Altar Boyz-Arts Club Theatre Granville Island

I’ve been looking forward to seeing this play ever since someone got me the soundtrack as a present 5 yrears ago. The play represents the supposed last  concert on a tour by a Catholic boy band – the eponymous Altar Boyz. The band consists of Matthew, the group’s leader, Mark, the group choreographer  who may be a bit more attracted to Matthew then he would readily admit, Luc (rapper and amazing dancer who just came out of a program recovering from…er…exhausion), Juan (an orphan raised in Mexico praying for news of his birth family) and Abraham (He’s  Jewish and the lyricist for the group. He doesn’t know quite why God seems to want him in this group but he;s going along with it.) .

The show had a fantastic cast (as do so many of Vancouver’s shows). I found the show in turns outrageously funny and surprisingly poignant. Would born-again people enjoy this show? Probably not. As a group, they don’t seem to be known for their sense of humour. The music and dancing are fantastic.

Videos of the Day

Clip from “The Miracle Song” with the cast we saw

Original Long Beach Ca Cast Video made for the song “The Calling”

Tarot Haikus – IV of Pentacles

So, I was working on an essay for the Tarot group at SR on the elements. Working hard which translated to watching YouTube videos, playing games on facebook and reading up on various news stories one of which was the total eclipse. I thought to myself “Wouldn’t it be cool to come up with an eclipse haiku?” My idea of cool tends to be somewhat askew from most people’s. So I did. I have yet to write the article yet parts of it are percolating. While walking the dog I was debating in my mind which Beatle corresponded to each element- Was John Lennon closer to Fire, Air or Water? Ringo Starr was probably Earth, right? Not that that will make it into the article, sometimes i just give my mind some rope and see where it leads.

But I digress. So I wrote the Eclipse haiku-a few entries down if you are interested. An idea popped into my head. Wouldn’t it be fun to come up with a haiku for each of the 78 tarot cards? My idea of fun tends to be as askew as my idea of cool.
So tonight I drew a card from the deck IV of Pentacles and after some thought came up with this:

Holding too tightly
coins slip from an old man’s grasp
order tossed aside.

IV of Pentacles

Song of the Day

To anyone who may need some encouragement–To those I love (even those I don’t know) a little song of encouragement. This song was originally recorded by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush. That version is awesom (not surprising). This cover done by Maire Brennan (Founding member of Clannad and sister of Enya) and Michael McDonald (from Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan).

Don’t Give Up

Dont Give Up – Maire Brennan & Michael Mcdonald

Eclipsed

Yesterday a solar eclipse occurred. I found myself fascinated by those as a lad and still am. Oddly enough I feel a bit disconnected as if my thoughts and my heart center also eclipsed each other. Overall my happiness level seems high but putting two thoughts together especially yesterday seemed difficult.

Ah well today doesn’t feel as shadowed. So we will see what will arise.

Moon eclipses sun
When the shadows pass over
my heart will lighten

Death Wisdom Reading

Again–The idea of 1 (or 2) spreads for each major arcana card is taken (as are the spreads) from Rachel Pollack’s excellent book Tarot Wisdom. As often as possible I am using the textual definitions from Ms Pollack’s book as otherwise there exists a possibility of skewing the meanings to serve my own ends rather than get any insight into what the cards are showing me. Recently I have also been taking (for the minor arcana) cards some of the textual definitions from Eileen Connolly’s Tarot: The First Handbook for the Master. Way back when I started working with the cards Ms. Connolly’s Tarot for the Apprentice was one of the first books I used.
Tonight tho, I had a new insight. That if the goal of these readings is a greater internal knowledge and understanding these forces then subjectivity may just be the way to go. Still I will give Ms Pollack’s and Ms. Connolly’s definitions because I feel it may be useful for anyone reading this to follow along.

Death Wisdom Reading

1) What is Death? The Hierophant (REV) Hierophant
2) What does it come from? X of Cups (REV) 10 of Cups
3) What causes it? 8 of Cups VIII of Cups
4) Why do we have to die? The World (Rev) The World
5) What Comes From Death The Magician [

The Magician

6)What will come after? VII of Swords Seven of Swords
7) What does it mean in a reading? The World (REV) The World

Interpretation.

1) What is Death? The Hierophant (Rev)

“suggests unorthodoxy. A person rejects the path laid out by our society or family and goes his or her own way”

“It can also lead to a lack of grounding or to gullability”

“The Hierophant reversed means freedom but with freedom comes the difficulty of choice”
<em>The Hierophant also represents the outer teacher of what we need to learn. He takes us into the path of learning so to speak. So reversed, the card can also mean a graduation of sorts as the student is finished with the current curriculum and ready to go on to the next course of study. That sounds like a workable definition of death to me 🙂 </em>

2) What does Death come from? X of Cups (Rev)

“Feeling depressed and out of touch. You need a change of scenery. You can pull out of this and start again”

“Time is the best medicine. A difficult situation yet to be understood”

“Need to separate yourself from an undesirable situation. How you feel is natural and to be expected. Forgive”

“Arguments are useless so are tears. Face the problem and see the truth. Frustration developing.  A need to re-evaluate and reconcile”

Well so Death comes when life has lived beyond its time.???? When one has gotten all they can out of a situation and now must evaluate everything that has gone before so that they can recommence.  I do love the change of scenery in context.

3) What causes Death? VIII of Cups

“You have come a long way. Now you will receive inspiration and guidance from the higher self. Patience is rewarded”

“You are being motivated by past life experience to complete a process of study”

“Move on and move forward. Being overly anxious will slow down your spiritual development. Relax and enjoy. Organize a new course of study You are going to be busy”

There you have it folks. Living life causes Death 😉 It is all part of the process. With some of these Major Arcana readings, I have found it to be difficult figuring out how the cards applied to the given situation. This one seems almost too easy. Also wise and thought-provoking. Also, it seems that as much is coming out about the nature of life as about death.

4)Why do we have to die? The World (Rev)

“Reversed the World card does not mean disaster or failure but simply stagnation”

“It can also mean a firm structure, as if situations remain the same rather than transform or give way to something new”

OK so we die because we have finished what we were incarnated on the physical level to finish. Being here longer would be purposeless. There is no real death, it is just the end of a cycle and now time to move on.

5) What comes from Death? The Magician I really like this

“…the Magician in a reading signifies consciousness will, and transformative or creative power” “symbolizes creativity itself”

So transformation and creativity come out of death? Again makes a lot of sense. Perhaps not only for the person who has transformed–but for the ones still incarnate who have manifested him/her in their lives in the first place. It seems, from my own experience, that the Death of someone close to us means that whatever part of our lives that they may have represented must now manifest in a new way.

6) What will come after? VII of Swords

“Intense focus on what has occurred will not eliminate present situation. Things may not look all that bad. But you are ignoring facts”

“Bad luck can change into possible solution if you apply instant effort”

“You can reach the top of the mountain if you unload some baggage. It has to be now.”

“If you do the same things, the same things will happen”

That last seems like as good a definition of an aspect of karma as anything I’ve come across. 🙂

Again there seems to be things here that apply both to the being no longer in the physical as well as the ones who still are who knew them. What has died needs to leave their lives  and whatever feelings they may have about them behind and the ones who are still in the physical need to do the same. In other words, move on, find new ways of doing things, grow and change.

7. What does it mean in a reading? High Priestess (Rev).

“Reversed the High Priestess may call on us to get involved again in the world. especially if we’ve spent a time cut off from people, exploring our inner lives.”

“There is a strong seductiveness in her silence, her separation, but if we stay too long in that state we find it hard to get back our lives, our responsibilities, our relationships.

“…remind us be passionate, to commit ourselves to something or someone”

Hmmm, so trying to put this into context, this would seem to be saying that when the Death card comes up in a reading, it is about life also and its connections. That so often when we go through a transformation, we loose sight of the importance of either making connections or maintaining the ones we have.

Thoughts, comments, Questions, anyone?




Letting go; Emanations, Reflections (Part 1)

Note: Last night when I started this entry, I thought it would be much shorter. I seem to have gotten caught up in reflections of the past. Still, that being said, I’ll go with it. I admit to having a certain curiosity where it is all leading. For those of you who read this blog for the tarot readings, feel free to only read those ( i should be doing the first reading associated with the Death card either tomorrow or Tuesday at the latest)

It feels strange this time around. Watching people getting so caught up in…culture? concrete mundane reality? the matrix? The cultural reality tunnel that dictates that each person give the same unconsidered knee-jerk responses that their peers do? It seems like a good deal of my life has been trying to find the right</strongreality tunnel for myself. The one that I could cling to. The compass and center that could guide me. Only to find that…
Lots and lots of answers that seem to work for other people don’t work for me. Oh they all feel good for awhile. Faith is an amazing thing. I have met people with faith that glowed like a campfire on a cool summer evening and I just wanted to warm myself by that fire and gain that kind of conviction for myself..
I could list all the answers I’ve tried that I’ve seen work for others but I have a sneaking suspicion that it would sound like the lyrics to John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance” None of those tunnels worked for me. I’d get caught up in them and eventually some contradiction or something that just didn’t jibe would arise and each time an inner voice would speak to me:
“Go”
“Wha…?”
“It’s time to go!”
“But what about…?”
GO NOW!!!!
“OK”
and whatever situation I was in, I would leave by the fastest, most direct route out of there.
I followed similar paths going from organized religion (Jewish) to Scientific Atheist 😉 (I was 15) to believing myself an agnostic, open and exploring everything (including satanism to get on the nerves of my baby sister’s fundamentalist nanny I was 16.).
When I was 17 my best friend and I left our homes in CT and decided that we were going to see if there was life outside of high school. We ended up in San Francisco through a combination of hitchhiking and Greyhound and promptly joined the Unification Church (the Moonies). Well, we only had $20 between us and they did offer a free meal ;). I ended up staying with the Moonies for five months (my friend had left after 3 due to parental duress). I immersed myself in them, believing that at last I had found an answer that this was a path I could take. But then the questionz crept in. Little contradictions in the behaviour of the people running the church. Inconsistencies between their system of beliefs and their practices. . I went to the California head of the church and told him about my confusion. He told me that at 17, I should be more interested in baseball than in spiritual matters??!!! Not long after that the voice inside me said “go’ so I left and went back to my father’s house in CT.
I felt shattered. For five months, I had tried on a whole new way of looking at myself and the world around me. I believed that I knew how everything fit together and now….? I was pretty sure that I . no longer buy into the beliefs of the Unification Church but then what did I believe? I felt like reality had pulled the chair out from under me. .
I didn’t get a whole lot of sympathy from my family or the people around me. My father and step-mother seemed to feel that I should be repentant and apologetic. I felt like I needed some understanding. Couldn’t they see that I was not the same kid who had left five months before? Couldn’t they tell that I did not perceive them in the same way? I did a lot of yelling that spring. Also a bit of negotiating. My friend and I had left in December I had been a junior and he a senior in the CT prep school that we both went to. I went in and talked to the Assistant Headmaster and His Wife, the Dean of Studies at the school and arranged that If I took and passed a combination of summer courses at the University next door and a few other courses with teacher who was willing then I could rejoin my class for Senior year.
Around a week after I returned, I got another surprise. The friend whom I had left town with John had found another answer that worked for him He had accepted Jesus Christ as his saviour…..

As trite as this may sound…the hour grows late and I grow tired. This will probably be continued. Feel free to comment, question, or anything else you may wish.

Video of the Day

Ok two today a new one of mine, well a collaboration video because a friend on Spirit Refuge has allowed me to use one of his songs for it. The footage comes from an amazing site in Port Angeles, Washington called Hurricane Ridge. You drive up a winding road and see… well this…

Euphoria on Hurricane Ridge


My Life in Song(s) :-)

(from facebook)
Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Pass it on to 15 people (or not) and include me. Try not to repeat a song title.

What does YOUR life look like in song(s)?

Pick Your Artist: David Bowie

Are you male or female:
Nature Boy (or A Lad in Vein)

Describe yourself:
Karma Man

How do you feel about yourself:
Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed

Describe your current boy/girl situation:
That’s Where My Heart Is

Describe where you currently live:
There Is A Happy Land

If you could go anywhere you wanted to go:
Life on Mars

Your favorite form of transportation:
I Took A Trip on a Gemini Rocket ship

Your best friend(s) is(are):
Heroes

Your favorite color is:
Blue in the Night

Favorite time of day:
Early Morning

If your life were a TV show, what would it be called:
Even a Fool Learns to Love

What is life to you:
Fantastic Voyage

What is the best advice you have to give:
Fill Your Heart

Thought for the Day:
Somebody Up There Likes Me

How I would like to die:
Survive

My soul’s present condition:
I Am Divine