13 Moons

The 13 Moon calendar is a replacement for our current Gregorian calendar, which the proponents of the 13 Moon system claim is out of harmony with nature and contributes to our destruction. “The 13 moon calendar,” they claim “is a positive, concrete act demonstrating the move from fear to love, from chaos to harmony, from war to peace.”

(In the words of Robert Anton Wilson, “the Gregorian calendar, the standard Occidental system, dates everything from the alleged birth of a comic-book super-hero I regarded as fictitious. He supposedly had a virgin for mother, a pigeon for father, and cured the blind by throwing dirt in their eyes.” As well, it is “interrupted by an artificial minus-to-plus changeover to commemorate the god of a single weird cult.”)

The particular system that I was recently introduced to, called Dreamspace, was created by Jose Arg’elles.

The calendar is loosely based off of the Mayan calendar. Instead of months, we have moons – 13 of them instead of 12, since the Moon rotates around the Earth 13 times in one year. Each moon consists of 28 days, which comes from the 28 day female menstruation cycle (menstruation comes from the Latin word for “month”, which is closely related to the Latin word for “moon”) and the average between the time it takes for the Moon to move around the earth (27.1 days) and the period between new Moons (29.53 days). Another unit of the calendar is the Solar-Galactic Cycle – 52 years during which no two days repeat.

It is proposed that changing the 13 Moon calendar will bring about the “complete reformulation of the human mind.“

Though 13 * 28 = 364, the 13 Moon calendar still has 365 days a year. The 365th day – the old July 25th – is called the Day Out of Time. “This day is no day of the week or month at all. A true freedom day for the forgiveness of debts and the celebration of Time is Art.“

On the 13 Moon calendar, your birthday corresponds to your Galactic Signature, which can be found and decoded here. The signature involves three components: a color, a tone, and a seal. It places you into an Earth family, a color family, a tribe and a clan.

The Dreamspace calendar is often criticised for its loose base on the Mayan calendar. “Amongst many criticisms levelled at it, it is pointed out that the interpretation merely co-opts an ancient tradition by recasting it in New Age terms, unknown, unused and undocumented among the Maya. Many of Dreamspell’s influences come from non-Mayan sources, such as the I Ching and pop psychology. What’s more, Arguelles’ calendar is based on a different day-count than the traditional Mayan calendar.”

Regardless of the criticism of this particular system, its more esoteric components and linking with the 2012 “doomsday” prophecies, a Moon calendar, which inarguably strengthens our connection with natural cycle, certainly seems superior to that which we currently employ. (The Gregorian calendar, as I understand, is actually a Solar calendar meant to stay in sync with the seasons. Yet the Moon goes through its cycles much more frequently than the seasons, which to me strengthens its appeal over a solar calendar.) I’ll be looking more into this and other alternative calendars in the future.

For more information, I recommend reading the self study pilot program as an introduction. As well, there’s more here.

Moon One - July 26 to August 22 Moon Two - August 23 to September 19 Moon Three - September 20 to October 17 Moon Four - October 18 to November 14 Moon Five - November 15 to December 12 Moon Six - December 13 to January 9 Moon Seven - January 10 to February 6 Moon Eight - February 7 to March 6 Moon Nine - March 7 to April 3 Moon Ten - April 4 to May 1 Moon Eleven - May 2 to May 29 Moon Twelve - May 30 to June 26 Moon Thirteen - June 27 to July 24

Dali - Friday Seli - Saturday Gamma - Sunday Kali - Monday Alpha - Tuesday Limi - Wednesday Silio - Thursday

quote

The Web

The fundamental reality of the universe is a continuum, a unitive field or fabric, of both energy and consciousness, that is beyond time, space and all forms, and yet somehow mysteriously within them, simultaneously transcendent and imminent. In traditional Asian religions, this unitive field is variously referred to as Tao, or Atman-Brahman, or Tantra (the "web" of "fabric") or the "jeweled net of Indra." Some Native North Americans refer to it as Wakan-Tanka, the all-pervading Creator Spirit. In the traditional Anglo-Saxon religion of the British Isles, it was called the wyrd, an invisible network of magical forces. In theistic religions like Christianity, this oneness corresponds to what is called the Godhead, i.e., beyond the personal deity. In the systems language of postmodern science it is seen as an infinitely complex system of interrelationships, or "web of life." At the level of the planet Earth, this integrated whole is referred to as Gaia -- the name of the ancient Greek Earth Goddess that has become the name of the whole Earth considered as a purposive intelligence living superorganism.

Escape

Sometimes one needs to return to the real world and escape all the concrete.

I spent last night at the shelter in the Arboretum. It was surprisingly cold out, even though the weather report said it wasn’t supposed to get below 37F and I was sleeping in a 30F bag. I didn’t encounter the cougar that I hear lives in there, but a few owls did come out. Surprisingly I also heard people walking around in the middle of the night.

herb, review, books

Sacred Vine of Spirits: Ayahuasca

Today I finished reading Ralph Metzner’s Sacred Vine of Spirits: Ayahuasca.

Ayahuasca (which translates to either “vine of the dead” or “vine of the spirits”) is a hallucinogenic tea, native to South America and used there for shamanic healing purposes since pre-history. Also known as caapi, hoasca, yagé, natéma, mihi, kahi, pinde, and dapa, the brew is made of the bark of the vine Banisteriopsis caapi (which itself is also known as Ayahuasca) and (most commonly) the leaves of Psychotria viridis. Psychotria viridis is what contains the dimethyltryptamine (DMT), making the mixture hallucinogenic, but the DMT, when consumed orally, is made inactive by monamine oxidase (MOA). Thus the bark of the Banisteriopsis caapi is used for its MOA inhibiting property, allowing the DMT to take its course. Most interestingly, DMT is almost identical in structure to Serotonin, a neurotransmitter produced throughout the brain and responsible for “higher functions of behavior, such as planning and other time-related events.” Serotonin is eventually deactived by the same thing that deactives DMT, MOA. So, one could consume only the bark of the Ayahuasca vine (or any other MOA inhibiter) and receive a similar psychoactive active to that produced by DMT. (Apparently some antidepressants take this route.) Terence McKenna, in many of his recordings, fondly referred to the Ayahuasca brew as “brain soup”, since nothing in it is not naturally in your body.

As another interesting aside, there is DMT in your body right now (the human body naturally produces it), yet, in the United States, it is illegal to possess without a DEA license. Go to jail.

The first 100 pages or so of the book goes over the scientific, medical, and psychological properties of the tea, providing for more knowledge on the brew than I thought possible to know. The rest of the book is devoted to various first-hand experiences with Ayahuasca – all of which are excellent. I recommend the book highly for anyone remotely interested in Ayahuasca, psychology, or medicine.

(During my reading of this book, the U.S. Supreme Court came very close to recognizing Ayahuasca as a religious sacrament.)

Kill Your TV

TV encourages mass passivity, burns images permanently into our brain that are chosen by an elite few and trains people to accept authority. Television limits and confines human knowledge. It accelerates our alienation from nature and leads to its destruction. Television homogenizes those who watch it, making the population more efficient cogs in the economic system, making the population easier to control. Television is inherently antidemocratic--furthermore it aids the creation of societal conditions which produce autocracy, and it dulls our awareness that this is happening. Television, as a technology, is inherently biased towards these effects--they cannot be eliminated by better management or better programing. Oh, and it causes cancer too.

Oops

They lost the Philip K. Dick bot.

Afterculture

The truth is that for the first time we are bereft of a positive vision of where we are going. This is particularly evident among kids. Their future is either Road Warrior post-apocalypse, or Blade Runner mid-apocalypse. All the futuristic computer games are elaborations of these scenarios, heavy metal worlds where civilization is crumbling into something weird and violent (but more exciting than now). The Afterculture is an attempt to transmute this folklore of the future into something deep and rich and convincingly real. If we are to pull a compelling future out of environmental theory and recycling paradigms, we are going to have to clothe the sacred in the romantic. The Afterculture is part of an ongoing work to shape a new mythology by sources as diverse as Thoreau and Conan and Dances with Wolves and Iron John. The Afterculture is not "against" the problems of our times, and it's not about "band-aid solutions" to the grim jam we find ourselves in. It's about opening up a whole new category of solutions, about finding another way of being: evolved, simpler, deeper, even more elegant. Even more cool. Even very cool.
ablution

Today, we make soap

(Did you know 60% of anything you put in your skin will go into your bloodstream?)

Today was my Soap Alchemy class. We made cold process soap with palm oil, coconut oil, and olive pomace oil. One batch we put in lavender, the other peppermint. Right now, the soap looks like this:

00001

In 48 hours it will harden and I’ll take it out of the mold (paper cup). Then, in 30 days, the lye will have completed mixing with the oils and I’ll have soap.

Here are the recipes Suzanne gave us:

Cold Process Soap Materials: -Stainless steel pot (8-12 qt, no aluminum) -Scale (measuring in ounces preferred) -Glass jar (gallon size -- check for cracks before use) or 4-8qt stainless steel pot -Wooden spoon (used for soap only) -Soap molds - no aluminum, cast iron, or teflon -Soap base oils, lye, water, herbs, spices, essential oils. Directions -Measure lye and place into glass jar or small stainless steel pot. Add cold water and stir until lye is dissolved. You may choose to wear eye protection and rubber gloves. The water will get very hot (180F). Be careful of the rising steam, as it is caustic and irritating to the throat and lungs. Set aside to cool to room temperature (may put container in tub of cold water). -Melt oils together on high heat in stainless steel pot. Remove from heat (do not let smoke), set aside to cool to room temperature (may put pot in tub of cold water). -Pour lye solution slowly into oils when the lye solution and fats are room temperature. -Stir constantly until mixture is thick and creamy with a "pea soup" consistency: approx 15-20 minutes -Stir in essential oils (1/2~1 1/2 oz) and dried herbs and spices with the amounts to your preference. -Pour into molds. -Cover and keep warm. Place in a draft free warm area for 48 hours. -Remove the soap from the molds. If there is any difficulty removing the soap from the molds, place them in your freezer for 24 hours. Run warm water over the bottom of the molds, the soap will slide out easily. -Cut and let cure in the open air for 30 days. 2 Basic Soap Recipes Recipe #1 40 oz. Palm Oil 25 oz. Coconut Oil 20 oz. Olive Pomace Oil 32 oz. Cold Water 10 1/2 oz. Lye Recipe #2 40 oz. Coconut Oil 45 oz. Olive Pomace Oil 32 oz. Cold Water 10 1/2 oz. Lye

The above is for cold process soap. Hot process soap – which we didn’t make in my class today – takes a little more effort up front, but is usable in a few hours, instead of 30 days.

The recipes will make about 25 bars of soap.

It’s important that you acquire Olive Pomace Oil – not just Olive Oil or Pomace Oil. This is the third pressing of the olive.

Suzanne, my instructor, uses an oak mold which she first lines with parchment paper.

Lye, contrary to Fight Club, will not burn you. It dries your skin, which will cause itching. Simply rinse it off with water and pat dry.