Witches’ elixir
herbal magick, stark power
swallowed bittersweet
stretching through generations
transforming with enchantment
Monthly Archives: March 2017
Acceptance (a haiku)
Ostara (a haiku)
Póg mo thóin
The river is green, the Guinness flows freely, the leprechauns are out and about. You never know what may be at the end of their rainbow. However, it would not be Saint Patrick’s Day without music from the FABULOUS POGUES!!!!
This Celtic punk band was formed in 1982 by front man Shane MacGowan (aka Shane Hooligan), a rabble rousing displaced Irishman who had plenty to say about politics, prejudice and poetry.
The band was originally named ‘Pogue Mahone’, which is the phonetic pronunciation of the Irish phrase Póg mo thóin. Translated to English it apparently means “Kiss my ass.” 🙂
Shane chose the name as a joke and figured no one in English speaking countries would be able to figure out the meaning, but au contraire. The name caused a massive uproar. The BBC banned performances by Pogue Mahone and they could not get a record deal, so they shortened their name to ‘Pogues’. (This was acceptable, the Irish word póg meaning ‘kiss’.)
Shane had the last laugh though, when the Pogues released an album called ‘Rum, Sodomy and the Lash’. Reportedly the title was a quote by Winston Churchill. When asked about the state of the British Navy during World War 2, Churchill allegedly replied “Don’t talk to me about naval tradition! It’s nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash!”
At any rate, you won’t find a better band to celebrate Paddy’s Day. Here are two of their classics, ‘If I Should Fall From Grace of God’ and ‘Waxie’s Dargle’. Break out the whiskey, kick up your heels and have a listen!
Lá Shona Fhéile Pádraig! (or Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!)
If I Should Fall From Grace With God — an Irish patriot grapples with his own sins and mortality. “Let me go down in the mud where the rivers all run dry.” Worth listening just to hear Shane’s banshee scream mid song. I dare you not to dance, or at least toe tap!
‘Waxie’s Dargle’ is a traditional folk song, made punk by the Pogues. A Waxie (candle maker) wants to go to the party (dargle). Sadly she is so poor she cannot raise the money to go, not even by selling her husband’s suspenders. “When food is scarce and you see the hearse you know you died of hunger!”
For such a morbid song, this version is hilarious! Sorry about the poor quality of this video, but nonetheless — you can’t beat their loopy energy. Sláinte!
“Beware the Ides of March.”
So warned the soothsayer to Julius Caesar in Shakespeare’s famous play. Alas poor Julius — he did not heed the advice and was stabbed to death in the senate. The bloody, infamous event occurred on March 15, 44 B.C.
Have you ever wondered what the ‘Ides’ of March actually means?
It was a designation for the middle of a month. Apparently, the ancient Romans did not number days of a month sequentially from first through last day. Instead, they divided the month and counted days from three specific points. These points were called the Nones (5th -7th of the month) the Ides (13th to 15th) and the Kalends (1st of the following month).
The divisions were determined by the full moon, which normally occurred between the 13th and 15th of the month. Thus the Roman senate would have actually gone ‘loony’ under the full moon.
After the death of Caesar, the 15th of March seemed to carry its own specific dark cloud. Many other tragedies have occurred on this day. For example:
A Raid on Southern England, 1360
A French raiding party began a 48-hour spree of rape, pillage and murder in southern England. King Edward III interrupted his own pillaging spree in France to retaliate.
Czar Nicholas II Abdicated His Throne, 1917 Czar Nicholas II of Russia signed his abdication papers, ending a 304-year-old royal dynasty. Enter the Bolsheviks!
Germany Occupied Czechoslovakia, 1939
Nazi troops seized the provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, effectively wiping Czechoslovakia off the map. The beginning of Hitler’s destruction.
A Deadly Blizzard on the Great Plains, 1941
A Saturday-night blizzard struck the northern Great Plains, leaving at least 60 people dead in North Dakota and Minnesota and six more in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
World Record Rainfall, 1952
Rain fell on the Indian Ocean island of La Réunion—and kept falling, hard enough to register the world’s most voluminous 24-hour rainfall: 73.62 inches. Reportedly, no arks were built 🙂
CBS Cancelled the “Ed Sullivan Show,” 1971
CBS-TV cancelled “The Ed Sullivan Show” after 23 years on the network. Ed brought us the Beatles!
But it need not be all doom and gloom.
If you are looking to brush up on Julius Caesar, or just want to view some beautiful cinematography and great acting, I recommend this (somewhat lengthy) but very entertaining film. Shown as a miniseries in 2002, it stars Jeremy Sisto as Caesar, with a supporting cast that includes Christopher Walken, Richard Harris and Christopher Noth. Running time is 3 hours. Hope you get a chance to watch!
Happy Ides of March!
Happy Birthday Jack Kerouac!
He was a wide spirit, a dazzling voice that revealed a landscape of metaphor, a believer in humanity, a dreamer, a doer and an explorer of metaphysical consciousness. He was also a recluse, socially awkward, a drug abuser, an alcoholic and a man who became so overwhelmed with his own fame it ultimately destroyed him.
There are two types of people in this world; those that ‘get’ Kerouac, and those that do not. I am in the first category, of course 🙂
Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (aka Jack) was born on March 12, 1922 in Lowell Massachusetts to French Canadian parents who had emigrated from Quebec. Little Jack spoke French as a child and reportedly did not learn English until he was six years old. Yet he went on to become one of the most prolific and controversial American writers of the 20th century.
Kerouac’s childhood was a mix of working class sensibilities and Catholic spirituality. When Jack was just four years old, he lost his older brother Gerard to rheumatic fever. He never quite recovered from the loss and believed Gerard followed him around as a guardian angel. After meeting Neal Cassady in the late 1940’s, the two developed a close bond and Jack always felt that Neal was possibly the reincarnation of Gerard.
Jack played football and earned a scholarship to Columbia University. It was there he met fellow writers Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs.
Jack broke his leg playing football, lost his scholarship and dropped out of school but nevertheless he, Ginsberg and Burroughs became known as the founders of Beat Literature. Jack went on to serve in the Merchant Marine and the Navy, later taking a series of odd jobs. All the while he was writing, writing and writing more. Some of his early books were not published until after his death.
Ironically, when people think of the word Beat, they associate it with Beatniks — those cool-cat-hip beret-wearing bongo players who eventually took over the poetry cafe scene. This idea was, however, not what Kerouac & company intended. The true meaning of Beat, Kerouac insisted, was the feeling his generation had after being ‘beat down’ by World War 2. It also referred to beatific, as in the Beatitudes of the Bible. The Beats were a marginalized segment of American society; leftover hobos, shell shocked veterans, ramshackle misfits — the exact types of characters Jack met during his cross country adventures. They shared a longing for the Divine.
His masterpiece novel ‘On The Road’ was published in 1957. It brought him almost instant fame and success. That success was, in reality, hard earned, as Kerouac had spent most of his life as a poor drifter and outcast bum. Fame and fortune overwhelmed and eventually devastated him.
A restless heart, often accused of misogyny, Kerouac was married three times and had one daughter. His life followed a nomadic pattern that he could never quite resolve. He made his home in various places around the country, never truly settling down. On The Road is a thinly disguised memoir of his trips between the East and West coasts. He often traveled with best friend Neal Cassady.
The Beat movement represented a certain type of freedom, patriotism and love for the land. Apple pie diners, Colorado cowboys, Frisco jazz clubs, purple mountains, red rock deserts and the tranquility of nature. Jack began to study Buddhism in his quest for spirituality. In later years, the peace loving Hippies of Haight Ashbury would pay tribute to the Beats.
Jack may have had a guardian angel, but his demons never left him.
After he achieved literary success, his privacy became a thing of the past. He was now a celebrated author, the spotlight forced upon him. Still socially awkward, Jack took to heavy drinking. He once told his friend and fellow poet Fran Landesman that he would have liked to commit suicide, but because his Catholic faith prevented him from doing so, he had decided to simply drink himself to death.
It worked. Jack Kerouac died on October 21, 1969 at the young age of 47. The official cause of his death was internal bleeding due to alcohol abuse. Jack had once said he wrote his novels because “we’re all gonna die.” Luckily for us, his words live on.
Natalie Merchant of 10,000 Maniacs wrote this musical tribute ‘Hey Jack Kerouac’:
This short documentary (30 minutes) captures some of the most important parts of Kerouac’s life. Hope you enjoy it!
An Analysis of Alice
I am a huge Lewis Carroll fan. The Alice stories (In Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass) are among the best ever written. To my thinking, they are worthy of analyzing and revisiting many times over, always with something new to be discovered.
Because the original work is presented with a good deal of abstract symbolism, readers often misunderstand, or are completely baffled by the text. (Especially if they are trying to decipher it on an adult level.) Hence, film makers tend to go ‘over the top’, often presenting the story with a lot of bells and whistles that were not included in the original story. (Tim Burton and Disney both did this.)
It is, at its core, a story about questioning authority. Carroll pokes fun at just about every Victorian institution. His attack at child rearing, for example, is evident in the fate of the baby that turns into a pig.
You may recall, the Duchess, and mother of the child, tortured him with peppery soup, threw plates at him, and firmly believed in “speaking roughly” to children and beating them for disruptive behavior, such as sneezing. Alice does the only sensible thing — takes the baby away from his chaotic home. Once in the forest, the baby turns into a pig, then runs away. The baby had a hard time in the Duchess’ household, and we might assume he will be happier in the wilds. Alice even claims he makes “a rather handsome pig.”
Carroll pokes fun at the school system, evident in the “reeling and writhing” classes of the mock turtle. The “lessons” also lessen daily, starting with ten hours the first day and steadily decreasing. (Although he was an Oxford don, Carroll himself once taught secondary education, finding it so tedious he could not wait for the day to end.)
He makes fun of he British monarchy. “Off with her head” is a reference to its once frequent be-headings a la Henry VIII and his unfortunate wives. The temperamental Queen orders a beheading at least once an hour. Later the Gryphon informs Alice that none of the be-headings are actually carried out. The Queen is, in fact, clueless about her own administration.
The Wars of the Roses is also mocked, with the servants painting roses from white to red, representing York and Lancaster dynasties. The Queen ( a Red Queen) wants red roses and the servants have planted a white rose bush by mistake. Their solution is to paint the roses red before the angry Queen finds out. The Lancaster dynasty was symbolized by red roses, and the York by white. The Wars of the Roses was a devastating English civil war, its bloody battles spanning over thirty years.
The court system is also criticized in the Knave of Hearts’ trial. The characters present a plethora of silly witnesses and a nonexistent crime. In Through the Looking Glass, in a bizarre sequence of time reversal, the punishment for a crime is given before the crime is actually committed! Hence we find the Mad Hatter serving time in jail, although he has not yet committed his crime.
There is a message about being controlled by schedules in the rabbit’s obsession with his watch — he lives in fear of “being late”. The idea of “beating time” is later discussed by the Mad Hatter. Alice mentions that she must beat time to play music, and the Hatter reprimands her, saying Time will never cooperate with her if she beats him.
The Alice books show a test of one’s ability to adapt. Alice finds herself in the strangest of circumstances and tries her best to fit in. In the end she discovers the Wonderland creatures are “nothing but a pack of cards” and thus no better than she herself. They are, in fact, lower than she herself, and she overcomes them simply by standing up to them. In this case, literally standing up — as she is much taller than them, but symbolically Alice also stands up for her own rights and her own opinions.
As in any quest for knowledge, and as is frequently the experience of one ‘growing up’, Alice often becomes ‘too big’ for her own surroundings.
She may be terrified at the changes within her own mind and body – frequently the experience of adolescents and young adults. And yet, as the frog footmen, the lizards and rabbits scurry about, Alice is aware of their silliness, much in the same way an enlightened being becomes aware of the triviality of the world.
Perhaps most importantly, the books teach self actualization. Alice is frustrated, but in the end she realizes her nuanced opinions have some validity. Her experience is just as important as anyone else’s.
No wonder Wonderland became so popular! First published in 1865, it has never been out of print. The first fans of the Alice books included Queen Victoria and Oscar Wilde. The Alice books are also reportedly the most quoted books in the English language, right up there with the Bible and the works of Shakespeare.
Carroll was among the first to use a dream sequence in a novel — a technique that became more popular with the work of Sigmund Freud in the early 20th century. Today dream sequence in film is almost passe’. We have seen it a hundred times, and it is frequently uses as a cliffhanger, or to ‘trick’ the viewer. But back then it was certainly innovative.
Ironically, although Carroll is frequently accused of drug use, the kinds of drugs they associate him with were not discovered until much later. For example, ‘magic mushrooms’ were discovered in 1955, and LSD was first synthesized in 1938, which I guess proves that Carroll had a brilliant imagination.
So, forget Tim Burton and all other fabrications. Here I give you a movie which is actually very close in sentiment to the Real Alice!
This 1972 film, directed by William Sterling, captures the intent of Lewis Carroll. Using most of the book’s original dialogue, script writing owes credit to Carroll as well as Sterling. The talented cast includes Fiona Fullerton, Dudley Moore and Peter Sellers.
Although the film is lacking in super-duper mind blowing special effects (it was, after all, made in 1972 on a limited budget) it nonetheless does a great job of capturing Carroll’s ideas.
Running time is about 1 hour 30 minutes. Hope you get a chance to watch it!
A Streetcar Named Desire
“They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, then transfer to one called Cemeteries, then ride six blocks and get off at — the Elysian Fields!” So begins the opening lines of Tennessee Williams’ most famous play, spoken by would-be femme fatal Blanche Dubois.
Tennessee Williams won a Pulitzer Prize for this 1947 play, which tells the story of Blanche, an aging southern belle who, after a series of devastating personal losses pays a visit to her sister Stella in New Orleans’ French Quarter.
Stella lives in a shabby, run down two flat with her brutish and bullying husband Stanley Kowalski (played by then-unknown Marlon Brando.) Blanche is immediately both intimidated by and attracted to Stanley, who becomes relentless in his quest to expose dark secrets from Blanche’s past.
Rest assured, the secrets are very dark — there was a marriage to a gay man resulting in his suicide, for which Blanche feels responsible. There were clandestine hotel encounters, possible prostitution, and an affair with a high school student that ended her career. (Blanche had been a teacher.)
What follows is Blanche’s psychological demise. There is a controversial rape scene, the birth of a baby and Blanche’s threadbare conclusion as she is hauled off to a mental institution:”I have always depended upon the kindness of strangers.”
In 1951 the play was made into an academy award winning movie, starring Vivien Leigh as Blanche and Kim Hunter as Stella. (Hollywood did its best to tone down the homosexual sub plot as well as the rape scene.)
In the end, Stanley, Stella and Blanche were all victims of their own desires. Stanley wanted power, Stella wanted love and Blanche wanted security. Or did they?
The true genius of this play is its conflicting virtues and sexual politics. It is very hard to name a hero or a villain. Tennessee Williams was quoted as saying he wrote the play for the “mentally ill and the misunderstood.” He had a mentally ill sister whom he commemorated in ‘The Glass Menagerie’. Tennessee himself had a few nervous breakdowns, as did Vivien Leigh. And yet — I could have sworn the author was rooting for Stanley the whole time.
Although the names ‘Desire’, ‘Cemeteries’ and ‘Elysian Fields’ are actual New Orleans destinations, the symbolism will not be lost on mythology fans. The Elysian Fields in Greek mythology is the soul’s final resting place — ironically a resting place of the heroic and virtuous. The names imply that it is our desires that bring our demise (the cemetery) and then take us on the Elysian Fields — a parallel of Blanche’s streetcar journey.
At any rate, nothing says ‘Desire’ like this steamy scene between Kim Hunter and Marlon Brando. “HEY STELLA!!”
Histories and Mysteries 