あきのすけの夢: The Dream of Akinosuke: A Japanese folk tale

Akinosuke was a farmer in feudal Japan. One day while eating with friends he fell asleep under an ancient cedar tree. When he awoke all his friends had gone, but a royal procession was coming towards him. He was informed that it belonged to the king of Tokoga (a dream world) and the King had summoned Akinosuke to the royal court. At the palace Akinosuke was taken to the king and to his amazement the King announced that the royal Princess would immediately become Akinosuke's bride.

 

Soon after they were sent as Governors to a small beautiful island. They lived an enchanted idyllic life for seven years, each year Akinosuke's wife bore him a beautiful new child. But suddenly Akinosuke's wonderful wife died. He was heartbroken and grief stricken. He held a solemn, yet beautiful funeral for her and built a mausoleum in her honour.

 

Soon after he was re-called to the royal court, leaving his children in safe hands he boarded a small boat and departed from the island. From the sea all of a sudden to Akinosuke's shock and horror the island disappeared. Just as suddenly he found himself back under the cedar tree with his friends. His friends explained that he had only been napping for a few minutes, but something strange had happened. As he had fallen asleep a yellow butterfly had seemed to fly from his mouth. The butterfly had been captured by an ant and taken under the cedar tree. On Akinosuke's wakening, the yellow butterfly re-appeared.

 

His friends speculated that the butterfly was Akinosuke's soul, so they decided to investigate the old cedar tree. At it's base they found a big colony of ants and just a little off a smaller colony. Akinosuke noticed a small stone in the middle of the smaller colony.  To his eyes this stone resembled the dreams mausoleum, he could not help but lift the stone. Under the stone was a tiny clay coffin with the body of a female ant lying peacefully in it.

 

A Lammas Haiku

太陽ね、稲よく育つ、夏犠牲

 

Taiyou ne, ine yoku sodatsu, natsu gisei

 

The Sun, the rice grows well, summer sacrifice

The Queen of Pentacles in Full Bloom

I love the imagery of the Tarot and have been reading the cards for others for more years than I would like to remember. But I rarely read them for myself, but often in nature, art or music I get the feeling of a card, I believe at that time that card has a message for me. That happened for

me today. 

 

In an earlier post "Some Flowers like it Hot" I found some purple pentagram shaped flowers. I took a picture of three of them; they gave me a strong feeling of the Three of Pentacles. I did not know the name of the flower at the time of posting, but my good friend Amy informed me that they were 桔梗 Kikyou.  They seem to have a deep symbolic  meaning and a magical meaning here in Japan. When I have studied it more and have a deeper understanding, I will right a post about that symbolism.

 

I have a long term goal of creating a photographic working Tarot deck for myself.  I envisage using flowers for the numbered Pentacle cards. So today I went to see, photograph and be inspired by the Kikyou at my local temple.  I had a really relaxing and spiritual time at the temple and captured a lot of good images. Just as I was about to leave I noticed one lone white flower; a white Kikyou. I do not know if these are rare, but among hundreds of purple ones here, this was the only white one I saw. I do not know why, but it gave me a strong impression of the Queen of Pentacles. A little white message for me among the purple flowers. I feel blessed.

 

Blessed Be

 

 

 

 

魔法のサラダ： Magick Salad

I am not a vegetarian, but I do love fresh vegetables and always try to use them in my cooking.  Recently I have been very lucky, because my good friend Naomi often brings me fresh vegetables from her family farm. The difference in taste these have compared to shop bought vegetables is amazing. They are so full of flavor and so fresh, they are absolutely wonderful. As I said I am not a vegetarian, I love meat. But today I did not want to eat meat for lunch, so I made a salad from mizuna (Japanese leaf), Japanese cucumber, tomato and yogurt. Seasoned with a little black pepper. It was so delicious and filled me with energy and a feeling of well being. It is so easy to buy convenience food these days. But how convenient is it really, just a little effort to prepare you own food with good ingredients, healthily feeds your body, mind and spirit. This little salad was full of magick.



My style chili with lots of vegetables and a little meat.

Some Flowers like it Hot

At nine this morning it was 32 degrees centigrade (90 F) and the humidity was at 66%. A typical mid summer day in Kyoto. On such a day it is hard to go out and take photos, but it is worth the effort. Because of the heat and humidity, I headed off to one of my local temples, Chisyakuin 智積院.  There I found some beautiful summer flowers, that were enjoying the summer heat.  In their company, in the spiritually charged atmosphere of the Buddhist temple, I too could

enjoy the heat.

I am not sure what these pretty purple flowers are, but I really love their pentagram shape. These three really put me in mind of the Three of Pentacles; one of my favourite

Tarot cards.

Beautiful pink lotus symbolising rebirth and purity. The sacred flower of Buddhism.

Many people try to avoid the heat and humidity of the summer, which is understandable, it can be so tiring. But if you search out the beauty in nature, that very heat can be refreshing and spiritually uplifting.

 

Blessed be

The Heron Maiden: Japanese Folk Tale

One day a young man came across an injured heron. He felt sorry for the heron, so he took it home and gradually nursed the heron back to health. When the heron was strong enough to fly, the young man released the heron. Sometime later the young man met a beautiful young woman. They fell in love and married.  The woman was a very talented weaver and weaved beautiful cloth with exquisite designs. The young man sold the cloth, so they could live a comfortable life.  But the young woman made her new husband promise to never watch her weave. For a long time the young man kept the promise, but was always intrigued as to why he could not look. One day he could not stand it anymore and decided to look. He was shocked to see a heron working the loom. When the heron noticed him for a brief second it turned into his wife, but just as quickly turned back into a heron and

 flew away.

A Typhoon and a Small Candle

Like most Wiccans, the elements are of great importance to me.  I am an Aries, therefor fire has the strongest pull on me. But my moon sign is Libra and my rising sign is Cancer, so air and water also have a strong effect on me. Luckily I always seem to have a Capricorn friend around to keep my feet on the ground.  Although I think water is a very important part of my life now, that is why I live next to the river, fire is my element.  Thunder storms invigorate me, all of the elements seem to be playing their part. But typhoons are another thing, they always have a heavy dark feeling for me.  At present a typhoon is passing over Japan. Although it is not directly effecting where I live, I can strongly feel it's presence. The atmosphere is very heavy and foreboding. I felt strongly that fire was missing and to balance at least my flat, I lite a candle to the element of fire. This small ritual really made a difference to my day and returned balance to my mood.