In Pursuit of Mysteries

Pagan Scholars

So, I went to Ted and lecture on Getting Closer to the Gods or Using the “Temple/Research Feedback Loop” to establish contact and enhance relationships with Deific forces this evening. This was a good hour and half or so lecture. It was quite good and I wish that what Ted and Brandy said there (and, yes, Brandy, you did speak a bit!) was more circulated. I think the two of them need to write up a lot of this thought and either get it published or publish it on the web. I know a number of people that use this method of research either explicitly or implicitly.

It was mentioned again this evening so I figured that I’d give a pointer to Brandy’s old paper for the Pagan Scholar group here in Seattle: On Pagan Speakers: The State of Pagan Scholarship. This was given back in 1997 at what I think was the first pagan scholars meeting. It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost five years. (I’ve had a divorce and some long and interesting changes since that year…)

The Seattle Pagan Scholars e-mail list is available here and the home page for the group is here.

My Horoscope from Free Will Astrology:

LEO (July 23-Aug 22)Week of May 23, 2002

Have you heard of Johannes Jensen, Salvatore Quasimodo, Roger Martin Du Gard, or Frans Eemil Sillanpaa? It’s doubtful. I’ll tell you what they have in common: They all won the Nobel Prize for Literature, but their books are out of print and hard to find. Let this be your starting point in the coming week as you evaluate what you’re truly worth. Here are some other questions to ponder. Do you really need to be acknowledged for your greatness in order to feel successful? Do others’ opinions count for more than your own when you measure your value? Are you more eager to gain the approval of so-called “important people” than of the folks whose lives are entwined with yours? Is fame worth squat?

Woo hoo!

Non-Rant Mode

Now that I’m done looking like an asshole for the day, I wanted to post in support of Brandy and her partner Ted. They will be doing the following in Seattle this Thursday:

Getting Closer to the Gods

Subtitled:

Using the “Temple/Research Feedback Loop” to establish contact and enhance
relationships with Deific forces

The Synopsis:

The class will present the skills, techniques, and thought-tools to help you establish a relationship with the deity of your choice on your own terms, as safely as possible, with reliable, predictable results. Both the theoretical and practical aspects of the methodology will be explored with real-life examples from the presenters’ experiences with deities of multiple pantheons and cultures. Question and answer session if time allows.

This presentation is, in many ways, a lead-in to Brandy’s soon-to-be-presented Deity Workshops.

Temporal/Spatial Particulars:

Thursday, May 23rd from 7:00 PM to 8:45 PM
Edge of the Circle Books
701 E. Pike, Seattle, Wa

I certainly plan on being there. ;-)

Idiots

Someone explain to me why people feel necessary to invest in the ownership of the work of others and act like it is their own…

This asshat is probably the only one on the Wyrdglow list with me and he probably thinks I’m wrong anyway (heh) but there is a wonderful fellow there that seems convinced that by changing some line-breaks, changing the style of some quotes from single to double (or is it the other way) and correcting a few typos, he owns the copyright on some texts by a particular author. Personally, I think he’s full of shit.

In any case, it wouldn’t really matter much to me except that they are on a site that I put together (Servants of the Star and Snake) pretty much as a favor to friends and which I host for them. I did this for no recompense because I like the group and believe in what they are trying to do. I happen to like the contents and have interest in them but it isn’t a primary focus of mine at this time. I paid for this site to be up out of my own pocket (including registering the domain name) because someone had to do it and no one was really stepping up. Now this prick comes along and starts comparing penis sizes with me (which I never respond well to as I tend to fight confrontation with more confrontation of my own being a good quadruple Leo) and acting all thin-skinned claiming that I put a couple of things that he owns the copyright on the formatting of (not the words themselves) on that site.

In all likelyhood, the head of the Servants of the Star and Snake will ask me to take it down regardless of my opinion and this jack-ass will get to think himself all special. What an obnoxious way to spend part of one’s day.

The works in question:

http://www.sotss.org/adinath/phantastikos.html
http://www.sotss.org/adinath/tw1-eee.html
http://www.sotss.org/adinath/tw2-mo.html
http://www.sotss.org/adinath/tw3-eom.html

The supposed owner’s site:

http://www.egnu.org (specifically http://www.egnu.org/saints/dadaji/).

Note: the copyright notices at the bottom of the pages were not their previously…they’ve been added either today or quite recently.

Update:
Gee, suddenly, when a person familiar with the copyright situation (and who knows the nice character above) starts posting about how the copyright situation isn’t clear for the original text, I start getting mail from the fellow playing nicey nice. He’s still demanding that I take the stuff offline but now he’s claiming to be speaking for the owner of the copyright on the original text, not as the owner of the copyright himself. Dramatic tone change. I told him that the actual copyright holder needs to contact me and the head of the order (who decides what actually goes on or off of the site) since he isn’t a legal proxy for that person and, besides, I still don’t know who this other person is supposed to be or how legit any claims he or she has might be.

Personally, I’m tempted to delete the fucking pages and to put in their place a big “fuck you” pointing to the original asshole by name for people to go have words with and call it a day. I really don’t need the aggravation on what was supposed to be a really minor side project of no real weight.

And, of course, I found out that copies of at least two of the contested documents are up on http://www.shivashakti.com/ under “Works of Mahendranatha” where they have been for a while.