Pilgrimage Statistics

Consecutive Days Riding: 49                             Consecutive Days Blogging: 50

Today’s Mileage:  10                                        Total Trip Mileage: 429

Holidays and Holy Days on November 28:

Ascension of Abdu’l-Baha – Baha’i celebration of the rising of the spirit of Abdu’l-Baha to the heavenly dwelling. 

_________________________________________ 

As I peddle my bike this morning the words of my partner Susan ring in my ears: “Keep the blog short today!”  Yesterday’s posting was longer than usual by necessity as I wanted to give a detailed explanation of my Pilgrim Symbol. This morning before climbing on the bike I spent time on the internet, reviewing comments to my blog and face book page. In addition, I looked for scenes along our virtual path as we near next pilgrimage site visit which we will visit tomorrow.

Fasting Buddha

A friend who frequently comments on my blog sent me an intriguing photo image of a rarely seen rendition of the Buddha.  It is entitled: The Fasting Buddha.  The image was accompanied with the following text:  “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without,” said Siddhartha, and they listened motionless as words flowed from his mouth, “believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.”  It was followed by a thread leading to a gallery of photos by the photographer: Umair Ghani. I spent the next half hour enthralled and lost in the beauty, color, and “otherworldliness” of his images of southwest Asia, the people, their mosques and the dancing dervishes.

Smile of a dervish

Soft Beauties

I pulled myself back from this distant world, with the clock ticking overhead and the sun rising on a new day.  I navigated quickly to my face book page to check for any crucial messages or postings, concerning friends, students or family in need.  I stopped abruptly at a series of small images.  A friend, former student and colleague in the school of life, had posted some of her beautiful photography!  Without hesitating I joined her on this path, got lost in the soft hues of flowers and crossed a remarkable stone bridge. After thanking her for the wonderful artistic display, I replenished my coffee cup and mounted the bike.

The images I viewed, creations of a stranger and a friend, reminded me that often on our daily journey we catch glimpses and hints of other realities. If we take a moment to stop and follow this thin spider thread crossing our path, we may discover beautiful details of life we had never imaged.  These glimpses of the divine and its gifts are just a head turn, a step or a mouse click away.  Sadly most often we just push by, not even noticing that we have passed a brief but powerful pilgrimage journey.

Path to some where new!

Hints of Another

It was there a moment ago.

   A thin hair of spider filament.

I know I saw it! 

Was it torn away by some flying insect,

   did a gust of wind create too much tension,

       leave it fluttering like a flag?

It’s a lot like life,

    thin, fragile, fleeting.

You catch glimpses of it

    in a child’s face,

        in the passion of youth,

            in the wisdom of old age. 

You glance away and it is gone…

       but wait…

            just a step down the path…

                 is another.

I hope you enjoyed my poem, a product of a nature walk. A special thanks to Umair Ghani and Fran Smyth for the beautiful photographs.  More of Umair’s work can be seen at Photo.net. 

Check out this awesome mix by DJ UMB of Generation Bass:

Unreleased music by Celt Islam & featuring a worldwide exclusive stream of a track by the SUFI DUBSTARS (Celt Islam & DJ UMB)….perhaps, the first ever QAWWALI DUBSTEP track!

Recorded Live on Pioneer CDJ 1000MKII & DJM600! One cut/first take-un-mastered!

1. Raqs Al Maghreb (UMB live sample drop version) – Celt Islam feat. Dawoud Kringle
2.Mureed – Celt Islam
3. Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde – Celt Islam
4. For who Jah bless – Celt Islam
5. Wahddaat Ul Wajood –Celt Islam
6. Al Jihad – Celt Islam feat. Dawoud Kringle
7. Sufi Dub – Celt Islam
8. Pressure – Celt Islam
9. Presence – Celt Islam
10.Time is coming – Celt Islam feat. DanMan
11.Ya Allah – (Sufi Dubstars feat. Dawoud Kringle RmX) – Layah Project (SUFI DUBSTARS are Celt Islam & DJ UMB)

I have just added this DVD to the bookstore. It is a beautiful film in the tradition of Sufi storytelling. With its haunting music and atmospheric cinematography it opens the heart as you walk the path with a young girl and her grandfather to a gathering of dervishes.

Just click here or on the image to find out more and begin the journey

I found this gyrating dervish in a communal veggie garden in North Vancouver. The wind was moaning gently and the dervish responded.

Gyrating dervish

What first appeared to be a problem i.e. wind, turned into an opportunity to see my subject afresh through the lens. The lens is the sage.

MAC’s Magic, Mirth, and Mischief holiday 2009 collection is full of so many gems. The majority of the collection is centered around eye and lip palettes, which I normally pass over because there are typically a few colors that you can never wear within a palette. Not so with MAC’s latest creations! The Put a Spell on You Pink Lip Set ($36) is packed with all your lip essentials in totally wearable shades that complement each other.

Get the skinny after the jump.

Nestled in a metallic silver bag accented with pink grosgrain ribbon is a full-size Dazzleglass lipgloss in Baby Sparks, a full-size lipstick in Dream (a glaze finish), and a mini lip pencil in Dervish. Dream is a metallic-based light pink; Dervish is a your-lips-but-better natural pink lipliner; and Baby Sparks is a pale pink gloss flecked with microfine shimmer.

Start by lining lips with the Dervish pencil, and filling in lips with the color. Layer the Dream lipstick over it, and finish with the Baby Sparks Dazzleglass. You can either slick it over the entire upper and lower lip, or just dab in the center of each lip to create the illusion of volume. Pillowy, perfeclty pink lips…all in one tiny bag!

A launch party for Celt Islam’s new album, Dervish is happening this Friday, 16 October 2009, at Saki Bar, Manchester. Full details are here on the Generation Bass blog: Sufi-Dubstep

In the meantime, there’s a review of Dervish by Ranking John on the ReggaeMusic.com site: Celt Islam: Dervish

Dervish is released by Urban Sedated Records.

Celt Islam on MySpace

The MkI list that I always wanted to try, but never gotten to try out, features everyone’s favorite maligned caster…Amon Ad-Bad Ass.  The list of infamy you might ask?  I like to call it …

Quad Dervish

Amon Ad-Raza

Dervish

Dervish

Dervish

Dervish

Do you get a theme growing here?  This is one of the only 350 Mangled Metal lists in Warmachine that can field 5 models.  Oh sure…your Cryx lists with their chicken jacks can field more…but…do chicken jacks have a P+S 17 combo attack that allows the chicken jack to move 2″ sans free strikes?  If you try to hit it’s sorry DEF 14 frame, and miss, does a chicken jack hit back?  Does a chicken jack have as many damage boxes as a Dervish?

No…chicken jacks don’t.

But…FOUR!  How in the heck do you make four of these darn models look really unique?  My first Dervish…as yet unnamed, is posed in the normal standing straight up pose.

The second Dervish…is in an action pose.  This yet unnamed Dervish is posed running with one leg back and the jack looking like it is in mid-charge.

The third Dervish…is a play on the second Dervish.  This yet unnamed Dervish is posed kicking it’s front leg up like it is in mid-reposte.  Some poor SOB just missed and is about to eat a face full of P+S13.

This brings us to Dervish number four.  I am out of normal pose options.  There are only so many ways you can pose big daddy Dervish.  Then, inspiration hit…I have never posed a jack…sitting down.  Everyone loves to have their jack looking like they are about to hand God himself his ass.  Jacks can’t ALWAYS be like that.  Even a hard working Jack like Dervish #4 needs to sit down, and take time to appreciate it’s latest victory while it waits to get a cortex full of focus shoved down it’s throat.

Ladies and gentlemen…let me introduce Dervish #4, The Blessing of Break-Time:

The Bless of Break-Time (BoB) is captured in a moment of repose after just vanquishing one of The Circle’s Argus warbeasts.  After taking a fatal blow, cleaving its rear leg resulting in massive blood loss and death.  Seeing the opportunity for a much needed rest, and awaiting a fresh charge of water and coal, the BoB takes a break on the fallen Argus…finding it surprisingly comfortable.

Here is the progress so far…

I was making some trades with a buddy of mine this weekend, and I ended up with a couple of extra Argus warbeasts for my Circle army.  Now, while four Dervish’s are very very cool.  Four Argus…not so much.  I mean…don’t get me wrong…I am a big dog guy.  Dogs with two heads…even better!  Then I noticed…an Argus…turned on its side…looks TOTALLY dead.  I started the conversion by removing the argus from the base.  In the process of taking the base off…I broke one of the feet off..slightly below the knee.  PERFECT!  That is how it died!  It bled out after the Dervish chopped its hind leg off!!!

So…this is where this I sit so far.  The Dervish is sitting on the dead Argus reclining with one leg kicked up in a reclined pose.

What’s next…

Stay tuned…

Sold a Dervish complete to an older guy that is a Claremont Hill local over in Berkeley. That is a wicked hill with a die-hard contingency of skaters, many of which have been bombing berkeley hills since many moons ago.

We also set-up 2 RVB completes, both of which were the person’s first skateboard… very exciting.

NEVADA CITY, CA – Community Radio KVMR Announces 13th Annual Celtic Festival & Marketplace, Saturday & Sunday, October 3-4, 2009 @ Nevada County Fairgrounds

What: 13th Annual KVMR Celtic Festival
Who: Produced by KVMR Community Radio, broadcasting at 89.5FM, 105.1FM in Tahoe/Truckee and streaming live at kvmr.org
When: October 3-4, 2009 Saturday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Where: Nevada County Fairgrounds, 11228 McCourtney Rd., Grass Valley, California 95949
Why: Celebrate culture and community; fundraising event for non-profit, non-commercial radio
Tickets: Adults: one day – $35 in advance, $40 at the gate; two days – $55 in advance, $60 at the gate. Youth (6-16): one day – $15 in advance, $17 at the gate; two days – $17 in advance, $20 at the gate. Children under six are free. Discounts for KVMR members. Discount coupons are available at participating Big O Tires outlets. On-site camping is available for an additional fee. Parking is free.
Info: Go to www.kvmr.org/celticfestival to watch a fantastic video from last year’s Celtic Festival. Attendees can also order and print tickets online at www.kvrm.org. Phone 530 265-9073 weekdays for tickets and information.

Dervish

This fall, thousands of people will travel from all over California to the KVMR Celtic Festival and Marketplace to experience the best in Celtic music and culture. Considered one of the premier Celtic festivals on the West Coast, the KVMR Celtic Festival and Marketplace is known for attracting world-class talent such as traditional Scottish icon Dougie MacLean along with popular Irish-rock groups like Enter the Haggis. Located at the Nevada County Fairgrounds, a beautiful setting with over 100-acres of sprawling greens, six stages are nestled among the towering pines, making for a truly one-of-a-kind outdoor listening experience.

Festival-goers will find themselves coming for the music but falling in love with the history, culture and people. History comes alive over the two-day festival with historic re-enactments, Scottish athletics, animal exhibits, an authentic medieval marketplace with great food and libations, and – yes – even gnomes and fairies. The celebration takes place on Saturday and Sunday, October 3-4, 2009. Come for the Music. Stay for the Magic.

This year’s headliners include the legendary Scottish singer/songwriter Dougie MacLean, festival favorites Dervish with Cathy Jordan, one the most distinct voices in Celtic music, Canadian Celtic-rockers Enter the Haggis, the superb showmen of the Elders, world-class fiddler Lissa Schneckenburger and former Flook flutist Brian Finnegan and Grammy-winning guitarist William Coulter. Joining in will be hundreds of regional performers include Irish & Scottish step dancers, Sligo Rags, Black Irish Band and much more. Sacramento’s White Hackle Pipe Band leads the opening parade and plays throughout the weekend. Singers, bagpipers, actors, jugglers and storytellers perform on several stages and performance greens.

In addition to continuous entertainment, the festival marketplace features over 70 vendors selling treasures from around the world. Delicious meals and treats abound for every taste and one of Ireland’s great neighborhood gathering places, O’Dea’s Pub, has been transported to the fairgrounds offering the finest libations and spirits.

History buffs can explore several encampments of “Guilds” who re-create brief points and places in time. Royal Saint Gyles Actors Guild is a living history reenactment group that creates the Court of Mary, Queen of Scots, in the years from 1561-1566. Glenfinnen teaches plainfolk skills used in Scotland in 1746 to build homes, tools, weapons and grow food. Other groups demonstrate how peasants and gentry lived in Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Animals of Celtic Lands returns with demonstrations by the Celtic Lurcher Dogs (specially trained to pick pockets!); Mountain, Moorland, Fell & Connemara Ponies from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland; and Irish Wolfhounds – “Great Celtic Hounds of Antiquity” and traditional Celtic birds of prey displayed by Wildlife Rehabilitation and Rescue.

Harvest Home Revelers forms a procession that wanders through the Celtic Village, playing drums, fiddles, bouzouki, guitars and harp, stopping to perform skits. Amateurs are invited to test their strength against Scottish athletes in throwing stones and tug-of-war. Children are kept engaged with Celtic arts and crafts, story telling, and romping on the straw bale jungle gym. Seniors are admitted an hour before the event opens on Sunday and treated to scones and tea in the hospitality tent. The festival is completely accessible by those using wheelchairs and walkers. An area near the main stage is reserved for disabled guests.

New this year are interactive workshops where you can begin learning traditional Irish step dancing, Ceidligh, Contra, and Cape Breton dancing. You can also learn the basics of playing the harp and it’s history. If you’re a musician (or just want to be one), you can sit in on one of the sessions taking place all day in the Session House. Sessions will be led by seasoned Celtic musicians and are appropriate for the beginner or advanced player.

Grass Valley is an hour’s drive northeast of Sacramento. Weekend visitors can attend both days of the event or spend one day visiting wineries, a revitalized downtown Grass Valley, covered bridge at Bridgeport and the famous Empire Mine. Beautiful park-like camping is available at the fairgrounds.

Submitted by KVMR

Tibetan Thangka Detail, 2007, from Mcleod Ganj, India.

Shinzen Young – my primary meditation teacher for the last decade – has reworked the common western categorization of the sensory system into a simplified and elegant model. This TSSFIT chart, particularly when combined with the triple skill-set of mindfulness – concentration, sensory clarity and equanimity –  is eminently practical and effective in helping us to understand how the various constellations of the human sensory system, and our relationship to that sensory system, affects identity and behaviour.

In the west we usually conceive of the sensory system as seeing, hearing, tasting, touching and smelling. External sights and sounds are usually identified as other – other people, other beings, or the world in general as something existing separate in relation to our conventional sense of self. Now when we consider how our conventional sense of self arises, what we most identify as who we are is composed of a combination of our body’s touches (for a simple working model smell and taste will be considered special categories of touch or body space – see chart below) and emotional feelings, and thoughts that have internal visual and auditory components, or T-F-I-T for short. Individually we often refer to this as “my” body and mind. Deeper within the self-referential body/mind system are the feelings and thought combinations arising in F-I-T, or feel, image, and talk space. Our reactivity arises most personally as F-I-T activity – shame, embarrassment, rage, terror, grief, happiness, joy, compassion, etc., accompanied and reinforced through thought. “You’re making fun of me!” “I love you.” “That’s mine!” These sensory components of body and mind are self-referentially reflected and reinforced in the “I”, “me”, “mine” of our language. There’s nothing wrong with this in and of itself, but as we’ll see later, if that’s all we identify with we stay limited within our conventional fixed identity.

Now let’s look at the chart below. Notice how in the right side of the TSSFIT chart the FEEL-IMAGE-TALK, or F-I-T sensory spaces, represent the more subjective “I, me, mine” conventional sense of self. On the left side of our chart the T-S-S sensory spaces represent a more “not I, me, mine”, or a more objective “other” or “world” space.

HUMAN SENSORY SYSTEM – Conventional Sense of Self and World

More Objective “T-S-S” Space             More Subjective “F-I-T” Space

& More Other/World                            & More Self – I, Me, Mine

Read More

En del av ramadan er å bli mer troende og åndelig. Jeg føler ikke at jeg er spesielt åndelig, men ser opp til og misunner Sufister. Jeg er spesielt forelsket i deres poesi. Jeg oppfatter det slik at sufistene har kommet til et punkt der det materielle betyr null og deres kjærlighet til Gud betyr alt.

Et av mine mål i ramadan er å prøve å bli mer åndelig. Det er den private og personlige tilknytningen til Gud jeg setter stor pris på. Ikke muslimer tenker om Islam som en stor menighet. Men det er mange muslimer som ikke trenger å delta på alle felles samlinger i menigheter. Men med dette så har en ett stort ansvar for sin tro og som praktiserende muslim.Det er ikke en bestemt autoritær stemme som snakker for alle muslimer i det hele tatt. I dagens samfunn er det indvidets egen tilgang på Gud som dominerer. Dette var noe Sufister søkte å oppnå direkte tilgang til det hellige.

Mange lar seg forføre av Sufiene en kan nesten si at Islam spredte seg på grunn av Sufismen spesielt i sørlige områder og sentral Asia. De var  ledet av sin sterke følelse.

Historisk har det det vært en stat som har hatt monopol på tilgangen til Gud. Dette ville sufistene bryte og bringe folket nærere Gud, ved direkte tilgang. Derfor har Sufismen vært omstridt og oppfattet som en trussel mot det dogmatiske i religionen islam. Mange sufier har ble utsatt for straff.

Sufier er de som helt fra begynnelsen av forsøker å nå Allah. Den ene som skaper alle ting. De kan ikke hvile før de finner det de søker, og de kan heller ikke bry seg om andre mennesker.
For din skyld løper jeg over land og sjø, jeg farer over åpen grunn, jeg deler fjell i to  og jeg vender mine øyne  bort fra alt jeg møter , til det øyeblikk da jeg når det stedet da jeg er alene med deg. Abu al-Mugith-al-Husayn Ibn Mansur al- Hallaj sa dette, Han ble henrettet for sin tro 27.mars år 922.
Han ble annsett om en trussel mot staten i sin tid.

Sufismen oppstod som en ny levemåte i Irak. Den bygger på tanken om den rene gudskjærligheten. Sufismen er påvirket av hindusimens yoga disiplin og budhismens meditering. Sufiene er Muslimsk mystikk, de var poeter, musikere, kunstere, forfattere og mye mer. De oppstod i en periode på 1800 tallet, som et slags svar på det Muslimske lederskaps politiske fokus. De ønsket å bevare og minne Profeten Muhammads fokus på samhold og brorskap med medlemmer av andre religioner.

Det som gjorde sufiene tiltrekkende var deres åpenhet, de tror på at Gud er overalt. De ville aldri vært ukomfortable med å be i en kirke eller synagoge. Sufier føler at Profeten Mohammad levde uten fordommer. De mente at det var hans åpenhet som gav han opplysning. Det finnes fortsatt Sufier idag som for eksempel Dervish ordenen. noen spekulerer også over falske sufier.

Wherever I shine the lamplight of Divine breath,
there the difficulties of a whole world are resolved.
The darkness which the earthly sun did not remove,
becomes through My breath a bright morning. Mevlana Rumi

s En  verdenskjent Sufie poet er Mevlana Rumi,  hans mausoleum er i Konya der han tilbrakte  mesteparten av sitt liv.

Hans innflytelse på poesi og islam er stor. Her er ett dikt av han, det kan selvfølgelig tolkes på mange ulike måter. Men “lover” et symbol/ metafor på han som søker  Gud tror jeg.

the lover is always getting lost.

The intellectual runs away.

afraid of drowning;

the whole business of love

is to drown in the sea.

Intellectuals plan their repose;

lovers are ashamed to rest.

The lover is always alone.

even surrounded by people;

like water and oil, he remains apart.

The man who goes to the trouble

of giving advice to a lover

get nothing. He’s mocked by passion.

Love is like musk. It attracts attention.

Love is a tree, and the lovers are its shade.

http://www.khamush.com/

Something so tightly twisted in on itself
There is a postulation of energy
A compounded precision
That manifests impassively as
Refracted air

Born on the cusp of everything
A grounding demonically deserves

You break from the circle
But the pattern remains
Turning
Inching it’s way
there is only one fault

The spiral goes in
Or it goes out

In is the dervish
As chaos breeds the whirl
A box that gets smaller and smaller
Until the insides explode

And out is the loss of  ideas….the fractured beginnings
The empty screams
In a fuller more diabolical space
Every angled pile of reality’s excrement
Bursting with the inabilities

Of freedom

Delighted to hear Liam Kelly of Dervish on RTE Radio 1 Arts Show yesterday discussing his solo record, Sweetwood. http://www.dervish.ie/smallwood.html

BURNING at the center
of mere being
there is a radiant star
blazing in all of its agony
to reveal a secret
that you never knew existed.

You are asleep
haunted by the phantoms
of illusory dream-world;
caught and entangled
in the chaos
of false liberation.

Awaken
to the sound of
shockwaves tearing
across the sky
as the whirling dervish rotates
with the dance of the universe;
pound the drum that stimulates
the mystery of heart and soul;
listen to the rhythm that pulsates
with mystic solar energy
of time immemorial.

You are dizzy
lost in this ecstatic high
ailing from confusion
the dervish says:
you have been drinking poison
all of your life
you have been a victim
of a sadistic science experiment
reprogrammed by greedy corporations
implanted with falsehood
artificiality of living
you are an android
dreaming to be
human.

Unplug yourself
From the lies
From deceit and deception
From the fear and misery
Unplug
From the system.

Come, this way
to the open field
where the blade of sunlight
pierces through darkness;
open your mouth
and drink some of this
become absorbed
in this hyper trance
turn, spin, whirl
up, down, left, right
let go
and become
nameless, faceless
directionless.

Discover your luminary self
conquer dizziness
burn through the shell
of temporal chrysalis;
radiate like celestial fire
emerge and bloom
into flowery madness.

Yes, you know who you are
You are here to set the world ablaze;
open your eyes
with the flame of ignited stars
and see the universe
that was created with One Divine Breath.

Inhale and exhale with that.

~BM~

ArenaNet just released a new update that focused more on the Assasin, Ranger, Dervish and the Elementalist.  The previous update was more focused on the Ritualist and the Paragon.

ArenaNet made it a little bit easier for the Assassin to get into battle and get their chain attacks in quicker due to the fact that a sin is a up-close and personal fighter.  The sin does not have the armor of a Warrior but has a hella better attack speed, but it still has its weaknesses.  They also made it a little easier for a sin to take  on multiple enemies since the single-target damage wasn’t really enough.

The Ranger really only get a PVE bump.  The ranger now does not need to have charm animal in the skill bar to have its pet with them.  But as long as you have Comfort Animal you are fine.  So this just eliminates having to waste 2 spell slots.  Also the ranger’s pet gets some inherent offensive and defensive bonuses.

The Dervish was hooked up with some nice new balanced skills.  Dervishes now have some oppurtunities to increase their armor along with some better healing spells.  These updates look to increase the survivability of this class and also simplify some other complex skills.

The Elementalist seems to have gotten the most out of this update in my mind.  By balancing out Air Magic for more use in PVE they gave it a fighting chance rather than just choosing fire.  Also Earth magic has been updated to encourage more of a offensive role instead of a support role.

Here are the skills that have been updated:

Ranger:

PvP Balance Issues

Melandru’s Shot: increased recharge to 12 seconds. After an extended period in which many different Ranger elite skills were all seeing play, our last change to Melandru’s Shot gave it too much of an edge over the other Ranger elites. Any time we nerf a skill for PvP-related reasons, we consider whether or not to create a separate PvP-only version of the skill. In this case, we did not think this change would affect PvE play enough to justify splitting the skill.

Ranger Pets in PvE

Pets in PvE now have an inherent 33% damage reduction and +33% damage. Because PvE often involves fighting higher-level creatures with armor and damage, pets needed some statistical bonuses in PvE.

Comfort Animal (PvE): decreased Energy cost to 5. Functionality changed to: “You heal your animal companion for 20..104 Health. If your companion is dead, it is resurrected with 10..58% Health. If you have Comfort Animal equipped, your animal companion will travel with you.” The other major issue with bringing a pet is the number of skill slots this takes up. To address this, we’ve changed Comfort Animal in PvE so that having it on your skill bar means your pet will come with you in PvE. This means you won’t need to bring Charm Animal once you’ve charmed your pet. This change does not apply to PvP, where having another character on your side is a major benefit and the limitations on free skill slots are an important part of the playbalance.

Call of Haste (PvE): increased movement and attack speed to 33%. Enraged Lunge (PvE): functionality changed to: “Your animal companion attempts an Enraged Lunge that applies a Deep Wound to target foe for 5..20 seconds and deals +10..50 damage.” Melandru’s Assault (PvE): functionality changed to: “Your animal companion attempts a Melandru’s Assault that deals +5..20 damage to all nearby foes.” Predatory Bond (PvE): functionality changed to: “For 5..20 seconds, your animal companion attacks 25% faster and heals you for 1..31 Health with each attack.”

Assassin:

PvP Balance Issues

Black Mantis Thrust: decreased activation time to 1/2 second. Fox Fangs: decreased recharge to 3; increased damage to 10..35. Jagged Strike: decreased activation time to 1/2 second. Black Mantis Thrust and Jagged Strike were given shorter activation times to help players get through an attack chain using these skills a little faster. Fox Fangs already had a short activation time, but its longer recharge made it difficult to chain repeatedly, making it inferior to Wild Strike in nearly every way. Reducing its recharge brings those two skills more into line and allows an Assassin to chain from Black Mantis Thrust or Jagged Strike into Fox Fangs with both attacks activating quickly.

Black Lotus Strike: decreased recharge to 6 seconds; decreased Energy gain to 5..13. Golden Lotus Strike: decreased recharge to 5 seconds; decreased Energy gain to 5..8. Black Lotus Strike and Golden Lotus Strike were reasonably powerful skills, but they had high enough recharge that a PvE Assassin could not bring them without an alternate way to enter his combo. By dropping their recharge, we hope to make them more practical and free up more slots on the Assassin’s skill bar for other skills. The Energy gain they provide has been decreased since you can use them more often now.

Golden Phoenix Strike: functionality changed to: “If you are not under the effects of an Enchantment, this skill misses. If it hits, Golden Phoenix Strike deals +10..30 damage and all adjacent foes take 10..30 damage.” Jungle Strike: functionality changed to: “Must follow a lead attack. If it hits, Jungle Strike strikes target foe for +10..25 damage. If it hits a foe that was Crippled, that foe and all adjacent foes take +1..31 damage.” These two skills now provide options for area-of-effect damage when using an Off-Hand Attack. Along with Death Blossom, these should give Assassins better ways to deal damage when fighting large numbers of creatures.

Sharpen Daggers: functionality changed to: “For 5..30 seconds, your dagger attacks cause Bleeding for 5..15 seconds.” Signet of Deadly Corruption (PvE): no longer follows a dual attack. It’s hard for a creature to survive long enough in PvE for skills that must follow a Dual Attack. Removing this requirement makes Signet of Deadly Corruption much easier to use in a group setting. Since it is a powerful spike skill in PvP, however, we’re only making this change in PvE. The PvP version of this skill will still require a Dual Attack.

Shroud of Distress (PvE): functionality changed to: “For 30..60 seconds, if you are below 50% Health, you have +3..8 Health regeneration and a 75% chance to block attacks. Unseen Fury (PvE): decreased recharge to 20 seconds. Functionality changed to: “All adjacent foes are Blinded for 3..10 seconds. For 10..30 seconds, you cannot be blocked by Blinded foes.” Since we were adding a few more options for Assassins to run into the thick of things in PvE, we looked for a couple of underpowered defensive skills to adjust. Now providing Health regeneration when you are hurt, the long-lasting Shroud of Distress should make an Assassin fairly durable against moderate amounts of damage. With space always at a premium on an Assassin’s skill bar, we’ve adjusted Unseen Fury to combo with itself and provide both offensive and defensive functions. Both of these changes are for PvE only.

Dervish:

Conviction (PvE): functionality changed to: “For 10..35 seconds, you have +24 armor. If you are enchanted, you also have a 50% chance to block. Vow of Piety: increased Energy cost to 15; reduced casting time to 0; increased recharge to 45 seconds. Functionality changed to: “Stance. For 20 seconds, you have +24 armor and +1..4 Health regeneration. Vow of Piety renews whenever an enchantment on you ends.”   Armor of Sanctity: functionality changed to: “All adjacent foes suffer from Weakness for 5..15 seconds. For 10 seconds, you take 5..20 less damage from foes suffering from a condition.” In order to help Dervishes survive when surrounded by enemies, we’ve provided two different stances that give increased armor: Conviction and Vow of Piety. While we were at it, we removed some of the complexity from these skills, both of which used to give different bonuses depending on whether or not you were enchanted. Now they both just provide additional bonuses if you are enchanted. Armor of Sanctity was an interesting but often impractical defensive skill. By applying the Weakness condition to adjacent foes when it is first used, it ensures that the damage reduction will have some effect.

Meditation: increased recharge to 12 seconds. Functionality changed to: “You gain 20..125 Health. If you are not enchanted, you also gain 3..8 Energy.” Natural Healing: functionality changed to: “You are healed for 40..100 Health and an additional 40..80 Health if you are not enchanted.”   Pious Restoration: increased recharge to 8 seconds; increased casting time to 1 second. Functionality changed to: “You gain 80..150 Health and lose 1 enchantment. If an enchantment was removed in this way, you also lose 1..3 hexes.” These healing skills were all too complicated or difficult to use. Meditation now always heals, rather than only healing if you were not enchanted. Natural Healing now provides additional healing if you are not enchanted, rather than causing you to lose Energy if you are enchanted. Pious Restoration now causes you to lose hexes if you had a single enchantment up when you cast it, rather than requiring that you have two or more enchantments in order for it to take effect. Because this made it more practical as a hex removal skill, we raised its recharge to be more in line with other such skills.

Aura Slicer: functionality changed to: “If this attack hits, you deal +10..25 damage. If you are enchanted or this attack hits an enchanted foe, that foe begins Bleeding for 5..15 seconds.” Sand Shards: functionality changed to: “For 30 seconds, Sand Shards ends early if you use an attack skill. When Sand Shards ends, it creates a sand storm at your location that deals 10..20 damage each second for 10 seconds to nearby foes.”   Winds of Disenchantment: moved to the Wind Prayers attribute. Functionality changed to: “Lose 1 enchantment. If an enchantment was removed in this way, all nearby foes lose 1 enchantment and take 20..80 cold damage.” All three of these skills were awkward to use. Additionally, because Enchantment removal does not play as fundamental a role in PvE as it does in PvP, Aura Slicer and Winds of Disenchantment were not generally useful. Aura Slicer has been redesigned to provide Bleeding. It no longer has any conditional bonus based on Cracked Armor. Winds of Disenchantment now deals damage as well as removing enchantments and no longer has any randomness to which enchantments it removes. In order to scale its damage based on an attribute, it is now tied to Wind Prayers rather than being associated with no attribute. With Sand Shards, we decided to introduce something new and different. This skill now lets a Dervish create a static AoE damage area. It is also the first Dervish enchantment that ends if the caster uses an attack skill. This should allow a Dervish to use it strategically even without bringing a skill that drops enchantments.

Elementalist:

Chain Lightning: reduced casting time to 2 seconds; now only causes Exhaustion if not enchanted. Invoke Lightning: reduced recharge to 10 seconds.   These skills were improved to make it more practical to deal area-of-effect damage with Air Magic.

Ebon Hawk: reduced casting time to 1 second; reduced damage to 10..85. Functionality changed to: “Send a projectile that strikes for 10..85 earth damage and causes Weakness for 5..15 seconds if it hits.” Earthen Shackles: reduced casting time to 1 second; decreased slow effect to 66%; now effects target and all adjacent foes.   Elemental Flame: functionality changed to: “For 5..20 seconds, whenever an Elemental hex is applied to target foe, that foe is set on fire for 3..5 seconds.” The key for many Earth Magic skill combinations is the initial application of Weakness. We’ve adjusted Ebon Hawk to be much more practical to use, reducing its damage a bit to fit its quicker casting time. We’ve also improved the Earthen Shackles-Elemental Flame combination by reducing Earthen Shackles’ impractical 2 second casting time and allowing Elemental Flame to trigger when a hex is applied instead of when a hex ends. Since these would have been overpowered with Earthen Shackles’ previous slow effect of 90%, we’ve reduced that to 66%.

Lava Arrows: No longer half-range. Slippery Ground: increased recharge to 20 seconds. Functionality changed to: “If target foe is Blind or moving, that foe is knocked down. (50% failure chance with Water Magic 4 or less.)”   Windborne Speed: reduced casting time to 3/4 seconds. Winter’s Embrace: functionality changed to: “For 2..6 seconds, target foe moves 66% slower and takes 5..15 damage while moving.” These skills were all simply underpowered. Lava Arrows is an inexpensive, fast-recharge, multi-target damage skill that did not have enough utility or battle-changing effect to justify it being half range. Slippery Ground requiring the target to be blind was too niche a condition. It now also works on moving targets but has had its recharge increased accordingly. Windborne Speed has had its casting time reduced slightly to match some of the other speed-buff skills available to an Elementalist.

You can find more skill updates here on the Guild Wars website

Two of our favorite setups at the shop are from Loaded, the Dervish & the Vanguard. The Loaded Vanguard is designed to be a balanced all-around carver, good for tackling most things you’ll want to ride. It’s not a regular skateboard, and not so much a longboard as it is a pure carving machine. The Loaded Dervish will get you the most dynamic, all-around skateboarding possible. With the flex and low center of gravity, combined with an innovative truck mounting system, you can really dig in and bend this board to whatever it is you want to do. Bowls to hill bombing, and even tricks, the Loaded Dervish really does it all.

BURNING at the center
of mere being
there is a radiant star
blazing in all of its agony
to reveal a secret
that you never knew existed.

You are asleep
haunted by the phantoms
of illusory dream-world;
caught and entangled
in the chaos
of false liberation.

Awaken
to the sound of
shockwaves tearing
across the sky
as the whirling dervish rotates
with the dance of the universe;
pound the drum that stimulates
the mystery of heart and soul;
listen to the rhythm that pulsates
with mystic solar energy
of time immemorial.

You are dizzy
lost in this ecstatic high
ailing from confusion
the dervish says:
you have been drinking poison
all of your life
you have been a victim
of a sadistic science experiment
reprogrammed by greedy corporations
implanted with falsehood
artificiality of living
you are an android
dreaming to be
human.

Unplug yourself
From the lies
From deceit and deception
From the fear and misery
Unplug
From the system.

Come, this way
to the open field
where the blade of sunlight
pierces through darkness;
open your mouth
and drink some of this
become absorbed
in this hyper trance
turn, spin, whirl
up, down, left, right
let go
and become
nameless, faceless
directionless.

Discover your luminary self
conquer dizziness
burn through the shell
of temporal chrysalis;
radiate like celestial fire
emerge and bloom
into flowery madness.

Yes, you know who you are
You are here to set the world ablaze;
open your eyes
with the flame of ignited stars
and see the universe
that was created with One Divine Breath.

Inhale and exhale with that.

~ Jehanzeb

This is the real deal, members of the real dervish sect perform the famous dance every evening at their hall in Bursa, Turkey.

All over turkey are fake dervish dancers performing for tourists and charging a small fortune to watch. These guys do it every night for real.

Surprisingly it wasn’t just adults, young kids also take part, seemingly entering the same trance and whirling around with hands up for 10-15 minutes. Unbelievable.

Those that we met are really nice guys, very friendly and willing to talk.

Greetings!

Recently, I have been working with the teachings of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order to learn more about ‘total being prayer’. This order, a powerful sect of Sufi spirituality (Sufism is the mystic aspect of Islam, as Gnostic is to Christian or Kabala is to Judaism), was co-founded by Sheikh Nur al-Jerrahi (Lex Hixon) and aims to spread the powerful message of Sufi philosophy and spiritual practice to the world.

The Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order are practicing Dervish Sufi’s in the mood of the poet/saint Rumi. Dervishes are often known for their spinning dance- which is quite literally a form of meditative prayer movement that aligns the body, mind and emotions, via mirroring cosmic spiraling, to the Divine mind. I am a huge fan of Rumi! If you’d like to read some of his amazing works- please CLICK HERE.

I’d like to share with you a transcribed interview with Sheikh Nur about the power of dhikr (sometimes ‘Zikr’, ‘Zikhr, ‘Dikhr’). Dhikr, is loosely defined, specifically in the Sufi context, as remembrance of the Divine through pronouncement/intonement- i.e. vocal prayer, mantra meditation, reciting sacred texts, etc.

Professor Peter Latif Chelkowski, New York University:

I have been trying to pass on my interpretation of the dhikr to my students and it
is always very difficult. Could you tell us your interpretation?

Sheikh Nur:

This is a beautiful question. In the earlier days I used
to speak about the dhikr almost every Thursday night because it was an
unusual form and all of us were not attuned to exactly what was going
on there. Later tonight we will make the dhikr, so I will try to
introduce it. I think I have become a little bit inconsiderate not to
[speak] about it before people who are visitors enter into the circle.
It is a very, very vast subject, something I haven’t even written
about…

The dhikr is really the heart of the dervish way and the dervish
order. There are many levels and forms of dhikr. The prayer, the
salat, is considered to be a very great form of dhikr, maybe the
greatest form of dhikr if it is done with the total being. I suggest
that unless we begin practicing other forms of dhikr we won’t be able
to do the salat with the total being, we won’t be able to make the
daily prayers with the total being. Therefore, although they are the
greatest dhikrullah, the greatest remembrance of Allah, they won’t
take on that meaning for us until we prepare ourselves further. There
is communal dhikr, there is private dhikr, there is sitting dhikr,
there is standing dhikr. There is dhikr of the heart, when it becomes
interior. There is the dhikr of the spirit, the dhikr of the mystery,
and there are other levels. For instance, there is a level of
understanding that every atom of the universe itself is remembering
its Source, its Creator, at every moment. These sounds we hear
outside, the cars honking and [everything], that is all dhikr.
Certainly the people playing the drums across the street is an
excellent form of dhikr.

To take it further into the mystery: just being itself is dhikr.
Being itself remembers and turns towards its Source and that is how it
activates itself. This is very Plotinian. I suggest very much that
your students study Plotinus a little bit. In my first book, Coming
Home, there is an essay on Plotinus which is interesting and brief.
Since it is very difficult to get into the vastness of Plotinus a
brief essay might be helpful for your class. Plotinus is like Ibn
al-Arabi. He is not a philosopher in the ordinary step-by-step kind
of thinking. He is a person of unveiling; these things are unveiled
to him. The different levels of being that come forth from the Source
of Being, which is above being, he called hypostasis. (This word was
later taken up by Christian theology and used for the Divine Nature.)
It is wrong to say that Allah is being. Being is just one aspect that
comes forth from what the kabbalistic mystics call the ein sof, the
nothing, the beyond being, the supraessential, above essence, which is
totally indescribable. The name Allah, or ya rabb, Lord, these are
Divine Names, Divine Energies. They are not yet the Ultimate Reality
Itself, which is beyond any conception, beyond any experience or
description.

We tend to be very naive when we think that this physical universe
with all its galaxies is what God first created. That is not true.
There were eternal levels of being before there was a physical level
of being. This is all known in Islam — the Universe of Souls. It is
also known in the kabbala. Each one of these levels of being comes
forth into the realm of forms. When these subtle realms of being come
forth from the Source of Being, they activate themselves this way:
they turn and face the Source of Being and praise the Source of Being.
This is dhikr. So when we make our circle of dhikr and we are
repeating the Divine Names, breathing and harmonizing with each other
and with the Source, that really is a reflection. It is a sacrament
which recreates the way Being itself comes into being and turns and
faces and praises the Source of Being. That is the highest level of
understanding of dhikr that I have at this moment. Rather than
getting into technicalities let’s just think of it that way. But of
course right now those people playing the drums are also praising the
Source of Being, and maybe if they are good musicians they are really
quite aware that they are doing so. Right now, by talking and
listening, we are praising the Source of Being.
Excerpt 10/20/94
Masjid al-Farah
Sheikh Nur al-Jerrahi

For more beautiful and inspired teachings directly from the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order

CLICK HERE

May Peace & Great Blessings Be Yours!

www.JoshWilliamsOnline.Com

Rarely seen video footage in 2 parts on YouTube…

A thousand clichés land upon my tongue
When I try to describe You
I page through poetry
I listen to Lovers speak
But nothing comes close to Your Beauty

Starlight –
Glistening in the silent black sky
Moonlight –
Dancing on rain puddles

The secrets You hide behind these wonders
Has me charging to the hills of madness
Blazing trails of my desire craving for union
My impatient self aching to tear through mystery
Like a desperate warrior fighting for freedom

Lightning –
Strikes the broken-hearted with fiery passion
Throbbing –
Heart burning and enraged like the sun

Your rainfall reminds me of soul vision
When I see everything in slow motion
The garden flowers are ascending
Pulled into a bright portal in the sky

The clouds open to reveal the galaxy
Infinite stars spinning like a whirlpool
We watch the procession of ghosts
Carried into their promised eternity
As brilliant divine light pours into our world
Like a visitor from space

I reach through the sparkling dust
I reach for You, the intangible
My feet longing to leave the earth
I am out of breath, lost for words
My heart racing in full throttle

Friend, this poor string of words
These rhymes, metaphors, and mystic imagery
Simply represent my mad self dancing around You
But it is time to unlock the door of hidden beauty
For it is the Kaabah of Your Being that I wish to enter

Friend, don’t you see?

You burn me up in flames

~ Jehanzeb