I enjoy applying the models of self-organization, emergence, autopoiesis, systems theory, dissipative & replicative structures to social organization. It seems that a sense of humor helps to interpret data at this scale! Perhaps this is for the same reason that I believe that mature societies have a forum for questioning their fundamental characteristics (such as the archetypal trickster figure, like a classic court jester... or a modern analogue, like Jon Stewart & The Daily Show)

There is a great irony in the way that traditionally/historically, most cultures have encouraged ethnocentrism to some degree (one might wonder how much this relates to the human organism's tendency to desire a "local vertical"); and yet, biodiversity is beneficial for us to survive & evolve... in fact, I would venture to say that as a general rule, questioning the orthodoxy makes for a more robust system!

I entered international when the last US Census asked me to state my ethnicity. I wonder what it will take for a majority of people to make a similar cosmopolitan choice?

Please bear with me while I contemplate at great length how such esoteric goals can be synthesized with exoteric processes...

( :::Mitakuye Oyasin::: )

There is an ancient parable about how people can achieve enlightenment all by themselves; but they can probably get there quicker (and possibly go even further) if they heed the wisdom of those who have traveled the path before them!

As I am often wont to say: if you truly believe that you can fly... please just start trying to fly from the ground first, before you go and jump off of a building (or into an abyss), ok?!!!

--

If you would like to learn to fly together with me... I would like to find a mutually convenient time & place that we can collaborate in the creation of worlds by taking turns with storytelling!

In fact, if you would like to assist in the creation of an Alternate Reality Game along these lines, I am extremely excited about using Austin Time Exchange to reciprocate for programming hours... time banking seems to me like an excellent step towards creating what Jacque Fresco refers to as a resource-based economy!

And in the meantime, if you &/or anyone you know has $550K that you're not sure what to do with, I would highly recommend investment in the purchase of this research center (where I would happily work as the property manager ;-), which was the incubation site for The Venus Project (which will now be moving to Ecuador to establish a "Museum of the Future"):

21+ acre park-like paradise, lush landscaping consisting of many ponds, lakes, hundreds of palm trees, various fruit and flowering trees, many large old, oak trees, two bridges and a large deck cantilevered over a lake.

Ten buildings; hurricane resistant, fire resistant, termite resistant, concrete and steel buildings, 5 are domes, 3 homes, 1 office, 2 equipped shops, very large spa, 4 wells, 3 septic tanks.

_The Tri-Cult "Interfaith" Devival_
from noon until 2am on this Sunday, July 6th, 2008
located @ VICE aka Fascination St. (304 6th, just East of San Jacinto), Austin, TX 78701

featuring Live Music, Ranting, Transmedia Infotainment, Midnight Marriages, and more...

For advance tickets, go to:
http://www.Devival.com

Yes, this event is 14 hours long, it's inside, and AIR-CONDITIONED!
Breakfast & Dinner Catering by Ararat Mid-East Fusion
Massive Sound provided by Big Medicine
Merchandise tables from Thunder Puppet, Pop Noir, & Gomi

Live Music by:
Hipnautica
John Gomi
Infidelic
Exstus
Space Bunnies Must Die!
Destroyed for Comfort
Two Saturdays
Furby Youth Choir
Swarm of White Kids
Saint OZ CDXXIII
aethyrflux
We will have multiple DJs of extreme variety all throughout the day!
And surprise guests...

So, what the Hell is the devival, you ask?
Well, you might as well ask what is fnord...
But, since you enquired:

( The Devival is almost but not entirely unlike: )


For further inspiration, here's some background info for The Tri-Cult "Interfaith" Devival:

( A few Discordian resources: )

( Some Subgenius resources: )

( Various Cthulhoid resources: )

There have been some significant changes to the Devival.
We have a killer new lineup & a significantly improved location with a capacity of 1500!!!
Check it out (& buy tickets now!) @ devival.com (before it sells out through our 101X ad)
We'll explain more, soon... but right now, I'm off to SA for my grandfather's funeral.
Meanwhile, check out this spiffy graphic that rustychainsaw designed for us:

The Tri-Cult "Interfaith" Devival! on 07/06/08
...$7 advance tix are on sale NOW @ devival.com
The US Art Authority (next to Spiderhouse) in Austin, TX

So far, we have confirmed the following projects:
Death Is Not A Joyride
Hipnautica
Bring Back The Guns
Woozyhelmet
Destroyed for Comfort
Swarm of White Kids
Two Saturdays
Whiteside The Poet
& The Furby Youth Choir

:::more music, video, theatre, art, trashion, ranting, & etc. TBA:::
Let me know if you want to get on the bill, or just show up early to signup on our roster.
We will have ample opportunities for you to pitch your presentation, albeit in a rather non-ordinary setting, with Discordians, Subgenii, & Cthulhoid Cultists celebrating neophilic irreligion!

So, a few people have asked:
"What the Hell is this Devival thing, anyway?"

A Devival Is Almost But Not Entirely Unlike:
a fridge magnet poetry slam, -isms, Nuremberg, fjords, The Warren Commission, a bris, maximum horsepower, consumer sacrifice, Ash Wednesday, Disneyland, The Rape of Nanking, Twin Peaks, a parking lot carnival, Genosha, V.A.L.I.S, file 13, an experimental rock show, First Thursday, the objective correlative, The Stanford Prison Experiment, Woodstock, Pee-Wee's Playhouse, My First Cavity Search, watching paint dry, black and green scarecrows, the Rainbow Gathering, A Bridge Too Far, bacon, Reaganomics, The Spirit of the Hindenberg, bacon, the Sopranos series finale, Tony Snowjobs, Thermopylae, tyranny of the majority, vainglorious white liberal guilt and doggy-style make-up sex to the X-Clan, the Night of the Long Knives, Caligula, Tourette's Syndrome and other barbarous tongues, the five lone gunmen, cockfight LARPing with furries, a whorehouse in Prague, Soylent Green, the Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, MILF & Cookies, the Rites of Springtime in Fallujah, Kafka's right hook, The Night Gallery, Soylent Green, bungee jumping the shark, apotheosis, your mom, kuru, Ripley's Believe Shit or Not, Burning Man: The High Cost of Low Prices, trained professionals and monkeys, outsourcing yourself, THX-1138, a swelling itching brain, faded glory holes, gun for the whole family, reading with 3D glasses, skullfucking for fun and profit, pants, outlet malls for the seedy underbelly of the Id, that ringinginginginginginging ininin yourour ears, turtles... turtles... all the way down!, those damned dirty apes, transmedia edutainment, the Phantom Zone, this space intentionally left , the Little Engine That Could blow your mind, a prosthetic forehead, that which can't be named I Don't Like Mondays, potted meat, bellybutton lint crochet, cellphone slavery, the letter P,
a virus with shoes,
tea.


For further inspiration, here's some background info for The Tri-Cult "Interfaith" Devival:

( A few Discordian resources: )

( Some Subgenius resources: )

( Various Cthulhoid resources: )

I have finally moved into my new home in Austin!
So, I am finally attempting to make a record of stuff that has happened in my own life, recently...

The Lipstick Pages Launch Party was spectacular!
here're the photos & ( here's the video footage: )

( Flipside was quite an adventure, this year! )

( and here are a few photos of Camp Atlantis... )

Whoa, what a trip!
I just now watched the promo video from...
The Tantric Circus Hawai'ian Tour


So, what's on the horizon, you may ask?

Come join us for "The Tri-Cult Devival," the day after X-Day in Austin, TX: July 6th, 2008...
Discordians, Subgenii, & Cthulhoid Cultists celebrating neophilic irreligion!

Hail Eris, Praise "Bob," & Cthulhu Fhtagn!!!

Since the Autumnal Equinox, my thoughts have again turned towards The Dark Mother & The Divine Feminine.
So I have returned to my research...


Are you familiar with the concept of Dark Matter?
It seems curiously similar to some concepts that I have encountered in a number of different cosmologies:

Mystical Judaism: In the Kabbalah, just as the Tree of Life is composed of the Sephiroth, there is a shadow side known as the Qliphoth

The African Diaspora, from Yoruba to Vodou: The Orisha/Loa are known to inhabit the "empty spaces" in the heavens, between the stars & planets

Although Thelema is often aptly referred to as a Solar-Phallic cult, there are also references to Shadows of the Divine Feminine

One might also consider H.P. Lovecraft's references to Shub-Niggurath

And the Dark Mother is a familiar reference in everything from Anthropology, to Paganism, to African Studies, to Feminism...

Here are a number of resources devoted to Kali, The Dark Earth Mother:
Shri Kalika Devi @ Shiva Shakti Mandalam: The inner Wisdom of the Hindu Tantrik Tradition
Kali: The Ferocious Form of the Divine Mother @ sanatansociety.org
Kali @ CoreyMondello.com: Reflecting My Experiences in Life through Conscious Living
A Kali in Every Woman: Motherhood and the Dark Goddess Archetype
Kali @ wikipedia
A Kali Puja

As fond as I am of Light, Life, Love, & Liberty... I also appreciate Darkness, revere the honored Dead.
And I recognize that greedy humans will often get angry, and engage in hatred, war & tyranny... so I do my best to offer alternatives or at least learn to protect myself & help my friends protect themselves, as well!
Illuminate the opposition!


( here are some resources about Matriarchal, Matrifocal, & Matrilinear society, and related topics: )

--

a link to this post has been added to previous entries in my journal:
The Feminine Archetype in Thelema
musing about gender & sex
evolving portrayals of modern women (and things & stuff...)

okay, so i edited the photo slightly to reflect the tastiness, and it's actually the tiny white pulsar in the distance that is eating away at the reddish neutron star in the foreground, but it seemed an appropriate enough situation for this sort of poetic license

the following text was copied from space.com...

( Bizarre Parasitic Star Found )

yesterday, in a private forum, i invoked the name of Olaf Stapledon & look what happens:

have we discovered inorganic life?

although i have been considering autopoiesis more from the perspectives of enactive cognitive science & cultural studies, this new discovery relates more to the dissipative & replicative structures models of self organizing systems

--

ADDENDUM:

oddly enough, my next entry is about the film "Stardust"
about a month later, a parastic star was discovered
and it would be difficult for me to not muse upon the connections between all of these things and the thelemic reference to every man and every woman is a star (especially in the context of Nuit)

( It's been nine days & I'm not experiencing any sort of nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea, so I think I'm probably not infected... )

--

( self-preservation & the propagation of the species )

--

Currently, I seem to be busy playing the proverbial fool. I spilled water on my laptop, and have lost my phone again; but I am trying to organize a moving party for Wednesday. If anyone is willing & available to assist, I will provide refreshments & entertainment.

"What THE BLOOP! ...do we know?"

...stay pronoid!
...trust in The Unknown!
...keep The Elder Sign handy!

--



--

( ...What was i doing at Flipside besides erecting the Vodou altar for the Zombie Wedding? )

Poll #542996 "...unknown to earthly astronomers as yet?"
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 19

Where is Yuggoth?

At ye proper time... ye beings there will direct thought-currents toward us and cause it to be discovered.

There is some confusion between Pluto and Yuggoth. They may be the same planet, Yuggoth may be Pluto's moon Charon, or it may be a ... trans-Pluto planet that hasn't been discovered by Earthly Astronomers.

Not that this will necessarily clear up any of the above confusion; but thanks to stonemirror for the "heads up" about the new planet in the outlying regions of our solar system, discovered by NASA-Funded Scientists ...although the sigil in that post might attract their attention; so, for those of you who don't have an elder sign handy, you should definitely use the glyph that HPL scribbled in a November 7, 1930 letter to Clark Ashton Smith... here's a version of that symbol that was created by S-P-O-N-G-E, an organization dedicated to exposing and uprooting the unspeakable horrors that exist on the fringes of our awareness:



( What's so special about Yuggoth, you ask? )

"...Calm, lasting beauty comes only in a dream, and this solace the world had thrown away when in its worship of the real it threw away the secrets of childhood and innocence..."

- from DagonBytes' etext of _The Silver Key_ by H. P. Lovecraft
Written in 1926, Published January 1929 in Weird Tales

if you wish to learn secrets that humans were not meant to know... join The Rev.Dkr. Duby and The Deformist Church of The SubGenius tonight for a Cthulhu Devival jam @ the music lab rm#31 from 9:30-11:30pm!

the rumors are true...

Act III of The Cthulhu Devival will take place at the Flipside Decompression, June 25th @ the Enchanted Forest!

The Rev. Dkr. Duby's Deformist Church of the Subgenius & THE ELDER THINGS will be headlining our show, with "Doktors for Dinosaurs!"
So, come ready to rant with us, and don't be afraid to get showered in blood & gore, 'cause it's all for a worthy cause.

The Chupacabra Policia will be providing the community with our valuable services as an Insecurity Force while people's dinosaurs are removed.

( event details )

Arrrrrgh... i haven't had a chance to read lj for the past couple of weeks... how will i ever catch up (that's probably a thousand entries, easily)?

Currently, i'm busy with finals, packing up to move, Chupa duties, and general preparation for Burning Flipside.

This Wednesday, 7pm-ish at Church Night, we will be hosting a preliminary discussion about The Cthulhu Devival @ Burning Flipside 2005!!! (and if i'm lucky, i'll be able to stop by the Poly Dinner beforehand, and at lest say hello to people)...

After posting this originally, i realized that calamityjune had already posted a much more in-depth account of this weekend... during which, we went with a busload of freaks to the Snake Farm, for the Top Secret Project Mayday Fundraiser! (photojournalism courtesy of lionserpent!) Some higlights of the expedition: Goats were kept safe from the Chupacabra, Alligators were seen eating chicken carcasses, Baboons were observed fucking, Llamas were petted... And we saw an arena of rattlesnakes eating mice, and heard the bizarre phenomenon of "group-think" in action. Whenever anyone said somethingduring this bizarre spectacle, no matter how absurd ("bacon!"), numerous small children would start chanting it while in in a frenzied ritual of rodent sacrifice... it was a real "Lord of the Flies" encounter, first-hand!

But i must admit that the most profound moment i experienced was later that evening @ TikiHQ, after the discussion in the hot tub of transhumanism and primitivist anarchy, but before watching Lagaan... it was when Pvt. Pecker asked me what i thought about evolution. After thinking for a moment, i could only remember my recent Biology classes, Life on Earth & The Living Planet... one of the things that fascinated me the most while i was taking those classes was contemplating the transition between organisms that require water to reproduce (like fish), which eventually developed into "tetrapods." The tetrapods eventually developed into "amniotes." These are organisms that are able to encase water along with their reproductive cells in hard shells so that they can reproduce on dry land (like reptiles & birds). Placental mammals, like ourselves, are descended from these anscestors. All of this of course brings to mind images of the Orphic Cosmic Egg, the Chinese P'an­ Ku, & The Dogon Aduno Talu... and all together, makes our Top Secret trip to the Snake Farm on the fertility festival of Mayday curiouser & curiouser...

--

in other news:

Top 10 Most Ridiculous Black Metal Pics of All Time: How Mike Got It Down To Just 10 We Will Never Know
10 worst album covers of all time: from “really bad” to “crime against humanity”
Museum of bad album covers

for the sake of our sanity, may i ask that people use extreme caution when considering any of these images as proividing inspiration for costumes and set design in the Cthulhu devival...

Do you like costumes, ritual, revelry, debauchery, and tentacles?

Assorted freaks of all stripes are currently planning the largest fully interactive performance art event in the history of Burning Flipside, and you are invited to help! The Cthulhu Devival is inspired by the work of H.P. Lovecraft, the 20th century's most influential writer of cosmic horror and weird tales. Unlike devivals hosted by the Church of the Subgenius (praise Bob!), this devival will celebrate and dramatize the Elder Gods, ancient entities which personify the unconscious forces in the human psyche. Cult leaders representing Cthulhu, Hastur, Shub-Niggurath, Nyarlathotep, and Azathoth will battle for control of the devival, in a chaotic, escalating drama involving dark incantations, ecstatic frenzy, fire performance, tribal drums, and esoteric rituals. On Saturday night at midnight, the gibbering masses will gather on the lower field to join this madness, and we hope you will be there to be a part of it. The devival is designed to transcend theme camp affiliations, and can potentially include the creative energy and active participation of the entire population of Pyropolis. The above description is a very abbreviated sketch of just some of the ideas behind this event.

If you'd like to offer assistance or discuss your participation in the devival, please contact us: aethyrflux -at- yahoo -dot- com

--

for more Cthulhoid inspiration...
q.v. the preliminary notes for The Cthulhu Devival...
here're some collected Lovecraftian resources...
and here's more devival info...

--

perhaps we can discuss this in the x-posted version @ burningflipside?

The Cthulhu Devival @ Pyropolis 2005

Friday, May 13th, 2005 @ 18:28 ADDENDUM: m7superstar has created The Official Discussion Forum for The Cthulhu Devival @ Flipside 2005!

let's introduce our allegiances to the seperate cults and get to work creating plots within plots, and schemes within schemes...


( This has the potential to be the largest performance art piece at Flipside, involving everyone present in an interactive participatory event! )

--

( The Starry Wisdom Sect )

--

( Temple of the Outer Daemoniacs )

--

( The Esoteric Order of Dagon )

--

( Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign )

--

( The Witch-Cult of the Golden Bough )