7032 lines
297 KiB
Plaintext
7032 lines
297 KiB
Plaintext
(460) Wed 10 Aug 88 22:51
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By: Ammond Shadowcraft
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To: All
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Re: Clergy Abuse of Children, part i
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St:
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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@EID:50e7 110ab664
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Someone asked about child abuse in the contemporary
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churches. This
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is what I typed in for another network...
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In File 18 many accusations and allegations are made. These
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allegations are quasi-legal in nature. I think we need to ask
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some
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quasi-legal questions in return.
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Is there any evidence?
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Have there been or are there any current investigations by
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local
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authorities? Sometimes authorities will say that an
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investigation is on
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going but won't comment.
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Have there been any indictments?
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Have their been any arrests?
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Have there been any confessions?
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Has there been any convictions?
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Has there been an sentencing?
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Now for some evidence, investigations, indictments, arrests
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confessions, convictions, and sentencing... These are highly
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abbreviated articles compiled by the Freedom From Religion
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Foundation
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and reprinted in "Freethought Today". The Freedom From Religion
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Foundation has written a book, "Betrayal of Trust, Clergy Abuse
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of
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Children", that addresses this topic.
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Idaho Statesman 4/21/88...
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Father Mel Baltazar, notorious for molesting a boy hooked
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up to a
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kidney dialysis machine at a Napa, Calif. hospital and another
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boy in
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double-leg traction at a Boise hospital wll be paroled from his
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7 year
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prison term. A 20-year history of unprosecuted abuse was
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unraveled
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during his trail in 1984.
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No source listed...
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Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland claimed, in
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writing about
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molesting priests, that "Sometimes not all adolescent victims
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are so
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"innocent"; some can be sexually very active and aggressive and
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often
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quite street wise."
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The Specator 5/9/88 and Amherst Daily News (Novia Scotia)...
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A clergy seminar of child sexual abuse and incest at Brock
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University, Ontario, Canada, concluded that the church is
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implicated in
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such abuse. Vince Pinpura, a social worker at St. Catharines
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General
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Hospital, said 8 of 10 members of an incest counseling group
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connected
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the church with incest; one was abused by a father who was a
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minister... Another woman told of the anguish of being sexually
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abused
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by her clergy father from the age of two., the congregation
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blind to
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her pain, and another preacher telling her "just to forgive." A
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nun
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warned of misusing "bogus spirituality."
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In June, a Canadian women's inter-church group released a
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study.
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Hands to End Violence Against Women, sying male-dominated
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churches,
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Christian theology and selective interpretation of scripture
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are at
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least partly to blame for violence against women.
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---
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* Origin: SMARTNet - Still Changing... (I don't write these, He
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does!) (Opus 1:
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128/23)
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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(461) Wed 10 Aug 88 22:53
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By: Ammond Shadowcraft
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To: All
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Re: Clergy Abuse of Children, part ii
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St:
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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@EID:50e7 110ab6a1
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Atlanta Constitution 4/15/88
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The clergy is required to report suspected sexual abuse of
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children
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in only 5 states, Miss., Ore., New Hamp., Conn. and Nev.
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However 16
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other states implicitly require clergy reporting.
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Yet there is no known case of a district attorney
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prosecuting a
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minsister for failutre to abide by mandatory child abuse
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reporting
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laws.
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Several prosecutors have considered prosecution of
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non-reporting
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clergy, including DeKalb County District Attorney Robert
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Wilson. The
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R.C.C. in in the eastern Atlanta suburb is accused of a coverup
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for not
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reporting suspected molestation by Rev. Anton Mowat, even after
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victims' parents alerted them to the abuse last fall, and two
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priests
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had conveyed similar suspicions a year earlier. {The loop hole
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is that
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if the priest or minister is teaching or counseling they are
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obliged to
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report. If the child simply reveals sexual abuse to ministers ie.
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confessions, they are not obliged.}
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Atlanta Constitution 4/15/88
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Former priest turned psychologist A.W. Richard Sipe,
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Baltimore,
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said a 25 year study he conducted shows that about 2% of all
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priests
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"show sexual excitment by fantasizing about or engaging in sexual
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activity with children." (Rev Thomas Doyle has projected that the
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figure may be as high as 3,000--one out of 18 priests or 16 per
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diocese--which is closer to 6%.)
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Catholic apologists deny any complicity in covering up
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illegal
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activities.
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Atlanta Constitution 4/15/88
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Being a Catholic priest is "one of the best positions you
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can be go
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into [if you are a pedophile]. What better position could you
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be in to
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win peoples trust?" says Sharon Moody, commanding officer of
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the Crimes
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Against Children Unit for the Cobb County Police Department,
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Georgia.
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Columbus Ledger-Enquirer 5/28/88
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Rev. Tony ("Touch not my anointed and do my prophets no
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harm")
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Levya, a southern revivalists investigated by the FBI for
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heading a
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3-man ring prostituting young boys, has used Christian radio
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station
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WEAM in Columbus, Ga. to raise funds for his defense. Rev.
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Levya asks
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his followers to "sacrifice $100, $500, $1,000, $8,000 , even
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more, if
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God speaks to you" for his defence.
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Federal authorities allege that his crusades gave him and
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fellow
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abusers Rias E. Morris, organist, and Rev. Freddie M. Herring
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oppurtunity to sexually abuse numerous boys in Virginia, Georgia,
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Florida, North Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Ohio
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and
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Indiana. He faces up to 65 years in prison and $550,000 in fines.
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Seattle Post-Intelligencer 3/23/88
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The notorious Community Chapel & Bible Training Center, a
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sect
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---
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* Origin: SMARTNet - Still Changing... (I don't write these, He
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||
does!) (Opus 1:
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128/23)
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||
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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(462) Wed 10 Aug 88 22:54
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By: Ammond Shadowcraft
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To: All
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Re: Clergy Abuse of Children, part iii
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St:
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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@EID:50e7 110ab6d4
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based in Burien, Wash. near suburban Seattle, not only mentally
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abused
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children with doctrines of demonology and stunted education in
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their
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backward and repressive classrooms, but involved children in
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sexual
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abuse, according to reporter Mary Rothchild. The Center,
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beseiged by
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civil suites by ex-members claiming abuse, including women
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charging
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sexual exploitation, recently deposed it founder Rev. Donald Lee
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Barnett on charges of promiscuous adultry.
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In 1986, after followers complained, Child Protective
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Services met
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with Burien officials, spelling out guidlines, for example,
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that the
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church policy condoning French kissing of children was
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unacceptable.
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Three counselors were convicted of failing to report child
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sexual abuse
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in 1987.
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New York Times 5/23/88, New York Daily News 5/27/88, Newsweek
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5/30/88, Denver Post 5/20/88, Newsday 6/11/88
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Rev. Thoma Streitferdt, 59, a white Pastor in charge of the
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mostly
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black 700-member True Church of God in Harlem, was charged with
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rape
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and sodomy of two young sisters (ages 14 and 16) in his
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congregation.
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Law enforcement officials charge that Streitferdt told
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females
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worshippers that they could end up in hell if they refused his
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sexual
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advances, and raped at least one woman during premaritial
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counseling.
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Although his congregation was working class, Streidtferdt
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lived in
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a 1.4 million waterfront estate on Long Island, and owned
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property
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financed by contributions illegally coereced from church-goers.
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He and
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his family had exclusive rights to drive three church-owned
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Mercedex-Benz autos. Yet his tax returns in 1987 listed income
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of just
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several thousand dollars.
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The church required members to turn over tax records, and
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to tithe
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10 percent as a condition of membership, increasing that tithe
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to 30
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percent every third year. He also controller the finances of
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many of
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his members by keeping their savings at a bank set up through his
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church. Members were told that if they were not buried under
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church
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auspices at an additional fee in the church cemetary that "they
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would
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not go to heaven."
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San Gabriel Valley Tribune 6/18/88
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Rev. Randall Wayne Brewer, a youth minister of Faith
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Community
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Church in West Covina, Calif., is charged with 3 counts of oral
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copulation with a Redlands teenager who said he was bribed and
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molested
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after being befriended at home Bible studies in 1985. The
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youth, now
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17, testified that Brewer gave him $200 from a church checking
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account
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for running naked across an empty church hallway in a game called
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chicken. "I was told to tell everyone that I got the money for
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doing
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---
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* Origin: SMARTNet - Still Changing... (I don't write these, He
|
||
does!) (Opus 1:
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128/23)
|
||
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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(463) Wed 10 Aug 88 22:56
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By: Ammond Shadowcraft
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To: All
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Re: Clergy Abuse of Children, part iv
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St:
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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@EID:50e7 110ab71b
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work at the church."
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Embarrassment prevented the boy from reporting the
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incidents, but
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he finally confided in his girlfriend and his mother. A trial is
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scheduled in mid-June.
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In May the family filed a multi-milion dollar suit against
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Brewer
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and the chruch for failure to tell new members that others had
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been
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previously abused. Brewer had previously plead no contest to
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"sexually
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annoying" another boy and had been placed on probation.
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Washington Post 5/13/88
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U.S. Rep. Floyd Flake, pastor of Allen Africian Methodist
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Episcopal
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Church in New York, and a first term Democrat, is accused of
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harassing
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a church assistant into leaving her job because she ended a
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sexual
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affair with her.
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Thelma M. Singleton-Scott complained that a panel of
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"elders" at
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the 4,000-member church held a "kangaroo court" review of the
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charges
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in January. She is now demanding back wages and Flake's ouster as
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pastor. She said that the church bishop was involved in
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offering her
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hush money.
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Amherst Daily News (Novia Scotia) 6/16/88, The [Hamilton]
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Spectator
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6/14,16/88
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Msgr. John Monagahan, 80, of Nelson, B.C., was sentenced to
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4 years
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in prison after pleading guilty to fondling 17 girls and young
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women
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from 1959 to 1987, ranging in age from 6 to 21, usually in
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hospitals or
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private homes. Many of the victims said they had told their
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parents of
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the assualts but were not believed because Monagahan was
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considered a
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"near saint."
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Nelson police say they have identified more than 50 victims.
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Florida Times-Union 5/13/88 and 6/9/88
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Rev. Joe Marino, host of Christian talkshow "Inner Visions"
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in
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Jacksonville, Fla., and youth minister/counselor at Beaches
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Chapel in
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Neptune Beach, plead no contest to custodial sexual battery and
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soliciting sex from a 16 year old member of his church. Other
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charges
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were dropped. The abuse was disclosed after a victim from the
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church
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had attempted suicide.
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Marino was sentenced to 15 years in prison to be suspended
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after 5
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years.
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A second Duval county minister, Rev. Roy Lynn Gaskins of
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Edgewood
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Heights Baptist Church, was accused of forcing a 13 year old
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boy at
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gunpoint to have sex.
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New York Times 6/10/88
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Former Mormon missionary Arthur Gary Bishop, 36, was
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executed on
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June 10th in Utah for killing 5 boys (ages 4-13) for sexual
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gratification, saying he was "misled by Satan."
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New York Times 5/14/88
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Rev. Bernard Lynch, 41, and Brother Timothy Brady, 41, are
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indicted
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for sexually abusing students at a Catholic preparatory school
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in the
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Bronx, Mount St. Michael Academy. Lynch, a former campus
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chaplain, is
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---
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* Origin: SMARTNet - Still Changing... (I don't write these, He
|
||
does!) (Opus 1:
|
||
128/23)
|
||
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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(464) Wed 10 Aug 88 22:58
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By: Ammond Shadowcraft
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To: All
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||
Re: Clergy Abuse of Children, part v
|
||
St:
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||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
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@EID:50e7 110ab751
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believed to be in Ireland. Brady "was removed last summer" to a
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Marist
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retreat in Arizona, according to the Bronz D.A.'s office.
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Kansas City Times 6/1/88
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Barry L. Deaton was charged with taking indecent liberties
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with a
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child for abducting a 14 year old girl from a gathering of
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Youth for
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Christ of Greater Kansas City.
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[Little Rock Arkansas] Gazette 6/10/88
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Rev. J.D. Henderson, 51, of Russellville, Ark., was
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convicted of
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molesting twin 6 year old girls, and sentenced to 4 years in
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prison.
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Henderson is an ordained Free will Baptist minister.
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Daily Camera, [Boulder, Co.] 5/21/88
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Former Sister Mary Kregar and the Catholic Diocese of
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Brownsville,
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Col. were sued by a man who claimed his marriage was destroyed
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by the
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lesbian nun who seduced his wife while church officials did
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nothing to
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prevent it. A jury ordered the diocese to pay 1.5 million to
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Steve
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Voolverton on May 20.
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Tampa Tribune 5/31/88
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Rev. Clevand "Rapper" Mack, 24, of Tampa. Fla., was charged
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with
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sexually abusing 2 young boys during "Bible lessons", including a
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charge of sexual battery which carries a possible death
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sentence. He
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struch a boy in the face when he tried to flee.
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[Rome] Daily Sentinel 5/28/88
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Rev. Leon Dupree, 47, pastor of Lily of the Valley Church
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of God in
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Christ in Rochester, NY, is charged with first degree sexual
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assualt
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and first degree burglary of a 26 year old woman. She said he
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was armed
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with a hammer and struck her with a screwdriver. Dupree was
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convicted
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of second degree manslaughter in a 1978 drunken driving
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fatality and
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served time in state prison.
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Sunday Messenger [Athen, Ohio] 3/6/88
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In 1978, Bessie Turner had $18,000 in the bank, $3,000 in
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cash at
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home, her house in Murry City, Ohio, a life insurance policy
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and a
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monthly income of $654. After 10 years of answering the pleas
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for money
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from evangelists Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Whittington, Jim Bakker, Don
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Stewart and others, she had exuasted her savings account,
|
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cashed in her
|
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life policy, gone hungry to send her grocery allowence to the
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hungry
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children invoked by the evangelests, and has nothing lest but her
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monthy income from renting her home. She was forced to move in
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with
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her step grandson and wife. "I was trying to feed the children.
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That's
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what Jimmy [Swaggart] said. Them poor little babies. Too see
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how they
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looked--I could hardly take it." Now Ms. Turner, although still
|
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a frim
|
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believer, says: "I won't have anything to do with any of them
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again. I
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think they are all alike. I think they are all thieves."
|
||
|
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|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Still Changing... (I don't write these, He
|
||
does!) (Opus 1:
|
||
128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(465) Wed 10 Aug 88 23:00
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Clergy Abuse of Children, part vi
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:50e7 110ab813
|
||
|
||
"Ammond, you should try to locate copies of the December
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30th and
|
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31st San Jose Mercury-News from last year. I have been told
|
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that it
|
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contains a most impressive expose on the subject -- thirty-five
|
||
court
|
||
cases in the last five years, and a number of attempted
|
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cover-ups.
|
||
Perhaps somebody in San Francisco can do a library search for
|
||
you --
|
||
some libraries keep microfiche of the local papers."
|
||
|
||
Anyone on the left coast want to look these articles up?
|
||
|
||
There seems to be many more cases than are reported.
|
||
Victims try to
|
||
bring the various organizations round but generally get
|
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stiffed. That
|
||
is until the victims go public.
|
||
|
||
There is of course the ripple effect to consider also. In a
|
||
recent
|
||
tv talk show in Seattle on KING-TV, while talking about abuse by
|
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priests in the Seattle diosece, hosts Susan Michaels and Cliff
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||
Lenz got
|
||
a shocker. A woman in the audience reported that she had been
|
||
abused
|
||
not by a priest but by her brother, who was abused by a priest
|
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IN THE
|
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SEATTLE DIOSECE. After investigation it was revealed that the
|
||
priest
|
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was an abuse victim himself.
|
||
|
||
Maryalyce Elbert was the victim of the victim. After this
|
||
public
|
||
expose' the diocese finally gave the name of the priest as Rev.
|
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James
|
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McGreal, age 65, whose criminal conduct was well known, having
|
||
worked
|
||
at 10 parishes and 2 hospitals. One ironic mistake leads to
|
||
another
|
||
with the priest being sent to treatment in the late 70's, after
|
||
which
|
||
he was sent to a hospital to abuse again. The priest was sent
|
||
to a
|
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"Catholic program in New Mexico". He was then placed in another
|
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parish
|
||
with several other priests aware of his condition. In four
|
||
months he
|
||
was suspected of grooming another boy for victimiziation. It is
|
||
rather
|
||
ironic that he was at Queen of Angeles Church in Port Angeles,
|
||
under the
|
||
supervision of one Rev. Conn, now facing charges himself for
|
||
sexual
|
||
abuse of altar boys. Rev. James McGreal abused people with
|
||
impunity for
|
||
30 years.
|
||
|
||
Continuing on with the show. Sherry Matulis spoke about
|
||
being raped
|
||
at the age of 5 by a church deacon; and narrowly escaping another
|
||
attack at the age of 12.
|
||
|
||
A shakey woman in the audience told of being continuily
|
||
incestuoulsy abuse by her father, a souther preacher who
|
||
attacked her
|
||
on saturdays nights. She had to sit in a pew and watch him
|
||
preach on
|
||
sundays. Her efforts to expose and depose her father have as
|
||
yet been
|
||
unsuccessful.
|
||
|
||
Rev. Paul Conn, mentioned previously, is accused of molesting
|
||
multiple altar boys under the ages of 14. The Church responded by
|
||
offering counseling to the victims BY OTHER PRIESTS in the
|
||
parish.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Still Changing... (I don't write these, He
|
||
does!) (Opus 1:
|
||
128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(466) Wed 10 Aug 88 23:02
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Clergy Abuse of Children, part vii
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:50e7 110ab84a
|
||
|
||
|
||
The Seattle archdiocese has admitted to a third
|
||
unprosecuted and
|
||
unnammed pedophilic priest now under treatment for his condition.
|
||
|
||
I would like to point out that all these victims spent many
|
||
painful
|
||
years trying to correct the problem. They were all stonewalled
|
||
with the
|
||
only success coming after public exposure.
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Still Changing... (I don't write these, He
|
||
does!) (Opus 1:
|
||
128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(467) Thu 5 May 88 9:52
|
||
By: Brad Hicks
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: MagickNet Echos
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:0 2303c362
|
||
This message will appear in all of the MagickNet echos.
|
||
|
||
There has obviously been some misunderstanding, both among sysops
|
||
and among new users, about the MagickNet echos. For sysops, this
|
||
is unforgiveable, as ALL sysops were required to read and agree to
|
||
MAG-POL.TXT, which outlines the guidelines in great detail. Users
|
||
who are in doubt are also referred to that document, but let me
|
||
summarize some points that have been ignored or violated recently:
|
||
|
||
TOPICS OF THE ECHOS:
|
||
|
||
The topic of all three echos is Neopaganism, Witchcraft, and
|
||
Magick. However, the three echos differ as follows:
|
||
|
||
MAGICKNET - General discussion
|
||
MUNDANE - Off-topic chatter by participants in MAGICKNET
|
||
METAPHYSICAL - Magazine-article-quality posts
|
||
|
||
This is the METAPHYSICAL echo.
|
||
|
||
ACCESS TO THE ECHOS:
|
||
|
||
This is NOT a backbone or general distribution echo. It may ONLY
|
||
be distributed locally and even then notification of new nodes MUST
|
||
be sent to the coordinator, myself, at 1:100/523. Out-of-town
|
||
connections MUST be cleared in advance. All three echos MUST be
|
||
distributed together.
|
||
|
||
Finally, sysops are REQUIRED to ensure that only persons who will
|
||
properly use it may post to the Metaphysical echo. Any mechanism
|
||
which works is fine, but the recommended one is to make it
|
||
read-only and have people upload text files for the sysop to
|
||
convert into messages. Sufficiently high validation will also work.
|
||
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should first-time callers be permitted to
|
||
post to Metaphysical.
|
||
|
||
I hope that this message will clarify things for all of you.
|
||
Systems which violate these guidelines, or any others in
|
||
MAG-POL.TXT, repeatedly will be evicted from the echo. Thank you
|
||
for your compliance.
|
||
|
||
- Brad Hicks, MagickNet Echo Coordinator
|
||
|
||
P.S. I =hate= playing the hard guy, but somebody's got to maintain
|
||
order here. Please don't make me do this again soon.
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
* Origin: WeirdBase * St. Louis * 1-314-741-2231 * (Opus 1:100/523)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(468) Fri 12 Aug 88 18:29
|
||
By: Brad Hicks
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: THE CHURCH OF ALL WORLDS IS LYING (Reposted By Request)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:0 2303c364
|
||
THE CHURCH OF ALL WORLDS IS LYING
|
||
J. Brad "Talespinner" Hicks
|
||
|
||
[Please distribute this information to all applicable media, as it
|
||
concerns a matter of no small importance to the Pagan/Magickal
|
||
community. - JBH]
|
||
|
||
The following material has been sent out by Ayisha Homolka of the
|
||
Church of All Worlds. For the sake of reference (and honesty) I
|
||
quote the xeroxed cover letter and the entire document below:
|
||
_________________________________________________________
|
||
|
||
dear friends,
|
||
|
||
If this resolution is adopted by any Pagan ecumenical
|
||
conferences/festivals, ect [sic].... or by any
|
||
Pagan/Wiccan organizations/churches that have legal
|
||
status--
|
||
please send confirmation to the following address, so you
|
||
can be added to the list.
|
||
Thanks much
|
||
Blessed Be
|
||
Ayisha Homolka
|
||
|
||
Church of All Worlds
|
||
Box 1542
|
||
Ukiah, CA. 95482
|
||
_________________________________________________________
|
||
|
||
Resolution to be circulated for adoption by Pagan and
|
||
Craft groups, and subsequently to be issued to the media,
|
||
police, and the Cult Crime Impact Network:
|
||
|
||
We, as practitioners of Pagan and Neo-Pagan religions,
|
||
including Wicca (also known as Witchcraft) practise [sic]
|
||
a positive, life-affirming faith that is dedicated towards
|
||
healing, both of ourselves and others, and of the Earth.
|
||
As such, we do not advocate or condone criminal
|
||
activities. We absolutely condemn the practises [sic] of
|
||
child abuse, sexual abuse, substance abuse, and any other
|
||
abuse that does harm to the bodies, minds or spirits of
|
||
individuals. We offer prayers and support for the healing
|
||
of the victims of such abuses. We recognize the divinity
|
||
of Nature in our Mother the Earth, and practise [sic] our
|
||
rites of worship in a manner that is ethical, legal and
|
||
safe. We will not tolerate slander or libel against our
|
||
churches, clergy, or congregations, and are prepared to
|
||
defend our civil rights with such legal action as we deem
|
||
necessary and appropriate.
|
||
|
||
This resolution adopted unanimously at the following Pagan
|
||
ecumenical conferences:
|
||
|
||
Ancient Ways
|
||
Heartland Pagan Festival
|
||
Pagan Spirit Gathering
|
||
|
||
Approved by the following Pagan and Wiccan organizations:
|
||
|
||
Covenant of the Goddess
|
||
Church of All Worlds
|
||
United Wiccan Church
|
||
_________________________________________________________
|
||
|
||
This document contains AT LEAST one lie that I know of my own
|
||
witness: this resolution was NOT adopted unanimously at the Pagan
|
||
Spirit Gathering. This resolution was presented there first to the
|
||
Pagan Ministers' Seminar, at which it was agreed that discussion
|
||
would be postponed until the entire resolution had been posted on
|
||
the bulletin board where it could be read at leisure and
|
||
considered. This never happened. At the Saturday Village Meeting,
|
||
Ayisha Homolka stood up again, read a document to the crowd, and
|
||
called for a vote.
|
||
|
||
This was the first time most people there had heard of the
|
||
resolution. It was read out loud once. Virtually no time was
|
||
permitted for discussion; only one person got away with speaking
|
||
against it (me), and that only by jumping up and shouting. Selena
|
||
Fox and Ayisha Homolka did everything possible to ram-rod this
|
||
through as fast as possible, calling for a vote before any real
|
||
debate could occur. Considering that it had Selena's public
|
||
support and boasted the signature of the Covenant of the Goddess,
|
||
it should come as no particular surprise that it passed. It passed
|
||
overwhelmingly. It did =NOT= pass unanimously!
|
||
|
||
I am not even prepared to testify that the resolution above was the
|
||
document read out loud at the Pagan Spirit Gathering. I distinctly
|
||
recall at least one sentence that is not there now; perhaps it was
|
||
only in Ayisha's personal remarks but I recall a sentence after
|
||
"... healing of the victims of such abuses" that continued on to
|
||
say that we, the (alleged) signatories would do "everything within
|
||
our power" to assist the police in hunting down the actual
|
||
perpetrators of these crimes.
|
||
|
||
I objected to that clause, and I objected loudly. In this, I had
|
||
the backing of Frank Medina, from Wisconsin Governor's Task Force
|
||
on Gang and Occult Crime, who pointed out the futility of swearing
|
||
to hunt down those accused of a crime when there is only the
|
||
flimsiest evidence that the crime even exists! Now that clause
|
||
appears to be gone. It is possible that my memory is wrong, since
|
||
I was never permitted to see a written copy until now ... but could
|
||
it be that the Church of All Worlds decided that they could get
|
||
away with claiming "unanimous" support by editing it afterwards to
|
||
accomodate the spoken disagreements? If so, then they are
|
||
demonstrating a sad lack of understanding of what it means to agree
|
||
to a document!
|
||
|
||
Even if they were able to somehow rewrite the document to remove
|
||
that particular clause, there is much here that I oppose. Do not
|
||
make the mistake of thinking that I might ever have voted for
|
||
anything like this document! I will object to any attempt to let
|
||
the State decide what is and isn't a legitimate part of the Craft!
|
||
Many misguided self-proclaimed "leaders" of the Craft have gone on
|
||
television over and over again to proclaim that the Real Craft
|
||
doesn't do anything illegal. Does that mean that if someone (like
|
||
Z. Budapest) gets arrested for giving tarot readings, these people
|
||
want to throw her to the wolves? The State can point to documents
|
||
like this and say, "See, it obviously isn't part of your religion
|
||
because your own leaders say you're not into anything illegal."
|
||
And then you can say good bye to ALL of the Constitutional freedom
|
||
that we've fought side-by-side for almost three years to preserve.
|
||
|
||
And of course, reading a document from the group founded by Tim and
|
||
Morning Glory Zell that condemns substance abuse is like hearing
|
||
Jim Bakker denounce people who are rich, or hearing Jimmy Swaggart
|
||
preach against lust.
|
||
|
||
I have it on very good authority that this document contains at
|
||
least one other direct lie. Jim Crowley, a member of the board of
|
||
directors of the United Wiccan Church, has assured me that not only
|
||
has the United Wiccan Church not approved this document, but that
|
||
=no meeting has been held to even consider the subject=. This is a
|
||
total fabrication.
|
||
|
||
There may be yet a third direct lie in this. Michael Fix, who was
|
||
at the Heartland Pagan Festival, called this report "absolute
|
||
poppycock." He and his wife (former CAW member Carolyn Clark)
|
||
arrived on Friday evening and he said that nothing of the sort
|
||
happened, to his knowledge. How can this have been adopted
|
||
=unanimously= at a gathering where two fairly prominent Witches
|
||
from this region never even heard of it? Was it even =discussed=
|
||
at the Heartland Pagan Festival? Or is this another whole-cloth
|
||
fabrication?
|
||
|
||
All I know that as far as this writer is concerned, the credibility
|
||
of Ayisha Homolka and the organization currently using the name
|
||
"Church of All Worlds" has no more credibility left than John W.
|
||
Todd, or any other proven liar.
|
||
|
||
[Electronic mail replies to this file will be replied to; some
|
||
postal replies will be replied to if a stamped, pre-addressed
|
||
envelope is included and I can make time. I can be reached via the
|
||
FidoNet at 1:100/523; via UseNet/uucp at
|
||
decvax!noao!asuvax!stjhmc!100!523!Brad_Hicks; via CompuServe at
|
||
[76012,300]; via modem (up to 2400 bps) at 1-314-741-2231; or via
|
||
U.S. Mail to 11215 Sugartrail Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63136.]
|
||
|
||
--- Sirius 0.50
|
||
* Origin: WeirdBase * St. Louis * 1-314-741-2231 * (Opus 1:100/523)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(469) Tue 16 Aug 88 12:03
|
||
By: Farrell Mcgovern
|
||
To: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
Re: Re: Clergy Abuse of Children, part vii
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:292f 11106076
|
||
|
||
AS> The Seattle archdiocese has admitted to a third
|
||
unprosecuted
|
||
AS>and unnammed pedophilic priest now under treatment for his
|
||
condition.
|
||
AS>
|
||
AS> I would like to point out that all these victims spent
|
||
AS>many painful years trying to correct the problem. They
|
||
were all
|
||
AS>stonewalled with the only success coming after public exposure.
|
||
|
||
If I don't post it here, please remind me...Here in Ottawa we
|
||
had a
|
||
very public case about a Father Dale Crampton who would
|
||
take young altarboys out to a cottage the church owned and
|
||
sexually abuse them. I will have to look up the dates, the
|
||
"newspaper" (if one could call the local rag that, it being a good
|
||
example of "Disco-Journalism") here is called "The Citizen",
|
||
there is a chance that you local libarary might have a copy/back
|
||
issues since Ottawa is the capital of Canada...The Parish's that he
|
||
served at were St. Elisabeth and St. Maurice. He was given a
|
||
suspened sentance, and the Church has him in "seclusion". But
|
||
please bash me on the head
|
||
(metaphorically speaking) if I forget to post a transcription
|
||
of the
|
||
article(s) here.
|
||
|
||
ttyl
|
||
Farrell
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Solsbury Hill:Home of <20>ristic Computer Consultants (Opus
|
||
1:163/523)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(470) Thu 18 Aug 88 21:43
|
||
By: David Rice
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: When Will I Die? Astrology Article
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:3002 1112ad7b
|
||
"Please, come in," you say with warmth and a smile,
|
||
standing up to greet your client. This morning you find it
|
||
particularly difficult to smile, what with the rent past due
|
||
and the bills piling up. but you manage. Your prefabricated
|
||
smile turns genuine when your client looks up and smiles
|
||
gamely back. You take her by the elbow and guide her to the
|
||
plush vinyl chair. Taking a seat yourself, you say "Thank
|
||
you very much for coming today. I've been working on your
|
||
chart, and I feel we have much to share this morning." You
|
||
offer her coffee or tea. She declines.
|
||
|
||
You get two sentences into your carefully rehearsed
|
||
allocution before she interrupts.
|
||
|
||
"Excuse me, there was something else I wanted to talk
|
||
about." You pause while she looks at her right shoe. "Ah,
|
||
I'd like to, ahum," she begins, switching her gaze to the
|
||
left foot, about where her second toe from the right would
|
||
be, as if she could see through the leather. She crosses
|
||
her arms. "I want to know when I'm going to die."
|
||
|
||
You have been asked this question many times before,
|
||
and know what to say. You wait a moment to collect your
|
||
thoughts, and give her your answer.
|
||
|
||
What will your answer be?
|
||
|
||
"To Tell Or Not To Tell?" has long been a favorite
|
||
subject for Astrologers who love to argue. Often one will
|
||
find an astrologer who loves to switch sides just to be The
|
||
Pain in the Ass at the annual astrology convention. Other
|
||
astrologers, who have learned to shut up and sit quietly at
|
||
parties, will just smile inertly at you if you ask this
|
||
question, with a superior grin on their ugly mugs. This
|
||
last mutation is usually the most annoying.
|
||
|
||
Still, the debate is a valid one. One astrologer will
|
||
tell you that to tell a person when she or he will die is
|
||
often the catalyst to making it happen. Another will say
|
||
that the astrologer has the responsibility to answer the
|
||
client's questions truthfully and honestly. And another
|
||
will argue that it isn't possible to note one's death in
|
||
one's chart. And yet a fourth will choose any combination
|
||
of these scenarios, based in direct proportion to the amount
|
||
of alcohol consumed at the Johndro Award Dinner an hour ago.
|
||
|
||
Perhaps the worse advice I've ever heard an astrologer
|
||
tell his client when asked the question "When will I die?"
|
||
was: "When you wish to," then going on to offer unearthly,
|
||
immaterial, bodiless, incorporeal, insubstantial, spiritual,
|
||
preternatural, "New Age" metaphysical pabulum. How inane!
|
||
How utterly, abysmally worthless advice when one is living
|
||
here in the Real World! Many astrologers feel a person
|
||
chooses when to be born, die, and every event in between
|
||
before the person incarnates. But your client didn't ask
|
||
"What's your opinion on why a person dies?" Your client has
|
||
asked a very personal question, the answer which you offer
|
||
may be vitally important to her or him.
|
||
|
||
Another way of answering this question is the "Judo"
|
||
approach. That is, taking the energy embodied in the
|
||
question and deflecting it away from you, thus freeing you
|
||
from answering. The format of the answer could be: "We
|
||
can't see death in a chart. That's strictly Hollywood-movie
|
||
astrology," and continuing with the session. Or perhaps "My
|
||
teacher doesn't believe it's possible, so we never discuss
|
||
it."
|
||
|
||
There are many schools of astrology that teach that
|
||
one's death is very much possible to discover in one's
|
||
chart. Indian astrologers using the Novian chart look for
|
||
death of the native out of hand: If they didn't, the client
|
||
would look elsewhere for an astrologer (their most asked
|
||
question is "When will my children be born," followed by
|
||
"When will I die." See Warren Murphy's "Indian Astrology").
|
||
|
||
And then there is the view that one's chart will only
|
||
show the deaths of those around one (parents, siblings,
|
||
friends). Using this train of thought, the astrologer can
|
||
answer the question "When will I die?" by examining the
|
||
charts of those around the client. I feel this is valid, as
|
||
I've seen charts of widows who had "dying" issues and
|
||
adjustment concerns in their charts at the time of their
|
||
husbands deaths, but their husbands charts often showing
|
||
little more than periods of leisure and learning! [Since I
|
||
feel that Jupiter will trigger my own death, I find that
|
||
Jupiter triggers the deaths of those charts I examine. A
|
||
classic case of drawing like charts to oneself.]
|
||
|
||
Or, if you prefer using just the client's radix, there
|
||
are many astrologers who put in the Part of Death, Part of
|
||
Suicide, Part of Poison, Part of Peril, and Part of
|
||
Misfortune in the chart. Directing these to the angles, the
|
||
argument goes, times those periods when the client must be
|
||
on guard for mayhem, adversity, and tragedy. I enjoy using
|
||
the Uranian Placement Hades, as he worsen every thing he
|
||
touches [personal observation- for medical astrologers, please
|
||
look over the Uranians: They were postulated in the trenches
|
||
of World War I, and are excellent for personal mishaps].
|
||
|
||
Given the belief that the astrologer can determine a
|
||
client's death, should the astrologer tell the client? That
|
||
depends on how much responsibility the astrologer wishes to
|
||
take upon herself / himself. Putting aside such thought of
|
||
incurring "bad Karma" at causing the client to bring about
|
||
her / his own death, think about the possibility that you,
|
||
the astrologer, could be wrong!
|
||
|
||
A scenario: The client is 35 years old, and, though you
|
||
don't know it, will live to be a ripe old 70. He comes to
|
||
you and asks the question "When, kind sir, will I die?" and
|
||
being the hard working, much experienced astrologer that you
|
||
are, you say back to him "Well, now. You'll drop dead
|
||
January 17, 1992. That gives you another 7 years. You'll
|
||
die at age 56. Was their anything else?" For the next
|
||
seven years, below conscious thought, the client is getting
|
||
ready to die. When January rolls around he will 1) Drop
|
||
dead, or 2) Get Horribly sick and almost die, 3) Send you a
|
||
post card saying "Ha, ha, ha, fooled you!", or perhaps 4)
|
||
Kill YOU out of general principles.
|
||
|
||
Suppose it was number 1? You told him to die and he
|
||
did. Is that the reason you've worked so hard to determine
|
||
one's death? This extreme case could be considered murder.
|
||
Why not be a liar and just say "You'll live to be 110," and
|
||
let the client die at 70? That way the client is not around
|
||
to demand his money back, and your ass is covered.
|
||
|
||
Well, OK. You don't wish to lie to your clients, and I
|
||
hope you don't. Here's what * I * would do, as I find it
|
||
works. Make a list of no less that 20 periods when the
|
||
client should be extra careful. Include the period you
|
||
believe the client will die. Then throw in five or six
|
||
"easy" periods as well. Tell the client that these dates
|
||
are those she or he should watch out for her / himself. Be
|
||
damn sure you include time periods beyond a reasonable time
|
||
that one may expect to live (that is, list a time span or
|
||
two where the client is 110 or 120 years old). It is very
|
||
important to ask the client to call you back (or visit you)
|
||
after these periods and get her / his input on how things
|
||
are going.
|
||
|
||
"But," you say, and rightly so, "that could cause the
|
||
client to have hardship she or he may not have been 'meant'
|
||
to have!" Being forewarned, I reply, is better than getting
|
||
one's teeth kicked in. Make a list of safety practices, and
|
||
list the periods extra care must be taken on top of this
|
||
list.
|
||
|
||
". . . You wait a moment to collect your thoughts, and
|
||
give her your answer."
|
||
|
||
"The best I can do," you truthfully say, "is to give
|
||
you periods where you must be extra careful. I feel, and
|
||
past experience has born me out, that one may step aside
|
||
when harm approaches. This is a list of precautions I would
|
||
like you to take." You hand over a list, keeping a copy for
|
||
yourself. "At the top," you continue, "is things I think you
|
||
must do a few weeks before these periods. Make sure your
|
||
car's breaks are in order, have a doctor look you over,
|
||
etc." You pause. "The second part of this list are things
|
||
to do during these time spans. Always wear a seat belt,
|
||
take extra care in the bathroom, etc." You quickly go over
|
||
the list, and make sure the client understand.
|
||
|
||
Be sure the client knows that she or he may bring the
|
||
subject of death up again at any time in the future, and
|
||
continue the session.
|
||
|
||
You close the door after showing your client out. The
|
||
familiar warmth inside comes to you, as it does after many
|
||
successful sessions. Such potential in that chart, in your
|
||
client! What a horrible disservice, you think, it would
|
||
have been to answer her question "When will I die?" with a
|
||
number and a date.
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Astro-Net 714 662-2294 Not For Pagans Only! (Opus
|
||
1:103/503)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(471) Sat 13 Aug 88 22:17
|
||
By: Edd Cates
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Welcome to Metaphysical
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:8d04 b220110d
|
||
|
||
ATTENTION: If you are new to the MagickNet echos, please read this
|
||
entire
|
||
message before proceding.
|
||
|
||
SYSOPS: If you are using ConfMail or another echomail processor
|
||
which
|
||
allows you to skip messages at the beginning of an echo (perhaps by
|
||
adjusting the date of this message to something outrageously far in
|
||
the
|
||
future), let me encourage you to make this message #2 in all three
|
||
of the
|
||
MagickNet echos. If you need help figuring out how to do that,
|
||
drop a net-
|
||
mail message to any of the hubs.
|
||
|
||
|
||
MAG-POL.TXT version 1.0 Effective Date: 01 Mar 88
|
||
|
||
Introduction to the
|
||
NEOPAGANISM, WITCHCRAFT AND MAGICK
|
||
Echo Conference Network
|
||
|
||
1. Overview
|
||
In November of 1985, Senator Jesse Helms and Representative Robert
|
||
Walker
|
||
each introduced legislation that would have prohibited tax-exempt
|
||
status
|
||
for any church or religious organization that practiced "sorcery"
|
||
or "had a
|
||
substantial interest ... in the promotion of witchcraft."
|
||
|
||
The affect that these bills had on the magickal community was
|
||
electrifying.
|
||
Groups and traditions that otherwise hated or distrusted each other
|
||
banded
|
||
together into one large network, bound together by the telephone
|
||
and by
|
||
U.S. Mail, to block their passage. It took over a year, but
|
||
finally both
|
||
bills were dead. They seem unlikely to return soon.
|
||
|
||
In early 1986, a programmer named Jeff Rush wrote a FidoNet extension
|
||
called EchoMail. It electrified and revolutionized the FidoNet
|
||
community
|
||
every bit as much as the Helms Amendment and Walker Bill did the
|
||
magickal
|
||
community.
|
||
|
||
In the very earliest days of EchoMail, Brad Hicks, sysop of
|
||
WeirdBase, a
|
||
Discordio-Pagan bulletin board on the FidoNet in St. Louis, Missouri
|
||
(1:100/523) came up with the idea of finding every possible Pagan and
|
||
magickal contact person who could dial into the FidoNet, and
|
||
connect them
|
||
all together, ideally via an EchoMail conference. So he advertised
|
||
quietly
|
||
for such people in several articles in FidoNews.
|
||
Initially, three other systems replied. In Berkeley, California,
|
||
Josh
|
||
Gordon was operating a bulletin board for the Ordo Templar Orientis
|
||
called
|
||
ThelemNet (125/93 then, 1:161/93 now). In Gardner, Massachusetts,
|
||
a local
|
||
astrologer named MizMoon had a horoscope area on Dave's Fido
|
||
(1:101/27).
|
||
And on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, a hippy named Gene Clayton
|
||
replied
|
||
that he didn't know much about the subject but surely was interested.
|
||
|
||
<Continued In Next Message>
|
||
--- QuickBBS v2.03
|
||
* Origin: Dragon's Bane(1st QuickBBS/Netmail -
|
||
Evansville)812-428-4985 (1:11/21
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(472) Sat 13 Aug 88 22:21
|
||
By: Edd Cates
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Welcome to Metaphysical (Continued)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:8d04 b2a0110d
|
||
|
||
From these four systems was formed the very first EchoMail
|
||
conference set
|
||
up to discuss a specific, non-technical subject: the MAGICK EchoMail
|
||
Conference. In its first month, it garnered only a few dozen
|
||
messages. It
|
||
has since grown beyond belief, to 40 or more systems and dozens of
|
||
messages per night. To accomodate the increase in traffic (and the
|
||
continuous stream of the new and curious), the Neopaganism, Withcraft
|
||
and Magick conference was separated into its three current components
|
||
(MAGICKNET, METAPHYSICAL, and MUNDANE) in March of 1988, almost
|
||
exactly
|
||
two years after it was founded.
|
||
|
||
|
||
2. Content of the Neopaganism, Witchcraft and Magick Conferences
|
||
|
||
|
||
2.1 MAGICKNET...... Neopaganism, Witchcraft & Magick
|
||
|
||
This remains the normal Neopaganism, Witchcraft & Magick echo.
|
||
Newcomers
|
||
and the casually curious are welcome. As an aid to such folks, we
|
||
will
|
||
compile a few messages' worth of standard questions and answers
|
||
which will
|
||
be automatically re-posted to the echo every month. However,
|
||
discussions of
|
||
only marginal relevance to the topic(s) will be strongly encouraged
|
||
to move
|
||
to MUNDANE.
|
||
|
||
|
||
2.2 METAPHYSICAL... Neopaganism, Witchcraft & Magick (formal)
|
||
|
||
This portion of the echo is intended to encourage members of the
|
||
magickal
|
||
community to discuss points in common and points of difference in
|
||
detail;
|
||
to promote scholarship and depth of thought in the magickal
|
||
community. Only
|
||
serious discussions are permitted here; casual questions and
|
||
discussions
|
||
should be moved to MAGICKNET, and discussions of marginal relevence
|
||
should
|
||
be moved to MUNDANE.
|
||
|
||
|
||
2.3 MUNDANE........ Neopaganism, Witchcraft & Magick (chatter)
|
||
|
||
Many members of the original Magick echo derived great pleasure and
|
||
satisfaction from being able to discuss mundane and political
|
||
matters with
|
||
other members of the magickal community. Unfortunately, left
|
||
unchecked
|
||
such discussions can tend to crowd serious magickal discussions.
|
||
To allow
|
||
both types of dialog to exist side-by-side, the MUNDANE echo was
|
||
formed.
|
||
If a discussion starts in either the MAGICKNET or the METAPHYSICAL
|
||
echo
|
||
that is irrelevant to their topics, the parties to that discussion
|
||
will be
|
||
=strongly= encouraged to move the discussion over to MUNDANE (if not
|
||
completely away from the Neopaganism, Witchcraft and Magick
|
||
Conference).
|
||
|
||
This should not be confused with a wide-open general chatter echo.
|
||
While
|
||
the topics may range freely, only members of the magickal community
|
||
or
|
||
those with interests in magickal topics are encouraged to post here.
|
||
|
||
<Continued In Next Message>
|
||
--- QuickBBS v2.03
|
||
* Origin: Dragon's Bane(1st QuickBBS/Netmail -
|
||
Evansville)812-428-4985 (1:11/21
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(473) Sat 13 Aug 88 22:23
|
||
By: Edd Cates
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Welcome to Metaphysical (Continued)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:8d04 b2e0110d
|
||
|
||
3. Rules of the Neopaganism, Witchcraft & Magick Conference
|
||
|
||
|
||
3.1 Nodes Required to Provide All Three Echos
|
||
|
||
All systems which distribute this conference or make it available
|
||
to the
|
||
public are required to carry all three echos. Mail-only and/or point
|
||
systems which do not distribute the Neopaganism, Witchcraft and
|
||
Magick
|
||
conferences or make them publically available are exempted from
|
||
this rule
|
||
but are strongly encouraged to carry all three echos in order to be
|
||
able to
|
||
follow discussions which are moved to other tracks.
|
||
|
||
|
||
3.2 Notify Coordinator of Local Distribution
|
||
|
||
Any system carrying all of the MagickNet echos may further
|
||
distribute them
|
||
to any private or FidoNet node within their local calling area.
|
||
However,
|
||
they are required to notify the coordinator of this hookup at once,
|
||
and to
|
||
distribute to that node or point the current version of this
|
||
document.
|
||
|
||
|
||
3.3 Request Permission for Non-Local Distribution
|
||
|
||
No system except the main hubs (1:100/523, 1:161/93, 1:282/341) may
|
||
distribute all or part of the MagickNet echos to a node or point
|
||
outside
|
||
their local calling area without first securing permission from the
|
||
coordinator. (The other two hubs may do so, but should notify the
|
||
coordinator soon as possible.)
|
||
|
||
|
||
3.4 No Illegal Messages
|
||
|
||
No message which is blatantly illegal in content shall be entered
|
||
into the
|
||
MagickNet echos. The only exception will be for messages regarding
|
||
legitimate religious practices or beliefs which are or may be made
|
||
illegal,
|
||
in violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and
|
||
the U.N.
|
||
Statement on Human Rights.
|
||
|
||
|
||
3.5 No Harrassing Messages
|
||
|
||
No message which is intended to harrass someone because of their
|
||
religious
|
||
beliefs, or to convert them to another religion, shall be entered
|
||
into any
|
||
of the MagickNet echos. No exceptions will be made to this rule,
|
||
even in
|
||
the MUNDANE echo.
|
||
|
||
|
||
3.6 No Irrelevant Messages
|
||
|
||
No message which is irrelevant to the topics of Neopaganism,
|
||
Witchcraft,
|
||
and Magick shall be entered into MAGICKNET or into METAPHYSICAL.
|
||
For this
|
||
rule, a warning will be issued, and in general the conversation
|
||
will be
|
||
permitted to continue in the MUNDANE echo.
|
||
|
||
<Continued In Next Message>
|
||
--- QuickBBS v2.03
|
||
* Origin: Dragon's Bane(1st QuickBBS/Netmail -
|
||
Evansville)812-428-4985 (1:11/21
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(474) Sat 13 Aug 88 22:28
|
||
By: Edd Cates
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Welcome to Metaphysical (Continued - Final)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:8d04 b380110d
|
||
|
||
3.7 No Personal Insults
|
||
|
||
No message which contains unnecessary profanity or personal insults
|
||
shall
|
||
be entered into any of the MagickNet echos. Only one warning will be
|
||
issued to any violator. (If you wish to continue to insult each
|
||
other,
|
||
please use personal FidoNet mail.) This includes messages in the
|
||
MUNDANE
|
||
echo.
|
||
|
||
|
||
4. Enforcement
|
||
|
||
If a user of any bulletin board system or point operator under a
|
||
Fidonet
|
||
node naively violates one of these rules, it is the responsibility
|
||
of the
|
||
local sysop to take whatever action is necessary to prevent it from
|
||
happening again. In the event the local sysop is unaware of the
|
||
violation,
|
||
the coordinator will notify him or her.
|
||
|
||
If the sysop of the local node does NOT take such action, or is the
|
||
person
|
||
responsible for the violation, then the coordinator will request that
|
||
system to leave the MagickNet echos at once. If it does not, then
|
||
the co-
|
||
ordinator will request the system by which it is linked into the
|
||
MagickNet
|
||
echos that they cease to deliver messages to or accept messages
|
||
from that
|
||
system, and it will be forcibly exiled from the echos. Anyone who
|
||
knowingly
|
||
provides a "feed" to a sysop who has been exiled from the MagickNet
|
||
echos
|
||
will suffer a like fate. Likewise, if the exiled system's feed
|
||
refuses
|
||
to cut the link, the link above the feed will be cut - as high up
|
||
as is
|
||
necessary to successfully exile the offending node.
|
||
|
||
In all but the most obvious and gross of cases, the coordinator
|
||
will seek a
|
||
consensus, or at least an overwhelming majority, of the sysops and
|
||
contributing users in the MagickNet echos before taking drastic
|
||
action.
|
||
|
||
If this seems harsh, it needs to be pointed out that the until and
|
||
unless
|
||
the International FidoNet Association and/or the FidoNet Coordinators
|
||
change the rules, this is the ONLY means available to keep order
|
||
within an
|
||
echo conference.
|
||
|
||
|
||
5. The Coordinator
|
||
|
||
From its earliest beginnings, the Magick Conference has been
|
||
coordinated
|
||
and moderated by Brad Hicks from his BBS, WeirdBase at 1:100/523
|
||
(314-741-2231). As of this date, Brad still coordinates all three
|
||
echos,
|
||
although this may be subject to change in the future.
|
||
--- QuickBBS v2.03
|
||
* Origin: Dragon's Bane(1st QuickBBS/Netmail -
|
||
Evansville)812-428-4985 (1:11/21
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(475) Sat 20 Aug 88 18:51
|
||
By: Anne Niven
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: animal allies
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:e6c5 1114967d
|
||
To: MagicEcho Users From: Anne Newkirk Niven Re: This Article
|
||
|
||
This article will be appearing soon in SageWoman Magazine, and I
|
||
wanted to share it with y'all on the MagicEcho. Hope that you
|
||
enjoy it and that Metaphysical was the correct place to put it.
|
||
Blessed Insect, Anne
|
||
|
||
|
||
Power from the Earth:
|
||
My Experience with Animal Allies
|
||
|
||
|
||
The first animal ally to make himself known to me was the
|
||
unicorn. As it happened, I was a child when Galadrial arrived, and
|
||
had no experience which could give me an understanding of the
|
||
being who kept me company on my long, lonely walks back and forth
|
||
to school. Especially since my companion wasn't visible. But I
|
||
knew, even then (I must have been about 10 or 11) several things:
|
||
that Galadrial was real, that he was my friend, and that my
|
||
relationship with him was a special one that not a lot of people
|
||
would understand. I was an archetypal bookworm in those days, from
|
||
a very stress-filled home, and an incurable romantic. And I was
|
||
horse-crazy. (Like a great many girls my age.) As I look back, it
|
||
seems little wonder that the being who took a friendly interest in
|
||
me, gave me encouragement and love, and a sense of personal worth,
|
||
chose to show himself as a unicorn.
|
||
|
||
It was not until many years later, in my mid-twenties, that I
|
||
first heard about totems or power-animals or animal allies. By
|
||
then I was in my first year of a Master's program at a Bay Area
|
||
Christian seminary, taking a class from a wonderful United
|
||
Methodist shaman. (I don't think "shaman" is title she uses in her
|
||
professional life as a lay minister in the church. But, as far as
|
||
I'm concerned, the title fits.) Somehow, my class project came to
|
||
be that of finding my animal totems. Somehow, I never doubted that
|
||
I had animal allies - I just didn't consciously know who they
|
||
were.
|
||
|
||
The process of discovering my animal allies took many weeks.
|
||
During the process of meeting each ally, I spent a good deal of
|
||
time getting to know them. In each case, I had a plaster life cast
|
||
of my face made while comming with my ally. I listened to music,
|
||
used incense and scented oils, and generally tried to immerse
|
||
myself in the essence of the ally. Once the mask was done, I
|
||
further molded, painted and formed the mask into a likeness of the
|
||
animal - so that I now have masks which I can wear which fit my
|
||
face on the inside, and reflect my allies on the outside.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: PostBoard- Your source for quality printing on RECYCLED
|
||
papers. (Opus
|
||
1:125/77)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(476) Sat 20 Aug 88 18:52
|
||
By: Anne Niven
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: animals, contiued (2 of 5)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:e6c5 1114969d
|
||
One good example of an initial meeting with an ally was the time
|
||
I recognized the Hawk of the East. One good example was how I
|
||
recognized the Hawk of the East.(Certain of my allies are more
|
||
private than others, and do not wish their personal names
|
||
published. As with any valued friend who might make such a
|
||
request, I am honoring this one.) He came to me as I was waiting
|
||
for a streetcar in San Francisco, out by Ocean Beach. One moment,
|
||
I was searching the East for my guardian there; the next I felt
|
||
his wings overshadow my soul, and his name was ringing in my ears.
|
||
The Hawk's power is awesome, fierce, and directed. It is the power
|
||
of thought; undisturbed by emotion, will, or physical concerns -
|
||
like the light of a laser or the blade of a sharp knife. Hawk
|
||
rules the East, the realm of the mind, the element of Air and the
|
||
dawning glory of morning. When I cannot think clearly, I call upon
|
||
him, and his advice is always right to the point. He is also a bit
|
||
cynical and predatory - but nobody can see farther or fly higher.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Firecat was the next ally to make herself known to me, and
|
||
she remains one of my strongest allies. Her power can rip through
|
||
my life in unpredictable ways, yet she is my most powerful
|
||
physical protector. Her form is that of a leopard, with fiery eyes
|
||
and razor sharp claws. Hers is the power of the will, of the
|
||
inborn desire to survive, to master any circumstance. When I lived
|
||
in Berkeley and had to walk at night in neighborhoods where I did
|
||
not feel safe, I called on all my allies - but Firecat was the one
|
||
whose prowling presence most strengthened my courage. She rules
|
||
the South, the realm of passion and will, the element of Fire, and
|
||
the burning heat of noontime.
|
||
|
||
Deepwave and Greatsong are whales. What more can I say? A
|
||
mated pair, deeply in love with each other and with the entire
|
||
planet, their watery passion swirls through my life like the tides
|
||
of the ocean in which they make their home. Presiding over the
|
||
West, the realm of emotion, the element of water and the long
|
||
hours of afternoon and sunset, their presence helps me to live
|
||
with my emotions rather than be overcome by them. I have a
|
||
tendency to ride my feelings like a rollercoaster - but Deepwave
|
||
and Greatsong help me to experience a sense of joy and peace
|
||
underlying the waves of emotion.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: PostBoard- Your source for quality printing on RECYCLED
|
||
papers. (Opus
|
||
1:125/77)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(477) Sat 20 Aug 88 18:54
|
||
By: Anne Niven
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: animals, continued (3 of 5)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:e6c5 111496c3
|
||
She Who Roars rules the North, the element of Earth, the
|
||
realm of the physical, and the time of midnight. In a way
|
||
unlike any of the others, She is the Goddess in my life. The best
|
||
way for me to describe my reaction to Her is awe. It is rare for
|
||
me to call upon her, perhaps because I am still afraid of her, for
|
||
her presence makes clear to me that I will someday die. Yet, at
|
||
certain times, it is only She who can comfort me. Her form is that
|
||
of a great She-Bear; and while I hesitate to approach her immense
|
||
body, powerful claws and threatening teeth, I find when I lay down
|
||
in her embrace that she is the most tender and loving of all my
|
||
guardians. I devoutly hope that when I approach Her for the last
|
||
time in this life, I will be granted the opportunity to
|
||
consciously give myself into her care.
|
||
|
||
Always the outsider, Shadowsinger the Wolf prowls the
|
||
perimeter of my being. She dwells primarily in the underworld of
|
||
dream, fantasy and nightmare, where she roams as a sentry,
|
||
offering early warnings when there is danger to me or those I
|
||
love. She is of no one element, direction, or time - but her dark
|
||
and beautiful presence is a part of all of them.
|
||
|
||
The center of my circle of allies is held by the Unicorn,
|
||
whose name has changed since I first met him. Filled with a clear
|
||
light that includes the darkness and colors of the other allies,
|
||
he stands at the center of my psyche like a large, brilliant
|
||
crystal, concentrating and balancing their energies, helping me to
|
||
maintain my balance and centeredness among all the varying
|
||
influences on my life.
|
||
|
||
My most recently discovered ally is very timid. This one (who
|
||
changes gender from time to time) is a small animal, whose only
|
||
defense against predators is to run away and hide. I was unaware
|
||
of this deeply hidden ally until a vision journey in which I
|
||
prepared to face that part of myself which most deeply terrified
|
||
me. I sat calmly, waiting for some terrible beast, an enormous
|
||
monster - and out into the middle of the sacred circle hopped a
|
||
tiny baby rabbit. I was very surprised. I couldn't believe that
|
||
this little, nameless one was my shadow ally, the one whom I most
|
||
greatly feared.
|
||
|
||
But then the depth of its fear struck me. Having called on my
|
||
other allies to protect me, I was at the center of a circle
|
||
surrounded by fierce beasts - a sharp-taloned hawk, a hungry
|
||
leopard, enormous whales, a great she-bear, a prowling, circling
|
||
wolf. No wonder my rabbit ally was terrified! It struck me then,
|
||
how very frightened I was of being small, helpless, and alone -
|
||
just like a tiny baby rabbit.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: PostBoard- Your source for quality printing on RECYCLED
|
||
papers. (Opus
|
||
1:125/77)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(478) Sat 20 Aug 88 18:55
|
||
By: Anne Niven
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: animals continued (4 of 5)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:e6c5 111496e4
|
||
The unicorn was nowhere in sight - having abruptly
|
||
disappeared when the rabbit arrived. This struck me as odd at the
|
||
time, but I didn't understand the significance of this fact until
|
||
writing this account. The Unicorn is the center of power and
|
||
energy in my center - but hidden beneath that gleaming light is my
|
||
deepest, smallest self, the one who fears being abandoned and
|
||
helpless and powerless. The two are intrinsicly the same, two
|
||
faces of the one Being at my center.
|
||
|
||
As I cradled my shadow self, still quivering with fear in the
|
||
center of the circle, I had an idea. Carefully, I carried the
|
||
rabbit over to the East, where the Hawk sat, watching intensely.
|
||
Then, drawing my hands over her body, I cast a glamour upon the
|
||
tiny rabbit so that, to the hawk, it appeared that a baby hawk lay
|
||
before him. Immedietely, his eyes lit up and he covered the
|
||
fledgling with his wings, welcoming her to the circle. Around the
|
||
circle I went, letting each of my allies welcome and nurture the
|
||
tiny, frightened one as their own child. When I was finished, I
|
||
held her in her own form as I dissolved the circle and bid each of
|
||
my allies farewell. Finally, the tiny rabbit hopped back into the
|
||
shadows from which she had appeared, and the vision was ended.
|
||
|
||
It may be obvious by now that I experience my animal allies
|
||
as actual beings. I also understand them to be the embodiment or
|
||
personification of different aspects of my Self. These two
|
||
different understandings of their nature are not contradictory,
|
||
but complementary, similar to my understanding of the Goddess and
|
||
God. They are part of us - and we are part of them. So, too, with
|
||
animal allies. Whether I view them as aspects of my psyche or as
|
||
beings whose reality is different than mine, I treat them as
|
||
respected elders.
|
||
|
||
There are several ways in which I experience my allies.
|
||
First, at times, they act as if they were physically present. For
|
||
example, when I'm walking alone (perhaps in an unfamiliar place)
|
||
and feel in need of protection, I call my allies to my aid. They
|
||
appear, each from their own direction, consult with me, and then
|
||
fan out as scouts or guardians to protect me from whatever danger
|
||
may be lurking in their direction. Although I never see them with
|
||
my five senses, their presence is very apparent to me as a
|
||
physical one, if not entirely on this plane of existence;
|
||
surrounded by the Hawk, Firecat, the Whales, and Bear, with Wolf
|
||
prowling the perimeter and the Unicorn (and Rabbit) at my center,
|
||
I feel much more protected and able to move ahead. (I might add
|
||
that my five senses seem somewhat heightened with my allies
|
||
present, and I have never yet been harmed in any way while under
|
||
their protection.)
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: PostBoard- Your source for quality printing on RECYCLED
|
||
papers. (Opus
|
||
1:125/77)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(479) Sat 20 Aug 88 19:05
|
||
By: Anne Niven
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: animals, final (5 of 5)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:e6c5 111498a4
|
||
|
||
The second way I experience my allies is when one of them
|
||
inhabits my physical body for a short period of time. This occurs
|
||
with my consent, in a kind of exhilerated or altered state,
|
||
usually brought on by drumming and dancing. Occasionally, it can
|
||
have unexpected results. I remember one time at a reggae dance in
|
||
a club, when I allowed Firecat to take over during one
|
||
particularly powerful song. When the song ended, She didn't want
|
||
to leave - she wanted to dance some more! My body, however, was
|
||
exhausted, and I had quite an internal struggle. When my lover
|
||
intervened, and took me outside for some air, I bit him. (Not
|
||
hard, fortunately!) That was the last straw, and I rather firmly
|
||
banished Firecat for the remainder of the evening. These sorts of
|
||
experiences are rare, but powerful; I still remember that dance
|
||
with excitment, even if I feel a bit chargrined about the
|
||
aftermath!
|
||
|
||
I also experience the presence of my allies when I am on a
|
||
vision journey or dream quest. At times they act simply as
|
||
guardians, as I described in my account of my first meeting with
|
||
my rabbit ally. At other times, they allow me to take their shape
|
||
while on a vision journey; as the time when I flew over San
|
||
Francisco in the Hawk's form.
|
||
|
||
Finally, there are times when my allies seem to be internal
|
||
beings, reflecting different aspects of my Self with whom I
|
||
consult when making decisions or am in need of advice. Whom I call
|
||
upon depends on the circumstances and my moods - for example, when
|
||
overwhelmed with emotions I often ask Greatwave and Deepsong for
|
||
help - but if I am trying to make a rational decision and feel
|
||
panicked, the Hawk of the East usually comes to my aid. And so it
|
||
goes - different allies filling different functions, but each a
|
||
respected and honored companion - even friend.
|
||
|
||
I feel closer to some allies than others at different times;
|
||
and there are times when some of them even go away for a while -
|
||
but, like true friends, we always seem to get together again.
|
||
I've read in some books on Shamanism that it's not possible to
|
||
have more than one ally at a time, or that one must constantly
|
||
guard against losing one's allies; but this hasn't been my
|
||
experience. I feel very fortunate to have met these special
|
||
beings, who have taught me so much about myself and this planet,
|
||
and I hope that my introduction of them to a wider group of people
|
||
will help spread the blessings they have brought to my life.
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: PostBoard- Your source for quality printing on RECYCLED
|
||
papers. (Opus
|
||
1:125/77)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(480) Mon 22 Aug 88 18:46
|
||
By: Rowan Moonstone
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Halloween pamphlet
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:524a 111695cf
|
||
The Origins of Halloween
|
||
In recent years, I have seen a number of pamphlets put out by
|
||
various Christian organizations dealing with the origins of modern
|
||
day Halloween customs. Being a Witch myself, and a student of the
|
||
ancient Celts, from whom we get this holiday, I have found these
|
||
pamphlets woefully inaccurate and poorly researched. In an effort
|
||
to correct some of this erroneous information, I have spent several
|
||
months researching the religious life of the ancient Celtic peoples
|
||
and the survivals of that religious life in modern day times.
|
||
Listed below are some of the most commonly asked questions
|
||
concerning the origins and customs of Halloween. Following the
|
||
questions is a lengthy bibliography where the curious reader can go
|
||
to learn more about this holiday than space in this small pamphlet
|
||
permits.
|
||
1. Where does Halloween come from?
|
||
Our modern celebration of Halloween is a descendent of the
|
||
ancient Celtic fire festival called "Samhain". The word is
|
||
pronounced sow in, with "sow" rhyming with cow.
|
||
2. What does "Samhain" mean?
|
||
The Irish English dictionary published by the Irish Texts
|
||
Society defines the word as follows :" Samhain, All Hallowtide, the
|
||
feast of the dead in Pagan and Christian times, signalizing the
|
||
close of harvest and the initiation of the winter season, lasting
|
||
till May, during which troops( esp. the Fiann) were quartered.
|
||
Faeries were imagined as particularly active at this season. From
|
||
it the half year is reckoned. also called Feile Moingfinne( Snow
|
||
Goddess)(1) . The Scottish Gaelis Dictionary defines it as
|
||
"Hallowtide. The Feast of All So.Sam+Fuin=
|
||
end of summer."(2) Contrary to the information published by many
|
||
organizations, there is no archaeological or literary evidence to
|
||
indicate that Samhain was a deity. The Celtic Gods of the dead were
|
||
Gwynn ap Nudd for the British, and Arawn for the Welsh. The Irish
|
||
did not have a "lord of death" as such.
|
||
3. Why was the end of summer of significance to the Celts?
|
||
The Celts were a pastoral people as opposed to an agricultural
|
||
people. The end of summer was significant to them because it meant
|
||
the time of year when the structure of their lives changed
|
||
radically. The cattle were brought down from the summer pastures in
|
||
the hills and the people were gathered into the houses for the long
|
||
winter nights of storytelling and handicrafts.
|
||
4. What does it have to do with a festival of the dead?
|
||
The Celts believed that when people died, they went to a land
|
||
of eternal youth and happiness called Tir nan Og. They did not have
|
||
the concept of heaven and hell that the Christian church later
|
||
brought into the land. The dead were sometimes believed to be
|
||
dwelling with the Fairy Folk, who lived in the numerous mounds or
|
||
sidhe( pron. "shee") that dotted the Irish and Scottish
|
||
countryside. Samhain was the new year to the Celts. In the Celtic
|
||
belief system, turning points, such as the time between one day and
|
||
the next, the meeting of sea and shore, or the turning of one year
|
||
into the next were seen as magickal times. The turning of the year
|
||
was the most potent of these times. This was the time when the
|
||
"veil between the worlds" was at its thinnest, and the living could
|
||
communicate with their beloved dead in Tir nan Og.
|
||
5. What about the aspects of "evil" that we associate with the
|
||
night today?
|
||
The Celts did not have demons and devils in their belief
|
||
system. The fairies , however, were often considered hostile and
|
||
dangerous to humans because they were seen as being resentful of
|
||
men taking over their lands. On this night, they would sometimes
|
||
trick humans into becoming lost in the fairy mounds, where they
|
||
would be trapped forever. After the coming of the Christians to the
|
||
Celtic lands, certain of the folk saw the fairies as those angels
|
||
who had sided neither with Gor or with Lucifer in
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(481) Mon 22 Aug 88 19:01
|
||
By: Rowan Moonstone
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Halloween, pt. 2
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:524a 11169836
|
||
their dispute, and thus, were condemned to walk the earth until
|
||
judgment day.(3)
|
||
In addition to the fairies, many humans were abroad on this
|
||
night, causing mischief. since this night belonged neither to one
|
||
year or the other, Celtic folk believed that chaos reigned and the
|
||
people would engage in "horseplay and practical jokes"(4)This
|
||
served also as a final outlet for high spirits before the gloom of
|
||
winter set in.
|
||
6. What about "trick or treat"?
|
||
During the course of these hijinks, many of the people would
|
||
imitate the fairies and go from house to house begging for treats.
|
||
Failure to supply the treats would usually result in practical
|
||
jokes being visited on the owner of the house. Since the fairies
|
||
were abroad on this night, an offering of food or milk was
|
||
frequently left for them on the steps of the house, so the
|
||
homeowner could gain the blessings of the "good folk" for the
|
||
coming year. Many of th households would also leave out a "dumb
|
||
supper" for the spirits of the departed(5) The folks who were
|
||
abroad in the night imitating the fairies would sometimes carry
|
||
turnips carved to represent faces. This is the origin of our modern
|
||
Jack-o-lantern.
|
||
7. Was this also a religious festival?
|
||
Yes. Celtic religion was very closely tied to the Earth. Their
|
||
great legends are concerned with momentous happenings which took
|
||
place around the time of Samhain. many of the great battles and
|
||
legends of kings and heroes center on this night. Many of the
|
||
legends concern the promotion of fertility of the earth and the
|
||
insurance of the continuance of the lives of the people through the
|
||
dark winter season.
|
||
8. How was the religious festival observed?
|
||
Unfortunately, we know very little about that. W.G.
|
||
Wood-Martin, in his book"Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland"
|
||
states,"There is comparitively little trace of the religion of the
|
||
Druids now discoverable , saye in the folklore of the peasantry,
|
||
and the references relative to it that occur in ancient and
|
||
authentic Irish manuscripts are, as far as present appearances go,
|
||
meagre and insufficient to support anything like a sound theory for
|
||
full development of the ancient religion."(6)The Druids were the
|
||
priests of the Celtic peoples. They passed on their teachings by
|
||
oral tradition instead of committing them to writing, so when they
|
||
perished, most of their religious teachings were lost. we DO kn ow
|
||
that this festival was characterized as one of the four great "Fire
|
||
Festivals" of the Celts. Legends tell us that on this night, all
|
||
the hearth fires in Ireland were extinguished, and then re-lit from
|
||
the central fire of the Druids at Tlachtga, 12 miles from the royal
|
||
hill of Tara. This fire was kindled from 'need fire" which had been
|
||
generated by the friction of rubbing two sticks together as opposed
|
||
to more conventional methods common in those days. (7) The
|
||
extinguishing of the fires symbolized the "dark half" of the year,
|
||
and the re-kindling from the Druidic fires was symbolic of the
|
||
returning life hoped for, and brought about through the
|
||
ministrations of the priesthood.
|
||
9. What about sacrifices?
|
||
Animals were certainly killed at this time of year. This was
|
||
the time to "cull" from the herds those animals which were not
|
||
desired for breeding purposes for the next year. Most certainly,
|
||
some of these would have been done in a ritualistic manner for the
|
||
use of the priesthood.
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(482) Mon 22 Aug 88 19:15
|
||
By: Rowan Moonstone
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Halloween, pt. 3
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:524a 111699e3
|
||
10. Were humans sacrificed?
|
||
Scholars are sharply divided on this account, with about hald
|
||
believing that it took place and half doubting its veracity. Caesar
|
||
and Tac itus ceratinly tell tales of the human sacrifices of the
|
||
Celts, but Nora Chadwick points out in her book" The Celts" that"it
|
||
is not without interest that the Romans themselves had abolished
|
||
human sacrifices not long before Caesar's time, and references to
|
||
the practice among various barbarian peoples have certain overtones
|
||
of self righteousness. There is little direct archaeological
|
||
evidcence relevant to Celtic sacrifice."(8)
|
||
Indeed, there is little reference to this practice in Celtic
|
||
literature either. The only surviving story echoes the story of the
|
||
Minotaur in Greek legend. The Fomorians, a race of evil giants said
|
||
to inhabit portions of Ireland before the coming of the Tuatha de
|
||
Danaan, or 'people of the Goddess Danu", demanded the sacrifice of
|
||
2/3 of the corn, milk, and first born children of the Fir Bolg, or
|
||
human inhabitants of Ireland. The De Danaan ended this practice in
|
||
the second battle of Moy Tura, which incidentally took place on
|
||
Samhain.
|
||
11. What other practices were associated with this season?
|
||
Folk tradition tells us of many divination practices
|
||
associated with Samhain. Among tyhe most common were divinations
|
||
dealing with marriage, weather, and teh coming fortunes for the
|
||
year. lThese were performed via such methods as ducking for apples,
|
||
and apple peeling. lDucking for apples was a marriage divination.
|
||
The first person to bite an apple would be the first to marry in
|
||
the coming year. apple peeling was a divination to see how long
|
||
your life would be. The longer the umbroken apple peel, the longer
|
||
your life was destined to be.(9) In Scotland, people would place
|
||
stones in the ashes of the hearth before retiring for the night.
|
||
Anyone whose stone had been disturbed during the night was said to
|
||
be destined to die during the coming year.
|
||
12. How did these ancient Celtic practices come to America?
|
||
When the potatoe crop in Ireland failed, many of the Irish
|
||
people , modern day descendents of the Celts, immigrated to
|
||
america, bringing with them their folk practices, which are the
|
||
remnants of the Celtic festival observances.
|
||
13.We in America view this as a harvest festival. Did the Celts
|
||
also view it as such?
|
||
Yes. The Celts had 3 harvests. Aug 1, or Lammas, was the first
|
||
harvest, when the first fruits were offered to the Gods in thanks.
|
||
The Fall equinox was the true harvest. This was when the bulk of
|
||
the crops would be brought in. Samhain was the final harvest of the
|
||
year. Anything left on the vines or in the fields after this date
|
||
was considered blasted by the fairies, or pu'ka, and unfit for
|
||
human consumption.
|
||
14.Does anyone today celebrate Samhain as a religious observance?
|
||
Yes. many followers of various pagan religions, such as Druids
|
||
and Wiccans observe this day as a religious festival. They view it
|
||
as a memorial day for their dead friends and
|
||
does the national holiday of Memorial Day in May.It is still a
|
||
night to practice various forms of divination concerning future
|
||
events. Also, it is considered a time to wrap up old projects, take
|
||
stock of ones life, and initiate new projects for the coming year.
|
||
As the winter season is approaching, it is a good time to do
|
||
studying on research projects and also a goot time to begin hand
|
||
work such as sewing, leather working, woodworking, etc. for Yule
|
||
gifts later in the year.
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(483) Mon 22 Aug 88 19:28
|
||
By: Rowan Moonstone
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Halloween, conclusion
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:524a 11169b89
|
||
15. Does this involve human or animal sacrifice?
|
||
Absolutely NOT! Hollywood to the contraty, bolld sacrific is
|
||
not practiced by modern day followers of Wicca or Druidism. There
|
||
may be some people who THINK they are practicing Wicca by
|
||
performing blood sacrifices, but this is NOT condoned by reputable
|
||
practitioners of the modern day Neo Pagan religions.
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
-
|
||
FOOTNOTES
|
||
(1) Rev. Patrick Dineen," An Irish English Dictionary"(Dublin,
|
||
1927),p937
|
||
(2)Malcolm MacLennan,"A Pronouncing and Etymological Dictionaty
|
||
oif the Gaelic Language"(Aberdeen, 1979),p279
|
||
(3)W.G. Wood-Martin,"Traces of the Elder Faiths of I
|
||
Port Washington, 1902, p5.
|
||
(4)Kevin Danaher,"The Year in Irela",(Cork,1972),p.214
|
||
(5)Alwyn& Brinley Rees,"Celtic Heritage"(New York,1961),p90
|
||
(6)Wood-Martin,p249
|
||
(7)Rees& Rees,p90
|
||
(8) Nora Chadwick,"The Celts"(Harmondsworth,1982),p151
|
||
(9)Madeleine Pelner Cosman,"Medieval Holidays and Festivals,"(New
|
||
York,
|
||
1981),p.81
|
||
-------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
BIBLIOGRAPHY
|
||
Bord, Janet & Colin,"The Secret Country", London:Paladin Books, 1978
|
||
Chadwick, Nora,"The Celts", Harmondsworth:Penguin Books, 1982
|
||
Coglan, Ronan,"A Dictionary of Irish Myth and Legend,"Dublin,1979
|
||
Cosman, Madeleine Pelner,"Medieval Holidays and Festivals,"New
|
||
York:Charles Scribner's Sons, 1981
|
||
Danaher, Kevin,"The Year in Ireland," Cork: The Mercier Press,1972
|
||
Dineen, Rev. Patrick,S,,M.A,"An Irish English Dictionary", Dublin:
|
||
The Irish texts Society,1927
|
||
MacCana, Proinsias,"Celtic Mythology", London:The Hamlyn
|
||
Publishing Group Limited, 1970
|
||
MacLennan, Malcolm,"A Pronouncing and Etymological Dictionary of
|
||
the Gaelic Language", aberdeen: Acair and Aberdeen University
|
||
Press,1979
|
||
MacNeill, Maire',"The Festival of Lughnasa",Dublin"Comhairle
|
||
Bhealoideas Eireann,1982
|
||
Powell,T.G.,E."The Celts",New York:Thanes & Hudson,1980
|
||
Rees, Alwyn and Brinley,"Celtic Heritage, Ancient Traditions in
|
||
Ireland and Wales,"New York:Thanes & Hudson,1961
|
||
Sharkey, John,"Celtic Mysteries",N.Y.: Thames and Hudson, 1975
|
||
Spence, Lewis,"jBritish Fairy Origins", Wellingborough:Aquarian
|
||
Press, 1946
|
||
Squire,Charles,"Celtic Myth & Legend, Poetry & Romance,"New
|
||
York:Newcastle Publishing co, Inc. 1975
|
||
Toulson, shirley,"The Winter Solstice",London:Jill Norman&
|
||
Hobhouse, Ltd, 1981
|
||
Wood Martin,W.G.,"Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland, Vols I &
|
||
II,
|
||
Port Washington:Kennikat Press, 1902
|
||
(c) copywrite 1988, Rowan Moonstone
|
||
P O Box 21058
|
||
OKC. OK 73120
|
||
Permission is granted for use by pagan groups and on pagan BBS
|
||
systems.All
|
||
others must contact the author prior to use.
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(484) Sat 3 Sep 88 0:34
|
||
By: Rob Lea
|
||
To: Rowan Moonstone
|
||
Re: you don't know what you're talking about
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:de40 11230457
|
||
1. Do you know Patrick Ford?
|
||
2. A very close family member of mine is working on her Ph.D. in
|
||
Celtic Studies at Harvard.
|
||
Sahmain is really pronounced "saw when". Sidhe is pronounced
|
||
"sheeth", with the "th" as in "then". It also means "truth".
|
||
Arawn is not a god of the dead. He is a minor character in the
|
||
Mabinogi who comes from Annwfyn and befriends Pwyll. British
|
||
language evolved into the Welsh language. Sahmain is the Irish
|
||
name for this festival. The Welsh name differs.
|
||
(CONTINUED)
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: IBM_Tech_Fido (Opus 1:322/1)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(485) Sat 3 Sep 88 0:42
|
||
By: Rob Lea
|
||
To: Rowan Moonstone
|
||
Re: (Continued)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:de40 1123055a
|
||
Fianna were outlaws. Read "The Wisdom of the Outlaw" by Nagy.
|
||
Finn MacCumail was the leader of a fiann. Gwynn ap Nudd is the
|
||
Welsh cognate of Finn, which means "bright and shining". He is not
|
||
a Celtic god of the dead. He was a figure in early Welsh
|
||
literature who closelfy resembles Finn.
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: IBM_Tech_Fido (Opus 1:322/1)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(486) Wed 7 Sep 88 7:21
|
||
By: David Rice
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Patter Of Tiny Feet
|
||
St: Pvt
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:3002 11273aa3
|
||
* Nightmare On Baker Street.
|
||
|
||
Yes, there IS a devil. Just like Billy said. An
|
||
evil so hostile, so inimical, so putrid and vile it is
|
||
unmistakable. The stench of it's perversity so wretched
|
||
as to be indefinable. I know this for fact, as I've been
|
||
sorely afflicted by this demon, learning it's foulness
|
||
firsthand. This is My Story.
|
||
|
||
It all began with the patter of tiny, teeny,
|
||
eenie-weenie Army boots. Laying alone and cold one night
|
||
(as every night for the past 28 years), the noise of
|
||
their passing waifed lightly, almost like the sound a
|
||
rose petal might make falling onto a plush cotton bed
|
||
cover, to come to rest, subliminal in it's
|
||
perfidiousness, in my left ear drum.
|
||
|
||
"Hark," I said. I speak like this when sleeping
|
||
alone. "Pray, tell. What's this I doth hear?" I sat up
|
||
from my mat, deliberately, almost dilatorily, pulling
|
||
back the sheet from my naked body (I sleep like this when
|
||
sleeping alone). Hands shaking ever so tenuously, I
|
||
gained my feet, determined to investigate.
|
||
|
||
Head cocked slightly to catch the faint sound, I
|
||
made my way, bare of body and unarmed, into the living
|
||
room. The microcosmic Army utterances got faintly
|
||
louder. I was on the right track. Cautiously,
|
||
circumspectly, warily, I made my way to the kitchen. I
|
||
snapped on the light.
|
||
|
||
Oh, the horror of that moment! It will haunt me
|
||
like a vision of damnation, a specter of abhorrence, the
|
||
very definition of repugnance, for the rest of my days!
|
||
|
||
"Ants!" I cried. "Woe! I've got ants!" I cried and
|
||
cried again.
|
||
|
||
Thus began the wretched exploit, a mere ten days
|
||
ago. As you no doubt know, my Creed charges me that I
|
||
"Harm none," which I comprehend to include animals (even
|
||
demonic ones such as fleas, roaches, termites,
|
||
Christians, and yes, even ants). This is the major
|
||
reason I circumnavigate flesh as food. Once one has a
|
||
bevy of ants, how does one go about, well, exorcizing
|
||
them without harming them in the process?
|
||
|
||
I could call in a team of hit men to do the
|
||
dastardly dead in my stead. Or my Dad, who enjoys such
|
||
work as decimating living, breathing, happy creatures. I
|
||
have visions of the spray can vomiting virulent, toxic,
|
||
clouds of death at the inhabitants of my kitchen counter,
|
||
with hordes of screaming, terrified denizens of the night
|
||
yelling out "Save the women and larva first!" in their
|
||
tiny little throats. Yes, Dad would like that.
|
||
|
||
A second method could be, perhaps, the dreaded
|
||
Localized Flooding Of The Masses Technique. This is one
|
||
I abhor almost as much as gassing them to death. You
|
||
know the trick. Taking a coffee mug, filling it with
|
||
water, and roaming the kitchen, eyes at floor level,
|
||
looking for a tiny victim to do in. When one presents
|
||
itself, you hit it with well over three billion times its
|
||
body weight in H^2O. The little devil kicks its little
|
||
paws (er, do ants have paws?) to no avail, going down for
|
||
the third, and final, count. Perhaps you smile at this
|
||
point. (Pop would.) The main attraction of this system is
|
||
that there aren't any vile chemicals to mop up
|
||
afterwards. Just decaying carcasses by the hundreds. If
|
||
you have a wet / dry vacuum, give it a spin around the
|
||
counter top. I personally hate having to deal with a
|
||
pool of ants floating calmly, placidly, belly up, feet
|
||
dangling in the air, pain-twisted fingers pointing
|
||
incriminatingly at me. I can just see the wee devil's
|
||
family tossing a wreath into the pool of water, to watch
|
||
it float out with the tide.
|
||
|
||
There are many more popular methods. The Zippo
|
||
Lighter Fiasco, the Big Thumb Dance Of Death, the
|
||
Offering Of Dissolution (a variation of the Spray Can
|
||
system, where a pile of choice, hearty, tasty,
|
||
nutritious, violently deadly food is left as an
|
||
Offering), and Rolled Newspaper Delivery System just to
|
||
name a few.
|
||
|
||
Is the an end to this sad tale? Well, all that
|
||
could be done to combat this wickedness has been done.
|
||
The trash bag is outside at the curb, waiting to not only
|
||
pollute some distant, remote toxic waste dump, but to
|
||
attract a larger following of demon spawned, militant
|
||
ants and other hellish beasts. And I've stopped eating,
|
||
in the hopes that once the present ants finish carting
|
||
off all the spilled leftovers on the floor (and whatever
|
||
was left for them in the fridge), they will grow hungry
|
||
once again and haunt someone else for a while.
|
||
|
||
|
||
David Rice
|
||
|
||
(1:103/503.0)
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Astro-Net 714 662-2294 Not For Pagans Only! (Opus
|
||
1:103/503)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(487) Thu 13 Oct 88 0:28
|
||
By: David Rice
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: ISAR Part One
|
||
St: Pvt
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:a5d6 114d0380
|
||
* A Your Type
|
||
|
||
|
||
David Rice
|
||
(1:103/503.0)
|
||
|
||
|
||
I peered through the dirty window, trying to gauge what
|
||
awaited me inside. The summons mentioned something about a
|
||
"refund" and gave an address on the lower end of seventeenth
|
||
street, Falwellvill. I'd been eating canned soup for dinner the
|
||
past few months, and could not afford to pass up any offer which
|
||
would help me make it from one pay check to the next. My intent
|
||
gaze could not penetrate the foggy haze which covered the plane
|
||
glass; My trepidation grew. I glanced again at my watch, and
|
||
discovered I was over a minute late. Clutching my courage with
|
||
one hand, and tightening my resolve with the other, I opened the
|
||
door and went in.
|
||
|
||
The waiting room was small. Perhaps fifteen feet square,
|
||
with four dirty chairs placed contumeliously around an equally
|
||
filthy card table. The closed door against the far wall had no
|
||
knob that I could discover with my cursory glance. The thick
|
||
window, imbedded in the plaster next to the door like a cyst on
|
||
an old man's butt, appeared bullet proof; A young, harried,
|
||
tight-lipped woman stared fearfully through it's wavy entrails,
|
||
no doubt making me look as innocuous, as shapeless as she.
|
||
|
||
"Name!" the shape demanded through the three-inch diameter
|
||
wire mesh placed squarely in the center of the vacuous surface.
|
||
The sound might have reminded one of a stifled fart. I leaned
|
||
forward to the wire port hole to speak my name; Ms. Shapeless
|
||
jerked back sharply, as if I had attempted to bite her. "Rice,
|
||
David M.," I screamed into the orifice, articulating precisely.
|
||
She took another step back, paused to digest this new
|
||
information, stepped forward. With a long stretching reach,
|
||
loathing to get any closer to me despite the barrier between us,
|
||
she pressed a button under the window. A loud buzzing issued
|
||
from the door. "Go in!" the shapeless shape demanded.
|
||
|
||
I pressed against the door, opening it slowly, wondering if
|
||
whatever Ms. Shapeless was afraid of might get me, too. The
|
||
door opened into a short, empty, expressionless, blank hall, with
|
||
yet another door at the very end. How Ms. Shapeless got into
|
||
her cage was a mystery, as there seemed to be no door leading her
|
||
way. Cautiously I walked down the hall and opened the door.
|
||
|
||
This room was slightly larger than the waiting room.
|
||
Furniture included one desk, two chairs, a computer. At the
|
||
computer sat a man wearing nylon pants (the legs came up almost
|
||
to his knees), nylon socks (which were limp around his ankles),
|
||
and a nylon shirt (open at the neck, buttoned tightly around his
|
||
paunch waist). His shoes were missing.
|
||
|
||
He jumped to his feet, as if caught at some misdemeanor.
|
||
Striding up to him with my hand out, I smiled warmly at him. He
|
||
stared at my hand as if it were a snake, snatching his behind his
|
||
back out of reach. Putting the desk between us, he motioned to
|
||
the far chair. Shrugging to myself, I sat down. Mr. Nylon sat
|
||
as well. I waited. I couldn't catch his eyes.
|
||
|
||
Mr. Nylon pushed a few papers around his desk, twitched his
|
||
right cheek spasmodically a few time, and shoved a paper over the
|
||
desk's surface at me like a threat. "Sign at the bottom," he
|
||
intoned, in a stressed voice. I tried to catch his eyes again,
|
||
and failed.
|
||
|
||
Having nothing to lose, I assumed, I picked up the paper and
|
||
examined it.
|
||
|
||
United Farmers Of Ohio $35.00
|
||
Childless Parents Of Utah $25.00
|
||
Animal Liberation Organization $175.00
|
||
Save The Parrots League $16.00
|
||
|
||
. . . . The list began.
|
||
|
||
"What?" I muttered more to myself than to the "gentleman"
|
||
across the desk. "Just sign it," he groaned, his tone sounding
|
||
like "Are you gonna give us trouble too?!" His tonicity,
|
||
intending to demean, humiliate, and shame, ground into my nerves,
|
||
causing rebellion to swell up in my veins. I started to scan the
|
||
list from the top again, reading as slowly as possible,
|
||
determined to look for any reason at all not to sign.
|
||
|
||
Black Hockey Players Dental Alliance $83.00
|
||
Republican Party $0.23
|
||
Richard Nixon Acquittal Confederacy $10.00
|
||
Horseless Carriage Restoration Coalition $15.00
|
||
|
||
. . . . The list continued.
|
||
|
||
"What?" I muttered again.
|
||
|
||
"It's your refund!" Mr. Nylon snarled. "Every damn penny!
|
||
And 8 percent interest. Just sign there at the bottom." Making
|
||
as if to lean across the desk to point to where I should sign, he
|
||
jerked to a stop half out of his chair. The action was curiously
|
||
like a person who dropped a quarter in the outhouse and decided
|
||
he didn't want to retrieve it that badly. The thought that he
|
||
could have gotten close enough to touch me seemed to make him
|
||
shiver ever so slightly.
|
||
|
||
Clown Union March For Independence $65.80
|
||
Tammy Bakker Plastic Surgery Fund $0.02
|
||
Second House Neptune Endowment $32.00
|
||
Dolly Parton Back Brace Support Group $45.00
|
||
|
||
. . . . The list yet continued. At the bottom of the paper
|
||
was a sub-total, what I had to assume was 8 percent of it (being
|
||
somewhat poor in the art of mathematics), and a grand total.
|
||
|
||
"My refund?" I asked. "Refund? This is a list of every
|
||
charity I've ever given time or money to in the past 25 years.
|
||
Why a refund?"
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Astro-Net 714 662-2294 Melenkurion abatha! (Opus
|
||
1:103/503)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(488) Thu 13 Oct 88 0:28
|
||
By: David Rice
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: ISAR Part Two
|
||
St: Pvt
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:a5d6 114d0387
|
||
The paunchy pile of nylon snorted angrily. "You know why!"
|
||
His piggie, watery eyes flitted across my forehead, and scurried
|
||
away again, not quite making eye contact. His hands made
|
||
wringing motions. I took a deep breath.
|
||
|
||
"No. Why?" I demanded. I considered the possibility of
|
||
leaving, but curiosity sometimes pays for the cat food. Mr.
|
||
Nylon grimaced, winced his eyes insolently. "Because your a Your
|
||
Type!" he snapped. This time he did manage to look at my eyes,
|
||
defiantly, hostilely, just a second, before snatching his gaze
|
||
away again. "It's obvious!" Another deep breath. "A what type?
|
||
I'm a what?" I wanted to get to the bottom of the issue quickly.
|
||
I'm not one to call a harlot a "social worker" if "whore" would
|
||
suffice.
|
||
|
||
"A Your Type! You and Your Kind! The gall you've got,
|
||
giving money to these fine, lawful, NORMAL people! How dare
|
||
you?!" This time he stared directly into my eyes, hotly, with a
|
||
gaze full of blistering hate and detestation, demanding with
|
||
speechless violence an answer to why I choose to be a "Your
|
||
Type," whatever that was. I was still ignorant to what we were
|
||
talking about.
|
||
|
||
"What do you mean about being 'My Type'?" I wanted to leave
|
||
now, but anger started to replace the rebellion in my blood.
|
||
|
||
"You're a. . . " he paused. "You're a =Witch=!" He
|
||
ejaculated finally, defiantly, accusingly. "You ride a
|
||
motorcycle! You live in a house full of subversive books!
|
||
You've been seen talking to. . ." he shuddered ". . . lesbians!"
|
||
His pallid, flaccid, doughy face was turning red. "You sleep in
|
||
your back yard instead of inside! Like an animal! You drive an
|
||
MG, for God's sake! What the hell do you mean, 'What do you mean
|
||
"My Type"'?!"
|
||
|
||
"Auhh. . . ." I began, mind reeling. But he wasn't
|
||
through.
|
||
|
||
"You voted against Brother Robertson! You don't eat meat!
|
||
You and Your Type don't conform! You're an Anarchist, a
|
||
throwback to evolution! You don't belong here, we don't want you
|
||
here, and we sure as hell don't want your money!" I was
|
||
beginning to get the picture, slowly. "You're an Astrologer! A
|
||
godless heathen! You protested the draft! You listen to Country
|
||
and Western music! You talk to your vegetables before you eat
|
||
them! God only knows what else you do to your vegetables. . . .!
|
||
|
||
"You don't want my money? These charities don't want my
|
||
money? Because I'm a Pagan? Because I'm a vegetarian? Because
|
||
I like the stars? Because Falwellian Politics makes me throw
|
||
up?"
|
||
|
||
"Yess!" he hissed through clenched cuspids. "These fine,
|
||
respectable, normal, =conforming= charities don't want to be
|
||
connected to a Your Type in any way, shape, or form. They don't
|
||
want any kind of support from a Your Type at all! How dare you
|
||
offer them your money and time?! YOUR money! YOURS!?"
|
||
|
||
"So they're sending me back my contributions. . . . " This I
|
||
couldn't conceive. "With interest. . . ."
|
||
|
||
"Yesssss!" he hissed again.
|
||
|
||
"Because my girl friends are gay? Because I like British
|
||
cars?"
|
||
|
||
"Yesss, yesss!"
|
||
|
||
"Because I apologize to apples for biting them, telling them
|
||
to take a deep breath and close their eyes first. . . ." He
|
||
flinched and seethed at this, blowing hot air through his flaccid
|
||
lips. ". . . and yell at people who deliberately stomp on
|
||
snails?"
|
||
|
||
"Yesss, yesss, all that! A freak! An insult against God
|
||
and nature! You haven't been to church, a =real=, =normal=
|
||
church =ever=! Not only that, you've started your OWN church!
|
||
You worship a Supervisor at your work, for god's sake, as a
|
||
goddess!" My eyes narrowed dangerously. That was going too far.
|
||
|
||
"You leave Cezanne out of this! She's perfection
|
||
personified, and worthy of worship. . . ."
|
||
|
||
"See?! You admit to being a Your Type!" He threw his
|
||
weight into his chair, leaned back, and glared at me. I stared
|
||
at him speechlessly.
|
||
|
||
"Sign the paper, take the money, and get out!" he demanded.
|
||
I didn't even hesitate.
|
||
|
||
"No."
|
||
|
||
"What!"
|
||
|
||
"I said, 'No.'" I got up to leave.
|
||
|
||
"You have to! You will! It's yours! We won't take it!
|
||
Give it to some damn perverted Your Type group!"
|
||
|
||
I walked to the door. A poster was taped to the back, which
|
||
I had missed when entering the room. "America: Love It Or Fuck
|
||
You!" it said, with the Statue Of Liberty standing proudly in it.
|
||
Her middle finger was raised in traditional "Giving Them The
|
||
Bird" posture. They had gotten to her, too.
|
||
|
||
"Use the money to buy yourself some shoes," I said, closing
|
||
the door after stepping through. As I passed Ms. Shapeless she
|
||
glared at me hatefully, but I hardly noticed. "Sad fools," I
|
||
added, stepping out into the street. I felt dirtied, in need of a
|
||
shower.
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Astro-Net 714 662-2294 Melenkurion abatha! (Opus
|
||
1:103/503)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(489) Wed 19 Oct 88 17:38
|
||
By: Tim Maroney
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Vatican Burns Starhawk (1 of 4)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 11538cd2
|
||
|
||
VATICAN GAGS NEW-AGE PRIEST FROM OAKLAND
|
||
By Don Lattin
|
||
Chronicle Religion Writer
|
||
(from the San Francisco Chronicle, page A1, Tuesday, October 18,
|
||
1988)
|
||
|
||
The Rev. Matthew Fox, an avant-garde Oakland priest who has
|
||
blended New
|
||
Age philosophy with Roman Catholic teachings, has been sentenced
|
||
by the
|
||
Vatican to a year of public silence, according to a published
|
||
report.
|
||
|
||
National Catholic Reporter, a liberal weekly newspaper, reports in
|
||
its
|
||
current edition that -- effective December 15 -- Fox has been
|
||
ordered
|
||
not to speak publicly or to publish his writings for a year.
|
||
|
||
Fox, the founder of the Institute in Culture and Creation
|
||
Spirituality
|
||
at Holy Names College in Oakland, was out of town and could not be
|
||
reached for comment. He has scheduled a press conference for
|
||
Thursday
|
||
in San Francisco.
|
||
|
||
In 1985, when news of a possible Vatican investigation surfaced, Fox
|
||
said he was "not upset if people call me a heretic".
|
||
|
||
"Joan of Arc was condemned, burned at the stake and then declared a
|
||
saint", the popular Dominican priest said at the time.
|
||
|
||
Fox, 47, has upset conservative Catholics by hiring as faculty
|
||
members
|
||
a certified masseuse, a yoga teacher, a Zen Buddhist and a
|
||
self-described
|
||
witch named Starhawk.
|
||
|
||
His writings, including a popular book entitled "Original
|
||
Blessing," have
|
||
criticized traditional Roman Catholic doctrine for its
|
||
"overemphasis" on
|
||
sin and redemption.
|
||
|
||
Mysticism and Feminism
|
||
----------------------
|
||
|
||
Fox has forged a curriculum with a heavy emphasis on Christian
|
||
mysticism,
|
||
feminism and environmentalism. His writings have been under
|
||
review by
|
||
the Vatican's powerful Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, whose Congregation
|
||
for the Doctrine of the Faith ordered the Rev. Charles Curran
|
||
dismissed
|
||
in 1986 from the faculty of Catholic University in Washington,
|
||
D.C., for
|
||
doctrinal liberalism.
|
||
|
||
Ratzinger's action against Fox could revive tensions between the
|
||
Vatican
|
||
and the U.S. church -- conflicts that made headlines during the
|
||
Curran
|
||
controversy and after Rome took disciplinary action against liberal
|
||
Seattle Archbishop Raymond Huntshausen.
|
||
|
||
According to the report in the Register, a nationally distributed
|
||
independent Catholic news magazine, Fox will partially defy the
|
||
Vatican
|
||
order by taking a one-semester sabbatical rather than a yearlong
|
||
leave.
|
||
|
||
"This work is just too pressing to be postponed until a neurotic
|
||
papal
|
||
regime dies out", Fox is quoted as saying.
|
||
|
||
Fox added that the Vatican action is "a compliment. It shows that
|
||
our
|
||
influence is growing so much that they feel threatened."
|
||
|
||
(more)
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(490) Wed 19 Oct 88 17:39
|
||
By: Tim Maroney
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Vatican Burns Starhawk (2 of 4)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 11538cec
|
||
|
||
Negotiations with the Vatican
|
||
-----------------------------
|
||
|
||
Officials with the Diocese of Oakland referred questions about Fox's
|
||
sentence to the Rev. Donald Goergen, the Dominican's provincial
|
||
superior in Chicago, who oversees Fox's work. Goergen could not be
|
||
reached for comment.
|
||
|
||
Dominican officials have been negotiating with Ratzinger's office --
|
||
which was once called the "Holy Inquisition" -- for at least three
|
||
years.
|
||
|
||
According to the Register, the Vatican has ordered Holy Names
|
||
College
|
||
to sever its ties with Fox's institute. Officials at the school,
|
||
founded
|
||
in 1868 by the Sisters of the Holy Names, said they will issue a
|
||
statement
|
||
after Fox's press conference on Thursday.
|
||
|
||
Fox's ideas draw heavily on the ideas of Meister Eckhart, a German
|
||
Dominican mystic who died in 1327 -- and who had his own problems
|
||
with
|
||
Vatican officials. Two years after his death, many of Eckhart's
|
||
writings
|
||
were condemned as heretical by Pope John XXII.
|
||
|
||
Fox has denied that his idea about "creation spirituality" is the
|
||
same
|
||
as pantheism -- the idea that "everything is God and God is
|
||
everything."
|
||
|
||
Pantheism, a major component of much of the so-called New Age
|
||
thinking,
|
||
is considered a heresy by the Catholic church because it denies
|
||
God's
|
||
transcendence.
|
||
|
||
Scores of Catholic priests and nuns have attended classes and
|
||
seminars
|
||
at Fox's institute, which awards master's degrees in spirituality.
|
||
Fox,
|
||
who founded his institute in 1978 at Mundelhein College in Chicago
|
||
before moving here in 1983, has also become a popular speaker on the
|
||
New Age lecture-workshop circuit.
|
||
|
||
(here endeth the lesson)
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(491) Wed 19 Oct 88 17:40
|
||
By: Tim Maroney
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Vatican Burns Starhawk (3 of 4)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 11538d00
|
||
|
||
SHOWDOWN BETWEEN VATICAN AND PRIEST
|
||
By Don Lattin
|
||
Chronicle Religious Writer
|
||
(from the San Francisco Chronicle, Wed. October 19, 1988, page A6)
|
||
|
||
In one corner is the Rev. Matthew Fox, the upbeat Oakland priest
|
||
whose
|
||
unorthodox ideas about sin and spirtuality have made him the self-
|
||
appointed Roman Catholic emissary to the New-Age movement.
|
||
|
||
In the other corner is Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's
|
||
doctrinal watchdog and commanding general of the pope's campaign to
|
||
purge liberals, Marxists, and other "heretics" from Roman Catholic
|
||
schools and seminaries.
|
||
|
||
Church officials yesterday confirmed reports that Ratzinger's
|
||
office,
|
||
the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has ordered
|
||
the avant-garde Oakland Dominican to cease his writings and public
|
||
speaking on "creation spirituality".
|
||
|
||
According to the Rev. John Gerlock, the vicar provincial of the
|
||
Dominican office in Chicago, Ratzinger's office has also demanded
|
||
that
|
||
Fox sever his ties with the Institute in Culture and Creation
|
||
Sprituality, which Fox founded in Chicago in 1978, and moved to Holy
|
||
Names College in Oakland in 1983.
|
||
|
||
Despite Rome's concerns, Gerlock said an internal review by the
|
||
Dominican order has "concluded on the whole and on balance that
|
||
there
|
||
is not sufficient reason to condemn the work or silence the writer."
|
||
|
||
Gerlock said Fox -- who is scheduled to respond to the Vatican
|
||
charges
|
||
at a press conference in San Francisco tomorrow -- has merely
|
||
agreed to
|
||
take a "sabbatical" beginning this December, but will not recant his
|
||
ideas or cut his ties with the Institute.
|
||
|
||
Rome vs. New-Age
|
||
----------------
|
||
|
||
His showdown with Rome promises to put the spotlight on a subtle,
|
||
but
|
||
nevertheless significant, trend in North American Christianity -- an
|
||
opening up by some churches to the Eastern mysticism and modern
|
||
paganism of the New-Age movement.
|
||
|
||
"When Vatican officials think of ecumenicism," Gerlock said, "they
|
||
think
|
||
of groups like Lutherans and Methodists -- not witchcraft and other
|
||
archaic spiritualities."
|
||
|
||
Fox's writings, including his 1983 "Original Blessing", have
|
||
sought to
|
||
draw connections between medieval Christian mystics and such
|
||
seemingly
|
||
diverse philosophies as prehistoric shamanism and modern feminism.
|
||
|
||
Gerlock said Vatican officials specifically ordered Fox to
|
||
"dissociate
|
||
himself from wicca, the ideology of Starhawk, a self-described
|
||
witch."
|
||
|
||
Starhawk, who has served as a part-time faculty member at Fox's
|
||
institute,
|
||
is a popular speaker, workshop leader and author of several books,
|
||
including "The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of
|
||
the
|
||
Great Goddess."
|
||
|
||
(more)
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(492) Wed 19 Oct 88 17:40
|
||
By: Tim Maroney
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Vatican Burns Starhawk (4 of 4)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 11538d12
|
||
|
||
Vatican Action
|
||
--------------
|
||
|
||
Gerlock said the Vatican action against Fox began with a letter from
|
||
Ratzinger in September to the Rev. Damian Byrne, the international
|
||
superior of the Dominican order in Rome.
|
||
|
||
Beside mentioning Starhawk, Ratzinger also questioned Fox's
|
||
denunciation
|
||
in "Original Blessing" of the church's "overemphasis" on the
|
||
doctrine of
|
||
original sin and redemption.
|
||
|
||
"Matt has a large appeal because he's taking a more positive
|
||
approach to
|
||
the Christian tradition," said one leading Dominican theologian in
|
||
the
|
||
East Bay, who asked to remain anonymous. "He doesn't emphasize the
|
||
negative aspects of the faith, but stresses the goodness of creation
|
||
and God's graciousness."
|
||
|
||
Sister Lois MacGillivray, president of Holy Names College, said in a
|
||
statement released yesterday that Fox "has asked for and received a
|
||
sabbatical leave for the spring semester."
|
||
|
||
(here endeth the lesson)
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(493) Tue 18 Oct 88 19:31
|
||
By: Geoff Gilpin
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Book Review (1 of ?)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:9cdf 11529bee
|
||
THE MURDERED MAGICIANS: THE TEMPLARS AND THEIR MYTH
|
||
by Peter Partner
|
||
(Great Britain, 1987, The Aquarian Press)
|
||
|
||
The library of the occult gets fatter every day. Here in the
|
||
belly of the
|
||
New Age, the average bookstore carries "ancient secrets" and
|
||
"hidden wisdom"
|
||
by the metric ton. But literature ABOUT the occult, of the
|
||
history of
|
||
occult ideas and their influence on important people, is skimpy
|
||
and often
|
||
unreliable. It's hard to find an honest scholar among the
|
||
mystagogues and
|
||
Fundamentalists. We have Dame Francis Yates, a gem of a historian
|
||
who cares
|
||
about things that would make most academics turn up their noses.
|
||
And now we
|
||
have Dr. Peter Partner. As we bow three times in the direction of
|
||
Dame
|
||
Frances, it must be said that Dr. Partner is a better writer. An
|
||
alchemist
|
||
would envy his ability to turn the junk of history into gold.
|
||
|
||
THE MURDERED MAGICIANS starts off on familiar ground. We meet the
|
||
historical Templars themselves, fresh from the Crusades, returning
|
||
to
|
||
France, getting rich in the Church market and drawing the wrath of
|
||
the
|
||
odious Philip the Fair. There is the famous midnight arrest and the
|
||
subsequent "trial". There are the usual confessions of heresy and
|
||
sodomy
|
||
extracted under torture. Then there is the stake, where most
|
||
accounts of
|
||
the Templars end. In Dr. Partner's history of ideas, though, the
|
||
stake was
|
||
just the beginning.
|
||
|
||
Jacques de Molay and his cohorts did not rest easily in their
|
||
graves. As
|
||
the years passed, Templar stories and rumors became grander with
|
||
each
|
||
telling. Finally, these illiterate Crusaders from the lowest
|
||
ranks of the
|
||
aristocracy emerged as powerful sorcerers who used ancient magical
|
||
secrets
|
||
for their own mysterious ends. At least that's what everybody
|
||
thought.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Fox Valley Technical College, Appleton, WI (414)
|
||
735-2513 (Opus 1:139
|
||
/640)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(494) Tue 18 Oct 88 19:34
|
||
By: Geoff Gilpin
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Book Review (2)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:0e53 11529c44
|
||
There had been charges of black magic from the start. In the
|
||
"trial" itself, the Templars were accused of worshipping an idol
|
||
called "Baphomet"
|
||
-- a French corruption of "Muhammad" -- which they supposedly
|
||
picked up from
|
||
the Muslim conquerors of the Holy Land. (Of course, the idea that
|
||
ANY Muslim would worship an image of Muhammad says more about the
|
||
parochial mentality of the European Church than anything else.)
|
||
|
||
In the 1500's, the magical fame of the Templars spread from the
|
||
pen of Henry Cornelius Agrippa, a sort of Renaissance Shirley
|
||
McClaine whose works were highly popular and influential. In DE
|
||
OCCULTA PHILOSOPHIA, Agrippa set about classifying the "good" and
|
||
"bad" schools of magic. He placed the Templars in the latter
|
||
category, along with the Gnostics and folk witches.
|
||
|
||
The Templar myth did not attain its full potency until the
|
||
eighteenth century. If it seems odd that occult gossip would
|
||
thrive in the Age of Enlightenment, it must be remembered that
|
||
Reason was just one part of the Enlightenment hodge-podge. Alchemy
|
||
and Cabala seemed just as important to the educated minds of the
|
||
day. Also, the new liberal climate produced a lot of nostalgia for
|
||
the good old days of noble status and "chivalry". Thus we see
|
||
Elias Ashmole, chemist, bibliographer, and one of the founders of
|
||
the Royal Society of London, writing sentimentally of the Templars.
|
||
|
||
At this stage, the Templar myth gets mixed up with Freemasonry.
|
||
Masons of the period traced their heritage back to the Crusaders
|
||
who, they supposed, were privy to the mystical knowledge of Egypt
|
||
and Greece. It seems inevitable that they would bring in de Molay
|
||
and company.
|
||
|
||
According to Dr. Partner, "The birthplace of Templarism was
|
||
Germany, where the egalitarian and rationalist thrust of
|
||
Freemasonry was resisted by an old-fashioned and rank-dominated
|
||
society, and there was a demand for a version of the Masonic craft
|
||
acceptable to conservative doctrine and Gothic taste."
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Fox Valley Technical College, Appleton, WI (414)
|
||
735-2513 (Opus 1:139
|
||
/640)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(495) Tue 18 Oct 88 19:37
|
||
By: Geoff Gilpin
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Book Review (3)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:0e53 11529ca1
|
||
Under the tutelage of such Masters as Samuel Rosa and George
|
||
Frederick Johnson, "Provost-General of the Templar Order of the
|
||
Scottish Lords", Templarism went far beyond the relatively simple
|
||
edifice of traditional Masonry.
|
||
|
||
"The invention of the Templar myths amounted to a patent to create
|
||
new noble
|
||
titles. ... Johnson and Rosa, as 'Heads' of their Orders, created
|
||
elaborate hierarchies with hundreds of such knightly titles." And,
|
||
incidentally, earned a tidy living in the process. By the last
|
||
decades of the century, Europe was dotted with competing Templar
|
||
lodges, each claiming to possess the True Secret.
|
||
|
||
The end came with both a bang and a whimper. For one thing, the
|
||
Templarist Masons were afflicted by the stagnancy that is the
|
||
hallmark of the occult:
|
||
|
||
"The successively unveiled mysteries of the Order had yielded
|
||
nothing but
|
||
boring ritual; the alchemists had made no discoveries; the Templar
|
||
lands would never be returned. No one expected to identify the
|
||
long-concealed Unknown Superiors. The thirst for mystical
|
||
illumination remained, but hope of quenching it at the Templar
|
||
spring was over."
|
||
|
||
Furthermore, there was the spectacular scandal of the "Bavarian
|
||
Illuminati", the pet conspiracy of that Jesuit-haunted secular
|
||
humanist, Adam Weishaupt. Dr. Partner dispels any notions of
|
||
co-fraternity between the Illuminati and the Templarists. True,
|
||
Weishaupt had recruited some members from the crumbling Templar
|
||
lodges, but otherwise the two groups had opposing styles and aims.
|
||
|
||
"There was no direct continuity between the Strict Templar
|
||
Observance and
|
||
the Bavarian Illuminati at all. The aristocratic mumbo-jumbo of
|
||
the Templar lodges pandered to the confused conservatism of the
|
||
German nobles and had a great deal in common with the mumbo-jumbo
|
||
of the Rosicrucians, to whose ideas the Illuminati were absolutely
|
||
opposed."
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Fox Valley Technical College, Appleton, WI (414)
|
||
735-2513 (Opus 1:139
|
||
/640)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(496) Tue 18 Oct 88 20:04
|
||
By: Geoff Gilpin
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Book Review (4)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:0e53 1152a088
|
||
Such nit-picking hardly mattered, though, especially after the
|
||
French Revolution when all secret societies seemed to be part of a
|
||
single gargantuan evil. Those days saw the beginning of modern
|
||
conspiracy theory. Pamphleteers such as Friedreich Nicolai and
|
||
Augustine de Barruel offered lurid exposes of the secret societies.
|
||
For these zealots, "it all connects": Templars, Illuminati,
|
||
Masons, Gnostics, Cathars, Manicheans, and the other enemies of
|
||
normalcy and the status quo. The gaps in logic never seemed
|
||
important; it was all grist for the mill as one pamphleteer
|
||
reprinted the wooly ideas of another. The tradition continues to
|
||
this day with the intellectual descendants of Nicolai and Barruel
|
||
advertising in THE SPOTLIGHT and other right-wing tabloids.
|
||
|
||
With the suppression of the Illuminati, German Templarism
|
||
slumbered for a hundred years. There was a flurry of Templar
|
||
activity in France under Napoleon and in the United States with the
|
||
Civil War general Albert Pike. But, for the most part, nineteenth
|
||
century Templarism thrived in its rightful soil: the land of
|
||
literature and myth.
|
||
|
||
The Templar myth could have been made for the Romantic period. It
|
||
had everything a Romantic could want: the middle ages, chivalry,
|
||
pre-Christian wisdom, wicked clergymen, sex, and plenty of Gothic
|
||
shudders. Indeed, the list of nineteenth century artists who
|
||
contributed to the Templar myth or were influenced by it reads like
|
||
a "Who's Who": Balzac, Walter Scott, Disraeli, Wagner, Edward
|
||
Bulwer-Lytton, and Gabriel Rosetti, of whom Partner says "He knew
|
||
hardly anything of the heresies which had in fact existed in the
|
||
middle ages, but he made up for this by inventing new ones on a
|
||
generous scale." When Templarism revived in Germany at the end of
|
||
the century it had come a long way from the humble actuality of
|
||
Jacques de Molay.
|
||
|
||
The modern Templar revival was largely the work of a journalist
|
||
named Theodore Reuss and, later on, the British occultist Aleister
|
||
Crowley. Their Order of the Temple of the Orient (O.T.O.)
|
||
continues to this day with chapters in most of the United States
|
||
and several European countries. O.T.O. literature claims a
|
||
connection with the medieval Order of de Molay and it emphasizes
|
||
the "sexual magic" that the Templars supposedly picked up from the
|
||
Gnostics or Indian Yogis or whomever. In any case, the popularity
|
||
of the O.T.O. seems to be growing, which demonstrates once again
|
||
the hardiness of this remarkable myth.
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Fox Valley Technical College, Appleton, WI (414)
|
||
735-2513 (Opus 1:139
|
||
/640)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(497) Tue 18 Oct 88 20:05
|
||
By: Geoff Gilpin
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Book Review (5)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:0e53 1152a0a2
|
||
Aside from its durability, the Templar myth has been astonishingly
|
||
adaptable. Where one group hates and fears the Templars for their
|
||
purported demonology and unusual sexual practices, another group
|
||
rallies to their defense for the same reasons. (Of course, few
|
||
people question whether demonology and unusual sexual practices
|
||
ever happened.) To quote Dr. Partner:
|
||
|
||
"The shifting history of Templarism, with its movements from one
|
||
interpretation of the Templar story to another, reflects the
|
||
original Masonic confusion between the parable and the truth the
|
||
parable was supposed to represent. But it also reveals the way in
|
||
which men fulfill their spiritual needs in a way which broadly
|
||
corresponds to an earlier pattern, but which is nevertheless made
|
||
in their own image. Nothing is more misleading than the claim that
|
||
there is an immemorial esoteric tradition which places antique and
|
||
prehistoric wisdom at the disposal of the adept. It is true that
|
||
some esoteric principles derive from a philosophical tradition of
|
||
great antiquity. But students of the supposed hidden truths are
|
||
also men of their times, and they have employed esoteric ideas in
|
||
the service of interests and concepts which have changed from one
|
||
generation to another. The tradition as applied to the Templar
|
||
myth has proved to be Protean in its mutability. The Templars have
|
||
been benign, rational sages for one generation, demonic Satanists
|
||
for another, wise, wealthy technocrats for a third."
|
||
|
||
In other words, a Rorschach blot.
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Fox Valley Technical College, Appleton, WI (414)
|
||
735-2513 (Opus 1:139
|
||
/640)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(498) Tue 18 Oct 88 20:05
|
||
By: Geoff Gilpin
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Book Review (6)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:0e53 1152a0b6
|
||
Does it matter if the Templar myth is true or false, profound or
|
||
silly? Apparently not. What matters is that people believe. And
|
||
the Templar myth has attracted some very influential believers,
|
||
often with unpleasant results.
|
||
|
||
"Secret society myths are usually concerned to suggest the
|
||
influence of
|
||
small, powerful groups which work invisibly. But the political
|
||
importance of such myths is their effect on the general currents
|
||
and atmosphere of public opinion. It can be shown from the history
|
||
of Templarism that small, private groups of people who profess
|
||
esoteric doctrines with a political flavour, and sometimes practice
|
||
eccentric rituals, do from time to time exist. So far as
|
||
Templarism is concerned, the political and social effect of such
|
||
groups has been negligible. What matters to society is the vague,
|
||
disquieting effects either of propagandists who spread alarming
|
||
reports of secret society conspiracies, or of esoteric publicists
|
||
who diffuse ideas of the miraculous and the marvelous, and give the
|
||
impression that social change can easily be accomplished by the
|
||
workers of wonders."
|
||
|
||
The fate of the original Templars may be history's best argument
|
||
against secrecy. On the other side of the myth, those "who spread
|
||
alarming reports of secret society conspiracies" seem doomed to
|
||
their own sad fate. The moral might be "Choose well your myths."
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Fox Valley Technical College, Appleton, WI (414)
|
||
735-2513 (Opus 1:139
|
||
/640)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(499) Tue 18 Oct 88 20:06
|
||
By: Geoff Gilpin
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Book Review (7 of 7)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:0e53 1152a0dd
|
||
In all the hub-bub, it's easy to misplace the historical Knights
|
||
of the Temple. When he returns to Jacques de Molay and company,
|
||
Dr. Partner is as eloquent as he is sane:
|
||
|
||
"The unromantic truth is that the Templars of the Middle Ages made
|
||
not the
|
||
slightest attempt to build the Temple of Wisdom, unless that
|
||
Temple is defined as that of the Catholic Church. The end of the
|
||
Templars arose not from the operation of demonic forces but as a
|
||
result of their own mediocrity and lack of nerve. A handful of
|
||
them measured up to the terrible challenge which confronted them,
|
||
but most, including their leaders, at the moment of trial proved to
|
||
have nothing much to say. In the Holy Land the Templars had been
|
||
brave soldiers but rather short-sighted politicians, who in no way
|
||
conformed to the high standards which their nineteenth-century
|
||
admirers ascribed to them. The most striking characteristic of the
|
||
medieval Templars was their ordinariness; they represented the
|
||
common man, and not the uncommon visionary. Mozart's noble Masonic
|
||
opera, THE MAGIC FLUTE, holds out the vision of a Temple of Reason
|
||
and Nature presided over by a ruler- seer, Serastro. If the Temple
|
||
of Serastro is ever to be built, and if man is to live in some
|
||
state of Mozartian harmony, it may be on principles in which the
|
||
Freemason ideal has had a part, but it will not be based on the
|
||
ideals of the medieval Templars."
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Fox Valley Technical College, Appleton, WI (414)
|
||
735-2513 (Opus 1:139
|
||
/640)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(500) Sat 22 Oct 88 21:16
|
||
By: Tim Maroney
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Starhawk's New Power Animal -- The Fox (1 of 3)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 1156aa18
|
||
|
||
OAKLAND PRIEST TO DEFY VATICAN
|
||
By Don Lattin
|
||
Chronicle Religion Writer
|
||
(From the San Francisco Chronicle, 21 Oct 88, page A3)
|
||
|
||
Accusing the Vatican of "spiritual sloth" and "creeping fascism",
|
||
the Rev.
|
||
Matthew Fox said yesterday that he will defy Rome's demand that he
|
||
recant
|
||
his unorthodox views on "creation spirituality."
|
||
|
||
At a packed press conference in San Francisco, the avant-garde
|
||
Oakland
|
||
theologian said he also will defy the Vatican's order that he fire
|
||
Starhawk, a self-proclaimed witch and "goddess movement" leader,
|
||
from
|
||
the faculty of his Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality.
|
||
|
||
Fox -- a feminist, mystic, and outspoken environmentalist -- has
|
||
agreed,
|
||
however, to a request from his Dominican superiors that he refrain
|
||
from
|
||
preaching, teaching, and public speaking during a sabbatical
|
||
beginning
|
||
December 15.
|
||
|
||
It appears unlikely, however, that Fox's temporary silencing will
|
||
satisfy
|
||
the demands of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's chief
|
||
doctrinal
|
||
watchdog and prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine
|
||
of the
|
||
Faith.
|
||
|
||
"I believe that power, rather than theology, is the real issue in
|
||
this
|
||
case," Fox said. "The very act of silencing theologians instead of
|
||
engaging them in dialogue is a sign of institutional violence."
|
||
|
||
'Dangerous and Deviant'
|
||
-----------------------
|
||
|
||
At yesterday's press conference, Fox released a number of documents
|
||
related to the Vatican's four-year probe into his writings and the
|
||
institute, located in Oakland's Holy Names College.
|
||
|
||
Among the documents is a Sept. 17, 1987, letter from Ratzinger to
|
||
the
|
||
Rev. Damian Byrne, the international superior of the Dominican
|
||
order,
|
||
in which Ratzinger calls Fox's ideas "dangerous and deviant".
|
||
|
||
Ratzinger calls Fox's 1983 book "Original Blessing" an "altogether
|
||
personal, gratuitous and subjective interpretation of Christian
|
||
spitituality."
|
||
|
||
Ratzinger accuses Fox of "citing what he likes in the Bible and
|
||
interpreting it in his own way."
|
||
|
||
Fox, a witty iconoclast and author of 11 books, is a popular speaker
|
||
at open-minded Christian churches, seminaries and eceumenical
|
||
organizations. His blending of medieval Christian mysticism, Native
|
||
American spirituality, transpersonal psychology and other techniques
|
||
of the "human potential movement" has made him popular on the New
|
||
Age
|
||
lecture circuit.
|
||
|
||
In his criticism of Fox's work, Ratzinger said, "It is
|
||
characteristic
|
||
of his approach to marshal a broadly diverse group of spiritual
|
||
writers
|
||
to advance his own brand of spirituality over and against that of
|
||
original sin and redemption."
|
||
|
||
Ratzinger also said Fox's sympathetic views about homosexuality are
|
||
"neither inspired by the Scriptures, nor by the doctrine of the
|
||
Church."
|
||
|
||
(more)
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(501) Sat 22 Oct 88 21:17
|
||
By: Tim Maroney
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Crazy Like a Fox (2 of 3)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 1156aa35
|
||
|
||
'Spiritual Sloth'
|
||
-----------------
|
||
|
||
In a lengthy repsonse to Ratzinger written on August 8, Fox said the
|
||
cardinal's congregation "has not done either its intellectual
|
||
homework
|
||
or its inner work."
|
||
|
||
"I detect a kind of intellectual sloth in those who condemn without
|
||
studying and a spiritual sloth in those who accuse without feeling,"
|
||
Fox wrote.
|
||
|
||
"The Vatican -- like any organization -- is not God, cannot be
|
||
God, and
|
||
will ultimately fail in its attempts to be God," Fox told Ratzinger.
|
||
|
||
Fox released a letter showing that a group of conservative
|
||
Catholics in
|
||
Seattle -- a chapter of an organization called Catholics United
|
||
for the
|
||
Faith -- had notified the Vatican of Fox's unorthodox work.
|
||
|
||
The Seattle CUFF chapter is the group whose successful campaign
|
||
led to
|
||
the Vatican's unprecedented 1986 disciplinary action against liberal
|
||
Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen of Seattle.
|
||
|
||
Vatican Policy Questioned
|
||
-------------------------
|
||
|
||
In his letter to Ratzinger, Fox questioned why the vatican
|
||
"ignores the
|
||
advice of its most pastoral bishops and leaders of religious
|
||
orders."
|
||
|
||
"Instead," he wrote, "it listens to theologically illiterate
|
||
fanatics
|
||
who behave like religious thugs."
|
||
|
||
In defending his hiring of Starhawk, Fox told Ratzinger that he
|
||
finds
|
||
"the rancor toward witches to be unbelievable -- as if Christians,
|
||
in
|
||
killing anywhere from 300,000 to 3 million through the centuries,
|
||
have
|
||
not had enough of witch hunts."
|
||
|
||
Fox cited a Second Vatican Council declaration that it is "foreign
|
||
to
|
||
the mind of Christ to discriminate or harass persons because of
|
||
their
|
||
religion," saying the church fathers "did not make an exception of
|
||
the
|
||
native European religion of Wicca (witchcraft)."
|
||
|
||
"When it (the Second Vatican Council) acknowledges that 'from
|
||
ancient
|
||
times down to the present there has existed among diverse peoples a
|
||
certain perception of that hidden power which hovers over the course
|
||
of things', it does not make an exception to the Wicca tradition,"
|
||
Fox wrote.
|
||
|
||
(more)
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(502) Sat 22 Oct 88 21:18
|
||
By: Tim Maroney
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: A Fox in the Chicken Coop (3 of 3)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 1156aa4a
|
||
|
||
Other Outcasts
|
||
--------------
|
||
|
||
At his press conference, Fox said he is "honored" to be in the
|
||
company
|
||
of other theologians whom the Vatican has tried to silence. He
|
||
mentioned
|
||
the Rev. Charles Curran, who was fired from the faculty of Catholic
|
||
University in Washington, D.C., for his liberal views on birth
|
||
control,
|
||
homosexuality and other church teachings, and the Rev. Leonardo
|
||
Boff,
|
||
of Brazil, who was put under one year of public silence for his
|
||
writings on "liberation theology."
|
||
|
||
During his sabbatical of public silence, Fox said he plans to
|
||
travel,
|
||
"get a lot of sleep," write and visit sympathetic church thinkers in
|
||
Africa and Latin America.
|
||
|
||
"Maybe Father Boff and I will have a party where no one speaks," Fox
|
||
joked.
|
||
|
||
No Sufficient Reason
|
||
--------------------
|
||
|
||
In another statement released yesterday, the Rev. Donald Goergen,
|
||
the
|
||
Chicago-based provincial superior overseeing Fox's work, said he and
|
||
several other Dominican theologians have exmained Fox's writings and
|
||
"do not think there is sufficient reason to prohibit him from
|
||
speaking
|
||
and writing."
|
||
|
||
Nevertheless, they and Fox have agreed to a request by the Rev.
|
||
Byrne,
|
||
the worldwide Dominican leader, that Fox "take a year's sabbatical
|
||
to
|
||
reflect on his work and to consider the full efefct of his work on
|
||
the
|
||
church."
|
||
|
||
Fox predicted that Rome's attempt to eradicate his teachings will
|
||
backfire.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(503) Sat 22 Oct 88 22:23
|
||
By: Tim Maroney
|
||
To: All Psi-Believers
|
||
Re: The Randi Challenge (1 of 2)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 1156b2f2
|
||
|
||
This statement outlines the general rules covering my offer
|
||
concerning
|
||
psychic, supernatural, or paranormal claims. Since claims will vary
|
||
greatly in character and scope, specific rules must be formulated
|
||
for
|
||
each claimant. However, _claimants_ must agree to the rules set
|
||
forth
|
||
here before any formal agreement is entered into. A claimant will
|
||
declare agreement by signing this form before a notary public and
|
||
returning the form to me at 12000 NW 8th Street, Plantation, FL
|
||
33313-1406. The eventual test procedure must be agreed upon by both
|
||
parties before any testing will take place. I do _not_ act as a
|
||
judge.
|
||
I do _not_ design the protocol independently of the claimant.
|
||
Claimants
|
||
_must_ identify themselves properly before any discussion takes
|
||
place.
|
||
_All correspondence must include a stamped, self-addressed
|
||
envelope_.
|
||
|
||
I, James Randi, will pay $10,000 (U.S.) to any person or persons who
|
||
demonstrate any psychic, supernatural, or paranormal activity of any
|
||
kind under satisfactory observing conditions. The demonstration
|
||
must
|
||
take place under these rules and limitations:
|
||
|
||
(1) Claimant must state clearly in advance just what powers
|
||
or
|
||
abilities will be demonstrated, the limits of the proposed
|
||
demonstration (so far as time, location, and other variables
|
||
are concerned), and what will constitute both a positive and
|
||
a negative result.
|
||
|
||
(2) Only an actual performance of the stated nature and
|
||
scope,
|
||
within the agreed limits, is acceptable.
|
||
|
||
(3) Claimant agrees that all data (photographic, recorded,
|
||
written) of any sort gathered as a result of the testing may
|
||
be used freely by me in any way I choose.
|
||
|
||
(4) Tests will be designed in such a way that no judging
|
||
procedure is required. Results will be self-evident to any
|
||
observer, in accordance with the rules agreed upon by all
|
||
parties in advance of any formal testing procedure.
|
||
|
||
(5) I may ask the claimant to perform informally before an
|
||
appointed representative, if distance and time dictate, for
|
||
purposes of determining if the claimant is likely to perform
|
||
as promised in the formal test.
|
||
|
||
(continued)
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(504) Sat 22 Oct 88 22:27
|
||
By: Tim Maroney
|
||
To: All Psi-Believers
|
||
Re: The Randi Challenge (2 of 2)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:954a 1156b360
|
||
|
||
(6) I will not pay for any expenses incurred, such as
|
||
transportation, accomodation, or other costs.
|
||
|
||
(7) Entering into this challenge, claimant surrenders any
|
||
and all rights to legal action against me, as far as this may
|
||
be done by existing statutes. This applies to injury,
|
||
accident,
|
||
or any other damage -- physical, emotional, and/or financial
|
||
or professional -- of any kind.
|
||
|
||
(8) Prior to the commencement of the formal testing
|
||
procedure,
|
||
I will give my check for the full amount of the award into
|
||
the keeping of an independent person chosen by the claimant.
|
||
In the event that the claimant is successful under the agreed
|
||
terms and conditions, that check for $10,000 (U.S.) shall be
|
||
_immediately_ surrendered to the claimant, in full
|
||
settlement.
|
||
|
||
(9) A copy of this document is available free of charge to
|
||
any
|
||
person who sends the required stamped, self-addressed
|
||
envelope
|
||
to me requesting it.
|
||
|
||
(10) This offer is made by me personally and not on behalf of
|
||
any other person, agency, or organization, although others
|
||
may
|
||
become involved in the examination of claims and others may
|
||
add
|
||
their reward money to mine in certain circumstances.
|
||
|
||
(11) This offer is open to any and all person in any part
|
||
of the
|
||
world, regardless of sex, race, educational background,
|
||
etc., and
|
||
will continue in effect until the prize is awarded, or
|
||
until my
|
||
death. My will states that, upon my death, the award
|
||
amount will
|
||
be held in escrow and in charge of the Committee for the
|
||
Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, in
|
||
Buffalo,
|
||
New York, which is then empowered to continue the offer for a
|
||
period of ten years after my demise, after which time the
|
||
award amount can be used for whatever purposes it desires.
|
||
|
||
(12) Claimant must agree upon what will constitute a
|
||
conclusion
|
||
that he or she does _not_ possess the claimed ability or
|
||
power.
|
||
This rule _must_ be accepted by the claimant without
|
||
reservation.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
___________________________
|
||
___________________________
|
||
Notary Public Signature
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(505) Sun 30 Oct 88 15:48
|
||
By: Estrose Maiesa
|
||
To: Tim Maroney
|
||
Re: Re: The Randi Challenge (2 of 2)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:c3d1 115e7e11
|
||
|
||
Tim, well, I have a rather simeple question to ask you.
|
||
Let's say that there is no magic, or psychic abilities as you or
|
||
anyone else here knows it.Rather, the science of Bhera existed long
|
||
before any life in this slice existed.When I say slice, just
|
||
associate it with the word demension, that's the closest English
|
||
word to describe it. Now, $10,000 is not enough, not even
|
||
close...But it sounds as if you would give anything in order to
|
||
have proof...If it's not important to you to share you knowledge
|
||
with other people and gain fame, than continue reading...
|
||
|
||
I can take you to slice one, two, or four...Three is what you
|
||
are currently occupying... In order to take you there, you must
|
||
agree to be a follower of Ghirma...Which means you will be a sort
|
||
of slave for about 50 years, but your life expectancy will be
|
||
increased to about four or five centuries depending on your health
|
||
and age....Now, there is more payment than that, you will NEVER
|
||
return to your origin, and you must sacrifice your 'fire'.When I
|
||
say 'fire', I mean it's like the force that drives you on to exceed
|
||
your normal capabilities which is essential in the afterlife...You
|
||
will lose this when you die, so you really have nothing to worry
|
||
about...I came into this world as a fetis, and have grown... Soon I
|
||
will return to my home and regain the powers and substance that
|
||
were taken from me by Ghirma....I can not promise you that you
|
||
won't be born with the same color, race, or handicapps if any...But
|
||
you will end up there....There must be no one else around when I
|
||
take you, for they will be eternally doomed with us...I must sneak
|
||
you in sort of, and a great disturbance would disrupt the balance
|
||
and the out come could allert the King which would be
|
||
devestating...If you simply want to see if I'm telling the
|
||
truth....follow these instructions to the utmost... Go into a room
|
||
with ONE mirror....It must be pitch black in the room...No lights
|
||
at all....No other people...no cameras....Put your back to the
|
||
miiror and say "I love Ghirma" ten times and then immediately after
|
||
say "I hate Ghirma" ten times, and the scream "I rule you, my blood
|
||
flows thicker" and then turn around and put your hand through the
|
||
mirror... Warning- everything must be followed precisely and any
|
||
injuries you happen to come across, I am not responsible for...
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: IBM_Tech_Fido (Opus 1:322/1)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(506) Wed 2 Nov 88 9:44
|
||
By: David Rice
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: The Dark's Post
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:6c59 11624d8a
|
||
|
||
Here's the post from "The Dark," posted as requested. --DMR
|
||
|
||
|
||
TO: David Rice
|
||
|
||
FROM: The Dark
|
||
|
||
SUBJECT: The Laws Of Evil Concerning The Prctices Therin.
|
||
|
||
The Laws Of Evil:
|
||
The First Law: The forces in all
|
||
things must balance,therefore
|
||
for all Good Things there is an
|
||
oppisite Evil.
|
||
The Second Law: Evil is the
|
||
motivating force of man and in
|
||
being is also the most powerful.
|
||
It dominates all Things
|
||
perverting what is Good Through
|
||
Her mediums when the occasion
|
||
arises.
|
||
The Third Law: There is no
|
||
Devil!This term is only used to
|
||
represent a great force of evil.
|
||
Contrary wise there is no God.
|
||
The Fourth Law: Evil is aslo
|
||
known as Chaos. Chaos reigns as
|
||
the most powerful force.It is
|
||
from Chaos that ALL things are
|
||
born. If you can control Chaos
|
||
you can control ALL things.
|
||
|
||
|
||
These are The Laws Governing
|
||
the primal forces. These are the
|
||
strictures. If these strictures
|
||
be made known the the control
|
||
for them shall be made known.
|
||
|
||
|
||
David, Please read over this
|
||
and post this view. Please make
|
||
any editing choices you feel
|
||
need to be made and please
|
||
notify me of them.
|
||
|
||
Thanx,
|
||
The Dark One
|
||
|
||
P.S. Why Are you pissed?
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Astro-Net 714 662-2294 Melenkurion abatha! (Opus
|
||
1:103/503)
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(507) Thu 10 Nov 88 22:31
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Santeria, a Pagan religious system
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
@EID:87fa 116ab3e2
|
||
What follows is a document sent to me by J. Santiago. It is on
|
||
Santeria and may be a good example of a pagan religion as opposed
|
||
to neo-paganism.
|
||
|
||
The number of followers of these systems is rather large. In Rio
|
||
there is an estimated 40,000 centers alone. A center fairly equates
|
||
to a Coven.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Who says OPUS can't Fly? (Opus 1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(508) Thu 10 Nov 88 22:33
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Santeria. part 1 of 9
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:71f9 116ab42d
|
||
|
||
"The Afro-Antillian Religion of the Lucumis..."
|
||
by JSR:.
|
||
|
||
On the history of Santeria...
|
||
|
||
It was in the days of the conquest...manpower was needed to
|
||
|
||
cultivate the land and to work hard, very hard. The native
|
||
inhabitants of this newly discovered land enslaved by the
|
||
conquerors were dying by the hundreds every day. The solution, to
|
||
bring slaves from Africa...it was the XVI century. Slaves were
|
||
brought by the thousands during the XVI-XIX centuries to the new
|
||
world, to what is today Central and south America, the Caribbean
|
||
and the southern portion of North America. These slaves came
|
||
mainly from the south western coastal region of Africa, region
|
||
in were the nations of the Yorubas, Arara and Lucumi dwelled.
|
||
|
||
These Africans were strong, clever, highly independent hard
|
||
|
||
working beings who were also very religious. Among the many
|
||
brought to the new world there were artisans, musicians and most
|
||
important: priests, doctors and sorcerers who were three
|
||
independent classes often confused as being the same thing.
|
||
Priests were in charge of the religious life of the members of
|
||
his nation or tribe; doctors took care of the physical health and
|
||
sorcerers were a kind of "outlaw priests" who almost invariably
|
||
lived outside of the villages. Doctors and priests worked in
|
||
common accord: the doctor took care of the physical while the
|
||
priest took care of the spiritual. Many times however, both
|
||
functions were performed by the priest but not the other way
|
||
around. The sorcerer offered his services for any purpose; that
|
||
is, to perform good or evil, being to perform evil that his
|
||
services were most often sought.
|
||
|
||
Secret societies or Brotherhoods formed a very important
|
||
|
||
part of the communal life. Men formed artisans brotherhoods,
|
||
hunting and fishing brotherhoods in were the art of each was
|
||
taught. Women also had their own "Sisterhoods" in were the arts
|
||
and skills of becoming a good wife were taught. There were also
|
||
religion oriented brotherhoods whose members had to belong to the
|
||
"clergy". Even the sorcerers belonged and promoted their own
|
||
|
||
versions of these brotherhoods.
|
||
|
||
These nations lived very close to the coast, for fishing and
|
||
|
||
hunting game was ample and also because they felt protected from
|
||
the attacks of several other warrior nations that lived
|
||
inland. As a matter of fact many of the slaves who were
|
||
eventually brought to the new world were prisoners of war
|
||
belonging to defeated tribes on wars with other African nations
|
||
who sold them to the slave traders. But their security was short
|
||
lived...because the white men came.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Who says OPUS can't Fly? (Opus 1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(509) Thu 10 Nov 88 22:34
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Santeria, part 2 of 9
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:71f9 116ab44c
|
||
|
||
|
||
The Africans who were brought to (what is now) the
|
||
|
||
Caribbean, Central and South America were in a sense, lucky.
|
||
Here they found almost an identical weather, flora and similar
|
||
fauna that enabled them to quickly adapt to their own ways of
|
||
"thinking" and to some extent, of living. And it is at this point
|
||
|
||
that the history of modern day "Cult of the Orichas" (cult of the
|
||
saints) begins...
|
||
|
||
Customs and traditions of the white men were forced on the
|
||
|
||
new inhabitants; particularly, religious ones: Catholicism. They
|
||
had no choice, it was submission or to face certain death...so
|
||
they yielded...aparently, for the similarities among the catholic
|
||
way of worship and their own became quite obvious. When the
|
||
catholic priest spoke of Jesus they saw "Olofin"; when they spoke
|
||
of God they saw "Olordumare"; when they spoke of the Holy Spirit
|
||
they saw "Baba Nkua" and so it was with the rest of the Catholic
|
||
Saints... So it was that under a disguise of conversion they were
|
||
able to sustain and even promote their ancestral religion:"The
|
||
religion of the Orichas (Saints)".
|
||
|
||
Another factor that contributed to the proliferation of
|
||
|
||
their religious practise was that of "sympathetic" masters. These
|
||
usually were slaves masters who owned their health (or the health
|
||
of any other family member) to a "local" Santeria priest (they
|
||
were expert herbalists). On other occasions, African sorcerers
|
||
helped some of these owners get out of embarrassing situations
|
||
with the help of their "magic" (namely, manufacturing of potions
|
||
for poisoning, for inducing sleep, as stimulants, for inducing
|
||
abortions, etc. etc.). These particular type of help was only
|
||
given when the sorcerer was certain that the master who requested
|
||
his services (Thru the intervention of a friendly slave who was
|
||
the link between the sorcerer and the master) could be trusted;
|
||
sorcerers didn't dare to take the initiative of using their magic
|
||
against any of the white men, for the price if known was
|
||
severely high: Death by torture; sometimes, "Blanching", that is,
|
||
taking the skin off the live slave exposing the white portion
|
||
underneath. In any case it was complete annihilation of his
|
||
family, himself and any other slaves suspected of helping him.
|
||
|
||
In Cuba and some portions of the Caribbean this religion is
|
||
|
||
known as "Santeria" or The religion of the Saints. In Haiti it is
|
||
known as "VooDoo", in Brazil is "Macumba" and in some portions of
|
||
the lesser antilles "Candomble". The differences in naming this
|
||
religion has its roots in history itself...
|
||
|
||
Spain, Portugal and France were the commanding colonizing
|
||
|
||
nations of these portions of the new world. Spain colonized
|
||
Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo, Cuba, Mexico and some other countries
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Who says OPUS can't Fly? (Opus 1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(510) Thu 10 Nov 88 22:35
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Santeria, part 3 of 9
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:71f9 116ab47c
|
||
|
||
in central and south America. Portugal did the same with Brazil
|
||
and some portions of the lesser antilles. France colonized Haiti,
|
||
Guyana and also some of the Lesser Antilles.
|
||
|
||
The "slave hunting grounds" for Spanish, french and
|
||
|
||
Portuguese slave traders as mentioned before was the south western
|
||
coast of Africa. However, they avoided as much as possible each
|
||
other, so they not only "captured" African slaves who belonged to
|
||
different African nations, but after their capture and in order
|
||
to survive the slaves learned and adapted the languages and
|
||
cultures of their captors.
|
||
|
||
Spanish colonies slaves came mostly from the Yoruba and
|
||
|
||
Lucumi nations, as well as the slaves of Portuguese colonies.
|
||
French colonies received a high influx of slaves belonging to the
|
||
Arara nation; however, these groups were not culturally or
|
||
linguistically entirely homogeneous. Yoruba was the name of a
|
||
language spoken by many small kingdoms who collectively then were
|
||
referred as the Yoruba nation. Lucumi is a compound word of the
|
||
Bantu dialect: luku- many, mi- a suffix to indicate a town, people
|
||
together, so "Lucumi" means many people. Arara was also a
|
||
language spoken by many kingdoms and those kingdoms were
|
||
referred to as the Arara nation. Slaves learned the languages
|
||
and dialects of other slaves and of course, the language of their
|
||
captors. Thru this interaction the different names for the
|
||
religion of the Orichas developed, and also many of the
|
||
ritualistic and dogmatic differences of this religious system of
|
||
today has its roots in that same inter-cultural exchange.
|
||
|
||
Santeria, VooDoo, Macumba and Candomble are just different
|
||
|
||
names for the "same" religious practice, that is, "the cult of
|
||
the Saints" which is also called "The Lucumi Religion" or "Yoruba
|
||
religion". There is also another name by which Santeria is
|
||
referred to: "The Society of Ocha" (the society of the saint) but
|
||
this name is not widely used.
|
||
|
||
While developing in the grounds of the new world, the Lucumi
|
||
|
||
religion acquired the "flavors" imparted by their mixed African
|
||
practitioners of each particular area. In Cuba it developed as
|
||
Santeria, in Haiti as VooDoo and in Brazil as Macumba. Not only
|
||
the names are different; but some of the ceremonials, rituals
|
||
and general religious practices differ. Santeria is a word in
|
||
Spanish which means "the religion of the Saints", and saints in
|
||
Yoruba is "Orichas" or "Ocha"; Voo-Doo is accepted as meaning
|
||
Voo- "introspection", Doo- "into the unknown". Although
|
||
Catholicism influence can be strongly felt in todays Afro-
|
||
antillian religions, they still conserve, to a high degree, their
|
||
original African ritualistic and ceremonial practices. This is
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Who says OPUS can't Fly? (Opus 1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(511) Thu 10 Nov 88 22:36
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Santeria, part 4 of 9
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:71f9 116ab498
|
||
|
||
particularly true when speaking on the rituals of VooDoo.
|
||
|
||
Today, Nigeria occupies the original territory of the
|
||
|
||
Lucumis and Yorubas, and there is the sacred city of Ife, the
|
||
holy city of all practitioners of the religion of the Orichas
|
||
(Saints). Ife is considered by the adepts as the original
|
||
|
||
dwelling of the saints of the religion; there they can not only
|
||
find several holy places but also trace descendants of great
|
||
Babalochas (High priests) and even descendants of Ochas (saints).
|
||
|
||
***
|
||
|
||
On the "Theology" of the Lucumi Religion.
|
||
|
||
The Lucumi religion has dozens of entities called "Saints",
|
||
|
||
and are these saints the deities of the religion. Each saint has a
|
||
domain of power and spheres of influence, which the santero
|
||
shares thru his interaction with them.
|
||
|
||
In the Yoruba religion "saints" have a more diverse and
|
||
|
||
broader meaning than the Christian use of the term. Orichas are
|
||
treated and considered "gods" by the adepts of Santeria. In
|
||
Santeria orichas "work" to cure the sick, to foretell the future,
|
||
solve conflicts, remedy tough situation, join marriages and to
|
||
reconcile enemies; that is, to establish harmony and provide
|
||
advise. They perform "miracles" which are very hard to explain
|
||
but whose effects are undeniable. So the true Santero "works"
|
||
only for good...but what about those who call themselves Santeros
|
||
and perform evil?...Well, lets go back to history...
|
||
|
||
Among the slaves brought to the new world there were some
|
||
|
||
African sorcerers who found an excellent ground amidst the
|
||
thousands of slaves in the colonies in were to exploit their
|
||
abilities and recruit adepts. They were feared in their homeland
|
||
and they also became feared in the new world. It was very easy
|
||
for them to find followers and recruit pupils among these oppressed
|
||
people. These "Kimbiambus-Sua Musu" and "Kimbiambu-Sua Kai" (male
|
||
and female sorcerers) formed secret societies or brotherhoods who
|
||
evolved parallel to Santeria and eventually some of these
|
||
societies "blended", giving birth to a perverted, desecrated
|
||
version of "Santeria". Regretfully many of todays' so called
|
||
"Santeros" belong to this variation of the Lucumi religion...
|
||
|
||
Some of the Orichas in Santeria were the souls of those
|
||
|
||
who died who by their merits were granted "power" to become
|
||
"Saints". However, the majority of them have become such by their
|
||
|
||
direct blood link with the original or first orichas created
|
||
by Olordumare (God).
|
||
|
||
Africans believed in immortality; but in a very peculiar
|
||
|
||
way...According to Lucumi tradition, when a man died, he first
|
||
went to see Olofin (Jesus) who after weighting his acts on earth
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Who says OPUS can't Fly? (Opus 1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(512) Thu 10 Nov 88 22:37
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Santeria, aprt 5 of 9
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:71f9 116ab4b4
|
||
|
||
rewarded him with eternal life in the following way:
|
||
|
||
1- He was transformed into rain, and in this way he
|
||
returned to earth looking for a river and then
|
||
flowing to the bottom he transformed himself into a
|
||
"rock".
|
||
|
||
2- After a period of time (usually three months) his
|
||
family went to the river accompanied by the
|
||
Babalocha. His closest relative and the Babalocha
|
||
get into the river (all this forming part of a
|
||
sacred ceremony).
|
||
|
||
3- Once in the water (all dressed in white) and with
|
||
the permission of Babalocha who assists him, his
|
||
relative closing his eyes, introduced his right hand
|
||
into it until he touch a "rock"; his relative had to
|
||
"feel" the "spirit" living in it.
|
||
|
||
4- This rock was immediately covered with a piece of
|
||
cloth of the favorite color of the deceased, and
|
||
after returning, it was received with great
|
||
enthusiasm by those present.
|
||
|
||
5- They carried it back to their house and with great
|
||
reverence it was deposited in a container. This
|
||
container represented the "room" or "body" in where
|
||
the spirit lived.
|
||
|
||
|
||
These "rocks" where called "Otanes". And it is because of
|
||
|
||
this that the saints are not worshiped in the form of statues,
|
||
they are worshiped in the form of "rocks". A variation exists in
|
||
Voodoo in where saints can live in trees, and such are highly
|
||
respected and worshiped. The trees that serve for this purpose
|
||
are called "Arbresrepoisors", and there is usually a pedestal or
|
||
basin encircling the foot of the tree. Square or triangular
|
||
niches are recessed into the pedestal and in them lighted candles
|
||
are often placed, surrounded by consecrated food offered in
|
||
sacrifice. These trees are decorated and even painted with the
|
||
favorite colors of the gods to whom they belong.
|
||
|
||
These Otanes were the property of the family of the
|
||
|
||
deceased, and they took care and worshiped them by bringing
|
||
offerings and food to them. It was the belief that they could
|
||
help and sometimes intercede with the Orichas in favor of the
|
||
family. Sometimes it happened that "miracles" began to occur, and
|
||
then these Otanes became "famous" and highly esteemed by the
|
||
people. With time myths began to surround the properties of
|
||
these Otanes, and from those myths legends developed.
|
||
|
||
In Voodoo, the belief is somewhat different. According to
|
||
|
||
its tradition, the soul of the death reascends to heaven and then
|
||
becomes a star. If, for whatever reason, the soul of the death
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Who says OPUS can't Fly? (Opus 1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(513) Thu 10 Nov 88 22:38
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Santeria, part 6 of 9
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:71f9 116ab4d1
|
||
|
||
becomes canonized, he becomes a "Saint", thus eventually becoming
|
||
part of the "Pantheon of the Saints".
|
||
|
||
In Haitian VooDoo saint is "Loa" and in Brasil is "Macun".
|
||
|
||
The interaction of the Adept with the Ocha (or Loa) is the basic
|
||
unit of Santeria. It is thru this interaction that the santero is
|
||
able to work. As a general rule, the "Illaguao" (or novice,
|
||
apprentice) only "makes" one Ocha as his principal deity of
|
||
action during the initiatory ritual. This happens after the
|
||
Orichas are consulted by the "Babalao" (High priest) as to whom
|
||
is the Ocha that this Illaguao is entitled to. Later, after the
|
||
Illaguao becomes a santero he may request permission from his
|
||
Ocha to "make" more Orichas.
|
||
|
||
The personal power a Santero develops (thru his ritual work)
|
||
|
||
is known as "Ache" and in order to develop it he must follow all
|
||
ceremonial and ritualistic rules and guidelines belonging to his
|
||
Ocha, and of any other Oricha he may be working with. Every Ocha
|
||
has its rules; rules and attributes that touches almost every
|
||
aspect of life. He has his own colors, foods, beverages, animals,
|
||
utensils, etc.. Also, when performing ritualistic work, close
|
||
attention has to be paid for following the hierarchical order of
|
||
the orichas; that is, the santero, or Omoricha (priest) has to
|
||
begin any work by doing those rituals belonging to the most
|
||
important of the orichas he is working with and proceeded following
|
||
their hierarchy as related to one another. In VooDoo the
|
||
religious leader or priest is called "Houn'gan" if male or
|
||
"Mam'bo" if female and in santeria "Omoricha" or "Olouboricha".
|
||
|
||
To give you an idea lets see this hierarchical diagram of a
|
||
yoruba pantheon:
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Olordumare
|
||
(Supreme God)
|
||
^
|
||
. .
|
||
. .
|
||
. .
|
||
. .
|
||
Obatala Oduduwa
|
||
(The most pure creator) ( First king of the earth,
|
||
. Ile Ife)
|
||
Yemaya Argayu
|
||
(Mother of 16 Orichas) ( Husband of Yemaya)
|
||
. .
|
||
Orumila Chango
|
||
(Fortuneteller son of ( Fourth king of the Yoruba
|
||
Yemaya) . Nation, master of fire,
|
||
. son of Yemaya)
|
||
. .
|
||
Ogun Osun
|
||
(master of iron, laborious ( Guardian, son of Yemaya)
|
||
son of Yemaya) . .
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Who says OPUS can't Fly? (Opus 1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(514) Thu 10 Nov 88 22:39
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Santeria, part 7 of 9
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:71f9 116ab4ed
|
||
|
||
. .
|
||
Oshosi Ochun
|
||
(Hunter son of Yemaya) ( Master of the river and
|
||
. of money, Daughter of
|
||
. Yemaya)
|
||
. .
|
||
Oya Olokun
|
||
(Master of storm) ( Goddess of the sea,
|
||
. Daughter of Yemaya)
|
||
. .
|
||
. .
|
||
. .
|
||
. .
|
||
Iku
|
||
(Death)
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Note: The above chart is not a fixed one; it will vary
|
||
depending on the ritual of santeria practised.
|
||
|
||
"Olordumare Nzame" is the principal deity of santeria, which
|
||
|
||
represents God; in Voodoo, is called "Legba Ati-Bon" which means
|
||
"wood of justice" and is represented in the "Oum'phor" (Voodoo
|
||
|
||
temple) as a wooden center-post, "Poteau-mitan". The potaeu-mitan
|
||
is located exactly in the middle of the "peristyle" (inside area
|
||
of the temple) whose entire length is decorated by a spiral
|
||
design representing two serpent-gods: "Danbhalah Wedo"
|
||
(representing perfection) and "Aida Wedo" (representing all the
|
||
|
||
knowledge of the gods). Also inside the oum'phor (temple) we
|
||
could find the "Pe" or stone-altar and on the floor of the temple
|
||
the "Veves", which are designs traced upon the ground whose
|
||
purpose are to attract the loas to descend to earth.
|
||
|
||
The orichas use various methods for manifesting themselves
|
||
|
||
to the santero. The most important being by "riding" him
|
||
during the ceremonials and rituals. Other methods at hand are the
|
||
use of sea shells and four pieces of coconut.
|
||
|
||
The "riding" method is one in which the Loa (in VooDoo) or
|
||
|
||
Ocha (in santeria) takes possession of the adept. The personality
|
||
of the host changes to that of the Ocha "riding" him; the orichas
|
||
all have their own personality and particular traits which
|
||
becomes manifested thru the Santero during the periods were the
|
||
ocha is possessing him.
|
||
|
||
The other methods of communication are the use of shells,
|
||
"Medilogun" and four pieces of coconut, "Obi". After complying
|
||
|
||
with the necessary rituals the Santero rolls the shells and their
|
||
resulting positions are "interpreted". The four pieces of coconut
|
||
are used in the same way as the shells. These methods can be used
|
||
for divination as another one rather unknown: the use of
|
||
dominoes. In Africa they had a game which played a lot like
|
||
dominoes called "Quenken", and the numbered pieces were used
|
||
for divination by interpreting the numbers that came up with the
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Who says OPUS can't Fly? (Opus 1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(515) Thu 10 Nov 88 22:40
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Santeria, part 8 of 9
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:71f9 116ab509
|
||
|
||
meaning attributed to each one.
|
||
|
||
For effective oral communication the santero must speak to
|
||
|
||
the Ocha in his vernacular: Yoruba or Lucumi. He can speak to the
|
||
Ocha in another language if he doesn't know well yoruba or
|
||
lucumi, but this will diminish the Ache (power) in the work.
|
||
|
||
The adept of santeria has also to pay close attention to
|
||
|
||
some particular details such as the way he dresses and the food
|
||
he eats. For example the santero may be called to refrain from
|
||
eating certain types of food belonging to the orichas; this is to
|
||
show respect and to demonstrate his devotion for them Also
|
||
clothing becomes affected; the santero should dress according to
|
||
the rules of his principal ocha or the orichas he may be working
|
||
with. In addition, the santero must take good care of his
|
||
ritualistic necklaces or "Elekes", whose colored beads are
|
||
representative of the colors of the ocha. Some of these elekes
|
||
may be carried on all the time, while some others are to be worn
|
||
only when performing ritualistic work. Thru all of this
|
||
interaction the Ocha and the santero develops a Father-son type
|
||
of relationship.
|
||
|
||
When an "Illawao", apprentice in santeria or "Mam'bo Caille"
|
||
|
||
in VooDoo is initiated, the one who has directed the ceremonial,
|
||
usually the Omoricha (priest) or Babalocha (high priest) becomes
|
||
the godfather of the new adept. That is if he doesn't already has a
|
||
"sponsor" who has agreed beforehand to become his godfather. His
|
||
duties are those of a counselor and guide helping him in his
|
||
journey.
|
||
|
||
Sometimes ceremonials calls for offerings of various kinds,
|
||
|
||
including animal sacrifices. These offerings are just a
|
||
demonstration of respect, recognition, and sometimes for payment
|
||
(for a favor) to the orichas or Ocha in question. Drum music also
|
||
|
||
plays a very important part on the ceremonials. These drums are
|
||
consecrated and only played during ritual work; they may have
|
||
different physical dimensions. In Santeria they are known as
|
||
"akonko" (big drum) and "itole" (small drum), in Voodoo ritual
|
||
|
||
thy are known as "Manman" (largest drum), "Grondez" (middle sized
|
||
drum) and "Ka-Tha-Bou" (small drum). The large or small drums are
|
||
played depending on the ceremony or ritual performed.
|
||
|
||
When dogmatic differences or complaints happen between
|
||
|
||
omorichas (priests), a "Cabildo" (meeting, gathering of a
|
||
council) is called by the omorichas or Babalaos (high priests).
|
||
These are presided by the older babalochas. All differences are
|
||
settled there.
|
||
|
||
All of the organized religions have some type of sacred
|
||
|
||
writings, and the religion of the lucumis is no exception. Their
|
||
tales or "Patakies" are writings that illustrate all of the
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Who says OPUS can't Fly? (Opus 1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(516) Thu 10 Nov 88 22:41
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Santeria, by J. Santiago, part 9 of 9
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:71f9 116ab526
|
||
|
||
different aspects of the Yoruba religion. The un-written compendium
|
||
of this patakies is known as "Ifa". So this patakies are stories
|
||
with a moral-spiritual message or lesson.
|
||
|
||
Modern day santeria has its adepts spread all over north,
|
||
|
||
central and south America. It is no longer an isolated religious
|
||
phenomena of the Antilles. Florida, Cuba, Haiti, Brazil and to
|
||
some extent Puerto Rico are, however, the most active posts of
|
||
Santeria. But true Santeros are scarce; for santeria has not only
|
||
suffered the fusion with such un-welcomed guests, "The societies
|
||
of the sorcerers", but also it has suffered the influx of un-
|
||
worthy people in its ranks. Santeria today is not only a
|
||
religion; its a brotherhood with a rich legacy of myths and
|
||
legends as the teaching media for its adepts. A legacy left from
|
||
the slaves of yesterday to the free men of their tomorrow...
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Who says OPUS can't Fly? (Opus 1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(517) Sun 13 Nov 88 0:56
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Update of Handling the media, part 1 of 7
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:71f9 116d0701
|
||
|
||
|
||
_REACTIVE_RESPONSE_AND_PROACTIVE_ENCOUNTER_
|
||
_Dealing_with_the_Media_
|
||
|
||
This is a description of what WindFire Coven does to attract
|
||
positive media coverage:
|
||
|
||
During the latest period of Satanism hysteria the energies
|
||
were flowing in a negative direction as far as Wicca is
|
||
concerned.
|
||
The media loves controversy and knows that to have controversy
|
||
they must present more than one side of any given issue.
|
||
Consequently when planning some report that may be negative in
|
||
context they will go out of their way to present another view of
|
||
that same issue.
|
||
|
||
Reactive Response
|
||
|
||
This, of course, is reactive not pro-active in nature. This
|
||
is
|
||
how WindFire got the media exposure the last two times. I'll
|
||
start
|
||
with the Denver channel first.
|
||
|
||
It was a few weeks after File 18 was given to each member of
|
||
WindFire that we dedicated a full moon ritual for magickal work
|
||
toward a solution. WindFire is not structured so every member
|
||
got
|
||
to focus their power in their own way toward the solution. The
|
||
solution was to promote a positive understanding of Wicca in the
|
||
local mundane communities.
|
||
|
||
The very next day, not 24 hours after the ritual, we got a
|
||
call from channel 7, Denver. They were in the Springs and wanted
|
||
to talk to some witches about ley lines and power spots. The
|
||
two person crew was at Celebration Book Store but the attendant
|
||
didn't
|
||
want to be on. Fortunately the store attendant had our number
|
||
and called us. We talked with the camera crew and arranged an
|
||
immediate interview.
|
||
|
||
Two considerations are important here. The first is that
|
||
just like any other form of magickal work the magick takes it's
|
||
own
|
||
form. So be ready for anything. And two, when the media calls
|
||
they usually will not wait around for interviewees. Be prepared
|
||
for anything, at any moment. When the lightning strikes...
|
||
|
||
Channel 7 told us that they were doing the interview to
|
||
balance out some of the reporting on Satanism, but they didn't
|
||
stress the fact that the report was about Satanism. Further we
|
||
didn't know enough to ask what the focus and content was for the
|
||
report. Always ask what the focus of the report is. You may
|
||
find
|
||
yourself, just like WindFire, shocked that we are being
|
||
visually, if not verbally, associated with Satanism.
|
||
|
||
For the interview, be positive. I can't stress that enough.
|
||
Smile and let them see that you are sincere in your faith in the
|
||
Goddess. Laugh. All the reporters see in Satanism is somber
|
||
faces,
|
||
confessing their sins. Let them know that you are happy with
|
||
your path. Stress the difference between patriarchal monotheism
|
||
and
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Who says OPUS can't Fly? (Opus 1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(518) Sun 13 Nov 88 0:57
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Update of Handling the Media, part 2 of 7
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:71f9 116d0738
|
||
|
||
pre-Christian, pre-Hebrew Goddess religion. Have your resources
|
||
ready for the reporter to look at if they need a quote for
|
||
something. Trot out your tools and instruments if you feel
|
||
comfortable with that. They love to see the various tools. You
|
||
don't have to show them all or any of your tools but it sure
|
||
helps
|
||
them get a picture of what is going on.
|
||
|
||
The media people like robes so wear your best. Covert groups
|
||
that have fears about discovery of illegal activities will not
|
||
don
|
||
their robes or show their tools. By doing so you show that you
|
||
are
|
||
not aligned with covert, illegal, fearful groups. And by
|
||
disassociation you show that you are doing nothing illegal or
|
||
dangerous.
|
||
|
||
There are three parts of the interview: the preview, the
|
||
personal interviews and the ritual. In some or perhaps most
|
||
cases,
|
||
the ritual can be left out. [Please note that these terms are
|
||
descriptive of their function, not their technical names. The
|
||
reporters may have a different technical name for them.]
|
||
|
||
The preview is a time for the reporter to get to know the
|
||
members of the group, circle or coven. They will talk to you for
|
||
a
|
||
period of time. For WindFire that was about an hour for each
|
||
camera crew. Please remember to be civil as a group and not
|
||
blurt things out all at once. Believe me it's hard not to do
|
||
that in the
|
||
excitement. During the preview the reporter will select who they
|
||
want to interview.
|
||
|
||
Personal interviews last about 10 minutes. The reporter will
|
||
generally select different questions for each interviewee. Be
|
||
prepared for some hard and personal questions. At the end of the
|
||
personal interview the reporter will sometimes ask if you have
|
||
anything particular to say to the public. Please don't waste
|
||
this
|
||
opportunity. Have a personal message ready for the public.
|
||
|
||
The ritual can be anything you feel comfortable with. We
|
||
generally choose a related focus such as increasing
|
||
understanding in the mundane public. The camera crews seem to
|
||
like this. Be
|
||
patient, they may want you to duplicate some particular action
|
||
for
|
||
different camera angle. Accommodate them when you can. We got
|
||
through a partial ritual before the second camera crew ran out
|
||
of tape. Don't forget to complete the ritual before them before
|
||
you
|
||
let them leave. Be complete.
|
||
|
||
Remember that there are generally two people in a camera
|
||
crew,
|
||
the reporter and the camera operator. When the reporter is
|
||
previewing the coven have another witch talk to the camera
|
||
operator, telling them what the tools are for and what incenses
|
||
and crystals are used. Be discrete but talk to each and every
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Who says OPUS can't Fly? (Opus 1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(519) Sun 13 Nov 88 0:59
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Update of Handling the Media, part 3 of 7
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:71f9 116d0767
|
||
|
||
camera crew member because they all have input into the editing
|
||
of
|
||
the tape. If the reporter has a good feeling about the coven but
|
||
the camera person thinks you stink you may have visual problems
|
||
later. Make sure each and every camera crew member goes away
|
||
with a warm fuzzy feeling.
|
||
|
||
Offer them refreshments. They will generally refuse alcohol
|
||
but water, sodas, coffee and fruit juices are welcomed. Help
|
||
the crew as much as they will let you. If they need cables or
|
||
furniture moved, do so.
|
||
|
||
Now for Channel 13 in Colorado Springs. This reporter was
|
||
doing a report on Satanism alone. Unfortunately the ONLY
|
||
resource she had was James McCarthy in Boulder. The reporter
|
||
used the "S"
|
||
word, the "W" word and the "P" word all in the same sentence
|
||
without differentiating between the three. Admittedly the
|
||
context of the sentence was ritual. Still no differentiation
|
||
was made. We
|
||
started a telephone campaign and had about 15 people call the
|
||
newsroom at the station and complain.
|
||
|
||
Here it is especially good to not bitch unless you have a
|
||
solution. If you complain to a reporter do not leave them
|
||
hanging with no way to clean up the mess. Talk to them, give
|
||
them your
|
||
phone number so they can call you back later. They are busy
|
||
people. Try to make sure they can successfully reach you, not
|
||
your
|
||
children, not your message machine, not your dog. If you give
|
||
them
|
||
your number and they don't call you back, call them. Find out
|
||
what
|
||
the problem is.
|
||
|
||
During the phone campaign we left the reporter numerous ways
|
||
to contact us. She did and we scheduled a time for the
|
||
interviews. We scheduled it for our regular weekly meeting time
|
||
so
|
||
that all the members could be there and a generic ritual could
|
||
be filmed. Members who didn't want to be on film were situated
|
||
so
|
||
that their faces were not on camera. The camera crew will do
|
||
this for you. They don't want to inadvertently expose unwilling
|
||
and
|
||
innocent people to possible harassment.
|
||
|
||
On the appointed day the camera crew showed up fashionably
|
||
late. We went through our usually horror story about being
|
||
butchered by the media in the past and they (both crews) were
|
||
sympathetic to our concerns. Don't be afraid to stress how
|
||
badly the media has treated witches, but don't bore them;
|
||
everyone has a
|
||
story to tell but boredom is out these days.
|
||
|
||
Let them see a generic ritual with a generic focus. The
|
||
immediate focus was understanding in the local community. That
|
||
works well so you might want to try that with your group or
|
||
coven.
|
||
It impresses the camera crew so that they will be a little more
|
||
interested.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Who says OPUS can't Fly? (Opus 1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(520) Sun 13 Nov 88 1:00
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Handling the Media, part 4 of 7
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:71f9 116d080a
|
||
|
||
|
||
Proactive Encounter
|
||
|
||
Proactive means acting before something happens and puts you
|
||
in reactive response mode.
|
||
|
||
Perhaps the best thing to do is to put together a packet
|
||
that you can send to your local media: Tv. stations, radio
|
||
stations,
|
||
and newspapers, which also include your local neighborhood
|
||
weeklies if you're brave enough.
|
||
|
||
Send a well put together packet to these medias and be sure
|
||
they can get in touch with you on a few days notice. You might
|
||
have more than one contact for your group, circle or coven.
|
||
WindFire has three or four.
|
||
|
||
I suggest for this packet that you include three or four
|
||
brief
|
||
statements from willing coven members, a longer essay on Wicca
|
||
with resources, the New Woman article, some artwork and poetry.
|
||
Include also a reading list of your favorite Wiccan authors. Be
|
||
sure to include names and numbers to call back. While the
|
||
reporters won't read everything they will probably read the
|
||
brief statements from your coven members and look at the
|
||
reading list.
|
||
You might suggest book stores the reporters can find the reading
|
||
list books at.
|
||
|
||
The main time of the year for reactive procedures is
|
||
Halloween. Funnymentalist just love to hammer us during Samhain.
|
||
So be proactive and let the media know how you view Samhain.
|
||
Send the media an article about Samhain about two weeks before.
|
||
Let
|
||
them know that there are other views and that the funnymentalist
|
||
are slandering a perfectly good holiday.
|
||
|
||
In fact you could emphasize any holiday/s that seems
|
||
appropriate for your area or group. Include your resources
|
||
and/or xerox copies of other articles you may find, with
|
||
copyright if
|
||
needed, on any holiday you deem appropriate.
|
||
|
||
Reactive Response Summary
|
||
|
||
Be prepared to act at any moment if they should call you. Be
|
||
positive, smile and laugh a lot. Talk to all the camera crew
|
||
members. Let them know your concerns, stress the problems of the
|
||
past but don't offend the media people. Make it a magickal time
|
||
for all the people involved including the camera crews. Remember
|
||
to augment your mundane activity (interviews) before hand with
|
||
magickal work.
|
||
|
||
Proactive Encounter Summary
|
||
|
||
Prepare a good information packet. Sound like you know what
|
||
you are talking about. Don't be mousey. Be aggressive and call
|
||
them if you feel the need. Make sure they can return a call to
|
||
you successfully. If you get an interview be positive and firm.
|
||
Media people are strong people, they like other strong people.
|
||
Be prepared to act at any moment when they call you. Devote
|
||
some
|
||
personal and collective magickal time for magickal work to
|
||
attract
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Who says OPUS can't Fly? (Opus 1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(521) Sun 13 Nov 88 1:01
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Updated Handling the Media, part 5 of 7
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:71f9 116d082b
|
||
|
||
positive media attention.
|
||
|
||
I'm sure that you will be challenged by the opportunities
|
||
your
|
||
magick will bring you. The Goddess will bring your efforts to
|
||
full fruit if you are ready to support Her when the time comes.
|
||
It's not an overused saying to state that we should be prepared
|
||
for the effects of our own magick.
|
||
|
||
AN UPDATE OF IMMEDIATE CONCERN
|
||
|
||
Just before Halloween Channels 5/30 in Colorado Springs
|
||
interviewed WindFire Coven in the pro-active mode. The reporter
|
||
was concerned that her boss wanted a sensationalized segment on
|
||
witches to go with segments on Satanism and various local New
|
||
Age groups and psychics. She told us that she would try to talk
|
||
her
|
||
boss out of sensationalizing the segment. No guarantees were
|
||
given
|
||
and we accepted her word that she would try her best to
|
||
represent us fairly. WindFire Coven was filmed for four or five
|
||
hours for
|
||
the 3 minute segment and some promotional footage.
|
||
|
||
Some problems arose in the promotionals and broadcast that
|
||
we didn't anticipate.
|
||
|
||
In the promotionals various members were visually associated
|
||
with Satanism by default, that is, Wiccans and Satanists were
|
||
shown together in the same promo without distinction. This
|
||
caused quite a lot of concern when clients and associates of
|
||
those
|
||
involved either refused to speak to the involved or blamed them
|
||
for some unspecified hardship in their lives. To complicate the
|
||
matter one members face was overdubbed with a hags cackling.
|
||
This
|
||
hurt the member greatly as she is nothing like the voice
|
||
indicated.
|
||
|
||
MAKE SURE THAT YOUR PROMO IS YOUR OWN WITH NO VISUAL
|
||
ASSOCIATION TO ANY OTHER SEGMENT WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND
|
||
PERMISSION. MAKE SURE THAT YOUR MEMBERS FACES AND VOICES REMAIN
|
||
INTACT THROUGH THE PROMO AND BROADCAST. GET IT IN WRITING UNLESS
|
||
YOU ARE WILLING TO SEE THIS HAPPEN TO YOUR COVEN. REFUSE THE
|
||
INTERVIEW IF NECESSARY.
|
||
|
||
During the broadcast and promos various tools, icons and
|
||
artifacts, including a piece of copyrighted artwork, were used
|
||
in others segments without our permission.
|
||
|
||
MAKE SURE THAT YOUR TOOLS, ICONS, ARTIFACTS AND ARTWORK ARE
|
||
NOT USED IN ANOTHER CONTEXT WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND
|
||
PERMISSION.
|
||
GET IT IN WRITING UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO SEE YOUR TOOLS,
|
||
ICONS,
|
||
ARTIFACTS AND ARTWORK PROFANED BY USE IN AN INAPPROPRIATE
|
||
CONTEXT.
|
||
|
||
Another problem arose when the editors inserted a Christian
|
||
into our segment who said that Wicca was inappropriate because
|
||
it is not Christian. When asked why such was done the reporter
|
||
replied that it is good journalistic practice to offer two sides
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Who says OPUS can't Fly? (Opus 1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(522) Sun 13 Nov 88 1:02
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Update of Handling the Media, part 6 of 7
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:71f9 116d084b
|
||
|
||
of an issue. WindFire Coven feels that should a contemporary
|
||
religion be represented, such as the Jewish or the Mormon faith,
|
||
the station would not be as quick to put in dissenting views. We
|
||
feel that Channels 5/30 leaned toward promoting the
|
||
stereotypical image of witches by having a Christian define
|
||
what we are and are
|
||
not. Such cannot be allowed to continue any longer.
|
||
|
||
MAKE SURE THAT YOUR SEGMENT IS YOURS AND YOURS ALONE. DO NOT
|
||
ALLOW THE EDITORS TO INSERT DISSENTING VIEWS IN YOUR SEGMENT.
|
||
DISSENTING VIEWS CAN BE PRESENTED IN ANOTHER SEGMENT DEDICATED
|
||
ENTIRELY FOR DISCUSSION OF DIFFERENCES. MAKE SURE THAT WICCA IS
|
||
REPRESENTED BY WICCANS, NOT BY CHRISTIANS, NOT BY NEW AGERS, NOT
|
||
BY LOCAL PSYCHICS. TAKE CONTROL OF THE INTERVIEW BEFORE IT TAKES
|
||
CONTROL OF YOUR COVEN.
|
||
|
||
Blessed Be!
|
||
|
||
Copyright (c) Ammond Shadowcraft Oct. 1988
|
||
|
||
--------
|
||
This is an sample form to be used when reporters come to
|
||
your home to interview your circle or coven.
|
||
|
||
--------
|
||
WRITTEN AGREEMENTS AND GUARANTEES FOR INTERVIEW WITH WINDFIRE
|
||
COVEN
|
||
Dated: ________________________
|
||
|
||
Note: For the purpose of this Agreement WindFire Coven is
|
||
termed the Interviewee and ______________________ is termed the
|
||
Interviewer.
|
||
|
||
|
||
The Interviewee agrees to accept reporters from the
|
||
Interviewer into their homes and/or sacred space to witness and
|
||
report seasonal and/or generic rituals, to photograph and film
|
||
tools, icons, artifacts, artwork, poetry and songs, to interview
|
||
the Coven and individual members, for a period not to exceed 24
|
||
hours, providing that the following agreements are made:
|
||
|
||
|
||
The Interviewer will employ the usable or airable video
|
||
footage filmed, photographs and/or recordings of/during this
|
||
interview for any segment and/or report as a singular complete
|
||
segment and/or report and in such a way as to retain the
|
||
original context and atmosphere intended by the Interviewee.
|
||
No other
|
||
individuals, religious faiths and/or religious groups will be
|
||
included in this segment/report without the express permission
|
||
of the Interviewee.
|
||
|
||
|
||
The Interviewer will employ the usable or airable video
|
||
footage filmed, photographs and/or recordings of/during this
|
||
interview for any promotion as a singular complete promotion and
|
||
in such a way as to retain the original context and atmosphere
|
||
intended by the Interviewee. No other individuals, religious
|
||
faiths and/or religious groups will be included in this
|
||
promotion without the express permission of the Interviewee.
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Who says OPUS can't Fly? (Opus 1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(523) Sun 13 Nov 88 1:03
|
||
By: Ammond Shadowcraft
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Update of handling the Media, part 7 of 7
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:71f9 116d0869
|
||
|
||
|
||
The Interviewer will treat all persons, tools, icons,
|
||
artifacts, artwork, poetry and music filmed, photographed or
|
||
recorded as integral parts of the interview and will not use any
|
||
cassette, video or photographic representations of these
|
||
persons/items in any other context or external segment, report
|
||
or promotion without the express permission of the Interviewee.
|
||
|
||
|
||
____________________________________________________
|
||
For WINDFIRE COVEN (Interviewee)
|
||
|
||
|
||
____________________________________________________
|
||
For __________________________________ (Interviewer)
|
||
|
||
|
||
____________________________________________________
|
||
Witness
|
||
|
||
|
||
____________________________________________________
|
||
Witness
|
||
|
||
|
||
____________________________________________________
|
||
Witness
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Who says OPUS can't Fly? (Opus 1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(524) Sat 19 Nov 88 13:47
|
||
By: Oz Tech
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Set in Egyptian Theology
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:077f 11736df0
|
||
Set was one of the earliest Egyptian deities, a god of the night
|
||
identified with the northern stars. In the earliest ages of
|
||
Egypt this Prince of Darkness was well regarded. One persistant
|
||
token of this regard is the Tcham scepter, having the stylized
|
||
head and tail of Set. The Tcham scepter is frequently found
|
||
in portraits of other other gods as a symbol of magical power.
|
||
|
||
In some texts he is hailed as a source of strength, and in
|
||
early paintings he is portrayed as bearer of a harpoon at the
|
||
prow of the boat of Ra, warding off the serpent Apep. Yet the
|
||
warlike and resolute nature of Set seems to have been regarded
|
||
with ambivalence in Egyptian theology, and the portrayal of this
|
||
Neter went through many changes over a period of nearly three
|
||
thousand years. Pictures of a god bearing two heads, that of
|
||
Set and his daylight brother Horus the Elder, may be compared to
|
||
the oriental Yin/Yang symbol as a representation of the union
|
||
of polarities. In time, the conflict between these two abstract
|
||
principles came to be emphasized rather than their primal union.
|
||
|
||
Set's battle with Horus the Elder grew from being a statement of
|
||
the duality of day and night into an expression of the political
|
||
conflict among the polytheistic priesthoods for control of the
|
||
Egyptian theocracy. This was rewritten as a battle between Good
|
||
and Evil after Egypt expelled the Hyskos in the 18th Dynasty.
|
||
Some say the Hyskos were Asiatic invaders, and others say they
|
||
were an indigenous minority that seized control of the nation.
|
||
This tribe ruled Egypt for a time and happened to favor the Set
|
||
cult, seeing a resemblence to a storm-god of their own pantheon
|
||
|
||
The Set cult never recovered from this identification with the
|
||
Hyskos. Images of Set were destroyed or defaced. By the time
|
||
Greek historians visited Egypt, wild asses, pigs, and other beasts
|
||
identified with the Set cult were driven off cliffs, hacked into
|
||
pieces or otherwise slaughtered at annual celebrations in a spirit
|
||
akin to the driving out of the Biblical scapegoat. The report
|
||
of these historians is often thought to be a valid account of a
|
||
a timeless and immutable theocracy , but just looking at the
|
||
frequency with which the ruling capital moved to different
|
||
cities (each being a cult-center) is enough to dispel this idea.
|
||
One controversial Egyptologist has suggested that the worship
|
||
of Set might have predated the concept of paternity. Later cults
|
||
incorporating a father god would reject this fatherless son.
|
||
This introduces another bizarre factor in the transformation of the
|
||
Night/Day battle between brothers into an inheritance dispute
|
||
between Set and Horus the Younger. Any book on Egyptian myth you
|
||
pick up contains the gory details of this cosmic lawsuit, which
|
||
includes things that make DYNASTY look like a prayer breakfast.
|
||
I have always been intrigued, though, that while all books affirm
|
||
that Set tore Osiris to pieces, everybody knows about Osiris, and it
|
||
is quite hard to collect the pieces of the puzzle that is Set.
|
||
Egyptologists have never agreed what the animal used to symbolize
|
||
Set actually is. Since the sages of ancient Egypt did not use an
|
||
unrecognizable creature to represent any other major deity, we
|
||
may guess that this is intentional, and points, like the Tcham
|
||
sceptre, to an esoteric meaning.
|
||
|
||
Oz Tech
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: IBM_Tech_Fido (Opus 1:322/1)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(525) Sat 19 Nov 88 18:43
|
||
By: Oz Tech
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Set in Egyptian Theology - References
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:1a18 11739561
|
||
Budge, E.A. Wallis. THE GODS OF THE EGYPTIANS.
|
||
Grant, Kenneth. CULTS OF THE SHADOW.
|
||
Graves, Robert. THE WHITE GODDESS.
|
||
Ions, Veronica. EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY.
|
||
Massey, Gerald. THE NATURAL GENESIS.
|
||
Russell, Jeffrey Burton. THE DEVIL.
|
||
|
||
Oz Tech
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: IBM_Tech_Fido (Opus 1:322/1)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(526) Wed 23 Nov 88 15:38
|
||
By: Martha Brummett
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Crystal Bawl (1/3)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:5dbb 7cd81177
|
||
|
||
from Volume 12, #11 of "Westword - Denver's News & Arts Weekly"
|
||
|
||
CRYSTAL BAWLS
|
||
by Nancy Clegg
|
||
|
||
The path to new-age enlightenment leaves no stone--or
|
||
profit--
|
||
unturned.
|
||
|
||
Last month, several hundred people each gave up $300 ($325 at
|
||
the
|
||
door) and a weekend to attend "Into the Crystal
|
||
Dreamtime", an
|
||
"initiation workshop" presented by best-selling new-age author
|
||
Lynn
|
||
Andrews at the Tech Center Hyatt Regency. Some came from as far
|
||
away as
|
||
Columbia, Florida, and Canada in their search for meaning.
|
||
|
||
Beginning with her 1981 book, _Medicine Woman_, Andrews has
|
||
carved
|
||
out a hefty portion of the female spirituality field. She
|
||
regales
|
||
readers with her sojourns into Canada, Mexico, and Australia to
|
||
study
|
||
with native medicine women. While the adventures often have the
|
||
surreal
|
||
quality of Carlos Castenada's "Don Juan" books, Andrews insists
|
||
her
|
||
adventures truly took place. These include such
|
||
credibility-stretchers
|
||
as a ritual evisceration by Aussie sky deity Oruncha, who made
|
||
meaning-
|
||
ful designs on the ground with Andrews' intestines before placing
|
||
both
|
||
her innards and several healing crystals back inside her body.
|
||
|
||
Fortunately for Andrews, most of her initiates were
|
||
concentrating
|
||
on larger truths rather than a few petty details. Though she's
|
||
lectured
|
||
occasionally, this four-city (Los Angeles, Denver, San Francisco,
|
||
and
|
||
New York City) tour is Andrews' first foray into the serious
|
||
business of
|
||
teaching revelations to large groups.
|
||
|
||
She read slightly reworked sections of her fifth and most
|
||
recent
|
||
book, _Crystal Woman_, detailing her studies with Australian
|
||
aboriginal
|
||
"Clever Women", the shamanic healers in that culture, while
|
||
participants
|
||
in the pricy workshop lay in the dark as Andrews directed
|
||
them to
|
||
imagine aboriginal sandpaintings, Oruncha and the Goowawa (small
|
||
fairy-
|
||
like people).
|
||
|
||
When Andrews dispensed with the imaginary and re-entered
|
||
the
|
||
material world, she ran into trouble. "Throughout the weekend
|
||
initiates
|
||
will be placing their experiences inside crystals to have as
|
||
powerful
|
||
tools of remembering," the seminar information had
|
||
announced,
|
||
instructing participants to bring five of the clear quartz
|
||
rocks. A
|
||
basic tenet of new-age thinking is that rocks can store
|
||
information
|
||
that's mentally projected into them, just as minute crystal chips
|
||
store
|
||
information inside computers.
|
||
|
||
The stones are also used by some alternative healers to
|
||
focus
|
||
energy and move it through the body. Sure enough, "learning
|
||
how to
|
||
prepare your body and energy field to work with crystals"
|
||
was on
|
||
Andrews' agenda.
|
||
|
||
--- TBBS v2.0
|
||
* Origin: The Phoenix * Multi-User TBBS * Parker, CO (303)
|
||
841-9570 (104/739)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(527) Wed 23 Nov 88 15:39
|
||
By: Martha Brummett
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Crystal Bawl (2/3)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:5dbb 7cfd1177
|
||
|
||
But no one would have needed more than the required
|
||
quintet of
|
||
crystals if Andrews' exercises hadn't gone through rocks like
|
||
tissues at
|
||
an allergy-sufferers convention. In one designed to rid
|
||
participants of
|
||
negative thoughts, they were urged to concentrate on their
|
||
unwanted
|
||
psychic debris, "picturing it as dirty, murky, brown sludge," and
|
||
then
|
||
breathe the image of this glop into the crystal, which would
|
||
shoot it
|
||
into the earth to be neutralized.
|
||
|
||
Everyone breathed. "After doing this," Andrews continued,
|
||
"you
|
||
should always cleanse the crystal by soaking it for at least four
|
||
days
|
||
in salt water."
|
||
|
||
Scratch one crystal.
|
||
|
||
Another exercise called for people to scrub down their
|
||
partner's
|
||
bad vibes with a rock.
|
||
|
||
Soon participants were in dire need of a fresh supply of
|
||
crystals.
|
||
Coincidentally, early in the initiation a spokeswoman had told
|
||
everyone
|
||
about the handy "gift shop" next door, where they could purchase
|
||
not
|
||
only crystals, but shamanistic drums, rattles, tapes, and jewelry.
|
||
She
|
||
warned them to stay away from another crystal concession off the
|
||
hotel
|
||
lobby. The shop wasn't authorized, she said, and its stones
|
||
weren't,
|
||
either. "This isn't connected with us, they're here over
|
||
our
|
||
objections, *very much* over our objections," she told the initiates.
|
||
|
||
The four vendors that travel with us have Lynn's approval,"
|
||
says
|
||
Paul Andrews (no relation), whose Whole Life Promotions organized
|
||
the
|
||
tour. "We know what they're selling and these are products
|
||
connected
|
||
with the seminar...If other people suddenly show up later, they
|
||
can
|
||
misrepresent themselves as being officially connected to Lynn,
|
||
as if
|
||
she's vouching for their products."
|
||
|
||
So it must have been to protect the purity of the initiation
|
||
that
|
||
Paul Andrews went downstairs and started shouting at Sylvia
|
||
Osgood,
|
||
longtime Denver teacher, healer, and crystal dealer, who'd
|
||
rented a
|
||
small hotel conference room from which to peddle her pebbles.
|
||
"I'm
|
||
still so upset just thinking about it I'm almost shaking again,"
|
||
Osgood
|
||
says. "They were very threatening."
|
||
|
||
"He (Andrews) kept saying, "I want you out of here," and he
|
||
was
|
||
really yelling," she remembers. Osgood says she told Andrews
|
||
she'd
|
||
written Whole Life weeks before to arrange her shop, but had
|
||
never
|
||
received a reply.
|
||
|
||
Next came Delia, the woman in charge of the seminar's
|
||
official
|
||
vendors. Though she kept the volume lower than Paul Andrews had,
|
||
her
|
||
message was the same. "She said, 'We really have a problem
|
||
here,'"
|
||
Osgood recalls. "I offered to move upstairs and pay them a
|
||
commission
|
||
as soon as I'd cleared enough to cover the rent on this room, but
|
||
they
|
||
absolutely refused to even discuss that." Instead, "when I
|
||
wouldn't
|
||
leave, they went to the hotel management and tried to get me thrown
|
||
out."
|
||
|
||
--- TBBS v2.0
|
||
* Origin: The Phoenix * Multi-User TBBS * Parker, CO (303)
|
||
841-9570 (104/739)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(528) Wed 23 Nov 88 15:41
|
||
By: Martha Brummett
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Crystal Bawl (3/3)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:5dbb 7d261177
|
||
|
||
The hotel stuck up for Osgood. "If, say, an oil company
|
||
does a
|
||
convention here, they may ask that no competitors run opposing
|
||
events at
|
||
the same time. They have to let us know their wishes on that
|
||
well in
|
||
advance," says the Hyatt's Sara Smith. "Then, if we have to turn
|
||
down
|
||
business by honoring their request, the original company is
|
||
contracted
|
||
to pay us the rental on the space the other group wanted to take.
|
||
Whole
|
||
Life never mentioned that they didn't want other groups in here,
|
||
so we
|
||
rented space to Osgood. Of course we didn't ask her to leave. She
|
||
had
|
||
a legal right to be here."
|
||
|
||
Osgood says the animosity surprised her, particularly since
|
||
she's
|
||
received better vibrations at other new-age events. "I went in
|
||
with a
|
||
few local vendors to rent space last year when Shirley MacLaine
|
||
was
|
||
here. She doesn't travel with a big group of people and she was
|
||
happy
|
||
to have us here at the site," she says.
|
||
|
||
"Nancy, Nancy, Nancy, why on earth are you dwelling on
|
||
this
|
||
negative aspect?" sighs Paul Andrews when told of Osgood's
|
||
complaint.
|
||
"I don't want to give it that kind of energy or focus any more
|
||
of MY
|
||
time on this kind of negativity." (Translation from new age
|
||
buzz-speak:
|
||
Nancy, I don't like that question.)
|
||
|
||
He continues: "We have no letter from that woman in our files
|
||
and
|
||
what she says or doesn't say at this point doesn't really
|
||
matter...We
|
||
made it clear to her that we didn't want her there. I felt it was
|
||
just
|
||
so incredibly rude of her to set up her stuff."
|
||
|
||
Particularly when it was cutting into Andrews' business.
|
||
Official
|
||
salespeople as dense as the official products they were
|
||
hawking
|
||
frequently quoted prices three to ten times what the same stone
|
||
might
|
||
cost in area metaphysical/new age shops.
|
||
|
||
A few days before, I'd seen a little girl purchase a hefty
|
||
chunk of
|
||
calcite for $2.50 at one of those shops. At Andrews'
|
||
concessions,
|
||
calcite a fraction of that size was going for $21.
|
||
|
||
You weren't paying for service, either. "What's citrine used
|
||
for?"
|
||
I asked one salesman, a big, curly-headed guy with a turquoise
|
||
ring as
|
||
big as my VW.
|
||
|
||
"I can't really remember all its attributes," he said.
|
||
Actually,
|
||
he couldn't remember any of them. "I usually look 'em up in my
|
||
book."
|
||
|
||
"Got a book handy?" I queried.
|
||
|
||
He didn't. "Really, any of these stones--or any stones--will
|
||
have
|
||
different properties depending on the person using it. That's all
|
||
very
|
||
flexible and spontaneous and any rock you use will change as you
|
||
work
|
||
with it. Any rock can stand for anything, you know."
|
||
|
||
Just as any part of a new-age seminar, however mundane, can
|
||
have a
|
||
hidden meaning. "Everything that happens was meant to happen,"
|
||
said
|
||
Lynn Andrews several times during the initiation. "We are
|
||
responsible
|
||
for *everything* that happens to us."
|
||
|
||
And let the chips fall where they may.
|
||
|
||
--- TBBS v2.0
|
||
* Origin: The Phoenix * Multi-User TBBS * Parker, CO (303)
|
||
841-9570 (104/739)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(529) Mon 31 Oct 88 21:29
|
||
By: Dick Sells
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Meta-physical/Magick
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:b116 115fabb4
|
||
|
||
Could Meta-Physical possibly be what some folks would describe as
|
||
magick with a 'K' without being D&D??? If so, speak (type) up!
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SHOWBOAT! Where the Grown Folks Play (404) 861-3498
|
||
(Opus 1:362/703)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(530) Fri 9 Dec 88 23:57
|
||
By: Inanna Seastar
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Dianism (1 of 3)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:187c bf391189
|
||
This is an article I wrote for PROTEAN SYNTHESIS, a semi-private
|
||
newsletter after it was solicited by the editor:
|
||
|
||
DIANISM IN A NUIT-SHELL
|
||
|
||
Recently, I got back in touch with my teacher after nearly two
|
||
years and
|
||
dropped a couple of bombshells on her: I had changed gender
|
||
identity and had
|
||
come together with two other women to form a Dianic coven. When
|
||
the initial
|
||
shock wore off, Rita sent me a complete run of Protean Synthesis
|
||
and a
|
||
solicitation for this article.
|
||
Several years ago I subscribed to several stereotypes
|
||
regarding "those
|
||
peculiar Dianics". They were thealogically unbalanced, they hated
|
||
men, they
|
||
denied that men had souls, they were all lesbians, they couldn't
|
||
spell (in the
|
||
orthographic sense; no one has yet accused Dianics of inability to
|
||
work
|
||
magick), etc. etc. When I came together with my covensisters, I
|
||
realized that
|
||
these notions were at most partially true and some cases were
|
||
patently false.
|
||
I believe there are only three valid generalizations that can
|
||
be made
|
||
about Dianics: 1) We are all feminists. 2) We all look to the
|
||
Goddess(es)
|
||
far more than to the God(s). 3) We are all eclectics. Note well
|
||
that there
|
||
are plenty of non-Dianic feminist Witches, non-Dianic eclectics,
|
||
and non-
|
||
Dianics who are primarily Goddess-oriented. There are also
|
||
doubtless a good
|
||
many feminist, Goddess-oriented eclectics who do not choose to call
|
||
themselves
|
||
Dianic. In my own case I use the "If it quacks like a duck, it
|
||
probably is a
|
||
duck" argument, as well as the fact that my HPS learned the Craft
|
||
as a Dianic
|
||
and runs Dianic rituals.
|
||
Some of the stereotypical generalizations I can dismiss out of
|
||
hand. I
|
||
don't know of a single Dianic who denies that men have souls. Even
|
||
Z Budapest
|
||
doesn't believe that piece of tripe anymore! It is true that
|
||
Dianism is
|
||
particularly attractive to separatists, and many separatists
|
||
actually hate
|
||
men. Many Dianics are lesbians. Some misspell words like "woman",
|
||
women",
|
||
"egalitarian", and "holistic" on purpose. Not all fit these,
|
||
however, and I
|
||
think that Z Budapest in her younger, or spiritual bomb-throwing,
|
||
days
|
||
represents an extreme and a small minority. There are a number of
|
||
males
|
||
involved in Dianism, and some of those are men [NB: I use the
|
||
terms "man" and
|
||
"woman" to indicate gender identity, that is, how one's heart,
|
||
mind, and/or
|
||
soul are configured. I use "male" and "female" to indicate
|
||
physical sex, that
|
||
is, how one's plumbing is configured. I hope this dispels
|
||
confusion.].
|
||
|
||
(continued)
|
||
|
||
--- Gnome v1.20
|
||
* Origin: The Lizard King--Inanna Seastar's Place (1:104/45.5)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(531) Fri 9 Dec 88 0:01
|
||
By: Inanna Seastar
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Dianism (2 of 3)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:187c 291189
|
||
Thealogical and magickal imbalance is not so easily dismissed
|
||
and needs
|
||
to be addressed further, as that is the most valid objection that
|
||
thoughtful
|
||
Witches have to Dianism. The apparent imbalance comes from the
|
||
Dianic
|
||
emphasis on Goddess-worship, often to the complete exclusion of
|
||
God-worship.
|
||
This upsets many Witches' sense of polarity balance. The
|
||
resolution of this
|
||
apparent imbalance lies in the consideration of other polarities
|
||
than
|
||
sexual and/or gender as the primary polarity. There are indeed
|
||
many other
|
||
polarities to consider: true-false, life-death, dark-light,
|
||
rational-
|
||
mystical, creation-destruction, order-chaos, and good-evil, to name
|
||
but a few.
|
||
One problem with the masculine-feminine polarity is that there is a
|
||
strong
|
||
tendency to express all other polarities in terms of it. The
|
||
Chinese were
|
||
particularly fond of this, and mapped everything they liked into
|
||
the yang
|
||
side, and everything they disliked or feared into the yin side, the
|
||
patriarchal no-accounts!
|
||
One thing I have discovered is that if you look hard enough,
|
||
you can find
|
||
goddesses to fit both ends of most polarities. Some even occupy
|
||
both ends
|
||
simultaneously. Inanna, my matron goddess, is a good case in
|
||
point. She is
|
||
the Sumerian goddess of love, war, wisdom (which she won in a
|
||
drinking bout!),
|
||
adventure, the heavens, the earth, and even of death (in the guise
|
||
of her dark
|
||
aspect, Ereshkigal). A very busy lady indeed is Inanna. At this
|
||
point it
|
||
becomes largely a matter of personal preference rather than of
|
||
polarity,
|
||
whether one chooses a god or a goddess to occupy a particular place
|
||
in a
|
||
ritual.
|
||
No Dianic I know of denies the existence of the God. Indeed,
|
||
He gets
|
||
mentioned as the consort of the Goddess with some frequency in Z
|
||
Budapest's
|
||
HOLY BOOK OF WOMEN'S MYSTERIES, which is close a thing as there is
|
||
to a Dianic
|
||
version of the Gardnerian Book of Shadows. He is there, and
|
||
sometimes we will
|
||
invoke Him, when it is appropriate. He makes His own path, and we
|
||
follow our
|
||
own, and when they cross naturally we honor Him and do not avoid
|
||
Him. We also
|
||
do not force the paths to cross simply to lend an artificial
|
||
balance to a
|
||
ritual where none is really needed.
|
||
|
||
(continued)
|
||
|
||
--- Gnome v1.20
|
||
* Origin: The Lizard King--Inanna Seastar's Place (1:104/45.5)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(532) Fri 9 Dec 88 0:02
|
||
By: Inanna Seastar
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Dianism (3 of 3)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:187c 5b1189
|
||
Now that I have spilled a good deal of ink over what Dianism is
|
||
not, I
|
||
should now say a few words about what it is: a movement of
|
||
feminist,
|
||
eclectic, Goddess-oriented Witches.
|
||
Feminism: This covers a vast multitude of virtues and sins.
|
||
I do not
|
||
think the stereotypical radical lesbian separatist is as common as
|
||
is
|
||
believed. Moderate to liberal feminism is probably far more
|
||
common, even
|
||
among Dianics. Certainly my own coven contains no separatists!
|
||
There are too
|
||
many nice men out there, even though surveys have shown that 70% or
|
||
more of
|
||
all men are potential rapists. The nice ones are found among those
|
||
who are
|
||
not in that repulsive majority; you just have to look to find them.
|
||
One of
|
||
the places you might find such nice men is in Dianic covens! Some
|
||
are mixed
|
||
groups, at least some of those of the branch founded by Morgan
|
||
McFarland. My
|
||
own is something of a mixed up group, I suppose. While we do not
|
||
currently
|
||
have any men in the coven, two of the three of us were born male
|
||
and still
|
||
have original-equipment plumbing. The Goddess and our HPS accept us
|
||
unreservedly as women.
|
||
Eclecticism: If there is one dictum of Z Budapest's that
|
||
bears repeating
|
||
to everyone in the Craft, and which gets followed by many, it is
|
||
"When in
|
||
doubt, invent." Dianics tend toward creative ritual, drawing from
|
||
any and all
|
||
possible sources. I have yet to see a Dianic equivalent of the
|
||
Gardnerian
|
||
Book of Shadows, nor do I ever hope to see one.
|
||
Goddess Orientation: I've discussed this at some length while
|
||
talking
|
||
about polarity. There are some wags who have said that Dianics are
|
||
nothing
|
||
but matriarchal monotheists. I tell you three times: The Dianic
|
||
Goddess is
|
||
NOT Jehovah in drag! The Dianic Goddess is NOT Jehovah in drag!
|
||
The Dianic
|
||
Goddess is NOT Jehovah in drag! A much closer analogy would be
|
||
that Dianics
|
||
have taken the Classical pantheon and reclaimed most of the roles.
|
||
This,
|
||
too, is oversimplifying, but it is not nearly as wide of the mark
|
||
as the usual
|
||
criticism. At some point I may write up a long exegesis on the
|
||
Dianic
|
||
Goddess, but not here. My own personal involvement with Her comes
|
||
from a
|
||
great feeling of comfort I do not find elsewhere. She feels right.
|
||
I have a
|
||
great deal of difficulty accepting known rapists (most of the
|
||
Olympian males
|
||
are this, especially Zeus, Hades, and Pan!) into my personal
|
||
pantheon. I also
|
||
feel a personal vocation from the Mother; it is rather incongruous
|
||
to me to
|
||
embrace a male deity wholeheartedly when the Goddess comes to me
|
||
and calls me
|
||
Her daughter. This goes doubled, redoubled, in pentacles, and
|
||
vulnerable for
|
||
lovers of women.
|
||
I hope this little discussion of Dianism-in-a-Nuitshell has
|
||
proved
|
||
enlightening to you. It is not a path for everyone, but it is a
|
||
valid path
|
||
for some, and in considering it I hope that you can now ignore the
|
||
garbage
|
||
that has been put forth in the past as "data" regarding it.
|
||
|
||
Inanna Seastar
|
||
Birdsnest Coven
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
--- Gnome v1.20
|
||
* Origin: The Lizard King--Inanna Seastar's Place (1:104/45.5)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(533) Sun 11 Dec 88 10:36
|
||
By: Geoff Gilpin
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Donald Triumph (1)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:9cdf 118b548d
|
||
|
||
Donald Triumph and the Eye of Osiris
|
||
|
||
or
|
||
|
||
The Man With Nice Hair
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
It is said that all shopping malls are but aspects of the
|
||
One True Mall. This old myth gives comfort to the shopper.
|
||
Yes, they say, we shop on the material plane... but those
|
||
numerous East Townes, Parkways, Ridgeviews, and Valley Fairs are
|
||
just entry points, gates to the Other Mall that lies beyond.
|
||
|
||
The Alhazred brothers never believed this story. The owners
|
||
of Shambala Plaza, "The World's Largest Shopping Mall and
|
||
Recreation Bunker", were merchants, which is to say that they
|
||
were realists.
|
||
|
||
Still, as befitted the twin sons of a pre-OPEC rug merchant,
|
||
the Alhazred brothers never fully abandoned the old ways. They
|
||
were romantic and even superstitious in their own mercenary
|
||
fashion. The djinn of commerce could be appeased, certainly.
|
||
And, if the Promised Mall was only a metaphor, then let the
|
||
splendor of Shambala Plaza be the promise fulfilled on earth: a
|
||
mansion of many levels where an endless procession of fashion-
|
||
conscious houris come to shop for bodies of saffron and perfume,
|
||
houris who never perspire and who have unlimited credit. With
|
||
Allah as their venture capitalist, Shambala Plaza would become
|
||
the Mall To Be.
|
||
|
||
On a crisp day in October, Bob and Frank Alhazred toured the
|
||
aisles of their kingdom in a sedan chair borne by artificial
|
||
eunuchs. They paused to admire the intricate mosaic patterns on
|
||
the chute of the giant water slide. Largesse poured from the
|
||
automated teller machines. Justice reigned.
|
||
|
||
One by one, the shopkeepers of Shambala, who had travelled
|
||
from many lands to pitch their storefronts in the oasis of
|
||
dreams, came out to make obeisance to their passing landlords.
|
||
The Wazir of Wal-Mart bowed low, a flame bristling around his
|
||
fez. It was said that he secretly practiced Lutheranism, but
|
||
what did that matter if he paid his rent on time?
|
||
|
||
As Bob and Frank left the crowds and headed for the harem in
|
||
the third sub-cellar under the racquetball courts, Frank (or Bob)
|
||
cast an uneasy glance at the entrance to the newest anchor, the
|
||
Department Store of Forbidden Things, and wondered if it had been
|
||
wise to let space to the smooth American with the unpleasant
|
||
smile.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Fox Valley Technical College, Appleton, WI (414)
|
||
735-2513 (Opus 1:139/640)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(534) Sun 11 Dec 88 10:39
|
||
By: Geoff Gilpin
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Donald Triumph (2)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:9cdf 118b54e7
|
||
|
||
* * *
|
||
|
||
The world knew that Donald Triumph had two passions in life:
|
||
making love to his splendid wife Margo and naming things after
|
||
himself. His autobiography, The Triumphs of Triumph, hints at
|
||
nothing deeper than a taste for middle-period Barry Manilow
|
||
records. It does not speak of the master plan to replace all
|
||
heads of state with clones of Margo; of the scheme to route all
|
||
international electronic funds transfer through the behemoth
|
||
computer, the Donald 2000; of the Department Store of Forbidden
|
||
Things; or of Triumph's final exaltation, through a very
|
||
expensive process of akashic fluoridation, into an Avatar of
|
||
Godhead.
|
||
|
||
In their sumptuous boudoir in the penthouse of Donald Tower,
|
||
Margo gazed at her Avatar through adoring, Spaniel-like eyes. He
|
||
was so handsome, so profound, so mystical, so rich, so... so
|
||
Triumphant!
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Fox Valley Technical College, Appleton, WI (414)
|
||
735-2513 (Opus 1:139/640)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(535) Sun 11 Dec 88 10:41
|
||
By: Geoff Gilpin
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Donald Triumph (3)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:9cdf 118b5525
|
||
|
||
* * *
|
||
|
||
"Would whoever left a camel in the men's room at Burger King
|
||
please come to the hospitality vault?"
|
||
|
||
"Rosicrucians to the initiatory chamber! Rosicrucians to
|
||
the initiatory chamber!"
|
||
|
||
"Attention Forbidden shoppers, we have a blue light special
|
||
on Eyes of Osiris in Sundries."
|
||
|
||
How to explain the popularity of the Eye of Osiris? It was
|
||
bigger than Rubik's Cube, bigger than TM, bigger than Elton John.
|
||
The Eye had two obvious attractions for teenage consumers: it was
|
||
cheap and it gave visions. The adolescent patrons of Shambala
|
||
Plaza made their opinions on the subject quite plain:
|
||
|
||
"So this really gross guy asks me out and I'm going like 'No
|
||
way!' but then I saw this really awesome Eye on his dashboard and
|
||
he saw me looking at it and he goes 'Wanna look at my Eye?" and
|
||
I'm like, 'Okay', so we drove out to the parking lot behind
|
||
Wendy's and looked at his Eye all night."
|
||
|
||
Parents hated the Eye. A grassroots organization called
|
||
Mothers Against Mysticism ("Teach your kids to say 'Yes,
|
||
M.A.M.'") tried to have the Eye banned, claiming that the visions
|
||
it offered were of a suggestive nature. This attempt failed,
|
||
although they did manage to force the 7-11 chain stores in
|
||
several Southern states to distribute the Eye with the following
|
||
sticker:
|
||
|
||
WARNING: The hallucinations produced
|
||
by this product may not be in
|
||
accordance with community standards.
|
||
Parents may wish to substitute other,
|
||
more wholesome hallucinations.
|
||
|
||
Owners and managers were delighted with the increase in sales,
|
||
and began placing warning stickers on snack foods and magazines.
|
||
|
||
Profits in the rest of Shambala Plaza were down. Tourists
|
||
ignored the underwater mosque and the giant water slide. They
|
||
came in greater and greater numbers, only to stay in their hotel
|
||
rooms, locked in with the trinkets they purchased at the
|
||
Department Store of Forbidden Things. The shopkeepers spoke of a
|
||
jihad. There was confusion and despair among the aisles of
|
||
Shambala.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Fox Valley Technical College, Appleton, WI (414)
|
||
735-2513 (Opus 1:139/640)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(536) Sun 11 Dec 88 10:43
|
||
By: Geoff Gilpin
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Donald Triumph (4)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:9cdf 118b557c
|
||
|
||
* * *
|
||
|
||
Dreams had been of little concern to fourteen year-old Sammy
|
||
Van Wonk. As a young child, he had had his share of running in
|
||
place while perused by Hollywood movie monsters. But his
|
||
adolescent dreams were mostly pleasant, wish-fulfilling material.
|
||
He would make a dozen touchdowns, drive a Trans-Am, or beat up
|
||
his ten year-old brother "Nerd Face".
|
||
|
||
Now, though, when Sammy got under the blankets and closed
|
||
his eyes, he prayed that he would be spared another visit from
|
||
The Man With Nice Hair.
|
||
|
||
The horror had begun with the first dream. In it, Sammy lay
|
||
paralyzed in bed, his eyes fixed on the door that led to the
|
||
hallway, knowing with cold certainty that HE was about to open
|
||
the door and come in.
|
||
|
||
The next night, the door was open. The hallway was empty,
|
||
but Sammy knew that he was not alone in his bedroom.
|
||
|
||
The next night, the source of Sammy's fear was standing in
|
||
the corner of the room: a tall stranger in an expensive suit with
|
||
well-kept teeth and flawlessly styled hair. He was grinning.
|
||
|
||
The next night, he was standing at the foot of the bed. The
|
||
next, he was beside Sammy, leaning over and whispering something
|
||
that Sammy couldn't make out. He understood the point, though;
|
||
the stranger wanted him to look at something, something that
|
||
Sammy knew he didn't want to see.
|
||
|
||
He wanted to tell somebody about the dreams, but how could
|
||
he? His parents would just ground him and the counselor at
|
||
school would finally have a reason for keeping him back a grade.
|
||
He decided to risk telling his idol: Bud Rump, the star athlete
|
||
of the ninth grade.
|
||
|
||
He found Bud in the hall between classes, talking to a small
|
||
group of younger boys. Their big eyes and slack jaws showed that
|
||
Bud had found something especially morbid to tell them. Sammy
|
||
wandered past them nonchalantly.
|
||
|
||
"... and on the next night, the Grinning Guy is in your
|
||
room, and on the next night he's by your bed..."
|
||
|
||
It was all over school: "The Grinning Guy, The Icky Dream
|
||
Guy, The Creep Who Wants To Show You Something." Truth has many
|
||
names, even in Junior High School.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Fox Valley Technical College, Appleton, WI (414)
|
||
735-2513 (Opus 1:139/640)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(537) Sun 11 Dec 88 10:46
|
||
By: Geoff Gilpin
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Donald Triumph (5)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:9cdf 118b55c5
|
||
|
||
* * *
|
||
|
||
Bob and Frank Alhazred sat in the dimly lit, mahogany-
|
||
paneled luxury of their office, contemplating the balance sheets
|
||
in silence. Finally, Bob or Frank spoke.
|
||
|
||
"My brother, I do not trust the Donald one with his
|
||
Forbidden Department. He is the bad apple that makes the money
|
||
turn into the leavings of goats. We must cast him from our
|
||
pleasant oasis into the desolation of his sorry fate."
|
||
|
||
"But how, my brother? He has the favor of the demons of the
|
||
media."
|
||
|
||
"We have favor ourselves."
|
||
|
||
"But to invoke the Most High in such a way would be an
|
||
offense to the Prophet."
|
||
|
||
"My brother, I do not mean the Most Merciful... I mean the
|
||
other one."
|
||
|
||
"My brother, that is blasphemy!"
|
||
|
||
"My brother, that is the bottom line!"
|
||
|
||
This appeal to the realities of the market brought a long
|
||
pause. Finally, the brother who had spoken last opened a large
|
||
cabinet made of a wood darker than the mahogany gloom of their
|
||
office. He removed a small statue, an archeological curiosity of
|
||
great age. It had very long teeth and claws.
|
||
|
||
The origin of this object was obscure. However, throughout
|
||
the centuries, verbal tradition had always connected it with one
|
||
of the stranger tales of the Prophet Mohammed.
|
||
|
||
As the story goes, upon his triumphant conquest of the city
|
||
of Mecca, the Prophet went to the Mosque of the Kaaba where he
|
||
found the Black Stone surrounded by a circle of 360 pagan idols.
|
||
In his fury he raised his staff and pointed it at the nearest
|
||
statue. The idol vanished. One by one, Mohammed turned the
|
||
graven images to air.
|
||
|
||
The legend goes on to say that the Prophet spared only two
|
||
of the 360 statues: an image of the Virgin Mary and one of her
|
||
son the Christ.
|
||
|
||
For most of the Faithful, the story ends there. But for the
|
||
heirs of the Alhazred family, and for countless unfortunates
|
||
before them, the legend was extended to include a third idol
|
||
spared from the staff of Mohammed, an image of a deity so
|
||
terrible that even the Blessed Prophet himself was frightened of
|
||
it. This was the statue that now occupied the attention of the
|
||
twin owners of Shambala Plaza.
|
||
|
||
"If you will speak the words, my brother," said Bob or
|
||
Frank.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Fox Valley Technical College, Appleton, WI (414)
|
||
735-2513 (Opus 1:139/640)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(538) Sun 11 Dec 88 10:49
|
||
By: Geoff Gilpin
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Donald Triumph (6)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:9cdf 118b5629
|
||
|
||
* * *
|
||
|
||
Sammy Van Wonk needed a weapon, a weapon that would work in
|
||
dreams, a magical weapon. He remembered something he had seen at
|
||
Forbidden: the Genuine Ceremonial Dagger with the molded head of
|
||
Bela Lugosi. It was $4.98. Perfect. But that meant getting out
|
||
to Shambala Plaza, which is the only reason that he agreed to go
|
||
shopping with his mom Cookie and his brother Nerd Face.
|
||
|
||
Riding in the back seat of the family Toyota, Sammy glowered
|
||
at Nerd Face and half-consciously fumbled with the amulet that he
|
||
wore under his sweatshirt. The amulet itched. Then it got warm.
|
||
Then it spoke:
|
||
|
||
"Gaze into the Eye of Osiris!"
|
||
|
||
Funny, it had never done that before.
|
||
|
||
"What was that, Sammy?" his mother asked.
|
||
|
||
"Just my Walkman, mom."
|
||
|
||
"No it isn't mom," taunted Nerd Face. "He's got an Eye!
|
||
He's got an Eye under his shirt!"
|
||
|
||
"GAZE INTO THE EYE OF OSIRIS!"
|
||
|
||
"Mom! It's telling him to gaze into Osiris!"
|
||
|
||
Sammy gripped the chain and pulled the amulet out of his
|
||
shirt. It was glowing! He looked into it and saw dollar bills
|
||
whirling in a black wind.
|
||
|
||
"Mom! Mom! He's doing it! He's gazing into Osiris!"
|
||
|
||
His brother's voice faded in the whirlwind and the Toyota
|
||
grew dim as Sammy looked up at a huge black skyscraper crowned
|
||
with lightning. At the summit stood The Man With Nice Hair. He
|
||
seemed very pleased to see the thousands of youngsters milling
|
||
around the foot of the tower, each wearing an Eye on a necklace
|
||
or bracelet or headband. It was time for the apotheosis.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Fox Valley Technical College, Appleton, WI (414)
|
||
735-2513 (Opus 1:139/640)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(539) Sun 11 Dec 88 10:51
|
||
By: Geoff Gilpin
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Donald Triumph (7)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:9cdf 118b566c
|
||
|
||
Sammy felt the strength drain from his arms and knees. As
|
||
he fell to the pavement, with the others crumbling beside him, he
|
||
watched his life flow out of the Eye on his chest. All the
|
||
things and memories -- his collection of Batman comics, the
|
||
skinned elbow that he got from falling out of a tree, the endless
|
||
hours of color television, the face of his teacher demanding to
|
||
see his homework -- gushed out of the Eye and spiraled up into
|
||
the air towards the man on the tower, who seemed to grow larger
|
||
and larger.
|
||
|
||
"Ha ha HA!" thundered the Man With Nice Hair.
|
||
|
||
Then... something else: voices chanting in a funny accent.
|
||
|
||
Sammy looked up, beyond the tower, into the blue that
|
||
deepened into dark violet. The stars came out, remote and aloof,
|
||
twinkling into being one by one as they had always done. But
|
||
something was different this time; the stars were moving. Sammy
|
||
watched, his eyes frozen in place, as the stars shifted and
|
||
regrouped, coming together like billiard balls in a film played
|
||
backwards. The stars coalesced into a sky-spanning, gibbering,
|
||
demonic grin.
|
||
|
||
Then... something more: a woman in a long black dress,
|
||
standing on a balcony near the top of the building, waving her
|
||
arms and yelling something at the man at the summit.
|
||
|
||
"Loook behiiiind youuuu!"
|
||
|
||
"Huh?" said the man, pausing at the threshold of divinity.
|
||
He turned around to see the maw of stars close on him. His brief
|
||
scream was cut short.
|
||
|
||
Lightning hit the skyscraper. The upper floors exploded.
|
||
The woman in the black dress blew into the night and tumbled
|
||
howling to earth, followed closely by the charred body of the man
|
||
who would never be a god.
|
||
|
||
Then:
|
||
|
||
"BRRRRAAAAAPPP!"
|
||
|
||
Across countless dimensions, an archetype of primordial evil
|
||
belched.
|
||
|
||
Sammy opened his eyes in the Toyota. Nerd Face was shaking
|
||
him and his mom was yelling.
|
||
|
||
"Samuel Van Wonk! If your father ever finds out that you
|
||
were gazing into Osiris... "
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Fox Valley Technical College, Appleton, WI (414)
|
||
735-2513 (Opus 1:139/640)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(540) Sun 11 Dec 88 10:52
|
||
By: Geoff Gilpin
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Donald Triumph (8 of 8)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:9cdf 118b5698
|
||
|
||
* * *
|
||
|
||
The Brothers Alhazred were pleased with their work. After
|
||
sealing the doors of their former anchor with steel bolts and an
|
||
odd star, they retired to their office to enjoy a special reward.
|
||
True, alcohol was forbidden by the Prophet, but this was a day
|
||
among days, and, after such achievement, Mohammed himself would
|
||
hesitate to deny Bob his Gallo Chablis and Frank his Harvey
|
||
Wallbanger.
|
||
|
||
They toasted the demise of Donald Triumph. They toasted
|
||
their tenants, a servile lot once more. They toasted the
|
||
computer printout that showed the cash flow rising to Heaven.
|
||
They toasted the American state of Minnesota, which would soon be
|
||
covered by their newest mall. After the third drink, they
|
||
invented "The Great Alhazred Plan for the Transformation of
|
||
Nature" and toasted it with a fourth. They toasted the ancient
|
||
idol, which seemed to wear an unusually contented expression.
|
||
|
||
Perhaps it was Kismet, or perhaps it was their differing
|
||
tastes in the forbidden liquor. In any case, in their last
|
||
moments of existence, Bob and Frank Alhazred attained
|
||
Individuation.
|
||
|
||
"My brother," said Bob, "was your face always so... so
|
||
luminous?"
|
||
|
||
"My brother, my face is the same as my face has always been,
|
||
but surely your teeth were never so... so long and pointed."
|
||
|
||
Bob spilled his wine as he watched his brother transform
|
||
into the Angel of the Lord. Frank put down his Harvey Wallbanger
|
||
and raised his arms to protect himself from Bob, who was now the
|
||
grinning mouth of stars that had devoured a would-be Avatar.
|
||
They flew at each other's throats.
|
||
|
||
The brothers fell to the floor, wrestling and pummeling each
|
||
other with their fists. First Bob was on top, then Frank, then
|
||
Bob again...
|
||
|
||
They fought for the rest of the day and on into the evening
|
||
and the next morning. They battled long after the electricity
|
||
went out, long after the shopkeepers folded their storefronts to
|
||
depart for foreign lands. It is said they battle there still,
|
||
far beneath the ground in a darkened office, way below the daylit
|
||
world where busy shoppers pause to whisper of the ruins at the
|
||
edge of town, of the silent, decaying halls that had been the
|
||
splendor of Shambala Plaza and the glory of the Department Store
|
||
of Forbidden Things.
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: Fox Valley Technical College, Appleton, WI (414)
|
||
735-2513 (Opus 1:139/640)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(541) Fri 9 Dec 88 0:02
|
||
By: Inanna Seastar Of 282/341
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Dianism (3 of 3)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:0 23a62215
|
||
Now that I have spilled a good deal of ink over what Dianism is
|
||
not, I
|
||
should now say a few words about what it is: a movement of
|
||
feminist,
|
||
eclectic, Goddess-oriented Witches.
|
||
Feminism: This covers a vast multitude of virtues and sins. I
|
||
do not
|
||
think the stereotypical radical lesbian separatist is as common as
|
||
is
|
||
believed. Moderate to liberal feminism is probably far more
|
||
common, even
|
||
among Dianics. Certainly my own coven contains no separatists!
|
||
There are too
|
||
many nice men out there, even though surveys have shown that 70% or
|
||
more of
|
||
all men are potential rapists. The nice ones are found among those
|
||
who are
|
||
not in that repulsive majority; you just have to look to find them.
|
||
One of
|
||
the places you might find such nice men is in Dianic covens! Some
|
||
are mixed
|
||
groups, at least some of those of the branch founded by Morgan
|
||
McFarland. My
|
||
own is something of a mixed up group, I suppose. While we do not
|
||
currently
|
||
have any men in the coven, two of the three of us were born male
|
||
and still
|
||
have original-equipment plumbing. The Goddess and our HPS accept
|
||
us unreservedly as women.
|
||
Eclecticism: If there is one dictum of Z Budapest's that bears
|
||
repeating
|
||
to everyone in the Craft, and which gets followed by many, it is
|
||
"When in
|
||
doubt, invent." Dianics tend toward creative ritual, drawing from
|
||
any and all
|
||
possible sources. I have yet to see a Dianic equivalent of the
|
||
Gardnerian
|
||
Book of Shadows, nor do I ever hope to see one.
|
||
Goddess Orientation: I've discussed this at some length while
|
||
talking
|
||
about polarity. There are some wags who have said that Dianics are
|
||
nothing
|
||
but matriarchal monotheists. I tell you three times: The Dianic
|
||
Goddess is
|
||
NOT Jehovah in drag! The Dianic Goddess is NOT Jehovah in drag!
|
||
The Dianic
|
||
Goddess is NOT Jehovah in drag! A much closer analogy would be
|
||
that Dianics
|
||
have taken the Classical pantheon and reclaimed most of the roles.
|
||
This,
|
||
too, is oversimplifying, but it is not nearly as wide of the mark
|
||
as the usual
|
||
criticism. At some point I may write up a long exegesis on the
|
||
Dianic
|
||
Goddess, but not here. My own personal involvement with Her comes
|
||
from a
|
||
great feeling of comfort I do not find elsewhere. She feels right.
|
||
I have a
|
||
great deal of difficulty accepting known rapists (most of the
|
||
Olympian males
|
||
are this, especially Zeus, Hades, and Pan
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: The Diplomat: Marooned in Realtime (1:124/109)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(542) Tue 13 Dec 88 0:05
|
||
By: The Magician
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: thanks
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:434a 118d00a5
|
||
A while back I requested input of a nature , that would by its very
|
||
nature cause the person or persons to expose them selves to scrutiny
|
||
of the public in general. Needless to say the response was very
|
||
encouraging
|
||
and the police department has made their selection. In the Pitsburg
|
||
area at this time we have two of the craft working to enlighten the
|
||
police on matters dealing with the white and black arts, also
|
||
providing
|
||
information to the authorities on matters of the occult.
|
||
The information being rendered is positive and supporting of
|
||
those in the craft, the fact that the wiccans providing the
|
||
information
|
||
are prominent in the community is very encouraging.
|
||
I thank all of you for your response and mat the lady bless
|
||
you for your responses. I thank you for your civic responsibility,
|
||
and your generosity. *************** THE MAGICIAN ************
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Who says OPUS can't Fly? (Opus 1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(543) Thu 22 Dec 88 21:59
|
||
By: Jack Ofshadows
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Ghosts (1 of 2)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:d9cb 1196af67
|
||
|
||
Ghosts are imprints,on the enviroment
|
||
or objects,that have an effect on the
|
||
nervous system of people near
|
||
them.Each person percieves the same
|
||
"ghost" differently.Some people SEE
|
||
them,Some people FEEL them, and some
|
||
people Hear sounds,and others are not
|
||
aware that a ghost is present but feel
|
||
a general emotional uneasyness.
|
||
Ghosts may be associated with a dead
|
||
body or strong emotional scene in a
|
||
certain place,but they are not
|
||
conscious,and have nothing to do with
|
||
the afterlife,or souls of the
|
||
departed.
|
||
Another kind of ghost is,what
|
||
magicians call,an astral body.These
|
||
are a rarified aspect of the human
|
||
body,a sort of etheric sheath
|
||
sourounding the body,there is
|
||
literaly tons of information about
|
||
these things,the best sources of
|
||
information about astral bodies are
|
||
on the
|
||
Theosophical movement.They say many
|
||
attributes, but mix it up with a lot
|
||
of neocristian superstition,if you can
|
||
get through the crap.What is
|
||
important,for this msg,is that people
|
||
unconsciously project their astral
|
||
bodies while sleeping,and trained
|
||
magicians can project theirs at
|
||
will.If you walk through the astral
|
||
body of another person,you may feel a
|
||
tingle in your extremities,and get a
|
||
mild electric shocK.Astrals of
|
||
sleeping people are not aware of
|
||
you,but the astrals of projecting
|
||
magicians ARE aware of you,and can
|
||
carry on conversations if you can
|
||
percieve them clearly.
|
||
In addition,a trained magician can
|
||
form his asral to look like anything
|
||
he wants it to,and can decrease its
|
||
browning motion frequency so that
|
||
ANYONE can see it-great for scaring
|
||
the s**t out of someone.
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(544) Thu 22 Dec 88 22:03
|
||
By: Jack Ofshadows
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Ghosts (2 of 2)
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:d9cb 1196b06f
|
||
|
||
Ghosts have two universal aspects.All
|
||
types produce an electric kind of
|
||
feeling in the body of the
|
||
person(living) near them.I have a
|
||
theory that they are composed of
|
||
elecro magnetic energy. Just before
|
||
they become perceptable,if you listen
|
||
for it,they are preceeded by a high
|
||
pitched audio tone which magicians
|
||
call the Astral Bell.
|
||
Because of my years of carefull
|
||
training,and my years of experience,I
|
||
am senitive to the energy of All
|
||
psychicly charged objects,and can
|
||
easily percieve astral bodies.
|
||
So it is easy for me to find the object
|
||
that the energy is attached to.The
|
||
"charge is disapated by heating the
|
||
object,or consuming it by fire,or
|
||
dropping it into a running stream,or
|
||
by a technique that I use.The latter
|
||
technique is VERY exausting,so I use
|
||
it as a last resort.
|
||
I can set up a shield perimeter to keep
|
||
out astral bodies,and when
|
||
neccessary,do damage to them.I try
|
||
not to have to do this last thing,as
|
||
it is VERY hazzardous to piss off a
|
||
magician of this sort,they may not be
|
||
able to do anything to me,but in the
|
||
past this kind of person has terrified
|
||
the people closest to me.
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: ThelemaNet - Hail Eris! * (415) 548-0163 (Opus 1:161/93)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(545) Fri 6 Jan 89 10:05
|
||
By: Sean Mccullough
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Preamble of the IWW
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:6e52 122650af
|
||
Dear People,
|
||
|
||
Due to certain requests,I am posting the Preamble of the
|
||
Industrial
|
||
Workers of the World. (IWW)
|
||
|
||
|
||
The working class and the employing class have nothing in
|
||
common!!
|
||
There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among
|
||
millions of working people and the few,who make up the employing
|
||
class,have all the good things of life.
|
||
|
||
Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the
|
||
workers
|
||
of the world organize as a class,take posession of the earth and
|
||
the machinery of production,and abolish the wage system.
|
||
|
||
We find that the centering of the management of industries into
|
||
fewer and fewer hands makes the TRADE UNIONS unable to cope with
|
||
the ever growing power of the employing class. The TRADE UNIONS
|
||
foster a state of affairs which allows one set of workers to be
|
||
pitted aganst another set of workers in the same industry,thereby
|
||
helping defeat each other in wage wars. Moreover,the TRADE UNIONS
|
||
aid the employing class to mislead the workers into the belief that
|
||
the working class have interests in common with their employers.
|
||
|
||
These conditions can be changed and the interest of the working
|
||
class upheld only by an organization formed in such a way that all
|
||
its members in any one industry,or in all industries if necessary,
|
||
cease work whenever a strike or lockout is on in any department
|
||
thereof, thus making....................
|
||
|
||
AN INJURY TO ONE AN INJURY TO ALL.
|
||
|
||
Instead of the conservative motto, "A fair day's wage for a
|
||
fair day's work", we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary
|
||
watchword:
|
||
|
||
"ABOLITION OF THE WAGE SYSTEM!!"
|
||
|
||
It is the historical mission of the working class to do away
|
||
with
|
||
capitalism.
|
||
|
||
The army of production must be organized,not only for the
|
||
every-day
|
||
struggle with capitalists,but also to carry on production when
|
||
capitalism shall have been overthrown. By organizing industrially
|
||
we are forming the structure of the new society within the shell of
|
||
the old.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---Taken from the May 1986 issue of _Industrial_Worker_, the
|
||
official
|
||
organ of the IWW. 3435 N.Sheffield Suite 202,Chicago,IL 60657.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
* Origin: SMARTNet - Who says OPUS can't Fly? (Opus 1:128/23)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(546) Mon 16 Jan 89 14:20
|
||
By: Steve Earl Of 141/222 Of 141/222
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Poem
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:5dc9 728e1230
|
||
Here is a little something I did after enjoying some gentle snow
|
||
recently. I submit it for your approval. It may be distributed
|
||
(with credits, of course).
|
||
|
||
SNOW
|
||
|
||
Goddess is beautiful dressed in white
|
||
The tiny white crystals that fall through the night
|
||
They fall so gentle, don't make a sound
|
||
As they drift to Earth and lay on the ground
|
||
|
||
Looking up, snow melts on my face
|
||
as I leave behind the hectic pace
|
||
I'm in another world, one of love
|
||
communing with the Goddess above
|
||
|
||
Drawing the power from all around me
|
||
one with Her, I truely wish to be
|
||
This is the quest for which I strive
|
||
It is my reason for being alive
|
||
|
||
Standing alone, staring at the sky
|
||
I feel a tear coming to my eye
|
||
The feeling of peace is awesome you see
|
||
I feel the Goddess surrounding me
|
||
|
||
|
||
(C) 1989 - Steve Earl
|
||
|
||
|
||
--- AIBBS v2.25
|
||
|
||
--- ConfMail V3.31
|
||
* Origin: Excelsior AIBBS - Monroe CT 203-268-1222 [300/1200/2400]
|
||
(1:141/222)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(547) Fri 17 Feb 89 23:09
|
||
By: Geoff Beneze
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: Mindwash #1
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:1044 b9201251
|
||
Title: Everyday Brainwashing Pt1 (14/18)
|
||
From: Tom Betz (ID=70)
|
||
Date: Tue Apr 07 09:02:08 1987
|
||
Dick Sutphen is a professional hypnotist who makes a good
|
||
portion of his living training other professional hypnotists...
|
||
and another good portion selling tapes of his lectures and
|
||
"subliminal learning" tapes to help people with their problems.
|
||
This file is a transcript of a taped lecture with information he
|
||
felt was important enough that he asked for it to be as widely
|
||
disseminated as possible, at NO CHARGE. I found it on Illumi-Net
|
||
in Decatur GA, and it hit me where I live, so I ask that all who
|
||
read it pass it along as widely as possible. I have broken it
|
||
up into four parts... please be sure that all four are printed,
|
||
uploaded, etc. together, so that none of the information is
|
||
lost, for it is all VITAL!
|
||
It could mean the return of free thought to this nation, or
|
||
the end of it.
|
||
THE BATTLE FOR YOUR MIND, by Dick Sutphen -- 22.2 KB Persuasion
|
||
& Brainwashing Techniques Being Used On The Public Today
|
||
--- QuickBBS v2.03
|
||
* Origin: The Mountain Oracle (1:301/9) (1:301/9)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(548) Fri 17 Feb 89 23:26
|
||
By: Geoff Beneze
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: mindwash #1
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:1044 bb401251
|
||
Title: Everyday Brainwashing Pt1 (14/18) From: Tom Betz (ID=70)
|
||
Date: Tue Apr 07 09:02:08 1987 Dick Sutphen is a
|
||
professional hypnotist who makes a good portion of his living
|
||
training other professional hypnotists... and another good portion
|
||
selling tapes of his lectures and "subliminal learning" tapes to
|
||
help people with their problems. This file is a transcript of a
|
||
taped lecture with information he felt was important enough that he
|
||
asked for it to be as widely disseminated as possible, at NO
|
||
CHARGE. I found it on Illumi-Net in Decatur GA, and it hit me where
|
||
I live, so I ask that all who read it pass it along as widely as
|
||
possible. I have broken it up into four parts... please be sure
|
||
that all four are printed, uploaded, etc. together, so that none of
|
||
the information is lost, for it is all VITAL! It could mean
|
||
the return of free thought to this nation, or the end of it.
|
||
THE BATTLE FOR YOUR MIND, by Dick Sutphen -- 22.2 KB Persuasion &
|
||
Brainwashing Techniques Being Used On The Public Today
|
||
|
||
SUMMARY OF CONTENTS
|
||
The Birth of Conversion/Brainwashing in Christian
|
||
Revivalism in 1735. The Pavlovian explanation of the three
|
||
brain phases. Born-again preachers: Step-by-Step, how they
|
||
conduct a revival and the expected physiological results. The
|
||
"voice roll" technique used by preachers, lawyers and
|
||
hypnotists. New trance-inducing churches. The 6 steps to
|
||
conversion. The decognition process. Thought-stopping
|
||
techniques. The "sell it by zealot" technique. True believers
|
||
and mass movements. Persuasion techniques: "Yes set," "Imbedded
|
||
Commands," "Shock and Confusion," and the "Interspersal
|
||
Technique." Subliminals. Vibrato and ELF waves. Inducing
|
||
trance with vibrational sound. Even professional observers will
|
||
be "possessed" at charismatic gatherings. The "only hope"
|
||
technique to attend and not be converted. Non-detectable
|
||
Neurophone programming through the skin. The medium for mass
|
||
take-over.
|
||
|
||
I'm Dick Sutphen and this tape is a studio-recorded,
|
||
expanded version of a talk I delivered at the World Congress of
|
||
Professional Hypnotists Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada.
|
||
Although the tape carries a copyright to protect it from
|
||
unlawful duplication for sale by other companies, in this case,
|
||
I invite individuals to make copies and give them to friends or
|
||
anyone in a position to communicate this information.
|
||
Although I've been interviewed about the subject on many
|
||
local and regional radio and TV talk shows, large-scale mass
|
||
communication appears to be blocked, since it could result in
|
||
suspicion or investigation of the very media presenting it or
|
||
the sponsors that support the media. Some government agencies
|
||
do not want this information generally known. Nor do the
|
||
Born-Again Christian movement, cults, and many human-potential
|
||
trainings.
|
||
Everything I will relate only exposes the surface of the
|
||
problem. I don't know how the misuse of these techniques can be
|
||
stopped. I don't think it is possible to legislate against that
|
||
which often cannot be detected; and if those who legislate are
|
||
using these techniques, there is little hope of affecting laws
|
||
to govern usage. I do know that the first step to initiate
|
||
change is to generate interest. In this case, that will
|
||
probably only result from an underground effort.
|
||
In talking about this subject, I am talking about my own
|
||
business. I know it, and I know how effective it can be. I
|
||
produce hypnosis and subliminal tapes and, in some of my
|
||
seminars, I use conversion tactics to assist participants to
|
||
--- QuickBBS v2.03
|
||
* Origin: The Mountain Oracle (1:301/9) (1:301/9)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(549) Fri 17 Feb 89 23:27
|
||
By: Geoff Beneze
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: mindwash #2
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:1044 bb601251
|
||
become independent and self-sufficient. But, anytime I use these
|
||
techniques, I point out that I am using them, and those attending
|
||
have a choice to participate or not. They also know what the
|
||
desired result of participation will be. So, to begin, I
|
||
want to state the most basic of all facts about brainwashing: IN
|
||
THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF MAN, NO ONE HAS EVER BEEN BRAINWASHED AND
|
||
REALIZED, OR BELIEVED, THAT HE HAD BEEN BRAINWASHED. Those who have
|
||
been brainwashed will usually passionately defend their
|
||
manipulators, claiming they have simply been "shown the light" . .
|
||
. or have been transformed in miraculous ways. THE
|
||
BIRTH OF CONVERSION CONVERSION is a "nice" word for
|
||
BRAINWASHING . . . and any study of brainwashing has to begin with
|
||
a study of Christian revivalism in eighteenth century America.
|
||
Apparently, Jonathan Edwards accidentally discovered the techniques
|
||
during a religious crusade in 1735 in Northampton, Massachusetts.
|
||
By inducing guilt and acute apprehension and by increasing the
|
||
tension, the "sinners" attending his revival meetings would
|
||
break down and completely submit. Technically, what Edwards was
|
||
doing was creating conditions that wipe the brain slate clean so
|
||
that the mind accepts new programming. The problem was that the
|
||
new input was negative. He would tell them, "You're a sinner!
|
||
You're destined for hell!"
|
||
As a result, one person committed suicide and another
|
||
attempted suicide. And the neighbors of the suicidal converts
|
||
related that they, too, were affected so deeply that, although
|
||
they had found "eternal salvation," they were obsessed with a
|
||
diabolical temptation to end their own lives.
|
||
Once a preacher, cult leader, manipulator or authority
|
||
figure creates the brain phase to wipe the brain-slate clean,
|
||
his subjects are wide open. New input, in the form of
|
||
suggestion, can be substituted for their previous ideas.
|
||
Because Edwards didn't turn his message positive until the end
|
||
of the revival, many accepted the negative suggestions and
|
||
acted, or desired to act, upon them.
|
||
Charles J. Finney was another Christian revivalist who used
|
||
the same techniques four years later in mass religious
|
||
conversions in New York. The techniques are still being used
|
||
today by Christian revivalists, cults, human-potential
|
||
trainings, some business rallies, and the United States Armed
|
||
Services . . . to name just a few.
|
||
Let me point out here that I don't think most revivalist
|
||
preachers realize or know they are using brainwashing
|
||
techniques. Edwards simply stumbled upon a technique that
|
||
really worked, and others copied it and have continued to copy
|
||
it for over two hundred years. And the more sophisticated our
|
||
knowledge and technology become, the more effective the
|
||
conversion. I feel strongly that this is one of the major
|
||
reasons for the increasing rise in Christian fundamentalism,
|
||
especially the televised variety, while most of the orthodox
|
||
religions are declining.
|
||
|
||
THE THREE BRAIN PHASES
|
||
The Christians may have been the first to successfully
|
||
formulate brainwashing, but we have to look to Pavlov, the
|
||
Russian scientist, for a technical explanation. In the early
|
||
1900s, his work with animals opened the door to further
|
||
investigations with humans. After the revolution in Russia,
|
||
Lenin was quick to see the potential of applying Pavlov's
|
||
research to his own ends.
|
||
Three distinct and progressive states of transmarginal
|
||
inhibition were identified by Pavlov. The first is the
|
||
EQUIVALENT phase, in which the brain gives the same response to
|
||
both strong and weak stimuli. The second is the PARADOXICAL
|
||
--- QuickBBS v2.03
|
||
* Origin: The Mountain Oracle (1:301/9) (1:301/9)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(550) Fri 17 Feb 89 23:29
|
||
By: Geoff Beneze
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: mindwash #3
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:1044 bba01251
|
||
phase, in which the brain responds more actively to weak stimuli
|
||
than to strong. And the third is the ULTRA-PARADOXICAL phase, in
|
||
which conditioned responses and behavior patterns turn from
|
||
positive to negative or from negative to positive. With the
|
||
progression through each phase, the degree of conversion becomes
|
||
more effective and complete. The way to achieve conversion are many
|
||
and varied, but the usual first step in religious or political
|
||
brainwashing is to work on the emotions of an individual or group
|
||
until they reach an abnormal level of anger, fear, exitement, or
|
||
nervous tension. The progressive result of this mental
|
||
condition is to impair judgement and increase suggestibility. The
|
||
more this condition can be maintained or intensified, the more it
|
||
compounds. Once catharsis, or the first brain phase, is reached,
|
||
the complete mental takeover becomes easier. Existing mental
|
||
programming can be replaced with new patterns of thinking and
|
||
behavior. Other often-used physiological weapons to modify
|
||
normal brain functions are fasting, radical or high sugar diets,
|
||
physical discomforts, regulation of breathing, mantra chanting
|
||
in meditation, the disclosure of awesome mysteries, special
|
||
lighting and sound effects, programmed response to incense, or
|
||
intoxicating drugs.
|
||
The same results can be obtained in contemporary
|
||
psychiatric treatment by electric shock treatments and even by
|
||
purposely lowering a person's blood sugar level with insulin
|
||
injections.
|
||
Before I talk about exactly how some of the techniques are
|
||
applied, I want to point out that hypnosis and conversion
|
||
tactics are two distinctly different things--and that conversion
|
||
techniques are far more powerful. However, the two are often
|
||
mixed . . . with powerful results.
|
||
|
||
HOW REVIVALIST PREACHERS WORK
|
||
If you'd like to see a revivalist preacher at work, there
|
||
are probably several in your city. Go to the church or tent
|
||
early and sit in the rear, about three-quarters of the way back.
|
||
Most likely repetitive music will be played while the people
|
||
come in for the service. A repetitive beat, ideally ranging
|
||
from 45 to 72 beats per minute (a rhythm close to the beat of
|
||
the human heart), is very hypnotic and can generate an eyes-open
|
||
altered state of consciousness in a very high percentage of
|
||
people. And, once you are in an alpha state, you are at least
|
||
25 times as suggestible as you would be in full beta
|
||
consciousness. The music is probably the same for every
|
||
service, or incorporates the same beat, and many of the people
|
||
will go into an altered state almost immediately upon entering
|
||
the sanctuary. Subconsciously, they recall their state of mind
|
||
from previous services and respond according to the
|
||
post-hypnotic programming.
|
||
Watch the people waiting for the service to begin. Many
|
||
will exhibit external signs of trance--body relaxation and
|
||
slightly dilated eyes. Often, they begin swaying back and forth
|
||
with their hands in the air while sitting in their chairs.
|
||
Next, the assistant pastor will probably come out. He usually
|
||
speaks with a pretty good "voice roll."
|
||
|
||
VOICE ROLL TECHNIQUE
|
||
A "voice roll" is a patterned, paced style used by
|
||
hypnotists when inducing a trance. It is also used by many
|
||
lawyers, several of whom are highly trained hypnotists, when
|
||
they desire to entrench a point firmly in the minds of the
|
||
jurors. A voice roll can sound as if the speaker were talking
|
||
to the beat of a metronome or it may sound as though he were
|
||
emphasizing every word in a monotonous, patterned style. The
|
||
words will usually be delivered at the rate of 45 to 60 beats
|
||
--- QuickBBS v2.03
|
||
* Origin: The Mountain Oracle (1:301/9) (1:301/9)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(551) Fri 17 Feb 89 23:31
|
||
By: Geoff Beneze
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: mindwash #4
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:1044 bbe01251
|
||
per minute, maximizing the hypnotic effect. Now the
|
||
assistant pastor begins the "build-up" process. He induces an
|
||
altered state of consciousness and/or begins to generate the
|
||
excitement and the expectations of the audience. Next, a group of
|
||
young women in "sweet and pure" chiffon dresses might come out to
|
||
sing a song. Gospel songs are great for building excitement and
|
||
INVOLVEMENT. In the middle of the song, one of the girls might be
|
||
"smitten by the spirit" and fall down or react as if possessed by
|
||
the Holy Spirit. This very effectively increases the intensity in
|
||
the room. At this point, hypnosis and conversion tactics are being
|
||
mixed. And the result is the audience's attention span is now
|
||
totally focused upon the communication while the environment
|
||
becomes more exciting or tense. Right about this time, when
|
||
an eyes-open mass-induced alpha mental state has been achieved,
|
||
they will usually pass the collection plate or basket. In the
|
||
background, a 45-beat-per-minute voice roll from the assistant
|
||
preacher might exhort, "Give to God . . . Give to God . . . Give to
|
||
God . . ." And the audience does give. God may not get the money, but
|
||
his already wealthy representative will.
|
||
Next, the fire-and-brimstone preacher will come out. He
|
||
induces fear and increases the tension by talking about "the
|
||
devil," "going to hell," or the forthcoming Armegeddon.
|
||
In the last such rally I attended, the preacher talked
|
||
about the blood that would soon be running out of every faucet
|
||
in the land. He was also obsessed with a "bloody axe of God,"
|
||
which everyone had seen hanging above the pulpit the previous
|
||
week. I have no doubt that everyone saw it--the power of
|
||
suggestion given to hundreds of people in hypnosis assures that
|
||
at least 10 to 25 percent would see whatever he suggested they
|
||
see.
|
||
In most revivalist gatherings, "testifying" or "witnessing"
|
||
usually follows the fear-based sermon. People from the audience
|
||
come up on stage and relate their stories. "I was crippled and
|
||
now I can walk!" "I had arthritis and now it's gone!" It is a
|
||
psychological manipulation that works. After listening to
|
||
numerous case histories of miraculous healings, the average guy
|
||
in the audience with a minor problem is sure he can be healed.
|
||
The room is charged with fear, guilt, intense excitement, and
|
||
expectations.
|
||
Now those who want to be healed are frequently lined up
|
||
around the edge of the room, or they are told to come down to
|
||
the front. The preacher might touch them on the head firmly and
|
||
scream, "Be healed!" This releases the psychic energy and, for
|
||
many, catharsis results. Catharsis is a purging of repressed
|
||
emotions. Individuals might cry, fall down or even go into
|
||
spasms. And if catharsis is effected, they stand a chance of
|
||
being healed. In catharsis (one of the three brain phases
|
||
mentioned earlier), the brain-slate is temporarily wiped clean
|
||
and the new suggestion is accepted.
|
||
For some, the healing may be permanent. For many, it will
|
||
last four days to a week, which is, incidentally, how long a
|
||
hypnotic suggestion given to a somnambulistic subject will
|
||
usually last. Even if the healing doesn't last, if they come
|
||
back every week, the power of suggestion may continually
|
||
override the problem . . . or sometimes, sadly, it can mask a
|
||
physical problem which could prove to be very detrimental to the
|
||
individule in the long run.
|
||
I'm not saying that legitimate healings do not take place.
|
||
They do. Maybe the individual was ready to let go of the
|
||
negativity that caused the problem in the first place; maybe it
|
||
was the work of God. Yet I contend that it can be explained
|
||
with existing knowledge of brain/mind function.
|
||
The techniques and staging will vary from church to church.
|
||
Many use "speaking in tongues" to generate catharsis in some
|
||
--- QuickBBS v2.03
|
||
* Origin: The Mountain Oracle (1:301/9) (1:301/9)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(552) Fri 17 Feb 89 23:32
|
||
By: Geoff Beneze
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: mindwash #5
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:1044 bc001251
|
||
while the spectacle creates intense excitement in the observers.
|
||
The use of hypnotic techniques by religions is sophisticated,
|
||
and professionals are assuring that they become even more
|
||
effective. A man in Los Angeles is designing, building, and
|
||
reworking a lot of churches around the country. He tells ministers
|
||
what they need and how to use it. This man's track record indicates
|
||
that the congregation and the monetary income will double if the
|
||
minister follows his instructions. He admits that about 80 percent
|
||
of his efforts are in the sound system and lighting.
|
||
Powerful sound and the proper use of lighting are of primary
|
||
importance in inducing an altered state of consciousnes--I've been
|
||
using them for years in my own seminars. However, my participants
|
||
are fully aware of the process and what they can expect as a result
|
||
of their participation. SIX CONVERSION TECHNIQUES
|
||
Cults and humanpotential organizations are always looking
|
||
for new converts. To attain them, they must also create a
|
||
brain-phase. And they often need to do it within a short space
|
||
of time--a weekend, or maybe even a day. The following are the
|
||
six primary techniques used to generate the conversion.
|
||
The meeting or training takes place in an area where
|
||
participants are cut off from the outside world. This may be
|
||
any place: a private home, a remote or rural setting, or even a
|
||
hotel ballroom where the participants are allowed only limited
|
||
bathroom usage. In human-potential trainings, the controllers
|
||
will give a lengthy talk about the importance of "keeping
|
||
agreements" in life. The participants are told that if they
|
||
don't keep agreements, their life will never work. It's a good
|
||
idea to keep agreements, but the controllers are subverting a
|
||
positive human value for selfish purposes. The participants vow
|
||
to themselves and their trainer that they will keep their
|
||
agreements. Anyone who does not will be intimidated into
|
||
agreement or forced to leave. The next step is to agree to
|
||
complete training, thus assuring a high percentage of
|
||
conversions for the organizations. They will USUALLY have to
|
||
agree not to take drugs, smoke, and sometimes not to eat . . .
|
||
or they are given such short meal breaks that it creates
|
||
tension. The real reason for the agreements is to alter
|
||
internal chemistry, which generates anxiety and hopefully causes
|
||
at least a slight malfunction of the nervous system, which in
|
||
turn increases the conversion potential.
|
||
Before the gathering is complete, the agreements will be
|
||
used to ensure that the new converts go out and find new
|
||
participants. They are intimidated into agreeing to do so
|
||
before they leave. Since the importance of keeping agreements
|
||
is so high on their priority list, the converts will twist the
|
||
arms of everyone they know, attempting to talk them into
|
||
attending a free introductory session offered at a future date
|
||
by the organization. The new converts are zealots. In fact,
|
||
the inside term for merchandising the largest and most
|
||
successful human-potential training is, "sell it by zealot!"
|
||
At least a million people are graduates and a good
|
||
percentage have been left with a mental activation button that
|
||
assures their future loyalty and assistance if the guru figure
|
||
or organization calls. Think about the potential political
|
||
implications of hundreds of thousands of zealots programmed to
|
||
campaign for their guru.
|
||
Be wary of an organization of this type that offers
|
||
follow-up sessions after the seminar. Follow-up sessions might
|
||
be weekly meetings or inexpensive seminars given on a regular
|
||
basis which the organization will attempt to talk you into
|
||
taking--or any regularly scheduled event used to maintain
|
||
control. As the early Christian revivalists found, long-term
|
||
control is dependent upon a good follow-up system.
|
||
--- QuickBBS v2.03
|
||
* Origin: The Mountain Oracle (1:301/9) (1:301/9)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(553) Fri 17 Feb 89 23:34
|
||
By: Geoff Beneze
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: mindwash #6
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:1044 bc401251
|
||
Alright. Now, let's look at the second tip-off that
|
||
indicates conversion tactics are being used. A schedule is
|
||
maintained that causes physical and mental fatigue. This is
|
||
primarily accomplished by long hours in which the participants are
|
||
given no opportunity for relaxation or reflection. The
|
||
third tip-off: techniques used to increase the tension in the room
|
||
or environment. Number four: Uncertainty. I could spend
|
||
hours relating various techniques to increase tension and generate
|
||
uncertainty. Basically, the participants are concerned about being
|
||
"put on the spot" or encountered by the trainers, guilt feelings
|
||
are played upon, participants are tempted to verbally relate their
|
||
innermost secrets to the other participants or forced to take part
|
||
in activities that emphasize removing their masks. One of the most
|
||
successful human-potential seminars forces the participants to
|
||
stand on a stage in front of the entire audience while being
|
||
verbally attacked by the trainers. A public opinion poll, conducted
|
||
a few years ago, showed that the number one most-fearful situation
|
||
an individual could encounter is to speak to an audience. It ranked
|
||
above window washing outside the 85th
|
||
floor of an office building. So you can imagine the fear and
|
||
tension this situation generates within the participants. Many
|
||
faint, but most cope with the stress by mentally going away.
|
||
They literally go into an alpha state, which automatically makes
|
||
them many times as suggestible as they normally are. And
|
||
another loop of the downward spiral into conversion is
|
||
successfully effected.
|
||
The fifth clue that conversion tactics are being used is
|
||
the introduction of jargon--new terms that have meaning only to
|
||
the "insiders" who participate. Vicious language is also
|
||
frequently used, purposely, to make participants uncomfortable.
|
||
The final tip-off is that there is no humor in the
|
||
communications . . . at least until the participants are
|
||
converted. Then, merry-making and humor are highly desirable as
|
||
symbols of the new joy the participants have supposedly "found."
|
||
I'm not saying that good does not result from participation
|
||
in such gatherings. It can and does. But I contend it is
|
||
important for people to know what has happened and to be aware
|
||
that continual involvement may not be in their best interest.
|
||
Over the years, I've conducted professional seminars to
|
||
teach people to be hypnotists, trainers, and counselors. I've
|
||
had many of those who conduct trainings and rallies come to me
|
||
and say, "I'm here because I know that what I'm doing works, but
|
||
I don't know why." After showing them how and why, many have
|
||
gotten out of the business or have decided to approach it
|
||
differently or in a much more loving and supportive manner.
|
||
Many of these trainers have become personal friends, and it
|
||
scares us all to have experienced the power of one person with a
|
||
microphone and a room full of people. Add a little charisma and
|
||
you can count on a high percentage of conversions. The sad
|
||
truth is that a high percentage of people want to give away
|
||
their power--they are true "believers"!
|
||
Cult gatherings or human-potential trainings are an ideal
|
||
environment to observe first-hand what is technically called the
|
||
"Stockholm Syndrome." This is a situation in which those who
|
||
are intimidated, controlled, or made to suffer, begin to love,
|
||
admire, and even sometimes sexually desire their controllers or
|
||
captors.
|
||
But let me inject a word of warning here: If you think you
|
||
can attend such gatherings and not be affected, you are probably
|
||
wrong. A perfect example is the case of a woman who went to
|
||
Haiti on a Guggenheim Fellowship to study Haitian Voodoo. In
|
||
her report, she related how the music eventually induced
|
||
uncontrollable bodily movement and an altered state of
|
||
consciousness. Although she understood the process and thought
|
||
herself above it, when she began to feel herself become
|
||
--- QuickBBS v2.03
|
||
* Origin: The Mountain Oracle (1:301/9) (1:301/9)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(554) Fri 17 Feb 89 23:35
|
||
By: Geoff Beneze
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: mindwash #7
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:1044 bc601251
|
||
vulnerable to the music, she attempted to fight it and turned away.
|
||
Anger or resistance almost always assures conversion. A few moments
|
||
later she was possessed by the music and began dancing in a trance
|
||
around the Voodoo meeting house. A brain phase had been induced by
|
||
the music and excitement, and she awoke feeling reborn. The only
|
||
hope of attending such gatherings without being affected is to be a
|
||
Buddha and allow no positive or negative emotions to surface. Few
|
||
people are capable of such detachment. Before I go on,
|
||
let's go back to the six tip-offs to conversion. I want to mention
|
||
the United States Government and military boot camp. The Marine
|
||
Corps talks about breaking men down before "rebuilding" them as new
|
||
men--as marines! Well, that is exactly what they do, the same way a
|
||
cult breaks its people down and rebuilds them as happy flower
|
||
sellers on your local street corner. Every one of the six
|
||
conversion techniques are used in boot camp. Considering the needs
|
||
of the military, I'm not making a judgement as to whether that is
|
||
good or bad. IT IS A FACT that the men are effectively brainwashed.
|
||
Those who won't submit must be discharged or spend much of their time
|
||
in the brig.
|
||
|
||
DECOGNITION PROCESS
|
||
Once the initial conversion is effected, cults, armed
|
||
services, and similar groups cannot have cynicism among their
|
||
members. Members must respond to commands and do as they are
|
||
told, otherwise they are dangerous to the organizational
|
||
control. This is normally accomplished as a three-step
|
||
Decognition Process.
|
||
Step One is ALERTNESS REDUCTION: The controllers cause the
|
||
nervous system to malfunction, making it difficult to
|
||
distinguish between fantasy and reality. This can be
|
||
accomplished in several ways. POOR DIET is one; watch out for
|
||
Brownies and Koolaid. The sugar throws the nervous system off.
|
||
More subtle is the "SPIRITUAL DIET" used by many cults. They
|
||
eat only vegetables and fruits; without the grounding of grains,
|
||
nuts, seeds, dairy products, fish or meat, an individual becomes
|
||
mentally "spacey." INADEQUATE SLEEP is another primary way to
|
||
reduce alertness, especially when combined with long hours of
|
||
work or intense physical activity. Also, being bombarded with
|
||
intense and unique experiences achieves the same result.
|
||
Step Two is PROGRAMMED CONFUSION: You are mentally
|
||
assaulted while your alertness is being reduced as in Step One.
|
||
This is accomplished with a deluge of new information, lectures,
|
||
discussion groups, encounters or one-to-one processing, which
|
||
usually amounts to the controller bombarding the individual with
|
||
questions. During this phase of decognition, reality and
|
||
illusion often merge and perverted logic is likely to be
|
||
accepted.
|
||
Step Three is THOUGHT STOPPING: Techniques are used to
|
||
cause the mind to go "flat." These are
|
||
altered-state-of-consciousness techniques that initially induce
|
||
calmness by giving the mind something simple to deal with and
|
||
focusing awareness. The continued use brings on a feeling of
|
||
elation and eventually hallucination. The result is the
|
||
reduction of thought and eventually, if used long enough, the
|
||
cessation of all thought and withdrawal from everyone and
|
||
everything except that which the controllers direct. The
|
||
takeover is then complete. It is important to be aware that
|
||
when members or participants are instructed to use
|
||
"thought-stopping" techniques, they are told that they will
|
||
benefit by so doing: they will become "better soldiers" or "find
|
||
enlightenment."
|
||
There are three primary techniques used for thought
|
||
stopping. The first is MARCHING: the thump, thump, thump beat
|
||
literally generates self-hypnosis and thus great susceptibility
|
||
--- QuickBBS v2.03
|
||
* Origin: The Mountain Oracle (1:301/9) (1:301/9)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(555) Fri 17 Feb 89 23:36
|
||
By: Geoff Beneze
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: mindwash #8
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:1044 bc801251
|
||
to suggestion. The second thought stopping technique is
|
||
MEDITATION. If you spend an hour to an hour and a half a day in
|
||
meditation, after a few weeks, there is a great probability that
|
||
you will not return to full beta consciousness. You will remain in
|
||
a fixed state of alpha for as long as you continue to meditate. I'm
|
||
not saying this is bad--if you do it yourself. It may be very
|
||
beneficial. But it is a fact that you are causing your mind to go
|
||
flat. I've worked with meditators on an EEG machine and the results
|
||
are conclusive: the more you meditate, the flatter your mind
|
||
becomes until, eventually and especially if used to excess or in
|
||
combination with decognition, all thought ceases. Some spiritual
|
||
groups see this as nirvana--which is bullshit. It is simply a
|
||
predictable physiological result. And if heaven on earth is
|
||
non-thinking and non-involvement, I really question why we are
|
||
here. The third thought-stopping technique is CHANTING, and
|
||
often chanting in meditation. "Speaking in tongues" could also be
|
||
included in this category. All three stopping techniques
|
||
produce an altered state of
|
||
consciousness. This may be very good if YOU are controlling the
|
||
process, for you also control the input. I personally use at
|
||
least one self-hypnosis programming session every day and I know
|
||
how beneficial it is for me. But you need to know if you use
|
||
these techniques to the degree of remaining continually in alpha
|
||
that, although you'll be very mellow, you'll also be more
|
||
suggestible.
|
||
|
||
TRUE BELIEVERS & MASS MOVEMENTS
|
||
Before ending this section on conversion, I want to talk
|
||
about the people who are most susceptible to it and about Mass
|
||
Movements. I am convinced that at least a third of the
|
||
population is what Eric Hoffer calls "true believers." They are
|
||
joiners and followers . . . people who want to give away their
|
||
power. They look for answers, meaning, and enlightenment
|
||
outside themselves.
|
||
Hoffer, who wrote THE TRUE BELIEVER, a classic on mass
|
||
movements, says, "true believers are not intent on bolstering
|
||
and advancing a cherished self, but are those craving to be rid
|
||
of unwanted self. They are followers, not because of a desire
|
||
for self-advancement, but because it can satisfy their passion
|
||
for self-renunciation!" Hoffer also says that true believers
|
||
"are eternally incomplete and eternally insecure"!
|
||
I know this from my own experience. In my years of
|
||
communicating concepts and conducting trainings, I have run into
|
||
them again and again. All I can do is attempt to show them that
|
||
the only thing to seek is the True Self within. Their personal
|
||
answers are to be found there and there alone. I communicate
|
||
that the basics of spirituality are self-responsibility and
|
||
self-actualization. But most of the true believers just tell me
|
||
that I'm not spiritual and go looking for someone who will give
|
||
them the dogma and structure they desire.
|
||
Never underestimate the potential danger of these people.
|
||
They can easily be molded into fanatics who will gladly work and
|
||
die for their holy cause. It is a substitute for their lost
|
||
faith in themselves and offers them as a substitute for
|
||
individual hope. The Moral Majority is made up of true
|
||
believers. All cults are composed of true believers. You'll
|
||
find them in politics, churches, businesses, and social cause
|
||
groups. They are the fanatics in these organizations.
|
||
Mass Movements will usually have a charismatic leader. The
|
||
followers want to convert others to their way of living or
|
||
impose a new way of life--if necessary, by legislating laws
|
||
forcing others to their view, as evidenced by the activities of
|
||
the Moral Majority. This means enforcement by guns or
|
||
punishment, for that is the bottomline in law enforcement.
|
||
--- QuickBBS v2.03
|
||
* Origin: The Mountain Oracle (1:301/9) (1:301/9)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(556) Fri 17 Feb 89 23:38
|
||
By: Geoff Beneze
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: mindwash #9
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:1044 bcc01251
|
||
A common hatred, enemy, or devil is essential to the success
|
||
of a mass movement. The Born-Again Christians have Satan himself,
|
||
but that isn't enough--they've added the occult, the New Age
|
||
thinkers and, lately, all those who oppose their integration of
|
||
church and politics, as evidenced in their political reelection
|
||
campaigns against those who oppose their views. In revolutions, the
|
||
devil is usually the ruling power or aristocracy. Some
|
||
human-potential movements are far too clever to ask their graduates
|
||
to join anything, thus labeling themselves as a cult--but, if you
|
||
look closely, you'll find that their devil is anyone and everyone
|
||
who hasn't taken their training. There are mass movements
|
||
without devils but they seldom attain major status. The True
|
||
Believers are mentally unbalanced or insecure people, or those
|
||
without hope or friends. People don't look for allies when they
|
||
love, but they do when they hate or become obsessed with a cause.
|
||
And those who desire a new life and a new order feel the old ways
|
||
must be eliminated before the new order can be built.
|
||
PERSUASION TECHNIQUES
|
||
Persuasion isn't technically brainwashing but it is the
|
||
manipulation of the human mind by another individual, without
|
||
the manipulated party being aware what caused his opinion shift.
|
||
I only have time to very basically introduce you to a few of the
|
||
thousands of techniques in use today, but the basis of
|
||
persuasion is always to access your RIGHT BRAIN. The left half
|
||
of your brain is analytical and rational. The right side is
|
||
creative and imaginative. That is overly simplified but it
|
||
makes my point. So, the idea is to distract the left brain and
|
||
keep it busy. Ideally, the persuader generates an eyes-open
|
||
altered state of consciousness, causing you to shift from beta
|
||
awareness into alpha; this can be measured on an EEG machine.
|
||
First, let me give you an example of distracting the left
|
||
brain. Politicians use these powerful techniques all the time;
|
||
lawyers use many variations which, I've been told, they call
|
||
"tightening the noose."
|
||
Assume for a moment that you are watching a politician give
|
||
a speech. First, he might generate what is called a "YES SET."
|
||
These are statements that will cause listeners to agree; they
|
||
might even unknowingly nod their heads in agreement. Next come
|
||
the TRUISMS. These are usually facts that could be debated but,
|
||
once the politician has his audience agreeing, the odds are in
|
||
the politician's favor that the audience won't stop to think for
|
||
themselves, thus continuing to agree. Last comes the
|
||
SUGGESTION. This is what the politician wants you to do and,
|
||
since you have been agreeing all along, you could be persuaded
|
||
to accept the suggestion. Now, if you'll listen closely to my
|
||
political speech, you'll find that the first three are the "yes
|
||
set," the next three are truisms and the last is the suggestion.
|
||
"Ladies and gentlemen: are you angry about high food
|
||
prices? Are you tired of astronomical gas prices? Are you sick
|
||
of out-of-control inflation? Well, you know the Other Party
|
||
allowed 18 percent inflation last year; you know crime has
|
||
increased 50 percent nationwide in the last 12 months, and you
|
||
know your paycheck hardly covers your expenses any more. Well,
|
||
the answer to resolving these problems is to elect me, John
|
||
Jones, to the U.S. Senate."
|
||
And I think you've heard all that before. But you might
|
||
also watch for what are called Imbedded Commands. As an
|
||
example: On key words, the speaker would make a gesture with his
|
||
left hand, which research has shown is more apt to access your
|
||
right brain. Today's media-oriented politicians and
|
||
spellbinders are often carefully trained by a whole new breed of
|
||
specialist who are using every trick in the book--both old and
|
||
new--to manipulate you into accepting their candidate.
|
||
--- QuickBBS v2.03
|
||
* Origin: The Mountain Oracle (1:301/9) (1:301/9)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(557) Fri 17 Feb 89 23:39
|
||
By: Geoff Beneze
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: mindwash #10
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:1044 bce01251
|
||
The concepts and techniques of Neuro-Linguistics are so
|
||
heavily protected that I found out the hard way that to even talk
|
||
about them publicly or in print results in threatened legal action.
|
||
Yet Neuro-Linguistic training is readily available to anyone
|
||
willing to devote the time and pay the price. It is some of the
|
||
most subtle and powerful manipulation I have yet been exposed to. A
|
||
good friend who recently attended a two-week seminar on
|
||
Neuro-Linguistics found that many of those she talked to during the
|
||
breaks were government people. Another technique that I'm
|
||
just learning about is unbelievably slippery; it is called an
|
||
INTERSPERSAL TECHNIQUE and the idea is to say one thing with words
|
||
but plant a subconscious impression of something else in the minds
|
||
of the listeners and/or watchers. Let me give you an
|
||
example: Assume you are watching a television commentator make the
|
||
following statement: SENATOR JOHNSON is assisting local authorities
|
||
to clear up the stupid mistakes of companies contributing to the
|
||
nuclear waste problems." It sounds like a statement of fact, but,
|
||
if the speaker emphasizes the right word, and especially if he makes
|
||
the proper hand gestures on the key words, you could be left
|
||
with the subconscious impression that Senator Johnson is stupid.
|
||
That was the subliminal goal of the statement and the speaker
|
||
cannot be called to account for anything.
|
||
Persuasion techniques are also frequently used on a much
|
||
smaller scale with just as much effectiveness. The insurance
|
||
salesman knows his pitch is likely to be much more effective if
|
||
he can get you to visualize something in your mind. This is
|
||
right-brain communication. For instance, he might pause in his
|
||
conversation, look slowly around your livingroom and say, "Can
|
||
you just imagine this beautiful home burning to the ground?" Of
|
||
course you can! It is one of your unconscious fears and, when
|
||
he forces you to visualize it, you are more likely to be
|
||
manipulated into signing his insurance policy.
|
||
The Hare Krishnas, operating in every airport, use what I
|
||
call SHOCK AND CONFUSION techniques to distract the left brain
|
||
and communicate directly with the right brain. While waiting
|
||
for a plane, I once watched one operate for over an hour. He
|
||
had a technique of almost jumping in front of someone.
|
||
Initially, his voice was loud then dropped as he made his pitch
|
||
to take a book and contribute money to the cause. Usually, when
|
||
people are shocked, they immediately withdraw. In this case
|
||
they were shocked by the strange appearance, sudden
|
||
materialization and loud voice of the Hare Krishna devotee. In
|
||
other words, the people went into an alpha state for security
|
||
because they didn't want to confront the reality before them.
|
||
In alpha, they were highly suggestible so they responded to the
|
||
suggestion of taking the book; the moment they took the book,
|
||
they felt guilty and responded to the second suggestion: give
|
||
money. We are all conditioned that if someone gives us
|
||
something, we have to give them something in return--in that
|
||
case, it was money. While watching this hustler, I was close
|
||
enough to notice that many of the people he stopped exhibited an
|
||
outward sign of alpha--their eyes were actually dilated.
|
||
|
||
SUBLIMINAL PROGRAMMING
|
||
Subliminals are hidden suggestions that only your
|
||
subconscious perceives. They can be audio, hidden behind music,
|
||
or visual, airbrushed into a picture, flashed on a screen so
|
||
fast that you don't consciously see them, or cleverly
|
||
incorporated into a picture or design.
|
||
Most audio subliminal reprogramming tapes offer verbal
|
||
suggestions recorded at a low volume. I question the efficacy
|
||
of this technique--if subliminals are not perceptible, they
|
||
cannot be effective, and subliminals recorded below the audible
|
||
threshold are therefore useless. The oldest audio subliminal
|
||
--- QuickBBS v2.03
|
||
* Origin: The Mountain Oracle (1:301/9) (1:301/9)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(558) Fri 17 Feb 89 23:41
|
||
By: Geoff Beneze
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: mindwash #11
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:1044 bd201251
|
||
technique uses a voice that follows the volume of the music so
|
||
subliminals are impossible to detect without a parametric
|
||
equalizer. But this technique is patented and, when I wanted to
|
||
develop my own line of subliminal audiocassettes, negotiations with
|
||
the patent holder proved to be unsatisfactory. My attorney obtained
|
||
copies of the patents which I gave to some talented Hollywood sound
|
||
engineers, asking them to create a new technique. They found a way
|
||
to psycho-acoustically modify and synthesize the suggestions so
|
||
that they are projected in the same chord and frequency as the
|
||
music, thus giving them the effect of being part of the music. But
|
||
we found that in using this technique, there is no way to reduce
|
||
various frequencies to detect the subliminals. In other words,
|
||
although the suggestions are being heard by the subconscious mind,
|
||
they cannot be monitored with even the most sophisticated
|
||
equipment. If we were able to come up with this technique
|
||
as easily as we did, I can only imagine how sophisticated the
|
||
technology has become, with unlimited government or advertising
|
||
funding. And I shudder to think about the propaganda and commercial
|
||
manipulation that we are exposed to on a daily basis. There is
|
||
simply no way to know what is behind the music you hear. It may
|
||
even be possible to hide a second voice behind the voice to
|
||
which you are listening.
|
||
The series by Wilson Bryan Key, Ph.D., on subliminals in
|
||
advertising and political campaigns well documents the misuse in
|
||
many areas, especially printed advertising in newspapers,
|
||
magazines, and posters.
|
||
The big question about subliminals is: do they work? And I
|
||
guarantee you they do. Not only from the response of those who
|
||
have used my tapes, but from the results of such programs as the
|
||
subliminals behind the music in department stores. Supposedly,
|
||
the only message is instructions to not steal: one East Coast
|
||
department store chain reported a 37 percent reduction in thefts
|
||
in the first nine months of testing.
|
||
A 1984 article in the technical newsletter, "Brain-Mind
|
||
Bulletin," states that as much as 99 percent of our cognitive
|
||
activity may be "non-conscious," according to the director of
|
||
the Laboratory for Cognitive Psychophysiology at the University
|
||
of Illinois. The lengthy report ends with the statement, "these
|
||
findings support the use of subliminal approaches such as taped
|
||
suggestions for weight loss and the therapeutic use of hypnosis
|
||
and Neuro-Linguistic Programming."
|
||
|
||
MASS MISUSE
|
||
I could relate many stories that support subliminal
|
||
programming, but I'd rather use my time to make you aware of
|
||
even more subtle uses of such programming.
|
||
I have personally experienced sitting in a Los Angeles
|
||
auditorium with over ten thousand people who were gathered to
|
||
listen to a current charismatic figure. Twenty minutes after
|
||
entering the auditorium, I became aware that I was going in and
|
||
out of an altered state. Those accompanying me experienced the
|
||
same thing. Since it is our business, we were aware of what was
|
||
happening, but those around us were not. By careful
|
||
observation, what appeared to be spontaneous demonstrations
|
||
were, in fact, artful manipulations. The only way I could
|
||
figure that the eyes-open trance had been induced was that a 6-
|
||
to 7-cycle-per-second vibration was being piped into the room
|
||
behind the air conditioner sound. That particular vibration
|
||
generates alpha, which would render the audience highly
|
||
susceptible. Ten to 25 percent of the population is capable of
|
||
a somnambulistic level of altered states of consciousness; for
|
||
these people, the suggestions of the speaker, if
|
||
non-threatening, could potentially be accepted as "commands."
|
||
|
||
VIBRATO
|
||
--- QuickBBS v2.03
|
||
* Origin: The Mountain Oracle (1:301/9) (1:301/9)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
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(559) Fri 17 Feb 89 23:42
|
||
By: Geoff Beneze
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: mindwash #12
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:1044 bd401251
|
||
This leads to the mention of VIBRATO. Vibrato is the
|
||
tremulous effect imparted in some vocal or instrumental music, and
|
||
the cyle-per-second range causes people to go into an altered state
|
||
of consciousness. At one period of English history, singers whose
|
||
voices contained pronounced vibrato were not allowed to perform
|
||
publicly because listeners would go into an altered state and have
|
||
fantasies, often sexual in nature. People who attend opera
|
||
or enjoy listening to singers like Mario Lanza are familiar with
|
||
this altered state induced by the performers. ELFs
|
||
Now, let's carry this awareness a little farther. There are
|
||
also inaudible ELFs (extra-low frequency waves). These are
|
||
electromagnetic in nature. One of the primary uses of ELFs is to
|
||
communicate with our submarines. Dr. Andrija Puharich, a highly
|
||
respected researcher, in an attempt to warn U.S. officials about
|
||
Russian use of ELFs, set up an experiment. Volunteers were wired so
|
||
their brain waves could be measured on an EEG. They were sealed in
|
||
a metal room that could not be
|
||
penetrated by a normal signal.
|
||
Puharich then beamed ELF waves at the volunteers. ELFs go
|
||
right through the earth and, of course, right through metal
|
||
walls. Those inside couldn't know if the signal was or was not
|
||
being sent. And Puharich watched the reactions on the technical
|
||
equipment: 30 percent of those inside the room were taken over
|
||
by the ELF signal in six to ten seconds.
|
||
When I say "taken over," I mean that their behavior
|
||
followed the changes anticipated at very precise frequencies.
|
||
Waves below 6 cycles per second caused the subjects to become
|
||
very emotionally upset, and even disrupted bodily functions. At
|
||
8.2 cycles, they felt very high . . . an elevated feeling, as
|
||
though they had been in masterful meditation, learned over a
|
||
period of years. Eleven to 11.3 cycles induced waves of
|
||
depressed agitation leading to riotous behavior.
|
||
|
||
THE NEUROPHONE
|
||
Dr. Patrick Flanagan is a personal friend of mine. In the
|
||
early 1960s, as a teenager, Pat was listed as one of the top
|
||
scientists in the world by "Life" magazine. Among his many
|
||
inventions was a device he called the Neurophone--an electronic
|
||
instrument that can successfully programm suggestions directly
|
||
through contact with the skin. When he attempted to patent the
|
||
device, the government demanded that he prove it worked. When
|
||
he did, the National Security Agency confiscated the neurophone.
|
||
It took Pat two years of legal battle to get his invention back.
|
||
In using the device, you don't hear or see a thing; it is
|
||
applied to the skin, which Pat claims is the source of special
|
||
senses. The skin contains more sensors for heat, touch, pain,
|
||
vibration, and electrical fields than any other part of the
|
||
human anatomy.
|
||
In one of his recent tests, Pat conducted two identical
|
||
seminars for a military audience--one seminar one night and one
|
||
the next night, because the size of the room was not large
|
||
enough to accommodate all of them at one time. When the first
|
||
group proved to be very cool and unwilling to respond, Patrick
|
||
spent the next day making a special tape to play at the second
|
||
seminar. The tape instructed the audience to be extremely warm
|
||
and responsive and for their hands to become "tingly." The tape
|
||
was played through the neurophone, which was connected to a wire
|
||
he placed along the ceiling of the room. There were no
|
||
speakers, so no sound could be heard, yet the message was
|
||
successfully transmitted from that wire directly into the brains
|
||
of the audience. They were warm and receptive, their hands
|
||
tingled and they responded, according to programming, in other
|
||
ways that I cannot mention here.
|
||
--- QuickBBS v2.03
|
||
* Origin: The Mountain Oracle (1:301/9) (1:301/9)
|
||
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
(560) Fri 17 Feb 89 23:44
|
||
By: Geoff Beneze
|
||
To: All
|
||
Re: mindwash #13
|
||
St:
|
||
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
@EID:1044 bd801251
|
||
The more we find out about how human beings work through
|
||
today's highly advanced technological research, the more we learn
|
||
to control human beings. And what probably scares me the most is
|
||
that the medium for takeover is already in place! The television
|
||
set in your livingroom and bedroom is doing a lot more than just
|
||
entertaining you. Before I continue, let me point out
|
||
something else about an altered state of consciousness. When you go
|
||
into an altered state, you transfer into right brain, which results
|
||
in the internal release of the body's own opiates: enkephalins and
|
||
Beta-endorphins, chemically almost identical to opium. In other
|
||
words, it feels good . . . and you want to come back for more.
|
||
Recent tests by researcher Herbert Krugman showed that, while
|
||
viewers were watching TV, right-brain activity outnumbered
|
||
left-brain activity by a ratio of two to one. Put more simply, the
|
||
viewers were in an altered state . . . in trance more often than
|
||
not. They were getting their Beta-endorphin "fix." To
|
||
measure attention spans, psychophysiologist Thomas Mulholland of
|
||
the Veterans Hospital in Bedford, Massachusetts, attached young
|
||
viewers to an EEG machine that was wired to shut the TV set off
|
||
whenever the children's brains produced a majority of alpha waves.
|
||
Although the children were told to concentrate, only a few could
|
||
keep the set on for more than 30 seconds! Most viewers are
|
||
already hypnotized. To deepen the trance is easy. One simple way is
|
||
to place a blank, black frame every 32 frames in the film that is
|
||
being projected. This creates a 45-beat-per-minute pulsation
|
||
perceived only by the subconscious mind--the ideal pace to generate
|
||
deep hypnosis. The commercials or suggestions presented
|
||
following this alpha-inducing broadcast are much more likely to be
|
||
accepted by the viewer. The high percentage of the viewing audience
|
||
that has somnambulistic-depth ability could very well accept the
|
||
suggestions as commands--as long as those commands did not ask the
|
||
viewer to do something contrary to his morals, religion, or
|
||
self-preservation. The medium for takeover is here. By the
|
||
age of 16, children have spent 10,000 to 15,000 hours watching
|
||
television--that is more time than they spend in school! In the
|
||
average home, the TV set is on for six hours and 44 minutes per
|
||
day--an increase of nine minutes from last year and three times the
|
||
average rate of increase during the 1970s. It obviously
|
||
isn't getting better . . . we are rapidly moving into an
|
||
alpha-level world--very possibly the Orwellian world of
|
||
"1984"--placid, glassy-eyed, and responding obediently to
|
||
instructions. A research project by Jacob Jacoby, a Purdue
|
||
University psychologist, found that of 2,700 people tested, 90
|
||
percent misunderstood even such simple viewing fare as commercials
|
||
and "Barnaby Jones." Only minutes after watching, the typical
|
||
viewer missed 23 to 36 percent of the questions about what he or
|
||
she had seen. Of course they did--they were going in and out of
|
||
trance! If you go into a deep trance, you must be instructed to
|
||
remember--otherwise you automatically forget.
|
||
I have just touched the tip of the iceberg. When you start
|
||
to combine subliminal messages behind the music, subliminal
|
||
visuals projected on the screen, hypnotically produced visual
|
||
effects, sustained musical beats at a trance-inducing pace . . .
|
||
you have extremely effective brainwashing. Every hour that you
|
||
spend watching the TV set you become more conditioned. And, in
|
||
case you thought there was a law against any of these things,
|
||
guess again. There isn't! There are a lot of powerful people
|
||
who obviously prefer things exactly the way they are. Maybe
|
||
they have plans for?
|
||
<<End of Article>>
|
||
--- QuickBBS v2.03
|
||
* Origin: The Mountain Oracle (1:301/9) (1:301/9)
|