“That which haunts us will always find a way out. The wound will not heal unless given witness. The shadow that follows us is the way in.” ~Rumi
The clock has run out on sexual assault, harassment & inequality in workplaces. It's time to do something about it. ❤ ☀ https://www.timesupnow.com/ ♨ Powered by women, TIME’S UP addresses the systemic inequality and injustice in the workplace that have kept underrepresented groups from reaching their full potential. #TimesUp
Alyssa Milano in Rolling Stone editorial: "Also, I do not think you can separate this movement from having a President of the United States who has not only bragged about "grabbing pussy" but then was elected and has systematically tried to roll back women's rights throughout his first year as president. Women are scared. Women are angry. And all of that became the perfect storm to allow for the #MeToo movement. We must hold Trump accountable. If we're asking senators to resign because of sexual misconduct, what message does it send that we are allowing a man who has had 19 women come forward and accuse him of misconduct, to be our president? How are we not holding him accountable for this? It's bigger than collusion with Russia or anything else that we accuse him of doing and being. Our daily vernacular of the #MeToo movement is right there in front of us every day leading our country. How do these criminal abuses of power not apply to him?" https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/alyssa-milano-why-i-joined-times-up-anti-sexual-misconduct-group-w514894
Pagans & Powderkegs: The Ironic Evil of Shakespeare's Scottish Drama
“They can raise storms and tempests in the air, either upon Sea or land, though not universally, but in such a particular place and prescribed bounds, as God will permit them so to trouble.” (King James I, Daemonology, 1597) Macbeth’s supernatural evil, repeated through time with extremely powerful magical charms and the spilling of blood, was the acting out of King James’ own ruthless Scottish heritage, cloaked in an air of Godly power and pomp. While a plot to assassinate the leadership of England with devilish explosives had just been thwarted, within the next generation King James’ own son would become the first monarch in Europe to be tried and executed, in a revolutionary uprising. James’ own treatise on witchcraft, “Daemonology,” would be used to torture and execute tens of thousands of accused pagans, and would haunt the New World at the Salem witch trials. Under a cloak of good triumphing over evil, Macbeth actually heralds the dawn of a brutal, Machiavellian era of colonization, genocide, and industrial warfare. Did Shakespeare consciously cast a curse upon the English culture, or did his flair for irony unwittingly unleash the powerful forces surrounding the Macbeth legend? Recent attempts by witches in Scotland to lift the “Macbeth curse” have met with tragic ends. It seems the ghosts of this play still haunt the psyche of humankind, and refuse to be put to rest. I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself…
Both the common people and the royalty in the audience would understand and celebrate all references to James’ ancestor Banquo, the corrupting chaos of treason, and the portrayal of twisted supernatural forces. Macbeth was a cathartic therapy for the kingdom, giving life to the hopes of triumph over evil conspirators, and heralding the Divine dominion of the English culture. Considering that Shakespeare’s most likely source for historical reference, Raphael Holinsheds’ Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (1587) recounts Banquo as conspiring with Macbeth in the plot to kill Duncan (whom he portrays as ineffective), and chronicles the real Macbeth as a decent monarch who reigned well for seven years until he turned on Banquo, it is very ironic, but politically expedient, of Shakespeare to turn the characters of the tragedy toward more vicious ends. The most outstanding irony of Macbeth’s contorted history is that Banquo’s ghost was a figment of the Scottish imagination. Banquo was a MYTHICAL figure Scottish genealogists created to give legitimacy to the Stuart family tree. So as Shakespeare shows Banquo murdered by Macbeth, he is twisting Holinshed’s history by the ear, and forcing Britain to question the concept of royal lineage in general. What happens when the Divinity of the Sovereign in God’s Chain of Being becomes completely corrupted? But when the planets In evil mixture to disorder wander, What plagues and what portents, what mutiny! What raging of the sea, shaking of the earth! Commotion in the winds! Frights, changes, horrors Divert and crack, rend and deracinate The unity and married of calm states Quite from their fixture! O’ when degree is shak’d Which is the ladder of all high designs, The enterprise is sick. (Trolius and Cressida, 1. 3. 95-103) Like America’s current “War on Terror,” at the time Shakespeare wrote Macbeth, the British monarchy was fighting it’s own war on terrorism and “evil.” Numerous attempts had been made on Queen Elizabeth’s life, and a major plot to assassinate the entire royal family with explosives, by Guy Fawkes and a conspiracy of Jesuits, had only narrowly been avoided. In James’ war on witches in Scotland, evidence of a plot by witches to drown him by stirring up storms at sea had been revealed to the public.
“They can make folks to become frenetic or Maniac, which likewise is very possible to their master to do, since they are but natural sicknesses: and so he may lay on these kinds, as well as any others. They can make spirits either to follow and trouble persons, or haunt certain houses, and affray oftentimes the inhabitants: as hath been known to be done by our Witches at this time. And likewise thay can make some to be possessed with spirits, & so to become very Demoniacs: and this last sort is very possible likewise to the Devil their Master to do, since he may easily send his own angels to trouble in what form he pleases, any whom God will permit him to use.” (King James I, Daemonology, 1597; qtd. Nostbakken 107) Ironically, in Shakespeare’s support of this “War on Terror,” much as our current cultural war is doing, the portrayal of the evil forces actually contributed to the chaos and the influence of disorder. Every time Macbeth was performed, the Weird Sisters and Hecate unleashed potent incantations, both magically and in the public mind. The murderous intrigue of the play and the power witches held over otherwise invincible warriors was actually a promotion of evil influence. The more so-called Christians projected evil on the landscape, and subjected the accused evil-doers to unspeakable acts of “Divine Inquisition,” the more they themselves became twisted toward evil ends. King James’ treatise on demons and witches, taken in a more cynical light, should have been seen as the ultimate crafty trick of the Devil, to cause people to do murderous and immoral things to the common healers of the time.
Macduff What’s the disease he means? Malcolm ‘Tis call’d the evil. A most miraculous work in this good king; Which often, since my here-remain in England, I have seen him do. How he solicits Heaven, Himself best knows: but strangely visited people, All swoln and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye, The mere despair of surgery, he cures, Hanging a golden stamp about their necks, To the succeeding royalty he leaves The healing benediction. With this strange virtue, He hath a heavenly gift of prophecy, And sundry blessings hang about his throne, That speak him full of grace. Macbeth indirectly references an important prophecy about King James which had been presented in dramatic form the year before Shakespeare wrote it. The three Weird Sisters are a twisted reference to the “Three Sybils,” a Latin play which was performed for King James at Oxford in 1605, which Shakespeare likely witnessed first-hand.
In the same year, 1605, the sinister Gunpowder Plot nearly took out the entire royal family using the alchemical potion of gunpowder, associated with the devil and witches in the popular mind, and gave England a powerful metaphor for the “evil enemy” of the Empire, much as Bin Laden and Al Qaeda have been demonized after the attacks on the World Trade Towers. Shakespeare quite ironically turned the Three Sybils into his Weird Sisters, as a wrinkled reflection of the themes of treason and terror, which were haunting the kingdom outside the theatre. “ But will God permit these wicked instruments by the power of the Devil their master, to trouble by any of these means, any that believes in him? No doubt, for there are three kinds of folks whom God will permit so to be tempted or troubled; the wicked for their horrible sins, to punish them in like measure; The godly that are sleeping in any great sins or infirmities and weaknesses in faith, to waken them up the faster by such an uncouth form: and even some of the best, that their patience may be tried before the world, as JOB’S was.” (King James I, Daemonology, 1597)
In the history of European theatre, no play has gained such a troubled reputation as Macbeth. Since its very first performance in front of King James, it has generated superstition and curses, literally, physically, and psychologically. "No other play has had more bad luck associated with it: coronaries, car accidents, mysterious ailments, botched lines, and sword wounds. The theatrical superstition is not taken lightly: even to pronounce the play's title is considered bad dressing-room form. Its very names is a curse....It's also considered as the height of bad dressing-room form to quote from the play under any circumstances. For hundreds of years it's been delicately referred to as 'The Scottish Play' or simply 'That Play.'" (Norrie Epstein, The Friendly Shakespeare, qtd. Macbeth Homepage) As the dramatic tradition carries Macbeth forward in time, it also carries the legendary curse of the play, which holds that nearly every traditional production stirs up so much “toil and trouble” that often people are permanently injured, psychologically disturbed, or even killed. One of the few film directors who dared to present the wicked tragedy on screen, Roman Polanski (1971), was enchanted with other manifestations of evil, in Rosemary’s Baby and the Fearless Vampire Killers, his two preceding films before the Manson family murdered his wife Sharon Tate.
Macbeth, while purportedly a morality play about deliberately misleading language and treason, by the addition of extensive magical rituals and incantations becomes instead a Black Mass of murderous consequences. While attempting to give form to the mysterious world of the supernatural, it actually unleashes the spirits and characters which society professes to be afraid of. Similar to modern horror films, Macbeth was designed to scare the wits of the common folk and dissuade any one with treasonous intentions. Yet at the same time it gives power to the underclass and the revolutionary, showing how vulnerable the ruling class can be.
Macbeth exposes the nightmarish and anarchic results of allowing doublespeak and half-truth, or “equivocation,” to entice and influence the future. Yet Shakespeare himself is a premier master of the double-entendre in the English language! Witness how he weaves his magical “equivocations” into the drama of Macbeth more effectively than an entire coven of witches could have! This is the profound irony that Shakespeare celebrates with this political tragedy, and the challenge he puts forth to our culture: where does the “truth” lie?
Hecate O, well done! I commend your pains, And every one shall share I’ th’gains. And now about the cauldron sing, Like elves and fairies in a ring, Enchanting all that you put in. 2 Witch By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes.—
As King James’ war against witchcraft would degenerate into murderous mob behavior, the evil of Macbeth is embodied and empowered every time it is performed. What is the lesson for a ruthless society watching ruthlessness play out-- that conspiracy doesn’t pay, or that one should choose one’s allies more wisely? Would Macbeth have done much better, for example, if he had made friends with the witches, and been less afraid of the consequences? The Chain of Being appears to be very tenuous in retrospect, and Macbeth is an historical measure of how low “nobility” will go to achieve domination.
Has humanity learned anything from “the Scottish play,” given the terrorized and barbaric state of our world, or will militaristic leaders continue to lead us down the path toward mass murder and chaos in the name of power? To kill or not to kill—that is the question. “We must be free or die who speak the tongue That Shakespeare spake.” --William Wordsworth
Message from the Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers:
"As you move through these changing times... be easy on yourself and be easy on one another. You are at the beginning of something new. You are learning a new way of being.
Instead of traveling to a goal out there, you will voyage deeper into yourself. Your mother's grandmother knew how to do this. Your ancestors from long ago knew how to do this. They knew the power of the feminine principle... and because you carry their DNA in your body, this wisdom and this way of being is within you.
Call on it. Call it up. Invite your ancestors in. As the yang based habits and the decaying institutions on our planet begin to crumble, look up. A breeze is stirring. Feel the sun on your wings."
☆ Important Message from Keeper of Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe ☆
I, Chief Arvol Looking Horse, of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nations, ask you to understand an Indigenous perspective on what has happened in America, what we call "Turtle Island." My words seek to unite the global community through a message from our sacred ceremonies to unite spiritually, each in our own ways of beliefs in the Creator.
We have been warned from ancient prophecies of these times we live in today, but have also been given a very important message about a solution to turn these terrible times.
To understand the depth of this message you must recognize the importance of Sacred Sites and realize the interconnectedness of what is happening today, in reflection of the continued massacres that are occurring on other lands and our own Americas.
I have been learning about these important issues since the age of 12 when I received the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle and its teachings. Our people have strived to protect Sacred Sites from the beginning of time. These places have been violated for centuries and have brought us to the predicament that we are in at the global level.
Look around you. Our Mother Earth is very ill from these violations, and we are on the brink of destroying the possibility of a healthy and nurturing survival for generations to come, our children's children.
Our ancestors have been trying to protect our Sacred Site called the Sacred Black Hills in South Dakota, "Heart of Everything That Is," from continued violations. Our ancestors never saw a satellite view of this site, but now that those pictures are available, we see that it is in the shape of a heart and, when fast-forwarded, it looks like a heart pumping.
The Diné have been protecting Big Mountain, calling it the liver of the earth, and we are suffering and going to suffer more from the extraction of the coal there and the poisoning processes used in doing so.
The Aborigines have warned of the contaminating effects of global warming on the Coral Reefs, which they see as Mother Earth's blood purifier.
The indigenous people of the rainforest say that the rainforests are the lungs of the planet and need protection.
The Gwich'in Nation in Alaska has had to face oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain, also known to the Gwich'in as "Where life begins."
The coastal plain is the birthplace of many life forms of the animal nations. The death of these animal nations will destroy indigenous nations in this territory.
As these destructive developments continue all over the world, we will witness many more extinct animal, plant, and human nations, because of mankind's misuse of power and their lack of understanding of the "balance of life."
The Indigenous people warn that these destructive developments will cause havoc globally. There are many, many more indigenous teachings and knowledge about Mother Earth's Sacred Sites, her chakras, and connections to our spirit that will surely affect our future generations.
There needs to be a fast move toward other forms of energy that are safe for all nations upon Mother Earth. We need to understand the types of minds that are continuing to destroy the spirit of our whole global community. Unless we do this, the powers of destruction will overwhelm us.
Our Ancestors foretold that water would someday be for sale. Back then this was hard to believe, since the water was so plentiful, so pure, and so full of energy, nutrition and spirit. Today we have to buy pure water, and even then the nutritional minerals have been taken out; it's just empty liquid. Someday water will be like gold, too expensive to afford.
Not everyone will have the right to drink safe water. We fail to appreciate and honor our Sacred Sites, ripping out the minerals and gifts that lay underneath them as if Mother Earth were simply a resource, instead of the source of life itself.
Attacking nations and using more resources to carry out destruction in the name of peace is not the answer! We need to understand how all these decisions affect the global nation; we will not be immune to its repercussions. Allowing continual contamination of our food and land is affecting the way we think.
A "disease of the mind" has set in world leaders and many members of our global community, with their belief that a solution of retaliation and destruction of peoples will bring peace.
In our prophecies it is told that we are now at the crossroads: Either unite spiritually as a global nation, or be faced with chaos, disasters, diseases, and tears from our relatives' eyes.
We are the only species that is destroying the source of life, meaning Mother Earth, in the name of power, mineral resources, and ownership of land. Using chemicals and methods of warfare that are doing irreversible damage, as Mother Earth is becoming tired and cannot sustain any more impacts of war.
I ask you to join me on this endeavor. Our vision is for the peoples of all continents, regardless of their beliefs in the Creator, to come together as one at their Sacred Sites to pray and meditate and commune with one another, thus promoting an energy shift to heal our Mother Earth and achieve a universal consciousness toward attaining Peace.
As each day passes, I ask all nations to begin a global effort, and remember to give thanks for the sacred food that has been gifted to us by our Mother Earth, so the nutritional energy of medicine can be guided to heal our minds and spirits.
This new millennium will usher in an age of harmony or it will bring the end of life as we know it. Starvation, war, and toxic waste have been the hallmark of the great myth of progress and development that ruled the last millennium.
To us, as caretakers of the heart of Mother Earth, falls the responsibility of turning back the powers of destruction. You yourself are the one who must decide.
You alone – and only you – can make this crucial choice, to walk in honor or to dishonor your relatives. On your decision depends the fate of the entire World.
Each of us is put here in this time and this place to personally decide the future of humankind.
Did you think the Creator would create unnecessary people in a time of such terrible danger?
Know that you yourself are essential to this world. Understand both the blessing and the burden of that. You yourself are desperately needed to save the soul of this world. Did you think you were put here for something less? In a Sacred Hoop of Life, there is no beginning and no ending.
Chief Arvol Looking Horse is the author of White Buffalo Teachings. A tireless advocate of maintaining traditional spiritual practices, Chief Looking Horse is a member of Big Foot Riders, which memorializes the massacre of Big Foot's band at Wounded Knee.
We dreamed we were far beyond John Wayne & genocide of the "frontier" but the hairy Clown demon of TV Tower has popped out of our screens into the White white house over there next to the Pentagon as stromtroopers blast shotguns & teargas into Indian defenders
Blood mixing with oil over their weeping ancient land our last fresh water being raided with tanks & troops industry's old story of conquest & cruelty to "secure" big money once again blowing its toxic fumes in our faces by force
America, america corporate men shed their waste on thee & hide their crimes with hazard signs from sea to oily sea at war with themselves & the Earth in her infinite magic blasting away with every old bad ammo in their money bags
~ BzB "Pity the busy monster, manunkind." ~ e.e. cummings BuzzWorm ☀ http://buzzworm.blogspot.com/ ☀ "Making necklaces from live ammunition is not a good idea."
