Saturday, November 12, 2011

Moby-Dick :: Chapter 25 :: Postscript

Mister Ishmael ~

A short chapter to read. Just one page.
And straight to the point you are, with the understanding of making just one more important point in regards to the new industrial whaling industry, careful not to allow it to become embedded within any other chapter. Clean and simple. I like it.

Anointment. Anointing. Anointed.

Who anoints?
Who is anointed?
And in this case, with what is someone anointed.

I had no idea it was spermaceti, sperm whale oil, that the royals of the British Empire used in their anointing rituals. However, it does make fine sense.

But surely the Norsemen would have also used the precious amber liquid -- the original whaling peoples that they were with many whaling outposts around the North Atlantic. Or the Northmen of the North Pacific, the Eskimos, or the tribes of the Japans, would they have used spermaceti in the same ways?
Although, what oil would have been used in ancient middle eastern times, in the days of Abraham, or the days of Noah or Moses, but almond oil, maybe.
Or in the Mediterranean lands of ancient Greece or Italy, but olive oil perhaps, the greatest gift as given by the great goddess herself, Athena, in ancient Athens.

And what other substances might have made good anointing substances? I would think at one time even amber-colored honey would have been used.
And of course sometimes, just pure water from holy wells which are present in every earthly land, might have been enough.

Anointments have been plenty throughout history.

Even today we use sesame seed oil or palm oil after our showers and eucalyptus oil and rose oil in our baths; anointed each time after we purify ourselves.
Can we not anoint ourselves as we need to?

The case presented is cleaver in its single short format.

You asked, "Does anointing affect our interior and exterior runnings?"
Do ceremonies affect our lives? Does having witnesses of our commitments entice us to live better lives? Yes, I think they do.

And furthermore, I have observed that peoples who use plants and plant materials in their everyday existence are healthier and have a greater calm about their person. Could it be that we are to live symbiotically with the earth/world? That we really are more dependant on the other growing things on this earth, like plants, than we are comfortable to admit? Are we actually dieing each day we do not have plants and plant materials, in their raw forms, in our lives? Some of the most vibrant people I have seen eat mostly raw or natural food stuffs, some of which they grow themselves. A good, natural and healthy exchange with the earth. Not dependant on anything or anyone else. Are we symbiotic creatures?

Anointing rituals and ceremonies return us to our personal individual consciousness and to our commitments and our promises, reminding us through acknowledgement and recognition of the great trusts that have been placed upon us, if only by the divine right of birth which each of us have experienced, as we are present on the earth, now.

Have you been anointed lately?

Trust Your Journey (tm)
~ ijil Rainbow Hawk Giver

* original quote, coined word, or phrase by ijil RHG

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