Immortal Blues: Part Nine

by Administrator, posted in Guest Authors

By Greg Bullard

Welcome to the ninth and final installment in the fiction series “Immortal Blues” by Greg Bullard. If you need to catch up, here is Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, and Part Eight.

“Taliesin, First of the Bards,” I said it slowly, menacingly. I said it slowly because I was trying to think up something witty to say along with it. I had nothing. Damn.

He sat his guitar aside, wiped his hands off on his trousers – needlessly I might add, the jackass – and looked up at me and said, “This is easy, Ciaran, just give up.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Give up?”

“Yes,” he nodded, “give up. The bridge will open in an hour, just take it. Go home.”

“Who sent you, Taliesin? Why are you here?”

He shrugged, “Does it matter if someone sent me? Couldn’t I have my own agenda? She’s gorgeous. We all love her. I love her. I have sat in that court for hundreds of years, and I have played. I have poured myself into my songs, my poems and my words and I have played. Do you know how hard it is to give everything of yourself every day for so long?”

It was my turn to shrug.

“I’ll answer for you, you don’t. If you had ever half-tried you could have been a god. Perhaps you are even, God of the Dilettantes maybe?” he laughed at his own little joke.

Continuing, he said, “The point is, I do know what it is like. So many years, so much of myself, do you think I gave it all for them? Do you think I tried so hard for her father, the King? For all of the first-born, the Elder Sidhe? I gave it all for her. I sang every song, for her. She’s my muse. My brilliant inspiration. Every day for 1500 years I’ve given her my heart, completely in song.”

I shrugged, “And tell me Bard, has she noticed? All those years, all those songs, did she ever see who was playing, or were you just another detail in the background?”

He seemed to genuinely ponder my question before shaking his head and saying, “I would give anything to know, Ciaran.”

I waved him off dismissively, “I don’t use that name any longer.”

“No one was certain what name you used now, it was the best I could do.”

“Good,” I said, “so, who sent you?”

“Better question would be, who didn’t send me? No one wants you.”

“It’s not really a choice for any of you,” I frowned. “Let’s get on to more important matters though – you’ve tried to kill me twice.”

“I wasn’t very serious about it though; think of it as a deterrent,” he smiled – smug, charming bastard.

“If it’s alright with you,” I replied, “I’m going to go ahead and think of it as, you’ve tried to kill me twice.”

“I guess it’s lucky for him that you aren’t in any condition to take your revenge.” I didn’t recognize the voice, but I knew her anyway. Turning, I saw her standing in the open doorway to my bedroom. I had not known she was there. Aine Marina could hop in and out of human forms with relative ease. She had chosen well this time, young, red hair, all the right curves, luscious.

I didn’t bother trying to mask the anger in my voice, “Aine Marina, you’ve crossed a line. Fix it while I’m feeling forgiving.”

“I would,” she shrugged, “if I had done anything wrong.”

“If you had done anything wrong? What the hell do you mean? I kiss you once, unintentionally, and suddenly, this,” I gestured up and down at my form.

“Consider how much older you are than her,” Taliesin said, “do you think it’s really fair to blame her for your looks?”

“Oh, he’s blaming me for the loss of his vitality, speed, strength and more, and he has a point, I stripped him of them.”

“Then you admit it!” I accused.

“Of course I do, that was never in contention. Right now, we’re discussing whether or not I did anything wrong. I did not, this was mandated – at the highest level.”

“What do you mean? Mandated?”

“Did you really think that spending 200 years on Earth, for one such as yourself, was any real trial or challenge? You’ve spent centuries here, willingly. You even seem to prefer it sometimes. No, no,” she shook her finger at me. “You want redemption? It won’t come so easily as a stroll along the streets of New York City for a length of time that will disappear in the blink of an eye for you.”

I stood in stunned silence, considering the ramifications.

“Your next 198 years on Earth won’t go so easily as the thousands before them. You’ll feel every day of it,” she continued with malicious glee, her voice building in rage and tempo, “you’ll ache and hurt, you’ll hunger, you’ll need to support yourself,” she gestured around her and spoke more softly, “absent these fine accommodations, you’ll need a job…”

She continued on, but I only listened half-heartedly, until something she was saying caught my attention, “Wait, repeat that.”

She smirked and said, “On the solstices and equinoxes, when our worlds are closest, you will be yourself entirely. On those days, and only on those days, you can back out. All you need do is cross the bridge, and this will all be over. This morning, when the bridge fades, if you haven’t crossed, ending this, then you are stuck here until at least the summer solstice.”

“You said this came from the highest level, who?”

In reply, she crossed the distance between us and held out her hand. I frowned and wordlessly extended my right hand, palm up, to receive whatever it is she held. Her look was pure evil as she deposited something in my palm.
“A token,” she said, “cherish it.”

Almost an hour later, near to dawn, Aine and Taliesin had both let themselves out as I still sat, staring at my palm and the lock of fiery red hair, tied with a simple linen ribbon.

With a start, I saw my hands fade to transparency. The stars outside my window extended a bridge to massive curved stairs reaching at once to both the light and the darkness. All I had to do was take a few steps and I would be on that bridge, my choice made, my way clear to the welcoming safety of the shadows that had sustained me for so long.

The pain in my side would fade, as I healed almost instantly. The fatigue in my muscles would disappear as vitality filled me. My drooping eye lids would revive with a rush of energy.

I was still staring when the sun broke over Central Park and the stairway was shattered into a thousand twinkling shards that disappeared in the dawn light.

Another day in New York City. I turned and checked my lunar calendar; April 30, 1961, it was less than two months until the Summer Solstice.

***

With a start, I snapped out of it. I don’t know how long I had stood, staring at the calendar as a torrent of memories came flooding back to me. Fifty years since that day, how they did not go by in a blink. I sat down at my desk, turning on my computer.

It was Monday, April 30, 2011, the office of Noble Investigations, Est. 1961, was once again, open to welcome a brand new day.

About Greg Bullard:
Greg currently resides in Austin, TX, trying to do his part to Keep Austin Weird. While his wife, Julia, and daughter, Emily, both work hard to keep him on his toes, it is Julia’s red editing pen that does the most work. When he is not muddling his way through some fiction, he usually writes about What Greg Eats.

10 Questions with Megan Don

by Administrator, posted in Christianity/Catholicism, Interviews, Religion

1. For readers who aren’t familiar with her, can you tell my readers a little bit about Teresa of Avila?

Teresa of Avila was a 16th century Spanish mystic and Carmelite nun, who was renowned for her astute insight into the workings of the human soul and who came into her realized self after many years of following her spiritual path. Do not be fooled by her outer nun role, she was a powerful woman who spoke her mind, and who engaged in the fullness of her passionate heart. She was guided to a vocation of reform, that is, reforming the Carmelite Order, for both women and men, returning it to the original intention of “tending to the garden of the soul.” She established seventeen new monasteries along the length and breadth of Spain, which included buying and selling real estate, fundraising to pay for the properties, and ensuring that each monastery had an income so they were self supporting. She was a dynamic powerhouse of energy and manifestation, and at the same time nurtured a deeply spiritual connection with her Inner Beloved. She says, that the only way she achieved so much was through the absolute reliance upon the divine. She is the perfect example for us today as we align ourselves with both our inner and outer world and all that needs to be tended to in order to live upon this earth in a wholesome way.

2. What made you decide to focus your research on her?

I did not decide. I think she or the Beloved did, or both. One evening being awoken from sleep, I was given a vision of Teresa’s life. I knew it was her, I knew the stones of the monastery walls I was seeing, and in the morning I knew I had to visit Avila, Spain and also to study her writings. Within six months I was in Avila, and while there I was making some notes about my experiences. It was then I realized that I would be writing a book on her. Not being a writer, this was a little perplexing, so I said if a book was to be written then the Spirit needed to write it, as I had no idea what to do. I therefore, see this book as a gift I was given and which I gift onwards and outwards to the world. It has been an extraordinary journey, for which I am very grateful.

3. Your book “Meditations with Teresa of Avila: A Journey into the Sacred” contains hundreds of quotes attributed to Teresa of Avila. Do you have a particular favorite?

I think I will need to extend this to two favorites:

I can find nothing to compare with the great beauty of a soul and its infinite capacity…the soul is nothing but a paradise in which the Beloved takes delight.

We have not been taught self-love in our culture, and here Teresa is pointing to an inner beauty so profound and so infinite that I think there are very few who can touch this or believe it. While meditating at her birthplace in Avila, I was given the experience of this quote, of knowing how infinitely we are loved, and that is, the whole of our being. There is no distinction between ego and the divine self, we are loved completely exactly as we are. After many years, it still touches my soul deeply when I revisit this experience, and it is something that I wish every soul on earth could know and experience.

Outside this castle neither security nor peace will be found…[the soul] should avoid going about to strange houses since its own is so filled with blessings.

Teresa described the soul as being like a luminous crystal castle, and here she reiterates the need for us all to draw deep within our own beings. It is within that we will find we have everything and more than what we need. We are so filled with blessings and yet we still seek to be blessed and loved from the outside of ourselves. It is interesting that our true source of happiness lies within and yet we prefer to experience unhappiness through a constant seeking without.

4. What do you hope readers take away from your book?

The book has been written so that it can be experienced, that is, there are quotes from Teresa’s work, then a short exposition relating her wisdom to our contemporary living, and then a meditation in order that we can experience and embody the teachings given. My hope is that the book will provide a transformational experience for the readers, that it will relate to, and open their lives to the greater reality that they are, and most of all, that they will come to know the Inner Beloved and the love of self.

5. In your book you discuss how it can be read for group study. Have you heard from readers who have done this? What were their experiences?

Yes, the response has been wonderful. Groups (and individuals) have been most grateful for the accessibility to Teresa’s teachings. Her original writings can be a little laborious at times, and they are also ensconced in 16th century terminology that is not so appealing to the modern mind. People were aware that Teresa held a key for their spiritual path but were previously unable to access her, so being able to enter her wisdom in a very practical way, relating it to their everyday living has been appreciated.

There has also been a lot of appreciation to know of Teresa’s struggles in her life, as these struggles are still ones we face today. Teresa fought her way through a quagmire of fear and self-doubt (for many years), and she struggled with belief in her self and her spiritual experiences. She had to release old friends who no longer supported her life and she had to stand up in the face of much criticism by colleagues and fellow spirit travelers. Many of us have also experienced these same challenges and to read of her story and her overcoming these things brings hope to us all. Teresa was a woman of great courage, though she is quick to say, it was the Spirit who gave her the courage. And this is what the readers have relayed, that they were given a newfound courage to step out on their pathway and to follow their inner guidance.

6. “Meditations with Teresa of Avila” is divided into seven “dwellings”. What is the significance of the “seven dwelling places”?

The seven dwellings are places in which the soul travels as it makes its journey back to the Beloved. As said above, Teresa saw the soul as a luminous crystal castle, and within this castle there are the seven dwellings and within the dwellings there are rooms upon rooms. As we enter each dwelling we come closer and closer to the Inner Beloved and the center of the soul. These dwellings are pathways or a spiritual map, if you like, taking you through different stages upon your journey. We enter the dwelling of Awakening, The Return, Self Knowledge, Interior Recollection, Surrender, Betrothal, and finally The Sacred Marriage. Though it is important to note that the journey is not linear. We enter different dwellings at different times according to the needs of our soul. For instance, the Awakening is not a one-time visit, but something that happens over and over again, and as our journey continues the experiences become more subtle and more refined. So it is more like a circular journey into the infinity of our being, a journey that never ends. As Teresa said, I think God too is on a journey.

7. On your website, www.mysticpeace.com, I see you have pilgrimages planned for Assisi, Italy in May, Ireland in June, Ireland again in July, and Avila, Spain in September! What kind of work goes into putting together all these trips?

A lot of work, and I love it. Of course, there are the very practical details to work out, such as schedules, where and when we will stay, eat, and take ferry rides and so on. Plus tending to everyone’s practical needs and questions before and during the pilgrimage. And then there is the very spiritual nature of the journey to attend to; being led to the places that are spiritually powerful and have a resonance that is alive and living; and opening to the wisdom contained therein and how it may relate to our own souls and journeys. There are also themes for every pilgrimage, for instance, the upcoming pilgrimage to Assisi, Italy, is “Remembering Your Sacred Work,” and one of the pilgrimages to Ireland is “Living as an Elder,” so I also do much preparation around these themes and recommend reading prior to journeying so everyone can have a full experience. Fortunately, I have been granted the gifts of administrator and the ability to tend to details, as well as the ability to open to the mystic wisdoms.

Something so magically potent occurs when on a pilgrimage. For me, it is the body connecting with the body of the land you are walking on, praying with, and listening to. I have many people return and participate in different pilgrimages with me each year. We form an inner bond that is very sacred. These same people are also often in Spiritual Direction with me, so the experiences together are exquisitely rich. There are no words to describe the deep transformations that people experience – it is deeply humbling to be a sacred witness.

8. You have another book called “Sacred Companions, Sacred Community: Reflections with Clare of Assisi”. Who was Clare of Assisi, and what can we learn from her?

Clare of Assisi was Francis of Assisi’s spiritual companion. Perhaps the most understated enlightened woman of our Christian heritage. As Richard Rohr speaks in the foreword of my book (and I paraphrase here), it is a travesty that she has been so overshadowed by Francis and the male order of Franciscans, and he calls for a return to the feminine wisdom of Clare and her sisters as a way to bring back a fragment of sanity and calm to our world.

Clare was extremely masterful at creating community, and if she had had her way, the Franciscan community would have been one of both women and men, and not segregated. Francis unfortunately bailed on this idea, as I believe, his attraction to Clare was so great that he didn’t know what to do with all his passion and feelings, and therefore, best to separate and be safe. Clare was not at all happy about this, but Francis was a stubborn and willful man and so a different history was created.

I speak of Clare as being the first propagator of Non-Violent Communication. For her, kindness of speech was imperative in creating a harmonious community, and also compassion of the heart. Her writings give great wisdom into community harmony and living. She also writes profoundly about her mystical world and her relationship with the divine love. She writes, Place your mind before the mirror of eternity, place your soul in the brilliance of glory, place your heart in the figure of the divine substance, and through contemplation, transform your entire being into the image of the Godhead itself. Her own commitment to her contemplative and prayer time raised her consciousness and image into the light body of love. This divine love affair and her great love for Francis I cannot separate – they were one and the same – yet she had a pathway of needing to release attachment to Francis over and over again, even to the point of his death.

I cannot emphasize enough the quiet power of this woman. It is my joy to bring her wisdom forward and to lead people to her home in Assisi – there she is readily felt and known, as is her companion and love, Francis.

9. What’s next? Do you have any upcoming projects my readers can look forward to?

Ah yes, it is indeed a wonderful journey. I have been studying the Gnostic Gospels and other related Gnostic texts, unveiling the great wisdom of the early Christian communities, along with the mysteries of Mary Magdalene and the feminine teachings. Joining with this, my Celtic heritage has re-emerged and my childhood gifts of working with the animal and tree spirits and elemental beings. I am finding these traditions so effortlessly join together, and when we remember Mary Magdalene’s many years of teaching and living in Southern France and the great Celtic and Druid presence throughout France, it makes sense for this re-emergence and re-union if you will. So I envision another book revealing this work and my experiences, and pilgrimages to these areas also.

I also have a great interest in community, and opening the way as a house of hospitality for people to come and enter into their sacred self even more deeply, for varying lengths of time, and drawing on the work and themes as reiterated above. So readers may watch for something of this nature being created in the future.

10. Parting shot! Ask us here at The Buffet any one question.

The first question that came to me was, “Can we create a special Magical Buffet Pilgrimage, where readers can come and journey together into these sacred wisdoms?”

Just a thought. Can you imagine the logistics of that – even first off deciding the place? Next year I head to Glastonbury in May/June and then Chartres Cathedral and Mont St. Michel in France in September. Perhaps a Magical Buffet contingent can descend and then ascend together?

By the way, love what you are doing at Magical Buffet – brava!

See, I think you give me too much credit. I see The Magical Buffet Pilgrimage going to Puerto Rico for the religious for me experience of the Taste of Rum Festival, or maybe going across town to a friend’s house for an action movie marathon. I’m not a very exciting lady!

About Megan Don:
Megan Don is the author of “Meditations with Teresa of Avila”. She is a spiritual counselor and teacher of “The Pathway of the Mystic.” She leads pilgrimages to Avila, Spain and other sacred sites in Europe. Megan devotes herself to awakening the mystic within humanity and teaches an embodied spirituality that honors all traditions. She divides her time between the United States and Europe. Visit her online at www.mysticpeace.com.

The Mystical Pathway to Peace

by Administrator, posted in Christianity/Catholicism, Guest Authors, Religion

By Megan Don

“It is in your power to live and to die with this peace.” – Teresa of Avila

Our society is fraught with conflict, be it political, religious or personal. It might even be said that we, as a human race, thrive on conflict, as it seems to be a precursor to our growth and change. It provides a stimulus for disintegration of old thoughts and ways of being and regeneration for new modalities and paradigms. From the rebel teenager, to the warring couple, to international peacekeeping efforts or the political terrorist, their aim is the same – to overthrow, or keep at bay, what they perceive as a hindering force to their right to freedom (whatever that may be). But what is the real freedom we all seek? And can we not find another more peaceful method of change? First, we need to look at the nature of conflict and to see how and where it arises.

Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Spanish mystic and Carmelite nun, was very familiar with conflict. From a young age Teresa experienced a dichotomous inner relationship with herself. She developed a deep respect for the spiritual life through her father’s influence, but she also cultivated a great taste for the materialistic life through the nobility of her mother. She was ultimately split into two different modes of being and was unable to reconcile these two influences until late in her life, even while living in the monastery.

Conflict became as a personal paradigm for Teresa. She was incredibly strong-willed and began the battle with her own ego, which she clearly perceived as constantly rallying against the greater will of God. This caused her much internal pain and a sense of division, as she was unable to surrender her own thoughts and will. In her resistance, she felt the ego struggling to remain in control, and yet, she distinctly felt the pull of her inner spirit. This spirit was inviting her to another place – the place of freedom and peace. Separation from God was the cause of Teresa’s conflict, and only when she was able to join her soul with the divine spirit did she find peace. It was through surrendering the ego, not annihilating it, that enabled this to occur. It was not an immediate release however, but a gradual remembering and relearning by her soul.

As with Teresa, I believe that the paradigm of conflict is paramount in our society. The ego has been living a life of separation from the spirit, causing conflict to occur. On a personal developmental level change frequently occurs after a great inner tension and conflict has been felt and lived. On a political level that same tension and conflict causes a change in leadership and power, but unfortunately is often manifested and affected through violence and war. This framework and partnership of change and conflict now needs to be dismantled.

This regenerative process of change can be affected in a loving way. The great beauty about Jesus was that he brought the message of truth and love. Truth without love is harsh. Love without truth can become sentimental. The two together can bring about long-lasting and effective change, both in a personal and societal context. The truth can revolutionize the way we love and the way we love can revolutionize the way we live.

Acting in a loving and compassionate way was very important to Teresa and became the foundation for the success of her communal monasteries. Let us take this same concern into our workplace, into our homes, and into any situation that requires a breaking down of the old ways. Above all, let us be kind to one another and our selves. If we can affect a gentle process of change internally, then we can also manifest this in our external environment.

Teresa’s lifelong quest, though lived over four centuries ago, is still an example and inspiration for us to follow today. We can carry placards in the street demanding peace not war, but of what use is that if we are still warring within our own selves. We each have the responsibility to look deeply within and to be honest about the state of our own being. We each need to see how we are in conflict with the natural state of our soul. We need to look and see where we are split in our lives. Where we find conflict in our lives let us look deeply for the origin, and surrender it to God. Where we find places of unrest and lack of peace, let us surrender this too. In turning to our interior life we can lovingly heal any splits that may have occurred throughout our lifetime. We can release ourselves from the dichotomous relationship that so many of us have become accustomed to.

The definition then, of real freedom is inner peace, known through acceptance and surrender. And the way of truth and love is the way of change. Like Teresa, we can become examples of what it means to live a wholesome life, surrendered to the divine will, and living in peace on this planet.

Megan Don is the author of Meditations with Saint Teresa of Avila: A Journey into the Sacred.
Based on the book Meditations with Teresa of Avila © 2011 by Megan Don. Printed with permission of New World Library, Novato, CA. www.newworldlibrary.com

Liked what you saw? Then stay tuned! On Thursday May 12th we’ll be back with 10 Questions with Megan Don! We’ll talk about her book, Teresa of Avila, and her other work!

Hadi Thawra! Rap Music in Libya

by Administrator, posted in Music, Politics

It’s no real secret that I’m a fan of rap music. Not all rap music, and I’m certainly not an expert, but I do know what I like. You’ve seen it in “Public Enemy and the People Who Love Them” and “Nas – Big Damn Hero”. You may also recall an article I wrote about how important it was that music had returned to Afghanistan in “Music Matters”, and that it also gave mention to the struggle of heavy metal music in Iraq. But I’ve always had the most fun discussing rap music in my sporadic but ongoing series of “Freeze! It’s the Vice Squad” articles. Several countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia have “Vice Squads” to police the morality of their citizens; be it showing a little denim pant leg or setting up turntables. Rap music in these environments was discussed back in 2007 in “Freeze! It’s the Vice Squad! Part 2: The Rap Edition” which dealt with Iran and in 2010 with “Freeze! It’s the Vice Squad! Part 6: Rap Music Strikes Again!” which was also Iran-o-centric.

I’ve always talked about how rap music can be the voice of rebellion, a means of expressing a life that many can’t imagine, and essentially a catalyst to society as a whole. This is why I was not surprised to learn that there is a rap music movement in Libya that has been exploding since February 21, 2011. Twenty somethings in Libya had been making music in hiding, never sharing it for fear of repercussions that would include prison and possibly death. 23 year-old Mutaz el Obidy of the group Revolution Beat is quoted in a France 24 article as saying, “We weren’t allowed to talk about the system, we could not speak our thoughts. We were not allowed to perform in college or anywhere. I was afraid not about myself, but about my family. They would have been killed, I’d have to watch my sister being raped. I never got in trouble because I wasn’t stupid about it, we never published it.”

However now France 24 interviewed Revolution Beat because they started distributing copies of their song “Hadi Thawra” to anti-Gaddafi demonstrators in Benghazi’s central courthouse. I’d say it’s public now. Leela Jacinto reporting for France 24 says, “This is revolution the way the Libyan youth see it. If every history-mending youth movement were to have its own Bob Dylan vocalizing the dissent and dreams of a generation, ‘Hadi Thawra’ is the ‘Times They Are a-Changin’ of the anti-Gaddafi hipster set.”

An Associated Press article quotes Mutaz el Obidy of Revolution Beat as he explains that, “Rap is more popular than rock and country among the young people in Libya because it expresses anger and frustration.” If it helps Mutaz, that’s what Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were saying with “The Message”, what Public Enemy was doing with “Bring the Noise”, and certainly what N.W.A. were expressing in “F*#k the Police”.

Rap grew in America when a segment of the population felt marginalized and set up by a system that didn’t appear to care about them. It is the universality of that feeling of anger and frustration that causes rap music to ferment globally. When I reviewed the book “Sufi Rapper” I learned of the vibrant French rap community that comes from the “deprived Paris suburbs”, aka the projects. I’ve written about the rise of rap music in Iran. And now we’re looking at Libya. Perhaps large segments of the population will never see or feel the way I do about the power of rap music, but the genre has withstood the test of time and has inspired people around the world. And I dare say, these rap communities in Iran or Libya are probably more true to origins of the music than we’re seeing from many popular rap artists today. For these artists rap music is about the struggle. They realize how unlikely it is that they will ever have the lifestyles of their American counterparts, but they just don’t stop. Maybe it’s just another facet of their struggle. Maybe they’ll write a song about it.

Victory, it’s Sweet Like Honey

by Administrator, posted in Books, Religion, Science

Long time readers know I love it when I’m right. I love it when I get there first. Whether it’s beating Perez Hilton to bringing attention to Movember, or beating MTV to introducing Raven Digitalis, I always get a kick out of it. I’ve always been a fan of the underdog, and now that I’m an underdog in the overcrowded blog-o-sphere, I can’t help but occasionally cheer myself on.

All of this brings me to “The Honey Prescription”. Thanks to Healing Arts Press I received a review copy of “The Honey Prescription” by Nathaniel Altman, and in June 2010 I published my review of the book. I admitted that the book’s attention to science and abundance of information in general won me over. For those of you who didn’t see the review the first time around can click here to give it a go. I think you’ll like it.

Anyway, what got published on April 12, 2011 on the BBC News website? This! Yep, “Manuka honey ‘could help fight superbugs”. That’s right folks, thanks to Healing Arts Press and Nathaniel Altman, I beat the BBC. Okay, I know it’s not me really beating them, but darn it, let me just savor for a moment the idea of scooping the BBC!

An Introduction to Meditation

by Administrator, posted in Guest Authors, Magic/Occult, New Age

By Jason Compton
(This article originally appeared on the Gates of Mysticism website and is published here with the author and site’s permission)

Many people believe they know what meditation is, and they do, but only in the most basic sense. If you look up meditation you will find such simple explanations as what I pulled from Wikipedia in about thirty seconds: Meditation refers to any of a family of practices in which the practitioner trains his or her mind or self-induces a mode of consciousness in order to realize some benefit. The Wikipedia article then goes on to state that it is an internal practice, lists history, and lists the benefits of meditation in a way which doesn’t explore what I feel meditation is all about. The definition and content of such articles are essentially true, but there is far more to meditation than simply going into a hyper-internalized state of being, and the benefits range from the personal to the metaphysical and occult. My goal for this article is to take you a bit beyond the basic definition of the word and show you the benefits of meditation as well as give you an insider look into the practice.

To me, meditation isn’t a focusing of the mind per se, it is adjusting your mind to exercise it in a way that goes beyond the bounds of what a mind in its normal awake state can do. Sometimes this means focusing it, sometimes calming it, sometimes shutting it off as much as possible, and yet other times heightening it’s activity to accomplish things you couldn’t do with normal awareness. I also meditate simply to re-center myself after a chaotic day, a practice which is commonly called grounding in occult practices, or to look inside myself to do inner reflection and introspect.

One thing I do in a meditative state everyday is I stop focusing on random thoughts, and instead focus purely on my senses. This brings me to (what I discovered a few years ago) what scientists and hypnotists describe as a light meditative state in which parts of the brain stop doing what they normally do to enhance a singular purpose of the mind. It took me a full year to learn to go into this state when I was young, and I use it primarily to keep my mind sharp and to sense things around me, and see the world in a different light. A bird becomes more than a bird, for example, it becomes a vibration of sound and light which can be observed in impressive detail. Memory improves when I am in this state and I can remember exacting details of the bird that I was not able to remember before. I can do the same thing when I focus on energy as well and while in this state it becomes much easier to work with energy closer to the physical level of existence, a practice which I do every day mostly to pick up details I would otherwise miss in the world around me.

A different kind of meditative state that I go into is focusing the center of my awareness elsewhere other than my head. When I say awareness I am talking about the physical place people feel that their awareness is located, including their self awareness. Most people feel their center of awareness just behind the eyes and nose close to the center of the head. What this meditation does is move that center of awareness to other parts of the body or, more impressively, out of the body altogether in what for lack of a better term I call a mental projection. Note this is far different than an astral projection in that the body does not need to be in a mind awake body asleep state associated with a projection (or, indeed, what most people consider a meditation,) for this to occur. Since I am focusing primarily on a single point, this is a meditative state which, I learned a few years ago from reading up on hypnotherapy and a few scientific studies, re-focuses the brain and puts much of it into an “automatic” mode, more specifically motor control. I have found that I can still move around while the center of my awareness was elsewhere. This has brought me leaps and bounds in my personal development for helping people heal, distance healing while typing on the computer, and exploring the universe in general.

A third kind of meditation I go into I use for personal development, personal healing, and Astral Projection. This meditative state requires that I be in a very comfortable position, preferably laying down, to accomplish. I later learned the specifics of what goes on during this. My brain slows the parts of itself that control motor functions down so I can focus purely on thought. During this time I can move my awareness throughout my conscious mind and focus in on particular thoughts I am having, stop those thoughts, make them run faster, and explore the how’s and why’s I am having them. This is the most powerful form of introspection that I undertake and I personally believe that it has helped stop me from becoming stark raving mad. I can also explore my subconscious in a deeper form of this state, and that has also helped clear me of many personal problems I used to have.

To me, meditation is a way of exploring both myself and the world around me through a different set of eyes, both physical and metaphysical. I can interact with parts of myself and the energy and thoughts around me through meditation, which I do on a daily basis and for many reasons such as healing others, helping myself, and finally learning about the universe around me. I have a personal quest for knowledge and self improvement which, without meditation, would be difficult, long, and I dare say impossible. Meditation is powerful tool that can be used for things besides the occult, you can look at yourself in a new way and view the world around you with eyes that see the world in a different way, and you can use meditation to calm yourself after a tough day.

There are many resources on meditation out there. None of them are wrong in their approach and I find that finding the correct approach for you is a very personal journey. I personally suggest the works of Franz Bardon as a starting point, and you can also look into specific classes in your local area, as having a teacher walk you through meditation is a wonderful and enlightening experience which I believe everyone can benefit from trying. Seeing a hypnotherapist or just someone who has a hypnology license is also a great way to get into a meditative state, though it can get expensive. I suggest lots of research into metaphysical sites as people on spiritual paths have been exploring meditation the longest and hardest, and finding someone with many hours or even years of meditation under their belt is a great starting point. A bit of advice is to find out how many hours of meditation the teacher has undergone, as someone can have done years of meditation yet not racked up as much experience as someone who is a monk but only had meditated for a month.

It is also important to keep in mind that experiences that you have in a meditative state, including going under hypnosis, can be very powerful and compelling. An open mind is required when going into the deeper meditative states since what you are seeing can be representative visuals. What I mean is that you may see yourself in a house from long ago, but that might not necessarily be you that you are seeing and the house might not have ever even existed. Your subconscious could be trying to communicate something to your conscious mind and when it does it often uses visualizations and representations, and in more powerful cases it will communicate thoughts and ideas directly without using words. These ideas can come in the form of you getting a sudden idea in the center of your awareness suddenly that didn’t come from your conscious. Sometimes these experiences can cause people to pull out of a meditation very suddenly as they don’t recognize what is going on. If you do have an experience that scares you or you don’t understand there are many avenues for you to explore what the experience is or what it means. A psychologist, if one is easily accessible to you, is a good step as sometimes scary experiences can represent inner conflict or troubling memories and pain that we have.

I have had many troubling experiences myself during meditation, each time I got through them I ended up a better person for it. One time I found myself in my inner mind and being the extremely troubled lad that I was, I found myself surrounded by things that wished me harm. After fighting them off and dealing with the how’s and why’s they were there I became a much calmer person, and felt much more at peace with myself and the world around me. The first troubling experience you have is always the hardest to work through, but once you do it will become easier and easier to work through them until you find that these experiences are years between each other.

This is not to say that all experiences when you meditate are going to be negative experiences, or that each time you meditate you are going to be doing introspection. The truth is that meditation is different for each individual and the experiences they have when they go further into the recesses of their mind vary greatly. If you are having troubling experiences it would be best to take it as a sign that there are simply some things inside yourself that you need to work out. You cannot truly be harmed by anything you see in a meditative state unless you allow yourself to be harmed, just remember that what you are seeing is a part of yourself and face it boldly.

Most experiences are going to be enjoyable and teach you more about yourself. I once found myself in the presence of a beautiful dragon during meditation. The dragon made me feel protected and safe, and I also felt a lot of love coming from it. After working with it for a long while I found a way to bring up this part of myself at any time and it has boosted my confidence and improved my demeanor.

Another experience that I had was probably one of the most powerful and compelling Astral Projections I have ever had. I was seeing just how far down my mind I could go one day, exploring the extremes of my mind when suddenly I found that I was approaching a blue and white ring of light. Part of why I went this deep into my mind was to explore if I could emerge on the other side and this felt like a validation of that theory. When I went through it I saw a beautiful phoenix on the other side and a calm but surprised voice on the other side spoke my name. The love that I felt from this being was so powerful that I was shook to my core, and I was pulled right out of the projection (much to my dismay.) I knew I wasn’t in my mind anymore at that point because I could no longer feel myself or my inner workings around me, as I had become very familiar with in projections.

The above experiences show two extremes of a specific form of meditation where you go deep inside yourself. It is the most common form of meditation and perhaps the one that changes people the most. I hope some of you reading this has took something out of it, and that it peaks your interest in trying out this very helpful practice.

About Jason Compton:
Jason Compton is a general practitioner of the occult and combines a few practices to form a loose likeness to what Franz Bardon teaches in his books. He loves painting miniature figures, playing video games, and is currently making plans to write books both for literary and informative purposes. You can find him at http://www.gatesofmysticism.net or anywhere on the net where occult sites can be found under the online alias of Spectral Dragon or variations thereof.

Immortal Blues: Part Eight

by Administrator, posted in Guest Authors

By Greg Bullard

Welcome to part eight of the nine part fiction series “Immortal Blues” by Greg Bullard. The end game approaches. Motivations are revealed, as well as the blues man. If you need to catch up, here is Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, and Part Seven.

I took comfort in the sound of hastily retreating feet as, slowly, my breath returned to me. Each gasp was like a fresh dagger wound in my side. Gingerly, I reached down and probed the area where I had been shot. The bullet, hot to the touch, was pancaked to my surcoat, just over my ribs. I wedged my thumb nail under it, pried off the flattened chunk of lead, and then sucked at my burning fingers.

Probing at the dent in my side, I found it extremely tender. An ungodly pain was spreading from that area. Wincing, holding my side, I struggled to my feet. Reorienting myself, I stumbled on towards home.

Every few blocks I paused, leaned against a wall and caught my wind. The act of breathing was horrific. The pain I could stand, but the stench of refuse and soured garbage, which clung to my clothes, rose up with each intake of air, filling my mouth and nose, turning my stomach.

At my hobbled pace, I figured the ninety minute walk was going to take me twice that long. This left me a lot of extra time to think. What the hell had I gotten myself into? How had I started down this path? I let my memory wander.

The centuries piled one on top of the other and everywhere I turned, I kept seeing her. She was mostly known as Breo-Saighit in those days – the Flame Arrow of the Isles. Long before the split, when our people, the Tuatha Dé Danann, were one, I could survey any battlefield and see her there. In a time when giants and gods walked the Earth, we waged war constantly. Her fiery mane was a beacon, a rallying point when we crushed the Fir Bolg. We fought back-to-back for a time when we rose up and threw off the yolk of the Fomoriai. All those years, all those battles, yet we never really spoke. We were too different, her and I.

When the split came, she represented the worst of what I hated. She let them strip her of her place and turn her into a puppet of their surrender. Saint Brigid they dubbed her, Muime-Chriosd – Foster Mother of Christ, or simply, Saint Brigid Búadach – Brigid the Victorious.

She and those like her embraced the new religion and heralded the slow descent of the old gods and the rest of the People of Dana. Like the mid-summer sun, falling slowly to the horizon and the inevitable cloak of night, so too did we fall into the dark. The Unseelie they called us. We fought, but we were few to their many. I led the 100 in battle and we were never defeated, but neither were we able to achieve a real victory. One by one those around me fell further to embrace the darkness they had been cast into. Their forms grew hideous as their souls warped. I just grew more stubborn, but otherwise never changed.

I don’t know when it happened, but at some point, I came to realize that the flame-haired wisp of a girl, who had fought and killed by my side, still haunted my memories. Time turned to the present decades, and change came rapidly to the world. The moon bridges were fading and more and more our people sought shelter in the comfort of Tír na nÓg, rather than face the banality and decay of Earth.

I visited Earth though, often. I could not bear knowing that I lived in the basement of the heavens and would never see the red-headed seductress of my memories. More and more, it gnawed at me that, once before, one of my kind, one of the fallen, the Unseelie, had crossed to the light and joined the Seelie court. If he could, I could.

The process is not so simple as asking though. At the least, there is a sacrifice required of any who choose to ascend the stairway and join the light. The same is not true of the trip down – one need simply fall. We don’t get many takers on our end.

The most significant sacrifice is two-hundred years in exile. I have spent the lion’s share of the last two-thousand years frolicking on Earth. I have spent decades without feeling the need to return to the courts. And yet, now that absence is voluntarily required of me, each morning and evening twilight, the bridge of stars is created to the otherworld and it pulls at me. Turning away from that bridge is a steadily growing pain that I will endure twice a day for the next 198 years, if I am to succeed. Worse, I can only try this once, and if I am to court Breo-Saighit, I must not fail.

That all brought me to that early, April, New York City morning, hours before dawn twilight. Each breath was still painful, but most of my range of motion was back. I could move quickly if I had to do so. Still, nothing explained what had happened to me. I slunk through the shadows, pouting like a petulant princess, fighting a losing battle against the temptation of telling myself that this couldn’t possibly be happening to me – others, perhaps, but not me.

I am inviolate. I am first born of the Sidhe. I am nobility. I am immortal. I tried hard to believe myself, but whispered in my thoughts, along with these statements of feigned-certainty, were little, dreary clouds of doubt. I am in pain. I stink of garbage. I want to go home.

As I neared my home though, I grew tense and troubled. Something was amiss, but I couldn’t put a finger on it. To all of my senses, the world was as it should be. In my mind’s eye, everything appeared fine, but again, there was that doubt.

I had almost convinced myself it was paranoia, when I crossed the street half a block from my door and heard him – the blues man. In two steps, I had oriented myself to the sound. It was coming from my bedroom window.

Snarling and shrugging aside the pain, I quickened my step until I had broken into a jog. I had just poured out of the staircase into my living room, while the last notes of Robert Johnson’s “Love in Vain” were falling down around me in a puddle of heartbreak and agony. My eyes fell on the face of the blues man, and I understood.

About Greg Bullard:
Greg currently resides in Austin, TX, trying to do his part to Keep Austin Weird. While his wife, Julia, and daughter, Emily, both work hard to keep him on his toes, it is Julia’s red editing pen that does the most work. When he is not muddling his way through some fiction, he usually writes about What Greg Eats.

I Am a Rum Drinker

by Administrator, posted in Food/Drink

I’m not a rum expert, I’m not a rum connoisseur, I am a rum drinker. When I drink, it usually involves rum. However, I’m also endlessly fascinated with religious practices and various observances of spirituality around the globe. When you combine these two you get one obvious result.

I needed to own a Haitian rum. Haiti is one of the legendary lands of Voodoo (or Vodou, or Vodoun), and I wanted to try a rum fit for both man and loa (the spirits of the Voodoo religion). Fortunately for me, research into this matter was quick. There is only one distillery in Haiti that makes rum, Rhum Barbancourt.

In fact, a Los Angeles Times article published on February 9, 2010 by Scott Kraft had this to say about Rhum Barbancourt, “And every voodoo priest and priestess in Haiti knows that soaking the ground with the golden rum — not the three-star version, mind you, but the five-star, aged twice as long — can raise the spirits of the dead. ‘It’s what they drink,’ Markendy Jean Batiste, a Voodoo priest, said with a shrug as if explaining the obvious. ‘You’ve got to keep the spirits happy.'”

That’s I how I ended up owning the most expensive bottle of rum I’ve purchased to date; Rhum Barbancourt Estate Reserve Aged 15 Years. Soon after, it also became a source of great embarrassment.

Look, I tried to be respectful. I know what it is I own. It’s like a big ol’ bottle of Haiti’s history, a source of pride for her people, and an internationally respected beverage. I enjoyed it as a sipping rum, with a splash of water, okay? I even busted out my crystal tumblers for it. See, respectful. But one day I was alone, looking at my pint glass filled with ice. I knew I should have been reaching for the bottle of Captain Morgan’s Private Stock to pour in the bottom of my glass, yet I couldn’t resist, instead I grabbed the bottle of Rhum Barbancourt. Quickly, as if I’d be caught in the act, I poured a shot glass worth of it into the glass and immediately filled it to the top with Coca Cola.

Yes, I know. Seriously, I know. What I did was wrong. It was an insult to Haiti and to true rum connoisseurs everywhere. I made a freakin’ rum and Coke using the finest rum I’ll likely ever own! You know what? It was the best damn rum and Coke I’d ever had in my life. Suck it experts, I’m drinking what I like, how I like it.

King Solomon Oracle Cards

by Administrator, posted in Magic/Occult, Products, Reviews

Every now and then I come across this problem. I see a product that looks cool. I ask the publisher if I can have a copy to consider for reviewing on this lovely website. They send said product, and it is just a wonderful as I anticipated. Then I am thoroughly unable to write a review.

By now the “King Solomon Oracle Cards” by Itzhak Mizrahi and Orna Ben-Shoshan from U.S. Games Systems are pretty old news. I’m pretty sure I’ve been sitting on them for at least a month! So why no review? Sheer inability on my part.

I like the art by Orna Ben-Shoshan. The coloring is vibrant, and yet the art conveys a soothing feel. I like the work of Itzhak Mizrahi. I appreciate how hard it is to come up with something new, and that the deck isn’t pretending to be a play on the traditional tarot deck. The “King Solomon Oracle Cards” are their own deck. A deck unto itself. Lastly, there are four amulet cards that also come with the deck. As per the included booklet, “These are your own personal sacred amulets that you may keep at home or carry with you wherever you go. These charms were written in Angel’s Writing and ancient Goatic symbols by the kabbalist Itzhak Mizrahi.” There is nothing more impressive looking than an amulet. Seriously. I love the included amulet cards and have them on my bulletin board so I can take breaks to look at them when I write.

Amulet One - Livelihood

That’s what I’ve got folks! After a month of handling the “King Solomon Oracle Cards”, a month of looking at the beautiful cards that I scanned into my computer for this review, a month of reading and rereading the over 40 page booklet included with the cards, I’ve got one paragraph to share.

Perhaps after reading this micro review some of you will be inspired to seek out these cards, and hopefully you’ll be able to do a better job of articulating just how wonderful they are.

Britney Spears is Dancing to the Apocalypse

by Administrator, posted in Music, Reviews

The world is going to come to an end, and Britney Spears intends to dance her way to the apocalypse. Spears’ latest album “Femme Fatale” is the pop music equivalent of LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out”. It’s a game changer for the artist. While many critics are whining that the album never wavers from its dance floor sensibilities, or that the album is more a victory for the producers than for Spears, I see it differently.

Thankfully the pop music landscape has changed in recent history, and I think for the better. Thanks to the efforts from female artists such as Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Robyn, and as always Madonna, female driven pop music blends more styles and takes more risks than ever before. Sadly, these innovations made still relatively young Britney Spears something of a pop music dinosaur. Despite her releasing some songs that could compete, overall she hadn’t managed to break through to the new era.

“Femme Fatale” rips open with “Till the World Ends”, a pounding booty shaker and it never lets go. The album draws heavily on the ever encroaching electronic/techo sound (Yay!) with a heavy helping of thumping beats. Don’t call it a comeback, Spears could always make you dance, and thanks to her long time producers, everyone is being reminded. Oh boo hoo, it’s a whole album of music that makes you want to dance. What a waste of time that is! You know what, sometimes I don’t want a ballad, sometimes I don’t want to dissect songs for deeper meaning, in short, sometimes this middle aged white girl just wants to feel good, and “Femme Fatale” delivers.

I can’t consider this review complete with directing your attention to some videos. (Note that both videos have a 15 second advertisement in front of them.)

This first one is for the opening song “Till the World Ends”. As an occult fangirl I was tickled at the use of the ever popular December 21st 2012, even if it’s already getting a little played out. Also, there’s some pretty shots of a city getting wrecked. I don’t know who actually choreographed the video, but it’s got the fingerprints of Paula Abdul’s “Cold Hearted Snake” all over it. (Remember the part where they pull the blinds down? Yeah, that part.)

The other video I’m going share is for the song “Hold it Against Me”. Let me start by saying, I don’t really care for the video. If you’re looking for an awesome dissection of the video for hidden meaning I have got to send you over to Vigilant Citizen. He explores the ideas of mind control present in the video supported by his thoughts on Disney and Spears’ career. It’s always a good time over there! With all of that out of the way, here are the two things about this video that I want to share.

One, watching the video on YouTube was the first time I heard “Hold it Against Me”. While listening to it from the beginning I thought, this is a great dance song, I can’t wait to hear a techno remixer chop it up because that would be awesome. And then at 02:46 it segued into the exact sound I had been hoping for! So a tip of my hat to you noble producers. Second, at that mark starts a sequence that features the generally hokey person fighting themselves scenario. Now I’m not going to proclaim Spears the next female action hero (which was my response to Madonna’s “Die Another Day” video) but thanks to some decent camera work and choreography it looks pretty decent. Also, the close up of her little feet in stiletto heels shuffling for position makes me giggle.

If you’re bummed and looking for a party in an album, look no further than “Femme Fatale”. As they say in the movie “Protocol”, it’s a “guaranteed good time.” (Okay kids, it’s a movie. Starring Goldie Hawn. You do know who Goldie Hawn is, right? Fine, I get it. I’m old and you’re not. Damn kids.)