The Surly Librarian

The training folks in the library where Walhdyra works have started a new online program to encourage staff to use Web 2.0 geegaws like blogging, RSS, etc. The program is based on the original Learning 2.0 at Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County.

Since Walhydra now considers herself an old hand a blogging, she couldn't resist showing off. The result is The Surly Librarian.

Yet another chance to be grouchy...this time professionally.

Yay!

"Lousy at math"

Blessings to Wendiferous for finding this one:

Lousy at Math

Once a group of thieves stole a rare diamond
larger than two goose eggs.

Its value could have easily bought three thousand horses
and three thousand acres of the most
fertile land in
Shiraz.

The thieves got drunk that night to celebrate their great haul,
but during the course of the evening the effects of the liquor,
and their mistrust of each other grew
to such an extent

they decided to divide the stone into pieces.
Of course then the Priceless became lost.

Most everyone is lousy at math and does that to God -
dissects the Indivisible One,

by thinking, by saying,
"This is my Beloved, he looks like this and acts like that,
how could that moron over there
really
be

God?"

—The Gift: Poems by Hafiz the great Sufi Master
translated by Daniel Ladinsky

And so it is.

Blessèd Be.

"Lord of the Dance"

For Cat, with thanks for her latest series of blog posts, "Is There Still a Pagan in Quaker Pagan Reflections? Part 1 and Part 2" and "The God with Arms."

Since the early 1990s, this Robert Lentz icon, "Lord of the Dance" [see Note], has been on the wall above my God Altar.

It hangs to the right of a gray and black Huichol Ojo de Dios, a gift from my first lover George.

To the left of the ojo is a picture of the Eyes of Bodhnath.

The icon says more than I could possibly say.

And so it is.

Blessèd Be.

Note: The following is from the website of Trinity Stores, which used to sell the icon. Sadly, the Church forbade the continued sale of this "heretical" icon, and it's almost impossible to find anywhere.

"One of the most ancient masculine images of God in Europe is a benign antlered figure. This image predates Celtic civilization, but was embraced by the Celts for its beauty and truth. The Horned God was a protector of all animal life. He was especially linked with the masculine sexuality and spirituality. He was considered Lord of the Otherworld and guided souls to their destination after death. In Celtic art he is usually shown sitting cross-legged and wearing a torque -- the Celtic symbol of authority.

"Christian missionaries tried to stamp out the image of the horned god when they came to northern lands. Monastic scribes re-told ancient legends with an increasingly sinister twist. In time, the Horned God was pictured in the popular imagination as a demonic figure who rode through the night skies in search of damned souls. There are still places in England, however, where Christian men don stag antlers and dance for ancient feasts.

"In Celtic mythology, individuals like Merlin sometimes assume the personality of the Horned God. In this icon, the Horned God is connected with Christ. Christ sits before us in the posture of the Horned God, totally naked, but without shame. His confident nakedness emphasizes that what God has made is good. Behind him are ancient European petroglyphs of the Horned God. He bears the wounds of his crucifixion to signify that he has risen and has taken a more cosmic character than he had during his life in Palestine. He is beating a drum and inviting us to dance; reminiscent of a medieval English carol that describes him as the 'Lord of the Dance.' "