UP TOP - Mogollan Rim and Heber

Photo above: Just one example of John and Willie's cut metal artwork from their website, arizonametalart.com Photo right: John, Aggie, and Willie.


Note: Appointments for readings at Dr. Andria Orlowski’s, scheduled for July 18-23, are filling rapidly. There will be a Tuesday morning class on July 19, “An Introduction fo Hermetics.” Attendance is limited to a maximum of 14 people, in order to focus adequately on each person. Donations will be accepted for both readings and the class.

Thursday evening. We had a great dinner that included grilled salmon with pesto by Donna, potato salad by Craig, and plenty of white wine. Donna’s and Craig’s mother, Adrian, visiting from Florida, was the star of the evening. Unfortunately, the photo of Craig lifting his pantlegs for protection from one of Cougina's more outlandish pronouncements did not make it onto the disk...

Friday. Early in the morning, we headed up the Beeline (Highway 87) from the valley. First stop was John and Willie’s (arizonametalart.com) in Tonto Village. They specialize in flat metal carvings. Their backyard borders national forest, but the forest has been closed, even for dog walking, due to fire risk… Then on to Heber, where we paid up till August 1 at the Red Barn market… The beautiful Rim Road, site of our recent van fiasco, has also been closed. Some loggers at The Cabin told us that 77 tickets ($600 each) had been written on the Rim Road for illegal campfires this past Memorial Day weekend. Rangers revisited one campsite hours after writing a ticket, and found that the campers had started another illegal fire! This time the fire starter went to jail…

Saturday. Our first market day in Heber. Zero sales. All the vendors said it was the slowest Saturday they had seen all year. Traffic on the road was much slower than normal, and we attributed this to media coverage of the wildfires. Urban dwellers don’t realize that Heber is safe. .. Our other problem was connecting with the outside world. Our T-Mobile satellite stick doesn’t work here. The Heber Water Co. offers internet service, but their office is only open Wednesdays from 10-12 am. Another possibility is Frontier Communications, but they will not be open till Monday 8 am. My ATT cell phone dropped out completely, leading us to suspect a tower is out due to the fire… One last gift made its appearance as we drove to our campsite yesterday evening. A funny sound in the right front end tells us Augustina has a problem.

Sunday. Another bust day, and a trip down the mountain to Cottonwood, where we will take the van to Reese Tire Co. for repairs.

THIS JUST IN. COUGINA'S LATEST CREATION, DESIGNED FOR 5TH 6TH AND 7TH CHAKRAS, INCLUDING THE UPPER HALF OF THE TREE OF LIFE. SEE OLDMANSJEWELS FOR DETAILS.

THINK GREEN
BLESSED BE
COUGINA AND AGGIE

What happens when we die: A Hermetic description

I am on tricky ground here, for one of Cougina’s favorite axioms is, “Belief is the death of knowledge.” The subject is on my mind because two of my close friends, women half my age, have recently experienced the death of a parent, and I know that many of you also face the loss of loved ones. What follows is a report of Cougina’s experience, as described to me. Both your open-mindedness and your skepticism are requested.

After death, one’s physical, mental, and emotional bodies are discarded, and one’s spiritual body returns to the guf, the hermetic word for the etheric place of discarnate souls. The death process happens quickly, completing in a few hours. The tunnel of white light, the waiting family members, the life review, and the ghoulish visitations described by some Eastern paths are dependent on the belief system of the dying person, and are not an inevitable part of the death experience. Dying is an easy process, significantly easier than birth.

The guf is a place of ecstasy, but the soul cannot tarry there -- rebirth must be taken within three lunar cycles of death. The soul is free to choose its next incarnation from among extant fetuses on earth at the time. Based on today’s demographics, for example, a yellow soul will look for a set of yellow parents, and, if that is not available, a yellow mother and blue father. An adept will look for adept parents. The body will be chosen in part for the opportunity to fulfill karmic requirements, but the focus is on karma as a present reality, not as repayment for past deeds. With rare exceptions, the soul is alone in this process, without the guidance of a wiser being.

[As a side note, hermetic opinion on abortion derives from the way that incarnations are chosen. A soul may have reserved a fetus, and be enjoying the bliss of the guf, and if that fetus is then destroyed by abortion, the soul may be left scrambling for a suitable body at the last minute. However, until a soul has occupied a fetus, abortion is allowable. Once a soul has entered, abortion is to be avoided. The soul does not necessarily enter at the moment of conception.]

Regarding reports that dead loved ones watch over us, visit, or communicate with us, this is possible until the body of the next incarnation reaches puberty. The spirit body is not active until puberty, and until then is free to involve itself with incarnate souls from its previous life. Hermetica cautions against mediumship, in the sense of conjuring the spirits of the dead, as conjuring may negatively interfere with the soul’s work in its current life.

One is born many times, until all that is possible to be experienced has been experienced. Cougina uses the analogy of dipping a cup into the ocean. One dips the cup repeatedly, until every drop of water has been tasted. Therefore, it is to be expected that many people will remember a past life as Cleopatra; this is possible if one drop of a person’s current body comes from the body that was Cleopatra. Some drops of water will have come up repeatedly, and will result in strong abilities and/or personal qualities. When two past incarnations, A and B, were intimately connected, and one person living today shares many drops in common with A, and another person living today shares many drops with B, the feeling of strong connection is present that is sometimes referred to as being “soul mates.” For a person who has been a part of many incarnations, much of what exists, and many people, will seem familiar.

A soul retains continuous memory of its lives from the moment that it becomes adept, that is, achieves auric vision and telepathy. Cougina speaks from his experiences as an adept over several hundred years.

THINK GREEN
BLESSED BE
COUGINA AND AGGIE

Two Vagabonds in a Van: First Week on the Road

Two Satisfied Customers (We supplied the hat, they supplied the love...)


Leaving the hardcore metaphysics aside for now (and promising to return soon), here’s a taste of what our days have been like, strictly for the curious among you…

Sunday, June 5. We loaded up our van, Augustina, with the necessary belongings (hats, gemstones, and personal items), and headed out from our gracious friend Donna’s home in Scottsdale, up the mountains to Cottonwood. There, we paid for a booth for two days at the Verde Valley Hay Market, and drove out on a dirt road to camp by the Verde river. It turned out to be too close to the neighboring farmhouse to be a great site, but it worked. Cougina coached the twenty-somethings to take the side road out through the cattle gate, rather than waste more time trying to climb out the dirt road on which we had entered.

Monday. We had a decent day at the market, selling a few hats. We decided to park Augustina in our friend Guacamole’s yard for the night, even though he was out of town visiting his family. We hadn’t been parked five minutes when Guac walked out to his truck, headed into town to buy vodka. He was vomiting and shaking as Cougina walked him to our camp chair. We told him he absolutely could not go into town to buy vodka, and gave him some of ours (a provision for Grandmothers, a ritual drink). He was dejected at missing his airport shuttle. His cancer and colostomy have got him thinking he may not last much longer, and he certainly wanted this visit with his family. A call to American got the flight changed to the next morning. A little more liquor and some food got Guac settled down. This was my first time to witness D.T.’s.

Tuesday. We left at 5:30 am and drove 110 miles to the Phoenix airport, where we dropped Guacamole safely at the American gate. From there we swung by Donna’s place in Scottsdale to pick up some new gemstone arrivals, and then headed back to Cottonwood. We had the booth open by 11:30, but there was no business after a couple of hours, so we headed up close to 29 Mile Lake, and spent a pleasant night in the high country, next to two trees that were occupied by souls. I shot a gun for the first time in my life (not counting my little brother’s BB gun), Cougina’s 22-calibre Ruger target pistol. Cougina said that high calibre weapons aren‘t necessary for a skilled shooter, and until I am, to just keep shooting until all 10 bullets are unloaded.

Wednesday. We drove down into Payson for a cheap and delicious chicken-fried steak breakfast at the Knotty Pine Café, highly recommended if you’re ever in Payson. Then we headed back up the mountains to scout summer booth locations situated in the cool climate of the high country. The first stop was the store at Forest Lakes where there was a happy reunion with Lane and Roxie, who had a 14-month old son in addition to the five year old daughter who Cougina remembered. They suggested checking out the Red Barn in Heber, where many vendors were setting up. From the Red Barn, we headed to The Cabin, one of Cougina’s favorite bars. Raynita, the owner, was delighted, and immediately called Max, novelist and publisher of the recently defunct local newspaper. Max was there in no time. Raynita and Max had concluded that Kactus must have died, because the last time they had seen him, he was so distraught over his wife Rose’s death. They were obviously relieved and happy. Max told me stories: about the bluegrass concerts put on by Kactus and Rose to raise $250,000 to build the local library, about the dirty dancing in The Cabin, and about the two teenagers who had ended up hospitalized after jumping the old man who walked home drunk every night with a pocket full of cash. We picked up fine and reasonably priced strip steaks and fixings at the Overgaard Market (owned by a Pakistani family in a predominantly Mormon community), grilled them at Max’s, and sat for a sweet spell in her hot tub looking out on the mountains. Back inside the house, Cougina discussed hermetics with this open-minded Lutheran for awhile before we headed to our comfy little bed in the van.

Thursday. While we were alone together, Max expressed her happiness for both Cougina and me that we had found each other. She said that it will be a different life for me, but a good life, and that Kactus is a good man, though he sometimes goes off on that hermetic tangent as he did the previous evening. Max fixed us a sweet ham and egg breakfast, I indulged in my first shower since Saturday, and we headed out for the scenic drive cum fiasco which you have heard about in an earlier post, ending up in the Cottonwood Wal-Mart parking lot.

Friday. First thing in the morning, we got a new tire installed at Wal-Mart for $162. We set up at the Hay Market, then drove Augustina across the street to Reese Tire Co., a business that Cougina has trusted for years. By the end of the day, we had an alignment, including replacement of shims on the front end, and a carburetor adjustment, for a total charge of $76. Sales were decent, plenty to pay for all the repairs. Cougina said that whatever expenses were incurred, he was happy for what had happened, because the way we had worked together throughout the crisis had finally convinced him that I truly love him, old man that he is. Of course, I was happy to hear that, and also to find that Augustina was performing better than ever: tighter steering and quieter and smoother acceleration. We spent a quiet night in the Safeway parking lot, another business that is friendly to RV’s.

Saturday. Another day at the market with decent sales. The rear-view mirror had popped off when we put up our new windshield sun visor the day before, so we scouted out a replacement mounting system. We got a spare tire and rim at Navarro’s for a reasonable $30, and that completed van repairs. Cougina did a reading on Skype, and sold a beautiful (the kind you regret parting with) Amertrine pendant designed for the client’s health concern. There was a call from a client to whom Cougina had several months prior recommended a stone to prevent breast problems. She had just been diagnosed with a lump, and wanted to be reminded which stone to wear. We had a towel-bath from the water tub at the stand, and spent the night at Wal-Mart.

Sunday. Last day at the market for now, a slow day. Talked to a nice Midwestern couple who were touring the West. They bought a hat and a pendant. C told a woman in a nice Lexus who didn’t want to pay the $40 hat price to leave. She returned and said she was offended because he wouldn’t bargain with her. As you can imagine, that got her nowhere, and her husband stayed in the car. On a side note, the hay market, which is run, as far as I can tell, by traditional rancher type folks, has vendors from two different Mexican mafia organizations. We packed up pretty early and drove up to the top of Mingus Mountain for a couple of days of recouping. Both of us, C especially, benefit from recharging in country that is closer to its natural state.

That’s how it is out here. Next time I hope it will be back to hermetics…

THINK GREEN
BLESSED BE
COUGINA & AGGIE