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skepticaloccultist · 7 years

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Days of Chalk & Bone

I have never been much of a recreational user of drugs, a couple of fingers of neat bourbon or a pipeful of cannabis is about as far as I tend to take things that are just passive use. Although I am by far absolutely addicted to caffeine more than any other substance, including oxygen.

Yet over the course of my adult life I have consumed a rather large variety of what are now commonly referred to as entheogens. Hallucinogenic drugs used in the course of ritual spiritual practice. These chemicals and their use go back millennia to the very birth of human history.

Humanity has, over the course of its existence, used a wide range of plant and animal based materials to connect with the vast other that surrounds us. To bridge the gap between "us" and the everything else. We are not alone as a species that does this, though our reasons and the socio spiritual paradigm that manifests from their use may be singular. It is hard to tell as the birds hardly talk about gods and spirits, all they ever want to talk about is food and sex.

The use of drugs in magic was frowned upon when I was a young man. The wild 60s indulgences were seen as superfluous to the more staid practitioners that were around in my youth. Finger wagging ex hippies that thought mushrooms were for rock concerts not unlit cellars full of chalk and bone. Coke using secret handshakers whose day jobs in investment and law made their use seem social, yet who looked askance when the idea of peyote rituals, yage ceremonies or datura comas were brought up over coffee.

The family of organic chemicals commonly called "psychedelic", long seen as "party" drugs, used at social engagements like concerts, festivals, and protests, were never intended to be consumed in such a manner. This framework of public hedonistic consumption was created by the 'baby boomer' generation of 1960s hippies. By turning powerful spiritual plants and their products into public spectacles they lost their sacredness to those who used them. The soul of the plant fleeing and leaving behind only its effects as they mirror the world in which they are used.

The sacred mushroom whispers in the quietest voice, to hear her or her little brother speak clearly is like capturing a willow-the-wisp, one must be incredibly patient. To move beyond the veil and listen to the wisdom of the jaguar and the serpent one must have embraced yage and prepared oneself for a journey. To fly through the night to the witches sabbat risking ones life on the edge of that reality one must be prepared for madness and possible death. To go into the wild, to be led by some mad psychopomp down into the earth, into ourselves, in the search for that abode of the soul that is beyond death. Like Odysseus and Dante, Gilgamesh and Odin. We must prepare ourselves for inevitable death, seeking out that which is beyond our understanding when we have not yet achieved this state.

Yet of these plants and animals there are those that are safe, in that at large doses no physical harm will come from overdose (such as psylocibin mushrooms, lsd, dmt, cannabis). Others, particularly the solanaceae family, are powerful and very dangerous. Capable of killing you straight dead. A paralyzing coma that stifles breath before it kills you, a mad rage filled violent seizure that runs through you, teeth clenched gnashing at your own tongue. A mouth full of blood to choke on in a drug induced coma. This is henbane and datura, belladonna and mandrake - if used without knowledge and respect.

The path of the hedge rider is one that takes us into realms of danger and discomfort, physically and spiritually. It is an unlit path, one in which we must make our own way, stumbling in the darkness for a handhold, seeking out a guide through disparate measures. If we are skilled we know the words, we need not the light to show us the way through the darkness for it is already our home.

But caution must be forever in the lead for those who have no experience on this path. It is best to always have someone along who is not involved directly either in the partaking of the drug or the practice of the ritual at hand. A lookout, so to speak, for when you need the antidote administered or the occasional ambulance called. Just remember to instruct them to always stay inside the circle you have made for them, and to turn off their mobile phone.

"On a cold stone floor covered in chalk I waited for a thousand lifetimes. I was in total darkness and could hear her breathing. She began to sing and her voice filled the space like light. As she sang the darkness opened up, unfolded into itself and revealed a gate of bone and horn. A light like a thousand suns shone around the edges of the gate's bone door. I stood and felt a wind hot upon my flesh of light. Her voice quavered and shook and the heavens shifted under the tones of her breath. I was standing at the precipice of eternity yet still there, half naked on the stone floor among the chalk and the bones of that Mazatecan cellar." - from "Chalk and Bone", Eldred Wormwood

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altsoph · 5 years

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A fresh interesting thread grows on Reddit, all about the unique features of different human languages. Besides all the exotic things like the Mazatecan language of whistles and the number of persons in Finnish, I found some amazing facts about the sign language (specifically, ASL).

It uses two mechanisms to refer to objects already mentioned: if an object is in the field of view, it can be directly pointed to, and the speaker can use certain gestures to specify the type of pronoun -- personal/reflexive/possessive. But if the object is not there, then the speaker uses a system of indexing: he dynamically assigns the particular direction/region to the called object, and then in the speech he can refer to an object showing in this area. In practice, according to Wikipedia, man can support up to 8 designated areas. In a sense, this is kind of the "former/latter" references but much more flexible. I wonder if this is used to give some semantics to objects (for example, higher / lower areas)? Do such areas synchronize in the dialogue or each of the participants use they own ones for the same object?

#language #sign

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