My Temperance Card |
Beginning these meditations can be intense, so start with cards whose energies are generally pretty benign. For instance, you're usually pretty safe with your Court cards, and the Temperance angel will rarely steer you wrong. Starting with The Devil, The Tower, or Death just to be arrogant and prove how tough you are is just stupid; it takes time to learn how to approach such energies because their lesson is to turn your life inside out and upside down!
Again, I highly recommend Archpriestess Mary Greer's books on the Tarot for anyone serious about learning the schema of the cards seriously. The books are profound, and the lessons within them can be life changing. I'm so glad that Mary has put so much effort into creating this body of work, because it gives us new ways of charting our course through life.
Michael
(P. S. Please respect the copyrights on my artwork. Do not use them in any form without my direct, written permission.)
Synchronicity strikes again!
In a Facebook forum on "Which Tarot Card Are You?" we began a discussion of what it's like to experience Card VIII in the Major Arcana—Strength. Many decks depict this card as a woman (or an angel) subduing a lion or other animal, presumably representing the triumph of the Higher Self over our physical (animal) natures. When one lives the card of Strength, one is confronted by challenging situations one must overcome, and through them grow as spiritual beings. After all, that's the reason we incarnate in the first place—to experience the challenges of the physical plane and learn ways of being that do the least harm to others, and that promote the greatest compassion. One of the people in the discussion noted that in her Strength year, she felt like Andromeda, chained to the rock, and asked whether there were any stories in which Andromeda freed herself, rather than waiting patiently for the hero, Perseus.
I haven’t seen one where Andromeda sets herself free—she’s chained down pretty thoroughly. The whole point is to punish the hubris of her mother, Cassiopiae, who boasted that her daughter was more beautiful than the sea nymphs, ticking them off. Poseidon is persuaded by the sea nymphs to punish Cassiopiae and Cepheus by sending a sea monster to ravage their city—or they can offer up Andromeda as a sacrifice to avoid everyone dying. It’s quite possible that Andromeda, understanding that it was her or everyone she loved, went willingly to the sacrifice. Sometimes (with Strength) that’s the best you can do.
On the other hand, both Athena and Poseidon were guiding Perseus in his quest, which was to bring Medusa’s head back to his father’s court to keep from being put to death. Medusa had once been a beautiful Goddess who was carrying on with Poseidon, but they offended Athena by making out in the sacred confines of her temple. Athena then turned Medusa into a snake-headed Gorgon as punishment, such that her gaze would turn any viewer to stone. Poseidon, as usual with Greek sex-and-vengeance myths, gets off scott free. No doubt Medusa was ticked at both of them!
Athena equips Perseus with a mirror-finished shield for his quest, Hades with a helmet of invisibility, Hephaestus with a special sword of adamant, and Hermes with winged sandals so he can sneak up on the Gorgon. Athena instructs Perseus never to look directly at Medusa, but to view her in the shield-mirror as he decapitates her. Perseus successfully completes this mission, and as he puts Medusa’s head into a bag to fly home, drops of her blood fall on the sands of Libya, forming snakes and the warrior Chrysaeor, then on the sea from which springs Pegasus. Both of them are the sons of Medusa and Poseidon, born in the usual weird way that sex with the Greek gods tends to run.
Perseus happens to fly by the African coast where Andromeda is chained up, and sees the sea serpent approaching. He is taken by Andromeda's beauty—the usual metaphor for "Gee! Golly! For me?"—and opens the bag to show Cetus, the sea serpent, Medusa’s face. Instant big rock in the harbor! He frees Andromeda, who is grateful at being rescued, and stays to marry her at her parents insistence. The nymphs are satisfied, Athena has had her revenge, Poseidon is breathing a sigh of relief, and Andromeda had the strength to face sacrificing herself, only to be reprieved at the last minute.
Sometimes Strength is like that. Part of overcoming our animal nature involves recognizing we are in a situation with no way out, and accepting the inevitable with grace. For example, I suffer from several forms of chronic pain that limit what I’m able to do. Part of Strength, for me, is learning to use my higher abilities to handle the pain, such as meditation to breathe through spasms, and self-hypnosis to block the pain when I need to do so. I’ve also found that the old shamanistic perspective that enduring pain stoically can be a bridge to the otherworld to be quite true. Like Andromeda, I am chained in the physical plane by my pain; however, like Andromeda, by accepting and sacrificing my pain to my higher Self, I gain mastery of a whole new world.
Part of the lesson of the Strength card is that we are not always strong, not always the masters (mistresses) of our fates. But when we allow our higher, Angelic selves to master the distress in the physical or emotional plane, we grow stronger souls.
At the end of the story, Perseus returns home, uses Medusa's head to turn his father to stone, and assumes the kingship of his country. This is not a bad thing; the old man had been trying to kill Perseus for years because of a prophecy that the son of his daughter, Danae, would kill and replace him. He had Danae locked up in a high tower to prevent any man from getting near her, but wily Zeus came to her through the window as a shower of gold. When the King saw that Danae had a baby son, in fury he locked them up in a chest and threw them into the sea to drown. Poseidon pushed the chest up onto land near a herdsman's cottage, and the family took the baby in and raised him. One does not mess with Greek prophecies!
After the hero's happy ending, Athena reclaims Medusa's bloody head, and places it into the shield-mirror, which she gives to her father, Zeus. The bearer of the shield is made invincible, since no one can gaze on Medusa without turning to stone. Zeus names the shield the Aegis, and gives it back to Athena to carry for him, because she is the Goddess of Defensive Warfare.
Zeus then immortalizes the whole story up in the sky, as shown in the following diagram. All the characters are there: Perseus, Andromeda, Pegasus, Cassiopiea, Cepheus, and Cetus. But the gods are still hacked off at Andromeda's parents, and stuck them up in the sky upside-down near the north pole, so that they swing endlessly around and never rest in the sea—which keeps down the harassment of the sea nymphs, if nothing else. Pegasus, too, is in the sky upside-down, something for which I've never seen a particularly good explanation.
Pegasus only becomes associated with the Perseus and Andromeda myth late in the game. Perseus doesn't need him, as he still has the winged sandals he got from Hermes, allowing him to fly over land and sea. Pegasus was also originally a horse without wings; the wings were added in the late Classical period. Pegasus was called the "second horse," next to his half-brother, the constellation Equuleus.
Michael
On the other hand, both Athena and Poseidon were guiding Perseus in his quest, which was to bring Medusa’s head back to his father’s court to keep from being put to death. Medusa had once been a beautiful Goddess who was carrying on with Poseidon, but they offended Athena by making out in the sacred confines of her temple. Athena then turned Medusa into a snake-headed Gorgon as punishment, such that her gaze would turn any viewer to stone. Poseidon, as usual with Greek sex-and-vengeance myths, gets off scott free. No doubt Medusa was ticked at both of them!
Athena equips Perseus with a mirror-finished shield for his quest, Hades with a helmet of invisibility, Hephaestus with a special sword of adamant, and Hermes with winged sandals so he can sneak up on the Gorgon. Athena instructs Perseus never to look directly at Medusa, but to view her in the shield-mirror as he decapitates her. Perseus successfully completes this mission, and as he puts Medusa’s head into a bag to fly home, drops of her blood fall on the sands of Libya, forming snakes and the warrior Chrysaeor, then on the sea from which springs Pegasus. Both of them are the sons of Medusa and Poseidon, born in the usual weird way that sex with the Greek gods tends to run.
Perseus happens to fly by the African coast where Andromeda is chained up, and sees the sea serpent approaching. He is taken by Andromeda's beauty—the usual metaphor for "Gee! Golly! For me?"—and opens the bag to show Cetus, the sea serpent, Medusa’s face. Instant big rock in the harbor! He frees Andromeda, who is grateful at being rescued, and stays to marry her at her parents insistence. The nymphs are satisfied, Athena has had her revenge, Poseidon is breathing a sigh of relief, and Andromeda had the strength to face sacrificing herself, only to be reprieved at the last minute.
Sometimes Strength is like that. Part of overcoming our animal nature involves recognizing we are in a situation with no way out, and accepting the inevitable with grace. For example, I suffer from several forms of chronic pain that limit what I’m able to do. Part of Strength, for me, is learning to use my higher abilities to handle the pain, such as meditation to breathe through spasms, and self-hypnosis to block the pain when I need to do so. I’ve also found that the old shamanistic perspective that enduring pain stoically can be a bridge to the otherworld to be quite true. Like Andromeda, I am chained in the physical plane by my pain; however, like Andromeda, by accepting and sacrificing my pain to my higher Self, I gain mastery of a whole new world.
Part of the lesson of the Strength card is that we are not always strong, not always the masters (mistresses) of our fates. But when we allow our higher, Angelic selves to master the distress in the physical or emotional plane, we grow stronger souls.
At the end of the story, Perseus returns home, uses Medusa's head to turn his father to stone, and assumes the kingship of his country. This is not a bad thing; the old man had been trying to kill Perseus for years because of a prophecy that the son of his daughter, Danae, would kill and replace him. He had Danae locked up in a high tower to prevent any man from getting near her, but wily Zeus came to her through the window as a shower of gold. When the King saw that Danae had a baby son, in fury he locked them up in a chest and threw them into the sea to drown. Poseidon pushed the chest up onto land near a herdsman's cottage, and the family took the baby in and raised him. One does not mess with Greek prophecies!
After the hero's happy ending, Athena reclaims Medusa's bloody head, and places it into the shield-mirror, which she gives to her father, Zeus. The bearer of the shield is made invincible, since no one can gaze on Medusa without turning to stone. Zeus names the shield the Aegis, and gives it back to Athena to carry for him, because she is the Goddess of Defensive Warfare.
Zeus then immortalizes the whole story up in the sky, as shown in the following diagram. All the characters are there: Perseus, Andromeda, Pegasus, Cassiopiea, Cepheus, and Cetus. But the gods are still hacked off at Andromeda's parents, and stuck them up in the sky upside-down near the north pole, so that they swing endlessly around and never rest in the sea—which keeps down the harassment of the sea nymphs, if nothing else. Pegasus, too, is in the sky upside-down, something for which I've never seen a particularly good explanation.
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| The Rescue of Andromeda in the Fall Sky |
This small, dim constellation represents Arion, another winged horse who is the child of Demeter and Poseidon. Demeter was walking by the sea one day, when Poseidon saw and pursued her. Each changed into different animals during the chase; Poseidon caught up to her when she changed into a mare. As God of Horses, Poseidon then mated with Demeter, and she later bore Arion, her only son.
In ancient Greece, a married woman could not attain the status of "meter," or "mother," until she had borne a son. "De-meter," which means "the Mother," could not have gained that status for bearing her later child, Persephone, by Zeus. So Arion is the key to Demeter's name, and to her relationship with Persephone as "the kore," which simply means "the girl" or "daughter." It is only after Persephone is kidnapped and wooed by Hades that she gains her own name, Persephone, as an adult woman given in marriage (the Greek word for this status is "gune.")
Next to Equuleus/Arion, is another tiny constellation, Delphinus. This is the sacred dolphin Poseidon sends to rescue those who fall into the sea but do not deserve to die. This dolphin does not bear Arion anything other than company, but the statues you see of "the boy on the dolphin" relate back to this constellation, and to the occasional legends of dolphin rescues.
Michael
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
The Winged Pegasus, Sky Charts
When I research Fellowship of Isis mystery dramas involving the constellations, I usually spend time putting together sky charts that match the constellations described in the rite. I was asked to look at "The Winged Pegasus" from Psyche by the Rt. Rev. Deena Butta, whose group is performing it at the FOI Chicago Goddess Festival in September 2011. So here's what I pulled together.
The constellation of Pegasus is today considered to be that of a winged horse. Well, half of a winged horse. Um, the image is rising from the sea as the drops of blood from Medusa's head fall on it, after Perseus cut it off. Pegasus was the son of Medusa and Poseidon, but was not born until Medusa died, as she was cursed into Gorgon form by Athena for violating her temple. The Greek name for the constellation appears to have meant either "Springs of Ocean" or "Strong," and drew on earlier Phoenician and Egyptian words meaning "ship" or "vessel." The constellation has many names and forms in different cultures!
Pegasus' association with water, particularly springs, was associated through myth with the Muses. One story was that as he rose into the air, his hoof struck the ground causing the Hippocrene springs to arise at the base of Mt. Helicon, where the Muses lived. He was associated with other springs caused by his hoof prints, including the one where Bellerphoon eventually captures him with Athena's help in his quest to fight the Chimera.
The four brightest stars in the constellation form a Great Square in the sky, one of the most prominent asterisms in the fall sky. (An asterism is a collection of stars. All constellations are asterisms, but not all asterisms are constellations. Excuse the technical terms.) The Arabs saw the square as Al Dalw, the "Water bucket" of Aquarius, or of a well, Al 'Arkuwah, in which the bucket was used. In Arabic astrology, the first two stars, Markab and Scheat, were considered Al Fargh al Mukdim, the fore-spout of the bucket, and the rear two stars, Algenib (Al Janah) and Alpheratz, were Al Fargh al Thani, the rear spout of the bucket. These two pairs of stars marked the edges of two of the Arabic manzils, or lunar mansions.
In Arabic and Vedic astrology, the 27 days of the Moon's visible cycle divided up the sky into segments, one for each day from the first Crescent visible after New Moon to the last Crescent visible just before dawn of the next New Moon. The Moon, a male figure in both cultures, moved to each segment or mansion from night to night, where a different wife awaited him. (The lunar mansions in Vedic terminology are nakshastras.) The first mansion coincided with the Pleiades, and moved eastward around the sky until reaching Pegasus, which comprised the 24th and 25th mansions.
In Vedic astrology, the Great Square was seen as a bed or couch, and the four bright stars on the corners, Bhadra-pada, its "beautiful" or "happy" feet. Markab and Scheat marked the fore-feet of the couch, Purva Bhadra-pada, and Alpheratz and Algenib the rear feet, Uttara Bhadra-pada. Interestingly enough, Alpheratz, which is also known as Sirrah (from Al Surrat Al Faras, the "horse's Navel"), is also the brightest star in the constellation of Andromeda, which splays out behind Pegasus.
As to the text in the ritual, the journey to Pegasus occurs during the lunar stage of the drama. (Dramas in Psyche begin on the Earth plane, move to the Lunar/Astral, then Solar/Mental, and finally Galactic/Divine planes.) Lady Olivia associates Bhadra-pada with the Celtic city of Gorias, and the Sword of Light, one of the four Treasures of the Tuatha de Danaan. She then associates Uttara with the Celtic city of Finias, which held the Spear of Destiny and scrolls of prophecy. She associated Purva with the Celtic city of Murias, which held the Cauldron of Plenty, and then Scheat with Falais, the city which held the Stone of Destiny, on which the Kings of the Tuatha de Danaan were crowned. Lastly, she mentions Al Janah, which is Algenib, as "a mystery."
I'm a bit confused, at this point. If Lady Olivia is starting at the larger scale of the two nakshastras combined as the "Four happy feet of the beautiful couch," then moving in to the rear mansion, Uttara Bhadra-pada that consists of Algenib and Alpheratz, and the fore mansion, Purva Bhadra-pada, that consists of Markab and Scheat, I'm not sure why she then continues to break the asterism down into specifying the single star, Scheat, as the last of the four Celtic cities/treasures. That sort of leaves Al Janah/Algenib as the "fifth" star in a four-star figure, which is, indeed, "a mystery" (to me, at least).
On the diagram of Pegasus at the beginning, I've tried to associate each one of the four stars with one of the cities: Gorias with Markab, Finias with Alpheratz, Murias with Scheat, and Falais with Algenib, but that may not be what she intended. On the other hand, it's the best I could manage with this drama, which takes you on a magical mystery tour of the world's mythologies and the Spiral of Tiamat's coils. Have fun with it! :D
The Rt. Rev. Michael A. Starsheen, Archpr. H. and owner of a major headache.....<grin>
Pegasus' association with water, particularly springs, was associated through myth with the Muses. One story was that as he rose into the air, his hoof struck the ground causing the Hippocrene springs to arise at the base of Mt. Helicon, where the Muses lived. He was associated with other springs caused by his hoof prints, including the one where Bellerphoon eventually captures him with Athena's help in his quest to fight the Chimera.
The four brightest stars in the constellation form a Great Square in the sky, one of the most prominent asterisms in the fall sky. (An asterism is a collection of stars. All constellations are asterisms, but not all asterisms are constellations. Excuse the technical terms.) The Arabs saw the square as Al Dalw, the "Water bucket" of Aquarius, or of a well, Al 'Arkuwah, in which the bucket was used. In Arabic astrology, the first two stars, Markab and Scheat, were considered Al Fargh al Mukdim, the fore-spout of the bucket, and the rear two stars, Algenib (Al Janah) and Alpheratz, were Al Fargh al Thani, the rear spout of the bucket. These two pairs of stars marked the edges of two of the Arabic manzils, or lunar mansions.
In Arabic and Vedic astrology, the 27 days of the Moon's visible cycle divided up the sky into segments, one for each day from the first Crescent visible after New Moon to the last Crescent visible just before dawn of the next New Moon. The Moon, a male figure in both cultures, moved to each segment or mansion from night to night, where a different wife awaited him. (The lunar mansions in Vedic terminology are nakshastras.) The first mansion coincided with the Pleiades, and moved eastward around the sky until reaching Pegasus, which comprised the 24th and 25th mansions.
In Vedic astrology, the Great Square was seen as a bed or couch, and the four bright stars on the corners, Bhadra-pada, its "beautiful" or "happy" feet. Markab and Scheat marked the fore-feet of the couch, Purva Bhadra-pada, and Alpheratz and Algenib the rear feet, Uttara Bhadra-pada. Interestingly enough, Alpheratz, which is also known as Sirrah (from Al Surrat Al Faras, the "horse's Navel"), is also the brightest star in the constellation of Andromeda, which splays out behind Pegasus.
 |
| The Constellations surrounding Pegasus mentioned in the ritual. |
I'm a bit confused, at this point. If Lady Olivia is starting at the larger scale of the two nakshastras combined as the "Four happy feet of the beautiful couch," then moving in to the rear mansion, Uttara Bhadra-pada that consists of Algenib and Alpheratz, and the fore mansion, Purva Bhadra-pada, that consists of Markab and Scheat, I'm not sure why she then continues to break the asterism down into specifying the single star, Scheat, as the last of the four Celtic cities/treasures. That sort of leaves Al Janah/Algenib as the "fifth" star in a four-star figure, which is, indeed, "a mystery" (to me, at least).
On the diagram of Pegasus at the beginning, I've tried to associate each one of the four stars with one of the cities: Gorias with Markab, Finias with Alpheratz, Murias with Scheat, and Falais with Algenib, but that may not be what she intended. On the other hand, it's the best I could manage with this drama, which takes you on a magical mystery tour of the world's mythologies and the Spiral of Tiamat's coils. Have fun with it! :D
The Rt. Rev. Michael A. Starsheen, Archpr. H. and owner of a major headache.....<grin>
Friday, July 8, 2011
Chaos and entropy, and the Stewed Tomatoes Syndrome
As human beings, we have a bias toward control and order, such that when bad things happen to someone else, we attribute them to personal or character flaws of that individual. This is known in psychology as the "Fundamental Attribution Error." Meanwhile, when bad things happen to us, we attribute it to "bad luck, " or an "act of God(dess)." We like to feel that we are in control of our destinies, to the point that we misinterpret the Law of Karma as meaning that we chose everything that happens to us in this lifetime, without taking into account the interactions and choices of others. It feels safe to be "in control," and for life to "unfold as it should." But, as the classic phrase says, "Sh*t Happens!"
What appears to us as order lies above a chaotic system of probability and random events. The study of "chaos theory" has begun to help us understand how this manifests in the middle world where we live—between the microscopic and the macroscopic—and that the Buddhist teachings that each of our actions affects the outcomes for all other beings is simply truth. We indeed live in the Middle Earth, and are influenced by events beyond our ken.
The second law of thermodynamics calls the tendency of things to become disordered systems entropy. Things do not restore themselves to order; once you have dropped an egg, it's scrambled. You can never put Humpty Dumpty back together again! But as rational humans, who really, really like things to stay the same, we try very hard to pretend that we can put Humpty Dumpty back together, good as new—or say that he was a fool for sitting on the wall in the first place, and got what he deserved! (The latter is the Fundamental Attribution Error in action.)
I became aware of this phenomenon in my life through the medium of the Stewed Tomatoes. First, let me say that I do not like them—they are not something I would willingly purchase. But for a while when the Goddess was trying to get my attention at the beginning of my training, the Stewed Tomato phenomenon taught me a lot about the dance of Chaos that we live within, and about accepting reality as it is.
I often cook with canned whole tomatoes. I am careful when I am in the store to read labels, and to choose the product that I want. But for several months, I would arrive home, take groceries out of the sack, and find that I now had a can of stewed tomatoes. These are more entropic—you cannot convert them back to plain whole tomatoes, as they've been chopped and seasoned, and converted into something else.
My partner at the time didn't believe me. My partner assumed I was just screwing up when I went shopping, so the next time I went, I insisted my partner accompany me. When we got to the tomatoes, I made my partner look carefully at the can I was holding, and confirm that it was indeed whole tomatoes. You guessed it! When we got home, it was stewed again!
When we think of the Gods and Goddesses of Chaos, entropy, and destruction, we frequently feel a sense of fear, or that they are evil in some way. (Again, projecting the personality onto them of the Fundamental Attribution Error.) But these Beings are necessary to the preservation of order we strive for—all things age, break down, and fall to dust, and from that chaotic waste, we build anew.
Take the Goddess Sekhmet, for example. Her best known myth is when Re sent her to earth to punish those people who had turned away from His laws, and when she raged out of control, He had to send Tehuti to devise a scheme to stop Her. Sekhmet delivers Re's Divine Justice by breaking down the established order, sometimes in the most direct and terrifying ways possible—violent weather, earthquakes, droughts, fevers, epidemics, and other "acts of God(dess)." To that extent, we should surely fear Her!
But the Egyptians were wise—Sekhmet's counterpart is Ptah, the Divine Engineer, who takes all of the broken and shattered pieces and creates from them anew. As Sekhmet destroys, Ptah employs the raw materials left behind, bringing a new order out of the chaotic destruction of the old. This is an essential dynamic that we should not forget; it recurs again and again in other cultures.
Take Kali, the Hindu equivalent of Sekhmet. Her visage is truly terrifying, and meant to be so! Her dance of destruction is much more obviously bloody, and clearly shows the falling away of human order into entropy and chaos. And her consort, Shiva, similarly dances to the destruction of the current order, after contemplating what needs to die away. Then Vishnu dreams it anew, and Brahma rebuilds it. Cycles, spirals, and order—chaos gets balanced by rebirth.
When the Gods and Goddesses of Chaos dance into your lives, you can get angry at the destruction of your carefully built house of cards, and orderly structures. You can weep with frustration that things are not turning out as you would like. Or you can learn to dance with the Deities of Chaos, and allow the Stewed Tomatoes of Entropy to remind you that new order comes out of the old, and that laughter heals many ills.
I was reminded of this in listening to the budget debates over Medicare and Social Security. These programs have helped people in this country at their worst times, when the Dance of Chaos has truly trampled them under the Deities' feet, and given them a means to survive and recreate themselves. However, even before they were enacted, conservatives argued against them based on the Fundamental Attribution Error—"Why should I part with my hard-earned cash to support a bunch of indigent, lazy folk who will not get up and work like the rest of us?"
Well, I would surely *like* to, you know. <sigh> I am a workaholic, and have never been able to just sit and do nothing—mindfulness meditation is extremely challenging for me! When I wasn't working 50-60 hours a week, I was going to school at night working on extra degrees and training, or teaching undergraduate classes. But entropy caught up with me, and little problems I had ignored for some time became bigger and bigger issues, until by 1992 I was completely and totally disabled. The Order of my life was shattered into a million shards of rubble, and I had no idea what to do with myself.
That's when the Goddesses began making themselves known to me more clearly, and demanding that I give my service to them. I started on that path in college, but had put it aside because it scared my spouse too much. Now, I had little choice—Deity had taken over my life and was moving through me in as clear a manner as you are reading this. I joined the FOI to complete priesthood training because it was the only organization of its sort I could find, and it has turned out to be a fine home for me over the years.
But Sekhmet, Kali, Shiva, Loki, Odin, Hecate, Eris, and all the others were not done with me—oh, no. I lost my marriage of 15 years—or you could say I escaped with my life from 15 years of torture—and had to try and reinvent myself. I went to massage school hoping to learn a new craft of healing, and became a Reiki master. But most of the healing work, which I had dedicated to Isis in my ordination, turned out to be work on myself, revising and revisiting old heartbreaks and other distressful things in my life that I had tried to tune out. I learned meditation and hypnotherapy, wrote booklets and taught classes, tried to work as I thought a priest should, and tried to go back to work again because of fear—fear that my disability insurance would eventually kick me off! Fear of being broke and having nothing, terror of being all alone and unable to help myself. Beware what you fear most—it becomes one of the learning tools with which Deity confronts you!
I spent most of my life as an out-of-body experience. My physicality had little meaning to me, and in the abusive situations in which I found myself, not "being there" was the best means of escape from overwhelming fear and pain. Some of the disabilities I struggle with are old injuries from this time, when I was not paying close enough attention to the world around me because the pain was too intense. The seeds of other disability problems were inculcated at the hands of others in my life, for which *I* am not responsible. Those actions are their karma; I did not choose them. But I must deal with the results, and the entropic problems they have generated.
At my last job, the company did not have long-term disability insurance. When my world caved in completely after going to a pagan festival in the high Rockies and contracting severe altitude sickness, the disabilities I had been holding off by main force came crashing back and I ended up on Social Security Disability (SSDI). For those of you who know anything about the incredibly red-tape bound process of approval for Social Security benefits, I got through in the first round—I was that disabled.
My income dropped to about 1/8th of what it had been, and I've had to adjust and readjust my life to deal with the consequences since. I am not living in luxury, or in laziness, as the conservatives would imply. I'm barely surviving with a roof over my head, and struggling to get through a degree program on line in hopes that it will give me a cushion of a new career where I can be somewhat gainfully employed. (All right, I'm really in it to figure out what's broken in my mind-body, and find ways to fix it. So sue me. What I learn will help others, and it is still part of Isis' plan for me to be a healer—first fix myself!)
Entropy bites, though, and once I had regained a bit of my balance, I made the mistake of being lonely and seeking a companion to share life with me. I sought out "whole tomatoes," but ended up with the "stewed tomatoes" chaos/entropy version again. The three years of my relationship with my ex-domestic partner had their happy moments, but they were paid for in horrific financial and physical pain, of which I'm seeing the ending at present. I hope.
I have lost so much, in the long struggle to stay afloat. I've learned a great deal about dealing with people with bipolar disorder, especially in their manic state—chaos personified! I had thought I had found the final place I would live until I died when I moved here to Dunsmuir, up near Mt. Shasta, and a place where I remember being happy as a child. But thanks to the machinations of the chaos Deities, that is coming to an end. I sit here in the destruction of my hopes and dreams of order and peace, and see that once again I am called on to pick up the pieces and attempt to create myself anew.
One thing I have done to redress the stewed tomatoes syndrome in my life has been to take to heart my dissociation from my body and really look hard at the reasons why I lived that way. Much of my pain and horror at being in body was being forced into the kinds of roles that were reserved for women, especially in the South, before Women's Liberation caught on in the 70s. I spent most of my life fighting the good fight, trying to win a sense of respect and acceptance for women in whatever endeavors they sought to pursue, and for myself in the field of computer science and engineering. I have always been very good at math and science, and the kinds of work I did should have been considered "gender neutral," but you would never have known that from the behavior of my male peers and coworkers!
I know what it is like to be judged and dismissed simply on superficial qualities, such as looks, or ways of speech, or presumed sexual orientation—I wish I could get people who rage about prejudice against *their* group to realize that prejudice of any kind hurts just the same! It isn't a competition about who has been hurt the most; it is a challenge to heal us all from the pain we've experienced, through tolerance and love.
I realized that I was not comfortable in my body as a woman, and I debated for over a decade as to whether I was really male or not. Finally, in my early 50s, I accepted the fact that living as a man could begin my psychic healing in this lifetime—because people now saw me as male, and took what I said seriously and thoughtfully, rather than just wondering how a woman could come up with such stuff! Very little has really changed—my thoughts are still the same, my sense of "Self" is the same, but people react to me in a very different manner. It is a dance with chaos that I quietly accepted and acted upon to gain a greater sense of peace and order in my life, whether I can ever fully explain my decision to another or not.
However, I've encountered the flip side of the prejudice machine since my transition—many in the feminist and Goddess community view me with disdain and suspicion because I'm now the Enemy, a "man." Although I'm still the same person, whose work does not involve gender in any particular, I am something of an outcast because I chose to become "male." It's funny how these things work, isn't it?
Chaos, entropy, and the eternal Dance of the Deities into order and destruction. It is a hard dance to learn the steps to—we so want to cling to control—but when riding the Wheel of Fortune, it is best to move to the hub and let the wheel spin around you, rather than trying to push it one way or another. Being able to find comfort with Sekhmet, Shiva, Hecate, Eris, Loki, Kali, and the other chaos generators in our lives teaches us more about ourselves, our strengths, and the true nature of the Universe than we will ever learn trying to force it all into a little orderly box we control.
And, I suspect, that sometimes those control freaks who try the hardest to define the tightest little orderly box of life and thought are actually generating massive chaos elsewhere. Energy is always conserved, if you compress it one place, you generate stewed tomatoes elsewhere. This is the fundamental flaw with the Fundamental Attribution Error. We are, indeed, responsible for our own actions, but we cannot forget that all of our actions are connected to one another. When you are out of charity for one, you ultimately impoverish your own soul.
Meditate on stewed tomatoes, and how your actions affect your friends, your families, and even those far away. Learn to see the connectedness of all beings, and see how the bright fires of chaos weave themselves into the web of life to bring renewal. And, sometimes, justice. Then laugh, for it is with bright joy that entropy breaks things down and we struggle to reinvent them anew.
The Rt. Rev. Michael A. Starsheen, Archpr. H.
What appears to us as order lies above a chaotic system of probability and random events. The study of "chaos theory" has begun to help us understand how this manifests in the middle world where we live—between the microscopic and the macroscopic—and that the Buddhist teachings that each of our actions affects the outcomes for all other beings is simply truth. We indeed live in the Middle Earth, and are influenced by events beyond our ken.
The second law of thermodynamics calls the tendency of things to become disordered systems entropy. Things do not restore themselves to order; once you have dropped an egg, it's scrambled. You can never put Humpty Dumpty back together again! But as rational humans, who really, really like things to stay the same, we try very hard to pretend that we can put Humpty Dumpty back together, good as new—or say that he was a fool for sitting on the wall in the first place, and got what he deserved! (The latter is the Fundamental Attribution Error in action.)
I became aware of this phenomenon in my life through the medium of the Stewed Tomatoes. First, let me say that I do not like them—they are not something I would willingly purchase. But for a while when the Goddess was trying to get my attention at the beginning of my training, the Stewed Tomato phenomenon taught me a lot about the dance of Chaos that we live within, and about accepting reality as it is.
I often cook with canned whole tomatoes. I am careful when I am in the store to read labels, and to choose the product that I want. But for several months, I would arrive home, take groceries out of the sack, and find that I now had a can of stewed tomatoes. These are more entropic—you cannot convert them back to plain whole tomatoes, as they've been chopped and seasoned, and converted into something else.
My partner at the time didn't believe me. My partner assumed I was just screwing up when I went shopping, so the next time I went, I insisted my partner accompany me. When we got to the tomatoes, I made my partner look carefully at the can I was holding, and confirm that it was indeed whole tomatoes. You guessed it! When we got home, it was stewed again!
When we think of the Gods and Goddesses of Chaos, entropy, and destruction, we frequently feel a sense of fear, or that they are evil in some way. (Again, projecting the personality onto them of the Fundamental Attribution Error.) But these Beings are necessary to the preservation of order we strive for—all things age, break down, and fall to dust, and from that chaotic waste, we build anew.
Take the Goddess Sekhmet, for example. Her best known myth is when Re sent her to earth to punish those people who had turned away from His laws, and when she raged out of control, He had to send Tehuti to devise a scheme to stop Her. Sekhmet delivers Re's Divine Justice by breaking down the established order, sometimes in the most direct and terrifying ways possible—violent weather, earthquakes, droughts, fevers, epidemics, and other "acts of God(dess)." To that extent, we should surely fear Her!
But the Egyptians were wise—Sekhmet's counterpart is Ptah, the Divine Engineer, who takes all of the broken and shattered pieces and creates from them anew. As Sekhmet destroys, Ptah employs the raw materials left behind, bringing a new order out of the chaotic destruction of the old. This is an essential dynamic that we should not forget; it recurs again and again in other cultures.
Take Kali, the Hindu equivalent of Sekhmet. Her visage is truly terrifying, and meant to be so! Her dance of destruction is much more obviously bloody, and clearly shows the falling away of human order into entropy and chaos. And her consort, Shiva, similarly dances to the destruction of the current order, after contemplating what needs to die away. Then Vishnu dreams it anew, and Brahma rebuilds it. Cycles, spirals, and order—chaos gets balanced by rebirth.
When the Gods and Goddesses of Chaos dance into your lives, you can get angry at the destruction of your carefully built house of cards, and orderly structures. You can weep with frustration that things are not turning out as you would like. Or you can learn to dance with the Deities of Chaos, and allow the Stewed Tomatoes of Entropy to remind you that new order comes out of the old, and that laughter heals many ills.
I was reminded of this in listening to the budget debates over Medicare and Social Security. These programs have helped people in this country at their worst times, when the Dance of Chaos has truly trampled them under the Deities' feet, and given them a means to survive and recreate themselves. However, even before they were enacted, conservatives argued against them based on the Fundamental Attribution Error—"Why should I part with my hard-earned cash to support a bunch of indigent, lazy folk who will not get up and work like the rest of us?"
Well, I would surely *like* to, you know. <sigh> I am a workaholic, and have never been able to just sit and do nothing—mindfulness meditation is extremely challenging for me! When I wasn't working 50-60 hours a week, I was going to school at night working on extra degrees and training, or teaching undergraduate classes. But entropy caught up with me, and little problems I had ignored for some time became bigger and bigger issues, until by 1992 I was completely and totally disabled. The Order of my life was shattered into a million shards of rubble, and I had no idea what to do with myself.
That's when the Goddesses began making themselves known to me more clearly, and demanding that I give my service to them. I started on that path in college, but had put it aside because it scared my spouse too much. Now, I had little choice—Deity had taken over my life and was moving through me in as clear a manner as you are reading this. I joined the FOI to complete priesthood training because it was the only organization of its sort I could find, and it has turned out to be a fine home for me over the years.
But Sekhmet, Kali, Shiva, Loki, Odin, Hecate, Eris, and all the others were not done with me—oh, no. I lost my marriage of 15 years—or you could say I escaped with my life from 15 years of torture—and had to try and reinvent myself. I went to massage school hoping to learn a new craft of healing, and became a Reiki master. But most of the healing work, which I had dedicated to Isis in my ordination, turned out to be work on myself, revising and revisiting old heartbreaks and other distressful things in my life that I had tried to tune out. I learned meditation and hypnotherapy, wrote booklets and taught classes, tried to work as I thought a priest should, and tried to go back to work again because of fear—fear that my disability insurance would eventually kick me off! Fear of being broke and having nothing, terror of being all alone and unable to help myself. Beware what you fear most—it becomes one of the learning tools with which Deity confronts you!
I spent most of my life as an out-of-body experience. My physicality had little meaning to me, and in the abusive situations in which I found myself, not "being there" was the best means of escape from overwhelming fear and pain. Some of the disabilities I struggle with are old injuries from this time, when I was not paying close enough attention to the world around me because the pain was too intense. The seeds of other disability problems were inculcated at the hands of others in my life, for which *I* am not responsible. Those actions are their karma; I did not choose them. But I must deal with the results, and the entropic problems they have generated.
At my last job, the company did not have long-term disability insurance. When my world caved in completely after going to a pagan festival in the high Rockies and contracting severe altitude sickness, the disabilities I had been holding off by main force came crashing back and I ended up on Social Security Disability (SSDI). For those of you who know anything about the incredibly red-tape bound process of approval for Social Security benefits, I got through in the first round—I was that disabled.
My income dropped to about 1/8th of what it had been, and I've had to adjust and readjust my life to deal with the consequences since. I am not living in luxury, or in laziness, as the conservatives would imply. I'm barely surviving with a roof over my head, and struggling to get through a degree program on line in hopes that it will give me a cushion of a new career where I can be somewhat gainfully employed. (All right, I'm really in it to figure out what's broken in my mind-body, and find ways to fix it. So sue me. What I learn will help others, and it is still part of Isis' plan for me to be a healer—first fix myself!)
Entropy bites, though, and once I had regained a bit of my balance, I made the mistake of being lonely and seeking a companion to share life with me. I sought out "whole tomatoes," but ended up with the "stewed tomatoes" chaos/entropy version again. The three years of my relationship with my ex-domestic partner had their happy moments, but they were paid for in horrific financial and physical pain, of which I'm seeing the ending at present. I hope.
I have lost so much, in the long struggle to stay afloat. I've learned a great deal about dealing with people with bipolar disorder, especially in their manic state—chaos personified! I had thought I had found the final place I would live until I died when I moved here to Dunsmuir, up near Mt. Shasta, and a place where I remember being happy as a child. But thanks to the machinations of the chaos Deities, that is coming to an end. I sit here in the destruction of my hopes and dreams of order and peace, and see that once again I am called on to pick up the pieces and attempt to create myself anew.
One thing I have done to redress the stewed tomatoes syndrome in my life has been to take to heart my dissociation from my body and really look hard at the reasons why I lived that way. Much of my pain and horror at being in body was being forced into the kinds of roles that were reserved for women, especially in the South, before Women's Liberation caught on in the 70s. I spent most of my life fighting the good fight, trying to win a sense of respect and acceptance for women in whatever endeavors they sought to pursue, and for myself in the field of computer science and engineering. I have always been very good at math and science, and the kinds of work I did should have been considered "gender neutral," but you would never have known that from the behavior of my male peers and coworkers!
I know what it is like to be judged and dismissed simply on superficial qualities, such as looks, or ways of speech, or presumed sexual orientation—I wish I could get people who rage about prejudice against *their* group to realize that prejudice of any kind hurts just the same! It isn't a competition about who has been hurt the most; it is a challenge to heal us all from the pain we've experienced, through tolerance and love.
I realized that I was not comfortable in my body as a woman, and I debated for over a decade as to whether I was really male or not. Finally, in my early 50s, I accepted the fact that living as a man could begin my psychic healing in this lifetime—because people now saw me as male, and took what I said seriously and thoughtfully, rather than just wondering how a woman could come up with such stuff! Very little has really changed—my thoughts are still the same, my sense of "Self" is the same, but people react to me in a very different manner. It is a dance with chaos that I quietly accepted and acted upon to gain a greater sense of peace and order in my life, whether I can ever fully explain my decision to another or not.
However, I've encountered the flip side of the prejudice machine since my transition—many in the feminist and Goddess community view me with disdain and suspicion because I'm now the Enemy, a "man." Although I'm still the same person, whose work does not involve gender in any particular, I am something of an outcast because I chose to become "male." It's funny how these things work, isn't it?
Chaos, entropy, and the eternal Dance of the Deities into order and destruction. It is a hard dance to learn the steps to—we so want to cling to control—but when riding the Wheel of Fortune, it is best to move to the hub and let the wheel spin around you, rather than trying to push it one way or another. Being able to find comfort with Sekhmet, Shiva, Hecate, Eris, Loki, Kali, and the other chaos generators in our lives teaches us more about ourselves, our strengths, and the true nature of the Universe than we will ever learn trying to force it all into a little orderly box we control.
And, I suspect, that sometimes those control freaks who try the hardest to define the tightest little orderly box of life and thought are actually generating massive chaos elsewhere. Energy is always conserved, if you compress it one place, you generate stewed tomatoes elsewhere. This is the fundamental flaw with the Fundamental Attribution Error. We are, indeed, responsible for our own actions, but we cannot forget that all of our actions are connected to one another. When you are out of charity for one, you ultimately impoverish your own soul.
Meditate on stewed tomatoes, and how your actions affect your friends, your families, and even those far away. Learn to see the connectedness of all beings, and see how the bright fires of chaos weave themselves into the web of life to bring renewal. And, sometimes, justice. Then laugh, for it is with bright joy that entropy breaks things down and we struggle to reinvent them anew.
The Rt. Rev. Michael A. Starsheen, Archpr. H.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Speaking of the Stars....
Some comments in the Fellowship of Isis group on Facebook got me to thinking about the stars and constellations, and our relationship to the skies in the modern Western world. We have done many things that have ultimately disconnected us from a sense of the natural movements of the Sun, Moon, and stars, but one of the most devastating has been our "blinding of the night," a phenomenon that astronomers refer to as "light pollution." With 4 out of 5 of us now living in urban or suburban environments, most of us never look up at night and see anything but the Moon and a really bright star or two—we've lost the sight of the many stars and how they relate to one another.
If you spend the night out in the country, or in a wilderness area away from the lights, you will suddenly be confronted with a vast multitude of stars, bright, medium, dim, and what looks like "star smears"—typically parts of the Milky Way. These are the constellations that our ancestors viewed, named, and told stories about, and the ones that we encounter in Lady Olivia's star dramas.
In the West, most of the names we have today for both constellations and stars have passed down to us from the Arabs of the Middle Ages, who preserved Greek philosophy and lore, and added their own. We are learning from archeology, and particularly from the field of archeoastronomy, that almost all ancient civilizations had their own configurations of stars (which is what "constellation" means, "with stars") that tied into their moral stories, the timing of events in their environments, and the movements of the Sun, Moon, and planets.
Seven planets (which means "wandering stars") are visible to the naked eye: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, along with the Sun and Moon. Mercury is very difficult to see, as it never gets more than about 30-degrees away from the Sun, and will always be low on the horizon in the twilight glow. Venus, on the other hand, gets up to 45-degrees away from the Sun, either as the morning or evening star, and is the brightest object in the sky other than the Moon. As a result, Venus has often been a highly significant object to ancient peoples—but not always as a signal of femininity or love as from Western culture; the Maya, for example, used the transitions of Venus from morning to evening and back as a timing signal in their inter-city warring.
Jupiter is nearly as bright as Venus, and can be anywhere in the sky along the Zodiac when it is visible; it is a bright golden star. Saturn is also golden, but dimmer than Jupiter and a bit harder to see. Mars, as you may already know, is a rusty red color, and fairly bright, especially at opposition, when it will be overhead at midnight.
Stars themselves come in many colors and brightness variations. Sirius, which is visible at night from mid-October to late March, is a bright, clear blue. It was considered the star of Isis, or sometimes of Anubis, by the ancient Egyptians, and is the brightest star in our sky. It is also one of the closest stars to us here on Earth, being only about 8 light-years away. (For those of you who don't know, a light-year is the distance it takes light to travel over the course of a single year.)
In the middle part of the year, from about April through November, another bright blue star can be seen high overhead at night. This is Vega, which the Egyptians considered to be "the Star of Ma'at." It is interesting to speculate on the meaning of that, because Vega is one of the stars around which the north pole in the sky circles over its 25,000 year precessional course, and was last our pole star towards the end of the last Ice Age, 12,500 years ago.
Another star of considerable significance to the ancient Egyptians was Canopus, a bright golden star located in the southern reaches of the sky. It is just visible from the southern parts of the US and, of course, is a northern star to all our members south of the Equator. <grin> Canopus symbolized the headwaters of the Nile to the ancient Egyptians, and is the origin of the term "canopic jars" that housed the internal organs of the mummified dead.
There are many more colorful stars—red Antares, in Scorpio; red Betelgeuse in Orion; red Aldebaran in Taurus; golden Arcturus, Regulus, and Capella; blue Spica and Rigel; and others. There are double stars, such as the middle star in the handle of the Big Dipper—which used to be used as a test of eyesight—and nebulae like the one at the end of Orion's sword, where new stars are being born. Orion, a constellation near Sirius, was considered a form of Osiris resurrected, to which the souls of the dead journeyed in the afterlife to be reborn—surely it's a coincidence that there is a baby-star factory located there? <grin>
I hope to continue talking about the stars as we go forward. They have been mankind's long companions in our journey to Today, and their rising, setting, and shimmering overhead have informed many cultures of the times and seasons of their lives. We live so much by the clock in the modern world that we may forget our connection with the lights in the sky entirely, but they are still there, patiently waiting for us to remember them.
The Rt. Rev. Michael A. Starsheen, Archpr. H.
If you spend the night out in the country, or in a wilderness area away from the lights, you will suddenly be confronted with a vast multitude of stars, bright, medium, dim, and what looks like "star smears"—typically parts of the Milky Way. These are the constellations that our ancestors viewed, named, and told stories about, and the ones that we encounter in Lady Olivia's star dramas.
In the West, most of the names we have today for both constellations and stars have passed down to us from the Arabs of the Middle Ages, who preserved Greek philosophy and lore, and added their own. We are learning from archeology, and particularly from the field of archeoastronomy, that almost all ancient civilizations had their own configurations of stars (which is what "constellation" means, "with stars") that tied into their moral stories, the timing of events in their environments, and the movements of the Sun, Moon, and planets.
Seven planets (which means "wandering stars") are visible to the naked eye: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, along with the Sun and Moon. Mercury is very difficult to see, as it never gets more than about 30-degrees away from the Sun, and will always be low on the horizon in the twilight glow. Venus, on the other hand, gets up to 45-degrees away from the Sun, either as the morning or evening star, and is the brightest object in the sky other than the Moon. As a result, Venus has often been a highly significant object to ancient peoples—but not always as a signal of femininity or love as from Western culture; the Maya, for example, used the transitions of Venus from morning to evening and back as a timing signal in their inter-city warring.
Jupiter is nearly as bright as Venus, and can be anywhere in the sky along the Zodiac when it is visible; it is a bright golden star. Saturn is also golden, but dimmer than Jupiter and a bit harder to see. Mars, as you may already know, is a rusty red color, and fairly bright, especially at opposition, when it will be overhead at midnight.
Stars themselves come in many colors and brightness variations. Sirius, which is visible at night from mid-October to late March, is a bright, clear blue. It was considered the star of Isis, or sometimes of Anubis, by the ancient Egyptians, and is the brightest star in our sky. It is also one of the closest stars to us here on Earth, being only about 8 light-years away. (For those of you who don't know, a light-year is the distance it takes light to travel over the course of a single year.)
In the middle part of the year, from about April through November, another bright blue star can be seen high overhead at night. This is Vega, which the Egyptians considered to be "the Star of Ma'at." It is interesting to speculate on the meaning of that, because Vega is one of the stars around which the north pole in the sky circles over its 25,000 year precessional course, and was last our pole star towards the end of the last Ice Age, 12,500 years ago.
Another star of considerable significance to the ancient Egyptians was Canopus, a bright golden star located in the southern reaches of the sky. It is just visible from the southern parts of the US and, of course, is a northern star to all our members south of the Equator. <grin> Canopus symbolized the headwaters of the Nile to the ancient Egyptians, and is the origin of the term "canopic jars" that housed the internal organs of the mummified dead.
There are many more colorful stars—red Antares, in Scorpio; red Betelgeuse in Orion; red Aldebaran in Taurus; golden Arcturus, Regulus, and Capella; blue Spica and Rigel; and others. There are double stars, such as the middle star in the handle of the Big Dipper—which used to be used as a test of eyesight—and nebulae like the one at the end of Orion's sword, where new stars are being born. Orion, a constellation near Sirius, was considered a form of Osiris resurrected, to which the souls of the dead journeyed in the afterlife to be reborn—surely it's a coincidence that there is a baby-star factory located there? <grin>
I hope to continue talking about the stars as we go forward. They have been mankind's long companions in our journey to Today, and their rising, setting, and shimmering overhead have informed many cultures of the times and seasons of their lives. We live so much by the clock in the modern world that we may forget our connection with the lights in the sky entirely, but they are still there, patiently waiting for us to remember them.
The Rt. Rev. Michael A. Starsheen, Archpr. H.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
A celebration of liberty—a July 4th ritual
Many years ago, I first designed a ritual to celebrate the freedoms we have developed in America over the 235 years since our country declared its independence from England. Since I'm a big fan of fireworks—as a Fire Mage or budding pyromaniac, you know—I set up an outdoor center for the celebration with set pieces at each of the 4 quarters, and in the center for above, below, and center. Using sparklers to call the quarters at night is really neat, since they leave a visual trail behind as you draw whatever protective or invocatory symbols you wish to use at each point. We would then invoke the particular freedom at the point and set off the firework to honor that freedom and its Goddess. (I'm using the Roman goddesses that are personifications of the virtues because much of our American system of freedom is drawn from the Roman republic model.)
You don't need to use fireworks, sparklers, or other incendiaries, if they are illegal in your community. The standard invocatory tools, such as candles, incense, or your wand works just fine. If you use incense, you can choose a neutral scent for all of the quarters, or one which resonates with each element. The idea is to create a truly sacred space for the Goddess Libertas to appear and manifest freedom in your life for the coming year.
If you are not American, you can still conduct this ritual to draw these qualities of freedom into your lives. These freedoms are a statement of hope for the future and of solidarity with each other, even though they are expressed in terms of the American Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Conducting the ritual augments the energy of all people directed toward freedom of person, property, and fortune, so feel free to use it whenever you want to empower freedom in your life and in those of your fellow beings.
I am changing the word, "men," to "beings" quite intentionally. The Founding Fathers used the term, "men," as a referent for equality all human beings, even though they had no intentions of applying it to everyone human at that time. In our more enlightened age, I choose "beings" because not only should freedom apply to all people, but to animals and others around us who are made to suffer to serve our ends. By doing this, I empower the hope that all beings will be treated with respect in the future, and choose to work toward that goal.
This may be done as a group, or as a solitary rite. If the latter, remember to bless yourself with freedom in the name of Liberty, at the end!
Hail East, powers of Air, I (we) invoke the Goddess Fides ("fee-des") who brings good faith and honesty, moral integrity. Lady crowned with an olive branch and garbed in white, who carries the cup of faith, I (we) ask you to bring us Freedom of Speech that we may send forth our words to all those beings who still suffer under oppression, asking that they be allowed freedom of body, spirit, and mind that our Constitution guarantees to us. Blessed Fides, may we be faithful, honest, and moral in our speech!
Hail South, powers of Fire, I (we) invoke the Goddess Pax who brings peace and goodwill. Oh, Daughter of Jupiter and Justice, who bears the scepter of justice, the cornucopia of plenty, and the olive branch of peace, we acknowledge the right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our fellow beings while recognizing we ultimately want to turn away from aggression. We vow to become bringers of peace, to speak peace in the face of turmoil, and to advocate against the use of arms whenever we may. Blessed Pax, may we be makers of peace!
Hail West, powers of Water, I (we) invoke the Goddess Spes, who brings hope for the future, for good harvests, and children. Ultima Dea, we ask your aid in freeing all beings from slavery or bondage, that they may share in the bounty of your cornucopia and be crowned with the flowers that you bear. Blessed Spes, may we hope to see freedom for all beings everywhere who still struggle against oppression, bondage, and slavery!
Hail North, powers of Earth, I (we) invoke the Goddess Securitas, who holds the scepter of state. We ask that you bring us security within our homes, security of our persons, and the peace of mind that comes from knowing we are free. Blessed Securitas, we ask you to bring security, safety, and peace of mind to all those beings who suffer under oppression!
Hail Sky, powers of Light, I (we) invoke the Goddess Felicitas, bringer of good fortune, happiness, and bliss. You who carry the cornucopia of plenty and the caduceus of healing, we thank you for the freedom to worship as we choose, standing under the light of heaven, rather than hiding in the dark for fear of our fellow Man. Blessed Felicitas, may all beings gain the freedom to worship the Divine as it manifests in their own hearts, finding the bliss that comes from true belief.
Hail Ground, powers of Stability, I (we) invoke the Goddess Concordia, bringer of harmony. We thank you for the freedom to assemble as we choose, in groups large and small, to offer up service to our communities in the patera (sacrificial bowl) you carry, that we may give back to others the freedoms we have received. I (we) invoke your sister Goddess Salas, who brings well being, health, and prosperity to take our offering of service through our assembled fellows and feed our service to your Snake of Wisdom that we may find a way to make all beings free. Great Concordia, Great Salas, help us to assemble and find the wisdom to use our freedom to free all others who labor under oppression!
Hail Sacred Center, powers of Unity that brings all beings together in this single time and single place that is all times and all places, I (we) invoke the Goddess Libertas: servos ad pileum vocare! We ask that you set the cap of Freedom upon our heads that we may show all beings that "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all beings are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
"We the People of the United States of America, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure Domestic Tranquility, provide for the common Defence, promote the General Welfare, and secure the Blessing of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity..." ask the Goddess Libertas to guide us in coming together in Peace and Wisdom to address the ills and oppression that exists in this world. We ask that you lend us your powers to bring Freedom, Justice, and Tranquility to all oppressed beings everywhere they may be.
I, and my sister Virtues, look forth upon your land and see that the high-minded goals of Freedom stated by your Founding Fathers remain unfulfilled. People still discriminate against one another, fostering hatred because of immaterial differences they imagine are important. But with Freedom comes responsibility to use that Freedom wisely and well, to improve the lot of your fellow men, whether at home or abroad, until all live in safety and security, happiness, wealth, and hope! And do not forget the other beings with whom you share the Land, who often live in horrendous conditions, whether in a factory farm or in the neglect of a home where they are not loved and cared for properly. No matter how bleak the future may seem, you must have faith and hope that the future can be made better, and that every act you do in my name furthers the goal of Freedom for all.
As you look upon my statue, which stands in the harbor at Ellis Island, remember the poem of Emma Lazarus, "The New Colossus," dedicated to my honor:
Let us send forth rays of Peace, Freedom, Justice, and Tranquility, Safety, Wealth, and Well Being to all those beings who linger under oppressive regimes around the world, who suffer unjust confinement, or who need help removing the veils of slavery and discrimination that prevent them from being the free beings they were born to be. <Silvery and Gold lights may be seen streaming forth to all directions.>
Now, let us each, in turn, come forward to accept the blessings of Freedom. <As each individual comes before the Priest/Priestess leading the group, he/she lays a wand upon the individual's head.>
With this vindicta, I consecrate your life to Liberty and Freedom. Vindicavit in libertatum! <The officiant turns the individual around, showing them to all assembled.> Hunc hominem liberum voles! Go forth a free man/woman/child/being, and work to bring Peace and Liberty to all.
<After last individual has been consecrated to Freedom, priest/priestess dismisses the circle.>
I (we) give thanks to the powers of Air in the East, and to the Goddess Fides for our Freedom of Speech. Go forth with my (our) blessings!
I (we) give thanks to the powers of Fire in the South, and to the Goddess Pax for our Freedom of to Bear Arms in self-defense and to choose to lay them down to promote Peace. Go forth with my (our) blessings!
I (we) give thanks to the powers of Water in the West, and to the Goddess Spes for our Freedom from slavery and oppression. Go forth with my (our) blessings!
I (we) give thanks to the powers of Earth in the North, and to the Goddess Securitas for the Freedom of our homes, persons, and possessions. Go forth with my (our) blessings!
I (we) give thanks to the powers of Light Above us, and to the Goddess Felicitas for our Freedom to Worship as we believe in our hearts under your skies. Go forth with my (our) blessings!
I (we) give thanks to the powers of Stability Below us, and to the Goddesses Concordia and Salas for our Freedom to Assemble in health and happiness on your Earth. Go forth with my (our) blessings!
I (we) give thanks to the powers of the Sacred Center of all that is, or was, or ever will be, and to the Goddess Libertas for the ability to live as Free beings, without oppression, slavery, or unjust imprisonment. May I (we) spread forth your message of Liberty to all beings who remain in the Darkness of oppression and slavery, and work towards freeing them to walk in your care. Go forth with my (our) blessings!
References
National Archives, http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html
Wikipedia, articles on the Roman Virtues, http://www.wikipedia.org/
Statue of Liberty State Park, Emma Lazarus' "The New Colossus," http://www.libertystatepark.com/emma.htm
Statue of Liberty Wallpapers, http://www.webwallpapers.net/07/9-statue-of-liberty-wallpapers/
You don't need to use fireworks, sparklers, or other incendiaries, if they are illegal in your community. The standard invocatory tools, such as candles, incense, or your wand works just fine. If you use incense, you can choose a neutral scent for all of the quarters, or one which resonates with each element. The idea is to create a truly sacred space for the Goddess Libertas to appear and manifest freedom in your life for the coming year.
If you are not American, you can still conduct this ritual to draw these qualities of freedom into your lives. These freedoms are a statement of hope for the future and of solidarity with each other, even though they are expressed in terms of the American Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Conducting the ritual augments the energy of all people directed toward freedom of person, property, and fortune, so feel free to use it whenever you want to empower freedom in your life and in those of your fellow beings.
I am changing the word, "men," to "beings" quite intentionally. The Founding Fathers used the term, "men," as a referent for equality all human beings, even though they had no intentions of applying it to everyone human at that time. In our more enlightened age, I choose "beings" because not only should freedom apply to all people, but to animals and others around us who are made to suffer to serve our ends. By doing this, I empower the hope that all beings will be treated with respect in the future, and choose to work toward that goal.
This may be done as a group, or as a solitary rite. If the latter, remember to bless yourself with freedom in the name of Liberty, at the end!
Here is the ritual:
Hail East, powers of Air, I (we) invoke the Goddess Fides ("fee-des") who brings good faith and honesty, moral integrity. Lady crowned with an olive branch and garbed in white, who carries the cup of faith, I (we) ask you to bring us Freedom of Speech that we may send forth our words to all those beings who still suffer under oppression, asking that they be allowed freedom of body, spirit, and mind that our Constitution guarantees to us. Blessed Fides, may we be faithful, honest, and moral in our speech!
Hail South, powers of Fire, I (we) invoke the Goddess Pax who brings peace and goodwill. Oh, Daughter of Jupiter and Justice, who bears the scepter of justice, the cornucopia of plenty, and the olive branch of peace, we acknowledge the right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our fellow beings while recognizing we ultimately want to turn away from aggression. We vow to become bringers of peace, to speak peace in the face of turmoil, and to advocate against the use of arms whenever we may. Blessed Pax, may we be makers of peace!
Hail West, powers of Water, I (we) invoke the Goddess Spes, who brings hope for the future, for good harvests, and children. Ultima Dea, we ask your aid in freeing all beings from slavery or bondage, that they may share in the bounty of your cornucopia and be crowned with the flowers that you bear. Blessed Spes, may we hope to see freedom for all beings everywhere who still struggle against oppression, bondage, and slavery!
Hail North, powers of Earth, I (we) invoke the Goddess Securitas, who holds the scepter of state. We ask that you bring us security within our homes, security of our persons, and the peace of mind that comes from knowing we are free. Blessed Securitas, we ask you to bring security, safety, and peace of mind to all those beings who suffer under oppression!
Hail Sky, powers of Light, I (we) invoke the Goddess Felicitas, bringer of good fortune, happiness, and bliss. You who carry the cornucopia of plenty and the caduceus of healing, we thank you for the freedom to worship as we choose, standing under the light of heaven, rather than hiding in the dark for fear of our fellow Man. Blessed Felicitas, may all beings gain the freedom to worship the Divine as it manifests in their own hearts, finding the bliss that comes from true belief.
Hail Ground, powers of Stability, I (we) invoke the Goddess Concordia, bringer of harmony. We thank you for the freedom to assemble as we choose, in groups large and small, to offer up service to our communities in the patera (sacrificial bowl) you carry, that we may give back to others the freedoms we have received. I (we) invoke your sister Goddess Salas, who brings well being, health, and prosperity to take our offering of service through our assembled fellows and feed our service to your Snake of Wisdom that we may find a way to make all beings free. Great Concordia, Great Salas, help us to assemble and find the wisdom to use our freedom to free all others who labor under oppression!
Hail Sacred Center, powers of Unity that brings all beings together in this single time and single place that is all times and all places, I (we) invoke the Goddess Libertas: servos ad pileum vocare! We ask that you set the cap of Freedom upon our heads that we may show all beings that "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all beings are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
"We the People of the United States of America, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure Domestic Tranquility, provide for the common Defence, promote the General Welfare, and secure the Blessing of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity..." ask the Goddess Libertas to guide us in coming together in Peace and Wisdom to address the ills and oppression that exists in this world. We ask that you lend us your powers to bring Freedom, Justice, and Tranquility to all oppressed beings everywhere they may be.
Oracle of the Goddess Libertas:
I, and my sister Virtues, look forth upon your land and see that the high-minded goals of Freedom stated by your Founding Fathers remain unfulfilled. People still discriminate against one another, fostering hatred because of immaterial differences they imagine are important. But with Freedom comes responsibility to use that Freedom wisely and well, to improve the lot of your fellow men, whether at home or abroad, until all live in safety and security, happiness, wealth, and hope! And do not forget the other beings with whom you share the Land, who often live in horrendous conditions, whether in a factory farm or in the neglect of a home where they are not loved and cared for properly. No matter how bleak the future may seem, you must have faith and hope that the future can be made better, and that every act you do in my name furthers the goal of Freedom for all.
As you look upon my statue, which stands in the harbor at Ellis Island, remember the poem of Emma Lazarus, "The New Colossus," dedicated to my honor:
<End Oracle of Libertas>Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,With conquering limbs astride from land to land;Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall standA mighty woman with a torch, whose flameIs the imprisoned lightning, and her nameMother of Exiles. From her beacon-handGlows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes commandThe air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame."Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries sheWith silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Let us send forth rays of Peace, Freedom, Justice, and Tranquility, Safety, Wealth, and Well Being to all those beings who linger under oppressive regimes around the world, who suffer unjust confinement, or who need help removing the veils of slavery and discrimination that prevent them from being the free beings they were born to be. <Silvery and Gold lights may be seen streaming forth to all directions.>
Now, let us each, in turn, come forward to accept the blessings of Freedom. <As each individual comes before the Priest/Priestess leading the group, he/she lays a wand upon the individual's head.>
With this vindicta, I consecrate your life to Liberty and Freedom. Vindicavit in libertatum! <The officiant turns the individual around, showing them to all assembled.> Hunc hominem liberum voles! Go forth a free man/woman/child/being, and work to bring Peace and Liberty to all.
<Consecrated and freed individual walks around the circle clockwise, and exits a free being to wait for the others to finish the celebration.>
I (we) give thanks to the powers of Air in the East, and to the Goddess Fides for our Freedom of Speech. Go forth with my (our) blessings!
I (we) give thanks to the powers of Fire in the South, and to the Goddess Pax for our Freedom of to Bear Arms in self-defense and to choose to lay them down to promote Peace. Go forth with my (our) blessings!
I (we) give thanks to the powers of Water in the West, and to the Goddess Spes for our Freedom from slavery and oppression. Go forth with my (our) blessings!
I (we) give thanks to the powers of Earth in the North, and to the Goddess Securitas for the Freedom of our homes, persons, and possessions. Go forth with my (our) blessings!
I (we) give thanks to the powers of Light Above us, and to the Goddess Felicitas for our Freedom to Worship as we believe in our hearts under your skies. Go forth with my (our) blessings!
I (we) give thanks to the powers of Stability Below us, and to the Goddesses Concordia and Salas for our Freedom to Assemble in health and happiness on your Earth. Go forth with my (our) blessings!
I (we) give thanks to the powers of the Sacred Center of all that is, or was, or ever will be, and to the Goddess Libertas for the ability to live as Free beings, without oppression, slavery, or unjust imprisonment. May I (we) spread forth your message of Liberty to all beings who remain in the Darkness of oppression and slavery, and work towards freeing them to walk in your care. Go forth with my (our) blessings!
References
National Archives, http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html
Wikipedia, articles on the Roman Virtues, http://www.wikipedia.org/
Statue of Liberty State Park, Emma Lazarus' "The New Colossus," http://www.libertystatepark.com/emma.htm
Statue of Liberty Wallpapers, http://www.webwallpapers.net/07/9-statue-of-liberty-wallpapers/
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