 G is for Gaia"Gaia is the spiritual representation of the Earth, the mother of all living things. Gaia is almost never encountered directly; instead she communicates with her children and other supplicants via minor spirits under her command. Gaia has many aspects and is known by a variety of names; these include the Emerald Mother." White Wolf Wiki Gaia is the female counterpart to Pan. The twins together, for nature is as incestuous as it is promiscuous (ask any worm), is a name given to the original unified land mass of this planet. As a scientist I have had to maintain integrity by accepting the hard evidence, that the planet has physically grown by swelling out like a balloon, and may still slowly be doing so. Not only that the pangaiatic landmass fits together perfectly if wrapped into a 3D sphere, but also stretch-marks beneath the oceans support this 'theory'. As aspects, Gaia is the word given by James Lovelock to an holistic ecological system based 'Nature' in which it is not Darwinian 'survival of the fittest' but ability to become symbiotic and establish a place within a holistic, stable ecology, that drives species evolutionary development. Lovelock followed that the holistic ecological systems have a conscious aware mind behind them, which is Gaia. That Gaia has a long term plan for Life, that we call Evolution, the end result of which we can imagine through mysticism. Quality magicians encourage that Imagination is a key factor for Manifestation, that as a conscious aware aspect of Gaia, Humans - although no more important than a single ant in the long-term scheme of things - do have the ability to consciously affect holistic Evolution. This is a key understanding of what Magick is about. 'The whole thing may be summed up not by the word Magick, but by NATURE." Victa Corvo Penfold, High Priest of the Order of the Morning Star Gaia is specifically a planet Earth based Life deity, nurturing holistic sustenance by ecological balance through seasonal and climate changes. This necessitates methods of Permaculture for long-term Human survivalism. Wheras Pan historically is a flute playing Satyr of the wild woods. Bearing affinity with the Green Man, Herne, Cernunnos; master of Druidism and teacher of how to live with-and-as Nature; revealer of her secrets to the dedicated; magician. Satyr are infamously linterinked with the cult of Dionysis who took over from Zeus as king of the gods in classical Greek mythology, itself regarded as a form of Paganism while at the same time revered, emulated and aspired to as the Classical era of European civilisation. Pan and Gaia. These are the male and female aspect 'spirits of nature' known to many as the God and Goddess. Humanized, gender-specific forms of something vaster than gender and humanity. I recall from some religious dogma that we are not supposed to recast Gods in our own image. For the purposes of attunement and empowerment, ritual and worship, it seems necessary to do so. It is also cute and fun so long as we remember to see the Spirit in each other (before ego) as well as in whatever symbolic artifacts we choose to channel these energies through. For me, Gaia is embodied by the John Boorman movie, 'the Emerald Forest' which explores an indigenous rainforest tribe's lifestyle and beliefs. Gaia is the forest as whole ("the forest is more than the sum of its tree's.") She is more than that; she is the living spirit of green nature. The forest is her body, from its canopy to its creatures, its springs and its scents and its soil. She is the ecological systems that permeate Life. She is the energy flow of this. She is the mind-heart that patterns where a bird drops a seed so its tree can grow for the renewal of the forest a generation hence. She contains rebirth. Green is the colour of the Heart Chakra. The reason that we are the way that we are, is because She is the way that She is. I believe that She is in the process of resolving comprehending herself, and that that is what it is all about. That is the Nature of Nature. For this world anyway.  THE GREEN LADY While searching for anything relating to the Green Lady concept (there is plenty of Celtic imagery of the famous Green Man who heralds change, I partially identify him with the Green Knight who Sir Gawain encountered in the Arthurian romance) I discovered the only substantial information that is available and that holds true with my feeling about her, is a painting by Brian Froud used in his Fayrie oracle cards. She is cheeky, impish, teasing-to-teach, independent, has strength from her inner-tuition which guides her more than any of her children who entertain her and seek her as their lover. She holds a mask of a leafy green dog, which is alive despite being a mask. The image speaks for itself. Unfortunately I cannot find a copy of this particular picture on the internet and I do not have a Froudian Fayrie Oracle deck to hand. GARDEN "The Earth is full of magick. Magick is the result of loving each other and all things in Nature. It causes the plants to grow, the birds and animals to flourish and gives man the will to live and prosper." Victa Corvo Penfold, The Old Religion With the transition from Hunter-Gather to Agriculture from demands of population expansion, the concept that Humans are Gaia's custodians become obvious. We discovered permacultural methods of living as one with nature, and this was progress. A Garden is the taming of Gaia. (prefix) Ga- = Gaia : 'G' is a symbol for the turning of spirit into form. Contemplate; "Eastirring" ard = (to) Earth (specifically, single-'d' is hard; 'graft' is indicated, as is 'art'. Compare; 'hearten') den = a base; also 'D' = bow en = in, to enter. (See H is for Here Be Dragons re; "igloo') also; Arden = Eden (biblical mythology) When I first moved here the garden was overgrown with nettles (yummy nutritious superfood) brambles (yummy oxidizing blackberries) and other spiky plants I don’t know the name for so I call them Saalak after the thing in StarWars because they're like it. The first stage of land reverting to wild nature, as it will if left to its own devices. Spiky's that indicate 'keep out' develop an underbrush where animals, insects, birds can dwell safely. After ten to fifteen years tree's grow up and after twenty years it is becoming a forest. In the UK that is the natural pattern. Gaia reverts to forest. Except now we have imported Japanese knotweed to contend with, which take over and devastate the indigenous species, and are nearly impossible to get rid of. Gaia is holistic planetary consciousness and we are a disciple part of her scheme. We are the gardeners, when we work with her, now that our days of hunter-gathering in the wild wood are gone. Gaia is progressive; shifting balances working through seasonal cycles. "Let Nature take her course." folk wisdom Two years later, I have not put the time into the garden as I would have liked. It is a slow process but of course I have a relationship with the brambles that grow back, which is personal and teaching me about the Green Lady. The Green Lady is Gaia personified. She has two aspects; the wild and the tamed. The way to get the best of her is to accept her for what she is and work with her. She is Life Force, she is ecology, she knows what she is doing and has her own schemes, and they are far more intuitive and integrated than man-plans. This is one of the lessons she teaches. She shows me to relax because everything will take care of itself so long as I don’t rush it. "I've been relying on what the Devas/Spirits of the garden tell me where to plant things. Sometimes I am alarmed - but wildly it is about trust." Beth Malchus Stafa For example; unearthing a row of red bricks at the far end of the garden and transporting them to the path along its side; building a rock garden around a slope where I have planted Willow tree’s to stabilize an embankment where the grumpy old fart neighbor has never put a fence up although he has “been meaning to do that for ten years.” I have been weaving the willow into a hedge/fence and training other plants up it, the willow is also useful for medicine, the bark contains a natural parecetemol that doesn’t thin the blood unlike the chemical parecetemol; willow bark tea for arthritis. Avoid if pregnant. The embankment naturally curves in the space directly opposite the stack of red bricks, the swollen weed patch is ideal for using said bricks to construct a permanent fire pit. So it is all coming together quite naturally, slowly and at its own pace. Exciting. I have planted half a dozen tree’s at the far end, which cost a few quid each from various stores, a mixture of apple, plum, cherry, hawthorn (hawthorn leafs are another superfood they were my staple diet when I lived in the forest with witches). They are probably too close together at 7 feet between them but then, my boy is only little and it will be a wonderland for him exploring them in a few years from now. I have been in copses where the trees are literally a few feet apart and thriving; it should be okay. And the top branches of these trees will weave as will their roots, a unified matrix, so all the tree’s will become one tree, as with the willow hedge. More stability for a tree-house at some later time. Tree’s are only 3 or 4 feet tall yet so there’s a decades to go, but my son isn’t two yet so it’s all timed nicely for him. So long as I can stay living in this house, it’s a rental. I am very fortunate and very grateful to have this facility; let this essay stand as one reason that I am making the most of it and therefore deserving. I planted a load of different vegetables out last year however the only things that prosper through increasingly harsh climate change in cold wet Wales is potatoes, leeks and spinach. So this years planting will be simplified to these three staples. I can’t get corn to grow at all here. The small black peppermint I planted in the herb patch has been secretly busy and abruptly as it sends up shoots, has taken over. A well-established rosemary bush is thriving. The raspberries has species-diversified to deal with climate change from the planet tilting on its axis so that UK now goes higher north and further south than it once did. I was eating fresh berries from the plants that hadn't died back during autumn as they 'are meant to', on christmas day! Admittedly it was a mild winter. There is no way in hell that I am going to be one of these arseholes who mows their lawn on a regular basis. What we need is more tree's for oxygenation, especially in the cities and towns. We need to stop wasting time and planetary resources by making extra work for ourselves playing with lawnmowers, and more time on food growing, harvesting. Self-sufficiency. Permaculture. The answer to all humanities problems are solvable if we begin growing our own resources. There is nothing that we need, that we cannot grow for ourselves by working with Nature. Whether you are a vegetarian or a meat eater, both lifestyles can be fulfilled by hands-on gardening of one form or another. This is why we are Custodians of Gaia. That is what I mean by a Gardener. It is interesting that the guy who founded Wicca by re-invention of an mythological era, is also named Gardner. I discovered this exciting link; the voice of Gardner himself!  Hieronymus Bosch, the Garden of Earthly Delights
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G is for Gate Ritual “When you enter the forest, you carry the city. If you do not continue with respect and leave the city behind, then you may travel throughout the whole forest without having left the city.” anon The Gate Ritual is an important one. I will teach it to you by personal anecdote because it makes a difference. Where I grew up was a septeniary spiral on a Celtic barrow mound. It is a holy site with intense earth energies. The barrow has a wild ring grove around its embankments and a pine plantation on the top. A local old boy farmer told me that as a child her cut hay from the field and transported it to the farm by horse drawn cart. The Pines are more recent and I have grown up with them; as a boy I got their lower branches stuck in my hair and down the back of my shirt by crawling beneath them on hands and knees. Now they are tall and proud and their lower branches are higher than I can jump up to. It is the heart of my world and the world of my heart is this forest. Most of the wild trees are deformed, not in a negative way, mutated by the high amount of crude natural yellow-white quartz pebbles in the land, what I instinctively called merlinstone ever since childhood although there is a different gemstone of that name. I sincerely believe the man-made landmass, marked ‘earthwork’ on the maps, has a Stonehenge beneath it. I have heard them singing at night when the sun and stars, and my perceptions, are right. It is the development of these perceptions that the Gate Ritual is all about. Upon entering the forest there are natural energy Gates. Identifying them is not easy unless you know what to feel for. Usually, to make life easier, there will be a bird or perhaps a spider, located at such a place. A sign of nature. If you go charging headlong forward and ignore the test, you will startle the bird; it will call out to the forest announcing ‘idiot!’ or ‘danger!’ or ‘city virus’ or whatever the word means when translated into human concepts. And it will fly away. Or you will blank the spider from your awareness, perhaps break its thread or tread on it. The proper respectful thing to do is to wait, quietly and patiently. It helps to send out positive peaceful thought vibrations that you mean no harm and are passing through respectfully, intending to be a part of the forest for a while. This is the key concept. A forest is a living being. It is more than the sum of its tree’s. It has soul, it has spirit. In the same way that a city has soul and spirit, however the forest is more natural and tends to escalate upwards wheras the city tends to escalate downwards. I may have to describe that in more detail. The forest will judge you and hopefully, accept you. You are welcome. At this time you will feel and perhaps be given some sign that it is safe for you now to move on. The bird will not shriek and fly away. It will be pleased, curious, accept you as a normal wild forest creature. Often, and with most small woodlands that are a pale remnant, fragment of the once great forest that covered the whole entire land as one powerful singularity, before tree-feller built urban and ships, and made space for agriculture, farm animals, and planted hedgerows; often this one Gate is enough, and you will traverse at a higher frequency, on a higher plane. The forest will watch you and integrate you, harmoniously. This is when you can soak up the forests energy, and rejuvenate. Contemplate the word ‘For-Rest’. There are times when you will be presented with a second Gate. An opportunity, if you are cleanse and pure, chilled and natural enough, to go higher, deeper into the domain. Many people claim that there are only three levels of depth to any energy source. And for most extents and purposes, that rule is sufficient and true. Certainly to access the third level is a rare honor, during which mythic events occur. Normal urban measured time and space are left behind because the forest generates its own reality, its own physics. They are the wild laws of nature and even the most devout of druids cannot fathom them all, for the quest is a part of the Path. I grew up on a septeniary spiral. This indicates seven gates, and suggests an eighth plane. Of course it is possible to associate these levels with the chakra’s, which is a very pleasant system of describing the occurrences of each level although in practice I have found that it does not pan out in connection with the reality experience. I began to apply the Gate Ritual while dwelling in the city. It helps. It makes mockery of what I said earlier about the city being a downward spiral while nature is an upward spiral. Use of the Gate Ritual develops for us a deeper involvement with the planes. The best way I can describe the worlds between the Gates, is to call them Planes. Only the nature of the experiences varies between forest and city location. Cities are for Humanity, in all our dirty glory. The Mayans call the Fifth Age, that which you will be aware of as the age of Aquarius, the Itza age. The word Itza means city. Contemplating this has caused me to re-assess what a City actually is. The urban environment of grafitti, money-chasers, concrete, toxic air, locked doors, chemicals and trash heaps, the scent of shit that we don’t even notice because your nasal senses that control your minds perceptory levels are so accustomed to it that it is invisible. But the urban environment is also the Human zone. And this is the realm of emotion, tamed. While the city confronts us with opportunities to learn harsh lessons in life experiences of living with other humans… ‘In Lakesh’ - I am another yourself (Pleiadian) …and human culture, it is only once applying the Gate Ritual do we begin to master its strange ways. Remember how much landscape affects us, steers us. And that ‘urban’ is its own deity, with plans for its denizens. At this stage a study of the kabala begins to make sense, referring to the planes as levels of experience to teach us on our path. We can be Aware, and respectful, and make ritual in honor of the ascending path, or we can ignore it and drag our trash throughout our whole lives and deny that higher planes are real because we never see them in our ignorance. You won’t know until you try it. It is the gentle way of stillness, of peace. Such souls do not cut down nature and build megalopolis. They garden. G is for Gnosis
"Altered states of consciousness are the key to magical powers. The particular state of mind required has a name in every tradition: No-Mind. In this book it will be known as Gnosis. Methods for achieving gnosis can be divided into two types. In the inhibitory mode, the mind is progressively silenced until only a single object of concentration remains. In the excitatory mode, the mind is raised to a very high pitch of excitement while concentration on the objective is raised. Thus strong inhibition and strong excitation end up creating the same effect - the one-pointed consciousness, or gnosis." Liber LUX Saxon shamen knew this symbolically as Fire and Ice. See H is for Here Be Dragons Here is another interpretation of 'gnosis'; "Gnosis is similar to the Polynesian concept of mana, or the Eastern concept of chi. While all creatures have some spiritual component, Garou can consciously control and use it. Garou are quite literally half-spirit already and Gnosis reflects how connected they are to their other half. Gnosis can't be precisely measured, but if you think of it like water, it makes comprehending the difference between a Garou and a human easier. A human has a cupful to last a lifetime, a Garou has access to an endlessly replenishing river. Gnosis can be used to bribe spirits, activate fetishes (magical artifacts) and Gifts, and to enter the Umbra. Creatures without enough Gnosis generally cannot perceive or enter the Umbra. Gnosis is a renewable, but dwindling, resource. Garou can regain it at sacred sites, by meditating, or bargaining with spirits. Sacred sites provide Gnosis, but if they become defiled, it can corrupt the Garou, or there simply may be no more available. The water analogy works well here. They need water, but they need to protect their sources because drinking tainted water may make them sick, and if they aren't careful, their well may go dry." http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Werewolf:_The_Apocalypse Gnosticism I have not yet finished this entry G is for Gnosis. I have yet to write my commentary. It is not timetabled to be submitted until 6.4.2012 G is for Gris Gris "Gris-gris, also spelled gri gri, is a voodoo amulet originating in Africa which supposedly protects the wearer from evil or brings luck" wikipedia "Gris Gris" pronounced 'gree gree' is something that I read about only years after discovering for myself what it is all about. Essentially, it is a dualistic meaning both the physical vessel for spirit, and the spirit energy itself. The same sort of dualism can be found between the alcoholic 'spirits' drinking of which dissolves the rigid censor of mind that we may enter into various spirit domains, be they to channel from ghosts or subconscious. Use of the same word for place, action and object indicates roots where sharing of concept was of greater comprehension than developed language enabled ability to wax lyrical. Primal methods for advanced ability. The term 'gris gris' comes from African shamen who were taken as slaves to the America's, where creole cultures were a melting pot of humanity, reinventing itself into new forms. An athame can be said to be a gris-gris object. In the vodon religion from where the word gris-gris originates, a machette is used, is also described and labelled by the same word. Basically they are fetish items (see F is for Fetish) as well as particular streams or types of spirit. In my dealings with the spirit world I have learned that Haitian vodou beliefs are the closest to my experiences, however I am not of the vodon religion in that I follow my own pantheon rather than embracing the Haitian one. While official vodon religion has its established pantheon, my own experiences indicate that use of my own deities and their appropriate fetish artifacts where valid, is more meaningful and preferable than somebody else dogma. The vodon religion swept through the secretive gestation phase of Afro-American creole slave-culture as a unifier; much the same way (minus violence) that christianity swept through and embedded its concepts, most vitally those of christ-consciousness and vagin-mari worship, into so many cultures including those described as 'voodoo'. Designed to mutate colloquially; as environment, human nature and life experience revelations, define and redefine core principle concepts that we can all relate to throughout history; always will do so into future generations. "'From Silence to Sorcery' is an album by John Zorn. 'Gris-Gris' is a work for thirteen tuned drums performed by William Winant inspired by the music of Korean Shamanism, Haitian Voodoo and a scene from Howard Hawks' film 'To Have and Have Not'." wikipedia Listen to John Zorn 'Gris-Gris' In the name of shameless self promotion, I have been making a computer game in which Gris is a material atomically recycled from trash, which polymorphic crystaline helix is based on 'the spirit molecule' Dimethyltriptamine that the brain naturally produces in small doses. DMT is peaceful, beautiful, calm, tranquil. It is commonly known as the death drug. because it takes us to what is described to me as 'death consciousness'. It is a specific cyber-element acting as a conduit between the material world, the digital AI of the story, and the spirit world. The computer game Cybergothic is intended as a MMORPG and will be released when I'm happy with it. For more information see www.webjam.com/cybergothic I am also currently working on the soundtrack album. |
G is for:
Gaia Gate Ritual Gnosis Gris Gris G categories
All
Contemplation Dionysis + Gnosis = Diognosis Gaian + Gnosis = Gaianosis = Genesis 
Writing this blog has inspired me to do an essay on Druidism, which will be posted in D is for as and when I get around to it.
"Pan, the god of woods and fields, of flocks and shepherds, dwelt in grottos, wandered on the mountains and in valleys, and amused himself with the chase or in leading the dances of the nymphs. He was fond of music, and as we have seen, the inventor of the syrinx, or shepherd's pipe, which he himself played in a masterly manner. Pan, like other gods who dwelt in forests, was dreaded by those whose occupations caused them to pass through the woods at night, for the gloom and lonliness of such scenes dispose the mind to superstitious fears. Hence sudden fright without any visible cause was ascribed to Pan, and called a Panic terror. As the name of the god signifies all, Pan came to be considered a symbol of the universe and personification of Nature; and later still to be regarded as a representation of all the gods of paganism itself." source “Cernunnos the male horned god of the Iron age Celts. Symbol of the Hunter and the Hunted. Also known as Herne the Hunter. Modern Druidry, which derives from Celtic culture, honors Cernunnos in his ancient Celto-European form as the guardian of the forests, the defender of the animal tuatha (tribes), the source of the deep forest wisdom, and the masculine half of creative energy. His restorative work in the cycle of the year is particularly celebrated at Beltaine, and is often paired with one or another of the female deities in her maiden aspect. Druids may call upon him in reference to vital, non-violent masculine divinity.” source 
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