A Day of Art and Food

A visit at Pintô Art Gallery with my Osha family, folks from the US embassy, and some real artists. Just what I needed to grab that paintbrush once again and attempt to come up with something looking like art.

I could lounge on this sofa/giant feminine napkin all day.

Hmm...many pieces on display seem to be 'acquired tastes' for me.

Goofing off at the studio

Eric acts like a comic.

Tony Perez and US embassy officer Joe Tordella

Yes, we are.

After hours of ogling at art, we took our lunch at The Crescent Moon Cafe (runned by ceramic artist Lanelle Abueva-Fernando) followed by sumptuous desserts at Vieux Chalet. With great food and a relaxing ambiance, these places are perfect spots for weekend R-and-R's.

A cloudy afternoon view at Vieux Chalet.

Joe Tordella, Ms. Lanelle Abueva, and Ms. Anna Rivilla

Lanelle's ceramic pieces are also displayed and sold at the Crescent Moon cafe.

Chocolat Suisse au Parfait. Yum yum.

Bathala Nawa!

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On Cozy Mornings

Peace and calm and the wisdom of the I Ching. Perfect with my morning tea.

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Celebrating Litha - Asian Style

Here are some photos I took from this year's Litha ritual with the Philippine Wiccan Society led by Gaia-ambassador Ishilta. Though we've had bonfire rituals before we have never been this close to the fire. We ended up sweating gallons and smelling like 'uling' but the ritual was immensely uplifting - and physically detoxifying.

Basbasan Nawa!

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The Tarot and Photography

The ajna chakra, that swirling center of energy just above the eyebrows, is my third eye. 

The camera's viewfinder is my fourth. 

However different they are, in my own experience I feel that a psychic and a photographer works in the same manner: they leave their normal everyday consciousness for a while, and then see the world in a different perspective. The psychic gains insight. The photographer comes up with art.

The tarot has been invaluable for me as a tool for self-divination, path-working and skrying. Now it has also become a source of artistic inspiration. I remember that when I got my first tarot deck (a Rider-Waite), I kept staring at the artwork of each card, like miniature Magrittes.

That's probably why I came up with these curious photos. All of these were taken at the spur of the moment. In that split-second instant where I have to think of composition, the beautiful and arcane imageries of the mystical tarot have resurfaced themselves in my subconscious.

 

The Five of Cups, and Glenish wearing her hooded jacket with the view of the mountains of Baguio under bleak skies.

The Two of Wands, and Carla flanked between two small trees while looking over a river somewhere in the province of Bataan.

 

The Fool, and a little girl taking her puppy for a walk on the road in Binangonan, Rizal.

 

The Eight of Wands, and a boy sitting among leaning trees in a forest in Quezon province.

 

The Queen of Swords, and Ms. Liza, our "queen", preparing work plans in her laptop while Mr. Owen, our "king", prepares sandwiches in the kitchen. Taken during our company trip in Fontana, Pampanga.

 

The Ten of Cups, and Julius standing on a pillar - at the center of earth, sea and sky. 

There have been many metatheses of the word TAROT with their own mystical meaning - ROTA (wheel), TROA (gate), ATOR (hathor), TORA (law); but one stands out as my favorite: O, ART.


Bathala Nawa!

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Finding Fortune

A horseshoe on my front door.

Because we need all the luck we can get.

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Enochian Fire Wand

I purchased a dignum wand during a visit to Mt. Banahaw as a souvenir but I wasn't really able to use it at first since it looked like something security guards use to inspect bags with. It was perfect however as a base for a fire wand because of its shape. Eventually I was able to turn this meager stick into a holy symbol of the magician's burning will with enough acrylic paints. 

On its sides are inscribed the words EDLPRNAA, BITOM, and the Hebrew ADNI (Adonai) - all relating to fire. The four red nodes represent the four fires of alchemy. I use this wand to touch the Enochian letters on the Holy Table while vocalizing their names to 'activate' (ignite) them. It is also used in the usual way when invoking the angels themselves or reciting the calls.

Christeos Pir!

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The Divine Table

My old and trusty Enochian Holy Table, used in communing with angelic forces. I think it's function might be to condense and filter telluric currents that may affect the images that "come forth" from the skrying sphere that is placed upon it. Preliminary to the main Watchtower ritual, I vocalize the names of the Enochian letters inscribed on it to put me into an Enochian-flavored alpha-state. The table was fairly easy to make: I just used a felt-tip marker with silver ink to write the on a small tea-table which can easily be bought in department stores.

The beaded green and yellow necklace is associated with Orunmila, Yoruban god of visions and divination. As an orisha worshipper, I call upon his powers occasionally in the hopes of receiving more vivid and meaningful image in my skrying sessions.

Basbasan Nawa!

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Happy April Fool's!

Today is the first of April: the feast day of the fool, also known as the trickster, child-god, stealer of fire, banisher of illusions, lifter of the veil, et cetera.

May your delusions become disillusionments.
May you sense the value of non-sense.
May your Truths become truths.
May Eris-Discordia bless you with laughter.

ΙΟ ΧΑΟΣ!

[0] Today also is Maundy Thursday: remember Judas Iscariot, the great trickster of Judea, without whom there would be no Christ-on-the-cross.

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Ostara: Time to Hatch Out

OMNE VIVUM EX OVO
All life springs forth from the egg.

The origin of the cosmos has been symbolized by the egg among many cultures - like the Orphic Egg of ancient Greek mysteries (shown here) and the Akasha of Hinduism.

To be a witch is to bend and to shape. Hence the nature religion Wicca, like the processes of nature herself, is all about change. [1]

The first half of the Sabbat wheel have passed. In Samhain, Yule, and Imbolc we have learned about death, birth and purification which are all in fact different modes of transformation.

The season of Ostara is a time for awakening. The name Ostara itself refers to the breaking of the dawn in the east. It is aptly celebrated in the time of Spring Equinox or, in astrological terms, when the sun enters the zodiac sign of Aries - the sign of action. The change that Ostara brings is radical and forceful change; such as to the point of breaking one's own limits. No other symbol represents this idea as perfectly as the ancient emblem of life itself - the egg.

To us it is a soft and fragile thing, but for the delicate chick inside it its shell is a sturdy barrier that stands between life and death. It must have been a huge challenge for the weak and blind creature to break free from its prison with such a tiny beak. It is worthy to observe that the mother hen offers no aid to her offspring; the chick has to break the shell all by himself.

I find it fascinating that such a short and simple drama in nature offers so many useful life lessons:

• Real change happens when we break free from our comfort zone.
• Our limitations are based on our belief in our own abilities.
• Enlightenment begins when we become aware that we are in the dark.
• A strong will can break a strong wall.
• If you want something done, you've got to do it yourself.
• Evolution is essential to survive.
• Think outside the box. A huge world is out there.

Raising the cone of power - the Philippine Wiccan Society held an Ostara ritual during the wee hours of the morning to meet the rising sun, symbolic of freshness and renewal.

Eggs were painted in honor of the gods who have died and resurrected, namely Dionysus, Jesus, Osiris, Shango, Adonis, Mithras, et al.

Basbasan Nawa!



[1] The word Wicca comes from the Old English root wic, meaning "to bend" or "to shape".

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Bathala's Pentacle

"The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names."

Aleister Crowley was notorious for "bastardizing" words of magic and names of gods: from ABRACADABRA to ABRAHADABRA, from AUM to the awkward-looking AUMGN, from the Egyptian god Heru-Behdety to the Thelemic god Hadit. All of these name-changing were not done on a whim though; the new spellings were conscientiously formulated in order to give the words more meaning and power.

It's important to remember that the names of the gods are not their actual names, but titles given to them with respect to the archetypal forces they represent.

Sa Ngalan ni Bathala (In Bathala's Name)

The name of the supreme god of the ancient Tagalog people, Bathala, is traditionally spelled with three baybayin characters: B H L. Bathala's name, spelled thus, is in and of itself a symbol embodying a classical, naturalistic philosophy:

The bosom-shaped Ba stands for babae (the feminine/passive principle), while the phallic- or lightning-shaped La stands for lalake (the male/active principle). Together they are joined by the syllable Ha, an S-shaped glyph, similar to that which conjoins the Yin and Yang in the Taijitsu symbol. I would like to think that this Ha stands for hangin - the air that we breathe - which is also the essence of life. Hangin in this sense is similar to that concept of the universal, life-giving energy known in various philosophies as prana, ch'i, ashé, mana, élan vital, et cetera [1]. For this reason I personally associate the baybayin Ha with Halmista, the god of  magic of our ancestors.

In many mystical traditions, each character that comprises the name of god is associated to one of a set of universal concepts, so that the name of god taken as a whole signifies the unifying and all-encompassing principle. Examples of these are the Kabbalistic YHVH, the Gnostic IAO, and the Pythagoreans' YGEIA [2].

Fortunately babayin, like Hebrew letters, due to its apparent lack of vowel characters, are very capable of mystical wordplay [3]. As a supplement to B H L which symbolizes the heavenly forces, I formulated the spelling B' A T H L to illustrate the earthly forces (the realm of the elements). Each of the baybayin character stands for one of the classical elements of Western Esotericism or the Hindu Tattwas. Note that the order of the elements, fire-water-air-earth, corresponds to the four worlds of the Kabbalah:

B - binhi - akasha or the cosmic egg, the quintessence

A - apoy - fire, tejas

T - tubig - water, apas

H - hangin - air, vaju

L - lupa - earth, prithivi

Tala ni Bathala (The Star of Bathala)

The five-pointed star, a timeless symbol of cosmic order, and the pentacle, a tool used by Western esoteric traditions to represent the material plane, is an apt symbol for Bathala as lord of the earth. On the pentacle, the five characters of the name B A T H L is assigned to each of the five points of the star in a clockwise manner. The pentagram is surrounded by hangin (the baybayin Ha) depicted as flowering vines, to symbolize its life-giving essence and all-permeating quality.

Bathala, the god who is neither male nor female, is the laws and forces of nature themselves. To submit oneself to Bathala is to let the natural course of things unfold. In our modern culture, we are taught to become tough and to persevere and are often advised against yielding and letting go. But I am Pagan. I have my faith in nature. As we Filipinos say: "Bahala Na."

Or in the older tongue...

Bathala Nawa!

[1] In the Hebrew language, air, breath and spirit uses the same word: ruach

[2] YHVH and YGEIA, are associated with the four classical elements earth, air, fire and water, with idea being the fifth element in YGEIA. IAO comprises of the first, last, and middle vowels of the Greek alphabet.

[3] The literal Kabbalah is a practice wherein Hebrew letters are manipulated to find or develop new meanings from an existing word.

More Reading:

[1] The Bathala Code:
http://www.pilipino-express.com/history-a-culture/in-other-words/460-the-bathala-code-part-1.html
[2] Bathala spirituality:  http://www.babaylan.com/

[3] Reviving Baybayin:  http://baybayinalive.blogspot.com/

[4] Modern baybayin fonts:  http://nordenx.blogspot.com/

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