IS THE PLANET PLAYING WITH OUR MINDS?

Ever since the goddess was conceived there have been ideas of a living Earth. The goddess herself usually symbolized, in ancient times, the planet and the nature within her. She had a bond that stretched to man, nurturing and punishing as required.
In the Gaia Hypothesis, James Lovelock revitalized the idea in more scientific terms. Since then, we talk of the planet as a coordinated ‘whole’, the system geared and regulated by as yet unknown influences.

It offers a strong message for environmentalism.

It presents us with the possibility that our interactions have consequences beyond merely pollution, etc. It argues that in hurting the planet we are also hurting ourselves, as we and the planet are one.
A similar message was held in animism, the usual model for tribal religion. Here, the physical world and spirit world are in parallel, with everything in nature having a spirit. To thrive in nature, the spirits had to be appeased.

Religions often seem to go in tune with natural occurrences.

If we go to Biblical times there is an argument that the popularity of Monotheism came in line with earthquake activity in the area.
Towards the end of the European Dark Ages there was an outburst of religious fervor which led to Christendom. It is theorized that this went in line with a prolonged meteor shower. Could the two be related?

There are always religious gurus around.

But could it be that, for a guru to be particularly successful, he needs a helping hand from planet Earth? It seems a ridiculous notion – at first. Religions have answers within human societies.
They provide cultures, and these have an effect upon us. Also, there are times when a culture seems redundant, and there is a need for change. Now, those changes are political. In the past, politics worked through other means – namely religion.

The Book of Revelation, however, offers a different idea.

It speaks of the Rapture, when people will be taken up en masse to the Kingdom of Heaven. As to what actually happens, it is vague. Yet, in many ways it suggests individuals en masse having a mystical experience similar to enlightenment or nirvana.
Culture can seem to do this. In modern culture we have the rise of the New Age, or people abducted by aliens by the million. The ‘grey’ – the usual alien culprit – offers an experience that is similar to ancient fairies or elementals, taken to a magic place – a cavern or, today, a spaceship.
Whilst frightening, there is evidence that in the long run, such abductees end up more eco-friendly. This is similar to the eco-friendliness suggested by New Age. Many of us, today, ARE becoming more spiritually and ecologically aware.
And it is coming at a time when many people believe that severe weather patterns are due to man-made global warming. Is this another incident of processes in the natural world having an effect on us?
It is now known that electromagnetic bombardment of the brain can cause spiritual experiences. Believed to cause chemical changes in the brain, it can produce visions that are profound.
It is also known that electromagnetic disturbances occur in the atmosphere due to earthquake, meteor storm or severe weather patterns. Hence, whilst culture will definitely play a part in spiritual changes, it is highly likely that planet Earth could be currently ‘regulating’ our minds through electromagnetic bombardment, changing us from eco-vandals to saviours.
If so, let the ‘rapture’ go on.

© Anthony North, October 2008

TONY ON HALLOWEEN, TT #28 & MORE

Including Thursday Thirteen, Totally Optional Prompts and Heads or Tails.
Have you had a go yet?

Halloween is nearly upon us. A religious festival for the ‘heathen’, Christianity has its own ‘cleansing’ ritual the following day. Religion is important to me – not that I’m a religionist, but I do class myself as spiritual.

This difference isn’t always appreciated.

To me, spirituality is an inner bonding with fellow man, nature and the universe. Religion is a social codification. The two can work together, but they are different. One is ‘within’; the other a communal expression.
I think there is still room for religion. It anchors the human to a code. Through this code we understand meaning, direction, belonging. Today we live in a world of increasing ‘sameness’, which allows only meaning in consumerism. Without the ‘differentness’ religion creates, the human condition is lame.

When people rant against religion, what is happening?

They are really ranting against two separate issues. The first is politics disguised as religion. The second is the religious moral code, which can often appear to be bigoted.
This isn’t actually the case. Scripture is written for the people of the time. The fundamentalist – who usually causes the trouble – fails to appreciate that times change, and God, or gods, change with it. As for bigotry, all Scripture tells us to love our neighbour. This cancels out bigotry, so the person who uses religion to follow a bigoted path goes against the religion he holds dear.
When I look at the world, and the trouble we lay at the door of religion, I realize that 95% of the world’s population is pretty much the same, simply wanting to get on with life. It is the other 5% that causes the trouble.
Whilst that 5% should still be vocal, causing debate so we can understand the issues, I think it’s time for the other 95% to tell them to moderate their behaviour. This is so because we need religion, but not the hassle the minority create by mis-using it.
Interestingly, if we strip away the culture of any religion, we usually end up with the same fundamental aspects. This tells us that religion can be unifying as well as offering specific meaning to a particular people. This is perhaps the most important message we should pass on.
It is unifying as well as allowing diversity to thrive. This Halloween, we should maybe remember this. Religion can offer both meaning AND Oneness. So dance around your pumpkins one and all – and let the Christian hug the Witch.
Next post, Thursday. See you then.

© Anthony North, October 2008

TT #28 – STRANGE ELECTIONS

Forces dark, malign, satanic,
who shall we vote for? Don’t panic!
It’s all laid out, simply for you;
Your choice? Just two;
but these are chosen just for the people,
a simple decision between good and evil,
‘cos you’ve got to be on one side or the other,
or democracy you will certainly smother;
Yet where in all this did you decide who should stand?
Don’t they look so rich and grand?
Of course they do, ‘cos they are, you see,
picked by Big Biz for you and me,
and they look upon us with contempt and glee

(c) Anthony North, October 2008

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WAXY AND WANE DO SAMHAIN – Horror Fiction

Waxy and Wane, the Sisters of the Moon, were busy preparing for Samhain. They always used this proper term for Halloween – after all, they WERE witches.
It was always a time for both excitement and trepidation for them – excitement because this was the time when the veil between the material and spirit world was at its thinnest, allowing all manner of entities to cross; and trepidation because in recent years a new horror had crept into the veil.
They had prepared all manner of potions and spells to try to keep this horror at bay, but so far they had failed to do so. Indeed, at one point they had toyed with the idea of leaving witchcraft alone and taking up extreme sports instead.
As darkness fell, however, they were prepared, dressed in their finest pointy hats, and wearing make-up to accentuate their warts.
The first spells did their required job, and around them they could feel the darkness increase, deeper than ebony, tangible, as if you could almost feel it. Shadows of a deeper kind began to cling, first, to the walls, and soon, invigorated, they began to swirl around them, brushing up against them, as if beckoning the witches to enter the zone.
Further spells followed, and soon it was as if they were no longer on solid ground, but floating in some ethereal void. The shadows began to change in constitution, taking a form of light to contrast with the darkness, and spirits began to form – swirling spirits of the elements, of the woods, of the souls of all people; and Waxy and Wane felt at one with these spirits – guides who assisted humanity through it spiritual journey.
But the time came. The first sounds of disturbance filtered into the zone, and Waxy and Wane intuited the intrusion, soon to come from goblins and ghouls of a different kind. They imagined them stalking just beyond, hidden in the night, their terrifying faces and antics rising with a malign intent.
The spirits felt it also, and as the knockings increased, they fled back to the safety of the spirit world, leaving Waxy and Wane alone, exposed, terrified. And then came the bang!!!
Waxy found the courage first, with Wane following behind, huddling into her partner’s back. Slowly they advanced, perspiration covering their bodies, a dryness to their throats. Eventually they opened the door and recoiled in absolute horror.
‘Trick or treat?’ said the children.

© Anthony North, October 2008

TONY ON MOON, GHOST & MORE

Including One Single Impression, Manic Monday and Sunday Scribblings.
Have you had a go yet?

India has successfully launched an unmanned mission to the Moon. They have joined the space jog. I call it ‘jog’ ‘cos it isn’t really a race. Little bits are being done now and again – when they can be bothered. Which is a great shame, as we should be putting massive effort into real space exploration.

The mission has been criticized.

Should India be wasting millions when more than this number are starving in their country? Yes, they should. The problem with man today is that he has stopped the exploration that forces him on. Rather, we’re in a period of lethargy, where consumerism is getting out of hand.
A global vision for space would be just what we need to inspire us to better ourselves as a planet. And one side issue of this would be a lessening of the global insanities that are still causing hunger around the world.
Going back to the Moon is the first step to feeding the many.

At last the ‘war’ on terror may be doing something right.

It has been announced that psychologists in the British prison service are to begin using cult de-programming methods to try to de-radicalise inmates.
I’ve been saying for many years that Al Qaeda should be treated more as a cult than a terrorist organization. Only in this way will it be fully understood, and the means derived to counter it.
Finally, others are beginning to believe this may just be the right approach. Hopefully this idea will spread and become central to the actual fight against the radicals.
Next post, Tuesday. Hope to see you then.

© Anthony North, October 2008

THE GIFT

It begins at birth, that moment of strife,
precariously launching your journey through life,
experience is your new reward,
riches, excitement, what you can afford,
thoughts and ideas will bombard your mind,
mysteries, adventures, laid out to find

So pure and marvellous, this wonderful gift,
especially if you realise the importance of thrift,
but so many are ungrateful; don’t get the joke,
unreasonable wants they do invoke;
If only we’d realise it’s a gift, not a right,
a happier life would be our greatest delight

(c) Anthony North, October 2008

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GHOST OF A CHANCE – A (spooky) Cass Nova Detective Thriller

There are some cases you just don’t want to talk about, and this is one. It began when Baz Noble was found dead – stabbed through the heart. A man of 25, he’d never been in trouble in his short life and we were totally stumped by the case – especially as we hadn’t found the murder weapon.
When the woman stopped me by the side of the police station a couple of days later, I was skeptical, to say the least. She seemed to appear from nowhere and introduced herself as a psychic. ‘I’ve had a message,’ she informed me. ‘The man you want is John Fowler.’
Well, I took her details, thanked her, and off she went. I knew Fowler, of course. He was a known villain, and I DID decide to check him out – eventually.
Well, ‘eventually’ was not that day – I had more important things to do, not getting home until well after ten o’clock that night.
I’d been sat in the flat about ten minutes, enjoying a beer, when I heard what seemed to be someone creeping about in the flat. Immediately alert, I raced towards the sound, and in the bathroom, on the mirror, I found the words ‘John Fowler is the man you want’, scrawled in red. Then there was a bang, as if the front door had been slammed shut.
Quickly looking out the window, I saw a figure running off, so decided to give chase.
He was fast, whoever he was. I never quite caught him up, but never quite lost him, either. And after what seemed an age, I found myself in a blind alley. I knew I had him now. But as I watched him, the moon seemed to reflect on something behind a bin. Crouching down, I pulled out a knife covered in blood. Shocked, I looked over to the man, but he had disappeared.
Well, it didn’t take long at all to match fingerprints on the knife to Fowler, and the blood to Noble. And within the hour, we had Fowler in the interview room. Faced with the evidence, he soon confessed. However, it was his next statement that sent us racing to his house. It was all to do with motive, see. Baz Noble had been having an affair with his wife, and he had decided to do away with both.
We found his wife in his cellar, killed within an hour of Noble. And it wasn’t until I saw a picture of her that the case really turned crazy. There was no doubt. She was the woman who had accosted me by the police station – several days after she was already dead!
Well, I’m not going to theorise on this one. OR the mysterious character I had chased. When I got home, later, for instance, there was no writing on my mirror, and I’d already come to the conclusion that he had looked just too much like Baz Noble.
‘So how did you find the knife, anyway,’ asked the Guv the next morning.
Well, no way was I going to tell the truth. ‘Oh, an anonymous caller,’ I said.
Infact, I was surprised I had the wherewithal to come out with the excuse, considering I hadn’t slept much the previous night. You see, I was dreaming about a murdered couple, finally happy and released, forever. At least, I thought it was a dream.
Until I opened my eyes.

© Anthony North, October 2008

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BRAGGING

Few of us like someone who brags. Well, no, that isn’t really true. Often they like themselves, but don’t really believe that they brag. This suggests that bragging is often an unconscious thing – which brings us straight to the heart of bragging.
You see, bragging and psychology is intertwined. Usually the extreme bragger has to do so in order to grasp self-esteem. This is required, because deep down this person has feelings of inadequacy, and must prove him self constantly.
A related form of bragging is done in order to boost a person’s position. This can be in anything from a relationship with the opposite sex, to talking yourself up in a job interview. Often this includes absolute lies, but is rarely seen in this light.
Of course, there is a good form of bragging. This comes from being comfortable with your self. There is a New Age cliché that you can’t love others until you love yourself. And there is a truism in this. For only by being comfortable with your self can you take positivity into the world and – most importantly – receive it back.
So bragging is a confusing issue, done for many reasons. The secret is to define the motive from the method. If you manage it, try not to brag.

© Anthony North, October 2008

HOW TO EXPLAIN THE WEREWOLF?

A werewolf is said to be a person who, at times, turns into a wolf-like beast. Often occurring during the full moon, the term ‘lunacy’ is closely associated with the state. But is there a reality to the werewolf?
We actually know a great deal about them. This is because there have been many trials of werewolves in the past, usually executed for attacks on young children or lonely travelers in the forests.

Misidentification is an obvious possibility here.

Wolves used to roam our forests, and it would be easy, in superstitious times, to come to the conclusion that real wolf attacks were carried out by some person, particularly if he was socially excluded.
There is also a cultural inheritance to the werewolf. From prehistoric cave art we know of the chimera – a half man, half beast image. The shaman was thought to go on quests in the spirit world as an animal-form, and various hunting cults are thought to have dressed as the animal they hunted. The witch’s familiar is an obvious extension of this.

But there are other possibilities.

I find it interesting that most executed ‘werewolves’ were loners, poor, and on the fringes of society. Indeed, their psychology is very similar to what we would call a serial killer today.
Another important theme of werewolfery is the inclusion of a salve or potion taken, usually given to the ‘werewolf’ by a strange black horseman. If we take away the ‘culture’ of such episodes, do we see signs of a drug user and his pusher?

The werewolf suggests, to me, crime.

Are we simply dealing with criminal mentalities that are obvious today, but possibly having a deep influence in our historical past? But if so, why invent such ‘supernatural’ tales around them?
Perhaps the answer is that in a predominantly Christian society it was not believed that the human soul could be evil and depraved. The authorities simply could not accept such behaviour from a human being. Hence, it had to be the beast that did such things.

Of course, this isn’t the whole story.

Whilst I think it accounts for most cases of the werewolf, we have the condition known as lycanthropy, where the person seems to ape the characteristics of the wolf.
As yet, no lycanthrope has ever been accredited as having actually changed into a wolf, so the best answer to this is a form of psychology. One possibility is that such actions are a throwback to past evolutionary behaviour, when we were more animal-like. However, there is another possibility.
We are told that behaviour is encoded in our DNA. In deciding just what is responsible for human action, we talk of nature or nurture, the first this genetic inheritance, the latter our upbringing, environment, etc.
I’ve always thought, however, that there must be a third behavioural influence This is ‘culture’. Basically, if a culture produces a specific type of behaviour that is repeated over several generations, could it become similarly encoded in our DNA?
If so, then the above definitions of criminal behaviour would, over time, become an actual part of our behaviour. Which suggests that what we think of will, at some point in the future, become real – at a psychological level, at least.

© Anthony North, October 2008

TONY ON PARANOIA, TT #27 & MORE

Including Thursday Thirteen, Totally Optional Prompts and Heads or Tails.
Have you had a go yet?

British Schools Secretary, Ed Balls, has said that children should be getting careers advice from as young as age ten. Well, that alright then. Everyone wants to be an astronaut. That’s the kind of thing they want to be at that age. It is all part of a child’s wonderful imagination. But now the government wants to destroy it!

Education is now geared only for employment.

Education for education’s sake is gone. And now it seems childhood itself is being legislated out of existence. It was a brief flirtation with youth, begun when middleclass Victorians decided children needed a rounded education.
Prior to this, children were mini-adults who worked from a young age. Extending childhood for education was what made the west an intellectual race. This is now being reversed. After all, totalitarian government doesn’t want educated people.
They revolt!

We are entering the Age of Paranoia.

So says psychiatrist Dr Daniel Freeman, and I tend to agree with him. One in four of us, it seems, suffer irrational fears of being threatened. And the answer is obvious. We have practically destroyed our sense of community and family, leaving us alone in a world we do not understand.
This irrationality is leaking into government. Just a quick trawl through the weekend’s newspapers offers a couple of proofs. The British police want to secretly collect DNA samples from everyone from our tea cups and cigarette butts.
Even worse, a Bill is about to go to Parliament asking for the right to form a database logging every email, website visit and mobile phone call. This tips the balance of the citizen in the State. The State becomes primary – just like fascism.
Such things are totally against the idea of freedom. Government has a right to demand you pay your taxes and obey a fair common law. Anything else is undemocratic, and should be resisted totally. Yet this is the result of the liberal yearning for freedom from bigotry and intolerance. It has left us in a world where government has become the parent, dictating to the citizen/child. We are right to be fearful.
Next post, Thursday. See you then.

© Anthony North, October 2008

TT #27 – INJUSTICE

Lock him up! Throw away the key!
He assaulted me;
He battered my beliefs – hurt my pride,
questioned the things in which I confide;
There are laws against these taunts, you know,
so stop your jibes, or prison you’ll go,
we won’t have injustice in this day and age,
so take your bigotry off the stage …

Hold on a minute, what’s your game?
Are we never, ever, to blame,
something with which we disagree,
questioning life’s rich tapestry?
The injustice is you! Not me.

(c) Anthony North, October 2008

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LIVE WIRE – Fiction

We all know him. He starts off at school. He’ll maybe play football the best, and he’ll be leader of the gang – after all, he needs an audience so he can perform.
I’m a psychologist. I study him thoroughly. I know him inside out. And as he gets a little older, he’ll be the dare-devil – the first to climb that wall; the first to kiss that girl. And as his hormones click in, he’ll more than kiss her – and many more besides.
He’ll have to do this. He’s enslaved by his psychology. He may be from a broken home. He may have been abused. He may simply have been ignored – how dare they? – but he’ll be broken inside. Somehow.
Years back he’d have been thought a naughty boy who needs a smack. In the deep past, he’d have the devil in him, and be exorcised. Today, he’d be hyper-active and given pills; pampered. Made worse.
He leaves school, and he’s known as the live wire. He’ll succeed in everything he does. He’ll work the hardest, party the wildest, and there won’t be anything he doesn’t know about. But the girl who gets close – she’ll know. She’ll see the vulnerability, the anger, the under-confidence that drives him on to succeed, ‘cos he has to. He was made that way.
But others know him as the swell guy, the leader of the pack, ultra-smooth, ultra-confident – the man they all want to be. But they don’t see him cry at night; don’t see him shake before that confident act. Don’t see the man behind the mask.
Not like I’ve seen – time and time again. Not like I’ve seen them rise in politics, or business, or sport, or entertainment, or any other career that exudes confidence!!
Well, I’ve had enough for today. I stop the computer model – it has run enough times today – cut off its live wire, as it were.
I’ll run it again tomorrow. Circumstances will change. Paths will differ. But the psychology is always the same.
Show me a confident man and I’ll show you a wreck.

© Anthony North, October 2008

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DO YOU WANT A BIGGER READ? Why not try my Mysteries page? Dozens of in-depth articles from paranormal to lost civilisations. Fancy a short novel? My Pictures of Life is maybe just right for you. Interested in history? My History of Man takes you from prehistory to modern times.

TONY ON MEDIOCRE, BITE & MORE

Including One Single Impression and Manic Monday.
Have you had a go yet?

There is a disturbing rumour coming from the Conservative Party here in Britain. It seems that David Cameron wants possible ministers in a future government to have psychometric tests to see if they are fit for post – and this from the party that gave us Winston Churchill – one of the most unfit people to lead us.

This tells us something important.

It is often the case that the most unfit can be the best. And this can apply in any field. Time and time again, our ‘heroes’ are flawed in ways that would normally guarantee they were not successful.
But they break through, surprise us and do a magnificent job. But not in today’s world. A combination of media and over-professionalism is sanitizing our movers and shakers, and the only way to get through the ‘system’ is to be mediocre, ‘cos mediocre people rarely do anything.
And now it is showing in mediocre government and culture.

Have you got energy saving light bulbs yet?

Well, according to one report, you shouldn’t. They could potentially harm the skin, and even give the possibility of being a cancer risk. So, what are we to make of this? Well, burnt toast has cancer related toxins. Have you stopped eating it yet?
There are two ways to deal with such stories. The first is skepticism – as regular readers will know, I’ve always thought government eco-measures to be cosmetic, giving the impression of action. And such reports fit neatly into this idea – let it run a while and then scrap it through public fear.
And the other way of looking at it? Over and over again we grasp an eco-idea and then go mad on it, turning it from a sensible action that should be done as part of a whole host of actions, into a single, fanatical cause.
Think bio-fuels and the scarcity of food now. We just haven’t got this eco-thing right – yet.
Next post Tuesday. See you then.

© Anthony North, October 2008

NEVER ENDING

It cannot end – goes on and on
forever with its poetic song,
stunning with its majesty,
recited, always, after tea,
inspiring others to follow its way,
writing feverishly without delay,
placing thoughts within the mind,
sparking intuition, you’ll find;
The poet’s words are magnificent,
sometimes almost heaven sent,
how can it end, it’s so sublime,
packed with metre, rhythm, rhyme,
often with its unique blend,
oh, the word,
it cannot end ….

(c) Anthony North, October 2008

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AFTERMATH – Fiction

The aftermath was terrible.
How do I describe the effects – the ideas – the anger – the loathing – going through my mind? And don’t forget the sense of hopelessness – in many ways, that is more terrible than the event.
The attack.
A terrible, fiendish attack. Why do people do such things? What do they get out of it? Some kick? Some high? Such sadism disgusts me!
And then there’s the infection – a kind of madness. And just looking at the victim, I could imagine the burning up – the lack of anything going on inside, a blank screen.
Everything whirred as I thought about it – as I looked at it. And the desolation was palpable. But I’d fight it – as I knew I would. Though I may need a new hard drive.
Damned virus – poured in by the megabyte.

© Anthony North, October 2008

DO YOU WANT A BIGGER READ? Why not try my Mysteries page? Dozens of in-depth articles from paranormal to lost civilisations. Fancy a short novel? My Pictures of Life is maybe just right for you. Interested in history? My History of Man takes you from prehistory to modern times.

TONY ON LORDS, STYLE & MORE

Including Sunday Scribblings. Have you had a go yet?

The British government has failed to have its 42 day detention bill passed into law. The House of Lords has not only rejected it, but warned the government not to resurrect it again. For the non-Brits, the Lords is our unelected second chamber, filled with the ‘great and good’ with experience in many walks of life.

This decision is a great statement of freedom.

It tells an elected government very clearly that draconian measures will not be accepted in a free society. Yet we are faced with the apparent contradiction that this body in not democratic.
I think this speaks a vital truth often missed in the west. Democracy and capitalism are marvelous things, but they cannot exist alone. When they do, selfishness and abuse of power can so easily arise. We also need input from tradition and experience.
It is so often our saviour.

Britain is turning the sea into a toxic nightmare.

So says a new, hard hitting report. An ecological disaster will soon be here due to plastic waste, toxic pollution and over fishing. And whilst this nightmare has been going on, what has the government concentrated on?
Cleaning up the beaches. Now, don’t get me wrong, clean beaches are important, but if this is all that concerns them, then it is more proof of the ‘cosmetic’ nature of official eco-measures. After all, it is only the beaches that are seen.
Of course, they will claim they are placing fishing quotas to assist stocks, but this is a government made disaster by giving in to European Union demands to open up our waters to all. And predictably, this decimated the British fishing industry.
Perhaps the message is heard best when we show the selfish side of it. Just think of all that plastic and toxicity. Well, it is absorbed into the fish, where its toxicity increases. The fish are caught and eaten by the people, where its toxicity …
Well, need I say more. Plastic bags, dear reader, are colonizing our bodies.
Next post, Sunday. Hope to see you then.

© Anthony North, October 2008

MY STYLE

I’ve got style, I call it my own,
it’s my thinking and doing zone,
the stamp of my own individuality,
it’s no one else – it’s me

But …

To be myself I’ve learnt from peers,
sometimes, I’ll tell you, with tears,
but my parents were there to help me through,
nurturing me to always do

I found my place in society,
fitting right in with confidence and glee,
honing my abilities so I’d fit in,
careful of what they called wrong and sin

I fit so perfect in my environment,
sometimes I think it’s heaven sent,
how I seem adapted to this life,
able to thrive with minimum strife

My looks and behaviour have served me well,
most people think I’m quite swell,
going through life in my ancestral way,
What do you mean it’s my DNA?

Oh well …

I’ve got style, I call it mine,
but strange how it all entwines

(c) Anthony North, October 2008

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CRITICISM OF STYLE – Fiction

No style!!? Me? What’s he talking about?
I put down the paper – well, I scrunched it up and threw it in the fire. Any paper that could publish such a review of my latest book was unworthy of being read.
No style? What nonsense is this? Okay, you can say a writer’s style is good, brilliant, indifferent or absolute rubbish. But no style? How can a book – anything – NOT have style – a pattern? If he didn’t like me, fair enough, but to obliterate me from existence!
Several days later, I had not calmed down. He had gotten deep into my mind and evil thoughts just would not get out of my head, and I wished him nothing but bad luck.
‘I wish him bad luck,’ I eventually said to a person I spoke to in the bar.
It was the following week that I read of the car accident. He wasn’t dead, but he did have a broken leg – which made it very difficult to escape the fire in his house the week after that.
He did escape, of course, with some rather painful burns. But he would live – to be scooped up onto the bonnet of the car during the hit and run …
And so it went on. Just a simple curse and it is done. It seems that this is how the enforcer got his reputation – and I have to say he was quite cheap, considering.
‘Ah,’ said the detective when I pointed this out. ‘ That’s because he always follows the same incompetent pattern and he’s soon caught. Along with the person who hires him.’
So there it is, folks. I’m writing this from prison. And there’s one thought I just can’t get out of my head:
If only he’d had no style …

© Anthony North, October 2008

DO YOU WANT A BIGGER READ? Why not try my Mysteries page? Dozens of in-depth articles from paranormal to lost civilisations. Fancy a short novel? My Pictures of Life is maybe just right for you. Interested in history? My History of Man takes you from prehistory to modern times.

HOW TO EXPLAIN MEDIUMS

A medium is a person who seems to connect with something ‘other’. In its most popular interpretation, we are dealing with Spiritualism, and the ability of the medium to contact the afterlife, usually through a ‘spirit guide’.
They often get bad press nowadays, thought of as frauds. Typically they indulge in ‘cold reading’, where they can either lead the person on to disclose more than they think, or they intuit information from what a person says.

But cold reading can be seen in two ways.

It can be intentional or non-intentional. In other words, it is quite possible for a medium to indulge in the practice without realizing exactly what they are doing. So whilst some are obviously fraudulent, an identical mechanism can equally be behind a medium who genuinely doesn’t know how they are accessing the information.
The same can be said for other areas of mediumship. The ‘spirit guide’ can so obviously be seen as fraudulent. Yet, we know of ‘multiple personality’, where the mind can fragment into various characters. It is therefore quite possible for spirit guides to be fragmented personalities, without the obvious consent of the medium.

Do mediums contact the ‘other’?

Well, I suppose we have to decide what the ‘other’ is. And one obvious means of explanation is that they contact something ‘other’ than themselves. Indeed, they often talk of a ‘voice’ inside their heads.
One possible explanation for this comes from the ‘split-brain’ concept. We know that we have a left and right brain, the former dealing with rationality, the latter with inspiration, emotion, artistry. And it has been suggested often that the one can seem to interact with the other as if a voice.

There seem to be ‘mechanisms’ the medium can use.

But these still tell us little about whether they really contact the ‘other’. We DO know that a medium seems to go into a trance, which is seen as a descent into the inner mind. If we bring into the discussion such concepts as Jung’s ‘collective unconscious’, then we can argue the deeper we go into the mind, the more communal it becomes, thus connecting with ‘other’.
We can also learn a great deal by looking at mediumship throughout history. Contact with ‘other’ is first identified in the tribal shaman. Christian mystics seem to have a similar ability. Spiritualism eventually appeared, contacting the dead. And the modern expression of mediumship comes in the Channeller, who seems to contact discarnate entities.

This suggests the ‘other’ changes over time.

But is there a connection? I think there is. For in each case the medium seems to connect with the contemporary cultural expression of our dreams and desires. Contacting nature, God, the dead, or higher spiritual or extraterrestrial masters ape our ideas of our spirituality at any one time in history.
I suggest, therefore, that the ‘other’ could well be our culture – itself a form of entity above the individual, and the guiding process to who we are. The medium could well be in touch with the spark of zeitgeist that is us. But what process is behind this ability?
Studies of many mediums show that they suffered adversity at some point in their lives. This is also true with the average Christian mystic. As for the shaman, some argue they are similar to borderline schizophrenics. And people who suffer such adversity often cut themselves off psychologically from the physical world and descend into the deep mind. And is it not when we are in the deeper mind that we dream of ‘other’?
Of course, I could be wrong, and mediums do exactly what it says on the tin.

© Anthony North, October 2008

TONY ON TELLY, TT#26 & MORE

Including Thursday Thirteen, Totally Optional Prompts,
Search Engine Stories and Heads or Tails.
Have you had a go yet?

I predicted a short while ago that the Crash would lead to an abandonment of targets towards carbon emissions. Well, The Guardian has reported the European Union is considering the watering down of measures to tackle global warming. You can expect to hear more of this from now on.

The eco-message is about to die.

And it will die for two reasons. First of all, Big Biz has only indulged in cosmetic measures anyway; and we’re only playing at it. And I’m afraid sentiments only flower during periods of affluence.
Of course, the planet will be helped naturally by the Crash, as there will be a downturn in industry, and we’ll use less power and oil. But as a new system rises out of the ashes of the old, it is maybe time for thinking rather than sentiment – and place proper environmentalism as it rises.

Occasionally there is a reality show I like.

One such is Strictly Come Dancing, where celebs partner professionals and learn to dance properly. The show is hosted by Bruce Forsyth, 80 years old, still nimble, and the king of the game show since the early 1960s.
Still the best compere around, he shows the younger models what it is all about. But I am really delighted with the latest series, as the female dancer who is wiping the floor with the youngsters is 56 year old actress, Cherie Lunghi.
Showing the difference between a woman being a woman, and young women being girlies, her elegance and sex appeal is winning the day. And I am so happy about this, as television seems to be being taken over by youff – and most of it is awful!
We’re told we live in more lenient times, with bigotry a thing of the past. Well, this is not so. There is a general loathing for traditions, experience and everything else that isn’t ‘young’. And it is particularly infecting television. And, apart from the occasional touch of brilliance, it is turning it from a vitally important medium, to a load of dumbed down idiocy.
Next post, Thursday. Hope to see you then.

© Anthony North, October 2008

TT #26 – LOVE IN THE CITY?

The city and civilisation go hand in hand,
our greatest creation – Oh so grand,
yet above all else, love’s what we do,
but in the city, chances are few …

Why?

We’ve got corn, don’t be forlorn,
build a city, Oh so pretty,
shrine to the gods, we look agog,
castle for defence, we’re all so tense,
factory and slum, we’re so glum,
money in the till, so much thrill,
all about trade, greed displayed

the city should be our social glue – but it’s never been built for me or you

(c) Anthony North, October 2008

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THE ‘G’ WORD – Fiction

He was stood there, the wind blowing about him, trying to think of the ‘g’ word. It didn’t come, so he thought of another – remembered …
‘Have you got any gold?’
He’d said it into the telephone repeatedly, manically. But to no avail. After all, as if gold could ground THIS economy – now. It had run on credit and confidence for so long – for so very long. They’d begun to believe the lie themselves.
But it WAS a lie. It couldn’t last. The bubble burst – but ‘bubble’ isn’t a ‘g’ word. He needed to remember the ‘g’ word he was looking for.
Greed came to mind. That was a good word – a word they could ignore, ‘cos they weren’t really greedy. The traders weren’t greedy, and the investors weren’t greedy, no one was greedy, it was all …
… just another lie. And it had ground to a halt – another ‘g’ word, but not the one he was looking for. Yet as he jumped off the building he suddenly remembered the word – it was ‘glide’.
But that didn’t work either.

© Anthony North, October 2008

MERMAIDS

This is a website as well as a blog. The pages (top) link
to lots of essays in my research archive, written and
re-written over 25 years (many are excerpts from as yet
unpublished books). You’ll find a sample below. Why not
come back when it’s quiet? Or even check out the pages.

Residents of the Hebridean island of Benbecula were gathering seaweed one day in 1830 when they saw a woman-like creature playing near the sea. Attempting to catch it, a boy threw a stone which struck it.
A dead body was found a couple of days later resembling a well-fed child with developed breasts and long hair. But most puzzling was its salmon-like lower body. Drawing a large crowd, the creature was buried in a long forgotten grave …
… read more …

TONY ON CRASH, MOON & MORE

Including One Single Impression and Manic Monday.
Have you had a go yet?

So, the G7 finance ministers have met. Notice, that’s G7 – no Russia. And what have they done? Well, they issued a statement. Wow!! We can now rest easy as the world enters global recession, and possible Depression. You see, it’s too late to avoid a Crash. It has already happened.

We have entered a new world.

Yes, most savings will be saved, but pension funds, mortgages, jobs, etc, are on the change. And those savings have been saved by nationalization by another name. Left to their devices, the banks would now have gone. The system has had its day.
There have been some strange happenings. Britain’s rescue plan of last week will end up costing £500 billion, and it all went straight down the black hole as the FTSE lost another 10%. Hence, there is nothing left in the pot for the coming hardships.

And did you know Iceland is a terrorist haven?

No, seriously. The Icelandic economy has virtually collapsed, resulting in £8 billion worth of Brit investments being frozen. Britain has therefore used recent legislation to seize Icelandic money in this country – legislation devised purely to snatch terrorist’s assets.
We were promised this legislation would never – ever – be used for anything else but terrorism. LIARS!!!
I’ve spoken often of this rotten system of Super-Capitalism, and Iceland’s problems exemplify its heinous heart. A country has been bankrupted by less than 30 people out to make a quick buck. This is the kind of power this corrupt system places in unelected, undisciplined and unseen megalomaniacs.
And it gets worse. The trillions being lost in the markets doesn’t actually exist. It is value placed on confidence. This has gone, and what is happening is the result of tantrum and fear. In any other field, this would be viewed as a self-harming psychosis.
Such is the madness at the centre of globalization. I hope that out of the present troubles, proper capitalism grows once more. But I’m not holding my breath.
Next post, Tuesday. Hope to see you then.

© Anthony North, October 2008

JUST LIKE GOLD

I’m like gold, so perfect and all,
wherever I go, I enthrall;
I’m so famous I’m known round the world,
they see me and say: ‘There’s that girl;’
In every way my beauty shines,
to perfection, I’m a walking shrine,
achieved by cosmetics, knife and pill,
and only quarter million, the bill

She’s like gold, so perfect and all,
wherever she goes, she enthralls;
I try my best to live up to her,
no matter what cost I may incur,
‘cos perfect is the way to be,
to emulate such celebrity,
but if only once my mind had gleaned,
perfection is an impossible dream

(c) Anthony North, October 2008

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THE FULL MOON – Horror Fiction

When the full moon comes I know he’s going to change. I know with more certainty than I’ve known anything before. A gentle man, kind, almost without fault, he is popular in his community. Although often keeping himself to himself, he always has a smile and a word for anyone he happens to meet on his rare excursions out of his house.
I met him on one such excursion. A bit of a loner myself, our eyes seemed to meet naturally as we passed on the street. And although we exchanged pleasantries, I had a deep sense of despair should this liaison continue.
The next day, I waited at the same spot, but he never came. However, the day after that he did, and we got talking, all the while a depression seeming to hang around us.
I could sense the danger with great acuity, yet despite this, I was drawn to the man, and it wasn’t long before a kind of friendship developed. And when it was pointed out that I was homeless, his natural kindness offered me shelter.
I know I should have refused. I have an instinct for such things, you see, and I knew without a doubt that this man would eventually change. Indeed, it was so absolute a conviction that a fear began to replace the depression. I even tried to get out of the liaison, go off to some park bench or other rather than be there when the full moon came and he changed.
But he was insistent, and it seemed that there was little I could do, for now I had begun to feel the empathy, the mesmeric bonding that surely had to be a precursor to the inevitable change.
Well the day of the full moon came with an air of trepidation in every thought I had, and as twilight turned to the dead of night, irrationality seemed the only mind state I could grasp.
I looked upon him, sat before me, waiting for the inevitable change to come, as I knew it would. My breathing became heavy, at first with worry, but then a kind of primeval instinct emerged, and bit by bit, he began to change, no longer my friend, but now the source of my growing frenzy. And even as I could feel the madness rising I felt an urge to warn him before it was too late. But …
… it already was.

© Anthony North, October 2008

THE ROMAN EMPIRE

This is a website as well as a blog. The pages (top) link
to lots of essays in my research archive, written and
re-written over 25 years (many are excerpts from as yet
unpublished books). You’ll find a sample below. Why not
come back when it’s quiet? Or even check out the pages.

Rome is a city first built on 7 low hills by the Tiber in Italy. Legend says the first settlement was built on the Palatine Hill by the wolf-raised twins, Romulus and Remus about 753BC.
The region was inhabited by Latini tribes, thought to have migrated from Asia Minor. By the 7th century BC an Etruscan culture had become dominant, headed by the tyrant- kings, the Tarquins …
… read more …