ecosophia: (Default)
[personal profile] ecosophia
King in OrangeJust when you thought it was safe to go back on the internet...

Yes, it's me again on the Hermitix podcast, with host James Ellis, talking about the eldritch, rugose, squamous horror that is the political system of the United States, with a focus on that dread being whose mere name is able to strike madness and terror into the minds of pundits, celebrities, and people who thought they were opposed to hatred until 2016. Yes, James and I spoke aloud of Donald Trump, the King in Orange, and lived to tell the tale. 

Are you prepared to see the Orange Sign, sound the cloudy depths of Demhe, and watch the cloud waves break on the black shores of Carcosa -- or at least to hear a discussion of American politics that flings down the conventional wisdom and dances on its tattered orange robes? Here's the link to the program on the Hermitix site, and here's a link to the program on YouTube. 

(no subject)

Date: 2020-10-02 07:32 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Oh boy! And I’m going to be ALONE, gloriously alone, for part of the day tomorrow! I will listen!

(Sonkitten’s a great guy, but I haven’t been alone in 6 years. I’m looking forward to getting away from everybody, even him, for a little while.)

(no subject)

Date: 2020-10-03 05:06 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Darn kid decided to go on the trip with me. I’ll have to plug in with earphones when we get home. (He gets very nervous when radios are on.). But I am still looking forward to listening!

JMG, as long as I have you “on the line,” is imagining scenes the same as discursive meditation? I can watch the doings of the folks in Reality with ease. (If this should wait for Monday, please delete this paragraph and I’ll know to ask again Monday.)

Goodnight, all! 🌙😴

(no subject)

Date: 2020-10-03 03:46 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
OK, I’ll bring it back Monday, I hope. Monday will be pretty busy. I may have to wait till next Monday. Thanks!

(no subject)

Date: 2020-10-04 05:55 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Never mind below, I checked the last few Magic Mondays & you said it wasn’t the same.

(no subject)

Date: 2020-10-02 11:30 pm (UTC)
From: [personal profile] michaeliangray
Great as always. Nice to hear some sanity being discussed in a polite and reasonable fashion.

I do find it interesting the difference of methods you discussed in regards to 'The Magical Battle of Britain' - in that, strengthening yourself and those around you is a much better tactic than trying to force your opponent to fall. It is a trend that is through many of your books and is the general advice I have been giving to people for many years. You cannot control others but you can control yourself, through that you can potentially use Aikido on your opponent.

Jordan Peterson got an astounding amount of push back from the shouting class with his book '12 rules for life' simply because it encourage people to improve themselves first before going out to improve the world. Its not a great book but the message was fine.

Other wise, I am looking forward to this book and it will be fascinating to see in the context of what will happen later this year.

(no subject)

Date: 2020-10-03 03:02 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
And suddenly the bizarre fixation on the Proud Boys' anti-masturbation stance makes so much sense! If you want to change yourself, you need discipline and self-control, and so people who demonstrate it become, by that very fact, incredibly subversive!

(no subject)

Date: 2020-10-03 03:32 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
I wonder if this means I can leverage my strong Pluto in the direction of some serious willpower training: becoming subversive and resisting any efforts to control me seems like something Pluto ought to support. Hmm.

(no subject)

Date: 2020-10-04 08:29 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Funny how the PB’s were suddenly all over the news. I’d never heard of them.

(no subject)

Date: 2020-10-03 01:34 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Well, a part of the Lovecraft sources I did not know. I had to look for what a Demhe is. Thanks for this!

(no subject)

Date: 2020-10-03 04:10 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Being myself quite partial to Lovecraft's Dream Cycle, I will read this for sure. Thanks again!

(no subject)

Date: 2020-10-03 03:44 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Hi. I am curious if you have any thoughts on the following questions that came up for me while listening to the podcast interview.

1. I resonated with the theme about people wanting their lives to be depoliticized. I can't get a sense of if there are more people who are strongly identified as democratic or republican,versus what percentage of the population feel that neither party represents them well at all. Is there any chance of expanding beyond the two party duopoly?

2. I would have liked to hear you and the interviewer's thoughts about Trump's claims about voter fraud and encouraging people to go monitor the polls. Is voter fraud that big of an issue? I can't tell, the answer changes depending on what media source you listen to. Either way, encouraging voting vigilantism seems like it would promote more chaos and fear than fairness

3. Do you think economic inequality is an issue that could unite people in the US?

(no subject)

Date: 2020-10-03 05:22 pm (UTC)
temporaryreality: (Default)
From: [personal profile] temporaryreality
Nice conversation there.

Are you aware if there's still significant magical action on the "(alt)right" during this election as there was in 2016? I know the more skillful among them won't be publicizing their workings, but maybe you have your ear to the ground?

Interesting how the "left" makes increasingly public use of sigils (per neptunesdolphins) - a kind of lagging behind the clever kids of 2016 instead of (thankfully) coming up with other methods.

I mostly notice the sides' distinctions by the amount of humor revealed. You can guess which is sourfaced and shrill and which is exhilarated.

(Both are in quotes since we've moved into shifting grounds territory.)
Edited (Grammar, for clarity in first question) Date: 2020-10-03 06:09 pm (UTC)

(no subject)

Date: 2020-10-04 12:06 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
I know a few on the Traditionalist/Christian spectrum who have taken to exorcism and blessing as a response to the demonic workings on the left. They expect some degree of response from the left that mirror the stages and signs in exorcism. In other words, the end result will be a lot of leftist demonolaters converting to Christianity en masse with very little memory of what happened during their possession.

It seems like an inevitable conclusion to the left adopting Christian worldviews in the first place by beginning to work with demons.

Of course, if these Christian magicians are successful, there are some more dramatic stages of possession that will become more obvious in the not too distant future.

(no subject)

Date: 2020-10-05 02:41 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
The older women at my church - the female "elders" of the congregation -- began last week general group prayers of protection for our entire country. We lean right, but well, these days it's hard for theological conservatives to be even allowed to be liberal in any area at all. Anyway, we're not Christian magicians, just a bunch of semi-organized church ladies, which from my perspective means stuff's getting real people!

(no subject)

Date: 2020-10-03 06:55 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
QAnon is Cthulhu.

(no subject)

Date: 2020-10-03 06:57 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Forgot to write my name, it's Tidlösa. The hysteria around QAnon is almost tentacle-ish!

out of touch

Date: 2020-10-04 12:14 am (UTC)
weirdtales: (Default)
From: [personal profile] weirdtales
Loved every minute of it.

I had an interaction the other day with a Democrat at the bar who discovered that I didn't have a cell phone at all, much less a "smart" one. Oh, and good grief, he doesn't watch TV either? How can you exist? How can you have any idea what's going on?

It's as if nothing else I had to say made any sense because we didn't have a common language on which to draw. And she was giddy about the way the debate had put the final nail in Trump's coffin! I just nodded vaguely and back away slowly...

I really am (more than) a little concerned about potential psychotic breaks en masse in a month or so. Gods help us all.

Re: out of touch

Date: 2020-10-05 02:53 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] lincoln_lynx
The first debate went better for Trump than many imagine. Shortly before that debate Trump's allies were running ads with the messaging Biden is too weak to lead.

During the "debate" I was chatting with some adamant Trump-haters and they were complaining about how Biden couldn't get a word in edge-wise. One guy lamented how weak it made Biden look.

Months before, a major lamestream network interviewed former Trump supporters in the Midwest. Lo and behold a key criticism was Trump's weak leadership during the pandemic.

Trump is no 4d chessmaster but he went in that debate knowing exactly what he was doing.

Professional Class - Materialism overlap

Date: 2020-10-04 02:11 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Is it a coincidence that there's significant overlap between the professional class and scientific materialism? I know there's some professionals with religious beliefs but I think most of them feel like they have to keep quiet

Re: Professional Class - Materialism overlap

Date: 2020-10-04 03:33 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
How does it uphold their claim to power?

(no subject)

Date: 2020-10-04 10:22 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
That was a great podcast. I'm glad to see that I'm not alone in thinking that the left has been using "democracy" as a euphamism lately, although they've been pretty obvious about it.

I wonder which side would be more offended at the idea of Trump being the next FDR. :D
Now that I say that, I don't think the Bernie-Trump populist subsection would mind that much.

Your idea of magical combat reminds me of something I read recently (synchronicity), Yagyu Munenori's technique of No-Sword. Using certain techniques, he could put an armed opponent at a disadvantage against an unarmed opponent. If they tried to cut their opponent, they would be disarmed, and if they tried to avoid being disarmed, they would not be able to cut.

I think that what that has in common with magical combat is that in both cases, the attacker is forced to reveal their action, while the defender still has multiple options. I dunno, just something that got the noggin joggin.

Excellent discussion.

Date: 2020-10-08 05:24 pm (UTC)
wandering_raven: (Default)
From: [personal profile] wandering_raven
This is one of the best discussions I have heard in a very long time. It was very enjoyable to listen to. Thank you

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