A L E T H E I A

Lied Vom Kindsein

2007-06-20T23:48:00.000+02:00

Als das Kind Kind war,
ging es mit hängenden Armen,
wollte der Bach sei ein Fluß,
der Fluß sei ein Strom,
und diese Pfütze das Meer.

Als das Kind Kind war,
wußte es nicht, daß es Kind war,
alles war ihm beseelt,
und alle Seelen waren eins.

Als das Kind Kind war,
hatte es von nichts eine Meinung,
hatte keine Gewohnheit,
saß oft im Schneidersitz,
lief aus dem Stand,
hatte einen Wirbel im Haar
und machte kein Gesicht beim fotografieren.

Als das Kind Kind war,
war es die Zeit der folgenden Fragen:
Warum bin ich ich und warum nicht du?
Warum bin ich hier und warum nicht dort?
Wann begann die Zeit und wo endet der Raum?
Ist das Leben unter der Sonne nicht bloß ein Traum?
Ist was ich sehe und höre und rieche
nicht bloß der Schein einer Welt vor der Welt?
Gibt es tatsächlich das Böse und Leute,
die wirklich die Bösen sind?
Wie kann es sein, daß ich, der ich bin,
bevor ich wurde, nicht war,
und daß einmal ich, der ich bin,
nicht mehr der ich bin, sein werde?

Als das Kind Kind war,
würgte es am Spinat, an den Erbsen, am Milchreis,
und am gedünsteten Blumenkohl.
und ißt jetzt das alles und nicht nur zur Not.

Als das Kind Kind war,
erwachte es einmal in einem fremden Bett
und jetzt immer wieder,
erschienen ihm viele Menschen schön
und jetzt nur noch im Glücksfall,
stellte es sich klar ein Paradies vor
und kann es jetzt höchstens ahnen,
konnte es sich Nichts nicht denken
und schaudert heute davor.

Als das Kind Kind war,
spielte es mit Begeisterung
und jetzt, so ganz bei der Sache wie damals, nur noch,
wenn diese Sache seine Arbeit ist.

Als das Kind Kind war,
genügten ihm als Nahrung Apfel, Brot,
und so ist es immer noch.

Als das Kind Kind war,
fielen ihm die Beeren wie nur Beeren in die Hand
und jetzt immer noch,
machten ihm die frischen Walnüsse eine rauhe Zunge
und jetzt immer noch,
hatte es auf jedem Berg
die Sehnsucht nach dem immer höheren Berg,
und in jeden Stadt
die Sehnsucht nach der noch größeren Stadt,
und das ist immer noch so,
griff im Wipfel eines Baums nach dem Kirschen in einemHochgefühl
wie auch heute noch,
eine Scheu vor jedem Fremden
und hat sie immer noch,
wartete es auf den ersten Schnee,
und wartet so immer noch.

Als das Kind Kind war,
warf es einen Stock als Lanze gegen den Baum,
und sie zittert da heute noch.

- Peter Handke

Gone? # 1

2007-06-15T02:16:00.000+02:00

Photo (c) Tapio Kotkavuori 2007 CE

Gone? # 1 according to Linda Granholm's vision was a magical Working par excellence. As all great art, this separated its audience from the everyday life and gave some fresh view on things. This was multi-dimensional, serious stuff, yet also fun, wonderfully intimate and interactive experience between the performers and the audience. My most sincere thanks to great performers and to Linda for this experience. Aristotle would have said that we, the audience, got our katharsis. No doubt. Fear, apples, laugh, serious reflection on profound themes... and so much more in our subjective universes. I feel honored to have been part of this with the music of my Terra Hyperborea. I count to 93 and back here.

Humpty Dumpty's Death available as a postcard

2007-06-11T21:06:00.000+02:00

Humpty Dumpty's Death that surfaced for the first time via the book Saatanan Mustat Nahkasiivet and later via Vox Paganorum cover last year is now available as a postcard via Voimasana's Cafepress page. Other drawings from the same book are most likely ending up into postcards later too.

Humppa macht frei

2007-06-06T04:46:00.000+02:00

Wenn du einen Bass-Spieler für Deine kommenden deutschen Touren benötigst, trete bitte mit mir in Verbindung. Ich würde mich wirklich glücklich schätzen, dieses Humppa mit Dir zu spielen. Ich bin wirklich stolz, zu de Humppa-Königen zu gehören!

Quote for the day

2007-05-25T00:26:00.000+02:00

The "past" orders the spiritual experience, very simply because memory is a major place in which the sacred takes root. Any spiritual consciousness is the consciousness of a foundation that is linked to the origin without for all that being antagonistic to history. History is open to the most diverse influences. Consciousness of the origin puts them in perspective by stimulating the faculty of memory. Recourse to memory is now running into direct confrontation with a dominant ideology that belongs only in the instantaneous (the perpetual present) and in the operative. It constitutes a vital counterweight to the omnipotence of process aimed at dominating the real that operate only the ledger of immediacy and efficacy.

- Alain de Benoist

The Left Hand Path available via Cafepress

2007-05-24T10:38:00.000+02:00

The Left Hand Path is available also via Cafepress now. The book can be ordered also from Voimasana's main page, Chaos International (U.K.), Athanaton, Burning Books, Bukra, Some Place Else, Suomalainen Kirjakauppa, Akateeminen Kirjakauppa, Adlibris, Bookplus, and Booky. Sammakko carries the book as well as other Voimasana titles in their shelves in Turku, but don't have them on their mailorder catalogue.

Visit to Bukra

2007-05-22T11:13:00.000+02:00

I will be a guest at Bukra on 29th of June.

Hidden curriculum in 7th graders books of religious study

2007-05-21T09:01:00.000+02:00

"I always thought education was learning to think for yourself", Keating said. Nolan laughed. "At these boys' ages? Not on your life! Tradition, John! Discipline". He patted Keating on the shoulder patronizingly. "Prepare them for college, and the rest will take care of itself."

- N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead poets society

My little study on a hidden curriculum in 7th graders books of religious study in Finland can be found from here. The text is in Finnish and at the end of the page.

Quote for the day

2007-05-19T09:14:00.000+02:00

It is only by beginning from the truth of Being that the essence of the sacred lets itself be thought. It is only by beginning from the essence of the sacred that the essence of divinity is to be thought. And it is only in the light of the essence of divinity that whatever the word 'God' names can be thought.

- Martin Heidegger

Terra Hyperborea in Gone? # 1

2007-05-17T12:46:00.000+02:00

Terra Hyperborea will be part of Linda Granlund's performance-installation Gone? # 1 on Thursday 14th of June in Galleria Titanik, Turku. The CD will be on sale at the occasion. More information in Finnish below.

GONE? #1

GONE? on esityksellinen installaatio. Äänimaailman, tilan ja liikkuvan kehon vuoropuhelu olemmassaolon kokemuksesta, katoamisen hetkistä. GONE? on tyhjä tila minussa, kaikkialla ja ei missään. GONE? on tila, joka toistaa itseään ja kiertää kehää. GONE? on tila johon astun. Teos on luuppimainen, kolmen tunnin toisto. Yleisö voi liikkua vapaasti tilassa. Saapua, poistua ja palata klo:19-22 välillä. Kesto 3h. Tervetuloa!

Ohjaus ja konsepti: Linda Granlund
Esiintyjät: Saara Anttonen, Anna Nuutinen ja Riina Kalmi
Musiikki: Tapio Kotkavuori / Terra Hyperborea / Gemina Stella 2005

Cantata Sangui on Aletheia

2007-05-16T16:54:00.000+02:00

The band's commentary to their classic No longer in Eyes of Aletheia is here and the song can be heard here.

Kataja on the Left Hand Path

2007-05-14T09:08:00.000+02:00

Ensio Kataja's review of the Left Hand Path can be found from here.

Ordering info for the Left Hand Path

2007-05-06T22:39:00.000+02:00

You can find info on how to order the The Left Hand Path from here.

The Left Hand Path is available

2007-05-03T23:49:00.000+02:00

The Left Hand Path is available from my publisher Voimasana now. At this point interested parties are suggested to contact my publisher via paula.merensuo@voimasana.fi and ask about price, postages, etc. There will be more detailed and extended details and possibilities (regarding distributors, etc.) later. I will keep the readers of my blog informed of all of that as things evolve.

Happy Walpurgisnacht

2007-04-30T19:37:00.000+02:00

Heroes, III

2007-04-23T19:01:00.000+02:00

On "practical magic" and bullshit

2007-04-22T15:26:00.000+02:00

Art by Aruxet

I talked with Dr. Kennet Granholm about the coming Åbo Akademi congress on Western esoterism some time ago. One theme that I picked up during that talk was the emphasis of “practical magic” in Western esoterism today. I have always found that emphasis both amusing and interesting.

The talk of “practical magic” and related titles of books tell something of our times. I guess magic as such seems probably a rather foggy way to work for desired ends in one’s life for many. More than that, also the very ends of magic seem often rather foggy for many. Classical grimoires probably offer par excellence examples of this kind of “impractical magic”. So, apparently some see that in order to keep magic appealing, updated, and seriously enough considered in today’s world that emphasizes effectiveness more than ever, magic needs to be made clearly more “Earth-bound” and linked with realistic elements of one’s everyday life. Not too bad as such. I certainly think that lots of classical Western “magic” consists of megatons of bullshit. But the emphasis of “practical magic” still smells odd to me. It smells like bullshit as well.

The magic that I present in my soon available book The Left Hand Path is certainly practical, rather well feet on the ground, but I would feel quite amused about simplistically twisting the name of the book into something like “Practical Left Hand Path”. The magic practised on the left hand path is by its very nature practical. But it should be noted that this practicality of the magic I write about is part of a (transcendental) left hand path Initiation, a life-long process of Self-actualization, which also has plenty of “impractical” dimensions in it. Trying to Come into Being as a more sovereign and conscious Being means that an Initiate has in the central focus of one’s magic one’s subjective universe. This could be seen impractical. Results of magic in this dimension of one’s universe can’t directly be measured, although they certainly can be evaluated and experienced by the Initiate herself. Maybe paradoxically, this “impractical” dimension is to a considerably degree processed through “practical” dimensions of one’s life, as the reader of my book will find out. If the magic of an Initiate works, she will gain knowledge, power, and understanding in both subjective and objective universes in individually meaningful ways.

Magic, at its best, is not only practical, but essentially also challenging, enriching, enlightening, inspiring, transforming, and fun. This means that magic includes also a good deal of “impractical” elements. It could even be said that for an Initiate the practise of magic is simply necessary in her pursuits. To emphasize magic as “practical” without other essential adjectives related to the nature of the subject is in my eyes simply bullshitting. To quote professor Harry Frankfurt:

It is impossible for someone to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth. Producing bullshit requires no such conviction. A person who lies is thereby responding to the truth, and he is to that extent respectful of it. When an honest man speaks, he says only what he believes to be true; and for the liar, it is correspondingly indispensable that he considers his statements to be false. For the bullshitter, however, all these bets are off: he is neither on the side of the true nor on the side of the false. His eye is not on the facts at all, as the eyes of the honest man and of the liar are, except insofar as they may be pertinent to his interest in getting away with what he says. He does not care whether the things he says describe reality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his purpose. (…)

Bullshit is unavoidable whenever circumstances require someone to talk without knowing what he is talking about. Thus the production of bullshit is stimulated whenever a person's obligations or opportunities to speak about some topic are more excessive than his knowledge of the facts that are relevant to that topic. This discrepancy is common in public life, where people are frequently impelled -- whether by their own propensities or by the demands of others -- to speak extensively about matters of which they are to some degree ignorant.

Smart readers noted that I wrote this as a puzzle with certain pieces missing. You are free to offer the missing pieces in comments.

The Left Hand Path sent to print

2007-04-15T21:43:00.000+02:00

I met my publisher today. Final corrections to the Left Hand Path were made, some sample slices of Aletheia - In search of Self-Remembering added to the end of the book, and the whole thing was then packed and put to post to get printed. If all goes as planned, the book will be out already during this month. You can ask about price, ordering, etc. from Voimasana.

On bullshit

2007-04-14T15:04:00.000+02:00

According to Harry Frankfurt, professor emeritus of philosophy at Princeton university, "bullshit" is not just a noun but also a verb because "bullshit" is not so much just an end product, but essentially a process. Frankfurt's insightful essay On Bullshit came out the first time in 1986 CE, two years later in his essay collection The Importance of What We Care About: Philosophical Essays, and it is currently available also as a small book. Those of you who share with me a profound interest to aletheia (Greek for truth) will most likely find Frankfurt's essay interesting as a good mirror of what aletheia is not about. On Bullshit can be found also from the net, for example from here.

On the English version of the Left Hand Path

2007-04-08T19:24:00.000+02:00

The English version of my first book is going to be different in certain respects from the original Finnish edition. First, my response to Harri Heino, past representative of Evangelic Lutheran Church of Finland is not going to be included into my English translation book. Second, I have removed my note that man has landed on the Moon. Based on my studies, I am not anymore sure if a man has ever landed on the Moon.

Happy Easter

2007-04-02T00:10:00.000+02:00

Animal's moral value in Peter Singer's preference utilitarianism

2007-04-01T17:15:00.000+02:00

My little study on animal's moral value in Peter Singer's preference utilitarianism can be found from here. The text is in Finnish and at the end of the page.

Heroes, II

2007-03-31T01:28:00.000+02:00

Photo by Cláudia Costa

Giger's boots

2007-03-27T22:57:00.000+02:00

Harakka island of Helsinki contains a relatively little known gem of art. H.R. Giger's Sabotage sculpture has been available for the general public since 2003 CE there. It is the first outdoor sculpture from Giger outside Switzerland. More on the sculpture and the occasion of its unveiling can be found from here.

Quote for the day

2007-03-22T00:31:00.000+01:00

"Earth-ling. N".

"One who inhabits the Earth".

"Since we all inhabit the Earth, all of us are considered earthlings. There is no sexism, or racism in the term earthling, it encompasses each and every one of us. Warm or cold blooded, mammal, vertebrate or invertebreate, bird, reptile, amphibian, fish, and human alike. Humans therefore, being not the only species on the planet, share this world with millions of other living creatures, as we all evolve here together".

"However it is the human earthling who tends to dominate the world, often time treating the other fellow eathlings and living beings as mere objects. This is what is meant by speciecism. By analogy with raciscm and sexism, the term "speciesm" is a prejudice, or attitude of bias in favor of the interests of members of one's owns species and against those members of those of other species. If a being suffers there can be no moral justification for refusing to take that suffering into consideration. No matter what the nature of the being, the principle of equality requires, that one's suffering can be counted equally with the like suffering of any other being".

"Racism violates the principle of equality by giving greater weight to the interest of members of their own race, when there is a clash between their interests and interests of those of another race. Sexism violates the principle of equality of by favoring the interests of their own sex. Similarly speciecist, allow the interests of their own species to override the greater interests of members of other species" (...)".

"As often as Herman had witnessed the slaughter of animal and fish, he always had the same thought; in their behaviour towards other creatures, all men were nazis. The smugness which with man could do with other species as he pleased, exemplify the most extreme racist theories, the principle that might is right".

- From the movie Earthlings.

Virta and Radio Robin Hood

2007-03-13T17:02:00.000+01:00

My interview Essentia - Tapio Kotkavuoren haastattelu (by Matti Rautaniemi and Aarre Lehto) for the splendid Virta-magazine became available today. The whole issue of the magazine can be downloaded for free from here (as a .pdf-document, in Finnish only).

Radio Robin Hood aired their interview of me (and of Kalle Merjamaa, representative of my publisher Voimasana) also today. Both interviews can be heard from here. Music on the background of my interview is from my CD Terra Hyperborea.

The Left Hand Path coming out soon

2007-03-10T22:30:00.000+01:00

I met my publisher today, gave her the ready English manuscript of The Left Hand Path (translation of the original Finnish Vasemman Käden Polku), and made covers to the book. The tome will be available from Voimasana most likely during early May.

Interviews

2007-03-09T23:07:00.000+01:00

Scapegoat (2005 CE) by Pekka Jylhä.

I gave two interviews today. The first was for Dr. Kennet Granholm who interviewed me on vegetarianism, animal rights, and the Arkte Element of the Temple of Set. Dr. Granholm is going to use the interview as material to his coming article for Journal for the Study of Radicalism. Also use of stuffed animals in Pekka Jylhä’s exhibition at the art museum of Väinö Aaltonen and use of human bodies in Gunther von Hagen’s Body Worlds exhibition were extensively talked about during the interview. The way how human bodies in an art exhibition raise criticism but animal bodies does not is a clear example of speciecism. This was clearly agreed between us. What are your thoughts on the subject?

The second interview of the day was made with Antti Klimoff from Radio Robin Hood. The topic was generally about the left hand path, the Temple of Set, and my books. Also a representative of Voimasana has been interviewed for the same program which will be in the air next Tuesday, 13th of March.

Religions in Finland project

2007-03-07T13:46:00.000+01:00

I met researcher Jussi Sohlberg regarding Religions in Finland-project over a cup of coffee in Turku few days ago. We talked mostly about the Temple of Set, its history, philosophy and magic, but also Rune-Gild, various other pagan groups, Aleister Crowley, O.T.O., and many other subjects became considered from several interesting angles. I particularly enjoyed our discussion about Western esoterisms general lines of development since the beginning of the 20th century and about what truly can be considered radical within those lines nowadays (readers of the blog might want to take a look at my On Aletheia in postmodern world and Ensio Kataja's On the Satanic Bible as some angles regarding the topic). What you would consider to be radical esoterism in today's postmodern world and why?

I've got a good impression of the Religions in Finland-project and how it seems to be conducted. If you are a Finn and interested about the subject, keep your eyes on the project and its website. As something thematically related, Voimasana's Minun uskontoni - minun polkuni-project is also worth noting and also taking part into.

On Finnish translation of the Satanic Bible

2007-02-25T19:47:00.000+01:00

Some of you have asked me to say few words about my views on the Finnish translation of Anton LaVey's The Satanic Bible. Well, I think I have said pretty much all I have wanted to say about the book in my introduction to it. I further shed some light on the topic during the last Pakanaverkko (Pagan Net) meeting in Turku. In addition to my introduction I suggest readers of this blog to read my friend Ensio Kataja's insightful thoughts on the subject.

Earthlings

2007-02-11T21:31:00.000+01:00

Earthlings documentary is one of the best films I have seen lately. It touches well upon speciecism from several angles. The movie's official website is here and you can see the movie for free from Google Video.

Einstein's antigravity

2007-01-22T20:03:00.000+01:00

The essay of the day is here. For more on related topics see here.

Schrödinger's cat

2007-01-18T11:25:00.000+01:00

Soon after publishing my short note about Robert Anton Wilson's death something interesting happened.

I decided to take Wilson's Schrödinger's cat trilogy out of my bookshelf the next evening and to just browse through it a bit before going to sleep. I found the book for 1€ from one Christian second hand store some months ago. It was an odd treasure in the middle of junk. I jokingly thought that maybe the next time I pick it up something odd happens again. It was just like some cosmic quantum joke to find Schöringer's cat from the middle of old shoes, clothes, and bad novels from the past. I finished my green tea and thought that maybe it would be a good time to read the book. I would most likely find it as inspiring as all other of Wilson's books that I've read. I left the book next to my keyboard and went to bed.

The next morning I made a cup of coffee and started to check my emails, Schödinger's cat still next to the keyboard. The first of the emails was from a friend who wrote that he had seen Schrödinger's cat by Wilson in a local bookstore during the previous day and that he thought about buying it. There was another odd synchronicity in the email too, which made me feel what in gurdjieffian terms could called a "shock between si and do on the ray of creation".

Hmm. What is this Schödinger's cat all about? See Wikipedia for a good summary. I was right when I months ago jokingly thought that something odd would happen the next time I would pick up the book. Somehow in some alternative universe it was as if there was not a cat in the box anymore, but Wilson himself.

In memory of Robert Anton Wilson

2007-01-14T17:18:00.000+01:00

January 18th, 1932 CE - January 11th, 2007 CE

Merry Christmas

2006-12-24T01:47:00.000+01:00

Ganzir link on Aletheia

2006-12-23T22:17:00.000+01:00

The Quest to Remember.

Lecture for the day

2006-12-22T21:46:00.000+01:00

Ward Churchill: On Perpetual War, State Sponsered Terrorism, and the Limits of Academic Dissent (2005 CE).

Immortality

2006-12-20T11:54:00.000+01:00

The secret to immortality is living a life worth remembering.
- Bruce Lee

Pakanakalenteri 2007

2006-12-16T14:31:00.000+01:00

Photo by Petri Laakso

Pakanaverkko (Pagan Net) has made their calendar for the next year available. You can order it from here. On the cover of the calendar you can find a picture of Karhunmalja drinking (For more on Karhunmalja, see my first book).

Movie for the day, II

2006-12-13T02:02:00.000+01:00

Painful Deceptions.

Movie for the day

2006-12-12T00:44:00.000+01:00

Oil, Smoke & Mirrors.

Happy Birthday, Finland

2006-12-06T22:56:00.000+01:00

Quote for the day

2006-11-24T19:48:00.000+01:00

The Greek word for truth, aletheia, incorporates the word for "forgetting"; a-letheia might be translated as "unforgetting" or "remembering". This etymology is particularly significant in Plato's epistemology, which maintains that true knowledge can be achieved only through anamnesis, the soul's recollection of the Forms it has glimpsed during its circuit through heaven in metempsychosis. For Plato, knowledge of mere phenomena cannot attain the truth, as only the ideal Forms are truly real.

- from CriticalLink

Ian Read interview, pt. II

2006-11-22T16:58:00.000+01:00

This time the subject with the rune master of the Rune-Gild is about Runes & Divination. You can download the interview from here.

Jagshemash!

2006-11-19T11:55:00.000+01:00

Seldom a trickster charachter so good as Borat surfaces in the general public nowadays. Usually such characters stay totally underground or local or national (Finns could think of Velipuolikuu here). I think that Borat is the best thing in the history of mainstream western comedy right after Monty Python and South Park. Borat is not only hilariously antinomian for most of the public, but he is also challengingly multi-dimensional for viewers with an eye on sociology, psychology, politics, and lesser black magic.

If you are not yet familiar with Borat, I think you should start seeing him in action on dating or etiquette. Or maybe you would prefer to sing karaoke to his national anthem. Or maybe for the starters you really should just go and see the movie.

Chenquieh!

No longer in eyes of Aletheia, pt. II

2006-11-15T20:02:00.000+01:00

For those of you who have been asking from me to hear the song I have mentioned a number of times in my blog - here it is: Cantata Sangui has their song No longer in eyes of Aletheia freely available on their MySpace page. Enjoy.

Underground Tunnels at Google Video

2006-11-14T12:50:00.000+01:00

I was noticed that Underground Tunnels-video (part of my Terra Hyperborea-CD) can be found from Google Video in addition to YouTube. If you are not yet familiar with the CD, you can find some samples from it (and a great Underground Tunnels-remix by Asmodeus X) from MySpace.

Previous Aletheia posts

2006-11-13T23:12:00.000+01:00

I've created a category of Aletheia related posts right above the regular Blogger category of "previous posts" on this page. From there you can find the most clearly Aletheia related entries of this blog in a chronological order.

Writing and proofreading

2006-11-12T03:51:00.000+01:00

I've spent lots of time in front a computer screen lately. If my last entry was about a man who wrote a classic work on the "wickedest man in the world", it seems that I have got a bit similar writing task into my hands too. More of that later, still during this year. I've been also doing some academic writing on the subject of the category of "heart" in Finnish language in general and in Finnish religious language in particular. More of that later, too.

Besides of writing my own texts it has been nice to proofread other's texts. I've been proofreading part of the coming Finnish translation of the Satanic Bible. I need to say that Paula Merensuo from Voimasana publishing has done a good job. It has been an honor to read the text in its current translated form. It has also offered a splendid possibility for a timetravel to those years when I was from 15 to 17 years old. I raise a mug of black coffee for that!

I've also done proofreading for Finnish culture magazine Virta. Among other things this distinguished magazine will feature in its next issue also my interview. Subjects touched upon in it deal with the nature of the paths, good and evil, magic, will, tradion and a cultural context in one's Work, religious experience, Gurdjieff and the Fourth Way, and so forth. The main theme of the interview can be summed into a concept of "essence". I also speak indirectly and directly about Aletheia throughout the interview. I think this is going to be one of the best interviews done with me and directed for the general public thus far. It is highly recommended reading for anyone interested.

Lastly, when it comes to Aletheia, the extra appendix included in the hardcover 3rd Finnish edition of my first book deals directly with that concept. The document is something that has been of profound influence in my pursuit of Aletheia - that is, Remembering the Self.

In memory of John Symonds

2006-11-11T00:46:00.000+01:00

John Symonds, March 12th, 1914 CE - October 21nd, 2006 CE.

Vasemman Käden Polku 3rd edition available

2006-11-09T19:39:00.000+01:00

The third edition of Vasemman Käden Polku (The Left Hand Path) is now available from Voimasana. The edition is hardcover and includes extra foreword and an extra appendix.

Shopping

2006-11-08T02:52:00.000+01:00

Sometimes I really enjoy consuming. Yesterday was one of those days. I bought the new Laibach CD. I also bought a human skull from the 17th century. It had been for about 300 hundred years under the floor of the Turku Cathedral before seeing the light of the day on 3rd of August, 1923 CE. Truly, shopping can be great.

Magic

2006-11-03T19:32:00.000+01:00

There is only one kind of magic and it is 'doing'.
- G.I. Gurdjieff

Quotes of the day

2006-10-30T20:43:00.000+01:00

If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say this or that even, it never happened—that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death.

And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth. 'Who controls the past' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.

Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct; nor was any item of news, or any expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to remain on record. All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary.

Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?… Has it ever occurred to your, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now?…The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact, there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.

Parsons was Winston's fellow employee at the Ministry of Truth. He was a fattish but active man of paralyzing stupidity, a mass of imbecile enthusiasms—one of those completely unquestioning, devoted drudges on whom, more even than on the thought police, the stability of the Party depended.

It was curious to think that the sky was the same for everybody, in Eurasia or Eastasia as well as here. And the people under the sky were also very much the same—everywhere, all over the world, hundreds or thousands of millions of people just like this, people ignorant of one another's existence, held apart by walls of hatred and lies, and yet almost exactly the same—people who had never learned to think but were storing up in their hearts and bellies and muscles the power that would one day overturn the world.

- from George Orwell's 1984

Traveling the world tree

2006-10-28T12:24:00.000+02:00

Photo by Petri Laakso

I had a pleasure to meet a handful of local pagans for talking and traveling via drumming yesterday evening. In a local drum circle meeting there was first some half an hour of talking about what travelling via drumming is all about, then three about half an hour rounds of drumming. Two of those rounds were played with my self-made drum (pictured above), one with two drums of other individuals present.

I was asked to speak a bit about drumming as a magical technique and things involved. Since shamanism and its universal traits in their many forms have been of great interest to me both academically and magically for more than a decade, I was very happy to ask some questions from participants and also to say few words on the subject myself.

I decided to touch upon some very basic questions involved. What is actually taking place when you “travel” via drumming? What is the context where the experience takes place? How your traveling via drumming differs f.ex from some classical Siberian shaman’s context and contents of the experience – in physical, social, and conscious realms? What kind of shared elements are there?

I don’t to try explain here what I experienced during the drumming. As I said during the meeting while talking about the experience, I think that suprarational experience typical of traveling via drumming is something that is best grasped with a rather poetic language. I also noted, that if individual’s involved have studied enough the best sources available about shamanistic tradition they are using as their context and if they have synthesized that knowledge with personal experiments and experience (Dr. Stephen Edred Flowers has called this the polarian method), it is possible to understand what people mean by such a “poetic” language, as well as to truly link with transpersonal current involved instead of just indulging in some strictly subjective fantasy world.

My thanks for the organizer of the event and everybody present. It was a good evening in a good company. I am looking for more of these events.

Rûna magazine, issue 19

2006-10-26T16:28:00.000+02:00

New issue of Rûna magazine is out and it includes, among other things, a conversation with Dr. Stephen Edred Flowers of the Woodharrow Institute, my essay of my rite of passage into the Rune-Gild and Ensio Kataja’s insightful article the Runes of the Holy. Because my friend Ensio Kataja already wrote a good review of the issue, I am hinting my readers to go and read Ensio’s review and also of other things that he so well writes about.

Ordering Rûna magazine:

UK: £3.00 + 50p p&p, made payable to Eormensyl Hall, BM Sorcery, London WC1N 3XX. 4-issue subscription £14. Subscription can also be paid with PayPal to Editor Ian Read's e-mail address. GERMANY: €6.00, made payable to Equinoxe Organization, Beethovenstraße 59, 09130 Chemnitz. USA: $8.50, made payable to Rûna-Raven Press, P.O: Box 557, Smithville, Texas 78957.

Some related links for the interested could be my recent entry about tiwaz-rune to my and Ensio Kataja’s blog about runes and the U.K. based One Tribe occult talk show’s one hour with Ian Read, musician and Drighten of the Rune-Gild.

Stefani on Aletheia

2006-10-25T01:28:00.000+02:00

What an amazing time / What a family / How did the years go by / Now its only me / Tick-tock, tick-tock / Tick-tock, tick-tock / Tick-tock, tick-tock / Tick-tock, tick-tock / La, la, la, la, la, la, la /

Like a cat in heat, stuck in a moving car/ A scary conversation, / shut my eyes, / can't find the brake / What if they say that you're a climber / Naturally, I'm worried if I do it alone / Who really cares, cause it's your life / You never know, it could be great / Take a chance cause you might grow / Oh, oh, oh / What you waiting / What you waiting / What you waiting / What you waiting / What you waiting for? / What you waiting / What you waiting / What you waiting / What you waiting/ What you waiting for? /

Tick-tock, tick-tock / Tick-tock, tick-tock / Take a chance you stupid ho / Like an echo pedal, you're repeating yourself / You know it all by heart / Why are you standing in one place / Born to blossom, bloom to perish / Your moment will run out / Cause of your sex chromosome / I know it's so messed up, how our society all thinks (for sure) / Life is short, you're capable (uh-huh) / Oh, oh, oh / Look at your watch now / You're still a super hot female / You got your million-dollar contract / And they're all waiting for your hot track / What you waiting for?

- Gwen Stefani

Pessoa on Aletheia

2006-10-24T01:10:00.000+02:00

I don't know what words could describe what a human being feels when he really feels that he exists and that soul is something real. I don't know if I have fever when I feel what I feel or if I don't any more have a fever for traveling my life in a dream. Yes, I am like a traveler who suddenly realizes to be in a strange place without knowing how I got there. When a human being loses his memory, he is for a long time someone else than himself. I have been someone else than myself for a long time - since my birth and awakening of my consciousness - and I am suddenly awakened on a bridge, and I bow down to see the river and I know, better than ever before, that I am alive.
- Fernando Pessoa

Pranksters at the Boca do Inferno

2006-10-21T14:45:00.000+02:00

Aleister Crowley and Fernando Pessoa playing chess in Lisbon (according to Cláudia Costa they played either at A Brasileira or Martinho da Arcadia, both still in business).

I finished with a collection of Fernando Pessoa's selected poems yesterday and started with his Book of Disquiet today. The book, the author's main work, was written between 1912-1935 CE. Only one of Pessoa's books were published during his lifetime, the rest of his books from his massive corpus of writings posthumously. Book of Disquiet was among these posthumous publications, becoming published for the first time as late as in 1982 CE. I think it is somehow appropriate that Pessoa's main work has such an unusual history - reflecting the poet's unusual life and interests.

When it comes to Pessoa's life, readers of my blog might be especially interested to learn that the author was a keen student of the occult (although he was rather quiet about it) and that he corresponded and met with Aleister Crowley. The two authors initially got in touch with each other as Pessoa sent Crowley a correction on an erroneous astrological detail containted in Crowley's Confessions. After that Crowley and Pessoa corresponded, exchanged writings and finally met in Lisboa in September, 1930 CE.

After the Great Beast's scarlet woman of the time left him without a notice there, the two writers came up with a grand prankster idea. Gary Lachman has written a good summary about that:

Crowley then enlisted Pessoa's aid in faking a suicide. Leaving a forlorn lover's note at the Boca do Inferno (Mouth of Hell) - a treacherous rock formation on the coast west of Lisbon - Crowley implied that he had taken his own life by leaping into the sea. Pessoa explained to the Lisbon papers the meaning of the various magical signs and symbols that adorned Crowley's suicide note, and added the fact that he had actually seen Crowley's ghost the following day. Crowley had in fact left Portugal via Spain, and enjoyed the reports of his death in the newspapers; he finally appeared weeks later at an exhibition of his paintings in Berlin. Given Pessoa's frail ego, it was more than likely a blessing that his association with the Beast was brief.

Boca do Inferno, Lisboa.

When you pick up Fernando Pessoa's great writings the next time you might find this background to his thoughts fascinating. It is something that is usually not told about the author who is often considered as the greatest Portuguese author of all times.

Some related links:

Crowley and Pessoa at Lashtal.com

Karl Germer's letter to Pessoa

The magical world of Fernando Pessoa at Nhtposition

Pessoa at Literary Kicks

Visit to a crematorium

2006-10-19T23:52:00.000+02:00

Last night I was reading poems by Fernando Pessoa. I was reflecting on his brilliant writing, his heteronyms, his encounters with Aleister Crowley, and also whether I was really into the next day’s visit to a crematorium with a handful of students of comparative religions or not. At 3 am I switched off my bedside light, put Pessoa’s poetry aside, and decided to see how I would think about the visit after some sleep.

Well, of course I did not want to miss the experience.

The tour the next day began from the cremation room itself. There were two huge silvery steel cremation ovens (made in Sweden) in the room. Inside of them it was around +900–1000 celcius degrees. That’s enough to burn an average dead in about an hour. Bigger bodies naturally burn a bit longer than smaller ones. We were also informed that bodies with cancer take some extra time to burn because of the disease. Those dead with pacemakers will cause little explosions inside the ovens if batteries are not taken away from the machines. We were allowed to take a look inside of those ovens from little shutters. Seeing a skeleton in flames is something you don’t see everyday.

Once the burning is finished the ashes are collected. Bigger parts of bones that have not burned totally are put through a machine that will make them into a powder. We saw some pieces of thightbone and such that were going to be processed. There was also an impressive collection of various pieces of metal that people have had in their bodies to keep broken bones together. Such pieces are becoming less frequent to be picked up from the ashes as metal is more often substituted with other materials in the use nowadays.

It did not surprise me that cremation has become more and more popular in comparison to the “traditional” coffin burial. But I was a bit surprised that cremation is actually more expensive choise over the two options (at least here in Southern Finland). But sure, it makes sense. In cremation you need to buy (and burn) the coffin in addition to buying just an urn for the ashes. And even if you make an urn yourself (which is all fine), you still need to pay the bill for that one hour in flames (which can be around 200 €). And of course there are payments about the gravesite as well. It made me wonder why people then prefer to be cremated if it can be even noticeably more expensive than just burying the dead in a coffin. Have people started to read more Edgar Allan Poe? Or to choose cremation for spiritual reasons? Or is the thought of dead rotting bodies six feet under categorically more terrifying to our more and more death-alienated Western minds than a thought of dead bodies quickly turned into a smoke and a tiny amount of ash?

Our very professional tour guide, the man who also worked at the crematorium, took us next to the cool store room for the dead that were on the line to be cremated. It was another plain and sterile room, this time with metal cabins and just slightly evident smell about the nature of the place. Some coffins were not in the cabins, marked with certificates and papers needed. From among the coffins one smaller vessel stood out. The information on top of it told about a child that was born dead. Among other things the room made me think what kind of things people put and were allowed by law to put with the dead inside of their coffins. The regulations didn’t sound very strict. I was informed that all kinds of objects from soft toys to jewelry are known to be put into coffins. No cases of cellular phones were known, though, at least they haven’t been called into before coffins were burned. What would you prefer to have with you in your coffin? Or does it really matter? And why?

The rest of the tour was about space available for the last rites. That was something I had seen numerous times before. While walking around in those rooms, my mind was reflecting on what I had experienced earlier on the tour - the reality of both natural and non-natural dimensions of human existence.

Aletheia.

Vox Paganorum 3/06

2006-10-13T22:01:00.000+02:00

Vox Paganorum 3/06 is now available from Pakanaverkko (Pagan Net). The third issue for the year has on its cover my drawing Curse (see above). The drawing was published for the first time in my second book Saatanan Mustat Nahkasiivet.

You might also want to read my entry on Vox Paganorum 1/06 and 2/06.

Heja Sverige!

2006-10-12T20:17:00.000+02:00

Hennes röst är som mango-melon-glass under en het sommardag. Trust me - again!

Vasemman Käden Polku

2006-10-08T01:39:00.000+02:00

Vasemman Käden Polku (The Left Hand Path), my first book, is going to be printed in its 3rd edition by my publisher Voimasana in the next two weeks. The book is going to be published in hardcover for the first time, with a new foreword and an extra appendix. The book is also going to get out in English later this year. My many thanks for all the English proofreaders of the book.

Debunking the Da Vinci Code

2006-10-03T16:36:00.000+02:00

Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene? I don't think so.

Where are we now?

2006-09-29T21:38:00.000+02:00

At his trial after Second World War, Hitler's Minister for Armanents, Albert Speer, delivered a long speech in which, with remarkable acuteness, he described the Nazy tyranny and analysed its methods. 'Hitler's dictatorship', he said, 'differed in one fundamental point from all its predecessors in history. It was the first dictatorship in the present period of modern technical development, a dictatorship which made c0mplete use of all techical means for the domination of its own country. Through technical devices like the radio and the loud-speaker, eighty million people were deprived of independent thought. It was thereby possible to subject them to the will of one man... Earlier dictators needed highly qualified assistants even at the lowest level - men who could think and act independently. The totalitarian system in the period of modern technical development can dispense with such men; thanks to modern methods of communicati0n, it is possible to mechanize the lower leadership. As a result of this there has risen the new type of the uncritical recipients of orders.

- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited, 1959 CE.

Mosaick the Serpent/Vipera Aurea

2006-09-19T20:10:00.000+02:00

Some Place Else totally lives up to its name again; Ovro's new CD is "something totally different".

I have been listening non-stop to the CD since I got it the last night. This is like a David Lynch film; it gets you totally hooked. You want to reflect on it again and again. You want to get back to it. I would put it, poetically, that this CD is about a dialogue between a human and a snake consciousness / subconsciousness. This is great dark ambient.

Get the new Ovro CD.

On Aletheia in a postmodern world

2006-09-14T20:10:00.000+02:00

Art by AruXet

The world today has regularly been called postmodern. What ever you think of the term from this or that angle, I think it can be generally seen to refer to the world where things have become increasingly relative and uncertain in nature. To put it rather harsh, postmodern world seems to hold that there are no objective truths. On a more practical level, postmodernism touches also others than academics. Life has become more uncertain for everyone in many ways, things have turned more and more into projects. The old basic safety havens of life, such as job and status involved, preferred place where to live, as well as relationships, have all lost their previous positions as relative safe havens of life for one's sense of identity. You can not be so sure anymore about having this particular job for the rest of your life (or most likely for the next two years), you can not be so sure you can live in the place of your preference for the rest of your life, you can not be so sure that your relationships will last for the rest of your life the way you would prefer. Of course, things have been uncertain throughout the ages. But if you compare postmodern to modern, or 2006 CE to 1956 CE, you probably get the point here.

The dynamism of the world has turned itself into a change that seem to put people more and more under mercy of winds of whims of the Universe. This can be really disillusioning for many for many reasons. People get easily rootless and unable to base themselves into anything profound in a Zeitgeist like this. Profound systems of meaning (such as religions and philosophies) seem to turn more and more into systems of self-deception if they claim to have more in them than just subjective truths (and many of them really are systems of self-deception). But for many of us our psyche's are profoundly not resonant with this easily nihilistically colored view on existence. For many of us there is deep within a sense for more profound knowledge. That sense comes from direct inner experience of the Truth of Being, which is dynamic in its nature, and in this much more than just 'subjective' in the totality of the Universe.

What you can be sure about even in a Zeitgeist of postmodernism is that you are the ultimate source of happiness and power in your own life. If you step outside the magic circle of your own Self-based conscious power, you let psychic vampires to feast on you and you fool yourself to play with categorically bad cards with your Master Game - your life. As long as you remember to not compromise regarding staying in touch and being informed and inspired by your most noble sense of the Truth of your Being, you base yourself to the most profound source of power and happiness in the world - your Self. This is something that no one can take away from you, that no one can make uncertain or relative - no matter how postmodern the world may be.

Aletheia.

Song for the day

2006-09-13T12:53:00.000+02:00

A song for the day is Eric Idle's FCC song.

Quote for the day

2006-09-12T12:30:00.000+02:00

I consider myself a member of an excellent group of highly qualified nuts. All of these people think that something actually happens beyond death.

- John Cleese, a member of the Monty Python in San Francisco Cronicle, 2004 CE.

Link for the day

2006-09-11T13:03:00.000+02:00

What really happened?

Prague

2006-09-06T20:17:00.000+02:00

Photo by Dan Chung

I made my first trip to Prague a little time ago. I am fairly sure that it is not going to be my last trip there. I fell totally in love with the city that has its magical history all the way back to Edward Kelly, the Enochian Keys and very much beyond them.

Underground tunnels at YouTube

2006-08-23T11:29:00.000+02:00

Underground tunnels-video can now be found also from YouTube.

Aletheia lecture

2006-08-16T23:43:00.000+02:00

Some of you have asked me to speak more of Aletheia here lately. Just wait. I am very busy with various writing and other projects currently. One of them deals with a talk on Aletheia that I am going to give later this month. I will drop some notes on that also here later. Meanwhile, keep on following the white rabbit!

My sunflowers for this year

2006-08-15T21:12:00.000+02:00

Photo by Petri Laakso

The sunflower is a favorite emblem of constancy.

- Thomas Bulfinch

I am working with the enthusiasm of a man from Marseilles eating bouillabaisse, which shouldn't come as a surprise to you because I am busy painting huge sunflowers.

- Vincent Van Gogh

Every friend is to the other a sun, and a sunflower also. He attracts and follows.

- Jean Paul Richter

It is not while beauty and youth are thine own, and thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear, that the fervor and faith of a soul may be known, to which time will but make thee more dear! Oh the heart that has truly loved never forgets, but as truly loves on to the close, as the sunflower turns to her god when he sets the same look which she turned when he rose!

- Thomas Moore

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. It's what sunflowers do.

- Helen Keller

It is through this weakness that the perfected man, the Sun, is of dual nature, and his evil twin slays him in his glory. So the triumphant Lord of Heaven, the beloved of Apollo and the Muses is brought down into the dust, and who shall mourn him but his Mother Nature, Venus, the lady of love and sorrow? Well is it if she bears within her the Secret of Resurrection! But even Venus owes all her charm to the swift messenger of gods, Mercury, the joyous and ambiguous boy whose tricks first scandalize and then delight Olympus.

- Aleister Crowley

New age is dead

2006-08-11T22:01:00.000+02:00

This disembodied, New Age obsession with Wholeness and Perfection also reeks of death and stagnation. Its pathetic hankering over Clarity, Light and Harmony leaves us as transparent and cheerful as crystal skulls. Haven't you heard the news? Pssst! The New Age is dead.

- Antero Alli

Woden's day's evening

2006-08-10T00:20:00.000+02:00

Photo by Petri Laakso

Training wheels

2006-08-09T11:10:00.000+02:00

[...] this insular New Age Movement reeks, like its Fundamentalist Christian brotherhood, of buffers. Buffers to our inherent discontent, buffers to our human flaws and defects, buffers to our accumulating layers of buffers. Buffers are like training wheels on the Bicycle of Life. When you're ready for the Big Ride, you take them off.

- Antero Alli

Courage

2006-08-07T11:19:00.000+02:00

You must take the bull by the tail and look the facts in the face.

- W.C. Fields

Soma FM airplay and some other notes

2006-07-31T22:18:00.000+02:00

Alphonse Mucha: Dance

I've been doing proofreading to the coming Finnish 3rd print of my first book. It has been an interesting process. The proof reading and the extra foreword and an appendix to the hardcover 3rd print should be ready later this week.

I heard from my CD's publisher's that my 700 000 years was played by a San Francisco based Soma FM lately. When it comes to my books, I heard that my second book Saatanan Mustat Nahkasiivet has been sold also in some really interesting places - like some S-market of Haapavesi (I think this somewhat equals to Wal-Mart in Nashville). Grand! (thanks to Oan for the information).

Lastly, if you happen to be in Turku, be sure to check out a great Alphonse Mucha exhibition at the Turku art museum. It is something not to miss.

Terra Hyperborea engrish

2006-07-30T18:23:00.000+02:00

I heard from Some Place Else's Niko that there is a really psychedelic review of my CD out there. You can read it from here. This is total engrish. I think I should feel honored.

Through being cool

2006-07-23T19:28:00.000+02:00

We're through being cool / eliminate the ninnies and the twits / Going to to bang some heads / going to beat some butts / time to show those evil spuds / what's what's what if you live in a small town / You might meet a dozen or two / young alien types who step out and dare to declare / spank the pank who try to to drive you nuts / time to clean some house / be a man / or a mouse / waste those who make it tuff / to go get around if you live in a big place / many factions underground / chase down / mister hinky dink so no trace can be found / but the tape on erase rearrange a face / we always liked Picasso anyway / mash' em!

- Devo, Through being cool

Book of Life 2006 CE, closure

2006-07-21T20:58:00.000+02:00

Cantata Sangui live at Klubi, Turku, on 20th of July. Photo by Wooki.

The Book of Life 2006 CE is formally finished. I dare to say that it turned out to be a fruitful experience for all who took part to it. It definitely turned out that way to me.

I put it to my blog's main lines some months ago that "life is a moment - Remember yourself". If you have come used to it, read it again with a thought. That is the way it really is.

Learn to see how the linear time goes by and how subjective non-linear experience of time match or does not match with it. Learn to plant seeds of your Will into the tissue of the Universe. Learn to have fun, to be happy. Learn to face and challenge your limits in a meaningful way. Learn to forgive yourself. Learn to Love. Learn to be willing to grow - again.

Learn to Remember yourself.

The Book of Life 2006 CE was filled with "odd" synchronicities again. One of them dealt with the very end of the Working. Cantata Sangui, the band behind a wonderful song No longer in eyes of Aletheia, was going to perform in Turku on 20th of July, the last day of this year's the Book of Life. This was a pure "coincidence" but in a certain way it just "made sense".

The concert was a Working in itself. I do not even try to describe how I experienced it. I think it suffices to say that it was... magical. My many thanks to the band and especially to Mika (and well... to Liisa too). From tô aletheias pedion I greet you.

Lastly, I was asked about possible inspirational materials regarding the Book of Life recently. There is one definite inspirational book and movie regarding the Book of Life - Dr. Carl Sagan's Contact and the movie that is based on it. I see the movie once a year around the time of the Working.

Aletheia.

Book of Life related quotes, III

2006-07-19T23:01:00.000+02:00

The unknown is the unknown so despite you're best laid plans you're gonna get a kick in the pants. That's if your magic really works for you. Whether its the lottery, leukemia or love surf the eternal present with an inward and outward eye to the self, its components and connections. Then we have immortality already.

- Etemenanki, the Book of Life 2006 CE participant

One of the best means for arousing the wish to work on yourself is to realize that you may die at any moment. But first you must learn how to keep it in mind.

Hope, when bold, is strenght. Hope, with doubt, is cowardice. Hope, with fear, is weakness.

- G.I. Gurdjieff

Wer sie nicht kennte / die Elemente / ihre Kraft / und Eigenschaft / wäre kein meister / über die Geister / He who does not know / the elements / their power / and qualities / can not master / over spirit /.

- Goethe

You seem not to know that if you meet Socrates in discussion, you are bound to find that even if you begin by discussing something else, before you are done you will be led around in argument by Socrates, until you are trapped into giving an account of yourself - of how you are living your present life and how you lived your life in the past. And once you are trapped, Socrates will not let you go until he has tried and tested you thoroughly on each point.

- Nicias, Athenian general warning his friends about Socrates.

If a man could understand all the horror of the lives of ordinary people who are turning round in a circle of insignificant interests and insignificant aims, if he could understand what they are losing, he would understand that there can only be one thing that is serious for him - to escape from the general law, to be free. What can be serious for a man in prison who is condemned to death? Only one thing: How to save himself, how to escape: nothing else is serious.

- G.I. Gurdjieff

Vox Paganorum 2/06

2006-07-18T23:56:00.000+02:00

Vox Paganorum 2/06 is now available from Pakanaverkko (Pagan Net). The second issue for the year has on its cover my drawing Humpty Dumpty's Death (see above). The drawing was published for the first time in my second book Saatanan Mustat Nahkasiivet.

The issue includes articles f.ex about sonic magic (interviews of four Turku-area sonic magicians: myself, Cosine Nomine, Niko Skorpio, and Ovro), synchronicity, and thoughts on a magical year among other subjects.

You might also want to read my entry on Vox Paganorum 1/06.

Post Scriptum: Talking about sonic magic, come and see Cantata Sangui (the band who made the song No longer in eyes of Aletheia) live in Turku on this coming Thursday (July 20th).

Book of Life related quotes, II

2006-07-17T16:45:00.000+02:00

Our entire lives considered at any moment is a Xeper, a manifestation. If you can think of all the things that you've wrought - changes in your mind/body complex, your recognition, your reputation - all of those things that represent what you have brought to this Earth - as a giant talisman - then you've got a handle on Xeper, the noun. Many of you may have written a Rune to pull something - gold or love - out of the Unmanifest. That Rune is a tiny, tiny version of the great talisman your Xeper is. The creation of Xeper is the Working whereby we attract what we're going to get in this life, and the divine memory we will have of this life.

- Don Webb

Out of the multiplicity of factors that enter into the shaping of a life, resultant patterns of living and relating emerge. A theme, or a group of interrelated themes, appears that can be modified and adapted to the stage-specific tasks or to the exigencies that arise. Sometimes the dominant theme results from an early childhood fixation and reiterates itself, unable to develop and lead onward, remaining in the same groove like the needle on a flawed phonograph record. The basic themes are more readily detected in emotionally disturbed persons because they are more set, more clearly repetitive, and perhaps more familiar to the practiced ear that has heard similar themes so often before. Still, repetitive ways of reacting and relating occur in all lives. The meaning of an episode in a life can often be grasped properly only through understanding how it furthers, impedes, or disrupts essential themes.

- Theodore Lidz

What I've discovered with stark and undeniable clarity is that ones who do well are so in touch with their individual core of consciousness, so aware of their self-worth and their sense of personal value, that they not only treat themselves with enormous self-respect but they inspire others to treat them with equal respect. They live with an empowering inner clarity, one that gives them the unshakable confidence that they alone can determine the quality of their life. They have tapped into their core of consciousness, claimed their right to a fulfilling life, and have refused to accept less from themselves or anyone else.

- Phillip C. McGraw

Love, work, and knowledge are the wellsprings of our life. They should also govern it.

- Wilhelm Reich

Let's look for a treasure!

- Terrance and Phillip

Book of Life related quotes, I

2006-07-16T16:26:00.000+02:00

One method of self-analysis is autobiographical. By this I mean pondering own personal history beginning from childhood and ending in evaluation on development of one's future. This method is used to try to get an understanding of self; important occasions, previous fears, hopes, disappointments and experiences that have shaked one's belief and trust in oneself and in others.

We ask from ourselves: Who am I depending on? What are my worst fears? Who I was "destined" to be at my birth? What have been my goals and how they have changed? What have been crossroad points of my life, where I have chosen the wrong direction? To what efforts I have dedicated myself to fix the mistakes and to return to the right path? Who am I now and who I would have become if I would have always made the right decisions and avoided mistakes?

Who I wanted to be earlier, who I want to be now and in the future? What kind of picture I have of myself? What kind of picture others should have of me? How these pictures differ from each other and of what I really feel myself to be? Who I will become if I continue to live as I have lived previously? What conditions have been effecting or dictating my development thus far? What kind of alternatives I have for my development? What I should do in order to make my choices on my future to come true?

This autobiographical study should not be theorizing with abstract psychoanalytical structures, but it should stay on the level of "seeing", feeling and of imagination on the level of experiencing, where theoretical thinking is kept at minimum.

- Erich Fromm

The great events of world history are, at bottom, profoundly unimportant. In the last analysis, the essential thing is the life of the individual. This alone makes history, here alone do the great transformations first take place, and the whole future, the whole history of the world, ultimately spring as a gigantic summation from these hidden sources in individuals. In our most private and most subjective lives we are not only the passive witness of our age, and its sufferers, but also its makers. We make our own epoch.

- C.G. Jung

Remember, you cannot change what you do not acknowledge.

- Phillip C. McGraw

Blood makes noise

2006-07-15T14:44:00.000+02:00

Finally, after more than 15 years of listening to her music, I met Suzanne Vega in person and experienced her live at Pakkahuone, Tampere, Finland. Seeing Suzanne live on the stage where I played live myself in the late 80's CE was quite an interesting experience during the Working of the Book of Life. A good mirror with the most beautiful voice from one angle to the future.

Book of Life 2006 CE statement

2006-07-13T12:40:00.000+02:00

[The following is from the general statement of the worldwide intra-Temple of Set Working the Book of Life of the Temple's the Order of the Great Bear. Also non-setians are are free to do the Working on their own. For general information on the Working see my first book Vasemman Käden Polku (English translation The Left Hand Path is forthcoming from Voimasana later this year)].

* * * * *

The Order of the Great Bear's annual Working called the Book of Life will begin on 13th of this month, on the traditional Finnish day of a bear.

During the last years the BoL has basically been about Working with past layers of one's path in order to Remember oneself and via that to be more able to Become in the potential future. This has meant Working with all past year's of one's life and writing an initiatory autobiography in the process. This year the direction of the Working is for the first time in its history (we have nearly 6 years of tradition for this within the Temple of Set now, and the Working has also been available for the general Finnish public via my first book since 2004 CE) towards the future. As discussed earlier, this brings certain differences to this year's schedule for the Working.

One week is enough time for the Working this year. It is not going to be about a month long project like previously. One can adjust the Working to be shorther or longer, though, if needed. Instead of year-by-year Working we will Work this year during that one week (13th-20th of July) with three special sections of our future's. The first of these includes the coming next few years. This means years that one can potentially fairly well plan, hope and dream about, and to Work towards these fairly well-defined goals and dreams. The second of these sections refers to the time between this near future and the very final part of one's physical life. The third, the last section deals with Working about facing physical death and reflecting on what kind of life you Will to live, with what kind of path/book of life you would feel most satisfied with on your body's deathbed as an Initiate, a human being.

The basic three-lense perspective within these three sections of the future in the Working are a) one’s body (one’s natural self and material aspects of one’s universe in general), b) one’s persona (one’s social, cultural self), and c) one’s psyche (one’s non-natural Self). With this basic three lense view one reflects on things that one a) absolutely desire and Will to have or to experience in the future, b) hope/wish for in the future, c) fear to experience in the future.

At the end of each of these main three sections of the Working (near future, time between near future and the final phase of life, and the final phase), one writes a letter to one's future self of those sections. The letters are then sealed and stored, and opened and read later during one's life when the time is right.

These letters, as the whole Working again, is aimed to serve us to Remember our most Noble Selves, and accordingly to gain understanding on how to make the best out of this path between natural birth and death in order to do glory to our non-natural potential, our Selves, and the Highest of Life.

Aletheia.

In memory of Toni Stranius

2006-07-11T19:58:00.000+02:00

Toni Stranius 1972 - 2006 CE

I Remember

2006-07-09T15:07:00.000+02:00

Photo by Tapio Kotkavuori

I Remember / the ancient hills / the wind on my face / the will to power / the runes / the gods and goddesses / the eternal stories / the myths and their living truth / snow and ice against my raised hands in Might.

I Remember myself through all of that / I've been there / I Am / I always will Be.

I Remember that with firm inner quiet strenght of the eternal present / and I look at this madness of the modern world / that scream in its desperation for something Real / and do not even recognize that / just rushing forth like an insane hurricane / destroying itself / a tragic age.

I Remember the mysteries / breathing in and through them / I Remember and I embrace the Holy / raising the horn filled with the mead of the All-Father / and I open my mouth for the first time again / Purity in direct experience of Real! / I Remember! / Wassail!

:RtR:

Karhunhampaankantaja

Sendings to the universe

2006-07-08T13:10:00.000+02:00

I started to write a foreword to the 3rd print of Vasemman Käden Polku today. At the same time the book's first English print is under proof-reading. My Finnish translation of the Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Mage and foreword to it is little by little getting ready too and the manuscript of Aletheia: In search of Self-Remembering is becoming fatter. My writing projects are developing steadily towards the direction I have envisioned them to go and to do their effect on the tissue of the universe. On tô aletheias pedion I see this is Good.

Into the crypt of rays

2006-07-03T14:15:00.000+02:00

Some things endure the test of time. I witnessed one of them from my past the last Sunday. Uhh!

Book of Life 2006 CE

2006-06-30T20:12:00.000+02:00

The Order of the Great Bear of the Temple of Set is about to start it's annual Working called The Book of Life. Finnish readers of the blog might want to read more of the Working from my first book, Vasemman Käden Polku (p. 115). More of the themes involved later during the next two weeks here.

ECI from 1993 CE

2006-06-23T03:27:00.000+02:00

Trust me: Sweden, Anneli Magnusson, and eurotrash rule! I saw this about 30 times in a row yesterday and loved it like a milkshake!

At the heart of Aletheia in the North

2006-06-22T21:32:00.000+02:00

I just submitted an entry on elhaz-rune in the blog I keep with the author of Riimujen Viisaus, Ensio Kataja, a Finnish senior of the Rune-Gild. The entry on elhaz is very much about the sacred, a subject Ensio and I have been inspired about for years. As such, it also deals with Aletheia in certain ways. And it is not just a coincidence that the entry is there in the blog during midsummer. More on elhaz, sacred, and Aletheia in this blog later.

die Frage

2006-06-20T17:28:00.000+02:00

Muß es Sein? Es muß Sein.
- Ludwig van Beethoven

Underground Tunnels remix

2006-06-19T06:58:00.000+02:00

Asmodeus X created a great remix of my Underground Tunnels. The remix can be found from MySpace.

Interview for Virta

2006-06-17T17:48:00.000+02:00

I met two journalists from culture-magazine Virta today. We talked about three hours of religion, magic, esoterism, cultures, the Temple of Set, Aletheia, and tons of other subjects. The dialogue was good and I guess it will turn into a fine article. Keep your eyes open for their next issue!

Leben heißt Leben, II

2006-06-11T16:03:00.000+02:00

It’s been hot like in Purgatory. I needed to water my sunflowers three times today. I also gave them some new soil. They should do pretty well this summer, better than they did the last year. Despite of generally better conditions, some of those promising seedlings will break their stems or die for other reasons. Some in the shadows will prevail and prosper while some from the best places in the sun will fall and perish. Despite of my gardening the seeds may be bad and the universe play its whims with a touch of death on them. I see these flowers to be born, to live and die. This is one of my yearly Workings of the myth of the eternal return.

While I went to run some errands later, I thought of many people and their place in the sunshine with eyes of a gardener from tô aletheias pedion.

Alice from Wonderland exposed

2006-06-09T16:51:00.000+02:00

All the way from my childhood, Alice's adventures in wonderland have appealed to me in many ways. I learned of an interesting etymological connection between Alice and Aletheia recently. It makes Sense. I thank Don Webb for bringing this knowledge to me.

The following is quoted from Dictionary of Latin and Greek Words used in English Vocabulary:

aletho-, aleth-
(Greek: true; nothing concealed; real [from a-, "no, nothing" and letho-, "forgetfullness, oblivion"])

Alethea, Alice:
A woman's name meaning "truth".

alethia:
A rarely used term for an incapacity to forget past events.

alethic:
Relating to the philosophical concepts of truth and possibility and especially to the branch of logic that formalizes them.

alethiology:
1. The science of the nature of truth and evidence. 2. The doctrine of truth; that part of logic that is concerned with truth.

alethology:
The study or science of truth.

alethophobia:
An abnormal fear of the truth.

Alethopteris:
A genus of fossil ferns, found especially in coal formations [literally, having "true ferns"].

alethoscope:
An instrument for viewing pictures by means of a lens, so as to give the objects a natural or realistic appearance.

philalethia:
Loving truth; a fondness for truth.

philalethist:
A lover of or a fondness for truth.