In Loving Memory PHILIP EMMONS ISAAC BONEWITSOctober 1, 1949 - August 12, 2010It was with a heavy heart I learned only today of the passing of celebrated Pagan Elder and Author, Isaac Bonewits. Though I never met Isaac in-person, I did chat with him numerous times over the Internet and was a great admirer of his work and scholarship. In no small way, it is fair to say that he brought to the exploration of Druidry/Druidism what Gerald Gardner brought to the exploration of
This summer, I'm indulging in what I like to call "the hot yoga experiment." I've never taken hot yoga on a regular basis before, but after I examined the schedules from a half dozen or so local yoga studios and triangulated it with the hours my kids are i... (source: About) - Share on Twitter - Share on Facebook - RSS and RSS Feed on Feedzilla.com
Plank Pose Is the Yoga Pose of the Week (source: About)
Plank pose is often seen as a quick stopping off point between downward facing dog and chaturanga. It's just a transition, right? Wrong! If you've ever tried to hold plank for more than a few breaths, you've surely discovered that it's a great arm strength... (source: About) - Share on Twitter - Share on Facebook - RSS and RSS Feed on Feedzilla.com
Re:Spiritual Alchemy: Cibation 7 Months, 2 Weeks ago
Karma: 1
Who Are You?
Magic mushrooms & Reindeer
Remember Dune.
The spice extends life.
The spice expands consciousness.
Most of all, the spice makes space travel possible.
Who will you be?
I do not understand the question really. Aren't I someone already?
Certainly. When you become enlightened, who do you wish to be?
What a strange question I thought. Thinking in this conversation was as good as communicating. When I become enlightened... that is also interesting.
Musashi was a stinky sword fighter.
Musashi was one of the great sword fighters that did not bath much. Musashi demonstrated his enlightenment though his unbeatable techniques. After his enlightment, he never fought with an actual sword in battle. He used the wooden sword and once carved a weapon out of a boat oar just before the combat. Musashi was not attached to his sword to be great in battle. He was free as a Ronin warrior and also free of using certain tools in order to succeed.
Musashi was so concentrated on his art, that he did not take the time to bath much. I myself, would prefer to bath. Perhaps he smelled so bad that it threw his enemies off balance by offending their sense of smell?
"Polythemeus is my father," I would often joke around. This to me means many themes, and is a good opening for a storyteller. I tend to be an explorer making changes as necessary or as I wish to. The expression is a pun after Polyphemus the one eyed Cyclops.
Before the accident, I would have easily chosen to concentrate on my martial arts. Years ago my drawing art was my focus. There was a healing period where I became a Reiki Master and learned Therapeutic Touch. My mother had a 40 percent chance to live and made a medically verifiable, miraculous recovery. When she told her support group about the test results, they were not very supportive because the total absence of cancer cells is never found after this condition.
Harry Potter Animal Magic
Dan, Emma, Rupert and Matthew and the animals of hp
You have many names.
St. Therese the Little Flower put herself into her work no matter how insignificant it was. Every tiny detail of every domestic chore she did received much care and attention. I thought about that. Housework is certainly not my bag. I love to cook and create, but not housework please! I was named after St. Therese, which is sort of ironic in my opinion. I love cats. They tend to dust all the surfaces as they run and jump along.
I am also named after Joan of Arc. I chose that name myself for my confirmation name. I loved the story. When I go to church now, I still sit next the to stained glass window with Joan of Arc in her full armor holding her head piece in one arm. After the fevers, I thought perhaps I should pick a different name, since Joan was burned at the stake. No more burning please. I thought about it, and felt that the Archangel Michael would be a wonderful choice. Michelle after Archangel Michael would be nice with my name and I have his medal. It turns out he appeared to Joan of Arc and is an important figure in her story. When I thought about it more, it just seemed that there was no point in changing my name. It is only necessary to change focus.
You love animals.
I thought back to the incident with the mouse keeping me up at night. He still makes a buzz by at night and tries to get in. Then there was the skunk. The young skunk was digging in the weeds. He saw me and I stood still as soon as I saw him. Normally, they just trot off preferring to keep a distance. This little one put his head up like a kitten and trotted for me looking quite pleased to see me. I ran. I thought about St. Francis that day and wondered how he did it. We have bears now. I don't feel ready for a real bear hug.
I had no idea that the spiritual path would come to seem so much similar to choosing a major. This made me wonder if I was off the track or perhaps confused in some way. It was difficult enough to choose what to be in college. Now, I could make a great choice looking back, but back then was tough. This is difficult to me and I have not received a clear message about focus.
I thought about the saints and the other enlightened people I had read about. Most positions seemed to be taken already. There is even a saint to call upon when plagued with caterpillers. I don't think I wanted to be that specialized. Was there a patron saint of travel and leisure? The goddess of great coffee in the later hours of morning? The great mistress of garlic of all forms?
Messages seem to be coming from every area of my life. More and more people are coming and speaking to me with messages. They are most often people I do not know. Older individuals keep coming over to me and telling me things. "You are an angel," one lady said after I helped her. She had been praying for assistance because she was so upset. Two ladies in a row, for no reason at all, told me I should be a teacher. One place where I go to buy books has nicknamed me "The Author." The lady at the counter there wanted to know if I was a teacher as well. This weekend my hairdresser, after asking me a few personal spiritual questions, asked if I was going to write a book.
For some reason, it does not seem obvious to me. Why would I just naturally become something? Is this silly? Maybe I will be a storyteller / scholar?
---EvonneTheStoryteller
Walking and Thinking.
2 Yogis by the River
Two yogis are sitting by the river meditating. A crocodile comes by and devours one of them.The other comments dryly: **Heavy purification**.
Therapy Dogs Buddha and Magic with Daniela Ortner An animal assisted therapy organization was formed by Daniela Ortner to promote the healing benefits of the human-animal bond. In this video you'll see Daniela and her two pugs, Buddha and Magic. She is committed to the unique training and certification of animals for their visits to special locations, including senior and convalescent hospitals, abused and handicapped childrens facilities and battered womens shelters among others.
Re:Spiritual Alchemy: Cibation 7 Months, 1 Week ago
Karma: 1
The Many Paths
Ma-tsu felt that since the original mind is inherent in everyone, all that was necessary was to awaken the student to its presence.
A monk asked Ma-tsu for the primary meaning of Zen. Ma-tsu knocked him to the ground, saying, "If I don't strike you, the whole country will laugh at me." The monk was enlightened on the spot.
Rinzai studied with Master Huang-po for three years but was not satisfied with his own progress. The head monk suggested that he go to see the master himself. So Rinzai went to Huang-po and asked the standard question, "What is the meaning of Bodhidharma coming from the West?" Huang-po knocked him to the ground with his stick. Rinzai picked himself up and walked out in confusion, not knowing what to make of this answer.
The head monk advised him to try again. He did, twice more, but the answer was the same. Demoralized he announced that he was leaving the monastery. Huang-po then directed him to a neighboring zen teacher named Ta-yu. When Rinzai related his experience with Huang-po to Ta-yu, Ta-yu's comment was, "How compassionate Huang-po is. He was just trying to relieve you of distress." Hearing this, Rinzai suddenly had a deep awakening to his original nature. He could not contain himself. He jumped up and down, exclaiming, "Huang-po's Zen is very simple, there's nothing to it!"
"You scamp," said Ta-yu, "a minute ago you said that Huang-po's Zen was impossible to understand, now you say there's nothing to it. What have you realized? Speak at once!' At this, Rinzai punched Ta-yu in the ribs three times. Ta-yu kicked him out, saying, "Your teacher is Huang-po, so you are no concern of mine."
Rinzai went right back to Huang-po who greeted him at the gate with, "Aren't you back a little soon? You just left!" Rinzai bowed deeply and said, "It is because of your kindness that I returned so quickly." Then Rinzai related to Huang-po his encounter with Ta-yu, Hang-po said, "What a big mouth that old man has. The next time I see him, I'll give him a taste of my staff." Rinzai yelled, "Wait! I'll give it to you right now." And he slapped the old master's face.
The startled Huang-po said, "This crazy monk is plucking the tiger's whiskers. At that, Rinzai gave his first, "Katz!", a shout that would become as famous as Rinzai himself.
From here on, Rinzai and Huang-po had many sparkling encounters until Rinzai set out on his own, equipped with the transmission and a repertory of punches and shouts, his favorite teaching devices.
The Rinzai Zen survived in Japan solely because of the fondness which the powerful Samurai had for it. Rinzai's style, hard, illogical, spontaneous and not requiring book learning greatly appealed to them. It fitted their own experience of life; now, or it might be never.
The line of Shih-tou produced some extraordinary masters as well. Among these masters is Tung-shan. Tung-shan was a contemporary of Rinzai's but educated in the Shih-tou style, his teaching techniques were very different. He emphasized zazen practice and he was find of metaphoric language to talk his students out of their entanglements. He is credited with s famous Zen poem, describing the enlightened realm of openness and spontaneity. Here's one stanza:
The Man of wood sings,
The Woman of stone
Gets upo and dances
This cannot be done
By passion or learning,
It cannot be done
by Reasoning.
This gentle style and insistence on meditation gave the Soto sect the name "silent illumination path," while the Rinzai sect became known as the "introspecting the koan path."
Ju-ching was a Soto master and an uncompromising advocate of sitting meditation. He ended his daily zazen at eleven at night and started all over again at two-thirty the next morning. Here Dogen learned his Zen and attained his enlightenment.
The story goes that he was meditating one early morning, the fellow next to him began to doze--a rather common occurrence in modern Zen as well.
Master Ju-ching was passing by at that moment and yelled at the sleeping monk,
ZAZEN MEANS DROPPING OFF BODY AND MIND!
Dogen, immersed in meditation was startled at first and then a warm glow began to spread within him, and overjoyed, he realized his original nature. He ran into the interview room and lit an incense stick to signify his attainment. Bowing deeply, he said, "I have experienced the dropping away of body and mind." The master affirmed his enlightenment.
from Zen for Beginners
Secret Alchemy of Manifesting NOW #4b - Meditation
The Secret Alchemy of Manifesting NOW - Meditation - How to remove time from the process of manifesting.
Hildegard Von Bingen by Catherine Braslavsky & Joseph Rowe Extracts from Catherine Braslavsky and Joseph Rowe's performance "Hildegard von Bingen, The Marriage of the Heavens and the Earth" which includes pieces of their new CD. Site : www.naturalchant.com
Hildegard of Bingen:
A Healer Ahead of Her Time
A saint, an herbalist, a medical genius, a visionary, a brilliant composer of spiritual music, a sex therapist, a scholar, and a leader of the church who corresponded with emperors, queens, and popes. All these achievements for any one person would be formidable. For a woman who lived virtually her entire life as a cloistered nun in the twelfth century, they are almost beyond belief.
Hildegard of Bingen was born of a noble German family in 1098. At the age of eight, she was committed to a monastery. Tutored by a neighboring monk in both classical and contemporary medical texts (at a time when most women couldn't read), she subsequently produced two major medical treatises fo her own. One described the uses of more than 300 medicinal plants; another was a catalogue of diseaser, their causes, adn their cures.
Hildegard's healing philosophy was decidedly holistic. She wrote that the structure of the body echoed in miniature the sacred structure of the universe and that health resulted from being in harmony with that universal order. Her term for health was greenness, which she also described as "the green life force of the flesh." She described the circulation of the blood, preached the virtues of a balanced, low-fat diet, adn understood that disease was contagious--all hundreds of years ahead of her time.
Hildegard was also hundreds of years before her time in appreciating the connection between emotion and health. She understood that anger, for example, could give rise to "bile," which in turn could lead to disease. Recovery from illness required living a life that ws in harmony, both with the natural wold and with God's will. Sexuality was very much a part of that natural and divine order, Hildegard believed, and as a result, she described lovemaking in pious yet explicit terms. A man's passion, she write, is like "a stag thirsting for the fountain," while the woman resembles "a threshing floor, pounded by his many strokes and brought to heat when the grains are threshed inside her."
Since Hildegard was sworn to a vow of celibacy, it's assumed that her knowledge of such matters was based upon intimate conversations that she shared with married women from the communities surrounding her monastery.
---Excerpt from Prevention Natural Healing Guide 2000
My editor told me to get a little sex in here. :-D
KINO | The German Film Magazine
...And Margarethe v. Trotta brings the life of an extraordinary woman of the Middle Ages to the big screen. The Abbess Hildegard von Bingen!
The section of featuring this film 18:40 - 25:55 If you watch the whole film magazine, I recommend Wicky the Viking.
Celestial Marriage
He knew Her not at first
then quickly all at once
mercurial and blinding
the light from the matter
they endured together
staying in right relations
for two days and three nights
in intense experience
holding the tension of
the primal material
allowing alchemy
to transform two to one
- mysterious coitus -
fired then cooled in water
bathed in the awful truth
ready for their union
earth/spirit sacrifice
coming forth face to face
willing to die or worse
lying in the tensions
of painful opposites
together forever
and implacably dead
gone gone and decomposed
alive only to process
when the first morning dew
settles around the ring
and heaven we will bring
a new born Lunar Queen
and Sovereign Solar King
Re:Spiritual Alchemy: Cibation 6 Months, 3 Weeks ago
Karma: 1
Russell Peters Names
Energy of Identity
Rob B's newsletter talked about self transformation and choosing a name this week. Since I had considered changing one of mine in the past, I thought I would add this here for a little intermission:
Names of God
***
Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology Newsletter suggests that since life relentlessly asks us to change, maybe we should get used to it
or better yet actually develop a fondness for it
or even better yet jump in and start collaborating with it
Would you consider the possibility of adding a new name? There's no need to renounce what you have now. Simply integrate a fresh moniker into the ones you already have.
Why?
In some spiritual traditions, devotees must not only perfect their faith and master an understanding of holy texts. They also undertake an arduous process of self-transformation that requires them to retrain their hearts and minds to see things from God's point of view. If they work hard enough and long enough, they ultimately earn the right to undergo a formal initiation. During this rite of passage, each devotee is given a new name to consecrate the expanded worldview he or she has embodied.
In my opinion, every one of you reading these words has, simply by virtue of living your daily life during this time of rapid mutation, done work that was previously the sole province of hermetic religious disciples.
In other words, you have earned the right to receive a sacred initiation that will usher you into the pantheon of bodhisattvas, avatars, gurus, saints, adepts, and wizards. And you richly deserve to be blessed with a fresh spiritual name or title.
Since there is no one more qualified than you to perform your initiation and bestow your new designation, I suggest it's time for a Do-It-Yourself ritual. Only you know how best to do it. Have fun!
Below, to whet your imagination, I provide a list of possible names and titles you might want to steal for your own. Or make one up out of the rich frontiers of your imagination. If you're so moved, tell me what fresh, hot name you choose. Simply go to www.freewillastrology.com and click on "Email Rob."
Thunderbird
Seriously Delirious
Dreamweaver
Fierce Epiphany
White Knight
Wild Face
Kiss Genius
Love Bomb
Neuromancer
Soul-Maker
Fire-Licker
Fizzy Nectar
Rowdy Gusto
Silky Banger
Mango Sucker
Wobble Binder
Wish Crayon
Gut Stormer
Goal Thwacker
Bobbie or Barbie Nostradamus
Phoenix Nectar
Pearly Thunder
Dragon Gumbo
Super Mirror
Bliss Mutator
Sweaty Meditator
Shadow Wrestler
Sacred Boinker
Righteous Harvester
Blooming Ha-Ha
Rumbler
Chthonic Riddler
Painkiller
Blue Thunder
Earthshaker
Slow Wild Heat
Thumper
Matador
Storm Tamer
Fire Keeper
Vajra (a Sanskrit word meaning
both "thunderbolt" and "diamond"
Puzzle-Master Supreme
Molten Ruby
Mucho Gusto Coco Loco
Flux
Splashy
Hooch
Lynx
Whirlygig
Buddha Christ
Athena Shakti
Simply liking a name is not a good enough reason to pick it for your baby. There are half a dozen other things you should consider.
Meanings of the 99 Names of Allah - Translation / Tafseer English explanation. The correct meanings of Asma` Allah Al-Husna.
Allah has the Names which indicate perfection. So call Him with these Names and leave out those who commit blasphemy by calling Him with nonbefitting names. They will be punished for what they did (calling Allah with improper names, or calling others with the Names of Allah) Verse 180 of Suratul-`A^raf.
Allah must not be attributed except with attributes of perfection. Any names that does not indicate perfection is not a name of His. For example, it is not accepted to call Allah 'rooh' which means soul or spirit. This word does not signify perfection and is not a name of Allah, because the soul is one of Allah's creation and the name 'rooh' was not mentioned in the Quran or the Hadith. There are other names also that are rejected to be the Names of Allah like Creative Quill, Super Mind ect.
The scholars said that as it is obligatory to believe that Allah is clear of any imperfection, it is also obligatory to believe that Allah's Names are clear of any imperfection. Allah is the exclusive Name of the Creator. It should be known that some of the Names of Allah are exclusive to Him, and others with which other than Allah can be also named. Examples of the exclusive Names are as-Rahman, al-Quddus, al-Khaliq, ar-Razzaq, Malikul-mulk and Dhul-Jalali wal-`Ikram. The Names of Allah must be respected irrespective of the language in which they are expressed.
Re:Spiritual Alchemy: Cibation 6 Months, 2 Weeks ago
Karma: 1
Leonardo Da Vinci
An Artist Navigating Both Worlds
by a Different Path
The attainment of enlightenment need not be strictly through religion or spirituality. Individuals can find the very depts of themselves by the continual practice and sole concentration of their great art by drawing from the well within themselves. Such is the goal of the alchemist. They are working on their art, experiencing the worlds and themselves as they attain greater connections and understandings. I believe that Leonardo da Vinci is one man who attained this great understanding through art.
Inspired by ancient Greeks and Romans, Leonardo did not limit the truth of what was available to him to only those writings. He was also not restricted to what was available in the Bible or the interpretations of the times. Like many others, Leonardo experienced truth by observing nature and systematically recorded solutions to scientific questions in his sketchbook. This was considered somewhat bizarre by many, since this led to working day and night sketching cadavers of (former)criminals as they rotted in his studies. This way, he paid attention to even the very smallest of details including capillaries and hidden parts of the skeleton. He had no refrigeration or way to preserve the bodies, so this was achieved under quite ghastly conditions.
Da Vinci is know as one of the greatest painters of the Italian Renaissance, although there are not many paintings attributed to him. He is famous for his paintings of The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa which hung over Napolian's bed at one point in history. Leonardo Da Vinci experienced the worlds through his art as captured in his notebook entries and sketches of his studies, containing much of his true genius.
Many differences about Leonardo continue to come out through his work. The Mona Lisa,for example, is known to be a much different type of portrait than the other examples of the time. Not only does she have her mysterious smile, but she is placed against a background of nature rather than a flat background. This portrait is studied for its many nuances including the smokiness and the mysterious bridge in the background. Many facets of this portrait continue to be pondered today.
Da Vinci was certainly obviously different from other people at the time in many ways. For one thing, he was left handed and made no attempt to hide this. This was back in the days when it was "sinister" to be left handed and thought to be a mark of the devil. Da Vinci not only continued to use the left hand, but wrote backwards, from right to left. His left handedness is thought to be part of the gateway that allowed him to see differently than many others. It is pondered that he was literally drawing on a different side of the brain. Some see da Vinci's accomplishments as seeing beyond the ordinary.
Leonardo da Vinci was able to use art as a way to many other disciplines. By studying each part of a machine and understanding it, for example, he could improve the machine or design it better. He sketched what he saw. He observed and made many notes. He made many important scientific discoveries using the technique through his art. There are some things that seem conflicting about his discoveries. Although he was a vegetarian and lover of animals and despised war, he invented many advanced weapons of the times. He also drew up strategic layouts and battle plans that are still marveled at to this day.
Leonardo has many special traits attributed to him. He studied and incredible array of sciences including anatomy, zoology, botany, geology, optics, aerodynamics and hydrodynamics. Engineers concluded that the bridges he designed would have indeed been stable had they been built.
Leonardo da Vinci displays the many marks of having attained true inner wealth on the inside as well as out. People observed him as being super intelligent as well as strikingly handsome. His singing voice was fine. His acts of mercy included buying caged animals at the market just for the purpose of setting them free.
Leonardo has left this world many great things and beautiful art that continues to be a wonder to this day. Perhaps Leonardo da Vinci was another enlightened individual who found his true gold though his connections and study with nature and art. Perhaps this attainment of gold came through as a great love for all things captured in sketches and writings to the tiniest of details with passion for the divine order of the great universe.
Vitruvian Man The Vitruvian Man remains the proportions for the human body, as proposed by Vitruvius, and created by Leonardo da Vinci around the year 1492 as recorded in one of his journals.
THE VITRUVIAN MAN
Excerpt online: It seems that the drawing, or better the original design as explained by Vitruvius, contains many layers of geometry and symbolism that concord in one single image delineating the proportions of the human body. This idea of 'reason' governing 'form' was the fundamental theme of the Renaissance and is traceable in best architecture and art in general. It would not be odd if Leonardo had a close contact with scholars that spread the source of the Renaissance thought which didn't distinguish between art, science, and magick in terms of conflicting or opposing discourses as is the case today. www.aiwaz.net/vitruvian-man/a6
***
Inventions
Leonardo da Vinci: Science,Engineering & Inventions
"There may not be in the world an example of another genius so universal, so incapable of fulfilment, so full of yearning for the infinite, so naturally refined, so far ahead of his own century and the following centuries."
-Hippolyte Taine
"Because of the multiplicity of interests that spurred him to pursue every field of knowledge ... Leonardo can be considered, quite rightly, to have been the universal genius par excellence, and with all the disquieting overtones inherent in that term. Man is as uncomfortable today, faced with a genius, as he was in the 16th century. Five centuries have passed, yet we still view Leonardo with awe."
-Liana Bortolon
Leonardo recognized that levers and gears, when applied properly, could accomplish astonishing tasks. Gears were at the heart of nearly all his inventions, from the crane to the helicopter to the automatic turnspit.
Like any rational human, Leonardo abhorred war -- he called it "beastly madness" -- but since Renaissance Italy was constantly at war he couldn't avoid it. He designed numerous weapons, including missiles, multi-barreled machine guns, grenades, mortars, and even a modern-style tank. He drew the line, however, with his plans for an underwater breathing device, which he refused to reveal, saying that men would likely use it for "evil in war."
***
The Last Supper
The Last Supper a secret visual journey through Leonardo da Vinci's famous Fresco. Where the Grail, Excalibur, Templar Knights, the face of God, and mother and child are revealed. Taken for the soon to be released feature film; "The Da Vinci Papers". In this journey you will also encounter Angles, and many ancient symbols of mystical origin
The Last Supper is one of Leonardo's best-known and worst-preserved pieces. Doomed from the start by Leonardo's experimental technique, the mural began to deteriorate even before the artist's death. Within 50 years it was almost indecipherable, and it was repainted twice during the 18th century. Its suffering continued through the 19th century, first at the hands of Napoleon's soldiers, then from the monks who actually cut a door through the bottom. After miraculously surviving the Allied bombs of World War II, the beleaguered mural's luck began to change. Restorers discovered that much of the original work remained, and it is once again a joy to behold.
Mona Lisa
The Mona Lisa is widely considered the greatest portrait of all time. It appears in countless advertisements, has inspired poetry, sculpture, forgeries, and theft. But seriously, why? The painting is small, only 30 x 21 inches, the color is somber, the background seems desolate and eerie, and the subject isn't anyone historically significant. So, what is all the brouhaha about? Is it really all about her mystifying gaze and a quirky smile? Well, let's take a closer look.
People just can't stop talking about that Mona Lisa. Why is she smiling? What's her story? Some people think her mysterious grin meant she was secretly pregnant, but that would be unlikely in conjunction with another theory: that Mona Lisa is actually a self-portrait of Leonardo! X-rays of the painting and close comparison with drawings of Leonardo suggest that this may actually be true.
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