Exerpts From A MUST-Own Book:

The Secret Teachings Of All Ages by Manly P. Hall

[An absolute MUST-HAVE for your Library, folks. Spend the $40.00. Never want for Philosophic fodder again. This book, besides a dictionary, is THE ONE I would chose were I allowed ONLY ONE BOOK FOR THE REST OF ETERNITY. Those of you who know me, know that those are NOT light words. And that is an understatement if ever one were uttered. Here-- read for yourself.
Oh- I let stand the use of the word "man" versus the more modern (and, to me, much more acceptable and inclusive--as was meant, I'm sure) "humankind", dates the author (the book was penned as a reflection of the shallowness of materialism, solely, seen post-1929 stock market crash...). Don't let that detract from the CONTENT, please!!! --Cygnus]

"According to the secret doctrine, man, through the gradual refinement of his vehicles and the ever-increasing sensitiveness resulting from that refinement, is gradually overcoming the limitations of matter and is disentangling himself from his mortal coil. When humanity has completed its physical evolution, the empty shell of materiality left behind will be used by other lifewaves as stepping-stones to their own liberation. The trend of man's evolutionary growth is ever towards his own essential Selfhood. At the point of deepest materialism, therefore, man is at the greatest distance from Himself. According to the Mystery teachings, not all the spiritual nature of man incarnates in matter. The spirit of man is diagrammatically shown as an equilateral triangle with one point downward. This lower point, which is one-third of the spiritual nature but in comparison to the dignity of the other two is much less than a third, descends into the illusion of material existence for a brief space of time. That which never clothes itself in the sheath of matter is the Hermetic Anthropos-- the Overman-- analogous to the Cyclops or guardian daemon of the Greeks, the angel of Jacob Bohme, and the Oversoul of Emmerson, "that Unity, that Oversoul, within which every man's particular being is contained and made one with all other."

At birth only a third part of the Divine Nature of man temporarily dissociates itself from its own immortality and takes upon itself the dream of physical birth and existence, animating with its own celestial enthusiasm a vehicle composed of material elements, part of and bound to the material sphere. At death this incarnated part awakens from the dream of physical existence and reunites itself once more with its eternal condition. this periodical descent of spirit into matter is termed the wheel of life and death, and the principles involved are treated in length by the philosophers under the subject metempsychosis. By initiation into the Mysteries and certain processes known as operative theology, this law of birth and death is transcended, and during the course of physical existence which is asleep in form is awakened without the intervention of death-- the inevitable Initiator-- and is consciously reunited with the Anthropos, or the overshadowing substance of itself. This is at once the primary purpose and the consummate achievement of the Mysteries: that man shall become aware of and be consciously reunited with the divine source of himself without tasting of physical dissolution."

[Cygnus won't chop this with his words, save to ask if anyone would like to see regular excerpts from the tome. I had intent to quote from the chapter titled "The Mysteries Of Isis", but the book opened to this page and the passage threw itself to my eyeballs... et VOILA!

I'll do a review, overall, of the book this weekend.
Until then...

Hale and Farewell, Folks...

Cygnus]

Moon's Day Meditation

Hail and Greetings, Folks! Tonight We're Going To--

Start With A DOT...

A blip. A small point in space.
A period at the end of this sentence. THAT dot.

All I want you to do is, once you have posited into your comfortable meditation state, hold a dot, and no thing but that dot, in your mind's eye. (For me the mind's eye is mid-brow, just slightly above and in front of ...)
Focus on the dot.

When it fades-- and it will! Fast at first, then less fleeting as you-- gently but firmly bring it back into 'focus'.

Breathe.
In through the nose, down to the belly and feet.(Still got dot?!)
Out through the mouth.
Positive LIGHT in...
Negative shadow OUT...

DOT. POINT. PERIOD. Spot-- whatever.

Focus on it.

Quit focusing so hard... relax. and hold the dot in the mind's eye.

Try to work yourself up to three minutes (hey! you ain't got a clock, do ya? Because that's cheating...).

Just the dot. just the dot.

Sit, comfortably, breathing right, and BE the dot.

What this meditation exercise does, folks, is develop CONCENTRATION.

When you go to ritual, building thought-forms and visualizing healing (or other) energies... when you need to focus on a test question at school... when some other bullshit has your mind aflutter with extraneous smatterings...

DOT.

DEEP Breath, and center...and get your mind back on the issue at hand.

Try it for a week, for a few minutes every evening, or [SwanShudders] morning if that be your creative timespan.
Don't over-do it... just [gently] DO it...

It's just a dot, folks...

And it will still your mind to awaken to the Infinite Universe...

Hale and Farewell!

Cygnus

My Poetry:

All

I have given of my heart often
sometimes in pieces
(by choice, or natural caution)
others in full accoutrement
but always with the purest intent
And it has been treated in as many ways
as the number of women to which it was given

Those who took the pieces--
(they couldn't have handled more
emotionally or physically)--
and those who took the whole--
(they wouldn't have settled for part)--

all treated it
I guess
as well as they were able
(or cared to)

And although none thought it enough
to hold on to
(in fairness the timing was always tragic)
All returned
(and all in pieces)
less than was borrowed

yet really.. all did me a favor

Because a muscle
broken down
then repaired
only grows stronger

And I know
that the One who seeks the shelter
of this now empty, pulsating chambre
Will need that hardening
to tenderize
to make it home by giving

And I know she waits
as empty now as I
yet as knowing
that nothing should ever be given back
less than it was taken...

JMc aka Cygnus

Got Love?

You're in the bedroom moaning with sexual pleasure from a partner you love.
I'm in the kitchen-- same house, or one miles or countries away. And madly in love with you.

If I LOVE you-- unconditional, limitless, real capitol LOVE, not lust or puppy love or that wonderful romantic love we all get when we first meet someone special-- then why would I not be happy that you are gaining pleasure?
My being jealous doesn't denote love.
That I demand, expect or think that all your pleasure--sexual or otherwise-- come solely from me is not only unfeasible but smacks more of a want to possess, of ego-driven self-aggrandizement.

OUTSIDE OF SEX
Two of the three people I profess to love will never share a bed with me. "He" won't because neither of us are homosexual. "She" won't for various reasons, distance being a major factor. (Even if we were close the love might needs remain unrequited due to the opines of her spousal unit-- whom she loves very much, thank you.)
That doesn't negate ONE IOTA the love I feel for them.

Is that love 'different' than the love I share with the one I actually have a shot at getting into the sack?
Sure-- insofar as they are unique individuals. For me the love for each one differs not in amount, not 'more' or 'less', but in shades of subtlety having to do with reasons we were drawn together. Personality types, interests, dislikes... all factor in, but I don't see the LOVE in and of Itself as different. Different than family (e.g. sibling or parental) love, but the same love one non-blood related adult has for another.

50% OF [Traditional] Marriages...
So you're married. Happily. In love. The kind of love that grows as your friendship and life together are growing, long after the initial romantic fires wane. (And they do, folks. Be Honest.)
Then...
Attraction to another. Even if it is purely a physical attraction it doesn't cause you to love your partner any less.
Who's in your mind's eye that night during love-making?
And what if you and this new attraction begin to become friends, bond.. Does development of this new one cause those aspects of your current relationship to diminish? Might seem so, given the divorce rate.

But I question...

Was the first "love" Love? Now you only love the second "love"? Was, or is, then, this love you transferred Finite? You can't still feel them both?

I don't have the answers. These are questions helping me constantly examine and evaluate my beliefs on this issue.

Thanks to everyone for commenting on this. Your words and thoughts have occupied endless hours of my time. A little extra thanks to Allie for prodding a good deal of today's thought on the matter.

And Granddaddy (and Grandmommy!) THANKS to He, She, and V.J.T. for bringing an exceptional-- and it seems, an extraordinary-- amount of LOVE into this bird's existence...

Hale and Farewell, folks.

Cygnus

Sticks and Stones

Hail and Greetings, Folks.

I went on a road trip today. My Uncle and I drove out to Independence Park, in Gonzales, Tx., and participated in an Oath Keepers Reaffirmation.

I was able to meet a few fellow bloggers. One in particular-- we'll call him Ye Old Furt (because, well, so is the sobriquet he adheres to! :D), bestowed Blessing and Honor upon me: he gifted me with a Native American Mother Earth Drum Baton:


This is a hand-crafted, Consecrated, Ceremonial baton, used by the Bestower while drumming with The People in California.

Earlier in the week, when rsvp's for the O.K.R. were sifted through, I was asked to bring my Bodhran.

Upon arrival, Ye Furt inquires... then quips

"Good! I have something for you..."

He tucked into the door of his vehicle, and came out with the story and lineage behind the Sacred Stick (my words, caps and all). He then presented it to me. He put this seemingly-innocuous but magically-imbued Baton in my Trust and Care.

Speechless...

Despite its apparently-incongruent-with-my-bodhran size, the two got on like a Satyr and a Nymph... I used the Striker the rest of the ceremony.

After the Reaffirmation Ceremony, a few of us were standing around chatting.That's when I saw the rock. Right there at my feet.
I collect stones-- pretty, unusual... special or 'calling' ones. Always introspectively glancing down as I walk, many have thence begged transport or possession. I've gathered several from the Texas Hill Country where I lived for most of my adult life. (A landscaper tends to see a rock or two in the limestone hills of Central Tejas...)

This one... if you look closely, you can see what appear to be two dun-colored inclusions in the ebony globule. Upon closer inspection, however, I discover that these aren't inclusions at all, but two places where the outer casing of obsidian-- maybe 1/32"-- has worn to reveal an interior of solid sandstone.

That the (black) rock was obsidian was not apparent: no shine, not so much as even a spot of the smoothness that igneous form is known for. When I retrieve it and attempt to rub the 'dirt' off the exterior, I realize...

The thing doesn't "look" special, pretty, or in any other way possess a beauty that would appeal to most. It's magic-- Magic-- to me, is it's movie of the geological process of it's own creation. Here's a rock; solid. Immobile. Inflexible.

Yet it offers me a glimpse of a world constantly in flux; of magnanimous spewings of lava over a sanded beach; of hot molten fluid balling silica in it's fist in the heat of the moment, then rolling on, then cooling-- forever locking in it's history, it's tale of the way.

It is a gift. A window. A screen.

Hmm. Maybe I'll compose the Obsidiansandstone's venture on Bodhran...

Seems an erstwhile thanks...

Hale and Farewell, folks...

Cygnus

MEDITATION

My Door For Manifestation...

Health and Greetings!

Confession time: My meditation and "formal" practice have been virtually non-existent for the last, oh, four years or so. It's been a period of letting marinade the book knowledge and Mystical collectiva, imbued with go-with-the-flow Willings and acute observation. Cyclic. Winter.
But...

It's TIME again...
Too potent a punch of that ever-prevalent balance of Beauty and Beast bullshit has taken seed in my life of late to deny otherwise.

I'd venture that 90% or better of my 'magic' work is done via meditation. (The more subtle needs of the past quatro anos aside, since they've been sans said...) That would include 'Ceremonial', healings, affirmations, and visualization.

Visualization is the Grand-daddy of Magic. The cornerstone, if not the entire foundation... but I sense digression-- a sure sign to earmark a word for future post fodder, then carry on the here and now...

There are four primary 'styles' of , or exercise in, meditation which I advantage.

• the Zen approach, or No-THING (stilling the mind)
• River of Thought
• Mantra
• Concentration

The Zen, the blanking of the mind, is impossible. The hardest of all, it is also the most epiphany-revealing state.

River of thought is not so far removed; it allows the 'presence' of the unconscious or sub-conscious images, but asks you do not grab and focus on any particular one. Watch them flow by, like the water massaging the banks in its passing...

In reverse, Concentration meditation's goal is to pick ONE thing-- a dot, a mandala, a sunset-- and focus intently on that to the exclusion of all else. Hold it. Mind wanders? (And it will!) Gently but firmly focus it back on the issue.

Everyone's familiar with mantra, right? This can be one simple word (the most known being the "OM" of om mani padmi hum notoriety...), or a phrase, or... well, you got the jist.

[Looks like I might have to series this topic, because each of these four deserve expounding on!]

I always let the night, or the aether, or the Source-whatever steps in-- dictate the direction of the remaining session. But only after... [Bum bam BAAAHM!]

Watching the Breath...

THE FOLLOWING IS ONE IN and OUT BREATH:

Inhale through the nose... see the air move all the way down the chest, the abdomen, the groin, the thighs, around the knees and into the calves, then ankles, then into the feet.

That's the IN breath...

Out follows the reverse; I like to visualize (SEE?! HA!) the Breath leaving the feet, then ankles, then... because doing this BREATH will learn you to imbibe it with the Power to carry out Will-- essentially akin to muscle-memory training athletes do: even if unconsciously, you are learning to focus and concentrate all your power into that Breath, hence send it to do as you so Will.

Now, when I'm 'in shape' and meditating nightly, I start my session with TEN of these breaths. In fact I've had nights where naught else was done but breath-gaze. Shigata ga nai, neh? But whatever-- when i start Sitting again, it might only last three counts. Depends on concentration.
And, it really IS a training thing... endurance will build as nights pass to dawns pass to twilight to...

You'll be amazed...

I have been. To the point of literal prostration.

I need sleep People.

Thus I go. [Alone, Alas! where IS She who is Yin?!?]

Hmmm.

Probably everywhere...

Har!

Hail and Farewell, Folk!

Cygnus

Polyamory

So, which one of your parents do you love? That's right-- which one?

Ok, silly question; let's try again.

Which one of your children do you love? Which one of your siblings? Which one of your spouses? Which grandpa--

Whah? Whaddya mean, "Hold on!"?

Why? Why is the demographic of spouses different? Where do the rules of love say that it is possible to love more than one child, more than one parent, more than one of every other type of human socio-relationship conceivable, but only one other partner when it comes to that aspect of our being? Where? Why?

I used to have major jealousy issues. I won't bore you with long, drawn-out details, but 'round about eight years ago I was offered major philosophical-changing epiphany about that four-letter word, LOVE. It's only limited by jealousy and societal conditioning.

There are enough words in the Universe for us to share our thoughts, fears, feelings, dreams and emotions with each other. Even though words are a finite source, their intent is not... even if we use the same words twice, we don't lose potency of meaning. They're renewable sources... still as effective at communicating their second say-- maybe even more so, with trust being built as the words become manifest action.

The same is simply not true of the raw feeling or emotion or state of love; it's merely seeking expressive, succinct communication via codification . I mean, do the words EVER fully express the depth of an honest "I Love You"? No way, dude. Not even close.

Nope; the limitation ends with the words. Or more accurately, seems, begins with them.

[The State of] Love? INFINITE.

I sincerely would LOVE feedback on this issue from the Pagan community. Link away, steal the idea and forum about it on your blog... whatever. I stand solid in love with three (non-family) individuals currently incarnate, so my opinion likely won't sway, but I want to hear from you-- agree, disagree, or waver...

Health and farewell!

Cygnus

Want More?
Polyamory In The News
Practical Polyamory

Post-scriptum: I speak of love as a State. My personal belief is a that our Soul already exist is States of love with Others. We "fall" neither "in" nor "out" of love. We're already there, and luck or fate to stumble upon our Others. There's an automatic Knowing when you meet (or at last Recognize-- oft the timing is not synchronous!) the Other(s). But that's fodder for another day...