Two of Cups/Temperance reversed. Well we have two cards that tell of harmonious unions, one a Major Arcana card and one a Minor Arcana card. One card is upright and one is reversed. In a sense, there is balance in this. I am being told that my day will contain harmony, but that harmony may be more about how I am feeling, rather than a harmony created by the balance and synergy of opposite effects. Interestingly enough, Temperance can be seen as a more tangible example of The High Priestess; hmmmm . . . Perhaps I am not supposed to be a tangible representation of The High Priestess today.

My Thoth card is The Hermit. “Wander alone; bearing the Light and thy Staff. And be the Light so bright that no man seeth thee. Be not moved by aught without or within: keep Silence in all ways.” This is a card of solitude, but productive solitude, the kind that inspires the gaining of wisdom through understanding experiences. The Path of The Hermit is not a fun one, but there is much wisdom to be gained by enduring his discomforts. Interestingly enough, The Hermit is considered to be The Moon evolved. Nice little comparisons to be found in today’s cards!

My Legacy card is Justice reversed. In an upright position, this card is connected to both The Fool and The Hermit, and in a reversed position Justice (instruction through guidance) supports The Hermit (instruction through example). Justice corresponds with Air (hot/separates and wet/adapts), with Libra (“We are,” partnerships and balance), and with Lamed (the ox goad, which trains and teaches), and because it is reversed, clarity and evenhandedness may be difficult to tap into today. The Path of Justice connects Tiphareth (6th sephiroth that brings illumination through harmony and focus) and Geburah (5th sephiroth which affirms form and structure by applying challenges).

My 6-digit date number is 9, which represents completeness and the sense of having it all, or at least having experienced it all, for this cycle.

My horoscope: “How intense the past few days have been! You could spend months just reflecting on these recent experiences. But the mood isn't conducive to introspection right now. A change of temper today encourages you to share your life more generously. But with whom will you share it? That may well be the question of the day.”

Interesting evening with the Pagan Brain Trust last night. We dealt with a piece of mail originating from an adversarial party with much success, and in doing so, we re-energized our Purpose as a group. We had all felt that things were slipping in a direction that was not within the original intentions of the group, but I feel strongly that our success last night built upon the working that we all did a few weeks ago to help a friend. The Pagan Brain Trust exists as a learning venue and a “woo-woo interaction forum” for five people who are firmly following different spiritual paths. We all support each other, we all protect each other, we all nurture each other, and we all learn from each other; the fact that we have all become like family is a bonus, icing on the brownies, so to speak. **wink** I am hoping that last night’s very positive evening will live in our minds for a long time, reminding us of our Purpose, and reminding us that we are stronger as a group than any of us can hope to be alone.

I thought I posted this yesterday, but didn’t. So, what exactly is an egregore? Wikipedia defines egregore (also "egregor") as an occult concept representing a "thoughtform" or "collective group mind," or "Watcher," an autonomous psychic entity made up of, and influencing, the thoughts of a group of people who have come together for a common purpose. The symbiotic relationship between an egregore and its group has been compared to the more recent, non-occult concepts of the corporation (as a legal entity) and the meme.

The word "egregore" derives from the Greek word, egregoroi (also transliterated "grigori"). Eliphas Lévi identifies "egregors" (sic) with the tradition concerning the fathers of the nephilim, describing them as "terrible beings" that "crush us without pity because they are unaware of our existence." The concept of the egregore as a group thoughtform was developed in works of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the Rosicrucians.

Companies, political parties, religions, prayer groups, states, and clubs all can be said to have egregores. When a project "takes on a life of its own," an egregore might be said to be present. Symbolic characters such as Santa Claus and Uncle Sam could be described as egregores. Stephen King's concept of Ka-tet in The Dark Tower series could be compared to an egregore, as well as Kurt Vonnegut's concept of a karass in Cat's Cradle.

There was some debate early in the history of social psychology over whether groups could be construed as having an autonomous group mind. Today, psychologists recognize a number of more localized processes by which a group of people can make decisions that no individual would endorse on their own. In "Groupthink," a group can stifle internal disagreement and rush people to a poor decision, without any individual group member attempting to do so. In the "risky shift" phenomenon, a group can agree on a course of action that is riskier (or, in some circumstances, more conservative) than any individual in the group wanted. Studies found evidence of the compliance of individuals with the intentions of a group despite individual misgivings.

The next word I wanted to define was "meme." A meme (rhyming with "cream") is a postulated unit of cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another (or imitated) through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes (replicators), in that they self-replicate, evolve through natural selection, and respond to selective pressures.

Memes represent concepts for discussion of evolutionary principles in explaining the spread of ideas and cultural phenomena. Examples of memes include melodies, catch-phrases, beliefs (notably religious beliefs), fads, hysterias, copycat suicides, clothing fashion, and the technology of building arches. Similar to instinctively contagious phenomena such as yawning and laughing (which are considered innate rather than socially learned behaviors).

Life-forms can transmit information both vertically (from parent to child, via replication of genes) and horizontally (through viruses and other means). Memes can replicate vertically or horizontally within a single biological generation. They may also lie dormant for long periods of time. Memes spread by the behaviors that they generate in their hosts. Imitation counts as an important characteristic in the propagation of memes. Imitation (or contagion) often involves the copying of an observed behaviour of another individual, but memes may transmit from one individual to another through a copy recorded in an inanimate source, such as a book or a musical score. Researchers have observed memetic copying in just a few species on Earth, including hominids, dolphins and birds (which learn how to sing by imitating their parents or neighbors).

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