Author: Corbid Ravenous

Somebody at work from another shift had the game “Upwards,” a Scrabble derivant, which begged to be tried out. My initial verdict? A bit too simple for my tastes. It’s like switching from the New York Times crossword puzzle to the one in People magazine. But it was kind of fun. Maybe I’m just set in my ways, is all.

Neil Gaimanhas just turned 42, it seems.

A casual lunch outing with the girls ended up looking like a terrible, tragic knife fight as I returned covered in ketchup and chocolate ice cream stains from head to toe. The baby has discovered the concept of dipping foods into other foods at the same time as she’s discovered sharing. Thus, I was required to sample such wondrous concotions as carrot sticks dipped in ketchup and “sugar packet with ranch dressing.” Mmm…you just don’t know what you’re missing there. But the important thing is that we managed to get out of the house and have a passably good time for about the first time in a week. Slowly,slowly I am beginning to regain my sanity…

Willow

Intuition

Your intuition will help you understand the situation and what is best to do. Give yourself the time and opportunity you need to allow your subconscious to communicate its knowledge to you.

Willow, the Ogham’s fourth tree, is closely connected to water, the unconscious, the moon, and thus the feminine. It is symbolic of intuition, the ability to make connections and gain understanding without knowing exactly how or why one knows.

Apple

Beauty and eternity

Beauty, vigor and, perhaps, love are in your future. Anticipate the good, and enjoy it when it arrives. Be careful not to scatter your energies, however; while many options may all be good, sometimes one still must choose between them.

Avalon- the Isle of Apples- is a place of healing in Arthurian legend. The apple symbolizes beauty, eternal youth and vitality, and love. It can also indicate a necessary choice among good options. Apple is the tenth of the Ogham trees.

myth of the day

detritus

Myth of the Day:

Bastet

by Stephanie Cass

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The Egyptian cat-headed goddess, Bastet was strictly a solar deity until the arrival of Greek influence on Egyptian society, when she became a lunar goddess due to the Greeks associating her with their Artemis. Dating from the 2nd Dynasty (roughly 2890-2686 BCE), Bastet was originally portrayed as either a wild desert cat or as a lioness, and only became associated with the domesticated feline around 1000 BCE. She was commonly paired with Sakhmet, the lion-headed goddess of Memphis, Wadjet, and Hathor. Bastet was the “Daughter of Ra”, a designation that placed her in the same ranks as such goddesses as Maat and Tefnut. Additionally, Bastet was one of the “Eyes of Ra”, the title of an “avenger” god who is sent out specifically to lay waste to the enemies of Egypt and her gods.

The cult of Bastet was centered in Bubastis (located in the delta region, near modern- day Zagazig) from at least the 4th Dynasty. In the Late Period Bubastis was the capital of Egypt for a dynasty, and a few kings took her name into their royal titles. Bubastis was made famous by the traveler Herodotus in the 4th century BCE, when he described in his annals one of the festivals that takes place in honor of Bastet. Excavations in the ruins of Tell-Basta (the former Bubastis) have yielded many discoveries, including a graveyard with mummified holy cats.

Because the Greeks equated Bastet with Diana and Artemis and Horus with Apollo, Bastet became adopted into the Osiris-Isis myth as their daughter (this association, however, was never made previous to the arrival of Hellenistic influence on Egypt). She is stated to be the mother of the lion-headed god Mihos (who was also worshipped in Bubastis, along with Thoth). She is depicted most commonly as a woman with the head of a domesticated or wild cat or lion, or as a cat itself.

“Bastet.” Encyclopedia Mythica.

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/b/bastet.html

[Accessed November 08th, 2003.]

I think depression is contagious, like yawning. I catch it so easily from others. I wish they would catch happiness from me instead.

Came to the epiphany that it’s useless to be jealous of friends and acquaintances who have turned chance oppurtunities into worthwhile careers. Perhaps it’s not that I haven’t “been given the right chances.” Perhaps I’ve just failed to recognize and take advantage of them. There’s a certain talent in just that ability itself. Time to wake up and harvest the roses. My niche is out there, I simply have yet to find it.

Zoloft ads have infiltrated basically every entertainment media I frequent. The final straw was when I saw one today during “Guiding Light.” Yes, I watch “Guiding Light,” so sue me. It was the commercial for the Social Anxiety little Zoloft drop. There’s also the Depression Zoloft drop and the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Zoloft drop. They’re such darling little disembodied heads. You really root for them to take their medicine so they can be all happy and cute like the other disembodied heads. I suppose I’m being marketed to. Apparently I’m not the only one.This cannot be a good sign…

Which little Zoloft drop are you?

ISHTAR is the name of the chief goddess of Babylonia and Assyria. She appears under various names, among which are Nan, Innanna, Nina and Anunit. Ishtar is celebrated and invoked as the great mother, as the mistress of lands, as clothed in splendour and power, one might almost say as the personification of life itself.

She has two aspects as goddess of life. She brings forth, she fertilizes the fields, she clothes nature in joy and gladness, but she also withdraws her favours and when she does so the fields wither, and men and animals cease to reproduce. In place of life, barrenness and death ensue. She is thus also a grim goddess, at once cruel and destructive. We can, therefore, understand that she was also invoked as a goddess of war and battles and of the chase. In myths symbolizing the change of seasons she is portrayed in this double character, as the life-giving and the life-depriving power.

The most noteworthy of these myths describes her as passing through seven gates into the nether world. At each gate some of her clothing and her ornaments are removed until at the last gate she is entirely naked (thus the relevance of her representation as a stripper in the “Sandman:Brief Lives” collection.) While she remains in the nether world as a prisoner (whether voluntary or involuntary it is hard to say) all fertility ceases on earth, but the time comes when she again returns to earth, and as she passes each gate the watchman restores to her what she had left there until she is again clad in her full splendour, to the joy of mankind and of all nature.

Closely allied with this myth and personifying another view of the change of seasons is the story of Ishtars love for Tammuz, symbolizing the spring time. As midsummer approaches her husband is slain and, according to one version, it is for the purpose of saving Tammuz from the clutches of the goddess of the nether world that she enters upon her journey to that region.

In all the great centres Ishtar had her temples, bearing such names as E-anna, heavenly house, in Erech; E-makh, great house, in Babylon; E-mash-mash, house of offerings, in Nineveh. Of the details of her cult we as yet know little, but there is no evidence that there were obscene rites connected with it, though there may have been certain mysteries introduced at certain centres which might easily impress the uninitiated as having obscene aspects. She was served by priestesses as well as by priests, and it )vould appear that the votaries of Ishtar were in all cases virgins who, as long as they remained in the service of Ishtar, were not permitted to marry.

In the astral-theological system, Ishtar becomes the planet Venus, and the double aspect of the goddess is made to correspond to the strikingly different phases of Venus in the summer and wintel seasons. On nionuments and seal-cylinders she appears frequently with how and arrow, though also simply clad in long robes with a crown on her head and an eight-rayed star as her symbol. Statuette, have been found in large ntimbers representing her as naked with her arms folded across her breast or holding a child. Together with Sin, the moon-god, and Shamash, the sun-god, she is the third figure in a triad personifying the three great forces of nature, moon sun and earth, as the life-force.

ISHTAR

in the 1911 Encyclopdia

from Matrix Oracles :

Nyd / needThey say that necessity is the mother of invention. With NYD you must have patience in order to learn where creative effort is going to bear fruit. Expect delays and limitations when this rune appears; take care of your health as well. For a time the feeling will be that success is eluding you, but the rune�??s nature is not failure. Rather endurance is required to get you through.

Ethel / inheritanceThe rune of inheritance, ETHEL indicates benefit to you through gifts and help from family, especially older relatives. In fact death and inheritance are associated, but this rune does not necessarily bring them both. There is a tendency to be stubborn and single-minded where ETHEL is found, so it can indicate areas where you need to cultivate a more flexible attitude.

….I can’t believe my fortune is a rune called “Ethel” 🙂

myth of the day

detritus