Category Archives: Religion

Recognizing the difference

For some reason, this has been bothering me again.  But at where I currently work, people have been tossing pentagram around where they should be using pentacle.  They have very opposite semiotic qualities.Inverted_pentacle

The above image is a pentacle and a pentagram.  In occult sorcery this is traditionally linked with evil; it’s linked with Satanism, and negative emotions.



This is a form of pentacle (more similar to the Star of David and Israel), but it stated to be a a positive image, encouraging positive energy.  In traditional European societies, it has been linked to feminine fertility imagery and ritual.

Both images are from wikipedia and are used here under CreativeCommons.


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Celebration of the Day: In which all darkness will pass unto the light…

In the only time you will ever see me write this name anywhere, Varg Vikernes announced his departure from metal in an arrogant, long winded stream of consciousness.  Ultimately, he has been a millstone around the neck of metal fans, especially black metal fans, since his murder of Euronymous.  In an argument that borders on surreal, Vikernes describes his contempt for the nihilistic black metal approach whilst using a nihilistic argument, describing his endeavors as Nietzsche would the endeavors of the artist. How the spirit of his great and powerful music creates in him this Rashkolnikov type character of genetic, intellectual, and spiritual purity that transcended and led a new path.  In the end, Varg is nothing more than a coward and a murderer.  A person that uses terrible font to hedge his pathetic arguments that divide further and further down a path of idiocy and lunacy.  So, thank you, Varg, for leaving.  It is the best and only thing you should have ever done.

To Islander, just quit listening.  Quit trying.  He is nothing. His music is poison; in the words of Akerfeldt from Ghost Reveries: “His mouth is a vortex, sucking you into its pandemonium…” You cannot separate artist from art.  The hand that created is informed by the mind that was constructed; it’s obvious that his indoctrination began at a young age, coupled with an aimless childhood in which most likely stern punishment at home by parents along with very little allowed societal discipline created this sociopathic fool.  Let him rot, and let the music with it.  Like Wagner, ignore the insect.

And, Varg, if you read this, I hope you enjoy my music selection today.


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Weekly Writing Review: In which we revisited the past…

Toltec MoundsThe photograph above is from the Plum Bayou Trail at the Toltec Mounds Arkansas State Park, a site listed on the NRHP.  The mound in the foreground is Mound A (center left) and the mound on the right is Mound B.  I forsook my weekend writing this week to take Paimona and our spawn to the site and enjoy its surroundings.  Situated now in the middle of farming country in Arkansas, the Toltec Mound site is not in fact Toltec at all.  Though surmounting evidence is demonstrating that perhaps the tribes of Mexico had interaction with Texas bands, they never got anywhere close here.

The site itself sits upon an oxbow lake of the Arkansas River, directly in its valley, and is near the Plum Bayou stream.  It is a site of great importance to the people that lived in the area circa 600 through 1100 CE.  A place of ceremony, at one point in time it had 18 mounds (all but the largest two are deflated and marked as such)  There was an embankment that circled the site that had two broken areas to map the Equinox and Solstices.  Most likely, the only residents of the city were the ruling elite of the area and the specific feasts and festivals would bring other those that lived in other communities to the mound site.

In the most generalized of terms, this site is late Woodland to early Mississippian periods of history in the US. Using Little Rock as a bearing, Arkansas is a state that can be divided into quarters, drawing a straight line essentially going west to east and north to south.  During the Mississippian period, we know the NW was inhabited by possible mound building cultures from OK and TX; however, the Osage mostly inhabited this difficult area during Summer months.  The NE was inhabited by the Quapaw (from whom we derive the name Arkansas as mentioned by French Missionaries whom called these people the Kappa Akansea).  There are a large number of mound sites in the NE corridor of the state, most specifically Casqui (Parkin, AR) and Nodena (outside Wilson, AR).  Both these cities were mentioned in the Gentleman of el Vey’s account regarding De Soto’s trek through the Southeast and is where his journey began to fall apart. The SW corridor of the state was home to the Caddo, and the SE corridor was home to the Plaquemine/Tunica peoples and was were De Soto would meet his demise and be consumed by the oxbow lake of the Mississippi now known as Lake Chicot.

What makes Toltec so interesting is that the site was abandoned essentially 200 or so years before the other large mound complexes in AR were established.  We do not know who they were or whom they became after leaving the area.  Most likely (my opinion), the site’s importance began to wane during a period of harsh environmental concern like other later mound complexes, causing the importance of this ceremonial center to fall in comparison to another, growing mound site.  Due to its location in Arkansas and the general geography of the later people, it is hard to identify as to which tribe or in what areas the Plum Bayou culture integrated or developed.  The site sits between North Little Rock, AR and a small group of farming towns outside the city known as Scott, Keo, and England.  Down the road in Scott is the Arkansas Plantation Museum for those interested in the historical period.

As a writer and a developer of a world, these experiences are interesting because some of the most interesting and important decisions and locations are sites like these.  This is literally the keystone in a cultural geography.  If you are ever in AR and you need something to do, attend this museum.  The staff there is genuinely helpful and kind.  Further, the prices for a guided tour and not expensive.  And even though it’s touristy as all hell, by SOMETHING or ANYTHING for that matter.  Those funds help keep this park going and it’s historical significance is worth even a few scant dollars of your time and interest.



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Nocturnal Rumination: Henry Rollins & Bigthink

Here’s some more perspective, this time from Henry Rollins.  Very interesting ideas and very interesting to hear, especially in discussing how American Life Works and Decision Making.


Posted by on March 14, 2013 in Accountability, Geek, Inspiration, Philosophy, Religion


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Nocturnal Rumination: In keeping with yesterday’s thoughts…

Here’s some more videos; enjoy:

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Posted by on March 13, 2013 in Accountability, Geek, Nature, Philosophy, Religion


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Nocturnal Ruminations: Darwinism and Humans.

Again, io9’s article brings me back to this point, hence the theme for this day.  It concludes aptly: “Ultimately, “survival of the fittest” is necessary, but not always sufficient, for the survival of the species” (Gonzalez, article, 3/5/13).  The link to the article is embedded in the citation there, and I recommend its reading highly.

It is important to note Darwin never used the phrase survival of the fittest.  Rather, it was coined five years after the publication and presentation of Darwin’s On the Origins of the Species by English social philosopher, Herbert Spencer.  Spencer uses it to craft what is became known as Social Darwinism and, whose bipolar political and ethical ideology aside, essentially established through his body of political works the impetus for modern Conservative thought, especially in the US.

The simple fact is that human evolution did not select for Survival of the Fittest; we naturally selected for traits that brought culture to the forefront of our people.  Compound this with the fact that, regardless of Comte’s irascibly progressive positivism, moving forward in time does not and cannot equate with progressing as culture, we find that the truth regarding human biodiversity and mating selection is not so easy to understand or clear.

Currently, human persistence appears to be more a function of sheer numbers rather than of anything else.  Religions state that people should bear children, and children are brought into this world. The World Health Organization knows that one of the greatest threats to any country is overpopulation and gives out color TVs and satellite service to promote reduced copulation frequency, regardless of the selection for or the persistence of negative genetic and cultural traits.  Cultural DNA can be just as a birth defect in some places as Biological DNA (unfortunately) and just as deadly.





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Inspiration of the Day: Darwin and the Origin of the Species



Blame io9.  I was looking through their posts and came across their discussion on Survival of the Fittest.  Therefore, it brought to mind a certain Anglican Cleric from England who lived in the 1800s.  Instead of going longwinded, I’m leaving you with a lecture and an article, both either delivered or written by Stephen J Gould.  Darwinian Fundamentalism examines Darwin’s connection with the theory of natural selection, and Challenges to Neo-Darwinism  offers a different set of eyes on the topic.  At any rate, enjoy both.

