View allAll Photos Tagged TRANSMUTATION
Ja Rimpochevski (The Magister of Transmutation)
at Zuiderkerk, Amsterdam
The International exhibition “Art and Dolls” 8-9 april 2017
Elderly men checking out the list of donations for this ceremony from local residents.
Once again, seen here is the big signage, made out of paper with bamboo frames, this is one of the most traditional signage which is called the" 花牌 " or "Flower Board", often used during celebrations or praying ceremonies.
The bigger and more elaborated flower boards above carries the names of the big donations - often by the Committee Members of this festival.
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** Origin and facts of the Hungry Ghost Festival:
The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).
In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.
Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.
Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors
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More images of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
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An older image, actually the same roll as this shot, from Shore Acres. I was using a roll of film I had bought off of Ebay for $1 that day. It was an old roll of Kodak EPN slide film, which I then cross processed. The roll had expired sometime around the year I was born, hence the effects of aging apparent.
But when I was scanning this the other night it really struck me how this image embodies some things I really miss about photography, that is mainly the not being in control. I guess that is one of the things about "growing up" and learning, you arm and armor yourself with knowledge and experience. You refine your vision and technique, transmute your imagination into images with greater and greater consistency, and before you know it, nothing happens without your express consent. You wring the element of chance right out of your photos. That was one of the things I enjoyed the most about pinhole, I had no viewfinder to compose with, no meter to expose with, no LCD screen to check the result. I flew sort of by the seat of my pants. On top of that I routinely would use old or expired film, or ortho or infrared, I would throw monkey wrenches into my process, create opportunities for the unpredictable to enter into the process.
I miss that.
I don't take what I have learned for granted, mind you. And I am grateful for the mass amount of imagery I produce that I like. But there is still a part of me that looks at it and sees something missing. This might be part of that. Now, don't feel sorry for me. :-p I think a restlessness is a necessarily survival instinct for any wise artist. To not be restless is to be complacent, which quickly leads to irrelevant. Or some such thing.
But hmmm, you learn and grow, you plow forward, either on beaten trails or you beat your own. You see discover a lot and see even more. But there is something to be said about stopping now and then and taking note of your surroundings, to see just what sort of position you have worked yourself into. Even more wisely, to look back and see where you have been and come from, and what you may have left behind. Because not everything discarded in the name of progress is worthless. Some of it may be quite valuable.
And this is where I found myself the other night looking through old negatives.
Anyway, I need to get to bed now. I teach a workshop tomorrow and a rested me is a much better teacher. But I just had to get this one out of my head, for what it is worth.
Just in time for Bionifight's closing, I managed to put together a MOC of my (second?) favorite character from the RPG: Virse, Toa of Sand. I've been wanting to MOC her for months, and now that I finally got some (knockoff) tan CCBS, I could finish her. I have to say I'm very proud of how she came out.
Virse hails from an alternate universe where the GSR was never built and the Toa were created to attempt to repair Spherus Magna. However, they only made it worse, and in the great Shattering that followed, the Great Beings were lost. The survivors were forced to war for resources, Glatorian vs. Toa. After thousands of years passed and hundreds of thousands of lives were lost, they reached an unsteady peace. Virse, like many other Toa, used this time to specialize her element, shifting from Stone to Sand, before being taken to fight in the Bionifight Tournament. When the Bionifight Facility crash-landed on Saarella Kirottu, Virse was lost and presumed dead in an attempt to liberate the prisoners of the Cult of War.
Virse wields a Heat Gauntlet, a weak Great Being relic capable of creating great heat, in which she can forge her hardened glass blades. She wears the Mask of Elemental Transmutation, allowing her to change her body into sand.
[...] Work is the open sesame of every portal, the great equalizer in the world, the true philosopher's stone which transmutes all the base metal of humanity into gold [...]
-- Quote by William Osler (Canadian Physician, 1849-1919)
Nikon D200, Tokina 12-24 f/4, 12mm - f/4 - 1/2000s HDR 5xp +2/-2EV
Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy (June, 2013)
The Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu is an important New Kingdom period structure in the West Bank of Luxor in Egypt. Aside from its size and architectural and artistic importance, the temple is probably best known as the source of inscribed reliefs depicting the advent and defeat of the Sea Peoples during the reign of Ramesses III. The first European to describe the temple in modern literature was Vivant Denon, who visited the temple in 1799-1801.Champollion described the temple in detail in 1829. Initial excavation of the temple took place sporadically between 1859 and 1899, under the auspices of the Department of Antiquities. During these decades the main temple was cleared, and a large number of Coptic period buildings, including a substantial Coptic Church in the second court, were destroyed without notes or records being taken. The further excavation, recording and conservation of the temple has been facilitated in chief part by the Architectural and Epigraphic Surveys of University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, almost continuously since 1924.The temple, some 150 m long, is of orthodox design, and resembles closely the nearby mortuary temple of Ramesses II (the Ramesseum). The temple precinct measures approximately 210 m (690 ft). by 300 m (1,000 ft) and contains more than 7,000 m2 (75,347 sq ft) of decorated wall reliefs. Its walls are relatively well preserved and it is surrounded by a massive mudbrick enclosure, which may have been fortified. The original entrance is through a fortified gate-house, known as a migdol (a common architectural feature of Asiatic fortresses of the time). Just inside the enclosure, to the south, are chapels of Amenirdis I, Shepenupet II and Nitiqret, all of whom had the title of Divine Adoratrice of Amun. The first pylon leads into an open courtyard, lined with colossal statues of Ramesses III as Osiris on one side, and uncarved columns on the other. The second pylon leads into a peristyle hall, again featuring columns in the shape of Ramesses. This leads up a ramp that leads (through a columned portico) to the third pylon and then into the large hypostyle hall (which has lost its roof). Reliefs and actual heads of foreign captives were also found placed within the temple perhaps in an attempt to symbolise the king's control over Syria and Nubia. In Coptic times, there was a church inside the temple structure, which has since been removed. Some of the carvings in the main wall of the temple have been altered by coptic carvings. The Royal Palace was directly connected with the first courtyard of the Temple via the "Window of Appearances".
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medinet_Habu_(temple)
On many a temple wall in Egypt one will see carved pictures of Ancient Egyptian Gods holding long metal rods said to have possessed incredible cosmic powers. They were called “Rods of Ptah,” named for the Egyptian Creator God, Ptah, and would, over time, eventually become known as “was” scepters.
You won’t find much scientific explanation for these Egyptian “magic” rods anywhere in traditional Egyptology. Many scholars have written off tales of their great powers as pure myth. Yet what once seemed mythical, takes on a new perspective with modern-day scientific advancement. These rods actually have roots in the advanced science of Atlantean superalloys. A science that has been lost for centuries and is slowly re-emerging.
This knowledge was handed down over 50,000 years ago to the Ancient Egyptians by the Atlantean Order of Melchizedek (the cosmic high priests to the priests) after the third and final upheaval of the advanced civilization known as Atlantis. Those who knew how such science worked shared this knowledge only with the elite few who had been highly trained and initiated into the Mystery Schools of Egypt.
Throughout the Egyptian dynasties, pharaohs and kings would oftentimes show their power by displaying such scepters at their side. Most were nothing more than symbolic props. The real Rods of Ptah, and their true owners, had the ability to transmute energy into matter—a power which only a God would seem to possess.
In the earliest of ancient times there was a “Council of Twelve” high priests from the Order of Melchizedek which possessed such rods. Many were from the healing sound Temples of Saqqara as well as the from the Temple of the Prophets at Abydos (which I have written about in a previous blogs). The Melchizedek Priesthood were recognized as Ascended Masters, Cosmic Avatars, that were dedicated to the very highest ascension and evolution of man. Their roots go back even further than Atlantis, to the source of creation and the very origins of humankind.
During the unknown years of Jesus, Jesus was initiated into the esoteric ways of this great brotherhood and became one with Melchizedek, the “Lord of Righteousness.” Jesus, having been brought up in the mystical sect of the Essenes, would then go on to model this priesthood, based on these Council of Twelve teachings with his own 12 Apostles. Many of mankind’s most ascended masters have come from the Melchizedek Priesthood. Some have had multiple reincarnated lifetimes (i.e. Lord Melchizedek became Akhenaten; Akhenaten would then became Jesus).
ATLANTEAN SUPERALLOYS
So many have asked what were the Atlantean superalloys that created such magic rods? The answer lies in the marriage of both physics and chemistry. All of nature’s alloys have a resonance pattern—like a unique frequency fingerprint. If combined with other resonant alloys through a transmutation process, it can create an atomic blending that releases a powerful reaction by-product.
For example, the electrical properties of copper, when equally combined with the magnetic properties of iron, will exhibit super hardness, super magnetism, and superconductivity properties which are required for anti-gravity propulsion and interstellar space travel. The Ancients were privy to this knowledge and they could only have learned it from a higher more advanced civilization where it had already been successfully mployed.
The reintroduction in modern times of such advanced superalloy concepts can be traced back to the secret work of Nikola Tesla with the well-known psychic, Edgar Cayce, during the years intervening the World Wars (1918-1939). Tesla had many past-life readings with Cayce to gain further insight into his work. (A pseudonym was used to protect his identity.)
Speaking through Cayce in trance, the Source provided specific references to several fusion reactions used in Atlantean metallurgy for the production of superhard metal alloys that were applied in the complex multi-stage fabrication of supersharp swords and electro-surgical scalpels, as well as in the construction of aerial vehicles that were thinner, lighter and stronger than those commonly used in industry today.
“We find the entity there made use of the metal known as iron, or the combinations of iron and copper –which have long since been removed from use in the present; or copper so tempered by the use of same with a little of the iron, or in its formation in such a way and manner as to be hardened to the abilities for same to be used much in the way that many of those combinations have been found in the Egyptian, the Peruvian and portions of the Chaldean lands –and more will be found in the Indo-China city yet to be uncovered.
“As indicated. In conducting experimentions, by passing a great current through certain compounds or mixtures of metals, that would produce –in smelting– a different metal. The combinations of iron, copper, and of course impregnated with the various forms, which heretofore and in the present have been unable to be used in the forms of smelting that are the experience of man today.
Q: How may we work together now to accomplish much that we did in Egypt?
A: In interesting those who use or require great quantities of iron, or the varied metals, to experiment in making lighter –and yet strengthening– the usages of such metals. Copper and brass, gold and iron –through the combinations in their crude state– may be made to be much stronger in usage, lighter in the needs for present developments, and not as expensive in the combinations.”
During ancient times, the Council of Twelve from the Order of Melchizedek knew that the transmutation processes of copper and iron caused a resonant nuclear fission reaction which created a mysterious force called “Vril” energy. They fashioned instruments (Rods of Ptah) to direct this force.
These ancient men of science discovered that when they coupled this Vril force with the power of sound and the directive power of the mind, they could unlock the divine forces of nature and gravity. This allowed them to levitate and move large objects easily. One could say the ancient priests of Saqqara invented the term, “mind over matter.” When the mind was clear, one could perform incredible feats.
While some from the Order knew how to use this directed energy for transmutation which would appear as miracles (i.e., Jesus changing water to wine or multiplying a few loaves and fishes to feed the masses), the use of highly tuned rods could tap into even greater cosmic forces.
Very few possessed these powerful Rods of Ptah. Those who did were initiated at the very highest levels of the Order of Melchizedek. As a part of the initiation process, each recipient was involved in the construction process of their own Rod. It was a sacred ceremony where their higher consciousness intent, which created a unique cosmic fingerprint, was then infused into the melding process. Their rod would be at their side throughout their life, taking on a sacred responsibility.
The Rods of Ptah were “U-shaped” at the bottom, resembling resonant tuning forks that could be struck in ways to create electromagnetic effects. At the top were the symbols of the Ankh (the symbol of life) and the Djed Pillar (a symbol for the spine of the God Osiris and rising energy). These powerful symbols could only be used by a High Priest or a Pharaoh (who had also undergone initiation, which were very few).
The Rods could only be used within the right mindset of the operator or the power could be destructive to themselves as well as others. Each initiate pledged a solemn oath to the Council of Twelve and the Melchizedek Priesthood to use these rods only for the higher good.
You will not find these instruments in museums anywhere today. The High Priests of the Ancient Mystery Schools destroyed them to keep them out of the hands of those who would abuse the power they could harness, much like the Ark of the Covenant was later secreted away for safety and protection.
Unfortunately, good does not always triumph over evil. Some priests from the Order of Melchizedek were targeted and killed for their power and knowledge, many by other temple priests (the Amun priesthood) who were an unsavory and oftentimes corrupted lot. Many from the Order fled the area or took their knowledge underground where it remained hidden for centuries. It is believed that once initiated into the Order of Melchizedek, one is initiated for all lifetimes to come. Many of those from the Melchizedek Priesthood walk among us today, still employing their spiritual knowledge and good works.
prototype number 3
trying to create an environment that supports the transformation of news. I will watch what happens...
wire, newspaper, nylon thread, teabags, glue
Unlike the Grand Lantern which stood right at the center, shinning its guardian over the whole ceremony; by the corner, a waxed-paper lantern is seen hanging high up from a bamboo.
This lantern is called the Light of Summon, day and night, sending invitation to the spiritual "good brothers" from far to join this salvation ceremony, the higher it hangs, the further it will summon and relatively, more oblation materials are to be prepared. Therefore, the scale of the ceremony can be seen through the height of this lantern.
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** Origin and facts of the Hungry Ghost Festival:
The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).
In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.
Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.
Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors
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More images of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
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Photo shot with Nikon D600 + AF-S NIikkor 50mm f/1.8G
Edited with Photoshop CS5
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What happened three days ago is a very bad story, a 63-year-old man shot two women in the face, one 48 years old, the other 49 years old, and then took his own life, all of which happened in a town in the province of Catania, one of them allegedly had an extramarital affair with the killer: in 2022 120 women were killed, 97 of them were killed in the family or emotional sphere, of these 57 died for hand of the partner or former partner. This tragic and sad incipit linked to the ever-present drama of feminicides, to introduce the photographic story that I made in the town of Savoca (Messina - Sicily) on 08/13/2022, of a very particular representation that was held last time in August 2018; is a narration that pits Evil (a devil armed with a long grappling hook) against Good (Saint Lucia, who holds a silver palm leaf in her hands), the Evil-Devil tries to seduce-distract Saint Lucia with own grappling hook, instead Saint Lucia remains impassive in front of her flattery: violence against women in this very suggestive representation finds distant and deep roots, Saint Lucia actually represents those women who in medieval times had to suffer the abuses perpetrated by the Baron of Savoca nicknamed "Barone Altadonna", which making use of the law "ius primae noctis" (from the Latin "right of the first night"), referred to the "right" according to which a feudal lord could rape a newly married woman on her wedding night. Therefore, this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a report of the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The living re-enactment of the history of St. Lucia takes place on two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some moments of Saturday, the day during which the celebration does not take place in its full beauty, it is the day during which "the silver palm" is delivered "from the Lucia of the previous edition" to the "Lucia of the current edition", it is the day during which the last details are tested, above all the "impassivity of the little girl who impersonates Saint Lucia", lovingly called "the Lucia".. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.
In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.
The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.
Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened.
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E' una bruttissima storia quanto accaduto tre giorni fa, un uomo di 63 anni, ha ucciso a colpi di pistola in pieno volto due donne, una di 48 anni, l'altra di 49 anni, per poi togliersi la vita, il tutto accaduto in una cittadina in provincia di Catania, una di loro avrebbe avuto una relazione extraconiugale con l'assassino: nel 2022 sono state 120 le donne uccise, 97 di loro sono state uccise in ambito familiare o affettivo, di queste 57 hanno trovato la morte per mano del partner o ex partner. Questo tragico e triste incipit legato al sempre attuale dramma dei femminicidi, per introdurre il racconto fotografico che ho realizzato nella cittadina di Savoca (Messina - Sicilia) il 13/08/2022, di una particolarissima rappresentazione che si era tenuta l'ultima volta nell'agosto del 2018; è una narrazione che vede contrapposto il Male (un diavolo armato di un lungo rampino), al Bene (Santa Lucia, che stringe tra le mani una foglia di palma d'argento), il Male-Diavolo tenta di sedurre-distrarre Santa Lucia col proprio rampino, invece Santa Lucia resta impassibile davanti le sue lusinghe: la violenza sulle donne in questa rappresentazione molto suggestiva, trova radici lontane e profonde, Santa Lucia in realtà rappresenta quelle donne che in epoca medioevale dovevano subire gli abusi perpetrati dal Barone di Savoca soprannominato "Barone Altadonna", che avvalendosi della legge "ius primae noctis" (dal latino "diritto della prima notte"), si riferiva al “diritto” secondo cui un signore feudale poteva violentare una donna appena sposata durante la sua prima notte di nozze. Quindi questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da tutti coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report della rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di Santa Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata del sabato, giorno durante il quale la festa non si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza, è il giorno durante il quale “la palma d’argento” viene consegnata “dalla Lucia della edizione precedente” alla “Lucia dell’attuale edizione”, è il giorno durante il quale si testano gli ultimi dettagli, soprattutto si mette alla prova “l’impassibilità della bambina che impersona Santa Lucia”, chiamata amorevolmente “la Lucia”. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza. La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamato dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei stringe devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza.
Major transformations and transmutations taking place, outcome is different than expected. Symbol of joy, color, gentleness, lightness, and change in life. Awakens us to dance on the winds of life, teaches that growth doesn't have to be painful, allows us to discover the important issues in life for conscious transformation. Can you discern what is important right now? Don't sweat the small stuff, be joyful and thankful for your blessings.
Background: Hawken
Android: Automata
Post: Ps
“We have been badly educated. We live in a world of competition in which honesty is synonymous with naïveté. We must first develop good habits. Some of them may seem simple, but they are very difficult to realize. Believing them to be obvious, we fail to see that they are the key to immortal consciousness. Now I shall offer you a dictation of the commandments that my blessed father taught me:
“Ground your attention on yourself. Be conscious at every moment of what you are thinking, sensing, feeling, desiring, and doing. Always finish what you have begun. Whatever you are doing, do it as well as possible. Do not become attached to anything that can destroy you in the course of time. Develop your generosity—but secretly. Treat everyone as if he or she was a close relative. Organize what you have disorganized. Learn to receive and give thanks for every gift. Stop defining yourself. Do not lie or steal, for you lie to yourself and steal from yourself. Help your neighbor, but do not make him dependent. Do not encourage others to imitate you. Make work plans and accomplish them. Do not take up too much space.
Make no useless movements or sounds. If you lack faith, pretend to have it. Do not allow yourself to be impressed by strong personalities. Do not regard anyone or anything as your possession. Share fairly. Do not seduce. Sleep and eat only as much as necessary. Do not speak of your personal problems. Do not express judgment or criticism when you are ignorant of most of the factors involved. Do not establish useless friendships. Do not follow fashions. Do not sell yourself. Respect contracts you have signed. Be on time. Never envy the luck or success of anyone. Say no more than necessary. Do not think of the profits your work will engender. Never threaten anyone. Keep your promises. In any discussion, put yourself in the other person’s place. Admit that someone else may be superior to you.
Do not eliminate, but transmute. Conquer your fears, for each of them represents a camouflaged desire. Help others to help themselves. Conquer your aversions and come closer to those who inspire rejection in you. Do not react to what others say about you, whether praise or blame. Transform your pride into dignity. Transform your anger into creativity. Transform your greed into respect for beauty. Transform your hate into charity. Neither praise nor insult yourself. Regard what does not belong to you as if it did belong to you. Do not complain. Develop your imagination. Never give orders to gain the satisfaction of being obeyed. Pay for services performed for you. Do not proselytize your work or ideas. Do not try to make others feel for you emotions such as pity, admiration, sympathy, or complicity.
Do not try to distinguish yourself by your appearance. Never contradict; instead, be silent. Do not contract debts; acquire and pay immediately. If you offend someone, ask his or her pardon; if you have offended a person publicly, apologize publicly. When you realize you have said something that is mistaken, do not persist in error through pride; instead, immediately retract it. Never defend your old ideas simply because you are the one who expressed them. Do not keep useless objects. Do not adorn yourself with exotic ideas. Do not have your photograph taken with famous people. Justify yourself to no one, and keep your own counsel. Never define yourself by what you possess. Never speak of yourself without considering that you might change. Accept that nothing belongs to you.
When someone asks your opinion about something or someone, speak only of his or her qualities. When you become ill, regard your illness as your teacher, not as something to be hated. Look directly, and do not hide yourself. Do not forget your dead, but accord them a limited place and do not allow them to invade your life. Wherever you live, always find a space that you devote to the sacred. When you perform a service, make your effort inconspicuous. If you decide to work to help others, do it with pleasure. If you are hesitating between doing and not doing, take the risk of doing.
Do not try to be everything to your spouse; accept that there are things that you cannot give him or her but which others can. When someone is speaking to an interested audience, do not contradict that person and steal his or her audience. Live on money you have earned. Never brag about amorous adventures. Never glorify your weaknesses. Never visit someone only to pass the time. Obtain things in order to share them. If you are meditating and a devil appears, make the devil meditate too.”
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What happened three days ago is a very bad story, a 63-year-old man shot two women in the face, one 48 years old, the other 49 years old, and then took his own life, all of which happened in a town in the province of Catania, one of them allegedly had an extramarital affair with the killer: in 2022 120 women were killed, 97 of them were killed in the family or emotional sphere, of these 57 died for hand of the partner or former partner. This tragic and sad incipit linked to the ever-present drama of feminicides, to introduce the photographic story that I made in the town of Savoca (Messina - Sicily) on 08/13/2022, of a very particular representation that was held last time in August 2018; is a narration that pits Evil (a devil armed with a long grappling hook) against Good (Saint Lucia, who holds a silver palm leaf in her hands), the Evil-Devil tries to seduce-distract Saint Lucia with own grappling hook, instead Saint Lucia remains impassive in front of her flattery: violence against women in this very suggestive representation finds distant and deep roots, Saint Lucia actually represents those women who in medieval times had to suffer the abuses perpetrated by the Baron of Savoca nicknamed "Barone Altadonna", which making use of the law "ius primae noctis" (from the Latin "right of the first night"), referred to the "right" according to which a feudal lord could rape a newly married woman on her wedding night. Therefore, this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a report of the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The living re-enactment of the history of St. Lucia takes place on two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some moments of Saturday, the day during which the celebration does not take place in its full beauty, it is the day during which "the silver palm" is delivered "from the Lucia of the previous edition" to the "Lucia of the current edition", it is the day during which the last details are tested, above all the "impassivity of the little girl who impersonates Saint Lucia", lovingly called "the Lucia".. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.
In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.
The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.
Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened.
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E' una bruttissima storia quanto accaduto tre giorni fa, un uomo di 63 anni, ha ucciso a colpi di pistola in pieno volto due donne, una di 48 anni, l'altra di 49 anni, per poi togliersi la vita, il tutto accaduto in una cittadina in provincia di Catania, una di loro avrebbe avuto una relazione extraconiugale con l'assassino: nel 2022 sono state 120 le donne uccise, 97 di loro sono state uccise in ambito familiare o affettivo, di queste 57 hanno trovato la morte per mano del partner o ex partner. Questo tragico e triste incipit legato al sempre attuale dramma dei femminicidi, per introdurre il racconto fotografico che ho realizzato nella cittadina di Savoca (Messina - Sicilia) il 13/08/2022, di una particolarissima rappresentazione che si era tenuta l'ultima volta nell'agosto del 2018; è una narrazione che vede contrapposto il Male (un diavolo armato di un lungo rampino), al Bene (Santa Lucia, che stringe tra le mani una foglia di palma d'argento), il Male-Diavolo tenta di sedurre-distrarre Santa Lucia col proprio rampino, invece Santa Lucia resta impassibile davanti le sue lusinghe: la violenza sulle donne in questa rappresentazione molto suggestiva, trova radici lontane e profonde, Santa Lucia in realtà rappresenta quelle donne che in epoca medioevale dovevano subire gli abusi perpetrati dal Barone di Savoca soprannominato "Barone Altadonna", che avvalendosi della legge "ius primae noctis" (dal latino "diritto della prima notte"), si riferiva al “diritto” secondo cui un signore feudale poteva violentare una donna appena sposata durante la sua prima notte di nozze. Quindi questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da tutti coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report della rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di Santa Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata del sabato, giorno durante il quale la festa non si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza, è il giorno durante il quale “la palma d’argento” viene consegnata “dalla Lucia della edizione precedente” alla “Lucia dell’attuale edizione”, è il giorno durante il quale si testano gli ultimi dettagli, soprattutto si mette alla prova “l’impassibilità della bambina che impersona Santa Lucia”, chiamata amorevolmente “la Lucia”. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza. La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamato dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei stringe devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza.
this shows one end of long iron bars being pushed up the hill in a wheelbarrow - a very heavy load. as the man was catching his breath I caught this bundle and showed him the result. he could not quite understand my interest in his iron bars, but agreed they looked quite nice in this light.
神壇前的三支巨香 - 盤龍大香
在香上還有著十位大仙的Q版公仔，工藝精細，唯妙唯俏
"請神"儀式後會由當屆總理及長老燃點作為頭注香。
Located in front of the main altar, these giant joss incense will be lighted as the "First Joss Incense" after the Gods are brought to the event.
Figures of ten gods & goddess are skillfully crafted on the giant joss stiscks.
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The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).
In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.
Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.
Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors
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Follow my rediscovery of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
For my past visits to the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
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Seen here is the big signage by the entrance, made out of paper with bamboo frames, this is one of the most traditional signage which is called the" 花牌 " or "Flower Board", often used during celebrations or praying ceremonies.
Among the many taboos:
- Do not whistle at night, as it is the calling for spirits
- Avoid staying out too late at night and try to return home by sunset, more so if you are alone. This applies to everyone, especially children and pregnant women. The chances of "bumping" into spirits are deemed higher.
- Don't turn around when you heard someone calling out your name at night.
- Avoid going for jungle trekking, hiking, or camping trips or go swimming
These are the "rules" abide by the Chinese community around the world.
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The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).
In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.
Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.
Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors
=====
Follow my rediscovery of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
For my past visits to the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
=====
The Tarot cards which are issued with the small edition of the present work, that is to say, with the Key to the Tarot, have been drawn and coloured by Miss Pamela Colman Smith, and will, I think, be regarded as very striking and beautiful, in their design alike and execution. They are reproduced in the present enlarged edition of the Key as a means of reference to the text.
Tarot, which is available separately, in the form of coloured cards, the designs of which are added to the present text in black and white. They have been prepared under my supervision-in respect of the attributions and meanings-by a lady who has high claims as an artist. Regarding the divinatory part, by which my thesis is terminated, I consider it personally as a fact in the history of the Tarot - as such, I have drawn, from all published sources, a harmony of the meanings which have been attached to the various cards, and I have given prominence to one method of working that has not been published previously; having the merit of simplicity, while it is also of universal application, it may be held to replace the cumbrous and involved systems
Arthur Edward Waite
In 1909, occult scholar Arthur Edward Waite paid Colman Smith a flat fee to illustrate the seventy-eight cards of the tarot. An occult scholar, Waite had already published numerous books before embarking on a tarot project, volumes on alchemy and black magic as well as explorations of the work of famous mystics. The two knew each other from the Golden Dawn, a western mysticism order they both belonged to. The 15th century Sola Busca tarot—the only tarot to use pictorial images and not repetitive numbers—was used as a guide; the collaborators viewed the Italian deck when the Sola family gave a set of photographs of it to the British Museum in 1907. Some images, like the iconic, piercing Three of Swords, are clearly lifted from the older deck, while others are less obviously derivative. The style, however, is a huge departure: simpler, modern, less muscular, more romantic. Colman Smith finished the deck, a total of eighty cards, in just six months. In a letter to Stieglitz, she wrote, “I’ve just finished a big job for very little cash!”
enchantedlivingmagazine.com/divine-mystery-pamela-colman-...
Originally published in 1910 Preface
IT seems rather of necessity than predilection in the sense of apologia that I should put on record in the first place a plain statement of my personal position, as one who for many years of literary life has been, subject to his spiritual and other limitations, an exponent of the higher mystic schools. It will be thought that I am acting strangely in concerning myself at this day with what appears at first sight and simply a well-known method of fortune-telling. Now, the opinions of Mr. Smith, even in the literary reviews, are of no importance unless they happen to agree with our own, but in order to sanctify this doctrine we must take care that our opinions, and the subjects out of which they arise, are concerned only with the highest. Yet it is just this which may seem doubtful, in the present instance, not only to Mr. Smith, whom I respect within the proper measures of detachment, but to some of more real consequence, seeing that their dedications are mine. To these and to any I would say that after the most illuminated Frater Christian Rosy Cross had beheld the Chemical Marriage in the Secret Palace of Transmutation, his story breaks off abruptly, with an intimation that he expected next morning to be door-keeper. After the same manner, it happens more often than might seem likely that those who have seen the King of Heaven through the most clearest veils of the sacraments are those who assume thereafter the humblest offices of all about the House of God. By such simple devices also are the Adepts and Great Masters in the secret orders distinguished from the cohort of Neophytes as servi servorum mysterii. So also, or in a way which is not entirely unlike, we meet with the Tarot cards at the outermost gates--amidst the fritterings and débris of the so-called occult arts, about which no one in their senses has suffered the smallest deception; and yet these cards belong in themselves to another region, for they contain a very high symbolism, which is interpreted according to the Laws of Grace rather than by the pretexts and intuitions of that which passes for divination. The fact that the wisdom of God is foolishness with men does not create a presumption that the foolishness of this world makes in any sense for Divine Wisdom; so neither the scholars in the ordinary classes nor the pedagogues in the seats of the mighty will be quick to perceive the likelihood or even the possibility of this proposition. The subject has been in the hands of cartomancists as part of the stock-in-trade of their industry; I do not seek to persuade any one outside my own circles that this is of much or of no consequence; but on the historical and interpretative sides it has not fared better; it has been there in the hands of exponents who have brought it into utter contempt for those people who possess philosophical insight or faculties for the appreciation of evidence. It is time that it should be rescued, and this I propose to undertake once and for all, that I may have done with the side issues which distract from the term. As poetry is the most beautiful expression of the things that are of all most beautiful, so is symbolism the most catholic expression in concealment of things that are most profound in the Sanctuary and that have not been declared outside it with the same fulness by means of the spoken word. The justification of the rule of silence is no part of my present concern, but I have put on record elsewhere, and quite recently, what it is possible to say on this subject. Introduction
The little treatise which follows is divided into three parts, in the first of which I have dealt with the antiquities of the subject and a few things that arise from and connect therewith. It should be understood that it is not put forward as a contribution to the history of playing cards, about which I know and care nothing; it is a consideration dedicated and addressed to a certain school of occultism, more especially in France, as to the source and centre of all the phantasmagoria which has entered into expression during the last fifty years under the pretence of considering Tarot cards historically. In the second part, I have dealt with the symbolism according to some of its higher aspects, and this also serves to introduce the complete and rectified Tarot, which is available separately, in the form of coloured cards, the designs of which are added to the present text in black and white. They have been prepared under my supervision-in respect of the attributions and meanings-by a lady who has high claims as an artist. Regarding the divinatory part, by which my thesis is terminated, I consider it personally as a fact in the history of the Tarot - as such, I have drawn, from all published sources, a harmony of the meanings which have been attached to the various cards, and I have given prominence to one method of working that has not been published previously; having the merit of simplicity, while it is also of universal application, it may be held to replace the cumbrous and involved systems of the larger hand-books.
PART I
The Veil and its Symbols
$1
INTRODUCTORY AND GENERAL
THE pathology of the poet says that "the undevout astronomer is mad"; the pathology of the very plain man says that genius is mad; and between these extremes, which stand for ten thousand analogous excesses, the sovereign reason takes the part of a moderator and does what it can. I do not think that there is a pathology of the occult dedications, but about their extravagances no one can question, and it is not less difficult than thankless to act as a moderator regarding them. Moreover, the pathology, if it existed, would probably be an empiricism rather than a diagnosis, and would offer no criterion. Now, occultism is not like mystic faculty, and it very seldom works in harmony either with business aptitude in the things of ordinary life or with a knowledge of the canons of evidence in its own sphere. I know that for the high art of ribaldry there are few things more dull than the criticism which maintains that a thesis is untrue, and cannot understand that it is decorative. I know also that after long dealing with doubtful doctrine or with difficult research it is always refreshing, in the domain of this art, to meet with what is obviously of fraud or at least of complete unreason. But the aspects of history, as seen through the lens of occultism, are not as a rule decorative, and have few gifts of refreshment to heal the lacerations which they inflict on the logical understanding. It almost requires a Frater Sapiens dominabitur astris in the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross to have the patience which is not lost amidst clouds of folly when the consideration of the Tarot is undertaken in accordance with the higher law of symbolism. The true Tarot is symbolism; it speaks no other language and offers no other signs. Given the inward meaning of its emblems, they do become a kind of alphabet which is capable of indefinite combinations and makes true sense in all. On the highest plane it offers a key to the Mysteries, in a manner which is not arbitrary and has not been read in, But the wrong symbolical stories have been told concerning it, and the wrong history has been given in every published work which so far has dealt with the subject. It has been intimated by two or three writers that, at least in respect of the meanings, this is unavoidably the case, because few are acquainted with them, while these few hold by transmission under pledges and cannot betray their trust. The suggestion is fantastic on the surface for there seems a certain anti-climax in the proposition that a particular interpretation of fortune- telling--l'art de tirer les cartes--can be reserved for Sons of the Doctrine. The fact remains, notwithstanding, that a Secret Tradition exists regarding the Tarot, and as there is always the possibility that some minor arcana of the Mysteries may be made public with a flourish of trumpets, it will be as well to go before the event and to warn those who are curious in such matters that any revelation will contain only a third part of the earth and sea and a third part of the stars of heaven in respect of the symbolism. This is for the simple reason that neither in root- matter nor in development has more been put into writing, so that much will remain to be said after any pretended unveiling. The guardians of certain temples of initiation who keep watch over mysteries of this order have therefore no cause for alarm. In my preface to The Tarot of the Bohemians, which, rather by an accident of things, has recently come to be re-issued after a long period, I have said what was then possible or seemed most necessary. The present work is designed more especially--as I have intimated--to introduce a rectified set of the cards themselves and to tell the unadorned truth concerning them, so far as this is possible in the outer circles. As regards the sequence of greater symbols, their ultimate and highest meaning lies deeper than the common language of picture or hieroglyph. This will be understood by those who have received some part of the Secret Tradition. As regards the verbal meanings allocated here to the more important Trump Cards, they are designed to set aside the follies and impostures of past attributions, to put those who have the gift of insight on the right track, and to take care, within the limits of my possibilities, that they are the truth so far as they go.
It is regrettable in several respects that I must confess to certain reservations, but there is a question of honour at issue. Furthermore, between the follies on the one side of those who know nothing of the tradition, yet are in their own opinion the exponents of something called occult science and philosophy, and on the other side between the make-believe of a few writers who have received part of the tradition and think that it constitutes a legal title to scatter dust in the eyes of the world without, I feel that the time has come to say what it is possible to say, so that the effect of current charlatanism and unintelligence may be reduced to a minimum. labirintoermetico.com
We shall see in due course that the history of Tarot cards is largely of a negative kind, and that, when the issues are cleared by the dissipation of reveries and gratuitous speculations expressed in the terms of certitude, there is in fact no history prior to the fourteenth century. The deception and self-deception regarding their origin in Egypt, India or China put a lying spirit into the mouths of the first expositors, and the later occult writers have done little more than reproduce the first false testimony in the good faith of an intelligence unawakened to the issues of research. As it so happens, all expositions have worked within a very narrow range, and owe, comparatively speaking, little to the inventive faculty. One brilliant opportunity has at least been missed, for it has not so far occurred to any one that the Tarot might perhaps have done duty and even originated as a secret symbolical language of the Albigensian sects. I commend this suggestion to the lineal descendants in the spirit of Gabriele Rossetti and Eugène Aroux, to Mr. Harold Bayley as another New Light on the Renaissance, and as a taper at least in the darkness which, with great respect, might be serviceable to the zealous and all-searching mind of Mrs. Cooper-Oakley. Think only what the supposed testimony of watermarks on paper might gain from the Tarot card of the Pope or Hierophant, in connexion with the notion of a secret Albigensian patriarch, of which Mr. Bayley has found in these same watermarks so much material to his purpose. Think only for a moment about the card of the High Priestess as representing the Albigensian church itself; and think of the Tower struck by Lightning as typifying the desired destruction of Papal Rome, the city on the seven hills, with the pontiff and his temporal power cast down from the spiritual edifice when it is riven by the wrath of God. The possibilities are so numerous and persuasive that they almost deceive in their expression one of the elect who has invented them. But there is more even than this, though I scarcely dare to cite it. When the time came for the Tarot cards to be the subject of their first formal explanation, the archaeologist Court de Gebelin reproduced some of their most important emblems, and--if I may so term it--the codex which he used has served--by means of his engraved plates-as a basis of reference for many sets that have been issued subsequently. The figures are very primitive and differ as such from the cards of Etteilla, the Marseilles Tarot, and others still current in France. I am not a good judge in such matters, but the fact that every one of the Trumps Major might have answered for watermark purposes is shewn by the cases which I have quoted and by one most remarkable example of the Ace of Cups.
I should call it an eucharistic emblem after the manner of a ciborium, but this does not signify at the moment. The point is that Mr. Harold Bayley gives six analogous devices in his New Light on the Renaissance, being watermarks on paper of the seventeenth century, which he claims to be of Albigensian origin and to represent sacramental and Graal emblems. Had he only heard of the Tarot, had he known that these cards of divination, cards of fortune, cards of all vagrant arts, were perhaps current at the period in the South of France, I think that his enchanting but all too fantastic hypothesis might have dilated still more largely in the atmosphere of his dream. We should no doubt have had a vision of Christian Gnosticism, Manichæanism, and all that he understands by pure primitive Gospel, shining behind the pictures. I do not look through such glasses, and I can only commend the subject to his attention at a later period; it is mentioned here that I may introduce with an unheard-of wonder the marvels of arbitrary speculation as to the history of the cards. With reference to their form and number, it should scarcely be necessary to enumerate them, for they must be almost commonly familiar, but as it is precarious to assume anything, and as there are also other reasons, I will tabulate them briefly as follows:--
THE TAROT IN HISTORY
Our immediate next concern is to speak of the cards in their history, so that the speculations and reveries which have been perpetuated and multiplied in the schools of occult research may be disposed of once and for all, as intimated in the preface hereto.
Let it be understood at the beginning of this point that there are several sets or sequences of ancient cards which are only in part of our concern. The Tarot of the Bohemians, by Papus, which I have recently carried through the press, revising the imperfect rendering, has some useful information in this connexion, and, except for the omission of dates and other evidences of the archaeological sense, it will serve the purpose of the general reader. I do not propose to extend it in the present place in any manner that can be called considerable, but certain additions are desirable and so also is a distinct mode of presentation.
Among ancient cards which are mentioned in connexion with the Tarot, there are firstly those of Baldini, which are the celebrated set attributed by tradition to Andrea Mantegna, though this view is now generally rejected. Their date is supposed to be about 1470, and it is thought that there are not more than four collections extant in Europe. A copy or reproduction referred to 1485 is perhaps equally rare. A complete set contains fifty numbers, divided into five denaries or sequences of ten cards each. There seems to be no record that they were used for the purposes of a game, whether of chance or skill; they could scarcely have lent themselves to divination or any form of fortune- telling; while it would be more than idle to impute a profound symbolical meaning to their obvious emblematic designs. The first denary embodies Conditions of Life, as follows: (i) The Beggar, (2) the Knave, (3) the Artisan, (4) the Merchant, (5) the Noble, (6) the Knight, (7) the Doge, (8) the King, (9) the Emperor, (10) the Pope. The second contains the Muses and their Divine Leader: (11) Calliope, (12) Urania, (13) Terpsichore, (14) Erato, (15) Polyhymnia, (16) Thalia, (17) Melpomene, (18) Euterpe, (19) Clio, (20) Apollo. The third combines part of the Liberal Arts and Sciences with other departments of human learning, as follows: (21) Grammar, (22) Logic, (23) Rhetoric, (24) Geometry, (25) Arithmetic, (26) Music, (27) Poetry, (28) Philosophy, (29) Astrology, (30) Theology. The fourth denary completes the Liberal Arts and enumerates the Virtues: (31) Astronomy, (32) Chronology, (33) Cosmology, (34) Temperance, (35) Prudence, (36) Strength, (37) Justice; (38) Charity, (39) Hope, (40) Faith. The fifth and last denary presents the System of the Heavens (41) Moon, (42) Mercury, (43) Venus, (44) Sun, (45) Mars, (46) Jupiter, (47) Saturn, (48) A Eighth Sphere, (49) Primum Mobile, (50) First Cause. We must set aside the fantastic attempts to extract complete Tarot sequences out of these denaries; we must forbear from saying, for example, that the Conditions of Life correspond to the Trumps Major, the Muses to Pentacles, the Arts and Sciences to Cups, the Virtues, etc., to Sceptres, and the conditions of life to Swords. This kind of thing can be done by a process of mental contortion, but it has no place in reality. At the same time, it is hardly possible that individual cards should not exhibit certain, and even striking, analogies. The Baldini King, Knight and Knave suggest the corresponding court cards of the Minor Arcana. The Emperor, Pope, Temperance, Strength, justice, Moon and Sun are common to the Mantegna and Trumps Major of any Tarot pack. Predisposition has also connected the Beggar and Fool, Venus and the Star, Mars and the Chariot, Saturn and the Hermit, even Jupiter, or alternatively the First Cause, with the Tarot card of the World.[1] But the ⚫ most salient features of the Trumps Major are wanting in the Mantegna set, and I do not believe that the ordered sequence in the latter case gave birth, as it has been suggested, to the others. Romain Merlin maintained this view, and positively assigned the Baldini cards to the end of the fourteenth century.
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L4 The Tarot In History
If it be agreed that, except accidentally and
[1. The beggar is practically naked, and the analogy is constituted by the presence of two dogs, one of which seems to be flying at his legs. The Mars card depicts a sword-bearing warrior in a canopied chariot, to which, however, no horses are attached. Of course, if the Baldini cards belong to the close of the fifteenth century, there is no question at issue, as the Tarot was known in Europe long before that period.]
sporadically, the Baldini emblematic or allegorical pictures have only a shadowy and occasional connexion with Tarot cards, and, whatever their most probable date, that they can have supplied no originating motive, it follows that we are still seeking not only an origin in place and time for the symbols with which we are concerned, but a specific case of their manifestation on the continent of Europe to serve as a point of departure, whether backward or forward. Now it is well known that in the year 1393 the painter Charles Gringonneur--who for no reason that I can trace has been termed an occultist and kabalist by one indifferent English writer--designed and illuminated some kind of cards for the diversion of Charles VI of France when he was in mental ill-health, and the question arises whether anything can be ascertained of their nature. The only available answer is that at Paris, in the Bibliothèque du Roi, there are seventeen cards drawn and illuminated on paper. They are very beautiful, antique and priceless; the figures have a background of gold, and are framed in a silver border; but they are accompanied by no inscription and no number. Il It is certain, however, that they include Tarot Trumps Major, the list of which is as follows: Foo Emperor, Pope, Lovers, Wheel of Fortune, Temperance, Fortitude, justice, Moon, Sun, Chariot, Hermit, Hanged Man, Death, Tower and Last judgment. There are also four Tarot Cards at the Musée Carrer, Venice, and five others elsewhere, making nine in all. They include two pages or Knaves, three Kings and two Queens, thus illustrating the Minor Arcana. These collections have been identified with the set produced by Gringonneur, but the ascription was disputed so far bac as the year 1848, and it is not apparently put forward at the present day, even by those who are anxious to make evident the antiquity of the Tarot. It is held that they are all of Italian and some least certainly of Venetian origin. We have in this manner our requisite point of departure in respect of place at least. It has further been stated with authority that Venetian Tarots are the old and true form, which is the parent of all others; but I infer that complete sets of the Major and Minor Arcana belong to much later periods. The pack is thought to have consisted of seventy-ei cards.
Notwithstanding, however, the preference shewn towards the Venetian Tarot, it is acknowledge that some portions of a Minchiate or Florentine set must be allocated to the period between 1413 and 1418. These were once in the possession of Countess Gonzaga, at Milan. A complete Minchiate pack contained ninety-seven cards, and in spite of these vestiges it is regarded, speak generally, as a later development. There were forty-one Trumps Major, the additional numbers being borrowed or reflected from the Baldini emblematic set. In the court cards of the Minor Arcana, the Knights were monsters of the centaur type, while the Knaves were sometimes warri and sometimes serving-men. Another distinction dwelt upon is the prevalence of Chrstian mediæval ideas and the utter absence of any Oriental suggestion. The question, however, remain whether there are Eastern traces in any Tarot cards.
We come, in fine, to the Bolognese Tarot, sometimes referred to as that of Venice and having th Trumps Major complete, but numbers 20 and 21 are transposed. In the Minor Arcana the 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the small cards are omitted, with the result that there are sixty-two cards in all. The termination of the Trumps Major in the representation of the Last judgment is curious, and a litt arresting as a point of symbolism; but this is all that it seems necessary to remark about the pack Bologna, except that it is said to have been invented--or, as a Tarot, more correctly, modified-- about the beginning of the fifteenth century by an exiled Prince of Pisa resident in the city. The purpose for which they were used is made tolerably evident by the fact that, in 1423, St. Bernard of Sienna preached against playing cards and other forms of gambling. Forty years later the mportation of cards into England was forbidden, the time being that of King Edward IV. This is
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Tarot In History
The first certain record of the subject in our country.
t is difficult to consult perfect examples of the sets enumerated above, but it is not difficult to m with detailed and illustrated descriptions--I should add, provided always that the writer is not an ccultist, for accounts emanating from that source are usually imperfect, vague and preoccupied onsiderations which cloud the critical issues. An instance in point is offered by certain views which have been expressed on the Mantegna codex--if I may continue to dignify card sequences with a title of this kind.
www.labirintoermetico.com/02tarocchi/Waite_Pictorial_Key_...
七姐暗動凡心，偷到人間與董永結緣。玉帝獲悉此事，強遣已懷身孕的七姐返回天宮。後永勤奮讀書，高中狀元，七姐重臨人間，把孩子交永撫養，從此仙凡永隔。
祭典期間，神公戲演員會扮演“天姬送子”一幕，把人偶送給理事，喻為”添丁帶福“。而扮演”董永“的演員則把官帽送上，喻為”陞官發財“。
During the hungry ghost prayers ritual, there is a section where the Chinese Opera actors will hand over a puppet and a governor's hat to the committee members, giving the symbolic meaning of prosperity and fortune.
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The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).
In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.
Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.
Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors
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The mysterious world behind the curtains:
Follow my rediscovery of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
For my past visits to the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
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What happened three days ago is a very bad story, a 63-year-old man shot two women in the face, one 48 years old, the other 49 years old, and then took his own life, all of which happened in a town in the province of Catania, one of them allegedly had an extramarital affair with the killer: in 2022 120 women were killed, 97 of them were killed in the family or emotional sphere, of these 57 died for hand of the partner or former partner. This tragic and sad incipit linked to the ever-present drama of feminicides, to introduce the photographic story that I made in the town of Savoca (Messina - Sicily) on 08/13/2022, of a very particular representation that was held last time in August 2018; is a narration that pits Evil (a devil armed with a long grappling hook) against Good (Saint Lucia, who holds a silver palm leaf in her hands), the Evil-Devil tries to seduce-distract Saint Lucia with own grappling hook, instead Saint Lucia remains impassive in front of her flattery: violence against women in this very suggestive representation finds distant and deep roots, Saint Lucia actually represents those women who in medieval times had to suffer the abuses perpetrated by the Baron of Savoca nicknamed "Barone Altadonna", which making use of the law "ius primae noctis" (from the Latin "right of the first night"), referred to the "right" according to which a feudal lord could rape a newly married woman on her wedding night. Therefore, this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a report of the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The living re-enactment of the history of St. Lucia takes place on two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some moments of Saturday, the day during which the celebration does not take place in its full beauty, it is the day during which "the silver palm" is delivered "from the Lucia of the previous edition" to the "Lucia of the current edition", it is the day during which the last details are tested, above all the "impassivity of the little girl who impersonates Saint Lucia", lovingly called "the Lucia".. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.
In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.
The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.
Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened.
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E' una bruttissima storia quanto accaduto tre giorni fa, un uomo di 63 anni, ha ucciso a colpi di pistola in pieno volto due donne, una di 48 anni, l'altra di 49 anni, per poi togliersi la vita, il tutto accaduto in una cittadina in provincia di Catania, una di loro avrebbe avuto una relazione extraconiugale con l'assassino: nel 2022 sono state 120 le donne uccise, 97 di loro sono state uccise in ambito familiare o affettivo, di queste 57 hanno trovato la morte per mano del partner o ex partner. Questo tragico e triste incipit legato al sempre attuale dramma dei femminicidi, per introdurre il racconto fotografico che ho realizzato nella cittadina di Savoca (Messina - Sicilia) il 13/08/2022, di una particolarissima rappresentazione che si era tenuta l'ultima volta nell'agosto del 2018; è una narrazione che vede contrapposto il Male (un diavolo armato di un lungo rampino), al Bene (Santa Lucia, che stringe tra le mani una foglia di palma d'argento), il Male-Diavolo tenta di sedurre-distrarre Santa Lucia col proprio rampino, invece Santa Lucia resta impassibile davanti le sue lusinghe: la violenza sulle donne in questa rappresentazione molto suggestiva, trova radici lontane e profonde, Santa Lucia in realtà rappresenta quelle donne che in epoca medioevale dovevano subire gli abusi perpetrati dal Barone di Savoca soprannominato "Barone Altadonna", che avvalendosi della legge "ius primae noctis" (dal latino "diritto della prima notte"), si riferiva al “diritto” secondo cui un signore feudale poteva violentare una donna appena sposata durante la sua prima notte di nozze. Quindi questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da tutti coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report della rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di Santa Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata del sabato, giorno durante il quale la festa non si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza, è il giorno durante il quale “la palma d’argento” viene consegnata “dalla Lucia della edizione precedente” alla “Lucia dell’attuale edizione”, è il giorno durante il quale si testano gli ultimi dettagli, soprattutto si mette alla prova “l’impassibilità della bambina che impersona Santa Lucia”, chiamata amorevolmente “la Lucia”. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza. La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamato dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei stringe devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza.
In every spiritual tradition, we talk about basic elements that are material and energetic, but since we know that every manifested thing is a trinity of matter, energy, and Consciousness, then we have to understand that the basic elements are also elements of Consciousness, not just matter and energy. The four primary elements—air, fire, water, earth—make up everything that we are, on every level. The important question we need to answer practically in our lives is how the four elements relate to the fifth element. How are we working with the fifth element? That is what we talked about in the previous lecture. The fifth element, literally “the quintessence,” relates to the Akash, the ether. In Sanskrit terms, we can also say that it is Kundalini. It is the Prakriti, the root energy that in some religions is symbolized as the Divine Mother.. The Divine Mother is that creative force or intelligence in nature that gives life to everything. If we want spiritual life, we need to know our Divine Mother. Her active agent is the quintessence, which is an energy in us. We need that energy to be active, and right now it is not. In us, it is passive, latent, what in science we could call "static, non-kinetic energy." Aphrodite Urania, the pure light of the Divine Mother. The method to awaken that energy, to activate it, has been hidden in every religion and mystical tradition. In the West, it is most famously known in the tradition we call Alchemy. The entire tradition of Alchemy is a symbolic presentation of a practical science. Alchemy hides the knowledge of how to elaborate the full potential of the human being, which is hidden in all of our atoms and cells. To do that, we need to know about transmutation. The Divine Mother is the fire of the Tree of Life
This word transmutation gets utilized a lot in esoteric traditions, but it appears as if it utilized without much knowledge of what the word really means. So it is important that we analyze this word and understand what it means, where it comes from, and what it implies. The word transmutation came into use because of the tradition of Alchemy, and is derived from Latin roots. The implications of the word transmutation are far beyond what most esoteric traditions attribute to it. Trans means “thoroughly,” and mutare means “change.” To transmute means to completely change something. In the modern Gnostic movement, for example, most students use this word transmutation exclusively in relation to sexual energy, which is a valid use of the word, but it is not its full meaning and not its original use. The word transmutation originally applied to our entire being, to everything about us. Really, to transmute comes from that famous phrase from Alchemy, "to transmute lead into gold." It means to purge the lead, which is a dense, heavy, and impure metal, and reduce it into its quintessence—in other words, to reduce it to the most basic components that originally made it, and from that, to perfect it. Everything that exists is constructed out of the basic elements that we explained in the previous lecture. First is the Akash or ether, and that becomes particularized into air, fire, water, and earth. Those four basic elements, which are physical, energetic, and conscious, become everything that exists. Everything that we are is made of four elements arranged and particularized into particular sequences. Physically, we call this encoding DNA, which is not merely physical chemicals, but also encodes energetic and spiritual data, as combinations of elements. Those elements are physically sequenced in series combinations of molecules that are arranged in infinite combinations to create everything that we are. Those sequences of four are reflections of the four elements. Similarly, the four subtle elements are reflected in the four basic components of physical matter:“For the most comprehensive and lucid exposition of occult pneumatology (the branch of philosophy dealing with spiritual substances) extant, mankind is indebted to Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus (Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim), prince of alchemists and Hermetic philosophers and true possessor of the Royal Secret (the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of Life). Paracelsus believed that each of the four primary elements known to the ancients (earth, fire, air, and water) consisted of a subtle, vaporous principle and a gross corporeal substance.“Air is, therefore, twofold in nature-tangible atmosphere and an intangible, volatile substratum which may be termed spiritual air. Fire is visible and invisible, discernible and indiscernible--a spiritual, ethereal flame manifesting through a material, substantial flame. Carrying the analogy further, water consists of a dense fluid and a potential essence of a fluidic nature. Earth has likewise two essential parts--the lower being fixed, terreous, immobile; the higher, rarefied, mobile, and virtual. The general term elements has been applied to the lower, or physical, phases of these four primary principles, and the name elemental essences to their corresponding invisible, spiritual constitutions. Minerals, plants, animals, and men live in a world composed of the gross side of these four elements, and from various combinations of them construct their living organisms.“Henry Drummond, in Natural Law in the Spiritual World, describes this process as follows: "If we analyse this material point at which all life starts, we shall find it to consist of a clear structureless, jelly-like substance resembling albumen or white of egg. It is made of Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen and Nitrogen. Its name is protoplasm. And it is not only the structural unit with which all living bodies start in life, but with which they are subsequently built up. 'Protoplasm,' says Huxley, 'simple or nucleated, is the formal basis of all life. It is the clay of the Potter.'"“The water element of the ancient philosophers has been metamorphosed into the hydrogen of modern science; the air has become oxygen; the fire, nitrogen; the earth, carbon.” - Manly P. Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages For us to become something new, we need to unzip the sequence that makes who we are, and reconnect it in a superior way. But how are you going to disarrange everything about yourself, and rearrange it? Especially when you are the one trying to do it. Not easy! But this is what to "transmute" really means. It means “to thoroughly change.” Gnosis is a science of transmutation. Yes, it begins with sexual energy, that is the root energy that makes the full and complete transmutation possible, but we do not seek to only transmute sexual energy. We want to transmute all of our matter, all of our Consciousness, our psyche, our soul: everything. We want to thoroughly change: to transmute. Interestingly, the result of that transmutation is a mutant. A mutant is someone who is different, who is changed. This word “mutant” has a negative connotation nowadays, but in reality every existing creature is a mutation, a mutant. What we want is a conscious mutation, a change for the better. We want a change towards something beneficial and positive, something useful, something that will bring harmony and peace, not discord and violence. We want a change that will bring about goodness, equality, harmony, love. For that type of change, we need to thoroughly change the causes of discord, the causes of suffering, and those causes are within us, in our matter, our energy, and our Consciousness. A genuine transmutation requires that the causes or the origins of problems and pain, suffering, are changed thoroughly, so that new effects can emerge. That change is not easy. If you consider how anything in nature changes, fundamentally changes, its a process of birth, growth, decline, death, rebirth, growth, decline and death. This is how evolution advances, through small mutations over time. If you have ever studied biology or evolution, you can see that this is how species grow. They grow because of the pressures put on them by their environment. They change, and adapt, and hopefully improve. We need the same thing. Unfortunately, we are not responding properly to the pressures that are upon us. In response to the psychological, material, social, and physical pressures that are on us now, we are not mutating ourselves properly. If we were, we would be transcending the problems. We would be adapting and overcoming them so that they would not be problems anymore. Instead, we see that the problems are deepening, that we are not changing fast enough, and in the right way. We need to know how to do it, how to transmute. Samael Aun Weor said:“No one can Self-realize without transmutation.” - Samael Aun Weor, Tarot and Kabbalah .In this context, he was not talking about sexual transmutation, he was talking about transmutation of the psyche, the mind, the heart, and the body: to change thoroughly. Stated in another way, you can transmute your sexual energy, but if you do not transmute your mind, you will not self-realize. three-pillarsWhen we study the Tree of Life, our primary interest is how it applies to us here and now. The Tree of Life maps all of the levels of existence. But those levels of existence are meaningless if we cannot access them. Studying and memorizing scriptures and teachings mean nothing if we cannot experience what they point towards. We need to examine this Tree of Life in relation with ourselves, and understand that these ten sephiroth relate to levels of being within us. Here on this graphic we see not only our physical state but our psychological state, so on this image while we see a physical body to remind us that this relates to us here and now, really all these spheres or levels show our levels of psychology. Symbolized here are two divisions, two sides. The superior part is related to the heavens or superior aspects of being. The inferior part that hangs below is called Klipoth or hell, and this aspect relates to the inferior or inverted aspect of our psyche. Everything on this map is composed of elements: air, fire, water and earth. All of this is suspended in or supported by the Akash.
So in this context, if we use our imagination and we look at how this applies to us here and now, everything about us is encoded, in elements. Here physically, we can sense those physical aspects: our physical body is an encoded series of elements, which is reflected in our DNA. But as well, our entire psychological make up is encoded in us. Sadly, we only hazily perceive it. We hazily perceive it as thoughts and feelings, and certain types of sensations physically. But we do not perceive or comprehend that all of the thoughts, feelings, and impulses are driven by matter and energy that is not physical. This is a real problem that we have. Really, open up your imagination, and analyze yourself: look at how you have a physical body here and now. This body is composed of a trinity of elements: matter, energy, and Consciousness. The Consciousness here is not awake, it is very asleep, but there is some degree of Consciousness or perception. Thoughts, feelings, and other impulses are more subtle that physical matter, but still we can perceive that they have some level of manifestation. We can verify that they are there, somehow. They also have matter, energy, and Consciousness, but not in the physical dimension. Those thoughts that you sense, and the feelings that you sense, are modifications of Consciousness that have matter and energy associated with them, but not physically. What we experience physically is their reflection, like light being bounced through a mirror. We have the mirror of our mind, which reflects the contents of our thoughts and feelings, but where are the thoughts? Where are the feelings? They are not in the brain, because you can experience thoughts and feelings when you are out of your body. So where are they? This is the problem we have: we do not know. The problem is compounded because we need to change. Rapidly. Otherwise, we are threatened with grave problems, even worse problems then we have now. We need to transmute all of these psychological elements, very quickly. How, if we cannot see them? If we cannot sense them, how can we change them? How can you work in the dark? How can a blind person create a piece of art if he cannot even see what he is doing? This is our fundamental challenge. Psychologically, spiritually, we are blind. How then can we create a perfect soul, if we cannot see what we are doing? How can we transmute ourselves into something better, if we cannot even see who we really are? For this, we need help. We need to understand how these elements work, in all of the levels of nature. So to remind you, these are the five elements. Space
Air Fire Water Earth All things are composed by these elements; understanding that, we need to look at how those elements manifest in us. We need to analyze our psychology, to see it for what it is. Let me remind you of the previous lecture: these elements do not refer to the literal physical aspects, they are psychological. Expansiveness Mobility
Temperature Fluidity Solidity In order to transmute yourself, you need to know what you are working with, you need to see yourself, you need to see how your mind and heart functions, how all of the sensations you experience flow. You need to see what parts of your psyche are expansive, what is the relative mobility of your thinking and feeling, what about its temperature? Its fluidity and solidity? In this way, you can analyze the elements that are involved. You can understand how to manage the elements in your experiences, psychologically. As we explained in the previous lecture, we get help with that process through what we call ordeals, psychological challenges that are given by our own Innermost, through our psychological trainer, who presents us with scenarios designed to bring out those parts of ourselves that we need to work on. If we are not prepared to see it, we will respond poorly, the way that we have been doing previously, and we will make our situation worse. If we are not psychologically trained to watch ourselves and look for the patterns in our psychology, we will not see what is really happening to us, and we will make mistakes. When you enter into this type of work and the process of starting to transmute yourself, you are given challenges, opportunities to see yourself as you are, and those opportunities will come every day. If you are really attentive, you will find that those opportunities are continually arising, all the time. We do not call them opportunities physically, we call them adversities, problems, suffering. We have all of our complaints. We have an old psychological habit that is a very serious obstacle in this type of study, this type of work. That is the habit of self-esteem. Its an old habit that thinks we deserve things that we do not deserve, and that wants things to be ideal, the way that we want it, and we get very frustrated and upset when things do not go the way that we want or expect. I am curious: what percentage of people listening to the lecture today are very disappointed they did not win the lottery last night? I would like to find that out, but I do not think anyone would tell me.
We all have this self-esteem, and it is in direct conflict with the Innermost, with the Being, because this “self” of self-esteem is the ego. The Being wants the ego dead. Dead. Dissolved. Transmuted...But we do not want to transmute it. We want things the way we want them, and when we do not get things the way we want them, what do we do? We complain. We complain in our mind, and we complain with our mouth. Many of us complain all the time. That is a sign, a very significant sign, that we are not transmuting. Another word for transmutation is transformation. We use that in a very important phrase in this teaching: the transformation of impressions. Someone who is transforming impressions has serenity, acceptance. In other words, they have no complaints.
So if we have a lot of complaints, we need to analyze the desires that are complaining: the complaining pride, the lust, the envy, the greed, the gluttony, the fear, the avarice, the laziness, all of those egos. And we need to analyze them in relation with the elements: space, air, fire, water and earth, to understand how they are made, how they work, how they function. In this work, we need to learn to not just go with the flow of our psychological river, but to fight it. The psychological river of our mind is flowing into hell. It is not taking us to God. To reach God, divinity, purity, you have to fight against everything that comes up in yourself that is impure, that is selfish. That fight is not easy. four-ordeals
The four elements are the basic tools that our psychological trainer uses in order to show us ourselves, to show us what we're made of—literally, what we (as a psyche) are made of. Not physically, psychologically. The physical part is impermanent and irrelevant. Spiritually speaking, we have had so many physical bodies in the past and may have more in the future, thus in the long term perspective the physical part is not as important as the psychological part, because the psychological part lasts, and is the determining factor as to whether we get more physical bodies, and what kind, and in what circumstances. Focusing on physicality is foolish. Focusing on psychology is wise. In the psychological point of view, what are we made of? We are made of these elements in different combinations, but unfortunately corrupted with desire. In order to transmute these elements, we have to break them down. Imagine if you were a weaver and you got really drunk and wove something, using up all your good cloth, your good fibers and materials; then you sobered up and realized that what you wove was a complete disaster and wouldn't do anybody any good, in fact it was a waste of all that material, but it was the only material that you had, and you need clothes... What do you do? You have to take it apart. You have to go back to zero. You have to be naked, and start again. We need to do that psychologically; we need to strip our identity completely: this self-esteem has to die. We have to renounce everything except God. To only hold fast to divinity. Nothing else. This is the only way that you can fully and completely transmute. Remember: transmute means to throughly change—thoroughly, not partially. Thoroughly, from the ground up, from zero. It is the only way to build something properly. This is why that Jesus told us that we need a new wineskin. “No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was [taken] out of the new agreeth not with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.” - Jesus, in Luke 5 We need a new garment. A new mind. A new heart. A new body. That transmutation comes through these elements, so we are tested, every day, constantly, by our trainer, through these elements, to pull things out psychologically so we will see them for what they are. This is not for fun or games or just to punish us and humiliate us, it is not to make us suffer, just because we deserve it. It is to help us. It is the medicine we need; we are sick. To be healed, we need a very profound surgery, very deep, very painful. It is not easy. It is not easy to die psychologically. It is not pleasant. It is not something that you will enjoy. You will be in pain. You will cry. You will have regret. You will have remorse. You will be ashamed of yourself. And you should be. Don't avoid it. Embrace it, yet do not attach to it. Look squarely at the facts, accept them, and change. This is how you become spiritually mature. You do not avoid the facts. You look them in the face, you see them for what they are, and you change them. Thoroughly. When you are getting your psychological challenges every day, look them square in the face, accept them, accept responsibility for yourself, do not blame others, do not blame God, accept it, look at it and say, "I deserve this, I created this, now I'm going to change it". This is what a Master comes from. Everybody wonders, "How do the Masters become so beautiful? How do they become so humble, so pure?"... because they are honest. That is how. Because they are honest. They do not avoid the facts. They work hard to change, to become worthy of reflecting God.
The way that this is done is through this fifth element. Everything that we are is constructed of these basic elements. So our pride for example is constructed of the four elements. The humility of an angel is constructed from the same elements that your pride is made from. Isn't that odd? Its constructed of the same light, but arranged differently. The “pride” of an angel—that element, that light, that has to do with virtue of esteem or self nature—is not corrupted by desire, whereas ours is corrupted. What we call “pride” is a modified light that comes from the sun. It is the same light that shines in an angel, but in an angel it shines as humility. Its the same light, but in us, it is modified, corrupted. What shines in that psychological component is the quintessence. But in us, it is impure. In an angel, in a master, it is pure. The word quintessence comes from a root word which means: "To be":
esse "to be." Sanskrit asmi, Hittite eimi, O.C.S. jesmi, Lith. esmi, Goth. imi, O.E. eom "I am"The quintessence hidden in each element within us is the Being, the light of the Being, that shines through any psychological element. Everything that we are as a psyche is the light of the Being, but in us that light is trapped in corruption. If you want that light to shine pure, you need to break apart the lens and reform it to make it perfect, clean. This is the basic science of Alchemy: to purge the metals and make them pure. We could remove the word metals and instead use crystals or lenses, and it would mean the same thing. The quintessence is that light, what in Hebrew is called Shekinah, the light of the Divine Mother. That light shines through everything that we are, psychologically and physically. It shines as all of those elements arranged in all of those different patterns that make up all of the different people and things and plants and animals and minerals and everything that exist; everything is that light, but modified. What we are as a person is a huge complication of all those lights. “And אלהים Elohim said, Let there be מארת ma'owroth [lights] in the firmament of שמים shamayim to divide the day from ליל layil [night]. And let them be מאורת ma'owroth in the firmament of שמים shamayim to give איר owr [light] upon ארץ erets [the earth]...” - Genesis 1:15 We do not see the lights for what they are. We need to analyze ourselves physically, energetically, emotionally, intellectually, and consciously.
This graphic shows the basic psyche that we can perceive here and now, if we look. All of the psychological elements that we can perceive here and now are related to other forms of matter. Physically, we perceive our physical body. If you pay attention, you will recognize that this physical body has energy that allows it to be active and move, the energy of digestion and the circulation of blood, and the energy that flows through the muscles, in the senses and nerves. five-bodies. We also have energy that flows through the psyche, that let us us have imagination and memory and thought, feeling. All of those energies are related with the vital body, what in the Tree of Life is called Yesod (“foundation”). The vital body reflects the contents of thought, emotion, and will into the physical body. Everything we perceive physically is reflected, either through the five physical senses, or through the internal senses that we perceive inside. The vital body reflects those contents into our brain, into our heart. This is important to understand so that we have a clear perspective on how to analyze ourselves. When we are feeling emotions, those emotions do not originate in the physical body. They are not just imaginary. They are reflected forms of light. They are light that we feel and sense emotionally in the physical body, but is being reflected to the physical body from our Astral body, through the vital body. The light of emotion originates in the Astral body. That means that if we are feeling a negative emotion, full comprehension and elimination of that defect is only possible by working on it at that level, with the Astral body in the fifth dimension, where its originating. But how many of us have clairvoyance? How many of us are awake in the astral plane, in the fifth dimension, to work on that discursive negative emotion? None of us, we are asleep! Moreover, when we sleep at night and we are dreaming with those emotions, we do not remember them when we come back to our body. So our trainer has no choice but to give us ordeals in the physical world so that we can see and experience what is happening in that Astral body, so that it is reflected here physically, so that it can come up and we will work on it. Internally, consciously, we are asleep and enslaved, so to help us, our trainer gives us ordeals. Our trainer puts us in circumstances where we feel those emotions, so that our Consciousness, our willpower, can see it, and can respond consciously, not mechanically, but can comprehend and free itself. This is why we have ordeals. We need them. Do not complain about your problems. Learn from them. They are your path to liberation. In several places of the Bible it states very clearly: “For whom יהוה loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son [in whom] he delighteth.” - Proverbs 3:12 The chastisement or ordeals are given as help to help us and aid us, otherwise we will not see who we are, and what is stopping us from reaching God. So this applies to all of our emotions, all of our thoughts, all of our problems, all of our situations, all of our circumstances, everything thats bothering us or that we think is limiting us, or is a problem for us, is actually something that we need to take advantage of. That is why Samael Aun Weor said: “We must learn how to take advantage of the worst adversities. The worst adversities bring us the best opportunities. We must learn to smile before all adversities.” “People protest because of the difficulties that interaction offers them. They do not want to realize that those difficulties are precisely providing them with the necessary opportunities for the dissolution of their “I.” So why are all the spiritual students, including the so-called Gnostics , looking for easy lives? Students are trying to win the lottery, longing to retire in the countryside and grow sunflowers, longing to retreat from their problems. Listen: if you have an easy, laid back life, you will stagnate spiritually. You will rot. If you want to grow spiritually, you need to die psychologically. The only way you will do that is by seeing the garbage in your mind and in your heart. That is why we are given ordeals. “During times of rigorous temptations [ordeals], discouragement and desolation, one must appeal to the intimate Remembering of the Self.“Deep within each one of us is the Aztec Tonantzin, Stella Maris, the Egyptian Isis, God the Mother, waiting for us in order to heal our painful heart.“When one gives to oneself the shock of “Self-remembering,” then indeed, a miraculous change [transmutation] in the entire work of the body is produced, so that the cells receive a different nourishment.” - Samael Aun Weor. That is why Samael said:“We can disintegrate our defects and dissolve the psychological “I” only by means of this science of transmutations. We can modify our errors, transmute the vile metals into pure gold and command only by means of the science of transmutations.” - Samael Aun Weor, Tarot and Kabbalah. In The Gnostic Bible, The Pistis Sophia Unveiled, he said: “It is possible to crystallize the Soul within ourselves by dissolving the animal ego.“We need to dissolve the undesirable psychological elements in order to crystallize the Soul within ourselves.
“We must convert ourselves into pure Soul. With patience you will possess your Soul.“This is possible based on conscious work and voluntary sufferings. “The Souls of the people reside in a superior level of the Being.“The Soul is the conjunction of all the forces, powers, virtues, essences, etc., that crystallize within us when the entire animal ego has been dissolved.
“Each time that a psychological defect is dissolved, a virtue, a power, etc., crystallizes within our interior. “The complete dissolution of all the defects implies the integral crystallization of the Soul within ourselves. “If the water does not boil at one hundred degrees, that which must be crystallized does not crystallize, and that which must be dissolved is not dissolved.
“In similar form, we say that it is necessary to pass through great emotional crisis in order to dissolve psychological defects and crystallize the Soul.” Firstly, this is accomplished based on conscious work and voluntary suffering. Voluntary suffering means that we accept our suffering, we do not fight it, in the sense of resisting it or denying it or trying to change our physical circumstances all of the time. Instead we accept it, we do what we need to do in order to survive, and care for our responsibilities, and that's enough. The rest of our effort should be focused on changing ourselves. The soul is the conjunction of all the powers, virtues, etc., and they crystalize within us when the animal ego has been dissolved: that is transmutation. Each construction in the psyche is made of the elements. We dissolve each ego in order to liberate the light in each of the elements that are there, then automatically, spontaneously, the light emerges as the soul. In other words, the quintessence is freed. From there is a great range of potential. What happens with that energy next depends on the nature of our path. But whatever the nature of that path, it will be positive, since the light has been liberated. The other important point here is “if the water does not boil at one hundred degrees, that which must be crystalized does not crystalize, and that which must dissolve does not dissolve.” What is that water? Water is one of the elements. Where is the water in us? What water is it that must boil? Anybody know? Well, this is a sort of trick question, because everything about us is based on water. There is no exception. In the Hebrew letters are the three mother letters that we mentioned previously. mother-letters-three-brains..The element of water is represented by the letter Mem. The element water and the letter Mem are related with the vital body. That is the lower Eden or Mayim in the book of Genesis. “And אלהים Elohiym said, Let the מים mayim (waters) under שמים shamayim be gathered together unto one place…” - Genesis 1:9 yesod-body-croppedThe sephirah Yesod, the ninth sphere, is our creative waters, from which we create everything, physically, spiritually, psychologically. Those are our creative waters, the waters of Genesis within us. From Yesod, the sexual organs, was made our earth, our physical body. “And אלהים Elohiym said, Let the מים mayim (waters) under שמים shamayim be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry [land] appear: and it was so. And אלהים Elohiym called the dry [land] ארץ 'erets [earth, our body]; and the gathering together of the waters called he ים yam [seas]…” - Genesis 1:9-10 The physical body is mostly water. Without it we cannot live. The emotional body (Astral body) is very strongly influenced by water. Our emotions are a sea. The Mental body also is constructed with the element of water. The Causal body is made from the waters. Water is in everything. Everything that exists depends on water. Physically, energetically and consciously. So when the water must boil, that means that our entire psyche must boil. What is the boiling? The problems, difficulties. When you study how physics works, when you study how nature works, you find that crystallization and dissolution are very closely related. The entire science of Alchemy is based upon this understanding. This is why if you study any of the old alchemical texts, they always talk about the need to dissolve and coagulate or crystalize. The entire science of Alchemy is based upon that. One short example is from the Bosom Book of George Ripley (circa 1476): “Then mingle with this white calx [dusty residue remaining after a mineral or metal has been calcined or roasted] the fiery water [שמים shamayim], and distil it with a strong fire all off as before, and calcine the earth [ארץ 'erets] again that remaineth in the bottom of the still, and then distil it again with a strong fire as before, and again calcine it, and thus distil and calcine it seven times, until all the substance of the calx be lifted up by the limbec: and then thou hast the water [מים mayim] of life rectified and made indeed spiritual; and so hast thou the four elements exalted in the virtue of their quintessence. This water will dissolve all bodies, and putrefy them, and purge them: and this is our Mercury and our Lunary; and whosoever thinketh there is any other water than this is an ignorant and a fool, and shall never be able to come to the effect.”This is only one example of hundreds of writings like it. This excerpt explains that the process of purification and the elaboration of the quintessence is a process of dissolution and crystallization.
For centuries, foolish people lacking initiation into the actual science read these things literally and thought they were talking about literal water, literal physical mercury, literal physical elements. That is wrong. These scriptures are about the psyche, the mind. The dissolution is psychological, and it is accomplished through ordeals, through analyzing and dissolving impurities in the mind. Symbolically, we analyze the elements of the mind as having seven fundamental qualities, related to the seven lights that organize all things.
gnosticteachings.org/courses/alchemy/3076-transmutation.html
Rey Cuba Photography
Hoy recordaba días de mi niñez sentado frente al radio VEF-206 o luego el SELENA que no cesaban de moverse por sus espacios de onda corta, voces de locaciones distantes parecían muy cercanas. Ideas, pensamientos y sobre todo música se arremolinaban en medio de mis días en un pequeño y oscuro apartamento donde nunca faltó la alegría.
Después de transitados varios cuantos años me siento delante de estas otras ondas, hoy digitales que enmarcan mi vuelo en busca de otras culturas, luces, sombras, manifestaciones de vida de todo tipo. Sigo en mi permanente búsqueda de emociones, vivencias que pueda sumar a las mías. Sigue acompañándome la música, pero las imágenes han volcado sobre mí su inmenso jolgorio.
Continuo en la misma patria, en la misma ciudad, he conocido a esas personas que cuando niño escuchaba hablar, logro entender sus diversas pasiones y trato de entender los matices, pero por sobre todas las cosas me alegro mucho de haber experimentado las emociones de un niño que soñaba con viajar el mundo, hoy tengo la maravillosa oportunidad de haber transmutado mi VEF-206 y SELENA por una pantalla y un cablecito que me lleva a conocer otros rincones y disfrutar de estos espacios, como si hubiese viajado.
Gozo el privilegio de haber conocido a buenos seres humanos, que como yo, comparten el deseo de la luz más allá de las sombras.
Today reminded my childhood days sitting in front of the radio first the VEF, later the SELENA who kept floating around the shortwave spaces and distant locations or voices seemed very close. Ideas, thoughts and especially music swirled through my days in a small, dark apartment where joy was never scarce.
A few years had gone and I seat in front of these other waves, today digital waves framing my flight in search of other cultures, lights, shadows, manifestation of life of all kinds. I keep my constant search of emotions, experiences that can add to mi own. The music keeps by my side, but the images have poured on me his immense fun.
I am still in the same country, in the same city, I had met those people who as a child I was listening to speak, I am move to understand their various passions and the diversity, but above all I am glad to have experienced the emotions of a child who dreamed of travelling the world, today I have the wonderful opportunity to be transmuted my VEF-206 and SELENA by a screen and a cord which take me to meet other nooks and enjoy these spaces, as if I had travelled already.
I enjoy the privilege of having known good human beings, who like me, share the desire of light beyond the shadows.
Welcome aboard The Multidimensional Ship! Its observation deck is your entire perceptual reality. And it is now in motion. YOU are now in motion. If you only realized how fast you were going, you would probably feel a bit ill. In truth, many of you are currently experiencing signs and symptoms of what we call Global Acceleration Syndrome. We provide this title to honor your medical paradigm, even though it is not any kind of official medical diagnosis. Muscle aches and pains, lethargy, fatigue, spacey-ness, panic attacks, depression, insomnia, memory-loss, confusion---these are just a few of the uncomfortable side-effects produced by the incredible velocity at which you are traveling.
Your world appears to continue as it always has because YOUR MIND requires this in order to keep from flying apart. Your anxiety and hesitancies are the same feelings shared by those who sailed with Columbus. Bound for a new world, they trembled as they sailed, believing their world to be flat. Even so....... many of you also tremble---certain that you may "go over the edge" at any moment!
If you can receive assistance by a health care professional, and your inner guidance affirms this course of action, we encourage you to do so. However, if everything you try seems empty and useless......be strong! Be patient. Deliverance is soon at hand. The journey has begun, and there are wonders ahead, and beauty beyond imagining. The travails of childbirth are many, but the prize that follows far outweighs the pain. Believe this, receive it, and your anxious heart will slowly learn to find rest.
INSIDE THE SHIP
Spaceship Earth is a Holographic Being. Structurally, it is like a gift box that some imaginative person sends you for Christmas. When you remove the lid, you find a slightly smaller box, fully wrapped---just like the first one, containing another (even smaller) box, which contains yet another, and another, and another.........all the way down to your one-celled creatures. Each "level" of your Ship contains all of the basic elements of every other "level." Some of the features are minimized, in certain aspects, so that others can be maximized and focused upon. But it's all there! And it's all synchronized, like moving parts in a pocket watch. It all blends together beautifully.
You have been packing for this journey for quite sometime now. Around the planet there has formed a band of energy---several concentric bands, in fact. The one of which we speak is electromagnetic in nature. It contains diagrams, spreadsheets, poetry, tables of elements, fragments of speech, music, data, archives of human history, bits of TV shows, radio broadcasts, faxes, motion pictures, cell-phone conversations, digital art, and much more besides. When you prepared for this particular journey, you knew you had to pack LIGHT.......because you knew that was the only thing that could go! We are speaking here of your Earth Essence Timeless Capsule.
This "Level" of the Planetary Ship is connected to and modulated by sacred powerspots all over the planet. It is, literally, an ARC of Energy..........not unlike that other Ark which was built by Noah, so long ago. Within it, you have placed the best of you---your creations, your memories, your very lives! However, be advised. Entry onto The Arc is not made two-by-two. This "level" of the Oneself is leaving duality behind. Each individual must pass through what is called the "Eye of the Needle," as a Unified Oneself, in order to come aboard.
Meanwhile, back on the "hard deck," a good portion of humanity is determined to stay the course, fully in denial---apparently choosing to "play it cool" all the way through the Fourth Dimensional Corridor. Now *that* should make quite a picture, indeed.
But you, Dear Ones....... you need not suffer any longer with this illusion. Everything you have felt within---the many surges and flashes of energy up and down your spine---are quite real. They are transmutative jump-starts for new and important programs that have been installed in your consciousness. Soon, all your new perceptual software will come completely online. And then, the fun begins! A very wise man once said: "Don't compare your insides with other people's outsides." We underscore this message whole-heartedly. You are not crazy, and you are not falling apart. It just occasionally feels that way. In fact, you are really falling together! So let it be.
MORE ABOUT THE PORTALS
There is no one present upon Planet Earth at this time who is not regularly traversing Energy Gates and Portals. Some are very aware of it, and even relish the idea. Others are quite disturbed, because the experiences are not exactly what they had planned, or seem beyond their immediate understanding and control. Still others have found effective ways to insulate themselves almost entirely from this knowledge---which serves a purpose, albeit a temporary one. Soon all humanity will be speaking fluently about Trans-Portals, though they may be called by many names. Indeed, these Energy Gates will soon form a good deal of the conceptual framework for your upcoming human journey.
We are The Reconnections. We are all those parts of your Expanded Self which you had to forget about when you came into physical form. We've never been very far from you, just far enough. If there is something that you currently believe about yourself, we make up *everything else* that you could also believe. If there is something that you deny about yourself, we form a repository for that energy until you feel ready to take it up again. Endless variety, endless ability.........all neatly catalogued for your use at any time or place. If something is not present *within* you, then it is being stored here, *within* us. This is because, in Oneness, there really is no such thing as "out." All doorways are marked "enter," and all pathways lead directly home.
MEETING YOUR OPPOSITION
Before a person can successfully fight a battle, he must define who the enemy is. Though we have frequently reminded you that everything is a reflection of self, you must realize that there are aspects of that "self" that have been created to oppose you, as grounding elements, or for educational purposes. As you will see later in this transmission, identifying and meeting your opposition is crucial to your next levels of unfoldment.
Every birthing process involves both expansion and contraction. One part of the body pushes forward, while other parts resist. This is your dance of positive and negative energy. It is rapidly becoming impossible for a person to achieve enduring success without making contact with the "rest" of who he is. We are speaking now of the Multidimensional Self. There is much more to any situation than meets your physical eye. In truth, the puppets that currently dance in the theater of the physical are manipulated by strings being held by unseen hands. Every dance, every drama that is being enacted here, is designed to teach you more and more about those unseen forces.
Relationship conflicts, financial difficulties, and political upheavals are perfect venues for a reconnecting soul to learn how to identify with *all sides* of any question. It is only when you are able to lift yourself out of a polarized state, into The Oneself, that you become able to access the necessary elements which will turn the tide for whatever physical challenge that is before you.
Many people today are desperately looking for peace and safety. If something seems to be thwarting their goals, or irritating their status quo, they want to deal with it, so they can bring about a rapid resolution. They will choose to fight, or to negotiate---whichever seems most effective in the moment---and then they want to be able to return to "business as usual." But Friends, business can never be "usual" again. And any attempt on your parts to make it so will simply result in deeper and more complicated upheavals. The "box" in which you have all been living is being heated up from the outside. Aspects of your Expanded Self are stirring things up energetically so that you will be forced to look *outside of the physical world* in order to understand what has been creating your reality all along.
THE ASTRAL PLANE
Beyond the borders of your physical world, there are levels of consciousness that vibrate so rapidly that their purpose and presence often escapes the notice of those who are living and functioning in 3D. The Astral Plane contains beings that are either moving toward or away from physical density, yet which often have considerable influence over what is explored there at any given time.
If you were to equate levels of human consciousness to keys on a piano, you would find that each "note" or tone represents one of the energy centers (chakras) functioning within, for example, your human body. You begin your tonal scale with "do," which is the first (root) chakra of that body, and you move up.......through "re" (the second chakra), mi (the third chakra), and so on..........all the way up to "ti," (the crown chakra) where you find yourself ready to begin playing again at a new octave. The Astral Plane begins the gateway into the next octaves of your conscious experience.
Those who have made serious studies into ethereal reality tend to be somewhat negative in their attitude towards the Astral Plane. Many think of it as an etheric "junk yard," wherein divergent and confused energies wander aimlessly, trying to make sense of where they are, and how they came to be there. But these judgments are usually drawn by those who have already committed themselves to something. They forget how blissful it can be to simply window shop, to consider, and to resonate with several potential realities at once.
Beyond the Astral Plane exists the Reconnected Oneself. Whereas the Astral is made up of consciousness that thinks or believes it knows things..........the Unified Oneself is the part of you which absolutely knows. It KNOWS because it contains all possible levels of every possible situation or interaction.
When a person is finished with window shopping---having sufficiently explored all the possibilities---he or she will begin Reconnecting to Oneness. This is a process that can only be accomplished while that person is still present in physical form. In order to do it, he must be willing to forego all his mental ponderings, judgments, and emotional reactivity that makes up most of the drama in your everyday life. He must find a way to go above it, or perhaps to tunnel under it, connecting directly to the Universal Touchstone of Oneness with everything and everyone. When contact with that level of being is reached, all of his attachments and bondage to earthly outcome are erased. At that point, anything becomes possible.
THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW
Consider for a moment the image of a strong man, standing on a mountain peak, high above the Earth. Through the mist that surrounds his mountain, the man sees a second peak, directly across the valley. The thought enters his mind that he would like to experience that other peak, but there is way too much valley between the two. If he chose, the man could climb down from his mountain, travel through the valley, which seems rather dark and forboding, and climb up the mountain on the other side. The mere thought of moving through that shadowy void, however, makes the whole prospect seem fearsome and impossible.
The primary obstacle which blocks the attainment of this man's desire is the separation which he perceives between the two mountains. There seems to be just too big a gap for him to leap across. In many ways, this "gap" is at the root of nearly all problems which arise today in 3D reality.
Change the scene. Two men meet together in a public park. One of them says or does something which deeply offends the other, and a shouting match occurs. The topic could be politics, religion, finances, or romance. It usually does not matter. This encounter is a programmed response, anyway. As each continues to speak his mind, the "gap" between them grows deeper and wider. Resentment, hatred, and disdain now exist where once there could have been trust and goodwill.
Both of these men are Multidimensional. They are jewels with many facets. Each of them have selves that live high, on the mountain top, and each of them has variations of selves that live deep down in the Valley as well. In the Valley there are horrors galore---guilt, shame, and anger that never seems to be satisfied. What creates a shadow is some object or person that stands between a reflecting surface and the light. In the language of metaphor, your shadow is the part of your own self that is hidden from you because you are standing in your own way.
What each man in the above story is reacting to is his own Shadow Reflection, seen in the face of the other. We have spoken about this principle at length in our transmission entitled "Relationships: A Time for Healing." For many years, this process of Creative Shadow Work has provided your planet with tools to complete certain alchemical changes that are required for the Reconnection of your Mental Body. Now it is time for you to begin penetration into your Emotional Body. It is time for you to leave the Valley of the Shadow and to learn the art of building Astral Bridges.
WHAT IS AN ASTRAL BRIDGE?
In the above story of the two mountains, our wishful climber could surely benefit from some form of Connection, spanning peak to peak, which would allow him to avoid having to go down his mountain and through the Valley to get to the other side. If he knew about his Divine Multidimensional Nature, and had knowledge of how to build an Astral Bridge, his problems would be solved.
"Many of you may remember a film that was released a few years back called "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." This film includes a particularly inspiring scene, in which the hero finds himself needing to cross from one high place to another (very much like in our story above). In a required act of faith, appropriate to the plot, he places his foot upon what *appears to be* empty air, and a bridge instantly appears beneath his feet, allowing him to cross safely to the other side."
In another famous film, "The Matrix," released only a couple of years ago, one of the heros demonstrated a mastery of physical force, using what was called a "Jump Program," which enabled him to leap across a huge expanse of physical space, moving freely from one high building to another. Even characters in the film exclaimed "Whoa! That's impossible."
An Astral Bridge begins as an Etheric Connector which brings together two points in physical space which appear to be separated by a gap. The Bridge itself originates somewhere else in the Multiverse---performing a clear purpose within an alternative level of here and now. Through a process we shall explain shortly, a perceptual cursor is passed over the image, and it is highlighted and copied (to use familiar computer terms) to a place where it is desperately needed.
At the moment of its transposition, an Astral Bridge is constructed almost entirely of faith. It has been written that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." People don't believe in things because they appear. Things appear in physical space because people believe in them. So it is with an Astral Bridge. At the moment it is required, the Bridge gets pasted directly into your NOW.........in a process that only could be described as miraculous........even though it often appears to be a natural part of your flow.
HOW MANIFESTATION OCCURS
As we mentioned in Trans-Portals 1 and 2, the key to travel within the Multiverse is found in a person's ability to detach himself from his current surroundings, by finding a state of neutrality, so that he can journey anywhere else he wishes to go. What keeps you all trapped in your current 3D context is your continuous *clinging* to outcomes (cause and effect relationships) that you imagine are in operation there. My Dear Friends, this is ILLUSION.
When something manifests in your 3D world, it arrives because you *called for it* with your mind and heart. It makes little difference whether your call was a conscious one, or whether it was something that was issued from beneath your Veil of Forgetfulness. It came from you, and you need to own that before you can break free from its influence. Those who have trouble with this concept may need to circle back and do some Creative Shadow Work, as we mentioned a bit earlier in this transmission.
Basically..... a successful "call" for reality manifestation involves (at least) two elements:
1. A clear statement of belief or intent, spoken or held in a positive way........followed immediately by........
2. A complete release of the outcome into the hands of the Expanded Self.
A person doesn't manifest his or her world out of nothing. Rather, each of you forms your personal reality from the *everything,* which exists all around you. In order to make something physical, you simply focus upon it.....(which slows down the vibration sufficiently for it to solidify), and then you install Perceptual Veils around it, to block out the awareness of everything else that is there. This is your own perceptual equivalent of putting blinders on a horse.
As you begin your process of focusing, you must clearly realize how the creative element of your mind works. The explanation we are going to make for you now is a linear one, because you are currently operating within a linear reality base. Please realize that you have the power to change the order or the rules of this process at any time.
Like the printer on a computer, which faithfully stacks and programs its activity based upon keys hit by the operator, your very own Creative Manifesting Mind begins printing out reality based upon statements which you, yourself, hold to be true. Even though your statement is uttered only within your own mind, and is held for just one second, it has absolute power to form your world. And it frequently does!
Your affirmative statements, especially when accompanied by true desire and passion, are like Genies from a bottle, granting you everything you could ever wish for. As one Dear Entity once phrased it: "The universe rearranges itself according to your beliefs about what is real." It does this through your own declarations of *what is,* not through declarations of *what is not.*
The programming software in your Creative, Manifesting Mind *does not* recognize or respond to words like "no," "not," "don't," or "can't." It automatically eliminates them from your command line. Therefore, whenever a person declares, within himself: "I don't want to smoke" or "I am not going to be angry today," the Creative Manifesting Mind hears (and responds to) an affirmative version of those statements. What it hears is: "I do want to smoke," and "I am going to be angry today."
You must realize that physical reality is created from FOCUS. If you are constantly focusing upon what you *don't want," rather than on what you *do want,* your manifestation power will tend follow that focus. The locus of power in a Call to Manifest is located between the subject and the desired (or declared) action or outcome. The commands are stacked and prioritized in your printer, according to the following factors:
1. The "Level" of Self that is making the command (The more Expanded Aspects of you get the most clout when it comes to ordering up your manifestations)
2. The Desire, Intensity, and Clarity behind the declaration.
3. The Order of Command Presentation to the Creative Mechanism.
If the desire and intensity of command lines are equal, and they all come from the same level of Self, the manifestations will print out according to the order in which the commands were made. Indeed, this is a very 3D explanation, and we realize that. However, it absolutely works, as long as you are still operating within a 3D format. If a command line comes in from "outside the box" (from your Expanded Self), it will automatically hold precedence over commands that are presented from the Ego Aspect. In other words, it gets to crowd ahead of you in the cafeteria line. But the Ego still has creative power, as all aspects of you have divinity.
Statements of similar velocity, which are contradictory, tend to cancel each other out. Their expression is like a husband and wife who go together to vote in a public election. He votes republican and she votes democratic. In truth, the 3D effect produced is no different than if they would have stayed home (except for the satisfaction they receive from exercising their options). In the same way, your inner consciousness frequently entertains divergent points of view. At times, many aspects of you can be barking contradictory commands with virtually the same intensity. If this occurs, your printer gets jammed, and you may end up having to reboot!
LETTING IT HAPPEN
When using Trans-Portals, either for personal travel or to take delivery on key aspects of your current reality, it is crucial that you learn to *let go of the process* after you have clearly issued the command line. In essence, the Trans-Portal System in the Multiverse functions very similar to the digestive tract in the human body. After materials and energy are introduced into the system, you need to relax and allow the mechanism to do its job. You must let go of your focus *entirely,* and go busy yourself with something else.
Clearly making a statement of desire and intent leaves an etheric impression in the "reality bubble" of a person's existence. It registers, whether he is aware of it or not. An order gets introduced. As long as a "cancel order" is not sent in after it, the Creative Mechanism (the internal search engine) will begin collating results and alternatives to meet the command.
Following a command statement with an attitude of *complete release and confidence* (in other words......with faith)...... pulls the Ego of the operator away from the keyboard, for reassignment elsewhere. Energetically, this produces a backdraft of energy (a vacuum) which accelerates the "digestion" process and speeds up delivery. In essence, your attitude of trust actually *sucks* your order through the pipeline more quickly, drawing to you whatever it is that you desire.
To place an order, and then to stew over it, creates an attitude of doubt in your creative ability. It's like sitting down to eat with 20 people watching your every bite. After awhile, you begin to get a lump in your stomach. The digestive juices become inhibited, and the whole system slows down. It is no different with Trans-Portals. Your desires and commands are transmitted organically, and your physical body (especially your nervous system) is very much involved in the process.
BUILDING ASTRAL BRIDGES
Now that we have briefly explained the process of everyday manifestation, we will teach you how this applies to Astral Bridges. As we have said, the need for a Bridge involves the presence of a GAP that exists between two or more objects (or individuals) in physical space. This can either be a physical distance, or it can be a relationship impasse that has formed, keeping folks from understanding and integrating with each other.
The need to get from "here to there" in 3D arises from a belief in and support of a paradigm of Separation. The Valley of the Shadow represents all the reasons why the Separation formed in the first place. When this situation involves people separating themselves from other people, the Shadow Effect is created because there are aspects of your "other" that you have difficulty accepting as self. Until now, your focus in Reconnection has been to examine this other person, and mentally analyze what it is about this person that you have been denying in yourself. And this is all very good. It feeds your consciousness, and expands awareness. But there is more to full integration than that.
The reason you find it hard to "digest" certain types of people into your Oneself Body stems not from what exists in that person, but what is missing in you. We call your attention back to our analogy of Trans-Portals being similar to the human digestive system. When people demonstrate an "allergy" to certain foods, it usually stems from some *processing element* (like an enzyme, for example) that is missing from their digestive process. For some reason, their body doesn't create that chemical, and the whole process suffers because of it. Despite their best attempts to prepare the offending foods properly, with style and variation, the digestive system continues to have problems until the necessary supplement gets added to the process.
Not all the people and situations you encounter in physical space are meant to become permanent parts of your life. Sometimes, they simply appear as catalysts for you to reach into your Multidimensional Self and discover new qualities or elements that you have forgotten. And, during a time of conflict, your task of integration and acceptance may not always be focused upon the person who is irritating you. That may only be incidental to the bigger picture.
You must remember that both you and the people with whom you have conflicts are Multidimensional Beings. If you are having a dance with someone in current 3D reality, you can count on the fact that there are dances going on between you all up and down the vibrational spectrum---literally involving a whole spreadsheet of possible/probable contacts--many of which are quite pleasant.
The resolution of present-moment conflict with another person (or society, for that matter) is brought about by opening a Portal between the physical aspect of you that exists *here* and an alternative aspect of you that exists *elsewhere*---particularly an aspect that is currently enjoying harmonious contact with the very same type of energy which is giving you such heartburn in this current moment.
My Friends, if it were possible for you to analyze the energy "chemistry" of the version of you that exists HERE, and the alternative version of yourself that is functioning THERE, you would notice that one or more key elements are missing. To remedy this, an Astral Bridge is formed by taking a "soul sample" of that alternative self and infusing it into yourself here. This is all done in just the ways we outlined for you above.
Once the required "energy supplement" gets added to your digestive system, you will find that the whole TONE of your current relationships begin to change. And, it happens automatically, without conscious effort or struggle. The only thing you require is a clear statement of intent (which would be blending with a more Expanded Level of Yourself), and the faith that is required to bring it all about.
With all of this in mind, the process for Building Astral Bridges in a relationship would be as follows:
1. Notice the exact SENSE of dissonance that exists. Many people are not aware of their sensory impressions, or of any hard feelings that exist between themselves and others. The same is true with allergic foods. Because you aren't aware of what is happening, you keep eating the offending foods, and you keep Shadow Boxing in your current relationships, rather than calling for the necessary "medicine" to complete your process, so your systems can begin to function at a new level.
2. Notice how you FEEL when you are in the presence of your "other." How does your body react when he or she approaches you? This is very important information if you are going to command a "search engine" to locate an alternative version of you that can assist in the integration process.
***A Key Principle: The first step toward feeling better is becoming better at feeling.
3. Ask yourself what you WANT to be different in this relationship. When you do this please *do not* concern yourself with whether or not the change would be possible. Anything is possible if you can believe.
4. Make a clear statement of intent, asking your Multidimensional Self to help you find a "Guide" that possesses the "medicine" which you require. A statement that might serve the process might be:
"I am Stephen, of the Oneself. I am seeking to contact a level of my Multidimensional Self that is now enjoying a harmonious relationship with this energy currently mirrored to me in Fred. I wish to begin a blending, a sampling of energies with that Self, so that I may be transformed---so that I may be let go of all resistance to accept Fred as a valid and beautiful part of my universe. In faith, I believe. In perfect timing, I shall receive. So let it be."
(The wording will come to you when you are ready. These are not established formulas, but simply samples of what is possible if you are ready to move into this process)
5. Turn the outcome completely over to the universe. If the offending individual tries to engage you in debate, deep discussion, or argument, you can say to him (as politely as possible) "I am unable to discuss this with you now, but I will get back to you as soon as I can." Then, forget about it. Involve yourself with other tasks. Do not analyze it further, and do not approach the person (unless you must, in order to handle necessary business together) as long as there is any remnant of dissonance remaining. Your sense of continued discomfort is your indicator that the required "enzyme" has not yet spread itself throughout your system. And your relief from same will be your barometer concerning when you have had enough of this particular medicine.
If two individuals in a relationship space are performing this alchemical process together, it can be Onederful, but only one "operator" is really required. That is because there is only one of you there anyway! When your "digestion" processes begin to change, you will be amazed at how your own perception of this person begins to shift. It will be like gazing at a hologram in a painting. The picture looks a certain way in one moment, and it changes completely in the next. Realize now that this is due, almost entirely, to energetic changes that have occurred in you.
Reconnection to Oneness involves making contact, first and foremost, with your Expanded Self, with your own "Big Story." Only then will your "small story" sub-plots begin reflecting the harmony that is your birthright. As the Psalm clearly states: "Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow..........I will fear no evil.......for thou art with me." In these powerful days of Phase Shifting and Alchemical Blending, the Expanded Oneself is not just with you.......He/She/We are *within you* as well. You will be rapidly developing your own functional immunity to the many energetic "diseases" that have troubled your soul during this outgoing Paradigm of Separation. In fact, the very word "immune" almost brings to mind the words "I AM IN YOU," does it not? And so it is becoming, My Friends.
STANDING ON A MOUNTAIN TOP
It is the privilege of The Reconnections to "fill in all the gaps" that separate your Limitation Self from your Expanded Self. We do it slowly, and with much love. There is no need to rush. You have all the time in the world. Each of you came to this place from realms of expression that were nothing less than fantastic. In your "former estate," you were able to do or have anything you wished, just by thinking it. Being natives of such splendor, you yearned for a vacation, of sorts. You wanted to know what it would be like to embody *something* rather than to be *everything.* You wanted to distinguish yourself from others, from various objects and animals, and you wanted to learn what it feels like to need.
Soon your research project will be completed. Has this form of reality gotten your goat? Never fear, he's right up there.......perched upon that mountain top. Watch him as he leaps from peak to peak, with perfect grace, perfect ease. Travel freely the Bridges Across Forever!
There are Portals, Gates, Bridges, and Inner Pathways all around you.......each volume on a bookshelf, each picture that is hanging on the wall. Words can be a Portal, a statue can be one, or even a rose. An encounter with any symbol can be a spark of remembrance, leading you through a perceptual doorway---into a limitless storehouse of possible/probable versions of that same one thing. Connect two of them, or three, or four.........and the dance goes on into infinity.
Some of you will begin to perceive immediately, with no help. Others may need to initiate visualization or meditation processes to tap into their stored memories. All you need do is drop your shields, and the guiding energy will begin to open your eyes. Some will do it sooner, others will do it later. Each person to his own plan, and his own style of unfoldment. As we have said previously, each event is its own miracle. However, some people require more "nudges" than others in order to shake off their slumber.
Remember that everything is perfect, and everything is there, filed neatly within the Multiverse. The primary purpose of your physical journey is to explore details, and make alchemical adjustments before you make the leap to more expanded realms. As always, we shall be available to you on the inner planes. Look for us there, and we shall appear to you in whatever form you require.
London, England, 1792 and disgraced former adviser to King George III, Thomas Stewart, is on the run. Knowing he has only hours before the authorities catch up with him, he unlocks the door to his secret workshop and attempts to complete the Great Experiment. The dream: to create the 'Philosopher's Stone', an alchemical device so powerful it can transmute base elements into pure gold... The hypothosis: that the right combination of light, focused through a crystal sphere, onto a receptive mineral specimen would yield untold power and riches. The problem: someone had been talking, and the authorities wanted the power for themselves. The solution: flight, hopefully taking the finished Stone with him, but had The Experiment worked? Would he be able to get away? Where would he go? ................................................. Composing this shot was almost as hard as making a Philosopher's Stone!! An awful lot of work has gone into preparing the little potion bottles, and into getting the lighting and composition right. I've been planning this, on and off, for a few months — I have some ideas around related subjects...#narrative #stilllife #still_life #leatherbound #antiquarian #crystalball #alchemy #alchemist #fiftyshadesoforange #orangewednesday #oxfordshire #uk #most_deserving #photowall #all_shots #uk_photooftheday #icatching #bd #markmakingdesign #philosophersstone #sorcerersstone
“At the edge of the forest, where the tall oaks met the rocky, churning river, lived an evil nymph. She was playful and mischievous, always at her worst when she was bored. The most recent form of entertainment she had adopted was enchanting men with her looks before drowning them face down in the roaring rapids. The town cried out for her head, but the wise king knew he would have to deceive the nymph if he were to ever have an opportunity to kill her.
His council of mages picked white roses from the castle gardens and transmuted them with spells. The stems became extremely rigid, unbending, and sharper than an assassin's dagger. The next man to be lured to her would, instead, retain his full wits due to a protective aura cast upon him. He would then present her with the murderous bouquet, only to pierce her immaculate and youthful skin with their stems in hopes of skewering her wretched heart. A brave knight volunteered to play the smitten loner, and was sent off with many blessings.
The plan was quite well thought out, and the sinister sprite was not aware her powers of seduction were not successful. What was not accounted for, however, was how inhumanly quick and agile she was. At the opportune moment, the night present her with a rose, his arm outstretched and eyes wide, before thrusting it at her. She rose her arm to intercept and the first rose went clean through her left forearm. Screaming in pain, she almost didn't react in time to the second rose, which lodged into her right arm. With the last rose, the knight aimed straight for her heart, but again she squirmed enough for the rose to miss its mark. The stem punctured her shoulder and came out the other side, leaving her reeling. With a shrill shriek, the nymph leapt and glided quickly away down the river bank to the safety of her hidden cave where she tended her wounds while plotting her revenge.” -M.D. Walter
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What happened three days ago is a very bad story, a 63-year-old man shot two women in the face, one 48 years old, the other 49 years old, and then took his own life, all of which happened in a town in the province of Catania, one of them allegedly had an extramarital affair with the killer: in 2022 120 women were killed, 97 of them were killed in the family or emotional sphere, of these 57 died for hand of the partner or former partner. This tragic and sad incipit linked to the ever-present drama of feminicides, to introduce the photographic story that I made in the town of Savoca (Messina - Sicily) on 08/13/2022, of a very particular representation that was held last time in August 2018; is a narration that pits Evil (a devil armed with a long grappling hook) against Good (Saint Lucia, who holds a silver palm leaf in her hands), the Evil-Devil tries to seduce-distract Saint Lucia with own grappling hook, instead Saint Lucia remains impassive in front of her flattery: violence against women in this very suggestive representation finds distant and deep roots, Saint Lucia actually represents those women who in medieval times had to suffer the abuses perpetrated by the Baron of Savoca nicknamed "Barone Altadonna", which making use of the law "ius primae noctis" (from the Latin "right of the first night"), referred to the "right" according to which a feudal lord could rape a newly married woman on her wedding night. Therefore, this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a report of the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The living re-enactment of the history of St. Lucia takes place on two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some moments of Saturday, the day during which the celebration does not take place in its full beauty, it is the day during which "the silver palm" is delivered "from the Lucia of the previous edition" to the "Lucia of the current edition", it is the day during which the last details are tested, above all the "impassivity of the little girl who impersonates Saint Lucia", lovingly called "the Lucia".. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.
In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.
The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.
Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened.
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E' una bruttissima storia quanto accaduto tre giorni fa, un uomo di 63 anni, ha ucciso a colpi di pistola in pieno volto due donne, una di 48 anni, l'altra di 49 anni, per poi togliersi la vita, il tutto accaduto in una cittadina in provincia di Catania, una di loro avrebbe avuto una relazione extraconiugale con l'assassino: nel 2022 sono state 120 le donne uccise, 97 di loro sono state uccise in ambito familiare o affettivo, di queste 57 hanno trovato la morte per mano del partner o ex partner. Questo tragico e triste incipit legato al sempre attuale dramma dei femminicidi, per introdurre il racconto fotografico che ho realizzato nella cittadina di Savoca (Messina - Sicilia) il 13/08/2022, di una particolarissima rappresentazione che si era tenuta l'ultima volta nell'agosto del 2018; è una narrazione che vede contrapposto il Male (un diavolo armato di un lungo rampino), al Bene (Santa Lucia, che stringe tra le mani una foglia di palma d'argento), il Male-Diavolo tenta di sedurre-distrarre Santa Lucia col proprio rampino, invece Santa Lucia resta impassibile davanti le sue lusinghe: la violenza sulle donne in questa rappresentazione molto suggestiva, trova radici lontane e profonde, Santa Lucia in realtà rappresenta quelle donne che in epoca medioevale dovevano subire gli abusi perpetrati dal Barone di Savoca soprannominato "Barone Altadonna", che avvalendosi della legge "ius primae noctis" (dal latino "diritto della prima notte"), si riferiva al “diritto” secondo cui un signore feudale poteva violentare una donna appena sposata durante la sua prima notte di nozze. Quindi questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da tutti coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report della rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di Santa Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata del sabato, giorno durante il quale la festa non si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza, è il giorno durante il quale “la palma d’argento” viene consegnata “dalla Lucia della edizione precedente” alla “Lucia dell’attuale edizione”, è il giorno durante il quale si testano gli ultimi dettagli, soprattutto si mette alla prova “l’impassibilità della bambina che impersona Santa Lucia”, chiamata amorevolmente “la Lucia”. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza. La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamato dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei stringe devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza.
參與請神儀式的舞獅團員們。
Members of the Lion Dance team
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The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).
In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.
Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.
Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors
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Follow my rediscovery of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
For my past visits to the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
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鳳凰，亦稱丹鳥、火鳥、鶤雞、威鳳，是中國古代傳說中的百鳥之王，在中華文化中的地位和龍相同。其羽毛一般被描述為赤紅色，“鳳”為雄性，“凰”為雌性[1]。其圖徽常用來象徵祥瑞。
受中國文化的影響，鳳凰的形象在漢字文化圈各區域中普遍出現。英文稱之為Chinese Phoenix或簡稱Phoenix（實際上Phoenix指的是西方傳說裡的不死鳥）。
在甲骨文中，鳳與風為同字，皆寫為鳳凰之形，而後鳳加上凡聲，之後又將鳳形改為虫形創造出風字，由此可見鳳凰與風的關係
據《爾雅·釋鳥》郭璞注，鳳凰特徵是：「雞頭、燕頷、蛇頸、龜背、魚尾、五彩色，高六尺許」。
《山海經·圖贊》說有五種像字紋：「首文曰德，翼文曰順，背文曰義，腹文曰信，膺文曰仁。」[3]
《廣雅》：「鳳凰，雞頭燕頷，蛇頸鴻身，魚尾骿翼。五色：首文曰德，翼文曰順，背文義，腹文信，膺文仁。雄鳴曰卽卽，雌鳴曰足足，昬鳴曰固常，晨鳴曰發明，晝鳴曰保長，舉鳴曰上翔，集鳴曰歸昌。」
另，《說文》云：「鳳之象也，鴻前麟後，鸛顙鴛腮，龍文龜背，燕頷雞啄，五色備舉。」
鳳是人們心目中的瑞鳥，天下太平的象徵。古人認為時逢太平盛世，便有鳳凰飛來。
鳳凰也是中國皇權的象徵，常和龍一起使用，鳳從屬於龍，用於皇后嬪妃，龍鳳呈祥是最具中國特色的圖騰。民間美術中也有大量的類似造型。鳳也代表陰，儘管鳳凰也分雄雌，更一般的是將其看作陰性。「鳳」、「凰」常見於女性名。宋朝就常使用龍鳳旗，還使用龍鳳作為吉祥標記，使用在物品上，比如龍鳳團茶。
鳳凰被認為是百鳥中最尊貴者，為鳥中之王，有「百鳥朝鳳」之說。
按陰陽五行之說，鳳色赤，五行屬火，是南方七宿朱雀之象。另也為中國民間指的四靈之一（《禮運》，龍、鳳凰、麒麟、龜）。
而鳳凰亦有「愛情」、「夫妻」的意思；語本詩經大雅卷阿：『鳳皇於飛，翽翽其羽。』李白·早夏於將軍叔宅與諸昆季送傅八之江南序：「重傅侯玉潤之德，妻以其子，鳳凰于飛，潘楊之好，斯為睦矣」。因此鳳凰在中國文學中常比喻為「真摯的愛情。」[來源請求]
中華龍鳳文化研究中心主任龐進認為，在中國的象徵文化體系中，鳳凰是完美主義的化身，鳳凰文化的精髓是「和美」。通過研究，龐進發現鳳凰是「合」的神物，它的出現是中國古人對自然界各種生物理解、尊重、敬畏、愛戀、審美的結果，這與道家強調的「天道自然之和」即「天和」相一致。
而凰，古音與光相通，有的研究者[谁？]認為是一種與光有關的鳥，即太陽鳥。
鳳則同風相通，也可理解為「風神」。
鳳亦被視為火神。《初學記》卷三十引緯書《孔演圖》說：「鳳，火精」。
《鶡冠子·度萬第八》：「鳳凰者，鶉火之禽，陽之精也。」
《抱朴子》說：「夫木行為仁，為青。鳳頭上青，故曰戴仁也。金行為義，為白。鳳頸白，故曰纓義也。火行為禮，為赤。鳳嘴赤，故曰負禮也。水行為智，為黑，鳳胸黑，故曰尚知也。土行為信，為黃。鳳足下黃，故曰蹈信也。」——頭部呈青色，頸部呈白色，喙部呈赤色，胸、背部呈黑色，趾、爪呈黃色。
中華民國初期的國旗為五色旗，一說取自鳳凰五色，同時也代表仁，義，禮，智，信五德。[來源請求]
香港中文大學以鳳作為校徽。原因是自漢代以來，鳳即被視為「南方之鳥」，且素為高貴、美麗、忠耿及莊嚴之象徵。以紫與金為校色，取意在紫色象徵熱誠與忠耿，金色象徵堅毅與果敢
楚人尊鳳是由其遠祖拜日、尊鳳的原始信仰衍化而來的，迄今已逾七千多年有文物可考的歷史。楚人的祖先祝融是火神兼雷神。漢代《白虎通》說，祝融「其精為鳥，離為鸞。」《卞鴉·絳鳥》注曰：「鳳凰屬也」。可見，祝融也是鳳的化身。《山海經·大荒北經》中說：「大荒之中，有山名曰北極櫃。海水北注焉。有神九首，人面鳥身，句曰九鳳」。楚文化遺跡中除了龍以外還存在大量人首蛇身、人首鳥身和九頭神鳥的圖騰，開啟了中國傳說文化中「龍鳳呈祥」的文化淵源。從圖騰崇拜在氏族制時期所反映出的突出特點來看，鳳為楚人的祖先，故被楚人作為本氏族的圖騰加以崇拜、尊愛便是必然的事了。
鳳不僅是神鳥，也是楚人、楚國尊嚴的象徵。楚人尊鳳的影響便透到各個領域。如在楚國的文物中，鳳的圖像、繡像和雕像不勝枚舉，楚人衣服上的刺繡圖案也是以鳳為主要內容。此外，還有「鳳鳥雙連環」、「虎座鳳架鼓」、「鳳龍虎繡羅禪衣」等，楚國的鳳紋彩繪可謂千姿百態，無奇不有。
《論衡校釋》：「五鳥之記：『四方中央皆有大鳥，其出，眾鳥皆從，小大毛色類鳳皇。』」；《說文解字》：「五方神鳥：東方發明，南方焦明，西方鷫鷞，北方幽昌，中央鳳皇。」（注：焦明即鷦明。）[7]
《禽經》：「青鳳謂之鶡，赤鳳謂之鶉，黃鳳謂之焉，白鳳謂之肅，紫鳳謂之鷟。
天方國古有不死鳥「菲尼克司」（Phoenix，常見譯名為「鳳凰」），滿五百歲後，集香木自焚，復從死灰中更生，鮮美異常，不再死。郭沫若所作詩歌《鳳凰涅槃》中的鳳凰，即指西方傳說中的不死鳥。古埃及神話中也有一種稱為「貝努」的鳥。古埃及人認為，貝努和鷹一般大小，全身長有金色的羽毛，閃閃發光的翅膀、斑斕的外表、鳴聲悅耳，能給人降福添壽；同時認為世界上只有一隻貝努，而壽命為五百年。在臨死之時，貝努會採集芳香植物的樹枝、香草築成一個巢，然後點火自焚，在熊熊火燄中，一隻幼貝努誕生了。新生的幼貝努就將老貝努的骨灰裝進藥蛋中，在蛋上塗上防腐的香料油，帶著它飛到太陽神那裡，由太陽神將它放在太陽廟的神壇上。
以上所提及的「火鳥」，與中國傳說中的鳳凰有一定的差別，但華人在翻譯與認知上習慣把不死鳥當成鳳凰。然而西方傳說中的火鳥形象上比較像老鷹，東方傳說中的鳳凰在形象上則是較像雞、雉。此外，中國神話傳說並無鳳凰會浴火重生的說法，「凤凰涅槃」此詞是郭沫若所作詩歌《鳳凰涅槃》中歌頌不死鳥所創的詞，混淆了不死鳥與鳳凰。比較相近的是從佛教傳說中會因吞食那伽而自燃而死的迦樓羅（金翅鳥）。不過中國不會把鳳凰與迦樓羅混淆在一起，而且迦樓羅也不會重生。
zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%87%A4%E5%87%B0
Fenghuang:The fenghuang has very positive connotations. It is a symbol of high virtue and grace. The fenghuang also symbolizes the union of yin and yang. Shan Hai Jing's 1st chapter “Nanshang Jing” records each part of fenghuang's body symbolizes a word, the head represents virtue (德), the wing represents duty (義), the back represents propriety (禮), the abdomen says credibility (信) and the chest represents mercy (仁).[4]
Portrait of an empress, possibly Empress Xiaoxianchun, (wife of the Qianlong Emperor) sitting on a chair decorated with Phoenix
In ancient and modern Chinese culture, they can often be found in the decorations for weddings or royalty, along with dragons. This is because the Chinese considered the dragon and phoenix symbolic of blissful relations between husband and wife, another common yang and yin metaphor.
Bowl with dragons, phoenixes, gourds, and characters for happiness, used on Guangxu Emperor's wedding ceremony, from Peabody Essex Museum. In some traditions it appears in good times but hides during times of trouble, while in other traditions it appeared only to mark the beginning of a new era. In China and Japan it was a symbol of the imperial house, and it represented "fire, the sun, justice, obedience, and fidelity.When describing chinoiserie or authentic Asian ceramics and other artworks, English-speaking art historians and antique collectors sometimes refer to it as hoho bird,[6] a name derived from hō-ō, with a second extraneous h added. Hō-ō is simply the Japanese pronunciation of fenghuang. The seemingly vast difference between hō-ō and fenghuang is due to Chinese vowels with ng usually being converted to ō in Go-on reading. The Japanese also use the word fushichō for this image.
Phoenix talons (S:凤爪 T:鳳爪) is a Chinese term for chicken claws in any Chinese dish cooked with them.
Fèng or Fènghuáng is a common element in given names of Chinese women (likewise, "Dragon" is used for men's names).
"Dragon-and-phoenix infants" (S:龙凤胎 T:龍鳳胎) is an expression meaning a set of male and female fraternal twins.
Fenghuang is a common place name throughout China. The best known is Fenghuang county in western Hunan, southern China, formerly a sub-prefecture. Its name is written with the same Chinese characters as the mythological bird.
In Korea, this bird is known as Bong Hwang 봉황, this merely being the Korean pronunciation of fenghuang. An alternate term of Bul Sa Jo 불사조 (不死鳥), or "immortal bird" is used to refer to the type of phoenix that never dies (i.e. the Greek "phoenix"), with bong hwang being reserved for the Asian variety. Bong Hwang is often seen used within the royal emblem (especially for queens - the dragon being the emblem of the king) and appears twice in the current presidential emblem.[citation needed] North Jeolla's football club uses it as its symbol.
The Vermilion Bird, (Suzaku in Japanese) one of the Four Symbols of Chinese myth, sometimes confused with the fenghuang, from which it is a distinct entity.[7]
Phoenix Television (鳳凰衛星電視) is a Hong Kong-based media company
Typhoon Fung-wong has been a meteorological name for three tropical cyclones. The term was contributed by Hong Kong and is the Cantonese pronunciation of fenghuang.A common depiction of fenghuang was of it attacking snakes with its talons and its wings spread. According to the Erya's chapter 17 Shiniao, fenghuang is made up of the beak of a rooster, the face of a swallow, the forehead of a fowl, the neck of a snake, the breast of a goose, the back of a tortoise, the hindquarters of a stag and the tail of a fish.[1] Today, however, it is often described as a composite of many birds including the head of a golden pheasant, the body of a mandarin duck, the tail of a peacock, the legs of a crane, the mouth of a parrot, and the wings of a swallow.
The fenghuang's body symbolizes the celestial bodies: the head is the sky, the eyes are the sun, the back is the moon, the wings are the wind, the feet are the earth, and the tail is the planets.[2] The fenghuang is said to have originated in the sun.[2] Its body contain the five fundamental colors: black, white, red, yellow, and green.[2] It sometimes carries scrolls or a box with sacred books.[2] It is sometimes depicted with a fireball.[2] It is sometimes depicted as having three legs.[citation needed] It is believed that the bird only appears in areas or places that are blessed with utmost peace and prosperity or happiness.
Chinese tradition cites it as living atop the Kunlun Mountains in northern China.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenghuang
The bird is generally thought to be a symbol of freedom.
They can walk on the earth and swim in the sea as humans do but they also have the ability to soar into the sky.
Birds are free to roam to earth and the sky. Many cultures believe that they are a symbol of eternal life; the link between heaven and earth.A comprehensive guide to Peacock Symbol:
Meaning of Peacock symbol
Peacock symbol - Facts
Dream explanation, what is the significance of seeing a Peacock in a dream?Peacock SymbolThere is no exact definition for any symbol; each symbol is open to interpretation and birds are no exception to this. Their symbolism can vary greatly depending on different cultures and religion. The Peacock is a male peafowl and is generally thought to be a symbol of the sun.
It is believed that the round tail of the peacock symbolizes heaven and the markings or 'eyes' on the tail are the stars.
In Buddhism, the 'eyes' in the peacocks tail is a symbol of watchfulness.
Peacock Symbol - Meaning; The definition of a Peacock is a male peafowl; having a crested head and very large fanlike tail marked with iridescent eyes or spots. The peacock is the male of the species and has large colorful feathers which it uses to attract a mate. The female is known as a peahen and unlike the
Peacock feathers are considered to be unlucky, it is thought the 'evil' eye on the feather will be a symbol of bad luck for the owner... The peacock is often used as a symbol of vanity due to its beauty and the way it displays his tail feathers The Hindu god Murugan is a popular Hindu deity among Tamil Hindus. In Tolkāppiyam literature, Murugan, is described as being "the red god seated on the blue peacock, who is ever young and resplendent," as " the favoured god of the Tamils."Muruga rides a peacock and wields a bow in battle His peacock mount is a symbol of the destruction of the ego... Native Aborigines believed that birds carried stories..The Peacock's beautiful tail feathers are more than a metre in length... Peacocks are always males! The female of the species is called a peahen and lacks the beautiful coloring of the male (as shown in the image below)
Peacock Symbol - Seeing a peacock in your dream is a symbol of spring, birth, and new growth... A Peacock is a symbol of a good omen, signalling prestige and success and contentment with your career
It is also a symbol of your confidence and even arrogance over your success
Peacock Symbol - Christian Significance
The following definition of the peacock is taken from the Easton Bible Dictionary:(Heb. tuk, apparently borrowed from the Tamil tokei). This bird is indigenous to India. It was brought to Solomon by his ships from Tarshish (1 Kings 10:22; 2 Chr. 9:21), which in this case was probably a district on the Malabar coast of India, or in Ceylon. Dream Interpretation - Significance of Bird Symbol..The following explanation of dreams involving birds in general is taken from the book entitled 'Dream Dictionary (10,000 Dreams Interpreted - by Gustavus Hindman Miller)':
It is a favorable symbol in a dream to see birds of beautiful plumage. A wealthy and happy partner is near if a woman has dreams of this nature..Moulting and song less birds, could denote merciless and inhuman treatment of the outcast and fallen by people of wealth... To see a wounded bird, is a symbol of fateful of deep sadness caused by erring offspring
To see flying birds, is a symbol of prosperity to the dreamer. All disagreeable environments will vanish before the wave of prospective good...To catch birds, is not at all bad. To hear them speak, is owning one's inability to perform tasks that demand great clearness of perception.Peacock is a bird that has symbolized different things in different religions and cultures.
Christians associate it with immortality, ancient Mesopotamians associated a symbol of a tree flanked by two peacocks with the dualistic mind, while the bird and its feathers have been used in Hindu religion and mythology. In Buddhism, it represents wisdom.Peacocks are associated with bodhisattvas. Peacocks are capable of eating poisonous plants with out any harmful effect and similarly a Bodhisattva is able to transform ignorance into enlightenment, desire and hatred to positive feelings.
When a person comes across an enlightened thought or bodhichitta his mind opens just like an open tail of a peacock that exhibits all colors. Excatly how a peacock uses poison to nurture his body and become healthy a bodhisattva uses negativity to emerge more beautiful in all colors. They are considered to be a vehicle of Buddha amitabha representing desire and attachment.In Asia, the feathers of the peacock are considered auspicious and protective. However in the early part of the 20th-century in the West, it was considered very bad luck to keep them in the home. Lucky treasure pot from a home in Bhutan.One silly explanation for this superstition is that it was promoted intentionally to prevent people from eating this large, delicious member of the pheasant family. In that way, the bird would be protected from extinction, for many people thought it was rare -- a quintessential rara avis.The reason for the superstition has more to do with the eye-like markings at the tips of the feathers which, around the Mediterranean, recall the dreaded "evil eye"-- the ever watchful and envious glance of the she-demon, Lilith.
She was blamed for otherwise inexplicable deaths of infants, among other misfortunes.Only partly as a result of this association with the evil eye was it believed that the flesh of the peacock is poisonous. But in any case, that is nonsense.
At the height of both the Greek and Roman cultures, the bird was served at formal dinners with its feathers cunningly pasted back on, possibly with a honey mixture used as glue, so that the dramatic beauty concealed the roasted fowl. At the excessive and luxurious banquets of European kings and queens of the Renaissance, there was an epicurean delight consisting of stuffed roast birds one inside the other like the famous Russian wooden mamushka dolls. The outermost shell was the glorious peacock, its many-eyed train stretching the length of the middle of the "groaning board." As Margaret Visser, in Much Depends On Dinner points out: People have always thought that what looks amazing must certainly taste wonderful, too. From the time of Cicero until the Renaissance, no truly sumptuous European feast was held without a dish of peacock, often adorned with the bird's feathered head and fan of tail feathers.
(A dish of swan could also be similarly displayed, the impressive wings taking pride of place instead of the fan.)
According to "Food fashions of the Renaissance" in Food:
The History of Taste, where you can see illustrations of tables set with these extravagant dishes, it was the rapid rise in popularity of the meat of the North American turkey that ended the reign of "peacock supreme."Deities and Royalty..The peacock was associated with the Middle Eastern deity, Tammuz, consort of the goddess, Anat. In Greece, it was sacred to Hera, queen of heaven and lawful wife of Zeus -- a pair of them drew her chariot --, and they were kept at her temples. In the Roman Empire, peacocks were Juno's birds and on coins symbolized the females of the ruling houses, the lineage princesses. In both the Hindu and the Buddhist traditions, the peacock's influence is mainly in the realm of worldly appearance. (This is in contrast to the swan which is a symbol of the higher realms. ) Hence, the Mother-of-Buddhas, Mahamayuri-vidyarajni (Skt.) has a peacock as her vehicle. In Japan, she appears as Kujaku. Skanda (also called Murugan,) one of the two sons of Indian god, Shiva, has a peacock for his mount. Lord of the elements of form, he is also a war god. A standard made of peacock feathers used to indicate the presence of a 19th-century rajah, whose power is worldly.
In the old Chinese bureaucratic system, members of the third highest level displayed a peacock as the insignia of rank. These badges were in the form of large embroidered squares applied to the front of an official's formal gown. (A similar system for indicating status was used in the Byzantine Empire.) Peacocks are considered sacred in India, especially in the north where its feathers may be burnt to ward off disease, and even to cure snakebite. In a Buddhist tale about the travels of some Indian merchants to Baveru or Babylon, we learn that the inhabitants of that great city marvelled at the gorgeous bird which the merchants had brought with them.The motif of two peacocks, one on each side of the Tree of Life, is a well-known feature of Persian decorative arts. A pair of peacocks stands for the "psychic duality of man" similar to the role played by the Gemini in western astrology, says Cirlot (A Dictionary of Symbols.) However it must be said that the notion of two natures -- in man or in the world that surrounds him -- is certainly not a universal one.
Because of that, in the iconography of European alchemy and hermaneutics, the peacock represents the soul. In Christianity, it stands for immortality and the incorruptibility of the soul, as in this XIth-century Byzantine image.
It is an obvious solar symbol, too, because of the resemblance between the rays of the sun and the circular fan of the tail in full display.
J.E. Cirlot points out that in the Ars Symbolica of Hieronymus Bosch this blue-green bird represents the blending of all the colours of the spectrum (rainbow) and hence, the idea of totality. Tibetan culture among many others also views green as the mixture of all hues.
Among the Muslims of Java in Indonesia there is a myth about how the peacock guarding the gates to Paradise ate the devil, and that is how he managed to get inside.
This myth makes a unity of the duality of good and evil, and also explains the bird's mysterious iridescent colour. It also incorporates the Indian notion of the incorruptibility of the peacock.
Purification
As we have seen, in the Hindu tradition the peacock is the vehicle [Skt.: vahana) of, or animal associated with, Kartikkeya, a.k.a. Skanda the 6-armed, 6-headed god of war who is a son of Lord Shiva.
Kumari (Skanda/Subrahamanya's shakti) rides a peacock in the retinue of the Goddess Durga.
Its [[[Wikipedia:Latin|Latin]]] scientific name, pavo, derives from a Sanskrit epithet, Pavana (purity) that refers to the Hindu deity Vayu, the wind who is also the breath of life and the father of the hero Rama's friend, Hanuman.
It is said that at the time of Creation of the universe, when the primordial poison was churned out of the Sea of Milk and transmuted into the amrita of immortality, it was a peacock that absorbed the negative effects. Thus the bird is thought of as a protector, though its flesh is consequently considered to be poisonous.
Since a potentially deadly emotion such as anger is depicted as a serpent, and the peacock is immune, the peacock also symbolizes victory over poisonous tendencies in sentient beings. Hence the title of a well-known text for training the mind, Peacock in the Poison Grove by Dharmarakshita, a Tibetan classic in translation.
In the discourse, The Wheel of Sharp Weapons, another Buddhist treatise by Dharmarakshita, the peacock is credited with an ability to neutralize and use black aconite (aconitum ferox) as a nutriment. This highly toxic plant, also known as “'wolf-bane,” is an important ingredient in traditional Asian medicine including that of Tibet. Mixed with other ingredients, it was used in treatments for mental illness, among other complaints.
Goldenglow
Long ago, Brahmadutta was king of Benares, and he had wealth, treasure and possessions galore. He also had a most beautiful and elegant wife with a face that was lovely beyond compare, and her name was Peerless. This noblewoman was especially dear to the King, and he gladly satisfied her every whim.
At the time, on the southern slope of Kâilâsh, king of mountains, there lived a peacock whose name was Goldenglow, and he ruled a flock of five hundred followers. His limbs and body gleamed and his beak was like a jewel. Everywhere he went, he was acknowledged the grandest of all the peacocks.
One night, within the city of Benares, the call of the peacock-king rang out in the middle of the night and the following day, every one in the city was talking about it. The wife of Brahmadutta happened to be on the her terrace that night, so she asked the king, "Sire, whose stirring and mellifluous voice was that, last night?"
The King answered, "Princess, though I have never seen him, from its remarkable qualities, that voice must belong to Goldenglow, king of the peacocks, who lives on the southern slope of Kâilâsh.
Then the Queen said, "Sire, please have the king of peacocks brought here." The King replied, "But what good is it to see him going through the air?"
But the Queen said, "Sire, if you do not let me see this Suvar.naprabhâsa, I shall surely die."
So the King, who was very much in love with her, gave in saying, "All right, I will send for my huntsmen and fowlers." This he did, and he said to them, "They say that on the southern slope of Kâilâsh, chief of mountains, lives the peacock king, Suvarnaprabhâsa, whose limbs and body are glossy, and whose bill is like a jewel. Go, net or snare him, and bring him back. If you succeed, fine. But if you fail, I will have all of you put to death."
So the hunters and fowlers, in fear of losing their lives, took up their nets and snares and started off for Kâilâsh's southern slope. When they arrived at their destination, they set up their nets and set their traps all over the peacock- king's terrain, but though they waited seven days, they couldn't catch him, and they were all out of provisions, and very hungry.
Finally, out of compassion for them, the king of peacocks appeared and said, "You are hunters. Why do you stay here in this one place when you are starving?"
They replied, "This is the reason, Peacock-king: King Brahmadutta given us orders to 'Go, and with your nets and snares, catch me Suvarna-prabhâsa, the peacock king, whose limbs and body are glossy, whose bill is like a jewel, and who lives with five hundred followers on the southern slope of Kâilâsh, chief of mountains. If you bring him here, well and good, but if you do not, you shall all be put to death;' so in fear of our lives, we have come to try and capture you."
The king of peacocks responded, "Violent Ones, I cannot be taken by means of snares and nets, but if the King of Benares wants to see me, let him have the city swept, sprinkled with scented water, and decorated with flowers. And let him raise white awnings and banners, and burn incense. Let him prepare chariots bedecked with the seven jewels, and then, if in seven days he arrives in the company of his
entire army, I will go back to Benares with him, of my own free will."
So the hunters packed up their nets and snares, and returned to the King and told him everything that had happened, and what Suvarnaprabhâsa had proposed.
King Brahmadatta decided to take the King Peacock up on his offer, and he had the city of Benares prepared as the bird had instructed and then, his chariots ornamented with the seven kinds of precious stones, and surrounded by his cohorts he went off to the southern slope of Kâilâsh, chief of mountains.
The king of the peacocks, Suvarnaprabhâsa, also riding in a chariot decked with seven kinds of precious stones, uttered a cry which was heard by the whole army. King Brahmadatta was thrilled, and such joy filled his heart that he felt impelled to do homage to the bird. He prostrated to him and made offerings; and honouring him, they all went back together to Benares.
When they arrived at the town gates, the peacock again uttered his cry, and it was heard throughout the whole city. From all quarters, men, women, boys and girls all rushed to the gates. Then King Brahmadatta again honoured the peacock king, paying homage, making offerings, and bowing to him.
Once at the palace, he went to get the queen, and said to her, "Princess, the king of the peacocks, Suvarnaprabhâsa, has arrived at your dwelling."
Now King Brahmadatta had undertaken to make daily offerings of fruits and flowers to the great Peacock, but it so happened that there came a day that the King was very busy, and so he thought, "Who can make the proper offerings to Suvarnaprabhâsa?" and it occurred to him that Princess Peerless was both knowledgeable and skillful, and that she could certainly do it.
So King Brahmadatta sent for her and said, "Princess, please make the offerings to the king of the peacocks exactly as I have done," and the King's consort did so.
Time passed, and it so happened that the peerless queen had an affair and found out that she was pregnant. She realized that if she did not want the King to find out her adultery and have her put to death, she would have to silence the bird. So this
woman tried to poison the king of the peacocks by feeding him poisoned food and drink, but the more she gave him, the healthier he appeared -- he became even more lovely and resplendent, and the Queen was amazed.
Then Suvarnaprabhâsa called out, "Shame, shame on you! I know your kind. Because you are carrying another man's child, and this bird knows about it , you think that you can poison me so that the King will not find out from me and put you to death. But you never kill me with poison!
On hearing that, the Queen fainted and lost a great deal of bright blood. She wasted away, and when she finally died, she was born in hell.
"The King of Benares is now Shariputra, and I (Buddha) was Goldenglow, king of the peacocks."
~ Edited from the "Shariputra Sutra" as translated by Wm. Woodville Rockhill (1897.)
Protector and Preserver
One of Green Tara's many epithets is The Peahen ( Skt. Mayuri.)
Mahamayuri is green with 8 arms and 3 heads. Her faces are white, green and blue. Her eight hands display: Right side -- varadamudra, a sword, vajra and jewel; left side -- a bowl, a treasure jar, a bell and a flower. Seated on a lotus throne, she wears all the ornaments and celestial garments of a bodhisattva.
According to the Mahamayuri Sutra of Pancharaksha, there was a bhikshu in the Buddha's sangha called Svati, who was newly ordained. He was unfortunately bitten by a poisonous snake and fainted. Seeing his condition, Ananda reported this incident to Buddha Shakyamuni. Out of compassion for the newly ordained monk and for the future ones, Lord Buddha disclosed a dharani capable of eliminating poisonous harm and malignant diseases. This is the dharani of Arya Mahamayuri.
Maha-Mayuri became in Japan, a male figure called Kujaku Myo-o. This Buddhist wisdom deity associated with the peacock (whose call is believed to herald the rain) protects against calamity, especially drought. Palden Lhamo, (pron. Penden Hamo, Skt. Shri Devi) the dark blue protector of all Tibetan Buddhist denominations who rides her mule through a burning [with wisdom) sea of blood (life in bodily form] is sheltered by a peacock-feather umbrella.
Lakshmi, wife of the Hindu god, Vishnu, sometimes is depicted with armbands in the form of peacocks. The birds are sacred to her since their cries are associated with the rainy season and hence, fertility. The hero of the Indian epic, Mahabharat is called Arjun, a name that refers to the peacock. Also, there is a north Indian/Nepali deity called Janguli who protects against snakebite and poisoning. Described as having 3 faces, 6 arms, her vehicle is, not surprisingly, a peacock.n Nepal, practitioners of Jhankrism, a shamanic tradition pre-dating both Buddhism and Hinduism, wear a tall head-dress of peacock feathers as an essential part of their regalia. Also notice the type of drum that is typical among shamans.
The peacock's beautiful and distinctive colouring is said to be a gift from the god, Indra. One day the King of Gods was doing battle with Ravana, the Demon King. The peacock, which in those days resembled his plain brown hen, took pity on Indra and raised its tail to form a blind or screen behind which Indra could hide himself. As a reward for this act of compassion, the bird was honored with the jewel-like blue-green plumage that it bears to this day.
Krishna, the avatar of Vishnu who is God-as-the-one-responding -to-devotion, is also depicted in the company of peacocks. One of Krishna's roles is as the irresistible divine suitor. Perhaps that is the link to the recommendation in The Kama Sutra that, if a man wishes to appear attractive to others, he can wear a peacock's bone covered in gold tied to his right hand.
Amitabha
The association of this jewel-tone bird with its sun-like fan of a tail evocative of the Wheel of Dharma -- the Buddha's teachings; its connection to the ideas of immortality and compassion, and the unification of views or opposites, as well as the correspondence with the Garden which is the Pure Land, demonstrates in Mahayana Buddhism the archetypical nature of the relationship between the peacock and Amitabha.
In the depiction of this Buddha of Eternal Light, he is seated under a tree; we see its flowers and leaves peeking through the pavilion. Tenga Rinpoche says, " . . . birds, in particular, have strong desire and craving, so, as a symbol of craving transformed into discriminating wisdom, Amitabha's throne is supported by peacocks."
There are actually eight peacocks that support his throne, one at each corner of the base. They stand for the idea that no matter the misdeeds committed during one's lifetime[s], rebirth is possible in Sukhavati, the Pure Land of Great Bliss that is the Western Paradise of Opameh (Tibetan for Amitabha). Any and all evil-doing is eventually absorbed.
Six peacock feathers arranged as a fan ornament the vase (bumpa) and sprinkling utensil used for distributing the blessing or purifying water in Tibetan Buddhist empowerments and other rituals. In this role they are not only a symbol of compassion, but also a symbol of immortality by virtue of their capacity to absorb and neutralize, and to act as a universal antidote against poisons including the kleshas [imperfections or obscurations) such as anger, greed and ignorance that are inherently human.
Natural History
The peacock is the male of a variety of the pheasant species, pavo cristatus. The female is a peahen; both are known as peafowl. It is native to India and Shri Lanka. A green variety, p. muticus, is found in neighbouring countries of south Asia. The Phoenicians introduced the peafowl to the pharaohs of Egypt, then it made its way to Europe among the spoils of Alexander of Macedon's returning army.
Each mature male may keep a harem of around 5 hens which it wins in fierce competition with other males. Screeching, preening, displaying [strutting and raising and lowering the "fan"] and a vigorous rustling of the tail-feathers are some elements in the courtship competitions. After the mating, the female lays a clutch of 4 to 6 spotted eggs in a hidden nest.
Peafowl spend most of the day on the ground pecking for food but as evening falls, they roost in the trees. In the spring, and when disturbed, the male can produce a sound very like that of a diesel truck's air horn. These birds are fairly intelligent, and can be trained to come when called. They are very hardy, adapting to fairly extreme temperatures. They are sometimes kept on estates not only as decorative birds, but as reliable "watchdogs."
3rd domestic bird on page is the peafowl. Hear its usual cry.
The peacock flies beautifully, but requires at least a 5-metre "runway" in order to get the lift required for take off. A surreal sequence of a white peacock in flight through lightly falling snow at the beginning of the 1973 Fellini film Amarcord is reason alone to get the dvd.
Two important writers who featured the peacock are Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964) who knew them well, and Raymond Carver (1938-1988) in Feathers.
Treasure pot: Buried or kept to attract prosperity or otherwise benefit a dwelling. Read about the Peace Vase Project for the types of contents.rara avis: A Latin expression used to emphasize, often ironically, the exotic singularity of an individual. Of course the peacock is not rare at all and should not be confused with Birds of Paradise, the paradisidae species that are rapidly disappearing from New Guinea due to loss of habitat as well as the demand for gorgeous feathers. Dharmarakshita: Known as Serlingpa in Tibetan, for having come from Sumatra, "the land of gold," he was Atisha's teacher (11th century.) He is the author of Wheel of Sharp Weapons. An earlier monk (ca. 261 BCE) of that name, who some say was a Greek, was invited to India by King Ashoka.Goldenglow: Skt. Suvarnaprabhasa or Suparna, for short. Rockhill calls him "Golden-Sheen." At the time of the Churning: An alternate view is that Lord Shiva's throat is dark because it was He who drank the poison, thus his epithet, Neelakantha. Shiva is also Mahakala, meaning both "Great Dark One" and "Great Time," the embodiment of Impermanence.
www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/Peacock_Sy...
During the event, many believers pay respect to the Gods, their ancestors and pray for well being. While some passed this tradition to the younger generations, it is a rare scene to have younger people attending the praying events.
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The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).
In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.
Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.
Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors
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Follow my rediscovery of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
For my past visits to the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
=====
God's chisel!
(Charles Naylor)
"Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows." John 16:33
"Man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward." Job 5:7
Suffering is the common lot of all mankind, and of the animal creation. People who do not have much else from which to suffer--suffer from trifles or from imaginary ills--but all suffer. Sinners and saints alike, know the rankling of the sharp arrows of pain. Even those whose lives seem most prosperous and sheltered, cannot fully escape.
Suffering has a useful place in the economy of God. It is a severe schoolmaster, but a good one, whose lessons may be costly. But if they are properly learned, they become golden treasures that enrich life.
Suffering is God's chisel with which He carves His image in the heart!
Suffering gives understanding--it illuminates life's dark places and solves riddles.
Suffering develops patience and endurance, and strengthens the fibers of the soul.
Suffering develops discipline and gives self-control. It reveals and develops latent virtues. It ripens and enriches the character.
To be sure, such results follow only when we meet our sufferings in the right way. If resist suffering and become resentful and pity ourselves or murmur against God--the fruits will be bitter indeed!
Since we choose the attitude we hold toward our sufferings--we determine whether they shall . . .
make us, or mar us;
bring joy, or sorrow;
bring the sweetness of Christ's fellowship and comfort, or the darkness of despair.
What God does with our adversities and our sufferings, is to transmute them into the gold of godly character. They prove to be blessings in disguise--but blessings nevertheless. Again and again in the Scriptures, we are told of the blessings that come through suffering and pain, disappointments and testings. Yes, sufferings, losses, adversities--all these things we so desire to shun--work "for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory"--if we patiently endure them and submit to God's sovereign and loving will.
At the altar, offerings for the God & Goddess who will be the guardian of spirits include tea, rice wine, pickle, types of grains ( ie. glutenous rice, forbidden rice), nuts and fresh fruits.
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** Origin and facts of the Hungry Ghost Festival:
The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).
In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.
Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.
Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors
=====
More images of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
=====
If you are interested in purchasing this image, please visit Getty Images page at:
=====
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What happened three days ago is a very bad story, a 63-year-old man shot two women in the face, one 48 years old, the other 49 years old, and then took his own life, all of which happened in a town in the province of Catania, one of them allegedly had an extramarital affair with the killer: in 2022 120 women were killed, 97 of them were killed in the family or emotional sphere, of these 57 died for hand of the partner or former partner. This tragic and sad incipit linked to the ever-present drama of feminicides, to introduce the photographic story that I made in the town of Savoca (Messina - Sicily) on 08/13/2022, of a very particular representation that was held last time in August 2018; is a narration that pits Evil (a devil armed with a long grappling hook) against Good (Saint Lucia, who holds a silver palm leaf in her hands), the Evil-Devil tries to seduce-distract Saint Lucia with own grappling hook, instead Saint Lucia remains impassive in front of her flattery: violence against women in this very suggestive representation finds distant and deep roots, Saint Lucia actually represents those women who in medieval times had to suffer the abuses perpetrated by the Baron of Savoca nicknamed "Barone Altadonna", which making use of the law "ius primae noctis" (from the Latin "right of the first night"), referred to the "right" according to which a feudal lord could rape a newly married woman on her wedding night. Therefore, this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a report of the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The living re-enactment of the history of St. Lucia takes place on two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some moments of Saturday, the day during which the celebration does not take place in its full beauty, it is the day during which "the silver palm" is delivered "from the Lucia of the previous edition" to the "Lucia of the current edition", it is the day during which the last details are tested, above all the "impassivity of the little girl who impersonates Saint Lucia", lovingly called "the Lucia".. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.
In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.
The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.
Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened.
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E' una bruttissima storia quanto accaduto tre giorni fa, un uomo di 63 anni, ha ucciso a colpi di pistola in pieno volto due donne, una di 48 anni, l'altra di 49 anni, per poi togliersi la vita, il tutto accaduto in una cittadina in provincia di Catania, una di loro avrebbe avuto una relazione extraconiugale con l'assassino: nel 2022 sono state 120 le donne uccise, 97 di loro sono state uccise in ambito familiare o affettivo, di queste 57 hanno trovato la morte per mano del partner o ex partner. Questo tragico e triste incipit legato al sempre attuale dramma dei femminicidi, per introdurre il racconto fotografico che ho realizzato nella cittadina di Savoca (Messina - Sicilia) il 13/08/2022, di una particolarissima rappresentazione che si era tenuta l'ultima volta nell'agosto del 2018; è una narrazione che vede contrapposto il Male (un diavolo armato di un lungo rampino), al Bene (Santa Lucia, che stringe tra le mani una foglia di palma d'argento), il Male-Diavolo tenta di sedurre-distrarre Santa Lucia col proprio rampino, invece Santa Lucia resta impassibile davanti le sue lusinghe: la violenza sulle donne in questa rappresentazione molto suggestiva, trova radici lontane e profonde, Santa Lucia in realtà rappresenta quelle donne che in epoca medioevale dovevano subire gli abusi perpetrati dal Barone di Savoca soprannominato "Barone Altadonna", che avvalendosi della legge "ius primae noctis" (dal latino "diritto della prima notte"), si riferiva al “diritto” secondo cui un signore feudale poteva violentare una donna appena sposata durante la sua prima notte di nozze. Quindi questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da tutti coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report della rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di Santa Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata del sabato, giorno durante il quale la festa non si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza, è il giorno durante il quale “la palma d’argento” viene consegnata “dalla Lucia della edizione precedente” alla “Lucia dell’attuale edizione”, è il giorno durante il quale si testano gli ultimi dettagli, soprattutto si mette alla prova “l’impassibilità della bambina che impersona Santa Lucia”, chiamata amorevolmente “la Lucia”. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza. La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamato dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei stringe devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza.
365 #173 - 28 -January -2008
mood: kinda bored
music: the cross over - brian tyler & klaus badelt + highway to hell - ac dc
this photo is a taste of things to come :-)
i decided to do another theme week: 7 deadly sins, starting tomorrow. with the Carnaval getting near and all, i though this was the perfect time to call the "demons" and live in sin for a week. but since i've been doing mostly silly photos i decided to do kinda of a setup photo. so this tribute gave me the necessary opportunity and subject connection.
jonh constantine is a character that does morally questionable things for the greater good.. so what better character to lead me to the gates of hell and back :-)
*tribute to this cover by the amazing Tim Bradstreet
嗩吶又名喇叭（廣東人俗稱「D咑」），是中國古老的民間樂器之一，有二千多年歷史，在明代已普遍流行。在民間的婚、喪等紅白二事以及風俗性之節日中，嗩吶均是主奏樂器。它有時亦用於戲曲伴奏中。其聲音明亮。它是以一個用蘆葦製的嗩吶嘴而發音，是一種雙簧樂器，其底部用一個喇叭形的金屬製的擴音器，把聲音擴大。
揚琴是中國常用的一種擊絃樂器，與鋼琴同宗，音色具有鮮明的特點，音量宏大， 剛柔並濟；慢奏時，音色如叮咚的山泉，快奏時音色又如潺潺流水。音色明亮，猶如大珠小珠落玉盤般清脆。表現力極為豐富，可以獨奏、合奏或為琴書、說唱和戲曲伴奏，在民間器樂合奏和民族樂隊中經常充當“鋼琴伴奏”的角色，是一種不可缺少的主要樂器。
經師棚相對大士台，掛滿佛、菩薩和護法的潮州刺繡，中央是釋迦牟尼佛、東方藥師佛及阿彌陀佛。經師誦經念佛，消除眾生孽障。勝會最後一日，經師舉行「放焰口」法事，讓孤魂「聞經享食」。
盂蘭勝會的經棚是其中重要的部份。經棚是面對著附薦棚，大師們在經棚裡日夜誦經，超度幽靈，以脫離苦困。
Accompanying the chanting are a small Chinese ochestra, seen here is the Chinese trumpet - which is often used in many ceremonies, including both funerals and weddings.
Next to it is the "Yang Qing" - with it's crispy and delicate tunes, it plays the role of a piano in Chinese music.
One of the five pavilions at the Hungry Ghosts Festival event, the Praying Pavilion is where priests will chant prayers day and night, to relieve the spirits from sufferings.
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The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).
In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.
Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.
Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors
=====
Follow my rediscovery of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
For my past visits to the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
=====
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www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...
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What happened three days ago is a very bad story, a 63-year-old man shot two women in the face, one 48 years old, the other 49 years old, and then took his own life, all of which happened in a town in the province of Catania, one of them allegedly had an extramarital affair with the killer: in 2022 120 women were killed, 97 of them were killed in the family or emotional sphere, of these 57 died for hand of the partner or former partner. This tragic and sad incipit linked to the ever-present drama of feminicides, to introduce the photographic story that I made in the town of Savoca (Messina - Sicily) on 08/13/2022, of a very particular representation that was held last time in August 2018; is a narration that pits Evil (a devil armed with a long grappling hook) against Good (Saint Lucia, who holds a silver palm leaf in her hands), the Evil-Devil tries to seduce-distract Saint Lucia with own grappling hook, instead Saint Lucia remains impassive in front of her flattery: violence against women in this very suggestive representation finds distant and deep roots, Saint Lucia actually represents those women who in medieval times had to suffer the abuses perpetrated by the Baron of Savoca nicknamed "Barone Altadonna", which making use of the law "ius primae noctis" (from the Latin "right of the first night"), referred to the "right" according to which a feudal lord could rape a newly married woman on her wedding night. Therefore, this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a report of the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The living re-enactment of the history of St. Lucia takes place on two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some moments of Saturday, the day during which the celebration does not take place in its full beauty, it is the day during which "the silver palm" is delivered "from the Lucia of the previous edition" to the "Lucia of the current edition", it is the day during which the last details are tested, above all the "impassivity of the little girl who impersonates Saint Lucia", lovingly called "the Lucia".. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.
In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.
The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.
Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened.
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E' una bruttissima storia quanto accaduto tre giorni fa, un uomo di 63 anni, ha ucciso a colpi di pistola in pieno volto due donne, una di 48 anni, l'altra di 49 anni, per poi togliersi la vita, il tutto accaduto in una cittadina in provincia di Catania, una di loro avrebbe avuto una relazione extraconiugale con l'assassino: nel 2022 sono state 120 le donne uccise, 97 di loro sono state uccise in ambito familiare o affettivo, di queste 57 hanno trovato la morte per mano del partner o ex partner. Questo tragico e triste incipit legato al sempre attuale dramma dei femminicidi, per introdurre il racconto fotografico che ho realizzato nella cittadina di Savoca (Messina - Sicilia) il 13/08/2022, di una particolarissima rappresentazione che si era tenuta l'ultima volta nell'agosto del 2018; è una narrazione che vede contrapposto il Male (un diavolo armato di un lungo rampino), al Bene (Santa Lucia, che stringe tra le mani una foglia di palma d'argento), il Male-Diavolo tenta di sedurre-distrarre Santa Lucia col proprio rampino, invece Santa Lucia resta impassibile davanti le sue lusinghe: la violenza sulle donne in questa rappresentazione molto suggestiva, trova radici lontane e profonde, Santa Lucia in realtà rappresenta quelle donne che in epoca medioevale dovevano subire gli abusi perpetrati dal Barone di Savoca soprannominato "Barone Altadonna", che avvalendosi della legge "ius primae noctis" (dal latino "diritto della prima notte"), si riferiva al “diritto” secondo cui un signore feudale poteva violentare una donna appena sposata durante la sua prima notte di nozze. Quindi questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da tutti coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report della rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di Santa Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata del sabato, giorno durante il quale la festa non si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza, è il giorno durante il quale “la palma d’argento” viene consegnata “dalla Lucia della edizione precedente” alla “Lucia dell’attuale edizione”, è il giorno durante il quale si testano gli ultimi dettagli, soprattutto si mette alla prova “l’impassibilità della bambina che impersona Santa Lucia”, chiamata amorevolmente “la Lucia”. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza. La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamato dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei stringe devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza.
“Don't look for peace. Don't look for any other state than the one you are in now; otherwise, you will set up inner conflict and unconscious resistance. Forgive yourself for not being at peace. The moment you completely accept your non-peace, your non-peace becomes transmuted into peace. Anything you accept fully will get you there, will take you into peace. This is the miracle of surrender”
Eckhart Tolle
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reachingthesould.blogspot.com.es/2013/12/the-power-of-now...
這頭紅色的馬可以在很多祭典中見得到， 牠肩負着向天庭報告的責任。當儀式圓滿結束後” 神馬” 會被火化，帶這經文與願望報告上天。
This red horse is often seen at many Chinese prayer ceremony, it carries the duty of a messenger, to report to the Heavenly Gods regarding the ceremony, including the prayers and well wishers from the worshipers.
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The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).
In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.
Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.
Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors
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Follow my rediscovery of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
For my past visits to the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
=====
In the Garden of the Casa de Cultura Reyes Heroles, amongst the traditional altars for the Day of the Dead, is Adelia Sayeg's art piece celebrates the living - Blessing/Altar.
This altar named "Blessing", consists of ceramic pieces placed around a fountain.
The altar is made of 300 clay incense burners, most of them made of raku ceramics and intervened with paintings and textiles.
The pieces have been placed in a great circle of healing based on ancient traditions, especially from America.
The circle is guarded by small trees branches, where visitors hang white ribbons representing their longing and gratitude for the breath of life, a way to honor their ancestral memory.
Sayeg’s explanation:
Ritual, as a symbolic action, allows the transmission and representation of values for a community, and on this occasion it allows, says Sayeg, "to celebrate the living, those of us who follow here, because by strongly embracing life we also honor our dead." .
On the explanation plaque that accompanies the piece, visitors can enter this symbolic universe to learn about the ritual of sahumar, one of the oldest healing practices in which energy is transmuted through fire - which consumes plants, resins and sacred woods.
Darkness is exchanged for light, coal is turned into gold, unconsciousness is transformed into consciousness.
Sahumar is asking for vision, clarity, guidance and direction. It is a way of praying, thanking, summarizing, offering and blessing.
The object contains the four elements of nature and the four cardinal points, they are beautiful ceramic pieces made by Sayeg that with moving beauty that link water-air-fire-earth, they force contemplation, states of deep reflection and celebration of life that contrasts with the sadness of loss.
Adelia Sayeg is a Mexican artist living in Mexico City.
Over the course of her career, Sayeg has participated in over 90 exhibitions, including individual shows held in Mexico, the United States, and various countries in Europe and Asia.
Sayeg has participated in the Florence Biennale, the Latin American Biennale in New York, and on two occasions, in the Utilitarian Pottery Biennale of the Museo Franz Mayer in Mexico City.
Tara in Tibetan Buddhism, is a female Bodhisattva. She is known as the "mother of liberation", and represents the virtues of success in work and achievements.
Within Tibetan Buddhism, Tārā is regarded as a Bodhisattva of compassion and action. She is the female aspect of Avalokiteśvara. Tārā is also known as a saviouress, as a heavenly deity who hears the cries of beings experiencing misery in saṃsāra.
The most widely known forms of Tārā are:
Green Tārā, (Syamatara) known as the Buddha of enlightened activity
White Tārā, (Sitatara) also known for compassion, long life, healing and serenity; also known as The Wish-fulfilling Wheel, or Cintachakra
Red Tārā, (Kurukulla) of fierce aspect associated with magnetizing all good things
Black Tārā, associated with power
Yellow Tārā, (Bhrikuti) associated with wealth and prosperity
Blue Tārā, associated with transmutation of anger
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_(Buddhism)
Temple of the Five Pagodas
Temple of the Five Pagodas , also known as the "Precious Pagoda of the Buddhist Relics of the Diamond Throne" , is a Buddhist temple in the city of Hohhot in Inner Mongolia in north-west China. It is located in the older part of the city in the vicinity of Qingcheng Park.
Construction of the temple began in 1727 and was completed in 1732. The distinctive five pagodas surmount contains a temple with 1563 images of Buddha carved into its walls each differing slightly to the other. Inside is a rare Mongolian cosmological map carved into a large stone which illustrates the zodiac and positions of numerous stars.
神壇前的三支巨香 - 盤龍大香
在香上還有著十位大仙的Q版公仔，工藝精細，唯妙唯俏
"請神"儀式後會由當屆總理及長老燃點作為頭注香。
Located in front of the main altar, these giant joss incense will be lighted as the "First Joss Incense" after the Gods are brought to the event.
Figures of ten gods & goddess are skillfully crafted on the giant joss stiscks.
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The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).
In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.
Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.
Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors
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Follow my rediscovery of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
For my past visits to the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
=====
笛子是中國民間的竹類樂器之一。古代稱為「橫吹」後又稱「橫笛」，明朱載堉的「律呂精義」中亦有有關的記載。
相傳笛子本來是振奮士氣用的，宋朝後成為伴奏戲曲的重要樂器，其音色清脆高吭，透明而圓潤動聽。
The Chinese flute with its high and crispy notes, was once used in war to raise the army's spirits. It is now an important element in traditional Chinese music
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The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).
In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.
Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.
Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors
=====
Follow my rediscovery of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
For my past visits to the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
=====
「天地父母」是潮州人供奉的一個重要神靈，「天」為「天公」、「地」為「地母」，在潮州人心目中，萬事萬物都是由「天地父母」化育而來的。
Teochew tribe worships the Gods Of Heaven and Earth, the Father of Heaven and Mother of Earth, it is believed that the world was created by them.
Instead of statues, these temporary event that lasts for about 3 - 5 days, carried the copper incense burners from the temples as a symbolic representation of the Gods respectively:
- 天地父母 Gods of Heaven and Earth
- 南辰北斗 Gods of Spiritual Realm
- 諸位福神 Gods of Blessings
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The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).
In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.
Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.
Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors
=====
Follow my rediscovery of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
For my past visits to the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
=====