Dreams o Bisions

A Diogsian Quarterlf, Tse *o
Fall '08

- Create a Wildlife Habitat
- Pleasure - Sacred Voice of Emotional Truth
- The VisionsQuest

PLETER BRUEGEL: The Large Fishes Eat the Litle Ones. Pen drawing, Vienna, Albertina

- Mmerica, Incarcerated
- A Ritual of Initiation

and much,; MICH MORE 111 South Chlcage
ABC Zine Distro
Pubjisher & Distributor
£.0. Bax 791
Homewood, IL 60430
7 yecam of Cuphioric

7T Mpstery Schoot o Cestasd,
Dreoms & Bigions 2
A Hioygsian Guarterly

Tssue 6

Fall '08

The Birthday Present...
Pleasure - Sacred Voice of Emotional Truth.
Pan's Corner...

A Ritual Celebration of Commmion.
The Vision Quest...

A Ritual of Initiation.
Anerica, Incarcerated.
Monster Marketplace. .

Subscriptions and donations should be sent to: Mr. Dan
Todd, P.0.Box 2626, Tucson, AZ 85702.
Articles, rants, coments, suggestions, etc. should be

sent to me at: Thomas Marc Hoy #99733-012, FCC Tucson,
P.0.Box 23811, Tucson, AZ 85734.

Your support and interest make it all worthwhile. Thanks |
Dreams & Visions
Note from the Editor

Dear Reader;

Lots going on in
Fall '08 - and my
philosophical work
nears conpletion (of
the first draft).

You must bear with me,
I'm afraid, as these
last pieces crowd the
Lssues to come. This
month there are no fewer than 10 pieces, including the

Wild Hunt, the Birthday Present & Pleasure - Sacred Voice,
the Forbidden Stairway & Reaching Nirvanafm%rience the
Living mos, the e of tl ea for , a Ritual
Celebration of Communion, the Vision Quest & Ritual of
Initiation.feavy going - so thanks for the patience. And

as always - coments,suggestions, and criticisms are

GREATLY appreciated. Please don't hesitate to write.

Speaking of writing, feel free to send in an ad for
Monster Marketplace. If there's much interest, T can
aluays add a few pages, to give it sufficient space
to meet denand. 1 look forward to hearing from you.

An incredibleamount going on in the world - the
continuing economic meltdown/credit collapse/mortgage
disaster; the mockery of a presidential election (which
corporate whore do you prefer ?); etc. etc. Fortunately,
change is in the air, and the powers-that-be can only hope -
to channel it - the rage is too potent to be ignored or
sidelined. One must do one's part in bringing this
refusal to accept the status quo to a head - a better :
future awaits us if we unite, and work to topple the hated
system that oppresses us to support a rich elite.

So stay busy, party like a wild beast, and write me |

Madly yours. —

Correspondence cna be sent to me at: Thomas Marc Hoy #99733-
012, FCC Tucson, P.0.Box 23811, Tucson, AZ 85734.
Abih, the wonders of sei-
! Here are some examples
what_techies do when they
really bored. These foods
< Baen photographed under
h magni Fication.

This is a bizarre new look f&

the stuff you'll be eating
turkey day. Bon Apetit !

Dreams & Visions
The Wild Hunt b

At the dawn of the world, when life was young, there
was harmony. The Goddess dallied with the Horned One,
Lord of the Animals, in forest and field in a land of
eternal summer.Theirs was a life of peace, plenty,
and contentment .

But the Lord grew dissatisfied with grains and berries,
and began to crave roasted meats and stronger liquors.

He took to killing stags and boars, fish and foul, and
ate their flesh. He became known as Herne the Hunter, and
the animals no longer loved him, but feared him.

When the Goddess discovered this, she became enraged,
and confronted him. She cursed:

"You kill the things I love ! Compassion and kindness
have fled from your heart. I will not look upon you again
until you lay down your weapons, and leave off the slay-
ing of the innocent."

She lay a doom on him, and left him, never to return.
Herne vas certain he'd die, so sorely did he miss her.
But Death obeyed the Goddess, and eluded him.

The Goddess cursed Herne to forever haunt the night
on a Wild Hunt. Herne searches for her, roaming the
vastelands and the forgotten places in the darkness.

He's joined in his hunt by the spirits of the loveless,
and of those whose desires are unfulfilled, and by the
fearful, whom accompany him in this life and the next.

This is their doom, until they can abandon their
fears, and learn to follow the ways of the Goddess.
Go Natural | Create a Wildlife Habitat
Co Natural | Create a Wildlife Habitat

Do you long for a
closer relaticnship with
nature ? Do you love
wilderness areas, and
thrill to
wild things 7 You
transform your life, and
give Mother Nature a helping
hand by making part of your
backyard or garden a wild-
life habitat.

Lf you'd like the pres-
tige and assistance offered
by accreditation, you can
pply to be registered as a Certified Wildlife Habitat,
by visiting the website of the National Wildlife Federation,
3t www.nwl.org/backyard. The CWH program has been a
success since it began in 1973. By spring of 2008, some
00,000 habitats have been certified in urban and rural
areas.

These wildlife habitats help make a difference to
the damage done by both global warming, and the loss of
over a million acres each year in the US to sprawl.

Global warming throws off animals migratory routes,
causes unseasonable floods, freezes, and droughts that
hurt wildlife, and erode their habitats. Creating a
CH makes life a little easier for wild things.

Make your home or business an oasis for nature. The
NWF certification involves five components that together
allow your land to become hospitable to creatures year—
e Thegse i hemical pesticid d

. Organic. Stop using chemical pesticides, and start
using cco-friendly compost instead of fertilizer. Follow
other organic growing standards that make your land
heal thier and more welcoming to wild things.

2.) Use Sustainable Gardening Practices. Put in drought
tolerant and native prants, ond TEnTE your vater uoe:
Rip out that lawn, and plant natural ground covers such

as sage, mints, lavender, that small animals and insects
love.

3.) Food Sources. Birds and animals prefer to forage
fcod Trom trees and shrubs, eating leaves, seeds, and

Dreams & Visions
Create A Wildlife Habitat (cont.) ¥

- fruits. Plant varieties native to your locale, and
plant trees and bushes that have nutrients
animals can take advantage of.

4.) Places for Cover. A cave, a rock pile,
thick shrubbery, ground cover, ponds and
damp spots - all offer places that insects,
birds and animals can rest, recuperate,
and carry on their lives.

5.) Places to Raise Young. Wetlands, thickets,
trecs, ponds, and meadous all qualify oo
places animals can use to breed and raise
their young. Creatures are helped by putting
out nesting boxes for bees; partially

filled water barrels for frogs; rotting

logs for insects and reptiles. Simple

things like these make all the difference.

Visit the NWF website for full details
and the CWHi application for certification. It's
not complicated, makes a huge impact on species
recovery, plus it will bring you lots of pleasure, as your
backyard comes back to life - a shelter, instead of a
dead and useless artificial space.

Create a wildlife habitat, and make a wild thing

happy today |

There once vas a little boy who loved his parents very
xch, and did vhatever he could to please them. His parents
sved him, and desired only the best for the boy. They
anted, in their secret hearts, for the boy to be perfect -
> be everything they were not, an ideal person.

And so, at every occasion, the father and mother tried
> shape his likes and dislikes, to make him a "good boy".
1en the boy daydreaned, staring at the clouds, his father
1d: You don't like being a scatter-brain, son ! Good

pply themselves. Here, let's work on’ this bicycle -

Dreams & Visions
The Birthday Present (cont.) te

- together." And the little boy took his eyes off the sky,
and dutifully helped his father.

When the boy wept after his pet frog died, his mother
said:"0h, son - don't cry about a frog ! Good boys are
brave and strong. Come, let's go get a dog." And so the
boy dried his tears, and accepted the dog his mother
bought him.

Long years passed in this way, filled with activities
he didn't care about, pursuing things to which he was in-
different. Until one day, at a party on his birthday, he
ooked around and realized - he was sickened by every
single thing in the room ! The cake vas a flavor he hated;
his friends were people he disliked, the music, even the
presents - were all loathsome to him !

In that instant, he realized what he must do.

He got up, thanked everyone for coming, and said: "I'm
sorty, but I have to
0. Excuse me."

He left his guests
saping in discomfort
nd surprise. He knew
s life was a Lie.
hat he loved was the

el of surf on his
eet; feeling the breez
s he stared up at the
ky; the soft pleasure
f his girlfriend's skir
ouching and being
ouched.

The boy rediscovered
leasure, and followed
t - and so regained
is life; the greatest
irthday present he'd
ver received.

11.

Dreams & Visions

Pleasure - Sacred Voice of Bmotional Truth

Jreams & Visions

R
Pleasure - Sacred Voice of Buotional Truth

Love and acceptance flow when we express our 'core'
ralues - the things all humans value deep in their
earts; kindness, compassion, caring and sharing. But
hese core values require that they be freely given.
hey must come from a place of emotional truth, emerging
ree of coercion or control. Indeed, these feelings

re opposed to any kind of control, as manipulation

r demands souff them out. The heart must be allowed

o follow its true feelings. When set free, the heart
ractices these core values.

Vhen we free the self to honor these values, our
ctions quickly become aligned with our values and dreams -
place of true integrity. To achieve this freedom, we
ieed only listen to our bodies and our feelings. Pleasure
nd good feelings lead naturally to align our core values
rith our deeds. What feels right and good is what is
ompassionate, kind, and generous.

We rid ourselves of bad feelings, caused by those
ctions that hurt ourselves and others, when we listen
o the promptings of the heart. When we obey our intuition
nd our experience, we promote good feelings = pleasing
urselves and others. This becomes a reinforcing cycle -
urting ourselves and others less and less, and pleasing
urselves and others more and more.

1t requires only that we free ourselves from coercion,
nd instead allow ourselves to be guided by pleasure and
lelight - the sacred voices of emotional truth. When we
isten to pleasure, our core values and daily lives match,
nd happiness is achieved.
13

Dreams & Visions

This forgotten classic was written by the people
uho sparked off the Psychedelic Movement of the '60's -
Tinothy Leary and his larvard colleagues. The book
views the ancient Tibetan Book of the Dead (also known as
the Bardo Thodol) as a guide on how to use a hallucino-
genic experience to achieve enlighterment. Leary et al,
cognizant of the potential pitfalls of such an under-
Laking, cover every contingency that might arise on the
journcy in detail.

Ihe_Psychedelic Experience follows the Bardo Thodol's
structure - Dreaking down the experience into three main
stages, [olloved up by notes on handling crises for the
pecson acting as a sort of "designated driver".

The Ffirst section con-
cerns the period of ego loss
and how to maintain your
presence in the "Primary
Clear Light" - the overvheln-
ing ecstasy the seeker dis-
covers early in the ex-
perience. bhen this slips
from your grasp, details
are given on how to regain
that state, known as
"Secondary Clear Light

The second Bardo (or sec-
tion) deals with the 7 visions
experienced by those who
are distracted and fall
away from the Clear Light.
These visions are classed
as - the Source; Archetypes;
Cosmic Unity; Wave Vib-
rations; External Unity;
the Retinal Circus; and
the Magic Theatre. Each
corresponds to visions
described in the Bardo
Thodol, and directions are
given on how best to take

Dreans & Visions
Pan's Corner (cont.) 4

- they teach.

The third Bardo guides the seeker through the re-
entry into an ego - the judgmental vision, sexual
visions, how to prevent early reentry, and making a
higher personality choice at 'rebirth' (correlated with
regaining an ego, on reincarnating).

These profound directions are completed by technical
coments on drug dosages (given for psilocybin, mes-
caline, and LSD-25), suggestions for achieving the best
'set & setting' (i.e. mind-set and environment of the
participants), arranging the composition of the group,
planning a session, and other details.

Lastly, instructions are presented in lyrical and
poetic language designed to aid and calm the seeker during
the session, with specific language for the guide to use
so_the seeker finds the 'Diamond Mind/Buddhahood’ - the
shining, ultimate peace of the Void/Nirvana.

This book can benefit anyone with an interest in
either hallucinogens or mystical/peak experiences. The
nessage is simple - enlightenment is only a trip away

)

N

Dreams & Visions

The Forbidden Stairway

Dreams & Visions
The Forbidden Stairway 16

There once was a beautiful woman who was a seeker
after spiritual truth. She devoted her life to a
quest for the great mysteries of meaning and desire.
She spent long years in fruitless searching, never
discovering so much as a hint aiding her quest.

She despaired of finding a path that might lead
to wisdon. Sad and depressed, she sank down to rest
by a fountain at a crossroads. Weary and thirsty,
she sipped vater from her cupped hands, and let the
breeze cool the sweat on her brow.

As she took her ease, a friend she hadn't seen in
years walked by, and after surprised greetings, joined
her at the fountain's rim. Her friend told her of the
latest gossip - a mutual acquaintance had been punished
for daring to use the forbidden Stairway to Heaven.

The seeker had never heard of the Stairway.

"What Stairvay is this 7 And why is it forbidden 2"

Her friend lowered her voice to a whisper, and made
certain noone was listening.

"Shhh ! Tt is dangerous to use the Stairway - the
punishnent for treading on it is exile or a spell in
the dungeon. Those that climb it see things not meant
to be seen by the likes of you and me. Best forget it,
and speak of something else."

But the seeker wouldn't be dissuaded, and after
much persuasion, her friend pointed out where the
Stairvay could be found, then hurried away.

The seeker found the Stairvay in a rundown corner
of the forest on the edge of town. With some hesitation,
she made sure she was alone, then climbed the Stairway.

She climbed and climbed, rose above the countryside,
then above the clouds, up and up until the sky grew
dark blue and the stars could be seen glittering hard
and bright.

At last she came to a wide terrace of white marble,
and she sat down on a stone bench to rest her exhausted
legs. She leaned against the parapet that ran along
the edge of the terrace, and gazed out into the
distance.

To her shock, below her she saw not one landscape,
but a swirling multitude of them; not one Stairuay,
but countless Stairays ! In a blinding flash of insight,
17

Dreans & Visions

The Focbidden Stairway (cont.)

- she realized this vas the place of transformation -
whece all possible paths existed at once, and where
all things were possible. She understood that she
chose vhich reality she experienced. liigh above the
world, she could see clearly; her choices shaped her
life and her cosmos.

che spotted a radiant rose growing in a crack in
the marble paving, and with apologies to it, she plucked
the flover. She gently put it in her blouse, and took
it with her when she descended the Stairway.

Forever after, she had only to glance or smell the
rose, aud she was transported to Heaven, where trans-
formation was as simple as making a choice. The seeker
found her wisdom, and succeeded in her quest, setting her
Off on a new, higher one.

13

There are many stairvays that lead to heaven, all
of them taking us away from our usual experience of
reality. They show us that reality is merely a state
of mind, a product of conditioning and habit. When
we alter our consciousness, we expose new realities,
and reveal depths we never suspected. We gain access
to profound secrets that may shock and overvheln us.

The most ancient methods of reaching Nirvana rely
on the many plant and animal substances that plunge the
mind into altered forms of awareness. There are hun-
dreds of them, from psilocybin mushrooms to peyote
cactus to the comon weed-Like Cannibas sativa. They
vary in potency and the intensity of Feelings they
bring, but all lead to places free of self-induced
blindness; to realus where reality is by turns strange,
terrifying, and beautiful once again.

Equally ancient ways of overcoming the sensory blocks
of our conscious thoughts and artificial, limiting views
of reality use the mind against itself. One effective
conbination is of silence, solitude, and stillness -

2 millennia-old doorvay to altered states. This is as
simple as retreating to a place removed from hunan
presence, stilling the restless mind, and allowing
non-hunan reality to fill the senses. Similarly,

staring at a bright object without blinking, ot focussing
on a single point are other ways of 'piercing the veil'
betueen the worlds. So, too, are abandoned, wild dancing,
and group singing - anything which wholly absorbs our

19

Dreams & Visions
Reaching Nirvana (cont.)

- attention, and allows us to experience reality
without filters.

Modern methods aren't lacking. New techniques
can be twists on old ones, like auto-hyprosis and
guided imagery. Others are new, like the technical
wonder of the sensory deprivation tank, a man-made .
womb; a lightless, soundproof box, filled with blood-
warm salt water wherein your body floats, quickly «
giving the mind the sensation of existing outside of -
the body. These separate consciousness from its daily
concerns, and let it explore alien thoughtscapes.

The stairways themselves are unimportant. What matter
is making the journey - reaching that altered state of
mind, where the self is able to make a radical shift
in perceiving the nature of existence.

Once there in that realm, return to it can be assured
by focussing on a sensation unique to that state - a
taste, smell, feeling, an unusual sight or sound, that
captures the essence of the experience. The sensation is
brought back as a memento when one returns to 'normal'
consciousness. This is the function of the 'peyote songs
Mescalito (spirit of the peyote plant) teaches his
acolytes, so that on singing their sacred songs they
relive the journey, and return to that level of aware-
ness at will.

Reaching Nirvana, and returning there until 'normal’
reality is understood to be but one layer in a mult-
itude of greater realities is a crucial step on the
road to cosmic consciousness. B

Co-ops: An Alternative Vision

"What an irony it would be if the best hedge against a
collapse of the post-industrial economy turned out to be
a return to the agrarian past.”

Buttonwood; "Apocalypse Now 7", Economist, Mar22-28,"0f

Co-0ps now have over 750 million members worldvide,
sharing and spreading the values of self-help, respons-
ibility, equality, equity, non-hierarchy, and solidarity.
Co-ops are, in essence, a practical route to a society.
based on more compassion and less selfishness.

Women, indigenous groups, and others - often minoritie:
have led the movement. Such groups work together on
agriculture, crafts, housing co-ops, credit unions, and
savings and barter collectives, working to transform
commuities.

A few successful examples:

- In Kuvait, 807 of all retail sales are made by co-ops.

- In Bolivia, ¥th of all savings are entrusted to one
co-op credit union.

- In Columbia, the 20d largest employer is a health
care co-op.

- In Austria, co-op banks are one of two main banking
groups, and their mutual aid mechanisms are integral
to the Austrian banking system.

Co-ops are one highly successful way of making the
world a better place, one commmity at a time. flere are
some other websites you can visit, working tovards the
same goals:

- wi.zaadz.com - a social networking site devoted to
saving the world.

- was.globalideasbank.org ~ 36,000 ways to make the
world a better place (suggest your ideas

- was.LinkedIn - a social network with a 'socially conscio

emphasis.

- The Gaia Trust - a fund established by Canadian entre-
preneur Ross Jackson, focused on making
money available for projects creating,
a sustainable world.
Dreams & Visions

Experience the Living Cosmos

The universe is filled with mysteries and wonders,
and consciousness is perhaps the strangest mystery of
all. Everything that exists comes from the dust of dead
stars, and thus living things are lierally children
of the stars. Self-avareness, then, is the universe
contemplating itself, life staring back at the stars
£rom whence it came.

We find mind in nature wherever we're willing to
see it. Throughout the plant and aninal kingdoms, high
orders of awareness are comon. It may be subtle and
complex awareness, as with the delight elephants take

* in painting watercolor pictures, and bears sitting and
staring quietly, marvelling at the beauty of sunsets.
Sometines this consciousness is simple but obvious, as
with different species of fish recognizing themselves
in mirrors, and bower birds painting and decorating
their dwellings in a competition of artistic flair and
creativity to attract mates.

Often, it's awareness we wouln't have imagined pos-
sible, like the eerily human-like behavior of some ant
species, nurturing gardens of fungus, tending to herds
of aphids kept as food animals, waging war against
other colonies of ants, and enslaving the vanquished.

Or as with the clever trickery of invasive plants taking
advantage of human-tended wheat fields, mimicking the
appearance of the wheat plants so successfully they
change colors to match their hosts row by row, purple,
to blue, to white. —

We even find consciousness in places where we believe

' it is non-existent, as with the inorganic crystals that
come alive during the chemical changes of the Zhabotinsky
Reaction.

The Nobel Laureate Ilya Prigogine made the startling
statement that non-organic matter is as aware as organic
(living) matter. As Prigogine put it: "matter is not
inert, it is alive and active.” This should not surprise
us, as matter is energy, and energy fields interact with
each other constantly. Physics has revealed it is this
dance of interaction from which consciousness arises.
Consciousness is a process, not a collection of parts.

This incredible network of connection and communication,
Dreams & Visions
Experience the Living Cosmos (cont.) 23

- a living web of relationships embracing everything
in the cosuos, is not some distant, alien thing. We

are part of this dance, and can experience it directly
if we choose. It requires an opening of the mind - a
willingness to drop preconceived beliefs, laying our
perceptions bare. Changing and expanding your awareness -
an innocent pleasure, and a profound one.

Loosen your desperate grip on your waking personality,
and allow yourself to be swept beyond your waking self
to join in the deeper non-human adventure all around you.

Koowing nature is conscious, a living being who waits
to D& beFatanded opans uninagined vistas, a 1ife Fantase
tically rich in unbounded possibilities.

The path to this awareness begins with your finding a
'stairway to heaven' you like, and experiencing that
journey often enough to become comfortable with it.

Once your mind is open, cosmic consciousness awaits you.

Find a place without human disturbances, with a view
of the sky. Go there at dusk, and watch the light fade
from the world. Lie back on the ground, and see the
stars emerge as night falls.

Take a living thing you love, and hold it close. It
may be a favorite houseplant; a pet; perhaps even your
lover. As you stare into the sky, let yourself become
one with the thing you love; let yourself feel its life
force merge with your own. Overcome your resistance and
fear, and let go without reserve. In your mind's eye,
see yourself become oné with your loved one, and feel
this as reality with both body and mind. You will achieve
a unique intimacy with the thing you love, and are made
ready for further explorations.

On another, successive night, take a nonliving thing
you love - a stone, a crystal, a favored piece of wood
or metal, or a special memento, and hold it close. Let
yourself became one with the thing you love, again
staring into the night sky, and allow the barriers to
dissolve. Let the boundaries between self and nonself
cease to be.

Once you've practiced this, and have felt those
boundaries dissolve, go to your place alone. Hold your-
self still as the light fades and darkness comes. Reach
out, and feel yourself join with the night sky; let
Dreams & Visions 24,
Experience the Living Cosms (cont.)

- yourself be one with the stars. Feel your spirit
enconpass the universe.

The cosmos is alive as you are alive. You are in-
terconnected, and are one. Only the conscious mind denies
your unity. Allow the limits to be abandoned; dissolve
the boundaries between you; feel the cosmos as a living
being that is an extension of yourself.

This is cosmic consciousness. hen you have achieved
it, you have reached the heights attained by mystics
and seers throughout the ages. Relish the moment, and
continue your practice, so it doesn't slip away, but
becames part of your life - a thing of beauty and joy
that will accompany you all of your days.

Dreans & Visions
Book Review

28

A strange look at a bizarre world. Check it out.

‘THE HYENA & OTHER MEN,
by Pieter Hugo:
Prostel; $50

You think you have pet issues?
Mee the “Gadawan Kura,”
the hyena handlers of Nigeri,
The Kura are traveling.
performers and minstrels who
use a varity of wild animals
such as pythons and baboons to entertain
audiences and sel herbal medicines

in the shanty towns outside of Lagos and
Abjura. Pieter Hugo, who created this

iveting phato collection, The Hyena &

Other Men, says t has drawn a range:

of reactions: ...inquisitiveness,

disbeliet and repulsion.” Hugo nsists

that it s not the freakishness that

attracted him to his subjects but the

paradorical nature of their lives: men who

bring jungle animals to the cif

tenderness and cruelty with which they

handie them. Will 2 hyena in captivity

attack his captor? Answer: any chance

it gots. But feeding it a goat every

three days helps everybody get along.
—PATRICK COOKE

Dreams & Visions 26.

Book Review - A People's History of the United States
1492-Present, Howard Zinn, HarperCollins, 1980, rev.2003.

The essence of a People's History is simple - it is a
sorry tale endlessly repeating the same wretched theme;
the greed & bigotry of the elite drive mass slaughters and
robberies of those unable to defend themselves. The gov r
$ldes with the wealthy, crushing opposition. In a nutshell,
the health and freedom of ordinary people is sacrificed
on behalf of corporate profits.

Zinn's achievement is a major one. He looks behind the
pablun spoonfed to U.S. students, and examines events fram
the perspective of the losers - the poor, the oppressed.
the disenfranchised. It's an ugly picture he paints, but
2 wonderful corrective to the pathetic lies that are told
and retold until the average Joe no longer questions them,
however absurd they may be,

Some facts stand out. 1% of the U.S. population owns
over 407 of the nation's wealth. A permanent underclass of
40-50 million people live in poverty. The rest of the coun-
try's wealth is distributed in such a way as to turn
those other 997 against one another. Zimn rightly calls
it: "a desperate, ‘bitter battle for resources made scarce
by elite control®.

¥hat's needed to correct the worst of these horrors
is also simply presented. The public is overwhelmingly in
favor of universal free health care, guaranteed employment
gov't help for the poor and homeless, paid for with tagee
on the rich and cuts in the military budget.

The cure comes in a quote from Shelley

"Shake your chains to earth like dew.

.--Ye are many; they are few!".

Get a copy and read it today.

And make sure kids read it, too !

of the Sea for the Moon

In a time long before our kind came to be, there were
two sisters. They lived together in their mother's
house, inseparable companions. They loved each other
deeply, and were best friends as well.

As they grew older, one sister chose to live with
her mother, happy in her embrace, while the other sister
drew away, taking her own path in life. The stay-at-home
sister felt this separation keenly, and wept pitifully,
begging her sister not to leave her.

The older sister's love never vavered, and she agreed
to preserve their special friendship. Younger Sister Sea
said to Elder Sister Moon:

“Promise me that we will still visit often, and stay
close as ve have always done."

Sister Moon replied: "I promise. We'll walk together
every day, and once a month we'll spend the whole night
together, just like the old days."

Sister Sea was saddened to see her sister leave home,
but accepted the compromise. Though she yearns for her
sister's company still, reaching out for her every day,
they move together as one.

When Sister Moon is full in the sky, Sister Sea
celebrates with her.and their reunion is a joyful one.

Dreams & Visions

Ritual Celebration of Commnion

\\‘ P

- 94
Just as the sea and the moon yearn >}§ ?/r f )

for each other and move together, cel- PN 1

ebrating their closest approach, so too

do we - children of the sea, feel the pull

of the moon and the rhythms of the sea. At the time of

the full moon, let hearthmates gather to celebrate love

and closeness.

Come together, and remember that sensual experiences
are worship, for our senses are deep, ancient thresholds
" o the primal and the eternal. Experience the celebration
deeply, and allow it to awaken unfiltered awareness
within'you.

Let each thing brought to the celebration be special;

a sacred gift offering to each other and to the life force.
Let it be a celebration of touch, closeness, and desire.

At the rising of the full moon, set out & feast in the
sacred grove or gathering place. Light the sacral bonfire,
and throw onto it pine cones or metallic salts that
produce beautiful multi-colored flames, marking the
sathering as special and holy.

By the light of the moon and the fire, touch each
other; embrace each other, tenderly,
carefully, conforting one another,

Light the incense ringing the
gathering; light scented candles;
sprinkle perfume; scatter sweet-
smelling herbs, to sweeten the air,
and awaken the spirit.
Let music play; let drumers
drum and dancers dance, as it pleases
them.

Raise toasts to life, to one
another, and drink deeply. Eat, and
savor the taste of foods prepared
with love.

Uhen at last the bonfire has
burned to embers, make love in the
darkness, or pierce the veil be-
tween the worlds.

Let a haunting melody be played,
to end the celebration, and thank
the moon and one another for the iov

The Vision Quest 29

After a childhood filled with wonder and delight,
a young girl found herself on the edge of womanhood.
A wise woman of her village - her mother's sister,
was chief among the elders, and instructed the girl
on what she must do to become an adult.

The wise woman breved a flask of strong medicine,
and aided the girl as she fasted in preparation for her
coming of age. When the girl was ready, the wise woman
gave her the medicine to drink, and advised her:

"Go to_the meadow in the forest, and hide yourself
in the tall grass. You will fall asleep, and hopefully
will have a vision. You must remember the visions
when they come. In the morning, return to me, and I
will interpret your dreams. With luck, child, you will
have good omens, and become a woman of the tribe."

The girl did as she was bade. As she lay down in the
thick herbs of the field, she quickly fell into a deep
sleep. She dreamed she stood looking into a dark forest,
thick with undergrowth and tree limbs. She couldn't
enter very far into the forest, but struggled against
the woods. Her motions disturbed a stag, and the girl's
eyes met his. In that instant, her spirit joined his,
and she traveled with him as he fled.

Three days the stag ran, only slowing to drink, his
flank wet with sveat, his eyes wild, running from he
knew not what. At last, the stag collapsed, purified of
all emotions except exhaustion. Lying in a field, trem-
bling, purged of thought, the stag felt the shadow of
a hawk cross his body.

The girl was swept up in the shadow, and merged with
the hawk, flying high in the late afternoon sunlight.
Though the hawk couldn't speak, she understood she vas
in search of a spot of pure, bright gold - her true
self. ALl through that afternoon, on into the night,
the hawk flew over the forest,
searching for that spot of gold.

At dawn, a flash of color
attracted the hawk. Far below
glittered a river, thick with
salnon. Quick as a thought, the
hawk dived, homing in on a
brilliant golden mark below.

[P
30-

As the hawk made to seize the salmon bearing the golden
mark, the girl felt herself leap into the fish, and escape
the hawk's talons. The salmon vas male, swimming up-
stream to spawn. Thrashing wildly against the current,
fighting with every ounce of its strength, the girl

felt the salmon's overvhelming desire to mate; to join

its life force with that of another, and so complete

the cycle of life.

The salmon reached the spawning grounds, and with a
great heave, completed its journey. As the salmon's body
thrashed in the waves, water splashed the snout of a
boar, drinking at the strean's edge. With that splash of
icy water, the girl entered the boar, leaving the salmon
to its death throes.

The boar knew its business. After drinking, with
seeming resignation, the boar trotted off into the forest.
It followed a dim trail that led towards the village.
The boar went willingly out of the forest and to the
outer limits of the village, where it was seized by
hunters lying in wait with nets. It fought bravely, but
the girl knew the boar had sacrificed itself so that
the villagers could feast.

As the hunters tied up the boar's feet, the girl
avakened, to find dawn had come. She returned to the
village, and told the wise woman her dream.
Dreans & Visions

The Vision Quest (cont.) 2|

The wise woman thanked her for remembering so many
details and said:

"You are destined to be initiated as a wise woman,
my dear. The running of the stag is the period of pur-
ification you must undergo. The long night of the hawk
is the time of your vigil to discover your true name.
The journey of the salmon will be your secret initiation
as a wouan, and the sacrifice of the boar is a symbol
of your desire to help the tribe, and of the celebration ‘
to come. Rise, child. It is time for you to be initiated
into the tribe."

The girl was then prepared for her womanhood, and
everyone congratulated her on her successful vision
quest. The girl vas accepted into the tribe, and
becane a great wise woman, as her dream had prophesied.

Dreams & Visions 32.
A Ritual of Initiation

Initiation into a commmity of those who follow the
spiritual path of joy is a sacred rite. It marks the end
of one existence, and the beginning of a new. So that
the rite remains special and imparts profound messages,
the comunity should treat the rite as a mystery, and speak
Little of the ritual's specifics.

Vhen the seeker accepts the principle of no coercion,
the goal of intimacy, and professes a desire to experience
the mysteries, intiation into the commnity can take
place. Ideally, though, the seeker will have found their
own stairvay to heaven that provides them with deep in-
sights, and have experienced the first three of the
mysteries before undertaking the rite of initiation.

Let an elder of the commmity support the seeker
desiring initiation by arranging for comnaninne =
Dreams & Visions
A Ritual of Initiation (cont.) 33

- celebrant for the hieros ganos, and the preparations
for _the commual feast.

Vhen all is in readiness, the seeker is led to the
bath chamber, where ritual purifications, healings,
and other cleansing cerenonies are held. The seeker
will remain there fasting for three days and two nights.
He or she may drink water, tea, beer, wine, or other
liquids, and use their 'stairvay’ as desired, but must
refrain from eating. Let the seeker use the bath and
stean room frequently. Fellow members of the commmity
should keep the seeker canpany, 1 they desire it;
supporting and encouraging then.

At dusk on the third day, the seeker is led by an
elder out of the bath chamber, to the sacred grove, or
a place where they will be undisturbed by others. The
seeker must be left alone, and keep a vigil the night
long. The seeker must turn imvard, finding their true
self, and so discover their true name - the name that
captures the essence of their spirit. The seeker may
use their stairvay if they choose, letting their old
self die, and overseeing the birth of the new self.

At dawn on the fourth day, the celebrant of the
seeker's choice will go to the sacred grove, and ask
the seeker's new name. Once the seeker has shared their
true name, the celebrant will initiate the seeker into
the hieros gamos, in the ancient way. When the holy

rriage is consumated, and the seeker has found unity
with the life force, they are to be considered an in-
itiate of the spiritual path of joy.

The celebrant will then lead the new initiate to the
conmunity gathering place, where they'll share a feast
with their new brothers and sisters. The initiate will
share his or her true name with the sacred commmity,
and be praised and congratulated on their rite of passage.

Let all make merry, and let care be taken to create
an occasion of great joy and pleasure, befitting the
new life joining the Sacred hearth.
s

The latest statistics on crime in the U.S. are
enough to give even the most punitive of social
conservatives pause.

- The U.S. has 5% of the world's population, but
houses 257 of the world's prisoners.

- Spending on law enforcement and corrections at all
levels of government now exceeds $200 billion per
year, a four-fold increase over the last 25 years.

- Corrections now employ more Americans than the
conbined workforces of General Motors, Ford, and -

Dreams & Visions

America, Incarcerated (cont.) 35

- Wal-Mart, the largest sorporate employers in the
country.

- There are more than 5,000 prisons & jails in the U.S.
2/3rds of all prisoners are drug and property offenders.

Behind these numbers lie a cruel system with an en-
ommous social cost. Felons must live in a state of
social exclusion, a kind of civic excommnication with
a taint of lifelong disgrace. Their futures are stunted,
their families devastated, with no hope of change.
Ex-cons now constitute a permanently disenfranchised
“nether class', relegated to society's fringes.

The exponential growth of this class is not due to
nore crime (crime is, on the whole, declining), but is
due instead to a growth in punishment - tougher pros-
ecution and sentencing. Felons are no longer viewed
as people that 98% of the time will reenter their
communities, but are seen as risks to be dealt with.

This follows naturally from a rhetoric of "security',
“protecting the public", and of a "crime problem”, key
buzzvords legitimizing a criminalization of race &
the poor. There is no self-examination, no social
criticism, only shadow-boxing paranoia in an orgy of
blaming the criminal "other' for social ills. The
debate long ago shifted from social reform to punishment.

Race and poverty are treated as crives - as ther always
historically have been. The focus is on “personal res-
ponsibility” (a highly punitive label), versus the
reality of citizens as a collective body, recoznizing
that society has a huge impact on behavior, and an
interest in helping the less fortunate.

It is crucial in understanding the nature of crime to
realize the role the state plays. Govermment on all
levels makes policies, establishes the rules of in-
stitutions, and legalizes (or outlaws) social norms.
Ghettoes, access to meaningful & useful education,
employment opportunities, access to healthcare, child
care, business finance, a litany of things the middle
and upper classes consider entitlements shape different
realities and choices for the poor versus the elite.
Access to these vital resources must be taken into
account when apportioning blame for crime. Does our
society truly provide equal opportunities and fair
conditions for a good life to everyone ?

;

Dreams & Visions 36.

America, Incarcerated (cont.)
B

¢ £79%= inequities in today's society are unequalled
in o5 aistory, unless compared to the 'Gilded Age’ of
the late 1:00's.

A realistic assessment of the status quo reveals that
far from upholding principles of equality and justice,
the U.S. government uses mass incarceration as a tool
to maintain lopsided and oppressive racial & social
hierarchies.

Until Americans decide that vicious embittering
inequalities between the classes making up the body
politic are unacceptable, and need to be rectified,

a bloated prison system will continue to flourish.
This vast system of suffering, rooted in state
violence, will eventually poison society itself.

Dreams & Visions

Monster Marketplace 37
Ads FREE ! Just send 'em in, & I'l1 print 'em.

PROCURER OF KNOMLEDGE

Whatever you need to know concerning.

any subject matter. Fee depends cn

the difEiculty of your questions.

Write a letter stating your concerns,

at which time the cost will be disclosed.

When the fee is pald the mevers are given.
Send a self-addressed stamped envelope to:

Kia 21; 421 W. 87th, 428, K.C.,M0 6411

BURT'S RONIC STONES 3. C. 's DRANINGS
ALl natural charme onderful Elemental Fairies
engraved with the runic Specific requests taken.
alphabet. Excellent for $8.00 and up.
garden wind chimes.

$5.00 each.
Mokema's Makings

Nice variety of Wiccan,
Pagan, and Muggle dravirgs.
Begiming at §5.00

ALl funds & contacts to: Wiccan Curch of Awerica, 421 W. 87th, #28,
Kansas. City, 0 641%
Dreams & Visions 38.
Monster Marketplace (cont.)

CRAFT CORNER
SPONSORED BY WICCAN CHURCH OF
AMERICA

Sketches By Joremy

Beeutifully Hand Beaded
Pentaches, Lotiers And Pogua Gods and Lovely Goddesses
ot o g Skillfully Drawn
Hoar s 00 T T musunt Special Roquest Accepted
e R D
$400 Baeh $10.00 to $500.00
ENCHANTED LEATHER
o ey oy
Plican Designs
Artistically created to suit
Gelmarios, Fiztlar Gavtars,
Ao e o8 lteme
#oke's Custom Soap Carvings Artisan Wood
st by ey
Handcrafted to n‘:‘m e e s Feuell Suts
your ritual, ual il
and spell needs Beglas at s2000
55,00 and Up [E———
Nu Readings by
Send Full and Birth Date

That is all we need
Send to Wiccan Church Of America
$13.00 per reading
All money raised used for Church activities

Contact: Kia 21, 421 V. 870, #28, Kaaan Clty, 10 6418