pieto:mkarmstr:

Marshall McLuhan, The Medium is the Massage (Track 1), Columbia Records (late 1960s)

uncertaintimes:

“John Bigg, the Dinton Hermit, baptized 22nd of April, 1629, buried 4th of April, 1696. He lived [..] in a cave, had been a man of tolerable wealth, was looked upon as a pretty good scholar, and of no contemptible parts. Upon the restoration he grew melancholy, betook himself to a recluse life, and lived by charity, but never asked for any thing but leather, which he would immediately nail to his clothes. He kept 3 bottles that hung to his girdle, viz. for strong and small beer, and milk; his shoes are still preserved; they are very large, and made up of about a thousand patches of leather.”

BibliOdyssey: Remarkable Persons

Asch Conformity Experiment

aka Group Think vs. YOU.

This 4min video shows how easy it is to conform, even against your own perceptions and experiences.

You experience this mental bug in: Politics, Society, Religion, Corporations, Peer Groups, etc…you know, the real Great Beast…

Think, Think, THINK.

borderlandsciences:kookscience:

Part One: On the Technology and the Ethics of Wishing

William S. Burroughs on the technology and the ethics of wishing. The discussion includes rules for wishing, the dogma of science, L. Ron Hubbard, The Big Lie, and sympathetic magic. The class also includes a question and answer session covering subjects such as memory, Henry Miller, dreams in writing, and defining the soul.

Part Two: On the Technology and the Ethics of Wishing

[Part Two] contains additional commentary by Anne Waldman and Allen Ginsberg. Included is a question and answer session that covers the space shuttle Challenger explosion, lucid dreaming, yoga, feminine energy, DNA, the Dalai Lama, and music. Waldman also discusses the ego, rituals, science and why questions, death, birth, mortality, and the bodhisattva.

Today’s lessons are courtesy of Aleph9 Waveform Research Journal and the Naropa Poetics Audio Archives.

Image: William S. Burroughs as illustrated by Shaky Kane

Japanese buddhist monk by Arashiyama

The Inaugural Issue of the Journal of Consciousness Exploration and Research is available for free download. Haven’t had time to grok this, but looks like some pretty interesting work.

From the TOC:

Editorial

Let All Truth Seekers Be the Vessels to Carry Consciousness Research to New Heights
Huping Hu, Maoxin Wu 01-04

Articles
Cognitum Hypothesis & Cognitum Consciousness: How Time and Space Conception of Idealistic Philosophy Is Supported by Contemporary Physics
Dainis Zeps 05-15

Space-time Geometry Translated into the Hegelian and Intuitionist Systems
Stephen P. Smith 16-36

Consciousness, Time, and Prespacetime as Consciousness Finds It to Be
Dick Richardson 37-40

Is There an I3? A Search Focusing Question for Consciousness Exploration and Research
Joseph Polanik 41-45

Addressing the Hard Problem
Alan Oliver 46-49

The Principle of Existence: Toward a Science of Consciousness
Huping Hu, Maoxin Wu 50-119

theworldpulse:

Happy Birthday, Lord Ganesha!
OM GAM GANAPATAYE NAMAHA!
OM GAM GANAPATAYE NAMAHA!
OM GAM GANAPATAYE NAMAHA!

• Every living being is an engine geared to the wheelwork of the universe. Though seemingly affected only by its immediate surrounding, the sphere of external influence extends to infinite distance. There is no constellation or nebula, no sun or planet, in all the depths of limitless space, no passing wanderer of the starry heavens, that does not exercise some control over its destiny not in the vague and delusive sense of astrology, but in the rigid and positive meaning of physical science.
• More than this can be said. There is no thing endowed with life from man, who is enslaving the elements, to the humblest creature in all this world that does not sway it in turn. Whenever action is born from force, though it be infinitesimal, the cosmic balance is upset and universal motion result.

Magic and everyday life. Andalusia, 16th-18th century

• Many studies have been made of magic and sorcery. However, following an exhaustive process of compiling and researching the documents of the Tribunal of the Spanish Inquisition, this study by the doctor in History from the University of Malaga, Rafael Martín Soto, is the first one to focus on the more everyday aspects of magic, bringing to life the persons who formed part of the process: the sorcerors, the clients, the witnesses and the victims. “In Spain we have highly valuable information in the registers of the Tribunals of the Inquisition, through the prosecutor’s allegations presented in each case. There is information about those involved and even regarding the districts where these sorcerors lived. These tribunals investigated matters which were not dealt with or documented in any other tribunal in Europe”, explains Martín Soto.
• This more everyday focus is what distinguishes this book published in Spanish by the Andalusian Studies Centre and the Renacimiento publishing house, ‘Magic and Everyday Life. Andalusia, 16^th-18^th Century’: eleven chapters the result of intense compilation and research in the archives and cases of the Tribunal of the Inquisition in Spain by Rafael Martín Soto.
• This essay also describes the interrelationship between the Church and magic, its benefits and its totally disproportionate prejudices, for magic was a common practice which took place on a day to day basis, with no element of obscurantism.
• Although the author assures that the results and the practices in this study could in most cases be extrapolated to other regions of Spain and Europe, Martín Soto describes the Andalusia of the time as a “benchmark for magical practices” where disciples came to learn. This essay is a vindication of the originality and singularity of Andalusian magic, deriving from the presence of Muslims in the region who, among other things, had schools of talisman magic, leaving an important legacy in this field in Andalusia. In fact, many figures such as Leonor Rodríguez (one of the famous Camachas sisters) came during this period to study magic in Cordoba, Seville and above all Granada.
• The author of the essay clarifies the difference between witches and sorcerors. “Witches were those who abandoned religion to make a pact with the devil and they were burned at the stake. However, sorcerors considered their work as a trade and did not deny religion, even going to mass every day. They received sentences of exile or whippings which in the majority of cases enhanced their fame and prestige.
• In Andalusia the majority belonged to this latter group. However, “in this period magic knew no distinctions of class or education, being an instrument recurred to by noblemen and the educated as well as lower class, illiterate folk”. Martín Soto describes in the essay various cases in high circles.
• Some were merely scams, such as that which the Count-Duke of Olivares suffered when he was tricked as to the supposed existence of a treasure. Others the author describes as “blood-curdling”. One such case was the nobleman of Granada, Andrés Segura, who sought longevity. “He had a group of sorcerors who worked for him and who had him eat gruel made from dead men’s testicles to conserve his virility and blood of unchristened children obtained while the children suffered”.
• However, the typical client of magic was a woman with relationship woes or who sought to protect herself from her husband, eliminate rivals or conquer the heart of a man, in a period when the solutions were often cruel as there was very little value placed on human life. Magic was also called upon to speak to the dead, make money, find work or see into the future. “Magic was always the last resort in all periods, even today” concludes Martín Soto.

Here then, is my list of the busiest folks we know in the worlds of offbeat science publishing, UFOlogy, cryptozoology and the occult — even comics. Ghost-hunting? That is sooo last decade. But keep these peeps on your radar in 2010. They make for an eclectic mix, alright, but I think the list somehow works:

1. Marc Abrahams. Few can match the wit, charm and energy of this singular Cambridge, Mass. personality. Abrahams is the publisher of the uproarious Annals of Improbable Research, and organizer of the annual Ig Nobel Prizes awards ceremony, which honors  “research that makes people laugh and then think.” He also writes a weekly column about wacky science (think bras that double as gas masks, and astrology charts for bacteria), for the UK Guardian.

2. Tim Binnall. Did you know that one of the planet’s fastest-growing podcasters to the “Coast-to-Coast AM” crowd is based right here, in the Hub? The young genius behind the whole thing, Tim Binnall, is relaunching his website, Binnall of America, with another season of podcast interviews with big-name UFOlogists and conspiracy researchers, from Texas to Sweden.

Binnall also organizes a successful paranormal confab in the Hub.

3. Loren Coleman. This legend in the world of cryptozoology (2010 marks his 50th year in the business) will be surprising us again with new insights, and new guests and events at his Portland, Maine-based International Museum of Cryptozoology.

A regular contributor to Coast to Coast AM, Boing Boing, and The Anomalist, Coleman is also the keeper of the world’s most popular cryptozoology blog, Cryptomundo.

Coleman this year will be speaking at Bigfoot and “big cats” conferences — both at home and across the pond, in Glasgow, Scotland. This spring, he will also be lending his expertise to the ongoing search for the Loch Ness Monster.

In addition to his ongoing consulting work for History’s “MonsterQuest,” and Animal Planet’s “Lost Tapes,” Coleman will also be working on (we kid you not) five new books.

4. Stanton Friedman. I met Stanton Friedman at a UFO conference in Washington, D.C. a few years ago, and I’ve been trying to keep up his research ever since. But I only learned (after listening to Mr. Binnall’s interviews with this UFO luminary) that Friedman resides in the Northeast. Friedman jokes in his BoA interviews that he is one of the few surviving members of UFOlogy’s “old guard.” But I expect he’ll have a lot more to say at his conferences appearances this year.

5. Greg Kaminsky. If you like your occult podcasts served-up hot, and packaged with vintage Black Sabbath tracks, Beverly, Mass.-based Greg Kaminsky is your guy. Kaminsky is the host of the fantastic website and podcast, “Occult of Personality,” which — like BOA — is poised for big changes (including a subscriber section, with extended interviews) and breakout success in 2010. Kaminsky has landed interviews with leading occult scholars on both sides of the Atlantic since making his quiet start, just a couple of years ago. To taste some of that OoP magic I am talking about, check out this fascinating interview with Penguin’s occult books editor, Mitch Horowitz.

6. John Rozum. Scooby-Doo. The X-Files comics. The supernaturally-talented writer may be in the business of inventing things that go bump in the night, be he is also said to be living quietly on Cape Cod. One of Rozum’s latest creations, The Hangman, is fighting human trafficking in DC Comics’ just-released The Web #4.

7. Joe Moore. Commended to this list by OoP’s Kaminsky, Moore is a New Hampshire-based podcaster, a breathwork facilitator, and onetime Evolver spore group leader. (Click the links if you are as mystified by these terms as I was.) Not sure if magic is for you? Try the “Mr. Spock” ritual that Moore discusses in his latest podcast with chaos magic expert Andrieh Vitimus. (Skip to the 17-minute mark, if you can’t wait.) Next: Moore and Kaminsky in 2010 are collaborating on a documentary film.

8. Joseph Citro is sick of ghosts. Yeah, that’s right. Ghost-busting, the bane of Binnall and other esotericists — driven half-mad by hacks seeking quick paranormal fame — is tired. Citro made his break from the past last fall, with one of his latest titles, The Vermont Monster Guide, a roundup of the land, air and sea creatures haunting the North.

9. The guys behind NE FOR (the New England UFO Research Organization). When Tim Binnall hints at the political infighting within the New England UFO community, he might be referring in part to the guys who last year formed this New England MUFON splinter group. But more UFO researchers might mean more eyes on the sky, and more thorough documentation of sightings.

10. Mr. Crowley. Just be sure you pronounce the first syllable of his name correctly, like the bird, while in Salem, Mass. (Not the way Ozzy Osbourne does in his classic song about the Beast.)

And yeah, I know the guy’s dead. But when the Heretic placed its call for nominees last weekend, a bunch of folks, from Salem and beyond, tapped their peers in magical orders that derive their inspiration from Crowley. Crowley-inspired authors and booksellers, too, all got a good talking-up.