Due to the convergence of newage and Buddhism I’ve seen the so-called “non-violent” communication for a while. I’m fed up with it, and I’m not the only one. Here is a look at how non-violent communication is just as violent, if not more so, than normal communication.
Why is rape such a central element in many religious myths? This came up at dinner this week actually, it’s more than a bit unsettling to modern sensibilities how the mothers of Zoroaster, Jesus, and Buddha never gave consent to become pregnant, it was just placed upon them.
Speaking of that Jesus fellow, the first written description of him calls him a magician. Not surprising to most occultists, but still neat. Also not surprising if you’ve read Jesus the Magician by Morton Smith.
A later text about Jesus calls him a shapeshifter. While I would never have labelled him such, it’s an interesting reason and covers a small hole in the Gospels. (And I don’t mean the ones through Jesus’ palms…too soon?)
Want some great life advice from five awesome female mystics? You got it.
Like a lot of sorcerers I collect tools, but I like to know the whys and hows, and histories of the items. Here is the start of a great in depth look at magickal blades, which helps fill in some of that.
I’ve wanted to talk about ancestor work for a while, because I keep getting more questions about it, and why I do it, and how do I make peace with the idea. Brother Moloch addresses the common question of why to work with ancestors, especially if your family was less than stellar.
Believe it or not the Onion wrote an article about me. Or at least it sounds like how many of my friends talk about me.
Speaking of meditation, TUM talked briefly about a short meditation retreat he did and how it’s not all fun, games, and stress relief. Let me say to those curious about his experience, that’s just the tip of the rabbit hole.
Continuing on meditation, I know I always complain about those scientific studies explaining the benefits of meditation…we get it, it’s good for you…the American Psychological Association says it helps fight depression. It’s also good seeing it from a serious source, not just random blogs or papers pulling info together.
On the flipside here is a list of 10 things science will make you happy. Bacon must have been 11th on the list. It might seem initially odd that I’d share this, but remember I think a sorcerer is judged not achievements, titles, tools, or training, but by the life they live and if they’re content and productive.
I also think a sorcerer should be firmly grounded in reality, which is why I advocate for more scientific rigour in practices, and scientific literacy. So, to kill a favourite pet I see among pagans, an analysis of 240 different studies shows that there is no notable health benefit from organic food.
Keeping with reality, here are eight common mistakes in how we think, and how we can avoid them. Some of these are even more an issue to those who follow magickal forms of thought.
Another problem with how we think is how often we ignore omens, and how the majority of deaths are caused by such ignorance. Totally true fact.
Shapeshifting Saviours, Meditation, and Logic
Thank you for the shoutout! ‘m really going to have to start writing again, but when I’m already banging out 10k-25k words a week the last thing I want to do is sit down and craft a blog post. Maybe I should podcast or vlog or something that doesn’t involve written word.
Thanks for actually having a serious practice, don’t see that much.
I’ve thought of doing pod/vlog stuff, but there is no good service for hosting it other than youtube.
I envy you this ability to find a bunch of relatively random links and string them together into coherence. I don’t do this well at all, and it’s an important blog-writer’s skill.
You started with the issue of non-violent communication actually being pretty violent, and then touched on rape in mythology, turn toward Jesus as the magician/sorcerer by way of his mother’s semi-involuntary pregnancy, involve women mystics on your way to a link to a story about magical weapons and tools, before delving into ancestor work and the semi-related fields of meditation and happiness… and then you end with links to stories about common logical mistakes. It doesn’t even matter that half the stories are related to the Onion in some way. You’re still taking the reader on a journey through a series of thought processes. Wow.
Alas, I am no where near the skill of Gordon, who could take the same links and some how use them to convince you that the American government is trying to take over the world through cheap plastics and television or something :-p But thank you, as always, more than anything I want to make people think.
Well. Maybe it’s enough to say that I see you doing this work of finding links, threading them, and finding a frame or narrative that ties them together. Maybe you don’t do that as well as Gordon does, but you’re developing your writing skills in that direction. It’s impressive, and it’s a skill I’d think I’d like to develop.
[…] posted a piece on her blog just recently that left me awed. It was, in essence, a series of short sentences, each of which contained a link to a story or […]