Quotes

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan Thomas, 

Do not go gentle into that good night

The word myth has been debased and cheapened in modern usage; it’s often used to refer to something false, a lie. But this use misses the deepest function of myth, which is to lend narrative order to apparently disconnected bits of information, the way constellations group impossibly distance stars into tight, easily recognizable patterns that are simultaneously imaginary and real. Psychologists David Feinstein and Stanley Krippner explain, “Mythology is the loom on which [we] weave the raw materials of daily experience into a coherent story.’ “

Sex at Dawn – Christopher Ryan & Cacilda Jetha (via palimpsestpanther)

We must aim for liberation. Babalon is at war with limitation. For you that may be Christianity or Islam or Capitalist consumerism. Her injunction is simple: Destroy all limits with Love.

Peter Grey, The Red Goddess

The basic assumption with which we must begin any theorizing about the past is that men and women built civilization jointly. Starting as we do from the end result and reasoning back, we thus ask a different question than that of a single-cause ‘origin.’ We ask: how did men and women in their society-building and in the construction of what we call Western civilization arrive at the present state? Once we abandon the concept of women as historical victims, acted upon by violent men, inexplicable ‘forces,’ and societal institutions, we must explain the central puzzle–woman’s participation in the construction of the system which subordinates her. I suggest abandoning the search for an empowering past–the search for matriarchy–is the first step in the right direction. The creation of compensatory myths of the distant past of women will not emancipate women in the present and the future. The patriarchal mode of thought is so built into our mental processes that we cannot exclude it unless we first make ourselves consciously aware of it, which always means a special effort. Thus, in thinking about the prehistoric past of women, we are so much locked into the explanatory androcentric system that the only alternate model that readily comes to mind is that of reversal. If not patriarchy, then there must have been matriarchy. Undoubtedly there were many different modes in which men and women organized society and allocated power and resources. None of the archaeological evidence we have is conclusive and sufficient to allow us to construct a scientifically sound model of that important period of the transition from Neolithic hunting/gathering to sedentary agricultural societies. The way of the anthropologists, who offer us examples of contemporary hunting/gathering societies and draw from them inferences about societies in the fifth millennium B.C., is no less speculative than is that of the philosopher and the specialist in religious studies who reason from literature and myths. The point is that most of the speculative models have been androcentric and have assumed the naturalness of patriarchy, and the few feminist models have been ahistorical and therefore, to my mind, unsatisfactory.

from The Creation of Patriarchy by Gerda Lerner (1986)

This is a great observation, on a subject quite dear to me. I will definitely be looking for this book. 

What I would add is, one possible way of knowing how our prehistoric ancestors organized their society is to look to our closest primate relatives. While certainly not conclusive, it does give a window into what a more tribal based society may have looked like. Until recently, we believed our closest relative to be the chimpanzee. Discoveries in the last few decades has shown us we are even closer genetically to the bonobo. I recommend reading the works of Franz De Waal to learn about them.

Listen to the flutes playing,
listen to the sitar strum.
Listen to the melody of the lyre,
pay attention to the beat of the drum.

Watch the procession as it moves
out through those solemn gates,
past statues standing tall,
marking places of goddess’ grace.

Priest lead the marching group,
and dancers with their colors swirl,
as the golden idol is carried out
and cheers all around resound.

This marks the glorious occasion,
a time of feasting and of festivals,
in a land far away, bathed in sun-
the land of Ancient Egypt.

Myriah I. Starrs, “Flutes and Marching- November 10, 2018″, Read More (via myriah-iceillia-starrs)

Let the gods know I tried
in this place where I died
oh Egypt how you hold my heart.

And as my mind starts to wander
to those far distant shores,
full of sand inlaid with waters blue-

Let my heart fill with wonder
as my mind thinks of you
and let your glory never dim.

Egypt you hold my heart
as no other ever shall
and to you I shall depart

When this life has grown still.
You are hope to my heart
you are fascination to my mind.

Let your wonders continue on
and the Nile never run dry;
and monuments never crumble

Though the dust swirl o’er and around.
And let Egypt reign supreme
over Desert majesties.

Oh Egypt know I love you
as I always was meant to do.

Myriah I. Starrs, “Egypt- September 2018″, Read More Here (via myriah-iceillia-starrs)

A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be shamanism = technique of ecstasy.

Mircea Eliade, Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy

I will always highly recommend this book, but will make a small point of clarification. I do believe that “ecstasy” may be the wrong word, and maybe this can be chalked up to English not being Professor Eliade’s first language. Because in a modern sense, ecstasy has connotations of pleasure which is not always the case. Many of these techniques involve discomfort and outright pain. From an Asian perspective the word ecstasy may have some validity in that from a certain Taoist  point of view, all experiences can be judged pleasurable in the mind of the participant. But I think what comes closest is the chaos magick definition of “gnosis.” Which is, of course, a borrowed word itself and not entirely synonymous with the original meaning of the word. So English really doesn’t have a good term for what is being described, which in a general sense encompasses all altered states of consciousness.

The Shaman is more than the healer and the specialist in technics of ecstasy: he is also the friend and master of wild animals: he imitates their cries; he transforms himself into an animal; he is, moreover, bard, poet and civiliser.

Mircea Eliade

(via entheognosis)