Friday, July 24, 2020

Hologram warps, cosmic initiations, resurrection and immortality (revisited)


Sha'Tara (a Canadian shaman) wrote on 15 January 2003:

Have you noticed, privately, how truly "STRANGE" these days seem to be for us? Nothing really seems to make sense, and as far as "normal" activities, say what? Stuff in this reality seems to be fading like a dream from which we are awakening. Once in a while, I get hooked into something, work or some creative activity with the hands for example, only to feel little or nothing after it's done.

Not sure if what you're describing is the same "sense of utter futility" that plagues me occasionally (even in recent years, after a series of initiations and peak experiences which served to anchor me more firmly in my heart chakra). If it is, then it's probably an occupational hazard of human incarnations.

This phenomenon applies to just about EVERYTHING humans commonly experience - whether love and romance, or delight over something our minds have produced like a poem or a drawing or piece of music. I attribute the emotional flux to "low" and "high" energy states, e.g., everything invariably appears more attractive, more promising when I'm well rested and energetically stable; but even a magnificent rainbow doesn't move us when we're exhausted or mildly depressed (which could be the same thing, really). Went through extended periods when I felt like hibernating. I usually allow myself as much sleep as I need to regenerate my vitality and joie de vivre.

Like I'm waiting for something to happen... and not sure if I'm supposed to make it happen, or supposed to wait, or just forget about it all and go through the motions of life in 3-D physical form.

Well, if you're not sure what exactly it is that's about to happen, how can you "make it happen"? I'm pretty sure heaven is about to happen on earth - most times! - but evidence to the contrary (as reported through other perspectives, people I meet who don't share my metaphysical standpoint or belief system, the mass media, etc) sometimes makes me pause and reassess my own private expectations.

And since we're repeatedly advised to let go of expectations lest we suffer perpetual disappointment, I take such moments as a cue to return to Emotional Zero - a neutral zone of High Indifference favored by rinpoches or folks who have, cosmically speaking, "binder dundat." Not always easy or possible, but all feedback - positive, negative, or neutral - is invariably useful to the scientific-gnostic quest.

Strangely freeing with a touch of apprehension, sadness and wonder. I think, if we could remember, that is likely how we felt when approaching the time of our physical birth... So... does this mean we have one more very real, if short, painful process to undergo... one more "test"?


Tests, tests, tests! We've all had enough of tests! Trials and bloody tribulations, my foot! I'm not even in goddamn SCHOOL!!! Nope, I refuse to view obstacles in my path or temporary setbacks as "tests." I accept these moments of danger or crisis as part of the overall adventure of the earthly 3D adventure. As a kayaker, you must know the exhilaration of successfully negotiating a particularly hazardous stretch of river or finding your way out of a proper tangle. Good to keep our navigational and acrobatic skills free of rust.

Question: What about that titillating "resurrection" or rejuvenation of the physical body? Any thoughts on that, O Ancient One?

Hey, I'm not THAT old!!! Yes, I have had vague glimpses into the Resurrection and Rejuvenation scenarios - and they invariably involved Elohim technology. Seems to me there are technically advanced beings that have mastered highly esoteric arts like preserving an individual's memory banks in some species of organic computer (say, a crystal chamber) while a new physical vehicle is cloned or repaired. Indeed, I chanced upon some excerpts from Al Bielek's report that revealed some interesting stuff going on under wraps at secret laboratories with access to Grey technology: seems the Greys have long acquired the technical knowhow to perform a low-grade version of resurrection, including the construction of quasi-human personalities for the metaprogramming of androids. These days it gets harder and harder to tell who's really steering which ship of state!

I have had occasion to inform my 86-year-old dad that his physical vehicle may have to undergo the traditional death process because his belief system does not allow for in-body rejuvenation or outright ascension via sub-cellular transmutation. But, I also reassured him that he'd like his new Resurrection Body - which would retain its 35-year-old appeal indefinitely.

Speaking of rejuvenation, my friend Katharina Bless recently told me about the Himalayan Crystal Salt she's distributing. Apparently, this crystalline salt is millions or even billions of years old, and is mined manually in the Himalayas. A wee bit added to our daily diet will allegedly work wonders on our transmutation into 5th dimensional entities, as the salt promotes the functioning of our 12-strand DNA. But that's about all I know about it. Have ordered a pound of the stuff to try.

Now I can't say why I feel physical rejuvenation, resurrection, and light-body ascension to be true or even achievable - I mean, our potential for regaining a species of immortality. However, I'm not overly concerned about outcomes, as I don't have a big issue with physical or ego death. It's just that I feel death may become unnecessary as the Soul regains a clear sense of cosmic continuity and releases itself from the mundane effects of karma - birth, death & rebirth on the wheel of repeated incarnations - and accepts total responsibility for its own experiential states.

Does this resonate with you, Sha', or anyone else?

Antares
aka "The Ancient of Days"


[First posted 20 June 2012, reposted 18 April 2014 & 22 April 2019]

BIRTHPLACE RECLAIMED! (reprise)




Freestyle dance music commissioned by Chandrabhanu (Bharatam Dance Company, Melbourne) in late 1992; world premiere in January 1993 @ PJ Civic Center. 

Composed, performed & produced by Antares & Friends 

Minah Angong (vocals); Sunetra Fernando (vocals, rebab & percussion); Rafique Rashid (sequencing, percussion, vocal effects, engineering & mixing); Tim Bremser (12-string guitar, drum programming, percussion, vocal effects & mixing); Antares (shepherd's flute, Balinese flutes, synthesizer, didgeridoo, percussion & vocal effects) 

Digitally remastered in September 2012 by Thomas Smorek

As the title suggests, this choreographic work attempts to chronicle the loss of innocence every individual and every community experiences when the spurious concept of "progress" encroaches and transforms the land into an eco-systemic and psycho-emotional hell. From Dreamtime to Machinetime; thence a period of spiritual confusion and intense questing, followed at last by not so much a return to an imaginary pristine past - but a reconciliation with present reality, wherein ancient and modern realities begin to ecstatically fuse, thereby generating a fresh creation.

Sometime towards the end of 1992 I was contacted by celebrated dancer-choreographer Ramli Ibrahim (founder & artistic director of Sutra Foundation) who asked if I was keen to take on a commission to produce 30 minutes of music for Chandrabhanu, a Melbourne-based master of the Bharatanatyam.

Of course I said yes and soon a meeting with Chandrabhanu was set up. He had in mind a freestyle contemporary choreographic work titled Birthplace Reclaimed which he wished to premiere at a dance festival hosted by Sutra at the PJ Civic Center in early 1993.

I immediately got to work on the music, visualizing a circle and 4 cardinal points - an ancient symbol for Mother Earth. 

As Chandrabhanu had only a limited budget, I was unable to rent a professional studio for the task. So I recruited Rafique Rashid as a musical conspirator and sound engineer. He was living in Kuala Kubu Bharu at the time in a shophouse and had a workable 4-track home studio. He called it Batorvilla Studio (inspired by Ulan Bator, the Mongolian capital after which he had named his comic-book alter ego).

At the time we had Tim Bremser - an Enochian magickian, visual artist & musician from Winnipeg, Canada - living at Magick River. Tim owned a 12-string guitar & a TEAC 4-track mixer-recorder which could be tandemed with Rafique's Akai 4-track. Sunetra Fernando, taking a break from her ethnomusicological research in gamelan, showed up one day & was promptly recruited.

Perlis-born Chandrabhanu arrived in Melbourne in 1971 to study social anthropology.

Minah Angong at the Sarawak Rainforest World Music 
Festival in August 1998
To explain what I had in mind, I drew a chart dividing the music into four movements: the first movement (Dreamtime) would depict an idyllic, edenic way of life, interrupted by the advent of industrialization (Machinetime, second movement). 

The third movement (Spacetime) would represent a period of confusion born of the conflict between inner and outer realities. Finally, a reconciliation of past and future, a fusion of tradition and innovation, paving the way for us to reclaim our birthplace.

Rafique and I had already experimented with dropping Minah Angong's cold voice on top of an instrumental work-in-progress. The result exceeded all expectations and augured the beginning of a rewarding musical collaboration called Akar Umbi.

A ceremonial singer from the indigenous Temuan tribe, Minah Angong had been taught the song "Burung Meniyun" by her late husband, the headman of Gerachi Village. It felt so right that we should incorporate the indigenous soul into Birthplace Reclaimed.

We had to record at night because Batorvilla Studio wasn't soundproofed. The traffic noise was too intrusive during the daylight hours. Sunetra was learning to play the rebab, a two-stringed violin introduced to Southeast Asia by the Arabs. It sounded great passed through a guitar effects box. Getting the mix right was crazy work, with both Rafique and Tim handling the crossfades and controlling levels with both hands on two different 4-track decks.

When Chandrabhanu heard the fruits of our nocturnal labors, he instantly liked it. Then he asked if Minah Angong would be able to sing "Burung Meniyun" live on stage. She had never performed on any stage, as far as I knew, but we decided to give it a go. Rafique would produce two versions of the music - one with Minah's voice mixed in; the other without, so it could be used as a minus-one for her live vocal. We took Minah to the technical rehearsal and put her to the test. She passed with flying colors (after a false start owing to nervousness) and wowed the packed hall on opening night.

Minah Angong with Antares & Chandrabanu (costumed as a shaman).


[First posted 18 December 2014, reposted 8 July 2018 & 11 April 2019]


Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Zeitgeist ~ The Movie (Remastered & Updated Edition)



This hardworking documentary by percussionist Peter Joseph speaks for itself. A lot of thought and feeling went into its making. Part Three is especially important. You may also view it at the original site.

Originally released in 2007, this version contains a few updates from 2010.

[First posted 8 July 2007, reposted in 2010]

3 Short Poems (repost)

MEMO TO MO

God sat in His Office
a little worn out.
The Day wasn’t done
and the Night Before
cluttered His desk.

Maureen, He said, picking up
the phone: cancel
Everything!
I want to be Alone
with You.



SIR OILY

Sir Oily and his goily
Went swimming in the sea
And were eaten by a big fat slick
The same that got Moby Dick




A POEM ABOUT THE SEA


I sat on a dead tree
watching the mighty rollers
break upon the shore

And I said to myself,
“I shall write a poem about the sea!”

Whereupon wave after wave
of appropriate phrases
flooded into my brain
and drowned me.


[From MOTH BALLS, Magick River, 1994. First posted 19 February 2007]