Shiva's and Metta's Mother's Sutra

Over the past year i have been looking at the Holy Grail. I don't remember how it started off. I suppose one does not need an excuse to research into the Holy Grail. Naturally it led me to looking at, amongst other things, the Roscrucians, the Knights Templar, Cathars, the goddess and Gnostics, St John's Gospel and St John, initiation, the Pyramids, Freemasons, alchemy and sacred geometry. Well, nothing new there. However what i also did not recognise was that in the process i was having to deal with measurement. It is very interesting this journey into measurement. I now understand where the obsession with empiricism comes from. It is no surprise that we are now ruled by the empiricist mindset since what passes as science most of the time in Western culture now comes from this idea that the universe can be understood through number. There are some very interesting and wonderful questions - like how did the Egyptians know what was the radius of the Earth since the Egypt...

Outside... the outside bit of the board... When it is opened up... When i do the blackboard drawings it is very peaceful and usually i copy something, but this time i could not find anything to copy. So i thought, well, let there be light... The other thing that is supposed to have come before light is sound. The word is spoken, it gives rise to light and light is made. I also thought about the nature of light and how we were taught it in the course. What makes colour? Colour is movement and when light meets darkness it gives rise to colour. The first light is white, bright yellow and then green, and then the blue enters, supporting the sides. So this drawing was made with the help of Gothean colour theory. I think it really worked. Also it was difficult to do darkness. What is darkness is another question? I also wanted to do the Tree of Life, but a Hebraic interpretation of it. However, when i went to look for some designs, i found this one, which was even bett...

The Promised Land Being a Steiner teacher is really very interesting. It is a little bit like working with the RSPB. It takes me to places which i have never been before. This year i am learning about Judaism. This means because i am learning about Judaism, i am also having to learn about Islam. In the Old Testament segment of the curriculum, we tell the story of Ishmael. And the Ishmaelites also crop up in the story of Joseph. In fact, they save him by coming along and buying him (his brothers were going to leave him to die), and he therefore ends of in Egypt - which is how the Jewish people ended up in Egypt. I am trying to keep to my parameters because as you know, you can get very lost in this. However what is clear is that the Old Testament is a mish-mash of all kinds of things. There is history-myth. There are laws. There are superheros. There are super villans. There are crazy people. There are good people. There is a rather odd God. It has very detailed instructions abo...

My little garret, where all the agonising happens :-) I have been back now for three days. The first day was spent in bed, the second day i got the car started, came to check the house in Holywood, got the bags in and did some shopping for food. The third day i went running, unpacked, organised, wrote, did admin and watched Jane Austen on TV. Then i collapsed at 5.30 pm and got up at 12.30 am. The no palm oil and no plastics challenge has been interesting. I still have LOADS of shampoos and soaps leftover from when my mom was here. So i still have that to go through. But when it is done there is Olive soap which can be bought for £1.60 at the Iona shop. I also need to think of an alternative to shampoo, but that is months off. Because i did not want to use plastics, i shopped for veg at Camphill Holywood and got some lettuce and cheese. This was unfortunately covered in plastic, or contained in plastic. But i am reusing the plastic. I also bought their bread that comes wrap...

Javanese frankincense When i was in Endau, and i know maybe i should not have done this, i took this home. I was told this was a rock. But i kinda knew better. I found it when i was walking on the ground and i had a sense of what it was. Even though, weirdly enough i have never seen it in its raw state before. It is the sap from this tree and how it ended up on the rainforest floor i suppose it just got too big and fell off. It was traded in the Middle Ages and the Arabs knew about it. It is Javanese frankincense. I brought it home anyway and then when i got back i lit it. The scent was intoxicating and completely familiar. It was the scent from when i was ill in childhood. When i had measles my mother 'smoked' me with it. It can be taken both internally and externally. It is used for medicinal and cosmetic reasons. It is usually ground up in a powder - but here it was, pure and unadulterated. And it was so precious. To release the properties of the kemenyan, you ...

So my sister took some photos and we had dinner at a friend's and she took some photos too and posted them to me... so i'm putting them up as well... On National Day we celebrated with a popiah party Popiah is one of those dishes which every family will have their own interpretation of. Some families will add peanuts and carrots. This is beyond the pale for my mom. This is not perakanan, she will say, and will not accept or explanation that different people have have different interpretations of this dish. Ah well, that's life right. But anyway, this version of popiah, my mom's version, i have to say, is the best i have ever tasted. I have tasted other versions as well, and i have to say objectively, this one is perfect. This photo has a really funny story My sister claims that I can dress madly and get away with it. Of course this is not new. People always say to me, oh that dress/outfit/hairstyle looks so nice on you but if i wore it i would look mad. I ...

It is three am and i - i mean, we - are jet lagged. Into the mix is a friend which Oisin has invited over for a sleepover, forgetting to mention that there aint gonna be any sleeping in this house after 1 am for the next three days. It is always the same. I have spent a good part of my life trying to fight jet lag and it can't be fought. Not with copious amounts of drugs or coffee. If you have stayed anywhere for more than there weeks, you will get jet lag when you go back to wherever you came from. So you might as well enjoy it. Always have things that need to be done, which aren't too boring or strenuous. Like maybe updating your blog, like this. The house was, as usual a godawful mess when i got back. I have to say that over the years i have learnt to not clean it before i go because it will be a mess when i get back. Sometimes it is in a bigger mess than when i left it. This time it was ok when i got back. Still rugs need to be washed, rooms hoovered and at least ...