Fern at Kew Gardens

Daylight and the Sun

Daylight and the Sun

There was no light

Only the white night

First born when the sun

Screamed her eyes wide open

Daylight in the fields

Daylight mountains

Fire kisses the floor

Of the lakes and makes shadows

***

Now I cry for daylight

Daylight and the sun

Now I cry for daylight

Daylight everyone

Daylight in my heart

Daylight in the trees

Daylight kissing everything

She can see

***

Ooh your dream

Here on the water

Warm the sand

The seagulls calling

Kissed by kindness

***

You gave me this

Your fire becomes a kiss

***

From LP 'The Crying Light' by Antony and the Johnsons

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USbg_pd7VUQ

No snow fell on Eden

No snow fell on Eden
There was no snow in Eden as I remember it.

There was no snow, so no thaw or tao as you say:
no snowmelt drooled down the brae,
baring what it should've left kindly hidden.

No yellow ice choked bogbean.
There was no sheepskulls in the midden.

It was no allotment, Eden -
but a hothouse, an orangery,
with maidenhair strummed
by a mumbling monkey.

There was no cabbage-patch of rich, roseate heads.
There was no innuendo and no snow.

No footprint thawed to the sloppy paw of a yeti.

And since in Eden they were so mature,
a steaming bing of new manure was just not funny.

Eve knew no one who was dying.
Adam never sat up late, drinking and crying.

And if at four the sky split like a watermelon,
soddening the land with blue and citrine,
and the drowned ground wept smells,
on one stood stock staring still.

Black was not so sooty, as I remember it.

Green was not so greeny-browny.

No boat twirled redly
on an eyepopping sea.

by Jen Hadfield
Nigh-No-Place
Bloodaxe Books 2008

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

When peacocks shed their feathers they grow back even brighter and more beautiful, thus sustaining the power of the peacock image. Peacocks also hold meaning as a symbol of accepting one's own beauty and as a reminder to view self and others in their truest form...the incorruptible soul worthy of perfect love.

The peacock is an early Christian symbol for the resurrection of Christ. Several religions maintain that the peacock was present alongside the Tree of Life, and it is from this bird that all other animals were created.

There are Greek and Roman myths having to do with Jupiter (Zuess) and Juno (Hera) and how the peacock was created. It symbolises immortality, the reflection of the divine essence, is associated with the sun and the heavens, and is on par with the angelic realm...a creature capable of seeing God in His/Her true form. Supposedly Cherubim have peacock feathers in their wings.

In Hinduism the peacock is associated with Lakshmi who is a deity representing benevolence, patience, kindness, compassion and luck. Similar to Lakshmi, the peacock is associated with Kwan-yin in Japan - she is Goddess of love, compassionate watchfulness, good-will, nurturing, and kind-heartedness.

Kwan-yin chose to remain a mortal even though she could be immortal because she wished to stay behind and aid humanity in their spiritual evolution. In Babylonia and Persia the peacock is seen as a guardian to royalty, and is often seen in engravings on the thrones of royalty.
In general, the Peacock is representative of glory, immortality, royalty, and incorruptibility, integrity and the beauty that can be achieved when we endeavor to better ourselves and better our lives.

http://www.oshunspirit/

The peacock is known as the bird with one hundred eyes. The eye-like patterns in its tail cause it to represent the stars, the universe, the sun, the moon, and the vault of heaven. To Christians this bird's many eyes are symbols of omniscience, the all-seeing God, and the all-seeing Church. Christ is portrayed as a Lamb with seven eyes "which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth" (Rev 5:6). The peacock's "eyes" also symbolize the beatific vision.

According to Sufi legend the original Spirit was created in the shape of a peacock. When it saw itself in the mirror of the Divine Essence it was so overwhelmed by the beauty it saw therein that great drops of sweat flew from its body. It was taught that from these drops all other living creatures were formed.

Peacocks often play the role of the mythical phoenix in religious art. They are sometimes seen drinking from Eucharistic chalices or near the Tree of Life. Because of their association with the Tree of Life, peacock thrones were popular in ancient Babylon and Persia. Because Heliopolis is the city where the phoenix was said to build its rejuvenating funeral pyre, the peacock has become a substitutional emblem of that city. St. Barbara has a peacock feather as one of her attributes because she was born in Heliopolis.

www.users.netnitco.net/~legend01/peacock.htm

Yezidi beliefs are a complex mixture of Islam with Gnostic, Jewish, and Shamanistic elements. Worship centers around Angels (Yezidi is from the Arabic word for 'angel'), the most important of which is named Melek Taus, or the "Peacock Angel," also known as Lucifer. Lucifer plays a different role in Yezidism, where he is consideredthe chief Archangel, and the creator of the material world. InYezidi belief, Lucifer is not a fallen angel, or the enemy of God. In Yezidi cosmology, the universal Spirit (the Supreme deity) created a pearl, which became broken after forty thousand years. Melek, or Lucifer, used the remains of the pearl to create the material world. After this creation, the Spirit created the remaining Angels.

For further reference to the Peacock God ~ Melek Taus and the Creation Myth please refer to my previous post: Peacock Dreams ~ Creation Myth with a link to a www

The Worldwide Web of Belief and Ritual ~ Wade Davis

An extraordinary talk given by Anthropologist and A National Geographic Explorer ~ Wade Davis muses on the worldwide web of belief and ritual that makes us human. He shares breathtaking photos and stories of the Elder Brothers, a group of Sierra Nevada indians whose spiritual practice holds the world in balance. It is short video given at breath taking speed and requires atleast 2 viewings as he squeezes so much in.

Go to http://www.ted.com/ and put in Wade Davis on the worldwide web of belief and ritual.

What ted.com says about Wade Davis:

"Anthropologist Wade Davis is perhaps the most articulate and influential western advocate for the world's indigenous cultures. His stunning photographs and evocative stories capture the viewer's imagination. As a speaker, he parlays that sense of wonder into passionate concern over the rate at which cultures and languages are disappearing -- 50 percent of the world's 6,000 languages, he says, are no longer taught to children. He argues, in the most beautiful terms, that language isn't just a collection of vocabulary and grammatical rules. In fact, "Every language is an old-growth forest of the mind."

http://www.ted.com/ itself is an incredible free resouce.

Postbridge ~ Dartmoor 03/09