Ghost Sex?

There's a new craze going around, and by "craze" I mean "something two different celebrities have mentioned that the press reported on." Apparently said celebrities have had sex with ghosts. Even though paranormal investigators have found even less evidence for this possibility than they have for the existence of ghosts in the first place, these are celebrities making anecdotal claims. Of course they need to be taken seriously! Furthermore, these claims must also represent a trend. You know, because allegedly trendy people are making them!

Increasing numbers of ‘spectrophiliacs’ are reportedly ‘visualising’ sexual experiences with saucy spirits. Actress Natasha Blasick caused quite the stir among professionals recently when she made the controversial claim that she has had sex with ghosts on multiple occasions, swearing that the experiences were ‘really, really pleasurable’.

She said: “It was fun. I think ever since I was a child I always wanted to know if there is anything more to this world, I was always asking the questions and I think this made me feel kind of reassured that there is something more than what we can see with the naked eye. It gave me comfort, support and love.”

But the Paranormal Activity 2 star isn’t the first of her peers to report antics with a spirit. Singer Ke$ha reported her naughty nookie with an incubus last year, claiming the romp inspired the track Supernatural which was a hit for the star in 2012. Ke$ha believed her experience was an opportunity to engage with the supernatural in ‘a sexy way’, and assured fans that she was very open to such an experience.

The article correctly points out these experiences are most likely the result of sleep paralysis, during which the brain is neither fully asleep nor fully awake and still partially in a dream state. It would be easy to test for, too; a simple brain scan would do the trick, as it has a recognizable brainwave signature. Sleep paralysis is generally caused by sleep apnea, in which the airway is restricted during sleep causing the individual to partially wake throughout the night.

The vast majority of people find sleep paralysis frightening and not at all fun, and apnea is easily treated by wearing a CPAP machine during the night that increases the air pressure into the lungs and prevents airway obstructions. I will say, though, that if this were happening to me and it was as enjoyable as these two claim, I'll freely admit that I would put off getting that CPAP as long as possible.

Isaac Newton, Esotericist

It's relatively well-known among occultists that Isaac Newton was one of the last prominent thinkers who approached the natural world in the holistic manner of the "Renaissance man," studying both its physical and spiritual aspects. Newton wrote detailed expositions of the Book of Revelation and performed alchemical experiments in addition to his better-known work with gravitation, motion, and optics. Wired has an interview up with Sarah Dry, the author of a new book that delves into Newton's esoteric interests.

Even in his lifetime, Newton was hailed as an eminent scientist and mathematician of unparalleled genius. But Newton also studied alchemy and religion. He wrote a forensic analysis of the Bible in an effort to decode divine prophecies. He held unorthodox religious views, rejecting the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

After his death, Newton’s heir, John Conduitt, the husband of his half-niece Catherine Barton, feared that one of the fathers of the Enlightenment would be revealed as an obsessive heretic. And so for hundreds of years few people saw his work. It was only in the 1960s that some of Newton’s papers were widely published.

The story of Newton’s writing and how it has survived to the modern day is the subject of a new book, The Newton Papers: The Strange and True Odyssey of Isaac Newton’s Manuscripts. Author Sarah Dry traces their mysterious and precarious history and reveals both the lucky twists and purposeful turns that kept the papers safe.

Newton is a classic case of the "Enlightenment" being somewhat less than enlightened. Rather than admit that one of the greatest scientists in all of history viewed the world in way that did not necessarily separate matter and spirit into two completely distinct domains, Newton's heirs and supporters chose instead to publish and make available only his work in the physical sciences. The idea that a holistic approach to understanding the universe might have contributed to his genius and revolutionary scientific insight was thus allowed to fall by the wayside.

Roman Catholic Church Seeks Exorcists

It sounds like the Roman Catholic Church wants to get in on more of the exorcism action. At a recent conference in Rome, 250 more priests were trained in the ancient art of casting out the devil. It only makes sense that the denomination that preserved the Rite of Exorcism from antiquity would never leave it to the likes of the Teen Exorcist Squad, who make doing battle with the forces of evil look a little too much like a day at the mall. But the reasoning of the conference organizers leaves something to be desired. Apparently, they believe that some substantial portion of non-religious people practice magick.

The conference, “Exorcism and Prayers of Liberation”, has also attracted psychiatrists, sociologists, doctors and criminologists in what the Church called a “multi-disciplinary” approach to exorcisms.

Giuseppe Ferrari, from GRIS, a Catholic research group that organised the conference, said there was an ever growing need for priests to be trained to perform exorcisms because of the increasing number of lay people tempted to dabble in black magic, paganism and the occult.

“We live in a disenchanted society, a secularised world that thought it was being emancipated, but where religion is being thrown out, the window is being opened to superstition and irrationality,” said Mr Ferrari.

The abandonment of religion “inevitably leads people to ask questions about the existence of evil and its origins”, he told Adnkronos, an Italian news agency. About 250 priests were trained as exorcists in Italy, but many more were needed, the conference organisers claimed.

All this shows me is that Ferrari doesn't know any actual secular atheists. What's so silly about his statements is that hardly any of the atheists I know even believe in the paranormal, let alone practice occultism, and most occultists I know are religious in some fashion. Often they're Thelemites or Pagans of some sort (and to be fair, Paganism does get a mention up there), but a few of them are even Christian. It's hard to see how Ferrari could have missed that if he spends any time on the Internet. The most vocal atheists are so smug about how rational and free of superstition they are that they would never cast a spell to save their lives - or for that matter have anything to do with an exorcist.

Poor Oppressed Christians Just Don't Get It

Many news sites are up in arms over last week's Supreme Court ruling in the case of Town of Greece, NY v. Galloway, which allowed the town to continue beginning legislative meetings with prayers performed by volunteer chaplains. What some of the "sky is falling" headlines fail to mention is that, as I mentioned in a recent discussion on Facebook, nothing about the law of the land has actually changed.

In the case of Marsh v. Chambers in 1983, the Supreme Court ruled "legislative prayer" a protected class of speech so long as it did not consist of "advancing or disparaging a particular religion." So such prayers have officially been allowed for more than thirty years. In fact, this latest ruling did add a further restriction not found in the one from 1983 - that the selection of prayers could not discriminate against minority faiths.

The town's practice of opening its town board meetings with a prayer offered by members of the clergy does not violate the Establishment Clause when the practice is consistent with the tradition long followed by Congress and state legislatures, the town does not discriminate against minority faiths in determining who may offer a prayer, and the prayer does not coerce participation with non-adherents.

Prior to 2007 the town of Greece allowed only Christian chaplains to deliver prayers, and if that were still the case the court likely would have ruled against them. However, in 2007 the town revised the practice and began including some members of minority religions, even though the majority were still Christian. That's nonetheless a hard sell to overturn in an establishment clause case, as most of the religious denominations in the town are Christian and members of minority religions who want to be included in the rotation can be.

In fact, in an ideal world, I think that this is a fine state of affairs so long as it indeed does not discriminate against minority religions or atheists. But the problem with that, as usual, is the Poor Oppressed Christians. Even before the ruling was released, they predictably objected because that further restriction meant that they might have to sit through prayers they don't believe in - you know, like members of minority religions and atheists have to do all the damn time. But the Poor Oppressed Christians are apparently special snowflakes who can't bear to endure any statement of religious belief not their own.

More Creationist Ignorance

With every episode of the new incarnation of "Cosmos" with Neil deGrasse Tyson, creationist organization Answers in Genesis (AiG) releases yet another embarrassingly ignorant response. The latest "controversy" - if it can be called that - is over the oxygen levels that previously existed on Earth. Scientists have shown quite convincingly that long ago oxygen levels were much higher by performing experiments such as testing bubbles of ancient atmosphere preserved in amber, but Answers in Genesis was having none of that. Predictably, they issued a statement questioning the scientific evidence, even going so far as to describe it as "dogmatic."

At the start of the episode, Tyson describes what the early earth was like and its oxygen levels, and discusses some rather large insects that were able to thrive because of the massive amounts of oxygen on the planet. AiG says:

"Actually the notion that atmospheric oxygen levels were higher (estimated at 31–35 percent compared to our 21 percent, not really 'almost twice') has not been demonstrated. But high levels of oxygen can be toxic, and not all insects preserved with these giants were giants. Biologists are not certain why some insects grew so large and investigation is ongoing."

What makes this so funny is not only how wrong they are—scientists do know why these bugs grew so large (hint: it’s oxygen)—but the only things AiG links to are more pages inside of AiG; they don’t use actual peer-reviewed studies to back up their claims. In essence they are saying it’s true because they say it’s true. This is called circular reasoning. They even go so far as to call scientific claims about the earth’s oxygen levels dogmatic:

"One cannot be dogmatic about whether the pre-Flood atmosphere differed from today’s. However, we need not invoke high oxygen levels or evolution to explain giant insects."

No, "dogmatic" doesn't mean what they think it means. Now I do realize that Answers in Genesis has no choice but to spin this as hard as they can, because their young-Earth version of creationism is probably the least scientifically tenable model of the universe out there. But I do find it kind of amusing that years ago I heard of another creationist group claiming that the reason carbon dating was wrong was because the oxygen level in the atmosphere used to be higher. So apparently Answers in Genesis replaces complete ignorance about how radioactive decay works with complete ignorance about atmospheric science. It's hard to say which is worse.

Oklahoma Satanic Monument Takes Shape

The Satanic Temple is moving forward with the creation of its monument to Satan intended for the Oklahoma Capitol grounds. For those not familiar with the controversy, Oklahoma recently passed a law allowing religious displays on public property, and promptly erected a monument of the Ten Commandments. The Satanic Temple rightly pointed out that according to the Constitution, allowing religious displays of any sort means that the right to do so must be extended to all religious groups and in that spirit proposed their monument.

Now the group has gone ahead and hired a sculptor to create the molds that will be used to cast the statue, pictured above. It looks great, and I expect the eventual sculpture will be of similar quality. While it's true that Satan and Baphomet are completely different concepts and it might be nice to see an acknowledgement of that, this is more a political statement than any sort of magical operation. In popular culture something sort of like Levi's Baphomet is what people think of when they imagine Satan, so I expect that's why the temple went with it.

The statue is a direct response to the state's installation of a Ten Commandments monument outside the Capitol in 2012. State Representative Mike Ritze paid for the controversial statue with his own money, and therefore it was considered a donation and OK to place on government property. Following that line of reasoning, the Satanic Temple submitted a formal application for their monument.

As Trait Thompson of the Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission told CNN last December, “Individuals and groups are free to apply to place a monument or statue or artwork.” The applications are then approved or rejected by the Commission. Unfortunately, the state has placed a halt on issuing permits for any other monuments until a lawsuit filed by the ACLU against Ritze’s Commandments monument is settled.

Nonetheless, the Satanists are building this thing, and I was offered an early peek at the work in progress by Temple spokesperson Lucien Greaves. Greaves told me he has received numerous threats from people who want to attack the sculpture, but that he “wouldn’t expect these outraged and nearly insensible reactionaries to actually know how to assault a bronze monument without severely hurting themselves in the process.”

Still, he’s not taking any chances. The Temple is building a mold of the sculpture so they can pop these things out like evil, terribly expensive action figures whenever they need a new one.

Own a Haunted House!

If you happen to be shopping for a house in the Chicago area, check out this listing. For a mere $159,000 you can own a 5-bedroom, 4960 square foot mansion complete with an actual four-story tower, perfect for setting up an oratory. The Hiram B. Scutt Mansion in Joliet, IL was built in 1882 in the Second Empire style, and remains a single-family home rather than having been converted into a duplex or apartments. Also, according to Huffington Post, the house is reputed to be haunted, which explains the low price.

The home has something of a dark history, however, and some say it is haunted. In 2004, a 19-year-old man named Steven Jenkins was fatally shot during a party in the home. A few years later, a John Wilkes Booth impersonator named Seth Magosky bought the home and died suddenly there in 2007, just six months after he began work on turning the mansion into a Victorian museum, Patch's Joseph Hosey reports.

Real estate agent Maria C. Cronin told Patch an energy reader she had come to the home said it was not haunted, but paranormal investigators who have flocked to the mansion over the years would likely disagree. One paranormal group claims the spirits of children, as well as the home's two original owners, can be encountered there.

Spiritual observer and psychic reader Edward Shanahan also wrote in 2010 on his Chicago Paranormal and Spiritual blog that the mansion, which also came to be known as "Barb Villa," is very haunted and pointed to compelling videos from multiple paranormal groups as alleged proof.

I've owned two houses from the 1880's including my current residence, built in 1886, and I've never come across anything in either of them resembling ghostly activity. Of course, the first thing I do when I buy a house is set up a temple and start doing my daily practices there, so that could have something to do with it, but I still find myself a little disappointed about it now and then. I imagine that for readers of Augoeides, the mansion's haunted reputation is something of a bonus. It drives the price way down, all because of events that are either made up or easily dealt with by practicing magicians.

Another Pyramid Mystery Solved

There have been many theories proposed to explain how the Egyptians were able to move the enormous stones used to construct the pyramids. In the last few decades it has been discovered that much of Egyptian technology employed two specific components: sand and water. With the Nile River, the Mediterranean Sea, and the North African desert nearby, the Egyptians had access to plenty of both.

First, it was discovered that the secret to erecting gigantic obelisks was to lay the obelisk on the ground, dig the hole into which it would stand, and then start piling sand under the far end. Once the slope is high enough, the obelisk slides into place. A second piece of "pyramid tech" is the water saw that we now know was used to cut the stones. By passing a circular blade through a trough of water, the saw can reach much higher speeds without overheating. In both of these cases, it's unlikely that the aliens had anything do with it.

Recently a group of scientists worked out the method used to move the stones across the desert, and it's no big surprise that the trick once more involves sand and water. Illustrations like the one above clearly depict pyramid stones and large stone monuments being transported on what look like giant sleds, but experimenters found that building a similar sled and just putting a pyramid stone on it didn't work. The sand "bermed up" in front of the sled, slowing it down to the point where it became extremely difficult to move.

The trick, as it turns out, was water. By wetting the sand to the proper level, not only will it stop collecting in front of the sled, but the force necessary to slide it along is also greatly reduced. This friction reduction was far more dramatic than experimenters expected, making it quite feasible that the stones were moved exactly as depicted in ancient Egyptian illustrations.