The blog to end all blogs. Reviews and comments about all and everything. This blog is NOT affiliated with YouTube, Wikipedia, Microsoft Bing, Gemini, ChatGPT or any commercial vendor! Links don´t imply endorsement. Many posts and comments are ironic. The blogger is not responsible for comments made by others. The languages used are English and Swedish. Content warning: Essentially everything.
Great Tartaria and the Mud Flood is one of the silliest conspiracy theories on-line, at least in its current iteration. The whole thing looks like a conscious parody of Erich von Däniken. Maybe it *is* a next level LARP?
Däniken pointed to various ancient monuments *outside Europe* and wondered who could have built them. Aliens, maybe? The people who believe (or pretend to believe) in the Mud Flood point to modern Western architecture (sometimes as recent as the early or mid 20th century) and gasp in wonder. "Surely, only Giants could have built this?!" There is apparently a video on-line called "Tartarian Wales", which claims that the Cardiff Central Station must be the remnants of an unknown but very advanced civilization!
At the same time, there is *something* fascinating even about this utter insanity. It could be seen as a strange metaphor for the decline of modern civilization. The idea seems to be that we´re not smart enough to have built all the large buildings around us, and simply moved in when the original creators (the Giants) were wiped out in a mysterious cataclysm. Obviously, we have to deny this, claiming *we* built everything. Our entire civilization is really primitive and built on a gigantic lie - and we´re all in on it.
This is a *very* distorted picture of the true state of affairs, isn´t it? Indeed, in 200 years, maybe something like this will be un-ironic orthodoxy among the few remaining savages...
So what happened in the recent British (regional/local) elections was that Reform replaced the Tories, and the Greens replaced Labour. And therefore...what? Here´s a prediction: No change. Next question!
Some White dudes all but un-ironically worshipping an idol of Ganesha. Yes, it´s Skanda Vale again. I asked ChatGPT to translate the devotional song. It goes: "Victory to you, O elephant-faced son of Pārvatī and Śiva! You are the pure destroyer of obstacles, revered even by Skanda. At your feet, O Gaṇeśa, I take refuge."
I also asked why Ganesh is holding a psychedelic mushroom in one of his hands. The AI hotly denied it, claiming it´s a stylized modaka! (An Indian dumpling often offered to...you may have guessed it...Ganesha.) Apparently, Skanda Vale aren´t into the more psychotropic end of the Hippie alternative commune spectrum.
BUT THEY NEVER ASKED WHAT´S INSIDE THE MODAKA, HUH HUH.
A somewhat shambolic controversy back in 2007 involving the religious sect I mentioned earlier, Community of the Many Names of God and its Welsh ashram Skanda Vale. The ashram wanted to save one of its bulls, Shambo, from being slaughtered after the animal tested positive for TB. Note the ethno-politicking involved in the case! From Wikipedia, but seems to be fully sourced.
Some more content (partially overlapping) from Skanda Vale a.k.a. the Community of the Many Names of God. These guys seem more "far out" than the Hare Krishna! Note the syncretism. In two of the clips above, they do Hindu puja to an idol of Saint Francis. The main course is the raising of a "vel" somewhere in the Welsh countryside. A vel is a supernatural spear associated with the Hindu Tamil god Murugan (known as Skanda in pan-Hindu contexts).
So in case you´ve been looking for a combo of bhakti to the Tamil vel and veneration of Saint Francis (with some Kali-esque spice added - see previous blog post), I suppose I found the guys for you! Open to people of all races, as far as I can tell.
I admit that I never heard of this particular Hindu sect before. It´s called the Community of the Many Names of God and has ashrams in Wales and Switzerland. Most members seem to be White, but the head is (was?) a Sri Lankan Hindu Tamil calling himself Guru Sri Subramanium.
He founded the Community together with a British Christian reverend and a Buddhist. Its monks apparently take the vow of Saint Francis, but otherwise the group has a strong Hindu flair and "Hare Krishna vibes". They worship the Hindu Tamil god Murugan plus Kali, Shiva and Ganesha.
The video above shows a procession (somewhere in the Welsh countryside) featuring a murti of Kali. Note the elephant! Supposedly a gift from Sri Lankan president J R Jayewardene. Hmmm...
I admit that this isn´t exactly my cup of chai, but there you go.
Some truly vexatious stuff in these ones. OK, maybe not, but I think it´s fairly obvious what actually happened here.
The British military fucked up some secret military drill in Wales (the year was 2016) and therefore had to classify the matter even further. Apparently, there are still some Freedom of Information requests pending. Meanwhile, well-meaning eyewitnesses and various Schwärmers have turned the event into another installment in the apparently never ending UFO saga.
In other words: the conspiracy is the conspiracy. What perhaps makes this case unusual is that *something* out of the ordinary obviously happened in the area around Pentyrch. But was it really the RAF and the USAF attacking perfectly peaceful aliens from another solar system?
Somehow, I doubt it. But then, you already knew that was my position. So there´s that.
Never heard of this case before. Some kind of ersatz Unabomber? Did the greener portion of the anarchist subculture just got a new cause célèbre? Or no?
We all stand on the same rock, we all look in the same direction, we all see the same things. The difference between us is that some are better at singing songs about what they see. Or rather don´t see...
“The Druid
Path: A Modern Tradition of Nature Spirituality” is a recent book by American
author John Michael Greer (JMG). There are omnivorous readers, but I´m not sure
what to call JMG. Omnivorous writer? “The Druid Path” is a relatively short
book, introducing JMG´s personal take on the Druid Revival, a rather
heterogenous spiritual movement that goes back to the 18th and 19th
centuries, when a number of eccentric Britons decided to “revive” the traditions
of the ancient Celtic Druids and rather inevitably spawned an entirely new tradition
instead. Throughout the book, JMG depicts the Druid Revival as highly
individualist, non-dogmatic and non-political. It´s not even a “religion” sensu
stricto, but rather a craft (“Druidry” rather than “Druidism”) which can be
combined with many different religions. Thus, many early Druid revivalists were
Christians, one of the earliest even being an Anglican vicar!
Every Druid
is called upon to follow his or her (yes, there are female revival Druids too)
Awen or unique individual destiny. If there are any dogmas at all on the Druid path,
it´s the firm conviction that everything in the universe is a manifestation of
the One Life, and that nature should be at the center of spirituality. This
pantheist idea can be combined with both polytheism and monotheism at higher elevations.
JMG´s book emphasizes practice rather than theory, and is mostly geared towards
solitary practitioners of Druidry, who for one reason or another don´t want to
join a local “grove”, let alone a national organization.
One important
Druid Revival practice is the mere observation of ordinary nature, including
the animals and plants that surrounds us even if we live in suburban or urban
settings. Procuring a field guide to the local fauna or flora thus turns out to
be a basic Druid activity. Discursive meditation (which is different from Eastern
meditation) and various rituals are also important, and so is divination. One purpose
of the practice is to connect with the two main energy currents within the One
Life, the solar current from above and the telluric current from the bowels of
the earth. The divination is based on the otherwise unknown Coelbren alphabet, but
another system uses the more famous Ogham. The book ends with a chapter on
self-initiation.
There´s relatively
little on the almost-annual Druid Revival gatherings at Stonehenge in “The
Druid Path”, perhaps ironically, since this decidedly non-solitary ritual is
what constantly propels Druidry into the public limelight. I heard of modern
Druidism already as a teenager, both because I read a book on occult topics featuring
– guess what – a photo of bearded guys with funny banners at Stonehenge, and because
some high school buddies had visited the place and reported on the constant
three-way clashes between Druids, hippies and the British police which supposedly
took place there during the 1980´s. It´s probably still kind of rowdy there
even today, with the hippies being replaced by techno-rave fans! But OK, if
solitary practice is your goal, it might indeed be better to conduct your
rituals and observations in some less crowded setting closer to your domicile…
Another thing
*not* mentioned in JMG´s book is Wicca, since – ahem – meso-pagan Druidry isn´t,
you know, Wiccan. Don´t worry, though: the same publisher who kindly gave us “The
Druid Path” has also published assorted books on Wicca, dutifully promoted at
the back cover of JMG´s volume! Funny detail: apparently, the Wiccan founder
Gerald Gardner once shared a ritual sword with a prominent Druid revivalist,
the two men even making a schedule on when each of them would use it. Or is
that just a Druid urban legend? Or perhaps a *Wiccan* urban legend? Hmmm…
Modern
Druidry is very niche, so it´s difficult to know who might be interested in a
dead-serious introduction to it, but if you are, this could be a good little
gateway to this particular form of nature spirituality.
John Michael Greer on reincarnation. Freely based on "Barddas", a Druid Revival scripture written (sort of) by Iolo Morganwg. Note the similarity to Theosophy.
Sanction Russia, sell out the economy to China. Which is an ally of...well...Russia. Welcome to Tory-governed Britain! Time to dust off that old demand to nationalize the economy under *British* workers´ control?
From the article: "Chinese firms have also been keen on buying up large swaths of the British economy, reportedly spending at least £135 billionto buy ownership stakes in British companies, property, and infrastructure, such as Thames Water, Heathrow airport, and UK Power Networks. TheCommunist Party-linkedJingye Group has alsotaken over ownership of British Steel, which produces one third of the United Kingdom’s domestic steel."
And now, the UK has essentially handed over its semiconductor production to China, as well. A line of business in which China competes with Taiwan!
Can´t help sharing this little gemstone from John Michael Greer´s blog. I never heard of this particular sect before, probably a sub-set (or sub-sect?) of British Israelism or Christian Identity. (There used to be a group in Sweden which claimed that the Swedish working class specifically was the lost tribe of Ephraim, but that´s another show!)
>>>
Copper, good heavens — now there’s a blast from the past. My wife’s maternal grandfather was a Welsh Israelite of the old school, who insisted that the Welsh were one of the lost tribes of Israel — I forget which one — and made a living during the Depression preaching at Welsh-language churches in upstate New York. I didn’t know the movement was still around. Raymond Capt is a name I know from a different context: he wrote a book purporting to prove that Stonehenge was built by ancient Freemasons, which most Masons find very funny. As far as I know, there’s zero basis to any of it — a lot of European cultures have fringe groups claiming “We’re the Chosen People, and the Jews aren’t!” I’ve always put that down to a kind of spiritual status envy.
Now, this one is *very* hard to believe! It´s not even clear whether this is folklore sensu stricto, or some kind of fakelore.
According to local legend (or local pub tall tales), the area around Penllyn Castle in Glamorgan, Wales, UK was inhabited by - wait for it - peacock-plumed flying serpents as late as the 19th century, said plumed serpents having a notorious penchant for munching and feasting on the chicken of the local fakelorists.
Eh, come again?!
That these "snakes" were really misidentified pheasants, peacocks or parrots is hardly likely (for starters, not even Welsh peacocks eat chicken nuggets). Nor is the idea of a misidentified exotic cryptid bird very likely, since the local game-hunters and voracious Victorian collectors would surely have come across it, shot it and placed it in a local cabinet of curiosities, where Richard Owen would no doubt have spotted it, too.
That leaves fairies (but fairies don´t leave reptile skin) or a local Cymric bard with story-telling abilities far surpassing those of good ol´ Iolo Morganwg!
The Celtic languages are Indo-European, but to me, they sound more weird than Finnish or Hungarian (Uralic languages). Here´s weather forecasts in Welsh, Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic. Well, I think!
In 2017, Chinese MMA fighter Xu Xiaodong defeated "Tai Chi master" Wei Lei, which I believed took about ten seconds. The clip went viral, and even I saw it shortly afterwards. Full disclosure: I´m not *that* interested in martial arts! The Chinese government supports "traditional" martial arts and wasn´t amused. They have harassed Xu, for instance by lowering his social credit rating (in effect, putting him on a kind of national black list). In response, the MMA fighter has become something of a dissident, for instance by supporting the Hong Kong protests. Xu has also fought and defeated other martial arts "masters", strongly suggesting that Chinese martial arts (whatever else they might be) aren´t a serious system for actually *fighting* anyone...
Which brings me to the article linked below, recommend to me by a regular commentator on this blog. Steve Morris seems to have been a "Xu before Xu". In his autobiography (which is *very* unpleasant reading unless you´re a born street fighter), Morris reveals how he defeated essentially every Chinese, Japanese and Okinawan "master" already during the 1960´s and 1970´s. Karate, kung fu, Fujian boxing...nothing could withstand the "no holds barred" of the "Morris method". After watching some YouTube clips of this man in his prime, I´m ready to believe him - he looks like a cross between an animal and a barbarian. Morris is openly contemptuous of "spiritual" approaches to martial arts, and also to martial arts that are too rule-based and de facto coreographed. To him, it´s all about raw fighting. The masochistic attitude of being beaten up by a great East Asian "master" and feeling grateful (something Morris claims is common among Western practitioners), or the constant quasi-military marching drills (popular in Japan) are also alien to his mentality. Morris eventually left the karate world, since almost no leaders within that community want to change their ways, and probably not their trainees either. Personally, I have no particular problem with martial arts that are a form of spiritual training, performance or competition-only, but if you claim that you can take down an MMA fighter and falls short (or trips over), well, aint that just tough!
An interesting peak into a subculture I usually don´t comment on this blog.
"Stonehenge: The Lost Circle Revealed" is an exclusive BBC documentary, first aired on 12 February this year. It follows the research team of archeologist Mike Parker Pearson as it tries to uncover the mysteries of Stonehenge, the famous Stone Age and Bronze Age monument on Salisbury Plain in southern England.
Parker Pearson´s investigations reveal that an old theory about Stonehenge is correct: the earliest monument at the site was a wide circle of standing bluestones, taken from a quarry in Preseli Mountains in Wales, almost 140 miles west of Salisbury. Indeed, "Stonehenge 1" was actually a "second hand monument", since the original stone circle stood at Waun Mawn, only a stone´s throw (pun intended) from the Welsh quarry. After 400 years, the original builders migrated to Salisbury Plains and quite literally took the stone monument with them, erecting it again at the new location! At both locations, the bluestone circle was aligned with the midsummer solstice sunrise.
Parker Pearson speculates that Stonehenge might have been a monument built to honor the ancestors. Indeed, remains of 63 individuals have been found buried at the site. The bluestones are "forever", so is the sun to which the monument is aligned, and so are the ancestors. He further speculates that the ancient Woodhenge at Durrington Walls (long since gone) symbolizes life, while Stonehenge was associated with death.
One thing that fascinated me when watching the documentary were the fairly advanced techniques used to date ancient sites, including measuring the amount of sun light "trapped" in quartz crystals (thermoluminescence dating)! The good ol´ carbon-14 method was also used by Parker Pearson´s team, of course. By analyzing the type of strontium deposited in human bones, archeologists can pinpoint where the humans originally lived. This is the method used to determine that the original inhabitants around Stonehenge were really migrants from Wales.
The documentary points out that there is a curious medieval legend about the wizard Merlin and a group of warriors stealing a magic stone circle in "Ireland" and bringing it to Salisbury Plains. Personally, I find it hard to believe that this means anything at all - folklore is notoriously unreliable, and king Arthur is bogus anyway. The truth about Stonehenge´s lost circle is sufficiently fascinating in its own right...
Recommended viewing if available in your jurisdiction.
"The Frontiers of Peace" is a BBC-Wales documentary from 1986 about Jainism, a minority religion in India with certain similarities to both Buddhism and Hinduism. After watching it, I have to say that I´m tempted to insult the religious feelings of these particular life-bodies. Jainism must be the most silly religion in the world! Or is it just my bad karma talking?
Jainism was founded by the sage Mahavira about 600 BCE. Mahavira is often considered to be a contemporary of Buddha. The religion preaches "ahimsa" (strict non-violence) and extreme asceticism. The monks and nuns showed in the documentary belong to the Svetambara sect, considered to be the "moderate" wing of the religion. Jain ascetics must always walk on foot, barefooted. They sleep on the ground, frequently fast, and only eat simple vegetarian food offerings. Some wear masks in order not to accidentally kill insects by inhaling them. All ascetics sweep the ground before them for the same reason - they don´t want to stomp on any insects by accident. Monks and nuns are only allowed to drink water which have been cooked and distilled, once again to remove any insects. If a monk or non have become too old to keep the Jain rituals and rules, they are allowed to "meditate until death", that is, starve themselves to death.
You would think a religion like this couldn´t possibly be compatible with worldly success. You would be wrong. The Jain community is among the richest in India, many Jains being succesful businessmen with a Western education! These are of course not monks, but lay people. "The Frontiers of Peace" interviews a super-rich Jain industrialist, who admits quite freely that there is a contradiction between traditional Jain precepts and his capitalist activity, based on "accumulation". He doesn´t have any good solution, but plans to eventually retire and live a simple life...when he becomes really old, and has bestowed his considerable property onto his children and some charities. The documentary shows the industrialist walking around in his textile plant together with an advisor, who turns out to be a Jain monk...
This in itself is weird, but more is to come. The Jains operate a number of animal rescues, where cows and other beasts destined for the slaughter house are allowed to live out their lives, unhindered. The specimens in question are clearly in very bad shape, some are actually dying. However, ahimsa means a strict prohibition even against mercy killings of clearly suffering animals. The "animal rescue" turns out to be a place of wanton cruelty to animals. Apparently, the Jains formally protested when Mahatma Gandhi had a suffering calf killed at his ashram in Ahmedabad. The documentary even features a Jain whose father was part of the delegation the Jains sent to Gandhi to argue against him!
"The Frontiers of Peace" features interviews with several girls, aged around 20, who have decided to become Jain nuns. One of them comes from a very rich family and has even spent some time in the United States, while the other is probably an orphan who sees no prospect for herself in the secular world. The intiation ritual is shown. Even more perplexing is the interview with a Jain who left the monastic order after hearing about the launch of Sputnik. This made him realize that the Earth is round, while Jain scriptures explicitly teach that its flat. Ironically, the man now works as an astrologer and palmist! I suppose Sputnik didn´t disprove them...
The contradictions and sheer hypocrisy of this religion seem legion. Monks are obsessed about not killing bedbugs and mosquitoes, while letting cows die horrible deaths. Meanwhile, laymen are succesful capitalists. (Do they even let their workers unionize, I wonder?) No, I can´t say I became more understanding towards Jainism after watching this.
Final point. The documentary is only about 40 minutes long. For some reason, this particular YouTube channel has uploaded it twice in the same video clip.
"Englands historia" is a two-volume work by Swedish professor Dick Harrison. Yes, it´s a book in Swedish about English, British and Imperial history! The first volume is subtitled "Från forntiden till 1600". The work is intended as a popularized introduction, but it feels surprisingly comprehensive nevertheless. Harrison is an extremely good writer, and has an uncanny ability to present both an avalanche of facts and some kind of analyses in a reader-friendly manner.
The first volume of "Englands historia" starts already 720,000 years ago, before Homo sapiens even existed, with Homo heidelbergensis or "Heidelberg Man", the first human species to roam the territory much later known as England (at the time, the British Isles were still connected to the Eurasian landmass through a land bridge known as Doggerland). The book must mention every Celtic tribe (and all their mints) in pre-Roman England, and every petty Anglo-Saxon fiefdom in post-Roman England. At least it doesn´t mention every Viking raid! The "game of thrones" of all the Richards, Henrys and Edwards is described with remarkable scholarly restraint, as are the frequent wife-swaps of one Henry VIII. Somewhat ironically, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I only get a few chapters each, perhaps because Harrison already devoted another book exclusively to the former.
Apart from the rulers and their never-ending conflicts, the book also tries to paint a picture of English medieval society in general, including life on the village level. An underlying theme of the presentation is the inherent unstability of the medieval body-politic, where so much is dependent on the personal abilities of a few select individuals. It´s also interesting to note that despite this, society seems to have been relatively well organized, with a kind of "middle class" standing between the nobility and the peasantry, and an incipient parliamentarism. The only thing I somehow lacked was a background chapter on the European Reformation in general, since Henry VIII´s break with Rome otherwise seem more idiosyncratic than it really was.
If you´re into alternative history (English version), Harrison´s book might disappoint you. No Atlantis, king Arhur was a myth, Jesus never walked England´s green and pleasant land, and William Shakespeare really did wrote the plays attributed to him. Only in the case of Robin Hood and some of his merry companions does Harrison allow that there might have been *some* historical figures behind the stories. "Ivanhoe" isn´t a good source for historical knowledge either, it seems!
Final point. This really is a history of England specifically, with Wales playing a supporting role. Thus, don´t expect too much information on Scotland or Ireland. Personally, I think Harrison really should write a sequel on Scotland, which historically had closer ties with Scandinavia than Merry Old England, but that´s me (there might be a few strange alternative history claims to crack there, too).
It will be interesting to see how the second volume (from 1600 until today) turns out. I´m already reading it as we speak, and it´s quite promising so far...
