3.

Men & Death

78-113

p. 78

The Kickapoo "had called the Rockies the "Mountains of the Silver Ghosts.""

p. 79

"I'd get ... to the mountains well after sunset ... to the ... graveyards, and pray to the forces in the earth and stars."

p. 84

"I'd sit on the graves. The ... headstones belonging to ... Sleepy Hollow ... were my favorites. All ... had died on All Souls' Day".

"That year the comet Kohoutek ... was named ..., I wanted to ride my comet ... from the ghosts ... . Kohoutek became the visible tail of my own dream fire."

p. 85

"I was ... to watch the sun set behind Baboquivari on the Papago reservation".

p. 86

"I arrived in Tombstone in ... 1974".

p. 87

"In the dark I ... climbed into the branches of a chinaberry tree. I sat there ... and just prayed. ... I just wanted to live, and I'd do anything

p. 88

I was directed to. ... My destiny still seemed to need me, too. I just needed a sign.

Someone knocked loudly at my door a few hours later. ... I opened the door. Standing there was a tall, gaunt man ... . He looked ... crazed. ... At first, he seemed to be wearing a turquoise shirt made from a material I'd never seen before, some sort of woven, shiny tinsel, perhaps ... synthetic metal. The man's bare head had a thin, filmy glow of white {nimbus of a blessed} around it. ... "Stop," he said. "... In fact, I've been told you are the best reader in the western hemisphere." ... .

p. 89

... I'd prayed hard for a sign, for a miracle, and this man ... had the aspect of the miraculous ... . "We've been looking all over for you ... . The space beings told us about you. I know you're sick. I've brought the medicine you need," he said. ...

"I'm Bennett D'Angelo. ..."

{'benediction-of-angel'. cf., e.g., the name of Rio D'Angelo of Heaven's Gate; and of UFO witness Ricardo E. D'Angelo} ...

I was facing my death, and ... the space beings had told him I was in need of healing ... . I'd take any cure. ...

So I gave Bennett D'Angelo a tarot reading. It was an unusual reading, to say the least. Bennett D'Angelo's cards were all major arcana -- long odds that of twelve cards all would be picture cards and not the suit cards of the minor arcana. ... I needed a miracle. And Ben was strange enough to be just that. ...

p. 90

Ben ... said, "... We're talking about doing what it takes to depossess you of death. ... I can reverse that. ..." ... Ben the Angel went ... to get his followers. ... He came ... trailing a group of five men ... . ... One of the men set up a portable massage table. ...

p. 91

He said that he had cured many people of cancer. As far as he was concerned, cancer was a form of possession that was not from within me, but from what I had allowed into myself because of others and their hypnotic belief system."

p. 93

"he tried to kiss me. I ... put my cheek against him {so that the cheek could be kissed -- it hath more sensibility than the lips}. Just then a purple shooting star fell ... as if ... an ameythyst bridal veil ... was ... carrying me along. I shrieked ... . ...

p. 94

For many years the Jack of Diamonds had followed the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff ... . ... "The genius of Gurdjieff was in how ... He didn't tell them to wake up;

he showed them just how mechanical they already were. He was a master of confronting people not with what they should be, but with what they were. Real teaching always has to first undo all the harm our upbringing has done." ...

{The intent of this display would, apparently, be to rendre disciples regretful and therefore repentant. But how can anyone be regretful or repentant if one doth not already realize what is the correct path of realization and of action? Gurdjieff's method is essentially sterile and useless. It is a mere dilettante's self-titillation, with no sense of direction nor goal, fit only for insincere idlers.}

p. 95

"What about former lifetimes?" Wouldn't it be possible, I wondered, to remember what we'd learned before on earth in previous existences? ...

{This statement of hers is certainly a valid objection to Gurdjieff's infunctional method.}

p. 96

"Besides" -- he grinned "... It's not just the conspiracy of of the billionaires and the military who run the circus of America. It's the earth itself. The planet itself wants us to be asleep. ..." ...

{Though the billionaires and the military may be summarily ignored, yet nevertheless there is also a residue of metaphysical ignorance (lack of information, combined with downright misinformation -- on a general cultural level) which is impeding intellectual and social progress -- and not really "the earth itself" (i.e., the combined collective of elemental spirits on this planet).}

I laughed. "... I'm only objecting to the systematization ... . It sounds ponderous and heavy ... . ... I'll tell you something ... I learned from Bennett D'Angelo --"

"Oh ...," Jack interrupted. "... Old Lightning Bones actually touched you and you're not seeing visions of space critters?"

p. 97

"As a matter of fact Old Lightning Bones saved my life ... . Strange as he may seem to you ..., he had the magic to heal me. ... When I almost died and old Angel Ben healed me, he told me his treatments were depossessions.

What possessed me was belief in death. ...

{This (mortal mind, excessive belief in one's mortal physicality) is likewise a doctrine of Christian Science.}

Once Ben the Angel took away death, which was only my mechanical belief, I was ... absolute ... . That's the ... teaching ... : there is no riddle, because there is no death,

even though we have to express our immortality in forms that are subject to change."

{The reason why we have to express our immortality in such forms is in order to countre-act the effects of metaphysical ignorance spread about by evil spirits (such evil spirits being largely guardian-angels of "the billionaires and the military").}

"I'd never really loved a man in my life. I seemed to pick them for what they could do for me in exchange for what I could do for them. Well, that was why you had sex -- it was what women could do for the men they were with. That was how I'd been raised, ...

{Although the authoress hath stated this manner of value-reckoning as if it were peculiar to women, yet nevertheless it is just as characteristic of aequivalent men (at least when they are considering potential results cautiously). An astute [hoodoo- or spirit-worker-]man (if cautious, and if already in contact with the mighty spirit-world) will seek long-term [sexual] relations with a woman only if she be capable of conferring on him further such spirit-contacts.}

except for the man of my dream".

{It would actually be even even more so as for a dreamed-man, for he would be likely to be capable of imparting vast psychic/spiritual powers to the woman, in exchange for very little effort on the woman's part.}

p. 99

"All I had to do was manifest through prayer and meditation enough material security

for him to finally be able to teach Gurdjieff's method of Work."

{It would seem rather curious of her to consent to do this, given her rather strenuous objections to Gurdjieff's method (given on pp. 96-7). Perhaps it seemed to her as a "lesser evil" amongst available alternatives.}

p. 100

"in ... 1978, ... I had a recurring lucid dream about a long, narrow building with a mural of stars, moon, and planets painted on its side. Inside it was ... occupied by a man and woman. The man wore the cloak of Merlin; the woman was an Indian who needed no cloak -- her aura ... was ... with birds and bears. The man and woman ... gave me the candle called High John the Conqueror and explained how to anoint it with oil extracted from the plant of the same name. The woman in the dream was fierce as a crow. ... As the dream ended she handed me a Seal of Solomon. ...

I drew ... a picture as I narrated the dream. Seeing the wall with stars on it, he [a business-partner] said, "I've seen that place ... over on East Charleston.""

p. 105

"I drove down East Charleston [street] looking for the building that had the mural ... . It didn't take long to spot it -- ... the mural of starry skies encrusted with astrological symbols and a Star of David. ... "Hello," I said. "What is the name of this place?" "The Bell, Book, and Candle," he said. ...

p. 106

I picked up one of the unglazed, unpainted statues. "... I've seen this one before in dreams, only he was wearing a green cloak ... ." "That's San Cipriano," the man said. "He's the patron saint of healers. That's why you saw the green cloak. ..." ... We chatted about San Cipriano and Saint Jude ... . ... "Jude is the patron of actors and the stage. ...""

p. 106

""Come here, sweetheart," a woman said. ... "We are the same," she said. "We have the same medicine, and we come from the same place." Then I remembered the woman in my dreams which had been like a raven ... . It was the first of countless meetings with Charmaine, who proceeded to tell me I was the daughter she'd lost in other lifetimes. "It's good to see you again," she said with deep feeling. "Time gets to be so short." ...

p. 107

And indeed there was much she had to tell me, especially about the relationship of people to the planet earth, and, following from that, the nature and role of women on earth. Until her death, Aunt Charmaine ... told me many things about ... fate, things which were hard ... even to this day, for me to understand. Aunt Charmaine was a witch. She said the word with bluntness, and added a word of warning :

"Whatever you do, don't take a man's words to heart, don't let a man teach you, because no matter how well-meaning, he'll teach you so as to convince you of his ways, and his ways can't help being tainted .. ." ...

{Naturally enough, a man may be likely to convince of his animus (male); but he can just as well submit to his anima (female "soul").}

Charmaine ... had been born on the reservation in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, the child of a Cherokee prostitute ... . ... As a young woman ..., she had borne a child ... out of wedlock. ... During the Second World War, ... Charmaine danced in a burlesque review. ...

p. 108

In Houston Charmaine ... founded the Houston Theosophical Society. ... Charmaine studied particularly the teachings of Marie LaVeau and Madame Blavatsky. ... Wicca was a ceremony-based religion, Charmaine said, because life is a dance and dance is the truest religion. ...

p. 109

We have our roots in the stars, Charmaine said, ... so ... that longing for starlight is ... a desire for perspective. ... The hope for mankind, in Charmaine's view, had dwindled rapidly as the ... dream realm, which even in our time carried the ancient sources of life and rejuvenation, had been devalued ... . "Real life is a dream," Charmaine often said. We talked about dreaming power, which she also had. ...

p. 110

"Sweetheart, don't ever take a man as a teacher, never let a man initiate you into his teaching.

Because you're already the goddess, sweetheart. ...""

{This is a doctrine of of nigama and of tantra, both S`akta and Vajra-yana.}

p. 111

"there was a full moon. Aunt Charmaine called it "Pan's Moon," the lovers' moon. A woman who wants to know about her true love asks for a dream at this moon, and her true love will be revealed. I prepared my altar early in the day, lighting red and pink candles. I filled vases all around the house with pink roses, white and pink daisies in honor of Pan. I anointed the candles with ... love and vision oils ..., placed three rosebuds on the altar -- pink, flanked by red and white buds -- and prayed. ...

p. 112

All night I dreamed I was a hummingbird making love to {orally, by sucking nectar from the blossoms of?} a giant saguaro in the desert night."

p. 112

"in February 1980 ... I called Directory Assistance for Arizona. I

p. 113

asked the operator for listings for "Yaqui Tribe." ... To my astonishment the operator replied that he lived near Guadalupe in Phoenix, where there was a Yaqui village ... . ... "All right," he replied, and ... said, "I'm going to give you the number of the of the Yaqui chief in Tucson. But don't tell anyone ... ." I called the number ... . ... "Am I speaking with the Yaqui Tribal Chief?" I asked. "... I am the spiritual leader of my people," he said. ... He told me the Yaquis had a new, small reservation called Pascua Pueblo, on the southwest side of Tucson. ... He then gave me instructions on how to reach the Pascua Reservation and told me to be sure to come to his office".

4.

Wherefore Comest Thou Hither?

114-34

p. 114

""THERE'S THE BLACK LIZARD. AND THERE'S THE BOLT OF LIGHTNING," ... a long, black mesa hunkered like a chuckwalla ... . ... We turned onto Tetakusim ..., turned again at Vicam ... . The pink-and-white walls were covered with murals of Yaqui deer dancers and ... the Yaqui clowns. ... We walked ... into another office. On the walls were memorabilia ... the declaration and pen used by Jimmy Carter to sign the Yaqui Tribe into legal existence. There were national and local recognition plaques ... .

p. 115

... He related ... how the Yaqui came to be the only Indian tribe recognized by the Mexican government ... . ... Anselmo Valencia spoke in a somewhat formal ... English ... . ... I said I had dreamed of the ceremonial dances since I had been a child. ...

p. 116

I could hear the echo of someone speaking and recalled that it was I. My words were quite faint; they were coming from behind me

{This is indicative of a spirit-entity's standing behind her and assisting in her talking.}

while the sound of a waterfall grew louder and louder ... in front of me. ...

{This would be indicative of said spirit-entity's being a waterfall-spirit (perhaps the Maori god Marere-o-Tona, and/or the waterfall-spirit who assisted in Michael Harner's being initiated into shamanry by the S^uar shaman).}

Several hummingbirds were drinking from red hibiscus flowers in my hair. We were laughing at the foot of the waterfall ... .

p. 117

... Everything was both transparent and solid, doubly real, as had been my dreams ... . But I had never moved with another person from the temporal {material, waking} world to the transparent one. ... Anselmo ... Thanked me. ... "... I would like you to record what you have just said so that it may become a part of our library ... ." ...

What did I just say? I had no memory of it.

{It had been spoken through her mouth by her spirit-guide.}

"I would also like you to visit my mother. I will ... take you to the cemetery." "Your mother and I have already met," I replied quickly ... . ... "Her grave is the most remarkable one in the cemetery ... ." [Refer to pp. 14-15.] "Yes. Then you have certainly met my mother," Anselmo said."

p. 118

"I said I ... was very happy for all the attention paid to us, especially by the society of masked dancers, the chappakeyas".

{cf. Hopi masked dancers, the kac^ina-s}

"That was the man I saw at the Mission, that was him {he}".

p. 118

"He ... began talking. "I have a favor to ask of you. ... Because of your knowledge of ceremonial magic, I feel directed to confide in you about a problem I have discussed with no one else. ... We have met many times in many forms and disguises."

"Mr. Valencia -- ... I didn't say this ... the other day. But I have seen you in dreams, many, many times."

"The dream was real ..., and because of it, I am going to trust you as I have trusted no one here. ...

p. 119

The woman I live with ... no longer supports me in my work for the Yaqui culture ... . ... Nevertheless, she is a very powerful woman.

But because she is afraid of her own power,

{She is afraid of, and thus to that extent disrespectful of, the deities of her own aboriginal Yaki religion, who have nevertheless imparted to her spiritual power to employ for the intended benefit of other persons.}

she has done things in dreaming she isn't even aware of that have hurt people. Her fear has finally come home ..., and ... because she doesn't have hold of her power, she has made it impossible to fulfill my duties. Now this must cease. ... It would be dishonorable to ask her to leave my house. ... I ask you to create a ceremony that will cause her to leave the reservation ... . ... But I stress -- she must want to leave here because something better will appear for her. I want you to see to it that she leaves for a younger man,

p. 120

one who will be pleasing to her. ... She must under no circumstances be taken from here to something unhappy. Otherwise, ... I will have to pay the price ... . I cannot afford such a tax on my energies. ..."

"It will take me a full moon cycle, Anselmo," I said".

""Is Anselmo your ... name?"

"... In Yaqui it's 'Tori.' ... The Tori clan is named for a small rodent that lives over in Rio Yaqui ... . So you could say ... that

I am the 'Rat.' ...

{The propre species of the tori is distinct from that of the rat. In Yaki, it is instead the word "Chikul, which means Rat" ("DKT").}

What is your Indian name, Heather?"

"Onamwashnatena," I said. "... 'High White Lightning.' ... Potawatomi."

"... In Yaqui ... the words for lightning mean the same as 'the Great Serpent Sticks out His Tongue.'" [cf. p. 74, tongued by the Great Serpent]

p. 121

"Anselmo Valencia ... said ... "In the religion of my people, as in some others, like [that of] the Hindus, human beings return to live over and over. When we die, we return to the sun where all that we have been in the past is exposed ... . Those who cannot withstand the light [of disclosure of one's character] come back to the planet [where one's character is not so openly disclosed] to try again [to live a sort of life which can be openly praesentable]. After a year [in the sun] we die, if it is our fate [preference] to return, we find a new Yaqui mother and

p. 122

father and our spirit animates their lovemaking and creates [induceth for our sake the body of our life as] a new child. ...""

"For the Yaki, our beautiful little Grandmother ... came from the stars, where she played in the heavens with our Grandfather the Thunderbird. Grandmother's love and her body made the perfect beauty of this world ..., for before anything was real, Grandmother dreamed it. She dreamed all of us to share in her dreaming.

The Enchanted Flower World is Grandmother's dreaming garden, the place where all things ... are ... perfect, beautiful, and most alive.

The deer, our Little Brother, is the door to the Enchanted Flower World,

{This fact can be deduced from mythology. Sumerian hero Enkidu's hand was caught in the door to the Otherworld, and Yucatec day-sign Manik (depicted as a Maya glyph for a hand-gesture) hath as its Aztec aequivalent day-sign Mazatl ('Deer').} {Also, /DEER/ is cognate with Hellenic /THERA/ (islet-site of a cataclysmic praehistoric Santotini volcanic eruption which oped the door betwixt worlds), similar to Hellenic /THuRA/ 'Door'.}

and when a man dances the deer, when he becomes the Little Brother, the door to that world opens."

p. 125

"The pascolas ... know death. They ... are jovial, humorous.

{Dahomean god Ge.de. : "Guede is the Lord of Death. ... When he appears in a ceremony he will often ... start to leap around joking with all the people." ("GuL")}

Yet they dance apart from the deer, for the deer ... is purely joyous {without jesting nor humor?}. These pascolas make light of death, they may even joke about it.

But they also have the serious task of escorting us between the two worlds.

{similarly to Vaidik Yama and to Hellenic Hermes}

For the Yaqui, death is

p. 126

the gap between the world in which our consciousness is housed in our bodies and the world in which it is in the eternal dream place.

When the deer dances it is eternal. Where the pascolas dance, there is death, so the parties of participants are separated {so as to repraesent the gap betwixt worlds}. ... The pascolas would like to be in the Enchanted Flower World, but they can't get there ... . ... The alchemy of the deer dance is in ... the eternal Enchanted Flower World. ...

p. 127

I sat dressed in the yellow of the Flower World,

{Yellow is the usual color of flower-pollen.}

at the center of ... my life."

{Yellow is the central color of the rainbow-spectrum.}

"shook them ..., a sound ... warning the evil spirits away. My heart beat very fast and ... all started to grow fuzzy and white ... . Except for ... the deer, I saw nothing but this hazy, heated white, and I thought I was passing out. Suddenly Anselmo ... threw ... in my face ... confetti. It was so sudden ..., and a pink castle rosebud had flown right into my startled mouth. ... Something ... had tumbled into my blouse ... a nautilus shell".

p. 130

"he ... said, "My people knew you would finally come here. You have felt drawn

p. 131

to this place for many years, without knowing where you were. But you were drawn, just as the hummingbird is drawn to her flowers. ... Among my people there are some ladies with a special purpose to my people. We call them dreaming women. ... your coming was known in dreams. ... You know how to see, you have the dreaming medicine. ... All my people have seen you ..., because you have the same dreaming medicine. ... You are the hummingbird. Did you know it was the hummingbird who brought all the different languages people use? ...

p. 132

Your coming is a very good omen. ... We Yaquis are sorcerers and dreamers."

p. 133

"deer lodge ... picnic ... . ... "This is the same soup my people served in the beginning -- guacavaci. ... beans, squash ..., ears of corn {maize}, and meat.""

"he escorted me to the entrance of the deer lodge where the the deer singers, the deer dancers and pascolas, the musicians all filed by ... and thanked me."

p. 134

"Outside the deer lodge ... Everyone walked in a counterclockwise circle ..., and dispersed."

{In the Bodish Bon religion, countreclockwise is the usual direction for ritual circumambulations.}