Springtime Is Here Again!

13 Ben - 16 Kankin (12.19.15.17.13 Mayan Long Count)

The equinox came and went, so it's officially springtime for this hemisphere of the world, though one wouldn't really know it by the crazy weather we're having. I like to describe it as a "hangover from winter".

As you probably already know, in most cultures, spring is the time of rebirth and regeneration after the long deathly period of winter. I always love seeing buds and leaves on trees, flowers rising up from the soil and birds and insects flying and floating around.

Pixie will work her magick in the back garden and transform it from a run-down bit of grass and dead plants to a colourful mini-Eden of blooming things and bright green carpeting on the ground.

Since the equinox has passed - that means a new edition of the Maybe Quarterly is available for the peeping. It's a 'special issue', dedicated to the one and only, Pope Robert Anton Wilson. It's put together by the folks at the M.L.A. and this one's a treat. I helped out a tiny bit with Fuzzbuddy's presentation - just cleaning and boosting a bit of audio from the March 18th R.A.W. wake in London. Coldcut and Alan Moore were there to commemorate Bob's passing with music and readings from a few of the good Doctor's books. He's still preparing the final results - so I'll add a link to it here when it's finished.

I've also been invited to become part of the Only Maybe blog team, which seems cool to me. I'll try and come up with an interesting topic to post there quick-smart.

It's my friend Cathy's birthday tomorrow - another Earth year added to her travels in time. I hope she's well and I will say that her gift is on the way. Just finishing up a few bits.

A shout-out to Singing Bear, who's still convalescing at the moment. Don't worry though, the Bear will be back from his hibernation soon enough.

Hippy St. Pardy's Dae

5 days pre Alban Eiler - c.e. 2007

The spring equinox is only a few days away now, which of course means that the feast of St. Patrick - the symbol of the rise of the X-tian faith in Ireland - is upon us again. In Americay, it means there will be parades in a lot of major cities, where everyone wears green and some even have kitschy badges that say "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" - followed by scrambling to the bars and drinking of various alcoholic concoctions. It does amuse me that the celebration of a very staid X-tian saint leads to a nearly automatic bacchanalian gathering--right on cue, every year. I like to think it's the spirit of the Druids getting a bit of theirs back on 'the church'. In Ireland itself and in the UK, it's a much more sober affair - I mean, sure, people go out and there are parties - but it's not the gigantic soiree that it seems to be in the States.

Paddy's story has been told over and over, if you need a refresher - it's here. The main gist of his legend is that he drove all the "things" (I can't say the actual word - for Pixie's benefit - you know, the crawling reptiles that flick their tongues out a lot) out of Ireland. This, to the devout followers of the faith, is because the "things" were in league with the 'Devil' (if you recall the Adam & Eve story)--so of course, they had to go. It's also been said he carried out his act because the "things" were considered important to the Celts. I found this "Celtic Symbols" page, which explains what the things meant to the Celtic tribes before the mass conversion to X-tianity. Yep - they seemed pretty danged important to the Celts - and that wasn't kosher for the church.

There seems to have been a renaissance of the auld pagan Celtic ways in the past few decades--with the Wiccan religion being the most overt of these, even though Patrick and the church still hold sway over most of Ireland.

Ah well, I'm not here to completely bash the guy - as his feast seems a lot more lively than most of the other, dour X-tian saints.

Have yourselves a merry St. Paddy's Day - I'm chugging down some Guinness and listening to some Horslips,
Rory Gallagher and The Chieftains. Too-ra-loor-a-lay and that.

In Like A Lion...

10 Esfand - Year 1385

Sheebus...is it March already? Apparently, it's been the second warmest winter in Britain for a long while--at least in the past hundred years. Global warming?? Nah - we don' need no stinking global warming.

A big shout-out to the Pisces and Aries peeps I know whom have birthdays this month, including my friend Jackie, my friend Cathy and wa-hey--Aloicious P. McGinnis, on lucky March 13! I think he's 33 this year, but I'll refrain from any Jeebus Crisco metaphors. Happy Birthday to all those fish and rams!

I've been spending some time at the Maybe Logic Academy message board--hanging out, talking with the other R.A.W. freeks I've met there. The Academy used to be subscription-only. You had to sign up for a course and then you had access to the message board and other features. I had intended to sign up from it's inception, but the courses get a bit pricey (between $70 and $140) and I was always spending my dosh on other stuff (i.e. CDs). There was a decision to make the newest M.L.A. incarnation a public forum, with an option to take a course if you wish. The course on at the moment is a discussion of Timothy Leary, counter-culture icon and "High Priest Of LSD", led by former Mondo 2000 editor and neo-counter-culture kingpin, R.U. Sirius. Leary seemed to be about far more than just acid and "The 60s", but unfortunately, that's the mainstream assessment--mostly due to his own doing--but Sirius' course hopes to redress Leary's contributions to cyber-culture and forward-thinking. It started this past Monday - but again, I didn't have the bread...D'Oh! There is a course in May by Antero Alli called Angel Tech, that seems pretty interesting. As I'm reading "Angel Tech" at the moment--it seems to be a good way to explore what the books theories are and you have to do exercises to test them out. There's also a Visionary Arts course being proff'd by Erik Davis that looks really interesting, too. Food for the mind, no doubts.

This March 1st actually seems to fit that "in like a lion.." phrase--very gusty and cooooold. Pixie and I have both been weighed-down with flu bugs the past couple of weeks. Hers has recurred and she's now on the sofa with some whiskey, a book and a tissue at the ready. Ah well, the spring equinox will be a-blazin' soon--time for working in the garden and (hopefully) setting up a table at a boot sale to sell off some of the CDs I meant to sell off last year. I'm going to have my LPs and sitar and guitars shipped over from Conn. as well, so I need to clear some space for that stuff. All in good time...

..'till then, here's to staying out of the wind and rain and staying healthy, too.