We have pantheons within us. - John Opsopaus.
Vignettes: A scattering of ideas, musings, situations. My world of late has been such. Not great focus, a bit overwhelmed by the news of the world. I have been doing mostly physical art, pointillism to be exact. My Beloved thinks me mad for the hours I spend with the infinity of little dots, but it is soothing, and I am creating something new. I plan to move to canvas and airbrush this week, coming full cycle for the last 26 years. Renewal.
Spending bunches of times with our grandson as we can in between work. Ah, now that is a centering. I never imagined having a grandchild, but the universe conspires otherwise, and thankfully so. He is absolutely fascinated with facial hair (I am the only one of the extended family who has), therefore I am growing my beard out for the first time in many years to what seems his delight.
I hope you enjoy this entry!
Gwyllm
The Varanasi Vimana
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On The Menu:
Linkage
Talking with the Dead
The Bees
Erik Satie: Du Fils Des Étoiles
Art, Poetry, Music
Absinthe
Erik Satie: Pièces Froides (Reinbert De Leeuw)
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Linkage:
Beware the Clockwork Daemon (Thanks to Doug for this!)
Talking with the Dead:
Older Self - Younger Self
When you dream of the Dead, are they visiting you? The other night a dear friend came to visit in one of my dreams. (He passed 7 years ago.) We sat and talked, mulling over our time together when we were both alive together. We talked about the present, the gulf between the living & the dead.
The journey from joy to grief is but a short one. And the obverse is also true. I have grieved more than a few deaths in the years past, and I still find grief welling up from time to time. My friend’s visit brought me joy. To have another conversation with him once again, was stellar. He was a poet, and a companion on the Poison Path.
I pray we talk again. If not here, then in the Western Lands.
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The Bees….
What stories do the Bees tell each other before they go to sleep at night? What dreams do they have? We have hordes of them here. Mary’s garden pulls them in. I leave patches of clover flowers in the yard so they can feed their babies.
The bee above is one that I designed years ago. What got me started on bee symbology was the Merovingian dynasty in Southern France. It is a long story, full of tales from Palestine during Roman rule, to the founding of the dynasty. The story runs through the Cathars, the Albigensian Crusade, the Templars, and secret societies since.
Of course, we could go back to the Melissa’s/Bee Priestesses of ancient Greece. The lineage may well run back into the Mesolithic and further back. After stumbling on the symbology all those years back, I have found it cropping up everywhere.
But, back to Bees. First of all, they like Beer. Weird, but they do. I have had more than a few buzz my afternoon tipple. We talk to them on the frequent. Not talk down, but to them. I have had them buzzing me in curiosity, or in the hunt for moisture on hot days, and if I calmly ask them to desist, they do. Mary talks to them about the flowers and the plants.
So, they dream as we do, or perhaps along similar lines. They particularly like to take naps in flowers. We have observed this behaviour many times.
Bees have been here for 130 million years. Think of the accumulated wisdom in the hives. It is vast. As humans, we see all in our form of consciousness, on our terms. Every plant, every insect, every creature has its own viewpoints of consciousness. None above, none below. Each brings something to the shared beingness of our planet.
Bees dream, we dream, the planet, she dreams. All is beauty, all is life.
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Art, Poetry, Music:
Art, Poetry, Music, Storytelling if done right is perhaps the deepest and oldest forms of magick. When a person performs the Rites of Creating, they are manifesting (first within) a new world, or world view, never experienced before in such a way.
It is not unlike any of the Great Rites but shares all of the hallmarks. One prepares, orientates and cast a circle, i.e. imagines an outcome. One shifts consciousness, observes inner and outer harmonies through the Great Work. There is ritual throughout. There is summoning and opening up to greater realities. There is completion, which is the closing of the circle.
There is or should be always an element of Play in this. Don’t take yourself or your art to seriously. With the arts, we get to hold up the mirror. Don’t be afraid of being seen as the clown or the jester as they are the ones who can tell the emperor that he has no clothes, or that it is time for the great change.
If one performs the Rites correctly, the world shifts. A new view and a new path are shown to be possible. This is power, not power over, but power shared. Your visions can shift the vision of all of those around you.
Create frequently, share your work!
(art piece: The Guide, Seraphim
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On Absinthe:
Paul Marie Verlaine, 1844 - 1896
“For me my glory is an
Humble ephemeral Absinthe
Drunk on the sly, with fear of treason
and if I drink it no longer,
it is for a good reason.”
I have been a devotee for many years, going back 48 or so. I don’t drink it as frequently as I once did, nor in quantities that would be challenging today. We did have some glorious times with it, I have to say.
This is my Absinthe fountain that my beloved gave me along with glasses that she also obtained. I have investigated many, many varieties of Absinthe, from homemade (interesting) to Spanish, Swiss, and regional takes from France.
Most Absinthes on the market are weak compared to the pre-ban variety. I use a Tincture of Wormwood to bring it back up to snuff. My late departed friend Dale Pendell experimented with Wormwood whole. It was indeed an interesting experiment… he talks a bit about it here (amongst other gems!) Dale Pendell Interview
Pre-Pandemic we had many gatherings. Winter Solstice has always been a big event for us. A gathering of friends, loved ones, companions on the path.
Usually, the main gathering at Solstice would end around midnight, or slightly after. Many of our guest would leave, but a few would stay on. Those few would gather at our dining room table as I would bring out the Absinthe Fountain, the spoons, the glassware, coasters and the special sugar developed for Absinthe. A variety of Absinthes would be presented as well as the vial of Wormwood Tincture.
One does not drink Absinthe in haste, but slowly, allowing the wormwood to accumulate in one’s system and for the alcohol to disperse a bit. Good conversation is paramount, helping to fuel the evening along. As the dawn approached, the wormwood would effuse all with light. Sheer wonder when achieved. My formula is thus: 1 glass of Absinthe per hour/with Wormwood Tincture. Continue from Midnight to 5 or 6 in the morning. Greet the coming day.
Amazingly, I have never had a hangover from Absinthe. Nor have I gone mad like the old wife’s tales told by those who condemned it back when.
It is always my pleasure to introduce friends to this delightful concoction.
Your speed of course may vary.
Octave Fere and Jules Cuvain
Absinthe Song
I.
Greetings magic essence
Greetings, the Verb of liqueurs!
Spirit of the mystic torch
Steel hardener for the hearts
Grass of the flesh! Right of the soul
Your nourishing stream flows
You, are you not the flame
When wine is only the blood?
II.
In your changing nuance
The weak or the strong, see
The color of hope
Or the frosting of death;
The green of the earth
Or the bitter tint of the seas,
A paradise of light
Or the glimmer of hell!
III.
Oh you, exterminator
Of weak imbeciles!
You remain our protector,
We, love the stormy waves.
Disrupting our brains;
We provoke a shivery death,
Consume us to the bone!
IV.
For our senses delight,
Opium, hashish and nectar,
You are the sky in this life,
Whatever the other is later!
If the sky opens on our heads,
We put absinthe to our lips:
She will make her prophet
The drinker of Muhammad’s water.
To absinthe
Three times holy,
There must be a divine cult.
To her glory,
To drink her,
I open up and give her my heart!
- Translated by Peter Schaf for Absinthe.se, 2011
An Absinthe Label I made for a friend up north who was doing home distilling. He produced 4 varieties. Good Times!
Thanks for visiting!
G
Gods Of Divine Inebriation - Gwyllm Llwydd