What I write about (or Why you should ignore me)

An unscientific look at what I write about.

Occasionally, people ask me what I write about. Normally, I tend to shrug my shoulders and mutter something about writing dubious erotica for money. That or I just come out and say, "I am an angry blogger; therefore, whatever pisses me off this week." And I do seem to spend a lot of time pissed off.


For proof of this, you need to go no further than my latest ebook, a collection of articles that I wrote for the Hearthstone Community Church's newsletter (Hearthstone is the "open full moon people" who help host open Wiccan rituals in Denver, Colorado).


Conducting an unscientific study (basically, chicken scratches on a piece of paper as I scrolled though the finished collection), it turns out that I am angry a lot.


[Exactly how unscientific is this method? Well, using this same method and applying it to other occult writers, I found that the person who claims to be the biggest expert in my field only seems to write one type of post....which has nothing to do with the occult...unless you define the occult as big C conspiracies. Another expert seems to be stuck in meme and Law of Attraction land. And so forth. And given the claims of these people, it is obvious that the method used here is wrong...because the results say that I am actually spending more time writing about magic and the occult while in a blind rage than they do 24/7.]


And I mainly seem to be angry at other occultists, who I feel are sponges and/or dangerous lunatics providing bad information to seekers. When I entitled the collection "Thirteen Signs That Your Occult Teacher is Rotten," I did so because the signature piece was my thirteen warning signs article; but looking at the rest of the ebook, at least a quarter of the ebook is me throwing rotten tomatoes at bad occult teachers.


Perhaps, I would be less angry if I spent less time on Facebook. Or maybe not.


Now, I will admit that this collection has a few oddities in it. For instance, I talk about family and death a couple of times; and that is not normal--my excuse is that my mother had died during this writing cycle and this was part of my working though the issues.


There is also that point when I talk about being an occult celebrity (I am not really, but...), that mode one finds oneself in when one's reputation precedes you. So that is not normal.


And talking about how Karma is really not part of Wicca....wait, nope, this is me being angry at the stupid things that so-called occult experts and teachers tell people.

So you probably should just assume that any place that I seem not to be raging against bad occult teachers is actually a hidden pocket of rage that I managed to whitewash.

Never fear, I will continue to rage at the shoddy occultists who have weaseled their way into positions of leadership and teaching. Heck, I have already wrote an article about such people this year, so that part seems to be a constant.


And just remember, me bad-mouthing other occultists, especially those who know more than I do, is exactly why you should not read my stuff; nor enable my rage by buying my little ebook collecting last year's (plus a few articles from the year before) at your favorite online ebook retailer. Don't reward my bad behavior by sending me a dollar.


Thirteen Signs That Your Occult Teacher is Rotten is available at many fine ebook retailers.

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Scribd

Smashwords

Apple

Now available at your favorite online ebook retailer.

Money in those cards

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The theme for this Tarot Blog Hop is Tarot and finance. Oh, that dirty, filthy evil lucre.

The wrangler of this Tarot Blog Hop asked some questions to give us inspiration for this post.

"Have you done your taxes yet?" Oh hell no, that is next weekend that the accountant comes over to help me and my wife fill out those dreaded tax forms.

"How do you use the Tarot in relation to matters financial?" I use it as a thinking tool and model (because I am guilty of applying this model to everything).

"Do you make a living from it?" No, not yet. But someday, I do plan on making Tarot an income path for myself (along with all the other projects that I am working on).

"Do you sometimes have a sneaky peek to help you pick lottery numbers or have a flutter on the gee-gees (and have you had any luck)?" I gave up playing the lottery years and years ago. Now, if we are talking about the Writer's Lottery (where one is gambling that one's writing is going to make a buck or two), then why yes, I have used the Tarot to peek at the future success of some of my projects.

"Do you take the risky path of advising others on financial matters or is  a no-go area?" Yes, I have done Tarot reading for people that involve finances: typically, job related questions. And yes, I have charged for these readings...though one must note that on occasion, I have been paid with chickens, cheese, and peanut butter.

"Is it just the Pentacles for money matters or do you associate other less obvious cards with this area?" Uh, the whole deck relates to money...

Just some ideas that I have for a Tarot deck, or two. 

One of the things that I have learned reading the Tarot cards is that the deck (no matter which one you use) becomes all about the subject of the question. Sure, there are those nasty shot-gun readings, where the cards ignore the question and pepper answers about all areas of a person's life, but often that is because the person's life in one big ball of wax and manure where everything needs fixing and one's issues in another areas of life is wrecking one's ability to make money.

A project that I have kicked around doing is a Monetary Tarot deck, a deck where every card is focused on money and finances. And some of those ideas have made their way into previous Tarot Blog Hop posts.

For instance, this version of the five of pentacles from a previous Hop.

One of the reasons that I would like to have a Monetary Tarot in my collection is it would help with cold reading. One of the cold reading techniques I learned is that the client's choice of Tarot deck tends to be related to the question they are asking. I have a Tarot deck with lots of lace and pink in it, and I know that if a client picks that deck, the question is all about relationships and love. I figure a Monetary Tarot would work the same way; if a client picks it, then the question has to be all about money.

Kicking around possible art ideas for such a deck, I have highly considered using money as the background of the cards. The Magician card of this particular post is an example--though I think I am going to re-do it and make the bill yellow instead (for contrast purposes); or maybe find an actual piece of paper money that is yellow for the background (though using Ol' Ben for the Magician card has some appeal to me as a historian). And certain types of money would be better for certain cards than for others---I am thinking of using Chinese Heaven Money for the Hierophant, and Chinese Hell Money for the Devil card. And for the suit of Pentacles, use actual coins to stand in for the pentacles.

Of course, for me, the question would be "Has someone else done this already? And is there an actual market (or need) for a Monetary Tarot deck?" Because I suspect that I would have to drop some monetary resources into completeing such a deck. Then again, occasionally, I do the art just because I want to. In my fantasy world, someday I complete one of my silly Tarot decks and people actually buy them in sufficient numbers that I can smile at my wife, and be able to honestly say that I am making money as a Tarot artist. Yes, I am hoping to find money in them there cards.

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Crowley is Day and EAK (yes, I said that)

Today, in a Facebook discussion, I said that Aleister Crowley was the Christian Day and E.A. Koetting of his day (lawsuit happy, insulting, drug-using glory hound who insisted that the world rotated around his revelations and teachings). Now, I realize that this was an unfair comparison; but damn it, I could not come up with a better one to illustrate how Crowley acted in his lifetime.

And now for some memes...

Would Crowley do Miley? Maybe if she sounded like a goat.

Mandatory Koetting joke with that age old question. 

Sorry, this Christian Day meme always makes me laugh. 

Now to be fair, I do think that two of these three would be interesting to have a drink with. The third one, well, I am fortunate that I never have to worry about running into him.

And speaking of people I won't drink with: Why did I not include [name redacted]? Because no one knows who the fuck he is! I was trying to illustrate why Crowley was so scandalous in his lifetime--not make him roll over in his grave--and a complete unknown (outside of those circles) does not serve the purpose of the joke, even if he does like to claim that he is more famous than Crowley. Remember any joke you have to explain does not work (with the exceptation of Eddie Izzard, who is great at making jokes that need explaination work).

And this concludes today's edition of "Yes, I fucking said that." Tune in tomorrow when I go on to makes jokes about how Cthulhu would make a better President than anyone currently running.

Hex the vote (part 1)

 Every couple of years, Americans look at the television set, or their computer, or smart phone, and say to themselves, “Damn, American politics is fucked up.” OK, maybe that is too much of a generalization. Some Americans say that every day while others might never notice that politics is a mighty strange business. Meanwhile, the rest of the world can’t figure out how our system of government works—which is not very surprising considering that not even members of our own government can  explain our government in terms that a five year-old can understand—which in turn, says nothing about the intelligence of people in foreign countries, and everything about the fact that our system of government was designed by people who did not trust any form of government that they were familiar with and therefore, decided to create a brand new way to mess things up.

In the United States, we have a democracy. And by democracy, I mean that we cast votes for people who are supposed to represent our interests, and for little key chunks of law that entire pyramids of legalistic goo are built upon. It is a representative democracy.

Our representative democracy exists for two reasons. One, the technology for a direct democracy, where one person’s opinion equals the exact same weight as someone else’s opinion, and a simple majority carries the day, simply did not exist when our system of government was created; tallied votes could only travel as fast as a horse mired in a swamp. Two, the founding fathers did not believe that everyone’s knowledge of government and the law was equal, therefore, they gave more weight to the opinions of “political experts” than to your average tavern stool sitter.

Now, let’s be clear about something: direct democracy would lead to our extinction. Take for instance, the issue of witchcraft. Given that many people believe that we should be a pure Christian nation, believing that the founding fathers meant for the Bible to be the guide of law in this country, anything that goes against what they think the Bible says, in the minds of these people, should be against the law. And given that the Bible says that one should not allow witches to live, well, it does not look good for the witches. Don’t bother to argue that those who embrace the Bible are selective in what they believe that the Bible outlaws; for instance, bacon loving tattooed men are outlawed; such arguments are ignored by those who insist that the Bible is the end-all of morality and law. And the people who believe such things, if given the route of direct democracy, would vote to throw witches in jail before dousing them with gasoline and lighting matches.

Fortunately, direct democracy was feared by the founding fathers. In order to jail and burn witches, first you have to convince enough people that it is a good idea. Second, you would have to change the Constitution, which contains an amendment that hints that freedom of religion, even nasty unchristian religions, is allowed; because otherwise that nasty judicial branch might strike down your law, and tell you that you are not allowed to roast marshmallows over a burning witch. Those nasty founding fathers simply did not trust people to play nice with one another. Unfortunately, the fear of direct democracy also gave rise to professional politicians and experts.

At top of the United States’ political heap is the office of the President. Every four years, we have a Presidential election, including a campaign cycle that seems to just be getting longer and sillier. The voters have two says in this matter, once in the primaries and caucuses, and once during the actual election itself. Bookmarking these events are enough political ads, debates, and other strange nonsense that one finds themselves believing that American politics is overseen by a zombie donkey and zombie elephant because there is no way that either animal could put up with that much nonsense and still be alive.

During this process of selecting a President, not everyone’s vote counts the same. In one of those political arenas that requires a political pundit to explain, the votes of certain states matter more than those of other states. And in a couple of these caucuses, recently we saw a coin flip, or card draw, determine the final vote. Plus, there is this strange concept of super-delegates, where one person’s vote (select elected officials) count as much as thousands of other votes made by ordinary people. On top of this, we have the Electoral College, where the votes of certain states are worth more than others. And after all this, if things go really odd, one can end up with the Supreme Court deciding who is President.

Given all this complicated procedure, one can easily come to the conclusion that one’s vote does not count. That is not true; it is just that our system is designed so that the masses who only think about politics every four years can’t completely take over. Our system is designed to be run by professional politicians, but—and this is when you have to remember what type of democracy we actually have—they are supposed to represent the people.

And in order for them to represent us, they have to know that we exist. If we want our opinions about how this country should be run, and what laws and regulations are needed, and what programs funded, to be considered by the professional politicians, then we have to be visible as a voting bloc. Politicians need to know that we exist. Now, while it is too late to get involved (or interested) in certain parts of the process this time around, it is not too late for the next stage of the process. And there is always the next cycle. It is never too late to get involved.

Therefore, I encourage you to register to vote (if you are not already registered); learn what you can about the issues and candidates, and vote whenever you can.

A useful site to learn more, including voter registration deadlines, is Rock the Vote: http://www.rockthevote.com/…/voter-registration-deadlines.h…

Another educational site is USA.gov: https://www.usa.gov/election .

Miscellaneous Debris

Miscellaneous Debris

Venus of Willendorf

Golden Mjollnir

Artemis’ bow

Moses’ Tarot

Crowley’s codpiece

Dee’s decoder ring

Warhol’s soups

Republican Jesus

Hell money

Lucifer’s feather

Merlin’s runes

Ripper’s knife

Roswell’s saucer

Smiling Mona Lisa

Alexandria library card

Lion’s heart

Anubis dog bowl

Voldemort’s horcrux

Dreaded Necronomicon

All at the bottom of Mom’s purse

[A poem from the little book of poetry that I am currently writing. My first little book of poetry (25 poems) is available for $0.99 USD from many fine retailers, including Amazon.]

Confessions of a house husband (International Women Day)

Howdy everyone!

Today is International Women Day. Or as it appeared on my Facebook newsfeed, "Let us guilt women back into being barefoot and stuck in the kitchen while the man of the house brings in the bacon."

Now, one of my regular readers will completely agree with this idea---despite the fact that he claims otherwise---because he is that special type of alpha male who wants to make 'Murica great again by giving everyone a gun, sex orgies, and outlawing liberal politicians.

Me, on the other hand, is someone who has a load of laundry in the washing machine, and is trying to figure out what to cook for dinner while screaming at the cats to play nice with one another. Oh yes, I am that insult to womanhood, called a house-husband.

And my regular reader will use this as evidence that you should not be reading my little blog...because obviously, I must have failed at life, if I am at home doing the laundry and dishes. After all, no real man would actually be happy being a house-wife.

Yet, here I am---happy to stay at home while my wife earns more money than I do.

(Not that hard really, considering that I am a writer---don't get me started on how much your average writer makes---just another sign my regular reader will note that proves that you should not listen to me, and only read his crap-fest of a blog, Facebook group, and website.)

Now, I will admit that I am not a good house-husband. I get distracted a lot. And I hate to vaccuum.

But still, me being at home doing chores allows my wife to work in a forty hour plus job. She had the freedom to choose her career. And so did I.

And just remember, as my regular reader will note, that I am a total failure as a person, a man, and a magician, because I choose to be a struglling writer and a half-ass house-husband.

Happy International Women Day!

Chalices ready to ship (a word from our sponsor)

And now a word from our sponsor, Khari's Wiccan Treasures.

Currently, we have three hand-made wheel thrown food safe chalices ready to ship in our Etsy shop. Additionally, there are several custom-made options for those who are interested in specific colors and symbols.

Pansy Purple and Lavender Triple Moon Wiccan Chalice.

This lovely purple chalice stamped with the Wiccan Triple Moon is available for $30 USD plus shipping and handling. 

Knights Templar Celtic Cross Chalice with Vine Scroll.

This green chalice with Templar Cross is available for $30 USD plus shipping and handling. 

Pansy Purple and Blue Purple Wiccan Triple Moon Pentagram Chalice.

This pansy purple Triple Moon chalice is available for $30 USD plus shipping and handling.