Running Off At The Keyboard

CarrieTomko@aol.com

I just checked in for the first time at Patrick Rothwell's blog The Contrarian and found myself quoted. Somebody quick, sing the "Small World" theme song! CarrieTomko@aol.com

Martin refers to Freemasonry repeatedly throughout Windswept House, and he links the so-called New World Order with Masonry. One example of his thinking is reflected in this passage from page 169-170: Quote: Gib [Appleyard, an American globalist diplomat working with Vatican globalists] was too good a man for that. Still, the religion and ethics of Masonry were the warp and woof of his personal life. In his soul, this hard-nosed analyst and tough infighter was a mystic. This man who could be parachuted, metaphorically or actually, into any blazing trouble spot and be relied upon to emerge intact and with all the irons pulled out of the fire, was also a man whose philanthropy and attractive humanism were central in his life. Dedicated to the principles of liberal education and to the use of enlightened reason to solve all problems, human and social, he never deviated from the holy path of Masonry's "Spiritual Pyramid"; and of God's Spiritual Temple. The ceremonies of the Lodge that revolved around the Holy Altar and the Feast Days--the early-spring Feast Day of the Paschal Lamb was a good example--only added to his conviction that the ideals of Masonry outshone those of the Roman Catholic Church. Indeed, he took pride in the fact that it had been his organization that had brought the authority and supremacy of the Roman Church into question through such means as the translation of the Bible, the Word, and through that era of history called the Reformation. At the same time, however, anyone who knew him well--his Catholic born wife, Genie, above all--could tell you that Appleyard had only minor interest in the governance of the Masonic organization. Never mind Gib's own record as past Grand Steward of the Grand Lodge of the State of Virginia; as past Most Wise Master of the Chapter of Rose Croix; as current Commandery Generalissimo of the Lake Newcombe Commandery in the Mason's York Rite and deputy Grand High Priest of the 27th Capital District in the York Rite. The fact remained that he cared little about the conflict of Light and Darkness. Rather, he immersed himself in the Rosicrucian levels in order to witness to the birth of the New Man and Woman. That, in fact, was the reason for his devotion to the music of Amadeus Mozart. Unquote. Martin links this Freemasonry with Satanism. EWTN offers some comments about a growing trend of Satanism among Catholics in Italy. Stefanie Falasca writes: Quote: Is Turin really the capital of Satanism in Italy? The notion is now so widespread that it seems to have become a commonplace not merely for the people concerned but also for the man in the street. As early as 1986 the idea was launched by the German weekly Der Spiegel when it portrayed Turin as a city besieged by the nightmare of Satanism, where thousands of adepts were constantly engaged in devil worship. The uproar caused by a 1988 conference on Diabolos, Dialogos, Daimon held there, and sponsored by the city government, merely confirmed the impression.... According to sociologist Massimo Introvigne, the phenomenon was barely existent during the 1960s. But it was precisely then that an alternative culture developed in the United States which spread to Europe and became embodied in the 1968 students' movements. In those years, Satanism took on new life in California when Anton Szandor La Vey, a young San Franciscan, founded a "Church of Satan" that had startling appeal. But the real father of contemporary Satanism must rightly be considered to be Alaister (sic) Crowley, the English Rosicrucian who died in 1947 and whose writings on Satanism and the occult largely inspired La Vey's "church". Unquote. Most people know at least one Mason...the really friendly Lodgeman down the street, or the woman at work who belongs to the Eastern Star. Claiming that they are satanists is like saying a nine-month old child is guilty of murder in the first degree. It just isn't logical. There are many branches of Masonry. The first three degrees are initiated in the Craft or "blue" Lodges. More often than not it is these Lodge members that are commonly known. They are the guys who raise money by selling pop at the local craft show or do other charitable activities. Their Lodge is affiliated with the Grand Lodge of their state, and the Grand Lodge is affiliated with the Grand Lodge of England. Completion of the third degree makes these members a "Master Mason." This is what is known as "regular" Masonry. There are some upper degrees that are also associated with Grand Lodge of England. Then there is Grand Orient Freemasonry which is more commonly known in Europe, and is generally associated with anti-Catholicism. Grand Orient has a counterpart in American Scottish Rite Freemasonry. In addition to these groups, there are so-called "irregular" Lodges which use degree rituals as well, but which usually have no association with Grand Lodge of England (Though the granting of "regular" status can and often does change from time to time.) Here is where Egyptian Rite Freemasonry surfaces. Lodges may be Rosicrucian (also called Rose Croix), Memphis-Mizraim, Martinist, Sat Bhai, Illuminati, Hermetic Brotherhood of Light, Golden Dawn, or any one of several other "workings." These Lodges may have as many as 96 degrees, each with its own ritual. Membership is a closely guarded secret. It is among these rites that Ordo Templi Orientis falls. Charles Manson was a member of an OTO Lodge. CarrieTomko@aol.com

The Gnostic Catholic Church is a branch of the Ordo Templi Orientis, a clandestine Masonic Lodge founded by Aleister Crowley, who wrote the Gnostic mass along with a compilation of rituals and beliefs which he named "Thelema." Among his rituals are homosexual rites as this website indicates: Quote CDXV 415 AB Paris Working, The (including Esoteric record and sundrys) A record of homosexual magick operations. Unquote OTO membership includes one name that is unexpected...Cardinal Rampolla. He is included here on this OTO US Grand Lodge website. The story of Rampolla nearly being elected pope in the 1903 conclave is covered at the following two websites. First, Forming an Alliance from Mary Ball Martinez' book- "Undermining of the Catholic Church Quote It is when we come to the name of the man Pope Leo entrusted with the guidance of the boy, Pacelli, that it is more difficult to avoid the term "conspiracy" if only because the Sicilian nobleman is one of the most controversial figures in the history of the Catholic Church. Holding the second most important post in the Vatican for sixteen of the twenty-six years of the pontificate of Leo XIII it had been taken for granted that Cardinal Rampolla would become the next pope. When Leo finally died in 1903 and a conclave was held, Rampolla votes mounted in early balloting until, to the astonishment of the electors, the Cardinal Metropolitan of Krakow rose to his feet to halt the proceedings with an announcement that would be telegraphed around the world. Speaking on behalf of His Imperial Majesty Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary, the Polish primate pronounced a veto on the election of Cardinal Rampolla. As annoyed as they were astonished, the Fathers soon found that a long forgotten clause in a treaty between Vienna and the Vatican made the intervention legally binding. No reason for the veto was given although a political one was suggested. It was supposed that Austria had been displeased by some of Rampolla's pro-French attitudes. Years later, however, it was revealed that one Msgr. Jouin, a French priest dedicated to tracking down Freemasons with the zeal of a Simon Wiesenthal tracking down Nazis, had come upon what he claimed was irrefutable evidence that the Cardinal was not only a member of the Brotherhood but that he was Grand Master of a particularly occult sect known as the Ordo Templi Orientalis into which he had been initiated in Switzerland a few years earlier. Unquote Next, from a Catholic Apologetics website... Quote We now know Cardinal Sarto better as Pope St. Pius X. He saw clearly the activities of the Masons during his lifetime, and throughout his Pontificate labored unceasingly to brace and prepare the Church against their onslaught - especially as it has come in the form of the heresy of Modernism. Pope St. Pius' election is a revelation in itself, because Pope Leo XIII's Secretary of State, Cardinal Rampolla, was expected to succeed Leo. However, using an obscure Imperial privilege not exercised in 400 years, Emperor Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary had the Cardinal Primate of Poland submit a veto in his name during the Conclave itself, thus obstructing Rampolla's election. The votes began to go to Cardinal Sarto instead, who subsequently was elected as Pius X. Though not publicly understood at the time, this astounding gesture of the Emperor, and that he was privy to confidential information, later became clear: For upon the providentially unexpected death of Rampolla, secret Freemasonic papers and documents were found among the Cardinal's personal effects! They revealed beyond a doubt that he had been a Mason attached to a particularly occult sect called the OTO for several years, even while Secretary of State to Leo XIII. Unquote Malachi Martin mentions the OTO on p. 125 of Windswept House. Quote In such a group as this, Dr. Ralph Channing might have been considered the odd man out. Instead, however, he was clearly something more than a peer. Born into a long-established Huguenot family in Maine, Channing had done his studies at Yale in comparative religion and theology. Renowned for his encyclopedic grasp of the records of the Knights Templar, of the Holy Grail tradition and of Freemasonry--in particular the Ordo Templi Orientis, or OTO; the Eastern Temple--he had become a noted archivist for diverse groups of humanist scholars. As a tenured professor at a top American university, his influence extended around the world through a well-received litany of books, pamphlets, articles, lectures and seminars. Unquote Martin mentions the 1903 conclave on p. 337. Quote At least once in the history of papal conclaves--specifically, in the Conclave of 1903--a Masonic Cardinal received a sufficient number of votes to become Pope. His election to the papacy was quietly nullified, of course. The official Roman reaction of fear was explicated in Canon Law 2335: Any Catholic whose name was included in the roster of any Masonic Lodge would incur immediate and automatic excommunication, even if he had never attended a meeting of the Fratres. The new Code of Canon Law promulgated in 1983 wiped out the ban of excommuinication contained in the old Code. Unquote CarrieTomko@aol.com

If there is any part of Windswept House that is likely to be remembered years after reading the book, it is the opening scene depicting a Satanic mass during which a child, Agnes, is raped by Bishop Leo. It was this ceremony and a concurrent ceremony in St. Paul's Chapel in the Vatican which enthroned Satan. Martin describes the ritual on pages 8 through 20 in the book. Good fiction, but unbelievable that it could be real. At least unbelievable in 1996 when the book was published. Today, with priestly sexual abuse on the minds and in the papers of America, it no longer seems unbelievable. Take a look at this report from Stephen Brady of Roman Catholic Faithful. The following passage comes from the website: Quote--Over the past 12 years, in sworn deposition, in accounts to investigators, in affidavits submitted in support of others' cases, in direct statements to Bernardin, in phone calls and letters to Church officials, and in correspondence with Vatican officials (all of which RCF has examined), Agnes has testified to the following story: In the fall of 1957, in Greenville, S.C., Fr. Joseph Bernardin raped 11-year-old Agnes as part of a Satanic ritual that involved, among others, Bishop John Russell of Charleston. Brought to the event by an abusive father, Agnes "was able, at first, to resist Bishop Russell physically, out of the knowledge that God had made me good, not bad as I was being told I was" (her words). As a young child, she had been victimized by a "sadist" cousin, and her identify was based upon "resisting bad things", which included Bernardin. Bernardin then showed kindness and approval of her resistance, in order to gain her trust and get her to relax, and then he raped her. He followed the rape with a perverted use of a host, in an attempt to make Agnes swallow the guilt of the event. In the fall of 1992, Agnes passed a polygraph examination regarding these events. She also, in early 1990, told her story to Malachi Martin, who had been recommended to her as someone who could get her information to the Vatican, which Agnes knew had sole and immediate jurisdiction over such a case. Martin wrote a novel, Windswept House, with the premise that Agnes had given him: that the Catholic hierarchy's tolerance of heresy, liturgical abuse, clerical sexual misconduct, and clerical pedophilia had one overarching explanation at root, a network of Satanists whose smoke had ascended high in the Church. Her story is greatly theatricalized in the novel, but the essential fact of ritual rape is there, as is the spiritual reality of Christ's presence in the victimized child. Thirty-four years later, Agnes went to visit Bishop Russell in a nursing home. In and out of lucidity, he agreed to testify against Bernardin if asked. He died without the opportunity to do so. Agnes later came to know Steve Cook [who accused Bernardin of molestation], and submitted an affidavit in support of his suit. Before he died, Cook told Agnes he was writing a book to tell the truth about his abuse, and he gave a different account of his lawsuit retraction than the one publicly accepted. Endquote. On December 4, 2002 the Boston Globe ran an article titled "He invoked religion for sexual acts" by Sacha Pfeiffer from which this quote is taken: "One woman said [Rev. Robert V.] Meffan 'used to suggest to her that she imagine Christ touching, kissing, having intercourse with her,' according to church records of the allegations, which date to the 1960s and 1970s, when Meffan was assigned to Sacred Heart Parish in Weymouth, Metropolitan State Hospital in Waltham, and Our Lady of Good Counsel in Quincy. It was 'sick, delusional stuff,' one woman said." Another article from the Boston Globe dated April 18, 2002 which states: "God's name is disgraced whenever religious people, and especially clergy, behave immorally. Time magazine reports on Frank Martinelli, who was molested in his teens by the Rev. Laurence Brett: 'Martinelli claims that while Brett was driving him home, the priest urged the boy to give him oral sex, blessing it as a way to receive Holy Communion.' The idea of ingesting seamen in a ritual belongs primarily to the spermo-gnostics, an occult group. For more information about them, look at this website. CarrieTomko@aol.com

A reader, Peter Miller, Editor of Seattle Catholic writes: Carrie, Fr. Martin maintained that there was little to no fiction in Windswept House. In case you hadn't seen this, attached is a key of characters. -Peter Miller ------------------------------------------------------------- Who's Who in Fr. Malachi Martin's, Windswept House Updated by a close friend and confidante of the late Fr. Martin, Aug. 2002. 2002 additions indicated by brackets []. Glossary of Names - Windswept House - 1996 1. Card. Jean-Claude de Vincennes - Jean Villot (dec.) 2. Card. Cosimo Mastroianni - Agostino Casaroli (ret.) [dec.] 3. Card. Silvio Aureatini - Achille Silvestrini, Cong. Oriental Church 4. Card. Leo Pensabene - Pio Laghi, Cong. of Christian Educ. 5. Card. Moradian - Card. Agagianian (dec.) 6. Card. Karmel - Jean-Marie Lustiger, Paris 7. Card. Leonard Boff - Basil Hume, Westminster [dec.] 8. Card. Aviola -Silvano Piovanelli, Florence 9. Card. Sturz - Franz Koenig, Vienna (retired) 10. Card. Leonardine - Bernardin (Cf. also Card. of Century City, and Archpriest in S. Carolina). 11. German Jesuit Cardinal _ Augustin Bea. S. J. (dec.) 12. Bishop "Leo" James Russeton - Bp. John Russell (dec. 1993). 13. Otto Sekuler - Real person/name not disclosed. [KGB] 14. Frater Medico - Agnes' father, an M. D. [dec.] 15. Aldo Carnesecca - Real person/name not disclosed. [dec.] 16. Msgr. Daniel Sadowski - Msgr. Stanislao Dziewicz 17. Msgr. Taco Manuguerra - Msgr. Agosto Bueno 18. Card. Jean de Bourgogne - John Cardinal Cody 19. Fr. Damian Slattery, O. P. - Composite of Card. Michael Browne, O. P. and a living [former] U.S. Dominican. [Fr. Fiore?] 20. Fr. Christian Thomas Gladstone - Composite of 3 priests 21. Mrs. Francesca Gladstone - Elderly woman still living 22. Windswept House - Galveston Island, Texas 23. Cyrus Benthoek - Bill Morrell (dec.) 24. Card. J.J. O'Cleary - John J. O'Connor, NYC [dec.] 25. Card. Piet Svensen - Leo Suenens, Belgium 26. Local Chapel/SSPX "Danbury" - Dickenson, TX [SSPX] 27. Fr. Angelo Gutmacher - P. Schmidt (Card. Bea's sec.) 28. Card. Giacomo Graziani - Angelo Sodano, Vatican Sec./State 29. Card. Noah Palombo - Virgilio Noe, Vatican [ret.] 30. Michael Continho, S.J. - Card. Carlos Martini, S.J., Milan 31. Victor Venable, OFM - Fr. Vaughan 32. Serozha Gafin (Moscow) - A. Golovin 33. Gibson Appleyard (U.S.A.) - Composite: J. Hale, State Dept., William Colby, CIA 34. Rev. Herbert Tartley, C of E - [former] Archbp. of Canterbury 35. Nicholas Clatterbuck - Real person, still living 36. Dr. Ralph Channing - Real person, still living 37. Cliffview House - approx 304 (plus or minus) Riverside Dr., NYC 38. Jacques Deneuve (banker) - K. Schwab, World Trade Org. 39. Gynneth Blashford (publisher) - Bertelsman 40. Brad Gerstein-Snell (communications) - Ted Turner 41. Sir Jimmie Blackburn (S. Afr., diamonds) - James Goldsmith 42. Kyun Kia Moi (Korea) - Real person, still living. 43. Bp. Novacy - Archbp. Pavel Hnilica 44. Maldonado (I.R.A.) - Sig. Alberico Novelli 45. Card. Amedeo Sanstefano (I.R.A.) - Card. Silvio Oddi (ret.) [dec.] 46. Bp. Ievin Rahilly (CT) - Archbp. John Whealon, Hartford [dec.] 47. Bp. Primas Rochefort (NY) - Bp. Matthew Clark, Rochester 48. Bp. Bruce Longbottham (MI) - Bp. Kenneth Untener, Saginaw 49. Abp. Cuthbert Delish (WI) - Archbp. Rembert Weakland, Milw. [ret.] 50. Bp. Manley Motherhubbe (NY) - Bp. Howard Hubbard, Albany 51. Bp. Raymond Luckenbill (MN) - Bp. Raymond Lucker, New Ulm 52. Bp. Ralph Goodenough (IL) -Composite of Chicago auxiliaries 53. Sister Fran Fedora (Seattle) - Fran Ferder 54. Sister Helen Hammentick (New Orleans) - ? 55. Sister Cherisa Blaine (Kansas City) - Sr. Theresa Kane 56. "Capstone" - Real person, still living 57. Card. Schuyteneer (Belgium) - Godfried Danneels, Belgium 58. Card. Azande (Gold Coast) - Francis Arinze, Cong./Saints 59. Card. Reinvernunft - Joseph Ratzinger, Cong. Doctrine/Faith 60. Arbp. Canizio Buttafuoco - Archbp. Gianni Danzi, Office of Secretary of State 61. Holy Angels house - Dominican House/Studies, Rvr. Forest IL 62. Fr. George Haneberry - Fr. Donald Goergen, O.P., former provincial of Chicago Dominicans [author of "Sexual Celibate] [at ashram in Kenosha, Wis.] 63. Fr. Avonodor (Chi. Chancery) - Msgr. John Roche, Archdioc. of Chcago, friend of Bernardin; now works for Helene Curtiss cosmetics, Chicago 64. Fr. Lotzinger (Willowship) - Fr. Robert Lutz, St. Norbert's Church, Northbrook, IL 65. Sister Angela - Alice Halpin, Lutz's school principal, former nun 66. Fr. Tomkins (Roantree) - made up name 67. Fr. Keraly (Harding) - made up name [Fr. Kealy] 68. Fr. Goerge Hotelet, O.P. - Fr. Georges Cottier, O.P., Rome [papal theologian] 69. Dr. Carlo Fiesole Marraci - G.B. Marini-Bettolo Marcioni ---------------------------------------------------- In response to my inquiry as to source, he writes: "I got it from a Yahoo group named "CTAC". " CarrieTomko@aol.com

I've been re-reading Malachi Martin's book Windswept House. When it was first published in 1996, it read like a good novel of intrigue with a lot of fictional characters and scenerios. Good reading at the time. Martin was a master story teller. But in 1996 its apparent touch with reality was thin. Today it presents a rather different picture. Take the following quote, for instance, but first let me set the scene. The pope has recognized there are major moral problems in American parishes and seminaries. He is preparing an informant, Fr. Christian Gladstone, to travel to America and do an undercover investigation into the immorality. Christian is being warned that if he is caught doing this investigation, he will likely be killed. Martin writes and I quote: Christian Gladstone's point of departure was dicier and gave no cause for laughter. Father Michael O'Reilly had been recently ordained for service in the New Orleans Archdiocese by none other than Gladstone's former superior, Cardinal John Jay O'Cleary. At the end of his first year as an assistant pastor, however, he had discovered that three fourth-year students in the Archdiocesan seminary were active homosexuals. Boldly, he had taken the information to Jay Jay O'Cleary. Even more boldly, he had told His Eminence that the three men should be expelled from the seminary. After a short inquiry during which the three seminarians in question had confirmed the truth of the allegations, Jay Jay had approved their ordination as priests of his diocese. For O'Reilly, the whole affair had escalated into wholesale disaster. He was removed from his parish, placed on six months' probation and ordered to undergo a psychosexual evaluation. When he refused, he was sent to cool his heels in the seminary and was given no diocesan assignment. O'Reilly had decided to make the matter known to the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy. The idea was to write a letter detailing the case and to use the diplomatic pouch of the Holy See's Apostolic Delegate in Washington, D.C., to transmit it to Rome. Father O'Reilly's mistake had been to send that letter in strict accord with seminary rules: he handed it in to the Rector's office in the normal manner for transmittal to Washington through the mails. Not surprisingly, it made its way rapidly to the Archdiocesan Chancery, where it was intercepted by the Cardinal's red-haired junior secretary, Father Eddie McPherson, who had charge of whatever seminary mail might be sent through for His Eminence's attention. Jay Jay himself found that O'Reilly in his letter named names and gave dates and locations, and that he had complained that Cardinal O'Cleary had deliberately ordained three certifiably homosexual men, thus swelling the already growing ranks of pedophiliac priests. O'Reilly had been called on the Cardinal's carpet, had been told he was a very sick young man and had been again ordered to submit to a psychological evaluation at the Raphael Institute in New Orleans. When O'Reilly had refused to obey, Jay Jay had declared him "insubordinate and psychologically undependable," and had told him he would be defrocked and expelled from the Archdiocese. Reduced by every circumstance to total frustration, O'Reilly answered by cursing Jay Jay to his face, flattening Father Eddie McPherson with a left hook to the jaw and storming out of the Chancery. After that brouhaha, O'Reilly had dropped out of sight altogether for a couple of months. Finally, though, he had turned up on the long-abandoned Western Bordeaux Plantation in Louisiana, where, supported by a monthly stipend from his family, he now lived a hermit's life. Unquote. Windswept House, pp 382-383. In 1996 it sounded like fiction. Today we have Michael Rose's book Goodbye, Good Men telling us of homosexuality in the seminary, and we have Roman Catholic Faithful's investigation into the whistleblower priest in Arlington who was supposedly given the shaft. Suddenly Martin sounds less like a novelist and a lot more like a reporter for the Boston Globe. We also have Jason Berry's book Lead Us Not into Temptation which exposes the problem with molestation of boys in Louisiana to add to Martin's credibility. There are a lot more examples in Martin's book just like that one which make the book worth taking another look. CarrieTomko@aol.com

It was time for a change of pace and a reprieve from cabin fever, so instead of spending last Saturday at the keyboard, I spent it in the artist's studio...specifically, the studio of Ray Muniak, respected artist and long time friend of my husband. It was a delightful change from my usual basement hangout before the LCD. Ray's studio is set near the woods and is flooded with light. It's a place where the problems of the world tend to recede as the squirrels play in the snow and the chickadees come to the feeder just inches beyond the glass. For six lovely hours there was no threat of war in Iraq, there were no terrorist warnings, no rising taxes or falling interest rates, no headlines of major company layoffs, and no predictions of icy road conditions in the morning. Instead there were five people who came to learn from an accomplished teacher, and have a little fun in the process. Ray creates pictures that are really wooden sculptures. The artform is close to intarsia, but he has added his own unique twists. You can see his work on his website, but two-dimensional computer screens fail to do it justice. Ray's art literally leaps off the canvass. Yesterday's class project was making a trillium, and Ray promised I would have all my fingers when I had it completed. Scroll down the left-hand side of his website to near the bottom and click on the trillium image for a larger view. Now imagine those three white petals extending up off the canvass toward you. That's Muniart, a style that is uniquely Ray's. The trillium is made of four different woods--holly, poplar, sassafras, and pink ivory (It's wood, not a tusk). Nothing is painted or stained; all color in the pieces is the natural color of the wood. I tend to think in two-dimensions these days--the result of too much time in front of a computer screen most likely--so making the first leaf was a complete mystery. I just followed Ray's directions. (Followed them poorly, he would tell you!) By the time I was half finished with the second leaf, it began to make sense; and from there on I was a happy sander beginning to appreciate the joys of creating with this new technique. We broke for lunch with the instruction to think of our most embarrassing moment and share it with the class. Ray began with his...a story from Catholic school when he was humiliated before his entire class at Mass. That reminded me of the moment when my 5th grade nun decided she would work the miracle of teaching me to sing, right there in the front of the classroom. By the time she gave up my face was the color of the red pockets on my dress that I kept staring at until they were indelibly burned into my memory. It was not one of sister's better moments nor one of mine. Another member of the class shared an experience, and we went on to reminisce about a lot of tales we had in common that were reported in the book The Last Catholic in America. Not all of us were Catholic, however. One of the class members is a healer. He described a healer as someone who focuses energy eminating from his hands which can be felt as warmth. He moved on to the subject of the ghost who inhabits his basement workshop...a ghost, which he assured me he can see in outline form, of a man who had died in the house. He spoke of the spirits of the dead who were attached to a particular place and refused to give it up, and gave an account of a healing of a woman who had previously had an abortion. The baby was still inside of her he told us. Once the baby was brought out of the woman, it had to be captured within the house and set free. He described picking up the baby, and demonstrated how he knew he held the baby by the pressure against his hands as he brought them together. Apparently the spirits of the dead have sufficient substance to cause the sensation of pressure. Obviously our cosmologies were nothing if not varied! We finished our art projects around 3 p.m. and posed for the class picture which should be up on Ray's website tomorrow. I'd be the one wearing my apron inside out. You can tell by the word "Muniart" spelled backwards, which Ray had not failed to point out to me. I responded that the picture would be a valuable piece of publicity for him. When a potential student expresses doubt that he would be able to complete a project, Ray can simply show him the picture, point to my apron, and tell the potential student that if he can teach that woman to do it, he can teach anybody! I arrived home where my husband, a woodworker, was amazed at what I had made. (He didn't think I could do it apparently.) In fact he was so surprised that he took me out for dinner to celebrate. That's what I call a stellar ending to a perfect day! I've put my name on Ray's list to be notified when he schedules the next elephant class, and he was gracious enough not to refuse to attempt yet again to get me three-dimensionally oriented. Once the class is scheduled, I can start clipping restaurant ads and posting them on the fridge to get my husband properly oriented as well. :) CarrieTomko@aol.com