Adjustment

*This post was originally written 5/6/2011 and never posted as I was still contemplating and playing with it. I found it recently and it syncs with life both outwardly and inwardly right now so I thought it was time to put it out there! Here we go...

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Let's explore some words, looking at their etymology and meanings we've derived from symbols in previous posts.

Maat = the creative divine feminine order

Weighed = moved, lifted, carried, a vessel/carriage

Heart = center, middle

Against = opposite, toward

Feather = wings (breath, scent, sense, faculty of perception, to travel, know, feel, journey, to go), rush, fly, drive back or down, petition, seek, go forward, pray, request or require, desire, wish


under- = beneath, between or among

-world = mankind, human existence

law = layer, measure, to put down (lay)

judgement = discern, separate, divide, perceive

I've had judgment and the underworld on the brain. I'm attempting to dive deeper into the meaning of Maat weighing the heart against her feather. I think this is commonly interpreted as a comparison of the purity (lightness) of the heart with that of a feather, but this has me imagine the scenario similar to facing judgement before the pearly gates of heaven. This traditional image is just unsatisfactory to me. I find myself wondering, "Why? and What for? What purpose does this serve in the natural order of things?" So I've started breaking down the meaning of the words to get a bigger picture that can be interpreted in more ways, as for some reason having more questions, and having more options of paths to run down is what brings me peace and understanding. So here is one such scenario I have come up with so far:

The feminine divine ordering principle of the universe (Maat) : carried (weighed) the wish (feather) toward and from (against) one's center (heart).

To me, using these alternate words brings new meaning to the symbol. A symbol of the law of creation, that what we dwell on we also dwell in. That what we see, think, feel, and do is informing an inner part of us on what to make manifest.

"When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you

If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do

Fate is kind
She brings to those to love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing

Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true"

*Interesting that the above song is from Disney's Pinocchio, about a wooden boy who longs to be REAL and his nose grows when he tells a lie/untruth.

By the way, I'm not saying that the above IS the meaning, or is THE meaning, but as usual I am just exploring meanings and possibilities surrounding Maat, the goddess of Truth.

What we deem as "true" is what we perceive as real, something that appears well formed, accurately shaped, and as steadfast and true as a tree. Truth is an exchange of faithfulness. Because the truth has proven to be faithful/constant we believe and trust in the truth, which perpetuates the truth, and the cycle continues. In fact, the FACTs that we believe are true, are really actions, events, occurrences, doings, experiences, and even "evil" deeds that have taken place. Evil is bad and wicked. But BAD is just being inferior in quality. When we look at the hierarchy in the process of creation: inspired from the all pervading mindstuff, to feeling, to thought and finally to the physical/material (as expressed by the Tetragrammaton), the material is actually just the lowest, most inferior piece of the puzzle. Below the superior inspiration and design. Wicked is a word derived from wizard. A magician uses the divine principles of creation to bring wishes into form. We are all wizards, witches and magicians, most of us are just casting our spells unconsciously. So a fact is a magical act.

The universe was created when god spoke. So what god had to say was really important to what was to be formed.  What are you saying in your own life? It's interesting that the word "addiction" means devotion, tendencies, habits. You could call it ritual. Even more revealing is that it comes from "ad- "to" + dicere "say, declare". This is important, because it shows that anything that you devote yourself to is an "addiction", it is what you continually, habitually perform, think, hold dear and thus becomes what you are saying because it yields results in the formation of your life.

We create our universe, and yet what we have created is simultaneously creating us.  I was looking at trees (trues?) the other day, thinking about how the direction they grow is based upon their environment - the way the wind blows, what is blockading them from growth in a certain place - such as a structure of some sort, dependent on the quality of the soil where they are located, how much sunlight and rain they take in, etc. But trees influence their environment too, their growth changes the landscape, their life creates oxygen which is crucial to the life of all other things.  We are the same way, we grow where the energy flows, if there is a blockage of some sort, our growth is stunted in that area and we will grow in another. Growth doesn't always imply a "betterment" either, it's just a building upon wherever the most energy is placed. Yet we are creating and shaping our environment all of the time too. There you have it, you are as divine as a tree. That's the truth.

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Food for thought. It's 2017 and I'm contemplating this all once more. Questions I'm facing are - Where have my "facts" that inform my life come from? What is my source? Have I learned from experience, by action and work? Or have I only listened and read the experience of others and attempted to create based not on my own physical, first hand, inner knowing but on the truth of others?
To be continued...

the bird is the word

 I am apologizing in advance - this is a very long post! AND I CAN'T STOP ADDING TO IT! There have just been so many connections coming together that I couldn't contain them all in a collage. And a lot of the connections have been through looking at the etymology of words, so I feel the need to attempt to explain my thoughts with words as best I can. Okay, here we go...

The other night I spontaneously decided to watch one of my favorite movies from my youth, the movie "Mermaids" starring Cher, Winona Ryder, and Christina Ricci. The entire movie I was thinking about how Christina Ricci as a child looked so much like my niece Meghan when she was small. Christina Ricci is 'the little mermaid' in that film as she is the little sister and is obsessed with all things having to do with swimming.


Looking up tidbits about Christina Ricci, it's interesting to note that she has a number of tattoos, among them is a lion on her back shoulder, a BIRD on her right breast, and a mermaid on her left ankle.

Also interesting to note is that Christina Ricci has an Aquarius Sun. Aquarius as we know is the water bearer and is associated with the Star card in the Tarot. I will talk more about further connections that I see here later, but mermaids could be seen as the combination of Aquarius and Pisces, Uranus and Neptune, the cognition of human (Aquarius), but rooted in the water with the lower half of a fish (Pisces) - representing the unconscious. Mermaids are right-brained, artistic, water spirits. Which is why they are often associated with taverns/drinking alcohol (spirits), aka a mundane way of achieving union with god.


So Christina Ricci as the littlest mermaid, of course reminded me of the Disney movie "The Little Mermaid" about Ariel (which means lion of god). Ariel is the youngest and 7th (crown chakra?) of King Triton's daughters, has the loveliest VOICE, which she ends up using as a bargaining tool with the evil Ursula, in order to achieve love through the use of a pair of legs. Basically, she sells her voice/soul.

Mermaids are also associated with the Sirens of Greek mythology.
Wikipedia on Sirens: In Greek mythology, the Sirens (Greek singular: Σειρήν Seirēn; Greek plural: Σειρῆνες Seirēnes) were three dangerous bird-women, portrayed as seductresses who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting MUSIC and VOICES to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island.


*Isn't it also interesting that the word vocation means 'spiritual CALLING'?






 The human voice is a product of the lungs, larynx (also known as the voice box or vocal cords), and articulators (tongue, lips, palate, etc.). Interesting, when I was looking up the makeup of the human voice, I was listening to the music of "Forence &The Machine", because a friend had recently got me on a kick after sending me their music video "Cosmic Love" and realized that the title of their album happens to be "Lungs"!

Well now I have to look up more information about lungs. Lungs are "the light organ" as the word originates from other words meaning LIGHT.
The Online Etymology Dictionary says:

lung 

O.E. lungen (pl.), from P.Gmc. *lungw- (cf. O.N. lunge, O.Fris. lungen, M.Du. longhe, Ger. lungethe light organ," from PIE *lengwh- "not heavy, light, easy, agile, nimble" (cf. Rus. lëgkij,lekki "light;" Rus. lëgkoje, Pol. lekkie "lung," Gk. elaphros "light" in weight; see also lever). Cf. Port. leve "lung," from L. levis "light;" Ir. scaman "lungs," from scaman "light;" Welsh ysgyfaint "lungs," from ysgafn "light." See also lights. Lung cancer attested from 1926. "lung"), lit. " Pol.

This makes sense why many schools of wisdom teach that the BREATH and enLIGHTenment are intimately connected. Vibration is everything; energy, light, sound, logos. As a minor side note, as a resident of Seattle, Washington, its interesting that we have the Sound Transit Light Rail transportation system. Hmmmm....

Well I suppose that connection isn't so minor, as transportation is associated with the planet Mercury in astrology. Mercury is associated with transportation because it is related to all things having to do with making connections; COMMUNICATION, thought, mind, etc.  Mercury is also known as Hermes in Greek mythology, MESSENGER of the gods.  And Mercury/Hermes is known also as Thoth in Egyptian mythology, the god/father of language. Thoth was often depicted with the head of a BIRD.

Wikipedia on Thoth: "He was often considered as the HEART, which, according to the ancient Egyptians, is the seat of intelligence or the MIND, and TONGUE of the sun god Ra; as well as the means by which Ra's will was translated into speech. He had also been related to the LOGOS of Plato and the MIND of God Later in ancient Egyptian history, Thoth became heavily associated with the arbitration of godly disputes, the arts of magic, the system of writing, the development of science, and the judgment of the dead." (see The All). In the Egyptian mythology, he has played many vital and prominent roles in maintaining the universe, including being one of the two deities (the other being Ma'at, who was also his wife) who stood on either side of Ra's boat.

I was talking to my friend one day, and he mentioned the phrase, "The bird is the word." Looking at the above paragraph we can definitely see that the bird is indeed the word. This paragraph was also exciting to me because I have been thinking a lot about the connection between the HEART and the TONGUE.

I have heard Drunvalo Melchiezedek, author of the Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life, say before that in our embryo development that the heart is the first organ to form, and then the tongue grows from the heart. This article about the Kidney Essence, in the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine, also refers to the developmental process of the tongue from the heart:

"From the heart sprouts the blood vessels through which the blood circulates, and there develops the tongue which will allow the human to communicate the images of the mind."- by Subhuti Dharmananda, Ph.D., Director, Institute for Traditional Medicine, Portland, Oregon
READ MORE HERE.

This also makes me think about SPEAKING IN TONGUES and the TONGUES OF FIRE that descended upon the heads of the biblical disciples. Speaking from the heart? 

Speaking from the heart is speaking the TRUTH. In the above paragraph from Wikipedia about Thoth, it mentioned the goddess Maat. Maat is the WINGed goddess of TRUTH who measures the weight of man's HEART against her FEATHER. (We saw the wings before when looking at the Sirens.) More on Maat in a minute!

*Also, I would like to note that the origin of the word "Wing":

wing (n.)

late 12c., wenge, from O.N. vængr "wing of a bird, aisle, etc." (cf. Dan., Swed. vinge "wing"), of unknown origin, perhaps from a P.Gmc. *we-ingjaz and ult. from PIE base *we- "blow" (cf. O.E. wawan "to blow;" see wind (n.)). Replaced O.E. feðra (pl.) "wings" (see feather)

Recently, I was reading this post at one of my favorite blogs, The Sync Whole. I encourage you to read it as they make many fascinating connections, this post being primarily about, Libra (the sign of balance and harmony), law, Maat, serpents, it goes on. Well right after I had been reading through that post, I happened upon a random YouTube video, which wasn't anything I would normally watch, it was a video of photos of scenic settings, with serene music and bible verses. One of the first verses shown caught my eye in relation to the above mentioned blog as they had been seeing connections with hair. The verse in the video was:

"Even the very HAIRS on your head are numbered." from Matthew 10:30

So I decided to look up more of that chapter of the bible to see what else it was referring to and this is what I found:

"Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as SERPENTS, and harmless as doves." Matthew 10:16

"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a SWORD." Matthew 10:34

These verses seem to fit perfectly with the syncs mentioned in the blog post. So it got me thinking about this Matthew guy. "As a disciple, Matthew followed Christ, and was one of the witnesses of the Resurrection and the Ascension." Wikipedia

You may have heard of the four evangelists in the Christian tradition, known as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  The symbols of the four evangelists, the Bull, the Lion, the Eagle and the Winged Human/Angel are often depicted in churches, and they happen to fit accordingly with the symbols of the 4 fixed zodiac signs of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius. Matthew is the evangelist symbolized by the human/angel/winged man, the symbol also associated with Aquarius. The glyph for Aquarius is two parallel waves/currents (which might also be seen as wavy hair). In the Tarot, the Star card is associated with Aquarius. This card depicts MAAT (also known as Nuit) with her flowing, spiraling locks of hair. The star of Venus is also shown.

So we can see that there is a connection between Matthew and Maat and Truth, both are depicted as humans, often times with wings.

Back to Matthew 10:16 "... be ye therefore wise as SERPENTS."

How wise are serpents/snakes?

The prefix ser- is said to mean 'to line up, join' and pent, 'to go, pass, path, bridge'. If we revisit also the mythological god Mercury/Hermes, we see that he carries a staff, known as a caduceus, which has 2 serpents entwining and spiraling up the staff, symbolic of the rising of the kundalini energy. Snakes are often associated with the coiling, infinity symbol. They shed their skin, symbolic of death and rebirth. So we can see that serpents/snakes are indeed associated with some very wise symbolism. Interesting also, that snakes are also covered in overlapping SCALES. Something they have in common with FISH AND MERMAIDS.

There are many different kinds of scales; the scales mentioned above, as well as the scale used to measure weight (as mentioned in connection to Maat as well as the sign of Libra), a MUSICAL scale, to scale is to climb, and scale in terms of size in relation to another.

It is also relevant that the planet Venus is ruler of the sign Libra, the sign symbolized by the scales of balance and the sign concerned with HARMONY. But Venus is also ruler of the sign Taurus, which in turn rules the area of the THROAT. The throat is the point of the 5th Chakra, and Venus is also associated with the PENTAgram because of its unique orbit. Interesting to note that apples, when sliced in half have the shape of a 5 pointed star, and that the protrusion of a throat is called an Adam's APPLE. Wait...serPENT and an APPLE...where have I heard those things mentioned together before?

*Also, speaking of Venus, I highly recommend the sync video Lady of Fire! The connections that the filmmaker has made are amazing and beautiful.

So we have seen connections between things involving fish, birds, and snakes. What else do these have in common? They are all vertebrates, meaning joint of the spine. They all have back bones, just like us. Spines extend from the base/genitals to the head/crown. (And just now, in looking at the word spine, I notice sPINE, as connected to the pineal gland, which is said to be the third eye).

So, now this part might seem unrelated at first, but it connects too - I have recently been reading the book "Archetypes of the Zodiac" by Kathleen Burt. Great book, but in particular I have been focused on Chapter 11 - the archetype of Aquarius. The author relates the story of Perceval and the search for the Holy Grail to the Aquarian progression. I won't go into detail about this, as it is a lengthy subject which she has already laid out in her book. But amongst the other connections there, while I was reading this chapter, I read a sentence that contained the words 'his word'. And in that moment I saw, hiS WORD. SWORD.

The word sword means 'to cut, the cutting weapon, to hurt, tool to cut with'. To cut can also be to sHEAR, SCORE, sHARP. Interesting I thought that words related to music were within the words associated with sWORD, which connects to the musical SCALES and the VOICE, mentioned earlier. I also think its interesting that SHEAR can be SHARE when the letters are rearranged slightly, and both words mean 'to portion, divide ones own, and give part to others'. I guess this gives meaning to what people are saying when they refer to cutting with words. But words can also be used to SHARE information. (What can take you up can also bring you down).

Also, remember above from Matthew 10:34? "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a SWORD." 

The EIGHTH card in the major arcana of the tarot, called Justice or Adjustment,  also shows the connection between the scales of balance, the sword, Maat, and the serpent.



Another minor side note, I also think the lowercase letters b, d, p, q can look like swords, as well as musical notes. 

In the Tarot, the Ace of Swords has been shown pointing upward to a "crown". The crown is the top of the head, another indication of the higher mind. The sword could be the spine that points to the crown, the path upon which we find the chakra points. And speaking of the mind, this takes us back to Mercury/Hermes/Thoth. Mercury, messenger of the gods, who travels from heaven and into the underworld, is making the connections, sharing/shearing the word/vibration.

I also noticed today, that the modern, futuristic version of a sword, as seen in the Star Wars films, is the LIGHTSABER. It seems our symbol has gotten even more appropriate!

I know there is more and that it could go on, but I'll end here for now. I'm still in the process of synthesizing but I just needed to put it out here to see it all in one place. :) I would love to hear what you are seeing and thinking too! Now I want to go watch the Sound of Music.


*Update 10/24: I was just pondering the word SHARE/SHEAR some more and noticed that it is also SHE-RA - The animated fictional heroine of the 80's. My mom didn't allow me to watch anything "magical" growing up so I haven't seen the cartoons myself, but looking into it now it's interesting to note that She-Ra was first introduced in a movie called "The Secret of the SWORD"! 

Also, we have just entered into the sign of Scorpio, one of the symbols of the sign being the scorpion. The word 'scorpion' also has its origins in 'to cut or shear'. The other symbols associated with the astrological sign of Scorpio are the eagle, phoenix and serpent. Symbols associated with death and rebirth; the phoenix rising from the ashes, the snake shedding its skin. I just thought I'd mention this here as its relevant, but it really could be another whole blog post! She-Ra definitely has her phoenix fire power going on.

image found here