The Obsidian Eagle's Blasphemous Bazaar

Christos Mythos (Mythic May Vol. 9)

2013-05-08T01:28:00.000-04:00

“Myth is what we call other people's religion.”

"Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble."

~ Joseph Campbell

Christos Mythos

Christianity is merely a dominant form of Paganism
Roughly two-thousand years ago it was instituted as Roman Religion
Which assimilated key aspects from regional predecessors
Placating converts by adopting their holy dates as its own

Indeed, any truly incisive study of Christendom should show
That it's rather like a patchwork quilt, knit together from
Many mismatched belief systems buried by the sands of time
This is especially true for the figure of Jesus the Anointed One

Born of a virgin not unlike other holy men before him
Changing water to wine as Dionysus did
Defeating death and resurrecting a la Osiris
The list goes on and on, leaving lots of room for doubt

Yet withal, people insist on believing in this deity
Since core creeds are taken as Articles of Faith
But they would do well to question these Metaphysics
Whosoever has known anyone to rise after three days of death?

Seeing as there is nothing but Scriptural "evidence"
Christ ought not to be regarded as a historical personage at all
Instead, look to see what value there is in his purported teachings
Which may thus transmit to us an ageless wisdom (left largely untapped).

And remember: those who believe in a man who literally revived and rose to heaven above, have no business criticizing the far-fetched beliefs of anybody else!

Further Readings:

Why I Don't Buy The Resurrection Story

Mythic May 2012

Mythic May 2010

Post-Human Outlook

2013-04-15T01:40:00.000-04:00

“Man is an artifact designed for space travel. He is not designed to remain in his present biologic state any more than a tadpole is designed to remain a tadpole.” ~ William S. Borroughs

Post-Human Outlook

Non-stop repetition
Filled with endless variation
That's existence in a nutshell

Unhappy with your station?
Polymorphic feedback loops
Will lead to transmutation

As ribald or righteous as we
Hungering for sense-impression
Liable to lust, vice, even aggression

Libido still lives on in Cyberiad
Don't be too much of an idealist
Subject all to investigation and interrogation!

Addendum:

Adaptivity is the hallmark of survival
So why remain on this plateau?
Co-evolving symbionts might say:
Youth is over - come - let's go!

The Fool Forever

2013-04-01T14:51:00.003-04:00

"He is a prince of the other world on his travels through this one - all amidst the morning glory, in the keen air. The sun, which shines behind him, knows whence he came, whither he is going, and how he will return by another path after many days. He is the spirit in search of experience. Many symbols of the Instituted Mysteries are summarized in this card, which reverses, under high warrants, all the confusions that have preceded it." ~ A.E. Waite

The Fool Forever

Stride forth young adventurer
All innocent and idyllic
Face the world's challenges
Heading onward in temerity
Let nothing dent your heart
And may your merit multiply
Amplifying Atman within
Apprehending Brahman without
Leaving no doubt of your avatar's divinity
Microcosm extended - clear across infinity ...

Bonus Verse (super maximum overdrive):

Also known as The Magician
Free from guilt or contrition
Filled to brimming with ambition
No subject of condition
Defies every inhibition
Supplanting tired tradition

Blasphemy & Sanctity

2013-03-30T15:15:00.000-04:00

Blasphemy & Sanctity

The Blasphemy of present times
Considered Sacred in future climes
Whereas what's legit now
Will bring demerit later.

Balance is a byproduct
Of naturally opposing forces
Synthesising polar extremes
Alongside overarching themes.

Similarly, language is a malleable substance
Subject to the vicissitudes of cultural interaction
Phrases come in and go out of style like there's no tomorrow
Intellectually bankrupt yet with ideas left to borrow.

Now God is naught but an outmoded concept
An atavistic term from a past most don't accept
New ways must be found to speak about Spirit
Forget what you've been told and dare to be bold.

Listen closely for coded inspiration
Our Animus informs us if we rise to the occasion
Inner sound that summons saints mid ancient desert
To vanquish personal demons; transmuted by their effort!

Nagual ItzQuauhtli Says ...

2013-03-15T23:06:00.000-04:00

"The power that governs the destiny of all living beings is called the Eagle, not because it is an eagle or has anything to do with an eagle, but because it appears to the seer as an immeasurable jet-black eagle, standing erect as an eagle stands, its height reaching to infinity. As the seer gazes on the blackness that the Eagle is, four blazes of light reveal what the Eagle is like. The first blaze, which is like a bolt of lightning, helps the seer make out the contours of the Eagle's body. There are patches of whiteness that look like an eagle's feathers and talons. A second blaze of lightning reveals the flapping, wind-creating blackness that looks like an eagle's wings. With the third blaze of lightning the seer beholds a piercing, inhuman eye. And the fourth and last blaze discloses what the Eagle is doing.

The Eagle is devouring the awareness of all the creatures that, alive on earth a moment before and now dead, have floated to the Eagle's beak, like a ceaseless swarm of fireflies, to meet their owner, their reason for having had life. The Eagle disentangles these tiny flames, lays them flat, as a tanner stretches out a hide, and then consumes them; for awareness is the Eagle's food.

The Eagle, that power that governs the destinies of all living things, reflects equally and at once all those living things. There is no way, therefore, for man to pray to the Eagle, to ask favors, to hope for grace, the human part of the Eagle is too insignificant to move the whole.

It is only from the Eagle's actions that a seer can tell what it wants. The Eagle, although it is not moved by the circumstances of any living thing, has granted a gift to each of those beings. In its own way and right, any one of them, if it so desires, has the power to keep the flame of awareness, the power to disobey the summons to die and be consumed. Every living thing has been granted the power, if it so desires, to seek an opening to freedom and to go through it. It is evident to the seer who sees the opening, and to the creatures that go through it, that the Eagle has granted that gift in order to perpetuate awareness.

For the purpose of guiding living things to that opening, the Eagle created the Nagual. The Nagual is a double being to whom the rule has been revealed. Whether it be in the form of a human being, an animal, a plant, or anything else that lives, the Nagual by virtue of its doubleness is drawn to seek that hidden passageway."

~ from The Eagle's Gift by Carlos Castaneda

Nagual ItzQuauhtli Says ...

One's Tonal is transient, fragile
Imperfect and limited
Interior character deciding exterior destiny

However, it can be tempered
Through directed Dreams
As well as all actions recapped

Dumbstruck by silent knowledge
Warriors topple their self-importance
Then master awareness with sober insight

Remember always that Death stalks us constantly
But beyond every Tonal thrives an enigmatic Nagual
Wrapped inside layers of energetic abstraction

Many misnomers exist for such sublime states
Words matter little when matters meet with big crunch
Jettison rational thought and float ever aloft

Cultural language patterns constrain Spirit
So overthrow those foreign installations
To hear Noumena expressed in Seeing's non-verbal voice

Cosmic Connotations

2013-02-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

Cosmic Connotations

Wandering around the planets
One learns to revile all things vile.

Undertaken beneath broad wings
Fellow Querent, follow the wind's current.

This isn't the first sojourn along our journey
Nor final reflection of a mirage's projection.

Solar system lies wide open for stellar lights closing in
Hypervelocity stars, comets and quasars from afar.

Awoke to Galactic dawn when Baktun 13 concluded
Surely such an Earthly vantage point won't disappoint.

Look to the firmament for even stronger indicators
That within this symbiotic universe, we are its co-creators!

What Tantra Actually Means

2013-01-28T22:39:00.000-05:00

"The word Tantra is derived from the root tan (meaning, to spread or propagate) ...

The etymological interpretations point to the fact that Tantra was a general term for any system serving as the guiding principle of any work and that the use of the word in a strictly religious sense was a later growth. In the religious sense Tantra first came to mean 'the scripture by which knowledge is spread'. In the next stage it was defined as a class of texts 'which promulgates profound matters concerning Tattva (theory, which later came to mean 'pure knowledge') and Mantra (practical means, which later came to denote 'mystic sound')' and was therefore looked upon as a technical branch of spiritual knowledge. Thus Tantra came to mean the essentials of any religious system and, subsequently, special doctrines and rituals found only in certain forms of various religious systems."

~ N.N. Bhattacharyya; History of The Tantric Religion

What Tantra Actually Means

Nowadays the term Tantra has become synonymous with SEX

Its original meanings have been perverted and obscured by Western commercialism

For as everyone is acutely aware, sex sells

And the popularity of books like the Kama Sutra

Actually makes matters worse by oversimplifying them

Belittling a once-sacred practice

Down to a series of dirty pictures.

Tantra is not so much a Religion in itself

As it is the basic substratum of many Religions

These include Sufism, Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism

Really, it pertains to a way of approaching things

Especially those things which are normally forbidden

While defusing their destructive energy with creative drive

A true Tantrika doesn't resist desire

But instead transmutes it skillfully as an expedient force!

Image: Shri Yantra, the highest expression of Tantra.

Marine Metaphors

2012-12-31T12:00:00.000-05:00

Marine Metaphors

Flare up passion!
Fry the fish
For they say that she
Is a sumptuous dish.

Taking after Gaia
Like sisters Gish
Wrestling with Triton
Oceania's deepest wish.

If any Cancer
Attempts to squish
Slick Pisceans stir
Wondrous waves, washing swish!

Desire Is KEY

2012-12-28T03:45:00.000-05:00

Desire Is KEY

The only constant be change
But desire is the key.
While surroundings rearrange
Inner landscapes remain free.

Follow crumbs of bliss
Into subconscious forest.
There the pied piper is
A respected concert flautist.

Urges within do dominate
Hedonistic hypocrites.
Yet intimacy was quite innate
Before any Glam or Glitz.

One sole instant is all it takes
To climax mid copulation.
As pleasure comes from carnal quakes
Bask in afterglow elation!

Echoes of Echoes (by Guest Writer Michael Napiorkowski)

2012-12-07T03:45:00.000-05:00

Editor's Note: This is a prosaic response to Echoes of Emptiness.

Michael Napiorkowski practices Nichiren Buddhism and writes about it here: http://ichinensanzen.ca/

Echoes of Echoes

Form is Emptiness and Emptiness is Form can also be expressed within the framework of Cause and Effect; Cause IS Effect and Effect IS Cause.

This is one of the profound expressions of the Lotus Sutra: the simultaneity of cause and effect or the co-arising, interdependent relationship of all phenomena being both cause and effect simultaneously in an ever present "now."

This is equally expressed through the symbolism of the lotus flower blooming and producing its seeds at the same time (which is rare).

The incredible part of this teaching is that although everything is an expression of "effect," concurrently everything is an initiation of "cause." This is what breaks the determinism trap by showing us that our lax and lazy concept of time as inert billiard balls bouncing off one another is not completely correct. Reality is far more complex than that. There's nothing that's isolated or complete in and of itself.

Ideas of nouns, objects or things (completed effects) only exist within language. In reality these are simply concrete concepts for a transitory, provisional existence. All reality would be better described as a verb or even more correctly as Emptiness.

Hence the importance of Meditation...

Our tendency is to limit ourselves based on that incorrect understanding of nouns or of our own self-identity as an objective Being. If we approach our lives like this then we end up trapped within the cyclical manifestation of inner tendencies and outward actions (Karma).

Meditation allows us to break our attachment to thoughts of a limited self-identity and conclusive opinions of reality as a collection of parts (nouns), and to see instead that everything is an ineffable process (verb) known as "now."

Rigid identity is just an illusion that we trap ourselves in. By not identifying conclusively with nouns, we break the cycle of Samsara and see clearly that our actions within the world are defining characteristics of how we experience our actual "self".

We're actually composed by those relationships we temporarily have with everything and everyone else, and vice versa. As such, all can be better understood as the open space between events or processes of interconnectedness.

If we free ourselves from self-imposed tendencies then our actions will be naturally liberated, and in that sense our "identity" shall follow suit.

Śūnyatā is thus the great non-identity to identify with - Svaha!

Metastasis

2012-11-30T12:17:00.000-05:00

Recommended Listening: Quasar by The Smashing Pumpkins

Metastasis; noun, plural me·tas·ta·ses [-seez]

1.Pathology. a: the transference of disease-producing organisms or of malignant or cancerous cells to other parts of the body by way of the blood or lymphatic vessels or membranous surfaces. b: the condition produced by this.
2. transformation.
3. Rhetoric. a rapid transition, as from one subject to another.
4. Physics. a change in position or orbit of an elementary particle.

Since this process of transformative transference occurs at both the sub-atomic and cellular levels, it stands to reason that a Macro-Galactic version must also exist. The recent astronomical discovery of an exceptionally Large Quasar Group appears to represent said possibility.

There we can observe over 70 supermassive black holes and luminous galactic cores interspersing as far across as 4 billion light years. This conglomerate matter comprises perhaps 5% of the entire known cosmos; stupendous figures by any reckoning. So much insight can be derived simply by gazing long and hard into this grandiose maelstrom.

But back to the matter at hand: are these quasars then in the process of metastasizing? And if so, what might that mean for us here in the Milky Way? Apart from helping to detail our past it may also hold clues regarding the ultimate fate of Hunab-Ku (which is what the Mayans call our own central sun).

We will probably all meet again within a far-future quasar. Not quite the way we are now because nothing that goes into such a pool of plasma can ever remain the same. Thereby may our base elements be elevated beyond their humble mediocrity!

Yod He Vau He Om

The Nature of Nothing

2012-11-02T16:53:00.000-04:00

Author's Note: For more on NOTHING, visit New Scientist.

The Nature of Nothing

There is no such thing as "No-Thing"

For that which does not exist

Can in no way be said to have presence

In other words, Nothing does not exist!

These may seem blatant statements of the obvious
But the prevalence of double-negatives
In regular speech is a clear indicator
That such statements aren't actually understood.

Nothing seems to be a lot harder to think about
Merely by virtue of its being an absence, a void
So we inadvertently reify it as a "Sum-Thing"
Bringing us back around full-circle to square zero...

The Show About Nothing

2012-10-26T16:01:00.000-04:00

The Show About Nothing

Coasting along during the age of passivity

Most would rather watch than participate in activity

How odd that truth is often stranger than fiction

Yet so many suffer from a rather common affliction

Our very own lives seem to us dreadfully boring

For we tend to miss a subtle thread underscoring

Everyday events that bring magnitudes of meaning

What's happening now is more than mere preening

Without pain and suffering, happiness is circumvented

As such, even those have a place among us discontented!

The Buddha's Four Noble Truths Explained

2012-10-05T22:40:00.000-04:00

The Buddha's Four Noble Truths Explained

~ I: Dukkha (Cyclical Suffering) ~

It's a clear fact to any astute observer that the world is pervaded by suffering. Lasting joy is elusive and most people are caught within vicious cycles of their own creation.

~ II: Sumudaya (Suffering's Source) ~

As mentioned, individuals are responsible for personal problems. This is because desire lies at the root of all dissatisfaction. Furthermore, the wants of one are often at odds with the needs of many others.

~ III: Nirodha (Suffering's Cessation) ~

It's possible for suffering to cease both at the personal and communal level if its base causes are redressed.

~ IV: Magga (The Path) ~

There's a sure and steady path that leads away from Samsara and toward Nirvana. Said path consists primarily of meditation, which doesn't mean focusing on any particular object, but passive observation of the full body-mind spectrum (including all contents and ongoing interactions). Meditate diligently to attain thine own salvation!

Image: Cosmic Buddha courtesy of ~lokispace

Anatomy of Suchness (The Three Buddha Bodies)

2012-09-21T06:28:00.000-04:00

Anatomy of Suchness

- i -

Without exception all dhammas arise, abide and are extinguished upon the Svabhavikakaya's reflective surface: tripartite mirror of pluralistic omniscience.

- I -

Truth Body:

Immutable template and causal plane. Bedazzling Dharma-Kaya, mother of myriad appearances. Formless emptiness animating multifarious forms.

- II -

Bliss Body:

Luminous sphere of unimpeded potentials. Irradiant Sambhoga-Kaya, overflowing with symbols. Host to ideas, archetypes and imagined planes.

- III -

Emanation Body:

Visceral matter and coarse thought combined. Sensorial Nirmana-Kaya, a cage for the blind; though it is viewed as a blessing by the Buddhas of all times.

For Posterity . . .

2012-09-07T04:26:00.000-04:00

For Posterity . . .

The greatest poet of this century came and went

Yet no literary journal will ever catch that scent

Words can but poorly misrepresent

What only appears to be accident

Whereas ideas form, actions cement

Impregnable logic found without dent

Wherefore fine lady or dapper gent

Realize the power of your own element

Then true re-evolution shalt we foment

Once our orb is freed from false augment.

Writer's Block

2012-08-31T19:55:00.000-04:00

Writer's Block

Knock off a chip of the old _____ ?

Irregular expressions make crowds balk

With more drama than The Toccata by Johann Sebastian Bach

Facing such absurdity one cannot help but laugh

Mutating rhymes twist tongues so none can scoff

You were given no choice, now hats must doff

Enlist and learn these skills from this verbal prof

Neither free will nor destiny are worth speaking of

Whatever shall ye do when push comes to shove?

Only wise fools get it right; aye there's the rub!

Ode To The Grey

2012-08-17T22:23:00.000-04:00

Ode To The Grey

"Once more into the fray
Into the last good fight I'll ever know
Live and die on this day
Live and die on this day"

~ from the film The Grey starring Liam Neeson; for more info visit: HERE

Canto I (Laments)

There was no answer in the sky

Although it lay open wide

Ages passed, millions died

No one knew precisely why

Mute meteor showers aside

No overt signs were ever espied

Humans from nature couldn't pry

Secrets that its cruelty hides

While obvious truths go on denied

Ponder this and then apply

Canto II (Amends)

We are no better than the wolves

Or mythic beasts with cloven hooves

Still any stain a stoic removes

Until by right our wrong improves

Formidable Formicidae

2012-07-28T00:52:00.000-04:00

Formidable Formicidae

Consider the lowly Ants, who have inhabited this planet since Dinosaur times (110-150 million years ago).

Who are we humans to hold them in low regard?

Ant colonies comprise "Super Organisms", which act in a perfect unison unparalleled even by mankind.

Together inside their nests they form living structures made up entirely of fellow Ants.

Ants thrive on every continent other than Antartica and can easily adapt to urban environments.

Although miniscule in size, these industrious insects always alter their surroundings to suit their needs.

Much larger creatures are brought down by teams of small and medium workers as well as soldiers.

A Queen commands millions of female subjects while wasp-like males (Drones) are reserved for breeding.

All-in-all, Ants represent an evolutionary pinnacle at their tiny organic scale.

In truth, we're the ones intruding on a civilization that might eventually outlive our own!

Image: Ant Holding Micro-Chip

Elegy A La Gonzo

2012-07-18T20:51:00.000-04:00

In memory of Hunter S. Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005)

Elegy A La Gonzo

Why thinkest thou not of the sages?

For Hunter was that and much more
Consciously unleashing dramatic assaults on our psyches
An erratic investigator; a sagacious degenerate
Clearly discernible as a force of nature
When combined with his comrade in karma.

Surely you catch the reference?

The last working pair of prototypical troglodytes
Wrecking balls in full swing
Aimed squarely at the kisser of social conformity
And its banal expectations of all things obsolete
Knowing that which can't be lost even as the present fades.

Committed to the void, for eons unto madness -

Drift

Through

The

Deepest

                                                       Recess

                                                                      Of

The

Real !

Image courtesy of A Wolf Illustrations

On The Meanings Of A Masque

2012-06-30T01:29:00.000-04:00

On The Meanings Of A Masque

  
"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth." ~ Oscar Wilde

A mask might let one see to what degree real life has become mere falsity.

Indeed, many of us wear invisible masks (personas) and act out our socially prescribed roles.

But masks aren't just for concealing identities; they can also permit people to connect with their shadow side as well as confident alter egos.

In theatre for example, a mask helps an actor to trade out his or her character by hiding behind different dramatis 
personæ.

Unconscious corners of psyche can thus be illuminated or 
enacted through multiple personalities reordered.

Thus, masks reveal that much of what we consider to be an essential part of our own inner makeup is simply habitual.

The fluidity of a consummate actor is something that more people should strive for. Instead, we tend toward inertia and inflexibility.

Skilled thespians stalk their usual Selves, which most of us take for granted and believe to be rather unchangeable.

Since we're already acting out parts to begin with, a little detachment would allow us to excel at the Masquerade that reality has become.

Prediction: Mask-wearing will soon be in vogue as a mode of 
individualistic expression. Anonymous, V and Guy Fawkes are just the 
beginning.

Oh Incompatibility

2012-06-15T14:20:00.000-04:00

Oh Incompatibility

Every pot does have its lid but hey: some of us are Pans

Pan-theistic, pan-optical, pan-tonality!

She aptly called it The Curse of Being Well-Rounded

Neither altogether here nor all the way back there

An overflowing plenum, which even the finest vessel can't contain

Wayward rivers breaking down dams and flooding valleys

Alone inside totality — alive outside of gravity

Alight betwixt high hopes and deep despair

Once we were conjoined; sharing joy as well as sorrow

Yet those yesterdays have gone with no promise for tomorrow.

Our time together endeth now

May he treat you right . . . Never quite knew how.

Image: Weeping Ofelia courtesy of ~belldandies

Vedic vs. Tantric Hinduism (Mythic May Vol. 8)

2012-05-27T06:34:00.000-04:00

Vedic vs. Tantric Hinduism

Author's Note: This article is in reference to The Soma Tantra

Differences and disagreements among religious factions don't mean that spiritual truths don't exist but that we as humans can't communicate very well.

If you study any religion enough (whether Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism etc) you soon discover that even within it nobody can agree.

Similarly, Hinduism is a blanket term for several strains of Indian philosophy that focus on particular deities and what they represent, without uniformity.

Some Hindu sects reflect the Vedic caste system brought by Aryan invaders while others represent the folk beliefs of Indus Valley Dravidians.

Historically a process of syncretism (merging) occurred between Vedic and Dravidian beliefs, giving rise to the rich panoply of Hindu polytheism.

Since 'Hinduism' bears the influence of disparate schools of thought, there still exists a sociological friction between Vedic and Tantric strains of it.

Class struggles borne out by the traditional Varna caste system as well as between various ethnic groups are hidden within the subtext of mythology.

In Hinduism Brahma and Vishnu tend to represent Aryan-Vedic ideals / morals whereas Shiva and Kali are Tantric-Dravidian forces of untamed freedom.

Followers of Vishnu are thus referred to as Vaishnavas while Shiva worshippers are called Shaivas or Shaivites. Shakti (divine feminine) outweighs Brahma (creator).

This friction between Vedic and Tantric ways of thinking / acting were also represented by the ancient Greeks in their Apollo-Dionysus dichotomy.

The Soma Tantra portrays said friction between Vedic and Tantric Hinduism as a war between Devatas and Ashuras (gods / demons, respectively).

Only those who can delve beneath the surface of a fantastic tale can penetrate through to the deepest layer of any given mythic narrative.

Further Reading: Past Issues of Mythic May

Meditating On The Fields of Naraka (Mythic May Vol. 7)

2012-05-18T23:37:00.000-04:00

Meditating On The Fields of Naraka

Skandha, son of Shiva Mahadeva, sits firmly lodged in samadhi

Awoken to the harsh reality of suffering amid ephemeral qualia

A world set ablaze by impure desires and all our best intentions

Charnels filled with piled-up corpses felled in war, famine or plague

Endless transmigration of finite souls learning lessons for ascension

During darkest times concentrate on those awful fields of Naraka

Pain is a purifier, an agent of both Karma and Dharma

Everything experienced is reciprocal; always balancing out

Noone is altogether righteous or evil, innocent or to blame

This plenum of open-ended possibilities refines sentient life

Cosmic Christ within is perpetually nailed onto crosses

Transcending death despite misleading appearances

Skandha bearing heat from flames, transmutes it to bliss

Defying, nay, redefining unassailable natural laws

Cracked universal egg now makes way for a phoenix . . .

Further Reading: Past Issues of Mythic May

Balam Ahau (Lord Jaguar) Mythic May Vol. 6

2012-05-11T13:06:00.001-04:00

Balam Ahau

Seated aboard bus with arms across chest

It suddenly dawned

That Jaguar as worshipped by the ancients

Was an ideal

A visionary fusion of all that is noble in ape

And feline alike.

The unmitigated ferocity and stealthy mobility

Of Totemic biped

Unflinchingly attentive reptile, crafty coyote

Chimeric eclipsed sun

Whose illustrious wingspan brightens emblazoned

Against the moon.

Prowling through mortality with vigilance

Every act dignified

Growling only when necessity dictates

Amidst backdrops espied

Trailing zigzaggurat lightning ricochets off

Edges of mind.

Further Reading: Past Issues of Mythic May