Sunday, July 21, 2013
Magus Magazine: Evolution and Deities Part One
Magus Magazine: Evolution and Deities Part One: Hello everybody! Here is a portion of Evolution and Deities. I'll be adding another bit concering the falsity of Ontological Relativ...
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Magus Magazine: Rumblings in the Rockies: 'Hannibal', the Mormons ...
Magus Magazine: Rumblings in the Rockies: 'Hannibal', the Mormons ...: Rumblings in the Rockies: Hannibal, the Mormons, and Liminality. I couldn't tell if I'd been jolted out of a dream or was suff...
Rumblings in the Rockies: 'Hannibal', the Mormons and Liminality
Rumblings in the Rockies: Hannibal, the Mormons, and Liminality.
I couldn't tell if I'd been jolted out of a dream or was suffering from some inner-ear calamity when I found myself dizzy and nauseous after answering a call from my twisted editor. He sounded scorned and manic. Jabbering about some goddamn injustice, I could hear running water and what appeared to be dozens of yowling cats in the background. A feeling of defeat washed over me and I sullenly braced myself for the storm that was about to erupt on the line. "They've done it!" He screamed into the phone. "The filthy bastards! They dropped it from the line-up!" There was a loud bang followed by coughing and several minutes of silence while I listened to my beleaguered leader curse and howl indiscriminately. Something had gone very wrong.
Of course, I'd already heard the cruel news that had Jack Vates in a savage state of mind. He had been hiking outside of Las Vegas at the Valley of Fire state park when a violent and blinding blast of light shot out from the sky and embedded itself directly into his forehead. Amidst American Indian petroglyphs and a desert terrain that was otherworldy, Vates was seized by a powerful alien force or entity that left him in complete disarray. During this divine invasion, he was directed to head into Vegas and bet heavily on NBC's new television line-up. In particular, the alien presence instructed him to focus on the new crime-thriller 'Hannibal'. You can bet on anything in Las Vegas and playing the odds in television ratings is serious business. When Jack stepped up to 20-1 odds and put the keys to his convertible up as collateral, nobody took him seriously. They pointed and stared at him pitifully. But when 'Hannibal' hit the ground running, even the Vegas bigwigs started jabbering about a 'sleeper' hit. It looked like the Salt Lake City market was gonna embrace this show and Jack doubled-down that the Mormons would at least pay enough attention to criticize. There was a terrible quickness about it. 'Hannibal's' ratings blasted off like a rocket and only CBS's 'Elementary' was in any position to act as competition. Network exec's squawked and ran around in a frenzy. There was talk of NBC stock tripling over night.
And then it happened. The Salt Lake City NBC affiliate KSL dropped 'Hannibal' from their Thursday night line-up because it was deemed 'too gory'. In what was another violent and blinding blast, the entire population of Utah were denied the chance to even watch the program. Stocks plummeted like the Hindenburg and grown men were seen openly weeping and stumbling around like the walking dead.
Christian fundamentalists were giddy about the Mormon decision and renewed their Jihad against the heathen Pagans and Jews. Both the 7th Day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses went deep into hiding. The dogs were at the door. When asked about the program, Mormon president Thomas Monson snarled, "If they want to watch what the Church deems heretical, they can move the hell out of Utah! We don't need their kind." It was reported that a silent hiss accompanied this savage outburst.
And alas, the question becomes why? Oh God, why do we have to shut our mouths when they close our eyes? I've seen 'Hannibal'. The show is a crime-drama that weaves a host of occult imagery and themes into its plot and characters. In many ways it acts as a mystery that sparingly parts the veil just enough to reveal the esoteric and arcane. The main character-Will Graham, is an FBI consultant who regularly appears disheveled and is virtually always in a liminal state. A liminal or transitory state refers to the second step in a rite of passage. After an initiate is separated from society or experiences a separation in 'status', a liminal stage of being betwixt and between occurs when the novice undergoes some Ordeal or initiation. Afterwards, the initiate is reintegrated into the community with a new 'state of being'. It is a new ontological status. The person has changed and has become something else.
Will Graham embodies that liminal existence that is between our reality and an occult or unseen reality. He exhibits a distinct form of empathy that allows him to identify so completely with a murderer that he can reduce a crime scene into its parts by temporally reversing the chronology of events. Will gets into the head or fuses with the murderer so as to form a connection and thereby deduce the manner and motive of the crime. While performing these 'thought experiments', Will enters a state of being inbetween physical reality and a numinous or Other reality, In this manner he is perpetually in a liminal state.
Moreover, there is an undercurrent of psychology in the series due to the fact that Will's personal psychiatrist and colleague is serial killer Hannibal Lecter. Dr. Lecter acts as both friend and confidante to empath Will creating a kind of polarity or dichotomy of extremes in their relationship. Dr. Lecter also seems to be aware that Will's psyche is constantly pushing the boundaries of reality. This is nothing new. Many psychologists have patients such as Will who exhibit different modes of thought. For example, Carl Jung had a patient who was frequented by spirits. He stated that, "she was fully oriented to the external world but seemed to have one foot in her dream-world. She saw and heard her spirits, saw how they walked around the room among those present, standing now by on person and now by another". Just like Will, Jung's patient existed in an inbetween state.
Occultist Kenneth Grant has also done extensive work on inbetween states in Ceremonial Magick. In fact, he remarks that, "the magic of Light concerns neither White nor Black magic but an occult current that vibrates in the spaces 'between'; in the interstices, so to speak, of spiritual spacelessness that exists in a necessarily timeless void behind or somewhere outside the tree (Tree of Life)". Furthermore, Grant states that "according to a secret grimoire, 'the Beast' was called down not from known spaces but from 'cells between them', while bultu dreams beat off-beat rhythms". In both these instances the temporal and spatial aspect of being inbetween or liminal is essential to the ritual. Also, the aforementioned off-beat rhythms suggest an aspect of subversion in the rite. This subversion or discord is also apparent in 'Hannibal'.
Indeed, there is no limit to the shock and awe used in 'Hannibal' to upset the norm. Much of the imagery is a screeching assault on public morale. Deliberate use of inversions and the grotesque is meant for us to displace what we are accustomed to. Aspects of surrealism also attack our comfortability. The subversion upsets the social norm by placing Will, an unstable man in the role of stalker. Arguably a sociopath himself, Will becomes a hunter of serial killers. This juxtaposition forces us to question who are the heroes and who are the villains of the show. After all, Dr. Lecter really doesn't come off as a wild-eyed feverish monster. At no time does he jabber insanely or shriek of hellfire. Only the audience really knows the Leviathan just under the surface.
Elements of stalking the stalker can also be found amidst the initiations into spirit possession within the Chwezi culture of Tanzania. According to the Chwezi, spirits are previously initiated ancestors who fuse with members of society in a form of mediumship. The initiation ceremony is designed not to expel the invading entity but to become accustomed to a mediumistic disposition. The Chwezi chant 'Bumanga butashilaga. Bushilailelo, isamva lyvshila: "Mediumship does not die. What ends today is the spirit's anger". Subversion during the liminal state occurs on a number of levels. When novices are abducted or 'separated' from the group, it is a clear subversion of the social order. The initiation is also subversive to social norms because the rite depicts possession "as a reciprocal process of 'stalking' the spirits who themselves are busy stalking the novices".
And this was the ugly scene that caused my editor to lapse into a brooding and foul state of mind. Some pagan god with the sense of humor of wily coyote dropped an acme anvil on Jack for no other reason but to see him bitter and frantic. The outraged Mormons are still promising eternal bliss if only he repent for his crass remarks. Dozens of hate filled letters have now showed up at Liber Ra Publishing with a clear intent to intimidate. One hand-scrawled note from a farmer declared that: "There's still time to save your soul. Even if I till your body with my tractor, the Lord Jesus'll save you if you ask him". The Center for Disease Control neither confirmed nor denied the presence of a strange powder on the paper. An unmarked parcel from the "Committee for Mormon Sovereignty" contained what appeared to be a severed pinky finger accompanied by a photograph of wild badgers. And every time Jack leaves the office, he is stared at and heckled like a leper. This we can do without but business is what it is. These things happen.
-Mad Doctor Abdullah
Bibliography
Grant, Kenneth. Nightside of Eden. Skoob Publishing. London. 1995.
Jung, Carl. Psychology and the Occult. Bollingen Series. 1981. Princeton.
'Stalking the Stalker': a Chwezi initiation into spirit possession and experiential structure. Koen Stroeken. Journal of Royal Anthropological Institute. 12, 785-802.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Magus Magazine: Assembling the Supernatural: Quantum theory and th...
Magus Magazine: Assembling the Supernatural: Quantum theory and th...: Hello everybody! Here is a little ditty concerning the Paranormal and ideas of the Quantum. Give it a look.... ASSEMBLING TH...
Assembling the Supernatural: Quantum theory and the Paranormal
Hello everybody! Here is a little ditty concerning the Paranormal and ideas of the Quantum. Give it a look....
ASSEMBLING THE SUPERNATURAL
The study
of the supernatural begins with a sense of awe. Something spectral, outside the
norm or different. Often times, the supernatural defies the empirical and is
based solely on experiential happenings. And always it is attached to a sense
of wonder. However, anthropologists, folklorists, and students of religion
sometimes disagree as to whether the supernatural is in a system or if the system is made up of the supernatural. It is the classic macro/micro debate. For
example, a scholar of the supernatural needs an office, a place to investigate,
laboratory, tech equipment, an archive of narratives, cameras, witnesses, an
audience, and ‘evidence’ or variances of the phenomenon. This structure is
formed from local narratives that are collected, classified, changed, and
performed in a myriad of ways. the supernatural begins at the local level then moves globally as it shifts and traded
through dissemination.
What this
means is that a student of the supernatural has a choice of routes and can
focus on either the local or the global aspects of the supernatural. We can
either study the spirit of the
phenomenon as a whole or render an inquiry into a local paranormal investigative
team. Just as Capitalism has a ‘spirit’ but no plausible opposite since its
everywhere, a trading room on Wall Street has many competitors in Shanghai
This idea
of faraway entities interacting on the local arena also finds its place in
quantum physics. According to Capra, “In the framework of quantum theory,
distinct physical entities are therefore idealizations which are meaningful
only to the extent that the main part of the interaction has a long range”
(Capra, The Tao of Physics. 137). In
other words, each transaction involves effects extending over great distances.
This was the essence of the Einstein/Bohr debate of the 1920s. Einstein was
convinced that there are no nonlocal connections. He believed that there must
be some external reality consisting of independent spatially separated events.
Bohr opined that nonlocal connections do exist. In quantum theory, particles
transcend usual information transfer and two separated particles (even by space
and time) can influence one another. John Bell settled the matter once and for
all. He devised an experiment where two electrons are brought close to each
other. At the instant we perform a measurement on particle 1 and set its
rotational spin, the second particle automatically began to spin along its
opposite axis thus giving the pair of total spin of 0. But would this happening occur if the electrons were
separated by long distances? Einstein said ‘No’ because since no signal travels
faster than light, it is impossible that a measurement on 1 will ‘instantly’
determine spin on the other. There must be some lag time. Bohr posited that a
two-particle system is an indivisible whole. Even if their separated, the pair
of electrons will continue to act on one another. Bells’ theorem proved
consistent with Bohr’s theory and showed that electrons, and by extension the
universe, is interconnected.
The
paranormal also shows ideas of interconnection or unification. If we postulate the
probabilities of potentialities based upon measurement, we can surmise the
legitimacy of paranormal phenomenon. It’s not hard. Television is full of
ghosthunting investigators utilizing a potential ‘Haunted House’ as a
laboratory. Experiments are run in a myriad of ways to capture evidence of some
supernatural entity. Often times, the ghost or specter is used as an
ethnographic informant and structured interviewing is implemented to form a
dialogue with the unseen. If we postulate that consciousness of spirit has some
corresponding mechanism in our ordinary sphere of influence, the system can be
seen as a pair of interconnecting parts. For example, if we use a voice
recorder to measure the probability of spirit talking and we capture an
anomalous recording on the device, can we find a corresponding sound vibration
or band-width to use as a mechanism or catalyst for the happening?
Probabilities can be mustered by using quantum thinking in areas of the
paranormal. Sure, its difficult to verify. But is difficulty a justifiable reason
to not explore these potentialities?
Inherently,
the problem of the supernatural is one of Existence. The whole point of
studying anomalous entities is to come to grips with our wanting to believe in something outside normal circles of space and
time. We conjure narratives of myth and folklore. We apply reason and
rationality in an attempt to explain scientifically what the anomalous
re-presents to us. Probabilities and potentialities are the new symbols of the
paranormal entity. More than an estimation of an occurrence or true statement,
probability has become synonymous with the entity itself. Furthermore, the
entity sits betwixt and between Being and Nothingness. Like the appearance of
Schrodinger’s Cat, the supernatural creature cannot be said to ‘Be’ or ‘Not Be’
really there. As our perspective changes, so does the behavior of the entity.
As Capra remarked, “The introduction of probability waves, in a sense, resolves
the paradox of particles being waves by putting it in a totally new context;
but at the same time it leads to another pair of opposite concepts which is
even more fundamental that of Existence and Non-Existence. We can never say
that an atomic particle exists at a certain place, nor can we say that it does
not exist. Being a probability pattern, the particle has tendencies to exist in
various places and thus manifests a strange kind of physical reality between
Existence and Non-Existence” (Capra, Tao of Physics. 154). The particle recalls
the supernatural entity in that it enjoys a liminal existence. As it is
measured or as it is ethnographically studied, the particle sits without a
status and is inbetween shifts in agency. Is it a limbo or purgatory existence?
It is process of becoming and the state just before objective knowledge and subjective
experience is unified into a new assembly? It is all these things and more.
The quantum
is a sufficient metaphor for the supernatural. After all, many supernatural creatures
can only be said to be perceived indirectly. Such in the case of the voice
recorder or shadow on film. Particles exhibit similar behavior. Again Capra
remarks that there are “Other particles that belong to a category called
resonances. They live for a considerable shorter time, decaying after a few
‘particle seconds’, so they can never travel farther than a few times their own
size. This means they cannot be seen in the bubble chamber; their existence can
only be inferred indirectly” (Capra 228). Supernatural creatures also show the
tendency to be indirectly perceived. For example, ceremonial magicians perform
highly ritualized and formal invocations of the anomalous. Sometimes the rite
consists of a complex magical circle, liturgy, and intense visualization. As
the invocation progresses, sometimes a change of air pressure or strange sound
is all that announces the entrance of the desired Being. Like the particle, the
existence of the entity can sometimes only be inferred indirectly. A resonance
and a supernatural entity cannot be said to be objects or events. They are an
experience or happening…..
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Magus Magazine: DISCORD HAPPENS: THE SECRETWAR BETWEEN THE ROSE-CR...
Magus Magazine: DISCORD HAPPENS: THE SECRETWAR BETWEEN THE ROSE-CR...: DISCORD HAPPENS: THE SECRET WAR BETWEEN THE ROSE-CROSS AND ILLUMINATI “Facilis descensus Averno ; noctes atque dies patet atri ...
DISCORD HAPPENS: THE SECRET
WAR BETWEEN THE ROSE-CROSS AND ILLUMINATI
“Facilis descensus Averno ;
noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras,
hoc opus, hic labor est.”
noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras,
hoc opus, hic labor est.”
It’s been a rollicking few months. Most of Syria Serbia North America , Illuminati are being chased down with machetes. Some
people know. Most can’t make the connections. But it’s there. The unending
struggle between the Rosicrucian brotherhood and Illuminati has been dotting
the political and economic landscape since the 18th century. A quick
glance at any tabloid headline reveals how both groups have been displaying
like baboons, whooping it up while the whole world sits stupidly unaware that
the BIGGEST decisions in business and global politics have been made under the
pretense of a Spy vs. Spy comic strip. Both the head demon of the Illuminati
conspiracy and the twelve reptilian aliens of the Rose-Cross have been filled
with such a righteous hatred that for the last 200 years, an underground war
for control of the human-race has been right under our noses. Even the
conservative Christians stand aside in this one. After the lashing Swaggart
took for getting uppity and the shaming of Heaven’s Gate, December 21,
2012 is a possibility for
some real righteous hysteria.
It’s gonna be up to us to hunt these heathen like dogs and
take back our country. Jesse Ventura understands. It doesn’t take long for
Jesse “the body” to whip suspected Illuminati like mules. And he isn’t
Rosicrucian. I’m not even sure he’s Republican. Governor Ventura comes from the
old times-ex seal-spit-in-your-face-and-stomp-you-like-an-insect-school of
political righteousness. It was soldiers like him that rolled up on Osama like
a pyroclastic flow of stars and stripes. I was witness to a “Jesse’ism” outside
the San Jose County Courthouse when ‘The Body’ cornered a poor Rosicrucian like
a dumb animal. For those of you not privy to AMORC or the Ancient and Mystical
Order of the Rosae Crucis, they are a secret initiatory fraternity bent on the
perfection and evolution of human consciousness. They cast their lot with
groups such as Freemasonry and Ordo Templi Orientis and they are clearly the
wrong ilk for someone such as Jesse Ventura. The look of struck-dumb terror on
this young initiates face when the billowing form of the Governor rose up like
something from the abyss was frightening even to me. And I was standing feet
away and out of the line of sight. I had seen the look before. It’s the
panicked expression of a lion tamer at the moment his cracking of the whip
conjures a deep-seated and reverberating animal rage. I could smell the fear
and so could Jesse. The neophyte recognized at once that the television cameras
and microphones were NOT his friend. I could only assume he expected to be
beaten. He backed up the courthouse and with trembling voice muttered, “Hello
brother, are you ready for the new world?” “Why not?” Jesse said with clear
disdain. “I had nothing better to do today.” There followed an awkward silence
as the fledgling Rosicrucian rocked on the balls of his feet and began to blink
wildly. “Have you come to see the temple and research our fabulous archives?”
Jesse ignored this and drawled, “So…I heard you Rosicrushans have some interest
in taking over the American government.” He took a step forward. “Do you
understand the meaning of ‘Born Free or Die’?” He dragged out the last few
words and stood silent with a dead stare. I think his eyes began to glaze over.
This sent the crazed jabbering of the Rosicrucian to elevate just under
hysteria as he babbled about, “Love, liberty, and fighting the Illuminati…”
Even Jesse paused in his tirade of Nationalism and anti-conspiratorial fervor
to stare vacantly and ask, “What did you just say? Illumi-what?” The man broke
into a literal run and screeched, “Nothing further!” as he sped away.
And this is how the secret got out. This is how the Discord
was revealed or unveiled to the world. What seemed lamely like an outburst by a
peculiar little man driven mad with fear was in actuality, a tightly-sealed
secret held in the underground by a cabal of businessmen, politicians, artists,
and scientists. The secret history of the world really was the history of
warfare between secret societies. This is nothing new. It was all business. In
any given city, Rosicrucian and Illuminati propaganda pamphlets littered
street-corners along with political manifestos and store front advertisements.
People knew about these ultra-secret groups but their intricacies were left a
mystery. And just as nowadays, competition was grounds for a savage end to
normal sensibilities. People who snitched were liable to be beaten, labeled an
opium fiend, and left to be picked up with the rest of the rubbish. Even
friends would smirk and say they always knew you were weird. From the very
outset, the Illuminati considered the Rose-Cross to be a bunch of pigs. They
constantly whined that the new reason-inspired age didn’t need any archaic
superstitions from the past. They were doing just fine without magic,
fairies, or even God. One of their early pamphlet headlines declared:
Rosicrucian
magicians exhume plague-ridden
corpses for vile Necromancy Ritual!
This sparked such a vile and
public outcry that a twelve man investigative committee made up of a few
priests, a city official, doctor, scientist, and disguised reptilian alien
found that not only was the bloated body a plague hazard but probably a vampire
and definitely smelled bad. When the Rosicrucians went to pieces and
claimed that the entire inquiry was anti-reason and based on superstitious
conjecture, Weishaupt simply stated that he knew necromancy was real
because his Illuminati was really just an Illuminized Freemasonry. He claimed
that there existed an Illuminati Lodge in London
It is said that the Illuminati
was created in 1010 AD in the Middle East when Hassan : Sabbah founded the
Hashishim but really came to fruition in Bavaria May 1, 1776 . It is said that Adam Weishaupt, a student of the occult reached
illumination yet created his entire order on the ‘Enlightenment’ tenets of
reason and rationalism . This one went beyond smoke and mirrors ectoplasm
regurgitation or spirit knocking. This one was elevated to shaman. A real
medicine man or Merlin. In him were the teachings of ancient Assyria and Babylon , Egypt Persia Germany
It’s been publicly documented
that Weishaupt dodged more throwing knives, poisons, and prisons than any
member of MI-6 or covert CIA spy. In his Christian Rosenkreutz persona, this
super-agent was both friend and adversary to himself. He delighted in
writing an anti-Rosicrucian rant just to rebut it with equal gusto on behalf of
all esoteric groups. He took his job very seriously and would forget
himself at times. There has been instances when Weishaupt wrote a scathing
criticism of Illuminati just to have Rosenkreutz step in with pro-Illuminati
jabbering. This created in Weishaupt a new hubris that he embraced during his
travels. Eventually members of the Illuminati began to notice word choosing and
sentence phrasing that seemed eerily like what they’d read in despised
Rosicrucian manifestos. It was decided that Weishaupt was a menace and should
be flogged and fed to the dogs. He haggled his case but in the end was labeled
positively ghoulish and the once all-powerful caliph was buried to his neck
in sesame oil.
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