Happy Saint Patrick's Day Everypony!
Not much to say but The Wild Hunt did a great article on St. Patrick and the Snakes Myth.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
LYRA GO BRAGH!!!
Happy Saint Patrick's Day Everypony!
Not much to say but The Wild Hunt did a great article on St. Patrick and the Snakes Myth.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Kony 2012
Kony 2012
Bronies for Good's current project is also focused on this through helping a clinic in Uganda through Operation: Seeds of Kindness.
http://broniesforgood.org/?page_id=485
http://derpyhoovesnews.com/contribute-music-and-seed-kindness/
Pulled up a few links for some info dumping:
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START's Page on the LRA
START's Page on Joseph Kony
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Congressional Research Service: The Lord's Resistance Army - The U.S. Response (PDF)
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FAS Profile of LRA
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Wiki: Lord's Resistance Army
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International Crisis Group - The Lord's Resistance Army: End Game? (PDF)
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Miami Herald: 2 survivors provide intimate look inside Lord's Resistance Army
"The Bible says: 'If you are going to do good, do good all your life. If you are going to do evil, do evil all your life.' "
"I chose evil, and that's what I'm always going to do," said Kony, according to Daba's account.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/06/2678199/2-survivors-provide-intimate-look.html
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I have to say though that the prospects for this campaign aren't that good without really ether the US giving more hardware and intelligence tools to the Ugandan government or lots of US troops on the ground. In many respects this is a lot like the the Darfur crisis (in fact the LRA was a belligerent in that conflict supported by Sudanese government and committing atrocities against civilians at the behest of the Sudanese Government) where it's a horrible situation but doesn't effect the US enough to risk American soldier's lives against insurgents in a conflict that could end up deeply bogged down like the conflicts in Iraq & Afghanistan. I support the effort to get the US to help stopping Kony but he's a man with an army and lieutenants. As mentioned the the Miami Herald article he knows it's success or death (due to his War Crimes) so he isn't going to end things peacefully and nether will the others in the LRA power structure.
We really need to support this to get more pressure/attention on the situation and support for the work aiding civilians but the LRA isn't going to go down because of posters, Facebook posts, nor humanitarian aid. Nor is this without entanglements for the US, because while Sudan has officially turned against the LRA it probably still has a number of supporters in their government. In short I suggest supporting this but to have realistic hopes for the campaign.
We have to do better, but we have to also be realistic about it.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Derpy Reality Tunnels!
Ok, I need to stop now, I'm writing things like this reflecting on the hatred raised in the Derpy thing and before with the Ditzy Doo Vs. Derpy arguments and a few other things such as current American Society in general:
*In response to someone complaining about how the parents of the current generation were possibly more tolerant and inclusive (which is debatable on some matters)*
They also tended to indulge their children's wishes, and with the communications revolution these grown up children who are used to getting their own way and shaping everything can extend their reach over their own children. Also a major factor is the rise of more and more hard and reinforced reality tunnels by different subcultures in the US breaking off from the mainstream after the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War with the calls to a united vision and front becoming less and less important in the loss of a major threat. With the loss of the Soviet Threat there was less resistance to the segmentation of society and the communications revolution of the 1980s & 1990s only accelerated this trend allowing subcultures to break off more and more from the mainstream with their own news, services, and other facilities which are completely controlled by the subcultures and which strictly reinforce and amplify their own reality tunnels. Take a look at right wing Christians and the massive 'alternative' infrastructure they have created with 'Christian Media', 'Christian Businesses' (indexed here in Columbus through the 'Christian Blue Pages' and the little 'Christian Business' signs I keep noticing popping up), and 'Christian' alternatives to almost everything mainstream (the mainstream being greatly scorned).
The great effect of all this is that people are more intolerant to things coming in from outside of their own reality tunnel and the things that poke in are also increasingly drowned out by the drumbeat of the subcultural beliefs. The sheer strength of the greatly reinforced beliefs in their own reality tunnel make the follower view them as kind of a 'Master view' that is inherently correct and should dominate the 'weaker' others and should override their signals by force if necessary. This has resulted in the massive disconnect between bronies and the mainstream audience and the internet wars of words over rather stupid things like this. Each subculture has become their own little Stalins attempting to airbrush everything counter to their views out of the photos of reality.
*In response to someone complaining about how the parents of the current generation were possibly more tolerant and inclusive (which is debatable on some matters)*
They also tended to indulge their children's wishes, and with the communications revolution these grown up children who are used to getting their own way and shaping everything can extend their reach over their own children. Also a major factor is the rise of more and more hard and reinforced reality tunnels by different subcultures in the US breaking off from the mainstream after the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War with the calls to a united vision and front becoming less and less important in the loss of a major threat. With the loss of the Soviet Threat there was less resistance to the segmentation of society and the communications revolution of the 1980s & 1990s only accelerated this trend allowing subcultures to break off more and more from the mainstream with their own news, services, and other facilities which are completely controlled by the subcultures and which strictly reinforce and amplify their own reality tunnels. Take a look at right wing Christians and the massive 'alternative' infrastructure they have created with 'Christian Media', 'Christian Businesses' (indexed here in Columbus through the 'Christian Blue Pages' and the little 'Christian Business' signs I keep noticing popping up), and 'Christian' alternatives to almost everything mainstream (the mainstream being greatly scorned).
The great effect of all this is that people are more intolerant to things coming in from outside of their own reality tunnel and the things that poke in are also increasingly drowned out by the drumbeat of the subcultural beliefs. The sheer strength of the greatly reinforced beliefs in their own reality tunnel make the follower view them as kind of a 'Master view' that is inherently correct and should dominate the 'weaker' others and should override their signals by force if necessary. This has resulted in the massive disconnect between bronies and the mainstream audience and the internet wars of words over rather stupid things like this. Each subculture has become their own little Stalins attempting to airbrush everything counter to their views out of the photos of reality.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Some thoughts on Fallout: Equestria & Fallout Equestria Project Horizons
I wrote a huge Wall of Text™ in a forum post about Fallout: Equestria and Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons and I might as well as post it here as it sums up why I like the fics a lot (Warning: some fairly minor spoilers here, original had a few major ones but they have been edited out as there is no hiding of spoilers here) - tl;dr version: Me probably over-analyzing a fanfic like the pretentious jackass I am.
Meh. I'll admit that F:OE could have probably been cut by a lot - but a lot of those extra bits are fun! I do think you may be missing the point of the fic though.
While there is a lot of grimdark, you also see occasional bits of whimsy and good as you go along in the story. Mostly these good bits are seen in a few of the memory orbs showing pre-war Equestria and some bits in the present which show hope for the future. A large part of the story is about how Equestria and the ponies eventually fell little by little (often through good intentions) into a horrible uncaring and hateful society. The other large part is finding the good that is deep down and going on to try and help make things better despite mistakes because giving up to wallow in one's self solves nothing and can in fact make the situation worse. One has to dare to care, so to speak, taking others' feelings into consideration, and doing what is right even if it is unpopular. Fallout seems to be kind of used as a metaphorical window dressing representing the utter break down of society to tell the true meat of the tale and it diverges heavily from Fallout's feel because of its themes (and also because the world of Equestria has a lot of fantasy in its roots since Faust used LotR, Narnia, mythology, and a few fantasy novels in originally creating the setting. One can't really get rid of them with out tossing out the core of Equestria as well).
I think it caught on because it is kind of a zeitgeist that mirrored how a good number of Bronies felt; the world is uncaring and in a metaphorical shambles (what with the economic situation and exploding political tensions) and this fic presented a character who rises above the ever-present sense of anomie (represented by the wasteland) and is inspired by visions of the old pre-conflict Equestria (our ponies) to try to restore the good using the Mane Six and pre-corruption Equestria as a model (for some reason a song is coming to mind here :p). Along the way LittlePip sees how good intentions and misunderstandings led to the corruption and destruction of old Equestrian society and learns from them and he also learns that even if one makes mistakes and fails causing hurt then one shouldn't give up but instead one should try harder to not make the mistake again in the future. Additionally, one should try to make up for the damage by doing good and continue by concentrating on the good that is inside us all.
As for the side fics: I've only really read Project Horizons which has similar themes but tends to have a more limited and personal scope. All of the mane characters have deep psychological wounds and the core focus is not on the individual vs. the sense of anomie in society (although that is still a major theme), the focus instead is more on dealing with one's own personal trauma and emotions (punctuated by light-hearted moments of awesome comic relief like the 'Queen Whiskey' bit). One deals with the emotional storms by finding strength in oneself through knowing one's self and the support of others. Another major theme is the dangers of repressing hurt, pain, and bad emotions until they explode and cause harm. On a certain level, I kind of find reading it a little therapeutic and kind of identify with Blackjack - although I've experienced nowhere near the sheer level of trauma she goes through - Blackjack is often the 'strong one' in public for others (heck, a former roommate openly said I was the person who most 'had their shit together' and I've ended up playing therapist to a bunch of people) but deep down inside Blackjack has a fair share of repressed guilt and trauma. Repressing her guilt, emotions, and trauma nearly destroys Blackjack (several times) and it is only when she starts to know herself and accept the guilt, emotions, and trauma that she can begin to heal with the help of her friends.
Meh. I'll admit that F:OE could have probably been cut by a lot - but a lot of those extra bits are fun! I do think you may be missing the point of the fic though.
While there is a lot of grimdark, you also see occasional bits of whimsy and good as you go along in the story. Mostly these good bits are seen in a few of the memory orbs showing pre-war Equestria and some bits in the present which show hope for the future. A large part of the story is about how Equestria and the ponies eventually fell little by little (often through good intentions) into a horrible uncaring and hateful society. The other large part is finding the good that is deep down and going on to try and help make things better despite mistakes because giving up to wallow in one's self solves nothing and can in fact make the situation worse. One has to dare to care, so to speak, taking others' feelings into consideration, and doing what is right even if it is unpopular. Fallout seems to be kind of used as a metaphorical window dressing representing the utter break down of society to tell the true meat of the tale and it diverges heavily from Fallout's feel because of its themes (and also because the world of Equestria has a lot of fantasy in its roots since Faust used LotR, Narnia, mythology, and a few fantasy novels in originally creating the setting. One can't really get rid of them with out tossing out the core of Equestria as well).
I think it caught on because it is kind of a zeitgeist that mirrored how a good number of Bronies felt; the world is uncaring and in a metaphorical shambles (what with the economic situation and exploding political tensions) and this fic presented a character who rises above the ever-present sense of anomie (represented by the wasteland) and is inspired by visions of the old pre-conflict Equestria (our ponies) to try to restore the good using the Mane Six and pre-corruption Equestria as a model (for some reason a song is coming to mind here :p). Along the way LittlePip sees how good intentions and misunderstandings led to the corruption and destruction of old Equestrian society and learns from them and he also learns that even if one makes mistakes and fails causing hurt then one shouldn't give up but instead one should try harder to not make the mistake again in the future. Additionally, one should try to make up for the damage by doing good and continue by concentrating on the good that is inside us all.
As for the side fics: I've only really read Project Horizons which has similar themes but tends to have a more limited and personal scope. All of the mane characters have deep psychological wounds and the core focus is not on the individual vs. the sense of anomie in society (although that is still a major theme), the focus instead is more on dealing with one's own personal trauma and emotions (punctuated by light-hearted moments of awesome comic relief like the 'Queen Whiskey' bit). One deals with the emotional storms by finding strength in oneself through knowing one's self and the support of others. Another major theme is the dangers of repressing hurt, pain, and bad emotions until they explode and cause harm. On a certain level, I kind of find reading it a little therapeutic and kind of identify with Blackjack - although I've experienced nowhere near the sheer level of trauma she goes through - Blackjack is often the 'strong one' in public for others (heck, a former roommate openly said I was the person who most 'had their shit together' and I've ended up playing therapist to a bunch of people) but deep down inside Blackjack has a fair share of repressed guilt and trauma. Repressing her guilt, emotions, and trauma nearly destroys Blackjack (several times) and it is only when she starts to know herself and accept the guilt, emotions, and trauma that she can begin to heal with the help of her friends.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Dumézil's Land of Little Ponies (Crane Chatter)
My article comparing Equestria to Indo-European Societies is in the most recent copy of Crane Chatter ( pp. 20-23 ). It spun off from an email on our listserv and to be truthful I'm not that happy with it but I had a deadline - I'll probably make an expanded/updated version on here at some point.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
The Pony Marks Divination System
Scroll down to the first picture if you don't want to read a bunch of magical mumbo-jumbo.
Towards The Study of Pony Magic
Recently, I've been working on a side project to look into creating a magical system based on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (MLP:FiM). Why? Pretty much just because it's a fun exercise and I consider myself to be a fan of the show. The show itself has great amount of well built mythos and systems within it starting from the opening myth of the battle between the sister goddesses of the sun and the moon which happened a thousand years before the setting of the show. The show features a good deal of elements in its story and setting that are reflected in many mythical systems (see my article on mythology and the opening 2 part episode) and is a fertile ground for use as a magical paradigm.
Magic, Shmagic!
In the recent era postmodern systems have been en vogue. Modern magic is no exception, noticing that very different magical systems with very different assumptions tended to work and what seems to be key is belief in the system. A number of modern magi have begun applying postmodern ideas to magic seeing the useful systems as internally consistent symbol sets.
For an example of how this works, let's look at the concept of Khaos – in the context of works like Hesiod's Theogony this describes the seething undifferentiated 'no thing' that is the primal state of the universe – from it all things in universe (both spiritual and material) arose. It is still there, on the deepest level everything still exists as Khaos, and all is connected like Indra's Net of Jewels. It is said of Indra's Net that when one looked into one jewel one also saw the refection of all the others in the net illustrating that within all pieces there was a reflection of the whole (a Holographic Universe).
Thus we have the Hermetic axiom 'as above, so below', the magical idea that the macrocosm (the universe at large) is reflected in the microcosm (our selves/minds), and thus we can make changes upon the microcosmic scale to get results within the large macrocosm provided that one is in right mode of consciousness.
What we do by using different symbol sets is that we are using different interfaces to understand and work with this Khaos (which is far beyond our limited understandings in any case). Now as long as they are internally consistent, it has been shown that the choice of symbol set matters little and results have been gotten even through use of fictional systems using pop culture (in fact I'd like to recommend Taylor Ellwood's great book on using magic based on fiction and Pop Culture: Pop Culture Magic).
Alternatively, of course, one may view this and other Divination systems through the lens of the physiological model in that one is contacting just contacting and working with one's own individual subconscious.
How would Ponies divine?
My first real work here has been a divination system after having seen a MLP:FiM Tarot spread and some people making pony tarot cards. But obviously this might not be a divination system which would exist within the show's world itself.
Let's say we lived in the world that the land of Equestrian inhabits... What would be used for divination? Horary Astrology would probably be of importance given the high amount of attention given the study of the heavens in MLP:FiM as seen in the large telescope in the capitol of Equestria Canterlot, the appearance of several ponies with astronomy related cutie marks seen in Canterlot (S01:E26 – The Best Night Ever), The stars aligning to allow the escape of Nightmare Moon from being sealed in the moon (S01:E01 – The Mare in the Moon), and Twilight Sparkle's special interest in the study of the skies.
Another possibility is scrying but this and horary astrology lack pony flair and require more than good bit of preparation, study, and practice before becoming very useable. But what other systems? Well when we look at the text in one of the books that Twilight is reading in S01:E01 – The Mare in the Moon we see that the writing system is composed of hieroglyphic signs and here we find a good basis for creating a divination system as historically writing systems such as the Runes, the Ogham, and the Greek Alphabet have been used as divination systems – the fact that this writing system contains a limited symbol set with easily understandable pictures makes it even easier to create a usable divination system especially if we augment it with a few extra symbols related to the show's mythos.
Below is a picture of my current 'beta' version of Pony Marks after playing with it for over a month (large size):
Meanings (left to right top to Bottom)
The Writing Marks:
The Foal or the Ass/mule – Ignorance, Foolishness, Stubbornness
(Lacking a visible mane or tail and large ears this is probably a foal or an Ass both of which are treated as foolish and/or ignorant in Equestria)
The Unicorn Horn – Power, Strength, Willpower
(The Magical powers of the Unicorn in MLP:FiM radiate from their horns)
The Tail – Retreat, Defeat
(As the expression turn tail and run!)
The Crystal Ball – Knowledge, Understanding, Wisdom, Vision, Clear Seeing
(Crystal Balls – are used primarily as scrying implements to gain knowledge)
The Spiral – Growth, Returning to the Center
(In the series part of Zacora's Cutie mark is a spiral and she is a hermit who apparently spends a good bit of time meditating)
The Star – Time, External Influences
(Stars of the same style were shown in the drawing converging to free Nightmare Moon)
The Horseshoe – Protection, a Journey, Good Fortune
(Horseshoes protect a horse's hooves and are indicative of travel – we also see horseshoes as good fortune)
The Lightning Bolt – A Quick & Sudden Change.
(Lighting appears and disappears quickly bring changes through it's power)
The Crescent Moon – The Mind, Mental States, Imagination, Magic
(The moon is traditionally connected with the mind (especially the subconscious mind) and magic).
The Unicorn Head – Nobility, Purity, Grace, Honor, Integrity.
(Here we draw on how we view the unicorn).
The Cosmic Marks
The Celestial Sun – Order, Control, Righteousness, Victory
(Here we draw upon the traits of the immortal sun goddess and ruler of Equestria in her form as Princess Celestia – supreme ruler of the cosmos who in the opening myth defeated Nightmare Moon to preserve harmony and became Celestia).
The Dark of the Moon – Chaos, Destruction, Jealousy, Darkness, Hate
(Here we draw upon the dark side of the Princess Luna – who through her jealousy of her elder sister became the demonic Nightmare Moon and sought to envelop the world in everlasting night).
The Elemental Marks
(based upon the medallions each pony of the mane cast received when the powers of the elements joined with them. The meanings are based upon their elemental names and their embodiment in the mane cast)
The Element of Kindness (Butterfly) – Kindness, Gentleness, Softness, Healing, Delicate
(Fluttershy)
The Element of Loyalty (Decorative Lightning Bolt) – Loyalty, Courage, Bravery, Swift Action, Fiery
(Rainbow Dash)
The Element of Honest (Apple) – Honest, Hard Work, Grounded, Earthy
(Applejack)
The Element of Laughter (Balloon) – Laughter, Fun, Folly, Random, Light Hearted, Airy
(Pinkie Pie)
The Element of Magic (Hexagram) – Magic, Harmony, Friendship, Understanding, Wisdom, Knowledge, Power
(Twilight Sparkle)
The Element of Generosity (Diamond) – Generosity, Hospitality, Wealth, Abundance, Creativity/Fertility, Graceful.
(Rarity)
Use of the Pony Marks
Warning: Here be more magic babble again.
In practice this systems works very much like the casting of the Runes or of the Ogham. These symbols are placed upon tokens and then placed into a bag. The Diviner then clears his mind utterly except for the question being sought and reaches into the bag to draw out the token or tokens (depending on the layout one is using) to yield an omen. One mark might be drawn for a simple question or a daily omen and for analyzing a situation multiple marks could be drawn to represent past, present, and future influences upon the situation (most Rune and Ogham layouts and methods will work).
What is most important in any use of this or any other divination system is trusting in the system and allowing your mind to be at rest so you can tap into the cosmic Khaos or to communicate with a chosen deity, spirit, or thoughtform.
An Example Three Mark Draw
As an example let's ask how Season 2 of MLP:FiM will turn out with a three mark draw for clarity:
The Element of Laughter, The Unicorn Horn, And the Unicorn Head.
Putting it all together - Season Two of Friendship is Magic will be full of fun & laughter, the show will continue to be powerful with a large fan following, and will be very well made.
A few recommended works for Pony Magic Studies:
Taylor Ellwood's Pop Culture Magic
Grant Morrison's Pop Magic!
Phil Hine's Condensed Chaos: An Introduction to Chaos Magic (Early Smaller Version viewable online)
Patrick Dunn's Postmodern Magic: The Art of Magic in the Information Age
William G. Gray's Inner Traditions of Magic (a version on Scribd)
Kitsula Tsulakala is an initiate of the Ancient, Great, and Powerful Order of Trixie which he totally did not just make up mere seconds ago. =P
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