Planting the Date Palm Grove at Isis Temple

I really enjoy building and beautifying the Temple.  A few days ago, this meant planting ten Khadrawi Date palms.  There are eight females and two males.  I planted them along the front property line. There is a clump of six females and a male (planted upwind), and then the last three are planted decoratively a little further west of the others.

Putting one of the females into the mud.

Because of the "poof-dirt" we have here in Pahrump, I needed to excavate rather large holes and refill them with a mixture of potting soil, pea gravel and compost, all turned into a slurry with water.  This created a mud bowl perfect for planting.  Date palm roots cannot tolerate any airspaces around the roots because our air here is nearly always below 25% humidity, even a few hours of exposure can mean certain death for young trees. Planting directly into the mud eliminates this problem.  And as the water is absorbed by the tree and surrounding soil, the soil packs in around the root ball, making a perfect seal.  I learned this technique first when replanting roses in Omaha.  

I purchased the trees from China Ranch Date Farm.  China Ranch is a family owned and operated small farm.  According to available sources, a Chinese man named either Quon Sing or Ah Foo came to this canyon after many years of work in the Death Valley borax mines. He developed the water, planted fruits and vegetables, and raised meat for the local mining camps. It became known as Chinaman's Ranch. 

Sometime in 1900, a man named Morrison appeared, and, as the story goes, he ran the Chinese farmer off at gun point and claimed the Ranch for his own. Morrison eventually sold out, but the name had stuck. Since then the canyon has had many owners and worn many different faces, including a fig farm, cattle ranch, hog farm, alfalfa farm, and others. In 1970, the property was purchased by Charles Brown Jr. and Bernice Sorrells, the son and daughter of area pioneer and long time State Senator Charles Brown of Shoshone. It remains in these families today.

The date grove was planted from seed in the early 1920's by Vonola Modine, youngest daughter of Death valley area pioneer RJ Fairbanks. Approximately half of the trees are male and produce only pollen. The females bear in the fall, yielding from 100 to 300 pounds of dates per tree in a season.

The Khadrawi variety that I bought are classified as a soft date, and is considered by many in the Middle East to be the best date for eating fresh.  Dates have been a staple food of the Middle East and the Indus Valley for thousands of years. They are believed to have originated around Iraq, and have been cultivated since ancient times from Messopotamia to prehistoric Egypt, possibly as early as 4000 BCE. The Ancient Egyptians used the fruits to make date wine, and ate them fresh at harvest. The earliest archaeological evidence of date cultivation comes from western Pakistan, from about 9,000 years ago in a Neolithic civilization known as Mehrgarh.

We will probably have dates in just three years.  And the AΩ should get ready for a lot of new recipes including dates. With each tree producing up to 100 pounds of fruit per year, I'll have to be creative, or buy more freezers.

Why We Read Fiction

E. M. Forster

Fiction has a way of teaching us about the world that is simply not possible through non-fiction.  Science fiction, in particular, can offer alternate perspectives on technologies and cultural trends that would be impossible in any other way, due to the fact that the very technologies being explored might not yet have been developed.

Take E. M. Forster's The Machine Stops (1909) for example.  Written in Victorian England, it explores a world in which people fear first-hand experience, preferring instead to live through their connection to The Machine.  They live underground, not because the Earth is damaged, but because they no longer have the ability to live outside the machine.  It takes care of them in every way, attending to all their needs from physical to mental, emotional and even spiritual.

The protagonist is one who questions the validity of this kind of life, and seeks something more, something different.  I'll not tell you more, as you can easily learn it on Wikipedia or elsewhere.  I do recommend, however, that you forgo the spoiler and instead choose to either read the story in its entirety HERE, or have it read to you in its entirety HERE, or watch the BBC television adaptation HERE.

A still from the BBC Television adaptation of The Machine Stops

Once you have experienced the story, make some comments.  Then let the story percolate.  Watch the world around you.  Think about what you see in reference to the story.  I am confident you will have new insights as time passes, and I encourage you to share them here.  As with any bit of fiction, the true power of the teaching isn't always immediately apparent.

HERE is a link to a short biography of Forster.  Other well known works include  A Room With A View (1908), Where Angels Fear To Tread (1905),  and A Passage to India (1924).

NASA Confirms -Super Human Abilities Gained

Ever wanted to bilocate?  Live without eating?  Achieve perfect memory? That’s right, I’m talking about the super-human abilities that can be gained by those who follow the protocol for what’s known as sun-gazing, a valid practice recently confirmed by NASA.  Many proponents of this ancient technique, used by many cultures such as Mayan, Egyptian, Aztec, Tibetian and Indian yoga, report not only healing benefits to common illnesses, but obtaining super-human abilities such as advanced telepathy and going completely without the need for food.

What is Sun Gazing?

Sun gazing (also known as sun-eating) is a strict practice of gradually introducing sunlight into your eyes at the lowest ultraviolet-index times of day – sunrise and sunset.  Those who teach the practice say there are several rules to the practice.  First, it must be done within the hour after sunrise or before sunset to avoid damaging the eyes.  Second, you must be barefoot, in contact with the actual earth – sand, dirt or mud; and finally, you must begin with only 10 seconds the first day, increasing by 10 second intervals each day you practice.  Following these rules make the practice safe, says sources.

Nikolai Dolgoruky of the Ukraine calls himself a ‘sun-eater’.  He has been practicing sun gazing for the past 12 years and has largely subsisted off solar energy since he began.  Others have reported losing the need for food after only 9 months of sun gazing (by which time the practitioner has worked up to a maximum of 44 minutes).  After 9 months of practice, you need only walk barefoot on the earth for 45 minutes per day, 6 days in a row to further the process of what has been initiated by sun gazing.

Sun-gazing is a practice also called the HRM phenomenom, coined as such after Hira Ratan Manek, the man who submitted himself to NASA for scientific testing to confirm that he does indeed possess the almost ‘super-human’ ability of not eating, gained through his dedication to this interesting marvel.  Funded by NASA, a team of medical doctors at the University of Pennsylvania observed Hira 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for 100 days.   NASA confirmed that he was indeed able to survive largely on light with occasionally a small amount of buttermilk or water during this time.

What happens to the body during Sun Gazing?

During your first 3 months of practice, the suns energy is moving through the eyes and charging the hypothalamus tract, says those who have studied this technique and used it.  The hypothalamus tract is the pathway to the rear of the retina which leads to the brain.  The brain then, over time, becomes activated by the energy supply being received by the sun.  You will first experience a relief of mental tension and worry, since most worry is fueled by the energy received by the foods we eat.  Since food gets it’s energy from the sun, it is said to be readily available to sun-eaters without the trouble of digestion.  Though hunger is said to eventually cease, it is fine to continue eating regularly during initial stages, until appetite disappears naturally.

Another benefit early on is said to be an increase in confidence and an ability to easily solve your problems, as you are without tension.  Everyone has at least a bit of psychosis, but during the first few months of sun gazing practice, it is reported that these attitudes go away and a positive nature gracefully replaces the old persona full of fears.  By the end of 3 months, the gazing time will have increased to 15 minutes per day.

Reports on sun gazing say that the bad qualities normally associated with any person will gradually disappear and good qualities will remain, explaining that ‘bad qualities’ only develop in the absence of sunlight.  Bad qualities like anger, fear, jealousy, lust – are said to disappear – and be replaced by a certain confidence and ‘spiritual knowing’ that senses more purely the heart of an issue.

At 3-6 months of gazing, the studies show that physical diseases start to disappear.  They say that by the time one is gazing 30 minutes per day (building up 10 seconds per day) all the colors of the sun will have reached the brain.  Color therapists attribute their healing of certain diseases to flooding the body and brain with the particular color that is lacking – depending on the ailment.  For example, in liver disease, the color green is deficient.  The kidneys need red, and the heart, yellow.  All of the organs and all of the systems are said to respond to different colors of the rainbow, which is why it is also recommended to eat a diet rich in a variety of colors.  It is recommended during the 3-4 month period that you use autosuggestion to see your body already healed of any perceived weakness or disease.  This action will facilitate the process of returning to wholeness.

As you continue the process, it is reported that after 6 months, the energy stored from the technique is no longer being used for repairing the body or the mind and can move now into supporting you in gaining more super-human abilities.

What’s Beyond Healing?

By seven and a half months of gazing, now at 35 minutes, need and desire for food is dwindling.  According to sun gazing experts, food is not actually needed to maintain the body, only energy – and ‘sun-eating’ provides that energy.  By 9 months, all taste for food, including aroma, all hunger pains and cravings disappear.  Those who make it this far say that they report a noticeable ’change’ in the way their brain feels – like it’s “charged up.”  After 9 months of sun-gazing – reaching a maximum of 44 minutes – it is advised that you give up sun-gazing and redirect your attention now to the Earth.

For 6 days straight, one is to walk barefoot on the earth, 45 minutes per day.  During this barefoot walking, the pineal gland is said to become activated.  Professional sun gazers and those researching the science say that each toe is connected to a specific gland, and by walking barefoot on the Earth, you activate these glands.  The big toe is thought to be aligned with the pineal gland, the second toe with the pituitary, then the hypothalamus, thalamus and finally the pinky toe correlates to the amygdala.  Walking barefoot, with the sun now falling on the top of your head, practitioners claim to create a sort of magnetic field in and around your body that recharges you and your brain.

Apparently this walking barefoot part is the most important aspect of the practice.   As you continue walking on the Earth, this is when the magic really begins.  The pineal gland is activated more and more by this walking  procedure.  Intellect is said to increase, along with memory. The pineal gland has navigational and psychic capabilities, meaning telepathy, the possibility of flight… now we are getting somewhere!  Have you ever thought you would like to have your body in more than one place at a time?  Well, sun-gazing is said to be the magical key to such abilities.

If you can barefoot walk 45 minutes every day for a year – you are golden.  At that point, only a maintenance of 3-4 days a week is necessary to maintain the capabilities you have acquired.

Are there any dangers?

Doctors and  eye care professionals caution against looking directly at the sun, saying that it will damage the retina.  However, if done correctly, sun-gazing at the correct times of day, studies show there is no risk of damaging the eyes.  Those who have been sun gazing for many years have had their eyes checked to show no damage, though it is advised that you have your eyes checked in the first few weeks of your practice, so you can know for yourself.

To sum it all up…

Remember, it’s 10 seconds the first day, at sunrise or sunset, adding 10 seconds per day each day there after.  After 9 months of accumulative gazing equaling 44 minutes, you cease the gazing and start the barefoot walking 45 minutes per day for 365 days.  At this point, I could imagine, hey – if you made it this far, what’s a year of barefoot walking for less than an hour a day to keep it all?  You will have to try it out and see for yourself.  

If you are really interested in gaining super-human abilities, confirmed by reputable organizations like NASA, as the ones mentioned above, sun gazing sounds like a fairly straightforward path to enlightenment.  To find out more about sun-gazing and how others have done it, visit the website on Sun-Gazing. For part one of the amazing Sun-Gazing documentary, check out the video below.

Written by: Stasia Bliss
Edited by: Leslie McQuade

Sources: Man lives 11 years on sun; David Icke; Sungazing 101

YOU CAN find the original HERE.

“THINGS AS THEY ARE”

As an anthropologist, it is important for me to understand THINGS AS THEY ARE, and to compare it with “Things As Others Say They Are”.  In the spirit of this, let us look at a few things, and think critically about them.

First, there is there is blogger guy that says Christians are black magicians.  Interesting idea.  Never considered it before, but I decided to See What Is There.  Now remember.  I’m going to look at this as if I have never before in my life looked at these symbols or heard anything about Christianity beside what I can observe from one visit to a typical church on the East Coast, and a few quick looks at the literature provided, and maybe a question or two of people I see in the parking lot. 

Here is what I see.

First, the location.  Lots of churches are surrounded by graveyards, aka dead people.  Skulls in fact.  Hmmm.  I never really thought about it much before, but don’t you think it is strange to have a place of worship surrounded by rotting corpses?  I mean, if it was a castle on a hill surrounded by graves, you would be terrified.  But somehow a church on the same hill surrounded by the same graves doesn’t terrify you?

Next, the symbol.  There is this fella nailed to some sticks prominently displayed at the front of the church.  He is skinny, bleeding and looks like he is in quite a lot of pain.  Strange symbol for a religion professing life, love and gentleness, don’t you think? 

So.  Tortured guy to look at while you pray on your knees and dead people surrounding the building you worship in.  

How about their practices? -- the most revealing of all, in my opinion.

A fella in a black dress says some words and transforms wine and bread into the literal body and blood of Christ. “Is that really blood and muscles?” I ask the woman beside me.   “Yes, it is.  It might not taste that way, but you really are eating those things.” “And why do you do this?”  “It’s important if you want to go to Heaven.” Wow! Now, I’m working hard to be a good anthropologist, but honest to God this is the explanation I was given by a priest to whom I posed this question.  I’m thinking I’d really rather sit down to a squirming bowl of wichity-grubs right about now. I saw everyone line up for the event.  Is this who Heaven is filled with? 

In short, these guys are telling me that in order to live forever in the presence of elevated beings, a place of love and forgiveness I have to kneel in a building surrounded by dead bodies and pray to a suffering, nay, dying guy while eating human flesh and drinking blood I’d tell you -- you are absolutely and with out a doubt completely insane.

You know, our language has words for people who eat other people and for people who drink blood.  So who eats human flesh and drinks blood?  Zombies and Vampires.  Yikes!  Maybe Zombie-Vampires?  Or Vampire-Zombies? This isn’t scary?

I am afraid of cannibals, and those who would drink the blood of others.  I mean, aren’t these some of the most damning accusations leveled at witches and the magical practitioners of non-western societies?  How many horror stories are there about Cannibals in the Pacific?  Tribal people with bones in their nose waiting to barbecue people or drink their blood?  And yet every day, in Catholic churches across the world, people line up ON THEIR KNEES LIKE PRISONERS in a building surrounded by corpses to have some guy in a black dress shove human flesh dipped in blood in their mouths.  Egad.  Is it any wonder tribal people thought missionaries were insane?

I am really surprised that these realizations of THINGS AS THEY ARE haven’t occurred to more people.  I mean, aren’t these the things that Christians are so fond of accusing others of?  And telling us over and over how evil these practices are?  Is this another case of “the one who smelt it dealt it”?

Scientists in general and Anthropologists in particular put aside their pre-conceived notions about the could’s, should’s, oughta’s and used-to’s of the world to look at what is happening around them as though they were seeing it for the very first time.  While difficult, it is absolutely necessary if one is to truly understand the world in which you live.

I am sure there are those who will call me a Reductionist.  They will say I’m Flaming, or a Liar, or many other Such Names as one calls those who point out Uncomfortable Truths.  But really…

Don’t you see it? 

Upcoming Events

Calendar of Events

2013

These three events all occur at Well of the Moon, http://www.wellofthemoon.com/.  This little gem of a Pagan shop is located at:

2650 S. Decatur Blvd. Suite A02, Las Vegas NV 89102 

(702) 666-7200

 JANUARY

       12              SHAMANISM 101 -- NEW MOON WORK

SATURDAY

    6-8pm

Join Anthropologist Leslie McQuade for fascinating and informative evenings of Practical Shamanic work related to first the New Moon and then the Full Moon.  Her extensive international experience as a field archaeologist and ethnographer blends the best of academic discoveries in the field of Shamanism with down-to-earth practical applications learned from native practitioners all over the world.  

Participants are encouraged to wear comfortable clothes, bring a blanket, journal or notebook and advanced practitioners are encouraged to bring their working tools.  Free-will donations are accepted and will become part of the Isis Temple Educational Outreach Fund. 

 JANUARY

       26              SHAMANISM 101 -- FULL MOON WORK

SATURDAY

    6-8pm

FEBRUARY

        2              CANDELORA / IMBOLGC / CANDELMAS 

SATURDAY       

    7-8pm                                              

The Dark Days of Winter

"The period between the first week in December and the first week in January could well be called the "dark days" for the mid-northern latitudes. At latitude 40 degrees north, earliest sunset occurs around 8 December each year, and latest sunrise occurs around 5 January. The day with the least amount of daylight is the winter solstice, the first day of winter, around 21 December. Why are not all these dates the same? The answer is not simple. There are two effects which, together, determine the local time of Sun phenomena, such as sunrise, sunset, and transit. One is called the Equation of Time; the other is the Sun's declination.

The Equation of Time is a way of describing the variation in the time of Sun-related phenomena within our standard 24-hour timekeeping system. In any time zone, the Equation of Time is simply the difference between 12:00 noon on a clock and the actual time of the Sun's transit (sundial noon) across the central meridian of the time zone. The time between successive transits of the Sun - the length of the solar day - varies considerably over the year. It is determined by two factors, both dependent on the position of the Earth in its orbit. Suffice it to say that from mid-November to early February these two factors work together to make the solar day longer than 24 hours: in late December, as much as 30 seconds longer than 24 hours. Since we don't adjust our clocks for this effect, the Sun's transit moves later and later each day during this period.

All other things being equal, the times of all Sun phenomena are tied directly to the time of transit. But all other things are not equal. The Sun's declination, its angular distance above or below the equator, changes on a yearly cycle, causing our seasons. 

The Sun's declination determines the maximum height of the Sun in the sky on any given day; hence, it also determines the azimuth of the sunrise and sunset points and the length of time the Sun is above the horizon. Most of us know the Sun is at its "lowest point in the sky" on the first day of winter, so we expect the Sun to be above the horizon the least amount of time that day.

So two effects determine the times of sunrise and sunset: the Equation of Time and the Sun's declination. But their relative magnitudes vary. In late December, the daily rate of change of the Sun's declination is quite small and is, of course, zero at the December solstice; "solstice" means "Sun stationary". However, the daily rate of change of the Equation of Time reaches a maximum just a few days later. Thus in late December it is the Equation of Time that has the dominant influence over the changes in sunrise and sunset times from one day to the next. In fact, the Equation of Time dominates, at latitude 40 degrees north, from about 8 December to 5 January. Outside of these few weeks, the Sun's declination changes are dominant. These two dates represent the dates on which the magnitudes of the two effects "cross over" at this latitude. (At higher latitudes, the crossover dates are closer to the solstice since the declination effect is greater there.)

The 8 December crossover day is the date of earliest sunset. Why? In the weeks before solstice, the two effects act in opposite directions on the time of sunset: the declination effect pulling it earlier and the Equation of Time pushing it later. On 8 December the Equation of Time begins to dominate and sunset begins to move later. Meanwhile both effects are pushing sunrise later and later. After solstice, the situation reverses. Both effects push sunset later. But for sunrise, the declination effect now pulls it earlier while the Equation of Time effect continues to push it later. The Equation of Time prevails until 5 January, when the declination effect takes over and sunrises begin to move earlier. So 5 January is the date of latest sunrise.

A similar situation occurs at the summer solstice, although the effect is not as extreme. Solstice occurs around 21 June, but at latitude 40 degrees north the earliest sunrise occurs around 14 June and the latest sunset around 28 June."

original text can be found here:  http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/dark_days.php.

ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

You may have noticed there have been a few changes around here. What began as but a blog to promote Pagan Pride, especcially in Las Vegas, has now become "Whispers from Shadow Mountain."

Why the change?

Well, Pagan Pride certainly is enormously important. There are so many Pagans that are still in the closet, even wanting to keep public rituals secert our of fear they might lose their jobs, etc. I feel we as Pagans have a lot to learn from the LGBT community when it comes to standing up for who we are as Pagans. You may want to read my previous article about this HERE. Feeling so strongly as I do about our Pagan identity, I will certainly continue to do my part to promote Pagan Pride.

However, the fact remains that there are so many more aspects of Paganism that also need to be adderessed. And since my status as an independent Anthropologifcal researcher of Paganism and Witchcraft gives me a uniquely academic perspective, my blog clearly needed a wider scope. 

So, without further ado, welcome to:

"Whispers from Shadow Mountain"