The End!? (Tempest)

Well the last two acts were in interesting read. To me it kind of seemed to end on a simple happy note. The supposed bad guy turned a new leaf. All was forgiven. Love flourished. Everything tied in a nice little bow. It doesn't seem like a typical Shakespearean ending, with death and dramatic twists etc.
So you have Prospero win. He gathers everyone. All truth is revealed. He renounces his powers and gets his dukedom reestablished. You find that the Boatswains are all alright and the ship is ready to go (pg. 161). Prospero deems everything that occurred as "happened accidents." (pg. 163) I feel that he sugar coated that. I mean he caused a tempest that threw everyone on a island. I think it was more than a little incident/coincidence.
What I really want to talk about is the magic in the story, or should I say "art". If you notice no one really gets hurt from the magic happening in the pages. You have a storm. Everyone gets on the island. Clothes dry. Some are asleep. Nothing really dangerous happens. I was kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop. I was expecting a death or sacrifice. At least that is what I pair magic with now after reading Kors/Peters. But this magic was very indirect and sneaky. It was demonic magic or blood sacrifices. It was elemental. The water and air. It is curious to note that Prospero calls his art "rough magic." (pg. 149, line 59)

 His perception is that this was really powerful and scary stuff that he was doing. In reality, if you take what read in other readings, magic can get a whole lot darker and scarier. It is interesting to see his perception of his magic. I like how he coins it "art". If you think of art you think visuals, feelings, interpretation, eccentricities, colors etc. It kind of seems parallel to how is magic works. The entire time Prospero is guiding everyone in places or positions he needs them to be in. He uses the senses as a way to manipulate others. Such as seeing shapes. He also plays on emotions like love (or lust), anger, greed, fear, kind of how art plays with our emotions based on how we look and interpret them.


Overall, I thought this was a odd way to end a story like this. It seemed so simple and to neat. If someone threw me over a boat, had me seeing shapes, chased by dogs (spirits), etc, I wouldn't be so keen to just chalk it up to a sorry.

Merlin the interesting life story.

Sorryfor the late post, didn't understand the switch. Now I am not to familiar wi the history of Merlin, but I did enjoy the readings. There is so much going on here I just want to touch on a few things.

First off, talking baby. I never pictured Merlin young. I just had this image of him as old and powerful. So when the story highlights his youth and his flaunting demeanor it struck me. Another element of Merlin's humanity is that he ages.

I found it also quite interesting that God gives Merlin these powers because as the it says in the text "he gave this ability to the child, whose need was greater." Merlin was influenced by demonic powers. So the best way to cancel that while still givin Merlin free will is giving him good powers and letting him choose. I want to highlight the part about Merlin's need is greater. He obviously needed to be blessed by God and given such holy powers or else we might have had an antichrist roaming around. The thing that I find so interesting, is all the Mystics we have read that received their visions; they were in great need too. And so God gave them visions. Maybe Merlin was one of the first Mystics in a way

Lastly, I want to talk about how religious or how much Merlin refers to God, Jesus and the last supper. I never thought of merlin this way. He is a magician, a sorcerer, a master of the magical arts. He poofed the stone heads to where they are now (just one of many origin stories about this lol). But a man of God. Never would have pictured that. Even from the beginning my thoughts don't jump to the conclusion that God gave Merlin these powers. I just thought he was magic, one of the first know beings of magic. This is what I think anyway.

Now there is his death which I won't get into since it frustrated me. But he died in a very human way which was sad, but he was powerful so as Merlin says man should not fear death and nothing does not come that does not end,

God is everything and the world is a hazel nut

This week's reading was a bit difficult. I do appreciate the summary pdf.
So there was a lot going on during the time of Julian of Norwich. You have the war, the plague crop failure etc. I feel that a lot of this made way for the hope that Juliana was offering. I'm not 100 percent convinced of these visions or believe them to be true. It's something I have to see kind of thing. Maybe the skepticism is what is preventing me from having spiritual bliss. As Juliana mentions it is our folly that is the cause of our weakness. I kind of like the image of God showing our world is just the size of a walnut. Small and feeble but a creation of God none the less. She couldn't have been making this up. The concept of worlds, or galaxies was way beyond this time.

*your thoughts on the photo?* (God all things, seen as fatherly, and motherly. Showing Juliana the world" ...
Whether or not I believe this, her visions or description of her messages from God are pretty convincing to say the least. Here, she spreads out a strong gospel so to speak. God is everything, the maker, the lover, and keeper. God is wise and the ground the our souls stand on. Juliana believers that she received these visions to teach humanity to help our souls by cleaving to God and all his goodness. She goes further to explain that even with all the suffering one will find peace and enjoy God. I'm sure this definitely turned more people to God especially with what was going on.

Now what I really want to point out is how she calls God "mother" and in extension Jesus "mother". The beginning of feminism, probably not. She delicately explains how God, in extension Jesus, is the almighty father and the all kind and wise mother. She talks about God is "the mother of all life." God shows the properties of a mother such as "kind love, wisdom, and knowing." I would be scared back then to make such a claim as to feminism God during a time of male egocentric dominance. But you can see how she carefully tied it all together explaining that God is everything and creator of all things. So of course God would have such qualities like wisdom and kindness that is a resemblance of motherly love. Juliana was held a great valued female figure. Her words really do seem to speak of holiness and purity. She seems genuine. I could see myself believing her words, although the idea of visions still gives me pause.

Guilty or Not Guilty. You still rot in Jail/Witch Frenzy!!

I have to admit, I am a little overwhelmed from this chapter. Not only was it long but it was very thorough. To me this chapter was about methodically charging and sentencing someone accused of witchcraft/heresy.

This process is so delicate yet utterly confusing. In a sense, its just one big cycle/loop. Once you get accused, innocent or not, you are going to go through a lot of #$%$#, pardon my french. Take for instance, page 221: "they have revoked their evidence and confessed that they have out of malice put that crime upon the accused. Therefore the prisoner in such as case is not to be sentenced hastily, but must be kept for a year or more before he is delivered up to the secular Court." So the person that is charging me and is my sole witness, says they lied and I still have to wait over a year before anything else happens. What kind of system is that? Moreover, Kramer's logic is so contradicting.

Let's dive a little further in the chapter and Kramer. He published this infamous book "Malleus Maleficarum," after being expelled from Innsbruek. (Wikipedia) I have very few good things to say about this fellow. He refutes anyone who disagrees with him especially about the existence of witchcraft. He depicts women as fragile and easily corrupt. In the chapter Kramer says "what else is a woman but a foe of friendship, an unescapable punishment, a necessary evil, ...and domestic danger" (pg. 183). The chapter expands on the devil, the process of accusing, the process of judgment, etc.

Now let's dive into what's going on in my thoughts. Kramer talks about torturing the accused to produce a confession. I see copious things wrong with that. If it were me in that position, I would admit to whatever they are torturing me for. Having read how the system works, either way I'm screwed. It would takes miracle to walk out of this. Furthermore, Kramer uses the term "conjuring" as something a Judge or Priest can say, even though they are punishing a civilian("witch") for practically doing the same. In page 215, Kramer states that "the Judge or priest may use some method ...and say I conjure you by the bitter tears shed on the Cross by our Saviour..." This is the very typical style of witchcraft that Kramer sheds light on. The only difference is who is invoked.

I can't fathom what would have been going through the mind of some of the people. All the jargon coming out of priests and Judges would be so confusing. Unless you were an educated scholar, it wouldn't make sense. The jargon they use is so blended and mixed with multiple meanings. It's just a never ending cycle. Then you have the questioning and torture. Kramer says you are innocent till proven otherwise, but they practically treat the accused as guilty. The delicate process of getting accused and charged is so meticulous, but also incredibly contradicting. If you are accused your screwed.

Also, if you look up facts about Kramer and this publication, it's a very infamous book that led whether directly or indirectly 600,000-9,000,000  (over 250 years) of bled shed.(Wikipedia) The Malleus was the hand guide for inquisitors to identifying, prosecuting, and dispatching witchcraft/witches. I find that incredibly disappointing since this publication is contracting and harsh.

"Take me to Church"

(You don’t have to read this little paragraph, it’s just for kicks)**My first blog post, how exciting!  So I read about Sorcery in Christendom and Sorcery and the Nature of Evil. Both of these chapters were quite interesting, and slightly long. A lot is going on through these pages. I tried writing everything down. My thoughts are all over the place with these two chapters. I feel like I really need to go to church. lol **
 I am going to start with chapter 3. What I got from it is it kinda disapproves that all sin is caused by the devil or by demons. This chapter really reminds me of philosophy class: stating an argument or idea, providing support, trumping that source, disproving the statement/idea and declare a new statement or opinion. Anyone else feel like that?
In this chapter, two excerpts (phrases) that really fazed me were “to tempt is a sign of ignorance. But the demons know what happens among men. Therefore the demons do not tempt.” The second is “sin dwells in the will. Since therefore the demons cannot change man’s will” (Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Second Article, pg. 98). 

So, man has free will and man is ignorant of many things. (Man=humans, mankind, womankind, etc) All this is just a thin layer of the giant cake that represents the ideas behind demons, the devil and their existence. [Note: I am writing this while I am very hungry] Man sins or commits acts of evil through his own free will and ignorance. The devil is not ignorant, and he cannot bend the will of man. Then you have God thrown in the mix. God temps man (pg. 98). He tempts us to test our faith in him or for punishment. [All this talk about God and the devil make me sound like a religious fanatic. Gosh.]

“Not all our evil thoughts are stirred up by the devil, but sometimes they arise from movement of our freewill” (Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Third Article, pg. 100).Aquinas made things pretty clear for me. I feel that through everything I just mentioned that the devil and demons alike are only as powerful as you or anyone else makes them out to be. (*shifts eyes left to right to check for any upset demons*) We have all this discussion about how the devil cannot do certain things and how God is almighty. This leads into my ideas about chapter 2.
My discussion leadership project is on this chapter so I won’t go to crazy with my ideas that I will share on Monday. Overall, the chapter makes me believe that “the power of Christ is unconquerable” (Voragine, The Life of Justina, pg 85). You have the story of Justina, for example. By the way, this story was quite funny. You have this guy, a powerful sorcerer, Cyprian who tries to win or obtain the heart of Justina. Now, this guy Cyprian is persistent for sure. He uses all his dark magic to summon demons of all sorts to bring her to him in any manner. No demon was strong enough to face Justina and her unwavering faith in Christ. This is such as ridiculous story makes you wonder if this were true. Now using this story, paired up with the things I pointed out in chapter 3, I got one clear message from it all: that the power of Christ/God/Christianity is all powerful. You don’t mess with Christ. What more can you sum up about these chapters. There is so much mentioned on detailed rituals but the fact of the matter is, you need to find your faith in God. Just from certain aspects of these excerpts, Christianity is the way to go if you don’t want anything bad to happen to you or if you want to truly be happy.