How dare you support occult watchdogs!

This is what I am supposed to be--a nice miltant fluff bunny who accepts that everyone is perfect just the way that they are. 

Occasionally, I get emails and instant messages from people who say, "How dare you support the occult watchdog community! It is none of their business that I am misleading occult students while stuffing my wallet with overpriced dues and class fees."

My response tends to be, "Bite me! You are a crook and a danger to the occult community. It is only a matter of time before you make the papers and give the entire community a black eye, so why should we wait for the Christmas rush? Let's just air the fact that you are a human speed bump, and get it over with."

Sometimes, the next message will be a threat that a lawyer is coming to take away my first-born child; sometimes, it is silence; and every so often it is "Just wait until the watchdog community decides to air your dirty laundry! I can't wait until the shoe is on the other foot. They are coming for you because you are a bigger crook and menace than I am."

At this point in time, I tend to disturb at least one of my cats with my howls of uncontrollable laughter.

Then I write back, "Exactly what would the occult watchdogs reveal that is not public knowledge already?"

Typically, I get silence back.

But seriously, what could the occult watchdog community reveal that would make them the enemy?

The worst thing I believe is the fact that I write dubious erotica, something that I have admitted to numerous times. Dubious erotica is where the dirty, filthy money is at. Yes, I am one of those writers that believes that you should never write anything for free. After all, I have a monthly Petsmart bill to pay. Ok, maybe they could reveal the exact types of dubious erotica, my list of pen-names, and the titles of my stuff.....and I imagine that no one will actually care. And let's be honest, I would just turn such a situation into a fire sale--"Come one, come all! Read the horrible stuff that I have written, so that I do not need to live off of dues collected from gullible occult students. Because ripping off occult students is so much better than writing dubious erotica." (And no, I am not going to give you the list---just because I am a "sex-worker," it doesn't mean that I have to give you my number---after all, I prefer not knowing who actually reads that rubbish.)

Of course, they might also reveal that my non-erotic stuff on Amazon is over-priced, and not true to some standard of "being stuff that is thousands of years old and sounds like pure fluff." Yes, a lot of my stuff was written and created last Thursday. Oh, the horrors of them seeing my Amazon author page.

Or they might reveal that I am working on some humorous occult community satire (under another pen-name that is none of your business...but which I have made absolutely no effort to distance myself from; so once I publish, everyone will know that it is me within...a week, maybe two weeks, not longer than a month).

Or the horrors of my Deviant Art page.

Or my Gamecrafter page (over-priced fugly Tarot deck coming soon some time in the future).

Or my Etsy page (over-priced occult themed audios coming soon some century).

What else could the occult watchdogs reveal?

Well, I have a shaky lineage in both Wicca and Golden Dawn. And I don't have a giant stack of unpublished material written by a dead white guy pretending to be a caveman.

And I dropped out of Pat Zalewski's Inner Order course during the Adept Major section---that has to be proof that I am ripping someone off.

There is also the fact that I only have a Bachelors degree. Well, two actually (literature and history). But I have not finished a Masters program...and that somehow must be an occult crime--because you know that I have to have some dirt that the watchdog community can use against me.

Oh, the watchdog community might reveal that I have dabbled with Satanism, Thelema, Daemonaltry, and Chaos magic....and who hasn't?!

Maybe they will mention that I have been unemployed forever...because being a writer and artist and self-employed is not being true to the American way of slaving away for fat cats at the top of the economic totem pole. (And as a writer, I always accept donations of food and money...because artists be straving.)

Speaking of cats, the watchdog community might publish mugshots of all my cats....because cats are not dogs, and must be evil.

I once had a black girlfriend, a gay roommate, a couple of failed business ventures, was in the military a whole eight weeks---damn it! There has to be something that I have hidden that the occult watchdogs are going to go berserk over.

Oh I know---I was elected to lodge office by a group of not-yet-Neophytes; that is wrong. No one should actually be elected by students to teach. Everyone knows that the proper way to do things is to declare yourself Grand Poobah and give no one an ounce of control.

And there is the little fact that my lodge split into two. That is worrisome because there is absolutely no way that the Freemasons in the group could have been upset with Morgan's sense of humor and unwillingness to advance people before he felt that they were ready. No, the lodge split had to be because Morgan was collecting excessive annual dues. (Yes, they were excessive at sixty dollars a year---after all, the leader of a group is supposed to pay for all the materials consumed during ritual and lessons.)

Oh. Oh. Oh. I know the worst that the occult watchdogs could reveal.

I believe in gun-control and the legalization of marijuana. That means that I am some type of hippy. And not only do I believe in legal weed, I am guilty of smoking pot. And yes, the occult watchdogs are going to be all over that fact, ain't they?

Did I miss anything? Oh yeah, I don't accept every student that applies--that is suspicious. And I don't teach things that I do not know...that is not how it is supposed to be done.

Oh wait, I do teach some dubious occult lore---I am a Sun Sigh astrologer. Yes, we finally found something that the occult watchdogs will actually care about....as soon as others quit trying to poison people, and hexing people, and generally helping themselves to all the money in other people's wallets.

Yes, the occult watchdogs are coming for me, but I think that I am on the end of a very long list of crooks and false prophets. So no, I am not really concerned that they are going to come after me.

And that is why I can support the occult watchdog community. Because quite honestly, I am not doing anything wrong that they actually care about.

This blog exists for my purposes

[This post was originally written on February 6th, and was meant to go live on February 28th 2013, but I de-scheduled it because someone made a fuss about DMK not playing nice. So I thought that I would play nice...turns out that I should have issued it because the people who insist that the rest of us should play nice--don't.]

In light of a set of planned series of posts that I intend to write, I need to issue the following reminder:

This blog exists for my purposes, and not yours.

It does not exist to support your version of esoteric history or occult technology. And it is definitely not meant to convince people that your version of magic and occult, especially your chosen Order, is correct, true or even worthwhile.

In other words, this blog is meant to further my stuff--not yours. Therefore the ideas and facts and beliefs talked about do not have to support your chosen version of the world; after all, it is my version of reality that I am talking about.

You have your own avenues of promoting your version of reality. This is mine.

Also note that as a writer, many of my posts are rebundled into other projects (some of which I charge money for), therefore "fair use" does not mean that you can copy my entire post to prove one of your points. Robbing my cat of food will just p*** me off--and it will make me an enemy of yours.

And this concludes this obligatory round of disclosure issued because for some people, diversity means anything that supports their position, and conspiracy means anything that doesn't.

All materialistic magic is black magic

A spell involving a Jupiter Lightning Glyph and two monkeys.

Happy New Year!

And given that it is the first day of the New Year (2013), it is now time to make certain of my critics happy and issue yet another bloody annual disclosure statement.

This year's complaint--I do materialistic mundane magic.

Now why does this need a disclosure statement?! Well, according to some extreme opinions of some experts, you cannot do magic to affect the physical mundane world while also working on spiritual development. In fact, some of these experts believe that all mundane related magic is black magic...in other words, only spiritual development is white magic.

It won't be so bad, except that some of these so-called experts state that once you do mundane magic, you can never complete the Great Work. Ever. No matter how much time, energy, or lifetimes you spend doing the Work.

Therefore, because I do materialistic magic, and I started off doing material magic, I can never complete the Great Work...therefore, why are you reading this blog?

Now, personally, I believe that not only is this idea extreme, it is also wrong. Yes, I said--wrong. It is based on the idea that the material world is evil, and that the spiritual (heaven) is good. It is an idea that affects our entire culture, thanks to the ideas of Judaism, Christianity and Islam (all of whom inherited it from Zoroastrianism). Therefore, it is understandable hearing this from occultists who come from esoteric groups that require or emphasize one of these religions, such as most Golden Dawn groups.

The really sad part is that I hear this from pagans and Wiccans who are drawing inspiration from other religions that do not have this fatal duality.

And the really annoying part is that Golden Dawn enshrined this idea right into its Outer and Inner Order Oaths. Yes, you can be expelled from GD just for doing a simple money spell. It is better to live under a bridge homeless than do a spell to gather a little rent money in an emergency.

(Please note that in two of the Inner Order courses that I suffered though, I was required to do mundane magic--I am guessing that by the strict classic version, they would not be considered really Golden Dawn.)

Here is a hint for the Wiccans who believe in this duality--read the Charge of the Goddess which states off with: "Whenever you have need of anything, once in the month and better it be when the moon is full, then shall you assemble in some secret place and adore the spirit of me, who am Queen of all witches." How can you start an invocation like that, have no concept of heaven, and still end up with a severe duality that says the material world can never be spiritual?!

And for those of you who are curious, the BIORC does not view all materialistic magic as black magic (it is complicated determining what black magic is...but just because it is aimed at the material world does not automatically make it black magic), and spiritual development is tied to developing the mundane side of one's life at the same time. It is little things like that which will ensure that the BIORC is not considered Golden Dawn by everyone within ten years (if we are not already beyond the point of no return).

Of course, if you are really concerned about my behavior, you better tell Jason Miller that I am misusing one of his Jupiter lightning glyphs to try to promote evil monkeys. (I am quite sure that he has something to say about this subject.) And for the so-called experts, well, they are always right and I am always wrong as far as they are concerned, which is why you are supposed to be reading their blog and forum posts and not mine. Listen to their superior wisdom because I am busy making things up as I go along, and they have the experience of excellent teachers that I didn't have.

Happy New Year!

[Update: July 2013: Due to differences in sales expectations and business philosophy, in early July 2013, I ceased to be involved in the Turtle Monkey project.]

Cipher Manuscript built in problems

Ok, I think that I am done with the numerous disclosure statements that I have had to issue to make everyone happy---which all basically say that you should not be reading this blog (or any of my writing for that matter) because I am not an expert in their eyes (and I am referring to several parties here---I don't think that I can throw a rock without hitting someone who believes this).

So now, let's turn our attention back to the Cipher Manuscript (there is a post from a few days ago on this subject).

There are a few problems with studying the Cipher Manuscript---some of which have plagued Golden Dawn from its very beginning; others are problems affecting anyone who wants to study the manuscript and its content.

Let's start with the latter type of problem. The biggest problem that affects scholars studying the Cipher Manuscript is that we are forced to study it through "trace copies" and "photocopies." This may or may not be a problem depending upon what you are interested in. If you are only interested in the contexts, then trace copies and photocopies are sufficient for one's purposes. But trace copies and photocopies require one to take a leap of faith about certain things, such as the age of the paper and ink. For instance, the science of determining the age of a manuscript has moved on since the last time that the age of the manuscript was determined.

Now, today we are better off than we were forty years ago. We do have the photocopies and trace copies of the Cipher Manuscript. Previous to the 1970s, no one (or maybe only a few people) in the esoteric community had access to the Cipher Manuscript. The document entered a private collection in 1923, and for all practical purposes disappeared.

The circulation of the Cipher Manuscript, awareness of the actual document and not just the myth of it, seems to have been limited to a small number of people in the original Order. Interestingly enourgh, A. E. Waite seems to had access to its contents through a copy of the document made by W, A. Ayton. Likewise, Frank William Coleman knew of the Cipher Manuscript. I have reason to believe that Aleister Crowley may have had knowledge of its contents, but I have no hard proof to prove my theory. The exact circulation of the contents of the Cipher Manuscript among the membership of the original Golden Dawn is hard to determine based on the currently available information. I feel that is safe to say that study of the Cipher Manuscript by members of the original Order was optional, and probably involved a favor or two in order to be allowed to make a copy of it.

In modern times, the Cipher Manuscript resurfaced. The first person to see it in modern times was Ellic Howe, who gained access to the private collection that used the document since 1923. Howe's conclusions about the Cipher Manuscript was unfavorable to say the least. Interestingly enourgh, Howe seems to ignored some of the pages of the document, or perhaps did not see the whole document. During the 1970s, there were some small press publications of the Cipher Manuscript. It was not until the 1990s that a decent publication of the Cipher Manuscript happened.

Today, the best sources are "The Complete Golden Dawn Cipher Manuscript" (Darcy Kuntz) and "Secrets of the Golden Dawn Cypher Manuscript" (Carroll "Poke" Runyon). There are a couple of websites that host images of the Cipher Manuscript; my preferred favorite is the Golden Dawn Library Project.

A couple of the modern Golden Dawn groups have changed their lesson plans to include the Cipher Manuscript. Hathoor Temple (IIOGD) included it in a limited lesson at the Inner Order level---based on the less-than-stellar 70s publications. BIOGD/BIORC includes a brief lesson about the Cipher Manuscript in Outer Order at the Zelator (1=10) Grade level (limited to the Neophyte and Zelator sections), and a longer lesson at the Inner Order level of Adept Minor Theoricus (5=6 THAM).

Another problem facing the scholar is the fact that various publications of the Cipher Manuscript order the pages of the Cipher Manuscript differently. I am working on a spreadsheet to address this problem (in fact, considering that this is a "prescheduled post," it may actually be done by this point in time). There is the additional problem that there were later additions to the Cipher Manuscript, including pages by Coleman and Westcott. Complicating matters is the fact that the lines of the documents are garbled---in fact, the Cipher Manuscript may be a copy itself of an earlier version.

Unless you have worked at "translating" some of the pages yourself (actually the proper term is "decipher"), one is unaware of the difficulties involved at decoding the mess that the Cipher Manuscript is...in fact, Runyon points out that he understands why several people did not finish the task.

The final problem facing the scholar who is merely studying the content of the document is that the Cipher Manuscript is an outline that refers to information from sources---and one is left trying to figure out the sources without a list in hand. In a future post, I will be discussing this problem in more detail; I am merely mentioning it at this point to remind people that I am aware of the problem.

Now the preceeding list of problems was merely based on the content of the Cipher Manuscript itself. There are also a couple of problems that plague the person trying to put the Cipher Manuscript into its proper context (again, the subject of an upcoming blog post). Briefly, they are "Who wrote the document and why?" and "How did Westcott obtain the document?" Both of these questions have plagued Golden Dawn from the beginning. (And in my case, they have spurred me to issue a set of disclosure statements prior to issuing this series of blog posts...because people hate my conclusions.)

So there you have it, a list of problems that will cause no end of problems when it comes to studying the Cipher Manuscript. You will be seeing these problems rear their ugly heads over and over again as we progress through the Cipher Manuscript.

Diclosure I do my own artwork

And the disclosures just seem to keep coming. Tonight's disclosure is inspired by something that happened on Facebook. A customer was complaining to one of my writer friends about the fact that she used Paint or Word to create the sigils in one of her books. Needless to say, the conversation was all downhill. Including a comment from me warning the person not to buy any of my books because my sigils are horrific ugly...which I was informed was not the point. Of course, I responded with the fact that I actually use the Paint program on occasion.

Then we got the truth, the person thought the book was overpriced for having such bad sigils. In another words, you can charge an arm and a leg for a book with beautiful, professional drawn sigils, even if it is little more than a paper weight...but heanven forbid you actually charge a high price for a book that works with ugly amateur artwork in it. I suspect the person was a muggle and not a magician.

Therefore, I have to warn people that I do all my own artwork. And it is ugly artwork (I failed high school art), just one step above stick figures. My sigils are ugly and badly drawn. My diagrams are ugly and badly drawn. My godform drawings are ugly and badly drawn. I think that you get the idea.

So be warned that my books do not contain professional drawn artwork. Though it should be noted that I have accepted money for doing artwork, therefore by Olympic standards, I am a professional artist...just not a very good one.

Blog Advice and Disclosure Statement on Prescheduling Posts

Last week, during the midst of having prewritten and prescheduled posts go live, I realized that I needed to disclose the fact that I sometimes prewrite and preschedule blog posts. OMG! It is another bloody disclosure notice, and Morgan is trying to disguise it as blog advice. (That is exactly what you thought, isn't it?)

What made me realize this was the fact that I dropped a "live and freshly written" post into a block of prewritten ones (there was a hole in the block, and the idea for the fresh post fit in prefectly with the sequence). So I appeared to be reacting to events surrounding something when in reality, I had just taken a best guess about how certain people were going to react ahead of time.

I am not sure if it is a bad sign or not that I can predict how certain people are going to react ahead of time. Personally, I think that it is a bad sign; yet the predictability of reactions in the Golden Dawn community does make one's work as a blogger easier.

Of course, that is the whole reason for prescheduling blog posts in the first place. There are just some mornings when you get up and have a couple of blog posts in mind. Instead of waiting to write them another day, it is just easier to prewrite them ahead of them, and use the schedule function to issue them in a well spaced manner. Prescheduling is also great for those times when you know that you are going to be knee-deep in other activities (semester finals, vacations, well-known weeks from hell).

So if you think that I am reacting to something, you may want to ask me if the post was a fresh post or a preschedule. After all, my evil is often preplanned weeks in advance.

(As a sidenote, I find it interesting that my cute cat picture campaigns---which are prescheduled---do not get me into trouble. Oh, wait, I know why---almost everyone can agree with cute kitty pictures. I only get into trouble when something actually matters to someone.)

Article and Book disclosures

Another disclosure statement---I will NOT be adding disclosure statements to my articles and books. The reasons for this is that A) I am sick and tired of making disclosure statements, especially ones that undermine my own authority and serve no purpose other than advertising an Order that I have no connection with, and B) my readers should be able to figure out from my public profiles, my blogs, and the "putting stuff in context" statements that I have a personal bias and limited knowledge about the stuff I am writing about.

Therefore, if I write about Tarot, I am not going to say that I know nothing about Tarot and that the reader needs to go to someone else for the real initiated secrets. Same goes for Norse runes, alchemy, magic, Golden Dawn, RR et AC, geomancy, and everything else that slips my mind at this moment.

Please note that no one has said I need to do this personally; but given the Golden Dawn information police views about other writers, I thought that I would beat the rush and just issue my warning that I am not going to undermine my own authority and provide them with free advertising.

Note: The membership of the Golden Dawn information police changes on a regular basis. It seems to consist of people who think that they are the only people who really know what the various esoteric traditions are all about.

Disclosure Update 2012

Happy Secular New Year!

Once again, it is time to publish an update to the myriad of disclosure statements that I already have on this blog.

[This disclosure is aimed at a particular school of thought---I am sorry, but I disagree with you. Yet given the fact that you have objected to my book reviews and tried to get me to issue a disclosure on every book review stating (more or less) that the reader should not read my book reviews because of my lack of membership in a correct and true Golden Dawn Order, I feel that I must issue this disclosure before you insist that I issue one.]

Over the past year, it has been revealed that the Secret Chiefs (Third Order) broke contact with Mathers in 1906 when Crowley published the Golden Dawn rituals and the first two rituals of the RR et AC, along with some of the teachings developed by Mathers. The reasons for this severing of contact was that Mathers allowed an untrustworthy member into his Order, one who broke his secrecy oaths, and that Mathers had went too far in his mixing of egregores (lores, traditions, currents, energies) that were never meant to be mixed. In other words, the Third Order had no clue what Mathers was doing until Crowley published the rituals and Inner Order material which just added to the insult that someone had broken their secrecy oath.

The reason that I must issue a disclosure update is that the fact that I rather like the mixing of traditions and lores. And in the interests of keeping you safe and ensuring that you only become a member of legitimate and recognized Orders (which the BIOGD/BIORC is not), so that you might someday be allowed into the glories of Third Order, you must be warned not to consider joining the Order I belong to.

Remember the words of an acknowledged expert in this matter:

"[The] fact is that the Third Order must find you...if you are deemed worthy they will eventually contact you. [The] only way in being spotted by them is by joining any of the true and authentic Rosicrucian bodies."

The fact that I do not think that Mathers went too far, besides being a working writer, ensures that I will never be contacted by the Third Order. If you ever hope to be contacted by them, you really should not be reading anything that I write. This is especially true considering that a lot of my work over the years has been involved in expanding the results of this errorous set of teachings. And whatever you do, resist the urge to come back tomorrow to read my post about the mixing of symbols as revealed by the Cipher Manuscript.

Ye have been warned.

Disclosure about upcoming disclosures

During the first week of the secular year, starting tomorrow actually, several disclosure statements are going to be issued by me. They are going to sound hostile...mainly because I felt like I was being forced to issue them by parties who have appointed themselves the Golden Dawn information police.

Exactly who the Golden Dawn information police are varies by the day of the week, hence why no names are mentioned.

I am issuing the statements as fair warning to the poor students that the information police say that the rest of the Golden Dawn community is conning and ripping off. But each disclosure statement undermines my own authority, makes the groups I belong to look like some alley scum, and serve no purpose other than to make someone else look like they are the only true authority on Golden Dawn. Hence, the hostile tone.

I know that given the fact that I have started to expand my writing into the realm of ebooks, it is only going to be a matter of time before the information police start to call me a crook, a conman, and ignorant flaming troll.

Therefore, I have decided to beat the rush and just issue some disclosure statements as fair warning that you should only be listening to their opinions about what is and what is not Golden Dawn. Yes, I am hostile---after all, I have seen what they say about other writers that I agree (partially) with and I do not like having to undermine my own authority just because someone cries that they and theirs is being flamed every time someone disagrees with them and their official version of what Golden Dawn is.

After the current round of disclosures, I may never issue anothe disclosure statement (outside of monetary involvement of product and service reviews) ever again.

I would love to think that I am judging the Golden Dawn information police wrong; but after watching them over the past couple of years, I know that they are going to come for me next. I have a choice between issuing a few hostile disclosure statements and getting back to work, or dropping out of the business of talking and writing about the Golden Dawn completely. Given the fact that I will not do the latter, I have to do the former.

Ye has been warned.

When is it flamewar?

One of the things that I have been debating lately is where is the line between discourse and flame war in the Golden Dawn community. It has became an obsession as the beginning of the year approaches and I am writing out the disclosure statements that start to go live after the first of the year.

And the conclusion I come to presents a sticky wicket for me.

As far as I have been able to determine from the outcries of the internet police is that if someone does not agree absolutely with your opinion, your lesson plan, your Grade system, and your version of Golden Dawn history, then it is flame war. Even with something like a book review, unless you agree completely with the other person's opinion, then you open yourself up to being accused of being a member of the flame war trolls tenth division.

If you know me, you immediately see my problem. I don't agree a hundred percent with anyone's opinion. The short list of people that I disagree with (to a lesser or greater extent) includes Pat Zalewski, Nick Farrell, Chic Cicero, Steve Nicohols, Tony Deluce, Sam Robinson, Tomas Stacewicz, David Cherubim, Aaron Leitch, Robert Zink, and David Griffin. And the list goes on and on. (If I did not mention you, it is simply because I do not want to spend days typing out the names of every known member of the Golden Dawn community.) Some of these people I consider friends---others I would never even remotely consider having a drink with.

Basically, I do not agree a hundred percent with anyone's opinions. But that is where the line in the sand has been drawn: if you do not agree a hundred percent with someone, then you are guilty of being in a blood feud with them. Therefore by the rules being shouted the loudest, I am at war with the entire Golden Dawn community, even the people that I consider my friends.

There is a few dangers with this strict hundred percent agreement standard.

For one, it kills the diversity of the tradition. If everyone must agree with everyone else all the time, then you have no difference of opinion and you can have no discourse. The community will just become a fan club for whoever managed to get the others to agree with them. Of course, this is exactly what I suspect some people want---they want to be the only game, the only true Golden Dawn authority on the block.

It also leads to the possibility of abuse, monetary and emotional, of the entire Golden Dawn community. One of the worst things that could happen to the Golden Dawn is for a single person to corner the entire market---they would be free to abuse the members of the community any way they want simply because there would be no other options. And worse, if you disagree with the abuse, you are the one that is guilty, not them.

And it has already led to a double standard being applied to the various fora and blogs. Comments bad-mouthing other parties are let through despite the fact that if such comments were said elsewhere about the moderator, they would be labeled flame war attacks. Basically, you can say anything you want about other people in the Golden Dawn community, provided that you agree with the moderator of the online community you are posting to.

The cries of flamewar has split the Golden Dawn community is several camps, and honestly I don't think that the wounds will ever heal.

Now, I will admit that is some flaming going on in the Golden Dawn community. There are some things being said that I look at and realize are nothing more than "attack ads." Interestingly enourgh, the replies of the internet police are no better; in fact, sometimes their replies are actually worse. I think that we should have some concern about the possibilities of flame wars being conducted, but I think that it is an error to insist on a hundred percent agreement standard.

2012 Doomsday Disclosure Notice

Just a heads-up to everyone that I am jumping on the 2012 doomsday wagon. As of yesterday, you had just one year left to live. Bwahahahaha! Over the next year, I will be reminding you of your decreasing time left.

It is not that I actually believe that the end of the world is coming on December 21, 2012; it is that jumping on the bandwagon allows me to write a series of survival posts. I mean how else would I justify writing about MREs? helpful skills? other great doomsdays? It is either hop on the bandwagon or completely ignore these juicy topics.

And we all know that I am not going to be the only blogger doing so. It is just that I will not be calling it a Shift or painting it with any pixie dust. After all, I believe that when doomsday happens, we will have failed to see the asteriod with our name on it. Instant death, no warning, that's a comforting thought, isn't it?

Working on some future blog posts



The key to Christmas victory is the element of surprise.

While many of my readers would be quite happy with 365 cat pictures a year, other readers would actually like to see some blog posts about Golden Dawn---hehe, just goes to show my audience for this Golden Dawn blog is not super-focused---it is an organic audience.

For those who would like more Golden Dawn related stuff, I am working on a few Golden Dawn entries. Well, struggling with a few Golden Dawn entries. Well, being defeated by the entries because they are threatening to call the blog anti-flame police after me.

One of which is an update to the numerous disclosure statements that are on this blog. No matter how I write it, you can hear the resentment that I feel about having to state the obvious just so I am not accused of being a flaming troll. Not that disclosure statements actually help, they just move the target to other beliefs that I have about Golden Dawn which I am unaware are evil ideas.

The reason that I have to issue yet-another-damn-I-am-an-individual-not-a-loyal-follower disclosure statement is that I am also working on a post that concerns itself with the Cipher Manuscript. Yes, that is dangerous ground, especially when combined with my beliefs.

I am also working on a couple of ebooks: one Golden Dawn related, the other Abramelin related. Some of the material from these future offerings may make their way onto this blog. Of course, both of these ebooks will require me to issue disclosure statements shouting that I am not an expert and that you really should only listen to approved sources.

The underming of my own authority is what annoys me the most about having to write disclosure statements. Legally, I am not required to write any disclosure statements outside of the ones that are tacked onto the end of product and service reviews, and those merely need to say whether I received any money, product or service for the review. But some people got it into their head that every statement that does not agree with their version of Golden Dawn needs to be accompanied by a statement that undermines one's authority, and states that they are the one and only true Golden Dawn. Or at least, it feels that way. The problem with trying to play fair is that it automatically puts you into a losing position, especially when the other players are cheating. Of course, this whole paragraph needs a disclosure statement that says that I am annoyed and not talking about anyone who has appointed themselves the Golden Dawn blog police.

Of course, I should disclose the fact that someday I am going to get so sick and tired of doing disclosure statements that undermine my position that I am going to quit doing them and allow the chips fall where they may. At that point, I might venture what I really think is going on in the Golden Dawn community---and no one is going to like that. Let's hope that it does not come to that...because I learned how to be a flaming troll from the best of them.

Here is looking forward to the New Year---remember I have interests outside of funny cat photos. And consider keeping that pair of lead-lined long johns that your grandmother just gave you; they might be needed.



Dont care about the state of your soul

This is one of those full disclosure updates type of things.

Quite simply, I do not care about my reader's souls.

Proof? I have not been approving comments from Christians who believe that all magicians and witches should give up magic and return to the arms of Christ.

Sorry.

My personal belief is that Jesus was a magician, that he would have willingly sat down to have dinner with witches, and that he was not the messiah. Furthermore, I do not believe that he would have condemned me, or any other witch or magician to harsh punishments (including imprisonment, stoning, burning at the stake, and banishment to the worst locations in the afterlife).

(And no, I do not consider it necessary to be a Christian to be a member of the RC---go figure.)

And yes, I am well aware that makes me an evil person.

Dear Lover of the First Amendment

Dear Lover of the First Amendment,

Thank you for your recent comments to my blog. They will not be approved and published by me. And screaming that I am violating your First Amendment rights is not going to change my mind.

It is obvious that either you have not studied what the First Amendment and related court rulings say, or you are hoping that I am ignorant of my rights as a member of the media, or possibly both.

Arguing that I am curtailing your freedom of speech by not publishing your comments is rather pointless. The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of the press---it does not impose any responsibility on me to approve (and publish) any opinions that I disagree with.

Yes, as a journalist, I do have some responsibility under the law. For instance, there is some information and opinions that I am not allowed to print---most of them would be labeled under the terms "treason" or "harmfully to others." But the government cannot force me to publish information and opinions I disagree with. That includes your comments.

The First Amendment extends the freedom to the press, which one judge defined as "every sort of publication which affords a vehicle of information and opinion." The quickest way to get such freedom is to own such an outlet. May I suggest that you start a blog of your own---there you will be allowed to print all of your opinions---at least until you are taken to court for libel.

Moderating comments on my blog is not a violation of your free speech. I am not the government. I am a member of the New Media---there is a difference.

May you have a nice day,

Morgan Drake Eckstein

MDEs Full Disclosure Statement 2010

Happy New Year!

Welcome to Morgan Drake Eckstein's 2010 Full Disclosure Statement 2010.

If you are a regular reader of my blogs, forum postings, and articles, you know the insanity that the next few minutes are going to entail; you are probably well medicated already. You also probably know everything that I am about to tell you.

If you are a new reader, then these are the important things that you need to know. They will not make my writing any easier to read, but you will at least know what to expect.

First off, you need to realize that this is going to be unlike any full disclosure statement you have ever read. Disclosure statements bore me. I suspect that they bore other people too. Therefore, if it seems like I am treating this like a joke…well, I am. Besides, those people who want to see a full disclosure statement from me are going to be disappointed even if I did a legalese version; their goal is to prevent me from saying bad things about them, or failing that prove that I am so biased that my opinion should automatically be ignored. And yes, I am talking about you, Ann Coulter.

Morgan Drake Eckstein

Morgan Drake Eckstein is a pen name. It is not my real name. It is a name that I started to use when I still cared about my reputation…or more specifically my mother's opinion of my reputation.

Mom was horrified that her friends would find out that I was writing occult articles. I was also not to admit to actually being a pagan/wiccan. So I started to use a pen name that was a variation of my second Order motto (the first motto I had in Golden Dawn did not stick).

Sometime after I got disowned, I ceased to care about what she thought of my activities. There was also the little fact that having gone to High School in a small town, once my cover was blown, there was no point in pretending that everyone did not know what I was doing for a living.

Quite honestly, I prefer my pen name over the name that I was born with; that is why I go by it instead of my real name.

Morgan Drake Eckstein is who I really am---like it or not.

Political Party

I am a Republican by family tradition, though I am not sure how coming from a poor working class family qualifies one to be Republican. I tend to vote Democrat. The political party that I might be most interested in joining doesn't exist anymore; I might actually be a Whig (I really need to do some research on them). Not changing political parties amuses me.

Religion

Really?! You don't know my religion?!

Profession 1: Freelance Writer, Journalist, proud member of the new media

A lot of my behavior can be explained by the simple fact that I am a freelance writer by profession.

On my good days, I am a journalist. On my bad days, I am a proud member of the new media and Google whore.

The new media is the world of blogs, web pages, and podcasts. It is a world where citizens have been given access to their own newspaper and broadcast station. This includes the lunatics. I might be one of the lunatics.

I make a good hunk of my living by writing…this implies my income comes from people reading my writing.

Google Love

Because I get paid when people read my writing, and more and more of my writing ends up in the online (non-print) world, I love Google. I also love any other search engine that sends me readers.

I also love people who link to my writing. Especially if it is a piece that I am earning on by the page view.

Contrary to what some people will have you believe, my posting material in heavily spidered locations is because I want the page views.

Profession 2: Full-time college student

I am currently a full-time college student. This explains why occasionally I seem not to post anything new for weeks at a time.

My major is literature, which explains why I use occasionally use the MLA citation style. If I cite something using MLA, it will be "quote" (x). The (x) is actually the page number; if this was an actual citation, you would be looking for the x (the tenth) page of a book's introduction. Yes, I expect my readers to be able to figure out roman numerals, especially if my source actually uses roman numerals.

A lot of time, I just use signal phrases to indicate my sources: Person X said "Y" about Z. This is known as magazine style; it is the style I use when working for the newspaper.

My minor is history…I have yet to figure out exactly what this does to my writing. Except that it has given me practice in Chicago citation style, which I absolutely loathe using.

I have also done reasonable well in the required science, math, and language classes…again, I have no clue how that affects my writing.

I have a small love of semi-colons; they show up in a lot of my sentences. I hope that my sister sees them; she loathes semi-colons.

Profession 3: Research Monkey

Occasionally, I have done a turn (or two) doing research. Sometimes, I have even been paid to do this chore. What this means is that I have a habit of automatically saving, or printing as pdf, most of the pages that I come across that I think might be of future interest to me. I have learned the hard way that caching large sections of websites makes the research process a lot easier.

The side-effect of this is not only can I spot when someone edits a blog post or webpage, I can actually prove what the original version looked like.

Avocation 1: Golden Dawn member, perhaps an authority and leader

Over the years, I have belonged to several Golden Dawn groups. I know where some of the skeletons are buried.

Currently, I am an elected officer of Bast Temple, a small Golden Dawn-based lodge in Denver, Colorado.

The reason that we say that it is Golden Dawn-based is that there is an ongoing debate about what is and what is not Golden Dawn. I like to think that what I do is Golden Dawn; other people will disagree.

Bast Temple is under the banner of BIORC. In the future, BIORC may become a full-fledged multi-Temple Order. Or it might not.

There are some people, online and offline, who have labeled me the Head of the BIORC. This is only true in the sense that I had a significant role in starting Bast Temple, and the membership keep re-electing me.

The fact that the membership keeps re-electing me scares me a little bit; it scares me more that some people consider me an authority on Golden Dawn.

Basis of my authority

I suspect that the basis of my authority rests upon the fact that I am loud and opinionated.

Locally, in my own lodge, I become an authority simply because I had more experience than others did. When you are the only one that knows anything about a subject, it is easy to get stuck with the label of being an authority.

Interestingly enough, due to the fact that I am considered an authority by some, I have gotten to see documents that have actually increased my knowledge base. I guess that is just the way the ball bounces sometimes.

I would mention my Golden Dawn Grade and Wiccan Degree, but none of my regular readers really care about those things. All that matters is that I am a student just like them, and I am willing to share my opinions and experiences.

Avocation 2: Conspiracy Member

Contrary to the beliefs of some people, I am not involved in a conspiracy.

It is true that I have friends in several different Orders. But it is also true that I dislike people in several different Orders also. I have yet to have a full-blown enemy in any of the Orders; but over the years, there have been several good attempts made by some to become my enemy.

The reason that I am not involved in the conspiracy (if there actually is one) is that I have a hard time following directions. Proof of this can be provided by a half dozen people who have strongly suggested that I cease to do certain things…suggestions that I have promptly ignored.

Avocation 3: Terrible Book Reviewer

I am opinionated. This fact is known by everyone who has ever read my writing, especially my book reviews.

I am notorious for giving bad book reviews. My book reviews are my honest opinion of these books, based on my own background and what I believe my audience is like.

I like doing book reviews. I am not doing them because I was ordered to, or because I was paid to do so. My reviews end up on heavily spidered sites because I want the page views and Google Love that goes along with those placements.

For the most part, I personally pay for the books that I review. There have been a few books in the past that I was given. To the horror of the writers and publishers, giving me a free book does not guarantee that I will review it in a timely fashion; it also does not guarantee that the review will be favorable.

I have also read some of the research conducted by publishing houses; I know how little influence I actually have; it is really sad.

Avocation 4 (or is it Profession 4): Astrology and Occult writer

My writing career has taken some weird bounces over the years. One of the weirdest is that I ended writing occult and astrology articles. I basically tried making my living as a writer, writing anything but occult and astrology. You name it; I have probably attempted to write it. To be quite honest, it never even occurred to me to attempt those two fields; occasionally the plainly obvious gets by me. There is also the little fact that most other types of writing pay much better.

My Audience

Honestly, I have only the barest clue of who is reading my material. I have some ideas based on comments and private emails, the profiles and known actions of some of my readers. But I am unsure about ninety percent (more or less) of my readership.

I do have a list of assumptions. I presume that my readers have an IQ in the upper half of the population. I presume that they are interested in paganism, wicca, magic, and Golden Dawn. I presume that they range from having no lodge/coven experience to being experts in the field (hence the occasional spilt rating on a book review). And I presume that they can decode a MLA citation when they see one.

Slow News Days

I will admit that I have slow news days. On those days, I will blog about the other bloggers, things I have seen on the web, the weird things that my cats do. Basically anything that I find that gets me fired up (amusement or anger, both work for me).

This coming year, many of my slow news days will be spent mocking Ann Coulter, who I decided would make a decent enemy. Hopefully, she notices and send some readers my way by bad-mouthing me. Hey, I can hope.

Following other blogs and websites

I do not openly follow all the blogs and newsletters that I subscribe to. I imagine that not all of my own subscribers openly follow me either.

Gaining and losing readers

I realize that my writing, including my forum and blog posts, costs me potential readers. On the other hand, my writing also gained me readers. Hence, the balance of the universe is maintained.

Am I bribable?

I don't know.

I imagine that given enough money I might resist the urge to be mean to people. But no one has considered giving me a bribe to find out. Hint for anyone who wants to try to bribe me: Make it a really big bribe.

I know that I have accepted money in the past to ghost write material. I like big bags of money. Oh wait, I guess that is why I am still a Republican.