Here comes that ‘holiday season’ again, and aren’t we all just so full of cheer and goodwill! NOT! I am so sick and tired of people gabbing on about what they have to buy for this one and that one, and how much money they spend. All I can say to that is Whooppee!! and good for you.

All I want is peace – literally. I want peace in my municipal government, peace in my country, peace in the world, peace in my family and most of all peace in the world. Think it will happen some day? Maybe.

What I do not want is this continuous Black Friday, Click Monday, Happy Holidays and so on. There is and was only one reason for this upcoming season of giving – and that is Jesus. No past tense here. Jesus is alive and well and living in many of us.

Jesus was the first true giver of gifts. You may think the Magi were the first – no. Christ had already been born and was God/Abba our Father’s gift to us. That means you and me. Therefore the wonderful aromatics and presents provided to the family was in honor of the One who had been promised from the ages past. These were wise men. They knew and read the writings by the scribes and they calculated in ther learned way approximately when and what to look for.

When the star appeared in the sky, the wise men knew it was the one they were waiting for. As stars are only visible at night, they packed their goods during the next day in preparation of their journey. In their hearts God placed a desire and knowledge that this was His doing, and they obeyed without question. At night they followed the star, and rested during the heat of the day. This went on for quite a few days and nights until finally they arrived at the little barn which housed horses, donkeys and the such, which people used to bring/ride to get to the city for the census.

Yes, Jesus was born in a barn, in a manger. There was no room at the Inn, but the Innkeeper let them stay in the barn for the night, until accommodations would become available. Was the barn cold, dirty and stinky? Do you really believe that God the Father would allow His Son to be born of a virgin woman and to be pushed into the world onto a bed of filthy straw? Absolutely not!

This stable was next to the Inn. This meant that it was well kept and clean, or the Inn would have no business. So the barn had been mucked out earlier, each animal had been given water, and fresh hay and a fresh bed of straw on which to sleep. All those animals would have produced warmth for the little family. Mary had prepared herself for just this particular event. She spread about her place cloths on which to lay down, preparing the swaddling which baby Jesus would lay, and laid her head down listening to the quiet sounds of breaths from her companions. Soon, the child was on the way. The Angel of the Lord came to help her and prepared the child and held Him up to the Father for His Blessing. Then the child was given back to Mary to nourish and care for. She, Joseph and their other children did exactly that for the next 30 years.

As was the custom the first born son usually took on the trade of the father. Joseph was a carpenter and Jesus learned His trade from him. Also Jesus was quite the instigator, which is evidenced in his many trips to the temples and what he did there. He communicated with the wise men, the pharisees, the saracees and others who ruled the temple and taught from the Torah. He astounded them with His knowledge of the words of the ancients. They were afraid and yet excited that such a child as this was within their midst. But lo, it was not His time to begin His work in the world.

 In the book of Isaiah it told of his birth, and his death. This has been confirmed in other parts of the Bible. The Jews knew that the Messiah was coming. They just thought it would be on a horse and be a leader to become the conquerer of Israel’s enemies.

He did just that! Think about it.

Jesus was born as the promise God made thousands of years ago. He brought about the Word of salvation, which overcomes sin and therefore conquers all. Not only for the Jew, but everyone else on this earth.

In this season. Please don’t be ashamed of saying Merry Christmas! Or Have a very Blessed Christmas! It is not just putting Jesus back in the season, but it is verbally declaring that you believe and are not afraid of what other people think.

Christians are the only people in the world that keep their religion under a bushel basket. We so willinglydo not want to hurt anyone else’s feelings that we agree to water down our own beliefs. Shame on each and every one of us!

I am a Jew. I am a Christian. I believe in God the Father, and Jesus the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. For this reason I celebrate this month of holidays.

Happy Hannuka and Merry Christmas to all.

D

Miguel Serrano, From Nos: Book of the Ressurection

I had to wait many years before I was accepted by the guides who control us from the Ray of Green Light, and the Master decided to initiate me.
I was summoned to the Circular Room of Glass, which had been built in the south as a copy of the first home. The warriors were all there, dressed in black and carrying their swords. I, too, carried mine.
The great Sign of Return, which revolves in the opposite direction to the turning of this present earth, was suspended from the vaulted roof. A fire burned in the centre of the room. I drew my sword and passed it to the Master .
‘You must stand,’ he told me. ‘No one kneels in our company.’ The others formed a circle around us. The Master passed my sword over the flames.
‘There are two swords. One day you will be the Warrior of the Two Swords, when you regain the faculty of conversing with the animals and plants, which is the language of Avalon, spoken in the City of the Caesars. You will be the Warrior of the Two Worlds, the inner and outer. There is only one sword, but it has two edges, llke a double-headed eagle. It is the Sword of the Two Consciousnesses, of the awakening.’
The Master drew a sign on the blade of the sword and handed it back to me. The warriors pointed their swords at my heart. Then they raised them towards the Emblem of Return.
‘The Circle is called Huilkanota. You are now an Ancahuinca, a warrior serving the White Gods of Albania. Now you can never turn back. Whosoever sets foot here can never go back. He must go ever onward, across burning deserts and icy plateaux, suffering thirst, half-frozen, alone, without human comfort, without the warm embrace of a living woman, usque ad mortem, until one day he reaches the diamond-encrusted walls of the City of Dawn, its drawbridge, its hidden entrance. By his constant courage in battle, by his “fury” alone, he will have gained the right to resurrection and eternal life. But whosoever sets foot upon this path which leads to the great beyond may not go forward if he ever has the intention of turning back. He who has attained the human state and doesn’t try to go beyond it is like a man who commits suicide.’ And the Master gave me the first sign in our initiation: ‘The sign is the language of Atlantis-Hyperborea. When you trace it over your heart, it affects the two heads of the double-headed eagle and instantly reaches the Two Earths and all your bodies, reactivating them. It is your defence and paralyses those who are opposed to your myth, opposing Nos, like a counter-initiation, an anti-spirit.
Other signs will be given to you, either by me personally or by the guides, as they become necessary to the glory of your fight, on the dangerous road which you will be following. May the Norns be propitious to you! May the immortals give you their blessing! Go, se’ek! And never return. Leap!’

Miguel Serrano, From Nos: Book of the Ressurection

‘The earth is alive, and it feels with you. It follows your footsteps, your search, with equal anxiety, because it will be transfigured in your triumph. The end of Kaliyuga and the entry into a new Golden Age depend on the results of your war. The earth by itself cannot finish the work that Nature leaves incomplete. Today the earth has joined forces with man in his destructive passion. The great catastrophe will occur in the first years of the Age of Aquarius. But if you can find the entrance to the Invisible Double of this earth, fulfilling the mystery of “loveless A-Mor”, the volcanoes will become calm, the earthquake will cease and the catastrophe will be avoided.

‘There is an essential “synchronicity” between the soul and the landscape. What you achieve in yourself will have repercussions in even the remotest corner of the universe, like the ringing of a bell which announces a triumph or a defeat, producing irreversible effects in a secret centre where Destiny acts. The Archetype is indivisible and, if you once confront it in an essential manner, the effects are universal and valid for all eternity. The old Chinese saying expresses it well: “If a man, sitting in his room, thinks the right thoughts, he will be heard thousands of leagues away. ” And the alchemical saying, too: “It doesn’t matter how alone you are. If you do true work, unknown friends will come to your aid.

‘ ‘What I have called “synchronicity”, Nietzsche called “lucky occurrences filled with meaning”. It becomes a poetic dialogue, a concerto for two violins, between the man-magician and Nature. The world presents you with a “lucky occurrence filled with meaning”, it hands you a subtle, almost secret message, something which happens without apparent reason, a-causal, but which you feel is full of meaning. This being exactly what the world is looking for, that you should extract that meaning from it, which you alone are capable of seeing, because it “synchronises”, it fully coincides with your immediate state of mind, with an event in your life, so that it is able to transform itself, with your assistance, into legend and destiny. A lucky occurrence which transformed itself into Destiny. And once you have achieved this, everything will appear to become the same as before, as if nothing had happened. Nevertheless, everything has changed fundamentally and for all time, although the only ones to know it will be you and the earth – which is now your earth, your world, since it has given itself up to you so that you can make it fruitful. “The earth has made itself invisible inside you”, as Rilke would say, it has become an individualised universe inside you. And although perhaps nothing may have changed, “it might seem as if it were so, it might seem as if it were so”, to use your own words. And you will be a creative God of the world; because you have conceived a Non-Existent Flower. You have given a meaning to your flower.’

pinturicchio, il presepe

La data del 25 dicembre per la natività di Gesù fu una scelta della chiesa cattolica per inglobare i culti pagani, assorbirli e farli dimenticare. Il 25 dicembre era un giorno di festa importante per i popoli, religioni e culture molto distanti fra di loro, ma unite da questa ricorrenza, che celebrava sotto nomi diversi uno stesso significato: la fine dell’inverno e la rinascita della vita. L’uomo antico si sentiva parte della natura e guardava al sole come ad una delle principali fonti della creazione e come la potenza regolatrice dello scorrere delle stagioni. Il 25 dicembre segnava la festa del sole “invictus” il sole invincibile, poiché dopo il solstizio d’inverno del 21 dicembre, il giorno più corto con al notte più lunga, la luce riprendeva la sua vita, vinceva la tenebra, fino ad arrivare al 21 giugno, dove il giorno era più lungo della notte. Con questo significato simbolico il 25 dicembre era associato nel mondo antico, alla nascita o alla festa di personaggi divini: il dio Horus egiziano, raffigurato con sua madre Iside che lo teneva in braccio ( ricorda l’iconografia cristiana della Madonna col Bambino). Il dio Mitra indo-persiano, anche lui partorito da una vergine, e che veniva chiamato “il salvatore”. Il dio babilonese Shamash che era il dio del Sole e della predizione perché il sole vede tutto: passato, presente e futuro; il dio Tammuz sempre babilonese nasceva anche lui in questo giorno e anche lui moriva per resuscitare dopo tre giorni. La scelta del 25 dicembre fu un tentativo riuscito della Chiesa di Occidente di adattare gli antichi culti, con i loro rituali alla nuova religione; invece la Chiesa di Oriente scelse la data del 6 gennaio per la nascita di Gesù, per differenziarsi dagli antichi culti, e tuttora le chiese copta, armena e ortodossa festeggiano la natività in questo giorno.

Durante il pontificato di papa Leone Magno (440-461) venne sancita definitivamente questa data come “il Natale di Gesù”, nel 536 d.C. l’imperatore Giustiniano chiuse l’ultimo tempio di Iside in Egitto ed il Natale si affermò come festa cristiana in tutto l’impero. Le tradizioni dell’albero di Natale e del presepio invece hanno una storia più semplice. L’albero apparteneva all’immaginario collettivo nordico come simbolo della vita e della fertilità, ma la tradizione dell’albero addobbato così come la conosciamo noi, la dobbiamo ad una invenzione del 1500 del protestante Martin Lutero, che alla notte della Vigilia, si trovò fuori sulla neve e vide gli abeti ghiacciati risplendere sotto la luce della luna, questo spettacolo gli piacque così tanto da voler provare a riprodurlo e per questo adornò un abete con candele e nastri luccicanti. Questa usanza fu introdotta nell’Europa del sud nel 1840, dalla moglie del duca di Orléans, Elena di Maclenburg, che fra la sorpresa della corte, lo fece preparare nei giardini delle Tuileries. Il presepe è una usanza solo cristiana, derivata da una rappresentazione che San Francesco fece per la prima volta a Greccio (Rieti) nel 1223, ispirandosi ad una tradizione del IX secolo, che rievocava scene evangeliche, attraverso rappresentazioni viventi e aggiungendovi scene pastorali.

La cometa sul presepe comparve solo dopo il 1301, infatti quell’anno apparve per la prima volta quella, che poi venne definita come “la cometa di Halley”, i contemporanei ne furono molto colpiti, e Giotto, il grande pittore, in un suo quadro nella cappella degli Scrovegni, dipingendo l’Epifania, sopra la Capanna pose questa stella per ricordare ai posteri l’avvenimento.

Babbo Natale invece, pur avendo alle spalle una tradizione che trova le sue radici su San Nicola Vescovo di Mira in Asia Minore, è molto prosaicamente l’invenzione di un grafico pubblicitario americano, per lanciare in modo accattivante il prodotto della Coca Cola di cui il povero Babbo Natale portava i colori, rosso e bianco. Infine il Vischio, simbolo di buon auspicio e di fortuna, va ricondotto ai riti della fertilità, poiché la rinascita aveva bisogno di procreazione. Le tribù germaniche consideravano chiunque passasse sotto il vischio “ baciato” dalla dea Freya, la dea della fertilità, ecco perché per l’anno nuovo ci baciamo sotto il vischio!

Bibliografia: Elena Savino “ Le radici pagane del Natale”, collana: I Tesori, Jubal Editore, Trieste 2004.

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HOTEL RISTORANTE LA ROSETTA****

Centro Storico di Perugia  p. Italia tel. 075 5720841

larosetta@perugiaonline.com

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“C’ERA UNA VOLTA” – GIOCATTOLI

di Lorena Tega

PROSSIMA APERTURA Via Vittorio Veneto – Gualdo Tadino

tel. 075 9140664

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OTTO Abbigliamento Donna

di Maurizio Giorgelli

via Bonazzi 8 Perugia tel. 075 5729084

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PARAFARMACIA EMALFARMA

di Emanuela Coreno e C.

via Settevalli 208/b  Perugia  tel. 075 5004777

Bibliografia: Elena Savino “ Le radici pagane del Natale”, collana: I Tesori, Jubal Editore, Trieste 2004.

Mul on kuskil kodus (hetkel on see kuhugi väga kindlasse kohta ära pandud) Nemo plaat, mis on siiralt üks mu lemmikplaatidest – Eesti 70-80′ndate muusika on lihtsalt ülikuul. Aga Nemoga konkreetselt meenub mulle alati mu esimene Kaukaasia (Elbruse) reis aastal 2004. Kui panna viimasel öhtul (st pea kolm nädalat on koos oldud) Venemaa kauges karupees peale Eesti muusikaga plaat, siis on poolel “diskoteegil” (nenedel, eestlastel) näpud püsti ja pidu ei löpeks kunagi…. kui ei tuleks Jaan ja ei käsiks bussi minna. Hindamatu!

Ma olen käinud sellel Kaukaasiareisil kolm korda ja ma ei kahetse ühtegi neist, igal korral on nii erinev seltskond ja igal korral on midagi, mis väärib meenutamist. Oh…. mäed!

Ah vaadake siis kohe sedagi lugu Anne Veski – Roosiaia Kuninganna.

Ett alkoholstarkt, svart och dött öl. Hypat och amerikanskt. Likheterna med det av mig utdömda ölet Angels Share var slående såväl i glaset som på pappret. Skulle The Bruerys Papier än en gång göra mig besviken på amerikansk monsteröl?

Nej jag drack inte hela flaskan själv.

Doften är oerhört stor. Den påminner väldigt mycket om ett bra barley wine med sin smörighet och torkad frukt. Även choklad och en gnutta mögelost sniffas fram.

Vinös och fruktig smak. Alkoholen får av naturliga skäl ganska stort utrymme utan att det förstör. En distinkt träighet är kronan på verket för detta väl avrundade öl.

Bruery har här lyckats brygga ett öl som smakar oerhört mycket utan att det blir en sörja av smaker. De olika beståndsdelarna går att identifiera,vilket gör Papier till ett fantastiskt öl att sitta och sniffa och smutta på. Länge.

Ett öl som kräver (minst) en god vän och gärna en god ost som sällskap. Danne och den salta grönmögelost som jag hade köpt på Osthörnan var perfekt.

Costum Ingeras Fetita – Un costum placut pentru un Craciun fericit.

Costum Ingerasul Steluta – Un costum rafinat pentru cel mai frumos Craciun.

Costum Ingeras alb – special creat pentru petrecerea de Craciun. Contine: costum alb & auriu, hallo & aripi.

Costum Renul lui Mos Craciun – 3 – 5 ani – Un costum placut si vesel pentru serbarea de Craciun.

Costum Ingerul pazitor – creat pentru X-Mas. Contine: rochie, hallo.

Costum Pastor - creat pentru sarbatoare de Craciun. Contine: costum si toiag.

Costum 3 magi – regele Melchior – Un costum placut si elegant pentru petrecerea de Craciun.

Costum 3 Magi – regele Balthasar – Un costum placut pentru cele mai vesele petreceri de Craciun.

Costum 3 Magi – regele Caspar – Un costum rafinat pentru petrecerea de Craciun.

Costum Mos Craciun Salvatorul – special creat pentru X-Mas. Contine: top, palarie, pantalon.

Selv om pepperkaker som klær kan høres ut som et interessant konsept for noen, kan jeg forsikre dere alle om at det bare vil ende i klabb og babb. Pepperkaker er lagd for å etes, og hvis man skulle ha lyst til å ha dem på kroppen vil de bare bli vasne og klamme av å bli utsatt for en dag med svette. De er dessuten for stive til at det vil være praktisk å bevege seg rundt med dem. Attpåtil er det grufull sløsing med mat, ettersom det vil være noe uhygienisk å skulle fortære dem i etterkant av å ha hatt dem på seg.

Jeg trodde jeg mista det ene gitarplekteret mitt for en uke sida eller så. Jeg fant det i hvert fall ikke, selv om jeg hadde en mistanke om at det befant seg på rommet mitt, kanskje helst i senga mi. Da jeg tok t-banen til bandøving i dag, skjedde det imidlertid noe merksnodig. Da jeg reiste meg opp etter å ha sittet på banen i underkant av en halv time, hørte jeg noe som falt i gulvet, og jeg trodde det var et av plekterne jeg hadde med. Det viste seg å være det plekteret jeg hadde mista, eller et tilsvarende som hadde ligget i vogna før jeg satt der. I begge tilfelle er det en ytterst mystisk hendelse. Hvis det  var mitt plekter, har det altså ligget i ei pose ei stund, hvor jeg ikke trodde det kunne ha falt. Og uansett er det da rart at det ikke falt ut av posen da jeg gikk hjemmefra til t-banen. Hva blir det neste?

Dette var dagens magiske hendelse. Ha gode netter og fortær pepperkaker.

I samband med turen vår til Goma og Kongo, som eg har publisert bilete frå tidlegare, fekk me vere med på ein dag for unge Røde Kors-frivillige i Gisenyi, nabobyen på rwandesisk side, samt besøke lokale friviljuge i Musanze i nord-Rwanda. Her er nokre inntrykk frå denne delen av turen, som var vårt første møte med frivillige.

Blod1: Dagen starta med blodgjeving for nye frivillige. Her er fjorårets rwandiske ungdomsdelegat til Noreg, Aline, i ferd med å gjere dagens første innsats, med skrekkblanda fryd.

Blod2: Djup konsentrasjon og høg presisjon når vår kontaktperson Paul blir tilkopla blodposen han skal fylle.

Sukker1: Det blir drukke sjokkerande mykje Fanta og CocaCola her i landet, men etter å ha gjeve ein halvliter blod, så kjem det godt med.

Sex1: Ikkje lange pausen for ein tidlegare ungdomsdelegat. Eit par timar etter blodgjevinga høyrer ein skare av friviljuge Aline snakke om seksuell helse og seksuelt overførbare sjukdomar. Sigri assisterer nede i høgre hjørne.

Sex2: Dei frivillige får prøvd sine kunnskapar om symptom, skadeverknader og utbredelse av seksuelt overførbare sjukdomar, igjennom eit Røde Kors-’puslespel’ tilpassa Rwanda av fjorårets ungdomsdelegat Camilla.

Sex3: Fullsatt sal av konsentrerte ungdomar lærer om korleis ein kan beskytte seg.

Sukker2: Som bloddråpar ligg colakorkene igjen på golvet etter at dei friviljuge har fått sitt sukkerpåfyll og startar på vegen heimover.

Når det gjeld det siste punktet, magi, kjennest det litt meir vidløftig, uhandgripelig og subjektivt enn dei fyrstnemnde. Her kjem nokre kandidatar til kva som kan ha vore det mest magiske på turen hit til nordvestlege delen av landet.

Magi1: Internett på mobilen – kan trollbinde nokon og ein kvar når den generelle nett-tilgangen er såpass begrensa.

Magi2: Guten som kom springande og kasta seg i armane på Sigri med det akkompagnerande ropet ”MUUUUZZZZUUUUUUNGUUUUU!!!!!” Magisk augneblink for både born og muzungu? (’Muzungu’ betyr framleis ’kviting’)

Magi3: Engasjementet til dei unge friviljuge på skulen i Musanze, som viste oss skuespel av førstehjelp (med stol til båre), og som formeleg tørsta etter meir Røde Kors-informasjon.

Magi4: Den fredfulle stemninga på besøk hos nonnene i Gisenyi som serverte frukt, te, og heimelaga ost og vin, nytt saman med rwandisk kortspel. Me like! Forøvrig blir rwandisk telefonkultur illustrert ved vår kontaktperson, Paul.

Magi5: Kveldsstund ved Lake Kivu, Rwandas einaste skikkelege vannansamling – eit syn som varmar for ein gut oppvaksen i havgapet på Vestlandet.

Og for ordens skuld:
Blood Sugar Sex Magik © Red Hot Chili Peppers

‘Eros was united with his Beloved inside the Great Orphic, Cosmic Egg: Phanes, Erika Paios. Eros unites, but Phobos, fear, hatred (nothing is closer to love than hatred) disunites, leads to separation, breaks the Cosmic Egg. So as to acquire consciousness, individuality, so as to be able one day to give a face to the Cosmic Egg.
‘Complete fusion – losing oneself in one’s opposite, in the loved one, in an effort to return to the original Androgynous – is not a good thing. It goes against Individuation, the immortality of the persona and resurrection, which is differentiation, the individuation of both partners, so that he and she can come together again separated but, in another way, united for ever. Resurrected. ‘If you have the great good fortune to meet your beloved again, the her ofhim, in one of the turns of your wheel, don’t make the mistake of marrying her. You would both be destroyed. What you must do is help her to die outside you. Love her as if you were committing a crime. The beloved must die in order to return to life as an immortal, placing her eternity in your hands. This is the true Her, who leads the warrior to heaven, who is not all illusion, who does not drag him down into hell, profaning him, castrating his magic virility, turning man into woman. She is not the devouring mother, the widow who is not the Widow, because She does not resign herself to her widowhood and so castrates her son. Parsifal and” Alexander had to employ Phobos (Hatred) in order to escape from the Great Mother, the little widow, so as to achieve the Grail, the Stone of Change, which the Greeks called Xoanon. Totality.
‘Das ewig Weibliche zieht uns hinan,’ as Goethe said. “The Eternal Feminine leads us to heaven. ” Because the impulse which drives you to fulfil the ultimate mystery, which I have called Individuation, projecting the “ego” into the Persona, into the Monad, into the Self, giving a face to the Gods, “lighting the darkness of the Creator”, is none other than love. Only love can make you cross the deep chasm, the drawbridge that separates your “ego” from the castle in which your beloved lies asleep, jumping into the abyss. It is in effect a change, a miracle. It is a Non-Existent Flower: the Self. Fall into this flower and you will find the face of your Beloved there. This love, this impulse, is an icy, red-green fire, which consumes everything and projects you to heaven, loving beyond life and death, for all eternity. This love makes you immortal. This face, this Fire of Love, which the troubadours and Minnesanger called Woevre Saelde, Isolde, I have called Anima in the man and Animus in the woman.

- Miguel Serrano, Nos: Book of the Resurrection -

Mørke tanker og banale praktiske aktiviteter (samt angsten knyttet til dem) har beleiret meg i dag, og jeg har svart på utfordringen ved å sove mye og gå en lang tur. Tenkte også å fryse fienden ut ved hjelp av Eldrigs “Everlasting War Divinity” eller rive mørket i stykker ved hjelp av Triariis solare “Muse in Arms”, men fienden har lange armer og har nå greid å slette innholdet på ipoden min. Den har også greid å forsure både den hvite og den røde vinen i huset, så da må jeg holde stand i kveld uten disse hjelpemidlene. Men en kopp anstendig kaffe og noen druer har jeg greid å få opp i tårnet mitt, og med et stearinlys tent i tillegg har jeg håp om å få gjort litt viktig tenkearbeid de neste timene.

Jeg lurer på hvor resten av hæren min er; de apokalyptiske vokterne som kan si “ikke enda” når Gog og Magogs horder forsøker å trenge inn, de som fremdeles holder stand, og som ser— selv i dette klamme mørket. Sannheten er vel at muren allerede lenge har vært brutt, og at fiendens horder er på alle kanter.

Hvilke instruksjoner var det jeg fikk før jeg kom hit? Sa de at jeg skulle gå alene, uten menneskers aktelse, uten gudenes hjelp, eller en kvinnes varme nærvær? At dette eventyret skulle gjennomføres kun ved hjelp av mitt hellige raseri og bildet av den elskede? Jeg tviler på renheten i mitt raseri, og det rettes i stor grad mot et bilde av noen jeg virkelig håper ikke er min elskede. Misforståelsene her er store og groteske. Humor skal visst være lindrende, men ofte står humoren for meg som et av djevelens fremste våpen— i hans kamp for å tvinge frem toleranse der den ikke har noen berettigelse. Den som ikke er i stand til å le den store latteren bør være alvorlig. Den lille latteren trenger vi ikke. Og heller ikke den smilende piken— skjøgen. Den sanne piken i dag— jomfruen— er den gråtende piken.

Jeg vet ikke hvor lenge jeg vil skrive opptegnelser til omverdenen, eller om det har noe for seg. Om ikke annet kan disse refleksjonene rydde en lysning for meg selv. Hva har jeg funnet ut så langt? Disse bøkene er de beste innføringene jeg har funnet så langt i kampen for å forstå verdenssituasjonens grunntrekk:

“Crisis of the Modern World“  av René Guénon

“The Reign of Quantity & the Signs of the Times” av René Guénon

“Revolt Against the Modern World” av Julius Evola

Den beste boken i forsøket på å finne eksistensielle svar på situasjonen er denne:

“Ride the Tiger: A Survival Manual for the Aristocrats of the Soul” av Julius Evola

Hit har jeg kommet, inn i disse bøkenes lysning, så vil du vite omtrent hvor jeg er kan du lese disse.

Så er det min fremtidige kurs…. Jeg har bestilt tolv bøker fra Amazon som jeg venter på, som jeg håper kan hjelpe meg å stake ut den videre kursen. Fire av bøkene handler om kaosmagi— en disiplin jeg vet lite om, men som jeg tror på godt eller vondt gir svar til tidsånden og dens utfordringer.

Jeg har bestilt fire bøker av Yukio Mishima. Hans “Sne om Våren” er det nest beste skjønnlitterære verket jeg har lest (etter Miguel Serranos “NOS: Book of the Resurrection“), og jeg er meget spent på de tre siste verkene han skrev som hørte sammen med dette i Fruktbarhetshavets tetralogi. Mishimas selvbiografiske “Sun and Steel” skal også med i bestillingen. Jeg tror Yukio Mishima vil være til stor hjelp i kontemplasjonen over hvorvidt det beste i den nåværende situasjonen vil være å gå for en snarlig selvstyrt død.

For å utvide min metapolitiske horisont har jeg bestilt “New Culture, New Right: Anti-Liberalism in Postmodern Europe” av Michael O’Meara.

Min geopolitiske horisont skal jeg utvide med Michael Klares “Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy” som tar for seg peak oils politiske implikasjoner.

Oljens metafysikk skal jeg undersøke i Reza Negarestanis lovende “Cyclonopedia: Complicity with Anonymous Materials“.

Og til sist har jeg bestilt “Cold World: The Aesthetics of Dejection and the Politics of Militant Dysphoria” av Dominic Fox, et verk jeg håper kan bygge bro mellom Evolas tanker i “Ride the Tiger” og den postmoderne verdenen vi lever i. Noen interessante refleksjoner med utgangspunkt i denne boken finnes på Splintering Bone Ashes.

Nå gjelder det bare å holde stand til bøkene kommer. Jeg fryser på hendene, nesen og føttene. Kanskje situasjonen krever en ny kopp med kaffe?

I’ve only just glanced at the new CEB translation of Matthew (available on-line here), so I’ll have more organized and thorough thoughts soon, but as I was paging through it, I saw this:

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judah during the reign of King Herod, magi came from the east to Jerusalem. [2:1]

This surprised me, because one of the goals of the CEB is to provide a translation in elementary English. The preface notes:

The CEB is presented at an average 7th grade reading level, with most books (e.g., Matthew) scoring in the 6th grade range. [Emphasis in original.]

So I have to wonder: Is an irregular plural of a rare word compatible with the goals of the CEB? What were the other considerations that made more common English translations undesirable here? Wouldn’t “maguses” work just as well (or as poorly)? Should “magi” (or maybe even the Greek magoses?) be italicized, to give readers a clue that it’s not an English word (which for most people it isn’t)?

While we’re at it, I also have to wonder if the point is “magi came from the east,” or “magi from the east came….” I tend to think it’s the latter, that is, that “from the east” describes where the people were from, not where they were coming from.

(And by the way, I think the version on-line is still a draft. For example, still in verse 2:1 ioudaia is translated “Judah” — perhaps having been confused with ioudas — even though in 2:5 it’s the more common “Judea.”)

[Update: More more about the CEB is available on BBB here.]

Så här blir det när barn och vuxna slutar tro på tomten……..då blir det så tokigt med skorstens-landningen……för att inte prata om tomtens renar som går på magi…….Så tänk er för inför Julen som kommer med stormsteg……..

Klösan

The Lazarus Smile: Documents associated with the Discovery and Investigation of the Apostolic Network:

Preliminary Research Report:

Historical Background Study to the Period Researched by Special Agent Andrew Richard Satterthwaite, deceased, prepared for Special Agents Hedgecock and Rosenkreutz

Last Updated: June 2, 2005

The Prehistory of the Conflict

In the first century, Rome was all-powerful in the West. But in the East, the Kingdom of Parthia had emerged as a rival. In the fifties A.D., this rivalry turned into a military conflagration focused on Armenia, which brought the two superpowers into open conflict. It cost the lives of many thousand civilians and soldiers on both sides.

Ancient Armenia occupied most of the lower Caucasus region east of modern Turkey, between the Black and the Caspian Seas. Armenia was first brought into the Greek fold by Alexander the Great who installed his general Seleucus I as its ruler, much like Napoleon two thousand years later would make his most loyal generals the rulers of conquered countries.

From 323 BC to 60 BC, the Seleucid Empire was ruled over by more than thirty kings who formed the Seleucid dynasty. At its high tide, it reached from the Aegean Sea to Afghanistan and was populated by Greeks, Persians, Medes, Jews, Indians, and Armenians. The Seleucids established hundreds of cities for trade and business, compelling them to adapt to Hellenized thought, religion, and politics.

During the Republic, in 190 BC, the Romans defeated the Seleucids at the battle of Magnesia. Under the local dynasty of the Artashesids, starting in 189 BC, the kingdom remained nominally independent, at least as far as its official status was concerned, until the first years of the Empire.

Augustus quickly realized the importance of Armenia as a buffer against Parthia. Instead of reducing Armenia to the status of a province, even an Imperial one, he established a vassal government: Following the wishes of the Armenian nobles, he maintained the succession to the throne in the royal family of Tigranes, but reserved the right of nominating Armenia’s government.

Tigranes (sometimes also Tigran or Dikran) was the name of a number of historical figures, mostly kings of or in Armenia. The earliest Tigranes was a king of Armenia and a close ally of Cyrus the Great. The best-known Tigranes is Tigranes the Great, also sometimes known as Tigranes I, king of Armenia from 95 to 55 BC, who founded a rather short-lived Armenian empire and was the self-proclaimed successor to the Seleucid dynasty.

Peace prevailed — more or less — until the death of Zeno in 34. Then Artaban, the King of Parthia, placed his eldest son, Arshak or Arsaces on the Armenian throne, claiming all the treasures hoarded by Vonones I in Syria and Cilicia and everything else to which he, as an alleged successor of Darius and Alexander, was theoretically entitled to.

In Rome, the Emperor Tiberius responded to the Parthian threat by concentrating Roman forces along the Eastern frontier, triggering twenty-five years of warfare between the two greatest powers of the known world. Each side won and lost battles, taking turns in subjecting the native population to cruel oppression and alternating reprisals for alleged sympathy with the other side.

By 52, Mithridates’ cruel rule as king in Armenia had alienated him from his brother Parasmanes I, the king of Iberia, who sent his son Rhadamistus to take Armenia from him. (Other accounts indicated that Rhadamistus himself was an a young man of such ambition that his father sent him out to make war on his uncle, hoping to rid himself from the threat he posed to himself either at the cost of his brother… or by death should he fail.)

Mithridates and his family were besieged at a fortress near Artaxata. A Roman garrison commanded by the prefect Caelius Pollio, had been stationed there to protect the Armenian king. But Mithridates was unable to match the bribe offered to his defenders by the Iberians. After several days, Pollio handed over the king to Rhadamistus, who murdered his uncle and thus seized Armenia for himself. Ummidius Quadratus, the Roman legate of Syria, made several half-hearted attempts to recapture the territory, but eventually withdrew back within the borders of his own province. In 53, Paelignus, Roman governor of Cappadocia, invaded Armenia and ravaged the country. Quadratus sent a force to make up for the aggression; but he was recalled to avoid provoking a war with Parthia.

But Parthian supremacy in Armenia was again asserted by the Parthian king Valarses (Vagharsh) of the Pahlavid family, whom the Romans call Vologeses or Vologases. He ascended the Parthian throne in 50 or 51.

This sets the stage for the final conflict — and provides the backdrop for the activities of the Apostolic Network and Nero’s terminally ill-fated plan to shif the center of the Roman Empire East… from Rome to Artaxata-Neronia!

The Hot Phase under Vologeses

Vologeses’s position as King of Parthia is somewhat unusual.

He was the son of Vonones II, a distant relative of Gotarzes. Not only was he the youngest of three brothers, he was also illegitimate, being Vonones’s son by a Greek concubine. If he was the ablest of his brothers or what other factors contributed to his superior position remains unknown. This goes to explain the willingness of his older brother, Tiridates, to collaborate with Nero on the eastern expansion of the Empire.

When news of Claudiuss death spread, Vologeses made his move. He invaded Armenia, conquering one of its capitals, Artaxata. He made his oldest brother, Tiridates, also known as Tiridat or Trdat, king of Armenia. When a winter epidemic forced him to withdraw his troops from Armenia and back into Parthia, the ousted king Rhadamist reappeared committing large-scale acts of brutal vengeance. In early 55, the people of the capital Artashat or Artaxata revolted while Tiridates, was on his way back. Rhadamist flees towards the Caucasus with his wife Zenobia, and is saved only by the speed of his horse. Zenobia was captured, but Tiridates treated her like a royal queen. Rhadamist returned to Iberia and was put to death by his father Parasmanes I of Iberia for having plotted against him.

This left Tiridates firmly entrenched in Artaxata, apparently with the support of the populace.

News of these events in Armenia did not reach Rome until late in 54. Young Nero, under the instruction of Burrus and Seneca, called on Cnaeus Domitius Corbulo, a successful military commander who had cut his teeth against the Germanic tribes along the Empire’s northern frontier. His early career is unknown, but Cassius Dio writes that he resembled the early Romans, possessing great strength of body, a shrewd intelligence, great bravery and fairness and “good faith towards all, both friends and enemies” — popular enough to be potentially considered a candidate for the emperor’s throne.

In 40 AD, he was consul alongside Caligula, who was his brother-in-law due to his marriage with Milonia Caesonia, Corbulo’s half sister. After Caligula’s assassination, Corbulo’s career stalled until, in 47, Claudius made him commander of the Germania Inferior armies, with a base camp at Colonia Agrippina –the modern Cologne, Germany

He was eventually recalled to Rome, where he stayed until 52, when he was named governor of the province Asia.

In 54, at the eve of the Parthian invasion, the Romans found themselves ill prepared to conduct a major campaign. To restore Roman client kings in Armenia, Nero, Seneca and Burrus divided the country in three parts and worked feverishly to align an anti-Parthian coalition. A Hasmonean named Aristobulus was given Lesser Armenia (Nicopolis and Satala), Sohaemus of Emessa received Armenia Sophene.

Corbulo’s forces were too weak for immediate action, so he set up training camps and recruiting stations. By late 57, his troops were ready. But in antiquity, warfare was seasonal business. It would take until the spring of 58 until the Romans and their allies were able to launch a three-pronged offensive against the Parthian king and his big brother. Corbulo entered Greater Armenia from Capadoccia and advanced towards Artaxata. His ally Parasmanes I of Iberia attacked from the north, and Antiochus IV of Commagene attacked from the southwest. His legions closed in on the suburbs of Artaxata, but Corbulo found that Tiridates had already evacuated the city. Artaxata was captured and destroyed by fire, reducing it to utter ruin. Corbulo then proceeded southward to capture Tigranocerta.

By that time, the Parthian King of Kings Vologeses had assumed the high command of the Parthian army himself, and was threatening a Roman force stationed on the banks of the Arzanias River. Corbulo hurried to the aid of the endangered legions, but in the end he accomplished nothing more than a successful retreat to the west of the Euphrates River, which the Parthians considered the outer limit of the Roman Empire.

By the end of 59, after a year of desert marches and skirmishes, the city Tigranocerta surrendered without a fight. In 60, Corbulo beat back a Parthian army under Tiridates’ command. Nero installed the last royal descendant of the Kings of Capadoccia on the Armenian throne. He was the son of Glaphyra (daughter of Archelaus of Cappadocia) and Alexander of Judea, the brother of Herod Archelaus, and a great-grandson of Herod the Great who assumed the ancient royal Armenian name of Tigranes VI. Border districts were given to the Roman allies that assisted Corbulo. Corbulo replaced Quadratus as governor of Syria, the neighboring province.

Tigranes had been brought up in Rome and was in fact more Roman than Armenian or Seleucid. He was chosen mainly because he was able to make a legitimate (if far-fetched) dynastic claim as successor of the Seleucids, who not only had a birth right to the title of Armenia, but to large chunks of the Parthian empire.

By 61, Tigranes must have been fully convinced not only of the validity of his hereditary claim, but also on his power to obtain it. He invaded the Kingdom of Adiabene, which was a vassal of Parthians. Vologeses considered this as an act of Roman aggression and restarted a campaign to put Tiridates back on the Armenian throne.

Tigranes quickly found that the Parthians were harder to deal with than he anticipated. He called on Corbulo, who sent two legions into Armenia. Three more legions moved into position along the Parthian border. Learning that Adiabene was being ravaged by Tigranes, Vologeses prepared to fight Corbulo in Syria, and sent Monobazus, king of Adiabene, and Monaeses, a Parthian, into Armenia. The two shut up Tigranes in the fortress of Tigranocerta. But their siege remained inconclusive. Whenever they sought a decision by battle, their armies were repulsed by both the native troops and the Romans in Tigranes’ army.

When the Parthians failed to break the defense of Tigranocerta, Vologeses sent an embassy to Rome to begin negotiations. He proposed that both the Roman and Parthian troops should evacuate Armenia. Vologeses wanted that Tigranes be dethroned and Tiridates recognized as king or Armenia.

Nero stalled. In 62, talks broke down. Lucius Caesennius Paetus, the governor of Cappadocia — by now commanding the Roman legions inside Armenia — was ordered to settle the question by bringing Armenia under direct Roman rule. He was to hold down the fort while Corbulo crossed the Euphrates into Parthia. But Paetus turned out to be an incapable commander. Taking advantage of Corbulo’s absence, Vologeses launched a preemptive strike by beginning simultaneous attacks against both Syria and Armenia.

Corbulo, already well positioned at the Euphrates crossing of Zeugma, only narrowly kept the Parthians from advancing into his province. Vologeses marched his Parthians into Armenia and besieged Paetus, who suffered a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Rhandeia, near the river Arsanias. But Vologeses lacked heavily-armed soldiers and was short on provisions, as he had come at the head of a vast host without making arrangements for his food supply. Paetus, however, stood in fear of the Parthian archers and cavalry and negotiated a truce, swearing to abandon the whole of Armenia and that Nero should give the Armenian crown to Tiridates.

The Parthian was happy to oblige, seeing that he was to obtain control of the country without battle. Hearing that Corbulo was drawing near, he dismissed the beleaguered Romans, after forcing them build a bridge over the river Arsanias for him. He did not need a bridge, for he had crossed on foot, but he wished to show them that he was their superior. He did not retire by way of the bridge even on this occasion, but rode across on an elephant, while the rest got over as before.

Corbulo however, with unexpected speed, reached the Euphrates and there waited for Paetus’ retreating force, who were completely demoralized by the compact they had been forced to make. Vologeses sends his ally Monaeses to Corbulo with the demand that he abandon the fort in Mesopotamia. The two held a prolonged conference together on the very bridge over the Euphrates, after first destroying the center of the structure.

Corbulo agreed to quit the country if the Parthians would also abandon Armenia. Both conditions were carried out provisionally, until Nero could learn of the engagements made and receive the second embassy that Vologeses sent. The Parthian messengers appearing before Nero in Italy presented him with an interesting arrangement: If Nero would accept an Arsacid candidate in Armenia, Vologeses would allow the man to be crowned by the emperor himself at Rome.

Although tied by heredity to the Parthian state, this man would effectively be a Roman vassal king. Nero finally accepted the Parthian offer and eventually approved Vologeses’ brother Tiridates for the position. The answer given them by the emperor was that he would bestow Armenia upon Tiridates if that prince would come to Rome. Paetus was deposed from his command and the soldiers that had been with him were sent elsewhere. Superpower summits start yet again and yet again collapse in 63.

That year, the deck was reshuffled yet again. Tiberius Julius Alexander, the procurator of Judæa from 45-48 and up to then member of Corbulo’s general staff, was made prefect of the imperial province of Egypt. Corbulo himself was given maius imperium, supreme authority, and started to prepare his four crack legions for an invasion, leading a strong army into Melitene and beyond into Armenia, eliminating all of the regional governors he suspected were pro-Parthian. Nero had intended to accompany the expedition in person, but he fell while performing a sacrifice, so that he did not venture to set out, but remained at home

Corbulo was officially preparing for war, sending a centurion to order Vologeses to depart from the country. Vologeses realized now that it was impossible to beat the Romans on the battlefield. And Corbulo knew that a victory would cost him dearly and probably would remain as elusive as it had been for the past quarter century. But privately he was advising the Parthian to send his brother Tiridates to Rome. Corbulo and Tiridates held a conference at Rhandea, a place satisfactory to both — to the king because his troops had defeated the Romans and had sent them away under a capitulation. Corbulo accepted it because he expected his men to wipe out the ill repute that had attached to them there before.

Superpower Rapprochement

A final round of negotiations finally cemented the status quo prior to Claudius’ death: The Parthians accepted Roman suzerainty over Armenia, including their right to name the Armenian king. But Corbulo agreed to recognize Tiridates as king, on condition that he received the crown of Armenia from the Roman Emperor. A Roman garrison would remain in Sophene permanently. The capital Artaxata would be reconstructed with Roman help.

Tiridates and Vologeses consented to this compromise.

Of course, Nero himself was thousands of miles away at that time. So the Romans erected in the camp near Artaxata a rostrum surmounted with a curule chair, upon which they placed an image to represent Nero. Tiridates appeared at the head of a magnificent parade of military and civilian dignitaries. The Parthian and Armenian cavalry were arrayed along one side, the Roman legions, with their eagles and ensigns on the other, with of divinities between the lines, as if they were in a temple. Tiridates marched forward, took his own crown from his head and deposited it at the foot of Nero’s statue before replacing it on his own head.

Meanwhile, Rome is getting hot for Nero. Piso’s conspiracy has been discovered and put down. Rome has burned, and even the plebs urbana, the rabble of the city with whom he has always been more popular than with the patriciants and nobles, is turning on him because his ambitions building project, the Domus Aurea, is swallowing up their houses and infrastructure.

There also are problems with the grain deliveries. Nero needs a spectacle to distract the masses. So Tiridates must go to Rome to be crowned by the Emperor himself. Before setting out with his family, a retinue of feudal lords and 3,000 horsemen, he paid visits to his mother and brothers in Media and Parthia.

Being a chief Magian of the Zoroastrian religion, he avoided the sea route and traveled by land, as Mazdeism prohibited spitting in the water or desecrating it with any other refuse of the human body. Tiridates was accompanied by his sons and those of Vologeses, his uncle Pacorus, and Monobazus. Their progress all the way from the Euphrates was like a triumphal procession. He moves across Thrace, through Illyria and Picenum in northeastern Italy, the journey taking nine months. Provisions for the procession were furnished them free of cost, a daily expenditure of 800,000 sesterces for their support being thus charged to the public treasury.

Nero awaited Tiridates at Naples, sending a state chariot to carry the visitor over the last few miles. He refuses to remove his sword as he approaches the Emperor, although he agreed to having it firmly fastened in the sheath, so that it could not be drawn.

Nero as Apollo as Avatar of Mithra

At Puteolis near Neapolis, Nero has athletic games to be staged in honor of his guest. Tiridates himself displays his abilities by shooting one arrow through the bodies of two buffaloes.

Rome itself is profusely decorated and lavishly illuminated at night. On the day after their arrival, Nero comes to the forum wearing triumphal vestments. Tiridates and his retinue advance between two lines of soldiers. Arriving in front of the dais, Tiridates knels before Nero as avatar of the Iranian god of light, with hands clasped on his breast.

He then addresses Nero with the words: “I am a descendant of Arshak and the brother of the Kings Valarses and Pacoras. I have come to you who are my god; I have worshipped you as Mithra; I shall be whatever you would order me to be, because you are my destiny and fortune.”

Nero replies: “You have done well by coming here to enjoy my. What your father has not left to you and what your brothers did not preserve for you, I now do bestow on you. I make you King of Armenia, so you, as well as they, may know that I have the power to take away and to grant kingdoms.”

Tiridates mounts the steps of the platform and kneels again, while Nero places the royal diadem on his head. When the Parthian is about to kneel a second time, Nero lifts him up by his right hand and, after kissing him, makes him sit by his side on a chair a little lower than his own.

Public entertainments continue for some time after the coronation ceremony. The interior of the Theater of Pompey and every piece of its furniture has been gilded for the occasion. Purple curtains stretched overhead to keep off the sun and in the center of them was an embroidered figure of Nero driving a chariot, with golden stars gleaming all about him. Nero, himself, clad in green and wearing a chariot driver’s headdress, takes part in the chariot race. At the evening banquets, in gold-embroidered vestments, he sings and plays on the lyre.

It’s a triumph to end all triumphs: Corbulo is granted full military honors. The doors to the Temple of Janus are shut indicating that now there was peace throughout the Roman Empire.

It is a complete personal success for Nero. According to Pliny the Elder, Tiridates initiated Nero into the Mithraic cult. When Tiridates returned to Armenia, he took with him a great number of skilled artisans for the reconstruction of Artaxata, which he renamed Neronia, in honor of the Emperor.

Tiridates received all kinds of gifts, said to have been worth 200 million sesterces. He leaves Italy by ship, apparently ignoring his religious aversions against polluting water. He sailed from Brundisium to Dyrrachium. He viewed also the cities of Asia, which served to increase his amazement at the strength and beauty of the Roman empire.

Tiridates indeed rebuilt Artaxata and named it Neronia. But Vologeses, though often summoned, refused to come to Nero, and finally, when the latter’s invitations became burdensome to him, sent back a dispatch to this effect: “It is far easier for you than for me to traverse so great a body of water. Therefore, if you will come to Asia, we can then arrange where we shall be able to meet each other.”

Since Nero killed himself only two years later, Neronia became Artaxata again as soon as his death became known. But Nero’s projection as avatar of Mithra must have been powerful. Sueton reports that when he was a young man, a person of obscure origins appeared who claimed he was Nero, and his name was still in such favor with the Parthians that they supported him vigorously and surrendered him with great reluctance.
The Lazarus Smile has been available as an e-book from Amazon.com since Nov. 1, 2009.

Jag slutar aldrig tro på människans inneboende goda kraft. Idag har jag personligen råkat ut för en näst intill okänd människas ovillkorligt kravlösa godhet.

Jag har träffat en kvinna på ett nätforum, en kvinna som lever i sin magi. Hon har otaliga upplevelser från devariket att berätta om. Hennes hemsida är full av möten från naturriket som hon gärna delar med sig av. Att gå in på hennes sida är som att beträda en trollstig där man inte vet vart den ska sluta. Bettan lever sannerligen i sin mitt, i sin kraft där hon hämtar visdom och glädje.

Häromveckan kontaktade hon mig då hon så gärna ville presentera mig och mitt arbete på sin egen hemsida. Hon var förtrollad över mina skapelser i lera och på målarduk. Hon undrade mycket över de symboler jag använder i min gudinnekonst.

Det fantastiska resultatet ligger nu ute på Bettans hemsida under rubriken Mama Jord samt allt det andra fina hon har att erbjuda er läsare. Gå in och titta och låt dig hänföras i den magiska värld som är befolkad av småknytt och andra väsen.

Må solen skina över dig idag!

Klockan var strax före sju när jag gick hemifrån. Närmare en och en halv timme senare kom jag hem igen; trött, frusen och lycklig. Jag gjorde min gryningsritual i skogen, och det var underbart att se och höra och känna hur världen vaknade till liv runtomkring mig. Medan jag höll på som bäst slog det mig att jag numera kan säga att mens är något som ligger i det förflutna. Det tillhör det gamla året; det som tog slut inatt. Tanken gjorde mig glad, men så såg jag på min trollstav…

Jag och min trollstav, på väg hem från samhainfirandet

Ja, okej, det är lika bra att jag berättar: När jag var relativt ny inom hedendomen, och fortfarande hade svårt att hantera dyrkandet av det “kvinnliga” som är så extremt vanligt inom bland annat wicca, så bestämde jag mig för att jag skulle göra mig en trollstav. Alla hemsidor och böcker som jag brukade förlita mig till gav samma råd: En trollstav ska smörjas med mensblod för att bli ett kraftfullt redskap. Kukfödda häxor och de som kommit i klimakteriet kan visserligen lösa problemet genom att sticka hål på fingret för att smörja staven med sitt blod, men det är mest effektivt med just mensblod – och det ska vara ens eget.

Min trollstav

Det syns inte, eftersom det är väldigt tunt insmort och dessutom var det säkert sex år sedan jag gjorde den. Det är heller inget jag tänker på när jag använder staven vid mina ritualer, men det finns alltså där. Det sista mensblodet är det som finns kvar på min trollstav.

Jag vet precis hur konstigt, galet, stört och förmodligen även äckligt det kan låta för den som inte är inne i tänket, men för mig har det mest varit något som känts lite småpinsamt att minnas. Mens är ju liksom inget jag velat erkänna att jag har haft, ens för mig själv – fram tills nu. Det har varit ett helvete att ha mens, men nu när det förhoppningsvis är över gör det mig inget. Jag håller hellre mensen på min trollstav än i min kropp.

Läs även andra bloggares intressanta åsikter om samhain, trolldom, hedendom, sabbater, religion, tro, wicca, kön, genus, könsroller, kvinnlighet, mens, biologi, bilder, häxor, Samhain, Halloween, magi, trollstavar, mensblod, transsexualism, könskorrigering, hormoner, testosteron, puberteten

Fikk foresten NESTEN ryddet ferdig rommet i går. Hjem for å fullføre etter jobb, siden Madeleine kommer i ettermiddag. Tenkte vi kunne teste den rare Persimon-frukten også, siden jeg aldri kom så langt igår. Er spent, vi gir en lyd, kanskje den er magisk!?!

First of all, look at this sweet ass flyer by Andrew Jones:

Now, look at this stupid lineup:

• VIBESQUAD
• SUBVERT
• EXCISION
• DATSIK
• PROPA TINGZ (Breakbeat Buddha)
• 12th Planet
• Oscure
• Patricio
• Eva
• Braden
• The Professionals
• DJ 007
• Bass Mechanic
• Remo
• RudElgin
• Magi
• J-Viz
• Kemst

Finally, make plans to party with OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY (the best kind) on NOVEMBER 7 at the Nucleus Events Center, a Gangster Theme party with 1920’s attire strongly encouraged (ladies get out those flapper dresses!). In addition to two stages and a lineup that is so sick it is practically dying, you will enjoy live dance performances, outdoor art displays, fire spinning and a little mania thrown in on the side.

STOKED about this one! See you there!

I dag ble jeg vekka på en særs behagelig måte.
Vel, ikke første gangen, kl 5.30, men etter at hun hadde sovet litt til i vår seng, vekket minsten meg ved å stryke meg på hodet og si “Heeeiii”…som bare en 1-åring kan det.

Magisk!

jag tror mitt hem är förtrollat. sekunden jag kommer innanför dörren så tappar jag all motivation att plugga. jag vill läsa, vila, gå ut, äta, pyssla, blogga… vad som helst som inte är ansträngande. eller är jag så lat även annars? nä, så kan det väl ändå inte vara… det är definitivt nåt fuffens med det här stället. vi säger så.

halloween på g, därav trolldomsfunderingarna. man kan göra lyktor genom att gröpa ur apelsiner och sätta värmeljus i, det läste jag i amelia igår. kan tänka mig att en viss granne vars namn börjar på A tycker att det är slöseri med apelsiner? ^^

på lördag maskerad hos ivan och nela, vad ska man då hitta på för nåt spejsat? borde kanske ha snott med mig syrrans häxhatt från skeå… ^^

sätt igång och skriv nu, kvinna. (praktikrapport under produktion, knappt påbörjad.)

I det höstliga oktober har dagspressens fortsatta diskussion om klinisk själavård kommit fram till frågan om evidens. Det finns anledning att tala länge och väl om vad evidens är, men dagens inlägg på Idag-sidan pockar på en reflektion i all hast.

Filosofen Jonna Bornemark citeras. Hon berättar “… att en stor del av den möjliga kunskapen om människan faller utanför om man enbart håller sig till det som är kvantifierbart och generaliserbart.” vilket redan det är märkligt, om hon med kunskap talar om vetenskaplig kunskap. Märkligt – för nog ska väl vetenskaplig kunskap vara generaliserbar! Inte nödvändigtvis på individnivå, vilket förmodligen är det hon menar, men att enbart katalogisera singulariteter är förstås inte intressant eller fruktbart för någon. Hon menar säkert någonting i stil med att “kunskap om enskilda individer kan inte enbart härledas från generella principer och tillämpningsföreskrifter” och “ska vi tillhandahålla god själavård till nödlidande individer får vi inte bortse från individens speciella situation”. Hon säger vidare i artikeln nämligen någonting “Varje människa och varje situation är unik. Diagnoser är ingen exakt vetenskap och kan inte fånga den problematik som en enskild bär på. En terapeut kan med tiden upparbeta en praktisk kunskap för det unika.”

Och det är ju rimligt. Men hon argumenterar emot all utvärdering av kliniska studier: “Studier enligt naturvetenskaplig modell på en viss metods effektivitet ger hon inte mycket för. Testerna som deltagande patienter fyller i före, under och efter studierna säger mycket litet. Svaren på hur man mår är alltför beroende av dagsform och vad man menar med att man mår på ett visst sätt. Men den meningen kan inte testet avläsa, och resultatet är därför tomt på innehåll”.

Hur tror hon vi ska kunna välja mellan god och dålig vård? Har inte god vård effekt? Även om de studier hon recenserar vore värdelösa – borde inte det gå komma fram till studier som fungerar och avläser det de ska?

Det är verkligen sorgligt om en inomvetenskaplig kritik mot studieutformning skall komma att kasta ut all vetenskapligt vederhäftig utvärdering med badvattnet. Jag är säker på att filosofen Bornemark egentligen vet bättre, men misstänker att hon har en egen hypotes om att den psykodynamiskt inriktade, enligt hittillsvarande empiriska studier verkningslösa, vårdformen är bättre på något annat plan. Men då får hon visa det!