Twelfth Night, or What you Will

Yes! More Shakespeare! This one involves more of the cross dressing, gender swapping, servant mischief, weddings, parties, and fun that we've come to expect from Edward DeVere's comedies. The story was based in part on an Italian tale, Ingannati (The Deceived/The Deception). The Italian play was hosted on the last day of Carnival in February, 1532. And here's where we get back into our year long theme of how calendars are much more fluid than we like to believe, or at least were more fluid than they are today! Speaking of fluid, this blog entry is not; It looks like I'll be jumping back and forth. I hope you can keep up with my bizarre train of thought because we'll be switching tracks often!

The debate about the birthday of baby Jesus includes January 6th as a potential date, 12 nights after the old solstice night of December 25th. The "epiphany" is said to refer to the birth of Jesus.

I've posted before about the feast of Lucia on December 13th being the 12 days before old solstice. December 25th was the old solstice date. Thanks to earth's strange tilt and wobble action on its axis, past and present astronomical timing varies. Thanks to the many varied changes in the calendar system, things are much further off than in ancient days! AKA: Ow, headache looking at the old and new calendars and the changes they went through!

Januarius was not always the first month of the year. Earlier it had begun, perhaps more sensibly, in March (Martius) with the onset of Spring. Januarius and Februarius were added by Numa Pompilius, one of Rome's kings in the pre-Republic days. He also moved the beginning of the year to Januarius and set the number of days equal to 29 because Romans considered odd numbers lucky. Notice that all of the festivals are held on odd-numbered days. Centuries later Julius Caesar set the length to 31, as well as adding days elsewhere to fix the problem of the months no longer corresponding to the seasons, a result of the fact that the Roman year was shorter than the actual solar year. 

So we have: A festival of the divine midwife 12 days before old solstice, the current celebration of the old solstice as birthday and a celebration 12 days after the old solstice. One month after that, we have the Parentalia Novindialia, a nine day festival honoring ancestors and Lares. The Celts had the Imbolc festival where we once again find a maiden wearing a crown of candles. The church then baptized the festival and called it candlemas. There's also a whole host of other Italian festivals throughout the remainder of January, including the Compitalia which moved every year, between December and January and was thought to be part of the continuation of the Saturnalia feast. And don't forget La Befana! The elder woman who brings gifts at the hearth for the children! I still believe her to be an aspect of Vesta or the Elder midwife, whereas Lucina is the younger aspect, She is the elder, sort of a reversal from Saturn's Old Man Winter and transformation into Baby New Year. I've never liked the story about "the wise men" asking La Befa for directions. Why? Men never ask for directions! ;) La Befana might well be derrived from L'epifania, the epiphany. Is She the personification of Light born into the world? Another case of the Man bringing down and covering up the Matriarchy? Turning Her into a crone who is forever chasing after the men? Yes! I knew I could work a conspiracy theory into this!

Just some fun confusion when trying to untangle the thread of past practices and their influence on what we do today. I find it interesting that Twelfth Night was first performed on what is considered the end of the carnival season which started on Hallow's Eve and ends with Candlemas. There was a superstition that your decorations had to be taken down by February 2nd. That has been changed to taken down on January 6th. I personally play it close to the later and take it down before the Festival of Janus on January 9th. Can't exactly make with the new year when you have decorations up for the old year.

Speaking of New Year... January was NOT the start of the year, it used to be March! We started, back in the day, with Spring and Mars, the Ram, as the dawn of the new year. However, the Roman calendar was shorter than the actual path of the earth around the sun, and so January and February were added to the calendar and January made the start of the year with honors due him, then to Februus, the month of cleansing, and then we came to March and the proper start of the year, or at least the start of the military campaign season. There's another example of the old calendar no longer matching up thanks to the tilt-a-whirl of a planet we're on: The Precession of the equinoxes! The Ram hasn't been on the horizon in 2,000 years. It's been the fish!

Let's add the next layer! Carnival! ok, wait lets not and say we didn't. Between all of this calendrical fun and my continued reading of Macrobius, I'm getting a thick headache. I have, however, been given a ritual for the new year. I've been contemplating which date to do it: Should it be on the first? On the 9th, which is the festival of Janus and the Full Moon? Both? ;)

The ritual involves the icon of Janus as the joining of Diana and Apollo. An ancient scholar, Nigidius, was a senator who was also "a Pythagorean and a Mage," is quoted by Macrobius as assuring us that Diana = Jana and Janus = Apollo, or Dianus with Apollo being an imported name and Dianus being a local name. This was the topic of one of my early posts, I just didn't have Macrobius and Nigidius on hand to back me up ;)

To review: Janus and Jana were most often spelled as Iana and Ianus. The names Jupiter and Juno were the same as well: Iuno and Iupiter. (Was it just easier to chisel an I than a J or was the J not in the Italic alphabet?)

The word "of" is rendered many different ways in Italian, including d'

Why is that interesting? Because now we have D'Iana and D'Ianus, or, Diana and Dianus.

This means that the symbolism of Janus is the creation of the universe. Diana divided Herself and created her brother. The Deus Biceps represents that moment of creation. That is why Janus is honored at all beginnings. Last night I said that Janus is potential energy itself. I will refine that: The symbolism represents Beginnings, both primal and mundane- the move from chaos to order, the original begetting of creation. For the kabalists out there, I'd say it represents the moment when Keter splits into Binah and Chokmah. Keter also has the title: The Primordial point. So am I rockin with the spheres now? Must ask the Evil Twin- it might be time to finish our Muppet Tree of Life! Ha!

Sincere apologies for switching tracks tonight. Looks like last night's post on Janus wasn't complete. I'm still not done with Macrobius, you'll be seeing more from there. Let's close with some famous words from Twelfth Night:

But be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.

Let's make it a Great year!

Startled

I was surprised last night when talking to my Evil Twin: She and I were having a pretty deep discussion about Hermes, Apollo, Dionyos, The Mysteries, etc. I went on the blog here to look up something I had posted about the topic and when I found the post I had in mind, I was shocked! The post I had written barely had mention of the topic. It wasn't exactly a quickie, but it wasn't in depth at all! At least nothing like what I remember it to be.

I started going over random past posts and many of them are nothing like what I remember posting, not even the in-depth ones. Funny tho, I retain the memory of what I was studying at the time. I suppose that's why it feels like my posts have had more substance. It's made me realize how closed I have remained, even in this exercise of putting my voice out there. Looks like I have something to add to next year's resolution!

All of this brings us to this evening's actual topic! Tonight I participated in a yule ritual and was asked to call North as Earth. When I volunteer for parts, It's usually for South- South seems to be the meeting point for me and for others- Fire, Archangel Michael, etc. It's my comfort zone. I was asked to step out of it tonight and since others roll with my out of the way methods and notions it's only right that I do the same!

I figured since my quarters are well ingrained that I really need to focus and bring it if I'm going to do it right and I really wanted to do it well for my friend who was leading the ritual. Despite the close quarters and despite the relatively informal tone of the evening, I brought it. I felt it and I know the others did too. It was lovely to feel the magic from everyone in the room, Despite it not being a "serious" pomp and circumstance ritual, it was indeed magical. If everyone focuses and drops the ego about how they sound or what they look like, or if they did it right, every ritual would be automatically elevated. As in theatre: There are no small parts, only small players! Don't be small!

I'm going back to reviewing posts from the past year and will put up a top 10 list! Let me know if you have any nominations!

Finding Ada Lovelace

Thanks to my Evil Twin for inspiring tonight's blog post! Today is Ada Lovelace day.

Ada Lovelace was the only "legitimate" child of Lord Byron (Have I mentioned I adore him? I can still recite several of his works by heart). She was also the first computer programmer. From the Finding Ada site:

Ada Lovelace is widely held to have been the first computer programmer. Close friends with inventor Charle Babbage, Lovelace was intrigued by his Analytical Engine and in 1842, she translated a description of it by italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea. Babbage asked her to expand the article, "as she understood [it] so well", and this was when she wrote several early 'computer programs'. 

Quoth the holy wiki:

In 1953, over one hundred years after her death, Lady Lovelace's notes on Babbage's Analytical Engine were republished. The engine has now been recognized as an early model for a computer and Lady Lovelace's notes as a description of a computer and software.

Science and tech fields have often been seen as the province of men. Ada Lovelace day was created to recognize the contribution of Women to these fields. My nominee for the year is...

Kara Cooney. Yeah, she's famous, but so what? I don't think it's against the rules to laud someone who is famous. She is an Egyptologist, a professor, a PhD, and has done some wonderful, well balanced work on ancient religions in her Out of Egypt series. She speaks of The Gods (of all religions) and their adherents as current practices, not past practices. I find that incredibly refreshing. Also, She's half Italian- Her Mother's family is from Abruzzi and Naples ;)

Experiencing Technical Difficulties

Oh fer fux sake!

I nearly said that tonight when my fire wouldn't light. Everything was set: Pillars with candles at the quarters, the logs and twigs placed just so in the fire pit, the ritual items, libations and incense all ready....

Lit the candles... check.
Invoked the circle and the guardians... check.
Lit the fire.... not so much.

What happens when you run into technical difficulties? Lighter not working? Forgot something? Candle keeps going out? Incense burns too fast? Smoke is blowing in your face? Offerings fall on the floor? Wine went bad? Someone screws up their part?All of these have happened to me at one point or another. I think that's why it's important to have a sense of humor.

We worked on that fire... I promised I would let the fire burn out by itself (in the past I've helped speed it along. heh.). I used paper for kindling, we chanted, we asked the elementals to help... We tried everything from lighters to matches to placing frankencense strategically to help it catch (sine its a resin it flames up and takes a while to burn). Then after we'd had enough of asking for help, I left the Grove and got a sterno can. I dumped the fuel onto the logs and lit it up. DONE! RAWR! lol It worked for a while- long enough for us to take care of business, then the flames went out and the two remaining logs just glowed and smoldered.

What do you do when things go wrong? Improvise! That's part of the class Evil Twin and I are offering: Improvisation. You need to practice being sharp minded and quick on your feet, before you have to be sharp-minded and quick on your feet.

So back to what to do when things go awry: You do something else, you use a different ingredient, you correct your words, you go back and fix it, you call upon your energy and your allies to correct what needs correction on that plane, or you get practical -if you can- and step out of ritual and get it.

The trick is to do it with minimal drama and attention! I don't mean you have to keep on a poker face, but don't huff and puff and fuss and whine. Take it with the proverbial grain of salt. In addition, keeping a sense of humor, and your wits about you helps. Calling yourself names does not (I've seen this happen on many occasions "Oh I'm an idiot!" has been uttered by more than one person leading a ritual). Sometimes it means you need to do something else. Sometimes it's a message. Sometimes it's a Trickster. Other times? Shit happens. You just have to listen to your intuition and roll with it.

Acting! Genius! Thank You!

My Evil Twin and I are working on a class that takes acting exercises such as pantomime, improvisation, and proper breathing and posture techniques and brings them into the realm of magic. I suppose one might wonder what acting techniques have to do with commanding and conjuring the forces or the universe.

Breath is life, it's energy. We should practice taking in the maximum amount possible. Adjusting our posture is a step. Another is stretching the muscles. There are so many muscles involved with breathing, not just the diaphragm, but also the intercostals (between the ribs), the neck muscles, your lats, and your back muscles as well. She has the singing techniques, I have the myology so we're combining forces.

The scary, yet wonderful thing about actors (the good ones) is their ability to become someone else entirely, to channel people both real or imagined. This is where you begin to see the connection between the magic and the technique: To be able to put aside your ego and let something else in, even if just on the surface with actions and dialect is the first step to channeling.

Pantomime is a much maligned art. Its value is apparent when you start to work with energy constructs, or do energy work in general: Feeling that ball of light is one thing, but to keep track of it is another. This art sharpens your awareness of your actions and the things that are part of your peripheral attention but not your main focus, like something simmering on the stove while you set the table. Your awareness is there, in part, even if the pot is not your immediate focus.

These exercises also sharpen your sense of touch: When you work to remember how something feels and examine your reaction, physically or otherwise, you might find it easier to dream consciously. I sure do.

When you energetically construct a temple or a sigil or a protective structure, or send healing, or even cast a circle, part of your awareness remains with the consctruct to power it. It could be just a fraction, but it's there, like that simmering pot. Once you lose track of it, it collapses.

No, this isn't something that has been passed down from back in the day, but these techniques help to build on what I have learned. For many, they're a comfortable, low-pressure way to practice what can be intimidating techniques. Instead of "aspecting deity" it can be much easier for someone to tune into the neutral channel. Instead of building a temple, they can pantomime the box getting smaller.

Hell, maybe they were passed down from some commedia dell'arte troupe! ha! jk. Sacred theater is an entirely different post.