The Guidelines

(with great thanks to Diane Duane for her interpretation of Surak )

Ideally, do no harm.

Harm speeds up the heat death of the Universe

and indirectly, your own.

More practically, do as little harm as possible.

We are creatures of a Universe in which entropy exists,

and therefore see no way of escape,

but we do not need to help it.

Harm no one’s internal, invisible, integrities.

Leave others the privacy of their own minds and lives.

Intimacy remains precious only insofar as it is inviolate:

Invading it turns it to torment.

Reach out to others courteously:

Accept their reaching in the same way,

With careful hands.

Do no murder:

The spear in the Others heart is the spear in your own;

You are he.

All action has reaction:

What force you inflict inevitably returns.

The murder of the other is the murder of your own joy,

Forever.

As far as possible do not kill;

Can you give life again to what you kill?

Then be slow to take life.

Take only life that will not notice you taking it.

To notice one’s own death increases entropy.

To die and not notice it increases it less,

but still does so.

Cast out fear.

Cast out hate and rage.

Cast out greed and envy.

Cast out all emotion that speeds entropy,

whether it be love or hatred.

Cast out these emotions by using reason to accept them,

and then move past them.

Use in moderation emotions that do not speed entropy,

taking all care that they do not cause others pain,

for that speeds entropy as well.

Master your passions,

so that they become a force for the slowing of the heat death.

Do no harm to those that harm you.

Offer them peace, and offer them peace again,

and do it until you die.

In this way, you will have peace,

one way or the other,

even if they kill you.

And you cannot give others what you have not experienced yourself.

Learn reason above all.

Learn clear thought;

learn to know what IS from what it seems to be,

and what you Wish to be.

This is the key to everything:

the truth of reality, the reality of truth.

What IS will set you free.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

May I humbly present to you, The Duchess of Sydney Street, The Lady, Miss Amber Flames!

Desiderata

I have always loved this piece; I remember my mom having a large black-framed copy hanging in the living room when I was a kid. I've learned since then that it's much more recent than tradition holds, but, meh! That doesn't alter it's simple wisdom. Thanks for reminding me of it DaveyWavey!

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

I LOVE POI!!!

If the title wasn't enough to make the point, then perhaps these videos  will! I got into poi partially due to an occasional fascination with it in general, and partly due to a few friends from work who practice it (Thanks Justin and Molly!). Later, after I had been a practicing beginner for about 6 months I found a whole online community of spinners...people like Nick Woolsey from NS, (www.playpoi.com), Thomas Johansson from Nevisoul (www.nevisoul.com), Yuta,, from Japan and many, many others.


The videos below are only a small part of what continues to inspire me to practice, to get better, and also  to get into better shape (as I will have to in order to keep up with these guys, lol).


Enjoy:

More for the last

Hi world.


I realized after I had posted the "Open letter to Phenix Saint"  that I had forgotten some key points. I am currently working on articulating said points and will post them soon.


Stay tuned...

An Open Letter to Phenix Saint

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Egypt

This whole thing in Egypt right now has me a little overwhelmed! I still remember the October War in 1973, when I was six and just starting 1st grade. Frankly I'm still processing what's happened in the last week, 'cause it seems to have gone by so fast!

I'll let you know when I catch up!

Peace

Good bye Christina

R.I.P.
Christina Taylor Green
September 11, 2001 :: January 8, 2011
9 years old

Eternal rest grant unto her -
and may Perpetual Light shine upon her

Fan(atics)

Fanaticism

from Wikipedia.org:

Fanaticism is an emotion of being filled with excessive, uncritical zeal, particularly for an extreme religious or political cause or in some cases sports, or with an obsessive enthusiasm for a pastime or hobby. Philosopher George Santayana defines fanaticism as "redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim"[1]; according to Winston Churchill, "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject". By either description the fanatic displays very strict standards and little tolerance for contrary ideas or opinions.

****************************************************

The other day at work one of my supervisors at work passed on to me a little URL for the now "as seen on TV during the Superbowl" preview of "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra"! I watched it tonight. Then I got more interested in the movie and did a little online searching for more on this, sure to be a blockbuster whether it ultimately deserves to or not I make no judgements, movie by Michael Bay, of "Transformers" fame. I found one site that purported to be leaking pictures of the cast in costume, (test shots I think), and after checking out the pictures, I scrolled a little further down, and began to read the comments left by visitors to the site.

I couldn't help but both laugh and be, perhaps, just a little scared. These people were brutal in their dislike for the costumes, and in their hatred of the film, even though they hadn't seen it yet, and many were even talking about organizing boycotts of the film because of it. Every now and then there was a cooler head prevailing but even they were quickly shot down, metaphorically speaking, of course. But I have no doubt in my mind that for some of these fellow "Citizens of Planet Earth", a more literal interpretation would suit just as well. I thought about this for a minute and it occured to me what these people actually needed, as compared to wanted, was to GET A LIFE!

I mean come on! It's a frelling Hollywood comic remake, for frack's sake. And I heard people going on about how the movie was destroying treasured images from their childhood. It's a fracking comic book, people. And let's not forget there was also an "action figure". These were so named because the manufacturer could never have gotten away with saying it was a doll. They would never have been able to sell it if parents thought about it as buying a doll for their sons. Thus today we have the tradition of buying action figures for our sons at birthdays and at Christmas.

But. . .

. . . in my world GI Joe and Barbie, were the best of friends. The original BFF's you might say. Of course, what Barbie never realized was that Joe was only hanging out with her so he could get closer to Ken, who secretly swung both ways. Oh yeah, in my world, GI Joe was a fag! Yes children, Joe was as queer as a footbal bat.


. . .


So it seems that what I'm really trying to say here is that there's nothing wrong with being a fan of something. I happen to think fandom is terrific. I am a huge fan of the "Underworld" series of movies. Len Wiseman, Danny McBride, and Kevin Grevioux made a terrific writing team, Len is a phenomenal director with a palpable vision, Danny and Kevin were both in the movie, Danny as Mason, a Death Dealer working in Khan's group, and Kevin as Raze, a lieutenant of Lucien, the leader of the Lycans. As you can see I could go on at length, and may very well do so someday soon, if I can ever get my hands on a good copy (I mean, Offsite Archival Copy) of Dragon Naturally Speaking, and a couple more gigs of RAM. The point here is that fandom is all very well, but getting so worked up about the way a movie treats a comic character, or characters, that you would try to organize a boycott of the movie? That's just dumb, and wreaks of good, old-fashioned, 'waaaay too much time on my hands!' syndrome to me.



But I could be wrong.

November 2, 2008

-From Wikipedia
(October 28, 2008)-

** "All Soul's Day
-- November 2, 2008 -

The custom of setting apart a special day for intercession for certain of the faithful departed is very old. But the celebration of general intercession on 2 November* was first established by St. Odilo of Cluny (d. 1048) at his monastery of Cluny in 998. The decree ordaining the celebration is printed in the Bollandist Acta Sanctorum (Saec. VI, pt. i. p. 585). From Cluny the custom spread to the other houses of the Cluniac order, which became the largest and most extensive network of monasteries in Europe. The celebration was soon adopted in several dioceses in France, and spread throughout the Western Church. It was accepted in Rome only in the fourteenth century. While 2 November remained the liturgical celebration, in time the entire month of November became associated in the Western Catholic tradition with prayer for the departed; lists of names of those to be remembered being placed in the proximity of the altar on which the sacrifice of the mass is offered. " **

The fact that this could be interpreted as a form of mediumship in the classic Pagan and Wiccan tradition seems to have to slipped peoples minds entirely, no thanks in large part to the ongoing, through-out history, efforts of the Roman Catholic church. (Don't even get me started! lol)

Anyway this is really just my way of recognizing the deep, dare I say it, almost filial affection for a woman who has inspired me for many years, ever since she went back to university at the age of thirty-seven, because she wanted so badly to become a nurse, finally graduating in the top 3% of her class, and within a few months, receiving a mark in the 98th percentile range on her RN exams! She has always been there for me when I really needed her and I will never have the words to be able to thank her properly.

I love you, Mom!

Jamie
Pagan Forge

*technically when the 2nd of Nov falls on a Sunday, the Celebration gets moved to the Monday following, but it's generally celebrated on the 2nd.