Hic Sunt Dracones
Jul. 1st, 2021 09:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamanous2020The cartographers of the renaissance era had a much keener sense of limitation then we do now. Ancient knowledge was only once again being brought to the fore , biblical teachings rejoined ad naueseum for the fallen nature of man, human life was hemmed in by the constraints of seasons and renewable energy and men did not yet have that peculiar arrogance of humanity astride the world like a giant. A view of these gorgeous manuscripts shows the exquisite drawn details of the known world. Figures of kings and emperors in fantastical dress stood atop India and Cathay. Mythologized versions of beasts strode the breadth of Africa. Temples and Palaces filled in the spaces with grand displays of piety and wealth. Mermaids swam along great trade ships as they hopped from post to post. And most importantly in my thought today, were the images of monsters sitting at the edges of the maps beyond which no other images were drawn.
Here Be Dragons. The markers of the unknown, outside the limits of human knowledge.
It was a combination of JMG’s and Violets essays which incepted that seed thought. JMG has continued to chronicle the way our society is handling the approaching cliff of Peak Oil. To say it’s failing to address the pressing issue would be like saying the bus driver hitting the accelerator as the Grand Canyon approaches might be problematic. Crumbling infrastructure, the wholesale looting of the treasury, declining birth rates, the rising cost of industrial living, utopian dreams of bitcoin, space exploration and human immortality parked right next to the rising tide of homeless and the mentally ill…the list goes on. Violet too has brought out the spirituality and myths frothing in the pot for the world to come, but which go unheeded and unnoted for the time being as civilization careens on.
And to my mind, it seems the issue that ties this society’s inability to look at the problem, to even begin to think about what solutions are viable, stem from that Faustian article of faith. Eternal progress. The infinite line going beyond and never stopping, that Star Trek drive to keep going without end. The belief that humanity is evolving to a special destiny in the stars as a god of a machine universe. If there’s one way to quickly relate to the heretics of ages past, simply deny that single credo and you will quickly find yourself surrounded by people of all political persuasions aghast, stunned or quite simply looking at you as if you sprouted a new head called Kevin with an IQ of 30.
In those situations, the old adages that JMG reiterates, that practicing magic is “the path of the lonely ones” and “To Know, To Dare, To Will and To Be Silent” seems quite relevant.
However, acknowledging limitations is a necessary condition for freedom and action, and not it’s antithesis. To draw back to a more personal perspective, I might relate how I’ve attempted poorly over the years to be a bit of a renaissance man. Guitar playing? I’ll give that a shot. Attend a motorcycle training course twice? I’ll be there too. Adventure out to all the great national parks and hikes in my area? I’ll beat you to it. A thousand different things, all interesting with their own allure, but I sit here now with not much to show for it, outside of the ability to relate to just about anyone on the surface of any hobby or interest. Looking at my own life, I can see the same error as that of society at large, progress in every which direction without regard. Energy and time spent in different ways but which nothing has grown from.
If there’s just one thing I’ve been thankful for, in my most recent failed relationship, has been how the hurt and reckoning of that limited my horizon. My own dragons writ large so to speak. I’m now in a small space, physically and emotionally and where my days follow a fairly standard routine of waking up, going through the standard magical practices, working, fitness and then time to dedicate to self-examination and reading. It feels like a laser, focusing in on a target I can’t quite make out (though the tarot and ogham readings of people like Open_Space and KimberlySteele have provided sage advice).
I can only think from my own experience how society at large too could benefit if we could just be honest with our selves, and then paths we would not quite expect would open like coming out of a dark forest. Would we spend our days building grand green energy projects? Would we waste our time arguing over the latest round of culture wars? Would we allow for debts to accumulate to a scale unimaginable? Perhaps not... but a myth is a powerful thing and who among us willing looks into the abyss of a failed dream? Only when our heart is broken can the old seep out and new potential drift in.
As for my last thought, the cosmic irony that as the expansive Piscean age wanes, we come to the end of the rule of Jupiter. Dragons are traditionally associated with the old titan Saturn who rules boundaries and who as of the end of 2020, is now the king of a new era. May we meet this new time as a challenge to renew our own lives and that society may do the same.
Here Be Dragons. The markers of the unknown, outside the limits of human knowledge.
It was a combination of JMG’s and Violets essays which incepted that seed thought. JMG has continued to chronicle the way our society is handling the approaching cliff of Peak Oil. To say it’s failing to address the pressing issue would be like saying the bus driver hitting the accelerator as the Grand Canyon approaches might be problematic. Crumbling infrastructure, the wholesale looting of the treasury, declining birth rates, the rising cost of industrial living, utopian dreams of bitcoin, space exploration and human immortality parked right next to the rising tide of homeless and the mentally ill…the list goes on. Violet too has brought out the spirituality and myths frothing in the pot for the world to come, but which go unheeded and unnoted for the time being as civilization careens on.
And to my mind, it seems the issue that ties this society’s inability to look at the problem, to even begin to think about what solutions are viable, stem from that Faustian article of faith. Eternal progress. The infinite line going beyond and never stopping, that Star Trek drive to keep going without end. The belief that humanity is evolving to a special destiny in the stars as a god of a machine universe. If there’s one way to quickly relate to the heretics of ages past, simply deny that single credo and you will quickly find yourself surrounded by people of all political persuasions aghast, stunned or quite simply looking at you as if you sprouted a new head called Kevin with an IQ of 30.
In those situations, the old adages that JMG reiterates, that practicing magic is “the path of the lonely ones” and “To Know, To Dare, To Will and To Be Silent” seems quite relevant.
However, acknowledging limitations is a necessary condition for freedom and action, and not it’s antithesis. To draw back to a more personal perspective, I might relate how I’ve attempted poorly over the years to be a bit of a renaissance man. Guitar playing? I’ll give that a shot. Attend a motorcycle training course twice? I’ll be there too. Adventure out to all the great national parks and hikes in my area? I’ll beat you to it. A thousand different things, all interesting with their own allure, but I sit here now with not much to show for it, outside of the ability to relate to just about anyone on the surface of any hobby or interest. Looking at my own life, I can see the same error as that of society at large, progress in every which direction without regard. Energy and time spent in different ways but which nothing has grown from.
If there’s just one thing I’ve been thankful for, in my most recent failed relationship, has been how the hurt and reckoning of that limited my horizon. My own dragons writ large so to speak. I’m now in a small space, physically and emotionally and where my days follow a fairly standard routine of waking up, going through the standard magical practices, working, fitness and then time to dedicate to self-examination and reading. It feels like a laser, focusing in on a target I can’t quite make out (though the tarot and ogham readings of people like Open_Space and KimberlySteele have provided sage advice).
I can only think from my own experience how society at large too could benefit if we could just be honest with our selves, and then paths we would not quite expect would open like coming out of a dark forest. Would we spend our days building grand green energy projects? Would we waste our time arguing over the latest round of culture wars? Would we allow for debts to accumulate to a scale unimaginable? Perhaps not... but a myth is a powerful thing and who among us willing looks into the abyss of a failed dream? Only when our heart is broken can the old seep out and new potential drift in.
As for my last thought, the cosmic irony that as the expansive Piscean age wanes, we come to the end of the rule of Jupiter. Dragons are traditionally associated with the old titan Saturn who rules boundaries and who as of the end of 2020, is now the king of a new era. May we meet this new time as a challenge to renew our own lives and that society may do the same.
