Dreams during a brief nap, fueled by a touch of sunstroke:
1.
"You could decorate your clock with mint," a voice said. "It would be a good way to get ready for Saint Patrick's Day." I saw an image of a large clock with little sprigs of mint stuck on it at intervals around the circumference.
Why mint? I guess it's green, but shamrocks are the usual go-to foliage for Paddy's Day. It's something of a convention among breath-mint companies to use blue for peppermint and green for spearmint, so perhaps this is another blue-green thing. In "Toothpasteomancy," I interpreted "natural mint" as a reference to a goldmine, but that reading doesn't seem to fit here.
The idea of getting ready for Saint Patrick's Day is interesting given that Bill once considered "Patrick" a potential reference to me and has been posting about that again recently in the comments. It could mean getting ready to begin acting as a "saint" -- or, given how saints' feast days are chosen, preparing for death.
Saint Patrick's Day and the wearing of the green could also link back to "Lady in Green."
2.
"Are you highlighting all the holiest passages in your scriptures?" said a voice. "Don't forget to use your black highlighter for the Holy Name. Yes, someone’s been effing with the ineffable again." The visual accompanying this showed two boys, each highlighting passages in his Bible. One had a yellow highlighter; the other, a black sharpie.
In a hypnopompic state, no longer fully dreaming, this latter scene reassembled itself into a Goofus and Gallant segment. (People of a certain age and background will remember these comic strips from the magazine Highlights for Children, exemplifying bad and good behavior with a simple "Goofus does X, Gallant does Y" formula.) "Goofus highlights all the holiest passages in his scriptures. Gallant uses his black highlighter for the Holy Name."
Redacting scripture with a sharpie doesn't seem like particularly "gallant" behavior, but in the dream I vaguely thought Gallant was behaving like the loyal sons of Noah who averted their eyes and put a blanket over the old man when he lay exposed in his tent, and that there was something indecorous in Goofus's use of the highlighter.
13 comments:
One reasonable guess is that the words and images of Clock and Mint double up as Elvish words.
The Gnomish word Cloch would be pronounced exactly the same as Clock. That word means "Stone (small)"... so that is going to catch my attention.
Mint is a word and root in Elvish that means "memory, remember", etc.
Thus, to decorate or adorn a Cloch with Mint would be to equip a Stone with Memories, using the Elvish meanings of those words. I like this word play because it obviously matches up with how I have envisioned these Stones in question - that on them are stories and memories for the person to whom that Stone belongs (Joseph Smith's "white" stones given to each person).
Why a Clock to demonstrate Cloch? A few guesses would be a clock face is round, just like a Stone. It is also is a good symbol for the number 12. I had explored "Patrick" as being Peter, one of the 12. And lastly, it tends to represent history and the passage of time. Probably some other good reasons if I think more on it - the clock symbol was also associated with Asenath's Way and the Black Hole symbols (with the grandfather clock example).
In my story, and in my dreams, there are Stones associated with each of the 12 Apostles. I have seen these a few times in the form of different colored Easter eggs. I have also associated these Stones, correctly or not, and the stories on them, in some fashion with the statements Jesus made to the apostles in John's gospel that at some point the apostles will be reminded of things that they will have completely forgotten.
On "Mint" and its word play, the color of Stones has come up prominently, like with the Easter egg symbolism above. The Rose Stone, for example, being Red or Rose in color. The Anor Stone being gold/ yellow like brass. The Ithil Stone being white like the Moon, and so on.
It may well be that Patrick-Peter's Stone is this Blue-Green color that keeps coming up, and thus the Mint word play. Not sure, obviously, but I think it would be a decent solution to at least consider.
The word Cloch as meaning a Small Stone would also seem to tie to the Peter reference, since his name also means Small Stone/ Rock, and he is one of the 12, like on the clock face. Pretty spot on. And we have seen some potential symbols of of Pharazon (potentially associated with Peter/ Patrick) decorated in mint - literally wearing the blue-green color associated with Mint. Jack Black, for example, was decorated in blue-green in that Minecraft movie. You had openly wondered at one point whether you were the Blue-Green Abelard, for another.
St. Patrick's Day is also situated pretty close to your birthday, I note, and is known for "Good Luck", or Good Fortune, with Fortune being one of the meanings of your last name, as you've noted before.
Thought-provoking dreams, both. I also got a good laugh out of "effing with the ineffable".
Monster Super League is a phone game I've ben playing for several years. It involves collecting "Astromons", though unlike Pokémon, most of its rarer creatures are takes on beings from mythology, religion and fairy/classic tales. Earlier today, I took renewed notice of one monster I use a lot -- Saint Jeanne, specifically the wood/green-typed one, as her skills are more useful than with the other types. In addition, every monster has a rare variant colouring, relevant in green Jeanne's case.
files.catbox.moe/hkb334.png
Some good possibilities there, Bill.
As it turns out, this isn’t the first time mint has been juxtaposed with St. Patrick’s Day (or with leprechauns anyway) on this blog.
https://narrowdesert.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-white-tree-of-life-saver.html
The tree grows from a white peppermint, which is a link to the album White Pepper (“Bananas and Blow,” “Flutes of Chi”).
Leprechaun, tree, cocaine, flute — where have I seen all those things together before?
https://youtu.be/K1ljOcl39PQ
Wow. I have never seen that video.
One folk etymology of Leprechaun interestingly enough has to do with Shoes. Douglas Hyde proposed:
"The name Lepracaun is from the Irish leith brog—i.e., the One-shoemaker, since he is generally seen working at a single shoe. It is spelt in Irish leith bhrogan, or leith phrogan, and is in some places pronounced Luchryman.”
Working on a single shoe is interesting. In our Pharazon/ Ahab commentary, only having one working foot, and thus one shoe, was the problem highlighted, with ambergris/ amber as a potential symbol for that missing leg/ foot/ shoe.
The connection of gold with leprechauns is worth noting, as is the notion of finding a leprechaun's pot of gold at the end of a rainbow (cue Leo's Sarah McLaughlin "Rainbow Connection" song here).
A pot has been used to refer to a drinking vessel or cup. A "pot of gold" in this view could alternatively be meant to refer to a cup made out of gold. In Pharazon's assault on Eressea, he drank from the lilies cup, which Pengolodh said had become "gilded" (which means to cover in gold): "[Pharazon] having drank his fill of the lilies' cup, gilded though in his hand had it turned".
The White Pepper reference is interesting, or I guess just the reference to a Pepper.
In a dream last night, you were involved in some way. I can't remember all of the details, but you were somewhat emphatic in not wanting any red pepper flakes put into something you were going to eat. I don't know if you got your wish or not.
In the Red vs White Pepper symbolism might be a reference to Isaiah, just thinking it through:
"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
The White Tree symbolism would be consistent with this, and perhaps your desire to not have any red peppers, compared with the Tree that grew from the white pepper. I don't know - just thinking out loud.
On May 4, 2020, I captured this really strange dialogue that seemed to be between two people, and which had a version of the red and white theme. I associated it with Joseph, but I am not sure. I did tie it to the Rose Stone as two days later on May 6 were the words about "Yor El" and the need to wait for a 30-pound Stone about 8 inches in diameter, with that Stone being Joseph's. Here is the May 4 dialogue (again these are two different speakers, but I haven't distinguished them here):
Ah, but you are so little
Yea, though the starry heavens shall pass away yet my love shall not depart from thee, O house of Israel
though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as the driven snow
You should get the story out a min
Feel we will wake up before we get it out
Let it be written before all else trust in Eru good alone can come
I've finished washing the dishes. We can think of where they go later.
zim uln ur
Never seen one of the great YouTube videos of all time? Glad I could help round out your education.
"Gild the lily" is an established expression meaning to make unnecessary "improvements" to what is already perfect. I don't really understand the significance of the lilies in Daymon's story or why Pharazon wanted to eat/drink from them, but they certainly keep coming up.
A "pot" of money/gold is also a central concept in gambling and is mentioned many times in Last Call.
The leprechaun, as guardian spirit of a hidden golden treasure, is in some ways a distant cousin to the Angel Moroni.
I can see that later I'm going to have to post about yet another bit of childhood nonsense: a "Pot of Yellow Stew" (also called "of Golden Dreams") which serves as a portal to a frozen world.
Hard to say how useful this is but you've brought a great indie game, Cave Story, to mind. Petals of red flowers are a major plot point; the Mimiga, a rabbit-like species living in the caves, basically roid out like the Hulk if they eat the flowers.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_Story
cavestory.fandom.com/wiki/Red_flowers
I'd better clarify that it was Bill's red pepper flakes that called up Cave Story for me. The lilies in the Words are very different, refreshing and extending the life of the imbiber.
William -
I am not sure I fully understand the lilies' symbolism either, but in the story it seems that Pharazon and the Numenoreans drinking of them had something to do with their desire to extend their lives. The Numenoreans feared death as part of their sickness, and Pharazon's assault on Eressea and Aman was primarily driven by this fear and the feeling that the Valar and the Elves had condemned Men to die while they themselves did not (this fear and feeling being further fanned by Sauron).
The lilies represent more than just extended/ eternal life, though. They were also associated with dreams and visions, which is is why if you really have a story from childhood called Pot of Golden Dreams, that would be really interesting to read and at least initially would seem to be a direct hit in this story.
An excerpt from Slumbered describes the associations of Dreams with the lilies and their pollen:
"And they [the wolves] ravening . . . desired lighter things to consume [i.e., the lilies].... and the pollen thereby case as dream-sending airs, enveloping sleepers in wisdom or dread, as the work of Ainu Lorien struggled yet to preserve the original (fool) hopes. . . and dreams unhappy haunted those ancient powers, as though enfolded under a black rolling wave; and dreams hideous sent also en-pollened to the sleepy on ships wagering the soul of their realm."
It would go on to describe how they consumed "all the fruits and bulbs gathered, and drank up the pooled light of ancient vintage".
The drinking of the pooled light recalls Ungoliant's own drinking of the light in Aman, and in fact Pharazon and the Numenorean's assault mirrors that action in a real way since it is said the lilies are traced back to the light of those Two Trees.
You'll also note the reference to a "wager" in the quote above, tying this concept of a pot of gold to a gamble. The Numenoreans bet it all - the soul of their realm - and lost.
Lastly, Lorien is Joseph, and the lilies are connected with him, which further reinforces this connection of Dreams and perhaps a larger purpose or symbol for the lilies than just extending life.
Also, the connection of the lilies with extended life, and this being the reason why Pharazon wanted to drink from them, was what made the dream I had of you, in the form of a Skeksis, raiding the refrigerator make sense.
Something was in that refrigerator, but in the dream it wasn't clear as to what. The guess that makes the most sense to me is that it was the "Dandelion Wine" or the drink/ mead/ nectar from the lilies.
This makes the Skeksis symbolism also fit into place. In The Dark Crystal, the Skeksis shared the same fear and desire as the Numenoreans - they feared death and were looking for ways to extend their lives.
I should also note that because we are dealing with "light" here, just as with Ungoliant, my own view is that the Numenoreans, Wolves, etc. were also stealing/ eating stories and truth, this being associated with these dreams and visions that then fell on the thieves.
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