​albionspeak 2: the gates of dis (13.3)

SESSION 73:  7TH NIGHT, 8/4/01                         


            Among other items in our day, [Scribe] and I walked the [local] Nature Trail.  There, by prearrangement, we compared our independent thoughts—together with supporting evidence from transcript clues and the like—on who we believed [Scribe]’s next gift-giver would be.  Each of us had written down four or five reasons for his guess, and the results were so confirming they seemed anticlimactic.  Both of us felt reasonably sure Albion would bring the gift of solar yellow.  Some of our clues were the same; each of us picked up on something the other missed. [These clues I edit out to spare the reader; what’s important returns in the dialogue.]
            Needless to say, we anticipated a board ritual of making a guess, passing the test, and [Scribe]’s being offered the promised reward.  It did not quite turn out so (which is really to our credit).

            Our invocation:  yet another [Don] poem translated by [Albion].

  1.       Q:        [Guide], are you there?
            A:        I  GLEAM IN [THE] BUTTERFLY
                        YOUR E TONIGHT TO SEE ALL OUR STARS [THE]N LET [THE]

                                    TEACHER  SPEAK

  2.       Q:        We will try to see all eight points of the butterfly.
            A:        U & E -  I  AM ALBION
                        I  AM VISITING YOUR CONSTELLATION IN TIME  AS YOU ASK

                                    Let the temporal record show we did not ask; however, we were

                        certainly prepared to do so.  Let the record also show there was no “oracular”

                        post-exercise introduction.  I think we have a kind of clue here: [Scribe] has

                        now been addressed as “the poet,” even though we know well that [Don] was

                        certainly one himself.  And no doubt we have many teachers within our

                        fellowship.  Still, I feel the teacher is a reference to my own role in life.  Yes,

                        I teach middle school, which qualifies me professionally; however, I’ve

                        always considered my teaching role to be a spiritual attribute.  I will not

                        always teach 8th graders, but I will always be a teacher.

Albion’s Gift to E

  3.       Q ([Scribe]):  Today [Albion] and I reviewed the evidence and came up with you as

                        the most likely giver of the E gift that Josef announced.
            A:        I  AM A FIGURE OF VOYAGE FOR E   AM  I NOT?
                        I  AM [THE] SERPENT IN [THE] SUN AS WELL   UNMOVING & YET

                                    ENJOYING MOTION

                                    Neither [Scribe] nor I commented at the time on Albion and motion.

                        It seemed to me to be so oddly familiar, but I can’t trace the thought now.

                        Today, in retrospect, I can only connect this response to Aristotle’s “unmoved

                        mover.”

  4.        Q ([Scribe]):  I now have some knowledge of E-gifts.  But I must ask for any 

                        counsel you have on how to receive or use your gift.
             A:       IT IS ALL STRAIGHT FOWARD                               [sic]
                        I  WILL PLACE [THE] GIFT IN YOUR PORT
                        YOU MUST WAIT & ALLOW IT TO TAKE EFFECT

  5.        Q ([Scribe]):  I have had visions of you more than once.  You appeared to me again

                        recently.
             A:       I  APPEAR AT A MOMENT OF TURNING   [YES]   
                        I  STAND BEHIND YOU   & YET YOU SENSE MY SHADOW CAST    

                                    AHEAD

                                    Recall, Josef emphasized a “turning,” a “crux.”

  6.        Q:       The symbol U suggests a turning.
             A:       [YES]   AND YET ALSO UPRAISED ARMS  AS  I STAND UNMOVED
                        I  TURN ONLY IN TIME     IN ETERNITY  I  AM ALWAYS ECSTASY

                                                    [sic?]

                                    Albion is always so much larger than life, so superlative.  And yet, I

                       am excited by the superlatives he uses:  I want to be there.  He also here

                       seemed much closer to us mere mortals than the voice who trumpeted to us

                       years ago (in our only other meeting).
                                    [Scribe] may have corrected Albion’s spelling—the original is

                       smudged—but it is [Scribe] who made the rare spelling error (“ecstacy” for

                       “ecstasy”).

  7.        Q:      Last time you spoke to us you seemed so alien to our concerns.  Now very

                       much less so.
             A:      IT IS ONLY BECAUSE YOU HAVE CHANGED   & HAVE BEGUN TO

                                   SENSE MY LIGHT IN MANY PLACES
                       I  ADDRESS U IN PARTICULAR

The Point of Convergence

  8.        Q ([Albion]):  Isn’t one many-minded if one sees the light as it appears, say, on

                       many waves at once?
             A:      [YES]  &  [NO]     

                       CONVERGENCE IS A LONG WORK OF FOCUSING  EYE & EAR
                       I  AM AT [THE] POINT OF CONVERGENCE

  9.        Q ([Albion]):  The Scribe was told to align his energies.  But I, in overview, would

                       like to take the many lights and see them as describing a total form.
             A:      IF YOU UNIFY [THE]M   THEN THEY ARE NO LONGER MANY
                       ALL GIFTS OF ENERGY TO U ARE INTENDED TO SERVE THIS WORK

                                   & BRING [THE] VITAL IMAGES INTO FOCUS
                       ALL ALBIONS AIM AT SUCH WORK

                                   U stands for unify.

10.        Q ([Albion]):  Have you any particular advice on this unifying process?
             A:      [YES]    [THE] FIRST PART ALREADY GIVEN - 
                       LEARN TO SPEAK WITH ME IN STILLNESS    USE [THE] STARS
                       [YES]  &  [NO]     FOLLOW?
                       NEXT

                                   Somehow I felt it quite correct to interrupt Albion for clarification,

                       whereas with our other teachers I’d be much more likely to demur and hold

                       my thought.  No, “next” can wait a moment, until I understand. I sensed

                       Albion was testing me, teasing me for comprehension.  It’s a technique I use 

                       frequently as a teacher, though only when I’m on good terms with a student.

11.        Q ([Albion]):  Is there any setting (place & time) that would work best for our

                       conversation?
             A:      [YES]   FOR [THE] EARLY LESSONS  LISTEN TO ME AT SUNSET 
                       CHOOSE A PLACE WHERE YOU MAY BE ALONE & ALSO AT EASE
                       MAKE A HABIT OF FII…
12.                                                         NDING SUCH SPOTS & RETURNING TO [THE]M

                                  [I suspect with distant hindsight that Albion was setting me up for

                       failure here. Recall, I failed miserably with my early attempts at speaking with

                       my overseer, following Don’s method of visualizing the words YES or NO

                       light up in my mind—which went beyond just hearing these words. Sure, it

                       sounds nice to practice zazen or yoga at sunset, but for the whole of my 

                       working life, sunset was about the busiest time in my day. If I wasn’t cooking

                       dinner, I surely had a zillion other chores.]

13.        Q ([Albion]):  What is next?
             A:      GRADUALLY LEARN WHAT ACTS IN YOUR LIFE PROMOTE

                                  CONVERGENCE    

                       AND ALLOW LESS TIME FOR WHAT  ENCOURAGES

                                  MANY-MINDEDNESS

14.        Q ([Albion]):  It does seem that most of my domestic and professional life  

                       “encourages many-mindedness”.
             A:      [YES]   BUT [THE]RE ARE CHINKS THROUGH WHICH MY SUN  

                                  ENTERS  & I  SPEAK OF MAKING THESE WIDER & HIGHER

                       IT…
15.                       IS [NO]T IMPOSSIBLE IF ONE TAKES [THE] MOMENT EACH DAY

                                  & ALLOWS ALBION IN

16.        Q ([Albion]):  Anand directed me to ask of Albion whether the large maple I saw

                       (yesterday, second S/Div experience) is a power tree.  Accordingly, I ask you

                       now.
             A:      I  CONFIRM THIS  & ASK YOU TO FIND OTHER TREES OF POWER

                                   IN [THE] SAME WOOD   & SO SEE IT WITH FRESH EYES

                                   “It” here has to mean the “wood”; and yet power trees each seem so

                       individual, monolithic.  Grammatically this makes perfect sense, but there’s a

                       forest-from-trees issue here that’s rather strange.  I have to assume this is

                       Albion’s way of reemphasizing unity/unification, total form over many suns.

17.        Q ([Albion]):  Is it appropriate to make use of S/Div in the year upcoming?
             A:      [YES]   AS LONG AS YOU GRASP THAT [THE] PLANT IS TO LEAD

                                   YOU TO SUNLIGHT
                       IT IS NOT AN END

18.        Q:      Albion, what else do you have to say to us?
             A:      U – I  WILL MEET YOU IN [THE] SUNLIT WOOD IF YOU ALLOW

                                   ME ENTRY
                       E – I  WILL BEGIN TO SHOW YOU [THE] SUN BY NIGHT   

                                   ALLOW THIS  TURNING
                       ALBION   

                       ALIAH HAIL

                                   “Sunlit wood” and “turning” each again.
                                   Farewell time finally.  Spontaneously I decided we ought not script

                       the order of our friends’ good-byes.  Besides they might have something more

                       to address.  Let them choose their own farewell order.

Don on Translation

19.        Q:      Friends, we have done our best to consider among the stars on the past nights.

                       Now we ask you to step forward as you will with any words you care to—

                       before we go.
             A:      DON §
                       I  ASK U    IF YOU ARE INTERESTED TO RETURN TO TRANSLATION

                                   I WILL ATTEMPT TO WORK WITH U

                                   Recall last Fall I’d translated (with some success) nine [Don] poems,

                       several of which became invocations to these sessions.  And while I really

                       enjoyed the task, my current “nine men” were set up as symmetrical pairings

                       with my previous nine tasks.  This meant to me that my other tasks at this time

                       could not include more poetry, for they were all paired very differently (e.g.,

                       two painting tasks).

20.        Q ([Albion]):  I’d be pleased to, but don’t know how to fit [translation] into the

                       current butterfly pattern (of nine-men tasks).
             A:      IT MIGHT BE [THE] STILLNESS EXERCISE THAT YOU PLACE

                                   OPPOSITE ONE OF YOUR PAST VOCAL EXERCISES
                       TRANSLATING – I  FOUND –…
21.                                                                        INVOLVES STILLNESS
                       ESSENTIALLY IT WAS FOR ME A REST AFTER [THE] NOTE OF

                                   MY OWN WORK

                                   O.K., if you say so, but such a new direction certainly involved a more

                       flexible interpretation of pairings than I’d ever considered.

22.        Q ([Albion]):  I look forward to work again in that vein (and particularly note that I

                       enjoyed working with my father & [Scribe] on the last set).
             A:      I  AM NOT FAR[THE]R OFF THAN [THE] LIBRARY – 
                       IT CAN BE OUR QUIET CONVERSATION OVER COFFEE PERHAPS?

                                   [Scribe] expressed a tinge of envy.  Yes, I look forward to this.

Farewells

23.        Q:      Thank you, Don—and goodbye for now.
             A:      GOODBYE     O[THE]R GAMES AWAIT YOU BOTH
                       DON   [YES]   

24.        Q:      After the star of [YES], we turn to the star of [NO].
             A:      I  JOSEF SPEAK
                       ALTHOUGH  I  MUST STILL WARN [NO]W & AGAIN   MY ROLE OF 
                                   [NO]-SAYING IS LESS VITAL [NO]W
                       I  WOULD PREFER TO GUIDE YOU BY APPEAL…
25.                                                                                                         TO [THE] INTUITION

                                   &  LEARNING THAT…
26.                                                                    YOU ALREADY POSSESS

27.        Q:      We’d be glad to deserve the latter kind of teaching.
             A:      LOOK FOR ME IN [THE] MONTHS TO COME
                       U - MEMORY
                       E - EXERCISE IN ALIGNMENT

                       I  JOSEF  BID FAREWELL TO MY SONS

                                   It is unlikely Josef will ever follow Don and adopt [NO] as his 

                       signature.

28.        Q:      Which of our stars will speak now?
             A:      JANE –
                       I  ENJOYED [THE] DAY OF ORANGE WITH U            
                       I  EXPECT TO TURN UP IN YOUR POCKETS

                                   While [Scribe] & I referred with confidence to our “orange”   

                       experience during the second S/Div day, this was our first ouija confirmation. 

                       (Again, Jane’s colour is orange.)

29.        Q:      Good night, Jane.  Thank you for handing on the Lore of Colours.
             A:      I  AM HERE TO PROVIDE MY OWN TEACHING   AS WELL AS YOURS
                       GOOD NIGHT  [Albion] & [Scribe]

                       V  V  V 

                                   [Scribe] took this to mean that Jane was leaving here a letter to her  

                       own future attic in time.  Triples had almost become a leit motif.

30.        Q:      The letter “V” suggests Vilansit.
             A:      I  AM HERE AT [THE] EDGE OF OUR SPECTRUM
                       WE HARDLY SPOKE OF FEELING THIS TIME  & YET [THE]    

                                   ANTENNAE  MUST…
31.                                                                  COME TO THAT TOO   OR THEY WILL

                                   NOT BE FULLY ATTUNED
                       ALIAH WILL BE ON YOUR MINDS NONE[THE]LESS?

                                   We remembered suddenly that “aliah” was one of our three themes,

                       as announced in the introductory session with Don:  seeing energy by day,

                       receiving dreams by night, feeling the aliah of others.  No, we’d all but

                       overlooked aliah this year.   [foreshadowing for 2002]

32.        Q:      We are just beginning to sense a few of aliah’s properties.
             A:      GRASP [THE] THREAD LIGHTLY
                       UNTIL OUR NEXT VISIT

                       VILANSIT

33.        Q:      Anand, you remain our taciturn but necessary ferryman.
             A:      [YES]   I  REMIND YOU THAT OUR LAKE IS ALSO A RIVER

                       ANAND

34.        Q:      [Guide], though we had no lesson as such from you, you set up the whole  

                       game very neatly.
             A:      I  AM [THE] BUTTERFLY WITHIN [THE] BUTTERFLY     
                       FAREWELL
                       [THE] STARS WILL SHINE DOWN ON YOU BOTH

                       [Guide]

                                   As with all our endings, this one seemed too abrupt, though I didn’t

                       feel there were any loose ends.  When will I learn to be surprised?

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