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The view from the Kremlin: Putin’s war on the West. HE IS ridiculed for his mendacity and ostracised by his peers.

The view from the Kremlin: Putin’s war on the West

He presides over a free-falling currency and a rapidly shrinking economy. International sanctions stop his kleptocratic friends from holidaying in their ill-gotten Mediterranean villas. Judged against the objectives Vladimir Putin purported to set on inheriting Russia’s presidency 15 years ago—prosperity, the rule of law, westward integration—regarding him as a success might seem bleakly comical. The silent minority. ON A snow-covered bluff overlooking the Sheboygan river stands the Waelderhaus, a faithful reproduction of an Austrian chalet.

The silent minority

It was built by the Kohler family of Wisconsin in the 1920s as a tribute to the homeland of their father, John Michael Kohler, who had immigrated to America in 1854 at the age of ten. John Michael moved to Sheboygan, married the daughter of another German immigrant, who owned the local foundry, and took over his father-in-law’s business. He transformed it from a maker of ploughshares into a plumbing business. Today Kohler is the biggest maker of loos and baths in America. All Categories. A Brief History Of Cincinnati Occulture. I gave this talk at F.I.G., the Free Inquiry Group, at the invitation of my good friend from Aurore Press, Chuck Byrd, on October 30th, 2012.

A Brief History Of Cincinnati Occulture

The talk ranges from the First Peoples of this area, the Adena and Hopewell, to Hollow Earth theorist John Cleves Symmes Jr., to Lafcadio Hearn in the 1870′s. It then follows into the circle of John Uri Lloyd, Augustus Knapp and Dr. Jirah Buck in the 1890′s and early twentieth century before jumping ahead to the ceremonial magicians and pagans of the 1970′s: Nema, Louis Martinie, Patrick McMahon and Owen Knight.

The Cincinnati Chapter of the Crowned and Conquering Child, Bate Cabal, The Cincinnati Journal of Ceremonial Magick, and the birth of Horus-Maat Lodge are also touched upon. Sample eBook CJ1. Those Wiccan Waccos. Those Wiccan Waccos Christine Tobey (aka Chaplin IM False of the Legion of Dynamic Discord ) recently sent me a bound copy of the major epistles sent during the cursed CSEA Affair.

Those Wiccan Waccos

One of the things in the mish-mash of stuff was the following article, written by Ian Bear, which appeared in Green Egg, which seems to be some kind of Neo-pagan/Wiccan magazine or other. Discordian Opening Ritual. 1.

Discordian Opening Ritual

Clap x5 2. The Erisian Cross: "Light in my Head Fire in my genitals Strength at my Right side Laughter at my Left side Love in my Heart. " Big 5 Personality Traits: A Quest Of Understanding The Psyche. Cool Video Reveals Why People in Old Movies Talked Funny. The Entity of Neutrality and the Story of the Black Knights. During the Middle Ages, Black Knights began to appear in history and, since the 13 th century, a series of legends mentioning the mysterious Black Knights emerged.

The Entity of Neutrality and the Story of the Black Knights

Although the Black Knights were said to have carried out good deeds and fought to protect cities from unjust rulers and other threats, texts referring to these legends were censored and banned by the Church during the medieval period. Nevertheless, the story of the legendary knight Ashor endured over the centuries. The origin of Black Knights is closely linked to the legend of Ashor, a knight who had remained skilled and strong, despite his advanced age, and who specialized in the killing of kings and other nobles.

Some time around the 13 th or 14 th century, there was a king with a powerful enemy – a king of another land who oppressed his people. We Talked to a Woman Who Helps People Deal with Being Abducted By Aliens. Photos courtesy of Kathleen Marden Last week, NASA issued a clarification that a bright light in an image tweeted by one of its astronauts was, in fact, from the International Space Station, and not from a UFO.

We Talked to a Woman Who Helps People Deal with Being Abducted By Aliens

Even though there's never been any scientific evidence that UFOs exist, it's not exactly surprising: A higher percentage of Americans believe that UFOs exist than those who believe in climate change, evolution, or that the earth is 4.5 billion years old. Ambiversion: The Lost Personality Type. The Hidden World of Tenement Fortune Tellers in 19th Century Manhattan. A crowded street scene on the Lower East Side, 1909.

The Hidden World of Tenement Fortune Tellers in 19th Century Manhattan

(Photo: Library of Congress) In 1993, a restoration was underway at 97 Orchard Street in New York City. Beneath the darkened floorboards of one apartment, left unchanged for 50 years, a thin, frayed piece of paper from the 19th century was discovered; with one side printed in English and the other Yiddish, it advertised the fortune-telling specialties of “The World Famous Palmist and Mind Reader”, Professor Dora Meltzer. The people who found this paper worked at the Tenement Museum, founded in 1988 to teach the history of immigrant life in New York through old tenement apartments in Manhattan. At the time, the Orchard Street building had recently been acquired, and the museum was renovating the apartment to use as a historical teaching tool.

The Sneaky Self-Talk That's Sabotaging Your Relationships (And How To Stop) The thing I say to myself most — more than affirmations, more than inspirations, more than anything — is the word should.

The Sneaky Self-Talk That's Sabotaging Your Relationships (And How To Stop)

The almost inevitable result of should is a doubt spiral that makes me feel depleted, dejected, and incapable. So many of us do this, and so often, that it starts to seem innocuous. But don't be fooled. It's toxic, both personally and relationally. The #1 Thing You're Doing To Make Yourself Unattractive. The heartbreak that followed a particularly difficult breakup turned me into a shell of a person for a year and a half.

The #1 Thing You're Doing To Make Yourself Unattractive

Then, when I decided I had healed enough to get back onto the dating scene, I made a pact with myself to never be as vulnerable as I’d been with my ex. In my eyes, the reason I hadn’t felt joy for the last 18 months was because I’d let him occupy such a large part of my heart. While this was partially true, I now know that my emptiness was mostly a product of my poor relationship with myself. I’d struggled with my own demons (perfectionism, eating disorders, depression and anxiety) for many years, which caused me to find self-worth externally through romantic relationships. When we can show off our perceived flaws, our imperfections, and our shameful parts, and still feel accepted, that’s unconditional love. What Ever Happened to The Age of Aquarius? (2) What Ever Happened toThe Age of Aquarius? (2) Reflections on “The First Aquarian Exposition”aka “Woodstock” — August, 1969 (an excerpt from the forthcoming memoir: Time Capsule: 1969*) Since the Internet has destroyed our capacity to read anything much over 1,200 words, I have broken this ~4,000-word account into three bite-size chunks, each of which will take 6–7 minutes to read.

Could Ketamine Be Used to Vaccinate for Depression or PTSD? One sunny day this fall, I caught a glimpse of the new psychiatry. At a mental hospital near Yale University, a depressed patient was being injected with ketamine. For 40 minutes, the drug flowed into her arm, bound for cells in her brain. If it acts as expected, ketamine will become the first drug to quickly stop suicidal drive, with the potential to save many lives. Other studies of ketamine are evaluating its effect as a vaccination against depression and post-traumatic stress. Between them, the goal is nothing less than to redefine our understanding of mental illness itself.

What Neutron Stars, Lasagna, and Waffles Have in Common. Hot fluids of neutrons that flow without friction, superconductors made of protons, and a solid crust built of exotic atoms—features like these make neutron stars some of the strangest objects we’ve found in the cosmos so far. They pack all the mass of a star into a sphere the size of a city, resulting in states of matter we just don’t have on Earth. And yet, despite their extreme weirdness, neutron stars contain a mishmash of vaguely familiar features, as if seen darkly through a funhouse mirror. How to Ground Yourself in Any Situation. We have all been in situations that make us feel anxious, frazzled, confused and panic-stricken. And yet, some of us seem better than others at dealing with influxes of drama, pressure and demand than others. What is the secret to being cool, calm and collected? How to Live in Mansions Around the World Rent-Free. You could live here for free! Photo by the author Do you want to live in a castle?

The Witch and the Wand: Dryads and Gesture in Magic.