Gotterdammerung and Dec 21, 2012

A View of the Upcoming Apocalypse

In the modern era we see economic collapse, climate change, and energy crises. These less frequently seen as acts of God, but are depicted as the inevitable failure of our human consciousness to conceive alternatives, a failure of the imagination on an enormous scale.  We are depicted as on a collision course with our demise because of our unlimited greed and unrestrained growth.  Thus, in a LINEAR description of history, the only result of a genesis is an apocalypse when all that has been created has been used up.

The word for Apocalypse in German is Gotterdammerung.

Mircea Eliade sees that what marked the pivotal break of Hebrew religion from Hellenistic and ancient pagan ideas of cosmology, was its rejection of the narrative of eternal return. Before that, all life could be framed around the promise of regenesis, as seen in the idea of the Egyptian solar year or the Near Asian (Egyptian and Babylonian) creation myths.

Once this break occurred, it brought about the idea that violence, suffering and ecological disorder were no longer arbitrary, no longer part of an endlessly repeated process, but were a punishment.   Dangerous climate changes—such as those seen in Biblical plagues, or even the Great Depression were a direct result of “sins” committed against either God, or the earth, or both.

Even world wars and bloody injustices and catastrophic events were Gotterdammerung, revealing the Apocalypse as the logical conclusion to Genesis.  Because this consciousness is so ingrained in the human psyche now as a result of Biblical proselytizing, it has been categorized as inevitable.  And if the end of the world is nigh and its destruction inevitable, then why bother with its trash and depletion and pollution anyway?

This world view is actually not one that believes in salvation; its faith rests in damnation alone. The only shred of faith is in an individual egoic consciousness that might survive by crossing oneself like a “dotted I and a crossed t” just before the big one blows its last gasket.  Then I will be saved, but the rest of the world is going to hell in a handbasket.

Please, please, tell me you are not one of those people.  If you do believe in faith, love and personal responsibility, if you can handle the idea of the cyclical nature of reality and the Eternal Return, then work with me now to envision some renewed life beyond December 21, 2012 that will include a commitment to the environment, to others on this planet, to the children of the generations who will follow after.

The ancient Egyptians believed in a concept called Zep Tepi, or “The First Time” and it happened over and over again, when the Nile flooded every year to replenish the valley, to prepare it for new growth, and to give sustenance to its people.

If there is a community garden in your area, I invite you to join them. If there is an environmental preservation organization in your area, please support them. And check out the website for Interfaith Power and Light.  Whatever you do, become a co-creator of your life with the divinity of your choice.

Night Crossing into Egypt

We just returned from one of the best trips to Egypt ever.  Still feeling the heady rush of having been rapt in 18 days of wonder, sailing long into the night toward God source. A few poems.  (Please be kind and do not copy, although I appreciate your posting the blog note.)
--Normandi

Hymn to the Universe

Here I am amid your thousand splendors.

Here I am longing for love that says a holy “Yes”

because there is no fear.

Hand of God, hold mine.

Push yourself into my body, penetrate me

with the sacred conjunctio of heaven and earth.

The body longs for the divine with a thingly language,

having forgotten the shrine that it is.

The god within is

a subtle shift of breathing.

Full Moon Sonata

Did the Moon god nibble on his reed pen

and write with moonlight in the Nile all night?

Or were we simply drunk with dancing?

Were we in love with our imaginations and  memories?

All night long the music danced across the skin of water;

All night long we held our breath at the amazement of it--

Furious white script on the liquid black canvas of the Nile.

Orion lay on his side asleep in the yellow sand hills.

Sothis whispered chansons, “Arise, Beloved. Arise.”

I leaned over the deck to trail my fingers in the water.

See Thoth. I am your scribe up late, writing all night, too.

You were there with me, dancing, smiling.

Did you see the moon writing a poem full of light for you?
Did you see me write this one, too?

Nuit

In the secret bones of her skull

pasts and futures intertwine

mothers and fathers

in hot desires turning

souls into stars,

turning their magic into me.

With sky blue eyes

the Great Wife appears,

starlight streams over her breasts,

runs in rivulets between her legs.

She sighs and arches

from horizon to horizon,

arms above her head,

reaching into invisibility.

She comes

whispering

ancient mother songs;

Stretch out your arms

and touch the sky humming.

Shadow. Leaves. Vine. Window.

Window is the way you look at the world. When there is a curtain, there is a veil between you and what lies beyond the window. When you are looking at the rays of the sun directly, it hurts your vehicle to do so. The magnitude of the light vibration and its energy are blinding. This is how The Goddess or the Master Teachers might appear to us without a filter.

Yet through the curtain you are able to glimpse the light that streams toward you from the other side. This is light your eyes can use and adjust to using. This light can reveal that which exists on the other side of the window frame. It can impress images onto the curtain--shadows, if you will. They are not "dark" shadows, but the shadows of things that live and exist in the light that emanates from the other side.

This is the principle behind spiritualist philosophy. Truly there is life that exists on the other side of the window frame. That life is just as real, or more real as our earthly lives. That life is, as we are, in need of light source vibrations to live as we live. 

The window is a border -- a frame -- that we can use as a focusing lens.

In your meditations, you might want to use the window "frame" as a visualization tool. It will help you focus on the dualities of whatever states of being you are contemplating.  For example, you might wonder "What about that thing, idea, quality over there in the subconscious (dimly visible) exists also on this conscious side (more visible)?  What shadow of a reality are you seeing? How does it, in a supraconscious way, respond in its truest Self  in relation to the shadow and light?

Definition: Self is a quality of being.  Self is the allness of you. Mostly you see the material dense self--with a little 's'; that is, the You that you equate with the vehicle. This other Self exists beyond and in addition to what you know as self.

You see, you are the leaf -- both as shadow, and leaf, and idea. Even at that, you have yet to see all that you truly are.  Rejoice in your complexities and quiver in the gentle wind and light.

Normandi/Ptahmose
For another take on truth ane light, See Plato's Allegory of the Cave.
http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/platoscave.html
 

Getting Back in the Groove

Okay, its been nearly 9 months since I posted on this blog.  I've been busy promoting the three new books I wrote within the last year --Imagining the World into Existence (just out), Invoking the Scribes of Ancient Egypt, and Going West. Really that is no excuse.  There is more going on than that, as well. I want to share with you this life that I am continually discovering and uncovering and exploring.

Will begin with this entry, only to say I am planning to use this space in the next few months to post
a) bits of my novel as it comes about;
b) ideas for sermons in the works--yes, I am working on becoming an associate spiritualist minister;
c) some full moon meditations;
d) Egypt trip info (This photo of Steve Bass and me was taken during an annointing ritual in Abydos June 2012); and
e) whatever tidbits from ancient days surfaces. 

Will also be posting some material for those who are attending a number of workshops I am teaching.  Thank you for reading my posts. Please check back in every now and again. And do drop me a line on Facebook.