Brass Tacks

I don't know - who knows where that expression really originated.

Same as no one really knows who actually created the original Equestrian Statue Of Marcus Aurelius (circa AD 170). Okay if I advanced the statement that it was made by a Chinese bronze caster, it would be the first time in recent history such a thing was said.

Ah, nevertheless, though...

Anyway, let us move on to our current business. That of deciding what to designate as our wishes - presuming these beings are going to give us any, or at least, the notorious 'three' that they keep allowing all the stories to say.

Vignale built the body by private commission,
supported by the great Ford Motor Corporation,
and the marketing people cleverly
pictured the thing often before
the Equestrian Statue Of Marcus Aurelius
in Rome.

It does not befall us, however, to participate in this injudicious nonsense of getting stuck with some 'lesson' that we simply 'have' to learn. We don't wish to learn any lessons!

We just want a straightforward, no-nonsense, granting of some wishes.

That having been said though, we can most certainly give great consideration to the whole human context, and accept that it is not wise to go around showing off to the rest of the people everywhere around the place, who do not have this facility.

We will certainly arrive at much trouble if it generally became known that we 'got stuff' that the rest never got, or even were not even able to get.

So yes we must give great consideration to what it is that we are asking for.

Meanwhile, as you consider, let us turn to the matter of this famous 'King Solomon' about whom, the Jews never properly say what a certain phrase is, in there, in their Talmud explanation of Ecclesiastes 2:8 (Book of Kohelet).

They say, oh he was 'accumulating silver and gold and treasures of kings, male and female singers, and the pleasures of people.'

Errrr. That's not really right. He 'accumulated treasures and silver and gold and stuff, yep, but also - mistresses of delights; from the Sheddim.'

Well, you know, see, they tell you about the anakim, nephilim, and the elohim.

But now who are these 'Sheddim?'

I will tell you.

And from this you will profit much.

Sheddim are the Djinn, aka Genies. The Genie people.

And where do they usually live?

We can consult the works of ibn Battuta, the Arabic traveler and scholar of the 14th century. He relates that there are 'sky palaces,' and 'islands floating in the sky above the clouds of China' in which the Djinn reside.

Wonder what he could be talking about, eh?

Do you wonder?

I do not wonder.

And neither should you.

But merely rest your worries over whether such beings exist, and now that you know they most certainly do (for who doubts Solomon, and all that is written about him??!), turn your thoughts to what to seek of them, for great is their power, and deep is their knowledge, and beneficent are they (of the Djinn) who will consult with you on friendly terms, B'ism-i-azm, al-El. (Which is the right way to say it; there is no such correct Arabic as 'Bismillah.')

Light your flame in your lonely tent in the desert sands, late in the evening, consulting the stars above, and observing in what houses of the moon is Jupiter, and where in the vault of heaven lies Sirius, perform only two rakats (of the prescribed movements of the Pharaoh Suleiman Malek - aka Amenemhat III - which are memorialized upon the pyramidion called after his name), and by-and-by the Djinn appointed to consult with you shall appear, and ask of you what your wish is. Say to this Djinn 'naught is my wish other than my daily bread and the friendship of the wise always.' And the Djinn shall thereupon bring to you a scroll upon which is a mysterious writing.

Each time the eye of your mind sees but a single letter written upon this scroll, some great boon shall fall unto you the very next day. And no danger shall touch your living soul. And your knowledge shall increase and to your accumulation of health and silver and gold and treasures of kings all shall be added, as one thing on top of the other, daily forever, like the sands in the desert build their own mountains by the breath of the wind, over which the camel caravans must plow, in order to reach the other side for the purposes of the caravan-masters' trade. And God is Most Merciful, Wise.

And it shall be unto you, enough.