Relocation

Until further notice, or server failure, my posts and updates will be occurring solely on IJ. I just cannot keep up with multiple accounts and would rather devote all of my attention to one place.

Mysteries of the Dark Moon.
Prayers to the Moon.

Chapter Four: Nemesis questions

Previous answers found here.

1. Do I have a concept of right and wrong, and do I have a value system to determine the difference? Is there some force within me that advises me against following a course of wrong action? Do I believe in a wrathful, punishing divine force that operates outside of my control? Or do I have a sense that it might be my own actions and attitudes that eventually lead to my punishment?

Yes. I think that much of humanity does, and we've been attempting to codify it for centuries. Sometimes I think that humanity delights in taking things that should be fairly straight forward and over-complicating them. My uncle and I were talking about this this weekend; somehow treating others as you wish to be treated came up at supper and he countered that the flaw in that philosophy was the person who wanted to be treated like a jerk and so acted like an jerk. Not so much, treat them well at first and if they prove that they want to be treated like a jerk then by all means, feel free to do so or to ignore them. I don't want to be called a jerk or be seen as a total anti-social scumbag, so I try to avoid acting like one. My internal forces are vain that way.

An outside force, like some celestial bogey-man with a Rod of Smitting? Not so much, although if there are such jobs in the universe, I'd be a bit more than 1/2 tempted to apply for any vacancies. You great moron! Taste the Rod of Smiting and despair! There's an ex-president and an ex-vice president that top my list of who I'd visit first.

I am an 'as you sow, so shall you reap' believer. Eventually, anti-social behaviour will catch you up. Ignoring your own needs, too, will catch you up. Life is constant movement toward balance and the middle road. Some lessons are more painful than others, but if we learn from them, our road gets a bit easier to walk.

2. Do I try to "get away" with things? Am I dishonest when it is to my advantage? If I have good luck, do I share my bounty with others? When I am wrong, do I admit it? Do I see the law and authority figures as hostile powerful forces who are out to get me?

Oh, let's just call it what it is, shall we? Cheating. I dislike cheating intensely; even more than I dislike being beaten at a game by someone who's having a better run of luck, more skilled, etc. There's always another day and another game to be had.

Yes, I do share my good fortune with others, although, it seems like it's been a while since the last windfall from Dama Fortuna [Yes, I do suppose that is a hint to the Universe.]

I do try to admit when I'm wrong. It's hard some times, I'm human not a saint, but when I'm wrong, there's nothing to be gained by digging my heels in and insisting that I'm right. That's just asking to lose in greater ways.

Do I see the law and authority figures as hostile powerful forces who are out to get me? Yes and no. The law is an agreed upon set of social behaviours we agree to abide by for the betterment of all. Officers of the law and politicians are appointed to ensure that these applications of law apply to all equally and fairly. In theory. In practise, well, I am old enough that idealism has been tarnished by watching these public servants in action abusing and distorting their positions of authority for personal agrandisment and gain. "Who shall watch over the guardians?" That is our job. Oh, maybe we all do get to have a Rod of Smiting, even if it takes the form of outraged letters to editors, justices, judiciary committees, etc.

Community organisers and their pens! I bet Sarah Palin would be quaking in her caribou booties at that thought if it ever made it through the hair-spray haze that surrounds her.

Chapter Four: Nyx - Question 2

Previous answers found here.

2. Do I recognise the positive power of being alone, of having open unscheduled time in my life, or of having a spacious uncluttered environment? Can I utilise these situations to be open, receptive, and still; or do I percive them as feeling lonely, bored, or impoverished?

Anyone who knows me will know my answers here. Yes, a full thousand fold. I jealously guard my free time and cherish my own personal time. I don't begrudge company or socialising, but I do need a small amount of time just for me on a daily basis, or I get horribly out of sorts.

Uncluttered environment? That's a nice dream. Actually, I don't mind 'active clutter' the piles of materials needed to be present when working on projects. Filth and dirt, no... those aren't flying in my house. A pristine and spartan [or Ikean] environment would drive me to tears and mental boredom quick as a wink. To me, it just speaks of a meanness of spirit and coldness of personality.

Chapter Four: Nyx - Question 1

The previous established pattern gets shaken up here. Instead of a chapter with questions at the end, here we have a chapter with questions at the end of each section. This is, I hope, an omen that the topics will begin to do more than just skim the surface of the topics and get into a bit more discussion of the thoughts behind the ideas presented rather than act as an introduction to the ideas/concepts being discussed.

The previous chapters, to me, were valuable and I liken them to taking a trip to an isolated island. Those chapters were akin to listening to a guide describe the terrain as the vessel we are on circles the island, giving us a glimpse of all its outer faces before we land and disembark to explore the inner sections. I am really hoping that this second section of the book shows the pathways leading inward to the heart of the island.

Without further ado, let's see where this leads us.

Previous answers found here.

1. In what ways do I link the words black to empty, chaos to confusion, and void to nothingness? How have these associations shaped my concepts of the dark?

Actually, I generally associate white with empty, as in 'white space' and 'white noise' with black being viewed as being filled with infinite possibility. I do admit to using chaotic/chaos to sometimes described huge events involving many, many people; but that said, there is generally a level of organisation to those events that negates any sense of confusion. Confusion, for me, is more often that not associated with disorganisation. These associations have not negatively impacted how I think about darkness. The void/abyss is not a deep dark scary place to look into; which I do think some people think, especially after they hear that Nietzsche quote 'Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.' I prefer to view the void/abyss as that which contains all creative potential: the primal caldera from which all potential possibilities spring forth.

Chapter three, Question three

Previous answers found here.

3. Do I have hope in the possibilities of the New Age? Do I feel despair over the dying environment of the planet or see it as a hopeless task? Do I feel moved to try to save the earth? Can I see death of the old as the precursor to the birth of the new?

Given the current prevailling attitudes of those in power to make sweeping climatic choices, no, I don't have a great deal of hope in the possibilities of a new age. Yet, that said, given the signs that the majority are shaking off the yoke of illusion and ignorance that they've willingly worn for the past decades, perhaps the glimmer does grow a bit stronger. I am trying to nurture that feeling, even though I often quip that I 'will not give up entirely upon humanity no matter how often they prove they don't deserve it.' Colour me cautiously optimistic.

Environmental issues. Add a healthy dose of anger to my despair, please. There are normal cycles of evolution and growth/death that life goes through in all environments. That is good and healthy. The great swathes of dead zones in the oceans and the land strip-mined and poisoned for profit is not. That is what I will protest and continue to pressure others for change, no matter how hopeless it seems at times. People don't bathe in their own filth or the filth of others, why should they live in the toxic shite of others while the robber barons have pristine views of panoramic landscapes. Make the bastards live on mercury tainted fields and eat food taken from poisoned waters and acreage, and see how fast things would change. Again, though, there is a glimmer that people are beginning to say 'no' to being forced to endure these kinds of situations.

While I don't feel compelled to save the entire earth per se, I do try to do my best to make my corner of it a healthy environment. I teach my children, and hopefully reach others, about conserving resources, looking for the most efficient sources of energy, and the aesthetic pleasure of a clean environment even if you have to pick up the litter that someone else threw to the ground. We are not divorced from the earth, nor have we been given the green light to run amok upon it indulging in mindless consumption and destruction of the environment. We are stewards and caretakers of the garden of Original Blessing that the creator[s] bestowed upon us. If everyone viewed humanity as the touch point of the realm of spirit made manifest, and that we were never kicked out of the 'Garden' save in our own twisted views of life and the earth, the world just might look a bit different.

"The problem with Westerners is that they believe they have been kicked out of the garden. They live their lives as if they had been thrown out of the realm of the divine. But the shaman knows that we always have existed and still exist in the Garden. Life is a feast. You are invited to dine."

~Alberto Villoldo

Chapter three, Question two

Previous answers found here.

2. After reading this chapter, can I consider the possibility that the disappearance of the Goddess was overshadowed by cosmic planetary cycles and part of a natural process of renewal that occurs in the darkness? What comes up for me and in what ways does this challenge my previous beliefs?

Again, a very broad question asked about a very broad subject. In reading this chapter and question, it occurs to me that they are written for, at least it seems to me, an audience that is for the most part unfamiliar with these themes/theories, etc. and that this is written as an introduction to the concepts. Not that that is a bad thing, quite the opposite, we all are new to theories and ideas at some point, and even as we get 'experienced' in the ways of the mysteries, it is good to spiral back to the starting places. We stay fresh that way, and find newer questions to ask and explore, and keep ourselves from becoming rigidly fixed in our thinking.

I do know enough that this idea of cosmic cycles is not unknown to our ancestors. That they knew of this is recorded for us in stone if we but open our eyes and minds to see it and accept the messages left for us.

Again, I'm not necessarily of the mind set that the Goddess energy/awareness ever fully left. Perhaps it's a matter of perception, and the majority of the occidental populace was largely unaware of this current. There have been those mystics within the past that kept the knowledge and awareness of the feminine divine alive, honouring it even if it branded them as heretics and saw their works largely destroyed. It could be that they were charged with watching and safe-guarding the fallow field for that time when the seeds of renewal could begin to sprout. They kept the message alive and passed it along, again, for those with ears to hear and eyes to see.

It is what we do with the knowledge in the time that we are given it that matters. For myself, I will continue seeking, questioning, and learning to live in harmony with my environment. If I can share this path with others, then the more the merrier. What is interesting to note, is that some of the ideas touched on in these questions [namely the reemergence of currents and energies] is being discussed on various lists. Both the idea of approaching the new flows with openness and respect and the idea of trying to control and retain 'traditional authority' over the reemerging, stronger currents. Interesting times, indeed.

And as always, I do reserve the right to revisit this answer with additional thoughts, observances, etc., as time and wisdom reveal them to me.

Chapter three, question one

Previous answers found here.

1. If I am aware of the Goddess herstory, do I think that women were innocent victims of the patriarchy's brutal aggression? Do I think that women must rise in anger to protest this injustice and to reclaim what was forcibly taken away from them? Do I perpetuate a tension between a victim and oppressor in my attitudes toward protecting myself against the potential threat of those who are more powerful?

First, I loathe with every fibre of my being the term 'herstory' and other associated made up names designed to market feminine empowerment as the superior way of viewing the world. If you absolutely must attribute gender power to the words, use history and heritage. Actually, if you must do that, please just stay away from me until you've matured and can hold a meaningful conversation without finding an invisible threat in a word. I was going to say until you ripen and fall off the tree, but I am trying to be nice today. It may not work as my head is about doing me in at the moment. I am not afraid of the word history and do not feel threatened when someone uses it in my hearing. However, I'd be reasonably cautious around the words 'I will kill you' if they were uttered in my presence. See the difference?

Secondly, I'm not at all sure that I believe in the concept of 'innocent victims' in a major cultural shift. This question, to me, is at once very simple and too broad to discuss in absolutes. I'm not even sure that human cultural development is about matriarchy versus patriarchy, so much as it is about evolving and devolving mental attitudes toward interacting with our environment. In many ways, the past can be viewed as a growing organic creature. The idylls of childhood when cooperation and empathy are discovered and valued, then brash adolescence when everyone else is wrong, stupid, and invincibility is not an illusion but a mental absolute. Then comes the realisation that maybe we aren't as invincible as we thought and maybe, just maybe we better think about things again. I think that we are, for the most part, in the 'maybe we need to think about things' stage and that is why we are seeing a re-emergence of older ideas and principles. We're not content to hang out at the mall any longer and are beginning to enjoy browsing through the library to find knowledge that we can live and work with, and that we can pass along to those who will follow us.

Do I perpetuate a tension between victim and oppressor? Oh hells no. I refuse to participate in the culture of fear and mass hysteria. Dear gods, that is one of the single biggest issues that would get me frothing at the mouth about the past eight years under the Shrub administration. I refuse to duck and cower at shadows on the wall, especially if those crying wolf about those shadows want me to trust them to do my critical thinking for me. I will protest that. I will scream and kick and refuse to be dragged down that path. Will I go out and knee-cap some male for his gender due to perceived past injustice done to women with the blessings of the Patriarch bogey man? No. But if that same male [or female to be honest] tried to hurt me or mine, it's a fair bet that anger and violence would then occur.

To reclaim our sanity doesn't begin with a radical swing to the opposite polar extreme. There is a good reason why all the mystery traditions teach the value of the middle way. Yes, women have been the victims of atrocities in the past. But so have men, and we cannot heal and move forward if we allow ourselves to forget that.

The rising place of awakened feminine currents in all aspects of our world should not be given prominence over the wounded male current. We need to heal that wound so that the male can once more value the life-affirming qualities of the natural masculine current. Father Time and Mother Nature, the Green Man and the Lady of the Wood... they have always been present and point the way to wholeness to those who will listen. Those of us who have been listening and living this balance, well, it falls to us to show others how this can be done and we cannot teach with a fist closed in anger.