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Post by rosabelbelieve on Dec 19, 2007 5:07:17 GMT
What an astonishing song! I think it's where Kate/the protagonist discovers her place in the boundless weavings of fate and time. She cannot simply die, because she is a thread of a glorious, neverending spiderweb of time, woven in with children and ancestors by the central spider of Fate. If she dies, her fate is cut short , and the web is torn asunder. It would not be right for her to die. Her future self, or the Wise Old Woman in her psyche, comes to remind her of this, to keep her holding on to the thread of life. The ravishing, pagan wildness of the music fits this beautifully- I see the instrumental sections as a place where, if there was a visual representation of The Ninth Wave, the maiden (our heroine) and the wise old woman would be dancing with feverish, mystical, bewitching energy, the wild transcendent dance of time ever continuous, the dance of fate and destiny. The spoken voices reveal to her the watery archives of time, the places where moments are kept bright, and declare her kinship to the ocean-"we are of the going water and the gone, we are of water and the holy land of water.." and "one with ocean, and a woman unfurled.." I've been thinking more about this song, and I think it presents two paths that her fate might follow. The old woman begs her to 'come on, let me live, girl," to complete her fortune on earth. Yet the spoken voices seem to guide her back to the depths of the ocean, to the life-transcending wisdom of the waves. "Over here! Over here! Can't you see where memories are kept bright? Tripping on the water like a laughing girl Time in her eyes is spawning past lifeOne with the ocean and the woman unfurledHolding all the love that waits for you here Catch us now for I am your futureA kiss on the wind and we'll make the land Come over here to where when lingers Waiting in this empty worldWaiting for Then, when the lifespray coolsFor Now does ride in on the curl of the wave And you will dance with me in the sunlit pools We are of the going water and the gone We are of water in the holy land of water And all that's to come runs in With the thrust on the strand" These voices also speak of fate- when all that's to come runs in -and life- time in her eyes is spawning past life -but they seem to speak of it in the sea, rather than on land. (Though"a kiss on the wind and we'll make the land" might disprove this..) I wonder if the poetry might suggest that to die in the ocean in a way is to truly become one with all life- with the very source of life itself. After all, wherever we travel on land, we are "of the going water and the gone, we are of water and the holy land of water" It reminds me of Bjork's Oceania, a bit- the ocean as the mother of us all. ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=QENH_FN5Bys) Land is nothing, time is nothing, against her mysterious magnificent tides and Ninth Waves. If our heroine drowns, she is becoming one with an enormous sea quivering with life. So maybe, in a way, all of her choices lead to life. At the end of the song, she is born aloft her source, and possibly her end, the waves, and we come to the dark, celestial meditation of Hello Earth.
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Post by tannis on Jul 14, 2008 0:11:45 GMT
JIG OF LIFE: The Devil's music...This interview was conducted in November 1985, and we [Homeground] believe it is one of the best Kate has given on her new album Hounds of Love. KB: "That was very much inspired by Paddy Bush, my other brother, who had found this piece of music and said, 'You've just got to listen to this, it's brilliant, I know you'll love it!' He played it to me, and instantly I knew I wanted to use it. It was fantastic. So it was just a matter of working out a song based around the format of this piece of music he'd found. There's no doubt Paddy was the, um...initial inspiration. The song's about the future person visiting the person who's in the water at the moment, and saying 'Look, don't drown, don't die, because if you do I'm not going to be able to live my part of your life. I'm not going to have the kids you're going to have in ten years' time. I'm not going to be able to move to that nice little place by the sea. So don't die. Live, you've got to stay alive. If not for me, then at least for yourself or your children that are to come.' And, um...I suppose the suggestion of the fiddle as the Devil's music is not unintentional: the idea of a spirit being conjured from the future; that uncanny, uncomfortable feeling of two times meeting. And it's very much meant to be the first delivery of hope on that side of the album. There have been some very sad, disturbing experiences for the person up to this point, and although it's hardly not disturbing, it's mean to be a comfort: it's the future coming to the rescue of the present." The Tony Myatt interview, Nov. 1985gaffa.org/reaching/im85_tm.htmlYeats wrote of Maud Gonne: "She had sat one night over the fire thinking over her future life, and chance discovery of some book on magic among her father's books had made her believe that the devil, if she prayed to him, might help her. She asked the Devil to give her control of her own life and offered in return her soul. At that moment the clock struck twelve, and she felt of a sudden that the prayer had been heard and answered. Within a fortnight her father died suddenly, and she was stricken with remorse." (Yeats, Memoirs) Women of the Golden Dawn: Rebels and Priestesseswww.boudicca.de/gdwomen-e.htm
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Post by Al Truest on Jul 14, 2008 0:18:04 GMT
JIG OF LIFE: The Devil's music...KB: "That was very much inspired by Paddy Bush, my other brother, who had found this piece of music and said, 'You've just got to listen to this, it's brilliant, I know you'll love it!' He played it to me, and instantly I knew I wanted to use it. It was fantastic. So it was just a matter of working out a song based around the format of this piece of music he'd found. There's no doubt Paddy was the, um...initial inspiration. The song's about the future person visiting the person who's in the water at the moment, and saying 'Look, don't drown, don't die, because if you do I'm not going to be able to live my part of your life. I'm not going to have the kids you're going to have in ten years' time. I'm not going to be able to move to that nice little place by the sea. So don't die. Live, you've got to stay alive. If not for me, then at least for yourself or your children that are to come.' And, um...I suppose the suggestion of the fiddle as the Devil's music is not unintentional: the idea of a spirit being conjured from the future; that uncanny, uncomfortable feeling of two times meeting. And it's very much meant to be the first delivery of hope on that side of the album. There have been some very sad, disturbing experiences for the person up to this point, and although it's hardly not disturbing, it's mean to be a comfort: it's the future coming to the rescue of the present." The Tony Myatt interview, Nov. 1985gaffa.org/reaching/im85_tm.html I love the percussion at the end so very much. And the message is one of transcendent spiritual energy that helps frame our current perspectives. 'Don't sweat the small stuff...it is ALL small stuff...(when you weigh the power of love and life)
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Post by rosabelbelieve on Jul 14, 2008 1:56:25 GMT
^ Great quotes. And I love how this song ties the heroine in with a whole tapestry of life and death and rebirth, pulling her up from drowning by the power of the undying spirit of life.
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Post by Al Truest on Jul 14, 2008 2:05:42 GMT
^ Great quotes. And I love how this song ties the heroine in with a whole tapestry of life and death and rebirth, pulling her up from drowning by the power of the undying spirit of life. I bet Tannis made good grades.
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Post by tannis on Aug 5, 2008 16:45:22 GMT
I Am Of Ireland by W. B. Yeats, 1933
'I am of Ireland, And the Holy Land of Ireland, And time runs on,' cried she. 'Come out of charity, Come dance with me in Ireland.'
One man, one man alone In that outlandish gear, One solitary man Of all that rambled there Had turned his stately head. That is a long way off, And time runs on,' he said, 'And the night grows rough.'
'I am of Ireland, And the Holy Land of Ireland, And time runs on,' cried she. 'Come out of charity And dance with me in Ireland.'
'The fiddlers are all thumbs, Or the fiddle-string accursed, The drums and the kettledrums And the trumpets all are burst, And the trombone,' cried he, 'The trumpet and trombone,' And cocked a malicious eye, 'But time runs on, runs on.'
I am of Ireland, And the Holy Land of Ireland, And time runs on,' cried she. "Come out of charity And dance with me in Ireland.'Date: Wed, 16 Feb 1994 11:06:36 -0800 (PST) Subject: We are of water . . . The actual quote is "We are of water and of the holy land of water, and time runs on, she cried . . ." Which is a word play on a poem by W.B. Yeats which begins "We are of Ireland and of the Holy Land of Ireland, and Time runs on She cried", which is in turn a poetic use of an ancient prayer which over the years has been incorporated into folk songs and suchlike, which is where Yeats found it. Hounds of Love: The Ninth Wavegaffa.org/dreaming/hol_top.htmlJIG OF LIFE: "Narration by John Carder Bush"[/b] "Can't you see where memories are kept bright, Tripping on the water like a laughing girl? Time in her eyes is spawning past life Run on the ocean and the woman unfurls Holding ALL THE LOVE that waits for you here Catch us now for I am your future A kiss on the wind and we'll make the land Come over here to where When lingers Waiting in this empty world Waiting for Then, when the life spray cools For Now does ride in on the curl of the wave {these words spoken with chorus} And you will dance with me in the sunlit pools We are of the going water and the gone {with chorus} We are of water and the holy land of water {with chorus} And all that's to come runs in With the thrust on the strand"
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Post by tannis on Aug 5, 2008 16:46:43 GMT
KaTe's Céilidh (For Bill)This moment in time It doesn't belong to you It belongs to me And to your little boy and to your little girl And the one hand clappingThe céilidh is a literary entertainment where stories and tales, poems and ballads, are rehearsed and recited, and songs are sung, conundrums are put, proverbs are quoted, and many other literary matters are related and discussed. Both Night Of The Swallow and Jig Of Life feature céilidhs.I: To go back on stage, would you actually have to get together some Irish musicians--perhaps even Planxty themselves!--to execute things like Night of the Swallow and Jig of Life? KB: "Oh, Planxty, wouldn't that be great! That would be fabulous. It would be incredibly difficult to do songs like that without Irish musicians. But I don't know, it would all depend on boring things like money; it would be terribly expensive to take a band like that on tour with you. Jig of Life would be very very different without a ceilidh band, though it could be interesting. But I am hoping the film project that I would like to do would get around that, as originally The Ninth Wave was written very much as a story, and ideally I would like to make a film of that, and then that whole side of the album with Jig of Life would be very much covered, I feel. And so maybe for a show I would be doing the other new numbers and a selection of numbers off the third and fourth albums, because those would be more suited to live performance." Musician (unedited), Fall 1985gaffa.org/reaching/i85_swa.htmlNIGHT OF THE SWALLOW: "Pipes & Strings written and arranged by Bill Whelan"The epic track, though, the cornerstone of the album is "Night Of The Swallow", which shows both her growing maturity as a writer and her arrival as an outstanding producer. Another complicated song (surprise, surprise) it moves gracefully through many changing moods and patterns; it's a work of both beauty and anguish, poignancy and eeriness. These twists of mood are enhanced by the use of sublime Irish music (Liam O'Flynn and Donal Lunny of Planxty, Sean Keane of the Chieftans) interspected with the rugged main action. MELODY MAKER, Dreaming Review, September 11th 1982gaffa.org/reaching/i82_mm2.htmlI: I was listening to a lot of their stuff when I was in Northern Ireland recently. But, how did you get involved with Planxty? KB: "Well, I've been a fan of theirs as well. Really, my brother Jay played me some albums of theirs and ever since I've been hooked. I wrote the song and it just seemed perfect for them to work on. So I rang a guy called Bill Whelan, who's the keyboard player, and he was really interested in it and said he'd get the guys together, but over in Ireland. So I had to fly over there for the day and we put them on tape. And Bill wrote this fantastic arrangement, which he originally played to me there on the phone, it was fantastic! He was with them at the Piper [] and he said "hang on a minute," put the phone down, and I heard them play the arrangement to me their on the phone. It was beautiful." BBC Radio 1 interview (1982)gaffa.org/reaching/ir82_bb1.htmlHOUNDS OF LOVE: "All Irish arrangements by Bill Whelan"KB: "As spring arrives, the songs are being finished, and it's lyric time. I'm in Ireland, and it is incredibly beautiful; a very creative environment. It's not until you're somewhere this quiet, this peaceful, that you realise all the distractions there are at home. There is no television, no phone except for a wind-up one that is reluctant to produce an operator at the other end, and the nearest house is made of stone and has no roof and only three walls--it is bliss. Having written most of the "tunes" for the album, and feeling like I'd done most of the hard work, I remember now how difficult it can be to work on the lyrics! ... While we're here, I'm hoping to get together with Bill Whelan (who did the fantastic arrangements on Night of the Swallow), as I am hoping he will be able to do some arrangements on the coming album." Kate's KBC article, Issue 16 gaffa.org/garden/kate18.html
KB: "[Jig of Life] was written in Ireland. At one point I did quite a lot of writing, you know, I mean lyrically, particularly. And again it was a tremendous sort of elemental dose I was getting, you know, all this beautiful countryside. Spending a lot of time outside and walking, so it had this tremendous sort of stimulus from the outside. And this was one of the tracks that the Irish musicians that we worked with was featured on." Radio 1, Classic Albums interview: Hounds Of Love, 1991/2 gaffa.org/reaching/ir85_r1.html
KB: "However, the main reason for going was to work in Windmill Lane with Bill Whelan. We met in London, and I played Bill the demos, and he started thinking about ideas. We agreed that we'd need a couple of weeks up front to go through all the arrangements and sort out the musicians and studio time. Not only was Bill a dream to work with, but he made us feel very at home, and we got to see Ireland in a really fun way. We worked with Liam O'Flynn, a beautiful musician and person, and Donal Lunny, whose spontaneity and ideas filled us all with awe. Bill introduced us to John Sheahan, the fiddle player and multi-talented musician from The Dubliners, who was like Santa Claus. He played a piece that Bill had written, and it was so moving and he played so emotively that I started to cry and felt silly, but what a nice experience. I highly recommend it! ... Windmill Lane is a great studio, very efficient; and they are all lovely people. We all felt relaxed and happy, which is definitely the only way to feel when recording and creating. This track was built around John Sheahan. Bill conducted him, I played chords on the piano and Donal played bodhrán (a small Irish drum). We did this in one studio, baffled off from each other. We got a good take quickly, and John overdubbed fiddle. Then Donal overdubbed more drum and bouzouki; and then, John playing whistle and Liam playing pipes, they jammed together on the jig that Bill had written for the end of the track. Bill is very talented, as they all are, and I think his arrangements and ideas are fantastic. It really is fun working over there." Kate's KBC article, Issue 17, About Hounds Of Lovegaffa.org/garden/kate19.html
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Post by rosabelbelieve on Aug 5, 2008 22:08:51 GMT
I Am Of Ireland by W. B. Yeats, 1933
'I am of Ireland, And the Holy Land of Ireland, And time runs on,' cried she. 'Come out of charity, Come dance with me in Ireland.'
One man, one man alone In that outlandish gear, One solitary man Of all that rambled there Had turned his stately head. That is a long way off, And time runs on,' he said, 'And the night grows rough.'
'I am of Ireland, And the Holy Land of Ireland, And time runs on,' cried she. 'Come out of charity And dance with me in Ireland.'
'The fiddlers are all thumbs, Or the fiddle-string accursed, The drums and the kettledrums And the trumpets all are burst, And the trombone,' cried he, 'The trumpet and trombone,' And cocked a malicious eye, 'But time runs on, runs on.'
I am of Ireland, And the Holy Land of Ireland, And time runs on,' cried she. "Come out of charity And dance with me in Ireland.'Date: Wed, 16 Feb 1994 11:06:36 -0800 (PST) Subject: We are of water . . . The actual quote is "We are of water and of the holy land of water, and time runs on, she cried . . ." Which is a word play on a poem by W.B. Yeats which begins "We are of Ireland and of the Holy Land of Ireland, and Time runs on She cried", which is in turn a poetic use of an ancient prayer which over the years has been incorporated into folk songs and suchlike, which is where Yeats found it. Hounds of Love: The Ninth Wavegaffa.org/dreaming/hol_top.htmlJIG OF LIFE: "Narration by John Carder Bush" [/b] "Can't you see where memories are kept bright, Tripping on the water like a laughing girl? Time in her eyes is spawning past life Run on the ocean and the woman unfurls Holding ALL THE LOVE that waits for you here Catch us now for I am your future A kiss on the wind and we'll make the land Come over here to where When lingers Waiting in this empty world Waiting for Then, when the life spray cools For Now does ride in on the curl of the wave {these words spoken with chorus} And you will dance with me in the sunlit pools We are of the going water and the gone {with chorus} We are of water and the holy land of water {with chorus} And all that's to come runs in With the thrust on the strand"[/quote] The similarities between the Yeats poem and the spoken poetry at the end of the song are striking. Very good find, Tannis.
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Post by tannis on Aug 12, 2008 5:01:34 GMT
The similarities between the Yeats poem and the spoken poetry at the end of the song are striking. Very good find, Tannis. Yes, Rosa, I agree. And I am sure Yeats was an influence on the JOL narration.In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman Rises toward her... ~ Mirror by Sylvia PlathHello, old lady. I know your face well. I know it well. She says, "Ooh-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na! I'll be sitting in your mirror..."Mirror by Sylvia Plath
I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions. What ever you see I swallow immediately Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike. I am not cruel, only truthful--- The eye of a little god, four-cornered. Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall. It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers. Faces and darkness separate us over and over.
Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me, Searching my reaches for what she really is. Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon. I see her back, and reflect it faithfully. She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands. I am important to her. She comes and goes. Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness. In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.In Sylvia Plath's poem "Mirror," we are addressed by an inanimate object, which sets out to define itself and its function and does so with the exactitude that is a part of its nature. It has no preconceptions because it is without memory or an ability to reason. It is omnivorous and swallows everything it confronts without making judgments that might blur, mist or distort. It is god-like in its objectivity and its incapability of emotional response. Most of the time it meditates on the opposite wall faithfully reproducing its colors and design until darkness supervenes or faces intrude. and these happenstances recur with regularity. In stanza two the mirror becomes a perfectly reflecting lake unruffled by any disturbance. A woman bends over the lake like the mythological Narcissus, but no matter how deeply she searches she sees only her actuality or surface truth. Unlike Narcissus, the woman can not fall in love with what she sees. The candles and moon to which the woman turns are liars capable of lending untruthful shadows and romantic highlights, unlike the lake surface/mirror, which renders only faithful images. Unhappy with what she sees, the woman weeps and wrings her hands in agitation. The youth and beauty once reflected during the person's morning visits are now swallowed and drowned in the metaphorical depths of the lake, and what slowly surfaces from those depths is the terrifying fact of aging, so graphically rendered by the simile of a fish. Reflections on "Mirror" ezinearticles.com/?Reflections-on-Mirror-and-Metaphors-by-Sylvia-Plath&id=271617
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Post by tannis on Aug 12, 2008 5:38:53 GMT
Now is the place where the crossroads meet. Will you look into the future?
And perhaps the most famous crossroads in literature is the triple crossroad where Oedipus came face-to-face with his father, at a place where three roads meet . . .
JOCASTA: A prophet? Well then free yourself of every charge! Listen to me and learn some peace of mind: no skill in the world, nothing human can penetrate the future. Here is proof, quick and to the point.
An oracle came to Laius one fine day (I won't sat from Apollo himself but his underlings, his priests) and it declared that doom would strike him down at the hands of a son, our son, to be born of our own flesh and blood. But Laius, so the report goes at least, was killed by strangers, thieves, at a place where three roads meet . . .
OEDIPUS: I thought I heard you say that Laius was cut down at a place where three roads meet . . . And as I fled I reached that very spot where the great king, you say, met his death. Now, Jocasta, I will tell you all. Making my way toward this triple crossroad . . .
The symbolism of the cross-roads: The killing of Laius happens at Phocis where the road divides to Delphi or Daulia. Delphi -- the Oracle at Delphi was the most famous in all Greece -- symbolizing respect for -- and submission to -- the will of the gods -- Oedipus takes another road. These are the cross-roads of his life. "A place where three roads meet" - birth, life, death... past, present, future...
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Post by tannis on Aug 12, 2008 19:24:16 GMT
JIG OF LIFE: Where Three Roads MeetJig Of Life can be divided into three parts: song, jig, narration. The song part is based around a piece of music that was used in a Greek religious ceremony; Bill Whelan wrote the jig for the end of the track; and John Carder Bush wrote and narrates the poem. DOUG: You've said elsewhere that "Jig of Life" was inspired by a Greek ceremony. Could you describe this ceremony and say how it appears in the song? KATE: My brother [Paddy Bush] discovered a piece of music that was used in a Greek religious ceremony, where people worked themselves into a trance state through the hypnotic quality of the music and then begin to walk on fire. The piece of music is incredible and has a very hypnotic rhythm. And it was the piece of music that I then used to base the song upon. The inspiration was totally a musical one and a rhythmic one. |>oug's famous Kate Interviewgaffa.org/dreaming/doug_int.htmlKaTe: One of the tracks we worked on was inspired by a discovery that Paddy had made of a fascinating Greek ceremony that he managed to get on tape... We played the tape to Bill, Liam, John and Donal... We consumed the information from Pad's tape as much as we could. I'd only finished writing the song the day before on Bill's piano while his wife brought me cups of tea and biscuits (thank you, Mrs. Whelan). We used Bill Somerville-Large as the engineer. He worked on the Irish sessions on the last album... Windmill Lane is a great studio, very efficient; and they are all lovely people. We all felt relaxed and happy, which is definitely the only way to feel when recording and creating. This track was built around John Sheahan. Bill conducted him, I played chords on the piano and Donal played bodhran (a small Irish drum). We did this in one studio, baffled off from each other. We got a good take quickly, and John overdubbed fiddle. Then Donal overdubbed more drum and bouzouki; and then, John playing whistle and Liam playing pipes, they jammed together on the jig that Bill had written for the end of the track... Kate's KBC article, Issue 17, About Hounds Of Lovegaffa.org/garden/kate19.htmlDOUG: Did you write the poem that is narrated at the end of "Jig Of Life"? KATE: No, I didn't. My brother [John Carder Bush] wrote that. |>oug's famous Kate Interviewgaffa.org/dreaming/doug_int.html
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Post by rosabelbelieve on Aug 12, 2008 20:07:40 GMT
^ I think it's so perfect that the music for Jig Of Life comes from a Greek firewalking ceremony... that captures so perfectly the hypnotic, entrancing, uncontrollable feeling of the song. It really is the dance of life - that fiery, destined, inescapable jig. It ties the heroine in to time, the way she'll be as an old woman and the way her life will unfold through her children... Such a wonderful song...
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Post by tannis on Aug 12, 2008 20:38:18 GMT
^ Yes, Rosa, Jig Of Life is a wonderful song... Dance, then, wherever you may be, I am the Lord of the Dance, said he, And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be, And I'll lead you all in the Dance, said he...The Anastenaria fire walking ritual of Greece. The Ancient ecstatic tradition, annually, 21-23 May. The Anastenaria is a northern Greece traditional ritual of fire walking which dates back to pagan times. There are variations in the ritual from place to place, and though the "Anastenaria" is a ceremony that derives from times before Christ, it is dedicated and attached to the christian faith. This ceremony takes place on Saint-Konstantinos day, 21st of May. The whole celebration lasts three to four days. Every year, barefoot villagers of Agia Eleni and Kerkini at Serres, and of Langada near Thessaloniki, get themselves worked up into a trance before walking over hot coals. Those celebrating the Anastenaria are descendants of refugees from Eastern Thrace who arrived in Greece in the 1920s. Each village community of Anastenarides is headed by a "group of twelve" who, on the eve of the feast of Saints Constantine and Helen, gather in the "konaki", which houses the icons of Saints Constantine and his mother Eleni. These are draped with large red kerchiefs (simadia), which are believed to possess the power of the icons. In the konaki they work themselves into a trance-like state through hours of devotional dancing. The main aspect of this festival is at night, when they firewalk. They make a huge fire, and when it is down to extremely hot coals, some of them (only some people are "called" to do this) walk and dance on the fire. They believe that during the dance they are "seized" by the saints. The next day, a ritualistic sacrifice of animals takes place. After lunch the Anastenarides gather again and resume their dancing. A candle is lit from one of the oil lamps in front of the icons, and is used to light a bonfire. When the wood burns, coal is spread down. Initially the Anastenarides dance barefoot around the hot ashes, but when the saints moves them, individuals run across the burning coals. Sometimes devotees kneel down beside the fire and pound the ashes with the palms of their hands. This continues until the ashes are cool. During the next two days, the Anastenarides process around the village visiting each house. On 23 May they conclude with a second dance over the fire, although this one is in private and not for tourists to gawp at. According to the story told by the refugees, the origin of the Anastenaria lies in a fire, which took place at Kosti, a village by the Bulgarian borders (Eastern Thrace), in the thirteenth century. One night the church of St. Konstantinos caught fire, and as it burned the people heard cries coming from the flames. It was the icons calling out for help. Some villagers ran into the building and rescued them, neither the icons not their saviours being burned or injured. Since that time, the Anastenaria has been held to celebrate their delivery. Among scholars the origins of the Anastenaria, as opposed to what the cult has become today, are a matter of considerable dispute. Although there is no evidence in ancient literature of fire-walking rituals associated with the god Dionysos, most scholars connect the Anastenaria with the widespread cult of that divinity. This association was also made by the Church authorities when they condemned the practices of the cult. Folklore scholar George A. Megas observes that “the cradle of Dionysiac worship was precisely in the Haemus area where the Anastenaria are danced today, passed down by the Greeks to the neighboring Bulgarian villages.” This latter point is made clear by the fact that the prayers used by the Bulgarian Anastenarides are recited in Greek, and that the transmission of the rites from Greeks to Bulgarian settlers in the area is a matter of historical record. Moreover, the evidence of mid-winter and carnival customs is that much that was associated with the Dionysian cult has survived throughout northern and central Greece. Katerina Kakouri has established a close connection between these customs and the Anastenaria in Ayia Eleni. Megas has also pointed out that the state of frenzy among worshippers, observed among the Anastenarides, was characteristic of the cult of this god, whose Maenads, or female worshippers, “rushed in a frenzy over the mountains at night, lighted by torches and goaded on by the wild music of deep-throated flutes and thundering drums.” Certainly some observers have noted in the dance of the Anastenarides over the hot ashes, with their trance-like faces and outstretched arms, the modern successors of the infamous ancient Maenads of Dionysos, the God-intoxicated women who might, in their trance-like state, tear apart any animal they came across in their frenzied nocturnal roamings over the mountains. Of crucial importance in this context is the evidence that the modern Anastenarides may, in their frenzy, run away with the icons for a period “into the mountains”, and that this is expected as an integral part of the sacred ritual. In the last century A. Chourmouziades described how “now beside themselves, [they] run and speed like birds up the hills and into the woods and up escarpments.” D. Petropoulos observed as recently as the 1930s that “when the dance was at its height, many folk broke away in their joy and ran up towards the mountains.” This certainly recalls the frenzy of the Maenads, who roamed the mountains while out of their minds. It would appear that in the practices of these settlers from Eastern Thrace may be found one of the most distinctive living survivals, under a very thin Christian guise, of an important part of the ancient religion of much of rural classical Greece. Anastenaria - Serres, Greecewww.youtube.com/watch?v=ozsP8ifuz8s
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Post by tannis on Aug 12, 2008 20:54:09 GMT
JIG OF LIFE: Where Three Roads MeetJig Of Life was based around music from a Greek religious ceremony. The song features several 'voices'. The most prominent of these are the voice of the protagonist (the 'young lady') and the voice of her future self (the 'old lady'). The old lady refers to "your little boy and to your little girl". So the song encapsulates the three feminine phases or archetypes - Maidenhood, Motherhood, and Cronehood.
The three feminine archetypes and the reference to crossroads conjure up Hekate and her three aspects. HEKATE (or Hecate) was the goddess of magic, witchcraft, the night, moon, ghosts and necromancy.
Jig Of Life points to an initiation ritual into womanhood, which in turn can be interpreted as the three physical stages of womanhood - menarche, pregnancy, and menopause - past, present and future. At the heart of Jig Of Life are the three faces of the divine female, the great Goddess, Hekate. In modern times Hekate is a prevalent figure in Neopagan religions, Wicca and other modern magic-practising traditions.TO HEKATE
Hekate of the Path, I invoke Thee, Lovely Lady of the Triple Crossroads, Celestial, Chthonian, and Marine One, Lady of the Saffron Robe. Sepulchral One, celebrating the Bakchic Mysteries among the Souls of the Dead, Daughter of Perses, Lover of Solitude, rejoicing in deer. Nocturnal One, Lady of the Dogs, invincible Queen. She of the Cry of the Beast, Ungirt One, having an irresistible Form. Bullherder, Keeper of the Keys of All the Universe, Mistress, Guide, Bride, Nurturer of Youths, Mountain Wanderer. I pray Thee, Maiden, to be present at our hallowed rites of initiation, Always bestowing Thy graciousness upon the Boukolos. Hecate (Greek: "far-shooting") Hekate or Hekat was originally a goddess of the wilderness and childbirth. As Goddess of the Crossroads, Hekate had a special role at three-way crossroads, where the Greeks set poles with masks of each of her heads facing in different directions. The crossroad aspect of Hekate stems from her original sphere as a goddess of the wilderness and untamed areas. This led to sacrifice to assure safe travel into these areas. This role is similar to lesser Hermes, that is, a god of liminal points or boundaries. Thus invocations to Hekate arose as the supreme governess of the borders between the normal world and the spirit world. Hekate is also often named as 'Queen of all Witches' having long been associated with Witchcraft in both archaeological curse tablets, crossroads and myth. Queen of Ghosts is also a title associated with Hekate due to the belief that she can both prevent harm from leaving, but also allow harm to enter from the spirit world. Hekate thus has a role and special power in graveyards and at crossroads. She guards the "ways and paths that cross". Her association with graveyards also played a large part in the idea of Hekate as a lunar goddess.Maiden (Waxing Moon) Among Pagans, "The Maiden" represents enchantment, inception, expansion, the promise of new beginnings, birth, youth and youthful enthusiasm.
Mother (Full Moon) The Mother represents ripeness, fertility, sexuality, nurturance, fulfillment, stability, power and life.
Crone (Waning Moon) The Crone represents wisdom, repose, death, and endings. Like the moon which waxes once again after the new moon and like in the year, where spring always follows winter. The Crone is an end, but she is always followed by the Maiden once more. It is death and rebirth, representing the common pagan belief of reincarnation as well as the renewing cycles of the moon and of the year.
These aspects may also represent the cycle of birth, life and death (and rebirth). Neopagans believe that this goddess is the personification of all women everywhere.HECATE'S CAULDRONAs a triple Goddess, Hecate represents Maiden, Mother and Crone; mind, body and spirit; and birth, life and death. As Mistress of the Night, She represents the three stages of the lunar cycle of New, Full and Dark. Hecate symbolizes the dark within us, the part of our psyche we refuse to acknowledge. Many ignore the wisdom, the strength and the truth of Hecate because our fear of the darkness is so strong. Hecate is associated with the dark side of the moon, but this is the true Moon. The Moon has no light of its own, only reflected light from the sun. Dark is the Moon's true color as is Hecate's. Although most see Hecate as the third phase of the moon, She is actually a Triple Goddess in her own right. She is Hecate the maiden, Hecate the Mother, and Hecate the Crone. Hecate can be called upon during any moon phase, as She is the One and the Three.
In Her maiden aspect, she stands for new beginnings. She can also be called upon when you need to look at something in a new, fresher way....a way that you have never looked at it before. You turn to Her when the moon begins to first wax. In Her Mother aspect is a time to turn to Her when you need nurturing and protection like any mother would give. Turn to Her when the Moon is Full. In Her Crone aspect, it is a time to turn to for protection, wisdom and magick. However, please bear in mind that Hecate is not a Goddess full of tenderness and compassion with white lace and linen. She is also more prone to be stern with you if you brought a situation upon yourself. However, Her wrath is swift and just to those who cause harm to a follower of Hers, because those who seek Her, honor Her and do not fear Her are in Her protection and She does not take lightly to those who cause them harm. She does not tolerate nor does She coddle. Turn to another Goddess if you seek this. Her actions are swift and without frills. So, when you do call upon Her, be prepared for Her swift actions and changes because it might not be what you expected.
Hecate teaches us an important lesson, which is that the feminine should be valued for itself, not because it brings sexuality or power, but because deep within it there is an eternal wisdom. Hecate is also the High Priestess, the keeper of the Mysteries. Hecate is not the priestess who seeks the inner knowledge, but High Priestess who has found it and imparts it to others.
Hecate is enthroned before the Veil of the Temple as the High Priestess, the card in the Tarot which is ruled by the Moon. To reach daylight on the other side of the Veil, we must all become at one with the Dark Mother of the night. Whether it be Hecate guarding the home or of the temple, She will avert evil and provide protection.
The Goddess Hecate is also known as the liberator of women, as she sets women free from the bonds created by man. That is why the Christian Church put Hecate down and created her as the Goddess of evil and destruction. During Medieval times, pagans were being tortured based on their belief in the Goddess. Patriarchy reigned and the fear of feminine power caused the Church to demonize Hecate. She was made infamous as the crone; old, wrinkled, ugly, warts protruding from her nose and chin, mysterious, dark and loathsome. Many mistakenly call Her the destroyer, but She is not for if you destroy something, that something is forever gone. You cannot bring something back that has been destroyed. It has been said that the Goddess's service is perfect freedom. She is the liberator because She is manifest in our deepest drives and emotions, which always and inevitably threaten the systems designed to contain them. She is love and anger, which refuse to fit comfortably into the social order. To be "free from slavery" once meant that, within the ritual circle, all were equal, whether they were peasant, serf, or noble in the outside world. Slavery today could be mental and emotional as well as physical: the slavery of fixed perceptions, of conditioned ideas, of blind beliefs, of fear. Witchcraft demands intellectual freedom and the courage to confront our own assumptions. It is not a belief system: it is a constantly self-renewed attitude of joy and wonder to the world. Hecate enforces feminine independence from masculine influences and this deals in all things including the religion known as Wicca. Wicca is heavily influenced by the male God. The Sabbats are centered around the male God. The word Wicca is a male term....a term connected to the Goddess religion.
In today's society, we hide our elderly (or look right through them as if they do not exist) our sick, and our poor so we can pretend to be immune to such human conditions. But Hecate reminds us of the truth. She sees through the facade of societal amenities. She is not deceived by social standing, education or titles and wealth. Instead, She is impressed only by what is in the heart! She is patroness to those of the heart.
Hecate originally was a Thracian and pre-Olympian Goddess. Zeus bowed down to her antiquity by granting to Hecate alone a power shared by Zeus, that of withholding from humanity anything she wished. He also "granted" her the powers of the heavens, on Earth and the underworld......as if She did not have these powers already! He gave her nothing of that which She did not already have. Of all the Goddesses, she was the most markedly triple and the most complex. She was Goddess of the Wild Hunt. She was to Greeks and Romans, especially the Goddess of the crossroads. Statutes of Her stood there, and food offerings - "Hecate's Supper" - were taken there at dead of night, on the eve of the full Moon. Her annual festival on August 13 was a propitiatory one, to avert the harvest-destroying storms which the Moon is apt to send at around that time. She also haunted graveyards and the scenes of crimes - as a goddess of expiration and purification.
Hecate is the Darksome Mother, in both the positive and in the negative sense. To those that dare to welcome Her, she brings creative inspiration. She is Hecate Antea, the Sender of Nocturnal Vision, and, typically of a Moon Goddess. She is Hecate Trivia, Goddess of the Crossroads.
One of her symbols is the torch, for the Dark Mother also holds the light which illuminates the Unconscious and reveals its treasures. With Her torches she guides those who are seeking the mysteries. The light from these torches will lead those wishing to understand the mysteries.
In the Tarot, She is the Threes and the High Priestess; Her gems are star sapphire, pearl, moonstone, and crystal; Plants are the yew tree, cypress, opium poppy, almond, mugwort, hazel, moonwort, civet, menstrual blood, camphor, garlic, aloes, all sweet virginal odors; Tools are the cauldron, the besom, knives, the key; animals are the dogs and horses, black cats. The owl is Her messenger. Her chariot is pulled by dragons. Hecate's colors are silver and black.
Through Hecate's Cauldron, we must look at our true self, the nature of our motives and the results of our actions, because only through Her cauldron can we truly be reborn in becoming a better person than we were before. Only when we look into Her dark cauldron can we see the light.
Hecate, and none but She, is Queen of all living things. It is through Her that all things live or die. She is the laughing maiden, the living mother, and the black hag of death. She is the three and the one. She smiles and the radiance of the moon, whether it be full or dark, is everywhere for there is no power like Her power and no living thing can withstand Her power. For She is anticipation. She is the fulfillment. She is death. Hear her words, children, worship and be glad for if you seek Her, She is with you always. She was with you in the beginning and shall be with you at the end.
Days of Hecate are August 13 which She is honored and prayed to in order to not send fearce thunderstorms and ruin and the crops. November 16 is the Night of Hecate which begins at sunset. This is the night of Hecate's supper and animals were sacrificed in honor of Her. November 30 is Hecate-Trivia--the day of the Crossroads. The 29th of each month is the Moon of Hecate. HEKATE and the HOUNDS OF LOVEHecate is famously synonymous with dogs, driving the Wild Hunt across the skies and chasing the lost souls of the dead into the Underworld.
A fourth century BCE marble relief from Crannon in Thessaly was dedicated by a race-horse owner. It shows Hecate, with a hound beside her, placing a wreath on the head of a mare. Her attendant and animal representation is of a female dog, and the most common form of offering was to leave meat at a crossroads. Sometimes dogs themselves were sacrificed to her (a good indication of her non-Hellenic origin, as dogs along with donkeys, very rarely played this role in genuine Greek ritual).
In the magical papyri of Ptolemaic Egypt, she is called the she-dog or bitch, and her presence is signified by the barking of dogs. She sustained a large following as a goddess of protection and childbirth. In late imagery she also has two ghostly dogs as servants by her side.You and me on the bobbing knee. Didn't we cry at that old mythology he'd read! I will come home again, but not until The sun and the moon meet on yon hill.The photography for Hounds of Love - Kate, Lady of the Dogs - was taken by John Carder Bush. HE snapped KATE and the dogs against a made-up background. IMHO, the Hounds Of Love photographs are strikingly pre-Raphaelite, reminiscent of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his muse, Elizabeth Siddal.
So could the JCB images of Kate Bush on the cover of Hounds Of Love represent a Pre-Raphaelite Rossettian rendition of "Hekate attended by her hounds"? ... In his introduction The Sufis, a book he co-wrote with Idries Shah, Graves translates a poem of the Sufi mystic Ibn Arabi (1165-1240) which illustrates a triple goddess as a theme among medieval Sufis:
I follow the religion of Love, Now I am sometimes called A Shepherd of gazelles And now a Christian monk, And now a Persian sage. My beloved is three- Three yet only one; Many things appear as three, Which are no more than one. Give Her no name, As if to limit one At sight of Whom All limitation is confounded.see more: THE GODDESS HECATEwww.hecatescauldron.org/The%20Goddess%20Hecate.htm
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Post by rosabelbelieve on Aug 12, 2008 23:15:22 GMT
^ I was just about to mention the Goddess in three aspects, Tannis. Thank you for the long piece about Hekate, and the Orphic Hymn... She is such a very interesting mythological figure, and I see the connections with Jig Of Life and TNW, as well as other part's of Kate's work. The cycles of birth and death and renewal are certainly prominent. And the descent into the dark, unconscious ocean, guided only by a torch or a talisman... And what a coincidence that August thirteenth is tomorrow... around where I live we've been getting SO many thunderstorms, maybe I should do some honoring. ;D
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