Realm of the Annunaki

 

the Land of the Watchers

By Dr. Heather Lynn

  In the ast few years there has been rather an intense amount of interest in the middle east. Skipping past the Gaza incident we look at American involvement in Iraq. After all Mesopotamia was the land o theAfter all Mesopotamia was our first civilization. It was the land of the watchers.  The watchers werer the Annunaki or the ones who came from heaven. It was the first civilization ever and a giant leap from hunter gatherers. Hunter gatherers can build temple complexes and simple dwelling but they could not build complex cities with a modern buracracy that takes care of all society's needs. No one knows where the annunaki came from. The Sumerians left behind several documents in Cuneiform. One of them was the "Tablet of Destinies"

The real reason why Iraq is of such interest is not because of the oil. There are other factors at play. Those factors are archaeology and documents. While ISIS was ravaging Syria and Iraq they also raided the museum and destroyed many ancient Mesopotamian artifacts. They knew what they were going after. They had expensive ear pieces and chose their target of destruction carefully. Why destroy this stuff and who sent these guys. The main interest is in the artifacts and documents. When people destroy archaeology you are cutting off humanity from it's origins. Why would they want to do that? There is something they do no want us to know.

As relics are destroyed or bought out by private collectors our access to the truth is cut off. To learn the history we have to ask and be dependent on so called experts. There is something they are trying to hide what is it? Humanities origins? After all they suppressed the book of Enoch. Technology? If they were aliens wouoldn't you want it. then there are the kings lists. this is what everyone is after . The names of kings and how long they lived. Many billionaires believe they are descended from Ancient Mesopotamian families.

Society is meant to serve people but it also controls them. Rulers set up institutions t promote their ideology. they tell us what we want. As Dr. Lynn went pursuing the bread crumbs she met retired professors nd UFO nuts. She was also followed by one of these rich families and taken to their head quarters with a bag over her head. In look forward t reading more of her works.

 

A return to the Grisaverse

 

King of Scars

Leigh Bardugo

Welcome to the Grisaverse! these days we are exposed to the monsterverse, DC Universe, Marvel universe . I think you get the picture. Now if you are familiar with the Netflix series "Shadow and Bone" you will find yourself very famiiar with this extension. Taking place after Sancta Alina defets the Darkling or the Starless one, King Nicolai is running the kingdom of Ravka. The kingdom is still beset by war, Fjerda eants to attack, Shu wants to attack and in different kingdoms the Grisha are being huntered down by Druxel . Grisha are witches and Druxell are witch hunters. The story starts off with a beast about to attack a young boy. Fortunately for the boy Zoya a general in the Ravkan army is there to save him. Yet, she does not kill the beast but rather leads him away. In the country of Fjerda they are rounding up Grisha. Nina has the job of getting them to Ravka safely. As Nina explores Fjerda she become aware that certain areas are contaminated with poison. The water is undrinkable.  Nina also gets communication from the dead. The dead are urging her to investigate the source of contamination.

The beast is in fact King Nicholai . When the Darkling was defeated he infected the king with part of his shadow. So every night the king must be chained up kind of like a werewolf to keep him from harming others and to keep his curse a secret. Ravka has no heir. He has got to get married. In Fjerda Nina investigates a factory where Grisha are being held like labrats forced to endure inhumane experiments. A drug that effects Grisha has been released out into the world. Parem is the name of the drug. It increases Grisha power manifold but it also wastes them away and kills them. Nina was hooked on that once before and beat the addiction. Not many cn beat the addiction. While spying on Fjerda they hole up in a nuns convent. They stay there and teach the language of Zemeni in exchange for food and lodging. The dead are calling out to Nina.

Back in the kingdom more statecraft ensues. Deals for new wr machines . Spies watching enemy countries trying to get wind of new miliatry machines. For king Nicholai the beast within is getting harder to control. The Apparat much like the clergy in Medievil Europe wileds great power and sometimes goes against royalty. A new monk arrives on the scene with other monks following. They wish to magnify the Darkling into a saint. The idea is appalling everyone wants this moink dead except for king Nicholai. He has a plan, a plan to help rid him of the beast and make use of Yuri the monk. So they take a journey to the Fold inn order to do a ritual to rid him o this beast. In Fjerda after securing lodging , Nina and her company investigate the factory that is dumping water into Fjerda's rivers. Inside the factory they are experimenting on Grisha with a synthetic version of Parem. They are weponizing magical workers.

Once in the fold both Zoya and Nicholai face sets of challenges and recieve some training as well. They will not leave the fold the same as when they went in there. Nina an company investigate the factory and attempt to rescue the imprisoned Grisha. A fine story to abn awesome series.

Surviving Prison Using High Magick

 High Magick

By Damien Echols

Damein Echols was wrongfully imprisoned for the murder of three 8 year old boys in a Satanic ritual. For over twenty yers he languished in prison. Growing up in small town Arkansas , he had few options and parents who never saw beyond living from check to check. He had long hair an listened to heavy metal which made him an instant target. When he was accused of ritual murders he was not given a fair trial rather they wre just looking for way to lock him. In order to stay sane and ultimately get out out he relied on magick. As a youth he was drawn to magic and horror. He would go to the library and check out books.

In prison you do not have access to magical tools like athames or wands. One has to make do with the ultimate tool they have which is themselves. The author goes through the different kinds of magick. He spells out the difference between high and low magick, natural magic and ritual and non ritual magic. The focus of his work is box breathing. Box breathing has the practitioner work with breathing in to the count of four, holding the breath to the count of four, relesing he breath to the count of four and finally holding your breath again to the count of four.  This is a spiritual exercsise unto itself. It also forms the basis for several other meditations as well.  One aura strengthening exercise has the practitioner breath in energy and then exhale it out onto their aura, Another exercsie has the practitioner focus on different seasons during the different breathing cycles. there are lunar and solar meditations as well focusing on differnt solar and lunar phases in sync with breathing cycles.

the most important exercises he renders are the Lesser Pentagram banishing Ritual and the Middle pillar meditation. Both are based on ancient kabbalistic practices. Doing these alone for one year straight balances out the aura, cleans up the energy and can give one spiritual power similiar to being intitiated into the inner ring of the Golden Dawn. there are also some basic straight forward techniqes on raising enrgy and then programing it into a talisman or amulet.

The book is short an sweet and gets right to the point. While most book on Ceremonial Magick can be daunting this books strips it down to the bare bones so the practitioner can get working on it.

Becoming a Word Witch

 

The Magical Writing Grimoire

By Lisa Marie Basil

One of the most potent tools a witch has are his or her words.  Writing and more in particuar poetry or journaling can help one take control of their narrative and life. It lets you own your lifestory. The journal can be your quiet place , your respite from a crazy world. Most witches would want to use writing in order to help with manifestation but it is also helpful in healing from trauma and it can be helpful in moving through a difficult period in our life. It can help us acheive mindfulness. Writers use slogan, mantras and affirmations all the time as do witches but magical workers use sigils as well. The tools for the word witch are simple, your pen and paper, other tools are optional.afterall not all witches have access to expensive tools and that should never be a requirement.

What exactly are sigils? They were first popularized by Austin Osman Spare.  One could write out there intention for example "It is my well to become more productive" Every repeating letter is crossed out.  The remaining letters are fashioned into a design and the design could be burned or destroyed. It could also be turned into artwork an worn to attract more energy. Writing is also used to achieve mindfulness. This mindfulness is like being aware of everything that is happening in the moment. When your thought rise up your just going to recognize a thought and let them run their course. This enriches living and makes one more effective and more productive. Writing can also be used to help the disenfrachised. Especially with the internet an onlne forums our words can have a real strong impact and we can use that impact to create a loving environment or a bitter hateful one. We can support business of the under represented by not only frequenting their shop but also by writing very positive reviews fo the business.

Dream journaling is another effective use of writing. Constantly our dreams are trying to deliver us messages. Writing them down or making poems out of them can help us get the message an understand the meaning. Hypnos is the lord o dreams. He dwells with the poppies in the underworld. He can pull us into dreams aas they are liminal, between life and death. Things that are holy to hypnos are amethyst crystal, Valerian root, mugwort an stuff like stars an the moon. One can also write down a dream intention of what they want to dream about. There are other methods of divination.

Dreams and tarot card are not the only forms of divination out there. Bibliomancy is another form.  This means consulting a book and asking a question. You open the book to the age and line an your answer is right there. Of course you may need a little creativity. You can also put the book on it's spine and let it fall open to a given page. Another method I like is to place a card randomly in a book and se what comes up.

Writing can be used to craft your own rituals, poems to the gods etc. Writing can help release us from pain and abusive situations in the past. It helps us to let go. If you are an intuitive magic worker who is free spirited then this book is for you. Word smithing is a manifestation of free spirit as is dancing. Dancing puts us into ecstacy and connection with the gods. Use this book in good health.

Reflections of an Arab Jew

 

When We Were Arabs 

By Massoud Hayoun

Lately I have been reading memoirs about Jews who fled or left Arab countries with little more than their lives. Having fled the countries they lived in for many years these Jews left behind property, real esate and money. this story is a bit different. Massoud is a Jewish man of Middle Eastern descent. He describes himself as  Jewish Arab. Being Arab and being jewish are equal parts of his identity. He mostly tells teh story of his grandfather Oscar and his grandmother Dida. Oscar was Morrocan on his father's side and Egyptian on his mother's side. His Mother was Tunisian. Massoud culls his information from his grandfathers three Costco notebook and from a biography of his grandmother. He has fond memories of his Oscar tryin to teach him Arabic on Sunday's. Of listening to the classic arabic songsters and watching the old Egyptian cinema. Then there were the stories of their youth in those countries.

Remember that their growing up in an Arab country they were occupied by Ottoman powers, British and the French. In their countries they were considered Arab whether their religion was Judaism, Christianity or Islam. One never asked what faith you were as everyone was Arab back then. They would even go to each other's celebrations. their origin stories did not hearken back to Israel of the first and second temple period rather the stories carry back to what Middle Eastern region their family hailed from. The author discusses some possible convert origins for differnt Middle eastern jewish communities. Either way they were part and parcel of the countries they lived in.

things hen began to change with the coming o European powers. First it was he French and they came in and colonized Algeria and Tunis. their claim was to make things better for he natives but in fac they tended to look down on indigenous culture and their education system sought t inculcate that. The French imediately set up school system with the intention of cementing French culture and ways in the country's youth. Soon you had youth dressing and looking like the French an looking down on the ways of their elders. These yougsters knew French history but not the history of their own country. THe Jews were taught to be French and that they were unique to everyother Jewish community. The French saw the Jews as instruments for their own colonial designs. Classic divide and conquer. It would isolate the Jews from each other and their neighbors.

In the Arab countries the more like the colonizer you were the higher class you were. Europeans did not mix with the locals but lived in their own neighbohood.  Class was stratified. The Alliance Israelite schools taught a secular identity but one that also looked down on their middle eastern background. Their stress was that the Jews were a nation seperate from the others. This would pave the way for Zionism. The French schools also indoctrinated the youth against the British when they had control over Egypt. Often times Jews were seen as being connected with the occupying powers. If this would cause a division political Zionism would expand that breach even further.

Zionism in the author's opinion was aimed at divesting Arab land from the Palestinians. This angered many Arabs and caused many of the to turn against their Jewish neighbors. The Jews did not necesarily side with Zionism. Many of the wealthy sought to distance themselves from it. Mainly the poorer jewish Arabs were drawn to it. The author deplores some of the the tactics used by zionist agent to lure Jews to Palestine. He often called it human tafficking. Middle Eastern Jews were often used for menial labor jobs despite being well educated. Jobs the white Ashkenazi Jews would not do. The Zionist were deceptive. they wanted an Ashkenazi state with Middle Eastern Jews as a labor source.

Upon arrival to Palestine/Israel these Jewish Arabs who were well educated as much so as their Ashkenazi counterparts were given tin shacks and makeshift tents while the European jews were given houses or apartment right away. Many Jewish Arabs were sprayed wit DDt. While understandable to concentration camp victims not needed for Arab jews. the Zionist education system denigrated their arab background and made them look down on themselves. There was lots of violence against Arab Jews as well.

I found this memor enlightening. The colonialism divorce the Arab  Jews from their Arab identity both on the European front and the Zionist front. It shows you that no one in this conflict is entirely clean. Yet i cannot agree with him calling Israel occupied Palestine, nor do i think that a two state solution is still viable. While he focused on the wrongs of Zionism I feel that he left out the injustices suffered by Jews in Arab land over the years. It was second class citizenship. Prior to those golden years life could be harsh for Jews in Arab lands. Many Jews were displaced from Arab countries an left behind land, money and property and I wonder if they will get it back. I doubt it. The Palestinians have responded to Israeli peace overtures with rockets and suicide bombers. 

Yet on the other hand Jewish Arabs who find the terms Mizrachi and Sephardic misleading and degrading have not had a good time in Israel. Mizrachi means east but east of where. Morroco is not east of Poland and the term Sephardic denotes Jews who were exiled from Spain. two terms that do not apply the Jewish Arabs. Jewish Arabs are subject to harrasment due to their skin color. The Yemenite Jews ad their babies stolen fro them. Israel was not so good to them either.

The Mesopotamian Origins of Hebrew Myth

 

The Ark Before Noah

By Irving Finkel

We are all familiar with the story of Noah’s Ark. The world sins so God decides to punish the world with a huge flood that covers the world. Noah is the only righteous person and so God spares Noah and his family by instructing them to build an ark and take a bunch of animals to save them as well.  There are some contradictions to the story for example in one instance god tells Noah to take a pair of animals on the ark. In another he is told to take 7 pairs of clean animals and a pair of unclean animals. Kind of strange if it all came from God. In fact, I did not but rather was based on an older tale, a Mesopotamian tale or myth.

In the Sumerian version of things Noah is called Utnapishtim and he was sort of like a king albeit a righteous one. The people on the planet are far too noisy so the gods decide wipe them out with a flood. Utnapishtim survives. This tale is included in the epic of Gilgamesh. In other Babylonian version and Assyrian versions, the hero is called Atrahasis. There are different versions of the story going around as is with all stories and they can change with each telling.

How did this tale with changed names enter itself into the Old Testament. Assuming that there was a huge flood or at least a flood that impacted that region it was well known to the Sumerians. Abraham the first Hebrew or Jew was from Mesopotamia. A big debate as to whether he was Aramean or Sumerian. He might have learned the flood story from his Sumerian upbringing.

Another theory is that when the Judeans were brought into exile, they were totally shell shocked by being conquered then bought to a more advanced culture. They were assimilated into the Babylonian culture. The Ancient Mesopotamians invented cuneiform writing and it was a special honor to be inducted into a scribal school. Many Judean were inducted. It was from there that they learned the flood myth. Since their mythology might have been lacking some elements, they borrowed and made it their own. There are other elements like the Assyrian king Sargon who was born of a priestess and then cast into the river in a small basket. Sound familiar? Remember Moses going on to Mount Sinai and getting the ten commandments well Hammurabi went up to a Mountain and received the law from the sun god Shamash.

There is a question as to what the water vessel used looked like. Looking at Mesopotamian society and how it is placed on the river it can be expected that they had to get around somewhat by boat and they had to experience periodic flooding. There are two types of craft. One is a round craft made of reed and bitumen and it is water proof. Some versions of the story have it as a craft with one level and another has it as a craft with multiple levels. The other version is a boat like structure that Noah used.

There has been some speculation as to where the ark landed. In the Bible we have been trained to think that the Ark landed on Mount Ararat. In fact the original legend says they landed in the mountain of Urartu. Uartu was a kingdom to the North of Mesopotamia. But there are other legends that place the mountain elsewhere. Assyrian legend which held sway briefly believed that the mountain was Mount Nizar which is in Assyrian territory and part of the Zagros Mountains. Islamic tradition and Nestorian tradition placed it on Mount judi Dar. It held sway for the longest but now everyone settle on Ararat.

 

The Witch of Blacksprings

HEX

By Thomas Olde Heuvelt

 The only evil out there is not witches, vampires or other monsters. The worst kind of evil is generated from humans themselves. In the town of Black Spring there exists a witch and a curse. Or rather the ghost of a witch. A ghost that can become flesh and blood. The town curse is that once you decide to become a resident of that town that is it you are stuck there forever. Leaving the town for any period of time can lead to suicidal thoughts. These thoughts are fatal.

Katherine was a lone woman who lived out in the woods when Black Spring was a Dutch town. She had two children and one died. Then the dead child came back to life. Towns people freak out so they make her kills the child that was revived and she gets burned at the stake. For years she haunts the settlement. Eventually it becomes depopulated and another British town rises up in it’s place.  The British soldiers see her ghost and they get the bright idea to sew her lips and eyes shut. Eventually the British settlement fades and Black Spring pops up. Still haunted by the witch.

Leap into the modern day and the town of Black Spring is still dealing with the neighborhood witch. Hex is the in town organization tasked with handling the witch problem. Surveilance cameras are set up all over town. If she appears in the middle of no where local towns people make an effort to hide her so outsiders do no see. Under no circumstances are people to bother or try to interact with the witch. There is an app that is meant to track the appearances of the witch.

Messing with the witch is bad news . She causes death, destruction and all around mayhem. Back in 1961 the military wanted to cut the stitches of her eyes. That did not end well. Several people died. There are people in town who do not follow the rules laid down by Hex. You have Griselda who makes food sacrifices to the ghost. Several of the twon boys get it into their head that they want to mess with the witch.

A couple times they throw stones at her, injure her with sharp weapons and turn a dog onto her. This sets into motion a series of events that will lead to a fiery end. Get ready for chaos. The book is somewhat chilling but suffused with a certain bent of humor that makes what would be very scare to read a down right entertaining read. 

The real monsters are the towns people who tortured and killed the young Katherine. The ghost only comes back after it has been wronged. The ghost was also wronged by British colonists who sewed her mouth shut. But in reality Katherine is more humorous than dangerous. Mostly she shows up unexpectedly and people have to find a way to hide her. She is a comical nuisance.

Jaydon who is Griselda’s son of somewhat rebellious. He and a group of his friend are angry that they are stuck in this town for life thanks to a witch. The anger caused him to torture the ghost of the witch in a frightening way. Tyler tries to stop them. Jaydon still manages to sic Tyler’s dog on the ghost. Tylers dog dies. He gets punished as well. You would think because he tried to save her that  he would be saved. But good and bad pay alike.