standing on the moon, Zelator Werebrock is consoled and harmoniously returns to vehemence (part 1)

My last 45 days have have been an unusually well-documented wildride. I kept a journal the whole time, and took alone space for self-intimacy on the as-needed basis. This wakened restfulness catalyzed meticulous self-cultivation, and unusually strong shocks to my system were integrated instead of being cause for disintegration. It has being enchanted, and in this post I will begin to relate the experience.

I hope you enjoy the music along with the other content.



The night after I wrote the last entry, I was feeling worn-out. Tired with finals, activism and emotional confusion while keeping an expansive, effective personality had been taxing. The exhaustion was all of spring and part of winter, and after reflecting for that last post on May 30th, my awareness grew into how hard I'd been slammed by cumulative stress. It was ostensibly for Beyond Coal's sake, but it was actually for my sake. Working effectively for real justice has kept my passion inflamed since last autumn. Then, I had found something important that was bigger than myself and was suddenly bestowed the energy to split outta a dysfunctional, romantic human partnership. No surprises there, before I could walk my parents already set me on an Earth Warrior path, and since puberty I've adoringly followed in the train of goddess Astraea/Justicia. In a way I didn't understand before, pursuing justice has become as captivatingly meaning-generative as Eros; also, this orientation towards the Lady who is Virgo, Libra and Scorpio, awoke Mars energy in me and I RAGED with it. After campaigning so hard and getting myself burned down along with the enemy, I still had to make this one showing, at this one party, as part of this external manifestation of the Great Work. It came clear that strong-arming my way through the way I had been would require neglecting self-care, as the destination lay some miles outside of town and it was me, exhausted without a ride or a bike. Needing to get there, "How am I going to do this?"


I told myself that I would sleep in the next day. I reasoned that if I was truly aligned with the will of the gods, then I should have near limitless access to willforce and animating energy. I ate a bit of dark chocolate, for I was peckish, and suddenly I saw an ouroboros and felt my engine revving. "Mwahaha! I am born anew, I vibrate forever and am completely imperishable." Feeling the whirling light above and behind my belly button, I ran for a long time through the darkness on country roads, before getting carried the rest of the way by a kindly meth afficionado who happened to be driving my way. I did not indulge in his substance, and would not have even if there were no detrimental side effects, because it was QUITE apparent at this point that methamphetamine would be completely superfluous.

That was an interesting little episode.

A few other things, I'll just mention in passing.


The desire to connect with and rely upon another human outside of myself, for solace in dealing with exhaustion, was strong. Eventually I realized this was simply not the path for me anymore, and wouldn't be. So while I was driven by lusting on life for a hot minute, backing out of some romantic foibles with dear friends and avoiding a couple more became imperative. The original meaning of the Fortitude card was revealed: neither seeking nor avoiding conflict, and overcoming your adversaries (conflicting desires and fear) as they appear through inner strength.

For the self-Chosen People out there, Frater Achad put this card between Sefira 7 and 6.

Another thing I did was to stand up at the OU board of trustees meeting and spake our piece. Since they wouldn't meet with us, I had to take the drastic step of inserting myself into their reality tunnel. The president of the University did not like it, but there was nothing they could do. I only spoke the first two sentences, because they refused to be publicly acted upon, so I handed the typed message off to their secretary and left. When we back up the promise to hold them accountable, I predict that they will be salty they avoided us when we were playing nice.

"On behalf of the 2,000 students and faculty who have signed a petition
to show they want Ohio University to move beyond coal, good morning.
Mr. President and members of the board of trustees, my name is Badger
Johnson, I am a student at Ohio University and I am here today to
bring you an urgent message.

As students, we are told that Ohio University community members 
should take great pride in our institution. We certainly are 
accomplishing many great things for which we feel pride, and we are 
also the beneficiaries of past struggles and for this we are thankful. 
However, in a modern world where we can quantify the number of human 
deaths caused by each additional coal-burning facility, it is time to 
acknowledge that burning coal is a backwards and irresponsible 
operation.

The Lausche Heating Plant burns coal, to produce steam for heating and 
cooling the buildings on campus, less than half a mile from where we 
are gathered here. As we speak it could be emitting pollutants that 
are known to cause asthma and trigger asthma attacks, such as sulfur 
oxides. We are letting this happen right beside the fields where our 
athletes train. What value does the board of trustees put on the 
health of the student community?

There are alternatives to coal, and they need to be expediently 
explored because the Lausche plant was due to retire years ago and we 
need something cleaner to replace it. Currently the University is 
reviewing its options, but it is actually well behind the timeline the 
president McDavis committed us to in March of 2007. Tardiness is not a 
hallmark of excellence, and it’s high time to admit that we cannot 
meet the President’s stated goal of carbon neutrality while we’re 
burning coal! And why would we try? Renewable energy pays for itself 
in the long run, and it represents a lucrative investment. It also 
helps demonstrate the commitment to environmental citizenship that is 
part of our core value statement.

Are you, board of trustees, willing to change the damaging energy 
course your predecessors have chosen for us? History demands that you 
move beyond coal now! We need executives of character, who are 
responsible to both the wisest council of our alma matar’s research 
scientists, and to the desire of your customers, the students. We have 
spoken: thousands of students have signed the petition to move beyond 
coal now. We are here to help you hold you accountable. Beyond Coal is 
here to hold you accountable. There will be positive consequences if 
you rise to the challenge we’ve laid out before you, and further 
negative repercussions for all of us if you procrastinate. Thank you."

Later that day, June 25th, I had a vivid dream that's too personal to share. Also, I was shocked by a thunder bolt after reading 1491, which I cannot recommend highly enough to you if you want a tour-de-force of the archaeologically supported awesomeness of cultures that existed in this Hemisphere prior to European invasion. I have been learning about Mayan and Eastern Woodland cultures from the book, after having learned from the oral traditions of these peoples that they shared space until the Shawnee left the Yucatan about a 1,000 years ago. The thunder-clad idea was that I can reconnect the Shawnee with recent Mayan emigres, who are now making their way to the Midwest to escape political turmoil, just as the Shawnee did. The Shawnee carry seeds of the 3 sisters garden, which may offer a key to grounding and continuing the indigenous lifeway of those newly arrived. Picture this: Shawnee, Forgot~urbans and Mayans from the Yucatan collaborating on an acre of 3-sisters community garden. Picture 5 acres, 25, and 64, once the right relationship and gardening techniques have been shared and thanked for. The Neo-indigenizing current being expressed through formerly dispossesed, born again pagans. The Guatamalan's culture could continue directly to their children in this new land, and not worked to be worked into oblivion from the alienation of their intensely-scheduled labor, or the by the prison-school adaptations that their kids are promoted to make. Again I marvel, think how the Earthway continuity would not sink completely underground, and with the solidarity of privileged folks with available education and attention, food could shared at the new table, the kind of table that hospitable Shawnee people had tried to teach to the Whites, the kind of hospitality that some awakening Gnostics are ready to learn now! I talked with the clan mother of the Shawnee Nation United Remnant Band, and she's open to me starting and facilitating this process, so now progress on the project is simply a matter of responding appropriately as the time table occurs to me.

There's more to be said. That brings us up to 3 weeks ago, and I'll try to finish out describing the episode soon. Until then, with open hearts we sail on the breath of God.

recognizing the usefulness of a public face/private face dichotomy as i wander through nebulous cloudscapes

Readers: sometimes I make more polished work than this, for both of our benefits. If I come back to this and it doesn't communicate effectively the ideas that have come to roost in this mind, than I will edit it. Otherwise, the scatteredness is just where I'm at: imagining new shapes and patterns and living them with intention. Their trend is from fertile chaos towards greater coherence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have been wondering lately, about becoming steeped deep down towards my core, steeped in self-knowledge, vs being active in society and all that demands. I have experienced those two as contending poles, but I can anticipate this duality slackening as my wisdom and understanding deepen. Especially now that I am swinging back towards the pole of solitary pursuit, I can be my own strength as opposed to being fueled and ignited by what I sense and do on the public stage. This is the balanced middle pillar of Kaballah, and it is also the thrusting and governor's channels in the qigong that I am picking back up. I shelved it sometime in the autumn, I guess. The balance to be struck here won't be only the result of pragmatically using adderall to goose my mind into comprehending genetics homework, though that balance between school work and Beyond Coal was my challenge earlier this quarter. I must take stock of who I am and want to be now, because I've experienced so much since February that integration needs to happen so I can experience myself in fullness.

With the summer's being almost here, and so much change that it promises, I pay attention to the viscera's and subconscious promptings, training in self-knowledge even as activities would monumentally build my excitement and draw inner smile outwards. Welcoming back the light of my higher self, so the playfulness of the various daemonic energies, old and new, can work together in this cauldron of creation. O ho! To what collaborative effects I cannot yet say, besides that I am an ouroborros who regenerates faster than can be destroyed. Kan and Li in harmony. Seriously, beyond the self-affirming platitude, I have a confession. When who I was seemed painful- being alone with nothing but that shining cord at my chest, stretching into the distance but freshly severed and leaking the tears that I didn't want to shed- throwing myself into other pursuits was easy and attractive. As of most of winter quarter, and to a deliberately diminished degree this quarter. Now that I am returning to center, Gardening! Brewing! PAID UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH doing soil ecology, and the qigong practice that recommenced anew, tonight at sunset, are not escapes. They are the maze that I meditate in. I study and I learn.



The gist of this is, I am human and I'm done feeling immediate obligation to all that I love, because the love is way bigger than I. Bringing consciousness to a point to create an electromotive force to open my small circulation/microcosmic orbit demands this, and my latest notion is that it will eventually be emanated from the same source in my career work as a bioremediator so others will get a taste of the fruit of my discipline, a more genuine taste than I feel twas able to give through the following facebook post.

This one, that I just deleted from my wall; I remove it to here for the enjoyment of friends who would follow my thoughts. I intend for you to enjoy the music while you read.

"Started Bodhidharma's *Tendon Change Classic* today. Plant and Graft Division represent! It feels so amazing on all levels to be returning to Nei Dan training :)

p.s. a hug to anyone in my community, known or as yet undiscovered, who knows what I'm referring to. Would love to connect with fellow travelers if there be any in Southern Ohio or surrounding area."

Why did I delete this? I realized that I have 1,100 facebook friends, and it suddenly dawned on me that this is TMI (too much information) for that motley cast of characters. It is wonderfully specific by comparison to what could have been their varied responses and non-responses which I would in turn feel more self-conscious about than I want. I will undertake more specialized interaction with smaller, more select groups of people on this journey. Hahaha, this event of posting and unposting was the impetus for this burst of sharing.

Pulling attention inwards is not a matter of being shallow in public, or selfishly not sharing what's precious to me (I originally typed "shelfishly", haha). The costume is removed when there are meaningful, mutual exchanges taking place between I and Thou. Keepimg it vibrant and funky with inner circle, classy and true with all folks, and employing a mild and detached propriety towards those on distant wavelengths. Ahhhhhh, I feel more at peace having articulated my truth. Thank you, all and none, for receiving.

open letter to Students for a Sensible Drug Policy

this group has advocated opening the legislation so that we may enjoy drugs without interference. this is a worthy goal, but i feel we would do well to undertake some personal alchemy first in order for us to be more effective. i would challenge us to consider what responsibility looks like on a personal level, and share the story of how we are responsible drug users with the general public. if indeed we are. we are not a homogeneous group.

this is the essential story to combat their narrative of fear and loathing: responsible drug use is possible, and further it is HELPFUL. my question for OU SSDP is, are we up to this? my sense has been that i have a more limited view of responsible drug use than my SSDP fellows. that is partially because i have a more limited experience-based knowledge, and partially because i cannot help but note that our group has suffered from lack of action. i take some share in this, and left the group to find more action-inspiring energy elsewhere. now i find myself somewhat strung out on stimulants, and looking for community to be studious, effective and also cut loose in dyonesian revelry on occasion as a counterweight. or something.

*~#what am i looking for? basically i just miss you guys and feel like i don't use or go to enough shows to connect anymore, and it doesn't have to be like this. so i'm looking for you, and heart to heart discussion, and whatever comes of that#~*

now the reading that inspired me to contact y'all. and btw, i'm here for the summer please please hit me up

"4. The Preparation of Medicines

Herbs are the finest energy of mountains and streams, the essential florescence of grasses and trees. They may be warm, or they may be cool; one uses them to supplement or drain energy. They may be thick, or they may be thin; one uses them externally or from within.

Studying herbs in their essence allows you to support your inner nature and destiny. On the other hand, if you apply herbs blindly, you will waste your body and phsysical constitution.

All those who study the Tao must penetrate herbal lore. If you do not do so, you have no means to support the Tao. Yet in doing so, you must not develop attachments, for they will diminish the hidden merits of past lives. You will then hanker after mateiral goods on the outside and waste your efforts at cultivation within.

Not only does lead to grave transgressions and errors in this life, but it will also cause retribution in the lives to come. Oh, noble disciples of my teaching! Heed this and be very careful!"

~Wang Chongyang in their 'Fifteen Articles on Establishing the Teaching', circa 1150 CE

DMT

DMT is an ichor that your pinneal gland constantly secretes. Particularly during birth, death and dreaming you can find trace amounts of it circulating through your flesh. It is available in the bodies of many plants and animals. Today, its extraction is a feasible work for anybody aspiring to meaningful laboratory-alchemy.

It is the pharmacological basis of ayahuasca, the Amazon jungle brew whose initiation unites an unusually engaged segment of the shamanic community. I have noticed that these people who have done DMT are often passionately invested in this very solid plane. Now I realize their motivation comes from putting the pedal to the metal as one flies through higher energies and encounters *far out* personalities, the machine elves who one can usually not relate to directly during two eyes open consciousness. After the third eye closes, we must acknowledge that the veneer of mundania that World dawns as she struggles through our senses is simply an expression of the current reaches and limits of our perception via a nominally engaged nervous system, and that we can live for much more even if we can't always feel it, because it is DEFINITELY there.

The experience of DMT is supposed to be very validating of shamanism that doesn't use an ingested entheogenic sacrament. Kabbalah, subtle energy bodies and chakras, the transcendent personalities that animate all things and not just those which are biologically alive, all these and doubtless many others can be seen from the other side of infinite space, and knowledge and practice of them obviously DOES lead towards a huge extension of the light of consciousness. With that kind of software uploaded into your psyche, you'll be better prepared to get the most out of your journey. And that's my plug to the right-brained activist community to study practice mysticism like you would any critical theory.

The ostentatious Legalism which people wield and submit to in this World even extends to the banning of DMT! No wonder, those who are awakened from the trance are like the free radicals in the body that give rise to cancer. Free radicals are usually just oxygen, the chemical basis for prana, which are in a place that they find themselves interrupting and mutating the DNA as it replicates. The body of Empire is stricken with age as a result of free radical activity, and certain other cells gain an interdependent immortality that doesn't know or desire rest until the whole body can't take the competing energies, and it all disintegrates. Usually we talk about Industrialism like a cancer, but in the context of Babylon and the anarchists it's certainly the other way around. People are enlightening through trans-human trips and dancing to the beat of a drum that the Archons cannot hear, the useful resources which are being held captive in the belly of the beast will soon enough be returned to Nature's cycle of abundance. In that context we can manage the gifts with even more joy and gratitude; we will have a super abundance of recycling materials like scrap metal and open sky and sunlight and chlorophyll.

So living a Great Turning of the tables is for us! This vale is the proving ground for our ideals and we have only to go higher, to shine brighter. The detached, ideal-driven engagement of the masterless warrior-sorcerer will be washed in on the tides of a bliss ocean. Every time someone climbs in that rocket ship whose fuel seeps out of the middle of your brain, it's like the Moon pulling tugging water through an underground river that nobody even knew was eroding the foundations of the White House. And some of us had thought the subterraneans were all demons, ha! what paranoia.

Eyes closed Free writes let it all hang out: how Werebrock’s left brain abdictates for balance

*Some not all spelling irregularities, included links and name abbreviation=partial anonymous status of peeps

Innovative Farmers of Ohio convention was a bunch of booths from orgs around the state, people on different trajectories through the ever rapidly transforming workfield and paradigms of agriculture. Double A Willow growing new Strains of willow for profit and fun and it’s out of New York University it grows so Fast it’s like bamboo and it’s carbon netural, they burn it in coal-designed power plants that do not require much modificaiton. At least, no ancient carbon is being realeased into the atmosphere. Finally, a biofuel that feeels like it’s on my side of the line! So many vacant and empty fields around here that could grow it locally for OU’s facility. Other promises include, tantalizingly, this Third Frontier collaboration with Ohio University, other schools and private firms to create Jobs for chaning the energy tech that’s known and implemented. We can stop burning dinosaurs and dance in the sun. Very successful investment of Money for state, builds economy and produces alternative energy. If some contractor Could work with OU’s Russ School of Engineering and develop a plan and implementation for the geothermal or willow energy sources, that would mean there’s all this infrastructure in place institutionally to support it. A lot of Money coming in to make it happen in certain other areas and we Could have a sustainable alternative piece of the pie homegrowing in this quadrant. So exciting.

Ah, Hasi. Hang out with her, being honest about my feelings and just sharing this: I am not over Nala, am now working on this while being interest into her. You can see other people and do whatever you like, just know that I will be back. She smiled and thanked for honesty, we are hanging out tonight.

“Yesterday I heard you say
Your lust for life has gone away.
It got me thinking, I think I feel a similar way,
And that’s sad (that’s sad).

So let’s make a decision, start a new religion.
Yeah, we’re gonna build a temple to our love.
Orgiastic dances, nymphs in trances,
Yeah, we’ll be the envy of the Gods above.

I’m feeling devious,
You’re looking glamorous.
Let’s get mischievous,
And polyamorous.
Wine and women and wonderful vices
Welcome to the cult of Dionysus.”


Beda’s hanging out too, volunteering, funneling supplies to food kitchens since they went underutilized. The two girls hung out. I have affection for them both. They seemed to hit it off. Practicing non-possessiveness “Aparigraha” hardcore for this next two week period, as per homework of Michelle’s powerful yoga instruction of last night, suddely things seem Kaiserm nedutatuibm nideratuibm gibesty, non-violence pu, enlightenment all easier with this new boost. (leaving that in there for flowingness) Beda gives me head massage and I enjoy it, Lester give me walking onions and I plant in the Earth reside Mikn’s bedroom door. Food there’s amazing, and we get to take a lot home including dank Crumbs' granola . Perhaps some final highlights, Could spend hours on this and perhaps will, that is Mr V of Mushroom Harvest offered some positive feedback to my sugestión that i be his wage=slave minion over the summer. Joph and I may team up for that job. Beka, my dear brother suggested I stay here in Athens over the summer, and join him at Wisteria With a solid gig like Mushroom Harvest and divine revelry there’s no reason I’d leave my friends, even if there were cool opportunities else where whcih of course there are. But BE HERE NOW with sense of place and all the joya n growth happening, but but… the World isnt a sad place? Ah glorious RA! Hathor! Doynysis and Dianna! Thank you for being with me, and YHVH o, bringing me all together dear pantheo to a place of coalescing… solve et coagula’s second stage? (BTW, I'm gettin' that motto tatted on the back of my neck maybe)

Speaking of alchemy, there’s this alchemist Cost who’s living in our house now. He’s a bit damaged from crack and the Enochian magick he’s fucked with, but it’s so nice to have an anarchist Adeptus Major around who I can just love on and he loves me back. We are probly gonna make some colloidal gold in the next month or so.

Oth.

Beyond Coal’s power dyanimcs: I was the leader and facilitator for a while. With the help of my friends, I am stepping down and facilitiating it…. Opening up to other facilitators! I no Langer solely channel the warrior energy of the zelator exclusively, as I did in the month and a half alter the breakup with Nala Where I am now is here, … “Lessons in love we’re learning here, Goddess guide us beyond our fears” (AH THEE NAH=Imbolc Mother Goddess from that rit griten about last time)

School’s goin’ well; just aced my final Spanish oral exam of the quarter. Had a shpiel about my favorite recipe of the spring. Well one of my favorites☺

“Los ingredientes son sal de mar, chiles picantes, cebollas salvajes, brócoli, salvaje, agua, raíces salvajes

Ve al bosque en la primavera. Busca por un grupo grande de cebollas salvajes, y toma menos de la mitad, porque vas a querer regresar a este lugar en el año próximo. También, recoge raíces de burdock, de dandelion, o de ginger salvajes, y todas las otras raíces medicinales y comestibles que están en época.

Ve al campo en la primavera. Usa una cuchilla para cortar el brócoli salvaje. Pregúntale a un amigo que observe en caso que el granjero no le guste compartir. Toma tres galones de los flores de brócoli salvaje, y regresa a tu cocina. Trae los ingredientes del bosque al mismo tiempo. Necesitas los ingredientes muy frescos.

Lava y corta los legumbres salvajes y ponlos en una taza grande. Añade muchos chili picante, y añade sal para que el sabor esta casi como el mar. Maja los legumbres hasta que el caldo sale de las plantas. Pone en unas jarras de cristal, y entonces añade bastante agua para cubrir todos los ingredientes. Espera siete días antes que lo comas.”
- Lección 6A y Lección 6B: El nombre del plato es Cortido de Athens (Werebrock 3/5/10)

Funny, a sad face popped up when my fingers jitterbug accross keyboard eyes closed. The process of replacing it with a smily face is coming naturally now and I breath deep.

Cool Project for next quarter is, The United Shawnee Remanat Band is trusting us with their pedigree of Nicotioana rustica, and we are going to Estbaliz a Oyster mushroom patch on their land via a Workshops. Wonder how the ginseng I started in the fall is too, wrote a presentation on that for PBIO 305

Paying more attention to the planets these days. Mercury zips through the sky just alter sunset; i have tentatively signed up for a 28 week Kabbalah course staring april 15th. Rejected for the undergraduate research position applied for; not sure whether; very sure actually, that there is no set course for me, that it is fluid, and i will flow the way of a channel that Providence lays out befote me. Like that pic of C.R. in Green Hermeticism, looking like Christ with moonshoes striding lightly through the forest.

The people thanked me I thank them! Give more than your fair share and you’ll get enough to wash you in an ocean of bliss

There will be gyropters on my commune. Speakin' a which, Joow from our stint at Mountain Gardens has now started, what's it called, kiteboarding?! Fulfillment of prophecy, yo, and that’s all of typing fo now.

hiya all

It's been a long time, and to catch up would take an even longer time. I just wanted to point out a site I've been writing for, for a wee while. It's called these new old traditions. I recently wrote about my wabi sabi life. Here's the first part:

Wabi-sabi is a Japanese term that does not translate well to English, but using a thousand words, perhaps we shall begin to understand. Wabi originally referred to the loneliness of living in nature, but now reflects a meaning more of rustic simplicity, freshness, or quietness. Wabi also refers to the quirks and imperfections that arise during the creation process. Sabi refers to the beauty which comes into being as something ages. According to wikipedia, “if an object or expression can bring about, within us, a sense of serene melancholy and a spiritual longing, then that object could be said to be wabi-sabi.” Also, wabi-sabi “nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.”

You can read more about wabi sabi in operation in Springfield especially.

I've recently been infused with divine RRRRAAWWWWRRRR!!!!! I think it is because spring is nearly here, or possibly, I'm just crazy. I got my seed order done today, and finally, FINALLY, found a 3-prong adapter so my grow lights can be powered by coal. Cabbage and broccoli sprouts, here we go. I'm re-learning how to prune as well.

Life is pretty sweet in Springfield, having many friends who moved into the neighborhood, all with an eye for community, beauty, gardening, all that good stuff.

sharqi

winter quarter in the days before Imbolc

I am excitedly stepping up to the plate of on-campus community organizing. The Sierra Club's "Beyond Coal" campaign touched down here last quarter, and I worked on it under the supervision of friend and experienced organizer CL. A project that is radical, tangible and together enough that my heart is feeling the fiery tongue of glory once again. Our goal is for OU to stop burning coal on campus (can you believe it, are we in Victorian England or what?) Now that our friend CL has left I have stepped up to lead the group. This is challenging in more ways than one, and it's relishing to have to stay on my toes, for it makes living turgid with qi so easy. The kick-off event for will be a panel discussion by alternative energy researchers. We will be exploring which energy technologies are hypothetically best for replacing fossil fuel immolation to heat campus buildings. Through this discussion we offer views of a route this school can take to energy interdependence with living processes. The administration and board of trustees is beginning to hear our message.

Groundhog's Day is Tuesday of next week! The USAian holiday, featuring Marmoda monax as chief weather prognosticator, is based off of European traditions that came before it. Badgers and serpents used to be the reporters. The notion was that the hag of winter would either stay in and finish her snooze, thus spelling no more winter; or, she'd come out and make it nice for a day so she could gather more firewood! Those astute badgers would see their shadows and know exactly what was going on. Don't hate the hag, love her: without winter, would we experience the renewal of spring vigor with such joy? You might ask the hag to shorten the winter a bit, even though you like her gift well enough. You can vote with your CO2 emissions if your mind is made up.

Imbolc is the name neo-pagans have remembered for the holiday, halfway 'tween winter solstace and vernal equinox. The word means either "milk" or "in the belly", depending on whose translation of Gaelic you go with. The time was a celebration of the coming of nature's spring quickening, and farm animal lactation in particular because it arrived early, around this time. There'd be bonfires, herbed beer, and the desire to relieve from whatever psycho-somatic constipation you might have incurred while bundling up against the cold. My Athens-based, anarcho-pantheist discussion circle the Philosophers' Club designed a rite to celebrate Imbolc. We played a riff off of Campbell's "Belly of the Whale" archetype. This means disappearing off the face of the Earth for a time, and coming face to face with your shadow side. The objective here is to face the monster with a loving heart, so as to include more of it which is who part of who you really are, (the hurt and divine gifts that got put on the shelf), into who you act like you are. Our method is jumping in a freezing lake. The shock of submersion has the tendency to rip your etheric body from your astral, and when you come back to your psyche you briefly notice it as if you are a newcomer. New management, new policies. It's a good way to start the long spring cleanse cycle. Last year we chanted around a fire and then dunked through a hole in the ice, taking turns getting naked, cold and then warm again. 11 or 14 of us in a row, with many spectators, made the plunge into "Sophia's womb".

Other news: Naomi is getting interviewed for two nature-based curriculum design gigs. One in Cincy at Imago, next to Enright Ridge Ecovillage. Go on with your savvy self, dear woman. I am taking Spanish, SCUBA, plant classification, and propagation. My home DIY ambition for this quarter is starting to grow Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster mushrooms), and to make another batch of miso. I made some bombin' sourdoughed granola last week. Soak culture then drain 48 oz oats, mix in 16 oz shredded coconut, plus 24 oz soaked nuts, 12 oz raisins, 1/2 c. honey, 1/2 c. olive oil, tbs. cinnamon, tsp salt. Dry on low in oven or in dehydrating contraption.

finally, ginseng!; questionable cucumber internet meme still intriguing

i am buying a sack of ginseng seed and setting up some guerilla gardens around certain of my communities' centers. it's $75/lb. i got a hookup through rural action. the king of the forest returns to share adaptogenic immortality with those of us savvy enough to respect! i cannot publicly divulge the sites, lest rogues come and stake out ground zero and sneak off with the roots. not that they'll be ready for a few years yet.

in other plant news, there is this rumor that cucumbers are not just the poor semite's bitter watermellon. this information is questionable (it claims to be from the NYTimes but it ain't on their site) but i do find munching on fresh cukes is a good way to keep cool and hydrated in the summer months

http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/2009/10/49154_space.html


This information was in The New York Times several weeks ago as part of their `Spotlight on the Home` series that highlighted creative and fanciful ways to solve common problems.


1. Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day, just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.


2. Feeling tired in the afternoon, put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a cucumber. Cucumbers are a good source of B Vitamins and Carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours.


3. Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance.



4. Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.


5. Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going out or to the pool? Try rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem area for a few minutes, the phytochemicals in the cucumber cause the collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing the visibility of cellulite. Works great on wrinkles too!!!


6. Want to avoid a hangover or terrible headache? Eat a few cucumber slices before going to bed and wake up refreshed and headache free. Cucumbers contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish essential nutrients the body lost, keeping everything in equilibrium, avoiding both a hangover and headache!!


7. Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge? Cucumbers have been used for centuries and often used by European trappers, traders and explores for quick meals to thwart off starvation.


8. Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don`t have enough time to polish your shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.


9. Out of WD 40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge? Take a cucumber slice and rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!


10. Stressed out and don`t have time for massage, facial or visit to the spa? Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water, the chemicals and nutrients from the cucumber with react with the boiling water and be released in the steam, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that has been shown the reduce stress in new mothers and college students during final exams.


11. Just finish a business lunch and realize you don`t have gum or mints? Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds to eliminate bad breath, the phytochemcials will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.


12. Looking for a `green` way to clean your faucets, sinks or stainless steel? Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean, not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but is won`t leave streaks and won`t harm you fingers or fingernails while you clean.



13. Using a pen and made a mistake? Take the outside of the cucumber and slowly use it to erase the pen writing, also works great on crayons and markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls!!

water quality and the Temperance card

If you don't like the taste of a halogen gas that's toxic in micrograms, Bottlemania author author Elizabeth Royte advises for dechlorinating your tap water. The quickest way is to pour a body of water between two containers, back and forth for 5 repetitions. Tastier, purified water then remains after chlorine has evaporated out at an accelerated rate. The sound and tones of water falling in on itself as you practice guiding all the water in or between the cups. The scene reminds me of tarot card 14. I have been wanting to talk about tarot more and now it's time to start the conversation.

Successfully interpreting wisdom from a tarot card is based on, among other things, having thoughtfully lived through experiences that intuitively relate to what's on the card. Back in your past, (or in a story), is an experience that can serve as an entrance for your imagination to the event on the card. This information gets transmitted to you as impulses, thoughts, feelings, etc. As Buhner admonishes, don't tdiscount any data that comes to you during your seance. Lately when I offer a reading, I ask the querent to verbally describe what they observe happening on the card as a starting point. Then we discuss what both of us are feeling in response to the card. There never fails to be an outpouring of incite. Examining the symbol lore increasingly enriches theses discourse as I've heard more and more versions of the "Fool's Journey" from seasoned bards of various stripes.

"The Fool" is the first card in the major arcana sequence. Actually it is card 0, and in that sense eternal and utlimately non-existent. The picture usually shows a light-stepped traveler, walking down from the top of the mountain with a rose they've picked to give to the world below. (It's the path from Keter to Hokma) A small animal barks around their feet, perhaps just excited to be starting the journey, maybe trying to warn them of the noise and pain they will experience. Either way, the eternal boddhisatva Fool is cheerful and unlikely to be shocked into haulting.

"Continuing on his spiritual path, the Fool begins to wonder how to reconcile the opposites that he's been facing: material and spiritual (which he hung between as the Hanged man), death and birth (the one leading into the other in the Death card). It is at this point that he comes upon a winged figure standing with one foot in a brook, the other on a rock. The radiant creature pours something from one flask into another. Drawing closer, the Fool sees that what is being poured from one flask is fire, while water flows from the other. The two are being blended together!

"How can you mix fire and water?" the Fool finally whispers. Never pausing the Angel answers, "You must have the right vessels and the right proportions." The Fool watches with wonder. "Can this be done with all opposites?" he asks. "Indeed," the Angel replies, "Any oppositions, fire and water, man and woman, thesis and anti-thesis, can be made to harmonize. It is only a lack of will and a disbelief in the possibility of unity that keeps opposites, opposite." And that is when the Fool begins to understand that he is the one who is keeping his universe in twain, holding life/death, material world and spiritual world separate. In him, the two could merge, as in the vessels that the Angel uses to pour the elements, one to the other. All it takes, the Fool realizes, is the right proportions....and the right vessel."

On the Tree of life, Temperance represents the path between Yesod and Tiferet, the lunar and the solar aspects of God. Using your positive emotions (party to the 6th Sephirot, Tiferet) be the guiding force on your expression of erotic desire (housed in 9th Sephirot, Yesod) the path from the moon to the sun and it is part of the straight shot to Ultimate Reality. Submitting to desire out of love is the archetypal example. The other way I have found to look at this is, intelligently paying attention to one's instinctual impulses and following them through. BEING HONEST WITH ONESELF BECOMES MANDATORY DURING CRISIS, and after you get there lies an opportunity to make a holy habit of self-accountability. Exploring that subject is leading me into another path (that of the Hermit), 'tween Tiferet and Chesed. Outwardly that seems comically paradoxical, because I'm more intensely and convivially engaged with other humans than ever. It's internal alchemy of the psyche we're talking here, so no paradox. Talking more about that now would be an unwise decision, because over-analyzing a living prcoess over-emphasizes the intellect sphere (Hod) above the other means of experience, and that has been a blockage to further attainment for me that's decisively been removed to the composter.

Badger -----> Athens

In a house with two buddies, gettin' exceedingly tight with 'em. Naybot comes to visit on the weekends, and time's such good repast midterms are here in the blink of an eye.

Michael Seiser turned me onto a concept from Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen : that is, run barefoot on loving, living turf and running becomes a tool of bliss knocking on the spillway of your bubbling springs of endorphins. Come in, come in! Having not run for awhile, yesterday I ran, quickly and with enough attention to smell the plants I ran by with new running partner Leia, for an hour plus! Was barefoot on the grass next to a rails to trail path that leads past campus and into the forest. My legs feel good, and yearn for stretching and more action. I'm giving 'em what they're asking for.

The newest fermentation creation is "natto", cooked then soybeans then fermented with Bacillus subtilis. That strain is from GEM Cultures:, and it costs less than the price of a decent fish taco. The critters pump out, among Vitamin B12, long-coveted by health-conscious vegans. The product itself is savory, strong, and smells bad to my unaccustomed nose. The golden, organic soybeans cost just over $1/lb. Throw it on that brown rice with a banana and soysauce and you got yourself a blissfoolish feast. It's gettin' pressed omnidirectionally onto all my friends, see me and you can be next in line.

namasteX93