IT WOULD SEEM TOTALLY AMAZING...

...THAT THE HERMETIC CONCEPT OF OPPOSING FORCES WOULD HAVE SO INVADED COMMERCIAL THEOSOPHY THAT TWO SIDES COULD NOT POSSIBLY FIND THE CENTER.  FROM A HERMETIC POINT OF VIEW, MAJOR BENEFIT TO SOCIETY WOULD BE FOR ONE SIDE OR THE OTHER TO ACTUALLY SUCCEED.  COMPROMISE AT THIS POINT WOULD MEAN SURRENDER WITHOUT VICTORY.  WHAT A HORRIBLE WAY TO LOOK AT HOD AND NETZACH.  CAN YOU IMAGINE A WORLD WITHOUT OPPOSITION? NO BIRTH, NO DEATH, NO MALE, NO FEMALE, NO RIGHT, NO WRONG, NO GOOD, NO BAD, WHAT AN AMAZING CONCEPT WE'VE CREATED.  A WORLD WITHOUT COMPROMISE OR SOLUTION.  DON'T YOU THINK IT'S TIME TO JUST DISCHARGE ALL POLITICIANS?  BE TRUE TO SELF.  IF YOU NEED THE GOVERNMENT TO FEED YOU, I GUESS YOU HAVE TO VOTE.  IF YOU NEED THE GOVERNMENT TO KEEP YOU HEALTHY, I GUESS YOU HAVE TO VOTE.  IF YOU NEED THE CHURCH TO TELL YOU WHO GOD IS, I GUESS YOU OUGHT TO PRAY.  IF YOU WANT TO BE A HERMETIC, I SUGGEST YOU LOOK TO SELF. 

BLESSED BE
COUGINA

NORTH AMERICA'S REDNECK METAPHYSICIAN

Many, many thanks to Patti Armstrong for sharing the wonderful images of the "C" that she captured on her recent visit...

WEEK 2: AN AYURVEDIC ARRIVES AT DR. A’S

The highlight of the week is our visit to Inner Light Integrative Health Care, the office of Dr. Andria Orlowski, NMD. Pictured are Tanis, Cougina, and Andria. (Mary was not in the office at the time of this photo.) The office is located at 6005 South 36th St., Phoenix, AZ 85042. (602)426-1111. orlowskinmd@msn.com.

"Andria is the best naturopath I have ever met." - Cougina

First a few words about our visitor at the top of Mingus Mountain… Monday. K appeared at our camp, coffeepot in hand, to offer us morning coffee. K kindly agreed to install helper springs on our van for $20. With Cougina “stupervising” and K’s physical labor, the helper springs got installed, and Augustina is sitting a few inches higher and happier in her rear end. We are enjoying the more stable ride, and the comfort of knowing her rear end will not blow under stress…

K had spent some time in prison, and thinks that it is more comfortable than jail, but not so comfortable as freedom. He brought up his experience of Jesus as his personal savior, thus setting himself up for some mind-stretching conversation. C has prohibited me from describing it here… Photos show K, his dog Ellie, and Augustina with her new rear end look.

Tuesday. We sat around camp and enjoyed the early morning on the mountain, then drove through Prescott Valley to Scottsdale, noting the extreme drought conditions of the countryside. We relaxed in Donna’s backyard, refreshing ourselves in her cement pond. We were also delighted to pick up the olive wood tray and goblets for our altar. The goblets were obviously unused, but fairly old. The tray is made from a single piece of wood, 20” in length, and so must come from a fine old tree. The rush hour drive to our Motel 6 went smoothly. Shower and bath time, yee-haw!!

Our altar setup, displaying the olive wood chalices and tray, which C thinks are of Hassidic Jewish origin.

Wednesday. A big day at Dr. A’s: six clients at the office and one that evening at the motel room, 45-90 minutes with each client. For Cougina, the work is exhausting. As best I understand, the comfort zone for an adept can be described as staying in balance, equally focused on the extremes of the physical self and the higher SELF. Doing readings requires going to a place of imbalance, more focused on the reality of the higher SELF. He tries to ground himself between readings, and for this, cigarettes and beer are the best tools he has found…

The readings are a part of C’s life work, and are distinguished from fortune-telling, which, within the Hermetic community, is regarded as the lowest form of employment. He detects health problems by inspection of the aura, and gets more specific information with the Tarot. (He says that information from the aura is 100% accurate, and the accuracy of the cards is 70-80%, usually erring in time or intensity, but sometimes plain wrong.) With the assistance of someone like Dr. A., he can help people turn health problems around. Through readings, he is also able to provide guidance to those who are seriously on a spiritual path, e.g., seeking to know SELF. His spiritual commitment allows him to accept donations for readings, but not to specify a charge. All who come will be helped. Usually, people who manage to find him have learned the benefits of generosity.

By the way, C works with Hermetic ayurvedics, which is similar to Yoga ayurvedics, but based on the Tree of Life rather than the chakras. In the Tree of Life, three of the chakras are split into left and right (passive and active) polarities.

A typical case was a man who had severe headaches and blurred vision on one side of his face, which physicians have been unable to diagnose. C saw a grey area in the aura due to an embolism in the parietal lobe, still too small to be detected by medical imaging technology. This can be treated with a gemstone, and with Dr. A‘s treatments.

A typical emotional/spiritual case is that of a young, highly successful professional who had a severe fear of heights. C was able to isolate and describe a past life experience in such a way that the fear dissipated.

In another case, a couple was having difficulty conceiving a child. There was no physical impediment, but the couple had been so vigilant to avoid conception while building financial security, that they had been unable to release that thoughtform.

Dr. A’s energy work is amazing. I just spoke with a woman with a broken vertebra due to a freakish accident, who refused surgery and is on the mend with Dr. A’s help. I got a treatment yesterday. I had no specific complaint, but I do feel significantly more flexible and relaxed now, and would love to have another treatment anytime...

What a wonderful atmosphere at Dr. A’s office! There is not a trace of physician superiority, just a simple, open human being, an attitude that extends to all of the office staff. Whole fresh food is served to whoever happens to be around at meal time, and there are lovely teas to sample at other times.

Thursday. Six readings scheduled for today. As soon as we are finished in the office, we will relax: grilling poolside with Donna and friends, and (if driver Aggie can hold out) driving up high to sleep.

Addendum to yesterday’s blog on the guf: C says that the guf is virutally empty, due to overpopulation. As a result, more and more babies are being born without an accompanying soul… No, I don’t understand what the consequences of this will be.

THINK GREEN
BLESSED BE
AGGIE AND COUGINA

A RATIONAL INTRODUCTION TO HERMETICA...

THIS IS WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT IF YOU BECOME A SUBSCRIBER TO COVINA HERMETICIA.  You can obtain a 48 hour free trial to this paid subscription blog by emailing couginamachek@aol.com.

Note about my perspective: Ten years ago, a non-hermetic spiritual book referred me to the Tarot.  From that exploration, I became particularly interested in the possibility that there might exist a Western pagan (non-Christian) spiritual path that had been maintained orally and in secret through the ages. None of my reading turned up anything that was known to have survived, and I rather forgot about it; then I met Cougina.  What follows is my understanding of what he has told me, interspersed with Cougina's direct words (which are indicated by UPPER CASE).  You will notice that it starts out academically and spirals into rather heavy hermetics.  Oh, well.

Note about my purpose: This post intends to provide a rational framework for the reader who is unfamiliar with hermetics.  No attempt is made to provide factual information to "prove" that hermetics is "true," or to justify Cougina's authority.

Life on earth, and, earth itself, has come and gone six times since creation, surviving for several thousand years each time.  We are on the seventh go-round at this time.  Hermetics is the name for the theosophy (not religion) that has survived through all of these ages.  It has remained secret at all times, for the human need to destroy those who do not adhere to the mainstream has always existed, and religions have always been a means of control.  Given this, it is not surprising that hermetics do not reveal themselves (as a hermetic teacher, Cougina is an exception).  At this time, they are members of all religious faiths, even the most extreme.  (How can they help if they do not stay alive?)  In historic Europe, one of the more successful places that hermetics hid themselves was in the Roman Catholic church. 

What of Hermes Trismegistus?  In Renaissance Italy, the wealthy Cosimo de Medici commissioned Marsilio Ficino to translate the Corpus Hermetica into Latin even before the work of Plato.  Such was the stature of Hermes Trismegistus at that time; he was thought to be extant with Moses, or even earlier.  20th century scholarship places the hermetic corpus firmly in the Christian era, approximately 200 CE.  Cougina states that, obviously, the ideas presented there, regardless of the time they were put into writing, are very much older.  In other words, academic historians are restricted to the surviving written word, and are therefore limited in their ability to accurately track history.

Hermetics maintains that we are nothing more than what we see, hear, taste, smell, and feel (until we gain the 6th sense of auric vision and the 7th sense of telepathy).  It is a non-dogmatic approach which insists on the validation of its concepts through personal sensory experience.  Nevertheless, a rational presentation such as this is the only way that we who are new to hermetics are able to approach it.

Major elements of hermetics are Qabalah, Tarot, Magick, and SELF (higher self).  These elements appear doctrinal; however, hermetics maintains that these elements must be experienced to have personal meaning.

Qabalah did not originate with Judaism; rather, Judaism adapted Qabalah from hermetics. A major element of Qabalah is the Tree of Life, which describes both the creation of the world (as above) and the human being (so below).  The tree of life is or will be discussed in more detail elsewhere in the blog.  A basic description of the tree at the creation level is that the unmanifest divinity (Ain Soph) became aware of SELF, resulting in duality (Oh Shit!" as Cougina refers to the first words).  From this awareness descended ten Sephirot, or spheres of energy, beginning with Kether, containing the unmanifest male/female energies, then Chokmah, the masculine aspect of divinity, then Binah, the feminine aspect of divinity, and so on down to the 10th Sephira, Malkuth, the manifest physical creation.  (Although the masculine aspect appears first, hermetics is not patriarchal.  A discussion of this apparent contradiction is beyond the scope of this article.)

The application of the Tree to the human being is comparable to the Eastern conception of the seven chakras, with the caveat that the Qabalist splits the 3rd, 5th, and 6th chakras into two nodes, corresponding to the 7 horizontal layers and 10 Sephirot of the Tree.

The Tarot is a sacred text of hermetics.  Only to the uninitiated is it a tool of the fortune-teller.  Each of the 22 major arcana represent one of the basic concepts of reality, as as well as one of the 22 paths between the Sephirot, used in magickal workings.  The 56 minor arcana are more advanced concepts used by higher adepts.

MAGICK, UNFORTUNATELY, IS NOT THE ABILITY TO REMOVE A RABBIT FROM A HAT, OR TO CUT A WOMAN IN HALF.  MAGICK, FROM OUR PERSPECTIVE, IS THE ABILITY TO ACTUALLY ACHIEVE CONTACT WITH HIGHER SELF, I.E., HAPPINESS OR ECSTASY.  THE INDIVIDUALIZATION OF THIS PRECEPT, WHETHER YOU WISH 20 BOYFRIENDS, 20 GIRLFRIENDS, A BIG HOUSE, A SMALL CAR, OR ANY OTHER THING, IS NOT HOW THE PROCESS WORKS, BECAUSE WE ARE TELLING YOU THAT YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ACTUALLY DESIRE UNTIL YOU ACHIEVE THIS CONTACT.  HOWEVER, HERMETICS ASSURES YOU THAT ONCE YOU ACHIEVE THIS CONTACT, SELF IS VERY SATISFYING.

Hermetically, SELF is spelled Shin He Lamed Qoph.  Referring to the Tarot card by letter, SHIN is the arrow of movement, the Fool card, the leap of the little self from the cliff into the unknown.  HE is the breath of manifestation that creates Lamed. Lamed is the Hanged Man card, surrender (of self to SELF) and service.  The final step is Qoph, the Sun card, Tiphareth, the ecstasy of union with SELF, of balance between self and SELF.

Picture yourself surrounded by an egg, with the narrow end of the egg pointed down, in which is contained a tree of life.  Imagine the tree's two outer branches, Netzach-Chesed-Chokmah and Hod-Geburah-Binah, slowly rotating around the central axis, Malkuth-Yesod-Tiphareth-Kether.  You live your life in various points on the periphery of the tree.  The goal of hermetics is to take you to center and to keep you there, and you will achieve this if you follow COVINA HERMETICIA with intent... Hint: AS THE CIRCLE SPINS, THE HE BECOMES A YOD, AND, PERHAPS, THE YOD BECOMES SHIN.

DO YOU ENJOY LONGEVITY?  WE WILL NOT HELP YOU MAKE MONEY (ALTHOUGH YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO LIVE IN MODEST COMFORT IN COMPARISON TO THE TIME-SPATIAL ELEMENT IN WHICH YOU LIVE), BUT WE WILL ALLOW YOU RATHER EXCEPTIONAL HEALTH.  SURRENDER OF self RESULTS IN ACCEPTANCE OF SELF, AND ONCE THIS TAKES PLACE, YOU ARE ASSURED OF AN EXCEPTIONALLY HEALTHY VEHICLE, OCCASIONALLY FOR A RATHER EXCEPTIONAL LENGTH OF TIME.  HOWEVER, ONE MUST ALWAYS REMAIN WITHIN TIPHARETH IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN THIS PROCESS. 

ONE OF THE PROBLEMS WITH THE TRUE HERMETIC PURSUIT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE ABSTRACT SEXUAL IMPLICATIONS.  (Note: "abstract," as used by Cougina, means an idea that is poorly understood. As I [Aggie] understand it, abstract ideas often provoke the emotion of fear.) WHILE WE ACCEPT THE EARLIER PATRIARCHAL ASPECTS OF SEXUAL SURRENDER, WE ARE CONSTANTLY TRYING TO MODIFY THIS INTO A MORE MATRIARCHAL ASPECT.   AT THE PRESENT TIME, SEXUAL SURRENDER IS NEVER REQUIRED, BUT IT CAN STILL BE EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE.  WE ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR SOLUTIONS TO THIS PROBLEM.

BLESSED BE
AGNES

THE MONSOON SEASON HAS ARRIVED

The early evening of that first day back in Cottonwood ushered in the monsoon season, with a hard driving rain and hailstorm, that settled into a feminine rain (as Cougina refers to gentle rains) through the night.  Kactus/Cougina stood outdoors and jumped for joy, while I woke up from my heat-tired slumber in the van to gratefully join the celebration.  However, hat sales were nil the next day, and brainstorming took us to Peddlar's Pass in Prescott Valley.  (That is our booth in the photo on the left.

This was my (Aggies's) first experience at a good-sized market, with approximately 60 vendors (30 of them selling guns, says Cougina). Our experience turned into another wash, with several bouts of rain.It began in the middle of the first night when we got up to take down the booth to protect it from wind.  On the right is a photo during the next day's rain:  We sold one gemstone, but didn't begin to cover our expenses.  So... we slept at the top of Mingus, gentle raindrops soothing our sleep, and headed back to, you guessed it, Cottonwood, where we were greeted by the following scene...

Yes, more rain...  But the Sun soon returned.  We did sell one hat, so the day was not a washout.  We are heading down to the valley (Phoenix metro) today, earlier than anticipated, to celebrate with my son on his birthday, as he passes through on his way to San Diego. 

GUACOMOLE THE ENIGMA

Above is a video of Guacomole telling one of his standard jokes.  (He is quite a good joke teller, though this video may not quite capture it.  If my memory was better, I’d be stealing his jokes frequently.)   

If you’ve been following the blog, you know about our friend Guacomole, the child of upper-class, lettered, East coast parents, turned miner/trapper/horse trader/Kactus-Guacomole Mining Company partner.  Continue reading for further adventures with Guac.

We arrived at Guac’s place one afternoon and found him lying in bed sleeping off inebriation.  I woke him up and invited him out to the backyard..  We hadn’t seen Guac for awhile, and had a great time getting photos and videos of him and his place.  While we visited, he drank some more vodka.  When it was time to leave, neither of us could get him back to bed.  In fact, we couldn’t get him off the ground.  C was worried enough to call 911.  The paramedics arrived, addressed him cordially by name, and took him to the hospital.  Later that evening, the hospital released him.  The medical personnel told me that, though the problem was drunkenness, he had indeed needed their care.  I drove him back home;  he was still stumbling rather than walking, five hours after the trip to the hospital. 

We went back to visit two days later, and found Guac with a bad case of the DTs. He hadn’t gotten his support check or rent from his tenant on time, and had run out of money to buy vodka that day.  He’d spent the day vomiting.  We took him down to the Newsstand, his favorite bar, bought him a couple of drinks and a pint, took him back home, and forced him to eat as well as drink, whereupon he made a rather rapid recovery.

Since coming out on the road, I (Aggie) have had so many unfamiliar experiences, but Guacomole is one of the toppers.  He is an intelligent and extremely kind man who dared to move West and live the life of his dreams.  Now, he is stuck with a colostomy bag that limits his ability to live his preferred life. 

Guacomole is faced with a decision.  Does he want to continue to avoid the question by drinking himself into oblivion?  Will he choose to pass on to the next life?  Will he choose to do things that are possible for him, e.g., reach out to a caring woman and busy himself with his beloved garden?  PLEASE SEND HIM SOME LOVE TO HELP HIM DECIDE FOR HIMSELF.

THINK GREEN
BLESSED BE
COUGINA & AGGIE

PS HAVE YOU CHECKED THE NEW BLOG COVINA HERMETICIA YET // If not, email couginamachek@aol.com for a free three day trial membership.

INDEPENDENCE DAY

WE WOULD LIKE TO WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY WEEKEND AND SUGGEST TO YOU THAT THIS IS AN EXCELLENT TIME TO DO AWAY WITH THE SEPARATE self AND TO CREATE A DEFINITIVE LINK BETWEEN self AND HIGHER SELF. TRUE INDEPENDENCE FROM THE BONDS OF PHYSICAL REALITY IS AVAILABLE TO ANYONE WHO SEEKS HIGHER SELF, GOD, OR UNIVERSAL CONSCIOUSNESS THROUGH THE PHILOSOPHY OF THEIR CHOICE. WE ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO SPEND A SHORT TIME TODAY TRYING TO CREATE THIS BOND WITH WHATEVER THEIR CONCEPT OF THE DIVINE MAY BE.

BE HAPPY
RESPECT OTHERS
THINK GREEN
BLESSED BE
COUGINA