(57) Raven Trismegistus

THE APHORISMS OF RAVEN TRISMEGISTUS



"Raven Trismegistus" is the name by which a mystical hermit was known who lived in a cabin on the slopes of Mt. Seymour, northeast of the City of Vancouver, during the early decades of the 20th century. He was an esoteric teacher with a small but devoted local following, and briefly achieved more widespread attention in certain circles following the publication of his only book, 'Feathers of Wisdom, Beak of Love' by Dusklight Press in 1926. Hikers on Vancouver's wooded North Shore would occasionally be startled by encounters with this strange man, who would garb himself in animal skins and a papier mache bird's head and prowl the forest, muttering peculiar phrases such as "Get out of your own way!" at anyone he happened to meet.
Raven Trismegistus disappeared three years after his book was published. His fate thereafter is unknown, aside from one unsubstantiated sighting in Hong Kong in 1937, and periodic reports from the North Shore trails to this day. The latter-day reports are, of course, almost certainly hoaxes. In 1993, a kayaker in the Indian Arm - the body of water overlooked by Mt. Seymour - found the following text in an old bourbon bottle, sealed with beeswax, floating off Croker Island. Two of the aphorisms repeat phrases found in Raven's book. Although definitive proof is lacking, most scholars concur that this piece is an authentic work of Raven Trismegistus, possibly bottled and cast into the Arm by the author himself prior to his disappearance. For over sixty years, it would seem, only the seals and the starfish knew of these writings - The Aphorisms of Raven Trismegistus. Make of them what you will. And Get Out of Your Own Way.
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~There is no Self but Similarity.

~Nothing in Nature requires your Guilt.

~The only thing in Nature that has a Centre is Attention.

~Calm the Mind down. Then Wake it up.

~Confuse not Cause and Contemplation.

~It's between the thoughts.

~The Moment you cease to Question it, you begin to Worship it.

~Peel the Senses like onions.

~Don't serve a Certainty. Serve a Desire.

~Eat food. Excrete shit.

~Be free of Commandments.

REJOICE, FELLOW CREATURES! ALL IS OURS!

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