Feast of the Transfiguration: Celebrated on August 6th

August 6th marks the day Jesus displayed his divine, luminous body to his disciples on Mount Tabor.  Go ahead and look on the web for the Church's POV of this event, here on EsotericDaily.com we are interested in the esoteric event that took place that day.

Rudolf Steiner first discussed the Transfiguration in Christianity as a Mystical Fact and then expounded upon it in his lecture courses on the four Gospels. As the biblical event is recounted in the Gospels of Matthew 17 and Mark 9, Jesus led his most trusted and advanced disciples, Peter, James and John, up a high "mountain" and was transfigured before them. Jesus appeared to them, rising up into the heavens and holding counsel with Elijah and Moses. 

On the surface I have to ask, "who picked the mushrooms?"  Matthew 17 and Mark 9 seems to be a mushroom trip.  But this was no psychedelic high, this was a divine experience, and not only did Peter, James and John see this glorious vision, they heard what transpired! According to Steiner, "They attained both clairvoyance and clairaudience."

Rudolf Steiner discusses the significance of the presence of Moses and Elijah as two different spiritual streams flowing into the world. Moses had been initiated into the secrets of Judaism as well as other traditions. He carried the secrets of initiation of the whole surrounding world in the first stream. It is a path of what comes from outside of oneself, the old law, and the Old Testament. Elijah, on the other hand, represented a second stream accessed through direct revelation. He had previously incarnated as Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, and later as John the Baptist in the New Testament (who had been executed prior to the Transfiguration). Thus, Elijah carried the stream of revelation held by Hebrew priests and prophets, which at that time was fading from humanity.

So in the Transfiguration, in the Transformation on the mountain, we have before us a streaming together of the entire spirituality of earth evolution, the essence of which flowed through the Jewish blood into the Levitical line. Thus the soul of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron stands before us; Moses stands before us; and there stands before us also He who fulfilled the Mystery of Golgotha. And the three disciples who were to be initiated, Peter, James and John, were to perceive in imaginative knowledge how these forces, these spiritual streams, flowed together. [...] The disciples Peter, James, and John were to be initiated into what these three souls had to discuss together; one soul who belonged to the people of the Old Testament, one who carried within himself much of what we know about the Moses soul, while the third, as cosmic deity, is uniting Himself with the earth. This the disciples were to see [...]

But then our understanding is better able to adapt itself to what had previously been seen. We can feel how on the mountain there were the three cosmic powers, while down below were the three who were to be initiated into these great cosmic secrets. And from all these things the feeling can arise in our souls that the Gospel, if we understand it correctly, and especially if we allow the dramatic intensification and the artistic composition which is itself an expression everywhere of cosmic facts, does truly point to the great revolution that really happened at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha.

In a lecture to the Theosophical Society in 1906 on the Gospel of John, Rudolf Steiner notes that the Transfiguration is recounted in all of the Gospels except for the Gospel of John, the most esoteric of the four. He discusses the significance of this by clarifying the spiritual significance of what takes place in the biblical scene.

Jesus goes with three disciples — Peter, James and John — up a mountain: this means into the inner sanctuary where one is initiated into higher worlds and where one also speaks in occult language. The disciples were carried up into a higher state of consciousness. They saw then that which is not transitory but eternal. Moses and Elias appear and Jesus himself with them.

What does this mean? In occult science the word Elias means the same as El — the goal, the way. Moses is the spiritual scientific word for truth. By the fact that Elias, Moses and Jesus appear you have the fundamental Christian truth: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. Jesus himself says — this is a fundamental Christian mystical truth — “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” (John 14:6) 

A new process of direct initiation through Christ

The disciples did not understand that it was they themselves who, being closely around Him, were chosen to experience the tremendous power of the Christ principle which would enable them to penetrate directly into the spiritual world. [...] But it is evident that they are still novices, for they fall asleep immediately after being torn out of their physical and etheric bodies by the stupendous power of what was happening. Christ finds them asleep. This account was meant to indicate the third way of entering the spiritual world [...]. Anyone capable in those days of interpreting the signs of the times would have known that the Ego itself must develop, that it must now be directly inspired, that the Divine Powers must work directly into the Ego.

Christ Jesus was to initiate in a particular way those of His disciples who were specially fit for it, so that they would be able not only to see the spiritual worlds with Imaginative vision, as it were in astral pictures, but actually to hear what was taking place in those realms — this, as we know, indicates ascent into Devachan. Hence, having been transported into the higher worlds, these disciples would now be able to find in those worlds the personality known to them on the physical plane as Christ Jesus. They were to become clairvoyant in regions higher than the astral plane.

The whole power of the elements was renewed. The three disciples were "taken up the mountain" and called by their initiate names: Peter meaning earth, John representing air, James meaning water, and finally Jesus is “the one who governs the occult forces of fire.”

Think of these four together on the Mount of Transfiguration. There you have at the same time, the initiates who govern the four elements: fire, water, air and earth. What happened? It was made manifest spiritually that through the appearance of Jesus, the whole power of the elements was renewed in such a way that the life pulsing through the elements passed through a new, important phase of its development. This is the transfiguration seen occultly. If somebody goes through the transfiguration in this manner, if he has within himself the stages of water, earth and air, and even rises to the forces of fire, then he is a reawakened one, someone who has gone through the crucifixion.

In Christianity as Mystical Fact, Steiner recounts the sublime end of the Buddha’s life that parallels the Transfiguration of Jesus. While the Buddha's life ended with Transfiguration, the life of Christ Jesus continued strengthened.

[Buddha] lay down on a carpet spread for him by his favorite disciple, Ananda. His body began to shine from within. He died transfigured, a body of light, saying, “Nothing endures.” … The death of Buddha corresponds with the transfiguration of Jesus: “And it came to pass about eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistening.” At this point Buddha's earthly life ends, but the most important part of the life of Jesus begins here: Passion, Death and Resurrection. The difference between Buddha and Christ lies in what necessitated the continuation of the life of Christ Jesus beyond that of Buddha.

This peak experience is in sharp contrast to the world into which Jesus and His disciples descended. In the Gospels, Jesus' words foretell the suffering and death of the Son of Man as they immediately confront the sickness and suffering of humanity. Indeed, the transfiguration was a foreshadowing of the ascension, but the sacrifice of the Son of Man was necessary to make the path of redemption available to all. With the Transfiguration, Jesus began the most important part of his life.

Buddha's life ends with the transfiguration. The most significant part of the life of Jesus begins after the transfiguration. In the language of the initiates, Buddha reaches the point where divine light begins to shine in man. He stands before the death of the physical. He becomes the cosmic light. Jesus goes further. He does not die physically at the moment the cosmic light transfigures him. At that moment he is a Buddha. But at the same moment he enters upon a stage which finds expression in a higher degree of initiation. He suffers and dies. The physical part of him disappears. But the spiritual, the cosmic light does not vanish. His resurrection follows. He reveals himself to his community as Christ. At the moment of his transfiguration, Buddha dissolves into the hallowed life of the universal Spirit. Christ Jesus awakens this universal Spirit once more to present existence in a human form. Such an event had formerly taken place in a pictorial sense at the higher stages of initiation. Those initiated according to the Osiris myth attained to such a resurrection in their consciousness as a pictorial experience.

In the life of Jesus this "great" initiation was added to the Buddha initiation, not as a pictorial experience, but as reality. Buddha demonstrated by his life that man is the Logos and that he returns to this Logos, to the light, when his physical part dies. In Jesus the Logos itself became a person. In him the Word became flesh.

In the original calendar given in 1912-13, Verklärung Christi is noted on August 6th which in that year was verse 18. It approaches a "corner verse" warning of risks during the transition from summer to autumn. We move from the Luciferic influences of St. John's tide and summer's bounty to the battle of Michael against the forces of Ahriman during the fall into the dead of winter. We are challenged to release the lower aspects of the ego, which by itself would extinguish itself like a moth to the flame. To do this, we must expand the soul to fill our "spiritual depths" with the "World-widths" of the "Word of worlds." In verse 17, we were beckoned to resonate with cosmic forces to transform ourselves.

In verse 18, we attempt to shape the soul into a worthy sheath to form a garment for the soul. Like a caterpillar enclosing ourselves in a chrysalis, we weave light into a protective shield while we fashion our wings to rise above this material world into the realms of the Spirit. Rudolf Steiner tells us, "Earthly matter is spun in the pattern of light rays, and when you come across a chrysalis you are really seeing pure sunlight spun around this earthly matter in the pattern of the sunbeam."

Can I expand the soul,
That it may connect itself
Receiving the embryonic Words of Worlds?
I sense, I must find the power,
To worthily shape the soul,
To form
A spiritual raiment.

One might contemplate the ripe fruit of summer carrying the seed down into the earth through our actions. Transforming the gifts of summer that we have received, we prepare to become the catalysts of our own soul growth. We come to a deep understanding that our soul development must incorporate the love that was graced upon us. Can we extend ourselves to unite with the Light of the World to transform into the radiant beings we are intended to be?

Our task is to internalize and safeguard the gifts we have been given through our memories of summer's glory so we may radiate the Light of the World here on earth. In this way, we bring spiritual forces down into the dark depths of winter. We must transform, transfigure, clarify, and illuminate the ego to attain the "higher self" through the Christ. Indeed, we are called to align our ego with the very ego of the Christ, the Life that flows through the earth. Those who have adequately prepared themselves for the Divine to dwell within them, may carry the cosmic Word out into the world through their actions like Peter, John and James.

Like most Christian celebrations, the dates were not known and so the Roman Church attached the biblical events to pagan celebrations.  In this case, it has been argued that it took place during the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, explaining why Peter was so eager to build a "tent" or "tabernacle" to house Jesus, Moses and Eljiah.

If this is true, then it would have been during September or October that the transfiguration occurred, not August 6th.

~~ Dr TV Boogie

Okay, it is August 5th, which I have written about before,  this is a rehash with some new Esoteric info.

August 5th, esoterically speaking, a pretty typical day for those of us with eyes to see.  Of course, Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her Hollywood bungalow on this day in 1962.  You've heard the stories, how she had an affair with the Kennedy brothers, and the younger brother, Bobby Kennedy, who was the Attorney General and in Los Angeles on the night she died,  was recorded asking, "Is it done?" on the night she died.  

I don't know if he killed her or not, but if you look at pictures of the scene, it's definitely staged with pills thrown over the floor.  Not something an overdose victim usually does.  They usually drink a shitload of alcohol, and then pop the pills, and drown on their own vomit.  Don't ask me how I know, I know.  

Then there is the fact that Marylin had embarrassed President Kennedy a few months earlier, on May 19, when she sang "Happy Birthday Mr. President," in her heavily cleavaged voice, which, made Jackie, the president wife, turn red. 

I'll leave it there because I gave up on conspiracies because it was stunting my spiritual growth; but, well, President Kennedy and Jacqueline posed for the following public domain photo on the same day Marilyn was found dead, which seems like a pretty good alibi if you needed.  I'm just saying. 

On another hot August 4th in 1864, Admiral David Farragut gave his command, "Damn the Torpedoes."  These words have earned him a place in history, as well as all future books of quotations.  Farragut was a southerner born gentleman from Tennessee who chose to fight for the North.  On the morning of August 4th, Farragut lead his fleet into the strong Confederate area off the Alabama coast, and immediately the enemy opened fire and all hell broke loose.  The Confederates had laced the channel with mines (then called torpedoes), and the leading Yankee warship blew up and sank with all hands.  Near panic and uncertain whether to attack or retreat, Farragut refused to turn back and screamed, "Damn the torpedoes!  Full speed ahead."  

The famous victory effectively closed the last Confederate port still in use, and made a major contribution to the North's victory.  

Another, less popular statement made by Farragut, was to a group of officers before the battle, where Farragut said,  "What matters it, General, whether you and I are killed or not?” He raised his glass to room. “We came here to die. It is our business and it must happen sooner or later. We must fight this thing out until there is no more than one man left and that man must be a Union man.”

Wow, makes me proud to have been a Navy man myself.

So how is this all esoteric?  I don't know, you tell me, but, it is August 5, and the 5th card of the Major Arcana is The Hierophant, which is the interpreter of sacred mysteries, so maybe we should ask him?  Also, the 5th Hexagram of the I Ching is "Waiting," so let's wait and see if he responds anytime soon?

And while we do that, let me close by saying that on another hot August 5th in 1921, a newspaper cartoon by Rollin Kirby becomes the first cartoon ever awarded a Pulitzer Prize. The cartoon was titled, "On the Road to Moscow,"  which is a cartoon that depicts the Grim Reaper leading a line of Soviets, suffering under the 1921 famine brought on by a drought, but exasperated by the stubborn government policies which protected the rich over the needs of the poor.  Funny, but with Vladimir Putin's senseless war against Ukraine, it's a timely cartoon for today,  a hundred years later.  

And the new stuff I promised you:

Folk Lore and Traditions

New Moon Wishes: Traditional folklore holds that making a secret wish while looking up at the first new moon of early August brings manifestation before the year ends.
Seasonal Turning: Falling close to the early August harvest celebrations, the date aligns with agrarian magic, gratitude, and early preparation for the darkening half of the year. 

 The new moon this year is August 12th.  

Now, that's esoteric. 

 ~~ Eso Terry

 

Nazca Lines Seen From Sky

I hate to be the bearer of bad news. I try to be upbeat, positive, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, but, well:

Plane carrying European tourists crashes in Peru, killing 13 people on Nazca
What does it all mean?
First, a quick refresher on the Nazca lines (according to https://www.britannica.com/place/Nazca-Lines):

"Nazca Lines, groups of geoglyphs, large line drawings that appear, from a distance, to be etched into Earth’s surface on the arid Pampa Colorada (“Coloured Plain” or “Red Plain”), northwest of the city of Nazca in southern Peru. They extend over an area of nearly 190 square miles (500 square km).

Most of the Nazca Lines were constructed more than 2,000 years ago by the people of the Nazca culture (c. 200 bce–600 ce), though some clearly predate the Nazca and are considered to be the work of the earlier Paracas culture. While the images dated to the Paracas are often humanlike and bear some resemblance to still earlier petroglyphs in the region, the subjects of the Nazca-made lines are generally plants and animals—such as a monkey (some 360 feet [110 metres] long), a killer whale (210 feet [65 metres]), a bird resembling a condor (443 feet [135 metres]), a hummingbird (165 feet [50 metres]), a pelican (935 feet [285 metres]), a spider (150 feet [46 metres]), and various flowers, trees, and other plants—as well as geometric shapes, including triangles, trapezoids, and spirals. Although the figures have been said to be virtually indecipherable from ground level, some claim that one cannot understand their meaning without walking what are now believed by some to be the sacred paths.

Since their discovery in the 1920s, the lines have been variously interpreted, but their significance remains largely shrouded in mystery. The American historian Paul Kosok observed the lines from an airplane in 1941 and hypothesized that they were drawn for astronomical purposes. María Reiche, a German translator who spent years studying the site and lobbying for its preservation, concluded that it was a huge astronomical calendar and that some of its animal sketches were modeled after groupings of stars in the night sky. In 1967, however, the American astrophysicist Gerald Hawkins found no correlation between changes in the celestial bodies and the design of the Nazca Lines."

And of course, there is the Ancient Aliens theories that the lines were a signal to the UFO's that came at the beginning of our civilizations. I won't go to deep into that here, but I believe the Aliens are from the future, but can manifest in the past through time travel. This explains why we don't see them now, they haven't arrived yet! -- my meds work, trust me.

Now, the importance of the tourist plane crash is just another of my omens that shit is about to hit the fan. This goes with my stock market crash prediction, Donald Trump's Omen, and of course my premonition that one of the big three leaders, Trump, Putin, Xi, will soon die., not to forget that a 2000 year old stature of Athena has been dug up, and that Homer's Odyssey is the top movie playing this summer, can there be any doubt something is happening with the gods -- or future Aliens -- telling us to stop what we're doing and pay attention to the climate change, poverty, depleted resources (to name a few)?

Now, don't be alarmed, this is all a part of the divine plan, so roll with it. I mean, to not do so is just outright delusional.

What is significant about the Nazca plane crash is signifiant because of a few things:

1. Thirteen people died, "Thirteen" means a few things, first, in the Major Arcana of the Tarot, the 13th card is Death. Contrary to popular fear, when upright this card signifies transformation, endings, and rebirth rather than literal death.

Then, the teachings of Jesus are framed around the formula 1 + 12 (Christ plus the apostles), producing thirteen. According to Pythagorean philosophy, one added to twelve creates an unlimited number, symbolising transcendence beyond completion. Through this principle, miracles—such as the multiplication of loaves and fishes—are said to occur.

Thirteen represents an all-or-nothing law of destiny:Death through failure and degeneration
Rebirth through regeneration and transformation

It is also the sacred number of the Great Goddess, reflected in the thirteen lunar cycles of the year.

2. As stated above, the Nazca Lines at the very least, are a message to the heavens, or possibly an answer, and I'll say a warning to us today that we need to obey the heavens or else.

3. The plane went down on August 2nd, 2026. Numerologically speaking, that's 8-2-2026 that's 20 = 2. "Two" is the coming together of feminine forces. Which I've have written about before with the Age of Aquarius. And what we are witnessing now in the world with all this Nationalism is the last grasp of the Masculine forces that have been ruling the world since the time of Jesus, or beginning of the Age of Pisces. This is the positive force that will happen after the negative troubles we will soon experience.

Finally, in the blogesphere, people are writing about how bad the aircraft was, some say they flew it and the warning lights kept flashing. Whatever the case may be, those flashing lights aren't only on that plane. They are all around us.

~~ Eso Terry

Dodgers Are Now Cursed By The Trump Curse

So the Los Angeles Dodgers visited the Trump Goldish, White House on July 23, 2026, led by manager Dave Roberts, Shohei Ohtani, and Freddie Freeman to celebrate their back-to-back World Series titles.

Key Attendees

Shohei Ohtani: Four-time MVP who attended the Rose Garden ceremony.

Freddie Freeman: Star first baseman present for the celebration.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto: World Series MVP in attendance.

Dave Roberts: Manager who led the team visit.

Mark Walter: Principal team owner who gifted President Donald 

Trump a custom jersey and a championship ring.

Notable Absences

Mookie Betts: Star shortstop who opted not to attend.

Kike Hernández: Utility player who chose to stay away from the visit

I wrote about this on Bluesky as follows:

Looks like the #Dodgers have won their last World Series, the collective unconsciousness of the World is now against them. Jung called it the collective psychological shifts, he also said when individuals lose their independent thinking, shit like MAGA happens; the Dodgers are now #TrumpCursed

There are a few things to unpack here. First, I've written about the "wish" of the majority being played out in sports before: In the 2011 Baseball World Series the Texas Rangers were one strike away from winning the World Series in game six against the St. Louis Cardinals, when the Cardinals came back and won the series. It was one of the most craziest thing ever in a baseball championship. What you need to know about this World Series is that former president GW Bush was always seen in the background behind home base at the Texas games. Bush had owned the Rangers -- using Tax Payers money to pay for his stadium. Most people didn't like Bush because of his war against Iraq based on false claims -- which have been proven today.

I believe that the people watching that series were wishing for a loss for the Rangers so they wouldn't win the series, and the universe responded in a way there could be no doubt. Bush left defeated, he couldn't celebrate his team's win. They ended up losing a series they were one strike away from winning.  People had started leaving the stadium when St. Louis came back to win the series in 7 games. Conversely, fate made this up to the Rangers a few years ago when they won the World Series after ending the season on a losing streak and looking really bad as the final wildcard team. It seemed like a fluke when they won, beating better teams every go.

Which brings me to this past week when a few LA Dodgers went to the White House to be honored by President Trump. The Trump curse goes back to every business he ever owned, bankruptcy, criminal charges, unpaid contractors, etc.. During this year's NBA Finals the New York Nicks only lost one game before winning the title, the game Trump went to and was "boooed" when they showed his face on the big screen. Furthermore, during the recent World Cup, England had become an American-fan favorite until it came out that Kane, their top shooter had golfed a game with Donald Trump. Kane went on to have a terrible final game where England lost, then he was injured for their 3rd place matchup against France.

Now the Dodgers who have won the last two World Series have temped fate, and are certain to see misfortune, for they will be in our collective unconsciousness for having done so, and Donald Trump really is a bad person, no one disputes this, even his Christian followers defend him by comparing his actions to the terrible things King David did, like rapping another man's wife, murdering children, etc., and saying, "God works in mysterious ways," which for us non-believers is bullshit for we judge people by their deeds -- isn't that in the bible somewhere?

Revelation 20:13: "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works."

Jung talked about the collective unconsciousness. He actually used it to explain the rise of extreme political movements, such as in Nazi Germany. Jung argued that the German population had collectively activated the archetype of Wotan (a god of storm and frenzy), leading to a shared, destructive madness that physically reshaped the world through human actions.

So, the Dodgers are cursed. Wait and see. I'll keep you up.

~~ Eso Terry

July 22nd is So Esoteric I can't Stand It...or can I?

Yesterday, I quoted William Shakespeare in reference to the genocide of the Native Americans by Anglos.  Today, we see Shakespeare historically for on a hot July 22nd,  in 1598, The Merchant of Venice was licensed in a London registry office; conversely, a few years later on a July 22, in 1604, Bishop Bancroft and King James I of England developed the 14 instructions to the translator of a new version of the Bible.  The instructions were designed to ensure that the work would be a Protestant Bible and leave out those Lost Gospels which showed Jesus had a wife and kids, along with the

75 other books called "apocryphal" for stating such things as written by the only guy who wrote anything denouncing homosexuality in the bible, Paul, in the apocryphal book titled"The Acts of Paul," where Paul talks to lions, tigers, and bears... or The Book of Adam and Eve,  where Bartholomew ask Mary about her relationship with her son, and she agrees to tell him about her first date with God, but only if he held her legs and breasts securely so that she doesn't crumble into a pile of bones.  And this just scratches the surface of the great stories left out of the Bible to make the book easily accessible to closed minds, or as Hemingway said about his Oak Park suburban home: "The Land of Wide Lawns and Narrow Minds."  

Anyway, it is no secret that Shakespeare wrote much of the Bible (as I have written about in the past), and which has given the Bible its staying power in spite of its "Narrow" message for today's "Narrow Minds." 

So what else makes this July 22 so esoterically stimulating to me?... 

Well, in 1930 the first sighting of the famous Loch Ness monster was officially recorded in Scotland.

Not to be confused with another hot July 22, in 1934, when Public Enemy Number One, John Dillinger, was led out of a theater by his date/FBI Informant named Anna Sage ('Sage' was her prostitute/madame name, her real name was 'Cumpānas'), who wore a red dress to alert the G-Men of their target. The dress was actually orange, but that's how history goes.  Dillinger was murdered, and Anna Sage got what happens to all bad people who do bad things in history, (i.e, the baseball manger of the Houston Astros baseball team after they were caught cheating to win a championship), she was sent to Detroit, and then deported back to Romania in spite of the FBI's promise not to deport her if she helped them catch Dillinger.  Ah, the good-old-days were bad guys were bad, and good guys were badder. 

That's it for me, I'm going to go read some more of those apocryphal books to see what other smut was left out for the sake of a 'narrow minded' continuity, which I hope doesn't include you, but if it does, why are you here?

~~ Eso Terry 

Nero, Trump, Epstein, All In A Day's Post

According to the Roman senator and historian Tacitus, writing some fifty years after the event, a fire began on the hot summer's night of July 18, 64 AD in the southeastern end of Rome's largest hippodrome, the Circus Maximus.  Because the majority of Romans lived in wooden houses, the fire spread rapidly through the city, where it continued to burn for five days.  By the time it had been extinguished, it had razed four of Rome's fourteen districts and severely damaged seven others.  Many important buildings were destroyed, including Nero's palace, the Temple of Jupiter Stator, and the hearth where the sacred fire was kept burning in the Temple of Vesta.  The people of Rome were devastated and looked to their emperor for help.

When the fire started, Nero was taking his ease at Antium, a resort town on the coast some 31 miles south of the capital.  Concerned with his city, Nero hurried back to the capital in order to coordinate efforts to extinguish the fire and provide disaster relief for the population, with funds paid out of his own treasury.  When the fire was doused, Nero opened his palaces to survivors whose houses had been destroyed and ensured that food and other essentials were distributed. 

Once the fear and shock had worn off, people started looking around for someone to blame.  It was widely known that Nero had grand plans for the reconstruction of Rome, so rumors began to circulate around the city that it was the emperor himself who had ordered Rome to be burned to the ground.  Alarmed by the growing hostility of the people and desperate to retain their loyalty, he looked for a scapegoat, at which point his gaze fell upon a new sect called the Christians. 

Tacitus goes on to say that Nero created a diversion and subjected to the most extraordinary tortures those hated for their abominations by the common people called Christians.  So an arrest was made of all who confessed to be Christian and all were convicted, mocked, and throne to dogs, or nailed to crosses, or doomed to the flames. 

That's the story being told 64 years after the Christ thing, which, probable helped convert more Pagan's than the actual Christ Story.  But was it true?  In his book "The Greatest Lies in History," Alexander Canduci points out a few facts to the contrary.

Rome was not the marble, wide streets of the movies.  It was actually a jumble of wooden terraced homes, and fires were very common.  So when Tacitus claims that the only way a fire could have spread was from arson, doubtful.

 Romans knew of the Jesus story, a minor Jewish prophet who had been executed in the distant province of Jude’s some thirty years earlier, but the Christian sect of followers had barely been in existence for a generation, with most of its small membership drawn from the lower classes.
_______________________________________________________________________________

On this day in 1925, seven months after being released from Landsberg jail, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler publishes the first volume of his personal manifesto, Mein Kampf.  Dictated by Hitler during his nine-month stay in prison -- and edited and contributed to by all-the-great-hate-minds-of-the-day -- Mein Kampf, or My Struggle, was a bitter narrative filled with anti-Semitic outpourings, disdain for morality, worship of power, and the blueprints for his plan of Nazi world domination.  The autobiographical work soon became the bible of Germany's Nazi Party.  In the early 1920's, the ranks of Hitler's Nazi Party swelled with resentful Germans who sympathized with the party's bitter hatred.

Trump and Hitler proceed from the same apocalyptic starting point.  In Trump’s narrative, America is on the brink of ruin.  At least a portion of his listeners, as did Hitler’s, passionately believes the downfall scenario. Each man is (or was) skilled at setting up bogeymen:  For Hitler, it was Jews, Marxists, the hated French and the “lying press.”  For Trump, it is Muslims, Mexican illegals, the Islamic State terrorist group and the Chinese who are supposedly cleaning our clocks, and the “dishonest” news media.  Yet, like Hitler, Trump understands the importance of the news media to his political enterprise.  In 1987, Trump wrote in the book he now holds up as a kind of Trump bible, The Art of The Deal: “If you are a little different, or a little outrageous, or if you do things that are bold or controversial, the press is going to write about you.  Hitler couldn’t have agreed more.  After a particularly violent beer hall rally in Munich, he said:  “It makes no difference whatever whether they laugh at us or revile us.... The main thing is that they mention us.”

     “Progress and civilization could be achieved only through the genius and energy of a great personality.”
                                                                                                             Adolf Hitler

     “I alone can save America, save the world, save you!”
                                                                     
                                                          Donald Trump at the 2016 National Republican Convention.

And Finally, on July 18, 2025: President Trump hosted a signing ceremony at the White House for the GENIUS Act (S.1582), which basically allowed the government to recognize Crypto Currency as a legal tender. Coincidentally, Trump signed this on the same day, the Department of Justice requested the release of old grand jury testimony related to Jeffrey Epstein, which we are still waiting for.  Yes, those documents Republicans wanted released to totally ruin Bill Clinton, that is, until they realized Trump was on every other page. 

~~ Eso Terry 

Japan’s Obon Festival

What day is it? It is Obon Festival Day. Yes, every year, Buddhists in Japan celebrate the custom of the Obon (or Bon) festival as a way to honor the spirits of beloved family members who have died. This Buddhist custom has influences from Confucianism as well. And how do we practice Obon Festival Day? That's up to you. This morning I placed some rice on my alter and chanted for an hour. I chanted for the souls of my deceased relatives. The otherday I had the breakthrough that I am the head of the family for all those who have past over, for I still can pray for them on this side of the realm.

The Japanese Buddhists honor the spirits of their beloved ancestors by cleaning their graves, they also know that the ancestors will visit their home alters, so I'll burn scented candles for them tonight. I see them walking around the house now, mom is very happy to see I'm no longer a slob and my sister is happy I'm out of her way in the kitchen, complaining about her undercooked hamburgers or sugar in our ice tea.

This Japanese festival dates back to when the official calendar for Japan switched from the lunar calendar to the Gregorian calendar. Eastern Japan, including Tokyo, celebrates “Shichigatsu Bon,” which means Obon is celebrated on July 15th. The most common time to celebrate Obon is on August 15th and is called “Hachigatsu Bon.” Lastly, people living in the northern part of Japan celebrate Obon as “Kyu Bon,” where the date is based on the lunar calendar and varies each year. Japan does not recognize Obon as a public holiday. It is standard, however, for people who celebrate to get approved time off from work obligations.

The meaning of Obon comes from the Sanskrit word of “Ullambana,” which means “hanging upside down”—supposedly symbolizing great suffering. Therefore, the festival serves as a form of release for grief as well as the suffering and anguish that many believe the spirits of their ancestors are experiencing. Similar to how people in New Orleans celebrate those who have died with a funeral filled with jazz music and dancing, the Japanese who participate in the Obon Festival celebrate the return of their beloved ancestors with their own dance called Bon Odori. The origin of this dance stems from the story of how one of Buddha’s disciples, upon seeing his dead mother suffering after having fallen into the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, asked Buddha what could be done to remedy the situation. After making offerings to Buddhist monks, as Buddha told him to, the disciple’s mother was released and he danced out of pure joy and gratitude, hence the tradition of dancing was born. The type of dancing used to be strictly folk dancing that would celebrate the arrival of the spirits of the beloved ancestors. Nowadays, every region has a dance unique to them and the music varies in everything from specific songs about the spiritual meanings of Obon to local folk songs.

So honor your ancestors today, if nothing else, look up and give them a nod. They'll thank you I'm certain.

~~ Eso Terry

John Dee and Donald Trump, Neither Had Their Ears Cropped

On July 13th in 2024 Donald J Trump was shot.  He lost part of an ear, and then grew it back overnight. Why is this important?  Well, John Dee was born on July 13th in 1527, and because he worn a skull cap, historian thought he had had his ears cropped for punishment.  After more research, it was found that it wasn't Dee who had his ears cropped, but his assistant, the alchemist Edward Kelley who always wore a skullcap. So, an important fact for July 13th is that neither President Trump or John Dee had their ears cropped. Here's more on John Dee while we're on the subject. 

On July 13th 1527, the noted magician & astronomer, who studied at Cambridge, John Dee, was born.  He was a brilliant man who was accredited for being a Mathematician, Astronomer, Astrologer, Imperialist, Occult Philosopher, Diviner and so much more.  John Dee lived his life somewhere between Science and the world of Magic.

He served the court of, Queen Elizabeth I, as a consultant, and used his position to create the largest personal library in all the world.

John Dee spent his entire life studying the Occult and Magic.  While many tried to murder him for being of the devil, Queen Elizabeth I, made sure that their wishes of execution never happened.  While no one could burn him alive while the Queen lived, after her death in 1603, John Dee was instead forced to die as a pauper five years later in his home at Mortlake, after being shunned by James I, the Queen’s successor.   He at least was able to shut his eyes one final time among the many books and literary wonders he had spent his entire life collecting.

I've written about John Dee before, he was a man before his time brave enough to look beyond the empty religions of his day. 

Akhenaten Gave Us the 4th of July

Let's get down to it, the USA is a concept founded way before July 4, 1776.  Thousands of years before Columbus was aware of the existence of our Western Hemisphere, the vision of equality and justice for all was founded in ancient Egypt. 

In his book, "The Sceret Destiny of America," Manly P Hall tells us that as far back as in ancient Egyptian times, the Western Hemisphere we call America, was chosen as the sight of a World Wide Democracy headquarters. And the roots of this nation can be seen in Akhenaten, the first democratic, humanitarian, and the first internationalist. 

Akhenaten saw that the duty of the ruler is to protect for all the right to live well, to think, to dream, to hope, to aspire, and for these beliefs he cheerfully gave his life. 

Akhenaten, Pharaoh of Egypt, throned under the title Amen-Hotep IV, was the first ruler in recorded history to exemplify social consciousness in the administration of a great nation. He had been ruler only a few years before he challenged the  priesthood and proclaimed a new spiritual dispensation, and to escape his enemies he built a new capitol city one hundred and sixty miles up the Nile from Cairo.  His new faith was Atonism; and he named his city Khut-en-Aton -- the horizon of the Aton -- and dedicated the city with these words: "Ye behold the City of the Horizon of Aton, which the Aton has desired me to make as a monument to the great Majesty forever. For it was Aton, my Father, that brought me to this City of the Horizon."

As High Priest of his new religion, Amen-Hotep IVchanged his name to Akhnaton, becasue the older name included the word Amen, whose faith he had rejected. 

Charles F. Potter, in his History of Religion, says of Akhenaten that he was, "the first pacifist, the first realist, the first monotheist, the first democrat, the first humanitarian, the fist internationalist, and the first person to found a religion."

Akhenaten, seated in the garden of his palace, spent many hours watching the flight of birds and listening to the voices of little creatures.  He tells us that he found "the Aton" in all of them; and that his heart went out to them, and he gave thanks for the goodness in everything that lived. Although through the years, most have attributed "Aton" to a monolithic Man god, I believe it was more of the Universal Law Akhnton had tapped in, but as all good souls, attributed his blessing to his father and mother. 

Akhenaten was a Pharaoh who traveled alone through the countryside, meeting the peasants and slaves, and sharing the simple food of the poor. He could not accept the inequalities of birth, wealth, or physical estate as a justification for men persecuting each other or exploiting one another. He saw every living thing as devine. If I might add, he sounds like an earlier incarnation of the original Buddha, but I'll save that story for another time. 

As might be expected, the Amon-Ra priesthood didn't like this and after so took control of the Hittite nation's army to invade Akhnaton in the name of Amen, but Akhnaton wouldn't retaliate, the dreamer king saw his lands pillaged and his cities conquered, but he would not kill his enemies for they were children of the world. 

Akhenaten died in his thirty-sixth year, at the altar of the temple of the faith he created. When his mummy case was found, the following prayer to the Aton was discovered inscribed on the golden foil beneath his feet: "I breathe the sweet breath which comes forth from Thy mouth.  I behold Thy beauty every day...Give me Thy hands, holding Thy spirit, that I may receive it and may be lifted by it. Call Thou upon my name unto eternity, and it shall never fail."

So why am I writing about Akhenaten on this July 4th, 2026? Democracy.  For this is the backbone of the Republic our founders intrusted us with. So, enjoy your hotdogs, watermelon, and fireworks, but don't forget the reason for the season. Love Thy neighbor, peace, justice, and equality for all. It's as American as Apple Pie.

Why is the hotdog one of America's favorite foods?  

Besides being associated with the esoteric "Dog Days of Summer," the term dog has been used as a synonym for sausage since the 1800s, with one thought being that it came from accusations that sausage makers used dog meat, starting in at least 1845.  In the early 20th century, consumption of dog meat in Germany was common. The suspicion that sausages contained dog meat was "occasionally justified."  Enjoy your meat this summer you ferocious meat eaters.


The Reason You Will Drink Too Much Beer This Day, eat Dog Meat, and possibly blow off your index finger with a firecracker?

The Declaration of Independence.   Yes, that liberal doctrine that provided the ideological foundations for the democratic government of the United States, promoting the idea that the government exists to serve the people, who elect representatives to express their will.  A "social contract" between people and their rulers, which can be dissolved if rulers fails to promote the people's welfare for a group of white supremacist -- I added the last part.

Least you forget, please read the following section out loud today and take a deep breath, it really is okay to be liberal boys-and-girls, it is the basis for the founding of this great country:

 “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

— That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,

— That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

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Concordia

 In ancient times, the 4th of July was the date that Pax, the Roman goddess of peace and harmony, who was also identified with the Greek goddess Concordia, was honored with a considerable amount of feasting and revelry.

Happy 4th Everyone!