The (Not-So) Secret History of Saint Patrick's Day

Well, it's that time of year again, time to celebrate the Great American Bacchanal and bone up once again on the real origin of this holiday. With any luck, many of you may be going out and getting drunk on Wednesday, assuming your local officials aren't already drunk.

Drunk with power, I mean.

It's the End of the World As We Know It (and Larry Fine)

Hey, giant extraterrestrial demons on the roof of the most prestigious museum in the western hemisphere? Sure, why not? Go for it. I mean it is 2018, right? 

Take a good long look, my friends. You're looking at the future. 

Don't worry, they come in peace. Don't he look peaceful? A regular pussycat.

Yellowstone Apocalypse, or What Worries Me Most

There is so much going on out there, so much mischief and madness being thrown at us, so many toys coming out of those DUMB labs and archonic think-tanks that I can hardly keep up with it all. Then there's nightmare in Austin that seems to have risen like Cthulhu from the deep, dragging a gaggle of potent symbols in its wake like tin cans behind a newlyweds' Studebaker.

Heaven Upside Down or Las Vegas: The Sickle

OK, we have a lot to go through here but I've finally cracked the code. This post will surely be updated but I want to just lay this all out for you because literally everything I've been trying to untangle since May all comes down to one thing.

One word actually. And I'm not entirely sure it's a very reassuring word at that.

The "Folk Horror" Revival

Ah, those Years of Seven. We looked at the significant anniversaries in the World of Weird this Year of Seven is marking, from Heaven's Gate and the Phoenix Lights to the Harmonic Convergence to the releases of Star Wars and Close Encounters of the First Kind. 

The Holy Fool

The jingling of bells during the dance is meant to frighten evil spirits and the clashing of sticks represent the fight between good and evil. 

Lucifer's Technologies: Land of Enchantment

The events at Roswell in July of 1947 did not happen in a vacuum. They occurred within one of the most extraordinary periods in human history, particularly from an esoteric point of view. They would spark a chain of events that would change the entire world.

The Secret Commonwealth of Elusive Companions

We see the world through an extremely limited band of the electromagnetic spectrum. The same goes for our hearing. We consciously process a remarkably tiny proportion of the limited sensory input we receive. 

We are only able to measure that which can perceive. And we still don't understand exactly how or why we process anything, other than to facilitate our survival on a purely reptilian level. 

Secret Sun Picture Parade: Big Head Odd

Every picture tells a story worth a thousand words. Or something. Welcome to the original Picture Parade- accept no substitutes. Hints, clues and double meanings galore. Get out your secret (or Secret Sun) decoder rings....

Secret Sunday: Beltane Edition

 

Well, Saturday was May Day and there was chaos and confusion all across the globe, including an alleged failed IED in Times Square. There were also several protests over the new Arizona immigration law. But you can read about all of that on any old website: let's go to Edinburgh for the yearly Beltane Fire Festival, which drew 12,000 people this year. 

A goodly number of them were nude and smeared in red body paint, I might add.

The Siren: The Lovely Bones

Like several other films before it, Peter Jackson's new film The Lovely Bones features one of the central mysteries of the Secret Sun-o-verse, Elizabeth Fraser's heart-ripping cover of Tim Buckley's 'Song to the Siren' (recorded for the This Mortal Coil supergroup project). Jackson is obviously a Cocteau Twins fan- he hired Fraser to sing on the Lord on the Rings soundtracks.

Atalante Rising

Sometimes you have to wonder if news items aren't sometimes made up of whole cloth and planted in the media to follow some weird ritual cycle, unknown to the general reading public. 

This is one of those stories that seems more Morals & Dogma than Christian Science Monitor...

Looking for Signs at the End of the Age

"Tell the king; the fair wrought house has fallen.
No shelter has Apollo, nor sacred laurel leaves;
The fountains are now silent; the voice is stilled.
It is finished."- The Delphic Oracle, 393 AD

When you reach the end of an age, the myths and the symbols that once defined that age begin to turn against it. Often in horrifying and merciless ways.

Winter Solstice Sunrise- Live from Ireland

 

Winter Solstice Sunrise

the not live version 

Did you know that 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy? Timely, eh? Looks like there's a new push for science education as the Bush Era begins to fade. Or something.

 

Boards of Canada: Over The Horizon Radar

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Whatever the Montauk Project became, it started as experiments with OTH , or over-the-horizon radar. The sonic sorcerers known as Boards of Canada gave one of their most excruciatingly beautiful pieces that title and a talented fan made this heart-ripping video for it. 

This thing hurts like hell, but in a good way. It also takes on an added touch of melancholy as we near summer's end.

The Atavistic Soul Rises Once More

OG Synchromystic Ben Fairhall blogged recently about Goths and Pagans reviving the Medieval ritual of the Morris dance. Of course The Independent is going to mock this phenomenon, because the smartass colleges its writers go to teach nothing about how culture really works.

The Siren: Brendan Fraser in the Underworld

The last great wave of music video revolved around the Techno movement of the late 90s. It was a musical revolution that never really came, but it marked the use of computer technology coming into its own in the service of video spots. Oftentimes, the videos were much more interesting than the songs they accompanied.

Scottish Sunday: Gently, Johnny

 

I've been puzzling for weeks about which band I wanted to kick off Scottish Sundays with. Big Country, the band that ruled my late teenaged years? Pilot, whose hit "Magic" inspired me during the magical Spring of 1975? The Cocteau Twins? Pre-sellout Simple Minds? 

The Leprechaun

One of my biggest influences is Graham Hancock, the pioneering British journalist and explorer. In my opinion, Hancock is a giant of our times and his influence on popular culture is as huge as it is unacknowledged.

 

2007 in Review: The Departed

 

Scorcese wins a long-overdue Best Director Oscar for The Departed, parts of which were filmed on my old stomping grounds. I can think of any number of other pictures that should have earned Marty the nod, but The Departed is certainly worthy. 

Wahlberg should have gotten Best Supporting though...