A Sloppy Tour of the Bible

Return To Mecca by Dennis Avi Lipkin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

On the cover of the book is an image of the teffilin with a background of the Kaaba in Mecca. The Kabah is that black square stone that the Muslims circle around 7 times when they make their pilgrimage. The author argues that the teffilin are a replica of the kaabah and that at one time prior to the Israelites leaving Egypt it was a place of extreme spiritual importance. Being one who subscribes to the theory that when the Israelites were wandering the desert for forty years they were not wandering the Sinai Peninsula which was then under Egyptian control. Rather they were wandering around the Arabian Desert. To me it made sense. I mean after all Queen Helena from Rome said that what we call the Mount Sinai in Egypt is the real one based on the flimsiest of pretexts. Jabal El Lawz tends to make more sense. Several authors have written on this subject and their works are much better. In fact this one leaves a lot to be desired.

I was looking for more proof, ore information that would strengthen this thesis that teffilin are in fact a replica of Kaaba and that the Israelites in fact had dwelt in Arabia. While there was good information, most of the book seems to be a cut paste version of the bible onto the book. I already have bible. Don’t need it in this book. Avi Lipkin also has the outlook of a right wing Jews who wants to expand the borders of Israel. He also states that Islam is evil but Muslims are good. He figures if the world capture Mecca and Medina and deIslamifies the Arab world it will be blessing to the Arabs. He call Allah Satan. Sorry bit I am not looking for political tripe and Islam bashing.
Yet there was some good information. Going off the genealogy of Abraham he discusses the family ties between Ishmael, Midianites etc. Jethro was descended from the children of Abraham and Ketura. He was a priest of the Midianites. Avi Lipkin proposes that he made pilgrimages to Kaabah, which is in the collective memories of all the Children of Abraham. Midian could also be another name for Medina. Medina has other names like Yathrib (Sounds lie Yitr0) it is also called Menawarah (Similar to Menorah).
The Muslims circle the Kaabah 7 times while the Jews wrap the leather of the teffilin around their arm 7 times. The Itrureans lived in the Galilee were descended supposedly from the Kenites, ho ere Midianites. The box of teffilin was meant to guide he Jewish people out of Egypt.
One also gets a different historical background derived from other historians like Josephus and Manetho. Some of this jibes with the thesis but then it is interesting how Moses was a military leader who helped conquer Ethiopia and married an Ethiopian woman. Interesting alternative history.

I am going to give this book three stars. Much o I was cutting and pasting verses of the bible. He does have an agenda which is not needed if you are looking for facts. There is some good info out there that can be found elsewhere in better sources.


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Condensed Sorcery

Condensed Chaos: An Introduction to Chaos Magic by Phil Hine
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow this book was awesome. Short powerful and too the point. wish I had read this earlier in my quest. This book is pure magical technique. If you want to get started with magic this book is a great place to start. If it is piffy little spells you are looking for then this will not be what your looking for. Chaos magick is a very unique form of magick. . There are several paradigms of magic; Ceremonial, Wicca, Voodoo etc. Chaos is not exactly it's on paradigm yet it is a philosophy that let lets you paradigm hop so as to do the form of magic that is best suited for what your goal is. Belief is a tool and you can basically believe in a paradigm while you are working with it and when you are done you can sort of move on to another paradigm. Chaos magic is results oriented magic. If you do a working and it worked then you will have the physical results you were working for. Very real and down to earth. Chaos spurns the mentality that rejects the physical world over the spiritual . In a way physical is most important. Magic id done for results Becoming a magician does require commitment and drive. It is something that you have to want to do. One has to do magic at their level. Phil Hine crumbs on the magus's or people who think they are all that. He I against these inflated egos. Magic is meant to be fun and the value of laughter in dispelling negative magic is unspeakably powerful.

Other items covered in this book are how to make Chaos servitors, energy creation that do our bidding. It tells about ho o do it, the pitfall and how to do it safely. Ego magiick tells about dissolving the identity so a to make oneself more fluid flexible and able to take needed action. Our demons are those little buggers in our subconscious that act up as jealousy or anger. The book tells how to del with it and how to make use of it. The Shamanic path is discussed as well.

If you like magic then whatever you path this one is for you. Great technique which are easy to understand and easy to use. This is one book I will refer back to time and again.

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Manson the Cult Leader

Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson by Jeff Guinn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The murders of Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring foisted the infamously murderer, Charles Manson into the spotlight. There was more to Charlie Manson then being a serial killer and it ain't all that good. His mother, Kathleen Maddox, was raised in a very strict Christian Environment and she used to rebel.. One act of rebellion was to slip into bars for illicit romance. The result of such an affair with Col. Scott was the birth of Charlie, of course this man never knew Charlie. She later married a guy with the last name of Manson. The name stuck. She herself went through a multitude of guys and ended up serving several terms in prison .

Charlie's childhood was about moving around from one relatives house to another. Usually his bizarre behaviors would become too much for his relatives to bear. He also ended up in a multitude of juvenile detention centers. It was while he was in prison that Charlie picked up a love of Scientology and Dale Carnegie's "How to Make Friends and Influence People". He would use these tactics to start his own cult.

From prisons and Juvenile detention centers, Manson made his way west to San Francisco and then to Los Angeles. It was in San Francisco that Manson made a home and started recruiting members for his family . He would later to move to Los Angeles. The family lived on two ranches . Spahn Ranch in Los Angeles and Barker Ranch out in Death Valley. Manson and the family made their way by mooching off people and having his girls dig through trash cans.

The family episode would close with the family being caught and found guilty of multiple murders. Charlie spent his time behind bars and is still there. Many of his followers after being rehabilitated went on to different things.

The book is great in that not only does it give a good biography of Manson but it tells how charismatic a he could be when he wanted. Manson was a master manipulator . He had th girls in the family under his complete control. He made his girls look fore food. He proatitutd them and he dealt him drugs. His cult was based a on a.coming race war. The book did a bang em up job of describing the environment of the sixties both for Los Angeles and. San Francisco . If serial killer or the sixties are your ing I ink you will enjoy this book.

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Healing the World with the Goddess

Goddess Calling: Inspirational Messages & Meditations of Sacred Feminine Liberation Thealogy by Karen Tate
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Every once in a while there comes along a goddess book that is seriously worthwhile reading. This book is one of them. Once I got started I was able to complete it in a couple of days. The book was well written, organized and easy to comprehend.. The book is divided into three parts. The first part of the book is about politics and changing the world, the second part is meditations and finally there is further resources for the reader to delve into.
Dr. Tate's message for politics is that it needs to become more goddess centered and incorporating those values the Goddess holds dear. Now Dr. Tate subscribes to the opinion that at one time the world was matriarchal and was a much better place to live in. This has been sort o proven inaccurate but it was more balanced. Our future is bleak when it comes to politics and we are heading for a train wreck. One way to change the future is to change the past or at least the memories of the past. The politics of the Goddess are simple. We need to look after each other and share the wealth. We need to take care of our environment because thing are going bad. The WASP mal dominated world we live in promotes bullying and racism and a host of other ills. I am not much o goddess person but after reading her essays I cannot help but agree we need a new direction and we are very male centered much to our detriment..
The second section is composed of mediations. They are simple an easy to follow. If you want you can read them into a recorder and play it back while you meditate. The mediation work with Sekkment, Artemis, Aphrodite, Minerva an several others. Many take place in a cave or in other natural environments. Some of them focus on prosperity, others on letting go the negative and improving ourselves and the world or the future.
The working are simple and easy to do. No elaborate ritual preparation. You just meditate. Thing are safe also. No drawing blood or working it your dark side here, everything basks in the light. The focus is on healing humanity and the world. Maybe what some people want while others ay strive for different focuses.

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The End of Prophecy

Warheart by Terry Goodkind
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book concludes the Richard and Kahlan series . Thank the gods as it was going on and on. While certain books n the sword of truth series became redundant and repetitive , this last trilogy seems to have avoided those pitfalls. Starting off with Richard in the world of the dead, Kahlan and company journey to a Wichita named Red. Traveling through a perilous country on the look out for half people, they meet the witch who tells them how to release Richards spirit from the realm of the dead . It takes great sacrifice to bring him back, the death of someone who loves him. Getting Richard back from the dead will not make the problems with Saluchan and zhannis Arc go away. Richard still has the poison on him. It is a race against time to defeat his foes and to save himself .

Richard is the one who will end prophecy . Prophecy comes from the world of the dead. The Omen Machine or the Regulais what brought prophecy to the world in the first place. Richard must put it back in the world of the dead. Once accomplished free will reign, life affirming . Saluchan and zhannis Arc wish to erase the barrier between the living and the dead

Those who enjoyed the earlier books should find enjoyment in this final tome. Will Richard defeat his foes? Will he even survive? His foes are powerful and relentless . The poison is killing Richard , blocking his ability to use his gift.

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Waking Up Jewish

Suddenly Jewish: Jews Raised as Gentiles Discover Their Jewish Roots by Barbara Kessel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Suddenly Jewish


Madeline Albright brought this issue into focus when she announced and figured out that she was not really the Cheistian she was raised to be but rather someone with Jewish roots. Many a so called Gentiles have grown up in the non Jewish world have an unexplainable pull towards things that are Jewish. Thes people ,aye drawn to Judaism, have Jewish friend or just plain be drawn to Jewish environments. The discovery that they have Jewish blood coursing through their vein can say me times come as a major shock or as an aha kind of moment that explains things. These hidden Jews are present in Converso or Anusim communities, hidden children, holocaust survivors and adoptees.

In 1492 Spain issued an edict commanding all Jews to flee, die or convert to Catholicism. Even after the Jews converted them were still persecuted. Many perished rather than convert, while others fled. Many who on the heels of Columbus to America were conversos or Anusim. Outwardly they were Catholic but secretly they were Jews. I vent with their Catholic ruse the inquisition was hot on their heels. To maintain their ruse they would become member of the clergy, publicly eat pork. Inside their house they would Light Shabbat candles, sweep the floor a certain way, even maintain underground synagogues. They tried to maintain the practice of marrying among themselves.

The next group is the hidden Jews. Abraham Foxman , director of the ADL, was one such child that fully illustrates this concept. To ensure his survival during the holocaust his parent gave him to a nanny. For the first five years of his life he was raised catholic l. After the Holocaust was over the parent tried to retrieve him but by that point the nanny had become attached to him and would not let him go. The parents got him back but it was several years before he shed all his Catholic practices. There are many like him who grew up unaware of the year their Jewish heritage.

Others are children of Holocaust survivors, who upon arriving from the blood stained sands of Europe drooped all ties to their former religion. Why suffer persecution again? Why subject your children to such stigma? Many nominally converted to other religions, some actively became even atheists. The children are often times upset becaus they may have swallowed some antisemitic beliefs. Other kind of always knew it sometimes there is resentment for having their Judaism kept hidden away from them and many times it will provoke a quest into the realm of Jewish thought and life.

The adoptees are the final category. There is the story of someone who grew up with a staunch Mormon background. This individual knew they were different because of their dark complexion. This discovery would later fuel a quest to explore the Judaic world. Another young woman was adopted into a conservative Jewish family. Her real parents were a Palestinians father and an Irish mother. Reuniting caused friction to be sure and it propelled her to immerse herself more deeply into the Palestinian world.

The book is short yet it covers lots of ground. Mostly comprised of interviews and so subjects relating their story. Very enjoyable and very informative. Wish there were more like it.

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Wild Wyoming

Wild Horse Country in Wyoming by Jack Price
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In the 1930's South Dakota was a dust bowl. There was no rain, crops were failing and there were dust storms that choked on everything that tried to breathe. So Jack Price's father decided to move the family out to Wyoming. The state of Wyoming was still a pioneer state in many ways. True cars were used to a small extent but people still travelled about on horses and mules. Schools were one room contraptions with sometime funny episodes going down. Looking by the Teton Mountsins near Rock Port, there was work in coal mining, and ranching. Wyoming was and is still filled with colorful characters. Wild hors s could be could in the desert.

Stuttering Dick was one guy who when he got older, would travel from ranch to ranch to stay for a few days. He could not do much work but he was entertaining to listen to. He never overstayed his welcome. One day during a blizzard he was caught in the snowfall and froze to death. Some school tales involve a very strict teacher who enjoyed smoking. He went to the outhouse for a smoke and the kids would turn it over or block the door. They sure taught that teacher a lesson. Some of the characters were horses themselves.. One hors was a former race hors called L. He escaped Kentucky and ended up with the horses on a ranch. One of th best horses. Another horse was half and half. They could never catch him but he always ran free and although other horses he was herding with did caught. The famous half and half never got caught.

Wyoming my the horses ran free and wild on the plain. People would herd sheep and horses out on the desert plain. The herders had shelter set up for them to live in. People would capture wild horses and tame them out in the corrals. Eventually the family moved back to South Dakota. Jack and the other 8 brothers would go off and fight in different wars. One of them died fighting in world war 2. His mother died in Wyooming. The father almost died from coal mines. Either way Wyoming makes a lasting impact and stays in your memory. It is a place close to nature.

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