Bastet

Bastet is a Goddess of cats, the sun, the East, fire, love, intoxication, music and dancing, joy, celebration, fertility, secrets, magic, and sex. However, she is also a Goddess of war and known for her wrathful vengeance. She has the head of a cat and a slender female body.

She protects homes from evil spirits and disease, especially ailments associated with women and children. She also plays a role in the afterlife as a guide and helper to the dead.

Due to Bastet meaning “She of the Ointment Jar” she has become known also as a Goddess of perfume, and is called the “Perfumed Protector.” She is associated with the Persea tree, which symbolizes protection and the afterlife.

Large annual festivals to honour Bast were held in Bubastis. Cats were sacred to Bast and due to her being a protector of felines, cats were treasured pets in many Egyptian households.

Bastet is the daughter of Ra, sister of Sekhmet, the wife of Ptah, and the mother of Mihos. Since the Second Dynasty, Bastet has been worshipped as a deity, most commonly in Lower Egypt.

It is believed that each day She rides through the sky with Her father, the sun god Ra. As his boat pulls The Sun through the sky She watches over and protects Him. At night, She turns into a cat to protect Ra from His greatest enemy, the serpent Apep.

Due to Her protective duties, she is nicknamed The Lady of the East, Goddess of the Rising Sun, and the Sacred and All Seeing Eye. She is also known as the Goddess of the Moon and is thought to be the Eye of the Moon and the Eye of Ra.

Bastet is still worshipped today and Her protection is believed to be cast over modern felines, particularly black cats.

30th May 2023

A Duty Of Care

Last night, I needed to clean out the cricket habitat and I was extra careful as I did so because these little critters jump out and I have already lost one which ended up as food for a hungry spider in the corner of the room. Anyhow, 2 escaped. I managed to get one back in no problems. The second one, I was super careful with however when it was safely back in the enclosure, it just died. There and then. That really upset me. How could something be there fully alive in one second and be completely gone the next?

I felt I should have just let it escape but my mind was on it perhaps enduring the same fate as its predecessor and so wanted to get it back at all costs. Some might say “Look Jon, they’re only crickets and in 3 months they will all be dead anyway.” That’s not the point. I brought them home because I didn’t want them to be live food for reptiles. I have a duty of care towards them for one thing. I have bonded with them and love them for another as I too love the snails in their enclosure. As I love my mum and the cats. There are gradations of feeling/emotion within that of course. However, I want them all to have the best things. A nice clean place to live with lots of space and ready access to water and good food.

I am now dreading the next clean and change of food. If they stay too long in their surroundings without a clean, ammonia gas builds up and they will suffocate. A part of me feels I should not have been enticed to where they sat on the store shelf because of their beautiful chirping however again, I couldn’t bear the thought of them being eaten alive. Some sources online report that they feel no pain however I don’t believe that. I was at a local nature reserve and inside were reptiles and in with them were live prey and I saw agitation as they tried to escape their fate. I saw fear writ large in their reactions to where they were and what was to befall them.

I strongly believe in reincarnation and so I believe they will return as something with a longer lifespan and a more auspicious position within the animal kingdom to come, however I am still their custodian while they are here and I want them to know they are cared for. I put some new lettuce in for them this morning and some cucumber. Both were fresh and moist. It didn’t take long for them to motor over to their latest food offerings however I couldn’t help but think about their friends who are not here today, friends they may miss and could be grieving for.

This brings me to Eric Clapton.

I love his music. He is my favourite musician of all time even if his recorded output over the past 25 years or so has been extremely boring. He shoots animals for fun. He fishes. He has played concerts in support of organisations which like to hunt down beautiful animals for ‘recreation.’ It has always weighed heavily on my mind. I feel conflicted over it.

Do I just listen to his work up to the time he first took to a field with a shotgun or do I bypass it (his music) altogether? What does he get from pointing the barrel of a gun at something living and flying carefree through the air, a creature nurtured and looked after up to its day of release? I am distraught over losing a cricket, which is a living creature in my care. Why does he (EC) feel the need to want to shoot at something so lovely, for ‘sport?’

Deep down, I know I have to stop listening to him altogether. No one else delivers so much to my brain receptors as EC does. His tone, feel, playing approach, note choices, what he doesn’t play as well as what he does. His magnificent bends, that vibrato. I have been listening to him this morning. As soon as he starts playing, all my concerns pertaining to this matter fall away. The trick then is not to start listening and then that can’t happen. Easier said than done though.

Returning to my crickets for a moment. I didn’t intend for any of them to die however my intent in wanting to bring them home with me came from a place of purity. I feel a responsibility, a duty of care to those around me. This is why I became vegan. Why was I distinguishing between my pets whom I doted upon and other forms of life which I sat down and tucked into without a care as to their living (and dying) conditions beforehand? In some countries they eat cats and think nothing of it.

So, just as I care about my crickets, snails and cats, I also tend to the birds in the garden. I make sure they have plenty to eat on a daily basis. I am mortified if even one feeder is running low of food let alone run out altogether. The birds won’t starve if one or two feeders are empty until the next day as there are still 10 others of various kinds in my garden plus neighbours who also feed birds. Why then am I squaring away the love of a person’s music over the lives of lovely creatures who very likely won’t be dead when they fall from the sky and hit the ground, after they’ve been shot at by the maestro in bird killer mode? Why is this okay for me?

It isn’t.

I have listened to EC daily since my 12th birthday in 1985. I had seen him play Live Aid in July of that year and was taken by his music. I wouldn’t stop going on about him so my parents bought me a cassette, which contained music of EC’s from the Robert Stigwood management years. Two songs stuck out to me right away – Have You Ever Loved A Woman? and Key To The Highway. I wasn’t just introduced to the most important musical influence of my life but also to Blues music which is my favourite genre of them all.

EC has been the mainstay of my life since then and I can say with complete honesty, he has kept me afloat on more than one occasion. Hundreds in all likelihood. Some may again say “Come on Jon, there are probably loads of musicians who are into all kinds of shady stuff far worse than what EC’s up to, which we will never even know about. Keep listening if his music brings you enjoyment.” That’s not the point. I do know and it’s still about a duty of care, this time to the truth. EC likes to shoot animals for a hobby. How would I feel if he showed up at my house today with a shotgun and asked where the birds are and would I point them out to him cos he wanted to shoot them? I wouldn’t only tell him to F*ck Off, I would escort him off the premises and guess what? I would never listen to his music again.

I know what I must do.

Wednesday 24th May 2023 – The day I begin my journey of getting clean from my addiction to EC’s music. It’s going to be hard but worth it. It won’t save the lives of the birds he is going to kill however I’m no longer feeding into that cycle by listening to & buying (into) his music. I have a duty of care after all.

24th May 2023

5 a.m.

I awoke early this morning and galvanised by my ‘new’ direction, which is returning to my first love – writing, thereby leaving musical creation to those who know what they are doing, namely my good friend Sharine and her husband, I set about charting in words my daily life, seen through this newfound filter of peace and equilibrium.

I walked into the garden, set up my field recording equipment, placing it in a prime location to capture some early morning sounds. This is the result:-

These are the sounds from an English suburb. Recorded Thursday 18th May 2023 at around 5 a.m. GMT. It contains an overhead plane, the sound of a passing motor vehicle, a distant train whistle and birdsong as well as birds flapping their wings.

This is the scene:-

The Eucalyptus Tree which stretches up to the sky just to the right of centre in the image was cut down because the roots were going under the house and risked causing subsidence. It has grown back just as vigorously. 2 years ago, it was a stump. Last year it stood just 8 feet high. They grow at an alarming rate and this image more than adequately charts the power of nature. Mother Earth at her finest.

I made myself a cup of Masala Chai tea and listened to some Indian Chill music on YouTube which can be found HERE. Track 2 (Mystiqal – Vugh Gardens) I especially love. I made the tea in a teapot and added a splash of oat milk. It was delicious. This is the tea I was drinking:-

I have always felt a strong pull to India. I at one time considered converting to Hinduism. I am not a joiner though and besides by becoming Hindu, I would be creating a sense of the Other. I recently discovered a spiritual path called Omnism, which views all religions as containing inherent truths. I’m an Omnist.

I discovered a great website called Aporee which details field recordings from all over the world. I have always been fascinated by the idea of hearing from people all over the world. ‘Ordinary’ people just like me. Not celebrity types. Just regular folk going about their lives.

As a child I would do this by listening to obscure radio stations courtesy of my Dad’s long-wave radio. The idea that all of these people were out there blew my mind. Largely unheard by the masses yet captured in a fleeting moment. A raindrop in the totality of an ocean but containing the essence of that entire great sea in that one tiny drop.

Anyhow, I hope all of you reading this have a great day today. Peace.

18th May 2023 2

Light and Darkness in Balance

Spring equinox in Teotihuacán is an annual event which takes place around the 20th and 21st of March at the pre-Hispanic site of Teotihuacán, Mexico. This event is mirrored by other similar events in other pre-Hispanic sites such as Chichén Itzá and Malinalco, Mexico State.

In Teotihuacan, thousands of people visit for the event, many dressed in white with a red scarf or other accessory. Many dance, burn incense and chant but the defining ritual is to stand at the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, with arms outstretched facing the sun in the morning on the Eastern horizon.

Most climb this pyramid between 9am and 1pm. However, those who arrive early enough can see the sun rise over the Apan Mountains to the east of the Pyramid of the Sun, with its red rays coloring the landscape and the onlookers’ clothing. Chanting accompanies this sunrise as participants stand with arms outstretched.

The Greatest Teacher Of Them All

As I recently wrote as a reply to a post here at WordPress:-

“I’m of the belief (and these are my beliefs) that this life and all future lives, whether they be human or fish, fur and feather, all take place in the Eternal Moment of NOW.”

I believe all beings reincarnate and their next lives have a karmic resonance.

In other words, a hunter in one life comes back as the hunted in the next. Although there is only the one life for everyone, both individually and as a ‘collective.’ What do I mean by that?

I believe there is one Universal Soul and we are each a part of that or rather what is referred to as the Ego believes it’s a part of/apart from that Universal Soul (which I am going to simply call from this point on, US). In fact none of who we presently term ‘us’ is a part of nor apart from US. We are ‘each’ the ALL. We are each US.

The body is within the Soul.

The US being the web of life within which we are all connected because we are One. Our bodies are a way for the US to experience itself subjectively, a series of mirrors reflecting back stages of Truth although we ‘each’ contain the Entirety of US.

I believe ‘we’ have the option as human beings to align ourselves with Truth, which is the greater US or to allow ourselves to be guided and ruled by the Temporal, eg The World and its myriad influences.

I believe that what are referred to as lower beings – animals, insects, bacteria etc are in actual fact the US in action or motion objectively. No subjective reflection is needed within that.

We often hear that ‘they’ (lower beings) do not possess souls and therefore do not get into the afterlife however it is my belief there is no afterlife, only the continuation of life on another frequency, and what some might term a different vibrational level or plane of experience.

So called (by the powers that be) ‘Lower Beings’ don’t concern themselves with what happens when they reach the end of their current Earthly manifestation, before taking on the shell/vehicle of their next incarnation. They therefore cannot be ruled over and controlled by the ruling elites, so their presences here are negated however it is my belief, they are US in motion. ‘Our’ Earthly teachers.

I believe that everything that has ever happened, is happening and will ever happen is happening in The Eternal Moment of NOW.

I may look out into my garden and see a Flowering Cherry tree situated next to a Sycamore tree and then next to that, a Laurel bush. Whereas ‘another’ being living in what we term The Past or The Future, may see something entirely different altogether.

What are viewed as ghosts are people living NOW on another plane and which some people are sensitive enough to pick up on. ‘Ghosts’ are simply distant echoes of this Eternal NOWness.

What is termed Heaven and Hell is also happening right now, depending on what frequency or vibration a living being is resonating at.

Reincarnation for many is seen as a trap and in a way it is, if a person believes they are their bodies, their experiences this time around and are ensnared by the Temporal. When it is their time to leave this plane of existence, they will return to this same world. The world where a minority of people hold all the power and use ‘us’ as ‘they’ see fit. They will return to this paradigm because ‘they’ believe that this, what can only be directly experienced through the known (official) senses, is all there is.

I believe Reincarnation is actually freedom as Heaven is here at all times. The New Earth is here right now, not in some distant future time.

Is a Dunnock, a Harvestman or a Muntjac who all live here in this world alongside us humans concerned with the machinations of our ruling elites? No. Because they are the US in motion objectively. I believe it is us humans who are working on a lower vibrational level, think rape, murder, wars, genocide etc It is from ‘them’, the so called lower beings who live alongside us, (The Unsouled Out), that we will learn what it is to be truly alive in the Newness of Life Eternal.

The concept of Oneness has been hijacked by the power elites because ‘they’ know the Truth although they choose to be aligned with the Temporal within that. This is why I have been loath to discuss this topic. Just as a certain leader from a 20th Century war took a symbol used within Jainism and subverted it to his own hideous ends, the same has occurred with Oneness. Oneness isn’t about surrendering ourselves because there is nothing to surrender. We are all already That Which We Seek. It is not ‘out there’ at all.

The hunter I referred to earlier on who becomes the hunted only does so if he/she believes their lives end at the moment ‘they’ ‘die’ and then cease to exist forever, end up in a place of fire or trapped back here again to endlessly go through the same horrors they have previously experienced. That mindset will always ensure a return to The World ‘they’ feel ‘they’ know.

On the other hand, the hunter who awakens and realises he/she is also the being they are hunting as well as the liberator of ‘both’ of ‘their’ lives in that same moment, that person will inherit the New Earth which awaits just beyond the veil of what he/she believes ‘they’ experience here.

I believe that until the so called Higher Animals eg humans let go of their need to feel special which creates hierarchy and a sense there are ‘others’ who aren’t as privileged, we are destined to return ‘here’ time and time and time again.

There will however come a ‘time’ when it is clear there is no ‘we’ or ‘they’ but only The All, through which US experiences Life both subjectively (Students) and objectively (Teachers). In that Cosmic Moment, the students become wise teachers and ‘both’ then merge into The Greatest Teacher Of Them All…

LOVE.

19th Mar 2023 2

Love and Freedom

I was chatting to someone about Christian belief. We were discussing the final version of the Bible as agreed upon by scholars. The book we know today. They stated it’s a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of an oral tradition, of another oral tradition before that. So on and so forth.

I asked “How then can you know what is truth within that book and what isn’t?” I was told by them that God gives people a Spirit of Discernment to weigh up what is correct. Rather ironically then, it’s Corinthians which mentions such a spirit, in the book which is problematic to begin with.

Too many people I meet who have jettisoned organised religion from their lives, still find themselves clinging to it, in one form or another. I have done so myself.

Then there are those who take out the bad bits of the bible, choosing to concentrate on the nice verses, or even viewing the entire book as allegory and metaphor. I have done this too. The problem for me was in realising the Old Testament god is a psychopathic, capricious, tyrannical and cruel being whereas the New Testament god is the O.T. god ‘made flesh.’ An evil person can pretend to be good though.

A good person however does not generally go around killing people on a whim or ask that you do exactly as they have told you to, with a dire lifelong punishment awaiting you if you don’t. Even if I take out the bad parts of the Bible and go with that, I am still aligning myself with a system of control which has resulted in shed blood all around the world, for 20 centuries. A belief which has spawned further fear-based systems. No, thank you.

The best people I have ever met by far are those who follow their own spiritual pathway or none, with no reference to their former beliefs. The worst people I have ever known are those who follow the Abrahamic religions. By a long chalk. High church, low church, liberal, fundamentalist. Endlessly divided into and against itself. Rotten to its Eden core.

“Above us, only sky.”

17th Mar 2023 4

At Cross Purposes

When I was taken into hospital earlier this year, I had a number of ‘coincidences’ occur which normally I would shrug off however they are bothering me and I wanted to outline them here.

I have always had what one could term a ‘spiritual side’ to my nature. ‘Belief’ has always held a fascination for me. I was happiest within that as a teenager when I discovered Paganism and then Shamanism. I was unhappiest when I explored the Abrahamic faiths.

I need to take you back to 2009. My birthday actually that year. I was sitting in my garden, camera in hand photographing nature around me. I was thoroughly depressed and frankly, wishing to die. I asked ‘God’ if he/she/it/they existed and in that moment, a brilliant shaft of light came through the clouds above and illuminated the fir tree in next door’s garden. A very clear outline of a golden cross shone out, which I quickly photographed and have included below.

It took my breath away. It was only in the tree for a minute or so. I went back outside every day for weeks trying to see it again but nothing occurred. So what did I do? I went back to organised religion and was once again, miserable. Christians are not pleasant people in the main. I stayed within that nonsense for a further 8 years. What a waste of time, effort and energy. I genuinely felt God had answered my prayers in an incontrovertible way.

I eventually left and put all such things to one side.

Then this year happened. I am taken into hospital with suspected gastroenteritis and it was soon discovered I had blood clots in my stomach which had caused a small section of bowel to die. I had 2 bowel resections, during which time I was in Intensive Care. When it was made clear to me the severity of my situation (my mother had been told to ‘be prepared’ as I was taken down for my first operation) I prayed. I did so sceptically. I simply asked if there was a God, and would he/she/it/they reveal themselves to me again incontrovertibly to notify me of its existence?

I was ventilated for several days then taken off it and so I began my recovery. I was assigned a nurse who dealt just with me as a patient. Each bay containing a bed had a designated nurse looking after them. All of mine were Christian. Every single one of them. Many were from overseas. When I was able to, I would chat with them and as religion/spirituality was still important to me asked if they held any religious convictions. What was interesting was that many hadn’t planned on becoming nurses, they just seemed to find themselves heading in that direction. Quite a few were brought up within other faith systems or structures yet felt the calling to be Christian.

I was eventually put into a side room. Still within Intensive Care and still with one-on-one care however I was deemed no longer clinging to life and to free up the ward bed for someone who needed it more desperately than I did. I met with other nurses I hadn’t as yet met or so I thought at the time. It was one of these who said to me:-

“Hi Jonathan, how are you feeling today?”
“Getting there” I replied.
She said “You don’t remember me do you?”
I told her that I didn’t.
She told me that she was the very first person who had spoken to me when I came into ICU.
I apologised and she smiled and said “Don’t worry about it.”
I then said “I’m sorry, I don’t know your name?”
“That’s okay” she responded. “Madonna.”
I was incredulous. “Your name is Madonna?” I enquired.
“Yes” she said.
“Are you Catholic?” I asked.
“I am” she said.

I then discovered I had been looked after when I came into ICU by a nurse called Mary. I vaguely remembered her. Madonna and Mary.

Aside from a certain pop singer and it’s not even her given name, I have never known anyone in my life who was called Madonna and what were the chances of being looked after in the same ICU by a Madonna and Mary? I then remembered my prayer. Was I being shown something? All I could think of was the evils perpetrated in the name of Catholicism. That and the fact the Vatican had become a vaccine hub during the recent couple of years, some of the said vaccines containing human fetal tissue.

I left that ward and was taken down to another ward, still for people who are critical but no longer deemed to have life-threatening conditions. I was introduced to a nurse who immediately told me she was a Christian. She gave me her testimony. When she became Christian. What made her to do so. The exact date of her conversion and how her life had been subsequent to that. She launched straight into it. My mother was beside me. She didn’t introduce herself or ask after us, just straight into the story of her life as a Christian. Why had that happened? Did she do that to everybody who is new to the ward? I discovered she didn’t. Why me then?

This has all been very puzzling to me. I compartmentalised it until very recently.

I then found out the names of the people who performed my operation. Their names translated to ‘Light’ and ‘From the Sun.’ “Here we go again” I thought. The last person I had contact with at the hospital before being discharged from their care, her name was Mistry. I took that to be Mystery and so I began looking up Light Mystery (Light Mysteries relates to the Rosary) which lead me back to Catholicism. The Madonna and Mary connection. Also, I was born in 1973 and the Catholic bible contains 73 books. I steer clear of 66 books because I think that number of books approved of by ‘the powers that be’ is there for a reason. 666 and all that.

Then I thought “Hang on, what does Mistry mean as a surname?” It translates as Carpenter. Joseph and Jesus were both Carpenters. I am a J.J. Jesus died at 33. I was born on the 12/12 which reduces to a 33. The nurse who drew my bloods that day was a Catholic and attends the same church my Stepdad had done while he was alive.

All I can think of is the evils perpetrated by the Christian church throughout the ages. I can’t get past that in my mind. Yet I am seemingly being drawn in this direction. There are far too many coincidences. I have heard of people converting to Christianity with far less examples of what they believe to be Divine Intervention happening in their own lives that have led them to that point.

I don’t know what to do.

The bible is a terrible book. I don’t like Christianity as a religion. Am I being led to Gnosticism I wonder? Or am I being led back to mainstream Christianity? If so, what possible reason could God have for me there? I will be miserable again.

Anyhow, this is where my head is at currently.

27th Dec 2022 0