Good Yule!

Fröhliche Raunächten

Pseudoscience and Other New Age Myths

With the year 2012 just around the corner, I only dread to imagine the great volley of bullshit about to descend on us from the "vortex" of the so-called Indigo/Starseed newage movement. Heaven forbid all those ascended narcissists of the Pleiadean masterrace. Man, what sort of megalomania inspires the need to be some god-sent messenger of inhospitable stellar objects? Don't even talk to me about cosmic consciousness if you can't get your science or history right. All this goobledegook about chakra stimulation of the hypothalamus to "switch on" redundant DNA codes is a load of cryptic nonsense that does no justice to the scientific terms it abuses. Those glands not only regulate our involuntary functions, but affect the balance of our emotional and sexual behaviour. In essence, messing with it can induce a whole variety of bizarre psychosomatic disorders. Just the same, transcendental meditation, like mind altering drugs, should carry a warning about prolonged use. No surprise end of time cults have such a tendency to nihilism. No, it's not "negativity" or "bad karma" that accounts for the ills of this world, but the grand expectation that others should have to burden the brunt so "we can be saved". It's just another cop-out from taking any real personal responsibility.

All Holies and Remembrance Day

While these days All Holies begins on the eve of October 31st, and Remembrance on November 11, both were originally part of a festive period connected with the Blood Moon. This marked the final closure of the harvest with the slaughter of cattle for smoked meats to endure the winter months. Mythically, this was seen as a time of nature's gradual withdrawal into underworld, often represented by the old stooped crone gathering a bundle of kindling in the forest. It was believed that with this transition, the spirits of the underworld had rule of the roost. Thus the All Holies feast was held to honour the dead; particularly the ancestors, family and kindred. Their graves were decorated with offerings of grains, apples, nuts and other things the season had at it's avail. Torches were lit for the spirits to find their way to these offerings. It is a time of family reunions and kindred gatherings to recount the stories of old. Council elders, chiefs and priests were usually elected at this time for the ancestors to be present. These spirits were formally invited to attend the sitting with a special place set for them at the head of the table. The ceremony was usually concluded with a special solemn eulogy for those who had fallen in battle. Although these holidays have long since been Christianized, the customs haven't really changed much. Tables are still set with place at the head of the table for those past and honoured with a raising of one's glasses in a toast to their memory.

A beautiful example of a powerful old Germanic warrior's eulogy was the one spoken in the film "The Thirteenth Warrior":

Lo, there do I see my father.
Lo, there do I see my mother and my sisters and my brothers.
Lo, there do I see the line of my people back to the beginning.
Lo, they do call to me. They bid me take my place among them
in the halls of Valhalla where the brave may live forever.

The Fylgja or Shadow Fetch

Countless Germanic Sagas mention the Fylgja, Forynja, Fyreferd, Hamingja; vividly describing the various ways the human soul spirit can manifest itself. Fylgja means "follower"; namely a shadow fetch that accompanies each of us through life. The Fylgja may appear to the owner and others around them, as an omen of death or grave misfortune. It may appear in the full human gestalt of its owner as a "Doppelgänger" (such as the famous case of Emilie Sagee), a "second face" or even shape-shifting animal gestalts, such as the Berserkers (Ulfhednar) were famous for. In the Wieland Saga, Wieland's knee ligaments were cut to prevent his escape from King Nidung in the form of a bird. Swans were also thought to be the fylgja of the Valkiris.

The Fylgja more commonly likes to reveal itself in one's dreams whereas it's more ghostly apparitions tend to prefer the waking hours. While the Fylgja may, in one way, be understood as the "Hugir" (soul), it can also describe a Fylgjukona or even a Dis, namely; guardian spirits of the female variety; that may defend their own gender, watch over an individual, or a whole kindred.

Sometimes several Fylgjur may be bound to a person to insure their safe journey in life as well as death, often in the form of the three Norns (the weavers of fate). Thus some people may have stronger Fylgjur, in essence; more fortune or "Hamingja" than others. While a Fylgjur may also embody the collective spirit of one's ancestors, it is still to be understood as its own individual entity. All in all these manifestations were generally described as dark forms until the time of Snorri Sturlsson. In his account of the Olaf Saga (Heimskringla), he presents 9 women in light robes from the south as opposed to the nine black robed Fylgjur of Norse tradition, in a cryptic attempt to illustrate some epic struggle of good and evil over the soul of the unfortunate Thidrandi.

Speaking from my own personal experience, we seem a dynamic union of matter (dark) and energy (light) in a convectional node of the local spacetime continuum. Remove the energy and you have gravity. Gravity is what defines substance, whereas energy is what breathes life (spirit) into it, makes it dynamic. The fylgia has always felt to me like that gravitational vessel that holds the soul spirit. Take away that spirit and it feels like a gravitational vortice. This defines the death fylgja. This is what I experienced from countless people who left this world. The death fylgja collects their residual energies until that channel can finally close. Yes, in a way you could say it gathers up the pieces. Take that conversely, and by the same principle you can manifest an alterego. In other words shape-shifting.

I've often heard people coin the term "soul retrieval" and "soul fragments" in neo-shamanism. However, I find that it does little to understand what is really happening on the para-physical level with death. My father had a severe stroke that destroyed much his left cranial hemisphere. He was a man raised on that stubborn old Briton stiff upper lip code of silence, so full of duplicity and the most ironic self contradictions. Living with the man was like a modern version of Shakespeare's King Lear. Just before he left for Holland that fateful week, the signs couldn't have been more evident, but he would not listen to reason. His last words were, "If you think I'm going to come back some kind bed ridden mental cripple you'll have to spoon feed, you're wrong. That's just not going to happen". Well it did...and in the weeks that he laid there apathetically, in the neurological clinic; all the jealously guarded mistakes, he kept hidden all these years, came down on me in one crash. The last thing I needed was his fylgja appearing in my dreams to tell me not to worry, that he'd be still around until I sorted the whole mess out. Four years I nursed his steadily failing body, that will tenaciously hanging on until there was nothing left. It practically drained the life out of me too. Three days before he finally died, his fylgja came again, only this time it was an empty vessel, a channel sequesting any empathic links to feed on them. It chilled me to the bone so I let go of them and resisted any further probing. When he passed I felt nothing, just a sense of presence when his fylgja began poltering around the house for weeks afterward. A few times it tried to draw from me again to no avail. About 6 months later, much to my relief, it finally moved on and that portal closed.

As you can see from my little anecdote of life experience, there are a number of things to be wary of in dealing with such quasi-temporal manifestations. A fylgja without a mortal vessel is the stuff of ghosts and unresolved souls. Not all of them are to be empathically reckoned with.

SW German Autumn Traditions

The harvest begins around the 1st of August with the reaping of grain. It was a time when community members of all ages gathered in the fields to assist in any way they could. Tables were laid out on the fields, with the necessary amenities so they could go about their work with little delay. Once all the grain was either milled or safely stashed away by the Harvest Moon, the occasion was celebrated by feasting and the burning of straw dollies, similar to the wicker man practices of Britain. Offerings of thanks and the hope of fair weather to insure an unspoiled crop. A crown was woven of grains and herbs and raised on a pole to mark the occasion. In the course of these celebrations through September comes the Weinfest, and in October, the Bierfest.

Once all the harvesting is completed, livestock is then herded down out of the mountains in a procession called the “Albabtrieb”. This is where the cattle are decorated with cowbells and garlands, with the lead cow wearing a huge colourful wreath of Alproses. These are also times of village fetes to sell their domestic wares. These festivities usually centered around the Hunter's Moon, which was also the time of the traditional pheasant hunt conducted by the local squires. 

Ancient European Calendrial Systems

THE NEBRA DISK
The almost circular disk has a diameter of approx. 32 cm and a thickness of 4.5 mm in the middle and 1.7 mm at the edge. It weighs approx. 2 kg. Disk is made of bronze, out of a mixture of copper and tin. The copper matched samples taken from a mine in Mitterberg near Mühlbach am Hochkönig in the eastern Alps. This source was verified by its lead isotope signatures. Aside from the very low percent of 2.5 tin content, the 0.2 % traces of arsenic is typical for bronze age metals. It was apparently hammered out of a sheet of bronze and repeatedly heated to avoid lesions. Through this process the bronze takes on a deep brown to black colour. Traces of egg white used to give the bronze a violet hue were also found. The present green coloured layer of corrosion occurred through being in the ground so long.

The appliqués of unbonded gold plate were inlaid and tempered several times. The bronze swords, axes, chisels and the remains of a spiral armband also found in the hoard give a date of their burial as approx. 1600 BCE- while the date these items were produced roughly falls between 2100 to 1700 BCE. Particularly unusual for an archaeological artifact is the evidence that the disk was modified several times over the course of its use. First the disk comprised of the round gold "stars", the larger gold sun disk, the sickle moon and the cluster of seven stars. Then two 82° bows were added on the "horizon", of gold from a different source, as indicated by its impurities. One "star" was moved to make room for the bow, while another two were covered by it on the right side of the disk, leaving thus only 30 of them visible. Later the so-called "Sunbark" was added between two parallel curves (again of gold from another region) embossed with fine indentations. Finally before it was buried, the left horizon was missing and 40 small holes were punched along the edge of the disk. What purpose they served is yet uncertain.

Extensive forensic and isotopic analysis of the Nebra disk and the rest of the bronze objects established beyond a doubt that they all belong to the same horde found buried on the Mittleberg near Nebra. The analysis also established the age and authenticity of the Nebra disk. The age of the swords and tools was also easily recognized by their style compared to similar items found in Hungary. Carbon dating for the disk could not be done as such metals contains no carbons. A fragment of birch bark found on one of the swords however, gave a date between 1600 to 1560 BCE.

FIRST PHASE: According to Archaeologist Harald Meller und Astronomer Wolfhard Schlosser the cluster of 7 gold dots likely represent the Pleiades in the constellation of Taurus. The other 25 stars however, were only later recognized by other astronomers as reflecting an actual planisphere of the night sky.

The large gold disk is the assumed to represent the sun as well as the full moon, whereas the sickle is the waxing lunar cresent. According to Meller und Schlosser two dates for the visibility of the Pleiades on the west horizon. During the Bronze Age, this was on the 10th of March briefly before nightfall, and on the 17th of October, briefly before dawn. When in March the Moon was in conjunction with the Pleiades, it appeared as a fine sickle just before new moon. In the October conjunction the moon was full. However, given the different lenths of the lunar year as compared to the solar, not every year did this conjunction fall on these dates. By this the disk served as an agrarian reminder for planting and harvesting cycles. According to the Astronomer Rahlf Hansen this device helped Bronze Age farmers coordinate the moon year of 354 days with the sun year of 365 days, in essence keep track of necessary leap years. Similar knowledge is in found in old Babylonian cuniform texts. For this reason skeptics assumed the disk may have been imported, but the measure of 82° for the sun arc on the on the edge of the disk corresponds totally to the latitude of Nebra. Thus, it goes to show that central European astronomers of the time were far more advanced than historians had previously thought.

THE GOLDEN HATS
(from Wikipedia)

Golden hats (or Goldhüte) are a very specific and rare type of archaeological artifact from Bronze Age Central Europe. So far, four such objects ("cone-shaped gold hats of the Schifferstadt type") are known. The objects are made of thin sheet gold and were attached externally to long conical and brimmed headdresses which were probably made of some organic material and served to stabilise the external gold leaf. The following Golden Hats are known at present:

Golden Hat of Schifferstadt, found in 1835 at Schifferstadt near Speyer, circa 1400-1300 BC.

Avanton Gold Cone, incomplete, found at Avanton near Poitiers in 1844, c. 1000-900 BC.

Golden Cone of Ezelsdorf-Buch, found near Ezelsdorf near Nuremberg in 1953, circa 1000-900 BC; the tallest known specimen at c. 90 cm.

Berlin Gold Hat, found probably in Swabia or Switzerland, circa 1000-800 BC; acquired by the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, Berlin, in 1996.

The hats are associated with the pre-Proto-Celtic Bronze Age Urnfield culture. Their close similarities in symbolism and techniques of manufacture are testimony to a coherent Bronze Age culture over a wide-ranging territory in eastern France and western and southwestern Germany. A comparable golden pectoral was found at Mold, Flintshire, in northern Wales, but this appears to be of somewhat earlier date.

The cone-shaped Golden Hats of Schifferstadt type are assumed to be connected with a number of comparable cap or crown-shaped gold leaf objects from Ireland Comerford Crown, discovered in 1692) and the Atlantic coast of Spain (Gold leaf crowns of Axtroki and Rianxo). Only the Spanish specimens survive.

Unfortunately, the archaeological contexts of the cones are not very clear (for the Berlin specimen, it is entirely unknown). At least two of the known examples (Berlin and Schifferstadt) appear to have been deliberately and carefully buried in antiquity. Although none can be dated precisely, their technology suggests that they were probably made between 1200 and 800 BC.

It is assumed that the Golden Hats served as religious insignia for the deities or priests of a sun cult then widespread in Central Europe. Their use as head-gear is strongly supported by the fact that the three of four examples have a cap-like widening at the bottom of the cone, and that their openings are oval (not round), with diameters and shapes roughly equivalent to those of a human skull. The figural depiction of an object resembling a conical hat on a stone slab of the King's Grave at Kivik, Southern Sweden, strongly supports their association with religion and cult, as does the fact that the known examples appear to have been deposited (buried) carefully.

Attempts to decipher the Golden Hats' ornamentation suggest that their cultic role is accompanied or complemented by a usability as complex calendrical devices. Whether they were really used for such purposes, or simply presented the underlying astronomical knowledge, remains unknown.

The gold cones are covered in bands of ornaments along their whole length and extent. The ornaments - mostly disks and concentric circles, sometimes wheels - were punched using stamps, rolls or combs. The older examples (Avanton, Schifferstadt) show a more restricted range of ornaments than the later ones.

CALENDRICAL FUNCTIONS
It appears to be the case that the ornaments on all known Golden Hats represent systematic sequences in terms of number and types of ornaments per band. A detailed study of the Berlin example, which is fully preserved, revealed that the symbols probably represent a lunisolar calendar. The object would have permitted the determination of dates or periods in both lunar and solar calendars.

Since an exact knowledge of the solar year was of special interest for the determination of religiously important events such as the summer and winter solstices, the astronomical knowledge depicted on the Golden Hats was of high value to Bronze Age society. Whether the hats themselves were indeed used for determining such dates, or whether they simply represented such knowledge, remains unknown.

The functions discovered so far would permit the counting of temporal units of up to 57 months. A simple multiplication of such values would also permit the calculation of longer periods, eg. metonic cycles. Each symbol, or each ring of a symbol, represents a single day. Apart from ornament bands incorporating differing numbers of rings there are special symbols and zones in intercalary areas, which would have had to be added to or subtracted from the periods in question.

The system of this mathematical function incorporated into the artistic ornamentation has not been fully deciphered so far, but a schematic understanding of the Berlin Golden Hat and the periods it delimits has been achieved.

The Land of My Fathers

The Solar Wheel

The Celts were a largely agrarian folk, thus many of these traditions are still celebrated around rural Europe. Although their deities vary greatly with tribe, location and cultural period; their pantheons of Sun, Moon and Earth deities were relatively similar, at least until the Romans came. Until then, the Earth goddess had four calendrial aspects (as illustrated in my graphic above), corresponding to the solar wheel; the cycle of life, maturity, death and rebirth as they understood it in their agrarian wisdom. Death was regarded as a necessary process of renewal just as the frosts restore fecundity to the soil.

As the legend goes, the sun god, having fertilized the fallow earth in his underworld journey, ascends again after Winter Solstice. Beltaine (eve of April 30 - 1st of May) celebrates his virile youth and sexual union with the maiden earth mother. The "Gladyearhalf" was believed to be dominated by all manner of capricious light spirits and fae. Samhain (eve of October 31 - 1st of November), on the other hand, honours the Sun god's return with her (as the crone) to her underworld domain. It was believed that with this transition to the dark underworld regime of things, dark spirits and ghosts of the dead had the rule of the roost. Thus at feasts, the dead were ceremoniously welcomed to attend, with a place specially set for them at the table. In this time, leaders were also elected and critical decisions made- with all due respect that the ancestors be present. In Winter, death of course came as the Morrigan and her ravens, to collect the souls of the lost. Much like her Germanic equivalent, she appeared to the doomed as half beauty - half corpse.

At this point, I think it should be known that the idea of a Triple goddess and its alleged lunar associations are purely a romantic invention of Robert Graves poetical myth "The White goddess". Yet, as much as it has inspired much popular acclaim through such neopagan revivalists as Gerald Gardner and Margaret Murray; unfortunately, it serves very little in the way of actual Celtic culture. Rather, the moon was generally regarded as the daughter of the Earth Mother by the ancient Celts.

Another misconception is the attempt to delineate Celtic from Germanic as if for some form of racial pedigree, albeit Aryans or some paleolithic eve from the Basquelands. Even Irish folklore tells of the countless migrations and invasions from afar over the course of millennia, so it's not as if genealogy is that simple.

Barking Up the Wrong Tree

First of all I think it should be known, that witchcraft as an elite religious society of political influence in Europe began with the “Völvas” and “Seithkonas” of the Scandinavian Norse; just as the sibyls were to the Greeks and Romans. Before then such practices were largely shamanic and quite secularly tribal throughout Europe. While communities had their masters of ritual ceremony, this should not be confused with the practices of the Derwyd (wild man) or the Wicce (wise woman) who resided in sacred groves. What distinguished them apart from the rest was not some grimoire of ancient secret magical spells and rituals handed down through the ages. Sorry, but that is just pure Medieval fiction. It is not the spell or the instrument that carries the power, rather, how it resonates with the user and vice versa. In essence, these were people born with any number of outstanding psychic skills apt to be seen as quite advantageous to the community. As these skills are usually hereditary, that’s where the idea of the hereditary witch really comes from. To this, any oral traditions that accompany it, are second nature; as any true Seith carries the ancestral memory. As for what we aspire to define as “covens”, these were meant to be a mutual bond of people to collectively enhance the influence of the channeller. Nonetheless, this is not something you can instruct to people, especially when neither you or they have the ability to begin with, no matter how much they may agree or even exalt you as an “authority”. It has sod all to do with authority, rather, the ever so slightest ripple that makes the tsunami, the flap of the butterfly’s wings. A question of time and place.

The Merseburg Incantations

Allegedly two ancient Germanic charms written in a 9th century Carolingian (Old High German)
manuscript from Fulda. This document was discovered by Georg Waitz in the library of the Merseburg Cathedral in 1841 and published for the first time by Jacob Grimm in 1842.

Eiris sazun idisi
sazun hera duoder.
suma hapt heptidun,
suma heri lezidun,
suma clubodun
umbi cuoniouuidi:
insprinc haptbandun,
inuar uigandun.

Once sat women,
They sat here, then there.
Some fastened bonds,
Some impeded an army,
Some unraveled fetters:
Escape the bonds,
flee the enemy!

Phol ende uuodan uuorun zi holza.
du uuart demo balderes uolon sin uuoz birenkit.
thu biguol en sinthgunt, sunna era suister;
thu biguol en friia, uolla era suister;
thu biguol en uuodan, so he uuola conda:
sose benrenki, sose bluotrenki,
sose lidirenki:
ben zi bena, bluot zi bluoda,
lid zi geliden, sose gelimida sin.

Phol and Wodan were riding to the woods,
and the foot of Balder's foal was sprained
So Sinthgunt, Sunna's sister, conjured it.
and Frija, Volla's sister, conjured it.
and Wodan conjured it, as well he could:
Like bone-sprain, so blood-sprain,
so joint-sprain:
Bone to bone, blood to blood,
joints to joints, so may they be glued.

While it is assumed to be the earliest written record of a Germanic magical verse, the rarity of such early manuscripts is largely due to the simple fact that tribal cultures in continental Europe adhered exclusively to oral traditions. Runes and other petroglypic markings were still coveted as secret symbols of magical empowerment, at least until the Saxon and Norse invasions introduced more complex runic systems evolved for the sake of written language. In fact, written language was never considered a necessity until the Romans turned up. While some Celtic pantheons readily adapted to commercial influences of Roman culture, this was not the case for the Germans as they were more a transient folk of herders and hunters at the time- and why German remains a non-latin language. They simply could not be integrated, given their two entirely different perspectives of existence and self realization. For instance the word "Geist" in the German sense not only refers to a ghost, spirit, or soul spirit, but a conscious realization and communication of self and its will ability to design and manifest. In that sense "Zeitgeist" refers to the collective spirit and mentality of a particular period in time. In this it can be seen the German mind generally inclined to perceive existence in terms of spiritual relativity. In essence, spirit is not described as anything immaterial, rather, understood as a life force that generates the construct, the magical power to realize itself in the physical. Thus in a shamanic sense, the journey to the nine worlds represented a journey in conscious realization on so many levels, whereas Ragnarok illustrates that all things are subject to change in order to maintain continuity. As we say in Germany, "that which rests, rusts".

Now having given you some idea of the Germanic mentality, imagine the time Carolingian monks had trying to convert these people. It's one thing to conquer a foreign culture, but another to even get them to understand what you're talking about. Schools and churches only permitted the use of Latin, and a higher education in early Christian society inclined to be reserved either for orphans raised in monasteries, or the sons of rich nobles unfit for battle or marriage for that matter. In the feudal system, serfs were seldom allowed this "privilege" for obvious reasons.Aside from having to farm to earn their keep, they also had to defend the kingdom from rivals when called upon. Especially this left the monks with a problem of communicating their theology according to scriptural standards. Thus they made use of local folkloric allegory in the form of illustration, adapting folk heros and deities into the more devoted role of "patron saints", each represented by a particular animal familiar playing a part in the allegory.

Nonetheless, it didn't keep the common folk from carrying on their oral traditions, as much of their allegorical verse retained everything from herbal pharmacopea and agrarian wisdoms of planting, harvesting and weather reading, down to the treatment and use of materials for building- much of which was inseparable from their mythical associations. In that respect, Roman Catholicism ended up having to absorb it, if it was to be in anyway practical to the locals.

In the Merseburg Incantations, however, the second verse reads more like a Frankish reinterpretation of a Saxon galderdict to include the patrons of other tribes. In academic circles, however, the controversy is over the meaning of "Phol". No deity by that name could be found in any of the oral traditions.

Throughout the Teutoberger Forest in Westphalia there are countless remnants of neolithic grave chambers suggesting it was once central to an indigenous megalithic culture. Amongst these, in the vicinity of Bippen are the obscure remnants of a stone circle in what was once an open heath. This circle is one with a phallic center stone named the "Pfaohlenstein". This name has misled numerous academics to assume some association to the "Phol" in the Merseberg Incantations. There was even a bronze plaque mounted there on that assumption. While the Teutoberger Forest is also well known as an important heritage site of the Teutonic peoples to this day, the Pfaohlenstein reference is more apt to define "Phallic Stone" than some forgotten local deity. The fact is the west Germanic peoples never even had a fertility god named "Baldr". This is more likely to have been Frey, and this is where the problem began in course of Carolingian conversion. Namely trying to put Frey into a context of Jesus as illuminator and protector of his flock.

In Loving Memory of Mana

I Digress

If you find my views offensive, then bear in mind that I’m neither North American nor was I Christened, baptized or raised on any kind of Christian dogma. As a clairvoyant empath I was always in communion with some kind of spirit or another. Rather, the folklore I grew up with was quite adequate enough in explaining these things in detail. So, I have never seen the need to “belong” to anything else. When I say this, some will tell me I should expand my horizons, although I’ve travelled around and lived on both sides of the North Atlantic, and speak several languages- whereas most of them have never had this experience. Others will try to tell me I have ego issues for saying this, as if they don’t have them themselves. It only makes me wonder what other moral double standards they will try to lament me with next. The only reason I am laying it out plain for everyone to see, is because I’ve been dealing with it long and wide enough to know the difference. There was always some smug tosser trying to talk down “at” me as if I didn’t know better, so this is my revenge (HA!)-

A Pagan is:
1. A) An adherent of surviving local polytheist folk traditions (Mayan, Celtic, Roman etc.)
The belief in a system of diversely interacting divine hierarchies or pantheons on different levels of existence. These may be a major part of their heritage though not necessarily their geographical location, but being raised on its language and customs was enough to be their way of life.
B) An adherent of surviving local pantheist folk traditions (shamanism, animism, etc.). Generally the belief in a continual metamorphosis of diverse entities out of the integral will or “life force” of existence (namely the “collective unconscious” as Carl Jung so aptly put it), integral to the whole, regardless what we may try to interpret as good or evil. In essence, all things, regardless if biological or elemental, are regarded as entities in this process. Christians and New Agers often try to relate the idea of an integral spirit to monotheist “God”, but fail to recognize its general ambivalence and multifariousness in the scheme of things; namely what we define as the “crooked path”. Like our polytheistic counterparts, we take pride in our heritage, thus tend not to fare well with Neopagans and New Agers making too many presumptuous claims about the “old ways”. These are wisdoms of survival sense, in the form of allegorical verse because we’re not in the habit of lugging books around on our ventures. Rather, having ancestral connections with certain places and its memories, it is wise to respectfully consult with the wights of the land one ventures into.

2. Neopaganism; the revival and adaptation of the previous two to popular esoteric trends. This is usually the case in locations where the aforementioned folk traditions no longer exist or are too far removed from their source to be fully understood- especially because of language barriers. This is usually compensated by incorporating hermetic mysticism which, based on the Kabbalah, provides a universal system of magical formulas in which seemingly anything can be integrated. This actually forms the esoteric basis of ancient biblical practices that were forbidden by the Nicene Creed as witchcraft and removed from Christian theology. Thus it tends to be favoured by Christians who feel the need for something more involved than mere humble faith and selfless subservience. In this case the practitioners are defined as pagan by the fact that witchcraft is a forbidden practice. In the same sense, its’ more freelance practitioners often express their pride in defying Christian authority. Of course, the “darker” and more “forbidden” the practice, the more intriguing the defiance. Unfortunately, in any hierarchy that defiance can easily turn into its own gospel thumping piousness. It happens in Wicca with the Rede and the Three Fold Law and I’ve also seen it in Odinism, with the Havamal as its gospel, especially the subjugation of women and the emphasis on Odin as the “Allfather”. It’s also an attitude that could easily be interpreted as a form of Nazism. I hate Nazis because they stuck my grandfather in labour camp for the free thinker he was. They stuck my mother in the Luftwaffe, because she was underage with no one left to look after her. They tried to murder her in Hameln for going out with my Anglo-Canadian father (he was a dual citizen). Thanks to the subsequent brain damage, I have never known her to be sound of mind.

3. New age spirituality; a whole esoterical “melting pot” of popular spiritual concepts from around the world, on the premise of divine oneness in universal consciousness or “all gods are one”- unfortunately, often with very little actual regard for cultural diversity, let alone, individuality. In essence, they not only call themselves pagan but every other belief or religion under the sun, especially Native American. Yet in the same breath, they’ll bewail the ever decreasing biodiversity on this planet…and when I say “popular concepts” I mean the consumer wholesale of foreign practices and wonder cures as a trendy fashion statement; with only a superficial understanding of the actual language and customs. Outside of that, they really couldn’t give a toss about the rest of the world unless for some fashionable crusade to prove just how “humane”, politically or morally correct they are. Heaven forbid if you try to spoil that illusion with any “negative” facts. On the other hand, that kind of self- righteousness always plays on some premise of impending doom where the chosen can be saved by the visions of some utopian new world order, under the divine guidance of the cosmic master race of purest spiritual being. Umm…thanks, but no thanks, I can think of better ways to indulge my hedonistic ego.

4. Anyone who isn’t christened, baptized or committed to a religious institution, provided they at least believe in their own psychic ability to effect causality, albeit for better or worse. Sometimes existentialists will use this as a premise to call themselves pagan, but theirs are usually socio-political philosophies that don’t apply very well to natural causes.

Aerial Phenomena and the Human Psyche

Often referred to as UFOs or „unidentified flying objects“ these can be attributed to various geophysical phenomena, as I have listed here:

1. Earth lights; geostatic plasma discharges that usually occur when quartz and metal rich ground strata come under tectonic stress, especially around volcanoes and tectonic fault lines.
2. Swamp gas; stagnant bodies of water rich in decomposing biomatter, produce a great deal of methane and phosphorous. Rich concentrations can ignite, shooting off fire balls with a loud bang. This igniting can also occur deep in ancient peat moors, releasing some pretty lethal gases, if disturbed.
3. Water sprites; water, especially with high levels of salinity has a great capacity to suspend charges on its surface. Under certain atmospheric conditions, these charges can reach levels where sparkles or veins of blue or spectral light appear to dance on the surface.
4. St. Elmo’s Fire; similar to water sprites but more an atmospheric phenomena of supercharged moisture under turbulence.
5. Atmospheric light refractions; namely things like sundogs, partial light halos from sunlight, moon or even bright starlight refracted by thin cloud.
6. Upper atmospheric sprites; electrostatic plasma discharges from the ozone layer into the ionosphere. This can also include localized auroral effects from solar radiation ionizing the atmosphere.
7. Lenticular clouds; the effect of convectional air pockets usually over mountain peaks.
8. Mirage; thermal air conditions, heat domes, etc. Sometimes the lens effect of such conditions can be so great that mirror images of cities have been seen over the arctic. At night such heat domes over cities can mirror the street lights below. At the horizon, air density can oblate the light of a bright star or planet. The same distortions can happen to the lights of low flying aircraft in the distance.

Experimental aircraft, rockets, hot air and weather balloons, even passing satellites, are often mistaken for alien craft. Remove all the misidentifications and you’re left with no more than 2% cases of possible “unknowns” in the global scheme of things. Unfortunately, these statistics are also hampered by the credibility of the observer. In Dr. Jacques Vallee’s book “Messengers of Deception”, he points out many of the religious cults that evolved out of the deleterious want of spiritual guidance and metamorphosis into “supreme cosmic beings”, often the case of narcissistic personality and other psychological overcompensations of deep childhood traumas. He also points out how this psychological effect has been exacerbated by certain counterintelligence agencies experimenting in psychological warfare. No, this is not something out of a Tom Clancy novel. In 1979 at the International UFO Symposium in Switzerland, several serious scientific researchers basically told J. Allen Hynek that none of his “close encounter” data could be considered valid if the alleged contactees had been hypnotically regressed to obtain these testimonies. It had come to the attention of the scientific community that the CIA was using these regressions in NICAP to experiment with inducing false memories. It was bad enough that religious cults were using much the same methodologies to indoctrinate their followers. Hence, hypnosis and cult hysteria (ie. rapture) are taboo to any serious researcher in the field of aerial phenomena. This does not say that sightings of the unknown are just a figment of the imagination, but one should use a healthy degree of scrutiny over the nature of what one is mentally processing. Indeed, as pagans, we know the consequences of trying to read too much into a visionary or psychic experience especially if psychogens are used. As you know, yogic method (ie. Chakra stimulation) is also used to alter serotonin and dopamine levels in the body to induce euphoria. Personally, I’ve found euphoria only clouds the psychic impression I am processing, especially empathic signatures. It’s much the same as trying to process this information when you are in a deeply emotional state.

Nonetheless, despite all wishful thinking, there are still the odd valid sightings but they are few and far between. In many of his books, Dr. Vallee expresses the hypothesis that these may not be alien at all, but phenomena of parallel reality much like the classic legends of the fae folk. Indeed there are many uncanny parallels there that fascinate me much more than strange lights in the sky.

Indeed this and the aforementioned natural phenomena such as plasma discharges and tidal force effects are also witnessed where such ghostly events and manifestations seem to occur. Some explorers may refer to these as “portals” whereas others may describe it as a “thinning of the veil of reality”, either way though, it involves transdimensional overlap where we can see everything from phantoms of the past to strange beings of all kinds. Different cultural folklores are full of these diverse testimonies, some imaginative, some quite personable and some quite nasty if you don’t tread carefully.

Finally, I see alot of various photographic defects on the internet being passed off as spirit orbs, ghost lights and etherial entities. If you have any real experience with professional photography, you know perfectly well how dust, moisture, smoke or an errant camera strap can cause these things. In fact, it’s amazing what you can do with photoshop and a few morphing tools these days.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Vall%C3%A9e

The Dynamics of the Human Psyche

Sentience walks a delicate balance between reason and desire, pleasure and pain. However, reason is not necessarily rational nor is desire necessarily emotional. Rather, we assume this is the case from what society suggests to us as being the norm. It is only recently that medical research has begun to understand the biomechanics of what is really going on in our heads, and it is by no means as linearly ordered as we would like to think it is. The different mechanisms at play in the whole process are pretty much random fire like it is with anything else in existence. Why? Because a wider spread of variations has the greater chance of reaching its target. That's just the way it is with the law of dynamics. Change is stability, or, as we say in Germany: That which rests rusts. Say the same word a hundred times in one sitting and at some point it suddenly becomes meaningless. In the case of the human psyche, get too fixed on an idea, and at some point you simply lose the plot.

One must bear in mind that three factors determine evolution: heredity, environment and circumstance. Take a look at the haplogroup maps of the human genome and you can see how this process shaped what we are today. What amuses me is the foolish human want of the ideal, when nature actually abhors such absolutes, and that with the most remarkable ability to side with the hidden flaw. When we think in terms of the food chain, we often forget that our greatest nemesis can often be no bigger than a singular cell that can replicate itself a million fold within minutes. That's just the way it is with natural selection.

I hear some say that psychic ability is the work of the right hemisphere, while others suggest it's centered in the frontal lobe, or third eye, as they call it. Rather, I think it lies more in the balance of the whole system, especially it's characteristic identity and gestalt in that interaction, within itself and beyond.

Congratulations!

...Little Miss Strange, goddass of the temple of Narcissus. That blatant trolling number on our site well and truly takes the Stockholm Syndrome to new heights of the demented.  Since when does disability grant you carte blanche to go dumping your psychobabble on us, as if we should feel so obliged? Are we your minions? I think not! So someone saw through all the cult psychology to the real motives of your gestalt role plays. No one would have noticed, let alone who or why until you came crashing in with that typical old ploy- forever trying  make the accused look like the accusors. That is, after all, what all that cult positivity NLP crap amounts to. Poor little deluded domina, I guess you really got ahead of yourself that time and stuck both feet in your mouth. Let's get one thing straight here, your self-righteousness, there isn't anyone trying to compete. What you're really trying to say is that you can't sucker us into your cheesy narcissistic crusade. Wake up, smell the coffee, and go nail yourself to a cross elsewhere. We're not interested in your bullshit. As they say, not everything with two cheeks is necessarily a face.

A New Narcissist in Town

Indeed the 500 pop ups of gestalt posturing says it all. However, if this doesn't leave the desired impressions, there's always the suggestive little cordialities and other seemingly charitable offerings. The trendy positivity NLP with all the catchy occult teasers- what wannabe-exalted could possibly resist the urge? Of course she says she has nothing to hide. That is, after all, the object of the game; to get in your face with every lurid detail of her self-expression. Cue the insatiable laments of "do you recognize me", amidst the sycophantic praise from her minions. All the love and light for the obvious lack of any real worldly insight. But of course being put on a pedestal is not what she wants. She wants to get so far under your skin, it's rather like a bad case of  Rocky Mountain spotted fever. It's not the sexual attitudes, but the pathos behind them that comes across like something insidious. As if profligate is another word for open-minded. Talking from the dirty undergaunch of a bible-thumping valley hicktown just doesn't cut it with me. I've been there too. Is it really any wonder why most prefer to leave in silence? This surreptitious muppet will exploit it any way she can to look so congenially misunderstood. It's really all about reverse psychology in the old guru to neophyte gestalt- heaven forbid being "negative" when all she wants is our best. At least where I hail from, the authorities are not so ignorant of such subliminal honey traps. Be careful what you wish for.

Continuity of Spirit

Consider that the continuum is an integral system where everything has its own deterministic "identity code". What is meant by "deterministic" is that there are three factors on which evolution operates- heredity, environment, and circumstance. These are familiar to us as DNA, molecular lattice symmetry, and the laws of causality as seen in quantum mechanics- to name a few. These are things that randomly form a dynamic "memory" of constructs relative to particular causalities in the spacetime continuum. Take for instance the sabre tooth cat. It went extinct at the end of one ice age, yet reappeared consistently in similar conditions through out the earth's history- in different places, adapting variations on this theme wherever the opportunity ideally arose. In this, it can be seen that nature not only possesses a degree of memory, but a general impulse to opportunistically fill any gap in the whole equation with whatever works. In essense, the memory remains dynamically consistent with opportunity. Of course the more elaborate the opportunity, the more elaborate the deliberation. While the construct may change, making certain designs no longer viable under the circumstances, that does not mean that particular memory or deliberation is forever lost. Even if our sun were to reach the end of its cycle, that information continues to trial itself somewhere else in the continuum under similar conditions.

Now having said that, it takes no great leap of faith to realize that “identity”, at some point, inevitably possesses its own capacity of sentient deliberation. Thus, given the multiversality of the continuum, the manner of an identity’s manifestation in local causality is best described as a quantum holographic “fetch”. This is what Buddhism attempts to define in terms of “karma” and reincarnation, however, doesn’t quite explain the fact that reality as we know it, is only one of infinite probable alterrealities (see Schrödinger’s Cat theory). In Germanic folklore, this is related to as the 9 worlds, whereas “örlog” describes that fundamental identity out of which we are born. “Wyrd” is what we do with it. Throwing all that into the multifarious equation certainly boggles the mind, but then it’s no surprise that in certain places where static forces collide, we find ourselves plagued with all manner of “otherworldly” phenomena. Is it also any surprise that some of us have the sentience enough to see beyond that temporal veil, or that our dreams can be so bizarrely hyperdimensional? As for spirits and other manifestations of borderline reality, some are actual biological lifeforms in a slightly different order of time, whereas others are kinetic manifestations of will caught in their own alterrealities; some voluntarily, some unwittingly, some collectively. The kinetic ones conveniently thrive on the powerful emotions of their human hosts, as a most viable source, because their forms lack sufficient matter to maintain that static state on their own for very long. Thus some of us may perceive such a ghost as a fleeting shadowy form because of this draw on those kinetic forces. This form may even be seen imminent to the death of that person by clairvoyants able to see beyond the “here and now”. Either way, it also accounts for the chill one experiences of their presence.

Disambiguation of the Ostara Festival

Before some of you start brow-beating me with your revelations about the Wiccan wheel of the year, bear in mind that you are actually borrowing from ancient AGRARIAN traditions native to where I live, regardless what Catholicism had tried to make of them...and despite all popular belief, the Ostara festival does not fall on the Vernal Equinox, rather the full moon following. This has perfectly practical reasons- as any rural inhabitant worth their salt here, knows that nature operates not only by solar cycles, but particularly lunar cycles within that seasonal frame. Generations of knowledge and experience handed down to us in allegorical fables and song. Its mythical spirits served to illustrate those integral elements and driving forces upon which our survival and the continuity of existence so depends. Nature is our temple and the feasts a celebration of its cycles, in which death is still seen as returning fertility to the fallow earth for the cycle to renew itself. Thus the term “Spring” is quite self explanatory. The sleeper awakens and begins to bud. It all appears slow at first, until the buds burst open. What follows, seems almost explosive, the power of youth running amok. It’s all about the life force of the earth under the effect of the growing solar presence counter-balanced by the subtler attractions of the moon associated with water. In the village I live, the old tradition of well decorating persists. It bears a sign reading “Water is life”, surrounded with garlands of boxbush dotted with colourfully hand-painted eggs, symbolizing every aspect of rebirth. Atop the well-marker, the garlands form a crown. It is the crowning of new life. Ostara is the maiden aspect of the earth, the time when the first young bunnies appear, hopping around in the fields playfully. In the feast, roast young rabbit is a reminder of our ancestors’ hunger for fresh meat after the long winter.

In old high German April was called "Ostermonat". However, as far as etymology is concerned, the root "Ost" means "East". Thus some names describe the dawn, whereas others refer to a mother goddess of this association, so subsequently, this can lead to much confusion in interpretation. The Norse had scarcely any such associations compared to the much earlier Celto-Germanic diaspora along the old southerly migration routes of the Rhine and the Danube where agriculture prospered. The Germanic Frigg, is quite a different story. From the union of Frigg and Odin come four sons; Balder, Hödur, Hermor, Bragi- each in effect playing a part in the seasonal changes- as do the Valkyries, who are shapeshifters. However, in the Alps, Berchta and Wotan as shapeshifting wilderness spirits, appear to be their surviving shamanic forerunners. By the time the Anglo-Saxons (who were actually largely Belgae) appeared in Britain, the Ostara traditions would have already been an integral part of their agrarian lifestyle. One thing is certain; the concept is an astrological one that traces back to the Bronze Age, and not necessarily a separate entity- rather, a seasonal attribute of the earth goddess at least before the Romans came. The Romans with their multitude of household deities, in many cases brought about the fashionable diffusion of pantheons to meet the trend.

Now having said that, let it be understood, that to pay tribute to a goddess by virtue of religious identification rather than realize the true spirit of her manifestation, serves little more than selfish idolatry. Respect that these things have quite a personality of their own, and that for some very essential/potential reasons.

The Infernal Question

Are you pagan, or just on a mission for your own secret empire? Where is learning in the sycophancy of rhetorical proof of faith? Are you here to be yourself, or just some elite fashion statement of the popular consensus? Are you here to discuss yours or anybody else's experiences or just revel in the shear enigma of it? Are you really exploring the unknown or just trying to escape some ugly reality. Can you step outside of the dream and honestly ask yourself, just what is it that you are really looking for? It seems some have forgotten what Pagan Underworld is really about.

Well, as I might expect, some git is on my case because it would appear I called his bluff.  Whatever his convictions, he completely ignored the fact that I'm neither American nor living in North America, thus couldn't possibly relate to his political attitudes, so it was bound to come to a head. As if that wasn't enough the bugger then fraudulently tried to make an issue of my testimony in the abuse group. I'm sure my family would be really impressed to have someone tell them none of it ever happened. Should it be any wonder why I get so angry when people play on the threat of exclusion as a means of emotional blackmail? Under those circumstances his threat of leaving the site can only be a welcoming thought to all concerned.

Pagan Unity is an Oxymoron

Why is it that so many eclectic wiccans talk like theirs is the one and only center of the pagan universe, the majority rule, that if you don’t speak in their terms and play their game you don’t belong? The preaching of “tolerance”, assuming to be the authority by virtue of “true universal unity” justifying the right to redefine any culture they want to fit this ideology. Indeed, by much the same proxy, no matter what they call themselves, it’s all the same- completely oblivious to any real ethnic distinctions. Yet in the same breath they’ll lament the human destruction of biodiversity. Ah, but don’t they just love to feed me the excuse that I should be so open-minded to such blatant pedantry. As if all the places I’ve lived, all the cultures I’ve experienced and all the different languages I have spoken, just can’t measure up to the shear sublime euphoria of it all. Sorry, but Disneyland just isn’t the real world. Heaven forbid, trying to pull that one in a truly foreign country, and then wonder why wars start. As the saying goes: the best way to start realizing your dreams is to wake up. At this rate it seems the global village conspires to turn it all into one big third world shanty town so the rest can eat Chinese at McDonald’s. Just where is the spiritual meaning in that? If I wanted that I would have had myself baptized. Man, did they ever sell you lot up the Jordan. Same shit, different name. Come on, this isn't about some idyllic universal order of things, rather, it's becoming more like the borg usurping other worlds just to assimilate them. Nature, tooth and claw.

New Age, ah but is it really?

Born out of the theosophies of the Age of Enlightenment, its roots may go back as far as such visionary esoteric alchemists as Paracelsus or even Christian Rosenkreuz. However, given the shear bulk of technological developments over the course of the 19th century, many were inclined to some rather utopian views of its impact on modern society. Perhaps the most notorious of these visionaries was Helena Blavatsky with her book on racial cosmology, called "The Secret Doctrine". Unfortunately it was particularly the assumption of certain skin colours and physiognomies being genealogically advanced, that inspired too many supremacist ideals of a new world order- not just amongst the Nazis, but the Stalinists as well...but aside from all that, the big problem with Theosophy and the esoteric movements that follow it, is that unhealthy habit of rejecting anything that doesn't conform to the "ideal", no matter how dangerously contrary to reality. Yet here they are in the 21st century, still rattling on about Dravidian conspiracies and Atlantean messages of cosmic salvation from the Pleiades on their smoking computers, without a even a clue how the damn things work. Gee, aren't we making progress then?

The Basic rules of Magic

While paganism is essentially nature based, that means understanding that it's not about oneness; but realizing the many different parts that make the whole dynamic. Dynamic is the keyword here, because no matter what you would like to believe, existence is based on some very fundamental laws of motion. However, there is more to the mechanics of it than the polarity of opposites- rather, the kinetics of intermediate forces that keep the two in tandem. This is where the "magical three" comes into play that alot of novices tend to misinterpret as the "three fold law". Rather, this should be understood that no system can be absolute, but is always subject to change. In essence, continuity is in the ability to adapt and diverge from the binary into the infinitesimal; like the sprout that breaks the seed or the flap of the butterfly's wings that over the course of least resistence makes the tsunami. Nature abhors perfection and the more you try to confine a system, the more it becomes the focus of forces in entropy. In essence, opposites in cancellation. Wisdom is knowing where to set the wheels in motion for an inevitable outcome. A question of time and place. Yes, clairvoyant ability is an asset, but then a good instinctive sense of direction and timing will do.