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Another one I cannot overlook is Yes, Awaken, 1977.
Jon Anderson: While I was in Switzerland I had a chance to read a book called The Singer, it’s about this Star Song which is an ageless hymn that’s sung every now and again and that inspired this song.
The book is The Singer by Calvin Miller. It’s an allegorical Christian novel.
To me, this song brings together prayer, hope, connection to the One & All, and the yoga practice of bringing the kundalini energy up through the spine (“Awaken Gentle mass Touch!” and “re-regaining the flower of the fruit of his tree”, and “re-release inhibitions so that all is left for you!”) to Awaken us – higher and higher.
Additionally, I have been informed by hubby that the chord sequence is a perfect “Wheel of 12,” which I have yet to learn – but when you speak to me of 12, you also speak to me of Medicine Wheel, the Zodiac, the Year, and the hours of the day. He wants to teach me the chords, and I’ll have to get back to you on what that is and how it might tie into the lore of the Medicine Wheel.
When I saw this live in 1991, I was not as familiar with it, and it felt like we entered a spaceship which took us to a marvellous land of beauty and truth, awe and splendor, and in that place, we were all One, we were all Alive and Awake.
To me now, it is an anthem, a call to Awaken.
This one is Yes from 1973, Tales from Topographic Oceans.
It is based on the Vedic Scriptures. It contains 4 x 20 minute tracks, or journeys, each one unveiling expressions of Divine Experience.
“The Revealing Science of God” is based on the shruti class of Hindu scripture which Yogananda described as scriptures that are “directly heard” or “revealed”, in particular the Vedas.
SHRUTIS: The Revealing Science of God can be seen as an ever-opening flower in which simple truths emerge examining the complexities and magic of the past and how we should not forget the song that has been left to us to hear. The knowledge of God is a search, constant and clear.
“The Remembering” relates to the smriti, literally meaning “that which is remembered”. Yogananda wrote the smritis were “written down in a remote past as the world’s longest epic poems”, specifically the Mahabharata and Ramayana, two Indian epic poems. Anderson described it as “a calm sea of music” and aimed to get the band to play “like the sea” with “rhythms, eddies, swells, and undercurrents”.[
“The Ancient” is attributed to the puranas, meaning “of ancient times”, which contain eighteen “ancient” allegories. “Steve’s guitar”, wrote Anderson, “is pivotal in sharpening reflection on the beauties and treasures of lost civilisations.” The lyrics contain several translations of the word “Sun” or an explanation of the Sun from various languages
NOTE: Not for the faint of heart!
And this – is a thing called “RITUAL” –
“Ritual” relates to the tantras, literally meaning “rites” or “rituals”
It is rare to find others who love Yes Music, if you didn’t “grow up” with it, it may not be for you. But in sharing how I came to be a Seidr, I would be remiss if I did not give credit to the influence of the uplifting music and lyrics of Yes.
Each of these videos have suitable visuals for doing journey work.
Another album which is more of an Urban shamanic journey, is Genesis, Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, from 1974.
It is the story of a man who is looking for his brother on the streets of New York City, when an alternate or parallel world opens up to him, carries him away – and he has to resolve a number of inner conflicts – and choose. Does he rescue his brother? Or does he save himself?
There are myriads of webpages discussing the music and story of this album, and no two people agree on what it means – or is it just theatrical drama? It was performed live with costumes and props.
Wikipedia says of the story:
One morning in New York City, Rael is holding a can of spray paint, hating everyone around him. He witnesses a lamb lying down on Broadway which has a profound effect on him. (“The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway”) As he walks along the street, he sees a dark cloud take the shape of a movie screen and slowly move towards him, finally absorbing him (“Fly on a Windshield”), seeing an explosion of images of the current day (“Broadway Melody of 1974”, the song’s title being a reference to MGM musical films of the same name, such as the 1936, 1938 and 1940 films) before he wakes up in an underground cave and falls asleep once again (“Cuckoo Cocoon”). Rael wakes up and finds himself trapped in a cage of stalactites and stalagmites which slowly close in towards him. As he tries to escape, he sees his brother John and calls for him, but John walks away and the cage suddenly disappears (“In the Cage”).
Rael now finds himself on the floor of a factory and is given a tour of the area by a woman, where he watches people being processed like packages. He spots old members of his New York City gang and John with the number “9” stamped on his forehead. Fearing for his life, Rael escapes into a corridor (“The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging”)[31] and has an extended flashback of returning from a gang raid in New York City, (“Back in N.Y.C.”)[32] a dream where his hairy heart is removed and shaved with a razor, (“Hairless Heart”) and his first sexual encounter (“Counting Out Time”).[33] Rael’s flashback ends, and he finds himself in a long, red carpeted corridor of people crawling towards its exit via a spiral staircase (“Carpet Crawl”). At the top, he enters a chamber with 32 doors, surrounded by people and unable to concentrate. He finds a woman who leads him out of the chamber and into another cave, where he becomes trapped by falling rocks (“The Chamber of 32 Doors”, “Lilywhite Lilith”, “Anyway”). Rael encounters Death (“Here Comes the Supernatural Anaesthetist”) and escapes the cave.
Rael ends up in a pool with three Lamias, beautiful snake-like creatures and has sex with them, but they die after drinking some of his blood (“The Lamia”). He leaves and finds himself in a group of Slippermen, distorted, grotesque men who have all had the same experience with the Lamias, and finds that he has become one of them (“The Arrival”). Rael finds John among the Slippermen, who reveals that the only way to become human again is to visit Doktor Dyper and be castrated (“A Visit to the Doktor”). Both are castrated and keep their removed penises in containers around their necks. Rael’s container is taken by a raven and he chases after it, leaving John behind (“The Raven”). The raven drops the container in a ravine and into a rushing underground river. Rael walks alongside it, remembering his days in New York, until he sees John in the river, struggling to stay afloat. Despite being deserted twice by John, Rael dives in to save him (“The Light Dies Down on Broadway”, “Riding the Scree”). Rael rescues John and drags his body to the bank of the river and turns him over to look at his face, only to see his own face instead (“In the Rapids”). His consciousness then drifts between both bodies, and he sees the surrounding scenery melting away into a haze. Both bodies dissolve, and Rael’s spirit becomes one with everything around him (“it.”).
A Sioux warrior adorned with spider web tattoos or is invulnerable to arrows. A spider web is, indeed a form of spiritual barrier. It could be a sticky situation that is no longer an issue for you. It could be an old creation that no longer serves you.
It is an engineering feat, a thing of beauty and wonder.
And when I am stopped by a spider web, I always wonder, where is the spider?
A White butterfly – a white creature is the Essence of Spirit of that creature. A White Butterfly speaks of the Pure Spirit of ALL butterflies. This is a very high transformational guide.
Butterfly comes from humble caterpillar, who makes a cocoon and waits within for the amazing rebirth into the butterfly. Transformation is the key to the butterfly. The keys here for application are:
Humility (caterpillar)
Patience (waiting in the cocoon)
Solitude (your major growth happens in isolation – cocoon), and
Emergence.This final phase is where you spread joy and fertility (pollination) for all God’s creatures.
The cocoon/butterfly experience is also transformative. We forget that butterfly starts out as a humble caterpillar. The life cycle often involves one plant – the caterpillar eats the leaves, weaves a cocoon on the stem, and then the butterfly pollinates the plant upon release.
The blue/silver/gold of the butterfly talks about communication (throat chakra), the silver thread connects the body to the soul (astral travel), and also connects to the moon and the gold speaks of the sun. This speaks of the need to communicate solar (rational) ideas as well as lunar (intuitive) ones.
Multicoloured butterflies, they are the magick of transformation – transformation of your whole body (all colours), and transformation of your soul.
Finding a new perspective, taking flight, finally free. Completing one life cycle to start anew another.
Coda writes:
In chapter 1, Harner takes us through his experiences as he first starts doing fieldwork as an anthropologist. I find this intriguing, as it brings western science into play.
That was what appealed to me, too.
By this time, I had my fill of crystal gazing, faery worshipping, alien abudctees where I could not find evidence or explanation for what was happening. I couldn’t deny that these were real to those people – but Harner offered me something academic, that I could respect and tie into other studies.
Coda writes of an altered state:
Immediately below the topmost level I felt a numbed layer, which seemed to have been put out of commission by the drug–it just wasn’t there.
I think that’s the “governor” or “filter,” that judgemental part of ourselves which keep us from feeling connected all the time – which enables us to be rational and direct our activities in the ordinary world. The filter is a survival mechanism – but remove it, and it is much easier to touch Spirit.
Coda continues:
Harner writes about his experiences with Jivaro shamanism and the use of tsentsak which are magical darts or spirit helpers that are the “main powers believed to cause and cure illness in daily life.
Back in the day, when I was full of ego, I probably wanted to be a powerful shaman, and would’ve taken delight in “collecting darts” and caring for them. It’s a very wizardly thing to do. Now I am careful about darts, now that I am less ego, I don’t want too much power. Just enough is fine.
Darts, to many South American tribes, are energies which are removed from your patients, when the suffering or infliction is removed. They are often destructive, and need special binding and care in order to keep them alive inside the Shaman. Then, when needed – for another illness, or perhaps in defense (or even attack) – the dart is ready and waiting to be used.
They are fed with herbs and ceremony. It requires a lot of purity to collect darts, and a lot of respect and honor. But I am not collecting darts at this time. Now that I understand better how it works, why, and how to do it – I’m not inclined to collect power.
Just a few updates I’ve picked up since reading the book!
This is gonna be fun! To get a review of the book while someone else is reading it!
Green and Purple flashes fit with this – green being heart, purple being crown chakra. There are 2 direct connections to G-d through our bodies: the heart and the crown. The crown is the most difficult to connect to, as it requires a certain purity of mind, body, and emotional being. But the heart is direct access for everyone – through devotion to the heart, clarity of heart, every act of heart and giving – you connect directly to divine. Seeing purple and green flashes is like “testing the circuits” between heart and crown.
Magenta is a color of compassion, to heal your heart. Magenta is a “hot” heart colour, a more dramatic and intense expression of heart energy.
It is uplifting in times of unhappiness, anger or frustration. It represents universal love and compassion, and helps you to promote kindness and cooperation.
Green and Purple flashes fit with this – green being heart, purple being crown chakra. There are 2 direct connections to G-d through our bodies: the heart and the crown. The crown is the most difficult to connect to, as it requires a certain purity of mind, body, and emotional being. But the heart is direct access for everyone – through devotion to the heart, clarity of heart, every act of heart and giving – you connect directly to divine. Seeing purple and green flashes is like “testing the circuits” between heart and crown.
Saturn Returns!
When we are born, Saturn is on a specific place on our birth chart.
Saturn takes about 29.5 years to return to that place in your chart and in your life.
So – between ages 28-30 is your first Saturn return. In my experience, this is the final breaking down of old beliefs and useless structures in our life. It is a great cleansing, a letting go, and can be traumatic for some. It is the solidifying of your characteristics for your adult working life. (hint: once I had experienced this, I would not date a man who was under 30! He just “wasn’t formed” yet.)
I haven’t experienced the 58-60 Saturn return – but it is my understanding that it will be a re-evaluation of my lifes choices, a further refining of my personality to prepare me for my time as a Sage, an Elder.
My mother is going through the 88-90 Saturn return, which is a preparation for the journey beyond this life.
It is a time of destruction and creation – but it is mostly a time of definition, of creating boundaries, and of letting go of the excess burden of belief, intellect and emotion, so that you can be a more refined, more defined person than you were before the Saturn return.
Neptune Retrograde – this is a condition we have been in since 16-June 2017, and will be until 22-November 2017 (I guess astrologers differ on this end date).
“~ NEPTUNE RETROGRADE: DIVE DEEP INTO YOUR DREAMS ~
Neptune Retrograde wants us to get real and step from the shadows of fantasy onto a foundation of reality, but he wants us to dive deep into our dreams and bring them into our real world with us, just leave behind the illusions that can get sometimes tangled in with them.Neptune brings us into an energy where we are no longer able to ignore the things that hold us in a place of being trapped in soul sucking half lives or unobtainable fantasy.
This energy shows us a deeper thread of who we are and what we really want (and deserve) and lends the energy of being able to think clearer to bring these plans into real action.
Neptune Retro is here from June 13 until November 19th to show us what is most important in our lives and we need to be ready to open our eyes (and our hearts) to these messages because this is a deep dive into huge truth. These messages can also be made clearer to us while we sleep during actual intense dreams.
This powerful time is making us look at where we are wanting to live a life full of deep meaning and where we are tired of dipping a toe into the surface.
Diving deep into the seas with you,
Ara
(from The Goddess CirclMercury Retrograde
This is an event that happens a few times a year.
Retrograde is when a planet appears to be going backwards from an earth perspective, relating to their orbits – in this case, Earth and Mercury.
When Mercury goes retrograde, communications go haywire. We are getting ready to enter into another retrograde period – 13-Aug to 5-Sept 2017. There will be another period 3-23 December, 2017.
Mercury retrograde is when you get mysterious phone calls from no one, your remote goes on the fritz, your electronics go haywire, and your communications have crossed wires. “I thought you meant . . . ” is a recipe for disaster.
Nobody needs to be a victim of Mercury retrograde, it requires paying attention. It is not a wise time to sign legal documents, or sign onto a new job – but if you do – make sure that everything you need is clearly communicated. Even then, there will probably be miscommunications – but – intention and preparation can prevent disasters.
Traffic snarls, wrong numbers, butt-dials, anything to do with communication and commerce are affected by Mercury Retrograde.
You can read more about Mercury retrograde, here:
Farmer’s Almanac – Mercury Retrograde
The comments on that page are an enlightening and enlivening discussion.
