Things Get Seriously Weird...

[ecosophia]

During this week's Magic Monday, one of my commenters -- tip of the Druidical hat to Seasidehermit -- noted that people on one of the popular Neopagan online forums were talking about a sudden distance opening up between them and their gods:  the gods they pray to have gone silent or, in some cases, gone away completely. (You can find two of the many examples here and here.) In the light of what follows, it's probably worth noting that the Neopagans in question are among those for whom yelling "Orange Man Bad!" and praising the latest excesses of cancel culture and woke activism are standard social habits. 

I was interested enough in this to follow up on it -- and what to my wondering eyes should appear but several comments (here's one of them) by Neopagans who have had their gods go silent, but are now suddenly noticing strings of repeating digits on clocks and other digital readouts. 

That is to say, they're seeing "gets." 

For those readers who didn't follow the Kek Wars in the months leading up to the 2016 election, or missed my four-part blog post on the subject (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four), a "get" was slang in alt-right forums (such as the notorious "chans") for sequences of repeating digits in the numbers automatically assigned to posts by forum software. One of the many weird features of that memorably strange election season was that posts dealing with Donald Trump fielded improbable numbers of "gets." (The most famous of these was a random post on 8chan on June 19, 2016, which said simply "Trump will win," and got the post number 77777777.) The cascades of "gets" was among the things that convinced a great many alt-right chaos mages during that election that they had somehow come into contact with the ancient Egyptian frog god Kek, who had taken Pepe the Frog for his mascot and who had chosen Donald Trump as his anointed candidate. (As I said, it was a memorably weird time.) 

And now Neopagans who are opponents of Trump are being quietly left in the lurch by the gods they worship, and at least some of them are seeing the signs of Kek's presence...

Something very strange is stirring, in the midst of this extremely strange time.

I'd like to ask my readers this: are you experiencing any particular sense of distance opening up between you and your gods? And are you seeing "gets"?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

It hasn't been mentioned so far that there was an exodus of bloggers and commenters from Patheos Pagan a couple of years ago when the Patheos site was bought by a Christian group with negative views on LGBT issues. So the most radical already left the site.

As for the questions:
1) not to date (a question I think should be answered cautiously!)
2) no

Though I have taken almost no notice of politics since Sanders went out of the presidential race. As a left wing libertarian I feel more politically homeless than ever these last few months, and have retreated from reading or talking about politics except with a couple of friends who have similar views. All of us feel we should keep our heads down.

I think Biden more likely to win because of his lead in the polls, but I won't be cheering if he does. My main thought about the election right now is worrying how people in this community might feel if Biden does win, when many have predicted a resounding Trump victory.

Frogs

[(Anonymous)]

The chan's also just discovered two other strange signs. The shooter in Kenosha is named Kyle Rittenhouse (as I'm sure most of y'all know) Immediately after the incident the frogosphere started to refer to him as St.Kyle. There is a Scottish Saint often referred to as Kyle but who is also known as St. Kennocha. In Philadelphia there is a frog statue that bears a strong resemblance to Kek. It's located in Rittenhouse Square.

Re: Frogs

[ecosophia]

Good heavens. I wonder what they'll do when they find out that there's also a St. Chad...

[(Anonymous)]

I've had a rather disturbing thought of late: given how hard it can be to tell if an entity is a god or a demon, it's possible that a lot of people in the neopagan scene have been unknowingly worshiping demons. I've suspected this is the case for many years now, ever since someone I knew in the neopagan scene said banishing was a bad idea, as it made it harder for the gods to reach out to you.

If this is the case, the various workings/prayers I've seen being done by right wing occultists (I won't say where; I'm sure you can understand why) to bless and help the people on the left get rid of their demons might have the effect of openning distance between left wing neo-pagans and their "gods". Since at least one such working outright invokes Kek, the gets may be part of it.....

[ecosophia]

That makes a good deal of sense, and not all of the demonolatry is unknowing -- for quite a while now there's been a subset of Neopagans who have gotten into demon worship, and that's become a larger and larger segment of the scene of late. So, yes, the workings you mention may be having an effect. That would explain a great deal.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm sure many people here have observed how typically neopagan groups devolve in to backstabbing power plays. As our host often notes, "Ye shall know them by their fruits."

[(Anonymous)]

So far as I can tell, the gods I pray to and communicate with have not gone silent, and seem tolerant of my mortal fumblings.

As far as 'gets' go - I write by hand, and the past few months I've been noticing that words are repeating their positions on the page. So maybe I will write "understand" in the middle of the line, and continue on, and the next line down, "understand" will appear again directly below the first. A small, strange thing, perhaps insignificant, but I've never noticed it happening to this extent before.

Also, while we're on the general topic of left-wing mental breakdowns, Taibbi has a review of "In Defense of Looting," a straight-faced defense of rampant lawlessness by a white trans author. I believe it's worth a read - the book seems to be emblematic of the insanity of the modern left. Taibbi's article is free to the public:

https://taibbi.substack.com/p/dont-steal-this-book

-Cliff

My New Ball Cap

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you for the latest Matt!

The kind of crap this book espouses is why a week or so ago I, a lifelong liberal, pulled up to a couple of tables on the sidewalk decorated with several gigantic Trump banners, populated by a half dozen Trump supporters and one anti-Trump protestor... and I purchased a camouflage MAGA hat. I had a nice chat with the cheerful fellow I bought it from.

I'm a liberal. These Burning Looting Marxists? They are off the rails.

- Cicada Grove

[neptunesdolphins]

This reminds me of Abie Hoffman (who committed suicide) and the Yippie movement. They encourage people to steal and shoplift. It was to strike out against "the Man". 1960s have come around again, on schedule. What is Past is Prologue.

Defense of Looting

[ritaer]

I read Taibbi's review of "In Defense of Looting". Quite pointed. Especially when he reprints the author's copyright notice. Steal from everyone else, just not from me, is the gist of it. At least, as Taibbi notes, when Abbie Hoffman wrote a similar anarchist creed he titled it "Steal this Book." I've been reading Taibbi since his reports on the 2008 crash in "Rolling Stone". Whoever thought that "Rolling Stone" and the "Daily Show" would become major news sources? For a more conservative viewpoint look on Facebook for The Bad News Network, run by a couple of veterans who also made some hilarious videos on topics such as questions not to ask a veteran and dumb things people say to service members. Funny buy also serious and level headed.

What seems to be forgotten, or not acknowledged, is that people have a drive for security and order. Lawless mining camps eventually develop committees of vigilance, communities abandoned by government law enforcement may find their streets patrolled by drug cartels instead, when there is no government to root out the bandits, you hire the unemployed samurai instead.

On the higher plane, most pantheons seem to have gods in charge of protecting travelers, guarding borders, giving judgment, punishing thieves and so forth. Humans seem to want that kind of divine intervention.

Rita

Hots for the Karenomicon...

[(Anonymous)]

RE: the distaff side having the hots for Trump - the agnate may have something going on too, at least on the political side if things. It seems that the rioters in the street want a strong man on a horse to lead them in smashing the old ways so their new imagined, perfect order can arise. Problem is, you only get that leader if there is an opposite strong man on a horse for him to rise up against (if he comes out of societal chaos, then you get a Napoleon or Ghengis, which is not what they want and uncontrollable). Maybe some of the TDS is caused by the Donaldo NOT acting as a dictator and peskily doing things showing that he's not the racist homophobic monster they need him to be for their champion to become manifest. Maybe their desire for him to act the way they want leads to their unhealthy facination.

As for the gods going silent...could it be the practitioners are so busy trying to see the world as they want it to be, rather than as it is, causing them to not hear their dieties? And if they aren't listening, well, I could see their gods taking a break from talking to them and placing gets in their path. If they opened their ears and eyes, they would probably find their gods again.

On a lighter note, I know JMG is busy but I so want to read "The Karenomicon". Maybe a collaboration with Titania McGrath or the folks behind the grievance studies hoax is in the future. It would be hilarious!

Re: Hots for the Karenomicon...

[ecosophia]

Oh my. If Titania or the grievance-studies people happen to be reading this, I would find some way to make time to contribute to the Karenomicon!

"The Karens were, the Karens are, and the Karens shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but athwart them, They walk shrill and offended, unabashed and to us all too constantly seen. The Manager knows the gate. The Manager is the gate. The Manager is the key and guardian of the gate. Ranch dressing, blonde hair dye, and the perfect cup of espresso, all are one to the Manager."

[(Anonymous)]

detailed account of DNC plus neocons plans for post-election chaos:

https://unlimitedhangout.com/2020/09/investigative-reports/bipartisan-washington-insiders-reveal-their-plan-for-chaos-if-trump-wins-the-election/

[avalterra]

OK, crazy mad, barking at the moon prediction. The 538 prediction comes true but not in the way people think. On November 4th, 2020 Donald Trump will have won the vote count in all states, but that is not counting the mail ins. Trump will declare himself the victor which will send the MSM into conniptions. As the mail in votes are counted Trumps electoral lead will whittle away. Both sides will be screaming fraud but the left will be at a disadvantage having very aggressively supported mail in voting as safe.

Counting will go on with lawsuits brought in various states to do recounts but after a long and painful journey Trump will emerge the winner with both a majority of votes and a majority of electors.

Sharp eyed people will note that a number of final vote tallies will have "gets." "The King in Orange" hits the shelves and is picked up by the MSM. JMG has a huge run on all of his books as TKIO becomes a best seller. He is roundly denounced by the far left as a "Nazi" and roundly denounced by the far right for his non-racist stance.

Those of us with all of his books on our shelves suddenly become "cool" and "in the know."

Mailed In Ballots

[(Anonymous)]

I love the book idea, but speaking as a multi-times poll worker, that's not how mail-in ballots work, at least in my county.

In my county the mail ballots go out weeks before Election day and the completed ballots >must< have arrived back at the Registrar of Voters by 8pm Election Day in order to be counted. Usually they trickle in over that period of weeks. The voter signs the outside of the envelope, which enables the ROV to spend the time checking it against their rolls-- "is this person eligible to vote, and in this precinct?" They don't open the envelopes yet, just check the voter ID and signature on the outside and stash the "good" ballot envelopes aside for counting on Election Day.

By Election Night they have a stack (or more likely multiple big cartloads) of checked and certified envelopes at the Registrar's office, just waiting to be opened and have their ballots run through the ballot counting scanners.

At 8 pm when the polls close, the starting gun goes off. While the poll workers out at all the polls around the county are still gathering up their walk-in voters' ballots and schlepping them over to the collection points, the ROV workers down at HQ are busily slitting open envelopes and feeding those ballots into the counting machines. By maybe 8:30 pm the first results go up on the website. They'll say something like "with 10% of the returns in" and so forth. This continues on through the night; by 2-3 hours later, the first ballots from the polling places arrive and they start going into the counting machines also.

The point is, the mail-in ballots >are the first to be counted<, not the last, unless some serious skulduggery happens at ROV HQ, of course. But it is believed both by Trump and by at least one Democratic activist whose mailing list I'm on, that mail-in ballots enable >more Democrats< to vote. So if the early returns show Trump in the lead, I think that lead will be maintained or increased as more ballots are counted... as long as they are counted honestly.

But with all the voting fraud pre-accusations I've seen both sides hurling at each other, who knows if they will be counted honestly? Or if we'll be able to tell?

A 3-bagger popcorn night, all around.

- Cicada Grove

[(Anonymous)]

Currently watching one occult teacher and writer talk about a spell to onvole Neptune to harm Trump and showing pictures of pro-Trump boats from the boat parade sinking.

I got a feeling Karma and the Strawberry Jam principle will bite him hard soon.

[ecosophia]

Yeah, demanding that the gods punish innocent people whose political opinions one can't stand is such a good idea... :-P

[(Anonymous)]

The following op-ed is wierd.
It reads like the author has recast the world in such that objective reality is an evil demon.

From Salon:

https://www.salon.com/2020/09/06/election-2020-turning-point-for-democracy--or-horror-movie-sequel-about-an-unkillable-demon/

Election 2020: Turning point for democracy — or horror-movie sequel about an unkillable demon?
Is Donald Trump a bad president who can be defeated, or a Cthulhu-Candyman entity who controls our thoughts?

Not, strictly speaking, on topic but close enough that I thought you would like to know.

[(Anonymous)]

I take this and other similar articles I've read lately as an admission from the liberal establishment press that they know they are probably going get thumped and thumped hard in November. I saw one from Kamala Harris where she said if she and her running mate lose, it'll be because of those evilly evil Rooskies monkeywrenching the election. I think these people know they are in serious trouble and are already looking for scapegoats to pin the blame on when the Dems crash and burn.

the silence of the gods

[(Anonymous)]

Hmmm...I had made a regular pracice of offering incense etc. to Anubis but a few weeks ago got the impression I was setting in front of a closed door... also this has been the worst year for migraines... up from 2-4 per year to 20-25 per month..wonder if there is a connection with the upcoming 'storm'...

General Weirdness

[(Anonymous)]

Have read through most of the responses.
As someone who lives with a G O D (spelled backwards), I don't understand the problem. Mind you, he's old--but he's a sure manifestation of enchantment. You should see how people respond to him when we go outside, even in this heat.
People are so relieved, happy to see him: yesterday a small, maybe two or so yr old boy gave me a tiny bird down feather because he was so pleased to have been allowed to pet an old fuzzy d-o-g. His mom and two siblings were present. I pointed out to the mom that birds nest in the big signs (like SAFEWAY) in the areas where there's horizontal stability.
What more enchantment do you need?

[(Anonymous)]

UnDruidly language, but important. Antifa may be crazy, but they’re not stupid.

https://archive.is/RHX8p

Antifa goons probably haven’t read their Clausewitz, since he was white, but it sounds like they’ve read their Sun Tzu. The important issue for us is, the government is failing one of its basic duties, to keep public order. Sane folks need to be networking so somebody can maintain the sewage plants, weather radar, and traffic lights once the government has collapsed. Most folks wish to lead orderly lives, and they’ll back whoever can do those things.

[robertmathiesen]

Thank you so much for this data point. This is quite sophisticated stuff, with some serious central planning behind it. It reminds me of nothing so much as the opening moves of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 that brought down Russia and gave birth to the Soviet Union. I wonder whether these tactics will be copied in other cities between now and next January.

[lunarapprentice]

Lunar Apprentice here.

First, I am no social justice warrior. I’m 61 with grand mal Aspergers. I was a Democrat back in the day when “deplorables” was a reference to the wealthiest of the wealthy. I turned away from the party when it became obvious during the Obama years that the Democrats had become a party of zombies doing the bidding of its big corporate/banking voodoo masters.

After a convoluted personal religious history, I have come to revere the Hellenistic Gods and Goddesses, having a morning ritual and evening ritual (involving altar with candles, incense, representation of the deity, offerings), cyclicly with the 7 deities associated with the days of the week, and (so far) non-scheduled non-ritualistic prayers with about an additional dozen deities from the Greek Pantheon. My practice is still evolving, and I am a solitary practitioner. The Neo-Pagan movement never attracted me; Hermes communicated with me directly and nothing that ensued has pointed me to it. My situation in life mirrors Dante’s after he came to his senses in the bleak forest, and is about to proceed forthwith into the bowels of Hell…

As for ‘gets’, no, none of those for me. As for ‘distance’, I can’t say I have encountered such lately. And I know perfectly well what distance, or more precisely what an AWOL deity, feels like from my earlier religious affiliations.

[(Anonymous)]

Salve and just a tip of the cap from one who has a similar path and practice. Though you may be solitary, you are not alone. In my experience, Hermes has been rather active of late, thus prompting my question below, but that also seems to be in his nature, generally...

Axé

Fra' Lupo

[(Anonymous)]

No and no, but then again, though I am no fan of the Orange One by any means, i don't view myself as part of any kind of "Resistance."

Could this Egyptian god syncretize with Hermes in his trickster guise?

Axé

Fra' Lupo

[ecosophia]

All the Greek deities syncretize at the drop of a petasus -- think Hermanubis for starters -- and Hermes is the one I'd suspect first. A deity who can steal a whole herd of cattle from Apollo when he was still an infant would be the logical suspect in stealing the White House from a side of beef... ;-)

From Psychology Today: What Do I keep seeing the same numbers on my clocks.

[neptunesdolphins]

https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/connecting-coincidence/202009/why-do-i-keep-seeing-the-same-numbers-my-clocks

The materialist crowd is now noticing gets and trying to explain it.

Could be the Gods of the Neopagans who went away

[neptunesdolphins]

I noticed among Neopagans at Patheos, that the majority of them focus on the Goddess, the Horned God, Pan, the Morrigan, Cennonos (sp?), and Hecate. Could it be that these particular Gods decided to leave?

In other news, I have seen Marduk, Inanna, and other Gods of Mesopotamia accrue more believers. I wonder if it is a matter of Gods shifting and leaving some people behind.

Re: Could be the Gods of the Neopagans who went away

[ecosophia]

Hmm! An interesting possibility.

I don't want to be reductive

[(Anonymous)]

But do you feel there are ways to turn this particular time for the postive and alligned with nature - I am feeling a sense of loss of hope that is unparalled as a aries rising with a leo moon I tend towards hope and belief in regeneration but I feel wirth power structures being seemingly unsurmountable and all these global restrictions a horrible sense of panic - brought on more so with a low income and three dependants - what can we focus energy on to remain free of any malevolence in overstructures and alligned with a deeper reality

Odin

[(Anonymous)]

My pagan contact tells me that Odin has been very very busy. In general my woke pagans are not having problems with their magic (and we're talking people on the front lines of BLM protests, etc, very kind people as well), but they were told last year that the window for mass awakening has closed.

These are very serious people, who wield real and very frightening magic, all of whom have had real apprenticeships, etc, though, so they may not be typical.

[(Anonymous)]

I have had the chance to check the latest pools for the next presidential election in the US. Apparently Mr Biden is going to win bigger than Mr Rosevelt did by the time he was winning WWII !!! How can anyone believe such thing possible? How can everyone talk about these pool as being in the realm of probable? If the pollsters are serious professional people, as I hope, the old saying cames to mind:"Those who the gods want to destroy they make crazy"
I will be praying for you, the world desperately needs the US to be a strong functional leader!