Tessa Puna's Journal

[jayoku]

April/18/2006: The Lanturn comes home


It was for the most part an awkward day, carrying a box carefully with one hand while her other attempted to find her keys lost in the depths of one of her many pockets. The tips of her fingers brushing against metal caused a intake of breath and a a near toppling of the box in her arm. Grasping the metal she withdrew her key quickly and shoved it into the lock. The sound of a click and turn of a handle alerted any nearby crickets her door had been opened at last.

Ushering herself into the house and closing the door promptly behind her she placed the cardboard box down onto the floor while she shrugged off her coat and placed it onto one of the many hangers. Picking up the box she blew her hair out of her face before continuing towards the family room. The light was dim, but then again it was always dim the twinkling of star lights scattered amoungst the ceiling were the only source of light. Her windows; the few she had anyway, had blinds that blocked out nearly all the sun light. Only a soft glow around the edges of the frame escaped into the room. Placing the box down Jayoku finally took a deep breath.

She had felt guilty when she had gone to pick up the lanturn, she had of crouse...picked it up rather late...more like a couple weeks late from when she had gotten the call that she needed to come pick it up. She could still recall the soft glower one of the owners had given her when she had finally and sheepishly shown her face in the store. There were two boxes she noticed and was thankful that the second person still hadn't gone to pick up theirs either.

She now stared at the box, eager to open it to reveal the contents. She knew it was a lanturn, but she had never gazed upon its form before. her fingers twitched at her side as she observed the box thoughtfully, the stamp reading 'this side up' were the only words written. Not even her name was on the box, she wondered how the shop owners were able to figure out whom's box was whom's.

Getting over her hesitation she got up and moved to the kitchen to grab a pair of scissors so she would be able to cut the tape which was holding the box closed. Returning with the tool in hand she carefully and with restrian opened the box slowly. Unsure of the contents, she didn't want to risk spilling oil if there was any included.

The lid popped open with some resistance and she reached inside to find her fingers touch a dangling chain. Finding the keyring at the end she withdrew her hand level and striaght to bring the lanturn out of the box.

Metal....she was at first surprised and then curious at the type of metal it was made of, but her curiousty for that subject was pushed hurridely aside as her jaw dropped to find that the lanturn was lit. A bright happy fire was burning away inside the metal and glass casing. Shocked she nearly found herself dropping the lanturn, but was able to regain her composure before such an event could happen.

Sitting crosslegged on the sheepskin rug staring at a lit lanturn seemed a bit...dubious for her profession. Such things should shock her so much, and yet here she was gawking at the lanturn whom was merrily burning away. The palmo f her free hand met forhead as she tried to make sense of everything. Whilst her other hand started to go numb from holding up the lanturn. Taking a steady breath she stood and moved out of her family room and back into the hallway; and towards her Star Room.

She used to have a budgie she kept in that room, but the constant use of insense took a toll of the poor things life span, but the place where she had hung the cage was still there. Taking the lanturn she hung it up turned, and headed for her book shelf. Pulling out several books on symbolism and even a few on sciences she went back to her scrying table, and replaced her crystal ball, scrying pool and other items for the many books she held in her arms. She then began opening a book and flipped to the symbology of fire. . .

Book #1

Fire. If there ever was a dichotomous element it would be Fire. Fire, the bringer of destruction, the symbolism of chaos and war. Fire burns everything, bringing nothing but ruin. And yet, Prometheus risked the wrath of the Titans to bring fire to man. Fire banishes the darkness. Fire cleanses and purifies. Lastly, sometimes Love is spoken of as an eternal flame. Fire.
Fire can be shown as an agent of destruction. Everyone can imagine the scene where the heroine looks down and the town is awash in flames. Fire is also usually used for strong emotional feelings (such as love, hate, desire, and determination). Fire can also be used to express determination or a strong desire as well.

Book #2

fire - it destroys, it cleanses, it purifies. It often signifies arousing passion and sexuality. Jung believed fire represents transformation.

Book #3

Fire One of the Twelve Symbols of Sovereignty, the flame is a symbol of intellectual brilliance.
Twelve Symbols of Sovereignty Twelve Chinese symbols representing imperial authority, that appeared on the sacrificial robes of the emperor since the Western Zhou Dynasty (1050-771 B.C.). The twelve symbols include the sun, moon, constellation of three stars, dragons, pheasant, mountains, a pair of bronze sacrificial cups, waterweed, grain, flame, ax, and fu.

Book#4

Though all eight of the sabbats are in some way fire festivals, the element is most prominent at Midsummer. Fire is the most easily seen and immediately felt element of transformation. It can burn, consume, cook, shed light, or purify, and because of its heat, fire is most intimately associated with the hot Midsummer sun.

Because of the sun's obvious role at Midsummer, this was a time of fire rituals and fire magick throughout western Europe, and the balefires still figure prominently at modern Midsummer rites. The Celts would light balefires all over their lands from sunset the night before Midsummer until sunset the next day. Around these flames the festivities and rituals would take place. The old Norse word for balefire is "biiken," and is still used today in reference to the Midsummer fires.

In Scotland, the use of the cauldron, a Celtic symbol of life, death, and rebirth, is important to the Sabbat celebration that honors Cerridwen the Crone Goddess, who tends the cauldron. The cauldron is present to remind revelers that the sun is not truly dead, but will be reborn from this cauldron of rebirth from the Goddess, at Yule.

On the night after Midsummer, mock funerals were held in Greece and Rome for the now waning sun, and for celebration for the start of the harvest season, another reminder that death is not final.

Processions to and from the ritual site were common at the warmer Sabbats, especially at Midsummer. The Norse especially loved lengthy processions and would gather together their animals, families, and lighted torches and parade through the countryside to the celebration site. There, their torches were placed into the ground around the sacred circle, often in lieu of balefires.

Two Christian holidays occur on or near Midsummer, both of which feature balefires. refered to as bonfires in these cases. One of these festivals is St. John's Day. This feast day was instituted at the insistance of Ireland's St. Patrick to occur just before Midsummer to draw attention away from the Sabbat celebration. Perhaps to discourage the pagan ways, patriarchal leaders in Ireland began a superstition which deemed this a very unlucky day, especially for one's animals. In a gross distortion of old folks beliefs, threats of faeries carting off prized stock and unsuspecting human revelers became an effective scare tactic to keep Midsummer festivals inside and away from the larger community. The other Christian holiday is Whitsunday. Commonly called Whitsuntide, it is the fifth day after Easter. Bonfires once used to be lit to acknowledge this date, but this practice has since been replaced by candle services in nearly all British churches.

Book #5

ELEMENTS: The four basic elements to many pagans are earth, water, air (wind or spirit) and fire. Many consider the first two passive and feminine - and the last two active and masculine. In Wiccan or Native American rituals, the "quartered circle" (also the Medicine Wheel) represents a "sacred space" or the sacred earth. The four lines may represent the spirits of the four primary directions or the spirits of the earth, water, wind and fire.

Book #6

FIRE is the element with the highest vibrations. It is the only element with the power of transformation. All the other elements have only clearing and cleaning power. Arcangel MICHAEL is the Guardian of the Element FIRE. In the physical plain FIRE is: sun, flame and blaze - in the spiritual plane: LIGHT. The physical fire transforms by burning material stuff, changing the material stuff into gas by raising its vibrations (=producing heat) and leaving the minerals as ashes. The spiritual LIGHT transforms by raising the vibrations of energy, thus turning dark (=light-less) and heavy energy into shinig LIGHT again.

The spiritual Principle FIRE is symbolized by the lion. The Principle of the Element FIRE is: LIGHT, Energy, male principle, LIFE, intuition, clearing, transformation, dynamic purposeful action, purposeful power (destructing - clearing - fertilizing). It is also symbolized by a sword (as held by MICHAEL), as a sign of renewal by revolution, by forceful change, by transformation (see also here). Another symbol of FIRE is the sun, symbol for FIRE in its highest perfection. The sun stands for: Radiating LIGHT, unconditional giving, the male principle, creative energy, warmth, material fire.

In the physical world the Principle of Polarity is prevalent, meaning that there are two poles to everything: so fire can warm us and thus enable life, but it can also destroy. Controlling fire, MAN can heat his home and cook his food. Controlling the fire was probably the birth of civilization. But of course MEN have also used fire to willfully destroy their 'enemies'. But when fire gets out of control, is has enormous destructive powers, and then the fire can kill life and destroy forests, fields and cities.

Fire has always fascinated MAN. Especially lightning roused their fear - it hit, it killed and caused fires, and because of the sudden strikes nobody could foresee nor avoid, they took it as an expression of an irate god or of divine punishment.

We know the power of destruction the eruptions of vulcanos have, like the eruption that destroyed the isle of Krakatau in ancient times, with a power equal to an atomic bomb, with burning liquid lava destroying all life around.

And each summer we see the pictures on TV, showing the catastrophies of burning woods and fields because of draught, often enough ignited on purpose.

The Force of fire can be extensive and unbelievable: During the Allied Air war against German cities from 1942 until 1945, there were several occasions, where a fire storm occurred. This was man-made hell. It had carefully been planned and tested and was produced by a huge amount of different types of bombs being thrown in a certain order on the cities, where defenseless civilians lived, mostly old people, women and children. There still exist some private films of that time. The fire storms were described as a terribly roaring, unbelievably strong force, feeding themselves from the oxygen in the air, drawing it into its center with incredible strength, stronger than a hurricane, so people were not able to stand on their feet and the clothes were ripped from their bodies. There were large areas of the cities, whole districts, where white heat was burning with temperatures like in a melting oven, and no living being could escape. What kind of brain can invent that, even think of such things? Not to mention the terrible power of the atomic bomb and the hydrogen bomb... those wars, those weapons have changed the dangers of war, the human power of destruction with the use of fire, even endangering our planet EARTH itself.

Stopping for a moment she rubbed her eyes after removing her glasses. This was starting to hurt her head, she dealt mainly with star readings not dream symbology or religious meanings. It felt like she was trying to research some gaint essay. Closing the last book she held in her hand she turned to the more...logical books. Chemistry and sciences. Perhaps they could explain how a fire could produce no smoke...nor any heat.

Book #1

A flame is an exothermic, self-sustaining, oxidizing chemical reaction producing energy and glowing gas, of which a very small portion is plasma. It consists of reacting gases emitting visible and infrared light, the frequency spectrum of which is dependent on the chemical composition of the burning elements and intermediate reaction products.

In many cases such as burning organic matter like wood or incomplete combustion of gas, incandescent solid particles, soot produces the familiar red-orange 'fire' color light. This light has a continuous spectrum. Complete combustion of gas has a dim blue color due to the emission of single wavelength radiations from various electron transitions in the excited molecules formed in the flame. Usually oxygen is involved, but hydrogen burning in chlorine produces a flame as well, producing toxic hydrogen chloride (HCl). Other possible combinations producing flames, amongst many more, are fluorine and hydrogen, or hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide. Recent discoveries by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States also has found that gravity plays a role. Modifying the gravity causes different flame types.

The glow of a flame is somewhat complex. Black-body radiation is emitted from soot, gas, and fuel particles, though the soot particles are too small to behave like perfect blackbodies. There is also photon emission by de-excited atoms and molecules in the gases. Much of the radiation is emitted in the visible and infrared bands. The color depends on temperature for the black-body radiation, and chemical makeup for the emission spectra. The dominant color in a flame changes with temperature. The photo of the forest fire is an excellent example of this variation. Near the ground, where most burning is occurring, it is white, the hottest color possible for organic material in general, or yellow. Above the yellow region, the color changes to orange, which is somewhat cooler, then red, which is cooler still. Above the red region, combustion no longer occurs, and the uncombusted carbon particles are visible as black smoke.

Book #2

Uncontrolled Fire:
The self-sustaining nature of fire makes it extremely dangerous if uncontrolled. Fire can consume structures and trees and can severely injure or kill living beings through burns or smoke inhalation. Structure fires can be started by cooking accidents, electrical faults, fuel leaks, the misuse of lighters and/or matches, and accidents involving candles and cigarettes. Fire can propagate rapidly to other structures, especially where proper building standards are not met. Purposely starting destructive fires constitutes arson and is a criminal offense in most jurisdictions. The destructive capacity of fire has led most municipalities to offer fire fighting services to quickly extinguish fires. Trained firefighters use fire trucks, fire hydrants, and an array of other equipment to combat the spread of fires. Municipal buildings such as schools and government buildings often conduct fire drills to inform and prepare citizens on how to react to a building fire. Outside of urban settings, wildfires can consume large areas of forest and brush and often damage nearby settlements.

Jayoku stopped there,her head was starting to hurt. Science...was never her strong point so staying focused was extremly hard. Shutting the book she looked back up to the flame as it danced and crackeled away happily. She pondered briefly was material it was burning off of. Gas? She doubted that, a gas fire would get too hot for such a small space. Standing she decided it might be best to think about it later, right now the lanturn caused enough brightness to illuminate the room; giving it a unearthly glow. Coming up to it she tapped the glass with her finger nail and gave a smile.
"Guess I will have to figure you out someother time..." she said with a little laugh and gave a final tap before leaving the room.  

[jayoku]

This post is reserved for the rp between Jayoku and Mizu

 

[jayoku]

May/02/2006

Horoscope for today: Gemini

This week's scenario is highlighted by your innovative ideas and your energetic nature. This force will help you to push your ideas into motion. You'll be receptive to new ideas and concepts. Friendships could develop into serious partnerships. You must act quickly if you want to meet your deadlines. Don't hesitate to ask others for favors owed. You have more allies than you think. Don't let boredom stand in the way of doing a good job. Put some flair back into your work or move onto greater challenges. Attend motivational seminars that will help you to reach your potential. Don't be angry with those who don't show the same excitement regarding your projects. Emotional upset is likely, curb your reactions to situations regarding home and family. Delays due to transportation difficulties may cause a snag in your plans.

Jayoku peered over her readings and let out a bit of a sigh. Well...some of the readings were accurate and some made her a bit worried. Looking up from her scrying board she smiled as the lanturn bruned away happily. Her pet snake Serin was coiled around the lanturn high in the air, confused to why there was no heat being given off.

The room was dimly lit the slight smell of insence misted in the air. It gave a good atmosphere, but she certainly didn't enjoy insence at full power. Standing she put her scrying table away and shifted a few objects that sat on her corner table around to try and shift her readings towards a better end.

She gave once more glance to the lanturn before lifting her hand for Serin to slither his way onto her. She then left the room and went to give Serine his breakfast. Putting the little garder snake down she took out a quail egg and placed it in front of him. Curious the snake nosed it and then unhinged his jaw and started the process of swallowing his meal.

Even after seeing him do this so many times ay always supressed a shudder and turned to make herself something to eat as well. She had learned a few things from her visit to the shop. Though she still intended to discuss some serious inssues with the owners at some point.

Now only if they would return her calls...


 

[jayoku]

May/08/2006

Today's Horoscope

All difficulties, hurdles will disappear thanks to unexpected help. Life will suddenly become easier, simpler. Business will get into shape and follow their normal course, the problems will be minimized. You will be more human, more generous and will lose your severity, your hardness.

The day had started abnormal, which probably was forshadowing for the events that happened later. Jayoku had awoken from a nightmare, masks were plagueing her dreams, and she knew that these symbols could only mean "denotes that she will battle against deceit, falsehood, and jealousy." She wasn't sure why, she kept mainly to herself thus the dream symbol seemed inaccurate to how she felt. Nevertheless she got up, and found Serin nowhere to be found. He normally curled up under the sunlamp she had beside her bed to keep him warm at night, but not this morning.

Getting up she sitffened as she heard a large crash coming from down the hallway. It was a muffeled sort of crash, one that may resemble things falling onto pillows. It certainly was alarming enough as another crash this time louder issued forth in a tinkling of glass.

OH CRAP. What ever it was, whomever it was was in her scrying room. Quickly she stood onto her two feet and hurriedly placed a robe on her bare arms. She then took off in a quick half run down the hallway.

When she came to her scrying room she noticed the beads to her doorway were swaying ever so slightly showing something had just been there that moment. She felt a tingle go up her spine, something was wrong the room was darker than it normally had been.

Parting the beads she noticed right away that the lanturn she had recieved was dark. The flame that had been there merrily the previous evening was gone. She felt a pang of pity for the lanturn, she had gotten use to its merry glow the nights she had spent staying up to scry the heavens.

She stiffened again as she felt something watching her. Turning she saw the head of Siren peer from behind her crystal ball, it looked terrified. Still feeling on edge she moved towards the poor garder snake only to stop as she saw out of the corner of her eyes something flying towards her. Jayoku flinched and picked up the closest thing she could reach and flung a pile of taro cards at the figure.

The poor thing screeched and fell back covering its face with both hands. Jayoku's heart was beating fast and hard, but upon closer inspection she noticed...this figure was very slender...and short. Like a child. Brown hair flowed just above the youths shoudler, and wore no clothign with the exception of a strange belt that was strapped from shoulder to waist.

The youth squated covering its face all the same and when Jayoku reached out towards the child she was confronted by a loud hiss and a mass of feathers. Backing up some she brought her hands to her face to try and ward off the serpent which was hissing at her menacingly.

This serpent was not your regular snake, it had lush wings that kept it aloft in the air, it beat smoothly and continously the hissing sounds coming from the snakes mouth. It seemed to be protecting the child. Moving backwards she tried not to show her fear but as her butt hit gainst the edge of the table she could only swallow. The snake did not advance but kept up a menacing aura.

THe figure was obscured i the dim lighting, Jayoku could of sworn that the child had horns, but upon closer inspection the youth showed that it was wearing a mask. It still squated its hands covering its face, as if it pained her. Sobs could be heard, broken up between the loud hisses from the snake.

"It's okay.." Jayoku managed to say, though her throat felt tight, and her heart beat mercilessly fast, she attempted to calm herself down. Serin having seen thathis mistress was now close enough slithered to her hand that was leaning on the table and wrapped himself around her wrist. THe larger serpent was intimidating and all he felt was fleeing.

"Its okay..." Jayoku repeated herself calmly trying to gather what information she could. This must of been what that woman was talking about int he shop before. A siprit manifestation, form the lanturn. That would explain why the fire which had burned earnistly for so long was now suddenly gone. "Dear child, please relax I will do you no harm. " she said trying to ignore the serpents repeated attempts to snap its mouth at her.

The young child gave a shuddering sigh, before turning its face to look at Jayoku, the mask was grinning and it seemed rather disturbing since the youth was crying but a moment ago. She waved a hand in a dimissive way and the winged serpent flew back to her and wrapped it coils around her bare shoudlers.