That Old Blood Track: Centers of Power Part II

In part one of this series we examined the concept of ley lines with a special emphasis on the so-called 'centers of power' that fall upon these lines. Most compellingly, we found multiple links between the Dog Star, Sirius and these lines, especially in the 'New World.' There are other possible strange connections between Sirius and the 'New World.' One may come in the symbolism of the rose.

"Numerologically, the rose represents the number five because the wild rose has five petals and the petals on all roses exist in multiples of five. Geometrically, the rose corresponds to the arcane symbols of the pentagon and pentagram, which was the symbol of the school of the Pythagorean brotherhood. Because of its association with the number five, the rose has also been linked to the five senses and, in an absolute sense, to the expanding awareness of being through the development of the senses."
(The Templar Meridians, pg. 14, William F. Mann)

Both the rose and the pentagram are attributed to the 'secret Star of Magick' in the Crowleyian school, which is quite possibly Sirius.

"...an eleven-rayed star symbolizing the union of the human and the divine elements of consciousness. Its full form is the fusion of the Pentagram (5) with the Hexagram (6), the former being the glyph of the feminine powers (Nature), the latter of the masculine powers (Creative Will)...

"The secret Star of Magick is also elevenfold; it is Unicursal Hexagram of the Beast plus the five-petalled Rose typical of Babalon, for the flower (or flow-er) is the symbol of her magical function."
(The Magical Revival, Kenneth Grant, pg. 23)

There is a more overt connection between Sirius, the occult rose and the number five. More commonly Sirius is represented by a five pointed star. This is especially true of Freemasonry, according to the 33rd degree Mason Albert Pike:

"To find in the BLAZING STAR of five points an allusion to the Divine Providence, is also fanciful; and to make it commemorative of the Star that is said to have guided the Magi, is to give it a meaning comparatively modern. Originally it represented SIRIUS, or the Dog-star, the forerunner of the inundation of the Nile; the God ANUBIS, companion of Isis in her search for the body of OSIRIS, her brother and husband. Then it became the image of HORUS, the son of OSIRIS, himself symbolized also by the Sun, the author of the Seasons, and the God of Time; Son of Isis, who was the universal nature, himself the primitive matter, inexhaustible source of Life, spark of uncreated fire, universal seed of all beings. It was HERMES also, the Master of Learning, whose name in Greek is that of the God Mercury. It became the sacred and potent sign or character of the Magi, the PENTALPHA, and the significant emblem of Liberty and Freedom, blazing with a steady radiance amid the weltering elements of good and evil of Revolutions, and promising serene skies and fertile seasons to the nations, after the storms of change and tumult."
(Morals and Dogmas, Albert Pike, pg. 15)

So, on to the roses. Researcher William F. Mann, whose great-uncle was Supreme Grand Master of the Knights Templar of Canada (a modern Masonic order), presents compelling evidence of a series of meridians passed down in occult tradition and used by the Knights Templar to escape persecution in Europe and resettle in North America. Mann embraces the theory of the 'Rose Line,' recently popularized by The Da Vinci Code. Supposedly this Rose Line is either an alternative name for the Paris Meridian or located near said meridian, and plays into the whole 'Jesus Bloodline' theory centering around the Merovingian dynasty and popularized in Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

"For all the traditional rose symbolism associated with the Virgin Mary, however, many recent books now explain the importance of that other Mary -Mary Magdalene, who may have stolen the heart of Jesus -to provide a secret symbolism to the image of the rose. According to the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, the name Notre Dame de Lumiere is in fact a direct reference to Mary Magdalene. They hint that even the earliest Notre Dame churches in France are dedicated to the Magdalene, not the Virgin Mary. The authors seem also to identify Mary Magdalene with the Meridian, the ancient longitudinal line established as the starting point of a grid that spans the earth, and claim that within a modern context, she may have been the progenitor of a bloodline from her 'husband' Jesus, which became the central hypothesis of their book.
(The Templar Meridians, William F. Mann, pgs. 15-16)

Associating the Magdalene with the rose and the Rose Line is apt if one insists on a Jesus bloodline, but if the rose is symbolic of Sirius, then the Virgin Mary is your lady.

"And to Isis in her later character of patroness of mariners the Virgin Mary perhaps owes her beautiful epithet of Stella Maris, 'Star of the Sea', which she is adored by temptest-tossed sailors. The attributes of a marine deity my have been bestowed on Isis by the sea-faring Greeks of Alexandria. They are quite foreign to her original character and to the habits of the Egyptians, who had no love of the sea. On this hypothesis Sirius, the bright star of Isis, which on July mornings rises from the glassy waves of the eastern Mediterranean, a harbinger of halcyon weather to mariners, was the true Stella Maris, 'the Star of the Sea'."
(The Golden Bough, James Frazer, pg. 389)

the Star of the Sea

In both cases, however, the Virgin Mary and the Magdalene would be associated with a child. Isis is also frequently depicted with the infant Horus upon her knee, a la the Virgin Mary and possibly the Magdalene as well. But I digress -Back to the roses.

The Rose Line runs north and south and supposedly stretches up to the Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland. This chapel plays heavily into various esoteric theories surrounding the connections between the Knights Templar and the Freemasons, as well as the royal bloodline of the Sinclair clan, who are also linked to Christ's bloodline.

"Following this central theme of the ancient meridian or roseline leads directly to Rosslyn Chapel, the ancestral home of the Scottish St. Clairs, or Sinclairs, located fifteen miles south of Edinburgh. In earlier times, this area was named Roslin, an amalgamation of the Celtic words ros, meaning 'ridge' or 'promontory,' and lin, or 'waterfall.' There is, however, a deeper explanation of the origin of the name Roslin: It comes directly from Roseline, which symbolizes a bloodline of immense significance that has perpetuated ancient knowledge handed down to or rediscovered by the original nine knights who excavated beneath the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem following the First Crusade. As such, it has also been suggested that the Sinclairs were descended from the Jesus Roseline lineage -the 'true vine.'

"Alternatively, speculation has only just begun that the chapel falls on an ancient ley line -a roseline -within a geometric grid pattern that crisscrosses the world. Ley lines, also known as dragon lines, are straight lines or trackways passing over and through the landscape. Throughout Europe, ley lines appear to carry earth energy or an electromagnetic force and are marked by landmarks including standing stones, megaliths, earthworks such as barrows and mounds, and holy wells. The signature of the chapel's founder, Sir William Sinclair, on a prominent charter suggests this very theory: His reads 'St. Clair of Roselin.' This confirms that since the earliest times, Rosslyn was considered an energy point and spiritual center."
(The Templar Meridians, William F. Mann, pgs. 17-18)

the Rosslyn Chapel

In linking the notion of roselines with ley lines, Mann is stating that there is an entire network of these lines stretching across the globe. He goes on to speculate than an esoteric order held the secret to establishing these lines.

"The notion of a series of longitudinal meridians spanning the globe is not a new concept... but to associate it with Mary Magdalene implies both an ancient and a secret connection. It offers that through the union of Jesus and Mary, the bloodline of ancient kings, including the House of David and Tribe of Benjamin, continues to this day, but also that there has been perpetuated an ancient knowledge which, among other things, allowed the highest initiates to establish their relative position on earth's surface. In a time when the Church was promoting the concept that the earth was flat, this information represented pure power in terms of trade and natural resources. Needless to say, the holders of such knowledge would very quickly realize the necessity to veil it in layers of esoterica and religious symbolism that outwardly fell under the sanction of the Church."
(ibid, pg. 16)

Mann goes on to speculate that various megalithic structures and the like were constructed in part to help initiates calculate their position across the globe.

"Calculating the difference in longitude, then required the ability to predict an eclipse and to accurately record local time, which would lead to the possibility that there were ground almanacs of some sort positioned throughout the world -that is, the mysterious megalithic rings, circles, and other prehistoric monuments and ruins found all over the known world, including both North and South America. Increasingly, individuals or groups such as the New England Antiquities Research Association (NEARA) are discovering in New England stone circles, dolmens, underground complexes, mine shafts stone walls, petroglyphs, and other evidence of ancient civilization that seem to have supported advancement in metalworking, astronomical charting, and habitation well beyond what we at first thought possible. In their book Uriel's Machine, Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas offer powerful evidence that the purpose of the great megalithic sites in western Europe, which date to a time long before the Egyptian pyramids, was to build an international network of sophisticated astronomical observations that provided accurate calendars and could measure the diameter of the planet and predict eclipses of the sun and moon years in advance."
(ibid, 34)

one of the most speculated about observatories

In addition to mapping position, it seems that several of these shrines were built to mark areas of rich mineral deposits. If riches could be found along ley lines, this would be another reason for various esoteric orders such as the Knights Templar to make them one of their most closely guarded secrets. Mann implies that various mines had been established along or near ley lines for a very long time, such as the alleged Templar site at Green Oaks, Nova Scotia.

"In his book America B.C., Barry Fell contends that over three thousand years ago a band of roving Celtic mariners crossed the North Atlantic to discover and subsequently colonize North America. Fell found support for his theory in the hundreds of inscriptions discovered among the stone ruins during an archaeological survey of New Hampshire, Vermont, and other Eastern Seaboard states. From these inscriptions he systematically traces the remnants of a North American Celtic civilization throughout the New World as well as evidence of Egyptian hieroglyphs and Iberian-Punic script. In most cases, evidence of pre-Christian exploration and habitation in the Americas corresponds to the geological patterns underlying the Appalachian and Allegheny Mountain chains, which run from Nova Scotia to Louisiana.

"... American archaeologists estimate that over half a million tons of copper were removed from the now abandoned mine shafts lining the north shore of Lake Superior, yet only a tiny portion of it has been located in burial mounds and other archaeological sites in continental America. Samuel de Champlain's diaries talk about his search for the 'old copper mines' near Minas Basin during 1604 and 1608 explorations of the area...

"It therefore seems likely that if the Templars had reestablished mining activities in the Green Oaks area -even throughout the entire north-eastern seaboard, for that matter -they would surely have veiled these operations in esoteric ritual recognizable only to those who were 'on the square...'

"Beyond its obvious material riches in the form of metals, recent geological tests at the Green Oaks site confirm that a fault line runs directly through the property, suggesting that it is an area of potential underground energy, which the more learned among the Templars would be capable of diving. Much like the site of Rosslyn Chapel, that of Green Oaks has been revered for thousands of years by those natives of the area because of its natural energy."
(ibid, pgs. 30-31)

Was there a large scale mining operation in 'pre-contact' North America?

Whether it is to pin earth energies, to map various ley lines and star paths, or to mark mineral deposits, there is clearly much significance to these centers of power. As noted above, the Crowleyian school had a most peculiar view of these centers of power. Deriving from Tantra, it essentially believes that the various nerve plexuses in the subtle body of human beings is a microcosm of the macrocosm of the physical earth. There are seventy-two thousand of these nerve centers in the human body, and presumably as many upon the earth. There are, however, seven major centers, known as chakras, both upon the human body and the earth.

"The macrocosmic centres are widely distributed over the earth's surface; one is located in Cairo, another in Sumer, a third in the British Isles, and the most exalted and spiritual centre is located at the southern extremity of India. The remaining three are situated in the trans-Himalayan region of the Gobi desert, in the Andes and in California respectively...

"The supreme seat of energy -the Sahasrara chakra -is not located within the physical body at all, but above the cranial suture, where, figuratively speaking, the Lotus of Infinite Light blooms and bathes with its perfume the subtle anatomy of man. The Sahasrara is the seat of the Atman, the True Self in Man which is known as the Brahman in the Cosmos. It is the Abode of Siva and is represented on earth by the Sacred Hill of Arunachala in South India. This is the cult-centre of the most profoundly spiritual Path now open to humanity, i.e. the Advasita-marg or Path of Non-duality. Arunachala, the oldest hill in existence is said to date from the Lemurian phase of the earth's history. The Light of Pure Wisdom, Jnana, shines through the Sahasrara. It is broken into a thousand streams by its multitude of petals. The nectar drips perpetually over the subtle bodies and energizes the chakras beneath it, each chakra absorbing and transmuting a little of the Light in accordance with individual spiritual development...

"On the earth-plane, as if to counterbalance the southerly situation of Arunachala, the Ajnic centre is located in the northern and trans-Himalayan region of the Gobi; it is sometimes referred to as Shamballah, where an occult concentration of Cosmic Will radiates through the vehicles of the so-called Hidden Masters, of whom Aiwaz is the Chief in the present Aeon.

"The thyroid gland, in the region of the larynx, is backed by the Visudha Chakra. This gland, in its active state, enhances sensitivity and renders the individual hypersensitive to all kinds of physical, astral and mental sensation. If this gland is over stimulated there is danger of megalomania, because its vibrations attract cosmic entities seeking to dominate the earth-sphere through mantric and verbal impressions. In the present Aeon the cult-centre corresponding to this chakra is situated in Cairo, where the Voice of Aiwaz manifested and communicated The Book of Law...

"The thymus and the pancreatic glands are attributed to the Anahata Chakra -The thymus, situated in the chest, is the channel through which the Higher Knowledge (Daath) is brought down to inundate the chakras below the Heart-centre. This is the Tiphareth-centre; two cult-centres reflect its energies on to the earth plane. One of these secret centres is said to be situated in a mountain submerged beneath the sea about one hundred miles off the coast of Peru, in the region of the Andes. This mountain corresponds to Arunachala, situated precisely at the opposite side of the globe, so that if a stake were driven through the planet, Arunachala would form one end of the supreme spiritual axis. This axis is the macrocosmic expression of the link between Kether and Tiphareth, or the Sahasrara and the Anahata -the Head and the Heart.

"The second of these two cult-centres is at Glastonbury, the focus of the Western Mystery Tradition, which asserts that this region was an occult power-house long ages before it became the secret stronghold of the Holy Graal...

"The adrenals are backed by the Svadisthana Chakra, which forms the downward point of the second triangle of Chakras in the psycho-somatic organism. Sahasrara-Ajna-Visuddha form the first; Visudha-Anahata-Manipura, the second; Manipura-Svadisthana-Muladhara, the third. Svadisthana is the focus of the forces which nourish the animal and instinctual nature. The adrenals, which secrete adrenalin into the bloodstream, are small glands situated above the kidneys. In the qabalistic system, Yesod is the corresponding Sephira or vortex of energy. This is the whorl sacred to the Yezidi and to it is attributed the cult-centre at Sumer, which Crowley claims to have been the scene of man's first consciousness of himself as an individualized monad, or spirit. The complex symbology of this centre forms the substance of the present book. It is the cult-centre of Sun and Moon, of Moon-Magick and the IXº, as the final centre -Malkuth -is of the Earth and Saturn, and of the secret XIº.

"The extreme lower point of the Third Triad is represented in the physical organism by the gonads, backed in the etheric body by the Muladhara Chakra. The gonads are involved directly in the mechanism of psycho-physical creativity and sexual reproduction. They emanate potent kalas, or essences, which act dynamically wherever their impact reaches. Their radiations are used in all inspirational and psycho-magically creative work as well as in the more secret formulae of regeneration, astral and physical. At this region in the subtle body sleeps the primal Fire-Snake, Kundalini. It focuses the 'fires' of the physical plane -all the electro-magnetic currents of 'blind' force that are highly dangerous unless polarized by the controlling Light radiating from the highest centre in the region of the Supernal Triad. On the earth-plane, the energies of this lowest chakra -Muladhara -are concentrated in an occult centre in California that is only now becoming dynamic; it will prove to be a magazine of tremendous power during the evolution of both man and the planet in the present Aeon of Horus."
(The Magical Revival, Kenneth Grant, pgs. 77-81)

the Sacred Hill of Arunachala, one of the Crowley's centers of power 

The fact that the power center in ancient Sumer is only revealed to initiates is interesting to me. I have a theory as to this center's location, but I want to research more before speculating. All in all, Crowley's theory of seven major centers is most compelling. Sumer, Egypt, and India are of course responsible for most of the major religions in the world. The center of power in California that Grant claims 'is only now becoming dynamic' is likely a spot located somewhere in the Mojave desert. It is here that Jack Parsons, a Crowley disciple and rocket propulsion researcher who invented the rocket fuel used for spacecrafts and co-founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, performed his notorious Babalon Working with L. Ron Hubbard (yes, the founder of Scientology) in 1946.

"A ritual he performed with Hubbard in the Mojave Desert to attract an 'elemental' -in this case, a female sexual partner, since Hubbard was scarfing up all the available lovers -had culminated in Parsons, in an intuitive flash, suddenly claiming victory ("It is done!") and rushing home to find that a vivacious, red-headed Marjorie Cameron (whom he had never met) was waiting for him at his home."
(Sinister Forces Book One, Peter Levenda, pg. 152)

the Mojave desert

The Andes have long maintained a reputation as a major spiritual center. In the mid-20th century, however, they would begin to attract a most sinister faith: National Socialism. This was especially true of the nations of Argentina, Chile, and Bolvia, all of whom share a portion of the Andes, and all of whom became havens for escaped Nazi war criminals. In several instances, such as the notorious Colonia Dignidad (which I've chronicled before here) they would set up shop very near the Andes. For some strange reason the Andes seem to play heavily into the metaphysics of Nazism, a notion embraced outside the expat-German communities.

"Is it the Andes Mountains, perhaps, that give Chile its unique spiritual character?..

"To the metaphysical Chilean author Miguel Serrano, the Andes are the West's equivalent of the Himalayas. Where a North American might expect llamas instead of lamas, he sees these venerable peaks as the spiritual domain of ancient supernatural forces; he believes a secret priesthood resides somewhere within the Andes chain, possessing the secrets of immortality, and of communion with the gods. Serrano -whose books on Jungian-type themes are familiar to North American readers -also wrote on the metaphysical aspects of Hitler's Germany in a volume which has not been translated into English nor made available in the United States, even in the original Spanish. While I was in Chile, I bought a copy and was startled by the fact that this author of the charming little alchemical love story, El/Ella, would have written so extensively on the initiatic aspects of the Third Reich in such terms of open admiration, insisting -thirty-years after the war -that National Socialism would be the salvation of Chile."
(Unholy Alliance, Peter Levenda, pg. 312)

the Andes

Glastonbury Abbey is one of the most heavily speculated about locations within occult and esoteric circles. It has been closely linked with the legends concerning King Arthur, Avalon and Camelot, among others.

"Roaming the Somerset countryside where every episode in the adventures of King Arthur's knights in quest of the Grail has its physical location, Kathryn Maltwood was haunted by the feeling of imminent revelation. One summer afternoon, standing on a low hill and watching the shadows move across the plain which stretches towards the ramparts of Camelot, she saw the secret of the landscape reveal itself. All the clues suddenly fell into place: legends of hidden giants in the landscape, the story that King Arthur never passed away but lies sleeping in his native hills, astrological themes in local folklore and William of Malmesbury's reference to Glastonbury as 'a heavenly sanctuary on earth.' She had aerial photographs taken of the Glastonbury landscape and, as she studied them, she found her intuition confirmed. She could detect a circle of figures, more than ten miles in diameter, evidently designed many thousands of years ago by the astronomical initiates of a noble civilization. Legends of these figures had become interwoven with episodes in the Grail quest, and she believed that knowledge of them had been inherited by the monks of Glastonbury Abbey who carefully preserved the landmarks and waterways delineating the great effigies. She identified the constellations which they each represented, and realized that the whole Glastonbury area had been marked from ancient times with the symbols of the celestial kingdom on earth.

"Mrs. Maltwood, although she never knew it, was not the first to recognize the zodiacal giants of Somerset. In about 1580 the famous scholar and magician, Dr. Dee, discovered what he believed to be Merlin's secret in the Glastonbury plains. According to his recent biographer, Richard Deacon, he became interested in 'the unusual arrangement of the prehistoric earthworks in the Glastonbury area and he had diagnosed that these objects when carefully mapped represented the signs of the Zodiac and the stars.'"
(The New View Over Atlantis, John Michell, pgs. 20-21)

There are of course connections between Glastonbury and Sirius. Legends of a 'great dog' haunting the Somerset marshes have been around for centuries. They led Kathryn Maltwood to speculate that the landscape around Glastonbury formed a dog's head that was linked with the constellation Canis Minor, which precedes Canis Major, the constellation that features Sirius.

Glastonbury area

And there you have it folks -energy pins, earth chakras, mineral deposits, star maps -these centers of power are nothing if not versatile. They appear the world over in different guises, yet from the Americas to Glastonbury they all seem to share similar features and purposes. Certainly they draw various groups of 'initiates' like buzzards to a fresh corpse. An over riding theme, however, seems to be their link to Sirius. Perhaps a more likely name for ley lines would be Sirius lines, as they all seem to lead to the Dog Star in some way or other.

That Old Blood Track: Centers of Power Part I

In prior posts I have tackled the concept of 'ley lines' or 'energy grids' before here and, with a special emphasis on Sirius here. Ley lines are one of those things that seem to have eminence occult significance, but are rarely addressed in much of the literature. When they are mentioned its often in a flakey New Age context, and possibly centering around theories of ancient power plants. At the other end of spectrum is the Downard/Hoffman/Grimstad school of thought that plays into the 'King Kill 33' theory. Needless to say, finding credible material on ley lines is always an adventure. Regardless of whether you associate with the 'left' or the 'right', several of the authors mentioned in this piece will probably draw a few cringes.

Ley lines themselves will be secondary to this piece. Rather, I would like to focus on the megaliths, temples, and other centers of power that have been built upon the leys. It is these structures, after all, that are chiefly responsible for the emergence of ley line theories as countless researchers over the years have become obsessed with the orientations of various holy sites and their relations to one and other.

First, though, let us briefly consider some of the various traditions of ley lines the world over. I shall turn to John Michell, one of those (semi) flakey New Age types, and the researcher chiefly responsible for spreading the concept of leys to the general public in the 1970s.

"The earliest memories of the Aboriginal race are expressed in terms of their native country. Its natural features, hills, streams and rocks, shaped by elemental beings of the Dream Time, an endless age which preceded our own... The creative gods once traversed the country along paths whose lines are still remembered; for at certain seasons of the year these become animated by a vital force which fertilizes the earth and gives new life to plants and animals...

"In several other parts of the world, lines linking holy centres are not only mythological paths down which the gods representing the various heavenly bodies pass at regular seasons, but have some further quality known only to native magicians. American Indians, particularly the Hopi of the Southwest, appear to use them as cables of mental communication. In China they are known as lung-mei, the paths of the dragon, and run between astronomical mounds and high mountains...

"...the fairy paths. These paths, sometimes visible as old roads, sometimes preserved only in local memory, were said to be the routes of seasonal processions. On a certain day the fairies passed through the land, and anyone who stood in their way might be struck dead or be taken off, never to return. A man whose house happened to be situated on a fairy path must on that day leave his front and back door open, for it was unwise to obstruct the fairy parade... an Irish seer for an explanation of the fairy paths, and was told that they were lines of some kind of magnetic current, whose exact nature had lately been forgotten.

"The Chinese believed that lung-mei extended all over the world, and this belief is everywhere supported by the evidence of local tradition. In Australia and North America the dragon lines are creation paths, haunted by the gods and the great primeval serpent, the ancestral guardian of all living things. In Ireland they are the roads of the fairies... Some years ago pilots flying above the Nazca plains of Peru noticed a remarkable geometrical pattern laid out on the country below. Long straight lines stood out against the desert landscape, and among them the airmen saw a number of giant figures representing men, animals and strange symbols... Some of the straight lines on the Nazca plains are of astrological significance: they are oriented so that a traveller walking down a certain line at the equinox or solstice would see the sun or a star rising or setting on the horizon straight ahead."
(The New View Over Atlantis, John Michell, pgs. 36-38)

Michell would go on to dub this 'magnetic energy' that flowed along ley lines the 'earth spirit' and would note that shrines and temples were often constructed along these paths.

"All these various traditions, which occur universally and evidently derive from some once unified system of knowledge about the ways the earth spirit, refer to, as it of spirit, that passes through the country on certain routes and on certain days, its seasons determined by the positions of the heavenly bodies. The shrines located on its path were restored to on occasions when the local god, representing a particular aspect of the earth spirit, was in temporary residence. The properties of springs, lakes and rivers, says Ovid in the Metamorphoses, vary with the seasons. In its early history the oracle of Delphi was active only once a year, so it is with all natural centres of the earth spirit. Each one has its peculiar season of efficacy, commemorated in the date of the annual fair, feast, market or assembly that has always been held there. By these events were regulated the stages of the agricultural years, and thus the lives of all people in traditional societies proceed according to a sacred calender, related to local topography, to local myth and custom, and deriving ultimately from people's actual experience of the earth spirit and their recognition pf its ways, seasons and centres of influence. Strangers may conquer the land, imposing their own gods and cults on the natives, but the sacred places and the dates of their festivals remain the same as before, the attributes of the new deities are accommodated to the old, and the invaders become in time subject to the traditions of the country. It was the policy of early Christians to follow antique precedent in this respect, with the result that almost every old church occupies a site with sacred associations far earlier than the present building, while the feast day of the saint to whom the church is dedicated has in many cases been inherited from the god of the previous religion. This continuity in the shrines and seasons of the earth spirit has an economic as well as mystical cause, for the life of the country is little affected by political or religious change; the seasons of the agricultural year proceed in the same way, and must still be marked by festivals at the regular dates and places, whatever the system of government may be."
(The Earth Spirit, John Michell, pg. 11)

Delphi

Kenneth Grant, a follower of Aleister Crowley and noted occultist in his own right, claimed that the Crowleyian system had concepts similar to ley lines and sacred places.

"It is necessary, at this stage, to say something about the subtle or occult zones of consciousness in their microcosmic and macrocosmic aspects.

"There are numberless 'sacred' centres on the face of the earth, each one being the counterpart or reflection of a subtle nerve-complex in the physical organism. Seventy-two thousand nerve plexuses are referred to by the Hindus in their sacred writings.

"All ancient nations had their power-centres on earth, foci of transmundane and cosmic forces. The nomes of Egypt, for instance, were mapped out in accordance with the distribution of the various members of the Body of Osiris after it had been hacked to pieces by Typhon. To the cult centres corresponding to the various parts of the Body were allocated shrines containing beautifully wrought replicas of these organs, and sometimes the originals -or so it has been claimed. The Phallus of Osiris, at Het Bennu in the nome of mendes, is the most important shrine and focal point of the ancient worship. The adoration of the Baphometic or Mendesian Goat rehearsed the sun-god's resurrection in the House of the Goat -Het Baint -the Womb of Isis.

"Similarly, in India, when the goddess Sati was hacked into fifty-one pieces by the discus of Vishnu, the places at which the various members fell were sanctified by the erection of shrines, or sacred monoliths. Kamrup, in Assam, was particularly revered as being the repository of the Devi's yoni. Kamrup or Kama-rupa (literally, the image of desire) is to this day the supreme spiritual focus for those Tantrics who worship the goddess with the help of Her priestess, who possess naturally the characteristic talisman of the Goddess. Here at Kamrup the menstruation of the earth occurs, according to Hindu belief.

"The above examples of divine centres are peculiar to Egypt and India. There is, however, a world-wide complex of centres and they are reflected in miniature in the seven major chakras situated in the subtle counterpart of the human body. To be more precise, the chakras function through the endocine system and so affect humanity at psycho-physical levels."
(The Magical Revival, Kenneth Grant, pgs. 75-76)

the Great Beast

We shall return to the seven major earth chakras in the next installment, but for now will consider the reasoning behind building these shrines and such upon major centers of energy across the earth in the first places.

"At Delphi, where in archaic times oracles were given in the name of the goddess Earth, the sun god, Apollo, killed Python, the goddess's serpent, and usurped the shrine together with the oracular function. Zeus killed Typhon, the dragon offspring of Earth, and took over the oracle at Dodona, and St. Michael, as archangel, kept the hilltop shrines and the reputation as a dragon killer that he had previously enjoyed as a Celtic sun god.

"In the terminology of feng-shui the serpent represents the mercurial currents of the earth spirit gliding in serpentine channels through the earth's crust -the yin force in nature. It is to this force that Plutarch, who was a priest at Delphi in the first century AD, refers in The Decline of Oracles: 'Men are affected by streams of varying potency issuing from the earth. Some of these drive people crazy or cause disease or death; the effect of others is good, soothing and beneficial.' The factor that produces from the one source these various effects is the complementary yang force, the power of the sun. So Plutarch, in reference to the oracular power of the earth spirit, goes on to quote the old belief that 'the sun creates in the earth the right conditions and the right temperament for it to be able to produce the exhalations that inspire prophecy.' This understanding was the basis of the solar technology that has at different periods brought revolutionary changes into the lives and ideals of people throughout the world.

"When the serpent current of the earth spirit is transfixed by the lance of the dragon killer, it can no longer move freely about the earth, for its energies are now fixed and concentrated on one spot. When Apollo killed Python, he performed an act that is repeated in feng-shui ritual wherever the foundation stone of a house or temple is laid...

"St. Joseph of Arimathaea is said to have done much the same at the foundation of Christian Glastonbury by planting in the earth his staff which blossomed into the sacred thorn, and there are many similar foundation legends elsewhere. At Delphi, by spearing the serpent and so localizing its energies, Apollo raised the productivity of the oracle, which, having previously been visited by the animating spirit on only one occasion in the year, now became active the year through, except for three months when the god was absent and Dionysus, reigning in his place, temporarily restored the wilder, more elemental rites of the past.

"The same policy of artificially increasing the earth's fertility and multiplying the gifts of its spirit, instead of accepting what is given by nature, is evident wherever the solar gods take over the archaic shrines of the earth goddess. The appearance of the sun god signals the introduction of a technology that aims to alter the natural channels of the earth spirit and to simulate its energies for the benefit of an increasingly large settled population. This innovation is naturally opposed by traditionalists and religious people, and so in the Eumenides of Aeschylus the Furies, servants of the old Delphic goddess, cry against Apollo: 'He made man's ways cross the place of the ways of god and blighted age-old distributions of power.'"
(The Earth Spirit, John Michell, pgs. 18-19)

St. Michael killing a dragon

I've chronicled the origins of patriarchy and matriarchy before here, here and here, and came to much different conclusions as to the bringers of artificiality and 'civilization.' The highly controversial 'revisionist' historian (and Holocaust denier) Michael A. Hoffman came to a similar conclusion, largely attributing the various megalithic structures the world over to a Saturnian cult that predated the rise of the solar deities, which are commonly associated with patriarchy. Hoffman is thoroughly despised by many in the 'synchro-mystical' community in large part due to his recent writings on Judaism, but many of his theories on the occult are still compelling and have had an eminence influence on modern conspiracy culture -even shock rocker Marilyn Manson wrote a song based upon said theories.

"The sickle symbolizes Saturn, also known as Chronos-Saturn or as the Greeks called it, Demiurgos, the operating engineer of the universe as opposed to the Creator of that universe. In the reign of Saturn we see exorbitant building and modeling activities and this is reflected in the masonic reference to their god as the 'Big Builder' or 'Architect.' This sounds reasonably attractive, many of us can appreciate magnificent building and splendid projects along those lines but as usual there is more to it than this.

"This Saturnian-masonic 'edifice-complex' ultimately is building against the grain, against nature, though at the beginning, in the early eras, nature's forces are manipulated with a knowledge which requires the greatest intimacy with her ways, as reflected in the various megalithic structures in the British isles, Europe and ancient America. There is beauty, simplicity and power in this early technology and modern enthusiasts have mistaken the knowledge and sensitivity to natural forces intrinsic to this technology as indicative of a positive force at work.

"Actually, with some crucial exceptions, the rise of the megaliths marked the rise of the Hermetic Academy into its dominate physical phase. The theory is that the megaliths 'pin down' natural forces, helping to subdue nature's most savage furies. We marvel today at the Hoover Dam bu that symbol laden construction is but a crude parody of the technology of the megaliths which helped to 'dam' the wildest forces of nature.

"The construction of the megaliths, heralded by New Age types as marvels of ancient ingenuity and cooperation with nature are actually the first physical evidence of the end of Eden, of that period on earth when humanity lived as the servants and friends of God's natural creation, as nomads and hunter-gathers.

"The error of modern enthusiasts for what they regard as the magical, Merlinesque, harmonious time of the Druids and Stonehenge is ignorance of the fact that the historical period they idolize was itself immersed in a tampering technology and materialism which essentially marked a revolutionary break with the natural order."
(Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare, Michael A. Hoffman, pgs. 21-22)

Many of these sacred centers (and presumably the leys they are supposedly built upon) are also positioned to chronicle various stars and constellations. Sirius, the Dog-Star (which is closely linked with Saturn in occult lore), appears time again and again in relation to various temples and shrines built upon leys the world over. Sirius is of course highly significant in occult traditions, as I've noted before here and here. Robert Temple, a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, speculated that various oracle centers in the ancient world were laid out according to the position of the constellation Argo, which he associates with Sirius.

"The other Arabian star named 'Weight' was in the constellation Argo. But we see the Argo was associated with Sirius, as was the first star named 'Weight' which was in the Great Dog constellation and a visible companion of Sirius.

"If an Argo is projected on the globe with its helm near the ancient Egyptian city Canopus on the coast of the Mediterranean (the star Canopus forms the helm of the Argo in the sky) and with its prow at Dodona (from where the oak came which was placed in the Argo's prow), if we hold the stern firmly on Canopus but swing the ship eastwards at the top, so that the prow points towards Mount Ararat, where Noah's ark was supposed to have landed, we find that the arc thus described is a right-angle of 90º.

"Instead of Canopus we must really use the neighbouring site of the now entirely vanished city of Behdet, which was the capital of pre-dynastic Egypt prior to the foundation of Memphis.

"Dodona is exactly 8º of latitude north of Behdet. Delphi is exactly 7º north of Behdet. Delos (another important early oracle centre, vanished by classical Greek times) is exactly 6º north of Behdet. Behdet was the Greenwich of the ancient world prior to 3200 BC and was used as a geodetic headquarters.

"Associated with near-by Mount Ararat as a mystery-centre was the now little-known site of Metsamor. Mt Ararat is 8º north of Behdet and on the same parallel as Dodona.

"A site on Kythera is known to have connections with early dynastic Egypt as a religious centre and is about 5º north of Behdet. The island of Thera may, however, have been an oracle centre. It was destroyed by a famous volcanic eruption in Minoan times.

"All these sites were revealed as a pattern now termed a 'geodetic octave' by the projection on the globe of the Argo, which is connected with Sirius. Sirius was not only the element of the most sacred traditions of the Dogon and the ancient Egyptians, but apparently of the entire civilized and cosmopolitan Mediterranean world prior at least to 3000 BC and probably well before 3200 BC."
(The Sirius Mystery, Robert Temple, pg. 201)

Some of Temple's 'oracle octaves'

For more information on the links between Sirius and the Argo constellation, check here. It is possible these bands of latitude Temple places his 'oracle octaves' tradition upon was also practiced in ancient America. The controversial Fortean researcher William Grimstad connections bizarre stone structures in Colorado to several oracle centers in the Old World.

"There is a wide network of totally enigmatic stone structures scattered around southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. No one seems to know who built them or why. This immediate area, at the border of Las Animas and Pueblo counties, contains several of the remains, perched high atop certain cliffs and promontories. Six of the sites have been explored, although others are known to exist. The structures are in pairs, with the more complex or elaborate one always on the southeast or east side of the Apishapa River...

"The Sirius Mystery, an important new book by Robert K.G. Temple, explores the role of the star Sirius in the mystical and religious affairs of the earliest civilizations of the Mideast and Mediterranean. In his fifth chapter, on the geodetic locations of the various oracle shrines of the ancient world, Temple points out that these places were arranged along nine bands of latitude, from 31º30' N through 39º30' N. These Apishapa sites lie at about the 37º30', and hence would be in a line with the Greek cult sites of Delos and Miletus, which were sacred to the moon and the goddess Artemis, according to Temple. It would be fascinating to see what similar significance, if any, could be worked out for these anonymous and probably far more ancient American sites."
(Weird America,William Grimstad, pgs. 47-48) 

Grimstad goes on to suggest that a site of massive ruins around Mt. Carbon (of which I've written much more on here), located in West Virgina, may have followed the path of Temple's oracle octaves as well.

"Most local experts who have studied the site admit the possibility of ritualistic or ceremonial significance to the builders. Since this area is located at about 38 degrees, 10 minutes north latitude, I have wondered about the possible links to Old World cult centers on the same parallels."
(ibid, pg. 240)

Mt. Carbon ruins

There are, however, sites associated with Sirius that fall outside of Temple's 31º30' N through 39º30' N range. One of the most notable is the Bighorn Medicine Wheel. Concerning the medicine wheel, Grimstad notes:

"'Archaeoastronomy' is a trendy new subject these days. Astronomer John A. Eddy for the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, has theorized that the Medicine Wheel could have been used as an observatory to pinpoint the summer solstice. Eddy has found that the center cairn and one of those on the outer rim line up perfectly with the rising sun, while another rim cairn aligns with the setting sun on Midsummer day. Other cairns on the rim, he finds, line up with the stars Aldebaran, Sirius, and Rigel around solstice...

"There is a more egg-shaped medicine wheel on Moose Mountain near Kisbey, Saskatchewan, Canada. It too is laid out so that sight lines over cairns mark sunrise and sunset at summer solstice, as well as the rising points of Aldebaran, Rigel, and Sirius."
(ibid, pg. 247)

Of course the rising of Sirius was a major holiday in ancient civilizations such as Egypt and Rome, as I noted here. Numerous other 'New World' sites have connections to Sirius, even if not directly. One of the most notable ones is the Great Serpent Mound in Ohio, which is located near one of Temple's oracle octaves. This monument, however, is seemingly oriented towards different stars.

"... Serpent Mound in Adams County, Ohio, which has been analyzed by professionals and shown to be more than art: an artistic astronomical computer, oriented towards the solstices, the moon, the sun, and the constellations of Draco and Ursa Major, consistent with a theology we can only imagine, and like those intricately engraved Persian astrolabes one sometimes finds in an antique store or a souk."
(Sinister Forces: Book One, Peter Levenda, pg. 51)

In the Crowleyian school both the constellations Draco and Ursa Major are closely associated with Sirius.

"Similarly, the Scarlet Woman, Babalon -the home of the Phallus -represented astronomically by Nuit (Draco) and Her 'stars', is, upon earth, the Vesica or Kteis, and her number is 7, which is the number of Venus, her planetary representative. Originally, however, the number 7 derived from her identity with the seven stars of the Great Bear, or Dragon of Space, whose name was Sephek or Sevekh (Seven). To be at sixes and sevens is an expression based on this vastly ancient occult lore deriving from a time when confusion reigned at the period of change-over from the Stellar (7) to the Solar (6) mode of reckoning... The earliest calculations of time centred in the revolution of the Serpent (Draco) or (Nuit) round the Dog-Star (Hadit). Sept or Set, the Star of Sothis, is in actual fact the name of the Number Seven, the number of Sevekh or Venus, who, at a later epoch of time was the planetary representative of the original stellar concepts. Therefore, the seven-rayed Star of Babalon is a glyph of the Spirit of Sothis; it is the Star of Isis-Sothis -the Mother and 'Child'. The Beast or Dragon of Revelation was seven-headed (the seven principal stars of Ursa Major), and the manifestor of these Lights or Spirits was neither the sun nor the moon, but 'the Light that illumines the City.'"
(The Magical Revival, Kenneth Grant, pg. 44)

Draco (top) and Ursa Major

It seems possible, then, that Serpent Mound was a kind of elaborate time-keeping device, among other things. And with that, I shall wrap things up. In the next installment we shall examine the mysterious Rose Line and further connections between Sirius and leys.

Memetracking and PSYOPS

We are the cause of our own suffering.

This is a phrase that is running through my mind more and more each day. Maybe its the epic practical joke otherwise known as the U.S. Presidential elections that is creeping up upon us, or simply the bluntness of the headlines as revelation of method creeps into overdrive. Either way, the common American glories in their own enslavement as no other peoples in history ever have before. Let us simply consider two recent items, one concerning the social media, the other addressing PSYOPS in the MSM. We shall begin with the so-called 'vengeful librarians' and their infiltration of the social medias:

"The Associated Press reports that the CIA maintains a social-media tracking center operated out of an nondescript building in a Virginia industrial park. The intelligence analysts at the agency's Open Source Center, who other agents refer to as "vengeful librarians," are tasked with sifting through millions of tweets, Facebook messages, online chat logs, and other public data on the World Wide Web to glean insights into the collective moods of regions or groups abroad. According to the Associated Press, these librarians are tracking up to five million tweets a day from places like China, Pakistan and Egypt...

"The CIA facility wasn't built specifically to track the ebb and flow of social media: The program was established in response to a recommendation by the 9/11 Commission with the initial mandate to focus on counterterrorism and counterproliferation. According to the Associated Press, the center shifted gears and started focusing on social media after watching thousands of Iranian protesters turn to Twitter during the Iranian election protests of 2009, challenging the results of the elections that put Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad back in power.

"In the past few years, sentiment and mood analysis have become mainstays in the defense and intelligence communities. Last October, an Electronic Frontier Foundation lawsuit revealed how the Department of Homeland Security has carefully monitored a variety of public online sources, from social networks to highly popular blogs like Daily Kos for years, alleging that 'leading up to President Obama's January 2009 inauguration, DHS established a Social Networking Monitoring Center (SNMC) to monitor social-networking sites for 'items of interest.' 'In August, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), invited analysts to submit proposals on the research applications of social media to strategic communication. DARPA planned on shelling out $42 million in funding for 'memetrackers' to develop 'innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science, devices, or systems.' "

Yes dear reader, DARPA has know embraced 'memetrackers.' Let us briefly consider the meme.

"Attempts to understand the tidal wave that is the copycat effect have also been undertaken by the protoscience of the meme or 'idea virus.' In terms of the history of the acceptance of the copycat effect, this is significant because the concept has moved from acceptance to explanation.

"While the concept had been in the air since 1976, Richard Dawkins formalized the notion of memes in his 1990 book The Selfish Gene. A meme... is a contagious idea that replicates like a virus, passing from mind to mind. 'Memes function the same way genes and viruses do, propagating through communication networks and face-to-face contact between people,' noted David S. Bennahum, editor and founder of the newsletter MEME in 1995. ' 'Memetics,' a field of study, postulates that the meme is the basic unit of cultural evolution. Examples of memes include melodies, icons, fashion statements and phrases.' "
(The Copycat Effect, Loren Coleman, pgs. 253-254)

The effects of memes can go well beyond trivial things such as fashion trends, however.

"Memes are applied to suicides and murders via the Werther effect, of course, the concept coined by David Phillips. One of Phillips's first associates, Paul Marsden, has been working on a book called Contagion: The Science of Infectious Ideas, which essentially reworks his psychology doctorate thesis. The subjects he covers illustrate how widespread the memetics people think memes are: reflex contagion (e.g., yawning and laughter), emotional contagion (e.g. fear, anxiety, sadness, and depression), crowd contagion (e.g., aggression and panic), hysterical contagion (e.g., psychogenic disorders such as anorexia, deliberate self-harm, and chronic fatigue syndrome), suicide contagion (e.g., suicidal thoughts and acts), financial contagion (e.g. speculative trading) and consumer contagion (e.g. fads, fashions, and crazes).

"Marsden has become a firm convert to the meme. He feels that 'mind viruses spread through a Darwinian process of imitation. We know for example that if a suicide is reported in the mass media, the suicide rate will rise in the following month. A few people with poor immunity to this mind virus will become infected and display similar symptoms to the original victim -they will commit suicide.' Furthermore, writes Marsden, 'the amount of violence seen on US television screens correlates positively with US homicides. We know as well that suicide victims following a publicized suicide story will more likely than not resemble the reported victim.' "
(ibid, 254-255)

I will now remind the reader that the Arab Spring revolts were essentially triggered by the suicide of Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian street vendor who set himself on fire, an event that received mass media coverage in addition to setting social media networks ablaze (har har). The CIA (specifically the after mentioned 'vengeful librarians') claims that it was able to predict the revolution that spread to Egypt via these various social media networks:

"From Arabic to Mandarin, from an angry tweet to a thoughtful blog, the analysts gather the information, often in a native tongue. They cross-reference it with a local newspaper or a clandestinely intercepted phone conversation. From there, they build a picture sought by the highest levels at the White House. There might be a real-time peek, for example, at the mood of a region after the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden, or perhaps a prediction of which Mideast nation seems ripe for revolt.

Yes, they saw the uprising in Egypt coming; they just didn't know exactly when revolution might hit, says the center's director, Doug Naquin.

The center already had 'predicted that social media in places like Egypt could be a game-changer and a threat to the regime,' he said in an interview."

As much as I love the Internet, it is an invaluable data mine for organizations like DARPA and the CIA. The notion of 'memetracking' that is being publicly revealed is possibly the most effective way of predicting the future (other than creating it, of course) available to the Cryptocracy. This blog itself is something that I've often been torn over in that I have a burning desire to bring more attention to obscure pieces of history, religion, and myth but am also afraid that it will do more harm than good. The vengeful librarians are yet another consideration in the latter feeling.

As for PSYOPS, consider this nugget:

"Environmental activist Sharon Wilson showed up to an oil industry event in Houston last week and caught a startling glimpse into how the fracking industry approaches residents in towns where they drill.

"Wilson recorded industry insiders confirming they hire military psychological operation veterans, and use procedures pulled straight from the Army's counterinsurgency manual."

The article from Business Insider goes on to give various examples of how PSYOPS are possibly being used by multinational corporations on the general public. Of course, this is nothing new -Corporations have been engaged in PSYOPS on the public for decades now, most notably in the entertainment and media industries. Consider this piece from the Washington Post (which was a major part of Operation Mockingbird) on the perception change the movie Top Gun had on the American public's view of war and the military:

"A country questioning its overall military posture, and a military establishment engaging in a counter-campaign for hearts and minds — if this feels like deja vu, that’s because it’s taking place on the 25th anniversary of the release of 'Top Gun.'

"That Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster, made in collaboration with the Pentagon, came out in the mid-1980s, when polls showed many Americans expressing doubts about the post-Vietnam military and about the constant saber rattling from the White House. But the movie’s celebration of sweat-shined martial machismo generated $344 million at the box office and proved to be a major force in resuscitating the military’s image.

"Not only did enlistment spike when “Top Gun” was released, and not only did the Navy set up recruitment tables at theaters playing the movie, but polls soon showed rising confidence in the military. With Ronald Reagan wrapping military adventurism in the flag, with the armed forces scoring low-risk but high-profile victories in Libya and Grenada, America fell in love with Maverick, Iceman and other high-fivin’ silver-screen super-pilots as they traveled Mach 2 while screaming about 'the need for speed.'

"Today, 'Top Gun' lives on in cable reruns, in the American psyche and, most important, in how it turned the Hollywood-Pentagon relationship into a full-on Mav-Goose bromance that ideologically slants films from their inception.

"The 1986 movie, starring Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis, was the template for a new Military-Entertainment Complex. During production, the Pentagon worked hand-in-hand with the filmmakers, reportedly charging Paramount Pictures just $1.8 million for the use of its warplanes and aircraft carriers. But that taxpayer-subsidized discount came at a price — the filmmakers were required to submit their script to Pentagon brass for meticulous line edits aimed at casting the military in the most positive light. (One example: Time magazine reported that Goose’s death was changed from a midair collision to an ejection scene, because 'the Navy complained that too many pilots were crashing.')

"Although 'Top Gun' was not the first movie to exchange creative input for Pentagon assistance and resources, its success set that bargain as a standard for other filmmakers, who began deluging the Pentagon with requests for collaboration. By the time the 1991 Persian Gulf War began, Phil Strub, the Pentagon’s liaison to the movie industry, told the Hollywood Reporter that he’d seen a 70 percent increase in the number of requests from filmmakers for assistance — effectively changing the way Hollywood works."

Earlier we noted that the US Intelligence community is looking for a few good memetrackers. Here, we see that PSYOPS is being directly used by multinational corporations on the American public, especially via the media and entertainment industries. This means that not only are the spooks tracking memes, but they're directly implanting them into the Group Mind. In fact, DARPA is attempting to make an actual science out of storytelling (and by default, the memes that weave their way through the stories). Wired notes:

"Mark Twain once tried to distinguish between the storyteller’s art and tales that a machine could generate. He observed that stringing 'incongruities and absurdities together in a wandering and sometimes purposeless way, and seem innocently unaware that they are absurdities,' was the province of the American storyteller. A machine might imitate simple formulas behind yarns, but never quite master them.

"The Pentagon’s freewheeling research arm is hoping to prove Twain wrong. Darpa is asking scientists to 'take narratives and make them quantitatively analyzable in a rigorous, transparent and repeatable fashion.' The idea is to detect terrorists who have been indoctrinated by propaganda. Then, the Pentagon can respond with some messages of its own.

"The program is called 'Narrative Networks.' By understanding how stories have shaped your mind, the Pentagon hopes to sniff out who has fallen prey to dangerous ideas, a neuroscience researcher involved in the project tells Danger Room. With this knowledge, the military can also target groups vulnerable to terrorists’ recruiting tactics with its own counter-messaging.

“ 'Stories are important in security contexts,' Darpa said in an Oct. 7 solicitation for research proposals. Stories 'change the course of insurgencies, frame negotiations, play a role in political radicalization, influence the methods and goals of violent social movements.' The desire to study narratives has been simmering for a while in the Defense Department. A Darpa workshop in April to discuss the “neurobiology of narratives” added momentum to this project...

"Once scientists have perfected the science of how stories affect our neurochemistry, they will develop tools to 'detect narrative influence.' These tools will enable 'prevention of negative behavioral outcomes … and generation of positive behavioral outcomes, such as building trust.' In other words, the tools will be used to detect who’s been controlled by subversive ideologies, better allowing the military to drown out that message and win people onto their side.

“ 'The government is already trying to control the message, so why not have the science to do it in a systematic way?' said the researcher familiar with the project.

Indeed. It is for this reason that I'm often wary of addressing pop culture, especially newer music and films, in this blog. Many across the blogosphere are obsessed with 'exposing' the occult symbolism that dominates the entertainment industry. Unfortunately, I think this quest simply provides a justification to continue watching and listening to the products of what can be charitably described as highly comprised industries. Thus, they same memes that are implanted by the US Intelligence community continue to spread regardless of whether the individual in question is 'awakened' or not. What's more, even those that are 'awakened' are being manipulated towards negative actions. Hence, the rise of what I like to think of as the 'Soldier-of-the-Apocolpyse' types that have watched Fight Club and V For Vendetta one to many times. I've already chronicled the fall out of to much V For Vendetta before here.

Be wary dear readers.