{"id":144,"date":"2008-10-01T00:04:38","date_gmt":"2008-10-01T00:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=141"},"modified":"2008-09-28T18:08:21","modified_gmt":"2008-09-28T18:08:21","slug":"the-song-of-medusa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2008\/10\/01\/the-song-of-medusa\/","title":{"rendered":"THE SONG OF MEDUSA"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"short-stories-the-song-of-medusa\"<\/a><\/p>\n

PREFACE <\/strong>
\nAnd perhaps a tree
\nstanding in the forest
\nfills its leaves
\nwith the breath
\nof the World
\nand we listen
\nand we are not alone.
\n— THE BOOK OF GAIA<\/strong>
\n(Vezhna MS 2379, trans. w\/comm.
\nAnastasia D’Mitriev, 1999) <\/em><\/p>\n

For the general reader, we hope that this document, fragmentary though it may be, will provide a more human understanding of two figures who are already passing into legend, although they themselves might not have wanted it so.
\nClearly, neither Anastasia D’Mitriev, “Ana” to her many admirers, nor Jason Sumner, would have considered themselves intrinsically remarkable.\u00a0 Throughout their careers, both avoided publicity insofar as it was possible.\u00a0 Certainly, their long struggle to decode the Vezhna Manuscript, to publish their extraordinary findings, and to gain credibility, was a heroic task.\u00a0\u00a0 A task that has contributed\u00a0 not only to archeology, but also to an emerging paradigm with far-reaching implications for the future.\u00a0\u00a0 The tragic automobile accident that took both their lives was a great loss; and yet, we believe they would be pleased with the world-wide blossoming today of the seeds they planted before leaving this world.
\nWhat we offer herein is a collection of materials compiled from the autobiography of Jason Sumner, excerpts from the personal diaries of Ana D’Mitriev, commentaries by other individuals who participated in the project during its inception, and a variety of related materials.\u00a0 And most importantly, we include excerpts from their translation of the\u00a0 Vezhna manuscripts, which have been widely published for the past ten years\u00a0 as The Book of Gaia<\/strong>.
\nThe editors wish to thank Leial D’Mitriev, and members of the Community of Origins, who made available to us excerpts from the unpublished Diaries of Ana D’Mitriev.\u00a0 Without their cooperation\u00a0 and archives this publication would never have been made possible.
\nSusan Ashley & Mark Delaney
\nHarvard University, Cambridge, 2023
\n*\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 * <\/strong><\/p>\n

LABYRINTH <\/strong><\/p>\n

And so it was
\nthat Life became complex.
\nTHE BOOK OF GAIA<\/p>\n

From THE SONG OF MEDUSA – An Autobiography of Jason Sumner<\/strong>
\nEdited by Sandra Herdez
\nPub. Harper Collins New York,\u00a0 2011
\nBulgaria can be confusing to an American.\u00a0 The body language, for instance.\u00a0 They shake their heads to mean “yes” and nod them for “no”.
\nThe place looks very much like most Americans would expect a Balkan country to look – sort of a cross between Mexico and Hollywood’s idea of middle Europe. You expect the food and drink to be sharp, but instead it’s all loaded with sugar.
\nThere are a lot of bad teeth in Bulgaria.
\nThe new Bulgarian government was, naturally, highly suspicious of Americans.\u00a0 To the common people, all foreigners were the same, treated with an offhand, almost distant, hospitality.
\nI asked Georgi about this once.
\n“You are not Bulgar”, he said, “So of course you are a bit mad.\u00a0 It’s okay, we understand.”
\nVezhna was no longer expected to yield spectacular finds.\u00a0 A shepherd had found shards of pottery at the mouth of a small animal’s den, and they proved to be quite ancient – almost five thousand years old.\u00a0 Initially, this stirred up a great deal of excitement.
\nIn the 1970’s, one of the world’s oldest treasures of gold objects was excavated in several\u00a0 Neolithic gravesites near Varna, on the Black Sea coast.\u00a0\u00a0 The handiwork of precursors to the marvelous goldsmiths of ancient Thrace,\u00a0 the find was quite extraordinary.\u00a0 The Bulgarian government, hoping for another Varna at the Vezhna site, put together an archeological team made up of their own best people, and\u00a0 scientists from several other countries, myself included.
\nWithin a\u00a0 month, the site seemed to be tapped out. It appeared to be a small settlement,\u00a0 yielding only a few late Bronze age implements, ancient mementoes of any number of nomadic encampments that had passed that way, and bits of pottery.\u00a0\u00a0 By the end of the second month, the “international team” consisted of myself, my graduate students, D’Mtriev and Hanchrow, a Bulgarian archeologist who was away at his lab in Sophia most of the time, and his graduate student, Geogi.
\nIt was a soggy Spring in Vezhna, and I was beginning to wonder why the hell\u00a0 I was still here.
\nVezhna can hardly be called a town; I suppose it came close to being a good sized village in earlier days, but, like much of rural Bulgaria, in the last 30 years or so it’s lost most of its youthful population to the cities, and the village of Vezhna consists mainly of older folks now.\u00a0 Situated along the Maritsa River, with the foothills of the Rhodope Mountains at their aging backs, mist rolls down from steep, overgrazed pastures, which surround the hilly little village.\u00a0 The red tile roofs and whitewashed houses are an agreeably bright contrast to the gray skies and muted greens of early spring.
\nScenic?\u00a0 I suppose so.\u00a0 Bells on goats and sheep clank as they’re led to pasture in the morning.\u00a0 An old crone snaps firewood to cook her breakfast, windows hang with the ubiquitous red paprika peppers.\u00a0 And alongside practically every house tobacco leaves are drying under tents of plastic.
\nBulgaria is one of the largest exporters of cigarettes in the world, particularly to the former Soviet Union.
\nIn fact, cigarettes are one of the few products that are not in short supply.\u00a0 Bulgarians smoke so many Shipkas and BT’s that it’s a wonder any of them survive past
\n30.\u00a0 Unfortunately, I can’t stand Bulgarian tobacco.
\n*\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *<\/strong>
\nEDITOR’S NOTES: <\/strong>
\nThe unpublished personal Diaries of Ana D’Mitriev, written on notebooks while she was in the field with Jason Sumner, are incomplete and fragmentary.\u00a0 Since it is our hope to share in this document a brief, and even intimate look at the personalities of these two people and the processes that led them to later publish THE BOOK OF GAIA, we have selected entries from Ana’s diaries, which were so kindly given to us by her sister, Leial, almost at random.\u00a0 We have done the same with excerpts from Jason Sumner’s autobiography, THE SONG OF MEDUSA, which was edited and published in 2011, shortly after his, and Ana’s, untimely deaths.<\/p>\n

This book can be purchased through Infinity Press\u00a0 http:\/\/www.infinitypublishing.com\/<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PREFACE And perhaps a tree standing in the forest fills its leaves with the breath of the World and we listen and we are not alone. — THE BOOK OF GAIA (Vezhna MS 2379, trans. w\/comm. Anastasia D’Mitriev, 1999) For the general reader, we hope that this document, fragmentary though it may be, will provide a more human understanding of two figures who are already passing into legend, although they themselves might not have wanted it so. Clearly, neither Anastasia D’Mitriev, “Ana” to her many admirers, nor Jason Sumner, would have considered themselves intrinsically remarkable.\u00a0 Throughout their careers, both avoided publicity insofar as it was possible.\u00a0 Certainly, their long struggle to decode the Vezhna Manuscript, to publish their extraordinary findings, and to gain credibility, was a heroic task.\u00a0\u00a0 A task that has contributed\u00a0 not only to archeology, but also to an emerging paradigm with far-reaching implications for the future.\u00a0\u00a0 The tragic automobile accident that took both their lives was a great loss; and yet, we believe they would be pleased with the world-wide blossoming today of the seeds they planted before leaving this world. What we offer herein is a collection of materials compiled from the autobiography of Jason Sumner, excerpts from the personal diaries of Ana D’Mitriev, commentaries by other individuals who participated in the project during its inception, and a variety of related materials.\u00a0 And most importantly, we include excerpts from their translation of the\u00a0 Vezhna manuscripts, which have been widely published for the past ten years\u00a0 as The Book of Gaia. The editors wish to thank Leial D’Mitriev, and members of the Community of Origins, who made available to us excerpts from the unpublished Diaries of Ana D’Mitriev.\u00a0 Without their cooperation\u00a0 and archives this publication would never have been made possible. Susan Ashley & Mark Delaney Harvard University, Cambridge, 2023 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 * LABYRINTH And so it was that Life became complex. THE BOOK OF GAIA From THE SONG OF MEDUSA – An Autobiography of Jason Sumner Edited by Sandra Herdez Pub. Harper Collins New York,\u00a0 2011 Bulgaria can be confusing to an American.\u00a0 The body language, for instance.\u00a0 They shake their heads to mean “yes” and nod them for “no”. The place looks very much like most Americans would expect a Balkan country to look – sort of a cross between Mexico and Hollywood’s idea of middle Europe. You expect the food and drink to be sharp, but instead it’s all loaded with sugar. There are a lot of bad teeth in Bulgaria. The new Bulgarian government was, naturally, highly suspicious of Americans.\u00a0 To the common people, all foreigners were the same, treated with an offhand, almost distant, hospitality. I asked Georgi about this once. “You are not Bulgar”, he said, “So of course you are a bit mad.\u00a0 It’s okay, we understand.” Vezhna was no longer expected to yield spectacular finds.\u00a0 A shepherd had found shards of pottery at the mouth of a small animal’s den, and they proved to be quite ancient – almost five thousand years old.\u00a0 Initially, this stirred up a great deal of excitement. In the 1970’s, one of the world’s oldest treasures of gold objects was excavated in several\u00a0 Neolithic gravesites near Varna, on the Black Sea coast.\u00a0\u00a0 The handiwork of precursors to the marvelous goldsmiths of ancient Thrace,\u00a0 the find was quite extraordinary.\u00a0 The Bulgarian government, hoping for another Varna at the Vezhna site, put together an archeological team made up of their own best people, and\u00a0 scientists from several other countries, myself included. Within a\u00a0 month, the site seemed to be tapped out. It appeared to be a small settlement,\u00a0 yielding only a few late Bronze age implements, ancient mementoes of any number of nomadic encampments that had passed that way, and bits of pottery.\u00a0\u00a0 By the end of the second month, the “international team” consisted of myself, my graduate students, D’Mtriev and Hanchrow, a Bulgarian archeologist who was away at his lab in Sophia most of the time, and his graduate student, Geogi. It was a soggy Spring in Vezhna, and I was beginning to wonder why the hell\u00a0 I was still here. Vezhna can hardly be called a town; I suppose it came close to being a good sized village in earlier days, but, like much of rural Bulgaria, in the last 30 years or so it’s lost most of its youthful population to the cities, and the village of Vezhna consists mainly of older folks now.\u00a0 Situated along the Maritsa River, with the foothills of the Rhodope Mountains at their aging backs, mist rolls down from steep, overgrazed pastures, which surround the hilly little village.\u00a0 The red tile roofs and whitewashed houses are an agreeably bright contrast to the gray skies and muted greens of early spring. Scenic?\u00a0 I suppose so.\u00a0 Bells on goats and sheep clank as they’re led to pasture in the morning.\u00a0 An old crone snaps firewood to cook her breakfast, windows hang with the ubiquitous red paprika peppers.\u00a0 And alongside practically every house tobacco leaves are drying under tents of plastic. Bulgaria is one of the largest exporters of cigarettes in the world, particularly to the former Soviet Union. In fact, cigarettes are one of the few products that are not in short supply.\u00a0 Bulgarians smoke so many Shipkas and BT’s that it’s a wonder any of them survive past 30.\u00a0 Unfortunately, I can’t stand Bulgarian tobacco. *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 * EDITOR’S NOTES: The unpublished personal Diaries of Ana D’Mitriev, written on notebooks while she was in the field with Jason Sumner, are incomplete and fragmentary.\u00a0 Since it is our hope to share in this document a brief, and even intimate look at the personalities of these two people and the processes that led them to later publish THE BOOK OF GAIA, we have selected entries from Ana’s diaries, which were so kindly given to us by her sister, Leial, almost at random.\u00a0 We have done the same with excerpts from Jason Sumner’s autobiography, THE SONG OF MEDUSA, which was edited and published in 2011, shortly after his, and Ana’s, untimely deaths. This book can be purchased through Infinity Press\u00a0 http:\/\/www.infinitypublishing.com\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}