Toivosworld - Toi Díaz

Thomas Moore before and after he was forced to attend the Regina Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan, Canada in 1874. His hair was cut, his clothes were changed and he was forbidden from speaking his native language. Thomas was stripped of his indigenous identity along with thousands of other children stolen from reservations and forced to attend these schools.

“— Sé a qué se refiere. — ¿Lo sabe? Sí, tal vez. Empiezo a creer que sí lo sabe. — Las sombras de quienes pudimos ser y no fuimos… ¿No se trata de eso?… De quienes soñamos ser y nos hicieron despertar. Las sombras de aquellos a quienes una vez amamos y no conseguimos jamás, de quienes nos amaron y cuya esperanza matamos por maldad, estupidez o ignorancia.”

—

El maestro de esgrima.

Arturo Pérez-Reverte.

Obra: “Ofelia” John Everett Millais, 1852. Libro: “Hamlet”  William Shakespeare, 1609. “Hamlet” es una obra teatral, dramática y notable del escritor William Shakespeare.

Personajes: Príncipe Hamlet: Protagonista. Príncipe de Dinamarca, como hijo del rey Hamlet y la reina Gertrudis, sobrino de Claudio. Gertrudis: Reina de Dinamarca y madre de Hamlet. Claudio: Tío del príncipe Hamlet. Hermano del rey Hamlet. Rey Hamlet: Rey de Dinamarca y padre del príncipe Hamlet. Muere asesinado. Polonio: Noble que acompaña y sirve al rey. Padre de Laertes y Ofelia. Muere asesinado por error. Laertes: Hijo de Polonio y hermano de Ofelia. Hace un pacto con Claudio y se enfrenta a el príncipe Hamlet desatando un trágico final. Ofelia: Hija de Polonio y hermana de Laertes. Tiene una relación amorosa con Hamlet. Enloquece al morir su padre. Horacio: Fiel amigo y compañero de estudios de Hamlet en Wittenberg.

Ambientada en Elsinor y Dinamarca. 

La historia relata la trágica vida del príncipe Hamlet hijo del rey Hamlet y la reina Gertrudis, sobrino de Claudio quien sería el hermano del rey Hamlet. Un día Hamlet pierde a su padre que muere en circunstancias sospechosas, no pasa ni un mes que su tío Claudio se queda la corona y se casa con Gertrudis. Al hijo de la reina esto no le gusta para nada hasta que en un momento Horacio amigo y compañero de Hamlet le cuenta que haciendo guardia ha reconocido un fantasma parecido a su padre. Hamlet no duda y va al mismo horario que se le indico que lo había visto en la muralla del castillo. De esta manera Hamlet se encuentra con su padre quien le relata los sucesos y le dice que tiene que vengarlo porque el culpable de su muerte es su tío quien ahora se ha apoderado de la corona. 

Mientas crea un plan para vengar a su padre finge estar loco para que no sospechen de sus intenciones. Esto llama la atención de Gertrudis, Claudio y Polonio (noble que acompaña al rey) que dice que debe ser por el amor que siente por su hija Ofelia. 

Por otro lado Ofelia recibe consejos de su padre y su hermano Laertes antes de irse a Francia de que se aleje de Hamlet, que no se deje llevar por los “pecados”, que cuide su “pureza” e “inocencia” refiriéndose a su virginidad, que la hace una “doncella”, esta los ignora y decide perseguir su corazón. En el libro no detalla, ni es explicito pero entendemos que algo ocurre entre los enamorados. Acto seguido Hamlet trata mal a Ofelia diciéndole que no la ama y que se vaya a un convento actuando de una forma extraña. Ella no lo entiende y sufre.

Hamlet entre dudas, entre el bien el mal, entre ser y no ser, entre vengarse y no hacerlo decide hacer una obra de teatro para todes reafirmando su certezas. En la obra muestra como un rey ha sido asesinado, su tío al ver la obra se levanta indignado y esto es una increible prueba para confirmar sus sospechas de que no es ningún inocente, todo esto llevara a un trágico desenlace para todos los personajes e incluso mismo para Dinamarca que estaba en una guerra con Noruega.

No quiero detallar más nada por el hecho de que quiero que disfruten la obra sin saber demasiado de ella sólo con lo justo y necesario como lo disfrute yo sin ver ninguna película, ninguna reseña, ningún resumen sabiendo poco y nada. Sin dudas leerlo es apasionante, en un punto gracioso y triste con un toque de locura e irracionalidad. Espero disfruten de la obra como yo lo he hecho. 

History of Magick (pt. 1)

DISCLAIMER: Please keep in mind that this history series primarily focuses on the European aspects of magick. It is not an all-encompassing history. It should also be noted that I do not agree with the personal beliefs of many of the influential figures mentioned. This is a post on history, and the beliefs of individuals will reflect the context of their time. Be sure to research these figures before you make them into role models, and make your own informed judgement.

Magic, in some form or another, has been practiced since before written history. The public perception of magic has evolved over time, with practitioners prized, executed, adored, fantasised, and discriminated against. Regardless of its reception, magic has always been a fascinating topic, and it is only now that knowledge of magical practices is becoming widely available. The world ‘occult’ itself comes from the Latin occultus meaning ‘hidden’. 

MAGIC VS. RELIGION

The separation of magic from religion is in its lack of involvement in a deity. A strict definition of magic could be an attempt to shape the various aspects of one’s life using methods that are not grounded in science, and typically do not appeal to a deity. A concept used to distinguish one from the other is ex opere operato (by virtue of the action). Essentially:

Magic: the practitioner expects the outcome to be as a result of the power of the ritual itself

Religion: the practitioner expects the outcome to be as a result of an intervening force

Nevertheless, the two often go hand in hand and are sometimes, especially in ancient history, indistinguishable from one another.

MAGIC AND WRITING

Just as most major religions are grounded in a holy text, magic has a close association with writing. The word ‘grimoire’ led to the modern word ‘grammar’, and the Egyptian god of magic, Thoth, was also the god of writing. This association is often found in societies where the majority of the population were illiterate and knowledge was hidden from the masses, thus making books a form of occult (or hidden) knowledge. Onwards of the 14th century the possession of magic books became a regular reason for prosecution - in 1319, the Franciscan friary Bérnard Delicieux was sent to prison for owning a book of necromancy, and a century later the Pope Benedict himself was accused of buying a similar book.

MAGIC VS. SCIENCE

In the Age of Enlightenment (17th-18th centuries), the occult branch of magic was replaced by rationalism, and the lighter branch of stage magic - sleights of hand and conjuring tricks aimed to delight. Magic was tamed and turned into a parlour amusement. Influential anthropologist James George Frazer speculated that ‘primitive’ magic would naturally develop into religion, and then science.

The ancient Mesopotamians and Egyptians believed that illness could be cured with spells - for them magic was already a science. Sir Isaac Newton was perplexed by the apparent ‘action at a distance’ caused by gravity, assuming it to be somehow magical. Much later, the sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke famously observed that ‘any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic’. For the English occultist Aleister Crowley, magic was ‘the science of understanding one’s self and one’s condition’, bringing us to the more contemporary understanding of the occult as being of benefit to the individual rather than solely impacting the physical world.

The end of the Enlightenment drew in a fascination with the desire to perform magic, with both Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung examining its origins. In 1944, Jung published Psychology and Alchemy, which drew parallels between alchemical symbols and psychological processes. In his Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (1922), Freud claims that ‘words and magic were in the beginning one and the same thing, and even today words retain much of their power’.

While it is undecided whether magic is scientifically ineffable, a placebo effect caused by the brain or simply just another branch of science itself, the two topics are closely tied together throughout history. The idea can be succinctly summarised in this sentence: magic is simply unexplained science, and science is simply explained magic.

THE HERMETICA

Any history of magic, particularly Western magic, cannot be considered without discussion of the Hermetica, a powerful group of esoteric writings that can be traced back to Egypt (2nd-4th centuries AD). It consists of a series of dialogues mostly featuring Hermes Trismegistus (‘Hermes the Thrice-Great’). The dialogues deal with the nature of divinity, the order of the universe and even touch on subjects such as alchemy. Their central focus is the Corpus Hermeticum, a collection of texts translated into Latin from Greek by Marsilio Ficino at the end of the 15th century.

The Hermetic tradition feeds directly into Western esoteric traditions. French scholar of Western esotericism Antoine Faivre defines this tradition as operating by six key concepts:

Correspondences: the idea that there are sympathetic bonds within the universe, seen in the idea of macrocosm-microcosm (or the Hermetic saying ‘as above, so below’)

Living Nature: that all of nature is part of a conscious order, and that everything shares a life force

Imagination and Mediations: that rituals, symbolic images and intermediary spirits can connect different worlds and levels of reality

Experience of Transmutation: that esoteric practice can transform the individual, principally in the sense of a spiritual transformation

Practice of Concordance: that all religions, beliefs, etc. stem from a single, original principle, and that understanding this principle brings the various systems of belief into closer alignment

Transmission: that occult knowledge is transmitted from master to adept, often by means of an initiation process

This post is an excerpt from my personal grimoire. The main source is The Occult, Witchcraft & Magic: An Illustrated History by Christopher Dell.

“Be like the phoenix that rises from the ashes. If you are down, learn to be resilient and you´ll become stronger than ever before.”

— Death (The Tarot Insight)

Antaeus setting down Dante and Virgil in the last circle of hell, 1827, William Blake

Medium: pen,watercolor,paper

https://www.wikiart.org/en/william-blake/antaeus-setting-down-dante-and-virgil-in-the-last-circle-of-hell-1827

“Soy de querer con todas mis fuerzas, por eso evito encariñarme con cualquiera.”

— Stup

Somos viajeros en un viaje cósmico: polvo de estrellas que gira y baila en los remolinos del infinito.

 La vida es eterna.

 Pero las expresiones de la vida son efímeras, momentáneas, transitorias.

 El Buda Gautama, Fundador del budismo, dijo en cierta ocasión:

   Esta existencia nuestra es tan transitoria como las nubes de otoño.

 Contemplar el nacimiento y la muerte de los seres es como mirar los movimientos de una danza.

  Una vida es como un relámpago en el cielo; corre como un torrente por la ladera empinada de una montaña.

  Nos hemos detenido un momento a encontrarnos, a conocernos, a amarnos, a compartir. Éste es un momento precioso, pero es transitorio.

 Es un pequeño paréntesis en la eternidad.

 Si compartimos con interés, con ligereza de corazón y con amor, crearemos abundancia y alegría los unos para los otros.

 Y entonces este momento habrá merecido la pena.

 BUDA

 * * *