Earthquakes in the night, Magic, and Michael Jordan

Several times early this morning I woke up with a sound of something shaking.  Like something rattling as a result of a tremor.  It was so distinct that the first time I heard it I was sure it was going to build in strength and turn into an actual earthquake, and I was on alert to go grab the kids in a hurry if I needed to. 

However, I became aware that the rattling was an isolated noise - just one thing was making the sound, and I couldn't trace it.  I got up to try and find it, but once I walked down the hall, it stopped.  This happened several more times during the early morning hours.  I would hear an isolated rattling or the sound of something shaking, I would get up to investigate (because by time #2 it was really annoying and loud enough where I couldn't get back to bed), and then the sound would go away.  Each time, the rattling both sounded different, and came from a different area of our upstairs.  So, it seemed a different object or thing was shaking or rattling each time.

The last time, the rattling was fairly intense and coming from my closet.  It was so loud, and done in such a way, that I was sure there must have been a small animal in there that had grabbed something and was tossing it around.  When I opened the closet, however, just as the other times, the sound stopped.  No animal.

So that was fun.

Magic!

Writing yesterday about the song "Suspended in Time" apparently exorcised that ear-worm-demon, but Xanadu's soundtrack continues to have significant playtime in my head, and the song of this morning has been "Magic".  Even right now as I am writing I have the phrase "I'll be guiding you" looping over and over in my head.  

Here is the song in question (part of it actually would have come from the clip I posted the other day, where the main character finds a way into the building that would eventually become Xanadu):

The title Magic stands out for two reasons.

First, I shared my "Part 2" words from early 2022 in my post "Jan-Feb 2022 Words Part 2: A (future) family reunion".  I ended it with words shared up through Feb. 19.  There were a few additional words I wrote down at a later date (probably a day or two later, but I am not sure), but didn't include.  One of those phrases was:

Abracadabra - Magic!

With Abracadabra underlined just like that.  It was a strange phrase to include with everything, and I didn't really think it fit with the other things I shared, and I couldn't place the exact date, so I left it out.

But, it turns out it could be relevant.

Besides reminding of the "Abracadabra - Magic!" phrase, the song Magic also made me think of another place I have seen "Magic" recently, and that comes from the cover of an album that shows up on my Spotify at times, also called "Magic" by Ben Rector.  Once you see the cover you might see what I thought of it.  Here it is:

I think the resolution isn't the best, but its what I could find.  I have actually never listened to the title track "Magic", so don't know what it is about.  I was more interested in the pose.

Here we have the artist assuming that 'walking in air' pose that we have seen before.  For example, in William Tychonievich's blog, he posted about Walter Mitty, which included this image:

In both images, the men are appearing to be walking in air (though Ben Rector seems to also be in the act of rising, as he looks up), and they are carrying something in their right hand.  And, something I noticed just now as I pasted in the Walter Mitty photo, they are both named Ben (which means Son... or Sun?).  So, already some interesting things.

Just for kicks, in Run Boy Run, the Woodkid video, the Boy mostly runs on the ground, but there is a sequence when he also become airborne.

Back to Ben Rector on the Magic cover, he is holding a keyboard under his right arm.  The piano, specifically, has come up before in imagery for El-Anor, and here we have a piano accompanying Ben on his walk through the air (or a board of Keys).

I think it is remarkable, I suppose, that we have two people here, whose names mean 'son', going on a walk through the air, each holding something that seems to be an important part of their respective walks.

Recall, that one of Faramir's names/ identifies is Eonwe, who I have mentioned before also had the name Fionwe, which means "Son", and we have linked that with Jesus' words at Bountiful regarding the "Son of Righteousness".

But, one additional interesting thing came to mind this morning a I looked at this pictures:  Michael Jordan, His Airness himself

Air Jordan

I have also seen a similar pose elsewhere (and in silhouette no less!), and that is the iconic image and brand of Michael Jordan.  Here is the current "Jumpman" logo (that is owned by Nike, I guess, and not Jordan):

Again, everything left to right.  Jordan here is almost more flying through the air with his feet spread, as opposed to it appearing that he is walking or running, but it's close enough (the original Jumpman photo, which I will show below, has more of a running/ bounding look to it).

As I mentioned, the fact that the iconic logo was in silhouette caught my attention first (given "Silhouette" coming up just a few days ago in the early morning).  And of course it is "Michael" Jordan, who even has the same initial as Michael Jackson - MJ.  I wrote a post on Michael Jackson awhile ago, and I have connected the name "Michael" with that of Faramir.

Jordan is also holding something in his hand.  In this case, it is a basketball, though in silhouette it could be any type of ball... even a Stone.  If this was in color, or the actual image, we would see a orange basketball in his hand.  Just like I've remarked about with pumpkins, an orange basketball could be symbolic for a little sun in one's hands, something like El-Anor, perhaps.  I don't know.

Interestingly, the original Jumpman photo was taken for LIFE magazine, during the 1984 Olympics, so two additional connections there.  LIFE magazine is the one that Ben Stiller's Walter Mitty character worked for in the movie, and the Olympics would seem to reference Mt. Olympus, which has also come up before (such as Beings like Arnold Schwarzenegger, or Percy Jackson, using the Empire State Building to travel to and from Olympus).

In fact, here is the original LIFE photograph of the Jumpman pose.  The basketball has almost a glowing aura to it based on the lighting.

Nike would later recreate their own photo of this pose, and the current silhouette is based on Nike's version.

Bachtu Roktu

To conclude, and maybe tie into these images of people running or walking on air, I did have a couple words this morning that might tie into things.  "Bachtu Roktu" was the phrase, and it was more of a thought than anything visual this go around, so I am not sure on spelling.  It was very 'sing songy' with the rhyme.  

With "Roktu" I had the distinct impression of a double meaning/ double language word, where the English "Rock" (or Stone) would sit in for "Rok".  Rok in Elvish means "to run on foot", so that seems to tie into even just some of the themes here in this post.  "Tu" at the end of Roktu, can mean all sort so things - "he", "they/ them".  It can also mean "strength/ vigour", which is interesting.  And lastly, it could mean "to receive, get".  So a bit of a shrug on ultimate meaning.  You could have someone receiving a stone to run on foot.  You could have them receive strength to run on foot with the Stone.  Those are two relatively straightforward takeaways that seem to be relevant for our purposes.

"Bachtu", I don't really have any good ideas. "Bach" can be a thing for exchange, article, or thing, but I am not too motivated right now to figure it out, honestly. For all I know, with some of the piano themes, Bach, the composer, may be mentioned here (he liked the keyboard and organ). I have no idea.


After that phrase, there was an English phrase that went "Unbelievable - raise a highway". A highway raising takes me to the one mentioned in D&C 133, ("and an highway shall be cast up in the midst of the great deep") but again who knows. Might be about something else.


Then there was a third phrase, but I forgot it.

Suspended in Time: Loosening girdles and deepening weights, and the Grey Lady of the New York Times

One effect of having watched Xanadu a couple nights ago is I have had those songs as ear worms at various times.  The most persistent today is a song called "Suspended in Time" - it just keeps popping in, particularly the chorus which goes:

But how can our love succeed
A miracle is what we need
And so I appeal to you
To keep me suspended in time with you
Don't let this moment die
I get a feeling when I'm with you
None of the rules apply
But I know for certain
Goodbye is a crime
So love if you need me
Suspend me in time

 

I've bolded two lines that began to capture my attention the umpteenth time I listened to this chorus, and then, probably because they have been in my posts recently for reasons I can't fully explain, Black Holes came bounding into my mind as a potential reason for why I was becoming fixated on those lines.

In 'researching' (I use the word lightly - it was more like quickly looking into...) Black Holes for some of my previous posts (see my post "Black holes, Rabbit holes and walking through stars" for when I first started to write about Black Holes in any degree of thought), both Time and the Laws of Physics were major components of what I was reading.

Specifically, that Black Holes, due to their extreme gravity, distort time to a very significant degree.  The closer one approaches the Black Hole, the more distorted time becomes as measured on a relative basis vs. someone else who is not as close.  This concept is popularized in the movie I mentioned in that aforementioned post, Interstellar.  In the clip from that post, Cooper makes the comment that their slingshot maneuver skimming close to the Black Hole would cost them 51 years.  But, he and Amelia only aged the couple minutes it took them to pull off the maneuver.  The 51 years was measured as if one was back on Earth, so everyone else back on Earth biologically aged by that much, while Cooper and Amelia did not.

The movie explores these kind of strange situations packaged within the overall story of trying to get a population off of the Earth and to another place.

Anyway, these concepts would be taken to even more extreme levels in the event one actually enters or is pulled into a Black Hole.  In such a case, as one approaches the Event Horizon, to an outside observer, Time would appear to stand still - to become suspended - as they viewed either an object or person enter the Hole.  At some point, it would appear that they would be frozen (again, based on what I have read).  However, to the object or person itself, time for them would pass normally, and they would continue on with their 'spaghettification' process as they traveled to and were mashed into the Singularity (or something like that).

Further, while not fully known and very theoretical, it seems the laws of physics begin to break down, or are pushed to such extremes that they are hard to visualize, imagine, or make much sense of inside of a Black Hole.  I have read enough theories of what that looks like to know I am out of my depth in explaining or summarizing further, but needless to say, things get weird, I guess.

But, these points around Time and the radical altering or breaking of laws or rules bring me back to the lyrics of that chorus.  In both lines, it is in the place where the two Beings are together that they are suspended in time, and normal rules do not apply.  In looking at those (somewhat creatively), we may have an allusion or reinforcement to this theme that I have been exploring in other posts:  In that Faramir enters something like a Black Hole (the Rabbit Hole) in order to re-join with Eowyn, with Black Holes at least being theorized as the places where one would become suspended in time, and in which normal rules do not apply.

Trust me, if you told me even a month ago I would be writing even one post about Black Holes, I would have been scratching my head trying to figure out exactly why that would be the case, and here we have yet another post on this concept.  But, I've been going where the moment takes me and as crazy as it sounds, this has seemed to be a topic at least worth chasing down to see what there is to it (whether this means actual Black Holes are involved, or rather concepts derived from this thinking are, I have no idea).

But, I have expressed much of the above, or at least theorized on it, in previous posts, so why am I writing again on this?  Well, I had another thought or connection just this evening that made me think that yet again there could be something to this, and it also helps me get more specific on one of those dreams I explored in that 3-part series:  The Anchorwoman, which was Dream #2.

In that post, I quoted the following 'prophecy' or understanding of the far-future fate of Faramir and Eowyn (called Jared/ Zhera' and Izilba)

The winds and waves took them withersoever, day and night, and by long store of provisions they were comfortably housed, if uneasy about their fates, to them known only dimly, but what was made known was this:  Zhera' [Jared-Faramir] would enlarge the girdle of Arda, and Izilba deepen the weights depending therefrom.

In discussing that quote, I wrote that Faramir would enlarge the girdle through events through would transpire with the Stones.  Following those events, I believe that multiple worlds will be open to various groups of people, at various times, including Valinor, Eressea #1 and #2, and Numenor.  "Earth" will come to mean something very different, and be a much 'larger' place.

That is Faramir.  For Eowyn, I said something like the anchor meant both her pulling together the news that will be transmitted through the Stones as well as extending a line of anchor to us in this world.  However, I think there is a more specific meaning, and it has to do with Time, and thus potentially these Black Holes/ Portals/ Whatever is being referred to.

My 'solution' came to me tonight in the form of a clock, and it really seemed to click for me, so I wanted to to log it (at least in very rough, spur of the moment thinking).  The clock I specifically thought of or clearly visualized was a pendulum clock.   A grandfather clock like the one pictured below would be an example of one of these clocks:

Pendulum clocks are mechanical, and through a combination of gears, an 'escapement wheel', the pendulum rod with weight, and gravity, they can keep very accurate time.  Apparently, up until the 1940s, the most accurate clock in the world was a pendulum clock called the Shortt-Synchronome Clock (a name which caught my attention due to all of these 'syncs' noted in various places - a name which itself has roots in time).

Anyway, per my very fast look into these clocks just now, the set up is pretty simple, even if the mechanics can get quite complicated to get the extreme time accuracy that some of them are able to produce.

The two things that will primarily impact the time measurement of these pendulum clocks are gravity (of course), and the pendulum, specifically its length.  Gravity acts on the pendulum, creating an oscillation between kinetic and stored energy (a similar principle, recall, in my Slinky dream and my explorations around that).  A pendulum of a given length will swing at a set interval given a constant gravity, and this fact is used to have the hands of a clock progress at a set pace (that is oversimplified, I am sure, but good enough for my analogy).

Changing the weight of the pendulum itself actually does nothing to how the clock measures time, since gravity will generate the same acceleration regardless.  You must either change the force of gravity, or change the length of the pendulum itself.  For example, if you were to shorten the length of the pendulum, 'time' or the clock would move faster, holding all other things constant, since the pendulum will complete its cycle faster.  Conversely, lengthening the pendulum would make 'time' move slower.

So, as with earlier in the case of the Black Hole we have gravity itself impacting the rate of Time, here we have imagery of the second way (figuratively) that Time can be manipulated:  the lengthening of the lever that pushes it along.

I am focused here on that pendulum clock imagery, because in my opinion (as of just a couple hours ago), this could potentially go back to the statement regarding the 'fate' of Eowyn, in that she will 'deepen the weights depending therefrom".  To 'deepen' means, I think in this case, to make lower or longer from some point.  To our analogy, this would mean making the pendulum longer, and thus impacting Time (making it go slower, just as discussed above with the Black Hole).

Interestingly, "depending" was originally used to mean "hanging from something", but isn't really used that way anymore (except in this example we have from Words of the Faithful).  This conveniently gets back to the title of that Xanadu song "Suspended in Time".  To "suspend" something is to also hang it.

In summary, I am not 100% sure what that cryptic phrase of Eowyn "deepening weights" means, but based on this train of thought, I do have reason to believe it may have something to do with Time, as well as tie into these other strange thoughts relating to space, Black Holes, and all sorts of bizarre things. 

Joseph Smith quoted God (the "Almighty) in D&C 84 as saying that when Zion and 'Israel' are redeemed, they will sing a new song that will celebrate both Satan being bound, and Time not being a thing any longer.  So, perhaps this all fits into that:

 

Until all shall know me, who remain, even from the least unto the greatest, and shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, and shall see eye to eye, and shall lift up their voice, and with the voice together sing this new song, saying:

The Lord hath brought again Zion;
The Lord hath redeemed his people, Israel, 

According to the election of grace,

Which was brought to pass by the faith

And covenant of their fathers.

The Lord hath redeemed his people;
And Satan is bound and time is no longer.

The Lord hath gathered all things in one.

The Lord hath brought down Zion from above.

The Lord hath brought up Zion from beneath.

The earth hath travailed and brought forth her strength; 

And truth is established in her bowels;

And the heavens have smiled upon her;

And she is clothed with the glory of her God;

For he stands in the midst of his people.

Glory, and honor, and power, and might,
Be ascribed to our God; for he is full of mercy,

Justice, grace and truth, and peace,

Forever and ever, Amen 

The Grey Lady and the New York Times

Another name for Eowyn-Izilba in Doug's stories was the Grey Lady.  Thingol calls her this when he has a conversation with the spirit of Nienor (as he goes to collect her in order to return her to her home on Valinor).

I was reminded this morning that the nickname for the New York Times is the Grey Lady as well.  The nickname came about for two reasons:  first it used to only print in black and white, and second it had a very careful, deliberate approach to journalism.  

Today, I guess it depends on your own views, but as for me I am not sure the New York Times still earns the name of Grey Lady.  It not only prints in color now (its first color print on the front page occurred in 1997), but I don't think you could classify its news as careful, deliberate, or accurate.

In any case, we have references to 'black and white', New York, even "Times" (referring to Time), which all have come up plenty of times here and other places.

And finally, there is the news itself that she as Anchorwoman will present.  "All the news that's fit to print" is the slogan of the New York Times, and I think that will be a reality with the stories that come from Eowyn and others via the link established with Faramir.  

And lastly, as I went to add the link to the video for the song "Suspended in Time" just now and the song was playing as I was copying it in, the word "appeal" stuck out to me.  I looked it up really quickly, and Etymonline's definitions include "to call" or "to summon", which have come up before in my writing on these Stones.

Needing new shoes to roller skate in Xanadu

Just to show how uncultured I am in most things, I did not know who Kublai Khan was when I mentioned him from a post William Tychonievich wrote (and as he noted, didn't even spell the name right).  I mentioned that character because of the reference that was made in conjunction with him in WJT's post Milkommen, specifically what his friend wrote about black and white cats.

The black and white had stuck out to me, as I noted in my previous posts, due to some other imagery, such as the black and white Rabbit potentially associated with this story, as well as black and white holes, and the whole imagery of the 'new moon shining' or Stone alignment.

In any case, at the end of his latest post, "Assorted syncs: Finnegans Wake, Kubla Khan, dayholes" where he again references Kublai Khan, he closes with some syncs or potential connections around shoes or footwear.

This caught my attention for a few reasons.

I mentioned in my previous post that in Through the Looking Glass, Alice was set up as a Pawn by the Red Queen.  The etymology of Pawn, at least in the context of chess, has to do with feet, specifically meaning "foot soldier" and based on Latin that means "one going on foot".  I was going to make a specific reference about this, but didn't actually have anything to lead it into (and I sometimes feel my points are tangential and disjointed enough).

Whereas in Ava Max's song "Kings and Queens" (which has come up multiple times here on this blog, and which features, both in lyrics and the video, the idea of chess) she references that "Queens are free to go wherever they like", the same cannot be said of Pawns.  In the actual song she contrasts the Kings, who can only move one square at a time, but the Pawn is even lowlier.  One square at a time, and only in one direction (straight-forward) is the limitation.  One might even analogies that to how you and I move through space and time, for example, always in one direction and always single-unit sequential.  

But exploring that thought isn't my primary focus here.  I was more interested in the footwear reference, and any implications, because it also brought to mind a phrase about feet that I haven't quoted here on this blog before, I don't believe, but came with those funny phrases I referenced in my post on Asenath's defeat of the Son of Baal-ox spoken by those who I believe are the Daughters of Asenath (in that post, I was more interested in the "Good Times to Roll!" comment... this other phrase came along with that, but just later).

WJT mentions a specific shoe model that he saw an advertisement for on TV:  the Gel-Nimbus.  It is a running shoe made by Asics which I am familiar with, but never wore as it has too much cushion and stability control features for me (I have worn other Asics models, though).  I prefer Nike's Air Pegasus shoe right now, for whatever reason.  But in the spirit of running shoes, recall that the concept of running has come up in instances such as Run Boy Run, where the Boy is trying to get from one place to another.

Anyway, because I like looking into names, I thought I would check out Gel-Nimbus.  "Gel" is an elvish word, it turns out, that means, appropriately "Sky" (could mean "joy" also).  "Nimbus" was interesting when I looked it up on Etymonline.  From the 1600s, it meant "bright cloud surrounding a divine or sacred personage".  Before looking it up, I recognized the word as having something to do with "cloud" from words I was familiar with, such as Cumulonimbus clouds, but I was surprised to see such a direct, specific reference to a bright, divine cloud.

In reading that definition, my mind instantly went to the story of Jesus' visit to those at Bountiful, where he both descended from the sky with nothing else around him (meaning, people saw a Man descending out of Heaven, and just a Man), as well as noted the he ascended into heaven with the assistance of a cloud.  At first my memory was that he ascended into a cloud, but that was the New Testament account of Jesus' ascension, and my memory was wrong.  In the account from those at Bountiful, a cloud actually overshadowed all of them, so that they couldn't see Jesus, and from the midst of this cloud Jesus ascended into the sky.

Nevertheless, we have Jesus seeming to 'walk on air' in a way, or at least not needing any external means of propulsion through the air, as described in both his descent to and ascent from those at Bountiful, with the aid of a cloud in the former case, at least.  

At this point, my mind went to those strange words from 2020, where it seemed a whole group of Beings were excitedly talking, and from what I got the question in one line:

Why is it that our feet never touch the sky as we rise to the silver pedestal?

Here we have this concept of feet, but not feet seeming to travel on ground, but through the sky, and some riddle about why for these Beings their feet don't even touch the sky as they go to a place.  In looking at the phrase again, I actually noted that 'foot' is here twice, captured in the etymology of Pedestal.  As in, Ped-di-stal.  This is actually also called out on Etymonline as I then looked it up, with a reference to 'foot or seat', for Ped.  The "Stal" was an interesting word to look up, because it can mean exactly what it has sounds like:  A stall, as in a place where animals can be kept.

In seeing this, I thought to Jesus' words to those at Bountiful about the Son of Righteousness, some notion of rising with wings, and of people being led to a stall:

But unto you that fear my name, shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves in the stall.

Recall that I have the Son of Righteousness referring likely to both a Man (Faramir-Eonwe) and a Stone (El-Anor... and the Sawtooth Stone, potentially).  I will get to wings in Jesus' statement and how that might specifically apply to this Son in a different post (hint:  Hermes/ Mercury).

Thus, the "Silver Pedestal" in this case, is none other than Tirion, the Shining Stall or Holy Place that people will be gathered to.  As another interesting not on this, as Etymonline specifically references, Pedestal also has an Old English variant that means "foot-stone".  So, we also have a reference to a a Silver Foot Stone, potentially, which could be the Ithil Stone (as an aside, we also have a character in Tolkien who is named "Silver Feet" - Idril of Gondolin, who would marry Tuor and become the mother of Earendil... who I also have as JRR Tolkien.  I think there is something to also explore further here, but that will need to be another post as well).

In any case, apparently 'walking' (on air, or some non-solid ground avenue or path, in some way) is what is involved in order to reach wherever it is that this Silver Pedestal is.

This brings me back to WJT's rapper lyrics he also cited and overheard while he was in the diner.  The last line of the lyrics states that everybody in the family, it seems, is going to need new shoes: 

 

Only got two feet, why we need new shoes?
Papa need new shoes, baby need new shoes, Imma need new shoes . . .

Everybody needs new shoes.

Why, though?  Well, it might have something to do with where they are going and how they will get there, as mentioned above.

At this point, my connections get strange and oblique, so bear with me, but it is kind of random and funny.  We are going to go 70s disco here to cap off this post.

About a week ago, the song "Give it Up" by KC and the Sunshine Band snuck on to my running music queue when I was out for a run.  I have never heard it before, but it is a nice, upbeat song so I spared it the skip fate.  On spotify, the little video clip that plays while the song is going is a repeat loop of KC basically doing karaoke step moves shuffling across and back a stage that has a cloud or smoke blowing on to the floor, making it look like he and the dancers are dancing on the cloud.  Here is the music video, and starting about the 0:15 mark (so right at the beginning) you see the dance move I am talking about.

I thought it was pretty hilarious to see KC in these bright blue pants cruising across the clouds, but didn't really pay any other attention to it.  However, my youngest son later came home from school and asked me if I knew what a karaoke step was.  Apparently at school he and his buddies must have been talking about football warm ups (I think I mentioned that he is obsessed with football).   So he wanted me to join him doing karaoke steps around the kitchen and dining room table so he could show off his moves, and as we were doing that, I thought of KC and his fancy dance steps.

In any case, you have this video of KC and the dancers appearing to dance on top of the clouds, in light of this 70's disco theme.

This then brings me back to Kublai Khan.  WJT quotes the poem with Kublai Khan:

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan / A stately pleasure-dome decree: / Where Alph, the sacred river, ran / Through caverns measureless to man / Down to a sunless sea.

 

Xanadu stood out to me because I thought I had heard of this before, but couldn't place it.  So, I did an online search, and sure enough the 1980 movie "Xanadu" starring Olivia Newton-John comes up first (clearly not the same Xanadu that Samuel Taylor Coleridge intended!).  I had heard of this movie, but have never seen it.

I looked up a couple clips of the movie on YouTube, and I got really interested.  The first clip was what turns out to be one of the final scenes of the movie, with the title song track "Xanadu".  It honestly struck me as one of the more bizarre scenes I have seen, and what made it so bizarre was that everybody was wearing roller skates!  Xanadu was a roller disco!  I am not sure I expected Gene Kelly to be cruising around in roller skates, but here we were.  Here is the clip.

The next clip caught my attention as well, not only because the actor was cruising around the street in roller skates again, but it involved a locked green door, which came up recently in WJT's blog.  In the clip, the actor goes up to what appears to be an abandoned building and attempts to open the green door, but obviously can't.  Undeterred, he still looks for a way in, and eventually finds one in an upper level.  Inside, we see the building is definitely abandoned, but he comes across Olivia Newton-John, who is also roller skating around.  This also reminded me of WJT's restaurant, which was abandoned, and even though he found it locked and closed up, he was still determined to try and find a way in.

In all of this, the roller skates were catching my attention, and seemed to tie somehow in what the rapper expressed in needing new shoes.  Why does everyone in the family need new shoes?  Well, that is what you wear in Xanadu, apparently, so if you want to go, you need to get a pair of new shoes, specifically shoes with wheels attached to them.

This, then, became my 'homework' last night.  After the kids went to bed, I watched Xanadu to see what this whole thing was about.  I am not sure what I just watched!  That was one weird, probably mostly awful movie!  I have to process what exactly that was meant to be.  I looked up Gene Kelly's thoughts on being involved in it afterward, and he, with class, said something like the concept was good, but execution was not great. However, a few things did stand out to me that maybe I will bring in in future posts.  Some pretty uncanny things, actually.

In any case, there is a scene were Gene Kelly and Olivia Newton-John recite the Kublai Khan/ Xanadu poem as they determine what the name of the abandoned building they are going to turn into the new roller derby rink will be.

But, I am going to wrap this post up, and then maybe call out some of those things from the story that stood out to me at some point in the future, though not sure when.

One last point: "Alph" came up not only in the Kublai Khan poem, but also in WJT's reference of a sync to my misspelling of Khan.  When I saw Alph, I thought of ALF, the 80's TV show with a character whose real name is Gordon Shumway, but goes by ALF which stands for Alien Life Form.

Dreams of Ungoliant and the Vampire Thuringwethil

In a post a couple days ago I mentioned I've had two dreams regarding Ungoliant in the last week or so.  I didn't anticipate writing about them at all, but I think a few things clicked this morning regarding what I was seeing, so I think I will get that down here and see how it looks.

The first dream involved actually running away/ hiding from Ungoliant (or, at that point, a large, unnamed black spider), while the second involved addressing her directly (and hearing her own "voice"), and was pretty disturbing.  I will summarize both below, and then I will conclude with some thoughts about what I think was going on.

Ungoliant's Chase

In the first dream, I was in a desert landscape and was in the process of travelling to a destination (at least that was my impression).  I suddenly became aware of a large spider that was tracking/ chasing me.  The desert landscape was full of boulders, outcroppings, and little rock formations.  I was able to hide at the base of rock formation that was something like a very small cliff, and tucked myself in the shadows.  I had barely hidden myself when above me the spider appeared at the top of the boulder/ cliff, and scanned the horizon looking for me.  In seeing it now, I could tell that it was both extremely large and very black.

Since it couldn't see me, but also assumed I wasn't far away, the spider seemed to have made the choice to hide and lie in wait for me to come back out.  Unfortunately for me, it chose the same boulder I was hiding behind to also hide and wait.  It went around the backside of the rock in order to come down the other side and get to my hiding spot.  In approaching around the corner, however, it backed up to get to my position.  Meaning. it started coming directly toward where I was hiding, but it was looking directly away from me as it was backing up to where I was.  In order to hide itself sufficiently behind the corner, it had to back up all the way to where I was lying, and its large abdomen was now pressing against me.   It was not a fun sensation.  I refused to move, however, because if I made any movement at all, I was convinced the spider would become aware of my presence directly behind it.

So, that is how we were set up:  The spider was hiding behind a rock waiting for me to come out, and I was hiding directly behind it (literally touching its skin), unable to move or go anywhere.   It was in this position that I woke up.

The Voice of Ungoliant

That first dream wasn't too bad, in that other than experiencing that feeling of being chased, and also the sensation of the spider's body against my own, it didn't feel very disconcerting.  In fact, I think some of it was meant to feel almost comical, like "what bad luck!".

The second dream, however, had a different feel to it, or at least was a bit more disorienting.  It wasn't really until early this morning that I was able to at least hazard a guess as to its meaning, and how it tied to the first dream.

In the dream, I was standing outside my house at night and it was completely dark outside.

I am not sure how it started, but I began to have a direct conversation with a Being that I named directly as Ungoliant.  The Being felt everywhere and nowhere, and in hindsight I associate its presence with the darkness that was surrounding me outside of of my house.  I even saw Ungoliant's name spelled out visually very clearly for me to see, but spelled with the additional "e" and is associated umlaut - like this:  Ungoliantë.

I cannot remember everything I said to her, but during the first part of our conversation she would respond with what I understood to be her own 'voice'.  The voice was not like anything I had ever heard before, and it did not form into sounds like anything I would have understood to be 'words'.  It was like hornets (loud buzzing), and wind, and just this jumble of incronguent sounds that build on each other.  It was disconcerting to hear.

At the peak of the dream, I said "Ungoliant, I am sorry for what I had to do to your daughter".  In saying this, I don't think I meant 'sorry' as in I was remorseful or that I wouldn't do whatever it is that I had done again, but more that I was sorry that her daughter had put herself in a position that I had to do something to her.  It also seemed like I was giving her a reminder - that I had, in fact, done something to her daughter.

In making this reference, Ungoliant's voice swelled to an almost overwhelming pitch, that came across as both evil and full of anger.  It wasn't even just a volume thing, but just how the the intensity of the sounds came together.  Again, hard to describe, but I did not like it at all.

As the dream began to end, Ungoliant's voice subsided, and I looked down at my hand.  I was holding what appeared to be a curious looking microphone, and I guessed that I had been speaking to this Being through it.  The microphone, however,  appeared to be made out of 'cells', like something of a round honeycomb or even a wasp nest or something like that.  As I was in the process of looking at this strange thing, I woke up.

What to make of it all

I wrote a longer draft of this section, and it seemed, well, long, with my usual rambling, so I am going to make this short and sweet.

As of this morning, I believe the Being who I saw both of these dreams through the perspective of was none other than Eowyn-Ilmare-Deseret (Izilba from "Words of the Faithful").

"Ungoliant's daughter" that is referenced is a Demon-Vampire named Thuringwethil.  In Doug's book, Words of the Faithful recounts not only Eowyn-Izilba's confrontation with Thuringwethil herself, but also with witches who called Thuringwethil their mother.  Izilba would defeat all of them in separate engagements.  

Thuringwethil's name means "Woman of Secret Shadow", and in this name we can make a direct inference to her connection with Ungoliant, whose name can mean "Gloomweaver" and herself creates shadow and unlight.  My dream, and that phrase, actually serves to make the relationship between those Beings even more explicit, and likely gives us insight that we are dealing with Demons who assume the shapes they desire us to see them as.  For Thuringwethil, it was a vampire, and for Ungoliant, it is a large spider, but they both effectively do the same thing in spreading darkness, as well as being vampires (although a spider in concept, Ungoliant's actions, particularly in her destruction of the Two Trees, was one of Vampirism).

Vampires have come up before here on my blog as I have discussed Ungoliant specifically, and they have come up in other places in more general discussions.  For example, in William Tychonievich's recent post "Red chameleons, manticores, and vampires", he spends a considerable chunk of that post on Vampires.

Anyway, it was to these defeats, specifically of Thuringwethil, that Eowyn is making reference to in her discussion with Ungoliant, I believe.  She is reminding her that she defeated her daughter, and this should probably be viewed as a direct threat and reminder to Ungoliant that her days are also numbered.   This is why there would have been such a 'violent' response to Eowyn's words.

The fact that I was standing outside of my home, at night, surrounded by darkness is probably meant to signify the situation Eowyn is in.   She is at her home (Tirion has been my guess, as articulated in past posts) but it is night there, and surrounded by darkness - thanks to Ungoliant.  Eowyn is now, at whatever time the dream was meant to represent, issuing a direct statement and perhaps warning to Ungoliant.  I am not sure, actually, as to the nature of why the discussion is happening or the ultimate intent, but that is my best guess.

As to the first dream, the journey through the desert and chase by Ungoliant, my thought is that this was Eowyn's journey either away from or to her home - meaning, travelling through enemy territory (Ungoliant's dominion over the Many Waters - the desert almost a poetic statement about the true state of those Waters).

That is what I have for today, anyway.  I just wanted to get that down.  I have some other thoughts I also wanted to get down that should be more uplifting than Vampires, but I have a bit more 'homework' that I am going to try and get to yet tonight before I writing anything on them later.

Key-Stones and the Hill-Murray Pioneer

 I just wanted to log a couple interesting things from the Keystone trip last week that I didn't have a chance to mention.  I think I had already brought up my interest in the name itself (Key-Stone), but I don't think I brought up much else specifically about it (other than writing about a few dreams and thoughts I had while there).

I was actually really glad I went.  I was still feeling not great at the time (from being sick), and had little energy when we flew out, so I didn't even know if I was going to be able to really go skiing much at all.  It turned out just fine, with the only real issue being the dry mountain air and high elevation not doing much good for my cough.

The Seven-Sided Key-Stone Star

Before I get into some other details, I did want to call out or draw attention to the logo of Keystone itself.  Here it is:

You have what I imagine is meant to be a snowflake.  Snowflakes, however, always have 6 'arms' as it forms its crystal structure (although I've read they can also have 8, it seems).  Here we have 7 arms, for whatever reason.  The arms or crystals of the snowflake join to form a star at the very center of the image.  

These details are interesting to me because, recall, in writing about and discussing our Key Stone, I have both likened it to a crystal (a Palantir), which again a snowflake is, as well as to a Star.  El-Anor, for example, literally have "Star" or "El" in its name.  Further, it seems these Stones are not completely natural - meaning, they didn't just appear in nature, but were specifically constructed to have certain attributes (such as communication and travel) using technology and/or means that we aren't aware of.  Thus, the 7 arms of this particular Key Stone are fitting, as just as a 7 sided snowflake is not something you would find in nature without modifications being made, we can say the same things about these Stones.

These are the things that a person thinks about while on a gondola ride up the mountain with that logo all around you.

The Hill-Murray Pioneer (or First Man to the Hill City of Tirion)

Speaking of gondolas, it was the second morning where we had the run-in with the Catholic priests from Hill-Murray.

My wife and I had arrived at the River Run Gondola right when it started running at 8:30a.  As we were walking up to the lift, I looked back behind us and noticed a man was wearing a jacket with a green "HM" logo.  This logo is pretty recognizable to us here in Minnesota, as one of the local Catholic private school here in the Twin Cities is called Hill-Murray and has the exact same logo.  It looks like this:

I remarked to my wife how interesting it was have someone with a Hill-Murray jacket walking up behind us here in Colorado.  The man with the jacket was with one of his buddies, and they ended up getting shuffled into the same gondola car as we were.

Once inside the gondola, I couldn't help but ask the man if I was mistaken in thinking that he was from Hill-Murray (always a possibility some other organization has the same logo).  It turned out he was, or at least used to be.  He had been a Chaplain at Hill-Murray, but was now working at another school in the Twin Cities.  These 2 men were part of a group of 5 Catholic priests who come out to Colorado once every winter to ski (the other 3 priests were still sleeping that morning, apparently, so these 2 took off to get some earlier skiing in).

Anyway, we had a good time talking the whole way up the mountain, and then wished each other well.  That was it in terms of interaction with them.  It wouldn't be until later, after I got back from Keystone, that the idea to look up the meaning of the name of Hill-Murray came to me (you know my thing with names).

I obviously know "Hill", but I was interested in Murray.  There are a few variations, but it seems like "Sea Settlement" or "Settlement by the sea" from Gaelic origins are consistently cited (there is also a reference to the name meaning a descendant of the servant of the Virgin Mary, or something like that).

Thus, with Hill-Murray we could fairly easilty get something like "Hill Settlement by the Sea".  This seemed interesting given my storyline includes Tirion, the Holy Place that some will gathered to.  That place is on a hill, and is said to be by the sea, and at least from our perspective, is out in the "Sea" (meaning outer space somewhere).

And of course this seemed to fit well with the theme of Keystone, since the Stones (as Keys) will somehow assist with opening a passage to Tirion (the Hill Murray).  Perhaps little connections, but again, they all seem to fit within this narrative of a Stones, Beings, and travel to Tirion.

Two other things on this Hill-Murray theme really quickly before a couple other Keystone connections.

First, my youngest son's hockey team will often have their practices at Hill-Murray's ice rink.  As I have mentioned before, he is obsessed with football, and has obviously heard the term "Hail Mary" before.  When he refers to Hill-Murray, he unintentionally replaces the Hill with Hail, so Hail Murray just because I think it sounds so much like Hail Mary to him.

In a post from back in November of last year called "First Man:  Armstrong and Hail Mary", I explicitly tied the "Hail Mary", as well as Neil Armstrong (a "strong-man" or "strong-arm"), the Apollo 11 moon landing, and the movie "First Man" to the story we have explored with Faramir using Stones, travelling across 'Many Waters' and 'touching down' on another world.  It is a story in which frankly I am in a bit of a rut, or tunnel vision, in persisting to explore and write about, but as you can see, I continue to see it or experience it in all of these little things that continue to point to that story.

Second, I had forgotten until my wife and oldest son came back from a Hill-Murray hockey game the other night that the mascot of the Hill-Murray is the "Pioneers" - so the Hill-Murray Pioneers.  They had gone to the game because Hill-Murray was playing the High School my son will likely attend next year (he is in 8th grade) - the Mahtomedi Zephyrs.  Hill-Murray and Mahtomedi both have really good hockey programs, both having won state championships in the last couple years.  Anyway, they came home talking about the game, and mentioned 'The Pioneers" and I filed it away to look into it later that night.

It is kind of a strange name for a Catholic school, I think.  Probably because I was raised Mormon, I always associate Pioneers with Mormons here in the U.S.  I grew up in Oregon as well, and we of course had the pioneers along the Oregon Trail.  It  it just didn't seem very "Catholic".  For example, Jesuit High School was the big Catholic school in my hometown growing up, and their name was the "Crusaders".   Very Catholic.

So, like I do, I looked up the name.  Here is some of what Etymonline gives me:

 

Figurative sense of "a first or early explorer, person who goes first or does something first" is from c. 1600. ..... "to lead or prepare the way to or for, go before and open (a way),"

I don't know, but this is just one more thing that seems to fit into the story.  A pioneer is the first to do something, and who prepares a way or goes first (and thus establishing a path for others to follow).

Consequently, once again I see a story in these little seemingly unrelated details that come together in one spot or event.  Here I am at Keystone sitting in the gondola ride heading up the mountain with the priest from Hill-Murray.   In the story, Faramir is the Hill-Murray Pioneer - the first that will go to Tirion (the City on a Hill by the Sea) using the Key-Stone.  But, perhaps he won't make the journey alone - being with family and who knows, a priest or two hailing from where he is off to.

Seems to work, and it is funny how names of things continue to say things, at least to me.

New Moons (again)

The condo we stayed at was just a short walk to the Gondola - something like a 3 minutes walk with ski boots on, so almost literally right out of the door.   On the way is a cafe called "New Moon Cafe".  We decided to have lunch there on our second day there.  The name seemed somewhat relevant to me, because of this notion of a New Moon Shining (eclipse, Black Hole, Stones aligning... whatever).  I ended up ordering a sandwich called the "Marilyn Monroe".  

I should have recognized this, but Marilyn is another form of the name Mary, meaning "Star of the Sea".

Giant Chessboard

Along that same walk, right outside our condo building to the left was a giant chessboard.  This chessboard has also come up before, specifically in the music video to "Kings and Queens" by Ava Max.  I mention that song in specifically alluding to Eowyn, and exploring her where-abouts, and specifically placing here in Eru-Place.  I would later wonder out loud (through my writing) as to whether she is still there, or is not back in Tirion.  Based on the interaction with the Three Disciples, at least at one point she was in Tirion, so it is unclear whether the Eru-Place visit was before or after this (or both).  Not sure.

But, in looking back on that post, I noticed that I had only inserted the lyric video to "Kings and Queens".   I had originally had the actual music video in there, but it kind of annoyed me, honestly.  Just a lot of twerking and gyrating around by Max and the other dancers, so I swapped it out.  Consequently, the chess board and pieces from that video never actually show up here in my writing.

But, William Tychonievich posted the video on his blog in one post, and then explored some of its imagery in another called simple "Milkommen".  The name of the post comes from one of my 'words' I wrote about in one of my posts (here), and while not generally interested in either the words nor their potential translations or meaning, he was interested in that word.  In writing on it, he posted on his ideas around the word referring to not only "Ammonites" (the converted Lamanites in the Book of Mormon), but some other thoughts as to what the "milk" from the word could mean.

As part of this, the post takes a bit of a random turn to some things that I now realize have come up a bit in my own writing recently.   This is also where the chessboard from Ava Max's video comes in, and he sets it up by referencing "Through the Looking Glass", the sequel to "Alice in Wonderland".   In that book, the world is set up a chessboard (or more specifically, Alice is set up as a Pawn on a chessboard by the Red Queen).  Also of interest for my purposes, is the book starts off with a reference to a white and black cat, and WJT also references a 'sync' from his friends' writing about Kubla Kahn, which is another instance of a white and black cat.

Recently, I've written in a few posts about Faramir and his role potentially being represented by or being involved with a black and/or white rabbit, and that this rabbit seemed to have some connection to Black (and potentially White) Holes, Solar Eclipses (New Moon Shining).  These analogies including references to the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, and to interstellar travel between worlds.  

I further noted the difference between the Black and White Holes, or the rules or environment that would need to be in place for either to exist in the post "Black holes, Rabbit holes and walking through stars".  In our world, where entropy is real and irreversible, and time only runs in one direction into the future, only Black Holes are apparently possible.  In another world or situation, with different rules, where time, for example, ran the other direction (or at least wasn't bounded or limited to only one direction), White Holes would be the norm or at least possible:

There is nothing in general relativity that dictates, per se, what way time flows in.  Black holes appear in our universe because time, or the future, happens in only one direction (I am summarizing as best I can what I have read and understand... which isn't much).  If you were to flip the flow of time, you would get White Holes, theoretically.

 

In some theories, these White Holes represent the 'exits' to Black Holes - again, a kind of yin and yang.  The White Holes, however, would need to exist in a place where such a phenomenon is possible - which may be a separate ' universe' altogether... one that has slightly different rules than our own, including how entropy is involved (or is not involved, rather).

One important thing to note about the world in "Through the Looking Glass", which WJT didn't specifically call out in his post, is that everything in that world is reversed from our own, just like a reflection in a mirror.  Logic, time - it all runs differently or the opposite of what we would expect in our own world.  This makes sense since a mirror is exactly what Alice went through to reach that world.

It is in such a place where White Holes would exist, and everything that comes with the concept of worlds or Beings without decay, given physics and logic running opposite of our own, or at least differently.

On this point, and going through looking glasses, I remembered just now that I posted on the music video for Eurythmics' "Here Comes the Rain Again", in which Annie Lennox looking at her own reflection in a mirror is a scene repeated multiple times.

Anyway, just some random odds and ends in thinking about Keystone and various little connections to a much larger story that continues to remain not quite clear in terms of being both explainable and believable, but yet seeming to have some consistent themes or implications.

Predators, Manticores, Dwarf-Lions, the Mary Celeste, Sirens, and Illusions

OK, so just a few things to note based on some recent thoughts and a couple posts from William Tychonievich over on his blog.

I recently wrote about a Predator (perhaps an Ancient one) who preys on Men.  As part of this whole theme, in the reality we currently inhabit, I went out and shot a red fox who was setting up shop next to my chickens within no more than an hour (probably close to 30 minutes) of publishing that post.  Which seemed kind of strange.

The poor fox picked the wrong time to get bagged by me, because now it finds itself an unwitting object lesson and analogy for the story that is developing here.

I compared the fox indirectly with the 'bad guys' (Predators, like Saruman or Omar-Brigham), in comparing it to a chameleon.  In saying that, I actually made the comment that a red fox is anything but a Chameleon, since the red sure didn't help it blend in with anything (as I looked out my window at the pasture, its red fur against the white snow pretty much signed its death warrant on my farm).  I did note, however, that perhaps this is a good omen, and that the Predator's camouflage and days of hiding in the shadows was coming to an end.

Over on WJT's blog, he had kind of picked up the Predator baton, and actually dug into the meaning of Chameleon in his post "An old pre-dator, chameleons, and le Demiurge" (which given my recent pentiant for name is something you think I would have done, but it didn't cross my mind).

As he notes, Chameleon's etymology literally gives us "Dwarf-Lion" (or it could also be "on the ground lion"), and he connects this reference or history of the Chameleon to a lion-headed serpent.  Somehow, as these connections go, this also brings us to a manticore, with William referencing a book called "A Spell for Chameleon", that has a red manticore on its cover (Chameleon is not the name of the manticore in the picture).

In his latest post, "Red chameleons, manticores, and vampires", he followed up on the thought a bit more, and made the connection between Chameleons, Red Manticores, and Lion-Headed Serpents a bit more explicit through various pictures, connections, and syncs.  We also have Vampires in there as well, for good measure, as another example of predators who blend in to their surroundings (again, like a chameleon).

The mention of manticores actually took my mind to a scene from one of those childhood movies I referenced in my post "Speech problems: Dream 3 of 3",.  That movie is the Last Unicorn, and my siblings and I watched it quite a few times growing up.  As a young kid, the Red Bull would freak the absolute crap out of me.  Here he is:

Perhaps a symbol of our "Baal-Ox" a name I have associated with a Balrog demon from back in 2020 and whose son, apparently, was defeated by Asenath (Peter Jackson's Balrog seems to share similarities with this bull, at least).

But the Red Bull is not actually what came to my mind as I read WJT's posts and manticores.  I actually thought of a scene earlier in the movie, where the Last Unicorn (the future Lady Almalthea) has been captured by Mommy Fortuna, who runs something called the Midnight Carnival.  I have actually read the book as well (the book is very cleverly written, but this is one instance where I thought the movie nailed the story better than the book on which it was based).

Mommy Fortuna's Carnival and her spells are entirely based on deception and illusion.  She captures animals, and through her spells, grants them disguises so that patrons of her carnival see the animals as something different.  For example, she captures an old harmless lion, and has him appear as a fearsome Manticore.

This scene (and the corresponding book chapter) is literally the only other place I have ever even heard the name Manticore before, which is why when WJT called them out specifically, my mind went to it.  Here is movie clip when Schmendrick, a magician who works for Mommy Fortuna, has the Unicorn look through the various disguises:

The Unicorn correctly states that Mommy Fortuna's magic is limited - it cannot truly change things.  It can only disguise.

When one views the Beings that fall under Fortuna's magic, you could say that your mind is confused.  Bewitched. Confounded.  You are not seeing the Truth, but are surrounded by illusions.

Schmendrick makes an interesting comment, though, in saying that Fortuna should never have captured real magical creatures, such as the Unicorn or the Harpy, for they are "True" creatures, and "Truth melts her magic, always".  Fortuna's weakness is Truth.

Fortuna's name is an interesting choice.  Fortune, which can mean either something like luck, but also wealth, is something that has also come up in my writings here, specifically with the name of "Ausir", the Elvish name that means the same thing as Fortune.  This name I have associated with both Joseph and Faramir-Eonwe, as the fathers of the Family of Light.

But here we have Fortune associated with this evil enchantress who captures and traps other Beings, and whose specialty is in illusion.  This is probably her ultimately Illusion - the name itself that she has adopted (in the carnival, though not shown in the movie but captured in the books, she also takes on her own illusion in the show, becoming "Elli", the spirit of old age).  

And, of course, she is "Mommy" or Mother.

You may see where I am going with this already, but in the analogy running through my mind, Mommy Fortuna here represents the Great and Abominable Church, and the Mother who sits on top of that:  Ungoliant.

I actually had a dream of Ungoliant last night.  My second in a little over a week.  It wasn't particularly pleasant.  

In any case, what I am trying to suggest is that just as Mommy Fortuna works through imprisonment, illusions, and deception, so to does Ungoliant weave her webs in much the same way.  Her power is in lies.  Part of the story I believe in is some restoration of Truth - true stories - that, as Schmendrick says, melts the the darkness.  Light is restored and see things as they are.  The void now de-void its power.

The family of Light escapes the darkness, or something like that.

Which brings me to the Mary Celeste and Sirens.

WJT, in the comment section to his post "Surround, Confound", brought up the Mary Celeste.  This was a 'ghost' ship that was found completely abandoned by its crew, with no sign of how they left (other than a missing lifeboat) and no apparent reason for why they needed to (the ship was perfectly seaworthy).  So, the mystery of the Mary Celeste is what would have caused those men to leave the ship?

In my own comment back, I reference that history, and then remarked that Sirens, the mythological Greek Beings, would definitely have caused that.  In fact, if that ship had been found not off the coast of the Azores but off of the mythical Anthemoessa or Sirenum Scopuli (different names for the island the Sirens were said to live on), no better reason could have been given.  It would have been said the crew heard the Sirens' calls, hopped into their lifeboat, and went on to demise by the hand of the sea or monsters.  The condition of the boat and the absence of its crew would have perfectly fit that story.

In that post, WJT had related a dream in which 3 women were singing, which brought to mind this thought of the Sirens, and this connection with the Mary Celeste in my own mind (after he had mentioned the Mary Celeste as a ship - I didn't actually think of it until he wrote of the ship).

The ship name, Mary Celeste, is interesting.  We have Celeste, meaning heavenly or celestial.  And we have Mary, which has come up before in discussions of Miriel, and from that we know means "Star of the Sea", among some other options.

Putting that together, we have "Star of the Sea of Heaven" or maybe "Heavenly Star of the Sea".  Something like that.  What I want to emphasize here, is we have a Star and we have Heaven, and by Heaven I am going to assume "Space", because, well, that has been the general theme here for a bit, so I am going to continue with that.

Thus, the name of the ship hearkens to a heavenly or space-faring vessel, perhaps, traveling over a much different "sea".  And the Star might also allude to a Stone onboard that vessel, much like the Anor Stone that was aboard Nephi's ship (which I believe also sailed across heavenly skies).

This is a story I have already explored here, but I wanted to capture that I think all of the thoughts above, including Mommy Fortuna, give us a hint as to why and how a Stone is involved in this space-faring journey, perhaps, or whatever it is that Faramir passes through.

In my story, recall, Faramir, or somebody, is going to say a prayer about travelling through "many troubled skies" to get to a place (the Green Country, or Olaha Shinehah).  Others will later remark, per a dream I had, at his return that he will have been raised up "from troubled seas".  

A quick scan at Etymonline gives us some interesting definitions for 'troubled', including "disturbed, cloudy, turbid mix, etc." Turbid means something like not clear, muddy, foul, and most importantly, full of confusion.

So, whatever seas that Faramir is passing through is are seas full of confusion.  Why is this so?

Well, I think the Book of Mormon holds the answer to that, and specifically the vision of Nephi.  In his vision, he sees that the "Great Whore" (Ungoliant) sits upon the Many Waters (the realms surrounding the worlds and lands of Earth... outer space, perhaps).  Because of her presence, the Great and Abominable Church thrives, while the Church of the Lamb is very small, scattered, and with very small 'dominion'.  I have covered a few of these members of the Church of the Lamb with Asenath and Eowyn, for example, and their respective 'dominions'.

I also mentioned that the Three Disciples' discussion amongst themselves (again, from my words, and as a guess as to what they mean) contains the remark that Eowyn is holding out against the darkness in her own respective dominion in Tirion.

So, the forces of Good are scattered and surrounded by a confounding darkness, brought on and maintained by the Mother of Harlots Ungoliant/ Mommy Fortuna.  The trick will be to get Faramir safely across this great darkness, and all of the lies, confusion, and traps the darkness contains, in order to reach Tirion.

Strangely, I believe both the dilemma and its resolution are mentioned in the Book of Mormon, though in a different context.  Speaking of the time when Helaman's son, Helaman, was leading the people, and whose two sons Lehi and Nephi were preaching,  Mormon mentions that the situation everyone in is pretty nice.  Thousands were being baptized, and there was so much prosperity, that everyone was 'astonished beyond measure'.  Here is what Mormon says of things:

Yea, thus we see that the gate of heaven is open unto all, even to those who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God.

Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked—

And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the right hand of God in the kingdom of heaven, to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and with Jacob, and with all our holy fathers, to go no more out.

Mormon, of course, is using this language figuratively in describing the many blessings the people received.  However, I am going to commandeer these words, and use them more literally for Faramir and those who will make the journey across the Many Waters and land in Holy Places.

It is the Word of God that Faramir will need to have with him on his voyage as he travels the 'straight and narrow' course to Tirion (the Kingdom of Heaven).  And that Word, I think, will be a combination of what is on the Sawtooth Stone and the stories that Eowyn will provide through the Anor and Ithil Stone link.  That is my best guess, at least.  And perhaps the other records and witness that will also come.  I am not sure about the order of things (obviously!).

With this complete story - or with a complete Truth - I think Faramir is able to make it through the darkness or void.  Without it, I think he ends up like the crew of the Mary Celeste - at some point, he is pulled off of the the narrow way, and becomes lost amid the void.   Some Siren song or false illusion would win in the absence of that story.  With it, though, I think he has an answer for every potential trap, deceit, or disguise that has been laid, and makes it through OK.

Again, I am not sure how that works in practice, or how Sirens or traps will be sprung on the journey, or how Faramir combats them with his own songs or truth, but from a purely 'thematic' approach, it makes sense to me.  As in, if I was writing a fairy tale, I could probably envision it.

In WJT's dream that had those 3 women (and was repeated 3 times), he said there was a man singing on the TV, and who harmonized with the singers.  Perhaps this is one symbolic way of representing what I am trying to visualize and describe.  The songs that Faramir had at his disposal fit in perfect harmony with the the songs of the Vampire-Spider-Sirens sing, so that their song has no power over him, and his song was a perfect answer, or harmony, to their own.  Thus, he passes through safely.  Almost like safely passing through angels standing as sentinels, or prison guards.  I don't know. 

Lastly, I wanted to go back to "Dwarf-Lions" quickly.  In his post, WJT brings up "Leo" in discussing the the Dwarf-Lions, or by that point, also recognized as the Lion-headed serpent.  Just yesterday, Leo, who comments on this blog, wrote a post on his own blog "Reimagining the Book of Mormon" that is all about Dwarves!  I thought that was pretty interesting to see that all happening at the same time.  Here is the link to Leo's post where he explores some of his ideas about Dwarves and Gentiles:

https://reimaginingthebom.com/who-are-the-gentiles/

 

Silhouettes and Fox Holes

I woke up around 3am or so, after having just dreamed of the word "Silhouette".  In the dream, it was similar to other 'word plays' that I've had where the first syllable "Sil" was conveyed as being different or having another meaning.  As in, multiple words and languages wrapped up in that one word.

When I woke up, I was wide awake and overwhelmingly hungry.  So, I went down to the kitchen and got something to eat.  While doing that, I looked up Silhouette on Etymonline.com to see what we had.  Here is what I got:

"portrait in black showing the profile," 1798, from French silhouette, in reference to Étienne de Silhouette (1709-1767), French minister of finance in 1759.

But also:

The word was used of any sort of dark outline or shadow in profile from 1843; as "contour of a garment" by 1920. The verb is recorded from 1876, from the noun.

The family name is a Frenchified form of a Basque surname; Arnaud de Silhouette, the finance minister's father, was from Biarritz in the French Basque country; the southern Basque form of the name would be Zuloeta or Zulueta, which contains the suffix -eta "abundance of" and zulo "hole" (possibly here meaning "cave").

For the "Sil" first syllable, I have seen that enough in other contexts to recognize the Elvish word for "to shine".

But, and I think this is important, "Sil" can also mean "Moon", which I think I knew before, but it had slipped my mind until I looked it up again while eating cereal at 3am in the morning.

Putting that multi-language word of Sil-houette together, we have something like "to shine moon black profile", possibly.  I think that is a fairly straightforward interpretation.

So, with this I instantly thought of a Solar Eclipse and all of the things I have written so far here about that, or "New Moon Shining" (as another way of describing an eclipse).  Here we have a statement that the black profile of a moon will shine.  I think that very clearly describes a solar eclipse.

 And again, I find that pretty interesting.  It could be coming from my brain, constructing these simple words that develop into more complex thoughts or references using clever English-Elvish combinations that either push a story forward or are on theme with earlier writings, and if so, props to my brain (though not so many props for constructing that and letting me know at very odd early hours of the morning...).  Or, it could be other explanations, obviously.  I tend to view these things under the 'other explanations', clearly, so am I bit biased in how I approach these things, but am honestly open to all sorts of options.

So, that's all fine, and we have another reference to a solar eclipse, and the alignment of the Sun and Moon which I have also associated with the linking of the Anor and Ithil Stones, etc.

The additional definitions on Etymonline, however, caught my attention, specifically the mention of "hole".   The definition noted the word 'silhouette' is from the name of an actual French person and thus its etymology is a little unique in that people adopting the practice of producing these profiles just used his name to describe the portraits (for a few different potential reasons it cites).

However, the definition also noted that the name itself was "Frenchified" form of a Basque name and then mentions Silhouette's father, whose name was Arnaud, was from French Basque country.  

Two interesting things about this:

First, Arnaud.  Arnaud is the 'frenchified' name of Arnold.  Given Arnold Schwarzenegger's presence in some of posts here, including yesterday's Predator post, this caught my attention.

Second, the Basque name, which is Zuloeta, means in a literal translation "hole abundance of", and in more practical terms something like "Place of many holes", which people have equated with caves, typically, I guess.

The 'holes' caught my attention, because this has come up in recent posts, also.  Black Holes, specifically, which I have also equated with Rabbit Holes (potentially associating Faramir as a Rabbit who will go through a hole, portal, or gateway).  In fact, when seeing that Silhouette could also mean "Place of many holes" a picture from the Watership Down 'prologue' came to me, where El-Ahrairah is seen going in and out of many holes (on an apparently very small world!).  Here is the screenshot:

That is definitely an abundance of holes that rabbit is going in and out of.

This this also reminded me of a detail I didn't include in my fox hunt yesterday, because I didn't really think it was important (I was too focused on the fox herself).

I shot the fox from about 150 yards away, and when I went out to the pasture to retrieve it, I noticed that it had been hanging out next to its den, or fox hole.  I had actually seen this hole before, but assumed it was a woodchuck den.  It was created out in this year's pumpkin patch, which I tilled up after halloween (which is why this section is just dirt, not grass), so I am thinking the hole was created in November sometime.  I had seen a woodchuck scuttle out in the pasture, and found the hole, so I put those two together.  And maybe that was originally the case - foxes and other animals are known to opportunistically take over other animals' dwellings.  Perhaps when I saw the woodchuck hurring away it had already been given its eviction notice, or was on its own Watership Down voyage away from the fox.  I don't know.

In any case, she was lying next to the hole.  Here is a picture of how I found her.  I had taken the picture originally so I could show my youngest son evidence that I had gotten her before disposing of the body (I only thought of keeping here hide afterward).  He had been out in the back pasture hunting with his small bow and arrow a few days earlier with no success (though we was only allowed to shoot rabbits, not go after foxes as I didn't trust him to make a humane shot on a larger animal).  Apologies as this picture has just a bit more gore than the one yesterday due to the visibility of the damage to her right temple from the shot (I had rolled her over to her other side for the picture I posted yesterday).  I had to shoot her from behind based on her position, and aim at her head through her back flank, and you might be able to tell that is how the shot went.  Entered through the right back flank, and exited the right temple.  It was a 22-250, so extremely high velocity and energy for a quick kill (for anyone concerned about the fox...)

What I discovered, however, was that not only was she lying next to her den opening, but that either she or somebody else had expanded the home and created a second hole.  I am fairly confident this hole was not there as late as early December, and that should give you some idea as to just how crazy mild this winter has been in Minnesota.  Most years by this time, open ground is frozen 2-4  feet deep (up to 9 feet under streets!).  My youngest son has been wanting to go ice fishing, but the lake ice is still too thin, whereas usually we have several feet of ice on the lake at this stage.  It's been weird.  Here are the two holes together (I went out to the crime scene this morning to take another picture).

Anyway, I thought that was interesting, to see two holes now, with the second being made during winter, which typically would not have been possible.   And I didn't think much of it until this morning when I saw the reference to multiple holes, and then I remembered I have been writing about Black Holes, and Rabbit Holes, and now we can add Fox Holes.  And just as a I was speculating in prior posts about the possibility of a Hole or portal, that one goes in one end, and then can come out the other, that is essentially what you have with these two connecting fox holes. 

Also, in thinking through some of this, both the "Silhouette" word and meaning, as well as the Fox Holes, I went over to check WJT's blog during these early morning hours, and read his latest post (partially skimmed as by this time I was fading again since it was really early - I will have to go back through again) and found the things he was working through and connecting pretty interesting.

One additional thing:  just now in typing this post, the mention of "an abundance of holes or caves" made me think of Menegroth.  Menegroth is Elvish for "Thousand Caves", and was where Thingol (John-Aragorn) and Melian (Arwen) lived and ruled in Doriath.  It was constructed primarily by the Dwarves, who made all the tunnels and caves, and the Elves put the finishing touches on it.

It is also where Thingol was betrayed and Dior (Joseph) was murdered.  There is the traditional telling of that, and there is my take on it with Dairon (Brigham) being the betrayer.  

Just logging that here also, just in case.