The Mad Minstrel in the Gallery

"In days of peace 

sweet smelling summer nights

of wine and song;

dusty pavements burning feet.

Why am I crying, I want to know.

How can I smile and make it right?

For sixty days and eighty nights

and not give in and lose the fight."

- Lyrics from With You There to Help Me, 1970, Ian Anderson.

I've been searching through my mental catalogue of music for the past week, trying to locate a particular set of sounds that somehow fit my present (precarious) situation... and the present place of this blog in time... but, regardless of my efforts, I just could not find the right tune.

That is, until this morning, when my present housemate greeted me with Ian Anderson and the musical moment presented above (alternate video). Yes, this tune is a vintage one - another one from over 50 years ago (!) - but it's a time-traveling tune, i.e., a pentagonal manifestation... and, by this, we know it's timeless.

And, by who better than the Mad Minstrel from a band named Jethro Tull? The man who transformed Bach so deliciously... and who can be recognized so effortlessly in the Tull poster (inset right).

Incidentally, Jethro Tull is touring now in the UK and will be elsewhere in Europe next year. (Timeless is forever.)

It just occurred to me that the winter solstice is almost upon us... and many moons ago, I chose Jethro Tull's album, Songs from the Wood as a seasonal favorite. Above is a great live version of the title track. (Note: Velvet Green, live.) Sadly, the  related video and links were broken in the solstice post... only to be (happily) resurrected here.

For lyrics (in English) to Songs from the Wood and Velvet Green see this Obsidian Magazine article written by Peg Aloi: Love from the Fields; The Imagery of Pagan Britain in the Songs of Ian Anderson.

Update (12/3/22): Epiphany: Ian Anderson as The Fool in a tarot deck. Traditionally, The Fool is the wild card... and numbered 0... a sort of alpha/omega in the circle of the Major Arcanum. Generally depicted as a youthful, carefree (and careless) vagabond, in one of the original decks he is also shown playing a pipe - specifically what appears to be the bag-pipes.

Various interpretations of The Fool include a madman or wild man, vagabond, jester, and wandering minstrel or bard... and eventually, the Joker, a trickster. In games it represented both the highest card and the lowest trump.

I particularly like the interpretation (found here), quoted below:

"The Fool represents the beginning of the journey of life, represented by the Major Arcana of the Tarot. They are the 0th card, meaning although they are at the beginning of the journey they can really enter the Major Arcana sequence at any point.

They represent both the beginning of the journey and the entire journey itself. They have an air of tranquility. They transcend the mundane reality of stress and work and encourage us to see the world with what the Zen masters call Beginner’s Mind."

Inset right is The Fool from the very early Sola Busca tarot deck, created in Italy during the late 15th century.

Chasing Ancient Pentagrams Part II: The Quintessence - The Egyptian Duat

An Egyptian limestone panel, 400-200 BC / Metropolitan Museum, New York

"The Star which guided them is that same Blazing Star, the image whereof we find in all initiations. To the Alchemists it is the sign of the Quintessence; to the Magists, the Grand Arcanum; to the Kabalists, the Sacred Pentagram."

- A reposting of a quote (see Halloween post) via Albert Pike, a 19th century American Freemason.

While Pike doesn't specifically mention the ancient Egyptians in the quote above, and, while the Egyptian's 5-fold star wasn't technically a pentagram, the five-fold star inscribed within a circle (essentially a pentacle) was a crucial symbol in their world. It symbolized the Afterlife or Underworld; that is, the Duat, the medium in which a departed soul was judged, and a dimension in which there was no day or night. The Duat was the home of some of its most important gods: Osiris, Anubis, Thoth, Horus, Hathor, and Maat. The sun-god, Ra, also passed through its regions every night in his solar barge.

In the large image (carved in relief) above, two baboons are worshiping the Duat, which hovers above the scarab - a sun symbol often used as a talisman for protection and placed inside a mummy's shroud - which, in turn, is set above the sun, placed here beneath the Duat.

(Note: Compare this design with the Kabbalistic tree-of-life inset right. Although not an actual match, there is a certain likeness in the way the elements are placed.)

This relief has a number of Underworld motifs... the most prominent being the pair of baboons facing each other. Baboons were said to be sacred animals in the Egyptian pantheon, and when depicted singly represented the great ibis-headed god, Thoth, a lunar god, who, in a sense, was Ra's (or Re's) counterpart.

In some tales, Thoth (inset left) was self-created at the beginning of time and, as an ibis, lay the cosmic egg that holds all of creation.  In others, he was thought to have created the art of writing and the calendar. He was also the god of both mathematics and magic and served as a scribe in the Duat.  Moreover, he had the ability to control space and time!

Above is a beautiful artifact which also features a set of baboons facing each other across a large scarab. Each wears the lunar crown of Thoth, however, so, we might assume that symmetrical pairs of baboons also portray Thoth. Note the small star (Seba) symbols embellished on the bar above them; it is likely they represent the night sky.

Returning to the larger image, there are what appear to be (Greek) Omega symbols over the primates' heads, but, these are likely to be shen rings - associated with Horus and his mother, Isis - which symbolized power, protection and, (eventually) eternity. This shen ring (at the Metropolitan museum in New York) inset right was found as a talisman alongside the mummy of a prosperous Egyptian, circa 1800 BC.

Note also the two Wedjats encircled by the baboons' arms. These are the twin (lunar) Eye(s) of Horus - one of which often accompanies images of Thoth - and used singly or dually represent healing and regeneration. They were also frequently used as talismans of protection for both the living and the dead.

Oddly enough, the Wedjat (also later referred to as the solar Eye of Ra) is also the name of the ancient goddess of Lower Egypt, the cobra goddess, Wadjet (or Wedjat)...

If the future was yesterday, then, when is tomorrow?

"Standby. You're on the air. Buenos noches Senores y Senoras. Bienvenidos. La primera pregunta es: Que es mas macho, pineapple o knife? Well, let's see. My guess is that a pineapple is more macho than a knife. Si! Correcto! Pineapple es mas macho que knife. La segunda pregunta es: Que es mas macho, lightbulb o schoolbus? Uh, lightbulb? No! Lo siento, Schoolbus es mas macho que lightbulb. Gracias. And we'll be back in un momento.

Well I had a dream and in it I went to a little town And all the girls in town were named Betty. And they were singing: Doo doo doo doo doo... Ah desire! It's cold as ice And then it's hot as fire. Ah desire! First it's red And then it's blue. And everytime I see an iceberg It reminds me of you. Doo doo doo doo doo... Que es mas macho iceberg or volcano? Get the blanket from the bedroom We can go walking once again. Down in the bayou Where our sweet love first began. I'm thinking back to when I was a child - Way back to when I was a tot. When I was an embryo - A tiny speck. Just a dot. When I was a Hershey bar - In my father's back pocket. Hey look! Over there! It's Frank Sinatra Sitting in a chair. And he's blowing Perfect smoke rings Up into the air..."

- Lyrics from Smoke Rings by Laurie Anderson, from her 1986 soundtrack album Home of the Brave. Inset right is a photo found here.

(New, 11/8.)  In the video Anderson utilizes two instruments she actually invented: a tape-bow violin (which she uses at the end of the performance)*, and a "talking stick," which is the second microphone she occasionally sings into at certain moments during the piece which distorts her voice so eerily.

Note one other eerie thing: the set of numbers that suddenly appears on the screen in the background at the end of the performance. 911. When I first saw those numbers (appearing after a large "SOS"), I figured that maybe it was a reference to 9/11/01... but, no, the video was allegedly shot in 1987. Prescience? Or, am I just missing something? 

(Later note: Actually, I'm not missing something as much as forgetting something! I believe 911 is the emergency phone # in New York, the rest of the USA, and many countries!  Well, duh.)

***

Well, "the times, they are a changing" and quite literally. It's DST here in the states and we've just gained an hour... just in time for an interlude post hosted by that enigmatic woman in the video above, Laurie Anderson, a time-traveler (to be sure), whose amazing performance took place almost 40 years ago... and the world has, yet, to catch up with her.

Case in point, from 1981, O Superman. Ditto. While we're almost there, she's one step ahead of us... which is just as well, as the prognosis is not all that fluffy. On the other hand, when it comes to War - the Great Destroyer - time seems to stand still, or, maybe civilization just gets stuck in the same trench-like groove...

But, never the artist! The video above is from 2018, Anderson's collaboration with the Kronos Quartet.

________________________________________________

* “I used this instrument to play lots of sounds... initially car crashes, saxophones, and barking dogs. Later I began to work with audio

palindromes, words that produce different words when reversed. Audio palindromes are not predictable like spelling inversions. ‘God’ is always ‘dog’ backwards. With a lot of experimentation, I produced songs for this instrument that could be played forwards and backwards."

- Laurie Anderson via this .pdf page. More information can be found on this German site, and in the BBC article: Oksana Linde and the Forgotten Pioneers of Electronic Music.