Why I object to Walt Disney being used as an example of a magical human being

Warning---the following blog post is being written in response to someone who held up Walt Disney as an example of a magical human being. Someone is sure to believe that it is just politics. Or flaming. Or both. Actually, it is just that I would not willingly associate myself with the man given what I know (yes, I a horrible person---a history student).

Ok, Robert Zink just held up Walt Disney as "a wonderful example of a magical human."

And I had to clean off the screen of my computer. Seriously, can't we find a better example?

Yes, Walt Disney is a wonderful rags to riches story and Disneyland is a place of wonder. But one could also describe Disneyland as an island of security and freedom though the medium of consumptious leisure, and Disney as a ruthless businessman.

There are questions about Walt Disney. There is a rumor that he was anti-semitic and racist. Most of that stems from his involvment with the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals; he was a founding member. This organization supplied Congress with suspected Communists during the red scare. By the way, Disney thought that the Screen Actors Guild was a Communist front and their strikes were merely ways for the Communists to gain influence in Hollywood.

I honestly would just rack that up to the fact that Walt was a product of his times and a businessman. Let's be honest---labor strikes hurt the bottom line, and the only people who matter are at the top of the food chain. The workers (serfs) have no right to better conditions and wages if it hurts those who are at the top of the pyramid. Or so, the wealthy elite tell us.

And as an example of how progressive and willing to let people become what they can be old Walt was, I present Disneyland. The rules for Disneyland were created by Walt Disney. Be scared, be very scared.

First off, the entire park is designed to separate you from your money. (Yes, it is a snarky comment.) Second, its location was specifically chosen because Walt knew that a highway was about to be built right next to it.

Now, we get to the really bad stuff. Note that some of the following is outdated, and refers to the 1955 opening conditions---but not nearly as much as you would think.

The entire park is designed to enforce confirmity. There is a homogeneous work force---nice attractive young white males and females. (There were actual physical appearance guidelines in the hiring manual.) There were a strict set of employee guidelines (dress and conduct code). There was also a one-dollar admission---in order to keep out undesirables.

There is no diversity at Disneyland. The park is set off in sections (you will not find anything Chinese anyplace other than the Asian area).

You never see the maintance people. The entire park is filled with tunnels to hide the most grubby workers.

Everyone who goes to Disneyland has the same experience. The animatonic technology is predictive, and ensures that the pirates I saw will say the same things that you heard.

The employees have a strict script and are only allowed to use answers from it. Any improvisation must be PREAPPROVED by the management.

Now, from a viewpoint of presenting examples of what a magical human being is supposed to be like, cookie cutter experiences are not high up on my list. I understand why Robert Zink likes the example of Walt Disney. But I would not use him. The world Walt created is too strict for my tastes.

And if you think that things have changed, consider this. A couple of years ago, a mother and daughter showed up to the park, both dressed as princesses. They were denied entry until the mother changed out of her princess costume. Official explanation it would confuse the other guests of the park. But sounds like confirmity of the experience is still high on the list to me.

I honestly do not think that confirmity to an artifical cultural norm is what a magical human being would promote. But what do I know? After all, I am not a good example of a magical human being.

Additional note---30 April 2011---I find it interesting that Seth Godin chose to blog about the Disney-Industrial Complex and dreams today. "It's so easy to be sold on the combination of compliance, consumption and approval by the powers that be. Of course, you're entitled to any dream you like, but I hope you will choose a bigger one."

In the busy season I read blogs

I haven't blogged much lately. Or done much of anything else lately (I did take some photos of some of my wife's jewelry, but have yet to edit the photos). Reason: it is the busy end of the Spring semester (papers to be wrote, books to be read, quizes to take).

I have jotted down some notes for a few more cards in my Magic The Gathering NOT series. Debating when poking fun at someone goes too far. There is a card I want to do that is based on the collective wisdom and rumors surrounding a real person. Decisions, decisions.

In the meantime, as I avoid a certain amount of homework and studying, here are a trio of the blogs that I have been reading. Warning: they are not Golden Dawn related.

There is a great post on Seth Godin's blog about the Bully-Victim Cycle. "Being a bully is a choice, and falling for this cycle, permitting it to continue, is a mistake."

Julien Smith over on Copyblogger wrote an entry on one-star book reviews that have been posted on Google. “Like ‘The Secret’ for Aspergers patients”

Ed Stein has drawn a political cartoon commenting on the demise of the US space program. "We somehow became a nation more obsessed with cutting taxes and spending than with exploring the universe."

Sathya Sai Baba 1926 to 2011

Sathya Sai Baba, born Sathyanarayna Raju (23 November 1926 to 24 April 2011), has passed away. This story would have probably passed me by if it wasn't for the fact that a friend of mine (not a member of Bast Temple) has a picture of him in her temple room. While he was alive, there was some debate on whether he was a fraud or not. I am not sure that practicing sleight of hand makes the message corrupt or not. After all, I have seen worse from others. My favorite quote from the man is something that he said about the Narasimhaiah Committee, which was created to study miracles and other superstitions. Being challenged to perform his miracles under controlled scientific conditions, Sathya Sai Baba replied, "Science must confine its inquiry only to things belonging to the human senses, while spiritualism transcends the senses. If you want to understand the nature of spiritual power, you can do so only through the path of spirituality and not science. What science has been able to unravel is merely a fraction of the cosmic phenomena." Whether you take that statement as a spiritual lesson or the statement of someone who does not want to be tested because he is conning people depends upon your faith and your opinion of the man and his message. Personally, having not dealt with the man or his organization, my opinion is still on the fence. Rest in Peace Sathya Sai Baba.

Advertising or News Suicide After Reading a Book

Today on one of the Golden Dawn message boards, I saw some bizzarre postings that were pretty much gibberish---much like the van down the street that says (written in masking tape) "Hope" and "Underwear" and "Wear clean underwear." Except that the van makes more sense than the replies that I was reading which seemed to be merely random words with a few links tossed in for good measure.
And I found myself wondering if anyone ever actually clicks on the links posted that way. (Heavens knows that Google ignores such links.)

This thought in turn made me wonder about a book inquiry I saw a few months ago---one that I suspect was a secret book advertising campaign.

The inquiry was about whether anyone had read a certain occult book. The person claimed that the book really freaked them out after they read it, and that they also heard that someone committed suicide after reading the book.

Given the fact that the inquiry appeared on several Golden Dawn forums at the same time, and was from a person that none of us had ever seen before, I think that most of us raked it up as an advertising campaign.

When someone pointed out that it seemed to be an advertising campaign, the person claimed not to be the writer. Of course, the proof of the pudding may be that none of us have seen this person post anything ever since. And so it goes.

Of course, it is possible that someone may have committed suicide after reading the book. But I would also like to point out that a lot of people who have committed suicide have also read the Bible. We hardly ever blame the Bible for causing suicides...so one has to consider why that is.

Whenever I have actually seen a book blamed for something, it is either a slow news day (complete with a journalist trying to spice up a story), someone trying to smear a group (ex. playing Dungeons and Dragons causes people to commit suicide and worship the Devil), or someone trying to assign blame to (or explain) some really wanked-out events. For instance, look at the number of video games and movies blamed for school shootings.

By the way, a lot of people do not see the approach of suicide (or mass violence) in others. Anyone who finds an occult book in the library of a loved one who committed suicide or did a violent crime will blame the occult. It is easier for the survivors to blame the occult than to admit that they did not see the long term mental problems that led to the suicide or mass violence.

(People also will blame the occult to explain why someone became the victim of violence. My own family has an example of that tendency.)

Anyways, as I already said, I suspect that the inquiry was merely a ruse to heighten the dark allure of an occult book.

And I wonder if it resulted in any book sales at all. Or did people in the community just ignore the book for the simple reason that it was such a clumsy advertising ploy. I ignored it, and I bet that you did too.

How did Earth Day sneak up on me?

Somehow this year, Earth Day sneaked up on me. Wild guess how it did it---it enlisted the aid of evil university professors (ok, my professors are not evil...maybe). So do I feel any guilt about not realizing that is was Earth Day before turning on the computer and reading the internet headlines? Not really. I garden (in a drought zone scented by the smell of burning forests). I have a compost pile (actually I am trying to make a golem out of leaves---don't tell my neighbors). And I was the first person on the block to get a recycling bin from the city (my father would have been so proud of the fact that I was "bloody neighbor that cared" and caused several other neighbors to follow suit). So yes, Earth Day sneaked up on me this year---but in my universe, everyday is kind of an Earth Day.

MTGN Crusading Sockpuppet

It is now time for another installment of Magic the Gathering NOT. Today's masterpiece is the Crusading Sockpuppet, a 1/1 creature with a casting cost of one white and one generic mana. It taps for the cost of one white mana to deal two damage to a target player (Order) or creature (member), and also does one damage to its controller. I am not exactly sure that is realistic, but I don't have the numbers to prove that it is not either. In my previous installment, I mentioned that the Anonymous Blog is a broken card, and this card is one of the reasons why it is broken. When any sockpuppets come into place, all the Anonymous Blogs (along Attack Sites and Flame Forums) become Artifact Creatures. For every sockpuppet in play, the Anonymous Blog (again, along with the Attack Sites and Flame Forums) gets a +1/+1. There is a drawback; if all the sockpuppets are removed from play, you could lose all the Anonymous Blogs (once again, along with the Attack Sites and Flame Forums). I had fun creating the picture for this one. Yes, it is a cross between Rocky (the flying squirrel) and Bulwinkle (the moose). The flavor text refers to Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale (everyone's favorite nogoodniks), as well as the ever-famous Fearless Leader. I wanted to use the Pottslyvania flag in the background, but I could not locate a picture of it (all I know is that it is black and blue), but I know that the Iron Cross was used on the aircraft (gee, I wonder who Jay Ward was mocking). One of the odd things I discovered while looking for a picture of the Pottsylvanian flag was the fact that a few of the espisodes opened with a Bullwinkle puppet. In one opening, the puppet told the kids to remove the dials from their televisions. Some kids actually listened and did so, leading to complaints from their parents. And so it goes. For those of you who are curious, I did see the movie with Sally Kellerman and Dave Thomas; I thought it was clever...obviously I am a nerd.

Happy Tax Horror Day 2011

Happy Tax Horror Day 2011! If you haven't done your taxes yet, you just have a couple of hours to do so. I did my own on Friday, April 15th. But this year, the IRS deadline is actually today, Monday the 18th, due to Friday being a holiday in Washington DC (it was news to me too---Emanipation Day). I took a picture of the line at the post office. This is what the line typically looks like at this particular post office. I will admit that I spend a lot of time doing walking mediation while I am at this post office. I am glad that I am not there today---I assume that the line is longer today. It would be a really llllooooooooonnnnnggg mediation today.

Homeric Hymn to Hephaistos

Sing, O clear-voiced Muse, of Hephaistos renowned for skill,
who along with the gray-eyed Athena taught fine crafts
to men of this earth; indeed before that time
they used to live in mountain caves like wild beasts.

Thanks to Hephaistos, the famous craftmen,
they learned crafts and easily for the full year
they lead a carefree existence in their own homes.

Have mercy on me, Hephaistos; grant me virtue and happiness.

---translated by Apostolos N. Athanassakis

[Haphaistos---Greco-Roman; Hephaestus---Roman; Vulcanus/Vulcan---Roman: god of blacksmiths and metal-working.]

Scott Adams sockpuppet revealed

I was going to continue my Magic the Gathering NOT series tonight, but I am a little tired and the universe delievered a tasty slow news day pizza today. And I find it interesting that it involves sockpuppetry and has nothing to do with the Golden Dawn community. Obvivously, my awe and wonder threshold is set rather low tonight.

Drum roll please---wait for it---Scott Adams has been caught defending himself using a sock puppet on MetaFilter. Cue applause---brace for mocking comments.

Really, Scott?! You had to resort to a sock puppet to defend your work. Wow. Didn't you do a cartoon about this? Oh, yes---you did.

"Asok, we are getting killed by bad customer reviews online. I need you to pretend you're several different customers and write positive reviews....And be sure to defame our competitors."

Ok, you did admit to it. But seriously, you pretended to be your biggest fan for months. Don't you have any actual supporters to defend your work. And shouldn't you be more concerned about creating more work, rather than what critics are saying about you on the internet?

And just because you don't agree with some of the members of a discussion board does not make that discussion board a cesspool.

I tend to agree with Cortex, a moderator on MetaFilter, who told you:

"Scott, if you wanted to sign up for Metafilter to defend your writing, that would have been fine. If you wanted to sign up for Metafilter and be incognito as just another user, that'd be fine too. Doing both simultaneously isn't; pretending to be a third party and high-fiving yourself by proxy is a pretty sketchy move and a serious violation of general community expectations about identity management around here."

 But I would like to thank you for the laugh. Here I thought it was only the dolts in my own corner of the internet that walked around pretending to be other people and defending their own brilliance and peeing on other people. I am glad to see someone who terribly successful do the same. But it does worry me.

I really hope that this does not mean that in order to be super-successful that I need to have a few sock puppets of my own. Because I am super-lazy and like to be able to look at myself in the mirror in the morning.

And Scott, if you read this, feel free to create another sock puppet and make a comment about how wonderful you think I am.

Some comments that I just have to make

I apologize to my regular readers for the following rant post. But there are times that I just have to say "What the F***?!" And last night on the blogosphere I ran into one of those moments.

It was a post by Robert Zink, headwarden of the EOGD, and he is talking about how both him and Mathers have both victims of the "Blemish" game, a tactic used to justify actions by finding faults in others. In both his and Mathers case, the Blemish game (the term was coined by Eric Bernie, I think) was used to justify schism.

(By the way, the schism happened in 1900, not 1904. Sorry, one of my faults is that I am a double major [Literature and History] currently attending university---little mistakes like that disturb the S*** out of me.)

Zink went on to say that he believes that the current went with Mathers because he was the Third Order contact, a point that I have never seen enourgh proof of to believe in. Nor have I seen enourgh proof of the implied fact that Zink is not mentioning here.

(For the record, I would have voted against Mathers the day he decided that playing politics was a more valuable use of his time than making needed repairs to the Vault of the Adeptii. I don't care if your are the voice of Third Order; my concern as an Adept is my own work which requires a fully repaired Vault.)

"Often we play this game with leaders, it is a common game with dire consquences." Ok, leaders lose their jobs to this game. Of course, I am always surprised by the things that leaders should have gotten the boot for that does not come out until after they get the boot. One of the things that can be said about having political power is that it allows you to keep a tight lid on the members of your group who would talk of your faults and abuses.

After a brief comment about his favorite enemy, we finally get to the part that I have to comment on. Zink mentions that Jeff Randich and Alex Walker, along with some other members, "have decided to create their own group", the OGD/CSS.

Zink says that he feels bad about the way that they left, as he thinks that the EOGD should have a method for those who have been in the Order for a long time to be able to create their own Orders. He notes that they will be a new lineage, and that he was proud to be the Second Order initiator of all those who schismed against him.

Ok, here are my primary comment. None of the Golden Dawn Orders (no matter what their names) have ever been good at being able to hive off new Orders. One of the differences between Wicca and the esoteric Orders one will notice if one studies the first decade or so of the re-invented English Wicca is that they had a rules about how  and when to create new covens. (I don't know enourgh about European Wicca to know how they dealt with this---sorry about the English bias.)

For instance, once a coven got to a certain size (typicially over a dozen members) and had enourgh members of certain degrees, then the group had to "hive off" according to the rules. There was no finding fault with the current parent group leadership; the rules said that the group membership had to be divided. Furthermore, the group could not have contact with each other for a specified time period (typically a year), so that the new group leaders could develop their own skills without someone second-guessing them at every turn.

Of course, this plan will not work in any Golden Dawn or esoteric Order that insists that Third Order contact equals a REAL Order. Presuming that Zink is truthful about his feelings, there is no system that can be invented that allows a new Order to form if Third Order contact is monopolized by a single individual.

So what we get in Golden Dawn is schisms and expulsions. Either you rebel or you p*** off the current leader so badly that you get expelled---those are the only two commonly used routes that Golden Dawn allows you to form your own Order. Oh, there are two other routes, but the one is hardly ever used and the other is considered illegitimate by those who insist that they are the font of all knowledge.

Zink, I acknowledge your stated feelings and the fact that you believe that your faults are not great enourgh to justify members leaving your Order, but honestly there will never be any other option for those who are ready to head their own Order. Because deep down, you believe that you are the heart of your Order and can do no wrong. You like your monopoly too much and we all know it.

As noted already, I apologize to my regular readers for the rant. I also apologize to anyone who do not think I went far enourgh in my statements, or that I did not go far enourgh. I will be weighing comments on this post based on how much gasoline I think that they are soaked in---note that I do not want my blog to burst into flames.

Hanuman Pow Wow Migraine Mantra

Last night I ran across the following mantra for curing migraines while reading Philip Lutgendorf' Hanuman's Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey. It reminds me of some of the Pow Wow (Pennslyvania Dutch) and the Runic magic that I have seen for the same health issue.

[To be recited seven times while blowing the ash of burned cow dung in the afflicated person's face]

Om salutaions! Born in the forest, monkeys climb trees, leap from branch to branch and eat raw, wild fruits. Half they tear, half they split, half they let fall. When Hanuman-ji roars, migraine goes away!

How much difference does changing an Order name make

Yesterday, VH Soror FSO announced that the Grand Temple of Ptah (Chicago), Temple of Thoth-Hermes (Denver), Temple of Het-Heret (Seattle), Sanctuary of Isis (Los Angeles), and Sanctuary of Maat (San Francisco) were now officially under the banner of The Order of the Golden Dawn: Collegium Spiritu Sancti.

Let's be perfectly honest: Changing the name of their Order was absolutely necessary. Between the fact that Robert Zink seems to be as deeply dug in as he was before, the fact that Zink is the bearer of the license for the use of the name Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn, and the amount of sludge and bad feelings associated with the EOGD (most of which is connected with Zink), a name change was so needed---if only to give themselves a chance to develop their own reputation in the Golden Dawn community without being constantly confused with the EOGD.

But there are actually a deeper magical issues involved.

One of the theories about the egregore is that the name of an Order actually serves as one of the keys to being able to tap that group's energies. I am not sure how much I buy into that theory. It seems to have developed from the fact that the Order name is one of the things that you promise to keep secret---it seems to be a wild guess about this clause of the oath without taking in account the history and mythology of the lodge system.

But here is the rub: Any group that is using their Order name as part of the security of their energy bank has two names---their public name and a hidden name (often only known to the Inner Order and officers). The name that you are actually pledging to keep secret is the hidden name, not the public one.

The argument that the various name changes of the Golden Dawn groups have undergone represent security updates can go either way when you start to look at what was going on historically. For instance, do you really want to continue to use the name Golden Dawn in 1902 after its association with the Horos? (It is ironic that the modern Golden Dawn groups have actually used the name Golden Dawn for longer than the original Order did.) So on one hand, you have the bad PR; but you also have the fact that the rituals are now public knowledge (large hunks of the ritual published in newspapers no less---where everyone can read them).

(Sidenote: There is some indications that Mathers was planning on reclaiming the name Golden Dawn in the rituals recently published by Nick Farrell. I would quote the exact lines from the ritual, but I have misplaced my copy of the book.)

Ultimately, one must look at the names of the Orders much like one looks upon the various mottos of the members. Depending upon the Order you study, there are times that you change your motto. My most used motto is actually my second Golden Dawn motto. A significant life event happened between the time I took my Neophyte motto and the time that I entered Zelator---so significant that changing my motto was completely in order. I also have multiple mottos because of various group membership (new group=new motto). Interesting enourgh, the modern custom of changing your motto upon Inner Order entry is not observed by all Orders; and in fact, when examining the original Order, one discover few members who actually changed their motto at Inner Order.

If you look at the history of what directions the various Orders went after changing their names, you will notcie that the various Orders are not clones of one another (even when they are sharing communications with one another). Now if you buy into the esoteric fact (or theory) that names have power and vibration, one has to consider that changing the name of an Order changes its vibration (or at least, part of it).

Now, I am not going to analysize what the EOGD to OGD-CSS change really means. For one thing, it is complicated. For instance, what is the real name of the EOGD? I tend to refer to it as HOMSI (Hermetic Order of the Morning Star International) because that is the name that Order had when I first encountered information about it. But the EOGD seems to have a dozen names over its history. I am not sure that any of the name changes mattered---I think that the birth name of that Order remained the same.

Another reason for me not to analysize the names is that it is not a simple operation. Do we use English numerology? And if so, how do we deal with the non-English parts of the new name? Or does the entire name need to be put into Latin? And do we count every "the" and "of" in the name?

But for those who want to experiement with analysizing the names and what to use English numerology, I leave you with the following information. The planets and elements for the numbers one to nine (according to one system) are as follows:

One: Sun---Fire
Two: Moon---Water
Three: Jupiter---Fire
Four: Uranus---Air
Five: Mercury---Air
Six: Venus---Earth
Seven: Neptune---Water
Eight: Saturn---Earth
Nine: Mars---Fire

QoD Rufus Opus on trying to duplicate the old ways of magic

The "unknown unknowns" leave us unable to really do the magic the way they were doing it back then, if it was ever done that way at all. We're products of a different culture, living in a different time. Agrippa would have had an ipad, you know it. And spreadsheets.

     ----Rufus Opus

MTGN Anonymous Blog

One of the projects that I have wanted to do for awhile is to create a set of cards based on the collectible card game, Magic the Gathering. Yes, I am a nerd---thanks for noticing. Tonight, I was just not in the mood to do any of the reading for my classes, nor was I in the mood to attempt to write something serious. So I figured it would be as good as a time to start messing around with this project. Besides, we have been given such good material to mock over the last couple of weeks. Therefore, I present without further ado: Anonymous Blog. It is NOT a real Magic the Gathering card; and if it was, it would be banned from play (just like some of us would like to see it banned in real life). Anonymous Blog is an artifact that costs zero mana to bring into play (just like most of the blogs I am mocking). Tapping it adds a black, red, blue and green mana to the target's player [Order] manapool---hey, I said it would be banned if it was an actual MTG card. In the back of my mind, I have a couple of other cards that are going to interact with Anonymous Blog (yes, more mocking is coming)---it is more broken than it appears at first (just like most of the actual banned and restricted MTG cards). As always, if you think that I am mocking you, ask yourself why...and note that I am an equal opportunity offender---wait long enourgh and everyone will get mocked.

Is there another Bast Temple in Denver Colorado?

Ok, reading something in the general sewer back alley wonderfulness that is Golden Dawn news on the blogosphere, I found a reference to an "old Bast Temple", a "Lawrence Robinson" and an "Alex Walker"---all of which I was unaware of.

This is the first time that I have ever heard of the existence of another Bast Temple here in Denver, Colorado. Obviously, they are bigger and more important than the Bast Temple (BIORC) that I belong to---considering that I have never heard of them before.

As of this point in time, I am aware of two other Golden Dawn lodges operating here in Denver: Thoth-Amen-Ra (independent) and Thoth Hermes (Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn).

And to the best of my knowledge, none of the four lodges that were operating in the late 80s/early 90s were named Bast. Heavens knows that the lodge I belong to would have chosen another name and patron deity if we were aware of a previous or current lodge operating under this name.

I am not sure if the person has better information (aka more contacts than I do) or made a simple mistake. Nevertheless, I want it on the record that the Bast Temple I belong to is not the same lodge as the one that Alex Walker and Lawrence Robinson are involved in.

Group founders as cornerstones and keyholes

One of the things that I always find fascinating is how the egregores of the various esoteric traditions were [are] developed. In the Bible, we are told that at first, there was the WORD. In esoteric traditions, at first---there was the FOUNDER.

The founder of a system, or esoteric group, is the cornerstone upon which the entire system develops around; they are the keyhole, or first gatekeeper, that stands between the other members and the energy of egregore.

Think of the founder of a group as the initial programmer that creates a new computer program or operating platform. (Operating platform is probably more descriptive of the tradition in general; while the individual Orders and "Churches" are probably more akin to individual programs that run on the operating system.)

Except that not only is the founder the initial creator of ideas behind a group, they are also part of the very structure of the group.

In Hollywood myth, we are told that computer programmers always leave a backdoor into the systems that they create. In esoteric tradition, and religion for that matter, the founder does not have to create a backdoor, for they are a door into the system---in fact, they are the primary DOOR into the system.

Now, there are some implications to this, for instance you can't get rid of Jesus from Christianity---but you can get rid of Paul (vide gnostic literature). You can't remove Buddha from Buddhism (I am unaware of any attempts to do so). And you can't get rid of the creator of the Cipher Manuscript in Golden Dawn.

But note that you can build new structures upon their system once the founder is gone. I doubt that Christ or Frater Cipher would recognize the various multitude of structures that later people built on their ideas, and I really doubt that they would consider the "Bibles" of the various groups to be true statements of what they intended.

There are implications to this idea...if you think about them long enourgh, certain occult statements start to make sense. Of course, you do not have to worry about me being right---after all, the esoteric tradtions and religions are not like computer systems at all. *wink*

QoD Stephanie Reisner on being lucky about where she lives

I am lucky to live in a part of the world where we place the highest monetary value on blind faith, youth, beauty, unremarkable ability (rather than real talent), athletic ability and stupidity. It’s not always easy being the middle-aged, married smart girl, but it certainly beats being murdered, raped, suicide bombed, having to wear a ghost costume 24/7, having no rights, being in a disaster zone, being too ignorant to function, etc…


      ----Stephanie Reisner