KNOCKING DOWN WALLS
———— WITH WORDS———–
The Archangel Michael stared resolutely ahead, his features set with divine commitment. He did not look at the dragon writhing under his foot – he did not acknowledge its power. The spear of ‘Mikhail’, in the beautiful Russian icon, impaled the adversary to the earth – or was the weapon a javelin, the Greek symbol of Eloquence?
Michael is one of the most commonly represented figures in Russian spiritual life, his characteristics are indelibly etched into the Slavic soul. Qualities like: a Promethean vision of the future; cosmic intelligence; spiritual courage; and Eloquence. Mikhail Gorbachev is Russian.
Mikhail, Michael – the same name? Coincidence maybe?
‘Mikhail who?’ we might have said only a few short years ago; yet in that time the already erstwhile Russian leader has done more to assure the safety of the world than any other modern leader. He alone applied the flame-thrower to the Cold War; and demolished the Berlin Wall – this he did Joshua style, with sound – or words!
How did he do it? Gorbachev is not a Machiavellian – he did not inveigle himself to the top of the promotional pyramid. He didn’t even shoot his opposition! Perhaps it was by expressing a combination of the above ‘Michaelian’ virtues, especially Eloquence.
The Being of Eloquence is 12-fold, but not all of its facets are vocalized, some are visual. When ‘Gorby’, as the Western press affectionately refers to him, is speaking, one can’t help looking at the man. Apart from a generally pleasing physiognomy, it is his command of ‘visual’ Eloquence that makes him prime-time viewing.
Aspect like Eye Contact; his eyes are never still, they engage with a range of emotions from smiling glances of implied intimacy, to searching stares indicating a sincerity to understand. Even people who assail him at airports are treated to the unconditional attention of his lively brown eyes. The sense of sight is a Capricorn faculty.
Hands are another aspect of this Eloquence Being, as any Italian greengrocer will attest. Mikhail Gorbachev’s hands reinforce the content of his words with elegant gesture; they are hands with repose one moment, and sculpt the air the next. ‘Faculty’, especially as expressed in the upper-limbs/hands, is a Gemini quality.
Another visual element of Eloquence is Posture; do we see Mikhail Sergeyevich slouching – or assuming a stance of pomposity? Everybody-element is in control. The silhouette he presents is one of balance and casual alertness. His Etheric Body, that connected with Leo, is conscious.
Of course Content is one of the most vital components of Eloquence. Unlike many in his profession, Gorbachev actually expressed ideas worth listening to (regrettably through translation). Ideas of global unity; of the abolition of militarism as a ‘security’ measure; of international economic and cultural cooperation! The Man/horse, Chiron the Centaur, of Sagittarius is a perennial image of Cosmic Intelligence, that which inspires thinkers with living content.
Humor is a necessary ingredient in human communication; Mikhail is renowned for his sparkling wit and easy manner. Humor adds the almost mystical element of ‘warmth’ towards those with whom we laugh. The sense of warmth belongs to Aquarius.
Voice projection, we are told, is cultivated to make sure that the latecomers at the back of the hall can hear us. Hearing by the way is the Piscean sense. A good projection style is also used to make people listen. The Russian ex-leader uses this technique deliberately, at times dropping his decibels to a conspiratorial whisper; at others, he will speak with a clear delivery that not only reaches the back of the hall, but to the crowd out in the foyer as well!
Timbre is the ‘balancing’, or Libran, faculty in speech. There is an imaginary ‘pitch’ line above and below which tonal modulations travel. A high-pitched voice, riding continually above this line soon begins to irritate, creating a kind of mild hysteria in the listener, especially children “Please stop talking!”. A dolorous tone, one which rarely rises above the ‘line’, sends the audience to dreamland. Gorbachev has a rich, melodious voice (of course!) which dances along the Timbre Tightrope, massaging his listeners semi-circular canals in a most agreeable way.
As for the other six Aspects of Eloquence, as a non-Russian, one can’t tell a great deal, being the vocal half-dozen: Imagery, a Scorpio aspect, is aided with the use of figures of speech; Poetry, including syntax, timing and sentence structure, belongs to Aries, with its sense of word; Vocabulary, had to tell whether the man uses the best possible word to express the thought – the sense of thought belongs to Taurus; Articulation? The speech organs seem to touch with precision, but in Russian, who knows? Touch? The sense expressing Cancer of course! Gorbachev might have practiced the exercise of Demosthenes, speaking with a pebble on his tongue to focus consciousness on articulation; Body Movement – the nature of his delivery from a podium or ‘style’ militates against a form of Eloquence which uses the given space as a stage, so Gorbachev’s Virgoan sense of movement remains obscure.
The ‘style’? Eloquence is ultimately about style; the symbol for the 9th and Head Muse of the 9 Muses of Greek legend, Calliope, is the Style and Tablet. The style is a small pillar or column (akin Gk., ‘stylobate’). The tablet is a ‘little table’ on top – a lectern or pulpit.
From here, Calliope, Muse of Eloquence, cultivated the high Mysteries of her art – and she taught her son Orpheus, yet another of the Greek Representatives of Man. Through his oracle on the Isle of Lesbos, he taught us!
Vicariously he probably taught the two most renowned 20th Century declaimers in the pre-Gorbachev era – Churchill and Hitler. The former employed what is known in speech circles as an Apollonian presentation, one based on Form (exquisite use of language). Hitler on the other hand, used a Dionysian delivery (typical!), with its reliance on surging emotions and powerful atmosphere. Like those jingoistic junkets of flag-waving and stirring military marches at the Nuremburg Rallies.
Hundreds would faint from emotional over-load, but you couldn’t fill a thimble with the content! Oh, no-one has ever been reported as fainting during a Churchill speech – falling asleep may be, but not fainting.
And Australia? Great eloquence is as rare as poetry in a pub in the Land of Oz; but from time to time a ringing voice can be heard above the grey noise of the public bar!
John Bell sounds one of those tuneful notes; he is our resident Tragedian, mastering surely one of the most difficult of the Seven Speech Styles. The deepest recesses of the soul must be accessed to find the necessary bathos to arrest ‘my fellow Australian’s’ cynicism. Tragedy, the most hard-to-find Style, is inspired from the Moon, that which would condemn Man, through its hardening forces, to the damnation, the Tragedy, of eternal earth-dwelling.
On the other hand, Comedy isn’t so easy either. What a carpet bag of devices has that modern master of extempore wit, Andrew Denton. His classic comedian’s countenance, emphasized by thick-lens glasses, provides him with an enduring air of comic incredulity. Denton delivers his side-splitting throw-away lines in a style that rocks the audience with mirth – one based on the quick-silver qualities of Mercury.
Carolyn Jones, satin-voiced national electronic-media journalist, doesn’t make people laugh. Instead, she has perfected the 3rd Speech Style, that of Venus – the Lyric. She beguiles us into a defenseless state of receptivity with her Lyric package, which includes beautiful open-handed gestures, hooded expressive eyes, mellifluous tonality, and superb turn-of-phrase.
Such a contrast is this to the Heroic, with its bold delivery, sweeping gesture and committed tone and sentiments – techniques perfected by our own international eco-activist, Helen Caldicott. Heroic speech is generated from the heart, organ of the Sun; from here originates the grand flourish which attends a Caldicott delivery. The Heroic rouses the audience to do something – now!
Who would dare leave Gough Whitlam out of an exposition on Australian Eloquence? His Dramatic speech style, depending so much on the play of positive/negative gave us one of our truly great declaimers. Every Australian old enough can recall ‘… but nothing can save the Governor General!’ (And apparently nothing did!). In Rome, a Mars-inspired civilization, judgements were influenced almost solely by the standard of oratory presented on the Senate steps. Have things really changed? Debate in parliament and the courts, both Mars or adversarial assemblies, would suggest not. Whitlam’s Dramatic addresses, with top lip arched, and larynx in pursuit-mode, are now part of the history of both Australia and Australian eloquence.
Why is John Laws the most highly paid radio announcer in the world? My guess is his capacity for the 6thSpeech Style, the Narrative. This is expressed convincingly in the record he made years ago, Little Boy Lot. His is the skill of the story-teller – the Ancient Mariner factor, that which calls upon the wise counsel of Jupiter. A nation a housewives (and others) are rivetted each day by Laws’, albeit invisible, ‘glittering eye’, as he dispenses ‘wisdom’ by the cartload. The airwaves year in, year out, reverberated to his Narrative skills, embellishing the issue-of-the-day with amusing and cutting figures-of-speech, emphasizing the significant, rejecting the irrelevant – suffering fools ungladly.
And all this with a voice of burred walnut!
My fellow Australians, it is my melancholy duty
to inform you that Great Britain has declared
war on Germany. As a consequence, Australis is
now also at war with Germany.
So spake the high priest of Australian eloquence, he who was both loved and reviled in about equal measure. Robert Menzies dwelt in the lofty realm of the Epic, the 7th Speech Style. His gravely pronounced utterances are indelibly imprinted on the souls of generations of Australians – Liberal and Labor! He made the individual feel that s/he had a role in the making of history. In terms of innovative policy-making, Menzies was all but indigent; but in invoking the Spirit of the Profound, that which is drawn from the deep wells of Saturn, Menzies was the maestro. This is the essence of the Epic; and this is what commends it to Time – not just his amazing eyebrows, sweeping imperiously up like black wings. The title of one of R.G.M.’s literary works was Speech is of Time – how apt.
January 20, 1966 was a sad day for Australian Epic Speech, if not for Australian politics. (It was also a sad day for cartoonists!). This was the day ‘Ming’ retired. But as the Down-Underans like to exercise their rather robust larynxes, new speech masters will step onto the public stage. Perhaps our strongest eloquence suit is egalitarianism – and the finest exponent of our time is Bob Hawke himself, he who, as prime Minister, spoke to the common man in us all. And he did it with insight and warmth – those tears were genuine!
We in Australia may not produce a Mikhail Gorbachev (The country is not recognized as a Michaelian Center – yet!), but because of his visionary capacity and internationalism, each of us can feel part of the momentous historical events for which he is so obviously a spiritual conduit – an Advocate of the Archangel Michael, the Spirit of the Time.
As al the Masters of Eloquence – whether they speak from the planetary inspiration of Tragic, Comic, Lyric, Heroic, Dramatic, Narrative or Epic – might say – I am, because I speak.
John Bell, circa 1962, playing God in the Wakefield Mystery Plays, your author and photographer played one of the ‘slayers of the Innocents’!
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