Little Innovations

Tiny innovations that may seem insignificant make all the difference in spicing up activities that have become routine, chore-like. One of the wonderful aspects of Donald Michael Kraig's book is that he opened the door to precisely that. He invited the reader to innovate, to experiment. This is the way to avoid the boredom and mindlessness that is spiritual death. The mind has to remain engaged, because it is so accustomed to being so. It must be given something to do. If not, daydreaming or otherwise wandering of attention ensues. The practice loses significance, meaning. One might as well not practice at all in that instance. Creativity must be employed, given the green light. There is no one right way.

Reading about the foibles and little failures of the originators of G.D. practice was at first disillusioning and disheartening, but then upon reflection, liberating, because it means there is no one formula, but there are formulae, and the human beings of a hundred years ago were just that, human beings, not that much better on balance than any of us, and certainly less, now that they are dust. I think there is more room for innovation than many suspect, and that hidebound adherence to tradition has pitfalls. A framework helps, but upon the framework, many different colors can work.

Celebrities' Cluelessness

I read that Myley Cyrus's house burned down in the fires sweeping California. I also read that these fires are periodic in nature, a natural feature of the landscape, and that they have been happening for hundreds of years. Perhaps the thought is not charitable, but I wonder why the hell these fancy big-time celebs did not know what time of day it was before they went investing millions of dollars on a palace destined to be incinerated? Why do human beings fail to perform due diligence? I will tell you why. Due diligence is something that highly sensitive individuals perform. Careful, cautious, detail-oriented, or quite the opposite of many of the world's celebs and needless to say, our President, Donald J. Trump, who is about as sensitive and detail-oriented as a lump of clay.

No one is glad for any disaster nor delights in the suffering of others, but I wish humans would get real. Study the earth, do not build in zones prone to earthquake, hurricane, fire, or similar natural disasters, and do not build in zones likely to be attacked by other countries. This is all self-evident, not rocket science in any way, shape, or form, and bi-partisan. I was against rebuilding New Orleans, because I believe New Orleans has a destiny that lies below the sea level, as do many of our coastal cities. We need to make peace with the fact that global warming will continue, even accelerate, unabated, and that the coastal cities will become underwater monuments to a civilization that once was. In reality, no federal or state funding should be allocated to coastal regions subject to flooding. If the locals want to waste their money, that is their own prerogative, but the money of others should not be wasted.

The Desk and Florence Farr

I dreamt I was working on a desk, trying to sort out a problem with its configuration, much as I had been out at work just yesterday. In my dream, a lady with long blondish hair tried to help, but she kept getting stuck inside the desk. It was a big desk with a complicated mechanism for adding and removing components and crawlspaces in which people were supposed to maneuver. I don't really remember much more than that, just struggling to work on sorting out a desk with a helpful lady, not too dissimilar, I might add, from the ladies I have been reading about in "Women of the Golden Dawn: Rebels and Priestesses: Maud Gonne, Moina Bergson Mathers, Annie Horniman, Florence Farr" by Mary K. Greer.

Mary K. Greer is quite the scholar, no two ways about it, and here I had been formerly impressed by Donald Tyson. Well, Tyson's adulation of Mathers is now called into question by all sorts of revelations. Mathers does not seem like such a great character really in this book.

I think the lady in my dream may have been a thought-form of Florence Farr, who impressed me the most. She died of breast cancer in Ceylon in 1917. Mathers on the other hand died of the Flu epidemic of 1918. It would certainly seem that the practice of magic has no power against physical maladies such as cancer and other diseases. I think the evidence is overwhelming that if you want to be healed, medical science is the first stop and the last stop.

I read about Florence's troubles and travails in the above book. It seems to me she had a rather hard life, short on money much of the time, and although a successful actress, once she got into her fifties, no theatre was interested in her anymore, which is the usual case in acting. The young are what people want to go to see, the young and the beautiful, for their intensity and energy. Of course, the same is true in every profession.

I would have liked to have known Florence Farr. She had an affair with William Butler Yeats as well as Bernard Shaw, led the G.D. in London, and fought with Mathers and held her own ground. She was interesting and powerful in her own right, but also seems to me to have been gentle and kind.

Look Beyond the Human Factor

The most distressing thing about religions and other spiritual systems are what I call the human factor. Get humans involved, stuff gets messy. I just get nauseated thinking about some of the shenanigans I read about from time to time, done by erstwhile "spiritual" leaders supposedly in touch with their "Higher Selves" and/or divinity. Just a big "Hmph!" comes to mind. Self-delusion, more like, than divinity. But I imagine that Republicans must get nauseated too, if they ever examine their Republican idols up close. Trump, for instance. If I were a Republican, Trump would give me great unease.

I've suffered heartache learning all the backstory to the Golden Dawn in its various incarnations and revolutions throughout the last century and up to the present day. I wish I could read about calm, wise, mature leaders, but instead I read about petty, vindictive, selfish drama queens just striving for power and control over others. But you know, humans will be humans, and in point of fact, the early organization was composed of actual drama queens, that is, people involved in theatre. Of course they would opt for drama in every facet of their lives. That is their bread and butter, their chosen mode of living. So, those that followed appear to have been cast in the same mold, no?

I think I have to separate the system from the people espousing it. The people are often bickering, fighting among themselves, because let's face it, that's what we humans do. Maybe that's what we humans do best, is to fight among ourselves. The idea of cooperating is really strange and foreign, isn't it? Some liberal, hippy nonsense brought on by marijuana, right? So let's compete, why don't we, argue, fight and be at each other's throats all the time, because we don't really want to get along, do we?

For my own part, I think spirituality is best kept private, even secret to an extent, because it is at risk of great disillusionment and disenchantment when other people get involved. Always and forever, people strive to make a damn living out of spirituality, and that's where all the problems come in--with the money!

Racism Turns on Its Own Race

WW2 killed off more white people than the Crusades. White racism just never made any sense at all. White racism is just about hating other white people that don't believe the exact same thing.

If You Gave These Guys a Million Dollars

It is demoralizing to read about these pointless mass shootings in what is otherwise a wealthy, strong and wonderful country. Our people do not deserve to be exposed to such horror. If these amok angry white male shooters were given a million dollars and left on a deserted island with all the supplies and equipment they might ever want, they could never in all their lifetime put together anything approaching the killing power of a modern handgun. They are cavemen, stupid and desolate evil-doers that always gravitate to the tools of destruction and chaos, demonic spirits predestined to cause pain and suffering wherever they go. The best solution really would be to round them up and place a bullet through their head before they do the same to others. The trick lies in identifying them, like a needle in a haystack. For that reason, once a shooter goes amok, their parents should be seized and DNA forcibly extracted from their blood to determine genetic markers that might identify worthless murdering scum in the future. Also, it would be as well to sterilize their natural parents, and possibly extended family as well to the fifth generation, to prevent further calamities down through the generations. The human race has a problem of hygiene, in that anyone with functioning genitals procreates and then lets society nurture their offspring. Society did nurture the worthless shooters everywhere and paid the price. What needs to be done is get wise about human procreation and stop the shooters before they are even conceived. Stop them being born. Quality control. Just as we want quality control in manufacturing, so too is there desperate need for quality control in human procreation. Worthless scum cause 99% of the problems in the world.

Spirituality, Why?

One big reason, seldom mentioned, for belief in God/gods, spirits, and other entities not corporeal, and the desire to communicate with them and nurture relationships, is that our fellow human beings prove, in the long term, unsatisfactory in one way or the other. Who among us has a friend that is trustworthy in all matters? Reading the biographies of famous and not-so-famous folks from a hundred years ago, I am struck by how much treachery, deceit and backstabbing is commonplace. Confide in one's closest friend, and those confidences become marketable. Little or nothing is kept secret, people always look to what can profit them or cast them in a better light on the stage. The truth is probably closer to the observation that no one has any friends at all, only acquaintances that find one useful for one purpose or another, for a temporary period of time in the present.

Humans being faithless and fickle, the thinker turns to the nonhuman, divinity or at any rate higher emanations from the Universe that can instruct, enlighten and ennoble. One can analyze such practices ad nauseum, but in the end, if they are useful, then common sense councils practice. Perhaps a great many things that humans say and do are not based upon reason or upon anything that can stand up to the cold light of scrutiny, but we do them anyway. Humans are animals facing down approaching pain and death not far off in the future.

In regards to religious and spiritual practice, I repeat the Wiccan creed, "An' if it harm none, do wot thy will." That is a mighty and comprehensive moral code compressed into a few words. Harming none includes self, of course, and all human beings, and some Wiccans even include animals, and some extend the "franchise" further to plants and even the planet Earth, although I do not know how we can harm the planet. Harm ourselves through pollution, perhaps, but the planet cares not, I think. Even if all life perished, mighty Earth would still be around.

I think if everyone abided by the above creed, then the human species would come out of our present problems all right. I love the simplicity of it, so much better than a weighty book or complex moral code. Nine words. An excellent litmus test for any decision. I think where other religionists would dispute would be that they have additional Commandments, and want to redefine "harm" to mean more complicated forms of harm. I suppose there is a lot of room for debate over the meaning of that word. So much argument boils down to semantics. What does "harm" mean? Then, too, what is "will?" How does one know what one's will truly is, and is one competent enough and well-informed enough to make decisions? I suppose no one sentence will ever satisfy, nor any one religion, but the human race demands a buffet of religions, lots of variety to choose from at all times. Some people change religions like they change clothes.

At any rate, I feel at peace in Churches and with Christianity, but also with the Wiccan and related practices. I am more at peace with spirituality and religion than I have ever been. I think it is due to being exposed to so many good people that really believe. One judges by one's experiences, and I have known many good believers.

America's Voting Quagmire

The U.S. learned nothing from Florida's voting fiasco in 2000. Our voting process is still antiquated, inaccurate, prone to lengthy delays not just for voters but for counters, and prone to corruption. Apparently, the corrupt politicians in Washington, D.C., don't care because they profit from the corruption. I don't see much momentum from either party to fix voting, and it has been broken for decades, probably forever. The U.S. could do a lot better where voting is concerned. Every time there is an election, it seems to devolve into a finger-pointing contest with lawyers, lawsuits and protests.

Don't Know Much

I read, see and hear, sometimes with envy, other times with admiration, folk that are doing much better than I, in the sense of achieving. More eloquent, more beautiful, more intense, stronger, smarter, or more skilled, or perhaps (Heaven forbid!) all of the above. Well, there's a ranking system everywhere, and no one is exempt. Even the strong must, in time, compare themselves to the stronger and come up short. There are comparisons to be made, not just among the current cohort, but with the dead greats (not to be confused with the Grateful Dead) such as Shakespeare and so on. There are comparisons to be made, finally, with computers, with other animals and finally, with the Divine, besides which no mortal can truly compare. This, then, is a meditation on Humility. 'Tis well to be humble, because even the finest form among us pales before the Divine. Then, too, there is the annoying fact we are dust, most of us, before we reach triple digits in years. I expect to be joining the boneyard in about the next thirty years or so, if I'm lucky.

Avoid Local Stores

At this time, quality can be found online. Local stores stock garbage, price it exorbitantly, and hope against hope that clueless know-nothings will buy the garbage. When, on rare occasion, by accident, an item of quality somehow finds it way onto the racks, then the local store charges twice the price of the online venue. That is why all purchasing must be done online by anyone with sense. If you want to stock your life with junk, then sure, buy from one of the retail chains. Watch your money go bye-bye as the cheap trash reveals itself for what it is in time. The retail chains hope to prolong their unnecessary survival by cheating the most vulnerable consumers out of their money. They have no plan at all for long-term survival, and it is only a matter of time before they all suffer the fate of Sears and K-mart.

Best Dream of 2018

I had my best dream of 2018 last night, best because it was vivid. I was at a party, and by that I mean a pleasant social gathering with good and gentle folk, and I was seated beside a large and talkative, crafty woman with many ideas and much wit, who was talking to me about things I no longer remember upon waking. It is often the case, that I dream of being talked to, even at great length, and when I awake, can remember naught but the faintest outline, or possibly a single phrase. I do recall one of her friends bringing me a good drink (non-alcoholic, quite naturally, as I no longer indulge in intoxicants), and then she turned to me and with some charming witticism, induced me to rise and fetch her a drink. She said she liked a soda called "The Bossman," which I recognized as a sweet citrus carbonated soda.

Upon waking, probably due to allergies, this being ragweed season, I thought she might be my boss, for one, a natural enough assumption, or else a thought-form based upon the detritus floating through my mind, and possibly an amalgam combining my boss with a charming personality I watched on YouTube not long ago, a young, black woman talking about her religion, Wicca, in mild, gentle and reasonable language. I liked her and thought she was smart.

I don't recall anything of deep or profound meaning in the dream, but I did enjoy a rather nice conversation with an interesting entity in my dream, even if I remember little more than a dozen words of what was said! (And of those words, some permutation of "fetch me a drink" was the gist!)

I do think one of the most potent attractions in the practice of Wicca and other minority religions is quite simple and based in psychology. The mere fact that a religion does not have many millions of pushy advocates on its behalf is the attraction. That it can be practiced in solitary is quite useful. That it is adaptable and open to a certain degree of experimentation and improvisation is almost unique. Christianity and Islam have both become rather stodgy by comparison, full of rules and group-think and group-activities. The room for personal revelation and personal relationships to the Divine seems limited and dismal in those religions, which surrender spiritual power from the individual to the shaman. Where power and politics get involved, spirituality flees. Also there is the fact that, being new, Wicca has not accumulated, yet, such a large number of terrible scandals, and may it never do so, but I fear, in time, it too will succumb to human frailty, as humans do what humans sometimes do, which is to fail. Yes, everyone and everything suffers a setback once in a while, that is the nature of things.

I am more an admirer of Wicca than a practitioner. The ambivalence I feel for Nature is the main reason. Wicca is really tied to Nature, to the observance of days on a calendar and a rather sentimental and emotional regard for things living and dead. The great outdoors and to a lesser extent, environmentalism, both political and personal, are both key to understanding and participating in the faith. I have never cared a fig for the phase of the Moon and doubt I could start now. To me, the Moon and indeed the planets are abstract notions. I admire them rather vaguely and am aware they are there, and like to learn about them, but don't really see them as influencing me that much. After all, they are material. If the Moon could influence me, then how much more so could the floor beneath my feet, and perhaps I should study the phases of the floor, and learn what angle it lies at, and the composition thereof. No, I dwell in the realm of thoughts and really always have and never liked camping or spending too much time in the rough. I hated going camping in Scouts. I like all of the conveniences of civilization and the wondrous artificial comfort zones we have created with our science. Science is the magic of the material plane we dwell in, whereas magic is of the spirit.

Of course, another big attraction to Wicca for many women is simply that there are many female Wiccans, and the relatively smaller number (I imagine) of male Wiccans tend to be feminists or at least open to the notion of equality between the sexes. I do not know what qualifies a man to be termed a feminist in the eyes of a female feminist; perhaps no man could qualify. It is true that some feminists really are down on men, but this is probably because of the misbehavior of so many men, the brutish louts, who behave with reckless criminality and abuse and outrage the gentle sex. There must be some reason that all the wars have been waged by mostly men, and mostly men inhabit the prisons of the world and do the violent crimes of the world. That reason has to do with testosterone and the negative aspects to it that are reinforced by culture and upbringing. I am not sure what the solutions may be, but the best, it seems to me, is to evolve a sexless mortal, with neither gender, for what need have we of gender, if a laboratory offers a better option. But that is far into the future, when I have already checked out, I think.

Republican Hypocrisy

Every little thing that the long-aggrieved, much-complaining Republicans griped about the Clintons and Obama, Trump does a thousandfold worse. The list of his corruptions could fill this blog. Basically, when one wants to know the ideal Republican, study Trump, that is what the Republican strives to become. It is their very highest spiritual ideal, what they strive for in their fondest prayers, the summit of their aspirations. To become Trump: to cheat, lie and swindle on a grand scale, is what every Republican wants to do, in the secret truth of their soul. Failing that, they reach for the gun, go out and kill the innocent, acting out their fondest fantasies of murder, much-repeated fantasies that represent the summit of their desolate imaginations.

Stark Choice in 2018

Trump's victory in 2016 was the ringing of the bell of Hell, summoning up the infernal legions and gathering all evil unto him, awakening the criminals, murderers and all men harboring evil in their hearts, followed by the hand-wringing of angels. In 2018, the American people have been presented two stark choices for the November election:

-hatred, racism, murder, and political violence in the Republicans
-compassion, reason, ethics and moderation in the Democrats

It may well be that America choices the former, madness and violence. After all, Germany did once, and so did Russia. Is America better? That remains to be seen. Those who possess even a tiny ounce of goodness in their souls will vote Democrat. Those that have sworn in the darkness to an indifferent Master will vote Republican. Although, others may opt not to vote at all, which just means they are lazy in addition to being evil, perhaps a less virulent form of wickedness. Such people would abandon their country when their country needs them.

New problems? No, old.

With so many negative headlines about crimes, violence, corruption, cheating, lying, stealing, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, police brutality, incivility, and so on, one might be tempted to despair about the world, society, or the age we live in. Let me be clear, that is a temptation sent by none other than the Devil, if you will. Not that I really believe in a Devil, but he certainly is a convenient chap by way of conversation.

Resist the temptation! Our age is no worse than any other. Our society, rather better, I would think. Our nation, we have a right to be proud of, next to the likes of ugly China or rotting Russia. Be proud! I do not endorse the "bended knee" thing among NFL players for the reason that it just seems too trendy and not thoughtful enough.

Think back to forty years ago, to 1978, please. Back then, police did not wear body cameras, nor did their dashboards host cameras, nor did any of the rooms in the police department or even the courtroom. Judges, police and civil servants largely did as they liked, and sometimes got away with it. Criminals of all stripes got away with a great many things in 1978. Bullies could beat the crap out of weaker kids. I know, I saw it happen. Teachers could say whatever nasty thing popped into their little head and get away with it, and often they could slap, hit or fondle a student and get away with it. Folks got away with stealing, lying, cheating, even killing, and there are headlines and news articles about such things.

There is not more crime now, there is less. Crime has gotten to be far more difficult to get away with. Criminals tend to be apprehended far more often than in 1978. There is less racism, less homophobia, less xenophobia, less ignorance and stupidity in the public arena. Of course there are going to be exceptions, but one must remember, these exceptions used to be the norm.

You have to admit, things are getting better. They are getting better all the time.

Megyn Kelly

Megyn Kelly has had an interesting career, to say the least, and is an interesting celebrity. Long was she derided as a "dumb blonde" by leftists, but Jon Stewart was one of the first to acknowledge that she is actually bright, a violinist in fact. First she was at Fox News, then when the sex scandal blew up over there, she moved to Fox's nemesis, NBC, which has been a bit of a culture shock for her to say the least. Comments that would barely raise eyebrows on Fox are grounds for dismissal on NBC. It is true, there is intolerance on the left for certain words and phrases. I guess it is because the assumption is that highly privileged, wealthy, highly educated and well-informed celebrities should know better than to behave in any sexist or racist manner and that everything they do is calculated. Megyn Kelly earns enough money, she could hire a sociologist full-time to keep her informed about history, culture and society. I think, however, that celebrities remain like us--human beings. Generally, I would say, give the benefit of the doubt, and at least impose a three-strikes rule. Strike one, warning. Strike two, suspension. Only on strike three, dismissal. Something like that. However, in the celebrity world (as in the world of us little people!) enemies are always on the lookout for any sign of weakness, the slightest faltering, and ready to swoop in and replace you at a moment's notice. Ruthlessness and cuthroatery! There are plenty of aspiring young actresses that would love to earn twenty-three million dollars a year talking on the television. Wow, work for a year, you're set for life!

On a personal level, I am willing to overlook comments and phrases, in the first place because we all have to, as they are commonplace. I can't begin to count the number of non-PC comments I have heard in the workplace and everywhere else. Everyone is just muddling through this strange and complicated experience we call life. The people grope for simple answers, and what is simpler than black and white? A charming simplicity, as though skin color meant anything at all. For the same reason, people buy one brand of cereal over another, because the box is green instead of red, and they don't like the color red. On a similar level, many Jamaicans, who are black, discriminate against, even hate (!), LGBT individuals, even though they may not know any on a personal level. I read an article the other day written by a Jamaican lesbian who said she was scared to death to come out to her family, because she is certain they would disown her, as they disowned her lesbian cousin. So, all kinds of ignorance and prejudice are commonplace, and certainly white folk don't have a monopoly on it. What we all do have is a responsibility, as human beings, to strive toward the light, to try and get ourselves better, to understand more fully. Some people just don't make the effort, don't feel like it is worth bothering with.

Is it so, as often repeated, that "Love is the answer?" Or as is sometimes put, "Love is the law, the only law?"

No, I think love is overrated, myself. A lot of people don't want any love. They just want to be left alone. Perhaps there is a better word to choose, if one is crafting a law describing moral conduct. Noninterference? A Libertarian law.

Election Predictions

In the past, the formula has always held true that if the economy is good, then the ruling party remains in power. If the economy is bad, the ruling party is voted out. The American people are just like any other people in that they want to do well for themselves. If only nations could come together and realize that greater prosperity can be had through cooperation than competition--but leaders like Xi and Putin will never accept that, in a million years, because it is contrary to the place where their souls reside.

By the above formula, the Republicans should do well. They are giving themselves credit for the Obama recovery, and perhaps many people do believe that the Republicans, late on the scene, are responsible all of a-sudden for the booming economy. Certainly, tax cuts on business never hurts! Common sense tells as much. The deficit, which the Republicans worried about so much under Clinton and Obama, is abruptly a nonissue now that the Republicans are in power. Look at charts--spending always goes up under Republicans. They have not the discipline to keep their hands out of the cookie jar. One day, the bill will come due, and it may present a huge problem, and retirees are likely to bear the brunt, because in the end, retirees are expendable. The pattern for local governments has always been, screw the retirees out of their pensions.

I predict that the Democrats will do moderately well, making a strong showing, but not a landslide. Certainly, Democrats and independents have been given enough motivation and presented with a stark difference in every kind of policy under the Sun. There is no reason for voter apathy. The irony is, Trump has some good ideas along with the bad, but anytime one unscrews a huge jar of marbles and pours them on the floor, sure, somebody is bound to trip and fall into Truth, and that is what Trump did. A lot of marbles also went and tripped up the poor, the sick, transgendered, and immigrants. Trump to me represents meanness, cruelty. He has resurrected racism and given the demon a powerful new lease on life. He has also resurrected fascism around the world. He is no different than his predecessors in spending entirely too much money on the military, fooling around too much in the Middle East, and not paying enough attention to the threat posed by global warming. It is not popular nowadays to talk about global warming, but it hasn't gone away, and in the end, poses a greater threat to the United States than these sock-puppet regimes in the Middle East. Losing the cities of our coasts may secretly please cynical Republicans, who see them as liberal meccas full of minorities, but it will also waste away the bulk of the nation's wealth, for without the coastal cities, we are Canada. If the U.S. does not lead on global warming, no one will.

I don't really see a monumental regime change underway in the upcoming election, but I could well be wrong. I don't feel inspired. The economy is really the main thing for most people. It is difficult for the average person to grapple with big issues like global warming, foreign policy or even national policy. What people want is a safe job, a way to make a good living. The rest is kind of icing on the cake. Republicans opted to borrow from tomorrow in order to throw themselves a nice big party today. Perhaps that will work out for them in the short-term. Not yet have they told the old people, no Social Security for you.

We Need an American President

I am voting American in the next election. All we have now is some guy that represents his own tribe all the time. Basically gives the middle finger to the rest of us. Everything has to go his way all the time, and the only problem he ever sees is Democrats. Well, he hasn't killed us all yet, we still have plenty of fight left. I think he is not an American and hates America with every fiber of his being. What he wants is for America to be like Russia. That's his fondest hope and dream. Either Russia, North Korea, or China. Sometimes he gets a little disloyal with Russia, likes to flirt with the other two dictatorships. Too bad, in 2020, he will discover, he does not live in North Korea. He lives in a place where there is an election. He never won an election before and just got in because of the Electoral College. He wouldn't have even won that without a lot of help from the media. Time to vote American instead of party.

Thieves, crooks, and liars. That's the kind of litmus test Trump set out as requirements for all his appointees. The reason turnover has been so high in the White House is that a lot of people have morals. That's a huge problem for the servant of evil. How can he fulfill his Master's dictates, when there are people following their conscience? It's a big problem for poor old Trump. Another Stormy Daniels he has to weather.

Stephen Hawking's Predictions

He predicts superhumans will take over. I agree 100% with the gentleman. Tough luck for all those folks fixated on pumping out babies. You will need a genius I.Q. to compete in the future. Otherwise, only occupation? Organ donor.

Thought I'd Seen It All

On YouTube tonight, I learned that the couple behind the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is for Trump (and even watch InfoWars/Fox News pretty regular). They went over the top, dressing as the Prez and the First Lady, although they didn't go to the trouble of putting wigs on. Political theater in a series of videos supposedly about the occult.

I guess they want to be timely and relevant and reach out to a market niche, right-wing, American occultists. I wonder how big that market niche is and how lucrative. I wonder if they are the occult's Diamond and Silk. Maybe that is how their prosperity spell really works.

I haven't heard them say anything I disagree with on magic, yet. I actually like them on a personal level. Charismatic, after a fashion. I don't like the emphasis on "war" though. Conflict sells, of course. They have launched a magical war to counteract some clown that practices black magic against Trump voters. Why give the turkey more attention, is my reaction. First I ever heard of the clown, and this couple are jumping up and down getting excited and angry about the absurdity. Just relax, such a poseur could not possibly muster the power of a mustard seed. Absurd, the whole thing. I also don't like their use of the term "war". It seems every other headline on Fox News has "war" in the title. You know, these United States have had about enough wars as it is. We could use peace to rebuild the country, with all these failing roads and bridges and poor Internet service. Certainly the last couple of wars we had have been total wastes. Even Trump himself agrees on that score. I certainly do agree with Trump that we would have been better off not getting involved in Afghanistan or Iraq. Another of Hillary's little failings, her support of these expensive wars. Siding with the Republicans brought her no benefits, no Republican votes. Bad move politically. Might as well have gone full Progressive and opposed the wars. No war would have placed the country in a better position to pay for health care.

Certainly, no one can fault their little ritual desiring freedom for all of humanity. They seem pretty open-minded. Certainly more appealing than the politician they support. I have to question their judgment in following Alex Jones though. I couldn't imagine quoting that guy in any context. I also find their histrionics tedious. Channeling emotion doesn't make one seem either sincere or powerful. More like, TV preacher. Calm down, Jethro.

I think they suffer from a case of overreaction. A constant diet of right-wing media, coupled with their lifelong focus on magic and their messianic desire to save the world, results in this street theater where they are "saving" Trump from bad witches and, I imagine, bad Hollywood. I'm not sure why Hollywood is so bad, or appreciably worse than other industries, I guess because Hollywood is a liberal power center that donates to Democrats, is why Hollywood is bad. Certainly a lot of television shows are not worth watching, but when has that not been true? Most books are not worth reading, for that matter. I suppose in their view, academia must be bad too, and of course unions and minorities--anyone that donates to the baddies, the Dems.

They do take great pains to differentiate "bad" witches from "good" witches. Well, to the average American, it's all nonsense or else dangerous self-delusion. You know what, Trump can protect himself, he doesn't need that much help, he is a pretty skilled magician in his own right, and I mean that in every sense of the word. I can think of a lot of other causes that are worthy besides helping someone rich and powerful. Which brings to mind the distinct possibility that all their theatrics might be serving their little prosperity spell. Nothing is ever spoken about the corruption and dishonesty so apparent in Trump himself. If you want to present yourself as fair and balanced, it helps to admit that which is true, and concede that your support of this or that politician is nuanced. Instead, they just play partisan politics, no objectivity other than a token objectivity, thin and dubious. Come on, you are Republican shills, trying to reach out to New Agers and flip them red.

In the end, everybody has to be taken with a grain of salt, even the supposed teachers.

On other levels, besides the political--which, I don't know why they had to go there in the first place, quite bizarre, as though they want to get on TV and are looking after their pet ambitions--I dislike their tendency to muster fake emotion. At any rate, it just rings false. They are mimicking these guys on TV. I guess that is the whole point of going on YouTube, because TV is where the money is. They get on Fox News, they get a lot of money.

Also, there is a tendency they have to repeat themselves. The broken record syndrome. Make your point, move on, don't keep harping on it again and again like Fox News. I really think they learned all their presentation techniques from Fox News. Same point, regurgitated fifty times over in fifty different ways.

The other thing that grates is a new tendency I have observed to employ profanity, like bulls--. O.K., that is not the worst profanity ever, but it is sloppy and brings to mind drinking and belching. I know everyone does it these days on both the left and the right. Everyone is wrong. I am like a lone voice crying out in the wilderness, few people hold to the old standard anymore, but I believe in a certain level of decorum, but this holds even more so when discussing the holy.

I'm pleased to note, however, that they seem to be O.K. with gays, which hasn't always been the case with these occult orders. Specifically on their web site, they state they do not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. That is a relief, because gays get enough heat from the various right-wing religions. They are also not racist, needless to say. That all sounds good to me. About damn time, too. Although, it may be that they just don't want to turn off potential customers. There is probably less money to be had in homophobia these days than in tolerance.

What's off-putting is that they are hardcore conspiracy theorists, joined at the hip, it would seem, with Alex Jones of InfoWars. Making a lot of outrageous claims without much in the way of evidence. You know, evidence is important. Without evidence, everybody can be guilty. I suppose astral, psychic thinkadees informed them of such things--well, one can be mistaken. It is important to retain the critical faculties when evaluating messages and information gathered from the astral. Our senses and reasoning are not lesser in value. We were gifted with reason ... for a reason.

Every show, besides the obligatory -New Age- -Magic- Golden Dawn- -Spiritual Work- -Witchcraft- ...there's this recurrent theme of, oh, how put-upon poor little old Trump is, the innocent one, can't the media lay off of all his lies, deceit and corruption? Let the goodly Saint Trump lie, cheat and steal all he wants, because after all, he is a Saint. The Golden Dawn has sanctified his horns. Oh yeah, Trump rides a Unicorn and farts perfume. Disgusting. They take the Holy, put it in the toilet and mingle it with Trump. Must be nice, finding a way to make magic pay in real cold hard cash.

Hopefully, one day these two will confess their relationship with politics and quit using New Age beliefs as a ploy to get attention. Religion is not your whore. If you are about spiritual advancement, then be about that. Sounds to me like they are just about padding their own pocketbooks by talking all the time about how put upon poor billionaire Trump is. They prostitute their knowledge in the service of darkness. They are not the first and by no means will be the last. This is exactly why many masters of old insisted upon secrecy and did not wish to share knowledge with everyone. Eventually some bright fellow figures out a way to commercialize, cheapen, use for base and tawdry ends. It always happens.

In the beginning, when I watched the two, I thought, ah, they believe what I believe, maybe I will learn something from them. Now, I think, these two buffoons believe otherwise, my beliefs are not at all like theirs, they wish to talk only about Trump and about Republican politics, that is their religion. They do not have any spiritual thoughts in their bodies. So in my mind they are no different than the televangelists and others that seem to make a business out of spirit. I suppose it beats working for a living, eh?

Butterfly

A butterfly shows the difference between human beings.

Some encounter a butterfly and admire its beauty.

Others rip the wings off to watch it suffer.