2018 A NEW BEGINNING A NEW CHAPTER PART ll
Debra’s Inaugural Editor’s Note, Minimag 1/2019
All, in the seen and the unseen world, is a circle
The circle, a universal symbol, is infinite. No beginning and no end; a continuum completing revolution after revolution. It brings the energy of wholeness, original perfection and timelessness in this cyclic movement.
Odyssey bade farewell to Silke and Chris Erasmus under the rising Gemini Full Moon. Gratitude and love to this team who shepherded this beautiful magazine for over 18 years. We honour their dedication and commitment as we enter a new phase of Odyssey’s evolution.
The Sabian symbol for the Full Moon is: Sailors Lowering an Old Flag and Raising a New One. Lowering the sail at sunset – 22.11.2018 – I let the sunset show me how beautiful a goodbye could be. I watched it with awe as it unfolded. As the last rays of the coloured sun slowly hid behind the horizon, then came the realisation that tomorrow – 23.11.2018 – held endless possibilities for me as the new custodian of this magazine. This ‘Grand Old Gal’ as I have come to call and love her.
I felt I was looking at the sky through ancient eyes of first man and beholding the first circles, the moon, the sun, the pulsating spots; changing colour in the night skies, a plethora of planets and stars and the wonder that is spoken in this circular language. Looking up at the night sky, the full moon on the 23rd, reminded me gently of this circle, a new revolution.
I stood under the night sky, we placed our imaginary stick to the earth and formed my own circle; representing the infinite nature of energy and the inclusivity of the universe.
To the northern Native American mind, the circle is the sun, the moon and her children man and woman. The perspective is vastly deep. And so, the circle also embodies a spiritual energy. Circles were protective emblems to the Celtic mind. Circles were often drawn as protective boundaries, not to be crossed by enemy or evil. Circles were also Celtic symbols of the cosmos – noting in symbol the intangible procession of time.
In Chinese macrocosmic symbolism, the circle expresses the shape of heaven, with earth signified by a square. The deeply significant yin yang symbol is circular and thus speaks to us of encompassing the whole of duality with intent for unified balance.
The circle includes us in the grand scheme, the greater plan; and when a symbol, is shown with a circle around it – that’s our intuitive cue; the symbol beckons the viewer to be drawn in and included in the experience of whatever symbolic message the centre may hold.
Ours is the Odyssey magazine butterfly within the O of Odyssey. It represented a new revolution, transformation and a new beginning.
Excerpts from the first digital magazine January 2019 in celebration of Odyssey going back into print, with the winter edition 7 July 2019, after being out of print since December 2012, kept alive, on a free digital online platform for seven years
“My custodianship of the ‘Grand Old Gal’ began on 23.11.2018. Here I am , seven years later crafting my 27th edition and the 250th Odyssey Edition” Debra Robins, Current Editor Odyssey Magazine
“The Universe wasn’t just whispering, it was prompting ‘loud and clear’ with a twinned personal broadcast between Silke and Debra”
Jill Iggulden-Stevens (Jankowitz), Founding Editor, Odyssey Magazine
