Funny how people noticed right when Mercury stationed retrograde today. I mean even the people who are otherwise energetic nulls were all alight. I think I explained retrograde about 20 times today. My Mom was on the road today and said that at 4:30 pm the traffic ground to a halt. Hahaha. I really don't have much for today beside the advice to "grab your orange umbrella." I got out the orange candle, the Mercury oil, the incense and my heartfelt gratitude for this time of reflection.
I'm pondering posting my tarot explorations here. It might motivate me to be more consistent in my practice.
More tomorrow!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Good riddance to bad rubbish
That's my theme for this Mercury Retrograde. I don't know what His agenda is, but now you know mine.
Time to release that which does not serve.
It's time to cut people loose who do nothing but bring me down and cause drama. Unfortunately, there are drama creators and instigators I can't get rid of so easily, so I am being the adult, despite so0o0o0o not wanting to be the adult. The only satisfaction from doing the right thing is knowing you're there better person. You're even better when you don't need everyone to know the extent of your awesome. The ones who count already know.
It's time to finish up those projects I've been working on. Seriously, I made a short film 10 years ago and still haven't finished the editing.
It's time to review where I've been in regards to my way of thinking. What is my typical thought process? Am I as open-minded as I believe I am? Where do I stand on certain things? What are my common reactions? What is the monkey chatter? Time to start a proper daily meditation ritual.
Here are two articles to help you navigate this retrograde:
Mercury Transiting the Houses
Mars in Aries and what it means for you
“The ancestor of every action is a thought.” -Emerson.
Time to release that which does not serve.
It's time to cut people loose who do nothing but bring me down and cause drama. Unfortunately, there are drama creators and instigators I can't get rid of so easily, so I am being the adult, despite so0o0o0o not wanting to be the adult. The only satisfaction from doing the right thing is knowing you're there better person. You're even better when you don't need everyone to know the extent of your awesome. The ones who count already know.
It's time to finish up those projects I've been working on. Seriously, I made a short film 10 years ago and still haven't finished the editing.
It's time to review where I've been in regards to my way of thinking. What is my typical thought process? Am I as open-minded as I believe I am? Where do I stand on certain things? What are my common reactions? What is the monkey chatter? Time to start a proper daily meditation ritual.
Here are two articles to help you navigate this retrograde:
Mercury Transiting the Houses
Mars in Aries and what it means for you
“The ancestor of every action is a thought.” -Emerson.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Riders on the Storm
We're in the midst of a Mercury storm right now. Mercury is in Aries. Mars is about to enter Aries. Feeling a bit aggressive? Yeah, me too. I'm ready to burn bridges (not the literal ones, the relationship ones). I'm ready to make rash decisions and be aggressive, B-E aggressive. I'm trying to work on the bigger picture. So tonight I'm going to talk a little bit about Minerva (Athena) and Mars (Aries). He is about the NOW, the instant gratification. She is about strategy and the long term goals. Ain't that just like men and women? Heh.
In addition to their governance over fighting/war/destruction, they also share dominion over crafting and creation (see previous post on Mars being a pre-Roman, possibly Sabine fertility Deity). Are they a divine pair? Looking at the more popular lore (Mars paired with Venus and Minerva eschewing men), you might not see it. I was about to say you might not see the forest for the trees. That's exactly what I'm talking about here: Minerva sees the forest. Mars sees the trees. Together they are one in truth, as some Wiccans might say lol But seriously, if Mars is the fertility of the land, Minerva is how to best use the land to provide.
I might add more tonight, I might just take my thoughts and go all introspecty until tomorrow.
In addition to their governance over fighting/war/destruction, they also share dominion over crafting and creation (see previous post on Mars being a pre-Roman, possibly Sabine fertility Deity). Are they a divine pair? Looking at the more popular lore (Mars paired with Venus and Minerva eschewing men), you might not see it. I was about to say you might not see the forest for the trees. That's exactly what I'm talking about here: Minerva sees the forest. Mars sees the trees. Together they are one in truth, as some Wiccans might say lol But seriously, if Mars is the fertility of the land, Minerva is how to best use the land to provide.
I might add more tonight, I might just take my thoughts and go all introspecty until tomorrow.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Cheating
I hate cheat-sheets in ritual. I really do. People get so worried about the words and "getting it right" that you lose any power and the whole endeavor is worthless. I don't think quarter calls should be written and read off an index card. You should know the qualities of that quarter well enough that you can bring up that energy and the words are almost secondary. Actually, words are secondary. You could do a silent circle and still rock out an amazing amount of power if you focused correctly. Words are merely tools. What happens when you have to do something secret in public? Oops. I don't fault those who fall into the trap of feeling like every word chosen must be uttered perfectly. I fault their teachers for making it so important when it's so not.
Someone at the ritual today (not my ritual, not my tradition, did it for community and my good friend) complained that they don't have a certain tool so they can't do something magically that they wanted to. Poppycock. Tools are nice, but not necessary. It's great to have that well-worn wand, and tools can store up energy to help you later, like a magical shortcut, but nothing is "necessary."
I'm going to do a ritual with no tools at all. No candles, no incense, no script, just us. Too bad the people who need it most would be too scared to do it.
I wish everyone, especially those who don't have a specific part in the ritual script, would stop reading along with the ritual like its the Sunday missal. The difference in what we do, or at least what should be a difference, is that we actually participate intimately with the ceremony, we don't just receive passively. We create the ritual together with our energy, we make it happen. No one should be standing around mumbling chants for fear they're not on pitch. We should give ourselves over to The Work with the goal of ecstasy and gnosis and union with the divine in mind.
Have I used cheat sheets before? Sure, when someone has asked me to recite the words they have chosen to have read aloud. If I get it early enough I'll memorize it, but usually it's show up n do it. Is there as much oomph? Of course not, I'm using someone else's words. I never carry the printed out ritual into circle otherwise.
My perfect devotional/celebratory ritual: Everyone fully present, no BS personal agendas, literally giving devotion, giving their energy, building it, making the sum greater than its parts. Otherwise, what's the point?
Someone at the ritual today (not my ritual, not my tradition, did it for community and my good friend) complained that they don't have a certain tool so they can't do something magically that they wanted to. Poppycock. Tools are nice, but not necessary. It's great to have that well-worn wand, and tools can store up energy to help you later, like a magical shortcut, but nothing is "necessary."
I'm going to do a ritual with no tools at all. No candles, no incense, no script, just us. Too bad the people who need it most would be too scared to do it.
I wish everyone, especially those who don't have a specific part in the ritual script, would stop reading along with the ritual like its the Sunday missal. The difference in what we do, or at least what should be a difference, is that we actually participate intimately with the ceremony, we don't just receive passively. We create the ritual together with our energy, we make it happen. No one should be standing around mumbling chants for fear they're not on pitch. We should give ourselves over to The Work with the goal of ecstasy and gnosis and union with the divine in mind.
Have I used cheat sheets before? Sure, when someone has asked me to recite the words they have chosen to have read aloud. If I get it early enough I'll memorize it, but usually it's show up n do it. Is there as much oomph? Of course not, I'm using someone else's words. I never carry the printed out ritual into circle otherwise.
My perfect devotional/celebratory ritual: Everyone fully present, no BS personal agendas, literally giving devotion, giving their energy, building it, making the sum greater than its parts. Otherwise, what's the point?
Playing with the Queen of Hearts...
Knowing it ain't really smart...
True nuff. Don't mess with the Queen of Hearts. Ms. Newton was right on about that. Yesterday's post about angels led to an Angel of the Morning quote which of course was responded to with her only other hit that matters, Queen of Hearts. Tonight is a bit about cartomancy.
Before tarot became a popular new age must-have, playing cards were the thing most often used for cartomancy, particularly in the Italian neighborhoods. The same woman who everyone went to to get rid of "the eyes" was the same one they'd go to to read the cards. The playing cards. The kind you could play poker with. I know many people whose first cartomancy deck was a standard poker deck. I learned this way too, tho it was through many games of solitaire and rummy that the meanings and layouts were imparted. I didn't know I knew until I Knew. It was set up that way. Like a time-release capsule lol
This isn't the most authentic site available, but it gives the basics.
My favorite reading is a 3 card deal with the center card as the meat of the matter and the ones on either side showing the immediate past and future prospects. It's not terribly different from the center of the celtic cross tarot spread.
Some say The Joker represents chaos or the unexpected if he comes up in a reading. Others liken him to The Fool card of the tarot. I take it to mean forces outside of your control, kind of the way the Major Arcana indicates the same. Destiny more than anything else. Tho the unexpected interpretation is certainly valid, depending on where it comes up in the series.
The other "deck" I like to discuss in terms of Italian influence on cartomancy is the Tarrocchi of Mantegna. Here is an excellent article on the origin of the modern tarot being born of the Platonic Mysteries, and not of the kabbalah. I know there are people who will plotz when they read it, but as this article points out, this is some of the earliest depictions, corresponds almost perfectly to the modern tarot (despite the difference in card numbers) and works with Pythagorean principles for readings. The site also has the pictures of the cards and they are well worth viewing.
There are 50 cards, divided into 5 groups of 10:
1 The archetypal social stations
2 The nine Muses and Apollo
3 The Liberal Arts
4 The Cardinal Virtues
5 The Heavenly Spheres
If anyone wants to get me a copy, my half birthday is coming up soon ;)
True nuff. Don't mess with the Queen of Hearts. Ms. Newton was right on about that. Yesterday's post about angels led to an Angel of the Morning quote which of course was responded to with her only other hit that matters, Queen of Hearts. Tonight is a bit about cartomancy.Before tarot became a popular new age must-have, playing cards were the thing most often used for cartomancy, particularly in the Italian neighborhoods. The same woman who everyone went to to get rid of "the eyes" was the same one they'd go to to read the cards. The playing cards. The kind you could play poker with. I know many people whose first cartomancy deck was a standard poker deck. I learned this way too, tho it was through many games of solitaire and rummy that the meanings and layouts were imparted. I didn't know I knew until I Knew. It was set up that way. Like a time-release capsule lol
This isn't the most authentic site available, but it gives the basics.
My favorite reading is a 3 card deal with the center card as the meat of the matter and the ones on either side showing the immediate past and future prospects. It's not terribly different from the center of the celtic cross tarot spread.
Some say The Joker represents chaos or the unexpected if he comes up in a reading. Others liken him to The Fool card of the tarot. I take it to mean forces outside of your control, kind of the way the Major Arcana indicates the same. Destiny more than anything else. Tho the unexpected interpretation is certainly valid, depending on where it comes up in the series.
The other "deck" I like to discuss in terms of Italian influence on cartomancy is the Tarrocchi of Mantegna. Here is an excellent article on the origin of the modern tarot being born of the Platonic Mysteries, and not of the kabbalah. I know there are people who will plotz when they read it, but as this article points out, this is some of the earliest depictions, corresponds almost perfectly to the modern tarot (despite the difference in card numbers) and works with Pythagorean principles for readings. The site also has the pictures of the cards and they are well worth viewing.
There are 50 cards, divided into 5 groups of 10:
1 The archetypal social stations
2 The nine Muses and Apollo
3 The Liberal Arts
4 The Cardinal Virtues
5 The Heavenly Spheres
If anyone wants to get me a copy, my half birthday is coming up soon ;)
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Book Lust!!! Oh, and Angels too.
Yesterday I mentioned on Facebook that it was Gabrielmas. I couldn't expand on it because of my injured finger. So let's talk a bit about Gabriel today and Angels in general. Gabriel is a winged messenger. He is a psychopomp. His chaplet color is blue, as in the throat chakra. Maybe that's why I like him so much; He shares the description with Mercury.
As I like to point out at every turn, there is nothing original in Christianity. This also includes the concept of Angels. The idea of winged human-like beings who are go-betweens for humanity and deity, goes back many thousands of years before the current era. There are statues, reliefs and carvings from ancient Sumeria depicting said winged beings. Here is a link to The Legends of the Garden of Eden and The Angels Alfred Hamori
Those of Royal Blood, the Anunnaki, are Sumeriean deities who seem to fit the category as well. The wiki entry I linked is paltry, but it's fine for a quick overview and has links to the Sumerian creaton story, Enuma Elish.
There is no quality work of the Annunaki on the internet, or at least I haven't found it yet. Honestly, much of what I've found is in the vein of "ancient aliens?" and "illuminati/zionist" stuff. Argh. Anyone have something not related to conspiracy theories? Some liken them to the Grigori, the Watchers or Guardians. I have seen them called the Serpent Race.
What is accessible is the Book of Enoch, a Jewish text which is at least a few hundred years older than the current era, placed somewhere are 300 BCE as is the Book of Giants found as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls. To summarize: There are heavenly beings, they teach all manner of magic and craft to humans, mate with the women and defile animals and generally piss of the creator who smotes em good with the now famous flood. I don't want to get into a whole big thing about Enochian Magic and John Dee, so I'll leave you to that and google if that's where your interest are. (Any OTO folks out there wish to comment on Crowley's use and propogation of this system?)
So why the fuck do some Pagans, when casting a circle, call watchTOWERS. That's like me yelling at the lighthouse when I need to sail my ship. Seriously, why aren't you calling the WATCHER? I'd call the person manning the lighthouse, not the building itself. Pardon, Pagan Pet Peeve there.
In some magical systems, archangels are invoked at the quarters. Gabriel is invoked in the West. Fitting for a psychopomp messenger, I think.
Then there's the bedtime and wake up Prayer, the Kriat Shma: To my right Michael and to my left Gabriel, in front of me Uriel and behind me Raphael, and over my head God's Shekhinah ["the presence of God"]." I find it funny that it's used in the lesser banishing ritual of the pentagram. It just tickles me that way. I've always heard that recited like a nursery rhyme, so to have it be a big ritual strikes me as odd. Anyway.
The book lust... There's a book which just came out called Ancient Angels: Conceptualizing Angeloi in the Roman Empire. WANT!!!!!!! The tiny description: "This text brings together the evidence for popular beliefs about angels in Roman religion, demonstrating the widespread nature of speculation about, and veneration of, angels in the Roman Empire. " Hubby works at a university which has a big library and an ancient studies school. I get to read some kick ass books that would otherwise cost a ton to buy. But this one isn't available yet. Ah well. It's not like I don't have 10 other books on my reading list and 3 I'm currently into.
That's it for tonight. Please feel free to share your Angel stories and theories, but please, no fluffy bunny chatter on my blog. I'm trying to keep it clean. Fluffy bunnies lead to dust bunnies! lol
As I like to point out at every turn, there is nothing original in Christianity. This also includes the concept of Angels. The idea of winged human-like beings who are go-betweens for humanity and deity, goes back many thousands of years before the current era. There are statues, reliefs and carvings from ancient Sumeria depicting said winged beings. Here is a link to The Legends of the Garden of Eden and The Angels Alfred Hamori
Those of Royal Blood, the Anunnaki, are Sumeriean deities who seem to fit the category as well. The wiki entry I linked is paltry, but it's fine for a quick overview and has links to the Sumerian creaton story, Enuma Elish.
There is no quality work of the Annunaki on the internet, or at least I haven't found it yet. Honestly, much of what I've found is in the vein of "ancient aliens?" and "illuminati/zionist" stuff. Argh. Anyone have something not related to conspiracy theories? Some liken them to the Grigori, the Watchers or Guardians. I have seen them called the Serpent Race.
What is accessible is the Book of Enoch, a Jewish text which is at least a few hundred years older than the current era, placed somewhere are 300 BCE as is the Book of Giants found as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls. To summarize: There are heavenly beings, they teach all manner of magic and craft to humans, mate with the women and defile animals and generally piss of the creator who smotes em good with the now famous flood. I don't want to get into a whole big thing about Enochian Magic and John Dee, so I'll leave you to that and google if that's where your interest are. (Any OTO folks out there wish to comment on Crowley's use and propogation of this system?)
So why the fuck do some Pagans, when casting a circle, call watchTOWERS. That's like me yelling at the lighthouse when I need to sail my ship. Seriously, why aren't you calling the WATCHER? I'd call the person manning the lighthouse, not the building itself. Pardon, Pagan Pet Peeve there.
In some magical systems, archangels are invoked at the quarters. Gabriel is invoked in the West. Fitting for a psychopomp messenger, I think.
Then there's the bedtime and wake up Prayer, the Kriat Shma: To my right Michael and to my left Gabriel, in front of me Uriel and behind me Raphael, and over my head God's Shekhinah ["the presence of God"]." I find it funny that it's used in the lesser banishing ritual of the pentagram. It just tickles me that way. I've always heard that recited like a nursery rhyme, so to have it be a big ritual strikes me as odd. Anyway.
The book lust... There's a book which just came out called Ancient Angels: Conceptualizing Angeloi in the Roman Empire. WANT!!!!!!! The tiny description: "This text brings together the evidence for popular beliefs about angels in Roman religion, demonstrating the widespread nature of speculation about, and veneration of, angels in the Roman Empire. " Hubby works at a university which has a big library and an ancient studies school. I get to read some kick ass books that would otherwise cost a ton to buy. But this one isn't available yet. Ah well. It's not like I don't have 10 other books on my reading list and 3 I'm currently into.
That's it for tonight. Please feel free to share your Angel stories and theories, but please, no fluffy bunny chatter on my blog. I'm trying to keep it clean. Fluffy bunnies lead to dust bunnies! lol
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Linkfest
I burned my finger earlier so typing kinda sucks right now. I'm going to post a few links of interest:
Not the best written, but it introduces the topic of the Bee Goddess in Crete
Say what you want about Berlusconi's politics, this is the one thing he did that I agree with LOL
A fun page about the caduceus and the staff of Asklepios.
Start reading The Aeneid with me!
More posts to add to the list:
Sacred Prostitutes and the origin of "porn."
Cult of Divine Birth in Ancient Greece. Were the Olympics originally a sacred virgin footrace to restore virginity and see who was the most worthy of immaculate conception?
Not the best written, but it introduces the topic of the Bee Goddess in Crete
Say what you want about Berlusconi's politics, this is the one thing he did that I agree with LOL
A fun page about the caduceus and the staff of Asklepios.
Start reading The Aeneid with me!
More posts to add to the list:
Sacred Prostitutes and the origin of "porn."
Cult of Divine Birth in Ancient Greece. Were the Olympics originally a sacred virgin footrace to restore virginity and see who was the most worthy of immaculate conception?
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