WOMEN OF ESOTERICA: Fortean, Anomalous, Paranormal, UFOs, Conspiracy, Supernatural, Para-politics, Weird Things, Mythology, Spirit, Hauntings, … you know, that stuff
About fifteen years ago, there was a local woman who sold religious folk art/outsider art items at her booth at the Saturday Market. Saturday Market is a long running street fair in Eugene (since 1970), full of booths of hand made items, as well as food booths and lots of music.
I bought several things from her at the time and did a paper on her when I was studying folklore at the University of Oregon.
This is a beaded necklace, with a wood pendant. On the front is an image of St. Maria Magdalene. On the back is a little label: "St. Maria Magdalene Patroness of Fallen Women." This is what Books of the Times site has to say about St. Maria Magdalene:
There is a breathtaking moment in the Gospel of Philip, one of the Gnostic gospels, which were denounced by the church as heresy. The apostles witness Jesus kissing Mary Magdalene on the mouth. The apostles are horrified, jealous. ''Why do you love her more than us?'' they ask. Jesus' response is mysterious and enigmatic. ''Why do I not love you like her?'' he says.
What is the meaning of those kisses? Sexual passion? A profound friendship? Jesus anointing Mary Magdalene as his successor and as leader of the church?
Traditionally, Mary Magdalene has been seen as a reformed harlot, portrayed in paintings as red haired and bare breasted. But as Karen L. King, the Winn professor of ecclesiastical history at Harvard University, in the Divinity School, points out in her new book, ''The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle,'' nowhere does the Bible say that she was a prostitute.
I know I have that paper, with photos, around here somewhere. I also have other items that I hope to take snaps of and post. I think the woman -- a very colorful person! -- called herself "Sister Spirit" and I want to say "bear" was in there somewhere, but it's been many years and I don't remember.
She sold jewelry with decorated images of the saints and the BVM as well as Jesus. She was known for her Jesus nightlights: religious plastic nightlights of Jesus and Mary, (the kind you can buy at dime stores; I've even seen them at Dollar Store type places) painted, often with neon colors, and decorated with beads, glitter, feathers .
I haven't been to the Saturday Market for a couple of years; but when I have gone there, I didn't notice her around. I think she left the area some time ago, or at least, stopped making her wonderful folk art.
I followed this link from Lesley's Debris Field, and was astonished, because I'd forgotten about Rigorous Intuition. So many forums and blogs and people. so little time. There's a lot there about Strieber and The Key, which I haven't yet read, and I don't know what to think about any of it. But it's interesting as hell, that is for sure.
I've just skimmed what's all there, so can't comment much. But a couple of things: seems Daniel Pinchbeck, who I greatly admire, has issues with Strieber, as I've commented on the past as well. Two psychonauts I respect at odds with each other. Always interesting. Then there's the late Mac Tonnies' thoughts on Strieber (Mac being another person I admired) -- which are very intriguing -- referenced on the RI OP. But what to think? Seems as wild in many ways as the simple idea Strieber is saying he experienced exactly what he did, indeed, experience. Can we fault the "experiencer" for stumbling around and trying to process the incredible? What else is he/she to do? And what of the enigmatic remark from the author of this post at RI about "psychic" interplays? via computer?:
"I posted a response suggesting an alternate explanation to Strieber’s paranoid insistence that sinister forces were behind the edits, namely, that Whitley had unconsciously altered the text via some sort of psychic interface with his software (something which has almost certainly happened in my experience)."
That's quite a concept, one that's never entered my mind. And yet, I had something close to that myself once...does this mean the computer can be a conduit for communication for "them" as with ghost/hauntings -- those spirits and energies that use electricity to communicate? Which would mean Strieber's mind wasn't playing tricks on him, but "they" were.
I'm not defending anyone here, nor, attacking. Both seem downright stupid as well as silly and petty. When it comes to the individual and his or her experiences, we can't dare to tell them how to go about their journey, or be so presumptuous, as so many are in this field, to tell them how to interpret those experiences. Follow the magical threads here: rigorousintuition.ca - View topic - Is Whitley Strieber Advocating Implants?
Reviews of: Vere Chappell's Sexual Outlaw, Erotic Mystic: The Essential Ida Craddock.
A skeptic view (fantasy prone, sexual abuse, etc.) on the following but still interesting: THE MAGONIA BLOG: Sexual Outlaw, on the story Ida Craddock. Craddock (1857-1902) was a sexologist, who learned about sexual pleasures from 'Soph' a ghost. Parallels to Mary, to contactees, succubi and incubus, and to all those sexual-supernatural unions are obvious. I haven't read the book; I'm not familiar with Craddock but I'm looking forward to reading this book.
Craddock was the victim of her times; the moral setting she lived in would have put her in prison for her attitudes, (she was the target of "Anthony Comstock and his Society for the Suppression of Vice . . ." according to this review on Vere Chappell's bio page.) Instead, she committed suicide.
I consolidated and slightly altered a few posts that I entered earlier today at my blogs UFO Mary and Octopus Confessional. The past month or so the world has been witness to some unusual events; signs in the sky, attempts at toppling authorities, and the implementation of control and fear from the infrastructure, who, I suspect, are responsible for such seemingly disconnected events.
Red Hooded Woman and Nigerian Bomber
A strange incident, that seems odder still when juxtaposed with other odd events this holiday season; the attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253 in particular.
Both incidents served to grab international attention during a time when many of us are vulnerable emotionally and spiritually; we're amped up at this time of year on many levels. Add to this mix international travel; people dependent on the whims and fates of weather, airport security, government, flight arrivals and cancellations. . .
The Pope, during the Christmas Day blessing, was attacked by a young woman in a red hooded sweatshirt. The woman had climbed over a barrier and managed to pull the Pope to the ground; however, the Pope was unharmed. Reports say the woman was mentally unstable. Interesting for the above reasons but also in context of the attack two weeks earlier on the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Berlusconi's attacker, it's been reported, also has mental problems.
One of the things to emerge from these incidents -- the bombing attempt, the attacks on the Pope and Silvio Berlusconi -- is the reminder from authority of the need for tighter security. Homeland Security was lightening quick in its announcements for newer, stricter security edicts, which have already been put in place. Along with these even more restrictive rules is the urging of Homeland Security for the use of body scanners in airports.
As to the failed bombing attempt by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, there's further support for the sleeper agent scenario: Abdulmutallab told authorities "operatives" in Yeman gave him the explosives. The US attacked Yemen on December 19th.
Whether intentionally planned by the Global Cabal (you know, "Them,") or the Trickster in our face, there are esoteric elements all over these events. Two mentally unstable people, a woman in her twenties wearing a hood that's red, (Christmas color, blood, sacrifice, wanton woman,) the inept would be airplane bomber from Nigeria, (the Nigerian e-mail spam scams,) Christmas Day, (world peace, love, goodwill to men, religion. . . ) the Pope, (authority, religion, spiritual control, sexual control, Nazis,) the Vatican,(more control and authority infrastructure, hidden treasures and secrets, power, global presence) and Kafka-esqe rules that are, we're told,to keep us safe, but really serve to humiliate and control.
These incidents seem unconnected and maybe they are; but they all happened on the global stage, during a time of global sharing and unity, and where travel is at its highest on a world wide level. Institutions were attacked: the Pope/Vatican, (and two weeks previously, Italy's PM, another authority) and an airline, directly involving Homeland Security.
Hundreds, if not thousands, have been lining up for hours every night at the Virgin Mary Orthodox Church in a Cairo neighborhood just off the Nile. Many of them claim that a mysterious light hovering above the church's domes is an apparition of the Virgin Mary who will bring Christian Copts prosperity and relief in a time of national and religious struggle.
The crowds began appearing Thursday evening when a number of residents spotted a flickering light. No one was sure where the illumination was coming from, and word quickly spread that the light took the shape of the Virgin Mary wearing a blue gown and standing in the sky between the church's two high crosses.
There is a video clip at the above link on Beliefnet.com, with a link to the following clip on YouTube:
The image shown reminded me of the BVM's appearence, which the article mentions, in Zeitun, Egypt, from 1968 to 1971. Similar white, cut-out type figure, and pigeons. Pigeons are mentioned in the recent BVM apparition as well:
The scene on Saturday was huge when we saw the lightning and white pigeons flying around us. White pigeons always accompany apparitions like these," one Copt told The Times.
Watching the clip shown here, an orange light can be seen flickering off towards the end of the clip, as if the image of Mary was being projected from that source.
Coming in on the heels of other recent weirdness in the world, this BVM apparition doesn't seem to be a paranormal event, but part of this staging on a global level. Signs in the skies: UFOs for the saucer heads (Kremlin, etc.) blue spirals in Norway for the skeptics and rational, the BVM for the religious. And to keep us on our toes, failed Nigerian bombers and attacks on Italian authorities; the Pope, again performed for the religious, the Prime Minister for the rest of us.
Control, fear and wonder all at once. All are distractions, seemingly without connection to each other. Year end strangeness; it appears to be a bit much.
Red Hooded Woman Synchronicity
After I had posted these entries, I watched the movie Inkheart after dinner. I had a jolting moment of synchronicity when, during the opening scene, where the character is reading to his daughter, a red cape and hood float down from the sky and fly about, landing outside their window.
In the previous post, I described a dream I had involving water in a small man made pool, in a white marble setting. I used my pendulum to find out what the crop circle in the water meant. . .
Last night I had a dream that was similar in many ways, but different as well. In the dream I find that I'm leading a small group of people to an abandoned building, a large 19th century apartment type building used for residence but also some kind of school. It turns out I, or my husband, owns the building but haven't been near the thing in years. I get the key, and we arrive, and want to go up to the top floor, but find it barricaded with a weird, rickety, sloppy kind of staircase. The intent of the staircase was to discourage people from going further. "Screw that," I say, "I own this building!" and we manage to climb through everything and get to the apartment at the top.
Once inside, the apartment is lovely. Very nice, clean, and mostly in white, but not sterile, very warm and comfortable. The living room is a sunken living room, the kind popular in the 1950s, '60s, and some of the people sit down in there on the furniture. In the center of the sunken living room is a pool, very much like the one in the previous dream. Just water inside, no crop circle or anything.
One of the men in the group takes off his shoes, which seemed funny since he's wearing a business suit, tie, the works. He stretches and asks if he can put his feet in the water: "It sure would feel nice" he says. I tell him it's important not to put his feet in the water, no offense and it's not personal, but it's important we don't contaminate the water. That's not what it's for.
However, I point to the open door to the right, which leads out onto a lovely patio and garden, with a swimming pool. I tell him it's fine if he wants to go out to the pool and swim. Not just get his feet wet, but his whole body. Up/Down The previous dream had us going down, this dream had us going up. In both dreams I was a leader, sort of. Both dreams had small pools of water. Both dreams had white as the dominant color, and both dreams had the water as something clearly sacred. Both dreams had abandoned, or no longer used large buildings that once held a lot of people, and related to learning.
Connected I think of "as above, so below" when thinking on these dreams, and that the subconscious and mundane is connected to the higher self, astral realms. . . we are all connected, not only with each other, but all living things, which is, in my little belief system, everything.
Dreams I've used dreams as tools for years; I think we can learn from many of our dreams to help us on whatever path we're on, or are about to step upon. I think these two dreams are signals to me that I'm about to start something new. . . and the dreams are confirmations of my recent desires to do work in teaching/healing areas.
I've been doing a lot of work these past couple of weeks with spirit guides, which has brought me -- and, seemingly, our house -- a lot of vivid experiences. I've experienced more activity in the past ten days or so than I've had in the past couple of years; which includes dreams, visions, poltergeist type energy, out of body experiences . . .
Last night I had a dream that involved a crop circles and a pendulum. I dreamt I was with a group of people, visiting an abandoned estate of sorts, with lots of terraces that led down to a courtyard. At one time this place was a school of some kind, a kind of college but people also lived here. We go down to this courtyard, which is mostly white marble; the steps leading down, the ground, everything. Nothing in the courtyard except a pedestal made of stones; about two feet tall, and about three feet by five feet. On top of the stone pedestal is a wooden frame, about a foot deep. This "box" is full of water, which is very clear. At the bottom of this little pool is a crop circle. Logically this doesn't make sense; in the waking world, a crop circle in sand or dirt, or in wheat, etc. would not last, but in dream logic, it makes sense. The crop circle was a geometric design, not of any recognizable animal or symbol.
I get out my pendulum (which, in the waking world, I've been working with) and it goes crazy. I mean crazy, I can barely keep a hold of it. It's spinning around so wildly I can't tell if it's "yes" or "no" or what. Finally I get in sync with it and realize it's telling me -- us -- that what the crop circle has to tell us, what we can learn from it, where the crop circle (and all crop circles) are from, is "very intense."
I share this with the group; I tell them that the pendulum shows us that it's going to be "very intense" and for some reason, everyone takes this as "very negative." They start to leave in a little rush, pushing each other up the terraced sides. I say "No, not negative, just intense. It's not a bad thing..." but they don't get it, or don't want to get it. That's the end of the dream.
Other experiences I've had lately: listening to a guided imagery mediation kind of CD, I was having what I call "slide shows" --the vivid pictures popping rapidly in my head during that slightly hypnogognic, trance like state one is in when starting to go to sleep, or relaxing. My pictures were coinciding with what was being said on the tape; after the voice said, for example, "A bright candle," I saw a bright candle. But then I had a vivid, highly detailed picture of a woman who was clearly up to no good; the the message I had was that this woman was a lair, a thief and a manipulator. I briefly wondered "Where did that come from?!" and then the voice on the CD said "There will be people who mean harm and will lie to you. . . "
An odd thing was Jim's experience earlier this evening with the bath mat. I was taking a nap and he had just got in from work. He went into the bathroom to take a shower. He reached for the bath mat that we keep hanging on the shower curtain rod, and it was gone. He thought that was weird, and looked around the bathroom for it, no bath mat. He couldn't find it, which was weird, and wondered if maybe I hadn't moved it. Although why I'd do that, made no sense, he told me later. He looked again, no bath mat. He walked out thinking of waking me but didn't want to do that, so he went back into the bathroom, and there was the bath mat where it always is -- on the shower curtain rod. He told me that this was one of the weirdest things that has happened to him, so weird it made the hair on his skin stand up.
For some reason, I feel that that incident is connected to the spirit energy I've been working with.
I have an entry at my blog UFO-Mary on some comments, including The "Amazing" Randi's usual vitrolic self, about a letter written to the JREF on a news item about Our Lady of Guadalupe. You can read it here.
I received an email from someone who tells me they believe in the MIBs, they're real, and they're misunderstood. The MIBS have never harmed anyone. The MIBS are really archangels (not a new idea) and are here to warn us about the Reptilians. William Bramley's Gods of Eden, puts forth this theory as well; whether or not they're "angels" aliens or what, the MIBS have been around for thousands of years. It's also not clear whether or not they're really here to help us, or what. . . but so far, I was kind of sort of with the emailer's thoughts, until he or she started talking about Jesus and framing the whole thing in a Christian construct. However, that's just me, I'm not at all religious, and certainly not Christian. I still find it very interesting though and so here it is, my mysterious MIB believer emailer's website: Seal of God.
I'm not cynical or dismissing any of this; don't mistake my non-religious views with a non "belief" or acceptance, of non-human beings, including those we call aliens, possibly MIBS, and angels.
She sold jewelry with decorated images of the saints and the BVM as well as Jesus. She was known for her Jesus nightlights: religious plastic nightlights of Jesus and Mary, (the kind you can buy at dime stores; I've even seen them at Dollar Store type places) painted, often with neon colors, and decorated with beads, glitter, feathers .
