Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Necropants!

Yes, it's exactly as morbid as it sounds (though when I saw the headline I initially thought it was referring to those people who don't wash their jeans).

"Necropants are part of a complicated sorcery for gaining money,” Atlason explains. “The owner of necropants had to make a deal with a male friend while still alive about digging up his body after a natural cause of death, skinning it below the waste and wearing the skin as necropants."

Read about the Museum of Sorcery & Witchcraft in the Iceland Review.


Building the Trojan Horse

Radio 4 airs Alick Rowe's The Horse, "an account of what might have happened during the construction of the Trojan Horse and what follows when it’s finally loaded up with twelve valiant Greeks". Listen to it on the BBC web site.

Also, don't miss this Neatorama post about a modern version of the horse.

Tiepolo's Trojan horse
Tiepolo's Trojan horse

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Pow! Blam! Mazel Tov!


"The uncanny coincidences continue: Kal-El, Superman’s given name, actually means “Voice of God” in Hebrew and, growing up, Shuster and Siegel, second-generation Jewish Americans, heard old folk tales of “flying rabbis,” although we’re pretty sure that they couldn’t fly as fast as Superman could. Unless, of course, they were late for shul."

Rabbi Simcha Wienstein, author of Up, Up, and Oy Vey! talks about Jewish themes in comics.


Thursday, November 23, 2006

Magick TV

If you feel that you haven't had your quota of revisionist history and outdated theories about pagan religions, pop over to Magick TV. I'm especially fond of The meaning of Hekate, where Krystel manages to get practically everything wrong without looking into the camera even once.

Nine Lives, Many Masters

I finally took the time to read the web comic Nine Lives, Many Masters, which turned out to be mostly okay. It's not exactly a chuckle a page, but at least an occasional knowing smile - provided that you're somewhat familiar with modern Paganism. My favorite strip is the one where Grimalkin goes to the Summerland and meets Gerald Gardner and Doreen Valiente.

Gerald Garder
Gerald Gardner

Monday, November 20, 2006

Quilted legends


Marilyn Belford is in the middle of her series on women of legends. This series stemmed from her work on biblical tales and now include women from mythology. She brought a work in progress on Medea, a women in Greek mythology who killed her two children.

Read more in The Citizen.


I thought quilting was something you did with boring old squares of leftover fabric. Silly me. Having visited Marilyn Belford's web site I now know better. Quilting is an art form. Don't miss the Women of Legend and Legends of the Bible galleries!

Circe
Circe by Marilyn Belford

Saturday, November 18, 2006

The Ten Commandments


Most of us remember Cecil B. DeMille's classic film for its vibrant visual effects and Charlton Heston doing things masculine-style as Moses. So who is it that fills the shoes of the great Moses this time around? Look no further than Val Kilmer! The former Batman portrayer sings and dances his way across the stage in topless Egyptian costumes, and colorful robes. The tough guy actor really proves his musical talent...sort of.

Dodd Alley is moderately impressed with the musical version of The Ten Commandments.


I'm thinking that it will make a perfect Christmas present for a young lady who watched The Prince of Egypt (in which Val Kilmer did Moses' voice, but not the singing) three times in a single day when she was six. It's more blessed to give than to receive - especially when I get to indulge my shameful musical habit without admitting I have a problem.

Mythical creatures exhibition


Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids will feature preserved specimens from the Museum's collections, and fossils of prehistoric animals to investigate how they could have, through misidentification, speculation, and imagination, inspired the development of these legendary beasts. For example, visitors will discover how narwhal tusks introduced by northern European traders lent credence to the centuries-old belief in the unicorn (a beast that was probably originally a misunderstanding of a rhinoceros), and how dinosaur fossils uncovered by Scythian nomads may have been mistaken as the remains of living, breathing griffins.

Visit the American Museum of Natural History for more information.


Unicorn
Unicorn

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Aleister Crowley, John Dee, and James Bond

Several news articles have mentioned that Le Chiffre, the villain in the new James Bond movie Casino Royale, might be based on English occultist Aleister Crowley, but none have said anything about John Dee. Dee was a 16th century scholar and magus who may have acted as a spy for Elizabeth I. And how did he sign his letters to the queen? 007.

Source: Richard Kaczynski's excellent Crowley biography Perdurabo.



Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Nicolas Cage, holy men, and Voodoo


Cage is to star in The Sadhu, the story of a soldier who travels to India during colonial times and becomes a spiritual warrior. The plot mixes action with mythology, and is meant as a starring vehicle for the US actor.


The movie is based on the Virgin comic with the same name. Sadhu was created by Gotham Chopra and will be adapted for the screen by his father, Deepak Chopra. Sounds positively trainwrecky to me, but hey, maybe a chakra alignment can improve Cage's acting abilities.

But wait, there's more...


Cage is developing a comic book for Virgin Comics entitled Enigma, with an eye to developing it into a film. Billed as a voodoo-laced thriller, Enigma deals with a murder investigation set in New Orleans.

Source: The Guardian


Voodoo, eh? Cage has mentioned his interest in Voodoo before, and said that "it's important to be respectful of all religions". I hope he respects it enough to do his research.

Sadhu
Sadhu

Goddess exhibition


Goddess: Divine Energy is the first major exhibition in Australia to explore the many manifestations of the divine female in Hindu and Buddhist art. Over 150 exquisitely carved sculptures and delicately composed paintings from India, Tibet and Nepal, dating from about 2000 BCE through to the 20th century, have been gathered from collections around the world for display.


I'm often disappointed that museum web sites show so few works of art that it's hard to tell if any given exhibition is worth a visit. Not this time. I'm absolutely convinced that I would visit the the Art Gallery of New South Wales if only I lived a little closer.

If you're geographically challenged like me, you can still enjoy the Goddess: Divine Energy site (which requires Flash 8). It's a little heavy on the Love & Light, but the graphics are very, very pretty.


Kali

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Aleister Crowley in the movies

Set in a very different London is writer-director Hadi Hajaig's Puritan, a bizarre mixture of film noir and occult horror flick. Nick Moran plays Simon Puritan (the name suggests Simon 'The Saint' Templar), a sad alcoholic student of the paranormal who lives in Whitechapel in an early-18th-century house designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor where Aleister Crowley once raised the spirit of Satan. This sad hero believes in the existence of a fourth dimension and appears to be drifting through time and space as he encounters a femme fatale, a sinister capitalist (David Soul), Crowley and the devil himself. The movie might have been directed by someone called Midnight Charlatan or Goodnight Chameleon, but there are hints of real talent and style behind this addled piece.

Source: The Observer


Sounds promising! I wonder what happened to Revolt of the Magicians, though? The web site is half broken, and hasn't been updated in quite a while. I even tried writing Dominion Entertainment Group to ask what their plans are, but the email was returned because "there's no mailbox by that name". I'm guessing that this movie won't be happening. A shame, really.

Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Spirituality in a handbag

Some things are so silly that I simply cannot resist commenting.

Psychotherapeutic counselor Teresa Dane Marcel teaches women how to make handbags and understand their own feminine selves using exemples from Greek mythology.

“The Greek goddesses are fascinating, not as idols, but as aspects of ourselves. You can see characteristics of the goddesses in yourself and others. For instance, if you are a direct person, you may identify with Artemis, known for her ability to get straight to the point while remaining true to herself,” said Marcel.

"The myths and stories will inspire the group to ask what particular resources they always carry with them in their handbags," she continued.


Actually, Artemis is known for her ability to get straight to the point with her arrows, killing men who offend her - though using that fact as a source of inspiration when you decide what to carry in your handbag is probably not what Marcel has in mind.

Artemis
Artemis and Actaeon

Hecate in skimpy costume?

This is probably only moderately interesting to most of you, but I'm gathering information about depictions of Hekate (or Hecate) in popular culture and figured that I might as well post them here.


The Blue Room Theatre exposes the sexually perverted exploits of "Bluebeard," a deranged scientist on a mysterious island, in very graphic detail.

And I do mean graphic.

This melodrama by Charles Ludlam first appeared in a Manhattan bar in 1970. "Bluebeard" is based on H.G. Wells' "Island of Dr. Moreau" and an obscure fairy tale.

Read more...


At some point, Hecate pops up from down below and talks to Bluebeard. (The reviewers consistently refer to her as the "Goddess of Hell", but not having read the script I don't know if that's how she's described in the play.)

If anyone could point me to a picture from this production, or previous ones, I'd be eternally greatful for at least ten minutes.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Mahabharata becomes movie


The Indian epic poem Mahabharata , regarded as one of the longest works in all of literature, is about to become one of the longest works in all of cinema. Veteran Bollywood producer-director Ravi Chopra has told Indian reporters that the film, reportedly budgeted at $28 million -- an extraordinary amount for an Indian production -- will run more than 6 hours. "It will be unjust to tell the most beautiful story of the world in three hours," he said. Chopra said that his plan is to screen the first three hours of the film on one week, then screen the final three hours a week later.

Source: contactmusic.com


Battle of Kurukshetra

The ouija pod

Learn how to turn your iPod into a ouija board. Silly but fun. (My own iPod is broken. Perhaps it needs an exorcism?)

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Golem, the musical

You can learn unexpectedly useful things from reading your web site statistics. Last night I was looking through the logs, and discovered that someone in England had arrived here through searching Google for golem, musical and Prague. I did I similar search myself, and this is what I found.


The story of our musical takes place at the end of the 16th century in Prague. These were the days of the reign of Emperor Rudolf II who was known to like mysticism. In the Jewish quarter, the ghetto of Prague, lived Rabbi Leib, known as the Holy Maharal. The legend tells how the Rabbi succeeded to give life to a creature he formed from Vltava River mud by writing secret holy letters on the creature's forehead. This is the Golem. The Golem went out to fulfill special important missions that you will see throughout the play. And of course there is a love story, laughs and tears, and a lot of good music.


Unfortunately, I can't offer a better link than this.

Ramayana, the opera

Thai composer Somtow Sucharitkul and Dutch director Hans Nieuwenhuis team up in an attempt to transform the epic tale of the 'Ramayana' into an opera.

Ayodhya, the latest creation of Bangkok Opera's founder and artistic director Somtow Sucharitkul, is the first opera to chronicle the entire Ramayana epic, from the abduction of Sita to her final reunion with Rama and their ascent to Mount Krilash.


Read more in the Bangkok Post or visit the Bangkok Opera web site.

Rama

Against the laws of reason

Jason Pitzl-Waters writes that Donovan is making an album with pagan themes. Donovan is quoted as saying:


I'm kind of experimenting with an ancient pagan chant that I'm making up on the spot.


No comment necessary.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

War Gods of Babylon & War Goddess

Much of what I write about I get through Google Alerts, an indispensable tool that emails me every time a subject I'm interested in is mentioned in the news. I have been reading about Persian religion and mythology, and figured that I should add the name Zoroaster to my watch list. Had I not done that, I might have lived the rest of my life not knowing about these gems.

..after the queen is crowned, the Amazons go to meet a group of Greek soldiers for their annual mating. The king of the Greeks pretends to be a captain and has sex with the queen. Much to the queen's dismay, she quite enjoys having sex with a man...


Uh. I think I might give War Goddess a miss. War Gods of Babylon, on the other hand, sounds spectacularly awful in quite a different way, and may even be entertaining.

...a conflict exploited by the governor of conquered Babylon, Arbaces, who convinces Samos to make himself king of Babylon and rebel against the rule of Sardanapolos, with the support of his faithful friend Hammurabi. Betrayals ensue, climaxing in a special-effects extravaganza as the gods of Babylon wreak their vengeance upon Assyria...


Suddenly Troy and Alexander don't seem so bad anymore.

Friday, November 03, 2006

Life at Boleskine House

"I arrived a total sceptic, to a degree I still am, but there are things at the house you can't explain. I'm aware that, compared with where I'm from in Surrey, there's more superstition in this part of the world. It all became a bit more real when I came here, but it never put me off.”


The Inverness Courier interviews Malcolm Dent, who lived at Boleskine for twenty years. Apparently, Aleister Crowley's old chair has a Will of its own.

Troy, the musical

"The Trojan Musical is based on a lost Greek epic poem called the Little Iliad which was once part of the ‘epic cycle’ that told the story of the Trojan War. It covers events from the death of the great warrior Achilles, (in our play a reggae singing Rastafarian!) to the destruction of Troy by the Greeks and the escape of the Roman hero Aeneas (whose chances in our play are almost thwarted by the disappearance of the family hamster!)."

Read more here.

(Found through Glaukopidos.)

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Jade Warrior

"Do you love me?" asks Tommi Eronen on the big screen. Nothing new here – a Finnish man whining about his love again. But this time we are in ancient China, the actress is Zhang Jingchu, and the couple has just had a dance-like fantasy duel.

The film is called Jade Warrior. It is an ambitious combination of themes from the Finnish national Kalevala and Chinese mythology, and tells the story in the style of Wuxia – Chinese warrior films."

Read more in the Helsingin Sanomat or watch the Jade Warrior trailer.


(Actually, you should do both. And if you have seen the movie already, please leave a comment and let me know if you liked it.)

Sampo
Sampo

The Gematriculator

"The Gematriculator is a service that uses the infallible methods of Gematria developed by Mr. Ivan Panin to determine how good or evil a web site or a text passage is."

(Found through Technoccult.)

This site is certified 68% GOOD by the Gematriculator

Cardiectomies all around

"Oh man, it’s just awful what they did to one another, you know, chewing their fingers off, cutting your eyelids off and you lips, ripping your tongue out, hanging you up and stabbing you in the genitals, I mean, just horrific. Putting you up as a living target in the field like a firing range, firing arrows at you. At least we had our guys running when they were doing that. They used to just tie them up on boards and like, “hey, I think I can hit him right in the heart!” So they’d be doing target practice on real targets."

Mel Gibson talks about his new religious slasher flick, Apocalypto.


Ah Puch
Ah Puch

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

You gotta know when to Golem

Bart: Krusty, what's that monster?
Krusty: It's the Golem of Prague! Legendary defender of the Jewish people. Like Alan Dershwitz, but with a conscience. I kid, Alan, we're friends.

The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XVII airs Sunday, Nov. 5th at 8 p.m. on FOX.