AI to the rescue in Finding this 1960's Marimba beauty.

This may not be Esoteric to you, but it is to me, for I purchased an old 16mm footage of a woman playing the marimba with a Hawaiin Lei around her neck from the 60's. The cover had "Hawaiin-Jodie-Show in Las Vegas" written on it. I googled and no research came back, well, one did, but she was Ruth Underwood who played for Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Inventions, I was pretty sure it wasn't her. So I uploaded this screenprint of her from my 16mm film to google and asked AI who it was. 

And off this poor quality 16mm image, I got the following answers:

"This low-light, vintage style photo makes it difficult to definitively identify the exact performer based on facial recognition alone. However, the visual styling—a strapless gown paired with a high-neck wrapped scarf—strongly mirrors the classic mid-century lounge era of Las Vegas entertainment.

To help narrow down the identity, could you provide a bit more context? If you can share the approximate decade the photo was taken or the name of the venue (such as the Sands, Caesars Palace, or the Flamingo), I can help you cross-reference historical show archives."

Then I put "Jodie" and got this:

"The hint about a Hawaiian show completely unlocks this vintage photo. The performer you are thinking of is Jonie (often misspelled as Jodie) from the iconic Jonie and the Halekulani Boys, a highly popular Hawaiian musical act that regularly performed in Las Vegas during the mid-20th century lounge boom."

Then I put in "what was Jonie, of Jonie and the Haledulani Boys, last name:

"While Jonie was widely known strictly by her first name on marquee billings and album covers during her Las Vegas residencies, historical music and union records list her full legal name as Jonie Barcarse.

The Family Connection

The act was heavily anchored by family ties. The "Halekulani Boys" backing her featured her husband, Al "Pops" Makahinu Barcarse, a deeply respected multi-instrumentalist, steel guitarist, and singer. Following their successful decades performing across the Las Vegas Strip, the couple dedicated much of their later lives to passing down traditional Hawaiian culture, music, and language to younger generations.

If you are hunting for their music, checking vintage vinyl listings under both "Jonie and the Halekulani Boys" and "Al Barcarse" will yield the best results for their classic recordings."

I wasn't interested in knowing more, maybe you are.  

Here is the 16mm clip I posted for the records of this beautiful woman beating the marimba in her prime:

Demon Possessed Tricycle Is A Good Thing(?)

 Who says demon possession is always a bad thing, ask the kid in this video.  

Esoteric St. Patrick’s Day

I've written a few blogs over the years on St. Patty's Day. There was the post on how the early Irish settlers who came to the American colonies, many of whom were indentured servants, brought the Irish tradition of celebrating St. Patrick's feast day to America, and I wrote how St. Patrick Day folklore tells how statues bowed to St. Patrick. This St. Patrick Day I want to tell the dark history of St. Patrick's Day. 

Digging into the dark history of St. Patrick’s Day, we uncover genocide. St. Patrick was sent to Ireland as a missionary, and as a result of his work in Ireland, the non-Christian population was persecuted and subjected to horrific acts of violence. St. Patrick and his followers committed crimes against the pagans, such as forced conversions, destruction of sacred sites, and execution of those who refused to abandon their beliefs.

The Catholic Church’s campaign in Ireland was part of a broader strategy to spread Christianity throughout Europe and beyond. Pope Celestine I commissioned St. Patrick to convert the Irish population and during this era the Church was known to use various methods to establish its dominance over other religious practices, including the use of violence and coercion. Other regions, such as the Iberian Peninsula and Northern Europe, experienced similar campaigns of forced conversion and suppression of non-Christian beliefs. The Church’s actions in Ireland were part of a larger pattern of religious imperialism that sought to eradicate alternative spiritual systems not for the spiritual enlightenment of its people, but for control of the people. 

The stories Christians still tell about pagan's to justify their acts of violence are not true.  They claim pagans performed animals sacrificing and ate human flesh. The truth is that pagans were tolerant of other's and accepting of diverse belief system. Pagans accepted  multiple deities, nature worship, and ancestor worship. There was no centralized authority, such as the Catholic Church who were imposing their Man-God dogma in place of the feminine goddesses who sought spiritual awakening. 

The St. Patrick's Day dark history continued in America when early Irish immigrants, escaping the devastating effects of the Great Famine and political unrest, arrived in America only to face discrimination and hostility as they attempted to assert their identity and celebrate their heritage. St. Patrick’s Day was often hijacked by those who sought to mock and demean them, perpetuating stereotypes of drunkenness and disorderly conduct. This exploitation of the holiday served to further marginalize and oppress the Irish immigrant community, and reverberates through today: just go to any modern day St. Patrick's Day Parade and experience it for yourself.  

Digging even deeper, we see that the saint called Paddy/Pat/Patrick was not Irish. Historians agree that Patrick was born in 373 CE giving two possible locations – Dumbarton in Scotland or on the west coast of Roman Britain i.e. Wales. The Romans are said to have exited Britain by 410 CE. Patrick eventually retired to Glastonbury, England, where he died at the age of one hundred and eleven on the 17 March, 460 A.D. These dates do not add up; 460 – 373 = only 87 years of age, so was he 87 or 111 years old when he died? It depends on which spin you read… The man who is so well known to us as St Patrick was originally called - Maewyn Succat or Magonus Saccatus Patricius. His father Calpurnius, had been a deacon and a decurion and his grandfather was a priest, his mother was called Conchessa.
Pope Celestine gave Maewyn Succat or Magonus Saccatus the name of Patrick. The Pope gave him the mission of bringing the Catholic Faith to Ireland. He gave him many relics and other spiritual gifts, and gave him the name "Patercius" or "Patritius." This name is derived from two Latin words pater civium meaning the father of his people. The designation is like Patricus, a Latin / Roman upper class name similar to Patrician. Rome had three classes – Patrician, Plebeian and Paganus. Patrician was the ruling class, while Plebeian was the working and middle class leaving Paganus to be the name / rank for all those who did not obey the rule of Rome.

We are told that he was taken into slavery at 16 years of age and sold in Ireland where he worked as a sheepherder for 6 years but sheep did not exist back then – so he would have been a goatherder... It was during his time as a slave sheep / goat minder that he began to have religious visions. These visions reenforced (so we are told) his Catholic Faith. During one of these visions he heard voices that told him where he could find a getaway ship. He escaped, went to France where he became a priest and later on he returned to France to become a bishop.

He also burned many Druid books if his confessions are to be believed. 150 Druid Books were burned and on Tara he caused a competition with a Druid Book and the Bible to be thrown into a barrel of water – needless to say the Druid Book sank proving that the Bible was a better book. But hang on, we are repeatedly told that the Druids did not have books!

He also prayed for an old Druid to die – we are told that Arch-Druid Lochru was lifted up high in the air but Patrick knelt in prayer and the Druid fell and was dashed to pieces upon a rock. St Patrick is said to have caused the murders of almost eight hundred Druids. The folk tale of a she-beast called Caoranach that he banished to an island in the middle of Lough Derg in Donegal is accompanied by the tale of a woman who followed him very closely and that after he had banished the she-beast, this woman was never seen again. The list of fanciful feats goes on, but I won't bore you. 

Because there is no mention of the three-leaf clover in Patrick’s writings we can conclude that this claimed association is quite simply modern propaganda by his promoters. The first written reference to shamrocks in conjunction with St Patrick was made in 1571; over a thousand years after St. Patrick had passed over. The Seamróg became the badge of St Patrick’s Day in 1681 in America. The first written record of the shamrock being a symbol of the Catholic Trinity appears in 1727. So it can be easily understood that the myth of St Patrick had a shamrock symbol added to it only a few hundred years ago – it may be obvious to some that this was a commercialization tactic as well as displacement of native practices honoring the Spring Equinox.

The shamrock is not the official symbol of Ireland – this honor is reserved for the Celtic Harp. The shamrock now represents the culture of the Catholic Church hero of St Patrick. The shamrock became a symbol of rebellion against the oppression of Queen Victoria, who made it a capital crime (punishable by death) to wear the shamrock. This was probably the most influential reason for the worldwide adoption by Irish people and their sympathizers of the Shamrock as a symbol of Irishness.

Legend has it that Saint Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland -- that they all went into the sea and drowned. There is no reason to believe there were actually any snakes in Ireland ever. There is no archaeological proof of snakes anywhere in Ireland at any time in the past. As this knowledge becomes more available we got fed the notion into our mainstream consciousness that “this is probably an allegory for the driving out of paganism (snakes were a revered pagan symbol in some places).” But this is just not so for Ireland, there were not and are not any snakes in Ireland so adding in bits of foreign snake lore is just disinformation.

The famous mountain of Croagh Patrick or as its more commonly known in Ireland “The Reek” was a place of Pagan Pilgrimage long before the Christians became Catholic in 325ad. It is a round cone shaped mountain that looks like a pyramid from a distance. This holy mountain is quartzite with seams of gold throughout, it sits on the western seaboard overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and the setting Sun.

Croagh Patrick aka the Reek was once know as Cruchan Aigli or in English; Eagle Mountain, it is 2510 feet above sea level. It has always been a holy place with pilgrimage on the last Sunday of July (during Catholic times), which is of course the wrong day as the Sun magic happens later in the month but the plan was to disconnect the people from the Sun and connect them to a foreign religion. This last Sunday of the month of July is now used because of traditional connection to Lughnasa, the harvest festival of Lugh, a bright god of the Tuatha De Dannan and in his day it may have been called Cnoc Lugh. Archaeological investigations backed up by excavations show that a hill fort with stone ramparts and dwellings and 30 hut sites are to be found on the top of the Reek. There are ancient cooking sites, megalithic tombs, standing stones, burial mounds, ringforts and today’s modern Catholic Church. I doubt that many Catholic Pilgrims know that this holy mountain was sacred to Lugh or before that to the great fertility god Crom. Its old name of Eagle Mountain may refer to the practice of de-fleshing of the dead by carrion birds before burning of the remains and finally – internment of the remaining bones in an earthen mound. This practice was not uncommon in prehistoric times.

It was on this holy mountain that St Patrick supposedly did his greatest magic – when he summoned a great host of loathsome and venomous creatures and then commanded them to cast themselves over the edge of the mountain, thus freeing the Irish countryside from all kinds of reptiles. This included dragons, snakes and all types of reptiles, none of which ever existed in Ireland. We are told that St Patrick did this by verbal command. The actual truth is that there were no snakes in Ireland and long after he was dead and his head was gone into Jesuit care somebody just added this trick to St Patrick’s name. It was as if the Pagan traditions were still so strong with the Lughnasa pilgrimage to the Reek in August that something had to be done to displace the old ways and such a fantastic story as dragon/snake banishing fitted the bill. It had to be long after St Patrick’s death or else everyone would know it was just made up fantasy.

The conclusion offered is that this legend of Patrick was fabricated because he did not bring the Catholic faith or Christian beliefs to Ireland, he wasn’t Irish, it is highly unlikely that he could live to be 111 years of age when the usual life expectancy was maybe 40/50ish; he was given immense powers of traveling the entire country building churches and digging wells, killing dragons, snakes and reptiles that did not exist, burning 150 Druid books that did not exist, praying for old Arch Druids to die, killing or causing 800 Druids to be killed, having a female follower who was close to him disappear linked to a she-beast story, causing two princesses to die by his baptism, he never mentions shamrocks in his writings and he was given the totem of a shamrock long after he was dead, his title is not recognized by the leader of his own religion because no Pope would call him a saint and his fabricated importance was set up to displace a Pagan God. His most famous place was and is sacred to the Pagan God Lugh where we can still see incredible Sun and Landscape magic as our ancestors did. The reality today is that on the 17th of March many rivers are dyed green and people wear funny green hats and drink far too much alcohol especially green beer and pretend to be Irish. Do people make drunken fools of themselves on this day because they reckon that is what St Patrick did? He has outlived his usefulness to the Church that fabricated him and has become an alcoholic embarrassment for them – he is now a champion golem to excess commercialism, this is the Esoteric St Patrick's Day. 

Enjoy your green beer. 

~ Dr TV Boogie

Esoteric Thoughts on Prejudices with film assignment.

Esoteric prejudices are simple, the hidden thoughts some use to define others. A.I. says this about them:

"Esoteric prejudices refer to negative biases, stereotypes, and misconceptions directed toward, or existing within, alternative spiritual, mystical, and occult movements. These beliefs are often dismissed as irrational, dangerous, or "woo-woo" by mainstream society, while some practitioners may hold their own dogmatic views on "higher knowledge" or hidden truths."

So it's thought.

Rudolf Steiner said this about thought:

What is thinking actually? What thinks within me? The materialist, who denies the supersensible world, says: The body, the brain thinks. One should ask him the question: Have you ever perceived thinking with your senses? Of course he has not. No one has ever heard, seen, felt as warmth, or anything like that. Consequently, it is not physical. For what belongs to the body is perceptible to the senses. Therefore, thinking is supernatural. And the materialist must either admit the supernatural world or abandon thinking as an absurdity—which might be a good thing.

So with our thinking we are always in the supernatural world, but in such a way that we do not experience it ourselves. It is like someone sailing out to sea but not seeing himself or his boat; so it is with human thinking. We do not experience it directly, for what we experience of it, the thoughts, are the reflections of thinking on the body. Just as someone standing in front of a mirror sees his reflection, so the thinking soul sees the reflection of its thinking. The brain is the mirror. Through esoteric training, human beings should now come to experience thinking itself, not just thoughts. Just as someone standing in front of a mirror, when they step aside, sees the mirror's surface, so the soul must come to see the body from outside as a mirroring apparatus. Then the human being knows how thoughts come into being, and experiences itself in the world from which thinking protrudes into the sensory world as thought.

According to the dude at Medium.com: "Kocku von Stuckrad presented the idea that esoteric thought is a method of exploring and analyzing the world we inhabit in a manner other than is dictated by scientific principals, as such it is a subjective exploration of the exoteric without limits, where leaps of understanding are possible, spearheading advances that science has yet to catch up with. Esoteric thought can thus be central to any one individual’s life, remote and ridiculed, considered to be fundamental to the future development of humankind or a dustbin for rejected ideas that did not stick. The exoteric is an adherence to the observable and proven with no room for conjecture. We as people are consistently influenced by an esoteric narrative in the sense that we are driven by our own subjective consciousness."

Okay, that's a lot.  Basically, what he is saying...hell, watch the film I've restored for this post.  It explains Esoteric Prejudice Exoterically.  That is to say, what people said with their mouths in the 70's now say with their hearts which can be seen with all the hate towards "foreigners" or as this film points out, "barbarians," because their speak sounds like "ba, bar, ba..." to us. 

Pythagors in 30 Seconds.

 

Pythagoras was born around 570 BC on the Greek island of Samos.

Pythagoras made influential contributions to philosophy and religious teachings in the late 6th century BC. 

Many mathematical and scientific discoveries were attributed to him, as well as discoveries in the field of music, astronomy, and medicine, but Pythagoras is best known for the Pythagorean Theorem which bears his name.

The Pythagorean Theorem simple stated is... well, math so we're going to skip it.  

Pythagoras and his disciples were the conceives of the "Golden Ratio" which is 1.618, the perfect analogy of the universe.  More math, so we won't go into this either.

Pythagoras started a liberal school where the students weren't allowed to talk for a year or look into a mirror beside a candle.  He taught them reincarnation, and the power of numbers.

Pythagoras and his disciples were the first to use the concept of "cosmos" and point out that the earth rotates around the sun. 

Pythagoras was a vegetarian.

And most importantly for us, Pythagoras was a number freak and taught us that numbers are everywhere and in everything....

Watch the film for the complete run down.  It's only 3 minutes.  And as we know, Pythagoras thought the three was the "perfect number!"

Paracelsus As Seen by Academia - Film

The God-Fearing Paracelsus left us some good stories. In this college film played for students of medicine in the 60's, two things are apparent: 1. They were a lot smarter when it came to literature for they quote "Faust," and 2. Operations haven't changed much, a little more automated, but basically the setup.

~~ Eso Terry

Who Is Maitreya? Short Film

Awareness,

A film on The Dharma

“We are truly alive, to the degree that we are truly aware.”

A Japanese Haiku:

“No one spoke. Neither the host, the guest, nor the white chrysanthemum.”

This documentary answers: “Who is Matireya?”

~~ Eso Terry 

The Blood Moon,

If you've been reading EsotericDaily.com over the last fifteen years, you know I love moons. All moons. And so I've written about men on the moon, a Snow Moon, a Fake Moon, a Blue Moon, a Black Moon, the Super Moon, and of course, being Mooned by a Gargoyle -- to name a few.  The moon I want to talk about today is today's Blood Moon, for it really is a continuation of the year of the Fire Horse which is going to change everything.

So what is a Blood Moon?  Simply stated, it is the total eclipse of the moon from Earth which happens because the Earth blocks all direct sunlight from falling onto the lunar surface, and so the Moon takes on a reddish color.

The Incan Empire which was a vast South American empire that flourished from the early 15th century A.D. until its conquest by the Spanish in the 1530s, called their Moon goddess Mama Quilla and thought that she cried silver tears. They believed the Blood Moon was caused by an animal or serpent attacking Mama Quilla. Their custom was to try to scare away the Blood Moon  by making as much noise as possible.

The world’s earliest civilizations believed the Moon was being attacked during a Blood Moon, and so figured that their king was being assaulted as well, and they protected their king by hiding him and installing a substitute ruler. When the total eclipse had passed, their king emerged from hiding and resumed his position as ruler.

The Christians figured it was a sign of the return of Jesus;

"And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the Earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness. And the moon into blood,
 Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord – King James Bible, Joel 2:30"

According to Joel 2:30, Jesus might be coming back tomorrow(?) but I doubt this because I think he is already here in Donald Trump who has the support of the Christian church like no other president ever.

How can we forget our beautiful Pagans, who believed the The Blood Moon carried powerful spiritual meanings, which announced a time of endings, deep transformation, and rebirth. 

Historically, both solar and lunar eclipses were often seen with awe or fear. They were sometimes read as omens of death, upheaval, or the fall of rulers, while in other traditions they were woven into myth as celestial battles. Here’s a look at how some cultures and religions felt about them.Norse mythology: Eclipses were explained as the wolves Sköll and Hati chasing the Sun and Moon. When they caught their prey, an eclipse occurred.

Although there are many traditions regarding a Blood Moon, the common factor is they all believe it brings hidden truths to the surface and closes cycles that are no longer meant to continue; which brings me back to the Year of the Fire Horse which will make this year the most interesting ever.  Yes, ever. 

Hold on to your seats boys and girls, all we can do at this point is howl. 

~~ Eso Terry

The Wacky Fire Horse Year is Here, Hold On To Your Behinds....

This is the Chinese Lunar Calendar year of the horse.  No big deal.  According to our friends at Google Ai, the year of the horse is a year of rapid change, freedom, energy, and adventure, often signaling a fast-paced, action-oriented period. It emphasizes independence, creativity, and hard work.

That's the Chinese Calendar and we all have an animal, mine happens to be the Pig, which is considered very fortunate.  And I would definitely say I've been blessed with plenty of good fortune.  I got my health, food, shelter, and a little money left over each month.  Not bad for a high school dropout from Detroit Michigan, but I digress. 

What I learned yesterday, after chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo for world peace, for two hours at my local Soka Gakkai Buddhist Center, from a conversation with another leader, is that this is not only the year of the Horse, it is the year of the Fire Horse. 

What this means is that the Chinese zodiac system combines 12 animal signs with the 10 heavenly stems, or 10 symbols that represent the five elements, each in yin and yang forms.

As our friends at Mental Floss write: In Chinese tradition, the Horse is far from subtle. People born in the year of the horse are often described as energetic, independent, and confident. The animal itself symbolizes hard work, bravery, resilience, and freedom. Historically vital for transportation and agriculture, horses represent endurance and progression, qualities that directly translate into the Chinese zodiac. 

So in a nutshell, the Fire Horse only happens every 60 years.  And the last time it happened was 1966, when: the Vietnam War between the US and Vietnam was at its peak, the Chinese Culture Revolution began, the Civil Rights fight was on fire with the beginning of the Black Panther Party, Malcom X, John Lennon of the Beatles says the Beatles "...are more popular that Jesus," which sparked the conservative backlash that is still with us today, art with Andy Warhal, etc. 

It was an explosive year to say the least.  

Go back 1906, the previous Fire Horse year and you have the San Francisco Earth Quake, Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first US president to visit a foreign county,  Mahatma Gandhi coins the term Satyagraha, to characterize the nonviolence movement in South Africa.  In 1906, the women's suffrage movement the saw intensified militancy, with the term "suffragette" coined in the UK to describe WSPU militants, such as those in the 1906 march, who used direct action to demand voting rights. In the US, Harriot Stanton Blatch founded the Equality League of Self-Supporting Women to engage working-class women. Notably, 1906 saw Finland become the first European country to grant women full suffrage, etc. 

And now, in 2026, the year of the Fire Horse began officially on February 17th, which saw a significant annular solar eclipse -- often called a "ring of fire" -- visible primarily over the Southern Ocean. The civil rights leader Jesse Jackson dies, and a fatal, record-setting avalanche in the California Sierra Nevada. And of course, on February 17, 2026, President Donald Trump stated he would be involved "indirectly" in high-stakes nuclear talks with Iran.... Which as I write this, the US and Israel are bombing Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan  are in a full-fledged war, Russian is still bombing Ukraine, and the Israelis are still killings people in their retaliation against the Palestinian people for their attack on Israel two years ago.  

I could go on, but you get my drift.  We are in for a very big year.  Stay turned here at EsotericDaily.com as we parse this shit out together with open eyes to see. 

~~ Eso Terry
 

Colorless World and the Rainbow - a children's video.

 An esoteric Rainbow message for those with eyes to see, to see. 

Frosty the Buddhist Snowman.

It's Christmas Time, my favorite time of the year.

And yes, Christmas has always been a Buddhist Holiday to me, especially when I hear that phrase of "Peace on Earth and Goodwill to All."

That's the one that has stayed with me as I've grown from a Christian in my childhood, to a Zen, Tibetan, and finally, at last, the answer: Nichiren Buddhist by way of the Soka Gakkai, where I chant and pray for World Peace and Good Will to All, twice a day.

Of all the Christmas songs you hear this year, the one I hope you pay most attention to is Frosty the Snowman, for it is the most blatant buddhist Christmas song ever, and here's why.

First, let me sing the song for you -- please hold onto you ears as I do, for a good singer I am not.

Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul
With a corncob pipe and a button nose
And two eyes made out of coal


Frosty the snowman is a fairy tale, they say
He was made of snow, but the children know
How he came to life one day


There must have been some magic in
That old silk hat they found
For when they placed it on his head
He began to dance around


Oh, Frosty the snowman
Was alive as he could be
And the children say he could laugh and play
Just the same as you and me

[Chorus]
Thumpety-thump-thump
Thumpety-thump-thump
Look at Frosty go
Thumpety-thump-thump
Thumpety-thump-thump
Over the hills of snow

[Verse 2]
Ooh Frosty the snowman
Knew the sun was hot that day
So he said, "Let's run and we'll have some fun
Now before I melt away."


Down to the village
With a broomstick in his hand
Running here and there all around the square
Saying, "Catch me if you can!"


He led them down the streets of town
Right to the traffic cop
And he only paused a moment when
He heard him holler, "Stop!"


Oh, Frosty the snowman
Had to hurry on his way
But he waved goodbye, saying
"Don't you cry, I'll be back again someday."


Frosty, as we all remember, is “a jolly happy soul.” Born of heaven’s (Tibetan) white falling snow and seeing through his earthy black eyes of coal, his spirit is that of a child, but his foreknowledge of his own demise places him outside the realm of the purely innocent children. His crucial conflict—our crucial conflict—is this: Frosty the Snowman knew the sun was hot that day. Life is suffering, death will come, is coming. Yet, Frosty’s response is astonishing! “Let’s run and have some fun,” he says, “before I melt away.” Frosty is delivering the wisdom of the Buddha, and one can almost picture him meditating on the mantra Nam-myoho-renge-kyo as he is dashing through the snow. Frosty teaches the children that there is heaven in the present moment.

Frosty leads the children out of the pastoral forest into the town where the group faces the complications of daily life in the stern and officious police officer, who hollers, “Stop!” There is a temptation to dwell in the realm of fear, but Frosty’s stop in the town square is momentary. Time is too fleeting, too precious. The children must learn—while they can—how to play, for as we all know, nothing lasts forever and Frosty must “hurry on his way.”

As Frosty faces his own melting with the acceptance of Nichiren Daishonen, he teaches us the Buddha's most valuable lesson, that we will face death, but will return, or as Frosty says, "Don’t you cry, I’ll be back again someday." Then he fearlessly dances over the hills of snow back to the forest. Frosty shows us that our time is short, but that does not mean it has to be lived in fear and sadness.

Finally, as Second Soka Gakkai president Josei Toda once said, and I paraphrase, "It's delusional to think you won't die!"

So, Happy Holiday's Brothers and Sisters, and let's be like Frosty before we melt away.

The Message of the Gargoyles

Since the Covid-19 virus I’ve been home a lot, as we all have.  I thought I would use this time to catch up on work, but instead I sit here glued to the TV watching news reports of rising deaths, falling stock prices, and a presidential lies.  My only break from this constant stream of bad news is looking out my living-room window at the old building across the street. The building was built by a wealthy businessman in the early 20th century who believed putting gargoyles on the ledges would bring him good luck.  The logic didn't work because the building opened in 1929 a week before the  Great Depression.  The faces of the gargoyles are rumored to be the faces the owner made as he jumped to his death from the building after losing everything he had in the stock crash.  I was told this story when I first leased my room and it didn't mean much to me then, but now, faced with my own Great Depression to deal with a hundred years later I had to know more about this creepy, yet reassuring creature staring back at me from outside my window. 

Most of the stories I found on the history of gargoyles pointed to a town in France outside of Paris called Rouen.  The story tells of a dragon that lived in the Sene river and terrorized the town by eating people along the river banks and burning ships trying to pass.  The dragon's name... you guessed it...  Gargouille.

The legend goes that around the year 600 AD a Christian monk named Romanus came to town and defeated the dragon and delivered the dead beast to the town's people who immediately  decided to burn it.  The body of the dragon went up in flames quickly, but the head and neck wouldn't burn.  Taking this as a sign from God, the towns people mounded the head and neck of the dragon on a village wall as a reminder of God’s great power.  This practice soon spread from town to town and the neck and head of Gargouille became the model of today's gargoyle.

The word Gargoyle comes from the French word Gargouille and so it should be no surprise that the oldest gargoyles standing today are found in France.  These gargoyles are on Cathedrals and are a part of what is called Scripture in Stone.  According to most scholars, these gargoyles were placed on religious structures to preach the gospels to the illiterate and warring classes by putting the fear of hell in them.  Others believe the gargoyles are demons of lost souls placed there to scare away greater demons.  Regardless of the reason, all the great cathedrals of France have them. 

The two greatest of these cathedrals are Notre Dame and Chartres.  The gargoyles of Notre Dame are rumored to take flight after dark and watch over the cafes of Paris.  The gargoyles of Chartres are said to watch over the countryside to scare away oncoming threats. 

As I have already mentioned, the word Gargoyle is from the Old French word Gargouille which means throat.  If you look at most of the old Gargoyles you'll see they have long necks with a head at the end in the form of a long spout.  The English words gurgle and gargle share the same French root as the word gargoyle.  This really makes sense because in architecture any drainpipe leaning off the side of a building is called a gargoyle.  Conversely,  if a stone carving does not carry water but does have a horrible face or image on it architects call it a grotesques.

Ostara (1901) by Johannes Gehrts. Spring feasts were held to honour the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre/Ostara.

Although gargoyles and grotesques placed on cathedrals are believed to be of Christian origin, a closer look does tell another story.  A closer look tells the story of how a winter's solstice celebration became the birth of a savoir; and, how a Spring feast once held to honor the goddess Eostre became the resurrection Easter Sunday meal.  Stonemasons who had passed from being an apprentice to a journeyman knew this and so worked out their own ideas in their carvings.  They were, in a sense, independent artist and so were free to do pretty much as they liked.  So why then did they choose to place so many pagan images on the religious buildings of their day?  Could it be they still held onto the old beliefs in secret.  After much research, I for one believe the carvings were a message for those with eyes to see.  A prime example of this are the many gargoyles of The Green Man, also known as The Jack in the Green, who was the pagan god of tree worship and can be found in the many grotesques wearing crowns of leaves and branches.

Another common image from paganism that is found on many cathedrals is the multi-face grotesques that represents Diana the virgin goddess and protector of childbirth.  Historically, Diana made up a triad with two other Roman deities: Egeria the water nymph, and Virbius, the woodland god.  These three-faces of the gods to the cults were once worshiped as the Christian holy trinity, that is, until the Pope realized their true meaning and so had the practice banned.   Still, the Pope left the pagan symbols on the cathedrals as to not upset the will of the people; seems, even the Pope had a thing for our pagan past. 

So, along with diverting rainwater and scaring off evil spirits, gargoyles seemed to me to be a way for the artist who placed them there to tell the story of the old religion; the old Pagan religion before the Christian church came along and gave the town's people the choice to convert to the new Man God, or, well... die.  Knowing this, it's easy to see that these gargoyles are pagan messengers reminding us of the truth that all the Money God could not defeat.   The natural religion in all of us that didn't need a priest for forgiveness.  The natural religion in all of us that isn't a Man God, but both a man and woman god.  The god of the trees, the wind, the earth; Gaia: the god in each of us.   

Looking at the gargoyle outside my window now made sense.  It wasn't a talisman of luck, scarer of demons, or messenger for god.  No, it was more; the messenger of truth.  A truth to not concern myself with the lies and craziness of the world today for they have always been there and always will be.  The truth, as our ancestors knew, wasn't in their powerful lies, large cathedrals, or love of money.  No,  truth was in the whistling wind and swaying trees.  The real god, the god inside of us, the earth god, Gaia.  And she is speaking to us now.  And the gargoyles, like the trees and the wind, are part of her message.  

I no longer needed to watch the news to know what was happening with the Covid-19 virus.  I had all the news I needed outside my window.  Everything is as it should be.  The message of the gargoyles. 

~~ Dr. TV Boogie

Philosophy Everyone Should Know by Now.

 

A must see video on philosophy.  Enjoy. 

~~ Professor Erik Dity.

 

April 23th, Jupiter, Venus, and the End of Rome.

Jupiter and Venus by Max Klinger

It's April 23, oh my.  In Roman Paganism, today was the festival of Jupiter and Venus.  That's right, Jupiter (sometimes referred to as Zeus historically), the god of sky and thunder, controller of Roman fate, and king of all gods; yes, the very top of the gods list.  Well, the published gods list for within the circle of gods there has always been another god, the unseen god, some call him the Demiurge creator god, I just call him, little "g" god. 

Not only was Jupiter the god of lightning and thunder bolts, his was also known as the god of oaths, and therefore was summoned in name for wedding ceremonies.  That's right boys and girls, there was a thing called holy matrimony long before the advent of Christianity, which is no big deal other than the fact that they want you to believe there was nothing before them, and thereby are refusing us our existence in history.  The bastards!

And Venus, the goddess of love and fertility.  The beauty of the beauty.  The other half of the hidden little "g" god who allows us to admire her beauty in times of want.  And if Jupiter is the god of marriage, and he is, then Venus is the goddess of the sexual pleasure to be afforded the newlywed couple later that night.  Born from the turbulent waters of a storm, she came to earth with the loveliest of fragrances which can still be enjoyed those moments just before a rain when the ground opens up to receive her nourishment from the gods, the fragrance of pleasure. 

And when the two gods were celebrated together on this day in ancient Rome, there was wine, dancing, laughter, heated discussions, pantomiming, and, of course, posturing, which always led the chamber.  

Is this not the reason that on this day in the year 410 of our calendar, that the Visigoths used this day to attack Rome and bring an end to our empire? 

I say yes, for it is now written.  

~~ Viola

Democrats and Republicans Once Agreed on Earth Day. We Need That Spirit Today. Stop The LIes.

Gaylord Nelson on the right beside President Kennedy.

To get anything done in this the world it takes compromise.  That thing we no longer have in today's politics.  That evil thing that now divides the world between the Closed Minded Nationalist and Free Thinking Idealist.  Case in point, today is Earth Day, and it is a day we owe to compromise for it took both Democrats and Republicans to make Earth Day happen.  The idea was planted by Gaylord Nelson -- the great, great, grand son of the founder of The Republican Party --  when he suggested the idea to President John F Kennedy and the president agreed with him so much that he began talking about "ecology -- as it was known back then" -- in his coast-to-coast speeches; this resonated so well with the public that in 1970 the republican president Richard Nixon enacted the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which gave us the cleaner water and air we have today. 

Unfortunately, many politicians, mostly Republicans, don't support the EPA because they see it as a hindrance to business.   And so our planet continues to get warmer, our ice caps melt, and mother earth is reaching her breaking point. 

I grew up in the 60's before the EPA.  I lived in Detroit and could taste the smog in the air.  I swam with rolls of dead fish in the Detroit river.  I witnessed grease fires on the water from the standing toxic waste dumped upstream from one of the auto companies.  With the EPA, this was cleaned up with regular inspections.  If the company hadn't cleaned up their mess from the year before, they were fined.  The only way to get a capitalist leader to do anything for the good of the whole. 

Today we are seeing results from the president Obama's Clean Air initiatives which forced the auto manufactures to reduce carbon emissions to a point the Republican taking heads cried would destroy the economy.  It hasn't.  And today with all the electric and hybrid cars on the streets from the incentives Obama gave them, pollution is down.  

This is the good news for Earth Day this year.  

Now for the bad news: Idiots like Michele Bachmann are still out there.  People who will lie about facts with no regards of the outcome.  Case in Point: In April of 2009,  Bachmann delivered this message from the House of Representatives

"As a matter of fact, carbon dioxide is portrayed as harmful!   But there isn't one study that can be produced that shows carbon dioxide is a harmful gas.  There isn't one study because carbon dioxide is not a harmful gas--it is a harmless gas.  Carbon dioxide is natural.  It is not harmful.  It is part of earth's life cycle."

Michele Bachmann: Carbon Dioxide denier.

 

Do I even need to comment on this?  For those of you who believe her statement here, go put your face next to the tail pipe of a car and take a few breaths: it's a fact you will die if you don't stop.  

 

Update:  Michele Bachmann is now part of the "Donald Trump didn't lose the election" lie.  Has she no decency? This lie is threatening our form of an elective government.  And who benefits from this?  Well, in my humble opinion, Satan, the Demiurge, Vladimir Putin -- what did you expect? This is an esoteric blog.

 

Happy Earth Day Folks.  Be kind to the planet today.