The Western Gate

Wenborn ;- ETYM : Olde English pre 7th Century “wende”, meaning to wind, and “burna”, a stream.

Breve Testimonium de Auctore:

The Random musings of a nobody. “Dagenham Dave”, is euphemism for someone one stop short of Barking (mad), though more contemporarily refers to any wayfaring and carefree person. Dagenham is a town to the east of London that was first recorded in a Barking charter in 666a.d. as the town of Daeccanham. Daecca is an ancient man’s name meaning ‘bright’ or ‘famous’ . Ham is short for Hamlet.
Dave is short for David, Hebrew for ‘Beloved’, My Surname ‘Wenborn’ derives from old English meaning of the Winding Stream.
Names and Surnames are our masks by which we are known, it becomes the Ba by nature if its inherent meaning is adopted, and therefore, by name and nature, becomes the archetype -the Ka.

Of the ‘winding stream’, or of the ‘crooked path’, terms used to denote a Wayfarer on the esoteric path, those who do not stick to the rules, and cannot abide by some strict governance that someone or other has decided upon, laws made to make the sheep believe the rules were insight, wisdom, revelation from some otherwise unknown creator, though quite why, only the ‘leader/revealer/prophet’ has access to this ‘revelation’ speaks volumes for both the conniving ‘leader’ and also the supplicant sheep.

Born in 1966 I am a Fire Horse, free of mind (apparently) and lets face it, that often means making mistakes ! The Chinese so it was said would consign those children born on this ominous sign literally to the fires, as they were regarded as unruly and rebellious. The peculiar concept of having 12 different animals in a cycle and each having 1 of 5 elements means a fire horse will pop up every 60 years.

This label is an example of a psyche-archetype, ” I am a Fire Horse”, however is that an objective fact? Being as the whole system of element/animals was constructed by someone or other, sometime ago for whatever reason, alike our leader noted above who has a monopoly on ‘revealed’ wisdom?
The Egyptians believed the Ba is the individual soul, the aspect of us which we eulogize and reflect upon when we think of someone. The personal.
The Ka, is the collective soul, the universal spirit, residing temporarily (i.e. trapped) in that person perhaps overshadowed by the Ego ‘Ba’, but in essence is the same throughout every living being. The Ba, is subjective~ this is the (sort of) person I Am. The Ka is Objective.~ I am a person. The Ba is fluid, malleable and temporal and also evolving into…, The Ka which is eternal and constant.

An Archetype here is a label used that is applicable to a person based on inherent qualities that they have. (In Chinese astrology, each animal or element is considered to be an archetype, which means that it represents a universal symbol or pattern that is present in the human psyche. These archetypes are believed to be expressions of deep-seated human characteristics and behaviours that are common across different cultures and for the purposes of the animal/element pairings ~time periods.)

As a wayfarer upon the crooked path I am armed with objective facts, we cannot assume an identity that we have constructed for ourselves based on pride or ego ( a facet of the Ba).

The Archetypes which are familiar to us and peculiar to others are things we cannot deviate from. I cannot assume to be a water rat, I cannot stand before a gatekeeper in the astral realm, or if I were a nerd on some dungeons and dragons role playing board game, and demand access because I am an Earth Dragon, because I am not. As a cowan of course I could, but this would cause me to stray from my ‘natural’ archetypal nature….even as a rebel, a free mind… I am governed by archetypal identity. If I choose to deviate from that design, then I am merely incognito, and a part of the masquerade.

I am a double Libran, (Libra Sun/ Libra Rising) born upon the ‘Harvest Moon’, whatever deity I can eclectically gather to add to my bag of worn shoes on the long path we choose, objectively it is Maat and by reflection Thoth to which I am ‘arche-typically’ guided. (If I choose to be steered).¹
Now, alike the fire horse, a Libran, this is a construct created by someone, we can ponder on why the ancients designated certain periods of the year with certain signs or instance, but objectively I can say, I was born on the first full moon after the Autumnal Equinox. This is labelled Libra~ Balance and for us in the northern hemisphere the sun begins to diminish, it is the time to reflect on all that has been. It is the western gate, the passing into the age of the crone or the old, the Saturnian shift and back to the realm of that which lay beyond the mortal and finite world.

My introduction is not based on pretence nor to impress, I am at this time of writing approaching the 699th Moon (6th Apr ’23) since my birth, I am a lucid dreamer and through those methods I ‘channel’. Up to the 698th moon, all my inherent thoughts from channelling and lucid dream work were written in that peculiar book – The Book of Shadows, though I am not by any means a ‘Gardnerian’ or ‘Alexandrian’ witch. At each Samhain, I would burn those journals I have wrote in over the past year.
It was a character by the name of “Shem Zu” (More Info here) that declared, ” inaction and observation was over”, but no clear guidance or pointers to what I should do next ,as I have no desire to join others in covens or groups or lodges and parrot fashion through a list of ‘jam tomorrow’ rituals and other carrots that promise to show a/the/their path ahead, I follow the winding stream, I am a free horse untamed.
Summary ;- “The time of the witness is over”, so I was told on one little Mr.Benn² adventure. It doesn’t mean anything, it’s not some great startling revelation. It is what it is. What is it? What am I? Please allow me to introduce myself, I am Not that I am Not.

 नेति नेति

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1/ Hold on, Maat ? Didn’t Maat have 42 Laws ? isn’t this contradiction from earlier statements.
– Maat seen as balance and equilibrium. Objective Wisdom.

2/ Mr Benn ~ British Cartoon series following the escapades of a bowler hatted traveller who enters into various dreamworlds whenever he tries odd fancy dress clothes in the ‘strange’ shop he visits.

Original b/w illustrations Adapted from Alice In Wonderland, drawn by John Tenniel.
Colour Pic, adapted from Disney by D.Wenborn