Update on the Sanford/Casselberry Vampire and Shadowlore Meet Up

I’m so happy about how well this meetup has been developing over the last several months!  We’re getting more and more people in attendance and pulling in people from around the country and around the world through the talkshoe conference call set up!  (I’m so happy I went to the effort of getting that set up and so grateful that I have such tech savvy members to help me keep it up and running and continually improve the sound quality.  Thank you Magus and Kirra!)  The comments people have been making about the quality of the content are also quite encouraging.  So far it is everything I hoped it would be, and that makes me even more ambitious for what we can achieve for our members in the future.

Panera Bread worked out quite well last meeting.  It was indeed quieter for our recordings, and the microphone Kirra brought worked wonderfully well.  We had Doktor call in from Kansas — before his cordless phone died.  Let’s all remember that technology doesn’t always work well around vampires and try not to drain the batteries on our communications equipment, shall we???

We also had a guest call in from NORWAY!!! We have gone international!  And so dedicated was our guest Folksome that he stayed up until 2:20 a.m. his time (quite a time difference between Florida and Norway).  Yay, Folksome, and yay Doktor for making the effort to join us in the midst of moving.  (Sorry about your friends’ phone!)

I hope we have more and more national and international members and guests joining us in future; please do encourage any friends you have online around the world to join us for a meet up whenever they can.  Talkshoe chat is free, and skype is relatively inexpensive for calling in over long distances.  Please also make use of the downloadable recording of the meeting at the talk shoe site; July’s meeting is MUCH easier to hear and has lots of interesting information.

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Tags: General, Magic, Vivienne D'Avalon by Vivienne D'Avalon
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Alright, so because gays won the right to marry the world is going to end (when the Large Hadron Collider is turned on). But what does it mean to get married?

A 50% chance that you will lose 50% of your stuff (unless you get your prenups done right).

Some people insist that marriage is founded in the “good book;” but why not take a closer look at what the bible says — like the parts about forcing one’s daughter to marry some guy who killed your enemies. Sounds like a great idea! I will give my daughter to the first girl to get Hillary to finally give up.

So what is marriage besides being a reward for a favor?

Making sure your fuck spawn is really your fuck spawn.

Marriage comes from the same holier-than-thou mentality that demands you save yourself for your wedding night. It’s designed to ensure that your first-born boy (and only boys really matter) gets all your stuff. Thanks to the “sanctity” of marriage you “know” the woman you knocked up is holding “your” kid (but people forget that the size of human testicles are a direct result of our tendency to cheat [more info about that under cut- because it goes way off topic but is fun to read I promise]).

People seem to have this evil idea that:

Woman + Man= OK
Man + Man = FUCKING END OF THE WORLD (quickly turn on the Large Hadron Collider)
Man + Dog = apparently alright according to bible thumper logic

And leaving the best for last-
Woman + Woman = every guy’s dream / an accurate description of my love life (don’t ask- I’m just very, very lucky!)

Truthfully, marriage is about rights — originally the succession of property rights, but now legal rights as well. For example, if a gay person is hospitalized, as things stand currently, their life partner would not have the right to visit them, much less have any say about their care.

Some insist that civil unions are the same thing by a different name, but gays who have suffered from lack of legal standing know better, and the courts in California finally recognized that and corrected it.

In summation (never thought I would use that once I left high school), marriage is not the sanctimonious romantic ideal that our society represents it to be. Listen up, you people who have been vigorously thumping those bibles, please, please, please, wake the [tirade of expletives that even I refrain from putting on the web] up! Two same-sex people getting married are not going to “ruin marriage” — Britney Spears already beat those “damn dirty gays” to that.

So if any gay couple wants to have a nice wedding, go for it; just don’t let me catch the garter (or bouquet, for that matter) — I tend to be bad luck when I do.

-Magus-

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Tags: Current Events, Humor, Magus Dethen, Morals, Religion, Science and Technology by Magus Dethen
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Here we go the first Dark of the Moon Crone Cast. Vivienne D’Avalon and I’s first podcast together, we go over things from this Election, to Nanobots, to Scientology vs. a group called anonymous, to the FBI taping your Tubes. For the music clip “W’s Duty” by Jonathan Coulton go here.

Bad Moon Rising- Dark of the Moon Crone Cast 1

 

 Bad Moon Rising- Cast 1- Dark of the Moon CroneCast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Christianity, CroneCast, Current Events, Government, Magus Dethen, Paganism, Politics, Religion, Science and Technology, Vivienne D'Avalon by Magus Dethen
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Or May Day which ever you like. So hopeful you can dance around the May Pole (or what ever you want to call it or dance around) and enjoy The Great Rite. Also because he wrote Still Alive, you should check out Jonathan Coulton’s website and maybe head over to the First of May Song (because we all like fucking outside). So get the free mp3 while you can.

-Magus-

PS. Unless this computer crashes, we got something coming when the moon goes dark…

Tags: Humor, Magus Dethen, Paganism, Religion by Magus Dethen
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Alright, to catch you up from the last time we had this conversation,
We have figured out that religion has struck down:

Evolution
Stem cell research
Nanotechnology

So what next? How about opposing a cure for cancer?
Yep, they are against preventing cancer!

And not just some obscure cancer that no one’s ever heard of; this one affects half a million people.

The good news about this type of cancer is that there is a vaccine against it — or rather, against the virus that is the leading cause of it — genital human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer.

But back to why Americans are against it. Are you ready?
Because (gasp!) vaccination “might encourage premarital sex!”

How so, you ask?

Because, for the vaccine to be effective, you need to use it before there is any risk of contact with HPV, which means before someone becomes sexually active. (Though men can’t get cervical cancer, they can still catch HPV, become an asymptomatic carrier, and thus unknowingly pass it to their sexual partners). So the best strategy is, as the cigarette companies say, ” get them while they’re young.”

Unfortunately, here in America we blindly follow abstinence-only “education” policies. The proponents of such policies erroneously but fervently believe that if we vaccinate children against this virus, they’ll take that as a signal that it’s OK to go have sex, instead of waiting until marriage “like God wants you to.” (Apparently the sacrament of marriage is some kind of miraculous vaccine against HPV and a cure for cancer — wait ’til the pharmaceutical companies hear of this, and figure out a way to patent it and make a fortune off of overcharging for it!)

Well, FUCK THAT!
No, really — FUCK THAT!

This is a very personal issue for me. I have a friend who is dying from cervical cancer, not because she had consensual premarital sex, but because she was raped. If she had been given this vaccine before that horrid incident, maybe she would not be dying now, when she’s still too young to legally drink!

Use some common sense, people! Are you going to go find some rusty nails and jab yourself with them, just because you’ve been vaccinated against tetanus? Are you really looking forward to rejoicing at your 18 year-old daughter’s funeral because “the little slut got what she deserved for sinning against God?”

What worries me most about this kind of twisted logic is a big “what if ” scenario: What if we discover a vaccine that successfully prevents HIV and AIDS? HIV is also sexually transmitted (among other methods), and it’s widely believed among the religious right to have been “created by God to kill fags.”

So, how much do you want to bet that if an HIV vaccine becomes available, the religious “wrong” will try to squash that, too?

Personally, I can’t afford to take that bet. I apparently need to save every penny, just so I’ll be able to buy the life-saving vaccines I need on the black market.

-Magus-

Tags: Christianity, Magus Dethen, Morals, Religion, Science and Technology by Magus Dethen
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Tags: Christianity, Current Events, Government, Morals, Paganism, Politics, Vivienne D'Avalon by Vivienne D'Avalon
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The compendium for the 2007 New Orleans Harry Potter symposium, Phoenix Rising, is out and my paper, “Sirius Black: the Face of Eleggua in the Potterverse” is in it. The table of contents is here.  It can be purchased here.

Tags: Entertainment, Paganism, Vivienne D'Avalon by Vivienne D'Avalon
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A recent Associated Press poll article quoted figures to the effect that 10 percent of the population of the United States still believes, erroneously, that Barak Obama is a Muslim, rather than a Christian – even after all the publicity the remarks from his pastor received. The article broke this down over how many whites vs. how many blacks believe this lie; how many Republicans vs. how many Democrats, etc. The overarching message seems to be that some people are willing to say anything to slander an opponent, are willing to take advantage of and even stoke any vile prejudice, to accomplish their goals. No matter who gets hurt. Irregardless of the truth.

It also shows that the people most likely and indeed most willing to believe a hateful lie are just those people who don’t like the person being lied about. Don’t like your neighbor? Make up a nasty story and spread it to the others in your neighborhood. Those who already don’t like the person in question will grab at that lie like a life preserver, just one more justification for their own horrible opinion. Is it true? Who cares? They’d rather have the excuse so they can feel better about their own vile hatred. Troubled by a popular opponent who is winning a competition? Find the strongest, most popular prejudice you can exploit and then label your opponent with it. Sit back and watch the feeding frenzy as the people who already hated him try to chew him up and spit him out using the new weapon you’ve handed them.

Of course, none of this even begins to broach the specific prejudice in question, against Muslims. There is always something. Whether the fear being exploited is of someone’s color, or religion, or gender, or sexual orientation, there is always some group that is demonized by a significant portion of the populace. All anyone has to do is find what that bit of meat is, infuse it with the scent of the target, and then throw it to the dogs and watch the vicious attacks begin.

So why are 10% of the population willing to believe, in the face of truth being shouted from the mountaintops and all over the national media, that Barak Obama is a Muslim, and presumably hate him even more than they do already because of that belief? Is it because he’s black, and some people believe that blacks are more likely to be Muslim because of Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, or Muhammad Ali? Is it because of his African name? And why is it such a horrible thing to believe of him in the first place?

We have become a nation that equates a particular religion with violence, hatred and anti-American sentiment. In the past we accused atheists of the same things, and in the future it will probably be pagans or some other belief system. For a nation that is supposed to champion freedom of religion, we are atrociously bigoted and hateful. And it is shameful. We are supposed to be better than this, people! And above all, we are supposed to value truth, and not be so gullible as to glom on to any and every lie that gives us another excuse to stoke our petty, mean-spirited hatreds. Grow the f*ck up!

Tags: Christianity, Current Events, Government, Politics, Religion, Vivienne D'Avalon by Vivienne D'Avalon
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Here at CroneSeraphim we strive to bring civil rights news items to your attention that might not be covered by main stream media. But anyone who has read our “about us” page  or our bios knows that we are not just pundits, we are Pagan pundits. One of our main goals is to share with other Wiccans and Pagans some of the magickal practices we have found useful to positively affect our world.

The main political problem that seems to be on everyone’s mind right now is the Presidential election, particularly the heavily contested democratic primary. However, the spell I suggest here will work equally well for the general election, once the democratic nominee has been selected. It is not meant to take the place of active participation in the mundane political process, but rather to provide a spiritual supplement that will boost the effectiveness of those efforts, as well as provide a psychological boost to help keep you fighting for what you believe.

I’m going to assume that the majority of you reading this have not only made up your minds who you support in the democratic primary, but are either strongly in favor of one candidate or strongly opposed to the other (particularly if you are planning to vote for John McCain in the general election). There has been a lot of bad press directed at all three candidates, but particularly at Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton. The following is a spell from the hoodoo tradition, designed to send negativity back whence it came while positively supporting your candidate.

For this spell you will need:

1. a special candle poured with the bottom half black and the top half white (available at occult supply shops that offer hoodoo equipment and supplies);

2. a knife sharp enough to carve and shape the candle;

3. a mirror you can burn the candle on;

4. optional: “reversible” oil, which should be available at the same place you find the candle;

5. matches or a lighter to light the candle with.

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Tags: Current Events, Government, Magic, Paganism, Politics, Vivienne D'Avalon by Vivienne D'Avalon
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 Part 1:

 Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Tags: Current Events, Politics, Religion, Vivienne D'Avalon by Vivienne D'Avalon
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Just a few items from this week’s news that I didn’t have a chance to cover in depth:

Bush vetoes a bill that would make torture illegal:

The Guardian

MSNBC

This one really disgusts me, as it should all of us!

***
Pelosi follows through on her threat to file a civil suit to enforce the contempt of Congress charges against Harriet Myers and Josh Bolton, and the Congressional subpoenas.  See my earlier post for the background.

House Speaker’s Blog

***
An atheist organization in Nepal has been instrumental in the demise of the monarchy there.  The God-King will be replaced with a democracy, and the atheist group is participating in an interim coalition government during the transition.

Transcript of NPR’s story
***
Buddhists in Tibet have been participating in massive demonstrations this week to protest Chinese oppression.

NPR story

Have a good week everyone, and try to avoid that flu that’s been going around!

BB,
Vivienne

Tags: Current Events, Government, Paganism, Politics, Religion, Vivienne D'Avalon by Vivienne D'Avalon
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This morning (Wednesday, March 12, 2008) NPR aired a story that salvia divinorum may soon be made illegal. For those of you who don’t know what salvia is, it’s a form of sage that has some psychoactive effects. Salvia is currently an uncontrolled substance, because its chemical makeup and effects are too dissimilar to drugs that are already banned — the law says that a drug has to be similar to a drug already on a particular schedule or class of illicit substances, in order to be included in that list. However, a substance can be added to this list based on analysis of 8 factors: 

• Actual and potential for abuse
• Pharmacology
• Other current scientific knowledge
• History and current pattern of abuse
• Scope, duration, and significance of abuse
• Public health risk
• Psychic or physiological dependence liability
• If an immediate precursor of a controlled substance

….  Based on the results of the analysis, the DEA may recommend that Salvia divinorum be scheduled as a controlled substance.

Salvia has been used by shamans and other spiritual seekers for “out of body” experiences and similar meditative practices. It does not have a market as a social drug, because the mental states it creates in the user are not conducive to social interaction, but rather, introspection. Just as with alcohol or tobacco, the user must act responsibly, and know enough not drive or operate heavy machinery while under the influence of any mind altering substance. However, NPR is reporting suicides that have supposedly been linked to salvia, thus causing a renewed push for criminalization.

Salvia divinorum is currently illegal in several states in America and in many countries around the world, and more states are jumping on the banning bandwagon every day. The DEA considers it “a drug of concern.” “The majority of the pending legislation would add the plant ‘Salvia divinorum’ to the states’ lists of controlled substances.”

In G. Pagan’s March 12, 2007 bill analysis of California AB259, he quotes information that

The effects produced by Salvia divinorum are not comparable to any other effects produced by the other psychoactive substances (i.e., peyote, psilocybin, LSD, etc.). This also includes variables of the user, such as body weight, sensitivity, strength, and dose taken and method used. The effects can range from subtle to extremely strong, causing an individual to have out-of-body experiences and create a real potential for physical danger to oneself and others.

Pagan’s analysis also discusses the fact that prisons are already overflowing because so many people are being incarcerated on drug charges because of substances that are already banned.

Salvia’s reputation suffers from “the current lack of laboratory and clinical research into its potential therapeutic properties.” So of course, rather than do responsible research, fear mongers are instead gunning to criminalize it so they can seize yet more control over their “subjects” — otherwise known as American citizens. Never mind that there are freedom of religion issues, that salvia “was used for both medicinal and religious purposes by the Mazatec Indians in Oaxaca well before the arrival of European colonial powers” and that it is currently in use by modern day shamans pursuing that freedom of religion. Never mind that we are supposed to have the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” in this country; if the pharmaceutical companies can’t charge an arm and a leg to sell us chemical happiness, Whhhhyyyy, it’s a danger to society! Ban it! Burn it! Throw the witches in prison! Never mind that the prisons are already stuffed to the gills, that just means more money for the companies that build prisons and hire out guards and supply weapons!

“Salvia divinorum is a valuable medicinal herb that is rarely abused…. It is not habit-forming, not addictive, and does not present a significant risk to public health or safety. Because it is a powerful consciousness-altering herb, some regulation of sales is sensible and appropriate, but criminalizing possession certainly is not.”

So why can’t we use common sense, people? Why is that so frikkin hard????

Tags: Current Events, Government, Morals, Paganism, Science and Technology by Vivienne D'Avalon
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Tags: Current Events, Government, Religion, Vivienne D'Avalon by Vivienne D'Avalon
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