The Kalends of June 2015

Following a lovely five-day stay by Steve and Annie, it was then our two angels, Meg and Marie-Laure, who served as our preludes to a blissful encounter with la Pierre de la Fée – the chalcolithic dolmen on the outskirts of Draguignan. We did manage beforehand a Saturday night buffet for 17 chez nous which was lively, and everyone seemed happy. The next day was a visit to the Temple of Apollo in Riez and then the obligatory stop in Moustiers-Sainte-Marie.

In all, paradise in the Midi remains paradise. But beyond is deceit and greed under an oligarchy of bankers and industrialists. At the dolmen, contemplating from between the worlds, one could glimpse the continuity of an earth-centred timeline of gentle bliss and of nature and humanity’s enthralling beauty. It is there, and against the bureaucracy, militaries, governmental dictates and conniving, banks-too-big-to-fail and corporate desire for profit and private advantage rather than for doing good for the world, I found myself to declare, “We want the mantel of our world – and we want it now!”

We need to learn to touch again the ecstasy of a god, give thanks and dance. We need to learn to be happy with the world in moderate balance. Nature is today divinity forgotten, but I still believe in her – both wild and gardened. Shrines and sacred places are yet to be found to afford us the perspective to see both into the far past and toward the future. It is this last that for me will no longer require blood for sacrifice and offering to the godhead – including war. If we can but even for a moment savour our planet’s aura, we might be able to priortise importance, social-cooperation and the augmentation of beauty.

Yes, when the elements so conspire, it may be our own time to go. But when instead they are in harmony, there are no more secret cabals. All is in the open – for everyone to see and everyone to navigate. In ancient Rome, a statue would be erected to the person who had been struck by lightning. This last was held to be a blessing. Perhaps, likewise, apotheosis and memorials are now required for those who transition the mother sea, the Mediterranean? The formidable crossing is a gamble, and what lies beyond the crossing if and when successful is a gamble as well. But if and when the crossing itself is not successful, when the elements have conspired for it to be otherwise, a Mediterranean death must still be a honourable death. It is so fragile for us all. Some, true enough, obdurately resist this maybe to the extent of becoming ruthless bullies in the process, but even here the times of pre-senility will finally run out and dissolve. When this occurs, energy and will can no longer be nourished and sustained. Even those who amass the power and wealth to fight against eventual dissolution to the bitter end will most likely, at least in the present day and age, not be successful. The Reaper gets us all sooner or later. And then we re-merge with the elements and into mineral bliss.

But until that time, let us continue with both pragmatic and liturgical charm-casting! We still have a treasure-trove of metaphors for the divine. Among these is the sun which, besides all it is for our days and existence, is also a metaphor – serving, as do all metaphors, as a doorway. From the vantage point of the portal between the worlds, we can understand what needs to be done in our world of the present. “We want the mantel of our world – and we want it now!”