MonthDecember 2006

Moths drink the tears of sleeping birds

It’s so emo/goth it’s freakin’ rad!

A species of moth drinks tears from the eyes of sleeping birds using a fearsome proboscis shaped like a harpoon, scientists have revealed. The new discovery – spied in Madagascar – is the first time moths have been seen feeding on the tears of birds.

Full story via NewScientist.com

Whipping therapy cures depression and suicide crises

Russian scientists from the city of Novosibirsk, Siberia, made a sensational report at the international conference devoted to new methods of treatment and rehabilitation in narcology. The report was called “Methods of painful impact to treat addictive behavior.”

Siberian scientists believe that addiction to alcohol and narcotics, as well as depression, suicidal thoughts and psychosomatic diseases occur when an individual loses his or her interest in life. The absence of the will to live is caused with decreasing production of endorphins – the substance, which is known as the hormone of happiness. If a depressed individual receives a physical punishment, whipping that is, it will stir up endorphin receptors, activate the ‘production of happiness’ and eventually remove depressive feelings.

Full Story: Pravda.

(Thanks Danny Chaoflux).

William S. Burroughs:

Danger is a biological necessity for humans, just like sleep and dreams. If you face death, for that time you are immortal. For the Western middle classes, danger is a rarity and erupts only with a sudden, random shock. And yet we are in danger at all times, since our death exists. Is there a technique for confronting death without immediate physical danger? (quoted from Hashisheen: The End of Law)

Last minute gift advice from Technoccult

santa claus

(Image swiped from Chris Noeth).

Been slacking on your holiday shopping? We’ve come up with a list of great gifts for the mutants in your family or social circle.

Klintron:

The God That Wasn’t There.

Psychopedia of Slack.

Paul Laffoley posters.

Lost Girls.

Fell the Don:

Titillation Lip and Nipple Balms, by Agent Provocateur

Seriously, if your gonna play it up this winter season, get your better half these little gems (bundled as one) from this popular European lingerie company. Use it wisely.

Viva Pi?ata, for the Xbox 360

I hate console games and the only game I like on the PC is Company of Heroes, but this gem has the perfect balance or addictiveness and appeal that anyone can enjoy. It’s like crack for kids and anyone that hates video games.

Spectacle, by David Rockwell & Bruce Mau

We’re all obsessing over Second Life and virtual communities, but it’s worth remembering the universal power of the town square, the arena, and the other very real places where we come together. The book to read about why we love to experience things together and publicly is David Rockwell and Bruce Mau’s Spectacle. It’s a coffee-table-size exposition of NASCAR, Burning Man, Hindu religious rites in the Ganges, and other glorious spectacles that people experience together.

Baraka, by Ron Fricke

Baraka is an incredible journey through 6 continents, 24 countries. It is a collection of high quality images, presented in a moving and compelling manner. Hopefully everyone you know has seen it, but, if not, smoke a joint and sit down to one of the most beautiful pieces of cinema ever made. It’s a nice reminder seeing as how Fricke’s next piece – the spiritual successor to Baraka – called Samsara, is set to be released in 2007.

The Griffin & Sabine Trilogy Boxed Set, by Nick Bantock

Few books are more romantic than this trilogy, nor more surreal. The legendarily popular trilogy of books containing the Griffin-Sabine correspondence literally contains the correspondence: postcards, front and back, and letters in envelopes pasted into the book, which the reader must open and read. Nick Bantock’s story was way ahead of the computer game Myst, with which it shares a moody allure. His artwork is gorgeous, and countless romances have been intensified by exposure to that of Griffin and Sabine.

Brenden Simpson:

Barry Sautner Tree of Life Sculpture Vessel Vase.

KJB Security Omni Spectral Correlator.

Val Saint Lambert Crystal Bateau Ivre – Caviar Bowl.

TrekStor i.Beat organix Gold MP3 Player (1 GB).

Grizzly Bear Coffee Table.

Technoccult graphic designer Danny Chaoflux:

The Cone.

Ball Chair.

Somatron Clinical Recliner.

Former guest editor Nick Pell:

Bargain priced Disinfo hardcovers (Check your local Barnes and Noble)

The Da Vinci Enigma tarot deck

Peep Show DVD.

The intellectual elite … my ass

On Google’s social networking service, Orkut, Indians are organizing themselves by caste. (Thanks to DesiPundit for the tip.) There are hundreds, maybe thousands of groups devoted to every caste, subcaste and sub-sub-caste that exists in India’s phenomenally splintered and complex caste system. If, like a typical liberal, you are made uncomfortable by the implicit inequities of caste divisions, then scrolling through the Orkut groups can be a discouraging experience.

Full Story: Salon.

La Très Sainte Trinosophie

 La Très Sainte Trinosophie

Images and notes from Bibliodyssey.

Full Book.

Industrial Culture Handbook re-released in hardcover

industrial culture handbook

Info and excerpts at Re/Search Publications.

(The very first post to Technoccult was on Industrial Records, nearly seven years ago).

Robert Anton Wilson has a blog!

Robert Anton Wilson’s blog. Nuff said.

Keys of Darkness: Enochian Black Magic

An Interview with Magister Michael Kelly of the Temple of Set:

2. How have you studied Enochian magic?

By referring to Dee’s own records. There has been so much rubbish appended to the Enochian system over the years, such as pyramids with Tarot attributions, etc.

To break down the system into a few basic steps:

i] The Call of the Thirty Aethyrs can be used to visit in sequence the various parts of the psyche, calling forth the Hidden dimensions of Self. Through repetition of such Work an integration of Self is effected. Future Work with the Aethyrs can create a resonance between the inner and outer worlds, thereby Magical Change can be wrought.

ii] Learn by heart the Enochian Keys (neither a swift nor a painless process, but a rewarding one): (a) In learning the English Keys, we can approach an Understanding of Dee’s original Work, and can penetrate the Mysteries that lie behind his J/C phraseology. Setians have the record of the _Word of Set_ Working as a considerable aid in this regard. (b) In learning the Enochian version of the Keys, more attention can be applied to discovering the sonic Keys of the system, the sequences of sounds which stimulate the psyche in certain precise ways.

iii] Study of the Enochian alphabet is important. Those bizarre letters can be studied in a manner similar to the Runestaves. Unlike the Runes, whose Mysteries are angular, the Enochian letters are hooked and serpentine. The combinations of shape / sound / number are interesting and revealing.

Numerology is also a Key, the Enochian system is based around the number seven.

The above steps constitute a Work which I cannot presume to have completed. It is a curriculum which will occupy even the most fervent student for years, without recourse to “pyramid squares”, Enochian chess, Tarot and Cabalistic symbolism. This can all be done with the bare bones which we possess of the pure Enochian system. To my way of thinking; the purer the system, the purer the results.

Full Story: Way Back Machine of xeper.org.

(Thanks, Danny Chaoflux).

Fell in Calgary

Any occultists in Calgary I don’t know about? I remember meeting one or two on Barbelith, but I am too lazy to log in there. Lil’ ol’ me will be in Calgary for the next few days so if anyone wants to drink or have sex intellectual conversations with me, now’s the time. If you do live in or near Calgary, it should be an okay time. I’ll be putzing with some designer friends and photographer wunderkind seventytw0dpi. And just plain ol’ rockin’ out, as only Albertans can.

Leave a note here if you wanna grab a drinkie-drink. That includes coffee. Or tea. Or gin.

Jon

jonbaroque.jpg

He’d have been 25 yesterday.

(painting by Ben)

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