There may be a better placement for this post...but since it is related to a post I submitted a few threads below (RE: ROCKS IN POCKETS) I thought I would put it here.
As I said in that previous post, I have a collection of mojo...much of which is natural...and most of which I found...or rather it found me!
Over many years I noticed that when I was going through a difficult time, I would discover dead bugs...yep, you read right!!! But these weren't just any bugs...although I have some of those, too (butterflies, for instance)...I mean unusual bugs that I had never seen before! Strange beetles, unusual winged creatures, bugs with amazing colors!!! Like I said...I found them already dead...so no insecticde was involved, LOL...and often in the strangest of places! On the sidewalk while walking down a crowded city street, for example... completely intact, although very dead!!!
Initially I didn't think much of it...although I did have a 'sense' that I should save them...for no reason that I understood...and so I began my collection in a special treasure box. I've learned to follow my intuitions...even when they make no apparent 'sense'...and just trust that there is a reason for it, albeit a mystery to me. Over the years this collection has grown significantly...with an ever expanding selection of species...and I began to realize that there was a pattern to this and my discoveries would always occur when I was facing major life challenges. And as I realized this pattern, I also had the 'sense' that there was good reason for me to have saved all these bugs...and that they had some form of 'power' that could benefit me. I have no idea for what or how...just a 'feeling' that they would.
LOL...OK, I know this sounds pretty wacky...and can only imagine what folks are thinking and imagining as they read this!!! But bare with me here...
I know that in Traditional Chinese Medicine, insects and small animals are used in some healing formulas. In fact, even poisonous critters are used...spiders, snakes and scorpions, for example. I also know that a basic premise of homeopathy...Law of Similars...is to administer a minute dose of a substance in order to heal a condition brought about by that same substance in a larger, problematic quantity...say nicotine to quit smoking, or histamine to address allergies.
Before any of you get scared for me...I am NOT going to eat my dead bugs...LOL!!!
But I am very curious about this...and would love to hear people's thoughts! Has anyone else developed a personal relationship with the deceased insect world...LOL?! Or been 'compelled' to collect something for reasons unknown to them? Does anyone know about the 'power' of natural objects...aside from crystals and the like?
I have a hunch that indigenous cultures may have some insight to this...Native Americans, Aboriginies, Mayans, Aztecs, etc., etc....any shamans or medicine folk out there?
I have beautiful bug story from when I took a trip to the East Coast about ten years ago. We had just arrived at the Atlantic ocean, and had parked in a lot by a public access beach. There was a black top path we were walking down when I saw a beautiful irridescent green, very large beetle upside down, baking in the sun on the hot asphalt. It looked as dead as a doorknob. I picked up the gorgeous body and my travel companions oohed and aahed it with me. It was as beautiful as a jewel. Then I gently wrapped it in a tissue and put it in the pocket of my cardigan, as this was to be my trip memento.
Hours later we were all eating Maine lobster in a nice ocean front restaurant when my beautiful green scarab beetle climbed out of my pocket and up my cardigan. It had come back to life! What a surprise. I brought my beautiful friend outside, and found it a safe place to continue to revive.
Thanks for replying to my post...my eyes nearly bugged out...LOL...when I read your story!!!
About two months ago I was sitting on my balcony having my morning cup of coffee and I ran in the house to answer the phone, leaving my coffee behind. When I returned to the balcony a little while later I discoverd a large bee bobbing in my coffee and it, too, appeared to be very dead! I brought it in the house, inspected it to make sure there was no sign of life (nope...limp and lifeless!), rinsed off the coffee that had throughly drenched it (it wasn't just floating on the top...it was partially submerged!), put it on a paper towel and placed it in my bedroom to dry out so that I could later add it to my collection.
Several hours later I returned to my room and heard a faint buzzing saw that something was hitting up against the window from the inside. Yep!...you guessed it!!! My bee had come back to life (no more bee on the paper towel!)...so I escorted it out the window to fly away free!!!
That's amazing that you had such a similar experience!!! It's also very interesting because beetles (scarabs) and bees carry considerable symbolism in several spirtual traditions! Hmmm...I'm going to have to pull out some of my symbol books and check this out further.
Funny - I never feel like I see intact bugs just dead and lying around - I'd love to see your collection some time!
Although I don't have an insect collection (when I was about 12 I kept my eyelashes in a small box!!!)I did keep something insecty recently that was pretty significant.
Last year during my Wavespell I had a dream that 2 white butterflies had made their home in my kitchen right beside the door to the bathroom. They made their home/cave on the East wall and I was delighted that these butterflies chose my home to live in! My boyfriend wasn't as delighted as I - he thought it made our home dirty in some way - but I loved it. (I won! ha....not so funny actually) ANYWAY!
So - eight months later during my last Wavespell that just happened in late August/September I'm going along everything's normal - when my boyfriend notices this tiny cocoon on the East wall/leaded window of the bathroom!! About 4 feet from my dream spot!! It is tiny and when I look at it with a loup it looks like a spiralling seashell with horny bits on it - but it is long and thin (and like 1/3" long. Well...as the story goes...one morning I pull the little curtain back from the leaded window that the cocoon is attached to and I see a flutter! And....of course...it was a WHITE BUTTERFLY!!!! I am soooo serious!!! Crazy eh??? It actually sat on the tip of the plunger handle (that I had pulled up wedged behind the toilet so I could see it) for 24 hours!! It just breathed and breathed and breathed and I talked to it. I was afraid it was going to die - but it didn't! It was just resting - and the next morning it was gone.
I had been thinking: is it a moth or a butterfly? But my bf assured me that it was, indeed, a butterfly because it had delicate feelers whereas a moth would have thick coarse feelers (better to fly around at night with)...so that just BLEW me away! On soooo many levels.
I have kept the little cocoon....it is sooo delicate and just like a thin transparent skin now - but still with it's horny-looking ridges and spiralling effect....beautiful!
I had a dream last night that was rather interesting. I was looking at myself from outside myself(wearing a white shirt) and in the background was a dark purple sky with lightning coming up from the ground on the horizon. I lifted my right hand (but I thought it was my left hand in my dream) and openened my palm...
A bright white shape of a butterfly(like a tatoo)was glowing on my hand. The light kept getting more and more intense until it woke me up... Any thoughts about the meaning?
Well...Tracey's the dream expert around here...and all my books (including symbol books) are all packed up...DAMN!...but there are some REAL powerful symbols in that dream, Rudi!!!
The colors...white, purple (spirtual)...hands...right vs. left...lightening...earth and sky...all have major significance. I do know that the butterfly is a primary symbol of transformation...changing form and moving from the connection to earth (caterpillar)...to the confines of a caccoon...to the freedom of flight!!! The ultimate symbol of metamorphasis!!!
Yep, you are indeed going through a major transformation (RE: post below)!!!
I'm sure Tracey will have plenty to say about your dream!
It gets a little uncomortable trying to crawl out of this old shell but I believe the time is coming soon to crawl...crawling...opening our wings and flying....
When I read your dream I was struck by the fact that I just read and responded to 3 dreams over on the Dream forum and one of them involved PURPLE liquid, another one involved a woman seeing herself from outside of her body...and now my White Butterfly experience fits right in too! Kinda weird and synchronistic. Must just mean that we're all supposed to be here at this moment discussing these things.....lovely....
Anyway...you with your Lightning Blue Stormyness!! (you know it's an actual Blue Storm year right now eh?)
So...interesting...was the lightning reeeally coming up from the ground?? (I think this detail is important) Let me know...
Lightning up from the ground: meaning that perhaps the very foundations of your life are changing? Are you physically moving? Or are you worried for the world? That the world is changing on a very physical and real way?
Lightning coming from the sky: your thoughts/mind/intentions are changing - you're having new ideas and revelations...
Interesting that the left hand turned out to be your right hand - I like the integration of the two...blending of male/female yin/yang light/dark etc....very balanced.
Now...the white butterfly tatoo that became brighter and brighter....wow...that is beautiful!!! Transformation!! Transmutation! You and perhaps the World are finally aligning with the Divine (white) and transforming into a Divine Being...
How did you feel during this dream, Rudy?
You musta kinda gulped when you read about my white butterfly experiences after just having a white butterfly dream yourself!
and all of this does seem so "synchronistic." I wonder if there is going to be a time of dormancy? While I feel
QAre you physically moving? AI do not think so but I have had many thoughts in the past of moving to Central America again...or even out beyond the city? Or are you worried for the world? Y but not for me I don't think but rather for those I love... I do not fear death...but the world does worry me a bit...I want to be in on the healing of the nations...maybe some day shine bright enough to add light to the world instead of taking light away...
Lightning coming from the sky: your thoughts/mind/intentions are changing - you're having new ideas and revelations...
and all of this does seem so "synchronistic." I wonder if there is going to be a time of dormancy? While I feel
QAre you physically moving? AI do not think so but I have had many thoughts in the past of moving to Central America again...or even out obeyond the city? Or are you worried for the world? Y butnot for me I don't think but rather for those I love... I do not fear death...but the world does worry me a bit...I want to be in on the healing of the nations...maybe some day shine bright enough to add light to the world instead of taking light away...
Lightning coming from the sky: your thoughts/mind/intentions are changing - you're having new ideas and revelations...
It wasn't really a question now was it? This is exactly what I have been doing... Some of the winds of change are illusions caught up tricking me into picking new battles when really the new battles are the same old ancient battles with different face on them. Settling old scores is not why I am here or why I returned but rather grow into a human being I would want to become... It is rather shocking about all of the btterfly dreams... amazing really... There must be more to it then coincidence...syncronicty...indeed
Lori over on the Astrology forum just posted the link below to a Kryon channeling.
Here is the excerpt:
How long will it take? Expect another 4 years before you see change. What is going to happen in those years? Expect the storm to rage even more.
Meanwhile there are the Lighthouses. They stand firm, just as they always did. They take the blows of the waves but they are still there when the next one comes. They fight with light. For the exposure of the information is the key, and the energy of its transmission will seek the highest level. They do not despair, for they see the "New Jerusalem" as being real, and waiting in the dirt of the earth as a seed. Their work is to plant the seeds in the worst spiritual weather imaginable, knowing that the coming Spring will be grander than anyone can foresee.
Blessed are those who look for God in the storm. For those are the ones who will clearly see the Spring of the future, and will understand what to do to prepare for peace on earth.
"God in the storm" - the white-light Butterfly in the lightning storm!
Many of you live in areas on the planet which have harsh winters. You never get used to it, but you plan for it. When growing up, it only takes you a few years to understand about the seasons. So you prepare and endure the cycle of life. However, what if you had never seen a winter before? Can you imagine your dismay when the sunshine left and the trees seemingly all died? Would the sunshine come again.
And I have been seeing lots of 11:11's ...
Somehow lighthouse doesn't seem to be me of late...going through the time of transition...I have been trying to let go of negative energy that has been attaching itself to my thoughts...but I sense there is an end to the winter...like being swept up into a wave of darkness...only to arrive on the shores of light...
Thank you Tracey when you have been my lighthouse.
It's interesting that you should say that you are not feeling like a Lighthouse lately...because neither am I. If I had read that paragraph about being a Lighthouse 9 or more months ago I would have felt YES!! Totally radiant and emiting Light. But for the last 9 months I, too, feel like I'm in a dark stage...a Plutonic, transformative, underground state...so I have to flow with it...and stop feeling sad that I'm not a Beacon...
There's a time for everything right....it sounds like we're both in the transformative 'cooking' stage....where everything swirls within and cooks away....then burns away the dross leaving....the butterfly!!! (something to look forward to at least!)
Hi Rudy! I was surprised that no one made mention that your dream symbolism seems very much like "The Magician" in the Tarot deck. His right hand is raised towards the sky with left hand pointing to the earth. (As above so below) Some possible interpretations are: "spiritual teacher, master, guide, centered awareness, A good listener as well as communicator, Interpreter.
The Magician is the Will of Man while the Fool is the Will of God. The Magician is The Fool reborn in this life." I took this from book: "Karmic Tarot", hope it gives some insight.
Blessings Marj
Don't know if it's a s-t-r-e-t-c-h of my imagination, but was wondering if the butterfly symbol could correlate to the infinity
symbol over the Magicians head?
I am not sure what the butterfly symbology means but I do know its number: 1111 infinity.......
1, 11, 111, 1111, ... etc. infinitely.
It blows me away to think of such a profound concept as infinity....
Infinity
[Node to be completed]
In mathematics and philosopy we find two concepts of infinity: potential infinity, which is the infinity of a process which never stops, and actual infinity which is supposed to be static and completed, so that it can be thought of as an object.
The cybernetic philosopy readily embraces the concept of potential infinity; in fact, it is hard to see how we can avoid it. We say that a process ends when it reaches a certain stage. In a particular case, we can define the end stage so that it never takes place. As every general notion, this is an abstraction: we have abstracted from the practical impossibilty to run any real process infinitely, and in fact, for very long. In this abstraction, no matter how long we have run the process, we always can do, or observe, the next step. This is why this infinity is called potential. At every specific stage the process involves no more than quite a finite reality; it is infinite only potentially.
For actual infinity we have no place in our system of concepts. On the intuitive level, we cannot imagine anything that would qualify as actual infinity, because neither we, nor our evolutionary predecessors never had anything like that in experience. When we try to imagine something infinite, e.g., infinite space, we actually imagine a process of moving form point to point without any end in sight. This is potential, not actual, infinity.
On a more formal level we can demonstrate the incompatibility of the concept of actual infinity with our cybernetic understanding of meaning. Indeed, suppose that some abstraction r represent the concept of an "infinite" object, and we use it while constructing a model. According to our semantics, there must exist an abstraction (representation) function F which recognizes whether a given state of the world belongs to this concept, an if so, results in r. Moreover, function F must, by definition, always require a finite time for coming up with a definite result. If the "infinite" object can be always recognized as such in a finite number of steps, it is not actually infinite, because it can be adequately replaced by a finite object. If, by the intuitive meaning of the "infinite" object r its recognition may require infinite time, then abstraction function will have to work, at least in some cases, infinitely, but then it is not a valid abstraction function. Thus we cannot use the concept of actual infinity at all.
As an example, consider the process of counting. We can imagine it going on infinitely if we do not count real sheep or apples, but simply produce concecutive numbers. Let us represent numbers (whole and positive) by strings of the symbol '1'; then the process is:
1, 11, 111, 1111, ... etc. infinitely.
When we say that this process is infinite, we mean that whatever is the current number, we can add one more '1' to it. Thus we deal with potential infinity.
To convert it into an actual infinity, we must imagine an object that includes in itself all whole numbers. We call it the set of all positive whole numbers. Suppose that such a thing exists. How would it be possible for an abstraction function F to distinguish it from other objects, e.g. from the set of all whole numbers with the exception of the number 10^{50}? Intuitively, F must examine the infinite number of the elements of the set. Since this is impossible to achieve in any finite time, the needed function F does not exist.
What we can do, however, is to create an objectification of the process which generates all whole numbers. A machine which initiates this process (and, of course, never stops) is such an objectification. This machine is a finite object. It can be made of metal, with an electric motor as the agent causing the process of work. Or we can describe it in some language addressing a human agent, but requirung only simple "mechanical" actions uniquely defined at each stage of the process. Such descriptions are known as {\algorithms}. If we use the English language for writing algorithms, the machine, to be referred to as N, could be as follows:
At the initial stage of the process produce the number '1'. At each next stage take the number produced at the preceding stage and produce the number obtained by adding '1' to it."
Now we can say that the set of whole numbers is N. We have no objections against sets defined in this way. Their meaning is crystal clear. Their infinity is still potential.
The problem with contemporary mathematics is that it operates with sets that cannot be represented by finite mechanical generators. They are uncountable.
The question of the nature and meaning of these sets is, in the eyes of contemporqry mathemticians and philosophers, wide open. Yet their usefulnes is abundantly demonstrated, and everybody believs that their use will never lead to contradiction. Thus it is important for us to interpret uncountable sets -- and the whole set theory -- in terms of our cybernetic, constructive philosophy. If we were unable to do this, it would undermine our claim that the basic principles on which we build our philosophy are universally applicable and sufficient.
Fortunately, we can interpret set theory, as well as classical and intuitionist logic, in our terms (see Foundations of logic and mathematics). Our interpretation assigns quite definite meanings, in our sense of the word, to the basic concepts of logic and set theory, and does it without any recourse to the concept of actual infinity.
I am not sure what the butterfly symbology means but I do know its number: 1111 infinity.......
1, 11, 111, 1111, ... etc. infinitely.
It blows me away to think of such a profound concept as infinity....
Infinity
[Node to be completed]
In mathematics and philosopy we find two concepts of infinity: potential infinity, which is the infinity of a process which never stops, and actual infinity which is supposed to be static and completed, so that it can be thought of as an object.
The cybernetic philosopy readily embraces the concept of potential infinity; in fact, it is hard to see how we can avoid it. We say that a process ends when it reaches a certain stage. In a particular case, we can define the end stage so that it never takes place. As every general notion, this is an abstraction: we have abstracted from the practical impossibilty to run any real process infinitely, and in fact, for very long. In this abstraction, no matter how long we have run the process, we always can do, or observe, the next step. This is why this infinity is called potential. At every specific stage the process involves no more than quite a finite reality; it is infinite only potentially.
For actual infinity we have no place in our system of concepts. On the intuitive level, we cannot imagine anything that would qualify as actual infinity, because neither we, nor our evolutionary predecessors never had anything like that in experience. When we try to imagine something infinite, e.g., infinite space, we actually imagine a process of moving form point to point without any end in sight. This is potential, not actual, infinity.
On a more formal level we can demonstrate the incompatibility of the concept of actual infinity with our cybernetic understanding of meaning. Indeed, suppose that some abstraction r represent the concept of an "infinite" object, and we use it while constructing a model. According to our semantics, there must exist an abstraction (representation) function F which recognizes whether a given state of the world belongs to this concept, an if so, results in r. Moreover, function F must, by definition, always require a finite time for coming up with a definite result. If the "infinite" object can be always recognized as such in a finite number of steps, it is not actually infinite, because it can be adequately replaced by a finite object. If, by the intuitive meaning of the "infinite" object r its recognition may require infinite time, then abstraction function will have to work, at least in some cases, infinitely, but then it is not a valid abstraction function. Thus we cannot use the concept of actual infinity at all.
As an example, consider the process of counting. We can imagine it going on infinitely if we do not count real sheep or apples, but simply produce concecutive numbers. Let us represent numbers (whole and positive) by strings of the symbol '1'; then the process is:
1, 11, 111, 1111, ... etc. infinitely.
When we say that this process is infinite, we mean that whatever is the current number, we can add one more '1' to it. Thus we deal with potential infinity.
To convert it into an actual infinity, we must imagine an object that includes in itself all whole numbers. We call it the set of all positive whole numbers. Suppose that such a thing exists. How would it be possible for an abstraction function F to distinguish it from other objects, e.g. from the set of all whole numbers with the exception of the number 10^{50}? Intuitively, F must examine the infinite number of the elements of the set. Since this is impossible to achieve in any finite time, the needed function F does not exist.
What we can do, however, is to create an objectification of the process which generates all whole numbers. A machine which initiates this process (and, of course, never stops) is such an objectification. This machine is a finite object. It can be made of metal, with an electric motor as the agent causing the process of work. Or we can describe it in some language addressing a human agent, but requirung only simple "mechanical" actions uniquely defined at each stage of the process. Such descriptions are known as {\algorithms}. If we use the English language for writing algorithms, the machine, to be referred to as N, could be as follows:
At the initial stage of the process produce the number '1'. At each next stage take the number produced at the preceding stage and produce the number obtained by adding '1' to it."
Now we can say that the set of whole numbers is N. We have no objections against sets defined in this way. Their meaning is crystal clear. Their infinity is still potential.
The problem with contemporary mathematics is that it operates with sets that cannot be represented by finite mechanical generators. They are uncountable.
The question of the nature and meaning of these sets is, in the eyes of contemporqry mathemticians and philosophers, wide open. Yet their usefulnes is abundantly demonstrated, and everybody believs that their use will never lead to contradiction. Thus it is important for us to interpret uncountable sets -- and the whole set theory -- in terms of our cybernetic, constructive philosophy. If we were unable to do this, it would undermine our claim that the basic principles on which we build our philosophy are universally applicable and sufficient.
Fortunately, we can interpret set theory, as well as classical and intuitionist logic, in our terms (see Foundations of logic and mathematics). Our interpretation assigns quite definite meanings, in our sense of the word, to the basic concepts of logic and set theory, and does it without any recourse to the concept of actual infinity.