yup, there, i've said it.

let's go. my love. now that i've let go. what i know. what i need to know. on a need to know basis. trust. love. faith, trust pixie dust. i've confessed my fears. expressed my desires. what i need is now what i want. love. friendship. flowers. a garden. kitties. babies. to love and take care of those i love. support the man i love in what he does and make it better. to not think so much. trust him. trust time. trust myself. love. love. love. everything in its time and place.

why has my cousin changed her gmail status from "flaming catharsis" to "minion"? this is the last quesiton i have this evening. everything else is answered.


Today's Horoscope Leo
Hidden fears and repressed pain can come to the surface and have a positive impact on your closest relationships. This won't happen accidentally; it will require intention on your part. You must take the first step in order to give voice to what is holding you back. Keep your communication focused on what you know to be real, for speculative thinking can lead you astray. Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Manuever

Refusing what you are given
You want things to be the old way
Resisting the revolutions
Changes are coming anyway

Unable to thrive to change
The mask doesn't veil anymore
Strip yourself of all your riddles
Do not reject all the lessons

You're not a child anymore
You're not your former self
And what's reality now?
The tools you've used to get by
Aren't the keys to your tomorrows

The wind is blowing
The sea is shifting
The storm is rumbling
Darkness descending
The gales are sweeping
The waves threatening
Horizon is grim
Tempest arriving





Hey skipper, look ahead, navigate
Hey skipper, look ahead, navigate
Hey skipper, use your head, manoeuvre
Hey skipper, look ahead, navigate

Oh the winds can blow but
your sails can defeat it
The storms may rumble,
we all know your hull is fit

That sea is rough now
Mind you do not slip
Could destroy your ship
Put a nail in it

When darkness descends,
Your radar will be your sight
The waves may unleash,
your mast will stay standing high

You are the captain
Do you feel equipped?
You have now taken
The helm of your ship.

Stereolab

i had a dream...

i had a dream...
Originally uploaded by zenog.

In the Age of the Old Soul

I do not choose to dream; there cometh on me
Some strange old lust for deeds.
As to the nerveless hand of some old warrior
The sword-hilt or the war-worn wonted helmet
Brings momentary life and long-fled cunning,
So to my soul grown old -
Grown old with many a jousting, many a foray,
Grown old with namy a hither-coming and hence-going -
Till now they send him dreams and no more deed;
So doth he flame again with might for action,
Forgetful of the council of elders,
Forgetful that who rules doth no more battle,
Forgetful that such might no more cleaves to him
So doth he flame again toward valiant doing.

Ezra Pound

Japanese plum

Japanese plum
Originally uploaded by hamapenguin.

spring is springing. rather early it looks like!!

oh here we go...

You may not be able to enjoy yourself today until you finish your work. However, don't look for a parent figure to tell you what to do. There is no threat of punishment, but if you don't do what you must, no one else will either. Be sensible and keep to yourself as long as you are making progress.



January 29, 2007
The Impossible Dream
Right In Front Of You

When it comes to the things we want, there always seems to be an endless list. No matter how many times we get something off that list, we add new things to replace it. In life, this drama of wanting and getting and wanting is all part of the dance. The things we want motivate us to get up and get them.

And yet, at the same time, we can torment ourselves with our wanting, especially when we want something we can't have or can't find. It is in cases like these that it might be fruitful to entertain the idea that maybe what you really want is right in front of you. Maybe you are using this desire you can't fulfill to distract you from truly engaging the blessings you already have. It may seem like that doesn't make sense, yet we do it all the time. It may be easier to see in other people than to see it in ourselves. We have all heard our friends wishing they were more this or less that, and looking at them we see clearly that they are everything they are wishing they were. We know people who have wonderful partners and yet envy you yours. We wish we could give these people a look at their situations from our perspective so that they could see that what they want really is right in front of them.

It's not too far-fetched to consider that we might be victims of the same folly. It can be scary to have what we want. We get caught up in the chase and forget to enjoy the beauty right in front of us-like a child who never wants the toy she has in her hand but always the one just out of her reach. Take a moment today to consider the many things you are holding in the palm of your hand and how you might best play with them.

January 26, 2007
Unexpected Enlightenment
You Never Know Who You'll Meet

Our individual journeys take us into many unexpected situations where we encounter a wide variety of people-some quite like ourselves and some very different. We cannot anticipate these meetings, but we can make the most of them when they take place. When we are courteous as a matter of course and open-minded in our assessment of the individuals whose lives briefly touch our own, we are more apt to stumble upon surprising gems of wisdom that open our eyes to new worlds of possibility. Every person we meet can affect us profoundly, just as every situation we find ourselves in can teach us something new.

To fully embrace this fact, it is essential that we acknowledge that everyone is valuable in their own way and capable of expanding our horizons. Since we never know when we will happen upon those individuals who will unveil truths before us, we should extend to all people the same generous level of kindness, care, compassion, and understanding. When we assume everyone we meet is special and treat them as such, we can develop a strong rapport quickly. By making an effort to adopt a positive attitude toward others at all times, we ensure that our emotions do not blind us to wisdom that may be lurking in difficult or distressing situations. We are accordingly receptive to knowledge that comes to us in the form of examples, advice, and direct teaching.

These brief relationships ultimately have the potential to enrich our lives in a very concrete way. But the wisdom we gain is proportional to the attention we pay to the world around us. The responsibility is on us to maintain a state of awareness that allows us to recognize when we are in the presence of someone consciously or unconsciously in possession of knowledge that will change us significantly. When we are cognizant of the potential for unexpected enlightenment, we make a habit of turning strangers into friends, thus ensuring that we are never without a font of wisdom from which to draw.

Anemone center

Anemone center
Originally uploaded by David Lev.

goodnight wishes. goodnight sleep

I have traveled far, these twenty years and six, and have arrived where I am now. The Lion Hunter. Chasing down the Sun. Calling out His Name. I speak not sense, the Truth. What cannot be proven but is Known. My ways as skeptic, Doubting Thomas, have proven futile. When I know my nature. I know my true purpose. Music maker, siren, artist, oracle, scribe. Let me be kept in perfect safety. Let all those who know me, respect me, my insights, though at times they may appear to be balderdash. I must remember and hold in high esteem, My Purpose, the Right Way, the Goodness I know is righteous. Love. Kindness. Patience. Forgiveness. Blessings on this earth. Blessings on this house. Blessings. I have been kept, protected, shielded for this purpose. To go forth and be an example of strength, temperance and grace.

Learning, remembering, holding me dear to me as I do my child. You will all be safe and protected my loves. My children. Christopher, will have a beautiful day. Beautiful one, I will see you so very soon! There are so many good influcences which will come to protect you. They are there even now looking out for you. Blessed daughters. Blessed baby. Brilliant open love. Big hearted beauty. It will all be perfect if you only BELIEVE.

Relax the tension. Release the stress. Slow down. Take your time. For it is YOUR TIME. This is when Joy is discovered. When she rises from her deep and solemn slumber and remembers her true nature. Raises a sparkling hand to the sky and offers her gifts freely to the world.

Disarm them, Joy, with your Smile.

Droplet

Droplet
Originally uploaded by NaturesPixel.

look at this!

father's service

wonderful hooded creature. like another angel i know...










father's service
Originally uploaded by stoneth.

(homeless self described minister, sf, 12/13/06)

the hounds are muscular and move with purpose. leashed; they seem to propel him. he is thin; he drifts and jerks. his movement is some witness of a condition that brings him an ssi check each month. he's off to a cannabis club for treatment. he's just been panhandling downtown.

he lives camped out at sunset beach some 6 miles from where we stand downtown. he says he's a minister for the "whole earth church of christ." i ask him where that is. he steps back, raises his hands: "you're looking at it."

says he doesn't preach much; he just tries to help the people he comes across. says people need help; it's hard "out here."

says "i've been in father's service for quite some time now."

("news" about shows etc.)

okay then...

The Source

Seal of Solomon

In Medieval Jewish, Islamic and Christian legends, the Seal of Solomon was a magical signet ring said to have been possessed by King Solomon, which variously gave him the power to command demons (or jinni), or to speak with animals. In one of the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, an evil djinn is described as being imprisoned in a copper bottle for 1,800 years by a lead seal stamped by the ring. Other, later books (Pseudomonarchia Daemonum) manage to fit far more demons in the bottle.

One simple form of the Seal

In some versions of the story, the ring was made of brass and iron, carved with the Name of God, and set with four jewels. In later versions the ring simply bore the symbol now called the Star of David (hexagram), often within a circle, usually with the two triangles interlaced (hence chiral) rather than intersecting. Often the gaps are filled with dots or other symbols. Other versions have it as a pentagram or other more complicated figures. Works on demonology typically depict the pattern of the seal as being two concentric circles, with a number of mystical sigils between the inner and outer circles, and various more-or-less complex geometric shapes within the inner circle.

In one Arabic story [1] it is claimed that the demon Sakhr deceived one of Solomon's wives into giving him the ring. Sakhr then ruled in his stead for forty days (or years, in some versions) while Solomon wandered the country in poverty. However eventually Sakhr threw the ring into the sea, where it was swallowed by a fish, caught by a fisherman, and served to Solomon. As punishment Sakhr was made to build a great mosque for Solomon.

However the earliest of such stories is dated to more than a thousand years after the time of Solomon, and the story of the fish, in particular, bears a strong resemblance to Herodotus' tale of Polycrates.

A new theory about what was actually the Seal of Solomon is to be found in the French book "Le Sceau de Salomon, secret perdu de la Bible" (The Seal of Solomon, lost key of the Bible) by Janik Pilet. According to him, it was a source for holy inspiration used by several authors of the Old and New Testaments, and its drawing is described in the first text in the Holy Bible i.e. the creation in six days. See [2]

Alchemy

In alchemy, the combination of the fire and water symbols (up and down triangles) is known as the Seal of Solomon. The symbol is representative of the combination of opposites and transmutation.

Iris Iridescence Butterfly Green Blue

Iridescence is an optical phenomenon characterized as the property of surfaces in which hue changes according to the angle from which the surface is viewed (as may be seen of soap bubbles and butterfly wings).

Iridescence is caused by multiple reflections from multi-layered, semi-transparent surfaces in which phase shift and interference of the reflections modulates the incident light (by amplifying or attenuating some frequencies more than others). This process is the functional analog of selective wavelength attenuation as seen with the Fabry-Pérot interferometer.

The word is derived in part from the Greek word iris (pl. irides), meaning "rainbow", which in turn derives from the goddess Iris of Greek mythology, who is the personification of the rainbow and acted as a messenger of the gods.

Because the apparent image changes with the angle of observation, iridescence is not reproduced by conventional still image photography; however, it can be reproduced by holography (which includes phase information).

Kokopelli

Kokopelli is a fertility deity, usually depicted as a humpbacked flute player (often with a huge phallus and antenna-like protrusions on his head), who has been venerated by many Native American cultures in the Southwestern United States. Like most fertility deities, Kokopelli presides over both childbirth and agriculture. He is also a trickster god and represents the spirit of music.

Because of his influence over human sexuality, Kokopelli is often depicted with an inhumanly large phallus. Among the Ho-Chunk, this penis is detachable, and he sometimes leaves it in a river in order to have sex with girls who bathe there. Among the Hopi, Kokopelli carries unborn children on his back and distributes them to women (for this reason, young girls are often deathly afraid of him). He often takes part in rituals relating to marriage, and Kokopelli himself is sometimes depicted with a consort, a woman called Kokopelmana by the Hohokam and Hopi.^[1]

Kokopelli also presides over the reproduction of game animals, and for this reason, he is often depicted with animal companions such as rams and deer. Other common creatures associated with him include sun-bathing animals such as snakes, or water-loving animals like lizards and insects. Because of this, some scholars believe that Kokopelli's flute is actually a blowgun (or started out as one), but this is a minority opinion.

In his domain over agriculture, Kokopelli's fluteplaying chases away the Winter and brings about Spring. Many tribes, such as the Zuni, also associate Kokopelli with the rains. He frequently appears with Paiyatamu, another flautist, in depictions of maize-grinding ceremonies. Some tribes say he carries seeds and babies on his back.

From approximately the 1990s onward, his image has appeared on neo-hippy artifacts such as clothing and amulets and as a tattoo, minus the extraordinarily large phallus.

Mt. Ararat - 27/365

Mt. Ararat - 27/365
Originally uploaded by Chris Wilder-Smith.

Mount Ararat (Turkish: Ağrı Dağı, Armenian: Արարատ, Kurdish: Agirî, Greek: Ἀραράτ, Persian: آرارات‎, Russian: Арарат, Georgian: არარატის, Azeri: Ağrıdağ, Hebrew: אֲרָרָט‎, Tiberian Hebrew: ʾĂrārāṭ) is the tallest peak in modern Turkey. This snow-capped, dormant volcanic cone is located in the Iğdır Province, near the northeast corner of Turkey, 16 km west of the Iranian and 32 km south of the Armenian border. The name Ağrı in Turkish is said to be derived from Agir in Kurdish meaning fire [1], referring to Ararat being a volcano. (çiyayê agirî in Kurdish [2]). But this derivation is uncertain, since there is no historical record of when the volcano was last active and which tribes lived in the vicinity at that time.

Technically, Ararat is a stratovolcano, formed of lava flows and pyroclastic ejecta. A smaller (3,896 m) cone, Mount "Sis", also known as "Little Ararat", rises from the same base, southeast of the main peak (Armenians sometimes call the higher peak "Masis"). The lava plateau stretches out between the two pinnacles. The last activity on the mountain was a major earthquake in July 1840 centered around the Ahora Gorge, a northeast trending chasm that drops 1,825 metres (6,000 ft) from the top of the mountain.

The Book of Genesis identifies the "mountains of Ararat" as the resting place of Noah's Ark after the Great Flood described there. The asteroid 96205 Ararat is named in the mountain's honour.

Quotes and Horoscope of the Day

It's not living alone if you keep a rifle under the bed.
- Chuck Palahniuk

Adventure is just bad planning.
- Roald Amundsen

The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none.
- Thomas Carlyle

You are a real champion when it comes to demonstrating your love, but today something may be in your way. It's not that you are on the wrong track; it's just that your timing doesn't feel quite right. Your frustrations won't last, however annoying, so take them in stride until they dissipate.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Nuit, Goddess of Thelema

Nuit (alternatively Nu, Nut, or Nuith) is the speaker in the first Chapter of the Book of the Law, the sacred text of Thelema written in 1904 by Aleister Crowley.

Goddess of Thelema

Within this system, she is one-third of the triadic cosmology, along with Hadit (her masculine counterpart), and Ra-Hoor-Khuit, the Crowned and Conquering Child. She has several titles, including the Queen of Infinite Space, Our Lady of the Stars, and Lady of the Starry Heaven. Nuit represents the infinitely-expanded circle whose circumference is unmeasurable and whose center is everywhere (whereas Hadit is the infinitely small point within the core of every single thing). According to Thelemic doctrine, it is the interaction between these two cosmic principles that creates the manifested universe.

Some quotes from the First Chapter of Liber Legis:

• "Every man and every woman is a star." ^[1]
• "Come forth, o children, under the stars, & take your fill of love!" ^[2]
• "For I am divided for love's sake, for the chance of union." ^[3]
• "The word of the Law is Θελημα. Who calls us Thelemites will do no wrong, if he look but close into the word. For there are therein Three Grades, the Hermit, and the Lover, and the man of Earth. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." ^[4]
• "For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect." ^[5]
• "Invoke me under my stars! Love is the law, love under will. [...]" ^[6]
• "I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice." ^[7]

In The Equinox of the Gods (ch. 7), Crowley writes of Nuit in comparison to Christianity:

"Nuit cries: "I love you," like a lover; when even John reached only to the cold impersonal proposition "God is love." She woos like a mistress; whispers "To me !" in every ear; Jesus, with needless verb, appeals vehemently to them "that labour and are heavy laden." Yet She who can promise in the present, says: "I give unimaginable joys on earth," making life worth while; "certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death," the electric light Knowledge for the churchyard corpsecandle Faith, making life fear-free, and death itself worth while: "peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy," making mind and body at ease that soul may be free to transcend them when It will."

The following are quotes from Crowley's commentary to Liber Legis [1]:

• "Note that Heaven is not a place where Gods Live; Nuit is Heaven, itself."
• "Nuit is All that which exists, and the condition of that existence. Hadit is the Principle which causes modifications in this Being. This explains how one may call Nuit Matter, and Hadit Motion"
• "It should be evident that Nuit obtains the satisfaction of Her Nature when the parts of Her Body fulfill their own Nature. The sacrament of life is not only so from the point of view of the celebrants, but from that of the divinity invoked."

Mythology

In Egyptian mythology, Nuit was the sky goddess. She is the daughter of Shu and Tefnut and was one of the Ennead.

The sun god Ra entered her mouth after the sun set in the evening and was reborn from her vulva the next morning. She also swallowed and rebirthed the stars.

She was a goddess of death, and her image is on the inside of most sarcophagi. The pharaoh entered her body after death and was later resurrected.

In art, Nuit is depicted as a woman wearing no clothes, covered with stars and supported by Shu; opposite her (the sky), is her husband, Seb (the Earth). With Seb, she was the mother of Osiris, Horus, Isis, Set, and Nephthys.

fairy seat

fairy seat
Originally uploaded by sapaho.

queen fairy princess

girl meets boy

girl meets boy
Originally uploaded by Violentz.

Le feu aux champs

Le feu aux champs
Originally uploaded by mmarsupilami.

one day when you're ready. to blave.

the agora hills incident

http://www.theagorahillsincident.com

Agoura, CA

Grant & Weber

making the gods work for you

Making the Gods Work for You
From "Making the Gods Work for You - The Astrological Language of the Psyche" by Caroline Casey
Posted by: DailyOM

VISIONARY ACTIVIST ASTROLOGY

I am convinced that the universe is under the control of a loving purpose. And that in the struggle for righteousness man has cosmic companionship. Behind the harsh appearance of the world there is a benign power.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Think of your life as a spiritual detective novel. Each aspect of your life, especially the really quirky, maverick parts, are clues to your task, your destiny, and your gift to the world. Astrology invites us to see life as a web of myriad meaningful patterns. Those moments when we apprehend and perceive patterns give rise in us to feelings of reverence and awe (ah!) - two very healthy attitudes that have been the central foundation of great civilizations, but are sadly lacking in our own. Gandhi spoke to this point when asked what he thought of Western civilization, by replying that he thought it was a good idea. Reverence, awe, and positive spiritual intrigue are the primary dynamic qualities that the language of astrology seeks to awaken in you.

Entertain the possibility that you are an undercover agent parachuting down to this beautiful planet in its time of need. Astrology is a language that catalyzes your memory of your mission. Each of us has some crucial task to perform in the Grand Intrigue, a task that will not only transform us personally, but also transform the entire climate of culture. By responding to astrology's invitation to participate consciously in evolution, we cultivate the infinite capacities of being fully human. Our affinities, those things to which we are strongly attracted, lead us to our gift, and hence to our way of serving the larger community. We can then give a gift to the world that could be given by no other; we can do a work or work a magic that could be effected by no other. The astrological language embodies a world view in which each of us is honored and cherished as a necessary evolutionary experiment, and is encouraged to bloom. When we bloom we become generous and vice versa.

The Lakota saying O Matake Oyasin, for all my relations, defines community in the largest sense, to include all of creation. Through this saying the Lakota remind us that all our actions want to honor the spirit in all things - bugs microbes, rocks, animals, plants, planets. Magical kinship should be encouraged at all times, for it is what makes life bearable.

Some styles of spiritual practice arise from the premise that the world is merely a seductive illusion to be transcended through detachment. There is not a lot of room for humor in this approach, for this is serious business, a kind of goal-oriented, solo, M.B.A. approach to enlightenment. Down to Gehenna, or up to the throne, he travels the fastest who travels alone, says Rudyard Kipling, speaking for those who value speed and expediency. (But is it the most interesting fun possible?) If you truly adhered to that philosophical strategy, you probably would not be reading this now, because the orientation of this book is that life is to be embraced as an ally to be transformed rather than transcended. We want to become completely involved in the responsibility of shaping reality for the greater good of all our relations. For us potential life enthusiasts, astrology defines the task of being fully human as discerning the pattern of evolutionary intelligence, the liveliest possibility at any moment in time, and aligning with that.

There are two primary Buddhist paths toward enlightenment. Hinayana, which means lesser vehicle, is the path of (strictly) personal salvation, whereas Mahayana, the greater vehicle, is devoted to the salvation of all creation. The astrology of this book aspires to the Mahayana path of full self-cultivation, participation, reverent curiosity, and concern for the well-being of other creatures and thus encourages us to become increasingly conscious players on the team of creation.

This astrology weds spiritual magic and compassionate social activism to create Visionary Activist Astrology, because one without the other does not work. Vision and spirituality by themselves can be too ungrounded, detached, narcissistic, or oblivious. For example, there was a great blooming of interest in metaphysics and
Eastern spiritual practices in Germany in the 1930s, but without sufficient sense of compassionate social responsibility.

Yet activism by itself is too dreary and overworked to be effective. We all know people who are doing noble, hard-working good, yet who have a gray pallor of infighting fatigue, symptomatic of magic deficiency. They are tyrannized by realism, alienated from their innate capacity to draw upon larger resources to heal and revitalize themselves.
Visionary Activism invites us to participate actively in shaping and creating our personal and collective reality by embarking on an adventure of joyful maximum self-cultivation. The third Websters dictionary definition of maximum is an astronomical term for the moment of greatest brilliance of a variable star.

Astrology describes us as living in a Kairos, or fulcrum moment. The future is not fixed (but its not broken, either). Our actions can tip the fulcrum either way, toward the life or death of innumerable communities of creatures living on this planet. By voting with our imaginations, we determine the outcome.

The all-too-visible forces of greed are stupidly lumbering along, dragging everything in their net toward the abyss of planetary systems collapse. But the forces of human ingenuity and artful compassion, allied with the world of the invisibles, are sprightlier, sleeker, and smarter, and they know how to dance away from the chasm. If imaginative people can use their powers to release creation from the net, then the forces of greed can hurtle themselves into the abyss (to be transformed at a later time) without taking the rest of us.

Believe nothing, entertain possibilities.
Astrology is not a belief system; it is a language of the dynamic interplay between our interior life and the exterior world. The astrological language grants us access to the invisible realm it describes, and provides the vocabulary with which we can begin a detailed investigative exploration of the psyche.

There is really no astrological evidence that science is anything more than a medieval superstition, says my fellow astrologer Stephen James. If our curiosity stops at the hurdle of how could this work? we cannot apprehend astrology. Modern, mainstream thinking does not encourage us to entertain the possibility that astrology is useful. You might get busted by the Reality Police, who will pull you over and give you a citation for stepping outside proscribed domains of thinking. The only approach to proscribed knowledge is experimental verification for oneself. Jump across the chasm of doubt, land on the side of the astrological worldview, and see for yourself whether it works. Aspire to be a pragmatic philosopher who is willing to check out anything, as long as it is useful. Test every proposition in the fires of actual experience.

Better to create prophecy than to live predictions.
The word prediction comes from the same root as predicament, which is nearly always something unpleasant; prophecy, however, implies collaboration with the divine in order to co-create the most interesting, ingenious, and loving world possible. Our work together is thus a prophet-sharing venture.

In service to that goal, this book is an invitation to experiment, engage, and form alliances with forces that reside within our psyches. These forces connect us to very real corresponding external sources of support, which we will call gods. We need all the help we can get.

True help is always reciprocal: whatever we help serves us. The word therapy means healing, but its original meaning was to serve the gods. Similarly, the Mayan word for human meant one who owes the gods. We serve the gods, internally and externally, in a dance of reciprocal generosity. When we work for the gods, they work for us.

Through invocative essays, this book aspires to expand your range of intimacy with the god-forces represented by the ten planetary bodies other than the Earth (including the Sun and the Moon). We first summon these gods by simply thinking about them in their myriad mythological guises. In each planetary chapter, you will encounter the gods through myths and stories. You will also be given contemplations and rituals you can enact to collaborate with these creative forces in your life. Ritual brings the myth alive and vitalizes the dance with the archetype through which the specifically nuanced energy of the universe flows. Ritual further allows us to transcend passivity and become active agents in creating our own lives.

Each planet has its own mode of expression, so each chapter will have its own atmosphere, nuance, and structure. Begin by diving into the zodiac and then swim into the planets. If anything seems too complex or the terminology seems too astrological, simply let it was over you. You will absorb and retain what is most useful to you now.

All that is required to profit and prophet fully from this book is a sense of humor and a desire to do good in the world. This is neither a textbook nor a self-help book, but rather a guide to self-cultivation and gleeful participation in the larger world.

Creating this book has been a complete workout for me, and for almost everyone else even remotely involved in the process. Because one of our working principles is that we invoke whatever we think about, the material in this book makes for pretty lively living. Writing each chapter absolutely invoked the myths, virtues and demons of that less thematic force or god.

No less is expected from you, O playful reader, as you embark on this journey in which your soul will travel through obstacles and recollect its destiny in order to become a creator. Together we will stoke the fires of our imaginations and awaken our potential to become co-creators of a new emerging guiding mythos, a synthesis of collective aspiration.

Excerpted from Making the Gods Work for You by Caroline W. Casey. Excerpted by permission of Three Rivers Press, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

templated

Sunday, July 02, 2006

More glorious and more dread than from no fall

Mee though just right, and the fixt Laws of Heav'n
Did first create your Leader, next, free choice,
With what besides, in Counsel or in Fight,
Hath bin achievd of merit, yet this loss
Thus farr at least recover'd, hath much more
Establisht in a safe unenvied Throne
Yeilded with full consent.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

imaginations thus displayed

Powers and Dominions, Deities of Heav'n,
For since no deep within her gulf can hold
Immortal vigor, though opprest and fall'n,
I give not Heav'n for lost.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

And with persuasive accent thus began

I should be much for open war, O Peers,
As not behind in hate, if what was urged
Main reason to persuade immediate war
Did not dissuade me most, and seem to cast
Ominous conjecture on the whole success;
When he who most excels in fact of arms,
In what he counsels and in what excels
Mistrustful, grounds his courage on despair
And utter dissolution, as the scope
Of all his aim, after some dire revenge.

Monday, May 01, 2006

Book I

High on a Throne of Royal State, which far
Outshon the wealth of ORMUS and of IND,
Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand
Showrs on her Kings BARBARIC Pearl and Gold,
Satan exalted sat, by merit rais'd
To that bad eminence; and from despair
Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires
Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue
Vain Warr with Heav'n, and by success untaught
His proud imaginations thus displaid.