THE GREAT WHEEL - review

The Great Wheel - a commentary on W.B. Yeats' A Vision (Introduction to Magic Book 4), Bob Makransky, Dear Brutus Press, 2014, 218pp, $9.99 Kindle edition through Amazon.com

Makransky’s primary focus of The Great Wheel is describing the 28 phases of the Moon. There are detailed exercises to help find your lunar rhythm. By being in sync with the Moon, one can create a more clearly shaped true purpose of life.

    The book begins with W. B. Yeats’ Seven Propositions, which view reality from the perspective of spirit rather than phenomenon.

    So many of us, at times, are at a crossroads or need guidance to get through a tough situation. The Great Wheel and these propositions help one find their purpose of life: life is to feel feeling.

    To quote Makransky: “the main lesson to be learned … is that there is no time to waste; but there is no wasted time.” His focus is on working on memory and instincts.

    Many know the rhythms in life. Farmers know when rain is coming. Fisherman know how to read the water. A city has its own rhythms: bus schedules, work schedules, festivals scheduled on certain dates. These are all cycles of rhythms.

    For some, it is easy to recall a negative memory. We play it over and over like a broken record. How many of us play positive memories in our head? Makransky states “Eternity is not a long but a short time. Eternity is in the glitter on the beetle's wing. Linear time does not really exist. Your memories are not records of the past (because there is no past) but rather are tendencies or instincts.”

    The book’s focus is to find our lunar rhythm; most of us have lost that ability.

    I have attempted many paths to correct errors forced upon me by abusers. I continue to run into the same dead end, then feel self-pity, and then pick myself up, re-focus on my goals and find a new path. It is difficult to change thought patterns to find a new path, and that is the primary reason I read The Great Wheel and encourage others to read it.

   I know to start where I am, to use my memory of experiences—what did and did not work for me. I start with a fresh outlook and move forward, step by step.

    Not everyone grew up in a stable home, neighborhood and had extended families. Ancestors of a particular family unit offer tidbits of advice or good words to live by. Those without ancestors run into dead ends. We can still benefit from Makransky’s exercises.

   Exercise 1 is to sit quietly and focus on family and ancestors, whether you knew them or not. Ask, “Could you please come and talk with me?”

    It’s surprising that after a few attempts you will be able to hear them. It helps to keep a journal. What was your question? How can you resolve a conflict with responses from your memory or from your family?

    Exercise 2 is adapted from William Swygard's booklet on Awareness Techniques. Edgar Cayce had the ability to relax and view past life regressions, something we learn to develop in The Great Wheel. During the exercise you may envision strange sights or people. Don’t judge. Accept what you see and then write or draw what you experienced. Some of it may not make sense. Again, do not judge. These will be parts of a puzzle to be placed into a larger picture.

    Makransky: “For most people the vast majority of past lives consist either of unremitting hardship and suffering, or else of selfishness and chicanery. I personally have had lots of lives as a scoundrel and it's interesting how many bells these ring for me in my present life”.

    Exercise 3 is similar to exercise 2 with the focus on probability, asking “what if my life went in this direction”, “what if I married this person rather than my current spouse”, “what if...?”

    Reviewing the responses from exercises 1, 2 and 3 will give a bigger picture of your life's purpose.

    Exercise 4, Recapitulation, is harder and more painful; it is a healing technique used in both shamanism and western psychotherapy.

   “It is the nature of waking consciousness to experience suffering, as the Buddhists say. The suffering arises from a moment to moment self-pinching mechanism by which you hypnotize yourself into believing in, and clinging to the illusion of a separated self.”

    We next learn about Lunar Rhythm and Lunar Phases.

   Our current calendar is based on the sun, though most calendars show the phases of the moon. Farmers and fishermen still use lunar calendars. It is what works on this planet. The moon gives us light and guides us. The moon gives joy.

    Use a calendar to chart your activities and make every third Thursday the day you truly focus on yourself. This is your day; one day each month is for you.

   By using a cycle to focus on your senses, you will begin to see a change. You are becoming in tune with yourself and the lunar changes.

   If you are consistent with your lunar cycle, you will find more joy and peace. You will not be bored and people will see a new light in your personality.

    The Great Wheel of 28 lunar phase types is another way for making a feeling connection to your true purpose of this life. Each 28 lunar phase is birth, maturity, decline and death, and then rebirth.

    If there were no memory, every transaction would be pure and free and aboveboard, with no hidden agendas or unacknowledged motives. Everything would happen spontaneously. This is the bouncy mood of Phase 1, whereas the mood of Phase 15 is overburdened with memory and is somber and melancholic. The differences between natives of these extreme types—Phase 1 (complete objectivity) and Phase 15 (complete subjectivity)—can be summarized as: The four lunar quarters symbolizing the four ages of mankind: childhood, adolescence, maturity, and old age. As the cycle progresses, there is a greater depth of feeling and enlarged sensitivity to, and appreciation for, meaning rather than stimulation.

    The moods of the quarters representing adulthood (2nd and 3rd) are antithetical (self-ish) whereas the moods of the quarters representing childhood and old age (1st and 4th) are primary (thrall and surrender, respectively).

    Charts in the book help to use your astrological chart and use the moon cycles to focus on your life's path.

    The most important things to remember: follow all the exercises, know your astrological chart and follow the lunar cycles.

    It is possible that YOU can bend the rules of the universe to suit your own game, but this will only hurt you and also may affect others close to you.

    To use a 1960's term, this is a heavy book. It is very deep, thorough and forces one to step back and start looking at the big picture. What picture of your life is in need of help? What aspect of your personality could use some help? This book has the tools to help you.

- Peggy Mathias