Laughing at Kirk



As most of my readers know, David Griffin of the HOGD/A&O has recently associated himself with Captain James T. Kirk, and his friend, Tomas (SR) with Spock. The association of the Federation with Golden Dawn puzzles me a little because there are moments that I am not sure if it is just his Order that he is connecting it with, or if the association refers to all honest magical branches of the tradition. This association has led to some strange mental moments on my end---now I cannot help but think about Griffin whenever I run across a picture of William Shatner's version of Captain Kirk. Sometimes it leads to me laughing out loud at a picture because it now has a completely new subcontext to me. And this picture is an example of one of those moments. I have no idea whether Griffin would approve of this statement or not ("Diplomacy---Words don't always solve problems. Sometimes you just have to punch an alien in the face."), but I could hear Griffin saying it because of this association. Now I do know that Griffin will see the humor value of it---I must admit that Griffin goes out on a limb occasionally to be able to use a good line or poke some fun at a situation (look to what he was willing to do to be able to use the line, "I am the real McCoy"---that was an association that I wouldn't have touched with a ten-foot pole; both sides of that conflict were out to lunch). I may not agree with Griffin about some things, but I do admire his willingness to go for a laugh.

When chickens flame

Here is a cartoon that I discovered though Confessions of a Modern Witch, who found it at Savage Chickens (Doug Savage). I know that I am not alone in wishing this would happen to the worst of the flamers on the internet, especially in my own circle of the internet. Why are we not funding research in this much needed defense against flame wars? Oh yeah, because we all have our moments, don't we?

Bad Student I am

Yesterday, while sitting on the Light Rail, coming back from a final, I found myself thinking about how I am just a bad student compared to other people I know. Talking to my classmates, I realized that I spent much less time studying for the final exam than many of my classmates did. I also did not finish the final as quickly as some of them did either.

Not that I am worried about passing the class---if I get a decent grade on the final, then I will pass the class. The final exam I am most worried about is not until Thursday night. And I am not too terribly worried about that one either.

I guess part of the reason for my bad study habits is the simple fact that I believe that being able to get some sleep is more important than cramming more facts into my head.

Awhile back, I ran across someone blogging about how they were cramming for a Grade exam in one of the branches of the Golden Dawn. And honestly, I could not imagine being allowed to cram for an advancement exam.

Ok, for the record, I have never belonged to a branch that places a whole lot of emphasis on the material of the Knowledge Lectures. Why? Did I mention that I am a bad student? And yes, if you are a bad student with a distinct lack of willpower to memorize every comma in the Knowledge Lectures, there is a Order for you. If I can find them, so can you.

After all, not all of us are Harvard material...or Yale...or whatever is the punchline. See, I can't even learn a joke properly. Which is why I am community college material.

Don't ask me how I got into the University of Colorado at Denver. I still haven't figured that one out. Nor can I explain how I convinced my current advanced Adept advisor to help me. Maybe, my personality is a lot more pleasant than I think it is.

I am wary of cramming for any exam. But especially Golden Dawn exams. Hasn't research proven that information crammed leaks out of your brain as soon as the exam book is closed? I think I might want to know a few facts in case I wander off into the astral and met something that I don't like.

And my sponsor never gave me a chance to cram. Exams were spur of the moment affairs. It was felt that you either could pass the test on a two-second notice or you didn't pass. Not that they ever tested for the full set...but then again, you had to be able to do the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram from memory without people rolling in the aisles. (And other rituals in later exams.)

I would like to think that ritual skill is more important than being able to score 90% or more on the Knowledge Lectures. But what do I know---I gone to a community college, both academically and symbolically. I am a bad student and correspondence schools have always bored me. At least, I am aware of this---I know many people who do not have a clue that they are bad students. Yay for me and my slim supply of self-knowledge.

My Mother

*warning personal issues* So today is Mother's Day, one of the dozen days every year that I wonder if I was too harsh on my mother. Then I remind myself of her opinions of me, and I attempt to get back to doing whatever it is that I am supposed to be accomplishing.

Let me state for the record that it is all my fault that her and me do not get along. Quite simply, I chose to be a witch (Wiccan), and then decided to add the additional insults of joining a quasi-secret society (Golden Dawn) and deciding to be very public about my religion. My choice of profession did not help any either.

But let's be clear---it is my attitude problem and religion that are the cause of the problems. My Order membership and profession were just part of the bonus round.

And at a certain point in time, I decided to completely walk away. Somedays, I wonder if I did the right thing. Of course, it does not really matter if I did or not.

Now, none of this really matters...unless you deal with me on a regular basis.

I am one of those examples of a screwed-up human being (not talking to my mother is just the tip of the iceberg), who unfortunately finds himself in a position of public representative of his religion and Order (BIOGD/BIORC). My only comfort is that I can point at a couple of other public figures, who seem to be a few more cards short of a full deck than I am.

Don't get me wrong. I would not be where I am at today if it wasn't for my mother. I am reminded of this every time a witch war or a flame war threatens to flares up. Instead of handing the people, who are tossing around the gasoline, a nice glass of water, I tend to encourage them to light a match. The politics and conflicts between the various factions of Golden Dawn and Wicca/paganism look downright tame compared to the stuff I saw growing up.

For instance, one of the big threats always is that flamers will go after one's reputation. My response is to smile---can you really spread any worse rumors about me than my mother did? And given the fact that I had to conceal my life for ages and ages (I still not sure how the truth was worse than what she was claiming), today I tend to wear my flaws in bold letters on my shirt.

Anyways, just wanted to note that I did think of my mother today. I still love her, but it is probably best that we no longer talk to one another anymore. And so it goes.

Blogger Reading List Bug

As I noted on my writing blog yesterday, there currently seems to be a bug involving the Blogger Reading List. I can read some of the blogs that I follow (150 plus and not all openly) in Google Reader, but not all of them are showing up there. So if you wrote something brilliant and are upset because I did not comment about it...well, there is a chance I just have not seen it yet, and have no idea that you have updated your blog. And if it is a bug, then odds are that you haven't read this update on my blog either.

International Pagan Coming Out Day

I did not realize that today was International Pagan Coming Out Day. That makes me a bad pagan blogger, right?

I came out of the broom closet back in junior high...in front of my mom...and she promptly put me back into the broom closet. Not that anyone in the town that we were living in (a small town) believed for a second that I was a good Christian like my mom made me pretend to be.

Spending high school in the broom closet made me militant when I came out the second time. For my mom's sake, I did chose to go by my pen-name for many years in the wiccan and pagan community---without allowing my pen-name to be connected with my real name. But that is about the only thing I did to make anyone comfortable.

I have mellowed out over the years. I am not sure when it happened. It might be due to my wife's influence. I am less in one's face about it nowadays. The level of my bluntness tends to be my standard joke in the religous study classes (which are actually literature classes) that I am the obligatory tree hugging pagan that all university classes are required to have. A joke I also use in Golden Dawn circles.

Happy International Pagan Coming Out Day!

Pet Peeve Oral Tradition as Documentary Proof

One of my big pet peeves is people who say that we cannot judge the history of the occult and the esoteric traditions by the paper trail alone. You know the people---those who insist that unless we know what the oral traditions were, we cannot know what was actually going on.

And always, they know what the oral tradition was, therefore their pet theory is right despite the fact that the paper trail tells a completely different story.

Now, I am not saying that the oral tradition does not exist. I am saying that the concept of the oral tradition is being abused nine ways to Sunday. There is a difference.

Take for instance, the oral history of my own family. This semester I got to work on a project that dealt with the oral history of my family. I got assigned to interview three family members about my family history, then write a small paper about it (I recieved a low A).

What did I learn? That when all four of us had heard a story or explaination for something, none of the four stories would agree with one another. I also learned that the stories being told to the younger members of the family were not the same stories that the older generation recieved.

Conclusion---you cannot trust the oral tradition.

Now, I would love some parts of the oral tradition of the Western Mystery Tradition to be true. Unfortunately, the very parts I would most like to see proven correct are the very parts that I suspect are the most false. And so it goes.

The reason I am thinking about all this is the fact that the Open Full Moon ritual that I am going to be conducting in June is going to be based on the telling of stories. And some of the stories are going to be changed to suit the purposes of the ritual that I am doing. I am currently at the stage where I am fine-tuning certain elements of the stories, much like my father used to tell the same jokes over and over while changing certain parts to heighten the effects of the joke.

Think about it. If I know that I change parts of stories to suit my own purposes (and what is the oral tradition if not a collection of stories and some rather strange ideas), then what prevented the previous tellers of the stories and traditions from doing the same?

Oh, I know there were all much more noble souls than I was. And if you believe that, please leave your email address in the comment section because there are some people who would like to sell you a nice bridge to nowhere---after all, they know the true oral tradition of the mysteries---they would never lie to you.