Esoteric Coffeehouse

Since tonight is Halloween, I thought that I might do some research into its origins and meaning found in the Celtic Festival of Samhain. Celebrated at the beginning of November, Samhain marked the coming of the winter months, with their dimming light and heightening darkness. The root of the word “Samhain” comes from “samhradh”, meaning “summer” in Irish Gaelic¹. While the exact etymology has not been confirmed by scholars, in Celtic tradition, “Samhain” corresponds to “end of summer” (a combination of samh “summer” and fuin “ending, concealment”).  Samhain and Beltanne (May Day) stood in opposition as the beginning of the season of winter and summer, respectively, but Samhain was a much more prominent festival and may have marked the beginning of the Celtic New Year as Frazer has pointed out ².

Samhain was, consequently, a festival of deepening darkness and budding light. It was a meeting place between two opposites – the winter and the summer, the dark and the light, death and life. As such, the festival contained both aspects of existence – although the darkness, increasing at this time, was more profuse and substantial.

In its ‘dark’ aspect, Samhain marked a period of destruction and chaos. Perhaps the most dramatic illustration of this was the ritual killing of the Irish kings of Tara. According to Dalton’s evidence and interpretation, the kings that had behaved unsuitably or unpiously in office would be killed on the day of Samhain³. Ritual killing was also effected against animals: Samhain was the season when the cattle that would not be kept through the winter were slaughtered⁴.

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As with all major discoveries, serendipity was at play when legendary Ethiopian goat herder Kaldi first noticed the strange properties of the coffee berry. Myth has it that he observed his goats behaving strangely upon consumption of the mysterious berries: they began “dancing” around excitedly. An enterprising – and courageous – gentleman, Kaldi took it upon himself to try out the berries. As chance would have it, he did not die, but in fact became a happier man (and apparently made his wife a happier woman too!).

One cannot help to identify in this short story the hints of ancient beliefs. In fact, the story has a flavour of forgotten mystery rituals, recalling the Greek legends of Dionysus the discoverer of wine or the goat-like Pan with his invention of the reed flute.  In the absence of evidence, one can speculate  on the association with ‘goats’, frenzy, wild dances and ‘wife-pleasing’ in the little Kaldi story. The suggestion may be of an earth mystery that could easily be associated with devil worship, which in fact it was.

Another beautifully ambiguous tidbit of the Kaldi story has the goat herder, impelled by his happy wife, presenting himself with the berries to the local monk of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The monk promptly attributed the berries to the work of the devil, but in a twist, the other monks were delighted with the smell and tried it themselves¹. In this tale, the ambivalent religious use of coffee was first prefigured.

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I will start by saying something more or less disturbing: I am not a big coffee drinker. Sure, I used to drink coffee everyday at work, but this was more of necessity than pleasure: I am not a morning person. If I drink too much coffee I get giddy and antsy and rather short-tempered.

That being said, I do admire coffee for the following reasons:

• It’s dark. There is a purely earthly quality to coffee in its dark and ‘thick’ nature. In other words, there is a mystery in coffee that only coffee addicts can explain.   It has the potential of creating a haven and a world of its own making.
• It’s liquid. I see the element of water as a symbol of the uniting fluid that lies beneath all things. Thus, in my mind, coffee stimulates esoteric discussion. Its fluidity is also given by the endless combination of coffee products that exist: mocha, Americano, cappuccino, frappucino etc.
• It’s fiery. Coffee gives that boost that people need in coping with the ‘real’ world. People come in a coffeehouse, drink a cappuccino and leave refreshed and energized to their own purposes.

I believe that ‘coffeehouses’ have brilliantly capitalized on the qualities of coffee I already mentioned above.

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Welcome to my Esoteric Coffeehouse – I am your host, Jo, and I invite you to take a look around my place and then have a sit in a comfortable couch, sip on a virtual coffee (or perhaps a spiced chai) and engage in a real discussion on esoteric topics.

First, it is perhaps desirable to clarify the term “esoteric” in our conversation. To be sure, there are numerous academic definitions of what is meant by the term “esoteric”, which I will expand in a future post. However, we are not here to engage in a purely academic discussion, but a friendly exchange on a topic broadly defined as ‘esoteric’. Surely, as it happens with every interaction, the definition we will use for ‘esoteric’ is bound to evolve.

To begin with, I will propose to start with a fairly large perspective of ‘esoteric’ as ‘a spiritual vision of what lies beneath the ordinary’. I believe that the esoteric is actually about an attempt of ‘seeing’ beyond the surface, hence challenging common perceptions. In this, ‘esotericism’ is a meeting between the intellect and the spirit; moreover, it is generally associated with a practice or technique that allows someone to delve into the vision. In this framework, I envisage such wide-range topics as:

• Alchemy
• Magic
• Hermeticism
• Rosicrucianism
• Alternative medicine
• Astrology
• Neoplatonism
• Scientific views
• Philosophy
• Mysticism
• Freemasonry
• Sufi practices
• Movies and books with esoteric theme
• Art & music
• Mythology
• Folklore
• Esoteric or esoterically-related thinkers
• Academic esotericism
• Esoteric lifestyle
  

What I am basically proposing through this blog is to incite in-depth, substantial and thoughtful discussion on esoteric themes.

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