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Facilitator : Bill the Bard Date : 15 June 1995 |
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Facilitator : Bill the Bard Date : 15 June 1995 |
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© 1995 by Bill the Bard
For the last twenty years I have been practicing Franz Bardon's hermetic mysticism. In his book, for example, The Practice of Magical Evocation, Bardon lists at least five hundred and fifty spirits. These include eight heads for each of the four elements, earth, air, fire, and water. Then he lists 360 spirits, one for each degree of the zodiac which are guardian/teachers in the aura of our earth. Then he lists many also for the "auras" or spheres of the other planets in our solar system. Now about four and a half years ago I started studying and worked through Philip Carr-Gomm's Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids course material. Philip emphasizes that all of us are bards, for each of us must learn to express in art our own feelings and experiences. Only the artist, and this is a personal thing you see, can capture the freshness and newness of original experience and bring it back and share it without others.
You see, for Philip, the four elements in the four directions of the circle, like the universe itself, wait for us to explore them. Nothing the human race has yet done has barely even scratched the surface of wisdom and love which is there to be found. And so our journey as a race and as individuals involves leaving the circle, venturing forth, discovering new things, and returning again, sharing, and returning those treasures further still to the center of the circle where they are woven together, to open a gateway, that we may pass into the One Light which shines throughout the universe. Well, actually, this is my interpretation a little more than his.
Here's what happened: I had been writing for about five years a "Travel Guide to Life." This is a kind of new agey pop psychology introduction to the relation of the inner and outer worlds. Being psychic also for about twenty years, I had developed my own little system drawing upon the four elements, the four planes, and the Quabalistic sephiroth. When I sense energy I usually try to understand it through this little map I have made. The map translates very nicely into depth psychology supplemented by little bits and pieces of meditation techniques which I have borrowed and modified from all the world religions. So, knowing which guardians or spirits specialize in publishing, I spoke with a few. One in particular had a most interesting response. He said: What you have written is not bad at all. But you have no credentials. Here, he said to me, let me give you the bardic voice you once had during Atlantis and then after you write poetry and prose for seven months or so, you can publish something interesting and publishers will pick up your other book later on.
Well, I hadn't written but two poems in ten years. But kaboom, you know how it is when the magic spell is just right. I would wake up in the middle of the night with a complete poem on my lips. And not only that. I had a quest to boot.
Now this is most interesting and a little difficult to explain since I am right now in the middle of it, but I will give it my best shot. Imagine along with me, if you will, the archetype of a Bard. No, this bard belongs not to any religion or creed. He is much too experiential and empirically oriented to put up with that. He cares nothing about beliefs but he does have a structure.
For this "bard," the masculine and feminine are joined together as one in complete union in the "One Light." And from the one light, the heavens and the earth are descended. Now this is not theory or theology for a bard. No, no, no. Listen with me and open your ears. In this very moment the Sky and the Earth are making love. They are whispering to each in sighs, moans, words, poems, gestures, touching and caresses and from the smallest gesture of their love new gods and goddesses are born as well as all the galaxies and planets and civilizations in the universe. We bards actually "hear" this love making going everywhere we look in nature. Magic is, after all, mostly good listening skills with a little technique thrown in for good measure.
My favorite of all of them is the goddess Dawn. She often wakes me in the morning. She loves to torment me terribly with her playful antics and humor and laughter (she invented laughter). And if I dare walk along beside her, she puts her arm around me and tells me a story as we walk, a story of the first light rising from out of darkness. For me, she is the most beautiful of them all, though it is terribly painful to open my feeling to her. She weaves me, you see, right into her stories. For her, the moment, beauty, love, life, they are all reborn in each instant. It is a terribly beautiful and wonderful but also painful place to be. I can only take her in small doses. You know what she once said to me? Sometimes the heart has to be broken before it can be healed and made complete. This is precisely the type of woman Carl Jung said men flee from to spend the rest of their lives hiding away in monasteries.
So by "listening" to Dawn, the light in the Sky and the movement of the Earth come together and a goddess appears in their joining. There is of course a whole book on "dialoguing" with archetypes I could write on this. But Robert Johnson touches on it a little in his book Ecstasy, the Chapter on Active Imagination: Meeting the Archetype. I use a little more of Eugene Gendlin's Focusing and Ira Progoff's Intensive Journal and of course, Druidic Pathworking as I do this as well.
So, unlike so many of my contemporaries in the modern world, I am not at all interested in the separate paths men and women must follow to affirm the uniqueness of their genders. No, I am not shy nor weak and helpless nor is my ego wounded in any way whatsover that I would need such simply remedies to heal the wounds of my soul. I don't mean to knock their work, mind you, just to emphasize that I simply find it far more interesting to look beyond society to the universe itself. And so, I am after the fusion itself like the hydrogen into helium which goes on in the center of the sun. I am after in my quest nothing else than experiencing totally, completely, absolutely what it is to be one with my lover. I want this love and I won't stop until I find it.
You see, this particular archetype of the bard who has descended and borrows my lips has not appeared on earth for at least twenty-eight thousand years. You see, he is very lonely and cares nothing at all about anything except the beauty he finds in others' hearts. And from that beauty he weaves poetry, for beauty gives birth to love and love overcomes all separation. It annihilates the loneliness which has haunted all human flesh from the very beginning. And the poem he writes are an "act of making love" both between himself as the bard and those whose hearts he finds the beauty within. And, AT THE SAME TIME, the poem is a record of a moment when the God and the Goddess reached out to and touched each other through one human heart reaching out to another and responding in love. Each poem is one more step forward on his quest toward fulfilling his destiny and mine as well.
Now, a lot of people get really pissed at me because I am seriously intent on violating romantic ideals which are founded on being possessive and jealous. But as my master William Blake lambasted jealousy: "Oh break these heavy chains which do freeze my bones around. Oh Selfish! Vain! Eternal Bane! that free love with bondage bound." Whenever you bring two human beings together as in every moment itself there is a unique path of love which is revealed and which we may follow, not to steal from each other or someone else, but to honor the unfolding of the universe which flows from the love between the Sky and the Earth.
On my quest then I seek the highest source of inspiration I can imagine, which is found within the sphere of the sun, where all opposites are united and fused in the love of myself and another human being. Fortunately for me, I know of at least one person who when I am near her, even psychically tuning into her, a guardian from the sphere of the sun draws near and seeks to flow through us to the world. You could say, then, that I am this woman's troubadour and though we met but once, like Dante and Beatrice, that is all I really need to pursue my quest. Heck, my wife has never even read one of my poems. She hasn't the faintest idea what I have been doing for the last eight months other than writing upstairs in my room. Now remember an "archetype" is actually nothing at all except an empty quality or power waiting to be expressed. It requires the energy and experience of a living being to enable it to manifest. Like a Tibetan thanka or yiddam, the archetype is kind of like something an actor puts on, a role, and so when you play Hamlet or Romeo or Caesar, you become ambivalence, lover, or sheer power. And an actor may stay in role for the entire duration of his play or movie. But then he puts it down again, understanding it has no meaning in itself other than for the beauty or life it has captured and which exists solely as a way of sharing with others. So, I am not a "bard" or an old Atlantean soul reincarnated. In the path of life, we are all, every one of us, each other's equals. I always find it strange that some people forget that.
But this is not to say that putting on the role of an archetype does not influence reality. These roles, like assuming the form of a god or goddess, have immense power and I bear witness that they are extremely effective in altering the "real" world. So, on my quest, I "interview" first of all Bardon's elemental kings and queens, so far two undines, a sylph, and a gnome and a salamander. These are all extremely adept magicians in their own rights. The gnome in fact has tricked me into writing a whole book with dozens of characters who each want a book of their own as well. In any case, these beings share with me this one vision: how each element in nature has in its innermost heart and being the longing to be more complete. Each sylph, undine, gnome has a vision of how love is unfolding right in and through the primal forces of nature. If nature is seeking to fulfill visions of love, then I too as a human being have got a small chance as well.
There visions, then, are most helpful for me. One of the things I have found profoundly lacking in the modern world is much guidance at all in how to tap on to the powers of love in order to fulfill my quest. We middle age men, after all, have a life stage conflict. To resolve it, we may simply stagnate, change or modify our career, get a younger wife, take a mistress, or like Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare, Goethe, Beethoven, or Tolkein, we can reinvent the entire meaning of life. We create a celestial realm and populate it with beings who give our ordinary lives new meaning and grant us new visions of how to live with more love and beauty in our daily lives.
Now as in the Mahabarata written by Viyasa in India, a quest often takes the form of a search for our "spiritual" parents who, when we find them, they "empower" us to fulfill our mission in life. One such being who dwells in the sun is my "spiritual" father. His name is Chibys and he influences or "governs" over the sun when it is in the constellation of Aquarius, why just like my own sun sign. Chibys has given to me, (again we are speaking metaphors, but for a bard metaphors are pure magic), a lute. And this lute has five strings. Each string has its own name. These are the stings I am just now tuning and learning to play. I am mostly still on the first string. By the way, these strings are actually the magical letters of his name: Ch, I, B, Y, S which are explained in Bardon's third book: The Key to the True Quabbalah. Each "string" or "letter" is composed from a color, sound, and element in nature. Technically, therefore, I am a bardic magician. I combine the power of poetry, spheric magic, and the power of the spoken word or words of power, all there in my art.
1. Lust. I call this string lust though it is not possessive or in any way selfish at all. It is as I have said the longing within all of nature and every element to be more complete. Every desire exists to be fulfilled. Lust and divine love are present in each and every act of human and divine creation. There is no desire which is not a part of the Mystery of Life. Or as the Buddhist tell in a story, Eros or Kama knows where the Buddha dwells and they often get together for tea. If you follow erotic desires you will find enlightenment. As every bard knows, you can not play a song of beauty without awakening the passions and desires of the body. We all dance over the desire for union, fusion, joining hidden within the DNA molecule itself. Matter longs to be reborn as spirit. And as one of my characters says to me, "All you seek is to fulfill your desire to be complete, no more, no less. And when your bardic voice is powerful enough you will call into being the love you need, the love you seek."
2. This string I call All-Embracing Love. It is like empathy and rapport. In part, it is what Merlin taught Arthur how to do: to place his mind in every creature within nature. There are no boundaries. The heart is so constructed to contain not just another's heart, or the world, but the entire universe within it. I bear witness to this. Or, as I like to rephrase the Dalai Lama's words: The universe will not end until every heart is found and every soul becomes pure light. This is my quest and I will pursue it until the end of time. In fact, I train every Saturday night with a Guardian of the world named Tabori who governs 10 degrees of Aries in the earthzone. He teaches Dzogchen and omnipresence and he is very good at it I might add.
3. The Enlightenment of the World. This is not quite a Buddhist vision. It is more Aquarian actually. This lute string when played seeks to manifest love in the air so rich, so thick, so palpable that every soul on earth who wishes can gain access to it--That all personal needs would be so fulfilled that each person is then set free to transform the world. In Hermetic magic they often have a simple exercise in which you hold before you mind your own actions for the day. In Carlos Castaneda's system, they review your entire lifetime. Sounds pretty boring actually. But I envision minds and hearts so trained that they can easily comprehend and hold within their awareness the entire world, not in some sort of academic way, but in order to fulfill the dreams of the Earth Herself.
4. The fourth string is typically Bardic. It is called Beauty. And beauty gives birth to love. But Beauty like each of these five strings has a counterpart which very very few are willing to negotiate in order to play this lute. Beauty weaves together light and darkness into harmony. To say the heart can contain the universe within it is to say the heart has a void within it so big that it is only filled by becoming one with the entire universe. To appreciate the beauty within every heart is to feel a loneliness which is twenty- eight thousand years old. To be able to "listen" to the God and Goddess is to enter a "Silence" as deep as that which is held in the heart of the Earth. Indeed, as is true for every one of us, there are times when only spirit is there to nurture us on our spiritual journey. There are times when only the Goddess of the Earth and no other living being can give us comfort. And, even with the goddess Dawn, to appreciate her beauty it seems to require a willingness to be absolutely nothing, to cling to nothing, to expect nothing, only to be reborn again and again in wonder and awe at the Majesty and Beauty of life which appears out of the abyss which is hidden also in each moment. So, you see, these five strings are not so easy to play. But for a bard, the cost is a small price to pay for Beauty. And part of a quest, after all, is being "called" in such a way that the quest become irresistible.
5. This string I call "The Song of the Universe." The Sufis know it well though they think of it as entering into the One. In a sense, they are not so far off. The One Light shines throughout the universe and in every being and thing. Just a faint echo of this Song and you feel intoxicated, blissful, ecstatic. It is precisely why a bard can look at a flower on the ground and proclaim: This flower is the voice of the Earth speaking in one of a hundred thousand songs. He can do this because listening for him is sheer ecstasy: in the depths of the silence he hears the Song of the Universe being sung in every thing that exists. This is a slightly difficult song to listen in on I admit. Actually, it is best done by learning to "see" through the eyes of the stars. The stars up there in the sky, every one, sings its own unique song and yet every star knows itself to be but part of the Song of the Universe.
Our sun has its own unique song and its song is reflected in the dreams and visions hidden in each planet in our solar system. They are not so far away or hidden. They call out to each of us in the conflicts we encounter in our own natal charts. But each star is unique. One night I said to my wife out of frustration with her lack of empathy, I said during our evening walk as I gestured to the sky above: Pick a star. Pick any star in the sky and I will tell right this moment what the song is it is singing. Well, we worked through about a dozen stars. I don't think she was impressed for a moment. But I sure as heck was. The magic in the stars, as you might suspect, is like no magic on earth. Well, you can imagine what a riot it is to live with a bard.
So, in summary, as T.S. Eliot said: the idea, after all the journeys and quests are done, is to return home and to see it for the first time for what it really is. I think one day I would like to just come home and find love.
See you Sunday. Bill
Elenya:
Today we are honored to have Bill the Bard leading us in a discussion on the Bardic Quest... Format Bill?
BilltheBard:
I will talk briefly and then do Questions, etc. I have notes on Bardic Quest on the Wicca bb
Ron:
What is a Bard?
Elenya:
I will inform others that come in through IM as to not interrupt
BilltheBard:
Bard is poet/singer/magician
Elenya:
OK teach, you're on....
BilltheBard:
I am more of a bardic magician. 20 years ago I asked Gary Synder, Robert Bly, and Robert Hall personally if magic and poetry go together. They all said no. So, naturally quit poetry and went and studied magic for twenty years. The circle has come back to the beginning for me. So, for me, a poem is a way of capturing magic. It is a way of opening yourself and sitting in the midst of chaos and in that place a metaphor appears which enables you to feel something new and to share that with others. Most of all I like to, as a shaman, do soul searches. I like to find what is lost in other's hearts, so I listen really well and I tune into others and there is a moment in which the two of us interact and a poem comes out of that. One of the problems in any religion is that the sacred is so narrowly defined. Art/music/poetry are a way of capturing and expressing the sacred in new forms so again, the body becomes the vehicle for listening, it is in pursuing a feeling that you are able to dissolve the world as you know it and be reborn as you allow that feeling to move through your body in a totally new way. The bardic work in Druidry for example often involves the necessity of expressing in your own way at whatever level you are what precisely you as an individual are experiencing. Unless you can bring back and share the newness of your journey in life, you haven't really found anything other than what others have already passed down to you. The circle then becomes a symbol of discovery for exploring the universe. We journey out from the circle, discover new things, and then return to share them and integrate them. Well, end of lecture, let's talk questions/answers/your comments...
Elenya:
Still taking this all in...
Falstoffe:
How closely interrelated were the Druids and Bards? I didn't think they were one in the same?
BilltheBard:
In OBOD, order of bards, ovates and druids, they started with a bardic level. You had to be the poet first.
PAniteowl:
you lecture was poetry itself, I can hear a song in your words, I'm impressed ... well met BilltheBard
BilltheBard:
St. Columba for example was trained as a bard. They usually spent seven years in darkness learning songs.
BilltheBard:
Hi PAniteowl
PAniteowl:
MM BilltheBard
SylvrGryphon:
Also songs were written history right?
BilltheBard:
yes
SylvrGryphon:
Knowledge like schooling?
WiseWitch:
Nothing written, Sylver. I don't recall a lot of the history and unfortunately I am not a great scholar
PAniteowl:
there is a cadence in your words, is that your poetry or is this the Druidic influence
BilltheBard:
But poems come and wake me up in the middle of the night demanding to be written.
Hugmiester:
SONGS WERE A WAY OF PASSING HISTORY AMONGST PEOPLE
WiseWitch:
Remember, with cadence and rhyme, it's FAR easier to memorize things!
Annwyn:
Before the written word yes.
BilltheBard:
The Maenads and I are friends, actually, Orpheus screwed up. The rhyme in the western tradition for me is a great mistake.
Hugmiester:
EVEN TODAY THOUGH
Annwyn:
But I think also that PAnit is saying also in the inflection, the music of the words the message was passed.
Falstoffe:
Huggy--can you turn off the Caps, please?(g)
Nestor:
Oh, why do you say that Orpheus screwed up?
BilltheBard:
it focuses away from the essence of the imagery
PAniteowl:
yes Ann
Hugmiester:
THINK HOW MANY SONGS YOU REMEMEBRAS OPPOSED TO HOW MUCH HISTORY
Annwyn:
The system of grouping in threes for easy memory, how does that touch the spirit
BilltheBard:
he let women kill him
SylvrGryphon:
Well, I used to study for exams to music
Annwyn:
Corporially or spiritually BilltheBard
BilltheBard:
The bardic quest I am on is not a matter of preserving history so naturally I am not into the mechanics of songs.
Nestor:
but the mythos was centered on the actions of sacrifice and renewal
SylvrGryphon:
it made exams easier, just remember the tune and....
Annwyn:
And return
BilltheBard:
Nestor, say that again. My themes are more separation and reunion rather than sacrifice and renewal.
Annwyn:
? Nestor, same as waves embracing the shore, ever leaving but ever returning. But always in perfect love.
Nestor:
Orphic mysteries were based on the mythos -- yet you seem to be implying that histories and past knowledge as well as the understanding of the mythos are not as important to you on the bardic quest.
PAniteowl:
is that a "softer" semantic for you personal view BilltheBard?
Annwyn:
Perhaps the quest of the Bard that had an initial responsibility to pass along the tribes history, no longer exists. And now the Bard is free to explore his own poetry.
WiseWitch:
BilltheBard, then what do you think of the poetic form - and intense FORM it is!- of the Greeks, such as the Iliad?
BilltheBard:
Let me try to respond to Nestor first.
PAniteowl:
I think the Bards are sadly missed.
Falstoffe:
I think the bard does still pass on the history - it's just now in the form of movies. But the storytelling is still there.
BilltheBard:
The basic mythos I am using is that of exploration. The circle weaves together the four directions and elements into the center of the circle. I personally and the universe as I know
Annwyn:
Fls. still a reflection of society, are the arts
BilltheBard:
cares nothing for sacrifice. Only for beauty, love, wisdom, enlightenment
Annwyn:
The circle being the symbol of perfection
SylvrGryphon:
Aren't you sacrificing a piece of yourself when you compose a poem?????
BilltheBard:
The past has great wisdom, but as an Aquarian I speak for the future
Nestor:
but in the struggle to gain the knowledge is there not a sacrifice of the self?
BilltheBard:
I am kind of Buddhist on this point Nestor, there is immense pain, but never is anything lost, there is nothing to sacrifice
Annwyn:
Yes Nestor, but also perhaps a giving over of power
Hugmiester:
GRYPH WHEN YOU COMPOSE A POEM U DO SARIFICE AT A POINT BUT YOU GET SOMETHING BACK TO TAKE ITS PLACE
PAniteowl:
isn't the gaining of knowledge an enhancement of self
Annwyn:
Maybe remembering the self
droso:
A circle is closed to everything outside of itself.
WiseWitch:
Maybe we need to define sacrifice....
Hugmiester:
I THINK GRYPH MEANS YOU GIVE SOMETHING OF YOURSELF WISE
WiseWitch:
Sacrifice literally means to make sacred, no?
BilltheBard:
In magic as I do it, there is always a "medium" or vehicle of energy "offered" but it is created by magic and is a part of the power of the spoken word.
Nestor:
I too am an Aquarian but realizing the dual rulership of the sign to me would indicate an attempt to transmit the knowledge of the past (Saturn) into the actions of the future (Uranus)
RiverGrey:
very good Nestor
Nestor:
yes Wise that was one of the primary definitions of sacrifice
SylvrGryphon:
Yes, Hugs that's what i meant
PAniteowl:
isn't that learning by your mistakes & accomplishments Nestor
Annwyn:
BilltheBard in this energy offered though is it not simply a part of the energy that is and always will be and so not sacrificed but changed?
BilltheBard:
To do poetry, is to listen. To listen is necessarily to be empty, to be nothing, to be a clear space, to be dry to receive moist, to be cold to receive warmth, to even suggest sacrifice to a poet is a great mistake. It is out of beauty, and for beauty there is no price to great to pay. So, yes, it is horribly expensive to be a poet, but you can't get a poet to talk about sacrifice
WiseWitch:
is not the emptying a making sacred, a sacrifice?
Annwyn:
By giving, receiving and by the joy of the creation increased
Nestor:
oh one must reinforce by the process of transmission but the past can not be ignored nor can the sub- conscious
Hugmiester:
I BEG TO DIFFER MIST. I AM A POET
BilltheBard:
The power of the spoken word creates out of nothing something new. It was never there before it was spoken when the magic is done right
HUGMIESTER:
AND I POUR A PIECE OF MY SELF INTO ALL MY WORK. I HAVE SACRIFICED BITS OF ME AND SLEEP TO PUT WHAT I HAVE PENNED ON PAPER.
BilltheBard:
The past is part of the poem
Annwyn:
More than hazard yes, but still always part of what was
BilltheBard:
You are looking at the human side of making poetry. The bard is not a human being when he composes. He is an archetype. Sounds ridiculous I know, but it seems the best description for me. as I work.
Annwyn:
You are inspired not only by what you hear as you listen but also what was spoken over all of your lifetimes
BilltheBard:
yes
Annwyn:
Also do you not reach into the eternal consciousness and gather all that has ever been heard or spoken
Nestor:
: by what method does the 'bard' become set aside from the rest of his society and changes their view to the universal?
Annwyn:
By his sacrifice
Hugmiester:
MIST A BARD WHO DOESNT SACRIFRICE A PART OF HIMSELF FOR HIS ART SINGS AND WRITES AND RECITES WITH OUT FEEELING
BilltheBard:
Saturn's interest ends when an individual learns how to transform into spirit. Uranus' interest is in drawing down more cosmic creativity into the world. The two are old buddies for me. Is your interest in sacrifice a way of validating your own egos? This is outside my understanding. You don't ask a pole-vaulter in the midst of his jump how much effort he is exerting today. He is only focused on his task.
WiseWitch:
No, BilltheBard, but a focus on balance. Like Kali, to create first one much let go of the old.
Nestor:
no --egos are not the point here -- rather the giving of oneself to an art for the good of the community is
BilltheBard:
Nestor, again, the mythic journey is a search for treasures of spirit to be shared with a community. There is no other journey.
Nestor:
I would suggest that the mythic journey is to be undertaken by the individual on behalf of the people and to aid them in recovering their past and help create a vision for the people for the future
BilltheBard:
I agree hundred per cent Nestor. The particular bardic quest I am doing is a personal one in that I am focused more like a troubadour on love. I speak to the elemental lords regarding their experience with human beings and they tell me of how love has played a part in their element
SylvrGryphon:
troubadour?????
Nestor:
anyway BilltheBard have you read the works of John and Caitlin Matthew's on the bardic tradition in the Celtic areas and what are your thoughts on them?
BilltheBard:
Troubadour - something like 12th, 13th century poets who sang of love
SylvrGryphon:
oh thank you
BilltheBard:
Sorry Nestor, I have not. I am straight Bardon on this one. With a little OBOD Druidry thrown in. I wish to discover the extent to which two human beings can love each other.
SylvrGryphon:
HA!!!
BilltheBard:
I do a lot of interviews you see, I search a lot of hearts. I use psychic powers to study heart chakras of men and gods.
SylvrGryphon:
maybe you would do better to explore the lengths of deception in human relationships!
BilltheBard:
The deception is unavoidable as a study. it comes with the territory
Herne:
Gets you into a heap of trouble sometimes too, ever wonder why troubadours were wanderers? Always just a few steps ahead of irate husbands and grasping women
BilltheBard:
LOL
SylvrGryphon:
Wonder what they used to do to Bards that misused their influence?
BilltheBard:
There is a definite conflict between romantic love and love which I am seeking
Nestor:
but I don't remember anywhere in Franz Bardon's work anything at all about bard studies or poetry in specific -- have I missed something?
SylvrGryphon:
There goes the neighborhood
BilltheBard:
Bards were either protected, when they were good, by kings or by the universe
PAniteowl:
LOL Gryph
WiseWitch:
That wasn't Sylver's questions, BilltheBard.
BilltheBard:
After all, in Wicca on some level, don't you perceive the joining of the God and the Goddess as an act of love and isn't this reflected in human love?
SylvrGryphon:
huh?
WiseWitch:
What about Bards who misused their influence?
SylvrGryphon:
thanks
BilltheBard:
In what way do they misuse their influence? Be specific.
SylvrGryphon:
Undue influence on unsuspecting folk. Using their powers for personal gain
BilltheBard:
What I do is offer a woman a poem for the beauty I find in her soul. This is my job description.
SylvrGryphon:
like Herne's remark you found funny
Herne:
They tarred and feathered them and lynched um, that's why there aren't any more, they passed laws that classified them as vagrants
Nestor:
Bill you were mentioning Franz Bardon's and his works (which I agree have some excellent training exercises) but I don't remember a single word in any of his works about poetry - how did you make that connection?
SylvrGryphon:
Did I miss a century?
BilltheBard:
Bardon has hired me, Nestor, to popularize his works so that they have beauty and poetry and can be understood. That is why I work with elemental beings because the elements in are full of beauty, they are so beautiful, well, what can I say. I love the universe.
Nestor:
would please clarify the events surrounding his death in prison?
BilltheBard:
Actually ,Nestor, Bardon describes about fifteen spirits who teach art and poetry.
WiseWitch:
BilltheBard, you said you don't like the use of rhyme in Western poetry, as it takes away from the message/story/etc. What do you think of the very strict form of, say, Classical Greek poetry?
Nestor:
yes but not accept as a part of planetary spirit
WiseWitch:
such as the Iliad?
BilltheBard:
I like Pigios for example. He teaches how to use metaphor to combine, bliss, experience, wonder, and the moment and act of newness.
Nestor:
or the Hymn to Demeter by Hesiod
BilltheBard:
WiseWitch, I can only speak for myself. And for me, to create a poem is 100 per cent following the energy, it is not weaving the energy into meter or rhyme, though those happen naturally. Nestor, I don't know the events surrounding his death.
PAniteowl:
do you consider yourself as an observer of the web Mist rather than a weaver then?
Nestor:
ok that has always seem to be somewhat of a mystery
BilltheBard:
Paiteowl, web Mist? is what?
Midneight:
she was calling you "Mist"
BilltheBard:
For me, a poem is an act of evocation, a materializing of spirit or beauty or soul. If you listen to a poem, you can evoke the experience the poet had when he wrote it.
WiseWitch:
So it's like group masturbation?
BilltheBard:
The Bardon cosmic language lends itself to the spoken word in that it does not just weave, it creates new forms and energies and visions through its own power. So poems when done well are empowered to recreate the world
Over Edge:
BilltheBard, do you find yourself trancing by virtue of the writing process itself, I find it an inherent result writing
PAniteowl:
WW ... what did I miss here??
BilltheBard:
as well as heal the heart. Over edge, yes, I am always in a trance when I write poetry. It is a Shamanic act
Over Edge:
Yes, but do you trance to write, or is the trance a result of the writing?
BilltheBard:
I can go into trance in an instant. Writing is one activity I do in a trance. I am a bardic magician. I do both poetry and magic and sometimes both at the same time. They overlap nicely.
Over Edge:
Yes
PAniteowl:
Chicken or egg question overedge???
Over Edge:
What can I say I love conundrums
BilltheBard:
When I do evocations, I often speak in poetry to the spirit I am calling. I surprise even myself and wish I had a tape recorder running.
Over Edge:
So why don't you?
Nestor:
wait a moment - BilltheBard --how do you get from Bardon work to being a 'bard' in the traditional sense of the word?
BilltheBard:
A good set of metaphors goes a long way as a substitute for will power. Like I say Nestor, of 80 spirits in Bardon, there are at least thirty or so which deal specifically with art. As for the bardic quest, this is kind of a feeling of inspiration and connection
Nestor:
what is the function of the traditional phrases within your 'bardic' tradition?
BilltheBard:
I have to Bardon. After all, I use his spirits to assist me in writing my poems.
BilltheBard:
Traditional phrases, such as?
Nestor:
oh so we are really taking more of a 'channeling' type poetry rather than the traditional bard forms?
BilltheBard:
Ah, no I am not channeling, I am creating. The spirits are my servants when I write though they outweigh me in will, power, and all sorts of things. But I have an edge over all of them
Nestor:
Hector of the Shining Helm , the Grey eyed Daughter of Zeus (for Athena)
BilltheBard:
I seek to join with the One Light out of which they were born
WiseWitch:
Enslaved spirits?
BilltheBard:
One Celtic source of inspiration is definitely for me Angus Og
PAniteowl:
the Druidic approach Mist?
BilltheBard:
He shows up regularly. Enslaved spirits? I talk just as I am talking to all of you
PAniteowl:
then you are indeed more of a weaver than an observer
Nestor:
are you also conscious during the time in which you are receiving you inspirations?
BilltheBard:
The act of being a bard is to be an "open space" through which inspiration can appear. No tradition can ever nail that creative act down but it can be trained for. Completely.
droso:
So let's hear a poem that you have "written".
Over Edge:
Would you say that there is no discernible difference between your invocations and magick and your poetry?
BilltheBard:
OK:
Are we conscious when we are making love?
I hope so.
When she awoke me, she turned to me and said:
You are my soul. My first breath in the light of dawn
And all my dreams at night I dedicate to you, my Beloved.
When I shove off and depart for unknown shores
Your inspiration guides my craft
Flows with force through my sails
You are the electricity in my heartbeat.
The separate fibers of my being
Unite around my love for you.
The surge, the pulse, the wave
The circle of life within my body
Ride upon my desire to hold you within my heart.
My love for you is as deep as the sky
More vast than the winds
That caress the seas in ecstasy
Softer in flight
Than the moon's light
My body yields to you
As I spiral and turn
Caught in the currents
Of your smile
As I drift into a sea
Of pure bliss
When I enfold you in my arms
Desert sands of Haleakla
Russet, crimson, citrine
Parched, dry, burning
Yearn with volcanic craving
Solidified rock
Once flowed molten, liquid
Lit with tongues of flame
Healeakala is but a small reminder
A small reflection
Of the fire with which I burn for you touch
Reflected in your eyes I become a purity
Acid can not etch
Time can not drown
Space can not hide
I am luminous light
The transparence
Shining in all colors the dreams that yield their visions to me
Of birth, of galaxies colliding,
Of seas turning into wine
These are you gifts to me
When I hold you close to me at night
© 1995 BilltheBard
SylvrGryphon:
(sob)
droso:
Beautiful love poetry, thank you.
Midneight:
Beautiful, BilltheBard...
BilltheBard:
That poem was written in one act when I awoke from a nap. I know not the woman who spoke it to me or of whom it speaks
Over Edge:
(lets out a long slow breath) It was breathtaking
BilltheBard:
Thank you for your compliments. It is a muse who sits on my shoulder who borrows my lips
Herne:
"The heavens roar o'er the raging sea,
the mountains break and tumble down
and the golden bells that range so loud
now sink below without a sound."
(C) 1995 George Smith
That's part of a poem indirectly inspired by you, Bill.
WiseWitch:
BilltheBard, but if it's a muse using your lips, then you ARE channeling and not creating, no?
BilltheBard:
Ah, yes, Herne
WiseWitch:
i'm confused.
BilltheBard:
No, the muse is but a hidden part of myself, WiseWitch, surely you must know that.
droso:
So why have "spirits" take some of the credit?.
BilltheBard:
Poems can include conversations with spirits just as with people. Well, Elenya, time's up, no?
Over Edge:
That is why the trance is so important?, To reach our Deep Selves, who we really are not the we, we portray to the world??
Elenya:
Unless others still have questions, Bill, or if you need to leave
PAniteowl:
thanks BilltheBard, enjoyed you class
WiseWitch:
I need to fly, folks. I've a Grove meting to get to.
BilltheBard:
Trance definitely is part of an inward journey.
BilltheBard:
You're welcome
Over Edge:
wonderful class BilltheBard
Midneight:
yes, thank you, Bill... enlightening as ever...
Herne:
Thank you Bill,
droso:
So there are "spirits" who want their poetry known? Or are they simply an inspiration point?
PaleHawk:
BilltheBard, I am sorry that I just jumped into your lesson... please forgive me
BilltheBard:
Both
Elenya:
Bill, thank you so much for sharing this with us, and getting up so early to do so.
SylvrGryphon:
Early? It's 1 p.m.
Elenya:
He's in Hawaii
Herne:
Bill, this is my friend Pale Hawk, Pale Hawk this is Bill
BilltheBard:
You are most welcome and next time I will try to research a little more Celtic history on bards
SylvrGryphon:
oohhh
PaleHawk:
How do you do, BilltheBard
PAniteowl:
LOL BilltheBard, you did fine
BilltheBard:
Hi Pale Hawk
Elenya:
Did I hear a "next time"?
SylvrGryphon:
:: The Silver Gryphon settles herself in the corner with a flick of the wings, curling her tails around her ::
BilltheBard:
Thanks for inviting me Elenya
Elenya:
As you will be again, Bill
Herne:
It was a great class Bill, a rather interesting turnout, hope your IMs don't start going off every 3 minutes now that your in chat
BilltheBard:
Yes, I will
BilltheBard:
Good bye everyone, thanks very much for your presence and questions.
PaleHawk:
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{ Sylvr }}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
Herne:
Thank you Bill
PAniteowl:
{{{{{{{BilltheBard}}}}}}}
PaleHawk:
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{ BilltheBard }}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}} Nice to meet you hope some day to talk to you
BilltheBard:
Please do. I am xrcs12a by the way.
droso:
Amen.
Posting Date: 01 September 1995
©1995 Red
Deer@pagani