Brendan was once a leader in the US white nationalist movement. But when he took the drug MDMA in a scientific study, it would radically change his extremist beliefs – to the surprise of everyone involved.
In February 2020, Harriet de Wit, a professor of psychiatry and behavioural science at the University of Chicago, was running an experiment on whether the drug MDMA increased the pleasantness of social touch in healthy volunteers. The day was proceeding like any other Tuesday when Mike Bremmer, de Wit's research assistant, appeared at her office door with a concerned look on his face.
The latest participant in the double-blind trial, a man named Brendan, had filled out a standard questionnaire at the end. Strangely, at the very bottom of the form, Brendan had written in bold letters: "This experience has helped me sort out a debilitating personal issue. Google my name. I now know what I need to do…"
Everyone dreams the words to long-forgotten songs.
The hills echo and the grey stones ring
With laughter and madness and pain.
In the middle of the dance,
The house takes off from the ground.
Clouds climb through the windows;
Lightning pounds its fists on the table.
The moon leans in through the window.
The wild god points to your side.
You are bleeding heavily.
You have been bleeding for a long time,
Possibly since you were born.
There is a bear in the wound.
‘Why did you leave me to die?’
Asks the wild god and you say:
‘I was busy surviving.
The shops were all closed;
I didn’t know how. I’m sorry.’
Listen to them:
The fox in your neck and
The snakes in your arms and
The wren and the sparrow and the deer…
The great un-nameable beasts
In your liver and your kidneys and your heart…
There is a symphony of howling.
A cacophony of dissent.
The wild god nods his head and
You wake on the floor holding a knife,
A bottle and a handful of black fur.
Your dog is asleep on the table.
Your wife is stirring, far above.
Your cheeks are wet with tears;
Your mouth aches from laughter or shouting.
A black bear is sitting by the fire.
Sometimes a wild god comes to the table.
He is awkward and does not know the ways
Of porcelain, of fork and mustard and silver.
His voice makes vinegar from wine
And brings the dead to life.
–– Tom Hirons at Coyopa - Tom's book, Sometimes a Wild God, which contains this and many other FINE examples of his wordsmithing is available via this link ---> http://shop.hedgespoken.org/products/sometimes-a-wild-god Please support artists & their work!
–– ––ART: Illustration by Janne Pitkanen & concept & photography by Harri Halme.
From the album cover The Spirit of Ukko by Finnish metal band Kiuas.
–– Title track – "The Spirit of Ukko."
Lyrics ––
Greetings, we are here tonight
To bring the flames of Ukko to your hearts
On this black night the stars are aligned
These ancient fireworks play their parts
Born from the dark to light a flame
What once had died shall rise again
Winds sweep the snow, resurrecting songs of darkness
Born from the cold to light a flame within our hearts
Winds sweep the snow, resurrecting songs of darkness
Born from the cold, now it's celebration time...
... The spirit of Ukko will burn with us tonight!
Let's bring back the good old times
When the true gods used to reign the northern skies
Dr. Michio Kaku interviews Dr. Oliver Sachs – why do we love music? – talks on his book "Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain" (2nd half of the show)
ALSO ::: This show begins with an interview of Dr. Callum Roberts – "OCEANS ARE NOT THEY WAY THEY WERE" – only our ancestors would know. Book is "The Unnatural History of the Seas"
Two movies are the top of my must have list: "The Wicker Man" (1973); and, Peter Weir's "The Last Wave" (1977) with Richard Chamberlin, David Gulpilil, and Nandjiwarra Amagula. – bought them this week!
• "The Last Wave" – a 1977 Australian mystery drama film directed by Peter Weir. It is about a white solicitor in Sydney whose seemingly normal life is disrupted after he takes on a murder case and discovers that he shares a strange, mystical connection with the small group of local Australian Aborigines accused of the crime. … Plagued by bizarre dreams, Burton begins to sense an otherworldly connection to one of the accused (David Gulpilil). He also feels connected to the increasingly strange weather phenomena besetting the city. His dreams intensify along with his obsession with the murder case, which he comes to believe is an Aboriginal tribal killing by curse, in which the victim believed. Learning more about Aboriginal practices and the concept of Dreamtime as a parallel world of existence, Burton comes to believe the strange weather bodes of a coming apocalypse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Wave
bought a couple of things online last week – a book, and 2 DVDs –
– i really want to get the book that the movie The Wicker Man was inspired by (Ritual, by British actor and author David Pinner), but this time i got one based on the movie, just curious/ i hope its a good read anyway; and, will still be getting Ritual!
– Two movies are the top of my must have list: "The Wicker Man" – this is the original (1973), not the newer one with Nicolas Cage!; and, Peter Weir's "The Last Wave" (1977) with Richard Chamberlin.
THE WICKER MAN
• "The Wicker Man" – a 1973 British mystery horror film directed by Robin Hardy. The screenplay by Anthony Shaffer, inspired by David Pinner's 1967 novel Ritual, centres on the visit of Police Sergeant Neil Howie to the isolated island of Summerisle, in search of a missing girl. Howie, a devout Christian, is appalled to find that the inhabitants of the island have abandoned Christianity and now practise a form of Celtic paganism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wicker_Man
• "The Last Wave" – a 1977 Australian mystery drama film directed by Peter Weir. It is about a white solicitor in Sydney whose seemingly normal life is disrupted after he takes on a murder case and discovers that he shares a strange, mystical connection with the small group of local Australian Aborigines accused of the crime. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Wave
SEIDÄ PASS - Facebook ABOUT (German below) ☛ SEIDÄ PASS - Tankcore from Tirol – Austria ☚ As one of dozens traditional "Perchten" groups in our region we're on the roads in Brixlegg, Kramsach, Rattenberg and its surroundings to chase the evil "winter ghosts" within the so called "Perchtenlauf" each year on the 5th and 6th of December since 1999!
The name of this tradition most likely derives from the legend figure "Perchta". Our group consists of 25 people: a "Hex" (=witch), multiple "Läufer" (=runners) and plenty of "Tamperer" (=drummers) who are smashing on old gas canisters of cars.
Tradition, creative rythms, fun and show are important elements of our yearly "Hexentanz" (=dancing witch) events as shown in the video!
GERMAN: ☛ SEIDÄ PASS - Tankcore aus dem Tiroler Unterland ☚ Seit 1999 sind wir als eine von zig Perchtengruppen im Tiroler Unterland (Österreich) am 5. und 6. Dezember auf den Straßen von Brixlegg, Kramsach, Rattenberg und Umgebung unterwegs um im Rahmen eines alten Brauchtums - den sogenannten "Perchtenlauf" - die bösen Wintergeister zu vertreiben.
Der Name leitet sich am ehesten von der Sagengestalt "Perchta" ab. Unsere 25-köpfige Gruppe besteht aus einer "Hexe", mehreren "Läufern" in Fellgewändern und einer Vielzahl von "Tamperern", welche auf alten Autokanistern lautstarke Trommelklänge erzeugen. Tradition, kreative Rythmen, Spaß und ein gewisser Showfaktor werden bei unseren "Hexentänzen" jedes Jahr erneut zum Ausdruck gebracht!
The middle ages covers a period of a thousand years – and yet much of its music-making is a mystery to us. We’re not completely in the dark, though, so the aim of this article is to give a broad beginner’s guide to the principles of secular medieval music. When were the middle ages? How do we know what the music sounded like? What were the earliest surviving songs? What was its dance music like? Why does medieval music sound so different to today’s? How did medieval musicians harmonise?
This online presentation, California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties, comprises 35 hours of folk music recorded in 12 languages representing numerous ethnic groups and 185 musicians. It includes sound recordings, still photographs of the performers, drawings of folk instruments, and written documentation from a variety of European ethnic and English- and Spanish-speaking communities in northern California in the 1930s. This New...
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