This week’s Ecosophian offering is the monthly open post to field questions and encourage discussion among my readers. All the standard rules apply (no profanity, no sales pitches, no trolling, no rudeness, no paid propagandizing, no long screeds proclaiming the infallible truth of fill in the blank, no endless rehashes of questions I’ve already answered) but since there’s no topic, nothing is off topic — with two exceptions.
First, there’s a dedicated (more or less) open post on my Dreamwidth journal on the ongoing virus panic and related issues, so anything Covid-themed should go there instead.
Second, I’ve had various people try to launch discussions about AIs — that is to say, large language models (LLMs) and the utilities they power — on this and my other forums. The initial statements and their followup comments always end up reading as though they were written by LLMs — that is, long strings of words superficially resembling meaningful sentences but not actually communicating anything. That’s neither useful nor entertaining. Thus I’ve decided to ban further discussion of this latest wet dream of the lumpen-internetariat here.
With that said, have at it!
Peculiar query: does the word ‘hydroposopias’ have meaning in astrological practice?
Blow back from weather magic.
For my Grey School of Wizardry thesis, I am devising a weather oracle. I have been reading up on weather and weather magic. Most of which discuss the seriousness of weather magic.
Recently, I heard of a Magic Resistance working that promoted blizzards for Trump’s Swearing In, etc. We got an ice storm and sub-freezing temperatures. His Swearing In went indoors. So I think the working did work to some extent.
However, the news today speaks of a blizzard in New Orleans, snow in Miami and other places South. Is this their working gone awry? Regular weather magic that has repercussions? Or the raspberry jam principle? Or is there other blow back to be expected?
Recently I’ve been reading the works of Byung-Chul Han, a contemporary Korean-born German philosopher that I have found insightful. He covers an extremely wide range of topics, but his most well known work is called The Burnout Society, where he outlines how we have shifted from a Disciplinary Society where people “should” towards an Achievement Society where people “can” and that this shift in turn shifted exploitation internally. For example people feel that they fall short and it is there fault alone, that they are able to do anything and fall short, and that they are always trying to exceed themselves resulting in burnout and depression. A Disciplinary society is characterized by factories, schools, prisons, hospitals, etc and an Achievement society by officer towers, gyms, coworking places, self-help, etc. A disciplinary society creates madmen and criminals whereas an achievement society creates depressives and losers.
In his works, he discusses how in the past there was a Moral society too, where people bore suffering and felt gratification perceived as God through difficult situations, then that shifted to gratification through a sense of duty, and now through our digital technologies we have a self-referential approach that makes gratification difficult for people to experience resulting in the rise in neuroses.
If you feel this is sound, I am wondering what your thoughts are on these kind of paradigm shifts in how gratification appears for people? Or if there are other relations which come to mind for what people unconsciously strive towards?
Personally, I see this everywhere, including my self upon reflection where there is a pressure to make better use of time, to always be doing something, to always be progressing and moving forward to who knows where which resulted in an absence of lingering and contemplation in favour of multitasking and hyperactive overconsumption. I mind my mind obese and in turn became a hyperpassive conduit for digital trash.
Thankfully, through influences such as yourself I’ve been able to step out of this circular process.
Hi everybody,
I’ve got three offers today:
1. For everybody who is interested in the Modern Order of Essenes, I’m going to offer a free online course leading all the way up to the Apprentice attunement, and potentially further. We’ll start in February, and you can find all the details here:
https://thehiddenthings.com/modern-order-of-essenes-online-course
This course is suitable for beginners, but also for people who already started with the MOE before and then stopped for some reason, or for practitioners who’d like to repeat certain things. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have here or over on my site. 🙂
2. For those of you who aren’t even sure what the Modern Order of Essenes is 😉 the short answer is: “A system of spiritual healing”. Since this short answre is rather non-descriptive, I’ve written a longer answer which goes a bit more into details:
https://thehiddenthings.com/what-is-the-modern-order-of-essenes
3. And finally, for everybody: I perform a formal blessing each Wednesday in which I bless all the pepole who signed up for it. The signup for the then-current week can always be found here:
https://thehiddenthings.com/categories/weekly-blessings
Since these blessings are great practice for me, I’m very grateful to everybody who signs up, now or in the future.
….
JMG, thanks a lot for hosting the Open Post again. I’m looking forward to this month’s discussion topics. If I had to wager a guess, I’d say certain recent political events might show up in the comments… 😀
Milkyway
JMG and commentariat,
Thank you for all your influence on my thinking and beliefs.
This past November, I presented at Kopernik Observatory, a local astronomy observatory. The title of the talk was “Astronomy, Mythology and the Keeping of Time” alternatively, “The Seven Gods of the Sky.” I tell two Norse stories, about Loki’s children and the theft of Thor’s hammer, and weave those together with astronomical ideas and our ways of telling time. JMG and this community has helped me refine this talk over time, giving me good ideas to explore. If this sounds interesting, you can check it out at…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANVMnlzu3l0&t=633s
Where to start?
These are behind a paywall, but Brett and Kate McKay of Art of Manliness have started a new substack, which I recommend to people here, who are willing to pay these writers. The substack is called Dying Breed and two articles so far are excellent. People who were already fans of AoM (and I know some are here) will find much to enjoy.
The first is What Nietzsche’s Typewriter Brain Can Tell Us About Twitter Brain
https://www.dyingbreed.net/p/what-nietzsches-typewriter-brain
Very McLuhanesque… in my book, that’s usually a good thing.
The second is: A New Kind of Monasticism
https://www.dyingbreed.net/p/a-new-kind-of-monasticism-an-introduction
This one is a bit protestant for my taste. It’s about Bonhoeffer… I know there are a lot of Christians here though and y’all may like it. I liked the article and I’m not a Christian. In fact, I may send a printed version of this through the mail to some people I know who are getting caught up in the Christian end of the second religiosity.
Still a lot to contemplate in it for those of us who are seeking out the dimensions of whatever comes next… and again it may be helpful to those who are in the second religiosity.
Hi JMG,
I was anticipating you’d announce a topic poll for the 5th Wednesday of January. Just an oversight? Thanks for all your amazing work.
Jim W
Strda221, good question; since I’m not especially knowledgeable about Hellenistic astrology and that certainly looks like a technical term in Greek, I don’t happen to know. Anyone else?
Neptunesdolphins, the atmosphere is a complex, unstable phenomenon; one of the downsides of weather magic is that it can set off cascades of unintended consequences across a hemisphere or more. The irony is that the snow and subfreezing temperatures seem to have crippled the protest marches against the inauguration — they were very poorly attended — and didn’t slow down the opening rounds of Trump’s presidency at all.
Dabilahro, that’s a fascinating idea. I’ll probably have to read Han’s book before I can offer any meaningful response to it, though — it’s potentially a very rich theme that will require careful reflection.
Milkyway, well, we’ll see!
Physics Teacher, delighted to hear it. Anything that helps people reclaim the mythic dimension of human experience is a plus.
Bofur, where to start with what?
MOLF, thanks for this.
Jim, it’s already decided — I announced it on the first post of this month, and the winning topic was the occult dimensions of Carl Jung’s thought. I normally call for votes at the beginning of the month so I have time for research.
Hello, JMG and kommentariat. What do you think about green coffee? Is it only a placebo or not? Do you like it or dislike it?(if you’ve tasted it of course)..
Some dead trees melted out of an ice patch. Those trees were growing 5500 years ago at a location 180 meters above the present day tree line.
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2412162121
It’s been a long time since this planet had a stable climate.
More on the weather working. They decided also to do a freezing spell to ensure that Trump and the others do not harm anyone. The spell included putting a piece of fruit in the freeze after asking various spirits to help. Well, we got our freezing spell.
Pondering, is that an actual spell or some sort of garbled nonsense. The other thing that is troubling is of course the spirits to do their bidding, etc. Sigh, if I had a nickel for everyone who assumes that the spirits are on their side of right and goodness…….
BTW: Trump Buddhas – I got a very nice clay one on ETSY. The other place -Amazon only has plastic ones. My husband finds them to be very peaceful and peace inducing.
Hi JMG, I posted on the last MM about the Thai dog Alba and all the prayers that were said for her. You replied that her soul would be in excellent shape. For some reason I neglected to say that, not only did she have all the prayers said for her, but when she died a local dog-loving monk gave her a Buddhist funeral ceremony. What a boost.
Dear ecosophians, here are the latest podcasts featuring our host, JMG, that you may have missed:
1) Hermitix Podcast – Collapse ’25: The Rise of Populism and the Death of the Managerial State
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEAsjc41kcg
2) Appleknocker Radio – The Astrology Of Nations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVpA2WfsPhU
3) Andrii Zvorygin – Peak Oil Chat: on Navigating Energy Descent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YANFxa-JUc8
Do keep us updated if you pursue a bit of Byung-Chul Han. I learned of him through a recent Hermitix Podcast on a book of his called The Palliative Society. His works are quite short, about 50-100 pages each but I’ve personally really enjoyed them and can say that they have had the effect of resulting in that pleasure of seeing events through a new frame of reference.
Hi John,
Any further thoughts on the Trump push to regain Greenland.
This article is fascinating about the strategic importance of Greenland this century.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/01/22/avjp-j22.html?pk_campaign=wsws-newsletter&pk_kwd=wsws-daily-newsletter
Also, I’m the quality sources I track – they have a good track record over many years – are suggesting some kind of inflationary spike is due within a few years, likely to be worse than 2022.
Discretionary spending, real estate markets and the bond markets will be hammered. Any thoughts on this?
In Europe we seem to barely getting any economic growth – Germany has contracted for 2 years now – so things are looking grim.
Relatively speaking the US is doing rather well!
Thanks
FI
Many subreddits on Reddit are currently banning links to Twitter.
In doing meditation practice a background process has been the pondering of how to relate to the divine without being too abstract at the same time as thinking that the absolute cannot be defined so any ‘form’ given to it is just a personal conception and not what it actually is, because it seems humans don’t have the capacity to frame the absolute. Bit of a Catch-22.
Anyway, this pondering has been going on for a while now but this morning something interesting occurred. Doing practice (variation on 3 Cauldrons and Wong Kiew Kit’s Art of Wisdom in place of Tree of Light) I found myself pondering that conundrum when suddenly a word popped into mind: Allfather
Now, given I am not Christian nor Heathen nor any other flavour of religion, this was a surprise and I found myself paused in the practice wondering that, intellectually it seems like the absolute is beyond any sex or category but here the question was answered.
It has left me wondering what does it mean to categorise the absolute as something. Perhaps it does not matter so long as one does not fall into error and mistake the ‘form’ for the ‘actuality’.
Had to go and look up Allfather and found this:
“Allfather is not meant to be taken literally. He’s not even the father of every divine being, for example Frigg, Loki, Njörðr, Freyr, and Freyja are just a few that immediately spring to mind whose fathers are not Óðinn. This is more a term meant to recognize him as the creator of the world.
“The other thing is that, while “allfather” is a perfectly reasonable translation of Old Norse alföðr, it’s important to keep in mind that the O.N. word for father is not föðr, it’s faðir. So it’s possible this word is not supposed to mean “allfather” at all. One guess is that föðr may be related to Old English fadian in which case a better translation might be “all-orderer” or “all-arranger”.”
Perhaps ‘Allfather’ was just my mind putting into words what cannot be put into words.
Don’t know if that is correct or not as I know next to nothing about religion, my practice has, until recently been more about practicalities rather than an actual relationship with the divine.
Inayat Khan: Heaven is for the pious whose virtues were for this end, and hell is for the wicked who themselves have kindled its fire. The Sufi says, “I am beyond both, happy in the arms of the eternal peace. Neither can the joy of heaven tempt me, nor can the fire of hell touch me, for I have embraced the bliss and have kissed the curse, and have been raised above life’s joys and sorrows.”
Not sure if I have a question – more a case of putting this out to see if anyone has any thoughts on the matter.
You describe yourself as a Burkean conservative; as such you espouse incremental change and the eschewing of idealistic ideologies. How do you square this with your support for Mr. Trump, who has promised a radical remaking of government? (And then there’s Mr. Musk, who I’d describe as a techno-libertarian ideologue.)
Etheric starvation is a term I have coined for the chronic fatigue and depletion that is the most common condition of our era. The etheric aspect of existence is also termed chi, prana, lifeforce, vibe, and mojo. I often talk about the etheric plane on my blog: https://kimberlysteele.dreamwidth.org/tag/etheric+plane
In my own case, I remedy my own etheric starvation by exposing the patch of skin under my heart to direct sunlight, eating home cooked food, bathing, and getting a massage when I can afford it. Does anyone else have remedies for etheric starvation, or even recognize it as a condition?
I remember one of your older posts on the Archdruid Report had talked about how the decline of the US empire could be separated into different stages, like the stages of grief — denial of the reality of climate change and fossil duel depletion during the Reagan years, anger at Middle Eastern countries with oil to plunder during the Bush years. I feel like Trump fits that pattern, not just being a businessman, but embodying bargaining in telling the American people that they can return to prosperity this late in the game.
With that in mind, do you think that stage is giving way to depression? Personally, I suspect so, because the general climate I’ve noticed towards the future, both in real life and online, is one of hopelessness, with conditions getting worse and nobody seeming to have any answers. (One of my friends in a history class last semester opined that it was going to be his first time voting, and he had to choose between two people he despised.) Of course, a depression in the national outlook is likely to coincide with a depression in the economic sphere as well, and it certainly seems like the US is on track for one.
Dear Physics Teacher (post #5),
I don’t know if this relates precisely to the topic that you presented your talk about, but ever since I was young I have been interested and curious about how different people conceptualize time. And by “conceptualize time”, I mean how do you, and others, visualize time in your mind when you think about the past, present and future? This is something that I have NEVER heard or read addressed by anyone, ever, and it fascinates me, partly just for the fact that nobody ever seems to discuss it.
For example, whenever I think about near-term time, in terms of days or weeks, I visualize a calendar page, with the seven-day weeks stacked on top of each other from earliest at the top to the latest at the bottom. But the few times I have ever asked anyone else how they visualize near-term time, I have gotten very different responses — one person told me that they visualized the days as a sequence on a long and continuous ribbon, another that they pictured the days as a ‘stack’ of days, one on top of the other, like those desktop calendars that one rips the page off for every day that passes. Another person, a rather dyslexic and unorganized friend, told me that he simply did not visualize time in any concrete manner at all — which did not surprise me, as his memory and mental management regarding time was extremely poor.
Similarly, when thinking back on years, I visualize for each year a row of my mental calendar pages, one next to the other in sequence, with January on the left and December on the right, and with the year blocks sitting one ‘in front’ of the other, most recent year first. Yet the person who visualized the days as a sequence on a ribbon told me that she similarly visualized the years as pieces on a long, continuous ribbon that spiraled backward in time.
I find this subject interesting, as I suspect that how we mentally conceptualize and visualize time relates to how we individually deal with and manage time, with some visualizations being more useful or helpful than others. Or, for those like my friend who said that he simply did not visualize time in his mind at all, that being a hindrance to his management and approach to dealing with time (as indeed it did seem to be).
Hello JMG, can you write a detailed article about a subject; our topic is the Scientific Method, the straight scientific method that is free from ideology, and in order to understand this ‘method’ (I feel indifference and coldness because of modern scientists and scientism), can you write an article suggesting some simple experiments and a few books to read, I’m sure there are many people like me, it will be useful for all of us, thank you.
This part was what I was thinking of as a model for future monastics:
“Like a traditional seminary, the two dozen ordinands at Finkelwalde completed academic studies in preparation for becoming pastors. But like monks, they lived and shared meals together, and followed a daily routine structured around set rhythms of prayer, singing, reading, and meditation. They were also required to do a certain amount of manual labor. Besides these components, the seminarians made plenty of time for recreation, fun, and fellowship. They could come and go as they wished, get married, and leave the seminary if they chose.”
Apparently he wrote about this Finkelwalde experiment in the book, Life Together. I could see a similar model for what becomes of academics in the future.
So long for now, and thanks for all the fish. I>()
Melania’s hat at the inauguration: It hid half her face. The hat reminded me of the one worn by Jodorowsky in the highly disturbing first scene of “The Holy Mountain.” What a strange trip Melania’s life has been, to wind up where she is.
Hey John,
I recently came across this paper from 1999. It argues that increased solar activity correlates with human aggression and warfare. Something seemed distinctly astrological about this. Hope it’s of interest to you.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10485122/
December’s renewable energy report:
Counting November 30 there was a seven day streak of no wind at all. The current graphs shows it’s that great now either. This area is just not a winner for wind power. There are 2800 MW of installed wind not that you would know it from the graph.
The numbers for Wind were minimum zero, Maximum of 52.8% or namplate on Dec. 8. The monthly average was 16.9%.
For solar the minimum was 2.7% of nameplate on Dec 13. Maximum was 21.6% on the the 9th on our sole sunny day. We had two half-sunny days too. The month average was 9.2% of nameplate. These averages were over 24 hours.
The dunkelflautes weren’t too bad. Although most of the nights were calm the longest period with wind and solar both under 10% was 19.8 hours starting on the 11th. Average power demand over this period was 8,097 MW for a total of 160,585 MW-Hr equivalent to 41,176 Tesla Max-power batteries with an equivalent mass of 17.3 Nimitz class aircraft carriers.
How you are going get these charged before the next night is great question with no wind and the solar panels at 10% capacity factor.
January is looking pretty good for solar, it’s been sunny for several of the last few days and it hasn’t been all that cold.
Which occultists and philosophers believed time was an illusion? The concept was presented to me by one of my spirit guides and when I was like “Can you explain this to me like I am five years old?” he was basically like “Nope!”
>snow in Miami
Now that’s going a bit far. Pulling up the observations, it looks like 15-20C with a heaping helping of thunderstorms at Miami International. Typical for that part of the world. Remember, Miami is almost in the tropics, about 900km further south than the rest of the country. But I’ll give you what’s going on with Houston and New Orleans. Lows of -10C (that’s 14F in Murican) and enough snow to need to shovel it. Which is normal if your address is Grand Rapids, MI in January, but not so much if it’s Houston, TX. Downright weird, in fact. Then again this is 2025, the most current year of the current years and what isn’t weird these days. Somebody is going to come up with The Normal Report, where all they report on is what’s still normal.
>the snow and subfreezing temperatures seem to have crippled the protest marches against the inauguration — they were very poorly attended
I remember some silliness attached to one of the Stuporbowls when it was in Minneapolis. The temperature for that day was -18C (that’s 0F in Murican). And it didn’t stop them. My opinion is whatever it was that was animating them, has stopped. They literally have lost power. Cold weather wouldn’t have fazed them if they were energized.
I’d like to take the opportunity again to let everyone know about a revival of classical education going on in Casper, WY with the opening of Luther Classical College this coming fall. It is an audacious step taken in a time of collapse and consolidation within higher education.
https://www.lutherclassical.org/
It is unabashedly confessional Lutheran (and very much part of the second religiosity mentioned by MOLF #7 above), but nonetheless a breath of fresh air in terms of new (old) alternatives to a hollowed-out academy.
I have been supporting the effort since I first found out about it and hope to visit the campus at some point.
Between their bumbling in the failed election, the ridiculous Biden pardons and the incompetence displayed the the LA fires it seems the Democrats are on track to be flung to the wilderness for at least a generation.
I guess I need to eat more fish.
The only other thing I’ll say about this for now, is that towards then end of the article they give a Bonhoeffer quote where he starts talking about a kind of aristocracy of the spirit… and this makes me sigh. This seems to be one of the pitfalls Christianity, and much religion in general falls into.
I like what John Gilbert wrote in the various UGC papers about, even when you do the dedication rituals for the various orders, it doesn’t give you more rights or make you more special than anyone else.
I won’t deny that occult and spiritual work does start making you different. But, we don’t need to replace one aristocracy with another. A new monasticism would be there to help support society, not to lord it over people with so-called spiritual authority and higher consciousness. This is what turns many would-be seekers away from spiritual path in the first place.
I’m rather curious about Tau Palamas’s work on the spiritual underpinnings of stoicism. It seems that would be another direction for people to turn in this second religious phase, for those of us who want something different than Christianity. Still, all in all, I am very much in favor of any of those who are turning to the various evangelical churches (as I have Witnessed : ) to deepend their actual practice of spiritual disciplines rather than just listening to sermons and Biblical theories about things on youtube.
Amen.
Anyway, thanks for giving space to these thoughts on this.
If this hasn’t been done over already: predictions for 47 and the next four years under his administration? Have there been any surprises for you in his first 48 hours in office?
JMG,
Do you think the second religiosity in our culture has begun? If so, how long do you suspect it will last? Finally, do you think its effect will be positive overall?
Thank you,
Edward
At this link is the full list of all of the requests for prayer that have recently appeared at ecosophia.net and ecosophia.dreamwidth.org, as well as in the comments of the prayer list posts. Please feel free to add any or all of the requests to your own prayers.
If I missed anybody, or if you would like to add a prayer request for yourself or anyone who has given you consent (or for whom a relevant person holds power of consent) to the list, please feel free to leave a comment below and/or in the comments at the current prayer list post.
* * *
This week I would like to bring special attention to the following prayer requests.
Linda has her cancer surgery TODAY, January 23. May Linda from the Quest Bookshop of the Theosophical Society, who has developed a turbo cancer, be blessed with a successful surgery under a steady hand when she goes into the operating room on Wednesday 1/23, with well-being and a speedy recovery.
May Jennifer, who is now in the third trimester and 35+ weeks in, have a safe and healthy pregnancy, may the delivery go smoothly, and may her baby be born healthy and blessed.
May Matt, who is currently struggling with MS related fatigue, be blessed and healed such that he returns to full energy; and may he be enlightened as to the best way to manage his own situation to best bring about this healing.
May NPM/Nick’s 12-year-old Greyhound Vera, who passed away on 1/20, be blessed and comforted, and granted rest and a peaceful transition to the next life. (1/23)
May Frank R. Hartman, who lost his house in the Altadena fire, and all who have been affected by the larger conflagration be blessed and healed.
May MethylEthyl, who recently fractured a rib coughing, heal without complications, and have sufficient help for the move that she and hers are making at the end of the month.
May Sub’s Wife’s major surgery last week have gone smoothly and successfully, and may she recover with ease back to full health.
May David/Trubrujah’s 5 year old nephew Jayce, who is back home after chemotherapy for his leukemia, be healed quickly and fully, and may he, and mother Amanda, and their family find be aided with physical, mental, and emotional strength while they deal with this new life altering situation. (good news update!)
May Mindwind’s dad Clem, who in the midst of a struggle back to normal after a head injury has been told he shows signs of congestive heart failure, be blessed, healed, and encouraged.
May Corey Benton, who is currently in hospital and whose throat tumor has grown around an artery and won’t be treated surgically, be healed of throat cancer. He is not doing well, and consents to any kind of distance healing offered. [Note: Healing Hands should be fine, but if offering energy work which could potentially conflict with another, please first leave a note in comments or write to randomactsofkarmasc to double check that it’s safe] (1/7)
May Christian’s cervical spine surgery on 1/14 have been successful, and may he heal completely and with speed; and may the bad feelings and headaches plaguing him be lifted.
May Viktoria have a safe and healthy pregnancy, and may the baby be born safe, healthy and blessed. May Marko have the strength, wisdom and balance to face the challenges set before him. (picture)
May Open Space’s friend’s mother
Judith be blessed and healed for a complete recovery from cancer.
May Bill Rice (Will1000) in southern California, who suffered a painful back injury, be blessed and healed, and may he quickly recover full health and movement.
May Peter Van Erp’s friend Kate Bowden’s husband Russ Hobson and his family be enveloped with love as he follows his path forward with the glioblastoma (brain cancer) which has afflicted him.
May Daedalus/ARS receive guidance and finish his kundalini awakening, and overcome the neurological and qi and blood circulation problems that have kept him largely immobilised for several years; may the path toward achieving his life’s work be cleared of obstacles.
May baby Gigi, continue to gain weight and strength, and continue to heal from a possible medication overdose which her mother Elena received during pregnancy, and may Elena be blessed and healed from the continuing random tremors which ensued; may Gigi’s big brother Francis continue to be in excellent health and be blessed.
May Scotlyn’s friend Fiona, who has been in hospital since early October with what is a diagnosis of ovarian cancer, be blessed and healed, and encouraged in ways that help her to maintain a positive mental and spiritual outlook.
May Peter Evans in California, who has been diagnosed with colon cancer, be completely healed with ease, and make a rapid and total recovery.
May Jennifer and Josiah, their daughter Joanna, and their unborn daughter be protected from all harmful and malicious influences, and may any connection to malign entities or hostile thought forms or projections be broken and their influence banished.
May Giulia (Julia) in the Eastern suburbs of Cleveland Ohio be healed of recurring seizures and paralysis of her left side and other neurological problems associated with a cyst on the right side of her brain and with surgery to treat it.
* * *
Guidelines for how long prayer requests stay on the list, how to word requests, how to be added to the weekly email list, how to improve the chances of your prayer being answered, and several other common questions and issues, are to be found at the Ecosophia Prayer List FAQ.
If there are any among you who might wish to join me in a bit of astrological timing, I pray each week for the health of all those with health problems on the list on the astrological hour of the Sun on Sundays, bearing in mind the Sun’s rulerships of heart, brain, and vital energies. If this appeals to you, I invite you to join me.
Wer here
Looks Orange guy lost his mind after coming into office. Threats and angry tweets abound, does he think those things matter to anyone outside his narrow group? From claiming that “end the war in ukraine in 24 hours” to ending in 100 days, and of course sanctions on Russian again…. What did Biden did for three years straight and did not work at all. Is he in euphory or something. What is he planning on doing is this misdirection? It matters because in my opinion JMG he is less balanced and thinking than you claim he to be. He started quoting the garbage about high Russian losses that he himself he denied recently etc. What a mess in my opinion he thinks like Biden convinced that the universe bows to his whims and unable to understand that it does not. Zelensky said that American peacekeapers should arrive in Ukraine soon . Out of his mind Trump might actually send those men if he thinks he is being ignored by Putin …
What do you think JMG?
Be safe everyone Wer
@ neptunesdolphin #2 IMO there are potent spiritual forces around Trump and the Magic Resistance may find themselves confounded to their dismay.
Wer here
Well JMG and don’t get me started on his rehash of “drill baby drill” policy where is he convinced that infinite hydrocarbons are stashed everywhere but those chinesse agents “enviromental scientists, master conservers” will be shot in the head and overnight everything will be great with america again …sigh….
JMG this is no longer about him trolling the liberals a significant part of the population belives in this cornucopia nonsense. And don’t get me started on the more deluded parts of the population that still belive in “Russia will collapse ob
vernight” “ukraine will win” everybody will join the EU by 2028 and a myrmaid of outher nonsense….
“where to start with what?”
It was a joke, Mon ami. It’s been an eventful month, as you’ve likely noticed!
A little bit of Grange news, with a question at the end:
In July, my local Grange undertook a typical process of voting on a resolution. In spite of Grange admonitions to not engage in partisanship, it was, unfortunately, on a partisan topic (reproductive rights), though worded in the camouflage of “[women’s] health autonomy”. Its passing (meaning that it would be sent on to the state level) caused a huge kerfuffle amongst the membership: some felt blindsided by the resolution at the end of a long work day, some felt the resolution could be amended to either make the reproductive angle bolder or secondary (depending on their preference). I asked if the resolution’s focus could be extended to all adults, not just women (crickets). Some, acting on their moral beliefs had to quit the Grange completely. Unkind words were said in an executive committee meeting. Some rued them, others felt strongly righteous. The resolution was ultimately “tabled” under a technicality. The lost members did not return.
I admit, I was bamboozled by the “health autonomy” wording, though I suppose the focus on women should’ve told me what was really being proposed. I spent several months wondering if I really wanted to be part of a subordinate Grange that had just lost (an energetic and devoted) 1/3 of its membership and participate in what is essentially an echo chamber.
Then, in August (after speaking privately to several of the lost members, telling them that I hoped to be able to foster a situation that would allow for their return), I volunteered as part of the kitchen staff at the state convention – and found that although my Grange’s resolution (tabled) didn’t make it to state, another very similarly conceived resolution did. And it passed (this is California, what do I expect?). So it went to the national level. At some point in there, leadership said some more callous words to the lost members and my opportunity for reconciliation went out the window.
Meanwhile, I presented a statement “for the good of the order” at the October meeting, lighting into partisan politics and hearkening back to the Order’s Statement of Purposes and “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” I didn’t get crickets, exactly (one member expressed her gratitude for putting into words what she’d been feeling), instead, the president (who was strongly in favor of the resolution) said, “Thank you very much for that; it looks like we have a nominee for Lecturer…” I felt like my
The next month I accepted the nomination and was voted in.
After the national convention, our president mentioned that some interesting resolutions had passed and some interesting ones likewise had not. I inquired into what was notable that hadn’t passed (just curiosity, not thinking of this whole thing) and she leaned in and said that the reproductive rights resolution had come “this” close to passing until the leadership determined that they couldn’t afford to alienate the majority of the membership. {DUH!!}. And then she said, “but it’ll happen. This isn’t going to go away.”
So, now I’m Lecturer – where previously we only had a member who was kind of a placeholder-Lecturer, I’m really winging it; and I’m looking at Grange history… only to find that the Grange nationally and at subordinate levels has always been a “progressive” organization in that Progress is assumed, and that its political work (contrary to what I’d assumed early on) has not been agricultural-focused (Grangers were heavily invested in temperance and suffrage, for instance). I see now that this California-impetus to tell the rest of the country how to be and do is not just Californian. That the founders really just meant post-civil-war partisanship should be avoided, but that any Progressive Project was a-ok.
Huh.
The Grange has a strong (though diminishing) egregore, so I’m not going to try to overcome its progressive tendencies, though I may quietly slip some “radical” ideas into my upcoming lectures.
I’d be interested to hear your take on how this has all played out, and how to avoid this kind of “takeover” of consensus by chasing dissent out of the room. Up until July, I adored my Grange – so much generosity displayed among people of differing religious and political persuasions – poof, gone in about 10 minutes because we were caught unawares and were just kinda muddling through the resolution process without thinking about repercussions. Now I’m lukewarm, but trying to see if I have a last little bit of “hurrah” to get members to actually THINK.
And this leads to my question(s).
I’ll be focusing on Grange ritual and tradition and will meditate on the various aspects of the degree work, but wonder if you can give me any pointers toward sussing out some of the embedded meanings. I assume, since co-founder Oliver Hudson Kelley was a Mason, that there are Masonic influences. Is there a direction I can look to learn more about the connections between the rituals? Since you’ve been both a Granger and a Mason, do you have any insight you might be able to share without revealing what you’ve been sworn to safeguard to secrecy?
If Heather who has a brother Patrick who seemed to be in the last days of his life a few months ago happens to read this: I’ve taken your entry off of the prayer list. Is Patrick still with us? If he isn’t, I hope that his passing was peaceful.
@Dabliahro & JMG #3 & #9 re: Byung-Chul Han
Interesting! I picked up his book The Disappearance of Rituals: A Topology of the Present after reading a favorable review, but haven’t read it yet, which might also be of interest to both of you if you haven’t checked it out.
@JMG & Commentariat: Inverse Frugal Friday Idea
I had an idea that I was somewhat inspired by “Frugal Fridays,” but is actually somewhat the inverse of it, which I’ll share below. The broader idea is “what are some things you might do to help yourself or others with the way the world is changing/will change if you happen to have some time/resources/money available?”
The specific idea that came to mind was thinking about keeping good/useful ideas widely available in changing technological circumstances. Lots of old and out of print stuff is available online these days for free or cheap, which is wonderful, but if computers become less viable, that’s a problem. On the other hand, books are a time-tested and fairly robust technology for hanging around for a long time with some minimal care taken, but if you rely only on what publishers decide to put out, some things that used to be important and might become important again, but aren’t felt to be by many these days, might not make it into print. So, one way to reconcile this would be to find electronic copies of texts you want to make more robust and printing them out on archival quality (low or zero acid) paper. The specific books I had in mind when this came to me were those by Joel Salatin and some of the works that influenced him – stuff like The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer and An Agricultural Testament have lots of good knowhow on regenerative and ecological farming methods that are too expensive and fiddly for most in a time of cheap industrial fertilizer, but might be hugely valuable when that ceases to be true. Classic works on occultism also come to mind.
So, I throw this out there to see if it resonates with anyone else, and I’d certainly be interested to hear any other specific ideas folks have.
Anyhow, cheers, and my blessings to all who welcome them,
Jeff
@Neptunesdolphins: It was a heckuva weather event, whatever the cause. My little Gulf Coast town had a previous snowfall record of 5″, for its entire history. I had a little over 8″ in the yard this morning, when it had stopped falling. The kids had never seen snow before, so they are thrilled about it– seems like every kid on the street is out playing right now. Everything’s closed, even the Walmart, and for a day or so, things are unusually nice, quiet, and low-key.
Kimberly,
Time is an illusion because the past is only a memory experienced in the present, and the future is only an anticipation which is also experienced in the present. Neither actually exist. You are always in an infinitely thin Now.
@earthworm (#18): Not sure about “allfather” or its etymology, but I can suggest a fairly straightforward model from an heterodox Christian perspective: the distinction between the Absolute and the proximate, the uttery inscrutable One and his manifest proxy, is captured in the distinction between the Father and the Son, the One who remains eternally beyond all understanding and his material incarnation.
Axé
NeptunesDolphins, if you happen to read this– I’m taking your son off of the prayer list for now as over 3 months have elapsed. Please let me know if you’d like it, or a revised version, to continue.
Kevin who has a sister Cynthia and an elderly mother Dianne, the same goes for your prayer!
And for the prayer for your brother, MJ from MA!
@Clay Dennis #31: I agree, although I’d go a bit further. I don’t think they are going to be back period. Fade into irrelevancy is in the cards.
If Falling Tree Woman happens to see this, I’m curious how Bridget (who fell from a horse and was, last I heard, living in a rehab facility) is coming along.
About that “51st state”: I think we do all know that the President does do what he says he will do. While this notion of union with if not outright conquest of Canada may presently reside in storage, I doubt it will have been forgotten. Therefore, it does merit discussion and investigation.
Canada is the world’s 2nd largest nation, Antartica being considered a territory, not a self-governing nation. First is Russia, China is third, with the USA a fairly close fourth. It also rejoices in ownership of the world’s longest coastline. Think about the size of navy and coast guard which would be needed to defend and patrol that coastline. Lots of employment for adventurous young people. How such forces could be funded and maintained without robust taxation of those able to pay taxes is a detail not presently being discussed.
Of Canada’s 10, I believe it is, please correct me if I am wrong, provinces and 3 territories, the smallest is Prince Edward Island, land area 5,660 sq. km. Our smallest state, Rhode Island, has 2,678 sq. km. (1034 sq. mi.) of land area. I am leaving out water, because no one lives on water, minus the occasional houseboat. Next is Delaware, 6, 650 sq. km. (2.489 sq. mi.). Then there is Hawaii, some 137 volcanic islands, 11,672 sq. km (6,423 sq. mi.), yet another responsibility for the proposed combined navies. Someone can dispute wiki’s figures if they like: what is important here is the proportions. This is a reality which all the Dale Carnegie style inflated language–beautiful, wonderful, etc.–cannot obscure.
Tiny Rhode Island, and Delaware, slightly larger by land area than PEI, are both represented in our Senate by two Senators apiece. Were union between Canada and the USA ever being negotiated, I cannot imagine Canadians ever agreeing to their vast territories, substantially larger than the entire USA, being represented by only two Senators. The President apparently thinks that because Canadians agreed to NAFTA, they can be sold anything.
Then there is the House of Representatives in which membership numbers are set by law. The Republican Party will fight tooth and nail to keep it that way.
There is a small bit of core monarchist sentiment among the neo-confederate white supremacist faction. Those persons, a small but vociferous minority, would like to be reunited with Great Britain as part of a revived Commonwealth. There has been for some decades now, a propaganda effort to promote the image of monarchy in our popular culture, gossip about celebrity royals, teen girl books about princesses and the like. I do not, for the record, believe that this effort, first noted by Kevin Phillips as long ago as the 1980s, has had the hoped for effect, and I see no evidence that the majority of the Trump voters are monarchists.
I take leave to assert that what all the “beautiful”, “wonderful” happy talk is about is that what the President’s financial backers, as distinct from his voters, want is unhindered access to Great Lakes water–some 20% of the world’s most valuable resource–and the agricultural potential of great plains and prairie in both countries. And I do believe that agribusiness wants its’ revenge for the growing anti-GMO movement, as represented by the late and much admired Mr. Schmeiser.
Big Shot financiers are not generally geo-political thinkers. Russia and China, and possibly other nations as well would most certainly demand to send observers to any conference between USA and Canada to negotiate a union. Or they might demand that any such negotiations take place under United Nations supervision. Outright invasion would, I think it fair to say, almost certainly bring Canada allies from the rest of the world, with China waiting in the wings to clean up afterwards. Naturally the USA diverting military spending and resources away from the interests of Israel cannot be contemplated. Perish the thought! So, for what it is worth, I do not think the people telling the President that an invasion of Canada would be a cakewalk, crowning glory of his great career, because We Are Number One, Rah,Rah, know what they are whispering about.
A bit of fuzzy stream of consciousness. Around the election, a lot of folks were discussing a “vibe shift,” and I really do feel it, but not necessarily just in politics. I’m also noticing how much of the world doesn’t feel real. Money isn’t real; it’s an abstraction. Rich people actually don’t have any money, they just control assets. Social interactions feel transactional these days, but under everyone’s eyes, I can see the need to really talk to someone. Using the “Matrix” movie analogy, it feels like the “real” parts of the world are peaking through the “fake” layer of the presented world. Wondering if anyone else is noticing this.
Anyway, I bought a new guitar amp today and hope someone will congratulate me. Lately, making music with actual instruments (not with software or AI) has made me feel much more real and connected (or maybe I’m just a little stir crazy from sitting inside the last 2 days due to the winter weather in the South!) Take care all.
@Edward #34: I’m considering converting to Catholicism, and I’ve noticed a lot of folks in my generation (Gen-X) getting a lot more religious these days. It could be a desire for community or morality, but I do feel that we are getting more religious.
Shigella infections have gone way up in homeless populations in Canadian cities in the past few years, and increasingly they’re antibiotic resistant to oral antibiotics, requiring hospital treatment. This is apparently happening in the US and Europe as well, though the article’s focus is very much on Canada. Shigella is one of the main organisms that cause dysentry, which isn’t a disease that is commonly thought of as being a developed world problem. The lack of access to basic sanitation among the homeless and growing size of homeless populations in recent years seem to be why we’re seeing the increase now.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/shigella-infection-canada-1.7437238
JMG,
Your series on Wagner’s Ring Cycle has been an immense help to me, both in my writing and in life. I too want to create the Grand Myth Cycle of stories but with a focus on America in particular rather than Western Civ as a whole and for the last two and a half years I’ve delved into history, myth, folklore, tall tales, cryptozoology and philosophy; building the background my grand narrative will eventually take place in. Learning about Wagner I realized I’m also in transition, somewhere between my Feuerbach and Schopenhauer eras, between clueless optimism and the bite of reality. It is an auspicious time for me to have run across Wagner via Ecosophia, so, many thanks for bringing this series into the world!
The Data Must Flow. Augmented Idiocy demands it.
And that leads to…
“South Carolina to Reboot Giant Nuclear Project to Meet AI Demand”
Santee Cooper, the big power provider in South Carolina, has tapped financial advisers to look for buyers that can restart construction on a pair of nuclear reactors that were mothballed years ago.
The state-owned utility is betting interest will be strong, with tech giants such as Amazon.com and Microsoft in need of clean energy to fuel data centers for artificial-intelligence capabilities.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/south-carolina-to-reboot-giant-nuclear-project-to-meet-ai-demand/ar-AA1xEfqE
@ Clay Dennis
I was having similar thoughts today, and I say that as someone who voted for Harris this past November but wasn’t all that upset (but moderately surprised) when she lost. It’s funny because Trump didn’t win the popular vote by all that much if one looks at past elections, but it seems that 80% of the wind has gone out of the Democrats’ sails. Biden being revealed to be not fit to be POTUS for God knows how much of his reign along with the massive mishandling of the Russo-Ukrainian War, Israel’s actions in the Middle East, the migrant crisis, and inflation along with residual bad feelings from the events of 2020 seem to have dealt the current iteration of the Party a chest wound.
Meanwhile the world continues to morph into something new and imo further confirms the fading of American hegemony even if it is still the very first among equals. I still haven’t gotten over how we barely had a winter in 2024, that was very disturbing.
Fra’ Lupo #45
Thank you, that gives me some things to think about.
In my practice I’ve been working with the ideas of ‘Tao’ and ‘The Divine’ without actually personalising them. It puzzles me that the absolute can be defined as ‘father’ as this seems too easy since the divine seems like it should be beyond male and female. Also that a personal relationship with the indefinable seems a little presumptious on my part.
At the same time I can see the possibility that being so small, humans can get help from divine beings that are not the absolute, but beings that form a bridge between us and the ‘big divine’.
What surprised me was that ‘allfather’ popped up at all (as opposed to some other word or name)
Quin/tunesmythe–
thanks for having all our backs. i love reading up on the others, as well. it makes us real people.
x
erika
Further to #48
Perhaps it is an invitation – to what I am not sure – guess I’ll need to ask the question directly.
Watchflinger-
i feel you!
i was actually just articulating this feeling of surrealism to myself yesterday, and attributed it to James being gone, and the regular world of normal people seems tediously boring and i want to interrupt and ask, “really? REALLY?” but i don’t. i get vertigo instead and excuse myself politely.
and James left a bass and a couple of guitars and an amp and i’m keeping them around instead of selling them in case … in case i don’t know.
but CONGRATULATIONS!
i’m out of practice on the artistic temperment and what all that deep concentration and focus courts, so hang in there with the obligatory ups and downs.
(smile)
erika
Chuaquin, I can’t drink coffee, as it gives me migraines. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of green coffee before — is it any relation to green eggs and ham? 😉
Siliconguy, this planet has never had a stable climate. Those trees were growing during the Hypsithermal, the period of maximum warmth after the end of the last ice age; at that same time what’s now the Sahara desert was savanna like today’s East Africa, a rich grassland full of gazelles, elephants, and lions, while the Nebraska sandhills were lifeless desert like the Sahara (those “sandhils” were huge dunes) and most of the western United States was as dry as the Sahara is today. We’re heading back to that kind of climate for a few millennia, until the carbon spike from fossil fuels gets absorbed.
Neptunesdolphins, funny. No doubt it was an actual spell, but spirits are notorious for taking the wording of spells in the sense they want, not the sense you meant. Trump didn’t harm anyone when he was waving that saber around, so that may have earthed out that side of the spell!
Bacon, excellent. So her soul had a very good send-off to the afterlife. Good for the monk! May he earn abundant merit for that compassionate act.
Ecosophian, I did another podcast yesterday and will do yet another this afternoon. Stay tuned!
Dabilahro, I’ll do that.
Forecasting, glad to see that people are paying attention to Greenland. As for inflation, I’d change one syllable — what we’re facing is stagflation, and yeah, a lot of markets are going to be hammered straight into the ground. The question in my mind is whether the US is going to be able to shed enough of its absurdly oversized debt load in time to avoid massive crisis.
Anon, yep. I lurk on Reddit now and then to keep track of various communities, and its role as an echo chamber for fads and panics makes it, er, entertaining.
Earthworm, the Divine is beyond all human concepts, but since we’re limited creatures, we have to use concepts in order to relate to it. If you find a parental image functional as a concept to use for the Divine, by all means — and of course that one’s very, very traditional. “Father of God and Men” was a common title of Jupiter, for example.
Roldy, one of the challenges faced by any Burkean these days is the simple fact that there are no political parties that support incremental change with a close eye toward the downside. The Democrats have embraced the radical reshaping of society as a central theme of their entire political agenda; the pre-Trump GOP was fine with that but wanted to put its own spin on it. Now we have the Trumpistas, who want to change things in a different direction; the one good thing about their point of view is that in many cases what they’re trying to do is slam on the brakes and stop the reckless changes the Dems and their GOP enablers have been pushing for the last couple of decades. So, as usual, voters (me among them) have to vote for the less bad option.
Kimberly, it’s a useful term. I find breathing and relaxation exercises to be also very useful for etheric recharging.
Ethan, we’ll have to see, but that certainly seems plausible.
Yiğit, you might want to ask a working scientist to do that for you.
MOLF, that’s promising. I hope others take it further.
Phutatorius, people on rightward forums were comparing it to the outfit of the black spy in the old “Spy Vs. Spy” cartoons, and wondering who she planned on blowing up.
Enjoyer, thanks for this.
Siliconguy, thanks for the nice cold dose of reality!
Kimberly, it’s a very widespread opinion. Immanuel Kant is a good starting point; he argued, as do many Eastern mystics, that time and space are both conditions of human consciousness; they’re part of how our minds make sense of things, they’re not “out there” in the objective world. If you do a search for “time is an illusion” you’ll get hundreds of hits in, ahem, no time at all. 😉
Other Owen, no doubt. I suspect that the inward ice and cold were just as heavy a burden as the outward manifestations.
David BTL, thanks for this.
Clay, well, we’ll see!
MOLF, that whole “aristocracy of the spirit” business is the kiss of death for a religious movement, because it leads to snobbery, and to retreat into the kind of self-asphyxiating bubble that so many people on the political left are inhabiting these days. Monasticism is properly a way of service, defined by the enthusiastic embrace of poverty, simplicity, humility, and hard work for the benefit of all — not an excuse to preen the ego!
Sam, I posted my astrological predictions earlier this month:
https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/311834.html
So far nothing Trump has done has surprised me at all.
Edward, it’s already under way — witness the steady stream of new converts into the more traditional churches here in the US — but it’s going to pick up a great deal of force as it proceeds. If it follows the usual pattern it’ll last for a couple of centuries, though there will be major ups and downs as it proceeds. As for “positive effect,” that’s a value judgment and therefore inescapably subjective; it depends entirely on your personal values.
Quin, thanks for this as always.
Wer, we’ll just have to wait and see. Trump’s always a loose cannon, and wild statements and handwaving are among his favorite tools. It’s quite possible he’s doing that deliberately to distract the neoconservatives while he does something else they won’t like. As far as the cornucopian fantasy, Americans always revert to that when they’re under stress. It’s going to accelerate the speed at which we decline…
Bofur, gotcha. Autism strikes again.
TemporaryReality, the left has been addicted to that sort of consensus-by-repression for a very long time. It never seems to sink in that this doesn’t make the dissenters go away — it simply means that they go somewhere else, organize, and start pushing back in a much more hostile fashion. (The outcome of the recent election was largely predetermined by that process.) As for your question, I’m sorry to say that there’s next to nothing that I can say about the rituals due to my Masonic obligations. I’d encourage you to pay close attention to the symbolism of the officers and to the lines and figures traced by their movements about the Grange hall during the opening, closing, and initiation rituals.
Jeff, that’s an interesting idea. Are other readers interested in a forum post on this subject?
Mary, nah, Trump doesn’t always do what he says he’s going to do. He’s extremely skilled at bluffing and bullying. My guess is that the point of the “51st state” business is to put pressure on the Canadian government to fall in line.
WatchFlinger, congratulations — making your own music, instead of depending on the media to make it for you, is a very important step. As for the “vibe shift,” I’m also seeing it, in some exceptionally weird ways — notably, openness to occultism in some settings where I’d never anticipated that. I’ve joked with friends that the Orbital Mind Control Lasers must be working overtime!
Pygmycory, yep. Plunge more and more people into desperate poverty, get more of the diseases of poverty…
StarNinja, delighted to hear it and you’re most welcome. Write that cycle of stories!
Siliconguy, yep. I didn’t predict that AI would be the excuse, but I’ve been predicting another round of wasted investment in nuclear power for years now….
@Siliconguy,
Re: the nuclear powerplant in SC
When they say “Santee Cooper and the plant’s then-co-owner, SCE&G–now part of Dominion Energy–had already jointly spent around $9 billion”, what they really mean to say is that they had convinced our state legislature to tack a surcharge on our electric bill for years to pay for the plant and, instead of using all the funds to build the plant, a lot of the money went to bonuses and perks to the CEOs and such. Then they went bankrupt and Dominion bought them out, saying they would reimburse everyone who had paid the surcharge. (We got a piddly amount refunded compared to what we were forced to pay in.)
Jeff (comment #42),
I love your Frugal Friday question because it reminds me of the mindset I chose when I was in the initial overwhelm of how to respond to my new knowledge about energy descent back in 2005. The simple question I asked is “what is mine to do?” That really helped me settle in the face of all of the change I was anticipating. Fast forward, here we are. One of the things I really try to do with my friends and family is listen to how they feel about all of this because I believe in the benefit for many people of verbalizing our experiences especially when there is so much uncertainty.
Regarding important books and papers, yes, I have physically printed stuff that is really important to me. Also, any article on the web that I value (including Ecosophia articles 😀) I print to pdf to save on my computer. Hopefully, for quite a while even if the internet goes belly up, I will still have a functioning computer if I have electricity….
@Jeff Russell, I will certainly add that to my list. Each Christmas people get me gift cards for a book store so it is one of the few opportunities to purchase something new. I have a handful so far I am working through but especially after dabbling a bit in rituals via our hosts resources I was curious to see Han’s perspective.
@Jeff Russell, I recall you did readings for a period on a website, could you share that again? I would be interested in following up with you on it there if you are still active in a different forum.
Clay Dennis and Blue Moose, about the coming demise of the Democratic Party, there is no doubt about it. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of clueless apparatchiks. The only thing which has been holding the Democrats together for the last few election cycles is all that lovely dual citizen Zionist money. That is why they panicked when it looked like Bernie Sanders might become their nominee and possibly even president.
neptunesdolphins, I find talk of weatherworking very scary indeed. Beings as how I happen to be a senior, certified weirdo female living alone, well, the precedents are truly frightening. No, I don’t have cats, because I don’t want them pooping in my vegetable beds. Nor a dog because I am too lazy to scoop up after it. Now, in CA you do need outdoor felines because not much else is effective against gophers.
@methylethyl #43
“Everything’s closed, even the Walmart, and for a day or so, things are unusually nice, quiet, and low-key.”
Heh, thanks for this. I do not wish to start a Climate Argument, but now you may grasp just a hint of why I am a Winter Appreciator: the slowness, thoughtfulness, coziness, silence. Everything is muffled and nothing seems urgent.
JMG wrote: “Pygmycory, yep. Plunge more and more people into desperate poverty, get more of the diseases of poverty…” Yeah. Note the rise of bedbug infestations in the US.
On “Spy vs Spy”; I threw away my collection of Mad Magazine a long time ago and had forgotten that. I do wonder just what goes through that woman’s head.
Alan @#22: If I may chime in, my mental image of time is a wheel–not a clock face so much as an astrological chart, with January occupying the house at zenith, the spring months descending to the right and the autumnal months ascending to the left–I’m sure it’s inspired by the Neopagan Wheel of the Year.
You also remind me, once in the 1990s I made the mistake of going to a New Age Expo (talk about desperate, avaricious, toxic energy, it was a veritable cesspool!). There I got patronizingly lectured by a vendor who believed the One True & Correct view of time was as an arrow pointing upwards toward Enlightenment. When I, foolishly thinking I was in a conversation, mentioned that many Pagans like myself saw time as a cycle or a spiral, he insisted that “spirals move upwards too!” and that cyclical time was stasis and therefore Bad. To give credit where due, he did teach me the very valuable lesson that I needed to stay far, far away from anything or anyone labeled “New Age”!
Thank you for your fascinating mind Mr. Greer. I was hoping you could share your opinion on what kinds of old steam powered technology, engines, pumps. Etc could potentially be reversed engineered and modernized now while we have the ability do so that would last and be useful going forward into an industrialized collapse. My apologies if you have already covered this in past posts.
Thank you and all the best.
StarNinja, Best of luck with your cyclical epic project. Might I suggest, respectfully, that you look up the story of Mt. Mazama, which exploded, as Cascade stratovolcanoes are wont to do, in historical times, mid 8th millennium Before Present, leaving Crater Lake in its caldera. This event was witnessed by indigenous Americans and figures in the legends of several local peoples. I try to imagine sometimes what it must have been like to see that eruption
Watchflinger, a granddaughter, age 16, is converting to Catholicism, baptism and sacraments scheduled for this spring’s Easter Vigil. This of her own accord, families on both sides having been non-religious for the last two generations at least.
@ Kimberly Steele, re time as an illusion
I know Einstein thought so.
I strongly suspect Kant and Schopenhauer did, too, but I never read their works.
Agreed. I will follow along with the articles still, because I’ve generally liked their writing, and see where it goes. But I was disheartened a bit by the end of the article to read this:
“Towards the end of his life, Bonhoeffer began to formulate a vision broader than the revival of Christianity alone. He called for the formation of a new class of “elites,” based not on birth or wealth, but “greatness of heart.” This new nobility would resist society’s mediocrity- and conformity-generating tendency to flatten distinctions in values and individuality, and seek to restore the elevation of excellence in both personal and cultural life:
‘We are witnessing the leveling down of all ranks of society, and at the same time the birth of a new sense of nobility, which is binding together a circle of men from all former social classes. Nobility arises from and exists by sacrifice, courage, and a clear sense of duty to oneself and society, by expecting due regard for itself as a matter of course; and it shows an equally natural regard for others, whether they are of higher or of lower degree.’ ”
I’m not sure if this counts as an aristocracy of spirit, but I still sighed heavily when I got to that “new class of elites” part.
–
Now back to the other topic I’m exploring today, decelerationism…
Hi all!
With regards to nuclear energy, is it just extremely innefficient compared to todays oil or does it have an actual negative ROEI over its lifetime.
Or in other words could it be worth having a couple of plants standing around once the fossil starts to really deplete? Does anyone know of a good and honest lifetime analysis of it?
@The Other Owen #29
“I remember some silliness attached to one of the Stuporbowls when it was in Minneapolis. The temperature for that day was -18C (that’s 0F in Murican). And it didn’t stop them.”
Minnesota gets almost that cold every year and some years colder. People there are prepared. They have the heavy duty winter clothes. They have snow tires for their vehicles. Municipal governments have salt trucks that go out and spread salt on the roads to improve safety by melting ice. The local culture includes warnings and coping strategies for temperatures that low.
Metro DC has none of that. They close the schools if there’s even half an inch of snow. The locals generally don’t own any coat warmer than what Minnesotans would consider a light fall jacket. They have no technology for keeping the roads driveable under freezing conditions because those conditions are so rare that it makes more sense, economically, to just shut down the city. We northerners have been known to mock them for being “wimps” about cold weather but they just aren’t used to it. So I totally believe that the weather killed turnout for the protests. It’s in character for the region.
Ian Welsh, sometime commentor here, has a short essay up today for those who still believe climate is a hoax. https://www.ianwelsh.net/actuaries-weigh-in-on-climate-change-effects/
I think most of us who voted for the losing ticket this past election do understand that take to the streets protest is no longer an effective tactic. If a pack of fools want to display themselves stopping traffic with no grassroots preparation, let them. Effective mass demonstrations came after years of on the ground work.
@StarNinja I echo the sentiments, though I’m working on a low-art not-particularly-grand version of the American myth-story. It’s a comic that attempts to integrate the usual subjects of this blog into an entertaining narrative: https://tapas.io/series/Etherwood/info. I expect yours will be better! Please update me if you get anything viewable, I’d love to see other people’s takes on that material.
To our host, I also appreciate the Wagner posts quite a bit, I’ve gotten a lot out of them. including getting me to sit down and watch the whole cycle in the first place.
JMG, et al – I have a friend who has written a short, incisive pamphlet on the changing nature of society, the citizen, as it relates to technology, specifically “the invisible network state” of the web. I don’t agree with all the conclusions, but he’s having the right type of discussion and asking some of the right questions. He wishes to place it with a small publisher. Does anyone have any recommendations for this? He gets into a lot of the topics we’ve passed through over the years: Plato, myths, social change., etc. It’s a shorter book, around 90 pages. Well written. As I say, thematically it’s excellent, although ultimately he’s coming at it from a very different angle than myself. Part of the dissensus, I suppose…
@earthworm (#55): The Tao may be one of the greatest “via negativa” ways of thinking about the Divine that there is. But yes, one wold think it inevitably transcends all such categories, and it seems as though we can only every think around it, and then it eludes our grasp (as it must). There is no way to relate to it, as JMG notes. To form a relationship with the Divine, we need something more approachable, something that can be comprehensible to our limited human faculties.
Axé
@Yiğit (#23) – on the scientific method, a couple books worth looking at:
Henry Bauer, Scientific Literacy and the Myth of the Scientific Method
Paul Feyerabend, Against Method
I’d be interested to understand the distinction you’re making about ideology. I see a lot of ideology in philosophy of science – no doubt these two books could be seen as being quite ideological. Then individual scientific projects might be tied into whatever ideological agenda, e.g. tobacco, peak oil, climate change, public health, etc. Theoretically the scientific method should be able to erase any of that particular sort of bias. The classical view of the scientific method is that it is precisely anti-ideological.
Have you seen where folks are outlining an explicitly ideological scientific method?
A great book that gets into how science is done in a very real way and may intersect with what you are thinking about with ideology…
Paul Edwards, A Vast Machine: Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming
How likely is it that the Dems can sideline their radical woke elements, and successfully present themselves to voters as the solution to the stagflation and debt crisis (assuming they happen under Trump or his Republican successor)?
I just finished rereading Michael Flynn’s “Country of the Blind,” set in the 1990s, and dealing with an attempt by 19th century thinkers to predict history mathematically, and then, to try to control it to prevent future horrors …. and 100 years later, has degenerated into a two-bit analog of The Radiance. I still like the way some of the central characters think (NOT the would-be puppet masters!) and the observation that that no ideal lasts past the 5th generation. i.e. those with no conscious memory of what that ideal was supposed to be a cure for! I consider it well worth a reread today.
Another observation – here in Florida we’re having below-freezing weather. We had another Polar Vortex hit over the holidays two years ago, and I think they’ll be part of out weather patterns for some time. If anyone can help me with a way to get it through the heads of our PMC class that their horror at the thought of covering windows makes NO sense, I’d appreciate it! It really seems to me that it’s a way of saying “I can *afford* to lose all that heat!” (New England outfitters like the Vermont Country store are probably getting a lot of business right now. )
We had a memo in our cubbies yesterday urging everyone to stay indoors until 10 am for fear of ice on the pavements; and the buses would start running at 10, not 8am.
A last thought on Wotan: a comment on Medea in another work reminded me of the men who, faced with their wife leaving them, kill the entire family, in an “If I can’t have them, nobody can,” mood.
(The author, an Australian novelist [who often has her own axes to grind], notes – backed up by a professor of classics she knows – that earlier sources claim a Corinthian mob killed them in outrage at the murder of their leader and his daughter; but “we know Medea killed her children the same way we know Richard III killed the Princes in the Tower; the best playwright of their day told us so.” Women who kill their children do so for other reasons and other motives, short of outright insanity. For revenge on a cheating spouse – that’s a typically male crime.) And Wotan assuredly fits that picture!!
@Siliconguy: I find your renewable energy reports very interesting. What location or region is that reporting on? Do you know if such reports exist for the whole nation, or even worldwide? How do you think national or world numders would compare to yours?
Thank you.
I submitted this post too late in last month’s Open Post so I’m resubmitting it.
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@JMG
I just learned something from watching Vedic astrologer Abhigya Anand. He says whenever Saturn and the North Node of the moon come very close to each other Vedic astrology traditionally says this is a predictor of genocide. He sees this conjunction(*see slight correction below) happening in 2025 so unfortunately some areas of the world will see a lot of genocide. It also is a predictor of some innovations in technology and of smaller scale epidemics though thankfully not pandemics.
Is this also the case for Western Astrology? That is, Saturn + North Node of the Moon = genocide?
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For those who are ok with videos I’ll link below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrNoZdNeC_E
*[updated correction: Abhigya said ‘close proximity’, not conjunction]
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I’m busy reading the U.S. Inauguration chart and saw the prediction for drought conditions. Martin Armstrong says the Socrates program is predicting 3 years of severe drought for many states west of the Mississippi and a lot of crops will be ruined because of it. It will be an additional stress to food inflation.
@ Watchflinger: congratulations on the new instrument. I feel that making your own music with a physical instrument is a very good form of mental training: there’s the idea inside your head of where you want to go, the struggle to tell the instrument what to do, and the instrument that has its own opinions about what you’re doing to it. Good luck and I hope you find music that speaks to you.
P.S. Steve Bannon has told an Italian newspaper that “Elon Musk is a truly evil guy” he’d like to see run out of Trump’s orbit. Part of his reason is that Musk leans heavily of HB-1 foreign employees instead of hiring Americans, and that Musk’s only motive is more and more wealth. I’ll send out the clipping, from USA Today via the Gainesville Sun, very shortly.
They love Elon Musk down at the Kennedy Space Center, which I visited with the family over the 6 days between Christmas and New Year’s. His buildings down there have turned a quiet museum into a big tourist trap; apparently, NASA loves him. From the comments of the guides on the tourist bus, they and he are totally committed to the vision of colonizing Mars. One of them gave me a moment’s amusement by saying “from mankind’s earliest days…. we dreamed of expanding onto infinity……” Well, historians, they’re not.
Of course, the movie the family watched a few days afterwards was Andy Weirs’s interplanetary take of Robinson Crusoe, “The Martian. ” As suspenseful adventure it was a good movie. But it piled impossibility on impossibility… but did bring back the days of Astounding Science Fiction in good style.
Privately, I’d donate a fair chunk of change to send Musk to Mars in person. And watch the betting pools on how long he’d survive.
@Dabilahro: I also listened to the Hermetix podcast about The Palliative Society, and I’ve seen The Burnout Society referenced a few times elsewhere and I’ve become curious. I was early for a medical appointment earlier this afternoon, and on the strength of your first comment, I went into a nearby bookstore on a whim and they had a newer title of his; Vita Contemplativa. I bought it and I’m looking forward to reading it. Thank you!
TemporaryReality–Interested in your comments on Grange, particularly in Calif. My wife and I were thinking of joining Mt. Vernon Grange in Auburn–attended a meeting in Nov. but missed Dec. Tried to mail applications but no address on webpage and an enquiry to the Calif. state website went unanswered. Not reassuring. As for the rituals, are you familiar with _Spirit of the Grange: the Wisdom of Demeter_ by Ann Brigit Waters.? It was published in 2016. Lots of info about the rituals and trying to revive more interest in the symbols, etc. Would like to discuss more with you about current state of the Grange. I can be contacted at ritaer.dreamwidth.org
re. Trump–I note that his announcement about self-determined gender has brought out more nonsense denying basic biology–“Oh, now he has officially said everyone is female because we are all female at conception”.
In an interesting bit of social media manipulation I was following up on the allegation that Musk had done Nazi salutes at the rally. I watched the video–in which he starts facing the crowd with hand on heart and raises the arm and hand in an upward/outward motion, turns to the audience behind him and repeats the upward/outward motion and returns to hand on heart–all while saying “my heart goes out to you”. I tried to find film of actual Nazi’s saluting. I know they exist–there is copious film coverage of Nazi rallies and parades–but an online search for “Hitler giving nazi salute” kept producing links to the Musk video!! Didn’t take the time to try another search engine, my usual is Bing. But something suspicious is going on.
Pygmycory–I remember that back in the 60’s Haight Ashbury era the free clinic there saw cases of trench mouth–which hadn’t been much on doctors’ radar since WW I. I imagine it is fairly common in the homeless. Or should I say “the unhoused”? another example of substituting vocabulary change for social change.
Just as a point of interest for some. A while ago there was mention of Peter Wohlleben’s book “The hidden life of trees”. I have nearly finished another of his books, “The inner life of animals”. Just as interesting for those so inclined.
Quin, thank you for all your prayers and for the work that you do. My brother in law, Patrick, passed away ver peacefully last September. I commented on it at the time, and thanked everyone for their prayers, but you probably missed it. But thank you again, Quin.
Watchflinger, I, too, will congratulate you on your new amp! I love live music, my grandson plays piano and I love it when he practices. And he will be starting electric guitar lessons soon! And as a practicing Catholic, I say a hearty “Welcome “ to you!
@28 Kimberly Steele, @44 Ecosophy Enjoyer
What about the idea that time is a dimension that we are experiencing three-dimensional cross sections of?
Hey John,
Speaking of the Nebraska Sandhills, (comment #59) my wife and I are in the process of purchasing land in a little town very near that area in preparation to build our first home. We’re in our mid-twenties, so this is a really big step for us. The only thing left in the purchase process is for the land survey to be completed. We were originally planning on West Virginia, but those plans fell through. While much flatter than West Virginia and even flatter than my homeland in the Rocky Mountains, it is nevertheless a beautiful area and it’s unique in its own way. (And much more affordable!)
The land purchase is part of our ‘Long Descent’ survival strategy. If you’ll indulge me, I’ll outline the plan and I would be happy to hear any critiques. The land we purchased is 3 acres on the edge of a little town. The land has a forest on one side and a creek as well. The land has access to electricity, the road, and municipal water. The town is small but has all the necessities (grocery stores, hardware stores, schools, a hospital, etc.) within biking distance. We’ve already reached out to potential employers there and prospects look good.
No, we are not planning to be homesteaders or off-the-gridders. We know we don’t have enough skill to survive on our own or grow all of our own food. Instead we want to have a victory garden which we will maintain while also working real jobs. We plan on purchasing most of our calories in bulk in the form of flour, rice, and potatoes, and supplementing those calories with what we grow from our garden and chicken coop.
The next step in the process is to continue saving up money to put a home on the property. The most thrifty option would be a little manufactured home, and there are some relatively affordable options nearby. Once we save enough money to put a home there, we will try to get employment there, then move there and rent for a brief period while the home is put into place. If this all goes well, we will have 3 acres and a house while avoiding debt.
In the meantime we are learning skills that will be important later. We currently live with an elderly relative. She lets us live with her rent-free while we take care of her, which is a big part of why this plan will be feasible. She has graciously allowed us to turn her backyard into a garden. So far we are on our third year gardening this way and we’ve learned a lot already. We’ve gotten pretty good at cold composting. I’ve been using your book Green Wizardry and books about Biointensive Gardening as guides. We are also preparing in other ways, we don’t use dishwashers or other electricity-hogging appliances. I bike almost everywhere and using less gas has helped us to save a lot of money. I also quit my video game addiction a couple years ago and found that now I have time to do all the things I thought I didn’t have time for!
If you have the time, let me know what you think. I apologize for the rambling!
Gibson, that’s a question best settled by engineers, not by Druids. It will depend on whether a steam engine is still the best tool for the job once fossil fuel supplies are exhausted and all fuels have to be taken from current biomass.
MOLF, elite classes always insist that they have the power and influence they do because they’re morally superior to everyone else. Their behavior doesn’t reflect this, of course.
Lurker, the lifetime analyses I’ve seen are all biased one way or another. That’s why I rely on commercial affordability as a proxy measurement. If a power plant can’t stay in business without huge direct and/or indirect subsidies from government, it’s not a viable option — and this is reliably true of nuclear power, which is why no private firm ever builds nukes without vast infusions of tax revenue.
SirusTalCelion, delighted to hear it!
Celadon, he needs to find a publisher that issues that kind of book. This can be done by doing online searches for such books, noting who publishes them, and then going to the publisher’s website and seeing what their submission requirements are. An hour of online time should provide him with an ample list of prospects.
Patricia M, I’ve read it — quite a lively little romp! I’ll have to reread it one of these days.
Panda, the lunar nodes get very little attention in modern Western astrology, and I’ve never encountered that theory before. Interesting; I hope he’s wrong.
Patricia M, I think taking up a collection to send Musk to Mars is a fine idea…
Enjoyer, this sounds like a very sensible plan. You’ll want to learn about dryland gardening, as droughts will become increasingly common in that region in the decades ahead, but it’ll be centuries before the Sandhills revert to dunes, so your descendants will have time to adapt. I’m tempted to suggest leaving them a copy of Dune on low-acid paper… 😉
One of the great dichotomies in Trumps stated policies is the contrast between reduced immigration and deportations and the stated desire for economic growth. Both the democrats and republicans have supported increased immigration over the last few decades to offset the declining birthrate to keep the economy growing and the economic system making money for themselves and their friends. In addition the democrats loved the side benefit of adding voters to their side of the ticket ( they thought).
But Trumps current push for deportations, if carried out as promised, will actually reduce population since we have a negative growth rate by birth. Deporting Illegals will definitely improve the lower end of the job market for the near term. But it will likely harm economic growth and the fortunes of the upper classes as a result.
Do you think he will ramp up legal immigration to compensate, or is he just hoping the results of economic slowdown by population decline will not show up during his term.
@Angelica #61 re: Dealing with Decline
Indeed, that’s a good clarifying question! I have also found one day to deal with some of the complexities of bringing such ideas into my day to day life is the thought of “competing goods” – meaning there’s some good it would do the world and society for me to, say, become a complete hermit and use zero non-muscle-powered energy, but there’s also good I can do for others by being an active participant in society and the economy, and obviously sometimes these come into conflict. So, it’s not a matter of “sacrifice everything for this one good end,” but rather, “take stock of what things you value and the trade-offs involved, and make the best choice you know how to with the situation you’re in now.” That helps me avoid purity spiraling or the like.
And yes, things like .pdfs or plaintext versions of stuff are likely to stay useful for as long as computers are reasonable to own and keep working, especially if you are fine with older/lower end computers, so that’s certainly valuable.
@Dabilahro #62 re: My Writing on Books/Other Stuff
Glad to have suggested something of interest! My understanding is that it looks at the role of “ritual” more psychologically/sociologically, rather than, say, magically or religiously, but his core point is that rituals are way to embody and make physical what we believe and value.
As for my own writings, thanks for your interest! I post my writing, which is very often thoughts on books I’ve read, at jpowellrussell.com (linked by clicking on my name at the top of this comment), and for reaching out, my email is linked from there or you can find me on dreamwidth at jprussell.dreamwidth.org .
Cheers,
Jeff
Thanks for those two tips – they’re more than I had to go on beforehand!
Re: the left’s takeover strategy – at least in the rotten weeks after the kerfuffle, our Grange members had the presence of mind to demand a new addition to our bylaws: resolutions must now be submitted to the general membership at least one week in advance of the meeting they’ll be voted on to allow everyone a chance to read and think about what the resolution is. No more being blindsided, and maybe this’ll encourage more members to attend if they feel strongly about particular topics.
Also, regarding that strategy (and Anonymous’s #17 comment), I came across this eye-opening thread on reddit, in which so many people are piling onto ways to prevent so-called Trump supporters from joining any of their organizations. Notable to me, for folks who call themselves anti-authoritarian, they sure propose a fair number of mandatory measures. And for folks who call themselves anti-government, they sure love themselves some government-sponsored gene-juice as loyalty-symbol. https://www.reddit.com/r/economicCollapse/comments/1i4yhc4/snubbing_trump_supporters/
I don’t feel super optimistic about Americans’ ability to handle diversity, that’s for sure. Lines being drawn in the sand and all that..
Rita, I’ll get in touch with you shortly
Thanks John. I’ll think about leaving that copy of Dune 😉 I’m hoping that the ranchers on the sandhills take good care of them and prevent a future dust bowl. Hope you have a good day.
@Rita Elizabeth Rippetoe #65
I went down the rabbit hole, and found many films of N@&! Party rallys through Duck Duck go.. The one I found of Shickelgruber actually giving the entire salute shows him on a podium with his arms by his side. He brings his arm up, then sort of throws it into the stiff arm salute. I’m not all that fond of Elon Overlord, but this is just total bullfeathers.
Much is being made that various German media claims that it’s an authentic salute, because, well, they’re GERMAN, and of course they would know! Actually the few Germans who’ve actually seen a real Nazi salute are in their late 80s, and probably don’t care to call attention to that part of their lives. Videos which we can easily find online are banned in Germany, so the vast majority of Germans have no idea what a Nazi salute is.
They can always ask Yaroslav Hunka, retired member of the Waffen SS and recently applauded by the Canadian Parliament, for his opinion.
I’ve made a habit of drawing the Three Rays of Light in evoking form over my meals and asking a blessing. So far so good, but I don’t know much about the Tribann beyond what’s in The Druidry Handbook and Morian’s entry in The Druid Revival Reader. Might you point me to some breadth and depth reading on the Tribann, or perhaps be persuaded to say a few words yourself?
Also, weather magic works. When I was a Boy Scout, my troop forcefully informed a lad from another troop that he would most certainly not be doing any more rain dances for the rest of our summer camp. Obviously, the stipulation prevented us from learning it since we didn’t want to try until he could come up with a dance to dispel the rain.
Oh well.
Anyway, the cold weather in DC seems like a backfire to me because it severely curtailed the opportunity for mischief. So – what are the mechanics of a snow working and is there a counterspell? I’m particularly interested in the latter since the continued non-normal cold is damaging my business and disrupting my personal life.
Also, also – is the utterly flatfooted response of Trump’s opponents to his cabinet picks and executive orders symptomatic of a magical fail, or is secular cause entirely responsible for what looks like a steamrolling in progress.
And, as always, many thanks for your efforts!
@mary
You’re Canuckistani? I don’t really have a strong opinion on this matter but according to this guy, they didn’t dot i’s and cross t’s properly in 1931 when the UK handed off power and cut Canuckistan loose. And they have yet to do so.
https://rumble.com/v5x4fs5-canada-the-illusion.html
Yes, I would be interested in a post on turning digital files to books. It would need to be pretty basic, as I’ve never done anything like bookbinding before. Expense is a huge issue. Acid free paper is pricey. Also, for example, I have a laser printer, but no idea if that would even be the right means for converting digital electrons to physical ink.
Not all printing is words though. I have a huge digital library of images related to re-creation of centuries-old styles of clothing; a lot of knitting and sewing related info and instruction relies on images rather than text. So does a lot of animal husbandry instruction. What is the best way to convert those kinds of digital electrons to paper and ink?
Somewhat off-topic, but related, is concern for preservation of music. We have something like 20 minutes of Roman music; I’d like a lot more than that to survive of our music. Vinyl records have made a comeback and that’s good. But the record players that play 33rpm require electricity, and the old Victrolas that don’t need power all run at 78rpm. And I know of no way to convert my 8,000-plus song collection- in a dozen different genres- into vinyl records.
The ephemeral nature of these things bothers me. Easy to collect, very difficult to make durable.
John Michael Greer,
What are your thoughts about Trump’s executive order banning birthright citizenship to the children of immigrants on a temporary visa living in the United States?
From last week’s post: “LeGrand, hmm! Many thanks for this — that book will fill a significant gap in my theory of historical cycles.”
The Randall Collins who wrote the book that LeGrand recommended also wrote a book titled The Sociology of Philosophies that I highly recommend as an overview of world philosophy that grounds philosophies in their societies. If you read it or already have read it, I would love to hear your take on it. With your background in the history of ideas, you would be able to critique much better than I can.
While I am at it, CIVILIZED SHAMANS: Buddhism in Tibetan Societies by Geoffrey Samuel explains why Vajrayana Buddhism thrived primarily in Tibet. (Tldr: “All beings have Buddhanature” is inherently politically subversive and Tibet had an unusual combination of 1) The writing-based civilization necessary to put such teachings into a form transmittable to other societies 2) An inability of the government to control most of its territory all too much and this the inability to suppress/marginalize/quarantine Vajrayana.
@enjoyer
Why rent while waiting? Get an RV trailer and live out of that on your own land while you figure out what you’re going to build or drag on it. When you’re done with it, sell it off or trade it to one of your relatives for other things.
You mentioned water and power already being there but I take it that you’re going to have to get a septic tank installed? Another reason to camp out next to where you’re hiring people to do things like that, is the quicker you can catch things, the cheaper it will go.
Enjoyer, once settled on your new property, I suggest, you MUST, MUST pay attention to local people, government, and so on. Whether you think they are all a bunch of cold pricklies or not. There is a big difference between being those blank, blank (hippies, Xtian holier than thou fanatics, etc.) and being Joe and Sal who are part of Our Community. That can make a big difference when someone with cash to flash wants to build a road, parking lot, private airfield, etc. and needs to persuade the relevant authorities to grant them eminent domain.
I continue with my American States quilt project. The Alaska block proved to be quite complicated, but I have it figured out now. Next, I plan to do CA, which looks fairly easy.
Tunesmyth, Linda is out of surgery and eating lunch as I type this. Thank you for updating that she was having her surgery today! It could be changed to “to be blessed and have a speedy and full recovery from cancer” if you deem so appropriate.
@erika lopez #58, JMG #59, MaryBennet #68, Kfish #81, Heather #86
Thank you all on the congratulations. Perhaps if I play something worth recording, I’ll put it online. @erika, just pick up the guitar occasionally and play with it. Sometimes you just can express something even with not really knowing any music. @Heather, electric guitar and piano are my instruments too. I’m not sure if I’m ready to convert to Catholicism yet, but I’ve always respected it. I’ve read St. Augustine’s Confessions and figure the Catholic Church has had about 1700 years to figure Christianity out, so they are at least worth listening to!
Here’s a data point on the ongoing maintenance crisis.
I live in the St. Louis, MO metro area. We get snow here, averaging about 18 to 20 inches a year. All the local, county, and state governments have snowplows and stockpiles of salt. Granted, we don’t usually get much snow at one time – winter storm warnings are issued when the NWS expects us to get 5 or 6 inches of snow – and school districts and some organizations cancel meetings on days when we get a few inches of snow. To get as much as 8 inches of snow in one storm doesn’t happen every year, but it does happen a few times in a decade. In the 40 years I have lived here we have had close to a foot of snow a few times. But in the past, by the end of the second day after a heavy snow (6 to 8 inches), the roads are plowed and life goes on as usual.
Starting on Jan. 5 and ending before sunrise on Jan. 6, we received 8 1/2 inches of wet snow with a little sleet mixed in. Jan. 5 was a Sunday; we all knew we’d get lots of snow; we all stayed in. We weren’t surprised when schools and libraries closed and businesses shut down or opened late on the 6th, and we knew it would take all day to plow that much snow. But we were surprised to wake up Tuesday morning and find that even the interstates still had snow-covered lanes on them, and that some arterial roads were barely passable. In past years all the arterials would have been plowed within 24 hours and the plows would be working on residential streets. This time, most schools and all the libraries remained closed on Tuesday – and many school districts, and the county libraries, were still closed on Wednesday because the plows still hadn’t gotten to some of the residential streets. Plus we had another 2 inches of snow on Friday, closing most of the schools again.
The last time we had 8 inches of snow was pre-covid. The response then was effective. This time it wasn’t. Yes, it’s very cold here; we still have snow cover from those two storms. Yes, salt doesn’t work as well in cold weather. But it’s not like that hasn’t happened in previous snows of this amount. Too few snowplow drivers in the various departments of transportation seems to be one issue. There may be others.
I received Yuval Harari’s Nexus as a gift. I wouldn’t have bought it myself, and I don’t actually recommend anybody to buy it – the belief in material progress and the anti-theism are just too virulent, too pervasive and too uncritically assumed. I also discount everything he says about the future of artificial intelligence based on the little hands-on experience I have with that myself.
However, I was surprised to find an interesting definition of information in the book, one could even call it the heart of the book: information is a connection between disparate facts, without any reference to truth or falsehood. Based on this definition, Harari expands on “intersubjective realities”, which bear quite some similarity to astral plane phenomena, and on “intersubjective networks”, which might just as well be called egregores.
There are also a number of interesting historical vignettes, which goes to show that a historian will always be a historian, even when writing about the future.
For those who don’t know, the BPA is the Bonneville Power Administration. It’s centered in eastern Washington State. As far as latitude it’s about 47 degrees North. Summer days reach nearly 16 hours, and by symmetry winter days are about 8 hours.
From November until about now there is a tendency for heavy overcast and minimal wind to settle into the area. It’s higher in all directions than this basin except for the Columbia River Gorge and there is only so much weather you can push through that canyon.
Dear JMG,
Few Magic Mondays ago someone brought up the belief in a world-ruling Masonic conspiracy and you mentioned the similarities between this kind of narrative and the myth of progress. If it’s just a variation or an inversion of one of our core myths, is it safe to assume this is not a universal phenomenon but a temporary anomaly caused by our poverty of narratives? Could we suppose future cultures will grapple with the unraveling of our society in a different, hopefully more adaptive way?
These beliefs are quite common here, by the way. I sometimes read the comments section of online newspapers to probe the public opinion on certain issues and they seem to be growing in popularity. However, I’m certain it was always in the air (I grew up hearing about it at home, I know it too well), probably due to our peculiar historical circumstances. I’d say it also has a different flavor here, more compatible with the Christian worldview.
Thanks for hosting this, as always.
Miguel aka Hispalensis
@Alan @Physics Teacher:
Alan said: “I don’t know if this relates precisely to the topic that you presented your talk about, but ever since I was young I have been interested and curious about how different people conceptualize time.”
If I understand your interest sufficiently, I thought to point out that NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) has a h-u-g-e sub-branch they call “sub-modalities” (how things such as belief, values, memories, fears, dreams, etc.) are encoded. What came from this hypothesis was the discovery that these things are encoded mostly in terms of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic terms with *nuances* distinguished by things such as visual: light/dark; color; glitter; translucence; LOCATION relative to the body, etc. Comparable distinctions exist for encoding of auditory, kinesthetic, etc.
What was then explored was whether peoples’ behavior could be changed by modifying the submodalities.
Now, one area of inquiry which engendered a lot of interest and results, was how things were encoded in the *space* surrounding the person. And, in particular, how TIME was encoded in relatively placement in space.
A huge sub-branch of submodality work was, thus, born in the form of exploring and changing relative spacial location of things related to *time*. What you are describing sounds fairly similar to this area of NLP which has the distinct name of “time-line therapy”. You might want to search that term, probably along with NLP, to see what you think.
HOWEVER, I think you owe it to yourself to do more of your own research FIRST so you can credibly satisfy yourself that your findings generally align — or conflict — with general conclusions and techniques uncovered by others. Hint: yes, indeed, everyone seems to have their unique ways of encoding these things, and there is much redundancy in the encoding (as you would hope there would be, so people don’t too-easily confuse reality with fantasy), but there does appear to be a LOT of general conclusions (suggested in commonly-agreed “odd” expressions such as “down right” X and “You should look forward to a bright future.”
Good fun!
JMG, it’s open post season, so I guess I can comment on political issues, right? Looking from afar, it seems your new president is pushing things hard and fast, much more than anybody anticipated. I just couldn’t believe he pardoned the silk road guy and basically froze the asylum process overnight! And he seems to be reducing American presence abroad. I wonder if his coalition plans to reduce the empire to a more manageable size? It would be a smart move, China and Russia would love to have their spheres of influence accepted.
@Alan (#22)
Special Relativity would tell us that time and motion and inextricably linked. Our passage through space affects our passage through time. Spacetime is one thing not two.
I would say that in the motion of the heavens lies our keeping of time. The spinning of the earth gives us our day. The cycle of the sun on the horizon gives us our year. The cycle of the moon gives us our “month.” And, the wandering seven gods of the sky gives us our week. Time is the motions of the heavens.
@Earthworm #18 Jesus as presented in the 4 Gospels had a quite personal Father God centric spirituality, modeling it and teaching “Our Father which art in heaven” “pray to your Father who is there in secret”Of course attempts have been to rescue him from such unseemly primitive childlike notions by trying to shoehorn him into being actually some sort of Hindu, Buddhist or Taoist and by reducing the intensely Personal Father to a “ground of being” or Neoplatonic One. My own experience of Jesus is him being the bridge or mediator to a loving God the Father as expressed in this verse from the Bible “for through him (Jesus) we both (Jew and non-Jew) have access to the Father by the one Spirit” Ephesians 2:18 This knowing of the divine as Father has an ancient and widespread heritage as seen in the following Encyclopedia article concerning the High God. As a Christian I can even fit my Father God knowing as an Henotheistic experience embedded in a polytheistic reality with the Deity of Jesus connecting me to the Deity of the Father by the inward gift of the Deity of the Holy Spirit. What fun and joy and life!
https://www.britannica.com/topic/High-God
@Ecosophy Enjoyer: “Speaking of the Nebraska Sandhills, (comment #59) my wife and I are in the process of purchasing land in a little town . . . .”
Congratulations! While I’m sure John will have his own take, your plan seems very solid and unusually complete to me!
One piece of advice (from someone who learned the hard way): BE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN YOU WILL BE ALLOWED TO BUILD WHAT YOU NEED TO BUILD *BEFORE* YOU CLOSE ON THE LAND. Try hard to get a clear idea, ideally in writing, from a credible source as to costs of construction, hook-up to utility costs, etc.
I’ve had it happen more than once that a piece of land I thought I could build on had severe restrictions I wasn’t counting on. Because of this, even when I am looking for a piece of land I try really hard to find something which has a long-standing “hovel,” at least; that is the best (but not always sufficient) evidence living there, at least, is permitted/accepted by the local governance boards. Words aren’t enough. I got taken to the cleaner by jumping too quickly on a piece of property outside a cute little town, only to find out the cute little town was remarkably corrupt and that the property had various restrictions on it I never would have imagined (“what do you mean I can’t put a road on it, because I am within X feet of a stream?” What do you mean there are “use restrictions,” toxic waste concerns with the water, setback rules, “clouds on the title,” “ancient indian burial ground” etc. etc. etc.
I had a number of successful land investments where I moved quickly, without IRON-CLAD guarantees, and everything went fine. And then I had one or two where I was clearly the out-of-towner who found out, the hard way, I was “what is for lunch”.
Still, I want to encourage you, because I think your plan is great. Maybe, at least, get town approval, in writing, for you to semi-permanently park a travel trailer there or, better yet, give them sufficient documentation of a “small” (kit) cabin you want to occupy IMMEDIATELY, pending later making that your “garage” or workshop, and preliminary plans for a sufficiently larger bigger house. If you CAN’T get the town to go along with any sort of “tiny home” today, you should be considerably concerned things are not going to get any easier down the road. Bureaucracy keeps on growing by demanding more and more blood sacrifices.
You might
Hello JMG & Commentariat,
Nice to talk with you all again.
Re: Jeff Russell regarding Inverse Frugal Friday:
I am interested in a post on the subject. I’d like to learn valuable skills that can assist in the preservation of knowledge as our society winds down. It would be a good use of my time.
JMG & Commentariat:
I have learned a thing or two about magic over the past few months, and it has made a positive impact on my life. I have determined that I would like to learn more about magic so that I can understand what I am doing with magic. I am wondering if there is a book that comprehensively covers the basics of magic. Any guidance is appreciated.
@Patricia Mathews says: “P.S. Steve Bannon has told an Italian newspaper that “Elon Musk is a truly evil guy” he’d like to see run out of Trump’s orbit. Part of his reason is that Musk leans heavily of HB-1 foreign employees instead of hiring Americans, and that Musk’s only motive is more and more wealth.”
Maybe all that is true — and maybe it is not. Comparably, if not worse, things were said about Trump all along the way. What we can be pretty sure of is
(1) Trump very likely wouldn’t have one Pennsylvania, at least (and that state was critical), if Musk hadn’t jumped in, with both feet, to creatively, yet personally, campaign for him.
(2) We now have a long line of Musk behaviors and actions to square what he *says* versus what he does.
(3) Musk ABSOLUTELY put everything on the line by:
(a) buying Twitter (a horrible investment, by any sensible measure, and something the “left” basically forced him to complete)
(b) disclosing the “Twitter files” PROVING Briben and the Fed were lying and propagandizing to the American People, and strangling free speech.
(c) a congruence and consistency between Musk’s startups and the avowed primary goal of putting humans on Mars. Even relative underperformers such as “The Boring Company” are clearly linked to gaining ability to do massive underground construction (on Mars, the surface is highly toxic due to heavy radiation hitting the surface soil, but the underground has water and is free of the toxicity problem).
Give Musk a little benefit of the doubt, or “trust but verify”. The US absolutely needs to attract talent from around the world. Yes, we have a lot of people here, but our “average IQ” is hugely lagging the average IQ of, say, China, and a number of other ethnic groups. The STEM education standards from a number of Asian countries, in particular China, makes our educational standard look like a joke. And, although we should still be highly careful about who we make an H1 Visa for, the truth is that if the best and brightest can’t come here, they will go elsewhere. Einstein, and hundreds of thousands of out-performing major contributors to the US lead in various fields, effectively came here on “an H1 Visa” job offer. Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face…even if “Steve Bannon” says you should. Trust but verify.
P.S. I started off being highly suspect of both Donald Trump AND, especially, Elon Musk. Both have won my respect by putting THEMSELVES directly in the line of fire. Compare/contrast this with folks like Zuckerberg, Bezos, etc. etc. etc.
Those two words, synonymous with the ‘rules-based, liberal world order’, so beloved of wealthy western elites, just roll off the tongue don’t they, this glow-ball-izm, with those wide open vowels, just like lib-er-all-izm, both sounding wonderful with the izm at the end giving an added zing, especially if you don’t stop to think about what they really entail.
The 2020 vote was one great big ant-farm of electoral irregularity, swarming with procedural and numerical crawlies that taken together point in a direction opposite to that of triumphant official accounts of a free and fair election. And all in aid of preserving said rules-based, liberal world order from the depredations of the vanquished presidential aspirant.
But what could a reasonable person expect given the prior four years of nonsensical accusations and investigations plus the spectacle of justice officials saying they’re out to ‘get Trump’. But the inquisitors’ determination to stake the Orange Devil didn’t slacken after the bent 2020 results were signed and sealed. No, simple defeat by the obviously disabled Biden wasn’t enough, not nearly, efforts therefore redoubling, taking shape as a skein of prosecutorial persecutions that nobody not named Trump would have had to endure.
But, not only was it the attention of a partisan justice system, there were the two assassination attempts. Stupid me, how many times have I said that American agencies no longer have the stomach to blow off Oval Office interlopers a la JFK and RFK.
Boy, was I wrong. But, even if the viciousness was still there, the know-how wasn’t, and so laughable screw-ups abounded. I know, two dead and three wounded including Trump, and so there’s nothing funny, but the point is the Three Stooges scenarios that played out either in security arrangements or in the selection and training of shooters. It was as embarrassing to watch as the farcically incompetent retreat from Afghanistan which itself accomplished the impossible, it made the Italian army look a model of military efficiency in comparison.
It seems that the US is in the business of the impossible lately, what with Democrats managing to nominate candidates worse than Trump and managing to mount losing campaigns despite being so well marbled by billionaire billions, plus the eager assistance of a Deep State dead-set in its antipathy to the loathed Agent Orange. All this and still the Democrats lose.
And on top of all this, Trump wants to take over Canada.
I’m planning on starting my own appliance repair business. I’ve got a few questions, ranging from magical to mundane (four context in the magical side of things, I’m a graduate of the Dolmen Arch, but currently out-of-practice. I don’t know any divination, including astrology):
1) What is your advice for timing the creation of my Llc? It will be done almost entirely on line. I’m assuming the start of the process is the relevant moment for timing.
2) Is there a basic candle working out something similar you can recommend I do to promote the success of my venture?
3) I’m a bit anxious about the economic future of the US (where I live and will be doing business), but am not sure how that will running an appliance repair business. I can see it going a few different ways. How do you think small businesses will fair in the coming years? I’ll be on my own with no employees, if that’s relevant.
Thank you in advance
JMG question: Is there any reason the Mundane Astrology forecasts couldn’t be usefully used to make predictions about every Presidency far in advance? From what I read, you only use the time and date of the beginning to draw the charts — am I correct — and then examine over a specific time period? Isn’t this, effectively, the same (or equivalent) drawing up charts for an individual based, only, on the variable of birth time?
If so, why doesn’t everyone just get a program to draw up the charts for every person, every country, and substantially map out the primary influences and challenges, for that national election cycle, or individual, etc?
I may be missing something critical, and suspect I am, but I am putting my “silly” question out there, nevertheless. However, what I am NOT missing (at least I don’t think I am) is the role the person studying the chart plays in the interpretation. I believe you’ve made the comment that the role of all the valid methods of “Divination” is actually to get the human higher-self/intuition (what would you call the part of oneself which interprets the signs) to do draw insights from the physical divination? Or do I have that massively wrong?
I’ve been following you for the better part of 20 years. One thing I keep asking myself is what is the difference between magic as you practice it, and something like NLP (or even New Thought, or Buddhist esotericism) as I practice it. Most of the pieces I was missing, originally, have revealed themselves sufficiently through the years, for me to feel comfortable with the idea of magic as you describe it. For example, your explaining the critical role of the “Will”, as fundamental to the Mage’s power, was something I didn’t understand to begin with, but have come to agree with. Similarly with many of your other premises, such as the strawberry jam principle, etc. The role equivalence of ‘trance’ and ‘enchantment’, is another example of my coming to reconcile my own experiences and beliefs with your wisdom. But the mapping of “Divination,” in particular, remained a puzzle for me. Until I started to think in terms of my own use of ideomotor/trance communication with my own “parts” (my word, which I am roughly equating with “gods”, at least at for now) and tools such as Chevreul’s Pendulum (https://www.hypnosiscenter.com/free-article-pendulum.htm).
Maybe my mapping is invalid on some level obvious to you? If so, I’d appreciate your guidance on how to better understand your meaning — and your experience. And my starting question about why the Astrological forecasts for a specific Presidential cycle needs to await the actual swearing in ceremony would still seem applicable.
So I have a couple of questions on there: (1) Astrology and (2) Divination in general and other mappings across various systems of working with “magic”. Thanks, as always, for any enlightenment!
About taking over Canada, one has to laugh. The only Canuck I can think of that might be in favor is Kevin O’Leary and as for the rest, given the relentless previously mentioned fubaring, plus the nasty American gun culture, the carnivorous greed of a medical system that gives no quarter, the in-your-face education rackets, and the multiple invasions of foreign realms at disastrous cost, including ignominious defeat, who in their right mind in the Great White North wants this?
See, ambition without talent is a terrible thing, and while the Canuck PM is a walking-talking example, and while it would be hard to underestimate this overgrown surfer boy, Justin is as Socrates next to the deranged Biden and a paragon of temperance as compared to that blustering buffoon with an out of control blow-hole. And there’s always the practicalities to consider of acquiring a territory with 41 million people already living on it, most of whom would vote Democrat, assuming they get full voting rights, thus upending a finely balanced US political system.
Or can you imagine the newly acquired voters insisting on casting their ballots for home-grown parties, Liberal, Conservative, NDP all of which govern to the left of Bernie Sanders. Maybe not to the left of AOC and The Squad, but AOC and co aren’t Left in any meaningful sense anyways and besides, they’re all crazy.
Ok well, there’s Pierre Poilievre who struts about, incessantly quacking about axing the tax, there’s the indomitable Jagmeet Singh, he of mighty beard and neon turban, who confronts brawny hecklers nose-to-nose (while security guards stand there smirking with their thumbs in their suspenders). And there’s the Liberal leadership candidates like the former head of the Bank of Canada (and also the Bank of England), globalist errand boy extraordinaire, a real-life Zelig, a master at quantum superpositioning, of indeterminate shape and place and origin, simultaneously from – and citizen of – everywhere and nowhere, I guess because, well, does anyone actually know where he’s from? Whatsisname anyway, does he have a name? He must, yes, Art Carney or something.
Can you imagine any one of these running for president? Can’t happen? Why not? Trump happened.
You never know with Trump so I would implore the Joint Chiefs to collectively decline a Trump order to invade Canada. I can foresee calamity, given the Afghanistan debacle, the great fear being a northern invasion executed with such ineptitude as to inflict defeat on itself, not even making it to the border before the American capitulation, with nary a shot fired, except by accidental discharge. I can just see columns of dejected and demoralized American troops trying to make their way north to surrender to whatever dog catcher they see passing by and then maybe applying for refugee status. Worse, much worse, I can picture Canadian hosts trying to cheer up depressed POWs with theatrical performances of Come From Away. But I would expect Canadian magnanimity in peace negotiations, a swift return of American prisoners, no hard feelings and I would expect whoever is PM to tell Canadian comedians to put a lid on it.
If the soldier boys do make it to their assigned objectives, they should keep in mind the multitude of hazards, to name a few, poutine, Screech and icy roads, all well known. But there’s worse, much, much worse. See, the male of the species, ever hopeful, invariably and vastly overestimates his own attractiveness to the fairer sex. So that results in the usual awkwardness, you know, the deep, exasperated sigh, the unbelieving eyeball roll which every guy not living as a recluse has seen, especially me. But Canadian gals wield hockey sticks. No, seriously, they do. Expect the same even from newer arrivals because, believe it or not, newcomers imbibe hockey culture, and believe it or not, there’s Punjabi language Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts. So, while those dusky babes may look tempting, they might be up as much for a bench clearing brawl as for a roll in the hay. You just don’t know.
But the national sport isn’t even hockey and hasn’t been for a while. It’s auto theft and carjacking. Expect a lot of military vehicles to vanish and then reappear in Nigeria.
And just as seriously, expect deaths of despair from Toronto traffic. And MIAs, guys sent on errands by their COs disappearing into the gridlock. And if the 401 isn’t the Indy 500 on any given day, then it’s a demolition derby. If American soldier boys have it in them to drive, then we must laud their bravery but they should call loved ones and bid tearful farewells. That or write last letters home.
2Physics Teacher says (#111): Special Relativity would tell us that time and motion and inextricably linked. Our passage through space affects our passage through time. Spacetime is one thing not two.
I am not trying to be pedantic, but I would like to remark that Special Relativity (as with all physics) doesn’t quite “tell” us anything–rather, it is a simplified model to explain some aspect of an underlying reality. Sometimes it “works” and sometimes it “doesn’t work” (in the case of special relativity, it breaks down when introducing non-inertial frames, for example, and so far has not been able to be made consistent with quantum mechanics).
For a more (to me) interesting critique, when someone asked Ramana Maharshi about what he thought of Einstein’s theory of relativity, which is based on how two observers would interpret the same event from different vantage points, Ramana replied that he rejected the concept that there could ever be two observers, since in reality all is one. Either way, there is a lot of ambiguity between a model and the underlying reality it represents, and that tends to be where the “real fun stuff” happens, IMO.
JMG, et al
I am interested in your opinion on Trump’s focus/ threats against Canada, Greenland and Panama.. It seems to me that the US has already lost to Russia in Ukraine, and, once it realizes this, will very likely begin to withdraw from Europe/ NATO. If it withdraws to a fortress America position, Greenland and northern Canada become very important strategically facing Russia across the Arctic. I think there is also hope of the Arctic region being rich in resources,though unless ANWR proves to be another Prudhoe Bay ( which I have heard questioned from early surveys) I would guess the EROI would be too low to be economically viable.
I imagine too that the threats about the Panama canal are mostly aimed at Chinese control of the ports there. I wonder if there may over time be a tacit US withdrawal from the Western Pacific in exchange for a Chinese withdrawal from the Americas. I doubt this is being consciously considered at this point, but the choices of countries that Trump is bullying is interesting in this context, even if on a subconscious level.
Even a diplomatic conflict between the US and Denmark over Greenland might be sufficient for one of them to withdraw from NATO, giving the US an excuse to withdraw from Europe, though as ( I believe it was Robert Wagner) the Hungarian director used to say ” we’ll all have passed a lot of water by then”
Stephen
Clay, I suspect it’s a mix of factors. Providing more jobs for the working classes has to be his first priority, as that’s essential to keep them from turning on him; once that’s settled, I expect legal immigration to be allowed to increase, probably with a lot of public fuss made about immigration from Europe (as that won’t upset his supporters as much as immigration from the global South). He may also intend to try to boost the birth rate. At the same time, he has a lot of grudges to pay off, and it should be fairly easy for his administration to make sure that his allies among the rich are protected against the downside of economic contraction while his opponents get shellacked.
TemporaryReality, no surprises there. Many of the organizations you read about on Reddit will very likely find out that “get woke, go broke” applies to them as well. The Trumpistas are perfectly able to create organizations of their own — witness the emergence of an entire circuit of right-wing science fiction fandom, with its own conventions, and book sales that dwarf those of the acceptably liberal stuff the big corporate presses churn out.
Enjoyer, there’s only so much ranchers can do if the annual rainfall drops far enough. That said, I hope they can delay the inevitable as long as possible.
Rhydlyd, I’ve never seen an in-depth discussion of the Tribann. As usual in Druidry, you get taught how to trace the tree rays of light / | \ , and then left to figure things out by themselves. As for an anti-snow working, the situation’s already unstable enough! Talk to the gods and let them take care of it.
Anonymous, the use of “anchor babies” by illegal immigrants to prevent their expulsion from the country has been a common and abusive practice for decades now. It’s about time that a stop be put to it. I’m very much in favor of legal immigration — and the US has made that far too difficult in recent years — but if someone breaks the law to come here, they shouldn’t be able to thumb their nose at the law by getting pregnant.
Jessica, thanks for these. I wonder if Samuel also took into account the fact that esoteric Buddhism also thrived in Japan.
SLClaire, many thanks for the data points! Interestingly, though we had our first real snowfall in two years on Sunday, the local governments here in Rhode Island seem to have handled it with some degree of efficiency. I’m not at all sure what the difference is.
Aldarion, fascinating.
Miguel, unfortunately Spain has a long history of anti-Masonic hysteria and violent persecution. The Falangist regime, as you doubtless know, rounded up and killed thousands of Freemasons and many more who were merely suspected of being Masons, and similar scenes took place at intervals further back, all the way to the eighteenth century; that’s one of the uglier fruits of Catholic bigotry against the Craft. Of course blaming some minority group for society’s problems is found all through history and all around the world, but the specific fixation on a world-ruling conspiracy seems to be a European obsession — whether it’s the Masons, the Jews, the Reptilians, or I don’t know who else, it’s the same mythology, and usually leads to atrocities.
Bruno, I know of no other president in US history who’s acted so fast in so many areas. (FDR did a lot in a hurry in 1933, but his efforts were more focused.) Clearly Trump had people working for him long before the election, preparing drafts of executive orders and working out policies, and put that into overdrive once he won. I don’t propose to guess just what else he has in mind, but I doubt he’s run out of things to do yet; this may just be the beginning of a tremendous wave of changes.
Mrdobner, depends very much on what kind of magic you want to learn. Magic isn’t a single field of study — just as science contains a great many individual sciences, magic contains a great many individual approaches to magic. What kind of magic have you done over the last few months? Knowing that, I should be able to point you to something.
Smith, we have definitely entered the age of the absurd…
Alexander, (1) yes, the moment you start the process is the one to watch. Day and hour of Mercury might be a good choice. (2) Sure. Orange candle, hour of Mercury on eight successive Wednesdays, and recite the Orphic hymn to Mercury. (3) Assuming you keep your overhead as low as possible, appliance repair is likely to do very well — in an era of economic contraction, especially with the global economy likely to come unglued, a lot of people will either want or need to have their existing appliances fixed, because getting new ones will be (a) too pricey (b) too risky or (c) not even an option. I’d say go for it.
Gnat, knowing what the stars indicate in the abstract is the easy part. Figuring out how that relates to current political and economic trends is the hard part — and the part that matters. That takes a good general knowledge of present conditions, a sense of which history is most relevant, and a good solid helping of raw intuition. As for your broader question, all forms of divination draw heavily on the fact that we all know more than we realize, but most of that knowledge isn’t conscious. Astrology appears to combine this with actual, though subtle, cyclical relationships between planetary movements and events on earth. How does that work? Nobody knows; try getting the grant money to find out — but it does appear to work.
Smith, I’m quite sure Trump is using the rhetoric about taking over Canada to distract his opponents while he pursues other goals. He’s really good at playing the blustering moron as camouflage, you know.
Stephen, I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what’s going on. Trump (and the sectors of the elite that have lined up behind him) seem to have decided that a retreat from global empire is the only way to keep the US from crashing and burning. Leaving Europe and our client states in the western Pacific to twist in the wind are essential steps in that. The staged bluster about Canada and Panama are convenient ways to pressure both countries into falling in line. As for Greenland, my guess is that it’ll be pried loose from Denmark, become notionally independent, and receive plenty of US cash in exchange for military bases and resource concessions.
@120 Stephen Pearson
I don’t know that much about geopolitics, and hope someone could tell me whether couping Venuzuela to get their resources would be a smart move for the USA, or if it’d backfire. (If we retreat from the Middle East, we would want to secure other oil-rich states even more than we already do.)
@Patrick #88
Yes, the ‘block’ universe. Well, it depends on how you look at it. The block universe approach presupposes the objectification and reification of time. But if you’re starting from first principles from a phenomenological approach, you’ll realize that time isn’t real, especially if you go into meditative states which distort your perception of time. Because as John said to Kimberly in #59, Kant showed that time and space are parts of our intuitive perception. The world outside of our minds may not have space and time at all, it only seems to because we evolved to perceive it that way. The same way that color is in our minds, time and space is as well.
@The Other Owen #101
The reason I didn’t mention an RV trailer in my plan is because unfortunately, one of the building restrictions in the town is that RV trailers need to have a foundation below them, you’re not allowed to just park it anywhere on your property. Apparently that didn’t stop the people across the street from the property from doing just that, though. Maybe it is unenforced. As for the septic tank, yeah, I probably will have to do that. I’m going to do a deeper dive into building restrictions, maybe an RV is workable and I am mistaken.
@Mary Bennet #102
I have some limited experience in navigating life in small towns, (in my adolescence I lived in one for a bit). I will make sure to pay attention to the local people and to be friendly and respectful no matter how they feel about me. One thing I do worry about is my Mormon background. There are a lot of churches in town, none of them are Mormon. I’m not a believing Mormon anymore, but I am mostly unacquainted with mainstream Christianity. So I will be an outsider no matter what in some ways. Thank you for the advice, I will follow it.
@gnat #113
This is fantastic advice, thank you very much. I’ve looked into building restrictions and while they aren’t super severe, I think I need to look into them more to make sure I am not in for any nasty surprises. I will definitely work on getting approval for a trailer and send them the kind of manufactured home I am planning to put on the land. Those are some rock solid suggestions. Thank you very much.
The Samuels book Civilized Shamans does not, as I recall, discuss Japan. I read it about thirty years ago so I am sure I forget all the details, but it made quite an impression on me! His interest is not so much on the theological particularities of vajrayana Buddhism, but more on the vitality of the Tibetan religious scene. He does take a look around the world for similar places and comes up with Morocco, where there is a nice mix of long distance cultural exchange with enough isolation, too.
I wonder about science. Seems to me that over the last 400 years or so, science has been remarkably vital. There is enough coordination among researchers and disciplines that the whole thing hangs together pretty well, and yet it still hasn’t quite ossified into a castle of orthodoxy. Or at least not until recently. Maybe it is the present wave of globalization that has reduced the needed level of isolation, so the whole system has now frozen up.
I wrote some more about this: https://interdependentscience.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-disintegration-of-science.html
An additional note regarding Byung-Chul Han’s works. As has been said before, they are usually fairly short in length but very dense works – straight to the point. It is something many authors could learn from.
If one goes through burnout Society, I would recommend his response to that issue ‘Vita Contemplativa: In Praise of Inactivity’. It advocates for a more medatative/contemplative life that has meaning and not just action.
Mr JMG,
My prior experience with magic was a prayer for positivity on my birthday. I wrote a positive affirmation for every singe year of my life. It resulted in plenty of good energy.
I am most interested in utilizing magic to improve my life. I have tried the modern solution – therapy with a psychiatrist – and it never seemed to work.
Specifically, I am interested in lower level prayers to bring about positive solutions in the world. Additionally, I am interested in astrology. I am not sure how astrological readings work (and I imagine they require a fair amount of work!) but those are the areas of magic that interest me.
@JMG & Clay – I have trimmed the original quote for space. “Providing more jobs for the working classes has to be his first priority, as that’s essential to keep them from turning on him; “,”legal immigration to be allowed to increase” , “He may also intend to try to boost the birth rate.”
It has been a very consistent criticism of two party systems that it is possible that in 4 years, the pendulum swings back towards the opposition and they will try to undo all that. It makes any sort of movement incredibly difficult. You could fill a library with the criticism of democracy, it is still one of the best systems/least worst systems out there.
Credit to the political system in China, they can at least steer the ship over a longer period towards their goals but that also means they can build bigger systems of oppression.
There is no winning move but a move has to be made.
(Responding to my own comment)
Theosophy is a form of new age occultism that keeps coming up for me when I explore the world of magic.
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn also seems to reappear whenever I start looking into magic.
I suppose I need to do more research on both of these orders before I proceed with my studies. I need to find the route that speaks to me best.
All,
If I can second JMG’s excellent analysis above of the Greenland, Canada,Mexico and Panama moves. This is about securing the USA’s buffer zones, similar to what Putin is doing in Ukraine and what China is doing around Taiwan. No sane state wants an adversary embedded in it’s neighbors and China has been making overtures to all of them. This is about securing our near abroad for the Great Game, plus resources of course.
In the case of Trudeau, I’m sure Trump knew how much he is despised in his own country, and ours too! So treating him as he deserved and punching him in the mouth figuratively was a favor to the Canadian people to show how weak their leader really was. I still remember all the police snipers watching kids playgrounds during the trucker’s Covid strikes. Those are Trump’s most hard core supporters here. I would have expected that from Germany or Britain but Canada? WOW. Don’t read too much into the humiliation, we’re not invading Canada unless they keep getting cozy with the Chinese. Panama maybe if the Chinese can’t be dislodged peacefully. I give you Taiwan, you give us back our canal.
I am curious about Canada and Greenland astrologically (not politically, speaking).
Let’s say the US were to take over both at the same time sometime this year (I know this is highly unlikely). If you look at the astrological chart for both places as of Dec 31, 2025, would you see indications of death, or of a new birth? Also, would you see the astrological characteristics of both places look increasingly like those of the United States (and vice-versa), as the places begin to share a common fate as a common entity?
On a (slightly) political note, I somewhat disagree with your comment about “a retreat from global empire is the only way to keep the US from crashing and burning. Leaving Europe and our client states in the western Pacific to twist in the wind are essential steps in that.” A retreat from a global empire almost necessitates alliances with the rest of the world. Trump seems to be burning any remaining goodwill with the rest of the world and removing any possibility of strong alliances with other countries.
I am not saying this is good or bad, incidentally–only that it is a somewhat irreversible position that is inconsistent with a retreat from empire, I think. Then again, so is the idea of insisting that the US Dollar remain the only reserve currency and at the same time trying to end trade deficits and insisting that foreign countries establish businesses in the US (like, this is literally Economics 101).
“Jessica, thanks for these. I wonder if Samuel also took into account the fact that esoteric Buddhism also thrived in Japan.”
I don’t remember Japanese Vajrayana coming up much except perhaps for a mention of that fact that it exists. Samuel was writing about the TIbetan case. I have read somewhere in a Tibetan Vajrayana source that the Japanese don’t have the full package, but I don’t know enough to begin to judge the accuracy of a claim that might be self-serving or might be true.
On the other hand, the various national branches of Zen do have the inherent Buddha nature teaching. I think they were politically neutered mostly by quarantining Zen into monasteries away from the lay folks (at least the deepest esoteric parts).
In Tibet though, it is fascinating to see how the agriculturally productive valleys, which can support enough government to keep things in line, are dominated by the Gelugpas (the Dalai Lama’s one of the four main schools) and have a Mahayana (not Vajrayana) Buddhism that is safe for political hierarchy.
In a sense, Tibet from roughly 1000 to 1800 or so might serve as one example of post-decline society. Tibet became quite rich from its control of key portions of the Silk Roads, the fell into chaos and decentralizatoin when those Silk Roads lost importance. It is precisely that TIbet had at one time been economically developed enough to have writing and to cast the deepest teachings in a universalist form that made it important. A western Tibetan lama I knew said that he ran into the deepest teachings in the Amazon too but they were oral and very much tied to the specific land that the tribe had lived on. So when the land was taken and the culture mostly lost, the deepest teachings vanished.
Pre-modern Tibet can also serve as one model of how occult teachings can reach an accommodation with the broader society. TLDR: The lamas provided necessary social services, such as taming spirits that were causing avalanches on mountain passes or taming spirits causing epidemics (Chod) and divination and in return society tolerated and supported Vajrayana Buddhism.
I need to make a little extra money but am too sick right now to hold a regular paid job. Does anyone have any suggestions for something I could do at home? Tried offering tutoring services but unfortunately the districts around here offer it free.
Hi Quin my apologies for not keeping you updated -Bridget is doing ok and has returned home- I will ask my son for a further update and let you know. I do know that she has some memory loss and is on a fairly significant motor function rehab program. She said to my son —“I’m told I have met you. Thank you for nudging me and for offering this. Thanks JMG for hosting it.
Hey JMG
Have you ever read the classic gothic novella “Vathek”? I’ve begun reading it recently, though I have had to pause doing so on account of having just moved into a new house.
Greetings all,
A few years back, JMG wrote on a magic monday the following: “It was when we landed on the Moon that lunar energies exploded into prominence back here on Earth.”
(1) Can we have some examples of what you meant by the above?
(2) Presumably, lunar energies are combinations of solar and telluric currents that flow throughout the ether?
Thank You!
Happy New Year to all.
Lots of folk here voted for Mr Trump with no reluctance, not only keen to get rid of the moribund Democrats but eager for the orange king.
I would like to know whether there is any buyers’ remorse so far, any surprise at what is happening at the top or whether people are generally satisfied with their choice and looking forward to what’s coming.
Thank you!
JMG 59, Fra’ Lupo 76 & BeardTtree 112
Thank you all; good stuff to chew on and consider.
Meditating on things this morning I raised a particular question and the ‘answer’ made me laugh:
‘Fools rush in where angels fear to tread”
Has anyone ever heard of the watcher (or whatever) manifesting as a distraction or temptation?
BeardTree 112
I had to look up henotheistic!
Fra’ Lupo 76
“To form a relationship with the Divine, we need something more approachable, something that can be comprehensible to our limited human faculties.”
I see what you are saying – I can’t even get my head around the size of the earth, sun, solar system or local galaxy, let alone the rest of manifest universe or cosmos.
At the same time, we already have a relationship with the divine and it is with us always; for example, the superficial breath of air is the tip of the proverbial iceberg – beyond the breath of the physical body every inhalation and exhalation and the pauses between are a constant participation in the current of Life for without that relationship we would not be alive in the physical form. And of course when we stop breathing the relationship does not stop, it just changes.
JMG 59
“Earthworm, the Divine is beyond all human concepts, but since we’re limited creatures, we have to use concepts in order to relate to it.”
In the struggle to comprehend it is easy to forget that forgetting about limits does not remove them.
Thinking more I wonder if I start to understand the focus on love and beauty. They are not the divine but an expression of it and it is an internal ‘knowing’ but not necessarily ‘understanding’… but then that is what the work is about – developing up to our limits so when the relationship of the spark to the source changes at death, some new understanding and a new set of limits will manifest.
And for some (the Sages and Saints and Avatars) there is understanding in this here and now.
Sometimes this place really does come across as a training ground!
So I moved “The King In Orange” to the top of my get-to list following a discussion about it here a couple months ago, and I have to say, I absolutely loved it! I mean, it’s like a JMG’s greatest hits album. It belongs in the honor roll of your titles on my shelf, along with “After Progress” and “Retrotopia.” (Almost everything you write is fantastic, but I do have my personal preferences…)
My wife read it too, and just turned it over and started again. I’ll probably follow suit before really moving on to the next thing. I got a book hangover from it!
Cheers.
A few different points:
1. I read a few schizo posts lately on Twitter, quoting from 4chan. They speculate that the recent mass drone sightings are due to an underwater civilization. This article is from last year but was revived again recently: https://gfodor.medium.com/the-intraterrestrial-hypothesis-e1fb9ab6b774
I don’t believe the claims, but it’s interesting how this mythos rejects the “going to space” narrative. In its own way this mythos still believes that the current tech trends will continue, but not to infinity but some kind of stasis.
2. At the beginning of month when votes for the 5th Wednesday topic were being tabulated, there was some discussion of Spengler. Personally, a number of themes in his work interest me: cultures that don’t quite fit neatly into his model of the great cultures (Japan, Tibet, Malayo-Polynesian, many more), how the exported “civilizations” to cultures that didn’t grow up with the same history work out (as in the current Faustian civilization being exported all around the world), how the geography and land itself shapes the phenotype of the genetic stock, and more. But I think to start with here, talking about Spengler’s work itself, I just want to point out this German site which has all his works:
http://www.zeno.org/Philosophie/M/Spengler,+Oswald
A post-humous translation of “Frühzeit der Weltgeschichte. Fragmente aus dem Nachlass” has been released as “The Early Days of World History”. I’ve mentioned it before but will mention it here again, Spengler identifies several different stages of human culture that precede a fuily-fledged Great Culture, focusing on Iron Age and older cultures mainly. This work is very intriguing but fragmentary.
However, on Zeno.org you can see another work that hasn’t been translated to English: Zur Weltgeschichte des zweiten vorchristlichen Jahrtausends. I believe some of his research into this book, led on to the fragmentary work on the early days of World History. It focuses on the late Bronze Age to the Iron Age, especially as it applies to two ancient names recorded in Greek: Tartessos and Elysion. He thinks that there are at least two separate cultures associated with each of these. Behind Tartessos, ancient culture that had trade goods spanning the Western Mediterranean to the Atlantic from the 4th millennium that left traces in the -ssos ending of some Greek place names; Elysion, likely a cultic word that referred to the “East”, descended from the culture of the Linear A writers, which he calls Kafti. Today the Romanization Keftiu is more common, but both terms are descended from the same hieroglyphs and refer to the polity based in Crete that inherited the Tartessian trade routes.
In “Early Days of World History”, Spengler developed these ideas more, contrasting Turan/The North, Atlantis (the elements that formed Tartessos), and Kash, the stone-building, monumental cultures of the South. He deliberately keeps these labels vague as he doesn’t want to associate them with any particular area, besides a general direction and spirit.
One area that I’m interested in exploring is how Spengler’s ideas have matched up with modern finds.
I am not a scholar, but a few things come to mind. First and foremost is ancient DNA. Within archaeology itself, ancient DNA has spearheaded a revolution in understanding human migration. The “peaceful” spread of Indo-European is hard to maintain now, with the discovery that Yamnaya-associated Y-chromosomes largely displaced the ancient peoples of Europe. Across Spengler’s work, and in early 20th century anthropology in general, the idea of a race of vigorous, violent adventurers spreading the PIE languages, some eventually losing their racial character to the subjugated races was a common trope, I mean, it’s even in Robert E Howard. So this seems broadly true at least regarding the violent spread of Indo-European.
Another thing is the origins of the Yamnaya culture, and PIE itself. Ancient DNA research has broadly associated the genetic signatures associated with Yamnaya with the term “Western Steppe Herder”. WSH itself was descended from a mix between Ancient North Eurasians, who lived in Siberia. An earlier branch of ANEs mixed with Ancient East Asians to form the progenitors of Ancient Native Americans, Native Siberians, and East Asians. Siberia itself is an interesting place, the area around the Altai mountains in particular having been a wildlife refugium during the last glacial maximum, and being the intersection of the spread of different languages and technologies. It appears that copper smithing technology originated in Gimbutas’ Old Europe, around the Balkans, but spread to Siberia where words associated with it spread east and west. The home of the proto-Uralic language, proto-Mongolic, proto-Turkic, proto-Yeniseian also were in a very close proximity, even if we reject the Altaic hypothesis. According to Alexander Vovin, Hunnic proper might have been a Yeniseian language. This ANE element might be Spengler’s “Turan”.
In Western Europe, I haven’t read as much, but a lot of maritime vocabulary in Celtic languages seems to have non-Indo-European roots. Might they have been loanwords from peoples who were associated with Tartessos/Atlantis?
Anyway, this is kind of a dump of a few different ideas I had from reading Spengler and recent research recently, if anyone is interested, would be great to have a discussion.
I think a lot of people are focusing on the Canada becoming the 51st state thing without spotting a crucial context: one of the biggest problems Trump had in his first term is that the Canadian establishment turned against him, and Canada plays a massive and disproportionate role in international affairs. The 51st state argument is going to force them to turn their attention back home, and prevent Ottawa from being able to focus on fighting Trump like they did in his first term.
There are, in general, three arguments against Canadian statehood that Canadians can make. The first is that we have a distinct culture (usually presented in the form of “French plays a role here it doesn’t in the US”), which can be somewhat dismisively, but not inaccurately, be called the “Quebec” argument. This argument will fly in parts of the country, but notably, not Western Canada, and in fact making this argument might backfire in those parts, even among the local elites.
The second argument is that Canada is better off as a distinct country. This argument could be social or political; given how many young Canadians are leaving the country for the US though, I’m not sure it would fly outside of the elite classes, who benefit a lot from the much higher prestige associated with being national elites than they could get from being local elites.
This argument also relies on the idea of Canada being able to pursue an independent economic policy, an illusion which Trump has just undermined with his tariffs and threats of further. If we are economically dependent on the US, why shouldn’t we try to merge and have more say in what happens in Washington?
The third argument is that we have a lot of traditions and history that distinguish us. To this argument, I’m going to note that as a Royalist, I have been continuously disappointed by the way in which our actual distinctive culture and history have been sidelined. When even Canadian Royalists are saying that these arguments do not work, I cannot see this argument getting much traction among people not determined to grasp at anything.
All of which is to say that it would not surprise me for Canada to actually end up becoming part of the US in the near future now that Trump has voiced the unmentionable reality: outside of Quebec, we are in all but name.
Hi John,
“Stephen, I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what’s going on. Trump (and the sectors of the elite that have lined up behind him) seem to have decided that a retreat from global empire is the only way to keep the US from crashing and burning. Leaving Europe and our client states in the western Pacific to twist in the wind are essential steps in that. The staged bluster about Canada and Panama are convenient ways to pressure both countries into falling in line. As for Greenland, my guess is that it’ll be pried loose from Denmark, become notionally independent, and receive plenty of US cash in exchange for military bases and resource concessions.”
In regard to your most recent comment, looking at a map, it seems that it would make strategic sense for America to at least keep the UK within its future security orbit – even if it withdraws from continental Europe, the Middle East and East Asia.
The UK secures the eastern side of the Atlantic ocean, is still a modestly important military power with a relationship dating back to the 1940s.
A similar logic could be said for Japan – secures the western end of the Pacific, Philippines and the Five Eyes powers Australia and New Zealand.
I suppose the US could withdraw from East Asia and secure Alaska with the help of the Canadians, long-term, but to me it makes sense to keep the UK closely tied, particularly if Greenland becomes a de facto US satelite state.
If what you are saying comes true, presumably, at some point within the next 5 to 10 years the US will close its Gulf state bases and withdraw from the Middle East.
JMG #59″ I don’t think I’ve ever heard of green coffee before — is it any relation to green eggs and ham?”
Well, green coffee is the grain before roasting it, and according a lot of New Age and naturist folks, is very good and effective as fat burner, and against high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes…Of course, mainstream medicine says everything is b******t.
I have some doubts about “magical” powers of green coffee, but I think it’s interesting it has less caffeine than conventional roasted coffee.
Re-reading parts of Stephen Ambrose’s “Rise to Globalism” – the part about the Vietnam War – reminds me of something that puzzles me the more I look back. In the late 60s and early 70s I remember feeling uncertain about the issue of “resisting Communist aggression”: why were people implying it was all right to do it in Korea but not in Vietnam? Now I understand the reasons why the two wars can be seen as very different; in particular, Korea was about repelling an invasion by a state whereas Vietnam was predominantly a counter-insurgency. BUT – and this is my point – I remember NOT hearing this and other sensible points being made at the time. Instead the chorus was all Yah-boo, yanks go home etc. It’s odd that the left missed a trick here; they might have increased their support from non-leftists by making more reference to law and history.
Hi John Michael,
How do you see the UKs relationship with the USA panning out now Trumps in power and the likely imperial retreat? Given that the UK is strategically important as an American forward operating base and its position in relation to guarding the North Atlantic etc. Is the UK’s relationship with USA likely to fracture? How much social/economic/political turmoil is heading over our side of the pond?
Cheers.
JMG – If possible, could you expand a bit regarding your comment about Trump’s policies “fairly easy for his administration to make sure that his allies among the rich are protected against the downside of economic contraction”. I had imagined infighting to such a degree that much governance might fall back onto the states or localities.. For example, between food/pharma elites and RFK, and energy/water hogs (AI/crypto) and hungry masses/working class.
Enjoyer, Your preparations increase my hopes for the future. Keep up the good work.
Lurker, The unspoken part of nuclear power is the cost of waste management – that requires ongoing cooling and containment for at least 300 years (optimistic authors, brief search). The prolonged half life of plutonium 239 (24,000 years), though found in small amounts, suggests 300 years may be a gross underestimate. Attempts to bury waste have failed., and having AI companies build their own plants is the stuff of nightmares.
JMG,
Have you seen any of Erik Townsend’s posts or videos about nuclear energy?
https://www.macrovoices.com/
https://www.energytransitioncrisis.org/
The ideas he presents seem to make a lot of sense and would overcome many of the downsides of the current crop of nuclear reactors (as you point out high cost needing government subsidies) . Some of these new designs were implemented (i.e. Thorium) back in the day in the US, then abandon and many are being implemented in China now.
Not pretending that having a solid nuclear based electric supply solves our predicaments (i.e. copper and batteries for EVs) but it would make it easier.
Appreciate your thoughts and thanks for doing all that you do!
Bob
@Kimberly Steele #28, in addition to Kant and Indian philosophers, both Augustine of Hippo and the medieval Jewish philosopher Hasdai Crescas thought time was a subjective phenomenon, existing only in the soul, and not “out there”. I’m pretty sure there must be many more.
More on weather working. There are weather shamans who do work with the weather spirits – by asking and having a conversation with them.
However, what I am always amazed at is how incompetent the Magical Resistance people are in their magic. I know one woman whom everyone looks up to as a Shaman/witch. She has been teaching in the area for years until she moved west. She still is the go to person for all this stuff. Her spells are marginally competent except they have a huge blow back like blizzards in warm places. I never am ceased to be amazed by how much tunnel vision these folks have.
I wonder if how they do magic is the problem. It seems to be plug and play. All “me make requests” and “thinking the result.” I am familiar with the various models of magic, and do know of the will model. But this seems beyond silly. Is it that magic is not really taught or is it a make it up as you go along? (As for me, the courses at the Grey School of Wizardry are quite rigorous in learning magic theory and spell work.)
The other thing that puzzles me is if these folks are so gung-ho about weather working, why don’t they do something about climate change? I haven’t heard a peep about anything about that.
Oh boy,
Freeze CDC and NIH communications and hiring, so let the third world and new world (H5N1, others) diseases party.
Then pay up to Thiel’s Palantir company to collect and manage public health data, which can then be integrated with other surveillance data.
I suppose everyone is familiar with the Nasruddin (or Nasreddin per Wikipedia) joke about Nasruddin looking for his lost keys under a street light “because the light is better there,” even though he knows full well that that is not where he lost them. Of course he’ll never find them as long as he keeps looking in the wrong place. This reminds me of many of the seemingly intractable problems the USA faces: We put certain areas of investigation “off limits” or outside the Overton Window, and then make a great show of looking everywhere else for cause. Naturally we never find it, and the problems only get worse.
Dear Archdruid:
As a Spaniard, I agree with your comentary against the bad image that present the masons to many of my country fellows and my shelf. And is true that during the war many masons were shooted by the franquistas and that after the war, to be mason and not denounce one shelf and other masons to the authorities, was punished with more than ten years of imprisonent.
Respect your guest about the plans of Trump for the abandonement of Europe, I’ll like to kow if you think that Marroch too will be treated in the same way.
Observation from the inauguration pictures: Trump’s signature haircut looks a lot more subdued now. As if his hair was thinner, or cut shorter. For what that’s worth.
Re the First Lady’s hat (worn in a room full of hatless, if elegant, ladies, my husband instantly opined “she’s put on armour against being kissed!”. When the incoming President leaned in later for a kiss which he couldn’t quite land, my husband crowed, “see!”?
One thing that was difficult to see from the angle we were shown was whether incoming President Trump actually placed his hand upon the two bibles the First Lady was holding. We later found this full frontal picture, which appears to show that he did not swear his oath upon the bible(s). Although he did swear his oath at 12.02 ET. I am idly wondering if this is still the astrologically apt moment, since in an earlier post you had said that his term would begin at the moment he placed his hand on the bible.
https://imgs.search.brave.com/SuvPsrSA2MKxNfagDumQnvbV0X4TPAbqh4sZ4ZXvbCg/rs:fit:500:0:0:0/g:ce/aHR0cHM6Ly9tZWRp/YS5jbm4uY29tL2Fw/aS92MS9pbWFnZXMv/c3RlbGxhci9wcm9k/L2FwMjUwMjA2MTQ5/NzA3MjcuanBnP2M9/b3JpZ2luYWwmcT13/XzEyODAsY19maWxs
Finally, I do think the last minute dropping of Dearborn Muslim cleric Imam Husham Al-Husainy from the inauguration ceremony does bode ill, since it indicates a willingness to be bullied into alienating strong and loyal supporters (all of the very strong Michigan Muslim contingent – a contingent established in America for many generations, incidentally – for a start), which up to now had not been apparent.
As to the inauguration speech, I foundthat I welcomed around half of the very concrete proposals, rolled my eyes at around a quarter, and entertained reservations about a quarter of them. But they were , at the very least, very clear and specifically put forward, very far from the vague, aspirational word salads, we had got used to from politicians.
The flurry of orders in the past couple of days definitely has the Changer feel about them. Anyone still doing what they were doing before the arrival of the Changer is certainly locked in its spell. As Tyson Yunkaporta said (paraphrase): “you have to be ready to move, when the world moves…”
Ignore the burning textbooks outside the astronomy department’s offices,
“Universe’s Expansion Defies Explanation: New Data Shatters Cosmological Models”
https://scitechdaily.com/universes-expansion-defies-explanation-new-data-shatters-cosmological-models/
As odd oddly appropriate counterpoint is this from Helena Bonham-Carter,
“In the same interview, she also addressed her unique sense of style—often described as “quirky.”
“I love dressing up and creating myself, as it were, according to the day and the mood. But it’s an illusion, because then the Daily Mail photographs you, and you see it and think, that wasn’t what I meant at all,” she said.”
My partner (henceforth MP) and I have had diverging political opinions since the Democrats shuttled Sanders aside in 2016. My belief is that neither party is much use to 80% of the population, whereas MP doubled down in belief that the Democrats were the only way forward. This has come to a head with this last election, with MP promising to leave me (after 40 years) if Trump were elected. Trump is now President, but MP is still here.
I get much of my news from various non traditional online sources, for which MP berates me daily for listening to Putin Propaganda. Yesterday, after another such onslaught, I asked how long MP planned to keep it up. MP answered “Until you die”, to which I retorted that such relief couldn’t come soon enough.
Bad mistake.
I soon began to feel light headed, and by the time I had prepared my breakfast, I was nearly fainting. I got some liquid into me, and spent some time with my head down on the table. We are visiting our daughter, and she was concerned that I was having a heart attack, and wanted to bring me to the ER. I warded that off, but soon needed her help to walk to the bathroom. I had the absolute foulest bowel movement I’ve ever had, and began to feel much better. My clothes were befouled, and needed to be cleaned before putting them in the laundry, and I needed a long shower.
I was able to pass it off to our daughter as only dehydration, but I will be getting some red cloth, a bent nail, and kosher salt today. As Hilary Clinton found in 2016, TSW. I have been somewhat flippant about the amount of abuse I’ve endured in the past 6 years, but no more, and I will be working to extricate myself as smoothly as possible.
I’m not sure MP actually realized how powerful the curse they made was. MP has had a bad cold/flu/C19 for the past week, with little sleep, despite flu shots and C boosters. I see the raspberry jam principal at work.
Hello Mr. Greer,
I have two questions.
First, I was wondering if there are any occult perspectives on caffeine. On the one hand stimulated the mind seems like a good thing. On the other hand, it feels like occultists would say train the will and give your body the rest and fuel it needs to have energy. What do you think?
Second, do we know what other animals, if any, have separated their emotional and cognitive centers the way humans have with our solar plexus and brain?
Patrick 123
Venezuela would definitely be high on the US’s hit list. The US has, for the moment, plenty of light crude oil, which can be made into gasoline/petrol, but very little medium to heavy crude, which is needed for diesel and jet fuel, the former being the most crucial for agriculture and transport. The three countries that have the most of that are Venezuela, Canada and Iran. Go figure.
Also as the US withdraws from much of the world, controlling the ” near abroad” becomes more important. The whole Caribbean basin is a vital part of that, Southern South America less so as long as no one else takes it.
Stephen
Feel good link: https://www.southarkansasreckoning.com/p/vegetable-garden-protection-act
Jim, here’s hoping that the current fossilization of science into dogma backed up by corruption and experimental fraud breaks down in the years ahead!
Michael, thanks for this.
MRDobner, fair enough. You might want to start, then, by reading The Kybalion by “Three Initiates” (i.e., William Walker Atkinson), and Parkers’ Astrology by Julia and Derek Parker. Those will give you a start with occultism and astrology respectively. In the meantime, keep doing affirmations — that’s a good solid practice and will benefit you considerably — and consider reading and practicing the exercises in this book:
http://iapsop.com/ssoc/1907__towne___just_how_to_wake_solar_plexus.pdf
Elizabeth Towne is kind of chirpy in tone, and her taste in poetry is saccharine, but her solar plexus exercises are effective and well suited to beginners.
Michael, that didn’t stop Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt from having a permanent impact on the country. We’re in a similarly transformative period.
MRDobner, the basic materials I’ve cited above will serve you in good stead if you take up either of those options, for what it’s worth.
BobinOK, exactly. It’s standard during the collapse of a hegemon for leading nations, including the former hegemon, to try to stake out buffer zones.
Importance, au contraire, alliances with the rest of the world are exactly what the future US needs to avoid. A nonaligned status, aloof from alliances and focusing on domestic needs first and foremost, served the US well all through the 19th century and will serve it well again in the 21st. As for the US dollar’s status as reserve currency, that’s done — stick a fork in it — but it’s in everyone’s best interest to make the transition away from that relatively slow and smooth, rather than fast and traumatic, and Trump’s posturing along those lines is meant to reassure the rest of the world that the US won’t default overnight on its foreign debts and impose limits on dollar exchange — which, of course, it could do.
Jessica, it’s true in a sense. Japanese esoteric Buddhism came over from China during the Tang dynasty and received essentially no input thereafter, and the two esoteric sects (Shingon and Tendai) thus have fewer scriptures and initiations than their Tibetan counterparts. Both — along with all other Japanese Buddhist sects — have (and stress) the teaching that the Buddha nature is present in all sentient beings. Shingon accordingly puts a great deal of emphasis on Mahavairocana Buddha (Dainichi Nyorai in Japanese), the Dharmakaya or body of ultimate reality present in all things, and draws very heavily on the Mahavairocana Sutra, whose central teaching is that all the virtues and powers of Vairocana are immanent in every sentient being and every phenomenon and that the entire cosmos is his Pure Land. (I’m not as familiar with Tendai as I didn’t grow up with it.) Thus I’m not sure how well the Japanese model fits Samuel’s theory.
Your Kittenship, I wish I did. Anyone else?
J.L.Mc12, I have a copy but haven’t read it yet.
Karim, consider the rise of Wicca, with its lunar goddess, from tiny fringe cult to major religious influence in the English-speaking world. That was much of what I had in mind.
Larkrise, so far I’m impressed by the actions of the Orange Julius. These are very early days, far too early to judge an entire presidency, but the first three days of the new administration have seen a great many praiseworthy changes and a lot of deadwood being hauled out. Now we’ll see where he goes from here.
Earthworm, good heavens, yes. The Watcher at the Threshold takes whatever form is most likely to turn you aside from the Path, and for many people distraction or temptation are far more effective at this than, say, fear. As for the earth as a training ground, why, yes!
Grover, I’m delighted to hear it. I thought it was one of my best books — though all the books I think of as my best tend to sell very poorly….
Alvin, (1) good heavens, I hadn’t heard that somebody had revived Sanderson’s cryptoterrestrial hypothesis. What a delightful blast from the past! Thank you for this. (2) As for Spengler, thanks for this. My reading knowledge of German is shaky enough that I haven’t tried his untranslated work, but this is fascinating to see.
Anonymoose, interesting. Thanks for this.
Forecasting, it depends entirely on whether the US elite believes the UK and Japan are viable in the middle to long term. If they’ve decided that both are lost causes, Alaska and Greenland will do — and the fact that Trump has focused so intensely on Greenland suggests to me that he doesn’t expect the US to be able to maintain Landing Strip One as an American outpost.
Chuaquin, well, if the mainstream medical industry says it’s nonsense, there must be something to it!
Robert G, that’s a good point, and one I’ll want to look into. I wonder why that went the way it did.
GeorgeofLeeds, there’s a major strategic rift at this point opening up between Britain and the US. The British elite seems to be all in on the Ukraine proxy war, which Trump (and the US military) want out of; more generally, it’s in Britain’s interest to keep on playing European power games, and it’s in the US’s interest to let Europe twist in the wind. Trump’s move on Greenland makes sense to me as a fallback position, allowing the North Atlantic approaches to be guarded when the US walks away from its alliance with the UK and brings the troops home. As for turmoil on your side of the pont, I think that’s inevitable now — I’d watch how Reform does in the by-elections to see just how much turmoil you get.
Gardener, as I see it, by gutting the bureaucratic state and replacing it with public-private partnerships (like the Stargate AI project) the Trump administration is freeing up a great deal of money from the current corporate-bureaucratic nexus and making it available to his allies among the rising entrepreneurial elite. There’ll be infighting, but Trump’s proceeding with such speed and efficiency that there may be less than you might expect. The states are going to get handed back several lucrative aspects of governance, such as education, so they’ll be satisfied; I’d also expect to see the public-private partnerships carefully distributed among red states so state governments are happy.
Robert B, every new form of nuclear power is safe, clean, and affordable until it gets built. Every one of them has had this sort of enthusiastic press release come out in advance, telling us all just how safe, clean, and affordable it will be. That being the case, I’ll believe it when these new plants are built — as of course they will be — and turn out to be economically viable — which I’m fairly sure they won’t.
Neptunesdolphins, thanks for this — that makes perfect sense. If you approach the universe as a community of persons, and treat those persons decently, you get good results; if you approach it as a vending machine, and throw a tantrum at it when it doesn’t cough up goodies for you on demand — well, you can do the math yourself. The Magic Resistance is fatally hamstrung by a wildly inflated sense of entitlement — “the arc of history bends toward me!!!” — and an embarrassing lack of basic magical competence. As for climate change, of course not — did you think they actually want to stop climate change? When it gives them such a fine opportunity to posture heroically while not actually doing anything that would cause them the least inconvenience? I discussed this in an earlier post:
https://www.ecosophia.net/a-neglected-factor-in-the-fall-of-civilizations/
Gardener, or just maybe stop another manufactured panic over a cold virus from being launched and then exploited for political purposes. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me…
Phutatorius, that’s a very important factor in the decline and fall of civilizations.
Anselmo, I’m guessing that “Marroch” is what we call Morocco. Africa’s been the main focus of European resource grabbing for two hundred years now — the US has never had that much interest in it, other than to back up the Europeans and push back against Russia and China. Yes, I expect the US to lose nearly all interest in it.
Patricia M, yes, I noticed that.
Scotlyn, the moment he began taking the oath is the one that counts — I used “hand on the Bible” as shorthand for that.
Siliconguy, I’ve suspected for a very long time that the universe isn’t actually expanding — that the red shift has a different cause, or set of causes — and that cosmology will be stuck piling epicycle on epicycle trying to make things work until that’s realized.
Anon, what an appalling mess. I’m sorry to hear that politics has broken your marriage — though that’s far from uncommon these days.
Stephen D, (1) it seems to be mostly harmless from an occult perspective — I know of no occult school that restricts it. I drink a lot of strong green tea, and it doesn’t slow me down. (2) That’s a fascinating question to which I don’t know the answer. Anyone else?
Gardener, thanks for this.
I’m reviewing my old notes, and realized there’s a possible reason for why I had such a seemingly unique experience with an artificial meat that I don’t think we were taking into account: I did not know, or even suspect, it was an artificial meat product. I can’t think of any remotely ethical way to test this, but it seems like it could fit: the deeper reaches of the subconscious where it interfaces more directly with the body might have the ability to recognize there is a problem and put a stop to it, if they are aware of the possibility that this “meat” might not really be meat.
Random and dramatic increases in psychic ability is not unheard of, even though it remains quite rare; but I doubt that very many people have accidentally and completely unwittingly eaten these products, so it could have hidden in the background. If so, other people might have had a similar experience but not figured out the cause….
JMG #161
Ah… thank you.
Coming so out of the blue and unrelated, it had the feel of a meditation equivalent of an email asking me to send my bank details and they would forward my lottery winnings!
About Greenland and Canada, there is a longstanding complaint from the US that Canada does nothing about its own security. The US sends the occasional submarine to survey the arctic islands and Canada sends protest letters about infringing their territorial waters. Although they complain, they have neither under ice capable submarines nor adequate icebreakers to do anything useful.
Is the Northwest Passage a strait freely open to navigation or Canadian Territorial waters? Opinions differ.
Then there is the issue of Canadian defense spending. I think it was at the bottom of the NATO defense spending list. As for Greenland, Denmark has no real capacity to defend them either.
Then there is China, “Self-designation as a near-Arctic state. In 2018, China declared itself a “near-Arctic state,” though Chinese academics had used the term since at least 2012.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_policy_of_China
So it’s getting complicated up there. The Northern Sea Route makes shipping between China Europe much easier during the summer. If the ice melts back a bit more the Northwest Passage will be usefully open as well.
Paper maps don’t really show things in the Article well. A globe does much better even if the axle goes through the pole.
JMG,
Your work is sited in the footnotes of this article:
https://www.wildernessfront.com/blog/solarpunk
JMG, on Freemasonry,
Thanks for your detailed answer. Yes, I was roughly aware of the shameful history of anti-Masonic repression in Spain. As it often happens, being force fed these views since childhood (my father even took me to this museum in Salamanca, created in the early days of Francoism, which displays objects stolen from Masons and a recreation of a lodge in mockery of them) made me curious about the Craft rather than wary of it.
It always puzzled me that most Spanish people gave up Catholicism for all practical purposes but still cling to these superstitions. It makes sense if they’re patterns more deeply ingrained in our minds than the pop culture form they happen to adopt, though.
Miguel
Lazy Gardener, that is good news indeed. Here is hoping the bill will pass.
Anonymoose Canadian @ 142, It looks like you left out one factor, which is that Canada is itself a sovereign nation with its own culture, institutions and history. One can see advantages to a union of the two North American Great Powers, but I strongly urge Canadians to begin now determining what you will not on any account give up. I think I can confidently say that, outside of the White Supremacist faction, there is no willingness by Americans to submit to a monarchy. Sorry, Meghan, you don’t get to be Queen of the USA. Should matters come to negotiations for a union, I strongly urge Canadians to consider that the least you should demand is equal representation in Congress. That means, at bare minimum, two senators from each province and territory and passage of legislation to expand the size of the House of Representatives. I would respectfully suggest that those two points should be preconditions for any negotiation at all. The notion that Canada could become “51st state”, represented by only two senators is a piece of insolent effrontery.
JMG @ 59, as for Trumpist “bluffing and bullying”–if you say so. To me that sounds suspiciously like Obama “playing multidimensional chess” when in reality he was still finding his way in the Presidency. What is it, exactly, he wants Canada to fall in line with? The handing over of their natural resources to exploitation by the globalist billionaire set from whom he so badly craves acceptance? The promise to his following is, see, we can grab all these resource rich territories right nearby and you guys don’t ever have to worry about making do with less. I don’t think collapse now and avoid the rush is in the cards at all in this administration. Happy motoring and shop till you drop for ever and ever, Amen.
Thank you for the blog, which I have been following with interest for some time. I have continued to think about your earlier posts on Dion Fortune’s “Cosmic Doctrine”, and in particular her remark that “These images are not descriptive but symbolic, and are designed to train the mind, not inform it.”
In your post on this remark, you note that the approach Fortune describes was once very popular, but then began to wane. Where did this symbolic approach come from? Is it already in Levi? (I don’t recall seeing it so bluntly put as in Fortune). And why do you think its popularity has been on the wane in the past decades?
Thank you for your time.
@JMG 161
Re: The expansion of the universe
It is a bit suspicious that Faustian science discovered that the universe is continually expanding outwards.
To discard the Big Bang theory, scientists probably need to explain the relative abundance of helium and the cosmic microwave background. The supposed redshift of galaxies might actually be light from distant regions losing energy during the journey to our telescopes.
Here is an article for those interested in the “space and time” discussion.
https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-tyranny-of-now
“What Innis saw is that some media are particularly good at transporting information across space, while others are particularly good at transporting it through time. ”
Innis wrote in the 1940s but this article applies his work to our internet age.
@JMG, im reading spengler’s, decline of the west and one idea that i found interesting was the analysis of the myth of progress, that is an offshoot of Christianity which, born of from the soul of the middle east is a story about duality and overcoming oppression, and then when that adapted to Faustian culture (which is historical in that it considers time) it stretched this story over time and space, in that the duality was split in two with bad representing the past and underground and good representing the future and the infinite space of the sky, and the myth of progress emerged. hopefully im interpreting this correctly his book is not the easiest to digest.
Another interesting realization is that the soul of Faustian culture is infinite space, so our moon landing is right on brand, and likely replaced any other big cultural markers like pyramids…. dang i wish we made pyramids instead haha.
Sorry forgot to say that Byung-Chul Han is mentioned.
JMG thank you. I’ll pass on. Penny dropped w climate. For all the endless talk of change, climate isn’t allowed to change because if it does 1) it might be sentient or hint of such 2) it makes it harder to keep up breathless tech complexity and OUR change. Meanwhile when they realize fully the impact and loss of control they will shift to using as an excuse for political no change, aka control. Which we see already.
I’m a former progressive. The inflation spike, the logic underlying the concept of overshoot, Biden exposed as having dementia (for latecomer me, it was the report that came out last February and the leaked videos of Biden before the debate), and the responses to recent events in the Middle East are making me aware of how much progressives are participating in virtue signalling and manufactured outrages.
I think some of the Trump executive orders are sensible– and I say this as a former TDS sufferer. Ending federal DEI, enforcing immigration laws, closing a “pregnancy” loophole immigrants have abused to stay in the US, cutting government spending, pausing Tiktok ban.
I’ve been occasionally reading about Energy Descent again in the past couple of years, though I talk about it much less with people than before. American society as a whole has a lot of things it’s not willing to engage with honestly, and the impulse with most of these topics is to say they’re wrong and/or sweep the whole thing under the rug. By no means is this old topic the only one to get such a treatment — talking honestly about the poor state of relationships and family formation (as evidenced by falling birth rates, marriage rates, and even lower frequency of sex in general) in this country is another one to elicit that treatment — but it’s one of the more troubling. There are a couple of reasons for that.
The first is that the days of America’s energy dominance may already be on the way out, as the Permian depletes (it may have already passed peak). Being that this is mostly “unconventional” it’s not the sort that can be made into diesel and jet fuel, which is going to be critically limited in the coming years. Since only a handful of the world’s countries are major petroleum producers, most of the world is dependent upon exports of these in order to keep their economies running. And that is the second reason, the situation of net exports. Diesel in particular is needed for transportation, agriculture and all sorts of heavy machinery. It is an existential matter for the current iteration of global civilization. It appears that net exports are already in severe decline and may be ending by, at the latest, the mid-2030s, and some of the earlier scenarios put the end of net exports at later this decade. The reason it happens so quickly is owing mainly to the greatly increasing demands of some countries in Asia, particularly India and China, who hope to grow to First World status. Of course that’s unattainable and the impact on the current political-economic world order will be enormous once the process is complete. Major changes in the world economy are virtually assured on a 1-2 decade timeline, and we’re talking about developments that will not be pleasant.
On the other hand, the hype has it that we are entering an amazing new world in which AI and cryptocurrencies will herald a new order for the ages, and we’ll get a bit of space travel on the side. The energy needs for that kind of future are astronomical, as even the mainstream is forced to concede, but there’s no coherence to the thought at all given the red signals we’re getting from the petroleum industry. “We’ll figure it out” (get back under that rug!). America’s less likely than many countries to run dry of petroleum over the short term, so there’s more room for complacency here than in other places. But Energy Descent is an exponential process and at some point the decline gets quite rapid and shocking. Therefore, I’m expecting a “slowly, then all at once” scenario to take us by unpleasant surprise in the years to come. I guess what I’m saying here is that there’s an absurd surreal character to this “civilization in decline” business and denial is a big part of it. All of my interactions with mainstream society lead me to believe there is nothing whatever that may be done about it either — the first necessity would be to face it honestly, and that we cannot do.
Apologies for rambling as I’m a bit run down and low on sleep lately, but it’s been on my mind and it’s one of the dear topics of this blog, so I thought I’d chime in. Our own livelihoods will feel the impact of the impending troubles at some point, and I’m trying to think down the road a bit so as not to get totally taken by surprise.
>you’re not allowed to
Other people have pointed this out to you but pay attention to what you can and can’t do with whatever it is they’re selling to you. Or you’ll end up buying a pig in a poke and then have to turn around and sell it at a loss.
I’d also say something about how if they’re being restrictive and finger-waggy at you, you’re 1) too close to town and will always be at their mercy or 2) dealing with some corrupt locals or 3) even worse dealing with rigid ideologues who have weird ideas about reality.
I guess you can do the equivalent of what they do in NYC – nobody gets a permit for anything because it takes forever and is prohibitively expensive, instead they paper over the windows so that they can plausibly deny that anything is actually happening inside. You can put up an 8ft fence that hides the RV from anyone seeing it. They can’t see it, they can’t fingerwag.
>Scotlyn, the moment he began taking the oath is the one that counts
Wouldn’t a more rational reckoning be to take the start of the ceremony, the end of the ceremony and then split the difference and use that as the time?
@Smith #119:
“plus the nasty American gun culture”
Many of us covet the American 2A. The bigger problem for Canadians who are intrigued by 51st Statehood is that many Canadians who want to live in the USA just… get a job there, which is why a million or so Canadians are in the USA. This diminishes the force behind any unity movement.
@Anonymoose Canadian – good comment.
JMG
One area where I expect Trump will have to make some changes in practice on his pledges/threats is on illegal immigration. and I imagine his big ag backers must be making this point to him. If it is strictly enforced agricultural output will plummet and prices skyrocket. almost all ag workers are Latino, and many illegal. There aren’t enough Americans who can or would take those jobs, at least not in the short or mid term. They are backbreaking work and pay very poorly. I suppose some sort of agricultural visa could be instituted.
Ironically in Mexico much food is imported from US agribusiness, but grown and harvested by Mexicans.
Construction work would be another area that would be hugely affected..
Pacific Palisades won’t be rebuilt within the next 20 years if all the illegals are deported; perhaps it won’t anyhow, and perhaps it shouldn’t. I am sure that one isn’t high on Trump’s list of priorities, in that most of coastal CA was against him. If revenge is a dish best eaten cold, that one has barely had time to cool.
Stephen
Hey JMG
I am currently half-way through, and so far I like it. It is a bit comedic at times, but still gothic. I should warn you that it has no chapters or breaks in anyway, it essentially is one long short-story.
On the subject of unusual coffee products, the fruit that surrounds the coffee-bean, called cascara, can be made into a tea, and I think the Ethiopians made tea from the leaves of the coffee tree also.
https://samplecoffee.com.au/brewguides/cascara-tea
Could be for a MM… but do cities and states/provinces also have group souls? Or just egregores? If the group soul of a nation contains no divine spark, and exists mostly on the astral, where does an egregore give way to a group soul.
(A fine topic for meditation I am sure.)
Anonymoose, interesting.
Bliss, thank you for this. I’m glad to see that my ideas are getting traction.
Miguel, the fact that the prejudices remain in place makes me think that in a generation or two, Catholicism may stage a comeback in Spain.
Mary, duly noted. You’ve made your prediction, I’ve made mine, and we’ll see who’s right.
Bo, it’s much older than that. Thinking in symbolic terms was normal across Western societies in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and only slowly lost ground in modern times. By Fortune’s time it was uncommon enough that she had to label it; when John Bunyan wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress a few centuries earlier he didn’t have to do that. As to why it faded out, that’s a complicated question and I don’t know that the jury’s in yet.
Patrick, exactly. The Big Bang is too obviously Genesis 1:1 et seq. with the serial numbers filed off.
Alex, pyramids wouldn’t have satisfied our craving for infinite linear expansion…
Celadon, ding! We have a winner.
Patrick, agreed.
Deneb, good. You’re paying attention. Once the Ring cycle posts are finished, I plan on doing some updates, and the energy predicament is one of them.
Other Owen, sure, but it doesn’t work that way. Theoretical rationality is nice, but the important thing is whether you get good results.
Stephen, the claim that Americans won’t take X jobs is quite frankly nonsense. They haven’t been allowed to take those jobs, because hiring illegal immigrants who have no rights worth mentioning and can be paid starvation wages is so much more lucrative for agribusiness. Close that door and I think you’ll find there are plenty of Americans ready to earn an honest day’s wage in agriculture and construction.
JLMc12, I plan on getting to it.
MOLF, they have egregors. Group souls don’t exist on the human level; species of animals have them, and so do natural ecosystems — that’s what the Greeks were talking about when they spoke of dryads et al.
JMG – Thank you for your response. My experience, with the medical system, is mostly with oligopolies or monopolies. The private interests pull out lots of profit, add layers of red tape and accountability deflectors, then regularly short patients and actual caregivers. Straight Medicare cuts out many middle men and administrative costs, with fewer rules and fairer appeals systems. Similar profiteering seems prevalent in the BigFood, BigAg, Finance, IT(some sectors like Microsoft/Apple/Google) and military systems as well.
@JMG: “If you approach the universe as a community of persons, and treat those persons decently, you get good results”
This works for gardens as well 😀
Deneb @ 175, this is not pushback, I am genuinely curious. Why is “lower frequency of sex in general” a problem? Maybe it is my puritanical upbringing, but I have always supposed that chastity outside of marriage is a virtue. One of the cardinal virtues is temperance, of which chastity is a part, and lust is a deadly sin. OK, that is Catholic moral teaching, which I think is useful as are some teachings of other traditions. Family formation requires social arrangements which allow for one spouse to remain in charge of the home and for hard working people to prosper. As long as profit comes ahead of what is good for families, women in particular will realize we can have better lives by ourselves than we can if partnered. I gather a not insignificant number of men in late middle age are making that same calculation.
I just learned that The Theosophical Library in Altadena/Los Angeles has been completely destroyed by the LA fires. All the manuscripts are gone. Are your works protected? The loss of libraries is heartbreaking to me.
Good day to you Mr. Greer and to the rest of the good people here!
Last year when baron Jacob Rothschild died there were memes and jokes circulating about how people were experiencing some sort of spiritual liberation, released from under the burden of Rothschild’s curse that he placed on the world (not my claim! XD). Ever since the inauguration of the Orange Man I’ve been in a better mood, felt more hope from the idea that “winning” is still possible; and if you really try, you can still make good things happen to you and to the people around you.
Not that I’m an Orange cultist. I’m a Trump fan, but not enough to make him into a Christ-like figure, maybe a chieftain from the book of Judges.
@Alvin #182: I did notice, speaking of Japan, that they’ve had at least 2 pseudomrphisms: Chinese, way back in the day; and Western. That one still seems to be active. For what it’s worth.
@ Silicon energy #164 – I have a polar-centered ma in one of my Northern Studies binders, and what it says about the North Atlantic Routes to North America jumps right out at you. Try a search on Polar-centered maps and see what you get. As the proverb says, “worth a thousand words.”
@Mauve Oscillating Lobster: Not sure about states as such, but I’m sure regions do, and so do (or did) major cities. I lived in San Francisco back when it was San Francisco and not the overpriced technoslum/rat race it became on its way to what it is today. Believe me, she had a soul – that of a wordly-wise old lady who’s seen everything and views it with an amused detachment.
@JMG – you’re saying that Trump is a wily old fox, and since he just laid down the law to that Russian fox, the chess match is on! (Get your tickets here!)
Hi JMG,
can you recommend any occult writing on breathing exercises and their effects? I started doing Breathwork recently and find I get results faster than with meditation. It may be considered a type of meditation. If you have written about the topic please point me to it. Thanks
RE: Weather Magic
IIRC Art Bell , the well known radio host once got his listeners, thousands of them to concentrate on a weather working to aid in beating a fire. The net result was out of nowhere flooding on a massive scale and as far I know he never did anything of the sort again do to the risk. On those grounds and those our host mentioned, I’d suggest never ever doing that sort of thing
Earthworm wrote, “Also that a personal relationship with the indefinable seems a little presumptious on my part.”
Have you considered just how extraordinarily presumptuous it is for any of us to imagine that we could somehow close off all personal relationship with the indefinable? It being, by far and away, the much bigger player in that relationship. Our imagining that we might be able to willfully become disconnected from the absolute, simply because we happen to have gotten schooled during a period of gaslighting materialism, is absurdly delusional.
The indefinable absolute is in personal relationship and communion with absolutely everything and absolutely everyone, absolutely all the time. If it wanted to sever its relationship with us, that might well be possible. I mean, who are we to know? But our deranged imagining that we, in our considerable puniness, could ever possibly sever our relationship with it? What an adorably self-aggrandizing mythos that is! Let’s just pat ourselves on the head and tell ourselves we’re the most powerful thing in the whole wide universe.
Every divinity is interconnected with every being in the universe, including us. Even when we tantrum about with our fingers in our ears, shouting at god “I can’t hear you” at the top of our lungs, we still remain in personal relationship with the indefinable absolute and with every divinity. They may not much appreciate our gratuitous displays of petulance or our affectations of potency… but, hey, they may get a real kick out of them. Once again, who are we to know?
JMG
Construction yes and many Americans are engaged in that, and it is good, satisfying, well paying work, and that gap would be filled, though it would take awhile.
Agriculture is another story. Have you ever done agricultural field work? Much of it is done stooped over in 100 f heat for a long day.I forgot to add the meat packing industry. It would have to be very well paid to attract anyone who wasn’t desperate. I am sure it will happen in time. I suspect because of more people becoming desperate than of the pay going up that much. In the short term do you think Trump’s supporters will be OK with having their food costs double, and/or changing their diet. if it is a choice between paying higher farm wages or keeping migrant farm labor? Of course this will all change as all the factors of the long descent kick in, but I don’t think this year, or the next four. I could be wrong, but I would be surprised.
Stephen
JMG, I often see people making the claim that agriculture, construction etc. are totally propped up by undocumented migrant labor. But in practice it is very difficult to hire and employ illegals in any law abiding business.
For more than 20 years now, to hire an employee an employer must have a fully filled out I9 form documenting the employees status. Without it your can not deduct taxes, unemployment etc. If you falsify an I9 form it can be $30,000 in fines or criminal penalties. This means the only way you can hire an undocumented employee is to pay them cash under the table. But most businesse’s outside of vending machines, laundromats, etc don’t generate enough cash internally to pay employees, certainly not farmers. So you would have to go to the bank and get bags of cash each week for wages with no documentation of where they are going. I guarantee that such activities would have the IRS breathing down your neck in short order.
So the only way to make this work is pay “labor contractors” for employee services thus you have no need for payroll, etc. But this makes the labor contractor who is employing the undocumented people a criminal breaking both immigration and tax laws on an industrial scale.
Yes, this obviously goes on, but the difficulties and illegality confines it to the fringes of the economy.
@JMG “that didn’t stop Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt from having a permanent impact on the country. ”
Absolutely. The big thing that they did was to not be just talk but action action and change that the average person could see and feel. That they cannot just be talk but need actual action on the ground.
This week is the week of whiplash that always happens with the change over but the amount of action has been very impressive to see if maybe a little to fast for my liking. At least do it over a few weeks is all I am saying! 🙂 But at the same time why wait?
It does at least bod well for there being real change, to at the absolute least try anything different.
Interesting times ahead, I really hope it all works out well for the people. That too many external corrupting factors don’t get involved in steering the ship.
Kimberly Steele wrote, “I remedy my own etheric starvation by exposing the patch of skin under my heart to direct sunlight, eating home cooked food, bathing, and getting a massage when I can afford it. Does anyone else have remedies for etheric starvation, or even recognize it as a condition?”
Sure, there’s all kinds of remedies for depletion of the part of one’s Self that dwells on the etheric plane. Prayer can work wonders, as can walking in nature. Getting plenty of sleep will help, but consciously asking, just before falling asleep, for all the parts of one’s soul to heal and clear one’s etheric body while one’s conscious is busy sleeping will be considerably more effective. Self massage or channeling of one’s healing energy into areas of tension and dis-ease can work miracles. Exercising enough to recalibrate one’s physical body to being fit for the kind of daily activity it was evolved for can dramatically re-energize one’s etheric body as well. Stretching one’s body in long-held poses, preferably with deep slow breathing, is also amazingly therapeutic for etheric healing.
In fact, anything that involves slowing down one’s breathing and focusing on relaxing deeply, such as meditation or singing, will naturally heal the etheric body. Prayer, walking, sleep, massage, exercise, stretching, meditation, singing, etc. will all be able to replenish etheric depletion more efficiently when combined with slow, deep breathing and relaxation. Actually, just paying conscious attention to one’s breath, even without trying to change it in any way, and no matter what one happens to be doing, will inevitably relax one’s breathing muscles, which then naturally helps to rebalance one’s etheric energies.
Hi Miguel and JMG
One of the reasons of the anti-masonic trends in Spain in the XIX century was that José Bonaparte, named King of Spain by Napoleon, was named also Grand Master of the Grand Orient in 1804 and founder of the National Grand Lodge of Spain in 1809, so the masons were associated with the french invaders, and you know what kind of terrible war was fought by my countrymen againsnst the french troops and how many hindreds of thousands of mainly civilians were killed by the french troops defending the “kingdom” of Jose Bonaparte.
The way people see masonry was improving along the XIX century, and at the end of that century and the begining of XX there were masonic lodges in almost all the cities in Spain, and they were not prosecuted.
The situation changed dramatically in the Civil War, and it seems that the main driver of the change was that two brothers of Franco were masons (Nicolás y Ramón) and Franco tried to be join a lodge twice, one in the lodge of Larache (Morocco) when he was Lieutenant Colonel in 1932, and another time in Madrid in the Lodge Plus Ultra because his brother Ramón (the pilot), in those the “famous Franco”, banned him because “he was not an upright man of good morals”.
It seems that as was the case with Hitler with the jews, although there were old anti-Masonic tendencies in the Spanish society, the extreme hatred was a characteristic of the dictator Franco.
Cheers
David
As for Trump’s persistently-cryptic remarks about Canada, prevailing opinion has settled on JMG’s theory: that these are aimed to make Canada “fall in line”.
The problem is that nobody seems to know what exactly “fall in line” means. What does Trump want, exactly? It isn’t clear.
Either way, I think that this is an important moment for Canada. I think it’s likely that we have reached an important milestone; the End Of The Road; viz., the time has finally come that the USA is not going to tolerate our foolishness, short-sightedness, childishness, and irresponsibility anymore. And it might hurt, a lot.
For instance, here’s a video well worth listening to, for any Canadians, or indeed any Americans who are interested in their northern border situation:
https://rumble.com/v6898j1-canadian-border-whistleblower-we-are-going-to-face-our-worst-nightmare-blen.html
For those who don’t do video (or audio), it’s an interview with a whistleblower from the Canadian Border Services, basically telling us about the scandalous corruption going on in the agency. One comes away with a bad feeling about the sorts of hombres we’re letting into the country (and over the southern border).
And I would bet that the Trump administration knows all about this.
Congratulations, John! One of your most powerful political/military novels has just become as obsolete as Heinlein’s Future History. With both Jameson Weed and Leonard Gurney out of the picture, “Twilight’s Last Gleaming” is fading off into the ghosts of never-happen-now. Unless Trump or his military advisors still back aircrafy carriers against missiles.
Okay – I take it back about cities and regions having a soul, in that definition. They definitely have a most tangible flavor, though.
Re: The Changer. I keep seeing him with coyote ears showing through a black Western hat. And Coyote is a trickster’s trickster.
Data point: The Gainesville Sun has posted a small article on freezing weather survival tips for Floridians. Most of it common sense wisdom in the high desert and other places with cold winters. But who could have imagined we’d need it down here?
Ôl-ffitio Rhydlyd wrote, “is the utterly flatfooted response of Trump’s opponents to his cabinet picks and executive orders symptomatic of a magical fail, or is secular cause entirely responsible for what looks like a steamrolling in progress.”
The magical fail on the part of the globalist would-be alpha-dogs is definitely one for the record books. Since their peak of power and influence, round about the first half of 2021, they have certainly been crashing and burning at an epic pace. Obviously, that’s mostly because of how naively and cocksuredly they overreached in their minting of pandemics, mostly peaceful protests, and WWIII flashpoints. They had simply grown too arrogant to recall that pride always goeth before the fall. They’re probably still too arrogant to figure out that they’ve already lost, as in, have been completely decimated.
As for their continuous magical fail ever since their 2021 heyday, their vaccine mandates were quite a phenomenal magical self-goal. They really should have been able to see that one coming, given that they had already failed miserably in their expectation that we all would go oh-so-willingly off to slaughter. It’s their unrepentant overconfidence that is their unmistakable Achilles’ heel. Same thing with all the failed magic they threw at their minutely orchestrated unprovoked-Russian-invasion-of-Ukraine, which was supposedly going to utterly collapse the Russian state in a matter of months… but then didn’t. Is that the sound of unrepentant overconfidence coming home to roost?
To give them a little credit, our aspiring globalists had been toppling sovereign states with impunity for decades, so it’s kinda understandable that they imagined their magic to be unstoppable. But there is really no excuse for them to remain completely clueless this late into the game. The other side’s magic is clearly fresher, more compelling, and considerably lighter than the gloabalists’ stale and predictable black magic. “No, we don’t want what you’re selling, guys, and your sales pitches have stopped working on us. So, please, put down the toy wand and quit pretending you have talents that are far beyond your reach. If you guys are really that obsessed with great resets, then why don’t you go reset yourselves? Much obliged.”
Hi JMG,
I wasn’t sure if you had given anymore thought to this, but thought I would propose some magic reading list organization suggestions:
By era (focus would center around time periods and developments in those segments of time)
By topic/magic type (focus of list would group books based on major magic topics or types)
By major figure (focus of list would center around actions of individuals who had significant impact on magic)
By classic status (focus of list would center around magic books that are considered classics, magician must-reads)
Also, I recently came into possession of some rune stones. I think they could be helpful for meditation, but are there any other magic-related uses you would advise?
I will make one last comment about the new wave of Trump, only because we don’t need this comment section dominated by it. There are other things happening in the world!
There are two views that I actually really appreciate, one comes from ‘The Ider’ that while very much against Trump but did have a decent broader suggestion. Wouldn’t it be great if once every few weeks, Donald or whoever put on their Togas and spend an afternoon strolling a garden/forest with a proper philosopher or two. I mean proper ones, not university folks quoting Heidegger. Just something to balance out the handle of power – that sounds like good advice to anyone in a position of any power
The other point came from ‘The Chocolate Taoist’ to remind people of Tao te Ching Chapter 57.
“In Chapter 57 of the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu famously wrote: “The more laws and restrictions there are, the poorer the people become. The more rules and regulations, the more thieves and robbers.” In other words, he saw a direct link between excessive governance and the erosion of individual freedom and authenticity. ”
As rules and regulation come down, it opens up the world for everyone else. What looks like a negative from one view is positive from another.
Now that’s the last I personally want to talk about DJT for now. So how about those New York Mets? … I have no idea I don’t do sports! 😉
John,
My question is why the Republicans don’t put their pressure on businesses to halt illegal immigration. Building walls, deporting individuals, and police crackdowns seem largely performative and don’t actually solve the root issue. To me at least, it seems it would be much more efficient and humane to simply create legislation that slaps very severe penalties on any business found hiring illegal immigrants. If you punish the corporations, you’ll stop the incentive for illegal immigration overnight because nobody will hire them anymore.
Am I missing something?
@Lazy Gardener #147
Thanks, I’m just trying to survive. I don’t want to get stuck with an enormous mortgage in a hideous hellburban ghetto like most of my friends and relatives my age are. I remember when I was a little boy and I first learned that my parents didn’t actually own our house and that they would be paying it off for decades. Haha, I was so mad!
I’m hoping that I can finesse the system a bit and detach myself from unnecessary expenses. Frugality is freedom. Time will tell if I manage to pull it off.
Some months back you said that people with significant psychic gifts shouldn’t do magic, but should stick with mysticism. Can you elaborate on where the dividing line is? Like, obviously prayer and meditation fall into the mysticism category, but what about divination? Affirmations? The Sphere of Protection? Various techniques you’ve described to repel/get rid of larvae? Psychometry, telepathy and Clairvoyance? Do-in?
Pardon me, Mr. Greer. I was wondering if you were aware of or had any views on the fact that Vermont and Maine were the only states never to vote for FDR (tell that to Sen. Sanders):
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_United_States_presidential_election
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1932_United_States_presidential_election
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1940_United_States_presidential_election
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1944_United_States_presidential_election
And Minnesota is the only state never to vote for Ronald Reagan!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_United_States_presidential_election
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_United_States_presidential_election
“The H-2A temporary agricultural program helps employers who anticipate a lack of available domestic workers to bring foreign workers to the U.S. to perform temporary or seasonal agricultural work including, but not limited to, planting, cultivating, or harvesting labor.”
There is no need to hire illegal aliens to do farm work. Any one doing it is in violation of the law. Of course if an employer is looking for really cheap under the table cash only labor that’s a different issue.
https://www.farmers.gov/working-with-us/h2a-visa-program#:~:text=The%20H%2D2A%20temporary%20agricultural%20program%20helps%20employers%20who%20anticipate,%2C%20cultivating%2C%20or%20harvesting%20labor.
@Jessica #132
Geoffrey’s book is mainly about the spectrum between orderly/scholarly and wild/shamanic in Tibetan religions. This doesn’t apply so clearly to Japanese religions because the Shinto substrate is a lot less fierce than Bon, and Buddhist scholarship in Japan also isn’t as powerful and austere as the direct Nalanda tradition that Tibet received.
A couple of minor corrections, if I may, Tibet wasn’t really part of the Silk Road, and the decline in its power was actually due to the rise of the Mongols, who later made up for this loss by sponsoring Tibetan Buddhism. The Gelug sect, and all the other Tibetan sects are Mahayana, and they are part of what scholars call Northern Buddhism, along with China, Mongolia, Russia, Korea, North Vietnam and Japan. The Vajrayana is actually a sub-section of the Mahayana. All of these Northern traditions are based on the Bodhisattvayana, of universal altruism, and the Buddhanature school, which holds that we have always been Buddhas living in a Pure Land, but that these truths are concealed by our primordially polluted senses.
Hi JMG—
If reincarnation is real, it is almost definitionally *weird* according to how we understand reality.
I suspect that this opens up the possibility that it doesn’t behave in ways that are easy to model. The linear, cause-effect, temporal aspect of reality we’re comfortable with might be one of the main casualties of reincarnation’s weirdness. Right now, I’m an American in 2025, but in the next life, a rice farmer in 200 BC China. Is that a possibility?
Hi John Michael,
I’ll be very interested to hear what you have to say about the energy predicament, although in some ways the ‘ring’ cycle of essays covers much of the same ground. My mind was made up on this matter in 2005, and in the two decades since then I’ve seen interesting developments, but no deviation from the end point of the story.
Along the way though, I’ve more than dabbled with solar power as an electricity source and have observed some realities, such as the best case scenario of 97.5% uptime for solar at 37 degrees latitude south. That’s not good. Anyway, it all sounds good until you realise that’s 9 days every year, the sun is giving me nothing. Most people in western countries are used to an up time of around 99.9% and complain loudly when that isn’t the case.
In only 84.5% of the time, the batteries receive enough sunlight that they get a full charge. The difference between 84.5% and 97.5% is drawing down on the stored power in the batteries.
And more importantly, there is no easy fix for the predicament. Most people are blithely unaware that all of the components in the system have to achieve a rough balance.
Thought you might be interested, here’s the stats for the past 4 and a bit years:
Month – Full Charge Days Yes – Full Charge Days No – Generator Days
January – 128- 4 – 0
February – 110 – 3 – 0
March- 116 – 8 – 0
April – 99 – 21 – 1
May – 95 – 29 – 1
June – 47 – 73 – 21
July – 58 – 66 – 16
August – 100 – 24 – 0
September – 114 – 6 – 0
October – 131 – 7 – 0
November – 142 – 8 – 0
December – 147 – 8 – 0
They’re talking about nuclear down here as an option, and are going to go the polls on this decision soon in maybe May – nobody is really sure when but that’s the latest date. The build date is so far in the future, that I doubt they’ll make any great difference.
Hey, looks like down here we’re in good with your new President and crew. That’s a relief the US ambassador and foreign minister have allegedly both made some disparaging comments which is hardly diplomatic is it? Perhaps there have been no consequences because my best guess is they’ll be chucked out at the forthcoming election.
Cheers
Chris
Hey Jmg
What are your thoughts on Bonsai from a “occult ethics” perspective? I have been curious about the art of Bonsai since it does look lovely, but since it is technically the controlled maiming and stunting of a tree I imagine it would technically be a form of cruelty. However, I recall you writing that plants have a different attitude towards being damaged than animals. They are more tolerant and forgiving of it than a person would be, I think you wrote?
CNN forced to admit they lied again.
“https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/17/media/cnn-defamation-trial-verdict/index.html”
The two-week trial was held in Bay County, Florida. A jury awarded the veteran, Zachary Young, $5 million in compensatory damages.
And global warming has deserted Lake Erie.
https://www.wkbw.com/news/local-news/buffalo/freighter-stuck-in-lake-erie-ice-off-buffalo-shoreline-ice-breaking-tug-arrives-to-assist
You would think it was winter or something.
Augmented Idiocy turning Arctic to Article in my other post was the last straw and I disabled it. But someone believes. I just hope it stays private sector.
https://www.landgate.com/news/trump-announces-500-billion-investment-in-ai-infrastructure
Mr. Greer,
So, the winning Horse-of-a-different-color, whose brain-mane has now morphed to a whiter shade of o-julius, has just started a EO stampede.. and, whilst I hope that he and his crew are not hobbled in the coming weeks and months, I am disturbed to find out that as a part of this whole ‘$targate’ nonsense Larry Ellison is shilling the use of A.I. to create a/some mRNA CONcoction($) – supposedly to cure cancer($)!!!
I have a badddd feeling about this .. considering what we all just went through re. the deleterous affects of the janky WuhanFluJab! What could possibly go wrong…
Could this be a way for Trump to skirt having to do a mea culpa for how awful operation warp speed contributed to bad outcomes to millions?? I don’t get it.
I was fascinated by a recent appearance of yours on a podcast where you discussed the Holy Grail. Do you have or know of any write-ups on the “state of the art” of Grail research? Where it was last seen, current leads, etc.?
Along those lines, if you’re ever in need of some good podcast fiction in this area, I’d like to recommend “Tanis.” It’s set in the PNW, and it’s essentially the quest to track down what has elusively been called Tanis. You probably are aware of the site in Egypt of the same name, which is the namesake for the mystery at the heart of the show, but no one is exactly sure *what* Tanis is. The Holy Grail, the Garden of Eden, a fount of youth, some eldritch horror? It’s well produced and draws on a number of actual mysteries with some excellent audio engineering and soundtrack that packs an extra punch.
Methylethyl#43 and others re: snow in the southern US.
Here in Toronto we only have a few patches of snow on the ground. However, I know what happened and I have scientific proof of this.
The weather fairy heard that Canada was swallowing the US, and decided that the snow had to go to the southern portion of the US. Carrying all that snow that far exhausted her and she is now on stress leave.
Since that is our snow that you have, we would like it back. Since the weather fairy is off for an extended period of time, you will have to put it on a plane and fly it here.
Your prompt attention to this situation will be appreciated.
Thank you,
A snowless Canadian
JMG: Is this open post the time to suggest a future forum topic? I have one in mind, but want to suggest it at the appropriate time.
About Elon Musk’s alleged “Nasty” salute: Benjamin Netanyahu is defending him: https://x.com/netanyahu/status/1882392668497756279 and the Babylon Bee had this take: https://x.com/TheBabylonBee/status/1882148749138383027.
A small synchronicity…
Whenever I return to my parents for Christmas, I look over my bookshelves to see if I want to bring anything with me. There’s a decent selection of new content there for me, as there was a time when I was younger when my enthusiasm for buying works greatly outstripped my ability to ingest them. I’d been on a break from occult philosophy to let previous works digest, but at the last moment, I was moved to grab Yeats’ A Vision, albeit with no immediate plans to read it.
At around this time, I was finishing up the Sailing to Serantium duology by Guy Gabriel Kay on audiobook. It is a truly astonishing work of historical fantasy and portrait of Byzantium as it may have been near the height of its power. Kay can weave together multifarious complex threads seamlessly over a long work in ways I rarely encounter, and while many of his characters may be closer to ideals than people, I find them deeply inspiring.
My enthusiasm aside, none of this is the point. The point is that at the very end of the book after the curtains of closed, the author ends with a quote:
“I think that if I could be given a month of antiquity and leave to spend it where I chose, I would spend it in Byzantium a little before Justinian open Saint Sophia and closed the Academy of Plato. I think I could find in some little wine shop, some philosophical worker in Mosaic who could answer all my questions, the supernatural descending nearer to him…”
– W.B Yeats, A Vision
I literally laughed so loud that my roommate asked me what had happened from the other room.
While I am spending some time to return to polish Cosmic Doctrine before I dive into A Vision, my next movements are clear, for who could ignore such odd and specific advice?
Thanks for turning me on to this lens onto the Cosmos. The Cosmic Doctrine has come to permeate my experience of the world. I wonder where A Vision will take me next?
I want to report a vibe shift.
For about 20 years, starting a little bit after 9/11 I think, it’s felt like everything you wanted to do with your own life required you to justify yourself to others, in a way that it just didn’t in the 90’s. In the 90’s it felt like there was a still room to try new things and a sense that there was adventure to be had in the world if you looked hard enough.
Maybe it was just because I was a kid and teen in the 90’s, but I feel like after 9/11 the atmosphere of paranoia and distrust started to close in, then in the 2010’s and especially in the wake of Covid there was just a general neuroticism that other people would interpret your actions in the most absurdly negative way imaginable, report you to the relevant social authorities (HR, platform moderators, etc.), and even make a big enough stink that your bosses, friends, and even family would distance themselves from you out of sheer self-preservation.
But now the meme is spreading that “You can just do things,” and with Trump just doing things — lots of things, almost-unimaginable things — right out the gate, I feel like that stifling atmosphere is lifting.
@Ecosophy Enjoyer #202 … far as I can tell, immigrants who work illegally, those are our slaves. They can be paid poorly, have dreadful working conditions, etc. All the threats of enforcement are just ways to keep them enslaved.
Well, surely it is not so simple. Working class citizens are frustrated and need to blame somebody, so illegal workers are a suitable target. Would any of those citizens really want to work in a meat processing plant, cutting up chickens or whatever? Harvesting grapes? But the complaining doesn’t have to be logical.
Who exactly is promoting the xenophobia, I don’t know. For sure immigrants are as large a fraction of the population as they were in the Gilded Age 100 years ago, and xenophobia was big then too. So maybe it is just natural. But the folks who run the media channels are in the game too. Some of it is just power politics. Hmmm, privatized detention camps, labor camps… get the workers even more cheaply, easier to abuse, and then charge the taxpayers too! There is a lot of money to be made!
Gardener, that’s the usual state of a civilization in decline — too much intermediation, causing economic activity to grind to a halt.
Methylethyl, and just about everything else!
Elizabeth, yes, I heard of that and my reaction was similar. My works are protected by publication — I don’t leave manuscripts unpublished if I can possibly help it, so everything’s out there in thousands of copies.
Rafael, it really does feel as though things have shifted, though maybe that’s just euphoria from having someone in the White House who is at least trying to deal with the vast burden of the bureaucratic state.
Patricia M, nah, Trump is a coyote, not a fox. It’ll be interesting to see how he and Putin work things out. Popcorn is recommended.
Uwe, I’m very partial to this book by William Walker Atkinson:
https://archive.org/details/william-walker-atkinson-science-of-breath
It was a standard textbook in occult schools through most of the 20th century.
Stephen, why, yes, I have. When I was young teenagers in the Seattle area still routinely spent their summers picking strawberries in the farms of the Green River valley. It’s not that hard. As for food prices going up, market forces have something to say about that; it may be that the huge agricultural conglomerates may have to settle for smaller profit margins, or that more people will get used to doing an end run around the more than Byzantine distribution systems that drive up costs.
Clay, yes, which is why most of the illegals being hired in the US today are being hired by huge corporations, who can and do bribe officials to overlook their crimes. It’s far less of a fringe matter than some claim — which is also why there are huge, well-funded NGOs facilitating illegal immigration.
Michael, well, Trump certainly seems to be taking action! We’ll see how it goes.
DFC, thanks for this. I wasn’t aware of those aspects of the history.
Bofur, I think “fall in line” means partly “secure the US northern border” and partly “stop sucking up to the WEF and the EU.” But we’ll see.
Patricia M, well, we’ll see, but it does look that way at the moment.
RMS, thanks for this. As for runes, you’d have to ask someone who works with them, and there are certainly such people in the commentariat. Anyone?
Michael, I think both of those are excellent points!
Enjoyer, you’d have to remove the very large incentives for corruption in the federal bureaucracies that oversee immigration law. Hiring illegal immigrants is already a serious offense — it’s just that the laws are only enforced against small employers. As for “Republicans,” remember that the GOP is a very loose coalition among groups with competing interests, and the Trumpista faction has risen to power only quite recently in that coalition.
Joan, er, “magic” isn’t a vague general catchall meaning “anything spooky.” It’s a term for a specific set of practices and traditions. The only thing in your list that belongs to it is the Sphere of Protection, and that’s fairly gentle. Ceremonial magic — which is specifically what I was talking about — consists of ritual workings that have powerful effects on consciousness. If you’re not putting on a robe, tracing a protective circle around yourself, lighting candles, chanting words of power, tracing sigils with a magical wand, and so on, don’t worry about it.
David, yes, I know. No, I don’t have any opinions on the subject. There were doubtless also states that never voted for Rutherford B. Hayes or Millard Fillmore, for that matter, and I don’t have any particular views about that either.
Vespasian, no, reincarnation isn’t weird. Modern materialism is weird. As for skipping around the timeline, that’s not what the teachings say and it’s also not my experience from my own past life memories. I’ve noticed, though, that a lot of people want to convince themselves that they won’t be reborn into the future their actions are helping to make…
Chris, thanks for this. Yeah, it remains true that the only people I know who think solar energy can power the grid are people who’ve never had to power their homes with solar energy.
J.L.Mc12, there are divergent opinions in the Druid scene about bonsai. Since I don’t practice it and don’t like bonsai trees, I’ve never really looked into the subject.
Siliconguy, in other breaking news, rocks fall when dropped…
Polecat, I’m pretty sure that’s a slush fund to pay off the tech bros who helped him win. We’ll see if anything ever comes of it.
Vintner, thanks for this. The closest thing to a state of the art report on my own Grail research is my book The Ceremony of the Grail, which you might enjoy.
Yavanna, you can certainly suggest it; if you want to propose a 5th Wednesday topic, though, I’ll be calling for votes again in early April.
Jake, you do know, don’t you, that A Vision will be our next book club topic?
Slithy, delighted to hear it. As Crowley should have said, do what keepeth thou from wilting shall be the loophole in the law!
Well, we’ll see if Trump manages to tackle the problem effectively. Unless the root of the issue is handled, it’ll continue to be a problem in perpetuity. Trump’s alliances with people like Elon (whose economic interests are served by mass immigration, chinese outsourcing, and government subsidy) give me pause as to whether he will actually enact policies that help the working class. But I can understand why people are taking their chance on him.
I’m neither a republican nor a democrat, and I am disappointed by both. I am an disillusioned environmentalist who leans left on some economic issues and right on some social issues. Illegal immigration is one of the issues I lean rightward on.
Today’s progressives should note that progressives in the progressive era were actually anti-immigration, because they understood that the primary function of immigration is to depress wages and disenfranchise workers.
With reincarnation, I have this weird sense that for human beings, the temporal aspect of reincarnation is directly related to our lack of/ incompleteness of our mental sheathe.
@RMS #200 re: Runes and Magic
Runes are what got me into the occult, and I’ve read quite a bit about them, but fair warning, when I took up serious magical practice, I opted to follow JMG’s Druid Magic Handbook first, and have set doing magic with the Runes aside until I get through that (which has been slow, because I have small children and had to put the more involved rituals on hold until they’re old enough). So, take all of this with as much salt as seems warranted.
1) Divination: obviously, the most common use for the Runes, and especially for physical Rune stones like you mentioned. I find the Runes quite congenial as a divinatory system and have gotten some answers that have spooked me with their accuracy and insight. There’s a lot of information on using the Runes for divination out there, much of which is likely to be overwhelming and possibly counter-productive to forming your own intuitive grasp of them when you’re first starting out. So, I’d recommend finding one, maybe two guides and then start doing daily readings. A good set-up for that is asking “What do I most need to know about what happens in the coming day?” and then drawing Urdhr (what is already established/the past), Verdhandi (what is in the process of becoming/happening/the present), and Skuld (what is likely to come of what already is, so “the future,” but not fully determined). As for guides, if you only get one book, I’d likely recommend The Runecaster’s Handbook by Edred Thorsson (more on him and his books in a moment) as a good, clear guide to divination with the Runes that has enough esoteric elaboration to be interesting, but is basic enough to not step on your own associations too much. If you want to go very bare bones, and let yourself build up more of the meaning through experience and intuition, though, The Rune Primer by Sweyn Plowright is brief, to the point, and with zero added fluff. One further tip: decide early on if you’re going to use “murk” staves or not. These are roughly the equivalent of cards being reversed in systems like the Tarot, and typically means whatever the Rune’s meaning, but blocked, incomplete, or mis-applied. For example, Kenaz means “Torch,” which is “controlled fire,” and so is usually linked with things like creativity, willpower, and drive. Kenaz murk would mean either a lack of creativity, or perhaps creativity used toward unproductive ends. Not all folks who read the Runes use murkstaves, and not all books give interpretations based on them (Thorsson’s do), but I have found it helpful to do so for my own work. Typically, folks read a stave as murky if the lot comes down face down, but for that, you have to use a method that involves tossing/dropping them, or else a hard-and-fast rule about which way counts as “up” based on how you grab it if you just pull them out of a bag. My method is to put all the staves in my hands, shake them around, and then drop them in a leather dice tray. I then pick up a stave for each place in the reading without looking and am careful not to flip it over. Once I have all of the staves drawn, I look at them, and any that are upside down, I peek under to see which Rune it is.
2) Meditation: The Runes make excellent subjects for meditation, both traditional discursive meditation like our host teaches and scrying, as well as a variety of others (like simply staring at the Rune written on paper, or trying to visualize it’s shape clearly or chanting the sound it stands for). When I was first getting started, I went through the “pathworkings” (guided active imagination/scrying, not the same way our host uses the word in his books) from The Teutonic Way: Magic by Kveldulf Gundarsson and had some notable experiences thanks to it, though I’m not sure if such guided meditations are great for everyone (and are certainly more helpful early on than after a bit more practice). If this intrigues you, I’d especially point you toward the various Rune poems (Old Icelandic, Old Norse, and Old English) as helpful sources of themes for meditation, though depending on what set of Runes you have, you might have to adjust a little (the Elder Futhark has 24 Runes, the Younger only 16. The OI and ON poems are for the Younger Futhark, and the OE poem is for the expanded Anglo-Saxon Futhorc, which grew to ultimately 33 Runes, but the OE poem has 29).
3) Magic: The Runes can also be used more directly in magical work, though usually you don’t do so with the actual stones/staves of a divination set. Instead, the usual approach is some combination of chanting the runes in a ritual context, tracing them in the air with a finger or wand, visualizing them, or rendering your magical intention into something you can write in Runes on an object. If you’re familiar with how the Ogham is used in the Druid Magic Handbook, you could take much the same approach with the Runes if you wanted (I suspect, but haven’t tried). Edred Thorsson spells out a lot of different approaches in his Big Book of Runes and Rune Magic, which collects his earlier Rune books and slightly expands on them (including The Runecaster’s Handbook I mentioned above, but above I recommended that as a separate book to avoid muddying the waters with all the extra stuff that it’s in the much bigger book). He also wrote The Nine Doors of Midgard, which is a rather involved self-study course and initiation involving ceremonial magic grounded in the Runes. As far as I know, it’s Thorsson’s own invention, though you can see the Golden Dawn DNA in it if you know what to look for (though, interestingly, the core protective ritual, the “Hammer Working,” is a sphere, formed by tracing the Sign of the Hammer in the four cardinal directions, down, and up, which makes it not unlike the SOP that JMG teaches – I wonder a bit if Thorsson picked up some influences second or third hand from the lineage that led to John Gilbert). Lastly, a while back, JMG worked with a commenter to come up with a few rituals for the “Heathen Golden Dawn,” which was then picked by Isaac Hill, who elaborated the whole thing into the book The Heathen Golden Dawn, which uses the traditional rituals of the GD (like the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram and Middle Pillar and so forth), plus the Tree of Life, but with Heathen Gods and symbolism, including the Runes.
Anyhow, that’s likely way too much already, but if any of that strikes a chord, feel free to follow up with any specific questions, and I’ll help if I can.
Cheers,
Jeff
I imagine there are numerous questions/ideas that have been asked/discussed here previously (probably umpteen times in slightly varying ways), so I’m wondering if this site has an FAQ page somewhere that lists the most popular questions and provides relatively short answers.
If not, is this something that Artificial Intelligence could generate if it was fed the text of all the previous comments/questions/answers that have appeared in every Open Post to date?
Even a list of commonly asked questions WITHOUT any answers could be helpful because it would probably contain ideas that Joe & Jane Public have never pondered but might be capable of stimulating further thought or discussion.
JMG,
Would you mind giving your take on the idea of “self-initiation” and whether or not such a thing is even possible?There appear to be different schools of thought on this issue. For some time now, I have been a member of an esoteric organization that is run by an individual who is adamantly opposed to it, going so far as to say that it is not possible and leads to sorcery, delusion, and a left-hand path. However, I have recently left said organization (for a myriad of reasons that I won’t get into), and am now going through a period where I am literally questioning everything I think I know about the occult. It seems to me that there may be a proper place for something like self-initiation up to a point at least. Considering how many orders there are out there who claim to be “legitimate”, with the seeker having no means to verify such claims (since we simply don’t know what we don’t know) or determine at least whether the leadership of these groups are indeed trustworthy, it would seem to me that there must be some method of training that the individual seeker could practice on their own that would have within it the capability to get them to the point where they could come in contact with a capable teacher whom they could trust if they so desire. What say you sir?
Speaking of Wotan, fans of YouTuber Rudyard Lynch (whatif althist) are now reeling from his 10-hour video revealing his deep-seated mental issues–exascerbated by ayahuasca–which led him to have long conversations with God, the devil, and yes, Wotan (his primary deity). Quite sad; he’s only 22.
@Princess Cutekitten #133,
Are there things you know, are good in, have experience in, things you have learned or are qualified for? E.g. you mentioned „tutoring“, but I‘m not quite sure what you mean by that: tutoring school kids for school? And if so, at which level? 🙂
If you could give us some hints as to what you might be able to do, that would help in coming up with suggestions. Or at least it would help me… 😀
Milkyway
@Wer, @Mary Bennett
About Trump’s coming presidential term;
He does seem to be a figure of destiny, an embodiment of the Changer with some very significant magical or spiritual forces that are using him to do their bidding. On the one hand, there are a lot of corrupt and powerful persons and institutions that stand a good chance of being swept away by his bulldozer approach. On the other hand, a lot of good and useful persons and institutions will also be swept away. It would not surprise me to see the USA by 2028 as a second-class or third-class nation with the US dollar no longer the global reserve currency. Wars will follow the loss of American hegemony, as they always do with the collapse of an empire.
The Chinese may force the US into hyperinflation by creating US dollar bonds in large quantities in Saudi Arabia, as was mentioned a number of weeks ago. It’s possible that someone on Trump’s team understands the significance of that; If so, it’s no surprise that the Trump team wants to buy Greenland soon, before the US Dollar becomes entirely worthless.
They also want Canada because of its large resources, but anything they try will be perilous for the US. Tariffs? Canada honestly does not need to send its petroleum and gas to the US. China and India will buy all of it, and now that the pipeline is complete, they can. What if Canada joins OPEC? Invasion? Imagine how easy it would be for China to put millions of troops into Canada along the entire US/Canadian Border. Canada may not really want to invite the PLA inside its borders in force, but the US is asking for something like this to happen.
And of Trump himself; the omens seem bad to me. His speech seems rambling, unfocused, without insight or direction. He didn’t put his hand on the Bible when being sworn in. The last time a swearing-in ceremony was moved indoors was the inauguration of Ronald Reagan, another instance of the US taking a turn for the worse. Perhaps the really bad magical workings can’t be done under an open sky. He did a sword dance to the YMCA song. A minister begged him to be merciful in church without apparent effect.
At times, it feels like I am watching a ritual of destruction for the man and the nation. When the gods decide to destroy someone, do they not offer them the chance to turn back, and then destroy them when they don’t?
I am also becoming more convinced that Trump’s actions and the reactions of his opponents are occurring in a ‘fog of war.’ During a war, no one at our level can know what is really going on, and maybe won’t know until many years later. Best of luck to everyone. Looks like a rough ride to me…
Scotlyn 155
> One thing that was difficult to see from the angle we were shown was whether incoming President Trump actually placed his hand upon the two bibles the First Lady was holding. We later found this full frontal picture, which appears to show that he did not swear his oath upon the bible(s).
You are correct: Trump was not touching any Bible while he was swearing the oath. Fox News commented shortly after the event, and no-one minded.
💨Northwind Grandma💨📚
Dane County, Wisconsin, USA
Before I go too far off into the weeds with Tengu,
1) I maybe taking the notion of the inherent subversiveness of “everyone has inherent Buddhanature” farther than Samuel does.
I drifted away from orthodox Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism because although they teach inherent Buddhanature, they practice as though it doesn’t matter much because almost no one will ever realize it anyway. Furthermore, I had an experience that told me that “everyone is a Buddha, they just don’t know it yet” is more concretely true than even Tibetan Buddhism holds. Though, truth in advertising, a peer that I told about the experience wrote it off as just projection.
*This creates an interesting parallel with Soviet engineering in the 1930s.
2) Regardless of the exact relationship between Vajrayana and Mahayana, what may interest folks is that the three main Vajrayana schools in Tibet practice much that at least comes close to ritual magic and historically they allowed new teachings to emerge if they worked. (By the way, none of that is true for the Dalai Lama’s school, the Gelugpa, which is not Vajrayana.)
Tengu,
That sounds like a Mahayana take on the relationship between Mahayana and Vajrayana.
I was taught that there have been three turnings, the Hinayana (a term considered pejorative by those schools), Mahayana, then Vajrayana. Yes, the Tibetan Vajrayana schools are also Mahayana, but most of Mahayana outside Tibet is not Vajrayana and the Gelugpa are not.
What this means in practice is that the Gelugpa only accept texts for which the Sanskrit original exist. But the Persianate Muslim invasions destroyed the Buddhist universities and their libraries in India (Bengal and Bihar mostly) in the 1200s, so most texts exist only in Tibetan translation. The other schools accept those Tibetan translations.
The other schools also accept “treasure finders”, who are mystics who “discover” texts buried back in the 800s by Padma Sambhava before the fall of the Tibetan Empire. Most of these texts seem to be not physically hidden away but rather channeled texts. This makes the other schools much more open to new teachings and practices and much less centrally controlled. By crude analogy, the other schools would be fine with something analogous to Mormonism but for the Gelugpas, new revelations are forbidden (as in most Christianity).
In a way, the Gelugpas are like Roman Catholicism or a mainline Protestant Church with substantial real estate and locked-in doctrine. The other schools have some real estate but also have the equivalent of an inner city former movie theater turned into a non-denominational church by folks with no particular authorization from way above. They also have what amounts to spiritual Johny Appleseeds wandering around spreading new and old teachings.
I can’t find my source for the role of the Silk Roads in the rise of the Tibetan Empire, which at its peak ran from Bengal to Afghanistan and included parts of China, but it dissolved in civil war in 842. The Mongols took over Tibet for a while in the 1200s. The fall of unified Tibet is stressed in the history of Buddhism in Tibet because the Buddhism of the empire (Nyingma) barely survived the chaos and the other schools were founded later.
Regarding conspiracies, here is a interesting lesson from history.
In Russia during world war 1, Tsar Nicolas 2. was busy micromanaging the war effort, and doing a very bad job. Because he was so busy with the war his wife Alexendra ended up being the defacto ruler of Russia. And proving to be completly clueless and useless as a leader.
She was from Germany and the German emperor Fredrik Vilhelm Victor Albert was her cousin.
So it was obvious to many russians that she was conspiring with the Germans, and destroying Russia from within so they would lose the war against Germany.
No one could be that stupid and useless as a leader right?
Turns out she really was completly useless as a leader. It was not some sort of grand conspiracy.
So the lesson is that what looks like a conspiracy from the outside can just be that our leaders really are that stupid and clueless.
How entrepreneurial are the anti-bureaucratic faction? Most seem to depend on government subsidies (Tesla) and/or contracts, especially contracts with the MIC. It seems to me that we are being offered a choice between
regulation that works in favor of huge concentrations of economic power or no regulation at all.
Is it even possible to make money on a large scale by providing actual goods and services in an economy that is so thoroughly financialized? (Yes, the mouse-sized proto-mammals can work around the dinosaurs, but it is still the dinosaurs planet until the asteroid arrives.)
David Ritz,
Vermont and Maine in the 1930s were still rock-ribbed Republicans from the Civil War. They had almost none of the immigration that shifted other northern states toward the Democrats and a fair amount of skepticism of anything coming out of the big cities (with all their non-Protestant immigrants).
Vermont was one of the most reliable Republican states until the Republicans replaced the Democrats as the party of Southern whites and Vermont’s demographics were shifted by old farmers dying off and migrants coming in from less uniformly Anglo-Saxon Protestant areas. Bernie from Brooklyn is typical of that change.
Minnesota voted against Reagan in 1980 and 1984 because a favorite son (=a Minnesotan) was the VP nominee for the Dems in 1980 and the presidential nominee in 1984.
@RMS #200 – If it’s a set of stones with a single rune each, using them for divination would be a straightforward thing to do…
Cheers,
Nachtgurke
The way that illegal immigrants are used by shady employers is by stealing other people’s identities, often duplicating id’s or using dead children’s information. I worked in LA for 28 years, and one time our Spanish speaking trainer asked a new temp agency employee’s name. He asked, “do you want my real name, or the name I’m here under?” They’d come up to work, send most of the money back home, and then bail out in recessions or downturns. In fact, a friend who was a teacher in LA, said his school lost 300 students in the 2008 recession, none of whom could speak English. They could barely write in Spanish, either, because their parents couldn’t.
Anyone from LA can tell you that infrastructure and social services were abandoned years ago because all the money is funneled into slush funds for causes du jour, illegals being one of the biggest slushes. Parts of the city were so bad – tent cities, trash heaps, boarded windows and no functional stores, just carnival like stands – I was convinced the apocalypse could happen and they’d never notice the difference. It has to stop or we all go down with them, the fires being a tragic example on how it ends.
Princess Cutekitten, can you sew? There’s a big need for people that can do clothes alterations, for example.
Hope it’s not too late to post a question! What do you make of commentators who are warning about the declining birth rate? Who think it’s a bad thing, and we should all start having more babies?
Personally, I think they’re wrong – given that we’ve been warned about over-population for the past a few decades, the decline is very welcome. 8 billion people is more than enough, and I don’t think the human race is in danger of going extinct any time soon. Economic problems from an aging population are likely, we’ll just have to deal with it. And might prevent bigger problems down the line if the population carries on growing.
I remember you discussing the carrying capacity of the planet in previous blogs. Just wondering what you would say these pundits?
Christophe #191
Earthworm wrote, “Also that a personal relationship with the indefinable seems a little presumptious on my part.”
“Have you considered just how extraordinarily presumptuous it is for any of us to imagine that we could somehow close off all personal relationship with the indefinable?”
***
Where did you manage to pull that from?
What I said about being presumptuous had several meanings but that was not one of them.
First that the idea of having an actual relationship with something I cannot define seems a little ahead of myself.
Second, by ‘presumptuous’ I was referring to the risk of the ‘personality’ running away with itself in imagination and arrogance creating an illusion/delusion/nuisance through its sense of self importance.
Also, that when the personality/ego is running the show rather than being dynamically integrated with the higher self, not only is there the risk of our own stupidity causing disharmony but an overinflated personality could be a soft touch for incarnate and discarnate beings intent on mischief or out of antipathy to humans.
Grace is not gained by the ‘Personality’ it is granted by the Divine, and me chasing after a god or goddess to demand attention because of what I might think I want out of such a relationship does not seem like a genuine relationship between mortal and divine. The risk of treating a divine being as a vending machine at best will go nowhere and to me it seems a useful starting point would be to first answer three questions:
1. What do I bring to this relationship
2. What do I want from this relationship
3. Based on the answers to 1 & 2 are we talking an actual relationship or a transaction?
If all I can offer a divine being is service and respect, I figure it is probably a good idea to pay attention to my manners because coming across as a yapping dog wanting a biscuit could earn me a sharp kick up the backside.
See response to Fra’ Lupo #76 @ #139
Do you think I should just get a job and start making money now? Or go into training for 3-4 years to learn a specialized skill for more pay? How long is left before the gravy train ends in America??
@JMG – I think so too, but the message isn’t landing with average Canadians, who continue to be mystified. Maybe that doesn’t matter, as long as elites grasp the meaning.
It’s worth putting out there, because this site has an eclectic readership but relatively few young men, and ergo, as intelligent as this community is, there’s a perspective that is usually missing. This Trump term is the Last Chance. The Final Off-Ramp. The End Of The Line for anything resembling status quo, life as we know it.
If Trump doesn’t succeed at an extraordinarily ambitious agenda, addressing numerous grievances, and is stymied at every turn, you’re getting Fred Halliot within the next ten years.
Cue Obi Wan Kenobi: now there’s a name I’ve not heard in a long time.
Why do I say that? Because I keep my ear to the ground in places where angry young men congregate (substack, Twxtter, /p0l, etc) , and boy are they angry. Normies, or any folk of a different age bracket, have no idea what’s going on out there.
I’m not going into the litany of grievances that young men have, because I don’t want to get bogged down in a discussion of whether those grievances are legitimate.
The point is, Young Male Anger is going to define the next ten years, and more so if Trump isn’t allowed to succeed. Get ready for it.
I had mentioned many rural people independently from each other predicted a cold winter this year. In Vienna and around it was at least a colder winter across past years, temperatures reaching freezing point again.
Nothing like two decades ago though.
In the upcoming days forecasts predict 6-10 degress celsius again, a spring breeze, in these past years the month of February often had temperatures up to 15 degrees with sunny weather, on 1 of February 2020 it was 20 degrees, as I remember, an uncommon summerly winter then.
Spring season was cool and rainy often though until well into June.
Generally these past years often knew hot summers and warm autumns, although in 2021 I think temperatures fell to 15 degrees in August and September, also uncommon.
I look forward to see how this season unfolds.
For the time skipping part, I woke up this morning and realized where I obtained this idea that it’s the lack of a developed mental sheath that ensures we keep reincarnating forward in time and never past.
When I dream, what I’ve noticed is that I find myself in a lot of situations where I’m interacting with past alternate reality versions of myself. It’s never in the future. It’s never in the same past I had. It is almost always in situations similar to ones that I managed to navigate well during this lifetime, and it feels like I get in the driver’s seat temporarily in that body. Has anyone else had similar experiences?
I’ve also had experiences in crisis situations where I felt like I was getting assistance. I always assumed it was guardian spirits or angels or something, but it might be a future version of yourself in dream mode. So, what I’m suggesting is that mental sheathe has the ability to travel (maybe only backward?) through space/time and that’s one of the things we do when we sleep. Something to meditate on!
It appeareth people are worried and nervous, to me.
Does anyone else make the same observation?
It seems I get these feelings in from others in public transit and my workplace, going in the undercurrents, not necessarily as people show themselves so openly.
What this year 2025 will bring, possibly good opportunities for spiritual growth.
I have spent time with spiritual craftspeople in rural regions a lot the past times since last year, a good thing for me. I appreciate the straight forwardness and cordial ways.
I am also proud to have slept in my cabin, on the north slope where no sun goes at this years time, about minus 6 degrees and freezing out there. I did not heat at all the first night there and saw my breath steaming, as I stayed clothed inside as outside and slept with good underwear in my winter sleeping bag.
This worked out well.
These days through christmas and thereafter I froze a lot and often slept little, staying in good health despite.
In my life, these are the better days I had, still strenuous and riddled with inner stories to be processed, but successful never the less.
Life does keep me busy at a pace, but these days I persisted.
@JMG
“s for skipping around the timeline, that’s not what the teachings say and it’s also not my experience from my own past life memories. I’ve noticed, though, that a lot of people want to convince themselves that they won’t be reborn into the future their actions are helping to make…”
A frequent joke on 9gag these days is about how it is hurtful to reveal that the 90s aren’t coming back.
If I think about the possibility of reincarnation with me experiencing these highly interesting times on the downwars slope of industrialism, I wonder will I start remembering my life here on the height of material growth sometime? A curious prospect.
I didn’t know that “A Vision” was coming up next in the book club. I’m pleased, though. I purchased a copy decades ago, for some reason that I can’t remember. I’ve attempted to read it several times; the embedded story of Huddon, Duddon and Daniel O’Leary is a great story, but when I get to the gyres, I give up on it. So I look forward to the discussion.
About climate as a “person”. There are many weather Gods. Most of Them involve winds such as Hurrican, with some involve rain such as Jupiter Pluvius. if you think in terms of a verticalness for Gods going from the very specific to the global, you could say that the local Wind God (of which there are many) was a part of the Climate God who is undefinable as a God. (Much like blind men describing an elephant.)
Thinking in those terms, means that humans are actually fighting a God with climate change actions. Since we are a part of the ecosystem of the Cosmos, I think it would be better to adjust.
About Trump.
I count General W.T. Sherman as one of my Ancestors. I realized something – Trump is the modern Sherman marching through Georgia. Change is going to happen, and it will be painful. And it will sweep away everything like the Union Army tearing up from Atlanta to the Sea and North through the Carolinas. At Bentonville (NC), Sherman and Johnston signed their peace agreement, after Lee and Grant. For all practical purposes, Johnston has a large enough army to continue fighting, but he decided to surrender.
I think that same sort of thing will happen with Trump and the Resistors. They will surrender because there will be nothing left to defend. Trump will have burned it all.
JMG: The Magic Resistance is fatally hamstrung by a wildly inflated sense of entitlement — “the arc of history bends toward me!!!” — and an embarrassing lack of basic magical competence. As for climate change, of course not — did you think they actually want to stop climate change? When it gives them such a fine opportunity to posture heroically while not actually doing anything that would cause them the least inconvenience? I discussed this in an earlier post: https://www.ecosophia.net/a-neglected-factor-in-the-fall-of-civilizations/
—
Me: I had a dear friend who owns an apartment building in Chicago, who considers himself poor. He is a Magical Resistor to the nth degree. His family who are for Trump have tried to mend bridges with him, since he is very sick and possibly dying. He cut them off. They said that as far as they were concerned, he was a “self-appointed victim
and proud of it.”
That rang with me. A proud, self-appointed victim. That is what the elites consider themselves. Never a perpetrator, always a hero or a victim. Preferable a heroic victim.
The other thing, which you have noticed, is that these open-minded people, who pride themselves as independent thinkers calling Trump people, cultists, are well – closed, group-minded with Democratic talking points in a cult themselves.
@Curt re: #221 –
The same thing would have happened on the downslope into the European dark ages, with people reincarnating with past-life memories of imperial Rome at its apex.
Can you update your views on man made climate change and what the future looks like considering this new administration?
Enjoyer, delighted to see that you know enough history to catch that — most people don’t.
Dennis, hmm. Certainly a hypothesis worth meditating on.
Yoyo, no, and I’d rather not do that. If the same questions became boringly repetitive, I’d consider it, but so far, at least, most questions are constantly being reframed in ways that are at least tolerably interesting.
Ashlar, self-initiation is certainly possible, and in many cases it’s the best option — better, certainly, than remaining stuck in a dysfunctional organization. There are some traditions, such as Masonry and Martinism, that can’t be passed on by self-initiation, but there are others that can; in fact, most of the old American occult schools used self-initiation guided by a correspondence course as their main mode of instruction, and reserved in-person lodge initiation for those who had already done a lot of work on their own. May I offer myself as an example? I originally worked through the Golden Dawn tradition via self-initiation, spending more than twenty years at it. Later on, when I had the chance to be initiated in a temple, I had the chance to compare — and what I got from the temple rituals was no more than I’d gotten via systematic practice on my own. (The spiritual forces more or less said, “Oh, hi. Nice to see you again.”) So it can be done; it takes systematic work, but the results are just as solid as initiation in a working temple.
Ambrose, I heard about that. Sad, but not surprising; I’ve seen a lot of heavy drug users end up the same way.
Heian, good. It’s been a maxim of mine for years that it’s never wise to blame conspiracy for something that can be adequately explained by stupidity.
Jessica, as I see it, it’s no longer possible to make a profit selling goods and services in the ordinary way because the real economy — the economy of goods and services — has been declining for some time now, and in a declining economy the average business, the average investment, and the average asset all lose money. All the current economic gimmickry is an attempt to paper that over and manufacture bogus profits by spinning the presses in various ornate ways.
M Carole, thanks for this. Yeah, that sounds about right.
Sydaway, from an overall perspective declining birth rates are wonderful news. The Earth might be able to support a billion people in relative comfort indefinitely; most of the world’s current problems are caused or exacerbated by the simple fact that there are just too many people, and the fact that population’s tipped over into decline for demographic reasons, rather than doing so via pandemic, world war, or some similarly ghastly turn of events, is cause for celebration. The downside is that all our economic arrangements presuppose ongoing economic growth, population growth is the ultimate driver of economic growth, and its end is going to erase most of what counts for wealth in today’s world. I did a post about that early last year:
https://www.ecosophia.net/an-unfamiliar-world/
Trustycanteen, get training in a skilled trade now. Too few people have that, and it’ll stand you in good stead when a lot of former cubicle inmates flood the unskilled-labor market.
Bofur, thanks for this. Agreed — it so happens that I do have contact with a lot of young men, and yeah, they’re furious…and not without good reason. I hope the Orange Julius can harness that energy and keep it from causing an explosion.
Curt, many thanks for the data points.
Dennis, definitely something to meditate on.
Curt, funny. One of the benefits of declining population is that more of us will have adequate time between lives to process our memories between lives, so those won’t intrude so much the next time around.
Phutatorius, the story of Huddon et al. has long made me wish that Yeats had cultivated his gifts as a comic writer — he could be very, very funny. Yes, we’ll talk about the gyres a step at a time!
Neptunesdolphins, ha! That’s an excellent point about weather gods. As for “self-appointed victim and proud of it,” that’s perhaps the most concise phrasing I’ve yet encountered of the great delusion of our time — the notion that being victimized makes you morally superior to other people. Thanks for this.
J, there’ll be a post on that as we proceed.
Speaking of national egregores and related things, Dion Fortune’s writings mention an “Occult Police”, that supposedly works to ensure the purity of national egregore. Allegedly, this Occult Police, among other things, makes sure that citizens of a country practice magic appropriate to it, and, conversely, keeps certain magic from falling into the hands of foreigners. I’ve seen other Society of Inner Light-related authors mention it, but nobody else seems to be aware of it existence.
Recently, I’ve been working through a certain Golden Dawn-related course, and, as is not uncommon, experienced a few side-effects. In my case, those side-effects were wrecked sleep schedule and vivid dreams which are not bound by usual dream-rules. In those dreams I’m well aware that I’m asleep, even if usual ways of telling it do not work: my hands are not distorted, writing is legible, even if what it says tends to change as I read, and I have access to “mental screen” that functions independently of dream imagery.
I live in a country whose relationships with the West has soured a bit as of lately, and one of the recurring scenarios for those dreams involves a barrage of insults aimed at my country delivered by dream characters and pieces of traditional media, which is followed by being transported to a luxurious shopping mall (last time I had this dream it could even afford Elon Musk for a greeter). All stores in this mall sell identities: pop-culture franchise fan, topical issue activist, etc., and there is unspoken implication that I should pick up something “more fashionable” for myself. I found this experience amusing, at least for the first few times I had it.
Not sure whether this is just random noise I pick up, a manifestation of some complex I have, yet am not aware of, or a heavy-handed and borderline self-aware attempt to effect a change in my consciousness.
A question I’ve been meaning to ask: back in at least 2005-2010, I used to loosely follow some of the weirder corners of the internet, like Rigorous Intuition, Clif High when he was working with George Ure, and one site I can’t recall (or am misrecalling) and I wonder if anyone remembers it. Its main point was to map current events onto some great mythical narrative, probably involving aliens or cosmic and interplanetary changes but tied in with ancient cultures’ myths. IIRC, the author or website had a Japanese name and there was a forum. Lately, the only thing that comes to my mind is Godlike Productions but all I find there is the forum and none of the interesting “mapping” that tried to sound like prognostication but really connected dots after events occurred.
Does this ring a bell for anyone?
@Jessica #229 – the relationship between the Tibetan sects, Gelugpa etc., and the various practice lineages, that’s a complicated question. But, for example, His Holiness Dalai Lama is well known for giving Kalachakra empowerments. That’s Vajrayana in the Gelugpa.
For sure, the Gelugpa are the Civilized clerics of Samuels’s book, and the Nyingma are the Shamans. But everybody recites Om Mani Padma Hung.
@Bofur 238 and JMG
I am an angry young man. I have been angry for years, and in 2023 I realized anger feels good compared to depression, and started intentionally seeking out rage-bait, and even though my life is in better shape now and I’m not feeling depressed as often or as intensely, it’s become a habit for me. Now my questions:
Is it possible that as a young man, my emotions are being affected by many other young men being angry, even though I am a loner? And if so, can phasing out rage-bait content plus regular banishing rituals protect me from that energy? I am doing the Celtic Golden Dawn course, but haven’t gotten anything out of that yet otjer than a modest improvement in my novice meditation skills, but maybe I am implicitly inviting that energy in.
(Note: I know a lot of my hate and rage comes from personal issues, and that totally shutting myself away from politics would be foolish. So I wouldn’t expect a dramatic shift in my personality from this.)
Princess Cutekitten; Please accept my best wishes for a complete recovery and return to good health.
As for side money, IDK if you need a few extra bucks to pay the utilities or a more substantial amount.
What might be the feasibility of renting a room to, e.g. a college student, unmarried teacher, or the like? Have strict rules as to conduct–the right person will respect your rules and even be grateful for them–and advertise only by word of mouth in your parish. Don’t even say you have a room available, just that you are thinking about the notion.
Do you do any kind of sewing and mending? I am thinking specifically of sewing on badges to scout and martial arts uniforms. For that you do not even need a sewing machine. I have done those by hand. Fasten the badge to the garment with an iron on product and then sew around the edges with color matched thread by hand or machine. Patches can be sewn on while the customer waits, saving the hassle of two separate trips to the cleaners.
There is high demand for bridal sewists, which I do not do, because of the high set up costs, like dedicated room, specialty interfacings, etc. Interior decorators do use private sewists, and for that you only need a machine which can take heavy fabrics and be able to sew straight.
I used to pick up side money making costumes for school kids.
@ Princess Cutekitten, # 133:
Here is an idea. Become a speech/communication coach/tutor for children with articulation difficulties and language delays. I know of this field because I am a speech therapist. Licensed speech therapists need a Master’s and a license. They charge upward of $100 per hour (call the local clinics to verify). Speech/language tutors do the same thing for much less. The business is booming for both. People who want formal credentials and have money go to licensed speech therapists. People who trust their guts and don’t have the money go with unlicensed coaches/tutors. The school district does (theoretically) provide this service for free, BUT the quality is very poor. School district speech therapists have a huge caseload, a tremendous amount of paperwork, and just busy work (attending meetings, sexual harassment workshops, and such). The individual therapy is non-existent. Kids with different problems are grouped together and their therapy sessions become meaningless. To qualify for services, the kid has to be 1.5 standard deviations below the mean. Here is an example. The good age to start working on the sound R is 5 years. However, the kid is nowhere near 1.5 standard deviations at that age. By the time he is 1.5 standard deviations below the mean, many are entering puberty and it’s too late. You need to teach yourself how to administer oral-motor exercises, and what are the exact positions of the tongue and lips for each sound. You also need some developmentally appropriate toys/games. Everything you need to learn and to have is easily available. You familiarize yourself with the field and advertise on local parents’ groups, neighborhood groups, and pediatrician offices. Best of luck!
Hi JMG,
Would you be able to explain more on your statement to Trustycanteen, : ” when a lot of former cubicle inmates flood the unskilled-labor market” ? Could one estimate a timeline ?
Regards,
Trustycanteen @ 237: you need to do both. The gravy train has ended and Easy Street is closed for good. Have income coming in from some sort of employment, online if you can manage it, saving yourself the time and expense of wardrobe and travel, and start the training, also parttime if you have to. Best of luck for a prosperous and productive future.
Mrdobner says:
#128 January 23, 2025 at 12:26 am
Mrdobner based on what you said, a book I just learned about seems fairly perfect for you: “Slow Magic.” It is about understanding the context of magic and how some magical techniques can be used for long-term growth and self-improvement based on a psychologist’s perspective. Is it full-bore ceremonial magic? Or is it equivalent to what JMG has to offer here? No. I haven’t read the book, but it’s worth investigating. Go to Great Muddy River to investigate further. Just sayin’.
It is interesting to note the american pre columbian cultures were smelting metals, but did not primarily use it for weapons or tools.
One good reason may be theyhad no horses and draft animals available, fewer domesticable animals all in all, the geography may have played that role as Jared Diamond pointed out, not such a length of trade routes across the same climate zone.
Smelting metals costs wood and charcoal, cold hammering them is limited to sources where it is possible.
A corresponding question why the ancient romans did not start the industrial revolution and as many here have pointed out, making slaves work is cheaper than devising labor contraptions with water wheels and steam force.
In the early middle ages, there sure was a lot of land and forests available for far fewer people, so they had the room of opportunity to dabble with things in their free time.
Similarily, it seems, a lot more efficient use of our modern day resources still available can be made. Some third world examples of people doing with limited means underlines this.
hi JMG,
I am planning to return to a formation or education for the few coming years and the choice feels very loaded with all the chaos accellerating around. I have heard you reccomanding going for skilled trades. That could be an option for me but it feels miles away from what I would want to do or even my true will. I don’t know where to start, it feels like every employement sector will disapear (like tech) except the kind of manual work where I would be out of place and probably quite depressed. Do you see other options ? Do you have reccomandations on navigating those times for a young person ?
“Funny. One of the benefits of declining population is that more of us will have adequate time between lives to process our memories between lives, so those won’t intrude so much the next time around.”
I look forward to that.
I don’t remember my past lives either, there must have been some ethical imbalances that are harsh but not entirely condemning for this life, or rather, repenting, there must have been creative potential in painting, I also always had fascination for geographical maps and maps of all kinds and also a fascination for plants.
Cosidering what I have read here my life and tendencies indicate my past lives.
My aunts husband says when I was a pre school kid I always wanted to have keys of all kind and hold them, and I always wanted to hold a sword too, sword and keys, like a cleric he said.
He possibly meant to indicate that it comes from my past life, as much as I know him for his spirituality.
If I don’t remember my past lives clearly, but my early and grown up life for lengths was clearly bad karma, does that not mean I am spiritually not ready to see these things.
Erika, of course, and thank you. It feels good to do something that I feel might make a real positive difference for people. I truly most appreciate everyone else who make the effort to join in on the prayers.
Heather, I’m sorry to say that I did miss that at the time. My condolences. I am glad it was a peaceful passing.
Augusto, great! Thanks for letting me know. I’ll go adjust the listing on the main page now.
Falling Tree Woman, that’s good news, but “I’m told I have met you”– wow, that’s pretty serious. I will await your update. When you give it, please let me if more prayers seem appropriate.
“The notion that being victimized makes you morally superior to other people” kind of put me in mind of this Frank Zappa song, “the meek shall inherit nothing.” I’d relate the two together, first, in this way: the victim mentality expects people to fawn over them just because they have that victim status. They aren’t really meek though. Just pretending to be meek, because, OMG, something bad happened to them in the past. Join the club, honey. Zappa’s zinger points to the way that you need some kind of drive or willpower if you want to “inherit” something -whatever it is you aspire to.
He gets more succinct and taps and reviles that mentality here:
“You say yer life’s a bum deal
‘N yer up against the wall…
Well, people, you ain’t even got no kinda
Deal at all
Cause what they do
In Washington
They just takes care of NUMBER ONE
An’ NUMBER ONE ain’t YOU
You ain’t even NUMBER TWO
…
Do what you wanna
Do what you will
Just don’t mess up
Your neighbor’s thrill
‘N when you pay the bill
Kindly leave a little tip
And help the next poor sucker
On his one way trip…”
”
Zappa was probably the best stand up comedian with a guitar. Of course many wished he would shut up and just play it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJXaFuDcOx0
What is the link to the original article about Fred Halliot and the National Progressive American People’s Party?
@Jessica #229
Hi Jessica, I also don’t want to go ‘too far off into the weeds’ on this topic.
According to the Sutras ‘Buddha never taught an inferior vehicle’ so all of the 84000 approaches to the Buddhadharma are equally valid and beneficial, it is simply that certain teachings are better suited to certain individuals. This is called ‘Ekayana’, one vehicle, which is particularly emphasised in the Japanese Tendai school. In Tibet it’s called rimed (risu ch’edpa) meaning impartial and without boundaries. This acted as a reform movement in sectarian Tibet and all the present day schools subscribe to it, including the Gelug.
I’m guessing from your repeated insistence on Gelug Mahayana that you belong to the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition. I used to work for the late Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and I still miss him. The reason why he emphasised the Mahayana is because of the Lamrim graduated path teachings, which hold that one must start at the beginning with basic practices and then gradually move forward into the higher stages. What isn’t usually explained is that the humblest teachings are also the highest teachings. Just basic meditation and a loving heart will take you most of the way to Nirvana.
As for the terms Hinayana and Mahayana, they simply meant the majority and the minority, in an early Buddhist conference. Southern Buddhists prefer the name Theravada, but they don’t actually regard Hinayana as perjorative. It is the attitude of unjustified superiority on the part of some Western practitioners of the Northern traditions that causes issues.
The Sakya owned a lot of real estate as well, and before the Sarma transmission they were actually the dominant sect, rather than the Nyingma. New revelations aren’t forbidden in the Gelug, they’re just extremely conservative. Many parts of the Tibetan canon do have Sanskrit originals, mostly from Central Asia and Nepal, but this has no bearing on their acceptance by the Gelug. All of the Tibetan sects have essentially the same Kangyur/Tengyur. The invaders who destroyed Nalanda were Afghan bandits not Persian Muslims.
The Vajrayana has never been a separate part of Buddhism, despite what you were taught. It is best understood as an esoteric branch of the Mahayana, just as there is an Esoteric Theravada in South East Asia, on account of the abiding influence of Cambodian tantrism. So there is actually a ‘Hinayana-Vajrayana’.
The peculiarity of the Gelug, in comparison with the other Tibetan sects, is that they generally reserve the higher tantric teachings for the Tibetan equivalent of post-doctoral students. They also strongly emphasise the importance of the foundational teachings, which is Atisa’s Lamrim again (derived from the former Kadam).
Brent, how very odd. My take on Fortune’s “Occult Police” is that she was somewhat inflating the actions of a network of British occultists between the wars, and there isn’t one of these universally. (Certainly the US has no such thing — every imaginable form of magic and spirituality seems to find a home here, and American teachings are just as freely exported.) You might try journaling on those dreams — I’ve found that this is a good way of figuring out what your dreaming mind is trying to say to you.
TemporaryReality, no, but it sounds intriguing in a giddy sort of way.
Patrick, according to the teachings I received from John Gilbert, anger is always a secondary emotion. Your subconscious mind behaves exactly the same way you did consciously, and turns to anger because it’s easier to bear than fear, grief, and shame. If you want to release your anger, yes, it’s going to help to phase rage-bait out of your life, and to do banishings, but you’re also going to have to dig down through the anger and grapple with the fear, grief, and shame you haven’t processed yet. The methods of the Order of Spiritual Alchemy are good tools for this.
Foxhands, the US economy is massively overburdened with office workers in corporate and bureaucratic settings. Those sectors will be shedding a lot of jobs in the decades immediately ahead, and most of the people who have such jobs have no other skills. (What exactly does a B.A.degree in Critical Gender Theory qualify you to do?) Those who can’t find other options will be forced to compete in the unskilled labor market until they can get some training in something productive. I expect this process to begin this year and to accelerate for the next couple of decades.
Curt, oh, granted, but all such ventures are going to have to use less in the way of energy and scarce resources and more in the way of human intelligence and skill.
ML, the skilled trades aren’t for everyone. The crucial point, to my mind, is that you need to find some skill that will allow you to produce goods or services that people — not institutions, corporations, or governments, but ordinary human beings — are actually willing to pay for. I’m not in the skilled trades, for example; I make a comfortable living as a niche-market author and political astrologer, and both of those are likely to thrive in the decades to come, since people like to read books and find out what the political future will hold. Look at your interests and enthusiasms, consider what you could handle doing for eight to twelve hours a day in the future, and get to work creating a niche for yourself.
Curt, most people don’t remember their previous lives consciously, but those lives still shape their behavior here and now. I think that a lot of the reason behind the transgender phenomenon is that a significant number of people these days dimly remember what their previous body felt like — that’s why they say their current body feels wrong to them.
MOLF, thanks for this — yes, exactly!
Anonymous, here you are:
https://thearchdruidreport-archive.200605.xyz/2014/02/fascism-and-future-part-three-weimar.html
JMG, DFC,
I didn’t know José Bonaparte was a Grand Master, that’s an interesting connection. Franco definitely made the “Judeo-Masonic-communist conspiracy” highly popular among the masses, both for propagandistic reasons and for his personal obsession (he even published articles denouncing it under pseudonyms).
This whole notion that Freemasonry and Jews have spent centuries plotting against Spain because of its defence of Catholicism seems to have been a relatively common trope before him, though. I read it probably took off in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War to explain the loss of the last overseas territories. I suppose it was then projected onto the distant past to blame someone for the decline of the country and the downfall of the empire, but this is just speculation.
JMG,
“Catholicism may stage a comeback in Spain”.
Do you mean genuine Catholicism, not the second religiosity farce? Well, we’re in desperate need of some kind of order now, society as a whole wold probably benefit from either of them. Oddballs like me, maybe not so much though. Anyway, given current birth rates and the growing number or Muslims, I think it would be a short-lived phenomenon.
Hey John, what do you think about Manly P. Hall’s work? I recently finished the Secret Teachings of All Ages. I found it to be an overall illuminating overview for a beginner like me, even if it was dated and out-there at times. Of course, all occult texts have to be read charitably and critically at the same time, especially one that broad. It’ll definitely be a resource I come back to.
Slithy Toves,
I’ve noticed this vibe shift too but on a shorter time scale. I used to get challenged on why I was doing things by my family, and I’d try to explain and it rarely worked. Now, instead of explaining, I simply state what I’m doing in a short declaration, and evade explanation. Seems to work.
Kimberly Steele,
I call that being congested or drained. My solution for it is to get some fresh air or take a cold shower.
There are some fantastic comments here. JMG, I can’t thank you enough for hosting this forum.
I really appreciate Deneb’s observations about the willful energy blindness most Americans have. Without oil and gasoline prices hitting new highs, the whole peak oil topic seems to have gone down the memory hole. Outside of this blog, I find it difficult talk other people about it. The problem is, most people find it very depressing. And, mostly, it really is depressing. It’s just much more pleasant to assume that green energy, or some other new technology, or just more drilling is going to preserve all the comforts and conveniences we have become used to. I sure don’t like the prospect of resource scarcity, failing institutions, and warfare. Who would?
I have one friend with whom I have talked a lot about civilizational collapse. I gave him Lean Logic as a gift and he went out and bought and read the Yellow Book of Death by William Catton. He is into permaculture and has a meditation practice. He keeps chickens and has planted over 50 nut trees on his property. So far so good.
Over the last year or so he has slipped into a narrative about the supremacy of AI and cryptocurrencies. He has also gotten more and more into psychedelics and has become increasingly pushy about wanting me to join him in this. I have no interest in doing so but the whole scenario is alarming to me. Here we have a guy who is highly intelligent and has taken many sensible green wizardry-type steps in his life, and he he has access to good information. I fear he is setting himself up for a tough time. The reason I am bringing all of this up is because I think it may be fairly typical. It’s just really hard, psychologically, to serenely accept what the future may have in store.
JMG, I’m looking forward to your update on the energy predicament. After publishing 5 excellent peak oil books you must feel like you have said everything you can say on the topic but I hope you continue!
Bofur and JMG, A substantial number of women also are angry. Our anger tends to be more of a slow burn, so is not always immediately visible. I strongly suspect that in coming years we will see a burgeoning of monastic and semi-monastic organizations for women, both religious and secular.
For all gardeners: I don’t want to wait till tomorrow to report that Fedco is selling out fast. My favorite of favorites bean, ‘Blue Coco’ is sold out at every quantity as is Will Bonsall’s ‘Mountaineer’ pepper in the small packet size, a sweet pepper for cold climates.
ml @ 260, right now the professions are littered with self-serving ladies and gents who are semi-qualified at best and who have no loyalty to much of anything except their own ambitions and immediate families. That does not mean honest, committed, diligent and competent attorneys, physicians, engineers et al are not needed. In fact, such will be needed more than ever. One of the reasons various kinds of property crime, everything from unauthorized tree cutting on other people’s property, to sending kids to play in the neighbor’s pool, to more serious things like squatting and title theft, are becoming rampant is because people can’t find good, affordable legal representation. For example, as a new, young attorney, supposing that to be your training, you could offer to represent all members of a particular neighborhood in return for a negotiated, set fee and maybe housing.
Earthworm wrote, “Second, by ‘presumptuous’ I was referring to the risk of the ‘personality’ running away with itself in imagination and arrogance creating an illusion/delusion/nuisance through its sense of self importance.”
Funny, that is exactly what I was referring to as well. Perhaps neither of us is quite able to pick up on what the other hopes that his words might be able to succeed in communicating. That does happen sometimes.
— Christophe
Lady Cutekitten:
For the past 8 summers, I have been working as a tour guide. I always enjoyed learning about history, and a local tour company advertised for guide. I now get to spin tales for an hour, and at the end, people clap and give me money.
Are you interested in any of your local history? I’m sure your big local museums (NM USAF, Wright brothers) are flooded with would be docents, but what about the collection of NCR registers? Cash registers were developed as a way of controlling employee theft, and I’ve watched a coffee shop employee subvert it right in front of me.
Anyways, best of luck.
Ecosophy Enjoyer (#202) you said, “To me at least, it seems it would be much more efficient and humane to simply create legislation that slaps very severe penalties on any business found hiring illegal immigrants.” It’s already a felony to hire or harbor illegal immigrants, so since that law has not been actually enforced, we see the deportations and whatnot.
Jim Kukula (#218), you said, “Would any of those citizens really want to work in a meat processing plant, cutting up chickens or whatever? Harvesting grapes? ” but I charge you to keep in mind that due to the way agribusiness has developed (thereby giving everyone cheap food requiring cheap labor), agricultural work has become monotonous, at times backbreaking, and frequently highly mechanized due to ownership trends that create hundreds and hundreds of acres at a time of one crop. Contrast that with the small family farm where tasks might’ve been backbreaking (?) but they would’ve been varied and the farmer would’ve owned a greater share of the proceeds. I’m not willing to go harvest tomatoes in my area (though the workers DO sit in the shade on the picker as it trundles along and mechanically harvests), but I AM working to start a small farm. I anticipate hard work.
Our entire commercial agriculture system, though, dehumanizes the labor of nurturing soil and place and plants and animals and humans. Are we supposed to WANT that kind of employment?
Also, Siliconguy is correct – there’s a temporary ag-work visa that is widely used throughout the system. I expect that most ag workers are NOT here illegally.
JMG has frequently commented on the 60s counterculture shedding everything it ever said it stood for, while just a few years later feeling very proud about having achieved greatness in terms of the size of their pocketbooks:
Here’s a wonderfully concise 2 minutes 38 seconds from the archives, which the BBC for some reason dug out just now:
https://x.com/BBCArchive/status/1882337476406337747?t=p0CASr78ynNNPuDrPRHzDQ&s=19
@Annette2
“Since that is our snow that you have, we would like it back. ”
I’m afraid it’s mostly melted now. My kids will not relenquish the little bit that remains. They now want it to snow EVERY YEAR and have been petitioning to move further north. I have not informed them about the joys of shoveling…
@Jim
Yes, Americans want those jobs. No, Americans will not do those jobs for the cannot-sustain-life wages they pay to illegals for those jobs, because Americans are mostly not willing to double-bunk with twenty of their closest friends for months at a time while wiring their paychecks home to the wife and parents, whom they only see once or twice a year, if that. American workers also demand expensive things like workplace safety and employers covering the cost of medical care for injuries incurred on the job.
The experiment has been run. During the last Trump admin, there were big sweeps by ICE to remove illegals from employment at meat-processing plants in Mississippi. Pay for those jobs went up *immediately* and local people happily took the jobs, because now the pay was enough to feed their families in the local economy (as opposed to the Honduran economy).
Have you seen this: “Russia is plagued by widespread occult practices, Fr. Andrey Tkachev, an archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church, has warned, … Speaking about the role of the clergy in addressing societal issues, he emphasized the need to combat occultism, stating, ‘The Russian land is full of sorcerers. This abomination requires purification.’ … The Russian newspaper MK claimed last month that spending on esoteric services, such as fortune-telling and spiritual healing, had reached 2.4 trillion rubles ($24 billion) annually.” https://www.rt.com/russia/611130-russia-riddled-with-sorcerers/
Thinking in the framework of your Sobornost – hypothesis it would make some sense that individual occult practices will largely be purged from a “Sobornost-society”. It will be interesting to see if and how quickly Russian society will fall in line once the victories both on the real and geopolitical battlefields – should they turn out to be real victories – bear fruit. Would you like to hazard a guess?
Cheers,
Nachtgurke
Hi John Michael,
Did you spot the news about the US backing away from the World Health Organisation? Like any organisation, they did some good stuff, and probably some bad stuff. What do they call that again? Is it bureaucratic over reach or mission creep? Anyway, whatever the case, they got defunded.
Interesting times, and it’s not a bad idea to begin backing away from expenditures before the US (and more generally the west – which includes us down here) are forced to do so. An orderly retreat is always less problematic don’t you reckon?
And yup, solar power is great, it’s just not the same as a big old fossil fuel generator.
Cheers
Chris
Teenagers going back to the fields during the summer is not a bad thing or something to be ashamed of. Those worried about agriculture without illegal ( or even legal) immigrants need to be aware that this country had very little immigration of any kind between 1945 and 1976 and yet we were the agricultural king of the world.
I started picking strawberries during the summer in 4th grade as did a large number of my peers in the suburbs. After all, the entire concept of summer break in school was for kids to work on the farm over the summer when harvesting is going on.
I sometimes wonder if our demonization of child labor starting in the late 1970’s was a ploy to replace small farms with large ones the would rely on migrant labor and mechanization.
It also occurred to me that one big difference in workplace performance in my ( late boomer) and previous generations compared to millennials, and zoomers is the lack of opportunities to work in the fields at a young age.
Waking up early, toiling all day in close proximity to the earth and plants are all experiences and skills that will serve anyone well in the years ahead.
Alexander #117 : How will people know that you have an appliance repair business? It will take some time for people to realize that it’s a possibility, that there’s an alternative to tossing out the old and buying something new. Have you estimated how many repairs you need to do, and at what cost, to bring in the income you need? I love to repair stuff for my home, office, and church, and even at quarterly “repair clinics” sponsored by a local maker-space, but do the math.
Suppose you can make $10 fee per job, and do 8 jobs a day: $80/day, $400/wk, -> $20,000 per year. These might not be likely factors, but we can tweak each of them. If you charge more than $10, will people still buy your service? Can you imagine a fresh customer coming in every hour, all week long? How many people live close enough to your location, and how often do you expect repairable appliances to break in each household?
You might want to collect unrepairable items to salvage for future repairs. You might offer a “disposal service”, for people (like me) who are reluctant to toss stuff that “almost works” into the trash: strip the good parts, and sell the rest for scrap. (Around here, the minimum scrap trade is 100 lbs., but you drive over a scale on the way in, and on the way out, and get paid for the difference, according to the material.)
With respect for the theory of evolution, things are the way they are because they work this way. If small appliance repair shops don’t currently exist, then they probably can’t survive in the current environment. But if we believe that the future environment will be substantially different, your niche may appear.
I just ran across a post on X that really hit home for me as an ex-liberal: https://x.com/feelsdesperate/status/1882894592443650428
“Most libs are radicalized not in pursuit of ambitious material objectives but rather by the fantasy that ushering in a dramatically different new world will somehow result in lessening of their emotional and psychological unwellness and lead to them ‘feeling better.’”
Liberalism wasn’t always like this, and perhaps once the influence of Pluto — the former planet of insidious forms of mental illness — fades, there will be a return to some (literally) saner form of liberalism with a more Uranian or Neptunian character. (It seems to me those planets both touch on mental illnesses but it more grandiose and obvious — and thus easier to deal with — ways.)
Jim Kukula
Agreed that it is complicated.
The current Dalai Lama as an individual definitely does Vajrayana. His school as an institution does not.
His school is somewhat split between those who recognize the other schools as valid alternatives (the DL’s position) and those who do not. Gelugpa fundamentalists so to speak. Over the centuries of its political power, the Gelugpa did gain control of many monasteries belonging to other schools and Gelugpa-ize them, so the Gelugpa fundamentalists have been a significant faction within the school.
In re: Trump’s had on the Bible (or not?), I have this to say.
If Trump did not swear on the Bible, then, in my view, he did nothing worse than to dispense with the shop-worn hypocrisy of the United States being a “Christian Country.” It is not now, and never has been, a Christian country, either in theory or in practice.
I went to American University (in D.C.) in the 1970’s (back when universities actually taught a few things, here and there). I took the opportunity to visit many of the monuments and scenes of early American history. I lived in Mt. Vernon, visited Jefferson’s estate of Monticello several times, and took a tour of the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. I read as much of the writings of the Founding Fathers as I could lay my hands on.
Based upon my own research, I concluded at the time (and have not since changed my view), that not a single one of the Founding Fathers was a Christian in any recognizable sense. They were all Deists and Freemasons to a man. The closest of any of the Founders to Christianity was John Adams, and he was a Unitarian! So there!
All of them regarded sacramental Christianity as base superstition. Many of them publicly professed to believe that Jesus was a “good man” but that His teachings were somehow corrupted.
Not Thomas Paine! In his Age of Reason, he denounced not only Christianity, but Christ Himself, in extremely blunt language. He attacked the moral teachings of the New Testament here:
https://www.ushistory.org/paine/reason/reason36.htm
and attacked Christ directly here:
https://www.ushistory.org/paine/reason/reason41.htm
“HE THAT BELIEVES IN THE STORY OF CHRIST IS AN INFIDEL TO GOD.
THOMAS PAINE.”
The other Founding Fathers (except for Jefferson) ran a mile from Paine. I think they did so, because he “let the cat out of the bag” and said aloud what most of them said only privately.
Tengu,
The weeds are over my head now. I hope they aren’t an invasive species. Though I guess in this field of weeds, I am.
All the Tibetan Buddhist lamas I studied with were Rimed. I saw a lot of cross-school learning, especially between Kagyu and Nyingma. Sakyas were a more limited presence in the portion of Tibetan Buddhism in the West that I came across. All those Rimed teachers told me that Rimed was a movement of all the schools except the Gelugpa.
The Gelugpa were always concentrated in the valleys with gentler climate. The whole notion of Tibet as some isolated far-off place is accurate for the Gelugpas. As the government of de facto independent Tibet (1912-1950), they refused contact with the outside world, referring inquiries to Beijing. (Big, big mistake)
The other schools were stronger in the periphery of Tibet and outside Tibet in places like Bhutan and Sikkim and Ladakh. They were much more aware of events in India. Watching what the British were doing in India (for example, railroads), they knew that the world was changing and that it was only a matter of time before all that reached Tibet. Rimed was their way of preparing for that.
You and I, interestingly, learned quite different things about all this. I doubt either one will convince the other. I hope some of this has been of interest to some of the other readers.
By the way, my background is Karma Kagyu.
In regards to illegal immigrant working here, etc…
Meat packing used to be a high paid union job, not that long ago, in my adulthood. The corporations wanted to make more money, consumers want meat made in the USA, so they pullled in low cost labor AND speeded up the lines.
There are a few ways that the illegal immigrants get work. The big one the past 4 years has been that they are given temporary semi-legal status, with numbers that arent social security numbers but are used by the IRS, while waiting for refugee status hearings, are given legal work visas. So then they are bussed to Tyson foods, and take all the housing in those small towns we hear about in the news. And work in construction. Pretty sure Swanton berry farms by me pays $25/hour minimum for strawberry pickers, that was a few years ago, might be more now. Of course the large growers in south county pay probably alot less, but swanton stays in business. I doubt they check for papers. Contractors absolutely hire illegal, no temporary work visas needed, they pay them with cash. They say, even if they do call back the same guys, that they are just under whatever the threshold is, $500, or whatever, they just right off the expense of day labor,no names or social security numbers given. The day labor is self contracting, the contractors do not need to keep a paper trail. Not to mention that for some, alot of their income is in cash in any case as they give cash discounts to customers. Probably alot of berry picking operations is the same way — what employees ? we have no employees….. Other contractors run crews of employees and are aboveboard, some are mixed, that is what I see. Alot of illegals are smart enough to go straight to the consumer as a handyman, they work for cash and undercut their previous contractor employer.
As to whether people will take those jobs. I wonder too about some of the berry jobs, you do need to be fit enough. But the bigger problems I see are first, the jobs are not respected enough. We literally spend all our time here telling even the children of berry pickers that they must aspire for more and that they should not follow in their parents footprints, and we do not list it at schools as a viable career path that students should apply for. But no one will talk about the elephant in the room that it is not sustainable to think that the major industry in the county must have a steady influx of new people especially since the county is built out and there is not been enough housing for quite some time. We should focus on how to train our young people for the local industries. The local industries should have to spend time on how to recruit locally, what do they have to offer ? Right now what they offer is a job with low pay and all the subsidized services, free medical care, free food any day of the week in food distributions, and the BIG one, the promise that their children will not have to do the same work, free education, free school breakfast/ lunches and summer program meals, free after school day care. Now, to get raised here workers, no matter where parents came from– they have to offer and they have not had to — Pay is the big one. And actually, around here, if they had any agriculture cooperative housing, that would be exceedingly welcome by young people here, not what there is now, tied to being illegal, but nice regular housing. Or, how about matching money to an account for saving for a house downpayment. Along with decent pay. Think of how our military works, you get alright pay with housing then perks after your 4 years, like a reduced mortgage rate and help with college. But, most likely, just more money would work along with people actually touting it as a good job for a young person to take. They could start by hiring locals for summer or weekend work while they are in high school, as they used to. I hear that alot of ag work was locals thru the ’70’s, that is not that long ago ! I have heard that they would send a bus out to areas young people hung out, looking for workers, and drive them back to the fields to work. That is the type of thing businesses do when they need to hustle for workers. Now, could/would the young people do it ? I guess that depends on the economy and alternatives. Right now, an awful lot of them live off student loans, which includes going to grad school as they cant get a job with their undergrad degree in biology or chemistry. If they can catch a wave ( surfing is still free if you own a board) then catch the company bus to the fields after, and can come home to at least a private studio apartment they can bring a girlfriend back to, I think you can get some workers. This is assuming that the other reform is to the university/student loan debacle. Go back to student loans being able to be discharged by bankruptcy and no federal guaranteed student loans.
John, I was not aware that A Vision was coming to book club next (although I had my hopes), but I am not at all surprised, and am looking forward to sharing the journey. I am especially pleased because the pacing of your posts will aid me in executing a disciplined, methodical read through this time around. Given that I’m only just approaching my late twenties and am naturally predisposed to an expansive sort of impatience, this is quite the blessing. Even better, this timeline gives me a clear container within which to patch up my Cosmic Doctrine work, which suffered from that very same impatience. Who knows, I may even have some writings born of my internal experiences of the Cos Doc to share here someday…
Miguel, no, it’ll be the Second Religiosity, and will go under in due time as Spain and the rest of western Europe become the northern extension of the Maghreb.
Enjoyer, Hall is a major influence on my thinking, though I don’t find The Secret Teachings of All Ages that useful — it’s a very early piece, heavily influenced by the mythologies circulating in the occult community at that time. Some of his other books, though, are worth their weight in alchemical gold. I particularly recommend Self-Unfoldment through Disciplines of Realization, his book on spiritual practice — a very wise and useful book.
Samurai_47, I’ve watched the same thing happen with a lot of people who almost got it, and then fled from that insight into one or another kind of wilfull ignorance, with or without the help of drugs. It’s made me even more appreciative than before of the opening lines of Lovecraft’s “The Call of Cthulhu”:
“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.”
Peak oil is among the doors that open onto one such terrifying vista of reality, and our frightful position therein, and plenty of people are already fleeing from the deadly light into the peace and safety of some comfortable delusion or other.
Mary, I hope so. Monasticism used to be a standard option for women who wanted to withdraw from the world, and it did both them and the world a lot of good.
Michaelz, thanks for this.
Nachtgurke, Russia has a rich tradition of occultism that includes both local folk sorcery and a great deal of imported magic from West and East alike. One of the things that will make the future Sobornost society interesting is that there are always outsiders; just as every village in old Russia included a bathhouse outside the village proper — and that’s the traditional place where magic was done — the future Russian great culture will pup outsider subcultures that will reject sobornost and veer off in various ways, some creative, some destructive. I’d expect that to get going in a century or so.
Chris, yes, I saw that. It’s one of many pieces of raw meat Trump is tossing to his supporters. They seem to be happy with him!
Clay, it was standard for a very long time and helped teach American kids a work ethic. I’d like to see that become common again.
Slithy, oof! That one landed like a gut punch — because the author is correct, of course. Pretty much everyone I know on the politically active left is an emotional wreck and has messed over their life in various ways, and it makes perfect sense that the whole point of their embrace of utopian fantasies is an attempt to avoid dealing with their problems by projecting them onto the world as a whole. It’s not me who’s screwed up, no, no, it’s all Trump’s fault!
Michael, and that’s why Christianity is so healthy here. Christianity thrives best when it faces indifference or active hostility from the world.
Atmospheric, thanks for this.
Jake, glad to hear it.
Curt #259 & JMG
I come from a mining town in Northern Ontario and my husband worked for the major mining company but surface, not underground. However, our oldest also worked there but underground. This is hard rock (nickel) not coal.
Modern mining is not going to survive the end of the petroleum/natural gas era. (I know nothing about coal, however). For one thing, the cages that take the miners down (some of those shafts go down over 5,000 feet) need electricity to operate. The smelters where the ore is separated from the rock operate at extremely high temperatures and then the slag (melted rock) has to be removed, which is done by train. All of the other things that need to be done to turn the metal into a refined, finished product are highly energy intensive.
Yes, you can use charcoal to do some of this, but I’ve seen the environmental destruction that mining causes and the forests that were there over 100 years ago are gone and won’t be back for at least another century after the mining has ended.
The biggie, though, is getting the men down the shafts. They’re far too deep to just walk down.
I’ve found out a teenager I know has gotten pregnant. She’s getting close to term, and has quite the visible bump now, and the reactions to it are quite odd. The weirdest part is how passionate total strangers are about bullying her for the decision to keep the child (with someone apparently even going so far as to call child services because her parents are willing to help her with the child). I find it repugnant, but I keep finding myself wondering why so many women (and it’s always a woman) feel that it is acceptable and even laudable to bully a minor.
What struck me is that this is exactly the same dynamic I’ve watched with my family, when they’ve made decisions they know are wrong: they will relentlessly bully anyone who decides not to make the same mistake they did. I’ve long suspected that a lot of abortions have to be occurring: I learned the hard way in high school that all the talk of contraceptives is a lie: no matter how careful, there always remains a real risk of an unplanned pregnancy; and from my experience it is probably a lot higher than anyone wants to admit.
I wonder just how much of the weirdness around the abortion debate are that a lot of women have had abortions and regret it….
Mary @271
Someone earlier wrote about the declining birth rate and the rise of elderly who need care. A good solution for that would be the monastic organizations you mentioned. There would be the help the older people need while they in turn would have knowledge (hopefully) to pass on. I hope something like this comes about. This would be good for someone like me who has decades of gardening experience to pass on as well as needlecraft skills.
Hi JMG,
At one point you had a post about the rescue game from transactional analysis. Did that point to a broader list of games with descriptions? I’ve done some internet searching but have come up empty. Maybe I am looking for the wrong thing…
Thanks!
Matt
After the recent election victory of Orange de Julius .. I recently checked out a couple of lefty blog sites that I frequented back in the 00’s; as among other things, they were both very critical of the Bush ll administration re. 911/Iraq war invasion, repubs, etc. Oh my god! They have become so shameless in their derision of All • Things • TRUMP!, deplorables/garbage bla bla .. that it is really hard to fathom just how craycray the site proprietorships and their followers have become. A complete 180° switch from their prior sentiments. Seems as though they took all of Lord Palpatine’s hateful rhetoric to heart .. without a hitch! May they enjoy the many circles of Hell they now find themselves mired in.
Birthright citizenship is enshrined in Section 1 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. The 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition, the 19th Amendment, was proposed and ratified within one year, 1933.
The 14th Amendment also includes a due process clause, which I doubt any sane person wants to see repealed. Remember, the weapon Your Side uses today might well be used against you tomorrow.
But, Section 1 could conceivably be repealed within the next four years. I personally think it is no longer needed. Instead, we have a congressperson wanting an amendment to allow presidents more than two terms. Rather odd, coming from the same party which demands term limits on every other elective office.
I also remember the time when picking crops was teenager’s summer job. I picked strawberries, beans and cherries. It was a good job for teens. All you had to do was show up on time and pick where asked. No fancy clothes needed, MYOB and keep quiet was allowed, no favoritism for looks or high voltage personality.
A dirty secret of industrialized farming is that it requires an enslaved or woefully underpaid labor force. Another is that it uses massive amounts of water and energy.
@Nachtgurke Re:RT Article
Both Andrey Tkachev and Vitaly Milonov are infamous fringe figures known for making outrageous claims, but there probably is something in the works, MK article quoted suggests advertisement ban (curiously, it also equates psychology with magic and occultism). A lot of Russian public practitioners of more dishonest kind had also switched from selling services to selling online courses, which also implies there is something going on behind the scene.
Speaking of Russian occult scene and Sobornost-hypothesis, there is a a new ancestor worship-based folk-religion taking shape there, but it remains to be seen if it flies or crashes and burns like Slavic Neo-paganism.
Patricia M,
I’ve been talking about Musk going to Mars for years now. And have the ship’s manifest filled out much more completely as well… A lot of my nominated passengers have recently left office, but plenty more of them are cozying up to the new boss. My opinion of them hasn’t changed for the better in response. Let me help you pack!
Cheers.
Before we go on, Jessica and Tengu, I’m going to ask the two of you to drop the subject of Tibetan Buddhism here. I’ve just deleted a post by one of you that violated the courtesy policy; it’s a source of bleak amusement to me that religions that consider compassion a central value so often breed such bitter sectarian squabbles. Be that as it may, that discussion is over.
With that said…
Annette2, I know. Once industrial civilization folds, the metals we’ve brought up to the surface are the metals we’ll have, because the investment that would be needed to go back thousands of feet to get very low-concentration ores won’t make any economic sense in a resource-constrained future.
Anonymous, I’ve seen the same thing, and I’m sorry to say you’re probably right.
Matt, you want the book Games People Play by Eric Berne. You might also want to try Scripts People Live by Claude Steiner, which has a lot of information on dysfunctional games. More generally, books and websites on Transactional Analysis, the school of psychology that gave rise to the theory, can help you.
Polecat, I’ve seen that as well. It’s really dispiriting to see people who once had ideals devoured by hatred.
Yes, I could also tell that The Secret Teaching of All Ages had some issues. I didn’t have to get far before I found very wild claims about atlantis, freemasonry, the age of the sphinx and the pyramids, and so forth. I still thought it was an interesting read overall and I think there was some wisdom in it.
As for ‘Self-Unfoldment through Disciplines of Realization,’ I am glad to hear such a positive review from you. I ordered a copy recently. It seems to be about what I am seeking, that being self-realization/gnosis.
Hope you have a good evening.
JMG,
Fantastic–another direct hit by H.P. Lovecraft! I love it.
I’m still coming to grips with the road ahead myself, and I fully admit I slip into bargaining and denial occasionally. Stoic philosophy has a lot to offer here, and I’m glad there is so much interest in it these days. I recently read How to Think Like a Roman Emperor by Donald Robertson. He is a Scottish psychologist and uses a lot of practical, real world examples to explain the concepts. I am a little intimidated by heavy duty philosophy, and it has a very plain-spoken tone which makes it a great introduction to stoicism. Now I’m ready to move on to Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus.
Since it’s an open post, and you brought up Cthulhu, I will throw out another recommendation for the monster fans out there. The book is No Beast So Fierce: the Terrifying True Story of the Champawat Tiger, the Deadliest Animal in History by Dane Hucklebridge. Yes, that’s the actual title. The tiger killed and ate at least 436 people in Nepal and Northern India from 1900 to 1907. Druids will appreciate how generally tigers steer clear of people, but a combination of habitat degradation, reduced prey, and a wound inflicted by a botched poaching attempt created a monster which took murderous revenge. The history and action simmer along and build up to a final, cataclysmic showdown with very skillful storytelling.
Re-reading Guy Halsall’s Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, I am again struck by the parallels of the Roman 4th century AD with today’s mighty military machine and brittle society. I read a bit more about the Constantinian dynasty and recalled your citing Julian as an example of the effectiveness of Neoplatonic philosophy in forming well-formed human beings.
My impression is a bit different. On the Rhine frontier, Julian showed surprising military capacities for a learned scholar, though some historians think he upset a fine balance with “pacified” barbarians. Julian was very fast to rebel against his cousin and senior colleague in the east, and civil war was prevented only by his cousin’s death. Julian then decided to plunge his army and himself into an adventure in Mesopotamia, maybe wanting to imitate Alexander of Macedon, and got himself killed. Since he had refused to re-marry after his wife’s death, a noble trait of character in itself, he had produced no heir, which meant there was immediately civil war. That war never again really stopped for more than a few years and was a much worse factor in the downfall of the Western empire than any of the northern barbarians.
Do you nevertheless consider Julian a good example of Neoplatonic education?
A few more years of peace and coexistence might have saved more of the Classical philosophy and polytheistic religion that he seems to have cherished above all. Instead he flamed out and died fast.
Drugs or oxygen deprivation from the top of the ivory tower?
“Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab plans to spend as much as $65 billion this year to expand its AI infrastructure, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Friday, aiming to bolster the company’s position against rivals OpenAI and Google in the race to dominate the technology.
As part of the investment, Meta will ramp up hiring for artificial intelligence roles and build a more than 2-gigawatt data center that would be large enough to cover a significant part of Manhattan.”
That’s two more AP-1000 reactors like at Vogtle. The data must flow. I wonder when the techs are going to start mutating.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/meta-invest-up-65-bln-capital-expenditure-this-year-2025-01-24/
“The smelters where the ore is separated from the rock operate at extremely high temperatures and then the slag (melted rock) has to be removed, which is done by train. All of the other things that need to be done to turn the metal into a refined, finished product are highly energy intensive.”
Sometimes they still use pyrometallurgy. Most copper is now done with hydrometallurgy, which means soaking the ore in vast quantities of sulfuric acid, filtering out the liquid, then running that into electrochemical cells where vast quantities of electricity plate out the copper. Given the low grade ores it uses less energy than heating up the waste rock.
Don’t leave out silicon from the list even though it’s not a metal. That takes a two step process, one to reduce quartz to elemental silicon and the second that uses hydrogen gas and hydrochloric acid at 1050 F to make trichlorosilane. That runs through a few distillation columns to clean out the impurities (and in some cases it goes all the way to silane SiH4) and the clean gas then goes over glowing red silicon starter rods that grow into larger rods.
Those rods are multicrystalline silicon that broken down to chunks. The chunks are the melted down again in a CZ puller to get a single crystal piece of silicon now finally pure enough to make a computer chip. The silicon in solar panels are only slightly less pure which is why my former employer couldn’t make the current quality standards. In 2018 they could meet the standards.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czochralski_method
This supply chain is extremely brittle. There is one company that can make a certain specialty pump, one than can make the correct hydrogen compressor, one that can make the hydrogenation reactor, and so one. It’s a wonder it works at all.
224 people at said former employer got their layoff notices yesterday.
I wish to make a prayer request for my sister, to both Kyle and Tunesmyth. I wrote about her situation on the most recent Magic Monday. She is suffering from psychiatric problems and also a medical problem which appears to be at the root of the former.
But I’m not quite sure where is the right place to make such a request. Should it be here on Ecosophia, or on the Dreamwidth journal? On this open post, or the next Magic Monday?
I will also be making a similar request at the local Christian Science book shop. I am not Christian, but my sister is so; I hope that will be enough.
@Luke Z
One of the few really good pieces of advice of pop-self-help culture from the 90’s and 00’s might be the motto “Don’t complain, don’t explain,” which I’ve just now learned traces back to Benjamin Disraeli and has been a motto of the British royal family since the early 1900’s.
JMG, you’re right that the takeover of Canada idea is likely just static. Trump has got who knows what up his sleeve. In due course we’ll find out.
OTOH, the USA did undergo a transformation from a country of practical, can-do empiricists to the place where bad ideas go to thrive.
Imagine the imbecility of trying to re-bake to American tastes a civilizational layer cake that’s ten thousand years deep. Actually you don’t have to imagine, the geniuses in Washington’s foreign policy elite had a go with both the Middle East and China. You’d think that such a boneheaded idea wouldn’t fly very high but in fact it soared like an eagle.
In my view there’s still more than enough folly in Washington and its vaunted ‘think tanks’ to fertilize the notion of a 51st state.
All that said, you’re probably right, it’s just noise. Trump would likely know that from from a purely political perspective, the balance of power in the US would change in ways most likely detrimental to Republicans, and in any case, such a merger would create upheaval that would take decades to sort out.
@Brent #296
You got to understand that everyone is selling online courses in Russia right now. Its a new fad. I see it as ultimately dishonest, because you can get the same information from a book much cheaper. The quality of most of these online courses is poor and the peddlers of such courses are commonly referred to as “info-gypsies”.
@ Princess Cutekitten #133
I’m part feline myself!
You may want to check out the site, The Work at Home Woman and see if it works for you:
https://www.theworkathomewoman.com/
All the best!
Hey JMG and Annette2
On the subject of mining being impractical in the deindustrialised future, I personally consider it a decent inheritance for the future. Considering how unpleasant and dangerous much of mining is, the fact that we have done much of the hard work getting metal out of ore deep beneath the Earth, and into easily accessible forms on the surface seems to be one of the few good long-term consequences of the Industrial Age.
@Deneb #175
I’m right on board with you. Another good resource for information is Nate Hagens podcast The Great Simplification.
@ JMG & community
I recently moved to the SW suburbs Chicago area and am interested in in-person communities that are interested in decline and community. Thanks!
JMG, so noted. Now, will Barron play Octavian to this Orange Julius?
Christophe #273
Quite possible!
I will share a conversation with my guru from last night:
Worm: Greetings Guru!
Guru: Ah, earthworm, you have resurfaced once again; how goes your world?
Worm: It is still very dark.
Guru: Ah…
Worm: What must I do?
Guru: Lift the cover and let the light shine.
Worm: I do not understand.
Guru: Shed what is undesirable to reveal what is desireable.
Worm: I still don’t understand.
Guru: You want to be an arhat?
Worm: Yes.
Guru: Currently you are an arsehat, you need to remove the s & e to become an arhat.
Worm: What is s & e?
Guru: Sullied Emotions
Worm: How do I do that my Guru?
Guru: Practice. Return to your midden now and meditate; I will see you again if you resurface next week.
🙂
For Clay Dennis #281 and Atmospheric River #287, et al who have touched on this topic
On the topic of illegal immigrant labor and angry young men. Seems to me that a physically hard summer job or a few years at a lower skilled trade after high school was a rite of passage that most young men undertook. Now, of course, the school system and culture screams at us that you’re a loser if you don’t go to college or do physical labor. I grew up on a farm and did the berry and bean picking as a kid, then took a summer job with a roofing crew before entering the military. I was of course in great shape due to the exercise and I bonded with the old guys on the roofing crew who would kind of initiate you into manhood with harmless pranks or jokes. Of course, the military was an initiation into manhood as well; one that we definitely don’t recommend to teenage boys these days for obvious reasons. I think the greater point is that perhaps young men are angry because they are boxed in so much due to the education system, culture and lack of economic opportunities that denies them this informal manhood ritual and starts them out in the negative on real-world experience.
Dear JMG,
In your comment #289, I was struck by the quote from HP Lovecraft. The same exact quote came to mind as I lay awake at 0400! Then I get up, read the comments!
Serendipity, anyone?
Thanks,
Cugel
@Christophe #195
Lovely. Agree; thank you for the reminder.
JMG,
Do skills perish when records of them are lost or…. do they just perish when they are no longer in semi-frequent use by a significant portion of a given population?
I am starting to see skills perish in my profession at a steady rate (slow with small impacts but you see more of them each year) not because instructions for them can’t be found but due to the workforce not even knowing of their existence. For now the skills perishing are minor ones connected to the primary activity of the profession but their absence creates re-work.
Teenagers picking berries brought up old memories of Maine.
During potato harvest season, all of the high schools had to help with the harvest.
Before they decided that sending logs down river polluted the Kennebec, we had logging drives with boats and men herding logs. Everyone was a part of it. Gordon Bok sang a song about the drive. Now, every log is shipped on a polluting truck that tears up the roads.
We had the berry season memorized. And everyone had their secret berry places. Raspberries grew in clearings, blueberries in burnt out places. Blackberries near dumps.
Anyway, I feel sad that all that knowledge of the land is lost. Now the place is for rich people wanting to white water raft on the Dead River (named for the obvious reasons). They ate the town and spit it out. Only 40 or so people remain to cater to the rich, who bought up everything.
@Robert Mathiesen, @Ecosophia readers
I have a full transcript up on my blog that describes how spiritual seekers “biohack” their own body/mind/energies to evolve into a Siddha. If you’ve ever wondered what you actually are trying to do to ‘level up’ to the next body/mind/energies every human has – well this transcript is a doozy. After I read it I finally understand why Buddhism places so much emphasis on Dependent Origination and why the Buddha always said at Nirvana Dependent Origination ends.
The original video can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grTMDBwVOPo
The full transcript can be read here:
https://happypanda.dreamwidth.org/
***********************
There’s also another transcript on the yogic definition of initiation which is not the same as the way western occultism uses the term.
You can find that transcript here:
https://happypanda.dreamwidth.org/#entry-11308
************C&P from last month**********
I’m resubmitting the following post since I sent it too late in the last Open Post.
@JMG
Remember when I wrote years ago that Sri Aurobindo said that yogis are seeing the support for all of the global spanning religions disappearing on the subtle Planes? Yogiraj Gurunath had a talk about that where he agreed with Aurobindo on that. That’s how I found out about it.
At the time I thought it meant humanity collectively would switch to completely new religions with pockets of atheism holding on.
But now with the much faster and steeper collapse of global demographics than I thought possible I wonder if the reason Yogis are seeing the disappearance of all these religions on the subtle planes is because there simply won’t be enough humans left to make make global spanning religions possible.
I think you’ve mentioned 5% as a lower bound of the total the planet had at its height? If the global populace drops to 5% does that change your expectations for a future Great Cultures in say…Russia or the Americas in a few centuries?
Enjoyer, excellent. Many of his books, and even more of those deceptively slim pamphlets he wrote, make fine fodder for discursive meditation.
Samurai_47, thanks for the book recommendations.
Aldarion, does your definition of “good education” require a person to make no mistakes?
Siliconguy, somebody’s huffing his own flatulence, that’s for sure. It’s especially funny in that the Chinese firm Deepseek has just released an open source AI that’s better than anything the US has, and its basic version will run in a $35 Raspberry Pi computer. As for the supply chain, yep — we’re one sudden oops from a very large amount of high-end technology going away for a while, or for good.
Kevin, you can certainly post it here, but I recommend also going to Tunesmyth’s Dreamwidth page and post the request as a comment to the latest prayer post:
https://tunesmyth.dreamwidth.org/16429.html
Smith, no argument there. One of the problems with America’s recent class divide is that our bureaucratic-managerial class is recruited entirely from college graduates who have zero real world experience. Another is that the same class, via the same universities, is inculcated with an astoundingly simpleminded version of the ideology of progress and taught that of course they’re sure to win because the arc of history bends toward the latest activist fad. This inevitably produces world-class idiocy in thought, word, and deed.
J.L.Mc12, a case could be made!
Llewna, that’s a little far for me to commute, but I wish you very good luck finding or creating such a community.
Bruno, I’d consider the odds of that tolerably high. Trumpistas practically worship him, and he apparently played a large and effective role in helping his father appeal to younger voters.
Cugel, or maybe dreams are starting to trickle out from drowned R’lyeh… 😉
GlassHammer, records are not enough. Skills have to survive as living traditions, practiced by a community of people and passed on to younger generations, or they die. A lot has already been lost and more is headed that way.
Neptunesdolphins, ouch. Sorry to hear this.
Panda, thanks for this. As for the future of religion, not at all — most world religions spread very far at a time when global population was around ten per cent of its current levels. Nor will the approaching depopulation hit every region equally — what I expect, based on previous historical examples, is that marginal regions will be completely abandoned while relatively defensible regions with good soil, reliable water, and convenient access to maritime trade routes will retain stable populations up to 20% or so of current levels. I think your first guess is correct: the religions of the Piscean age are passing away, and the first seeds of a new religious sensibility are being born.
@JMG (#289), replying to Samurai_47:
That’s my favorite Lovecraft quote, and possibly the wisest thing he ever wrote.
A close second is
“We must recognise the essential underlying savagery in the animal called man, and return to older and sounder principles of national life and defence. We must realise that man’s nature will remain the same so long as he remains man; that civilisation is but a slight coverlet beneath which the dominant beast sleeps lightly and ever ready to awake.
@Kimberly Steele (#20) wrote:
Etheric starvation is a term I have coined for the chronic fatigue and depletion that is the most common condition of our era. The etheric aspect of existence is also termed chi, prana, lifeforce, vibe, and mojo. I often talk about the etheric plane on my blog:
In my own case, I remedy my own etheric starvation by exposing the patch of skin under my heart to direct sunlight, eating home cooked food, bathing, and getting a massage when I can afford it. Does anyone else have remedies for etheric starvation, or even recognize it as a condition?
Yup. Sadhguru and other yogis I listen to do. Actually the specific type of prana you are experiencing etheric starvation of is Samana prana. Sadhguru had a lecture about it one day. He says it’s one of the most afflicted pranas in humanities billions today and that’s almost entirely due to modern lifestyles. Too much drinking of liquids when our bodies don’t need it, too much sitting whether at home or in an office when compared to our ancestors and also especially due to modern industrial Agri-Biz food.
He really ripped into Agri-Biz food and the stuff dumped into it to extend shelf life. Agri-Biz food in particular is very harsh on Shamana prana. So most people today are quite depleted in it. As late as the early 20th century (pre-WW1) people still had plenty. Especially those who worked outside.
Also he said people are drinking too much liquid these days. Like the old saw about needing to drink 8 glasses or a liter of liquid a day – will douse Samana to bare subsistence levels. He says this specific piece of advice is generating ill health.
It’s helps people justify drinking stuff like brown fizzy sugar water or ‘sports’ drinks. It’s not based on paying attention to the signals of the body. He said this is one area where animals are superior to humans. They only drink liquid when their bodies signal they need it. But vast billions today drink excess liquid not because they need it but because they’ve been advertised/hypnotized to do so. The result, he said, is a gamut of physical and mental ailments. Depleted samana also manifests in huge numbers of the global populace as mental illness and accelerated cellular aging. Boosting samana prana slows down cellular aging and starts to generate a health ‘glow’ more typical of youth around someone with awakened samana.
The depletion has gotten so bad one of the yogas he’s revived in India is classical Surya (Sanskit for ‘Sun’) Kriya (a more powerful version of the more well-known Surya Namaskar) – which wakes up the Samana prana sun inside your body. A person with fully blazing Samana prana radiates an energy sphere around them that helps heal all other life around them. Imagine combining that blazing samana health aura while radiating a Blessing Walk aura too? Toss in a practice for manufacturing Ojas (subtle Plane water-element for lubrication) and you are a walking, healing temple just going about your daily activities.
You can read more about it here if you’re interested:
https://isha.sadhguru.org/en/wisdom/article/hatha-yoga-connecting-sun
caption for the above article:
Sadhguru looks at a central detail that is relevant for all three sun-related practices – Surya Kriya, Surya Namaskar, and Surya Shakti.
Questioner: In Surya Kriya, what is the significance of pressing the knuckles of the thumbs into the Anahata?
@Ecosophian (Convention).
When are you contacting folk about Glastonbury?
“Llewna, that’s a little far for me to commute…”
Oh come now John! With the upswing in crude oil and flying car plans, let alone Mars exploration – it’s a hop skip and jump! 😉
Re: ‘Caveman Medicine’.
The first medicine is said to be what the Chinese call ‘yin-yang water’, which is half cold water mixed with boiling water, which rebalances the body. Another water treatment is to gather pebbles from a stream or river next to where you were born and raised, if one has such a place. In later life one can add these pebbles to a glass of water, which will profoundly confuse the body, causing it to shed disorders and rebalance itself. In the same one can cure many illnesses simply by moving to a faraway land.
GlassHammer, workers develop the skills for which they can expect to be paid. I am reminded of supervisors who used to lecture at us about “quality” of the product when we all knew what they really rewarded was quantity.
IDK about your profession, but there is a movement afoot to revive and use traditional skills.
@Christophe, thank you for your reply to my post near the end of last week’s comment thread. The natural world teaches some simple lessons and some very challenging ones. An ecosystem is harmonious and cooperative. An ecosystem is a vicious battle of all against all. (Or: Valhalla represents our highest aspirations… or a tragic waste.) So must the reality lie somewhere in between? No, the reality lies beyond simple narratives where both are fully true, and where the seven laws of Mystery Teachings from the Living Earth (or of e.g. The Kybalion) are all the same Law. I sometimes feel presumptuous (a term already under discussion in this thread!) trying to think and write toward that space, so feedback like yours is very encouraging!
I do apologize for mistyping the title of Mystery Teachings from the Living Earth in that post.
I bailed hay for a dollar an hour when I was a teen. My sinuses still know it. It was a dusty job, especially if you were stacking bales inside the barn. Masks? No way! A couple of my classmates lost hands or fingers doing summer jobs at the local stamping plant. One told me that the loss of all the fingers on one hand kept him out of the army draft during Vietnam and the money settlement paid for his college, so he was satisfied with how it turned out. Other classmates were the children of the owners of the stamping plant. (It was a small town.) We weren’t very aware of chemical hazards back then so there was casual and repeated exposure to carcinogens; quite a price to pay later in life for low paying summer employment when you were young. My brother worked for a local pickle factory in the summer and spent considerable time around the Mexican migrant laborers who picked the cucumbers. Now there was an education; things he didn’t learn in Methodist Youth Fellowship! I did actually walk 2.1 miles to school each way, even in the winter. But it wasn’t uphill both ways at least. The neighbor kids who lived five houses down from us and thus outside the city limits rode the school bus. Sorry for sounding like an “old-timer,” but I am an “old-timer.”
@JMG
Archdruid, what’s the astrological effect of Algol? An astrologer once told me that I was born in exact opposition to this star. I’ve had a lot of head injuries, which is apparently one of its effects, but my knowledge of Western astrology is almost non-existent, so I would greatly appreciate any information. Thank you.
Footnote on ketamine:
I read the MM discussion on that too late to chime in, but my dad was recently given ketamine in hospital. He says “it is like being trapped in the nightmare plane of existence”.
Friend who’s tried it recreationally had a very different experience of it: felt normal, but didn’t care about pain.
Pondering whether or not this is consistent with the “K shuts off ESP” theory of the drug, given what I know about both these people, and the environments in which they live. Maybe?
JMG – There seems to be some debate here about whether illegal immigrants are illegally working or not. Well, if they ARE, then they’re driving down wages for legal workers. If they’re NOT, then what are they relying on for existence? Part of the answer might be related to a recent news story: $800 worth of meat stolen this week by two Hispanic males from a small local grocery. Part of the answer might be the knot of Hispanic men I see hanging out in the Home Depot parking lot, presumably waiting for day labor, cash under the table. There’s no reason to choose between illegal employment and illegal crime; I’m sure there’s some of each.
By the way: a source within the store reports that an $800 theft is a much smaller loss than that caused by an interruption to the electric power after a big thunderstorm. Intermittent power may be something we see more often in our future.
Happy Panda, is the lunar node theory backed up with examples? As a rough guess, I think they meet Saturn every 20 years or so?
Robert M, Lovecraft is underappreciated as a philosophical writer. He had a cogent, consistent, and well-developed philosophy which he expressed in his stories, essays, and letters; I’ve seen a few attempts to explore that, but none of them were really satisfactory. That second quote, by the way, sounds as though he was channeling Robert E. Howard!
Llewna, in the words of Taliesin, “I will believe it when it appears”…
Tengu, it’s one of the most notable of the fixed stars and very malefic in its effect, bringing misfortune. As for the astrologer, that’s an odd utterance — you can’t be born in opposition to anything; only a planet can be in opposition to something in the heavens. (Earth, where presumably you are, is the midpoint from which oppositions and other aspects are measured.)
Lathechuck, granted. I note also that for the first time in many decades, New York City had a five-day interval this week in which nobody got murdered…
@Brendhelm:
That would explain why medievals were so obsessed with the few scraps of Roman literature that they’d retained!
Speaking of skills being passed down. Decades ago in California lumbering was restricted and the jobs in that industry severely diminished. The skills, aptitudes, and attitudes were not passed down. Typically you would get into harvesting trees and the saw mills because, dad, cousins, uncles, neighbors, grandpa were doing it and a transference of a culture and skills happened. That transmission was severed. Finding guys to do that stuff now in California is a real challenge.
Re: Agricultural labor
My parents used to supplement their income by picking apples. It was worth it, because housing was cheap.
IMO a good portion of the problem/solution here, that is being ignored by nearly every side of the argument, is the housing thing.
Illegal migrant labor gets crammed 20+ to a trailer-bunkhouse. Americans generally not willing to do that. A massive crash in rents and the price of land/houses would go a long way toward fixing that (like, returning to prices that reflect housing as *a place to live* and not *an investment*. I think it’s coming, but policy has been delaying it for a long time because people who already own their homes and count on that saved equity for retirement, or who would instantly be underwater on their mortgages ala 2008, would scream, cry, and not be a happy voter base. When it does happen, it’s going to be a bloodbath for a lot of people.
@Bofur and JMG, it’s also the young women that are very angry. Did you watch the TikTok ban fiasco? The users went en masse to Chinese app RedNote that encourages direct contact between ordinary users. Many Americans and Chinese started to share directly with each other and soon started to compare their day-to-day lives and living conditions. This led to a shock on both sides. As a meme says, the Americans found out that everything their government said about China is a lie while the Chinese found out that everything their government said about the US is true.
I’ve seen dozens of short video’s from young Americans that are absolutely fuming that the culture, friendliness of the people and living conditions of their peers in China are much, much better than in theirs. For example, a full time job with minimum wage in Chine will easily afford a 2-room bedroom appartement, gas, electricity, fast internet and daily fresh food, and you will have half of your income left for other expanses. Healthcare is mostly free and an ambulance costs max 50 dollars. One American had cancer meds that cost motre than 1,000 dollar/month and saw that the same meds cost 10 dollar/month in China. etc, etc.
Now I think that the picture of China is too optimistic as a third of the Chinese population lives in rural places that are very poor and often don’t have internet so you won’t find them on RedNote. Still, it seems that Chinese soft-power got an immense boost and American youth feels betrayed. One mother told most of the classmates of her 9-year daughter are now on RedNote and all started to learn Chinese while at the same time I don’t think I have seen before so many emotional outbursts and rage.
@ Bruno and JMG, Barron as today’s Octavian crossed my mind too.
Elon Musk looks perfect for the role of Marcus Antonius and very suitably Barron and Elon seem to have less than zero chemistry. And for Cleopatra… who else but Stormy Daniels? History repeating as farce and such …. 🙂
Hi JMG,
Do you think there will continue to be a market for ESL instruction in the coming decades?
@Glasshammer #316 re: Skill Loss
If I may, this is a topic that I’ve brushed up against in a few different places and have found very interesting, but I’ve had to put off doing as deep a dive as I like. Basically, there are some “skills” that are things you acquire just by knowing them intellectually/having them explained to you. These can survive very well through written records. Other “skills,” though, either can’t just be explained, or else those who possess them don’t understand them in enough detail to explain them verbally, or more often, some combination of the two. Most physical skills have a large component of this (a sensei can explain karate to you all day, but you’re not going to become a martial artist that way).
This division goes by a few different names depending on the focus of the person writing and what field he’s talking about – implicit knowledge, knowhow vs knowledge, procedural/process knowledge, and some others, but if you want to start exploring it, some sources that I have either read or am planning to are The Tacit Dimension by Polanyi, Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford, and “How Technology Grows” by Dan Wang (https://danwang.co/how-technology-grows/)
Anyhow, hope this helps,
Jeff
JMG,
If I wanted further reading on “skills as living traditions”, is there a book you would recommend?
Awesome, glad to hear that. I’ll add them to the discursive exercises I am doing in LRM.
On an unrelated note, what do you think of the UN’s population projections? They are quite a bit more ‘optimistic’ than the limits to growth. LTG projects that population peaks before midcentury, the UN projects a peak around 2086-2100. Other think tanks think it will peak around 2060.
I think that the UN underestimates the feedback loops that will shrink births and increase deaths.
WATCHFLINGER– i personally don’t really want to learn a musical instrument, but i think i’m keeping James’ music stuff until i know what to do with it. it could be give it to a budding artist or have a lending library of art/music supplies for scrappers who find me.
—UPDATE on my SAN FRANCISCO LIFE:
i was listening to “Art and Fear” last night and i was such an arrogant twit because almost every phrase is jewelry to me! and now i see why i’m here:
if my family still has the power to kneecap me, i’m not solidly strong yet. i will always have that as a weakness. and it’s what i’m learning now with the situation here where i live. i cannot fight it via the law as i’m fighting the sensibility and will of psycopathic 13-year-old mean girls. redundant, i know.
so i’ve decided to publicly RIDICULE the parties involved and just barely skirt the hem of legal routes i have left to me.
i’m following the energy and when i stop feeling terrified and like “bring it on” it’s popeye spinach. when you get so scared you get bored of the feeling. that’s where i’m at.
i’ll share when it’s ready.
but it’s related to art and fear and who am i really? and is my story any good? is it theoretical or real? am i, mystelf, theoretical or real???
so there is a reason for all this and that i’m here. i don’t like being routed to respond via their inefficient bureaucracy and even their ugly vision of how to do this… LIFE. i have limits and must respond to some basics that they do, but i want to “cross the transaction” and respond MY way and hope to appeal to any humans left when i use the system as i must, even if a little bit.
we’ll see.
x
The army was a pretty near universal experience for young men throughout the world when I was growing up (b 1940). I am not recommending it as a solution today for young male anger, but it certainly did channel it and burn off a lot of it by the time one got out. It was also a bond of common experience wherever one went in the world
I had worked summers as a tree climber for arborists so was in pretty good shape when I went in; good enough to be one of the top two out of our battalion on the PT test in basic training. Not everyone was in that good shape, but almost everyone got through the training, and there wasn’t the issue of widespread unfitness and obesity that there is today.
stephen
>This supply chain is extremely brittle. There is one company that can make a certain specialty pump, one than can make the correct hydrogen compressor, one that can make the hydrogenation reactor, and so one. It’s a wonder it works at all.
And my guess is that none of them are located in the US either? So in the event of WW3, you can kiss those silicon ingots goodbye? Or maybe even sooner? So much for the CHIPS Act.
I find the idea of tri-chloro-silane at 1000C disturbing. Plain old silane at room temperature is rather spicy, I can only imagine the hilarity of a silane leak. I wonder what the safety protocols are? Get out and run? Last one out’s a rotten garlicky egg? Get on your knees and pray?
This is my silane, there are many like it but this one is mine…
I do have one bone of contention with Trump. In his recent press briefing in California he announced he would give the order to open up the pumps and valves and bring in the virtually limitless water from the Pacific Northwest and Canada to Southern California.
There is of course, no current, past or planned water pipeline from the Columbia River to California, let alone Southern California. It has been talked about many times over the last 50 years with the. most recent version an underwater pipeline reaching from the mouth of the Columbia to California along the seabed of the Oregon Coast.
None of these have been built because they are impossibly huge public works projects on a scale never seen before, at an unaffordable cost with nearly infinite political opposition.
I know Trump is famous for using bluster and bluffing to achieve his goals. But I am not sure what pretending to have the power to turn on a non-existent water source will achieve ( except to piss off Oregonians.) It can’t even be a bluff to make a big infrastructure project happen as we are far passed being able to accomplish something on that scale, and if we did try , it would not be complete until the end of the Barron Trump administration.
>I have not informed them about the joys of shoveling
You wouldn’t have to. If you don’t, the snow turns into the nastiest glassy ice that then is difficult to deal with. Even salting it doesn’t work that well. It only takes one time to teach you that shoveling is good.
Ah the memories. Always pull up your windshield wipers before the snowstorm, so they don’t weld themselves to the windshield and then you won’t spend 45 minutes thawing them free. They sell snow brooms to knock the snow off your car these days but ordinary pushbrooms work just as well. You want to knock the snow off or again, it turns into glassy ice.
A lot of lazy northerners will get remote start installed on their cars. Why? So when you wake up, you start your car and have it sitting out there idling. Then you wash, get dressed, eat breakfast, etc. Then you make a mad dash from your warm house to your now warm car and then away you go! Be careful, some parts of the world, leaving your car out idling is illegal. And northerners tend to be snitchy do-gooders. But when the high for the day is 8F, it’s real tempting no matter what.
And then there are the set of snow tires some people put on, the purple windshield fluid, etc. It’s a different world up there. Never had to deal with engine block heaters. Ask the canuckistanis about that.
@Anonymous: re: teen pregnancy
Reckon you’re onto something there.
I’ve known girls who went both routes: got pregnant in highschool etc. Three of them kept their babies, (one had no parents: mom died, one had very supportive parents, 3rd got kicked out of our private school, but family/church very prolife and supportive– we got our GEDs and went to junior college together), had no regrets about it later, ultimately married good men (not the original babydaddy, who in every case was a cad), had more children, pretty normal lives– extra stepkid doesn’t have any stigma attached these days.
The ones who aborted and hushed it up… fared less well, and I think a lot of what happened in their lives afterward was not just regret, but the larger picture of having been *pressured* into it by boyfriend, parents, etc. That’s gotta cause some issues, those issues are nearly impossible to talk about honestly, and… yikes. People like to talk about “choice” but for a 15yo girl… the only real choice you get is what your parents are willing to allow. There’s no way that’s not a hard thing to live with.
BeardTree, granted, but there’s another factor: logging in much of the west coast was carried out at an unsustainable pace, so they ran out of trees large enough to log. (I saw this happening in my teen years in Washington state, too.) It’s like the complex of skills needed to prospect for gold; there are still a few people who know how it’s done, but with the end of the great 19th century gold rushes, much got lost.
Methylethyl, bingo. It’s more than just the houseowning class, though. Most of the US banking system stays afloat on the notional wealth manufactured by endless inflation of housing prices. When that bubble finally pops, it’s going to be a world-class mess.
Boccaccio, yes, I heard about that! It’s beginning to sink in that the US economy is basically a scam run by very rich people at the expense of everyone else — and I can think of few realizations more explosive.
Anonymous, not really. As the US sunsets out of its hegemonic role and immigration slows, other languages will become more important, and there’ll be a lot more ESL teachers than there will be jobs for them. How’s your Chinese?
GlassHammer, I don’t know of one. Anyone else?
Enjoyer, the UN is as usual very far behind the times. I expect peak global population within a decade or so.
Clay, oh, granted. It’s a dumb idea — and it’s not his only dumb idea, of course. (The vast AI boondoggle also comes to mind.)
@Kimberly Steele re etheric starvation: I second Luke Z’s suggestion of cold showers. And it makes me wonder if people soaking themselves in hot water as much as they do could be one of the causes of the depletion in the first place.
Re mental models of time and the “block universe:” If the block universe changes, or can change, or can be changed (e.g. by an eternal being existing outside it), then there has to be an additional dimension of time for that change to take place in, since our own notion of “before” and “after” the change is already frozen into the block. Even the simple idea that our conscious awareness moves through the block along the time axis, to account for our perception of the passage of time, doesn’t quite work; that word “moves” doesn’t fit the model without some embellishment. (If our conscious awareness “exists simultaneously along the portion of the block that delineates our lifetimes” instead, there’s no such difficulty, but no explanation for the perception of passage.)
Nearly every time travel story implies more than one dimension of time as well. Any narrative where “changing the past” takes place, or is even said to be possible, implies a dimension of time for that change to take place in, that can’t be the same dimension of time that defines the past to begin with. Of course that’s just fiction. But there’s this weird characteristic of quantum mechanics as well, where there are also two completely different kinds of change over time. The wave function evolves over time in a fundamentally deterministic way, until some interaction alters and simplifies (“collapses”) the wave function in a fundamentally random way. We struggle to understand how these two different kinds of change coexist and interact, but never consider that it might be two different kinds of time that coexist and interact. (An alternative but mathematically equivalent account of QM, the many-worlds interpretation, does away with wave function collapse as a distinct event, but still requires some kind of unaccounted for dimension that separates the many worlds from one another.)
Hey JMG
Another long-term consequence of our mining will be the formation of new minerals and chemicals that usually would not occur naturally. I read in “new scientist” that people have already discovered completely new forms of mineral or chemicals in mines that are the result of miners causing existing chemicals/minerals to mix with each other, or be exposed to water and air when they usually never would have.
I wonder if any of these novel substances could have uses that would cause their rapid depletion due to future civilisations using up their scarce supplies.
Changing the subject briefly:JMG: I was going to ask this on the first Open Post to come along, which is this one: About The Hall of Homeless Gods; you mentioned somewhere that there may be another book sending Jerry to New Washington. It made me wonder, “What about Sophie/” Because she has to stay withing a certain distance of the supercomputer, and no further, so she can’t follow him there. And when Hall ended, she was pretty dependent on Jerry to be her liaison with the world of people. Any information on that?
@JMG re: housing bubble:
Yeah. It’s gonna be the 2008 sequel: mutant radioactive godzilla version.
Reckon we’ll still try bailouts?
Thanks JMG.
I’m studying Mandarin, but still at a beginner level. It’s not my favorite thing, but the grammar isn’t hard and it’s a pretty logical language overall.
I’m fluent in Spanish, but lots of people are. I was decent at translating Sanskrit in college, and really loved it, but my obsession with it was tied to an obsession with Indian philosophy I’ve since lost. I’ve often thought about taking it up again, though there’s no money in it. Some of the literature is just so beautiful. Tangentially, have you heard of the Kathāsaritsāgara?
In regards to birth control and messing with young womens outlook, etc..
Yes. They DO NOT tell the young women the truth. They tell htem it works and it is extremely unlikely they will get pregnant. Not true. Lets say the pill has a 2% failure rate. That is 2% each year. Not for your whole life ! Often the failure rate is higher, lets stick with 2% for now. SO, 100 teenagers, 2 get pregnant this year, next year another 2 get pregnant. And the next year. We used to call it family planning, which is a more accurate wording as that is what it is, it lowers the likelihood of getting pregnant this year. It does not control pregnancy, keep it all under control and from happening. SO, in ten years, there are 20 pregnancies in our sample size of 100 young women. Or, 2 out of 10 sexually active teen/young women in that 10 year time frame.. Condom useage raises the amount double or more. Using condoms and pill at once would lower it, this is unlikely. SO, yeah, there are alot of pregnancies. So then, when they get pregnant, they are told, oh, you are the one who is this highly unlikely category, this should not have happened to you, so you should get one of these rare abortions. I hate this and wish they were told the truth ! And the young men too — they realy have no idea of the inevitable eventuality of pregnancy happening.
That is not all they lie about. They realy want to push abortion. As a curious person, I did my own personal undercover on this one. I was pregnant, with absolutely no intention to abort, and I was over 30 even. And I went into a planned parenthood to see what they would say to me. I asked them questions as to fetal development, brainstorming a pregnancy, so I had to say it was unplanned ( ok, undercover for a good cause). First, there is no mention of how to go elsewhere for support on keeping a child. But, second and most importantly, the counsellor lied about the fetal development stage at the whatever week mark that would be the earliest they would do a “procedure” . When I asked a question about this, oh I had heard that the fetus .. I forget, had a heartbeat, felt pain, moved, or what have you. She insisted she was right, but then went to go get a source, as I requested, she came back with a book off of their shelf ( this is pre internet) which clearly showed she was wrong ! That the fetal development was much further along at that week.
We need honesty about this. I am not discussing wether it should be legal or not or womens vs fetal rights or any of that. But, we are lying to women and the young women are niavely believing lies in many cases. We need to say upfront what it is and is not, What the procedure realy is, what state the fetus is at that time and be honest about it, as distasteful as the truth is.
And, yes, I have seen the weepy late 20’s early 30’s women after alot of drinks about their abortion. And the ones so so strident on how it is the one right thing to do and all current young women must make this choice also. I guess so they can feel good about what they did
Clay, agreed. I’m loving the new administration, but his claim a few months ago that (paraphrasing): “All that water just flows out to sea. We should take that water and put it back into the forests so they aren’t so dry.” is nonsense. So what? Make rivers flow backwards? He needs a better Earth science advisor.
J.L.Mc12, that would make a great bit of plot business for a science fiction novel…
Patricia M, the difficulty is that if Sophie’s present in Jerry’s future adventures, he’s going to have a supercomputer with an eidetic memory and access to absurd amounts of information, and I’d have to come up with absurd challenges to make the plot interesting. Instead, Sophie stays safe in Habitat 4 — the same people who keep Fritz happy will make sure she’s happy too (and I’d love to be a fly on the wall when she and Fritz have tea!) — while Jerry goes elsewhere and gets into serious trouble, with only his own street-smarts, quick reactions, and .45 automatic to keep him alive long enough to get back home.
Methylethyl, depends on how bad inflation is. My guess is that a currency crisis will set it off, in which case watch out below.
Anonymous, good. Knowing how to teach Chinese to Spanish speakers or Spanish to Chinese speakers will likely do well. As for the Kathāsaritsāgara, no, I’m embarrassingly ignorant about classical Indian literature.
‘The thridde, which comth after this, is hote Algol the clere rede, whiche of Satorne as I may rede his kinde taketh and eke of Jove complexion to his behove. His propre ftone is diamaunt, which is to him moft accordaunt. His herbe, which is him betake, is hote eleborum the blacke.’
(Confessio Amantis. 1390)
Archdruid, as it was more than thirty years ago my recollection of what I told by the academic astrologer is a bit patchy, but I do remember him going on and on about how I was Mr. Algol. Later I found the above passage in John Gower’s list of fixed stars, apparently derived from the Liber Hermetis. My question is really a request for advice about how to deal with this birth star. Hellebore is a hellish herb and diamond is a heavenly stone. They are really extreme opposites, like having a bag of blessings in one hand and a bag of curses in the other.
Mary,
Sex isn’t the main consideration but it’s part of the picture, because this is a very different world now. As one of the widely derided millennial generation, I grew up in an era of promiscuity, so it’s strange for me to find out how much things have changed. Mostly, what I gather both from my own experience and what I hear elsewhere is that the state of relationships in the USA is really very poor. There is nothing inherently wrong with less sex — though as a lapsed Christian and now pagan, I don’t see promiscuity as a sin so much as a dangerous imbalance, and one that has ruined lives of people I know.
Of course I agree that Mammon has been put ahead of all else in this country, and this is a worldview I have never understood. Clearly, marriage along with a good deal else has been sacrificed at that altar. I don’t really disagree with you that it’s a difficult road for both men and women in the current conditions, and I can certainly understand why so many have decided it’s not for them. A fair number of friends in my generation have married and had children, and none of them have had an easy time of it either. Some have already split from the stress. Perhaps this is part of overshoot’s way of resolving itself — a natural decline of population in an age of extremity. That doesn’t make it a pleasant situation to live through.
@JMG and Brent Halligan about occultism in Russia – Unfortunately I know very little about Russian society (which possibly is a byproduct of being raised in Western Germany during the cold war?) It could certainly be a good thing if JMGs vision of a “sobornost” society would become reality – also in the context of another vision, that Russia may be the “safe haven” for those retreating from western Europe driven by the pressure of rising Muslim societies. That last one I could easily see coming true, too, given the increasingly absurd and destructive occurrences in my country. It’s a weird sequence of events unfolding – another stabbing committed by an (illegal) migrant from some Arabic country happens. Then everybody who might carry some responsibility for the events screams that surely somebody else has to be responsible. And then we all demonstrate against “the right” and for “diversity”. Few people care to demonstrate against stabbings or uncontrolled migration, though. And even fewer demonstrate against the endless wars that drove those unfortunate souls from their home in the first place.
It’s a fine bit of irony that DT wants “us” to pay (more than we already do) for the stationing of US forces on our soil. What about the US paying us for all the expenditures and the damage decades of mass migration caused by the US’ failed wars have caused to our society? Well, that’s possibly a difficult thing to ask if you are complicit in those crimes. A German government with some backbone and some sense in their brains might at least this time just show him the finger, kindly invite the US troops to leave asap and, err, make a deal with Russia. It was more or less on the table when Gerhard Schröder was set to become German chancellor years ago, but those plans were quickly swept under the rug once he took office. It would be easier, I guess, if the US hadn’t pushed NATOs boundaries eastwards. A clever move, that one – at least in this regard.
Cheers,
Nachtgurke
Happy Panda, re “Also he said people are drinking too much liquid these days. Like the old saw about needing to drink 8 glasses or a liter of liquid a day – will douse Samana to bare subsistence levels. He says this specific piece of advice is generating ill health.”
This is interesting as Phil Maffetone has been questioning the whole water thing for some time, and especially how the prevalence of marathoners dying during races increased after they added refreshment stations. For instance, this article from 2015: https://philmaffetone.com/hyponatremia/
@Njura (#333) said:
Happy Panda, is the lunar node theory backed up with examples? As a rough guess, I think they meet Saturn every 20 years or so?
Alas, I do not know. I am not an astrologer and certainly not a Vedic Astrologer. I only report what Abhigya Anand said in that video I linked to.
I’m guessing there probably is support for it (very likely hundreds of years worth) as Anand says it’s part of traditional Vedic lore. But can I back that up? Unfortunately not.
I guess the next four years will provide the proof. If Anand proves right maybe it will be time for Western Astrologers of Mundane charts to start paying attention to the north and south nodes of the moon again.
Jeff Russell
Thank you for the suggestions.
I guess I have my work cut out for me.
It’s a dizzying, 1000-year old collection of folktales written as stories within stories within stories, featuring a variety of misbehaving and ingenious humans, quasi-divine and magical beings. It’s a lovely read. The Penguin anthology “Tales from the Kathāsaritsāgara” is actually pretty good.
What do you make of Aleister Crowley overall, as a mage and as a person, JMG?
@JMG (#332):
I agree entirely with your assessment of Lovecraft’s philosophy, which I like more than somewhat. And the second quite is from an early contribution by Lovecraft to The United Amateur for July 1918, “At the Root.: Lovecraft wrote this well before he and Howard began corresponding.
“There is one company that can make a certain specialty pump, one than can make the correct hydrogen compressor, one that can make the hydrogenation reactor, and so one. It’s a wonder it works at all.”
In order, Texas, Germany, and the Netherlands. The very best metallurgical grade silicon for our purposes came from Brazil, second best is from the Appalachian’s, I forget exactly where.
During the flooding in North Carolina they happened to mention that the mine that supplies the quartz for the CZ crucibles was closed and undies were getting in knots over that.
The company had posted evacuation routes depending on which the wind was blowing. A major leak in 1998 killed two people. That was before I got there.
Boccaccio – a twenty something classmate gave a recent presentation on the flooding near Asheville post hurricane/flood. She used TikTok videos, instead of well known alternatives, explaining that they showed what actually happened better than YouTube. She had local relatives there, had seen much of it herself, along with ongoing updates from her family..
Methylethyl -. I wonder if the real estate bubble-popping might vary by locality. Covid caused shifts from inner city high prices, to more widely distributed ones, with the commercial fallout still in action. Covid cash made sure rents could be paid for a while. Between depopulation (US immigrants and dropping birthrate) and shifting climate (uninsurable coastal areas, wildfire prone areas and water shortage areas), I suspect some areas will retain value much better than others.
Pumping water from the Columbia River to California would be technologically feasible , but I doubt the economics will work out. If you start above John Day Dam at 260 ft elevation it’s an easy run to Goose Lake on the California Oregon border. Goose Lake’s water is oversubscribed as they say, so filling the lake back up would be a good thing. At that point the water will run down the Pit River and end up in Lake Shasta.
The fun part is that Goose Lake is 4700 feet up. Therefore you need 4500 feet of head, or about 1900 psi of pressure to get the water uphill. You don’t have to do it all once, multiple pumping stations every thousand feet are fine. I didn’t include pipe friction either.
You would get some of that energy back on the way to Shasta Reservoir. The Pit River already has several hydroelectric stations along its length.
And this is a good time mention that the Lovecraft quote reminded me of the Total Perspective Vortex. The one thing you can’t have if you want to remain sane in this universe is a sense of perspective.
Boccaccio (#336) said:
January 25, 2025 at 1:07 pm
I’ve seen dozens of short video’s from young Americans that are absolutely fuming that the culture, friendliness of the people and living conditions of their peers in China are much, much better than in theirs.
I can easily believe this. Just for starters I did a search on Youtube of RedNote Americans to see what they were saying.
Here’s the result:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Chinese+on+RedNote+report+their+standard+of+living+is+better+than+for+Americans
One interesting thing Lei of Lei’s Real Talk reported 7 days ago is that the U.S. and China seem to be locked in a perpetual “GDP War” that started when Xi Jinping came to power in 2016. China uses GDP different than most of the world and the CCP decided to knock the U.S. off its perch as the “most prosperous country” on the planet. Probably to further encourage international capital to de-invest in the U.S. and dump even more into China.
Someone in the first Trump Admin must have understood what the CCP aimed to do and promptly decided, “We can play that inflate the numbers game too.” And so the official U.S. GDP number started to greatly diverge from even giving a semblance of adhering to real U.S. wealth.
The game of GDP-Chicken has been on-going ever since. The rest of the world’s reported GDP per country is surprisingly pretty accurate from what her research group found. Only the U.S. and China are engaging in this GDP-Inflation game of chicken. Had the U.S. not ‘returned fire’ on the CCP’s numbers it would have swapped positions with China and become the 2nd-most prosperous country. Since 2020 the U.S.’s gamed GDP numbers started a steep upward trend. while China’s GDP has stalled out ever since 2019.
China’s willingness to play brinksmanship with GDP is a direct challenge to the dollar’s dominance as the world’s reserve currency and I guess the first Trump Admin decided that couldn’t be allowed to happen.
From the research her group concluded that China is still not as wealthy a country overall as the CCP proclaims while the U.S is vastly poorer than its elites claim. U.S. elites claim GDP per capita puts the U.S. at number 7 ($80,000). Her calculations – which use World Bank data among other sources – says that’s not true. Using other official sources in addition to the World Bank she says the true GDP per capita for the U.S. is only $38,810.
In fact, using the same methods for most of the wealthy countries of the world they discovered American GDP per capita only ranks 26 in the list of wealthy countries of the world compared to per Capita GDP of other wealthy countries.
The average non-elite American is way behind the average non-elite German, Italian, Brit and French for example when it comes to personal wealth to cushion them from 3rd world-style grinding poverty. So as much as the citizens from those countries who post to this forum gripe (and they’re no doubt legit gripes) they’re still in a better place vs their non-elite peers in America of roughly the same social class and status.
I was flabbergasted. I knew huge numbers Americans are struggling but I had no idea the average non-elite of German, Italian, French or Brit (and now Chinese! and probably Japanese too) has way more personal, wealth cushion than a similar, average, non-elite American.
So I can definitely see how Americans discovered to their shock and anger that the average non-elite Chinese citizen is much wealthier than they are.
That is what fueled Trump’s re-entry to the White House. That’s the kind of 3rd World immiseration U.S. elites are willing to dump on their own citizenry in order to maintain Empire.
I, for one, will be glad when the last vestiges of U.S. Empire are done. A whole lot of Americans might find the exhaustive treadmill of the 2-3 jobs ‘hustle economy’ will at least finally let them keep their “hustle wealth” than turn it over to the Elite PMCs to prop up NATO and American Empire.
Original video is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5ymyWB5pis
My shocking discoveries while recalculating China and U.S. GDP
Siliconguy #303
I know all about sulfuric acid. My husband worked at the Copper Refinery. He brought his work clothes home at the end of the week in a plastic garbage bag. I dumped them into the laundry tub in the basement, put the plug, which had a long chain attached to it, into the drain hole, draped the chain over the side, and filled the sink with water. After several hours I pulled the plug and squeezed the water out of the clothes with a board and then refilled the tub. I did this 3 times before I put them into the washing machine. His work clothes were cotton/polyester, his socks were wool, but his underwear was cotton. The cotton underwear didn’t last a full month before it totally shredded. I am still amazed that he worked there for over 30 years and managed to live another 27 on pension. A lot of the guys he worked with weren’t so lucky (cancer, heart disease, etc).
Tengu, er, no, diamond isn’t a heavenly stone. It corresponds to Mars and it has the specific property of causing quarrels. I’ve thought more than once that one of the reasons that marriages have become so problematic in the US is that the diamond industry succeeded, via clever marketing, in making diamonds the de rigueur stone for engagement rings after the Second World War. As for what to do about your Algol placement, you’ll want to find a traditional astrologer who does natal charts and ask them — that’s a branch of astrology in which I’m not trained.
Nachtgurke, I’ve thought for some time now that that’s the most likely outcome of current trends: western Europe being overrun by mass migration from the Muslim world, followed by an age of conflict between Muslim Europe and the rising Russian civilization.
Anonymous, hmm! Sounds highly interesting.
Batstrel, I’m not a fan. He’s a fine example of an intelligent and talented person whose overinflated ego spun out of control and ruined most of his potential. All in all, I consider him an object lesson in what not to do if you’re interested in occultism.
Robert M., good heavens. No wonder he and Howard hit it off so well!
Regarding conceptions of time, I just came across this little passage worth some contemplation from J. B. Krebs aka Kerning (Der Student p. 34):
“The present belongs to the senses and to pleasure. The past to the understanding and to imagination. But the future to the love for life, to the power of life, and to the faith in the necessity of an eternal life.”
@JMG,
Some of your comments in the past about the complicated relationship between karma, morality, and holding grudges got me thinking… what is the karmic effect of revenge, especially in societies that consider avenging the harms done to one’s relatives to be a good thing?
Now, I’m perfectly aware that complex theologies of reincarnation have usually developed in company with religions that prize forgiveness, and consider retaliation to be at best a necessary evil that should be left to civil authorities (most forms of Buddhism and Hinduism resemble mainstream Christianity in that regard, if I’m not mistaken). So naturally people who grow up in that sort of culture will assume that holding a grudge, even a well-earned one (for instance against a robber who killed or raped one of your relatives) will create a karmic entanglement that persists in future lives, while letting go of the grudge will allow the karma to be cleared.
And yet, those aren’t the only kind of societies that have existed, and you can find very different ideas among people as diverse as the old Norse, the nomadic Bedouins, the Highland Scots, the early Greek pagans, and the American Indians, and even early Israelites (which is why we have those long passages in Numbers about when/where the “avenger of blood” may or may not kill a murder suspect). Basically, these societies consider avenging one’s relatives to be a basic moral duty, and failing to carry on a blood feud means that a man is weak and cowardly and offensive to the Gods.
Granted, it’s easy to come up with a materialist explanation for these cultural differences – if your society has little or no central government, then the security of your own life and property depends on your clan or family network having a reputation for striking back when one of them is harmed. But all of this comparative ethical theorizing would be so much gobbledy-gook to the people who actually live in these cultures – to a Norseman or a Yamacraw Creek, if someone rapes your sister and you don’t draw your sword or your tomahawk and gut him the first chance you get, it means that (1) you don’t love your relatives the way you ought to and (2) you’re a worthless and contemptible person and it wouldn’t be unjust if someone braver than you took you as a slave.
And also – if it’s true what you’re saying about global civilization heading toward a new dark age (and I believe that it is) then in practice we’re going to see more and more of this kind of morality. Not only as the resources for professional law enforcement run out, but also as (for instance) Europeans have to decide what to do when they’re reminded, over and over again, that their governments believe it’s in the public interests to be lenient toward rapes committed by middle eastern migrants. (Here, for instance, is a news story about four teenage brothers in Sweden who lured a man who had raped one boy’s girlfriend into a forest, and hanged him: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12810393/swedish-girl-15-jailed-brothers-killed-taxi-driver-hanged-sweden.html).
So the question becomes, what is that karmic effect of revenge vs. forgiveness in (1) a culture that considers revenge to be a duty and (2) in material circumstances where treating revenge like a duty makes your family and your tribe safer? I am guessing that if the concept of karma was invented by such a people, then they would say that forgiving a man you should have tracked down and killed means that the bad karma persists and you’ll have to keep dealing with him in your future lives, whereas revenge restores balance to the world and clears away the karmic entanglement. But of course most people now living (at least those who believe in karma and reincarnation) would say the opposite… and they can’t both be right, can they?
@Anonymous,
I am going to disagree with our host’s belief that English as a second language is on the way out.
History has plenty of examples of people continuing to use the language of a once-great empire even after the empire has collapsed economically and politically. Latin is the best example – it kept getting used as the main scholarly and diplomatic language in Europe for about a millennium and a half after Rome fell, and most of the languages of Western Europe are descended from the various forms of Vulgar Latin that was spoken (badly, and with lots of loanwords) by the waves of barbarians who had invaded Rome. Greek had a similar role in the Eastern Mediterranean between Alexander’s conquests and the rise of Islam about a millennium later – even though Alexander’s empire broke into pieces immediately after he died. Likewise Sumerian remained in use as a scholarly language in Mesopotamia for some two millennia after Sumer was conquered by Akkad… and I could go on.
In our own day, there is no language that is even close to replacing English for global communication between people who lack a common first language. Chinese is harder to learn (because it is tonal and nonalphabetic) and even in an optimistic scenario, China is never going to dominate the world economy to the degree that Britain and America did in the 20th and early 21st centuries. China’s demographics are bad and India (which has a much younger population and also, as of last year, a bigger one) will be in a much better position to dominate global manufacturing by 2050 or so. And how do Indians communicate with Chinese people (or really anyone from outside of India?) Mostly with English.
Even in economic backwaters like West Africa, English is important. I know this because I once lived in Ghana for a few months, and although English isn’t anyone’s native language, it’s the main business language and two-thirds of the people speak it, so it’s how you communicate with someone from a different tribe. Ghanaians usually speak broken English – for instance both men and women are “he” or “him” since there are no gendered pronouns in their first languages – but it gets the job done. (The biggest native language family is Akan, spoken by about a third of the population, but even that consists of multiple non-mutually-intelligible dialects.)
Even with no global trade at all, the situation would remain much the same, and after a few centuries of linguistic development Ghana would end up with a language that bears the same relation to English that Spanish and French do to Latin. But of course there will usually be at least a trickle of trade, even in dark ages, so there will probably always be a merchant/scholar class in Ghana that knows “classical English” or whatever it ends up being called.
The situation in Ghana also holds, with local variations, for somewhat more than half of Africa (most of the remaining countries do the same thing with French.) So while Chinese, Hindi, or what-have-you may well become more important languages in the next few decades, none of them are going to displace English from this role, which it will continue to fill for reasons of simple utility no matter how soon American political and economic power bites the dust.
Hey JMG
You are right about that, though what use these new minerals could have is still an open question.
Here are a few links I found that talk about them.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-02/human-activity-helps-create-hundreds-of-new-minerals/8319026
https://www.mining.com/human-activity-creates-208-new-mineral-species/
Another suggestion for Princess Cutekitten — if your hearing and typing are good, there is work doing transcriptions of audio (medical etc.) at home. Don’t know how well it pays.
John–
As a quick aside, I recently had an opportunity to read Lewis’ Space Trilogy and spotted your references to _That Hideous Strength_ from _WoH: Innsmouth_. Nicely done!
@Ecosophian Re: Online Courses
Online courses are a kind of economical indicator these days. When a niche is safe and profitable, people with niche skills, in general, are busy making money, and not particularly interested in depressing wages and threatening their job security by training competition. When it is no longer so, selling courses while looking for another source of income is a (morally questionable) exit strategy. I saw a lot of ads for copywriting and, later, voice acting courses just in time for AI to take a bite out of those markets, for example. When it comes to occult training vs services, I’m not a lawyer, but I imagine it is more difficult to legally prosecute someone for fraud over selling former vs. latter.
@Tunesmyth, @Kyle, @JMG & co. –
At JMG’s suggestion, I have just posted a prayer request on Tunesmyth’s Dreamwidth forum. I don’t want to tell anyone else who may know better how to phrase a prayer, but I suppose it might go something like this:
“May Kevin’s sister Cynthia be cured of the hallucinations and delusions that afflict her, and freed from emotional distress. May she be swiftly and safely healed of the medical condition that appears to have provoked them.”
I would really, really appreciate any friendly prayer or magical activity toward this objective. The current situation is a torment to me.
#339 glasshammer see Durable Trades rory groves.
And pregnant teen? Please carry it to term and via churches or non gov’t put the wee troll up for adoption. My birth mother was apparently 15-16. Left me in the lobby at a large Edmonton hospital, which was really appreciated( came back later to check and staff had a sympathetic chat). Darn glad she did as if I had been left outside end of November it would have been challenging. Got an outstanding set of parents .
KAN, thank you for this. A fine theme for meditation!
Sandwiches, Hindu mystics got there a few thousand years ahead of you. Have you by any chance read the Bhagavad Gita? That’s set right before a huge battle between gigantic armies. Arjuna, who’s the best warrior in the world and the champion of one side, rides in his chariot out into the space between the armies; he knows that the army on the other side include many of his relatives and others he respects greatly, and he loses his nerve. He says to his charioteer, Krishna, that he can’t bear the thought of all that killing. Krishna is basically God — he’s one of the avatars of the very high god Vishnu — and he proceeds to explain to Arjuna why he should fight. It’s one of the supreme masterpieces of world religious literature, so I won’t spoil it with a summary; I’ll just say that one of the things Krishna explains is how a situation of the kind you’ve outlined works in karmic terms.
J.L.Mc12, interesting. Thanks for this.
David BTL, heh heh heh. Glad you caught that.
Kevin, energy’s on its way.
@JMG said, “Sandwiches, Hindu mystics got there a few thousand years ahead of you. Have you by any chance read the Bhagavad Gita?…”
Yes, I have – I read it the year before last I went to a nearby library and picked up copies of the Gita, the Quran, the Gathas, and those extra books that show up in Catholic not Protestant Bibles – basically I was in a big city and getting to know more and more people of various faiths, and I decided that I owed it to them to know at least a little about their holy books.
I had not, however, realized the connection between dharma (I think my translation used the awkward phrase “caste duty”) and the less intellectualized desire for revenge that would prompt someone like Amleth in that fine movie The Northman to fill with rage and howl something along the lines of: “You killed my father! Now it’s my turn to kill you!” But of course those two cultures are trying to meet the same human needs, so one would expect the karmic consequences to be similar.
That still leaves a question open, though: How does karma (which you have said is an impersonal law of nature distinct from any individual’s code of morality) deal with the fact that different cultures have very different attitudes about vigilantism, blood feuds, and private vendettas in general? For instance I am pretty sure that if those Swedish brothers had asked a pastor from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden what to do about their feelings of outrage re the rape of one brother’s girlfriend, then the pastor would have said anything but “coax the man who defiled your sister into a dark forest, and string him up for the crows to eat.” But if a wise old worshipper of Wotan had traveled through time a thousand years to give them counsel, he would have said something like “Hang him high! Show no pity! Let the fowls feast upon his loathsome carcass!”
So what exactly is the karmic blowback from an action that some systems of morality would strongly condemn, and others would view as wholesome and necessary for the public good, but more importantly to preserve the honor and good name of one’s own family?
One thing I wanted to add that Lei’s research group discovered from the economic data they mined. She said the surprise of all the countries they looked at and compared was India. India’s GDP is on a meteoric rise post-Covid and if it continues then sometime mid-to-late century it may well become the surprise winner of the economic cage match battle between the U.S. and China.
If that starts to become more obvious over the next 15 years I suspect the allure of migrating to the U.S. or EU by Indian IT grads will wane.
President Trump won’t be as bad as what some people fear nor as good as some people hope.
@376 David BTL
I read the Space Trilogy a couple weeks ago, because this community kept mentioning it and because years ago, the first and second books were mentioned on some TV Tropes pages. And it helped that the trilogy for the whole ebook was 99 cents!
The high point of Book 1 is Weston’s speech about genocidal conquest to an angel, and Ransom’s translation of it. I think anyone would enjoy Book 1.
*Perelandra* has an interesting depiction of Satan. He hates being intelligent and charismatic because those are virtues from God, and would rather spend his time torturing small animals and harrassing people. But he has to use his virtues in order to achieve some of his objectives.
It also had a great line denouncing space colonization plans.
That Hideous Strength (which I had heard dismissed as “reationary trash”) was simulatenously the dullest one and the one that stuck most with me. In between the dull parts, and the parts that clash with my modern morality, there were demonic severed head, the POV of an animal, Merlin, encounters with the Oyarsi and God. I vaugely recall a Youtube video about experiments about keeping severed heads alive, and know about modern transhumanist fantasies, so I think C.S. Lewis had a point with his polemic.
Well, so far I have made it through JMG’s answers at #298. I need to make a post before I forget what I want to comment on!
JMG answer to Patrick #169: “The Big Bang is too obviously Genesis 1:1 et seq. with the serial numbers filed off.”
Goodness, yes. Some 30+ years ago when I was an Evangelical Christian I had a tee shirt that showed the cosmos swirling about and the words “In the beginning, God said BANG! And it was.” Can’t find that same design now, but the idea is still out there! https://www.guidingcross.com/products/god-said-let-there-be-bang-christian-t-shirt?srsltid=AfmBOooDbjh9N3MFgcLO083Mnz_C-ASAJHc1AlF51KI5Y4cj9JPMZr3b
JMG answer to Curt #261:”I think that a lot of the reason behind the transgender phenomenon is that a significant number of people these days dimly remember what their previous body felt like — that’s why they say their current body feels wrong to them.”
I’ve read that some think this is why some people are gay also. If we are entering a time where there is more room for processing between lives, will we have less gay and trans people? Note I didn’t say none; I think there have always been a few gay or trans people in existence, but everything concerning LGBTQ+ seems to have ramped up the during the 20th century when so many babies were entering the human experience.
As to the discussion on did Trump put his hand on the Bible, I’m not so sure that matters except it maybe should to the Christians. If Obama or Biden hadn’t touched the Bible during the oath, I have a feeling there would have been an uproar from that community. Interestingly, when I went to search YouTube for the ceremony and put “Did Trump…” into the search engine, that was the first thing suggested, so many are searching for it. Here’s an interesting tidbit from history: Have we had 47 presidents or 48? When Zachary Taylor was to be sworn in on March 4, 1849, he refused because it fell on a Sunday so he was sworn in March 5. Since President Polk’s term officially ended March 4, who was president for that 24 hour period? Some say David Rice Atchison, the president pro-tempore of the Senate. It must be true; it’s on his grave marker! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7NZLil1NsA Most sources say Taylor was still president even though the ceremony was delayed, so I think most people (even the Trump haters) accept–or at least admit–he is now president. Well, except Thom Hartmann. DID TRUMP LOSE? Shocking Proof Trump Rigged 2024 Election w/ Greg Palast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LN65qFUDDo
Joy Marie
Oops…there’s more.
JMG, have you heard of Justin Sledge? I’ve found his Youtube channel Esoterica to be quite interesting in exploring the arcane in history, philosophy, and religion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC8O73xO508 The Youtube page includes the transcript of the short video so you don’t have to watch it. He is not a practitioner of any arcane, occult or esoteric tradition but approaches it from a scholarly point of view. More info can be found at his website. https://www.justinsledge.com/ . Was just wondering if you have an opinion of him.
Joy Marie
@LadyCuteKitten
You might need to trial a few different things to work out what works in your area. I thought that if you like animals you could offer a pet sitting service for people going on holidays, specifically for pets other than dogs if you can’t walk them. But lots of cats do badly in catteries and you could probably be cheaper than a good cattery anyway, without overhead. Also, there’s lots of unusual pets that need only a bit of care and checking (turtles, fish, stick insects etc) but can’t just be completely left for a week and at the same time there is no equivalent to a dog kennel or cattery for them. And/or house plants watering, mail collecting and generally keeping an eye on the house – my parents would never hire a gardener but they pay a neighbour $20/day to do those things if they are away for more than a few days which is about $1200 a year. It’s not much but it gives them peace of mind, keeps the expensive house plants alive and it’s pocket money for the neighbour. Do you have a green thumb? Could you sell extra plant starts via an honesty box next to your driveway? Are you good at cooking? Maybe at making yummy desserts or baking or some particular cuisine? You could offer 1-1 cooking lessons while mostly just sitting in a chair – in other people’s kitchens if necessary. If you’re sociable and crafty maybe start a craft circle and teach a small group of people how to do something crafty. If you’re not sociable – maybe learn how to lead guided meditations?
Hi JMG,
It seems you have five books that are related: The Way of the Golden Section, The Way of the Four Elements, The Earth Mysteries Workbook, The Occult Philosophy Workbook, and The Way of the Secret Temple. While it looks like only the ‘Way’ books are officially part of the same series, at least from what I can tell on Amazon.
I’ve practiced qigong and yoga for years, and I’m deeply interested in integrating your mental framework into my ongoing practice. Would you say these books are the most relevant for someone like me, who isn’t drawn to ceremonial magic but prefers subtle mental training and inner development? I’m looking for ways to incorporate your teachings in a way that aligns with the more meditative and physical aspects of my practice.
Hi John Michael,
Speaking of raw meat (and I’ve heard that phrase used in other contexts, which is very telling), what do you reckon about attempts to re-engineer Aurochs? The Nazi’s were in to that grand idea as well, and don’t you think it’s weird that the idea has popped up again now of all times? As someone who lives in a rural area surrounded by tall forest, the idea of chucking 1,000kg / 2,200 pound monster aggressive cattle into the environment (which is a European master plan and nobody is suggesting doing that down here) sounds absurd and a form of abstract ideology taken to the nth degree. You’d walk around day to day in very fear of your life, and at the least you’d have to remain well armed at all times. A totally clueless idea if you ask me, but it seems to have some pull for city folk.
Cheers
Chris
@Tengu #356,
Chris Warnock produces and sells fixed star talismans for Algol. He stresses that Algol plays a somewhat different role in talismans than in birth charts (different-but-related, that is). While he mostly focuses on the talismanic effects, he often contrasts them with the birth effects. It might be worth checking his material out. You could e.g. use the search function on his site ( https://renaissanceastrology.com ), and I think he also has a youtube channel.
If you really want to know more and have money to spare, he also does natal astrology. (I’m not in any way affiliated, and have never gotten a reading by him.)
@Kevin #378,
I perform a formal blessing for other people once a week, and would be happy to include you and your sister (provided she’s ok with that). You’d have to sign up at my site, though, as I can’t keep track of requests elsewhere: https://thehiddenthings.com/categories/weekly-blessings
The signups are only for the upcoming blessing, i.e. you’ll need to come back once a week to request the next one for as long as you like.
>The company had posted evacuation routes depending on which the wind was blowing
So, “Get out and run”.
>A major leak in 1998 killed two people
Only two? That’s a good safety record. I think I would demand hazard pay if I had to work around silane.
>diamond isn’t a heavenly stone. It corresponds to Mars and it has the specific property of causing quarrels
So what precious stone promotes harmony? Diamonds are spiritual seed oils – I never would’ve guessed.
Do you see any particular ethnicities being pre-dominant in future Western Europe or can you see new ones forming?
Do you think the remaining “old ethnicities” in Europe will be similar in fate to the Berber/Amazigh people of North Africa?
Panda, as this list shows, genocides never go out of fashion: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_genocides
The larger ones seems to follow a pattern of slightly more than 20 years, with Tigray (Ethiopia) as the latest occasion.. When time permits I might check how those on the list coincide with the conjunctions you mentioned. For the moment, I’m not worried that the upcoming conjunctions of Saturn and Lunar Node bring any more bloodshed than there is already, sad as that is.
KN – Re: hyponatremia – It was the incessant advice to “eat less salt” that really kindled my skepticism about mainstream medical advice. Looking in my shopping bags from a typical trip yesterday, I have fresh carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, milk, mushrooms, eggs, oats, fresh-ground peanut butter, sunflower seeds, etc. Nothing has more than a trace of salt in it. Before I became intentional about ADDING salt to my food, I suffered from frequent leg and foot cramps while sleeping, and needed to nap after mowing the lawn. I’ve felt much better over the last five years or so, after adding salt. Gatorade (and the generic recipe that I mix up myself) made a big difference. It may be true that the “average American” eats too much salt, but that says nothing about the individual. Do your own research!
All,
Thanks for all the source material on skill development, transfer, preservation, and histories. Some of the material is already helping me organize my thoughts on the subject.
A specific example of skills whithering/dieing in my profession would be “note taking”, just walking around on the job with a pen and small notepad on hand to write some useful things down. Followed by storing and organizing your notes once a week so as not to lose them for the following weeks work. (Before someone says “just use a phone for that”, once someone uses a phone for notes but drops/breaks it or misplaces it they don’t typically switch to pen & paper they just stop taking notes all together.)
Joy Marie re: #385 –
My hypothesis on it is that LGBTQ (…maybe not the B) is at least in part a function of population pressure. Homosexual sex doesn’t lead to reproduction (any gay/lesbian couples who have kids either adopted, meaning the kids originated from heterosexual sex, or used egg donors/sperm banks, which are still a kind of straight sex at a distance… there’s still a sperm and an egg involved).
The mechanism by which it functions would then be the gender dysphoria within the subtle bodies, which would become more frequent as periods between reincarnation become shorter, the proximate cause of which would be rapid population growth. That is to say, I suspect it’s at least in part a kind of built-in negative feedback mechanism.
https://nordicmonitor.com/2025/01/turkish-al-qaeda-network-has-set-its-sights-on-israel-arab-and-european-capitals-after-syria/
Hi John,
Imagine the Turkish (and Qatar?) backed Sunni Islamist forces that have seized Syria and have plans on Europe and Arab regimes would be part of that longer term invasion of western Europe within a generation or so.
Hello, Archdruid, and the community
I wish I had responded sooner to this post, but I had been caught up in a few things. I want to share something I read a couple of years back, which I recalled a few days back.
I recall reading a very interesting Chinese fantasy novel a couple of years back, named “Forty Millennia of Cultivation”. It is a brilliant and thought-provoking piece of work – it falls in the intersection of two genres: science fiction with elements borrowed from Asimov’s Foundation, and the Wuxia cultivation fantasy genre that comes from China. It also forces the reader to come face-to-face with the profound philosophical problems – Prisoners’ Dilemma, the Inevitability of Finitude, the duality of Calm Reason and Sentimental Passion, and so on.
In one of the chapters, a character (either the protagonist or his split-personality evil twin, I do not recall which) proposes a theory about the Mind. He says that a mind is like an ecosystem – multiple beliefs, values, habits, tendencies, convictions, thoughts, ideas, and notions exist in mutual harmony, constantly striving for the limited bandwidth of our conscious attention, each drawing upon the others to sustain themselves. A change in personality is like a change in this ecosystem. A single foreign idea entering this ecosystem, especially one which is incompatible with the ecosystem, will not have much of an effect on the mind, and will most likely be rejected quickly. But an entire invasive species of new ideas can drastically alter the mind to a new stable configuration, bringing about a permanent shift in personality.
Further, the circumstances of a person’s life constitute the external environment of this ecosystem, similar to the climate and abiotic components of the environment for a biological ecosystem. A change in these will have the same effect on the ecosystem of ideas as a drastic alteration of climate will have on the local flora and fauna.
I found the comparison quite remarkable. That is sort of the way my own mind has changed during my life. Its not an exact comparison – thoughts do not quite reproduce and die and feed on one another – but I think they are indeed sustained by their environment, and they do slowly mutate over time, and undergo something akin to evolution.
@Thrown Sandwiches #373: I don’t disagree with the overall gist of your comment – descendants of English may well continue to be important for a very long time (I have lived in Sierra Leone, where it is normal to say “I done meet a book”). However, such languages are learnt by immersion, not by paying a formal teacher.
One point that I try to correct whenever I see it: the vast majority of the ancestors of the people who lived in Spain, Italy and even France in the Middle Ages were provincial Romans. In the case of Spain, for example, both written sources and (the absence of) archaeological evidence for newcomers agree that only a few thousand Goths, Suebi etc. entered a province inhabited by millions of provincial Romans. Those provincials had been speaking a colloquial Latin before the invasions, and they continued to speak its descendants with minimal impact from whatever language the invaders spoke.
Dear Mr. Greer
Why do bureaucrats always think change is impossible? Are they waiting for an instruction manual?In my opinion the Trump team is changing the culture, so getting caught up in the minutia is pointless.
BTW, anyone who thinks Canadians are willing to fight Americans is A) living in the past B) living in an imaginary world C) still suffering from TDS or D) hitting the weed a little too hard. And the health care argument just plain does not hold water when rich Canadians get health care in the US all the time.
okay, Papa, i’ve got an Arthur Rackham art book from the library, and i’m gonna take it in as i ruminate on my beard portrait of you. hopefully i will channel some of what you like about Rackham’s work.
stay tuned. it takes me longer than people think. if an idea is with me for many months, i’ve gotta answer to it and this one’s been years, i think.
x
@Patrick
Mind spiritual bypassing – ie emotional imbalances coming from past experience need to be resolved when they are a great obstacle in life.
People wise in the ways say you must brush your inner chamber free before light may fill it fully.
Ok I coined that, but along these lines.
Mind also our hosts mentioning of how you have processed a memory fully emotionally when you can relive an experience and feel nothing.
@JMG
Interestingly, I often have better access to my feelings while walking and doing everyday tasks, while when I sit down to deal with them more consciously, they sometimes seem to fade out of sight!
Yesterday I made the experiment, with one memory of distress, relived this, partly tried to rectify my view on it.
It seemes to fade when sitting but when I got up again I saw there was still anger floating around it!
Curious. I see my emotion like a little flame in my central chest area, solar plexus maybe, a flame kindling according to the emotion, anger, reddish, sadness, blue and so on, little surprise.
When I sit, emotions sometimes hold relatively still, a small and gray flame only, and only when I dive into it I perceive seas and waters of further emotions behind that.
Another question I have: how important are visual and contextual memories in brushing one’s emotional repository clean?
Some people also recommend to simply feel into the emotions without context and resolve without a specific memory attached. Should not sound like a wish to easily circumvent, just out of curiosity.
A curious technique I heard about is emotional freedom tapping (but that works with memories too).
@Annette2
Yes, indeed the diminishing returns of mining and that means going deeper all the time too, until someday the expense is to high to be reachable, I was aware of that.
I meant rather the current and coming situation, the downward slope of mining and fossilized mineral burnings.
There we already see more efficient potential going down from 20th century EU/USA resource use.
@Stephen Pearson
If heard about the quality of fracking oil often, that I cannot be made into diesel because it is too light.
I tried to find an official source, but did not really know what to look for, as specialized oil business terminology is involved.
Peter Denk’s predictions have in part not held all to well so far, Trump is president, no major event making people angry arrived at the end of 24. To be fair, people certainly are angry.
Unfortunately I could not track much of his past predictions, to make a clear track record.
He is convinced 24 will be the 89 of the West, a disintegration of the Western system, later also the USA disintegrating.
We shall see. Economic decline, as I said, has been slower these years than I expected, however it clearly seems to pick up pace as well in the EU.
Austria probably has a pro-Trump government soon as well, if a government can be formed by the leading political outsider.
The published intent of this government – radical reduction of state expenditure, contracts in the government cited as one contributor, reduction of “climate friendly” subsidies.
Austria also apparently (official newspapers) is investing in its military infrastructure and electrical grid safety.
Meanwhile big names of companies in Austria, ie industrial production companies, are going bankcrupt and sell their production to China and India.
Hi JMG,
Over these many years enjoying your blogs and podcasts, I recall your observation that once a failed elite heads to history’s shredder, they look about for the support they assumed was there for them and find that it’s gone. Poof!
It seems like we’re at that point as a nation, or not far off. The changes the Trump Administration let loose this past week seem to elicit shrieks from those whose agendas are under fire, but the public generally seems either enthusiastic or, if not, just accepting of it all.
It doesn’t look like the cavalry is coming to shore up our so-called betters.
Thanks for the heads up! It makes the popcorn go down better, knowing a bit about where we are in the cycle.
OtterGirl
The Other Owen #345
Block heaters, not just any Canuck, but one who lives in more northern areas. One of my daughters had just gotten a job in Toronto and bought her first car. She came home to northern Ontario for Christmas and she and my husband went out to plug in her car. They looked for the plug but couldn’t find it so hubby lifted the hood and No Block Heater. He was totally astounded. Luckily, it only got down to about -30C so her car started the next day.
When he retired a few years later, we moved down south to Central Ontario (well, it was down south for us). We rented an apartment in a high rise and were given a parking spot. We looked for the electrical set up to plug in the car and asked the landlord why there wasn’t one and he gave us a strange look and asked us what we were talking about. Our car always started, though.
Methylethyl #277
I’m happy your kids enjoyed our snow. Actually it’s just Toronto that hasn’t gotten much snow. My sons live in northern and central Ontario and they’re getting hammered.
However, if your kids want to move north, you could educate them about a few things. When my kids were in school (many years ago–I don’t know about now), they were not allowed to go inside unless the temperature was -20C or colder (-18C=0F).
For Christmas they all got toboggans and hockey sticks, even the girls. Try wrapping a hockey stick so that it doesn’t look like a hockey stick. The girls played ringette, a modified version of hockey. But anyone who has watched 11-13 pre-teen girls crash into the boards (the plywood surrounding the rink) knows that these are not dainty darlings, so much later women’s hockey was born.
Where we lived almost all neighbourhoods had local playgrounds, not with swings and slides but with a rink for skating. Winters there lasted almost 6 months. We had winter carnivals in February when it was a bit warmer like about -5 to-10C. Other playground hockey teams would come for competitions. We had snacks, coffee, hot chocolate. It was quite enjoyable.
From December to February it seldom got above freezing and when it did, we usually got freezing rain which would coat the snow with a layer of ice.
Aside from the cold, there was also the daylight. Around the winter solstice, sunrise was about 8am and sunset about 4:30pm, summer solstice sunrise about 6am, sunset almost 10pm.
So you can tell your kids all this and see if they change their minds.
Believe it or not, but I really miss those days.
I have spent a pleasant weekend reading my copy of The Astrology of Nations. It’s probably an intermediate text, definitely not an absolute beginner book, but I’m familiar enough with astrological terms used that I was able to follow the case studies with pleasure. There is very little jargon in this book and a lot of clear writing. I really enjoyed the case study on Edward VIII of the UK who abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson. The waste basket pattern, nice!
I can’t wait to try out my own interpretations for the next 20 years.
If the US changed Inauguration Day to something post-January 6 but still a date with Sun in Capricorn, would it be better for the U.S.? It’s a shame that (that much) knowledge of mundane astrology was lost between 1776 and 1933. Maybe the question is how much better for the U.S. would it be? and perhaps I should attempt answering that question myself in order to learn how mundane astrology works.
Good Afternoon Mr. Greer:
I thought you may be intrigued by this article in the decline of “materialism” and the shift towards greater respectability of religion:
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/materialism-on-the-ropes/
@ Happy Panda (#368), indeed! I remember several trips to the US in the late zero’s and early tens where I was surprized that every American I met was serenely convinced they lived in the best of all possible countries. I tried to explain that that I felt much more free in my own country and that the 80% of the population in the lower 80% of the economic ladder was much better off in my country than theirs, but nobody believed me. That complacency seems now to be shattering in the younger generations.
PS Your comments on GDP are very interesting. I have wondered why in the past years the US GDP has grown so much more than the EU. I’m willing to believe the US did better but the amount of difference didn’t make sense. Your info could very well explain it.
Earlier, I mentioned suspecting that part of what makes the abortion debate so toxic is that a lot of women got abortions and now regret it. Well, there’s another part too: a lot of people have sexual relationships where if the relationship is publicly aknowledged, things will go badly for one, or both, partners. Since social norms and laws now are such that if a child belongs to a given man, even if both parents want to pretend that the child isn’t his, quite often they cannot, I suspect that a lot of men pressure women into getting abortions because having a child would be a disaster for him for some reason or other. Maybe it was consensual but statutory rape (which is far more common than most people think); maybe he’s married; and there are several other cases I can think of as well.
I wonder how many abortions have been performed because of pressure from the father; and how many women are projecting their rage, frustration, and hatred of what that man did to them onto all men. This would make an uncomfortable amount of sense of why feminism started getting so toxic shortly after abortion was legalized….
@ Thrown Sandwiches
That’s my hope and it makes a lot of sense. Another person I mentioned my concern to said something similar. I still worry it’ll be hard to get ESL jobs in the U.S. at some point in my life. But I don’t want to do it forever, anyway.
Your perspective makes me think of the question of moving abroad to do such work. As of right now I could easily get a teaching job in a number of different countries. A while ago there was someone who brought up their friends moving to Argentina to weather the decline, to which JMG replied that, once US influence was low enough, it would be “open season” on their resources.
I know people in Mexico and could move there without too much trouble right now. I bounced the above idea off a friend of mine and he told me “the foreigners that annoy us are the ones who take over places [e.g. Lake Chalapa, San Miguel de Allende] and the ones who drive up rents [e.g. people who move into the historic centers of various cities]. I don’t think you’d have problems.” Which makes me think perhaps it’s viable to move abroad if you’re willing to live like the people around you and be a part of the community.
I’m 26, still figuring out getting my life to look the way I want it to and what that is. I live in a big blue city in the Southwest. It’s not easy figuring out how to set myself up for the future.
“So, “Get out and run”.”
Officially, “walk in a brisk but orderly manner.”
They need a head count afterwards so we were not to disperse widely over the countryside.
I found it! It’s migrated to a new site but the old one still exists – and it’s truly weird and out there and, well, I’ll leave it for anyone who wants to waste some time today (because it really does seem to just be a time suck, so enter at your own risk) 😀
https://www.goroadachi.com and the theory he tries to tie everything into at https://www.goroadachi.com/timerivers/
Hey JMG
Since a lot of people complain about the various difficulties that renting presents you, especially abuse from landlords, do you have any ideas for policies that you think would making renting a better prospect than it currently is?
There are rumors flying around that Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are getting divorced:
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-tv-presenter-megyn-kelly-on-barack-obama-michelle-obama-divorce-rumours-political-earthquake-if-true-7548736
https://www.newsweek.com/meghan-mccain-says-obama-divorce-rumors-coming-reputable-people-2020530
Sandwiches, keep in mind that karma also determines what kind of society you’re born into, and thus what your dharma may be. If you follow your dharma — whatever the dharma assigned you by your society — the principles of the Bhagavad Gita apply. If you do something that’s not your dharma, then the nature of the act and the nature of your motivations all factor into what karma you get from it. That is to say, karma isn’t simplistic; every relevant factor is part of the process of cause and effect we call karma.
Panda, doesn’t surprise me at all. India was the richest nation on earth in 1500, you know, before the British Empire looted it to the bare walls.
BeardTree, he’s certainly being more active than just about anybody dreamed!
Joy Marie, I like the tee shirt. As for gay and lesbian people, that’s a good question to which I don’t have a ready answer; the conversations I’ve had with gay men and lesbians haven’t suggested to me that their sexuality is rooted in half-conscious past life memories, but I’m hardly a specialist. Justin Sledge and I had dinner together at an esoteric conference last June — a very interesting cat.
Clark, yes, they’re part of a specific system of occult practice which includes very little ceremonial magic. The Sacred Geometry Oracle is also central to the same system, and so is a third Workbook, The Life Force Workbook, which is still being written. Yes, given your interests, you might find them useful; start with The Way of the Golden Section and The Sacred Geometry Oracle and go from there.
Chris, it strikes me as stark staring nuts, but then idiotic hubris really is our defining trait as a civilization.
Other Owen, depends on context. For marriage, the stone you want is emerald, which has the property of bringing lasting love.
David, I expect new ethnicities to come into being there and in North America as well, though as usual it’ll be a process unfolding over close to a millennium.
Forecasting, of course. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see the Turks besieging Vienna again in due time.
Rajarshi, hmm! That seems like quite a useful model.
A1, it’s not that bureaucrats think that change is impossible. It’s that they don’t want change, and so they say “it’s impossible” when they mean “it’s inconvenient to us.”
Erika, delighted to hear it!
Curt, fascinating — different people have different methods. That also applies to the visual and contextual dimensions — those are more important to some people than to others.
OtterGirl, I’ve been watching the Democrats since the election and blinking with astonishment. It’s as though the real fight was somewhere else, they lost it, and very nearly the only things they can do are flail helplessly and squawk as the King in Orange feeds them to his pet mantichores or something. It’s really quite remarkable.
Elizabeth, thank you for this — I’m glad you find the book useful! Yes, it would improve the astrology of the inauguration charts quite a bit if the inauguration was moved a few days, even just to the 17th or 18th — having the Sun out of his detriment would improve the condition of the presidency.
David, thank you for this.
Anonymous, yeah, and there’s that!
J.L.Mc12, government policies are rarely the solution to anything; here in the US, at least, they normally just give rise to a bureaucracy, which the rich and influential can then bribe. Instead, I’d like to see barriers to the building of rental properties removed; the best way to bring rents down and improve the treatment of tenants is to have more rental properties than there are renters, so that apartment owners have to compete with one another.
Anonymous, so noted. I confess that the Obamas interest me no more than any other celebrity couple — “not at all” is a good summary. Still, others may be interested.
Ai @ 410, Canadians, as you say, may not be willing to “fight Americans”; I suppose you are speaking of a military invasion. Possibly not, but why do you discount the possibility of foreign intervention? And why do you imagine Canadians would tamely settle for 10 provinces plus 3 territories becoming one state?
I can assure you that Trump and his financial and Real Estate backers have NO intention, as in nada, zilch, none, of respecting any treaties, agreements, etc. you might have with Inuit or any other indigenous peoples. These are people who think jobs as bellhops and laundresses constitute bringing the blessings of civilization.
There are two grand prizes at stake here. One is access to the warming Arctic. The other is control of Great Lakes water, the Great Plains breadbasket and whatever else might remain of the natural resources of North America. A union, properly negotiated with respect for the traditions, institutions and sentiments of both sides might indeed be a good idea. Unfortunately, our current president, while he may have good ideas, only understands I win, you lose.
J.L.Mc12, rental policies I would like to see: Right to garden. Reasonable restrictions would apply, such as pay for your own water, don’t make an eyesore.
Restrictions or ban or confiscatory taxation of out of town or county ownership of rental property, combined with total transparency of ownership. No more you aren’t allowed to know to whom you pay rent.
Ban on allowing empty properties to remain untenanted, AND requirement that owners must maintain empty properties. No more letting lawns wither during fire season.
One of the benefits of fuel injection is much easier starting in the winter. My first fuel injected car was a 1990 and noticed how easy to start the first winter.
Without the continuous grinding of a cold weather carbureted both the starter and the battery lasted much longer too. The starter lasted until I sold the truck after 23 years. I only replaced the battery once at about the twelve year point.
The ninnies at Golden-Sachs came with a new one.
“Goldman analysts Brian Singer, Brendan Corbett, and others noted that despite President Trump’s executive order freezing all Inflation Reduction Act funding disbursements, they remain “bullish on multiple sustainable themes” because of corporate/consumer/policymaker/regulator priority:
Reliability of energy, power and water supply.
Efficiency innovation towards energy, land and resource use. AI/Data Center power demand growth and willingness by Big Tech/hyperscalers to pay Green Reliability Premiums in support of nuclear generation and multiple other Clean Reliable virtual/on-site power sourcing.
Increased embrace by Sustainable Investors of the need for AI and Automation to fill rising labor challenges accelerated by aging populations in developed economies with tailwinds for Reskilling/Education/Womenomics stocks.”
Green Reliability Premiums. I love it.
Someone accused me of never having heard of batteries, so being an evil engineer who not afraid of the intrinsic racism of math I did some to show how many batteries it will take to keep one 50 MW data center running over a winter’s night. 195 with a total weight of only one Burke class destroyer or 8200 tons.
@403 Curt
I spend time analyzing my emotions but don’t have much control over them. I think I need to accomplish some things in life to improve my self-esteem, since I have a better idea of my limits than whatever possible potential I still have. And even if I get the life I want, I think it would still feel somewhat empty.
@OtterGirl & JMG
I don’t know if this abstracted sketch of mine reflects reality, but maybe part of it is because the mid 2010s TDS Woke radicals graduated from or dropped out of college, and had to get jobs in the awful Biden post-COVID economy. They start to soften in their views, and the new college students do not embrace those things to the same extent, but they exaggerate their ideological conformity because Wokels had come to control the institutions and media. Now they don’t have to pretend.
Palestine exhausted a lot of the true believer radicals, Biden’s undeniable dementia embarrassed Democrats in general.
Lastly, this is really speculative, but those who really believe Trump is a Hitleresque figure might be keeping their heads down so they don’t get executed by firing squad along with Liz Cheney 😉 But if that was the case, more Americans would have fled the country.
Curt
I can’t think of a specific source for that information. It seems pretty generally accepted. The sites that I visit the most for energy matters are oilystuff.com and peakoilbarrel.com.
Stephen
All this talk of Musk and Trump made me want to ask older readers if anything else has kept on as long as the Space Future fantasies have in the public imagination? Nobody has been to the moon in over a half century and all we found there was utterly barren rolling grey hills. The beautiful, sharp silver peaks of Bonestell were nowhere to be seen. And yet the fantasy lives on. Mars even more so.
I find it strange how many people don’t realize that Mars as a pop culture myth was invented by one guy. Percival Lowell of Mars Canals fame. When you understand his history though, Mars makes a certain kind of sense. Lowell was a Boston Brahman who sought adventure in late Edo Japan. But as Japan industrialized it was clean that even the final frontier of the far east was coming to an end, and so he decamped to the last remnants of the frontier in North America. He set up shop in Arizona and began to invent a world on Mars, another frontier for him to romp around in.
It’s strange to me though because unlike Lowell we know what Mars is actually like. He inspired to us to send space probes and they found not a mythic far orient in a red desert but a Lovecraftian hell world with a radioactive sky and dust that will scar your lungs among many other problems. Desperately though people want to believe that some part of Lowell’s fantasy is real. Maybe there are microbes! Maybe humanity will be the real martians and build the canals to take melt water from the poles and make the planet bloom. Kim Stanley Robinson I’m looking at you (seriously was anyone else as irritated at the Mars Trilogy as I was? It is so funny to me that he also wrote Aurora.).
The question I have is as people who lived through the space race and watched in real time as the solar system was revealed by astronauts and robot probes to be utterly unlike the hopes placed upon it, why has the belief in the ultimate conquest of space grown stronger?
Best,
JZ
Siliconguy, wasn’t it John Kenneth Galbraith who said that economists exist in order to make astrologers look respectable?
John, yep. The idea that we can power the future with nuclear energy also had its origins in early pulp SF, like the idea of “Our Future In Space,” and it clings to life with exactly the same verve. Go back in history and you’ll find plenty of other failed projects that had a similar shelf life. Consider the Crusades; the First Crusade began in 1095 and conquered Jerusalem in 1099, Jerusalem fell to the armies of Saladin in 1187, and European armies kept on marching to the Holy Land for a couple of centuries thereafter — the Ninth Crusade in 1271-1272 was the last major one, but there were attempts to launch crusades as late as the fifteenth century.
As for the durability of our current Tomorrowland fantasies, remember that faith in progress is the established religion of the modern industrial world. Admitting that we’re not going to the stars — not now, not in the life of our species — is to a believer in the Church of Progress exactly the same as a fundamentalist Christian deciding that the Second Coming isn’t going to happen.
@JMG Over time, my idea of progress dwindled from a vision of space colonization & godlike AI (when I was about 14) to an unexamined assumption of continued economic growth, and a faith of raggedly upward social “progress” for some decades, followed by a Golden Age of a fully Westernized humanity, ended by a catastrophe of some sort.
@JMG, @Ecosophia readers
Oh my. I just had to share this with the forum. I discovered a new channel today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_5-PFKBLyI
An Indian Vedic Astrologer giving his interpretation of Trump’s presidency based on his Inauguration time.
Unfortunately I do not speak this gentleman’s language (Hindi?) but if you turn on Youtube’s closed captions translation it seems to do a good job of translating to English on the fly.
One thing is the interpretation of Trump’s inaugural chart showing two planets in the Simhasana Nadi.
He then said anyone who has even one planet (Trump has 2) in Simhasana Nadi becomes dictatorial and autocratic. The moon in Simhasana specifically says the person will take “very bold decisions” and “not care about anyone’s criticisms.”
Some further choice quotes from this Vedic Astrologer:
“Having more planets in the Patta Nandi is considered very good for the stability of the government.”
“Having a planet in the Asana Nadi is also considered very good.”
“Having planets in the Aadhaar Nadi is not considered very good, but in this swearing in there is no planet in Aadhaar Nadi so this is very good.”
“However, if you look carefully there are some strong malefics present with all the planets in whichever Nadi they are in.”
Simha Nadi has Jupiter which is good but also has Gulika alongside it. Jupiter in this Nadi is very good but it has a strong malefic, Gulika, next to it.”
“If malefic planets sit in every Nadi (my note: as it does in Trump’s Vedic inaugural chart) then it brings a lot of trouble to the person.”
“In Pat Nadi there are many planets – Ketu is also there. Mars, Saturn is also there. This raises questions on the longevity of this government.”
[my guess? Maybe when mid-term elections are held the Republicans are going to lose their majority in either the House or
the Senate. Or possibly both.]
He continues:
“It also raises questions on the policies of Donald Trump. He will become very autocratic and take many decisions in which he will not listen to the opposition at all and will also not listen to the people and in the immediate future and will not get support from the opposition at all.”
So…the stars are ringing out loud and clear Trump Presidency 2.0 is going to be far more “dictatorial” and “autocratic” than the first go round. Probably because he’s lost patience with the D.C. politicos and entrenched lenocracy.
It looks like the U.S.’s Julius Caesar has crossed the Potomacon and is finally here.
Oh my lord. This is so going to rub D.C. insiders the wrong way. I can imagine Blue Hairs everywhere (including the Blue Hair TDS-ers in Europe) freaking out. But 4Chan will probably LOVE IT and dust off that pic of Trump as the Warhammer 40K God-Emperor.
I’ll see about posting a transcript to my blog later this week for those whom don’t do video.
Enjoy!
It’s gonna be a colorful 4 years!
One small addition about the Vedic Astrologer’s prediction for Trump Presidency 2.0.
Mrityu Tulya Kasht’ is a time of extreme danger to one’s life from all sides with no sign of it ever relenting or getting relief – the kind of danger where one’s doom is near certain and one has lost all hope – and it appeared in Trump’s Vedic inauguration chart. 🙁
There’s even a mantra one can chant if one sees this doom in their own astrological chart –
https://www.prophet666.com/2016/10/ram-mantra-for-mrityu-tulya-kasht.html
There is a real possibility the Orange Julius may be taken out just as the original Julius was. My guess is they’ll keep gunning for him until the job is done.
Also, sadly, this Vedic chart also predicts Trump – despite all his talk of being a President of peace – will instead get the U.S. into war and because of the chart he thinks it will have something to do with Iran.
@Happy Panda
“Too much drinking of liquids when our bodies don’t need it”
Does that concern water too or is it only these other beverages?
A bedouin “shaman” said the standard recommendation for water in liters per day be too high…
idk what to make of this.
Often they say we drink too little water because our nature does not respond with thirst to our needs anymore.
Due to modern lifestyles with too little exercise…?
I wonder about this point.
The standard explanation we do not feel thirst when we should actually drink water and that’s a given is idiotic and makes no sense from an evolutionary perspective, and THAT usually means there’s more to this.
Dear JMG and commentariat,
First of all, apologies for this very lengthy comment, but I believe this subject is worthy of extensive discussion.
I hope I’m not too late to the party, but I would like to chime in on a particular series of events that have taken place yesterday and which I have followed closely; not just the events themselves, but people’s reaction to them. I am referring to the brief trade war between the US and Colombia over the deportation of illegal migrants. It was quite the amusing mess from both sides, but it was an enlightening event, particularly, again, due to people’s reaction to this little spit fight between two heads of state. And when I say “people”, I mean primarily Americans, although some of my fellow Latinos have likewise left me somewhat perplexed, but not nearly as so.
For those who aren’t aware, the US has recently deported a number of Latin American immigrants back to their countries, but Colombian president Gustavo Petro had temporarily refused to take in those migrants, supposedly due to their undignified conditions they were treated, as they were kept in shackles even in the plane. Trump, unable to hold back from demonstrating a frankly childish sense of bravado, immediately announced the application of tariffs over Colombian products due to this affair. Shockingly, President Petro proceeded to counter with his own sanctions against the US, claiming something along the lines of “if you can do it, so can we”. The tariffs from both parties eventually called off and the migrants were received by Colombian authorities.
Now, one thing I would like to address first is that I do not believe Petro handled this in a graceful manner. Illegal migrants are criminals. Entering a country illegal is a crime, and likewise, leaving a country in an undocumented or fraudulent manner is also criminal. Plus, the deportees were apparently troublemakers and had gotten into spats with the law before. In other words, they should be treated as criminals: in handcuffs and sent to be prosecuted (in the case of the deportees, I believe they should be prosecuted by their home countries). I say the same thing about my home country of Brazil, where Lula da Silva threw a brief temper tantrum over the “treatment” or our deportees. Funny, because he doesn’t seem to have any plan to develop our economy in such way that people don’t need to leave for a chance at a better life. But “fake it till you make it” has always been his motto, ever since 2003.
But I’m not here to talk specifically about Latino America. I am here to talk about Donald Trump.
I am not sure how Americans, who comprise most of the commentariat, no doubt, feel about this, but for us down south, the aggressive, antagonistic manner with which he handled this problem left us, well, not in shock, but perhaps offended. I am aware that many Americans are very optimistic about Trump, and I’ll talk about that in a bit, but this is not a sentiment most of us here share. If anything, the recent turn of events has proven, more than anything, that Trump is an enemy of Latin America and see us as lesser beings. This isn’t all too different from how he sees countries outside of North America and Western Europe, of course (let’s not forget he threatened Russia with sanctions if they did not end the war in Ukraine, which is funny, because the impression I had is that he had no interest in sanctioning Russia, but alas…), but it seems we are a constant target of his ire, and the ire of Republicans. It’s understandable, really. America has been dealing with illegal Latino migrants for years and it’s good to see the US is doing something to address this problem (I am frankly scared at the fact that Brazil does not have a concrete migration policy; in the event that our economy somehow grows significantly, there is a serious risk we could be dealing with hundreds of thousands of Bolivians, Paraguayans, Argentinians etc. in our borders). There is just one problem, however, and that’s America’s unwillingness to treat other countries in an equal manner, and instead pursue aggressive measures to get its way.
From where I’m standing, this aggressive bravado is exactly what got the United States into so much trouble with the rest of the world: the inability to perceive other countries as having their own interests (even if you disagree with them) and sitting down to negotiate an agreement. Like I said, I do not agree with Petro’s complaints about the treatment of the deportees, but it doesn’t change the fact one of the conditions to receive them is to treat them in a way their home countries consider to be “respectful”. The US can disagree with this, of course, and it has every right to. In this situation, however, one talks with the opposing party and inquires about the reasons for their conditions and whether it would be possible to reach a middle ground. You would think this would be a sensible way of doing things, especially after Latin America has been under the US’s boot for so many years. JMG himself has said the US would do well not to pursue spats in foreign affairs at the moment, and trying to at least regain the trust of LATAM seemed, at least to me, like a good place to start. Believe me when I say none of us want a poor relationship with the United States. And yet, Trump seems more than eager to antagonize us and make the entirety of the people of Colombia suffer under sanctions because their government dared to do things in a way that differs from the US’s intent.
And here we arrive at the crux of the problem.
Donald Trump, through his recent actions in foreign affairs, has demonstrated himself to not be even remotely different from the neoconservatives that came before him. Threatening Russia and LATAM with sanctions and revoking political visas and diplomatic permissions, throwing a temper tantrum over China’s development of AI (I was reminded of what Rubio said about China ‘rising to the top unfairly’ — paraphrased — or some such, as if China threatened the rest of the world with its boot or something; Jung would have a field day with the Americans project themselves onto their supposed ‘rivals’), using force to get his way and refusing to even so much as negotiate and speak from a position of equality, the way the US’s neighbors down south are treated as if they are colonies… To say nothing of the recent debacle with Greenland. Apparently, the reward for Denmark acting like the most loyal lapdog of the US and doing every bit of its bidding is to have its centuries old territory taken by force. Remarkable! You sure Joe Biden isn’t the president still? And how about drug cartels in LATAM being treated as terrorist organizations. Excellent, it’s about time we do something about them! Yes, surely we can initiate a joint military exercise as organized crime is a problem in both Mexico and US and– oh… you’re just going to threaten military action against us. Okay. I wonder what Saddam would have to say about this.
I think you understand what I’m getting at here. Donald Trump is a hardcore neocon who firmly believes in the myth of American Exceptionalism. To him, the entire world must bow down to America and accept the “generous” offers of giving away resources for the glory of the Great American Empire. To show weakness, to be vulnerable, is a sin. And the problems America is facing? The trillion dollar debt? The collapse of industry and economy? The decrease in education standards? The overextension of the US army across the globe and the humiliation countries like Japan must suffer (even after, you know, taking a couple of “humane” nuclear bombs for good measure)? None of these things seem to matter for the “Orange Julius”, who really seems more like a Nero Augustus from where I’m standing, playing his harp while his empire burns away in decadence.
This brings me to my second point. I have witnessed the reaction of Americans to this recent turn of events and even spoke to them about it on social media (particularly on X), and what I have learned is this:
A frighteningly high number of Americans seem to be completely okay with this. And not just okay. They want more of it. They are okay with aggressive sanctions and tariffs. They are okay with tanking the country’s reputation even further if it means getting what they want. They believe that — and this is exactly what I was told — they can “do whatever [they] want”.
This didn’t just astound me. It frightened me. The degree of superiority with which Americans see themselves and the accompanying sense of victimization is truly frightening. All these years, all these centuries, and the people of the United States still don’t seem to understand the basic rules of foreign policy. They still don’t understand that this bravado, this sense of entitlement, this messianic attitude against the rest of the world is exactly what got them where they are today. It’s what made the US bumble into every crisis they have faced in the recent past especially. It let them to WW2. It let them Korea. It led them to Vietnam. It led them to Iraq. It led them to Ukraine. It let them to Gaza. And these are just foreign policy blunders. We could surely go on about the way Americans at home are treated; after all “doing whatever we want” doesn’t just extend to foreigners. Offshoring jobs and production? “We can do whatever we want”. But apparently it’s the fault of the Chinese and Indians for generously accepting those jobs and resources that have now allowed them to become some of the top economies in the world. How dare they develop themselves without our permission (even if we were the ones who gave you all the goodies)?! And how dare Americans NOT fall for the narrative of Chinese spies or some such!? It’s the Chinese! It’s the Russians! It’s the Iranians (Trump seems to have a particular enmity about Iran; remember how he gloated about killing Soleimani?)! Curiously, America never seems to contemplate about whether or not it has made a mistake. And from what I have seen based on Americans’ reactions, they all seem to still be ascribing to the myth of progress. The years of of political correctness led by the progressive left and their own foreign policy blunders? Just a bump on the road, everyone. We’re back on truck, and my fellow billionaire Elon is going to take us to Mars! We’re back on track to tomorrowland, everyone! I think even JMG is aware that Republicans and the Right are very much progressives at heart, of course. But I am just pointing out that the average Trump supporter still ascribes to progressivism too. And not just that; they fully believe in American Exceptionalism, despite having done them more harm then good.
I think I have found the correct word to describe the current state of the American people ever since Trump was sworn in: stupefaction. Americans have become completely stupefied. In fact, this probably happened even before the inauguration, as a good number of American conservatives suddenly stopped talking about how awful the economy is and started telling young people fresh out of college that they should work at McDonalds and that they shouldn’t complain that Indians are taking their jobs with H1B visas. Curious, no? It’s as if, after Trump’s triumphant victory, the problems that have caused America to be in such a difficult spot stopped mattering altogether. It’s as if the four years of Biden were a mirage, and now Americans are living some kind of fever dream where it’s once again the 1980s and the United States has all the leverage in the world to force both other countries and its own citizens to follow its bidding. As if we’re back in the days of macho action movies. The days of Death Wish, Rambo, Commando. Americans have been stupefied by Trump. They once again feel like Arnie, about to put on his military gear after lifting weights and gun down hundreds of “terrorists” in [insert country in the middle of nowhere here]. Nothing quite like the archetype of the “action hero” to symbolize American arrogance and bravado, as the big guy liberates this poor little “underdeveloped” country from the dangers of *gasp* economic sovereignty! Truly remarkable indeed.
What’s even more worrying is the feelings Americans expressed towards this contradiction. Based on what I have seen on the internet, there is a single word that describes what Americans are feeling at this very moment: resentment.
And they have every right to be resentful, of course. They have been treated like garbage, completely disposable, by their own government ever since at least the Great Depression. I would be shocked if they didn’t feel a little angry at least. But this resentment seems to be targeted towards the entire world, and the entire universe. With the way Americans seem to truly believe the entire world should just shut up and do as they say, and the negative reaction they display upon being called out on it, it truly seems like the people of the US have sunk themselves neck deep into the quicksand of resentment. They are angry. Angry at the entire world. Weren’t they promised the glory of ruling the world as the Great American Empire? Why did they not get it? Why are three supposedly “inferior” countries suddenly ascending? And they’re the ones falling behind? But what about freedom and democracy? What about American values? The American Dream? Was it all a lie?
I think you understand what I’m trying to get at here.
The thing is that this form of resentment is dangerous. If you want any proof of it, I invite you to learn a little bit about the state of affairs in the Russian Empire in the mid 19th century. You may have hard of this fellow called Fyodor Dostoevsky. He was something of a novelist. Yes, quite the guy, he was. And he had a keen eye for what was happening in Russia at the time. He had a pair of novels that draw a perfect picture of mid 19th century Russian society, and the rise of nihilism and resentment: “Notes from the Underground” and “Demons”. I’ve already written too much for a comment section, so I would like to just invite the commentariat to read these novels from the lens of an American living in the 2020s. I am sure you will find them quite relatable. America is experiencing a nasty bit of resentment and nihilism (the statement “we can do whatever we want” is that what reveals it), and when that happened in Russia all the way back then, well, we saw the rise of this one guy. Not sure if you’ve heard of him. I think his name was… Hmm… Oh! Yes! Len… Lin… Lenin! Yes, that’s the guy. And he did quite a number of Russia, as it turns out, when he founded this little thing called the “Soviet Union”. It was quite the kerfuffle, and it took the Russians a century to recover! He really should have read “Demons”, you know, but apparently he dismissed it as “reactionary hogwash”. Oh the things resentment and nihilism do to you.
Anyway, I think Americans would do well to step back, leave the world alone for a little bit, and contemplate on where they got to where they are. Unfortunately, it seems they will have quite a bit of a difficult time doing so. In that case… well, JMG has predicted in his Inauguration chart that there could be a rise in revolutionary sentiments in America.
I wonder who would be America’s Lenin? I just hope the damage is minimized as much as possible. I know it might not seem like it, but as a Latino American, I don’t dislike the US. Your country is difficult to deal with, and Americans tend to see us as lessers, but most of us here do not want to pick a fight with America. If anything, I have always believed that Brazil, the US, Canada, Mexico and Argentina should have formed a military-economic coalition to ensure the interests of the Americas are protected. America would have done well to build a relationship of trust with us down here. But it seems they have their own inner demons to fight. And in this fight, I can only hope the Americans can win instead of giving into the temptations and allure of mindless self-destruction.
Inverse Frugal Fridays
I would be interested in Jeff’s suggestion (42): “what are some things you might do to help yourself or others with the way the world is changing/will change if you happen to have some time/resources/money available?”
While it seems doom and gloom in the West, things seem upbeat east of Indus.
India is apparently forced to industrialise by all those Russian oil. Asean seems to have no worries about energy resources.
I don’t understand. The LTG model shows industrial peaking by now and drastically reducing by 2050. I expected countries like India and Indonesia to be cautious about such matters since we don’t have resources to sustain these industries for even a 100 year.
What am I missing here?
JMG – You’ve let a few comments on AI leak into discussion on Dreamwidth, so I’ll go out on a limb to record that, as of 6:35 AM, Jan. 27, NASDAQ futures have tumbled 5% on the news that Chinese AI companies are doing whatever it is that US AI companies are doing, at vastly less cost. It seems that an embargo on US AI chips will have little if any impact on their development. Given that a vast amount of the growth in the S&P 500 index has been built on the seven major AI stocks, this could be a big deal.
There’s a meme of an inverted pyramid, with a world of global stocks being balanced on a wedge of US stocks, and at the very bottom there are seven ANTS (the AI companies) holding up the whole thing.
The markets could ride on faith in the future utility of AI projects, whether or not that was realistic, but the idea that the Chinese can undercut it all is going to leave a mark.
@Milkyway #390
Thank you for this information. Yesterday I read pretty much everything online about Algol, including this excellent source. I believed (or rather hoped) that there was a positive side to this birth star but clearly there isn’t 🙂
@John Zybourne #425
I was taught that long distance space travel is actually impossible because humans are bonded to this planet. Out of sight of Mother Earth astronauts will lose their earth connection, and become just like the restless dead, who also lack this element. So past a certain point astronauts will become mentally unanchored and homicidal. The only solution for this ‘space sickness’ is to have AI piloted spaceships carrying fertilised eggs. When the ship finds a suitable planet it can then develop the embryos using alien water and minerals, thereby bonding them to a new home.
Northwind Grandma #228 – Yes. It seems he might have been taking the Quaker approach to his oath. As in, the belief that to give his word is the same as to keep faith with his word.
And it seems that keeping faith with his word is what he is all about. 🙂
What would a modern sustainable long term society look like in real every day terms? What is possible? I emailed these folks, bioregional.com, who promote “one planet living” their YouTube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ0erjJFiCE As they are based in the UK I asked them what life would be like in Britain in terms of power, transportation, housing, lifestyle, consumption, agriculture, industry, communication if the UK was in “one planet living” mode. I am a teacher of high school students and wanted the info for my Environmental Science class. They couldn’t answer me, didn’t know. And somehow AI with its massive electricity need won’t be part of that vision IMO
>One of the benefits of fuel injection is much easier starting in the winter
*electronic* fuel injection. Try starting a mechanical fuel injected engine sometime and you’d be singing the praises of carburetion.
>I have wondered why in the past years the US GDP has grown so much more than the EU
I wonder why you trust government statistics so much. They. Lie. The only question is how much.
Watching many Democrats post-election have convinced me that the divine intervention we saw in both the 2016 and 2024 elections is definitely the changer (or Coyote or whatever the other Native American terms are for that God). And I don’t mean politicians, I mean people on the left that I know that have been deeply captured by the ideology.
Instead of reflecting on why they lost or why a lot of minority groups defected or why men defected, they’re doubling down on this silly idea that they’re the resistance against a group of Nazis. Given how that energy moved from Trump to Elon after the 2020 election, I suspect that Coyote influenced Elon Musk to do that salute to keep as many potential opponents of change locked into useless behaviors and thinking as possible while the change is underway.
More on Green Reliability Premiums.
https://apnews.com/article/power-electricity-amazon-microsoft-power-plants-data-centers-grid-f4763f73bc112425e18f30618dff0039
“Big Tech wants to plug data centers right into power plants. Utilities say it’s not fair”
Cut out the middleman and get your energy directly from the source. It’s already noted that renewable energy facilities are not being courted in this way.
And yes, that was Galbraith who made that impertinent comment about economists.
“Consider the Crusades; the First Crusade began in 1095 and conquered Jerusalem in 1099, Jerusalem fell to the armies of Saladin in 1187, and European armies kept on marching to the Holy Land for a couple of centuries thereafter — the Ninth Crusade in 1271-1272 was the last major one, but there were attempts to launch crusades as late as the fifteenth century.”
And of course the Fourth Crusade was sent of course from its original goal to conquer much of Egypt and instead brutally sacked the most magnificent city in Christendom, Constantinople, in 1204. All the more tragic and ironic as the Crusades began in the first place due to a request for reinforcements from the Eastern Roman Emperor in their struggles against the Seljuk Turks after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071.
@Curt (#430)
said:
“Too much drinking of liquids when our bodies don’t need it”
Does that concern water too or is it only these other beverages?
All liquids. Yes, even water. The global populace is drinking waaaay too much liquid. Furthermore he says the way they’re drinking liquid is not good for physical and mental health.
He said the body can handle the occasional, large, sudden influxes of liquid and will pee it out eventually. But that’s not how people are drinking liquid these days. If you watch they’ll walk around with store-bought plastic water bottles and take little sips bit by bit over a long stretch of time until the bottle is done or forgotten. Or they’ll get a soda with a straw and take little sips bit by bit and do the same. Animals don’t linger for hours at a time around a pond taking dainty sips at leisure. They take a specific amount then go.
This particular drinking habit is really bad news for health and throws a lot of the body’s evolved homeostasis mechanisms out of wack which he said is leading to a lot of health problems around the globe that modern medicine is only just now beginning to uncover.
You can be sure even if it shows up in peer reviewed research in the U.S. at least it will never be allowed to become common knowledge because the huge Agri-Biz/Drinks-Biz Complex’s profits would crater.
Siliconguy @ 421
I think you missspelled Golden-BallSach$.
Now, as to whether they be bull or bear cajones … well, flip a quatloo to see which sidewager has, uhh … decended, to the upside! ‘;]
@Mary Bennet, thanks, I’ll definitely need it! As for your suggestion, I was thinking of including a “prehistoric” event much like Mt Mazama in my narrative. After all, myths long predate the written word and knowledge that long survives the peoples and even the memory of those peoples make for great story fodder.
@SirusTalCelion, you flatter me! Posting what I’ve got in blog style format like our host did with Star’s Reach is something I’ve considered but it’s also a scary thought considering that people would have access to a rough draft version of what’s in my head. Even if people enjoyed it, the whole while I’d be thinking, “It not ready yet! Nooo it needs more polish! Please be kind, this could all be completely different next month! Oh gods!” I applaud you for posting a comic as you do. Though I like the serial format, the fear of keeping the yarn spinning grips me.
Oops. Hit send too soon. So will add it here.
@Curt (#430) said:
Often they say we drink too little water because our nature does not respond with thirst to our needs anymore.
Due to modern lifestyles with too little exercise…?
Yes. You’re beginning to get a sense of just how Herculean a task it is going to take to get human health just back to what it was in the late 19th-very early 20th century, let alone earlier times when most of the population had jobs outdoors and you couldn’t just pop into a store and grab a snack and drink everywhere at the drop of a hat. All of these things societal changes cascade into a large amount of chronic illnesses.
Humanity is paying a big price in some ways for all these 20th century conveniences and it’s set to pay even more if things don’t turn around soon. One of those huge prices it’s about to reap is, he said, 50% of the global populace is going to have major mental health problems. Too the point in 25-50 years a large number of people of all ages around the globe will choose to commit suicide rather than go on. If people think we’re experiencing a mental health crisis now apparently we ain’t seen nothin’ yet. The Tsunami of mental health problems, he said, has yet to hit and he and other spiritual teachers are working overtime to try to turn it around before it’s too late.
Though he doesn’t realize it, JMG is part of this rescue mission from higher spiritual Planes to turn humanity around before it’s too late.
Let me give some examples of just how messed up a lot of humans are.
Sadhguru said another bad eating/drinking habit that’s been globally normalized is eating and drinking while walking around or standing up. Humans can do this a bit but doing it most of the time messes the pranic body up. Yes, that includes any tribal people who’s culture has them eat/drink standing up. They won’t magically escape the results because it’s based on biological realities.
It’s best to either sit in the position Japanese call Seiza (I think that’s how it’s spelled? This is one thing the Japanese definitely got right as a culture. I hope they’re sticking with it.) when you eat or, if you can’t do that, sit at a table or other large table-like item covering your lap. In yoga this pose is called Vajrasana, the thunderbolt or diamond pose.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sHP-2kWRMs
The real reason to put some kind of obstruction in place (like a table) or sit Seiza is that it cuts off the lower system of the body temporarily from the higher sections – especially for everyone’s etheric body. Eating/drinking while standing or walking around changes how the physical and etheric body processes respond to the food or liquid and that once again leads – over time – to chronic ill health. Vajrasana is the only hatha yoga pose where you can eat a meal and then go ahead and do hatha yoga. It’s Mother Nature’s short cut.
Otherwise it takes 4 hours for both bodies to fully deal with a meal properly. Drinks take about 1.5 – 2 hours for the physical and etheric bodies to process depending on what the liquid is.
And now these new drinking/eating habits are one of the hidden reasons chronic illnesses and mental health problems are piling up around the globe. As a species we are already beginning to reap the results we have collectively sown and it’s not pretty.
I just re-read my posts. I wanted to clarify.
Sadhguru said eating/drinking at a table is every bit as good as sitting Seiza.
@Patrick
Indeed, there’s outward and inward things. Outward success does not automatically resolve inner problems.
Outward experiences that transform us can however indeed transform our inner world too.
In my case one thing I resolved, though on some level an easier affair, was the event when I was as a young man beaten unconscious, then beaten again when conscious, and mugged by a gang, being heavily myopic and without glasses, that really made it horrible apart from everything else.
I had serious panic thereafter.
I resolved it through training, being victorious over the attempt of mugging of two limp junkies, by visiting places with a lot of small crooks, by deliberating where safety begins and ends…
By many experiences and efforts, I resolved that problem.
Other things are more elusive no doubt, many social aspects of bad experiences that cannot be properly digested.
JMGs recommendation of spiritual alchemy is certainly very good, there’s a book “Internal Family System” self therapy I am reading that proposes spiritual methods to cleanse your inner imbalances. Such things are certainly worthy.
Apart from that, yes, to make various experiences in life.
It’s not that easy either and it’s not the master speaking here to you, but also I have seen that sometimes things like getting a job, meeting a better quality of people,
doing something with purpose, doing something within a community like washing dishes
for everyone else, these things help.
Others will recommend befitting therapists – not that I have ever visited many, but heard enough from there, yes theres good ones and incompetent ones.
I am also dealing with a tempest of inner emotion daily. In the evening like now when I am writing you this usually cools down, as I go about my daily works and do whats better for me, so I feel like my own life’s actor again.
When tired and pressed, that isn’t so easy, probably for you too.
I wished you the best certainly, investigate in all directions!
One last addition.
@Curt (#430) said:
The standard explanation we do not feel thirst when we should actually drink water and that’s a given is idiotic and makes no sense from an evolutionary perspective, and THAT usually means there’s more to this.
To answer your question – Sadhguru said this is precisely the result (ie. one is not able to feel thirst signals anymore) from the habit of drinking liquids over a drawn out period of time. Though he didn’t say it I’m guessing it’s one of the very first signs someone’s Samana prana is being dowsed down to subsistence levels.
One other tiny thing to clarify: He said water is the only liquid one can drink and then exercise with no problems. All other liquids the minimum is 1.5 hours. The thicker the drink (like a shake) the closer it is to food so that can extend the time to 2.5 hours. Possibly even 4 if the shake or juice is so thick it might as well qualify as a meal.
@ Thomas Rp #4431
The average USA n doesnt think Latin Americans are less. I think we are just tired of all the injustice and we welcome what the President is doing. We even know that we have been sending our tax dollars for years upon years to Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, etc….. to help bolster the people there so that the governments there could solve these problems there.
I think what you feel right now is because we have been inconsistent. We have spent awhile now not enforcing our rules or asking , hey what are you doing with this money if we send it and yet still have to take in people and subsidize them here ? ANd now all of a sudden, we are. But, there was warning even of this as the election was in November.
If you want to talk disrespect, I can tell you how it feels to be disrespected for so many years here in the USA by illegal immigrants. I have a good friend who came in as a refugee, legally, lived in a refugee camp as a young child as her dad fought with us in Vietnam. I married a man who was born in Mexico, came here as a young child with his family, legally. Neither of those families put down the USA, flew other nations flags, etc…. There are a lot of illegal immigrants who do not want to embrace being American, or so it seems as they are driving a truck ( a new, very nice truck) down the street flying the largest Honduran flag I have ever seen off the back bed. Disrupt graduations with non conforming drees code violations of foreign flags. Insist and have a totally separate graduation ceremony. California has a new initiative to be “ready” for disasters. Brochures in alot of languages, including Portuguese, Vietnamese, etc…, which is good. The front of all the brochures has the word “ready” translated into all the various languages. Except the english language brochure that must retain the Spanish word for ready, “listos”, and indeed the program is called “listos” and the website name uses “listos” instead of ready. I know this as I saw the spanish and english versions next to each other on a table at an event in this county, ok, thats, normal. I thought there was a misprint on the cover of the english language version, but it isnt, they named the whole program official name the spanish name, I looked up thing when I got home. We give special extra help to all immigrants, read Latin immigrants, as our givernment hiring has to prioritize hiring or giving the contract to “historically marginalized or historically minority” and federal monies for low income energy saving, etc… as it funnels thru California is not handed out just based on income it is to be prioritized to census tracts were less people speak english as a first language and didnt graduate from high school. Our public schools spend so much money on education for the immigrant non english speaking children. All elder illegal immigrants are now getting free healthcare in California too. Public housing is prioritized to an illegal immigrant with a child over a local broke person iwthno child. The list is extensive.
And, what happens in return ? As I say, the disrespect is enormous, and it is not just the foreign flags. There is outright discrimination from them towards the native population here, especially Blacks, but also Asian and European descent Americans. In person, in interactions and in hiring. The young ones can be especially entitled, as they are being told how they are a special victim class.
Anyways, no-one is going to care too much if you feel disrespected to have people returned to their home country or how it is done. To me, well, here we are, paying out of our own pockets yet again, to send them there. SO, we do not think Brazillians, or Mexicans are less — we are just tired of the situation in general. And, if I feel like this, given my spot in a general PMC surrounded existance, imagine what the USA working class is feeling
Celadon #173 (And JMG #182)
Your exchange brought on a meme… 😉
https://imgur.com/a/climate-dont-change-2nmcow0
Hi Thomas R P,
Congratulations on getting through what must be the single longest comment that I’ve ever seen on a forum run by our esteemed host. Just for statistical clarity, I clocked your comment in at 2808 words. Man, my weekly blog hovers around the 2,000 word mark. Yours was an impressive achievement.
However, if I could but give you a touch of unsolicited advice – try to get your thoughts into a more concise format next time. I’m sure you could cut 1,000 words and still get the same message across. 🙂
Man, I have no skin in that game going on between your two countries. However, the present nation of Australia was founded on the very ideological concept of the UK wanting to rid itself of the more useless elements of its population – we were in effect a giant off shore penal colony. So? All things considered the experiment turned out sort of OK.
Moral arguments to the side, when a person is in a foreign land, they would do well to abide by the laws of that land, regardless of their personal feelings or the utter weirdness of the local laws. Years and years ago a young Australian was in Singapore and he allegedly got busted writing graffiti on a train. Candidly it seemed like a stupid thing to do in a foreign country, especially that one. He was publicly whipped. It sends a strong message.
To do something stupid in a foreign country sets that person up as an easy scapegoat. It really becomes that simple.
Cheers.
Chris
Hi The Other Owen,
I so hear you, mechanical fuel injection in the 1970’s was good, but not good. You had to rev the motor when it was cold so as to keep the thing rotating. Computers can change the air fuel mixture these days, and that’s a wonderful thing.
Cheers
Chris
This article is interesting on the relationship between Harry Potter and druidry amongst other things – https://becomingnoble.substack.com/p/the-last-british-myth
One thing I learnt from it is that the woods for the wands of the characters in Harry Potter were selected based on their birthdays according to the Druidical correspondences.
JMG,
Speaking of Mars, did Alfred Wallace get involved in esotericism? I know he was involved in spirit mediumship, and I also know he wrote a book refuting Lowell’s claims to Mars being habitable. Part of me wonders if he had done some astral travel there himself!
Cheers,
JZ
Scotlyn @ 436, JGM told me above thread that the President does not always mean what he says. The words ‘bluster’ and ‘bluff’ were used. I prefer to suppose that he does. I will say, a weakness on my part, I know, crybaby snowflake and all that, I despise the kind of person who must aways keep others off balance. I do not believe that quality, useful work can ever be done when everyone is being distracted by Games People Play. To me, it is quite simple. Either you can have quality work or you can have ego gratification. Not both.
I wonder if Trump ends up being somewhat analogous to Gorbachev – a transitionary figure. If that’s the case what’s after that? For Russia, it was an utter chaos of the Yeltsin era when things were run by oligarchs. The oligarchs inserted a few PhDs in glasses into popular TV programs to babble about the free market while they backed by Western loans were dividing between themselves oil fields and uranium mines. After that came Putin… Russian people were schooled in authoritarian power for centuries and didn’t mind.
Other Owen, #439 “They. Lie. ”
Oh yes, they lie. Truer words never spoken.
You ever hear that song that’s all the rage among the younger set over yonder in the orient? It may be popular here too but I don’t know. It goes: ‘a,b,c,d,e,f,g, what you know and what we see… ding dong, ding dong, I swear I’m seeing King Kong.’
And the way it is is what ‘they’ know and what ‘we’ see are two different things. They ‘know’ that inflation was 8% for example because that’s what the statistical agencies said and so did the Fed etc. But what you saw was 25%. They say it’s a mouse. But you swear you’re seeing King Kong. Believe your own lyin’ eyes.
@Thomas R. P. 431
The MAGA motto is “America First” so a lot of right-wingers want U.S. policy to prioritize Americans , not other countries. In other words, a lot of them hope that the Trump presidency will be good for them and their fellow Americans, and don’t care if it is bad for people from other countries. I think you should view Trump in light of how his policies affect your region, not on how his policies affect Americans.
2. Really the only reasonable optimism about the second Trump term for Ecosophians, IMO, is that Trump ends up being a bridge figure between the old neolib/neocon status quo, and an America that knows that the sun is setting on its age of empire and economic growth, and adjusts accordingly. For the time being, a candidate with more realistic goals would be opposed by the ultra-rich, the PMC, and the vast majority of the US electorate.
Some people seem to be triggered by the whole concept of “elite”. (In the thread about Bonhoeffer).
I wonder what do you think about this:
The learning of the gentleman enters his ear, clings to his mind,
spreads through his four limbs, and manifests itself in his actions.
His smallest movement can serve as a model.
The learning of the petty man enters his ear and comes out his mouth.
—Xunzi (c. 250 BC)
@Beardtree “President Trump won’t be as bad as what some people fear nor as good as some people hope.”
I am currently reading a very silly book called Cunk on Everything: The Encyclopedia Philomena. The encyclopedia as rewritten by someone who is very dim. I think the entry for Brexit would also apply to current situation. From memory it was something like ”
When people where voting for Brexit, many didn’t realize that to quote Teressa Maybelline ‘Brexit means brexit’. This was an election like no other because they would actually do the thing they were voting on and that had never happened before.”
What people here think will be the end game of the rocket boy with his Starship? How long his firework-show will go on before the money runs dry?
And why the last aspiration of a dying culture… is to visit a desert planet?
“I don’t understand. The LTG model shows industrial peaking by now and drastically reducing by 2050. I expected countries like India and Indonesia to be cautious about such matters since we don’t have resources to sustain these industries for even a 100 year.
What am I missing here?”
The term of office for your elected officials. It’s called kicking the can in English, but I don’t know the local version of it.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/kick-the-can-down-the-road-history-meaning
Hello Kevin, I’ve put up your prayer request word for word as you wrote it for now. Back at the Ecosophia Prayer List page, as you asked my thoughts on it, I left a comment with my two cents on how you might reword your prayer request to best effect.
@KAN #454 re: Johann Kurtz’s Article on Harry Potter and Druidry (Among Other Things)
I enjoyed that one, though I quibbled with some of the inferences he drew and points he made due to his own religious (Christian) stance, as well as looking a bit askance at some of his positive takes on Harry Potter now that I’ve absorbed some of our host’s disdain for the Harry Potter flavor of magic (but I can’t hate on it too hard, having enjoyed the books a good deal when I first read them in college). Overall, though, I think he’s highlighting some significant currents in the British zeitgeist.
Cheers,
Jeff
@ Chris, I really should avoid writing in a sort of stream of consciousness, so your suggestion is appreciated. 😅 In any case, I don’t disagree that people should avoid getting into trouble in foreign countries. It’s not what I meant to imply. My concern is with the boisterous, overly aggressive manner Americans are addressing the subject. It’s almost as if they think there is some kind of coordinated effort between different countries to “dump their undesirables” into America, which, well, if I find any evidence my country is doing that, I’ll stand corrected. Remember what I said: the “I do what I want” attitude is reciprocal. Throw out the rules and the other guy will throw them out too. It’s called “nihilism”, and I repeat, if you want to know what happens when your country is dominated by nihilistic “no more rules” thugs, refer to 19th century Russia. Dostoevsky has plenty to say on the matter, and if you want a different example, refer to the works of Chesterton.
@ Patrick, the thing is, Americans would do very well to learn how to sit down and talk like the rest of the adults do. “My country, right or wrong” is what got America into such a bad spot, and it’s one of the many reasons so many people hate it. You might think that isolation could help curb this feeling of superiority, but it tends to do the opposite. I say that the microcosm of the individual can reveal plenty about the macrocosm of the collective, and, well, overly isolated people don’t tend to do particularly well since they lack an “other” to compare themselves to (I recommend Byung-Chul Han’s “Ego of the Eros” and “The Transparency Society” for a very lucid analysis on this matter). And the reason why I bring this subject up is because we down south don’t need an overly boisterous, aggressive, arrogant America on our doorsteps. The Monroe Doctrine was not good for anyone, after all. Surely Trump could do without a few military bases down here, and maybe get the CIA to stop funding organized crime. 😉We have our own very nasty problems to deal with as is, and having a fallen empire acting like the tough guy should ideally not be one of them.
Also, I don’t share Ecosophians optimism regarding Trump. Nothing about him suggests he is a bridge between the old guard and some new, renewed order. He is surrounded by oligarchs, billionaires and technocrats who think you should go to college to flip burgers, and he is perfectly content with listening to their every whim. His foreign policy is hardly different from anyone before him except in methodology. Americans would do well to listen to what foreigners say about him, because a lot of us have not fallen for this spell he has cast and are seeing him for what he is. If Americans want things to improve, they should learn a thing or two from Putin and Xi, both of whom operate beyond the realm of abstractions and “vibes”. I could go on, but I hope you understand what I’m getting at here. As a non-American, it’s our best interest to have a peaceful, non confrontational neighbor. Sure, we could do business with the other big wigs, but the US is closest to us geographically and that’s not something we can ignore. And as for Americans, they’re not going to do as well as they think being isolated from most of the world.
My question is about the folk story “The Three Little Pigs.”
I’ve been seeing a lot of content about building codes recently. On one hand, severe fires in populated parts of California have highlighted the practices that will make buildings more survivable. On the other hand, I also saw a short video of a woman sharing her six foot by nine foot one-room house which was self-built from local materials and $2000 of other materials. (I’m not sure whether it would be a “fire trap” since you could never be more than 9 feet from the door.) As you might expect, there is tension between the “we need safer houses” folks and the “we need more affordable houses” folks, and I feel they both have their points.
So, is there some deep magical or historical meaning to the three piglets who build their houses out of straw, sticks, and bricks? Or is this story conveying information about the safety of various construction methods, and the wolf represents the building inspector?
>And the way it is is what ‘they’ know and what ‘we’ see are two different things. They ‘know’ that inflation was 8% for example because that’s what the statistical agencies said and so did the Fed etc. But what you saw was 25%.
When they were lying about inflation being 3% and it really being 10%, people went along with it, although I shook my head. I guess when they’re lying about it being 8% and it really being 25%, that’s insulting and people stop going along with it. So, somewhere between 7 and 17 are the numerical lies people will tolerate. I can see those psychopaths now asking “Can we run experiments to pin that number down? How can we maximize the lies we tell?”
Next up on Headshakers – demanding the people who caused the inflation to begin with, to do something about it. I know, I know, let’s take Kamala’s brilliant idea of price controls and do it! Who’s with me?
>Sadhguru said another bad eating/drinking habit that’s been globally normalized is eating and drinking while walking around or standing up.
The vibe I pick up on, that disturbs me, is when people are eating in their cars. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone who is even remotely healthy doing that, they all look (and feel) sick in one way or another. I remember some spanish exchange student commenting on how Muricans like to do everything in their cars, including eating and how strange she found that.
But that’s just me. I’d say the kinds of food you can eat while walking are probably not that good for you to begin with. But you don’t need to be a psychic to figure that out. You don’t really need to be a psychic to figure most things out in this realm, although it helps.
All these strictures on water drinking don’t take climate and location into account. In the high desert country out west, especially in the summer, everybody carries water with them, and especially into gyms and exercise classes as well a when walking; we also wear hats against the sun. Down here in Florida, nobody brings water even to exercise classes; and the instructor never gives the class a brief break between halves to drink their water. I was considered an oddball for doing so my first year here; we’re subtropical.
Senator Mike Lee from Utah has a rather interesting new idea: issuing letters of marque to US citizens for combating drug cartels. For context, a “letter of marque” is what was used as a legal cover for privateers during the British Empire. The legal analysis of Sen. Lee on Twitter is possibly dubious, but he claims these letters are legal in the US.
https://x.com/BasedMikeLee/status/1883953109443174581
Any juicy ideas of where this development could go, if it was acted on? Civil wars of militias along the US border maybe? Something even more interesting?
Patrick, I think a lot of people are seeing faith in progress sunsetting out in roughly the same way.
Panda, thanks for this.
Thomas, you’re missing a salient point. It’s not just the US government that’s been treating US citizens as disposable. It’s also the rest of the world. For decades now most of the planet has had one hand out, palm up, toward the United States demanding handouts, and the other hand extended to show the US the middle finger. That’s especially true of the illegal aliens — many of them have a robust sense of entitlement, though I don’t know if you’ve seen it from where you are — but it’s not just true of them; it’s hard to think of a part of the world that doesn’t treat Americans these days as some odd mix of cash cow and punching bag. What you’re seeing now isn’t the US demanding the right to rule the rest of the world; it’s the US demanding that the rest of the world take back their illegal aliens, do without the benefits of beggar-your-neighbor export policies enabled by misguided US free trade policies, go off and play with themselves or something, and leave us alone.
Isolationism is a longstanding US tradition. During the era of US global empire, it got stuffed into a closet by elite classes enamored of ruling the world; but the return of tariffs and trade barriers, the expulsion of illegal aliens, and the rise of a foreign policy focused on our own country’s benefit rather than one this or that global project are all part of a return to that tradition. Thus you’re incorrect to see Trump as a neoconservative; he’s an old-fashioned populist paleoconservative, of a kind we haven’t had in the US in many decades, and he’s in the process of extracting the US from foreign entanglements — not an easy process or a safe one, but necessary if this country’s going to survive at all. Yes, Trump’s using his trademarked rudeness and bluster to make that happen; that’s why so many Americans voted for him. If you want to level a building, you get a wrecking ball, not a powder puff.
Yvonne, bring it up next time we have five Wednesdays in a month, and we’ll vote on it!
Chola3, no politician can afford to think about what’s going to happen 50 years from now. They have to worry about what’s going to happen between today and the next election. That, I think, is what you’re missing.
Lathechuck, I’ve been watching that. One of the subtexts here is that American kleptocratic capitalism may have just passed its pull date; it came out in the financial press that there are dozens of executives in the AI field whose annual salaries are higher than the total budget the Chinese firm spent on their DeepSeek AI. It’s becoming increasingly hard to claim that such absurd profiteering is justified, or even sustainable — and the market also depends on the constant flow of that income into stocks, of course.
BeardTree, fascinating. Back in the 1970s that was a question anybody in the appropriate tech scene could answer — if they weren’t quoting Ecotopia they’d brandish the cover of the latest issue of Rain:
I really wonder how many of the people involved in the sort of group you contacted are just doing it as a pose…
Dennis, it really is a remarkable spectacle. Coyote’s laughing all the way to the bank, at their expense.
Siliconguy, nah, it was an utterly pertinent comment about economists!
David, exactly. Even at the time, people talked about how far the Crusades had gone off the rails.
Scotlyn, ha! Thanks for this.
KAN, interesting.
John, I don’t know if he ever got into traditional occult training, but he was a serious spiritualist and (as they called it in those days) psychical researcher, who published extensively on paranormal phenomena. He might have done some astral travel to Mars — mediums channeling intelligences from other planets were already the rage in his time, though of course they became even more popular later.
Inna, it’s a real possibility that Trump will be our Gorbachev. We’ll just have to see.
A. Karhukainen, that word “elite” has two very different meanings. There are people who are actually wiser and more virtuous than average, and then there are people who are merely rich and influential. Poeple in the latter class very often like to claim that they belong to the former class, especially when they don’t. As for Rocket Boy, he really is channeling our habit of serene entitled cluelessness…
Sylvia, that’s a fascinating question to which I don’t know the answer. Have you considered taking it as a theme for meditation?
Wastelander, it’s a horrible idea. Such letters are always abused — what starts as privateering very soon turns into outright piracy, and the war of all against all.
This bit sent me into a laughing coughing fit this morning, Trump said something about the Danes promising to add a couple of dogsleds to the Greenland defense force, and he was right.
“Trump was apparently referring to an announcement by Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen earlier this month. He said Copenhagen was planning to add two inspection vessels, two drones, and two dog sled patrols to its current force of 75 personnel, four ships, and a surveillance plane.”
The local respiratory plague caught up with me. It was and is merely annoying, Niagara Nose followed by a sore throat. The sore throat brought on a dry cough, no fever. The normal virus meets Siliconguy progression. The worst is past, now I just have to wait for my throat to calm down.
#Wastelander:
Do you think that a gargantuan business like the narcotics is not ruled from the interior of the United States ?
I recomend you to watch the movie “The God Father” were you’ll see that the great scale business of narcotics need the aid of polítics, judges and policial forces.
Don’t allow to be manipulated.
@ Thomas RP # 466
Yes, I dont see Brazilians who — um, overstay their Visas or what have you — wrapping themselves in the Brazilian flag and protesting while in the USA, however, they do flaunt our immigration laws and are quite used to thinking flaunting such laws and gaming the system is alright. One of my brothers lives in Niteroi, I have heard lots of stories of the constant low level corruption of trying to business in Brazil. SO maybe you feel Brazillian citizens are being unfairly grouped in withe the rest of them.
But, I just cannot imagine the scenes we have here taking place in Brazil, and I dont think your government would stand for it. Just the other day, in Dallas Texas, we had people including a very high proportion of foreign citizens, so foreign citizens, wrapping themselves up in realy large foreign flags, literally saying F__ the USA, F__ the President and Government of the USA, we are proud foreign nationals who demand to stay here in the USA, hating the USA and its laws all the while, and to prove how much we want to be here while totally disrespecting and hating you, we are going to also stop traffic, so forget about getting your child to the doctor, your mom with dementia back home, or anything else, WE the foreign nationals who hate you are more important. — ANd, for some reason, unfathomable to me, we did not arrest them all, bring out the water cannons. Well, I do know why, it is because some factions in the USA benefit by them being here and benefit by the chaos of that scene. But, you must see how disrespectful this is to USA citizens
Like anything else in life, you need to watch the company you keep and have situational awareness. A Brazilian here illegally is part of the group of illegal aliens, no matter what their individual actions as such has been. The point that was just made is that if you dont want to be sent back in an embarassing way, please go ahead and fly back coach, on a commercial flight on your own dime, return as a late returning tourist, with whatever story you want to tell about why you chose to go back home.
Wastelander @ 471, that is a horrible, awful, no good idea. Turn the Christian Right loose on anyone they consider deviant? Assorted weirdos? Unattractive women–some of their spokesidiots are on record saying beauty is part of a woman’s virtue, a claim they but naturally don’t make for men. Almost any participant in this forum would likely become a target of their Righteous Wrath, starting with our gracious host himself. Pagan archdruid? Off with his head! In the Cancer Ward, Solstinsytsin tells of a case in which a man had been denounced and sent to the gulag because the denouncer coveted his apartment. That could be you, wastelander. Maybe someone in the militia wants your garden space. Or somebody’s wife covets the antique china your family inherited from great-grandparents. You might say, but that could never happen, but the Christian Right is Trump’s shock troops, his Praetorian Guard, and he needs them. I don’t think he has yet realized what their support is going to cost.
I suggest that the Lee remarks are by way of being a bill presented to the president. We got you elected, now here is what we want. The financial oligarchs who did get Trump elected thrive on chaos and have no use for laws or national sovereignty.
Sylvia #467
Don’t know the answer to your question but ‘The 4th Little Pig’ made me smile:
https://www.smbc-comics.com/comics/1637602805-20211122.png
@Happy Panda
Yes that makes sense! I’ve changed these days from my planned concept of continuously drinking water and notce a positive difference.
This is valuable advice you are giving, thank you!
@Thomas R. P.: “It’s almost as if they think there is some kind of coordinated effort between different countries to “dump their undesirables” into America, which, well, if I find any evidence my country is doing that, I’ll stand corrected.”
No, I do not think there has been a conspiracy among countries to dump their undesirables in the U.S. However, there demonstrably IS a conspiracy (or at least collusion) WITHIN the U.S., to import them to (a) drive down wages, (b) create social divisions and (c) weaken the native population of the U.S.
This conspiracy/collusion is on the part of the oligarchs who (as George Carlin used to say) “are the real owners of this country!” Democrat, Republican, Libertarian – it makes no difference. They are all a Uniparty owned by the oligarchs
Oligarchs, whether in ancient Rome or in the U.S. today, have one thing in common. They always hate their own people! Indeed, as Klaus Schwab and Yuval Harari have publicly stated, they hate humanity as a whole. St. John Chrysostom said the same about the Roman oligarchs of his own day – “They are the enemies of all mankind!”
Is Trump a “dissident plutocrat” as was Julius Caesar before him? Only time will tell!
Thomas R P, I hope you will continue your participation here, because you bring up matters which both need and merit serious consideration and discussion
I am no fan of our current president and did not vote for him. That said, the disloyal, internationalist, multiculturalist opposition brought their loss on themselves.
The USA is a country which was built by working class people, craftsmen and peasants from Europe, and later, China and Mexico, as well as by the captives from Africa. We are not, never have been and likely never will be elegant or refined. Another thing we are not, pace our mittel European diaspora, is a part of Europe. The constitution was, among other things, a firm disavowal of the European monarchist and feudal past. The Monroe Doctrine was a warning to Europeans that high born younger sons would not be allowed to carve out personal estates in the New World. You may recall that the Hapsburgs attempted just that in Mexico.
I cannot agree with you about isolationism. Sometimes it can be a good thing, for individuals and nations alike, and sometimes not. There can be little doubt that the Nazi regime had to be taken out. OTOH, we might have come to an accommodation with the Japanese Empire if it had not attacked us. There is evidence that Churchill knew about the coming attack and chose not to inform Roosevelt. He did the same thing to Stalin, but Roosevelt didn’t have a Cambridge 5 set of moles keeping him informed.
One of the world’s greatest statesmen was, arguably, a Japanese warlord named Tokugawa Ieyasu. He imposed an isolationist policy on Japan which lasted about 250 years. Any outside, read Western imperialist, power which wanted dealings with Japan did so within Japanese laws and restrictions. When Japan did join the modern, industrialized world in the mid-19thC, she was able to do so largely on her own terms, and without ever having been subjected to foreign domination.
What the USA needs now is to rebuild. We have sufficient resources, even now, to support ourselves, if at a lower level of comfort than what we have enjoyed. The bulk of Trump’s support came from folks who frantically cling to the notion that their comforts, bling and fun, their gravy train, can persist, and Trump is the wizard who will make it happen. Did he not already win two elections which detractors, those eat your vegetables pessimist Patties, who don’t want to see a regular person have any fun, said he could not? Well, ha ha.
The price for American withdrawal from World Hegemon status will be no more easy immigration. I might not like the way Trump is going about things, but it had to happen. You go to another country and commit crimes; you take your chances. I did not like to see him cave on the Hb-1 visas, and I believe the very first step should have been a presidential order telling all 17 intelligence, you should excuse the expression, agencies that there will be no more resettling of their pets and proteges in the USA.
@Thomas R P
We Americans have been putting value into imaginary abstractions (universal human rights, democracy, diversity, fighting terror, etc.). I think it’s time we put value into the less abstract things we have valued all along to at least some extent (ourselves, family, friends, neighbors, countrymen) rather than project the image of brave patriotic citizens of a free democratic Ukraine fighting against Putin’s orc-armies armed with shovels (to
As someone who’s been a nihilist, it is a necessary phase to go through to replace a failed set of values with a different set. It is such an unpleasant state of mind to be in that I think it is inevitably temporary for the vast majority of people whose worldviews implode into nihilism.
I am not optimistic about Trump’s presidency, but JMG’s astrological forecast for Trump’s inauguration indicates that worst case scenarios probably won’t happen during Trump’s term.
@KAN
I’m a fan of Harry Potter, but I (now) know it isn’t a masterpiece. The appeal comes from being young enough to imagine yourself getting a letter delivered by owl to attend a boarding school at a magic castle in Scotland.
I know of a really long Harry Potter fanfic with a lot of Druidish elements, Prince of the Dark Kingdom. Harry’s parents do the rational thing when they learn about the prophecy, lie about Harry’s date of birth, and flee the country. Voldemort takes over. After Harry’s parents are murdered by some Muggle burgler, he is extradicted to Britain, and ends up in Hogwarts anyway. He is very powerful magically, so Voldemort takes a special interest in him, including blackmailing him into following his Pagan religion. And it turns out that unbeknownest to him, Harry is the reincarnation of Voldemort’s mentor (an Irish druid who was really powerful, but didn’t involve himself in the affairs of the Wizarding World. It also features Fenrir Greyback becoming a god of war after his death. The author abandoned it but it was close enough to the end that readers could predict what the ending would have been.
Re: Domestic “Letters of Marque” (#471):
That is essentially how the Bolsheviks got into power after the February Revolution. Kerensky’s rule was threatened, and he authorized distribution of arms to the Bolsheviks to prop him up. Well, we all know how that ended! Kerensky was driven out of Russia, and 6 years of civil war followed, before the Bolsheviks established their power.
The Bolsheviks were never terribly popular. Essentially, Lenin and Trotsky shot their way into power, via the Red Army and the Cheka.
Trump had best watch his step on this proposal!
Someone asked about california building codes.
My neighborhood, mostly, burned down in a wildfire 4 1/2 years ago, all my good friends, lots of acquaintances, so the whole ca building is something I am familiar with. You are correct in a sense that we now have requirements that have made it too expensive. The PMC strive towards a goal they see as perfection in requirements. It ends up being live in your car or have platinum grade required house. Affordabilty could be done with having to put up with not quite perfection.
2 of the most expensive things required in a rebuild after the fire will be the sprinkler system inside the house and the solar system required to be on the roof, ok, third thing, and the absolutely paranoid soils engineers that the homeowner is required to hire to spec out foundation. Sometimes you cant satisfy a soils engineer and you are just not allowed to rebuild on the land you own and lived on at all, other times, like across the street from me, where the old couple had their house burn down in a fire 4 years ago, and they are only putting in a modular home ( double wide), so it is 4 1/2 years later, they had approved plans finally, but structural engineer specd a foundation that soils engineer disagreed after it was trenched, so it was retrenched deeper, by hand as the machines were done. That foundation is 5 feet deep and 2 feet tall, so 7 feet of foundation for a very small modular home. They are not the only ones. Some people more savvy do push back, sometimes with success. The lot across from me is totally flat, good soil, no mountain behind to slip, under the soil is a fantastic granite base. Not anywhere near an earthquake fault.
About the sprinklers. The only point of the sprinklers is to give 10 minutes for the homeowner to wake up and leave. It will not put out a fire or keep one from spreading, this is known, and all fire department heads will tell you so, this is how I know. These sprinklers are a fantastic idea for high rise apartments, where you dont know the neighbor caught fire. But, being California, the PMC in Sacramento, said, hey, lets just mandate it for everyone. Only a few specially licensed contractors are allowed to install, the homeowner or a regular plumber is not allowed to do so. The water pressure to the house must be very high for them to work, so then the homeowners often has to buy a pressure pump to raise the water pressure. This is very expensive, all of it, and unless your homeowners insurance has the rider for building code upgrade, or enough money in that pot, how is it paid for, it wasnt there before.
Required solar electric is also very expensive. And is mandated, but not for modular homes, so this is one of the many ways that some people now have a very different type of home that they lost ! They had a larger, regular house before. The other part of this is what is called “title 24” which is some complex set of requirements for energy savings that must be met. It is so complex, that they cant tell you what you need. The house plans (except the modulars) must be run thru a computer program, and if the whole package doesnt pass, it is back to the architect to make changes and try again. It is a mix of insulation, window space, type of heating, types of stove, stove vents, wall systems….. Not that long ago we were just told, put in R whatever in the walls, R more in the roof, get double pane windows, or get double pane windows that have low e coating and argon filled. But that is not what we have now.
Then, we have fire requirements. All windows must be double pane (not new) but now with the outer pane being tempered glass. Up here you must have 10,000 gallons of stored water, and a fire hydrant in your yard. Your foundation must be higher off the ground, your eaves have to be covered, no rafter tails exposed, all vents into crawlspace and attic are these special screens that cost $50 each. Roofing is class A, which usually means an expansive underlayment under the asphalt shingles. Siding requirements, etc…
Then we of course have earthquake requirements, which is why we dont build with cement blocks and is a part of foundation requirements, otherwise it is just better bolting to foundation and between floors, so not arduous.
All of these are code upgrades, so you need that coverage, and likely that coverage wont be enough to cover it all.
Does it work ? Well, a friend of mine, across the street and over one, built their house only 15 years ago, Stucco exterior walls( cement plaster), a slate roof (stone) double pane windows ( but not tempered), foundation high enough from ground. Sprinklers inside the house. 10,000 gallons of water with a fire hydrant. Burned to the ground, just pieces of stucco and slate all over in the ashes. Fires are very hot. The houses will transfer heat to the interior and burn from the inside out. We own clothes, and furnishings after all. ANd no one showed up to fight the wildfire.
You cannot make a fire proof house. You can do some things to be more fire resistant from flying embers.
The “new” recomendations they put in brochures for our yards and send out would make our homes unliveable. Most of us dont want to live in a parking lot. or just a lawn and cement, which amounts to the same thing. It is hot, so no shace allowed, just cut down those trees and bushes we told you top plant a couple years ago for global warming and native plant restoration
@475 Atmospheric River
Wow. Are they intentionally seeking to be hated by the general populace, assuming the PMC will protect them, or are they fools who think Americans will be shamed into upending our ways just to accomadate them?
And I say this as a nonpatrotic American.
Data point from Florida: After freezing in my bedroom, with its plate-glass windows, during the Polar Vortex whenever I was not totally under the covers, I mentioned at the dunner table that when The Village’s new owners rebuilt Lake House C/D, they should weatherize it totally. One of my table-mates urged me to do so. Today, waiting for a shuttle bus, I asked a respected neighbor who I should address such a suggestion to, and she totally hung up on the term “weatherized.” I had to explain it to her, and she said “Why don’t you just turn the heat up?” Well, #1, it doesn’t help much. #2, it runs up the heating bills enormously. #3, it contributed to global warming…..
She sat and listened, totally puzzled still, as I suggested covering these plate glass windows with something insulating, and felt that to her, I was babbling nonsense in Martian. (Well, she’s a sort of aging-hippie-Boomer) but when I brought up doing so back home and needing to, the con(?)sensus we reached was (me), “Well, I’m an old desert rat….”and (her)..”This is Florida! We don’t need no steenking insultation!”
When I drew my 3 cards this morning, they were “children, snake, anchor,” and on hearing that, it came to me “THERE”S THE SNAKE!” Considering the managers we have, and the gods only know where the new owners will be coming from, but I can surely see my suggestion falling on our manager’s ears the same way in fell on my neighbor’s. i.e. “That’s all right for, say, Denver, but……” and certainly my oldest daughter, who came here from coastal California, wouldn’t dream of covering her windows at all, even the ones in her bathroom. I ran it by her ages ago, since her utility bills are sky-high.
Is having uncovered windows part of their religion? Is it virtue-signaling? Other than the usual “appearances first, practicality way behind.” “We’re Florida! Who are (sneer) YOU (derogatory mode)”…..explanations gratefully received.
BTW the coastal rental house had such windows on the sun porch, but the bedrooms were spared that sort of vanity. OTH, the layout – including the shallow steps between rooms,, cried out “1970s vintage!”
Sylvia re: the three little pigs: meditating on straw, sticks, and bricks
All three are created by the four elements, earth, air, water, fire (sun for the first two, fire for the third).
Straw is grown using all four elements (initially earth and water germinate the seed, then air and sun), then harvested and dried using air and sun.
Sticks are grown using all four elements (initially earth and water germinate the seed, then air and sun), then cut (or dropped naturally by the tree) and dried by air and sun.
Bricks are formed from earth (clay) and water, dried by air, then baked by fire.
So all three seem to have similar relationships to the elements in their genesis. But bricks have more intense exposure to fire.
Thomas R.P. wrote, “You may have hard of this fellow called Fyodor Dostoevsky. He was something of a novelist. Yes, quite the guy, he was. And he had a keen eye for what was happening in Russia at the time. He had a pair of novels that draw a perfect picture of mid 19th century Russian society, and the rise of nihilism and resentment: “Notes from the Underground” and “Demons”.”
Thanks for drawing attention to two works that are well worth the reader’s time.
Davis Kaiser on the War in Gaza. My take: “A predicament, not a problem.” a.k.s. “Irresistable force, meet immovable object.”
http://historyunfolding.blogspot.com/
What are positive and negative personality traits associated with the element of water, especially with regard to relationships?
“In the Cancer Ward, Solstinsytsin [sic] tells of a case in which a man had been denounced and sent to the gulag because the denouncer coveted his apartment.”
Dear Mary, the Soviets were not right wing Christians. When socialists want your stuff they come and take it. The ends justify the means, etc.
Socialism just replaces God with The State. Neither theocrat nor socialist will leave you alone.
Thomas R.P. #431 and others.
I haven’t seen any comments about this from Canadians, so I’ll chime in. We also have illegal immigrants here in Canada, but not to the extent that the US has. And to my knowledge, they haven’t caused any serious problems. Reading the comments from Americans, I can understand why they would be so angry and upset. However.
Many years ago, I was talking to an American from the Southwest and he was talking about the drought they were having. Then he said that Canada had lots of water and we should just send it down there (he didn’t say how). I told him that it was Canada’s water and he replied “Not if we want it.” If someone walked into your house and said “I like that picture you have on the wall so I’m taking it,” I don’t think you would be too happy. I think that’s called theft.
Most Americans I’ve met have been friendly but I’ve also met quite a few who were very arrogant with an attitude of being better than anyone else because they were American. Granted, other nationalities, including Canadians, also have people like that, but not to the extent that Americans have.
American economist Michael Hudson has a post on Global South website entitled “Trump’s Balance of Payments” in which he talks about the Auto Pact agreement between the US and Canada and how the Canadians fumed at getting the short end of the deal.
Trump is really stupid to suggest that Canada should be the 51st state because if it were then Kamala Harris would be president.
His internal policies are none of my business, but his bull in the china shop attitude in external affairs is something else. His bullying towards Denmark about taking over Greenland must have a lot of Europeans uneasy. I would be surprised if NATO exists by the end of his term.
JMG and Ecosophians,
I appreciate your responses to my replies. Regarding Orange Julius and the situation in America, well, all I can say is “we agree to disagree”. But as a good friend of mine says “disagreeing is part of the fun”. So, in a sense, your responses were enlightening and provided a different perspective on the subject which gave me plenty of things to reflect about. And after careful consideration, I believe it’s unwise of me to be so confrontational. You have your own way of doing things, and since we’re dipping our toes into the Age of Aquarius, I believe the best course of action from me and other non Americans is to just respect how you do things. There’s nothing to be confrontational about and it’s arrogant of me to assume I could change your ways through my words or make you see things differently, as if to take you out of your context (or, using the terminology of Heidegger, your “Dasein”, being-there).
The recent turn of events have left me perplexed and, ironically, stupefied. Not unlike Americans after the return of the King in Orange. In a sense, I’m really not all that different from you all, and at a time where we are knee deep in boatloads of resentment and nihilism, the best thing we can do is, well, listen. Listening and understanding the alterity of the other. John talked about “tamanous” in The King in Orange and I believe I should apply this principle here. You have our own souls and those souls must be respected. I suppose that this comment then is being written as an apology for my own boisterous way of approaching the subject. I stupefied myself and forgot the valuable skill of listening and understanding. Perhaps it’s time for me to reread “Agony of the Eros” myself!
Either way, I read and reread your responses and it served as good nudge towards the right direction, even if we don’t see eye to eye on a few subjects.
So, to summarize: apologies for being a bad listener and thanks for the eye opener.
Siliconguy, well, given that Denmark is about the size of Michigan’s upper peninsula, that may be all they can afford!
Patricia M, I wish I could say this surprises me…
Njura, the water personality type is sensitive, emotional, receptive, passive, easily stirred up and just as easily calmed down. Any of those can be positive or negative depending on the circumstances.
Siliconguy, granted. Whatever made you think I am a socialist? My point was that giving one group official license to prey on fellow citizens never ends well.
As for socialism, that is the God that Failed. Part of what ails the Democrats right now is that they can no longer, I suspect, escape the reality that their cherished Saints Karl and Sigmund were arrogant intellectuals who maybe got a few things right and a lot more things wrong.
I would suppose that Denmark beefing up defenses is meant as a signal to prevent Trump from trying to claim that the Greenlanders “are MAGA”, or something of the sort. He can still try say They love us, but I doubt anyone will believe him. This could set off WWIII if the Danes request support from Russia.
I wonder if this threat might provoke the Baltic nations to form a federal union. There is historic precedent in the two nations one crown union of Norway and Sweden under Bernadotte.
@ Patricia, I’m guessing that the people with open windows saying ‘just turn up the heat’ are related to those English lords that had giant empty lawns around their houses. “Look how rich we are, that we can afford to waste all this!”
Being careful with your energy use is for poor people.
It is worth noting at this point that it was precisely the fragmented, polycentric nature of Western Europe after the disintegration of the Western Roman Empire that generated the seeds of the modernity, the “Great Divergence” of Western Europe from the rest of the world in the 18th Century. Unlike the big land empires that occupied much of the rest of the world (most notably China under various dynasties), there was no monopoly on coercion to block innovation. Meanwhile, the constant rivalry between different states eventually created the conditions for the industrial revolution. A new book “Escape from Rome: The Failure of Empire and the Road to Prosperity” provides a provocative case for why the very qualities that made especially Northwestern Europe previously seem “barbaric” compared to the rest of the world would ultimately (at least for a few centuries) cause that region to take the lead:
https://reason.com/2020/02/24/good-riddance-to-the-roman-empire/
https://aeon.co/essays/how-the-fall-of-the-roman-empire-paved-the-road-to-modernity
@JMG/Commentariat…Happy Chinese New Year 🙂
I was curious what you think of this obituary by Columbia sociologist Musa Al-Gharbi about the anarcho-primitivist terrorist Ted Kaczynski (https://musaalgharbi.com/2023/06/16/one-lesson-ted-kaczynski/) and particularly these lines (links are in the article):
“For instance, the ease with which people are “canceled” today (across the political spectrum), and the heavy degree of self-censorship that many undertake to minimize risk of “cancellation,” are fundamentally a product of weak workplace protections. Institutional gatekeepers are allowed to wield too much arbitrary power and surveillance (extending even into our personal lives or internal states). And craven institutional leaders permit social-media mobs to dictate institutional behaviors and policies. This, even though they know that these mobs will soon rage against some other target next week, forgetting all about the current controversy.
In response, workers could collectively demand reform: greater privacy (and better protections) with respect to their off-work activities; more due-process protections; increased transparency for internal investigations and decision-making; an end to backroom arbitration requirements for wronged employees; sounder grievance procedures for intra-office disputes, larger severance packages in the event of sudden termination; fewer part-time and contingent roles; more benefits-eligible permanent full-time positions; and more freedom-of-expression and conscience protections at work (most places of employment literally have none—not even those enshrined in the First Amendment). These are, in short, the historic demands of labor progressivism, and for those alarmed or frustrated by “cancel culture,” measures like these could meaningfully reduce the prospects and costs of “cancellation” for workers across the board.
However, rather than focusing on these kinds of issues—instead of putting the onus on employers to change how they do business (as they are typically the ones who make the ultimate decision to “cancel” or not—people take out their anxiety and frustration against “SJWs” and “snowflakes” run amok. That is, the spectacle of the activists, their flamboyant and abrasive rhetoric and methods, their often unreasonable demands and expectations—these divert attention away from the actual power structures, relevant decision-makers, and institutional mechanisms at work in these cases. “
Thomas R. P. wrote, “Americans would do very well to learn how to sit down and talk like the rest of the adults do.”
Well then, aren’t we just so lucky to have you here to school us? I wonder if it has crossed your mind that you don’t have any particular facility in reading your audience? Perhaps that is the kind of blind spot that one can only hope to cultivate in full adulthood, and would thus be far beyond our poor American comprehension. Fortunately, that leaves us with something to aspire to, should we ever actually succeed in growing up. Until then, I suppose we will just have to go on ever so unsophisticatedly reading the room, before childishly resorting to our preferred babytalk.
Hello, I recently found this blog that I really enjoy reading because it allows me to learn and nourish myself to be a better person. Thank you JMG for sharing so much of your knowledge and experience. I don’t know how to speak English but with Google Translate I managed to read quite a bit and write this, so I apologize if something I write is not understood. On the other hand, I would like to ask you something that I don’t know if you already said in another post: is it possible that Lacan uses concepts from hermetic philosophy in his proposal on psychoanalysis? Thank you for reading me and I apologize if I am wrong to ask this type of question in this space.
Annette2 #492
“I would be surprised if NATO exists by the end of his term.”
The world would be probably a much better place if NATO was disbanded, most Americans would be relieved not get 95% of the costs, in both blood and treasure, and Russia could stop worrying about an aggressive enemy alliance on their doorstep. Yes NATO kept the peace for 70 years and neutered Germany, England and France but that doesn’t mean ending it would be a bad thing.
I say this as a veteran who loved his 3 years in Germany but who is also sick of protecting people who refuse to do so themselves.
Trump’s aggressive negotiation stance with Denmark is an acknowledgment of reality, its more important to us than them and we spend more money protecting it than they do, so we might as well own it. Leif Erickson’s claim is pretty dated at this point and we won’t sterilize the natives like the Danes apparently tried to do in the 70s. For Denmark it’s an expense, for us it would be an asset. Doubt Russia would get involved since this is the same situation they face in Ukraine and with NATO.
Here I go posting right at the end of the cycle again. It seems to take me a full week to collect my thoughts. I really ought to do more meditating on long slow walks around the neighborhood. Here is a quick report on my New Year’s divination, part of it from the first dreams and the rest from my second misogi (the first one, dumping large jugs of cold water over my head on Jan. 1 in the garden didn’t seem to do the magic for me, and one of our cats came crashing down on me when I ran out of water, and a good thing I’d done a harae on him too).
My first dream was a reiteration of my solstice misogi’s insight, but directly from Kotohira no Ookami (Kompira), who showed up in the form of a crocodile in a river (Kumbira from the Ganges, thought to be the origin of Kompira). He is also the god of international trade, and he said that would continue, at least in the seas around Japan.
That was followed by a cryptic sentence out of nowhere, that I jotted down. It seemed to relate to the left in general, worldwide, and be quite sarcastic. As the US left really took a pie in the kisser in California, I figure it turned out true already, and I won’t go dig it up to repeat it here. The left does elicit sympathy from me.
That was followed by a brief dream in which I was conversing with a plutocrat down in his opulent dark little lair. They are people like us. The only light was cast from a lamp with a leopard statue base. To our horror, the leopard came alive.
My misogi divination emphasized the words “…the future is the sacred spirit of Great Yang. Unparalleled powers and knowledge of Heaven, Earth, soil, metal and myriad wood land united…”
Bearing in mind that this is my translation of one of the Fuji Faith’s healing spells, it does bring our Orange Julius to mind with Heaven and Earth uniting to help him. The five elements of Oriental philosophy are earth, metal, wood, fire and water, so the emphasis is on the first three of those in this passage, and I think in the West they would all belong to the category of “earth.”————
On an entirely different subject, Russia’s leading scientist on non-ionizing radiation, Oleg Grigoriev, has told me repeatedly that his biggest concern is the use of radiofrequency weaponry. He gave an interview last summer regarding this, and I have translated it here: https://sinners4diseasecontrol.dreamwidth.org/ together with some of my own remarks on an article written by Naomi Wolf discussing the multitude of peculiarities of the LA fires, one of which is that the people were acting uncharacteristically apathetic. One class of radiofrequency weapons produces apathy and lethargy in targeted populations (see the link to the original article in Russian for images: https://aif.ru/politics/world/voennye-tayny-ekspert-vsu-mogli-ispolzovat-em-oruzhie-pri-atake-na-kursk ). I can’t say that this was what was going on in LA, but Grigorev wants people to be aware that these weapons exist and no attempt is being made to regulate them. The Soviet Union was developing them actively. That, he says, stopped after the collapse, but may have been carried on elsewhere.
I note that there was one hotel in a small Siberian city, where every time I went there (getting on to 25+ years ago), I became inexplicably sleepy, downright incapacitated. When I had to stay a few days there (for bureacratic reasons) I slept 20 hours a day. I am particularly susceptible to non-ionizing radiation influences, and it wouldn’t surprise me if someone had the clever idea of helping travellers relax.——-
A friend of mine managed to upload the full report on my observations of apparent effects of direct versus indirect 5G radiation on our vegetable fields and the surrounding area. And I’ve posted the link under my abstract here: https://sinners4diseasecontrol.dreamwidth.org/#entry-1414 , which is where I am accepting comments and posting updates.
Maybe it’s too late in the cycle to even get a post in, but I thought it was pretty amusing what Chinese president Xi did to answer Trump’s saber-rattling about tariffs: a 75% tariff (to replace the existing 10%) on American LNG! That means, effectively, that China will be buying the bulk of their LNG from Russia now, and giving the U.S. the finger, further widening the trade imbalance between the two countries.
@Plumifera,
JMG starts a new post every Wednesday and usually doesn’t respond to old posts once a new post is up. He does an Open Post here every month, so you could ask your question next month. He also does a post every Monday on Dreamwidth (https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/) called Magic Monday where you can ask about magic or occult things. Since you are asking about hermetic philosophy, he would probably accept that question on a Magic Monday post.
A few responses ago, you mentioned dryads as being the group souls of an ecology or a species. But the bog-standard description is that they are simply the beautiful young girls who are the sort of spirit of a given tree or whatever. Is that just a hang-up on a personification of dryads? You seemed to be getting at something a little more profound.
@David Ritz #498: Also relevant is one of my favorite books, Origins of the Medieval World by William Carroll Bark. It’s from the 50’s, so there is some dated scholarship in there (notably the Lefebvre des Noettes stuff about inefficient animal harnesses, which was since disproven; he also spends time on the Pirenne thesis, which was popular then), but other than that, it’s still a relevant, excellent read. It combines in-depth scholarship with literary style, and makes a convincing case that Roman collapse had a silver lining, and paved the way for a better society to grow out of its rubble.
@Tengu #499: Same to you!
@BobInOk #503: I predict that NATO will face collapse in the foreseeable future, either when Ukraine falls to Russia, or when NATO loses a larger conflict (Cold War II/WWIII) to BRICS. In the meantime, the best bet for the US is to shore up its regional influence, while dismantling its unsustainable world empire. Laying claim to Greenland as a territory would be an important step in pursuing that strategy.
Hi, JMG, what is your opinion of Daniel Quinn’s work? His website actually directed me towards you blog years ago, He has unique views on humanity’s history, population and cultural mythology. Here is a speech from 25 years ago:
https://www.ishmael.org/daniel-quinn/essays/our-religions-are-they-the-religions-of-humanity-itself/