Sounds of Silence.

Caution the post you are about to read may anger you, it also may make you think. The substance of this post is derived from an article that appeared in ‘RollingStone’ magazine. I have read many articles similar to this as of late. In a soul searching effort. I still do not know where this research will land me. Before I get to the rest of the post a quote from a song by Simon and Garfunkel.

And in the naked light, I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

To me this verse simply states there it was in plain sight, everyone seeing it, thinking it, hearing it, writing about it. But no one dares break the silence. Why… for fear of repercussions, for fear of blacklisting, for fear of being ostracized, for fear of being alone. If fear is keeping you where you are, causing you to be silent and not question, you should speak, you should leave.

Now the source for my post is here : https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/what-is-cult-hopping-nxivm-dos-838750/

the following is an excerpt from the article which and some what edited but the base of what is being said remains

Those who leave cults on their own most often do so because they’ve had a bad experience with the group, perhaps observing something that violates their own ethics, or inconsistencies between the leader’s behavior and his teachings. But contrary to what you might expect, from the perspective of a former cult member, having one bad experience with a cult does not necessarily reflect on cult-like organizations as a whole.

Former members may be disillusioned with that specific group, but open to the next one because they think, ‘Of course that group didn’t have the truth. This one does.’

But the main reason why cult-hopping is so prevalent stems from an extremely common (and incorrect) assumption about cult members: that they’re inherently naive or poorly educated or vulnerable to being duped. On the contrary most people who become involved in cults come from middle-class or upper-middle-class backgrounds and have higher than average IQs. They also tend to have a history of becoming attracted to social justice movements and causes. We’re talking about people who want to change the world, who want to do something productive. It isn’t until it’s too late that they realize the only person whose life they’re improving is their leader.

When we hear stories about cults, we tend to assume that they exist separate of us and our own communities; we tend to think that we would never be so naive as to succumb to the wiles of a charismatic leader selling us salvation or love or self-empowerment. But the truth is that anyone could be vulnerable to cult influence at a certain point in their lives, typically during a stage of transition, when they’ve just lost their job or had a child or experienced a bad breakup. The primary cause of cult membership is bad luck.

Dedication to Brigid

Years ago I had the opportunity to do an opening ritual for a one night event. I had planned on a full on ritual to Brigid, my patron saint. The mother of my chosen Pagan path. I had planned on a full ritual for this opening with proper corners being called, and a full proper invocation to request her to join us on that evening. This event was happening on Pagan owned land and it led into a large scale 5 day Pagan event. I was not allowed to do the full on ritual. The event co-ordinators of the one small scale one night event felt it was to “pagan” and because I was a solo practitioner and not a full recognized “priest” on a Wiccan path or part of the ADF that I should not do a full ritual for fear that I might insult those on those paths. Since that event I have spoken to many people and their response has always been there is no 100 percent correct way to do this, and for the most part there may be some scripting but a lot of times there is a lot of adlibbing and I should have done what I wanted to do. Heck I even had a custom robe made for this one night just so I could be in the right frame of mind.

For this night we had myself plus two other fire keepers, neither of whom had partaken in performing a ritual, I asked one to speak on the healing aspects of Brig, the other to speak on the Smith craft of Brig, and I spoke on the hearth/fire aspect. The fire pit where the ritual took place is approximately 15 feet in diameter. Each fire keeper had his own fire within that pit to tend to. So three separate fires that at the conclusion of my portion were brought to one fire.

SO here is my portion of this ritual that was approved, I was the last to speak and unfortunately do not have the words spoken by the other keepers as they winged it. I wrote mine down.

Brigid Bright goddess who is three within one.

Brigid the healer, Brigid the Smith, Brigid keeper of the Sacred Flame

You were born with the blaze of the morning sun, Flame from Sky to Earth. Arrow bright

Brigid of the Tuatha Dé Danann, Daughter of Dagda, Mother of Ruadán. Tonite we choose to honor you as we celebrate and gather round these fires and bring the three to one. As you are one, The tribe to is one.

Facecrack, instacrack and Whatsthatcrack DOWN

Did Zuckersmuck intentionally pull the plug??? it seems odd that in light of the fact the whistle blower is to testify tomorrow that Facebook crashes mere 24 hours in advance, the DNS servers maintained by FB.O have no route to host. On this large of a scale which seems to be global at this time it should in theory be impossible for the multiple DNS servers to all go down at once unless it was intentional.

The following appeared on reuters about 4 hours ago.

“

WASHINGTON, Oct 4 (Reuters) – Former Facebook (FB.O) employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen will tell Congress Tuesday the company faces little oversight and will liken the social media giant to tobacco companies that for decades denied that smoking damaged health, according to testimony seen by Reuters.

“When we realized tobacco companies were hiding the harms it caused, the government took action. When we figured out cars were safer with seatbelts, the government took action,” said Haugen’s written testimony before a Senate Commerce subcommittee set for Tuesday. “I implore you to do the same here.”

Haugen will tell a Senate Commerce Committee panel that when Facebook executives had to choose between profits or user safety, profits won out.

“The company’s leadership knows ways to make Facebook and

Instagram safer and won’t make the necessary changes because they have put their immense profits before people. Congressional action is needed,” she will say, according to prepared testimony seen by Reuters. “As long as Facebook is operating in the dark, it is accountable to no one. And it will continue to make choices that go against the common good.”

Haugen, who worked as a product manager on Facebook’s civic misinformation team, appeared on Sunday on the CBS television program “60 Minutes,” revealing her identity as the whistleblower who provided the documents that underpinned a Wall Street Journal investigation and a Senate hearing on Instagram’s harm to teen girls. read more

Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Haugen added that “Facebook’s closed design means it has no oversight — even from its own Oversight Board, which is as blind as the public.”

That makes it impossible for regulators to serve as a check, she added.

“This inability to see into the actual systems of Facebook and confirm that Facebook’s systems work like they say is like the Department of Transportation regulating cars by

watching them drive down the highway,” her written testimony says. “Imagine if no regulator could ride in a car,

pump up its wheels, crash test a car, or even know that seat belts could exist.”Reporting by David Shepardson; additional reporting by Diane Bartz, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and David Gregorio”

The Shadow Clan: Legacy and Connection Beyond Ravens Knoll

Well 3 years ago I moved from “home”. I was burnt out, angry, hurt, and in shock after a friends suicide. I moved from what was home, quit my job, and lost a friend. An I apologize for being a bit ranty.

After moving I was for the lack of a better term ostracized, black balled call it what you will. I was no longer “home” staff. Told not to be on property without permission or pre-arrangement. Which was fine. I had no intention at that time of being there without some one covering my back. All I wanted to do at that time as move on with life, retrieve my property and keep on keeping on.

I believe leading up to moving out some of the few last things I did at there consisted of driving Gypsy’s truck back, and replacing the windows in it, and looking after the burning of his trailer for his memorial. I still have a few pieces of melted metal from that fire. I did not have opportunity to participate in any of the things surrounding his memorial week-end other than the fire. I was never introduced to his mother. I still do not even know what she looks like. And I suppose in a way it was that point I started feeling not part of community.

My friend Gypsy in his first few years coming to what I refrred to as home he started this thing. He had an Idea of giving a knife to people he thought were good eggs. These were not just any knives, they were Laguiole knives, sometimes referred to as shepherds knives. He had a concept of creating a clan called the shadow clan and the aforementioned members would receive one of these knives. It was kind of a secret thing for him no one was really supposed to have known about it. No one was really to know who was part of this group, unless you saw the knife. But word sort of got out. I inherited the last few remaining knives in the small chest he kept them in. During the week-end of his memorial on more knife was passed on to a good friend of his.

This chest now sits in my room. with one knife remaining. I am not sure what to do with it now. I have been tempted a few times to bury it with the last remaining knife, or possibly burn it. I have no desire to keep this clan growing. And have no strong connection to community especially after the events of this week-end.

This week-end marked the last (well not sure if it is the last) work weekend at my former home…. It was a secret work week-end. Yes secret work week-ends happen at there. Normally I get invited to these. This year no invite… and point blank was told not to show up on site. Well I guess I really should have figured that would occur.

Well lets hope you bled all the lines properly if not I would not want to be around when the water is turned back on.

Stitches

I was finishing the last few sentences of the Ratatoskr myth and it donned on me how metaphoric it is to current situations. Careful who you find “annoying” and “insignificant” some people may seem to be for the little tasks they complete may seem little, but in their totality those tasks add up, and over time may be the stitches that hold the fabric together and cause it to come undone.

Myth of Ratatoskr

This is a myth of Ratatoskr. For the uninitiated he is the squirrel who runs up and down the world tree Yggdrasil to carry messages between the eagle perched atop Yggdrasil, and the serpent Níðhöggr who dwells beneath one of the three roots of the tree.

This myth does not appear in the Poetic Edda, it like many myths are told mostly by bards. Past down verbally and embellished by each teller as the story gets told again and again. The first time I heard it was at a gathering known as Hail And Horn at Ravens Knoll some time between 2013 and 2015. I credit it to a young man by the name of Scott if my memory serves me correctly. And now on to the story.

Ratatoskr as we do know from the Eddas is a squirrel. He runs up and down Yggdrasil carrying messages between the Eagle perched upon its top, and the serpent Níðhöggr who resides beneath. Ratatoskr would get very hungry and constantly would be gathering food as he ran up and down Yggdrasil. When he reached the top of the tree to deliver messages or latest barb to the eagle from Níðhöggr he would have to open his mouth to speak and in doing so would drop all the acorns and such he had gathered on his way up. These would fall and invariably drop on some unsuspecting travelers head. Ratatoskr would try to apologize but in his excited state all that would come out of his mouth would be chittering. This as you could imagine would be returned by yelling and things being thrown back at poor Ratatoskr by the passersby. Ratatoskr would receive messages from the eagle and begin is trip back down the tree again gathering food as he went. Sometimes his mouth would be full so he would just knock acorns and the like on to the ground and again these would sometimes hit people. He would try to apologize but again with his mouth full all that came out of it would be the contents of his cheeks, and more chittering.

When Ratatoskr reached the ground he would try to gather up what he had dropped, and stash the food in the nearest hole. Usually these holes were Dwarf Mines. He would have so many pine cones, acorns and other seeds he would some times fill these holes to capacity. This would infuriate the Dwarves. As sometimes they would get trapped in the mines under tonnes of seeds, or their mines would be so full they would have to dig them out again so they could resume work. This might seem trivial but all this having to redo work that was all ready done meant the dwarves were delayed in other tasks, such as making weapons, jewelry and the like for the Gods and the realm of man. So now the Gods were furious because they were not getting their trinkets.

In the mean time Ratatoskr would deliver the messages from the eagle to Níðhöggr and the whole process would repeat. If your wondering why the squirrel did this to begin with it may have something to do with an agreement between the eagle and Níðhöggr that allowed Ratatoskr to travel up and down Yggdrasil and not be eaten as he reached the top or the bottom.

So at this point we have the realm of man, and the Aesir, and the Vanir and many others furious with this poor squirrel. They would chase him with brooms, throw rocks at him, empty out his caches of food. So now is he not only running up and down all day to gather food, exchanging messages so he does not get eaten he is having to run for his life to. Well one day he decided to stop and stop he did. The 9 realms rejoiced no longer did they have this insidious fury little creature acosting them on their walks. No longer did the dwarves have to dig themselves out of their holes and dig new ones to get back to their mining. Every one started to get their bobbles and weapons when they were supposed to. Things we great.

The seasons passed, Winter, spring etc. For two passings of the seasons no one saw Ratatoskr and no one cared. Then things started to happen. You see few new trees, few new strawberries and the like were appearing. The forest creatures were now starving because no new plants were growing. The spring rains came and there were mud slides and flooding the likes of which the 9 realms had ever seen. Yggdrasil was heavily laden with seeds, the ground at its roots softened and eroded by flooding. The dwarven mines were pools.

The eagle would perch upon the top of Yggdrasil and Yggdrasil would shake. Níðhöggr would coil around the base of Yggdrasil to try hold it steady but in doing so would clamp around it so tightly that Yggdrasil began to starve for water. Yggdrasil was dying. The eagle would begin to flap his great wings as he held tightly to Yggdrasils top in his attempt to hold Yggdrasil upright. The winds from his flapping were causing remaining trees to topple. No one in the 9 realms understood what was happening and blamed each of the other realms for the current state of affairs. Ragnarok was coming.

The Aesir gathered in preparation they believed as others that Ragnarok had arrived. They went to Odin, all father, the All Knowing and pleaded with him to do something. Yggdrasil is dying they said, the animals are starving, we have nothing to hunt, we cannot gather food. We have no weapons because the dwarves cannot get into their mines. All the realms are hurting.

Odin looked around and he saw the devastation, he travelled the 9 realms and it was the same every where. On his travels he realized something was missing but could not quite figure out what. He went to Yggdrasil and indeed it was dying. He could feel Níðhöggr straining to hold up the great tree, he could see the eagle perched upon its top flapping his wings his attempt to hold the tree upright. Where was Ratatoskr?

Odin sat at the base of Yggdrasil for a day, no Ratatoskr, he sat there for a week, no Ratatoskr. After two weeks he stood up and went to the Aesir and asked if anyone has seen the squirrel and they all replied they had not. But they all had replied they were happy that he was gone. Again he went to the dwarves and asked the same and the response was the same.

Odin asked the eagle and Níðhöggr when they last saw Ratatoskr and their response was we have not seen him for two passing’s of the seasons. It was then Odin realized what was going on. He put out a call to the 9 realms to have Ratatoskr found. Nearly a month went by and indeed it looked like Ragnarok had arrived but finally Ratatoskr was found. Odin went to him and asked why he went away.

Ratatoskr recanted his story, he was tired of being chased, being yelled at, having stones thrown at him, having his food caches destroyed. He was tired of running up and down the tree all day and being loathed by the all the realms. But mostly he was tired and hungry and just wanted to sleep and eat. Odin looked at him and apologized to Ratatoskr. Odin explained to Ratatoskr that the 9 realms cannot survive without him. For even though Ratatoskr was small he did many important jobs that seemed insignificant on the surface, but overall they have a major impact on the welfare of the the 9 worlds. Odin then went on to say he will speak to the dwarves, and all the realms and explain that they need to be kind to Ratatoskr for without him the end would come. Ratatoskr agreed to go back to work, as he truly did miss it. The realms grumbled but the eagle and Níðhöggr were happy they could have their fun poking at each other again, and pass other messages about. The realms slowly returned to normal, Food was plentiful for all. The world tree recovered.

SO the Next time you see a squirrel… Be patient be understanding. For without him Ragnarok will come.

Community

As I socialize with friends over the last few weeks I had to look up something I posted to facecrack July 1 2017. I have to wonder where the overall harmony is these days.

Common Definition: something wide spread or shared.

Unity Definition: to come or bring together for a common purpose or action. the quality or state of being made one, a condition of harmony

Community compound word Common with Unity

Community Definition: A group of people who come together for a common purpose and having a shared harmonious vision.

If I die today

I am somewhat saddened by all the things happening. But in some ways saw it coming. The lack of planning. the lack of follow through on conversations that seem to be long ago and forgotten. I recall having this conversation with former bosses, and friends of former bosses as well as recently deceased, and the not so distantly deceased.

No one plans to die, all though there are those that do wake up today and say “Today I die” but that is the exception. In either event the outcome is still the same, you have died. Death is not hard on the deceased it is hard on the living. Those the dead leave behind. It is harder still on the living when no thought has been given upon what happens after your death. The now parentless child, lover, mother or father, wife or husband and or business partner are left to deal with what you did not deal with.

If your living and I hope that you are if your reading this lol. Give some thought on the details of what happens on the big “if I die today”