Wehrwolves of World War Ii

  In an isolated German village of Shwerag there lived a simple farmer named Uwe and his wife Katya and daughter Liesl.  The allied forces have proven victorious and are combing through the countryside. One morning Uwe wakes up to find the animals on his farm are deeply disturbed. Walking out further into the woods he finds pools of blood and a gypsy man that is torn to shred. Some people talk of legendary animals and monsters, many of which have been hunted out if they ever existed at all. 

The talk in the town is how to prepare for the allied soldiers when they come. To fight is futile yet there is a gnawing fear that that allies will round up all the young men. A man named Hans is putting together a militia to fight them. Uwe is not the bravest sort and Hans is like the village bully. He left his unit and is putting together a militia. 

The militia is rather special. To be initiated one has to spend the night in the cellar with Jager, a man who puts on a belt and becomes a werewolf. Uwe decides to join. At first the pack hunts down allied soldiers and then they start attacking village livestock. Finally the start devouring the people in town they don’t like. This starts to bug Uwe and soon his wife finds out. 

The end is a surprise ending but it is the only possible one. Too bad the story is very short. Would have been great had they developed it more and made it a full length novel. 

Rise of the Jewish Assassin

 

During the second temple time period when the Jewish people were under Roman domination, there arose a group of Jewish assassins who were much the for father of modern day terrorism. Their tactics were not the use of guerrilla warfare to take down enemy Roman soldiers but rather their target were the wealthy Jewish Elite Sadducees who were allied with the Roman, plus some rich Romans themselves.

The book goes into details about the first Jewish Revolt and how Pompei destroyed the first rebellion. The book also goes into some of the power struggles that beset the Roman provinces and the Herodian dynasty. There were many Jewish groups that rose during this time. The three main groups are the Sadducees, Essenes, and Pharisees.  

The Sadducees were the elite temple priesthood who were allied with Rome and helped them keep the grip on Judea.  The Essenes were troubled by the corruption of the temple practices, so they moved off towards En Gedi and the Dead Sea area. They practiced celibacy and wore all white. The Pharisees are the only sect to have survived and they morphed into Rabbinic Judaism.

Out of all this there arose the zealots. They fought against the Romans by using terror, and guerilla warfare tactics. It is not sure if the Zealots were the same as the Sicarii or if the Sicarii are an offshoot of the Zealots.

One of the main historians to record the deeds of the Sicarii is Josephus. Since he was a Greek Jew allied with the elite. Per his background he wrote rather negatively of the Sicarii. He thought of them as rogues, poor bandits. In reality some the zealots may have been bandits. The defenders at Masada were supposedly Sicarii. They chose death over surrender.

The revolt against the Romans may have been nationalistic but there was a class struggle going on as the pro-Roman Jews were wealthy while those in opposition were from the poorer classes. During the siege of Jerusalem the Sicarii took over the temple and fortified it. The siege against Jerusalem by the Romans was long lasting. Not only was it Jews against Romans but it was also Jews against jews. After the siege and the defeat at Masada some of the Sicarii fled to Alexandria in Egypt and other places in Libya.

There was anti Jewish sentiment in Alexandria. The Jews were forced to put up images of Cesar in their synagogues.  Jewish refusal fueled programs against the Jewish community. Josephus likes to blame the Sicarii for the revolt and all that befell the Jewish people. I would say it was Roman oppression and interference of Jewish life that sparked the revolt.

Isobel Gowdy's Book of Charms

 

The Black Book of Isobel Gowdy

By Ash William Mills

During the 15 hundreds toward the 16 hundreds there lived a magical person named Isobel Gowdy. She was accused of being a witch a long with hundreds of others. Being accused of witchcraft meant torture, death and sometimes other bizarre things the priests could imagine. Most of the confessions were extracted through force or torture and are hence not reliable.  For Isobel Gowdy she was captured and interrogated without torture. What she yielded over was a treasure trove of Scottish folk magic.

Her confessions tell how she became initiated into a coven by the devil himself. He wrote he name in a black book and then sucked blood from a teat on her body. When done he spit the blood on his hand sprayed it on her head. Her revelations include ding with the king and queen of faerie. She also told how she used magic to sabotage her neighbors crops, cow milk and fishing. Sometimes she redirected the wealth to herself and at others she did for spite or revenge.

If you are looking for anything Pagan you will not find it here. The spells used old gaelic or old English and they do not call on Cernunnos or Hekate but rather they call on God, Angels, Saints and even the devil. The spells are simple to enact and there is no elaborate ritual like you find with Wicca or Ceremonial Magic. The Book consists of magical workings taken from Isobel Gowdy and a collection of Scottish spells. It is an easy to read book but there are typographical errors.

Magical workers were always the same in the mind of Scottish authorities whether one is a witch or not mattered not at all to them. In the old country there were all sorts of magical workers. There were the cunning folk who fought against witchcraft. You had healers, wisewomen and midwives. Not to mention you also had wizards in the mix. They were all treated the same. Burned at the stake.

Magical workers back them did not write stuff down in grimoires. First off most of the people were illiterate and could not write. Second to have a written book period would put one in danger much less a book of spells. But witches did sometimes possess blackbooks. Black books were not grimoires. In fact they are said to be magical items in and of themselves. They could protect a person and give them blessing. If one tried to get rid of it by burning it or throwing it in a lake it would always come back to them. The only to be rid of it is to give it to someone or sell it for less then you bought it for.

The book consists of a brief history of Isobel gowdy and what her background was. No one knows what ultimately happened to her. It is assumed that she was burned at the stake or hung in the gallows. The book contained the working of Isobel Gowdy and then goes into the magical operations of other Scottish witches . Finally at the end the manual from another witch is included. It tell  how to tell someone’s fortune from palm reading and how to tell fortunes from regular playing card.

By and large most of the working can be done today. Some of them call for ingredients you cannot lawfully obtain. Either forget the spell or tweek it. Most of the working deal with weather control, there are some curses to be sure and some are even death curses. There are working for shapeshifting and night flights. All in all a great historical reference and good book for simple workings.

 

 

On Becoming a Teacher

 Robert Jackson is a motivational speaker, mentor, and educator. His first ambition was to be a football player, but things did not pan out. So, he went into teaching. His life story is rough. He faced bullying, mugging, molestation, and physical abuse. As a student the school system was against him and anyone else who was African American.  Most of the teachers where Caucasian as were the students. His school years were full of torment as Caucasian students would bully him and then he would get blamed. 

Robert Jackson wants to teach educator a new way to reach out to Latinx and African American students. First off, many students are dealing with issues at home which could mean physical and sexual abuse, friends getting shot and drug usage in the home. Educators need to understand their student’s background. There are 6 guideline an educational professional must use to reach out to students. 

The first concept is love; the students must know that you care. The second concept is trust. The students must trust the educator and the educator must give the student benefit of doubt. The third concept is fairness. Students must be treated in the same manner and their can be no favoritism. The next concept is support.  Teachers must encourage their students and honor the students’ choices and to be able to listen without judging. The next concept is accountability.  Educators must accept responsibility for there actions and attitudes and expect the students to do the same. Both students and educators must admit when they have made mistakes. Finally, there is safety. Students must feel safe, and teachers should not manipulate and intimidate their students. Physical space should always be respected. 

Educators must over come biases against their students. At times teachers will judge a student based on race, clothing, and background. There are ways to overcome these implicit biases and for a teacher to bridge the gap with their students. A teacher must understand the student’s background. The student’s home life travels with them. Often, they are in pain, and they will mask their pain by misbehaving and joking. They cover it up. Students can be very smart but being too much of a schoolboy can cause humiliation amongst their peers so they will cover it up. Educators need to have one to one discussion with the students to find out what is going on and students need someone who will listen to them. As teachers we need to resist the urge to stereotype our students based on biased media and perceptions we were taught growing up. 

The classroom set up is super important in making students feel safe. Setting up a daily routine provide structure for the students which lets them know what to expect and helps them feel safe. Color schemes are super important to motivate students. Teachers must also put in a positive message and be mindful of how negative images may be perceived.  

In terms of fighting bias and racism teachers must lead by example. If we hear racist comments, we have to speak out and correct it.  Bias is present in education as in other fields. Our students have different backgrounds then we do. Our biases might impact how we educate them.  

Being an educator can tough. It offers up a lesson In humility and one must be open in order to be a caring teacher. Education is tough but rewarding. 

Missipian Star Cult

 In the area of the American South East there thrived up to 1000 AD the Missipian Culture of Native Americans.  They were called mound builders due to the burial mounds they left behind. The Native Americans, if you should ask them would say that they were built by the people who came before us. Who were these people that came before the Native Americans. When the mounds were excavated, or should I say destroyed, they turned up many interesting artifacts and many skeletons. Some of the symbols they found were the  eye in the hand symbol, raptor birds and monuments that would seem to represent Cygnus or Orions belt. These excavations stirred up lots of controversy. 

The biggest controversy dealt with the large skeletons. It was believed that a race of giants used to rule America, that is until a Native American tribe eventually wiped them out. These giant skeletons , of course would change the way history was being recorded.  Pseudo Archaeologists claim that the Smithsonian Institute was concealing them or covering it up. While there were several large skeletons even more than usual for a population there was no race of giants found. 

The severed hand with the eye in the middle once thought to be a universal symbol in fact represented the stars of Orion or Cygnus and the eye was the vortex the soul travelled through to reach their ancestors. Beneath the eye and hand was a spider that trapped unworthy souls and sent them to the underworld. In other mythos a large raptor bird stood in the path and blocked souls from traveling through the milky way. 

The beliefs were maintained by tribal leaders or elites who had absolute sway over the population. They were larger then the rest of the population and it was believed that they could determine where one went after they died. Eventually in many instances these giant elites were overthrown. 

Examining monuments one wonders whether they point to Cygnus or Orion. The author favors Cygnus and he gives his reasoning. Figuring out who the mound builders were we take what we know of Asians traveling across the Bering Straight during the Ice Age. We are talking prehistoric times here. The author speculates that these people were a mix of different populations. 

The first and most obvious is homo sapiens, the second Neanderthals , the third Denisovan and finally and unknown group called X. The giant height, two rows of teeth, high eyebrow bridge could all be throwbacks from the earlier interbreeding. Another groups of people called the Salutreans may have crossed over the Atlantic when it was frozen over. 

Going across the sea one sees many common beliefs, parallels and even art work the same on both sides of the Atlantic. One sees mounds, an obsession with the three stars (Cygnus or Orion), similar artwork and religious beliefs. Moreover the genetics were the same as well. 

God Magick Southern Style

 

Hoodoo is a working man’s magic. There are no spells but rather workings. It gets the job done. Hoodoo is amalgamated from religious practices of slaves brought over from Africa, European magic practices and native American practices. This form of magic developed in the south eastern united states. Some say it is the magical arm of voodoo. This from of magic used the Book of Psalms as magical verses with which to alter or influence reality. Anyone can do it no matter what gods they worship because it is all divinity. 

The working are in different areas and there is a chapter for each area of working. The first section of the working deals with gratitude and being thankful. These are petitions of gratitude when something goes right. The next session deals with working affecting love and friendship. These are love spells and friendship spells. The next session deal with health. This goes for curing illness to stopping bad dreams that you are having every night. The fourth section has working that deal with troublesome and evil spirits. The fifth section has working to protect us from our enemies and stop malicious gossip. The sixth section deal with working that affect the justice system. These working ask for lenient sentences and keeping the law away. The seventh section deals with dreams, influencing other people or gaining prophecy. The next section ask for forgiveness. And lastly the final section deals with finance. 

The working contained in this book are easy to do and not so complicated like Wiccan or Ceremonial Magic rituals. These are simple and to the point. Getting some of the ingredients might be a challenge unless you order on line or have a botanica near you. 

Here is a sample working taking from the book. It has the purpose of Winning Prizes or drawings. It can be performed any day of the week It employs the use of Bayberry incence. For this working you will need Buckeye root and Beth Root. The oil to be used will be Gambling or Bingo oil. Other materials you will need are a small red bag, dollar charm and seven strand of your hair. What you do is you burn the incense while making your mojo bag. Annoint each item with oil while saying the verses from psalm 113. Once the bag is completed then keep it with you while gambling. Let no one know about it. 

The Book of Psalms supposedly written by King David are not the words of God to man but rather man composing words to God. These words ask for wisdom, help guidance , love and money. It’s influence is not limited to only Christians and Jews but rather anyone can do the magic as divinity cannot be put in a box like the major religious denominations would have us do. Many of the grimoires such as the Heptameron use verses from the book of psalms. In addition to the use of psalms there are also practices the use of candles, oils, herbs and incense. 

Before doing any working one should take a cleansing bath or shower depending on what is available. These baths can be made or purchased but must use a high quality of ingredients. One should also prepare themselves mentally by doing meditation, listening to music or just sitting quietly. 

Many of the working will call for the practitioner to anoint themselves with magical oil. The places of anointing are forehead, wrists, back of knees and bottoms of feet . While anointing oneself they should be saying a prayer or declaring intention. 

Aztec Gods of War

 Tozi is a magical person, daughter of a witch , and she has a great destiny before her. Trapped in the fattening pen of the Aztecs things start getting rather urgent. Persecuted by others for her magical ability and the increasing appetite of the Hummingbird God make it imperative for her to escape.

While in this fattening pen Tozi befriend a young baby Coyotl and a Mayan slave girl named Malinal.

On the outside things are getting worse. Europeans are arriving under the leadership of Hernan Cortes and they are armed to the teeth. Montezuma the great speaker hallucinates mushrooms and the a hummingbird god tells him to sacrifice 50 thousand women to help him to defeat Cortes. The blood sacrifices ar endless. It takes a heavy toll on the other tribes that are not under Aztec rule.

It is during this run of sacrifices that Tozi and her friend make their escape. Tozi links up with an Aztec spy who wants to bring down Montezuma. Together they hatch a plan. Meanwhile Malinal goes back to her home town where in we find she was royalty but through acts of betrayal found herself a slave. Coyotl gets lost in the mix.

While looking for sacrifices an Aztec chieftain is caught by Shikotenko a Tlascan warrior. The two fight and the Aztec nephew is left for dead . But he lives and through Tozi he lives but this is part of the plan.

All the while the Mayan are slaughtered by European munition. This is a work,of historical fiction . The author does a good job of exposing the flaws of both European and Native populations. Both were human and both had serious flaws . The coming of Europeans to America was not a good thing.