Month: October 2009

a guy i know sent me this today:

Happy Celtic Memorial Day, today we honor those who died this year,
whose spirits walk the earth one last night with Hecate before the new
year begins, before their spirits go to Somerset to be protected by the
dark father; Cennunos, till Selene, goddess of change bears them into
the arms of the mother goddess; Diana

and you might get some candy too, although there are other treats and
Celts found sex an appropriate manner of honoring goddess(es) and/or
god(s)..

—
i replied:

yeah, but the celts didn’t use this arbitrary calendar
i don’t really know if they used astrology
but they used season
and the day of Samhain is the mid-day between the equinox and solstice
which would be 15º Scorpio
which would actually be NEXT sunday
so if you’re doing a ritual for yourself
know that the magic is THEN

the magic is always
the magic is whenever
and even though it can be bought from hallmark and wallmart
it’s better when it comes from the imagination and the heart.

—
he replied:

The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. The term “Samhain” derives from the name of the month in the ancient Celtic calender, in particular the first three nights of this month (November), with the festival marking the end of the summer season and the end of the harvest.

Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.
Samhain was also called the Féile Moingfhinne – ie “Festival of Mongfind”. According to Cormac’s Glossary, Mongfind (mod.Irish spelling Mongfhionn) was a goddess the pagan Irish worshipped on Samhain.
Old Irish samain “summer’s end”, from sam “summer” and fuin “end”) Oct 31st-Nov 1st, the Celtic festival of the start of winter and of the new year. Samhain and an t-Samhain are also the Irish and Scottish Gaelic names of Novemeber respectively.
Although, in the 1600s, 10 days were added so the day following September 3 became September 14.
Therefore calendars might be considered to be 10 off. Does this make November 1 actually 10 days earlier or 10 days later?

—
i replied:

yeah,
their months were based on moons
so it varied every year anyway…

the oghams were half-months
though I don’t this this calendar in question was oghamic…

and..
the celts were from far more areas than those listed…

we are as we are now

hurrah to all of it!

—-

so now you know.

the wheel of medicine must keep turning

one proud hand forcing it forward
to heal the sick
slacken the suffering

but the wheel, now
is so slowed
by the strong hand of comerce
that holds it back
to collect every drop of blood it can feed off
squeezed from the flesh caught in the mill

.iP

I dunno
we noticed old men
every day
in Ireland

was it from working in a factory?
ate there factories there?
fishing? farming?
some common accident befalling them all
or just the wear of toil…

my first thought was Football. Rugby.
violent physical men
out for a game
having fun
til someone gets hurt
and only those that haven’t yet get to continue

but I dunno
I keep seeing it here now in new york too
so many more people
and not just men here
more women…

is it from falling down the stairs?
being beaten?
gang fights?
from the endless walking, schlepping this city demands, offers?
being overweight?
downtrodden?

oh I’m noticing mostly brown people here
and in Ireland we’re all poor now
whatever that means now a days
comparitively…
but the day to day can always be a struggle

for me
to witness it
it’s painful just to see
everywhere
dragging a leg behind
hip swinging it over
or a flinch with each step

living in constant pain

seeing pictures of the tenements and child labor factories of new york only 100 years ago

almost forgotten by the benificiaries
until someone invented the flash pan
and all the pictures got published

but our generations of bloggers
are they telling the story online of how we all ended up limping?
am I just missing it?
or do mat of us censor our own wounds when they aren’t glamourous because we believe we can never do anything about them?

.iP

a guy i know through the internet posted something on my facebook wall saying:

“to someone who seems to live life to the fullest – what happens when one does not know what his “Passion in life is”? – just looking for some wise thoughts from one who seems to know what passion is”

i responded saying this:

Dan, thank you for asking. Thank you for your perception. It is not, of course entirely true, but…
the short story is “passion” is what we lay back into. it’s most common usage is that of the story of Jesus. the “passion” of christ is his knowing and accepting he has to die for the whole of humanity and not only letting it happen but working with it.
Many people lose their Passion by Trying Too Hard.
I have learned mine… Am Learning Mine…
by ease. by flowing with. by listening and following.
attempting, struggling, giving, pushing, DOING… then falling back into flow and following, listening, flowing with. being easy.
it has to be a balance.
Ego wants one thing, the entire world wants something. some times they clash.
You’re still alive: so you’re not done… but sometimes the best way to learn what you should be doing is to dis-engage from what you Always Do and notice what of that is necessary to you, and find ways to start doing the things you always know you should be doing but never give yourself the space for.
once you click into it… you’ll know it and do it.
to doubt it is normal
to have faith in it is blissful.

far enough isn’t far enough
the sky has too much haze

I remember nights in California
new Mexico

canadians:
can you see the stars?

i like the city
the street lights
but I want to see the stars talking to eachother again
winking at me

all with a velvet cape on

North
the idea of North

I really need to head Out

.iP

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these last few days
such feelings of sacred attention
gratitude
clear intentions

to hold a glass of water
if course
to fill it with praise and intention
drink a healing brew
then, there
to feel my whole body activated with power and love
wholeness

slow yoga
full embodiment
powerful
honest
slow
present
full

already
today it’s fading

pushing flesh in the clinic
I stare at the skin twisting in my fingers
stare at the white walls
wire with glass baubles on it
and feel a missing for it already
-where did my presence go?
now I just feel sleepy

and skip emotions
to two weeks ago
months
at least two months
feeling…
feeling si sensitive and so strong
tears at every finely crafted phrase in the book
songs by kids
preceeding protection by their grandfather for their siblingly
intercourse
crying
scared by it
but so grateful to have a full spectrum of feelings
all of them so affective

oh
that’s gone too…

am I left with nothing?
being left with…

and passing past that thought
walking through the cold rain
for a moment of passion with a beautiful married man
to rest my head upon his chest
and listen to him tell stories of the intimacies and live he has with
his own children
how beautiful they are
how they trust him
know that he loves them in all full ways
practical
supportive
compassionate

and he learned to be such a good dad by flipping his own father’s loving
every corner his father cut on him
he gave to his kids a full plate
and they know it
they feel it

I feel it eminate from his chest

and I imagine my own brother as a father
the struggles he has against my dad
what an example to push off

and me
my Gemini love affair with myself
my ability to be a lover for myself
my own father and son
so yet undependable
letting down all my poor boy friends
siding too much with my wounds
and not with the healer

as she said today
I have the potential
it is a gift
as he said
it’s a lot of work

and worth all the effort

.iP

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why such a strong feeling?
hunt him down with your eyes.

heavy
I loved the way
when he sat down
he fell back into the wall
then slid down into the seat
with a solid sigh

oat straw
tulsi
red raspberry leaf
colt’s foot & damiana I found in my herb travel bag from… many years ago
skull cap
passion flower
Melissa
catnip
mediteranean sage
mullen
plantain

then
yoga tonight
starting at 6:30
finishing at 8:30

slow
slow
relax
let go
moving like seaweed on opium
yum yum yum

.iP

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we’re leaving.
an Irish priest took this picture
we just got all together
yay…
see you next week…

Quick

most people worry how fast you can put our a fire; keep it from spreading

just before I woke
I was looking through a magazine (paper? Internet site?)
of my neighbours

and was shocked to read of one
next door
who had plenty of hay
and other incediaries
packed around the place
so he wouldn’t have to worry about suffering in a fire:
it would all happen so
Quick

. . .

earlier in the dreaming

some party
or place i was living
or reality tv show I was on
or scripted fiction
with plenty of space
for improvisation
I was wearing a costume
simple
dressed in All White
(my mother, yesterday, saw a picture of me like that and said I looked good)

and I figured out some way
through electric shock
to swap personalites …
to swap bodies

holding onto speaker cable
connected to an audio amplifier at the house
and shorting it out
while…

it did it with a girl, of course
a red haired…
like Lesley, England

thinking about my now-red pubes

then, no
dark hair
a vampire

not a fiction
but confused how It should feel
not even noticing I don’t have a dick anymore
how would I feel if I looked?

and days went on…?
and Zeus…?

and I figured out the way to switch back
without the need, now, of electricity
because I had it in me
the power necessary
and she, of course…

( so strange to see my body moving around, looking out through different eyes
knowing I was Right Here
and that was Someone Else)

we did our ritual
and swapped back
everyone was amazed
I, a little, as well

we were OK
but I was so tired…
I wish I could have drank just a smidge of her blood…
I had to rest…

.iP

to find out
after all these years
that I was really Left Handed

That’s why everything has been so difficult

i’d just never realized before…