Fascinating, Lanny - I was reading Merton's New Seeds of Contemplation last night for the __th time, and was struck by his clarity about the fixation on evil, being stuck in dichotomous thinking, and of course it was yet another reinforcement of the reversal of which you speak, citing a different, although parallel, source!
> At 05:37 AM 10/27/2005, you wrote: > >have been reading Hakim Bey's book Gothick > Institutions > >for the last couple of days, and was fascinated, > blown away > >really, by the entirety of it. and then something > curious just > >now. i was reading an article called _The Language > of Birds: > >Some Notes on Chance and Divination_ by Dale > Pendell > >and I ran across something quite remarkable or > maybe > >perhaps only slightly remarkable, but interesting > to > >me, and perhaps to the group. > > > >There's some discussion of a Linnaean Hermeticism > within the book > >in the section on Erasmus Darwin so I found this > quite appropriate. > > > >First Bey's black violets which is VIIII in his > >Eclogues (dedicated to the ghost of Warren G. > Sherwood > >(d. 1947) > > > >black violets > > > >Satyr with boner draws curtain back > >to reveal scene now green with moss > >algae snails & deep shade > > a Green Messiah > >not descending from clouds so much as > >rising from Earth, from Hollow Earth > > > >or Jesus as a snake > > > >an ecology of the unnatural > > > >a fishbowl we're > >trying to escape even at the risk > >that pure air will choke us. > > > >== > > > >Now I think most of you know I'm a pretty > irreligious > >and for the most part blasphemous sort of fellow > >so when I came across this I kind of had to shift > >out of my usual ruts and fall into a more Norman > >O. Brownian kind of reading of 'Jesus'.. > >I liked the poem and related it in passing to the > >context of the eclogues and book. I did I will > admit have > >a flash from the film Lair of the White Worm > >of a snake on the cross.. I also was reminded > >of an image I used to get which is more normal > >for me which was of a kind of cathedral where > >these erotic slave nuns are sort of imprisoned > >in a cathdral using crucifix dildoes and then a > giant > >satyr breaks in through the wall and lets in pure > >light and birds and petals etc and frees these > deludees.. > >something from a dream i had.. the emancipation of > the nuns or some > >such.. pretty crass.. the usual.. anyway > >'Jesus as a snake' did work on me a bit, in a > symbolic sense, > >an inversion perhaps within biblical context, or > even > >coniunctio as in forking paths of knowledge > rejoined, but not > >in any definite way really other than in the > context > >of the poem's Green Messiah and trying to think of > how > >N.O.Brown would read this. > > > >Then I was reading the article I mentioned and > found > >this: > > > >Hebrew prophecy came from snakes: Nehushtan, the > bronze > >serpent that Moses affixed to a cross. > > > >Nachash nechosheth, the serpent of bronze. > >Both words from nachash, 'to hiss, whisper, to > divine.' > > > >Nachash = Mashiyach = 358: > >the Serpent is the Messiah. > > > >Not sure about the Qabbalistic numerology.. > >At any rate, I thought this was a fascinating > detail. > >There is also, before this (above) section: > > > >The serpent in the tree, offering knowledge. > >Mercury's snakes, the Hermetic power: hermeneutics, > >the interpretation of signs, poisoning single > vision. > > > >(pure air choking us...)? > >as if we would move from the 'poisoned' fishtank > >of hermeneutics into the pure air of a single > vision.. > >hmmm. works for me! > > > >Anyway another strange thing was that the article > >is dedicated to Norman O. Brown and the author > >wrote it after NOB's death. He had been having > >weekly walks with Norman for his last 10 years of > >life. > > > >Anyway, that was my little Eureka of the evening. > >Not much I'm sure, but I thought it was > interesting, > >or something curious at least in terms of random > >access / the temporal sieve / etc.. > > > >I know this happens all the time, but I just > thought > >this one was a little better than usual. > >The last good one I had, was when I did the > painting > >with the Hermandades characters. I rented 5 movies > >that weekend and 3 of them had the hermandades or > similiar figures > >in them completely by chance.. what's interesting > >about that is that the hermandades figure is > related > >to a counterreaction within catholicism against > protestant > >reactions to Catholicism's fetishism of the image.. > >The Hermandades are in fact a kind of > 'hyperfetish'.. > >This also directly relates to Gothick Institutions > >where he talks about a liberation from the image, > through > >the image, which is exactly what I was trying to > convey > >more or less, with my appropriation of these > hyperfetish > >hermandades.. > > > >anyway best to all.. > >your tie-dyed Cladesmum > >lanny > > __________________________________________ > Dr. John M. Bennett > Curator, Avant Writing Collection > Rare Books & Manuscripts Library > The Ohio State University Libraries > 1858 Neil Av Mall > Columbus, OH 43210 USA > > (614) 292-3029 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > www.johnmbennett.net > ___________________________________________
