The Hippopotamus in The Tarot
Corinne Heline:
“The fifteenth Arcanum places before the aspirant the reminder that “the higher we climb, the harder we fall.” It pictures the spirit of evil which has been known by many names throughout world literature. Here he is represented with the body of a hippopotamus, head of a crocodile, great bat wings, and the feet of a goat. A serpent is seen emerging from the lower part of the body, indicative of the fact that all of his works are dedicated to evil. In one hand he holds aloft the scepter of destruction, in the other the scepter of division, confusion and hatred. Bound by chains to his feet are two human figures with goats’ heads, suggesting the depravity into which man may descend when he allies himself consciously with the forces of destruction.”
Corinne Heline, The Bible and the Tarot, pp.82-83. See more on CORINNE HELINE.
Francesco Raffaele:
“Hippopotamus was still widely diffused in the Egyptian Nile Valley and Delta during the (late) predynastic period. Massive body and violent temper are the main aspects of this animal’s ambivalent symbolism: its size, aquatic habitat and protective behaviour with puppies originate the association of (female) hippos with motherhood, childbirth and prosperity (the scope of votive figurines) and, by extension, a more general apotropaic and prophylactic function (which accounts for the hippopotamus shaped vessels and palettes, apt to serve as containers or supports for the use of important cosmetic and medical substances). The dangerous nature, a tangible threat for humans and their cultivations, and the irritable disposition of male hippos, have generated the other aspect of its religious connotation, the wicked one, exemplified by the identification of hippopotami with the elements of chaos, evil, with the enemies of the king and, later on, with the god Seth. These latter beliefs had their highest expression in the hippopotamus ritual hunt, an apotropaic practice (and a concrete security measure) already performed by early Naqada period chiefs.”
Francesco Raffaele, Animal Rows and Ceremonial Processions in Late Predynastic Egypt. 2010 [Online] [Egypt]
Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer & Shamanism
Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer & Shamanism
Samten de Wet
Turin, 27th September 2012
Today there is a vogue for what is called ‘Shamanism’ in the West, in Europe, & elsewhere unconnected to the cultural roots from which this tradition originated. Obviously, a need is being expressed to return to some form of imagined authenticity. I would like to add a short observation. We would not imagine that our Christmas fables of Father Christmas and his Sleight would have anything to do with Shamanism, and especially Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer. But in the Pazrik burials of the Alai Mountains, an area rich in Siberian Shamanism, the following was discovered:
´On the head of one of the horses was a mask made of leather, felt, fur and gold leaf in the shape of a reindeer’s head with horns of natural size.” [1]
Now my theory is that during the Ice Age, or at least throughout the vast snow and ice-bound vastness of the Siberian steppes, the horse would not be a functional more of transport, whereas the Reindeer would. So this Christmas myth contains memories of an earlier time. Anyhow it is just a theory. W. W. Malandra writes:
“The idea of reindeer that can fly through the air is indeed fantastic. We have already had occasion to see instances of such flights, particularly in the myths and tales. Without a doubt, the basic explanation of these events has been given by Eliade; the ability to fly above the earth expresses what was possible only in those wonderful times spoken of in the myths and tales. Now there are only a few people who still maintain a direct communication with all levels of the cosmos, and these people, the shamans, in a sense act out for all of mankind what was once open to everyone.” [2]
Sadly, much of the neo-Shamanistic vogue is totally devoid of any dedicated study and research. For example, how many Ne-Shamans have heard of the work of Prof. Manabu Waida?
Manabu Waida, Ph. D., trained in the History of Religions at the University of Chicago; Professor at the University of Alberta, Canada. Current research centres around myths, rituals, and shamanistic phenomena in Ryukyu Islands, Japan. – His publications include: Myths of the Origin of Death: the Central Asian Type? (Témenos 1982); Central Asian Mythology of the Origin of Death: A Comparative Analysis of Its Structure and History (Anthropos 1982); and Problems of Central Asian and Siberian Shamanism (Numen 1983); many articles on myths and symbols in the "Encyclopedia of Religion," ed. by Mircea Eliade (New York 1987).
HERE IS A LIST OF SOME OF HIS ARTICLES:
Manabu Waida, Birds in the Mythology of Sacred Kingship, East and West, Vol. 28, No. 1/4 (December 1978), pp. 283-289
Manabu Waida, Central Asian Mythology of the Origin of Death: A Comparative Analysis of Its Structure and History, Anthropos, Bd. 77, H. 5./6. (1982), pp. 663-702
Manabu Waida, Problems of Central Asian and Siberian Shamanism, Numen, Vol. 30, Fasc. 2 (Dec., 1983), pp. 215-239
Manabu Waida, Symbolisms of the Moon and the Waters of Immortality, History of Religions, Vol. 16, No. 4, The Mythic Imagination (May, 1977), pp. 407-423
Manabu Waida, Symbolism of "Descent" in Tibetan Sacred Kingship and Some East Asian Parallels, Numen, Vol. 20, Fasc. 1 (Apr., 1973), pp. 60-78
Manabu Waida, The Flower Contest between Two Divine Rivals. A Study in Central and East Asian Mythology, Anthropos, Bd. 86, H. 1./3. (1991), pp. 87-109
Manabu Waida, The Patterns of Initiation in Japanese Shamanism, Anthropos, Bd. 89, H. 4./6. (1994), pp. 461-469
See also:
Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer, Flights of the Sacred: Symbolism and Theory in Siberian Shamanism, American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 98, No. 2 (Jun., 1996), pp. 305-318
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ACCESS THIS MATERIAL, CONTACT ME AND I WILL ASSIST.
NOTES:
[1] M. P. Griaznov, & Eugene A. Golomshtok,The Pazrik Burial of Altai, American Journal of Archaeology, 1933, pp. 31 ff.
[2] W. W. Malandra, The Concept of Movement in History of Religions: A Religio-Historical Study of Reindeer in the Spiritual Life of North Eurasian Peoples, Numen, Vol. 14, Fasc. 1 (Mar., 1967), p. 62.
IMAGE BY RED DEVIL at DEVIAN ART.
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Samten, Turin, Italy: FACEBOOK
A List of Resources
LUXLAPIS NEWSLETTER 8th September 2012. Levanto Italy.
This Short Newsletter, consists of a Bibliography of hyperlinked material, that when explored at leisure will reveal a narrative. A clue, to the inner structure of the discourse, is:
Booth, Charlotte, A study of the similarities between Hinduism and Ancient Egyptian Religion.
Cochrane, Ev Indra: A Case Study in Comparative Mythology
Eck, Diana L., Ganga. The Goddess Ganges in Hindu Sacred Geography
Immersion of the Goddess Durga in the river Ganges by Sarajit Sil
Garrett, Frances, Religion, Medicine and the Human Embryo in Tibet, Routledge, 2008
Gruia, Ana Maria, Fools, Devils, and Alchemy. Secular Images in the Monastery, Studia Patzinaka, 6, 2008, pp. 129-145
Kak, Subhash C., Indic Ideas in the Graeco-Roman World
Kak, Subhash C., Knowledge of Planets in the Third Millennium BC
McClain, Ernest, Myths of Invariance
Meyerowitz, Eva, The akan of Ghana, Their Ancient Beliefs
Nanda, Serena, Hijras, Encyclopedia of Hinduism,Volume 3, Society, Theology, Philosophy
See also: HIJRA
Brooke Somers, The Hijras of India, April 2008
Obrist, Barbara, Visualization in Medieval Alchemy, HYLE 9-2 (2003)
O’Flaherty, Wendy Doniger, Asceticism and Sexuality in the Mythology of iva. Part I
O’Flaherty, Wendy Doniger, Asceticism and Sexuality in the Mythology of iva. Part II, History of Religions, Vol. 9, No. 1 (Aug., 1969), pp. 1-41
Pellar, Brian R. The Foundation of Myth: A Unified Theory on the Link Between Seasonal/Celestial Cycles, the Precession, Theology, and the Alphabet/Zodiac
Schama, Simon, The Verdant Cross. . .
Shepherd, Kevin R. D., The Egyptian Sufi Dhu’l Nun al-Misri
Sivkov, Nikolay, Time and Cosmos: A Zoomorphic Cosmological Monument of the Late Antiquity
Starr, Peter, Towards a Context for Ibn Umayl, Known to Chaucer as the Alchemist Senior
Strudwick, Laura, Infinite Space and Self-Similar Form in Alchemy and Fractal Geometry
Szeghyova, Blanka, Editor, The Role of Magic in the Past. Learned and Popular Magic, Popular Beliefs and Diversity of Attitudes, Bratislav, 2005.
Tuzet, Helen L., Cosmic Images, Dictionary of the History of Ideas.
Twinch, Cecilia, Created for Compassion. Ibn ‘Arab’s work on Dh-l-Nn the Egyptian
Vllnagel, Jrg, Harley MS. 3469: Splendor Solis or Splendour of the Sun A German Alchemical Manuscript
Wasson,G. The Last Meal of the Buddha
Yours Sincerely
Samten de Wet
Turin, Italy
Cell: 342 7000 629
Animal Worship
“The number of animals which have been worshipped as divinities, or as soul-animals, is formidable”. “The alligator, ant-eater, ape, armadillo, ass, baboon, bat, bear, beaver, bison, boar, buffalo, bull, came], cat, catfish, cheetah, cow, coyote, crab, crocodile, cuttlefish, deer, dog, dogfish, dolphin, eel, elephant, elk, ewe, fish, flying-fox, fowl, fox, frog, gazelle, giraffe, goat, gorilla, guanaco, halibut, hare, hedgehog, hippopotamus, horse, hyaena, ichneumon, jackal, jaguar, kangaroo, leopard, lion, lioness, lizard, llama, lobster, lynx, marten, mongoose, monkey, mouse, octopus, opossum, otter, peccary, pig, porcupine, prawn, puma, python, rabbit, ram, reindeer, rhinoceros, various rodents, salmon, sardine, seal, sea-lion, sea-otter, sea-tortoise, serval, shark, shrew-mouse, skate, sloth, snake, squirrel, sword-fish, tapir, tiger, toad, tortoise, trout, turtle, wallaby, weasel, whale, wild-cat, wolf. The principal insects are: the ant, bee, beetle, butterfly, caterpillar, centipede, cicada, cricket, dragon-fly, earth-worm, firefly, fly, grasshopper, locust, mantis, moth, scorpion, spider, wasp, weevil, wood-worm.”
From: Florance Waterbury, Bird-Deities in China, Artibus Asiae. Supplementum, Vol. 10, Bird-Deities in China (1952), pp. 1-191. The Image is by the later Italian Artist, Emilio Scanavino. [See Wikipedia entry]
Divination and the Divine
divine – adjective (diviner, divinest) – 1 of, from, or like God or a god. devoted to God; sacred. 2 – informal excellent; delightful. noun 1 dated a cleric or theologian. 2 – (the Divine) providence or God. DERIVATIVES: divinely adverb. divineness noun – ORIGIN: Middle English: via Old French from Latin divinus, from divus ‘godlike’ (related to deus ‘god’).
From which I suggest we get: theos – God in Greek . . and thus: Zeus – the God of the Gods.
Thus, divination would indicate a process that brings us into harmony with the Divine. ‘Thy Will Be Done.” This necessitates abandoning all pretensions to a secular or materialistic interpretation of the divination act. Marriage, employment, travel &c. It cannot be called Divination. In this context, the term ‘Fortune Telling’ would be more appropriate.
Now of course, we are faced with the problem of what exactly is God? I think a suitable place to start, and to educate ourselves on the vastness of the subject, is Karen Armstrong’s excellent book ‘A History of God.’
In the Egyptian Tarot of The Brotherhood of Light, which I use, there is a statement of purpose which goes something like this: ‘Contribute Thy Utmost to Universal Welfare.” Now this is not very different to the Buddhist objective of: “May I gain Enlightenment for the Sake of All That Lives,”
Therefore, I would suggest that Divination provides a deeply spiritual link to an inclusive use of the word ‘religion’ itself – a definition not provided by the Dictionaries: re-ligare – to re-connect.
ligament – noun Anatomy a short band of tough, flexible, fibrous connective tissue which connects two bones or cartilages or holds together a joint – a membranous fold that supports an organ and keeps it in position. ORIGIN: Middle English: from Latin ligamentum ‘bond’, from ligare ‘to bind’.
The Fall from Grace, according to certain Gnostic Teachings, can be described as the entombment in the idea of a self, an ego, &c. This is the true interpretation of the Resurrection Card, Arcanum 20. It has nothing to do with the resurrection of a fleshy body from the grave. No sane person can reads this as an actual fact – but what it does indicate, is that we have to liberate our ‘selves’ from the bondage of materialism.
Because of its roots in ancient Egypt – the Tarot provides us with one essential message, presented in infinity of forms – and that is, we must re-connect to the Universal plan.
There are not a wide variety of choices in this matter. We are given a hard core, bimodal, binary situation – which is known in the Tarot as ‘The Two Paths.’ A very beautiful word for this is ‘bivio’ – which translates as Two Roads, or Two Paths. In fact the word ‘tarot’ itself, is often explained [without hieroglyphic evidence to my knowledge] as meaning ‘The Royal Road’ – or to contextualize the system in regard to Divination, ‘The Divine Path.’
The ‘bivio’ itself has to be seen in a very specific mythological sense. It is also called ‘The Choice of Hercules’ – because this Hero, was offered two routes, one a rocky road through life, that includes naturally The Twelve Labours of Hercules, and the other, the proverbial Bed of Roses. Yes, it is certain that the Twelve Labours correspond to the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac – and these understandings would enrichen and amplify our journey through life, when we apply the Divinatory imaginal inspirations of the Tarot, with the concrete factors produced by the Natal Chart.
For example, if you are working in a situation that is unethical, for example, as a Secretary for a dishonest lawyer or businessman, and you have an opportunity to return to the love of your life, which is teaching art to disadvantaged children, I do not think you need a Tarot Divination to tell you what to do. The Hercules Choice is obvious. The same would apply to people working in the arms manufacturing industry.
Leaving aside the depreciations of a monotheistic world view, and taking a pantheistic approach, for the purposes of amplifying our explorations – we could say, within reason, as the evidence is strong, that Divination leads us to manifest the action patterns of the Gods. Note the plural.
This would be in agreement with the Jungian archetypes . . . but a more correct manner of seeing the Divinatory act is a bit more detailed than this. The archetypes existed before Jung, and you do not have to pay the therapeutic price tag to be told this. Your Chart, for example gives an archetypal map which in conjunction with the Divinatory work of the Tarot, can produce very remarkable results. The Silver Key, and the Golden Key – Hemispheres of the Brain and so forth. These have become clichés . . .
It would be better to say, in summing up, that the Tarot as a tool of divination helps to create the links, between the microcosmos that is you, and the macrocosmos which is the Great Ocean of Being in which we are all implicated in the act of existence itself.
Thank You,
Samten de Wet
From this we get cartomancy – there are many ‘mancies’ – oeneromany &c., which indicates pantheistically that we can ‘read’ messages from the Gods.
The definitive article is the problem: the chair, the window, the brick and the soul. SEE: CARTOMANCY
From this we get cartomancy – there are many mancia’s oenormmancy – the interpretation of dreams . .
Theriomancy, Ailuromancy, Alectryomancy, Myomancy · Myrmomancy Ornithomancy, Bibliomancy, Oculomancy, Catoptromancy, Hydromancy, Cleromancy, Astragalomancy, Favomancy, Necromancy, Nigromancy, Somatomancy, Cephalomancy, Chiromancy, and Podomancy
There is a very large collection of ‘mancies’: HERE: METHODS OF DIVINATION.
mancy – combining form divination by a specified means: geomancy. DERIVATIVES: mantic combining form. ORIGIN: from Old French -mancie, via late Latin -mantia from Greek manteia ‘divination’.
We can thus call these constellations, the ‘Mantic Arts’, i.e.
Mantic: adjective formal relating to divination or prophecy. ORIGIN: C19: from Greek mantikos, from mantis ‘prophet’.
The subject of the Mantic Arts, is vast, and has permutations from the contaminated and vulgar to very pure hierophantic operations, which can be excavated and explored in all the major religious and spiritual systems of the world.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
AngelaVoss, The Descent of Orpheus. Life between Lives Dialogue – Divination, Initiation or Therapy?
Luxlapis News
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LUXLAPIS NEWSLETTER FULL MOON [*]
Friday, 09 December 2011
“All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable.”
Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience
Dear Friends,
I have been saying to my ‘self’ that the various thematic streams of my life, are starting to coalesce [see HERE]. We sail through life, from birth to death. Life itself is hopefully an onward progression – we should never stop learning . . . from the first breath, right up to the last breath and beyond . . . if you believe in a ‘beyond.’ Besides the coalescence, there has been intensification, both on the global, as well as the personal level. Change is certainly in the air. Someone, called Chris Hedges: somewhere on Facebook, in the context of the Occupy Wall Street Movement wrote:
"Welcome to the revolution. Our elites have exposed their hand. They have nothing to offer. They can destroy but they cannot build. They can repress but they cannot lead. They can steal but they cannot share."
And the great ecofeminist Susan Griffin posted these words on her FB wall:
“We are fighting for our lives and the quality of our lives right now. The survival of the earth and democracy are both on the line.”
Brilliant words, qualifying all the material shared previously on the Uranus/Saturn Confrontation. It is in this sense, that I see the seamless blending of the Esoteric/Esoteric in my life, and in patterns emerging. The network continues to grow, with stimulating and nourishing discourse on a wide spectrum of subjects. I am still experimenting with this new automated Newsletter format – at the top are some subject headings which by a click will take you to that particular section within the body of the Newsletter.
This will be short & sweet, with richer, more detailed missives some time in the future.
Yours sincerely
Samten de Wet
ASTROLOGY
Kasak, Enn, Ancient Astrology as a Common Root for Science and Pseudo-Science, Folklore Vol. 15, Tartu 2000. [WEB]
Malter, Henry, Personifications of Soul and Body. A Study in Judaeo-Arabic Literature, The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Apr., 1912), pp. 453-479
“The subject is closely connected with the general idea that the universe and man are parallel; that whatever is found in the world without, in the macrocosm, is reflected or finds its counterpart also in the man, the microscosm. This doctrine is very old, being traceable not only to Pythagoras and Plato, but also to the oldest Babylonian literature. The Talmuds and Midrashim afford numerous instances of analogies between parts of the universe and of the human body; . . . “
Richard L. Hunter, Cambridge, Written in the Stars: Poetry and Philosophy in the Phaenomena of Aratus
Gothic Spanish-suited cards – World of Playing Cards
Some of my research for Simon Wintle is published here.
A.E. Waite ESOTERIC TAROT AT BRITISH MUSEUM
93 books dealing with Todtentanz – The Dance of Death -useful for tracing influences on Arcanum 13 – The Reaper – Death . .
This is a vast collection where one can download ENTIRE – decks – THE IBIS DECK – IS SOMEWHERE ON THIS PAGE –
One of the great & rather unknown Kabbalist visionaries.
Alchemy Collection at The John Rylands Library, University of Manchester
Karen-Claire Voss – The Tabula Smaragdina Revisited
ANCIENT EGYPT & ARABIC HERMETICA
Dr. Okasha El Daly, in his ground breaking work, [various books & papers available] – opens a new perspective on Cleopatra, and other Arabic women mystics, alchemists &c. I have often thought that the ‘asps’ are really a code of Cleopatra’s Hermetic nature. El Daly elaborates on her position as an Initiate:
David Ulansey, Mithras and the Hypercosmic Sun
Societas Occulta Islamica is an academic society devoted to the study of the arcana and esoterica of Islamicate Civilization. The obscure theurgy associated with the latter is grounded in the most recondite of oriental doctrines.
Review THE MUSLIM JESUS by Tarif Khalidi Books The Guardian
Chodkiewicz, Michel. The Vision of God, Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society, Vol, 14, 1993. [WEB]
Arundhati Roy: "The People Who Created the Crisis Will Not Be the Ones That Come Up With a Solution" | Truthout – Friday, 02 December 2011
Wednesday 30 November 2011 – by: Arun Gupta, The Guardian UK
The prize-winning author of The God of Small Things talks about why she is drawn to the Occupy movement and the need to reclaim language and meaning.
Nobel Women’s Initiative – No to nuclear power Nobel Peace Laureates to world leaders – Media Release Nobel Women’s Initiative
Heleanor B. Feltham, “Justinian and the International Silk Trade”, Sino-Platonic Papers, 194 (November, 2009)
Julianna Lees image Collection of Ancient textiles from the East in Western churches & museums. Exquisite . . .
CODEX SERAPHINIANUS – a psychedelic Fantasy now available for download as a .pdf [rather large file]
Ketubah, marriage contract, manuscript, ink and paint on paper, 20th of Menahem 5671 [1911 August 14], Bombay, India
YANTRA – Mahavidya Yantra
LOGORAMA and HERE @ VIMEO
Mel Frykberg – Gaza’s Children Dare to Dream
Larry Dossey – Chaos and Disorder: Why We Need Them
ARAS – The Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism is a pictorial and written archive of mythological, ritualistic, and symbolic images from all over the world and from all epochs of human history.
EMAIL: luxlapis
CELL: 083. 4348583
Coalesce: verb come or bring together to form one mass or whole: the puddles had coalesced into shallow streams. DERIVATIVES: coalescence noun. coalescent adjective. ORIGIN : C16: from Latin coalescere, from co- + alescere ‘grow up’.
FEEDBACK FROM: GLOBAL CHANGE AND TRANSFORMATION – URANUS & THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE in THE TAROT & ASTROLOGY [Talk @ Booklet]
To further share & circulate ideas – here are some of the responses to the article. I am deeply grateful for the feedback.
* You’re absolutely right, and so is Tarnas (who has recently been staying with me) and the I-Ching. The problem is how to see the actual format that the changes will involve. The financial format for example. How do we give people the possibility of managing their hard-earned money in the way they would like to see it managed. Democracies (the US, UK) don’t really achieve this because finance is all tied into the markets, the banks, debt and what governments think this money should be spent on – such as armaments and giving it to oppressive regimes which in turn buy more armaments (Bahrein) with which they control their own people. It is very difficult to see how radical change in this field could come about. Which I-Ching translation were you using? I am nearly finished my book, the Dream of the Cosmos. love, Anne Baring
* Thank you Samten, I love it! Christina Bryer
* Resonance and synchronicity. The wheel is turning. Fire burning. ushka
* Fascinating Stuff, Samten! Alix Verrips
* Thanks Samten! Now we need movers and shakers Love Savi Veerapan
* Very good! Thank you Lesley Manim
* Thanks Samten…very interesting view of very interesting times!!! Hope you are well, Love Vheke Kruger
* Thank you Samten – I loved reading this cosmic view of where we are in time and space and how to go forward into the future! Lots of love Jenny Wyeth
* Thank you Samten – I have been passing through an astrological starfield of considerable negative energy and wondering what it is all for – i know ultimately it is always for change and growth – but that doesn’t ease the immediate pain and suffering. These words then bring great hope. Thank you again. Many Blessings! Marco
* That was a very beautiful read, Samten. Thank you. Linda Proud
* Thank you Samten for sharing this. Much love Melissa Krige
* Thank you for this Samten…Funny thing that us humans don’t change until the shit hits the fan….we have reached the tipping point with the climate and extreme degradation of natural resources. I see there is an "occupy" movement trying to get going in Cape Town and Joburg….not sure if South Africans are ready to become the activists we all need to be now. Jeunesse Park
* Thanks Samten, A thought provoking message. Like particularly the reading of the hexagram. with metta and best wishes, shanti
* Really nice e-mail, Samten. When do we get to meet up again, I wonder? Sybille Nagel
* Thanks for your analysis of the currents helping to produce change. Rene Wadlow
* Hi, You may be right. I note the I Ching quote: "the old is discarded… [not
"transformed"]… and the new is introduced". Reminds me of a Buckminister Fuller quote: to change a present reality you must propose a new reality that makes the present one redundant.
Regards, Rod Gurzynski
* Thanks for the news and up date and it is the dawning of the age of Aquarius BUT there needs a huge cleanout of population for the space and resources to open up exactly like it did after the black death there was SPACE and art ,farming church building all blossomed Regards David Cowin
* Dear Samten, I loved this email from you and it is very interesting this Occupy Wall Street movement. I think this could well be the groundswell in the western world of the masses demanding revolutionary change from this economic system that has impoverished millions and enriched a few… Gary Cousins
* very insightful, thanks, Leigh
* Hello hello, Thanks for sending this. It is exactly what my sense of this time is as well. About 25 years ago I began learning about the Mayans and about their ideas for this era and, according to whatever it was I was reading, it described the same thing that you do here. It has seemed to me that, more recently, a sort of simpleminded Apocolyptomania was created out of the idea of this "shift", made media-worthy and extreme. But! In that fearful interpretation the directions that have an enhanced opportunity to evolve now are so clearly delineated, so I try to understand it that way and not get so annoyed! The lucky thing for me, back in my early Mayan days, was that it introduced the idea of a crisis that requires evolution, and that the scale and profundity of the crisis is essential to the scale and profundity of the change. All that led me to the I Ching somehow and, when I read your piece, I wondered if you know the books of Carol Anthony. She wrote an extraordinary book where she and a colleague asked the I Ching thousands of questions, basically asking it to define its terms. You can easily find her on the internet, she has a website. I have wondered before if you knew her work. Thanks again, I am grateful to you for the things you share. Ruthie Bosch
* I can’t tell you the pleasure that your last communication gave me. It is very reassuring to me that you have at last got some mite of the recognition you deserve after a life of enlightening and enriching the lives of so many others. Daragh
Some Fragments
Chodkiewicz, Michel. The Vision of God, Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society, Vol, 14, 1993. [WEB]
Kasak, Enn, Ancient Astrology as a Common Root for Science and Pseudo-Science, Folklore Vol. 15, Tartu 2000.
Malter, Henry, Personifications of Soul and Body. A Study in Judaeo-Arabic Literature, The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Apr., 1912), pp. 453-479
“The subject is closely connected with the general idea that the universe and man are parallel; that whatever is found irt the world without, in the macrocosm, is reflected or finds its counterpart also in the man, the microscosm. This doctrine is very old, being traceable not only to Pythagoras and Plato, but also to the oldest Babylonian lilterature. The Talmuds and Midrashim afford numerous instances of analogies between parts of the universe and of the human body; . . . “
Gothic Spanish-suited cards – World of Playing Cards
A.E. Waite ESOTERIC TAROT AT BRITISH MUSEUM
One of the great & rather unknown Kabbalist visionaries.
Alchemy Collection at The John Rylands Library, University of Manchester
Karen-Claire Voss – The Tabula Smaragdina Revisited
A Few Full Moon Words
LUXLAPIS PROJECT NEWSLETTER
FULL MOON
11th November 2011
Dear Friends,
While reading a book on the Templars, I came across this beautiful piece:
“ . . . the researcher must be willing to throw a stone into the pond of knowledge and to follow to their limits the rings that spread from its point of contact with the water, for these waves consist of so many other forms of knowledge that may have been forgotten.
Juan Garcia Atienza, The Knights Templar in the Golden Age of Spain. Their Hidden History on the Iberian Peninsula, Destiny Books/Inner Traditions, Rochester, Vermont, 2006, p.9.
And then:
“Faith is an ever-widening pool of clarity, fed with springs beyond the margin of consciousness. We all know more than we know we know.”
Thornton Wilder, The Eighth Day.
And:
“There are small bits of useless knowledge which stick to one’s brain like barnacles of a boat.”
Graham Greene, Monsignor Quixote.
And:
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
William Shakespeare.
And:
"Observe, in short, how transient and trivial is all mortal life; yesterday a drop of semen, tomorrow a handful of spice or ashes. Spend, therefore, these fleeting moments on earth as Nature would have you spend them, and then go to your rest with a good grace, as an olive falls in its season, with a blessing for the earth that bore it and a thanks-giving to the tree that gave it life."
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Translated by Maxwell Staniforth.
Food for thought! This is the first of the new style automated Newsletter – so I am just trying the system out. There has been a great intensification of Work – a widening of the Network of Friends, and all sorts of exciting Projects are bouncing about. I promise to get everything into some shape for a proper Report – in the meanwhile, this is just an Experimental Greeting.
Yours Sincerely Samten [ Rember in this .html format, all links are in BLUE]
2011 was the Centenary Year for the Gothic writer: MERVYN PEAKE.
And here is an excellent Blog on ALLEN GINSBERG
The ARAS ARCHIVE is an excellent resource – which could be made available via the Jung Library – but an annual subscription is necessary – perhaps for Jungian Institutions . . . There is also an excellent ARAS FACEBOOK PAGE HERE where archetypal pictures are posted. [ARAS Publications in the Jung Library, Cape
Town]Please note: On FACEBOOK – I use the alias Lily Beard.
“A writer
Imaginal Fecundity
This short quote by James Hillman can be applied to the Tarot:
“To see the archetypal in an image is thus not a hermeneutic move. It is an imagistic move. We amplify an image by means of myth in order not to find its archetypal meaning but in order to feed it with further images that increase its volume and depth and release its fecundity.” [1]
In context, this amplification by Jules Cashford: [2]
“It is impossible to define Imagination since the only definition we can make is that we are far from it when we talk about it. It is perhaps a power so ultimate that only its own numinous images can call it forth, as though we have, as it were, to ask the Imagination to imagine itself. We might say that whenever there is numinosity – a coming alive of divine presence – literally, the “nod” or “beckoning” of a god – whenever an image becomes translucent to a reality beyond itself, we are in the presence of Imagination. The images that come towards us – as divinities, daimons, soul-birds, angels, geniuses, muses – are all figures who bring messages from afar or beyond, from the heights or the depths – the realms where consciousness may not go, yet on which it rests and through which it grows. “Wisdom first speaks in images,” W. B. Yeats, says [3].”
[1] J. Hillman, Typologies 37-8, in The Essential James Hillman: A Blue Fire, ed. T. Moore, London: Routledge, 1990, p.60. This quote from” Angela Voss, A methodology of the Imagination, Eye of the Heart: A Journal of Traditional Wisdom, 3, 2009. [Available
Online]
[2] Jules Cashford, The Myth of the Messenger, ARAS Connections, Issue 3, 2011 (Available Online at the ARAS site.
[3] Yeats, W.B. Essays and Introductions, The Macmillan Press, 1961, London, p. 95.
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