Thursday, December 01, 2005

CHAOS POSTCARD CAN I SEE A SHOW OF HANDS? I sent Anne of Penkill Papers a postcard with a chaos drawing, shown above. When she got it, she emailed me and asked if I'd ever had my palms read. The answer was yes: By a gypsy on the midway of the Oklahoma state fair in 1977 (in the throes of tragic first love), and a fortune teller at Fells Point, Baltimore in 1997 (At Elspeth's insistence—but she didn't find out want she wanted to know). Both were charletons. The gypsy was better at working the gaff. The question made me realize I've returned to one of my perennial obsessions, hands. A few years ago, when I was on a five hammer manic high, I named all the fingers of my hands, and gave them hats: Left Hand Thumb: Baelzebub; wears a papal tiara or a beaver hat. Index Finger: Martin Luther; wears a Klansman's dunce cap, or a sheriff's Stetson. Middle Finger: Motown; wears a black beret or a white top hat. Ring Finger: Shep; wears a pork pie hat, or a Dodgers' ball cap. Pinkie: Aristotle; wears a crown of bay, or an old straw hat. Right Hand Thumb: Erasmus; wears a turban, or a kepi. Index Finger: Darwin; wears a red fireman's helmet, or an Indian chief's headdress. Middle Finger: Moses; wears a leather biker's cap, or a Shriner's hat. Ring Finger: Sappho; a leopard skin pillbox, or a bowler hat. Pinkie: Sisyphus; a football helmet or a yarmulke. The language and imagery of palmistry has a great deal of attraction for me, though I don't "believe" in its efficacy any more than I "believe" in that of any divinatory system, be it astrology, tarot, I Ching, Jungian analysis, or what another fictional doctor, Hannibal Lector, called "the dead religion of Freud." O.K., I come close to believing in I Ching. The system used does not matter, except to serve as a focus for the native shamanic talent, intuition, and insight of the practitioner, and the results, silly or serious, depend entirely on the practitioner's skill in establishing rapport with the subject. There are massage therapists who are very highly trained, and there are some who just have the "touch." You want the one with the touch, irregardless of their training. The same I think is true of palm readers and other "adepts" of the divinitory arts. Palm reading is also interesting in the way it combines imagery with touch. The reader holds your hands in their own, and reads from the open book. 9:14:06 PM    comment []

...SHOW OF HANDS... The handprint of Mark Twain made by palmist Count Louis Hamon aka Chiero. This post by Jonah at Love During Wartime reminded Dr. Omed that yesterday was the birthday of Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) and Abbie Hoffman (Barry Freed). I think it would be presumptious to offer two such turbulent spirits a Requisat in Pace, but His Loveliness the Pope (SDAABS) grants remission of venial sin to all pilgrims who read Twain's Mysterious Stranger in their memory. 7:59:57 PM    comment []

THE MADONNA'S HANDS    The show of hands continues... 7:13:27 PM    comment []

The First, Same as the Last The Hoodwinked Woman She faces forward, her back to rocks and restless water. "The sea symbolizes the emotions." Her swords form a tempered X across her heart. "The rocks represent the reality of the situation." The moon's crescent tilts down its horns or bowl. "The balance can be upset at any moment." The ground beneath her slippered feet is smooth. "Once you make a move, you'll see the way forward."   SAM MILLS Ms. Candide has made her move. She's had it with Salon's Radio Userland blogware, and moved to Blogspot. If one more Salon blogger shifts to Blogspot or Typepad, I think that consitutes a migration. 7:08:25 PM    comment []