Apech

Concierge
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content count

    18,413

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    275

Posts posted by Apech

  1. Posted

    38 minutes ago, Sanity Check said:

     

     

    There's a wiki page of chaos magic here:

     

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_magic

     

    Looking at its citations:

     

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_magic#References

     

    There appear to be only two brief mentions of chaos magic in 1974 and 1987.

     

    The vast majority of content written on the topic is 2003 and later.

     

    Almost as if Jurassic Park's chaos theory reference was what was needed for it to go mainstream.


    I think you might find the dates reflect when the wiki article was written.  If you read the article it says that Chaos magic started in the 70’s in England.

     

  2. Posted

    1 hour ago, Cobie said:

     


    How very Jane Austen :lol:

     

     

     

    “One cannot attend a single thread on the Dao Bums, where cultivators of every lineage and temperament are gathered for the great ball of spiritual discourse, without being entertained by the most delightful rumours: that Master X has secretly attained rainbow body in a cave near Chengdu, that Adept Y has fallen into deviant qigong and married a fox spirit, and that poor Neophyte Z is violently in love with the teachings of the late Master Ni, while everyone insists he is promised to the Complete Reality school! How such reports arise in a forum where people ostensibly have nothing to do but discuss the Dao, I protest I cannot imagine.”

     

     

    • Haha 2

  4. Posted

    49 minutes ago, Sanity Check said:

     

     

    Jurassic Park was published in 1990.

     

    I don't think there is a written record of "chaos magic" preceding the year 2000.

     

    It probably was influenced by Jurassic Park although they very much want to pretend its not.

     

     

    From Grok:

     

    Chaos magic (also spelled "chaos magick") as a distinct modern magical paradigm first emerged in the late 1970s in West Yorkshire, England.Key milestones:
    • 1976–1977: The foundational ideas began circulating in a loose group of occultists in Yorkshire. Early figures included Pete Carroll, Ray Sherwin, and others who were dissatisfied with the rigid hierarchies and dogmas of traditional magical orders (Golden Dawn, Thelema, Wicca, etc.).
    • 1978: The first public statement of chaos magic principles appeared in Pete Carroll’s book Liber Null (published privately at first) and Ray Sherwin’s The Book of Results (also 1978). These two short works are considered the “founding texts” of chaos magic. In them, terms like “chaos magic,” the rejection of belief systems as tools rather than truths, and techniques like sigil magic derived from Austin Osman Spare were formalised.
    • Late 1970s – early 1980s: The loose network called the Illuminates of Thanateros (IOT) was formed (initially as a mail-based pact in 1978–79), becoming the first formal chaos magic organisation.

    So the commonly accepted “birth year” of chaos magic as a self-conscious movement is 1978, with the publication and private circulation of Liber Null and The Book of Results.(For context, Austin Osman Spare’s sigil techniques from the early 20th century and Discordianism in the 1960s are important precursors, but chaos magic proper begins in 1978 with Carroll, Sherwin, and their circle explicitly branding and systematising the approach.)

     

     

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 1

  5. Posted

    4 hours ago, Lairg said:

     

    My observation of the pre-creational is that it is structured and intentional - otherwise it would produce chaos

     

     

    I tend to agree with Pythagoras when he told us that numbers are alive.  Certainly I felt numbers were  unhappy when misused in equations.

     

    Number is conceived not as a mental abstraction but something which exists in and composes all things.

    https://ba278b9d8106536501a2-57da1f3fe93ccf3a9828e6ce67c3d52c.ssl.cf5.rackcdn.com/ws_03_leonessi.pdf 


    I wasn’t talking about the nature of numbers but about how complex systems of large numbers of things ( eg raindrops hitting a windscreen) can be described.  As random and chaotic for instance.

    • Like 1

  6. Posted

    13 minutes ago, Lairg said:

     

    My own observation of this universe is that it is not chaotic.  Energies belong to entities and the entities have purpose - even if misdirected.

     

    A chaotic set of practices is likely to make few friends in the  Cosmos

     

     


    There are two types of chaos.  One is the pre- creational state which is formless and undefinable.  The other is the complexity of large numbers of things moving independently.  

    • Like 1

  7. Posted

    6 hours ago, Sanity Check said:

     

     

     

    The book Jurassic Park popularized something called chaos theory. 

     

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory

     

    A framework intended to explain things which are unexplainable by modern science.

     

    I would guess chaos magic is a spinoff. Or was influenced by chaos theory in some way.

     

     


    I don’t think there is any relation between chaos theory ad chaos magic apart from the name.

    • Like 2

  11. Posted

    4 hours ago, Nungali said:

    Well , here is the proof  .......    do   you like tofu  ?  

     

    I used to make tofu , my GF did bean sprouts , we did a delivery run together . The last drop off point was a small health food store and the woman there always took our left over bean sprouts ... heaps of alfalfa sprouts .  

     

    I asked if she ate them  and she said no, her cat likes them .... not one or two , but a big handful in a bowl  ! Imagine puss munching his way through a pile of stringy  wet green sprouts    :huh:

     

     

    https://articles.hepper.com/can-cats-eat-bean-sprouts/

     

     

    Hmmm ... after this diversion I think I just invoked ... 

     

    ' dont care mind '  


    I hate tofu.

     

    but I like toffee!

    • Haha 1

  12. Posted

    33 minutes ago, bradley said:

     

    I don't think its quite "switch off your mind"  Though, idk.  I think its more not clinging onto to thoughts as they arise, like the dzogchen technique.  Like if you are driving down the freeway, your mind is very active, but that activity arises naturally.  But if you are consciously thinking, oh yeah there is a turn up there, and I need to turn the steering wheel to the right 5 degrees, and then back two degrees, while letting off of the accelerator, and consciously trying to think through every movement,  your car is going to be all over the place. just drive the f-ing car, and dont worry about it.  I don't really know anything about this, or if that is what she was saying, but I agree on the cat thing.

     

    Now the real hero in the story is the monk who stole the tofu, and got away with it. This required some planning on his part.      


    Yes - I was perhaps being a bit harsh there.  But it is a tendency among those who misunderstand zen to think that switching off is the thing.  It is more like switching on your mind to total brightness ( or something like that).  
     

    The monk that stole the tofu needed a cat alibi obviously - so kudos to him. 
     

     

     

     

    • Like 1

  13. Posted

    1 hour ago, bradley said:

     

    I think you are on to something here.  I was up all night thinking about this.  There are so many inconsistencies in the story. First, cats generally don't eat tofu.  Second, tofu is denser than water and typically does not float. It would be quite a miraculous thing if the density of a single piece were to instantaneously change causing it to float to the surface.  Finally cats hate water, and it seems unlikely that one would be digging through milky tofu water in the middle of the night.  

     

    Maybe I've been watching too much Columbo, but all of these little things add up to this:  It was not a cat that stole the tofu, it was the sentry, and he just blamed it on a cat.   


    That’s what I thought.  What’s the Latin quote ‘who guards the guards?’ So the technique is ‘look at the cat, look at the cat’ while the monk sneaks away with the tofu.

     

    Or to be even more controversial … pay your subscription but switch off your mind… just sit and switch off your mind.  Who gives this advice and why?

     

     

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

    On 04/11/2025 at 6:47 PM, SodaChanh said:

    I like this video on the Don't Know Mind

     

     


    I disliked this video very much.  For two reasons. 
     

    The people listening to her laughed on cue to stories which were not understood even by her.

     

    Tofu is not good for cats - there’s no way a cat was stealing it night after night.  

     

    I did enjoy your subsequent discussion even tho I disagree with most of you.

     

     

    • Thanks 1

  20. Posted

    1 hour ago, Nungali said:

     

    I have always been curious about the 'neter sign' ... I thought it was just a staff with small flag .  What other meaning and development of it is there - aside from this 'false connection linguistically '  ? 

     

    '' the back of the head is Horus ''  

     

     

    Egyptian Social Organization—from the Pharaoh to the farmer (Part 1) (article) | Khan Academy

     

     

     

     

     

    Most people seem to think it is related to words meaning 'be strong, powerful' and others to the word for natron the salt used for embalming.  But I think that really no-one is sure.  A kind of flag was displayed outside of temples with three coloured cloths hanging from it - I think this is most likely the meaning ... its a sign showing a god's sanctuary is there.  But who knows?

     

     

    • Like 2

  21. Posted

    With regard to the head, I wrote this some eight years ago:

     

     

    Essentially I still agree with myself, with two caveats.

     

    1.  I refer to Anubis and the 'crown chakra' - which is the kind of crossover I don't like (even tho it is valid in some ways)

     

    2.  the 'neter' sign is not etymologically related to 'that which is wrapped' even though early version show it as a wrapped staff with one end of the cloth hanging free.  Apparently this si a false connection linguistically even though I would still maintain there is a meaning link.

    • Like 1

  22. Posted

    5 minutes ago, zerostao said:

    Nicotine & caffeine for me. This morning, some Egg Nog, idk, if it's healthy or not. I did add a dollop of 12 year old Weller.

    Happy Holidays!


    For breakfast - you’ll live forever!

  24. Posted

    27054952ea16d06c89346d20db4e27c4.jpg

     

    Here is Tutankhamun's canopic jar chest.  Each human headed jar held one of the four main organs.  On the corners of the chest are the goddesses (the nearest is Neith) ... together they form a kind of mandala.  Often the jars would have animal heads instead of human heads.

     

     

  25. Posted

    So ... these important organs ... essential for organic function (life) are protected by four gods - the Sons of Horus.  Then each of the sons of Horus are protected by a goddess.  We have met two of these goddesses already - Isis and Nephthys.  We know that Isis represents an 'up' phase of a cycle ... up into the light .. and that Nephthys represents a down phase ... into the dark.  So we have organs and rhythmic up/down movement ... which supports the organs.  In the case of the lungs its obvious that the breath is involved, Isis the in-breath and Nephthys the out.

     

    The gods of the stomach and intestines are protected by Neith (the huntress goddess of the East) and by Serqet the scorpion goddess (the West).  What is the rhythm of the digestive system? Peristalsis.  A process of contraction and expansion which moves food through the gut and also clears the intestines even when not eating.  It is a slow but permanent rhythm operating even when we haven't eaten and in sleep.  Neith is contraction and Serqet expansion.

     

    So we have two systems of rhythmic activity, one in the thorax and one in the abdomen.  Both of which feed the heart (which has its own rhythm - the pulse).

     

    We should also mention that the cerebro-spinal fluid has its own rhythm - which the Egyptians had observed when performing cranial surgery.

     

    Grok on peristalsis:

     

     

    What is Peristalsis?Peristalsis is the coordinated, wave-like muscle contraction that moves food, liquids, and waste through the hollow organs of the digestive tract (and some other tubular structures in the body). It’s essentially the automatic “conveyor belt” of your gut.How It WorksThe walls of organs like the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine have two main layers of smooth muscle:
    • Circular muscle (wraps around the tube)
    • Longitudinal muscle (runs along the length of the tube)
    Peristalsis happens in this sequence:
    1. A bolus (ball) of food or liquid triggers stretch receptors in the wall.
    2. Circular muscles contract behind the bolus → squeezes it forward.
    3. Longitudinal muscles contract ahead of the bolus → shortens and widens that segment, creating space.
    4. Then the circular muscles relax behind and contract ahead, pushing the bolus further.
    5. This wave of contraction/relaxation travels down the organ, propelling contents along.
    It’s completely involuntary and controlled by the enteric nervous system (the “second brain” in your gut) with help from the autonomic nervous system.Where It Happens in the Body
    • Esophagus: Moves swallowed food from throat to stomach in ~8–10 seconds (even if you’re upside down!).
    • Stomach: Mixes food with acid and slowly pushes chyme into the small intestine.
    • Small intestine: Primary site—slow peristalsis (about 1 cm/sec) mixes and propels digested food over 3–5 hours.
    • Large intestine (colon): Much slower waves (a few times per day) called mass movements push feces toward the rectum.
    • Other places: Ureters (urine from kidneys to bladder), bile ducts, and even blood vessels use similar peristaltic-like movements.
    Fun/Interesting Facts
    • Gravity-independent: That’s why astronauts can still swallow in space.
    • Swallowing trigger: Once you swallow, peristalsis takes over—even if you stand on your head, the food will reach your stomach.
    • Disorders: Achalasia (esophagus doesn’t relax), Hirschsprung’s disease (missing nerves in colon), or intestinal pseudo-obstruction can severely impair peristalsis.
    • You can sometimes hear it: Those stomach “growling” noises (borborygmi) are often peristaltic waves moving gas and fluid.
    In short, peristalsis is one of the body’s most elegant automatic processes—quietly keeping everything moving 24/7 without you ever having to think about it.
    • Like 1