She Speaks Yinglish, He Speaks Yanglish...

She Speaks Yinglish, He Speaks Yanglish...

A wise man once sang that love is all you need,
A lot of it indeed.

Did I ever tell you I worked for a communications company?

Twenty-one point five years in fact,
Connecting all corners of the globe,
Data and voice as far as Antarctica,
As near as down the street.

I wonder how many trillion words are spoken each year,
Trying to get across the great divide?

"Turn left, turn right, do the dishes tonight."

To quote the fabulous Joan Jett,
"Do you wanna touch,
Do you wanna touch,
Do you wanna touch me there,
Where,
There,
Yeah?"

Exactly where that center in the male/female brain is,
The one that gets the exact image and emotion I mean,
To be recognized and understood.

Twenty minutes is forever,
Only to find you've both said the same thing,
All unknowingly.

Thankfully we have a lotta love,
To make things turn out right.

"No, go left here!!"

AquarianM

(C) 09/28/2016
By: Daniel A. Stafford

So My Oldest Blog Has A New Look...

...and that in and of itself is kind of mejical.

I love to think in poetry and metaphor. I think they're powerful tools for awakening the human mind. This morning, I think I need to speak mostly in a more straightforward manner.

I'm remembering three poets who have passed away since I began writing poetry online back around the year 2000...or was it 2002? I don't really remember for certain.

Clearly the online poetry world has gone through major changes in all that time.

All three of these poets I wrote with for several years on different poetry boards before their passing. Some of their poetry can still be found online, should one care to look.

These are my poetry ghosts:

• P.G. Smith of Perth, Australia. (Known online as Hope Smith)
• Ivor of Britain. (Known online as Poetic Piers)
• Christine Doran of the USA. (Known online as Talitha Ruatha)

I want to give them remembrance here, because they deserve it. Each were kind. I collaborated with all of them. Most of all, I miss their unique voices in the world. I think that is all we really have in this world, living or dead. Our voice.

Use yours well, my readers. Thank you for stopping by and reading.

Voices Among The Stars...

As we orbited each other,

Exchanging waves of gravity,

The Earth spun on.

I don't know if we're oblivious,

Or face oblivion.

I know you shined,

Still burn brightly in my mind.

Thank you new stars,

For the light you all gave my world.

You're missed,

Each and all.

AquarianM

(C) 09/27/2016

By: Daniel A. Stafford

Blog Updates And Wow It's Been Six Years Since I Posted Here...

Blog Updates And Wow It's Been Six Years Since I Posted Here...

I still can't believe it's been so long since I posted to this blog, (I have over 30) but I'm super-glad it's still here to post to.

*Spell Book* is one of my oldest blogs. It was showing it, too. The blog was running an ancient "classic" Blogger theme. I went in to try and update it a couple of days, and the Blogger Gremlins damn near ate my homework. The blog went down hard. It just fixed itself and came up on a modern template today. Maybe it just took several hours to convert to the new blog format. All I know is that I wanted to kiss my screen!

Worse, much of the poetry on this blog had been lost from elsewhere on the web. Some of the poems here may be my only surviving copies. Try any of those links on the list of poems I had published on Lightverse.com. They won't work. The owner of the site got a major hike in hosting costs, so he let the site go down. I've gotten emails from some of the other poets asking about it. I've emailed the guy. He says it will eventually go back up, and he has a copy of all the content, but it's going on two years now. I'm not holding my breath.

Now I get why there are always "unpublished" or "never-seen" works from so many artists that pop up from time-to-time. It's damn near impossible to stay on top of everything anymore. I have numerous notebooks and journals, and well over 30 subject-oriented blogs. (Including my main home online, www.SuperAquarian.com)

I've been through a lot of life changes over the years - moved three times, the last to California. Swapped out a 21.5-year Telecomm career for two small businesses. Gained a couple of grandchildren. Started karate, and stopped because of breaking an ankle on Illinois ice shoveling snow. Started up again just a month ago.

At any rate, I'm still around, and so is my old blog. Now it looks better than ever. Life is good.

Thank you for reading,

AquarianM

Path Of Jubilation...

Path Of Jubilation...



It was a year-and-a-half ago I was broken,
Wounded bird unable to fly,
Passing the seasons in injury's chains,
Wondering what the sight of recovery would mean.

The Tinker Man fixed me with bolts and braces,
As if I were a thing of tin and oil,
Yet it worked in its fashion,
In its sweet time.

I wondered then if I would walk again,
Then I wondered if I would dance,
Would I ever know the grace of the Katas,
Let alone run forward in life?

I walked and walked and walked,
Doing everything the healers bade me,
Bent and pulled and pushed,
Eventually gently danced - muted with caution.

Today the Tinker Man declared me free,
To kick and jump and run,
Race to the Moon if I dare it,
Stand in for Bruce Lee if I feel silly.

Kato I'm not,
But I'll be back in class soon,
And I'll keep walking,
Even run a little.

I am healed, and I feel fine.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C)

Back story:
Many of you know I suffered a severely broken ankle in February of 2009. It was put back together surgically, the bolts and braces are still in it. I slowly went through healing, physical therapy, walked further and further a little at a time. I even got to dancing again a little. Still, there's always a little twinge now and then, a slight reminder that it happened. I've used care and caution and stayed out of karate, never ran one single stride since, not jumped an inch. I went to the surgeon's office yesterday afternoon to see if they were going to have to take the hardware out. The surgeon was amazed at how well I've healed, and the strength and flexibility I've gotten back. I'm within a degree or two of my original range of motion in two directions, and the other two directions are as good as before the fall. Not only did he tell me that I don't have to get any hardware removed, but I'm fully cleared for any physical activity I wish to pursue within normal human limits. I plan on being back in karate by January at the latest, and to try running a bit very soon. Needless to say, this is a huge relief, and I celebrate it.

Dan

Shadow Throne...

Shadow Throne... **Awarded**

Author	Comment
AquarianM	Shadow Throne... **Awarded**	Lead	[-]
Constellation's Family Posts: 961 (10/01/10 03:03 AM) Reply Quote Edit More My Recent Posts	Tags [Edit]: None Shadow Throne... I sit in the silence of the Spruce cathedral, Hearing and seeing, Patches of sunlight drift down through the canopy above, A needle carpet at my feet, This place where time is shattered, And I search the quiet for the scent of soul, Something missing in that other world outside. Every rustle and every breeze carries a scent, Sweet pollen or musty old leaves, Seasons turn me back to the beginning of time, Leaving me to think that only this stone is real, This hard thing that bears my weight in a place of surreal beauty, Where my feet rest and my heart dances. AquarianM Awarded by Rick 10/01/2010 By: Daniel A. Stafford (C) 10/01/2010 Photo in the Spruce grove, Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL 09/28/2010. Words are the mind's bridge - it's connection to all the universe. Love is the heart's bridge - it's connection to all other souls. Loving words can work miracles. All of my currently available poetry Chapbooks are for sale at: www.lulu.com/Daniel-Stafford In the silent reflection of things gone by, we remember and gild the best, pray for the redemption of the worst, learn our lessons and move forward, hoping and dreaming of the betterments to come. Wishing us All the world-over a blessed, peaceful, and prosperous New Year and Decade... William Stafford's (No relation I know of) poem, "When I Met My Muse." ( http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/when-i-met-my-muse/ ) Last Edited By: LostInEternity99 10/01/10 10:26 AM. Edited 1 time.

The Daydream Deficit..

We were told,
Children,
To focus on the here-and-now,
Sit up! Pay attention!

It was punished and ridiculed into us,
Practicality enforced with a social baseball bat,
We got it so well,
Dreamless to our bones.

Is it any wonder then,
We drug the daydreams out of our children,
Run a chronic national sleep defecit,
Rule our exhausted world with an iron fist?

Was the human need to dream and imagine so dangerous,
That we abhor it to the point of our own collapse?

It's known by psychologists,
Humans laugh at things that cause them social tension.

Is this why it's so hysterical,
When I dream of a world built on love?

AqarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 08/29/2010

Fw: Merry Christmas To All, With Love...

Words are the mind's bridge - its connection to all the universe.
Love is the heart's bridge - its connection to all other souls.
Loving words can work miracles.

---

From: "Stafford, Daniel" <Daniel.Stafford@globalcrossing.com>

Date: Fri, 25 Dec 2009 02:58:23 -0500

To: undisclosed-recipients:;<Invalid address>

Subject: Merry Christmas To All, With Love...

Merry Christmas To All, With Love...

The lights are strung,
The presents all tucked under the tree,
Sleepy smiles on cherub faces,
Abed even for you and for me.
If ever there were a moment,
When love could be found most anywhere,
This is it.

If there's a magic to Christmas,
It's the love we all share,
That's our greatest gift.

Tonight, we do as our Teacher said - and love thy neighbor as thyself.

Merry Christmas to All,
With love.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 12/25/2009 - donated to public domain.

 

 

Merry Christmas To All, With Love...

Merry Christmas To All, With Love...

The lights are strung,
The presents all tucked under the tree,
Sleepy smiles on cherub faces,
Abed even for you and for me.
If ever there were a moment,
When love could be found most anywhere,
This is it.

If there's a magic to Christmas,
It's the love we all share,
That's our greatest gift.

Tonight, we do as our Teacher said - and love thy neighbor as thyself.

Merry Christmas to All,
With love.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 12/25/2009 - donated to public domain.

 

 

Welsh Hills...

Welsh Hills...

The evening is raw and fallen,
The chill bone-deep upon the wind.

The stones by the solemn blue seaside are wary and drab,
Laid in a place where hearts rage in wounded silence.

There is a cold and ancient magic there,
Amid the barrows and monoliths in the Welsh hills.

It makes people sing.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
(C) 07/18/2009

The Perfect Bowl Of Soup...

The Perfect Bowl Of Soup...

If I could take what's in your eyes,
Boil it down in a huge steaming pot,
Stir in what's in your heart,
Maybe a fresh onion,
Carrots and tears and smiles,
Celery and pain,
The scent of helpless joy,
And the taste of home,
Just a hint of future possibilities,
Ancient ways and traditions,
Youthful exuberance and chopped carrots,
Five drops of a dream come true...

The scent roiling up from the pot would leave me speechless,
The perfect bowl of soup.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 06/08/2009

Author's note:
I watched Ramen Girl tonight. Poets will get it easily.

Isla De Los Suenos Malos... (Island Of Bad dreams)

Isla De Los Suenos Malos... (Island Of Bad dreams)

Life on an island,
Late afternoon sun,
Dinner at a sidewalk cafe,
Latin dancing in the streets,
Mission architecture everywhere,
Colorful and beautiful,
A movie crew filming down the street.

High-wire dancing ladies,
Cameras up high on booms,
Rooflines only pictured,
"Psst - why only the roofs?"

"A movie on Global warming, they'll blue-screen the water."
"Won't that be a thousand years from now, that deep?"
"No, a hundred at most, if it keeps going like this."

Wandering home darkness falls,
A six-story apartment house with balconies,
Wide open walls at the ground level,
Looking West waves are coming chest high,
No winds only light warm breezes,
Waves right into the house and rising,
Soaked and shivering climbing stairs,
Fourth floor finally high enough,
Fitful sleep All manage.

Morning comes,
Waves lowered down to first floor now,
Far above the beach now sunken,
No storm - rising water,
Wading to where the beach should be,
Community trying to pile sand to block waves,
Struggling as water washes all away.

Back to the house,
Movie dancers in the air in crystal skirts in the distance,
Giant squid reaching into the house searching prey,
Dodge and walk upland to the air strip.

Small plane very high,
The Earth's curve below,
The land on the map shrunken and sinking in reality below,
Everywhere.

Alarm clock rings.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 05/27/2009

Author's note: My dream last night.

Dream Life...

Dream Life...

A course set in stardust,
Moonbeams and silver screens,
Paper wizards dying gasps,
Mental insulation encapsulated in desire,
Lust for status really is lust for better flesh,
An orchestration of psycho-science's black magic,
Played against instincts like Bach's piano,
Until no one knows reality from cotton clouds,
Sold dreams and living ignorant of nightmares.

It's so easy to lie on that sofa,
Exhausted from chronic lack of real life dreams.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 04/27/2009

Author's note:
The average working adult in the USA gets six hours per night of sleep, two of television, and very little non-corporate news. It's only with the advent of the internet that this is beginning to change.

Black Ice...

Black Ice...

In the frozen chill that is the world right now,
In the dark of silent Winter night,
Smooth riding down the highway of life,
Suddenly you’re fish-tailing wildly,
Heart beating frantic,
Trying to simply recover without getting ditched.

The temperature has dropped precipitously,
The world buried in glistening white,
Tiny flakes swirl about the air like flying diamonds,
A fairy-tale view to a seeming static world,
Hush-muffled and quiet and waiting,
It looks like damp pavement,
The only clue you’ll get.

Watch the road carefully,
Watch and be ready at an instant’s notice,
Black ice changes everything,
Faster than an eye-blink.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford
© 01/15/2009

Winter is calling my name...

...and AquarianM will answer.

Back in January of 2002, I started a fantasy novel entitled "AquarianM and the Heart of Winter." I had only barely begun when a Forgotten realms title which was nearly identical came out. Harry Potter was also quite fresh at the time.

I then decided to shelve the project until the other book with the very similar title had run its course.

The Harry Potter series is now also a wonderful, comfortable old shoe in literature. A classic to be treasured. However, it's been on the scene long enough that I can come back to my story, which has some similar elements and would target a similar audience/demographic.

If I can break ground with this, I have another very special concept waiting to follow.

The best fun is, I have a possible co-writer for the rest of AquarianM and The Heart of Winter. I love doing collaborative works online, especially with a talented female writer. It lends an authentic feminine perspective on the story that makes it more detailed and believable.

Keep this note in the back of your minds, because I'm hoping to drive this one home in the next year or so.

Dan

Palmer 3 Ovals Pizzelle Maker

http://www.fantes.com/pizzelle.html

 

 

Palmer 3 Ovals Pizzelle Maker

 

 

 

$49.99
#3362
Temporarily unavailable; being re-tooled

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Makes three oval pizzelles,
4-5/8" x 2-3/4",
C. 3/16" thick with 1/8" wide grooves,
10" x 5" oval plates,
UL Listed 120v, 60hz, 800 watts,
10 year limited warranty
(Palmer stipulates that you contact them directly for warranty repairs.)
USA

Model 3600

My new sax blog...

... is called "66 Sax" after my 1966 Selmer Bundy tenor sax, "Bello." (Serial number 411559 - and the name is a play on the English word for making a loud noise or yell, and the the Italian word for "handsome.")

You can check it out here: http://66sax.blogspot.com/ - including my healing Earth song, "Pacha Mama Prayer."

Regards and have fun,

Dan

Learning "The Empty Hand."

Just a quick note, I've started a journal about learning the art of Karate called "The Empty Hand." (Karate literally translates to "Empty Hand" in Japanese.) You can find a bit of humor and also insiders' notes on what it's like to be learning a martial art. Stop on by The Empty Hand at http://karateemptyhand.blogspot.com/ any time.

Regards,

Dan

Totality...

Totality...

I reached for my cherry staff and walked,
In the whispering subconscious of pre-dawn,
Intent on seeing the Blood Moon,
Totality - the Earth's shadow eating Luna.

Sadly the fractal clouds hid her demise,
She would be reborn on the other side of Earth,
Child of our mother-world that she is.

I had to satisfy myself with another rare view,
Earth's brother Mercury tucked between two rosy dawn clouds,
I whispered to the Messenger,
Playing notes softly at the Crossroads,
Just a few whispers of harmonica.

The un-finished cherry staff stands as tall as me,
Filled with the un-seen energies of the Blood Moon,
And the visible energies of the Messenger,
Still wearing its rough bark and un-capped,
A sphere of Brazilian Amethyst awaits to crown it,
Once I find the runes true,
I will focus the sun-glass on the bare wood,
And burn its true name in Rongrongo.

Then and only then will I finish it,
Give it its foot,
And walk with its totality.

AquarianM

By Daniel A. Stafford
© 08/28/2007

Grymwyre of Atlantean Spells gets its own blog

For podcasting purposes, I have had to move the Grymwyre of Atlantean Spells to its own blog, which can be found here: http://grymwyre2.blogspot.com/

MP3 version of The Blood Rose of Atlantis, Part One.

Dan

Grymwyre Of Atlantean Spells - Blood Rose of Atlantis

Grymwyre Of Atlantean Spells

Mejik is a fascinating thing. It feeds on belief. Anyone's belief. If something inside a person can twist in just the right way, reach a certain angle of viewpoint, and see the universe in a certain way, the universe can find it easier to follow the viewpoint than all the viewpoints in the past.

When it comes to conflicting beliefs, that's when things can get interesting. Sometimes, they get academically interesting, like a text book question. At other times, they're more like the ancient Chinese curse - "may you live in interesting times." Something like the times the Earth is passing through now, but I digress.

There are earlier times in human history, forgotten times. Times with scattered clues all about us, yet so distant as to be like fragments caught in the amber of a hillside that only seems natural, or where a customary gesture comes from. We don't know why we have certain little rituals about us, they've just always been. Or so it would seem.

Wouldn't it be interesting indeed if we could look back into those distant ages and vanished cultures, possibly even civilizations? If we had a mejik mirror that saw the distant past and let it fill our vision now, today. What secrets might we learn?

Perhaps, we might just look inside, and the mirror is right there, when our eyes are closed, piecing the clues we have into sections of a subconscious puzzle - illuminating areas no one else has seen.

Soon, it will be time to begin those explorations, and I will bring them to the pages of this grymwyre like candles from the darkest corners of the night.

First, though, I must walk the land of djriems. Only in that place might I find the matches to light such candles to glowing.

I shall soon return.

AquarianM

The Blood Rose Of Atlantis

Many people today believe that vampires originated in a land called Transylvania. Certainly vampires today welcome that belief. In fact, like many spells and curses, the curse of vampirism originates in ancient Atlantis. Modern vampires prefer this to remain unknown because such ignorance allows them to use their raw power without the vulnerability of conscience or feeling.

Modern vampirism is a bastardization of a powerful spell used in lost Atlantis to create its most feared and respected soldiers to enforce the rule of the Atlantean Council and the Grym Whizzyrd, leader of the Council. Vampirism is a bastardization by omission, caused by its Transylvanian originator only finding half the spell. It is a result of ignorance, and because of that ignorance, it serves the purposes of the archetypal Satanic Entity rather than its intended higher purpose of creating Keepers of Order.

The Blood Rose of Atlantis is the second half of the transformation process necessary to create a true Vampiric Court, or Court Crimson, as this order's name would translate in modern languages.

Here, I will reveal the Blood Rose of Atlantis, and give an historical example of its use, as devised and employed by the first Grym Whizzyrd of Atlantis.

The Blood Rose of Atlantis is employed once a vampire is created. Its effect is to cause vampires to regain their human emotion and feeling, and conscience. It returns to a vampire its connection to its soul, and therefore its connection to all souls and the laws of spirituality, such as Karma, Dharma, and suchlike. A vampire to whom this spell is gifted also regains its ability to sustain life through eating and drinking ordinary foods and renders a spiritual alternative to the energies of human blood available through the Universal Source. This means that the vampire no longer requires human blood to survive, nor is it vulnerable to sunlight any longer.

Vampires under the laws of the Blood Rose of Atlantis are still subject to death by a wooden stake through the heart, decapitation, or fire. No longer, however, need said vampire fear the sun nor holy water, nor the burning touch of the universal symbol of the Christ archetypal entity. (The cross and the Universal Spirit that it represents are as old as time and more.) They are rendered in service of the Light rather than the Dark by this spell.

For this reason, I must return this spell to current knowledge rather than leave it lost in the mists of forgotten history. It is my duty as a Whizzyrd of Light.

Required Materials:

1. A single flawless ruby of one carat or larger. (Used to focus Universal Light and shine it eternally into the heart of the undead.)

2. Five one carat or larger rose quartz crystals. (Used to gather Universal Light and feed it into the ruby focus.)

3. One pint of the Blood of the Christ Spirit. (Used to replace the blood a rose-less vampire requires to live. I believe it may be possible to use wine converted to Eucharist in Christian worship ceremonies, but were I wrong, the results could be deadly for whomever attempts to place the Blood Rose of Atlantis upon the vampire.)

4. Pure silver of sufficient quantity to set the Blood Rose of Atlantis and allow its permanent placement upon the body of the vampire to be treated.

5. Five drops of cord-blood from a virgin birth. (This gives residual merikal energy to the spell.)

6. Seven drops of the juices of desire from seven virgins, collected while they were in the unfulfilled throes of desire for their heart's true love. (To replace the passion the vampire lost in becoming undead.)

Procedure:

On a night when the Seven Sisters are surrounding Jupiter, then the flower may be grown. By starlight and moonlight the ruby and quartz already cut are laid in silver in the shape of a flower.

Behind the ruby in the setting, place the love throes of seven virgins mixed with the blood of innocent birth. These must be sealed within the center of the flower, its nectar, the tone of the energies it shall play upon the undead.

The flower is then inscribed upon its setting with the symbol of life and the symbol of the Peacemaker, and also the symbol of the Mother of All. This is done with concentrated moon and starlight, heating the silver just enough to lay in these runes.

The ruby, the heart of the Blood Rose of Atlantis, is the last piece set. As it is laid in place, the Whizzyrd recites the Oath of Service over the budded flower, ending with the intonation of Anahkh.

Seven silver bells and five golden are pealed at once by twelve disciples of the Whizzyrd, exactly and perfectly at the moment Anahkh is uttered.

The budded flower is then allowed to bask in only moonlight and starlight each night for twelve years. Upon the exact night the twelve years are fulfilled, the flower-maker shall open its blossom to the red rays of the sun's birth at the exact moment of morning in the East. At this moment will be heard the echo of the twelve peals in one.

Immediately enclose the Blood Rose of Atlantis in darkened silk in a cedar box. Store it such until its placement upon the vampire.

At the moment of next dawn, open the cairn of the vampire to the first rays of morning, and immediately lay the Blood Rose of Atlantis over the burning vampire's heart. Leave the cairn open to the sunlight until nothing remains but the undead ash and the Blood Rose of Atlantis. Close the cairn immediately.

Take the cairn to the steps of the closest temple of the Peacemaker, arranging it to face the sun. There, all the priests of the Peacemaker must perform the rites of birth over the cairn, ending at dawn precisely. As the last note of the rite perishes in the first ray of dawnlight, open the cairn.

The reborn vampire will step forth into the morning sun, no longer pale nor pallid, but flush with the rosy hue of life. He or she will now break bread and share water and wine with the Sons of Man as a brother. By moonlight and by sunlight they shall live. They shall bathe in the Mother's waters and breathe the Father's air exactly as does Man, Whale, or Dolphin. They shall father or bear children, and love them as does any parent. They shall know every passion, pain, and hope of human life. They shall be known as vampires of the Court Crimson, and live among men as friends and allies.

Being vampires already, the Court Crimson are immune to the bite and other powers of undead vampires.

The vampires' trick of not appearing in mirrors does not fool them. They know to look just beyond the mirrors' field of view where the vampire's reflection has been shifted by mejik. They are themselves able to work such spells themselves, simply through an act of will.

Should an undead vampire turn to mist and try to flee in shadowed breezes, the Court Crimson can smell the faint scent of the undead and follow it in its own draft.

Were an undead vampire to become a bat and attempt to fly away, the Court Crimson can become a nighthawk and seize the undead in its powerful talons.

If the undead vampire attempts the guise of a wolf, the warrior of the Court Crimson becomes a lion and rends the undead wolf completely.

However, should one of the Court Crimson bite an undead vampire in the fashion vampires are wont to do, the undead vampire will immediately burst into eldritch blue flames, and turn to ash upon the spot. The next morning, the ashes will spring back to life, subject to the spell of the Blood Rose of Atlantis, and subservient to the Court Crimson agent that caused its painful rebirth.

Perhaps now you understand why modern vampires choose to let the world remain in ignorance of the Blood Rose of Atlantis, and the Court Crimson. You must also realize that I make no friends of the undead in revealing these ancient mysteries.

An Historical Example of the Use of the Blood Rose of Atlantis:

To be revealed soon...