Many years ago, I had a fishing boat out of Newburyport, Ma. If you know anything about commercial fishermen, then you know that they are all habitual lighter thieves. To keep the peace aboard my vessel, I purchased a bunch of large orange lighters. Each crew member got two, and the rest were stationed in strategic locations about the boat. Everybody was happy.
Of course, we did have friends & visitors. Sometimes they would come aboard while we were at dock, and sometimes while we were out at sea. Most everybody respected that the large orange lighters were ours.... with one notable exception...
This guy was compulsive about stealing lighters, and as our supply was beginning to dwindle as a result of his predation, I had to take a drastic action. I believe we were in Portsmouth when I found the novelty store. There I found a number of small orange lighters that could be loaded with tiny caps. There was a spring on the bottom side, so when you picked up one of these small orange lighters, it would go off with a big bang, (although otherwise, it was harmless).
Prior to his next visit, I seeded the boat with these small orange lighters, and made sure that my crew held all of the regular large orange lighters in their pockets. We were in the midst of Stillwagon fishing bank, (a great place to see whales), when next he came aboard. The boat he regularly worked on took off for Gloucester, and we planned on going to P-Town for the evening.
It wasn't long before we heard the first explosion up on the fly bridge. He came racing down, and I kindly lit his cigarette for him with the large orange lighter in my pocket. After awhile he went to the galley to talk with the 2nd mate. With the second explosion, he returned to the wheel house somewhat unnerved. I suggested that he take a nap forward to relax.
Fifteen minutes later came the third explosion, and he raced back to the wheel house quite distraught to say the least. I was about to light his cigarette for him again, when he picked up another small orange lighter by the wheel for the fourth explosion. We were all laughing by now, and he decided that he needed to take a shit.
I'm sure you are expecting this by now, and I won't disappoint you. The fifth explosion occured in the head. He bolted through the wheel house & made his way back aft. I *think* he was beginning to sweat. There he sat down on an empty fish box beside the beer cooler, which just happened to have a small orange lighter on top of it...
With the sixth explosion, the 1st mate put the boat the boat into neutral, while the 2nd mate tossed him a line, and I made ready with the gaff. It's not entirely clear to me why he wouldn't speak to us again for several weeks.
Of course, this story isn't quite over yet. About a month later we were back in Newburyport, and walked into The Thirsty Whale. We saw him at the bar & decided to join him. I lit a cigarette, and then placed my pack on the bar with a small orange lighter on top of it. The seventh explosion prompted the bartender to call 911. The paramedics soon arrived & took him to the emergency room. A few days later, the doctors said he was in stable condition, and he was released.
To my knowledge he has never stolen another lighter since... at least... not an orange one. Muwhahahaha!
These animated Moving Mandalas are very large files. Please click on the pic, and wait for it to load. The Contemplation will be very enabling, carrying your Mind beyond the mundane world
The Fabric of the Universe is bound together by the Energy of Life, woven through the dimensions from the macroscopicly large to the microscopicly small. This is a Cosmic Consciousness containing its own living Universe. Our Universe, in which we live.
Now consider a multidimensional Mandelbrot of Budding Cosmic Consciousnesses, each unique with its own living Universe and Laws of Nature. This is how it is : A Grand Pattern repeating within itself with Order arising from the individual differences which occur within the eddys of the streams of Time : A Transcendental Being containing all possible Universes within itself, and it is in motion, changing as it goes along.
How It Isn't
Once upon a time there was this guy who had a dollar in his pocket, but he had forgotten that it was there. Then The Lord came unto this guy, and He spake unto him, saying, "Worship me as your Personal Lord and Savior, and I will put a dollar in your pocket!"
Well, the guy happened to need a dollar, so he accepted The Lord as his Personal Lord and Savior, and when he reached into his pocket, he found the dollar that had been there all along.
The Knot
You know how to tie a knot. Visualize a tunnel with ends opening up and facing each other. Take the right hand path. It curves gently to the left and there are stairs going up. At a certain height the roof of the tunnel opens up with the sides being some four feet on either side. From here you can see all around you.
Now the stairs go down again, curving gently to the right, and the tunnel closes up again over your head as you descend the stairs. When you get back to ground level again, the tunnel moves forward, and then begins to curve around to the left.
As the tunnel continues to curve to the left, more stairs lead upward again, and the tunnel opens up at the top as before. Here you can see all around you from a second place. Next, more stairs lead downward, the tunnel closes up again as before, and bends towards the right. It continues forward for a bit, and then curves to the left, finally coming to the end facing where you started.
You have just walked through a knot.
I should like to construct this thing. It is a simple labyrinth in three dimensions, and ought to be a great problem solver. Concrete set in sacks, and layered on like large bricks, ought to do it. A layer of stucco should make it all smooth. I would paint the whole thing inside and out with a primer coat of white. Then I would draw long overlapping and entwining curves of sine waves, and spirals about it. These I would paint in a six color spectrum of pastels
There are two completely enclosed areas inside. These would make nice herb gardens. The first one would need two archway entrances from either side of the tunnel. The second one would have a single entrance positioned in the middle of the long curve. Opposite that one, I would have a set of stairs leading up to another viewing area.
One thing I would not do, is to have the tunnel all round with a slope instead of stairs. I'm pretty sure somebody would wipe out badly on a skateboard! OUCH!!
So maybe it should just be a garden pathway with two sets of arching stairs going up and over the path. That would be a pretty nice view
These animated Moving Mandalas are very large files. Please click on the pic, and wait for it to load. The Contemplation will be very enabling, carrying your Mind beyond the mundane world
In ancient times people used yarrow sticks to consult the I Ching. It was a complicated process in which changing lines occured less frequently. Gradually people switched over to the coins, which is what everybody uses today. I have three wheatback pennies.
To consult the I Ching you first think of your question, and then you will cast the three coins six times. After each toss of the coins, you mark down what came up, starting at the bottom & working up to the top. These may be yin lines or yang lines, and they may also be changing lines, or not. Changing lines are lines that change from yin to yang or yang to yin. These are the most important, because they show you the critical points in what you are dealing with in the answer to your question.
3 heads are a yin changing line. -x-
2 heads and a tail are a yang line ---
1 head and two tails are a yin line - -
3 tails are a yang changing line. -o-
The way people have been doing this for thousands of years, is that when you have changing lines you end up with two hexagrams. The hexagram you threw is written down first. Then you write down the second one beside it. The lines that were not changing remain the same in both hexagrams, but the changing lines will become the opposite of what they were in the first hexagram.
The first hexagram will tell you what to do, and the second hexagram will tell you what you can accomplish. The changing lines will guide you through the important parts of this process. This is what I like about the I Ching. The Tarot is great for explaining what is going on in a situation, but the I Ching tells you what to do about it.
The KEY hexagram completes the process, because it explains why you should be following the advice given in the first & second hexagrams. In all of my years of research, I've never seen that anyone has ever written about this idea, so I will assume that it is my own innovation. It is really quite a simple concept, but the KEY hexagram has shed light on everything that I use the I Ching for. If you consider that lines that do not change are yin, and that lines that do change are yang, then you can write down a third hexagram. This is what I call the KEY.
The KEY hexagram shows the relationship between the first & second. Now if there is a theme that runs throughout the entire I Ching, it is all about relationships, and the leverage to make things happen. Consequently, understanding the relationship between the two hexagrams you get when you consult the I Ching is essential. It is like a sentence has been constructed : You should do this (1st hexagram), in order to accomplish this (2nd hexagram), BECAUSE of this (the Key hexagram).
Linking up everything together in this way, has made the I Ching much more understandable for me. Before I discovered the KEY hexagram, often I would ask the I Ching a question, and still have doubts about what it was telling me. It doesn't help much to understand what an oracle is telling you, after you need that knowledge, does it? The KEY hexagram cleared that problem up for me, because when you understand the underlying pattern of a situation, the details become very clear.
To use my online translation of the I Ching, open three browser tabs to the Hexagram Index page. Then you can click on the hexagrams you want to study, and switch between the browser tabs for comparison.
These animated Moving Mandalas are very large files. Please click on the pic, and wait for it to load. The Contemplation will be very enabling, carrying your Mind beyond the mundane world
Everything is connected to everything else, so it often happens that the place that hurts, is not where the problem is. A stronger, bigger muscle that has gotten too tight, may be exerting a pull above or below it, and that is where the patient feels the pain.
These are things you will discover, while doing a diagnostic Swedish Massage, but will have to address later on, using Deep Tissue, Myofascial or other methods. With Intuitive Massage, you listen to what the patient's body is telling you. As you are working, you will feel what is going on inside the patient, and this will guide you as to how to proceed.
In some places, you may quickly be able to lightly gloss over, but in others, you may have to press and hold, until the muscle gives up, and finally relaxes. at this point you follow the wave of relaxation at whatever pace it goes, and and in whatever direction it goes. you will find that in a sense, you are *seeing* inside the patient's body through your fingers, and not just the skin & muscles, but also the activities of the nervous and glandular systems, as well.
Often, you will find that as you follow the signals that the patient's body is giving you, that you may do some odd things, that are not standard practice. These techniques are for specific conditions in the patient, that you are encountering, and will unwind many deep-seated problems, which have persisted for a long time. Remember these things, as they come up, because they can be added to your bag of tricks for use with other patients. The body has an Intelligence independent of the Mind. Learn from it.
These animated Moving Mandalas are very large files. Please click on the pic, and wait for it to load. The Contemplation will be very enabling, carrying your Mind beyond the mundane world
