A thousand five hundred blog posts later (what have I learned as a blogger)

Can you believe that this blog has produced 1500 blog posts since its birth on July 16, 2007?

And not all of them have been cat pictures...but maybe they should have been.

Accountant Kitty has crunched the numbers--you need more cat pictures!

Let's crunch some numbers...

First off, does occult blogging pay? Yes and no. Yes, in the fact that I have gotten money from Adsense, have sold at least one book, and moved a bunch of pottery. No, in the sense that I have made more money with less effort doing other stuff. So don't quit your day job to blog about the occult. Remember that I blog for three reasons...

One, I am a mealy mouthed poopy head.

Two, I like being the center of attention.

Three, I assume that you like my sense of humor.

Pie charts make everything more interesting...

My top ten blog posts account for seven percent of the views that this blog has gotten over the years.

So let's assume that we can learn something from them...

At number one is...

E. A. Koetting, the Living God, a single post about his arrest--which I honestly thought would get about a hundred views and no more--is responsible for a whole two percent of this blog's lifetime traffic. (And a third of my top ten traffic.) Not a month has gone by since it was written that I am not impressed by the traffic it gets.

[It should be noted that I have started to study his business practices--there are lots of "positive" things to learn from his set-up...therefore, more EAK posts are a-coming! Sure, they will not get the same amount of traffic, but I feel like I owe him a positive shout-out...that and he provides a good contrast when you talk about the business practices of other occult writers.]

My second most read post is about search engines and Google. This is also another surprise. After all, this blog is not about providing helpful advice to other bloggers.

For ease of writing, and making a pie chart--I had to make a pie chart...I like pie charts...I LOVE pie charts--I combined the numbers of the three posts about David F***ing Griffin. He shows up at slot six in my top ten, and takes up three slots...which account for less than one percent of my overall lifetime views for this blog.

Now, given the greatness of the man, I expected this number to be higher. Hell, to hear the man talk, all ten of my top ten should be Griffin. Sure he is twelve percent of my top ten, but I expected higher numbers.

[It was the fact that no post about Griffin has ever cracked the three thousand mark that made me guess that an EAK post would only get a hundred views. After all, at the time, this blog was about Golden Dawn...supposedly.]

{What this blog is about now is open to debate. If there was an air of doubt before the December re-branding, there is a positive fog of doubt now. But I am fairly sure that it has something to do with cats...}

And yes, I know that I should go though my entire list of blog posts to determine the actual value that Griffin has...but having seen that five other blog posts beat him in the top ten, I don't feel like doing it today. 

Besides, having watched my traffic on a regular basis, I have noted that Griffin only shows up lately in my keyword search data about three times a month. And no, he does not make it into my top ten search terms for this blog. I know--I am shocked too. 

[The number was never that high even when he was big-mouthing the entire Golden Dawn community--make of that what you will.]

My number three top ten is actually a poem--Lucky Penny--but it is actually the picture that drives the traffic to it. The traffic the picture gets is one of the reasons that I eventually decided that most of my blog posts need pictures.

Number four on the top ten hit parade is--drum roll please--Red Flag Magic Garden Creeper Award! Again, this was a surprise. Even more surprising is the number of "defenders" who showed up in the comment section telling me that I was completely wrong in awarding a Creeper Award...but realistically it may just be one defender using multiple accounts. And it really does not matter, you can read the screenshots for yourself. 

Of course, the most amusing part is that the Red Flag post cracked three thousand--and we all know why that amuses me.

Number five is a birthday wish to a Golden Dawn authority. Finally, something Golden Dawn shows up. But I am fairly sure that it has nothing to do with Golden Dawn, and has everything to do with the birthday cat picture used in the post.

[Is this the last time, we will see a cat picture? Stay tuned--anything can happen!]

So, we finally get to a post about Griffin--sixth slot--remember I added the numbers of three posts for the purposes of the pie chart. If you dare go look--this is my most popular David F***ing Griffin post. Try not to read anything into that fact.

Eight and ten are also Griffin.

Number seven is my favorite "Beware of bad behavior by occultists" post. It is not really a surprise that Thirteen Warning Signs That Your Guru is Rotten is in my top ten posts. As long as people insist in posting "Looking for someone to teach me!" messages in Facebook groups, I will continue to share the link to this one. This post is currently expected to fight its way into my top five by the next time, I write about my blog numbers.

We know that Griffin is eight and ten, so what is number nine? A bloody book review. How did a book review make its way into my top ten, and perform better than 1491 other posts? Simple, people Google-ing the subject of the book. Turns out that a subject with little information on it will result in long tail effects.

Speaking of Google...

...provided that you are a Virgo.

Turns out that my top ten keywords that drive traffic to my blog, eight of them are people looking for cat pictures.

Yes, it turns out that more people use Google to find cat pictures than they do to find out stuff about the Golden Dawn. Color me surprised. "Halloween Cat" easily outranked Golden Dawn.

For convenience's sake, I combined the misspellings with the proper spellings for the purposes of the pie chart. And it is easy to see that this blog needs more cat pictures.

Not only did cat pictures beat Golden Dawn, so did the term "Google."

Now, in all fairness, my top ten search keywords only counts for two percent of my lifetime page views on this blog, so there might be tons of stuff in the lower reaches that totally trumps the number of hits that cats and Google gets. On the day that I total up all the Griffin post numbers, I will also total up the views for the cats, and we will have proof who is more popular.

I am sad that Australia was not higher in the ranks.

In terms of traffic, ten countries account for eighty-one percent of my traffic. The United States accounts for fifty-seven percent, with number two Russia accounting for eight percent.

In my head, Australia is more important than it actually is. Australia, you need to step up your game. Two percent is a poor showing. Australia, you can do better.

[I have corrupted a couple of Australian Golden Dawn students--and I would like to corrupt more of them. Therefore, Australia needs to do better.]

{Do Australians like cat pictures? If so, I can provide.}

As for traffic from various platforms, Google accounts for thirteen percent of my traffic; Facebook accounts for four and a half percent. And a single blog has sent me a whole one percent of my traffic (which is not bad at all)--Head For the Red if you are curious.

So that is it for my first 1500 posts (eleven f***ing years). Here to the next 1500--of which a whole quarter must be about cats, if I am reading my data correctly.

Meow!

Are you a Tarot blogger? Want to Hop with us? (Next topic: Respecting the Tarot)

Do you blog about the Tarot? Do you want to help build community among Tarot bloggers? If so, consider joining the Tarot Blog Hop.

Eight times a year (aligned with the eight Wiccan sabbats--but that is only because it was something that many of us Tarot bloggers knew, so it doesn't have to do anything with the sabbat the Hop lands on), a dozen or more Tarot readers, authors, and experts, blog about one of their favorite subjects--the Tarot.

The Tarot Blog Hop is in its fifth year.

What are the rules?


Members of the Tarot Blog Hop commit to doing two blog hops a year (out of the eight). They link to two neighbors, and create a link chain leading from one blog to another in a big circle. And most importantly, our posts are about a theme that a volunteer wrangler and cat herder came up with.


We organize the Tarot Blog Hop though a Facebook group (you must confirm that you blog about the Tarot before we let you join the group---because that's the purpose of the group).


What type of topics could you be blogging about?


Good question. The next Tarot Blog Hop is being wrangled by me (August 1, 2017), and here is the blogging prompt that I provided to the group:


Our theme for this Tarot Blog Hop is pretty broad--Respecting the divinatory arts, with an emphasis on Tarot.


When I was growing up, I spent some time with my Wiccan aunt. Many of the lessons I learned from her about the occult have affected me and the way I approach things. One of the lessons that I learned was to respect divination systems.


My first lesson in this was in relation to a Magic Eight Ball (as silly of a divination device as you can get). “Respect the Eight Ball, and it will give you accurate answers,” my aunt told me. Over the years, I have learned that she was right about this advice.


As a result, one of the things I teach is “Show respect to the divination systems you are using, even if they are silly systems.”


We all have rules, habits, customs that are our ways of showing respect to our divination tools--things that we do that seem to increase our connection (therefore, our accurancy) with our divination tools.


We also know things to avoid doing--things that seem to annoy our divination tools--things that end up with us saying, “Don’t do that--it upsets the cards.” For instance, my tools gets uppity when someone keeps rewording a question in an attempt to get the answer that they want to hear--snarky answers start to happen, and total silence descends if one does not get the hint that the cards have given all they intend to give you.


So your mission this Tarot Blog Hop is to discuss how you show respect to the Tarot (remember it is called the “Tarot Blog Hop”) and things that you have learned not to do. It can range from smudging the deck periodically to elaborate rituals like the Golden Dawn uses, from not using the cards until the dinner table is clean to well, whatever it is that you do. We all have stories about this subject--if you don’t, you would be the first reader I ever encountered that didn’t have stuff to say on this topic.


[Would you like to take part in the Tarot Blog Hop? If so, come join us on the Facebook group.]

This blog is ten years old (wave your hands in the air like you don't care)

This blog is ten years old as of today--can you believe it? That's a hundred and twenty months, or 3653 days of my random rants being on public display.

Over the last ten years, I have published 1410 blog posts, annoyed several people, been accused of being a member of a conspiracy comprised of dark magicians hell-bent on destroying the reputation of the most gifted and enlightened occultist ever (because we must continue to enslave humanity), pimped my ebooks,  and shared a godzillion cat pictures--all in the name of fighting of boredom and having a soapbox to yell at people from.

My posts get 319 views on average, and I have about 3749 views a month. And yes, I realize that every other occult blogger in the world has a bigger audience than I do; that's not going to change because I refuse to tell people how spiritually advanced they are, refuse to buy up tons of internet domains all feeding into my blog, and generally find advertising my own stuff a complete and utter bore.

Imagine that I said something witty about cats and money controlling the world.

So what have I learned over the last ten years? Here are ten things I learned...

# 1: I like cats better than I like certain people. And cats are as good of teachers as anyone else's Secret Chief. Every blog post that I write includes me saying, "Don't walk across the keyboard" at some point.

# 2: Stockpile your "nuclear troll" posts. There are a dozen posts that I have written, but have never published because they consist of me saying that the Imperial Pickle is the nastiest occultist I know (though Buddha Night does give them a run for their money). But never fear--if they annoy me, my finger might slip and "accidentally" hit the Publish button.

# 3: Peace is over-rated. And those who believe that you should never read another person's blog, and post your own response declaring them a wheelbarrow short of a garden shed, have no idea how the blogosphere actually works. The blogosphere is just one big argument, flowing from one blog to another.

# 4: Never use white text on a black background. I was one of the first Golden Dawn bloggers to do this (if not the very first) for symbolic reasons. And honestly, if I could go back in time, I would not do it again. Why don't I change it? Because I would have to manually fix all 1410 blog posts--I tried fixing it a couple of times, and ended up with white text on a white background.

# 5: A picture in every blog post is nice for link sharing purposes. I don't follow this rule as religiously as I should.

# 6: You can't please everyone, but you can easily piss everyone off. Every blog post I have written has been misread by someone.

# 7: Hiving off topics into other specialty blogs does not work for me--because I do not have the patience to build up another blog. That's why I talk about anything I want to on this blog, even if it has nothing to do with magic and witchcraft.

# 8: Everyone knows more than I do...because they have told me so. This includes the guy at the doughnut shop, who has never opened up an occult book in his entire life.

# 9: I am the class clown, the court jester, the Forest Gump of occultism. Or so I have been told repeatedly. In other words, people think that their opinions, beliefs, and practices are better than mine (absolutely correct, like Ten Commandment level of correctness)---and they really, really do not like people treating the subject of the occult with anything less than 200% seriousness. In other words, they think that I tell too many jokes.

# 10: I still like blogging, so I going to ignore all of your requests for me to quit blogging. Obviously, blogging is one of my guilty pleasures because everyone knows that occult blogging does not pay.

Just some of my stats for this blog--and yes, I know that your blog stats are better than mine.

My most disliked video (Happy Fourth of July 'Merica)

Last year on the Fourth of July, I filmed a bit about binding the evil Donald Trump. The video came about because I was already talking about how this man was going to be a Presidential train wreck--please remember that I was one of the few bloggers that thought that he was going to be elected--and had already starting kicking around the idea that the only way that we could avoid him from doing major harm was a binding spell (or some very loud protests and the other parts of the government telling him, NO!!!).

This was the subject of several conversations, with each one becoming more silly from my end because I thought that it would be a marvelous bit of witty and entertaining political satire. One of my friends offered to film it....probably so I would shut up about the idea.

So on the Fourth of July last year, I did the most American thing that you can do--complain about a politician that I hated. On film. And then I posted it on YouTube because my wife won't let me keep a printing press in the living room. Welcome to the modern Liberty Tree.

I know that some are horrified that I choose a modern social media platform to make jokes about politics. Many of the horrified applaud President Trump use of Twitter to post jokes about how he would like to slam news reporters to the ground. Can you say Double Standard? I knew you could.

It is ok for "conservatives" to say whatever they want, but heaven a liberal speaks their mind.

After we filmed the bit, I posted it...because I could (freedom of speech and the freedom of the press!). A few crickets watched it. A couple of humans down-thumbed it and left what I assume was supposed to be witty comments. Then we all forgot it because it was obviously political satire written and performed by a Wiccan in Golden Dawn.

Even after Trump won, proving a prediction that I made two Presidential election cycles before true, I assumed that the Bind Trump bit would remain unwatched forever. And then Trump the President started to act exactly like Trump the Reality TV Star, something else I predicted.

At a certain point, some witches and magicians came up with the idea of binding Trump. I was so not involved--despite the video evidence--mainly because I was too busy huddling in a corner with one of my cats waiting for the first flash of nuclear weapons being launched. (If Trump is not the President that nukes us all back to the Stone Age, then America's first female President, Sarah Palin will--either way, we are all going to glow in the dark.)

I was at the local occult store when a friend walked up and asked me if I heard about the global binding ritual that was being planned. I said, no--they sent me a link.

The very next day, someone blogged about the ritual (not me!)--and suddenly, my forgotten comedy bit was resurrected on YouTube, complete with more dislikes and negative comments.

Now, there are some who feel that I should listen to the negative comments and take my video down...I assume that they are Trump fans who can't handle the idea that someone may actually loathe their favorite politician. Instead, it amuses me to realize that this comedic bit is my most disliked (thumbed down) video on YouTube.

How disliked?

Well, for a video that only accounts for less than a tenth of my views (8% if you are curious), fourth most watched (thanks to those looking for videos about the global binding ritual), third in overall watch time, and my eighth best earner, it is amazing that it accounts for almost fifty percent of my overall dislikes on YouTube.

And it is not just Americans who dislike it, citizens from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Latvia, and Norway also dislike it. Norway? Really, Norway? What do you know--I am an internationally disliked political comedian.

But never fear USA--you are still number one in disliking it.

You know you have a hit when your level of dislikes is this disproportional to the number of views. 

Now, I know that there are some critics of mine who believe that I should not be this amused by dislikes and negative comments. These critics forget that I wanted to be a newspaper columnist in the humor/political section. Dislikes and poison ink letters are just part of the trade. Of course, I assume that the real reason that they dislike the video is that Trump talk of getting rid of all the colored people, having all the poor people die from the lack of healthcare, and all those sweet, sweet tax breaks for the filthy rich, gives them a woody--it is either that or they rolled a critical IQ failure.

If you are not a member of the one percenters [1%], and you still think that the Trump's presidency is going to improve your life, you need to get checked out for brain damage. Either that, or you are a bigot who is turned on by his and your own bigotry. Nothing that his administration has done bodes well for the poor of any color, including white people. So you can rage all you like about me being unfair to Trump, and I am not going to change my mind any more than you are going to.

And now for your viewing displeasure, my most disliked video. Keep the negative comments coming!


Are you an evil witch or magician who thinks that Trump is going to turn us all into radioactive clouds of orange cheeto dust? Consider taking part in the global monthly waning crescent moon ritual to bind the actions of President Donald J. Trump.

For full text of Global Binding Ritual of Trump, click here. 

Dates for future Global Bind Donald J. Trump rituals 

2017

July 21; August 19; September 18; October 17; November 16; December 16

For a full list of future Bind Trump dates, click here.

A magical sigil being used by some to bind Trump.

My top ten blog posts for May 2017

It is the end of the month and it is time for me to look at the top ten blog posts for the month...because I am a blogger, and wonder exactly what blog posts my readers are reading.


But first, an honorable mention--my Tarot Blog Hop post for May, which based on pure numbers actually should be in the top ten--but Blogger seems to weigh older posts heavier (for reasons that are beyond my understanding). The Tarot Blog Hop was about combining divinatory systems, but I spent more time talking about my fiery Mercury. [Mix and match divination]


Coming is at number ten is a post about a child shooting his own mother...which gun freedom nuts are perfectly ok with--because Guns are Great!!! [Child terrorists shoots his own mother]


Number nine is occupied by my post about how the global bind Donald Trump ritual was affecting the views of my July Fourth 2016 video talking about binding Donald Trump. That's right, I was binding Donald Trump before it became the cool "satanic" and witchy thing to do. [Why the spike in video views?]


Number eight was the ritual script for the global witchcraft binding ritual of President Donald Trump and all his little pals. It is so sad that Trump didn't get better ratings. Help him get better views by screaming at people that witchcraft is evil. [Global binding ritual of Trump]


Number seven was an advertisement for my wife's mortar and pestles. Yes, it was an advert, but it still counts as being a popular blog post. [New mortar and pestles available on Etsy]


Number six was my Earth Day post reminding people not to toss old hoses into the recycling bin, and not to use the brains of dubious occult leaders when they design new esoteric systems. [Do not recycle the Abby Normal brain]


And roaring into number five is Trump! That's right--not happy with just two slots on this hit parade, President Trump grabs a third as I talk about what Trump accomplished in his first hundred days in office, and what my mom thought he was going to accomplish--oh, the bitter disappointment. [Congrats! You survived the first hundred days of Trump]


And not happy with just three slots, Trump strikes again, taking spot number four by doing something totally legit and awesome--firing the director of the FBI. Yes, nothing to see there--move along. [Trump restores confidence in the FBI]


But just when you thought that occult news could not trend and get readers, an old post (two and a half years old) about the arrest of the Living God, E.A. Koetting grabs number three. Honestly, this post performs month after month, just proving that some people do actually use Google to check out occult authorities and personalities. Let's give a big round of applause to the Living God for continuing to generate traffic. [Thoughts on the arrest of E.A. Koetting]


And just when you thought that we were done with Trump, he inspires a post about how his treatment of secrecy and his midnight rage tweets reminds me of all the good times we have had with dubious occult teachers and leaders using the concept of secrecy to cover their asses and the their revealing of others' dirty laundry to destroy their enemies. Go Trump! Or is this more about dubious occult leaders? Go Great Gherkin and Jimmie Bob Beggains! Either way, it is our number two for the month of May. [Secrets declassified--the Golden Dawn edition]


So who is going to grab post number one of the month? Is it going to be some random post talking about nonsense? Maybe an occult lore piece? Can the dubious occult leaders win the day? Or will it be the last President of the United States?


And the answer found in an old mayo jar sitting on the help desk of Blogger is...


Dubious occult leaders!!!


Yes, in a surprise win, dubious occult leaders using lineage to prove that they are truly Wiccan Elders and the greatest occult authorities ever beats out President Donald Trump! Who would have guessed it? No one saw that one coming. Stand tall dubious occult leaders, you are still the number one reason that I blog. [Lineage dost not make an Elder]

Want to blog in the Tarot Blog Hop?

Are you a blogger? Do you blog about the Tarot? Do you want to be part of a community of Tarot bloggers? If the answer is yes to these three questions, you might be interested in becoming part of the Tarot Blog Hop.

What is the Tarot Blog Hop? The Tarot Blog Hop is a group of Tarot bloggers that do a blog on the same theme eight times a year for fun and community building. Each participant links their blog to a Master List (which contains links to all the bloggers doing a particular Hop), and to two other bloggers in the blog ring for that theme.

The eight times of year that the Tarot Blog Hop occurs is timed to the eight Wiccan/pagan holidays of the wheel of the year---not because the Tarot Blog Hop is particularly pagan/Wiccan, but because it was a convenient division of the year according to the Arwen Lynch Poe (the organizer of the Tarot Blog Hops).

Imbolic, February 2
Ostara (Spring Equinox), app. March 22
Beltane, May 1
Litha (Summer Solstice), app. June 22
Lammas/Lughnasad, August 1
Mabon (Autumn Equinox), app. September 22
Samhain/Halloween, October 31
Yule (Winter Solstice), app. December 22

The theme of the Wiccan Sabbat may or may not have anything to do with the the holiday that the Tarot Blog Hop occurring on them. The theme of the Tarot Blog Hop is chosen by the volunteer who steps forward to organize the Tarot Blog Hop of that holiday. The theme will always have something to do with the Tarot, even if it is only using the cards to talk about a particular subject. The wrangler (as the volunteer is called) also sets up and hosts the Master List which is used to help readers get past any breaks in the blog chain. 

Participants in the Tarot Blog Hop must have a blog where they write about Tarot (at least occasionally), must commit to participating in at least two Tarot Blog Hops per year, must agree to link their posts to the Master List and to two other bloggers,and must agree to commit on five of the blog posts in any of the Hops they take part in.

If this sounds like your cup of tea, send a membership request to the Tarot Blog Hop Facebook group. A group moderator will private message you to confirm that you have a blog, and agree to participate in two Blog Hops per year---upon confirmation, the moderator will approve your membership in the Tarot Blog Hop group.

Not a blogger and just want to stay informed about the Tarot Blog Hop? There is also a Facebook fan page for the Tarot Blog Hop for those who just want news about the Tarot Blog Hop.

October 2013 Third most read month ever

The cat version of Thriller.

Looking over my numbers (stats), I see that last month (October 2013) is now my third most read month since this blog started in 2007. Last month scored 10,606 page views--beating out the previous third most read month, November 2010, which had 8,523 page views. And sometime on October 14, 2013, I passed two hundred page views overall for this little cynical blog.

So what does this all mean? People like cat pictures and poetry better than snarkiness? Or does it mean that snarkiness and shaming the entire Golden Dawn community, along with unhealthy battles in one's comment section, is the real attention getter? (Yes, I am still only at forty percent of the page views of the blog that claims to be the most read Golden Dawn blog ever--a blog that I was checking the comment section three times a day during several ugly discussions...and I suspect a whole bunch of other people were doing that also--in which case, their claim of having the biggest Golden Dawn audience is vastly inflated.)

As for those people who do not like poetry and cat pictures, you are safe for a week...maybe. After all, the holiday season is coming up and that means cats dressed as Santa, doesn't it? Plus you know that you want to read a poem entitled "When elves attack."

But don't worry, I also plan on writing some stuff about Golden Dawn and magic really soon...because this blog is supposed to be about the Golden Dawn system of spiritual and magical attainment (plus some Wicca...and some New Age stuff...and anything else I choose to write about...because after all, it is my blog).

Are you sure that spiritual means what you think it does?

One hundred ninety eight thousand all time views here

Secret Chief Apollo states his reason why you should read this blog.

So according to the Blogger's information, as I write this, I have exactly 198000 all-time views. There is part of me that wants to claim that "nearly two hundred thousand readers have discovered this blog"--but that would be false. In fact, it is probably just twenty-five readers who have came here eight thousand times apiece. Yes, that is right--overall views is just the number of "page views/reads" that you have received, not the number of readers overall...despite what some bloggers would have you believe.

I have no idea (and either does any other blogger) about how many "unique" readers I actually had over the years--mainly because the NSA will not tell us. Why is that? Because every time that someone rereads a post, or checks my comment section, that is counted as an additional pageview--the only way to track "unique" readers is to install cookies on visitors computers, and the cookies are only accurate until the user wipes their internet browser cache. That is, if you are not the NSA--the NSA is tracking something else completely (as in your individual email addresses, phone numbers, and service providers) and using a really big server to store all the information in.

And yes, if you are reading this, the NSA is probably looking at you--after all, this blog is about the Golden Dawn, and the Secret Chiefs of my Order have light bulbs. That is radical occult science!

August readership stats

According to the little interior widget of Blogger, this blog had 7778 page views for the month of August. On one hand, I am a little proud of all the sevens in the first part (777 baby!); on the second hand, I am a little proud of the 78 on the end; on the third hand, I am a little weird for being excited about this. The fact that I seem to have three hands, well, that is just normal, isn't it?

A thousand blog posts and this is what I have learned

Blogging is sort of like being the cat here.

Welcome to my thousandth blog post. Or thousandth on this blog. It is well over a thousand if you count the other nine still active blogs that I maintain (more or less maintain) and the several blogs that over the years have been deleted in the course of hosting service changes. It is close to a couple thousand if you toss in all the half written (and sometimes fully written but too trollish for prime time) posts that I have never been bothered to hit publish on.

This blog was started on July 16, 2007...which means that I have been blogging six years (provided that basic math is my friend today--it is still early...basic math might not be speaking to me today). Well, longer than six years, I moved over to Blogger on June 4, 2007 after my previous blogging platform was discontinued by a web host service. At first, I thought that I was going to be mainly blogging about the joys of writing (aka my Musings from the Inkwell). Then, I decided to spin off my Golden Dawn, Wicca, and magical rants and raves--hence this blog that you are currently reading. It was my first subject spin-off (now, I own ten blogs on Blogger).

So what have I learned over the years?

Do not google yourself!!!

Seriously, googling yourself is not worth it. If people are upset with you, they will tend to tell you in no uncertain terms in your own comment section (with the exception of non-professional bloggers who think that you will go read their blogs if they refuse to comment directly on your post...professional bloggers know better). And if people agree with you, either you will hear crickets, they will agree in the comment section, or they will blog about it on their own blogs. Your biggest hits will actually not be findable by Google...because you will be referred to as "some blogger," "some troll," "some lunatic," or one of the terms that your parents used for you during one of your more brilliant moments--my favorite is "turnip head."

There is no conspiracy on the internet--just waves of people blogging about other people's blogs.

I know that one is hard to believe...if you are not a semi-professional blogger. Truth of the matter is that the blogosphere feeds upon itself. Person A writes about Subject XYZ; Person B is desperate to find something to blog about, and decides XYZ is a good subject; then Person C decides that Person A and Person B are both out of their f***ing minds. Persons D though infinity just repeat the actions of B and C. So on any given day, there is only one new subject at best, and everyone will comment about it within the week.

Honest book reviewing is best done by people who are trolls at heart.

Having done more than my fair share of book reviews, I realize that the only way one can honestly review a book that is badly written and/or thought out is to have the heart of a troll. And not to care when the author points it out that you are not a nice person (and they will). Yes, critics meet under bridges to share stories of our hate mail.

Of course, having the heart of a troll extends to every honest blog post that one ever writes...because there is always someone that you are going to upset. In fact, inside the professional blogging circles, one is not considered to be doing the job properly if one is not upsetting people.

Troll cat does all my book reviews now.

There is such a thing as being a professional blogger.

I know that there are some people in the occult community that do not consider me a real blogger because I have ads on my blog, and ebooks that I occasionally promote, a whole line of erotica books that I do not advertise--to these people, I have to point out that the only things that I am really good at is writing and annoying people--if I do not take advantage of that and turn it into professional rage (the only reason to remain a blogger on some days), using ads and tacky self-promotion to earn money, then it is back to flipping burgers...and do you really want me to touch your food and have access to guns at the same time?! No, it is better that I get paid to blog. And among non-occult bloggers, being professional means that you cashed at least one check from AdSense (not everyone has the occultist viewpoint that money is not to be sought after).

Cat pictures sell!!!

Who would have guessed that one?! Three of my top ten posts are cat pictures posts. And this is an occult blog. Go figure. Of course, as a worshipper of Bast, I am obligated to post the occasional cat picture, and therefore it just proves that I am in the correct line of work.

If I had to start all over, I would write about economics.

Seriously, if I had to start a brand new blog purely for the purposes of professional blogging, I would not write about the occult. No, I would go for economics instead. Because everyone reads rants and raves about economics. And I would get a classier type of troll...well, maybe. And there is always something new to blog about in that field every day. That last part is important...because having done a thousand blog posts on a subject (minus bouts and fits of cat pictures), I know that being able to open up a newspaper, turning on the television news, or looking at the search engines trends, and having a new blog post idea just leap into the boat is a godsend. Especially if blogging has became a large part of your income stream.

Here is to the next thousand posts. I am embracing the dark side of blogging and letting the cat pictures flow.

Success as a blogger earns you a dead mouse on your desk.

White text on black background

Yes, my personal altar has a few dents in it.

One of the comments that I often recieve about this blog is that the white text on the black background makes it hard to read. I never recieve this comment on any of my other blogs...because this is the only blog I maintain that I use black background with white text.

When I set up this blog, I decided to go for the Golden Dawn symbolism. Anyone who has gone though a GD Neophyte (0=0) initiation ritual should be aware of the importance of the symbolism of the colors: red, white and black. They may or may not be aware of the yellow and blue...depends upon which officers could attend the ritual.

"Light dawning in darkness" is the keyphrase for a lot of what is happening in Golden Dawn ritual.

And I am not the only Golden Dawn blogger who has choosen to use a black background with white text, plus the occasional splash of yellow, green and red.

Given what I have learned over the last six years, would I start a new GD blog using this color scheme? Symbolically, it is still good.

But as a blogger, I probably wouldn't. My readers are right; it is hard to read. Plus there is research to back that up--no professional blogger uses white text on black background (I remember seeing a study on reader's reactions to various text and background colors, but I can't remember where I saw it). Furthermore, occasionally this color scheme combined with a glitch in the Blogger post editor causes me to post a post with black text...on black background (sometimes I catch it; sometimes my readers see it first). The only way to cope with a "glitch day" is to write the post, then highlight the whole post and change the whole post manually to white text, and hope that you never need to edit the post (because it is white text on white background in the post editor).

I will admit that I have considered changing the color scheme on this blog. But the lack of time, and it is a real low priority to do (because hacking out more erotica short stories creates more income), has put the task to the back burner. After all, I will have to go though my entire post history, post by post, to find all the places that the new color scheme makes something unreadable (such as the occasional yellow text which I find impossible to read on white backgrounds). And that is a thousand posts or so to eyeball.

My advice to anyone starting up a new blog--do not use white text on black background; it is just not worth the grief.

Last month was my busiest month ever

Last month was my most read month ever on this blog.

And what can we learn from this?

Cat pictures sell.

Of course, some of my readers may wonder why I was doing a round of cat pictures again this year. Last year, I defaulted to posting Halloween Kitties because I was working on passing my capstone course for my bachelors in literary studies (aka literature).

(And yes, I did pass it, as well as the capstone in history in the spring--which is why I now own two bachelor degrees...that I will probably never use...well, not if the writing turns out better than the job hunt.)

This year, the cat pictures were about the fact that this month I am doing the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), and next month I am working on Turtle Monkey (I am illustrating a pagan/wiccan friendly set of children books)--so I wanted to rest up for those two projects.

And let's be honest--I really, really like humorous cat pictures.

The most important post to be buried under the cat hair--my drawing of the Devil card for the Monkey Tarot.

[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.]

The aftermath of Halloween was that the cat ate all the tuna in the house.

Most read month ever



I am not even as cool as Morgan Grimes.

One of the hazards of being a blogger is that one cannot help looking at the traffic figures. Well, I suppose that you could prevent yourself from looking at your traffic figures with a couple of rolls of duct tape. And honestly, it is probably one of the worst things you can do--look at your traffic figures that is; duct tape is perfectly acceptable for most household chores (babysitting kids, fixing furniture, getting that annoying neighbor across the street to shut up and stay on their side of the street).

Why is it the worst possible thing you can do (look at your own traffic figures, that is)? Because you can find out that you are less popular than Morgan Grimes. (Sorry, I am busy rewatching the entire Chuck series--I am sorry that it is not Shakepeare or something else high-brow...my readers do not actually come here for educated dialogue, do they?)

Or worse, you can look at your traffic figures and think that you are more popular and successful than Morgan Grimes. (For the one reader who does not know, Morgan Grimes was a supporting character in the TV show Chuck--a show about a Buy More Nerd Herder who downloaded the Intersect, a government data base into his head. Morgan Grimes is, well, a nerd into comic books and science fiction and not terribly cool. I have mentioned the fact that you are not here for intelligent conversation, right?)

Anyway, yes, I forgot to duct tape myself to the other side of the room far away from my computer...and therefore, I looked at my traffic figures for last month. The bad news--I am not even as cool as Morgan Grimes. The good news--last month was my most read month ever.

And this is despite several people deciding that they will never give me any traffic ever again. I am not sure that they realize that I haven't gotten any traffic from them for months...yes, I check my traffic figures on a regular basis. Makes me suspect that my audience is completely different than theirs. (Hmmm, I wonder if they get the smart Shakespeare audience...or maybe they actually get the people that Shakespeare was really writing for...sorry, that is a literature joke--after all, Shakespeare was writing for the commoners in the pit; you know the type of person who actually likes watching bear-baiting and men dressed up pretending to be witches and young maidens.)

So what strange things did I find in my figures? (You didn't want to know--how rude...of one of us...I am guessing it is you, dear reader, who thinks Morgan Grimes is cooler than I am.)

Surprise number one was that both Japan and Brazil made my top ten countries list for readership...I am not sure what I am writing that attracting them.

Surprise number two was that one of the top ten posts last month was about the blogs that I were reading a year ago (and they are not even occult blogs)--I am guessing it has to do with the fact that I mentioned one star Amazon book reviews in that post (but they had nothing to do with those one star Amazon book reviews that erupted last month).

Surprise number three is that one of my Christmas Kitty posts is still getting traffic. (Really? A Xmas post?)

Oh, wait...surprise number four is that my post about not warring against Christmas is also getting hits. (Don't ask me to explain it...I can't.)

I gained a new number two all time most read post last month "What is Griffin trying to accomplish?" It shot up and passed last year's favorite about Robert Zink being expelled from his own Order. Well, shot up and passed it by 123 views. And there is really no chance of it becoming my all time number one post--it would need about sixteen times the number of views to surpass my all time number one post on Understanding Search Engines. And no, I have no real idea what traffic would be like on a Morgan Grimes post, but I am guessing that Morgan Grimes would be more popular. (No?!)

As for my next blog post, well, it will be my 777th post on this blog. I wonder what it could be about. Maybe I will write about Morgan Grimes and how he should have been the star of Chuck.

Love the nicknames

I will admit that I love the nicknames that have been bestowed upon me during the latest flame war (or is it flame skirmish?). The list includes:

Morgan Schrodinger, the Neither-Neither man
MaybeMorgan
McMorgan
Morgan Epstein

(And let's not forget Morgan Hatfield from a previous episode---of course, given the current round I should be Morgan McCoy to fit in with the rest of the lot. But I must admit that I would not want to claim either side of that historic feud; both families were a little crazy, even by my standards.)

And I do have a personal favorite.

Of course, you know these nicknames are the polite, safe for work nicknames (yes, I am curious about the X-rated blue set that they use in private). And that the goal of them is to make sure that no one can actually read my little Golden Dawn blog here and see what I really said---after all, how is Google supposed to know that I am MaybeMorgan and McMorgan?

For instance, there is a chance that I might openly mention the fact that I would prefer not going to either trademark holder for the right to call myself Golden Dawn. In the 1980s and 1990s, none of the lodges that practiced Golden Dawn had to do that. And we had a nice level of diversity with a third of the drama.

Hell with the politics---I am simply annoyed with the fact that I have to ask for permission to properly label what I am doing---which is practicing a set of rituals and techniques called Golden Dawn by various occult writers. And no one really needed to worry that someone might mistake me for someone doing strict traditional Golden Dawn work---I have built my own little brand as a lunatic writer. After all, I am Morgan the Martian, as well as Morgan the Cat Herder.

Update: June 5, 2012--Another nickname has been added to the set, Eckstone; this one I understand because my last name, Eckstein, translates into "corner stone."

Traffic is a devil (blog advice)



My traffic figures for the month looks like the devil to me.

One of the things about having an overactive imagination and blogging is that occasionally you see things that are not really there. For instance, it looks like there is a horned devil in my traffic figures for the last thirty days---it is not the devil; it is just my imagination.

Of course, no blogger should be overly concerned with their traffic figures. What you really need to be concerned about is how many of your readers (if any) are actually helping you fulfill your goals as a blogger.

You know that all-important reason that keeps you blogging---be it money (selling product and memberships), entertainment (send me more cat pictures), or talking about how awesome Elvis is.

It is easy to figure out when it is money related---you just weigh the bag of loot at the end of the month.

The other two examples (and there are many more possible goals) are harder to decide if you have made any progress during the month...mainly because Elvis tends to take all the really good cat pictures with him when he leaves the building.

Remember that you can have a million readers a month, and if none of them help you fulfill the reason that you are blogging for....well, you are just wasting your time. Unless you are merely trying to inflate your ego, in which case, a million readers a month would really go a long ways towards that goal.

For the curious, I blog to entertain myself (aka upset people---boy, it was a good month), to inflict cat pictures on all of you, and occasionally to inform and instruct (but not often because that would be setting the bar too high). And this is not much different than my original reason for starting this blog...which was to comment about Golden Dawn related stuff without having to worry that my cat-inspired comments would not be approved. Sadly, the initial reason for blogging is still valid---perhaps even more so today.

Fuck you---I am Cat---I will say what I want.

Rash of occultists sending out spam

The only good spam is the sandqwich meat that kitty loves. Yes, my cat loves spam---he might be Hawaiian.

There are three big news stories today. And two of them are not really important.

To the first one, I say, "That old news has been around the soap opera sewer for ages."

To the second one, "Promise that I do not have to read your comments ever again?"

And finally, the one I chose to blog about---Darcy Kuntz is not sending out spam. It just looks that way.

One of the things that has reared its ugly head in the pagan and Wiccan communities is that sometimes you recieve a piece of spam from someone that you are surprised is sending you spam. It has now moved to the Golden Dawn and ceremonial magic communities.

So while I have recieved several spam emails from "Darcy Kuntz," I seriously doubt that it is Darcy doing it.

Either they have hacked into Darcy's current email account, or they discovered and hacked into an abandoned email account that he used to have.

The earliest way to determine if you have been hacked secretly and sending out spam to all your occult friends---put yourself into your address book. In my case, my other email address is in my address book---if I recieve a spam email from the other account, I know I have been spammed hacked. (And I check both accounts every day.) If you are sending out spam thanks to a hacker, change your password quickly.

And whatever you do---don't use "secret" or "password" as your secret password; that is just begging for someone to hack into your email account.

What is a Tarot Blog Hop?

Tomorrow, my regular readers will notice that I am doing another round of the Tarot Blog Hop, and may be wondering exactly what a Tarot Blog Hop is.

The Tarot Blog Hop is a bunch of bloggers that periodically create posts around the same scheme or inspiration, and then link their blogs together. In theory, a reader hops from one blog to another (discovering new blogs) until they come full circle and return to their starting point. The Tarot Blog Hops take place eight times a year (the eight Wiccan holidays).

The Tarot Blog Hop is a way for the readers to discover new blogs to read, and for bloggers to be able to expose their blogs to new readers.

GD War Rules Double Standard

One of the things that can be seen quite clearly today (especially today) on the Golden Dawn blogosphere is the fact that we have a double standard going on here. In other words, what is fair for one party to do is not fair when another party does it.

First, we have individuals who are ok to be used by one side as witnesses and evidence, but are declared "innocent bystanders" when it is decided by that they are now fair targets. Let's be clear--if you use someone as an example of evidence that you are right, they may actually still be an innocent bystander; but when someone who goes on record as a witness saying that someone's opinion is wrong, they just turned themselves into a fair target.

And given how much photoshopped stuff is trotted out, a simple screenshot seems harmless. Maybe if they had been cropped the people into Lisa Simpson, it would have been ok.

Second, hackers do not just delete one post--they trash your entire site and blog. Are you sure you did not hit the wrong button and revert your post to a "draft"? If I have done it on occasion, it is possibly that you have done it also. But then again, double standard, one side is capable of being human and making mistakes, and the other side is perfect and must have been hacked.

Third, it is ok for one party to copy and paste entire blog and forum posts on their blog and forum, robbing the other party of readership and context, but it is wrong when someone does it to you?! Let's be clear--if it is a violation of copyright for one party to do so, it is a violation for all parties to do so. There have been several occasions that I felt that my copyrighted posts were being unfairly used, but I held my tongue.

And you do not need to post a notice that your material is copyright protected to enjoy the protection of the law...so don't even claim that it was fair because there was no notice visible (because you had no visible notice until you felt wronged). The truth is that the instant I, or anyone else, writes something it is under copyright until seventy years after the time the writer dies. No notice needs to be given.

Therefore, the next time you copy any, and I mean any, amount of a blog or forum post and post it on your blog or forum, you will recieve a nasty comment from the person that you just copied from. Again, if the rule applies to one, it apply to all parties.

Fourth, why is it wrong to mock the whole conspiracy idea? If any of the rest of us would have floated the idea, we would be mocked to the next Sunday. So why shouldn't we mock you?!

Fifth, one party cries that their material was wrongly published, yet they encouraged people to download for free the entire course material of a rival Order. Let's me buy you a hint--your excuse that the other Order was ran by a crook does not excuse the behavior. If one Order's material is fair game for publication, especially because it is all "public domain" material, then that rule also applies to your material that is actually in public domain.

In summary, you may think having a double standard where behavior is perfectly acceptable for you, and the signs of conspiracy and flame-war when done by others is fair; but the rest of us believe that using a double standard makes you a bigger hypocrite than the rest of us.

If brothers and sisters go to war, the rules of war should not be based on a double standard. Unless you are sibling below the age of ten...then we might have to spot you an extra card or two.



Time to summon up sock puppets to call me a very evil man.



Ok I have read your advertisment (blog advice)

Open letter to the person who attempted to post the same comment three times on three different entries:

Dear blogger,

I am glad that you like (?) my blog. But I have a policy of not allowing comments through that are thinnly veiled advertisements---especially ones that are little more than a series of keywords that you are hoping that the search engines pick up on. Furthermore, you really need to brush up on your English, for instance "I really lie your blog" is not the same as "I really like your blog." It is nothing personal; my opinion is based purely on your comment context; it is simply that I would like you to actually comment on the context of my blog, rather than simply post an advertisement for yours. In other words, it is for business reasons, including SEO reasons, that I am not going to let your comment through.

A better way to get me to link to your blog is to write real comments that add something to the discussion. You may not realize this, but search engines are programmed to ignore, or to devalue, sites that use the advertising tactics that you are using. What you really want to do is to be a valuable member of my community, therefore making me think of you as a friend, or at least an interesting expert in your field, and getting an organic in-post link to your blog; this type of link would actually carry far more weight with the search engines than the link contained in your canned blog comment.

Yours in the Great Work,

Morgan Drake Eckstein

Wikipedia blacked out in protest

Today, Wikipedia and several other internet sites are going to be blacked out for twenty-four hours to protest two internet bills making their way though Congress: the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA).

While I am against piracy (after all, I am a writer and have discovered all my posts feeding directly onto another website), I think that these two bills will do more damage than they are worth. I especially fear what would happen if they were enacted into law and someone with more vinegar than brains decids to use them for the purposes of putting businesses they do not like out of their misery. One of the parts still in the bill requires websites to remove all links to sites that host pirated material; and if they miss a link, they too can be penaltized under the law.

From an occult blogger's viewpoint, this means that most, if not all, occult webpages would become off-limits to link to. Why? Well, do you know who really owns the copyrights to most of the occult stuff out there? Me neither. And even if you think that you do know, are you positive that you are right? And that no one is going to claim otherwise?

For instance, a few years ago one group tried to get certain research libraries to turn over certain collections---the reasoning was that since the group controlled the name that all material under that name actually belonged to them and not the library to which the public domain material had been donated. And given that these internet laws would be enforced by government agencies, well, one only have to look at the OTO and GD court cases to see how such laws could be misused.

(I am sorry---I still think that the legal system may have made a mistake in the OTO case. And given the flame wars surrounding the GD case, well, one can only imagine what would have happened if people could attempt to get websites shut down for copyright violations.)

I am not saying that we do not need such laws to protect intellectual property (copyrights); I am saying that the laws would cripple large parts of the internet that I care about if they are badly enforced and/or misused. If the SOPA and PIPA are passed, large parts of the internet focused on the occult could cease to exist. There has to be a better way to protect copyrights and deal with internet piracy.