Ancient Embrace, The Silver Tree

כ"ו סיון התשס"ח
Alban Heruin 27

The newest haunting addition to my mystical music collection. The Silver Tree by Lisa Gerrard

Editoral Review - "Few artists last long in the rarefied terrain occupied by singer Lisa Gerrard over the last quarter-century. She shares a passion with composers like Arvo Pärt in the unrelenting pursuit of the divine. In fact, Gerrard evokes Pärt a few times on The Silver Tree, her first non-collaborative solo release since The Mirror Pool in 1995. The Silver Tree is an album of ancient echoes, ghostly refrains, and hymns to the heavens. On "Abwoon," she intones the Lord's Prayer in Aramaic, orchestrating her own voice in choral harmonies that unfold beneath her like winds on waves. But "Spaceweaver" sends chills through the soul as Gerrard unlocks this peculiar nasal, back-of-the-throat snarl that she only adopts on such tracks, with a menacing blues groove that recalls "Meltdown" from her score to The Insider. You can hear much of Gerrard's soundtrack work mirrored here: "The Sea Whisperer" picks up at the spirit-affirming end of "Now We Are Free" from Gladiator. And I suspect that the 10-minute opus "Towards the Tower" might be her rejected overture for the film Constantine. With Ligeti-like voices, suspended glissando strings, and ominous percussion shifts, it certainly would work in the cinematic context of a supernatural thriller. The album has been available for half a year in Australia (worldwide via digital download), so as a bonus, the American release tacks on a bonus track, "Entry." Its thudding electronic drum loop and sketchy vocal makes for a disruptive exit. But until you get there, The Silver Tree is an embracing experience. Whether singing Aramaic, English, or that language of her imagination, Lisa Gerrard makes the most heavenly music heard on earth--and maybe beyond. --John Diliberto"

Secure Boundaries Of The Universe

כ"ה סיון התשס"ח
Alban Heruin 26

Almandine garnet granules are monocrystalline unbroken grains found in garnet schists (a type of metamorphic rock) and the newest curio added into my witch's cabinet.

"Garnets are most often found in the dodecahedral crystal habit, but are also commonly found in the trapezohedron habit. (Note: the word "trapezohedron" as used here and in most mineral texts refers to the shape called a Deltoidal icositetrahedron in solid geometry.)"

"A dodecahedron is any polyhedron with twelve faces, but usually a regular dodecahedron is meant: a Platonic solid composed of twelve regular pentagonal faces, with three meeting at each vertex. It has twenty (20) vertices and thirty (30) edges. Its dual polyhedron is the icosahedron. To the ancient Greeks, the dodecahedron was a symbol of the universe."

"A deltoidal icositetrahedron (or trapezoidal icositetrahedron) has 24 faces called deltoids or kites" and has been likened to a "window on all space and time."

"Two opposite vertices of a kite are equal." Like Keter-Malchut, balanced in equanimity. "Every convex kite has an inscribed circle; that is, there exists a circle that is tangent to all four sides. Therefore, every convex kite is a tangential quadrilateral. Additionally, if a convex kite is not a rhombus, there is another circle, outside the kite, tangent to all four lines through the kite's sides. For every concave kite there exist two circles tangent to the lines through all four sides: one is interior to the kite and touches the two sides opposite from the concave angle, while the other circle is exterior to the kite and touches the kite on the two edges incident to the concave angle."

12 Diagonal Faces of the Universe
24 Faces of Security = בטחה

Reference: Wikipedia

Involutionary Key To Evolutionary Transformation

י"ט סיון התשס"ח
Alban Heruin 20

A rare dark cobalt blue vintage Fenton carnival glass tumbler of outstanding iridescence in a butterfly and fern design is my most recently acquired ritual treasure.

The butterfly totem symbolizes conscious awareness while within the womb (Niddah 30b), sweet transmutation, soul evolution, clarity of comprehensive vision, and the dance of joy.

Fern is associated with Mercury (mastering magic, wisdom, knowledge, reason, curiosity, telepathy, intellectual progression, self-expression, communication, transmission of the spiritual to the physical, commerce), wards off negative energies and unnatural illness, and promotes the discovery of rare hidden treasure.

Cobalt salts color glass deep iridescent blue. Cobalt is a transition metal with magnetic properties, has an atomic number of 27, and is in group-9, period-4, d-block on the periodic table of elements. Most of the earth's cobalt is in its core. Cobalamine (Vitamin B12) "contributes to the formation of red blood cells and bone marrow, the metabolism of carbohydrates, fats and proteins and the production of genetic materials. It also assists nervous and cardiovascular mechanisms and plays a role in DNA synthesis. Deficiency of this vitamin may cause anaemia, exhaustion, irritation, depression, shortness of breath, difficulty walking, memory loss, mood swings, disorientation, dementia and constipation." Opposite deficiency, sufficient quantity of cobalamine supports healthy blood, vitality, mental health, respiratory efficiency, ease of mobility, memory recovery, mood stability, focus, clarity of mind and clear channels (tzinorot). D-block transition metals such as cobalt are "key elements in life and evolution."

Taken together, this ritual tumbler is a key tool for mastering the Craft, recovering Divine and Ancestral memory, actualizing evolutionary development of esoteric wisdom, achieving clarity of knowledge, acquiring an ability to communicate wisdom, maintaining equanimity, and revealing inner joy.

Heirloom Quality Cresting Moon Pentacle

כ'ח באייר תשס"ח
Mab 29

I've finally acquired the pentacle of my dreams. It's an exquisite 14K gold and heavy silver cresting moon pentacle with a beautiful Celtic weave border design, measuring 1 1/8" diameter with a thick 2.5 gram solid 14K gold pentacle inside the silver pendant. It's heirloom quality made to last lifetimes.

Shamanic Judaism, 2nd Video On Double Portions

כ'ז באייר תשס"ח
Mab 28

Oops? I posted the first shamanic Judaism video twice (a double portion) the first time (correct now). The second video (part 3) is now available for viewing here or here or here. Take another look ... and hear more of the story.