Religion & Philosophy

Grimoire

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 19:59:17 +0000

What is a grimoire?

Odinism

Sat, 04 Sep 2010 03:25:25 +0000

I've been trying find practicioners in Odinism and have come up short. I found a large group a while back but their main following are people either in prison or in neo naziism. I'm all for giving the guys in jail a sword and a set of runes and see what happens but I'd like to find a more, I dunno, rustic group maybe?

I know I like the basic principles of Odinism and I've done my fair share of sacraficing a bottle of jameson to the god of war in the thunderdome but I'd like to know what it all means. Where it came from. Know some actual facts about the religion. Know all the names of the gods and their offspring. Are their any proper rituals maybe? I've found bits and pieces here and there about it but there is no one text like the Koran or the Bible. According to my father my lineage goes way back and we had quite a few druids, witches and wizards in our family and I feel like there's something missing in my family relationship. My dad refuses to talk about it (Jehovahs witness) because he's convinced I would wind up putting a stain on my soul as is my grandfather (Devout Christian). I want to learn more about this religion and my family so if anyone knows anything at all about Odinism lemme know. I'd like to know why I'm sacraficing a bottle of good whiskey. ^-^

This Topic Is About Nothing

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:43:43 +0000

Can nothing exist?

Is zero nothing or something?

Unintelligible Design

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:47:08 +0000

There is, in reality, no evidence that the designer is omnipotent, omniscient, or omnibenevolent. Anyone who believes the Judeo-Christian-Islamic god exists and loves humans is clearly not paying attention. It is abundantly clear that the designer, if it exists, doesn't give a damn about individuals.

Deep Thoughts

Brighten the corner where you are ...

No religions in the world.

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:51:13 +0000

What would the world look like if there were no religions, faiths, spiritualities, etc.?

Five rivers of the Underworld

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 11:15:32 +0000

You probably already know about Styx, but did you know about Phlegethon, Lethe, Cocytus, and Acheron?

Acheron - the river of pain or sorrow. It forms the borders of hell, and Charon ferries souls across this river.

Cocytus - the river of wailing or lamentation. It flows into the river Acheron.

Lethe - the river of forgetfulness flows around the cave of Hypnos. All who drink of it forget. It borders Elysium, the final resting place. The reincarnated drink from this river to forget their past lives, before they can be reincarnated.

Phlegethon - a flaming river that coils around the earth and descends into the underworld. It runs parallel to Styx. It was said the goddess Styx fell in love with Phlegethon, was consumed by his flames and was sent to Hades. In Dante's inferno, this is in the seventh hell. A river that boils souls.

Styx - the river of hate. It forms the boundary between Earth and the Underworld. Many believe this was the river that Charon ferries across.

resurrection of the dead

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:28:59 +0000

now everyone obviously knows the most famous resurrection - that of jesus christ. almost as many would know of lazarus, the said same jesus' best friend. but what other stories are there about someone being resurrected after days if being dead?

Religious Quotes

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 04:50:55 +0000

What are some pretty parts of religious texts, or parts you really like?

I like these:

Quote

You were never born; you will never die. You have never changed; you can never change. Unborn, eternal, immutable, immemorial, you do not die when the body dies. Realizing that which is indestructible, eternal, unborn, and unchanging, how can you slay or cause another to be slain?
Bhagavad-Gita

Quote

Happiness or sorrow, whatever befalls you, walk on, untouched.
Dhammapada

Quote

The best of man is like water,
Which benefits all things, and does not contend with them,
Which flows in places that others disdain,
Where it is in harmony with the Way.
Tao Te Ching

Quote

Hate has never yet overcome hate. Only love can overcome hate.
Dhammapada

Quote

See yourself in others, then whom can you hurt?
What harm can you do?
Dhammapada

Quote

Live in joy, in love, even among those who hate.
Live in joy, in peace, even among the troubled.
Dhammapada

Quote

Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you.

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
The Bible

Quote

Eli, eli, lama sabachthani?
The Bible

Quote

i can haz lite?
LOLCat Bible

If a zombie epidemic happened...

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 05:23:42 +0000

If a zombie epidemic happened what city you want or logically should get the epidemic first?

This isn't a poll. Just pick a city anywhere in the world and list a reason or more why it should be 1st.

Also if you would. The link below will lead you to a poll that asks which city in the USA should get the zombie epidemic. Please vote.

http://forum.darkness.com/topic/114010-hotd-high-school-of-the-dead/

You are everyone.

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 21:59:47 +0000

I just think this illustrates certain Eastern traditions very well. You're everyone who ever lived. Every time you hurt someone, you are hurting yourself. Every time you help someone, you are giving help to yourself. You are everyone, and everyone is you.

Quote

"How many times have I been reincarnated, then?"
'Oh lots. Lots and lots. An in to lots of different lives.” I said. “This time around, you’ll be a Chinese peasant girl in 540 AD.”
"Wait, what?” You stammered. “You’re sending me back in time?”
“Well, I guess technically. Time, as you know it, only exists in your universe. Things are different where I come from.”
“Where you come from?” You said.
“Oh sure,” I explained “I come from somewhere. Somewhere else. And there are others like me. I know you’ll want to know what it’s like there, but honestly you wouldn’t understand.”
“Oh,” you said, a little let down. “But wait. If I get reincarnated to other places in time, I could have interacted with myself at some point.”
“Sure. Happens all the time. And with both lives only aware of their own lifespan you don’t even know it’s happening.”
“So what’s the point of it all?”
“Seriously?” I asked. “Seriously? You’re asking me for the meaning of life? Isn’t that a little stereotypical?”
“Well it’s a reasonable question,” you persisted.
I looked you in the eye. “The meaning of life, the reason I made this whole universe, is for you to mature.”
“You mean mankind? You want us to mature?”
“No, just you. I made this whole universe for you. With each new life you grow and mature and become a larger and greater intellect.”
“Just me? What about everyone else?”
“There is no one else,” I said. “In this universe, there’s just you and me.”
You stared blankly at me. “But all the people on earth…”
“All you. Different incarnations of you.”
“Wait. I’m everyone!?”
“Now you’re getting it,” I said, with a congratulatory slap on the back.
“I’m every human being who ever lived?”
“Or who will ever live, yes.”
“I’m Abraham Lincoln?”
“And you’re John Wilkes Booth, too,” I added.
“I’m Hitler?” You said, appalled.
“And you’re the millions he killed.”
“I’m Jesus?”
“And you’re the ones who crucified him.”
You fell silent.
“Every time you victimized someone,” I said, “you were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you’ve done, you’ve done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you.”
You thought for a long time.
“Why?” You asked me. “Why do all this?”
“Because someday, you will become like me. Because that’s what you are. You’re one of my kind. You are me.”
The Egg

Mormonism

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 21:41:58 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFZ1jVO3-OE&feature=rec-exp_rn-2r-8-HM

Modern druids

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 20:35:52 +0000

Is anyone here a new age Druid?

Could you please explain the difference between Pagan, Wiccan & Druid?

I only ask because some friends of mine are druids, but trying to get them to talk about it is near impossible. I'm also interested in the different faiths, from my own view it's more about the personal journey. Some need help (gods) to guide them, and I'm trying to figure out why.

Satan is a hero.

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:22:27 +0000

I was reading a book this morning and this is what it says about Satan:

Quote

Satan as a suffering hero
In the Garden of Eden story, humanity exists on the Earth in an innocent, quasi-animal state. Like Prometheus, Satan is aware of a god-like quality that would change humanity's condition. Satan gives this god-like gift to humanity through the active cooperation of Adam and Eve. In this case, the gift is not fire but the knowledge of good and evil- the ability to distinguish, form value judgments, and make choices.
Like Prometheus, Satan was punished for his actions... from an archetypal perspective, then, we can say that Prometheus and Satan represent the pattern of those who benefit humanity at great cost to themselves.
Paganism: An Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions

Satan is wonderful. He gave humanity free will, which humanity loves and doesn't seem to want to give up, even if that means they have to suffer a great deal.

Free will=Satanic.

Mpemba effect

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 22:13:40 +0000

Quote

Hot water can in fact freeze faster than cold water for a wide range of experimental conditions. This phenomenon is extremely counter- intuitive, and surprising even to most scientists, but it is in fact real. It has been seen and studied in numerous experiments. While this phenomenon has been known for centuries, and was described by Aristotle, Bacon, and Descartes [1-3], it was not introduced to the modern scientific community until 1969, by a Tanzanian high school student named Mpemba. Both the early scientific history of this effect, and the story of Mpemba's rediscovery of it, are interesting in their own right -- Mpemba's story in particular provides a dramatic parable against making snap judgements about what is impossible. This is described separately below.

(Emphasis mine)

http://www.xs4all.nl/~johanw/PhysFAQ/General/hot_water.html

Quote

Erasto B. Mpemba (c. 1950-) is an African scientist noted for the Mpemba effect, the hot-begets-cold-quicker phenomenon, which he discovered at the age of about thirteen, in 1963, while making ice cream.

(Emphasis mine)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasto_Mpemba

Quote

The effect is named for the Tanzanian high-school student Erasto Mpemba. Mpemba first encountered the phenomenon in 1963 in Form 3 of Magamba Secondary School, Tanzania when freezing hot ice cream mix in cookery classes and noticing that they froze before cold mixes. After passing his O-level examinations, he became a student at Mkwawa Secondary (formerly High) School, Iringa, Tanzania. The headmaster invited Dr. Denis G. Osborne from the University College in Dar Es Salaam to give a lecture on physics. After the lecture, Erasto Mpemba asked him the question "If you take two similar containers with equal volumes of water, one at 35 °C (95 °F) and the other at 100 °C (212 °F), and put them into a freezer, the one that started at 100 °C (212 °F) freezes first. Why?" only to be ridiculed by his classmates and teacher. After initial consternation, Dr. Osborne experimented on the issue back at his workplace and confirmed Erasto's finding. They published the results together in 1969.[5][6]

(Emphasis mine)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mpemba_effect#Origin

Some things need no comments.

You are an idiot

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 19:35:46 +0000

This is where you present me with a philosophical/religious idiom and I tear it apart and call you an idiot for believing in it.

You don't have to believe in it but it's more fun if you do. I will also be Devil's advocate. I may not even agree with my own posts but the point of this thread is to tear ideas apart and see how they work.

Note: Please do not get insulted by the insult because I've already said I'd do it, and this thread is a bit of fun. Something to keep me amused.

Free Will 2.0

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 07:48:54 +0000

I have a better question.

Should free will exist?

What about limited free will? Free will with enough limitations to keep the world at peace, to meet everyone's needs. Wouldn't that be preferable than a world where people can choose to hurt others?

*edit*
For the purposes of this topic, let's assume that there is some sort of divine/creator/deity entity. Should It allow free will to reign? Let's also assume that It has the power to make it so that free will has limitations, for example that people cannot do harm to other people. Wouldn't it be better that this divine/creator/deity thing limits free will so that there is no unnecessary suffering?

Soul Mates

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 07:05:51 +0000

Is love spiritual? Is there such a thing as a soul mate?

Discuss.

The dead.

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 05:40:01 +0000

I decided this belonged in religion rather than paranormal because i'm looking for wicca or vaudun knowledge, rather than myths. Though mythical info and facts are welcome.

What spells knowledge or fact or rumors do you have on bring the dead back?
I know it's something that's kind of "well thats impossible" but i'd really like to know more, anything i can try. anything.
I've been having a hard time, especially sense i stopped drinking. So i'm interested in any information regarding the topic.
I need my dad back to get through this, and even if it is damn near impossible i'd like even a .001% chance of trying, even that would make a difference. So what info is there? what magical possibilities, what lore? anything, thanks.

What is the soul?

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 05:31:51 +0000

What is the soul? Does it exist? How is that possible?

I like the idea of the Atman in Hindu philosophy. The Atman isn't really your soul. It's just a part of the Brahman. They're really just two words for the same thing, basically. The Brahman is everything, the whole universe. And it is a continuous cycle of ending and beginning, creation and destruction. There is no permanent unchanging essence.

Handfasting

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 05:29:14 +0000

I found this old topic but figured I'd start a new one. What is handfasting? Here is a post about it from that topic:

lovesucker6668, on 02 January 2006 - 10:10 AM, said:

It is like a Celtic wedding. Sort of. You're married for a year and a day and after that you have a chance to renew it.
So, it's like a short-term marriage, but with a completely different meaning and it's very personal and bonds two people together in their paths and lives.

Sarai

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 08:40:13 +0000

Sarah was the wife of Abraham, as well as being his half-sister, the daughter of his father Terah (Genesis 20:12). The Talmud identifies Sarai with Iscah, daughter of Abraham's deceased brother Haran (Genesis 11:29), so that Sarah turns out to be the niece of Abraham and the sister of Lot and Milcah. She was so beautiful that all other persons seemed apes in comparison. Even the hardships of her journey with Abraham did not affect her beauty. She was superior to Abraham in the gift of prophecy. She was the "crown" of her husband; and he obeyed her words because he recognized her superiority. She was the only woman whom God deemed worthy to be addressed by Him directly, all the other prophetesses receiving their revelations through angels (ib. xlv. 14). She was originally called "Sarai". Later she was called "Sarah" i.e., princess" because she was the princess of her house and of her tribe.

I wonder then, with such early reverence for Sarai, when women became so subservient and less than men.

Coincidentally, this story is retold with other similar names. Was this a retelling or did these characters repeat the same type of con job? These are referred to as wife-sister narratives.

1. Genesis 12: Abram and Sarai, lie to a Pharaoh. Sarai pretends to be Abram's sister, not wife. God punishes the Pharaoh. Abram and Sarai gain land, riches, and slaves (Hagar, mother of Ishmael) in the process.
2. Genesis 20: Abraham and Sarah, lie to a King (Abimelech). Sarah pretends to be Abraham's sister, not wife. God punishes Abimelech. Abraham and Sarah gain land, riches, and slaves in the process.
3. Genesis 26: Isaac and Rebekah lie to Abimelech. Rebekah pretends to be Isaac's sister, not wife. Isaac and Rebekah gain land, riches, and slaves in the process.

Quantum theory and socks

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:15:01 +0000

Realism amounts to saying that the properties of an object exist prior to, and independent of, measurement. In the classical world, that second sock in my drawer is red regardless of whether or not I "measure" its state by looking at it. Locality is the assumption that these properties are independent of any remote influence.

In the quantum world, these are dangerous assumptions. "It turns out that either one or both of Bell's principles must be wrong," says Brukner. If quantum effects were visible in our everyday world, I might well find that my pulling on a red sock leads to the colour of the sock left in my drawer automatically changing to red.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727741.300-is-quantum-theory-weird-enough-for-the-real-world.html?full=true

Can you imagine that? It reminded me of an old question. Does the light turn off in the refrigerator when you close the door? This question is very simple however and easier to discover the answer to, but what if the world around us we are not physically observing, changes state again until we start to look at it again.

The article covers much much more than this anyway, and is an interesting read.

Oh, something else comes to mind. Our whole scientific method is based on observation, and being able to reproduce experiments to get the same results in order to prove anything. Quantum theory practically tosses this out since the very act of observing it only gives us the current state or properties while we are observing it and not the true nature of itself. It could be magical fairy dust or particles of creation that only assemble the moment we take that look... and then once we are no longer looking it's back to something we could possibly never imagine. So much for trying to prove it!

Free Will.

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 00:00:37 +0000

Does free will exist?

What is the meaning of this?

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 22:32:16 +0000

What is the meaning of life?

Why are we here?

How did all of this begin? At some point something had to come from nothing, right? Or was there always something...? How is that possible?

Answer this Question.

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 05:59:05 +0000

How will we ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering?

Failed Apocalypse dates check list

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 03:33:43 +0000

When will the world end? SO many have spent so much time trying to calculate this number.

the guy who came to conclussion the world was only 6000 years old also came up with another number, the year the world would end, his date? somewhere between 1860-1880 (need to double check this). So he failed, people still follow his birth date number for some stupid reason even after his revelations date failed.

next up

2000. Lots of people believed this, not sure why, i even remember one preacher (in a church my mother dragged me to) saying some bullshit like *disasters in the bible happen every 2000 years* I called instant bull shit on that one. Although this year got us alot of devil movies about it.

2002. Unitarions or some group believed aliens would arrive and times would change. failed

2012. Mayan Calender ends, big wheel, last octane, time to be judged by the highest order of gods.

2060. Issac Newton's calculated date based on studying different apocalytic texts.

So two more to look forward too so far.

Sophie's World

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 12:06:55 +0000

Sophie's World is a book by Jostein Gaarder. It's a magic book. It's about philosophy.

Who are you?

How do you know this life isn't just a dream?

Did you know that Sophie (or Sophia) means wisdom? Sophia, meaning wisdom.

It might not change your world, but it's just as informative as a philosophy textbook, except way more interesting.

Infamous witches

Sun, 01 Aug 2010 02:15:38 +0000

I wasn't real sure where to put this so I put it here, feel free to move it if you think it should be somewhere else.
I am going to list some of the more well known witches by country.

USA
Bridget Bishop: She was the first victim of the Salem Witch Hunts in Massachusetts in 1692-1693. Bridget was the first to be accused, examined, tried and executed.
She was an easy target when the insanity began. She was not well liked by her neighbors because she owned a tavern and exhibited "loose" behavior. She dressed in a racy fashion and some of her younger tavern patrons were known to stay past closing time drinking and gambling.
According to testimony against her, she had bewitched a baby and a girl to death, paid a man in disappearing money, caused many mishaps with carts and horses and paid nightly visits to a man as a glowing apparition that hopped around his room in a cloak. She had also bewitched many people into serious illnesses and caused people to argue violently and loudly with bewitched animals.
John Lowder, 24, a laborer, testified that she tormented him numerous times and after they had argued over her chickens damaging the gardens of the employer of Lowder, he said he woke up one night to find her sitting on his chest. She tried to choke him.
Lowder also claimed that he had other dark bedroom visitors: a black pig, and a flying demon with the body of a monkey, the feet of a rooster and the face of an old man. The demon told him that he was sent by the Devil and promised him money if John would pledge himself. Lowder chased the creature out of his bedroom. It disappeared but he saw Bishop in the distance. When he went back to his room, the demon came back as well. Lowder invoked the name of God and it flew away, causing apples to fall from trees. It kicked gravel into the stomach of Lowder making him unable to eat for three days.
Cotton Mather said when Bishop was brought to trial, he had no doubt of her guilt. With a look, she brought in an invisible demon who damaged part of the courthouse.
Bishop was executed by hanging on June 10, 1692.

Zaboo and the tortoise

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 03:24:30 +0000

There once lived a man named Zaboo, he was traveling from the river to his village some distance away. Between the river and the village was a great field filled with tall grass, hidden in the grass were many dangers, venomouse snakes and various bugs ready to poison a man lieing upon the ground.

As he carefully tredged through the grass he spotted in the distance over the grass a tortoise shell and it was pointed towards his village. He knew from the village elders that one could ride in safety on the back of a tortoise as none of the dangers in the grass would mess with them.

He ran as fast as he could and leaped on the back....*crash!*

He fell to the ground in a pile of wooden rubble, what he thought was a tortoise shell was just some old canoe being held up by sticks and overgrown with grass and weeds.

When he got back to the village the elders laughed at him, "a man should never mistake an old wood back for the safety of a tortoise young one."

Black Mass

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 03:27:43 +0000

We have all heard of the Black Mass so I thought it would make an interesting post. Please note: real witches don't do these things and most likely never did.

The Black Mass is an obscene parody of the Catholic Holy Mass. Black Masses were mistakenly associated with witches. The Black Mass exists more in fiction and the movies than it does in reality, although some Satanic groups do perform their versions of it.

There is no one single Black Mass ritual. The general purpose is to mock the Catholic Holy Mass by performing parts or the whole thing backwards, inverting the cross, stepping or spitting on the cross and stabbing the host. Urine is sometimes used instead of holy water and is sprinkled on the attendees; urine or water is substituted for wine; rotten turnip slices, pieces of black leather or black triangles are used for the host. Black candles are used instead of white ones. The service may be performed by a defrocked priest who wears vestments that are black or red and embroidered with an inverted cross, the head of a goat (Baphomet) or magical symbols.

The magical meaning lies in the belief that the Holy Mass involves a miracle; the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. If the priest can effect a miracle in a Holy Mass, then he can effect magic in a mass used for other purposes. Priests who attempted to subvert the Holy Mass for evil doings such as cursing a person to death, were condemned by the Catholic church as early as the 7th century.

One famous form of the Black Mass was the Mass of St. Secaire, said to have originated in the Middle Ages in Gascony. The purpose for the Mass was to curse someone to die a slow, lingering death. Montague Summers provided a description of it in The History of Witchcraft and Demonology:
The mass is said upon a broken and descecrated altar in some ruined or deserted church where owls hoot and mope and bats flit through the crumbling windows, where toads spit their venom upon the sacred stone. The priest must make his way thither late, attended only by an acolyte of impure and evil life. At the first stroke of eleven he begins; the liturgy of hell is mumbled backward, the canon said with a mow and a sneer; he ends just as midnight tolls."
The Mass of St. Secaire required a triangular, black host and brackish water drawn from a well in which the unbaptized corpse of a baby had been tossed.

The beginnings of the Black Mass dates back to the 14th century, when the church was persecuting heretics. Most of the Black Mass cases were centered in France. In 1307, the Knights Templar were accused of conducting blasphemous rites in which they renounced Christ and worshiped idols made of stuffed human heads. They were also accused of spitting and trampling on the cross, and of worshiping the Devil in the form of a black cat.

In the 15th century, Gilles de Rais, a French baron, was arrested and accused of conducting the Black Mass in the cellar of his castle in an effort to gain riches and power. He was accused of kidnapping, torturing, and murdering more than 140 children as sacrifices and was executed in 1440.

The 16th and 17th centuries saw numerous priests arrested and executed for holding the Black Mass. In 1500, the cathedral chapter of Cambrai held Black Masses as a protest against their bishop. A priest in Orleans, Gentien le Clerc, tried in 1614-1615, confessed to performing a "Devils' Mass" which was followed by drinking and a wild sexual orgy. In 1647, the nuns of Louviers claimed to have been bewitched and possessed and were forced by the chaplains to participate in nude masses, defiling the cross and trampling the host.

During the same time period, the Black Mass was associated with witchcraft. Witches were tortured and tried by witch hunters and inquisitors, they confessed to participating in obscene rites at sabbats in which they defiled the cross and the Devil had served as priest. It is unlikely this took place and the "witches" confessed in order to stop the torture.

The height of the Black Mass was reached in the late 17th century, during the reign of Louis XIV, who was criticized for his tolerance of witches and sorcerers. The nobility found it fashionable to hire priests to perform a Black Mass in dark cellars. The chief organizer of these rites was Catherine Deshayes, known as "La Voisin". She was said to be a witch who told fortunes and sold love philtres. La Voisin had a cadre of priests who performed Black Masses, included among them was the ugly and evil Abbe Guiborg, who wore gold trimmed and lace lined vestments and scarlet shoes.

The mistress of Louis XIV, the Marquise de Montespan, sought out the services of La Voisin because she feared the king was losing interest in her. Using Montespan as a naked altar, Guiborg said three Black Masses over her, invoking Satan and his demons of lust and deceit, Beelzebub, Asmodeus and Astaroth, to grant whatever Montespan wanted. It was reported that while the incense burned, the throats of children were slit and their blood poured into chalices and mixed with flour to make the host. Whenever the mass called for kissing the altar, Guiborg kissed Montespan. He consecrated the host over her genitals and inserted pieces into her vagina, an orgy followed the ritual. The bodies of the children were later found burned in a furnace at the house of La Voisin.

When the scandal of the Black Masses came out, Louis arrested 246 men and women, a great many of the among the highest ranking nobles in France and brought them to trial. Confessions were made under torture. Most of the nobility received jail sentences and exile in the country. 36 commoners were executed, including La Voisin, who was burned alive in 1680.

The Black Mass was in fashion into the 19th century, when it began to lose power. The Hellfire Club, a fraternal group in London in the late 19th century, was said to perform a Black Mass regularly in worship of the Devil, though it is far more likely that drinking and sexual orgies are what really happened. In 1947, a Black Mass was performed at the graveside of Aleister Crowley. When the Church of Satan was founded in 1966, it did not do the Black Mass. Anton Szandor LeVey was of the opinion that the Black Mass was outmoded. Nevertheless, some Satanic groups still do a Black Mass.

The Quarters

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 02:54:14 +0000

Each cardinal point of a magic circle is associated with a guardian spirit, an element, ritual color, tools and attributes; correspondences vary with traditions. These are the ones I use and the attributes to them:

North:
Color: Green
Element: salt, Earth
Tool: Bowl of salt placed at the North Quarter
To the ancient Pagans, the north was the source of great power. The heavens rotated around the North Star, and the ancients aligned their temples and pyramids to this star. North, the is the cardinal point that is never touched by the Sun and so was associated with darkness, mystery, the unknown and the powers of the Gods.

It could be that the Pagan reverence for the north caused the north to be associated with the Devil in Christianity. Cemeteries were seldom placed on the north side of a church and was reserved for unbaptized babies, criminals, reprobates and suicides. Many old churches in Europe and the British Isles have north doors called "the Devils' door", which were opened after baptism to allow the exorcised demon to escape. Most of the these doors were bricked up long ago and the reason is unclear. Maybe witches and pagans who were forced or dared not attend church entered through the Devils' door. The clergy had them bricked up in an effort to stamp out any left over paganism.

The north is associated with the element of Earth, the new phase of the Moon, the pentacle, secrecy and darkness, the colors gold or black or green (for Earth) and death and rebirth. Some traditions of the Craft align their altar with the north (I do). In Masonry, the north represents the condition of the spiritually unenlightened.

East
Color: Yellow, White
Element: Air
Tool: Athame or sword. Incense placed at Eastern Quarter
East is the quarter of enlightenment, illumination, mysticism, and the eternal. It corresponds to the element of Air and colors are yellow, red or white. Traditionally, the altar is aligned with the East. When a circle is cast, the High Priestess or High Priest will sometimes leave an opening in the northeast portion for the rest to enter the circle. The northeastern direction is halfway between the darkness of the north and the light of the east. In Masonry, the east represents the highest and most spiritual consciousness of mankind.

South
Color: Red, Blue or White
Element: Fire, Sun
Tool: Wand. Lit red candle at the Southern Quarter
This is the quarter of will, the direction and channeling of the energy forces of Nature and the psychic. Water running south has long been attributed with magical powers and was used in medieval times by wise women and folk witches in making medicine and anti-witchcraft spells. In Masonry, the south is the halfway point between the spiritual intuition of the east and the rationality of the west. It represents the pinnacle of intellectuality, as the sun reaches its zenith in the southern sky.

West
Color: Blue, Red or Gray
Element: Water
Tool: Chalice. Bowl of water at the Western Quarter.
The west is the quarter of creativity, emotions, fertility, and courage to face ones' deepest feelings. It is connected with the chalice, the symbol of female creative power and fecundity and the after life. In Masonry, it stands for reason, common sense, and material mindedness.

Lilith as a goddess

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 03:29:35 +0000

Lilith....how did a low class baby eating demon end up being grouped with the goddesses?

Lamashtu was a goddess, Lilith was not. Lilith isn't even an individual in the polytheist sects, its a race of desert dwelling monsters. The name would be used later by Jewish belief for the "first wife of Adam" still basically human/demon who refused to lay with him on top each time so left Eden, only to instead lay with demons and give birth to the monsters of the world.

This story though came through a "micra" I know I said that wrong, its something the Rabbi would do to discuss the wholes in the bible, alot of stories were born from this, but these arn't really divine revelations, the Lilith story was born thanks to their being two accounts of Man and Woman in Genesis being created.

Lilith would be used by renassaince artists to depict sexuality, and would then be translated to mean female power, which is its use today.

However Lilith is not now, or was she ever in any form an equal to the likes of Hecate, Tiamat, Kali, or any other powerful female diety (I am also against the idea that ALL female dieties are one being, some might be the same, but hardly ALL, its no different than when Christians tried to declare all pagan god kings from Zeus to Odin as forms of the devil. An attempt to combine them to fit into your own belief system).

The oldest account of Lilith, the owl feet and wings that so many people depict as a goddess, shows a monster that sat in a tree along with the Anzu bird and the serpent which the goddess Innanna (I believe it was this one or her sister) wanted to carve into a throne, but the presence of these three monsters made if difficult and she required help *the danger came mostly from the Anzu bird*.

Was the Oil Spill(s!) Predicted by Prophecies?

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:28:35 +0000

Christian fundamentalists are concerned that the BP oil spill is the beginning of the apocalypse. It is true that scientists are also worried that the spill could be the beginning of the end.

But does the Bible predict the BP oil spill? Are Christians, et al., engaging in scaremongering or could they be correct in their interpretation of scripture? Are they making natural disasters fit the biblical prophecies?

Does Nostradamus predict the oil spills or a natural disaster upon the water? I'd love to know.

From the Book of Revelation of Jesus Christ (from the New Testament) and some commentary from the Newsweek article below:

'Now blogs on the Christian fringe are abuzz with possibility that the oil spill is the realization of Revelation 8:8–11. “The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea became blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed … A third of the waters became wormwood, and many died from the water, because it was made bitter.” According to Revelation, in other words, something terrible happens to the world’s water, a punishment to those of insufficient faith. The foul water, according to the New Oxford Annotated Bible, mirrors one of the plagues God called upon Egypt on behalf of his people Israel.

Though maybe it’s Revelation 16:3: “The second angel poured his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing in the sea died.”

Some interpreters are very sure: The oil spill matches biblical prophesy and is another predictor of the end. One commenter at Godlike Productions argues that the redness of the oil seen in pictures can be interpreted as blood. “The water is tinted red from the oil … it ACTUALLY looks like blood. coincidence??? NOT!!!!” '

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/06/04/blood-in-the-water.html

Divine in Neutral Enlightenment

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 07:37:18 +0000

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu an amazing book that I find inspiration from. What organizations cherish such a book? I do wonder? How may I contribute to such a piece if I could? Many question in many answers and many answers in many Questions.

6:
The valley spirit never dies;
It is the woman, primal mother.
Her gateway is the root of heaven and earth.
It is like a veil barely seen.
Use it; it will never fail.

Most see the author as a philosopher or madman. I see a man steeped in wisdom, does this make me a philosopher or madman? I don't know. I wonder what he means by valley spirit? Does he mean an elemental or a ghost or some kind of atmosphere? Maybe just an idea like usually valleys are teaming with life. So could it be he means living? To enjoy life and live it? To me it means enjoy your life.

Why does he describe it like a woman,mother? Maybe to describe its relationship towards us. Maybe in his sense the valley spirit or idea of enjoying living your life is desirable as much as a woman is. That it gives as much as recieves as a mother cherishes a child and protects it. Maybe living life as desirable as it is gives us value and in a way protects us in that value.

Then it talks about her gateway...her womb? He mouth? It being the root of heaven and earth? Maybe he means she gives birth to reason for living that it affects our morals (heaven) and keeps us in context (earth). That our enjoying life gives us reason to desire to live and keeps us living our life daily.

Maybe he compares it to a veil because many forget to enjoy life then the reason to live and to cherish life is lost in our forgetfulness to live our lives and to enjoy our lives. Thus it maybe hard to see the meaning of life without enjoying life and living it.

Then he states to use it for it'll never fails. Use it as motivation? Use it as a reason to live? Use it for a reason to live? Use it as motivation to enjoy? Maybe it will never fail as a reason to live? Maybe as a reason to enjoy oneself? Maybe both?

To live one's life and to enjoy one's life isn't it a common goal for everyone? Maybe I should hope so? So be it.

What do you think? What questions does it lay out or answers it reveals? I see many Questions & Answers.

I shall live my life daily and enjoy it. So let us DiNE together today eat, drink, bang, rest and be merry for tomorrow may not exist. My Grace falls upon you all.

The Salem Witches

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 02:18:27 +0000

I decided to make this a new topic because it is also a long one. I will also tell about some of the "Witches" that were convicted.
We'll start with the Salem "Old Witch" Jail

The jail that housed the accused Salem Witches during the witch hysteria of 1692-1693 was a cold, dank, foul, rat and flea infested dungeon. It was located near the North River. It was used to house Indians, pirates, and criminals, most of whom were condemned to die: it did not matter in what condition the condemned spent their last days. It also housed debtors: people jailed because they could not repay a debt and those who were unable to pay the fees levied for the keep in the jail.

The prisoners were fed salty food and drink mixed with herring-pickle, for which they had to pay. This caused a constant, awful thirst, which made them more likely to confess in order to get relief.

Despite this, the jail was a social gathering place where the jailkeeper sold grog to visitors who came in the evening to play chess and other games. For a bond of one pound, a prisoner could be released for the day to visit family and friends, then return at night.

During the witch hysteria of 1692, the jail housed four lots of accused victims. The jailers would routinely strip the women of their clothing to examine and prick them with pins to find a witchs' mark. They, and the members of their families, were tortured for confessions. One of the victims, Elizabeth Cary, was locked in leg irons and put in a room with no bed. "The weight of the irons was about 8 pounds," according to her husband, Captain Nathaniel Cary. "These irons and her other afflictions, soon brought her into convulsion fits, so that I thought she would die that night." Cary bribed the jailer with his lifes' savings to get his wife freed.

Elizabeth Cary was not the only accused witch to suffer convulsions, many of the other victims suffered hysterical fits from the conditions of their conditions and treatment at the hands of the jailers. Two victims, Sarah Osbourne and Ann Foster, died in jail. Fosters' son was assessed a fee of 2 pounds, 16 shillings for permission to remove his mothers' body for burial.

The salaries of the sherrif, his staff, the magistrates, the hangman and all other people involved were paid by the accussed, who were each assessed 1 pound, 10 shillings. Also the prisoners were billed 7 shillings and sixpence for their fetters, chains and cuffs; an extra fee for being searched for witchs' marks. The hangman demanded a substantial fee and charged it to the estate of the victim or their families. Those who had money, of course, fared the best. Captain John Alden was jailed on witchcraft charges but escaped by bribing the jailkeeper 5 pounds; he hid in New York until 1693, when the hysteria finally ended.

After the accused were condemned, they were taken to jail by oxcart out to Gallows Hill. Their corpses could be seen swinging from the limbs of the locust trees from the center of town.

In 1764, the jail was expanded with the addition of second and third stories. It was discontinued as a jail in 1813 and passed into private ownership and was used as a residence. In 1863, it was bought by Abner Cheney Goodell, state historian; later his son, Abner Cheney Goodell Jr, took possession.

The jail was given little historical attention until 1934, when Mrs. Goodell Jr.,found in an old sealed closet a janitors' bill for the keep of paupers, some of whom were victims in the Salem Witch Trials. In response to public inquiry about the dungeon, the Goodells opened the jail to the public in 1935. The original jail was closed later and re-created into a museum, The Salem Witch Dungeon.

The Charge of the Dark Goddess

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 15:48:33 +0000

Wisdom and empowerment are the gifts of the Dark Goddess of Transformation.

She is known to us as Kali, Hecate, Cerridwen, Lilith, Persephone, Fata, Morgana, Ereshkigal, Araianhrod, Durga, Inanna, Tiamat, and by a million, million other names:

Hear Me child, and know Me for Who I am. I have been with you since you were born, and I will stay with you until you return to Me at final dusk.

I am the passionate and seductive lover Who inspires the poet to dream.

I am the one Who calls you at the end of your journey. After the day is done, My children find their blessed rest in My embrace.

I am the womb from which all things are born.

I am the shadowy, still tomb; all things must come to Me and bare their breast to die to be reborn to the Whole.

I am the Sorceress that will not be ruled, the Weaver of Time, the Teacher of Mysteries. I snip the threads that bring My children home to Me. I slit the throats of the cruel and drink the blood of the heartless. Swallow your fear and come to Me and you will discover true beauty, strength, and courage.

I am the fury which rips flesh from injustice.

I am the glowing forge which transforms your inner demons into tools of power. Open yourself to My embrace and overcome.

I am the glinting sword which protects you from harm.

I am the crucible in which all aspects of yourself merge together into a rainbow of union.

I am the velvet depths of the night sky, the swirling mists of midnight, shrouded in mystery.

I am the chrysalis in which you will face that which terrifies you and from which you will blossom forth, vibrant and renewed. Seek Me at the crossroads and you shall be transformed, for once you look upon My face, there is no return.

I am the fire that kisses the shackles away.

I am the cauldron in which all opposites grow to know each other in Truth.

I am the web which connects all things.

I am the Healer of all wounds, the Warrior who rights all wrongs in their Time. I make the weak strong, I make the arrogant humble. I raise up the oppressed and empower the disenfranchised. I am Justice tempered with Mercy.

Most importantly, child, I am you. I am part of you and and I am within you. Seek Me within and without and you will be strong. Know me.

Venture into the Dark so that you may awaken with Balance, Illumination, and Wholeness.

Take My love with you everywhere and find the power within to be who you wish.

The Holy Shroud of Turin

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:53:17 +0000

The Shroud of Turin is the single most studied historical object/artifact in the world.That a plethora of misinformation surrounds it is not surprising, particularly in view of any religious implications involving the man depicted in the Shroud. I make no positive claim about the identity of The Man In The Shroud, although it is my own personal opinion that The Shroud is the authentic burial Shroud of Jesus Christ. Just as I believe The Shroud is real, I am also convinced The Sudarium of Oviedo is authentic. I was in the past a Protestant Christian, but my views on religion today lean very strongly in the direction of atheism.

Anyone interested in a discussion? I'll start .....

Facts about the actual physical properties of the Turin Shroud. These are the facts I have gleaned from peer reviewed, scientific papers and articles, and through years of study on the Shroud of Turin. Most of the articles and papers can be found at http://shroud.com

The image on the Shroud is not a painting and pigment of any form does not exist in quantities large enough to produce the image effect.

The carbon-14 dating is inaccurate and was compromised from the beginning when the single sample was taken.

There are real blood stains on the Shroud (and on the Sudarium of Oviedo), but the blood type is undetermined, though it is often reported as AB.

The image is a negative and only appears as a positive on a photographic negative.

The image on the Shroud does not penetrate the fibers of the linen cloth.

The image is fully contained in the carbohydrate saccharide layer which coats the outside surfaces of the cloth. This layer is one hundredth the thickness of a human hair.

The back of the Shroud also contains the same image, only fainter.

Pollen grains from several species of plants found only in the area of Jerusalem have been found and identified on the Shroud.

Leonardo da Vinci could not have possibly created the Shroud. The undoubted provenance of the Shroud can be proven to be at least one hundred years earlier than da Vinci's birth. Other information, though unproven, suggests the cloth is much older.

The Shroud of Turin is a unique archaeological and anthropological artifact. There is no other extant example of the same type anywhere in the world which meets all the criteria known about the Shroud.

The forensic evidence is compatible with what is known of Roman crucifixion victims of the first century C.E.

Medical evidence from the Shroud confirms the man was crucified through the wrists. This is contrary to all iconographic and other imagery of Jesus from the medieval and pre-medieval period.

The bloodstains on the Shroud left by the wounds on the back of the crucified man are consistent with a first century Roman flagrum, an instrument of torture.

The man in the Shroud was forced to wear a crown of thorns. This is confirmed by puncture wounds evidenced by blood stains on the scalp.

Thumbs are not visible on the hands of the man in the Shroud, consistent with a traumatic wound through the wrist which would cause the median nerve to flex the thumbs toward the palms.

What a medieval forger's task would have involved:

A medieval forger first painted the bloodstains with real blood before painting the image. Proof exists that the bloodstains were on the Shroud before the image was formed.

A medieval forger painted the blood flows with genuine blood that was spiked with excessive amounts of bilirubin since a medieval forger would have known that severe concussive scourging with a Roman flagrum would cause erythrocyte hemolysis and jaundice.

A medieval forger integrated forensic qualities to the image that would eventually only be known to 20th century science.

A medieval forger duplicated blood flow patterns in perfect forensic agreement to blood flow from the wrists at 65° from vertical to suggest the exact crucifixion position of the arms.

A medieval forger plotted the scourge marks on the body of the man in the Shroud to be consistent under forensic examination with two scourging implements of varying height.

A medieval forger duplicated abrasion and compression marks on the scourge wounds of the shoulders to suggest to 20th century forensic examiners that the man in the Shroud had carried a heavy weight following the scourging.

A medieval forger, against all convention of medieval artistry, painted the body being hoaxed as Jesus of Nazareth nude to conform to genuine Roman crucifixions.

A medieval forger illustrated the nails of crucifixion accurately through the wrists rather than the hands contrary to all other conventional medieval representations. The forger also took into account that the thumbs of a crucified victim would rotate inward as a result of median nerve damage as the nails passed through the spaces of Destot.

A medieval forger was clever enough to salt the linen with the pollens of plants indigenous only to the environs of Jerusalem in anticipation of 20th century palynologic analysis.

This medieval forger was an artist who surpassed the talents of all known artists to the present day, being able to paint an anatomically and photographically perfect human image in a photographic negative manner, centuries before photography and the concept of negative image. The forger was able to do so without being able to check his work, close up, as it progressed.

A medieval forger was able to paint this image with some unknown medium using an unknown technique, 30-40 feet away in order to discern the shadowy image as the work continued. The forger then removed all traces of the medium used in creation of the Shroud image.

A medieval forger was clever enough to depict an adult with an unplaited pony-tail, sidelocks and a beard style consistent with a Jewish male of the 1st century.

A medieval forger thought of such minute details as incorporating dirt from the bare feet of the man in the Shroud consistent with the calcium carbonate soil surrounding the environs of Jerusalem.

The medieval forger was such an expert in 20th century biochemistry, medicine, forensic pathology and anatomy, botany, photography and 3-D computer analysis that the image has foiled all efforts of modern science to actually determine exactly how the image was formed. This unknown and historically unparalleled artistic technique surpasses all great historical artists, making the efforts of da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Raphael and Botticelli and many other great artists appear as infantile scribblings.

If one accepts the Shroud of Turin is a 14th century forgery, and not a genuine artifact of the 1st century, all of these things need to be accepted, for all these statements point either directly or indirectly to hard evidence about the Shroud. It is also important to consider why the Shroud of Turin is unique in all the world. Why is it the only surviving example of a first century burial shroud? There is no other object in the entire world, to our knowledge, which even approaches the same level of authenticity where tomb coverings are concerned. In other words, the Shroud of Turin is the only extant first century Jewish burial cloth which depicts in detail a man crucified by the Romans. Forensic science has performed forensic pathological analysis on the man in the Shroud using scientific evidence found on the Shroud. They have been able to determine what caused the wounds he suffered and the medical results indicative of such wounds.The man depicted in the Shroud suffered execution in the exact same way Jesus of Nazareth was reportedly executed according to the Gospels of the Bible.

The Inquisition and Salem Witch Hunts

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 21:04:33 +0000

I thought I would write various posts about Witches, The Salem Witch Trials and the Inquisition. This is the first of many to come:

We will start with The Inquistion
It begins with Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) in Rome. Later on, Pope Gregory IX established it to combat the Abilgenses in France. The Inquisition never reached England or Scandinavia.
At first it was only interested in Christian heretics and did not care about Jews or Witches but in 1242, the Talmud was condemned and in 1288, the first mass burning of Jews happened in France.

We, however, are going to focus on Pope Innocent VIII (1432-1492;Pope from 1484-1492). His birth name was Giovanni Batista Cibo and he was elected pope in 1484; he issued what has been called one of the most important documents in the history of the fight of the Church against witchcraft; the Bull of 1484, Summis desiderantes affectibus ("Desiring with supreme ardor"). Though this has been credited with launching the Inquisition in full force, it is actually preceded by earlier bulls against witchcraft and sorcery, issued since the 13th century.
The Canon Episcopi of 906 relegated witchcraft to the realm of fantasy but in the 13th century, popes began to speak out on their beliefs that witchcraft was a true evil against mankind. In his first year as pope, Innocent was approached by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, two Dominican inquisitors who persuaded him that they were being hampered in their duties by local ecclesiastical authorities in their hunt for witches. They asked Innocent for help and this resulted in the Bull of 1484, which granted them full authority to carry out their duties and demanded that they receive any and all support they needed from local officials.
The bull, as noted by Sir Walter Scott in Letters on Demonolgy and Witchcraft (1813) "rang the tocsin against this formidable, crime [of sorcery], and set forth in the most dismal colours the guilt, while it stimulated the inquisitors to the unsparing discharge of their duty in searching out and punishing the guilty." Its main objective was to transfer the crimes of sorcery to the Waldenses, a religious sect declared to be heretics, "and excite and direct the public hatred against the new sect by confounding their doctrines with the influences of the Devil and his fiends." http://www.digitalhemp.com/articles/edict1484.html This link will take you to the text of the Bull of 1484.

The Psychic Octopus

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 09:45:40 +0000

is the "psychic" octopus which has now correctly predicted the outcome of all six of germany's world cup games a modern day oracle? the world football public certainly seems to be acting as though it is, with german fans literally singing anti-octopus songs in the streets of berlin after the octopus (again correctly) tipped spain to beat germany in their semi-final match. will this octopus be put to solving decisions of ever increasing importance with its answers being trusted wholly by the populace at large as the oracles of antiquity were? is this a sign of a growing belief in the paranormal and a return to animism and pseudo-spirituality?

and interesting study to say the least.

Historical events in Witchcraft

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 03:01:57 +0000

I will list some happenings of interest to the Pagan community and to those who are simply curious starting with January.

January
4: Aquarian Tabernacle Church registered in Australia, 1994.
5: Christianity is introduced to England in the year 597
6: Patricia Crowthers' radio show, A Spell of Witchcraft, airs in Britain, 1979
8: Birthday of MacGregor Mathers, founder of the Golden Dawn, 1854 (I find it ironic that a Mathers had anything at all to do with Witchcraft since Increase and Cotton Mathers were Witch hunters in the past. I don't know if they are related)
9: Jamie Dodge, fired for her Wiccan religion, wins lawsuit against Salvation Army, 1989.
12: Mary Smith hanged; she quarreled with neighbors, who said that the Devil appeared to her as a black man, 1616.
13: Final witchcraft laws repealed in Austria, 1787
16: Birthday of Dennis Carpenter, Circle Sanctuary
19: Sun enters Aquarius. Birthday of Dorothy Clutterbuck, reportedly initiated Gerald Gardner, 1880
20: Celtic Tree Month of Birch ends
21: Celtic Tree Month of Rowan begins
30: Birthday of Zsuzsanna Budapest, feminist Witch

February
2: Imbolc; Birthday of Marie Laveau II, daughter of voodoo queen Marie Laveau, 1827
5: John Dee marries his second wife, Jane, 1578
8: Birthday of Susun Weed, owner of Wise Woman Publishing
10: Zsuzsanna Budapest arrested for and later convicted of fortune telling, 1975
12: Death of Gerald Gardner, founder of the Gardnerian Tradition, 1964
14: Else Blum, a farmhand from Oberstedten, sentenced to death for Witchcraft, 1652
17: Celtic Tree Month of Rowan ends
18: Celtic Tree Month of Ash begins
20: Society for Psychical Research devoted to paranormal studes, founded in London, 1882
21: Stewart Farrar is initiated into Alexandrian Tradition, 1970. Birthday of Trish Telesco, Wiccan author.
22: Birthday of Sybil Leek, astrologer and Witch, 1923
27: Bull of John XXII issued; first Bull to promote the theory of Witchcraft, 1318

March
1: Covenant of the Goddess (COG) is formed, 1975. Birthday of the Golden Dawn, 1888
5:Boston Globe prints article about Wiccan clubs being formed at state colleges, 2000
6: Birthday of Laurie Cabot, WIccan author
7: William Butler Yeats initiated into the Isis-Urania temple of the Golden Dawn, 1890
10: The meeting of Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelley is said to have happened on this day in 1582
15: Pete Pathfinder Davis becomes first Wiccan priest elected as president of the Interfaith Council of Washington State, 1995
17: Celtic Tree Month of Ash ends
18: Celtic Tree Month of Alder begins
19: Elizabethan statute against Witchcraft enacted, 1563
20: Ostara. Sun enters Aries. Death of Lady Sheba, 2002
21: Green Egg is founded, 1968
22: Pope Clement , persuaded by Phillip IV to suppress the Templar Order, 1311
25: Pope Innocent III issues a bull to establish the Inquisition, 1199
28: Scott Cunningham dies of complications caused by AIDS, 1993

April
6: First Wiccan tract published by Pete Pathfinder, 1996
7: Church of All Worlds (CAW) founded, 1962
8: William Alexander Aynton initiated into the Golden Dawn, 1896
11: Burning of Major Weir, alleged Scottish sorcerer, 1670
14: Celtic Tree Month of Alder ends. Adoption of the Principles of Wiccan Belief at the "Witch Meet" in St. Paul Minnesota, 1974
15: Celtic Tree Month of Willow begins
16: Birthday of Margot Adler, author of Drawing Down the Moon
23: Wiccan pentacle is officially added to the VAs' list of approved emblems for memorials, markers and gravestones, 2007
29: Birthday of Ed Finch, Wiccan author

May
1: Beltaine. Death of Arnold Crowther, Gardnerian Witch, 1974
3: Birthday of D.J. Conway, Wiccan author
6: Long Island Church of Aphrodite founded by Rev. Gleb Botkin, 1938
9: First day of the three day Roman festival Lemuria, when the spirits of the Dead are thought to revisit their homes
11: Massachusetts Bay Colony Puritans ban Christmas celebrations they claim are too Pagan, 1659
12: Celtic Tree Month of Willow ends
13: Celtic Tree Month of Hawthorn begins
15: On Ides of May, vestal virgins perfomed rites to ensure water supply for the coming Summer
21: Birthday of Gwydion Pendderwen, Pagan bard, 1946
22: Adoption of the Earth Religion Anti-Abuse Act, 1988
26: John Dee allegedly begins crystal gazing, 1581
27: Isobel Gowdies' final confession of Witchcraft without torture, 1662

June
1: Witchcraft Act of 1563 takes effect in England
2: Mother Shipton (Ursula Sontheil), famous seer and patron saint of women working in laundries is celebrated on this day.
9: Celtic Tree Month of Hawthorn ends
10: CTM of Oak begins
11: James I repeals Elizabeth I's 1563 mandate and replaces it with stricter Witchcraft statute, 1604
13: Birthday of William Butler Yeats, poet and member of the Golden Dawn, 1865
17: Birthday of Starhawk, Wiccan author.
18: Church of All Worlds chartered with the IRS, 1970
22: Final Witchcraft law in England replaced with the Fraudulent Mediums Act, 1951
24: Birthday of Janet Farrar, Alexandrian Witch and author
25: Law introduced in Germany to encourage conversion rather than burning of heretics and Witches, 1233
26: Richard of Gloucester assumes English throne after accusing the widowed queen of Edward IV of Witchcraft, 1483
27: Birthday of Scott Cunningham, Wiccan author and solitary Witch, 1956
28: Birthday of Stewart Farrar, Alexandrian Witch, 1916

July
1: Death of Nostradamus, 1566
2: Trial of Joan Prentice, who was accused of sending an imp in the form of a ferret to bite children, 1549
5: Conviction of Witches at Chelmsford, England, 1589
6: Scott Cunningham initiated into the Ancient Pictish Gaelic Way, 1981
7: CTM of Oak ends
8: CTM of Holly beings
9: Death of Herman Slater, proprietor of the store Magickal Childe in New York, 1992
13: Birthday of Dr. John Dee, 1527
14: First recorded appearance of crop circles on Silbury Hill, England, 1988
19: Rebecca Nurse, hanged in Salem Mass, 1692
20: Lord Hunterford executed in England for consulting Mother Roche, a Witch and speculating on the death of the king, 1540
22:Northamptonshire Witches condemned, 1612
25: Death of Pope Innocent III, who issued famous anti-witchcraft bull Summis Desiderantes Affectibus, 1492
26: Confession of Witches at first of four major Witch trials in Chelmsford, England, 1566
27: Jennet Preston becomes the first of the "Malkin Tower" Witches to be hanged, 1612
29: Agnes Waterhouse, accused of having a spotted cat familiar named Sathan, is hanged, 1566

August
1: Lammas Day. Birthday of Edward Kelley, 1555
2: Birthday of Henry Steel Olcott, who cofounded the Theosophical Society with H.P. Blavatsky, 1832
4: CTM of Holly ends
5: CTM of Hazel begins
9: Carl Weschcke buys Llewellyn Publications and moves the small mail-order company from California to Minnesota, 1960
11: Birthday of Edain McCoy, Wiccan author
13: Church of Wicca founded in Australia by Lady Tamara Von Forslun, 1989
15: Birthday of Charles Godfrey Leland, author of Aradia, Gospel of Witches, 1824
17: Death of Nicholas Black Elk, member of the Ghost Dance, 1950
18: Father Urbain Grandier found guilty of bewitching nuns in Loudoun, France, 1634
19: John Willard and Reverend George Burroughs put to death in the Salem Witch Trials, 1692
20: The Witches of Lancashire, England are executed, 1612. Birthday of Ann Moura, author and Witch
22: Order of the Rosy Cross established in Paris, 1623
31: Birthday of Raymond Buckland, author and Witch

September
1: CTM of Hazel ends. Death of Doreen Valiente, 1999
2: CTM of Vine begins
6: Organization of Gaia theory by Oberon Zell, 1970
7: Theosophical Society founded by H.P. Blavatsky, Henry Steel Olcott and others, 1875
9: Else Pfraum, a baker from Koppern, Germany, sentenced to death for Witchcraft, 1603
10: Birthday of Carl Llewellyn Weschcke, president of Llewellyn Worldwide
11: Birthday of Silver RavenWolf, Wiccan author
13: Phillip of France draws up the order for the arrest of the Templars, 1306
16: Death of Giles Corey in Salem Mass. 1692
17: Bewitched debuts on ABC-TV, 1964
21: Death of Eleanor Bone "matriarch of British Witchcraft", 2001
22: Mabon/ Fall Equinox
26: Leo Martello is initiated into a Sicilian coven
29: CTM of Vine ends
30: CTM of Ivy begins

October
2: Birthday of Timothy Roderick, author and modern Witch
7: Birthday of Arnold Crowther, a stage magician who was initiated into the Gardnerian Tradition in 1960
18: Birthday of Nicholas Culpeper, astrologer and herbalist, 1616
20: Birthday of Selena Fox, founder of the Circle Sanctuary
21: First publication of The Cauldron newsletter, 1976
23: I was born, 1967
26: De Molay and 31 other Templars confess to heresy in front of clergy; all later recant their confessions, 1306
27: CTM of Ivy ends
28: CTM of Reed begins
29: MacGregor Mathers issues manifesto naming himself supreme leader of the Golden Dawn, 1896
31: Samhain

November
1: Aquarian Tabernacle Church established in the USA, 1979
2: Circle Sanctuary buys land for nature preserve, 1983
3: Petronella de Meath, servant of Lady Alice Kyteler is executed in the first record of Witch burning in Ireland, 1324
4: Guy Fawkes Night. Fourth Witchcraft bull issued by Pope John XXII, 1330
15: Death of Albertus Magnus, a ceremonial magician who allegedly discovered the Philosophers' Stone, 1280
16: Release of the movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerers' Stone, 2001
17: Birthday of Israel Regardie, occultist and member of the OTO, 1907
18: Aleister Crowley initiated into the Golden Dawn as Frater Perdurabo, 1898. Birthday of Maria Kay Simms, High Priestess, author and artist.
19: Birthday of Theodore Parker Mills, teacher and Wiccan elder, 1924
20: Church of All Worlds incorporates in Australia, 1992
22: Prior to nationwide approval, Nevada grants the first pentacle in a VA cemetery to Patrick Stewart, 2006
24: CTM of Reed ends
25: CTM of Elder begins. Edward Kelleys' death is noted in the diary of Dr. John Dee, 1595
29: Henge of Keltria, Celtic-Neopagan organization in US, incorporated as nonprofit in 1995

December
5: Death of Aleister Crowley
6: Death of Jacob Sprenger, coauthor of the Malleus Maleficarum, 1495
7: An ABC of Witchcraft by Doreen Valiente is published, 1973
17: The Samuel family of Huntington, the benefactors of several poor families, one of which accused them of Witchcraft, is hanged, 1592
21: Yule/Winter Solstice. Lunar Eclipse, 3:17 am
22. CTM of Elder ends
23: Between (CTM)
24: CTM of Birch begins
25: Feast of Frau Holle, Germanic weather goddess
27:Birthday of Gerina Dunwich, Wiccan author
28: Janet and Stewart Farrar begin their first coven together, 1970

July and the Egyptians

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 01:13:03 +0000

I thought that I would share some information about the months, what they mean or used to mean and events in history centered around Witches and other "supernatural" happenings.

July belongs to the Egyptian Ennead--nine deities created by the self-centered supreme being of Egypt, Ra. Ra created Shu and Tefnut as the first divine couple and the powers of air and fire, they in turn, created the divine couple Nut and Geb, the powers of earth and sky. How the next five deities were created "explains" the Epagomenal Days, the five extra days that, like February 29 in our Leap Year, were added to correct the Egyptian calendar.

The story is that the sky goddess, Nut, and earth god Geb fell in love and wanted to marry and have children. At this point, Ra is a cranky old deity who states that the divine world was getting too crowded, so he forbade the creation of any more divine beings.

Nut and Geb appealed to the uncle, Thoth, another self-created deity he was the Moon god, god of wisdom and learning and god of gambling. Thoth decided to see if he could outsmart Ra and find a loophole so the couple could have offspring. Thoth challenged Ra to a game of chance. He bet that if Ra that if he, Thoth, won the game, Ra would then allow Nut and Geb to have children. Of course, Thoth won and the couple had five children, one for each of the "Epagomenal Days". There are many versions of the story, one states that Thoth tricked Ra, who had declared that no more children could be born of the gods on any days of the year. Thoth thus created five extra days upon which Nut could give birth to her children by Geb and then added them to the calendar afterwards.

The exact birthdate of the five children of Nut and Geb--Isis, Osiris, Nephthys, Set and Horus the Elder, are up for debate. However, they were believed to have been celebrated in July, considered the time of harvest before the next floods from the Nile inundated the land and before the rise of Sothis in the August sky. DeTraci Regula, in her book The Mysteries of Isis gives the birthdates as listed by noted Egyptolotist Dr. Robert Brier:
Osiris-July 27
Horus the Elder (not the son of Osiris and Isis)-July 28
Set-July 39
Isis- July 30
Nephthys- July 31

The gestation and births of these five neteru (loosely translated means deities) was full of drama. Isis and Osiris fell in love in the womb. After Osiris and the elder Horus took turns in the birth canal, the brother Set was angry that the other two male gods had been born first. Rather than wait, he tore through the side of his mother. Isis followed in the birth canal as did her twin, Nephthys, who was also in love with Osiris but settled for Set.

Set, the god of discord, was trouble right from the start and his birthday, July 29, is sometimes seen as an unlucky day. It would not be a good day to get married, certainly, considering the nature of the marriage of Set and Nephthys. For example, Nephthys once disguised herself as Isis and slept with Osiris. Some believe that the neter Anubis was born of that union even though he is the "legal" son of Set. Set himself is portrayed as an adulterer, an impotent drunk or simply sterile.

Isian Pagans celebrate the birthdays of the Osirian siblings during the Epagomenal Days. Some celebrate as you would for a New Years' party. Feasting, dancing, drinking, playing games and especially making music with drums, sistra and bells. Prayers or invocations are given by the dedicants or initiants of each of the Osirian neteru and the remaining deities in the Ennead are often celebrated as well. Adding to the celebration prayers and invocations to the Sun as Ra, creator of all the Ennead, and the Moon as Thoth, "uncle" to the Ennead is also appropriate.

The correct pronunciation of the name Isis is e-ZEES.

Why are you here?

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 07:06:40 +0000

Do you believe that world peace is possible? Do you think that there will be an end to world hunger, water shortage, violence, abuse, and suffering? Most people in my experience don't. So why are we bringing more people into this world? If we believe the suffering will go on forever, why create more people to suffer so much?

And for that matter, what's keeping you here? What makes all of it worth it, if you truly believe that there's just suffering and then death? I couldn't believe such things, I'd dive off of a cliff if I did.

Confession.

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 07:01:50 +0000

I've never been to confession. What's it like? How does it work? What has your experience been with it? How anonymous is it, really? How often do you have to confess?

Merry Litha (Midsummer)

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:00:35 +0000

The Fae hold Midsummer Court tonight so set out some honeyed milk and cake or bread! They love sweets.
The Holly King is ascending the throne as the days begin to shorten and remind us that Winter is coming before long.

Pascal's Wager - Anyone?

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:14:21 +0000

Would anyone care to discuss Pascal's Wager with me? I will take whichever side you choose or remain free to argue my side if you wish, even if they coincide with yours.

Gods and goddesses you respect.

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 07:47:03 +0000

I can hardly be said to worship any diety, and to be honest I would call most of them pricks to their faces.

But there are some I do respect.

and here is a thread for those who also have respect but may not worship.

My list:

The Morrigan, Isis, Amaterasu, Inari, Susanoo, Nyx, Hecate, Thor, Pele, Skadi, Anubis, Zeus, Athena, and a handful of others with various names depending on region.

First tribute: Morrigan:

Sataism

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 11:51:23 +0000

First quescion... why do so many peoples believe in god? there is no fizical proof no nothing. and it helps you with nothing if you believe in that crap.Secound why peoples freak out if you say ''Oh well i have a satanist freind'' or ''I dont believe in god'' etcWhat am i trying to say is that IF YOU DONT BELIEVE IN GOD dosent mean you're stanist!I dont believe in anything. But im more interessed in Satanism than in God's shits and crap. Ive been to alot of rituals and nothing is that so ''OMG WHAT THEY DID?!''and there are more types of Satanism there are Satansists that are ''Rebels'' because they dont pray or worship Satan they ''use the darkness power'' to do what they have to do. Idk abut you... but ive always was in the dark and i dont want to go in the light im fine here and i know that if i would go ''in the light'' it wont help me with anything. and here are my final quescions.what do you think about god & satan?Are you afraid of both of them?(this is crap but why? if so...)Do you believe in one of them or in nothing..do you consider the darkness ass bad thing and the light as good thing[another crap darkness its not always bad and light its not always good]See ya

Obama Prophecy Found in the Shroud of Turin

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 03:10:18 +0000

In my opinion, there is more proof that the Shroud of Turin is genuinely the burial cloth of Jesus Christ than that it is not (the samples carbon-dated were not the original linen but another fabric woven into the Shroud for repairs; plant matter that only grows in Jerusalem during spring was found to be embedded in the fibers, etc.).

However, I think this guy, William Tapley, is nutty or just trying to gain a fan base. In the video below, he shows where the number 444 is embedded in the Shroud, even underlined for emphasis! Tapley details how the number 444 pertains to Obama (his being the 44th president for one).

Man, he's reaching. Or is he?

(In the title, I meant to write "Co-False-Prophet/an Anti-Christ. Tapley is self-annointed as co-prophet of the End Times.)

Deja Vu That Never Ends

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 06:15:38 +0000

This is only pertaining to a very particular type of person: those that cannot make other friends, lovers, fuck buddies, or mates, easily. Those who simply have a problem coexistting with other humans.

Now.... explain.

New Philosophy

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 03:44:57 +0000

ITT we/Darkness take the time to construct a new philosophy/religion with our own wills.

What are some of the main things to be added to such a thing?

For me it's obvious that all creations in the universe are one. Both casually and spiritually. There is no reason for hate between us or is there a reason for us to fight over products that have been outdated for almost centuries now.

What reason is there to fight? It's against the constraints that keep us.