Movers and Shakers

We are the music-makers, 

And we are the dreamers of dreams,

Wandering by lone sea-breakers,

And sitting by desolate streams;

World-loosers and world-forsakers,

On whom the pale moon gleams:

Yet we are the movers and shakers

Of the world forever, it seems.

-Ode, Arthur O'Shaunghnessy 1844-1881

When things move or are moved they are not at rest. They are disturbed. Move is ultimately from Latin movere "move, set in motion; remove;  disturb". The one who is doing the moving can be viewed positively, as in, the prime mover, creator of light and everything good, but often movers are given negative connotation because of the discomfort that often accompanies change and growth. Movement brings about darkness and discomfort. The experience of adversity seems evil rather than pleasant. However, it is the experience of adversity, which when experienced, often ends up bringing about a greater good than if it had not been experienced at all. It is like the dawn of a new day which only comes after the night.

 The night moves us. Difficulty can move us in the right direction.

I remember your name in the night, O LORD, and keep your law. . . . Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now I keep your word. . . It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. Psalms 119:55, 67, 71

    Lilith, By LeOstrich

Lilith/Lillit is a Hebew name for the first wife of Adam in Jewish folklore, from the Hebrew layil/lel/laylah meaning "night", and possibly also connected to Akkadian lilitu meaning "of the night". The night, however, can seem to be a bringer of ill. Ill is from Old Norse illr "ill, bad"(of unknown origin) before the sense of "sick, unhealthy, unwell" which was first recorded in the mid 15c. Before that, from c.1200 it meant "morally evil", also "malevolent, hurtful, unfortunate, difficult." This is actually not too much unlike how the night and darkness is often described in the bible. Perhaps, then, it is not far fetched to suppose that the word illr might have come from a word meaning night, darkness or Lilith, even. 

  Lilith, John Collier, 1892, The Atkinson Art Gallery, Southport, England

Witch is from Old English wicce "female magician, sorceress", feminine form of wicca "sorcerer, wizard, man who practices witchcraft or magic", from wiccian "to practice witchcraft"(Low German wikken, wicken "to use witchcraft," wikker, wicker "soothsayer")

Witches practice wicked witchcraft. And what is wicked? To cause movement? Witches are traditionally the ones shown stirring the cauldron. 

    Witch at Couldron, Gustaf Tenggren, 1937

Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. - Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1, William Shakespeare

Is it the stirring of the pot that is the cause of the toil and trouble?

Sorcerer is from sorcer, from Old French sorcier, from Medieval Latin sortarius "a teller of fortunes by lot; sorcerer", literally "one who influences fate or fortune", from Latin sors(genitive sortis) "lot, fate, fortune, destiny", also the origin of sort, from sortem(nominative sors) with the additional meanings "share, portion; rank, category; sex, class, oracular response, prophesy." A sorcerer is one who sorts things out, looks at the signs, categorizes, and passes on the information of what is seen in the stars, the stones, glass, and lots. They don't let it alone. They stir the pot. 

    Sorcereing Sorting Hat at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft & Wizardy, Harry Potter

Wicca is Old English masculine noun meaning "male witch, wizard, sorcerer, soothsayer, astrologer, magician", from which we get the word witch, Old English feminine form of wicca being wicce. Its origin possibly being ultimately from PIE *weg- (2) "to be strong, be lively"(cognate with Latin vigil "watchful, awake" and vigere "to be lively, thrive", this would give it the same root as wake which is a merger of Old English wacan "to become awake, arise, be born, originate" and Old English wacian "to be or remain awake", both from Proto-Germanic *waken. So the wizards and witches would be the ones who are vigilant and awake, they are woke, perhaps to the signs and omens, or maybe also, ones who wake or call up the spirits.

    The Magic Circle, John Williams Waterhouse, 1886, London

In Hebrew nachash has the meaning "a serpent", a word naming the creature from its hiss. The snake is a hisser or whisperer(Old English hwisprian), as in this passage

Now the serpent(nachash, i.e., hisser) was more subtle(arum "crafty, shrewd, sensible") than any other wild creature that YHWH Elohim had made.  Genesis 3:1

Nachash also has the meaning "practice divination, divined, observe signs, enchanter, learn by experience, diligently observe", and also "omen, omens", from the same primitive root, to hiss, ie, whisper a spell.

So this particular word for snake in Hebrew is used for and associated with those who we would call sorcerers or witches. The two groups are both whisperers, and they are both associated with shrewd, cunning, or sly behavior as well. Furthermore, the work of the nachash brought about the eating of the fruit in the garden of Eden, and was the cause of movement, i.e. the fall, and the bringing of the night.

    Eve Tempted by the Serpent, William Blake, 1799-1800

Weird is from a Proto-Germanic root and words like the Old Norse urdr "fate", from PIE *wert-"to turn, to wind", from root *wer- (3) "to turn, bend." Like those spinners of fate, the weird sisters, the three fates or, Norns, guardians of the Well of Urdr/Urd(Wyrd / Weird), Urdarbrunner, the Well of Fate. Urd is derived from the past tense of verda "to be"("that which became"). The three norns are Urdr, Verdandi present tense("that which is happening"), and Skuld is from skulla ("need/ought to be/shall be").

   A Golden Thread(detail), John Melhuish Strudwick, 1885

Wag is from Proto-Germanic *wag-, probably from PIE root *wegh "to move about". Related to weigh, which is from Old English wegan, past tense waeg "find the weight of, measure; have weight; lift, carry, support, sustain, bear; move". Wiggle is ultimately from the same root *wegh.

Someone who is awake or watching, i.e., lively(*weg-); a watcher, is someone who is either in motion, or ready to move(*wegh); someone with the weight/gravitas to set things in motion and accomplish, i.e., a mover. . . or a guardian.

Medusa from Greek Medousa, literally "guardian," has serpent(nachash) hair that wiggles. In certain traditions it is said that the poisonous snakes(vipers) of the desert sprung up from drops of her blood, and she was a guard at the West gate of Death.

    Medusa, Lynnette Shelley, 2012

Wadjet(also known as Uto/Buto, Greek) the "green/papyrus colored one"(from wadj "green"), who was the Egyptian goddess represented by the Uraeus(Gk.), iraret, jr't transliterated from Egyptian hieroglyphs, was the rearing cobra, "the raised up one / one who rears up". Ir is "eye" in Egyptian, so maybe we could say the goddess who was called the Eye of Ra, was a watcher, i.e., an eye, the opened or raised eye of Ra, or the witch/nachash/serpent of Ra.

   Nekhebet, Wadjet, Uraeus Pendant - National Geographic

Green is the color of growth and movement. The green skinned god of death and re-birth, Osiris, was also an agricultural god, as in a plant which dies, is harvested and broken on a threshing floor, and then the seed is planted, watered, and resurrected to new life, or transformed into spirits, as is associated with Bacchus / Dionysus, god of the harvest and wine making, and the Green Man and stories such as John Barleycorn of whom they sing, 

There was three kings into the east, Three kings both great and high, And they hae sworn a solemn oath John Barleycorn must die. -Robert Burns version, 1782

In Hebrew ir/irin is not "eye" as in Egyptian, but "watcher", from ur/uwr/oor "awake, rouse oneself, stir", called "holy ones" in the book of Daniel 4:13, 17. Still the connection is there however, eyes are watchers and when the watchers are open(raised) the person stirs.

Watch (v.) from Old English waeccan "keep watch, be awake", from Proto Germanic *wakjan from PIE *weg- (2) "be strong, lively", essentially the same  as Old English wacian "be or remain awake". So we might say a watcher is a raised/open eye associated with serpents(nachash) which are wriggling writhers, witches(wicce/wicca) stirrers of the pot, and Wadjet(eye of Ra).

One of the Hebrew words for "donkey" is chamor, from chamar "daub, befoul, be red, trouble". The troubled(chamar) person, is the person who is stirred, or agitated to the point of bubbling/boiling. This troubling is the kind of adversity that can make one turn away from harm as in the story of Balaam and his donkey. Donkeys(chamor) tend to anger, or make one red(chamar) in the face because of their stubbornness. 

Chamar is also "ferment, boil or foam up, leaven". The trouble causes brewing, bubbling, and agitation, or stirring of the pot. Like Balaam's donkey(athon "female donkey", probably from ethan "permanent, firm, enduring") who caused trouble for him and saved his life. Balaam, what an ass!

   Balaam and the Angel, Gustav Jaeger, 1836

But God's anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the LORD took his stand in the way as his adversary(satan). Now he[Balaam] was riding on the donkey(athon), and his two servants with him. When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, it turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat it to get back on the road. . . 

Then the donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your own donkey(athon), which you have always ridden to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?" "No" he said. Then the LORD opened Balaam's eyes[raised his eyes, like those who see and caused him to be awakened] and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with his sword(chereb from "desolate, dry, waste") drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown. The angel of the LORD asked him, "Why have you beaten your donkey these three times?I have come here to oppose(satan) you because your path is a reckless one before me. The donkey(athon) saw me and turned away these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have let her live. Numbers 22:22-23, 31-33

Another Hebew word for donkey, ayir, like ir/irin, is related to ur "awake, rouse oneself, lifted, raise, stir"(supposedly from the notion of lifting/raising and carrying burdens). Donkeys are movers. They are even movers fit to be the vehicle or carrier(from PIE*wegh- "to go, transport in a vehicle", Old English wegan "to carry") of salvation. 

    Entry of Christ into Jerusalem, Pietro Lorenzetti, 1320

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey(chamor), on a colt(ayir) the foal(ben "son") of a donkey(athon). Zechariah 9:9

So Jesus enters humbly, riding on a donkey, but donkeys are movers, and movement often brings trouble, and Jesus was indeed trouble!

Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace(eirene) to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. Matthew 10:34

Why not peace? First change brings about trouble and is uncomfortable. AFTER transformation comes peace. 

Fermentation(chamar[see above]) is the fifth(chamash, from chamesh "five") operation in the Alchemy of Transformation. It is the death(putrification) and rebirth(spiritualization) phase. For example, spirits are not made but through, first, the decomposition of certain organic material in the substance, i.e., the wine, barley, etc. With the change, and the bubbling fermentation, some things are lost, but something else new, and magical is created due to this loss.

    The Devil's Wine - Bubbles from Rose Champagne, by Gaetan Lee, wikipedia:champagne

There appear to be both holy watchers, and rebellious or fallen watchers traditionally  The holy/good ones we call angels, i.e., messengers, and the fallen angels we call demons, from Latin daemon "spirit", from Greek daimon "deity, divine power; lesser god; guiding spirit, tutelary deity". 

Egregoroi/Grigori "Watchers" in Greek(Ir/Iren in Aramaic), are guardians, from Greek gregoros "to be awake, watchful, alert, vigilant", from eger/egeiro "to waken, rise up, stir", from PIE root *ger "to be awake"(Sanskrit cognate jagarti "he is awake"). 

   Les Anges Dechus(The Fallen Angels), Francois B. Cibot, 1833

Perhaps this is related to the English word jog, from the 1540's meaning "to shake up and down", of uncertain origin they say. The German jager/yeager is "hunter, huntsman", from jagen "to hunt", From Old High German Old jagon, related to Old Norse jaga "to drive, to move to and fro". Hunters are definitely awake, alert and vigilant.

Guardians / Watchers of the sky are the four stars which bring the seasons, and the seasons mean movement and change, Alderbran(vernal equinox), Regulus(summer solstice), Antares(autumnal equinox), Fomalhaut(winter solstice). Antares is the alpha star in Scorpio, "watcher of the west"[like Medusa?]. The movement to autumn is the cause of the Fall, and the change from light to darkness. 

Fomalhaut is the bright watcher(ir) that appears at the winter solstice, in the darkness of the night. . . and it actually looks like an eye/ir(jrt[eye] in Ancient Egyptian). Erie, huh?

   Fomalhaut debris ring, NASA/Hubble Telescope

Therefore keep watch(gregorite) because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back-- whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. Mark 13:35

Don't be afraid of movement, the night, or darkness. Salvation comes riding in upon trouble. Don't deny him out fear like Peter. He will see you through. . . 

"This will feel a little weird." -Morpheus, The Matrix, 1999

Fuchsia Sunset

eyes locked

the gate

iron bars

fingers clasping

a fuchsia sunset

darkening. it's babel

it means confusion

no. it is the gate of God

today IS the perfect day

– by Julie O.
Sept. 5, 2013

                 

    California Sunset 2012, photo by Julie O. /chthonickore

House of Horrors?

Matthias Grünewald, Tauberbischofsheim altarpiece(detail), 1523-1525

If you look at this picture objectively, it is pretty gruesome, as are many crucifixion images. However, most people don't view them as such because they are so used to the idea of the image and its significance. Such images are displayed in millions of homes, churches and places of prayer throughout the world. Why are images like this OK? Because this particular bloody foot happens to be the foot of Jesus. It is not something grotesque like a zombie foot. It is sacred art.

We might wonder, however, what someone visiting from a distant solar system would think if they saw some of our religious art, and different religious practices. We might wonder how they would describe what they saw here back on their home planet if they didn't bother to understand the significance, or were confused about what was going on and why. What if they judged us as being silly and unevolved already because we were not as advanced as they were? They might show a picture of the crucifixion to their children and say something like, "This is the God from Earth, Passio Christi, he is a horrible masochist who haunts people. He tells everyone they have to eat his flesh and drink his blood or they will be eternally tortured. He also tells children to hate their parents and only do what he says."

Zombie Meat Market-Foot(or, given a minor miscommunication, the foot of Passio Christi packaged and ready for consumption on Planet X.)

It is all about perspective isn't it? People aren't usually as objective as they would like to think. They imagine that how they view things just is so, and is right and correct. Other people who think or do things differently, are just stupid or silly, or at worst, are evil heretics who should be put to death.

Do you want to see something really scary? Are you sure? Here it is . . .

    Horus-Set

Are you horrified?

This is a depiction of Horus-Set. The name transliterated from the hieroglyphs to the English alphabet is Ḥrwy.fy. What's that? Horrify? No, ḥrwy.fy. It is usually translated as, "He of the two faces/or heads".

Is Horus-Set supposed to be some sort of monster? What is going on here? How could it possibly have an interpretation that is positive? The man has two heads AND they are both animal heads! Isn't that demonic?

Actually, Horus-Set was supposed to signify a balance of power. Horus was the Lord of the Black Land (fertile Nile area) and Set was the Lord of the Red Land (desert). Together they created balance. Originally Set, the more negative, or yin half of the ballance, was not demonized but honored along with Horus as a god or power. In later time periods Set came to be associated with evil.

However, this association with evil can happen to more positive gods or people as well when they aren't considered to be on "your team", or aren't part of your religion or race. It is Horus, the more possitive, or yang personification of the power of God in the ancient Egyptian religion whose name and titles can be suspiciously found in words such as "horrify"(hrwyfy), "horror" (Haw-Wer, Heru-ur,  ḥr.w wr, meaning, 'Horus the Great'), and "heressy", (Herseisis, Har-si-Ese, "Horus, Son of Isis), "nefarious"(Nefer Hor, Nephoros or Nopheros, nfr ḥr.w, meaning 'The Good Horus'), and "whore"(Horus, Haru, ḥr.w, Coptic, Hōr, Greek,Ὧρος Hōros). 

And look at this. This was the orrigional "House of Horus".

    Hathor

The goddess Hathor, ḥwt-ḥr meaning, "mansion or house (like "hut", hwt) of Horus (hr)".

Hathor was the sky-goddess of love, beauty, motherhood, foreign lands, mining and music. Does that sound like a "house of horrors" to you?

I can understand this sort of thing happening to gods such as Set, the Lord of the Red Land, becoming a "Satan" figure because of his connection with storms, desert, and chaos.

    Set or Seth (Setesh, Sutekh, Setekh, or Suty)

People make judgements about adversity. All adversity is called "evil". When actually there seems to be a subtle distinction between what we call adversity and what we call evil. Adversity is an experience that can create positive outcomes. It creates growth, saviors and heroes. But evil is just bad. 

For instance, adversity is judged to be evil in the story of "The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil" in Genesis. It is one way of interpreting the events of the story.

Out of the ground the LORD God caused every tree to grow that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and also the tree of the knowledge (da'ath) of good and evil. Genesis 2:9 

The word evil comes from Old English, yfel (Kentish evel), meaning "bad, vicious, ill, wicked". The word in Hebrew used to describe the knowledge of the tree in the garden is, ra' translated as, "evil", in English.  However ra', although it is sometimes translated as "evil" and "bad," can have the meaning of adversity, unpleasantness, giving pain, unhappy, hurtful, and not only moral badness or wickedness. 

Also, because the knowledge from the tree was said to make one "like God," 

For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing (yada) good and evil(ra'). Genesis 3:5

is it more like God to have knowledge, as in experiential knowledge, of what we would call adversity, or of evil?  For it seems that to truly know something(and not just know of it, or hear of it), you have to be in communion with it, or be one with it. Just as we know sweet and sour after we actually taste sweet and sour foods, we know hot and cold after feeling the extremes of high and low temperatures with our bodies, and we know pleasant and painful sensations in the same way. We would say Jesus knew adversity in this way because he suffered, but would we say he knew evil? Does God know evil? Or is evil always just a fleeting perception? God intends everything for good and brings good from evil, even that which is done with bad intent, as is shown in the story of Joseph and his brothers. 

As for you, you meant evil (ra') against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to keep many people alive. 

So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones." So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.  Genesis 50:20-21, New American Standard Bible

God does apparently at times intend ra'a (root of ra'), which is rendered as "evil" in some translations, such as this passage from the English Revised Version of the Bible.

For thus saith the LORD of hosts: As I thought to do evil (ra'a) unto you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the LORD of hosts, and I repented not; Zachariah 8:14, ERV 

But this ra'a here is just as often translated as "disaster," "bring harm," "punish", "treat badly," "afflict", or "destroy." So, God sometime intends to afflict people, but we are not supposed to think that when he does these things he is acting with evil intent or he is being bad, therefore it must be the case that ra'a is, in and of itself not wicked, but that it can be used with intent for good or bad, or to accomplish either meaningful/good or wicked ends.  

Ra / Re also happens to be the ancient Egyptian sun god.  Here he is depicted as a man with falcon head and disk of the sun encompassed by a cobra.

    Imentet/Amunet "The Hidden One" and Ra 1298-1235 BC, Tomb of Nefertari

The rays (Ra, Re) of the sun can be really intense and cause ra (adversity or affliction) but are they evil? They can seem evil when you are being scorched, like Jonah in the desert. But the same rays cause growth and warmth and give light.  Power can be perceived as evil when it causes an experience that is unpleasant, but we shouldn't truly put the label of evil on it unless it is, for the purpose of personal gratification, intentionally trying to cause harm for the sake of inflicting pain, i.e., comes from evil intent.

We can understand the association with evil, as well, with gods like Loki, who is the Norse counterpart of Set. Loki IS actually pretty "loco". He is the trickster god always causing trouble and adversity.

    Loki, Norse Trickster God, 16th Century Icelandic Manuscript

Loki is the father of Hel, of the wolf, Fenrir (who swallows Odin during the battle of Ragnarok), and the father of the Wold Serpent / Midgard Serpent, Jörmungandr. But he is also the mother (yeah, weird story) of Odin's wonderful eight-legged horse, Sleipnir who is described as, "the best of all horses".

    Sleipnir

If it weren't for Loki, the world of the gods would surely be more boring. He appears to be a force sometimes for good, and many times for adversity. He is called a god and not called a demon or Satan. However, he seems to have possibly contributed to the characteristics we think off as being demonic today. He even has the demonic looking facial hair and/or helm with horns in certain depictions.

And Set too, with his association with red, and the forked, or other times club looking tail of the set beast, whom he is represented by, has the look of what is now called a devil or demon, but he started out as the personification of a balancing power that was not called evil, but rather, adverse, difficult, or harsh.

    Set Beast or Animal

Sometimes the label of good and evil seems to be a matter of subjective opinion. If people like something, they say it is good, and if they don't like it, they tend to call it evil.  

Is darkness evil? No, darkness is not always evil. Sometimes darkness is just mystery and hiddeness. Sometimes darkness reveals secrets, like during an eclipse the corona ("crown") of the sun is visible to us, but is not visible at any other time. An eclipse or darkness would only be evil if it stayed that way and kept us in darkness forever. Some darkness is OK. A certain amount of darkness it is called night, and it is not evil because it is contained by light. Darkness is part of what we call Day, and the Day is good.

God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.  And there was evening and there was morning, one day .  .  .  And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. Genesis 1:5, 31

    Total Solar Eclipse

We might wonder what it would be like if there were never any night. In that case we might call day evil. Too much of a good thing can seem evil. Or what if there was only too much day, or night for long periods of time, like in the polar regions. It seems what we really seek is balance between the extremes. It is silly to vilify either light or dark, hot or cold, work or rest, or any polarity. In and of themselves they are neither good, nor bad.

What of this icon known as the Black Madonna?

      Our Lady of Jasna Gora, Czestochowa, Poland

One might wonder about this dark or sooty (Suty, happens to be another rendering for the name of the god Set) depiction of Mary. This dark image is venerated right along with the bright and light ones. What mysteries lie waiting to be revealed by this darkness? What glory is being shielded behind the veil of the woman? Is something being covered that we are being protected from, or aren't ready to see?  

Could it possibly be some aspect of the feminine or yin such as this?

      Kali Hindu goddess of time and change

Kali is "the Black One", the Hindu goddess of time and change.
  
Is she evil? She does have heads strung around her neck and she is standing in a pool of blood. But how would you feel about her if she was a mother protecting her children? How would you feel toward her if you were the child in need of protection and she was defending you? Sometimes it is good to have a mother bear looking out for you. It doesn't mean the power is not fearful however. 

Maybe some people aren't quite prepared to handle the reality of the kind of strength that lies within the dark, black, yin, feminine aspect of the divine. So it has been veiled in the western tradition. Or, when not veiled, it is vilified. Such as with Eve (Havvah "living") in the garden of Eden who was an agent of change. It is because of, Eve, the woman, that we are all sinners, that we are all stained with original sin, correct? What a whore!

    Adam and Eve, Lucas Cranach the Elder, oil on wood (c.1538), Prague

She should be ashamed for causing her husband to sin like that. She listened to the whispering voice, described as, nachash [Hebrew], i.e., a snake (nachash from its hissing sound, the hisser). This snake is equated with the devil, the deceiver (trickster?), and evil.

It is interesting to note, that later on, Elijah listens to a whispering voice as well (1 Kings 19:12). He listens to the whispering voice, i.e., "qowl ('voice') demamah ('whisper/silence') daqqah ('thin')," sometimes translated as the "still soft voice", but he is said to be talking to God, and is a great prophet. He then goes back to town and instigates a huge bloodbath of slayings, but this is OK because he was talking to the Lord, YHWH, and not a snake!

It seems that a judgement has been placed on the two events. The whispering voice that Eve listens to is called a snake and a deceiver, whereas, the whispering voice that Elijah listens to is said to be YHWH. This is because the motive for what Eve did, and the consequences of what Eve did were judged as "evil"(Eve-ill), rather than causing the experience of adversity. Even though adversity is apparently a type of knowledge that God has, a kind of shame is put onto the action, i.e., she is a wicked "sinner" for disobeying God and being the cause of our experiencing "evil". On the other hand, we are told not to think badly of what Elijah does, even though it appears to be harsh, because he was doing it under the orders of God.  

We should remember too, that although the eating of the fruit of knowledge (da'ath) of adversity brought with it the experience (yada) of adversity, and especially adversity in the form of death, it is also because of this action of Eve, which was done out of her innocence (she was created in a state of grace and innocence), that we (the adam, ha'adam) became like God.

. . . "Behold, the man (ha'adam) has become like one of us, knowing good and evil . . ." Genesis 3:22, ESV

It seems that, to be like God, should be a good thing. We could consider this fall as being a necessary part of God becoming man, and man becoming God, just like a baby upon leaving the womb first begins to experience adversity in the manner of coldness, hunger, breathing, digestion, etc., but it is a necessary step in joining the human race. Is it a fall, then, as in "wickedness and evil", or a fall, as in "the falling/swinging of a pendulum", i.e., the experience of polarity and duality? Perhaps it was a fall, as in, from no change, to a state of change and movement, from timelessness, to the spinning of the wheel of experience. Or, simply put, that which occurs when the spirit(in the image and likeness of God) is incarnated in the flesh and becomes an adult.  This is just the order of creation, 

Day, Night, Day .  .  .  One Day.

        Taijitu

Actually, fall is my favorite time of year. It begins at a time of equilibrium, as the balance is shifting from the predominance of yang energy to the predominance of yin energy. It's not evil, its just an experience.

Think of the name "Katrina", is it infamous to you at all? If it is, it certainly didn't start out that way, but became infamous by association with an event that people judge as being a horrible event.

      Hurricane Katrina infrared Immage, Aug. 29, 2005 

Is it a storm or a monster?

Horrible is from the  Latin horribilis "terrible, fearful, dreadful". To be those things is not necessarily bad or evil. God is horrible in that respect. I'm sure Pharaoh thought the God of Moses was horrible, or even, evil when he killed his firstborn son.

This sort of thing is also illustrated nicely in the musical, "Wicked".  Is a witch good or bad? Is a good witch good or bad? Is a wicked witch good or bad? Which witch is which? What?

Is it an insult to be called a witch?

            Good or Bad Witch?

Or, if someone says that you are horrible, terrible, or a witch, or any other such "insult", should you take it as such, or could you maybe take it as a compliment, just like it is a compliment on Halloween?  

It's all a mater of perspective.

    Horrible Picture of Jack Skellington on a Crucifix- by Julie O. / chthonickore

Happy Halloween!  Happy Samhain!

Have a horrible, terrible, fearful evening!