Pessimism or Reality?

I don't know if I am just being a pessimist, but it seems to me with this whole "Man Destroying the Earth" thing that we have going on, that our Earth is already destroyed and we just don't know it yet. Our society can say it will do what it can to overcome Global Warming, but the bottom line is that the only way to stop it is to radically change the world society (read; destroy it) Almost every world economy is based upon the very thing currently killing us, and too many of the people are unwilling to truly change anything. The Multinationals know this and are playing it up to boost their advantage and profits, at least until it becomes impossible. The only way anything will truly change is if the world's consumer economy is totally replaced with something else, with no trace of the previous economy. Am I a pessimist or what?

Stand-by

I just found out the secretary at my kid's school has been hitting him. Not cool.

However, this matter has already been taken care of and will no longer be a problem. I have made sure of that. However things are now in motion I may not be able to control.

Question of the Day

Does it work?

Yes, or I would not do it.

Many Worlds...

It is said that any possibility that can exist, does exist. At least that is one interpretation anyway...

We know this as fact. The world we live in is based on differing branches of time and dimension. It starts out in One Dimension as a point. It then slides to Two Dimensions as a plane. This plane can be folded on itself and make a Third Dimension. The Third Dimension sits in space and Occupies time, creating a Fourth Dimension. The different branches of time entail the Fifth Dimension and so on all the way to the Tenth where you find yourself back to a point and the basis of String Theory starts to rear it's head. We actually exist in the Fourth Dimension, since we can see all 3 of the lower dimensions, plus we exist in the duration of time as it makes itself known in a linear fashion. The Fifth Dimension is mostly unknown, as humans normally cannot see the branches of the alternate time lines created by our choices in world we live in. The addition of time means that the world we live in is basically a string, or chain of consecutive realities or instances, all influencing the next in the chain. The world is never static. If it were, it would be the third dimension, where there is no concept of time.

Right about know you are probably wondering what this freak is babbling on about, and when is he going to stop. The point I am getting at is to talk a bit about a current interpretation of Quantum Physics which has been gaining ground recently, and has almost become universally accept among many Quantum Theorists. This is the "Many Worlds" Interpretation. Basically it states that any possibility that can exist, does exist. Whatever possibility that results from a seemingly causal action "pops" into being as a result of the action's influence. In layman's terms, this interpretation is saying that many different worlds exist at the same instance, at the same point. Each has contains a different version of the current reality. For example, little Johnny is sitting in his current reality eating an Ice Cream Cone. Or is he? There are multiple copies of little Johhny, one has green ice cream cone, another a blue one. Yet another Johnny has an ice cream sundae instead of a cone, and so on, and so on. All are influenced by the actions of the previous reality, calling that particular instance into our world. Each has their own time-line, with their resulting branches of choices (leading to the next dimension, #5). Time is the glue which holds all of it together, and leads to the other worlds and the choices/options/results found within them by the creation of diverging time-lines.

As outlandish as all of this is, it remains accepted by even the most conservative of many researchers in the realm of Physics. A lot of this has been directly observed in modern Particle Physics research. This interpretation is much more widely accepted in many circles because it explains why Newtonian Physics plays a role and appears to create cause and effect in our world. It seems the role Newtonian Physics plays is largely an illusion created by these strings of reality and time.

Quantum Physics is truly a Black science. The implications of this and religious thought would be profound. For example, how many souls would little Johnny have? Does each Johnny have a soul? What of the world where little Johnny does something terrible, or commits an unforgivable sin with his ice cream cone?

This interpretation could, however, go a long way in explaining many seemingly unexplainable occurrences and anomalies in our world, such as ESP, bi-locationality, mysterious appearances, and so forth.

The Hollow Mars

NASA recently announced the discovery of large holes in the Martian surface. These holes are assumed to be openings into a cave system at least 100m deep in most cases. What lies below? The possibility that something is alive in there is compelling.

Signs of a New Age?

Found this on the BBC...

Keeping the faith

A POINT OF VIEW By Tim Egan

The US may be one of the most religious countries in the West but is it undergoing a period of doubt.

A few days ago, I attended a memorial service for a friend who died far too young, of throat cancer. The service was held at a history museum, and it was packed - standing room only.

What was curious, initially, was the lack of any reference to religion. My friend had left a final set of instructions: he wanted to be remembered first as a husband to his wife of more than 20 years, and second as a citizen of his city, and third as a lover of history.

During the tributes, there were many references to how the past can inform our decisions in the present. There were nods to reason and friendship and love.

The closest anyone came to mentioning God or spirituality was when someone told the widow, as an aside, that you often visit the deceased through dreams - when they can appear at no particular prompting.

America seems to be experiencing an atheist moment

Even if the formal religion was absent, the habit of expressing a hope for spiritual optimism remains. The secular funeral is still somewhat of a novelty, at least to me.

But it may be something that we see more and more of in the future - particularly on the West Coast, the most unchurched part of the United States.

It may be daring to say it but America seems to be experiencing an atheist moment. Although "In God We Trust" was declared the national motto by an act of Congress more than 50 years ago and has been stamped on the currency for longer than that, some considerable doubt has developed of late.

If you look at the bestseller list over the last year, you'll find a number of books on atheism - to the surprise of the publishing industry.

God has always moved in not-so-mysterious ways when it comes to the literary world. He can sell books, especially ones that foretell an apocalyptic ending just around the corner.

The so-called Left Behind books, a series of novels envisioning the Rapture, when the good are separated from the evil in a fiery judgment day, sell in the millions. They are not for the faint of faith.

Another genre, self-help books that invoke God for the sake of making money, losing weight or finding a date, have a permanent home on the bestseller list. God is kept very busy with this segment of the market.

But until this year, there was thought to be little support - or audience - for tomes by the anti-religious. Several books changed that.

Full-bore polemics

On the academic side, we have God: The Failed Hypothesis by Victor Stenger and Nothing: Something to Believe In by Nica Lalli.

The three most popular books are God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by the newly-Americanized Christopher Hitchens, The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins and Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris.

These bestsellers are not cursory academic surveys; they are full-bore polemics against religion, challenging the very idea of God.

Hitchens, with his quick wit and his quiver of quotes from long-dead British luminaries which he carries over from his schoolboy days in England, seems to be having the most fun and the most effect.

You could call him the Pied Piper of non-believers. He makes it a point to debate with a cleric in every city he visits, and is a frequent guest on conservative and religious radio stations.

The premise of his book is that while religion may have served people well in the age of ignorance, now that science can explain the world there is no reason to attribute the sun, the moon and forces like gravity to higher beings.

As he says, the nine-year-old knows more about the natural world now than the leading scholars of a thousand years ago. What has rankled his critics most is his suggestion that religion is usually a force for bad.

More than anything, people without faith hate the description of them as empty or soulless

Believers point out that people of faith have been at the forefront of significant improvements in human rights and in caring for fellow humans over centuries - everything from abolition of slavery to the civil rights movement in this country, to church-led efforts to reduce starvation and disease in less-developed countries.

I ran into Hitchens not long ago at a book festival where he was jousting away and getting rich in the process. He looked just as the New York Times Book Review had described him: "A village atheist standing in the square trying to pick arguments with the good citizens on their way to church."

I asked Hitchens why he thought his book had such a sudden rise to the top of the bestseller charts when polls show that - at most - barely one-half-of-one-percent of Americans call themselves atheists.

He said that the polls were misleading. There is a large and fast-growing segment of the population that is lapsed or well onto its way to atheism but is afraid to admit it.

"If you're a lapsed Catholic," Hitchens told me. "You're part of a very large and fast-growing group."

Many of those people, of course, might be agnostic rather than atheist?

Revulsion at zealots

More than anything, people without faith hate the description of them as empty or soulless. They have long been singled out for a special kind of hell.

The constitution of the state of Texas, for example, allows discrimination against atheists in employment or jury duty - provisions that have been nullified by federal laws.

And even my mother used to lower her voice in the kind of whisper reserved for people with terminal brain cancer when she described a neighbour as.... an atheist.

Non-believers say they have also been aided by the revulsion of fair-minded Americans to the religious zealotry behind the September 11 attacks and the subsequent violence on behalf of radical Islam.

The latest round of atheism books point to countless wars, slaughters and massacres done in the name of My God is Better than Your God. The 9/11 attacks got people thinking about what sort of God could be summoned for such awfulness.

Social critics, dating to at least de Tocqueville and Dickens, have always marvelled at the pure number of passionately religious people in this country. Indeed, no Western democracy has so many devout churchgoers, by percentage, as the US.

On the face of it, the numbers do seem to indicate that the United States is a Christian nation, as politicians often say.

The latest surveys by the Pew Centre show that 76% of the population - upwards of 230 million people - call themselves Christians. Jews make up 1.3% and Muslims are under one per cent - though fast-growing.

Atheists are near the bottom. There are seven times as many atheists in Europe as the United States, by percentage. But the second largest group, categorized by belief, are those who call themselves secular or non-religious. They make up 13 percent of the population.

It is this group that has perhaps been afraid to call themselves atheists, for fear of shunning or other censure. They could be largely undecided or they could be searching or they could believe, as some friends say with a wink, in the Church of the Outdoors, or the Church of Baseball. They are also the people buying these books.

But while atheism may have made its way into the public discourse, it remains strictly verboten in our politics. Even though a majority of people say in surveys that a person can still be a good American without Christian values, to be an atheist and run for high office is to wear the scarlet A.

Among the presidential aspirants, half the Republican candidates do not believe in evolution, a view bounded in their religious faith and the imperatives of running in a primary heavily dominated by evangelicals.

Democrats 'more open'

One contender, Senator John McCain of Arizona, made headlines this month when he said the American founders meant to establish the United States as a Christian nation.

In truth, the constitution expressly prohibits establishment of a state religion. The founders were trying to avoid the entanglements of church with state. And perhaps the best known founder, Thomas Jefferson himself, may have been an atheist, in the view of many scholars.

No matter. The Democrats, scorned by a huge sector of the electorate for their perceived secularism, have become more open about faith this time around. Both Hillary Clinton, and Senator Barack Obama frequently mention God on the campaign trail.

But they also put some distance between themselves and the religious. Senator Clinton said last week that if she were president she would shield science and research into such things as stem cells from religion and politics.

The United States may never be as secular as Europe. If you sample even a small share of the reaction, on blogs or Christian talk radio, to these new atheist books, you sense how strongly people feel about their faith. It's not passive or abstract.

But, perhaps we have arrived at a moment where doubt is having its day - and for a time, atheists are coming out of hiding.

David Hume and the Causal Thread

Everything that happens or exists has a cause right? A+B+C correct? Apparently not. Coincidences and strange synchronicities appear to defy this logic. They seem to represent order arising by chance. For example, When Louis XVI of France was a child, an astrologer warned him to be on his guard on the 21st of each month. Terrified by this, he never undertook any business on this day for the rest of his life. In spite of this, several very important things happened to him when the 21st came around. It was on June 21, 1791 that he was arrested fleeing the French Revolution, on September 21st, 1792 France abolished royalty forcing him to abdicate, and on January 21st 1793, he was executed. How can these seemingly random events all fall upon the same series of days? Was there a cause? The problem with coincidences is that they seem to violate most accepted notions of cause and effect.

Modern Quantum Physics is beginning to provide clues, as well as Unified Field and Chaos Theory, but this is only a start. Many of the important concepts of these black sciences were proposed many years earlier by a fellow named David Hume. He was a Scottish philosopher of the 18th century, whose Treatise of Human Nature has never been fully re-buffed by science, and much of what he espoused remains justified. Since the 5th century, it has been assumed that for everything that happens in this world, there is a cause (normally from the actions of something else). Mr. Hume rejected this. He maintained it is not certain that every object must owe its existence to a cause. Hume professed this is no more valid than believing every husband must have a wife, so therefore every man is married. Hume maintained that the traditional notions of cause and effect are incapable of proof. All we can truly claim is that what seems to be a cause always precedes what seems to be an effect, and there appears to be a connection in our mind. Beyond this, nothing more can be claimed. His view was that a connection between the two was simply nothing more than a habit of the mind. Other than our direct observation, which may or may not be what they appear, the rest is simply a mental assumption.

Hume's theories are remarkably similar the conclusions of the modern Schrodinger's Cat experiment of Quantum Mechanics. This theory basically states that observable phenomenon are simply that; Observations. Any connections beyond this are incapaple of proof and may or may not actually be what we are seeing, if they exist at all. It is all a matter of perspective, which the human species is limited in capacity.

In other words, there may be more there than what we see.

More Ramblings About Raven...

There are many different legends of Raven. This is simply one re-telling, and may not be totally historically accurate to any specific culture. My native heritage is decidedly lacking in Raven stories, as there are no Ravens in the Choctaw homelands. The closest equivalent was the crow, and it is simply seen as a malevolent, evil bird deserting mankind after the great flood. Raven is different. Raven is not a crow. Raven is found in similar (almost identical) stories worldwide. Here is the gist of the main Pacific Northwest American Raven legend.

Legend of Raven

Back in the days before there were men and the world, The spirits lived in a dark world of their own under the Great Chief. Raven was one of these spirits. There was no sun, moon, or stars in this world, and everyone bumped around in the dark. Raven had heard the Great Chief's daughter had some things called the Sun, Moon, and Stars locked away in cedar boxes. But was very jealous and guarded them very well. Raven decided to transform himself into a small hemlock needle and allowed himself to fall into her drinking cup. She drank him down and he became a baby inside her. He eventually was born as the Great Chief's grandchild.

The Great Chief loved Raven very much, thinking Raven was a normal child. Raven screamed and squawked so that he would be allowed to play with the contents of the cedar boxes. Eventually the Great Chief gave in, as all Grandfathers do, and allowed the child to play with the contents of the biggest box. Raven transformed himself back into his normal form and caught the ball of light it contained in his beak. He flew up the smoke-hole of the Chief's lodge, burning and blackening his feathers in the process.

Raven was so distracted by the light he was carrying, and the way the world looked at first sight, that he did not see the Great Chief transform into an eagle and fly after him. This caused him to drop the light and part of it shattered, bouncing back up into the heavens to become the sun, moon, and stars. The sudden light in the world frightened man, causing him to flee to the far corners of the earth, but in the end brought him great knowledge. This allowed man to come into his own and become great, developing the great societies and cultures we now have.

Raven is shown to be the prototypical "Trickster" deity, similar to Loki, Lugh, Prometheus, and even Jesus Christ. He is the also hero-saviour to man born of virgin birth. Joseph Campbell called his sort the "Hero of 1000 Faces" and he can be found in virtually all human cultures, though he is not always represented as a Raven figure. He is the bringer of knowledge (often forbidden) to man, and a saviour who often sacrifices himself or a part of himself in the process.

It is also startling co-incidental (or is it really?) that the Pacific Coast and Alaska peoples celebrate his birthday at Christmas .

This leads me to a a few quotes I think are worth mentioning:

In the later stages of many mythologies, the key images hide like needles in great haystacks of secondary anecdote and rationalization; for when a civilization has passed from a mythological to a secular point of view, the older images are no longer felt . . .

Wherever the poetry of myth is interpreted as biography, history, or science, it is killed. The living images become only remote facts of a distant time or sky. . . . temples become museums, and the link between the two perspectives is dissolved. (Joseph Campbell)

Dark Deities of the New Age

What rules our world? Are they God's or Demons? The new divine entities are unrecognizable to most average citizens. Those poor souls caught in the consumer nightmare currently eating up the Earth for cash. The modern divine are a new type never seen before in human history, and their grasp is proving inescapable for your average human. These new deities are none other than Wal-Mart, Exxon, Texaco, and other insidious multi-national money-making organizations. How can this be? A company is not a God. Just because it is not listed in the Bible or Koran does not mean it does not fit the definition of one. Lets take a look at this...

What are these companies in truth? They are a self generating self supporting (living) entity. Their sole purpose is to grow bigger and stronger. This is done by their employees and the customers they bring under their control. The employees operate under a common mindset, creating a corporate mentality that operates as a single entity. It is devoted to one thing. Getting money. These companies generate profits that are more than the Gross National Product of most small countries, and in some cases more than that of the US government. In essence, these organizations are beyond all controls of human society, save that of public image, which can be manipulated and does not really count. The humans that make up these organizations become in effect, the body/nerve cells of the corporate entities body structure. If this does not qualify as a "god" I don't know what does. Human society and governments are shaped by them. Wars are fought for them. People are dying for them as I write this article. All of human society and thinking is being manipulated by them to create a civilization of subservients working at a minimum wage slave job with the sole life goal of spending more money on their products. The new purpose of life is now to consume. Period. Sure, lots of people will tell you otherwise, but they are simply parroting the voices of these hidden entities from years of conditioning. The biblical gods are dead. Long live the hidden corporate deities! Or are they demons?

These demons want us to hold on to outmoded ways of thought and to remain fighting amongst ourselves. Divide and conquer at it's finest. The current war in the Middle East is the result of two of these entities clashing (the oil/industrial complex of the US, and the Muslim fundamentalist complex). These are the real gods of this world, and human society as a whole cannot see it. If you don't think so, try talking about this subject and see how taboo it really is. The Sci-Fi movie The Matrix was dead on, just change a few names and a few of the sets.

I really get bothered when I see people using the government as a scapegoat for perceptions of things like global UN domination, one world government, etc. The fact of the matter is these corporate entities are the real enemy. They have surpassed the UN, and are in fact in almost total control right now. We will never see a global one world government, as capitalism (what they are based off of) always has to have a structure of haves and have not's to work correctly. There will always be some enemy to fight so that profits can be made. The world's governments and the United Nations are simply irrelevant and are pawns in the game. Even the mighty US Government is simply a pawn to these larger entities. All the strife from the conspiracy theories, UN Hating, One World Government, Christian/Muslim/Jewish warfare are simply distractions to keep our attention aimed at a different subject and off of our corporate overlords. As a matter of fact, MOST politics, especially at the national level, are simply distractions to keep our mind from seeing the real issues. Isn't it funny how the same issues seem to be carried on for years and years. The US is still divided over crap that was an issue 30 years ago when Reagan was in office. A nation that can put a man on the moon can solve issues like these if they really want to. Something is keeping them going without resolution for a reason.

The saddest thing about this mess is that we created it. The only way to stop them is to take away their power. We can do this by refusing to buy their products, their throw-away consumer lifestyle, and to quit shitting in our food bowl by letting them destroy the planet for money. The strongest vote is with our cash! Make yourself heard! Capitalism only understands capitalism. Not participating in their consumer bullshit is the only way to do it.

More Fun with the Skunks!

Caught another one last night! This one was really big and PISSED OFF! The little bugger tried to bite me through the cage. I loaded it in the back of the truck and drove to work, planning on leaving him on the side of the road several miles from home. I am not sure what was in the air that day (other than skunk smell), but it seemed everything odd that could happen, happened. Including finding a twenty with a rolled up Crack rock in it where I happened to sit the trap down to release the captive skunk. I picked up the twenty thinking "Cool! Money!", and then thought, "Why is it rolled up?". I unrolled it and found the surprise. Ouch! I threw that hunk of crap so far away it was not funny. Then I Lysol-ed and de-crittered the money.

That was worse than finding a skunk in the trap for the third night in a row. To top it all off, my computer crashed while all of this was going on, and I came home to find a seriously FU' ed hard drive. Oh, and two distant relatives decided to pass away as well. At work, my employees were trying to strip some scuff marks off the floor, but ended up stripping the wax and everything all the way down. A five minute job turned into a 5 hour job.

Something was definitely amiss that day. My wife thought it was just Karma catching up with me until she realized it was happening to others as well.

Oh, it was also the 23rd, and Midsummer, of all things! Such is a day in my life.

Adventures in Chicken Ranching

I live in the country, and live a fairly organic lifestyle. We raise a lot of our own food to avoid purchasing anything from China Mart. As such, we have a small flock of chickens. We have lately been having some issues with a small family of foxes who decided to move in next door. Shortly after this I lost my entire flock of Black Frizzle Bantams, my "Voodoo" chickens, to the fox. I was rather ticked and decided to do something about it. After getting permission from the Game Warden, I set a live trap in the yard, in hopes of catching these sly little gray chicken thieves. The first night, they stole the bait. Every night after this, I have caught nothing but skunks. I had no idea our yard was travelled by so many different skunks. It is apparently a Skunkapollooza in my yard after dark. Have you ever tried to set a pissed off skunk free from a live trap? It is not very easy. Needless to say, the house has smelled like skunk now for days. It is becoming quite obnoxious.

I suppose I could try other means, but it has become a game between me and the foxes.

Art and Magick

I saw this on one of the forums I peruse on occasion. I like the thought behind it. Where do you stand?

"Magic is Art. If your magic isn't art... then you are boring. I'm not interested in boring.

Art is Magic. Always was. We painted on cave walls for a purpose. Art and culture are flows of affect that move across subjectivities. It isn't objective but it isn't "merely subjective" either.

Life is Art. Your life is a creation that you are engaged in creating right now. I hope you are creating beautiful and interesting things with it.

Life is Magic. Trying to live the best life you can where art, magic and fun are the same thing? beautiful. If not, why not?"

Originally posted by Fenris23

Hail Eris!

I love this ... The Charge of Eris

I have come to tell you that you are free. Many ages ago, My consciousness left humanity, that they might develop themselves. I return to find this development approaching completion, but hindered by fear and by misunderstanding. You have built for yourselves psychic suits of armor, and clad in them, your vision is restricted, your movements are clumsy and painful, your skin is bruised, and your spirit is broiled in the sun. I am chaos. I am the substance from which your artists and scientists build rhythms. I am the spirit with which your children and clowns laugh in happy anarchy. I am chaos. I am alive, and I tell you that you are free.

The True Origins of Christianity (and ALL religion)

Have you ever wondered where religious thought came from, and why it seems so many seem to have the same stories and legends, only re-told in a different manner? It is because underneath all, there is a common thread. The Gnostics call it the Universal Human Religion.

What is it and where did it come from? Simple, many thousands of years ago, our cro-magnon and early human ancestors started forming the basis of civilization. They were aware of what went on around them in nature, and were astute observers. They saw the Sun and the Moon and the cycles of life that followed the seasons. The Sun was considered the symbol or source of life. It was seen as giving us its life energy through it's light and heat. The Sun was God. The Moon was Goddess. These were later broken down into the many various Pagan gods representing the forces of life, with the Sun eventually winding up as the "Son" of God (God being the Life Force that powers the Sun). Is it a coincidence that he has risen and given us our salvation from the dark? Why is it that the birth of Jesus falls on the Winter solstice, the birth of the sun from its winter slumber? There are many other gods who share the same birthday, such as Jesus's predecessor, the Roman Mithras. My friend, there are no coincidences in this world. These seasonal changes / holidays are not simple random matters.

It is a shame, that the Goddess aspect was largely relegated to a subservient role (Virgin Mary), or totally eliminated altogether. It has been theorized that the rise of human consciousness and warrior civilization pushed the female out of the picture. This, however, was not the case amongst the American Indians. They were some of the greatest warrior societies in history. Most, if not all of the Indian cultures were female dominated with the male's primary powers limited to warfare and hunting. The modern world would do well to learn from them.

A common thread amongst Christians is the struggle of Light (good) against Dark (evil). When the sun sets (Set, Satan) it is dark. When the sun is rising on the Horizon (Horus - Egyptian face of Jesus), we have salvation. It seems that Christianity is really deep in its core, a pagan solar religion, and most Christians do not realize this. All of Earth's religions have formed from the interplay of the sun, moon, darkness, and the passage of seasons. They are all faces of the same Universal Human Religion. They are based upon mankind's observation of these natural forces at work.

Esoteric knowledge of this has been passed down through hidden meanings (occult), but normally only the initiated learned of this. Most modern religious adherents are simply nothing more than slaves, taught to accept one governing faith, and to stay conditioned into their role as a "productive" member of their society. This breeds more slaves and supports the society built around the faith with its parallel political views. Politics is nothing more than a faithless form of religion on a national level. One must realize this Universality of things in order to truly see through the veneer that covers our modern world.

The modern Christian religion can be directly traced from its roots in the ancient Sumerian world (Enlil -Jehovah), to the Egyptians (Horus - Jesus), to Judaism (Yahveh), to Roman beliefs (Apollo / Mithras) to the modern Christianity. If you do not think so, look it up. It is all out there on the web in black and white. If you want a more traditional way, go to the library, it will still say the same things. Even the Sumerian account of Creation is nearly identical to Genesis. And the 10 Commandments of Moses, seem an awful lot like the much older 42 Commandments of Maat. This is no coincidence. In the end, it appears, they are all "chips off the same block". All are simply faces and forms of the same universal archetypes, who have been given life through centuries of believers.

Save the World! Become a Pirate!

It appears that the Pirate level of the world has dropped, therefore leading to Global Warming. Read all about it at the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Adventures with Raven...

As I have alluded to before, I have a special connection to Grandfather Raven. My wife says there seems to be one in my general area most of the time as well. The coincidence is striking. About a month ago, we were in the backyard. She was playing with the kids, and mentioned something about "the darned Ravens" and the weirdness that seems to follow them with me. As she said this, a very large Raven swooped down and let loose a birdy turd on her head. It was quite funny, and very synchronistic. Does it mean anything? You decide.

This is too cool!

This is great! A VooDoo doll in effigy of King George! I should have thought of this myself.

This wonderful little item is for sale at CrassCommerce.com.

Tao of EGWBT

Since this site is sort of a chronicle of my beliefs and way of looking at things, I present the following:
I am not a follower of any particular religious view, instead, I follow the train of thought that they are all valid in their own context. In fact, I draw upon just about whatever strikes my fancy that I feel a connection with. I have always followed a more or less culturally shamanic view of things, and was in fact, initiated into a mystery tradition as a teen.

With the growth of the Internet, I explored my Choctaw heritage a bit. Things that were impossible to find in the pre-Internet days have now become easily available with a good search. I have since discovered many previously unknown cultural items that had escaped me. As an adolescent, I also explored Buddhism for a while. At the time, I was hardcore into Martial Arts, and it seemed a good fit. I was also a diehard Punk Rocker for quite some time(1984-present?), and in fact, still basically have the same attitude and ideologies. All of these factors have influenced my views on the world, and how we create our own reality. I came to understand that divinity is not something external to us, but is in fact what we are made of. God is All, All is God - to put it in a Hermetic/monotheistic way.

Our subconscious mind seeks to create reality with what we think, see, hear, and do. If given a chance, it will do exactly that. Most religions are a mind game, with the true core elements being the same for all, once the limiting dogma is removed. Their myths are all variations of each other, and all basically say the same thing on an esoteric level. It is Magic(k) for the non-initiate. The real big stuff is kept hidden in most religions, for fear their followers will actually learn it and usurp the powers that be, or persons not sufficiently advanced will get hold of it. If you dig deep enough in any major religion (with the exception of maybe Buddhism, or Taoism) you will find the same thing. Maybe it is just my anarchistic view of the world, but I firmly believe dogma of any kind is a bad thing. How can a person grow and learn if there are rules before they even start?

I have found for myself, there is a difference in spiritualism and religion. Spiritualism is the path of the Shaman, Medicine Man, or historic "Witch". Religion is a set of rules and dogmas governing your beliefs to fit a certain memetic image. As such, I do not follow any one religious paradigm, it all depends upon what I feel I need to connect with or desire. On a side note, in Native American spiritualism, it is normally considered to be a very bad thing to be considered a "witch". A native "witch" is a bad Medicine Man who curses other people and does bad things. Being called a "witch" is normally a grave insult. As for myself, I do many things that go beyond the native practices. If someone called me that I would probably agree with them.

The God's are all creations of man so that we can connect to certain levels and aspects of divine energies. They are the personal face we put on something that is incomprehensible on our Human level. The true "God" is totally beyond comprehension and human understanding, and is certainly not an anthropomorphic idol on a throne throwing down lightning bolts to the cowering humans. Imagine what existed before the Big Bang, even before "God", and there you will find the true divinity. Once limitations are placed on it, it is no longer divine. Note: If it says it is god, it most definitely is not!

The true divine has NO limitations, neither should you.

Old Time Choctaw Religion

Just for history's sake I thought I would post this...

Bishinik June 1979 Page 10 & Page 11

By Len Green

Have you ever wondered what your Choctaw forefathers believed and how they worshiped in the days before they embraced Christianity and become followers of Jesus Christ? Probably the best source of information available today on the social and religious customs of the ancient Choctaws can be found in the scholarly works of the late John R. Swanton, who conducted a number of studies of Indian tribes for the United States Government.

According to Swanton, the Choctaws were originally worshipers of the Sun. If this is correct, it places the Choctaws into a possible racial relationship with the Mayans, Toltecs, Incas, Aztecs, Polynesians, Japanese and lost peoples of the Easter Island area. All of these people were or are Sun worshipers, believing that the Sun is the deity or the eye of the deity.

This also raises the question that perhaps the Choctaws were among those people escaping from the purportedly lost continent of Lemuria or Mu when that land was swallowed up by the Pacific Ocean, much as Atlantis sank into the Atlantic. One of the legends of Choctaw origin begins "The people came out of the water and spread themselves upon the warm sands and rocks to dry out... .", and the same legends detail a 43 year movement eastward from some unknown point to the Choctaw homeland around Nanih Waiya, the sacred mound in what is now the state of Mississippi. Hopefully, these legends can be retold in future issues of Bishinik.

The holy number of the ancient Choctaw religion was four, much as three in the holy number of Christianity. Why four? For the Choctaw all things come in fours. Did not the basic government unit ... the family . . . come in fours . . . the mother, the father, the sons and the daughters? There were four elements. . the earth, the water, the sky and the living things (animals and plants), four seasons ... winter, spring, summer and fall, and four directions, north, east, south and west.

The most popular and predominate word used for the ancient Choctaw deity as "Hashtahli," which Swanton says was derived from the word "hashi" which means sun and "tahli," which meant "to complete the action." Other words used by our forefathers when speaking of their God were Achafa Chito (great one), Chictokaka (might one), Hashi Ikba (sun father) and two terms, lshtahullo Chito and Nanishto Hullo Chito (meaning in English doubtful). In later years, as the original religion of the Choctaws waned and as Christianity crept in, the terms Uba Pike or Uba Pisku (our father) and Shilup Chitoh Osh (the great spirit) become more popular and began to make appearances in Choctaw stories or writings.

The moon was called "Hashi Ninak Anya" (little sun that shines at night), and was considered the wife of Hashtahli. The stars were their children, and fire was a blessing bestowed by Hashtahli upon his earthbound children. But it was a mixed blessing, as the fire would report any transgressions to Hashtahli even though it cooked their food and warmed them on cool nights. Once each month, the sun's wife would send the children out to play and begin cleaning house. The full moon was a clean house. And then the children would dirty it up again until (when the last quarter moon arrived) mother again started her monthly cleanup.

The ancient Choctaws recognized evil in the world, but rather than a full blown Satan or Devil such as is known to Christianity, evil and frightening things were invested in a number of lesser beings or spirits. Among these were:

Na Lusa Chito - A big black being which would pounce on and eat any person it found alone in the forest, particularly women and children.

Impashilup - The "soul eater," which if you allowed him through evil thoughts or depression, would creep inside you and eat your soul.

Bohpoli - "The thrower," a small man who lived alone in the woods and who would never let himself be seen by man. Bohpoli, also known as Kowi Anukasha (one who stays in the woods) was more mischievous than evil. He would make sudden noises to startle you or toss a stick or stone at you when your head was turned.

Kashehotopolo - A combination of man and deer, noted for great speed and agility. If you angered Kashehotopolo, he would race ahead of you and warn the game or the enemy of your approach.

Okwo Naholo or Oka Nahullo - The "white people of the water," who were almost transparent and invisible when swimming below the surface. These beings reportedly sometimes kidnapped children and turned them into beings like themselves.

Koklo Noteshi - A bad spirit which was able to assume any shape it desired and which had the ability to read men's thoughts.

Naluso Falaya - The "long black being," which resembled a man but had small eyes, long pointed ears and preferred to approach man sliding on his stomach like a snake. His powers were similar to those of Na Lusa Chito.

Hashok Okwa Huiga - "Grass water drop," a being connected with the will-o-the-wisp. Only its heart is visible at night, and if you looked directly at that heart you would become addled and your mind would be led astray.

Thunder and lightning was two great birds. The female, Heloha (thunder) would lay her giant eggs in the clouds and they would rumble as they rolled around atop the clouds. Despite his size, her mate Melatha (lighting) was extremely fast and left a trail of sparks as he streaked across the sky.

To protect himself from evil spirits and assure success in battle, each Choctaw male, upon reaching his manhood, created for himself a totem or medicine bag, which he carried upon his person at all times. Each medicine bag was different, being made, up of items the individual felt would word off evil or bring good fortune ... such as a claw from his first bear kill, a bit of earth from his house, etc. The warrior would never reveal to another the contents of his medicine bag, and if asked what the bag contained, he would probably, answer "You would not be any wiser thereby." If a Choctaw's medicine bag were ever,stolen, destroyed or lost, his effectiveness as a warrior, a hunter, a digger, a builder or whatever his profession was gone and he could not operate until he had found or built himself a new totem.

Religiously and politically, the ancient Choctaw Nation was a benign matriarchy. Upon marriage the husband lived with his wife's clan and their children were members of her clan, although the husband was never admitted to full clan membership but remained a member of his own (or his mother's) clan. Woman was considered "the giver of life." Did she not birth the children, cause the corn to grow, cause the vegetables to grow and prepare life giving food for her husband and children.

Conversely, the man was the "taker of life." Did he not kill the game for the family table, fight the enemy of his family and people and stand protectively between his family and the world? When a Choctaw, particularly of the hunting and warring iksas, made his first kill he was allowed to add the word "abi" (killer and pronounced ubbi) to his name. Thus you know when you meet a Choctaw whose surname ends in "obi" or "ubbi" that you are speaking of the descendant of a once mighty Choctaw warrior or hunter who earned the right to have "killer" added to his name.

The family unit was the basis of both political and religious life among the ancient Choctaws. Several families, one of which was hunters, one warriors, one builders, etc., would band together in an "iksa" or clan. The clan adopted a symbol, usually a bird or animal, and a clan color which was worn proudly as each Choctaw was proud of his or her clan. For mutual protection, several "iksas" (or clans) would band together to create a "moiety" (or town). Several moieties might then band together under a popular spokesman (or Minko) to become a nation, tribe or district. In this manner was created the three historic Choctaw districts: Ahi Apet Okla (potato eating people), Okla Hanalli (six people or six towns) and Okla Falaya (long people).

The ancient Choctaw did not possess a "soul" in the strictest Christian sense of the term. Instead he possessed an inner shadow or spirit, "Shilup" (which now means ghost), and an outer spirit, "Shilombish" (which now means soul). Upon the death of a Choctaw, the Shilup or inner shadow immediately began its long trip to the west toward the "Happy Land." And the Shilombish or outer shadow remained about the place of its abode in life for a more or less indefinite period of time. The Shilombish generally remained around the home until funeral ceremonies had been completed, and then if all were well with its family it would slowly fade away.

However, if the body to whom the Shilombish belonged had been troubled in life or was murdered, the outer shadow would remain around the family until the problem was solved. In this event, the Shilombish would let the family know at night that it was still about by issuing pitiful moans or barking like a fox or hooting like an owl near the house. How did you know that a Shilombish was about your house? When a fox barks or an owl calls, another will answer from a distance away. However, when a Shilombish cries, there is no answer from another fox or another owl.

In the meantime, the Shilup or inner shadow has made the long journey westward toward the "Happy Land." It has felt neither hunger nor thirst nor the need for sleep pressing on westward for days and days until it reached the gateway to the Happy Land. However, to enter the Happy Land, the Shilup had to cross a deep, dark canyon by means of a freshly-peeled and therefore slick "footlog." (This footlog was peeled pine according to what Peter P. Pitchlynn told George Catlin or peeled sweetgum according to Isaac Folsom.) As the Shilup attempted to walk across the slick log, it was bombarded with sticks and stones, thrown by the guardians of the gateway to the Happy Land. If the Shilup was brave and ignored the guardians, it reached the other side of the canyon.

Here was the Happy Land, where existed one continual day and a world where trees are always green and bear fruit and nuts eternally, where the sky has no clouds and where there are fine and continually cooling breezes. Feasting, dancing and rejoicing go on always, there is no pain or trouble and people never grow old but live forever young, enjoying all of the peaceful pleasures throughout eternity.

However, if you were a bad Shilup or were fearful of the guardians of the gateway to the Happy Land and tried to dodge the stones and sticks tossed at you, you would fall off the log into the canyon below. Here you would land in water "which is dashing over rocks and is stinking with dead fish and animals. There you are carried around and brought back to the same place again and again by whirlpools. The trees are all dead and bare and the waters are full of toads, lizards and snakes. The dead in the water are always hungry, but have nothing to eat; are always sick, but cannot die; are always in the dark smelly waters where the sun never shines. From this place, the dead may look into the beautiful country which makes up the Happy Land, see the sunshine from afar and hear the laughter and singing of the souls who reached there, but can never reach it themselves."

Students of religion have called the concepts of the ancient Choctaw "brilliantly conceived and encompassing every detail of existence to form a basic religion worthy of a civilized people." Comparison indicates that it was but a short step for the Choctaws from their ancient religion to Christianity, as there are no major basic differences. In fact, certain concepts of the ancient Choctaw religion . . . particularly in the area of the roles of men and women in society . . . may be superior to the male-rule concepts of Christianity.

Pictures From Home

Here are a few pictures from my home like I really like. One is a sunset from my backyard, across the mountains, and the other is my little building housing my telescope in the winter. Both turned out really well.

The Moon...

I took this with my new DSLR through my big 10" telescope. I really like the color on this photo.

Dead Babies are no Fun

I actually had a heated discussion with my wife several days back over the ethics of using graveyard dirt from dead babies. How many households in this day and age have that discussion over dinner?

Here is the reference...

Some cases of drawing trade to business places there are three babies
that are - notice, you kin go to work and hire 'em [their spirits] like today.

You hires 'em today, you takes nine thimblesful of dirt from each
grave.
You will tell them to be at your home on the third night.
When they come to your home on the third night, you make you
competition of a incent - [the spirits] come all around [you]. It's [incense is made
of] cinnimin, spice, cloves and allsipce.
[It] may be placed wit this, this whut we sieve [graveyard dirt], 18,
there's 18 - 27, 27 thimblesful of dirt from the graves made with incent and
put onto a coal fire. [This coal] is known to be mostly charcoal.

Burn it, creatin' people what you want to be drawed by it.
The place will be over-run by drawing people on it. You sending the
babies out to bring customers in to you - that's what you hired 'em for. But
you must talk and tell 'em that on the third night, when they come to your
home, what you want 'em to do. And you only use that customary, daily.

(That would be used largely by bootleggers?)
Any business - any business place, restaurants, drygoods places and all.


[Norfolk, VA; Informant #456 - "Doctor English"; Cylinders 432:2-445:2]

Wisdom from a Seven Year Old

Here are several poems written by my son. The are quite good.
The Padawon is progressing nicely...

All are the Same
All are the same
because
We are different.
Everyone is different
Because
we are the same.

That is the way we are.


The Dog
Once there was a dog
who sat on a log.
A hog sat on the dog
and all was lost!


Cheese
Cheese, Cheese
Cheese, Cheese
Cheese!

I have old rotten cheese.

Meat, Meat
Meat, Meat
Meat!

Why do I have some old rotten meat and cheese?

Christian Persecution Complex

First let me say that I harbor no ill feelings for whatever a person feels is the right religious paradigm for them. But, why is it that many members the dominant religion in this country would like us to believe they are being persecuted? This country is CRAWLING with Christians. They totally dominate 95% of the American culture. I would like to know who these imaginary people are that are persecuting them? If anyone is persecuting them, maybe it is because of incompetence, corruption, and the betrayal of their own values that they are witnessing taking place. Being Born-Again and professing a love for Jesus has become a cover to commit atrocities, crimes, and fraud in their religion's name.

It's OK if we steal from him, he's not one of us and Jesus will forgive me.

Start a war - Great! They are Muslim's not Christian's, it's OK to kill them you know.

Run the little Atheist child out of school, that's just dandy!

The real people being persecuted are the Atheists, Jews, and all the other non-christian religions.

I firmly believe that if the "Big J" were around today, he would probably be considered a crazy neo-pagan for his attitude of unconditional acceptance and universal love, qualities which seem to have been missed by the majority of Christians. These qualities have DEFINITELY been passed over by the major Christian political and religious institutions. The "Big J" was, after-all, the equivalent of a pagan in the Judeo-Roman world he lived in. More people and cultures have been destroyed and more slaves have been taken in his name than for any other reason in history. And the meme that drives it continues to this day...

War Sells!

Found this on the web. It sums up my feelings quite nicely!

Meet Takeda

This fellow is hanging above my desk. Don't fuck with him.

White Eggs and Eris...

Several months back, I felt a little un-creative and decided to do something about it. I longed to recapture that creative drive I had in my younger days, when I drew and painted and generally churned out lots of crazy artistic things (though I was so unfocused they never really went anywhere). I am fast becoming an old man, and my days of being able to do these sorts of things will eventually come to an end. Being the Hoodoo/Shaman/Magi insane person that I am, I naturally turned to what I seem to be able to do the best. I have always been, and still remain, a very good channeler of the Chaos and Discord current that runs through this world. (This became evident to me when I became involved in the old Punk Rock subculture of the early 1980's.)

At this point, I believe a short explanation is in order. The Chaos I am speaking of is not the Chaos one normally thinks of when this word is mentioned. It can be compared to the raw, creative force that drives the impassioned artist, or fills a child with uncontrollable energy. while they are deep at play. It is the force that preceeded all, before the world existed, even the Gods as we know them. In short, it is the unrestrained life force that empowers this reality, and follows no rules but it's own. I channeled this energy very well, sometimes too well for my own good. (Back when I was a snot-nosed Punk, I did not realize the gravity of this concept. Having the benefit of hindsight, I now can see how it all fit together.)

I thought for a while, and decided that I would just go for it and and meditate on the most powerful icon of Chaos that I could find, the Greek Goddess of Chaos herself, Eris. (Had I have thought about it a little more, I might have chosen someone different.) I figured she could give me the jolt of raw creativity which I was craving. I found some quiet time where I was able to get away from everyone, and meditated for about an hour. About 2/3rds of the way through, I consciously imagined myself looking at my impression of what her face would look like. It eventually became very vivid, but not unduly so. I stopped meditating and then went to sleep, thinking nothing more of it. I thought it would probably take several sessions of doing this to have an effect on me.

Boy, was I mistaken! I found myself in a very vivid dream, where I was kneeling on the floor, apperantly in some sort of strange ritual. As it progressed, I realized I was invoking Eris in my dream. It was very clear, and had a real strange feeling to it. Here is where the weirdness starts... at the point in my dream where I said I now invoke Eris, and pointed my dagger, I was rudely awakened by the building's Fire Alarm! I thought to myself, "Gee, this is really strange", and proceeded to go and silence it. Just as I silenced it, and went back to bed... the second my head touched the pillow, BUZZZ! it went off again. It did this three more times, and I eventually had to totally remove the offending detector from the system to get it to stay quiet. I thought it strange, but did not really think much else about it. This having taken place away from home, I got up and drove home the next morning, expecting to have a good story for the wife.

Here is surprise number two. I live in the country. We have a small flock of chickens we raise for the eggs. The chickens I have in my flock are genetic brown egg producers. Here is the surprise. When we went to collect the eggs the next morning, There was a mysterious White egg! After a solid year of egg laying, we have never had anything other than brown, or the green/blue from our single Aracauna hen. None of our hens should have been laying white. Yet another odd synchronistic event. My wife swears up and down it is due to my meddling with things beyond my control, and was more than a little ticked off. As for me, I am not sure what to think.

And last but not least, here is surprise number three. This happened several days after the egg incident. My wife calls me at work and informs me we have a severe ant problem in the dining room. I think nothing of it and tell her to call the exterminator. A few hours later, I get another call, this time from a fairly pissed off wife. She starts off by telling me what the exterminator found. He told her that in his twenty odd years in the extermination business, he had never seen anything like our problem. It seems, the ants were coming into the house to feed on the termite colony that was in the process of forming under our dining room table. He said it had only been there for about a week (about the amount of time since I did my Eris thing).

My wife says that while he is explaining this, she can see the kid's TV show playing in the background. It was an episode of "Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy". Guess who was a character in the story... why it was my good friend Eris! She said she felt like she was being taunted by this obnoxious children's show, as the exterminator explained to her the mechanics of our ant/termite war and the resulting $350 dollars it was to cost. To say she was pissed was an understatement. Yet another set of unexplainable coincidences.

I did another meditation session, this time stating the goals with which I hoped to accomplish and what I expected as a result. No more general invocations for me, Thank you! This final thing seemed to do the trick. The general weirdness subsided, and things seem to be back to normal. At least, the normal which reigns around my house. I have since started producing artwork on a much more regular basis, and have even taken up sculpting, so it seems safe to say that I achieved my desired effect, though my bank-book is $350 dollars lighter.

One other thing did not change... we still have the mysterious white eggs. I also have a much healthier respect for dealings with Eris.

The Raven

The Raven shows up in many cultures. I am fortunate that the Raven is my Totem animal. This I know, finding out by trial and error. I know that when I see a Raven cross my path, and I get that creepy hairs on my neck standing-up feeling, that my day will soon take a chaotic turn. It never fails.

However, my adventures with Mr. Raven are a story for a different day...

This story is about the significance of the Raven in regards to culture, myth, and religion. The Raven appears in most northen cultures, generally worldwide. The Raven is a highly significant deity and totem animal with the Native American community, particularly on the West Coast. Raven also appears in other cultures as well, but since I know the most about the Native myths of Raven, this is what I will concentrate on.

Most Northwestern Native traditions consider Raven to be the bringer of light and knowledge to Mankind. He is also seen as the creator of our world in several of their cultures. In the myth of the Raven stealing fire from the Sun Chief, he is shown as an interloper between the world of the gods, and Man. He fills this role in most indigenous cultures, including those of Europe, as evidenced by his role as messenger to the War Goddess, Morrigan, in Celtic Ireland. He is also a "Trickster" deity, originally painted by the early Christian missionaries as an antagonistic figure, similar to Lucifer or Satan. This is a complete misunderstanding, since the viewpoint they shared was from a monotheistic religion and were unable to see the significance of Raven's different aspects, particularly how they are intended to teach us about ourselves. Raven's trickster qualities lie from the fact that he sometimes acts out of compulsion, with no real awareness of how it will affect him in the end. In many stories, Raven ends up on "the crap end of the stick", or is changed in some way beyond his control, even though he knew better to do what he did. The underlying meaning of this is of dynamic transformation. He is the dark journey of the soul that leads to enlightnement. Raven is the long, hard road that leaves the traveller changed forever, whom even if they have failed, have gained wisdom in the process. He "tricks" us into learning about ourself.

It is truly unfortunate that within my own Choctaw traditions, the Raven is simply seen as an evil, black, portent of doom.

In a "magickal" sense, Raven is useful to us as a direct connection to the great Void, or Spirit, which is the ultimate source of life and the universe. He can be visualized or meditated on to great affect, using his messenger of the Gods status. I typically use Raven for Sigil work, imagining Raven carrying my intent to its final destination after "charging" it.

Seems to work very well for me, however, mileage may vary for others....

The Douglas Adams / Egyptian Connection?

It seems that the ultimate answer to life, the universe, and everything is 42 according the Mr. Adams. The ancient Egyptians had a similar idea with their 42 commandments. Is there a connection? Maybe Douglas Adams was really the Scorpion King? Coincidence?

These were later shortened to 10 commandments, I guess we don't have to worry about the other 32 anymore. They must have gotten in the way...

THE 42 COMMANDMENTS OF ANCIENT EGYPT

I. Thou shalt not kill, nor bid anyone kill.
II. Thou shalt not commit adultery or rape.
III. Thou shalt not avenge thyself nor burn with rage.
IV.Thou shalt not cause terror.
V. Thou shalt not assault anyone nor cause anyone pain.
VI. Thou shalt not cause misery.
VII. Thou shalt not do any harm to man or to animals.
VIII. Thou shalt not cause the shedding of tears.
IX. Thou shalt not wrong the people nor bear them any evil intent.
X. Thou shalt not steal nor take that which does not belong to you.
XI. Thou shalt not take more than thy fair share of food.
XII. Thou shalt not damage the crops, the fields, or the trees.
XIII. Thou shalt not deprive anyone of what is rightfully theirs.
XIV. Thou shalt not bear false witness, nor support false allegations.
XV. Thou shalt not lie, nor speak falsely to the hurt of another.
XVI. Thou shalt not use fiery words nor stir up any strife.
XVII. Thou shalt not speak or act deceitfully to the hurt of another.
XVIII. Thou shalt not speak scornfully against others.
XIX. Thou shalt not eavesdrop.
XX. Thou shalt not ignore the truth or words of righteousness.
XXI. Thou shalt not judge anyone hastily or harshly.
XXII. Thou shalt not disrespect sacred places.
XXIII. Thou shalt cause no wrong to be done to any workers or prisoners.
XXIV. Thou shalt not be angry without good reason.
XXV. Thou shalt not hinder the flow of running water.
XXVI. Thou shalt not waste the running water.
XXVII. Thou shalt not pollute the water or the land.
XXVIII. Thou shalt not take God's name in vain.
XXIX. Thou shalt not despise nor anger God.
XXX. Thou shalt not steal from God.
XXXI. Thou shalt not give excessive offerings nor less than what is due.
XXXII. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods.
XXXIII. Thou shalt not steal from nor disrespect the dead.
XXXIV. Thou shalt remember and observe the appointed holy days.
XXXV. Thou shalt not hold back the offerings due God.
XXXVI. Thou shalt not interfere with sacred rites.
XXXVII. Thou shalt not slaughter with evil intent any sacred animals.
XXXVIII. Thou shalt not act with guile or insolence.
XXXIX. Thou shalt not be unduly proud nor act with arrogance.
XXXX. Thou shalt not magnify your condition beyond what is appropriate.
XXXXI. Thou shalt do no less than your daily obligations require.
XXXXII. Thou shalt obey the law and commit no treason.

The 42 Principles of Ma'at, the Goddess who personified the ideals of Truth and Righteousness, were known to all the ancient Egyptians. They have been rephrased here in Biblical Commandment form to make them more intelligible and familiar to moderns. In the original form they were preceded with "I have not" as in "I have not stolen." The Egyptians believed that when they died, their souls would be judged by these principles. Moses and the Israelites, who were originally Egyptians, would have been familiar with these principles, but after wandering for forty years they seem to have only remembered 8 of them (those highlighted in orange). Moses added three new non-secular commandments; the one about not honoring the other gods, the honoring of their parents, and the one that included their neighbor's wives and slaves as coveted chattel. The remarkable thing about the principles of Ma'at is not only how much more advanced they are in comparison with the Hebrew Commandments, but how most of them are strikingly relevant to this day.

Various translations of the Declarations of Ma'at exist and they do not all agree in phrasing, order, or even the total number of principles (since some have multiple statements and some are redundant). Versions are available at the following websites, where readers may compare interpretations.

http://www.ag-east.org/West/Maat.html
http://www.mobeinstitute.com/kmt2002/area.cfm?pi=6&xvc=2
http://members.aol.com/TAOofAPU/maat.htm
http://www.mich.com/~heru/maat42.html

For comparison, see these various versions of the Ten Commandments of the Hebrews, the Christians, the Catholics, the Greek Orthodox, and the Moslems. It is most curious to observe the convoluted interpretations of these otherwise clearly stated commandments that those with other agendas or self-interest will often give, as if unlimited exceptions could be construed at will and intent was irrelevant. This interpretive susceptibility alone demonstrates the secular superiority of the Principles of Ma'at.

http://www.godstenlaws.com/commandments.htm
http://www.holidays.net/shavuot/ten.htm
http://www.duhaime.org/tencomm.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/ca5/pray/tenc.htm
http://www.therain.org/studies/ten.html
http://www.themiracleofstjoseph.org/tencmds2.htm
http://www.goarch.org/access/orthodoxfaith/commandments.html
http://islam-usa.com/e70.htm
http://www.ou.org/chagim/shavuot/aseret.htm

The Voice of the Raven...

I have set this site up as an outlet for my oddball ideas and art. In the process, maybe I can expose a different view of what is normally termed reality.

CAUTION: Your Sacred Cows will soon be ground to hamburger!