Michael Ruse - 14 January 2013:

In the mid-1960s, Lovelock returned to the somewhat isolated village in the south of England, where he lived, undisturbed, with his family. Here he talked things over with his one close friend, the novelist William Golding, a man who likewise sought solitude, especially since the success of his first novel, The Lord of the Flies (1954). It was Golding who gave a name to Lovelock’s insight, suggesting that it be called Gaia, after the ancient Greek goddess of Earth. But Golding did more than just give the idea a name. For the next few years, as Lovelock extended his thinking on the subject, Golding encouraged and helped the scientist to explore his hypothesis. This came naturally. Since his youth, Golding had been an enthusiast for the thinking of the polymath and mystic Rudolf Steiner. Steiner, who is best known today as the founder of the Waldorf (or Steiner) school system, which emphasises the role of the imagination in learning, had some very odd ideas (many derived from the theosophists) about heavenly spirits and reincarnation, all bound up with an idealistic philosophy that sees life throbbing everywhere. Hence, absolutely central to Steiner’s thought, was the view that Earth is living, it is an organism.

Lovelock did send one of his sons to a Steiner school, apparently without embracing the metaphysics of the Steiner system. Nonetheless, in Golding he found a sympathetic listener who was, in any case, primed, from his longstanding interest in Steiner’s philosophy, to hear that Earth was a living thing.

Ariel Sabar - September 18, 2012

Harvard researcher Karen King today unveiled an ancient papyrus fragment with the phrase, “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife.’” The text also mentions “Mary,” arguably a reference to Mary Magdalene. The announcement at an academic conference in Rome is sure to send shock waves through the Christian world. The Smithsonian Channel will premiere a special documentary about the discovery on September 30 at 8 p.m. ET. And Smithsonian magazine reporter Ariel Sabar has been covering the story behind the scenes for weeks, tracing King’s steps from when a suspicious e-mail hit her in-box to the nerve-racking moment when she thought the entire presentation would fall apart. Read our exclusive coverage below.

Harvard Divinity School’s Andover Hall overlooks a quiet street some 15 minutes by foot from the bustle of Harvard Square. A Gothic tower of gray stone rises from its center, its parapet engraved with the icons of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I had come to the school, in early September, to see Karen L. King, the Hollis professor of divinity, the oldest endowed chair in the United States and one of the most prestigious perches in religious studies. In two weeks, King was set to announce a discovery apt to send jolts through the world of biblical scholarship—and beyond.

Full story

Jay’s Analysis

In Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, we are presented with a prescient, dystopian future based on Phillip K. Dick’s novella, “Do Android’s Dream of Electric Sheep?” We will see that this film is full of not only accurate predictions of the future’s general landscape, but is also suffused with occult imagery and deep symbolic themes, as well as raising crucial moral and social issues. As I will argue, the film operates on several levels: as the immediate story itself, the predictive future level with social critiques, the level of covert operations and mind control, and the deepest level, that of myths, archetypes, and alchemical occult initiatory transformation. All these levels must be integrated to grasp the full import of the film as Ridley Scott conveys it. The deepest level is what holds the other levels together in coherence and meaning.

As the film begins, the viewer is shown the 2020 landscape of Los Angeles, and then an eye viewing the landscape. The eye represents the viewer, and just as I explained in my analysis of Eyes Wide Shut, the viewing of the film itself will constitute an initiatory experience. The viewer is going to be shown the elite plan, yet the eyes of most will remain shut. For the masses, there is no ability to make deeper level connections and associations between ideas, symbols and archetypes. For the viewer who has eyes to see, they are seeing the future itself, as well as the worldview of the ruling class. In fact, Blade Runner ranks with Eyes Wide Shut as one of the most explicit revelations of the method of the ruling oligarchs. My interpretation of this is confirmed by the fact that the film doesn’t show us whose eye we see. In fact, the reflection in the eye shows the scene the viewer just saw of the L.A. cityscape.

Full story

Jay’s Analysis - March 16, 2012

At the end of H.G. Wells’ Outlines of History, he speaks about the “rise of the machines” and their ability to allay the toils of men, granting them more leisure for scientific products, art, and other harmonious progressive pursuits. Education will become universal, and a better world will ensue. Wells was, to be fair, spot on with many of his sci-fi predictions. One can’t but notice that this article confirms his claims from The Time Machine concerning the devolution into “stunted pig-goblin creatures” to quote Alex Jones, likened to the Morlocks, while the elites will become like the Eloi.

However, the rise of the machines has been wilder than even Wells could have imagined, and will probably not be the universal utopia Outlines imagines, but something closer to the dystopia of The Time Machine. In fact, we have reached the point where A.I. is nearing the ability of what we see in many science fiction films and novels, yet I agree with the affirmation of Douglas Hofstadter in Godel, Escher, Bach that we will not achieve self-awareness. Even if this did occur, there is no certain test to determine the existence of “self-awareness,” and the modern scientists who argue to no end against the soul or mind must also take their dogma of the inability to “prove consciousness” and apply it to the golem. On their basis, you could no more prove one than the other. So the reductionists who think consciousness is merely matter have no problem identifying humans as “more complex” computers (like Daniel Dennett). Nevermind that they are all guilty of the naturalistic fallacy.

Full story

Hannah Thomas - 9 March 2011

The quaint cul-de-sac of Kidwelly in west Wales has been stirred by news that a satanic cult has been carrying out sexual assaults and a string of child rapes over the past several decades within the small community.

Self-styled high priest, Colin Batley, was yesterday found guilty of conducting quasi-religious sex sessions involving children with his wife Elaine and fellow cult members Jacqueline Marling and Shelly Millar.

Batley began the sordid rituals by reading from The Book Of The Law, written more than 100 years ago by occultist Aleister Crowley, to brainwash his victims before ordering hooded cult members to have sex.

Full story

—————

Kidwelly sex cult victim breaks silence to tell of childhood horrors

John Lanagan - January 18th, 2011

“You can become a Reiki master in three weekends.” –Lisa Oz, wife of Dr. Mehmet Oz

Perhaps it is not surprising Dr. Mehmet Oz, a key teacher in Rick Warren’s 52 week health-and-wellness Daniel Plan, has been influenced by occultist Emanuel Swedenborg. Although Swedenborg rejected the biblical Christ, and communed with familiar spirits, some of Swedenborg’s admirers have been culturally significant figures. At this point in his career, Dr. Mehmet Oz certainly qualifies as such.

Those who have either appreciated or followed Swedenborg’s theology have included Helen Keller, Johnny Appleseed, Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Carl Jung, Henry James Sr., the poet Robert Frost, and Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Swedenborg, who died in the 1700s, has been called the father of modern day spiritualism. It is likely Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill Wilson’s bondage to the spirit world began with his introduction to Swedenborg’s teachings. Despite erroneous claims he was a Christian, Wilson’s spirituality was one of seances, familiar spirits, and the Ouija board. [1]

Full story

————–

N.B. Swedenborg has been idolized by esoteric adherents since the 18th century. Masons tried to incorporate his methods for communication with spirits (e.g. the Philalèthes, Swedenborgian Rite, and the Illuminés d’Avignon), while Swedenborgian “theosophy” influenced such figures as William Blake, Charles Baudelaire, Honoré de Balzac, the mystic “Illuminist” movement of the 19th century, as well as the Martinist and Rosicrucian traditions. Swedenborgian adherents have also been to be attracted to millenarianism as well as Sabbatianism, and the so-called New Thought movement is rife with his teachings.

Chris White combines tenaciousness with a rare clarity of thought. Whether or not you agree with his opinions, his stance, or his motives, White’s particular brand of criticism is timely, perhaps even necessary.

I’ve never been involved with the so-called “truth movement.” My own awakening to the machinations of the elite occurred in the early 1990s. Michael Tsarion, Jordan Maxwell and David Icke weren’t around back then (perhaps Maxwell was; toiling in obscurity somewhere). I was reading Gary Allen’s None Dare Call it Conspiracy and William T. Still’s New World Order: The Ancient Plan of Secret Societies, while listening to Wild Bill Cooper’s ‘Hour of the Time’ on a cheap short wave radio – before Waco, before the OKC bombing, and a decade before 9/11. However, at the same time I was also into Robert Anton Wilson, Michael Howard’s The Occult Conspiracy, John White’s theories of an imminent Pole Shift, Richard Noone’s Ice: the Ultimate Disaster, anything and everything on Nostradamus, John Anthony West’s Serpent in the Sky: The High Wisdom of Ancient Egypt and a plethora of “hidden history” proponents. I took these various authors with a grain of salt; cautiously sceptical, until further investigation.

It’s the latter milieu that resonates with the material David Icke is known for: a curious and confusing fence-straddling which acknowledges the conspiratorial hidden hand of history while at the same time somewhat admiring much of its core doctrine.

Obvious to point out is the fact that knowledge is inherently neither good nor evil. However, from the Christian stance of Chris White, there are certain teachings – and the practical application thereof – which are disconcerting to say the least. Instead of flirting with, even promoting the doctrine found within the (Blavatsky/Bailey) theosophical strain of western esotericism, White feels, rather – as do I – that it should be discredited or shown for what it is.

The word “debunk” is an unsettling word. And for the true critical thinker it has long since become unpalatable. It immediately brings to mind argumentative and dogmatic sceptics; the high-horsed, self-professed know-it-alls; the Michael Shermers and James Randis of the world. And besides: a debunking can be construed as a ridiculing. Perhaps another title for the documentary would have been recommended. (Ironically, Michael Barkun – the academic conspiracy theory debunker – fittingly described Icke as a “New Age Conspiracist.”)

————–

David Icke Debunked

Paul and Phillip Collins Discuss the Modern Pagan Revival on TCR Reports

Resurgence of paganism in our time. Last June when the authors of The Ascendancy of the Scientific Dictatorship were last here they spoke about the strange UFO cults abounding in our time and the history of government Black-Ops relative to the phenomenon. This time the discussion will center on the philosophical underpinnings of all this and other consequences of rejecting the Christian world view. [Listen here]

———-

VFTB Live: Paul & Phillip Collins — The Virtual Panopticon

Authors of The Ascendancy of the Scientific Dictatorship discuss the influence and legacy of 18th century philosopher and architect Jeremy Bentham. Bentham’s invention of a new type of prison, in which inmates could be watched by jailers at any time and all the time — without their knowledge — has disturbing implications for the total surveillance society in which we find ourselves today. Plus the Bunker Intelligence Briefing and your calls. [Listen here]

The ancient Egyptians were not the only ones who created art for magical purposes

Jonathan Jones - 4 November 2010

Magic is halfway between science and religion. Hear me out, secularists, hear me out. Religion is concerned with a spiritual realm beyond the visible world. Science only accepts – for practical purposes and, if you are Richard Dawkins and others, for philosophical purposes, too – the existence of that visible world, and attempts to discover its nature and how it works. But magic is the desire to use invisible forces to change the visible world.

Works of art that we look at today in museums, as if they were solely intended for mute aesthetic contemplation, were often made for magical purposes. This is clearly true of the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, but it also applies to art made thousands of years later in Europe. In Renaissance Florence, portraits of traitors were often painted on walls in public places – after one conspiracy, no less an artist than Sandro Botticelli portrayed the conspirators on the Piazza della Signoria. These were not merely “wanted” posters. They were visual curses: paintings that set out to injure their victims, to invoke malevolent magic. In a similar way, when a Venetian Doge betrayed the Republic of Venice his portrait in the Doge’s Palace was blanked out. A modern regime might simply remove his picture: by preserving it over the centuries, as a blank space, Venice did something more potent and spooky.

Full story

Jay Dyer - Sep 23, 2010

As with many 80s films I grew up with, they seemed quite innocuous on the surface level, but as you mature, you are able to reflect on the subtler messages and meanings in film and literature. My own and Peter Parker’s reviews here have garnered quite a few thousand hits over the past couple years, so I can take that as further confirmation that we are certainly on the right track. Several sites will review modern films and point out the deeper meanings, hidden symbols and predictive programming, but very few do what we do – go back in time looking for it. Other sites tend to focus on the purely esoteric or ‘Illuminati agenda’ messages which may or may not actually there. What we try to do is a real decoding, as broad in scope as possible, with a more holistic semiotic, as opposed to reading films through a singular “conspiracy” lens. Not everything is conspiracy.

That said, there are some fascinating things going on in Mad Max 3 beyond the surface post-apocalyptic adventure tale. There are actually some very profound social critiques, symbols, philosophical theories and esoteric images used. So let’s begin. Part 3 starts with Max on his own again, the ever-scorned, never appreciated, jaded hero. Max is the loner reduced to a state of survival: a Clint Eastwood type, who has given up on civilization (and not without reason). In fact, one of the chief themes of Thunderdome will be about the nature of civilization itself – is it really that civilized?

Full story

Bill Bumpas - 8/18/2010

Excerpt:

Dr. Bruce Shortt, author of The Harsh Truth about Public Schools, explains to OneNewsNow that the Waldorf system is based on a dangerous philosophy called “anthroposophy” from the writings of 19th-century Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner.

“And in those writings he basically posits that the universe is driven by conflict between Lucifer and the god of darkness called ‘Ahriman’ — and his educational philosophy is built around that conflict,” says Shortt. “…In fact, in his view Christ came to earth as a ’son god’ to balance the forces of light and darkness.”

The author says these views are reflected in The Waldorf Teachers Survival Guide.

“As a matter of fact, quoting from the guide, it says ‘most of what contributes to our work as teachers — preparation work, artistic work, even meditative work — is under the guardianship of Lucifer. We can become great teachers under his supervision….’ And it continues in that vein.”

Ronald Reagan had an interest in lucky numbers and newspaper horoscopes. Less known is that a certain scholar of occult philosophy had a lifelong influence on the 40th president of the United States. Mitch Horowitz, editor-in-chief of Tarcher/Penguin and the author of “Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation,” reveals the details.

By Mitch Horowitz, April 30, 2010

In spring of 1988, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater acknowledged publicly what journalists had whispered for years: Ronald and Nancy Reagan were devotees of astrology. A tell-all memoir had definitively linked the first lady to a San Francisco stargazer, confirming speculation that started decades earlier when Reagan, as California’s governor-elect, scheduled his first oath of office at the eyebrow-raising hour of 12:10 a.m. Many detected an effort to align the inaugural with promising heavenly signs. Fitzwater also confirmed the president’s penchant for “lucky numbers,” or what is sometimes called numerology.

There was more to the story than the White House let on. In a speech and essay produced decades apart, Reagan revealed the unmistakable mark of a little-known but widely influential scholar of occult philosophy, Manly P. Hall. Judging from a tale that Reagan borrowed from Hall, the president’s reading tastes ran to some of the outer reaches of esoteric spiritual lore.

Full story

(via Arthur Goldwag)

David Livingstone - Sun, 02/21/2010

ust finished reading Dan Brown’s latest. I don’t normally read fiction, but I read this just to stay in touch with the type of propaganda that is being disseminated.

This book is utterly ridiculous. It’s a great example of modern American kitsch. It takes all the sleazy ploys of American entertainment, and applies them to celebrate the lowliest aspect of modern civilization: secret societies, and all the pseudo-spiritual accoutrements of occultism.

This book takes an amazing turn however. It’s been at least 250 years since the occult underground has been concentrating their efforts on discrediting Christianity. It’s been consistent. Explore the teachings of occult philosophers, and you’ll find repeated and vociferous condemnations of the Christian religion. Brown’s last two works have been no different. Until now.

Full story

Patrick Zukeran - Probe Ministries

James Cameron’s hit movie Avatar presents dazzling new animation technology and special effects yet an old message and a familiar story: when mankind embraces the pantheist worldview, there will result a oneness with nature. This enlightened union will lead to a life of peace and paradise upon the planet. The title of the movie itself gives its message away—an avatar in Hinduism is an incarnation or the descent of a deity to earth.

One of the most popular gods to appear as an avatar is Vishnu, the preserver god and one of the three main gods in the Hindu Pantheon. There are ten famous manifestations of Vishnu in the sacred writings of Hinduism [Jonathan Smith, ed. The Harper Collins Dictionary of Religion (San Francisco: Harper Collins Publishers, 1995), 96.].

Full story

Top contender recalls ‘negative energy attack’

Alison Mutler and George Jahn, January 24, 2010

BUCHAREST, Romania - Was a top contender for the Romanian presidency zapped out of the race by a shadowy parapsychologist enlisted by his rival?

The claim might be dismissed as preposterous in most other European Union countries. But here in Romania, home of Dracula and other occult traditions, Mircea Geoana’s assertion that a “negative energy attack’’ led to his narrow loss to reelected President Traian Basescu has been the talk of the nation.

“The Evil Witch defeated Geoana,’’ wrote the daily Evenimentul Zilei in a recent commentary typical of the buzz. “Romanian politicians really believe that magic forces can make you president or can destroy you.

“May the Force be with us!’’

Like most former Soviet bloc nations, Romania is used to rough and tumble politics and the first claims and counterclaims after Basescu’s narrow Dec. 6 runoff victory were nothing out of the ordinary, with Geoana’s people complaining of massive fraud.

Then came the startling allegation: Geoana, in media interviews last week, asserted that he was targeted by waves of negative energy during a key debate just before the runoff that was won by Basescu.

Full story