Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages/CLOUDBURST 2014

Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
The droughte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephyrus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halve cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open ye
(So priketh hem nature in hir corages);
Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
To ferne halwesw, kowthe in sondry londes....

[above sent by Albert Glover to CLOUDBURST in response to RE:PILGRIMAGE?]


http://pages.towson.edu/duncan/chaucer/duallang1.htm
In a Modern English translation 

When April with his showers sweet with fruit
The drought of March has pierced unto the root
And bathed each vein with liquor that has power
To generate therein and sire the flower;
When Zephyr also has, with his sweet breath,
Quickened again, in every holt and heath,
The tender shoots and buds, and the young sun
Into the Ram one half his course has run,
And many little birds make melody
That sleep through all the night with open eye
(So Nature pricks them on to ramp and rage)-
Then do folk long to go on pilgrimage,
And palmers to go seeking out strange strands,
To distant shrines well known in sundry lands.
And specially from every shire's end
Of England they to Canterbury wend,
The holy blessed martyr there to seek
Who helped them when they lay so ill and weak

PAULETTE SWARTZFAGER -- INTERESTING!


Interesting! I am finishing a new book and have a number of poems in this vein. See this one:


Let us
in these days
of old stones
of harsh sands
of sounds white hot
of searing sun
fill empty wells
dig deep into hard earth

Let us circle
this or that
punctuate our paces
leave this land of olives
depart before the departed

Let us be pilgrims
uncovered
pray against
Allah or Yahweh
seek our own light
in these ruins
hide under crumbling arches
paint new languages
scar our souls into mosaics

Let us silence songs from our ancestors
plant wild wheat
find new waters
in lands undiscovered

Let us take our own gods by force
baptize ourselves
with our own hands
lie together on foreign soil
in tent or yurt
under open night



 ---Paulette Swartzfager

Re: WHAT ABOUT PILGRIMAGES?

 Re: WHAT ABOUT PILGRIMAGES?
(Planning for Cloudburst Council 2014)


Pilgrimages and relics and symbols and rituals


Helen's haiku

below zero 
a little bit of gold
in the finches

         --Helen Ruggien
               2/4/2014     2:34 pm

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They always had trade fairs next to those pilgrimage sites. And taverns.
                                                                     ---John Roche
                                                                        2/4/2014  6:08 pm
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My poem..has pilgrim in it.
                                      --Alan Casline
                                              2/4/2014   6:12 pm


CARRIED TO ST. BLAISE’S WELL


 healing spring flows out of circle basin
 eternal outpouring
 water sought
 by train ride
    limping sore-foot walk
 pilgrim to St. Blaise’s Well
 bright cloudless sky
 from fountain-filled pool
 over brick wall water drops
 to reflecting pond
 dark and light shared balance
 daffodils yellow and white
 violets spread beneath holly trees
 family of ducks on small islands
 my wife and son with me

 afterwards I realize I brought small wants
 sip water, close eyes
 wish for healed throat, pain to leave foot
   and deeper prayer
   to heal a bruised spirit
   voice of the Spring speaks on
to heal the bruised spirit of All,
        go on, taste my sweet water
         and go on—

                                                    --Alan Casline
                                                                     March 29, 2012
                                                      Bromley, United Kingdom

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well we actually had a pilgrimage last year: to the Long house and to the Seneca sipapu (place we came out of the ground)
                                           --Stephen Lewandowski
                                                                       2/5/2014   8:02 am

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Both were highlights of the weekends! Any other close-by pilgrimage sites we could visit?

                                                           --John Roche
                                                              2/5/2014  8:53 am
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We could pilgrimage to the Burning Spring in Bristol, less than 10 miles away (north) where first Frenchman was taken in 1669 (18 years before other Frenchies trashed Ganondagan) as a wonder. I dunno if it still lights but we could give a try.
                                                              --Stephen Lewandowski 
                                                                      2/7/2014  10.06 am

Burning Spring maybe O.K. but with a different story. Is there anything from precontact days associated with the Spring?

Catching a Frenchman doesn't hit me as reason to Pilgrimage.

I'll google and see if there is anything? Maybe it was a natural gas leak that bubbled up through the water and the peace pipe went up in smoke.  Maybe Joe the Poet was there and his beard GOT BURNED OFF


Hey Guess what I made up the real story!

The region was visited by the explorer Robert de LaSalle in the 17th Century in order to see a burning spring (natural gas) known to the natives, members of the Seneca tribe
                                                                 --Alan Casline
                                                                                            2/7/2014
Note: Lewandowski tells me I had it wrong.."taken" doesn't mean captured but rather taken to visit a place of big magic.

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I reverse engineered it and put Fire(Li) over  Water (K’an ) and got the 64th Hexagram of the I-Ching,  Wei Chi / Before Completion
above   LI        THE CLINGING, FLAME
below   K’AN   THE ABYSMAL, WATER

this hexagram presents a parallel to spring, which leads out of winter’s stagnation into the fruitful time of summer

I think we all better prepare for a pilgrimage with maybe trials and tribulations on the way. I can already get a sense that for all of us making the journey to CLOUBURST COUNCIL the travelers’ tales and the stories of those fallen and risen will fill the quiet hours till morning

                           --Alan Casline
                              2/8/2014  8:45 am