Virgo 18: An ouija board

T h e w o r d O ui j a i s a t r a d e m a r k n a m e ( o r i g i n a l l y b y Ke n n a r d N o v e l t y C o . , Ba l t i m o r e , M d. ) c o m p o u n d e d f r o m t h e F r e n c h ou i a n d t h e G e r m a n ja b o t h of w h i c h m e a n "yes. I n t e r e st i n g l y , t h e w o r d y e s i s itself a compound in that it is c o m p r i s e d o f d e ri v a t i v e s o f t w o r o o t s . T he f i r s t o f t h e s e i s t h e I n d o - E ur o p e a n ( IE ) r o ot e s - w h i c h m e a n s to be.

1

I t s p a r o n ym s i n c l u d e t h e w o rd s s o o t h , s o o t he , su t t e e ( t he a ct o f

a H i n d u w i d o w w i l l i n g l y c r e m a t i n g he r s e l f o n t h e f u n e ra l p y r e o f he r d e a d h u s b a n d) , B odh i s a t t va, e n ti t y, es s e n ce , a b se n t, i mp ro ve , i n te re st ,

p re s en t 1, p re se nt 2, p ro u d, q u in te s s enc e , rep re se n t, st o ve r, a n d s wa s ti ka .
T h e o t h e r r o o t f r o m w h i c h y e s de s c e n d s i s t he I E r o ot i - , a p r o n o m i n a l s t e m. A m o n g i t s p a r o n y m s a r e i l k, yon de r, yea , yet , i d, ide m , i den t i ca l ,

i de n ti t y, i de nt i f y, it e ra te , i t e m , a n d ibi d ( l i t e r a l l y i n t h e s a m e p l a c e ;
u s e d i n f o ot n o t e s a n d b i b li o g r a p hi e s t o r e f e r t o a b o o k, ch a p t e r , a r t i c l e , o r p a g e , c i t e d j us t b e f o r e ) . F i n a l l y , t he w o r d b o ard d e s c e n d s f r om t h e I E r o ot b he rdh - w h i c h m e a n s t o c u t . I t s p a r o n y m s i n c l u d e t h e w o r d s b o rde r, bo rde l l o , t he c o m p o u n d s m o rga sb o rd , a n d f o rf i ca t e ( d e e p l y f o r k e d o r n o t c h e d, a s t h e t a i l s o f c e r t a i n b i rd s ) . TH EMES : I n F r e u di a n t h e o r y , t h e i d i s t he d i v i si o n o f t h e p s y c h e t h a t i s t o t a l l y u n c on s c i o u s a n d s e r v e s a s t h e s o u r c e o f i n s t i n c t u a l i mp u l s e s a n d d e m a n d s f o r i m m e d i a t e s a t i s f a ct i o n o f p r i m i t i v e n e e d s . 2 T h e w o r d

B o dh i s a t t va i s S a n s k r i t a n d m e a n s on e w h o s e e s se n c e i s p e r f e ct

1 Watkins, c. (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo -European Roots, p. 24 2 http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/id Starling Hunter 2011 1

k n o w l e d g e , " f r o m b o d h i ( p e r f e ct k n o w l e d g e ) a n d s a tt va " r e a l i t y , being."3 I n S a n k h y a a n d V e n d a n t i c p hi l o s o p h y, s at t va i s p a r t o f t r i - p a r t i t e d i v i s i o n o f n a t u r e d u l l n e s s o r i n e rt i a ( t a ma s) , ra j a s ( p a s si o n ) , a n d g o o d n e s s o r p u ri t y ( s at t va ) . 4 S i g m u n d F r e u d a d v a n c e d a t r i - p a r t i t e m o d e l o f t h e h u m a n p s y c h e t h e I d , e g o , a n d s up e r - e g o. A c c o r d i n g t o t h i s m o d e l, t h e i d i s t h e s e t o f u n c o or d i n a t e d i n s t i n c t ua l t r e n d s ; t h e e g o i s t he o r g a n i z e d , r e a l i st i c p a rt ; a n d t h e s u p e r - e go p l a y s t h e c r i t i c a l a n d m o r a li z i n g r o l e . 5 T h e r e i s a l s o a m o r p h o l o g i c a l re l a t i o n s h i p o f s o r t s. T h e w o r d

i de n ti t y a p p e a r s t o b e a c o m p o un d w o r d f o r m e d f r o m i d , a d e r i v a t i v e
o f t h e r o o t i - a n d t h e w o r d e n t it y , a d e r i v a t i ve o f t h e r oo t e s - . T h e u n i f y i n g t h e me a c r o s s a l l o f t he se r e l a t i o n s hi p s c o n c e r n s O NTOLO GY , t h e n a t u r e o f B EI NG .

3 http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=sattva 4 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sattva?r=66 5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/id,_ego,_and_super -ego Starling Hunter 2011 2