The Dance
Is this country in deep trouble? Is the world hopeless? Am I in despair? Is it wrong? Is it right?
Beats me. Who should I ask?
Photo: David stuart
posted by jm at 5:39 AM
Friday, July 06, 2007
About Me
- Name: jm
I am a brilliant creation of the universe formed from the cosmic protoplasm sailing into eternity. I have two hands, two feet, a couple of great ears, and I'm clipping through life at a moderate pace; minding my p*s and q*s, crossing my t*s, dotting every i.
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Previous Posts
- Saturn in Leo
- Hypocrisy
- Oh That Big Ol' Round Shiny Fat Daddy Sun in Cancer.
- I'M ALIVE!!!! Finally. You did it.
- Happy Independence Day.
- The World is My Oyster
- Rising is Rising
- A Cool Respite
- Fun & Frolic in the Baby Basket
- Teaching and Achievement
118 Comments:
Aunt Mabel? She generally cuts right to the seam. @;-)
JM said: And I've stopped expecting the future to deliver relief or disaster. I expect a continuation.
PERFECT description! I love this place of no-expectation. Does it come with age? Experience? I've been wondering about it. Such a change in attitude and intention. It seems to have just arrived one day and made itself at home, as comfortable as an old afghan curled up in the comfy chair. I hope it never leaves. Ever never. Just slides into the next continuation. :-)
I love this place of no-expectation. Does it come with age? Experience?
I think so sige. And apparently it keeps getting better. It's amazing how really old people often want to continue in any condition. Always some redeeming factor. Some people just get it. The ebb and flow.
It's lovely to live with. For so long, I didn't know this existed outside of 'special circumstances' or extradordinary moments of flow. To have this come put feet up on the chair, hang for awhile, long enough for a nap, meals, sunrise... bliss.
Something is humming!
We can raise the vibration of our planet by expressing the belief that all is well, can we not? I think so.
I think so, chrispito. It's well enough, with a few snags that can be handled. My 95 year old aunt is newly paralyzed from a stroke and she's enjoying life at the moment. She always has and this didn't change anything really.
Is this country in deep trouble? Is the world hopeless? Am I in despair? Is it wrong? Is it right?
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
War and Metaphysics
In case anyone is worried about the Middle Eastern war we are laboring with and the out-of-control politicians, I have a few words.
The trap was illuminated in yesterday's veto of an exit exactly under the Scorpio full moon. The situation casts a pall on everyone's lives in some way, no matter how detached the individual is. Relief will come eventually.
The United States will not be getting out of Iraq until the lesson is completely learned and the elimination of the Republican Party in its current incarnation is accomplished. The war started at 29 Pisces, destined to go nowhere. Mars is transiting Pisces now. Uranus (liberation) gets to 29 Pisces in May 2010, and again in March 2011, with Mars joining. The exit started at the entrance under these conditions, and in the next couple of years things will be changing as Saturn heads to the USA return in Libra and Pluto goes into Capricorn. There is a plan. A bigger issue is at work in the area than what is obvious, and all the participants have destinies gradually unfolding.
There is a good reason for this drawn out exit. It is a culmination of horrendous foreign policy decisions as Pluto leaves Sagittarius (foreign lands), and this country is scheduled to change direction, as her Mars goes retrograde by progression, and the conflict comes home to solve her internal problems. The debate has already started as the halls of Congress are reverberating. The real debate is forthcoming. The transformation of this nation's own natal Mars is complete after the Pluto opposition, but will take time to come into full manifestation.
In the meantime, it is the height of wisdom to realize that all of these politicians are mere pawns in the cosmic strategy.
Pluto will soon be transiting the last quadrant of the wheel affecting collective consciousness. Violence is steadily trending downward in the world, and Pluto, being in charge of collective evolution, could be guiding the people toward progress, however infinitesimal from an individual perspective. We will see. I find the metaphysical angle to be fascinating and informative, as I make the most of my life within the world at large.
posted by jm at 2:51 PM 7 comments
I think you’ve answered your own questions right here JM. And as Joe said in the comments:
We are taking a required course in the university of life and there's no way out but through.
This post and a few others just like it helped me see my way out of despair. I cried all day when Bush started his second term. I couldn’t stop. It felt like someone had died. I wasn’t able to pull back enough to see the big picture. This is what I liked so much about your blog when I started to read it. So don’t lose faith now. You said Mars likes to pull out ahead of the pack and scout things out so he can map out the lay of the land (or something of that nature). So carry on Scout. We need hope and then maybe we can figure out what to do.
Sandy, how beautiful.
I'm so lucky.
I cried all day when Bush started his second term. I couldn’t stop. It felt like someone had died.
Many many people felt this. Maybe there WAS a death. People called on the radio and said they felt the same thing when their mothers died. I also think this has pulled us together as a society.
This scout WILL carry on! I'm rooted to the spot for good reason. So prescient, sandy. remarkable. Good timing you have.
And hope I've got. Plenty for everyone. The night of the election after all the crying was over I pulled a Tarot card.
The star
That's hope and I think with Pluto almost in the center of the Milky Way, it's ready to pour forth.
Maybe there WAS a death. People called on the radio and said they felt the same thing when their mothers died.
Maybe, hopefully, there only appeared to be a death. I thought we were moving out of the patriarchal era. But then comes Bush and his big Dick VP and we were thrown backward in time it seemed. But maybe it’s just their final gasp. Maybe it’s just a chance to prove to those few hangers on how ugly that whole scenario really is. Maybe they are just being given enough rope to hang themselves – to erase all doubt in the collective mind so we can start moving forward again. That’s my hope and you started it for me.
But maybe it’s just their final gasp. Maybe it’s just a chance to prove to those few hangers on how ugly that whole scenario really is.
I've always thought this. Things have to surface to be released and this has been going on for a very long time underneath our skin.
Some people will never see it, but we have to live with them. There are all walks of life and people do what they need to do for reasons we can't see. Best to stay out of a lot of it as time works people's suffering out.
I was always torn between my hatred and pity for Cheney, Rice, and the rest of them. The emotions have been overwhelming these last years. I don't ever want to get that involved on such a helpless level again. It shocked me that I did. Very unlike me. It was a clue that something was wrong, but it was in me, just as much as my government. I've spent the last years trying to fix myself, and part of the fix has been getting more engaged with society. Not an easy thing. It's been excruciating, this process. Staying out and involved. The group panic. It started the moment the invasion of Iraq began.
I detested the Clintons even more and I sensed something big was wrong when he was in the WH. I see them as part of the exact same game, and cover it up with such deception. Most of what he did is still undercover. Once things are out in the open, I feel relatively safe. This is quite a bad problem, that people still don't see the connection.
You all know what it feels like to trust, then find out the truth, and the feeling of betrayal that follows. The Clintons represent this. The truth is still undercover. I see these politicians from the beginning, so I'm spared. People have to develop their smarts and that will take time. Recognizing the dishonesty outside has to come with recognizing it within, so you can imagine how long that will take. Hypocrisy has always been a big concern of mine. Since I was a child.
I usually have not let it take me over because I've never liked any politicians and found them easy to ignore. This is what they are like and what they do and will continue to do. The most powerful represent one of the lowest expressions of mankind. Occasionally a good human emerges, but mostly they are so empty they have to do these things. They can't help themselves. It's very complex, the issue of leadership. People choose them as symbols of where they are at the time. Once Cheney is gone, the problems will remain. So hating him is a useless ritual and creates the conditions for sickness inside the self. It's self flagellation to watch them all the time.
The real problems are in all of us as we try to deal with our desires, as I've talked about so many times. This has been a mirror. Some have emerged with more caring and self awareness, many have not.
So a lot of it will continue, but probably not so blatantly cruel and ugly. The acceptance of the interpersonal cruelty by the public disturbs me even more as they watch this bloody match in the arena among all their celebrities. Applaud it, actually. Pay money for it. Nourish more war and violence.
I think we are in a difficult place in our evolution as a species and it will take time to move from the club the enemy to death approach to survival. But we'll get there. I think maybe it's time for some of the more advanced to get out and participate with more vitality.
A lot of good things will come from this experience. I don't think we ever stop moving forward, we just can't perceive it usually.
This country probably won't change basically, and some people think we have much worse times ahead. I'm not one of these, although it could very well be. I think we'll have more of the same in a different form until individuals evolve and stop reinforcing this bloodbath. The emotional one is the worst, because it is going unrecognized.
Watching people hurting people is just as bad. And the Left has to come to terms with its hatred too. There is a lot of talk about compassion, but a lot of it is fake.
One of the worst parts is the use of terror, but as you've seen, the terror alerts are gone. This is a good sign.
The more I use my metaphysical knowledge, the more I can detach to some extent and not go crazy trying to control the motion of the earth's geopolitical events. I say this all the time, but I think the only way we can be permanently effective is to improve our own little systems within.
This is what the Internet has come for. So we can first meet one another, our fellow men, without prejudice and obligation.
Last night I had a dream about a Republican I know who hates me. She looks at me and turns her eyes away now. In the dream she told me that she really has liked me all along and couldn't wait to tell me. We them embraced.
The main thing now is to continue as best we can individually and not feel guilty about who we are and where we are in evolution. Not make the punishment worse. It's hard to witness the most obvious part of it, but as I say so often, it's only part of the story. The people with so-called power don't truly have the power. And each day, if you just take a tally of the things you've done wrong instead of staring at what everyone else is doing wrong, progress will eventually be made.
As a collective, we will be able to handle the future when it arrives. The human creature is strong and resilient, and survival is a strong force.
One of the hardest parts of all is to recognize that there is a Cheney inside of everyone. This Aquarian has been an outward symbol of the collective personality as it was when he arrived. Connected to Reagan, another Aquarian. His archetypic expression of the dark side had to be experience in this moon in aquarius country, soon to be transited and dealt with.
Oh, the 2004 election. So depressing for many; I felt really bad for people.
I later heard that exit polls had led some to feel optimistic. On election day, I finally relented and allowed myself to mentally weigh the support for the two opposing candidates side by side. (I simply visualized their portraits dimmed, and then noted which portrait slowly grew clearer and stronger hued.) It appeared to me that the Republican side was gradually taking a small lead.
I tried again, without changed result. Nevertheless, off I went to vote with my aged father. Well, life goes on, even when it doesn't.
Very annoying, but not surprising, given the overall performance up to that time. In fact, I knew that some reliable forecasters believed that the die was pretty much cast months before, much earlier in the year, despite their personal wishes. But I chose not to agree...as yet. One can hope.
Of course, these things were not the kind to say to most people, not even after the results were tallied.
Activist Boy: "I'm numb. I can't feel anything. And she's in tears."
Me: "Forget the 11th hour paladins. This is not the time to give up. This is exactly when more people wake up, and to keep going. Would the opposition party just roll over and play dead if it were them? I promise you, his star is still falling."
(They stop talking to me for a year or so.)
Liberal prof: "It's the voting machines! The sheeple will never learn. The cons ate our breakfast, and they're gonna steal our lunch and dinner, too!"
Me: "Ya know, if we were literally in the trenches and struggling for our lives and our country, I'd hafta take your helmet off and conk you on the noggin before you infect the rest of the troop."
Liberal prof: "Optimist!"
Me: "Yeah? But what are you?"
The reality is that it was and is of great value to press onwards no matter the immediate fluctuations -- whether they are "good" or "bad".
There is a long range course that is obscured by too closely following political ups-and-downs (besides exhausting the emotions).
Some people think that by scrutinizing the personal horoscopes of political figures, they will discern the course of history. (This is like trying to make a realistic portrait by drawing every hair seen on someone's head. The artist would waste hours for a very poor inaesthetic result. The result would be closer to natural perceptions if one first painted the barn, so to speak, before selectively adding highlights and a few suggestive details.)
Centuries ago, when heads of state ruled for life and ordinary people were uneducated and relatively powerless, maybe horoscopic analysis would have been plausible. I suspect that the world has grown too big and complex for that to work, if it ever did. Through its trials, it is growing in consciousness. I mean, we throw away our presidents every 4 or 8 years -- permits quicker mutation rate.
As a general principle, watching the background gives the big picture, tells the larger story (e.g., of where society is going). Without that context, foreground details may not be reliably correlated to long-term trends.
And we are right to have a care for individual spiritual development.
Some people do too well in that they have learned to see too much. It can destabilize or distort the personality.
In my recent readings in yoga, I find stated the need to balance the divine father energy, the seer who gives clear seeing, with the divine mother, who gives equanimity and comfort.
In yoga, the fully alive human emerges from the union of solar/lunar, left/right, masculine/feminine energies, from developing both clear seeing and calm abidingness together.
Reducing ignorance and unconsciousness is essential, but more "awareness" by itself won't do it, as you can see from those who wax extreme. Real growth does require love and acceptance, of self and others, and connecting to the vital source within the self and to other people.
I thought we were moving out of the patriarchal era. But then comes Bush and his big Dick VP and we were thrown backward in time it seemed.
That's the same feeling I've had since 2001. This should not be happening, we are beyond this point, so far beyond. That Bush was a throwback to the darkness of a dead era. How could anyone allow it to be yet again? Since then I've also felt immense anger toward those who set us on this course. I find war, disaster, apocalyptic scenarios boring and numbing. It's not why I'm here. Why would I even incarnate here if that's the future we face?
Lately though, I've realized I have no answers either, but I don't want to carry this anger and judgment anymore. So I'm also entering this place of no-expectation.
Well, life goes on, even when it doesn't.
Could not have said it better.
There is a long range course that is obscured by too closely following political ups-and-downs (besides exhausting the emotions).
And in turn exhausting the adrenals and self defense mechanisms. Thus the violence and war mongering leadership elected from this fear.
Some people think that by scrutinizing the personal horoscopes of political figures, they will discern the course of history. (This is like trying to make a realistic portrait by drawing every hair seen on someone's head.
Kadimiros, you are amazing.
As a general principle, watching the background gives the big picture, tells the larger story (e.g., of where society is going).
It would be a great step forward right now to stop following these personal predictions. There are other signs which tell the story more accurately.
So I'm also entering this place of no-expectation
This is absolutely wonderful, m.p.k. You just made my day. The more people do this, the safer I will feel.
I find war, disaster, apocalyptic scenarios boring and numbing. It's not why I'm here. Why would I even incarnate here if that's the future we face?
Yes. And why are these same apocalyptic folks having babies? Lots of them lately.
"Kadimiros, you are amazing."
It's just the beginnings of my cranky old age talking. ;-)
Well, no one's going to draw a more realistic picture than a photograph already is. And photos don't come close to outlining every hair. It's mostly masses of light, dark and hue variations.
Another analogy: Watching a stock's value wobble up and down all day may tell us little about its performance over months or a year.
It just uses up hormones and brain chemicals. As far as the biology goes, a negative impact is not balanced equally by a positive impact -- because of past evolutionary requirements, many people tend to be more sensitized and reactive to negative stimuli. An even mix of negative impacts and positive impacts is not neutral overall but wears on the system. So it makes much more sense to be strategic, and more nonreactive and nonjudgmental.
It's a dance production that seems to know what it's doing, even if I don't. Is this country in deep trouble? Is the world hopeless? Am I in despair? Is it wrong? Is it right?Beats me. Who should I ask?
The death of RF Kennedy hit me hard and the Nixon Administration. I felt despair. Grief, unbearble at times, swamped me.
There was a saying then, spit at all of us rebels and anti-war types. "Love it or Leave it."
"What stupidity!" was my thought. If you love it, work to make it well.
It is easy to see the big picture and harder to see our individual role in it.
The bottom line for me is; i live in a participatory government. I take that seriously and personally.
I did (do) not like many things so i took advantage of the freedom I have in this country to DO something about it...
I did not like health care for women in the early 70's so i worked nights and gave away my afternoons to a free women's clinic. Banding with a lot of other women big changes came...you remember "Our Bodies, Our Selves?"
I did not like the education offered where i lived when my son was young so i homeschooled (all 12 years). Now homeschooling is common.
I often do not like the treatment of our most vulnerable in Nursing Homes so i volunteered for 4 years as an Ombudman.
If we americans think we cannot do things to make changes in this country, i am here to suggest that the power of One is highly underestimated.
I'm not waiting for the Shift.
My MC is conjunct the US Asc and my Uranus is conjunct her Sun, maybe i feel the push to participate more than most.
The cry, imo, should be "Love Her and Stay." "Love her and Heal her."
Venus has progressed to Aries in the USA chart. Time to bring back (as JM suggests) the pioneering woman from our early days, Rosie the riveter, the little old ladies in white tennis shoes.
My two cents. Let's dance!
It's just the beginnings of my cranky old age talking. ;-)
^H^H^Hahaha very doubtful.
Do wizards even get old?
HA HA!!!! Wizards and age! I think they ARE cranky and bent over as I recall. Watching over all those beakers.
because of past evolutionary requirements, many people tend to be more sensitized and reactive to negative stimuli
Yup. Maybe conscious cultivation of the positive is the game plan.
So it makes much more sense to be strategic, and more nonreactive and nonjudgmental.
It cetainly does, although individually people might have lessons to learn on this judgemental roller coaster. For some who are shut down emotionally, overreaction might be the only way out at first. So it all varies. But as a group, the calm and "collected" approach is probably best.
i homeschooled (all 12 years). Now homeschooling is common.
OMG! I did not know this! Hats off to you tseka. You did a great job.
i am here to suggest that the power of One is highly underestimated.
I'm not waiting for the Shift.
I'm afraid that wait would be long.
I got my dancin' shoes on!
Tseka, I am so moved by this information of yours on the progressed Venus. This is going to make a difference for me. It's already percolating.
When Uranus gets there, all kinds of things are going to break loose. The "maybe" you frequently mention is always there, but I have high hopes on this artistic innovative thing with this Aries-Uranus mix. The Venus is the added beauty artistically. And the Mars in libra. Lots of room for pioneering individuality and there's no doubt that women are coming onstage with integrity.
Venus in Aries just might replace "slow progress" as my main mantra.
"Do wizards even get old?"
Heh. I think one myth goes that they age backwards. In which case, they have to be old sooner than later.
If magic ever existed, then it's never really gone away, and everyone has it. We make the future out of the present, and no one else has greater say over one's destiny than oneself.
tseka has the right of it. Don't fritter energy away on feeling futile or victimized, but put the energy to good use. And that's how a new reality emerges phoenix-like from the old.
Capricorns age backwards. I wonder if they are connected with wizardry.
Tseka really did put it to good use. What examples.
In terms of making our future, this is what interests me now. What practical things can we do as a group to influence the direction?
Cosmic direction can be trusted but part of the cosmic seems to be our integration of this magic with personal will. I'd love to get that one going.
Maybe just continung what we're doing here and slowly expand into the community with the good feelings we've aroused. I've noticed more positive response from people in town since Raging Uni started.
Back to my feelings about not attacking the wrong, but reinforcing the right.
Here's what I was getting at upthread.
Bush represented our Cancer characteristics, Cheney, our Moon in Aquarius. Then along with the Pluto in the USA 1st came Kerry to represent the Sagittarius. We weren't ready to take that role. Saturn was retrograde at the time of the election. Back to the maternal cave.
Soon we will be. Uranus will be transiting the Aries 4th reawakening the pioneering spirit basic to our character. Sagittarius is global involvement.
Contrary to what others are saying about the USA and her shrinking international role, I think the reverse might happen. We might just be getting into our leadership role with the sagittarius ASC.
It depends on how we get out of Iraq. This could be pivotal.
There are other indications. Saturn having transited our NN in Leo and heading to the MC and the Saturn return.
Neptune coming to the Moon, the ruler of the Cancer stellium, and Pluto opposing the stellium. bring maturity. Bush is the last of the babies for president.
All the Libra energy and the transformation of testosterone we were talking about. The fair deal.
In some ways I feel a responsibilty as an American to elevate good leadership to take this position. We can do it. We've always had potential and our best resource has been our people.
Cosmic direction can be trusted but part of the cosmic seems to be our integration of this magic with personal will. I'd love to get that one going.
!!!!!!! Yes!!!!!!!!me too!!!!!!
Well, let's do it!
Wizards? Any wizards with ideas?
Don't be too impressed about the homeschooling jm, it was so easy for us...we love to learn and have this huge curiosity. I really never knew who was teaching who. A long conversation that remains ongoing.
We simply had fun!
Start with this, let's say.
This is why I blew a gasket (Joe, please forgive me. You know it wasn't personal).
I consider the recent condition of my country an illness. Just like the body, we don't punish ourselves and say how bad we are for getting sick, but we try to find a cure and nurture ourselves back to health. This is what I feel like doing with my country. I want to remain here and I have a few years left. A wonderful old age in the place I love is what I have in mind.
The flagellation for the things we've done wrong I think is complete. the remedy should be available and that's "us".
Do you ever wonder about the effect of Harry Potter on the emerging generation? I do.
There was a program on television, "MacGyver" which certainly influenced the boys of my son's generation.
The homeschooling, tseka, explains your bond. What an experience to explore the mind of a brilliant child and be a part of its development. Even though it was natural, there is a lot of cause for pride as a parent. I wish more were like you. If everyone took this kind of care, instead of passing off responsibility to questionable people, we'd be in good shape.
I have a post on his subject that has been in the wings, but I'll get it up soon.
Yes, the cultural influence is strong. But actually, those icons are symbolic of the inner persona of the society. What do you think Harry Potter is saying about the young?
I think I was largely influenced by Maynard in Dobie Gillis!
The flagellation for the things we've done wrong I think is complete. the remedy should be available and that's "us".
perfectly said.
Love her and fix her.
Mostly we see what's broken.
I have that theory about the 3% encoding in DNA is just a pattern that is found on multiple planes. In social structure. 3% have the vision, then about 7% provide the modulation and management, the remainder provide the structure.
I don't wait for the 90% to awaken, they will flow into the new pattern as soon as it becomes clear, do their job, provide structure. Right now there is some disarray as the old pattern falls apart. It is simply the natural order.
I think I was largely influenced by Maynard in Dobie Gillis!
no kidding, i vaguely remember that.
No TV as i was growing up - or rare encounters. Books were it. I always seemed to have a hero for every stage.
Bertrand Russel was huge when i was a preteen, then all those Russian novels.
I honestly can't remember too much about TV.
Taking care. This is what it is all about isn't it??
Care, caring, careful.
Sometimes people call me kinda panic-y they are sick, very worried. I say so.. your symptoms are going around, do this, three days you'll be fine. Before we say goodbye they are already feeling better. Nothing really changed except the fear shifted to we can take care of this.
The best medicine i know is "it will be alright"
I love Bertrand Russell!
Tseka, I love your theory about the DNA. You are so right, the rest will follow. We can't wait.
I don't wait for the 90% to awaken, they will flow into the new pattern as soon as it becomes clear, do their job, provide structure.
This is fantastic and why I say your Aquarius Rising mechanism is already in place. I've never heard this from anyone else, but I sense the accuracy. This is why I've felt so alone all my life waiting to connect to the circle you talk about. I've recognized each one as she's appreared, but they've been few. Maybe now with this tool, we can connect.
I think we have to be committed and serious about it. Use the tools at our disposal.
3% is really a lot.
"Wizards? Any wizards with ideas?"
Nope. Nobody over here but us Capricorns! But we can take a brief survey.
December 26, 1891 Henry Miller: The real leader has no need to lead, he is content to point the way.
December 30, 1865 Rudyard Kipling: People say that what we're all seeking is the meaning of life... I think that what we're really seeking is the experience of being alive.
January 2, 1920 Isaac Asimov: It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly.
January 4, 1930 Don Shula, football coach: I have no magic formula. The only way I know to win is through hard work.
January 5, 1932 Umberto Eco: Whenever a poet or preacher, chief or wizard spouts gibberish, the human race spends centuries deciphering the message.
January 6, 1915 Alan Watts: I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.
January 8, 1942 Stephen Hawking: It matters if you just don't give up.
More fun quotes at koti.mbnet.fi
The best medicine i know is "it will be alright"
Absolutely completely. It's amazing how much I say this.
Isn't it obviously so?
good list.
I love Eco.
hmm you and Hawking have same birthday...AND Jim Carey.
It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly.
My approach and it works.
Whenever a poet or preacher, chief or wizard spouts gibberish, the human race spends centuries deciphering the message.
HA HA HA!!
These are great.
think that what we're really seeking is the experience of being alive.
This I know is fact. No doubt whatsoever.
It takes courage to fully be alive. The spinal energy coursing through can be daunting. It also can be frightening to others. There is great risk in opeing up to life's energy. You can't quite pick and choose and always be nicey nicey. It's a torrent, really. A lot happens.
You know that a jan 8th Sun falls over black hole Hel?
I reckon there could be wizards born in that vicinity.
Oh fer... A Hel hole wizard!
"You know that a jan 8th Sun falls over black hole Hel?"
Wizardry? It's just a matter of concentration.1
Black holes? It's just a concentration of matter.
See?
Hahahahhaha
you guys are great
Children love wizards. They know.
Wizard comes from "wise", but has come to mean a sorcerer.
having magical powers
fascinating enchanting
a very skillful clever person
LOL!!!
But what kind of matter is being concentrated?
I guess it doesn't matter, as long as it's matter.
And yes, the black hole connection to January 8 is certainly amazingly fitting to famed physicist Hawking and his birthday. How funny!
I think it's all immaterial.
Well, black holes do evaporate eventually, some say.
Magic is concentrated vision. Sourced in a visionary state one has experienced. Does this seem right?
"Do you ever wonder about the effect of Harry Potter on the emerging generation? I do."
It's a powerful work, of course. That kind of creativity spans many dimensions, and affects the cultural imagination for a long time. It has messages about relationships, society, difficult moral choices. A good teaching device. Overall, it feels very positive.
Magic is concentrated vision.
I never heard this. Very interesting. It could be a clue to what we were talking about concerning the application of will.
The author of the Potter series has Saturn in Pisces, trine Neptune and the MC.
Visionary State + Craft + Concentration (or concentration of will?)
Many have one or two of these. All three working together is magic.
I never even thought of vision in terms of concentration, although this would be Saturn-Neptune.
Vision: a mental representation of external objects
Food for thought.
The author of the Potter series has Saturn in Pisces, trine Neptune and the MC
Well well well. No wonder the current popularity. This goes along with the vision idea.
Visionary State + Craft + Concentration
This makes sense. Fits the Harry's author too.
This is broad. It covers illusionists, artists, writers, scientists, inventors. Lots of magicians if you look at it.
This also makes it seem quite attainable, not some mystical far out impossibility.
I'm not sure that the mode must be literally be visual, but our species is highly visual so that may be easier for most.
In yoga, psychic abilities are the natural effect of concentrated states of attention. They just seem unusual because so few will put in consistent effort. As Capricorn can be a symbol of crystallization or concentration, persistence, work, and a high goal, we could draw some tentative connections, glamor aside.
mpk, do you have any experience with what you would consider magic?
I do make the Capricorn connection (sans glamor!)
It reminds me of capturing sunlight to create fire.
When I write a song, the nebulous shape exists in my imagination, then starts to form concentrated patterns. My will does the rest, and the entire process is magic from my perspective, since I can't willfully initiate it, only finish it.
The Capricorn crystallization is the key. The crystal has all the facets required to capture the magic in the imagination.
I mean, we throw away our presidents every 4 or 8 years
says the wizard.
@:-)
sige leaves an offering of black licorice along with her thanks for the chuckles, insights, ideas and inspiration
My ideas come from my practice.
I practice and perform contact juggling, which appears very magical. It's usually done with one clear crystal that rarely leaves contact with the body (if you've seen the movie Labyrinth, it's done a little bit by David Bowie).
There is progression common to lots of art forms. I think many artists would find these things true.
1) First, it appeared magical to me, I was enchanted. I had a vision of it, yet what I saw wasn't what was going on. So this critical component of this process is deeply tied to illusion.
2) Then I endeavored to learn it. It became very mechanical for a very long time (years).
3) Many years later after it became second nature, it is magical again. Even things I with it I haven't developed, I can see that they can be done, so it is again infinite. Also, there are certain times when it seems to be something else yet again. That how I'm experiencing it is still illusion? As if the process can start over and renew itself yet again. Sometimes it's no longer a physical object, but just a sphere of energy moving along my body's energy meridians. This only happens if I can hit a certain mental state. In that state I have done things I can't describe, nor even accurately remember.
At first there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is.
I have been "away"but today I am overwhelmed by the beauty unfolding here.
Your Saturn in Leo offering is so perfect. I have saturn at 5Leo and have always loved the song "Lion In Winter" by Hoyt Axton. The image of the white haired lion and the words you chose will rest in my memory with that song.
I agree, agree, agree so very much agree with your piece on the corporations and what would be required of us to have a better world.
"Well well well. No wonder the current popularity. This goes along with the vision idea."
A caveat: Depending on the source and the birth time calculation, the MC may or may not be part of the trine.
The author of the books does seem to offer a teaching couched in Piscean glamors. There is a touch of Cinderella. But there also some Arthur and Merlin. A wide range of folkloric types are incorporated into her fantasies. She is a Leo, with many Virgoan planets, and many other strong aspects which are probably more emphasized than the trine.
Well, metaphysicians believe that every form or result is due to concentration of something, of energy or attention, and that concentration is primary to the act of creation in any possible realm of existence. We're encouraged to have dreams, but also admonished to be careful of what we wish. Responsible use of our energy is part of what we learn in physical existence, from consequences.
From this perspective, accepting responsibility for one's thoughts, beliefs, and emotions is part of creative empowerment. One can choose the direction leading down into blame and victim consciousness, metaphorical darkness, or up into acceptance and mastery, metaphorical illumination. Destiny can seem determined by circumstances and background, if one lacks cardinal insight.
The wizardry of Harry Potter, however, is not the magic of our world, and Harry is not at all Capricornian in nature.
Harry Potter is supposed to be a Leo born July 31, 1980 (or possibly 1979, depending on which book one reads). He has the same birthday as the author, J.K. Rowling. Reportedly, there are more Leos than any other sign in the Potter books. The actor who plays Harry is also a Leo. Harry belongs to the courageous Gryffindor house of fire at his school, which is leonine symbolism.
"says the wizard."
Lots of disposables. It's a consumer society.
"hmm you and Hawking have same birthday...AND Jim Carey."
Well, Carrey is 9 days younger than I. By the way, Carrey in the news the past week: First it was the Grinch, and now it'll be Scrooge (as well as his three Christmas ghosts)! Can't get more Saturnine than Scrooge.
OMG! OMG! Mpk. I knew it! I was thinking disctinctly about performance magic. Felt it near.
Then I endeavored to learn it. It became very mechanical for a very long time (years).
Many years later after it became second nature, it is magical again.
This could be the most important information I have received in a long time as I stand on the verge of performance again.
Sometimes it's no longer a physical object, but just a sphere of energy moving along my body's energy meridians. This only happens if I can hit a certain mental state.
When I perform I arrive here peroidically and it's what I live for as a performing artist. I no longer am playing the instruments, I am just being driven, mainly by the rhythm. No effort whatsoever is required. It is exquisite.
Thank you for this wonderful explanation.
I am looking forward to some things again.
Clymela.
What a joy to see you again. My Saturn return just ended it's exact moment for the last time and this lion appeared. I thought every Saturn in Leo could use him and I'm going to do do what you are.
the white haired lion and the words you chose will rest in my memory
Whatever little good we do in the battle with ourselves and the corporate giant will help. It's in our hands.
The white lion's pride and dignity are coming with from now on.
Thank you, clymela. This is wonderful.
Reportedly, there are more Leos than any other sign in the Potter books. The actor who plays Harry is also a Leo. Harry belongs to the courageous Gryffindor house of fire at his school, which is leonine symbolism.
Reportedly, there are more Leos than any other sign in the real world.
I will have to think about this seriosly. All the Leo and the popularity in the country. This nation has a north node in Leo. Recently shaped by Saturn, as you know.
Thank you very much kadimiros.
I just learned something very important thanks to all of you.
I waited for what I thought was just the right moment to post the White Lion so it would affect my life and future. I hoped for response. It didn't come immediately the way I wished for, and I resigned myself to being relatively alone with the sensation and back to the ususal feeling that people are distracted and involved in their own things.
But now the response is coming step by step, one by one, and it's genuine. As powerful as mine was.
This will also carry over to my life as an artist. It might take a moment. Slow and subtle. Maybe a necessary delay for the effects to manifest and be shared, but it appears they truly will.
I will have to withhold judgement and let things unfold. Keep being faithful to my vision.
Interesting. I had heard that in one study, the largest average number of births per day for a twenty-year period was in September. Another bit of hearsay claimed it was October. It seems more a seasonal effect than zodiacal.
I have not attempted to verify this myself, but it would be interesting if the preponderance in the books did turn out to be higher than natural. I wonder if the apparent Leo emphasis is deliberate on the author's part.
I certainly wonder myself about her intentions. Maybe we can research this.
There are a lot of implications. Our greatest pop icons are often Leos, but the negative type like Madonna and Mick Jagger who have stopped at the sexual display and not evolved. The mythical magical side of Leo in the Potter Books, has been reaching people too, and now that Saturn is leaving I am more and more interested in how this will unfold.
Now we have the Leo, Clinton, trying to get the limelight back, another one who chose the sexual. Leo rising current pres who chose, what? I don't know.
All the Plutos in Leo have been transited and the results are yet to take hold.
Leos are meant to be elevated and admired. Wouldn't it be great if the Leo energy became more magical?
Very very interesting.
Of course, I would be remiss in failing to mention your NN in Leo, dear kadimiros.
Take that with a grain of astrological salt. You are a person, as far as I can ascertain..:)
Sometimes it's no longer a physical object, but just a sphere of energy moving along my body's energy meridians. This only happens if I can hit a certain mental state.
When I perform I arrive here peroidically and it's what I live for as a performing artist. I no longer am playing the instruments, I am just being driven, mainly by the rhythm. No effort whatsoever is required. It is exquisite.
I've heard this described as "being in the zone" especially in reference to athletes. I have experienced this same thing myself when I draw. It's as though I am either one with the model or actually in the picture I am creating - as though I not only see, but feel and know every line, space and texture and it all just happens like magic. Exquisite is a very good descriptor.
ooops sorry Kad i miss-read your post re James Carey born on your same birthday.
Speaking of Leo
JM, what do you make of these astro tidbits:
USA prog (for today)
Asc is 27 Leo
Moon 16 Leo(12th)
Sun 2 Pisces
And especially, Pluto at final degree of Capricorn on the 6th house cusp.
SN is 26 Capricorn and still within the 5th
Oh I love these testaments. Thank you sandy. My hopes are climbing by the second.
And you will not believe this!
Are you all sitting down??
Front page, top story in today's papaer:
Death & Heroes: the final Harry Potter book
How accurate can you be tseka?? You brought it up.
The article expresses concern about the forthcoming deaths of key characters and how this will affect the children. Very very interesting.
Sophia says, I'm pretty worried Harry will die. I think there will be widespread mourning. I'll probably cry.
But she has cried at deaths in other books and wouldn't give up for anything the relationship with the characters.
It's actually a good thing, because it means the characters feel real to me.
Saturn-Neptune. This is all so amazing, all this connection. Growth and maturity with the Capricorn years coming.
Will he die?
Younger Potter readers will be fine with what happens, because Rowling has been consistent and every scene is justified. All I hear is adults not wanting him to die
THEN...page 4.
African tribesmen setting down spears to save lions.
In their songs, Masai tribesmen have long celebrated the killing of lions as a test of their manhood. But now they are trying to change their traditional antipathy toward the majestic beasts.
"We have decided as a community too put down our spears and save the lions.
From this day forward the warrior and the lion are brothers"
Amazing.
OMG tseka!! You are on a roll.
This is so beautiful I could cry, but the G bumps will suffice. I am going to absorb these progressions. Comments forthcoming.
I had very strong feelings about the Saturn-Neptune opposition and the inconjunct to the NN and Uranus in Pisces by transit. This verifies.
Progressions. Saturn by transit just coming acros the ASC out of the 12th as the opposition ends and Saturn leaves Leo. Leo Moon in the 12th. Sun in Pisces. All the Sun-Saturn-Neptune. The world stage and how we fit, this wounded country.
The repeats, which are how I do astrology, are stunning.
This bodes very well for the artist in society. The new realism with all the Neptune. The grace itself of this dance sends my spirits soaring.
It's impossible to miss.
Thank you my friend. How I love nonastrologizing astrologers. They are the best.
Thought you might..
What really catches my eye Venus 16 Aries trine The 16 Leo Moon sextile the 18 Mars (rx) Libra....
The Sun in the 7th will be transited by NN soon (november as i recall)
So here we sit with a 27 degree Aquarian Dsc
Trading Places???
It verifies my theory that the USA is about to take on her real starring role.
The Sun in the 7th will be transited by NN soon (november as i recall)
OMG. How 'bout I become a musician and you, an astrologer?
27 Aquarius DSC, Are you about to marry the United States of America?
I'll play at the wedding.
I think one of the main lessons just ahead is letting go of some of our personal problems in this society and thinking about broader goals. The larger problems.
Forgetting our own is sometimes healthy.
I'm a person? Last time I checked. LOL! But could be an illusion, I suppose.
"Wouldn't it be great if the Leo energy became more magical?"
Well, depends on what that means. Harry Potter triumphs over powerful magics primarily because of the qualities of his heart, that is, because of virtues such as courage, perseverance, willingness to act, and the love of the people around him. These are positive associations with the symbolic lion and his courageous heart, on a level accessible to most of us, having to do with character more than personality.
There is a charismatic personality type, which has some connection to leadership qualities. But I would be cautious with that. The fact of leadership tells us not about the direction of it.
There are types of charismatic personalities; most are mixed. The most primitive form of charisma is shamanism with its ecstatic techniques. This is more nearly magical and transformational in aspect. But then it is not conducive to responsible leadership or stable social order, so the roles of shaman and group leader are most naturally taken by separate individuals.
Some charismatic personalities negatively impact society, and some have positive impact.
An extreme charismatic type may appear supernormally aware, from high attention to those social cues that pertain to his agenda. He can be highly aware and sensitive, but not genuinely empathic, though the difference may be difficult to discern at first. The group, and possibly the whole universe, is perceived as extensions of the leader's ego. The leader does well with followers who most resemble him or mirrors him.
It should be said that the followers of the charismatic leader, although they may consciously spout the group's ideology or tenets, use the group for their own agendas of self-transformation which have little to do with the official purposes of the group. They may have joined the group after long frustration, and the group membership is really a means to more personal ends. Over time, people join and people quit.
In the political realm, candidates who have charisma are likelier to be elected. To followers who share some of their characteristics, they appear very appealing, even heroic. They are prophets, with grand confidence and glorious inspirational vision, and because of this sometimes they can indeed manifest their vision, reshaping the world.
I think one of the main lessons just ahead is letting go of some of our personal problems in this society and thinking about broader goals. The larger problems.
Or
maybe...
"Ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country."
JFK 20 Jan 1961
But do you remember who he asked it of?
"My fellow citizens of the world: Ask not..."
And this is what the Saturn in Leo has done along with Neptune and the amazing progressions. Tempered the charisma (remember Falwell and the 29 Pisces?), to bring it into alignment with collective goals and progress.
Bush with his 12th House sun and Leo ASC was a bridge. His NN in the 11th is the real key.
An extreme charismatic type may appear supernormally aware, from high attention to those social cues that pertain to his agenda. He can be highly aware and sensitive, but not genuinely empathic, though the difference may be difficult to discern at first.
The discernment will come in increments. Very encouraging, all of this.
The progressed USA Sun in Pisces will take her NN in Leo in the coming years and change the leadership style. Capricorn-Leo as we were talking about earlier with astrotabletalk.
Yes tseka!!
Ahhhsk naaaht....
I think he had a Cancer MC.
I'm ready to do for my country. Just give me my directives, fellow world inhabitants.
You bet Kadimiros.
Nobody more charismatic and dangerous than a narcissist.
Incredible talent of perception that is bent to self.
Speaking of politics, it occurs to me that Martin Luther King, a Capricorn, notably "had no interest in being president." Asked to run on an anti-war ticket, he said, "I would rather think of myself as one trying desperately to be the conscience of all the political parties, rather than being a political candidate." Other quotes: "I need to be in the position of being my own man." "I've never had any political ambitions."
Interesting to keep in mind when reviewing the current crop of candidates running for president. :-)
I need to be in the position of being my own man." "I've never had any political ambitions."
I've never thought the president was that important. A figurehead, beholden to too many factions. I think the real leadership is always elsewhere.
So I no longer care too much who wins, although I do sincerely hope it is none of the current ones. If so, so be it. They are doing what they need to do, and eventually the country will mature.
There is too much to do to worry about these things. The small efforts of all of us in the next few years are going to be far more important.
This has all been highly illuminating. A lot to incorporate. The Saturnian Lion keeps taking on more significance.
I get the distinct feeling that the tasks ahead are going to be embraced with enthusiasm. There will be leadership.
From this day forward the warrior and the lion are brothers
"Under an agreement with the Maasailand Preservation Trust, the Masai will accept compensation when a lion kills one of their livestock rather than hunting and killing the predator."
Very good. Social evolution in progress. Seems to have moved up a level of consciousness. :-)
Interesting to keep in mind when reviewing the current crop of candidates running for president. :-)
Although I'm trying to be objective about the presidency for sale thing going on, one of the reasons I caution against putting the Clintons back in is this.
He is sick. I feel that we might be subject to another Shakespearean type melodrama with these people and now is not the time. There is so much to be done. It's always been about their personal dramas and I don't see why that would change.
Saturn is leaving Leo and the SN will be there next. It could be time to let these go for awhile. The NN will soon be in Aquarius, a perfect opportunity for the people to acknowledge their importance rather than the melodramatic Leo type leaders we've had.
It's up to us to train the spotlight elsewhere.
Could well be. The reason I mention these things is because the vaccuum naturally draws them out, and the two you mention are not the only ones. Not necessarily a bad thing in effect, but it's good to look past the confusing hype.
Here's a rather physical analogy I came across in the writings of the inventor, Arthur M. Young, of the Bell helicopter. He suggested physical analogues to astrological patterns.
He said to consider the steering of a moving system. Free will is at right angles to the system being controlled. Too much bias (perhaps the tires need realignment, etc.) would interfere with the steering, and then the steering wheel might seem to fight the driver. When the system is fully pre-determined (in good condition), you as driver can be the most free.
Or consider the judge who must have unbiased discernment to correct the scales of justice which have been tipped too far to one or to another's favor.
In this context, I hazard my attempt to grasp some of his observations in my own words (any distortions are my own): Cancer is foundational and sensitive to the rate of change; it is precisely situated to feel the weight or pressures of environment, of "fate", that shape us. Leo has learned to be an attractive force, like the gravitational pull of the radiant Sun. Sagittarius, aha, sees path or trajectory. Capricorn is the high angular position which offers you control, a connection to oversight that can affect deterministic forces and patterns, and from which you realize you are part of an even larger scheme. At its best, intuition frees you of the apparently rational but limited course. Inventive Aquarius knows the precise applications of force to rotation -- principles behind the gear, the pulley, and the lever that can shift a greater weight.
Going back to touch on the opening blog post: People complain when they feel uncertainty within themselves, and it brings up fear, but Young reminds us to use it as we please, and that our uncertainty is our freedom.
I like the driving analogy.
With fabric, the bias is the weakest line, but it has the most flow. It's very difficult to construct clothing when cut on the bias, but the end result is draping, grace, and what is perceived as feminine beauty. It reveals all the curves of the object it's placed on. It seems to have no will.
The fascinating thing in sewing is the impossibility of taking the right angles of fabric and making them curve to the body. I've always been thoroughly intrigued by this. The right angles assure solid structure but prevent bending shaping and adjusting. You have to go on the bias somewhere to curve. I've been doing a lifetime study of the right angle. I think modern Western culture uses it too much. It's less stable than the triangle. There's some sort of insecurity in the right angle and this translates to the square in astrology for me. It seems to want to become a triangle. Maybe this is where the quincunx figures in -- the relief of finding the trine up ahead and the dynmic energy of the arrival.
Your astro breakdown is excellent. Each journey through these signs starts with the lesson to be learned and mastery is gained by the end.
Capricorn is the high angular position which offers you control, a connection to oversight that can affect deterministic forces and patterns, and from which you realize you are part of an even larger scheme. At its best, intuition frees you of the apparently rational but limited course.
We have this Capricorn/Aquarius combo coming up next. A journey through angular construction mixed with the inventive Aquarius.
Intuition is associated with Sagittarius so we should have acquired some.:)
Aquarius knows the precise applications of force to rotation
Good thought.
uncertainty is our freedom.
Great one. That's exactly it. Exactly.
Yes, structural integrity is a whole 'nother subject. I attended an introductory synergetics lecture where it was explained that a right angled join used in structural support is more unstable; an equiangular triangle has more stability and less "give" to it. A square constructed, say, from sticks and rubber or string joints, can be forced under pressure to become a rhombus. It can deform and be reformed. An equiangular triangle of the same materials will resist deformation (up to the point that the material breaks under pressure).
For other purposes, of course, a right angle makes sense, and in still others, multiple types are required.
Maybe some correspondences can be drawn to the two major families of aspects in astrology, and their meanings.
Three-dimensional forms based on triangles and squares, the tetrahedral and cubic forms, have interesting relationships to each other.
Conceptually, cubes can be stacked to fill space indefinitely without leaving gaps, but that can't be done with tetahedra or octahedra alone. But tetrahedra can be arranged around an octahedron to form a cube.
The vertices of a cube could also define two interlocking tetrahedra; Buckminster Fuller described the mechanism behind the propagation of the electromagnetic wave through space using this interlocking geometry as a visual model.
uncertainty is our freedom.
"Great one. That's exactly it. Exactly."
Metaphysically, it has something to do with the evolutionary force, which with purpose moves from the known to the unknown.
Oh yes. Bucky. Those were heady times.
That's interesting on the possible over-stability of the triangle. I wonder if this is behind the statement of the Egyptian pyramids. Man's defiance of his instability. And the incredible cost to man to do this.
This might cure my long held prejudice against the right angle.:-)
But tetrahedra can be arranged around an octahedron to form a cube.
There's a clue here.
There is a whole metaphysical theory based on the tetrahedron. I never pursued it in detail, but I'm curious now.
Conceptually, cubes can be stacked to fill space indefinitely without leaving gaps, but that can't be done with tetahedra or octahedra alone.
Why not the gaps?
Metaphysically, it has something to do with the evolutionary force, which with purpose moves from the known to the unknown.
Of course. Action and reaction. The reaction is the unknown and must be traveled across for propulsion.
What we must learn is to accept the accompanying fear as a means to progress. Nothing we do as a result of the panic will move us any faster through the synapse of the unknown.
I love this subject very very much.
In many ways, the unknown is the most exciting invigorating part. The freedom you mentioned is paramount. Once we get to the next known we are again trapped, and of course seek the feared unknown just to feel the freedom once again.
It is gloriously orchestrated in rhythm, and the fear is part and parcel. Fear has good sensations as well if we could only not be afraid of fear..:-)
I'm also thinking now about the solid geometry and how it figures into the construction of the astro chart. maybe this is what I'm picking up on when I see the other story. the orchestration beyond the plane geometry.
Very very very interesting. The unseen dimensions. The underlying supportive structure maybe.
"Why not the gaps?"
Do you mean why not have gaps? That depends on the application or what's present, I suppose.
"That's interesting on the possible over-stability of the triangle. I wonder if this is behind the statement of the Egyptian pyramids. Man's defiance of his instability. And the incredible cost to man to do this."
The pyramids at Giza are pretty fascinating. There are various theories. I'm disinclined to believe the official one. I have heard that there's some evidence that water was used in the construction, so it might not have been as burdensome as historians imagined.
The Great Pyramid starts from a square base, then the triangular sides slope up to the apex. So the triangles reconcile the separateness symbolized by the wordly square and the unity symbolized by the singular apex.
On close inspection, the pyramid's four sides are indented, so perhaps it is not really square around the perimeter after all.
"What we must learn is to accept the accompanying fear as a means to progress. Nothing we do as a result of the panic will move us any faster through the synapse of the unknown.
"I love this subject very very much."
Ooh! VERY good stuff there. :-)
"There is a whole metaphysical theory based on the tetrahedron. I never pursued it in detail, but I'm curious now."
Sacred geometry isn't my forte, but I find the visual spatial forms very attractive.
I have an intuition that the pyramid or octahedron hints at the relationship of gravity and electromagnetism. There's a key to antigravity in it, since we can control electromagnetism. But physics is not really my thing.
"Very very very interesting. The unseen dimensions. The underlying supportive structure maybe."
There was a whole article about extradimensional spaces that musicians trace with their music. The article was all in prose, I think, but I took away the impression that it's as if musicians were exploring a highly complex space that can't be represented in three dimensions. I'll try to find it again if you haven't seen it.
On close inspection, the pyramid's four sides are indented
Big clue here. Enter the curve.
Yes. What would be the use of the gaps?
Yes. Gravity is the card. I am very limited when it comes to physics, but I think there is an answer to the puzzle somewhere in the curve as being a section of the complete circle.
I often wonder where our rigid structures come from. Are they copies of crystalline structure on earth?
In Bucky's day you remember the geodesic dome craze. Many people around the globe use circular structure. Interesting from an anthropological perspective.
Yes!! The musician article.
One comment I get about my music is how big and round it sounds. This is glorious, and that's when I know they are perceiving the extra dimension. Especially the "round" perception.
When I built my sound system, I put a subtle underlying bass sound from the drum machine through all the keys of the piano. This gave it depth that can't be heard consciously, but is felt. Other things happened to create this larger than life roundness. I'm really not sure exactly how it all happened.
Here is the problem.
When I'm playing I miss some of this dimension. But when I step back in the room and someone else plays my system I'm stunned when I hear the deep and large sound again. How do I reconcile this when I get bored so easily?
Memory. And also the fact that in performance, I'm playing for them. They are the beneficiaries.
"Big clue here. Enter the curve."
Kind of. I seem to recall that Fuller thought of curves as composed of small straight sections. Although, I think one could view a complex path as being formed from smaller curves, too, maybe something fractal even.
The indentations make the pyramid eight-sided, rather than four.
"I often wonder where our rigid structures come from. Are they copies of crystalline structure on earth?"
Very fundamental. The Great Pyramid and other ancient sacred architecture go us a little better (except maybe for the architect Le Corbu?) in incorporating something of the dynamic geometry you find in the logarithmic spiral, the characteristics of phi and the golden proportion found in organic lifeforms such as plants. Some think the appearance of phi in the proportions of the Great Pyramid is unintentional, but who can say for sure how these things happen.
"Other things happened to create this larger than life roundness. I'm really not sure exactly how it all happened."
Again, who can definitively say? But I think it happens magically. :-) Energy flows where attention goes. They say this in some martial arts, too, albeit not so pithily.
"When I'm playing I miss some of this dimension. But when I step back in the room and someone else plays my system I'm stunned when I hear the deep and large sound again. How do I reconcile this when I get bored so easily?"
That reminds me: When musicians hear music, they listen with their left brain hemispheres, too, in a way that other people do not. The musician can pick out and identify individual instruments, evaluate the timing, pitch, and other qualities of sound, etc. Does all that mental processing enhance or take away from enjoyment, or both? I don't know. Hmm, an interesting subject. Research into the ability to alter states of consciousness might hold clues.
Remember when we were talking about the Zen monks who don't acclimate to repeated stimulus. The nth sounding of a bell is as fresh as the first time. Their consciousness is fully aware of it, reacts in the moment, but soon flows on again as if without interruption. No unfortunate residue nor habituation. Maybe it takes special kinds of practice.
Energy flows where attention goes.
Or....
Attention goes where energy flows.
The musician can pick out and identify individual instruments, evaluate the timing, pitch, and other qualities of sound, etc. Does all that mental processing enhance or take away from enjoyment, or both
What a great great great question.
The nth sounding of a bell is as fresh as the first time. Their consciousness is fully aware of it, reacts in the moment, but soon flows on again as if without interruption. No unfortunate residue nor habituation. Maybe it takes special kinds of practice.
So this means obliteration of memory, or at least a disconnection from it in the present.
Hmm, I don't think it's amnesia, exactly. It is non-habituation.
Each bell sound actually isn't exactly the same as the previous.
Maybe it's partly due to heightened perception of subtleties. Nothing is boring because everything is perceived as unique.
Just a beginning thought. Something to explore further.
"Attention goes where energy flows."
True. If you wanted to direct energy, the other formulation applies. If you wanted to sit back and watch fireworks, then the second is appropriate. But someone else or something still has to make the fireworks.
"What a great great great question."
There might be possibilities here. Have you discussed this much with other musicians?
Maybe it's partly due to heightened perception of subtleties. Nothing is boring because everything is perceived as unique.
I aspire to this.
There might be possibilities here. Have you discussed this much with other musicians?
A tiny bit, but I've thought about it a lot. Some things are formulating and I'd like to pursue this, also in terms of the above statement.
Most other musicians are much busier than I and don't leave much space for contemplation. I don't think many of them actually enjoy music. Doesn't sound like it. When they perform, they get nervous and even more hasty. This is important. To stay in the meditative space.
There is tremendous pressure to hurry it up, but a great performer can connect her vision with the audience, although probably not every time.
More on this in a bit.....
When I hear the same so called music everyone else does and I cringe, I always thought it was because of this critical listening aspect. It's true that it impedes enjoyment.
But what's to enjoy? I think when the music is real it transcends this scrutiny.
For example, when concert pianists and violinists perform they look and sound like they are attacking their instruments. They are. I hear all of that. The screeching hacking violin sounds, and the rushed frenetic up and down race with the keyboard. no way for me to enjoy it.
But sometimes, the beauty is so powerful, it dominates. And great rhythm always transcends for me.
Most musicians are in combat with their instruments trying to master them with technique. Speed. Music eludes. There is a stroke element with humility and attention to pure tone that mark great music, very seldom done.
The empty spaces are what make it great, as well. So this critical listening factor hears too much too fast in trying to keep up with them. I've pretty much given up. This race to follow their search for themselves that needs work. It's largely nonsense. Disconnected notes that don't tell stories. Good music is very much like a story, a fable. You can't help but follow it.
On the other hand, this listening ability hears music in everything around. The clang of garbage cans, the horns of cars, rings, pings, slaps, etc. This can be nice at times.
The musician can pick out and identify individual instruments, evaluate the timing, pitch, and other qualities of sound, etc. Does all that mental processing enhance or take away from enjoyment, or both
It is a source of comfort and fascination to me that I'm able to do this. The enjoyment, I think, comes and goes almost of its own accord. A lot has to do with mood.
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"Yes. What would be the use of the gaps?"
Hmm, "What is the use of gaps" reads as a completely different question from the earlier "why not have gaps".
But in general, Fuller was thinking about what contributes to structural integrity, and the efficiencies found in Nature. In that respect, if the question is "why not have gaps in structural integrity" or "why does Nature tend to more efficient space-filling patterns in its constructs", then they seem fairly obvious.
If the question has to do with why we perceive spacetime as a single construct ("the space-time continuum"), or why does the number line have consecutive integers (rather than having a gap, say, between 2 and 10 such that we can count up to 2, and from 10 upwards, but not anything between 2 and 10), then the interesting thing to ask is why there is any notion of continuity in any possible reality. The underlying state is probably seamless or connected, or unified, and the perceptual effect of separateness between things is made possible by emphasizing the structural aspect.
If the question is why not have intervals that permit the play of negative and positive space, or variations within the structure of a musical composition, then he probably was not implying anything about that.
"For example, when concert pianists and violinists perform they look and sound like they are attacking their instruments. They are. I hear all of that. The screeching hacking violin sounds, and the rushed frenetic up and down race with the keyboard. no way for me to enjoy it. But sometimes, the beauty is so powerful, it dominates. And great rhythm always transcends for me."
I think there is a kind of enjoyment present there. The state can be mixed, and the mix produces another level of enjoyment. A connected idea is enrichment. We've talked about this before. The beauty of the poem or music can contain and transcend its emotional content of pleasure or pain.
You've reminded me of some stories.
A painter once commented that she could mix beautiful pure hues together to produce an awful muddy color. A beginner might think, "Ugh! I've made mud! Yuck!" But, she said, when she used the muddy color in her painting, the effect was to make the other colors in the painting appear more vibrant than they were before. In a number of ways, the addition of the muddy color made the painted work of art much richer to the senses. And in context, the mud itself appeared rich and lovely.
A musician named Michael Stearns once had a dream from which he created a set of musical pieces performed on a synthesizer. He begins with low pulsing vibrations, and at one point builds up to busy layers of sounds that seem to strive or aspire for something almost beyond reach.
"I had a dream about the earth. In my dream the earth wasn't a solid mass, but a mass of sounds held together through resonance. Everything: atoms, cells, the Earth's core, oceans, plants, animals and humans created a complex orchestration that kept unfolding on itself. The Earth was a being of sound. The sounds were of all times, its past life was mixed with sounds yet to be heard. I heard billions of voices and all the music ever created all at once.
"Suddenly, I and some others were shot out of the Earth's resonance. We were sound vibrations, too. We were Earth sensors sent out to bounce off of other sound masses so that our planet could
feel its place in the cosmic scheme of things. It was a feeling of utter ecstasy as we danced together through the universe. It wasn't a dance thru space but more like the movement of melody with rhythms, tensions, and releases. This was space travel unlike anything I had imagined.
"Then I became aware that the cosmos as a whole was, itself, a vibrating orchestration. The resonance was so complex and deep that I couldn't hear anything. I felt engulfed by a vast and tender silence. Yet I heard one small sound, almost like a moist breath. As I awoke I realized that moist breath was the Earth."
He titled the set of musical works "Planetary Unfolding".
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