Esoterica

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

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The neanderthal genome has been successfully sequenced and it is more heavily represented in human DNA than expected.

Between 1% and 4% of the Eurasian human genome seems to come from Neanderthals.

But the study confirms living humans overwhelmingly trace their ancestry to a small population of Africans who later spread out across the world.

Gladiatrix?

Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a 'massive, muscular woman' who may have been a female gladiator during the Roman occupation of Britain.

. . .

Archaeological Project Manager Robin Jackson said: 'When we first looked at the leg and arm bones, the muscle attachments suggested it was quite a strapping big bloke.

'But the pelvis and head, and all the indicators of gender, say it's a woman.'

Total Eclipse

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

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Fresh from my inbox, a good article on the current eclipse cycle. This is from astrologer Stephanie Austin and since I can't find the article posted on her website, I'm just going to post the whole thing as it appears in the email. The first paragraph really captures it for me. I've been completely wiped.

I also highly recommend listening to this lecture by Mary Lomando. It's on her podcast page under the heading Mary's Eclipse Update July 2010. (Wow. I just got the strangest tone through my head. By strange I mean different in character than I'm used to. Kind of pleasant actually; a low hum in my right occipital. Interesting.) But anyhoo... Back to the eclipse.

Religious Extremism and Anxiety

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

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The point that will almost definitely be missed in this story, probably because of the way it's being promoted, reported, and perhaps even in how the study was conducted, is that the extremism isn't strictly of the religious variety.

A series of studies published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that people who were asked whether they would die for their faith or support their country going to war in its defence were more likely to say yes when they were in anxiety-provoking situations.

The anxiety-provoking situations included being given complex mathematical problems, considering a dilemma in one's personal life, or mulling over uncertainties in a relationship. In all the studies, people who had been exposed to the anxiety-inducing scenario were more extreme in their religious convictions and more enthusiastically attached to their ideals than those who had been in neutral situations. [Emphases mine]

Astrological Trends for July 9-15, 2010

Here is your energy lookout for the week ahead. Like checking the weather to know how to dress, it makes good sense to check the planetary energy patterns to know how to plan your days. This forecast looks at the current transits of the planets in relation to society as a whole. Your own natal, or birth, chart is also impacted by the current transits, and your own experiences this week will also be affected by your own unique chart pattern. I am available for general readings by phone or text chat at LivePsyche or you can make arrangements for in-depth chart readings here.

You may find your thoughts shifting on Friday, July 9th, as Mercury moves into Leo. While the Messenger waded through the water sign of Cancer, your thinking may have been tinged with emotional overtones and you may have been doing the evasive sideways crab shuffle when discussing certain subjects, all the while waving a slightly threatening claw – just in case you had to protect yourself. Now you experience a rush of courage and are eager to make change happen. Uranus turned retrograde this past week, and you may be thinking things can’t change at all. The Jupiter/Uranus conjunction is activated today by Mercury in its bold new cat suit, as well as Venus, still in ears and tail as well, making change a good possibility after all. Venus is poised to shed her Leo fur and slip into the robes of Virgo, the maiden, tomorrow. Venus is opposing Neptune, indicating that sacrifices can or will be made. I predict you will have a breakthrough born of necessity that arrives in the eleventh hour and breathes new life into an old dream or launches a new one.

Cafe

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Around the Web, Around the World

"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Shamanic Practioniers Conference in the UK

This week we take a break from our Initiation Series to support our friends and shamanic colleagues in the UK.. Howard and Elsa Malpas of Warrior in the Heart in London are presenting the 4th UK Residential the Society of Shamanic Practitioners Conference with the help of Nick Breeze Wood of Sacred Hoop Magazine. The conference runs September 9-12th at Gaunts House in Dorset, England. Elsa, Howard and Nick all join us this week to talk about the conference, the beauty of Gaunts House's 2000 acres, and the rich and diverse group of teachers and healers who will be presenting that this year's conference. "The conference is a gathering for those honouring the shamanic way. It is an opportunity to share sacred space with people who are dedicated to teaching and practicing the ways of the shaman and bringing that ancient spirituality into the present and future." The theme this year is Dancing with the Cycles of Life and Jonathan Horwitz, a true elder in contemporary shamanism in Europe, will weave the days together with "The Shaman's Thread: The Unseen Rhythms of Life." The days begin with meditations and end in community ritual or ceremony. Your host, Christina Pratt, will be presenting Awakening the Courageous Heart on the 11th. You can find out everything you need to know about the conference at www.shamanconference.co.uk

This week's guest:
Howard & Elsa Malpas
Nick Wood Breeze

Howard and Elsa have been studying and practicing Shamanism since 1983 and during that time have realized that it is more a remembering, an ancient knowing, rather than a learning. Howard and Elsa have been facilitating residential and non-residential Warrior in the Heart courses since 1994 and regard seeing the beautiful journey people are taking into themselves as a gift. Having discovered a passion for living through Shamanism, they simply want to share what they know, and help others to empower themselves.

Howard & Elsa are both UK Directors of the Society for Shamanic Practitioners. www.shamansociety.org. Elsa is a Director of The Isle of Avalon Foundation, Glastonbury an Educational Not for Profit Company dedicated to promoting Spiritual growth. www.isleofavalonfoundation.comYou can reach Howard and Elsa at www.shamanicwarrior.com


Nick Breeze WoodNick has worked and met with many medicine people, shamans and teachers of shamanism over the past 25 years. His own practice is a mix of Mongolian, Tibetan, Siberian and Native American traditions. Before being involved in shamanism, he trained as a social worker, working in mental health settings, and completed extensive pychotherapy training in TA, gestalt, NLP and Ericksonian trance work. Nick is the editor, designer, and publisher of Sacred Hoop Magazine. He works one-to-one with people teaching shamanism and sometimes runs small informal workshops from his studio home in Pembrokeshire, West Wales. Contact Nick through his website:
www.nicholaswood.net

Tuesday, July 6, 2010 at 11:00 AM Pacific

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Mr. Deity: The Long Awaited Prequel

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

Maybe it's just that I love a good creation myth, but I think this may be my favorite Mr. Deity episode ever. Brilliant. Just brilliant. Although I do think M. Night Shyamalan made two good, even great, movies, not just one. It's a small quibble but I stand by it.

Pope Benedict: Asleep at the Switch?

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

A lengthy feature in the New York Times reminds us that while Pope Benedict (aka Cardinal Ratzinger) has been a radical on the sex abuse issue as compared with Vatican culture, by any objective standard, his efforts have been anemic at best. Some would say ineffectual. Much of the foot-dragging and inattention has been covered on this blog but the Times has turned up some stunners. Like the fact that some abusive priests who should have been laicized weren't simply because the Vatican was concerned about the growing priest deficit.

Another hint of his priorities came at a synod in 1990, when a bishop from Calgary gingerly mentioned the growing sexual abuse problem in Canada. When Cardinal Ratzinger rose to speak, however, it was of a different crisis: the diminishing image of the priesthood since the Second Vatican Council, and the “huge drop” in the numbers of priests as many resigned.

That concern — that the irrevocable commitment to the priesthood was being undermined by the exodus of priests leaving to marry or because they were simply disenchanted — had already led Cardinal Ratzinger to block the dismissal of at least one priest convicted of molestation, documents show.

“Look at it from the perspective of priestly commitment,” said the Rev. Joseph Fessio, a former student of Cardinal Ratzinger’s and founder of the conservative publishing house Ignatius Press. “You want to get married? You’re still a priest. You’re a sex offender? Well, you’re still a priest. Rome is looking at it from the objective reality of the priesthood.”

Esoterica

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

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There are great many news items I read everyday that I haven't the time or inclination to write about in any depth but still like to pass on to readers. I put them in the sidebar under Headlines but no one seems to notice or comment on them so I've decided to do periodic roundups of the more interesting items.

***********

What do King Tut and Rasputin have in common? Missing penis.

Did someone sabotage the Egyptian king's mummy to hide his less-than endowed genitalia? A new report from The New Scientist presents the possibility of a anatomical conspiracy.

An unknown tribe in Papua New Guinea has been discovered. Once the missionaries and census takers find you, it's all pretty much downhill.

"Their houses are in trees, their life is stone age," said Suntono, head of Indonesia's statistics agency for the Papua region, adding the tribe built ladders to huts in tall trees.

After receiving reports from missionaries, census officials needed to walk for up to two weeks to find the tribe, after travelling by boat from the nearest permanent villages, but still only reached the fringes of their territory.

Astrological Trends for July 2-8, 2010

Here is your energy lookout for the week ahead. Like checking the weather to know how to dress, it makes good sense to check the planetary energy patterns to know how to plan your days. This forecast looks at the current transits of the planets in relation to society as a whole. Your own natal, or birth, chart is also impacted by the current transits, and your own experiences this week will also be affected by your own unique chart pattern. I am available for general readings by phone or text chat at LivePsyche or you can make arrangements for in-depth chart readings here.

The Moon in gentle, dreamy Pisces on Friday, July 2nd, is happily aspected by Venus in passionate Leo, making it a wonderful day for romantic interludes filled with sentimental fun. Even if you have no lover to share the day with, any activities that include friends or family will make fond memories. Be sure to bring your camera for those Kodak moments. This particular blending of planetary vibrations supports filming, photography and scrap booking, so get that shoebox of old photos and mementos out and turn them into a work of art you will treasure forever. Mercury in Cancer and Mars in Virgo have some minor energy going on between them, resulting in thoughts or conversations about having your physical or emotional needs met.

Dr. Rustum Roy on Real Science

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

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The great religion/science debate on The Huffington Post continues with Dr. Rustum Roy doing his best impression of Émile Zola.

"J'accuse!" I accuse the sloppy media who have written on "science and religion" topics for generations with grossly imprecise and inaccurate statements amounting to crimes. As a practicing scientists for 60 years known worldwide for my science, I produce data, hard facts (not my opinions) to make my contributions to science, industry, and posterity. In the mass-press treatment of "science-religion" topics, I am insulted by the absurd confrontations engineered by black-and-white print and video media, and the ridiculous, self-anointed representations of the position of "science" we are exposed to, from the most esoteric brand of science.

Who can be said to speak for "science"? First emblazon on your mind that science must have experimentally verifiable facts as its data.

Surely not the likes of Dawkins, Dennett, Hitchens, and Sam Harris? Not one of whom qualifies as any kind of (hard) scientist. Stephen Weinberg or Stephen Hawkins, whom I respect enormously as brilliant experts in their fields, are distinguished enough in "science," but astronomy and cosmology are not classical science. (Search Google for the list of criteria by the Nobel laureate in Physics, P. Anderson.)

Ouch!

James Arthur Ray Almost Killed Me

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

But I'd go back.

Interviews with survivors of the deadly sweat lodge on Primetime: Mind Games concluded there; with the disturbing revelation that some of Ray's followers are willing to overlook the deaths of three people. That a man one of them describes as "full of himself" was, at the very least, extremely negligent, doesn't trump the benefits they've gained. Brian Essad, for instance, has been learning how to visualize more money to pay bills he can't afford because he's spent so much on Ray's seminars. But he's ready and willing to cough up more dough, even after having witnessed people breaking their hands karate choppoing bricks at another seminar with no medical staff to attend to their injuries. Papa needs a new pair of shoes so he's ready to let it ride.

Whether it's the high pressure sales tactics combined with good, old-fashioned cult "snapping" at Ray's seminars, the lure of promised "wealth" for those who learn to "play full on," or the truthiness of the "law of attraction," Ray still has followers. Others have left in disgust, though, and figures such as Ray's former employee Melinda Martin will be familiar from previous media appearances following the disastrous sweat lodge.

Ray declined to be interviewed for the segment which should come as no surprise. But there is generous use of footage from past interviews and seminars. The more I experience of his personality, the more disturbed I am.