CALL FOR COMMENTS FROM THE HIPPY O' YORE

Date: 12/2/01 9:38:10 AM Pacific Standard Time

kent,

seems to me in these dark days of dissolution that which is being extinguished with a
vengeance ... whether played out in the destruction of the environment,  suppression of
women in afghanistan or the sabre rattling energies of war mongering ... is our kundalini
or life force itself ... and could it be that to attain 'enlightment' or escape velocity
from the endess cycle of reincarnation ... or indeed peace and prosperity on earth ... is
required the restoration of life force through a non ego/fear based consciousness of heart
... imagine for a moment co-deification ... a union of opposites ... the twin strand
double helix ... the return of quetzalcoatl ... reunification of the sacred through a
consciousness of heart ...

some thoughts i've put together on kundalini/serpent force for a current project on which
i am collaborating ...


throughout all world mythologies are found snakes or serpents representative of
wisdom, life force, kundalini, sexual energies ... often they are profaned as evil ...
more often that not these serpents are depicted as entwined, in pairs, or double headed
... co-present with these serpents, are often found dragons ... dragons often also
profaned as evil among some cultures ...

and all through northwest coast art, meso american, even hindu, tibetan, egyptian, asian,
sumerian myth and art are found representations of serpents co-present with dragons with
totem eyes and glaring wide gaping mouths full of teeth ... often these are seen and
represented as demonic .. the wrathful dieties of the bardo, the all devouring dragons,
menacing grimaces of the aztecs ...

compare these representations with entheogen eyes and big smiling mouths ... what is
happening here??? is it a profaning of the mystery, the secret implicit in the images or
are these entities perceived as divine or demonic according to the resonant frequency ...
heart vs ego ... of the individual or culture at large ... are they the menacing wrathful
deities of the bardo or the face of being-in-bliss??? ... or are they both ...  the
duality of being-in-form???

now, at a moment of annihilation-into-bliss could one surpass the speed of light, move
beyond mass, beyond the time/space continuum and pass through the gate of eternity, the
'eternity gate' ...

... "the alleged entrance into the infinite realm beyond
the time-space-matter universe OR a vortex leading to the literal
domain of the Almighty Creator, is believed by many to exist within
the Orion NEBULA several hundred light-years BEYOND the Orion
open-cluster. "


and could one be granted access to that gate according to the integrity of his/her
essential being???


... "the 'Eternity Gate' when the Almighty Creator had reserved
entrance only to those purified human spirits-souls who were
destined for that uncorrupted Eternal Kingdom beyond the confines
of this mundane physical universe? "


enter sisiutl ...

sisiutl is a northwest coast mythical two-headed serpent ALWAYS represented co-present
with a totemic eyed and beautific/wrathful smiling face depending on representation ...
were the more ego dominated tribes .. aztecs, some northwest coast peoples, depicting only
wrathfulness as that was the only frequency they were able to access???

... "Sisiutl is the mythical two-headed serpent. Sisiutl guarded the houses of the
Supernaturals and is regarded as a potent symbol of protection. By hanging his likeness
above outside doors Sisiutl stands guard turning all those who stare into stone. Sisiutl
also has the ability to transform into many things at will ..."

... "The Sisiutl is a legendary two headed sea serpent most often used as a sign of protection.
With the believed ability to turn itself into many objects or animals, this creature is
both feared and admired.

According to legend, Sisiutl strikes terror in human hearts. He is a soul searcher who
sees from both front and back. He is continually searching for truth and seeks people who
cannot control their fear -- people who do not yet know truth. If people do not know how
to deal with fear, they could be killed or turned into stone. The Sisiutl myth teaches the
importance of staring fear in the face ..."

"SISIUTL

... In Kwakiutl and Bella Coola mythology (north-west Canada) Sisiutl was a
water-snake with three heads: snake, human and snake. Its skin was so tough that no knife
could pierce it and only a holly-leaf had sufficient magic. Sisiutl lived in a pool behind
the home of the sky-goddess Qamaits, and could be seduced from it down to earth by magic
rituals - to help or to harm people depending upon the kind of magic ..."

now, the two headed serpent ... could this be a secret code depicting the key to access of
this realm beyond form ... and could it require the union of opposites ... the resolution
of duality and even very possibly the union of two people, male and female,
entwined in the tantra of immortality within a resonant frequency of courage of heart
integrity ... to be allowed access to that realm of eternity ... yet those who use
that energy from a consciousness of ego will be barred by the gatekeepers
and experience only wrathful entities, deities, evil serpents or dragons ...

even the sumerian epics hint at this passage through the void ...

... "The recurrence of Time, of Sophia and Magdalene, echoes the Sumerian Enuma Elish
narrative of Ti’amat, the double-helix uroborus dragon coiling in the Void who bites its
own tail, personifying "the light of creation reflected over the subjacent waters of the
deep". This uroborus is the "round container" of the maternal womb, the union of masculine and
feminine opposites, the World Parents joined in perpetual cohabitation ..."


and then of course some of my poetry, very much devoted to this serpent force ...

in 'eurynome',  ophion, the cosmic serpent, consort to the creatress eurynome from the
pelegasian creation myth ...


Eurynome
 

Not man, nor borne of man
define Yourself, divine Yourself
goddess of all things.
Unlace Your footings, toss them
backwards over shoulders bared
into faces You need no more reflect.
Dance barefoot to Ophion, cosmic One
be ecstasy for it is Your wisdom to become
She who would the universe disturb.
Strip Your constructs, shed Your skin
dance naked to the emptiness inside
moon goddess of the circling void.
 

and sesha, the thousand headed serpent of eternity, of immeasurable proportions ...


Sesha
 

No longer she,
who She is not
as still the flagellating
battered wings
against the cages
of confinement.
The molt of
feathered supplication
transforms the Nightingale,
as through the emptiness
between the bars
of self containment
She writhes emancipated,
the sinuous cosmic serpent
of helical return.


and a highly recommended read ...

the cosmic serpent: dna and the origins of knowledge      by jeremy narby

regards,

arlene

tangled hierarchies by arlene

Date: 12/2/01 2:42:50 PM Pacific Standard Time

My kids hang out with the Cowsill kids (and got to sing with the Beach Boys [minus Brian W, of course] on 11/11)- How's that for hippy! The only people who were nice to me growing up in the sixties were the potheads, you know? George Harrison's death is a wonderful reminder of the message of love at a time when we really need it. I feel hopeful now. Amazing.

Date: 12/2/01 10:00:48 PM Pacific Standard Time

Hi, It's Pat [Kent's old pal]. It is definitely a time to weep, but it may also be a time to rejoice.We are only a wheel within a wheel, and by-god that wheel keeps on turning. As it turns so do we. As does the earth and all things under god. I think,some wise person said that a time ago? Now which time or person said that I can not say but I know someone did, maybe Carl, who knows.We are only grains of sand in a big dirt clod called earth.

See Ya!

Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001

Spells and Counterspells: Why Act Now?

By Starhawk

The days are short and cold, the streets are univiting. The political climate seems as chilly as the winter winds, and everybody is saying that 911 changed everything. Why take action now? The government, the media, even some of our own allies warn us that public opinion is no longer with us, that repression will be high, that any action we take will be too costly both personally and politically, that we should hold back and wait.

But The WTO, the IMF, the World Bank, and the other institutions of corporate capitalism are not waiting. They continue to meet, to argue for a new round of trade negotiations, to impose policies that result in a widening gap between rich and poor, and a staggering global death toll. And as winter nears, the potential rises for massive starvation in Afghanistan if relief trucks cannot deliver supplies because of our bombs.

And so on bad days we hear our own inner voices murmuring, 'It's hopeless. We've lost. The forces we face are too strong for us. Give up."

These voices seem reasonable, sensible. But any Witch can recognize a spell being cast.

A spell is a story we tell ourselves that shapes our emotional and psychic world. The media, the authorities tell a story so pervasive that most people mistake it for reality. We're fighting a righteous war against the Source of All Evil, and everyone supports Bush, and corporate control is the only way to be safe and to provide what we need, and to question is Evil, too.

The counterspell is simple: tell a different story. Pull back the curtain: expose their story for the false tale it is. Act 'as if'.

Act as if we weren't doomed, as if what we did in the next weeks and months could shift the balance of fate.

Act as if the movement were coming back stronger than ever, attracting thousands and hundreds of thousands who have had their eyes opened by the war.

Act as if this movement were the most creative, visionary, inspiring, funny, welcoming, transforming and truly revolutionary movement that had ever been. As if we had new language, new tactics, new ways of communicating that could waken the dormant dissent and the sleeping visions in every heart.

Act as if a whole new public dialogue was beginning outside the boxes drawn by our traditional political lines and our TV sets.

Act as if all the different factions in our movement were learning how to support each other, how to work in true coalition and act with true solidarity. As if all who should be allies were able to come together and work for our common goals.

Act as of we were going to win.

But won't these actions alienate and polarize people? Maybe, if they're ill conceived, gratuitously violent, or simply a matter of screaming the old slogans of the sixties over bullhorns. Or if they're timid, apologetic, whining, they may simply leave people bored and yawning. But our silence will not change public opinion, will not educate people or get them thinking again about larger issues. Actions that are creative, vibrant, confident and visionary, actions that directly and clearly confront the institutions we oppose and pose alternatives can be empowering both to those who take part and to those who hear of them.

We need to advance, not retreat, to take the political space we want and claim it. If we silence ourselves, we're tacitly agreeing that our protests are indeed some distant kin to the terrorists' acts. If we insist that our voices be heard, that open dissent is not terrorism, but the deepest commitment to democracy, once the inevitable vitriol wears off, we'll find that we've gained legitimacy and shifted the ground of the dialogue. The longer we wait to claim that space, the more rigidified the patterns of oppression will grow. We need to act now, while the future is still fluid,

Since 911, I've been to more rallies and marches than I can count. I've marched with Gandhian pacifists and white-haired women in wheelchairs. I've marched with dancing, drumming Pagans. I've marched with Socialists and militants screaming about imperialism. I've marched with black masked anarchists surrounded by riot cops. And you know what? It's been okay. The police have behaved like police behave, sometimes restrained, sometimes provocative, occasionally vicious -- but that's not new. At times we met counter demonstrators, but never been more than a handful. And we often received unexpected support. I've seen construction workers flash peace signs at the Black Bloc.

Of course, our fears aren't just based on fictions. The authorities command real force, real tear gas, real clubs, real guns, real jails. Real people do die, go to prison, suffer. So might we. But fear makes things worse than they are. Fear limits our vision and our ability to take in information, makes the power holders seem omnipotent, and leads to our suppressing ourselves, saving the authorities the cost and trouble of doing it. And despair leads to paralysis.

The counterspell for fear is courage: facing the possibility of the worst and then going ahead with what you know is right. The counterspell for despair is action in service of a vision. The counterspell for paralysis is stubborn, persistent passion. Even if we're wrong, if nothing we do does makes a difference, courage and passion are a better place to be than hopelessness, cynicism and fear. If the authorities repress us, that's better than becoming people who repress ourselves. If we see our dreams ripped out of our hands, that's better than never daring to dream at all.

And if we tell our own stories with enough intensity and focus, we'll start to believe them, and so will others. We'll break the spells that bind us. We'll start to want that other world we say is possible with such intensity that nothing can stop us or deny us. All it takes is our willingness to act from vision, not from fear, to risk hoping, to dare to act for what we love.

http://www.starhawk.org/

Date: 12/3/01 11:15:38 PM Pacific Standard Time

Hey Kento, Gotta tell ya, just love the whole "Blue meanies thing"... you just brought back some very happy memories for me! I reckon I could recite that cool ol' toony from memory, I watched it so many times...lol

Let's hope them bad guys grow a rose on their nose, eh?

Thanks mate