Setting of the Fifth Black Sun

“December 21, 2012 will be the most important date for all of Humanity. The ancient Mayans created the Long Count calendar to mark this date as the beginning of a new cycle for Mankind.” Anonymous

What if…

The wild-eyed cultist are right…up to a certain point?

Something changes in 2012,,,
Maybe…
the stars are ‘right’, depending on whose viewpoint: if Rlyeh arises from the ocean, the Ctulhu-cultist might rejoice, or maybe not…
…the Veil between the Worlds are rent asunder, and the Dead will outnumber the Quick…
…the Star-People revisit Gaia to evaluate the Human experiment…
…Hailey’s planet strikes home at last…

Who knows?
Maybe HE nows, maybe not (Rig Veda)

But before the Great Change comes, it will be foreshadowed by small changes:
Weird tales, Anomalous Phenomena…
Reported sightings of UFO, ET, ghosts, and other things that go bump in the night.

Ghost/Echo: The First Run

The Government was unwilling to dirty their hands in a backwater Balkan state, so they used some intermediaries to contract the Black-op branch of Orpheus corporation.

If anything went wrong, the whole operation was deniable as usual, the spindoctors would call it a terrorist strike of the separatist.

...

Coil, Grip, Hull and Vixen discussed their strategy for the job.

It sounded like an easy one: extricate Herr Professor alive (preferrable) or dead to insure the Opposition will never again have access to his theoretical knowledge of Matrix-construction.

He was temporary held at a secret interrogation camp, waiting for transfer to the headquarters of Herr Colonel.

Simple plans are the best, and victory goes to the bold;

The idea was to 'borrow' a chopper of the Opposition; flying under false colours it should be possible to infiltrate the interrogation camp.

Well...a battleplan never survives the first shots...

They found a hidden chopper on a hidden part somewhere in the woods, guarded by a single watchtower, a typical Opposition-setup for a covert-operation camp.

Coil took out the main tower with his rocket-launcher, Grip sprinted to the chopper while the rest gave covering fire.

Some surviving guards stormed out of the tower, but were taken down by a frontal grenade and some flanking fire. The grenade caused some collateral damage in the tower, soon it started burning!

Grip discovered the chopper was out of fuel...

Hull entered the burning tower twice: the first time to secure a single drum of fuel, the second time he was out of luck, something exploded...Hull was blown outside by a fireball!

Badly hurt, Hull was carried by the rest to the chopper to escape the towering inferno.

They decided to push their luck to finish the job.

Boldly they flew the chopper to the interrogation camp.

Vixen fast-talked the ground crew and the commander Herr Colonel to refuel the chopper and to transfer the prisoner.

On their way to home-base, they were intercepted by two Opposition choppers.

Grip tried to channel the ghostfield, hoping to jinx one chopper, but received a migraine instead.

With some luck Coil was able to take down the interceptors with his rocket-launcher!

Returning to home-base was a bit tense, their chopper was almost taken down by friendly fire before Vixen was able to get through to the right channels.

Ghost/Echo: Pathworking the Ghost Worlds

The Ghost Universe consists of several Ghost Worlds, each
interconnected by Datastreams (Echo-Paths).

Travelling the Datastreams is a specialized skill: by channeling the
Ghost Field, some adepts can open temporary Gates to the Paths.

Using the Major Arcana (e.g. Amber Trumps) is one of the many possible
ways of Pathworking!
Other Traditions use: Tattva Symbols, Hermetic Seals, Bagua, etc.

A Grip who is specialized in Listening at Echoes, has the skill to
detect functional Paths.
Every method has its own risks....

Ghost/Echo crossing path with World of Darkness and Shadowrun

Universe: World of Darkness (core setting) 2012 CE. Preliminary Story: The Crewmembers are part of the experimental Shadowrun team of the Orpheus-0rganization; their mission is to find top secret information before the Others find it.

Do you have any idea what kind of crewmember you would like to be?

Good at...(pick one)
acting under pressure
infiltrate/steal
suffer harm
commit to violence
manipulate/hold steadfast
channel ghostfield
listen for echoes

Pick an archetype:
coil
demon
hull
grip
vixen

Try to visualize the skilled archetype of your choice.

Ghost/Echo

This game reminds me of several topics I am interested in:

Shamanic journey

Pathworking

Cyberpunk

Shadowrun

Oracles: Tarot, I Ching

Rules-lite storytelling games

Let me give it a try!

First take:

Trying to connect Major Arcana and Locations did not work for me. 

Looking back, I realise the Major Arcana belong to the Paths, not to the Sephira!

Maybe I should connect the Minor Arcana to Locations!

Second take:

Made some index cards for Crew, Goal/Danger, Wraith.

Thinking of that other nice game: Under the Bed

I can connect Goal/Danger cards with Crew and/or Wraith!

Hmm..

Crew can basically roll 1 die, but if he uses his special skill (Goal/Danger) he might add another die.

Example:

DEMON crew, special skill Channel Ghostfield.

SPIDER wraith, special skill Catch.

Comments on my diary: China Journey 2007

Looking back at my journey:

For me, connecting with the ancestors is becoming a very important issue.
Not only the faraway mainland china connection, but also the more recent chinese diaspora to Java and Holland.

Often I feel on a gut-level during a meeting with somebody with these same roots: we are related, a few hunderd years ago...

The more I research on the shamanic roots of the chinese way of living, the more I discover:
chinese ancestor worship, gongfu (animal-styles, bagua), fengshui, divination (yi jing).

Fragments of my diary: China Journey august 2007:
At this moment I'm in Chongqing, the middle of china.
Already had a intense time in Shanghai-Yangtze river-Fengjie, later on I will visit Xian and Beijing.

Many things here remind me of Indonesia: the way people walk, the smells on the street, the shops, the slums.
I often have to explain that I do not speak chinese, but that my ancestors came from here.

Shanghai is weird: the contrast between sf and slum is great.

On the Yangtze I realised how this river is connected to chinese history. The great dam has already caused whole villages being displaced to outer provinces like Tibet and Xinjiang, imagine the suffering of the farmers of the displaced people but also on the receiving end in the outer provinces who have to cope with new invaders.
Many old ways are being destroyed in the name of progress.
At the dam I touched mother earth in a rock garden, it made me cry.

At Fengjie, city of ghosts, made for all the spirits from china, I realised how much has been destroyed by the cultural revolution.

Chongching is also very large and polluted, my stay here will be short.

I am looking forward to visit Xian, the tomb of the first emperor.
And of course in Beijing I will visit the great wall and TianAnMen square.

I hope to be back safe and well during Lammas...

...later...

Xi-an:

Terracotta army in the First Emperors' tomb.
He was a real monster. Yeah, he 'pacified' China, but at the cost of many lives.

The Great Mosque of the Hui minority, fascinating to see all kinds of mythic creatures (like dragons etc) depicted despite the Muslim ban on depicting creatures.
Somewhere during the Tang-dynasty the Hui were invited in as mercenary troops to surpress peasant revolts, but now the Muslims are being distrusted as a possible source of terrorism.
Well, the Uighur in Xinjiang and Kazakhstan have cause to rebel against the pressure to be 'assimilated' as the Tibetans.

Beijing:

TianAnMen! Standing here, realising how the students' movement was put down with tanks and guns,moves me to tears.
Weird to realize, that our guide (age 27) has never seen the pictures of that drama.
I brought a origami whitecrane all the way to Holland to here, originally to place it somewhere on this square to honour the fallen, but it was too crowded, so I gave it to our guide with the words: 'in remembrance of the students that died, remember!'
...
Later on we had a tour through a Hutong, another ancient way of living that's disappearing in the name of progress & profit: a network of old alleys & houses that form small downtown communities around a common well. The guide showed us a model-family (state-approved on show for tourists of course) who had many modern-day thingies like tv, refrigerator, dvd-player, piano; receiving tourists must be very profitable!.
...
Met some nice shopkeepers: one of them was very delighted to hear that my ancestors came from her home province Fujien, she was able to tell me that the dialect of my predecessors is still common in the area of the MinNan, another piece of the puzzle found!
....

Back home again: unpacking, cleaning myself & my stuff, opening my mailbox, calling friends.
Feels like I need to see some dear friends soon to reconnect to this land again!

When I was in china, I recoqnized many things I also saw in Java: the way people dress & move, the smells, the food, the housings. I never realised the great influence of the oversea chinese on the Javanese culture!"

Witches for Obama

A call to spellcraft, found in my mailbox:

65 years ago in the skies above England, pilots fought the Nazis in the Battle of Britain. 

Legend has it that witches all over the land held rituals during those days and nights willing victory, willing the aggressors to fail or go home.

The same thing should be happening tonight and tomorrow, everywhere. Witches
should singularly and in their covens, be creating sacred space an doing powerful rituals to support the Battle of America. 

People of other faiths should be praying in their own way and in their own traditions.

Call for a new wind, for a new time. 

Call for a new change and a new direction. 

What happens in America tomorrow will impact everyone all over the world.

So no matter where you are, I humbly ask that each of you in your own tradition, turn your prayers, your will and your magic in the direction of progressiv change. 

And pray that Americans turn out in record numbers to vote Barack Obama in as President with a unprecedented majority.

Please send this message or one like it to everyone you know.

Arie & Dragons

Arie says:

Somehow I felt that the international healing magick should be done with
the aid of Dragons.

Wikipedia says:

The origin of Chinese dragon is not certain, but many scholars agree that
it originated from totems of different tribes in China .
...
Chinese dragons are strongly associated with water in popular belief.
They are believed to be the rulers of moving bodies of water, such as
waterfalls, rivers, or seas.
...
At the end of his reign, the first legendary Emperor Huang Di was
said to have been immortalized into a dragon that resembled his emblem, and
ascended to Heaven. Since the Chinese consider Huang Di as their ancestor, they
sometimes refer to themselves as "the descendants of the dragon". This legend
also contributed towards the use of the Chinese dragon as a symbol of imperial power.
...
The four Dragon Kings (龍王; pinyin: Lóng Wáng) are, in Chinese mythology, the divine rulers of the four seas (each sea corresponds to one of the cardinal directions)

Comment:
Connecting with the Dragon Kings means connecting with elementary powers.
Proceed with caution!

The Spiral Dance Ritual

San Francisco Reclaiming's annual Halloween ritual brings together over a thousand people to dance the spiral of regeneration.
A glimpse of a true Pagan ritual.

What is The Spiral Dance?

The holiday popularly known as Halloween is the time of year known to witches as Samhain, when the veil is thin between the worlds of the living and the dead.
We gather to remember and honor our ancestors, our Beloved Dead, and all those who have crossed over.
As we mourn for those we love who have died this year, we also mourn the losses and pain suffered by the Earth, our Mother.
Yet even as we grieve we also remember and honor the sacred cycle of life, death, rebirth and regeneration, celebrating the births of our children born this year, and our own vital connections to the Earth and each other, in which we ground our hope.

The first Spiral Dance ritual was held in 1979 to celebrate the publication of Starhawk's book, The Spiral Dance (Harper and Row) Starhawk, a founding member of the Reclaiming Collective, wrote the original script which remains the heart of the ritual, though it has been altered and embellished over the years by her and many other people.
Traditionally, the Spiral Dance calls upon the energy and talents of musicians, artists, poets, dancers, crafts people, singers, technicians, priests and priestesses from the Reclaiming Community and beyond, and we are grateful to everyone who helps to create this magical experience we all share.
This is a participatory ritual and pageant which has become a central event in the Wheel of the Year for many in the Reclaiming Community and beyond.
Over 1,200 people join in this observance of the Witches' New year, and the event raises funds which support the work of Reclaiming throughout the year.
When we dance the Spiral, young and old together, we remember and honor our own past at that same time that we renew our vision and embrace the future.
Let it begin now!

I really would like to celebrate this with my beloved ones!

Shamanism:: Foundation for Shamanic Studies founded by Michael Harner

The Shaman is usually regarded as a healer as well as a mediator between the
normal - ordinary - world or reality, OR, and the spiritual world, the so
called
non-ordinary reality (NOR). He is an expert for communication with
the helping
spirits by changing his everyday consciousness to an altered
state and
"journeying" to NOR to retrieve power and information for his
clients and
tasks.

"Shamanism is a path of knowledge, not of faith, and that knowledge
cannot come from me or anyone else in this reality.
To acquire that knowledge,
including the knowledge of the reality of the spirits, it is necessary
to step through the shaman's doorway and acquire empirical evidence."
...

"The evidence was staring me in the face for a long time, but I didn't see it; that in perhaps 90 percent of the world's shamanic cultures they use a monotonous percussive sound to enter altered states of consciousness, rather than significant psychedelics".
Michael Harner

Using the empirical method, I agree with the idea that drumming works. Chanting, singing, whirling, dancing also works.
Maybe the critical ingredient is in the repetitive excercise