profitism

My last experience with Syrian Rue left me feeling having no desire at all to dip my toes back into the water of altered states of consciousness. At least, not until I manage to make a bit of progress on the diet front, and maybe even a bit on the energy work front. This could also be from a couple of other things as well, like it being the middle of winter now and also us having a bit of an upheaval to deal with, as in having to sell the house and move to another town on the other side of the continent. It's been really weird watching as things progress on this. From it becoming a possibility, to it becoming a reality, and all the little bits in-between. There's no way we could have expected everything involved to run so smoothly especially trying to squeeze it all into such a small amount of time, and yet… It wasn’t all that long ago that B and I were saying there's no way something like this could happen, and if it did it had to be with some kind of divine intervention. One thing is for sure and that is both of us feel an increasing need to acknowledge the impact (spirit?) can have on your life.

In some aspects things have happened that are just too damn convenient, events have played out in such unlikely ways to suit us, they border on being creepy. We had thoughts in our minds of needing to put a deposit down on a new property development that would only be ready to occupy from 2010. As impossible as this might have been we found such a place which is fine, pretty close to where we are moving to. What made it unusual was it has the same name as another complex that we bought our first unit in going back 6 years. The day we applied to purchase it we got a buyer for our house - which we needed to find a buyer for before we could bother trying to apply for a bond to buy another place. We got a buyer for our house within 3 weeks of putting it on the market, which in some circles could be considered a small miracle in and of itself.

4 weeks ago we sighted an old friend (J) we hadn't seen in a while. I almost walked into his brother (B) 3 weeks ago - also an old friend. 2 weeks ago we bumped into N - also an old friend we hadn't seen in many years (5+). Then this past weekend sitting at a restaurant another old friend (G) joined us for a while. All these people we haven't seen for very long times, and we knew all of them from when we first started getting established in Johannesburg. There seemed to be little chance of seeing any of them ever again, let alone see them all in the space of a month, 2 months before we leave. When B and I chatted about it we thought maybe what's happening is things are being made so that we can get to say goodbye to all these people before we leave. B was so moved by this that after talking to G she actually broke down and cried - happy tears - something special was definitely going on. Then I got an invitation from a colleague I used to work with over 10 years ago. These people I used to work with when I first got here are arranging a reunion for next month, where I will get to see a whole bunch of people I haven't seen for a very long time - and get to say goodbye to as well - in about a month before we leave for Cape Town… weird.

I have backed off on the psychedelics for a while, but have played with MJ a couple of times. Going back a couple of weeks we got a movie called "The Fountain" in the mail. While it might be quite popular overseas it's still relatively unknown over here. From some of the stuff I read it did seem like it might be worth a watch (maybe), but nothing could have prepared me for what happened when we put it in the dvd player. So I light up a small one and check out one of the special features - Life on Ship? The dude basically goes through a mushroom cultivation tek (that I would love to have a go at doing myself), and I gather trips out on shroom tea when he sits in the lotus and meditates. The movie itself moved me to tears, and I'm not one to cry very easily. I was overwhelmed as the story unfolded, and I couldn’t believe that what I think are some pretty profound truths/ principles, could be contained in any movie, yet here it was. I am eternally grateful for the experience.

I passed the dvd on to a colleague at work, who promptly gave me two books to read (and keep!) after having watched it - Galactic Alignment and Maya Cosmogenesis by John Major Jenkins. I had had my eye on them for a while but never got a chance to order them yet - finances are taking strain, but it seems I was destined to read them one way or another and they elaborate nicely on the theme (from the dvd). At this stage half way through the one I can hardly believe some of the stuff I am reading - how important it all seems and how much sense it all makes. On a hike through the Botanical Gardens last weekend I lit up another small one, and had one of the most illuminating conversations with B about it all. In fact, it was getting so illuminating I was starting to feel like I was triqping, rather than being just a little st xx ned. In fact, with all the stuff that seems to be going on and how strange it all seems, it's starting to feel like I am triqping permanently. I am starting to think of having a bit more respect for MJ after this experience.

A while ago I read (and posted a "review" of) a book called Astrotheology and Shamanism, which basically punts (the return of) these two practices as (inevitable?) integral to the future (spiritual?) evolution of our species. It brought the subject up of it seeming like what Christianity was is based on very early traditions involving worship of the sun, moon and stars. It felt like this was more about making it evident that things are not quite what they may seem, and less about providing some kind of direction to help you pursue the subject further. I made a mental note about it and wondered where a good place to start on this might be, that is, to learn more about the worship of the sun, moon and stars. To be quite honest, all I felt was it being a bit of an anticlimax, and a bit of relief at thinking oh, so that's what it was all about then - no biggie. I mean, just how big of a deal can you make a system of belief out to be if all it is about is the position of stars and planets etc. in relation to each other? I'm not really sure you feel the impact of what this might mean from reading just Astrotheology and Shamanism.

In the books by John Major Jenkins I think you get that impact. You get to understand just how big a part (astrotheology) played in our ancient history, enough so as to make it entirely believable how derivative Christianity is. Not just that though, you get to learn what the logic is of why these things were so important. The impression I get is an entirely new impression of things beyond the physical, and it's beyond the physical I think you need to go to understand the full scope of what (astrotheology) is all about. Suddenly, whereas before, exploring the inner realms felt entirely a subject restricted to what I could achieve from a this body perspective, it's become a matter of being able to step outside myself and into the universe to learn about portals and passageways, metaphysics and perceptions. It feels like this is definitely something worth learning, and that it is definitely the right direction to go in. If I am going to journey significantly again sometime in the foreseeable future, it's going to be with a head filled with these things, and it will be outside at night, underneath all the stars, just like they did it back in the good old days...

As it is, in Cape Town we will be bunches closer to a place called Sutherland. It turns out they’ve built a massive observatory out there. Apparently it's one of the best places on this planet that you can get a decent view into outer space from.
We had a bit of snow to wake up to this morning. The last time it snowed here was in 1981.
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