In Silence

The culmination of the Mysteries of the Earth and Grain Goddess, Demeter, better known as the Eleusinian Mysteries, was the decent into a subterranean temple where, in the darkness, an ear of harvested corn was revealed.
     According to Hipplytus 'at these Mysteries, the Mighty and Marvelous and most Perfect Secret suitable for one initiated into the highest mystic truths: an ear of grain in silence reaped.'
     This has also been translated as 'In silence is the seed of wisdom gained.'
     An ear of grain, silence, wisdom.
     Why should these be connected in any way? Let alone as such a great spiritual Mystery that it has endured over three thousand years and is still known today.
     The Eleusinian Mysteries took place at harvest time, which is bracketed by the Pagan festivals of Lughnassadh and the Autumn Equinox.
     These two festivals celebrate the beginning of the harvesting season, the first grain, the first new bread, the end of the hungry Summer season when there is nothing to harvest. And at the Autumn Equinox the climax of the harvest, not just of grains, but leaf and root crops, berries, nuts, grapes and olives are all ready to be harvested.
     This is a time of plenty, when we can feast and celebrate the fact that we have food to feed us through the next year.
     But this is also the beginning of Autumn. The cooling of the year heralding the harshness of Winter.
     Yes this is the bounty of Demeter, but it also marks the death of the Earth, the retreat of the Summer Maiden into her Winter, Underworld Kingdom, where she becomes the barren Queen of the Dead.
     In folk songs it is John Barleycorn who dies, cut off at the knees. Yet he will stick his head up again in Spring, appearing as the new shoots in the fields - and in the meantime his lively spirit inhabits the foaming brewing beer, and the daily loaf of bread.
     This is a Mystery of life and death, of death and the promise of re-birth.
     But why 'silence'? What is so special about silence?
     In our modern world we rarely experience silence. In fact some people find silence unnerving or even frightening. If silence threatens they feel compelled to fill it with something: music, TV, computer games, phone fiddling or any kind of chatter. Yet in religious orders from all cultures there is an emphasis on silence. There is time put aside to be quiet.
     We have all heard of meditation and many people will quickly say, 'Oh, I can't meditate!' as if it is a great skill they have to learn.
     There is no trick to meditation. It is simply allowing yourself a time to be quiet. To separate yourself, for a short time, from the everyday world.
     Many people use a meditation focus. Something for them to think about while they are being quiet, so that everyday thoughts, cares and worries can be put aside for a time.
     In the case of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the meditation focus is an ear of ripe grain.
     If you can't get hold of an actual ear of wheat or barley, there are lots of pictures on the internet. Find one and just sit quietly and look at it.
     Don't try to think about anything, but if you find thoughts of the school run or what you should cook for tea start to intrude, just re-focus on the picture.
     It doesn't matter if you have a divine revelation, or just think what a pretty colour it is.
     This is a time for you and your brain to chill.

    In silence, is the seed of wisdom gained.

WOOL!

I was so excited by my ideas, for my crocheted bedspread, that I had to try and explain to Graham what I wanted to do.
     He was also full of enthusiasm for the Project and could see the possibilities also.
     However, for what I had in mind I was going to need a whole lot more wool!
     And not only in the bold, rich colours I had already selected, but in lots of shades, dark and light, deep and pale. But also, unlike a straight forward item like my poncho or shawl, I was not restricted to using lots of a single colour needing many balls of wool all the same, I could use odds and ends. Odd balls of wool, or even little bits and pieces left over from other work.
     The obvious places to look for odds and ends of wool, especially on a restricted budget, were charity shops and Boot Sales.
     Graham was a man on a mission!
     In my wheelchair it is very difficult for me to go round Boot Sales as these are often in fields or other surfaces where my wheels simply dig in. So Graham was going to have to be my eyes, and go in search of wool.
     Now, when Graham is fired up and pointed in a particular direction, that is where he goes.
     Forget everything else, nothing exists for him but the search for wool!
    So after several Sundays visiting various Boot Sales, we now had three huge bags full of various kinds of wool, in a very wide variety of fibres and thicknesses.
     I was delighted - even though a lot of the stuff I had no idea how it could be used.
     Tallulah was also delighted, as I have already written about in my post 'What Tallulah Did Next', and her joy in demolishing any unattended balls of wool resulted in us buying some huge lidded storage boxes just to keep her nose out of it.

The most worrying buy were three large coils of very thick rope, which looked like they would be used for tethering a ship. I had no idea how I was supposed to incorporate these in my work.
     'No, No!' said Graham, 'These are for battling ropes!'
     Ah! Something for his home gym - you grab the ends of the ropes and try to make waves along their length (I think)
     Phew! That's a relief.

Crocheting - The Project!

So, last time I told you that I am now the proud possessor of quite a few large balls of brightly coloured wool* So what was I going to do with it?

     I wanted to make something big, bold, bright and colourful.
     And the obvious choice was - a bedspread!
     So far, so yawn.
     I could make squares, triangles and circles - with exciting forays into wonky hexagons and an experimental oblong. So my first thought was a bedspread made of random squares and triangles.
     Then I realised that when you looked down on this patchwork of squares and triangles it was like looking down on a patchwork of fields.
     Suddenly the bedspread became a landscape!
     The joins between the fields were obviously walls and hedges. And if this was a landscape, then it could be an island surrounded by the sea, with shades of blue squares around the edges.
     And in the fields could be flowers and trees.
     Then I took another leap into the world of magic and realised that as I was crocheting, I could be working magic into the bedspread too. So that when finished the bedspread would not only be (hopefully) beautiful, but also a magical object which could help you with magical dreaming, spell work and astral travel.
     I wanted this bedspread to have many layers.
     Layers of crochet, crochet on crochet, but also layers of meaning, symbolism and use.
     It would be a warm and practical (ish) bed cover, but then you could enter into its magical landscape. You could explore the scenery, visit a particular place, swim in the sea. Maybe meet creatures who inhabit the landscape. The bedspread was going to have to have secret pockets in it with hidden objects or creatures.
     Suddenly it had become a wonderful and exciting Project, full of amazing possibilities. It could be as interesting and elaborate as my skills would allow.
     I wanted things not to be in proportion or scale. so you might have a field with huge flowers or trees. Some things would be flat, others three dimensional.
     So for a person who up to this point could only crochet circles, triangles and squares, this was going to be quite an undertaking.
     But one I couldn't wait to get started on.

* I know technically these should be referred to as 'yarn' as this covers all forms of fibre used in creating these balls of thread whether it be wool, polyester, viscose or whatever. But in the UK these are always called balls of wool, because wool was the stuff we used for thousands of years. So rather than putting wool (yarn) I shall just use whichever term appeals to me at the time, and I'm afraid you, dear reader, will have to make your own mental arrangements.

Crocheting

I have mentioned that I have been doing a bit of crocheting recently.
     I haven't done any for years. The last thing I made was a throw, which was basically a spiral square, where you just add another colour in and go round and round and round until you either run out of wool, or the square is big enough.
    And crocheting squares was really the extent of my crocheting knowledge and expertise.
    Then a few months back I had the opportunity to buy some very cheap wool - a local shop was closing down and selling off all their stock. Now the colours were limited, the choice was purple, black and white, so I bought all the purple and black I could and carried it home in triumph.
     I had fancied a poncho, but couldn't find one I liked for sale, so thought this was an ideal opportunity to have a go at making one. The only problem was: I could make squares, making two triangles to fit together was way out there! This was quantum crocheting, as far as I was concerned.
    So I had a look on the internet and found a lovely tutorial on how to make a simple triangle. I watched carefully, took notes and had a go, and found that this was as easy as making squares.
     I had more black yarn than purple, so I used the purple to make pattern elements, and I am very pleased with the result.  (Graham decided to help me display my finished stuff)

I felt so chuffed with the result that I wondered if I could make other shapes based on the same simple principles, and decided to try hexagons for a start. These are a bit more complicated and were more fiddly than I expected. But I was having a bit of a play and an experiment - and basically using up the remaining wool.  (Man, the Mighty Hunter modelling hexagon wrap)

I really enjoyed the crocheting, and was pleased with the results too, so I thought I would like to carry on and make more stuff.
     So when we went to the Humber Bridge Farmer's Market, there was a stall selling all sorts of big balls of brightly coloured wool (yarn) and I fell upon it like a starving chocoholic on a box of Mars Bars. I bought one of lots of different colours, then Graham picked out a few more. So we ended up with a bag full of brightly coloured yarn.
     'What are you going to make?' asked the lady on the stall.
     'I don't know.' I replied truthfully

     The crocheting world is my oyster!

     And as for coloured wool (yarn).... More! I want MORE!

I also made a shawl, which I wasn't going to mention, but my lovely assistant insisted on displaying it for me

The bottom pic shows off the tassle ....


Next time - The Project!

Life Death and the Universe

I heard somebody on TV disparaging the 'Cosmic Ordering' system, because it made people think they were 'some kind of magical being'.
     Well, of course we are magical beings!
       For people who do not believe in magic I will just say three things:
1) Life
2) Death
3) The Big Bang

    Let me explain a little.
     When you hear scientists talking about the evolution of our planet, Earth, they will often say something like 'And around 3 billion years ago, life appeared.'
     Hang on a tick. Where from? What made inanimate minerals and chemicals suddenly decide to 'come alive'?
     One explanation I have heard bandied about is that the Earth was 'seeded' with life from outer space. Fair enough, but we return to my original question - where did that original 'life' come from? What is the difference between inanimate rocks and minerals and animate bacteria, algae and ultimately us?
    How can minerals be inert, dead, matter at one instance and 'alive' the next?
   The answer is easy - Magic!

     And if we are talking about the transition from inert matter to living organism, then there is its opposite occurrence:
     Death: there is no actual scientific explanation for what makes a body alive one second and dead the next. Neither is there even a consensus of opinion amongst doctors over when a body is actually dead or alive. There are clues about when a body is dead, eg. not breathing, no heartbeat, we can even check that there is no brain activity. But even with all these checks there are occasions when beyond all logic and expectation the body will decide to live again, even after it has been declared dead.
      But the most magical part of all is: what makes this packet of flesh and bones alive? What is the fundamental difference between a live body and a dead one? A body can appear to be fully functional, in the prime of its physical manifestation and yet there is no life in it.
      In religions and magical philosophies the answer is simple: The body is a material vehicle which is used by a non material entity in order to interact with the physical universe. Or in simpler terms our true nature is as non-physical beings, we are all spirits using bodies to live for a while in this physical universe. At death our true self, our spirit or personality, will leave the physical sheath it has been inhabiting and will return to its immortal life on the spirit planes. This is much the same as how we use a car to get from one place to the next, and then get out an leave it when we get to our destination.

      And thirdly: The Big Bang. Most scientists believe these days that our universe appeared spontaneously in an event known as The Big Bang. Now what this means is: once upon a time there was nothing. Then this 'nothing' exploded, and not only did it explode, but from nothing there was suddenly an almost infinite amount of Mass (a vast quantity of which (ie most of it), the scientists tell us, should be there but apparently is not!)
     Now what any physicist will tell you is that energy and matter cannot be created from nothing. This is why (in theory) infinity machines cannot work. An infinity machine is a machine which generates more energy than it consumes. According to the 'Law of Entropy' if you use energy, you will always end up getting less back than you put in. So according to this Law, eventually the Universe will end because it will run out of material to make new stars, all the stars will go out, and that will be the end.
     However, the other day on TV I heard a scientist say. 'Of course, we don't know what is outside the Universe, but we know there is something.'
     Hang on another cotton-picking moment! Where did that come from? Why is that never mentioned? It is like there are secrets within science that are known about and not mentioned to 'outsiders' possibly because our tiny brains would explode if we knew about these amazing possibilities.

      We always come back to Magic.
     There are certain questions to which the only possible answer is 'Magic'.
      And as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (himself a believer in spirits, fairies and the supernatural) said through his detective Sherlock Holmes: if you have discounted all other possibilities, then what is left must be the true explanation.

Oh and as someone once said:
'You are a ghost, driving a meat coated skeleton, made from stardust,
what do you have to be scared of?'



   

Solstice Eve

This post contains extracts from the June Raven Newsletter:
     Although the Solstices (Winter and Summer) do fall on precise days of the year, our ancestors were not as obsessed with time as we are, and in general were happy to celebrate around the right time. They recognised that a day or two either way was ok. So it is that although the (Summer) Solstice actually falls on the 20th, 21st or even 22nd of June and does vary a little from year to year, for many centuries in the UK, Midsummer's Day was celebrated on the 24th of June.
     There are many traditional spells associated with Midsummer's Eve or Midsummer's Day, and these can also be worked on the Solstice Eve or Solstice Day, and as there are only a few days between the Solstice and Midsummer's Day, I reckon you could use any of the intervening days too.
     St John's Wort flowers around midsummer and it is picked either on the Solstice or Midsummer's Day. It's Latin name is Hypericum, which means 'Having Power Over Spirits' and this herb is a demonofuge, that is a herb which banishes demons, ghosts and other spirits. It can even be made into a tea to banish demons from the body ie for exorcism.
     There is a legend on the Isle of Man that if you step on a St John's Wort plant after sunset on Midsummer's Eve, a fairy horse will appear from the Underworld and will carry you off for a wonderful, wild night's ride. However as soon as the first rays of the sun light up the eastern sky on Midsummer morning, the fairy steed will vanish and you will be dropped wherever you happen to be at that moment.
     Another plant particularly associated with Midsummer is the Fern which is said to glow on Midsummer's Eve and if you approach it with a pewter plate at midnight, you may be able to catch some of its magical seeds. These seeds confer the power of invisibility on anyone who carries them.
     Fern leaves can also be used in love magic, so make sure to gather some in the afternoon of Midsummer's Day. If you want to keep someone in love with you, put a little of this leaf in your left shoe and speak their name three times.
     Any Ash wood cut on Midsummer's Day, particularly at midday, has strong magical powers and can be used to carve a healing charm. These charms are said to be good for stopping bleeding, especially nose bleeds. This would be a good time to cut an ash branch to make a magic wand too.
     You could also try this special divination: At midday on Midsummer's Day, dig a small hole in the earth, at a place where at least three paths meet (ie a T junction or crossroads). Lie down and put your ear to the hole and listen carefully as you will hear the whisper of a secret which will help you in the future.

What Tallulah Did Next

Tallulah is just about a year old now. And has grown into a sweet, loving, entertaining, enthusiastic, funny and friendly dog.
       When Graham takes her for a walk in the morning, she is liable to be hugged and petted by any number of people. Including the man who doesn't let his own dog jump up but seems to be reduced to a mumbling 'Ooose a widdle, cuddly wuddly girl den?' as he is Tallulah'd.
      Friends often ask 'What has Tallulah been up to?' because she finds many ways to entertain herself (and us). She loves digging holes - particularly when the ground is damp and muddy.
She has various favourite places in the garden, she likes to sit on the ivy, or hide behind the coal bunker. This is usually when she has taken something out into the garden, which maybe, perhaps she didn't ought to have done.
     She is friendly with the neighbours on all sides. Which is just as well as she has tried digging under the fence into the garden at the back, and spends much time peeping over the fence at the side wagging happily at the people next door.
     The only trouble is she can't tell the difference between what is a toy, and what is not a toy.
     And likes to transport items outside, and back in - often after having been dragged around the garden a few times. She is fond of shoes, and socks, and anything she can find in the clean washing basket.
     Now it is difficult to be cross with her, because when you say 'Oh no! What have you done?' ginger dog looks at you with her ears down and her big brown eyes, and you know full well that whatever it is, she won't be able to resist doing it again, because it was such good fun!
     The latest toy-which-is-not-a-toy is my crochet yarn.
   I have a big project on (which I shall be blogging about shortly so watch this space) which involves lots of big brightly coloured balls of wool. Up to now these have been kept in two large carrier bags in the living room, so I can just grab one when I want one.
     But, unfortunately Tallulah thinks these are large squashy balls of fun.
     Our 'office' is upstairs in the house, so I very often am upstairs working, leaving the downstairs a human-free zone - and therefore a doggy playground. Last Tuesday, while Graham was out helping our son dismantle a chicken shed, I went downstairs at lunch time to see a trail of blue wool leading across the bottom of the stairs. I found the start of it in the living room and followed the trail, winding it up like Theseus in the Minotaur's den, through the kitchen, under the open bathroom door, through the dog flap and outside. And there was an unattended ball of wool on the back doorstep.
     Not a culprit in sight.
     I wound the wool back up again and put it back in the carrier bag.
     Now you would think that that was a good enough hint for me that perhaps the carrier bags were now considered a 'play' toy. But no, I am a bit thick at times.
    So, last night I went downstairs after a game of WoW* to find SEVERAL strands of wool leading across the bottom of the stairs. And a tangle of multi-coloured wool in the kitchen, and half a ball of wool. And yet more strands leading out through the dog flap and into the back garden where it had been wound round the clothes prop, dragged through various greenery, moss and leaves and finally deposited in a large, happy tangle. It looked very like Tallulah had plunged her head into the bag of wool and tried to grab as many balls at once as she could get in her mouth, then galloped outside with them, giving them a good shake every so often, and chased around the garden with them before flopping in her favourite place to pull the balls apart.
     I sighed and gathered the damp and slightly muddy armfull up and took it inside where I could remove the garden and twigs from it, untangle it and wind it back into balls.

     Today we have been out and bought two very large plastic storage boxes - with lids!

*World of Warcraft