Twin Peaks and the Metaphysics of Evil

Well, after 27 years of waiting and a good 18 months of hype it's finally here. Showtime aired the two-hour Twin Peaks reboot premiere and posted the first four episodes (the premiere was broken in two) online. I binged the first three as soon as they went up and the last episode the following morning.

My first impression? Ye gods, it's weird.

Chaos Mysticism vs The Purposeless-Driven Life

Calls Creationism "child abuse,"

Hung out with a notorious child molester

The core belief of the religious paradigm that is straining to exercise such total control over every aspect of our lives today is the random, accidental nature of life and human existence. It's the basis of all the musty old 19th Century European ideologies- all of which were the inseparable products of Imperialism- that are being dragged out of the crypts and repackaged for postmodern use.

Stranger Things: The Upside Down World

I've finished my Stranger Things rewatch and have been mulling over all the various possibilities as to what it's really trying to tell us. Interviews with the credited creators (the Duffer Brothers) haven't told me much, especially since they've given a couple different stories as to how they came up with the story in the first place.

Memory Expansion

Lately I've been experimenting with a bit of active imagination before my hypnogogia sessions. There are some dreams (well, nightmares) from my childhood I'm trying to get a deeper perspective on using various visualization techniques. I've been phenomenally unsuccessful.

Veteran of the Synchro Wars

There's a certain school of thought (let's call them School #1) that is willing to entertain the paranormal - psi, poltergeists, UFOs and so on - but does so in the context of a kind of unconventional interpersonal psychology. 

Memories, Dreams, Remote Viewings

"Mixed blessing" is a term I have some trouble with. In my experience all blessings are mixed, in that they come with a price tag attached. It's the ebb and flow of the Universe.

You may not see it right off, but eventually you will. Call it Karma, call it Kismet, call it a kick in the eye, but nothing really comes for free in this world.

De-Science the $h!t Out of It

I had a dream Thursday night of attending a holiday meal at my childhood bestie Tom's house. It was at a huge table that seemed to snake throughout the house. I was at the far end, talking to his two nephews who (in the dream) were playing for the New York Giants. They were attending the dinner party in full game gear (I'd just watched Silver Linings Playbook).  

That next day Tom, who I hadn't spoken with for several weeks (or months, time has been getting away from me lately), called me.  

"We manipulate his path so that he stumbles over certain books."

When you begin to see the Universe as a living entity and not a barren void, you come to understand the subtle patterns in life. What's more, you begin to move in time with them to a certain extent. 

Heaven's Goat

UPDATE SUPER BOWL SUNDAY 1953 EST

Did I just dream Jeff Bridges had a Super Bowl Ad?

Comics Are Magick: Intruders in the Skies

As you get older, it's all too easy to get lost in routine, to anesthetize yourself with ritual and television. It's why creative work is so often the province of the young. 

It's also why David Lynch is such a firebrand for Transcendental Meditation; he knows how easy it is to lose that spark and how hard you have to work to keep hold of it.

These Are the Days of Miracles and Wonders

As some of you might be aware I'm blessed with the joyous gift of Myofascial Pain Syndrome, the so-called "rabid dog" of chronic pain disorders. In point of fact, it's technically classified as debilitating, though I chose not to let it be. 

But it comes with all kinds of wonderful side effects aside from the huge ropey cords of en-spasmed muscles, one of which is chronic fatigue and various sleep disorders.

The Numinous Power of Night Slaves

.I have several essays in the pipeline that I am currently wrestling with, perhaps having bit off more than I can chew. In the meantime I wanted to repost this film, which I had post a while back on The Solar Satellite.  It seemed to get lost in the shuffle and really deserves a much closer look. 

This is a perfect film for a cold, rainy weekend, like the kind we're suffering here, and its theme of sleepless nights is apropos for daily savings time tonight. There's a strange kind of numinosity that I don't think you'd see in many films today.

Covered by the Sacred Fire: Philip K. Dick's Divine Madness

So, what's the difference between madness and true magical thinking? It's a question that needs to be asked. For me, it's simple: the difference is the result. Usually, it's the only yardstick we have at hand.

Did You Hear? UFOlogy is Dying. Again.

New York Magazine spends the slow weeks of midsummer declaring "The End of UFOs!" The title is a major misnomer, as the article in question is actually about the latest death of UFOlogy (or UFOOLogy, as it's alternately known). 

Secret Star Trek: Meet Your New Gods

Just as we learned that something very much like the Council of Nine predates Andrija Puharich's contact with them, so may the presence of the Nine inside Trek prefigure Gene Roddenberry's involvement with Lab-9 in 1975. 

Unified Weird Theory: An Introduction

Hey, you wanted weird...

Food preparation is both an art and a science. It's a science because it's about taking certain elements (ingredients) and subjecting them to various processes of measurement and mixing and exposing these to carefully determined levels of heat (sometimes cold) at determined intervals in order to achieve a desired outcome. 

Doctors, Doorways and Dimensions, Part One

One of the main tenets of my research is that our most resonant pop culture is a kind of lucid dreaming, in which the creator acts as a guide for a shared visionary experience with the audience. 99.9% of the crap out there is immune to this process and is produced for reasons that are entirely mundane or cynical. 

But the stuff that resonates does so because it captures something elusive, something that changes the course of cultures and societies.

Jack Kirby, Mindbomb: Break on Through to the Inner Side

 From 2001: A Space Odyssey #2

 I realized I left this series hanging and didn't adequately wrap it all up. 

Seeing as how Synchronicity insisted I do so- in its own inimitable way- here's the coup de grace for what was an unexpectedly popular breakthrough series.

The Great 2012 Disappointment: The Only Veil is Over Their Eyes

When the Mystery cult of Isis began its mission to convert the mighty city-state of Rome in the second century before Christ, it scandalized the conservative establishment with statues of their goddess, a naked (or topless) harlot who gave everything she had to anyone who asked. 

This was the Isis of the old communal settlements, before surplus agriculture led to trade, which led to city-states, which led to the monetary system, which led to perpetual war.

Another Kind of Language

About three years ago, I marked the occasion of John Keel's death by writing about some of the strange, semiotic links I have to the Mothman. There were so many of them, and these syncs seemed to pop up at such important turning points in my career, that I thought it was all worthy of a post.