Science and Magick
"Everything we don't understand is magic, until we understand it. Until we understand it, and master it." -- Peter Cushing as Baron Frankenstein in 'Frankenstein Created Woman'.
I've heard a number of times that "blogs are dead," and "nobody reads them." First of all, who ever said that quantity is always the desired result? Someone may only be attempting to reach a very specific audience. This blog has received 81,293 page views. Recently on Red Ice Radio, Stephen McNallen said in regards to the constant urging by the mainstream--to him or any of us--to read some celebrity "tweat." He said that he doesn't know them, care about them, and probably wouldn't even like them... and vice-versa. If you think about it, are they even remotely part of your community?
Perhaps someone who has a blog for the expressed purpose of their own "fandom"... those blogs may be dead. However, just the idea that someone thinks that quantity is better than quality says something just in of itself. I remember some years ago when "Ysabella Brave" was one of the new stars of YouTube, and she had all of this fame including a record contract. Then she became ill, had most of her videos pulled by YouTube for copyright infringement, and couldn't take advantage of her record deal... most of her "fans" forgot about her overnight.
There are still many people who aren't very interested in hipsters, fads, and fleeting things. I recall Hengest of the Odinic Rite saying "fast food, fast values." I think we all need to search ourselves in order to find our true self. Most people even censor their own thoughts, in their own mind! Whose approval are you really seeking? We need to look at our own behavior. Is this who we really are? If you asked me if I think it's strange to see a line of middle aged men seeking the autograph of a star college athlete... yeah I think that's strange.
With a mini-series based on the Arthur C. Clarke novel coming to Syfy next month, I remembered the strange quote at the beginning of the John Keel book 'The Mothman Prophecies'....
"There was no mistake. The leathery wings, the little horns, the barbed tail--all were there. The most terrible of all legends had come to life, out of the unknown past. Yet now it stood smiling, in ebon majesty, with the sunlight gleaming upon its tremendous body, and with a human child resting trustfully on either arm." -- Arthur C. Clarke, 'Childhood's End, 1953
Some people have it down that America's Founding Fathers were Christian fundamentalists who founded a "Christian Republic"; while others are totally convinced that they were actually Deists who only loosely adhered to a "God" at all. Unfortunately, there isn't a simple answer, and the closed-minded Hegelian determination of Christian fundamentalists and Atheists only add to the confusion. It is true that the country was to be Republic... a Democratic-Republic. Not a despotic pure-Republic, nor a totalitarian pure-Democracy. We can't even get that down pat, never mind the religious question.
From its Puritanical roots, Christianity grew powerful in America after the Founding Fathers were gone. For example, the Scottish and Scotch-Irish origin of the Bible Belt was different than that of the English Puritans. They may have both been Protestants and Americans, but their journey was different. The Founding Fathers did seem to have been mostly Deists, who realized the importance of the concept of "freedom of religion." The concept of American colonists with a musket in one hand and a Bible in the other is at least partly fiction I think; although it was probably more-or-less true during the nineteenth century.
The Treaty of Tripoli was a 1796 treaty between the United States of America and the Ottoman-ruled Tripolitania along the North African coast. It was in regards to the piracy of American trading vessels in the Mediterranean Sea. The legal formation of the USA occurred during the Constitutional Convention of 1787, therefore the government of 1796 would have had a very clear idea of what the intent of this Republic really was all about. Probably in an effort to diffuse any religious tension, the following words were put within this treaty from the American side.... "the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."
I've brought up this idea in different forms, but to finally be more explicit, a small group of people (family, clan, or coven) could just adopt an open area near them as a sacred place. A location of spiritual centering. A hub where you can serve as part-caretakers of the land and animals. One time at one of the gated openings to one such location, I saw where someone had broken some beer bottles. Green glass was everywhere. The next morning I came back with latex gloves, a small shovel, and a bucket. I spent about an hour cleaning up the mess. Thankfully, it didn't happen again. If I had just left it, then it would have eventually been stomped and kicked into the soil. Almost always, people who hike the trails are good about not dropping garbage. Actually, hikers at large are among the better class of people period.
The cool crisp air of November really suits me. The days tend to have a dark shadowy tint to them, whether dark and cloudy.. or even sunny. The nights are clearer, darker, and with more stars visible. I love that I live near a sizable county park. Just last night I could hear coyotes howling again as I gazed out the open window... into the wonderful black abyss..
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