Back to my Quiapo article, the name of the Chinese deli/goodie store where my grandmother and I used to shop is Kim Chong Tin. Then in the ‘50s and probably even later it was at its prime.
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Imagine me as the goddess Aphrodite, tall, statuesque, beautiful, a bit snooty because, well, you can’t blame me. I’ve been pursued by many, many men. I was once married to Hephaestus, an excellent craftsman, albeit short and not handsome at all, and just between us, not so great as a lover. But he was a faithful husband who wanted to tell the world about my infidelities, which I conducted wantonly. He didn’t have a hard time laying traps and catching me with Aries, one of my many toys. But poor Hephaestus, other people just ridiculed him for ridiculing me. After all I am Aphrodite, the transformational goddess, who emerged from the sea miraculously.
Many, many men want to be my toys, if only for a while, because they know there is no one who can hold on to Aphrodite. Therefore, everyone just hopes for a little old roll in the hay on my terms. I am, after all, a goddess, the most beautiful one there is.
Since I am bored these days, I’m setting up a promo. Want to be my toy boy? Send me an application. I am not going to look at gods this time. They can wait, those boring creatures. This time I want to try an ordinary man. Well, not so ordinary. After all, I am a goddess. He must send in his application with a specific reply to the question: Are you king or hunter? And to make sure he has the right answer, he’d better attend the Carl Jung seminar for men only with the title – are you ready for this – “Are You King or Hunter?â€
Okay, okay I’m only joking. I am not the goddess Aphrodite. At the last Jung seminar I went to a few weeks ago Aphrodite emerged as my archetype because of her creativity. Nobody would put herself on the line as a promo prize if she were not creative and daring. I am creative because I am and daring because I am old. If any young man sends me his application with results from the “Are You King or Hunter?†seminar, I will collapse into hysterical giggles. He will be treated to the sight of my extremely flabby arms and legs, my stomach that makes me look six months pregnant, and all the white hair hiding carefully under my black-brown dye.
I personally know three men who have taken this seminar and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. One is tall, not-so-dark and handsome-enough but very married. He is one of my very good male friends. I wrote about the seminar and he took it without even letting me know until afterwards. I believe he enjoyed himself because he has become part of our Carl Jung group.
One is short, chubby, salt-and-pepper hair, another old friend of mine. We worked together for a while but never got to be close friends until after his wife, who was another acquaintance of mine, passed away. I could see him suffering through his grief but he didn’t quite know what to do. So he took my writing classes, which hooked him into his heart, then he took the Jung seminar. These helped him a lot, according to his daughter. “He wouldn’t talk to anyone before,†she confided when I asked her how he was now. “Now he talks to strangers.â€
The third is my son, who also did not tell me he was going, but who told me later that he enjoyed himself.
Not one of them has confided what the benefits were. But I can see that it has changed them somewhat, built their confidence, made them more comfortable with themselves. I know they learned how to identify the gods and chose which ones they were. And because I have seen the results, I would like to recommend this session to men who are curious to learn more about themselves.
I saw on TV a recent promotion of a series called Stories. It was about a feature on the brain. Many brain scientists were given a sheet of paper and asked to assume that was the whole brain. Could they color the parts they thought were conscious? One lady colored a small corner. One man drew a small oblong somewhere off center. One man drew a really small square in the center of the page. These tiny areas were the areas of consciousness. See how little we know?
Anyway the King or Hunter workshop is on Sept. 12 and 13 in the afternoons. For more information, please call 0917-8317773.
As for winning Aphrodite, let’s talk after you take the seminar.
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Please send your comments to 0917-8155570.