Victorian Occultism: Thought-Forms.

The Intent to Know.

Thought-Forms, a strange, beguiling, frequently pretentious, utterly original book first published in 1901, emerged from this ferment of late-Victorian mysticism. It was written by Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater, erstwhile members of the London Theosophical Society alongside Yeats, and it features a stunning sequence of images that illustrate the book’s central argument: emotions, sounds, ideas and events manifest as visual auras.

The book’s grand ambitions are evident from the first page. “To paint in earth’s dull colours the forms clothed in the living light of other worlds,” Besant laments, “is a hard and thankless task.” She insists that the images in the book “are not imaginary forms, prepared as some dreamer thinks that they ought to appear.” Rather, “they are representations of forms actually observed as thrown off by ordinary men and women.” And she hopes that they will make the reader “realise the nature and power of his thoughts, acting as a stimulus to the noble, a curb on the base.” This grandiloquence was typical: fin de siècle occult leaders produced some of the most baroque writing in literary history, the purplest of purple prose.

Yet what are we saying, exactly, when we call black words on a white page “purple”?

These sorts of underlying associations between words, colors and sounds were precisely what motivated Thought-Forms. In other words, the book was about synesthesia. The illustration of the music of Mendelssohn reproduced above, for instance, depicts yellow, red, blue and green lines rising out of a church. This, Leadbeater and Besant explain, “signifies the movement of one of the parts of the melody, the four moving approximately together denoting the treble, alto, tenor and bass respectively.” Moreover, “the scalloped edging surrounding the whole is the result of various flourishes and arpeggios, and the floating crescents in the centre represent isolated or staccato chords.” Color and sound had become commingled.

Going by the colours I like best, I end up with Strong Intellect, Selfish Affection, Pure Affection, Avarice, Anger, Sensuality, and Malice. Sounds about right. (If 2/2 was white, rather than a missing colour, that one would have been picked, too.)

You can see and read much more at The Public Domain. The book is available to view through Gutenberg.

The Triumphal Arch of Maximilian I.

The Triumphal Arch of Maximilian I.

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) was one of the most celebrated artists of his time. He produced some truly monumental works, one of the grandest of which was a ‘triumphal arch’ created for Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519). Dürer created several works for the emperor during his reign, but this massive print is probably the most impressive, at least in terms of sheer scale.

The image was created from 195 individual woodblocks and took almost three years to cut and print (1515-1518). The finished product was over 3.5 metres tall. Its form was meant to evoke the monumental arches commissioned by Roman emperors of antiquity, but rendered in paper rather than marble. It would have originally been intended as a form of wall decoration in one of Maximilian’s residences.

You can read much more about this at Medievalists, or you can head straight for the fun part, the interactive piece at the British Museum, which allows you a close look at this amazing work.

Word Wednesday.

Brumal

Adjective.

Indicative of or occurring in the winter.

[Origin: Latin brumalis, from bruma winter (see brume).]

(1513)

“More – he is curious. He twists the handle, the metal’s coldness leaping along his arm like ice energy released from a brumal host.” – Haunted, James Herbert.

Brume

Noun.

Mist, fog.

Brumous, adjective.

[Origin: French, mist, winter from Old Occitan bruma, from Latin, winter solstice, winter; akin to Latin brevis short.]

(1800)

“Roger peered forward; he could discern nothing in the torchlit brume.” – The Demon, Douglas Nicholas.

“Chemical Sexual Assault: The science supports us in it.”

Mariano Di Vaio, zimbio.com. So…men can’t be sexy in work clothes? Really?

Carl Gallups, christian pastor and Trumphole had a little chat session with Mike Shoesmith, who wrote a blog post about the sexual assault cases coming to light in Hollywood recently. It seems Mr. Shoesmith is yet another christian mouthpiece. There’s no end of them. Well, this might take a while, so let’s get started:

If a woman wears sexually suggestive clothing around a man is that not also sexual assault? Men are visually stimulated and unwanted stimulation should meet the basic definition of assault. I am not condoning bad behavior by men but women need to understand that by walking around in their little sister’s skirt they are guilty of indecent visual assault on a man’s imagination which does cause mental anguish and torment especially on men who really are trying to live in harmony and respect toward women; something made more difficult when every ripple and curve are exposed to the men around you. Something to think about.

I have some very bad news for you, Mr. Shoesmith – women are also visually stimulated. Most people are, you know. How women dress varies greatly, from one individual to the next, and of course, the context matters. If you suffer terribly from being overstimulated, then pursuing a job as a Hollywood event planner or photographer might not be the job for you. For the most part, people tend to dress appropriately for their particular job. As for women simply going about their business, perhaps you should nudge your tongue back in your mouth, and point your eyeballs somewhere else. Look at the men for a change. Look at cars in the street. Look in storefront windows. Lots of options. Become a major shoe fan, and look at everyone’s feet. This idea that men simply have little to no control is an incredibly toxic lie, which causes a great deal of damage. It should not be enabled in any way. You’re the type of person who would condemn the wearing of burkas, but the way you want women to dress isn’t all that far off. Personally, I think men’s suits are a fantastic look on women, so let’s have a look at women being completely non-sexy, given that they are completely covered up:

Ms. Marlene Dietrich. Looks right sexy to me!

Popsugar.com. Verrrry sexy.

Ralph Lauren. Oooh, hot! I want all three. Quick, someone throw a mass amount of money at me!

The point being, Mr. Shoesmith, it doesn’t fucking matter what women wear, men will find a way to get all unglued about it. What you really want is for women to be dressed as baggy, ugly, and frumpy as possible; just short of the full burka. As for mental torment and anguish, you should have learned a very long time ago that your boner, or lack of one, is your problem alone. You sound like an adolescent trying to convince someone blue balls is real thing, and they’ll just drop off if you don’t let them…

If all women wore suits like the above, you’d complain about all the time you spent being chemically assaulted and mentally stripping them of those clothes.

“When a man sees a naked or partially dressed woman, a chemical reaction happens in his brain,” he continued. “Neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin are released, giving him an involuntary surge of pleasure. Notice the word ‘involuntary’ … Men are in a state of constant sexual assault by women who either don’t understand the severity of what they are doing, because it’s cute and they like the attention, or worse, they do know the feelings it stirs and like the control they have over men.”

So, this involuntary surge of pleasure, it doesn’t happen to people of other genders? Just you manly men. Right. Amazingly enough, millions of people manage to control themselves every single day, regardless of all the lovely surges of pleasure walking around. Most people just enjoy the surge of pleasure and get on with their day. Now, I have more bad news – most people dress to please themselves. It’s a little much to demand that everyone think about your tender sensitivities, especially when most people don’t have the slightest idea of who you are, or where you are located in the world. It’s a big place, so deal with it.

Gallups agreed, saying that if a man were to parade around the workplace “in a very sexually suggestive outfit,” women would immediately file sexual harassment claims. He demanded to know, therefore, “why wouldn’t it be sexual assault” when a woman does it.

Let’s define very sexually suggestive outfit first. When it comes to women, a short skirt qualifies as very sexually suggestive. Any hint of breasts, very sexually suggestive. Now, if a man shows up at the office in g-string, yeah, that’s not appropriate. However…

Nitrolicious.com

if I worked in an office, and a colleague dressed like that ^ I would get a serious surge of pleasure. And be impressed. There isn’t anything remotely inappropriate about that outfit, but it’s damn sexy. I would love to see men in kilts all over the place. See, that’s the thing – sexy isn’t defined solely by clothing. There are many factors, and even more factors when it comes to attractiveness. You’re acting as though eye candy is the worst thing ever in the world. It isn’t, and most of us grown ups are adult enough to easily cope with it.

“We are just discussing what should be obvious,” Gallups insisted. “The science supports us in it.”

No, the “science” does not fucking support you! Not in any way. You’re both fucking idiots who don’t have the slightest idea of what you’re attempting to talk about.

“Men are responsible for fighting off this chemical sexual assault in their brains,” Shoesmith agreed. “Men are responsible for fighting that off every day.”

Oooh, chemical assault! I have more news for you – we all share the same damn chemicals, gender doesn’t have anything to do with it. We all have to deal with visual and olfactory stimulation every day. This would be in the water is wet category.

“Yes they are, absolutely,” Gallups responded. “And women need to help the men.”

No, we do not need to help you. Not in any fashion. You need to help yourselves. This is yet more moronic moaning brought to you by christian idiocy. Everyone needs to be so terribly helpless, especially men, even though you’re styled as the leaders and all, because you just can’t manage to think straight if you realize that women have actual bodies. Fuck that noise. With bells on.

Via RWW and PNN.

oooOOOoo Seance! Blood Drinking! Human Sacrifice! ooOOOooo.

PZ had a fun post up about Jack Chick’s Halloween tracts, which were always lurid, and always wrong. Unfortunately, there are way too many christians who believe such utter shit, and not only believe it, preach it. One such fanatic is Rodney Howard-Browne, master of delusions and conspiracy theories. After a rant about the evil pasty white boy Eminem, he launches into his latest mishmash of conspiratorial evils…

“It’s time to mock the false gods of the age and their prophets,” he continued. “They’re prophets of the enemy … These people are full of the devil, these people can’t even be reasoned with, these are not people you can talk to, they have already given their soul to the devil. These people go through seances, these people drink blood, these people sacrifice children.”

Personally, I think it’s people like Mr. Howard-Browne and all those who actually listen to him who could be classed as irrational and unreasonable. What can you say to someone who truly believes that there’s blood drinking and human sacrifice going on all over the place, and somehow, no one notices? I don’t believe in gods. I don’t believe in the assorted crew, angels, demons, all that nonsense, either. We don’t have souls. I don’t attend seances, drink blood, or sacrifice children. I don’t even eat babies. I think I’m at least fairly reasonable. Generally speaking, I’m willing to listen to most people, but I do have a requirement – I expect people to think. To think about themselves, their views, why they have those views, why they have beliefs in whatever. People should never be afraid to think. Unfortunately, theists of all stripes despise and fear thinking. It’s not good for the flock to think, they might end up coming to very different conclusions from what they are spoonfed at every opportunity. There’s a reason there’s so much repetition of the same old shit in religion – they don’t want people thinking. “Focus on ‘god’! “Fear the devil!” Ooooh Pray!”

“They sacrifice children at the highest levels in Hollywood,” Howard-Browne declared. “They drink blood of young kids. This is a fact.

No, it’s not a fact. That is easily verifiable, too. It’s yet another fucking lie, meant to scare the hell out of those who have been trained to fear a psychopathic god all their lives. Now, some filthy rich assholes are so afraid of death, they do things like milk blood from young people – see Peter Thiel, wannabe vampire. As far as I know, he doesn’t drink the stuff, just spends an obscene amount of money now and then for a transfusion of that sweet, young, blood. Now, there’s stupid and disgusting behaviour for you, but it’s hardly a secret, it’s been publicized, written about, and verified. I expect if people in Hollywood or anywhere else were busy quaffing blood, there would be plenty of stories about it, because those kind of stories sell – what’s better than sex? Blood drinking, sacrificial scandals! Are there other filthy rich morons who are paying an obscene amount of money for transfusions? I expect so.

That is why the next thing to be exposed will be all the pedophilia that is going to come out of Hollywood and out of Washington, D.C. The human sacrifice and the cannibalism has been going on for years. Some of you say, ‘Oh, they don’t do that.’ It’s worse than what you think. You remember when the whole spirit cooking thing came out? That’s commonplace, ladies and gentlemen.

Oh, the trifecta – pedophilia, human sacrifice, and…cannibalism! Oooh, shocker. Spirit Cooking? What, I, uh. Okay, there was an Abramovic work done in the late ’90s called Spirit Cooking, but…:searches: Oh. Yeah, it’s about that. Sort of. Christ on a stick, no art piece can match what these idiots can cook up. No, ‘spirit cooking’ is not a thing. Again, easily verifiable. No one is busy writing about the joys of spirit cookery. If it was a thing, there would be a fucktonne of specialist blogs and so on. I’m sure it would be a major feature on Goop. Well, maybe it will be, it’s not just christians who make up batshit stuff.

And many of the Hollywood actors that you go see on a screen, what you don’t know [is] they bring a witch, they do a big seance right there on the set and they worship devils and they allow devils to come into them before they take the part of what they’re going to act. It’s a fact what I am telling you.”

No, that is not a fact. It’s yet another fucking lie. This is so tiresome. Hollywood is one of the most covered places on the earth, many people are endlessly interested in celebs, movies, and television. Honestly, think for one moment the sheer amount of people involved in making one movie. Just one. And of course, not one person would be remotely tempted by the money they could demand for such stories. Yeah, that’s not reality. Also, while not every actor can be considered great, it’s pretty damn insulting to imply they are unable to perform their job at all, and are instead nothing more than demon suits. A person could be quite tempted to think that lying, conspiracy mongering evangelists are little more than skin suits for demons, if those particular critters existed. As it stands, it’s bad enough, the harm, spite, poison and fear spilled out by lying, conspiracy mongering evangelists.

RWW has the full story, and video.