Month: May 2013
“In wildness is the preservation of the world.”
Henry David Thoreau
The rabbit hole widens
as I careen through many halls
Bouncing from chamber to chamber
Most shine with strange energies
Some glow with white mist
that fills the heart
and overflows
Some glow red inflaming the loins
and sparking animal passion.
When the light shines black
the shadows come out to play
with their gifts of knowledge
and their terror of the self.
Still I leap down
through rabbit’s caution
to gain the wisdom there
for every journey
leads to understanding
and no path stands alone.
Blessings, G
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Goat Sketchiness by G A Rosenberg
Fiery Crossroads by G A Rosenberg
The Necessity of Wilderness
“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity…”
― John Muir
Back in Washington State for the first camping trip of the year. The rain is coming down and yet we’re staying relatively warm and enjoying family time and nature. I’m looking forward to some quality communing and meditation tho my posts for the next few days might be a bit sparse. Still this quiet time is for recharging and contemplation so I can bring back the good stuff.
Blessings, G
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Real Characters
“If you will practice being fictional for awhile, you will understand that fictional characters are sometimes more real than people with bodies and heartbeats”
— Richard Bach
There are times when I lie awake at night and have conversations in my head with characters from books. Malachi in Edgar Pangborn’s Still I Persist in Wondering, never bored and asking the question Why do we love when we know it will end up hurting us. Sometimes in my mind I find myself trading bad puns with the denizens of the Callahan stories by Spider Robinson and sometimes I find myself sharing some of the rougher problems I’ve had with them and thereby lessening the pain. When my mother passed away I found myself receiving solace from the personification of Death as written by Neil Gaiman. THere are so many characters I’ve read over the years that they have taken on a life of their own at least in my mind.
Does that seem far fetched? Do you have friends who you’ve only spoken to on the internet? How about casual acquaintances and distant relatives who most of what you know about each other is myth that you’ve used to fill in the blanks. How real are they to you? How real is the clerk at your local grocery store whom you smile and joke with? Do you even know their name?
At best, the amount of matter we give to a person or thing in our lives whether fictional or corporeal varies based on our mindfulness and our interest. Yes I have loved fictional characters and given them more life than I have the casual strangers I meet each day. Doing this has allowed me to have more appreciation for other beings in general and a keener appreciation for the real.
Blessings, G
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Dream Journey Mandala by G A Rosenberg
Exploding Maze by G A Rosenberg
Tarot Post – Prince of Wands
Prince of Wands (Air of Fire)
Prince of Wands (Revised) by G A Rosenberg
Burning to create
His passion fueled by new thought
The eternal quest
Self-directed
Beholden to no one
I build my flame
and speed of movement
I devour everything in my path
yet do it with a love and passion
deeper than any you’ve known
Mind-stimulating
Seducing your senses
I tell you reasons
that lie beyond madness
I dance swiftly body and mind
yet do it with logic and voice
sweeter than any you’ve known
All-Sides Seeing
Committed to Nothing
I argue any position
and take it in stride
I glow with brilliant intensity
yet do it with humour and jest
warmer than any you’ve known
The suite of Wands deal with force-creative, spiritual, and vital and are associated with the element of Fire. Princes deal with the transmission and the endurance of the energy, the result of the union of the King’s Force and the Queen’s generative and nurturing of the energy. He combines the spirituality intrinsic to Wands with the quality of intellect inherent to the Princes. He is generous and honourable yet mischievous and tormenting. He is swift in movement and in his interests and his energy can cover a lot of diverse ground very quickly. He has an amazing and constant sense of humour and sees the funny side to just about anything and while he may seem cruel in his jests he is seldom ill-intentioned. Due to his innate ability to read others, he can often sense just how far he can take the joke without going overboard. He is romantic and loves to be exposed to anything that is novel and new including cultures and beliefs. At his worst he will descend into cruelty and sadism and leave behind scorched wreckage in his wake.
Astrological Correspondence: 21° Cancer – 20° Leo Elemental: Air of Fire – This combination of Cancer and Leo qualities could be seen as a mystical extrovert. Ever able to create spiritual connections and then communicate them outward. He would have a love and appreciation of beauty but due to his ability to see beyond the surface he would be able to perceive beauty where others would not. He may be seen to have many ideas that are extreme and unusual in nature tho due to his charismatic nature he will always have people who will listen to him.
I Ching – 56) Lu – The Wanderer
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The hexagram for Fire is over that of the Mountain. As fire spreads over the mountain swiftly, this hexagram speaks about constant movement as a way of continuing abundance. In this way more can be learned including the ways in which one must modify their behaviour when among strangers. Usually this hexagram speaks of things of short duration such as lawsuits but can also represent that once we have experienced what we have come to any particular place to experience then it is time to continue onward.
The Prince of Wands in a reading can often refer to a person or energy who is going to change your world oft times in a very literal sense. This card can often signify a change in residence or environment. It often refers to an energy that springs into your life with little or no warning. This energy is often difficult to resist so it is best to let ourselves get swept up into things so that they can be taken care of in the best way possible.The Prince of Wands can also refer to a new project that we should approach with lots of enthusiasm but not so much that we lose sight of the objectives. With this energy, honest and realistic communication oft becomes a necessity
When the Prince of Wands turns up reversed in a reading, it can mean that things have gone awry and are in a state of confusion. It may mean that we have been expecting things around us to fall into place and have become thrown when we have not met with the cooperation that we have been expecting. Usually this happens when we have failed to pay attention to details. The Reversed Prince of Wands may also mean that we find ourselves facing unexpected delays
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Owning Yourself
“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.
–Friedrich Nietzsche
Going along with the crowd is easy. You get strokes of approval from those around you. You get to feel appreciated and heard. You get to feel powerful because a group of like- minded individuals working towards a goal are more powerful. It’s awesome.
But what happens when you find yourself disagreeing with the prevailing opinion? How do you handle it when everyone arounds you says that you’re wrong in what you believe or what you do? Do you cave under collective disapproval? What about when you are certain that you are correct in what you believe (especially when what they disapprove of is how you are living your life) or at least more considered than they are? As Nietzsche said it can be lonely and frightening but it is necessary. For each time we stand up as individuals we are doing our part to liberate all. Living according to our authentic selves (or our true will as some have called it) becomes one of the highest responsibilities we have as adults.
Blessings, G
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Charged by G A Rosenberg
Opal Landscape by G A Rosenberg
I’d Love to Change the World…..
“If you want to change the world, you have to change the metaphor.”
― Joseph Campbell
How do we see the world?
Is it a battleground each day a new chance to emerge victorious or to flame out in defeat?
Is it a classroom with each day providing a new lesson which we look forward to lunch and recess?
Is it a comedy or a tragedy, each actor on a stage and who writes this stuff anyway?
Is it a cesspool in which we are mired until we can hope for freedom?
Is it a delicious orb where wonder happens all the time with no end to the potential for magic?
I believe that the answer to all the above questions is yes and by moving our view between these and many other possible true definitions of the world we can find ourselves opening up more and more to possibility and growth.
Is life a series of curses and blessings or is it a series of challenges to be met?
Blessings, G
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Rooted Journey by G A Rosenberg
Blue Centre Star by G A Rosenberg
Co-Creation’s Wheel (Redux)
From pieces of memory
inner voices and imagination
I create myself
from moment to moment
the wheel turns
and I become anew
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Co-Creation’s Wheel by G A Rosenberg
Attack of the Living – Dead Faith
“Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.”
~Andre Gide
“I Slept With Faith And Found A Corpse In My Arms Upon Awakening; I Drank And Danced All Night With Doubt And Found Her A Virgin In The Morning”
–Aleister Crowley
Is it easier to doubt or to believe? It seems that many people have a fear of doubting that manifests in them adopting either an early choice of belief that of their ancestors. Once they decide they believe something they will fight for it against any comers, doubters or those who hold different beliefs, they will honour their beliefs, raise statues and hold feasts to it and do everything but examine it. In my experience an unexamined belief or faith all too quickly becomes like Aleister Crowley says a corpse or worst yet, a zombie like thing that apes life while missing some vital spark.
Only by constantly examining our beliefs and trying them against new ideas in a cage match no holds barred vigorous debate can our concept of truth grow, change, evolve and remain alive, not through blind belief but through a hunger to seek what’s true, no matter how shaky our footing may be.
Blessings, G
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Compassionate eyes by G A Rosenberg
Tunnel Vision by G A Rosenberg
Tarot Post – Queen of Wands
Queen of Wands (Water of Fire)
Queen of Wands (Revised) by G A Rosenberg
Passionate Goddess
whose strength eases troubled souls
take me to new heights
I stand here guarding her heart
the heat almost more than I can stand
She contains the universe
and I hungrily await her command.
She is the fire that brings warmth
Creative urges ignite by her glance
Yet her eyes fall on others never me
Loyally I hold my stance
Still I dream of what could be
Our passions burning in the long night
My soul inspired by her touch
Her heat my being does ignite
My vision will remain just that
A goddess cares not for one knight’s passion
I stand her guarding her being
My fantasies left ashen..
— G A Rosenberg “Volcano Queen’s Knight”
Note: Tho I may use the words she and he when speaking of the court cards, a Queen can often refer to a man as a King or Prince a woman.
The suite of Wands deal with force-creative, spiritual, and vital and are associated with the element of Fire. Queens are the receptive and nurturing form of the energy. The Queen of Wands is a creative and enticing muse. She can adapt to almost anything and has an appreciation for life lived to its fullest. She is generous and kind tho she is very used to having her own way through sheer presence. When she is opposed she can become quite vicious especially once she has a chance to brood on it. She is great in crisis situations due to her unflappability and take charge attitude.
Astrological Correspondence: 21° Pisces – 20° Aries Elemental: Water of Fire
The influence of the third decan of Pisces gives the Queen of Wands a visionary quality and the drive to be recognized tho a bit of cognitive dissonance between the world imagined and the world lived in.
The influence of the first two decans of Aries gives the drive to constantly push forward and be in the forefront. The Queen of Wands also gets the quality of attraction from this influence and a relentlessness for the world around her to acquiesce to her vision of it and a combination of dismissal and depression when it does not.
Like the combination of Water and Fire, that she is, the Queen of Wands may be a study in contrasts, generous and impatient, lively but with the tendency towards brooding and depression, good-humoured except when crossed.
I Ching Correspondence – 17) Sui – Following –
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The trigram of the Lake is over that of Thunder. This hexagram talks about learning to lead by following and persevering in what is right. By serving others (including our own impulses) we learn to pay attention to what is essential. This same attention to detail and steadfastness will help us achieve our goals which will result in others wishing to follow our success in order to achieve their own. Also by impressing others with the qualities we bring in our service to them, we inspire them to follow to learn how to develop these inner qualities in themselves. Sometimes when one has achieved success the only challenge that remains is inspiring others how to do the same.
When the Queen of Wands shows up in a reading, it possibly refers to someone who is willing to nurture us in our artistic and generative capacities. This may refer to someone who will either inspire us or give us good advice. It may refer to a time in our life when we are more inspiring than we are steadfast or loyal and our patience may possibly be tested by those around us. It may refer to a time of crisis in which we are keeping our heads and helping others or we have someone around willing to take charge for us