albionspeak: a draught of language (2.2)
SESSION 22: 6TH SESSION, 7/6/94
[Editor’s note (with 2020 hindsight): As you see above, this marks the sixth session (of seven) in 1994. For the necessary historical context, so that you, dear Reader, might understand where Scribe & I were “coming from” at this time, let me set the stage a bit:
[1. July 1994 marks the first use of our new, ultimate ouija board, which I had
taken the previous year to create. That is, the mandala drawing took forever,
as my Letter to Vilansit somewhat agonizingly describes, while the ouija
board itself was quickly put on the reverse side.
[2. Don & Vilansit were still “new” to us in this session, having met them both
in Session 19 for the first time, just a few nights earlier. We’d already met
others, too, like Blake, who’d buzzed in, said a few words, then exited. So
we had no reason to think two new friends would act differently or return
on subsequent nights.
[3. While we had learned of our karass (from Session 10), we did not know of
our mandala or that Don & Vilansit are most dear to us. We’d learn that the
next night, which marked the final session in 1994. In 1995 Scribe & I
officially began our apprenticeships.]
This evening’s session marked another first in our ouija ritual. During the day we had purchased incense and a holder. Sandalwood, we learned, has many varieties. Following another newly established element of our ritual, [Scribe] recited a poem, yet another Keats sonnet, “After dark vapours…” This sonnet, however, was the first to be echoed within our conversations.
9:00 PM
1. Question: [Guide], are you with us?
Answer: [YES] GOOD EVENING [Albion] & [Scribe]
[Scribe] wanted to begin with an odd question which had gotten an equally
odd response (“balmy”) in a previous year (cf. 92: 9.5)
2. Q: What is the weather where you are?
A: IT IS A SOFT SUMMER EVENING
THE HEAVENS ARE FULL OF STARLIGHT
A phone call interrupts us at 9:14. Upon resuming we decided to tackle
my question list’s subheading “The Good, the Flame, & the Fall.”
9:20 PM
The Good Mandala
3. Q: Concerning the Good: is it a unity of intent or a diversity of souls (as the
Jewel Net includes different souls)?
A: DON §
4. Q: Please tell us, Don.
A: I USED TO FAVOR THE IDEA OF A UNITY
A SECRET ARKETYPE BEHIND [THE] DAILY SCENE
SEE [THE] POEM ON BLAKE [which we analyzed a couple of
nights earlier]
5. Q: We have it here. Is your “archetype” at the poem’s end to be taken as a
figure of the Good?
A: [YES] ALONG WITH [THE] JUBILANCE OF A GOD —
OR GOOD? — & [THE] SILVER PLA…
6. PLANET [mentioned in the
LOOK AT [THE] MANDALA NOW PLEASE poem]
Tonight Don introduces the dash—not once, but twice. My [newly crafted]
mandala, originally intended to be the background of the ouija board, now lay on
the board’s reverse and, therefore, faced the floor. Rather than disturb our board’s
potentially sensitive location, [Scribe] and I got under the table and studied it from
supine positions. We took a good long look. [Scribe] asked how I arrived at
certain patterns; and, for the most part, I couldn’t tell him. I could only explain the
sequence of elements and the ease or difficulty I had with them.
Incidentally, the center of the mandala is the only asymmetrical, non-
abstract feature of the board. This shows four planets orbiting a fiery star and was
conceived partly to represent [Guide] and his “galaxy” karass.
9:40 PM
7. Q: We have looked, Don. What can you tell us?
A: WOULD YOU CALL IT A UNITY OR A DIVERSITY?
Clearly it is both, many separate elements composing a whole.
8. Q: Concerning diversity: are there then divers and opposing factions within
the Good?
A: FACTIONS STRIKES ME AS [THE] WRONG TERM
IS A MANDALA MADE OF FACTIONS — OR FACETS & FACES?
9. Q: The Good has many faces?
A: I BELIEVE SO NOW
10. Q: Do these facets or faces ever come into opposition?
A: ONLY AS THE PLANETS DO
We then delved into a (comic) private horror of mine, that somehow
enlightenment may bring the end of identity—that each budding buddha may start
with a uniquely warped & skewed personality, but that all buddhas, upon arrival,
blur into a kind of cosmic melting pot, losing the last vestiges of identity. Being
myself uniquely warped and skewed, I feel I have a vested interest in postponing
arrival if this is the case.
11. Q: When viewed as a unity, is the Good ever a singularity?
A: VILANSIT §
12. Q: Please go on, Vilansit.
A: IDENTITY INCREASES AS WE APPROACH — AN OLD RULE
Both [Scribe] & I did suspect this was so. Nevertheless, I felt a measure of
relief.
Ripening in Stillness
13. Q: If [Scribe] & [Albion] eventually arrive, how will we still be ourselves?
A: KEATS — FRUIT RIPENING IN STILLNESS
14. Q: The increase of identity is like the fruit’s flavor becoming more individual
as it approaches ripeness?
A: FLOWER BECOMING FRUIT — REMEMBER?
Here, Vilansit, a Hindu woman, quotes Keats (from our invocation) and
then quotes my question from the previous year (Cf: 93:15:59). The answer to my
question then (which went on to produce a poem), as it remains today, is
“FLOWER IS FRUIT.”
Knots in the Thread
15. Q: What prevents us from arriving?
A: — no response, just circles —
16. Q: Repeat question.
A: KNOTS IN YOUR THREAD
WHEN SPINNING SILK THESE KNOTS OR NUBS PREVENT A
SMOOTH WORKING OF FABRIC
Knots. A new metaphor, though a major part of my spiritual vocabulary in
the early ‘80s. Once I thumbed my way through R.D. Laing’s book Knots, which,
in psychoanalytic poetry, he attempts to portray the knots we create in this thread
of reality. [Recall, Vilansit, Mistress of the Loom, was a weaver in life.]
17. Q: Who made the knots?
A: YOU DID & YOUR NATURE DID
18. Q: But according to topology there can only be a knot in three dimensions.
A: THERE ARE KNOTS OUTSIDE TIME BUT THEY DO NOT STAY
KNOTTED
19. Q: On some level, then, do we deliberately choose to stay knotted?
A: THIS COULD BE CALLED GIVING IN TO [THE] KNOT —
IT IS COMMON
20. Q: Does the knot have a life of its own?
A: [YES] LIKE EVERY DEEP HABIT
10:40 PM
Vilansit’s Story
21. Q: Can you give us an illustration of the knot, please?
A: FROM MY OWN LIFE IN TIME —
I WAS CHILDLESS
THIS WAS [NO]T MY FAULT BUT IT BECAME A KNOT ON WHICH
OTHER KNOTS WERE CAUGHT —
I FELL ILL & CAME NEAR TO DEATH THEN…
22. MY MOTHER’S SISTER WAS A WISE WOMAN WHO CAUSED
ME TO PERFORM ABLUTIONS IN [THE] GANGES
OVER MONTHS —
AS [THE] KNOT EASED [THE] OTHER KNOTS THAT HAD
CAUGHT BEHIND IT SLIPPED FREE
Just as Questions #21 & #22 are separated by a page break here, they are
likewise separated on our original steno pad. It seemed as if Vilansit broke off
deliberately, giving [Scribe] a chance to turn the page.
It’s amazing how much information can be conveyed in a few lines. It is
important to remember how much worse childlessness must have been for a
woman in India (or Bangladesh) in Vilansit’s time. It is also important, though not
necessarily surprising, that falling physically ill is the result of a spiritual ailment.
[We note how few of our known karass members were ever parents.]
The Site of Knotting
23. Q: So a knot can form over some circumstance that is not our fault?
A: [YES] WE ASSUME AN ACCOUNTABILITY FOR [THE] PLACE
OF THE KNOT
IT IS AN ERROR
24. Q: Do you mean our assumption is an error?
A: [YES] WE MAY [NO]T CHOOSE [THE] SITE OF KNOTTING
25. Q: But once a knot does form, we become accountable?
A: [YES] & [THE] MOST IMPORTANT LESSON IS THAT WHERE
ONE KNOT FORMS OTHERS WILL SOON GATHER
THIS IS [THE] EQUIVALENT OF A TEAR IN THE FABRIC
Tears in the fabric, I’m assuming, mean a loss of information or the
destruction of layers in our karass hierarchy (cf. 93: 15.2;15.27). (I don’t say I
understand this; but I can connect it with what we’ve learned elsewhere.)
26. Q: Does this mean that as knots can be untied, the fabric can be rewoven?
A: I BELIEVE THIS WITHOUT KNOWING IT IS THUS
27. Q: Does anyone at the table disagree?
A: I HATE TO BE DARK BUT AM INCLINED TO BELIEVE IN
AN IRREVOCABILITY OF UTTERANCE HERE AS IN TIME
Clearly, Don speaking. With words like “hate” & “dark”, along with the
erudite apologetic tone, there’s no need for “§.”
[With all this talk of knots, which was already a big metaphor for me
personally—and always short on questions—I turned to a core experience of mine
that I couldn’t explain and couldn’t forget. Why not? I note for the Reader:
Sometimes at the ouija board it is wise policy simply to take a random stab in the
dark. This next weird stab would bear fruit for years.]
The Knotted Kite
28. Q ([Albion]): Many years ago (1982) I had an LSD trip which involved my
“knots” ascending a kite string and tying my kite’s tail into—surprisingly—
knots. This was my subjective perception. Comments?
A: JOSEF HERE
PLEASE BRING [THE] KITE TO [THE] TABLE
I WAIT
[I document this event in detail in Lesson 8. Here I leave only enough for
relevance, as my kite becomes an important touchstone in our k-vocabulary,
albionspeak. For the record, my kite is huge, 33 ft. 5 in. of beautifully colored silk
panels, each a single hue, descending one after another down the extended
tapering tail.]
29. Q: Please go on, Josef.
A: IS THIS [NO]T OUR MANDALA — A KITE OF MANY COLOURS?
30. Q: It does appear to be.
A: NOW GREET [THE] MANY COLOURED MESSENGER ANEW —
[See my Letter to Vilansit, Chapter 2.3, following this lesson. “Many-
coloured messenger” names Iris, goddess of the rainbow in Shakespeare’s The
Tempest, but is also an honorific accorded to Vilansit.]
31. Q: We greet you, Vilansit, many colour’d messenger.
A: THIS KITE IS AN IMAGE OF YOUR LIVES —
LAY [THE] KNOTTED TAIL BESIDE [THE] MEDIUM
I WAIT
Though not entirely clear, it seems safe to assume the speaker is Vilansit,
not Josef. I think we believed we were talking to her.
We rearrange the kite so that the knotted end loops over the left arm of my
chair. (I’m the Medium; [Scribe] is the Hand.)
32. Q: We have done as you asked.
A: THOSE KNOTS ARE YOUR ERRORS & ILLS —
HOW FAR DO THEY EXTEND?
33. Q: We guess 1 foot out of 20 ft. (about 5% of the kite’s lengthy tail). [Actually
the knots extend nine inches out of 401 inches total, about 2.2%, or 2.4%
of the tail itself.]
A: THAT KNOTTED EXTENT IS YOUR EXISTENCE IN TIME
34. Q: Please go on.
A: DID YOU MAKE THE KNOTS?
35. Q ([Albion]): I did not physically make them, no.
A: YET THEY ARE THERE & ALL THE END OF THE KITE IS IN
YOUR CONCERN
36. Q: Please go on.
A: [THE] REST OF [THE] KITE IS YOUR MANY COLOURS — OR
ASPECTS — OUTSIDE TIME — MANY
37. Q ([Albion]): Vilansit, what can you tell us of [my brother’s] drawing from the
same time?
A: IT IS ALSO A KIND OF DIAGRAM OF A STRUGGLE
A second chapter in my kite story occurred when my family returned from
Europe, and my brother showed me a bizarre drawing he had made, different
from anything he’d ever done (and he doesn’t draw often). This drawing is titled
“[Albion]’s Trip,” and he drew it exactly at the time of my kite experience
thousands of miles away. More in the next night’s session.
38. Q: Thank you, Vilansit. [Guide], will you tell us at this time who else is at the
table tonight. (We have heard from Josef, Don, Vilansit & you.)
A: JANE & ANAND
A Name for the Kite-String
39. Q: Jane, we greet you. We missed you last night [when she was officially
“absent.”]
A: THANKS FRIENDS
I THOUGHT OF YOU FROM AFAR
40. Q: Wouldn’t thinking (attention) bring you right back to the table?
A: ATTENTION CAN INCLUDE ABSENCE BUT [NO]T VICE VERSA
I THOUGHT OF ABSENCES
41. Q: Will you elaborate or illustrate?
A: IMAGINE [THE] GROUND AS SEEN FROM A KITE
42. Q: Please go on.
A: IF SEEING THE FLIER BELOW MEANT [THE] KITE INSTANTLY
JOIND HIM THERE WOULD BE [NO] FLYING
43. Q: But you said absence was a myth.
A: [NO]T A LIE BUT A NAME FOR [THE] KITE STRING?
[Scribe] & I have no doubt that Jane’s absence [the previous night] was
carefully arranged to illustrate the lesson. I think her metaphor of the kite string
beautifully shows how outside of time one avoids the confusion of attending
every scattered thought. Her illustration was so clear to us, in fact, we had
nothing more to ask, so we returned to my list.
44. Q: Is there more than one absolute Good?
A: ANAND §
Sunlight on Water
45. Q: Please go ahead, Anand.
A: HAVE YOU EVER SEEN [THE] FACE OF A SLIGHTLY MOVING
LAKE ON A SUNNY DAY?
46. Q: A shimmering, even dazzling, display of reflected light.
A: IT APPEARS AS IF THERE ARE MANY SUNS ON [THE] SURFACE
47. Q: Please go on.
A: ABSOLUTE LOOKS LIKE MANY—IN A WAY IT IS MANY —
THOSE REFLECTIONS ARE [NO] ILLUSION BUT A REAL WAY
OF SEEING
DO YOU FOLLOW?
48. Q: But isn’t there in fact only one sun?
A: [YES] BUT THE GOOD IS MORE LIKE SUNLIGHT THAN A SUN
“So much for Plato,” exclaimed [Scribe before I’d even opened my eyes].
Up to this point Plato had proven entirely consistent with what we were learning.
Not here, however. According to Plato, the Good is a single absolute source.
49. Q: Doesn’t that imply that mirrors—in the case of the Good—multiply the
Good?
A: OR THAT THEY SIMPLY GIVE US A DIFFERENT WAY TO SEE
SUNLIGHT?
The previous year we were told the absolute Good gave rise to the flame,
something definitely not good (cf. 93: 15.32). I needed to use the language of
math to get at this disturbing idea. In math, a set is considered “closed under
[some operation]” if, after completing the operation, one finds that all resulting
elements are members of that set. The set of Natural numbers {1, 2, 3…} is
closed under addition, for example, because all resulting sums are natural
numbers. However, the set of Natural numbers is “open” under subtraction,
since 1 - 2 = -1, and -1 is not a natural number.
I use this line of thought a great deal outside of math. Is Nature a closed set
under its own operations? If so, mankind is natural, and so is toxic waste. The
Good’s giving rise to something not good is worthy of exploration.
1:00 AM
A Fable of the Flame
50. Q: Since the Good gave rise to the flame which is no longer good, the Good
is not a closed set. How is this possible?
A: JEWEL IS AN ILLUSTRATION OF THIS PROBLEM
[Guide]
51. Q: Please go on, [Guide].
A: ON ENTERING NET A MEMBER IS ASKT TO SERVE [THE] JEWEL
ALIAH IS THE MEDIUM OF DISCOURSE BETWEEN THEM
[Note (12/19/19) “Askt,” as far as I know, is a unique construction in our
transcripts—and I don’t recall ever remarking on it before, since it is
unambiguous and conforms in concept to a common ouija contraction, turning
“-ed” into simply “-d.” The other common instance of—not contraction, but
rather substitution—is how our teachers use “z” in place of a hard “s” at the
end of a word, especially at the end of a response, as “Z” is located next to “1”
on the ouija board, which marks our standard stage-left exit point for the
planchette. I point this out because here we’re talking to our Guide, not a human,
who nonetheless conceives of words, apparently, as phonemes. That is, our Guide
is an alien, multidimensional being who can read & write English, but who
apparently perceives language, as we do, as sound. Fascinating.]
52. Q: Please go on, [Guide].
A: IN MY FABLE [THE] JEWEL STANDS FOR THE GOOD
[THE] MEMBER IS LIKE ANY SOUL
53. Q: How does the Flame figure in this fable?
A: IT IS [THE] ACTION OF ABYSMAL MAGIC
[THE] MISUSE OF [THE] JEWEL
54. Q: How does the Flame arise out of the Good?
A: IN THIS WAY —
THE MEMBER IS CALLD BY [THE] JEWEL
YET HE CAN ABUSE THE CALL —
ONE COULD SAY HIS ABUSE ARISES FROM [THE] JEWEL
On the Use of the Flame
55. Q: Please clarify the relation between abysmal magic & the Abyss.
A: JOSEF HERE
ABYSMAL MAGIC IS MAGIC LEADING TO [THE] ABYSS
56. Q: What else exists that is neither the Good or the Abyss?
A: NOTHING WE CAN SEE IS WHOLLY GOOD NOR WHOLLY LOST
57. Q: Are these two (the Good & the Abyss) strictly dichotomous, or are there
other centers unrelated to these two?
A: ULTIMATELY EVERYTHING IS EITHER INSIDE OR OUTSIDE
The only way I can resolve this paradox is by unraveling time again. We can
assume from what we know that someday [Scribe] & I will eventually arrive in
the Good, or we will slip up and fall into the Abyss. But outside of time this has
already happened (quite possibly both events!, depending on the thread of reality
one is tracing). In this light there is no in-between ground, no middle set.
And yet, from response #56 we can conclude that everything lies between
these poles, perhaps so if we are looking into the past.
58. Q: Does the Good ever use the Flame to change itself?
A: WE MAY AT TIMES MAKE USE OF THAT WHICH WE DO [NO]T USE
FOLLOW?
59. Q: We think so. Please go on, Josef.
A: IF YOU OPEN A LOCKED DOOR THE GOOD…
60. …STRANGER MAY
STEP THROUGH
“Do you not know me?” (cf. 21.65) [referring to the supper at Emmaus]
61. Q: How do the Good & the flame interact? Do they communicate
consciously?
A: [YES] ALWAYS
62. Q: Can/will the Flame ever be good?
A: DEAR CHILDREN —
JOSEF DOES [NO]T KNOW [THE] ANSWER TO THIS
It seems at the end of the universe some of the most important questions
must still go unanswered.
63. Q: Could the universe exist without the Flame? Would it be a better place?
(Aloud I include, “Perhaps, Josef, you don’t know the answer to this
either.”)
A: I DO KNOW BOTH ANSWERS
[YES] & [YES]
64. Q: Is the Flame’s departure from the Good related to what we call the Fall?
A: ANAND §
Many Falls
65. Q: Please proceed, Anand.
A: MANY ARRIVALS MANY FALLS
[THE] FLAME NAMES A FEW OF THE LATTER
66. Q: Was the Fall the will of the Good?
A: WHEN A CHILD IS NAUGHTY IS THIS [THE] WILL OF HER
PARENTS?
This is an echo of Josef’s profound response to me concerning my Germany
experience: “Lessons are useful for children Do they do wrong for the sake of
their father” (cf. 93: 15.21).
67. Q: [Guide], is restoration the same as arrival?
A: [NO] I MEANT NOTHING SO GREAT
I SPOKE OF HELPING YOU TWO TO REMEMBER YOUR LIFE
IN [THE] KARASS
[Guide] had repeatedly told us of restoration, but we had gotten little further
in understanding what he’d meant. [Anand, we knew, did reach arrival in life,
a.k.a. “enlightenment,” so we turned to him for help.]
68. Q: Anand, after arrival, is another Fall inevitable or perhaps even desirable?
A: DO YOU MEAN FOR A PARTICULAR SOUL?
No, actually I hadn’t meant that, but this seemed interesting.
69. Q: Yes, o.k., let’s begin with a particular soul.
A: I DO [NO]T THINK IT IS COMMON TO FALL AFTER ARRIVAL —
IT MIGHT HAPPEN —
I FEEL THAT FORGETTING IS ALMOST INEVITABLE
70. Q: Are falls inevitable or desirable on the universal scale?
A: I LIKE TO THINK THAT OUR KNOTS ALL FOLLOW FROM ONE
KNOT THAT WAS UNAVOIDABLE
BUT THIS VIEW IS NOT ACCEPTED EVERYWHERE
71. Q: Does that mean, in your view, that the many falls have all arisen from one
Fall?
A: [YES] BUT I MEAN THE ONE KNOT WAS UNAVOIDABLE TO US —
I DO [NO]T KNOW IF IT WAS UNAVOIDABLE TO ITSELF
This corroborates Vilansit’s assertion that we may not choose the site of our
knotting. As with her childlessness, it may not be one’s fault. Nevertheless, we
become responsible for the knot and subsequent knots which gather there (cf.
22.24).
At this point in the evening we were bushed. I asked only for some quick
clarifications on my bargain with Anand. [I knew only that we had agreed in
eternity to an exchange: Anand would help me to arrive, while I would help him
with what I’m best at—i.e., my own area of mastery. In 1994, however, I still did
not know what my chosen focus was, and it would be another 17 months before
I’d make my choice—which, incidentally, was/is ma’at.]
2:15 AM
Journey Through a Desert (Bargain)
72. Q ([Albion]): Concerning my bargain with Anand, what is the process for
deciding what I am best at?
A: JOSEF HERE —
IMAGINE YOU ARE TO TAKE A LONG JOURNEY THROUGH
A DESERT
WHAT DO YOU CARRY WITH YOU?
WHAT ACTS AS YOUR NECESARY STORE?
WHAT IS YOUR WATER?
73. Q ([Albion]): May I (at some point) ask for advice?
A: [YES] BUT [NO]T FOR ME TO TELL YOU WHAT TO TAKE —
IT IS [NO]T IN [THE] BARGAIN
74. Q ([Albion]): How do I voice my decision?
A: BY TELLING ANAND AT THE TABLE
This is not an easy bargain to fulfill. Traveling through a physical desert is
easy compared with my metaphorical desert. What is my water? How can I make
an informed choice? It’s my belief that I will voice my decision the next time
[Scribe] and I get together, probably after some more advice. That gives me
probably a full year to think; somehow I don’t think I’ll get any more time.
“The Kite’s Dark Shape” (Poem)
75. Q: Jane, will you compose a poem? (“The Kite’s Dark Shape”)
A:
IT IS A NIGHT OF STARS
HERE IN THE FIELD
WE SEE THE KITES SHAPE
BY THE STARS IT CONCEALS
ONE BY ONE BY ONE
INTO THAT DARK PLACE
WE ARE SILENTLY BORNE
LOVE JANE
I confess that I have serious doubts about where line breaks or stanzas
should go. This poem was tough in that regard.
76. Q: Any parting words?
A: VILANSIT ASKS YOU TO BRING BACK YOUR MAGIC KITE
AGAIN
GOOD NIGHT FRIENDS
[Guide]
God, how weird! (Remember, this thing is the length of a whale!)
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