Anarchist Politics and the Spanish Inquisition...

Everyone knows about the witch trials in Europe and New England, but less is known about the trials conducted by the Spanish in early America. Unknown to most Americans, the Inquistors plied their trade in this country just as well as they did in the Old World, only most of it was directed at the native inhabitants they found. The underlying reasons were very different, however, with much of it rooted in destroying militant politics intent on stopping the Spanish Conquest.

The Native Americans equated the priesthood and missionaries with disease, since they were often the first Europeans they encountered. As such, the early contacts were marked by many of the American Indians seeing the priests and missionaries as sorcerors carrying a great plague. This led to endless struggles and violence when these folks encountered each other.

After the plagues ran their course, the tables were turned. The Spanish, in particular, elevated fears of Witchcraft by selectively singling out individuals who proved difficult to control, or were inciting rebellion amongst the native population. Indeed, the Catholic church was actually less concerned with spell casting and other sordid spiritual matters as long as loyalty to the Spain and the Catholic Church was maintaned. Those they accused as witches were not just rebelling against God's order, they were usually militantly encouraging and leading the others to armed rebellion as well.

In 1679, the Franciscans of New Mexico conducted a witch-hunt, leading to the destruction of sacred Kivas and violent attacks on the natives as they performed their ancient rituals. The next year, the Pueblo indians could stand no more, and rose in rebellion. The Pueblo Revolt as it is now known, drove the Spanish out of New Mexico for many, many years. They were led by an accused "witch" known as Pope` who had been one of the 47 accused of witchcraft in the preceding witch-hunt. He had been whipped for his part in trying to curse the Spanish and "steal their hearts".

This pattern is seen over and over in regions conquered by Spain, in their subjugation of the indigenious people found there. These people accused as "Witches" are analogous to the later political "Anarchist", seeking freedom from his oppressor for himself and his people. The act of "witchcraft" as termed by the Spanish, was an act of of political and religious defiance. In many cases, they really were what they were accused of, and were militantly trying to overthrow the Spanish and restore their older shamanic ways. This pattern was echoed to a lesser degree in the Old World, with their purges against the Jewish, Basques, and others.

Mysterious Spirit of the Past Haunts the Dalai Lama

In 1976, the current Dalai Lama made a startling announcement banning his followers from seeking propitiation of a certain Buddhist deity, namely the one called Dorjé Shukden. While relatively unknown to Westerners, this has created a rift in the Tibetan community, most of whom are in exile around the world as a result of the Chinese take-over of Tibet many years ago. The reasoning behind this announcement was to prevent the very thing it seems to have created, Sectarian division within the ranks of his Tibetan community at large. While most of this does not play on the radar of most Americans, there is an interesting and mysterious story behind it that spans centuries and reaches far into the last vestiges of the Mongol Empire.

This story started in Tibet during the chaos and upheaval of early 1600's Tibet, during a civil war in which the Mongols ended up winning. The 4th Dalai Lama had died shortly before and a search for a successor had been outlawed by the winning side. This search was undertaken in secret, and two small boys were located who seemed to fit the requirements to serve as the re-incarnated leader.

One of these boys, Drakpa Gyeltsen, seemed to encompass more of the previous leader's nature than the other. However, he was not picked, but later he did assume the role of another famous individual within the monastic world, but held no leadership authority. The other child became the famous Fifth Dalai Lama, known for uniting the Buddhist Monasteries, and driving the Mongol Empire out of Tibet.

In time, Drakpa Gyeltsen proved himself a much more capable and charismatic leader, rivalling the fame and power of the Dalai Lama, who eventually saw him as a threat. Many of Drakpa Gyeltsen's followers believed him to be the true Dalai Lama, and tensions rose accordingly. As tensions rose, so did the threats and harrassment.

Drakpa Gyeltsen challenged the Dalai Lama to a verbal debate one day, and walked away the winner, taking with him a small ceremonial cloth he won as a wager in the debate. He was later found dead with this cloth stuffed down his throat. Several different stories exist, and nobody really knows what truly happened.

A few of these stories involve a combination of political intrigue, jealousy, and a link to a large family inheritance. Most of the other's imply that the monk, sick of constant harrassment and assassination attempts, killed himself as part of a strange revenge ritual he perpetrated upon his enemies. The real truth will probably never be known, having been lost to the winds of history.

What is known is that soon after his death, the Dalai Lama and his court began to complain of visitations by an aggressive spirit or ghost. They believed it to be the spirit of the deceased monk, returned to exact revenge from beyond the grave. Several exorcisms were attempted, including one where the exorcist allowed himself to be possessed by the spirit and threw himself into a bonfire. As none of the these attempts were sucessful, the Dalai Lama assumed the spirit he was dealing with was no mere ghost. He later proclaimed that he had made peace with the spirit and identified it as Dorjé Shukden, saying it was to be the new protector deity of their sect.

In the intervening years, this spirit became a central figure in the "Yellowhat" sect that the Dalai Lama is a part of, eventually becoming one of the "wrathful" deities that protects the Dharma and keeps the teachings pure. In fact, stories abound of the violent end met by many of those within the Yellowhat's when their Dharmic practices became tainted by teachings from other sects. As a "worldly" deity, Dorje Shukden is said to be able to influence events and possess individuals to enable his intentions to see fruition, and to protect the Gelugpa(Yellowhat) sect. He seems a rather dangerous entity for such a peaceful and pacifist religious order.

Now, jump ahead to the early 21st Century, if you will. In Dharmasala, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile, at least three ritualistic murders have taken place involving individuals with a high standing in the Buddhist Gelugpa "Yellowhats" organization. Who commited these crimes has never been solved. Many within the sect speculate that this entity was involved in some way, and the true killers will never be found.

While this story embodies much myth and legend, it also leaves a lot of mystery in the process. The future of the Tibetan Government in exile, and even that of the Dalai Lama himself reads like a Shakesperean curse. Even the Dalai Lama himself admits he will probably be the last of his line. Is it possible that this monk from the 1600's is still exacting his revenge upon the descendants of those who killed him?

Child Beaten to Death By Religious Kooks...

Kevin and Elizabeth Schatz adopted six children from poverty struck Liberia, so they could have a better life in the US. Too bad that better life included being beaten to death for something as minor as mis-pronouncing a word.

These children had the misfortune of being adopted by a family of followers of Tennessee evangelist Micheal Pearl. A basic tenet of his church is to beat your children to make them more obedient and faithful servants of God. They are so serious about it, his church published a written guide to doing it, and even recommends using a particular 1/4 inch plastic plumbing supply line.

Allegedly, these two held their children down, in the name of God, and beat them with a plastic pipe for hours causing massive injuries. Their 7 year old died. Another child of theirs, age 11, is in critical condition for the same reason. All of this started over a word the Liberian children could not pronounce...

It's God's will they say.

Here is the story on True Crime Report...

Here is a horrid story about their "Child Training" methods...

Voodoo, Missionaries, and the Haitian Earthquake...

As if Haiti did not have enough problems before the catastrophic earthquake. The recent events in this poor country are helping to widen a growing rift between Christianity and the local Voodoo adherents. While true Voodou is a strange combination of Roman Catholicism and ancient beliefs from Africa, the mass influx of protestant missionaries has heightened stress levels amongst the locals. True to its roots, Roman Catholicism has traditionally been very tolerant of syncretism with local spiritual beliefs and customs. Ever mindful of their shrinking worldwide Catholic population, these practices have been considered native customs and have not been outright banned by the Vatican.

In a world like Haiti, where most of the population steadfastly believes the world's events are shaped by the unseen spirit world, the influx of Protestant missionaries is creating hardship and widening the gap between the Protestant world and their own. While seemingly well intentioned, many of the largely Protestant aid organizations are well known for promoting views that the Haitian lifestyle comes from the "Devil", as evidence by Pat Robertson's notorious comments on the subject.

These very same organizations are also being accused of withholding aid from Voodoo practioners. Max Beauvoir, who is sort of like the Haitian Voodoo Pope, has claimed these Evangelical aid organizations are the very same who stand in the way of helping his people. He also claims these organizations are doing other things unrelated to aid, like spreading the idea that the earthquake was "divine retribution" via the mass media.

Some in the Haitian populace view the missionaries as simply taking advantage of their predicament. They see the missionaries as using the fact that Haiti is in trouble, as being their ticket for mass conversion of the Haitian people. We are seeing the results of this in the recent arrests of the Baptist missionaries under Human Trafficking charges. On the other hand, the Haitian belief structure is also being challenged. The population has a very fatalistic view of the world, and the fall of their spiritual icons and wholesale devastation of their land is sure to sow the seeds of pestilence.

We will surely see a Haiti which emerges from the ruins, far less trusting of the outside world than it previously was. This region is doomed to be a powder-keg for many years to come.

New Blasphemy Law Takes Effect in Ireland...

In a striking return to Conservative (e.g. medieval) Values, Ireland has signed into Law new requirements making it illegal to say blasphemous or derogatory comments about religion. Violators can be fined up to 25,000 Euros. This includes speech, articles, comments, parodies, satires and any other form of communicative media.

This is an unusual development in a country that has been noted for it recent progress in liberal arts and science.

Here is what ABC News has to say...

The Strange Tale of The Children's Crusade

An interesting, but disputed, tale from Medieval Europe is the story of the Children's Crusade. Every person who takes world history has at least heard the name, but most do not really know what really happened. Neither do the historians.

In the year 1212, it is said a small boy named Stephen, approached the King of France saying he had been told by Christ to lead a crusade of children to Palestine and reclaim the Holy Lands. The King was not interested, but the boy attracted a large following with his claims that the seas would part and they would walk to Palestine and peacefully convert the Moslems. Children came from all over France and followed him in a vast procession to Marseilles, where God was to part the seas. None of the crowd was said to be older than 12 years of age, and none of them had any supplies or food. They subsisted on hand-outs from strangers, and many were said to have starved or dropped dead by the roadside along the way.

When they reached Marseilles, they quickly went to the sea, expecting it to part for them. It did not, and the group became disenchanted, with a lot of the children attempting to wander home again, but most getting lost. A small group of merchants offers to take them to Palestine by ship, not wanting to see God's will fail. This group of children leaves across the sea by ship, and is never heard from again. Unknown to the French public, the children were really shipped to Palestine and sold as slaves by the unscrupulous merchants. The rest staggered home, dying from exhaustion and starvation.

Although quite a gloomy tale on it's own, it gets even stranger. A German tale, very similar to this one picks up at this point. There are some minor differences, but it is still a tale of children traveling (through Italy this time), and crossing the sea in ships to never be heard from again. The German children were said to be slightly older, and there were also vagabonds and prostitutes in their company. Prostitutes?

Modern research is shedding new light on these old tales. These stories may not represent an actual event, but a mythical telling of the story of the plight of the poor during this time period. These two stories borrow heavily from each other, and in many cases were written by historians up to 30 years past the time it was said to have occurred. Most of these stories were written in Latin, by Catholic historians. They called the children pueri, which has been inferred to mean children, but really is closer to "country boy", sort of like an early slang form of "hick". This, no doubt, has confused the story even more.

During this period (the 1200's), the economic conditions were such that many poor country families, or pueri, had to sell their land in order to avoid debt. This left them without means, and wandering the countryside with their children in tow. Many of them starved, or died on the road during their wanderings. It became so bad, there were many thousands of them, especially in France. It is surmised by modern historians, that the early Catholic Church ingrained this into stories of the crusade, whether knowingly or not, to generate public support for the crusades.

What this means, is that this strange and mythic tale of tragedy, is at it's core a tale of the plight of the forgotten rural poor in Medieval Europe. The tales of demise and the dangers faced by the children in the crusade stories, were the very same dangers faced by the rural poor. Even the tales of slavery, of which it was common at the time as Frankish slaves were highly sought after in Moslem countries.

These tales appear to be another case of history being hidden underneath the veil of mythology and legend, which is not really what it appears to be.

Here is a link to a traditional account of this tale...

Religious Analogies to Past Girlfriends...

I really like this post from OpenBuddha.com...

I had a long visit over coffee with Jonathan this evening. In the course of the conversation, I alluded to my involvement with the Ordo Templi Orientis and compared it to a girlfriend being told it was time to go. This analogy kind of rolled on its own and seems worth following up on…

So, religious paths as ex-girlfriends… We’ve all been there after all.

Thelema and the OTO
The freaky ex-girlfriend who likes her sex kinky, her parties wild, and her drugs. She goes clubbing, dresses all in black, and has the razor scars on the wrists to show that she’s serious. She has a lot of interesting ideas but draws the wrong sort of crowd because of her reputation when she was young. These days she’s more likely to want to go to mass and do a bake sale but the expectations of youth are hard to live down and she secretly revels in it.

I’m sorry, Dear, but it’s time to go. The times were good but I just can’t keep up with you anymore. You’ve changed or maybe I have. Besides, for all of your crazy college days and weird stories, you’re pretty conventional these days, aren’t you? It’s all work, work, work.

Wicca
Wicca is like that hippie chick you liked in college. She’s all about the Goddess, womyn power (I wouldn’t understand because I have an outie, not an innie), and not shaving her pits. She’s sweet and she likes to dance and get freaky in the woods but there isn’t a lot of there there…if you know what I mean. I mean, dancing naked around a bonfire reeking of pouchouli is fun and all but the conversations never go anywhere. She complains about your “kablahblah” and rolls her eyes while mumbling about patriarchal power schemes. She can’t stop talking about Roman Catholicism and how wrong she was for you…in fact, she seems pretty obsessed with her sometimes.

Asatru
The most conventional girl that you could ever date. Kind of plain but with that long blonde hair and incredible…assets… She likes to cook, drink beer, and sit in front of the fire. All in all, a relatively “normal” girl…and that’s the problem. It is like you’re dating your second-cousin or the girl next door… She seems to have a bit of a drinking problem as well and is always bitching about your ex, Wicca, but sometimes they don’t seem that far apart. Of course, your normal girl next door doesn’t have those friends with the shaved heads who mutter about racial purity, stare strangely at your gay friends, and like to play dress up with swords and tunics but that is a little embarrassing detail that doesn’t come up too often (unless you look).

Roman Catholicism
Like Asatru, she’s a conventional girl. She has a large family but they’re a bit domineering, especially her dad. It’s all about rules, rules, rules. She’d really like to have more fun but she always feels so guilty about it afterwards. Of course, she dresses really well (talk about clothes!), sings, and puts on a great performance. She isn’t afraid to get into it but she hasn’t been the same since the 60’s when she started doing everything in English and using a guitar for accompaniment. It’s pretty clear that The Passion is her favorite movie, which is pretty disturbing given the S&M content but she says it is all about love after all…


To this list, I would like to add one more...

Chaoism
We have all dated her. She is the girl who likes to do outrageous things. Whether getting naked to order pizza, or talking shit and getting you stomped by thugs - nothing is off limits. She both excites you and terrifies you at the same time. And many times you pay in blood by the trouble she creates. But while she is all these things, she can also be beautifully honest, and does not hide anything. She experiences life like she lives on a rollercoaster, and wants EVERYONE to be there too. It is all about the experience. You can hang with her too, if you can last that long.

Pagan Census Revisited...

Twenty years ago, a census was undertaken to determine the number and demographic of our non-christian/Jewish/Islamic citizens. It gave an interesting view of the rise of modern Paganism in the 1990's. Researcher and author, Helen Berger, has decided it is time to revisit this census to see how we now stand.

You can participate here...

Baby Snatchers

La Belle Dame would be proud...

It seems there are adoption centers set up to separate mothers from new babies as a form of punishment.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090914/joyce

God is on Trial in Philadelphia

He is apparently on trial for fleeing the scene of an accident, or something like it. And he seems to have been found guilty.

Read on at CityPaper.net

Antichrist Superstar

For those of you who still believe in ancient religions and prophecies, we have entered a new era. The Antichrist has been identified and it is this man...
At least he and 2 million other people think so. He is Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda. And he is quite popular in Latin America. Hmmm, Do we believe him or not?

He really needs a pitchfork or a big tail. He looks like a used car salesman to me.

Here is a page about him...

The Fundamentalization of Our Military

Here is a very scary article about an ongoing trend within our US Military Forces. I have worked for the Government in the past, and can affirm it does seem to be the case in some branches. If this is true, it could be extremely dangerous for our future..

An Officer' Experience in our Christian Military...

Christian World Control Group Paid for Congress Members Trips to Hawaii

I don't normally like to link to political sites, but this is far too strange not to...

It appears that an X-tian group, bent on world domination and control, has paid for a series of congressional junkets to Hawaii. This group is particularly scary, as they openly advocate Christian theocratic rule and control of non-christian people and attitudes. They consider it a mission from God. It is actually made up of two groups - Youth with a Mission, and "the Family", both dominionist Christian groups. These groups adhere to a "7 Mountains" mandate, a plan for control of 7 key elements of our political structure and society. These mandates were recently promoted by none other than Sarah Palin at her Wasilla Assembly of God.

This group is also scary in how ingrained it has become into the American government. Unknown to most people, they have been the sponsor for the National Prayer Breakfast for many, many years. Several key senators have openly lobbied for this group's agenda. It claims to be interested in a shadow government to run the goings on of the real government, for it knows it would never be accepted by the masses at large.

Read more here...

Here is a book about the subject...

A Special Trip to The Creation Museum...

Some people believe the Earth is only 5000 years old, and man lived with dinosaurs. I think they are retarded. So does this man.

Here is Something That Bothers me...

Not that I would be considered an Atheist, but THIS story really bothers me. No one has a right to block someone from their belief. If they wish to block Atheist websites at work, it is only fair they block Xtian sites as well. One more little gem showing just how we are steered towards organized religion without a lot of choice.

Disturbing?

This slightly disturbs to me, but not because of the baby-killing. It is disturbing because it seems to be a popular Google search, and one more reason organized religion should be illegal, as it is simply cultural terrorism.

Supersition and the New Ignorance

I just recently returned from one of my "eye opening" trips, this time celebrating Zombie Jesus Day (Easter) with family. As usual, several things that bothered me came to mind during this trip, spurred on by issues arising with those I have been dealing with for the last few days. I know the world is slowly changing, but it seems change comes awfully slow in certain regions. In these regions people cling to their ignorance with a very religious zeal, even though that sort of thing was actually frowned upon in most Christian texts. North Texas is one of those places. Here, for many people, science means nothing and large segments of the population actually believe we humans co-existed with dinosaurs. They also believe the world is only a few thousand years old, even though actual scientific analysis shows it is far older than we ever thought. Don't even mention Charles Darwin! You might just get run out of town.

These same people give me a load of crap over my beliefs, seeing it as a sort of cross between hippie nonsense and complete Satanic malarkey, neither of which being the case. They shrug off suggestions and opinions given by me as being naive, simple, or even worse superstitious. Really? This coming from people who think that humans walked with dinosaurs with no scientific evidence to prove it. I don't offer any views or opinions that run contradictory to the various known sciences of physics, psychology, and biology. Maybe my interpretation is a bit different, but the basis is still there. I surely would not base my views upon something as vague as "faith" especially when it is a faith given to you by someone else who may not have the best intentions in mind. Surely blind acceptance of a set of beliefs passed down by tyrants (which aren't even religiously accurate) is nothing short of true superstition.

This new ignorance and superstition is highly troubling. What will we do in 30 years as a nation, when we have a large adult population that literally does know anything about the way the world truly operates? What will we do when all they know about history is a distortion of what truly took place? If a scientific principle goes against this superstitious belief, it is simply ignored or worse, discredited. This does not bode well for our future. People like this cannot compete in a world based upon reasoning and true science. On a quantum level, our Empirical World may not be what it seems, but at the Newtonian Level, science is highly accurate. Discredit it and we imperil our very existence.