Dear Friends,

It could be said that our societies are starving for lack of a creative vision to fuel the next phase of evolution. This inspiration is available, buried deep in our collective ancestral archives, if we would only take the trouble to do a little excavating.

The great Masonic philosopher, Albert Pike, gives a profound and poetic insight into the Inner Nature of the Hermetic Axiom, "As Above, So Below."

Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma, p. 41.

This is beautifully confirmed by this quote from PARACELSUS, written some 50 years earlier:

As Above, So Below. At the moment, there is too much of the "Below", too much heavy materialism, too much lead of selfishness.

Yours sincerely Samten de Wet.

Here follow some recent gleanings from the Internet.

I am happy to announce that the New Zealand author, Denis Trussell has given me permission to publish an excellent and thought provoking article of his on my site. It is now available - and you feedback will be sent on to the author:

Denis TRUSSELL, THE ARTS AND PLANETARY SURVIVAL.

Presently ongoing is the Florence Conference organised by:

LAPIS MAGAZINE AND THE NEW YORK OPEN CENTRE.

Lapis Magazine is published by the New York Open Centre, one of the most enlightened and active Centres working in New York at the moment. Cathy Mars writes:

"If you're not familiar with the magazine I urge you to check out our website: although not complete it does give a general overview of the subject matter we cover. In fact Lapis and The New York Open Center just hosted a Re-Imagining Politics and Society Conference here in New York, where we were lucky enough to have Jakob von Uexhull present a lecture. "

Lapis and NYOC organized: The Italian Renaissance & the Esoteric Traditions: Hermetic, Cabalistic, & Neo-Platonic Philosophers & their Influence Today Florence, Italy, September 8th-13th, 2000

THE MYSTICISM RESOURCES PAGES - Who's Who in the History of Mysticism by Professor Bruce B. Janz

Jane Lead - 17th Century Prophetess of God - 1624-1704

Jane Lead was an extraordinary English mystic and visionary, quoted by C.G. Jung. It is good to see that most of her Work is available on line:

BECK INDEX

THE MYSTERIES OF ELEUSIS.

ASTROLOGY

Project Gutenberg has made available a veritable mass of world literature in Etext form - even including Sol Plaatjies and Olive Schreiner. The full list is at: http://sailor.gutenberg.org

Three old classics that I downloaded without hesitating are:

The God-Idea of the Ancients or Sex in Religion by Eliza Burt Gamble

Bygone Beliefs

Lucretius, On the Nature of the Universe.

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~alfar/index.htm

including:

On Divine Frenzy,  (De divino furore) Letter of Marsilio Ficino

and:

Marsilio Ficino - On Love

AT THE EDGE - has changed address: This is the new Url:

http://www.indigogroup.co.uk/edge/archive.htm

Exploring new interpretations of past and place in archaeology mythology and folklore. Some of the excellent material includes:

Alby Stone, Goddess of the Black Stone

Bob Trubshaw, The Black Stone - the Omphalos of the Goddess

Hilda Ellis Davidson, Otherworld Cattle

I have been recently reading some fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm, and then went on to read the excellent: An Introduction to the Psychology of Fairy Tales, by Marie-Louise von France. (available at the Jung Library in Rosebank).

The Web is well represented by Folklore and Fairy Tale Material, and a good place to start for the Grimm material is:

GRIMM BROTHERS HOME SITE

There are also:

209 Grimms tales - in nice plain text.

This is a site on the English Alchemist Sir Esias Ashmole - who collected and published a compendium of English Alchemical texts. This site publishes material in facsimile:

http://www.library.upenn.edu/etext/collections/science/ashmole/

I. Robert Von Rudloff, M.Sc., M.A. Hekate in Early Greek Religion

THE CHALDEAN ORACLES

Frater Y.V.The Great Work of Insect Metamorphosis. Strange material, but rather fascinating

http://members.xoom.com/luxlapis/mt/cards.htm

http://members.xoom.com/luxlapis/mt/arcana.html

http://www.light.org/zain1.php3

Mike Dickman writes of the PAX CULTURA PROJECT ARCHIVES: "These are fascinating. You always were a little more hopeful about the future than I was. I belong to the camp of 'optimists' who consider the future 'uncertain'." Paris, 25th July 2000

Patizia Besantini writes from the ArteOltre Centre in Turin - where I did a workshop last year. A group of creative young energies! They now have a Website as well: Http://www.arteoltre.it

"It is always a pleasure receive your e-mail the things you send to the people helps everybody in became awareness about different aspects of life, aspects that may you know but that are difficult to keep them alive every moments of life. This connections seems to have a role to remind to everybody that we can help each others just communicating and been not separated between humans. I send you lot of love, and I really hope that you are well. Saluti anche da Moreno. Patrizia B. Turin, 26th July 2000

Joelle writes from Hout Bay: "I've been off-line for a while. Hi! and thank you for your continual stream of consciousness. Love Joji."

"Thank you for this enlightening and inspirational piece of information. I have printed it out and will wear it in my pocket with the Identity Document which I always carry with me in case of an identity crisis. Your continued concern and support is greatly appreciated. I remain , Yours Sincerely, Mr J. L Frost - Custodian Bensusan Museum and Library of Photography. 2nd August 2000.

"Excellent. I've forwarded it to a friend. As usual (these writers are really sick) I want some references to able to cite with the details. Especially Coleman on repetition (book on Artaud and after, year?): like the Matrix! Some other items I find dated, come across as too soft now (Peccei, yeah human, so?)." Jan Nederveen Pieterse, Amsterdam. 31st July 2000.

"Dear Samten, again I made a note of a few book suggestions I would like to get. Thank you for all the info which are gathered in the Samten file. Very valuable for future references." Monika von Moltke, Johannesburg, 28th July 2000.

Beverly Hobbs asked for information on The Infinite Way of Joel Goldsmith; Robin Beck for information on The Pistis Sophia.

Friends just returned from the Kataragama Festival in Sri Lanka and said they had an extraordinary time - it is essentially a Tamil mystery - which even has a website with tons of information: THE KATARAGAMA FESTIVAL SITE.

ROCK ART RESEARCHES ON THE INTERNET

Hello

This is just a note to let you know what I've been up to lately, writing-wise at least. I have become a contributing editor at Wired magazine, and I wrote one of the stories -- about robo-baby dolls -- for the cover package on robots for the September issue now on the stands. I also am now writing a bimonthly column for the online magazine Feed (at http://www.feedmag.com ) called "The Posthuman Condition." They just posted my second installment. Other than that, I contribute to contribute to a variety of publications, as well as a number of books that should be seeing the light of day one of these months.

Also, if you get a chance to see San Francisco underground filmmaker Craig Baldwin's film _Specters of the Spectrum_, you'll get more than an earful from me, as one of my techgnostic rants is used to provide one of the narrative threads. I am also happy to say that the Planetwork conference I helped organize -- which was devoted to "information technology and global ecology -- came off swimmingly (you can check out some stuff at http://www.planetworkers.org ). We are now discussing where to take the project next.

Erik Davis. Book: http://www.levity.com/techgnosis

Articles, essays, and whatnot: http://www.levity.com/figment

Hello Samten I'm Stephen Karcher. Enrique (whom I work with sometimes) said we should definitely get acquainted. I write and translate, lecture and teach, mainly Yijing and related oracles and divinatory systems. Doctorate in Comparative Literature, specialization in Archetypal Psychology. I have several books out in the field. I also worked for quite a while at the Eranos Foundation as co-director of their I Ching Project. My new translation of Ta chuan: The Great Treatise (central to Yijing) is just out. I hung around with the Spring and Myth and Theatre bunch, Hillman and Charles Boer. I have been a professional dancer and retain a big interest in choreographic theatre. I know a fair bit about Early and Warring States China, early daoism and the evolution of correlative categories in the Han Dynasty, and a fair bit about hellenistic (and later) Mediterranean divination including the various forms of sortes and the roots of geomancy. I am reasonably at home in the Italian and Northern Renaissance, French early 20th century, and Order of the Golden Dawn circles. I am now making a new translation of Shuogua, the treatise from Yijing's Ten Wings that is the basic of Bagua theories and practices and working on a new version of Yijing's major texts that includes archaic (Early Old Chinese) word meanings and myth/ritual practices. I am very much interested in using this stuff in theatre work, as well as developing pertinent and relevant modes of consulting and employing the oracles individually. I like to talk, walk the beaches, forests and mountains and make dinner for friends. I am at this minute revising a popular market book called Lover's I Ching for a new edition. Please tell me about you and the Ouroboros network. with best and warmest wishes, Stephen

Dear friends of Trees for Africa You may recall that our offices were burned down in January of this year and we moved temporarily to Jeunesse's house. We have now moved back to our original premises cnr Austin and Morris Streets, Woodmead, Gauteng. Our postal address has not altered. We had diverted all calls so you may not have noted that we were working on different contact numbers, but we have now reverted back to our original contact numbers as follows - Telephone: 27 11 8038750 Facsimile: 27 11 8039604 We will shortly be making some exciting announcements about Trees for Africa. We are celebrating our 10th year of contributing to the greening of South Africa and these new developments will do much to enhance the great work that we do and develop our ability to contribute even more. We wish you all a great, green Arbor Week, 1 to 7 September. We have been inundated with requests from disadvantaged communities for trees for Arbor Week. If you would like to contribute to we would greatly appreciate donations towards trees as our budget will not enable us to respond to all those needing trees. Also we were hoping to reach the 2 million trees distributed mark this year! Please see our website for more information on our activities which are growing and diverse www.trees.co.za <http://www.trees.co.za> Thank you for your interest in Trees for Africa. Kind regards Jeunesse Park Executive Director Cell: 0829001738

With the last Full Moon and Eclipse, Winter finally arrived, with snowfalls in the Cape Province. Work proceeds well under these arctic conditions. Our Mother Goose [of the Egyptian variety] on the lake in Maynardville Park has produced eight little goslings - and honks furiously when anyone approaches, with her husband hissing in sympathy. Here we practice Zen and the Art of Dog Walking with our other neighbours.

The plan to give a series of workshops between September and December of this year, is building up some steam. Details later.

In the meanwhile Mark Borchers has sent the full catalogue of all the videos available in the EXPLORING CONSCIOUSNESS FILM FESTIVAL collection - and if any of our groups would like to gather for video sessions - I am sure something can be arranged.

Yours sincerely, Samten de Wet

THE HOPI WAY - HOPI PROPHECIES

RESURGENCE MAGAZINE - has for decades been a source of inspiration:

A vast Conference, with James Hillman, Robert Bly and other visionaries is taking place at the Pacifica Graduate Institute in California. You can view all the participants and the programme at:

PSYCHOLOGY AT THE THESHOLD

Hoeller, Stephan A. On the Trail of the Winged God - Hermes and Hermeticism Throughout the Ages

Ourania Kontopoulos, Images of the Underworld: from the Eleusinian Mysteries to Neoplatonism.*

MAX HEINDEL'S THE MESSAGE OF THE STARS:

THE ROSCICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION:

 ROSICRUCIAN, HERMETIC ALCHEMICAL, TAROT:

Of the highest quality, is the research of Raphael Prinke. He has generously placed many of his articles on his Website. A list at:http://hum.amu.edu.pl/~rafalp/ART/art.html

Or:mantegna's prints in art history

hunting the black toade

the alchemical tarot deck

the great work in the theatre of the world

HEREWARD TILDON'S ATALANTA FUGIENS SITE; is well work a visit.

HEREWARD'S HOME PAGE CONTAINS SOME WONDERFUL IMAGES AND A GREAT DEAL OF INTERSTING LINKS:

BOHEMIAN MYSTERIES - Michal Pober's Site, and much more - for information on Prague and the Czech Republic in general. Plus: MAGICAL JOURNIES IN BOHEMIA.

The C.G. Jung Site has a NEW ADDRESS:http://www.cgjungpage.org/

There is a rich collection of ARTICLES that can be downloaded: ARTICLES:

 And also here on the CGJung Page is a very important article entitled:

Dr's Jung and Tiso Exchange Dreams - An Exploration of the Use of Jungian Dream Analysis In Psychotherapy with Black African Clients by Adrian D. Van Breda.

Dr. Tariq Rahman, [Fulbright Visiting Fellow] People and Languages in Pre-Islamic Indus Valley. 

I was amazed to read that in certain contexts the word 'myth' is used as a dirty word - set opposite the word 'reality'. Once again, we have the problem of the Inner Life, not being real at all. In any events, from a Buddhist or Metaphysical perspective, what is Real anyway - and who defines Reality?

Arthur A. Brown, Storytelling, the Meaning of Life, and The Epic of Gilgamesh

Alejandro Arturo González Terriza, Isis, Lilith, Gello: Three Ladies of Darkness

MYTHING LINKS - An Annotated & Illustrated Collection of Worldwide Links to Mythologies, Fairy Tales & Folklore, Sacred Arts & Traditions - by Kathleen Jenks, Ph.D. Also basic at Pacifica Graduate Institute! 

 We were all saddened by hearing of the passing away to higher plains of Rodney Barnett. An old friend who will be sorely missed. Mary Benson also made the transit in London - and Prof Fredi Drugman in Milan. But we are also happy that Pietro Faraggiana has arrived safely in Pisa, Italy - and rumour has it that a few other babies are in the pipeline, so to speak, for this year. And so - The Show Must Go On.

Also it has been great to have news from Grant MacLean in Canada still working on his translation, which will appear next year with Shambhala Publications; Glenda Hutchinson winged off for a holiday in Portugal; Dave Culhane wrote from Dublin; Ellen Kitonga from Nairobi, Giorgio Faraggiana from Turin; Mike Dickman from Paris, and Michal Pober from Beautiful Bohemia, and others. Also established contact with Denys Trussell in Auckland, New Zealand and hope to be able to publish some of his excellent writings on the Website soon.

www.icon.co.za/~pasa/

http://victorian.fortunecity.com/whistler/207/archive.html

I have just uploaded an experimental new site  - which really expresses some notes and ideas along a Project centring on Vision in Cape Town - which in under way at the moment. This is a place for you to get involved, if you wish, to contribute, edit, add comments, links, and so forth.

http://home.mweb.co.za/sa/samten/index.html

There are so many Charters, Manifesto's and Appeals, that one somehow wishes they would combine so that one can be spared writers cramp from signing them all! But I do, and I hope you do so as well! In order to help this process - I have pasted a few of the real best ones on my new site: Here is the address:

A LIST OF SOME MANIFESTO ORGANIZATIONS

In the meanwhile, do visit one of the most important of all, which has a vision to put an end to ALL war! A very noble aim.

THE HAGUE APPEAL FOR PEACE

MANIFESTO 2000 - has a very simple way one signs up - and this is what one promises to do:

* Samten DE WET, who has signed the Manifesto 2000 for a culture of peace and non-violence, pledges in his/her daily life, family, work, community, country and region, to:  

* respect the life and dignity of every person without discrimination or prejudice;

* practise active non-violence, rejecting violence in all its forms: physical, sexual, psychological, economical and social, in particular towards the most deprived and vulnerable such as children and adolescents; 

* Share my time and material resources in a spirit of generosity to put an end to exclusion, injustice and political and economic oppression; 

* defend freedom of expression and cultural diversity giving preference always to dialogue and listening rather than fanaticism, defamation and the rejection of others; 

* promote consumer behaviour that is responsible and development practices that respect all forms of life and preserve the balance of nature on the planet; 

* contribute to the development of my community, with the full participation of women and respect for democratic principles, in order to create together new forms of solidarity.

I think these are very fine words, and some of them most definitely shine as goals that we would like to reach, both as individuals, and as groups. No matter how impossible this may seem to be to put into practice.

A very rich source of links can also be found at:

ONEWORLD.ORG.

SOME NEW MATERIAL ON ASTROLOGY.

THE BEAUTIFUL FACE OF THE KHACHOMA

And while on Buddhist Matters, two magazines with excellent material:

SHAMBHALA SUN - still one of the best!

And:

WISDOM PUBLICATIONS

ARCHIVE FOR RESEARCH INTO ARCHETYPAL SYMBOLISM

Publishers of the two magnificent volumes of the Encyclopaedia of Archetypal Symbolism - this site does not give much, in fact noting at all in the way of articles - but is nevertheless a worth a visit. Some good links.

MOSAICS - A very stimulating article on mosaics in the Levant - full of delicious details that one wishes to follow up.

Claudin Dauphin, Carpets of Stone: The Graeco-Roman Legacy in the Levant. Classics Ireland, 1997 Volume 4. University College, Dublin, Ireland.

THE GNOSTIC ARCHIVE

GNOSIS SAMPLE ARTICLES

Baruch Halpern, The Baal (and the Asherah?) in Seventh-Century Judah, York University, Toronto.

This extends the material by Raphael Patai on the Goddess Asherah - and the Goddess in Judaism in general.

Over the past few weeks in the Mail and Guardian there have been reports on "… restructuring and downsizing at Wits University."

And: "…the academic departments which were most affected by rationalizing include[d] fine arts, classics, history, drama, German and Afrikaans…"

Makes one think does it not. Always the Arts which suffer - never Big Business. And look what has happened to The State Theatre in Pretoria. Someone said on TV recently, that it is never the creative types at the top. Always old men in black suits, embezzling the money meant for culture & creativity. Sies!

And last but not least, a site on the Tarot and its correspondences to the I CHING; TAROT AND THE I CHING.

Yours sincerely - Samten

EMAIL: [email protected]

Webpage: http://members.xoom.com/luxlapis/index.html

 Dear Friends,

We have had the most magnificent Cape autumn, with warm sunny days. But today the grey and rain has set in. How long this wet will last, we never know. But one is grateful for the extended summer, enjoyed to date.

Nothing much is happening socially, in my life At the MOMENT. I am enjoying a break from travel and wish to settle down to a few months of uninterrupted work on research and writing, presently fully involved in a complete redesigning of my database - and a general streamlining of categories, indexes, bibliographies etc. This will take some time. Unfortunately, my computer is fast becoming redundant, and this strictly limits what I can do. But this does lead to a certain disciple - allowing more time to digest material already gathered and amplify and strengthen what has been achieved to date. It is a period of consolidation. For the time being, economic considerations taken into account, I will not generate much information about material available on the World Wide Web. We are suffering from such a glut of information, that besides keeping the daily emergencies of living under control, most people have a surfeit of information at their disposal, without having to be further burdened.

What is now more crucial, is finding routes to bring this material into practical perspectives, lest it languish on a variety of ivory towers.

Within this context, I have been very impressed with a Charter for Democracy - aimed at the global gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in September of this year. The document is called Charter 99 - and is available online at www.charter99.org

I urge you to read the Charter, and if possible to sign it.

_____________________________________________________________

I was rather amazed to read a recent article in the Cape Times, by Benny Bunsee:

[Benny Bunsee, Cape Town setting trend in art of living. Cape Times, May 9, 2000.]

 "Cape Town is becoming the centre of a unique experience in the country and Africa. It is now the home to path-breaking new spirituality and style of holistic living embracing many facets that is slowly in itself becoming global in scope. "

"The new holistic "art of living" is essentially founded on a new spirituality (not to be confused with New Age spirituality) that embraces all that is vital in cultures, civilizations and religions, and which is inclusive of all that is best in Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism-Buddhism, Christianity. It is not only truly global in scope, but also completely non-dogmatic, non-sectarian and open to the best in human cultures and civilizations from the earliest times, cutting across nations and races: Truly non-racial."

"There is a re-evaluation of what Gnosticism, the Hermetic traditions, Freemasonry, Rosicrucians, Knights Templar represented, movements and trends which the Church ostracized over the centuries. "

"Over the centuries these movements were represented by Western civilizations' most brilliant minds that brought about the Renaissance, among whom were Leonardo da Vinci, Roger and Francis Bacon, Shakespeare, and a host of others."

 This article was a report on the Art of Living Festival at the University of Cape Town. As you know, the "re-evaluation" of the Hermetic Tradition, and others, has been the basis of my research for many years.

THE WORLD GOODWILL NEWSLETTER, is available on line here.

________________________________

Another excellent Project, is:

RIGHT LIVELIHOOD FOUNDATION. Website.

 Jakob von Uexkull, Right Livelihood Founder/Chairman writes in their Newsletter" CORNERSTONES.":

Email: info@rightlive;ihood.se

__________________________________

EARTH ISLAND JOURNAL.

remains an excellent example of hard edged, kick-ass journalism along ecological lines. The Journal staff very kindly sends me a free subscription, which I have donated, to The Wynberg Library, where you can borrow all the back issues available. The Website, is full of amazing information.

____________________________________

Ridiculed and vilified by the media - Prince Charles has become a valuable voice of opposition and inspiration in alternative cycles. His articles have appeared in Resurgence magazine; and his work with 'The Temenos Academy' is very enlightened. Yes, he has a Website, where you can read his controversial and in my mind, excellent writing on genetically modified crops, of which he is staunchly opposed. This material was also recently reprinted in The Earth Island Journal.

Prince Charles writes:

"What sort of world do we want to live in? Are we going to allow the industrialization of Life itself - redesigning the natural world for the sake of convenience? Or should we adopt a gentler, more considered approach, seeking always to work with the grain of Nature in making better, more sustainable use of what we have, for the long-term benefit of mankind as a whole? The answer in important. It will affect far more than the food we eat: it will determine the sort of world we, and our children, inhabit."

The Website is:

www.princeofwales.gov.uk

___________________________

Robert Bly, author of 'Iron John' and 'The Sibling Society' and recognized Father of the Men's Movement has emailed me indicating that he is still open to the idea of visiting South Africa, and Cape Town in particular. If you are interested in this Project, please let me know. We met in Prague a few years ago - and I think his contribution to out emerging culture will be very valuable, and certainly add to the reputation of Cape Town as a point of convergence.

 PARABOLA - another excellent publication from New York - is available at the C.G. Jung Centre in Rosebank, Cape Town - or you can go to their Website.

___________________________

An interesting book that I would love to read, has recently been reprinted. Let me know if anyone has a copy:

That’s it for now. Feel free if I can be of any service, Samten de Wet.

P.O.Box 15438, Vlaeberg, Cape Town 8018. Tel: 761 7567.