On Abortion

This is not an issue I would normally throw my hat into the ring on, but today the Pope issued a statement that equated abortion to hiring a hitman.

First off, we need to take the development of the fetus into account here. The heartbeat bills are extreme, and I defer with the situation this then calls into question: a braindead person still has a heartbeat.  Do they have the right to remain on life support indefinitely?

Obviously the more important question here than "does a person have a heartbeat?" is "does this person have self-awareness?" That should be the determining factor for personhood.

The Bible suggests that the soul enters the body when the person takes their first breath, not that I think that it should be upheld as any sort of authority, but it is supposed to be the Pope's guidebook to life and the Universe. I imagine the capacity for self-awareness sets in at the time the fetus becomes capable of living outside the mother's womb.

These decisions are never made lightly, but the most important conversation we should be having here is how to prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place through education and freely available contraceptives. The Catholic paradigm of birth control through abstinence as modeled by the celibacy of the priesthood is demonstrably one of the biggest failures on Earth; let's end this antiquated notion of having a virgin tell us all how to have sex.

Let's get this right, people.

A Dream

I had the most incredible dream last night... it started off like a fairly ordinary dream, then began to reflect an ordeal/ test like something out of a myth or legend. I began to defy the laws of physics, such as gravity, there was something akin to when the gods challenged mortals to a contest in Greek mythology. I think this one was something involving sculptures that were either spherical or not, and there may have been something similar to bowling but with Planck scale physics- it's very difficult to remember- but at a certain point I realized that if I failed something had the potential to hurt so bad I decided to simply feel all the pain at once- as in all the pain in the Universe. I experienced The End, followed by Big Bang itself, recreating the Universe as Goddess Herself, felt myself move full-bodied in 5 dimensions, which I can barely comprehend and remember now in my waking state, but at the time the phrase "this is the beginning of everything" simply repeated over and over in my mind, and I knew Eternity... and then I woke up.

Please Stop Calling the Islamic State ISIS

If I could petition the English speaking countries of the world to do one thing, please stop calling the Islamic State ISIS. I know it's pretty late in the game to make this request, but it's very offensive to me. You see, Isis is the name of my Goddess, who I have been officially worshiping since I was 16, in the year 2000, but have been drawn to since I was a small child, long before the Islamic State was in existence. 

President Obama was kind enough to use the name ISIL when referring to the terrorist organization, which I appreciated greatly,  but Trump is inconsiderate of the issue. I imagine the terrorists themselves also find it offensive being conflated with a pagan deity, but it is unfair to us peaceful Goddess worshippers.

I once on this blog site called the Islamic State by the term "daesh," which I heard was an insult to the Islamic State because it demoted them from a nation to a band of thugs, but the amount of attention I suddenly received from the US government, including President Obama,  who was in China at the time, and Russia, who had hacked this blog along with the other things they hacked in 2016, lead me to believe I was mistaken in the meaning of the word.

It is unfair that my Goddess's name has been hijacked; Isis is a goddess of love, motherhood, representing many of the same traits as the Virgin Mary. She and we her followers do not deserve such treatment.

Mother Nature's Big Curveballs

There are a lot of articles going around right now talking about how, if we don't  change humanity's impact on the Earth NOW, millions of species will go extinct. Unfortunately,  a lot of people can't pull their heads out of their asses far enough to care.

What people fail to realize is that animals, and plants, for that matter, are adapting to a world dominated by humanity, and we may not like the results. We're seeing it first on a microbiotic scale- superbugs resistant to antibiotics. We're going to see more creatures changing their habitats with climate change- mosquitoes carrying tropical diseases are moving into areas they haven't previously been recorded. We're seeing this now.

What's next? Pest insects more immune to pesticides, pollinators disappearing because the only plant they reproduce on is gone from their habitat, and lots more rodents.  Raccoons will get smarter. And we'll see more of the animals we raise go feral, get diseases that can pass to our pets, and then to us.

There used to be a balance in an ecosystem, but whenever we walk in we throw everything off. We need to heal the Earth as best we can as fast as we can, or Mother Nature's going to throw us some fucking curveballs we are not ready for.

This shit is already happening,  and I can't believe the government is still gambling with our planet like this... I mean, is it just that the GOP's been paid to look the other way for so long that they don't care that they've sold out their grandchildren's future? Slime balls, the whole lot of them...

Finding Happiness Again, Through Psychedelics

https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20180918/psychedlic-drugs-to-treat-depression-ptsd

There are many studies being done that show that psychedelic drugs can have very positive effects on stubborn forms of depression and PTSD that more conventional medications can't fix. They're effective for our veterans, and I believe they could help more broadly in our culture, where despair has taken root so deeply that violence has become commonplace.

As always, my belief is that we need to stop waging war against substances, that the government needs to regulate the market and treat addiction as a health problem. Note also that psychedelic mushrooms are being tested in treatment for addiction to other substances.

Psychedelic culture we recognize from the '60's on is all about love. I see it as a potential cure for the hate we see so prominently in America and around the world in recent years. When nothing else is working- mass violence is more and more commonplace- we need to try unconventional therapy.

I recommend more funding to these clinics that are experimenting with psychedelics, I recommend studying the culture (make love, not war), and I recommend exploring the benefits of legalizing a regulated market (safer drugs and dosing, selling to adults only, smaller prison populations, tax revenue, etc.)

The Ritual of the Witching Hour

The space was defined
Cleansed and prepared
When the stars aligned
The Gods brought there
A Priestess of Light
And a Priest of the Night
Great power of Earth
And all Heaven's might

Words of Power
Witches' Brew
Imbibed by the Priestess
To channel Truth
Removed from space
Outside of time
Their two wills merged
Boundaries redefined

God's invoked:
Anubis and Inanna
The Descent was lead by
The Psychopomp
Unlocked the gates
Removed the veils
By the River Styx
On which he sailed

He knelt at her altar
Worshipped her form
Holiest communion
Blood bond is born
For the Priestess of Light
And the Priest of the Night
Becoming as One
Through the Great Rite

In Perfect Love
And Perfect Trust
He held her until
They had enough
Ambrosia to satisfy
Olympian gods
She rose from the dead
And they set off

Back to the world
Of mortals, above
Each taking with them
Sacrement of Love
Priestess of Light
Priest of the Night
Twin flames forever
Soul mates for life

Use of "I" statements vs. Narcissism

All my life, people have accused me of being a narcissist. I'm not going to deny that I use a lot of "I" statements and tend to talk about my favorite subjects. In fact, those are both symptoms of my Asperger Syndrome. Honestly, I don't know any other way to communicate, partly because I don't have very good social skills, and my brain is wired very differently from most people's. My perspective is the only one from which I know how to approach the world, and my experiences are the only vehicle with which I can explore it. I am sorry this offends people.

It does not mean I don't care about other people's experiences or feelings. I love to learn new things. It does mean that as a person on the autism spectrum, the reality inside my head is the only one available to me, and the only one I am able to communicate.

It took a lot of conscious effort on my part  to learn how to have a 2-way conversation, and I am still trying to figure out this whole business of social interaction. I'm doing the best I can.

Narcissism doesn't necessarily require "I" statements or overt social missteps, such as interruptions. Rather, the hallmark of narcissism is how one judges those around them, and can be done in perfect silence. The thought, "at least I don't act like that," is all ego, and when people are irritated by certain qualities in others, those are the qualities they are most guilty of themselves. Assigning motives to another is a sure sign of something you should work on yourself.

I'm not saying I'm perfect, by any means, and know I have a long way to go in terms of personal growth. It would be nice to see other people take that same responsibility, rather than point out how it's all about me, but I respect the proscess of self-actualization, and will try to refrain from judgement. "Do unto others" is the key, and I know how painful it is to be judged. This is an analysis, not intended to make anyone change or feel bad. Self-improvement is the hardest thing in the world.