Blue Fox Shaman

Another inane adventure in the Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Fox: Sweetheart?!

Bärchen: Yes?

Fox: I’m ready. Tonight is the night.

Bärchen: Oh! To…

Fox: To be your Sorceress.

Bärchen: Really?!! Cool, cool! I’ll just go get my… my Sorcerer things. [leaves]

Fox: You do get so excited; that’s what I love about you. [aside] And here I thought he’d be bored since it doesn’t even involve sex.

[… Bärchen returns …]

Fox: Oh, silly, you’ve got your Robe on backwards. Let me help you with that…

Bärchen: I found my list of questions.

Fox: That’s great. Okay, here’s a seat for you; I’ll stand right over here. Give me a few moments to enter into the Spirit of Prophecy.

Bärchen: [in sing-song] I get to drive the Völva tonight.

Fox: [opening one eye] Okay you. That’s gonna cost you a 2 minute penalty.

…

Fox: I am ready.

Bärchen: Let me see… shall I start with a difficult one?

Fox: Whatever you like.

Bärchen: Ah…here! “What is the sound of one hand clapping?”

Fox: I thought you were starting with a hard question. Here goes…

[… Fox makes clapping sounds with one hand by relaxing her fingers and letting them slap against her palm as she quickly, and repeatedly, jerks the hand downward {video available on request} …]

Bärchen: Hmmm! I was expecting something more… profound?!

Fox: The problem is with the question. Next, please.

Bärchen: My second question, my love, is “What will my Life be like going forward?”

Fox: Bärchen! You must have grabbed an old list. We’ve discussed these things before…

Bärchen: Yes, but I like to confirm my understanding of things.

Fox: O-kay… You’re going to live a Hero’s Life from now on. Not as a Hero, that is, as one who receives the accolades of the public, but as one whose life is built on the template of a Hero.

Bärchen: See! I can always learn something from you. I’m not sure what you mean by…

Fox: The template of the Hero’s Life is actually that part of Earth from which the Hero arises and to which he returns in Death. His burial site becomes a Sacred Precinct in which the blessing of the Hero can be obtained by a suppliant. At least, that’s how it was in Ancient Greece. And by the Hero’s “Earth” I mean his culture, tribe and people as much as the Natural World in which you Humans are embedded.

Bärchen: And I think you’re about to tell me one more piece of the puzzle… “What is the determining factor that makes our ‘local boy’ a real Hero?”

Fox: Very good! Yes, that factor is the Gift that the Hero is given. And since it is, in fact, a gift, and not something gained entirely by his own effort, his humility will lead him to give in return; to give for the good of others.

Bärchen: Hmmm. I have to ask, though, why are most of the Heroes in my culture tortured introverts who must mask their true identity?

Fox: For one thing, to be humble, and continue to work with people, requires quite a bit of Self-Possession. Not something easy to learn or that your culture is good at. But that is the original template. These tortured loners you spoke of were created when the Ruthless Warlords became the leaders of societies all over the World. For them, skill in warfare was, and is, the only virtue. So, the Poets stopped being Prophets and became ESPN Anchors. The templates never recovered from that. Ruthless Warlords, and their modern equivalents, Capitalists, can’t have their subjects getting too chummy with one another. Talk about Revolting!

Bärchen: Yes, aren’t we! (or probably should be)… So, which Hero do I take my template from, specifically?

Fox: C’mon, Bärchen! I may be in Sorceress mode, but you know that one already. Don’t waste time! But you said you want confirmation… again! So, of course, that would be Odysseus. And I’m your Penelope. Get it?

Bärchen: Got it!

Fox: Good! … And, yes, welcome home, Odysseus!

Bärchen: Now I know the reason why getting home was so important.

Fox: Are you going to ask questions? Or are you going to waste time flirting with your wife? [smiles]

Bärchen: [laughs] Next question, then. “Is Reality actually like in the movie ‘The Matrix’?”

Fox: Prepare to get freaked out…

Bärchen: Yes??

Fox: Reality is indeed like the Matrix, just in a mirror image. In the Matrix, what they think of as the “Real World” is actually a simulation run by a machine to which their bodies are attached. But in your Reality, your bodies are attached to the “Real World” while your minds run a simulation of it–a simulation, by the way, full of additional, non-tangible things, like “Justice”, “Evil”, “Mercy” and “Love”. These non-tangibles go together to make up a person’s Weltanschauung or Worldview.

Bärchen: Can you put that in practical terms?

Fox: Sure. In the Matrix, to gain liberation is to detach oneself from the Machine and return, in one’s own body, to the “Real World”. In your Reality, to gain liberation is to detach one’s mind from the simulation which it is running in order to gain a deeper understanding of the nature of both the “Real World” and of the mind running the simulation. Note that the definition of liberation includes, but goes beyond, the classic notion of liberation through stilling the mind.

Bärchen: Or through relinquishing all desire?

Fox: Yeah, what the Buddha said–everything is sorrow… Well, I guess that’s better than saying “Everything is Joy, you’re just too stupid to notice”. But, anyway, we envision a working liberation, in which one re-enters the everyday world, to seek a deeper understanding and teach others.

Bärchen: That is the Way of the…uh…

Fox: Bodhisattva, yes. You know me, I say “go Bodhisattva or go home”! There’s so much to learn and see and do, and you’ve got the Joy of the Presence constantly, or at least as much as you can handle. It’s a win-win.

Bärchen: I’ll keep that in mind when the time comes.

Fox: Start now, my love! That is one of the Secrets. So, you have another question?

Bärchen: Yes. “Is the Copenhagen Interpretation correct?”

Fox: Jeez Louise! But I guess I knew you’d have one about Quantum Mechanics in there, you nerd! But I’m glad to say that I’m not going to strangle you, not this time, because that one doesn’t require me to go back and re-learn the Calculus. You and I have other fish to fry. Comprende?

Bärchen: Yes, ma’am! [smiles]

Fox: So, gosh, good ol’ Bohr, Heisenberg and Bon, among others, decided that it was wrong to ask the question “what lies beneath?” Of course, they dressed up that negative in a positive and reified some aspects of their Mathematics into Natural Laws. But it is not wrong to ask the question. It’s just that one must follow the Rule of Limitation–there is a limit past which we can’t observe. And even if we have not quite reached that limit, our time is better spent in modeling at a level for which we have sufficient data. Look for a set of self-regulating systems. I’m thinking of the level of “atoms”, which change states upon absorption or emission of photons, yet retain their identity…

Bärchen: Until a bus crashes through their front window, like in fission.

Fox: They’re called neutrons, but yes. Once you start to model on this level, you can begin to try out the possibilities. A great example was the invention of the Laser, which was predicted by the mathematics of Einstein.

Bärchen: So, you’re saying the Copenhagen view is wrong?…

Fox: Not exactly. They were just too perfunctory about it…

Bärchen: Oh my! She speaks truth to Power! [chuckles]

Fox: Like anybody in Power is listening. But there is a danger in looking more deeply, which is misunderstanding what you see because your picture, your data, is incomplete.

Bärchen: The rush to explanation.

Fox: Right. There’s nothing inherently wrong in this, as long as your model explains the data you do have. But you should see all such things as tentative, as subject to change. You Humans have a tendency to cling to opinions because you can wield them like weapons to stake out and defend territories, or positions in hierarchies. But I get it; it makes no sense to lay down your weapon before the other fellow does. Gotta keep that Grant money comin’. Next question, please.

Bärchen: Okay… ah! Let’s try this one. “Where is the Holy Grail hidden?”

Fox: Really?! You’re going to waste a question on that old chestnut?

Bärchen: Yes?!

Fox: Of course! It is hidden in a process which you go through, not in a place. Duh!

Bärchen: I guess that’s not obvious to everyone…

Fox: True. It would help them to know that the Grail is invoked, and is not an “object”. Gosh! Don’t people understand that they’re hearing a metaphor? The best they can do is speculate if the story has some basis in an actual occurrence in the “Real World”? Really!? Am I allowed to ask why you even bother telling stories in your culture? You just ruin them anyway.

Bärchen: Amen, sister!

Fox: Sorry! You know this already, but you know how I am when I’m in Sorceress mode.

Bärchen: Salty, spicy, bitter… and sweet.

Fox: And after this I’ll give you some Umami, too. I think you have some idea where you can find it on me. [winks]

Bärchen: Uh, huh. I’m a linguist of the cunning sort… [smiles] But now who’s distracting whom? Pray, continue.

Fox: Yes. The Grail is the Vessel which holds our Highest Aspirations. It is the Source of Beauty and the True Object of the Desires of All Creatures.

Bärchen: Man! That’s a lot of capital letters!

Fox: You like that? It’s the one time I get to use them without compunction. But there’s another, important question–“what does that process, that journey to the Heart, look like?” It is hidden in the deeper meaning of the Two of Swords in the Tarot–it’s not just a matter of weighing up decisions but, ultimately, of re-training your Desires to orient your whole self toward your Highest Aspirations.

Bärchen: “Highest” implying in alignment with the Good of All?

Fox: Bingo! This is the Sacrifice at the Foundation of the World. That’s why Arthur Edward, being a Freemason, told Pamela to paint that Tarot card with the symbolism of the crossed arms bearing two swords–for one thing, to signify Osiris, the dying and resurrecting god. In fact, this is the inner meaning of all the Mysteries–Egyptian, Eleusinian, Christian… I’ll let you fill out the others. When this becomes the Sacrifice of your own Life, then “Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini”[1].

Bärchen: “Pleni sunt cæli et terra gloria tua”[2]!

Fox: Thank you. “Καὶ σύ, τέκνον”[3]! And, more to the point, “Ἴδε ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου”[4]. But my time grows short. Do you have one final question?

Bärchen: Yes…ah…oh! “What is the flight speed of an unladen swallow?”

Fox: Aarrgggh! That depends on whether it’s an African or a European swallow. And just for that, I’m definitely going to come over there and strangle you, for sure.

[… Fox stomps over to Bärchen, plops down on his lap, and starts kissing him …]

Fox: Let’s see if you can breathe… between all these kisses.

Bärchen: What a way to go!

Fox: I did promise you a Good Death…

---

[1] “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord”
[2] “Heaven and Earth are full of your glory”
[3] “And you, child” (Caesar’s last words, btw)
[4] “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the Crack in the Kosmos” or, if you prefer tradition, “the sin of the world”.