matty's moorish grotto of the universal seekers

The Great Peacemaker

2007-10-02T07:34:00.000-04:00

"The Great Peacemaker, sometimes referred to as Deganawida or "Dekanawida" (although as a mark of respect the Iroquois avoid referring to him by this name except in special circumstances), was, along with Hiawatha, the traditional founder of the Haudenosaunee (commonly called the Iroquois) Confederacy, a political and cultural union of Native American tribes. Although the formal inheritor of this confederacy includes only lands in what is now New York State, the impact of the union was far-reaching and certainly includes the related people in Ontario, Quebec, Pennsylvania, Ohio and other places.

The Haudenosaunee name for The Great Peacemaker (Mohawk, Skennenrahawi) means “Two River Currents Flowing Together.”

The legends about The Great Peacemaker are conflicting. It is reported that he was born a Huron and by some accounts it was a virgin birth. Others say he was born an Onondaga and later adopted by the Mohawks. By all accounts he was a prophet who counseled peace among the warring tribes, and he also called for an end to cannibalism. His disciple Hiawatha, a Mohawk renowned for his oratory, helped him achieve his vision.

According to archaeologist and Professor Dean R. Snow, The Great Peacemaker first converted Hiawatha in the territory of the Onondagas, then he made a solo journey to visit the Mohawk tribe who lived in the region near what is now Cohoes, New York. Initially, the Mohawks rejected The Great Peacemaker's message, so he decided to perform a feat that would demonstrate his purity and strength. After climbing into a tree high above the Ga-ha-oose, the cataract that is now known as the Cohoes Falls, The Great Peacemaker told the Mohawk braves to chop the tree down. They were happy to comply and many onlookers watched as The Great Peacemaker disappeared into the swirling rapids of the Mohawk river. It was assumed that The Great Peacemaker had perished until he was found sitting near a campfire the next day. The Mohawks were greatly impressed by his miraculous survival and immediately became the founding tribe in the Iroquois League of Nations, circa 1450.

The vision from the Great Maker that peace would come to all nations led him to spend his life working to bring this to fruition for the Iroquois. In his shamanic prophecy, he referred to a white serpent who would come to their lands and make friends with his people, only to later deceive them. According to the prophecy, at the end times, a red serpent would make war on the white one and after a season, a black serpent would come and defeat them both. He said that his nation would accept those of other origins into their safekeeping. Because of their worship of and obedience to the Great Maker, the Iroquois would be protected from the disasters to come.

The Great Peacemaker established a council of clan and village chiefs to govern the confederacy. Each of the tribes had a balance of power between the sexes and all decisions were made by consensus to which each representative had an equal voice. Led by The Great Peacemaker and Hiawatha, the Iroquois became the dominant Native American group in the northeast woodlands. The oral laws and customs of the Great Law of Peace eventually became the constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Peacemaker

The significance of prison tattoos at home and abroad

2007-10-02T07:10:00.000-04:00

"It is not known when tattooing first became a common practice in Russian prisons and Stalinist Gulags. Soviet researchers first discovered and studied this underground activity in the 1920s; photographs of prisoners from that period suggest an already elaborate and highly developed subculture. More than simple decoration, the images symbolically proclaim the wearer's background and rank within the complex social system of the jailed." http://www.phaseloop.com/foreignprisoners/exp-russian_tats.html

"Within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's expanding prison system tattoos are taken seriously by the inmates and their guards alike. Tattoos obtained while locked up in prison have special significance back on the streets. " http://www.foto8.com/issue01/dprisontattoos/prisontattoos1.html

What Would Jesus Buy?

2007-10-02T06:59:00.001-04:00

a new documentary that played this weekend at the San Francisco Indie Film Festival:

Take heed brothers and sisters! The shopacalypse is upon us! America is fat with greed and addicted to shopping. Luckily, Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir are here to save our souls from overspending! In the weeks leading to Christmas, Reverend Billy and the Choir board a bus headed from advertising-thick Times Square through the heartland’s shopping malls to the commercial mecca-Disneyland. Part performance art, part spendthrift evangelism, they cross the US singing and preaching to spend gently. With the average American holding about $8,500 in credit card debt, his work is overdue. Reverend Billy is serious in his message. He doesn’t preach the impossible task of never buying again, but encourages us to be mindful of where our dollars go. We visit a Main Street men’s clothing store struggling for customers against the Wal-Mart up the road and a line of Christmas shoppers waiting to buy an Xbox 360 lest they feel the wrath of their consumption-addicted children. Billy and the choir go caroling to incite ‘change-a-lujah!’ along front porches in gated community and from church pulpits. They’re making trouble, evading Mall of America security, and just like the rest of us, they’re fighting the urge to buy for the sake of spending. By the time they get to Disneyland, you may find yourself converted, ready to buy American and swear-off big box stores in favor of your local merchant."

“I am Not a Nazi” Swastika.

2007-09-30T07:59:00.000-04:00

Here’s an online gallery of "I’m not a Nazi" Swastika at Heathen World:

The Swastika has been in use by humans since prehistory. The word Swastika has its roots in Sanskrit, the language of ancient India, but the actual symbol is older. Swastikas have been found on vases, coins, and other artifacts all over the world. Various cultures that probably didn’t communicate used swastikas or similar symbols independent of each other. The Swastika has been a Hindu symbol for thousands of years. …

The Nazi use of the swastika has stained the symbol’s reputation for a long damned time. Hitler’s adoption of the swastika is logical when looked at in a historical context.

The gallery is very interesting: Link - via Happy Ant

http://www.neatorama.com/2007/04/02/i-am-not-a-nazi-swastika/

svástika

2007-09-30T07:52:00.000-04:00

"Sanskrit svástika स्वास्तिक ) is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing (卐) or left-facing (卍) forms. The term is derived from Sanskrit svasti, meaning well-being. The Thai greeting sawasdee is from the same root and carries the same implication.

Archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates from the Neolithic period. It has long been widely-used in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Hindus often decorate the swastika with a dot in each quadrant. In India, it is common enough to be a part of several Devanagari fonts. It is also a symbol in the modern Unicode and is often imprinted on religious texts, marriage invitations, and decorations. It is used to mark religious flags in Jainism and Buddhist temples in Asia.

In 1920, the right-facing swastika was appropriated as a Nazi symbol, and since then has become a controversial motif. In the Western world, this usage is the most familiar.

The symbol occurs in other Asian, European, African and Native American cultures – sometimes as a geometrical motif and sometimes as a religious symbol."

much much more contiued here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika

Swastika Town Refused to Change Name

2007-09-30T07:50:00.000-04:00

Our previous post on Swastika is all about how the symbol meant other things before it was co-opted by the Nazis.

Neatorama reader Gitai found something else: a town In Ontario, Canada, named Swastika that refused to change its name during World War II, claiming that they had the name before the Nazis ruined it!

During World War II, the provincial government sought to change the town’s name to Winston, in honour of Winston Churchill, but the town refused, insisting that the town had held the name long before the Nazis co-opted the symbol. Residents of Swastika used to tell the story of how the Ontario Department of Highways would erect new signs on the roads at the edge of the town. At night the residents would tear these signs down and put up their own signs proclaiming the town to be "Swastika".

http://www.neatorama.com/2007/09/28/swastika-town-refused-to-change-name/

happy 800th birthday sweet rumi

2007-09-30T07:30:00.001-04:00

Love’s nationality is separate from all other religions,

The lover’s religion and nationality is the Beloved.

The lover’s cause is separate from all other causes; Love is the astrolabe of God’s mysteries.

800th anniversary

"On September 30, 2007, Turkey celebrated Rumi’s 800th birthday with a giant whirling dervish sama performance to be aired live in 8 countries using 48 cameras. Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey Ertugrul Gunay stated that: “300 dervishes are scheduled to take part in this ritual, making it the largest performance of sama in history.” Iran will hold Iran’s Rumi week from October 26 until November 2.^[39]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jalal_ad-Din_Muhammad_Rumi

a house’s exterior drainage system in dresden, germany…

2007-09-27T11:21:00.000-04:00

http://weblog.sinteur.com/?p=20191

OK so....

2007-09-26T20:51:00.001-04:00

Realizing there have ended up being two focuses to this blog.... most of the politically oriented posts have been moved to my new blog over here:

http://troublethink.blogspot.com/

and this blog will continue to focus on moorishmystical content.

Big Blue Box

2007-09-04T19:46:00.001-04:00

Aristophanes and his theory of the three sexes from wikipedia's article on socrates' symposium

2007-08-18T22:39:00.000-04:00

"Aristophanes

Aristophanes was the greatest comic poet of Athens, a brilliant and beloved playwright who ruled the comic stage in the late fifth and early fourth century BCE. He had rivals, but none of their plays have survived. The fact that Plato places him in this group is one of the most curious things about the Symposium, since Aristophanes ridiculed Agathon, the host of the party, in his play Thesmophoriazusae, and also made fun of Socrates. The Clouds, staged c. 423 BCE, presents Socrates as a cult master and director of a ridiculous phrontisterion ("thinking-shop") wherein one learns "immoral logic". Aristophanes mentions Socrates disparagingly in at least two other plays as well; the antagonism, according to some interpretations, was not benign.

Not only did Aristophanes have nothing good to say about Socrates, Socrates has nothing good to say about Aristophanes. In Plato's Apology of Socrates he specifically blames Aristophanes for starting the slander that led to his death (Apology 18-19). In what seems to be a complex literary "tit-for-tat," Plato in the Republic depicts Socrates outlawing such people as Aristophanes who write things that cause people to injure themselves by laughing.^[9]

Before launching his speech, Aristophanes warns the group that his eulogy to love may be more absurd than funny. His speech is an explanation of why people in love say they feel "whole" when they have found their love partner. It is, he says, because in primal times people were globular spheres who wheeled around like clowns doing cartwheels (190a). There were three sexes: the all male, the all female, and the "androgynous," who was half man, half woman. The creatures tried to scale the heights of heaven and planned to set upon the gods (190b-c). Zeus thought about just blasting them to death with thunderbolts, but did not want to deprive himself of their devotions and offerings, so he decided to cripple them by chopping them in half.

After chopping the people in half, Zeus turned their faces around and pulled the skin tight and stitched it up to form the belly button. Ever since that time, people run around saying they are looking for their other half because they are really trying to recover their primal nature. He says some people think homosexuals are shameless, but he thinks they are the bravest, most manly of all (192a), and that heterosexuals are mostly adulterous men and unfaithful wives (191e).

Aristophanes ends on a cautionary note. He says that men should fear the gods, and not neglect to worship them, lest they wield the axe again and we have to go about with our noses split apart (193a)."

A link to info on the New Zealand Housetruckers

2007-07-30T10:42:00.001-04:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housetrucker

Slab City or

2007-07-30T10:36:00.000-04:00

"The Slabs (located at 33°15′32″N, 115°27′59″W) is a camp in the Colorado Desert in southeastern California, used by recreational vehicle owners and squatters from across North America. It takes its name from the concrete slabs and pylons that remain from the abandoned World War II base Marine Barracks Camp Dunlap there. A group of servicemen remained after the base closed, and the place has been inhabited ever since, although the number of residents has declined since the mid 1980's.

Several thousand campers, many of them retired, use the site during the winter months.These 'snowbirds' stay only for the winter, before migrating north in the spring to cooler climes. The temperatures during the summer are forbidding; nonetheless, there is a group of around 150 permanent residents, who live in the Slabs all year round. Most of these 'Slabbers' subsist on government checks (SSI and Social Security) and have been driven to the Slabs through poverty but also through a strong desire of freedom from the American government.

The site is both decommissioned and uncontrolled, and there is no charge for parking. The camp has no electricity, no running water or other services. Many campers use generators or solar panels to generate electricity. Supplies can be purchased in nearby Niland, California, located some three miles (5 km) to the southwest of Slab City.

Located just east of California State Highway 111, the entrance to Slab City is easily recognized by the colorful Salvation Mountain: a small hill approximately three stories high which is entirely covered in acrylic paint, concrete and adobe and festooned with Bible verses. It is an ongoing project of over two decades by permanent resident Leonard Knight."

from wikipedia

The beast within

2007-07-30T10:19:00.000-04:00

Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of the prophecy
And blessed are those who hear
And who keep what is written therein
For the time is near
He is coming with the clouds
And every eye will see him
Everyone who pierced him
And all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him
Those of you who have not learned
What some call the deep things of Satan
I know your works
I know your toil
And your patient endurance
And how you cannot hear evil men
But I have this against you
That you have abandoned
The love you had
And I saw a beast rising out of the sea
With ten horns and seven heads
And a blasphemous name upon its head
And the whole earth followed the beast with wonder
Men worshipped the dragon
For he had given his authority to the beast
And they worshipped the beast saying
"Who is like the beast and who can fight against the beast?"
And the beast was given a mouth
Uttering haughty and blasphemous words
It opened its mouth to utter blasphemous
Words
Against
God
Then
I saw a new heaven
And a new earth
And I heard a great voice from the throne saying
"Behold the dwelling of God is with men
He will dwell with them
And they shall be his people
And God himself will be with them
People will wipe away every tear from their eyes
And death shall be no more
Neither shall there be mourning
Nor crying
Nor pain
Anymore
For these things will have passed away
To the thirsty I will give water without price
From the fountain of the water of life
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted
As for the murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolators
And all liars
Their lot shall be in the lake
That burns with fire and brimstone"
And he said to me
He said to me
"Do not seal up the words of the prophecy
For the time is near
Let the evildoers still do evil
And the filthy still be filthy
And the righteous still do right
And the holy still be holy
Behold
I am coming soon
I am the alpha
And the omega
The first
And the last
The beginning
And the end"

For those who might be interested: Where the Gathering will be in 2007

2007-07-30T10:14:00.000-04:00

"This year the annual North American Rainbow Gathering (hence referred to as the Gathering) will be near Fallsville, Arkansas. Directions: Go to Fallsville, Arkansas, which is at the junction of Hwy 16 and 21. From east or west take I-40 to Clarksville Arkansas. There are three exits at Clarksville, look for the Hwy 21 exit. Go north on 21 into Clarksville. Follow Hwy 21 right at light downtown, about a mile east on Hwy 64/21N. Hwy 21 leaves Hwy 64 and goes north into the mountains. You will climb about 2000 ft to get to Fallsville on Hwy 21, it is crooked but a very good Hwy. Fallsville is 28 miles north of Clarksville. At Fallsville you will come to a fork in the Hwy. or a "Y" in the Hwy. This is the Jct. of Hwy 16 and there is the Fallsville Gas Station and tiny storei.

Here you will find lots of cops. The road into the site is to the right of the store 1 3/4 miles. It is the 2nd dirt road on the left. Just past an old cemetery. Just before the 2nd road you will see the "Six-Up" Kitchen on the right side of Hwy.21. Just past this police "Base Camp" turn left into the USFS road block/welcome home. A map of the area is here. Go about 1 1/4 miles NE of Fallsville to FS 1463. Go north, and park someplace on the sides of the road. Make sure all your tires are fully off the road.

There was no clear Spring Council consensus this year, but this appears to be where folks on the land are going. There was a council on the land at the Fallsville (Buffalo River Headwaters) that consented to staying on that site. The USFS has given their approval that this site doesn't have any environmental or other issues that would prevent this site from being usable."

http://welcomehome.org/rainbow/index.html

Other Church Fathers on Reincarnation

2007-07-30T10:09:00.001-04:00

"The church of Rome in declaring Origen and his teachings heresy declared:

"If anyone assert the fabulous pre-existence of souls, and shall assert the monstrous restoration which follows from it: let him be anathema." (Anathema I, 5th Ecumenical Council)

Other prominent figures in the Church affirmed that reincarnation was a part of early Christian doctrine:

Rufinus assured Anastasius in a letter that belief in repeated lives was a matter of common knowledge among the church fathers and had always been imparted to the initiated as an ancient tradition. (Reincarnation and Karma, Pfullingen 1962, p. 41)

According to Jerome (340 - 420 AD):

"The transmigrations (reincarnation) of souls was taught for a long time among the early Christians as an esoteric and traditional doctrine which was to be divulged to only a small number of the elect." (Jerome, Letter to Demetrias)

According to Origen's predecessor, Clement of Alexandra (150 - 211 AD):

"The Gnosis itself is that which has descended by transmission to a few, having been imparted unwritten by the apostles." (Miscell. Book VI, Chapter 7)

St, Gregory (257 - 337 AD) wrote:

"It is absolutely necessary that the soul should be healed and purified, and that if it does not take place during its life on earth, it must be accomplished in future lives." (Trinick 1950: 38)

Gregory of Nyssa (330 - 400 AD) wrote:

"The resurrection is no other thing than 'the re-constitution of our nature in its original form'", and states that there will come a time "…when the complete whole of our race shall have been perfected from the first man to the last." (On the Soul and Resurrection)

Justin Martyr (100 - 165 AD) wrote the following to Trypho the Jew:

"And what do those suffer who are judged to be unworthy of this spectacle? said he. They are imprisoned in the bodies of certain wild beasts, and this is their punishment" (Dialogue with Trypho)

Jerome wrote in a letter to Demetrius that among the early Christians, the doctrine of reincarnation had been passed on to the elect, as an occult tradition. (Reincarnation and Karma, Pfullingen 1962, p. 41)

According to Origen, Basilides (117 - 138 AD) held a doctrine of reincarnation that was identical to the Pythagorean belief that human souls may take on the bodies of animals in future lives (i.e. transmigration). (Basilides, "Fragment F," in Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, p. 439.)"

all from http://www.near-death.com/experiences/origen07.html

to anyone born before 1980

2007-05-18T17:30:00.000-04:00

"First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking .

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. We sh ared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank koolade made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because .

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING !

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day.

And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down
the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound , CD's or Ipods, no cell! phones! , no personal computers , no Internet or chat rooms.......
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays,

made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang
the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.

They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned

HOW TO

DEAL WITH IT ALL!

If YOU are one of them . CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as
kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?! "

eharmony.com doesnt love the gays

2007-05-15T18:01:00.000-04:00

and some other types as well. they actually reject a whole lot of people who would like to place ads. but chemistry.com made these spiffy ads cause they arent such haters:

Guess what? eHarmony’s pissed at being called out for discrimination in the ad and is asking media outlets to stop running Chemistry.com’s ads or for the ads to be altered.

Betty Butterfield's Testimony

2007-05-13T08:20:00.001-04:00

An oldie but a goodie!

NPR Live Concert Series Björk and Konono No. 1 full concert for new album Volta on npr

2007-05-10T06:42:00.000-04:00

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9872952

"NPR.org, May 5, 2007 · Wildly imaginative, exuberant and always unpredictable, Björk has built an iconic career by consistently breaking new creative ground. Her latest CD, Volta, is a high-energy, tribal romp across cultures, with rhythms from Africa, horns from Iceland and strings from China. Björk performed live on NPR.org, in a full concert from New York's United Palace. The May 5 concert is a co-production from NPR Music and WNYC."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9872952

and just so you dont think im a fundamentalist

2007-04-04T16:26:00.000-04:00

who takes every bit of scripture etc literally:

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/

and this is just for fun

2007-04-04T16:24:00.000-04:00

What american accent do you have?
Seems to work pretty well too based on the results of several of my friends.

pascha

2007-04-04T16:09:00.000-04:00

here is a post from everything2 concerning eastern orthodox pascha (easter), which i will be attending this coming saturday night/sunday morning with my lovely niece beth. i thought it was an interesting description, appreciative of all that the amazing service has to offer without being slavishly/markishly/syrupy pious:

------------------

"Eastern Orthodox Easter service

(idea) by nasreddin (16.8 hr) (print)

2 C!s

Sun Apr 11 2004 at 11:19:11

Oh-oh-oh! Here's the most bee-aa-oo-ti-ful part of the year for us Orthodox Christians. You think the ritualistic cannibalization of one's own savior is weird? Then check out the ritualistic recreation of his death and rebirth! No Osiris for us, no (o)siree; it's all Jesus from here on in. AND: We are unique individuals, don't confuse us with any of them there Catholicks or Prudestants, we're Orthodox, we don't call it Easter, we call it Pascha.

Good Friday is the prelude to this Paschalottagoodness. It's the standard trip: file into church on Friday Night, sing some Psalms, notice that there's maybe 5 other people there-- everyone else out of commission on account of gettin' too enthusiastic on a Friday night with da vodka and whatever it is those Ethiopians drink. Leave with a smug grin of self-satisfaction. Christ is dead! Long live the Christ!

It's the next morning. Newsflash: Christ is still dead! So you go to church that night to really give Him a good funeral. Again: file into church, sing a buncha dirges (I mean, come on! Your God's been crucified!). Then, BLAM! 11:59, church goes totally dark. No light, not even mandatory fire-department exit sign. Royal Doors pop open, out comes the priest, robes flowing, glistening, bearing a candle: Christ is risen! Hoorah! So he lights the nearest person's candle, and there it goes! Soon the church is ablaze with candlelight (Brings a tear to my eyes, yes sir).

Little girl maybe 6 years old next to me: "When you light someone's candle, it's like you're giving light to them!"

Then we all go out of the church, and walk around it a few times. Mid-April in Milwaukee isn't bad, 35 degrees, slightly chilly but okay. Finally, whoosh! we come to a standstill. Our priest is all liberal multi-culti and hates Bush, so he does a call-and-response thing with the congregation in several languages: "Christ is risen!"--"Truly he is risen!"--"Hristos voskrese!"--"Voistinu voskrese!" (that's from all 3 Russians in this parish, me and two others)--"Hristos anesti!"--"Alethos anesti!" (the more educated ones among us know Greek, though there aren't any real Greeks here, seeing as there's a nice, non-ghetto-white-trash church in my suburb that caters specifically to the Greek community, which is all a-bursting with real estate money) "(incomprehensible)"--"(incomprehensible)" (that's Romanian, for almost half of us) and a few more "(incomprehensible)"s for the other half, which are Ethiopian and Eritrean and from other faraway African places that no one in my Old Country would ever associate with going to an Orthodox church (or, for that matter, wearing something other than loincloths and human-bone jewelry; what can I say, we're not a very melting-pot type of a country). Christ is, indeed, risen.

So we all go into the church and listen to the service for maybe an hour or so, at which point the priest motions us to sit and delivers the Paschal Homily of St. John Chrysostom, something I like very much. Therefore let me reproduce it here in its entirety:

If anyone is devout and a lover of God, let him enjoy this beautiful and radiant festival.

If anyone is a wise servant, let him, rejoicing, enter into the joy of his Lord.

If anyone has wearied himself in fasting, let him now receive his recompense.

If anyone has labored from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward. If anyone has come at the third hour, with thanksgiving let him keep the feast. If anyone has arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; for he shall suffer no loss. If anyone has delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near without hesitation. If anyone has arrived even at the eleventh hour, let him not fear on account of his delay. For the Master is gracious and receives the last, even as the first; he gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour, just as to him who has labored from the first. He has mercy upon the last and cares for the first; to the one he gives, and to the other he is gracious. He both honors the work and praises the intention.

Enter all of you, therefore, into the joy of our Lord, and, whether first or last, receive your reward. O rich and poor, one with another, dance for joy! O you ascetics and you negligent, celebrate the day! You that have fasted and you that have disregarded the fast, rejoice today! The table is rich-laden; feast royally, all of you! The calf is fatted; let no one go forth hungry!

Let all partake of the feast of faith. Let all receive the riches of goodness.

Let no one lament his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed.

Let no one mourn his transgressions, for pardon has dawned from the grave.

Let no one fear death, for the Saviour's death has set us free.

He that was taken by death has annihilated it! He descended into hades and took hades captive! He embittered it when it tasted his flesh! And anticipating this Isaiah exclaimed, "Hades was embittered when it encountered thee in the lower regions." It was embittered, for it was abolished! It was embittered, for it was mocked! It was embittered, for it was purged! It was embittered, for it was despoiled! It was embittered, for it was bound in chains!

It took a body and, face to face, met God! It took earth and encountered heaven! It took what it saw but crumbled before what it had not seen!

"O death, where is thy sting? O hades, where is thy victory?

Christ is risen, and you are overthrown!

Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen!

Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice!

Christ is risen, and life reigns!

Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in a tomb!

For Christ, being raised from the dead, has become the First-fruits of them that slept.

To him be glory and might unto ages of ages. Amen.

As Grandmaster Flash once said, "I couldn't have said it better myself." I couldn't have said it better myself.

So then we go into the straight-up liturgy (which is kinda like a mass but all Orthodox-like) which I will not bore you with here, but let's move on to the next exciting topic:

PICKING WAX OFF OF CANDLES!

Oh, that's right. Picking Wax Off Of Candles is the most enjoyable habit since masturbating to pay-per-view wrestling! I do this every single Pascha ever. It's simple: you light a candle (the same one we lit at the beginning of the presentation; all throughout the service everyone holds one, but they can't hold a candle to me! (rimshot)) and when the drops of hot liquid wax flow down the sides of the candle you wait for them to cool off and then pick them off and STUFF! STUFF! them back into the melted wax part of the candle. It's lots of fun, especially to relieve the boredom of Easter service. It also provides you with the valuable experience of Burning Your Fingers On Hot Wax! Lotsa fun.

And that's all, folks."

2007-02-03T00:06:00.000-05:00

well hmmm... this a bit complicated. as any human life is wouldnt you say?

i could take two tragectories here. a simple chronology or a more complex meta-data approach.

i think i will opt for the more simplistic approach this evening. meta-data can come later i suppose.

how did i come to the here and now:

in 1972 i was born. i was an unexpected 5th child who arrived after my mother had her tubes cut. they replaced themselves to their original positions and i was born when she was 40 years old. twenty years after my oldest brother.

i was born in south philly but about 6 months after i was born my parents moved to snj. i grew up in williamstown. my older siblings thought i was a bit of a freek because i was way into dirt and animals and the woods, and they grew up in the middle of the catholic concrete of south philly.

when i was a little boy i realized i wasnt normal. for a number of reasons. i was too sensitive for my own good. i saw God and beauty everywhere. to my own distraction. to the point that i was overwhelmed. on the flip side of this sensitivity coin i also experienced pain and suffering more intensely. a fair deal in the end i suppose?

one thing that struck me quite early was that i was a boy and yet i liked men and i knew this didnt fit in. i did my best to deny it, and accomplished that feat until i was 21. when i was 21 i was in a russian orthodox seminary/monastery. of all things the super-traditional outlook of the eastern orthodox atmosphere allowed me to come out to myself. i was finally able to accept myself as a sexual being and to understand that God rarely - jesus never - talked about my sexual perdicament but constantly talked about compassion and mercy and not judging and forgiving. so i decided to try as much as possible to put into practice what he actually talked about and not worry so much what everyone else talked about instead.

i have been all over the place: california (santa cruz for an extended period of time) europe; luxemburg, germany, czechoslovakia (when it was still a single country) austria, italy, the netherlands, england, iceland and spain. each of those places has contributed to the soul that now types these words.

i finally moved back into my fathers house (my mother died unexpectedly when i was 17 - but thats a whole other email) and he eventually became ill, as age is wont to do to a person. i took care of him for some time, several years, until he became to ill and suffered too much dementia too be left alone during the day, then we (me and my siblings) arranged for him to go into constant care at the VA nursing home in vineland. he died six months later.

after that i stayed on at the old house for a while then sold it. moved from pitman, where i lived with my dad, to williamstown, where i had previously grown up until i was 18. i bought a trailer and moved onto the back 3 acres of my brothers property. where i am still located today. i enjoy the quiet country atmosphere we have here on the very edge of the pine barrens and my semi-subsitance lifestyle.

however, in the winter of 05 spring of 06 i suffered a sort of nervous breakdown. i had previously had some rather intense experiences with panic attacks and anxiety and they finally came to a head around this time. at the worst point i was unable to leave the house (trailer and surrounding yard) at all. i was about to go to the emergency room because i was convinced i was dying. but instead i called the mental health hotline in the phone book. interestingly enough they directed me properly and i have received appropriate attention and have been recovering from this sensory overload since around march of 06. happily, i am back to reality but still have some difficulties with too much social/sensory stimulation. i believe that 3000 years ago i might have been a respected shaman for having gone through this experience and resurfaced from the other side. instead in 2007 i am considered a semi-recovered mentally ill person. hows that for progress?

in fact - i do not nescessarily know what the words mentally ii mean. i think some people are just more or less sensitive to their surroundings and experiences, feel them and experience them more or less fully - more or less filtered. without any filters whatsoever everyone would be completely insane. we are constantly filtering out things, sounds, sights, all sorts of sensations and experiences. some people's filters are more or less strict. in this day and age of disjointed techno solitude people who have less of a filter between themselves and the fullness of reality are considered disabled in some way. in the distant past they would have been considered super-able, at least i believe so.

at any rate, that is not how i would describe myself. if i needed to make an incomplete label for myself i would say i am a gen-x-christian(needs to be defined)-of-the-eastern persuasion-homo-american-who-experiences-the-world-
primarily-as-an-act-of-artistic-expression-and-
wonderment-and-waits-and-prays-for-the-day-that-the-
beast-of-consumerism-that-whore-of-babylon-passes-
and-the-eternal-kingdom-finds-its-place-in-my-heart.

i wonder if that makes any sense to you? i think it might. thats why i answered your message.

oh, wait, im not all goody two shoes mystico shaman. i worked a corporate cubicle jockey job for a couple years. i was involved in the sex industry for a couple years. i was an angry hedonist who hated God for a few years. i've inebriated myself with several different psycho-pharmo-active-substances.

i dunno what else? have i scared you away yet?

in addition to all of this my main hobbies are reading and researching various esoteric/spiritual/conspiritorial theories/facts, gardening and raising chickens from eggs in an incubator.

what do you think?

where and what are you right now?

most sincerely,

matty

What an inconvenient truth made me think about

2007-01-17T09:26:00.000-05:00

here is how i would list energy sources in order of most preferable to least:

1 solar
2 geothermal
3 wind
4 tidal
5 nuclear
6 coal
7 petroleum

1 solar is basically where all energy on earth comes from and always has. almost all life on earth derives its energy either directly or indirectly from solar energy so it tops my list because the earth seems to prefer it.

2 second best is geothermal, it would be first because it produces zero emissions, is not dependent upon weather conditions, and is free for the taking. it comes in second only because access to geothermal energy is limited. in iceland, where it is abundant, all electricity is derived from steam driven turbines tapping underground heat resevoirs. there is so much geothermal energy available that in certain places you can reach down and touch the ground and its actually warm in the middle of winter. furthermore all buses in iceland now run on hydrogen which is created using the energy harnessed by the geothermal generators. when the sh*t hits the fan the lights will still be on and the buses running in iceland.

3 the earlier attempts at wind farms used high speed turbines/windmills that were a major problem for migrating birds. however the newer generations of wind turbines are much larger and spin much more slowly. almost three years ago while driving through the formerly communist sections of east germany i saw literally hundreds of these enormous wind turbines all over the countryside. before german reunification the communist sections relied almost exclusively on coal plants built in the 50s and 60s. it was a horrendous mess and most structures in the east were covered in a thin film of soot. after reunification, in order to meet the high environmental standards of the rest of germany the coal plants were almost all closed. they leapfrogged right past oil, solar and nuclear and went right to wind. it seems to be working very well. and again, when the oil supplies go down the lights will remain on in at least some parts of eastern germany. i have seen no data indicating that wind turbines would be able to have much affect on weather patterns etc. most weather is generated by high altitude jetstreams. many mountain ranges are substantial enough to affect weather patterns but I imagine it would be difficult to construct enough windmills in any one area to mimic the effects of a mountain range etc.

4 tidal power generation would rely on harnessing the flow of tides into and out of estuaries and harbors. there would be no emissions however auquatic life would most likely be affected in a myriad of ways.

5 nuclear has come a long way - the newest reactors utilize "pebble bed" technologies that would make a meltdown ala chernobyl nearly impossible. however there is still the nagging question of what to do with the spent uranium waste product which would remain highly radioactive for thousands of years.

6 coal only comes in higher than oil on my list because the increased use of coal to generate electricity would steer funding away from several totalitarian states and or "terrorist" organizations, increase our energy independence and perhaps thereby decrease our disturbing tendency to meddle in the affairs of other oil producing nations.

7 oil as an energy supply has few to zero positive qualities.

and finally a note on hydrogen - hydrogen is most efficiently produced by running an electrical current through water (a gross simplification but basically the gist of the idea) thus seperating the hydrogen atoms from the oxygen atoms in H2O. it's production is therefore still dependent upon any of the above energy sources for its creation. it would however be an interesting way for the electrical energy produced by those methods to be converted into a gas or liquid form for use in vehicles, industry, home heating, etc. it is not, however, really an energy source of it's own.

thats my take, based on what i've read and energy alternatives i have seen first hand (iceland and germany). anyone have any thoughts?

india to west west to india update

2006-08-15T15:43:00.000-04:00

Note: Click on image for full size pic.

Summary

The Buddha with Vajrapani/Herakles and Tyche/Hariti. Site of "Tapa i Shotor", Hadda, Afghanistan. Usually dated 2nd-3rd century CE. Personal drawing. Photographic reference: [1]

Both figures "might at first (and even second) glance, pass as, say, from Asia Minor or Syria of the first or second century BC (...) these are essentially Greek figures, executed by artists fully conversant with far more than the externals of the Classical style" (Boardman, p143).

Of special notice, Herakles still has his lion skin in the left shoulder, although his club has been replaced by Vajrapani's thunderbolt.

This work of art was destroyed by the Taliban in the 1990s. Only photographs remain.

Fuckin Taliban!

greco-indian crosscultural influences in ancient times

2006-08-15T14:28:00.000-04:00

Greco-Buddhism, sometimes spelled Græco-Buddhism, is the cultural syncretism culture of Classical Greece and Buddhism, which developed over a period of close to 800 years in Central Asia in the area corresponding to modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan, between the 4th century BCE and the 5th century CE. Greco-Buddhism influenced the artistic (and, possibly, conceptual) development of Buddhism, and in particular Mahayana Buddhism, before it was adopted by Central and Northeastern Asia from the 1st century CE, ultimately spreading to China, Korea and Japan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism

Several Buddhist dedications by Greeks in India are recorded, such as that of the Greek meridarch (civil governor of a province) named Theodorus, describing in Kharoshthi how he enshrined relics of the Buddha. The inscriptions were found on a vase inside a stupa, dated to the reign of Menander or one his successors in the 1st century BCE (Tarn, p391):

"Theudorena meridarkhena pratithavida ime sarira sakamunisa bhagavato bahu-jana-stitiye":

"The meridarch Theodorus has enshrined relics of Lord Shakyamuni, for the welfare of the mass of the people"

(Swāt relic vase inscription of the Meridarkh Theodoros^[10])

This inscription represents one of the first known mention of the Buddha as a deity, using the Indian bhakti word Bhagavat ("Lord", "All-embracing personal deity"), suggesting the emergence of Mahayana doctrines in Buddhism.

Finally, Buddhist tradition recognizes Menander as one of the great benefactors of the faith, together with Asoka and Kanishka.

Buddhist manuscripts in cursive Greek have been found in Afghanistan, praising various Buddhas and including mentions of the Mahayana Lokesvara-raja Buddha

Blue-eyed, stereotypically european looking, Central Asian Buddhist monk, with an East-Asian colleague, Tarim Basin, 9th-10th century.

"...For example, the "miracle" of walking on water, which is frequently attributed to Jesus in the New Testament, is first found in Buddhist literature in the oldest Pali Canon Digha Nikaya 11, in the Kevatta Sutta. This is not found in any other literature in the world except 500 years later in the Christian New Testament^{[citation needed]}.

"Scholars have often considered the possibility that Buddhism influenced the early development of Christianity. They have drawn attention to many parallels concerning the births, lives, doctrines, and deaths of the Buddha and Jesus" (Bentley, "Old World Encounters").

The story of the birth of the Buddha was well known in the West, and possibly influenced the story of the birth of Jesus: Saint Jerome (4th century CE) mentions the birth of the Buddha, who he says "was born from the side of a virgin". Also a fragment of Archelaos of Carrha (278 CE) mentions the Buddha's virgin-birth.

Early 3rd-4th century Christian writers such as Hippolytus and Epiphanius write about a Scythianus, who visited India around 50 AD from where he brought "the doctrine of the Two Principles". According to these writers, Scythianus' pupil Terebinthus presented himself as a "Buddha" ("he called himself Buddas" Cyril of Jerusalem ^[21]). Terebinthus went to Palestine and Judaea where he met the Apostles ("becoming known and condemned" Isaia), and ultimately settled in Babylon, where he transmitted his teachings to Mani, thereby creating the foundation of what could be called Persian syncretic Buddhism, Manicheism. One of the greatest thinkers and saints of western Christianity, Augustine of Hippo was originally a Manichean.

In the 2nd century CE, the Christian dogmatist Clement of Alexandria recognized Bactrian Buddhists (Sramanas) and Indian Gymnosophists for their influence on Greek thought:

"Thus philosophy, a thing of the highest utility, flourished in antiquity among the barbarians, shedding its light over the nations. And afterwards it came to Greece. First in its ranks were the prophets of the Egyptians; and the Chaldeans among the Assyrians; and the Druids among the Gauls; and the Sramanas among the Bactrians ("Σαρμαναίοι Βάκτρων"); and the philosophers of the Celts; and the Magi of the Persians, who foretold the Saviour's birth, and came into the land of Judaea guided by a star. The Indian gymnosophists are also in the number, and the other barbarian philosophers. And of these there are two classes, some of them called Sramanas ("Σαρμάναι"), and others Brahmins ("Βραφμαναι")." (Clement of Alexandria "The Stromata, or Miscellanies" ^[22]).

The main Greek cities of the Middle-East happen to have played a key role in the development of Christianity, such as Antioch and especially Alexandria, and “it was later in this very place that some of the most active centers of Christianity were established” (Robert Linssen, “Zen living”).

Winged Cupids holding a wreath over the Buddha

The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom covered the areas of Bactria and Sogdiana, comprising today's northern Afghanistan and parts of Central Asia, the easternmost area of the Hellenistic world, from 250 to 125 BCE. The expansion of the Greco-Bactrians into northern India from 180 BCE established the Indo-Greek Kingdom, which was to last until around 10 CE.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Bactrian_kingdom

According to the Edicts of Ashoka, set in stone, some of them written in Greek, he sent Buddhist emissaries to the Greek lands in Asia and as far as the Mediterranean. The edicts name each of the rulers of the Hellenistic world at the time.

"The conquest by Dharma has been won here, on the borders, and even six hundred yojanas (4,000 miles) away, where the Greek king Antiochos rules, beyond there where the four kings named Ptolemy, Antigonos, Magas and Alexander rule, likewise in the south among the Cholas, the Pandyas, and as far as Tamraparni." (Edicts of Ashoka, 13th Rock Edict, S. Dhammika).

In the 2nd century CE, the Christian dogmatist Clement of Alexandria recognized the existence of Buddhist Sramanas among the Bactrians ("Bactrians" meaning "Oriental Greeks" in that period), and even their influence on Greek thought: "Thus philosophy, a thing of the highest utility, flourished in antiquity among the barbarians, shedding its light over the nations. And afterwards it came to Greece. First in its ranks were the prophets of the Egyptians; and the Chaldeans among the Assyrians; and the Druids among the Gauls; and the Sramanas among the Bactrians ("Σαρμαναίοι Βάκτρων"); and the philosophers of the Celts; and the Magi of the Persians, who foretold the Saviour's birth, and came into the land of Judaea guided by a star. The Indian gymnosophists are also in the number, and the other barbarian philosophers. And of these there are two classes, some of them called Sramanas ("Σαρμάναι"), and others Brahmins ("Βραφμαναι")." Clement of Alexandria "The Stromata, or Miscellanies" Book I, Chapter XV

The Greek god Atlas, supporting a Buddhist monument, Hadda, Afghanistan. From w:en:Image:GandharanAtlas.JPG.

The Buddha - Note similarity to eastern Orthodox Christian icons:

concerning walt whitman - our very patron

2006-08-11T10:00:00.000-04:00

Date: 1891
Place: Camden
Photographer: Dr. William Reeder, Philadelphia
Annotation: Taken, as was a simiilar photograph, in Whitman's upstairs bedroom. Here the legendary chaos of papers that surrounded Whitman in his last years is visible; he likened the mass to a sea, resisted efforts of his housekeeper and friends to sort it out, and claimed that whatever he needed surfaced eventually.

--------------------------------

Date: Early to mid-1880s
Place: Philadelphia
Photographer: Thomas Eakins
Annotation: This photo group is part of Eakins's "naked series" and is labeled simply "Old man, seven photographs." The model bears a striking resemblance to Whitman; for a plausible case that this may be a photo of Whitman "undisguised and naked," see Ed Folsom, "Walt Whitman's 'Calamus' Photographs" in Betsy Erkkila and Jay Grossman, Breaking Bounds: Whitman and American Cultural Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 193-219.

---------------
Date: Probably February 11th, 1878
Place: Philadelphia
Photographer: Augustus Morand
Annotation: With Harry Stafford. Whitman often stayed with Stafford family at his farm in New Jersey where he spent restorative time by Timber Creek, regaining his health. In 1876 Whitman entered an intense and stormy relationship with young Harry, who often accompanied Whitman to the creek and to whom Whitman gave a ring; the ring is visible in this photo on Harry's right hand. The ring was taken back and re-given over the next couple of years, and clearly was thought of as a symbol of deep commitment; Harry wrote to Whitman about wanting the ring back in 1877 "to compleete [sic] our friendship." During one of Harry's visits to Camden in February 1878, Whitman notes: "Feb 11--Monday--Harry here--put r[ing] on his hand again--had picture taken at Morand's cor Arch & 9th Phil: for Michener, cor Arch & 10th" (DBN 85). Harry wrote Whitman: "You know when you put it on there was but one thing to part it from me and that was death." During these years, when they were apart, Whitman wrote Harry intimate letters: "Dear Harry, not a day or night passes but I think of you. . . . Dear son, how I wish you could come in now, even if but for an hour & take off your coat, & sit on my lap--" By 1881, Whitman credited Harry with having saved his life: "Dear Hank, I realize plainly that if I had not known you--if it hadn't been for you & our friendship . . . I believe I should not be a living man to-day--"

-------------

Date:
Around 1869
Place:
Washington, D.C.
Photographer:
M. P. Rice
Annotation:
Whitman with close friend and companion in Washington. Doyle was a horsecar driver and met Whitman one stormy night in 1865 when Whitman, looking (as Doyle said) "like an old sea-captain," remained the only passenger on Doyle's car. They were inseparable for the next eight years. 'Never mind, the expression on my face atones for all that is lacking in his. What do I look like there? Is it seriosity?' Harned suggested: 'Fondness, and Doyle should be a girl'--but Whitman. shook his head, laughing again: 'No--don't be too hard on it: that is my rebel friend, you know,' &c. Then again: 'Tom, you would like Pete--love him: and you, too, Horace: you especially, Horace--you and Pete would get to be great chums. I found everybody in Washington who knew Pete loving him: so that fond expression, as you call it, Tom, has very good cause for being: Pete is a master character.' I said: 'One of your powerful uneducated persons, Walt, eh?' W. quickly: 'Just that: a rare man: knowing nothing of books, knowing everything of life: a great big hearty full-blooded everyday divinely generous working man: a hail fellow well met--a little too fond maybe of his beer, now and then, and of the women: maybe, maybe: but for the most part the salt of the earth. Most literary men, as you know, are the kind of men a hearty man would not go far to see: but Pete fascinates you by the very earthiness of his nobility.'" For an 1868 portrait of Doyle also taken by M. P. Rice, see Ed Folsom, "1868 Photograph of Peter Doyle," Walt Whitman Quarterly Review, 4 (Spring 1987), 38 and back cover.

------------

and finally a link to the sublime "Song of Myself"

http://www.princeton.edu/~batke/logr/log_026.html

lady ciccone

2006-08-07T20:10:00.000-04:00

I know her ego is too big for her already but hopefully she will never see this. I was inspired to add lady ciccone to the grotto after seeing the dvd "i am going to tell you a secret." she's not completely there yet, that's why she is still alive with us, here in this temporal world. however, to me at least, it is quite obvious that something very strange has happened to her over the last decade or so.

The following is from the opening sequence of the documentary "i am going to tell you a secret" in which madonna ciccone reads:

"Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of the prophecy
And blessed are those who hear
And who keep what is written therein
For the time is near

He is coming with the clouds
And every eye will see him
Everyone who pierced him
And all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him

(skipped on the dvd but still nice - "Those of you who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan
I know your works, I know your toil, and your patient endurance
And how you cannot hear evil men
But have tested those who call themselves apostles, but are not
And found them to be false
I know that you are enduring patiently
And you have not grown weary" - she resumes reading here)

but I have this against you
that you have abandoned the love you had

And I saw a beast rising out of the sea with ten horns and seven heads
and a blasphemous name upon its head
And to it the dragon gave his power,
And the whole earth followed the beast with wonder

Men worshipped the dragon for he had given his authority to the beast
and they worshipped the beast saying
"Who is like the beast and who can fight against the beast?"
And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words
and it opened its mouth to utter blasphemous words against God

Then, I saw a new heaven and a new earth
And I heard a great voice from the throne saying:
"Behold the dwelling of God is with men
He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people
And God himself will be with them
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes
And death shall be no more
Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore
For these things will have passed away

To the thirsty I will give water without price
From the fountain of the water of life

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted
As for the murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars
Their lot shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone."

And he said to me:
"Do not seal up the words of the prophecy, for the time is near
Behold, I am coming soon"

She then goes on to explain her interpretation of the text. In a nutshell she states that she sees the beast that rises from the sea as the modern consumerist world/society/lifestyle to which we are all in one way or another beholden and seduced by. it is the true duty of the spiritual to resist this aweful beast and anticipate it's destruction and replacement with a new heaven and a new earth.

captain cook tells us about meeting the polynesians

2006-08-06T07:18:00.000-04:00

"From what I have said of the Natives of New Holland they may appear to some to be the most wretched people upon Earth, but in reality they are far happier than we Europeans; being wholly unacuainted not only with the superfluos but the neessary conveniences so much sought after in Europe, they are happy in not knowing the use of them. They live in a Tranquility wich is not disturb'd by the Inequality of Conditions: The Earth and sea of their own accord furnishes them with all things necessary for life, they covet not Magnificient Houses, Householdstuff etc., they live in a warm and fine climate and enjoy a very wholesome Air, so that they have very little need for Clothing and this they seem to be fully sensible of, for many to whome we gave Cloth etc. to, left it carelessly upon the Sea beach and in the woods as a thing they had no manner of use for. In short term, nor would they ever part with any thing of their own for any one article we could offer them; this in my oppinion argues that they think themselves provided with all the necessary of Life and that they have no superfluities."
James Cook in The Voyage of the Endeavour.

Cook was speared and stoned to death in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) in February 1779.

more on the delaware moors

2006-08-05T20:50:00.000-04:00

"A number of scholars have taken note of this group which, for the most part, considers itself distinct from both Negro and white races. Researchers have examined their mixed blood characteristics and have endeavored to trace the precise origins of the Moors.⁵

In discussing the physical appearance of the Moors, as well as the Nanticoke Indian descendants to whom some Moors are related, C. A. Weslager wrote:

certain facial characteristics...set them apart from both whites and Negroes. The darkest have brown skins and the lightest resemble their white neighbors in complexion. Blonde, red and sandy hair may be seen, but the majority have brown or black hair, either wavy or straight and coarse like that of the full blooded American Indian. Kinky or woolen hair...is not often seen...straight noses and thin lips are typical. Eye colors range from grays and blues to dark brown and black. Many of the mixed bloods have sharply chiseled features, swarthy complexions and straight hair.... Others are distinctly Indian-like in appearance, having high and wide cheekbones, even among the same family. Light skinned Parent often have dark skinned children and vice versa.⁶

No one has really been able to trace the precise origins of the Delaware Moors. Legend and historical hearsay have suggested possibilities. C. A. Weslager, in his book Delaware's Forgotten Folks, presents (in his own words) legends of three categories which he collected from Delaware Moors.⁷ One category of legend purports that the Moors originated sometime before the Revolutionary War through the founding of a colony along the Atlantic coast of the Delmarva peninsula by a group of dark skinned Spanish Moors. Through intermarriage with the local Indians come the people called Moors in Delaware and New Jersey.

A second category of legend Weslager refers to as pirate legends. These legends stated that Spanish or Moorish pirates, in the later eighteenth century, were shipwrecked off the Delaware coast in the Delaware Bay or near the Indian River Inlet. The shipwrecked men were taken in by the Nanticoke Indians and came to marry Indian women, thus beginning the mixed stock of Delaware Moors. Some versions of this legend considered the shipwrecked men as Spanish, French, or Moorish sailors and not buccaneers.

Weslager categorizes a third legend type, which he found most popular among the Moors, as romantic legend. In this legend type a beautiful woman and a dark-skinned slave or slaves are the central characters. The woman was wealthy, either Spanish or Irish, and lived on a plantation in southern Delaware. She purchased one male slave who turned out to have been a Spanish prince. They then fell in love and had children of dusky complexion. Not being accepted by the white community, the family sought associations elsewhere and consequently, mixed with the Indians in the vicinity of the plantation. Other modifications of this plot said that a similar women bought seven couples of Moorish slaves whose children intermarried with Indian descendants living on Indian River...

According, to written sources and informants, it has been customary for Moors to marry Moors.¹² Because of this endogamy, the Delaware Moors today, as a group, consist of members of closely interrelated families. Informant Dorothy Carney listed eighteen Moor families of Cheswold and stated that branches of some of these families make up the Moor populations in both Sussex County, Delaware and in southern New Jersey.^13...

When doing field research among the Delaware Moors in the early 1940's, C. A. Weslager claimed that "beneath the surface lurk shadows that can be traced to Indian life of the past."¹⁴ He cited the lingering use of herbal cures, weather beliefs related to natural phenomena, and handmade wooden implements as survivals of the Moors' Indian descent.¹

Immanuel Union United Methodist Church serves the Moors of the Cheswold area in religious and social capacities. Sunday services, as well as social events such as suppers, raffles, and occasional talent nights featuring spiritual songs or makeshift bands, bring a sizable group of Cheswold Moors together frequently. Homecoming days, held about once a year at the church, to honor some of the older Moor families with recognition during the service and a supper, draw Moors from Cheswold and farther areas, especially those closely related to the honored families.

The clannish nature of the Delaware Moors and the existence of their own network of organizations and institutions have, in good part, been created by the dynamics of prejudice and racial discrimination. These elements which in some ways set the Moors apart, are not due to significant cultural differences between the Moors and their mainstream counterparts. As with other minorities, the Moors have often been barred from the cliques, social clubs, and churches of white America. Consequently, they have needed to construct to a certain extent their own parallel social world...

While the Moors have long been behaviorally assimilated into mainstream American life, they are still in the process of becoming structurally or institutionally assimilated. As long as there are needs to be served by such strong family ties and parallel social structures, the Moors of Delaware and southern New Jersey will remain a viable and identifiable group."

from the following:
http://www.mitsawokett.com/MoorsOfDelaware/trirace3.html

The Delaware Moors

2006-08-05T14:34:00.000-04:00

from the followeing site
http://www.al-ahari.com/EMS.html
we read:

The Delaware Moors are a group of mixed race individuals related to the Delaware Indians. The Delaware State Legislature refused to recognize the Moors as either Indians or as Moors. They were classified as "Negro" on state records and the Delaware Indians were proclaimed extinct. The Nanricoke Indians fought back as did their close relatives the Moors. Eventually both won some degree of recognition. The scholar C.A. Weslager writes of his time among these "Forgotten Moors" in his works The Nanricoke Indians (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1983) and Delaware's Forgotten Folk (Philadelphia, 1943). The Moors were a result of a mixture of Moorish, Irish, and Nanricoke blood. A similar group called the Ben Ishmael Tribe is described below in this lesson.

According to Weslager, several theories arose as to the origin of the Delaware Moors. On p. 27 of his 1943 work we read, "First is the Colonization legend. In essence, it says that a group of dark skinned Spanish Moors, sometime before the Revolutionary War, sailed to America to found a colony. They are supposed to have settled along the Atlantic Coast. From this ancestral stock, through intermarriage with Indians, came a race of people called Moors who lived apart in settlements of their own on the southeastern coast of the Delmarva Peninsula."

A further modification of this theory is found on p. 30 where we read, "Sometime before the Revolutionary War a beautiful red haired lady lived on a large plantation in the vicinity of Lewes and owned many black slaves. A strange plague swept the countryside and killed many of her slaves. She went to the slave market at Lewes to purchase a new lot of blacks who had lately arrived on a slave ship. There she was impressed by a coterie of seven handsome men and seven beautiful women who stood apart from the other slaves and spoke a different language. Their skins were dark, but their hair was straight and their features were as regular as those of white persons. She recognized that they were Moors not Negroes and bought the seven couples and took them home. The children who were born to these Moorish slaves later intermarried with Indian descendants then living on the Indian River. The progeny of these mixed marriages became the people known today as Moors and Nanticokes." [C.A. Weslager,
1943, pp. 27, 30].

Villiage of Arts and Humanities

2006-08-05T09:17:00.000-04:00

This photograph: late 1990s - Philadelphia PA - Villiage of the arts and humanities - matteo ben moor and frater dionysios.

In the late 1990s frater dionysios and myself discovered the V.o.A.a.H through a local newspaper article on an urban hermit who had squatted a house in the extremely poor north philly neighborhood and later successfully purchased the rowhame from the city for $1. After some initial research we set out to locate the village and the hermit.

The village project was begun in the early 90s by an artist named lily yeh. the concept was to focus on a small area of several blocks through a combination of community produced artwork and parks on abandoned lots combined with a community center providing education, drama and artistic activities for the area youth. The results are quite impressive. After walking around the dilapidated surrounding areas we finally stumbed upon the above pictured park and knew we were now in the village. We followed the series of interconnected parks and muralled alleyways not quite sure how we would locate the specific home of the hermit.

The hermit had located in the area independent of the activities of the V.oA.aH mostly by coincidence. Eventually, walking down the street we noticed a small religious icon hung on the center of the front door to one of the many rowhomes. Wordlessly, we both knew we had found the hermit. We knocked on the door and were greeted and given hospitality and conversation by the hermit who also gave us a tour of his home and the attached pottery studio. He told us some of his life history and how he had come to be a non-official religious urban hermit.

We visited with him on several other occasions. He has since been officially recognized by the Roman Catholic church as a hermit and now wears a habit of his own design.

salaam

2006-08-05T08:57:00.000-04:00

Greetings. This is the online blog of the grotto of the universal seekers. The m.g. is a shrine to various individuals, past and present who inspire, elevate, or imbibe the spiritual/asthetic principles of the moorish in america.