TFBT: Wuotes for July 2017

"Without Homer there would be no Virgil."  JO

"Aeneas' arrival on the banks of the Tiber is the beginning of bis Iliad and end of his Odyssey."  JO

αὐτοῦ κινηθέντος: ὃ δ᾽ ἤϊε νυκτὶ ἐοικώς.

 his coming was like the night.   Iliad 1.47

 “Telemachus did not see her (Athena) before him, or notice her; for in no wise do the gods appear in manifest presence to all. But Odysseus saw her, and the hounds, and they barked not, but with whining slunk in fear to the further side of the farmstead.”  Odysseus 16.160

“She (Athena) stood behind him, and seized the son of Peleus by his fair hair, appearing to him alone. No one of the others saw her.”  ( Iliad 1.196)

I offer a general formulation: for a mortal to appear like an immortal to other mortals is to become a divinity in a ritual moment of epiphany [[GN 2017.07.06 via MoM 2§17.]]

“I climbed a Kumquat tree to reach the top a high wall at the end of the school garden and went for coffee with friends. The best part was the climbing.”  Cecilia

Ἀτρεΐδης τε ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν καὶ δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς.(Homer iliad 1.7)

"He smiles, time passing, lost in a dream." Awakening Osiris, Normandi Ellis

 πάντες γὰρ κοινῆς σωτηρίαςδεόμεθα.

"for the safety of all is the need of all.” Xenophon, Anabasis 3.2.32

"He is one god or else he is two old men walking, leaning on the sticks, conspiring." Awakening Osiris, Normandi Ellis. An organization  in town asked me to give a presentation.  I stood at the back of the room with my materials waiting to be called to the stage. A finely dressed, professional looking woman at the front of the room lead the meeting.  Well, if you were in the audience it looked like se was leading the meeting.  From my perspective it was clear she was not.  Rather two old crones in the last row were running the show.  When the president asked for volunteers it was these two grandmothers that decided with a nudge who would volunteer.  Calls for discussion were met with root recitals of the grandmothers' instruction.  A show of hands was met with a surprisingly unanimous every time. I felt sorry for the woman up on the stage

"May I be given a god's duty a burden that matters." Awakening Osiris, Normandi Ellis

"With one foot always forward a  man reaches Heaven". Awakening Osiris, Normandi Ellis


"I...sail my boat upstream" Awakening Osiris, Normandi Ellis

I do not beat the donkey and called myself beloved of the gods.  Truly, I strive to carry the load without noticing the burden, to be on this hot earth a cool jug of water, to stand in the wind like sturdy sycamore branches, a place where birds rest, where cattle gather, where sap rises, wherein earth and sky are home." Awakening Osiris, Normandi Ellis

"With one foot always forward; a man reaches heaven." Awakening Osiris, Normandi Ellis

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