Worm Moons, Palms and Pine Trees, Leo Louis Martello ... and Piero Barone's Sexy Legs, Part II

Oh my, the beauty of the full Worm Moon this morning!

"Hands, palms up, under water".

Last Saturday was one of the few times I went so deeply into trance I had a slow time resurfacing. I had no idea why I was seeing what I was seeing, though, but it was very clear: I was staring curiously at my own palms – or at least I assumed they were mine – palms up, but under water. Water was clear and blue and looked refreshing and cold. But I was just staring at those hands, palms-up, under the water, and thinking, "What does this mean?" Feminine energy, healing, cleansing, purification, passion, emotion, subconscious? All of those, some of those, none of those correspondences?

I had just finished going into trance by staring at the tall, majestic pine tree outside the window of the Derry Town Hall, or whatever that building was in which the workshop was held, and breathing deeply. I rarely am able to achieve that level of trance during a group – hell, even a private – meditation session. If this wasn’t a directional sign pointing towards my working with trees, I don’t know what was.

It wasn’t until three days later, riding the train, that I decided that I thought the answer was: "all of them". The hands possibly represented "work", as in "working on myself". To raise energy, to heal, to cleanse myself, to purify myself, I needed exactly what this group "trance" had provided: meditation skills that would free my subconscious. Only that would open up the door to passion and emotional fulfillment, all of them properties of water.

And because my attempts at meditation with only myself as the guiding force had never really worked – as I said somewhere, as soon as I started a meditation ritual of any sort I tended to break into jaw cracking yawns – it seems that, in addition to a tree ally, I initially needed an exterior voice to provide the guidance, as I hadn’t started yawning in the workshop. Bob Hackett had provided the vocals at the workshop, but I doubt he had a CD of "trance inducing guidance rituals."

I briefly considered running the idea past Mr. Signpost, because goodness knows, HE has one of those voices that sends you into instant peace and tranquility. I still may do that, actually, but right now he’s preparing for a trip to Sweden? Denmark? Both? I can’t remember. Or he will be, around 09 April. In any event, I’ll suggest it later.

Ahh, but in the meantime, Christopher Penczak did! I ordered his one of his CDs, hoping he had a calm and soothing voice. My definition of "calm and soothing": a voice that can send you into a meditative head space; not a voice that puts you straight into a sleep so deep you start snoring in public. If not? Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Anyone who has studied Native American history is familiar with the late author, theologian, historian, and activist Vine Deloria, Jr. Probably best known for Custer Died For Your Sins; God Is Red: A Native View of Religion and Red Earth, White Lies, he was sharp, incisive, had a wicked sense of humor and could be very, very angry when confronted with ignorance, condescension, willful stupidity and blatant historical revisionism. I remember being completely blown away by him: he made me see things in a way I’d never seen them before.

I was reminded of Deloria when I started reading the late Leo Louis Martello’s Witchcraft: The Old Religion (1991). A lot of the same anger; I haven’t found Vine’s same satirical sense of humor yet, though. I read somewhere that Martello filed lawsuits against the catholic church and against the Village of Salem, Massachusetts for retributions for cruelty and inhumanity against, and the wholesale slaughter of, his ancestors. (Gee, I wonder how those lawsuits turned out?)

In some ways we’re alike – besides being Italian, I mean. He seemed to have very little patience with nonsense.

I had to keep remembering that he was a standing member of the Civil Rights generation – the AIM days, the Gloria Steinem days, Stonewall, Martin Luther King – a lollapalooza of seriously pissed off people, and Martello fought for witches’ rights amidst that passionate crowd, and in his favor, he was obviously NOT trying to placate christians threatening to start a bonfire with him as the kindling. Many of his predecessors – Gardner, Valiente, even Crowley - carried a great load of christian baggage on their shoulders. Martello did not. He carried anger.  Sometimes he was carried away by it.  At other times it was refreshing.

Still, I have many of the same issues with him – as much as I’m enjoying reading the book – as I have with some others. Some historical comments are cited; far too many of them aren’t. And usually the un-cited ones are the ones that make you go, "Wha …?"

One example: "Many modern scholars believe that Jesus was an Essene; this sect was a secret society that had its roots in the worship of the Goddess Cybele, whose priests were eunuchs. It is believed that the thirty years of Jesus’ life of which there is no record were spent as a eunuch priest devoted to Cybele." (page 121, no citation)

Hell, I’m not even a christian and said, "Wha …?" Where did THAT come from? Those are the things we need to be seriously citing, along with avoiding the untraceable passive, "It is believed". By whom? Why? When? It isn’t believed by me right now, that’s for sure. As far as I can see, he’s the only person who "believed" that, because I hadn’t heard that before. Give me some serious reasons for paying attention to that and I might, but you can’t just throw out things like, "Jesus was a eunuch and a Cybeline priest" and expect people to nod, "Oh, okay, sure, that makes loads of sense!" Sorry.

Another example of sweeping generalizations:

"In the Craft, there is no hard dogma. Hard drugs are forbidden. Mindless morons can't be a compliment to our Mother Goddess. Sex is sacred, not something to be exhibited at a peep show. Power is something personal, not to be used over others, which is contrary to Craft ethics. Those who think the Old Religion will make them masters over others are slaves to their own self-delusions. A happy person is always a powerful person and is hated by those who aren't. A happy person is in many ways selfish; in the Craft we must protect our best interests and ensure that the power that comes from joy remains constant, knowing that none of us are immune from the vicissitudes of life, but that our Old Religion will help us handle an adversity."

I sighed heavily, reading this. Ah. "There is no hard dogma, but hard drugs are forbidden." Forbidden, are they? Really. Aren’t those two sentences rather … you know, contradictory? Did anyone tell the Eleusinian initiates that? John Dee? Aleister Crowley? The Sicilian witches in his own ancestry who concocted flying ointment? The shamans of South and Central America? The alchemists who were precursors to today’s chemists? And I’m wondering what Vine Deloria would have had to say about that – given that peyote is considered a "hard drug" in the minds of the U.S. Government, and is a key component of the spiritual practices of a number of First Nations, largely located in the southwest. The minute you start trumpeting ANY hard laws like that, we have a problem. So, the ethics of Martello’s witchcraft trump the ethics of Vine and the priests of Athens and the streghone of Sicily? What’s wrong with this picture?

"A happy person is always a powerful person and is hated by those who aren't."? Riiiiiight. That’s a bit … Tinkerbelle-ish, idn’t it? I know a lot of happy people who haven’t an ounce of power in their entire being, and aren’t hated by anyone. And does sex ALWAYS have to be "sacred"? Can’t it be … you know, fun?

And he should probably have left out the chapter on prophets – all of the "end of the world" predictions were dead wrong. How do I know that? Easy. We’re still here. 1981. 1999. 2000. 2012. All gone by.

Still, I could fully understand his anger, and it’s rather refreshing.

It's nice to have the One and Only back again ... preparing for their third South American tour, and posing for lots of pictures.  He really does have the most beautiful legs ...