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albionspeak: a draught of language (5.2)
SESSION 34: 1ST NIGHT, 8/4/96 (New York)
[The 1996 sessions marked a break from our established West Coast setting. Scribe's father passed away in late '95, and Scribe inherited his dad's home in the middle of nowhere upstate New York. This was not a home or region Scribe had grown up in as a child, but it became a place he returned to for many years, for Thanksgiving and other holidays with his brother, a retreat. There Scribe would indulge himself in much the same things he did all the time—think, walk, and talk literature—but somehow here the tempo was different. Instead of a constructing A Wittgensteinian Approach to Rimbaud, for example (the subject of his dissertation), he & his brother could relax and read aloud, among everything, The Lord of the Rings twice through, including all Elvish poetry!]
We arrived at [Scribe’s father]’s house in Upstate, New York shortly after dark. I was surprised by how little of it I remembered from fifteen years earlier; it seemed like a dream. We got settled; I got a tour; and then we shifted not a small amount of furniture to create the proper setting for ouija. It didn’t take too long to get down to business. Despite my having awakened at 3:30 the night before, I felt fresh.
For our first invocation [Scribe] chose from Keats the prolusion to “The Fall of Hyperion.”
The Grotto
11:09 PM
1. Question: [Guide], are you there?
Answer: [YES] HELLO M1 KARASS MATES
A warm greeting, and yet why didn’t we notice—even in the next day’s reading—the glaring inaccuracy? [Our Guide] is our mandala mate, but he most certainly is not of our karass. This mystery remains unresolved.
2. Q: Tell us where we are.
A: ON A LAKE ONCE AGAIN
The only lake we’ve ever been on is our Grotto lake.
3. Q: A lake or the lake?
A: ITS DIFFERENT EACH…
4. …MOMENT
LIKE [THE] RIVER
The river [of Heraclitus]: a constant reference point, but not a port.
5. Q: Who is with us?
A: YOUR CONTACTS AND VILANSIT
That is, Jane & Anand. A modest surprise, since we’d rather expected our
friends to remain as they were where we’d last left them: Anand & [Guide] would
greet us & ferry us to the far shore, where we’d meet the waiting others, including a
new & improved flying Jane.
6. Q: Anand, we greet you. We did expect to find you here—as our ferryman.
A: I WILL CONTINUE TO PULL OR POLE
A Vilansit or Two
7. Q: Greetings, Jane. We thought we left you on the far shore.
A: [YES] BUT THAT WAS ANOTHER JANE
8. Q: We see you still like to spell your name. What face this time?
A: ONE MUCH LIKE THAT OF MY TWIN
Twin? This was new, and it was certainly promising to jump so quickly into
such territory. What would a flying Jane look like? In Castaneda, as well as in books
by his sorcery-mates Taisha Abelar & Florinda Donner, individuals regularly seem to
wind up looking just like their elder teachers, virtually as twins. Given that Jane’s
teacher is Vilansit and they are the only two females among our group, we had an
easy logical guess.
9. Q: Do you mean Vilansit?
A: I DO – ARE WE ONE VILANSIT OR TWO?
This response quietly blew me away. Unbeknownst to [Scribe] I had, just a
week or two earlier, decided to compile an anthology of selected dreams, a kind of
greatest dream-hits of [Scribe]’s & [Albion]’s over the last years. As in any such
compilation the difficulty arose in what-to-include vs. what-to-exclude. Somewhere a
line had to be drawn, and the line was bound to be a source of emotional energy. It
just so happened that I drew my line exactly at the point which included my dream
Many-Coloured Toy and excluded A Vilansit or Two, a dream, which though
extremely vivid & stamped with indelible import [i.e., dreamweight], nevertheless
didn’t seem to contain lasting substance. How wrong I was. Again, although [Scribe]
knew of this minor dream, he had no idea I was anthologizing.
A Vilansit or Two - 4/22/95
This dream occurred late in the morning after being awakened several times by singing & yelling children [my own]. Sunlight was streaming into the bedroom. I was having many dreams, most of which were blurring with the busy Sunday morning routines already started by my wife & kids.
I am lying in a hospital bed in a large white sunny room. I cannot see the rest of the room, but it is the kind of hospital ward, as in most third-world countries, where many beds are lined up on either side. I appear to be unconscious, and I am certainly not well, although I don’t know if I am sick, injured, or simply unable to wake up. I recognize this fact.
Two Indian women enter and come to minister me. They are identical in appearance except one wears a bright red sari, while the other wears bright blue. Both saris have identical intricate white patterns and are worn over the head. The women are shortish, slightly pudgy, and are exceptionally dark—virtually black, as one might find in southern India. (Given that I have my eyes closed I do not know how I could see anything at all.)
The women ask me a question, one that begs a number and concerns my health. (Based on this, I believe they ask after my temperature.) I say, “92,” although the moment I say it I know it is wrong. I am told by the women that no, 92 is the atomic number of uranium; I am in error. Even in my unconscious state I find this very funny. Another question is asked. Once again I can only respond “92.” Again I am reminded of uranium’s number. While I find this all funny, it is clear that I am unable to say anything other than “92.” The Indian women seem to know exactly what they are doing; and it seems quite possible that I am undergoing some strange kind of therapy.
[An aside: In 2001, during the final moments of our final session that year, I had perhaps the most outrageous, ridiculous spontaneous insight of my life; there seemed no valid reason for it, pure delusion. I suddenly knew with certainty who our “fourth” living member was. To be clear, this man’s identity was revealed to us before we knew of Advisor (whom I call #3), but because we never actually met him in life, I came to think of him as “fourth.” This remarkable flyer, already one of Scribe’s & my all-time favorite heroes, was a generation older than us, and he remained incredibly active for more than a decade after this revelation. Fortunately I confirmed on the spot with my ouija teachers his Jewel Net membership. And indeed, we recurred to him & his influence on us—though unbeknownst to him—many times in subsequent years. I mention this here because the setting & circumstances of the above dream A Vilansit or Two retrospectively come right out of this man’s head, not mine. I am the paralytic POV, but this dream was clearly his dream construction. When I had my out-of-the-blue revelation, I was not remotely thinking of this little funny dream. Absolutely amazing.]
10. Q: Jane, are you the red [Vilansit] or the blue one?
A: I AM [THE] RED ONE – MORE AFIRE
11. Q: Is [Albion] in a coma?
A: [YES] IN A SENSE
12. Q: Would you elaborate?
A: AN ILLUSTRATION –
IMAGINE ONE FALLEN…
13. …ILL
ON COMING TO HIS SENSES HE CAN SEE &…
14. …LISTEN
BUT [NO]T MOVE OR SPEAK
IS THIS FAMILIAR?
ANSWER
I doubt the break between A#12 & #13 was entirely accidental; “fallen,” of
course, has several relevant meanings.
In the dream I am only able to utter one word, “92.”
15. Q: 92.
A: [YES] AND WHAT ELSE?
[Don’s Poem]
16. Q: Isn’t this a familiar story for everyone—or at least all non-flyers?
A: [YES] AS IN DONS POEM —
I honestly had no idea to which poem Jane referred. Somehow I had—for the
last several months—completely forgotten another one of [Scribe]’s amazing finds, a
just-released-in-English poem by [Don] which seemed, especially in the final stanza,
to come right out of our karass. Recall, it was another poem, [xxxx], which led us to
discover [Don] in person among us.
[Scribe] insisted he, too, had forgotten this poem until just a day or two
earlier, when he came upon it through happenstance. At that time he taped it to the
inside cover of the steno pad we were using, and there it waited ready for us until
this moment.
[Here I censor both the title and all but the final lines, which in albionspeak
are already familiar. I also censor the translators, both known to both of us
personally.]
Before you come,
An old monk has to dream about an anchor,
A tiger in Sumatra has to die,
Nine men have to die in Borneo.
17. Q: In his poem [xxxx] the upper stanza conveys a sense of infinite deferral,
and therefore paralysis (“coma”).
A: DON FELT THIS LASTINGLY
We had assumed this [deferral] to occur before flight.
18. Q: Yet you have told us he was a flyer.
A: [YES] AND NOW [THE]RE REMAINS [THE] QUESTION OF HOW TO
LIVE WHILE IN…
19. …IN A STATE OF AWAITING
20. Q: Awaiting is akin to absence?
A: [YES] EYESIGHT AND LISTENING ARE LIKE STRINGS OR FIBERS
ONE CAN KEEP AHOLD OF
[Scribe]’s question, noting Jane’s acknowledged field of expertise.
21. Q: Does the manner of one’s waiting affect the outcome?
A: ABSOLUTELY — IT MAKES ALL [THE] DIFFERENCE
22. Q: Is there a purpose to paralysis?
A: I MIGHT NOT CALL IT A PURPOSE —
ITS MORE…
23. …A FACE WE WEAR AT TIMES
DOES IT SERVE US?
12:00 AM
24. Q ([Albion]): Other than empathy for others who also endure paralysis, I don’t
see any value to it.
A: ISNT IT SAFER THAN ACTION?
25. Q: Not if lastingly perpetuated.
A: I AGREE BUT IT MAY HAVE ITS USE FROM TIME TO TIME —
AS A POLICY
26. Q: Was it Don’s choice or just a matter of temperament (a knot)?
A: A KNOT — BUT ONE HE KNEW HOW TO UNTIE
Another little surprise. We’d thought that all knots were just bad, that no one
who knew better would either tie a knot or leave one tied by choice.
27. Q: And how was that?
A: READ [THE] END OF HIS POEM NOW
28. Q: There are three items, so he had three methods.
A: EXACTLY —
THESE ARE OUR THEME IN NIGHTS TO COME
Our introduction stated and taken from a discovered artifact inexplicably
forgotten by its discovers—very strange.
29. Q: How might we prepare for this discussion to come?
A: GIVE US YOUR READING OF THE LINES —
VILANSIT
30. Q: Vilansit, welcome. We did not expect you yet.
A: I FEEL IT IS EASIER TO WORK WITH YOU THAN WE MIGHT HAVE
HOPED
This seemed quite odd given her vantage beyond time.
“No surety”
31. Q: Surely you know.
A: I DO [NO]T KNOW
I HAVE TO TAKE A FIBER UP AFRESH EACH TIME EXACTLY AS
YOU DO
THERE IS NO SURETY
Your Teacher’s Face
32. Q: Do we all become our teacher’s twins?
A: IT IS RATHER THAT YOUR TEACHER OFFERS YOU A FACE YOU
CAN WEAR – OR NOT
And yet we had been told we were together in a mandala precisely because
we were so different, that we each bore different gifts (cf. 92: 12.26).
33. Q: We had inferred that our circle’s members are “vastly unlike”?
A: YOU ARE CORRECT –
THAT IS WHY [THE] FACE IS A GIFT
IT IS NOTHING THAT YOU POSSESS INNATELY
34. Q: Do other persons besides our teachers also offer us faces?
A: [YES] & [NO]
THEY OFFER GIFTS BUT THESE ARE SMALLER
THEY ARE [THE] GIFTS OF [THE] SHRINE
35. Q: You refer to the dropped clues in Anand’s fable?
A: I DO
36. Q: Who offered our teacher their faces?
A: AS YOU FLY YOU WILL DISCOVER WHO
Interesting grammar here: Either “who” or “whom” is correct, depending on
implied wording. This is noteworthy since Vilansit always uses “whom” correctly,
as I have noted her proper usage in prior commentary.
37. Q: Can Anand be [Guide]’s twin? [our Guide is Anand’s teacher]
A: AT TIMES I HAVE BEEN
I ENTERED THE SPHERE –
ANAND
The Sphere: [Our Guide]’s karass, also Robert Blake’s; “many orders of
magnitude” larger than The Jewel Net & the only other karass we know of.
Anand’s Passport
38. Q: Are you in two karasses, Anand?
A: IT IS NOT MEMBERSHIP
IT IS A KIND OF PASSPORT
If twins existed in mandalas, how about larger litters?
39. Q: In other mandalas, are there triplets, quadruplets?
A: OURS IS [THE] MOST BASIC KIND OF MANDALA –
ITS LINKS ARE FEWEST
It was getting late—fatigue rising. We decided to draw to a close. But first
we wanted to ask about any constellations above the lake, since these had been
touchstones for us in previous sessions.
Three Planets & a Butterfly
40. Q: [Guide], what constellations are visible?
A: I SEE A BUTTERFLY AND THREE PLANETS NEAR IT
[Guide], our butterfly, and three members, presumably those represented by
planets on our mandala—so not Vilansit.
41. Q: So the planets are approaching a conjunction?
A: EXACTLY —
IT IS THAT I INTEND TO MAKE USE OF
I asked how one makes use of a conjunction. [Scribe] offered how NASA
uses these events as launch windows. Perhaps we are not always so available to each
other.
1:30 AM
“Rains & Snows” (Poem)
42. Q: Does anyone have something to say that we should hear tonight?
A: I ANAND SPEAK — A POEM
COME YOU WATERS OLD AS TIME
TO THE STEPS WHERE WE WAIT
NOT [THE] RIVER THAT WE KNEW
BUT THE RAINS THE SNOWS
[THE] LATE STARS
43. Q: Those rains & snows sound promising, Anand.
A: NOT A PROMISE
BUT A PURPOSE PURPOSE
A rare, almost atavistic redundancy for emphasis.
1:37 AM
44. Q: Parting words?
A: JANE —
MEET US HERE AGAIN & BRING YOUR READINGS
ADIEU FRIENDS