I am still cautiously exploring esotericism, so I also loved her comment about science being what we can know about the Mystery, but that “Mystery is the soul’s realm; intuition is the way we perceive it” (121). It was fascinating to see mysticism related so closely to the language of dreams and the non-conscious mind:…
I recently finished reading Womanchrist: A New Vision of Feminist Spirituality, a book which has left me quite perplexed. The author, Christin Lore Weber, is a former nun who left the convent, married, remarried when her first husband died, mothered children, and is now (if I remember correctly) a grandmother. Her writing is beautiful: lyrical,…
I did find myself rather raising an eyebrow at some of the symbolism, however, with its emphasis on white clothing and long white veils for purity, consistently white girls in all the graphics, and the emphasis on the ceremonial lighting of candles to conquer and banish the darkness. Not only is that dark vs. light…
Now a bit more rambling about the “Hidden In Plain Sight” conference. As I’ve mentioned previously, it lasted for four days: Thursday through Sunday. The Thursday talks were seriously hampered by two issues: an inadequate sound system, and the unexpected surprise of almost all the conference’s attendees showing up. This meant the hall, which was…
The speaker noted that of the 33 revolutions since (and including) the American Revolution, only six of them were led by Freemasons, which would seem to indicate Freemasons are not the dreaded revolutionaries they’re portrayed as. I was amused by his comment that the more revolutionary the Freemasons were believed to be, the more revolutionary…
The conference was closed by the sacred dance which I wrote about yesterday, and everyone was invited to participate in the Epagomenal Festival as well. I very much enjoyed the attitude at the festival — while it was kid-friendly, it wasn’t something just for the kids, and I received only cheerful invitations when I asked…
I’m back from Hidden in Plain Sight, the Rosicrucian Museum’s lovely four-day conference on esotericism. Not only did I have a wonderfully mentally stimulating time, but I was thanked repeatedly for all my volunteer work during the con, which I’ll freely confess was really nice to hear. Further, after the conference was over we were…
Some random notes I found of interest about Yingpan Man: the “boots” were almost just little sacks for the feet, and clearly not designed for walking. My guess were that they were ceremonial, intended just for the burial. Also those little curving items visible on the tops of the boots and up on the chest…
The Bowers Museum clearly has someone working for them who is both extremely persuasive, and very well-connected in China, in order to negotiate such an amazing collection for their exhibition. I consider their exhibition title, Secrets of the Silk Road, quite accurate. Keep in mind the Chinese allowed only a tiny handful of Western scientists…
I was going to write in a rather scholarly mode about my visit to the Tarim mummies, but I think all my “scholarly” has been temporarily burned out of me by my intensive month or so of thesis writing. I’ll have to write about that too at some point — what a trip that was!…