Friends

"It is the chief of the spirits who is first to punish after the taking of breath. Juniper oil, incense, natron, and salt, searing ingredients, are a 'remedy' for his wounds. A 'friend' who shows no mercy attacks his flesh. He is unable to say 'desist' during the punishment of the assessor. The end of the pious man is his burial on the mountain together with his funerary equipment, but the possessor of wealth who acquired it through unjust means and hoarding will not take it with him to the mountain." - Papyrus Insinger 18.8-13

Which Mark Smith gives the following commentary:

"Here, the embalming table is also the judge's tribunal and the chief embalmer, Anubis, doubles as the judge who executes sentence. For the wicked man, mummification, the very process which is supposed to restore life and grant immortality, becomes a form of torture from which no escape is possible. The ingredients which should preserve his body burn it instead, and the god Anubis, normally every dead person's best friend, who conducts them to the underworld, punishes him without mercy. The passage informs us that having the financial means to pay for embalmment is in itself no guarantee that one will be able to enjoy its benefits; there is a moral dimension to consider as well. Unless one has led a good life, the benefits are withheld and the mummification process brings only suffering." - Traversing Eternity pgs. 26-27

The two go through the same experience, but to the good it is blessed and liberating; to the wicked horrible punishment without end. That's intense, and reminds me a bit of Jacob's Ladder, one of my all-time favorite movies.

Area Pagan Dreading Big Family Vernal Equinox Celebration
MEDFORD, OR — Despite evidence that the planets are aligned in his favor, local pagan Jeff Birch, 27, said Monday that he would "rather have a peaceful weekend at home" than attend his family's Vernal Equinox celebration on March 21.

"I realize it's supposed to be a festive time of conception and new growth in the womb of Mother Earth and all," Birch said. "But I just know that within an hour of arriving, things will get so bad that I'll be reverting to my 12-year-old self, hiding in the rec room downstairs, wearing my Iroquois false face mask and fingering my runes for comfort. It's not worth it."

Click here for more.

Alexandria has been declared the 2010 Capital of Arab Tourism.

I think the interview went pretty good. I should hear back about it later next week. I'm going to hold off talking about everything until then, lest I inadvertently jinx it ... but I am guardedly optimistic.

Part of that is because there were some interesting - and amusing - omens associated with this. For instance, in addition to being the 4th of the lunar month, and thus sacred to Hermes, today is "Mojoday" on the Discordian calendar - which, in a roundabout way adds a nice Dionysian overlay to the proceedings. (Though, considering mojo's magical connotations maybe that's still Hermes.)

Another really cool thing that happened today: while waiting for the cab at Lane Community College a hawk flew overhead, really low, and then circled right above me like 8 times. Then it flew off, not to be seen again.

The cab, unfortunately, was really late (reeeeeeeally late) which almost made me tardy for my interview. I was getting a tad nervous, and so earnestly began to pray to Hermes for assistance. Almost as soon as I finished the following occurred:

Cab driver: Don't worry, you won't be too late. And hey, you can always blame it on the cab. [lame chuckle, met with stony silence from me] I figure maybe another 10 to 15 minutes is all. Uhm ... wait a minute. That sign says we've only got 3 miles to go. I'll be darned.

Yeah, he actually said "darned." Of course, I nearly cried out "Hail Hermes!" right then and there, but instead settled on a big old Cheshire cat grin. Say what you will about Hermes, he knows how to make an impression and get the job done right.

There was another potentially significant occurrence, but this was a little less pleasant for me. While I was standing at the bus station waiting for the cab a fat little bumble bee alighted on my shirt. I am deathly afraid of bees (and with good reason, since it's likely that I'm allergic to them) but I controlled my initial reaction (which was to dance around like a moron screaming at the top of my lungs and swatting wildly) and tried to gently shew it away. Which was pretty much ignored by the bee who remained contently perched on my clothes. Having horrible visions of anaphylactic shock (which would not have made a very good impression on the interviewee) I took my overshirt off and decorously dumped it on the ground. I did not proceed to dance about and scream like a little girl, thank you very much and why would you suggest such a thing? However, I came very close to doing so when the bee then attached itself to my pant-leg ... specifically right above my crotch. There was some praying then, too, but it was more along the lines of "Ohgodsohgodsohgods!!! Not there. Of all the places to get stung, not my wang! I'm still using it! Nooooooo!"



Once the vile little winged beasty had inflicted enough torment on me it flew off to rape a flower or whatever it is bees do.

I suppose if one were so inclined they could interpret this as a positive omen ... I just find it hard to do so since it involved a bee. *shudders uncontrollably*

Well, now I'm off to do some ritual for my gods, thanking them again for all of their assistance. But I figured I'd update you guys and share those anecdotes first.

My next high-seat oracular session will be Monday, March 22.

Still have room in the queue if you have a question.  Send to dver at winterscapes dot com.

Will also be doing a small Theoxenia Delphinia for all the gods and daimones related to Delphi: Apollon, Dionysos, Trophonios, the Pythiai, the Korykian Nymphs, Pan, Hermes, Athene, Ge, Poseidon, and Zeus. I have four types of Greek liquor to offer, amongst other things. Delphi is such a strong part of my religious practice, that I like to take this time each year to get aligned with it on a deeper level, and to honor Everyone involved, even gods that I otherwise don't interact with at all.

On Sunday, March 28th I'll be doing my monthly Dionysos Day oracular session. If you have any questions, or would just like to hear what the god has to say to you, send an e-mail to me at Sannion@gmail.com. As always, this is done as a service to my god and community so no payment is requested.

Steampunk St. Patrick's Day:


And the very first Lucky Charms commercial (in Black & White, no less!):

"In the ocean, Poseidonios says, there is a small island, not very far out to sea, situated off the outlet of the River Leigeros; and the island is inhabited by the women of the Samnitai, and they are possessed by Dionysos and make this god propitious by appeasing him with mystic initiations as well as other sacred performances; and no man sets foot on the island, although the women themselves, sailing from it, have intercourse with the men and then return again. And, he says, it is a custom of theirs once a year to unroof the temple and roof it again on the same day before sunset, each woman bringing her load to add to the roof; but the woman whose load falls out of her arms is rent to pieces by the rest, and they carry the pieces round the temple with the cry of ‘Euah’, and do not cease until their frenzy ceases; and it is always the case, he says, that some one jostles the woman who is to suffer this fate." - Strabo, Geography 4.4.6

Granted, these would be the Continental Celts, and specifically the Gauls - quite a different people from the Irish ... but still.

Happy Liberalia everyone!

"There’s a popular festival of Bacchus, on the third day
After the Ides: Bacchus, favour the poet who sings your feast ...
The task of this verse is to set out the reasons,
Why a vine-planter sells his cakes to the crowd.
Liber,  before your birth the altars were without offerings,
And grass appeared on the stone-cold hearths.
They tell how you set aside the first fruits for Jupiter,
After subduing the Ganges region, and the whole of the East.
You were the first to offer up cinnamon and incense
From conquered lands, and the roast entrails of triumphal oxen.
Libations derive their name from their originator,
And cake (liba) since a part is offered on the sacred hearth.
Honey-cakes are baked for the god, because he delights in sweet
Substances, and they say that Bacchus discovered honey.
He was travelling from sandy Hebrus, accompanied
By Satyrs (my tale contains a not-unpleasant jest)
And he’d come to Mount Rhodope, and flowering Pangaeus:
With the cymbals clashing in his companions’ hands.
Behold unknown winged things gather to the jangling,
Bees, that follow after the echoing bronze.
Liber gathered the swarm and shut it in a hollow tree,
And was rewarded with the prize of discovering honey.
Once the Satyrs, and old bald-headed Silenus, had tasted it,
They searched for the yellow combs in every tree.
The old fellow heard a swarm humming in a hollow elm,
Saw the honeycombs, but pretended otherwise:
And sitting lazily on his hollow-backed ass,
He rode it up to the elm where the trunk was hollow.
He stood and leant on the stump of a branch,
And greedily reached for the honey hidden inside.
But thousands of hornets gathered, thrusting their stings
Into his bald head, leaving their mark on his snub-nosed face.
He fell headlong, and received a kick from the ass,
As he shouted to his friends and called for help.
The Satyrs ran up, and laughed at their father’s face,
While he limped about on his damaged knee.
Bacchus himself laughed and showed him the use of mud:
Silenus took his advice, and smeared his face with clay.
Father Liber loves honey: its right to offer its discoverer
Glittering honey diffused through oven-warm cakes.
The reason why a woman presides isn’t obscure:
Bacchus stirs crowds of women with his thyrsus.
Why an old woman, you ask? That age drinks more,
And loves the gifts of the teeming vine.
Why is she wreathed with ivy? Ivy’s dearest to Bacchus:
And why that’s so doesn’t take long to tell.
They say that when Juno his stepmother was searching
For the boy, the nymphs of Nysa hid the cradle in ivy leaves.
It remains for me to reveal why the toga virilis, the gown
Of manhood, is given to boys on your day Bacchus,
Whether it’s because you seem to be ever boy or youth,
And your age is somewhere between the two:
Or because you’re a father, fathers commend their sons,
Their pledges of love, to your care and divinity:
Or because you’re Liber, the gown of liberty
And a more liberated life are adopted, for you:
Or is it because, in the days when the ancients tilled the fields
More vigorously, and Senators worked their fathers’ land,
And ‘rods and axes’ took Consuls from the curving plough,
And it wasn’t a crime to have work-worn hands,
The farmers came to the City for the games,
Though that was an honour paid to the gods, and not
Their inclination: and the grape’s discoverer held his games,
This day, while now he shares that of torch-bearing Ceres:
And the day seemed not unfitting for granting the toga,
So that a crowd could celebrate the fresh novice?
Father turn your mild head here, and gentle horns,
And spread the sails of my art to a favourable breeze."

- Ovid, Fasti Book III

The e-mail was titled Can step mother poison her step daughter/son?
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If you were planning on requesting something for the 2010 Literary Pledge Drive, now's the time to do it. Very shortly I'll either be starting a new job (whether this one or something else: I've learned not to get too excited and count my eggs before they're hatched) or else I'll be in dire circumstances. Whichever happens, after a couple weeks I won't have as much free time, and the writing I plan to do after that will all be focused on finishing up my forthcoming book. This has been a lot of fun and I've really enjoyed the creative and challenging things you guys have come up with.

So, as I mentioned a while back, I'm nearing the end of my unemployment and am understandably starting to get rather nervous about that. Last Friday, while doing some devotional stuff I had a little heart-to-heart with my gods which basically went something like, "Okay, I know you guys have said not to worry, that if I keep up my end of the bargain you'll stand by me. And you certainly have through all this, so don't think I'm complaining or anything. And I know that you've got a different sense of time and all, but if I don't find a job in the next four weeks I'll be out on the street and that's going to make it even harder for me to do the stuff you want. So, if you're planning some last minute intervention type of thing - either sending me a job or dropping a couple million dollars into my lap, now would be a pretty good time for that! Just sayin', is all." I heard a distinct chuckle and one of them say "Have no fear; it will be resolved by the end of next week." My response was pretty much "Riiiiiiight. Okay. I guess we'll see."

And sure enough Monday afternoon I finally heard back from one of the companies I turned in an application for and an interview has been set up for this Friday. Which, by the way, just so happens to be the fourth of the lunar month, a day that is traditionally considered sacred to Hermes. Subtle, no?

Well, that had me totally jazzed, as you might imagine, especially since this looks like a really cool place to work - certainly better than 95% of the applications I've turned in over the last year or so. I don't want to talk too much about it, lest I jinx it, but I've pretty much been bouncing non-stop since I got off the phone with the woman.

Then, last night I had this really intense, really vivid, and really strange dream in which I was part of a group doing an oracular seiðr ritual for Óðinn. For as much as ritual plays an important role in my life I don't usually dream about performing it. I can think of a handful of occasions - like the time when I acted as priest for Dionysos in a distinctly Egyptian-style temple - but they're pretty infrequent. I have plenty of dreams where gods and spirits show up, just not generally in this way. And never with the Heathen deities, whom I have no connection to (aside from the fact that several close friends are devotees). So, yeah. Pretty strange, that.

This morning I was heading out to the library to do some research in preparation for the interview on Friday when something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. But first a digression.

Some of you may remember how back around mid-summer I had this series of omens and strange encounters involving decapitation and headless spirits with a strong Spider and Dionysian connection? Though I had a few leads and began to make some sense of the phenomenon (after being hit over the head with it time and time again, pardon the pun) I never entirely figured out what it meant. Eventually, however, it stopped showing up and other things took precedence in my spiritual life.

So, this morning I glance up at a tree - and discover a little headless doll with eight legs sitting precariously on a branch. What the fuck, man? I know why it exists and what it signifies and why I found it, but let's pause for a moment and pretend that there is a non-supernatural explanation for this. I mean, why would someone take the head off of a spider doll and carefully put it up in a really tall tree? If they thought it trash, why not throw it on the ground or into one of the nearby rubbish-bins? Hell, why would someone even have this odd little spider doll to begin with? (It's body is all stripy and kind of resembles a kewpie doll.) Needless to say, I plucked it out of the tree and took it with me. Guess I need to begin unraveling that mystery once more.

Between the tree and erl_queen's work (where I was headed for an impromptu lunch-date before going to the library) I saw all sorts of random signs and omens. None of them were hugely significant (a poster for a band called Bulls on Parade, about six or seven god-names used in advertising or for businesses, numbers and words that are personally significant, etc.) but all of them layered upon each other had this powerful cumulative effect.

After lunch I headed over to the Knight Library and on a hunch I checked the recent acquisitions shelf where I found ...

... TRAVERSING ETERNITY!!!!!!!!!

Seriously. I'm not kidding. It was right there on the shelf, next to some boring economics text and something about politics in contemporary Latin America. When I tried unsuccessfully to Inter Library Loan this thing a month or so back, I was told that there was a possible rumor that the Knight Library was possibly interested in getting a copy, but that it wouldn't happen until late fall or possibly even next year. Possibly. And yet here it is! I rushed over and checked it out before even going upstairs to start my research. I didn't want anyone else to snatch it (unlikely, I know) or discover in some evil twist of fate that they weren't letting it out of the library just yet. But yes, dear readers, I currently have the book in my happy little fingers. Well, not currently since that would make typing up this account rather difficult, but you know what I mean. This is so great! I can read through it and make sure that it's something I desperately need before plopping down $200+ for it. Or, if there are only a couple texts I absolutely have to have in the meantime I can photocopy them and then buy the book at my leisure, maybe even once the price has dropped a little. Yay!

So, thank you for watching out for me so well my wonderful, mysterious and amazingly awesome gods. With you in my life I feel like the luckiest, most blessed man alive. Though, obviously I'm not. Having read my Herodotos I know what happens when people make that boast! I really, really don't need some ek theou nemesis in my life at the moment. But it's hard not to feel overwhelmingly joyous with such incredible gods around.

We're going to keep this short and sweet (Frank and birthday vgifts will be back next week). You've probably seen the updates to our main menu. Don't be alarmed. You'll find everything you need, just in slightly shifted format. Just so you know, we based these changes on input from both experienced and new users who were not familiar with LiveJournal. Our goal was to reduce barriers to usability and make LiveJournal more accessible and easy to navigate. Please note that this is a work in progress. We welcome your detailed suggestions in feedback. We thank you, in advance, for helping us improve your LiveJournal experience.

We've updated the global navigation menu:

Here's a quick breakdown of what you'll find where:

• Scrapbook can now be found under Profile (thanks for your feedback, btw), along with Settings, Stats, and Edit Profile.
• You'll find all the tools you need to post and update entries under Journal, which includes posting and editing entries, managing comments and tags, and customizing your journal's style.
• Friends contains all of your friend settings, from filtering your Friends page to adding, removing, and finding new and existing friends on LiveJournal.
• Under Communities, you'll find links to manage your communities, accept community invites, and create new communities.
• Explore includes search features, RSS feeds, Question of the Day, and FRNK radio.
• Under Shop, you'll find links to upgrade or give a paid account, buy virtual gifts, purchase LiveJournal merchandise (like T-shirts), and view your payment history.

LiveJournal Mobile update:

We've enhanced LiveJournal's mobile site to improve usability and load times. We've made more of LiveJournal's features accessible via mobile, including posting comments, uploading photos, reading and commenting on friends' posts, finding and messaging friends, and more. We look forward to reviewing your feedback and recommendations for future improvements.

Other important changes:

• You can lock comments to prevent further commenting on a post, while leaving existing comments visible.
• We replaced the "Tell a friend" link with a new "Share This" widget that lets you share LiveJournal posts on other social media sites, including Facebook, Digg, Twitter, etc.
• We changed some of the icons on entries (you can hover over the icons to view descriptions).
• You'll see a Tag count on your Tag management page.
• You'll now see the 10 most recent vgifts on your profile page. To remove vgifts, left-click on the vgift and choose whether you want to remove the vgift from your profile or delete it entirely.
• We've added options to help you control receipt of vgifts, which you'll find in My Stuff under Edit Profile. You can now enable vgifts from friends or everyone and disable anonymous vgifts.

We've got your fix:

• UPDATE: Rolling several updates into one listing here -- 1) Scrapbook should be back and working again. 2) The problem with the Update Journal page in IE6 and IE7 should be fixed now. 3) The problem with the userpic add-on package pricing has been fixed and refunds issued to anyone who was overcharged while the erroneous prices were in place.
• Non-conforming images will now be automatically resized for custom mood themes.
• Line breaks no longer count as two characters against your entry's character limit.
• We fixed a bug on the Manage Tags page so you can clear all tags and add new tags.
• We corrected the UI for the update.bml page so it displays properly in IE8.

Thanks again for joining us. Frank and company will be back next week!

The word "vagina" is unacceptable in broadcast advertising.

Some of you may have already seen erl_queen's post about Wax Mannequin's Message From The Queen. If you haven't, go now and do so. It is ... freaking amazing! I've listened to this song about five dozen times since she first showed it to me on Saturday and it just keeps getting better with each view.

And here's something amazing I discovered thanks to Erik at ExecutivePagan: actor Ioan Gruffudd reciting a poem in Welsh about the bard Taliesin. Here's Part 1, and here's Part 2. It's really beautiful and hypnotic.

Speaking of hypnotic, apparently Lady Gaga is a brainwashed slave of the Illuminati who is encoding sinister messages into her incomprehensible lyrics. Well, that's one way of explaining the weirdness of Her Gaganess, but I'm not really sure anything can account for this.

If pop music isn't your thing, maybe you'll dig this French opera I've been listening, Jules Massenet's Thaïs. Here is how Wikipedia describes it's plot:

Thaïs takes place in Egypt during Byzantine rule, where a Cenobite monk, Athanaël, attempts to convert Thaïs, an Alexandrian courtesan and devotée of Venus, to Christianity, but discovers too late that his obsession with her is rooted in lust; while the courtesan's true purity of heart is revealed, so is the religious man's baser nature. The work is often described as bearing a sort of religious eroticism, and has had many controversial productions.

The centerpiece, Méditation, is just transcendentally beautiful.

Something else you might enjoy is Daemonia Nymphe's rendition of the stasimon of Euripides' Orestes, one of the few pieces of ancient music to come down to us intact.

But if you're looking for something a little harder, might I suggest Canadian death metal act Ex Deo? I don't normally go in for this type of music, but I totally dig all of their classical allusions and their videos are totally bitchin'. In particular, check out this one they made for The Final War which is about the Battle of Actium. It's so fucking awesome I'll even forgive them for favoring the wrong side. Here's the lyrics if you can't understand the singing, but I'm sure you'll get the gist.

The Ides of March
Be fearful of exalted rank, o soul.
And if you are unable to subdue
your aspirations — doubtingly pursue them
and with precautions. And the more you rise,
the more examining, the warier be.

And when you are arrived at the supreme
height of your glory — a Caesar, as it were:
when you are become a man so widely famed:
then specially be wary — at such time
as you come out into the thoroughfares,
a noted ruler with great following:
if peradventure, from the multitude,
some friendly person, an Artemidorus,
bringing a paper, should press near to you
and rap out sharp “Read this without delay;
herein are weighty matters touching you”,
fail not to tarry; fail not to postpone
all talk or business; fail not to turn off
the different hangers-on who bow and scrape,
(you will attend to them in time); let even
the Senate wait; — leave all, and learn at once
the grave things written by Artemidorus.

- Constantine P. Cavafy

For the original Greek, click here.