Unaltered Version

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Wooh boy, this has been a crazy building process. What started as a moc for BS01's contest turned into a passion project, that has really challenged what I'm used to building. It likely would have been done sooner, but the legs really stumped me for sometime. I tried so hard to keep it in the style of G1 titans, but I decided to eventually scrap that idea and went with what you see now, likely for the better. Nearly depleted my stock of ball pieces.

 

But regardless this is perhaps the favorite Moc I've built to date, given just how fun/challenging it was to build.

 

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Now I posted multiple preview pictures of this moc, some during the building process, and one of the comments I saw often was folks noticing I was removing lime green from Nocturn's color scheme. And of course I always told them I had a canon/lore reason that I would explain when the moc was completed. So about time I explain that.

 

In the story, we know Nocturn is able to regrow limbs, and that strangely Nocturn's tentacle was silver... Would this not imply that the more organic parts of Nocturn are silver naturally? Perhaps the green was merely armor added to signify his place in Ehlek's army? I don't know for sure, but I decided to take the organic=silver theory and run with it.

 

As such in my headcanon for this version of Nocturn, the blue sections of Nocturn are suppose to be parts of his body that have aged, with the carapace growing over segments of his body, with the silver sections being more fleshy and less armored.

 

This also explains why his upper right arm is all silver, as in canon he lost it in a fight with Pridak, which still works for my version, and given his species is able to regrow limbs it makes sense that it grew back silver, as it's not had the time to regrow the carapace. Hence why it also wields a small dagger, as it's weaker currently in it's current stage of growth.

 

Totally didn't come up with that excuse last minute when I ran out of Takadox armor.

 

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You might ask what the heck is going on with Nocturn's head, and that is a valid question that doesn't have a valid answer. I never liked Nocturn's set head, so instead I sought to give him a better head that still kept the "bestial" appearance. I like to think I succeeded in that goal. Also you might notice a bit of red "inside" the mouth in some pics, and that is there just to give some realism. Maybe it's a tongue, or maybe it's the inside? I don't know.

 

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The theme of BS01's contest originally was to take a character that is normally good or bad and flip it. So that is what I tried to do with Nocturn. While this version of Nocturn was still banished to the pit for destroying his homeland, his imprisonment saw self-reflection, and a desire to change, to do good. To protect.

 

Fast forward to mahri-nui sinking, and after the Barraki started harassing the Matoran, you saw Nocturn become an ally, a protector of Mahri-nui, seeing it as a way to redeem himself.

 

He's still not the brightest of light bulbs, but he's more of a gentle giant at this point. If canonically he's smart enough to realize he isn't wanted in the Matoran Universe, he's smart enough to redeem himself.

 

Also you might ask why dual axes? Well personally I find an axe to be a noble weapon, a weapon meant to protect versus attack. What I mean by this, is let's take knights for example. Those knights wielding swords and spears would go off to fight the evil, thus seeking it down, whereas the Knights wielding the axes would remain home, ready to defend against the evil when it comes to them.

 

It's weird mental imaging of such, but eh I like my reasoning. Plus axes are typically slower weapons than say swords, making them better for reactionary fighting, aka protecting.

 

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Also credit to Logan for the lower arm design, which is based off the design he used on his Hydraxon moc.

The Ankh represents the first key to the Mysteries “The Creation of Everything”. The Ankh means more than Life – it is the most ancient symbol of a code of sounds and primordial deities. The Ankh is actually the Names of the so called “chaos” Deities of the Khemnu or Ogdoad: Amen/Amenet, Nun/Nunet,Ku/Kukhet,Heh/Hehet. – This resolves itself to ANKH. The Ankh itself has four distinct sides and one of them is the Loop Nun/Nunet. These four pairs in were thought to be the Children of Tehuti and Maat. Both Tehuti (Vibration), Maat (Order) and the four pairs themselves have their own forces. Amen/Amenet is the hidden spark of life and its opposite , Nun/Nunet – is the primordial unformed mass and its opposite, Ku/Kukhet is the qualities of Light and its opposite, and Heh/Het is the qualities of infinity and its opposite. At some point the Eight fuse themselves together bounded by Maat and Tehuti and a Deity Ptah is formed out of this chaos – (the God Particle), he steps on a mound, Aton is formed and lands on his shoulder then The Ennead is created or the 9 deities. This is called the “First Time” or Sp Tepii, Zep Tepi, Sep Tepii, Sep Tepi. Ancient Kemet is both Scientific and Spiritual. The Mysteries System of Egypt is also both Scientific and Spiritual. To begin self mastery one must understand how everything began. A child in Ancient Egypt would be told the creation stories, I described and grow up understanding Science and Spirituality. An African Child in the Diaspora would be taught one of the Major Western Religions and grow up with religion and later learn science and have to juggle between the two. Here is the beginning key to re-orientating African Thought, Practice, Spirituality, Redemption and Self Mastery.Here we see the most common usage of the Ankh – Here is the Symbol, the N – water ripple and the KH – Placenta?. The N can be pronounced, and the KH is pronounced. The sound of its symbol begins with the A similar the extend arm glyph. This I have to check. At any rate, the ripple water identifies it with possibly water, or wave. The Placenta has obvious meanings of birth. I am currently attempting to find out why the KH symbol is the placenta. It does not look like a Placenta at all. I have found that the KH sound is used in the Mdu Ntr of the placenta so that is why the symbol is referred to as a placenta. Obviously, the Ancient Egyptians knew about the placenta and knew how to draw it – it is found in the Narmer Pallete and the Wepwawet Standard in the Step pyramid. The symbol that is known as the sieve or placenta obviously has a meaning that contributes to the placenta, but may not necessarily be the placenta.

 

Sekou Fortune who helped me discover the Secret of the Ankh and our new researcher Alfred “Djehuti” Thompson II – Bro. Al, made an amazing contribution while we were at the ASCAC conference in Washington in August. They discarded Gardiner’s and Budge naming of the KH sound as Placenta. They said that it could not be a Placenta for the following reasons: 1) the symbol is in equal parts 2) The people of Kemet knew how to draw a placenta 3) Cosmologically the placenta would have no place in the creation of everything – women and man were not created. 4) They challenged that symbols in relationship to the Ankh have cosmological references and the KH symbol may very well be Matter itself.

 

www.secretoftheankh.com/

  

The ankh (/æŋk, ɑːŋk/; Egyptian ˁnḫ), also known as "crux ansata" (the Latin for "cross with a handle") is an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic ideograph symbolizing "life".The ankh is an oval or point-down teardrop set atop a T shape. The origin of this image is highly debated. Some have suggested that it represents a sandal strap, although the reasoning behind such a use is not obvious. Others point out the similarity with another shape known as a knot of Isis (or a tyet), the meaning of which is also obscure.The Secret of the Ankh is a pathway into the Mystery Systems. The Secret of the Ankh leads to the what is called called the God Particle or what is alled the Higgs Particle but told in mythos by the Ancient People of the Nile. The Secret of the Ankh also is in line with the Infinity Puzzle of Frank Close this where infinity (Heh) and its opposite nothingness (hehet) and Nwn (Dark Radition) and its opposite Nwnt (anti-matter) or and the resultant matter is analyzed in creation . I believe that I have decoded the Symbol of the Ankh. My findings are that the Ankh can no longer be viewed as just meaning life, but the creation of Life itself. The Cosmological Origin was first discovered by myself and my friend Sekou Fortune. I later expanded the base findings into a Blog that can be shared and read.

To summarize the concept in Part I

(1)The Ogdoad Primordial Eight are the elements that created the Divine Creator according to the Egyptians. This is taken from one of the oldest cosmologies -of Hermopolis or Khmnu.

(2) Aspects of this story are used in the creation of Ptah, Ra, Amen, Aten in the other creations stories. These all deal with just the creation of the Creator not with what existed before creation.

(3) The symbol for the Ankh is the symbol with the Circle on top of the cross hairs – followed by the Mdu Ntr sounds of N and KH.

(4) From the breakthroughs of translations we know the symbol was pronounced NKH or ANKH. The A is disputed and may have been added for convenience of pronunciation. Even if the Ankh is a triliteral – at this point there is no definitive way to show how it was pronounced.

(5) If we return to the Ogdoad, the eight pairs are Amen Amenet, Nun, Nunuet, Kek, Kekhet, and Heh, Hehet. My theory is that the symbol took the names of the Ogdoad into consideration for its pronunciation. One must remember first that the Mdu Ntr is in fact the Sacred Words of the Ntrs. So there must be some root words are sounds that were used in the beginning and will continue to be used for words describing creation.

(6) The Ankh not only is a symbol of Life but the elements that create life. These elements are the Ogdoad and the Odgoad is essential for Life. The symbol Ankh is connected to the Ogdoad and I believe it gets its name from the Odoad. This is the secret of the Ankh.

(7) I understand that there is controversy of me creating the mnemonic ANKH to represent the Khemennu (The Primordial Eight). However, in Nile Valley Cosmology it is in fact the Eight that created life. So the mnemonics do not take away from this concept even though their is no prove that the Nile Valley Africans thought this way but we can be sure the Ankh symbol is written with the water sign (N) and the (KH) – whether this meant waves and particles is another thing. This is my Theory.

 

Let us continue.

 

I want to pause here so that I can correct three important points that may come up as a criticism. First, in order to help the reader find relevant source material, I use the work Ogdoad. However, the Nile Valley Mdu Ntr term with the most primary information is Khemenu and that a scholar looking for primary resources should always look for primary material first and secondary material second. The information on the Khemenu is should ultimately be referenced from what it means in the Original Language. Here is an example, Egypt is referred to the Land of the Ancient People in which we are talking about. However, the name of the land referred in text by the people is Kemet, Ta Seti, Ta Mery. We could call the people Egyptians but they call themselves the Rmt or Kmtw.

 

Two – I will say that the Ankh must be re-translated to the Khemenu (The Eight, 4 pairs). and I may get criticism from those unfamiliar with primary text and say that Amun is never first because Nun was. One should always stand from a position of being well researched. At anytime, that I have to defend the order of the Khemenu, I can do so with primary sources. I will say at this time that Amun/Amunet was the primordial Wave by themselves and they created NUN. Amun/Amunet exist in at least two dimensions and their later reality becomes Eight as they now split tow Amun/Amunet, Nun/Nunet, Kek,Keket and then HeH.HeHet.

 

Third, I will say the symbol the Ankh is actually the Eight, the Khemenu or the European name Ogdoad and will have again criticism. I have included a letter from Dr. Mario Beatty which I use as constructive criticism. However, Amun is always hidden and we do not know if the Symbol was actually pronounced as Ankh or Nkh – So Since Amun is hidden let us make that sound invisible and pronounce the symbol NKH for these purposes. NKH is a formula that includes the Khemenu for several reasons. The reaction of the Eight creates the Light that Created Life. In addition, the Khemenu are seen holding the Symbol sometimes all Eight or sometimes just 4 or the Eight. In Addition as I will show that the Mdu Ntr of the Symbol contains the N (Wave) and the KH (particle/seive) and these are quantum physic properties of the duality of Waves and Particles. Lastly, the Khemenu appears in Precreation, Creation, Life, and Afterlife scenes in Text and in Plates.

 

At this time – I will not touch my original theses until I publish my work – I hope that these satisfies initial criticism and those that want to criticize I find have not read enough primary sources to rule out anything that I am saying for the Nile Valley African often renews or make better their thoughts in later text to cure what was hidden in earlier text. So the Khemenu Cosmology was made better later.

 

Wherever the Ankh is translated in Ancient Egypt Literature it must be re-translated with the following insight: The Ankh is the Life Code; The Egyptian’s so-called “Infinities or Chaos” Gods: Amen/Amenet, Nun/Nunet,Kuk,Kukhet, Heh/Hehet – the Ogdoad.; The Meaning of Life is no longer just a flat definition but a multi-dimensional definition of the scientific and possibly spiritual definition of how life was created itself.

 

First though it may appear my work is not about phonetics, not about linguistics but linguistics have some bearing. The Secret of the Ankh can be approached two ways that lead to the same result.

 

First I will look at the Ogdoad – the Primordial Eight and how these elements resolve themselves into Life.

 

Second, I will look the Mdu Ntru symbol for the sound N which is a Wave and the Mdu Ntr symbol for the sound KH which Gardiner says incorrectly is a placenta but probably matter – are key elements of the symbol ANKH or NKH – Wave plus Matter produces the elements of Life or the God Particle. This is essentially a well proven theory of Dr. Oyiboe, as part of his GAGUT -Grand Unifying Theorem. I will use Dr. Oyiboe’s expression but expand on it.

The Egyptian gods are often portrayed carrying it by its loop, or bearing one in each hand, arms crossed over their chest. The ankh appears in hand or in proximity of almost every deity in the Egyptian pantheon (including Pharaohs).There are also images of gods pouring water over the head of the pharaoh as part of a purification ritual, with the water being represented by chains of ankhs and was (representing power and dominion) symbols. It reinforces the close connection the pharaohs had with the gods in whose name he ruled and to whom he returned after death.

 

The ankh symbol was so prevalent that it has been found in digs as far as Mesopotamia and Persia, and even on the seal of the biblical king Hezekiah.

 

The symbol became popular in New Age mysticism in the 1960s.

 

Unicode has two characters encoding the symbol: U+2625 ☥ in the widely-supported Miscellaneous Symbols block and U+132F9 in the more recent Egyptian Hieroglyphs block.

  

There have been many suggestions and theories as to the origin of the ankh symbol.Pharaoh Akhenaten embraced a monotheistic religion centered on the worship of the sun disk, known as the Aten. Artwork from the time of his rule, known as the Amarna period, always includes the Aten in images of the pharaoh. This image is a circular disk with rays terminating in hands reaching down toward the royal family. Sometimes, although not always, the hands clutch ankhs.

 

Again, the meaning is clear: eternal life is a gift of the gods meant most specifically for the pharaoh and perhaps his family. (Akhenaten emphasized the role of his family much more than other pharaohs. More often, pharaohs are depicted alone or with the gods.

 

Alan Gardiner (1957) explains the hieroglyph as a depiction of a sandal-strap (ˁnḫ) which came to be read phonetically and could be used (as "rebus writing") for the similar word ˁnḫ "live", a triliteral root probably pronounced /ʕánax/ in Old and Middle Egyptian.This verb and its derivatives are likely ancestral to the Coptic words ⲱⲛϩ ōnh "to live, life" and ⲉⲛⲉϩ eneh "eternity".

 

One of the earliest proposals was that of Thomas Inman, first published in 1869, according to which the symbol combines "the male triad and the female unit".[6] E. A. Wallis Budge (1904) postulated that the symbol originated as the belt buckle of the mother goddess Isis.

 

Andrew Hunt Gordon and Calvin Schwabe, in their 2004 book The Quick and the Dead, speculated that the ankh, djed, and was symbols have a basis in "cattle culture" and with semen (thought to originate in the spine) being equated with “life”, with the ankh representing the thoracic vertebra of a bull (seen in cross section), the djed representing the sacrum of a bull's spine, and the was representing a staff made from a bull’s penis.

  

Crux ansata in Codex Glazier

The ankh appears frequently in Egyptian tomb paintings and other art, often at the fingertips of a god or goddess in images that represent the deities of the afterlife conferring the gift of life on the dead person's mummy; this is thought to symbolize the act of conception.[citation needed] Additionally, an ankh was often carried by Egyptians as an amulet, either alone, or in connection with two other hieroglyphs that mean "strength" and "health" (see explication of djed and was, above).[citation needed] Mirrors of beaten metal were also often made in the shape of an ankh, either for decorative reasons or to symbolize a perceived view into another world.[citation needed]

 

A symbol similar to the ankh appears frequently in Minoan and Mycenaean sites.[where?] This is a combination of the sacral knot (symbol of holiness) with the double-edged axe (symbol of matriarchy) but it can be better compared with the Egyptian tyet which is similar. This symbol can be recognized on the two famous figurines of the chthonian Snake Goddess discovered in the palace of Knossos. Both snake goddesses have a knot with a projecting loop cord between their breasts. In the Linear B (Mycenean Greek) script, ankh is the phonetic sign za.

 

The ankh also appeared frequently in coins from ancient Cyprus and Asia Minor (particularly the city of Mallus in Cilicia).[12] In some cases, especially with the early coinage of King Euelthon of Salamis, the letter ku, from the Cypriot syllabary, appeared within the circle ankh, representing Ku(prion) (Cypriots). To this day, the ankh is also used to represent the planet Venus (the namesake of which, the goddess Venus or Aphrodite, was chiefly worshipped on the island) and the metal copper (the heavy mining of which gave Cyprus its name).

 

Coptic Christians preserved the shape of the ankh by sometimes representing the Christian cross with a circle in place of the upper bar. This is known as the Coptic ankh or crux ansata.

 

The most commonly repeated explanation is that it is a union of a female symbol (the oval, representing the vagina or uterus) with a male symbol (the phallic upright line), but there's no actual evidence supporting that interpretation.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankh

 

Sex, and specifically the orgasm, is more that just something that feels good and allows procreation. There are many other functions, such as the release of dysfunctional energy within the body, which can help to keep one from becoming diseased. There is the function that opens the higher chakras, and under the right conditions allows a person to begin the process of enlightenment. And further, if two people, lovers, practice sacred sex, the entire experience can lead them together into higher consciousness and into worlds beyond this plane.

 

In relationships, a simple sexual principle, as taught by the ancient Egyptians, can change the energy level within your body and help to bring strength and vitality into your bodies and your relationship.

 

The full subject in detail of Egyptian Tantra is incredibly complex, and cannot be completed in an article of this scope. But we can speak of the heart of the matter — the human ankhing experience as practiced by the ancient Egyptians.

 

And so, adapted for our readers from The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life, Volume II, I offer this insight to assist two lovers — or even yourself, alone — to begin to find the higher path. This practice will not directly show you the true path. But it will increase your life-force energy, making you stronger, more alive, and more conscious. And perhaps — if you believe the Ancient Egyptians — it may lead you into eternal life.

 

—Drunvalo

 

Egyptian Sexual Energy and the Orgasm

 

It was believed in ancient Egypt that the orgasm was the key to eternal life, and that it was intimately connected with the chakra system. A chakra is an energy vortex connected to the entire human energy field, and the Universal Heart Chakra is the fifth of thirteen chakras. (There is also a system of eight chakras; in that system, the heart chakra is number four.) The Egyptian system held that the orgasm was intimately connected to this fifth, or Universal Heart Chakra.

 

First, we will explain the connection to eternal life.

 

Most people in the world are ignorant about what happens to their sexual energy after they have an orgasm. Usually, the energy moves up the spine and out the top of the head directly into the eighth or thirteenth chakra (same chakra, different system). In a few rare cases, the sexual energy is released down the spine into the hidden center below the feet, the point opposite the one above the head. In either case, the sexual energy — the concentrated life-force energy called prana in Hinduism — is dissipated and lost. It is similar to discharging a battery into a ground wire. It is no longer in the battery and so it is gone forever. This is what all the world's Tantric systems that I am aware of believe, that orgasm brings one a little closer to death because a person loses his or her life-force energy in the orgasm and is made weaker. But the Egyptians found long ago that it does not have to be this way.

 

It is for this reason that the Hindu and Tibetan Tantra systems ask the male to avoid ejaculating. Instead, they speak of these tiny invisible tubes where, when a student learns to control the orgasm and the flow of their sexual energy, the sperm migrates up to the higher centers.

 

Both of these systems, and also the Chinese Taoist Tantra system, are all primarily concerned with the sexual energy flow, sometimes referred to as ''sexual currents.'' They are primarily concerned with what happens as the sexual energy is moved before the orgasm, but they all have entirely different views of this energy compared to the Egyptians.

 

The Egyptians believed that orgasm is healthy and necessary, including the release of sperm in males, but that the sexual energy currents must be controlled in a deeply esoteric procedure that is unlike any other system. They believed that if this energy is controlled, the human orgasm becomes a source of infinite pranic energy that is not lost. They believe that the entire Mer-Ka-Ba or lightbody (the field of energy surrounding and interpenetrating the body) benefits from this sexual release. They even believe that under the right conditions the orgasm will directly lead to eternal life, and that the ankh is the key.

 

Egyptian ankhWhat is the ankh, and what has the ankh to do with sexual energy? It is complicated to explain, but we will simplify. First the ankh itself is a shape that looks like the figure at right.

 

In order to see and understand what took thousands of years for the Egyptians to grasp, we will begin with the fifth, Universal Heart Chakra. This lower heart chakra, the chakra of Unconditional Universal Love, is the first place where the energy completes itself. Each chakra has a ''direction'' associated with it, as the life-force energy rotates its way up the body in a pattern similar to the DNA molecule. In the lower heart chakra, the fifth place of a thirteen chakra system, the energy is facing the same direction as it began, and thus the circle is complete.

 

Energy Flow Diagrams

 

In the three views above, you can see how the rotation of energy either around the body, as in (a), around a circle, as in (b), or in a sine wave, as in (c), all complete themselves in five steps.

 

Ankh ViewsThe fifth or heart chakra is the first chakra that completes itself and has the energies of both front-to-back and left-to-right. If you could see these energies — and the Egyptians could — from above the head, as in (a), at left, they would appear as this symbol. It needs to be understood that these are actual energy lines around the body coming from the fifth chakra.

 

If you were to see these energies from the front view of a human, they would appear as in (b) at left. In the center of the cross there is a hidden energy line coming straight off the page and also moving in the opposite direction away from the reader.

 

Notice that both of the above examples are Christian symbols that come from the heart chakra. However, if you could see the same energies from the side of a human being, they would appear different than you would expect. There is another energy-flow ''tube'' there (in Chinese medicine it's called a ''meridian'') that the Egyptians discovered long ago. It looks like (c).

 

I find it very interesting that the Christians must have understood what we are talking about here, for on the robes of many Christian priests, at certain times of the year that are usually associated with resurrection, you will see the following symbol.

 

This symbol (d) shows all three views — the top, front, and side simultaneously. I believe the Christians omitted the complete loop of the ankh so that they would not directly show a connection with the old Egyptian religion, since they were breaking away from that tradition. But it is obvious that they knew.

 

Now that you know that this ankh energy conduit is located in the human energy field and where, you will be able to understand the reason for the Egyptians' sexual conduct, which we are about to explain.

 

First let me explain something about the ankh before I speak about its relationship to sexual energy. When I toured the museums in Egypt, I personally observed over 200 Egyptian rods.

 

Egyptian rodThese rods (pictured at right) were mostly made of wood, although other materials were sometimes used. They had a tuning fork on the bottom end, and the top end had four different types of devices that could be attached. One of these devices was in the shape of the ankh. What we found is that if you put the ankh on the top of the rod, which is like the human spine, the vibration from the tuning fork lasts a great deal longer. The energy seems to wrap around back into the rod along the curve of the ankh, moving downward as it returns, thereby sustaining the energy.

 

I was in Holland a couple of years ago, and there some people had made some rods out of copper with a high-quality tuning fork at the bottom and a threaded end at the top, so that different end pieces could be screwed on. I experimented with this rod. Using it without a top piece, I struck the tuning fork and timed how long it would vibrate. Then I screwed on the ankh and struck the tuning fork again. With the ankh on top, the rod vibrated almost three times longer. If you apply this idea to the human spine, you can see why the energy of the orgasm enhances the entire human system and the energy wraps itself back around and back into the human meridians.

 

This is the key to why the Egyptians performed the particular sexual practices we are about to explain. They found that if they had an orgasm and let it go out the top or bottom of the spine, the sexual energy was lost. But if the sexual energy was guided by consciousness to move into the ankh conduit, it would come back into the spine and continue to resonate and vibrate. The life-force energy was not lost. In actual experience, it seems to increase the energy. One does not feel depleted after sex, but rather recharged.

 

You can talk about it all day, but if you try it one time, you will understand. However, it is not easy to do in one test. For the first few times, the sexual energy will often shoot past the point of the fifth chakra and continue on up and out of the body. So it takes practice. Once it is learned, I doubt seriously if you would ever have an orgasm any other way. It's too powerful and feels too good. Once your body remembers this experience, it is not likely to revert back to the old way.

 

Instructions for the Egyptian Orgasm

 

Here is exactly how to achiever the ankhing associated with the human orgasm. Whatever you do sexually before the orgasm is completely up to you. I am not here to judge you — and definitely the Egyptians would not, since they believe in knowing all sixty-four sexual modes before you enter the King's Chamber to ascend to the next level of consciousness. This is their idea, but it is important to know that it is not necessary. You can reach the next level of consciousness without knowing this information. However, from their point of view, the idea of ankhing is of paramount importance in achieving eternal life. You will have to decide for yourself if it is something you wish to practice.

 

The moment you feel the sexual energy about to rise up your spine, take a very deep breath, filling your lungs about 9/10th full, then hold your breath.

Allow the sexual energy of the orgasm to come up your spine. But at the moment it reaches the fifth chakra (located just a couple of finger-widths above the sternum), with your willpower you must turn the flow of sexual energy 90 degrees out the back of the body. It will then automatically continue inside the ankh tube. It will slowly turn until it passes exactly through the eighth (or thirteenth) chakra, one hand-length above the head at 90 degrees to the vertical. It will then continue to curve around until it returns to the fifth chakra, where it began, only this time in the front of the body.

 

Even if you don't understand what was just said, it will happen automatically if you get it started out the back of the body at the fifth chakra, and it will automatically come back around to the front of the body and reconnect at the fifth chakra. You just have to make it turn 90 degrees so that it begins.

It will often slow down as it approaches its point of origin, the fifth chakra. If you can see the energy, it comes to a sharp point. When it approaches the fifth chakra from the front of the body, there is sometimes a tremendous jolt as it reconnects with this chakra again. All this takes place while you are holding your first breath.

The instant the sexual energy reconnects with its source, the fifth chakra, take in the full breath. You had filled your lungs only 9/10th full, so now you fill your lungs as completely as you can.

Now exhale very, very slowly. The sexual energy will continue on around the ankh channel as long as you are exhaling. When you reach the bottom of this breath, you will continue to breathe very deeply, but a change happens here.

It is here that, if you know the Lightbody work of the Mer-Ka-Ba, you would begin to breathe from the two poles using Mer-Ka-Ba breathing. But if you are like most people and don't know this work, then continue to breathe deeply until you feel the relaxation begin to spread throughout your body. Then relax your breath to your normal rate. Feel every cell becoming rejuvenated by this life-force energy. Let this energy reach down into the deepest physical levels of your body structure even past the cellular level. Feel how this beautiful energy surrounds your very being and brings health to your body, mind and heart.

Once the relaxation begins, slow your breath down to a normal shallow breathing.

If possible, allow yourself to completely relax or even sleep for a while afterward.

If you practice this for even one week, I believe you will more than understand. If you practice it continually, it will begin to give health and strength to your mental, emotional, and physical bodies. It will give great strength and power to your Lightbody, as well.

 

If for any reason this practice does not feel right, stop and return to normal. It just is not time.

 

It was this discovery of the secret tube that fostered the Ancient Egyptians' belief that eternal life was intimately connected to this particular energy-flow. It is this ankhing of their sexual energy through this tube, in an extremely deliberate procedure, that I have been taught to emulate.

 

www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/apr1/ankhing.htm

There's nothing quite like the cloud formations one can see from an airplane window.

 

Note: Has the EXPLORE algorithm been changed? I had a total of 517 pics that had been in Explore, and 50 were currently in. I had been at the number 50 since Oct 2010. Since then I've had many popular shots, but never got off of 50 permanent in Explore. With this photo getting in, now I have 51... Have the limits for how many permanent photos you can have in Explore changed? Could just be a coincidence, maybe Explore competition has gotten even tighter, but as a statistician I take note of these things...

 

UPDATE: Thanks for all the comments and faves... believe me, I gasped when I saw this, I knew it was an epic photo opp. Odd thing is I had literally just jolted out of a nap, and there it was.

 

I can tell from the comments that my bit about Explore may need more explanation. No gang, I don't care about getting in Explore except so much as it can get you a lot more exposure... no my interest is a statistician. To me, Explore is based on a mathematical algorithm, and all I can do is observe and guess what's in the black box. As I've mentioned earlier, one can start with Flickr's patents, which link to its "interestingness" calculation is made. I talk about the Explore algorithm here.

 

In sum, interestingness = f(views, comments, faves, notes, galleries, and groups), and

Explore ranking = f(interestingness, other stuff)

 

The question has been, what's that "other stuff"? One variable I think is the number of photos you currently (or "permanently") you have in Explore. My hypothesis is that there has been a limit of 50 photos you can have in Explore. And with this observation, I now hypothesize that limit has been raised.

 

Oh Explore gnomes, show me a sign, throw me a bone, am I right?

 

UPDATE:

As it turns out I am probably wrong in my reasoning above. A close contact who is in Explore all the time told me he thought Explore went to "sampling" users--that you can only get into Explore for a certain amount of time during each year. This makes sense, explains the evidence, and is actually a more elegant and fair solution.

An inbound RE83 from Luebeck arrives in the big hall of the Hamburg Hauptbahnhof. Up to the 1970's there were no wires here and the hall was full of steam and diesel departures but today diesel is a somewhat rare sight. I still don't understand the reasoning for these diesel moves as a electric was always directly behind but not running. A big thanks to Andreas Herold for letting me know about these diesel workings.

"Sometimes I wonder why we were put on this earth. What

is our goal? Our reasoning?

To make the world a better place?

What if the world actually is a decent place?

Everyone is always complaining how the world is going downhill.

Crashing.

There's stealing, cheating, drugs and alcohol.

But what is your definition of a decent place?

There will always be negative aspects to life.

That's what makes life..life.

Without them, what

would be the positives?"

How unoriginal, right? I have my reasoning but I don't feel like explaining. I hate the existance of fmylife.com. I hate that people complain so much about stupid petty shit. How about "I live in Africa in the middle of a war zone and we have no clean water and I'm dying of AIDS, fml." Otherwise, shutthefuckup, you're life isn't horrible just becuase the barista at Starbucks only gave you two shots instead of three in your grande half calf carmelmochavanillawhateverthefuck.

“Don't be amazed if you see my eyes always wandering. In fact, this is my way of reading, and it is only in this way that reading proves fruitful to me. If a book truly interests me, I cannot follow it for more than a few lines before my mind, having seized on a thought that the text suggests to it, or a feeling, or a question, or an image, goes off on a tangent and springs from thought to thought, from image to image, in an itinerary of reasonings and fantasies that I feel the need to pursue to the end, moving away from the book until I have lost sight of it. The stimulus of reading is indispensable to me, and of meaty reading, even if, of every book, I manage to read no more than a few pages. But those few pages already enclose for me whole universes, which I can never exhaust.”

― Italo Calvino, If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

Believe it or not in RL spiders are my biggest fear so no idea what was going on in my head in the reasoning beyond this pic lol

 

Now I'm growing legs

I am the spider

I am the spider

I'm growing legs

I am the spider

I am the spider

Crawl inside her

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9PSTrQGMo4

I'm not really sure why, but I took two different color shots from the same angle at Strong City. I wish I could remember my reasoning. Both turned out okay, considering. So it's not like I blew a shot and decided to try again.

  

.

.

.

'Shades in Fear'

 

Camera: Intrepid Mk3 4×5 (2018)

Lens: Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon 8/90mm

Film: Kodak Vericolor 4111; x-06/2004; 3iso

Exposure: f/22; 1sec

Process: DIY ECN-2

 

Strong City, Kansas

  

Like everything else in this country, the structural integrity is being supported by strings of specious reasoning. What could go wrong with that?

 

Voigtlander 50mm f/2.0 Lanthar VM

Handheld, cropped

dodge and burn

Here goes my head-canon reasoning for having them Loony fellows around my Wild West Railroad: (As if these two needed any introductions!)

 

- On the left we have train engineer Roadrunner. He and his silver ore train are always ahead of schedule, and he is constantly on the lookout to do things to help out other railroad personnel. He is a model loyal employee, never complaining or talking back, is VERY efficient in his duties, and the best part is he works for birdseed!

 

- On the right is the hobo Wiley Coyote. This "Super Genius" bum is always trying to hop / derail / wreck / obliterate Roadrunner's train. (in which he hasn't succeeded once!) He is possibly formerly employed by ACME Corporation, as he always dynamite or other devious devices of their branding ready at a moment's notice. Wiley being without any money, one wonders whether he stole this TNT from the silver mine the payroll train comes from. (Disgruntled ex-mine worker maybe?)

 

These two will be on - or around - my Western silver mine train, (loco Number 7, slightly based off set 7597 and shown in WIP form in background) which will be finished in early November of this year.

And then if you are to understand me, you have to step into my realm and leave all of those things behind.

quote by C. JoyBell C.

C. JoyBell C. has authored books of poetry and literature that delve mainly into the mysterious, the philosophical and the esoteric. Many of her writings are considered nearly grimoires, being a source of inspiration to many. She's also an amateur astronomer and a student of astrobiology.

~

nightcafe/gimp/pixlr mixed apps AI manipulated

 

nightcafe/gimp

Art Week Gallery Theme: Intense Colors

www.flickr.com/groups/temporaryexhibitionsartgallery/

architects' own house, sydhavnen, copenhagen

katrine west kristensen & ulrik fenger mathiasson, architects

 

two former colleagues from vandkunsten built this house for themselves in one of copenhagen's less known christiania-like areas in the south harbour.

 

the facade cladding is made from recycled ventilation pipes salvaged from a nearby demolition and was, along with the timber frame, chosen for its minimal carbon footprint.

 

even the most well-meaning green ideas matter little when it comes to architectural quality, in fact they often appear to offer architects a kind of false respite from the difficulties of design.

 

katrine and ulrik, however, have drawn poetry from their recycled materials, and their house is done with such wit and warmth and talent that you never need technical reasoning to appreciate it.

 

seen through the lens of carbon footprint or energy use over time, sustainability still begins with buildings people want to live in and take care of, like this one.

 

/iphone

Steam Tug Cervia was built in 1946 as a seagoing tug for use as a fleet auxiliary by Alexandra Hall & Company Ltd of Aberdeen, Scotland. Today she is a floating Museum still undergoing restoration in Ramsgate, Kent.

The Cervia design closely followed an early designed steam tug class called Foremost which had been conceived in 1923. The reasoning behind the recycling of this old design was due to Britain’s need to quickly replace losses, and because of the government’s rapid rebuilding programme. Using the best of pre-war tried and tested tug designs would avoid the need for new designs, and get round any delays to the Admiralties rebuild plans. Empire Raymond, as the Cervia was originally named, was part of the revised building programme ordered for operation dynamo the invasion of Europe on D-Day. In the event she was not completed until after the end of the Second World War. The tug was finished with many of the design features intended for the invasion. She had an armoured wheelhouse and gun emplacements installed. She weighed over 350 tons and was powered by a 1,000 horsepower (750 kW) triple-expansion steam engine. Her boiler had been installed with oil burners but the design allowed for rapidly reverted to coal firing. All the ships that were ordered by the British government during the War period were given the prefix Empire which was the equivalent of the "Liberty Ship" building programme in the United States of America. The Cervia is thought to be last Empire Ship surviving in the United Kingdom.

 

History

The Cervia was launched from the yard of Alexander Hall and Co. Ltd in Aberdeen, Scotland, on the 21 January 1946 and was handed to the Ministry of War Transport. In December 1946 she was sold on to the maritime towing business of William Watkins Ltd for the sum of £36,000. The business had purchased the tug using compensation it received for the vessels it lost on War service such as the tugs "Napia" and "Muria", which were sunk after collisions with mines near Ramsgate in 1939 and 1940.

In 1947 the Empire Raymond name was changed to Cervia after the Italian Adriatic resort where the Watkins family owned a holiday villa. The name had previously been used on an earlier tug owned by William Watkins which taken part in the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940 returning from there with 230 troops.

 

Working life

Whilst still known as the Empire Raymond the tug was employed with other tugs in the refurbishment of the Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth from her role as troop ship back to a passenger liner. During the working life of Cervia the main role that she was deployed in was as a towing and salvage tug between ports in the United Kingdom and mainland Europe. When based in Ramsgate "Cervia" helped free several vessels that had run aground on the Goodwin Sand Banks off of the East-Kent coast in the vicinity of Ramsgate and Deal. Her association with the port would continue for 60 years right up to the present time.

 

Ramsgate

The Cervia, along with other ships owned by Watkins, were regularly maintained and repaired at the workshops and slipways of Claxton’s Ltd in Ramsgate. Claxton’s was subsidiary of William Watkins. In 1950 William Watkins Ltd was merged with other companies to form Ship Towage Ltd of London. As part of this company’s fleet the Cervia was involved in a serious incident. On the 25 October 1954 the Cervia was employed at Tilbury docks in London. Cervia was involved in the undocking of the P&O liner Arcadia, towing the liner stern first away from her landing stage. During this manoeuvre, the Arcadia had gone full ahead to avoid collision with liner P&O liner Orcades. The resulting wash caused Cervia to be dragged over and capsize and sink. Despite their valiant efforts to release the towing hawser the Cervia Captain Russell, MBE and five of her crew died. Another Watkins owned tug, Challenge, managed to rescue three of the crew. The subsequent court of enquiry into the case, recorded that the deaths were accidental, and the sinking was caused by the failure of a quick release pin on her towing hook. On the 28 October the Cervia herself became subject of a salvage operation. The tug was raised from the Thames riverbed and she was taken to Claxton’s Ltd in Ramsgate for a refit and then returning to service. On the 27 January 1969 Cervia was at work on the Thames when her owners merged with W.H.J. Alexander & Company Ltd to form the London Tug Company. The London Tug Company was to have a policy to phase out steam tugs in favour of more modern diesel vessels. The modernization of the fleet went ahead at speed and by 1971 the Cervia was laid up at Sheerness. It was hoped a buyer could be found or the tug would go to the breakers. The Cervia was offered to a Michael List-Brain a potential buyer who wished to preserve her. The Board of London Tugs agreed to her sale "as is, where lies", for the sum of £3,500. Mr List-Brain purchased the ‘‘Cervia’’ in April 1973 and took possession at Poplar Docks, London where she had been laid up. The tug then was given a refit and was back in steam by the summer.

  

She was used on the River Medway for both for pleasure trips and for her new owner to familiarize himself with her. It was envisaged that Cervia would become a part of a new organisation to be called "The Medway Maritime Museum" This was the idea of the United Kingdoms foremost ship preservationists, Martin Stevens. Unfortunately by 1974, the plans faltered when the Medway Council proved to be unable to provide sufficient funding for the project and with having neither premises nor any money the original museum project looked very precarious. With the fledgling museum’s lack of income, List-Brain and Stevens decided that one solution was to put the Cervia back to work in the towing business. At this time exploration in the North sea for gas and oil was begging to pick up in pace. This provided an ideal opportunity for the Cervia to earn her keep again. The Cervia was contracted to a construction firm based on the Medway. The construction firm of Howard Doris needed all manner of craft to assist with oil rig construction projects. In November 1974 Cervia to towed a crane barge to the Humber. She completed the contract with no problems, but with the cost of a very rapid re-equipping and complete lack of understanding as to the economics of marine towage meant the nett profit from this first towing contract was only £7.00. Following the contract with Howard Doris and the small profit, List-Brain and Stevens decided to put the fledgling business on a more professional business footing. A professional crew was employed and throughout 1975 several more successful towing contracts were undertaken by the Cervia all around the coast of the United Kingdom. During this time Cervia continued to prove her reliability working solidly for this twelve-month period except for a small period of time spent on essential boiler cleaning and maintenance. So successful was the business and the increasing demands placed on it, a proper company was set up which was called International Towing Ltd. ITL, as the company was abbreviated to, added three more steam tugs to her books to keep up with demand. These’s tugs were ST Hercules, ST Hero and ST Goliath.

Like Watkins before them, International Towing Ltd. decided to choose Ramsgate as their home port. The knock on effect of these decisions gave a welcome boost to the local economy of Ramsgate which saw a resurgence of commercial ship repairing in the harbour. Cervia and the three other tugs were kept very busy with a variety of jobs both in the North Sea and with coastal towage contracts. In early 1977two of the tugs of ITL, ST Hercules and ST Hero were taken out of service and returned to the Medway Maritime Trust, under the guidance of Martin Stevens. Nonetheless, ITL saw its business rapidly expand becoming an international operation all thanks to the reliability and hard work of Cervia and her sister tugs. To meet customer demands, Cervia and Goliath were joined further modern deep sea diesel powered tugs in 1978 by the 1980s, ITL’s fleet had grown to include the two most powerful tugs in the northern hemisphere and the business was sold off to the Far East. Cervia carried on working for ITL until 1983. Her last contract was to act as port tug for the new cross-channel ferry service at Ramsgate. The contract was terminated when the ferry service failed to operate a regular service due to the difficult economic climate of the early 1980s. Cervia was mothballed alongside the East Pier at Ramsgate Royal Harbour.

 

It was after this time that Cervia fulfilled a different role as a film location in an episode of the BBC comedy series Ripping Yarns called The Curse of the Claw with Michael Palin. Cervia had also been used in BBC production of Rogue Male starring Peter O'Toole in the mid-seventies. She was also the subject of a 1986 children's book, Cervia the Steam Tug, written and illustrated by Roger Ian Sacks in support of the East Kent Maritime Trust's Ramsgate Maritime Museum. After negotiations between Cervia’s owners and Thanet District Council's Harbour Master and his deputy, the tug was loaned and placed in the care of Ramsgate Maritime Museum, run by the East Kent Maritime Trust in July 1985. Later in July she was taken to moorings in John Smeaton's Historic Dry Dock. Funding was then secured for restoration work to be carried out on the Cervia. She was repainted to her original working livery of William Watkins days. A new mast was also fitted and her crew accommodation was refurbished to provide areas for museum displays. In 1986 Cervia was visited by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. To mark Cervia's 50th birthday a specialist engineer John Veneer oversaw restoration of the tugs 1,000 horsepower engine to full working order. Cervia became the centre point of the 'Historic Harbour' initiative and was joined by other vessels from the maritime museum's collection and privately owned classic boats. The ST Cervia now is moored in Ramsgate harbour, a rare survivor of steam ship development. She is the last seagoing steam tug to survive in UK waters, and she was also the last to work commercially.

 

Sorry about the long explanation but thought it worth the tale!

 

MY THANKS FOR ALL YOUR VISITS

   

ENG: I'll tell you that I'm happy at times, but also the misery is in my life. I would lose my cordiality and my little reasoning without them.

ES: Te diré que a veces soy feliz, pero también la miseria está en mi vida. Perdería mi cordialidad y mi pequeño razonamiento sin ellos.

First things first, HBW!

 

This is a roll of Kodak Verichrome Pan 120, a black and white 120 roll film for medium format cameras. It had been sat in the Yashica D that I recently acquired from eBay. Both the film and the camera were introduced in the 1950's so it is anyone's guess as to how long it's been in there. Going by the old style Kodak logo, I am going to guess the 70's but feel free to add your guess/informed reasoning in the comments :)

 

It was unexposed and loaded into the camera without being wound to the first frame. I wound it to the first frame testing the workings of the camera and then opened the camera exposing the first frame. I shut it back up reasonably quickly and am hoping I only borked the first three or so frames. At this point, I didn't know what the film was or its rated speed. I gambled and exposed it as a 100 ISO film. Turns out it is rated at 125. Hoping to drop it off to a developer tomorrow and see what happens, should be interesting.

 

Update: The results were only a couple of usable frames towards the end of the roll, here and here

General

Cupid and Psyche Is a marble sculpture by Canova Antonio, made in 1800-1803.

The sculpture was entered in Hermitage back in 1815 and it was previously part of the collection of Josephine de Beauharnais in the castle of Malmaison near Paris.

It is now part of the collection of European Fine Art, in Hermitage Museum.

P/S The photo was captured in a temporary exhibition at the Byzantine and Christian museum, Athens Greece.

Name of the exhibition: The State Hermitage Museum Gateway to History.

 

About The Sculpture

 

Italy, 1800-1803

 

By the end of the 18th century, Canova was a leading figure in the Neoclassical movement, the theories of which were first formulated in the works of the German scholar Johann Joachim Winckelmann. Antique art, according to Winckelmann, achieved the very heights of ideal beauty and should be imitated in modern works. Seeking to embody his concept of ideal beauty, Canova repeatedly depicted Cupid and his beloved, Psyche. This standing group was seen as the embodiment of innocence, forming a pair with a group of Cupid with the Reclining Psyche, symbolizing voluptuousness. The young Psyche, whose name in Greek means "soul", holds Cupid's hand as he leans his head on her shoulder. She gently passes him a butterfly - symbol of the soul to the Ancient Greeks and thus suggesting that she is giving her whole soul to her beloved. Canova magnificently captured the young lovers' contemplative calm, their graceful movements, the soft folds of drapery and the smooth silhouette of the whole group. Canova was described as "the sculptor of grace and youth" by contemporaries, who saw in his work the embodiment of their perceptions of beauty.

 

Cupid and Psyche -Myth

 

A certain king and queen had three daughters. The charms of the two elder were more than common, but the beauty of the youngest was so wonderful that the poverty of language is unable to express its due praise. The fame of her beauty was so great that strangers from neighboring countries came in crowds to enjoy the sight, and looked on her with amazement, paying her that homage which is due only to Venus herself. In fact Venus found her altars deserted, while men turned their devotion to this young virgin. As she passed along, the people sang her praises, and strewed her way with chaplets and flowers.

This homage to the exaltation of a mortal gave great offense to the real Venus. Shaking her ambrosial locks with indignation, she exclaimed, "Am I then to be eclipsed in my honors by a mortal girl? In vain then did that royal shepherd, whose judgment was approved by Jove himself, give me the palm of beauty over my illustrious rivals, Pallas and Juno. But she shall not so quietly usurp my honors. I will give her cause to repent of so unlawful a beauty."

Thereupon she calls her winged son Cupid, mischievous enough in his own nature, and rouses and provokes him yet more by her complaints. She points out Psyche to him and says, "My dear son, punish that contumacious beauty; give your mother a revenge as sweet as her injuries are great; infuse into the bosom of that haughty girl a passion for some low, mean, unworthy being, so that she may reap a mortification as great as her present exultation and triumph."

Cupid prepared to obey the commands of his mother. There are two fountains in Venus's garden, one of sweet waters, the other of bitter. Cupid filled two amber vases, one from each fountain, and suspending them from the top of his quiver, hastened to the chamber of Psyche, whom he found asleep. He shed a few drops from the bitter fountain over her lips, though the sight of her almost moved him to pity; then touched her side with the point of his arrow. At the touch she awoke, and opened eyes upon Cupid (himself invisible), which so startled him that in his confusion he wounded himself with his own arrow. Heedless of his wound, his whole thought now was to repair the mischief he had done, and he poured the balmy drops of joy over all her silken ringlets.

Psyche, henceforth frowned upon by Venus, derived no benefit from all her charms. True, all eyes were cast eagerly upon her, and every mouth spoke her praises; but neither king, royal youth, nor plebeian presented himself to demand her in marriage. Her two elder sisters of moderate charms had now long been married to two royal princes; but Psyche, in her lonely apartment, deplored her solitude, sick of that beauty which, while it procured abundance of flattery, had failed to awaken love.

Her parents, afraid that they had unwittingly incurred the anger of the gods, consulted the oracle of Apollo, and received this answer, "The virgin is destined for the bride of no mortal lover. Her future husband awaits her on the top of the mountain. He is a monster whom neither gods nor men can resist."

This dreadful decree of the oracle filled all the people with dismay, and her parents abandoned themselves to grief. But Psyche said, "Why, my dear parents, do you now lament me? You should rather have grieved when the people showered upon me undeserved honors, and with one voice called me a Venus. I now perceive that I am a victim to that name. I submit. Lead me to that rock to which my unhappy fate has destined me."

Accordingly, all things being prepared, the royal maid took her place in the procession, which more resembled a funeral than a nuptial pomp, and with her parents, amid the lamentations of the people, ascended the mountain, on the summit of which they left her alone, and with sorrowful hearts returned home.

While Psyche stood on the ridge of the mountain, panting with fear and with eyes full of tears, the gentle Zephyr raised her from the earth and bore her with an easy motion into a flowery dale. By degrees her mind became composed, and she laid herself down on the grassy bank to sleep.

When she awoke refreshed with sleep, she looked round and beheld near a pleasant grove of tall and stately trees. She entered it, and in the midst discovered a fountain, sending forth clear and crystal waters, and fast by, a magnificent palace whose august front impressed the spectator that it was not the work of mortal hands, but the happy retreat of some god. Drawn by admiration and wonder, she approached the building and ventured to enter.

Every object she met filled her with pleasure and amazement. Golden pillars supported the vaulted roof, and the walls were enriched with carvings and paintings representing beasts of the chase and rural scenes, adapted to delight the eye of the beholder. Proceeding onward, she perceived that besides the apartments of state there were others filled with all manner of treasures, and beautiful and precious productions of nature and art.

While her eyes were thus occupied, a voice addressed her, though she saw no one, uttering these words, "Sovereign lady, all that you see is yours. We whose voices you hear are your servants and shall obey all your commands with our utmost care and diligence. Retire, therefore, to your chamber and repose on your bed of down, and when you see fit, repair to the bath. Supper awaits you in the adjoining alcove when it pleases you to take your seat there."

Psyche gave ear to the admonitions of her vocal attendants, and after repose and the refreshment of the bath, seated herself in the alcove, where a table immediately presented itself, without any visible aid from waiters or servants, and covered with the greatest delicacies of food and the most nectareous wines. Her ears too were feasted with music from invisible performers; of whom one sang, another played on the lute, and all closed in the wonderful harmony of a full chorus.

She had not yet seen her destined husband. He came only in the hours of darkness and fled before the dawn of morning, but his accents were full of love, and inspired a like passion in her. She often begged him to stay and let her behold him, but he would not consent. On the contrary he charged her to make no attempt to see him, for it was his pleasure, for the best of reasons, to keep concealed.

"Why should you wish to behold me?" he said. "Have you any doubt of my love? Have you any wish ungratified? If you saw me, perhaps you would fear me, perhaps adore me, but all I ask of you is to love me. I would rather you would love me as an equal than adore me as a god."

This reasoning somewhat quieted Psyche for a time, and while the novelty lasted she felt quite happy. But at length the thought of her parents, left in ignorance of her fate, and of her sisters, precluded from sharing with her the delights of her situation, preyed on her mind and made her begin to feel her palace as but a splendid prison. When her husband came one night, she told him her distress, and at last drew from him an unwilling consent that her sisters should be brought to see her.

So, calling Zephyr, she acquainted him with her husband's commands, and he, promptly obedient, soon brought them across the mountain down to their sister's valley. They embraced her and she returned their caresses.

"Come," said Psyche, "enter with me my house and refresh yourselves with whatever your sister has to offer."

Then taking their hands she led them into her golden palace, and committed them to the care of her numerous train of attendant voices, to refresh them in her baths and at her table, and to show them all her treasures. The view of these celestial delights caused envy to enter their bosoms, at seeing their young sister possessed of such state and splendor, so much exceeding their own.

They asked her numberless questions, among others what sort of a person her husband was. Psyche replied that he was a beautiful youth, who generally spent the daytime in hunting upon the mountains.

The sisters, not satisfied with this reply, soon made her confess that she had never seen him. Then they proceeded to fill her bosom with dark suspicions. "Call to mind," they said, "the Pythian oracle that declared you destined to marry a direful and tremendous monster. The inhabitants of this valley say that your husband is a terrible and monstrous serpent, who nourishes you for a while with dainties that he may by and by devour you. Take our advice. Provide yourself with a lamp and a sharp knife; put them in concealment that your husband may not discover them, and when he is sound asleep, slip out of bed, bring forth your lamp, and see for yourself whether what they say is true or not. If it is, hesitate not to cut off the monster's head, and thereby recover your liberty."

Psyche resisted these persuasions as well as she could, but they did not fail to have their effect on her mind, and when her sisters were gone, their words and her own curiosity were too strong for her to resist. So she prepared her lamp and a sharp knife, and hid them out of sight of her husband. When he had fallen into his first sleep, she silently rose and uncovering her lamp beheld not a hideous monster, but the most beautiful and charming of the gods, with his golden ringlets wandering over his snowy neck and crimson cheek, with two dewy wings on his shoulders, whiter than snow, and with shining feathers like the tender blossoms of spring.

As she leaned the lamp over to have a better view of his face, a drop of burning oil fell on the shoulder of the god. Startled, he opened his eyes and fixed them upon her. Then, without saying a word, he spread his white wings and flew out of the window. Psyche, in vain endeavoring to follow him, fell from the window to the ground.

Cupid, beholding her as she lay in the dust, stopped his flight for an instant and said, "Oh foolish Psyche, is it thus you repay my love? After I disobeyed my mother's commands and made you my wife, will you think me a monster and cut off my head? But go; return to your sisters, whose advice you seem to think preferable to mine. I inflict no other punishment on you than to leave you for ever. Love cannot dwell with suspicion." So saying, he fled away, leaving poor Psyche prostrate on the ground, filling the place with mournful lamentations.

When she had recovered some degree of composure she looked around her, but the palace and gardens had vanished, and she found herself in the open field not far from the city where her sisters dwelt. She repaired thither and told them the whole story of her misfortunes, at which, pretending to grieve, those spiteful creatures inwardly rejoiced.

"For now," said they, "he will perhaps choose one of us." With this idea, without saying a word of her intentions, each of them rose early the next morning and ascended the mountain, and having reached the top, called upon Zephyr to receive her and bear her to his lord; then leaping up, and not being sustained by Zephyr, fell down the precipice and was dashed to pieces.

Psyche meanwhile wandered day and night, without food or repose, in search of her husband. Casting her eyes on a lofty mountain having on its brow a magnificent temple, she sighed and said to herself, "Perhaps my love, my lord, inhabits there," and directed her steps thither.

She had no sooner entered than she saw heaps of corn, some in loose ears and some in sheaves, with mingled ears of barley. Scattered about, lay sickles and rakes, and all the instruments of harvest, without order, as if thrown carelessly out of the weary reapers' hands in the sultry hours of the day.

This unseemly confusion the pious Psyche put an end to, by separating and sorting everything to its proper place and kind, believing that she ought to neglect none of the gods, but endeavor by her piety to engage them all in her behalf. The holy Ceres, whose temple it was, finding her so religiously employed, thus spoke to her, "Oh Psyche, truly worthy of our pity, though I cannot shield you from the frowns of Venus, yet I can teach you how best to allay her displeasure. Go, then, and voluntarily surrender yourself to your lady and sovereign, and try by modesty and submission to win her forgiveness, and perhaps her favor will restore you the husband you have lost."

Psyche obeyed the commands of Ceres and took her way to the temple of Venus, endeavoring to fortify her mind and ruminating on what she should say and how best propitiate the angry goddess, feeling that the issue was doubtful and perhaps fatal.

Venus received her with angry countenance. "Most undutiful and faithless of servants," said she, "do you at last remember that you really have a mistress? Or have you rather come to see your sick husband, yet laid up of the wound given him by his loving wife? You are so ill favored and disagreeable that the only way you can merit your lover must be by dint of industry and diligence. I will make trial of your housewifery." Then she ordered Psyche to be led to the storehouse of her temple, where was laid up a great quantity of wheat, barley, millet, vetches, beans, and lentils prepared for food for her pigeons, and said, "Take and separate all these grains, putting all of the same kind in a parcel by themselves, and see that you get it done before evening." Then Venus departed and left her to her task.

But Psyche, in a perfect consternation at the enormous work, sat stupid and silent, without moving a finger to the inextricable heap.

While she sat despairing, Cupid stirred up the little ant, a native of the fields, to take compassion on her. The leader of the anthill, followed by whole hosts of his six-legged subjects, approached the heap, and with the utmost diligence taking grain by grain, they separated the pile, sorting each kind to its parcel; and when it was all done, they vanished out of sight in a moment.

Venus at the approach of twilight returned from the banquet of the gods, breathing odors and crowned with roses. Seeing the task done, she exclaimed, "This is no work of yours, wicked one, but his, whom to your own and his misfortune you have enticed." So saying, she threw her a piece of black bread for her supper and went away.

Next morning Venus ordered Psyche to be called and said to her, "Behold yonder grove which stretches along the margin of the water. There you will find sheep feeding without a shepherd, with golden-shining fleeces on their backs. Go, fetch me a sample of that precious wool gathered from every one of their fleeces."

Psyche obediently went to the riverside, prepared to do her best to execute the command. But the river god inspired the reeds with harmonious murmurs, which seemed to say, "Oh maiden, severely tried, tempt not the dangerous flood, nor venture among the formidable rams on the other side, for as long as they are under the influence of the rising sun, they burn with a cruel rage to destroy mortals with their sharp horns or rude teeth. But when the noontide sun has driven the cattle to the shade, and the serene spirit of the flood has lulled them to rest, you may then cross in safety, and you will find the woolly gold sticking to the bushes and the trunks of the trees."

Thus the compassionate river god gave Psyche instructions how to accomplish her task, and by observing his directions she soon returned to Venus with her arms full of the golden fleece; but she received not the approbation of her implacable mistress, who said, "I know very well it is by none of your own doings that you have succeeded in this task, and I am not satisfied yet that you have any capacity to make yourself useful. But I have another task for you. Here, take this box and go your way to the infernal shades, and give this box to Proserpine and say, 'My mistress Venus desires you to send her a little of your beauty, for in tending her sick son she has lost some of her own.' Be not too long on your errand, for I must paint myself with it to appear at the circle of the gods and goddesses this evening."

Psyche was now satisfied that her destruction was at hand, being obliged to go with her own feet directly down to Erebus. Wherefore, to make no delay of what was not to be avoided, she goes to the top of a high tower to precipitate herself headlong, thus to descend the shortest way to the shades below. But a voice from the tower said to her, "Why, poor unlucky girl, do you design to put an end to your days in so dreadful a manner? And what cowardice makes you sink under this last danger who have been so miraculously supported in all your former?" Then the voice told her how by a certain cave she might reach the realms of Pluto, and how to avoid all the dangers of the road, to pass by Cerberus, the three-headed dog, and prevail on Charon, the ferryman, to take her across the black river and bring her back again. But the voice added, "When Proserpine has given you the box filled with her beauty, of all things this is chiefly to be observed by you, that you never once open or look into the box nor allow your curiosity to pry into the treasure of the beauty of the goddesses."

Psyche, encouraged by this advice, obeyed it in all things, and taking heed to her ways traveled safely to the kingdom of Pluto. She was admitted to the palace of Proserpine, and without accepting the delicate seat or delicious banquet that was offered her, but contented with coarse bread for her food, she delivered her message from Venus. Presently the box was returned to her, shut and filled with the precious commodity. Then she returned the way she came, and glad was she to come out once more into the light of day.

But having got so far successfully through her dangerous task a longing desire seized her to examine the contents of the box. "What," said she, "shall I, the carrier of this divine beauty, not take the least bit to put on my cheeks to appear to more advantage in the eyes of my beloved husband!" So she carefully opened the box, but found nothing there of any beauty at all, but an infernal and truly Stygian sleep, which being thus set free from its prison, took possession of her, and she fell down in the midst of the road, a sleepy corpse without sense or motion.

But Cupid, being now recovered from his wound, and not able longer to bear the absence of his beloved Psyche, slipping through the smallest crack of the window of his chamber which happened to be left open, flew to the spot where Psyche lay, and gathering up the sleep from her body closed it again in the box, and waked Psyche with a light touch of one of his arrows. "Again," said he, "have you almost perished by the same curiosity. But now perform exactly the task imposed on you by my mother, and I will take care of the rest."

Then Cupid, as swift as lightning penetrating the heights of heaven, presented himself before Jupiter with his supplication. Jupiter lent a favoring ear, and pleaded the cause of the lovers so earnestly with Venus that he won her consent. On this he sent Mercury to bring Psyche up to the heavenly assembly, and when she arrived, handing her a cup of ambrosia, he said, "Drink this, Psyche, and be immortal; nor shall Cupid ever break away from the knot in which he is tied, but these nuptials shall be perpetual."

Thus Psyche became at last united to Cupid, and in due time they had a daughter born to them whose name was Pleasure.

  

Wooh boy, this has been a crazy building process. What started as a moc for BS01's contest turned into a passion project, that has really challenged what I'm used to building. It likely would have been done sooner, but the legs really stumped me for sometime. I tried so hard to keep it in the style of G1 titans, but I decided to eventually scrap that idea and went with what you see now, likely for the better. Nearly depleted my stock of ball pieces.

 

But regardless this is perhaps the favorite Moc I've built to date, given just how fun/challenging it was to build.

 

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Now I posted multiple preview pictures of this moc, some during the building process, and one of the comments I saw often was folks noticing I was removing lime green from Nocturn's color scheme. And of course I always told them I had a canon/lore reason that I would explain when the moc was completed. So about time I explain that.

 

In the story, we know Nocturn is able to regrow limbs, and that strangely Nocturn's tentacle was silver... Would this not imply that the more organic parts of Nocturn are silver naturally? Perhaps the green was merely armor added to signify his place in Ehlek's army? I don't know for sure, but I decided to take the organic=silver theory and run with it.

 

As such in my headcanon for this version of Nocturn, the blue sections of Nocturn are suppose to be parts of his body that have aged, with the carapace growing over segments of his body, with the silver sections being more fleshy and less armored.

 

This also explains why his upper right arm is all silver, as in canon he lost it in a fight with Pridak, which still works for my version, and given his species is able to regrow limbs it makes sense that it grew back silver, as it's not had the time to regrow the carapace. Hence why it also wields a small dagger, as it's weaker currently in it's current stage of growth.

 

Totally didn't come up with that excuse last minute when I ran out of Takadox armor.

 

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You might ask what the heck is going on with Nocturn's head, and that is a valid question that doesn't have a valid answer. I never liked Nocturn's set head, so instead I sought to give him a better head that still kept the "bestial" appearance. I like to think I succeeded in that goal. Also you might notice a bit of red "inside" the mouth in some pics, and that is there just to give some realism. Maybe it's a tongue, or maybe it's the inside? I don't know.

 

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The theme of BS01's contest originally was to take a character that is normally good or bad and flip it. So that is what I tried to do with Nocturn. While this version of Nocturn was still banished to the pit for destroying his homeland, his imprisonment saw self-reflection, and a desire to change, to do good. To protect.

 

Fast forward to mahri-nui sinking, and after the Barraki started harassing the Matoran, you saw Nocturn become an ally, a protector of Mahri-nui, seeing it as a way to redeem himself.

 

He's still not the brightest of light bulbs, but he's more of a gentle giant at this point. If canonically he's smart enough to realize he isn't wanted in the Matoran Universe, he's smart enough to redeem himself.

 

Also you might ask why dual axes? Well personally I find an axe to be a noble weapon, a weapon meant to protect versus attack. What I mean by this, is let's take knights for example. Those knights wielding swords and spears would go off to fight the evil, thus seeking it down, whereas the Knights wielding the axes would remain home, ready to defend against the evil when it comes to them.

 

It's weird mental imaging of such, but eh I like my reasoning. Plus axes are typically slower weapons than say swords, making them better for reactionary fighting, aka protecting.

 

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Also credit to Logan for the lower arm design, which is based off the design he used on his Hydraxon moc.

Uma idéia é uma forma (como um pensamento) formado pela consciência (incluindo mente), através do processo de ideação. Capacidade humana para contemplar idéias está associado com a capacidade de raciocínio, a auto-reflexão, e da capacidade de adquirir e aplicar intelecto, intuição, inspiração, etc.

 

An idea is a form (such as a thought) formed by consciousness (including mind) through the process of ideation. Human capability to contemplate ideas is associated with the ability of reasoning, self-reflection, and of the ability to acquire and apply intellect, intuition, inspiration, etc.

 

Fonte/Font: Wikipedia

 

Explored February 08, 2009

 

Veja em 3D / See on 3D

 

Sunday was yet another prosperous day of flea market shopping! I think our luck might finally be turning around. Until last weekend, we were coming home entirely empty handed almost all the time (and with gas prices that really sucked). Anyways, there were THREE American Girl sellers this week. The same girl we bought things from last Sunday returned. I smartly decided we should walk around the entire flea market before double checking her wares. My reasoning was that I only carry a small amount of cash with me, and I didn't want to blow it all right away on scrappy clothes we picked through last week. I first found this amazing Asha doll boxed, for just $5! Oddly, the same seller wanted $5 for some of his loose, raggedy dolls (that's why I didn't buy any of those). I have the first edition doll from this same collection, who I found a few years ago (also boxed!). Asha's hair was a beast, but luckily it was easy to sort out.

 

The second booth we came across that was of interest had Molly's Velvet Theater Seats. Colleen and I have looked into buying these online in the past. They actually can be quite affordable to get on eBay/Mercari, but we hoped to get them for super cheap. The seller was eager to unload these seats, so she discounted them to $10 right away (I guess originally she wanted $20). I'm so happy for Colleen...it's not all that often that she finds something for Molly she doesn't already have! This seller had other American Girl goodies too, but her prices were a bit higher (not unreasonable, but like I said, I had limited funds to spend). On the last leg of the flea market, there was yet ANOTHER seller with AG items. She actually had been given the doll stuff by a friend, and didn't even want to be selling it. Her items were fairly cheap. I got all the outfit pieces you see here for $10. I was excited by the Girl of the Year garments...there were others too (like Lanie and Jess clothes I already owned). She is supposed to return in two weeks, so I'm hoping to pick through her booth again. I made the mistake of grabbing the wrong bottoms to Kanani's Beach Outfit...I'd like to see if the seller has the right ones. This stuff was in impeccable condition too...it looked like it was barely played with! This little girl had quite the cool collection (there were larger things at the booth too, like Kanani's Shave Ice Stand).

 

Dolls & outfits in photo from left to right:

-1994 African American Collection Second Edition Asha

-Molly's Velvet Theater Seats

-Girl of the Year 2011 "Meet" Kanani

-Girl of the Year 2009 "Meet" Chrissa

-Kanani's Beach Outfit

-American Girl Place Exclusive Doll Swimsuit

An eastbound CO/CP stock train for Upminster arrives. I'm reasoning it's Becontree because there's a train indicator (which rules out Hornchurch) and there's no bay platform (which rules out Dagenham East. A class 302 LT&S line train is passing on the left.

 

I think it was late in the afternoon, and thus pretty gloomy under the canopies - note the lights are on. Arguably not worth taking the photograph, but I think I've just about made the best of it lol.

This is not a new MOC. I mean, just take a look at the dust on it.

 

This ship started out as one of two identical ships. I forget the exact reasoning now, but at some point I decided to make this one all rusty and decrepit. I had planned on using it for my FEZ webcomic, but that has kinda stalled.....

So, this only explains seven years of my mistortune. What's the reasoning for the rest of it?

 

Okay, so here's my defense for this shot. I was in a hurry when I looked up the theme to this week's MacroMonday shot, and incorrectly read "Superstition" instead of "Supernatural." But, it's like I said, I haven't been feeling my self lately. Besides, I've already shot so many supernatural shots in the past.

 

Group: Macro Mondays Theme: Supernatural

One cannot just play the guitar. One must feel the guitar and feel the music that it makes.

 

A friend of mine pointed out that he felt that I should have been playing the guitar. But my reasoning behind not doing so is that today was the first time in ages that I played it. So, in a way, it was like I needed to get familiar with the guitar again. Which is what I attempted to do here.

 

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Not an original idea by any means...I kind of stole...err...umm, i mean borrowed this idea from she.plays.guitar. She defiantly did a better job than I did so I don't feel so bad about stealing (borrowing) it.

 

Texture from Irma Weber.

 

The one thing I may consider changing is making the texture a tad more transparent. We'll see. It is the slightest bit over exposed on my left arm and part of my face. I intended to do this to try to bring a little more feeling to the photo.

 

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Actually played my guitar for the first time in months today :) Twas great fun and I will have to keep it up so my fingers don't hurt when I play :P

8.5x11" handmade collage. (23/30 works created for the 'GIFC' traveling exhibitions in British Columbia, Denmark, and Norway this Summer and Fall.)

Where Do Mermaids Come From?

Where do mermaids come from? Mermaid legends are told all over the world. We hear of mermaids in Ireland, Scotland, England, Israel, India, Greece, Syria, China, and in Africa. How is it that so many different cultures across the world have their own mermaid legends? How is it that cultures far away from one another have similar tales of mermaids? Most people believe mermaids are mythical creatures fit for a kid’s imagination and nothing more. But legends come from somewhere. Truth lies behind every legend, including the legends of mermaids and where they come from. A new age concept tells us mermaid origins come from lost civilizations like Lemuria and Atlantis. Learn more below.

 

Edgar Cayce on Atlantis I

364-1

2. Atlantis as a continent is a legendary tale. Whether or not that which has been received through psychic sources has for its basis those few lines given by Plato, or the references made in Holy writ that the earth was divided, depends upon the trend of individual minds. Recently, however, the subject has taken on greater import, since some scientists have declared that such a continent was not only a reasonable and plausible matter, but from evidences being gradually gathered was a very probable condition.

3. As we recognize, there has been considerable given respecting such a lost continent by those channels such as the writer of Two Planets, or Atlantis - or Poseida and Lemuria - that has been published through some of the Theosophical literature. As to whether this information is true or not, depends upon the credence individuals give to this class of information.

4. Then, it has seemed well to many of this group, that those channels through which information may be obtained interest themselves in such an undertaking, as to gain through those channels such information that might be applicable in the lives or experiences of individuals interested in such.

5. From time to time, in and through the information obtained for some individuals in their life readings, has come that they, as an entity or individual, occupied some particular place, or performed some activity in some portion of that continent; or emigrated from the continent to some other portion of the earth's surface at the time, and began some particular development. These must have been a busy folk, for with their advent into other climes (as the information runs) they began to make many changes from the activities in that particular sphere in which they entered.

6. Then, if we are to accept such as being a fact or fiction, may truly depend upon what value to the human family knowledge concerning such a peoples would be in the affairs of individuals today. What contribution would information be to the minds of individuals, as to knowing or understanding the better or closer relations to the Creative Forces? Or, to put it another manner, what would information of that nature mean to my SOUL today?

7. Be it true that there IS the fact of reincarnation, and that souls that once occupied such an environ are entering the earth's sphere and inhabiting individuals in the present, is it any wonder that - if they made such alterations in the affairs of the earth in their day, as to bring destruction upon themselves - if they are entering now, they might make many changes in the affairs of peoples and individuals in the present? Are they, then, BEING born into the world? If so, what WERE their environs - and will those environs mean in a material world today?

 

364-3

1. EC: Yes, we have the subject and those conditions. As has been said, much data has been received from time to time through psychic forces as respecting conditions in or through the period, or ages, of this continent's existence. That the continent existed is being proven as a fact.

2. Then, what took place during the period, or periods, when it was being broken up? What became of the inhabitants? What was the character of their civilization? Are there any evidences of those, or any portion of, the inhabitants' escape? The POSITION of the continent, and the like, MUST be of interest to peoples in the present day, if either by inference that individuals are being born into the earth plane to develop in the present, or are people being guided in their spiritual interpretation of individuals' lives or developments BY the spirits of those who inhabited such a continent. In either case, if these be true, they ARE WIELDING - and are to wield - an influence upon the happenings of the present day world.

3. The position as the continent Atlantis occupied, is that as between the Gulf of Mexico on the one hand - and the Mediterranean upon the other. Evidences of this lost civilization are to be found in the Pyrenees and Morocco on the one hand, British Honduras, Yucatan and America upon the other. There are some protruding portions within this that must have at one time or another been a portion of this great continent. The British West Indies or the Bahamas, and a portion of same that may be seen in the present - if the geological survey would be made in some of these - especially, or notably, in Bimini and in the Gulf Stream through this vicinity, these may be even yet determined.

4. What, then, are the character of the peoples? To give any proper conception, may we follow the line of a group, or an individual line, through this continent's existence - and gain from same something of their character, their physiognomy, and their spiritual and physical development.

5. In the period, then - some hundred, some ninety-eight thousand years before the entry of Ram into India [See 364-3, Par. R2] - there lived in this land of Atlantis one Amilius [?], who had first NOTED that of the separations of the beings as inhabited that portion of the earth's sphere or plane of those peoples into male and female as separate entities, or individuals. As to their forms in the physical sense, these were much RATHER of the nature of THOUGHT FORMS, or able to push out OF THEMSELVES in that direction in which its development took shape in thought - much in the way and manner as the amoeba would in the waters of a stagnant bay, or lake, in the present. As these took form, by the gratifying of their own desire for that as builded or added to the material conditions, they became hardened or set - much in the form of the existent human body of the day, with that of color as partook of its surroundings much in the manner as the chameleon in the present. Hence coming into that form as the red, or the mixture peoples - or colors; known then later by the associations as the RED race. These, then, able to use IN their gradual development all the forces as were manifest in their individual surroundings, passing through those periods of developments as has been followed more closely in that of the yellow, the black, or the white races, in other portions of the world; yet with their immediate surroundings, with the facilities for the developments, these became much speedier in this particular portion of the globe than in others - and while the destruction of this continent and the peoples are far beyond any of that as has been kept as an absolute record, that record in the rocks still remains - as has that influence OF those peoples in that life of those peoples to whom those that did escape during the periods of destruction make or influence the lives of those peoples TO whom they came. As they MAY in the present, either through the direct influence of being regenerated, or re-incarnated into the earth, or through that of the MENTAL application on through the influences as may be had upon thought OF individuals or groups by speaking from that environ.

6. In the MANNER of living, in the manner of the moral, of the social, of the religious life of these peoples: There, classes existed much in the same order as existed among others; yet the like of the warlike INFLUENCE did NOT exist in the peoples - AS a people - as it did in the OTHER portions of the universe.

 

364-4

2. EC: Yes, we have the subject here, The Lost Continent of Atlantis.

3. As the peoples were a peaceful peoples, their developments took on rather that form - with the developing into the physical material bodies - of the fast development, or to the using of the elements about them to their own use; recognizing themselves to be a part OF that about them. Hence, as to the supplying of that as necessary to sustain physical life as known today, in apparel, or supplying of the bodily needs, these were supplied through the natural elements; and the DEVELOPMENTS came rather in the forms - as would be termed in the PRESENT day - of preparing for those things that would pertain to what would be termed the aerial age, or the electrical age, and supplying then the modes and manners of transposition of those materials about same that did not pertain to themselves bodily; for of themselves was transposed, rather by that ability lying within each to be transposed in thought as in body.

4. In these things, then, did Amilius [?] see the beginning of, and the abilities of, those of his own age, era, or period, not only able to build that as able to transpose or build up the elements about them but to transpose them bodily from one portion of the universe to the other, THROUGH the uses of not only those RECENTLY re-discovered gases, and those of the electrical and aeriatic formations - in the breaking up of the atomic forces to produce impelling force to those means and modes of transposition, or of travel, or of lifting large weights, or of changing the faces or forces of nature itself, but with these transpositions, with these changes that came in as personalities, we find these as the Sons of the Creative Force as manifest in their experience looking upon those changed forms, or the daughters of men, and there crept in those pollutions, of polluting themselves with those mixtures that brought contempt, hatred, bloodshed, and those that build for desires of self WITHOUT respects of OTHERS' freedom, others' wishes - and there began, then, in the latter portion of this period of development, that that brought about those of dissenting and divisions among the peoples in the lands. With the attempts of those still in power, through those lineages of the pure, that had kept themselves intact as of the abilities of forces as were manifest IN their activities, these BUILDED rather those things that ATTEMPTED to draw BACK those peoples; through first the various changes or seasons that came about, and in the latter portion of the experience of Amilius [?] was the first establishing of the altars upon which the sacrifices of the field and the forest, and those that were of that that SATISFIED the desires of the physical body, were builded.

5. Then, with the coming in or the raising up of Esai [?], with the change that had come about, began in that period when there were the invasions of this continent by those of the animal kingdoms, that brought about that meeting of the nations of the globe to PREPARE a way and manner of disposing of, else they be disposed of themselves by these forces. With this coming in, there came then the first of the destructive forces as could be set and then be meted out in its force or power. Hence that as is termed, or its first beginning of, EXPLOSIVES that might be carried about, came with this reign, or this period, when MAN - or MEN, then - began to cope with those of the beast form that OVERRAN the earth in many places. Then, with these destructive forces, we find the first turning of the altar fires into that of sacrifice of those that were taken in the various ways, and human sacrifice began. With this also came the first egress of peoples to that of the Pyrenees first, OF which later we find that peoples who enter into the black or the mixed peoples, in what later became the Egyptian dynasty. We also find that entering into Og, or those peoples that later became the beginning of the Inca, or Ohum [Aymara'?], that builded the walls across the mountains in this period, through those same usages of that as had been taken on by those peoples; and with the same, those that made for that in the other land, became first those of the mound dwellers, or peoples in that land. With the continued disregard of those that were keeping the pure race and the pure peoples, of those that were to bring all these laws as applicable to the Sons of God, man brought in the destructive forces as used for the peoples that were to be the rule, that combined with those natural resources of the gases, of the electrical forces, made in nature and natural form the first of the eruptions that awoke from the depth of the slow cooling earth, and that portion now near what would be termed the Sargasso Sea first went into the depths. With this there again came that egress of peoples that aided, or attempted to assume control, yet carrying with them ALL those forms of Amilius [?] that he gained through that as for signs, for seasons, for days, for years. Hence we find in those various portions of the world even in the present day, some form of that as WAS presented by those peoples in THAT great DEVELOPMENT in this, the Eden of the world.

6. In the latter portion of same we find as CITIES were builded more and more rare became those abilities to call upon rather the forces in nature to supply the needs for those of bodily adornment, or those of the needs to supply the replenishing of the wasting away of the physical being; or hunger arose, and with the determinations to set again in motion, we find there - then Ani [?] [See the name ANI mentioned on pp. 6, 57, 187 and 324 of the book, MYTHS & LEGENDS OF ANCIENT EGYPT, by Lewis Spence.] [GD's note: I put a question mark because I didn't know whether this was the correct spelling or not.], in those latter periods, ten thousand seven hundred (10,700) years before the Prince of Peace came - again was the bringing into forces that to TEMPT, as it were, nature - in its storehouse - of replenishing the things - that of the WASTING away in the mountains, then into the valleys, then into the sea itself, and the fast disintegration of the lands, as well as of the peoples - save those that had escaped into those distant lands.

7. How, then, may this be applicable to our present day understanding? As we see the effects as builded in that about the sacred fires, as through those of Hermes, those of Arart, those of the Aztec, those of Ohum [Aymara'?], each in their respective sphere CARRYING some portion of these blessings - when they are kept in accord and PURE with those through which the channels of the blessings, of the Creative Forces, may manifest. So, we find, when we apply the lessons in the day - would ye be true, keep that EVERY WHIT thou KNOWEST to do within thine own heart! Knowing, as ye USE that as is KNOWN, there is given the more and more light to know from whence ye came and whither ye go!

8. Ready for questions.

9. (Q) Please give a description of the earth's surface as it existed at the time of Atlantis' highest civilization, using the names of continents, oceans and sections of same as we know them today?

(A) As to the highest point of civilization, this would first have to be determined according to the standard as to which it would be judged - as to whether the highest point was when Amilius [?] ruled with those understandings, as the one that understood the variations, or whether they became man made, would depend upon whether we are viewing from a spiritual standpoint or upon that as a purely material or commercial standpoint; for the variations, as we find, extend over a period of some two hundred thousand years (200,000) - that is, as light years - as known in the present - and that there were MANY changes in the surface of what is now called the earth. In the first, or greater portion, we find that NOW known as the southern portions of South America and the Arctic or North Arctic regions, while those in what is NOW as Siberia - or that as of Hudson Bay - was rather in that region of the tropics, or that position now occupied by near what would be as the same LINE would run, of the southern Pacific, or central Pacific regions - and about the same way. Then we find, with this change that came first in that portion, when the first of those peoples used that as prepared FOR the changes in the earth, we stood near the same position as the earth occupies in the present - as to Capricorn, or the equator, or the poles. Then, with that portion, THEN the South Pacific, or Lemuria [?], began its disappearance - even before Atlantis, for the changes were brought about in the latter portion of that period, or what would be termed ten thousand seven hundred (10,700) light years, or earth years, or present setting of those, as set by Amilius [?] - or Adam.

 

364-5

2. EC: Yes, we have the information as given respecting the continent Atlantis. In the considerations that may be had concerning such information, many are the questions that must naturally arise in the minds of individuals who would consider same in any way or manner. However, will a very close check be kept upon those who evince an interest, these will be found to be those who occupy in the present some influence innate or manifested from their experience or sojourn under or in that environ. As has been given, this would be well to do; for to the analytical or to the research character of mind, there will be little that may escape the attention of such a mind - when spiritual or psychic, or occult, or those kindred subjects are approached - as to how quick there is the desire, that expression of "I know it, but don't know how to tell it, will be in that individual's or entity's feeling, and expression - when one may be obtained at all. They will immediately become the dreamer! Try this!

3. Ready for questions.

4. (Q) Explain the information given regarding Amilius [?], who first noted the separation of the peoples into male and female, as it relates to the story in the Bible of Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden giving the name of the symbols Adam, Eve, the apple, and the serpent.

(A) This would require a whole period of a lecture period for this alone; for, as is seen, that as is given is the presentation of a teacher of a peoples that separated for that definite purpose of keeping alive in the minds, the hearts, the SOUL minds of entities, that there may be seen their closer relationship to the divine influences of Creative Forces, that brought into being all that appertains to man's indwelling as man in the form of flesh in this material world. These are presented in symbols of that thought as held by those peoples from whom the physical recorder took those records as compiled, with that gained by himself in and through the entering into that state where the entity's soul mind drew upon the records that are made by the passing of time itself in a material world. As given, these are records not only of the nature as has been termed or called akashic records (that is, of a mental or soul record), but that in a more material nature as set down in stone, that was attempted to be done - HAS been attempted to be done throughout ALL time! WHY does man NOW set in stone those that are representatives of that desired to be kept in mind by those making records for future generations? There are many more materials more lasting, as is known to many.

In the records, then, as this: There are, as seen, the records made by the man in the mount, that this Amilius [?] - Adam, as given - first discerned that from himself, not of the beasts about him, could be drawn - WAS drawn - that which made for the propagation OF beings IN the flesh, that made for that companionship as seen by creation in the material worlds about same. The story, the tale (if chosen to be called such), is one and the same. The apple, as 'the apple of the eye', the desire of that companionship innate in that created, as innate in the Creator, that brought companionship into the creation itself. Get that one!

In this there comes, then, that which is set before that created - or having TAKEN ON that form, able of projecting itself in WHATEVER direction it chose to take, as given; able to make itself OF that environ, in color, in harmony, in WHATEVER source that makes for the spirit of that man would attempt to project in music, in art, in ANY form that may even be conceivable to the mind itself in what may be termed its most lucid moments, in its most esoteric moments, in its highest animation moments; for were He not the SON of the living God made manifest, that He might be the companion in a made world, in material manifested things, with the injunction to subdue all, BRING all in the material things under subjection - all UNDER subjection - by that ability to project itself IN its way? KNOWING itself, as given, to be a portion OF the whole, in, through, of, by the whole? In this desire, then, keep - as the injunction was - thine self separate: OF that seen, but NOT that seen. The apple, then, that desire for that which made for the associations that bring carnal-minded influences of that brought as sex influence, known in a material world, and the partaking of same is that which brought the influence in the lives of that in the symbol of the serpent, that made for that which creates the desire that may be only satisfied in gratification of carnal forces, as partake of the world and its influences about same - rather than of the spiritual emanations from which it has its source. Will control - inability of will control, if we may put it in common parlance.

 

364-6

1. GC: You will have before you the material and information given through this channel on the lost continent of Atlantis, a copy of which I hold in my hand. You will answer the questions which I will ask regarding this:

2. EC: Yes, we have the information as written here, as given. In following out that as just given, with these changes coming in the experience of Amilius [?] and I [Ai? Ay?], Adam and Eve, the knowledge of their position, or that as is known in the material world today as desires and physical bodily charms, the understanding of sex, sex relationships, came into the experience. With these came the natural fear of that as had been forbidden, that they know themselves to be a part of but not OF that as partook of EARTHLY, or the desires in the manner as were ABOUT them, in that as had been their heritage.

3. Were this turned to that period when this desire, then, becomes consecrated in that accomplished again in the virgin body of the mother of the SON of man, we see this is then crystallized into that, that even that of the flesh may be - with the proper concept, proper desire in all its purity - consecrated to the LIVING forces as manifest by the ability in that body so brought into being, as to make a way of escape for the ERRING man. Hence we have found throughout the ages, so oft the times when conception of truth became rampant with free-love, with the desecration of those things that brought to these in the beginning that of the KNOWLEDGE of their existence, as to that that may be termed - and betimes became - the MORAL, or morality OF a people. Yet this same feeling, this same exaltation that comes from association of kindred bodies - that have their lives consecrated in a purposefulness, that makes for the ability of retaining those of the essence of creation in every virile body - can be made to become the fires that light truth, love, hope, patience, peace, harmony; for they are EVER the key to those influences that fire the imaginations of those that are gifted in ANY form of depicting the high emotions of human experience, whether it be in the one or the other fields, and hence is judged by those that may not be able, or through desire submit themselves - as did Amilius [?] and I [?] to those ELEMENTS, through the forces in the life as about them.

7. (Q) How large was Atlantis during the time of Amilius?

(A) Comparison, that of Europe including Asia in Europe - not Asia, but Asia in Europe - see? This composed, as seen, in or after the first of the destructions, that which would be termed now - with the present position - the southernmost portion of same - islands as created by those of the first (as man would call) volcanic or eruptive forces brought into play in the destruction of same.

8. (Q) Was Atlantis one large continent, or a group of large islands?

(A) Would it not be well to read just that given? Why confuse in the questionings? As has been given, what would be considered one large continent, until the first eruptions brought those changes - from what would now, with the present position of the earth in its rotation, or movements about its sun, through space, about Arcturus, about the Pleiades, that of a whole or one continent. Then with the breaking up, producing more of the nature of large islands, with the intervening canals or ravines, gulfs, bays or streams, as came from the various ELEMENTAL forces that were set in motion by this CHARGING - as it were - OF the forces that were collected as the basis for those elements that would produce destructive forces, as might be placed in various quarters or gathering places of those beasts, or the periods when the larger animals roved the earth - WITH that period of man's indwelling. Let it be remembered, or not confused, that the EARTH was peopled by ANIMALS before peopled by man! First that of a mass, which there arose the mist, and then the rising of same with light breaking OVER that as it SETTLED itself, as a companion of those in the universe, as it began its NATURAL (or now natural) rotations, with the varied effects UPON the various portions of same, as it slowly - and is slowly - receding or gathering closer to the sun, from which it receives its impetus for the awakening of the elements that give life itself, by radiation of like elements from that which it receives from the sun. Hence that of one type, that has been through the ages, of mind - that gives the SUN as the father OF light in the earth. Elements have their attraction and detraction, or those of ANIMOSITY and those of gathering together. This we see throughout all of the kingdoms, as may be termed, whether we speak of the heavenly hosts or of those of the stars, or of the planets, or of the various forces within any or all of same, they have their attraction or detraction. The attraction increases that as gives an impulse, that that becomes the aid, the stimuli, or an impulse to create. Hence, as may be seen - or may be brought to man's own - that of attraction one for another gives that STIMULI, that IMPULSE, to be the criterion of, or the gratification of, those influences in the experience of individuals or entities. To smother same oft becomes deteriorations for each other, as may come about in any form, way or manner. Accidents happen in creation, as well as in individuals' lives! Peculiar statement here, but - true!

9. (Q) What were the principal islands called at the time of the final destruction?

(A) Poseidia and Aryan [?], and Og [?].

10. (Q) Describe one of the ships of the air that was used during the highest period of mechanical development in Atlantis.

(A) Much of the nature, in the EARLIER portion, as would be were the hide of MANY of the pachyderm, or elephants, many into the CONTAINERS for the gases that were used as both lifting and for the impelling of the crafts about the various portions of the continent, and even abroad. These, as may be seen, took on those abilities not only to pass through that called air, or that heavier, but through that of water - when they received the impetus from the NECESSITIES of the peoples in that particular period, for the safety of self. The shape and form, then, in the earlier portion, depended upon which or what skins were used for the containers. The metals that were used as the braces, these were the COMBINATIONS then of what is NOW a lost art - the TEMPERED brass, the temperament of that as becomes between aluminum (as now called) and that of uranium, with those of the fluxes that are from those of the COMBINED elements of the iron, that is carbonized with those of other fluxes - see? These made for lightness of structure, non-conductor OR conductors of the electrical forces - that were used for the IMPELLING of same, rather than the gases - which were used as the lifting. See? For that as in the NATURE'S forces may be turned into even the forces OF that that makes life, as given, from the sun rays to those elements that make for, or find CORRESPONDING reaction in their APPLICATION of same, or reflection of same, TO the rays itself - or a different or changed form of storage of FORCE, as called electrical in the present.

11. We are through for the present.

 

364-7

3. (Q) How is the legend of Lilith connected with the period of Amilius?

(A) In the beginning, as was outlined, there was presented that that became as the Sons of God, in that male and female were as one, with those abilities for those changes as were able or capable of being brought about. In the changes that came from those THINGS, as were of the projections of the abilities of those entities to project, this as a being came as the companion; and when there was that turning to the within, through the sources of creation, as to make for the helpmeet of that as created by the first cause, or of the Creative Forces that brought into being that as was made, THEN - from out of self - was brought that as was to be the helpmeet, NOT just companion of the body. Hence the legend of the associations of the body during that period before there was brought into being the last of the creations, which was not of that that was NOT made, but the first of that that WAS made, and a helpmeet to the body, that there might be no change in the relationship of the SONS of God WITH those relationships of the sons and daughters of men.

In this then, also comes that as is held by many who have reached especially to that understanding of how NECESSARY, then, becomes the PROPER mating of those souls that may be the ANSWERS one to another of that that may bring, through that association, that companionship, into being that that may be the more helpful, more sustaining, more the well- ROUNDED life or experience of those that are a PORTION one of another. Do not misinterpret, but knowing that all are OF one - yet there are those divisions that make for a CLOSER union, when there are the proper relationships brought about. As an illustration, in this:

In the material world we find there is in the mineral kingdom those elements that are of the nature as to form a closer union one with another, and make as for compounds as make for elements that act more in unison with, or against, other forms of activity in the experience in the earth's environ, or the earth's force, as makes for those active forces in the ELEMENTS that are ABOUT the earth. Such as we may find in those that make for the active forces in that of uranium, and that of ultramarine, and these make then for an element that becomes the more active force as with the abilities for the rates of emanation as may be thrown off from same. So, as illustrated in the union, then, of - in the PHYSICAL compounds - that as may vibrate, or make for emanations in the activities of their mental and spiritual, and material, or physical forces, as may make for a GREATER activity in this earth environ. Then, there may be seen that as is in an elemental, or compound, that makes for that as is seen in the material experience as to become an antipathy for other elements that are as equally necessary in the experience of man's environ as in the combination of gases as may produce whenever combined that called water, and its antipathy for the elements in combustion is easily seen or known in man's experience.

So in those unions of that in the elemental forces of creative energies that take on the form of man, either in that of man or woman, with its NATURAL or ELEMENTAL, see? ELEMENTAL forces of its vibration, with the union of two that vibrate or respond to those vibrations in self, create for that ideal that becomes as that, in that created, in the form - as is known as radium, with its fast emittal vibrations, that brings for active forces, principles, that makes for such atomic forces within the active principles of all nature in its active force as to be one of the elemental bases from which life in its essence, as an active principle in a material world, has its sources, give off that which is EVER good - unless abused, see? So in that may there be basis for THOSE forces, as HAS been, as IS sought, thought, or ATTAINED BY those who have, through the abilities of the vibrations, to make for a continued force in self as to meet, know, see, feel, understand, those sources from which such begets that of its kind, or as those that become as an antipathy for another, or as makes for those that makes for the variations in the tempering of the various elements, compounds, or the like; so, as is seen, THESE - then - the BASIS for those things as has been given here, there, in their various ways and manners, as to the companion of, and COMPANIONS of, that that first able - through its projection of itself and its abilities in the creation - to bring about that that was either of its OWN making, or creation, or that given in the beginning to BE the force THROUGH which there might BE that that would bring ever blessings, good, right, and love, in even the physical or material world. See?

4. (Q) How long did it take for the division into male and female?

(A) That depends upon which, or what branch or LINE is considered. When there was brought into being that as of the projection of that created BY that created, this took a period of evolutionary - or, as would be in the present year, fourscore and six year. That as brought into being as was of the creating OF that that became a portion of, OF that that was already created by the CREATOR, THAT brought into being as WERE those of the forces of nature itself. God said, "Let there be light" and there WAS light! God said, "Let there be life" and there WAS life!

5. (Q) Were the thought forms that were able to push themselves out of themselves inhabited by souls, or were they of the animal kingdom?

(A) That as created by that CREATED, of the animal kingdom. That created as by the Creator, with the soul.

6. (Q) What was meant by the Sons of the Highest in Atlantis and the second coming of souls to the earth, as mentioned in a life reading given thru this channel? [See 2802-1 on 5/18/25.]

(A) In this period or age, as was seen - There is fault of words here to PROJECT that as actually OCCURS in the FORMATIONS of that as comes about! There was, with the WILL of that as came into being through the correct channels, of that as created by the Creator, that of the CONTINUING of the souls in its projection and projection - see? while in that as was OF the offspring, of that as pushed itself INTO form to SATISFY, GRATIFY, that of the desire of that known as carnal forces of the SENSES, of those created, there continued to be the war one with another, and there were then - FROM the other SOURCES (worlds) the continuing entering of those that WOULD make for the keeping of the balance, as of the first purpose of the Creative Forces, as it magnifies itself in that given sphere of activity, of that that had been GIVEN the ABILITY to CREATE with its OWN activity - see? and hence the second, or the CONTINUED entering of souls into that known as the earth's plane during this period, for that activity as was brought about. Let's REMEMBER that as was given, in the second, third from Adam, or fourth, or from Amilius, there was "In that day did they CALL UPON the NAME of the Lord" - is right! and ever, when the elements that make for littleness, uncleanness, are crucified in the body, the SPIRIT of the Lord, of God, is present! When these are overbalanced, so that the body (physical), the mental man, the imagination of its heart, is evil, or his purpose is evil, then is that war continuing - as from the beginning. Just the continued warring of those things within self as from the beginning; for with these changes as brought SIN into the world, with same came the FRUITS of same, or the seed as of sin, which we see in the material world as those things that corrupt good ground, those that corrupt the elements that are of the compounds of those of the first causes, or elementals, and pests are seen - and the like, see? So does it follow throughout all creative forces, that the fruits of that as is active brings that seed that makes for the corrupting of, or the clearing of, in the activative forces of, that BEING acted upon.

7. (Q) What was meant by "As in the first Adam sin entered, so in the last Adam all shall be made alive?"

(A) Adam's entry into the world in the beginning, then, must become the savior OF the world, as it was committed to his care, "Be thou fruitful, multiply, and SUBDUE the earth!" Hence Amilius, Adam, the first Adam, the last Adam, becomes - then - that that is GIVEN the POWER OVER the earth, and - as in each soul the first to be conquered is self - then ALL THINGS, conditions and elements, are subject unto that self!

That a universal law, as may be seen in that as may be demonstrated either in gases that destroy one another by becoming elements of the same, or that in the mineral or the animal kingdom as may be found that destroy, or BECOME one WITH the other. Hence, as Adam given - the SON of God - so he MUST become that that would be able to take the world, the earth, back to that source from which it came, and ALL POWER is given in his keeping in the earth, that he has overcome; self, death, hell and the grave even, become subservient unto Him THROUGH the conquering of self in that made flesh; for, as in the beginning was the word, the Word WAS with God, the Word WAS God, the same was IN the beginning. The Word came and dwelt among men, the offspring of self in a material world, and the Word OVERCAME the world - and hence the world BECOMES, then, as the servant of that that overcame the world!

8. (Q) Please give the important re-incarnations of Adam in the world's history.

(A) In the beginning as Amilius, as Adam, as Melchizedek, as Zend [?], as Ur [?] [Enoch? GD's note: Perhaps Ur was prehistory person [364-9, Par. 3-A] who established Ur of the Chaldees? I don't think he was mentioned anywhere else in the readings as an incarnation of Jesus.], as Asaph [?] [Songs of Asaph? See Ps. 81:5 indicating that Joseph and Asaph were one and the same?], as Jesus [Jeshua] - Joseph - Jesus. [See 364-9, Par. 3-A.]

Then, as that coming into the world in the second coming - for He will come again and receive His own, who have prepared themselves through that belief in Him and acting in that manner; for the SPIRIT is abroad, and the time draws near, and there will be the reckoning of those even as in the first so in the last, and the last shall be first; for there is that Spirit abroad - He standeth near. He that hath eyes to see, let him see. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear that music of the coming of the Lord of this vineyard, and art THOU ready to give account of that THOU hast done with thine opportunity in the earth as the Sons of God, as the heirs and joint heirs of glory WITH the Son? Then make thine paths straight, for there must come an answering for that THOU hast done with thine Lord! He will not tarry, for having overcome He shall appear even AS the Lord AND Master. Not as one born, but as one that returneth to His own, for He will walk and talk with men of every clime, and those that are faithful and just in their reckoning shall be caught up with Him to rule and to do JUDGEMENT for a thousand years!

9. (Q) Describe some of the mental abilities that were developed by the Atlanteans at the time of their greatest spiritual development.

(A) Impossible to describe achievements physical in their spiritual development. The use of MATERIAL conditions and spiritual attributes in a material world would, and do, become that as are the miracles of the Son in the material world; for even as with Him in - and as He walked, whether in Galilee, in Egypt, in India, in France, in England, or America - there WERE those periods when the activities of the physical were as was what would be termed the everyday life of the SONS of God in the Atlantean or Eden experience; for as those brought the various changes from the highest of the SPIRITUAL development to the highest of the mental, then of the MATERIAL or physical developments, then the fall - see?

 

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Edgar Cayce on Atlantis II

364-10

1. GC: You will have before you the information given through this channel on the lost continent of Atlantis. You will please continue with this information, and answer the questions which I will ask regarding same.

2. EC: Yes. In understanding, then, in the present terminology, occult science, or psychic science - as seen, this was the natural or nature's activity in that experience, and not termed a science - any more than would be the desire for food by a new born babe. Rather the natural consequence. This explanation may of necessity take on some forms that may possibly be confusing at times, but illustrations may be made through the various types of occult science, or psychic manifestations, that may clarify for the student something of the various types of psychic manifestations in the present, as well as that that was natural in this period.

3. There is, as has been oft given, quite a difference - and much differentiation should be made - in mysticism and psychic, or occult science as termed today.

4. From that which has been given, it is seen that individuals in the beginning were more of thought forms than individual entities with personalities as seen in the present, and their projections into the realms of fields of thought that pertain to a developing or evolving world of matter, with the varied presentations about same, of the expressions or attributes in the various things about the entity or individual, or body, through which such science - as termed now, or such phenomena as would be termed - became manifest. Hence we find occult or psychic science, as would be called at the present, was rather the natural state of man in the beginning. Very much as (in illustration) when a baby, or babe, is born into the world and its appetite is first satisfied, and it lies sleeping. Of what is its dreams? That it expects to be, or that it has been? Of what are thoughts? That which is to be, or that which has been, or that which is? Now remember we are speaking - these were thought forms, and we are finding again the illustrations of same!

5. When the mental body (Now revert back to what you are calling science) - when the mental body, or mind, has had training, or has gone through a course of operations in certain directions, such individuals are called so-and-so minded; as one of an inventive turn, and trained; one of a statistician turn, and trained; one of a theologian turn, and trained; one of philosophical turn, and trained. Of what does the mind build? We have turned, then, to that that has become very material, for the mind constantly trained makes for itself MENTAL pictures, or makes for that as is reasoned with from its own present dimensional viewpoints - but the babe, from whence its reasoning? from whence its dream? From that that has been taken in, or that that has been its experience from whence it came? Oft has it been said, and rightly, with a babe's smile 'Dreaming of angels', and close in touch with them - but what has PRODUCED that dream? The contact with that upon which IT has fed! Don't forget our premise now from which we are reasoning! and we will find that we will have the premise from which those individuals, or the entities, reasoned within the beginning in this land. (We are speaking of Atlanteans, when they became as thought forces.) From whence did THEY reason? From the Creative Forces from which they had received their impetus, but acted upon by the thought FORMS as were in MATERIAL forms about them, and given that power (will) to be one WITH that from what it sprang or was given its impetus, or force, yet with the ability to USE that in the way that seemed, or seemeth, good or well, or pleasing, unto itself. Hence we find in this particular moulding or mouldive stage, that in which there was the greater development of, and use of, that as is termed or called psychic and occult forces, or science - in the present terminology, or age.

6. Illustrating, then, that as to how this was used by those entities, those beings, in the formative stage of their experience or sojourn among that as had been created in all of its splendor to supply every want or desire that might be called forth by that being, with all of its attributes physical, mental AND SPIRITUAL at hand; for, as has been given, even unto the four hundred thousandth generation from the first creation was it prepared for man's indwelling. As we today (turn to today), we find there the developments of those resources. How long have they remained? Since the beginning! How long has man been able to use them for his undoing, or his pleasure, or for his regeneration? Since the knowledge of some source has awakened within its psychic force, or source, of the apparatus, or the form that it takes, either in a physical or mental (for remember, Mind is the Builder - and it moves along those channels through which, and by which, it may bring into existence in whatever dimension or sphere from which it is reasoning, or reasoning toward - see) - and as these may be illustrated in the present:

7. When there is a manifestation of a psychic force, or an occult action, or phenomena, or activity in, upon, of or for, an individual, there is then the rolling back, as it were, or a portion of the physical consciousness - or that mental trained individual consciousness - has been rolled aside, or rolled back, and there is then a visioning - To what? That as from the beginning, a projection OF that form that assumed its position or condition in the earth as from the beginning, and with those so endowed with that as may be called an insight into psychic sources there may be visioned about a body its astral (if chosen to be termed), rather its THOUGHT body, as is projected FROM same in such a state; especially so when there is the induction, or the inducing of, an unconsciousness of the normal brain, or normal mental body. Submerged - into what? Into the unconscious, or subconscious. Sub, in THIS instance, meaning BELOW - not above normal; below - SUBJECTED to the higher consciousness, or to the higher thought, that has been builded - just as sure as has a physical body been builded, from what?

That as has been given from its first nucleus as passed through in its experience. Then there may be visioned by such a body, as may be called with the second sight, or with a vision, that accompanying thought body of such an one, manifesting in much the way and manner as individuals in the Atlantean period of psychic and occult development brought about in their experience. Through such projections there came about that first necessity of the division of the body, to conform to those necessities of that as seen in its own mental vision as builded (MENTAL now - Don't confuse these terms, or else you will become VERY confused in what is being given!).

8. The mental vision by its action upon what body is being builded? On the mental body of the individual in a material world, out of Spirit, out of the ability to have all the attributes of the spiritual or unseen forces - but MATERIALIZED forces, as is necessary from the mental body in a material world MENTALLY trained to, or in, certain directions, or given directions, or following the natural bent of its threefold or threeply body, as is seen in every individual or every entity. As these projected themselves, then we find these DEVELOPMENTS were in this portion of the development in the Atlantean period. How were these used? In much as were from the beginning. Remember there was ever the instruction to those peoples that were to hold to that that would bring for the spiritual forces, rather than the abuses of the abilities - as those with familiar spirits, as those that spoke to or partook of the divinations of those that had passed from the earth's plane, or those that partook of the animal magnetism - that came from the universal consciousness of animal matter as passed into its experience, in its interchange through those periods of integration and disintegration - and the spirit forces possessing those that would lay themselves open to such conditions, for these are as real as physical bodies if the attunements of the entity are such that it may vision them! and they are about you always, sure! These, then, are entities - sure; whether animal or those endowed with the soul - until they pass through those changes - as there ever has been, see? Also there are those that ever make for those channels in the psychic and occult (we are speaking of, through which man - as it reached that stage, or that position that it became farther and farther from its natural sources, through the same CHARACTER of channel may it communicate with that from which it is a portion of, or the Creative Forces), and hence the terminology arose as 'Good Spirits' and 'Bad Spirits'; for there are those that partake of the earth, or of the carnal forces, rather than of those forces that are of the spiritual or CREATIVE. Those that are destruction are of the Earth. Those that are constructive, then, are the good - or the divine and the devilish, bringing for those developments in their various phases. Hence the greater development of that called occult, or psychic forces, during the Atlantean period - and the use of same, and the abuse of same - was during its first thousand years, as we would call light years; not the light of the star, but the sun goes down and the sun goes down - years. That brought about those cycles, or those changes. Hence we have that which has been given through many of the sources of information, or the channels for individuals - and in those, these, the entity - as a voice upon waters, or as the wind that moved among the reeds and harkened, or again as when the morning stars sang together and the sons of God beheld the coming of man into his own, through the various realms as were brought by the magnifying of, or the deteriorating of, the use of those forces and powers as manifested themselves in a MATERIAL area, or those that partook of carnal to the gratification of that that brought about its continual HARDENING and less ability to harken back through that from WHICH it came, and partaking more and more OF that upon which it became an eater of; or, as is seen even in the material forces in the present: We find those that partake of certain elements, unless these become very well balanced WITH all SOURCES - Of what? That of which there were the first causes, or nature, or natural, or God's sources or forces are. Hence ELEMENTS - not rudiments; elements - as are termed in the terminology of the student of the anatomical, physiological, psychological forces within a body - GERMS! Sure they are germs! for each are as atoms of power - From what? That source from which it has drawn its essence upon what it feeds. Is one feeding, then, its soul? or is one feeding its body? or is one feeding that interbetween (its mental body) to its own undoing, or to those foolishnesses of the simple things of life? Being able, then, to partake OF the physical but not a part of same - but more and more feeding upon those sources from which it emanates itself, or of the SPIRITUAL life, so that the physical body, the mental body, are attuned TO its soul forces, or its soul source, its Creator, its Maker, in such a way and manner, as it develops.

9. What, then, IS psychic force? What IS occult science? A developing of the abilities within each individual that has not lost its sonship, or its relation to its Creator, to live upon - or demonstrate more and more through phenomena of whatever nature from which it takes its source, for that individual activity of that entity itself through the stages of development through which it has passed, and giving of its life source that there may be brought INTO being that which gives more knowledge of the source FROM which the entity ESSENCE (Isn't a good word, but signifies that intended to be expressed; not elements, not rudiments, but ESSENCE of the entity itself, ITS spirit and soul - its spirit being its portion of the Creator, its soul that of its entity itself, making itself individual, separate entity, that may be one WITH the Creative Force from which it comes - or which it is! of which it is made up, in its atomic forces, or in its very essence itself!) emanates; and the more this may be manifest, the greater becomes the occult force.

10. To what uses, then, did these people in this particular period give their efforts, and in what directions were they active? As many almost as there were individuals! for, as we find from the records as are made, to some there was given the power to become the sons of God; others were workers in brass, in iron, in silver, in gold; others were made in music, and the instruments of music. These, then, we find in the world today (Today, now - we are reasoning from today). Those that are especially gifted in art - in its various forms; and a real artist (as the world looks at it) isn't very much fit for anything else! yet it is - What? An expression of its concept OF that from WHICH it, that entity, sprang - through the various stages of its evolution (if you choose to call it such) in a material world, or that which it fed its soul or its mental being for its development through its varied experiences IN a material world. These, then, are but manifestations (occult forces) in individuals who are called geniuses, or gifted in certain directions.

11. These, then, are the manners in which the ENTITIES, those BEINGS, those SOULS, in the beginning partook of, or developed. Some brought about monstrosities, as those of its (that entity's) association by its projection with its association with beasts of various characters. Hence those of the Styx, satyr, and the like; those of the sea, or mermaid; those of the unicorn, and those of the various forms - these projections of what? The abilities in the PHYCHIC forces (psychic meaning, then, of the mental AND the soul - doesn't necessarily mean the body, until it's enabled to be brought INTO being in whatever form it may make its manifestation - which may never be in a material world, or take form in a three-dimensional plane as the earth is; it may remain in a fourth-dimensional - which is an idea! Best definition that ever may be given of fourth-dimension is an idea! Where will it project? Anywhere! Where does it arise from? Who knows! Where will it end? Who can tell! It is all inclusive! It has both length, breadth, height and depth - is without beginning and is without ending! Dependent upon that which it may feed for its sustenance, or it may pass into that much as a thought or an idea. Now this isn't ideal that's said! It's idea! see?)

12. In the use of these, then, in this material plane - of these forces - brought about those that made for all MANNERS of the various forms that are used in the material world today. MANY of them to a much higher development. As those that sought forms of minerals - and being able to be that the mineral was, hence much more capable - in the psychic or occult force, or power - to classify, or make same in its own classifications. Who classified them? They were from the beginning! They are themselves! They were those necessities as were IN the beginning from an ALL WISE Creator! for remember these came, as did that as was to be the keeper of same! The husbandman of the vineyard! Each entity, each individual - today, has its own vineyard to keep, to dress - For who? Its Maker, from whence it came! What is to be the report in thine own life with those abilities, those forces, as may be manifest in self - through its calling upon, through what? How does prayer reach the throne of mercy or grace, or that from which it emanates? From itself! Through that of CRUCIFYING, NULLIFYING, the carnal mind and opening the mental in such a manner that the Spirit of truth may flow in its psychic sense, or occult force, into the very being, that you may be one with that from which you came! Be thou faithful unto that committed into thy keeping! Life ITSELF is precious! For why? It is of the Maker itself! That IS the beginning! The psychic forces, the attunements, the developments, going TO that! As did many in that experience. And Enoch walked with God, and he was not for God took him. As was many of those in those first years, in this land, this experience.

13. These in the present, then, do not justly call it science; rather being close to nature. Listen at the birds. Watch the blush of the rose. Listen at the life rising in the tree. These serve their Maker - Through what? That psychic force, that IS Life itself, in their respective sphere - that were put for the service of man. Learn thine lesson, O Man, from that about thee!

 

364-11

1. GC: You will have before you the information given through this channel on the lost continent of Atlantis. You will continue with this information, and will answer the questions which I will ask regarding this:

2. EC: Yes. As to why, then, each individual must be, and is, the keeper of his own vineyard? For there is, as from the beginning, in each entity that - of the Father, or the First Cause - that enables one to make manifest even in the material world through the attributes OF the First Cause, that makes for the manifestation OF that power, or force, in a material world. As to what one does WITH same is an action of the will that entity himself, or herself.

3. As to occult or psychic science, as called, then - it is, as we have found through some manifestations, that these forces are first recognized in or by the individual. Hence, as has been seen, in the beginning these were the natural expressions of an entity. As there developed more of the individual association with material conditions, and they partook of same in such a manner as to become wholly or in part a portion OF same, farther - or more hidden, more unseen - has become occult or psychic manifestations. First there were the occasional harking back. Later by dream. Again we find individuals raised in certain sections for specific purposes. As the cycle has gone about, time and again has there arisen in the earth those that MANIFESTED these forces in a more magnificent, more beneficent, way and manner. And, as has been given, again the time draws near when there shall be seen and known among men, in many places, the manifestations of such forces in the material world; for "As ye have seen him go, so will He return again." Be thou faithful unto those words He has given while yet with you. Hence it behooves every individual to take cognizance of that force that may manifest in their material lives, even in this material age; for those that become ashamed for His sake - for THAT sake - of that that may manifest (which is as the Spirit's manner of activity) through those many channels that are open to those who will look up, lift up - and these, we find, are often in the lowliest of places and circumstances. Why? Since these are forces of the Most High, since these supplied - as of old - those secular things in abundance, and were supplied the needs not only of the physical being but of the mental and spiritual also, contributing to those forces as made for the gratification also of that builded in a material world, does it become any wonder that he that shall be abased and remains true shall wear the Crown of Life? Does it become unreasonable, then, that ye are being chastised for that which has been builded within the material forces of the body itself, that must be tried so as by fire? for the chaff must be burned out! Even as with the use of those sources of information, the abilities to become a portion of those elements that were the creative forces OF the compounds or elements within the universal forces, at that period brought about those forces that made for destruction of the land itself, in the attempt to draw that as was in man then back TO the knowledge; and these brought about those destructive forces (that are known today) in gases, with that called the death ray [See 364-11, Par. R2], that brought from the bowels of the earth itself - when turned into the sources of supply - those destructions to portions of the land. Man has ever (even as then) when in distress, either mental, spiritual OR physical, sought to know his association, his connection, with the divine forces that brought the worlds into being. As these are sought, so does the promise hold true - or that given man from the beginning, "Will ye be my children, I will be thy God!" "Ye turn your face from me, my face is turned from thee", and those things ye have builded in thine own endeavor to make manifest thine own powers bring those certain destructions in the lives of individuals in the present, even as in those first experiences with the use of those powers that are so tabu by the worldly-wise, that are looked upon as old men's tales and women's fables; yet in the strength of such forces do WORLDS come into being!

4. THIS is what psychic force, and so called occult science, DID mean, HAS meant, DOES mean in the world today.

5. Ready for questions.

6. (Q) Describe in more detail the causes and effects of the destruction of the part of Atlantis now the Sargasso sea.

(A) As there were those individuals that attempted to bring again to the mind of man more of those forces that are manifest by the closer association of the mental and spiritual, or the soul forces that were more and more as individual and personal forms in the world, the use of the these elements - as for the building up, or the passage of individuals through space - brought the uses of the gases then (in the existent forces), and the individuals being able to become the elements, and elementals themselves, added to that used in the form of what is at present known as the raising of the powers from the sun itself, to the ray that makes for disintegration of the atom, in the gaseous forces formed, and brought about the destruction in that portion of the land now presented, or represented, or called, Sargasso sea.

7. (Q) What was the date of the first destruction, estimating in our present day system of counting time in years B.C.?

(A) Seven thousand five hundred (7,500) years before the final destruction, which came as has been given.

8. (Q) Please give a few details regarding the physiognomy, habits, customs and costumes of the people of Atlantis during the period just before this first destruction.

(A) These, as we find, will require their being separated in the gradual development of the body and its physiognomy as it came into being in the various portions of that land, as well as to those that would separate themselves from those peoples where there were the indwelling of peoples, or man - as man, in the various areas of the land, or what we call world.

In the matter of form, as we find, first there were those as projections from that about the animal kingdom; for the THOUGHT bodies gradually took form, and the various COMBINATIONS (as may be called) of the various forces that called or classified themselves as gods, or rulers over - whether herds, or fowls, or fishes, etc. - in PART that kingdom and part of that as gradually evolved into a physiognomy much in the form of the present day may (were one chosen of those that were, or are, the nearest representative of the race of peoples that existed in this first period as the first destructions came about). These took on MANY sizes as to stature, from that as may be called the midget to the giants - for there were giants in the earth in those days, men as tall as (what would be termed today) ten to twelve feet in stature, and in proportion - well proportioned throughout. The ones that became the most USEFUL were those as would be classified (or called in the present) as the IDEAL stature, that was of both male and female (as those separations had been begun); and the most ideal (as would be called) was Adam, who was in that period when he (Adam) appeared as five in one - See?

In this the physiognomy was that of a full head, with an extra EYE - as it were - in those portions that became what is known as the EYE. In the beginning these appeared in WHATEVER portion was desired by the body for its use!

As for the dress, those in the beginning were (and the Lord made for them coats) of the skins of the animals.

Technique: I worked the picture in raw, gave it a yellowish tone and desaturated. I used a texture which I "multiplied" and then used a "humid paper" filter, also used new layer orange color which I also multiplied.

 

I was looking at the picture which I had treated and asked myself why did I treat it this way? Why a faux vintage. It´s because it it looks better, well, I would cenrtainley not say it looks better but different. And then I realized the way I treated gets closer to how I remembered that place, to how I wanted to file it in my memory. That´s my self reasoning why I gave a vintage treatment to the picture ; )

and if you leave, will I stay?

 

~

 

I'll be honest. I almost never do shots like this.

raw.

normal.

I don't know. I guess I always feel too....posey. Self indulgent.

Yet, when I look at photography, I love the raw, b&w shit I see.

I'm drawn to realism; raw, cold, candid, hardcore photography.

Not sure the reasoning in my head at all sometimes.

 

Bottom line. Just trying this out. I took heaps of them, and I have heaps of outtakes...yikes.

I hate posting them, so I'll wait on that. Just the one in the comments that I'm sure 90% of you will 'prefer'.

I'm wondering if that's really a mental trick, the outtake. ;-)

  

Random Fact du jour: My new favorite thing is Sobe lifewater.

I really loved my Bandit and Lockon squads, but I felt like I needed to consolidate to save space on my (very tiny) storage/display area, so I mooshed them together reasoning that a group of pirates would have a diverse collection of frames that have been "acquired" from various sources. Rounding things out, I've added a Luna-tick (thanks, Mark!) as a dedicated spot-bot (which still needs SSRs, but I'm out of time for today, so it'll have to wait).

 

Bandit (by Aardvark) - Brawler - shoulder armor x2, twin fusion Pike

Lockon (by Vitor Faria) - Charger - Shoulder Armor, Thruster Pack, Rifle, Hook

Luna-tick (by Mark Sakura) - watchtower YYBB - Rangefinder x2, Plasma Chaff Pod x2

 

Check out the rear-view on my stream, and please please please leave comments and critiques! ^^

WEEK 16 – Barnes & Noble Ole Miss: Reunionited and It Feels So Good (II)

 

(cont. from Thursday) – there’s also a second entrance right next to this entrance! Not quite sure what the reasoning behind this one was, but hey, at least it makes the place very easy to access :P Also, as you can see behind that second entrance, there’s an entirely separate additional, even larger café seating area to the left of the Starbucks, in addition to the seating area to the right that I already showed y’all earlier. Entrance doors and seating options are two things that this place certainly isn’t hurting for, haha!

 

Like I said, this seating area is much larger than the other one, and (as much as I liked the wall décor) has a much better view, with that full-size wall of windows looking out the front of the Union (where, by the way, I can also see a B&N Starbucks Café sign – aha, figured one had to be around here somewhere!). I also like how, if you look really closely, you can see that the little sliver of window between the two sets of doors on the right has a vertical “Thank you for shopping” message.

 

(c) 2021 Retail Retell

These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)

 

國立台灣文學館 - 推理文學在臺灣特展 / 書多就是美 - 氣質都來了

National Museum of Taiwanese Literature - Reasoning literature in Taiwan special exhibition / Many books are beautiful - Temperament are out

Museo Nacional de la literatura taiwanesa - Razonamiento de la literatura en Taiwan exposición especial / Muchos libros son hermosos - El temperamento está fuera

国立の台湾の文学館 - 推理の文学は台湾特に展にあります / 本は多く米です - 風格はすべて来ました

Nationalmuseum der taiwanesischen Literatur - Begründung Literatur in Taiwan Sonderausstellung / Viele Bücher sind schön - Temperament sind raus

Musée national de la littérature taiwanaise - Raisonnement de la littérature à Taiwan exposition spéciale / Beaucoup de livres sont magnifiques - Le tempérament est sorti

 

Tainan Taiwan / Tainan Taiwán / 台灣台南

 

管樂小集 2017/09/08 台南文化中心 Tainan Cultural Center Star Plaza performances 1080P

{ 鳳凰于飛 Phoenix in the fly }

 

{View large size on fluidr/觀看大圖}

 

{My Blog / 管樂小集精彩演出-觸動你的心}

{My Blog / Great Music The splendid performance touches your heart}

{My Blog / 管楽小集すばらしい公演-はあなたの心を心を打ちます}

{Mi blog / La gran música el funcionamiento espléndido toca su corazón}

{Mein Blog / Große Musik die herrliche Leistung berührt Ihr Herz}

{Mon blog / La grande musique l'exécution splendide touche votre coeur}

 

Melody 曲:JAPAN / Words 詞:Sheesen / Singing : Sheesen

{ 夢旅人 1990 Dream Traveler 1990 }

  

家住安南鹽溪邊

The family lives in nearby the Annan salt river

 

隔壁就是聽雨軒

The next door listens to the rain porch

 

一旦落日照大員

The sunset Shineing to the Taiwan at once

 

左岸青龍飛九天

The left bank white dragon flying in the sky

This is Bob, Marely’s mate. He’s hanging out keeping an eye on her, as she walks around at my feet. He’s a bit stand-offish and very protective of his mate. Marely will fly right up to me and perch on any object next to me. If there happens to be a dog near, he freaks out, fluffs his feathers, puffs his chest, makes all kinds of noise and will go right at a dog. I’ve witnessed it several times at work.

Speaking of noise, I’m going to address this issue and how if effects Targeted Individuals. Because of the STIGMA involved in America’s Mobbing frenzy; many are afraid and embarrassed to talk about it openly. I understand that because the first thing these groups do; is attack a Targets credibility. I’m not one of those people and if you’ve read through my photostream, you know this. This can be called Workplace Mobbing, Community Stalking or Gang Stalking. These are nothing more than organized groups spreading hate, intimidation, harassment and bullying; in our workplaces, communities and across America. Here in Yosemite National Park, they have it perfected.

Back to the noise; I started my day stepping out of my room into the hall of hate. My neighbors have been cluttering the hallway with furniture, shoes, boots, flower pots, umbrellas and anything to push my buttons. Because I commented about it to one of the housing staff; they continue to place more personal items into a narrow hallway, showing their petty immaturity. Even though it’s I violation of our housing policies; management allows it because it annoys me, never mind we have trees falling on our building and power outages up the wazoo. People can trip, fall and hurt themselves; as long as Rick is upset, who cares….

We’ve been bombarded with snow the last several weeks and rain today. I wanted to get out and get some exercise, so I grabbed a long lens hoping to get some wildlife shots. I came across tracks from a large bobcat so I started tracking him. I lost them on the road, these guys will prance down the middle of the road like they own the place. I started walking down a pathway; I’m lost in the serenity that surrounds me, the only sound was the roar of water gushing from the waterfalls. It’s sprinkling, no one to be seen, then out of nowhere; this guy walks up with speaker blaring loud music, from a shoulder strap. This was done to disrupt my enjoyment and solitude. This is known as a noise campaign. Perpetrators will bombard you with noise 24/7. It’s basic Military Psyops; operations to convey selected information and indicators to audiences to influence their emotions, motives, and objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of governments, organizations, groups, and individuals (Wikipedia). My neighbors do it by stomping pass my room, coughing at my door, dropping pots and pans, slamming doors, pounding, cell phone music and long conversations outside my room. At work its similar using anything available and also allowed my management….

Workplace Mobbing, Community Stalking and Gang Stalking are real. They affect millions of Americans daily; we need to talk about this openly and put a stop to this Toxic Mobbing Mentality….

 

Yosemite’s current Superintendent is: Michael T Reynolds

 

Nominated Director National Parks Services is: David Vela

 

The Truth about Yosemite National Park: flic.kr/p/2hJ7Rye

 

• The truth about Yosemite 2016 to current: www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Yosemite-Chief-Retiring-Ami...

 

Thank you for your views, positive comments and visiting my photostream.

  

J&L Tunnel sees Daylight: On the CSX Pittsburgh Sub - a former P&LE line, J&L tunnel was built underneath the bustling industry of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Mill that once covered the land where I stand today, which is where the tunnel recieved its name from.

 

The tunnel was originally doubled tracked in the P&LE days, but for whatever reasoning it may be, CSX decided that the tunnel being double tracked was not going to work.

 

In the middle of 2010 work began on the tunnel to allow doublestacks to be ran through the tunnel and on the Pittsburgh Sub in general as part of the National Gateway Project. The first year was spent working on undercutting the railroad as much as they possibly could, then going and removing all the earth from atop on the tunnel and removing the concrete slabs on top.

 

There was once a little field here all nice and neatly decorated with various assortments of stuff. (for a god before and after comparison with how this scene in front of me looks, and with how it used to look; type in this address on google maps: Hofbräuhaus 2705 South Water Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15203) (Best viewed with side by side tabs)

 

Once they removed the old concrete slabs work began on adding onto the former containing walls that made up the tunnel by pouring concrete a few feet high and then re-adding, newer and bigger concrete slabs on top to re-close the tunnel.

 

AFAIK - This very well could have been a once in a lifetime event to behold and see with this tunnel. But until that time comes, who knows when I'll see another train running through the J&L tunnel from above ground, and not at a portal exit.

 

The project is expected to be completed in the spring of 2013.

 

It definitely is some crazy stuff to see and behold, let alone document before the opportunity is gone.

 

But anywho - getting back to the perspective of trains, here's eastbound Auto Train CSX Q216 rolling eastbound through the J&L Tunnel as the 1st of 4 eastbounds we would tag and bag coming through here.

 

December 16th, 2012

 

Accepted to Railpictures.net:

 

www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=418395&nseq=0

This will be for Letter Y when that comes due on ABCs and 123s group. It is a double scar from knee surgery about 30 years apart. My latter surgeon did not want to follow the former surgeon's stitching exactly. I don't know if that was ego or safety or style or what his reasoning actually was all about.

 

The first surgery, I was bucked off a horse and my knee and boot caught in one stirrup a few seconds before it came loose and I smashed to the ground. I think they did not have artificial knee replacements back then, but I did tear some tendons/ligaments or such and definitely had knee surgery. They could not do it for 8 days because I got a concussion when I hit the ground, and I guess they don't like to operate until they are sure you are OK from that. That was in Springfield, Lane County, Oregon, USA. I happen to have moved back to Springfield, Oregon many years later. However, the second surgery (30 years later) was in Corvallis, Benton County, Oregon.

 

The 30 years later operation in Corvallis was to insert an artificial right knee.

 

After some other moves, I ended up back in Springfield, and actually saw the surgeon who had operated on me 30 years before. He was just getting ready to retire. When I saw him way back, I think he had only been in practice a year or two.

 

This was a selfie, but only of my knee.

 

Additional Info: My husband came out to the pasture to help me up. I did stand up, but then I collapsed to the ground as my knee did not hold. He wanted me to get up again. I said, No!" He or some other people called for an ambulance. When it first arrived, there was not an ambulance, but an enormous red fire truck. I exclaimed, "My knee buckled on me! I'm not on fire!!!" Then an ambulance arrived and away I went to a hospital. I thought it was a terrible waste of money to send the huge fire truck, but it was explained to me that they have all the emergency equipment. "Oh, I said!"

The theme for Smile on Saturday is" looks like the letter" I chose X for the below reasoning.

found this lovely old derelict fence on an equally lovely derelict house at Deloraine and thought....it looks like the letter X.

 

The 24th letter in the Latin alphabet and in the English alphabet the letter most commonly represents the unknown and is the Roman numeral for 10.

The earliest use of X as a noun predates the 11th century according to the Oxford Dictionary.

 

The letter in Tolkien's Runic language often represents the partnership between the known and the unknown. Wisdom of the Elves are revealed at this gateway, marked by the letter X.

Now that's gotta make you smile

 

I’m sorry, Angus. But it was boring. You bored me, my wife, and my children. And I say Angus specifically because your name is all over the movie’s credits, and you gave us such a grand group of LEGO sets and some really great looking spaceship designs.

 

But it just wasn’t enough.

 

Victoria said it should've never even been storyboarded in the state it was in. Zoe pointed out that young Buzz's reasoning didn't make any sense and wasn't heroic since he based it all on just one person. She also didn't like that the story completely switched from being about Buzz to being about the granddaughter. Caleb thought it was dumb that Zurg is Buzz. He also said none of it made any sense. I say it was too long, too repetitive, and had too many loose ends. Nothing about the movie was satisfying.

 

I just don't buy that THIS was the movie Andy saw in 1995 that made him want a Buzz Lightyear figure. I'm only 46, but I remember the decade well, since I've never done drugs.

 

And the only thing comparable to this movie that hit theaters in the 90s was, and I really hate to say it, but it's true, is Battlefield Earth.

 

I don't know if you'll get another shot, Angus. But if you do, PLEASE get some outside observers to help you out next time. Whoever you had surrounding you during this movie was about as helpful as the crew that got Kennedy to invade the Bay of Pigs.

FBTB are once again running an extremely cool competition with generous prizes. This one is to build a Hybrid fighter (or ugly) from two vehicles appearing in the Star Wars universe... the rules can be found here

 

Here's the reasoning/story behind my entry:

 

After the battle of Hoth, there was one stranded survivor* left on the ice planet - a Rebel pilot, Squash E. Starbar.

 

Starbar awoke from a minor concussion amongst some wreckage a day after the Rebellion had fled (the Empire had left their debris and dead behind without much care for them or the environmental impact).

 

Luckily and more important, conveniently, Starbar's T-47 Rebel Snowspeeder had crashed into the collapsed body of an AT-AT. Insulated from the cold, and well kitted out with an 'A' Team style 'garage' of tools, Starbar was able to salvage the wings from his snowspeeder. He needed a new cockpit though, one with viable controls, as the snowspeeder was burnt out. Starbar ventured out onto the ice to find something usable and lucked upon a decapitated AT-ST. Using the winch cable from his Snowspeeder, he managed to haul the AT-ST head close enough to his AT-AT base to work during the day.

 

Once his hybrid fighter was complete structure-wise Starbar encounter one final problem preventing him from leaving the sub-zero planet... lubrication for the air brakes and also, fuel!

 

As it turned out, there were rather a large number of dead Tauntauns in the vicinity too and Starbar discovered that the Tauntaun's natural oils (that smelled so bad), in larger quantities were actually a phenomenally effective lubricant... The blubber, guts and other assorted offal once purified and refined down also created a particularly potent rocket fuel!

 

A disappointing consequence however of this was the smell - which also refined and increased in potency...

 

So, Starbar's ST-Speeder hybrid is not only ugly, but it stinks too... and you thought it just looked bad on the outside.

     

*I don't care if there's some cruddy expanded universe twaddle that I'm contradicting with this.

One of the most scenic raft float trips in the world is on the Merced River through Yosemite Valley in summer. On a hot day it feels just as good to fall in the water as to ride in the raft, and the views of the giant walls surrounding you are magnificent. The float trip is an easy Class I and is a fantastic way for a family to spend an afternoon. Unfortunately, the raft trips, bicycle rentals, ice skating rink, stables, swimming pools, along with several historic old stone bridges, are now being considered for elimination under the park's master plan. As one who remembers the old wooden lodge at the top of glacier point, the firefall, and feeding the bears in the evening by the rangers, I don't look forward to losing more historic and wonderful aspects of Yosemite Valley, even though I understand the reasoning behind the changes. If you have a chance to experience these things, do so before they're all gone.

Not too sure what the reasoning behind this branding is as of yet. I can only assume it's to allow the use of the bus on the 35 and 36 outside of Uni term time??

 

627 enters Angel Row with a 35 to Bulwell via QMC, Bilborough and Strelley wiih revised branding for the 34, 35 and 36.

I'm going to try keeping this objective and not a rant.

So, this movie was flat out boring. Not because it was an origin story or something that we've seen before. Because literally nothing good happened. They got powers and then it ended.

Now spoilers from here on (which is basically nothing)

The movie started off ok. It was still boring but I could stand it because it set up some character development for Ben and Reed. But that was cut short . Another thing I didn't like was the fact that Ben Grimm had no reason to be in the first half of the movie because the only reason he was sent into the alternate dimension which caused the four to get their powers was because Reed got drunk for the first time and "needed Ben to be there". It had literally no good reasoning or background behind the decision just like the rest of this movie. The movie had no point. Doctor Doom's design was horrible. Completely horrible. They said that he was stuck in this alternate dimension for about a year and when he was taken back to Earth, he wanted to go back to "Zero" (what they call the alt dimension) which had no reasoning behind it either. Speaking of the one year jump, that was another negative for me. Now some things I liked:

Doom's powers were pointless but how he killed off the government soldiers was reminiscent to a horror film and I thought it was cool. That being said the concepts in this film I liked, had no place in a Fantastic Four film. This movie was bad but it is even worse because of the fact that it does not capture the essence of Fantastic Four. There was some (very little) humor which was decent but the cons entirely outweigh the pros in this movie.

Was this the worst superhero movie ever? I think Ghost Rider or even some other films hold that spot. But the thing about this film was that you couldn't even make fun of it. It was just boring, uneventful, and bland. The reshoots had also been apparent to even me (i'm usually oblivious to these things). The acting was not good either. Miles Teller did not play his role well, the actual villain of the movie was horrid (the guy who constantly chews gum like an asshole). It was a cliche and boring. Michael B Jordan is an awesome actor but they did not use him right in this film. Kate Mara was just meh. Doom was bland. He had Kristen Stewart syndrome it seemed like. About the same with 'the thing'.

This was mainly due to the shit writing and dialogue. Literally the last line of the movie goes something like,

"we need a name for our 'team'"

"wow this whole adventure was fantastic"

"what'd you say"

"fantastic"

"I know what we should call us. The fantastic *cuts to credits*

 

This movie was a train wreck and do not watch it unless you have it for free and want to waste 1 hour and 45 minutes of your life. Seriously. It was bad.

 

For the future of this franchise, I want one of the two things to happen:

1. Fox says that the events of this film happened before Days of Future Past and state that the events of DOFP lead the Fantastic Four to change. Then make a continuing story with these characters/actors but disregard this entire film. Basically, act like this didn't happen but use the same actors/actresses just like Deadpool/Ryan Reynolds from Wolverine: Origins to the upcoming Deadpool movie.

or

2. Give the rights back to Marvel (preferred)

 

I give this movie a 2/10

My expections were super low and it was not super super bad (not the worst film ever) But not worth the watch. (Kate Mara also made it bearable because Kate Mara is beautiful ;) )

 

DO NOT WASTE MONEY/PROMOTE THIS MOVIE, IT IS NOT OK

 

Thanks for reading and good luck to the brave souls who did see this.

WEEK 6 – Southaven Gordmans Liquidates Again (III)

 

Here’s the money shot I was waiting for: take a look at how wide open and airy the men’s apparel department is!! As I discussed with y’all previously, arguably the biggest change Stage made to this store from a visual standpoint was removing Gordmans’ original tall white divider walls in the men’s and women’s apparel departments, considerably opening up the sightlines in those areas – and indeed, across the whole store as a result. And as I also discussed with y’all previously, the reasoning behind the move was probably less sightline-motivated than it was “we need to get rid of those walls so we can fit these long, straight clothing racks in here”-motivated… but hey, I’ll take what I can get XD

 

Although taken from within the department itself as opposed to out in the actionway, here's a pretty good comparison shot of this same area from before. Pretty major difference, right?!

 

(c) 2021 Retail Retell

These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)

 

WEEK 11 – S Perkins Sprouts, Set I

 

Stepping inside the vestibule, here’s the only shot I got of the area, taking a look at the cartwell. I don’t know about you, but at first glance, this photo seems eerily similar to the photo I took of the old cartwell in this same vestibule, seen here. Like, it feels as if we’re looking the same direction (that is, to the left) and everything.

 

The thing is, though… I don’t think that’s true. As cool as it would be to say that this cartwell is in the exact same spot as Kroger’s was, with the reconfiguration that Sprouts did to this building it seems highly unlikely; and as a matter of fact, I think its placement is actually directly *across* from that original spot, extending off to the *right* as opposed to the left. My reasoning for that is that it seems to play into layout of the front end. But I know y’all haven’t seen that yet, so I’ll save full discussion of that for later. However, suffice to say here that it certainly couldn’t extend off to the left, as a result of the café and windows we saw placed immediately to the left of the vestibule two images back. So… a nice thought, but sadly, not meant to be :/

 

(c) 2021 Retail Retell

These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)

 

I came a bit early and had time to kill before the big onslaught. There was just barely sufficient light inside for Portra 800 at f/2 and 1/30 s.

 

This is an old abattoir right in the downtown of Darmstadt which has been converted to a concert hall. I guess the reasoning was that most rock music does not differ much from the squealing of dying pigs.

 

That said, lots of really great concerts and other events take place there. I once wanted to go and see Joe Zawinul on stage there around 12 years ago, but I couldn't go on the day of his concert.

 

I had firmly planned on going to see the next concert of his, but then he unexpectedly died, back in 2007. :-(

 

Camera: Zeiss Ikon Contarex Special (built between 1960 and 1963)

Lens: Carl Zeiss Planar 1:2 50mm Contarex Mount

Kodak Portra 800 professional grade colour negative film

Developed and scanned by www.meinfilmlab.de

國立台灣文學館 - 推理文學在臺灣特展 / 古典打字機 - 推動西方文明

National Museum of Taiwanese Literature - Reasoning literature in Taiwan special exhibition / Classical typewriter - To promote Western civilization

Museo Nacional de la literatura taiwanesa - Razonamiento de la literatura en Taiwan exposición especial / Máquina de escribir clásica - Promover la civilización occidental

国立の台湾の文学館 - 推理の文学は台湾特に展にあります / 古典のタイプライター - 西方が文明的なことを推進します

Nationalmuseum der taiwanesischen Literatur - Begründung Literatur in Taiwan Sonderausstellung / Klassische Schreibmaschine - Zur Förderung der westlichen Zivilisation

Musée national de la littérature taiwanaise - Raisonnement de la littérature à Taiwan exposition spéciale / Machine à écrire classique - Pour promouvoir la civilisation occidentale

 

Tainan Taiwan / Tainan Taiwán / 台灣台南

 

管樂小集 2017/10/07 台南孔子廟 Confucian temple Tainan performances 1080P

{ 旅笠道中 Wearing hats travel in road }

 

{View large size on fluidr/觀看大圖}

 

PENTAX SMC TAKUMAR 50mm 1:1.4

 

{My Blog / 管樂小集精彩演出-觸動你的心}

{My Blog / Great Music The splendid performance touches your heart}

{My Blog / 管楽小集すばらしい公演-はあなたの心を心を打ちます}

{Mi blog / La gran música el funcionamiento espléndido toca su corazón}

{Mein Blog / Große Musik die herrliche Leistung berührt Ihr Herz}

{Mon blog / La grande musique l'exécution splendide touche votre coeur}

 

Melody 曲:JAPAN / Words 詞:Sheesen / Singing : Sheesen

{ 夢旅人 1990 Dream Traveler 1990 }

  

家住安南鹽溪邊

The family lives in nearby the Annan salt river

 

隔壁就是聽雨軒

The next door listens to the rain porch

 

一旦落日照大員

The sunset Shineing to the Taiwan at once

 

左岸青龍飛九天

The left bank white dragon flying in the sky

The Trotwood Walmart closed its doors in October of 2007. The reasoning behind the closure was poor sales. This is one of the few Walmarts closed without a direct replacement.

Built in the same architectural style as Emerald and Mount Morgan stations, also in the Central Division of Queensland Railways, Archer Park was the next station north of Rockhampton's main Stanley Street station and is a long, covered station that was once busier than the main station. It sits beside the long straight section of North Coast line which runs down the middle of Denison Street in Rockhampton. It is now an excellent railway museum and something for this fine regional city to be proud of. If you are in the area, don't miss visiting it. Here is the rather long history.

 

Archer Park Railway Museum is a heritage-listed former railway station and now transport museum at Denison Street, Rockhampton, Rockhampton Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1897 to 1908. It was known as Archer Park railway station and Rockhampton Central railway station. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.

The Museum's main attraction is a rare French Purrey steam tram reconstructed using parts from the original fleet of steam trams operated by Rockhampton City Council.

 

Archer Park Railway Station, the former Rockhampton Central Railway Station, is situated on Denison Street and forms an important link with the social, cultural and transport history of Rockhampton and Central Queensland. It was the major railway station in Rockhampton from the turn of the century until the mid 1920s, and is an important element in the development of the railway network in Queensland, and the growth of the North Coast Railway in the early part of the twentieth century.

 

The Archer brothers had made a private expedition to the Rockhampton district in 1853, and were the first Europeans to record and chart the Fitzroy River. The Archers were also the first European pastoralists to arrive in the area. Their establishment of Gracemere Station led to further pastoral expansion into the area.

 

After the short lived Canoona gold rush of 1858, Rockhampton was proclaimed as a town and declared a port of entry in 1858. Following the gold rush the town of Rockhampton developed as an entry and export town for central Queensland. Rockhampton continued to eclipse its nearest rival Gladstone for nearly a century as the principal port for Central Queensland.

 

In 1863 the Parliament of Queensland passed the controversial Railway Bill, which committed Queensland to the use of a narrow gauge for the development of its Main Line railway in Queensland. Other colonies in Australia at this time had adopted broader gauges for use on their rail networks. The reasoning behind this decision was that a narrow gauge would have lower construction costs.

 

The first section of the Queensland railway network was opened between Ipswich and Bigges Camp (now Grandchester) on 31 July 1865, and later extended to link the towns of Warwick, Dalby and Toowoomba with Ipswich. At the time that the Railway Act had been passed, the 5000 citizens of Rockhampton objected to having no provision made for the construction of a railway to their hinterland, where copper was being exploited in the Peak Downs area. A railway was thought necessary to ensure development of the interior.

 

The first length of Central Western railway line was opened to Westwood some 30 miles (48 km) from Rockhampton in 1867. The line was extended beyond the coastal ranges in 1872, reaching Emerald in 1879. The Central Western Railway was progressively extended further west reaching Longreach in 1892, and remained an isolated railway system, with no connection to the southern division of Queensland railways until 1903.

 

In 1882 after Brisbane had acquired a railway to the seaside at Sandgate, Rockhampton clamoured for a similar connection to its resort at Emu Park. Construction of the Emu Park railway line was approved in 1885 and the line opened in 1888. The 1880s was a period of economic and civic expansion in Rockhampton as a result of the discovery and exploitation of the gold and ore body at Mount Morgan in the Dee Range forty kilometres from Rockhampton.

 

The line, similar to Bundaberg, featured a railway system divided by a major river. This consisted of a line running from a terminus in Stanley Street, Rockhampton to Gracemere and westwards, and the line at North Rockhampton to Emu Park with no physical connection. Two years after the opening of the Emu Park line, the Railway Department began investigating the possibility of linking Rockhampton's two separate railways. The bridging of the Fitzroy River and the cost of land resumptions to join the two terminus stations were to be major difficulties in connecting the two lines.

 

Trial surveys in 1890 investigated two routes, but the financial crisis of 1893 forestalled further work. The impetus for bridging the Fitzroy River came from the decision of the Queensland Government to construct a deepwater port at Broadmount (now Thompson Point) at the mouth of the Fitzroy River in 1894, and to link the Central Railway with North Rockhampton via a bridge across the Fitzroy and a line running via Denison Street. The original plan called for a single line down Denison Street and for a single track bridge, however the Rockhampton City Council protested against this decision. Following a visit to Rockhampton by railway engineer Henry Charles Stanley, the management of the Lakes Creek Meatworks at North Rockhampton convinced the Railway Department to construct a double line to North Rockhampton, as it was felt that developments in livestock and goods traffic would justify the initial outlay. In 1895 construction was approved for what was to be known as the Rockhampton Junction Railway. The new bridge and connecting line were the first examples of double lines outside of the Brisbane-Ipswich metropolitan area. The Rockhampton City Council gave half of Leichhardt Park (now Archer Park) and Denison Street which allowed for the construction of a central railway station. The Council approved this work in October 1896.

 

The future station at Archer Park was first sketched out in 1897 in Brisbane. The concept developed was for a station separate from the main line down Denison Street, but connected via a loop line crossing the southbound line by crossovers and slip points. A single platform was to be provided 300 feet (91 m) long and 20 feet (6.1 m) wide, with an arched carriage shade running full length of the platform. The track to the platform and the three track loop line left only a small strip of roadway available along Denison Street. The plan was subsequently altered to allow for a larger space for vehicular traffic on Denison Street.

 

An amended plan for the station building was prepared in late 1897. This incorporated a station building 140 feet (43 m) long, with a 10 feet (3.0 m) wide verandah running its full length along the street elevation. A cloak room was also added to the plan.

 

Final plans were produced in 1898 by architect Henrik Hansen (1843-?). Hansen had joined the Queensland Railways in 1877, and was responsible for the design of many utilitarian buildings and structures. He was also responsible for the design of the railway stations at Mount Morgan (1898), Cunnamulla (1898) and Winton (1898), the refreshment rooms at Toowoomba (1900), and Emerald railway station (1900). Hansen was also involved in the design of the new North Ipswich Railway Workshops (c.1901-13). Hansen was retrenched in 1904. Similar features of the stations designed by Hansen, particularly at Mount Morgan, Cunnamulla and Winton, included an all-over arch roof or carriage shade, designed to provide cover to passengers and goods being loaded at the platform.

 

The tender for construction of the Rockhampton Junction Railway was awarded to GC Willcocks in 1897. The contract involved the construction of the branch to Broadmount, the Denison Street line, and the Alexandra Railway Bridge. Construction was delayed until 1898 on the bridge due to flooding on the Fitzroy River.

 

Tenders were called in September 1897 for the construction of a residence for a station master for Archer Park. Thomas McWatters won the contract for £520, and the building was completed in sixteen weeks. In July 1898 tenders were called for the erection of a signal cabin at Archer Park, and one tender was received from Watson and McDonald for £168. The system of interlocking signalling and pointworks led to discussions between HC Stanley and Traffic Manager Thallon in 1898. Thallon had suggested to deviate the mainline so as to enter Archer Park railway station, to avoid running interlocking gear and signal wires along Denison Street. However the original plan to enable trains to run along Denison Street without entering Archer Park was retained.

 

Tenders were called for the Rockhampton Central Station in February 1899. Thomas Butterworth Renshaw and Harry Ricketts submitted a tender of £4,130. Electric lighting of the station was considered during construction; however gas was installed instead.

 

The Rockhampton Junction Railway was officially opened on 6 November 1899. With the completion of the Alexandra Railway Bridge, the Emu Park and Central Railway provided a unified rail link between the two halves of Rockhampton. The Archer Park station was not ready for the opening of the Junction Railway, and no official opening ceremony was held; however the station was opened for the use of the public from 11 December 1899. The official name Archer Park was adopted in October 1899, rather than Leichhardt Park, from which it was resumed.

 

Being the central station for Rockhampton, Archer Park superseded the Stanley Street station not long after its construction. Mail trains to Brisbane departed from Archer Park following completion of the Gladstone-Rockhampton link in 1903. Archer Park was designed as a passenger station, and did not handle goods traffic apart from parcels and mail. The station was also important as the departure and terminating point for services to Mount Morgan, Emu Park and the local suburban services to Lakes Creek at North Rockhampton. Excursions to the seaside at Emu Park and later Yeppoon were also extremely popular.

 

In 1906 plans were drawn up to extend the building to provide for a refreshment room. The refreshment room was to be provided at the northern end of the station building, and was to include a bar for patrons. The rooms opened in 1908, and were leased by private operators until the Government established the Railway Refreshment Room services in 1916.

 

Denison Street was to be a major problem for train operations within Rockhampton. As the route of the railway was along a major thoroughfare across several open level crossings, trains were limited to a maximum speed of 10 miles per hour (16 km/h). Trains were also required to provide an audible signal to warn motorists and pedestrians along Denison Street of their passage. The warning was given by the fireman on the engine ringing a brass hand bell.

 

The Central Western Line continued to expand throughout the early part of the twentieth century. Prior to 1922, up to twenty five daily departures and arrivals could be recorded at Archer Park. By 1922 the station layout at Archer Park was too restrictive to handle the increasing length of passenger and mail trains. With the completion of the North Coast Line from Rockhampton to Mackay in 1921, operational difficulties were increased as the length of mail trains frequently fouled the crossover, leading to the blocking of the main line. The length of trains also meant that vision between the signalman on duty and the driver of trains was obscured.

 

As the signal cabin for Archer Park was situated on the western side of the station loop lines, firemen looking back along the length of the train were unable to be given a proceed signal. To assist in the problem of observing passing trains on the main line in Denison Street, sheets of galvanised iron were removed to open up a view from the platform area.

 

The Stanley Street station was enlarged in 1923 to cater for longer trains, and two 600 feet (180 m) long platforms were provided. The station was further enlarged between 1924 and 1928, making it the major station in Rockhampton. The long distance mail and passenger trains all departed from the Stanley Street station leaving Archer Park to cater for more local services.

 

During the Second World War Archer Park station was again utilised for services to cope with the dispatch and transport of allied army troops stationed in the Rockhampton area.

 

The signal cabin on the Denison Street side of the station was moved into the station building in 1956. Prior to this the station had been downgraded in staffing in the early 1950s as an economy measure. The movement of the cabin had been protested by union representatives, as it would have also meant the loss of signalmen jobs. The move first proposed in 1922, and again in the early 1950s was accomplished by the end of 1956.

 

Further staff reductions took place in 1957. At the same time the General Manager for the Central Division recommended that only local passenger and railmotor services operate to and from Archer Park with all other services to by-pass the station. Summer traffic to Emu Park and Yeppoon maintained regular departures from the station as in the early part of the century. Most traffic was now generated from services to Mount Morgan, St Lawrence, and the Sunday-only train to Mackay.

 

Branch line closures in the Central Division further reduced train services from the station. The Emu Park line was closed in 1964 due to falling revenue, and with the withdrawal of the railmotor service from Archer Park to St Lawrence in 1968, the only trains to operate were Yeppoon services. The Yeppoon railmotor was withdrawn in 1969, and with no passenger services operating from the station, the decision was taken to close the station as of 2 February 1970. Tenders were invited in 1970 to attract a suitable lessee for Archer Park, but no offers were forthcoming. The station was then used as a freight terminal for a door to door service being developed by Queensland Railways. Every second post on the Denison Street side of the carriage shade was removed to facilitate vehicle access. Rooms in the station building were also used for storage. No maintenance was to be carried out on the building at the request of Queensland Railways.

 

Filling was placed at the northern end of the platform to allow motor vehicles access to the station area. In 1974 Queensland Railfast Express Pty Ltd were given a lease of the station area north of the entry vestibule. Partitions were removed in the refreshment rooms and the floor strengthened. Archer Park was the headquarters for QRX and its freight operations in Rockhampton from 1976 until 1989.

 

From 1982 until QRX vacated the site in 1989, local residents protested over noise and inconvenience generated from the freight activities on site. Rockhampton City Council made approaches to Queensland Railways for the station and yard to be developed as a museum complex. QRX found alternative accommodation at a location near Port Curtis Junction, and financed its move with assistance from Queensland Railways. Archer Park closed as a freight terminal and station on 14 January 1990. Mechanical and electric semaphore signalling was placed out of use, along with all points and crossovers leading into the station.

 

On 1 May 1990 Queensland Railways handed over the Archer Park station to the Rockhampton City Council as part of a plan to develop a museum on site. In 1996 conservation and refurbishment work was carried on the station building and carriage shed. The eastern or southbound main line along Denison Street was removed by Queensland Rail as part of its Main Line Upgrade programme. A section of the line two blocks in length was retained linking Archer Park station to its loop line; however all physical connection with the North Coast Line has now been removed.

  

Santa María la Blanca es un templo católico que está ubicado en la ciudad española de Toledo. Construida en el siglo XII como sinagoga, después de los pogromos del siglo XIV acabó transformada en una iglesia. En la actualidad el edificio pertenece a la Iglesia Católica, pero no se realiza culto en él. Se encuentra abierto al público y funciona como museo.

 

Arquitectura

 

Construido en 1180 (según testimonia la inscripción visible en una de sus vigas), este edificio mudéjar posee cinco naves separadas por pilares sobre los que descansan arcos de herradura. Si bien existe cierto contraste entre la sobriedad del exterior de la sinagoga y su elaborado interior, el edificio presenta no poca austeridad. Conforme a la tradición oriental, el mismo 'vive' hacia el interior. Esta sinagoga tuvo considerable influencia sobre otras sinagogas españolas; tal es el caso, por ejemplo, de la sinagoga de Segovia.

 

Estilo

 

Se trata de una construcción mudéjar, creada por canteros moros. Sus elementos de arquitectura incluyen paredes blancas y lisas, hechas de ladrillo, arcos de herradura y pilares octogonales, decoración geométrica en los frisos y vegetal en los capiteles de los pilares. Todas estas características y la distribución de los espacios, con sus naves formadas por la sucesión de arcos de herradura soportados por pilares, tienden a recordar la tipología propia de una mezquita. No obstante, en el siglo XIX, la articulación interior y estilo morisco de Santa María la Blanca han servido de modelo para importantes sinagogas europeas y americanas.

 

Los 32 pilares de este templo son de ladrillo recubierto por cemento y cal. Ornados de piñas y volutas, sus capiteles denotan influencia del arte románico. Por encima de los arcos de herradura prevalece la ornamentación abstracta en frisos horizontales que incluye molduras con delicados motivos basados en la interacción de líneas y medallones. Los entrelazados geométricos formados por las líneas son de origen almohade.

 

Historia

 

En 1260, la comunidad judía de Toledo obtuvo un permiso extraordinario del rey Alfonso X para reconstruir "la mayor y más hermosa sinagoga de España", siendo esto opuesto a una bula del papa Inocencio IV. El edificio fue erigido en territorio cristiano (Reino de Castilla) por constructores moros y tuvo como comitente y financista a la comunidad judía de Toledo, representada por don Yosef ben Shoshan.4 Una vez acabado, el edificio fue denominado "Sinagoga Mayor" pues era el principal centro de culto hebreo en Toledo. Ya desde sus inicios, ese templo formaba parte de las diez sinagogas toledanas consideras por Yehuda ben Shlomo al-Jarizi en sus escritos del siglo XII:

 

Vine a la extensa ciudad de Toledo, capital del reino, que está revestida del encanto de la dominación y ornada con las ciencias, mostrando a los pueblos y príncipes su belleza. [...] ¡Cuántas sinagogas hay en ella de belleza incomparable! Allí toda el alma alaba al Señor.5

  

Durante años los hebreos acudieron a la Sinagoga Mayor para orar y estudiar la Biblia, mas esto fue interrumpido por el asalto al barrio judío en 1355 y matanzas en 1391, ocasionados por los incendiarios discursos de Ferrán Martínez, Arcediano de Écija. En el contexto de la campaña de predicación de San Vicente Ferrer el edificio fue convertido en iglesia de la Orden de Calatrava bajo la advocación de la Virgen en 1411 y, desde entonces, se lo denominó "Iglesia de Santa María la Blanca". En 1550, el cardenal Siliceo la transformó en un beaterio para mujeres públicas arrepentidas. De entonces data el retablo de la escuela de Berruguete, obra de Juan Bautista Vázquez el Viejo y Nicolás Vergara el Viejo. Las transformaciones en la cabecera del edificio son de esta época y estuvieron a cargo del arquitecto Alonso de Covarrubias. Entre 1600 y 1701 el edificio permaneció desocupado. Durante el siglo XVIII fue cuartel de las tropas de la guarnición de Toledo. Con la invasión napoleónica de principios del siglo XIX fue convertido en depósito. A mediados del mismo siglo se lo declaró monumento nacional y, tras la guerra civil española, un real decreto del gobierno lo cedió a la Iglesia Católica. Con todo, no es para nada inusual referirse a dicho edificio como la "Sinagoga de Santa María la Blanca"

 

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Mar%C3%ADa_la_Blanca_%28Toled...

 

Santa María la Blanca (literally Saint Mary the White, originally known as the Ibn Shushan Synagogue, or commonly "The Congregational Synagogue of Toledo'") is a museum and former synagogue in Toledo, Spain. Erected in 1180,[1] it is disputably considered the oldest synagogue building in Europe still standing. It is now owned and preserved by the Catholic Church.

 

Its stylistic and cultural classification is unique as it was constructed under the Christian Kingdom of Castile by Islamic architects for Jewish use. It is considered a symbol of the cooperation that existed among the three cultures that populated the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages.

 

Style

 

The synagogue is a Mudéjar construction, created by Moorish architects on Christian soil for non-Islamic purposes. But it can also be considered one of the finest example of Almohad architecture because of its construction elements and style. The plain white interior walls as well as the use of brick and of pillars instead of columns are characteristics of Almohad architecture.[2] The typology also presents nuances in its classification, because although it was constructed as a synagogue, its hypostyle room, and the lack of a women's gallery, make it closer in character to a mosque. Though it does not have a women's gallery today, it did at one time have a women's gallery according to an early 20th century architect.[3]

 

It became a church in 1405 or 1411,[4] but no major reforms were done for the change. It took then the name of Santa María la Blanca (Saint Mary, the White), and today it is known by this name.

Location

 

The synagogue at Santa Maria la Blanca is located on the outskirts of Toledo situated between the Church of San Juan de los Reyes and the Synagogue of El Transito. Other well-preserved, pre-expulsion synagogues can be found in Híjar, Córdoba and Tomar.

Design

 

Santa Maria la Blanca was a wholly unusual synagogue, in both plan and elevation. The floor plan of the synagogue is an irregular quadrilateral divided into five aisles, with the central nave aisle slightly larger than the remaining four. The space runs between 26 and 28 meters long and between 19 and 23 meters wide. The interior features a series of arcades supported on a network of twenty-four octagonal piers and eight engaged piers. These octagonal supports line the central aisle of the synagogue and support the large arcade of horseshoe arches above. The arches rest on intricately detailed capitals with finely carved pinecones and other vegetal imagery. These capitals are Mudéjar in style and are derived from classical, Corinthian antecedents as well as Byzantine concepts.

Stylistic origins

 

The exact origins and original specifications of the synagogue prove difficult to place. Evidence points toward a construction date sometime in the late twelfth century or early thirteenth century. One commonly accepted opinion is that the temple was erected sometime around 1205, as documents from the time mention a "new", great synagogue located in Toledo. Another theory arises from a wooden tablet found in the area that describes a new structure saying, "Its ruins were raised up in the year 4940" [CE 1180]. This date is not irrational as the structure's style is closer to that of Moroccan monuments of the twelfth century such as Tinmal (1153) and Kuturbiyya (1150).[6] If this inscription indeed refers to Santa Maria la Blanca, then the synagogue may in fact be a refabrication of an existing building or a new building located on the same plot as a demolished one. Whether the synagogue's layout might have been lifted from a preexisting mosque located on the same site is still unclear and purely hypothetical.[7]

Patron

 

It is also somewhat unclear who might be the patron of the original synagogue, although evidence does prefer to identify Joseph ben Meir ben Shoshan, or Yusef Abenxuxen, as the original patron. Joseph was the son of a finance minister to King Alfonso VIII of Castile who, upon his death in 1205, recorded having built a synagogue. Some theories suggest Joseph rebuilt the temple after an uprising against Jews in Toledo. This reasoning may be the cause for the building's irregular floor plan and again points to a late-twelfth century construction. Other historians, such as L. Torres Balbas, note similarities between the plaster work in the aisles of Santa Maria la Blanca and the convent Las Huelgas de Burgos of a later date around 1275. However, the scale and proportion of the ornament, the nature of the ornamentation, the blank canvas against which the ornament is placed, as well as the way in which light is used in the space all correspond to structures contemporary with the earlier construction date.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Mar%C3%ADa_la_Blanca

  

Wer ist die Schönste im ganzen Land?

 

Here is a divination tool: the water mirror. It makes it possible to see, through our third eye, images of the future, but also, even if this use is less popular, past or future lives, entities... and many other things that you will discover during your practice if you try the experiment. To limit the mirror of water to a mere divinatory tool would be to amputate it from much of its use and mystery. However, as with any esoteric practice, you must feel ready to use it, it is not a question of going blindly, as this experience can be shocking for some people depending on how the session unfolds. You don't need a particular water level, no, you just have to feel ready and approach this tool and this experience with a lot of respect.

The Aztec god of night, Tzcatlipoca, is even supposed to have carried a magic mirror that enveloped his enemies in clouds of smoke. ... The first recorded case of mirror divination (known as catoptromancy) can be traced back to ancient China, India, Persia and Roma, where small metal mirrors were used to predict the life expectancy of the sick.CATOPTROMANCY. AND. THE. MAGIC. MIRROR. Cataptromancy is a form of divination using reflective surfaces, such as a mirror, water or some other suitable surface. Both the Magic Mirror and the Mandala may be used individually, by themselves as separate tools for externalising the consciousness.

 

Practice: To begin with, you need to find a water mirror, or if you don't have one, a normal mirror that you will use in the half-light, lit by one or two candles if you wish, or nothing at all if you see enough, it's up to you to judge when the time comes. Anyway, you will only have to use this mirror ONLY for this practice, it is extremely important (whether you dedicate it or not). And when you don't use it I advise you to cover it with a cloth, because once it has been used it becomes a kind of door, a link, and you will see, you will feel its power, the energy that will come out of it. Sit in front of your mirror, comfortably, and meditate for a few minutes on what you are going to do, your goal... When you feel ready, fix your third eye, or your eyes, through the mirror. After a while your eyes will sting you, which is normal, over time this sensation will fade. You can burn incense and arrange some crystals to help you during this exercise. Of course the crystals will vary according to your purpose and your affinities with them. Then the first phase will slowly set in place, you will see your orbits become black and your face unravel to become a skull before disappearing. This step can be frightening if you're not ready enough and I think it may be partly done to push some back, but not just that of course. When your skull disappears from the mirror everything can begin, take your time and observe! You have been able to read various experiments on the Internet, some of them do not fix their reflection, and therefore do not go through the "skull"stage. It's up to you to see what appeals to you the most, and therefore, what's best for you. As with all esoteric practices, there are always several ways to achieve the same result:) This is Catoptromancy (Gk. κάτοπτρον, katoptron, "mirror," and μαντεία, manteia, "divination"), also known as captromancy or enoptromancy, is divination using a mirror.Catoptromancy is a word you do not hear very often. Its meaning, however, is something which just about everyone knows about. Catoptromancy is a word derived from Greek which basically means “Mirrors in Divination”. The Evil Queen in Snow White asking for information by saying “Mirror, mirror on the wall” and old folk games of looking into a mirror to see the image of a future spouse are two example of catoptromancy. Another example – albeit a rather indirect one –is the mirror in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s The Lady of Shalott: this mirror is not magical from the standpoint that it, like any other mirror, simply reflects what is happening. However, the mirror crack’d from side to side the moment the Lady of Shalott fell under the curse, thus foretelling her imminent death. Therefore, this can be considered an example of catoptromancy or the use of a magical mirror.

 

An ancient Mesoamerican artifact is seen along its own reflection in an ancient Mesoamerican mirror with a carved wooden frame. While authorities on the subject of ancient Mesoamerican culture don't yet acknowledge these things, they are in no way restrained, ironically, from offering every praise short of it. Regarding the mirrors in general, Valliant, in "The Aztecs of Mexico, writes (pg. 116): "The making of the mirrors called much ingenuity into play... Blocks of obsidian were sometimes polished to produce an eerie and mysterious reflection. However, iron pyrites, burnished and shaped, were more common; and rarer examples had thin pyrite flakes laid in a mosaic and glued to a background of wood or shell. In another technique used on the coast the artisan detached a surface of pyrites in its matrix of slate, burnishing one side and carving the other to fashion a mirror with a carved back. One example, at least, is known of a mirror with marcasite with its surface ground as to produce a magnified reflection". Such praise reveals at the very least mundane sophistication like that which is also freely given regarding the optics marvels of the ancient orient. Similarly, Michael D. Coe, in "Mexico", writes: Certain Olmec sculptures and figurines show persons wearing pectorals of concave shape around the neck, and such have actually come to light in offerings, These oddly enough turned out to be concave mirrors of magnetite and ilmenite, the reflecting surfaces polished to optical specifications. What were they used for? Experiments have shown that they can not only start fires, but also throw images on flat surfaces like a camera lucida. They were pierced for suspension, and one can imagine the hocus-pocus which some mighty Olmec preist was able to perform with one of these. Imagine, indeed. Whether or not the priest could have impressed anyone, however, when the underlying principles are captured by every artist and given away to every citizen with nearly every gesture of the cultures in question, every artwork or every holiday, is another story altogether. Still, these fabulous optical properties, while certainly making solid testimony that these ancient people had a remarkably advanced grasp of sophisticated optics, may only be ideographic markers- outward superficial properties acting as labels for the even more incredible powers that these devices were made to possess. Tezcatlipoca, an Aztec deity whose name literally means, "Smoking Mirror", may be a fictitious contrivance used to label literature that allegorically describes the making, use, and principles of these mirrors. While the phrase "smoking mirrors" has even found its way into modern politics, no one seems to have a substantial clue to its origin. In the case of Tezcatlipoca, the "smoke" may have been a smudge or incense used to activate the mirrors; Mexican mugwort or a closely related specie is very probable.

This may yet prove to be another viable alternative to Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Pacific crossing to explaining the extreme degree of cultural parallels between peoples normally spoken of as isolated from one another; with the aid of such devices, they may have in fact been in constant communication. Here's another twist or two: ancient Egyptian mirrors often contain the same familiar birds as magick mirrors of Greece and elsewhere (left), but sometimes they don't (right), which remarkably either evokes the crescent as a magnetic symbols, or reduces the symbol of artificial intelligence to the universal feature of a face of a body of a human, rather suggestive of the artificial intelligence labeling of Crystal Skulls and Skull Oracles.The symbols are simple, but the rules do tend to vary somewhat.

This picture above in Alsace remain, "Sobek, god of a city called Crocodilopolis" (Lionel Casson, "Ancient Egypt", pg. 73), has strong elements of both magick mirrors and oracular skulls and points in the direction of the Egyptian and Vedic "mystical" Solar science .It also shows another variation on the frog symbol that remains within the reptilian.;The peculiar details of the window to other worlds may also encode details about the harmonic physics used in its creation or operation, like the designs on the Celtic magick mirrors, above. The harmonic science of magick mirrors and time cameras (the counter magnetic amplifier, shown below, could easily classify as a harmonic device, perhaps a magnetic harmonic resonator) brings us to an interesting place in the burgeoning science of hyperdimensional physics because we have all the pieces of how the ancients would have utilized the harmonic energy grid of the earth, but we may not yet be able to account for the absence of hundreds of pages of equations governing every detail and alignment of the ancient landmarks that appear on the predicted nodal points of world grid maps. The harmonic markings and symbols on many magick mirror devices may be telling us that these devices not only run on the same principles that are relevant to this planetary grid science, but implying they had a purpose as tools to abbreviate hard work of calculating such incredible aspects. One other trend or common denominator in various literature on the subject resembles what may be equivalent applications of Howard Wachpress' Unpaired Magnetic Pole Levitation design, comprised of odd/even poles made when irregular carvings or geometries are magnetized (The actual example on the cover of Tyson's book is one example, although he does not seem to be aware that this principle may be at work; other examples might be found in Lewis Spence's "Encyclopedia of Occultism"; the subject is also treated in De Givry's book). This design for a magnetic ship by Hughes can be found in George Frederick Kunz, "Curious Lore of Precious Stones", pg. 53. It originates from Valentini, "Museum Museorum," pt. III, Franckfurt am Mayn, 1714, pg. 35. Kunz's caption tells us that coral-agates were to be set in the network above the pilot, which was "supposed to possess such magnetic powers as to keep the craft aloft". Magnetic levitation designs have beeen, and remain contemporary with magnetic magic mirrors. The cover of Tyson's remarkable book. Whether or not the author is consciously aware of it, the mirror which is shown and which the book contains instructions for making, is one of a class of a great many of at least the last five centuries, whose number of engravings or the number of characters in cardinal points recalls the odd-even magnetic polar pairing of Howard Wachpress' magnetic levitation design. While the exact mechanism may be difficult to ascertain, mostly because the possibilities are particular numerous and some are inevitably complex, the connection in both form and function is immediately obvious. There may be little difference in many applications between the unpaired magnetic pole levitation system and the counter magnetic amplifier of Active Reseach and Development's time camera, or between the methods that Ernetti uses. Here, astrological glyphs are set against sides of the mirror frame. It is likewise a trend to use Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) with crystal balls and magic mirrors; Mugwort is also known as "Compass Plant" or here on the picture like a "Compass Boat" because it is one of those plants which aligns its leaves along a north/south magnetic axis as if it were magnetized. It may also affect human endocrine systems which interact with magnetism and or gravity. At left is Howard Wachpress' invention depicted in it's patent diagram. At right below, the counter magnetic amplifier in the Time Cameras offered by Active Research and Development. Note that the latter, intriguingly, is said to rely on Hieronymous' "Eloptics", and energy he named that has both the properties of ELectricity and OPTIC energy, or light.

Descriptions of superconducted electricity accelerating to light-like velocities certainly comes to mind; the device might also rely on various principles of symmetry as well as its magnetic attributes. The actual tuning system of one of ARD's more advanced models relies on skin electricity translating thought patterns for its tuning mode. Rather than being preposterous, this may be both a logical extension of the latest in physics and biology when the two fields are effectively joined, and such technology could become part of an amazing genera of devices. Whatever the individual believes about the artifacts gathered from the "Roswell Crash", the footage shows technology that may be astonishingly similar. This principle of translation may be intrinsic to how a great deal of true magick that involves mental processes is accomplished. Also helping to render plausibility is the fact that certain superconducting magnetic devices, known as SQUIDs, are said to amongst, if not the only, devices thus known capable of imaging energies that come from the hands of physic healers who perform "laying on of hands". If such technologies can interact with such forces, they can perhaps also modulate or even simulate them. Such technology, besides having tremendous potential in medical diagnostics, also has potentials in even more futuristic medicine and biology. Time cameras may be employed to retrieve biological pattern data for varied applications from identifying and reconstituting lost and even unknown species, to providing data about structure prior to disease states for reconstruction of biological systems. Such far-flung notions are precisely what some of the markings on the ancient Mesoamerican mirrors directly imply. Not at all surprisingly, T.G. Hieronymous' scientific achievements not only include his eloptics technology and patents, but his amazing Cosmiculture" wherein he succeeded in growing plants without sunlight, but rather with some mysterious force carried by electrical conductors from a solar plate. Robert Pavlita's amazing "Psychotronic" motor or generator (left), featured in Ostrander and Schroeder's classic, "Handbook of Psychic Discoveries" (Photo 28), created with a five part structure which may pit against two energetic poles, may turn out to be largely motivated by the same effect of unpaired poles as Howard Wachpress' levitator. Its structure perhaps not coincidentally recalls the features of hyperdimensional signatures on planetary magnetic poles in the solar system (see above).

At right, the well-known levitating stone raised by 11 people chanting "Qamar Ali Dervish", noted in Andrew Tomas' "We Are Not the First" and by many others, including KeelyNet files, may inevitably be primarily accomplished the same way, through the Wachpressian technology that may simply be another spin on the familiar theme of unipolar or homopolar dynamos, since the singular pole, real or contrived, most likely also serves as an "odd pole out". The Vimaanika-Shastra, an ancient Sanskrit text which describes in detail the making and operation of flying machine or "flying saucers", details the construction and use of a number of mirrors with unusual properties. While any of the many formulas in this vast collection whose ingredients can be successfully translated and identified could be thusly explained, or by following the instructions and analyzing the results, any eventual similarity between the workings of these mirrors and other ancient magick mirrors could help serve as a bridge toward linking the peculiar and complex science of this ancient Vedic text to the appropriate modern, if unusual, concepts and terminology.

From the Vimaanika-Shastra, found in 1908 in the Royal Baroda Library, translated by G. R. Joyser, and found in its entirety in "Vimana Aircraft of Ancient India and Atlantis" by David Hatcher Childress: "Darpanaadhikaranam: Mirrors and Lenses Mahrishi Bharadwaaja: "Darpanaashcha" Sootra 1

"Lenses": Bodhaananda Vritti: This chapter deals with the mirrors and lenses which are required to be installed in the vimaana. There are seven different ones. Their names are given by Lalla in "Mukura-kalpa" as Vishwakriyaa darpanana, or television mirror, Shaktyaakarshana darpana or power-capturing-mirror, Vyroopya darpana or appearance changing mirror, Kuntinee darpana, Pinjulaa darpana, Guhaagarbha darpana, and Rowdree darpana or terrifying darpana. Vishwakriyaa darpana is to be fixed on a revolving stand near the pilot so that he cold observe whatever is happening outside on all sides. Its manufacture is thus described in Kriyaasaara: Two parts of stava, 2 parts of shundilaka, one part of eagle bone, 5 parts of mercury, 2 parts of the foot-nails of the sinchoranee, 6 parts of mica, 5 parts of red lead, 8 parts of pearl dust, 18 parts of the eyeballs of sowmyaka fish, one part burning coal, 8 parts of snake’s slough, 3 parts of eye pigment, 6 parts of maatrunna, 10 parts of granite sand, 8 parts of salt, 4 of lead, 2 parts of sea foam, 3 parts white throated eagle’s skin, 7 parts of bamboo salt, 5 parts of vyraajya or white keg tree bark, these ingreedients should be purified, and weighed, and filled in a beaked crucible and placed in the furnace called chandodara and subjected to a 800 degree heat, and when duly liquified, should be poured into the funnel of the kara-darpana yantra or hand-mirror mold. The result will be an excellent mirror in which will be reproduced minature details of the world outside." Those familiar with ancient formulas, however peculiar their ingredients, know far better than to dismiss them. Information in "The Curious Lore of Precious Stones" by George Frederick Kunz gives more instances of applying minerals containing iron being applied to such magickal contrivances. (interestingly, this book makes detailed mention of a design for a flying craft by a Brazilian priest in the 1700's that may be also very much in essence like Wachpress's design mentioned above!). (Magic Screens of Ancient Asia are also mentioned in some of the above texts, a possibly closely related principle, where screens were made that show images inside the human body, probably equal to or greater than out own modern medical imaging.) What doesn't tie in to this topic? This photo, also appearing on Richard Hoagland's "Enterprise Mission" site on his pages on Hyperdimesional Physics , of one of Saturn's magnetic poles shows the hexagonal polar region that has been found on planets throughout the solar system, including Uranus and Mars, and most recently, the sun itself. Note that there's not only a hexagon (6 sides) but a 5-armed "star" shape, our familiar unpaired numerical matching, occurring on the magnetic poles of celestial bodies. (It certainly thereby makes some implications about the nature and purposes of pentagrams as well; they could scarcely be Satan's playthings and yet God's own signature as creator!)

Just as Hoagland implies how hyperdimensional physics was encoded by ancient peoples on earth and possibly elsewhere, the method of sending information through hyperspace may already be at work in magick mirrors, possibly due to angular momentum effects of the magnetic fields rotating due to unpaired pole effects. The theory behind magick mirrors may not just be a communications utility, it may shed light on celestial mechanics, and the same technology may provide sane amounts of free energy for human use. And that may only be the beginning... As to the traditions of Ancient Wisdom... amongst the other enlightenment that can be found amongst them, as meaning layers over meaning, upheld and facilitated by the science of Correspondences, we might find significant details of these devices and rites labeled with allusions that fall under the motif of reflection: Echo and Narcissus, Perseus and Medusa... just as we may find them under the theme of closeness to the waterside, since it is part of Pausanius' account of Catoptromancy: Romulus and Remus, Temperance in the Tarot, The Star in the Tarot, Echo and Narcissus once again, etc., etc.... Someday, even if the phone company has shut you off, you may be able to summon help in an emergency, "As the crow flies", and never be obstructed from communion with those whom you love... but the technology also promises to be of inestimable value in medicine and healing as well.

Catoptromancy should not be confused with crystal gazing, although both divinatory methods fall under the category of “scrying” – looking into water, a mirror, a crystal or any other transparent object in order to see the future or contact a supernatural entity.Pausanias, an ancient Greek traveler, described as follows: Before the Temple of Ceres at Patras, there was a fountain, separated from the temple by a wall, and there was an oracle, very truthful, not for all events, but for the sick only. The sick person let down a mirror, suspended by a thread till its base touched the surface of the water, having first prayed to the goddess and offered incense. Then looking in the mirror, he saw the presage of death or recovery, according as the face appeared fresh and healthy, or of a ghastly aspect.This method of divination has been frequently used in various forms since ancient times on mirrors made of polished metal: copper, bronze, iron, silver or gold. There are traces of it in Chaldea and Mesopotamia. Of course, the surface of water or any other reflective surface was also suitable2. The Sagas of Thessaly traced on mirrors their sibylline formulas with blood: immediately the moon - another mirror - reflected these bloody characters, then the answer was imprinted on its silver crescent. This is how the oracle was rendered "3. In his Description of Greece (around 174) Pausanias le Périégète writes in his Description of Greece:

In front of this temple there is a fountain which on the side of the temple itself is closed by a wall of dry stones; outside there is a path that goes down. It is claimed that this fountain makes oracles that never deceive; it is consulted not on all kinds of affairs, but only on the state of the sick. A mirror is attached to the end of a string and held suspended above the fountain so that only the end touches the water. Then prayers are made to the Goddess, perfumes are burned in her honour, and as soon as we look in the mirror we see if the sick person will return to health or die; this kind of divination does not extend further. ».The Roman Emperor Didius Julianus (193) had similar practices as Spartianus relates: Julianus even resorted to this kind of divination, which is done with the help of a mirror, in which, it is said, children see the future, after their eyes and heads have been subjected to certain enchantments. It is claimed that, in this circumstance, the child lives in the mirror when Severus arrives and Julianus leaves.

The Renaissance also had its share of divinations by mirrors, the doctor Jean Fernel 1497-1558 relates: The gestures of these figures were so expressive that each of the assistants, who saw like him in the mirror, could well understand their mimicry. One evening in 1559, Cosme Ruggieri, the magician of Catherine de Médicis, used it at the Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire to predict to the Queen Mother Queen the duration of the reign of her sons, who had to make as many turns on themselves as they had spent years on the throne. Francis II made a tour, Charles IX fourteen, Henry III fifteen and the Prince of Navarre (the future Henry IV) twenty-one8. In November 1582 John Dee, the Magician of Elizabeth I of England, saw the Uriel Angel appear at his window one evening. He gave her a polished black stone which, when fixed with insistence, showed up beings capable of telling the future. This strange dark mirror is currently on display in the British Museum. Catoptromancy is quite common in the folk magic of nearly every country. For centuries, mirrors were considered powerful tools: if they could capture physical images of the world, perhaps they could also capture the supernatural. To this day, it is not uncommon in many Eastern European countries for surviving family members to cover the mirrors or turn them to face the wall after a person in the household has died, for fear the recently released soul may become caught inside the mirror. Mirrors have often been used as a tool in folk magic. One of the most common applications of catoptromancy is the old ritual, which every culture seems to have a variation of, that involves a young woman looking into a mirror in the hopes that the face of her future husband will be revealed. Sometimes, this game would be taken quite seriously and there would be other rules regarding the age of the girl and what she may or may not have been wearing, as well as what day of the year was the best for performing the ritual.

 

Many young women may have been scared away from playing this game by the possibility that she may in fact see an image of the Golden House in the mirror. This would mean that manor would be full kindness to accept holistic's students. Frederick II was the first Germanic and Italian Emperor, he had brought the divinatory sciences back to Alsace and his Sicilian doctors who of course spoke Arabic. The Egyptians' divination and secrets were part of the Moorish culture, they had assimilated the Persian culture with Zarathustra as well as the Greek culture with Plato, or the Egyptians with Hermes-Thot. The golden manor is reflected in this boat asleep in the waves of a regenerating winter, it reminds us of the memory of the last Germanic Emperor William II and his golden eagle floating between two waters in the gable which traces its extended wings, we are ready for a flight to the hidden dimension of a reversible World. Wer ist die Schönste im ganzen Land?

Nearer to us, J. T Reinaud (1795-1867), Orientalist commenting at the beginning of the 19th century on the museum of the Duke of Blacas, writes: The Orientals also have magical mirrors in which they imagine themselves to be able to reveal the angels, the archangels; by perfuming the mirror, by fasting for seven days and keeping the most severe retreat, one becomes able to see, either with one's own eyes or those of a virgin or a child, the angels that one desires to evoke.

Today, catoptromancery is still widely used in sub-Saharan Africa.Interpretations[edit | modify code] One can give two kinds of interpretations to visions obtained in mirrors. First of all, these visions are of dreamlike, hypnotic or hallucinatory nature, provoked by the atmosphere and rituals frequently involving semi-darkness, a long period of concentration sometimes preceded by fasting and the use of fumigations that can be hallucinogenic (see above). As psychologist Pierre Janet writes: People who have seen in these mirrors will certainly say,"I knew nothing of all this. Well, I have to tell you that your statement is inaccurate. You knew very well what you saw appearing. They are memories acquired, at fixed dates, recorded knowledge, daydreams and reasoning already done. » From the Renaissance onwards, the use of techniques to obtain all sorts of illusions using semitransparent or judiciously arranged mirrors was added to this, and Jean-Baptiste Porta, like this one, described in great detail at that time: How can we make a mirror out of several full mirrors, to which, at the same time, several effigies will appear "12, techniques still used today by illusionists.

 

Vision of her future husband on Halloween night. According to Anglo-Saxon tradition, a young girl presenting herself in front of a mirror with a candle lit by hand during Halloween night would see the face of her future husband pass by... or a skull if she had to die before her marriage! A legend has it that by performing a certain ritual in front of a mirror on the night of Epiphany we could see ourselves as we were at the time of his death. There is also the urban legend of Bloody-Mary, which has many variations. If you place yourself in front of a mirror in a dark room (a bathroom for example), lit only by a candle, and you pronounce thirteen times in a row the name "Bloody Mary" it appears the bloody face of a woman who attacks you...With the exception of the Magic Mirror in Snow White, the best example of catoptromancy is the old Halloween party game “Bloody Mary”. The tradition developed out of the old fashioned attempt to see the face of your future spouse. The idea of calling on “Bloody Mary” started during the Elizabethan Era: A young, Protestant woman, hopeful for a good life with a future husband and lots of children, would look into the mirror and taunt the ghost of the Catholic queen Bloody Mary, a woman who had been physically unable to produce an heir. As the years went by, the religious tensions which created the Bloody Mary game were forgotten. Eventually, the game was somehow combined with the urban legend of Bloody Mary, a horrifying and perhaps vengeful specter (again, with variations from different eras and cultures). After this happened, the idea of it being a ritual for the discovery your future spouse was jettisoned as well. Anytime Bloody Mary is called on now, it is just a simple dare or Halloween prank, usually played by young children, in order to cause a good scare.

A type of divination with a mirror which the second century AD Greek traveler Pausanius described as follows: "Before the Temple of Ceres at Patras, there was a fountain, separated from the temple by a wall, and there was an oracle, very truthful, not for all events, but for the sick only. The sick person let down a mirror, suspended by a thread till its based touched the surface of the water, having first prayed to the goddess and offered incense. Then looking in the mirror, he saw the presage of death or recovery, according as the face appeared fresh and healthy, or of a ghastly aspect." Another divinatory method of using a mirror was to place it at the back of a boy's or girl's head when their eyes were bandaged shut. In Thessaly the responses appeared in characters of blood on the face of the moon, probably projected in the mirror. This practiced was derived by the Thessalian sorceresses from the Persians who wanted to establish their religion and mystical rituals in the countries which they invaded. A.G.H.

 

Catoptromancy is the technique used by Snow White's evil mother-in-law in Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm's famous tale:"Little mirror, little mirror on the wall, which is the most beautiful of the whole country? ». In Lewis Carol's tale, Alice in Wonderland passes through the fantastic universe on the other side of the mirror.Grimms’ Schneewittchen or Snow White is one of the oldest and most famous stories in the world. Catoptromancy is a very important part of this tale – in fact, one could easily say that the entire story centers around catptromancy. The action all starts when the Evil Queen asks “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?”

The Mirror or the Queen’s use of catoptromancy in the story is what causes her to want to kill Snow White. And, in turn, it is what leads the heroine into home of the Seven Dwarfs. The Mirror carries the story further by refusing to answer the Queen’s question – “Who is the fairest of them all?” – in a way she would like. Through the Mirror, the Queen knows that her first two attempts to murder Snow White have failed, and she eventually uses the seemingly effective poisoned apple to rid herself of her rival.Spieglein, Spieglein an der Wand,- The Evil Queen’s invocation of the mirror in the Grimms’ original German. A magical mirror, in some form, has played a part in probably every adaptation of Snow White that has ever been made. This is not only because of the importance of catoptromancy in folklore, but also because this story expounds on the difference between vanity and beauty.

  

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catoptromancy

“AND THE BUILDING BECOMES MAN”: MEANING AND AESTHETICS IN RUDOLF STEINER’S GOETHEANUM

Carole M. Cusack

Introduction

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), founder of the Anthroposophical Society, is renowned for his work in widely varied fields including education, biodynamic agriculture, politics, banking, poetry, and drama (Hammer 2009: 209). His accomplishments in architecture are among his less well-understood cultural productions. His two greatest achievements – the buildings known as Goetheanum I and Goetheanum II (the latter built after the destruction by fire on 31 December 1922 of the former structure), in the small town of Dornach near Basel in the canton of Jura, Switzerland – have been described as “sculptural architecture,” of a kind similar in Expressionist form to works by his contemporaries Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926), Hermann Obrist (1863-1927), and the younger Hermann Finsterlin (1887-1973) (Sharp 1966). The focus of this chapter, Goetheanum II, is a giant sculpted concrete form four stories high, with sweeping lines that give the effect of a monolith. It is headquarters to the Anthroposophical movement, and contains a one-thousand seat auditorium in which religio-spiritual performances of Eurythmy (Steiner’s movement art, which he initiated in 1912) take place. Contributors to a 1960 issue of the Swiss architectural magazine

Werk featuring the building agreed that its design required “a uniform worldview and lifestyle” (quoted in Steinberg 1976: 4). This is the case: to understand both incarnations of the Goetheanum, built as “Schools for Spiritual Science,” requires an understanding of Anthroposophy and of Steiner himself. Richard A. Peterson has posited that the main “symbol-creating domains most often identified [are] art, science, and religion” (Peterson 1976: 673). Anthroposophy, as developed by Steiner, is a philosophy that integrated all three of these domains, and which formed the basis for an enthusiastic programme of cultural production. This chapter considers the meanings embedded in the aesthetic choices of Steiner in the design and construction of both Goetheanum I and Goetheanum II. Steiner thought that Western Europe needed to re-orientate its Weltanschauung

as a spiritual priority and that art was a crucial part of this regenerative process. David Brain’s argument that cultural production creates society itself is relevant here. Brain states that “[t]he social construction of cultural artefacts entails the production of practices which, in turn, enact their own status in broader social contexts by inscribing both the boundaries of cultural domains and the social status of the author in qualities of the artefact” (Brain 1994: 193). Expressionist artists, some of whom (for example the Russian Wassily Kandinsky) shared Steiner’s Theosophical background, shared his vision for the spiritual renewal of Europe. Steiner could not have been unaware of a range of significant Expressionist philosophies and artistic forms present in Europe during his lifetime, and particularly at the time he was developing Anthroposophy. As a lecturer he travelled extensively, and came into contact with many artists and writers who shared mystical ideas about art. His vision for the headquarters of Anthroposophy was grandiose, like that of many other Expressionists, though unlike most of them he had the opportunity to construct his vision himself. Goetheanum II has also been referred to as a

Gesamtkunstwerk (‘total work of art’), a term associated with Richard Wagner (1813-1883) and with architects such as Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd Wright, who influenced the interiors as well as the exteriors of their buildings (Adams 1992: 182). Yet Steiner wanted something specific for his group; “[n]ot to build in a style born out of our spiritual world view, would mean to deny Anthroposophy in her own house” (quoted in Steinberg 1976: 82). The Goetheanum embodies Anthroposophical ideals, and Anthroposophy inhabited the entire cultural life of its adherents. For Steiner this came in the form of cosmological insights, which could best be achieved in the sculptural shapes and organic forms, derived from the natural world, of the Goetheanum (in both its first and second incarnations). This chapter first considers Rudolf Steiner’s spiritual quest, Anthroposophy, the teaching he developed, and the place of art and cultural production in his vision for a transformed humanity. The creation of seventeen buildings between 1908 and 1925 in Dornach, which in the twenty-first century is a community of approximately six thousand, was a major achievement in embodying the Anthroposophical ideal of revealing a “logic of life” deriving from Goethe’s writings on the natural sciences and esoteric Christianity, in physical forms, and transformed Dornach into something of a pilgrimage centre for Anthroposophists and spiritual seekers (Reese 1965: 146). The meaning and construction of Goetheanum I is explained, then the chapter’s focus shifts to the realised Anthroposophical theology of Goetheanum II, which was designed by Steiner in 1923 but not completed until 1928, three years after his death. This magnificent building is a magnet for tourists and architecture enthusiasts, as quite apart from its Anthroposophical significance, it is a remarkable and beautiful example of Expressionist architecture.

Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) was born in Donji Kraljevec, a village in what is now Croatia but was then Hungary, in the Austrian Empire. He was educated by his father, the provincial stationmaster at Pottschach in Lower Austria, and at the local school. In his uncompleted autobiography, Steiner claimed that by the time he turned eight “the reality of the spiritual world was to me as certain as that of the physical,” and that he was able to communicate with the spirits (Davy 1975a: 12). He was heartened to discover that geometry (and mathematics more generally) was about invisible realities that had been discovered by humans. From 1879 to 1883 he studied mathematics and physics at the Technische Hochschule (Institute of Technology) in Vienna. Steiner funded his studies by working as a tutor, chiefly in philosophy, classics, and literature. During this time he met two people who would significantly affect his development; “an old peasant herb-gatherer … [who] possessed faculties of spiritual perception which allowed him to see deep into the secrets of nature and know, for example, the curative properties of herbs” and “Professor Karl Julius Schroer, the great Goethe scholar” (Davy 1975a: 14). After graduation he was employed at the Goethe Archive in Weimar, where he worked on Goethe’s scientific writings under the direction of Joseph Kürschner, who was preparing a new edition of Goethe’s works (Landau 1935: 50). In 1891 Steiner received his doctorate in philosophy from Rostock University and the next phase of his intellectual and spiritual quest began. This was concerned to relate the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) to that of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1742-1832). From 1897 to 1900 Steiner resided in Berlin, where he edited the

Magazin für Literatur

, “visited Nietzsche, [and] wrote introductions to the works of Schopenhauer” (Schwarz 1983: 11). During this period

he became deeply interested in Theosophy and was a key player in the establishment of the Nietzsche Archive. In 1902 Steiner became head of the Theosophical Society in Germany. Yet, his orientation shifted in the first decade of the twentieth century as he embraced a combination of natural science and esoteric Christianity, partly through the influence of Marie von Sivers, an actress and artist of Russian extraction (Davy 1975a: 20). Von Sivers became his second wife in 1914 after the death of Anna Eunicke, whom he had married in 1899 and separated from a few years later. In 1901 von Sivers had asked Steiner “[w]ould it be possible to create a spiritual movement based on European tradition and the impetus of Christ?”

 

The Theosophical Society had always looked to Hinduism and Buddhism, to the East, for spiritual inspiration; Madame Blavatsky’s “Masters” were Tibetan lamas, and Annie Besant, her successor, and her colleague Charles Webster Leadbeater promoted Jiddu Krishnamurti as the next World Teacher (

Maitreya in Buddhism, also known as the “Cosmic Christ”). It was Theosophy’s endorsement of Krishnamurti that caused Steiner to leave the movement, and to form the Anthroposophical Society late in 1912. The first meeting was convened on 13 February 1913. Steiner was convinced of the crucial and unrepeatable nature of the “Christ impulse,” which was introduced into the human soul through the “Mystery of Golgotha” (Steiner 1976: 63). Christ, for Steiner, was the paradigmatic Being, and a human being at that. Anthroposophy means “the wisdom of man,” and is therefore explicitly contrasted with Theosophy, “the wisdom of God.” Steiner thought that modern

spiritual knowledge should depend, not upon external revelations, but rather upon the development of human mental powers … He claimed to teach nothing he had not himself known through … methods of “spiritual scientific” research … Until his death in 1925, he worked … to develop examples of practical applications of anthroposophy in diverse fields, including education, agriculture, economics, medicine – and architecture (Adams 1992: 185).

Steiner taught that modern humans, influenced by empirical science and logical reasoning, had lost the consciousness possessed by ancient humans, in which the individual was understood to be a microcosm of the universe, and life had meaning accordingly. He advocated the gaining of “Initiation knowledge” of “Mysteries,” which involved developing the human will; and cultivating active thinking, which becomes “an organ of touch for the soul, so that we may feel ourselves thinking in the same way that we walk, grasp or touch; so that we know that we are living in a real being” (Steiner 1991; 13-14). Steiner continued to employ Theosophical concepts, including: the notions that human beings have an etheric body beyond the physical, and an astral body beyond the etheric; the existence of higher beings,

karma

and reincarnation, and the essential unity of religion and science. He placed great emphasis on the cultivation of Imagination, Inspiration, and Intuition, which are creative capacities in ordinary human life. Yet Steiner argued that, like the capacity for love, quotidian experiences of imagination, inspiration, and intuition were only “dim promptings,” a “shadow- picture[s]” of highest cognition, the attainment of which humans must strive toward (Steiner 1991: 25). Like his near contemporary G. I. Gurdjieff (1866?-1949), Steiner spoke of the radical discontinuity between subjective human states, and “objective”

love, art, and so on. Both men, following Madame Blavatsky’s lead, presented their esoteric teachings as occult science, a comprehensive system that restored to modern humans their ancient spiritual birthright, and which had the capacity to create a true self, delivering moderns from the splintered identity they customarily experienced. Both systems were cosmological in orientation, presented the physical world as alive, and engaged in processes of transformation. Steiner argued that sleep and dreams were access points to the supersensible world, where spiritual beings could be encountered, and that these beings could waken dead matter, transforming it into living nature:

[a]ll … in those hills, is expecting that one day it will be able to dream, and so with dream- consciousness to take hold of lifeless matter, and from these rocks and hills to conjure forth once more as embryos, seeds, living plants. It is indeed these beings who bring before our souls a wonderful magic of nature, a creating from out of the spirit (Steiner 1991: 77).

Anthroposophy understands all within the physical world to be evolving into higher forms, and in humans the development of spiritual senses enables the “digestion” of experiences by the soul. With this digestion, certain cosmological realisations are possible; for example, recognition of the interrelatedness of the human being with the whole of creation will lead to the person “becom[ing] a living Zodiac” or absorbing the wisdom of the dead (Steiner 1975: 37). It is crucial that humans learn that “the world [is] a book which the Hierarchies have written for us, in order that we may read in it, then only do we become Man in the full sense of the word” (Steiner 1975: 77). For Steiner, becoming “Man” fully involved the realisation that the human was a microcosm of the macrocosmic cosmos. The logical consequence of this is that the human being is the model for everything; the system that offers the key to all other systems. In 1911, Steiner wrote a poem for Marie von Sivers, which began, “Shaping the world in the self/ Seeing the self in the world/ Is the breath of the soul” (Steiner and Steiner-Von Sivers 1988: 121). The centrality of Christ in Anthroposophy follows from this teaching, and Steiner’s teaching contained many examples of this “fractal” structure in which each component is broken down into components that are smaller models of the whole. The layering of physical body, etheric body, astral body, and Ego is similar, though the underlying principle is not one of size but spiritual development (King 1987 [1986]: 360). Anthroposophists often use homeopathy, a form of holistic treatment developed by Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), which operates on the same principles of intensification through breaking down to minute quantities, reflecting the occult teaching of the

Emerald Tablet

of Thoth (or Hermes), “as above, so below” (Shumaker 1972: 165). Hahnemann believed that like substance should be employed to cure like ailment, and Francis King states that, “[h]ighly dynamized or potentized medicaments are possessed of qualities pertaining to non-material modes of being” (King 1987 [1986]: 64). The cosmological dimension is not neglected either; cosmic data, such as planetary events, are also factored into the process of making remedies within Anthroposophy. Steiner’s debt to his master, Goethe, is everywhere apparent; Goethe had spoken of coming to understanding through “the inner sense” and had asserted that, “every living thing is not an isolated being, but a majority” (quoted in Pehnt 1991: 9). He was notably influenced by Goethe’s notion of metamorphosis; if the archetype of a plant was located, “out of that conceptual archetypal plant one could think out countless numbers of special forms” (Steiner 1938: 3). Chapters in this

volume by Liselotte Frisk and Alex Norman treat other aspects of Steiner’s Anthroposophical teachings.

Steiner’s Teachings on Art

Due to his concentration on the human development of Imagination, Inspiration, and Intuition, Steiner accorded a prime place to artistic endeavours within his system of esoteric development. He understood that the imaginative capacity was engaged when human consciousness was clear of physical “pictorial impressions” and filled with “etherically pictorial impressions.” When these were cleared from consciousness and the person was aware of the void, “into that state of voidness pour astral impressions” (King 1987 [1986]: 37). This signalled that the inspirational capacity was engaged. When the intuitive capacity was engaged, Steiner claimed that the spiritual has been “brought to full consciousness and has been born to a new life in which he or she is a spirit being dwelling amongst other spirit beings” (King 1987 [1986]: 38). Steiner himself worked in a wide range of creative arts with notable success; he was a poet, sculptor, painter, and architect, “the creator of a new art of movement,” Eurythmy, and a dramatist (Klingborg 1975: 48). Steiner himself allied the arts very closely with true religion, saying “Anthroposophical Spiritual Science is from the beginning so placed, that it flows as one stream from a source out of which both art and religion in their origins can also flow” (Steiner 1938: 7). Steiner’s ideas on the spiritual function of art reflected a wider concern in European society just prior to the outbreak of World War I; for example, the Theosophically-inclined Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), a member of the art movement

Der Blaue Reiter

(“the blue rider”) published the hugely influential

On the Spiritual in Art

(1912), which called for a return to the spiritual as the fundamental inspiration for art and the principal aim of artistic production (Fant, Klingborg and Wilkes et al 1975: 9-10). Steiner commenced writing a series of Mystery Plays in 1909 with Marie von Sivers, who as mentioned above, was an actress. The four resulting plays were pictorial scenes intended to convey spiritual truths, and were performed in theatres. The four titles were “The Portal of Initiation: A Rosicrucian Mystery” (1910), “The Soul’d Probation: A Life Tableau in Dramatic Scenes” (1911), “The Guardian of the Threshold: A Series of Soul Events in Dramatic Pictures” (1912), and “The Soul’s Awakening: A Drama of the Soul and Spirit” (1913) (Steiner 2007). Drama is an embodied art, and in Steiner’s lecture series

The Arts and Their Mission

(1923) he placed great emphasis on the fact that ancient peoples in Greece, Rome, India, and other countries were at harmony with their bodies and did not suffer from the mind- body dualism that plagues modern people. As important as the unity of the mind and body, Steiner asserted, was the “unity of spiritual life and art,” which Goethe deeply apprehended but which is no longer experienced (Steiner 1964: 15). Unsurprisingly, Steiner was critical of mimetic art, claiming that it could only reproduce things in nature, whereas true art could express “kinship with the spiritual world” (Steiner 1964: 16), and was experiential; it was not sufficient to see the colour red but it was necessary to experience “red or blue in the spiritual world” (Steiner 1991: 21). In art, as in spiritual exercises and authentic life experiences, humans were enabled to be truly themselves. Therefore Steiner paid close attention to the body, teaching on food and diet, clothing and costume, and art forms that partook of bodily experience.

The movement art of Eurythmy shared certain qualities with the Mystery Plays, in that both art forms were externalisations of “innermost laws” that were perceived through bodily actions. The first Eurythmy classes were taught in 1912, and by 1919 two courses of training had been developed and Steiner’s eurythmists had toured Europe giving public demonstrations. Marie von Sivers and Lory Smits, an early teacher of the art, contributed significantly to its development. The esoteric meaning of Eurythmy was emphasised by Steiner:

[w]e are setting the human organism in motion; we are making its limbs move. The limbs, more than any other part of the human body, are what pass over into the life of the next incarnation. They point to the future, to what comes after death. But how do we shape the limb movements we bring forth in eurythmy. In the sense realm and in the supersensory realm we study how the larynx and all the speech organs have been brought over from the previous life and shaped by the intellectual potentials of the head and the feeling potentials of the chest. We directly link what precedes birth with what follows death. In a certain sense, we take from earthly life only the physical medium, the actual human being who is the tool or instrument of eurythmy. But we allow this human being to make manifest what we study inwardly … Eurythmy shapes and moves the human organism in a way that furnishes direct external proof of our participation in the supersensory world. In having people do eurythmy, we link them directly to the supersensory world (Steiner 2006: 17).

Eurythmy is thus explicitly cosmological and anthropological, linking the human person’s body as it manifests in this lifetime with their previous and future lives and with the universe of which the person is a microcosm. In Anthroposophical circles Eurythmy has been referred to as the speech of the soul. Steiner wrote extensively on literature, music, and painting, but for the purpose of this chapter his remarks architecture are most relevant. He stated, “[o]h soul, if you wish to leave the physical body in order to regain a relationship with the cosmos, what aspect will you take on? – this was the question. The forms of architecture were, so to speak, answers” (Steiner 1964: 23-24). From the perspective of the production of culture, “the symbolic elements of culture are shaped by the systems within which they are created, distribute, evaluated, taught, and preserved” (Peterson and Anand 2004: 311). In the case of Steiner’s buildings in Dornach, the ‘system’ is Anthroposophy. For Steiner, buildings (like all art forms) should not slavishly imitate forms witnessed in nature, but should rather exhibit organic forms like living nature, and stand in the same mirror relation to nature as the human body does to the macrocosmic universe. For Steiner, in a very real sense, buildings were alive. His application of Goethe’s notion of metamorphosis to architecture meant that, to quote Rex Raab, “the transformation of mass and shape according with a recognisable motive or theme appropriate to the task, creates ‘the appearance of consciousness’” (Raab 1975: 70). For Steiner, the building and its natural setting created “landscape,” which was creative and active, and spiritual power (for example, from the cardinal directions or the heavenly bodies) could be tapped through the strategic design of buildings (Bockemühl 1981: 42). This made environments like Dornach able to facilitate the spiritual development of those people who lived there and interacted with the architecture. In short, human creativity was intimately connected to divine creativity.

Goetheanum I at Dornach .…

During World War I, Steiner and his followers began constructing Goetheanum I on a hill in Dornach. Wolfgang Pehnt observes that, at that time, the Birs valley was open country, “half cultivated nature and half a little world of buildings” (Pehnt 1991: 7). Steiner’s architectural ambition for the Anthroposophical headquarters was initially to erect a twin-domed meeting hall, provisionally called the Johannesbau, in Munich. This was conceived as a Theosophical structure, as he had decorated the interior of the Tonhalle in Munich for the 1907 European Theosophical Congress, and there was enthusiasm for a building in which Steiner’s Mystery Plays, discussed above, could be performed in (Schwarz 1983: 14-26). Architect Carl Schmid-Curtius was engaged to realise Steiner’s design concept. But in May 1913, after Steiner broke with the Theosophical Society, his friend Dr Emil Grosheintz donated land in Dornach to be the site of the building, now to be called the ‘Goetheanum’. There was only one structure on the hill at the time, in which Steiner resided. The foundation stone, which was aligned east-west, was laid with great ceremony (in which Steiner invoked spirit guides and protectors, and noted the stone’s formation “in accordance with the cosmic picture of the human soul”) on 30 September 1913 (Schwarz 1983: 36). Nearly two hundred of Steiner’s pupils, from seventeen different countries, worked on Goetheanum I in 1913 and 1914. The building was 272 feet long, 243 feet wide, and 111 feet high, with a sixty-five thousand cubic metre interior space. It was oriented east-west, with the stage beneath the smaller of the two domes and the seating area beneath the larger. Rex Raab notes the “domes were clad in Norwegian slate, which shone silvery in the Jura landscape” (Raab 1975: 63). A major sculpture,

The Representative of Humanity

, nine metres high and sculpted of wood, by Steiner and his collaborator Edith Maryon, depicted the dark and light aspects of being (which he named for Ahriman, the Zoroastrian “Evil Spirit” and Lucifer, the Biblical angel and “Light Bearer”), stood in the Goetheanum. These figures represented the closed self and the open self, and were united by the central figure of Christ, “The Representative of the Human” (Klingborg 1975: 50). The acoustic qualities of the structure were important in that it was intended for performances. Goetheanum I was built of wood; Rom Landau says that, “Steiner used for its construction the same seven different kinds of wood which are used for the construction of a violin, and the ceiling of the main hall was as buoyant as the walls of a violin” (Landau 1935: 71). In a 1921 lecture, Rudolf Steiner repudiated the idea that Goetheanum I should be read symbolically, rather asserting that it was built according to laws that made possible the “revelation of the supersensible world in the sensible” (Steiner 1938: 9). He further claimed that the organic forms of the structure were an attempt to explore creation itself, in the manner of Goethe’s idea of metamorphosis. The macrocosmic-microcosmic principle described above was present in the first Goetheanum; at one point Steiner, describing the stair-hall, says;

I arrived, through feeling, at the development of these three semi-circular canals standing in the three directions of space at right-angles. If you go up this staircase, you have this calming sensation. It is not copied – that it certainly is not – but afterwards I remembered that the three semi-circular canals of the ear also stand in these three directions of space. When they are injured, man falls down in a faint: they are therefore closely connected to the laws of balance. It did not arise out of a naturalistic desire to copy, but from experiencing the same element by which the aural canals are arranged (Steiner 1938: 12).

This quotation makes it clear that, for Steiner, mimetic art (that which seeks to copy nature and produce “life-like” artistic products) is an inferior, or perhaps entirely

illegitimate form of art. Spiritual art, which brings people into contact with the supersensible through the sensible, is, rather, the production of artworks that embody certain laws that resonate with the embodied viewer. He does allow that the first Goetheanum featured some occult symbolism (for example there were five pointed forms that could be interpreted as pentagrams, though they could also be seen as leaves), but in general the building’s effect was intended to be emotional rather than intellectual. The building’s interior featured just one inscribed word, “Ich.” Of this, Steiner said it referred to “Faust striving towards the fully-conscious ‘I’ – towards the ‘ICH’ embodying itself in the word. The older languages had ‘I’ incorporated in the verb; in this epoch it is right that a separate word for it should appear” (Steiner 1938: 16). The interior of the Goetheanum was flooded with symbolic colours, facilitated by huge red and yellow glass windows and “luminous wall paintings” that exemplified the colour theory of Goethe (Adams 1992: 200). By the time the Goetheanum I was finished, Schmid-Curtius was no longer involved, and the team of Ernst Aisenpreis (who also worked on the Goetheanum II) and Hermann Ratzenberger, assisted by Albert von Baravalle, oversaw the final stages of construction (Schwarz 1983: 51). Goetheanum I was sited among other early buildings at Dornach, including Haus Duldeck (now the archives), the Boiler House (with its dramatic “flame” chimney), and the Glashaus, all constructed between 1913 and 1916. The latter two also featured twin domes, and all exhibited an absence of straight lines and a preponderance of curves and organic forms (Adams 1992: 187-188). On 31 December 1922, New Year’s Eve, a Eurythmy performance was held in Goetheanum I at 5 PM, and at 8 PM Steiner delivered a lecture to the audience. At the close of the evening most people left; shortly after, the building was discovered to be on fire (Anon 1923). It was not possible to save it, and Goetheanum I was destroyed after eight brief years. Anna Samweber, in her memoir of life with Steiner and his wife, describes the rescue of the sculpture, “The Representative of Humanity,” from the flames. She also notes the fear that the nearby Schreinerei, a building “with the halls and Rudolf Steiner’s studio,” might also catch alight (Samweber 1991: 30). Although it was never proven, many Anthroposophists believed that the fire was arson; that “non-Anthroposophists could not bear the beauty that was created for such a unique spiritual group” (Steinberg 1976: 57). Steiner was deeply distressed by the destruction of Goetheanum I, and his health began to decline. He decided that the second Goetheanum would be built entirely in concrete to render it more durable.

Haus Duldeck. There was considerable opposition to the erection of Goetheanum II by the local council, probably motivated by hostility to Steiner and Anthroposophy, despite the movement’s considerable contribution to the local economy (Steinberg 1976: 61-62). Conformity to the building permit resulted in a reduction of height of the west front and a widening of the horizontal wings. The vital importance of the second Goetheanum is evident in the fact that nowadays Anthroposophists call it simply “the Building” (Sharp 1963: 377). Steiner’s considerable talent as an amateur architect is richly evident in the second Goetheanum. The exterior sculptural mass has a plain east end, almost a flat wall, and develops towards the west, with the west front as the “face” of the building opening onto the landscape. It is radically different from the earlier building; some Anthroposophists regard it as a poor substitute. This is partly because Goetheanum I had been funded through donations, whereas Goetheanum II was largely funded through an insurance payout. Additionally, the concrete structure, although larger, spelled “the relinquishment of detailed work by hand, the farewell to a vast sun of invested creativity” (Pehnt 1991: 21). Steiner and his wife acknowledged the tragic loss of Goetheanum I but stressed the need for a second School of Spiritual Science to be erected swiftly, and Steiner’s design for the concrete building utilised the same notion of metamorphosis and transformation from Goethe. Sharp describes it as “a piece of living sculpture” (Sharp 1963: 378) and Hans Hasler, in his discussion of the major conservation operation undertaken between 1993-1996, emphasises the plasticity and dynamism of concrete as a building material (Hasler 1999:9-11). Hagen Biesantz notes that the ground plan retains the cruciform shape of Goetheanum I, but the double space created by the two cupolas has given way to a threefold space, which relates to Steiner’s theory of the “threefold division of the social and human physical organisms” (Biesantz 1979: 59). Only the windows provide some indication of the function of the rooms concealed within the building; for example “the three high side windows tell us that the great hall is behind them” (Pehnt 1991: 7). Writers on the Goetheanum constantly stress its organic forms, and Wolfgang Pehnt argues that the group of Anthroposophical structures in Dornach exemplify Steiner’s theory, taken from Goethe, of “architecture and architectural ensembles as societies of biological species … a biotope” (Pehnt 1991: 9). Although Steiner did not design the interior of Goetheanum II in the same detail that he did for Goetheanum I, Anthroposophical teachings inform the general scheme. The Great Hall has four long windows, which are coloured “as in the first Goetheanum … green, blue, violet and pink” (Biesantz 1979: 69). The Great Hall was actually completed by Johannes Schöpfer, a Stuttgart architect, chosen by competition in 1957. Georg Hartmann’s study of the windows notes that Goetheanum I had nine coloured glass windows, two sets of the above-mentioned four colours, and the central red window over the west entrance. He claims that, “the motives of the coloured glass windows deal with the experiences of the human being, searching for spiritual knowledge” (Hartmann 1972: 17). In Goetheanum II, the huge red window in the west wall features the human face, the four evangelists’ symbols from the New Testament (the lion, bull, eagle, and the man), and occult symbols such as the lotus, the swastika, and planetary images, such as that of Saturn. Olav Hammer notes that when writing about the significance of colour, “Steiner informs us that purple is the color of mysticism, blue calms the soul, red gives a feeling of festivity, while green is associated with the earthly domain” (Hammer 2009: 214). Anthroposophical poet.

 

As Steiner had no formal training as an architect, Anthroposophists have been inclined to treat his achievements in the field as evidence of his extraordinary creativity and spiritual development. Within Anthroposophy it is not acceptable to speak of Steiner being influenced by other architecture of the period, although Dennis Sharp has made an excellent case for the inclusion of Steiner within the category of Expressionist architecture, a sub-field of the broader Expressionist movement in art

(Sharp 1963). Sharp argues that Steiner was influenced by the Art Nouveau style, the Belgian architect Henry van de Velde (1853-1957), and the exuberant Catalan Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926), whose own creations were inspired by his passionate though rather unorthodox Roman Catholicism. Sharp contextualises Goetheanum II with the works of Hermann Obrist (1863-1927) and Hermann Finsterlin (1887-1973) (Sharp 1963). The title of this chapter, “And the Building Becomes Man,” is a motto written over the south window of the model of Goetheanum II on display in Brodbeck House, a house that predated the second Goetheanum and which now has the Eurythmeum built as an addition to it (Turgeniev 2003: 61). It is a romantic notion, yet one that encapsulates the core of Steiner’s Anthroposophical teaching that the human being is the basic unit of the cosmos, the fractal model on which larger and smaller structures are based. Steiner’s architecture, though striking and beautiful and appreciated by architectural experts, casual tourists, and Anthroposophists alike, cannot really be understood without reference to the Anthroposophical worldview and Steiner’s “spiritual science.” Pehnt notes wryly that, “Steiner’s inspiration seems always to be productive in architects who apply his methods without feeling committed to the results achieved at the time” (Pehnt 1991: 39). Brain has argued that “the production of cultural objects can be more closely tied to the to the conditions of possibility for social action in general – not only at the level of meaning, but at the level of the capacity to conceive and enact strategic action” (Brain 1994: 218). Goetheanum II in Dornach is a structure of crucial significance for Anthroposophists the world over, and visiting it (whether to study Eurythmy or some other aspect of Steiner’s spiritual science, or simply to feel close to Steiner and the transformational philosophy of Anthroposophy) is a deeply meaningful experience. Brain continues that cultural objects such as Goetheanum II (and the practices that take place within it, including the visual arts and Euythmy) illuminate “the making of the social world that goes on in the practices through which culture producers inscribe intentions in artefacts, and social actors, generally, make sense

with

things” (Brain 1994: 218). Steiner, of all esoteric and new religious teachers of the early twentieth century, was acutely aware of the peculiar value of cultural production, an activity with which he engaged with tireless energy, and considerable (amateur and professional) skill and achievement. It is true that the majority of architects inspired by Steiner are not Anthroposophists, and have only a limited understanding of the underlying principles of Goetheanum II, being enamoured of its aesthetic qualities alone. This, however, still confirms Goetheanum II as a consummate cultural product of Anthroposophy, and one that continues to amaze and delight all those who are fortunate enough to visit Dornach.

 

www.academia.edu/738542/_And_the_Building_Becomes_Man_Mea...

 

The whole of the Gospel of St. John culminates in that event in human history which we call the “Mystery of Golgotha.” To comprehend this Mystery of Golgotha esoterically predicates also the ability to decipher the deep significance of this Gospel. If we turn our attention to what exists at the very central point of this Mystery and wish to express it in occult terms, we must contemplate the moment of the Crucifixion when the blood flowed from the wounds of the Saviour, and at the same time we must remember something which has often been said in the course of these lectures, that for one who knows the spiritual worlds, all material, substantial, physical objectivity is only the outer expression, the external manifestation of something spiritual. Now let us permit the physical event to arise before our souls: Christ-Jesus upon the Cross, the blood flowing from His wounds. What does this picture, the content of which is a physical event, express for those who are able to understand the Gospel of St. John?

 

This physical event — the occurrence on Golgotha — is the expression, the manifestation of a spiritual event which stands at the central point of all earthly happenings. Anyone interpreting these words according to the present materialistic world concept will not be able to make much out of them, for he will not be able to imagine that at that time something occurred in this unique Event of Golgotha which differs from some other like event, or from one perhaps physically similar. There is a very great difference between all the earthly occurrences which preceded this Event of Golgotha and those that succeed it.

 

If we wish to picture this in the soul in all its detail, we must say that not only has the individual human being, or for that matter any other individual creature, a physical, ether and astral body as we have described it from many aspects in the foregoing lectures, but that cosmic bodies likewise do not consist only of physical substance as they appear to the astronomer and to other physical researchers. A cosmic body has also an ether and an astral body. Our earth has its ether and astral vehicles. If our earth did not possess its own ether body, it would not be able to harbour the plants; if it did not possess its own individual astral body, it would not be able to shelter the animals. If we wish to visualize the earth's ether body, we must imagine its central point exactly at the center of the earth where the physical earth body also has its central point. This entire physical earth body is embedded in its own ether body and these two are again embedded in an astral body. If someone had observed clairvoyantly the astral body of the earth during the course of the earth's evolution, during the course of long epochs of time, he would have seen that, as a matter of fact, this astral body and ether body of the earth have not always remained the same, that they have changed. In order to represent the matter quite pictorially, let us in spirit transplant ourselves outside beyond the earth to some other star, and let us imagine a person with clairvoyant vision looking down upon the earth from this star. He would not only see the earth suspended there as a physical planet, but he would see an aura about it, he would see the earth surrounded by an aura of light, for he would be perceiving the earth's ether and astral bodies. If this clairvoyant person were to remain a long time on this distant star, long enough to have observed the pre-Christian periods of the earth pass by and the Event of Golgotha approaching, the following spectacle would have presented itself to him. Before the Event of Golgotha the aura of the earth, the astral and ether bodies offered a certain aspect of colour and form, but following a particular, definite moment of time, he would have seen the colour of the entire aura changing. What was this particular moment of time? It was the very moment when the blood flowed from the wounds of Christ-Jesus upon Golgotha. All spiritual earthly relationships, as such, changed from this moment.

 

It has been previously stated that what is called the Logos is the sum total of the six Elohim who, united with the sun, present the earth with their spiritual gifts, while externally the physical sunlight is falling upon the earth. Therefore the light of the sun appears to us like the outer physical body of the spirit and soul of the Elohim or of the Logos. At the moment of the Event of Golgotha, that force, that impulse which formerly could only stream down upon the earth as light began to unite with the earth itself. And because the Logos began to unite with the earth, the earth's aura became changed.

 

We shall now consider the Event of Golgotha from still another point of view. We have already reviewed the evolution of the human being and of the earth from various standpoints. We know that our Earth, before it became the Earth, passed through the three embodiments of Saturn, Sun and Moon. Therefore the embodiment just preceding that of our Earth was that of the ancient Moon. When a planet has attained the goal of its evolution, something happens to it similar to what happens to a human being who, in a certain incarnation, has attained his life's goal. The planet passes over into a different invisible existence, a state called a “Pralaya” and then after a time it embodies itself anew. Thus between the previous embodiment of our Earth, the Moon Evolution, and the Earth's present embodiment, there existed an intermediate state. Out of a sort of spiritual, self-animated, externally invisible existence, the Earth gleamed forth in its earliest state and out of this state developed those states which we described yesterday. At that time, in that early age when our Earth gleamed forth, it was still united with all that now belongs to our solar system. It was then so large, that it reached to the furthest planets of this solar system. All was unity, for only later individual planets became segregated. The present earth up to a certain point of time was united with our present sun and moon. Thus we see there was a time when sun, moon and earth were a single body. It was as though you were to take the present moon and sun and stir them together with the earth and thus make one large cosmic body. This was our Earth once upon a time when your astral body and your ego were floating about in a vapour-like form. Even earlier than this the sun, moon and earth were joined together. At that time the forces which are now in the sun — the spiritual and physical forces — were bound up with the earth. Then came a time when the sun separated from the earth; but not only did the physical sun with its physical light which can be seen with physical eyes depart, but with it all its spiritual and soul beings at whose head stood the Elohim, the real Spirits of Light, the denizens of the sun. What was left, was a mixture of the present moon and earth. Then for a time the earth, though separated from the sun, was still united with the moon. It was not until the Lemurian period that the moon separated from the earth, when, as a result, there arose that relationship between these three bodies, sun, moon and earth, that exists today. This relationship had to occur. The Elohim had to act from without. It was necessary for one of them to become Lord of the moon and from there reflect the powerful force of the other Elohim. We live at present upon our earth as though dwelling upon an island in cosmic space which has separated from the sun and moon. But the time will come when our earth will once more unite with the sun and again form one body with it. Then human beings will be so spiritualized that they will again be able to bear the stronger forces of the sun, able to receive them and unite them with themselves. They, together with the Elohim, will then occupy the same field of action.

 

You will ask, what is the force that will bring this about? Had the Event of Golgotha not occurred, the earth and the sun would never be able to reunite. For through the Event of Golgotha, which bound the force of the Elohim in the sun to the earth — in other words the force of the Logos — the impulse was given which will again eventually impel one Logos-force toward the other, and finally once more unite them — sun and earth — in one body. Since the Event of Golgotha, the earth, spiritually observed, is possessed of the force to draw the sun again into a unity with it. Therefore it can be said that through this great Event, the force of the Logos, which formerly radiated down upon the earth from without, was now taken up into its spiritual being. The question may be asked, what existed previously within the body of the earth? It was that force which streamed down upon it from the sun. But since that time, what exists there within the earth? The Logos itself which through Golgotha has become the spirit of the earth.

 

As truly as your soul and spirit dwell within your physical body, do also the soul and spirit of the earth dwell within the body of the earth — that earthly body which consists of stones, plants and animals and upon which you tread. This soul and spirit, this earth spirit is the Christ. Christ is the spirit of the earth. When the Christ spoke to His most trusted disciples on an occasion which can be numbered among the most intimate of such occasions, what did He say to them? With what mystery had He occasion to entrust them? He was able to say to them: “It is as though you can gaze into your own soul from your physical body. Your soul is within. It is the same when you observe the whole earth-sphere. That spirit which for a time now stands here before you in the flesh is also the spirit of the earth and will always continue as such.” He had occasion to point to the earth as to His real body and ask: “When you behold the cornfield and then eat the bread that nourishes you, what in reality is this bread which you are eating? You are eating My body. And when you drink of the plant sap, it is like the blood in your own body; it is the blood of the earth — My Blood!” — These were the very words that Christ- Jesus spoke to His most intimate disciples and we must take them very literally. Then when He called them together and expounded to them symbolically what we shall call the Christian Initiation, He uttered those extraordinary words which we find in the 18th verse of the 13th Chapter of the Gospel of St. John, where He announced that one among them would betray Him:

 

“He who eats My bread treads me under foot.”

 

These words must be taken literally. Men eat the bread of the earth and tread upon the earth with their feet. If the earth is the body of the Earth-Spirit, that is, of the Christ, then men tread with their feet the earth's body, the body whose bread they eat. An immense deepening of the idea of the Last Supper as presented in the Gospel of St. John is granted us, when we learn about the Christ, the Earth-Spirit, and about the bread which is taken from the body of the earth. Christ points to the earth and says: “This is My body!” Just as the muscular human flesh belongs to the human soul, so does bread belong to the body of the earth, that is to the body of the Christ. And the sap that flows through the plants, which pulsates through the vine stalk, is like the blood pulsating through the human body. Pointing to this, the Christ says: “This is my blood!” That this truthful explanation of the Last Supper can cause some of the sanctity to be lost which has always been associated with it can only be imagined by someone possessing no understanding of it or who has neither desire nor capacity for such an understanding. But anyone who wishes to understand will acknowledge that this does not cause it to lose in holiness, but that through it the whole of the earth-planet becomes sanctified. What powerful feelings can be engendered in our souls, if we can behold in the Last Supper the greatest mystery of the earth, the connection between the Event of Golgotha and the entire evolution of the earth; if we can learn to feel that in the Last Supper the flowing of the blood from the wounds of the Saviour had not only a human, but a cosmic significance, that is, it gave to the earth the force to carry forward its evolution.

 

Anyone who understands the profound meaning of the Gospel of St. John will feel not only united through his physical body with the physical body of the earth, but as a psycho-spiritual being will feel united with the psycho-spiritual being of the earth which is the Christ Himself, and then he will feel how the Christ, as the Spirit of the Earth, flows through his body. When we have this experience, we are able to ask: what illuminated the writer of the Gospel of St. John at that moment when he was able to behold the profound mysteries which have to do with Christ-Jesus? He beheld the forces, the impulses which are present in Christ-Jesus, and he perceived how these impulses must be active in mankind, if only mankind will receive them.

 

In order to understand this quite clearly, we must once more bring before our souls the way in which human evolution actually takes place. The human being consists of physical, ether and astral bodies and an ego. How does this evolution occur? By the ego gradually working through the other three members, purifying and strengthening them. The ego is called upon gradually to purify the astral body, to cleanse it and to raise it to a higher level. When the entire astral body has been purified and strengthened by the special forces of the ego, it becomes Manas or Spirit-Self. When the ether or life-body has been thoroughly worked over and strengthened by the force of the ego, it becomes Budhi, or Life-Spirit. When the physical body has been fully overcome and conquered by the ego, it becomes Atman or Spirit-Man. Then will the human being have reached the goal which above all lies in store for him. That, however, will be attained only in the far distant future. Moreover, we wish it to be quite clear that the ego acts in full consciousness in what has just been described; namely, that the human being consisting of the four members — physical, ether and astral bodies and ego — works by means of the ego upon the other three members, transforming them into Spirit-Self, Life-Spirit and Spirit-Man. For the most part this is not yet the case with present humanity which, as a matter of fact, is just beginning, fully conscious, to work a little of Manas into its astral body. The human being is doing this now. Through the help of higher beings he has already, although unconsciously, worked upon his three lower members during this Earth evolution. In ancient times he unconsciously worked over the astral body, and this then became permeated by the Sentient Soul. The ego unconsciously worked into the ether body and this unconsciously re-formed ether body is what you will find described in regular sequence in my book Theosophy as the Intellectual Soul, and that part of the physical body, unconsciously worked upon by the ego, you will find described there as the Consciousness Soul. The Consciousness Soul only came into being toward the end of the Atlantean period when the ether body — previously outside the physical body in the head region — gradually drew wholly within it. Through this the human being learned to utter the word “I.” Thus variously-membered, he gradually passed over into the post-Atlantean period. It is the task of our age to work Manas or Spirit-Self by degrees into what had previously been received unconsciously. The human being must, as it were, develop Manas within himself by means of all the forces he has acquired by virtue of possessing a physical, an ether and an astral body, a sentient, an intellectual and a consciousness soul; by means of all the forces which these various members can give him, he must develop Manas and also, although in a very small degree, the germ of a Life-Spirit or Budhi. Therefore our post-Atlantean age has the important task of helping the human being to develop consciously these higher members of his being (Manas or Spirit-Self, Budhi or Life-Spirit and Atman or Spirit-Man) in the distant future when he will at last have reached his goal. He must from now on, by degrees, develop within himself the force to evolve his higher members out of his lower.

 

Let us now ask: what has been the condition of the human being that has kept him from already developing these higher members, and what will be the difference in the future? How will the humanity of the future differ from that of the present?

 

When at last the whole of the higher man has been developed, the entire astral body will be so completely purified that it will simultaneously become Manas or Spirit-Self; the ether body so thoroughly purged that it will simultaneously become Life-Spirit or Budhi, and the physical body will be so greatly metamorphosed that it will, at the same time, be as actually a Spirit-Man, Atman, as it is now a physical body. The greatest force will be needed to conquer this lowest body, hence the conquest and transformation of the physical means the greatest victory for the human being. When mankind has fully perfected the physical body, this physical man will then become Spirit-Man or Atman. All this is at present only in germ within the human being, but a time will come when it will live in him in its fulness. And by lifting his gaze to the Christ Personality, to the Christ Impulse, by energizing and strengthening himself through this Christ Impulse, he draws into himself the force that can accomplish this transformation.

 

Since humanity of the present has not yet perfected this metamorphosis, what is the result? Spiritual Science makes this very clear. Because this katharsis of the astral body has not yet been accomplished, that is, the astral body has not yet transformed itself into Spirit-Self, selfishness or egotism is possible. Because the ether body has not yet been strengthened by the ego, lying and error are possible; and because the physical body has not yet been fortified by the ego, sickness and death are possible. In a once fully developed Spirit-Self, there will be no more selfishness; no sickness and death, but just health and salvation in the fully developed Spirit-Man, that is, in the fully evolved physical body. What does it mean for the human being to take the Christ into himself? It means that he has learned to understand the forces that are in the Christ, which if taken into himself make it possible for him to become master even of his physical body.

 

Imagine for example that someone could receive the Christ Impulse fully into himself, that it could completely pass over upon him. The Christ Himself might stand directly in the presence of this person and the Christ Impulse be transmitted to him. What does that signify? If the person were blind, he would yet be able to see by means of the direct influence of this Christ Impulse, for the final goal of evolution is the conquest of the forces of sickness and death. When the writer of the Gospel of St. John speaks of the healing of the man born blind, he is then speaking out of the depths of the Mysteries, he is demonstrating, by means of an example, that the force of the Christ is a healing force when it appears in full power. It may be asked: Where is this force? It is in the body of the Christ, in the earth! But this earth must, in truth, be fully permeated by the being of the Christ Spirit or of the Logos. Let us see if the writer of the Gospel recounts the story with this meaning. How does he relate it?

 

Standing there is the blind man. The Christ takes some earth, insalivates it and lays it upon the blind man's eyes. He lays His body, the earth, permeated with His spirit upon the blind man. In this description, the writer of the Gospel indicates a mystery which he very well understands. Now laying aside all prejudice, let us talk a little more in detail of this sign — one of the greatest performed by the Christ — in order that we may learn to know more exactly the nature of such a thing and not be disturbed because our very clever contemporaries will consider what has just been said to be sheer madness or folly! There are, however, in the world great and mighty mysteries which mankind is not yet entitled to know. Human beings of the present day, even though they may be sufficiently developed, are not yet strong enough to go through the great Mysteries. They can know of them, they can understand them when they are able to experience them spiritually; but our present humanity, so deeply immersed in matter, is not yet capable of converting them into their physical expression.

 

All life is, in fact, made up of antitheses and extremes. Life and death are just such extremes. For the thought and feelings of the occultist, there is something very extraordinary in seeing, for example, a corpse and a living human being side by side. When we have a living, waking human being before us, we know that a soul and spirit dwell within him. But as far as consciousness is concerned, this soul and spirit are, as it were, cut off from any connection with the spiritual world; they cannot look into it. If we have a corpse before us, we have the feeling that the spirit and soul which once belonged to it are passing over into the spiritual worlds where consciousness, or the light of those worlds is flashing up within them. Thus the corpse becomes a symbol of what is taking place in the spiritual world. But in the physical world also, there are reflections of what is happening in the spiritual world, but they are of an extraordinary character. When a human being descends again into physical birth, his bodily part must be reconstructed; material substance must, so to say, rush together in order that a body be created for him. For the clairvoyant, this rushing together of physical substance represents the death of consciousness in the spirit world. There it dies — here it becomes alive. In the rushing together of substance to form a physical human body can be seen, in a certain sense, the dying of a spiritual consciousness; while on the other hand, at the moment of decomposition or of the burning of the physical body, when the parts disintegrate and dissolve, the opposite actually becomes manifest in the spiritual world, that is, the awakening of a spiritual consciousness occurs. Physical dissolution is spiritual birth. Therefore all processes of decay and dissolution mean something more than just decay and dissolution to the occultist. A churchyard, spiritually observed, where physical bodies are in the process of dissolution, is the scene of remarkable processes, the continuous flashing up and glistening of spiritual birth; (I am now speaking of what is taking place spiritually in the churchyard itself apart from the human beings there).

 

Let us imagine for example that a person were to give himself up physically to a certain training — naturally no one would recommend this, for the present physical body could not possibly endure it — to a schooling in which he would train his body to breathe in putrified air for a certain prescribed length of time with the conscious intent of taking in the spiritual processes which have just been described. If he does this in the proper way, then in his following incarnations — it cannot be done in one — he can be incarnated with that force which offers restorative and health-giving impulses. Breathing putrid air belongs to a schooling which gradually gives strength to the spittle, when mixed with the ordinary earth, to become the healing substance which the Christ rubbed upon the eyes of the blind man. This mystery through which a person consumes, eats or inhales death, by which he acquires the power to heal, is the mystery to which the writer of the Gospel refers when he describes such signs as the healing of the man born blind. Instead of declaring without cessation that such and such a thing should be interpreted to mean thus and so, it would be much better were people to learn that such a thing as is described in the healing of the blind man is literally true, that it exists, and that it is possible to have respect for such a personality as the writer of the Gospel and be able to say: “There was such a person who was thoroughly initiated into this mystery about which we must try to acquire an understanding.”

 

It was, moreover, necessary to call attention beforehand to the fact that we are here in an anthroposophical group in which many prejudices have been eliminated, thus making it possible to speak of such real mysteries as the insalivation of the earth's soil for healing purposes, and to say that such an incident has a literal significance.

 

However, let us now try to comprehend how, by knowing these facts, we unite with the idea that occupies us today namely, that the Christ is the Spirit of the earth and that the earth is His Body. We have seen the Christ spiritualizing the etheric element in one instance and have seen Him giving up something of Himself in order to perform the miracle we arc considering. Now let us consider something else. Besides what has been said today, let us take what the Christ Himself said: “The most profound mystery of My being is the I AM, and the true and eternal might of the I AM or of the Ego which has the force to permeate other bodies must flow into human beings. It dwells within the Earth Spirit.” Let us hold this clearly in mind and take very earnestly, quite seriously, the fact that, because the Christ wishes to bestow the true ego upon every human soul, He will awaken the God in it and gradually enkindle the Spirit of the Lord and King in everyone. What does this signify? We have here nothing more nor less than the fact that the Christ brings to expression, in the highest sense, the idea of Karma, the karmic law. For when anyone fully understands the idea of Karma, he will understand it in this Christian sense. It means that no man should set himself up as a judge of the inner soul of another human being. Unless the idea of Karma has been understood in this way, it has not been grasped in its deepest significance. When one man judges another, the one is always placing the other under the compulsion of his own ego. However, if a person really believes in the “I AM” in the Christian sense, he will not judge. He will say: “I know that Karma is the great adjuster. Whatever you may have done, I do not judge it!”

 

Let us suppose that a transgressor is brought before a person who really understands the Christ-Word. What will be his attitude toward the transgressor? Let us suppose that all those who would like to be Christians were to accuse him of a terrible sin. The real Christian would say to them: “Whether what you maintain has been done by him or not, makes no difference, the I AM must be respected; it must be left to Karma, to the great law which is the law of the Christ-Spirit Himself. Karma is fulfilled in the course of earthly evolution. We can leave it to this earthly evolution to determine what punishment Karma shall inflict upon a human being.” He would perhaps turn to the earth and say to the accusers: — “Pay heed to yourselves, it is the duty of the earth to inflict the punishment. Let us inscribe it then upon the earth where it has, moreover, been registered as Karma.”

 

Jesus went up to the Mount of Olives.

 

And early in the morning He came again into the temple and all the people came unto Him and He sat down and taught them.

 

And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery; and they placed her in their midst.

 

They said unto Him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned; but what sayest Thou?

 

This they said, tempting Him, that they might accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground.

 

So when they continued asking Him, He lifted Himself up and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

 

And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

 

But when they heard this, being convicted by their own conscience, they went out one by one, beginning at the eldest even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

 

When Jesus had lifted