Open (More or Less) Post on Covid 193

[ecosophia]

We are now in the fourth year of these open posts. When I first posted a tentative hypothesis on the course of the Covid phenomenon, I had no idea that discussion on the subject would still be necessary more than three years later, much less that it would turn into so lively, complex, and troubling a conversation. Still, here we are. Crude death rates and other measures of collapsing public health are anomalously high in many countries, but nobody in authority wants to talk about the inadequately tested experimental Covid injections that are the most likely cause; public health authorities government shills for the pharmaceutical industry are still trying to push through laws that will allow them to force vaccinations on anyone they want; public trust in science is collapsing; and the story continues to unfold.

So it's time for another open post. The rules are the same as before:

1. If you plan on parroting the party line of the medical industry and its paid shills, please go away. This is a place for people to talk openly, honestly, and freely about their concerns that the party line in question is dangerously flawed and that actions being pushed by the medical industry and its government enablers are causing injury and death on a massive scale. It is not a place for you to dismiss those concerns. Anyone who wants to hear the official story and the arguments in favor of it can find those on hundreds of thousands of websites.

2. If you plan on insisting that the current situation is the result of a deliberate plot by some villainous group of people or other, please go away. There are tens of thousands of websites currently rehashing various conspiracy theories about the Covid-19 outbreak and the vaccines. This is not one of them. What we're exploring is the likelihood that what's going on is the product of the same arrogance, incompetence, and corruption that the medical industry and its wholly owned politicians have displayed so abundantly in recent decades. That possibility deserves a space of its own for discussion, and that's what we're doing here. 
 
3. If you plan on using rent-a-troll derailing or disruption tactics, please go away. I'm quite familiar with the standard tactics used by troll farms to disrupt online forums, and am ready, willing, and able -- and in fact quite eager -- to ban people permanently for engaging in them here. Oh, and I also lurk on other Covid-19 vaccine skeptic blogs, so I'm likely to notice when the same posts are showing up on more than one venue. 

4. If you plan on making off topic comments, please go away. This is an open post for discussion of the Covid epidemic, the vaccines, drugs, policies, and other measures that supposedly treat it, and other topics directly relevant to those things. It is not a place for general discussion of unrelated topics. Nor is it a place to ask for medical advice; giving such advice, unless you're a licensed health care provider, legally counts as practicing medicine without a license and is a crime in the US. Don't even go there.

5. If you don't believe in treating people with common courtesy, please go away. I have, and enforce, a strict courtesy policy on my blogs and online forums, and this is no exception. The sort of schoolyard bullying that takes place on so many other internet forums will get you deleted and banned here. Also, please don't drag in current quarrels about sex, race, religions, etc. No, I don't care if you disagree with that: my journal, my rules. 

6. Please don't just post bare links without explanation. A sentence or two telling readers what's on the other side of the link is a reasonable courtesy, and if you don't include it, your attempted post will be deleted.

Please also note that nothing posted here should be construed as medical advice, which neither I nor the commentariat (excepting those who are licensed medical providers) are qualified to give. Please take your medical questions to the licensed professional provider of your choice.

With that said, the floor is open for discussion. 

Comments

Re: Paracelsus, On the Imagination (as a cause of Pestilence)

[thinking_turtle]

Excellent read, thanks for sharing!

I'm also reading Paracelsus. I have a hard time understanding his writings. Your quote above about the plague is unusally clear. What can you share about recommended editions or translations?

Re: Paracelsus, On the Imagination (as a cause of Pestilence)

[scotlyn]

All I can tell you is that I have only begun dipping my toe into his writings... But I have been working through a few thought threads on clinical matters and his name kept coming up. Apparently some homeopathic theories are lifted from him, just for example. But also, the idea of using toxic substances as medicines is also attributed to him, as is the saying "the dose is the poison". So, what I recently did was purchase the two texts that seemed to contain his own writings (as opposed to other people writing about him) and start slogging my way through. Some of it, particularly the astronomy and alchemy references (which I know are more familiar to other commenters here, and to our host) mostly go over my head. But he had some refreshingly confident ideas on medical ethics which I am appreciating a great deal. Also, it seems to me his work would be very compatible with a Christian, but not necessarily Catholic, approach to occultism.

Anyway, the books I purchased are:
1. the one I cite from above - from Ibis Press, Berwick, ME, 1975 (reprinted 2004) a facsimile reprint of Robert Turner's 1656 translation of "The Archidoxes of Magic." This is literally a facsimile reprint of pages as they appeared in 1656 - complete with the "s" that looks like an "f"... so, a little difficult at first, but you get into the swing of it, and it is not very long. The last part of it is about constructing talismans from various metals under various astrological influences, with various symbols inscribed on them, which means very little to me personally just now. Still, I am finding lots of passages worth contemplating.

2. From the Johns Hopkins University Press, 1941 (reprinted 1996), an edited, and freshly translated set of treatises, entitled "Paracelsus: Four Treatises." Henry E Sigerist is the main editor, and also the translater of "A Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies and Salamanders and on the Other Spirits" which he also introduces. The other three treatises, each translated and introduced by a different scholar, are as follows: "Seven Defensiones, The Reply to Certain Columniations of his Enemies" (C. Lilian Tempkin). This is a well written and passionate rant on the subject of "those trying to cancel me are wrong, and here's why" - which is interesting because 600 or so years later, he is still known and indeed famous, and those who at the time really did try to cancel him for his "misinformation" and other heresies are no longer remembered. There is "On the Miners' Sickness and other Miners' Diseases" (George Rosen). This is possibly the first treatment of occupational disease risk, incidence, and its treatment. It is detailed, and discusses the different ways in which different aspects of mining and metallurgy expose people to disease via vapours and via direct handling. His concept of both disease and appropriate treatment develops his personal theme of "separating the pure from the impure" - the first leading to health, the second to disease, and the fact that both are present in every substance. Finally, there is "The Diseases that Deprive Man of his Reason, such as St Vitus' Dance, Falling Sickness, Melancholy, and Insanity and their correct treatment" (Gregory Zilboorg), which I have not yet read, but which I gather tried to put mental/emotional illness and health into the domain of medicine, rather than leave it entirely within the domain of the clergyman.

So, no, I cannot make general recommendations, but, for what it is worth, this is the project I am in the middle of. Be well. :)