Xmas Kitties 2012 (Kitty 3)

The Twelve Days of Christmas as sang by cat owners.

There are things to be said about holidays, especially about how Christmas music can get stuck in your head, which cannot be published on a blog without an adult warning about harsh language. Today was one of those days; I had Christmas music stuck in my head. It did not help the writing at all. Of course, my Turtle Monkey co-creator called me on the phone and tried to install something equally obnoxious in my head...the Christmas music won out as soon as she hang up. My cats look at me as if it is just another day; I guess they are used to me singing only half of the lines of various songs off-key. So here is to the Christmas carols stuck in my head--it is just too bad that I am not writing any stories about Xmas.

Bad Monkey now available online from B&N

The Bad Monkey ebook is now available online at Barnes and Noble.

The good news is that Bad Monkey--the Collected 2011 Hearthstone Community Church Articles is available for sale online from Barnes and Noble (99 cents). The bad news is that there is no cover image for the ebook. *sigh* Not that the cover would actually help the ebook sell--after all, it is more of a in-joke between my friends and me (shared with those who attended the June 2011 Open Full Moon ritual), but still I can't imagine it doing better without the cover image being available. There is also no product description, and the sample size is so small that you really can not get a flavor for my writing style. Oh yeah, this is really going to sell. Yes, you can file this under "The joys of writing ebooks."

Xmas Kitties 2012 (Kitty 2)

Xmas Kitty deserves a fancy feast this holiday season.

When I first saw this picture, I thought that it was a Thanksgiving picture. And then I noticed the Christmas Crackers and decided that it was actually a Christmas feast picture instead. (I had one history professor that was big on examining the fine details of old photographs which was a great suppliment to my literary studies...therefore another useless skill, outside of the occasional WTF moment.) Now, some people might point out the chicken, but in my household that is no sign that it is not Thanksgiving (often, we do a chicken for holidays--I have yet to be brave enourgh to attempt cooking a turkey--yes, I am cooking most of the meals in my household). So is it Thanksgiving, or is it Christmas? Does it matter to the cat? No, they are still going to help themselves to the food.

Xmas Kitties 2012 (Kitty 1)

Christmas Kitty looks like he has been drinking too much eggnog.

Yes, it is once again the season for many Christmas Cats to invade my humble little blog. I know my audience; while you claim that you are here to read about Golden Dawn and the esoteric traditions, you are really just here looking at silly cat pictures.

No death threats for me

Assassin Cat readies his lasers and claws--just in case, I decide not to feed him.

[The following post is written much along the lines of someone who has escaped food poisoning when all his friends are busy trying to have their stomachs crawl out of them. It is not that the writer wants food poisoning, bad luck, or death threats; it is merely the curiosity that a writer gets when he notices that there is a plague in the area, and it has somehow skipped his house...one cannot help be curious about why one is so lucky. In other words, don't send me a death threat...unless you absolutely must.]

Yesterday was the second time this year, I noticed a Golden Dawn leader talking about recieving threats. And over the years, I have heard of other threats. Most seem to be along the line of the Ancient Siberian Curse ("If I tell you that I cursing you, maybe you will catch a round of bad luck"). And some of the results seem to be along the lines of "I am so important; people must be trying to kill me."

The regularity of impeding curses and threats makes me wonder if I am the only person in Golden Dawn who has never got a death threat. Ok, I mean a death threat originating from inside the estoteric community--domestic violence, living in a rough neighborhood, and running a cash register does not count for the purposes of this post.

Still one wonders how I have been so lucky. Oh sure, my little blog here has gotten some people so mad that they wanted to fry it out of existence...as if that would do more than slow me down (I have other soapboxes to use to air my loony opinions).

My current conclusion is the simple fact that I am not a leader in the esoteric community, merely a lunatic with a soapbox. It is not like anyone takes me seriously. Or expects me to ever threaten their organizations. After all, you very seldom see a court jester try to become a king.

Therefore, those people in the Golden Dawn community who are recieving threats of curses, impeding doom and death, must be the real deal...because one would never threaten someone who was faking it, would you? Recieving a death threat, or warning of being cursed, or bound by magic, is a badge of honor in the esoteric community--sort of like being named the village goat.

Anyway, if this post somehow upsets you, please remember that the thing I find most frightening and dangerous is a fruit cake. And assassin cat would really hate to recieve some expensive cat food. Oh, and my wife is horrified when she sees money, especially in the form of jewelry orders.

Still neutral about Zink and others

One of the things that (I think) people find disturbing about me is the fact that I tend to be neutral about the various so-called Legion of Evil Golden Dawn leaders (which basically consists of every public Golden Dawn leader). This neutrality extends to Robert Zink.

This neutrality occasionally gets called into question by certain people...because supposely I am involved a conspiracy (funny, I don't remember being invited to any meetings of the Legion of Evil Golden Dawn leaders). Like a couple of years ago, someone made a big fuss when a large bunch of the EOGD membership walked away from Robert Zink. They thought that I should embrace those who walked away from Robert Zink, and get up on my soapbox and condemn Zink.

And I didn't. I stayed out of the brawl. I felt that it was none of my business beyond my normal routine of reporting things of newsworthy interest to my readership. Besides, I didn't think that the EOGD or Robert Zink was going to go away. In fact, it did not surprise me when the EOGD name stayed with Zink (it made business sense to me that it would happen that way).

Today, I am still neutral about Robert Zink. Personally, both me and Robert know that I am not suitable to be a member of his Order...for personal reasons, including the fact that I talk back too much.

I belong to the BIORC because it is the Order that I am suited for. It does not mean that I do not talk to people of other Orders; in fact, I had friends in all the major Golden Dawn Orders.

Over the years, I have heard three major complaints (or crimes) cited against Zink. And only two of them, I have heard beyond the anonymous commentors on the internet (yes, one of the major complaints has no independent verification, or at least no one I know has confirmed it). Of the two remaining complaints, one boils down to Orders do things their own way; and the other is just business, even if it makes the EOGD sound like a badly ran Amway. Yes, I believe that the one should keep people out, but people are free to do what they will with their own money.

And here is the rub--the two complaints that I had verified can be said about almost all the other Golden Dawn Orders with just variations of the song (the tune remains the same).

(Please note that if someone I trusted verified the third accusation, I would cease to be neutral about Zink himself, but would still remain neutral about the EOGD itself. I imagine that also annoys some people.)

If Robert Zink is evil because of the two things that he is actually guilty of, then the entire leadership of Golden Dawn is probably evil, including the self-appointed white hats. Because I do not know of a single Order that does not insist on doing things their particular way, and few that are not ran as if they are a form of business (and for the record, the GD Order that insists that it is not a business the most is the most guilty of being a business from where I sit).

So there you have it, I will probably remain neutral about Robert Zink and the majority of the other Golden Dawn leaders until the cows come home (I will admit that I loathe one of the GD leaders because they and their membership decided that it was ok to trash my reputation--I had to put up with that from my family; I do not have to put up with that trash from them). If this fact offends you, please feel free never to read another word that I write.

Anonymous comments are not proof

One of the things that I have been thinking about lately is how much weight one should place on blog and forum comments made by anonymous people. And by "anonymous," I mean people who either openly post as an anonymous (and perhaps unregistered) user, as well as those who use a handle such as "the Golden Dawn avenger"--a handle that actually tells you only that the person behind the handle has a big ego.

There are two reasons why I have been thinking about this.

One, I am in the process of setting up a blog to collect all the book reviews that I have done in various places. I have needed to do this for awhile. It has become more urgent, due to the fact that I am starting to recieve books from some GoodReads drawings that I recently entered (I have recieved the first two books today).

Do I allow comments on the Book Review blog? Or do I just refuse to allow comments through? And does it matter either way? (Please note that my book reviews were called into question earlier this year...by anonymous and faceless people.)

The other reason I have been thinking about anonymous comments is watching the comments being made on one of my blog posts on this very blog. There has been one person who has been pointing out dirt about Robert Zink--provided that you place any stock in comments that direct you to other comments made on another blog by anonymous people.

Personally, I do not need to hear anonymous comments about Zink to have an opinion of the man. After all, I had internet dealings with the man (we are not favorite people of each other); plus, I have done some "exit counseling" with some of his former membership--enourgh to know that I am definitely not suited to be one of his students.

The same holds true of several other people in the Golden Dawn community. Between the grapevine and my own interactions with people, I have a really good idea of who is what type of lunatic without having to read anonymous comments about them. And I am sure that they feel the same way about me--we all know that I am a lunatic with a soapbox.

And honestly, I find that the way that anonymous comments are presented as "proof" painful to watch because of the double standard that is applied to them. Simply put, an anonymous comment is considered to be proof when it supports your stated conclusion, but is considered a falsehood when it does not support your argument. If it is undermining your competition, an anonymous comment is proof and perfectly acceptable because people need to be able to present evidence without fear. But the same comment is it attacks your position must be coming from the political sock puppet of your enemy and is a complete lie, therefore anonymous comments should never be considered proof that you too are special type of lunatic.

Of course, most proof in the occult community tends to be treated the same way. Scholars have a double standard applied to them (if they support your argument, they are a good scholar; if not, they are a fraud who should be kicked out of the academy). Business practices and recruiting techniques are ok when you use them, but fraud when other people use them. A simple statement of a claim of ancient knowledge is accepted point blank by one group's membership while the same type of claims are considered lies when made by another group.

It is enourgh to make one want to declare that everyone is a liar and a fraud. And far more simple too. Of course, I have gotten to the stage where I am just starting to ignore any comment that is made by someone that I do not personally know. But let's be honest, being called a neo-nazi and told outright that it is ok for others to destory one's reputation because you do not belong to the one real Golden Dawn makes one dislike anyone who stands behind "anonymous" or "enemy of all false GD Orders" and calls you names.

So do not expect me to accept blog and forum comments presented by anonymous posters of proof of anything. After all, I know enourgh people who are posting using their real names that I do not need to see evidence that is untraceable. You would not accept my statements as proof if I hid my identity, so why should I trust you when you do the same?