The Medicine Man, Shaman, and Shaker
May 22 - He's back!
MYSTIQUE
Hal Hinson’s [Washington Post] spirited review of “Medicine Man” begins with these comments: “When we first see Rae Crane (Lorraine Bracco) in John McTiernan's spectacularly thrilling new movie "Medicine Man," she's strapping on a pair of boots as if she were a warrior preparing for battle. And, in essence, she is. A brilliant research scientist, Crane has been sent to South America by her employers, an American pharmaceutical firm, to check up on Richard Campbell (Sean Connery), a renegade biochemist who's spent the last six years living deep in the rain forests along the Amazon searching for what he believes to be a miracle serum.
For some time, though, Campbell has been doing precisely as he pleases, refusing to submit reports on his findings, account for his expenses, or even communicate with his superiors. Like Kurtz in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," he's off on his own. And, like Marlow, Crane has been sent upriver to find out what the hell is going on.
After an arduous trek on foot and by canoe -- it's a good thing she laced on those boots -- she finally confronts her subject, who is stinking drunk and outfitted for a native ceremony in a lavish straw head-dress, topped with an enormous beak. To say that her first impressions are negative would be a gross understatement. For the audience, though, their initial exchange of antagonistic cross talk and bickering is sublimely funny, a sort of forest primeval variation on '30s movie banter that sets the stage for the battle of sexes to follow.”
Read the article
Beat ~ New Sean Connery Page ~ San Francisco
THE POWER OF MYTH
Page 86-87
Siberian Shaman image in upper corner of textbook The Power of Myth
The shaman is a person, male or female, who has an overwhelming psychological experience that turns him totally inward. The whole unconscious opens up, and the shaman falls into it. Descriptions of this shaman experience are found all the way from Siberia right through the Americas down to Tierra del Fuego.Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell discussions were put in print shortly after the landmark television series aired on the PBS channel. The “Power of Myth” original series in it’s video format is usually on the rental shelf at any video store.
CAMPBELL: Now, there’s a fantastic example of something. The Bushmen live in a desert world. It’s a very hard life, a life of great, great tension. The male and female sexes are, in a disciplined way, separate. Only in the dance do the two come together. And they come together this way. The women sit in a circle or in a little group and beat their thighs, setting a pace for the men dancing around them. The women are the center around which the men dance. And they control the dance and what goes on with the men through their own singing and beating of the thighs.
Moyers: What’s the significance, that the woman is controlling the dance?
Campbell: Well, the woman is life, and the man is the servant of life. That’s the basic idea in these things. During the course of the circling, which they do all night long, one of the men will suddenly pass out. He experiences what we might call a possession. But it is described as a flash, a kind of thunderbolt or lightning bolt, which passes from the pelvic area right up the spine into the head.
Moyers: It is described in your book The Way of the Animal Powers- here:
Campbell: “When people sing, I dance. I enter the earth. I go in at a place like a place where people drink water. I travel a long way, very far.” He’s entranced now, and this is a description of an experience. “When I emerge, I am already climbing. I’m climbing threads, the threads that lie over there in the south. I climb one and leave it, then I climb another one. Then I leave it and climb another… And when you arrive at God’s place, you make yourself small. You have become small. You come in small to God’s place. You do what you have to do there. Then you return to where everyone is, and you hide your face. You hide your face so you won’t see anything. You come and come and come and finally you enter your body again. All the people who have stayed behind are waiting for you – they fear you. You enter, enter the earth, and you return to enter the skin of your body… And you say ‘he-e-e-e!’ That is the sound of your return to your body. Then you begin to sing. The ntum-masters are there around.” Ntum is the supernatural power. “They take powder and blow it –Phew!Phew!- in your face. They take hold of your head and blow about the sides of your face. This is how you manage to be alive again. Friends, if they don’t do that to you, you die… You just die and are dead. Friends, this is what it does, this ntum that I do, this ntum here that I dance.”
My God! This guy’s had an experience of another whole realm of consciousness! In these experiences they are, as it were, flying through the air.Moyers: He then becomes the shaman.
Campbell: Not in this culture. He becomes the trance dancer. All the men are potentially tranced.
Moyers: Is there something like this common in the experience of our culture? I’m thinking particularly of the born-again experience in our Southern culture.
Campbell: There must be. This is an actual experience of transit through the earth to the realm of mythological imagery, to God, to the seat of power. I don’t know what the born-again Christian experience is. I suppose medieval visionaries who saw visions of God and brought back stories of that would have had a comparable experience.
Moyers: There’s a sense of ecstasy, isn’t there, in this experience?
Campbell: As reported, it’s always of ecstasy.
Campbell, Moyers, and Lucas - Star Wars exercise
From the article by Belden C. Lane professor of theological studies and American studies
at Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri.Campbell frequently would contrast the priest, who serves as a custodian of facts, with the shaman, who functions as a sharer of experience. He was uneasy with theology because of its penchant for codes and creeds and its abandonment of poetic language. He cited Jung's warning that religion can easily become a defense against the experience of God. The first question that Campbell's work poses, then, is how to see ourselves as a people for whom myth is life and breath. How can theologians, in particular, be called back to the vitality of narrated experience? Mythology, as Campbell knew, always aims to include the listener in the tale. The story of the hero, for example, ultimately turns us back to our own experience. "The mighty hero of extraordinary powers -- able to lift Mount Govardhan on a finger, and to fill himself with the terrible glory of the universe -- is each of us! " (Hero with a Thousand Faces). I am Telemachus, ever waiting for the lost father Odysseus to come home; I am Gilgamesh, longing to overcome the mystery of death. There is in me the blood-red hatred of Kali, who is consumed by his own rage; in me too is Demeter, the earth mother that loves and nurtures. I am Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, the learner and the teacher, preparing for bold action. All these stories are my stories.
But our culture denies such a "participation mystique." It suggests that myth functions only as a dimension of primitive consciousness, and is no longer operative in any significant way. Indeed, the whole history of Western culture can be seen as a history of demythologization. The dominant Western story we have been telling ourselves for 3,500 years has been a painful tale of children who, in their progress toward maturity, have steadily cast off their illusions.
In the New England States tradition has it the first group of spiritual European pilgrims were the Shakers, described in The New Century Dictionary as, “an American communistic celibate religious sect (“United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing”) so called, popularly, from the agitations or movements of the body which form part of their ceremonial.” Also, -Shakeress, n.- A female Shaker and the religion,
Shakerism, n. The principles and practices of the Shakers. Still, few in the US mainstream know much about this unique early American group, unless they’ve seen
“Witness,” a film that aptly portrays the lifestyle on an Amish farm.
The Hollywood debut of director Peter Weir, stars Harrison Ford playing opposite Kelly McGillis, and Danny Glover as the bad cop.
Harrison Ford fans note: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, a father-son team, Sean Connery and Harrison Ford, in the third outlandish adventure of the intrepid archeologist.
FYI
When in doubt as to the identity and framework of any author [re: mystique], check the accent of the whole text. When the concern is about function - does it work? - you are reading a writer with a background in paranormal or metaphysical reference work. The emphasis will almost always be the 'utilitarian' characteristic. This may be extended to include analysis or review of blueprints, or care and maintenance guidelines.An archeologist is usually concerned with the point of origin and age of a discovery, and will try to position the subject within an established chronological timeline. The following paragraph from, Archeology illustrates the 'digger' approach:
Crystal skulls have undergone serious scholarly scrutiny, but they also excite the popular imagination because they seem so mysterious. Theories about their origins abound. Some believe the skulls are the handiwork of the Maya or Aztecs, but they have also become the subject of constant discussion on occult websites. Some insist that they originated on a sunken continent or in a far-away galaxy. And now they are poised to become archeological superstars thanks to our celluloid colleague Indiana Jones, who will tackle the subject of our research in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Details about the movie's plot are being closely guarded by the film's producers as I write this, but the Internet rumor mill has it that the crystal skull of the title is the creation of aliens.
-Jane MacLaren Walsh, Archeology, May-June 2008
Indy Spirit Awards
and The Last Crusade
Indiana Jones [Harrison Ford]: We didn’t talk.
We never talked.
Professor Henry Jones [Sean Connery]: Do I detect a rebuke?
IJ: A regret. It was just the two of us dad. It was a lonely way to grow up, for you too. If you’d have been an ordinary, average father like the other guys dads you’d have understood that.
HJ: Actually, I was a wonderful father.
IJ: Were you?
HJ: Did I ever tell you to eat up, go to bed, wash your ears, do your homework? No.
I respected your privacy and I taught you self-reliance.
IJ: What you taught me was that I was less important to you than people who’d been dead
for five hundred years in another country, and I learned it so well that we’ve hardly spoken for 20 years.
HJ: You left just when you were becoming interesting.
IJ: Dad, I’ve… [sputter]
HJ: I’m here. Now. What do you want to talk about, hummm?
IJ: [laughing] I can’t think of anything!
HJ: Than what are you complaining about? Look, we have work to do!
Indiana Jones Marathon Menu
great for your next Saturday Movie Marathon
The Emerald Forest, directed by John Boorman
Review by David Wood here
American engineer Bill Markham [Powers Boothe] and his family just settle into a new life in Brazil, built at edge of the jungle, literally. Soon after their arrival, young Tommy, absorbed with trailing ants, follows their path into the lush green wonderland. He is quickly adopted by the Invisible People. As construction progresses over the following decade, Markham’s private life remains focused a frantic search for his lost son, to no avail. Based on a true story, there are spellbinding scenes that portray the beauty of the rainforest and the people living there. There is also the contrast between the world of wood and the world of metal.
Screenwriter Rospo Pallenberg brilliantly conveyed the two worlds in a segment showing how several construction workers disrespected the young native girls they abducted in contrast to the Invisible Tribe who gave Tommy the ‘royal’ treatment from the time of his arrival. Many critics fail to mention these subtle threads running through the story, preferring to chalk the movie up to “many clichéd scenes of frolicking in the river, courtship and coming-of-age rituals.” Scenes of family life in the tribe exist in a circumspect setting within the context of the unfolding story. However, we are also introduced to the secret mysticism of the invisible people and how they maintain order in a world being deconstructed around them. A refreshing glimpse into inner, secret worlds of the shaman and mystic. Similar to the revelation of the Fremen world on the planet Dune in Frank Herbert's book/films.
Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance directed by Godfrey Reggio
Original inspiration for this film seems to stem from script concepts we read in, “Enemy of The State” style campaigns focused on pushing National Security issues down everyone’s throat. Ads from an Institute for Regional Education privacy campaign started some machinery turning inside the skull of screenwriter Reggio who says the nature of this film “was meant to provoke… Technology is as ubiquitous as the air we breathe."
One review written by someone from a dessert landscape, who spent time with Hopi and Navajo people, seemed to pick up on the subtle subtext the film postulates:
“Over a low rumbling chant, resembling that of Hopi mudhen kachinas or Buddhist monks, that simply repeats the film's title and Phillip Glasses enigmatic score, Koyaanisqatsi invokes the basic elements in its opening sequences that shift from petroglyphs, to fiery images, to aerial shots over the mesas and red sandstone canyons of the great Southwest. Before long, mesmerizing time-lapse photos of billowing clouds shadowing the Grand Canyon, then flowing over ancient Canyon de Chelly merge with Niagara Falls and the ocean—convincing evidence of the harmony between air and water to sustain life on Earth.”
Visit "Koyaanisqatsi review
by CultureDose.net for full article
Spielberg and Lucas in depth, see Energy Management #3
Club Obi Wan
Making Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom
Photo - Father and Son
Lucas History Lunch
Obi-Wan and Hal
WIZARDS
with
Professor Dumbledore ~
Professor McGonagall Main Index
…although the inspiration for the film [Raiders of the Lost Ark] originally came to George Lucas (who ended up as producer) long before Spielberg became involved in the project, it was probably the ideal material – and the ideal collaboration - for the director who stated, referring to his producer and friend, “We both see movies through youngsters’ eyes…. I don’t make intellectual movies.” Spielberg is by no means childlike, however, in his determination to make it perfectly clear that his aim in making films is to provide audiences with the pure, undiluted escapism they now seem to crave almost exclusively. Certainly, no one can take Raiders of the Lost Ark to task for intellectualism (although its very clever, self-conscious toying with genre conventions might be viewed as a form of intellectualism.)
What Spielberg is trying to recreate in Raiders is not, of course, old serials themselves, but rather the excitement of watching them as a kid, an excitement that is usually considerably dampened by later viewings in mature years...
-Jean-Pierre Coursodon with Pierre Sauvage, AMERICAN DIRECTORS, VOLUME II
Tom Cruise, Samantha Morton, and Steven Spielberg film Minority Report,
Phillip K. Dick's plausible but dark future-shock thriller. Some tasty food for thought
about consequences that may result if we suspend vigilant discipline with regard
to our expansive left brain tech systems. When expansion of the left brain is achieved
at the expense of the right brain, cosmic adjustments usually involve the complete
dissolution of any extreme advantage achieved by either the left or the right brain.
Order and natural balance quickly return. The Shaman walks in the centre and maintains
an unaltered connection with the Great Spirit. Many Native American Indians lived over
a hundred years and never experienced a day of bad health.
Steven Spielberg comments, What little privacy we have now will be completely evaporated
in twenty or thirty years because the technology will be able to see through walls, through
roof tops, into the very privacy of our personal lives, into the sanctuaries of our families.
-The Minority Report DVD
Aragorn and Arwen
Aragorn Coronation poster ~ Arwen jewelry silver earings ~ Also visit Arwen webpage at The Divining Nation
Bookmark ~ White Horse of Rohan
Eowyn and the Witch King, by John Howe
Check out the community of Elves in Lothlorien and RIVENDELL, the House of Elrond ~ Rivendell, by Alan Lee
KINGDOM OF HEAVEN wallpaper and Homepage
Numbers 1 - 9 and Numbers 11, 22, & 33
Robin Hood in Movies
Robin Hood in Television Series
Weyland the Smith in Oxfordshire ~ Forging the rings THE LORD OF THE RINGS production photo 'at the fire'
SCHINDLER'S LIST
Iron or Mars is the last metal cleared because it is the most difficult to master and can revert faster than other ores. Adolph Hitler was unable to process Mars/Iron because he did not place the aggressive urge in the proper order. He failed to purge Iron of all dross factors and shoulder the Mars essentials. His anger, frustration, and resentment were directed at other people: the Jews, Gypsies, and Catholics. All three groups have direct links to the great lawgiver Moses, who was first a Prince of Egypt, and then the great qabbalist deliverer. The esoteric ten commandments, known as qabbalah or kabbalah, can be tracked back to Moses while he studied engineering in the Temple of Isis [as an Egyptian Prince.] Moses is directly linked with the Jews he led out of Egypt, the descendants of the religious leaders from the Temple of Serapis [the Gypsies], and the followers of Jesus, thought by many metaphysical scholars to be a qabbalist rabbi. Hitler attacked these three groups without mercy.
Because the Gypsies do not always have birth records no one can list their numbers and so we do not know how many of them were killed. There is no record of the number of pregnant women in any group because most women were led directly into gas chambers. If the actual number of men, women, children, and unborn murdered in the death camps could be known, the estimated six million people lost would probably be a conservative estimate.
SWORD AND SORCERY
Click Conan for more about King Conan Crown of Iron
Arnold's Star Menu ~ a DVD review for Conan
Sarah Douglas, devilishly deadly Queen in CONAN, THE DESTROYER ~ Summer Convention news
Swords and armor made famous in film, television, literature and fantasy art from Albion
and from
WETA Workshop. Also see 'Dinner at Amon Sul.'
MODERN ART~ The Doctor Is In, Master of the Mystic Arts, Dr. Strange ~ Ditko page ~ Marvel Universe
Everyone loves the improvisational green witch, Broom Hilda
This page is maintained by Narawen
Lady of the Golden Wood
Find information about
Hurricane Katrina.
