The Book of Thoth

Massachusetts Wiccans 45, Tebow Christians 10

2012-01-15T10:06:00.006-05:00

The witches of Massachusetts scored a decisive victory over the christians of Denver. Well, it has to be true! I read it on Fox News!

I don't profess to know the secrets of the creator, but I am betting that s/he is not concerned about who wins a fake war on 100 yards of fake grass between American Football teams from Boston and Denver. Then again...I guess you never know!

All I can say is, thank the gods that Tebow-mania is done for six months.

Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think.

2011-12-26T22:49:00.003-05:00

Thus sang Prince Buster in 1963.

While you're still in the pink.

Double rainbow

2011-12-22T14:57:00.002-05:00

My car was parked right near the end of the rainbow...no lie. No pot of gold but a beautiful scene.

Ears to our World

2011-12-17T11:37:00.015-05:00

This is the time of year when those of us who can afford it, consider contributing to charities that might be meaningful in the sense that they help in our local community, like a food bank or United Way.

Others may think more nationally and give to a charity that is near and dear to their hearts; say, the ASPCA if you are an animal lover.

For a while I have been following and contributing to a charity that thinks globally about what we can do to improve lives everywhere. The non-profit is called Ears to our World. It distributes self-powered (wind-up) shortwave radio receivers to impoverished and information-hungry people everywhere, allowing them to listen to long-distance news and information programs from broadcasters around the world, in their own language. In the developed world we take this kind of access to information for granted, but in many parts of the globe this kind of access is simply not available.

ETOW was started by Thomas Witherspoon and was initially funded with a huge contribution of radio receivers by the manufacturer, Eton corporation. The foundation carries on today with contributions from all over the world, sending radios to schools and communities in Africa, Asia, South America and Central America. ETOW was there in earthquake-stricken Haiti and Chile, and provides receivers to education foundations all throughout Africa and Asia as well.

It's a beautiful, efficient, elegant idea. Each receiver will probably touch at least 20 lives by allowing locals to hear British Broadcasting, the Voice of America, and many other shortwave outlets who broadcast in local languages to their target audiences. Being self-powered, the radios are not dependent on batteries or AC mains power, neither of which are available in most of the areas they serve.

ETOW recognizes that we are all one global village, and that no one should be deprived of the ability to get news and information from all corners of the village. I salute ETOW for the fine work they do, and wish all TBoT readers a very happy and safe holiday season.

MBU Warr - 1 Year Report from Thomas Witherspoon on Vimeo.

My Serial Life

2011-11-27T16:16:00.004-05:00

It crept up on me, a little at a time. I almost didn't notice how it was taking over my life. With each passing day I became more and more dependent on it. If it were to crash or disappear tomorrow, my entire life would be in disarray.

"It" is the ubiquitous USB port. In case you didn't already know, it stands for Universal Serial Bus (serial just means one bit of data at a time). It's like the new AC wall socket of the 21st century even though it's been around for almost twenty years.

I went through a typical day to see all the ways in which a USB device of one kind or another touches my life.

The alarm goes off on my phone, whose battery received its charge via a USB cable attached to my PC.
I check my email. Not being crazy about the touchpad on my notebook computer, and being half-asleep anyway, I use a mouse plugged into one of the notebook's three USB ports. Three are not enough, by the way.
I hop in the car to tackle another day of work. The sweet music soothing the savage beast of a driver is being served via mp3 by an 8 Gb memory stick plugged into my Ford's USB port, right between the two cigarette lighters (two?)
My PC at work has every USB port occupied. It serves my keyboard, mouse, another phone charger (I talk a lot), and a charger for my wireless headset.
At lunch time I do a little reading on my Nook, whose many PDF-formatted books were transferred to it by a USB cable.
I print out a presentation for a co-worker, on a USB attached printer.
Later I go out for a run. My GPS/fitness watch records my mileage and pace, which gets transferred to my PC later over the watch's USB port (a pain by the way to get it attached to the watch properly).
I decide to hack a little hardware on a microprocessor board called an Arduino. I write code on my PC and it gets transferred to the Arduino board by means of...of course.
My car's GPS doesn't have the latest road closings around here, so to navigate rationally, I download the updated data to the device through that little black cable, with the silver rectangular end.

And on it goes. Not to mention the various memory sticks I have to swap files with my kids or co-workers.

It became so popular for a very good reason: it provides a simple way to transfer both power and data in one connector. Functionality like that almost assures its success and widespread adoption.

Once upon a time, PC's used to have printer ports and RS-232 ports. Not any more. If you work in hardware technology and need a compatible RS-232 device interface you have to buy a special adapter that plugs in to...you guessed it.

So that's how it is. The USB has become our lifeline to everything that touches us. Now if we could only find a way to keep me from always trying to plug it in UPSIDE DOWN.

Pepper Spray Cop becomes "objet d'art"

2011-11-23T09:29:00.004-05:00

From Dvorak's blog:

http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2011/11/22/pepper-spray-cop-art-goes-viral/

Happy Nigel Tufnel day - 11/11/11

2011-11-11T06:21:00.000-05:00

Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and...
Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?
Nigel Tufnel: Exactly.
Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder?
Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?
Marty DiBergi: I don't know.
Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven.
Nigel Tufnel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.
Marty DiBergi: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?
Nigel Tufnel: [pause] These go to eleven.

The Freaky Flashed Faces Effect

2011-10-08T19:20:00.007-04:00

Researchers in Australia have (maybe) uncovered an amazing optical illusion in the way we perceive faces. The following example will show you what this is all about. Keep in mind these are ALL normal, average faces. They are simply lined up together at eye level.

What is the Flashed Face Distortion Effect? from The University of Queensland on Vimeo.

So can it be possible that our worst nightmares are actually the result of optical illusion and visual indirection? This is pretty compelling. Read about the research here.

New at Technoccult

2011-09-18T12:18:00.002-04:00

Technoccult usually has some pretty good articles. I direct your attention to a couple of recent ones:

Witch Style hits Diesel Stores. Interesting fashions.

Wired interviews Vegan Black Metal chef. With a couple of youtube's.

Home

2011-08-31T22:01:00.005-04:00

This image of Earth (on the left) and the moon (on the right) was taken by NASA's Juno spacecraft on Aug. 26, 2011, when the spacecraft was about 6 million miles (9.66 million kilometers) away. It was taken by the spacecraft's onboard camera, JunoCam. The solar-powered Juno spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Aug. 5 to begin a five-year journey to Jupiter. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

An amazing view that captures the frailty and insignificance of man and his planet. Everything we hold dear, all of man's domain and his earthen home is in the little dot on the left.

Just beautiful.

Scrying 101

2011-08-18T21:04:00.003-04:00

Having saved this gorgeous piece of crystal from the dustbin (yes, someone was going to throw it out), I felt a strong attachment to this heavy four-inch (10 cm) diameter beauty and to begin to meditate using it.

I usually recline and subdue the lights, focusing and turning the crystal in my hand until a particular pattern of reflection catches my eye, then I hold it steady while allowing my mind to go blank. My eyes feed the softly lit reflections directly to my mind. Usually this means holding the crystal in such a way that I am looking at its edge, and focusing on the surfaces right above and below it.

Sometimes I will get a glimpse of someone's face that I recognize. Often I see what I could consider a symbol, a metaphor for something else. Lines on a highway, for instance, that may portend a trip of some sort, or other representative images.

It's generally very calming to scry with this crystal, sometimes frustrating, sometimes evocative, but always instructive.

Before Stonehenge, before the Pyramids

2011-08-15T21:02:00.008-04:00

...there was Gobekli Tepe.

This recent archaeological discovery is now the earliest evidence of man's spiritual observances and quest for religious meaning. Try 12,000 years ago...earlier than anything else we have found of man's ability to build such structures.

This site in south-central Turkey is noted for its large, T-shaped stone pillars that were excavated miles away and brought to this site. The pillars likely held up large roofs, but are also remarkable for their depiction of animals and stylized symbols in shallow relief on the pillars' surfaces.

No one yet knows about the society that built this complex, or how the workers were treated. This is an ongoing exploration that, as yet, has produced more questions than answers.

I can do nothing more than share these amazing views.

Moundsville, WV

2011-08-11T20:22:00.011-04:00

For a small city in the northern panhandle of West Virginia, Moundsville has two unusual features that are certainly fodder for those interested in hauntings, spirituality and the unexplained.

First is the giant burial mound from which the town got its name. Traced back well over two thousand years, this sacred ground is where the native settlers of this region buried their dead along with artifacts relating to the deceased. Burial mounds used to cover this entire region of the Alleghenies; this is one of the few survivors. Atop the mound is a monument with the four cardinal directions in stone.

A museum at the base of the mound details the people of that age, how they may have looked and their lifestyle. Interestingly they had a writing technique very similar to the inscriptions on runes that date back to Scandinavia, but not quite the same. While touring the grounds I tried to sense the presences of some of the spirits, but to no avail.

Then right across the street from the mound and museum, is the old West Virginia State Penitentiary. Quite frankly, the place gave me the űber-creeps, and I didn't even cross the street to see it. I took one cell phone photo from the mound parking lot!

It's easy to see why I felt the willies here. This place has been featured on many of those "haunted places" shows on TV. The prison was still occupied by inmates when I first set eyes on it in 1981 but has since been closed. Riots and jailbreaks were commonplace here and the place had a reputation for cruelty, especially considering "old Sparky", the electric chair in which many of the condemned breathed their last.

The architecture is gothic and its size extends about the area of sixteen city blocks. Tours are given here daily. Might be nice to do that sometime when I'm feeling more...defended.

It's amazing to find two such dissimilar yet related places literally across the street from each other.

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Michael Jackson's ghost?

2011-07-31T20:28:00.010-04:00

Did the CNN crew filming in Neverland in the aftermath of Michael Jackson's death inadvertently film his ghost? Judge for yourself. Looks like a shadow to me but doesn't look like there was anyone around to make the shadow. And doesn't the...whatever it is...look somewhat like MJ's profile? At 1:58 of this video.

Oh well, it's interesting to speculate. Now if that apparition started moonwalking...

Tarot designs at the Warhol Museum

2011-07-29T18:25:00.006-04:00

Pop art icon Andy Warhol grew up in Pittsburgh, but left there in the middle of the industrial 20th Century for the artistic oasis that is New York. Pittsburgh had the last laugh in 1994 as it opened the Andy Warhol Museum, obtaining much of the artist's works from his foundation, for display there.

Occasionally the Museum will host displays by modern artists in keeping with a theme related to Warhol in some way. It was with great interest that I came this week to see Contemporary Magic: A Tarot Deck Art Project going on now. There is an old black and white video of a young female doing a reading for the musical group The Velvet Underground, which Warhol produced in the '60's. There is also a Rider-Waite deck on display from that time period.

But the card interpretations by these artists are the real star of this exhibit. Witness a couple of eyebrow-raisers: Batman as the Hierophant, Freddie Krueger as the Seven of Swords, Karl Lagerfeld as the King of Wands, and an upside-down Andy himself as, of course, the Hanged Man.

Not enough? See fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood driving a golf cart as the Chariot. See an amazingly disturbing line drawing of a woman in a compromising position as the Empress.

Also at the Warhol at this time is an exhibit called The Word of God(ess), a display of the art of Chitra Ganesh, art that is very Indian and also quite provocative, that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The latest attack on the United States

2011-07-25T18:45:00.007-04:00

Christian Fundamentalists continue to spread their divisive rhetoric. Thanks to Anne at "The Gods are Bored" for sharing this latest group of nutters; we all need to protect ourselves and our country with spiritual self-defense.

The group is called DC40, and it is their intention to engage in "spiritual warfare" (their term!) to take over the heart and soul of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, which they arrogantly rename the "District of Christ". Have a look at this, if you can stomach it:

As the video blatantly describes, they plan on 51 days of ~~prayer~~ black magic to advance their idea of a country that is Christian to the exclusion and marginalization of everyone who is not so.

This is an occult attack on tolerance and diversity, nothing less. I urge you to spread the word about this latest attack on freedom of worship. Use psychic self-defense to protect yourself, your community, and your country from this hatred.

PS. Does the announcer in this video sound like a certain former President from Texas? Intentional? Count on it.

I get Nookie!

2011-07-02T15:32:00.008-04:00

Film at 11!

The availability of the Occult Underground site, as mentioned in the last post, and the free downloads of occult texts both there and at the Gutenberg site, convinced me that I should get an e-reader.

I am so glad I did. This Nook is great, even if it isn't the latest/greatest color version (so I got this one cheap.) I have been filling it up with downloaded books from these sites and others and it is a pleasure to use and read. My first book is "Psychic Self-Defense" by Dion Fortune, and it's great to pull out and read anytime, at lunch, on the bus, or before bed.

This is the way to go. I love holding a book in my hand but how else can you get hundreds of volumes in a portable package like this? I've got 45 downloaded so far and that only uses 4% of capacity.

Each book has its own bookmark, and you can password-protect the Nook to keep prying eyes away from your material.

It will be a great reading summer around here.

E-books from Occult Underground

2011-06-11T11:50:00.006-04:00

What a great resource this is for anyone wishing to read classic occult texts!

http://www.occult-underground.com/ebooks/

On one site you will find PDF's of all manner of esoteric subjects that you can load into your Nook or Kindle. Books by Blavatsky, Crowley, Levi (pictured), Regardie and others will keep you reading for, literally, years.

Congratulations to the webmaster of Occult Underground for making these public-domain texts available.

Book review: EsoTerra, the Journal of Extreme Culture

2011-06-04T18:28:00.006-04:00

This book is a great compendium of articles that first appeared in the Los Angeles-based publication by the same name. I love it. It's an eclectic journal of pop culture, occult topics, sexual deviation, music, art, prose, and philosophy.

This book is not for the faint of heart. The topics here are raw and reflect a lot of the steamy underside of society and culture. Interviews with HR Giger, Marilyn Manson, Charles Nemo, Genesis P-Orridge, Alan Moore, and countless others grace the pages of this collection. Editor and magazine founder Chad Hensley does a great job selecting the best pieces of this pivotal journal, capturing the '90's and early 2000's west coast subculture.

Bravo for EsoTerra, I am enjoying it immensely. If extreme culture sounds like your cup of tea, look no further for hours and hours of great reading.

Yesterday's Concrete

2011-06-02T22:24:00.004-04:00

I've been seeing sights like this a lot lately. Been seeing places that used to have a concrete parking lot, where people used to park. Now the buildings are gone, or closed and neglected, and grass grows back in the cracks of the concrete, trying to reclaim its past.

I get strange vibrations when seeing places like this. Vibrations of people from twenty or more years ago that came to a vibrant place to shop, or visit a doctor, or have a meal, or whatever. I look at the breaking gray slabs and feel who must have walked over that area with a sense of purpose and destination.

There is a shopping mall in Ohio that is completely abandoned, with huge parking lots that look just like this as far as the eye can see. Was there no better use to put this land to? A place for kids to ride bikes or young people to learn to drive (in a structured way)? Couldn't an abandoned building be put to use as a homeless shelter, children's play area or senior's center?

This is the dark side of capitalism. When something has outlived its means to generate an "acceptable" profit margin, and you can't sell it for the price you want, just abandon it, default on the loan and taxes, and write it off.

But you can't write off people's pasts, people's memories and the reasons they came here in the first place. They live on though the location decays.

Metaphysical Graffiti

2011-05-30T10:23:00.011-04:00

There are a couple of random things I would like to express to you readers.

What happens when curses you put on people come true? This has happened to a woman psychic I know. One curse wished death upon a convicted sex offender with a personal connection, and that death happened six months later. The other wished for the financial ruin of a malicious person, who subsequently was forced into an undesired retirement. (One other curse for financial ruin has not come true--yet.) Don't misunderstand, I think it was incredibly selfish of this psychic to initiate those curses, and I was quite skeptical last year when she told me she had placed them. Now, I look at what happened in amazement (and I stay on her good side).

I really wanted to reach out to someone who has passed, a relative who I respected and admired deeply. In his physical life he was very reclusive and, due to circumstances in his childhood, did not interact much with family. Well, no big surprise, he is the same on the other side. He does not wish to reach back. I guess I understand, and again perhaps it is selfish of me. If my readers can find a moment to implore E. to open up, I will not judge him or anything he has done in the past. Thanks.

I don't make predictions but this one feels so strong I'm going to express it anyway. I sense a period of global calm and prosperity approaching. This is in direct opposition to many of the doomsday forecasts about a worldwide financial meltdown. It simply will not happen. The next six to eight years will be a period of relative peace and prosperity. The exception however will be the weather; we can do nothing about the effects of global warming which are coming home to roost now. The atmosphere holds more moisture due to the rising temperature, weather is going to continue its violent ways, and we are going to have to adapt. But adapt we will.

Peace and love to all on this Memorial Day (US). Stay open to the energy around you.

The Blasted Tower

2011-05-28T23:33:00.006-04:00

Is there any more dramatic symbol in the Tarot than the Tower?

Atu XVI is the forecaster of sudden, drastic upheaval. It makes me think about all the destruction in Missouri from tornadoes this year. The concept of the Tower is based on the Bible's tale of the tower of Babel and how destruction befell it and the wicked within it. And in our own time, who can forget the "drastic upheaval" when our towers in New York were blasted?

For those individuals for whom the Tower has symbolically collapsed, no consolation can satisfy, no explanation can rectify. Many in my sphere including some of you dear bloggers are undergoing that collapse and it's frightening.

The important concept as it relates to the blasted Tower, is what becomes of the ruins. Do we wallow and pity ourselves while moping in the rubble? Or do we build anew from the foundation? Do we take our lessons learned, catalog them, understand the concepts, and design a new Tower for ourselves? One that will serve as our true emotional home going forward?

"Whatever does not kill you, makes you stronger." May I paraphrase that and say that true strength and perseverance comes from what you do after the Tower collapses.

The Magick of one DJ and 250,000 Music Fans

2011-05-13T21:26:00.004-04:00

July of 2002. Sixty thousand were expected for the show, but 250,000 showed up. Remind you of another big music festival?

I've watched videos from that event, such as this one, many times. For some reason there's a special vibe, a resonance, about the playfulness and innocence seen here. This video is just one of many to see on YouTube from this event, but is a wonderful representative.

Were you there at Brighton Beach? Tell us how it really was.

The cosmic consequences of the DTB

2011-05-07T13:18:00.004-04:00

Take a good look at the two photos inside the Devil's Toy Box I built. I say this because those photos are all that remain of it.

I destroyed the box last Sunday night. The very day I built it, five days earlier on Tuesday, misfortune befell my family, though I did not learn of it until Saturday. A day of reflection (sorry, pun unintended) convinced me it should be destroyed, despite my fascination with it. So destroy it I did, and it was a difficult decision because I had spent a few hours getting it right and it was near perfect in its geometry.

Destroying the box brought me--within minutes--complete validation that its destruction was the right course.

Be careful in everything you do; there are no coincidences.

Another photo inside the Room full of Mirrors

2011-04-29T16:40:00.004-04:00

No noises heard from this yet, but I'll bet they're not far off. Flash disabled, shutter on timer, a little light coming in from the top.

Think about living in this!

Click on the image for a larger version.

Cell phone inside the Devil's Toy Box

2011-04-27T23:20:00.003-04:00

Kind of appropriate, don't you think?

The Science Tarot: a closer look

2011-04-07T17:07:00.009-04:00

The Science Tarot is gaining in popularity and gravitas. Many who would not contemplate the traditional Tarot deck are investigating these wonderful images of astronomy, nature, relativity, and every major type of scientific concept, and how they relate to the themes we know so well from the traditional deck.

We took a brief look at Science Tarot last year, but let's examine it a little more closely.

Thumbing through and appreciating these images, these associations are among the many that stand out for me:

Supernova (Ten of Wands)
Chaos Theory (Seven of Swords)
The Big Bang (Eight of Wands)
Schroedinger's Cat (Wheel of Fortune)
Atomic Bomb (The Tower)
Student (The Fool)

Perfect! The Science Tarot is a great deck to have, and like most decks comes with a descriptive book specifically addressing the correspondences between the scientific and tarotian worlds.

Enjoy this video.

The Other Side of the World

2011-03-13T09:36:00.003-04:00

I can't add anything to the images and news reports coming from Japan.

Let's work together and use our power of will and meditation. Yes it is so far away from most of our readers, but join me in sending your healing energy to all those souls, both survivors and casualties, who have suffered due to the natural forces in our earth. A donation to Red Cross would not hurt either.

May the brave people of Japan also figure out a way to cool and stop those runaway nuclear reactors. Dan Fogelberg sang nearly forty years ago, "kill the fire, and turn to the sun" for our energy needs. When will we ever learn?

Lunar perigee: harbinger of doom?

2011-03-10T22:30:00.006-05:00

On March 19th, the moon will be closer to the earth than it's been since 1992. The gravitational effects we know well, the ocean tides, will feel the effect: low tide will be a little lower and high tide will be a little higher, but according to most scientists that will be the only effect.

There are differing opinions, though. Will that little bit of extra gravity be the final straw that causes "the big one" in California or causes a tsunami across the Pacific? Astrologer Richard Nolle seems to think so. He predicts "huge storms, earthquakes, volcanoes and other natural disasters" that "can be expected to wreak havoc on Earth."

At the very least, if the weather cooperates, it will provide a magnificent view of our natural satellite. Look forward to it and revel in the large, full moon's glory.

Incredible video and audio from NASA

2011-03-05T13:33:00.003-05:00

I have been obsessed with this video from cameras mounted on the Shuttle's solid rocket boosters. The clip that starts at 14:45 also has sound, and although there is no air in space to carry sound, the empty fuel tank dropping through space creates unearthly audio through conduction.

Click the full-screen button on the right under the video window.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=68551231#

The War on Women

2011-02-20T07:48:00.006-05:00

This is pasted verbatim from material provided by Moveon.org, which is not something I normally do. But in this case I feel the word has to go out in as many ways as it can.

This lunacy speaks for itself, especially item 10.

Top 10 Shocking Attacks from the GOP War on Women

1) Republicans not only want to reduce women's access to abortion care, they're actually trying to redefine rape. After a major backlash, they promised to stop. But they haven't.

2) A state legislator in Georgia wants to change the legal term for victims of rape, stalking, and domestic violence to "accuser." But victims of other less gendered crimes, like burglary, would remain "victims."

3) In South Dakota, Republicans proposed a bill that could make it legal to murder a doctor who provides abortion care. (Yep, for real.)

4) Republicans want to cut nearly a billion dollars of food and other aid to low-income pregnant women, mothers, babies, and kids.

5) In Congress, Republicans have proposed a bill that would let hospitals allow a woman to die rather than perform an abortion necessary to save her life.

6) Maryland Republicans ended all county money for a low-income kids' preschool program. Why? No need, they said. Women should really be home with the kids, not out working.

7) And at the federal level, Republicans want to cut that same program, Head Start, by $1 billion. That means over 200,000 kids could lose their spots in preschool.

8) Two-thirds of the elderly poor are women, and Republicans are taking aim at them too. A spending bill would cut funding for employment services, meals, and housing for senior citizens.

9) Congress voted yesterday on a Republican amendment to cut all federal funding from Planned Parenthood health centers, one of the most trusted providers of basic health care and family planning in our country.

10) And if that wasn't enough, Republicans are pushing to eliminate all funds for the only federal family planning program. (For humans. But Republican Dan Burton has a bill to provide contraception for wild horses. You can't make this stuff up).

Please share this email today. Just click the links to post on Facebook
and Twitter.

Sources:

1. "'Forcible Rape' Language Remains In Bill To Restrict Abortion Funding," The Huffington Post, February 9, 2011 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206084&id=26180-10595637-USa2Qcx&t=22

"Extreme Abortion Coverage Ban Introduced," Center for American Progress, January 20, 2011 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205961&id=26180-10595637-USa2Qcx&t=23

2. "Georgia State Lawmaker Seeks To Redefine Rape Victims As 'Accusers,'" The Huffington Post, February 4, 2011 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206007&id=26180-10595637-USa2Qcx&t=24

3. "South Dakota bill would legalize killing abortion doctors," Salon, February 15, 2011 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206102&id=26180-10595637-USa2Qcx&t=25

4. "House GOP Proposes Cuts to Scores of Sacred Cows," National Journal, February 9, 2011 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206103&id=26180-10595637-USa2Qcx&t=26

5. "New GOP Bill Would Allow Hospitals To Let Women Die Instead Of Having An Abortion," Talking Points Memo, February 4, 2011 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205974&id=26180-10595637-USa2Qcx&t=27

6. "Republican Officials Cut Head Start Funding, Saying Women Should be Married and Home with Kids," Think Progress, February 16, 2011 http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/16/gop-women-kids/

7. "Bye Bye, Big Bird. Hello, E. Coli," The New Republic, Feburary 12, 2011 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206104&id=26180-10595637-USa2Qcx&t=28

8. "House GOP spending cuts will devastate women, families and economy," The Hill, February 16, 2011 http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-a-budget/144585-house-gop-spending-cuts-will-devastate-women-families-and-economy-

9. "House passes measure stripping Planned Parenthood funding," MSNBC, February 18,2011 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206122&id=26180-10595637-USa2Qcx&t=29

"GOP Spending Plan: X-ing Out Title X Family Planning Funds," Wall Street Journal, February 9, 2011 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206105&id=26180-10595637-USa2Qcx&t=30

10. Ibid.

Birth Control for Horses, Not for Women," Blog for Choice, February 17, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206106&id=26180-10595637-USa2Qcx&t=31

UFO over Jerusalem's "Dome of the Rock"

2011-02-03T16:42:00.006-05:00

This video is a composite of three videos sync'ed up from different angles. Two of the views capture the light descending to just above the dome, then a flash, then all three show a rapid ascent of the light into the sky.

I have not heard any good explanations yet. If this is a hoax it's an awful good one. Readers?

Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators

2011-01-31T21:21:00.006-05:00

It's a true story of talent, tragedy and triumph.

The 13th Floor Elevators came on to the psychedelic rock scene from Austin, Texas in the late '60's fronted by an incredibly gifted lead singer named Roky Erickson (pronounced "Rocky"). Widely acclaimed among their peers and those they subsequently influenced, the band broke up in 1969 in a haze of drug use and personal squabbles.

Erickson himself was badly affected by the constant drug use, and was committed. The years that followed alternated moments of great music with various bands, with excursions back into mental illness. Finally his younger brother Sumner was given custody of Roky in 2001, got him better treatment, and put him back on the path to music and sanity.

Today Roky tours with his band, the Explosives, and has released a new album, True Love Cast Out All Evil. His early work with the Elevators is perhaps best exemplified by their classic You're Gonna Miss Me.

Magickal Ecstacy

2011-01-28T18:43:00.007-05:00

Can magick be used to enhance or heighten the sexual experience? The answer is unequivocally, yes.

The practice of magick is, after all, the focus of one's deepest energies into the object of our desires. Our desire may be for intercession for someone we care for, someone's well-being, someone's no-so-well being, or it may be for something more selfish for ourselves. Love, wealth, security, career, are common goals which should be the laser-focus of our energies.

So it is also with sexuality. We want to be pleased, and we want our partner to be pleased. The proper focus of energy, especially when both are in tune this way, can result in the most amazingly erotic experiences of our lives. Rare is the couple who can tune into each other with such precision and skill, but when that rare combination does come about, the couple can experience sexual fulfillment and well-being that is beyond words.

The flow of energy is what this couple focuses on. There is a steady flow of sexual energy between the partners during their most intimate moments, a flow that uses mouths and hands and genitals as the portals for this pleasure to overtake and consume both in a torrent of bliss.

Truth be told, you don't even need a partner. The flow of sexual energy can be accomplished just as easily during solo excursions. Having a willing and knowledgeable partner, though, puts the experience in a class by itself.

Use your meditative time to urge on the arousal, allow the kundalini to awaken in yourself and your partner, focus, breathe, and most of all, ...enjoy.

Space Junk

2011-01-23T08:33:00.005-05:00

Despite all of mankind's technical advances, we sometimes step on our own feet. Much like on terra firma, a byproduct of the last fifty years' advancement in space exploration and satellite/shuttle deployment is our own trash, which orbits the earth and can cause dangerous conditions for astronauts and communications equipment.

We take it for granted, for instance, that old equipment used in space flights dozens of years ago eventually descend into the atmosphere and burn up. Not so. Vanguard 1, a satellite which was launched over 50 years ago, is still in orbit even after communications to it were lost in 1964. Estimates are that it will remain in orbit for another 240 years. The Soviets launched some satellites with nuclear generators on board that, while moved to a special "junkyard" orbit, represent a potential time bomb: radioactive coolant, if released in a collision, could be disastrous for future manned attempts.

Material such as tools and cameras have also been lost in orbit. Most objects like these are stored in a database that is constantly tracked for potential problems, but they only track objects over 5 cm or so in diameter. Smaller pieces can and do wreak havoc on spacecrafts' solar panels and shuttle windshields, which cannot be shielded with protective materials.

There's no doubt that the advancement of mankind's knowledge of space has benefited us here on earth. But like our landfills and incinerators, our future is in jeopardy over the unwanted remains of our endeavors.

Drop the Hate

2011-01-09T10:38:00.003-05:00

The Shooting of Gabrielle Giffords

2011-01-09T10:23:00.003-05:00

"When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And unfortunately, Arizona I think has become the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry. It’s not unusual for all public officials to get threats constantly, myself included. That’s the sad thing about what’s going on in America: pretty soon we’re not going to be able to find reasonable, decent people willing to subject themselves to serve in public office.” - Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik

Mirrors

2011-01-08T18:32:00.005-05:00

As a child, I remember that our small apartment bathroom had two mirrors, on opposite walls. One was the door of a medicine cabinet, and if you opened this door just slightly, you could see an infinite tunnel of mirror images as the two surfaces reflected each other. This always filled me with both wonder and dread as the tunnel teased me, urging me into its infinite highway.

A mirror is a negative space
With a frame and a place for your face
It reveals what the rest of us see
It conceals what you'd like it to be. *

Gazing at reflective surfaces for occult purposes or meditation is known as scrying. The most common objects are the proverbial crystal ball, other polished crystals, the surface of water, and of course mirrors.

There is one particular occult tool known as The Devil's Toy Box. It is a cube made of six mirrors, reflective surfaces pointing inward. The thinking here is that spirits use this as a portal to the physical world. It is said to form an energy loop and strange sounds can be heard around it. This device is considered dangerous by occultists, similar to the admonitions around the Ouija board.

I'd be curious to know your experiences with scrying and mirrors. In the meantime, enjoy "Room Full of Mirrors" by Jimi Hendrix.

* from "Mirrors" by Blue Oyster Cult

The Art of Carly Elizabeth Schmitt

2010-12-31T07:56:00.005-05:00

I love this woman's work. See if you agree. Thanks to Klint at Technoccult for posting her.

Wishing all TBOT readers a rad & gear 2011!

Dona Nobis Pacem

2010-12-25T01:00:00.003-05:00

Just finished watching "The U.S. vs John Lennon". His timeless message of giving peace a chance seems unusually appropriate at this time.

Wishing all TBOT readers a happy and peaceful Yule season.

The Art of HR Giger

2010-12-20T13:06:00.006-05:00

I first came across HR Giger's work on the cover of Emerson Lake and Palmer's 1974 album Brain Salad Surgery. It was an amazing illustration that gave me nightmares. Never before had I seen this mix of science fiction, erotica, and reality...a style his own biography describes as Fantastic Realism.

Later, Giger's book of art, Necronomicon, became the artistic basis for the nightmarish, original sci-fi/horror classic, Alien. Yes, this is the mind that came up with those amazing creatures.

Just in the last week comes word that Giger will be reunited with the Alien franchise for the upcoming prequel, produced once again by Ridley Scott. Can't wait to see the results.

Giger's vivid, dark, airbrushed masterpieces are best appreciated with an open mind and a love of the surreal, the sinister, and the macabre. Enjoy his website here. Also check out his other books here.

After enjoying these? Sweet dreams.

Triple Delight

2010-12-17T16:14:00.003-05:00

We have an interesting coincidence of astronomy coming next week, one whose significance I'm still trying to discern.

Tuesday, December the 21st will mark the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere, and the summer solstice of course in the southern; this of course is nothing unusual. But in a development that only happens every 29 years or so, there will also be a full moon just hours before the solstice, early the morning of the 21st.

And in addition to that full moon? There will be a total eclipse of the moon as well! The total eclipse will be seen in all of North America and some of Europe and Asia. The technically minded can look here for all the mathematical details courtesy of NASA, but basically around 0813 Universal Time on the 21st (about 3:13 AM Eastern Standard Time) the earth's shadow will completely obscure the moon.

What, if anything, will happen? Will there be synergies or other astronomical events occurring at that time? Will there be chaos? Or will this just be one of those funny coincidences that happen from time to time and should not be taken to seriously?

You do have to wonder, all those things lining up like that in a way that almost never happens. The symbolism of the moon is something we've talked about many times of course. It's not exactly a benign entity, is it?

I plan to stay up to see the eclipse. I hate to miss anything like this. How about you?

Moving through Kashmir

2010-12-14T22:14:00.003-05:00

All I see turns to brown
As the sun burns the ground
And my eyes fill with sand
As I scan this wasted land

Kiki at Kiki's Cauldron posted a while back on her favorite Led Zeppelin songs, all great selections to which I can add nothing. Her selections are, truly, the best that this band had to offer. Any disagreement as to the order and selections are immaterial; this band had so much good music to offer.

Since her post I have been kind of obsessed with one song in particular, number seven on her list and probably number one on mine. Kashmir is a rock masterpiece which evokes images of the mystical namesake region that encompasses the borders of India, Pakistan, and China. I have played this song on guitar constantly over the last two months, learning all of the subtleties and sonics of this song that Jimmy Page composed and played on his Danelectro. Trying to accompany myself on vocals as well, not an easy task.

Played in an open guitar tuning known as DADGAD (for the notes on the six open strings, low to high), the main figure consists of rhythmic triads with an ascending note. The effect is pure hypnosis as the repeated figure gives way to a descending figure that leads into one of two bridges, while drummer John Bonham plays through a phase shifter for a shifting sand effect, and Robert Plant sings of the elders who speak of mystical secrets and preach patience for the magical days to come (one commenter referred to the song as an eight minute, thirty-two second "eargasm"; I concur.)

My Shangri-La beneath the summer moon
Will return again
Sure as the dust that floats behind you
When moving through Kashmir

Zeppelin does not allow embedding the video. Click here to see it on YouTube.

Long-delayed echoes

2010-12-13T15:00:00.007-05:00

There was a movie years ago with Dennis Quaid called Frequency where he talks to his own father, over a time warp of thirty years back, on a ham radio. He saves his own father's life but must then deal with the consequences. Yes, it's only a movie, but the premise of electromagnetic waves stuck in a time warp has somewhat of a basis in reality.

Think about this: a radio wave leaves a transmitter and travels at the speed of light. It takes only one-seventh of a second for that radio wave, if conditions are right, to make a round-trip around the earth. So what could explain a delay of three seconds between transmission and reception? Nine seconds? Even up to 46 seconds?

Among the many things we can't explain in the realm of science and technology is this concept of long-delayed echoes (LDE's). Waves travel in a straight line, unless refracted by something like the earth's ionosphere. This is the basic concept of long-distance or shortwave radio; the waves bounce between ionosphere and the earth's surface until they arrive at the distant receiver. I have heard the mild echo that occurs when a radio signal takes both a short path and the long path, it's just a minor delay which manifests itself as a common reverb type of echo.

There are many theories of course, but none of them individually could possibly account for all instances of LDE. All these theories are some variation on the wave traveling some huge distance to account for the long delay.

But just like a ripple in water that dies a long way from where the stone was tossed in, the wave decays quickly the farther it goes. It's not inconceivable that the wave has enough oomph after nine or more seconds, but doesn't seem likely. How far-fetched is it to imagine a "crazy straw" of sorts in the space-time continuum which could account for this phenomena? Or some other mechanism that defies explanation?

Science does a good job of explaining most of what we perceive in the universe. It doesn't (yet) explain everything.

The Edmund Fitzgerald

2010-12-12T22:46:00.008-05:00

Having been on a bit of a hiatus, I looked back over my posts in October and the "Sailor" theme struck a chord with me again.

We recently passed, on November 10th, the 35th anniversary of the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, the largest (in its time) freighter ever to have sailed the Great Lakes.

Enroute from Superior, Wisconsin to an island near Detroit in the fall of 1975, the ship, with its crew of 29 men and a load of iron ore pellets, encountered 35 foot waves, heavy snow which reduced visibility, and gusts of wind to 100 miles per hour. To compound the Fitzgerald's predicament, the ship lost both its radars, and coast-based navigation devices were inoperative.

The Fitzgerald literally encountered a perfect storm and the ship and its crew were lost. Theories abound on the exact cause and manner by which the ship broke into two pieces and sunk in 530 feet of cold Lake Superior water, but none were conclusive, adding to the mystique of the Fitzgerald's demise.

The Mariner's Church in Detroit holds an annual memorial to the lives lost that day, just as it did the day after the sinking, when it tolled its bell 29 times to commemorate each of the crew members.

Like Lolita's Seeman, the Fitzgerald evokes visions of the legend of the Flying Dutchman, whose ghost is doomed for all eternity to sail the stormy seas without ever finding port. But the demise of the industrial Fitzgerald was all too real, and too final.

1928 Time Traveler?

2010-10-29T21:44:00.005-04:00

If this is not what it looks like...then what is it?

Irish film maker George Clarke examines an outtake from Charlie Chaplain's "The Circus" and asks a salient question: what is the person in the background doing if not talking on a mobile phone?

Come to think of it, look at the face of the man that walks a few steps ahead of the woman.

Best Fortune Cookie Ever

2010-10-26T19:48:00.002-04:00

Enjoy Life. This is not a dress rehearsal.

Lolita's Seeman

2010-10-20T20:20:00.003-04:00

"Lolita" passed away on June 30th of this year.

That was the stage name for German/Austrian pop singer Ditta Zusa, who in 1960 saw her recording of "Seeman" (Sailor) reach number five on the Billboard charts. It's one of the few times a foreign-language recording has reached that level of pop music fandom in the United States.

I was a VERY young child when this song charted. But I remembered the ethereal quality of Lolita's voice, her slight tremelo combined with a whispery delivery, and for a very few moments, slightly out-of-key voices in the backing harmonies. I thought it lent the whole song a very ghostly quality. Later it reminded me of the tale of the Flying Dutchman, whose soul was cursed to sail the seven seas forever.

A few years later, in my high school German class I translated the song, whose lyrics are quite simple. Upon hearing of Lolita's death I did a new translation, just as a writing exercise, that tries to mirror the other-worldy, haunted tone of this recording.

Sailor, let yourself dream, dream about life away from here.
Sailor, hear the ocean's mighty wind and waves call to you.

Your home is the sea, where your starry companions light up the night,
Shining brightly over Rio, Shanghai, Bali, and Hawaii.
Your love is your ship, and that place just beyond the horizon,
And for all your days you'll be faithful only to them.

Sailor, let yourself dream, and don't think about me.
Sailor, go now. The stranger in a foreign port awaits you.

Your home is the sea, where your starry companions light up the night,
Shining brightly over Rio, Shanghai, Bali, and Hawaii.
Your love is your ship, and that place just beyond the horizon,
And for all your days you'll be faithful only to them.

PS: I never did like the English voice superimposed during the second verse of this. Nowhere in the lyrics does the singer offer to be waiting for the sailor to return home. Naturally that voice was added later to the original German recording, when the song started becoming popular stateside.

Erotic Bookplates

2010-10-17T20:35:00.004-04:00

Funny what you can learn browsing through used books.

While searching for nothing in particular at a local used book store, I came across a hardcover from 1970 called "Erotic Bookplates". Now until this day I had no idea what a bookplate was. The introduction of this book provided the answer.

Evidently an essential part of a bygone literary era, bookplates were a way to identify the owner of a book. An artist added an illustration, like a coat of arms or other appropriate drawing, inside the front cover of the book. They would add to these drawings the Latin phrase "Ex Libris" ("From the library of...") followed by the book owner's name.

So that's a bookplate. Now it turns out that the most valued books back then in anyone's collection were books of erotica. Appropriately, the bookplate illustrations that were inserted in these racy tomes were comparably erotic in nature.

Okay, after browsing the contents of this book for a few minutes, I looked at the price. For USD 3.00 I figured I could swing this purchase, and learn a little about what people once considered erotic and how they identified their prized carnal volumes.

Well, these erotic bookplates are all over the map. They can be bawdy or subtle, graphical or abstract, realistic or caricatured. The subject matter encompasses the entire spectrum of sexual experience, from plain nudity to...use your imagination.

I was fascinated. That led to an internet search and even another surprise: these bookplates are highly collectible and have inspired serious art competitions. At this time I will provide you a link to recent competition entries for your perusal, if you so decide, with the caveat:

The following link may offend those who are uncomfortable with material of a sexual nature.

Okay, that is out of the way.

I feel these images are more than just prurient. They represent a window into the past, to what our great-grandparents considered erotic, and to reinforce the fact that when it comes to sex, there is really nothing new under the sun.

Science Tarot

2010-10-16T21:11:00.003-04:00

I am not really into specialized tarot decks. I tend to stick with my old reliable Thoth tarot, the Rider-Waite deck, Cosmic Tarot for sentimental reasons, and few others.

I might make an exception for this one: the Science Tarot combines the traditional tarot themes with scientific principles, marrying the physical and metaphysical worlds, making associations, and teaching principles of both.

I think this is a great idea, and from the sample cards at their site, seems well thought-out and well executed. Check it out and see if you agree!

Blog Action Day 2010: Water

2010-10-15T05:41:00.004-04:00

Nothing is more important to the sustenance of human life than clean drinking water. That's why water is this year's theme for Blog Action Day, in which writers all over the world focus attention on a topic of importance.

We have not always been good stewards of this resource. Who can forget the pollution of the early-to-mid 20th century and the ensuing "acid rain"? In the northeastern US, rivers actually caught on fire from the flammable compounds that were dumped in them.

The environmental laws that followed and the scrutiny they provided have positively impacted how we manage and recycle water. Most of us are fortunate enough to take clean drinking water from our home taps for granted. But we also waste: every American uses, or misuses, over 300 liters of water per day. The trend toward green technology has created water-saving methods that will help over the long term.

There is still much to be done. The developing world, especially Africa, needs cheap, effective ways of purifying water to stop the human suffering of waterborne illnesses. We also need to take a hard look at our own personal habits and what we consume: did you know that it takes 24 liters of water to make one hamburger?

I would be remiss not to mention water's role as one of the four ancient elements, along with earth, fire, and air. In this context, water represents the best qualities that make us uniquely human: compassion, love, empathy, and intuition.

Let's demonstrate those qualities toward each other while also respecting the life-affirming fresh water we all depend on and take for granted.

The Killing Moon

2010-10-11T10:51:00.003-04:00

Echo and the Bunnymen classic. Killing moon seems appropriate right now.

Under blue moon I saw you
So soon you'll take me
Up in your arms
Too late to beg you or cancel it
Though I know it must be the killing time
Unwillingly mine

Fate
Up against your will
Through the thick and thin
He will wait until
You give yourself to him

In starlit nights I saw you
So cruelly you kissed me
Your lips a magic world
Your sky all hung with jewels
The killing moon
Will come too soon

Fate
Up against your will
Through the thick and thin
He will wait until
You give yourself to him

X X X

2010-10-10T18:50:00.002-04:00

No, not THAT. Think Roman numerals.

Today is 10/10/10. You may not think that dates like this mean anything, but as you no doubt know the ancients put great emphasis on numerology. Personally I feel a resonance when we come across dates like this.

We can look at the number 10 as the lowest node on the Qabalistic Tree of Life, Malkuth, or the Kingdom. It is the manifestation of the physical world we live in...it is "ground" for us.

Looking at Liber 777, the number 10 is also attributed to the Egyptian god Osiris and the Greek goddess Persephone. In Western mysticism, it represents the magical power that arises from conversation with our Holy Guardian Angel.

Hope you enjoyed your 10/10/10.

FLUX - a video by Candas Sisman

2010-10-04T20:51:00.001-04:00

Very, very cool animation and sound. Enjoy.

F L U X from candas sisman on Vimeo.

Love Canal

2010-10-01T18:01:00.005-04:00

Depending on your level of current events awareness in the late '70's, the innocent-sounding name Love Canal may or may not mean much to you.

Today, the Niagara Falls, NY, neighborhood by that name is a ghost town akin to Centralia, PA which I've also been writing about. But it's not an accidental underground fire that destroyed Love Canal. Instead, it was the disposal of toxic chemicals and the completely misguided effort of the Niagara Falls School Board to build an elementary school near this site that caused so much human suffering.

In 1890, William T. Love began digging a canal to harness hydroelectric power. But shortly after he started, the financial incentives for the project vanished, leaving a 50 foot trench a mile long in the southeastern corner of the city. The trench subsequently became a dumping ground for 55-gallon drums of discarded toxic chemicals. Eventually the area was covered with dirt and vegetation began to grow, putting the area out of sight and out of mind.

Looking to accommodate the need for classroom space for an expanding city, the 99th Street Elementary School was built nearby, and neighborhoods were developed in the area immediately around the school.

Investigative reporters in the mid-seventies uncovered a high incidence of birth defects and miscarriages in the Love Canal neighborhood. Residents such as activist Lois Gibbs reported strange odors and liquids in ground water.

All hell broke lose in 1977, when heavy rains caused more of the noxious chemicals to leach to the surface and the health problems to multiply. By 1978, the national media had brought awareness to the dangers of Love Canal and its residents. In August of that year, US President Jimmy Carter declared Love Canal a disaster area and allocated Federal funds for relocation of the residents, and cleanup.

Love Canal simply ceased to exist.

Today all that remains of the area are empty streets, chain-link fences and warning signs. During the cleanup, the chemicals were sealed and proper water drainage was implemented. This incident spawned the US's Superfund Act, to address similar problems of toxic disposal.

View Larger Map

Why not to use Ouija

2010-09-24T06:15:00.005-04:00

Lucy Loong, writing in her blog http://lucyloong.blogspot.com, gives the best reason I have ever heard against using Ouija, and gives credence to the caution that so many express about the oracle:

I’ve always had mixed feelings about Ouija boards. They seem so harmless but there are countless warnings about them posted everywhere. How can a small wooden board and a plastic planchette possibly be dangerous? I received my first board when I was 12 years old as a Christmas present along with a set of tarot cards and an AMAZING KRESKIN game. My parents, both mediums, didn’t seem to sense the danger so what’s the big deal? I used to view the board as a training tool. I knew I should be relying on my own senses to hear and see the spirits but the board was so much easier.

I even met my own spirit guide while using the Ouija board. I was talking to my mother (who is on the other side) when a strong presence came through pulling the planchette forcefully from letter to letter spelling W-A-L-T-E-R. I asked my mother, "Who is this spirit?" She replied, "A noble soul." He then showed himself to us and gave a proper introduction. From that moment on Walter complained about the board until I finally couldn’t take it anymore and threw it away.

I really like the explanation he gave me. He said when you sit down at a Ouija board you send out an open invitation to any spirit good or bad that might be hanging around. It’s kind of like having a party and posting the invite along with your address on the internet. Anyone at all can show up. Even if you only intend to contact a certain spirit, that invite is out there and you can expect gate crashers. It’s even possible for an entity to become attached to the board or your home and you can end up with a nasty haunting that can be very draining for you and your guides. The guides do their best to keep the uninvited away but it’s really not fair to expect them to communicate with you one letter at a time and do crowd control at the same time, is it?

I never thought that I was being selfish by using the board. I had no idea how much work it was causing the Guides. Apparently it’s pretty difficult for them to push the planchette. It takes a lot of energy. It is much easier for them to use telepathy and safer for us.

So I threw away my "training wheels" and exercised my psychic muscle instead. It’s harder, I admit, but I feel safer and better about myself for relying on my own abilities.

Thank you, Lucy, for the explanation from your spirit guide. For me, and perhaps for others, this is insight into the admonition of so many to refrain from regular use of the board. Well done.

Visiting Centralia

2010-09-19T20:18:00.011-04:00

Readers are referred to my previous post, The Sad Tale of Centralia, for background information about this abandoned Pennsylvania town.

I thought the first thing I would notice on this beautiful fall day would be the smell of the mine fire which burns underneath this Central Pennsylvania hilltop. The smell is there, but it's not the first thing that grabs your attention; rather it's the streets that go nowhere. Strips of concrete intersect the main drags, PA Routes 61 and 45, with no apparent purpose and no destination.

I was not the only explorer there that day. Others were also checking things out, driving up to the area where the fire started, and the cemetery. The feeling was surreal, as the beautiful day and the beginning of fall colors made the visit less depressing, even optimistic somehow. My MP3 player, set to random play, came up with the Beatles' "Sun King"...no coincidences. Perhaps the town has just become fed up with being a forlorn icon.

I snapped a few photos below that will compare with those in the original post and in other material about Centralia.

I counted three occupied houses in the southwest part of town and marvel at the resiliency and persistence of these few residents. Two other towns, Mt. Carmel and Ashland, are close enough to provide anything these brave souls need, including perhaps a sense of community.

North Street

Paxton Street

South Street near the cemeteries and the fire site

And the fire burns on, for about another 100 years.

Is this real life?

2010-09-18T20:27:00.005-04:00

I spend a lot of time in big data centers. They are cold, clinical, sterile places with bland beige walls, filled with cables, racks, servers, routers, and other equipment with green glowing LEDs...well, we hope they are glowing green.

It's a strange thing, being a technology worker. By "strange" I mean that certain things feel real although they're really not. Magnetic patterns on a disk are not real money, although we think it's real when looking at a screen with a "balance" and a number next to it.

Okay, but it doesn't really feel real, if you think about it. Where is the money? Where is the information? Stored on a disk somewhere. Well, shoot, that's not "real". Holding cash in my hand is real.

I get it, of course. It's an abstraction. The money is abstracted; I can always make it real by writing and cashing a check and holding the cash in my hand. But I think something happens when we depend too much on technology. We become abstractions, too. At this point I find myself focusing in on what is real and, to the extent I can, ignoring the things that make my life...and my existence...too abstract.

Technology, however, is becoming even more and more abstract! Even my servers and networks are not real anymore...they're virtual. At what point does this stuff get so obtuse that it gets in the way of reality?

When we reach that point I may have to think about doing something else, despite how much I love technology work. Like "David after Dentist" on youtube, I have to ask myself: is this real life?

Autumn Come She Will

2010-09-14T20:07:00.008-04:00

(Apologies to Simon and Garfunkel for paraphrasing their song title.)

This is a special time of year, certainly my favorite. The heat of summer gives way to cool, misty mornings and brisk nights. The sun hangs lower in the sky, shading some areas that got steady sun all summer. The equinox approaches, shortening the days and lengthening the nights.

This time of year used to terrify ancient peoples who did not realize the sun would "turn around" and start rising in its orbit, come the time we now know as the winter solstice. Fortunately, we know that we can enjoy this time of year for what it is: the natural decay of the green, summer world, the turning of the leaves and the coming of winter.

Why do I love this time of year? Let me count the ways.

Running in cooler weather
The vivid, rich colors of the fall foliage in the northeast United States
Wearing my favorite jackets and blazers
Drinking hot coffee at high school football games
Hockey season begins!
Great memories of autumns past: the birth of my sons and the start of special relationships
The smell of burning firewood
Seeing the constellation Orion in the sky

Autumn, come she will. What's your favorite thing about it?

This? This can stay.

2010-09-02T23:30:00.004-04:00

In previous articles, I've written about digital technology being not all it's cracked up to be. I still feel those observations were valid. However there is one application that I have to give a lot of credit for using digital technology to accurately deliver an analog product: worldwide radio.

Streaming audio over the Internet is nothing new. That technology came into vogue about ten years ago when broadband connections became affordable for the average home user. But in addition to the bandwidth, you also need to boot your PC. Seems like a waste to be running your monitor, CPU and graphics just to listen to the radio.

Enter Wifi radios, or Internet radios. A number of manufacturers like Logitech and Sangean now make dedicated devices that look like a typical radio, except instead of capturing the signal over the air, it's delivered through your existing wireless or Ethernet router. You set up your favorite stations by essentially copying and pasting the URL to a web interface that saves the stations to your Wifi radio's memory.

The Logitech Squeezebox I got works exactly this way. For the first time I can hear stations from all over the world without the static and fading of shortwave, just as the locals hear them. There are literally thousands of stations you can hear in this way. I get incomparable, unbiased news reporting from the BBC, Deutsche Welle, and Radio Netherlands. I also hear the most amazing music from outlets in Asia, Africa, and the Pacific rim. All this in a very "green" package...you can run the radio without wasting energy on peripherals.

It's not without its pitfalls, though. A few days ago the portal's web site was down. Result, no radio. That doesn't seem right to have that dependence on the portal. Guess they need to track the listeners' preferences. Advertising probably isn't far behind. So with the good comes the bad and the ugly.

Wifi radio can stay here for now. Still, my old shortwave will not be out of reach...

Explore reciva.com for a sample of what you can hear.

Politics and America

2010-09-01T15:30:00.006-04:00

Another annoying thing that has been on my mind.

A couple getting married in Michigan does not invite an aunt and uncle on her side. Why? They campaigned for the "wrong" person in the last election.
An earthquake rocks Haiti, almost 100,000 die. Politicians use the occasion to grandstand against their political opponents.
Instead of interpreting the Gospel during mass, the priest gives everyone a lecture on why a certain Catholic Bishops' charity should not be supported. Hint: it has to do with his political agenda.

I have been around the block a few times, and can barely hearken back to the days of leaders like Kennedy and Johnson. Even Eisenhower, who would never make the "cut" in the Republican party today; these men were leaders.

Today? Leaders are not welcomed. Corporate dollars will determine what you see regarding politicians and issues, and even the Supreme Court has agreed.

Never has this country, and all we do, and everyone in it, been so completely polarized. You are on the right, or you are on the left, there is no middle ground. Politicians now have a Nazi-like "purity test" to ensure potential candidates tow the party line, or their name will never see the light of a polling booth. Independent thought is not welcomed. Compromise, decorum and common sense have left all discussion of public policy.

Why am I so annoyed, you might well ask? My two boys were born in the early '90's, when the world was at peace, the Iron Curtain had fallen, and leaders took their fingers off the red button. The economy was robust and the US was a technology leader. I had every hope for them to grow up in a world that was better than the one I grew up in.

Now as they graduate high school they face their future in a nation that wants to send them to Afghanistan, or have them rack up tens of thousands of dollars in student loans just to make a living wage, or take out a bunch of credit cards so they can pay 22% interest which will be legally gambled away in mortgage derivatives. By the way, forget about the middle class. The guns are ablazin' at the middle class; soon they will be no more.

I'm not optimistic about the future of the US. These corporate leeches who are corrupting what America stands for, in the name of the almighty dollar, are going to get theirs, if you believe in karma. I for one hope it happens soon, before my kids have to get too far along in their careers and lives.

I'm waiting for Jesus to come throw the money-changers out of the temple.

Aluminum Curve

2010-08-28T07:48:00.001-04:00

Publish Post

Confluence

2010-08-27T16:17:00.003-04:00

Beatles on my mind

2010-08-26T16:29:00.009-04:00

Two strange things this week. A friend sent me this link of a webcam at the street crossing at Abbey Road Studios, made famous on the cover of the Beatles' ultimate studio effort. Is it just me or does it really look dangerous to try to do the crossing pose and take pictures here? Well, during the day for sure. At night, maybe not. http://www.abbeyroad.com/visit/

Here's a Google Streetview of the famous perspective.

View Larger Map

Second, I had a dream of meeting a group of new employees at the company I work for. In the dream, all these folks were flat as cardboard, just like the cutout people behind the Fab Four on the Sgt. Pepper album. They were all like that, some in color, some in black and white, and all 100% flat.

Not fab, more like drab.

Salute to a Brave Airman

2010-08-21T20:55:00.005-04:00

The military jet aircraft in this photo, an F86L Sabre, sits in the side yard of the VFW building in Imperial, Pennsylvania.

I've passed this plane scores of times, but this last Friday there was a strange presence in the jet, thus I felt compelled to snap a cell phone photo. I felt a pilot actually in the cockpit, just as if he were ready to taxi out onto Route 30 (a terrible runway) and depart for battle zones unknown.

Actually, this type of fighter plane tangoed with Russian-built MiGs on the Korean peninsula in the 1950's. Largely a forgotten war, the Korean conflict was a bloody struggle of west vs. east that has actually never been resolved. Certainly South Korea has benefitted economically from its divorce from the North and its resulting democracy.

It made me think about all the brave people who strap on these dangerous machines every day to cruise over the Middle East, Asia, and god-knows-where, keeping an eye on various threats to the US and our friends. Regardless of the wisdom of some of these engagements, these men and women carry out their orders bravely in areas of danger.

It was in this spirit of dedication to duty that I felt this presence Friday. Perhaps the brave pilot lost his life in one of those conflicts. Regardless, I salute you, anonymous airman, and I hope it's not a cliche' to thank you for your service.

Remember your own birth?

2010-08-19T22:39:00.003-04:00

There's a great piece by Claire King in paranormalnews.com called "Remembering Being Born". She remembers her birth in quite amazingly vivid detail, details that were later confirmed by her mother.

It kinda hit home for me, not because I remember this same level of detail (I don't). I do remember the time just before I was born, but not the actual birth itself. I may have blocked that memory as too traumatic...the light and all. But specifically I remember the feeling of pressure against me, both the contractions and my mother's water pushing against my face. It seemed like it took forever for her water to break, and it was a huge relief when it was finally broken. But that's the last detail I remember. I remember reliving this feeling often when I was a young boy, without realizing until later in life that it was my birth I was remembering.

Anyone else have any memory of their birth? Perhaps you think Ms. King, I, and others who claim to remember, are imagining it?

Great 3D fractal video

2010-08-18T18:32:00.006-04:00

This piece is called "Mandelbox Zoom" and it is well done. You can watch it here or, I suggest, see it in HD and with alternate music on vimeo.

Just tell yourself, it's only math. Enjoy.

Thanks to technoccult.net for the pointer.

Playing catch-up

2010-08-13T16:16:00.006-04:00

I wanted to revisit a few items from the last few months. Much has been happening, not much of it good.

There was this post from May about the Pittsburgh bus terminal. Yesterday a fire destroyed five cars in the parking garage there.

Oddly enough, one hour before this fire, I was reading Liber Null about 100 feet (30 meters) across the street in the green wooded area from where this took place.

No one was hurt except five people's rides home.

You may wonder if anything ever became of the Black Dog. Well, he was joined in quick succession in my surroundings and consciousness by black crows, a black cat, a black bear, a black snake, and a very provocative woman with black hair. I'm fine despite them all. I gave 'em the shake! But at times I'm still looking over my shoulder.

The documentary site that I was raving about? Not so much. Half the links, it seems, are missing or dead ends. Yet another example of how digital things can disappoint.

Finally, I am still doing a lot of hanging around, in a situation where I can't go left nor right, to nor fro. Sacrifice is the name of the game. Hopefully that is not the case much longer.

May the summer of my discontent not be contagious to you, dear readers.

More Surreal Art: Claudio Parentela

2010-08-10T23:09:00.007-04:00

Another great artist with a vivid imagination, Claudio Parentela mixes Picasso-like imagery with animated GIF's and other techniques. According to Odd Culture, Parentela has sites all over the place, so take your pick:

http://claudioparentela.altervista.org/

http://www.claudioparentela.net/

http://www.myspace.com/claudioparentela

http://www.furtherfield.org/cparentela/docs/

Boycott Target Stores

2010-08-04T23:20:00.012-04:00

Target Corporation donated US$150,000 to a fund that boosts Minnesota Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer.

This candidate once supported a group that advocated the elimination--murder, that is--of homosexuals. Emmer is anti-abortion, anti-organized-labor, and supports legislation that allows pharmacists to refuse to dispense contraception.

In addition, Mr. Emmer has twice been convicted of drunk driving. Then when it came time to support a bill that supports stiffer penalties for drunk driving, he conveniently forgot to show up for the vote.

Target should stay out of politics, period. Write to Target and let them know you have no intention of shopping there if they give their money to drunks and right-wing reactionaries.

In the meantime, I suggest you boycott Target.

Binaural Beats, revisited

2010-07-31T14:45:00.008-04:00

About two years ago I wrote about binaural beats, the phenomenon of listening on headphones to specially crafted sounds that include two tones, almost identical, but whose pitch is just a little higher on one channel, say the right side, than it is on the other. The result is a beating or pulsing effect we perceive in the center of the brain where the two waves meet.

The hypothesis I put forth at that time was that these binaural beats may have the power to alter one's state of mind, to provide a narcotic effect, to aid in meditation, possibly even to heal, and so on. This would depend on how the sounds are put together, how they change over time, and the quality of the tones used.

Well, it appears binaural beats have gained a lot of attention in the ensuing two years! An article on Technoccult along with the I-Doser web site are raising the visibility of binaural beats. Some less-informed outlets are even coming forth with warnings about addiction (to sound? Really? Some of these pundits and the media have gone so far as to call these "digital drugs". Puh-leeze.)

Shortly after I wrote that post, and after a good two to three weeks of daily evaluation, I personally found binaural beats to provide a relaxing and invigorating effect. Sometimes the "relaxing" effect dominated the "invigorating" one and created a feeling of sleepiness, even when that effect was not intended.

Anyway, listening to present samples on I-Dozers show me that the techniques have gotten more sophisticated with other backing sounds, variations on the beats and tones, and other manipulative tricks. Alas, the full-length samples that could be found previously are no more (but they do accept all major credit cards and PayPal.)

You can, of course, do a search on binaural beats and come up with lots of sites that will give you free shortened samples of 30 seconds or so. You can then decide if you want to delve further into this strange method of using layered sound as brain food.

(image courtesy of newdawnmeditation.com)

Documentary fans, rejoice

2010-07-28T19:40:00.004-04:00

Not sure where I got this link from, but if you would rather watch documentaries than any reality show, sitcom, or movie, this is the site for you:

h ttp://documentaryheaven.com/

That's right, a site devoted exclusively to documentaries. I just found a way to spend a lot of time!

I write like...

2010-07-24T09:43:00.004-04:00

An interesting site. Paste a few paragraphs at the site linked below ("I write like..."). My result:

I write like
Cory Doctorow

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

The Power of the [sic]

2010-07-24T08:37:00.005-04:00

I do a lot of writing; in addition to this blog I write or contribute to many others. In addition, my career calls for much generation of, and response to, emails, white papers, project documents, and the like.

For my money there is no more satisfying way of responding to an antagonist (or even just someone you strongly disagree with) than by quoting something they have said, finding a spelling or grammatical error, then applying the dreaded [sic]. It's a great way to make an implication that you know what you're talking about, and the other party does not.

I'm sure you've seen it before, but what does sic mean? It is actually a Latin word meaning "thus" or "in this way". A couple of re-interpretations of sic is that it means "said in context" or "spelling is correct", but the Latin word is the source.

Wiki has a good example of sic's use, in this case as a method of ridicule:

Warehouse has been around for 30 years and has 263 stores, suggesting a large fan base. The chain sums up its appeal thus: "styley [sic], confident, sexy, glamorous, edgy, clean and individual, with it's [sic] finger on the fashion pulse."

I sprinkle my sic's sparingly, but when I do pull it out it feels so good! Be accurate with your own writing, quote your source meticulously, and when it is warranted, pull out your special Latin weapon with good effect.

Hanging Around

2010-07-20T09:04:00.005-04:00

Self-sacrifice is a tenet of almost all monotheistic systems. However Crowley did not think much of self-sacrifice, and by extension The Hanged Man, ATU XII; to him it was the vestige of a bygone aeon:

It is the card of the Dying God; its importance in the present pack is merely that of the Cenotaph. It says: "If ever things get bad like that again, in the new Dark Ages which appear to threaten, this is the way to put things right." But if things have to be put right, it shows that they are very wrong. It should be chiefest aim of the wise to rid mankind of the insolence of self-sacrifice, of the calamity of chastity, faith must be slain by certainty, and chastity by ecstasy.

In other words the Hanged Man belongs to the Aeon of Osiris, the "Dying God", while we are now in the Aeon of Horus, detailed in "The Book of the Law".

I think self-sacrifice has its place, especially when it comes to our children. But I also agree that "martyrdom" (an extreme form of self-sacrifice) can be misplaced as well. What good does it do to sacrifice your own aspirations and ideals? What message does that send to those around us about how to approach life?

Mid-July Anxiety

2010-07-19T22:16:00.006-04:00

Premonitions, I'm getting so I dread them.

First of all, I was not expecting any such phenomena or experiences for quite some time. You see, over the last week I have experienced upheaval at the lowest levels of Maslow's hierarchy. Usually, until those are resolved you are too distracted with basic needs to care about things like self-actualization. Still, I have had premonitions.

Something's happening out there. I had a feeling today around noon of an earthquake. I was actually crossing the street in front of my office building, as I do four times a day, when I perceived that the earth shifted, maybe it was actually time that shifted by a split second. A car was here, then a split second later, it was over there. Hard to explain, sorry.

And blood. Had a strange waking dream about blood, mixing blood, diluting blood, wine & blood spritzers (I kid you not). Blood in long, tall, slim glass tubes. This was yesterday morning.

If anyone can explain or share, feel free. In the meantime I am quickly addressing the lower levels of Maslow, so no pity please, things are improving.

Revisiting the Beach of Time

2010-07-13T21:46:00.008-04:00

This time of year, everyone is heading to the beach, it seems. Not me, but everyone else!

The beach has special significance to us as humans. The sea covers two-thirds of the earth, and it is the primordial soup from which life emerged and adapted to land.

From this powerful place comes a concept called the Beach of Time. This was a metaphor for meditation that was introduced by the late author and psychic Bill Hewitt. I wrote briefly about it a few years ago. I have found that it resonates deeply within me and works very well when attempting psychic operations.

Once you enter into your meditative state by your favorite means, count backward from five to one. You are standing on a warm beach, your bare feet inches from the surf and facing the sea. To your right, along the shore, is the past, shrouded in fog. To your left is the future, but again you are unable to see very far into the foggy mist.

To help yourself deal with the past, envision it slipping away into the fog on your right. When it is gone from sight, you will have put the past behind you. Similarly, you can peer to the left if you wish, in attempt to see the future. Perhaps you will see shadows and vague outlines of what is eventually waiting for you there.

You may wade a short distance into the surf. I find this helpful if you wish to make contact with someone. Simply call them, you may see them or hear their voice, as I encountered my late father a few years ago. What an experience that was, as his unique personality came through with amazing clarity.

When your visit to the beach is done, count up from one to five and you will return to your meditative state.

I encourage you try the Beach of Time, it is a unique experience and it may touch you as it has me. If you try it, please feel free to share your experience here, if you wish.

Christians should start acting Christian

2010-07-13T06:32:00.001-04:00

Finally, someone speaks up. Thank you Rev. Hughes.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/12/my-take-christian-politicians-should-start-acting-christian/?hpt=Mid

Baphomet and Man

2010-07-10T00:13:00.004-04:00

So what does this all mean? Our brains have a reptilian stem, a mammalian center, and a very human outer brain. Why does it matter?

Look at any culture or mythology. Almost all have some reference to reptilian forces...the serpent that is the downfall of biblical man, the dragons of the east, the reptilian sea creatures that encircle the earth. Gods of these mythologies are gods precisely because of their dominance over their reptilian antagonists.

Why is this so? By and large the natural predators that tormented early man were mammals, not reptiles (dinosaurs of course were long gone before man was on the scene.) Again, Carroll explores the topic in Psychonaut, and here is the tie-in with Sagan:

The dragon of our mythologies sleeps inside our own heads...The most primitive part of the brain is something that the mammals, including ourselves, share in common with reptiles. The human has a man, a wolf, and a crocodile living inside his skull.

And thus, magick is the art of awakening these reptilian centers inside us. However,

...society and religions have been concerned with keeping the dragon and the wolf permanently suppressed except at such times as it suited them to make war. For the magician, these atavistic forces are a source of personal power. Thus Baphomet, the magicians' God, is shown in composite man-mammal-serpent form, as are many shamanic gods.

We have the history of man's evolution inside us waiting to be tapped for magickal purposes. So mote it be.

Carl Sagan explains the human brain

2010-07-09T06:47:00.004-04:00

Expanding on the previous post on Baphomet, the late Dr. Sagan explains the three parts of the brain and how they evolved from the oldest (inside, reptilian) to the newest (outside, human) part. He then goes on to expand greatly on the cerebral cortex (the human part.)

I first read these explanation in his book, "The Dragons of Eden."

Baphomet

2010-07-06T22:27:00.006-04:00

Probably no symbol in all of occult literature better illustrates the fear of monotheists (specifically Christians) toward paganism, than Baphomet.

Well, just look at the guy. He (she?) is downright frightening, with his goat head, breasts, dragon wings, and caudaceous where his, ah...never mind. His likeness is emblazoned on the Tarot ATU XV, the Devil. Although Baphomet existed even back to the time of the Knights Templar (who were said to have worshipped him), he really stepped to the forefront when renowned occultist Eliphas Levi drew this famous illustration for the cover of his book of magic.

But Baphomet-as-devil is only a correspondence (the name, by the way, coming forth as a corruption of the French "Mohammed".) It is generally accepted that the Devil as we know him from Sunday School does not exist. Crowley himself put it best:

It is a false name invented by the Black Brothers to imply a Unity in their ignorant muddle of dispersions. A devil who had unity would be a God.

So what/who is Baphomet? A better understanding can be read in Carroll's Psychonaut:

In the first Shamanistic aeon, men recognized the animating spirit of living beings. It was often depicted as Horned God, a man with antlers...the double horns symbolize the bipolar nature of a force which was both good and evil, light and dark, beautiful and terrible.

So the Shamans of old recognized man's psychic spirit as the man "plus" something more, represented by the horns. Therefore,

Baphomet is the psychic field generated by the totality of living beings on the planet. The spirit of the life force is the spirit of the dual ecstasy, procreation and reabsorption, sex and death.

And thus, appropriately, Baphomet is symbolized as part reptile (dragon), part mammal (goat), and part man.

More on the significance of those three components in another post.

Summer Afternoon Moon

2010-07-02T12:32:00.004-04:00

...with the serpentine birch once again hogging the lens...

Doctor using drug to "cure" lesbianism in utero

2010-07-02T06:16:00.004-04:00

Will someone please tell me this is a bad joke?

http://www.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2010/06/29/doctor-treating-pregnant-women-with-experimental-drug-to-prevent-lesbianism

The Black Dog

2010-06-28T22:59:00.004-04:00

I encountered a black dog today. He was a male, with a collar, chained up in an unusual, public place, wailing constantly with no owner in sight. I didn't know his breed or anything, maybe a pit bull or a lab, but he was quite large. He frightened a young girl who happened close by, and also wailed at the girl's mother when she approached. Strangely, he totally ignored me as I passed in the same proximity. What does that mean? I was not at liberty to stay and observe him any further, to see if his owner was going to claim him, or what. After a few minutes I had to move on.

The black dog is best known as a ghostly apparition whose origins are in British lore. The black dog is almost always malevolent. Some of the names he is known by are: Cerberus, Hellhound, Sirius Black (to Harry Potter fans), and the Hound of the Baskervilles.

Winston Churchill was evidently the first to use the term as a synonym for his severe depression. The name stuck, as theblackdog.net and the Black Dog Institute are two online resources I found quickly that help people deal with depression.

Black Dog is also the name of a movie (never saw it) and a Led Zeppelin off-tempo blues rocker (heard it many times).

I don't know why I encountered the black dog today in such strange surroundings. But I have a feeling I will find out, soon.

Arabian Nights

2010-06-20T19:23:00.008-04:00

A recent post by mouse on the blog Oracle Speak reminded me that last year I bought a copy of Arabian Nights (Vol. 1) at a discount book store. I'd remembered reading it in the childrens' library when I was growing up and wanted to revisit those stories once again.

I think you all know the premise: Due to his first wife's infidelity, King Shahryar had been bedding a new young woman every night, then having her slain in the morning. One day Scheherezade, the daughter of the vizier, actually volunteers for this gruesome assignment. After the king has had his way with her, and at her sister Dunazade's beckoning, she spins grand tales all night that captivate the King. He spares her, since her wonderful stories are never done before daybreak. And so it went, until a thousand and one nights later Scheherezade becomes the King's true bride, and her sister, his brother's bride.

What I realized was that the version in the children's library I remembered from all those years ago, was very sanitized. The real stories with an accurate translation by Burton and Zipes were unbelievably bawdy, vengeful, graphic, racist, surreal, and violent...but mainly bawdy! The material is lush and captures the rich atmosphere of ancient Arabic kingdoms and their peoples.

So if you are looking for summer reading material at your oasis that is at once classic and captivating, Arabian Nights is the classic you seek. It's also available as a free download in the public domain at the Gutenberg Project's website.

Technology meets Old St. Luke's

2010-06-19T08:29:00.004-04:00

Most communities along the East coast have some old structures and places that are rich with history and lore. One of the most striking in my community is Old St. Luke's church, dating back to the time when its role was as a church for a stockade built in 1765.

Adjacent to and behind the church are gravestones that have been weathered over time. The names and dates on some of the markers are difficult if not impossible to discern. Having toured this site (with a group of cub scouts, no less) I can tell you that the effect of the old markers and the old-growth trees that hover over them is quite eerie.

View Larger Map

Enter technology. The stones have been scanned by Carnegie-Mellon University researchers who thus recover the original information from centuries-old stones and can replicate the original markings.

The researchers' amazing work can be seen here. Click on any stone to see the progression of how the information was recovered. For a laugh, click on #61, David Steele.

Demons

2010-06-18T22:01:00.006-04:00

All of your demons will wither away
Ecstasy comes and they can not stay
You'll understand when you come my way
'Cause all of my demons have withered away

Demons via YouTube- Fatboy Slim/Macy Gray

Three Dimensions of Time

2010-06-17T16:14:00.008-04:00

It's a dilemma that has been around for at least a century.

The space-time continuum, as we perceive it, is a strange egg. We recognize that there are three dimensions of space. We can go up or down, left or right, back or forward.

Symmetry would dictate that there would be three dimensions of time as well. But there aren't, are there? There is only one, and unlike the space dimensions we can only go forward in time.

That makes things easy for the physicist, explaining the so-called rational world. But we know something is missing from that analysis, for we empirically know the existence of other dimensions from our studies of synchronicity, metaphysics, and the unexplained.

Author Peter J. Carroll attempts to show the existence of three dimensions of time in his website, specularium.org, specifically in the site's home page entitled Rebel Physics. His site is fascinating reading, as he presents two separate hypotheses supporting the three dimensions of time. One hypothesis involves subatomic physics, the other does so through analysis of the cosmos.

Carroll came to my attention when I purchased his two books, Liber Null and Psychonaut, combined in one volume (what a used-book find this was in the occult section of Eide's).

The Ace of Wands

2010-06-13T23:07:00.003-04:00

It is the creative spark inside us all. It is the drive that pushes us forward, to higher and better things. It is the passion that burns between lovers. It is the will that pushes us onward, even when racked in pain, to go the distance.

It is fire.

Having posted about the power of fire before, I wanted to specifically look at the tarot card that represents the root of fire, the Ace of Wands.

This card represents passion and flame not manifested--yet. The ace represents the potential, the dry firewood that is placed in a cold fireplace, just waiting for the lit match to turn the potential into heat. It is potential in the initial spark of creativity, the great idea, before the hard work begins to turn that spark into the finished product. The man and woman look at each other and the potential drives them on to fan the flames of passion.

We look at the card and we see possibility not yet realized. The card is a harbinger of the need to focus our energies to realize the awesome power that is staring us in the face.

Respect the flame. It is the passion of our lives.

Chess

2010-06-09T20:56:00.008-04:00

It's the only game in which there is no component of chance. There's no dice to throw, no spinner to spin. The rules are ironclad and not open to any misinterpretation.

Your success or failure on the chessboard is determined completely by you. Every game.

As a result, this oldest of strategy games--first developed to teach young warriors the strategies of war--has driven many of its players over the years to insanity, intimidation, obsession, and ruin. And victory.

Consider Bobby Fischer, whose life from the age of six was dominated by chess to the exclusion of everything else, including social development. His intimidation tactics made him world champion, but years of nothing but chess distorted his view of reality...and his sanity.

Here are some of my favorite quotes about chess (from "Chess Oddities" by Alex Dunne)

"Chess is a game involving 64 squares and 32 pieces which inevitably end up on the wrong squares." - Jason Corley

"You cannot play chess if you are kind-hearted." - French proverb

"Chess is a twisted game for twisted minds." - Alex Yermolinsky

"You don't have to be crazy to play chess, but it helps." - Savielly Tartakover

"I would rather have a pawn than a finger." - Reuben Fine

"Chess is one long regret." - Stephen Leacock

Surrealistic paintings by Tetsuya Ishida

2010-06-07T20:43:00.004-04:00

This man's art integrates the paraphernalia of modern life with humanity and takes the resulting imagery to a new level. Reminds me of Dali, even Escher, in a strange way.

Images may be disturbing to some readers.

Surrealistic paintings by Tetsuya Ishida

Is there an Ouija board curse?

2010-06-02T15:35:00.004-04:00

I'd read CricketSong's descriptions of her using the Ouija board on her blog. Then I remembered that I inherited such a board at a family member's garage sale. I'd say it's from the early 1970's, manufactured and sold by Parker Brothers who'd bought the rights from the William Fuld family in 1966. In fact, Fuld's name is all over the board and the planchette (the heart-shaped part that slides on the board).

Fuld was an interesting character. Coming from a large family of ten children, he and his brother Isaac earned the agreement and later the patents to manufacture the oracle board. Though they built and distributed Ouija together for years, they had a falling out in 1901 which led to a family feud that was not resolved till years later by their grandchildren!

Before he died from an accidental (?) three-story fall in 1927, William Fuld begged his children to stop making the Ouija board. They finally did so in 1966, as previously mentioned.

Aside from the bad luck attributed to Mr. Fuld, there are many other anecdotes of devoted Ouija users who later swore off its use and preached against it as well. Among these were Edgar Cayce and Harry Houdini. Tales of obsessive use, leading to insanity and followed by murder and debauch are commonplace, if the accounts herein are to be believed. Thus, the talk of a curse.

I would argue that obsessive use of ANY single method of divination--tarot, Ouija, I Ching--may be hazardous to your mental health. Balance and moderation in all things!

Interesting though. The letters "MSG" came up on my Ouija board today, a few hours after deciding on Chinese food tonight, an uncommon dinner choice around here. Also "PHD"; perhaps I'm about to meet a very learned person. Also "IH8" (I hate?), now that one I found quite disturbing. I don't hate...anyone. I get very angry at the intolerant, the hypocritical, and the sanctimonious (see my previous post: Westboro Baptist Church).

Guilty as charged, in that case.

But if you want to ponder old board games that cause obsession and insanity...we'll talk about chess sometime soon.

Racists and Homophobes to Protest Dio's Memorial

2010-05-31T14:48:00.006-04:00

From CNN comes word that those sanctimonious hypocrites who call themselves the Westboro Baptist Church will be protesting at Ronnie James Dio's memorial service.

You may recall that this is the same group of frauds and bigots that shows up at the funerals of fallen military, gays, Jews, and other groups expressly for the purpose of stressing out the family members who are already grieving over their lost loved ones.

Dear Westboro protesters, and especially your deranged leader, Fred Phelps: there is a special place in hell reserved for you bigots who twist the Christian message until it suits your homophobic, xenophobic model.

Oh by the way, Mr. Dio had a more positive spiritual message than your so-called "church" ever did.

The Peace of Cemetaries

2010-05-31T00:59:00.005-04:00

I love cemetaries. I pass a really striking one, every day. It's called Robinson Run near McDonald, PA, and it sits high on a hill with striking views in all directions. Very few trees, this one looks like it should be in a horror movie, especially on a stormy night.

Cemetaries are places of peace and rest. They encourage visitors to remember their loved ones, and reflect on their own lives. In reality, cemetaries exist for the living, not for the dead.

The cemetary my father is buried in is very unusual. It is on a steep, wooded slope, but the slope has been cut into "steps" with the departed buried along the flat parts. Appropriate somehow; he was also born in a very hilly, wooded place in Europe.

Anecdotes:

A co-worker of mine used to leave at lunch, drive to the cemetary next door, and nap. Once she "forgot" to wake up and was late returning.
Once, while running in an unfamiliar place, I stopped to relieve myself in a small clearing, to suddenly realize I was in a very old cemetary. Talk about a religious experience.
Because it is below sea level, the dead in New Orleans are not buried at all. They are interred above ground on risers.
Finally, this marker in Key West, speaks for itself:

The Opportunity that Awaits

2010-05-30T23:18:00.004-04:00

I won't repeat what you already know about the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. We are amazed that our top engineers cannot figure out a way to stop this deadly flow.

I see a unique opportunity to tap into the anger and outrage over this incident--an opportunity to finally put together a comprehensive energy policy based on renewables: wind, solar, geothermal. I'm talking about tax credits, research funded by the government (a pennies-on-the-dollar investment), and other incentives.

The United States has the opportunity to simultaneously reduce our dependence on oil, re-engineer the energy grid, create millions of good jobs, and reduce the influence of the Middle East/OPEC bloc. A grand-slam home run, if we swing the bat NOW.

The spirit of the Tarot for the coming year IS:

2010-05-25T19:04:00.002-04:00

The Moon, ATU XVIII.

On this World Tarot Day, that's the card I drew. I forsee more deception and confusion from Wall Street, Republicans, Christian Conservatives and Tea Partiers.

The moon framed by condensation trails

2010-05-24T22:18:00.002-04:00

The moon during the day is one of my favorite subjects. Here, some jet contrails frame the moon delicately in the southern sky near Pittsburgh.

World Tarot Day

2010-05-24T22:02:00.005-04:00

Thanks to the blog Annie's Hearth for reminding me that Tuesday is World Tarot Day. It's a great day to open your heart and allow the message of the cards to guide your way.

By the by, I came across this quote from noted occultist Madame Blavatsky. For some reason it touched me with its simple truth.

Occultism is not magic, though magic is one of its tools.

Occultism is not the acquirement of powers, whether psychic or intellectual, though both are its servants. Neither is occultism the pursuit of happiness, as men understand the word; for the first step is sacrifice, the second, renunciation.

Occultism is the science of life, the art of living.

Wonderfully expressed.

Ronnie James Dio 1942-2010

2010-05-17T22:39:00.013-04:00

Sadness grips the world of heavy metal music today, as one of its finest voices is stilled. I can do no better than share a performance of one of his bands, Heaven and Hell, from 2006.

(photo from CNN)

The Bus Station

2010-05-15T07:27:00.010-04:00

Pittsburgh's downtown bus station was recently rebuilt. The outside architecture is pretty loud (see pic), but I never had the opportunity to go inside...until Wednesday.

I had no rational reason to go inside the terminal, but something told me to go in anyway.

The inside is pretty typical of what you would see in any bus station...traveler's aid, ticket counters, snack bars, etc. Near the gates to the buses you can smell diesel fumes and exhaust. But even before I walked inside I felt the human toll of people who were traveling out of need, not desire.

At the front door, a woman was hugging a young girl, probably 13 or so, very tight, talking to her and stroking her hair. I sensed a custody issue, one that was really contentious, and this poor girl was the fallout of this. As I walked inside I saw people standing in line, slouching in the lounge area, pacing the floor while talking on cellphones, and looking at schedules. I felt that some of them were traveling to attend a family funeral. There wasn't much if any positive energy coming from anyone there.

Most seemingly were just attending to mundane matters and bus travel was a routine for them. But once again you could pick up the vibes of those who were traveling not for pleasure but out of need or obligation.

It's been a long time since I took an inter-city bus anywhere. I used to quite a bit in my youth, before I could afford my own ride (you meet some real characters, and it is not always a pleasant experience. The Port Authority terminal in New York is a good example).

Anyway, I'm glad I went in. Maybe there was a reason I was pulled that way, and I may not find out for a while.

(pic courtesy Scott Michael's flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottmichaels/4097461306/)