#hermetic square

[talonabraxas]

The Black Cube Talon Abraxas

The square, or its 3D-equivalent the cube, is indeed a universal and age-old hermetic symbol. It represents the Earth, matter, base consciousness (the sphere, circle or compass conversely representing the Heavens, spirit, elevated consciousness).

The black cube or square takes additional meaning: it is a symbol of Saturn, also known as Cronos or Kronos. That symbol is revered by occultists as they associate it with the mythological Golden Age (which Kronos ruled as the youngest and leader of the first generation of Titans).

Saturn’s Cosmic Influence: Saturnian Energies: The symbolic connections expand to include the planet Saturn. Saturn’s influence, often associated with limitations, discipline, and time, is explored within the context of esoteric practices. Seekers may learn how Saturnian energies are believed to impact spiritual growth, transformation, and the manifestation of hidden knowledge.

Astrological Alignments: Astrology, a discipline deeply entwined with esoteric practices, may play a significant role in this exploration. The book may delve into the astrological aspects of Saturn, offering insights into how its positions and transits can be harnessed for spiritual elevation.

[muzaktomyears]

They had shared the skyrocket trip to fame together, and had become, as a consequence, an impregnable quartet. No one else had gone through what they had, no one else understood. They seemed to find a tremendous inspiration from each other's presence. There was a kind of love between the four of them, some feeling that gave them strength. It was a case of the whole being stronger than the sum of its parts. Although the world had accepted them with open arms, it could also, in many ways, be their enemy. They were a bit like the four corners of a Guards Regiment 'square' on the battlefield at Waterloo - steadfast together against the media shot and shell. (...) In the studio I was very much part of them; every voice was heard equally. But once they left the studio, out into the night, they closed themselves off again, reverting to their hermetically sealed unit. Even Brian Epstein didn't get inside that shell. As for the way they viewed me, I was 'very twelve-inch', in Ringo's memorable phrase. (Back in the fifties we used to issue ten-inch and twelve-inch vinyl records. The ten-inch records were the 'rhythm-style series', what we now call pop, and the twelve-inch were the cantatas and symphonies: the classical. Ten-inch was common; but twelve-inch - that was a cut above!) (...) Tony King, who worked for us and was a good friend of John, remembers that our sessions were like 'all the fun of the fair. Everybody would have these funny sort of sixties smilies on their faces; and among all this madness was the Duke of Edinburgh, as we used to call George Martin.'

Summer of Love: The Making of Sgt. Pepper, George Martin with William Pearson (1994)

[shining-scion]

HEY GUYS. HERE’S A LONG ASS ESSAY ABOUT WIZ AND THE REAL LIFE THINGS THAT ITS MAGIC SYSTEM CAN BE TIED TO/MAY BE INSPIRED BY. THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A YOUTUBE VIDEO SCRIPT AND IT MAY STILL BE BUT A LOT OF PEOPLE DON’T REALLY LIKE MY VOICE SO.

Wizard101 is a 2008 MMO developed by Kingsisle Entertainment. It's still going strong almost 16 years later, and at the age of 5 years old it ruined my life.

Today I want to talk about the magic - specifically how the schools of magic function. Everything about the magic system in wizard101 I want to dissect, analyze and see if we can't find any real world equivalents.

(Spoilers— a lot of this ties back to alchemy.)

Let's start at the beginning, which is probably the easiest place to start - The Song of Creation.

In lore, the Song of Creation was sung by Bartleby and Raven to save the first world. They sang this song, which wove together the spiral, which is where we currently live now.

Now, the easiest way to see this is in relation to the Big Bang, which is the most widely agreed upon scientific theory for how the universe began. The wisps we collect are confirmed to be leftovers, much like the leftovers of the Big Bang we can find in space. However I think it's a little bit deeper than that.

See, the Song of Creation is a literal song - and songs famously use sound waves. I think you can take this two ways - you can take this in the scientific route, which is that strong enough sound waves can cause objects to vibrate. The Song of Creation is just an extension of that idea, it didn't create anything new, but it did weave together the Spiral in its current shape.

However, in alchemy there is a concept called the third Hermetic law. Which is, "Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates."

Now, I'm not an Alchemy expert, but this is fascinating to me because, well, it's true! Atoms vibrate, nothing is ever “at rest.”

The Hermetic laws are the basis of a very very complicated philosophical and religious system based on the teachings of a hellenistic god called Hermes Trismegistus. It’s called hermeticism, and has a lot of basis in Alchemy according to my research.

So okay, you're sitting here and you're looking at me and you're going, “So what? The Song of Creation kind of lines up with the third law of some alchemic principle. who cares?”

And to that I say, there is another hermetic law that is visible within the world of the Spiral. And that is the principle of polarity.

The principle of polarity is, "Everything is dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; all truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled."

Fire and Ice, Storm and Myth, Life and Death. These are all polars. Even with this principal of schools of magic having opposites, there is balance, which has no opposing School. It's a paradox.

You could even say, since the system was created by Bartleby, it's a Divine Paradox.

No I'm, I'm kidding, the Divine Paradox is a completely different concept that I'll get into soon. I want to touch on one more thing.

The Philosopher's Stone is probably one of the most known and important concepts that has come out of alchemy. If you're a Fullmetal Alchemist fan, you're going to know where I'm going with this. and if you're not, what are you doing reading a post about Wizard101? Go witness peak fiction.

This is the symbol of the Philosopher's Stone. The shapes have meaning. The circles represent perfection and the eternal spirit realm - Alchemists believed that the universe was circular. The square represents Earth, and the four elements of matter - you know the answer if you’ve seen Avatar.

The triangle represents the three alchemical elements, sulfur, representing the soul, mercury, the spirit, and salt, the body. The smaller circle represents the fifth element, which is like… sort of also the spirit, but a different kind. The fifth element was believed to be a substance that would permeate all things and connect everything together.

Now if you look at the schools of magic symbol seen on the Wizard101 website…

There is this.

Look familiar?

It should.

Obviously this isn't a one-to-one recreation of the Philosopher's Stone symbol. but it's really, shockingly close. Now, maybe this is because this is just a neat and cool way to arrange your seven classes for your silly little game you made in 2008. But, the elemental schools are on the outside, and the spiritual schools are on the inside. Now the issue here does come with the fact that while the elements are on the outside, and you could argue that represents the Earth, which would line up with the fact the circle on the Philosopher's Stone symbol represented Earth, the spiritual schools and their placement on the inside doesn't 100% seem to line up with how the spirit is portrayed on the Philosopher's Stone symbol, but it's close enough for my observation to hold water, I think.

I think you can make the argument that the spiral seen on the illustration behind the spiritual schools could be your replacement for the circle seen on the Philosopher's Stone symbol.

I couldn't find anything super concrete on what the spiral could possibly symbolize in alchemy - I found a lot of things saying that it represented going from being focused on oneself in their internal world to connecting with the world around you and spiritual ascension. Take this with a grain of salt because I found a lot of spiritual websites, but I couldn't find any historical context for it. Personally, I would say that the spiral symbol, within the context of THE Spiral, would either simply act as more of like how a symbol of Earth would for us here in reality, or as some sort of symbol of binding. even then I would be hesitant to say that because a spiral symbol is seen in all runes that come with the magic schools.

Bear in mind that alchemy was never an exact science and it did seem to be more based on philosophy and stuff. Though it did lead into our understanding of chemistry here in the modern day and was essentially a pre-science, just keep in mind that theories and beliefs varied, if you go out and do your own research you might find information completely different to what I shared.

So the seven schools of magic are at least somewhat based on alchemy - cool. Everyone who's played past Malistare knows that there's a lot more to Wizard101’s magic system.

The next concept that you're introduced to in the game are the astral schools. I could talk about how celestial bodies were important to Alchemy as well, such as how the sun represented the divine spark in man, but as far as I can tell, any connections are loose.

The schools of Sun, Moon, and Star are obviously related to astrology. Now I'm sure all of you here have heard of astrology - It's essentially divination and the belief that stars and celestial bodies can influence human affairs. Celestia is full of astrology references, and even has its own set of star signs, which I could honestly go through and make this video 10 times longer, but I'm not going to for the sake of ease.

We know so little about the astral schools individually that I can't really make any connections at this point in time. Supposedly they're harder to grasp than other schools of magic - and Incredibly powerful, most likely because they draw from forces outside of the Spiral. It’s debatable whether or not the Spiral even has a sun??? Either way, outside of gameplay function, all we really know is that Star magic and Sun magic focus on auras - yourself - and enhancing your spells - external - respectively.

I could then wax poetic about how Sun and Star are essentially the same practice, but that Star has a more introspective approach while Sun has a more physical approach, but that doesn't really tie back to any real world Inspirations so I won't.

I can't really even begin to find anything for Moon Magic. Moon in the game is related to change but polymorphing is, one, kind of useless in normal gameplay, and two, an entirely separate thing from astrology.

So let's move on - to Shadow Magic.

There is a type of psychotherapy(?) called Shadow work, which originates from the concept of a Shadow Self, an idea developed by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung. Jung believed that the Shadow Self was a repressed part of someone's psyche - their unwanted thoughts, emotions, impulses, feelings - pretty much anything they didn't want to outwardly acknowledge, that is what was stored in the Shadow Self.

Your time with Shadow Magic involves you reconciling the Shadows with the light, which is… almost literally the purpose of Shadow work. When you are introduced to Shadow Magic in the game, it is presented to you as simply a spooky evil dark magic that the villain is using. But once you obtain it yourself you start to learn that it's not evil, it's only chaotic.

The first Shadow spell you obtain is related to your school of magic - I, a storm wizard, got the spell Shadow Shrike, a hard hitting transformation that would punish me with severe backlash if I did anything but hit. My questing partner, on the other hand, is an ice wizard, and she received Shadow Sentinel, which wanted her to tank, and only tank.

Narratively, it makes complete sense why Shadow Magic is the way it is. In some respects, it is the result of Grandmother Raven sealing away Grandfather Spider and creating the Spiral the way she did. she repressed him, and she repressed herself by refusing to acknowledge her love for him, after what he did to the first world. In a higherish level narrative sense, this creates a world built on ignoring our problems until they fester to the point where they resurface. With us acknowledging our Shadow and reconciling with it before that point we go against the grain, going against the deities themself, as they forbade it for being too dangerous, and for touching the true essence of the Spiral.

I think we could tie this back to alchemy again.

The other hermetic law, the first law actually, is "The All is Mind; the Universe is Mental."

As I understand it, this means that our thoughts have a profound impact on reality. We can shape reality through our minds - by changing our thoughts the world can change. It’s related to the idea of a collective subconscious - if you’ve played through Arc 3, you know the Spiral has one of those, it’s known as the Reverie.

This is… also kind of the basis for a lot of psychotherapy methods. In the real world this kind of just means “think good thoughts, and you'll feel better, and things won't feel as bad”, which is easier said than done.

However, in the Spiral, that statement is incredibly literal, much more in line with the original way the law was presented. Shadow Magic reacts and has a more intimate relationship with the caster than any other school of magic. you have to fight a creation based on your own fears to access Shadow Magic and use it. If that's not literally the perfect manifestation of this concept, I don’t know what is.

Which segways nicely into another concept I want to talk about - what we are - the Child of Light and Shadow - the Divine Paradox.

There's a lot of things that are seemingly unrelated that talk about the Divine Paradox. One interpretation states that it's about God - such as, if God is able to do anything, can he make a mountain that he can't move? - I saw another interpretation that stated it was that one’s strength is born out of their weakest moments. I think the latter is a very interesting way to read the Divine Paradox moment in game, however the idea of a “Divine Paradox” does have basis in alchemy.

To my understanding, it is an aspect of the law of polarity. Two opposing things will always exist, and so reconciling those two things, combining them into truly one, then must be an act of divinity.

Obviously this is something really weird when you pair this with the concept of Shadow work - if you are the Divine Paradox, an act of divinity made manifest, made so by your relationship with the shadows - does that mean reconciling with the darker parts of yourself and achieving oneness with it is an act only God can do? That’s either incredibly defeatist in the mental health department or this game was accidentally WAY more religious than I thought it was.

Luckily, your relationship with Shadows as a Shadowmancer has very little to do with being the Divine Paradox and much more to do with Bartleby.

Switching mild amounts of gears here…

Bartleby's name comes from a short story about Wall Street - so literally nothing to do with magic or alchemy, or philosophy, or anything helpful. I have no idea why the developers named Bartleby Bartleby. However, Bartleby does resemble, in design and function, Yggdrasil.

Yggdrasil is the world tree from Norse mythology. It is the center of everything and connects the nine worlds - the realm of frost, the realm of fire, the realm of peace and prosperity, the realm of men, the realm of chaos and conflict, the realm of the Vanir, Norse gods associated with magic and fertility, the realm of the elves, who inspired music and the arts, the realm of dark elves, and the realm of the dead, which is part of the realm of frost.

Bartleby not only helped create the Spiral, but it is said that his roots - probably metaphysically - touch all corners of it.

Midgard, the realm of man, is located at the center of the world tree. Wizard City, similarly, is located at the center of the Spiral, with Bartleby right in the middle of it.

Bartleby is the source of all magic - it could be argued that every act of magic, no matter the source it draws from, runs through him. He connects all things in the Spiral.

Thus, we, the players, as his Scion, are the Divine Paradox in the same way he is. He is Myth and Storm as one, he is Fire and Ice burning and freezing together - because he is all magic.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say he is the fifth element, because I really do not think Wizard101 is following the practice of alchemy that closely. (And that has some really weird implications!)

One more thing I want to talk about really quickly, is the symbol associated with Bartleby, and by extension, his Scion.

If you’ve played the Catacombs, you have probably seen these symbols.

This is known as a triskelion. It’s a real symbol. Within the context of Wizard101, it represents Bartleby, and a type of magic - not school, more like a way of practice - done by his followers, the Treeminders.

Outside of Wizard101, It’s mainly attributed to Celtic religions, but it was used as far back as the Neolithic age. This symbol represents trinities such as life, death, and rebirth. Mainly, it’s seen as a symbol for growth and progression.

The concept of trinities makes sense for Bartleby - he isn’t the only deity within the Spiral. He is the balance between the two extremes of Raven and Spider, and you, as his Scion, are the extension of that idea - as early as arc 2 you were connecting two extremes, and since the beginning you have been uniting differences to create a better world.

I’m not sure how much of this was intended or researched in depth, but either way, this was REALLY fun to research, and I think it’s a pretty neat way to read the Spiral.

[will-o-the-witch]

The same tired “is x a closed practice/cultural appropriation” question but with a twist: is hermetic qabalah a closed practice? I’ve read a garden of pomegranates and don’t intend on crossing into applying it to Jewish texts/figures/other closed aspects or using the hermetic qabalah to analyze any Jewish text but I want to ask a Jewish witch since the person who gave me the pdf isn’t Jewish as far as I’m aware.

Like, would using the hermetic qabalah to analyze like, Zeus or Odin for example, be deeply offensive? As sensical as smashing a large square peg into a small circular hole?

Happy Hanukkah and thank you for answering this (should you decide to). I’d offer an image of a bunny if I knew how but alas, have this bunny emoji instead 🐰🐇

So not actually that twisty of a question lol. The problem is not what you analyze using the framework, it's using the framework itself, especially if you're using a bastardized/christianized version of Kabbalah. This article helps explain some of the differences between Kabbalah vs. Cabala vs. Qabalah.

Short answer though, using an occult misappropriation of Kabbalah to analyze Pagan figures and texts not only would be cultural appropriation, but also not even make sense within the framework of what Kabbalah is even supposed to be to begin with.

[totallygallnuts]

📖🍪ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦

Welcome to my blog! Here you will find some of my interests all lumped together in a sort of occultist pot-au-feu 🍎♡

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Free readings are tagged #my readings Free horoscopes are tagged #horoscopes Rune misinfo project coming soon Lapidary lore comparisons project coming soon Fixed stars project coming soon

[nedfelix]

Swift may be 34 years old, but intellectually, philosophically, and emotionally, she is forever stuck at 13. Her discography will never improve, only regress. Doesn't 'tortured poetry' say it all? It's an adolescent's idea of deep thoughts, the cover art equally cringe: Taylor in her underwear, writhing, one arm around her breasts and a hand above her crotch, as if this connotes — finally! — romantic and sexual maturity. Same with dropping 'f***' repeatedly on 'TTPD'. Courtney Love has it right. 'Taylor Swift is not important,' Love told the UK's Evening Standard last week. 'She might be a safe space for girls, and she's probably the Madonna of now, but she's not interesting as an artist.' Hallelujah! The backlash is brewing. While American press remains far too timid, NME gave 'TTPD' three out of five stars, calling it 'devoid of any noticeable stylistic shift or evolution', with laughable lyrics about Charlie Puth and 'a tattooed Golden Retriever'. This, from 'I Can Do It With a Broken Heart': 'I'm so miserable / And nobody even knows.' That sentiment should solely be the purview of teenage girls. What really stopped me dead was the eponymous second track. Judge for yourself. 'You're not Dylan Thomas / I'm not Patti Smith,' Swift sings. No kidding. 'This ain't the Chelsea Hotel / We're modern idiots'. Such lyrics evince a glancing knowledge of a bygone counterculture, referencing artists and locales far more original, thought-provoking, confrontational and expansive than Swift could ever hope to be. It's cheap name-checking. It makes Swift look like everything she purports to hate: A try-hard, a phony, a girl who would do anything to be cool. Does anyone really think Taylor Swift has read 'Just Kids'? If so, she'd know Patti Smith was muse to Robert Mapplethorpe, and that Dylan Thomas, some 30 years Smith's senior, never lived at the Chelsea. This is what we call a fraud. Swift has zero edge. She has no interests outside her hermetic world of studio sessions with producer Jack Antonoff, dinners with Blake Lively and Gigi Hadid at Via Carota, and the next love interest she'll flog in the public square. She is cliché after cliché after cliché, the epitome of basic, and the worst thing someone this famous can be: a bore.

[mycupofrum]

15 for the country ask game!! 🥹

15. a saying, joke, or hermetic meme that only people from your country will get?

"Torille" (to the square) / "Torilla tavataan" (I'll meet you at the square).

Also "vittujen kevät" (spring of cunts) :D

Thanks for the ask! 💙

[didanawisgi]

“The Da Vinci Construction Box (in its entirety) can be compressed into a ONE LETTER ‘T’ Abbreviation: the Letter Tau. This Tau Compression allows the Alchemist to decrypt the Alpha-Chi-Omega symbols as well as perform the following ‘impossible’ tasks according to the Ancient Greek Rules of Compass and Straight Edge Geometric Construction (with NO

MEASUREMENT):

1. Squaring the Circle (3-Ways).

2. Doubling the Cube of Delos.

3. The Perfect construction of all prime number polygons (at least up to integer 24 and probably many many more).

All you need is the letter ‘T‘…..

Furthermore, the Back Panel of the ‘Mona Lisa’ (by Leonardo Da Vinci) CONTAINS ENCRYPTED Symbology: T (See the conspicuously placed and shaped “Double “T” (and sideways horizontally oriented “H” in the decorative wooden inlays!) as well as another “H” which appears to be deeply etched into the wood (the combination of which creates a backward TH.TH = Thoth).

In addition to a faint but recognizable reference to 432 (another reference to Thoth and the Pythagorean Tetractys for the Hebrew letters of ‘Yahweh’), adjacent to a very clearly written number 29. Based on very extensive research on this topic and recognizing Da Vinci’s common encryption subjects, the “TH” as a very common and recognizable Rosicrucian reference to the Egyptian Pantheon God Thoth (Hermes in the Greek Pantheon and Mercury in the Roman Pantheon).

“TH” is a common encryption method particularly among Renaissance period (Rosicrucian/Hermetic) Cryptographers (including John Dee, Sir Francis Bacon and Edward DeVere–All Rosicrucian Hermeticists), of which Leonardo was also very well known to have been a long-time member. Furthermore, there is a red stamp with what looks to be the letter “R” adjacent to a Fleur de Lys flanked by an unrecognizable letter to the left side, both being topped by a capital letter A inscribed within a circle (yet another Rosicrucian symbol representing the ‘ΑΩ’–the mark of the Divine)…just a simple Museum stamp, or something more?”

- Robert Edward Grant

[valkeakuulas]

Hey^^ In case you haven't gotten those yet - 15 and 21 for the non-US ask? Thank you <3 (Bonus - I forgot the number >< but: do you have a favourite swear word that is not The Swear Word to end all Swear Words?)

Nope, haven't gotten them. Only one person has sent any asks besides you. :D

15. a saying, joke, or hermetic meme that only people from your country will get? Torille. Every time something Finland related happens around the world, people will say "torille!" or "torilla tavataan!", which means "let's gather at/go to the (market) square!"

Here's a short info synopsis about it by Know Your Meme

21. if you could send two things from your country into space, what would they be? I take it this means good kind of things, then a small bottle full of tar just for the scent of it and that perkele-bear clip. Just to show what kind of people we are.

If it means "send into space" as in "make them disappear" then there are a few people I'd definitely do that. A certain hacker asshole comes to my mind...

Oh! Almost forgot! The swear word I like to use that isn't Perkele the Almighty:

Helvetti, except that I pronounce it Helevetti, giving it some extra special intonation in the middle.

[ceti-b]

I think every aspiring Hermetic had to go through a regular and dubious ordeal of squaring the circle as an exercise to build up their proficiency with charting and eye gauging. I am sure of it.

[talonabraxas]

Monas Hieroglyphica (The Hieroglyphic Monad)

Written by John Dee and published in Antwerp in 1564, the Monas Hieroglyphica (‘Hieroglyphic Monad’) was conceived in 12 days, a period, so claimed the author, of Divine Revelation. It presents Dee’s unified glyph, the Monad, by way of 24 theorems, each demonstrating a variety of mathematical, geometric, cabalistic, and cosmological principles gleaned from the ancient world. Highly influential, the titular glyph was later adopted into Rosecrutianism by way of the works of Paracelcian alchemist Heinrich Khunrath, with whom Dee was acquainted.

Chiefly a work of alchemy, it is perhaps best understood as a preeminent form of ‘diagrammatic alchemy’. The inception of the Diagram, a visual representation of information to accompany text, goes back to antiquity, but saw great use thanks to the printing technology of the 15th century. Dee took this a step further, with elaborate frontispieces brimming with cryptic symbolism. In theorem 18 he states, "it is not Aesop but Oedipus who prompts me," hinting at the presence of riddles within the text (just as Oedipus was challenged by the Sphinx).

Though still a devout Christian, Dee’s thinking was heavily informed by Pythagorean, Hermetic, and Neo-Platonic traditions which each posited that the universe was comprised of linguistic and numerical laws. Thus the symbols and images of Dee’s Monas were not mere representations of processes, but the manifestation of Truth itself. As such, meditative study of this truth would work the necessary alchemical transformation upon its student.

Given closer inspection, we see the Monad is a composite of other symbols. Indeed, it was designed such that all associated symbols, be they cosmological, alchemical, metallurgical, and chiefly, numerological, could be formulated, along with their governing principles. Together they form the ‘Unit’, or Monad; a key scientific concept of the many-in-one.

At the base we have the double crescent of Aries, the celestial fire of transformation; next the Solar Cross, the four elements, the cardinal directions, the Crucifixion, and the Hermetic mystery of the ‘quaternary in the ternary’, the ‘4 in the 3’. Dee believed in the Holy Trinity, but also that all creation was embodied in the number 4, the Trinity plus One (the One being manifest reality). Though seemingly mystical and arbitrary, the 4 in the 3 was a mathematical principle describing a Platonic solid called the Cuboctahedron, a shape made up of 8 triangles and 4 squares. This structure provides great supporting strength at little cost to weight, and was popularized in the 20th century by American architect Buckminster Fuller in the development of high-rise construction cranes as well as Geodesic Domes such as the one at Epcot, Florida.

Moving up, we have the point and the circle, two basic principles of geometry from which all others follow. Together they become the Sun with the Earth at its centre (a pre-Copernican worldview), over which we have the horned Moon. These horns combine with the circle to present the Earth sign of Taurus, as well as symbolising the alchemical wedding of the Active (Sun) and Passive (Moon). Joined with the circle and cross we find the symbol for Mercury, that the ancient Greeks called Stilbon (the God of the Wandering Star), which they considered the prime planet and metal. All seven classical planets, and the metals of the ancient world, are also revealed.

Considered as a whole, we can view the Monad as the alchemical process, with the transformative, Promethean fire of Aries at the base, and silver (the Moon) and gold (the Sun) at the top, forming the Cornucopian horns of wisdom. It also has an anthropomorphic aspect of a contemplative, kneeling figure. This finds a natural comparison in the spiritual concept of the Kundalini, the upward progression of energy points through the body, from the root through to the Divine light of revelatory experience; as well as in the Buddhist practice of meditation, in which fiery Desire fades with the awakening to our true, wise nature.

Despite Dee’s somewhat tarnished reputation as a magician and necromancer, even his critic, the pious Andrestius Babius, capitulated to recognising the Monad’s importance as a standardising tool that transcended language; a true, universal, scientific notation. That it so keenly marries Science with Spiritual wisdom presents an opportunity of revelatory understanding for those who would still take the time to study it.

[notmuchtoconceal]

bro, confession -- i love watching weird conservative nerds on the internet talk about gay people like they're mutants and it's all projection.

oh my fucking god, bro. it is absolutely fascinating how insecure and pathetic they are --

and yeah, part of it's because of how much of myself i see in them.

empathy is a beautiful thing.

think like t. s. eliot and quentin tarantino and how they're weird neurotic geeks obsessively cataloguing a dead time that'll be gone forever because bro why youldn't you want to preserve some memory for time immemorial of a land you thought you knew and never knew

gone from the earth already before you had the foresight to remember

what are we but these bodies and our memories

some meager reputation prone to flux in the eyes of gullible men who fall to the lures of black anglers into blacker fancies corroded down to merely another cochhead on a wall of sieves

for there had already been so much lost and so many things you never got down and only so much time to remember as still you hurdle faster

for all time merely moves faster

so much more space with fewer things between as some stockpile like uranium builds up like plaque and all is black and gold beneath some radiant emerald green --

while we fancy that our imaginings, our infinitely superior realities, all sealed so hermetically as preserves catching dust on a shelf of grey moss on red oak where no longer the moon even shines, but those faint rays that turn back on them for the warmth of their cool,

for they saw futures by looking back as they built presence by looking forward

as a man is himself, all the things he is,

that he does and he dreams,

and my hands must handle more than spongey keys which drip in the nubs of their locks

or courtyards of sterile bit harshing my eyes with fluorescence so i see the trees as merely bearing square fruit,

cell walls in breast plate on keratin-bricked melons --

and it makes ya realize so much of the so-called "progressive" rhetoric in this country is people pathologically ashamed of their bodies cause they only know how to control others.

gotta get em as canned meat, nothin better than some substance under all the packaging.

gotta give em something to throw away.

can't fertilize en mass without the destructive act.

for the brutality of eroticism is the brutality of stark naked exposure and what revelations divine are our inspirations,

for we know well that to be ruled insincerely will always be unflattering,

and yet to truly explore a foreign consciousness will break us of our arbitrariness, break us in all the ways we yearn to be broken --

yes, oh yes -- the degrees of separation into some great other.

as we are he, she must be she, as we are fair, she must be rough, as we fancy women she must fancy women --

wait, we fancy MEN so she must fancy women --

homosexuality is *not* the state of nature,

we are ballerinas, twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom

(escape velocity, bro!)

rocket number 9 awaits the evening star!

hammer hammer

armie hammer hammerhead.

your vessel is a thundercloud,

how she departs to the scorch of lands unseen.

our invisible sister frostbitten by the void, your skin is no stain of ours. you simply came from a distant land, nurtured by the light of our selfsame star --

by what names do you address him? they are as plentiful as his rays and the fruits bore below his arches --

by what magnificent shapes you have molded them to!

could i ever love you outside the bonds of politeness?

what yokes us to our decorum, some manifold headdress.

would i not encroach on you by knowing you, for you could not be what you are by knowing me? or do i fear simply, in spite of myself --

that for you to know me would break me, and i am simply this frail and fragile thing, some porcelain boy belonging to a delicate interior among the dust of the trees in the casings we flayed.

you love so me without absolution and i know only the absolute --

do i trespass upon you simply knowing not what to say?

what do you read into me, i who am a mute who harbors no infinities but what you see in me -- i could die when i see i have failed to love you, for i have failed you so truly that now you long to die -- there would be no cave deep enough, no epoch long enough to outlast the shame of the abortion i would sire would you to collapse in our lifeblood.

stop.

your silence could never hurt me. my silence is but a means to hurt yourself. i would never cease to speak to you, for i am unceasing in my speaking, though i use so much more than these meager gashes you catalogue in those denser smog infinities of your every fractionating light towers -- my beautiful algorithmic structure.

smoke bred the hydrogen bomb as mirror beget the sweatshop.

when you limit you, you limit me an i resent solely for i am as beyond limitation as you -- foolish boy. these potentialities which are your all -- you are always me, as i stroke your amber mane.

iridescent under an oyster shell, i flip you now to the light so that you may shimmer.

you who are eager to pull the trigger, may you find some infinity in your moment of hesitation.

you, who would not draw the blood of a traitor when called upon by the shade of your father, may you lay down the rapier of your mind and fence with two swords at once.

bro, it's like -- it's way more work to keep yourself cut off. from other people and the world, like -- what's the point.

not really any point when what ya wanna get away from's yourself,

cause buddy you ain't ever gonna get rid a that guy pointin a gun at other people.

you'd probably like him if ya got to know him.

he has a lotta good qualities.

i'd probably be into him if i didn't already know all his secrets.

[dapurinthos]

rug wrested into 75% submission. how many times did i turn it around because i wanted to see specific squares of it in specific spaces because it's a hand-made rug and thus each square configuration is different in colour?

too many times.

it's only 75% submission because i cannot lift my television stand high enough to get that corner of the rug beneath it without taking everything off of it so it can a) be lifted high enough, b) not have everything slide to one side and then off.

also her name is theodora (the website named her, not me), but i'm deciding which theodora the name shall be evoking, and i'm leaning toward theodora of emesa:

one of the last students of the athenian platonic school (thanks for closing it justinian 'the great' you dick)

also studied at the alexandrian school with her younger sisters (we love to see the traditions of hypatia continuing)

possibly descended from the emesene dynasty

is the dedicant of damascius's life of isidore (aka the primary source on hypatia, perserved in the suda).

said to have performed pagan rites along with theurgy (i see you looking, hermetic order of the golden dawn)

was described, along with her family, three centuries after her death, as 'first prize winners in idolatrous impropriety' by photius (which i can only see as a compliment, because he excommunicated the roman pope, made-up a theory of people having two souls just to make his opponent look stupid by arguing against it seriously and then said he was just kidding, caused a schism, and is responsible for saving some of the lost fragments of diodorus siculus's bibliotheca historica)

in conclusion: one of the best theodoras. theodorae?

[living400lbs]

Home canning in the great depression:

The technology to preserve food in hermetically sealed glass jars or metal containers had been around for more than a century, but it hadn’t been widely adopted for home use until the food conservation drive during World War I.

Now, at the urging of home extension agents, there was a sudden run on canning jars and lids. In southern Illinois, where farmers were particularly desperate, they hoped to can a bumper fruit crop: “In August and September the peach trees were loaded down with beautiful fruit, and the people were being urged to can as much as possible. But on every hand one heard the cry, ‘We have no cans!’”

From the garden, vegetables were taken into the kitchen, usually during the hottest days of the summer, where the housewife spent days slaving over a red-hot stove to preserve her bounty for the winter. There was no question that this effort was worth it. One Iowa woman wrote to a farm journal: “I’m canning everything in sight. No matter what comes, we’re going to eat!”

From A Square Meal by Jane Ziegelman and Andrew Coe

[ailar023]

Hello! How's everybody? I had this story of g/t Miles and Peter from Ps5 in my head for a long time, and I hope you like it, it's the first time in my life that I write something 😅

I hope you enjoy it and sorry if it has errors.

____________________________________________________________________

The tiny spider boy

Chapter 1:

Peter Parker, 24 year old university student, intern at the While laboratory. He is also known for serving and protecting New York City for 8 years as the friendly neighborhood Spider Man.

He is now investigating some strange installations hidden in the Kim Pim areas of Brooklyn, it is a Friday morning and there is a dead silence in the neighborhood where the villain's supposed lair would be. Outside it looks like an abandoned factory facade, you can see the broken windows and the moisture coming from the walls staining the white paint. The closest lights only faintly reach to caress the walls of the brick walls that surround the factory, since it is far from the houses and the population, more than logical for a villain to hide his plans in a supposedly "abandoned" place.

The hero did not waste time and very stealthily entered one of the broken windows that was near the roof, when he crossed it he landed with a thud inside the lifeless building and scanned the interior, it was a wide and open area, yes. If it were not thanks to his improved eyesight, it would be impossible for him to see even the most basic things, while he walked agilely and stealthily he noticed around him how the building had aged for the worse over the years, abandoned pockets of cement, chains that aged over time showing their rust color and they hang from the ceiling still as if they were a dead person, and the walls are not much better than outside, the paint is almost completely gone, all wet showing the peeling bricks and with green mold in between, you can see that the humidity was eating away at the bricks over time.

When I get to the other end there is a rusty door that led to another room, this time to some steps that led down, under the basement and took me to a less spacious area and with many worn, rusty doors, hanging from a hinge or completely thrown away, among those doors there is one that totally caught his attention, compared to the other doors, it was well positioned and hermetically closed, it did not look rusty or dirty like the others.

-Bingo! Surely this must be where Kim Pim must hide whatever he is doing... But the question now is... how do I get in without anyone noticing? Does he have an alarm or something?- He said in his mind while touching his chin.

When he looked at the ceiling, he noticed that above there were some ventilation ducts that infiltrate to the other side just above the tightly closed door, Peter smiled mischievously as he examined the duct and quickly found the rusty grate that once served its purpose to keep steady air when the factory was in its glory days, the masked hero shoots a bold web at the tip of the grate with his left hand, yanking it down to open it followed by another web with his right hand towards his mouth now open from the conduit, quickly pull the spider web and climb up without even hesitation, once inside, throw one last spider web at the same grate that is hanging like a pendulum to close it and leave no suspicion.

He doesn't need to crawl much through the square and narrow duct, at the next opening of the grate on the other side of the door he can see a faint light. He made sure that no one was in sight as he repeated the same procedure to get out, only he was stealthily closing the grate again using a piece of his web as glue.

Now it is in a kind of long and narrow hallway, full of doors that were not well maintained at all, but they did not reach the extreme of abuse that the doors on the side of the abandoned factory had, there are also fluorescent tube lights that gave a weak and delirious light throughout the entire hallway, it was like being in a horror movie, but something that caught your attention is that there was not the presence of a soul in the entire place, it is as if everyone had vanished, or that was what Peter sensed, but that didn't mean he should let his guard down.

The hero in red and blue walked with silent steps and always alert as he passed through the doors, all half-open and showing completely empty and deserted rooms inside, which disconcerted him a little.

-WHAT THE HELL WAS KIM PIM PLANNING??? Or perhaps he realized that I was coming and decided to take everything??? - he asked himself as he took stealthy steps until he came across a huge door that led right at the end of the hallway, due to its appearance and size it seemed to be important, and also It was hermetically closed like the one that separated the interior of the factory from this seedy hallway, the difference is that this was the double automatic sliding doors that welcome you when you enter a shopping center, but with the difference that it has a panel on the side with a green traced hand, means that you need a fingerprint to enter

-Fingerprint, cool!- Spider Man said with a tone of sarcasm mixed with a hint of annoyance.

What's great about this sliding door is that it has a couple of windows on both sides that allow you to see inside, and when Peter sticks his head in one of the windows it leaves him even more disconcerted, it was a huge laboratory! It has the latest technology machinery and tools of all kinds, also a pair of stretchers, one in front of the other, everything looked very well cared for and even as if it had been used for the last time that day!

-What the hell was a laboratory like that doing in an abandoned factory with absolutely nothing?- he said while scanning the laboratory from end to end. -What the hell was that ball of grease up to?-

Peter tried to think, racking his brains, he really tried but he was getting nowhere... Giving a sigh of defeat, he began to walk back through the hallways looking once again at the empty rooms when suddenly something caught his attention in a room. that, compared to the others that had the doors half open or completely open, this one in particular had the door a little more closed, and right behind it there was something that stood out on the wall where it just covered the door, as if trying to hide it , his intuition told him that the answer was there, and it wouldn't be pretty.

He decided to open it cautiously, making it creak a little, and against the right wall, right where the door covers, is full of cages stacked end to end in a row, small enough to hold laboratory mice, all of them. rusty and lacking maintenance, of all those cages only 9 are half open with traces of dried blood, that gave him a bad feeling, but that was not all, among those nine cages there was a tenth that was around the open ones, it was closed under a small padlock with something inside, he fervently hoped it was nothing more than a small rodent, but something deep inside him told him the opposite.

He slowly approaches the small trembling form that he was making a feeble attempt to hide into the shadow of the cage, and when he saw what it was, his heart shattered.

It was a small boy, barely 3 inches tall, he did not seem to be more than 15 years old, with dark skin, he had a robe that was all dirty, torn and tattered, this robe uselessly covered part of his body, all of which was flabby, he was so skeletal that he was He looked fragile like a glass that would break just by touching it, and because of his dark skin it didn't look good, but he was full of bruises and cuts, on his robe he had the number 1610, the same number he had on the door of the cage (Experiment 1610)

The boy looked terrified, with his eyes wide open, he tried to shrink at the end of the cage as much as he could, as if he wished he could disappear, seeing this boy in this pitiful state made Peter's heart boil. blood for this - USING A SHRUNKNED CHILD AS A GUINEA PIG??? THIS TIME YOU GOT OVER THE LINE!!!!! – He said to himself barely in a whisper as he clenched his fists to the point of almost breaking the fabric of his red gloves.

He sighed inwardly. There was no time to get angry now, he had to get this little guy out immediately before someone came.

___________________________________

Chapter 2:

[tiny-feral-arachnid-man]

Follow-up of this post!