ecosophia | Magic Monday

It's a few minutes before midnight, so we can launch into a new Magic Monday. Ask me anything about occultism and I'll do my best to answer it. With certain exceptions, any question received by midnight Monday Eastern time will get an answer. Please note: Any question or comment received after then will not get an answer, and in fact will just be deleted. (I've been getting an increasing number of people trying to post after these are closed, so will have to draw a harder line than before.) If you're in a hurry, or suspect you may be the 143,916th person to ask a question, please check out the very rough version 1.1 of The Magic Monday FAQ here. Also: I will not be putting through or answering any more questions about practicing magic around children. I've answered those in simple declarative sentences in the FAQ. If you read the FAQ and don't think your question has been answered, read it again. If that doesn't help, consider remedial reading classes; yes, it really is as simple and straightforward as the FAQ says.

The image? I field a lot of questions about my books these days, so I've decided to do little capsule summaries of them here, one per week. The book above on the left was my fifteenth published book, and it's the one book of mine that I've allowed to go out of print permanently. The publisher who brought out Monsters was interested in other books in the broad paranormal-weird stuff end of things, and the Atlantis legend was an obvious topic; unfortunately the result was rushed, and not really well thought out. Someday I want to do a proper book on the Atlantis legend, and more generally on the tradition that there were entire cycles of advanced civilization in the distant past -- but this is not that book, and I'm somewhat embarrassed by it.

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~~With that said, have at it!~~

***This Magic Monday is now closed -- as in, no further comments will be put through. See you next week!***

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Lunar Apprentice,

I just wanted to say that it‘s great to hear from you - and even better to hear you‘re doing rather well. I‘m looking forward to the time when you will again have the capacity to post more.

What I‘m not sure about is whether I want to know what a „swing dance“ is, but hey… ;-)

Milkyway

In the words of Doc Brown from the movie Back to the Future: "It's a festival of rhythmic motion!"

"Western swing" is a dance and music style and cultural gathering tradition, associated with history and values of cowboy and rancher culture of the Old West frontier. In the musical "Oklahoma," "Oh, the farmer and the cowboy should be friends!"

"Jazz swing" is associated with jazz music mostly for the modern young urban sophisticates of the time, especially shortly before, during, and after World War II. The movie "Swing kids" shows it as dangerous rebellion among anti-Nazi youth in Germany. The movie "Memphis Belle" includes jazz swing in the U.S.

The "Enchantment Under The Sea Dance" that Doc Brown pointed out wasn't a swing dance. But swap out some musical styles, dance steps, and what it means among a group of people to be dressed up for a night out, and it's all the same human desire for shared enjoyment.

Mocha Amphibious Moose

Oh yes. I also meant to add more to my earlier reply (which is downthread): My parents met each other at a Big Band Swing Dance in 1946 in Reno, Nevada shortly after my father was discharged from the US Army Air Corps. I recall my mother offering to teach me swing dance when I was 14. I kick myself now for not taking advantage of that offer (she's deceased now). She was certainly fit, knowledgeable and capable. I did eventually became an accomplished Scottish Country and Highland dancer, having done them now for 40 years, which led to half a dozen serious courtships in my 20's and 30's. But the foundational movements of these dance forms are the opposite of the movements of Swing Dance, and they are choreographed, so learning Swing Dance is difficult.

So I literally exist because of Swing Dance. Not only that, but in the cultural twilight here in the US, I've developed a sense that Big Band Jazz, and the dance that accompanies it, is a genuine heritage. I burn with a desire to embrace and reclaim it as the heritage that my parents and my country have bequeathed me. The very thought of these brings me a wonderful sense of comfort and rootedness. I have little doubt that if I ever court again (much less marry), that that sense of rootedness will manifest itself in me, and make me a solid courtship candidate in the eyes of a few.

Hermann Hesse in his novel Steppenwolf describes the early Swing Dance world of 1920's Germany; it was an important plot element. I understand the German public during WWII clandestinely listened to the very popular Allied broadcasts of Big Band Jazz.

Big Band Jazz and Swing Dance is a world unto itself. I commend it to all and sundry.

--Lunar Apprentice

Swing Dance is the classic popular Jazz dance of the Big Band era in the US during the 1920s-40s. There are a number of forms: Lindy Hop, The Charleston, West Coast Swing, East Coast Swing, The Jitterbug, The Collegiate.

My preferred form is the Lindy Hop, which is shown in the first number of the clip below; the rest of the clip shows The Charleston:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1BJxltWSwE

Note that this clip shows a competition, and the dancers are really athletes. Of course you'll never see those acrobatic moves on the social dance floor. Believe it or not, The Charleston is basically simpler than the Lindy Hop, but it's quite strenuous, and you can't drag an inexperienced dance partner through it, while the Lindy is comparatively sedate and more practiced among social dancers.

Swing Dance is popular all over the world, certainly Europe. I've seen more than a few video clips out of Russia.

You're in Germany, no? I can all but guarantee there are Swing Dance classes and events near where you live.

Thank you for your kind thoughts.

--Lunar Apprentice

Re: Swing Dance. Here near Washington DC, a local PBS station, WAMU 88.5 FM, plays several hours of "Hot Jazz Saturday Night". If you go to their web site, you can stream last week's program (but only for a week, for copyright reasons). It's not always Swing Dance music (it sometimes strays into 50s jazz, bebop, or Dixieland), but often enough it is. These are part of our American musical heritage, if not part of modern popular culture (celebrating 50 years of hip-hop?!).

And, to cross link the blogs, swing dance music was a part of supporting the morale of distantly deployed military personnel. Bennie Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, etc.

Lathechuck

Magic Monday

Re: Prayer List & gratitude.

Swing Dance

Re: Swing Dance

Re: Prayer List & gratitude.

Re: Prayer List & gratitude.