CORCORAN, Calif. — It is no secret to locals that the heart of California’s Central Valley was once the largest body of fresh water west of the Mississippi River, dammed and drained into an empire of farms by the mid-20th century.
Still, even longtime residents have been staggered this year by the brute swiftness with which Tulare Lake has resurfaced: In less than three weeks, a parched expanse of 30 square miles has been transformed by furious storms into a vast and rising sea.
The lake’s rebirth has become a slow-motion disaster for farmers and residents in Kings County, home to 152,000 residents and a $2 billion agricultural industry that sends cotton, tomatoes, safflower, pistachios, milk and more around the planet. The wider and deeper Tulare Lake gets, the greater the risk that entire harvests will be lost, homes will be submerged and businesses will go under.
I have to say this, I hate dams. I don’t trust them. And I would never intentionally live in an area that used to be under water. That’s just courting disaster. This solidifies my position on that.
The wreckage of the Condo at Surfside, seen at night
I don’t say this lightly mind you. While Terrorists didn’t knock these towers down, the loss of life and the devastation is so horrible that it weighs on us (well some of us). The exile protests have largely drowned out all reporting on Surfside which is shameful to say the least. The pain this left in my heart was so bad that I prayed for something, anything to replace it. I remember when I was a teenager watching the tv when the second airplane crashed into the world trade towers.
I was at school when it happened. I never thought I would witness anything even close to that again. Then, some weeks ago, when I was doing my laundry I saw reports of a condo at Surfside, Florida collapsing.
When the collapse happened, everyone thought it was a Hurricane or an Earthquake
It happened at Champlain Towers in Surfside. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I thought it was another terror attack. Whole families, and their pets trapped under the rubble. There was so much wreckage that the state of Florida was overwhelmed.
Crews from Mexico had to come here to help us out. I remember laughing bitterly at the silent irony. So many Cuban Exiles in Florida are racist against other Hispanic groups. And they hated President Lopez Obrador for his support of Cuba and Venezuela. Many exiles cheered when it stopped being a sanctuary city.
Yet here the evil commie President of Mexico was sending crews to help the ill equipped Republican Governor of Florida. And to try and save as many families as possible. Many of those families being you guessed it, Cuban immigrants. I hope after this, nobody ever complains about Leftist Presidents or Mexicans ever again.
Unfortunately, when Los Topos Aztecas (The Aztec Moles) crew came from Mexico, the Florida government didn’t allow them to help. Oh they claimed they weren’t allowing international resources to be used (why not?). But they sure allowed Israel to get involved. So a state that violates human rights could get involved in Surfside, but not a country with a Left Wing President who is closer? Yeah that makes a lot of sense. Welcome to Dumbfuckistan aka Florida.
Close up of the towers
What really made me angry is that later on, we found out the buildings had structural problems. And that these problems have been around since the 90’s. Inspector after inspector told the owners of Surfside that the buildings weren’t safe. When in what was it, 2016 or 2017? Another inspector said it needed to be fixed quickly. That peoples lives were in danger.
And then rabid Libertarians and Republicans claiming “socialism” is at fault because if Private Inspectors were allowed to do the inspections this wouldn’t have happened. Anyone sent from the government is socialism to them. Anything to distract from the fact that America’s free market system is killing us all. Prices rise but pay stays low. People die, but that’s okay because it’s all part of “democracy”.
Florida and America, I try to love you, but every day I just feel more and more disappointed in you. You are not the “land of the free and home of the brave” where “streets are paved with gold” that my family told me you were. You’re a nightmare and a shitshow. And it’s only getting worse with each generation. I don’t care who I piss off with this.
I’m a Cuban American and enough is enough already. Enough of useless Republican politicians that let the business interests in Florida pervade over us all. Enough of rampant crony capitalism. Enough of snubbing leaders from other countries who want to help us simply because they are leftist. Enough of the bullshit already.
All they do is moan and whine and complain about Castro and Communism. While they support crooked leaders that tell us that they send “prayers and thoughts” when what we need are real leaders like Lopez Obrador who actually send help. I am tired of almost no Democrats getting voted into power here cause they must all be “commies”. I’m tired that events in another country, overshadow the tragedy of Surfside here. Almost no one even remembers now.
I really do love Florida, I just wish it wasn’t in the dark ages.
So I started binging on different articles today and figured we need our first Random Links of the Day for the year 2021. So with that said, here we go
The Dead Speak! Scientists Make 3000-Year-Old #Egyptian Mummy Talk, After Recreating Its Vocals
So it’s official! I am getting named and wreathed on Saturday August the 8th at around 7:30pm.
So for those interested in attending let me know. But yes, Gods willing this will be done. And I can say good bye to my old life and hello to the new one. I will lay to rest the old year and begin a new on this (Hellenic) New Year, Ruled by Aphrodite and Herakles. I will finally be an initiated Greek Pagan.
In the Last Random Links of the Day, I made it all about the Creepy and Strange. This time I wanted to balance it with something nice. So on this Random Links of the day, I wanted to show you all the slow return of nature (no matter how brief) to power. And the spirituality that many people take for granted. In this case, the Feng Shui of the House.
So I hope all of you will enjoy this edition of the Random Links of the Day.
Research for buying A New Front Door for your House (Had to do this recently)
The Wetland Wanderer, an amazing woman who fights for Florida to be cleaner and better. Watch episodes of her Podcast (Also look at other things from the Dogwood Alliance)
Lately in my day to day quarantine at home life I have come across a lot of strange phenomenon being reported back to me. Old Spirits returning after having been called and beckoned to by humanity to return. People reporting that paranormal activity that had once been dormant has started back up. Others are experiencing strange dreams and visions (like myself). And still more we now have the odd case of the Coronavirus Plague Doctor!
Yes you heard me, some weirdo is walking around a community in a full plague doctor costume. Putting a panic to the residents. So that being said, here are some of today’s random links of the day.
How to Quarantine in a Ghost Town (With actual Ghosts!) The town of Cerro Gordo.
Note* this is the same place that Zak Baggins and his friends visited in an episode of Ghost Adventures. Of course what makes this man’s account more credible, is that he was a skeptic prior to seeing the activity he has seen there. Even now he is so stubborn that rather than be a believer, he’s shifted to agnostic. The article on Baggin’s at Cerro Negro is here.
Eco-Ramadan : A Traditional Doctor in Indonesia is now quarantining himself in the Forrests in a Tent. How cool is that? He’s also spending time cleaning the river plus building a bridge for people to use and reading the Koran! Kudos to Dr. Abdullah Al-Mabrur.
The Strange Experiments of Doctor John Bumpass Calhoun which inspired “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh” (This one is really creepy. It almost reads like a Creepypasta. But it actually happened).
Nehushtan, the Idol of the Hebrew Goddess Chokmah or Sophia. Moses made it out of Bronze to magically heal the Hebrews from the snake plague unleashed on them by Adonai.
Lately, it seems that this year, as positive and bright as it was meant to be, has gotten bogged down in negative energy. I was hopeful and even boasted that this would be the best of years. But I am reminded again, that what may be good in the spiritual world won’t necessarily be good for us. And this goes for every God and spirit. Even the Christian God sends trials and tribulations in the Bible.
Lately I’ve been pissed off because of it. Every once in a while, it’s good to be angry with your Gods and spirits. Because as my priest (of Zeus) once told me,
“Most of the Gods have never been human. So most of them don’t know what it’s like to be in our shoes and suffer. This is why we normally appeal to our ancestors for most personal things,”
And he’s right. Some of the Gods have been human at least once. Not just Jesus, but Gilgamesh, Herakles, the Orishas in Yoruba culture lived as men and women on Earth as well. And they all suffered horribly. Yet I find myself not doubting my faith, just angry.
I know there are cosmic reasons for why the Gods don’t give us the Paradise we desire. I know much of what’s wrong with our world is our fault. But it also feels like we live in a Multiverse that is rigged from the top. The Gnostics warned us of this. They talked about the Archons, false gods who are Demonic and often impersonate the real Gods.
They are the reasons our world is a living hell half the time. So the Gnostics busied themselves with special exorcisms and amulets to ward off the Archon’s and their influence. I consider myself a Gnostic Pagan. Gnostic Christians understand many things and I agree with much. But I don’t entirely agree with everything they preach.
Still, that’s the Christianity that I love and embrace. Because I feel a divine glimmer of truth in it all. I know that what goes wrong in our world isn’t really the fault of the Gods. I just wish they wouldn’t let things get so bad. And that goes for the Saviour God of the Christians too.
They claim to have all answers, but in reality they are just as lost as everyone else is. Which is why I embrace spirituality, not religion. I decide for myself what is or isn’t right instead of just blindly following religious leaders as many do. This doesn’t mean I don’t ask my leaders for guidance. It also doesn’t mean that I disrespect traditions or elders.
Just that at the end of the day, I think for myself and follow my own connection to the Gods. Which is a prime tenant of Gnosticism “truth comes from within,”. At this moment I am asking them for help in this current pandemic. And that is what I am sharing with you today. This is what came to me in my own meditations based on my mixed practices.
On Hekate’s Deipnon which I celebrated Sunday (day before the last phase of the Moon) I divined and asked for information. Why is this pandemic unleashed? What’s going on? What can be done about it?
Divinations
I did a combination of Bone Casting, Bibliomancy (Catholic Bible), and Cartomancy (cards). This is what I was told :
– Give offerings to Babalu Aye, Oro, and Hekate to fight the spirits of disease. I don’t know what this meant, except maybe they mean the Animistic force or energy of the disease. Everything has a soul after all.
– Pray to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam and bless red strings and hang them on the entry points of every home. This is supposed to symbolize the blood magic that kept the Angel of death away from the Hebrew Slaves in the Bible.
– Also get sticks that look like Snakes and bless them to become like the Bronze idol Moses used to cure people from the plague of snakes (Hezekiah the Hebrew King disrespectfully called it Nehushtan or brazen thing). I suspect it was an idol of Sophia also called Chokmah, Goddess of Wisdom. This is to keep the pandemic itself away. Place them on the four corners of your home and ask them in the name of Sophia, Moses, Aaron, Miriam, finally God himself to ward away the plague.
– Give offerings to the “Mighty Dead” the Kings and Queens of the Ancestors. From Adam and Eve all the way to the dead Tribal Chiefs of various cultures. Great heroes, Saints, Buddhas, and other ascended masters etc..for them to divide into one of two camps : defense and offense. For some to defend you and your loved ones as well as other humans. And others to attack the spirits of disease.
This kept coming up frequently. What it means I can only guess at. The disease is spoken of almost as an entity or group of entities.
– Give offerings to all Gods of the Dead to kill the pandemic and turn away death itself from you, your loved ones, and the world at large.
– Give offerings to all the Animal Totems, Nature Spirits, and the Dead themselves to defend us and block death and disease.
– Offerings to the Apotropai, the Gods who ward off evil. That can be Jesus or whoever else you believe in. Every God has an Apotropaic aspect.
– Offerings to all Healer Gods and Spirits. Primarily I was directed to St. Raphael the Archangel. I even received two emails strangely enough that were related to Raphael. One of them was a new blog post from WordPress.
– Pray to the Sea and Earth Gods and Goddesses and their spirits to replenish the life forces of the Earth. This means going to places that are rural or wild and the sea itself as well as rivers or canals. You’ll have to look into your own religion or culture to see what the acceptable offerings are.
– Now finally, a lot of things are being mentioned towards the end of my divinations about water and the need to purify with water. I don’t know if the key to defeating this pandemic lies in water. But these references do mention the use of ablutions. That is to say, using holy water to heal and purify. I believe all homes need to be cleansed both spiritually and physically.
You don’t need to go to a church for that. Pray over the salt and water separately. Then mix the salt and water together and do one final prayer asking for it to be empowered as holy water. Then sprinkle it daily inside and out of the home. Apparently we are being warned to be hygienic both physically and metaphysically.
– The final divinations mentioned war coming. This can be metaphorical a “war against disease”. Or perhaps it’s a literal war. The US is always declaring war on somebody for natural resources or territories. So that doesn’t even come as a shock to me anymore.
– We are being warned of the old prophecies, specifically I am reminded of the 7 Fires Prophesies of the Ojibwe.
“The Seventh Prophet was younger than the others who had come and there was a glowing light from his eyes. He said that there would come a time when the waters had been so poisoned that the animals and plants that lived there would fall sick and begin to die. Much of the forests and prairies would be gone so the air would begin to lose the power of life.
“The way of the mind brought to the red, black, and yellow nation by the white nation would bring danger to the whole earth. In this time there will arise Osh-ki-bi-ma-di-zeeg, a new people who will emerge from the clouds of illusion. They will retrace their steps to find the treasures that had been left by the trail. The stories that had been lost will be returned to them. They will remember the Original Instructions and find strength in the way of the circle. Their search will take them to the elders and the new people will ask for guidance. But many of the elders will have walked the Path of the Souls to the Star Web. Many elders will have forgotten their wisdom and they will not be able to help. Some of the elders will point in the wrong direction and others will remain silent because of their fear. Some of the elders will be silent because no one has asked them for their wisdom.
“The task of the new people will not be easy. If the New People will find trust in the way of all things, in the circle and remain strong in their quest, they will no longer need the selfish voice of the ego and they can begin to trust their inner voice. The Waterdrum of the Midewiwin Lodge will again sound its voice. There will be a rebirth of the Anishinaabe nation and a rekindling of old flames. The Sacred Fire will again be lit. Wisdom will be once again be found in dreams of the night and of the day.
“It is at this time that the light skinned race will be given a choice between two roads. If they choose the right road, then the seventh fire will light the eighth and final fire, an eternal fire of peace, love, brotherhood and sisterhood. If the light skinned race make the wrong choice of roads, then the destruction they brought with them in coming to this country will come back to them and cause much suffering and death to all the Earths people.”
I don’t think this needs much interpretation. All the old apocalyptic stories and tales are being brought up by people. Some will say this is the reaction of ignorant religious people. Others still will say that this is just paranoia and it will all blow over. Except pretty much every prophesy we have read from almost every culture perfectly describes our current world.
At some point, one has to stop shrugging and going “Oh well this is normal,” and say NO, this is not normal. Because it isn’t. Accepting it as normal is like that Meme of the Dog in the burning house. Even if you think religion is BS, you have to admit that the fact that the Letra del Año (Letter of the year) out of Cuba said diseases would be really bad this year, is kinda accurate isn’t it?
“But M! We always have diseases etc..”
Yes that’s true, but everytime a Shaman or some other spiritual person makes a prophesy it tends to come true. I remember the first time I read the Oyeku Ofun Temple’s monthly divination saying death would come via water. I kept hearing almost every day of a new water related death. Including a mother who went crazy and murdered her own son. Then chugged his body into a nearby river.
It’s only coincidence if you’re lying to yourself and everyone around you. At some point you have to admit that something strange is going on. And then do something about it. I leave you all with this. I hope it will help arm the religious and spiritual amongst us against this new plague.
Updates
This section is for anything new that appears.
– Necromancy is needed. Specifically, Necromantic rituals for warding off the Dark Dead. Those forgotten and nameless ancestors. It would seem that at the heart or root of this plague are these toxic and sad spirits. It makes sense, diseases can be spread by all sorts of spirits.
But chief among them are Demons, Angels, Nature Spirits, and Ghosts. It looks like at the heart of this pandemic are the angry and restless dead. I believe that humanity having forgotten or abandoned many of our ancestral rituals has caused a surplus flow of the dead. I actually spoke of this recently to two different clients. I am beginning to think the dead are all angry and tired of being forgotten.
With that said, act as if this were Samhain : use protective rituals. Magical charms and crystals, barriers of magic, use Fire as well as the holy water. Specifically begin using blessed candles and incense. In mediaeval times, on Samhain, and even in the Christianized Hallow’s Eve and Hallow’s Day, sacred Bonfires were made to keep the roaming dead away in the Fields.
Another thing which was later used was the Yule Lamp, which was an oil burner with a blessed candle inside. Blessed oil as well, burned at night to keep all malign forces at bay. And especially to empower the thresholds of the house to keep bad things out of the home. If you have anything like that, use it. In my case I don’t, so I have to improvise.
Do rituals to avert evil as if in Winter time when they are strongest! I cannot stress this enough. Winter is dying hard. The departed and dark wintery spirits in general do not want to leave our world. It’s necessary to make them leave.
Tuesday March 24th
I’ve been told to perform the Hungry Ghost Ritual for all the dead everywhere. This is to appease as many as possible to
1) Weaken the pandemic as it seems death itself is causing it.
2) To ask the Divine Forces to permeate all worlds in an effort to cease the pandemic. As much as possible.
For information on what a Hungry Ghost is and how to do the ritual, please read my 2018 article on Ghost Month.
After I performed the Hungry Ghost Ritual, I have been told to pray to the Mighty Dead. To the Great Kings and Queens of the Dead. Asking them all to fight the disease and destroy it. Also for inspiration to help us fight it scientifically. And I was told by the spirits to specifically pray to my own ancestors and ask for guidance.
For protection. And to keep my family together. You reader, should do the same.
Sunday March 29th
We should all be making offerings to the Primordial Gods and Spirits of every religion. Particularly to the really arcane primordials. Such as the Hecatoncheires and also the original Three Cyclops brothers (Greek Religion) Brontes, Steropes, and Arges. Those ancient Black Smith Gods who built the charmed weapons of Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon. While not everyone agrees they are Gods (just godlike beings), in my personal cosmology I view them as actual Gods.
In the early twilight hours of Saturday, I came to know that these were the Gods I had to personally pray to. I am also giving cthonic offerings to Kronos. Asking him to drain the pandemic away into Tartaros with him. While asking both the Cyclops Traid and the Hecatoncheires to lock the door behind. I also get the feeling these two sets of Gods are the ones we need to ask to handle the aftermath of this miss.
Including the mass crossovers of all the dead.
Thursday April 2, 2020
Final Update
I performed all of the rituals to empower the spirits to fight against the disease baring spirits. I will be doing a whole new Divination now. One for dealing with the pandemic itself.
Conclusion
Take what I have said with a grain of salt. I’m not prophet. In conclusion I will say this : I love the Gods, don’t think that I don’t. I also believe in them, have had experiences with them. But remember, even Jesus asked,
“Father, why have you forsaken me?”
And I don’t know about you. But I find myself asking myself that question a lot in these last few years.
Lately, this is something that fell into my radar. For example, I have been hearing for a few years now from Pastor Robin Swope (The Paranormal Pastor) that Slenderman is real. After Slenderman started going viral, Pastor Swope and other researchers who have radio shows started noticing something was off. Everyone from Millennials to Baby Boomers were calling in with experiences. But these experiences were from years back.
I remember that Lon Strickler from Phantoms and Monsters had even posted experiences with people who had seen not one or two but many of them. One person said that when they were a child on a farm, they saw dozens of them traveling as if in a pack. So here I decided to post as many links to what I believe are credible information is possible. Spoiler alert : One debunks the possible theories that it’s a German nature spirit that haunts children. The popular theory that even Pastor Swope believes in, says that it’s a Child Terror. *
However, this story that Slenderman is an entity from Germany called Der Großmann (The Tallman, Greatman) seems largely unproven. Oh you’ll find dozens of internet articles stating this as fact. But we don’t actually have a single folkloric source stating it. Which is why I want to talk to a German Folklorist to see if it can be proven. What I did find where supposedly ancient Cave Paintings that depict a creature that looks suspiciously like the Slenderman. But I don’t know of its authenticity.
So I’ll leave you to judge. Without further ado here are the links :
* Child Terrors are malevolent nature spirits. They enjoy tormenting or even hunting and devouring children. Something that all Fae see as repugnant. There are people who say they come mostly from the Dark Fae. But I have bartered with them in the past.
And they may not be the nicest, but neither do they subscribe to this. Spirit cultures seem to universally look down on any being that torments children. This is normally seen as the territory for a demon. But Child Terrors for whatever reason seem to be addicted to causing and feeding off of fear in children. And at least some of the Fae are seen as demonic as well as nature spirits.
Adventures of A Mage In Miami 