It's about time

Since I wrote about Groundhog Week a little way back, I've been noticing & not noticing, 'time' more. I have spent my last two weekends or weakene(n)d states, in a strange, timeless place.

The first weekend I was really thrown, totally out of it - somehow it seemed that by having a good look at the 'week', the 'spell' of the two day event or weekend, had been broken, at least for a time, & I must admit I felt rather lost.

Last 'weekend' I was curious to see what happened - there it was again, the same feeling, a sense of disconnectedness to the prescribed event - a sort of timelessness where no thing had to be done - the day & the time had little significance. My only slight concern was to try & remember to put the rubbish out on Sunday night & that the next day was a work day.


So I've been wondering about time this last week. I remembered once imagining living to the ripe age of 5,000, to see what a difference that would make in my thinking - it was quite incredible - taking away the ticking clock of doom & a great sense of expansiveness replaces it.



What I also found intriguing in this practice was the release of the future. One thing that really pisses me off with the whole new age malarkey is the concept of living in the present moment which is touted ad nauseum. Living in the NOW. I have a friend, who when she speaks glowingly of this term, does stop to apologise to me because she knows how much it annoys me. Now I have tried, really I have, but I just got thoroughly f**ked off. It seemed like a nice, though perhaps somewhat boring idea to me, which nobody apart from some book writing demi-gods know how to achieve.



...Earth to wise woman are you receiving... sorry got carried away. Anyway, what I was trying to say was that when I imagined living to 5,000 (obviously while still looking young, gorgeous & not a day over 2000) I found that the pressure of the future just dropped away, I relaxed & the NOW that is so touted, just appeared. So for one thing I'm thinking how can we possibly ever live in or achieve 'the present' while caged in time - I don't think that we can - as long as our lives are defined by minutes & hours & days & weeks, then we are well & truly roped onto a conveyor belt of time & it's inevitable conclusion.

This isn't meant to be a homily or anything, just a few thoughts & a little break from something I'm working on which will perhaps tie in with this a bit.

Yesterday I played another little game of extended lifetime - the timelessness of the last couple of weekends was on my mind. Out of interest I upped the time to 10,000 years -to see what I could see. I was at work at that time - straight off I saw that I would just leave my job immediately. I real-eyes'd that I would do very many things in this life, but what 'cooked my noodle' was finding that I had absolutely no worries about money or how I would pay for these things - just a complete sense of assurance that I would achieve all I wished to achieve.

So this is what I wondered - can money exist without time? Remember we live by the metaphor TIME IS MONEY - both of these fantastical (fanatical?) inventions are treated in the same way, looked at in the same light - we spend them, save them, waste them.

The lesson for today is taken from the internet - Time IS Money

I was reminded of a conversation I had with my son recently when I asked him if he thought about the future - he is 15 now. He said he didn't think about it much, unless there was something in particular he was looking forward to. "Well", said I, "do you think of what might happen to you?" "No", said he - he just has this feeling/surety that whatever happens he'll be able to deal with it when the moment arises. This pre-echoed my feelings from when I contemplated an extended warranty so to speak - children do not contemplate time, it is a no thing to them & I wonder if this may have a lot to do with their vitality & energy.

Well I'm about to launch into what I sincerely hope will be another 'timeless' two day wonder - now where did I leave my crayons?

Playing with Batman - don't try this at home!

A mix of some well worded comments, synchs & 'all the hype' over the new Batman movie got me to wondering about this chiropteric man. I got to wondering - if Batman was a version of an ancient god just who might he be? So I decided to have a little play with him.

Following in the wake of many favourite detectives, I set about looking for clues... but, insert fingers drumming on desk sound...where to begin? What follows are the musings that came from my playtime.

The Bat'man'/god himself being open to various interpretation, I took the easier route of starting with his surroundings.

So it all started with the Bat Cave which made me think of...The Underworld which made me think of... Hades. Ahhh … could Batman be a personification of Hades? - hmmm... little grey cells to the Bat Pole.


Hades is the Greek god of the dead and ruler of the Underworld (which is also known as Hades). He is not 'death' itself, but we'll come to that. He is one original six Olympians (with the advent of the Olympics upon us – what jolly good timing to bring Hades/Batman out of the closet & dust him off). He is brother to Zeus & Poseidon – when they were carving up the world, he drew the short straw & got the Underworld - I wonder if his sisters, Hestia, Hera & Demeter might not have been a bit peeved at being left out of the spoils - hell hath no fury & all that.

So “the Bat Cave is the secret headquarters of fictional DC Comics superhero, Batman, (the alternate identity of billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne), consisting of a series of subterranean caves beneath his residence.” In searching out descriptions of realm of Hades I came upon these;

"It was a dark and dismal realm in which bodiless ghosts flitted across grey fields of asphodel."

"murky subterranean realm"

"where the uttermost depth of the pit lies under earth"

"Homer describes the passage of souls to Haides led by Hermes, the guide of the dead. Here they flit like bats through the dark places beneath the earth"

"And as in the innermost recess of a wondrous cave bats flit about gibbering, when one has fallen from off the rock from the chain in which they cling to one another, so these went with him gibbering, and Hermes, the Helper, led them down the dank ways. Past the streams of Okeanos they went, past the rock Leukas (the White), past the gates of the sun (pylai Hêlioi) and the land of dreams (dêmos oineiroi), and quickly came to the mead of asphodel (leimôn asphodelon), where the spirits (psykhai) dwell, phantoms (eidôla) of men who have done with toils."

Not a sought after holiday destination then.

Hades has a helmet given to him by the Cyclopes, which can make him invisible. Batman wears mask / helmet that he uses to make 'Bruce Wayne' invisible.



Hades has a number of other names including Clymenus ('notorious') & Eubuleus ('well-guessing')- sorry cant't resist this one - as a boy, Bruce Wayne falls down a well, disturbing a load of bats & the legend takes it's first baby steps.
Another meaning for Eubulus is the giver of good counsel - the name of Wayne's Butler, 'Alfred' means 'good counsel'.

One of the plants sacred to Hades is the Cypress so I was intrigued to find Actinostrobus arenarius or, the Bruce Cypress-pine.



Bruce Wayne is of course is a squillionaire - another name for Hades is Plouton meaning 'the Rich One'. The Latin name for Plouton is Pluto. In that little synchro world that can be such fun to play with, I found that the planet Pluto had some delicious little tidbits to offer.



“Pluto was quickly heralded as the ninth planet in the solar system when it was spotted Feb. 18, 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh, a young amateur astronomer at Lowell Observatory. It still holds that title today, if somewhat tenuously.”

“The name Pluto was first suggested by Venetia Burney, an eleven-year-old schoolgirl in Oxford, England. Venetia was interested in classical mythology as well as astronomy, and considered the name, one of the alternate names of Hades, the Greek god of the Underworld, appropriate for such a presumably dark and cold world. She suggested it in a conversation with her grandfather Falconer Madan, a former librarian of Oxford University’s Bodleian Library. Madan passed the name to Professor Herbert Hall Turner,(British Astronomer awarded the Bruce Medal far astronomy in 1927) who then cabled it to colleagues in America.”

What a lovely tale & trail of coincidence – a goddess (Venus) in Oxford, whose interests sound a little like those of a cultivated beauty contestant, names the ninth planet after the god of the underworld “ Meanwhile we have the goddess’ grandfather ‘Falconer’ who is named after a solar symbol - “The Falcon is a solar emblem for success, victory and rising above a situation. Further evidence of its solar influence, the Falcon was symbolic of the rising sun in Egypt. It is also the king of all birds where many gods were shown with the head or body of the Falcon (including Ra).”
In a darling little synch to top this off I find that the info regarding the ‘falcon’ is given by one A. Venefica – site here: http://symbolic-meanings.com/category/egyptian/

To round off our little trip to Pluto, why not pick a random date to officially announce it’s new name - how about the 121st day of the year –1st May, 1930 or Beltane - “As the festival that celebrates the triumph of summer over winter, Beltaine is also the time when the victory of the new solar god is achieved over his rival the old year god, whose power had waned over the winter”.
We can’t quite leave this little detour without a wink over to those lovers of children everywhere – Disney.
“The Disney connection: Mickey Mouse’s dog made his debut in “The Chain Gang” in 1930 — the year Pluto was discovered. A year later, he was named Pluto, probably because the planet of that name was so much in the news.” – sounds ok, just getting in on all the excitement of the time – but... I found it rather interesting that ‘DIS’ is the Walt Disney Company’s NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) symbol – yes I thought that would raise an eyebrow or two, knowing as we all do that Dis is the Roman god of the Underworld & of course we all remember that Dis is a version of ‘dives’ meaning ‘rich’ – what a tight little circle we are turning in here.

Just before we head off I did just have a wee play with Dis, I know very naughty - Dis is a city in The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. It is the last known location of The Orange Bend of the Rain bow - come on now that's not a bad reward for a bit of play - make of it what you will.

Sorry I was having fun & got carried away.

Persephone is the wife of Hades. He lured her into a convenient spot with a beautiful flower (narcissus), & then abducted her to the Underworld. She eventually became his wife. Interestingly... her animal symbol is the bat. From wiki "Bats symbolize death and rebirth. Sometimes, they are known as the "Guardian of the Night."

Switching civilisations for a moment, I couldn't help noticing a similarity between Batman & Anubis - ok it's those big pointy ears that did it.



This 'ear' ily endowed god, was once the most important god of the dead, but Osiris muscled in & Anubis took on more of the god of undertakers role.

"Originally, in the Ogdoad system, he was god of the underworld...Since he was more associated with beliefs concerning the weighing of the heart than had Osiris, Anubis retained this aspect, and became considered more the gatekeeper and ruler of the underworld, the "Guardian of the veil" (of "death").

Returning to Hades we find that one of his most impressive possessions was "his dark chariot, drawn by four coal-black horses" which "always made for a fearsome and impressive sight".


Here we see Hades in his awesome chariot whisking off his extremely reluctant bride- to- be for a slap up meal at Chez Hades.


Another awesome vehicle in a dashing shade of black.

In Batman Forever, Batman assigns the car the power of a chick magnet when he says to Dr. Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman) "It's the car, right? Chicks dig the car." Perhaps if Hades had had modern technology he might not have had to stoop to trickery & abduction to 'claim' his bride.

Because Hades spent most of his time in the underworld, signals were needed to call him forth - "when mortals invoked him, they struck the earth with their hands" - when Batman is invoked, a signal is shone in the sky.



Now Hades seems to have a mixed reputation & if we overlook that itsy bitsy irksome bit about him keeping the souls of those we have loved forever & a day, we can see him as as an ok kind of guy just doing his job - a sort of caretaker.

Now in this little jaunt round the underworld, there is another character we need to see. If I carry on playing & also refer back to my previous post on 'Groundhog Day', I come to this sentence "the jester is the symbolic twin of the king" - I suggested that The Joker was the symbolic twin of Batman. You with me on this?? If Batman is Hades & The Joker is his symbolic twin, then which god does he symbolise?
"Hades rules the dead, assisted by various (demonic) helpers, such as Thanatos and Hypnos, the ferryman Charon, and the hound Cerberus."

So I just have to go with Thanatos - the god of death. Now he does actually have his own twin, which is Hypnos, who is the god of dreams. But I'm not going to let that get in the way of play & anyway we're looking at symbolic twins.

A little aside here - "In Roman sculptural reliefs he was portrayed as a youth holding a down-turned torch and wreath or butterfly (symbolising the soul of the dead)."

"Thanatos might be poetically called the brother of Hypnos (Sleep) and the son of Nyx but no matter how you describe him, he is a creature of bone chilling darkness. From on high, Helios (the Sun) never casts his light on Death. (Theogony, line 760)"

"Hypnos goes kindly among the mortals but, his brother, Thanatos has a heart made of pitiless iron. When he takes hold of you, the world of light ceases to be."

Ok back to the Joker, I have to admit I have not seen the new movie, nor do I feel the call to do so (it was with utter glee that I learned that when my son went to see it there was a power cut during a particularly tense moment followed by a break in which ABBA's Dancing Queen was played - a spell breaker if ever there was one). I do however have access to the Internet so finding out about the movie is not too difficult.

This "Clown Prince of Crime" is most certainly an instrument of indiscriminate death. He is described as an "indiscriminate killer that lives for his teasing confrontations with Batman".

Batman, like so many superheroes were borne (born) along the same energy wave that brought inWWII - a very interesting theme in itself. He was a creation of one Bob Kane (or Bob Kahn, a Jewish American comic book artist & writer). I'm just going to pop off topic for a moment to bring you a little something to chew on. Kane was "a high school friend of fellow cartoonist and future The Spirit creator Will Eisner". Now I can't help noticing a distinct similarity between the signatures of Will Eisner & Walt Disney - not to mention the lettering - I've noticed other's on the interent have picked up on this too.

The official Will Eisner logo (if I try & centre this text I know everythings going to go askew so it can stay as it is)

I found this signature on a book about comic book action heroes, it is what got me interested - the similatiry is intriguing n'est-pas?


Ok returning to the scene of the Joker & his possible secret identity as Thanatos.

“Batman Vs The Joker” – Batman #1 (Spring 1940) The first Joker story ever by creator Bob Kane and ghost writer Bill Finger instantly set the tone for all Joker stories to follow in the next 68 years. He appeared as a straightforward mass murderer - ah the good old days.

Now Thanatos is not necessarily seen as a 'bad' grim reaper. He is often referred to as the bringer of peaceful death (that's where something in this life is so crap you want to get away- the Underworld may perhaps not be your ideal choice of getaways however). "Violent death was the domain of Thanatos' blood-craving sisters, the Keres, spirits of slaughter and disease. Oh dear, does this mean the end of playtime, have our synchs run dry. I think not - are you game to se how far we can stretch this? Good for you - come on then.

It seems our latest helping of The Joker features him in a cross dressing role & "... a thread developed by Frank Miller in The Dark Knight Returns, which implied that the Joker is gay, or at the very least bi-curious. A few writers like Morrison and Miller have made this a recurring theme in writing the Joker, and the character’s sexuality is a subject of a lot of discussion amongst online fans" - Ok so perhaps our psycopathic jester is a combination of Thanatos & his sisters - the bloodthirsty Keres.

How's this for a storyline "Going Sane” – Legends of the Dark Knight #65-68 (Nov ’94-Feb ’95)Believing that he’s finally killed the Batman, the Joker, apparently having lost the anchor of his existence, goes through plastic surgery to return him to “normal” and wakes up one day as “Joseph Kerr” or perhaps we should read that as Keres.
Tying together the idea of Batman as Hades with The Joker as Thanatos & the symbolic twin of Batman we have The Joker, in fetching nurses uniform (I'm told), resonating with female Keres, telling Batman "You complete me" - need I say more!!

The closing credits of the Batman movie acknowledge not one but two deaths - that of the Australian Heath Ledger & a New Zealand-born special effects technician, Conway Wyckliffe who was killed when a camera truck crashed into a tree. Wyckliffe previously worked on Bond film Casino Royale and the Tomb Raider films with Angelina Jolie.

There's an anagram site I use to play with names & words when looking for ideas - here are some anagrams for Christian Bale / Batman:- - Lie In Bat Crash - Bat Lairs Niche - Line His Bat Car - Rich Bat In Sale - Bat As Rich Line
&
Heath Ledger / The Joker: - The Hag Elder - Geld Heather - Get He Herald - Glad He there - He Geld Earth

Well play time is almost over, now I've got to get on to the serious work of chasing down spelling areas & glitches in this bag of tricks. Lets have just one more toss of the dice & see what happens when we play with Batman / Hades for the last time. If we mis-spell The Dark Knight we get The Dark Night & I can think of no better epithet for 'death' than that phrase - and of course the bat is the guardian of the night...

Solomon Grundy - Take 2

Michael from Hidden Agendas has done a marvellous write up of an episode of a supposed 'childrens' cartoon The Justice League called the Terror Beyond which features a character called Solomon Grundy. For anyone who hasn't read it, I recommend it as a very informative & easy to read look at just what our children are being fed.

For myself I can't help but see the Solomon Grundy character as a caricature of ourselves as viewed by those who seem to hold life's instuction manual very firmly in their control frenzied grip. This post just ties in brilliantly with my last two articles & I feel rounds them off - synchronicity at it's best. Cheers Michael.

You can access part one through the opening paragraph.

http://thehiddenagendas.blogspot.com/2008/08/saturnday-synchs-jl-terror-beyond-part.html

Solomon Grundy

Some synchs are just too good to pass up.

After I posted my last article on the week, Aferrismoon drew my attention to a post by Michael at Hidden Agendas on a story from the Justice League featuring a character, Solomon Grundy.

I had completely forgotten this malodorous little rhyme, but Michael's descriptions of the character so perfectly fitted with my feelings of the week as a watertight contraption of control that I just can't pass this by without a closer look.

From wiki (yes I know it's suspect)
"Solomon Grundy" is a 19th century children's nursery rhyme, and was presented by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps in 1842."

Just in case you missed the double letters in the 'presenters' name I've highlighted them for you. Halliwell apparently means 'lives by the holy spring' (in this case it's by an orchard). Phillipps is a lover of horses (hopefully not in the biblical sense). The name Halliwell was of course made famous by the three Charmed Ones. Our little presenter was auspiciously born on June 21 better known as the Solstice. He is primarily known for his scholarship about the life and works of William Shakespeare.

But here are a few little extra snippets:-
1839-
"Finds "A poem of moral duties" now called the "Regius Poem". Written in Middle English about 1390, this turned out to be the oldest known Masonic manuscript."

"Elected to The Royal Society; at eighteen, the youngest Fellow ever."

1844-
"Several manuscruipts that disappeared from Trinity College, Cambridge while Halliwell was a student are sold to the British Museum. Halliwell is investigated but is never charged. However, he is excluded from the British Museum library."

So with this little collection of charming fact lets see what the human race was presented with in 1842.

"Solomon Grundy,
Born on a Monday,
Christened on Tuesday,
Married on Wednesday,
Took ill on Thursday,
Grew worse on Friday,
Died on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday.
That was the end of
Solomon Grundy"

I knew this rhyme as a child, probably repeated it often, but never liked it - funny how we repeat things because they roll off the tongue so easliy.

Looking at the rhyme in context with my last article & the points that Michael made I felt a little sickened.

Wiki goes on to say this; " The poem is essentially a riddle in which the life of Solomon Grundy appears to take place in the process of a single week, the answer being that each day's events represent the seven ages of man."
Now I'm just going to come in here & say what a load of bollocks - I did the married thing (& moved on years ago) - according to this I'm on my way out & it's all down hill from here. I personally do not see the apparent last four stages of my or anyone else's life as a rapid decline into illness & the Underworld.
But... as a nifty little bit of programming to the rhyme loving souls of children it does rate a standing ovation in cunning - mind you it's up against a lot of tough opposition for the Oscars in today's programming awards.

Hoping that Michael won't mind, I've appropriated some of his descriptions (& a picture) of the cartoon character Solomon Grundy from the Justice League episode called 'The Terror Beyond'. (emphasis shown is mine)

"Solomon Grundy is portrayed as a "simpleton" only interested in helping if he receives his "gold payment"..."
Does that sound a little familiar - is that not the image we have been given of the average 'person in the street' , in our dog-eat-dog world.

"[Dr] Fate eventually uses a "spell of revelation" on Grundy because Solomon cannot remember how he came to be. It was interesting how they handled Fate's questioning of Solomon, it sounded rather condescending if you imagine Fate representing say "Illuminated ones" and Grundy representing the "ogre like knuckle dragging commoner" they dumbed down...Fate wanted to know Grundy's "origins" how he came to be as he was...Grundy said "he didn't remember, that Grundy has always been Grundy...", Fate responds "I doubt it" and casts the spell..."
Hello again, sound even more familiar. I, for one do not believe in life as it's presented to me, I see no reason why I do not 'remember' where I came from. I see no point in going round ad nauseum in cycles of reincarnation. I do so believe we are dumbed to a point not far above the 'plastic dog turd' analogy that Matthew Delooze uses so eloquently. I also believe there are other's who know oh so much more & don't want to share.

"We find out Solomon used to be Cyrus Gold, a very evil man who had a lust for gold...
that decades later the swamp gave birth to a "walking dead man...soulless and empty...always seeking, never knowing why", this I took as an insult from those "illuminated ones" speaking about us "socially engineered clods" near the bottom rung of the ladder..."
I totally agree with Michael on this comment.

"After the spell, Grundy states he remembers what happened to him and want his soul back rather than have the gold. Fate tells him that the gri gri spell caused him to "lose his soul". So now, we have black magic, spells, and a walking soulless dead man seeking to regain what was taken from him"
This sure rings a bell for me - is that perhaps where we are right now - at least those who seek their own truth & as well as deigning to read the rantings of lunatic bloggers. What's gold to the return of our soul???

"Aquaman, Grundy, and Fate are all atop the platform to perform "the ritual". Aquaman's trident was required by Dr. Fate due to it's magic and origins...Grundy however is the main focus of the energies and is told will have to endure enormous pain".
This reminds me of much New Age stuff I've come across over the years, the idea of undergoing 'rites' in order to prepare for the 'new age'. Really I think we've suffered forever & a day, I've done the Catholic thing & found no answers there in the denial & sacrifice. At present I feel such a strong call away from these choking dogmas & towards merriment. Perhaps that seems ridiculous, we are bombarded daily with such doom & gloom that surely we must dig in & try to endure. I say we have been doing that all our lives. We have been going round & round on a Groundhog wheel of one week & methinks some one's been having a bloody big laugh at our expense. Actually we probably do look bloody stupid - I'm reminded at how my son & I laugh at the cat which has recently 'acquired us' - chasing after a piece of string, which we hold & direct - mind you every so often he looks up to let us know that he's on to our game.

from wiki: "The DC Comics character Solomon Grundy, a large, strong zombie supervillain, was named after this nursery rhyme."

I found this entry of particular interest - "In the anime series Shakugan no Shana, the nursery rhyme is used in the form of an offensive magical spell, aimed at the series main character. I couldn't help wondering if the charmed presenter of this little rhyme foisted a little more on the dregs of society (that would be us) than we might have wished for. The DC Comic character of Solomon arrived 102 years after this rhyme in 1944 .

A 'bad hair day' for the human race?

Here is the full article from Hidden Agendas

http://thehiddenagendas.blogspot.com/2008/07/saturnday-synchs-jla-terror-beyond-part.html

Groundhog Week

It started with a weekend, any weekend, after all they're kind of all alike, are they not? Perhaps you are an exception or perhaps I'm missing something. For now I'll take it that many people have the same problems with weekends as me. I suck at them - and for the longest time I've thought it was just me.

But I've been having a closer look at something that has been hidden in plain sight for a very long time indeed - a provocative little number that takes hold of your senses & dulls them down with just seven swings of the fob watch. Let us take a little look at 'the week'.

1 ~ 2 ~ 3 ~ 4 ~ 5 ~ 6 ~ 7

On it's lonesome, 'a day' has become inconsequential, without it's siblings it's a bit pathetic - but get the Family all together, well that's another matter, you don't mess with them, ever.

So lets meet the Day Family - there's the five kids, Mon, Tues, Wednes, Thurs, Fri, & their parents, Sat & Sun. Now be warned, this family is a tad obsessive-compulsive, they always have to go in the same order, each family member has it's own personality & even it's own ruling planet. They're more than just your neighbours, they live in your house & in your head - indeed they're the 'monkey on your back'.

So first off there's Mon, he's our least favourite, he's callous & rude, charging into your room & pouring a bucket of cold water over your head, so you can get back to the real world & earn your way.

You put up with Tues, because she's not quite as aggressive as her brother & by the time she turns up you've broken the hypnotic effect that her parents have on you.

Now Wednes you could so live without, full of woe. You can't help thinking couldn't his parents have taken 'precautions' just once?' He does so make the week drag out.

Thurs is kind of bipolar, makes you feel good because it's pay day & then crap because it's all gotta go on bills.

You open your door to Friday & invite her in for a cuppa relieved to see her again, but she can 'go on a bit'.

Satur is most welcome, but there's just something about him - he just seems to promise so much more than he delivers.

Then there's his wife Sun, she's kind of laid back, but after a while she starts to get you down & you can see where Thurs gets his bipolar tendencies from because the longer you're with her the more gloomy you get. On top of that she keeps trying to 'get you together' with her son Mon, I mean come on woman, can't you see he's a total jerk, damn it.

If you were about to celebrate, let's say your 42nd birthday, your life would have consisted 2191 weeks. That's quite a few revolutions of the groundhog wheel, BUT where did all your 15,340 days go - can you remember.

Now this family is THE Royal Family. Forget all those inbred aristocrats hanging round in castles, this is the family that rules the world. Yes I know they seem harmless enough, I mean they don't play loud music or try & nick your credit cards & well, they've been around since the day you were born & heck everyone knows them. But I jest not - this family rules your world.

"The amazing thing is that today the 7-day week, which is widely viewed as being Judeo-Christian, even Bible-based, holds sway for civil purposes over the entire world, including countries where Judaism and Christianity are anathema. Chinese, Arabs, Indians, Africans, Japanese, and a hundred others sit down at the U.N. to the tune of a 7-day week, in perfect peace (at least calendrically!). So dear is this succession of 7 days that when the calendar changed from Julian to Gregorian the week was preserved, though not the days of the month: in 1752, in England, Sept. 14 followed Sept. 2 -- but Thursday followed Wednesday, as always. Eleven days disappeared from the calendar -- but not from the week"

"Today the seven-day week is enforced by global business and media schedules, especially television and banking."

This family goes way back, it's family tree can be debated, but not denied. The Bible itself bows to them, granting unto them the master number 22 - "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made." Genesis 2:2

Oh God, don't tell me it's Monday already!

We are not so much living in a world as living within a week - just one week over & over & over again. If you were to time travel back to any time in your life you could still slot yourself in quite nicely because the seven-sided framework around which you are to stretch yourself is already in place, you will know what to do simply by finding out what day it is.

So onwards.

The week has a very distinctive rhythm or heartbeat of it's own - you know it very well, your very being is synchronised with it - it's the 5-2 beat. You work (or are schooled) for 5 days, then you have 2 days off, 5 days on, 2 days off, 5 days on, 2 days off ..... ..... ..... hypnotic isn't it?

I thought I'd have a closer look at that rhythm - so I applied it to my breathing - to get a sort of experiential perspective - of course I knew I was doomed to fail & indeed in very short order I could no longer take in breath to the count of five, my lungs were too full I was forced to exhale mightily.
Hmmm... so what if our 5-2 weekly rhythm has a similar effect upon us, body & soul. Now I'm going to say here that I think this little test was not too far off the mark. Breath is what separates us from the dead, & it is supposedly living that we are doing during our weekly life. Even the word spirit is derived from the verb spirare which means 'breath'. I'm thinking here that breathing is synonymous with living - we take in & give out our experiences constantly. So what happens to us when we overbreathe? Have a quick squiz at these symptoms http://www.yournewlife.biz/Overbreathing.html - so many familiar names that experts tell us are caused by our stressful lives - well duh...

From the 5-2 beat, I got to wondering about the number 52 & if it might not play an important part in our lives. Right away the holding pattern of the 52 'reruns' of the same week, any week, hoves into view & we call that one year.

The oh so trendy Mayan calendar has a complicated system (to me anyway) that creates a 52 year cycle "It consists of two types of calendar systems : a ritual cycle of 260 named days and a vague year cycle of 365 days. Since the least common multiple of 260 and 365 is 18 980, these cycles run concurrently after 18 980 days, or 52 years of 365 days, called a "calendar Round", at the end of which a designated day recurs in the same position in the year."

It's rather interesting then that 52 is the international dialling code for Mexico.

If you add the majuscules & minuscules of the English alphabet (big letters & little letters) together you get 52 - as numerologists give different values for these & as our written language has an enormous (hidden) influence on us I feel this is important.

There are 52 white keys on a piano & notable ivory tinkler Billy Joel brought out an album called 52 Street - celebrating the street of that name in Manhattan, while John Lennon had an apartment in East 52nd St.

52 is the title of a DC Comics limited series that debuted on May 10, 2006. The story is directly followed by the limited series Countdown to Final Crisis. It's been a long time since I read a comic but my fellow bloggers have pointed to much imagery among their pages & certainly a browse through the wiki entry does reveal some interesting storylines -

"A multitude of clocks are all stopped at 12:52 (00:52). Monitors show images of Rosa Parks, Abraham Lincoln, a sailing ship with the flag of the Knights Templar, Elvis Presley, the Boston Tea Party and a dinosaur."

"TIME IS BROKEN" - 52 seconds are missing. In the final week, while witnessing the rebirth of the Multiverse, Booster Gold worries about the "broken time", after being reassured by Rip Hunter that everything is finally the way it was meant to be."

"The number 52 in a circle litters the boards, the circles sometimes overlapping. The symbol of overlapping circles has been used in the past by DC Comics to represent alternate Earths, or alternate Earths fusing"

"World War III? Why? HOW?" — World War III was an important event in 52, as Black Adam (black + Adam (man) = Obama?) battled, and killed, several heroes"

"The old Gods are DEAD, the new Gods want what's left."

"Due to the unpredicted popularity of the series, DC issued several series of comics based on the individual threads of 52 ... 52 Aftermath: The Four Horsemen mini-series ... covering the Four Horsemen's battle with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. The other strand of that story from 52 is taken up in Black Adam: The Dark Age... following Teth-Adam's quest to bring Isis back to life"

Black Adam

In 1952, Elizabeth became Queen of England, the B-52 Stratofortress flies for the first time, the Diary of Anne Frank is published, the U.S successfully detonates the first hydrogen bomb ( codenamed "Mike"), the NSA is founded. Twice that year fatal smog descended on London causing the death of thousands http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog_of_1952

And one for Michael from Hidden Agendas - Werner von Braun publishes his ideas for a manned flight to Mars in The Mars Project.

Tellurium is a chemical element with the atomic number of 52. It is one of the nine rarest metallic elements on earth. Its name comes from the Latin tellus meaning 'earth' & it was discovered in Transylvania in 1782. It was used as a chemical bonder in the making of the outer shell of the first atom bomb. In our modern world it is used in re-writable CDs & the new phase change memory chips. And looky here couldn't resist this from the 52 DC Comics -

"Σ Te versus (Au+Pb)" — ... the atomic number of Tellurium (Te) is 52. The other elements mentioned are Gold Au) and Lead (Pb). Gold and Lead are names of Metal Men, and alchemists attempted to transmute lead into gold. Tellus is a member of the pre-Zero Hour Legion of Super-Heroes"

The 52 I found most interesting in all this, was the humble deck of playing cards & how well they mirrored our 'timing' - 52 cards to match the 52 weeks of the year, 4 suits to match with the seasons & 13 cards per suit - either to match the number of weeks in a season or the thirteen months that any pagan would fit into the span of one year - yes these are generalisations there's a few days to be given or taken - but these are the numbers the majority of us understand & that I feel is most important.

Playing cards seem to have an undecided history, however they've been around for a long time

"In spite of their indeterminable beginnings and their unvarying, centuries old design, the 52-Card deck will never find a place in our concept of mystery or wonders of the world, because no matter what language is spoken or what part of the world you are in, playing cards have become as familiar as the moon to the sky. We take them for granted! And question them not.

But what if there is more to the cards than just mere games of chance? What if their true purpose was to leave nothing to chance? What if their simple and well-preserved design was a language of symbols, passed down through the centuries, preserved as the worlds greatest past time? For those who know how to read the Little Book and its 52 Pages, the mystery is revealed as a map of the stars and a calendar of earth".

The rest of this site is here, if you want to take a peak. http://www.metasymbology.com/

I do think there is a lot more to the familiar deck of playing cards than we've been led to believe. My Grandmother used to read them as another person would read Tarot cards. Certainly there's probably meat aplenty to make a hearty post, but my eye was caught by something else. In the very week that the new Batman movie is released, how could I resist the call of the wild card - the Joker. If internet sources are to be believed the Joker is an American invention & appeared in the later 1800's.

"The Joker seems to have its origins in a special card used in a particular form of Euchre (a card game)... immigrants carried the game to the US ... Americans added to the Euchre deck a card even higher than the designated Bowers (Jacks). It was called the Imperial Bower or the Best Bower. This was the genesis of the Joker.

"...early Jokers show much greater diversity. We find not only the trickster types but also children, stage characters, animals, etc. After the introductions of the Best Bower into Euchre, Americans equipped other card games with an extra card (usually as a wild card). Perhaps this is the stage in which the extra card became known as the Joker—meaning one that changes character or pops up unexpectedly. .. The choice of a jester is logical, not only because of his unpredictable behavior, but because he complements the court cards. In Europe, after all, the royal court really was home to jesters, jugglers and other entertainers"

http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~daf/i-p-c-s.org/faq/history_10.php

Joker, jester, fool, buffoon, trickster. I have read that the origins of the jester go back to prehistoric tribal society. Certainly they acquired much popularity in the Middle Ages.

I came across this "The jester was a symbolic twin of the king" - and I wondered, could we say the Joker is the symbolic twin of Batman? Are we being shown two sides of the same coin? Looking at the title 'The Dark Knight' - does 'Dark' stand for the Joker & while the Knight is Batman & could the inclusion of Two Face be a little cryptic hint at what we're being shown. I don't trust this movie, for some reason the death of Heath Ledger brings to my mind the spell cast over Macbeth by the 'weird sisters' - far reaching & full of poison.

Batman (Christian Bale) has lost his symbolic twin. Just days ago we hear that this Knight was arrested for assault - I wondered if we are being shown something - that the Joker has not died, but has arisen within his twin. I am reminded of the loathsome ending of Twin Peaks many years ago, when the delightful Agent Dale Cooper is possessed by 'Bob'. I wonder if these 'trance' themes reiterate the amount of darkness being pumped daily into our souls through the media.

Hollywood is built upon the hidden - we are aware of the ten percent that lies upon a variety of 'Universal Studios', it's the ninety percent 'that lie(s) beneath that we need to see - trickery - the art of the trickster or the Joker.

"Often, the card is a wild, and thereby allowed to represent other existing cards. The term "Joker's Wild" originates from this practice. The Joker can be an extremely beneficial, or an extremely harmful, card.

Heath Ledger was reaching the end of his portrayal of the Joker, when the Jokela School Shooting took place in Finland on 7th November, 2007. He also featured in the movie I'm Not There as "one of six actors trying to define singer, Bob Dylan." Following the joker's trail I find that it is generally agreed that 'the jester who sang for the king & queen, in a coat he borrowed from James Dean' was none other than one Bob Dylan. The song American Pie mentions the jester twice more. He is "on the sidelines in a cast' & again "while the king was looking down, the jester stole his thorny crown". Certainly the Joker has stolen Batman's thunder in the Dark Knight - this wild card is most certainly trumping the Box Offices of the world.

http://www.financialpost.com/related/links/story.html?id=119882

Well I've wandered a long way from where I started & I find that my weekend is closing in. Mon will be polishing his bucket & preparing to fill it with ice cold water.

If we pay attention for a moment we find one of the day family's tricky little secrets. Let's slightly adjust the magical spelling of the word 'week' & see what happens - now we have weak & if we carry that through to it's ending we have weaken(e)d or weekend.

I don't think I'd be too far off the mark to say it takes at least a 'sevennight' to unwind - you go on holiday but you need that time to relax & to find your natural pace. We've been told that we have life so much easier than our predecessors, so we shouldn't complain. There's movies to show us in case we doubt. We have technology, electricity, every comfort - here I must dip back to my previous post & drop in a little wtf... because look around, oh sorry you already have, that's why you visit sites & blogs like this one.

I head back to work tomorrow, to tread the Groundhog wheel again, to rerun the week I did last week & the one before & the one before - but I believe this time I will not be quite so hard on myself. I thought it was me who was doing 'something' wrong - I hadn't thought to look at a setup that is geared to keep me in one very small week. If you can't see the invisible walls how can you find a way to scale them.

I believe the naming of days has created a seven sided see-through box. For as long as I can remember, the day that is looming ahead of me now has been Monday - I know what it looks like & how it will be, I hardly even need turn up, in reality probably only 20% of me has been there most weeks - the oh so dominating presence of Mon does the rest.

The week - the biggest Joker of them all?

The wisdom of wtf

From Julie - a reader & friend in Australia

"More info on ‘The Con’. She visited Mercedes Girls College in Perth to lecture the girls on ‘surviving as a woman in a man’s world, then she went on to Kings Park War Memorial to lay a wreath (with the whole ‘last post’ military salute) for the ANZACS. Hmmmmm

Interesting hey, ANZAC being the pertinent clue perhaps????? First WA and then NZ !!!"

Until Julie emailed me I was unaware of this unsavoury visitor - the first visit to NZ by a US Secretary of State in 10 years & reminiscent of Elton John's mercurial concert in Auckland this year after a break of 10 years.

NZ became persona non grata with the US in the 1980's when it declared itself nuclear free. Mind you these days I question everything especially when it relates to the decisions made by those in 'mind' power.

This unexpected visit reminded me of Ellis Taylor's comments earlier this year regarding the death of Edmund Hillary & there being 'only room at the top for one Hillary'. His state funeral was held in Auckland & his ashes were spread in it's surrounding waters in the Hauraki Gulf. A few months later El-ton John crooned at Vector (Mercury) Arena including of course the song 'Sacrifice'. Which leads on to Julie's other comment about the ANZAC's -I wonder if 'the Con' will lay a wreath here.

I do feel that the energy from the world wars is accessible to those in the know. For three days prior to ANZAC Day this year, actual footage of the Gallipoli 'Sacrifice' (restored by Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings fame) was projected on to the front of The Auckland Museum - we're talking a bloody big screen. The footage was called 'Heroes of Gallipoli' - remember in the best Greek tradition heroes die young. I had forgotten that the actual name of the museum is The Auckland War Memorial Museum - the whole building is the memorial (I will go into this more in my final article of 'the Sacrifice'.

Matthew Delooze has drawn attention to the use of building as a backdrop for projected images - I can't put my finger on it at the moment - but something is up. Did you know images of the pope were projected onto Sydney Harbour Bridge for World Youth Day - wtf. Actually while I'm on the topic I've noticed the take-off of moving images - they've hit the malls in NZ & in Sydney they've got the bastards in the streets. I have to make a concerted effort to ignore them - the word 'eye-catching' comes to mind - they really get 'in your face'.

This brings us back to 'the Con' who "told enthralled schoolgirls how she loves shopping - and has no presidential ambitions" & she combined this with a lecture on "surviving as a woman in a man’s world" - yet more instructions to the masses as to how to keep the division of the sexes operating at maximum effectiveness. And I'm sorry would anyone really be enthralled by any member of the menagerie that ru(i)ns the U.S?

Well this was really just a a quick wtf post as I'm working on something else at the moment. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the somnambulance of the media munchers & it seems a bit of a lost cause - but then I get an email to remind me that there's a whole bunch of 'cool & groovy' LIVE people out there. The media is very loud & attention getting - I guess it's really just an attention seeker. I decided to check out some medical info on such a condition & found this which I think is vital for your understanding of the effects of the media
http://jarofjuice.blogspot.com/2006/11/attention-seeking-syndrome.html

Here is a little heartening piece (peace)

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A group of New Zealand students has come up with a novel way of protesting against a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, offering a cash reward for her "arrest" over U.S. actions in Iraq.
The Auckland University Students' Association has offered NZ$5,000 ($3,700) for any student making a citizen's arrest of Rice during her 36-hour stay that starts later on Friday.
"It's primarily symbolic, but it's a protest against her actions as secretary of state in Iraq and the authorization of the torture of suspected terrorist detainees," said the student body's president, David Do."

Last week, my son & I watched an extremely bad movie about Gallipoli - it was research - called All the Kings Men - personally I would say you'd be better off cleaning out the oven. One part of the story has a young war bride, who has just found out that her husband has been killed, rushing out of the Queens presence (she's a maid) & running all upset down a long road to a cottage where she throws herself on a guy who fancies her, for a quick shag. My son's comment was wtf & I went on to try & explain about grief & people doing strange things - but over the course of the week I've had a rethink - about just how much my ideas have come from TV & movies - would anyone really do that & if they did would it be because the movie industry has told them to. I have a great deal of respect for my son's opinions, he is still reasonably alert - so if he says wtf then I think yes my boy I think you've got a point. He's off to see Batman today, I'd prefer he didn't see it but I honour his choices & as such he listens to my strange ideas. All I've said to him is to trust the wtf feeling. Interestingly he had these feelings throughout the new Futurama movie at the places my friend Michael from Hidden Agendas pointed out.

So I thought I'd finish with that idea - honour your wtf feelings & those of others - there's nowt like a bit of common sense.

The Truth, the whole truth & nothing but...

Ritual was borrowed from Latin ritualis, a derivative of ritus which means ‘religious or other ceremony or practice’.

Unless you are one of the very few, you are a member of the largest religion in the world.

In the Muslim religion you are required to pray five times a day, in your religion, you pay homage perhaps twice as much, if not more.

Your priests are well dressed, well spoken & dedicated & for your ultimate convenience, your religion comes to you, allowing worship at home, work or even in your car.

Your religion is the true religion, because unlike all those who worship ‘false gods’ – yours can be proved, your religion is based on, nay IS in fact, ‘Truth’.

It encompasses the entire globe, costs only pennies & it’s gospels are constantly monitored to ensure no falsehoods could ever pass the lips of it’s immaculate preachers. It’s missionaries are willing to go anywhere, even risk their lives to update these gospels for you, You, dear believer are truly a valued commodity, sorry disciple, in your religion.

And your reward will be great indeed, when the day of enlightenment comes, when all the worries of the world & the need to think will be wiped away & you will know that you need never question anything ever again, for there will be only the Truth, the whole Truth & nothing but the Truth so help you TVNZ, CNN, BBC, CBS…


Quite some time ago I came upon book which talked me through the elements of ritual & I was stunned to find staring back at me, albeit unintended, the very ingredients of our daily TV & to a lesser extent radio, News.

As I believe it’s only fair that you understand the mechanics of your religion, here is my interpretation of the ingredients that constitute the Church of Truth.



Firstly, it must have a dynamic start & finish.
In order to capture the consciousness of the victim, shit sorry I meant viewer, strong, insistent music & vivid images are required. A strong ending recaptures any wandering attention, reaffirms the power of the message as well as signaling the imminent return of one's consciousness to mundane life.

The ritual must have strong & continuous sensory input throughout.
Graphic visuals, music & strong intoning voices with occasionally witty dialogue for slight relief.

It must be seen as outside the realms of daily life.
Have a look & feel that is different to your day to day activity – it must be seen to be special.

It must also be familiar or predictable.
No matter where you go, even from country to country, you must be able to locate & worship your religion with ease.

A consecrated site is required.
Just as ‘false’ religions have pulpits, the religion of ‘Truth’ has a studio. A sacred site must have boundaries to proclaim it holy, for you these are the edges of your TV screen – graphically separating the holy of holies of the TV studio from your unsanctified living room. It helps also to anchor into your consciousness the divinity of those gods & goddesses who appear thereafter for your nightly viewing pleasure.

Special clothes & objects are required.
Your priests dress in tailored robes of understated design. They have special screens for showing you the gospels of daily horrors or charts & graphs if these are not available.

Your ritual would not be a ritual without special gestures & movements.
Following on from the cavalry like charge of the opening music, comes the ‘oh there you are look’, of the preacher, followed by synchronized nod & clerical “Good Evening. Your preacher will only be visible from the waist up, will maintain eye contact with you throughout no matter what twists & turns the camera my take. They may hold or shuffle some sheets of paper as if to suggest even more knowledge, which they may or may not make known. They will turn their head towards their fellow preachers when it is time for you to transfer your attention to someone else – just as a masseuse never breaks contact with her clients body, so to will your preacher never leave your attention undirected.

Special vocals are essential to the ritual.
You will be intimately familiar with the intonations of your local ‘truth’ preacher. They are specific to this religion & are unmistakable even across vast distances of space or time. You’re religion has trained you all your life to pay very special attention to the rhythms & inflexions of it’s high priests & priestesses. Even should you wish to, you will be unable to ignore this hypnotic clergy unless you leave the room or God forbid, switch off the holy of holies.

Your religion has the ahem ...truth SEWN (NEWS) up.
Like any follower you do not question, for yours is the one true faith, you have it on the very best authority, their own.

I cannot help but equate the modern News service with the ancient Greek oracles. We have wrapped (sewn) up this so called ‘modern’ age in a cloak of science & fact. This cloak has the very latest bright & trendy design, so we do not see that underneath it, lurks the age old methods of control - hypnotic ritual & religious ceremony.

Why do we call them News 'Anchors' - because they anchor hypnotic suggestions. They even chuck in predictions called ‘weather forecasts & still we say it’s OK it's News, it’s science. Isn’t it marvelous.

And that’s it from me & the Delphic Oracle.

Good night.