yesterday, today, and forever.

Written by thehouseofvines

One of the things I love most about life is its capacity to surprise. Mr. “Bonjour Jon Bon Jovi” from Australia chimed in, and actually provided some thoughtful, critical commentary on the subject for a change. I’m so proud and knew he had it in him. Folks, give our Aussie friend a round of applause! That kind of behavior should be met with positive reinforcement. Everyone can change. Everyone can do better, and be better. Never forget that. And also remember that Dionysos and the other Gods is what matters, not any of this, good or bad as it can be. Them, always them.

19 thoughts on “yesterday, today, and forever.”

  1. I read the comment. I am sure that people do write off line about you write. I know for myself, I don’t spend much time on line and usually a limited amount at that. In the blogsphere, I write for my Gods, and if I get responses fine. I write because that is what I do, and the offering I make.

    I guess having a lot of traffic seems to be the goal these days for blogs. I don’t know if I could handle all that myself. So, what he wrote seemed to directed toward the idea that a popular blog is a successful religious one. Is it?

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    1. Yeah, and the unfortunate thing is that a lot of folks, consciously or otherwise, believe that too. While I enjoyed the variety of polytheisms discussed, the colorful personalities involved and the rich conversations we all were having in the 2010s it concerned me when people started marketing themselves as products and spending less time thinking and talking about the Gods. I tried to shift the pendulum but probably just contributed to making the situation worse.

      You are an inspiration. Through it all you’ve managed to stay focused on theology, history, zoology and related topics. You don’t get mired in community squabbles, egotism and other bullshit. You just keep chugging along, doing your own thing.

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  2. Watch. Dude is totally going to comment on this post and be all like, “See, there’s a ton of comments because you talked about someone! Haha!” Predictable trick just to make him look insightful when really he’s just being a jackass.

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    1. He can believe what he wants. While he’s making his points, I’ll turn the conversation back around to the Gods. If that’s not to his liking he’ll get bored and move along. It’s how it always goes.

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        1. Maybe the kangaroos stole all the thesauruses in Australia? Bastards. At any rate I’ve never considered being full of πάθος or employing the Asiatic style of rhetoric to be problematic.

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  3. Well, I did not know I was an inspiration, but thanks for that. My secret for chugging along?

    I spent my adult career in International Finance – Monetary Policy and Currency. I worked with people (Central Bankers) whose decisions affected whole nations and beyond. In short, real naked power involving the world’s money and gold. Yes, I know where all the gold is …… I followed the flows from country to country as they paid off loans or did transactions. For a while, I monitored the actual gold reserves in the world (90 percent are stored in the U.S.).

    So entering the Neo-Pagan world, was a cultural shift. I discovered people ruling over very small ponds. They expected people to react to every pronouncement from their lips. All these small pond people did migrate to the internet and got groupies. Meh. After being with the Masters of the World, small potatoes. Which is why A.Theaux (guy with Raven, electrical fire) did not impress me with his intelligence or whatever he was passing off.

    I was attacked on-line after my brain injury by someone (you know) who I called Pigman who was trying to destroy everyone remotely affiliated with Raven Kaldera. I was like third degree of separation from Kaldera, but swept up in the burnt earth endeavors. I learned the best thing to do is to ignore the whole thing. I simply go about my business. In other words, do not give anyone, who I do not care about, five minutes of my time.

    Since the brain injury, I have enforced that rule of parceling out my attention. Brain can’t handle stupid Internet stuff.

    Finally, I am not selling anything to anyone. I am not shilling for money for my writing. It is a gift that the Gods gave to me to use. I write what They tell me. I have a list of things that interest me, but then They pop up with “why don’t you discuss Whale Gods or crocodiles or di Manes.” Right now, it is sacred geography both New Age, Dragons, and Polytheism. Then sacred building. Sort of stuff that is not exciting or click bait for the Neo-Pagan crowd.

    Back to chugging away……. We all have our parts to play in this grand Cosmos. Maybe you are a lightning rod for the WOKE crowd to scored brownie points on. I mean they “make a great noise of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

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      1. First off, fuck. I’m sorry that you had to go through that.

        Second, yes! Do you know how many times I’ve pointed this exact thing out? Why the hell are pagans and polytheists and magical types having the exact sort of theological arguments and territorial pissing contests as the early Church? The Christians, at least, were battling over access to sacraments, to things that affected their posthumous fate, control of the property and wealth of parish communities, positions that came with both spiritual and temporal power. In other words, they had skin in the game, especially after the Constinian reform where there was one God, one church, one body of doctrines, one emperor, and one empire which upped the stakes even higher than they’d been in the nascent Jesus-communities (which still fought like savage dogs.) We didn’t have any of that shit; in fact, if you organized an event chances are good you also paid for it, and put in most of the work putting it together and running it. And yet we’d see literally the same arguments play themselves out, minus any of the motivations, and even the ability to permanently resolve conflicts (i.e. the force of the state) which Orthodox Catholic Christianity came to wield against those who lost out and got labeled heretics. So there was no way to decisively win, nothing to win, no reason to fight since we’re scattered across the globe as individuals or small groups and also believe in many Gods, many rites, many traditions, etc, and the internet has changed how we communicate and organize, so even if you can bar someone from participating in your community or event you can’t stop them from forming their own, or just posting online.

        It was the damn stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. I hoped good would come out of it (i.e. helping us refine what we believed and how we expressed it, unifying groups and communities while encouraging others to do the same over there, where we don’t have to concern ourselves with them, and so forth) but it mostly ended up being like a slap-fight between blind children.

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    2. I am sorry you were harassed by “pig-man.” He went after me pretty hard, the petty little bastard. He couldn’t handle the fact that we did the work to have a relationship with our Gods, while he couldn’t or didn’t. Anyone who had a better relationship (in his view) with Odin he did his best to destroy. But as you said, small potatoes. He even tried to take me to court where he got his ass handed to him on a silver platter (I vaguely remember that he complained because I had an attorney and he thought the court would give him one for a specious suit no less. Pig man has become an example I use when I teach about spiritual jealousy and how it can destroy the person who refuses to let it go. I will say, he’s a very good example of such dysfunction.

      You have had a fascinating work life! I would love at some point to sit down over tea and discuss that with you. wow.

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      2. Also, I love that he expected the court to provide him his own lawyer. I think this dude’s seen too many cop shows on tv. (And also can’t tell the difference between criminal and other types of law.)

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  4. I am posting twice – two different thoughts.
    Pigman – he seemed to have everyone else do his dirty work, while he gloated about smiting people. And he was self-righteous and sanctimonious. And devious in his dealing with people. He gloated about how they handed me my ass. One thing though, I was long gone and didn’t engage with anyone. It was just noise and chest beating.

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  5. Second comment: Spiritual envy. Sounds like the germ of a post from you guys. What I remember about pigman is that he wanted to control the whole spiritual experience from beginning to end. I remember reading an AA pamphlet about spiritual awakening in which one person kept delaying it. They kept saying it wasn’t time. Until they got slammed with one by the God of their understanding.

    I remember when Neptune Pater decided to make Himself known to me. In the middle of a prosaic ADF ritual, He appeared in full glory, setting my hair on fire. It was not an experience I wish on anyone.

    One thing that I noticed in your writing at House of Leaves is the transcendence. I think people who make potshots are envious that you have this relationship with the Gods. I know up close it is not easy, but the transcendence shines through.

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    1. That is interesting, and sad, as it means thy’re so focused on my relationship with the Gods that they miss out on the important, difficult work of forging their own, which is so incredibly rewarding. The Gods are awesome! Love the Gods!

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      1. Um, do they know how to go that? I mean after all everyone has been raised in the Monotheistic world with religion handed to them. How does one forge their own relationship? I have read various Pagany books that seem to assume that people do know how or the author doesn’t know how and is thrashing about.

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