Pagan Moon

Watch how the seasons turn
Like the ebb and flow of tides,
Sing while the bonfires burn
The time in your heart abides,

‘Round the wheel thirteen times
Her darkling seed arises,
Singing with thirteen rhymes
Sung by only the wisest,

The garden path grows full
With love but needful of fear,
Natural rise and fall
Draw near your familiars dear,

‘Round the wheel thirteen times
Her darkling seed arises,
Singing with thirteen rhymes
Sung by only the wisest,

Time to sow, time to reap
Guided by lamps of heaven,
Those who soar, them that creep
Wait for the fields to ripen,

‘Round the wheel thirteen times
Her darkling seed arises,
Singing with thirteen rhymes
Sung by only the wisest,

Around the thirteenth time
See Sol complete His full course,
Lit by Her love sublime
Enhanced synergistic force,

Around us thirteen times
Watch Her darkling seed arise,
Singing with thirteen rhymes
Teaching us all to be wise.

 

Copyright © 2007 TARickey

The Ages of Rock = The Rock of Ages

Information collected, compiled and correlated regarding Earth history  proves irrefutably that its age exceeds 4 billion years (BY), 4.6 BY more accurately.  Many lines of evidence in various sciences confirm the very ancient origin of rock.  Indelibly carved in stone all around the world is the Earth’s story in a book whose pages number in the millions, and which is many miles thick.  By reading this book through centuries of difficult field studies and serious inquiry, very useful descriptions of our planet’s interior are revealed.  As examples, geologists and engineers know where to find oil, gas,  groundwater and ore as a result of the study of rocks.  Moreover, these are found by logically putting together the evidence of ancient events like mountain building and oceans that dried up.  In geology alone, information is gathered from surface exposures, excavations, deep drilling and geophysical imaging, among various means.  Other sciences’ findings, such as DNA studies, often confirm those of geological discoveries as our base of knowledge grows vastly.

The pages of Earth’s huge book of stone were written while being created, each page imprinted by the events that caused its very creation.  Because the same natural processes were at work in the past as today, reading the pages (layers) is generally straightforward.  Many instances of nature in operation that occur now are also seen in rock layers, like ripple marks.  Other examples include the raising of mountains that slowly erode then deposit sediments around them as well as abrupt volcanic eruptions and also incredible forces pushing and pulling on landmasses.  And the processes mentioned here are only a few of those known to occur.  Therefore, literally rock-solid evidence persists that indicates not only the same processes go on today as in the past, but also that they have gone on for a very long time.

Radiometric dating methods are not required to reveal our planet’s long saga.  Simply by noting the variations in the composition of rock strata in extremely deep natural formations, the implications are undeniable.  Based solely upon the existence of such very deep and widely extensive layering, the conclusion must be that processes in the past sequentially caused the layers to form.  And of course, evidence of each geologic process reflects in the nature of the deposits, such as grain size, composition and fossils.  Clearly, based logically on processes that occur every day, Earth’s ancient age is validated.  And by way of one corollary, radioactive substances and their respective daughter products in rock strata verifies the extremely ancient origins of rock.  By way of such dating techniques, in conjuction with knowledge of how older layers underlie younger ones, events like worldwide glaciation around 1.2 BY and continental origins at 3.8 BY are noted.  Of course, repeated verifications by way of actual evidence are required before asserting theories, as is the case for all valid science.

© 2008 TARickey

Magickal Blue

The new moon brightly broods
Her celestial horns piercing,
Tempting seductive moods
You almost hear Her sing,

Wanton silver sliver
Through deep blue She eases,
An electric shiver
Lifts hair while it pleases,

Jewel hanging above
Shoots out moonbeams to ride,
Moondrops tasting of love
Warm dew for us to glide,

By Her charms enraptured
Venusian caresses,
While in Her spell captured
The sunset obsesses,

Trees feel Her light touching
Seas see Her slender form,
Magick cast while watching
She gives back soft and warm.

© 2005 TARickey

Celestial Love

Setting upon Her west
Diana full in rest,
Now the night in repose
Casting long moon-shadows,

Raising the eastern glow
Blossoming petals shine,
The car of Apollo
Announced in shades of wine,
Chariot rising slow
Mingling two lights divine,

Their kiss, the edge of night
Lovers bare in full sight,
Promise love consummate
But a fortnight to wait,

Their celestial dance
Reflects on mortal skin,
Engendering romance
For truest hearts to win,
Eliminating chance
Just like their sky-bound spin.

© 2006 T.A.Rickey

Obsession

A perverse carnival ride in overdrive
Beckons with a cruel laugh,
My ravenous spirit straddles eternity
While the bleached horns of the moon gore the sky,

Cold hard neon splits the midnight horizon,
Shimmering electric fluid flashes a seduction,
I yearn to taste the colorful volatiles
My tongue swells and moistens instinctively,

Glowing shapnel gnaws into my bones
And starkly shines with pale rays,
Stale smoke tinged red, gasps out at me
Ten-thousand battles claw from the grave,

Caught in cool, steel-blue wolfen eyes
Bearing scars screaming of merciless violence,
The mute testimony of an ancient tombstone
A thick granite torso heaves battle-cries,

What crimson drooling sacrifice
Could be mortally wagered in vain?
A painted harlot shattering illusion
An encore of exquisite pain,

A brazen brocade of flowered gold ignites
Flames flash and sputter through showering debris,
Shards of glass dance, splashing upon flesh
Eerie, breathless silence spans a vast abyss

The chasm of my vacant heart issues forth a wanton cry
Echoing hollowly from rigid stony cliffs,
A shining black raven calls hauntingly
Phantom wings raised to the desolate wind.

© 1994 TARickey

Song of Olde

Cast the shadows of time long
Shades of bare recollection,
Whispers of the mulling throng
Blend as the murmur of one,

Chant the tales of yesteryear
A chilling incantation,
The innermost soul can hear
Songs of the deeds that were done,

In the sea the oldest wave
Rises high into the sun,
Holding the mariner’s grave
Spinning yarns of battles won,

Canst thou the verse recollect,
Written when the world was young?
Pause now that you may reflect
Upon ballads heroes sung,

An internal history
Etched in spirit crystalline,
Look within your heart to see
The places we all have been,

Enter the gladiators
A parade that marched miles long,
Lead by mythic Minotaurs
Beasts as huge as they were strong,

The tide of the ages flows
Gathering to rise again,
Only the Ancient One knows
How high it has ebbed and when.

© 1993 TARickey

Courting Destiny

Destiny enroute
Questioned me one day,
“Whither go thou shalt’
‘Or beg thou, thy stay?”

The choice was quite clear
I replied with thought,
“If there, I’m still here
‘In the now I’m caught,”

“Thou hast answered well
‘For to make way hence,
‘Is but here, you tell
‘And presently, thence,”

“Courting destiny
‘Is in the moment,
‘For what is to be
‘Yields from the present,”

I asked, “Win or lose
‘Is destiny bought?”
“Thou shalt merely choose
‘Hearken to thy thought,”

“I, Destiny reign
‘Whithosoever
‘Cast in boon or bane
‘God and man concur,”

“How would we agree?”
“For but mere regret,
‘Thy pain is but glee
‘Ev’ry star doth set,”

“Ev’n noble planet
‘Sha’nt augur thy fate,
‘Gyring occident
‘Marks only the date.”

© 1999 TARickey

Science and Belief

What I believe is my choice. As with knowledge, my beliefs may change when new information comes to light. However, I cannot choose what is known; that is a matter of objective reality, of collective observations compared to each other. Perhaps I might provide proof that something exists, within a margin of error. But in spite of what I observe, I could still choose to believe contrary to the evidence. Ultimately, my believing is a decision, for which only I am responsible.

When observing very tiny particles, the act of observation in and of itself affects what I see. While such uncertainty appears paradoxical, it is the very nature of quantum reality. Similarly, the principle of belief as compared with that of knowledge seems to pose an enigma. But both knowledge and belief can be ambiguous. Respectively, I may know only percentages of certainty while also being agnostic in faith. So I have levels of confidence that something is true by way of research, but what would account for my agnosticism? Could I cite the overwhelming numbers of people who believe, then say that makes it true? No. For one example, dominant belief once maintained that the Earth was flat and at the center of the universe.

The structure of the universe did not collapse in response to the observations of Galileo, Copernicus and the meticulous Brahe. However, the previous base of knowledge then crumbled, though prior beliefs were maintained for some time only because they were chosen. Even now, there is a Flat-Earth Society. Obviously then, belief can be affirmed by desire in spite of overwhelming, contrary evidence. While the Society insists that observations are illusory, it is their choice of interpreting the data. That is, instead of using evidence to formulate a theory to explain facts, their assumption dictates the form of the proof.

Belief can be absolute and may not rely on observations of fact. Knowledge is dynamic, depending on investigations of reality and can be independent of faith. While the two concepts are similar, both cause for confidence in “truth,” only belief may be chosen. This is because faith is not reliant on empirical, numerical data while knowledge is the result of such detailed studies. Without waxing etiological or arguing a priori provisoes as to the role of the observer, choice is clearly more in the domain of faith than it is of knowledge, that is, of hard, mathematical evidence.

For purposes of an application, choice has a bearing on knowledge, which is also known as science. Moreover, the concept of knowledge is as useful as that of belief when I choose to apply either or both. For example, I may choose to believe that I can write an intelligible essay regarding science and faith. But if I do not have sufficient knowledge of language or the topic, my belief is for naught. Conversely, if I do not have faith that I can write it, I won’t, and any knowledge I that have comes to nothing as well. Therefore both conceptual frameworks work together rather than being at odds, as is sometimes espoused by extreme schools of thought.

© 2008 TARickey

Say things like you are talking to a 6 year-old (why?!?)

There is a distinct effort in recent years to reduce communications to minimal levels. Often an argument is framed that one does not understand a subject unless one can put it in terms that a six-year-old can understand. This parroted refrain is simply absurd. What is the level of understanding of a six year old person? Many of the concepts that need to be discussed are beyond the ken of a such a child. Quite simply, at six years old, a person has a lot to learn. Isn’t it simply insulting to communicate to all people like small children?

An adult is of course insulted when one talks down to them, as if they were a young child. Unless they actually have the capabilities of a six-year-old, one condescends to an audience by couching concepts simplistically. And there is no reason to think that children can understand everything at six years of age. Besides, most people are adults. Those in westernized, educated countries should know their way around a dictionary. Now more than ever, it is convenient to utilize dictionaries in myriad forms.

A major precept of civilization itself is language. Thus, if communication is allowed to degrade, so will culture itself. In point of fact, there is a distinct trend for people to act less civilized and more violently, increasing in recent decades. Basically, this is undisciplined behavior that could be expected of a child. Apparently, such complex conceptualizations as working for the greater good are being lost.

Civilizations come and go, sometimes degenerating into barbarism when the conceptual frameworks of government and justice are neglected. Of course, schools perpetuate languages, sciences and civics – communications on all levels. While the educational system fails, violence and crime increase to barbarous levels, even within schools themselves. Not only can six-year-olds understand the connection, they experience the effects first-hand. But if higher concepts are taught (communicated), a six-year-old can grow out of the condition of ignorance.

© 2008 TARickey

Minimalist Poem

…,

.