#A Handbook of Natural Philosophy

[uwmspeccoll]

Science Saturday

Here are some wood engravings and a chromolithograph from a new addition to our Historical Curriculum Collection, two titles bound in one volume: A Handbook of Natural Philosophy and Elements of Sound, Light, and Heat, both by American educators William James Rolfe (1827-1910) and Joseph Anthony Gillet (1837-1908), published in 1868 as part of the 6-volume Cambridge Course of Physics series by Boston educational publisher Woolworth, Ainsworth, & Co. with the second title also published in New York by A. S. Barnes & Co.

The chromolithograph of the spectrograph was printed by the Boston German-American lithographer Augustus Meisel (1824-1885). The wood engravings (probably metal plates produced from the original blocks) depict, from the top, a hydraulic press, a vacuum jar, a stationary steam engine, and a steam locomotive. The last image depicts the interaction of waves:

It represents the forms produced by the intersection of direct and reflected water-waves in a vessel. The point of disturbance is marked by the smallest circle in the figure, and is midway between the centre and the circumference. . . . In like manner a great variety of sound-waves may exist together in the air. . . . In this way thousands of waves may be transmitted through the air at the same time without losing their individual character. The same case holds good here as in the case of water-waves; namely, that every particle of air is affected by a motion which is the algebraic sum of all the single motions imparted to it.

View more Science Saturday posts.

View more posts with chromolithographs.

View more posts with wood engravings!

[moonsceptre]

Alchemy & Dreams in Beetlejuice Part 2

As mentioned in the last post, red represents Lydia: the material realm & sulphur. The item which falls next to Astrid's cracked photograph is a molecular structure with a red atom and a green atom. It's already common knowledge that Betelgeuse is green-coded, but I have further proof to support the atom theory.

Alchemists viewed the human body (microcosm) as a reflection of the universe (macrocosm). This suggested that atoms could give insights about human nature. Within this context, consider Rosenkreutz illustration of the Chymical Wedding, where the married couple are holding onto the structure. They're supposed to represent two atoms of the same trigonal planar molecule, because they are of the same element, thus sharing a chemical bond.

Alchemy consists of a mix of chemistry, philosophy, semiotics, and metaphysics, with much of the symbolism used to convey alchemical themes in Beetlejuice.

Before I come back to this, let's talk about...

Otho

Throughout the first movie, Otho is typically associated with black and red. He's often wearing black with either a red tie, red buttons, or red shoes (which mysteriously disappear in a couple scenes only to be replaced by different colour shoes).

Red shoes have long been used in media to represent a metaphorical journey (The Red Shoes (1948), Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), and Hans Christian Andersen's The Red Shoes are a few examples). Need I remind you of one of Tim Burton's favourite movies, The Wizard of Oz?

Otho is the only character other than Lydia who piques interest in the dead. Despite his willingness to exploit them, he is ready to believe in their existence and study the handbook. These visual cues are conveying the character's motives.

Part of the alchemical process are the stages "Rubedo" and "Nigredo". Rubedo is Latin for "redness", the stage of understanding where two opposites have joined and created harmony. Nigredo is Latin for "blackness", the stage of putrefaction or decomposition, thus symbolising the dead. In layman's terms, red and black represent the character's willingness to connect with the dead. The only other character really associated with black and red is Lydia, and that speaks for itself.

Otho is a character who inspired the creation of Rory in the second movie. Within Lydia's psyche, Rory has been manifested from guilt. In the first film, Lydia is almost complicit in helping Otho to exorcise the Maitlands after he makes it clear that he wants to capitalise on the dead. In the second film, Lydia is under Rory's management to capitalise on the dead, and she is trying to make peace with that guilt by trying to help people through exorcisms.

Guilt in dreams is often seen as a manifestation of the unconscious mind's attempt to communicate unresolved internal conflicts. This is where the shadow becomes a central concept in Jungian psychology, referring to the parts of the Self that the conscious mind rejects or ignores. Lydia rejects the traits that Otho and Rory embody, and that is why her reconciliation with Astrid is a manifestation of her own forgiveness.

More on The Chemical Wedding

We talked about the purpose of the Chemical Wedding before, but why is it so relevant to the plot of Beetlejuice? Other than the fact Betelgeuse has fallen in love with Lydia, there is an allegorical reason for why the wedding must take place between these two, and no one else but these two.

A Chemical Wedding is the marriage between the sun and the moon. In alchemical texts they are often depicted as the white queen and the red king, though this has nothing to do with literal gender roles, for we see Lydia herself portrayed as the red king in her parallel with Astrid. It is related to the Anima (the female self) and the Animus (the male self). This is also the marriage between mercury and sulfur, spirit and matter, the dead and the living.

One of the most famous works on the subject of a Chemical Wedding is a Rosicrucian allegory published in 1616 by Christian Rosenkreutz. It describes a mystical journey where the main character must attend a wedding at a mysterious castle. The journey is a symbol of the alchemical process, while the wedding itself represents the final transformative stage.

The story is filled with strange and dreamlike imagery, with many claiming it as a source of German dark romanticism.

Rosenkreuz's allegory actually represents inner transformation of the individual, with marriage being used as a metaphor, insofar as the masculine and feminine halves must be merged together in matrimony to achieve completion within oneself.

"Death and the Maiden" trope is a motif that depicts a woman being taken by Death, as he desires to marry her. It is dire for death to marry his living bride, for he wishes to venture the living world and the underworld with her.

Betelgeuse is the perfect complementary opposite to Lydia, each crafted to embody the other's symbolic missing half. Betelgeuse is the animus; he's loud, provocative, and dead; Lydia is the anima; she's quiet, thoughtful, and alive. The contrast is straightforward and uncomplicated. You could easily spend hours analysing their differences, and you'd still be right—because they are deliberately written as foils to one another.

Looking back at how Otho/Rory represents the shadow of Lydia, we should take into account who guided her through this dream sequence. Our psyche creates these thought-images in our unconscious minds as a means to roleplay scenarios where we have internal conflict. It gives us a chance to psychoanalyse ourselves and try to understand the core of our trauma.

Betelgeuse, within Lydia's dream, is acting as a guide (remember his guide outfit in the first film?). He's constantly appearing to her, influencing her and urging her to face her fears. While he's causing chaos in the way he knows best, he's also showing Lydia the bare truth, and this is especially apparent when it comes to Rory: he tells Lydia she's an enabling codependent and forces Rory to tell the truth about his intentions. Betelgeuse is what Jung would refer to as the Trickster archetype. The Trickster is often seen as a figure that disrupts the status quo and challenges the Ego through chaotic and karmic actions, serving as a profound guide in the process of one's personal development. Think of "Jester's privilege", or The Fool in tarot.

In mythological symbolism, there comes the legend of a scorpion that stung Orion to death (the giant red star "Betelgeuse" sits on Orion's belt). The scorpion was delivered as to snub Orion's pride and teach him a lesson by way of death, because the scorpion is a symbol of death and rebirth. This is the Trickster archetype again, teaching a lesson in a very karmic way. Betelgeuse does the same throughout both movies. Otho, the Deetz, and the Deans are all punished by him in the first film for acting as antagonists against the ghosts of Winter River. Despite this, he also acts as an antagonist himself by punishing the Maitlands, two loving parental figures for Lydia, for getting in the way of his plan to marry her.

"They therefore represent a supreme pair of opposites, not hopelessly divided by logical contradiction but, because of the mutual attraction between them, giving promise of union and actually making it possible. The coniunctio oppositorum engaged the speculations of the alchemists in the form of the ‘Chymical Wedding," — Carl Jung, Psychology & Alchemy

In alchemical tradition, Saturn is associated with the metal lead, which symbolises the starting point of the alchemical work—the Nigredo phase. Alchemy is mostly known as the quest to turn lead into gold, but the allegorical meaning is to refine the Self. Saturn is equated with Cronos in mythology, the father of time, who was portrayed as an old man with a scythe/sickle, similar to the grim reaper, who is associated with the end of one's time. Betelgeuse has time-warping powers and wears time-keeping devices on his wrist, all a microcosm for how we measure eternity.

The whole Alchemical Opus works through THREE stages:

Nigredo (Black Stage): Betelgeuse represents lead and Saturn. Putrefaction.

Albedo (White Stage): Before Lydia summons Betelgeuse and agrees to the marriage, he is wearing a black and white suit. White is added to the mix. Purification.

Rubedo (Red Stage): Lydia is manifested a red wedding dress to finish the ceremony. They completed the alchemical process. Lead is turned into Gold.

In the movie's original wedding scene, found here, at 9:11 on the clock the afterlife creature who marries Lydia and Betelgeuse dissipates into fire, and then the scene ends. 911 in numerology is the number of completion, and is used in occultism to symbolise new beginnings and rebirth.

For this reason, it has been theorised that the wedding vows went through, and the Chemical Wedding was completed.

[y-rhywbeth2]

Lore Compilations (+ this blog's tagging/filter list at the end)

A WIP of a pinned post table of contents to tidy up the blog while I empty my fixations onto it plus a lore accuracy disclaimer (so I don't have to keep typing one), because why not. I like tables of content.

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Disclaimer regarding lore accuracy: If you combine 50 years, 5 editions, 10+ settings, god knows how many novels, and then all the writers who all retcon and contradict each other's work then what you get is a clusterfuck. The lore I show here is compiled from all five editions of the game. You will likely see stuff out there that contradicts some things I say, or stuff I didn't mention/know. That's the lore for you. If you were the Dungeon Master making your own story, your job would be to pick and chose and build your own take on the setting out of it. I, personally, heavily favour older lore. Larian absolutely did this with Baldurs Gate 3 - frankly, I don't think they even know half this lore even exists, and Bioware took some liberties in the original games too. Wizards of the Coast themselves trample D&D into the ground all the time! All D&D is near enough fanfiction built on fanfiction. Therefore, if you find any information useful you may take it, leave it or tweak it to your desire for your own story, because it's D&D lore, and that's how it works.

Disclaimer regarding Larian's canon (and Bioware, and Obsidian): The setting shown in BG3 does not really match up to the setting as presented in sourcebooks (and sometimes novels, previous games, and 'word of god). I'm always talking about the latter and reframing the story and characters within the latter.

Disclaimer regarding asking me for my opinions on how [x] works in canon: I can make an educated guess based on the sourcebooks, but there are many gaps in many places and however educated the guess, unless it comes from a sourcebook, novel, or writer, it's just my own headcanon.

---

TABLE OF CONTENTS [WIP] (I make no promises as to the speed or order at which any of this is produced - and some of these need updating)

Abeir-Toril Why it's called the "Forgotten" Realms

[Some of this is getting revamped at some point] History | Time & Festivals | Lexicon [1] [2] | Languages | Living in Faerûn [1] [?] | Notable Organisations | Magic | | Waterdeep | The Underdark | Geography and Human Cultures

Baldurs Gate: The City #1 | Demographics | Law & Legal System | Aministration & Government | ???

Human Names | Clothes and Fashion | Music | Dating, Sex, Marriage etc [part 1] [part 2] |

Religion How religion works in the Realms, the different pantheons in the world and then individual posts dedicated to the gods as individuals, how and why to worship them and how their churches function

Religion | Priesthoods and Temples | Deities

Death and the Afterlife Dying | Judgement | Afterlives

Deities in BG3 Shar | Selûne | Bhaal | Mystra | Jergal | Bane | Bane #2 | Bane #3 | Myrkul | Lathander | Kelemvor | Tyr | Helm | Ilmater | Mielikki | Oghma | Tempus | Silvanus | Talos | Corellon | Moradin | Yondalla | Garl Glittergold | Eilistraee | Lolth | Laduguer | Gruumsh | Bahamut | Tiamat | Amodeus |

The rest of the Faerûnian Pantheon Gods of Magic & Knowledge | Nature Deities | Cyric | The Elemental Lords | Good Deities | Evil Deities | Neutral Deities |

Arcane Magic

Public Perception | Types of Mages | The Weave | Specialisations | Obscure types of magic | Elven High Magic | ???

Vampires Feeding | "Biology" | Hierarchy & Powers | Weaknesses & Cures | Psychology

Elves The Complete Book of Elves once said ‘The elves of Toril do not follow the standards of most other worlds,’ which yeah, pretty much. The Player’s Handbook is not necessarily going to be accurate when talking about the Tel’Quessir.

Physiology and quirks | Names & Clans and Houses || Pan-Cultural things: Social life | Time and Age Categories | Homes | Language | Art | Entertainment | Technology || Elven 'Subraces' still a wip || Philosophy and Religion & Pantheons || Half-elves | [WIP]

Drow Culture | Other Drow Cultures

Planars & Planetouched Tieflings | Githyanki | Bhaalspawn | Devils

Dwarves Overview | Culture | Specific Cultures | Magic | Religion | History

Orcs

Hin - That's "halfling", if you're over 3'4" Overview | Names | Culture | Homelands | Religion

Gnomes Culture | Names | Homelands | History | Religion

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Tagging system:

Various lore things that don't go in the larger compilations are tagged lore stuff. Things that aren't lore will get tagged babbling.

For sensitive material, such as if I feel like poking at the various delightful topics presented in the game:

I'll use edgelord hours as the generic "reader discretion advised"

The tag villainous nonsense means Dead Dove Do Not Eat.

the family circle is an extra warning for discussing the themes and subtexts such as those present with Bhaal's cult and the Bhaalspawn: including reproductive horror and sexual abuse, including the incest.

When babbling about my ideas for a World of Darkness AU specifically Vampire the tag is wod shenanigans.

If I feel like posting anything I scribbled ("art"), the tag will be the scribbles

When I'm making posts and being negative or complaining about video games and trivial stuff, it will be filed as: griping.

Whenever I find or consider something new about the Dead Three and/or want to rant and scream insults at Bane again, my tag is the idiot three

When I babble about my characters, I tag it OCs, and the ocs are also tagged by name. So far I've only mentioned Vel

If I don't want to put my babbling about certain characters into the tags, I'll just put the / in front. /astarion, /orin, /gortash, /durge, etc

When I want to babble about stuff happening in my game as I play it, they're tagged playthrough shenanigans. The original games are bg2 playthrough shenanigans.

When I start talking about my oc's romance with Astarion I'll tag it petty murder boyfriends

[dailyanarchistposts]

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Rollo, Toby. “Feral Children: Settler Colonialism, Progress, and the Figure of the Child.” Settler Colonial Studies, June 29, 2016, 1–20. doi:10.1080/2201473X.2016.1199826.

Ruddick, Susan. “The Politics of Affect: Spinoza in the Work of Negri and Deleuze.” Theory, Culture & Society 27, no. 4 (2010): 21–45. doi:10.1177/0263276410372235.

Samaran, Nora. “On Gaslighting.” Dating Tips for the Feminist Man, June 28, 2016. https://norasamaran.com/2016/06/28/on-gaslighting/.

Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. “Paranoid Reading and Reparative Reading, Or, You’re so Paranoid, You Probably Think This Essay Is about You.” In Touching Feeling: Affect, Pedagogy, Performativity, 124–51. Duke University Press, 2003.

Shukaitis, Stevphen. Imaginal Machines: Autonony & Self-Organization in the Revolutions of Everyday Life. New York: Autonomedia, 2009. http://www.minorcompositions.info/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/ImaginalMachines-web.pdf.

Simpson, Leanne. Dancing On Our Turtle’s Back: Stories of Nishnaabeg Re-Creation, Resurgence, and a New Emergence. Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring Press, 2011.

———. Dancing the World into Being: A Conversation with Idle No More’s Leanne Simpson. Interview by Naomi Klein, March 5, 2013. http://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/dancing-the-world-into-being-a-conversation-with-idle-no-more-leanne-simpson.

Simpson, Leanne Betasamosake. “I Am Not a Nation-State | Indigenous Nationhood Movement.” Indigenous Nationhood Movement, November 6, 2013. http://nationsrising.org/i-am-not-a-nation-state/.

———. “Indict the System: Indigenous & Black Connected Resistance.” Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, November 28, 2014. http://leannesimpson.ca/indict-the-system-indigenous-black-connected-resistance/.

———. Interview with Leanne Betasamosake Simpson. Interview by Nick Montgomery and carla bergman. Email, November 2, 2015.

Sitrin, Marina. Everyday Revolutions: Horizontalism and Autonomy in Argentina. London: Zed Books, 2012.

———, ed. Horizontalism: Voices of Popular Power in Argentina. Oakland: AK Press, 2006.

———. Interview with Marina Sitrin. Interview by Nick Montgomery and carla bergman. Email, February 4, 2016.

———. “Occupy Trust: The Role of Emotion in the New Movements.” Cultural Anthropology, February 14, 2013. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/75-occupy-trust-the-role-of-emotion-in-the-new-movements.

Situaciones, Colectivo. 19&20: Notes for a New Social Protagonism. Translated by Nate Holdren and Sebastian Touza. New York: Minor Compositions, 2012.

Smith, Andrea. Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2010.

———. “Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy: Rethinking Women of Colour Organizing.” In The Color of Violence: The Incite! Anthology, edited by INCITE! Women of Colour Against Violence, 66–73. Oakland: South End Press, 2006.

Solnit, Rebecca. A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster. Reprint edition. New York: Penguin Books, 2010.

———. “We Could Be Heroes.” presented at the EMMA Talks, Vancouver, February 17, 2016. http://emmatalks.org/session/rebecca-solnit/.

Spade, Dean. “For Lovers and Fighters.” In We Don’t Need Another Wave: Dispatches from the Next Generation of Feminists, edited by Melody Berger, 28–39. Emeryville: Seal Press, 2006. http://www.makezine.enoughenough.org/newpoly2.html.

———. On Normal Life. Interview by Natalie Oswin, January 15, 2014. http://societyandspace.org/2014/01/15/on-6/.

starr, amory. “Grumpywarriorcool: What Makes Our Movements White?” In Igniting a Revolution: Voices in Defense of the Earth. Oakland, CA: AK Press, 2006.

The Invisible Committee. The Coming Insurrection. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2009.

———. To Our Friends. Translated by Robert Hurley. South Pasadena: Semiotext(e), 2015.

“The Wild Beyond: With and for the Undercommons.” In The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study, 2–13. Wivenhoe: Minor Compositions, 2013. http://www.minorcompositions.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/undercommons-web.pdf.

Thoburn, Nicholas. “Weatherman, the Militant Diagram, and the Problem of Political Passion.” New Formations 68, no. 1 (2010): 125–42. doi:10.3898/newf.68.08.2009.

Tiqqun. Introduction to Civil War. Translated by Alexander R. Galloway and Jason E. Smith. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2010.

Touza, Sebastián. “Antipedagogies for Liberation Politics, Consensual Democracy and Post-Intellectual Interventions.” PhD Dissertation, Simon Fraser University, 2008. https://www.academia.edu/544417/Antipedagogies_for_liberation_politics_consensual_democracy_and_post-intellectual_interventions.

———. Interview with Sebastián Touza. Interview by Nick Montgomery and carla bergman. Email, February 2, 2016.

Trần, Ngọc Loan. “Calling IN: A Less Disposable Way of Holding Each Other Accountab.” Black Girl Dangerous, December 18, 2013. http://www.blackgirldangerous.org/2013/12/calling-less-disposable-way-holding-accountable/.

“Translators Foreword: Pleasures of Philosophy.” In A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, ix–xv. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987.

Turje, Mik. Interview with Mik Turje. Interview by Nick Montgomery and carla bergman, March 4, 2014.

Vaneigem, Raoul. The Movement of the Free Spirit. Translated by Randall Cherry and Ian Patterson. Revised ed. edition. New York; Cambridge, Mass.: Zone Books, 1998.

———. The Revolution of Everyday Life. Translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith. 2nd Revised edition. Seattle: Rebel Press, 2001.

Victoria, Law. “Against Carceral Feminism.” Jacobin, October 17, 2014. https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/10/against-carceral-feminism/.

VOID Network. “VOID Network on the December 2008 Insurrection in Greece.” presented at the B.A.S.T.A.R.D. Conference, University of California, Berkeley, March 14, 2010. https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/03/18/18641710.php.

Voyer, Jean-Pierre. Letter to Ken Knabb. “Discretion Is the Better Part of Value,” April 20, 1973. http://www.bopsecrets.org/PS/Reich.add.htm.

———. “Wilhelm Reich: How To Use.” In Public Secrets, translated by Ken Knabb. Bureau of Public Secrets, 1997. http://www.bopsecrets.org/PS/reich.htm.

Walia, Harsha. “Decolonizing Together: Moving beyond a Politics of Solidarity toward a Practice of Decolonization,” January 1, 2012. https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/decolonizing-together.

Wang, Jackie. “Against Innocence: Race, Gender and the Politics of Safety.” LIES Journal 1 (2012): 1–13.

Wilkerson, Cathy. Flying Close to the Sun: My Life and Times as a Weatherman. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2007.

Zellars, Rachel, and Naava Smolash. “If Black Women Were Free: Part 1.” Briarpatch, August 16, 2016. http://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/if-black-women-were-free.

Zibechi, Raúl. Dispersing Power: Social Movements as Anti-State Forces. Translated by Ramor Ryan. Oakland: AK Press, 2010.

———. Territories in Resistance: A Cartography of Latin American Social Movements. Translated by Ramor Ryan. Oakland: AK Press, 2012.

Zournazi, Mary. “Navigating Movements: A Conversation with Brian Massumi,” in Hope: New

Philosophies for Change, by Mary Zournazi (New York: Routledge, 2002), 210–243.

[transmutationisms]

Far more threatening to the West’s traditional order were the arrival in the early twelfth century of Arabic astrology, which many saw as a threat to Christian ideals of free will, and the Muslims’ rendering of Aristotelian physics and cosmology that accompanied it. It had been one thing for the Western elite to marvel at the practical uses of the Muslims’ astrolabe, algorism, and related technologies, for none of them required a radical rethinking of Christendom’s dominant worldview—at least not at the relatively low level at which Europe’s early adopters first approached them. And church authorities had already adopted Aristotle’s methods of logical argumentation, the dialectic, because they were keen to use it to establish the truth of Christian revelation in their battle against heresy.5 But all that began to change with the introduction of the Arab Aristotelians’ natural philosophy. Here was an underlying metaphysics, a science of “being as being,” that addressed many of the same questions, albeit in a very different way, as the traditional readings of revelation. It presented medieval Christendom with a competing “theory of everything” that could not be either digested and assimilated painlessly, on the one hand, or ignored outright, on the other. Albumazar’s ninth-century Introduction to Astrology, the full text of which appeared in Latin in 1133 and again in 1140, provided the West with the first major pathway into the Aristotelian tradition in natural science. Adelard of Bath had some two decades earlier translated Albumazar’s own abridged version, the Lesser Introduction to Astrology. This early translation, essentially a practical handbook, helped ignite an appetite in the West for Arabic astrology and other occult practices, but it omitted the Aristotelian framework that made the full Introduction to Astrology such a powerful text. And it was this Arab-influenced apprehension of Aristotle rather than any immediate direct access to his natural philosophy that prompted the church to ban his teachings at the university of Paris, then the premier center of Christian theology, in 1210 to 1215 (Lemay 1958:xxvii). The initial crisis at Paris induced by the Aristotle of the Muslim astrologers was soon followed by the appearance around 1230 of Michael Scot’s translations of the great commentaries on Aristotle’s metaphysics and natural science by the Muslim philosopher and jurist Ibn Rushd, known to the Latins as Averroës. Averroës’s works provided Europe with some of its first access to an authentic Aristotle, freed of earlier entanglements with the occult. Yet this presentation posed an even greater challenge to the West, for it forced Christendom to reexamine critically many of its most closely held beliefs—on creation, on the nature of God, and on humanity’s place in the universe. Here, then, lie the origins and driving forces of the second phase—after the initial flurry of translations in Spain, Sicily, and the near East—of the Western encounter with the Islamic intellectual tradition, that of assimilation and, more accurately, of expropriation of Arabic science and philosophy. This phase required an intensive effort to “Christianize” Aristotle, already champion of the church’s dialectic, and to make his powerful natural philosophy and metaphysics safe for Western consumption (Lemay 1958:xxiii; Bullough 1996:46–47). And this effort meant, in effect, a campaign of intellectual “ethnic cleansing” that would attempt to strip out any traces of Muslim influence—now seen as a corruption of the original text—and to bequeath an acceptable version of Aristotle to his legitimate heirs in the Latin West. Over time, the vital contributions of the Muslim philosophers were pushed so far to the margins of Western intellectual history as to become almost invisible. A similar pattern would soon be repeated in other fields, including mathematics, medicine, and even literature. Each time, the anti-Islam discourse would provide the rules of procedure and the intellectual mechanism for this willful act of forgetting.

Jonathan Lyons, Islam Through Western Eyes (2014)

[painthropologist]

Recommended readings on pain

The following is a comprehensive reference list of readings on pain, embodiment, and ritual, to name a few of the topics that I will be discussing. This list will be updated as and when I find new sources, and covers various subjects from anthropology to sociology, philosophy, and beyond.

Adler, M. (2006). Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers and Other Pagans in America. 4th ed. USA: Penguin Books. 

Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost (2024). Om Bifrost. Available at: https://bifrost.no/om-bifrost (Accessed 13 June 2024).

Asprem, E. (2008). Heathens Up North: Politics, Polemics, and Contemporary Norse Paganism in Norway. The Pomegranate, 10(1): 41-69. 

Aðalsteinsson, J.H. (1998). A Piece of Horse Liver: Myth, Ritual and Folklore in Old Icelandic Sources. Reykjavík: Háskólaútgáfan Félagsvísindastofnun.

Belardinelli, A.L. and Bonsaksen, J.A. (2020). An Ancient Perspective.  Available at: https://www.churchofpain.org/about (Accessed: 5 March 2024).

Bell, C. (2009). Ritual Theory, Ritual practice. New York: Oxford University Press. 

Eliade, M. (1969). The Quest: History and Meaning in Religion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Calico, J.F. (2018). Being Viking: Heathenism in Contemporary America. Sheffield: Equinox.

Durkheim, E. (2012). The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. New York: Dover Publications.

Fibiger, M.Q. (2018). Thaipusam Kavadī – A Festival Helping Hindus in Mauritius Cope with Fear. International Quarterly for Asian Studies, 49(3-4): 123-140.

Fonneland, T. (2015). The Rise of Neoshamanism in Norway: Local Structures-Global Currents. In: Kraft, S.E., Fonneland, T., and Lewis, J.R. Nordic Neoshamanisms. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 33-54.

Geertz, C. (1973). Religion as a Cultural System. In: The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. New York: Basic Books Inc, pp. 87-125. 

Glucklich, A. (2001). Sacred Pain: Hurting the Body for the Sake of the Soul. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gunnell, T. (2015). The Background and Nature of the Annual and Occasional Rituals of the Ásatrúarfélag in Iceland. In: Minniyakhmetova, T., and Velkoborská, K., (eds.) The Ritual Year 10: Magic and Rituals and Rituals in Magic. ELM Scholarly Press. 28-40.

Harvey, G. (2013). The Handbook of Contemporary Animism. New York: Routledge.

Hobsbawm, E. (2012). Introduction: Inventing Traditions. In: Hobsbawm E., Ranger T., (eds.) The Invention of Tradition. Canto Classics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1-14.

Hobsbawm, E., and Ranger, T. (2014). The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Jackson, J.E. (2011). Pain and Bodies. In: Mascia-Lees, F.E. (ed.) A Companion to the Anthropology of the Body and Embodiment. UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

Kleinman, A., Das, V., Lock, M. (1997). Social Suffering. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Lee, N. (2022). On a Wind-Rocked Tree: Pain as Transformation in Contemporary Heathenry. In: Strickland, S., Hunter, L., and Mullin Berube, S. Riding the Bones. USA: The Three Little Sisters. Appendix D.

Luhrmann, T.M. (2012). Touching the Divine: Recent Research on Neo-Paganism and Neo Shamanism. Reviews in Anthropology, 41(1), pp. 136–150. 

Manfredi, F. (2024). Beyond Pain: The Anthropology of Body Suspensions. New York: Berghan.

Mauss, M. (1973). Techniques of the Body. Economy and Society, 2(1): pp. 70-88.

McLane, J. (1996). The Voice on the Skin: Self-Mutilation and Merleau-Ponty's Theory of Language. Hypatia, 11(4): 107-118.

Mitchell, J. (2009). Ritual Transformation and the Existential Grounds of Selfhood. Journal of Ritual Studies, 23(2): 53-66.

Obeyesekere, G. (1981). Medusa’s Hair: An Essay on Personal Symbols and Religious Experience. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Pagliarini, M.A. (2015). Spiritual Tattooing: Pain, Materialization, and Transformation. Journal of Religion and Violence, 3(2): 189-212.

Polhemus, T. (1998). The Performance of Pain. Performance Research, 3(3): 97-102.

Rappaport, R.A. (1999). Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity. UK: Cambridge University Press.

Rasmussen, R.H. (2020). The Nordic Animist Year. Estonia: Ecoprint.

(2023). Aun 2031. Available at: https://nordicanimism.com/aun-2023 (Accessed: 19 March 2024).

(2024). Aun: Cannibal Kings, Cosmic Healing and the Recovery of a Nordic Tradition. Estonia: Ecoprint.

Reynolds, C. and Erikson, E. (2017). Agency, Identity, and the Emergence of Ritual Experience. Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, 3(1): 1 –14.

Scarry, E. (1985). The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World. New York: Oxford University Press.

Shilling, C. & Mellor, P. (2010). Saved from pain or saved through pain? Modernity, instrumentalization and the religious use of pain as a body technique. European Journal of Social Theory, 13(4): 521-537. DOI: 10.1177/1368431010382763.

Snook, J. (2013). Reconsidering Heathenry: The Construction of an Ethnic Folkway as Religio ethnic Identity. Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, 16(3): 52-76. 

von Schnurbein, S. (2016). Norse Revival: Transformations of Germanic Neopaganism. Boston: Brill.

Viljoen, M. (2010). Embodiment and the experience of built space: The contributions of Merleau-Ponty and Don Ihde. South African Journal of Philosophy, 29(3). DOI: 10.4314/sajpem.v29i3.59153.

[sidewalkchemistry]

@mosskiss said: I’m thinking about studying herbal medicine do you have any accessible books you recommend?

Ah sure. Herbalism is both a science and an art. No two herbalists practice in just the same way because the thinking processes & healing philosophies differ from person to person. So, I can recommend a few beginner-friendly books (though some are dense) which I personally found very useful in my own journey.

(Normally, I am primarily a book learner. But, as guided by my herbal coursework, I was encouraged to also learn about the herbs through direct experience and studying a variety of traditions & other herbalists. Herbalism is not properly studied when you just experience it on paper, I realized. So, I would recommend a similar thing for beginners: learn botany, plant identification, forgaging, gardening, medicine making, safety precautions, how to research herbs properly, and different traditional medicine systems [such as Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Unani-Tibb, Caribbean Bush Medicine, Western Herbalism, etc. It's especially best to understand how a certain herb was used on the land which it's native to]. Podcasts and articles can be good resources too. Most of all, deeply testing and experiencing herbs one-by-one is crucial in my view).

Here's my list:

Common Herbs for Natural Health by Juliette de Baïrcli Levy

Rosemary Gladstar's Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner's Guide

Making Plant Medicine by Richie Cech

The Herbal Medicine Maker's Handbook: A Home Manual by James Green

The Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence in the Direct Perception of Nature by Stephen Harrod Buhner

Renegade Beauty by Nadine Artemis

Medicinal Herbalism by David Hoffman

Natural Therapy for Your Liver by Christopher Hobbs

Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress Relief by David Winston & Steven Maimes

Herbal Healing for Women by Rosemary Gladstar

The Practice of Traditional Western Herbalism by Matthew Wood

Evolutionary Herbalism by Sajah Popham

The Earthwise Herbal Repertory: The Definitive Practitioner's Guide by Matthew Wood

The Mucusless Diet Healing System by Professor Arnold Ehret (Annotated, Revised, and Edited by Prof. Spira)

Heal Thyself for Health and Longevity by Queen Afua

The Detox Miracle Sourcebook by Dr. Robert Morse

Botany Illustrated: Introduction to Plants, Major Groups, Flowering Plant Families by Janice Glimn-Lacy and Peter B. Kaufman

You won't regret gaining knowledge about the plants 🌼🌱✨ I do wish you great things

[boyfridged]

jurisprudence & criminology intro reading list.

this list is not an exhaustive guide to any of these fields. my main goal here is to propose some key concepts so that you can start exploring theory on your own. it should also go without saying that it is not composed merely of scholarship that i consider good or even truthful; getting familiar with historical themes is very much beneficial for the broader context. additionally, while jurisprudence and criminology are closely related fields, and having some general idea about jurisprudence makes studying criminology easier, it's not a requirement, so feel free to skip sections as you please. lastly: this is a mix of more theory-heavy and also relatively light reading; if something is difficult to understand, google and youtube are your best friends, and there's a good chance other texts will appear more accessible.

jurisprudence

one of the main questions of jurisprudence is: what is is the proper relationship between law and morality? the following texts focus mostly on that question.

main schools to explore:

legal naturalism notable names: ian fuller, john finis. (naturalist-leaning): patrick devlin. proposed readings: 1. devlin, p. (1959) morals and the criminal law, 2. fuller, l. (1964), the morality of law 3. finnis, j. (1980) natural law and natural rights.

legal positivism notable names: jeremy bentham, john austin, h. l. h. hart, joseph raz. proposed readings: 1, stanford encyclopedia of philosophy: the legal positivism entry, 2. hart, h. (1961) the concept of law, 3. hart, h. (1963) the legal enforcement of morality, 4. raz, j. (1979) the authority of law.

legal interpretivism notables names: ronald dworkin proposed reading: 1. stanford enclycopedia of philosophy: the intepretivism entry, 2. dworkin, r. (1978) taking rights seriously.

critical theory (generally legal positivist in the simplest terms, but not necessarily comfortable with that label) & sociology. notable names: max weber, emile durkheim, carol smart (feminism), achille mbembe (postcolony) proposed reading: 1. smart, c. (1989) feminism and the power of law. 2. hardar, p. (2008) law, orientalism and postcolonialism: the jurisdiction of the lotus-eaters.

criminology

main topics to explore:

biological theories (look: phrenology, degeneration theory, atavistic theory of crime.) notable names: cesare lombroso, b.a. morel. this is mostly historical content; most textbooks on criminology will have a section on it. google is also your best friend. original source texts are mostly pseudo-scientific so i recommend looking into them only if you're specifically curious.

functionalism & structuralism notable names: emile durhkeim, robert merton proposed readings: 1. durkheim, e. (1972) crime as normal behaviour, 2. merton, r. (1938) social structure and anomie

marxist criminology notable names: willem bonger, thorster sellin proposed readings: 1. bonger, w. (1916) criminality and economic conditions, 2. sellin, t. (1938) culture conflict and crime

control theory notable names: jackson toby, travis hirschi. proposed readings: 1. pratt, t. (2011). "key idea: hirschi’s social bond/social control theory." in: key Ideas in criminology and criminal justice.

labelling theory notable names: howard becker proposed readings: 1. goode, e. (2018) labeling theory.

penal theory

in terms of penal theory, you can find plenty reliable sources and reading lists online. here are some of my personal theory-heavy picks.

key readings:

the iep entry on punishment,

the stanford encyclopedia of philosophy entry on legal punishment,

carlen, p. (2013) against rehabilitation: for reparative justice.

davis, a. (2003) are prisons obsolete?

foucault, m. (1975) discipline and punish: the birth of the prison.

johnstone, g., (2002), restorative justice: ideas, values, debates,

johnstone, g. (ed.), (2007), handbook of restorative justice.

[sabakos]

By a strange series of events, you are put in charge of a university's gen Ed "philosophy" program; what reading do you assign?

So the responsible thing to do here would be to make a well-balanced list of books that covers the "History of Ideas" in the West from Homer to Heidegger. But that's a well-travelled path and I'm assuming that this strange series of events does not presume any sort of responsibility on my part.

So instead, I'm taking the opportunity to recruit a bunch of unwitting "Great Books" undergrads to revive a philosophical movement that died out in the 6th century when Justinian effectively banned it.

Year 1

In the first year, students will develop a mastery of the ancient greek language, with a focus on texts that cover broad topics that do not require much prior knowledge or background, using Simplicius' commentaries as textbooks that can provide any needed context.

Semester 1

Language

Hansen and Quinn - Greek: An Intensive Course

Liddell, Scott, and Jones - A Greek-English Lexicon

Xenophon - Anabasis, Hellenica, Cyropaedeia, Memorabilia

Herodotus - Histories

An Introduction to Logic

Porphyry - Isagoge

Aristotle - Categories, On Interpretation

Simplicius - Commentary on Aristotle's Categories

An Introduction to Ethics

Pythagoras - Golden Verses

Hierocles - Commentary on the Golden Verses

Epictetus - Enchiridion

Simplicius - Commentary on the Enchiridion of Epictetus

Semester 2

Language

Georg Autenreith - A Homeric Dictionary

Homer - Odyssey, Iliad

An Introduction to Platonism

Theon of Alexandria - Mathematics Useful for the Reading of Plato

Anonymous Prolegomena to Platonic Philosophy

Plato - Alcibiades I, Gorgias, Phaedo

Porphyry - Sententiae

An Introduction to Physics

Aristotle - Physics, On the Heavens

Simplicius - Commentary on Physics, Commentary on the Heavens

Year 2

In the second year, students will translate the major works of Euripides and Aristophanes and work their way through the majority of the Iamblichean curriculum. Readings may be supplemented by Plotinus' Enneads where relevant as time permits.

Semester 1

Language

Hesiod - Works and Days, Theogony

Homeric Hymns to Demeter, Apollo, Aphrodite, Hermes

Euripides - Alcestis, Medea, Hippolytus, Andromache, Hecuba

Aristophanes - The Acharnians, The Knights, The Clouds, The Wasps, Peace

Platonic Logic

Heraclitus - Fragments

Anonymous Commentary on the Theaetetus

Parmenides - The Way of Truth

Plato - Cratylus, Theatetus, Sophist, Statesman

An Introduction to Theology

Damascius - On First Principles

Aristotle - Metaphysics

Alexander - Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics

Syrianus - Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics

Semester 2

Language

Pindar - Odes

Euripides - Trojan Women, Phoenician Women, Orestes, The Bacchae

Aristophanes - Thesmophoriazusae, Lysistrata, The Birds, The Frogs

Menander - Dyskolos

Platonic Ethics

Plato - Philebus, Symposium, Phaedrus

Damascius - Lectures on the Philebus

Introduction to Pythagoreanism

Iamblichus - On Pythagoreanism

Nicomachus - Introduction to Arithmetic

Sallustius - On the Nature of the World and the Cosmos

Year 3

The third year focuses on the "Perfect" Dialogues - each semester consists of a single course focusing on a single major Platonic dialogue. Students will work their way through the Proclean commentaries on each and write their own commentary on the Parmenides.

Semester 1

Plato's Timaeus

Plutarch - On the Generation of the World-Soul in the Timaeus

Alcinous - Handbook of Platonism

Proclus - Elements of Physics

Plato - Timaeus

Anonymous - Timaeus of Locri

Proclus - Commentary on Timaeus

Semester 2

Plato's Parmenides

Proclus - Elements of Theology

Plato - Parmenides

Proclus - Commentary on Parmenides

Proclus - Platonic Theology

Year 4

Students will learn the basics of allegorical interpretation from Porphyry, Philo, and Cornutus, and then apply this knowledge to the plays of Aeschylus and Sophocles, using Proclus' Hymns, and work on the Republic as a model. This year also provides a brief background into the historical practice of theurgy.

Semester 1

Introduction to Allegorical Commentary

Porphyry - On the Cave of the Nymphs, Homeric Questions

Philo of Alexandria - Questions and Answers on Genesis

Cornutus - Compendium of Greek Theology

Introduction to Theurgy

Plutarch - On Isis and Osiris

Hermes Trismegistus - The Perfect Discourse, The Pupil of the Cosmos

Porphyry - Letter to Anebo

Iamblichus - On the Mysteries

Julian - Hymn to the Mother of the Gods

Semester 2

Political Philosophy

Plato - Republic

Proclus - Commentary on the Republic

Drama, Theurgy, and Allegory

Proclus - Hymns

Orphic Hymns

Aeschylus - Oresteia, Persians, Seven Against Thebes, Suppliants

Sophocles - Ajax, Antigone, Oedipus Rex, Philoctetes

[astropithecus]

So, an interesting fact about me, I'm an agnostic with a degree in Biblical Studies from an evangelical megachurch diploma mill - I was going to school to be a pastor.

I spent a non-trivial amount of time with ancient Hebrew and Greek lexicons, reading the books of the Bible in their original languages. I did a lot of extracurricular study on the ecumenical councils - the bishops that voted on which books were going to be "the Bible" initially at the behest of the Roman emperor Constantine. I read a lot of the Gnostic texts that contributed to early Christian philosophy but were declared heretical a few hundred years after they were written.

The conclusion I came to was that if there were ever any spiritual truths in the texts that make up the Bible, they would've undoubtedly been obscured during Christianity's time as the official religion of the Roman Empire, if not excised entirely. Even just the fact that Christianity was the official religion of Rome often comes as a surprise to Evangelical Christians - they tend to be indoctrinated with a narrative that the Romans targeted Christians for persecution, they see Christians being thrown to lions as the representative image of Christianity in Ancient Rome. In reality, Roman historians are the ones that created that narrative in the first place, hundreds of years after the fact. The relationship between Rome and Christianity was complicated. For a couple of centuries, there was some scattered persecution, generally not targeted at Christians specifically. Ultimately, however, the Empire's attitude toward Christianity became essentially "if you can't beat them, join them."

The Roman Empire had need of an official religion and a holy text that reflected its values - xenophobia, patriarchy, slavery, expansionism - and the ecumenical councils provided it. People point out the hypocrisy of modern-day evangelicals for saying "God is love" but then hating women and minorities, but that is the religion of the Roman Empire, alive and well in 2023. It's a stretch to call the Roman Empire "fascist" (the word didn't exist yet), but the word fascism comes from Fasces, the symbol of Roman imperial magistrates. It is no coincidence that the more literally you interpret the Bible, the more comfortable you become with a nationalist Christian theocracy, as the Bible was assembled by the ecumenical councils to be a cultural assimilation handbook for new, recently-conquered subjects of the Roman Empire - the world's first "Christian nation." Modern-day Christians promote the idea that people are "twisting" the Bible to support hatred, bigotry, and oppression, but they're ignoring there was a period of several hundred years where anything that questioned the absolute racial and cultural supremacy of the Roman Empire and it's natural-born citizens was declared "heresy" and struck from the canon. It's a text whose primary purpose is to provide spiritual justification for conquering and subjugating people.

That means White Christian Nationalists aren't "misinterpreting" the Bible, they're using it exactly the way the Roman Empire intended it to be used. To codify and legitimize a caste system where native-born male citizens occupy the highest strata, and political leaders are the arbiters of God's will. It took a lot of re-writing to take the "proto-communist" teachings of the early Christian church and turn it into that Bible, but that's probably why most of what became known as "the New Testament" was written by Roman citizens, well after after Jesus' death. Fun fact: Saul of Tarsus - author of the Pauline epistles, otherwise known as "two-thirds of the New Testament" - was a natural-born Roman citizen that never met Jesus. As if that wasn't a tenuous enough connection, about half of the Pauline epistles are probably falsely attributed. We don't really know who wrote them, when, or why.

Once you recognize the bias, it is glaring. The Bible paints patriarchy as such a fundamental force of nature that salvation itself is an "inheritance" you have to become "joint heirs with Christ" (the Son of God) to receive. It says anyone violent or debased enough to seize power is "appointed by God" - a step further than even "might makes right," this says "might makes you the literal mouthpiece of God on Earth." If I'm being honest, at this point it wouldn't matter if the Bible were the infallible "Word of God" or not - if this is "God" talking, I wouldn't worship him just based on principle.

But it puts Christians in a difficult spot. You either have to concede that the Bible is fallible (which is heresy, according to evangelicals) or that God really does hate women, foreigners, democracy, and social equality. If a divine force "guided" the decisions of the ecumenical councils it would mean God endorses slavery, government authoritarianism, and racial supremacy. On the other hand, if there was no divine influence, then the entire Christian canon is essentially fanfic, philosophy cherry-picked by Romans to not be at odds with their own imperialist values. Either way, it's not representative of ideals I could dedicate my life to. I left the church before my ordination.

Before my mother passed, dismayed for my eternal soul, she used to tell me she prayed Proverbs 22:6 over me often - "Train up a child in the way he should go: And when he is old, he will not depart from it." Christians regard this scripture as a promise that if they raise their children to know God, they won't be led astray as adults. I wonder sometimes if she got what she prayed for, but in a different way than she expected. She raised me to know a God of love, of peace, with a heart of justice and understanding (which means tolerance, by the way - it's the ancient Hebrew word shâmaʻ which means to hear, and understand. When King Solomon prayed for "understanding" to lead his people, he was asking for the ability to hear and relate to people different than himself. That's what scriptural 'wisdom' is - empathy and compassion - you know, the things Evangelical Christians call 'woke' now). Because of it, now that I'm 'old', I can't be led astray by the callous Roman imperialist god of the Bible or the new capitalist American prosperity Jesus that didn't really mean what he said with "sell all you have and give to the poor."

Seems a little arrogant, doesn't it? Maybe even offensive. "I know the truth, everyone else is wrong." Who do I think I am? But since I exist, now old and still well-"departed" from the modern Christian church, the only alternative explanations are a) Proverbs 22:6 isn't actually a promise from God despite what the majority of western Christians believe, b) God doesn't keep his promises or, c) nobody is listening to prayers from little old church ladies and this whole 'god' thing is just ascribing anthropomorphic motivations to the forces of coincidence and random chance in the first place. As an agnostic, I don't really have any skin in that game, so feel free to pick whichever explanation sits best with you. Just remember, if you ever ask yourself "what would Jesus do?" - the answer might include flipping over tables in a church bookstore and chasing church-goers with a bullwhip.

[shamandrummer]

Shamanism Without Borders

Shamanism Without Borders is an emerging movement initiated by the Society for Shamanic Practitioners (SSP) to effectively respond to the world's natural disasters and crises. Even if we can't physically travel to a disaster site, shamanism allows us to work remotely to alleviate suffering. Shamanism literally has no borders except the ones we construct for ourselves. The SSP has now produced a handbook titled, Shamanism Without Borders: A Guide to Shamanic Tending for Trauma and Disasters. In this manual, experienced practitioners explain techniques and principles used by shamans throughout time to deal with trauma and disasters and how these practices are still applied today. The guidebook is just that -- a guidebook, not a blueprint, nor a set of rules and regulations. Every disaster is unique and requires the right action for its uniqueness. The book is simply a collection of philosophies and possibilities that can be a foundation for others to do similar work. The book urges readers to "read between the lines and listen between the words for Spirit to speak and comment."

[eldritchboop]

45 Rare Supernatural Books - Ghost Stories and Mysteries

The Lost Book Project charges $12 for this collection. If you found this roundup helpful, please consider donating to the Internet Archive instead. Other roundups here

The Book on Mediums: Guide for Mediums and Invocators by Allen Kardec (1861)

The Spirits' Book by Allen Kardec (1857)

Life In The World Unseen by Anthony Borgia (1878)

The Urantia Papers (1955)

Book Of The Damned by Charles Fort (1919)

The Human Atmosphere (1911)

True Irish Ghost Stories - J. D. Seymour (1914)

The Night Side of Nature by Catherine Crowe (1847)

Unveiled Mysteries (1914)

Ancient Mysteries and Modern Revelations (1910)

Wanderer In The Spirit Lands by Franchezzo (1896)

Scenes Beyond the Grave. Trance of Marietta Davis - M. Davis (1859)

Stranger Than Fiction: Being Tales From the Byways of Ghosts and Folk-lore - M. L. Lewes (1911)

Coming Of The Fairies by Arthur Conan Doyle (1922)

True Ghost Stories - H. Carrington (1915)

Complete Hypnotism Mesmerism Mind Reading And Spiritualism (1903)

Contact with the Other World (1919)

Vampire His Kith And Kin (1918)

Spiritism in its Simplest Expression: Summary of the Spirits' Teachings and their Manifestations by Allen Kardec  Ed note: Still in print; this is a link to a preview.

Spiritualist philosophy, the spirits' book - containing the principles of spiritist doctrine on the immortality of the soul, the nature of spirits and their relations with men - A. Kardec (1875)

Experimental Investigation Of The Spirit Manifestations (1855)

From India To The Planet Mars (1900)

Lives of the Necromancers (1834)

Hypnotism Magnetism, Mesmerism, Suggestive Therapeutics and Magnetic Healing (1910)

My Experiences While Out Of My Body (1915)

Phantasms of the Living, Vol. 1 (1886)

Phantasms of the Living, Vol. 2 (1886)

The Philosophy of Mystery (1841)

Tales Of The Dartmoor Pixies (1890)

The Book of Dreams and Ghosts (1897)

The Phantom World Or, The Philosophy of Spirits, Apparitions, etc. (1850)

Experimental Spiritism - A. Kardec (1874)

The Soul of Things by William Denton (1871)

Vedanta Philosophy - Five Lectures on Reincarnation - A. Swami (1902)

Reincarnation - A Study of Forgotten Truth - E. D. Walker (1888)

Fairy Circles Tales and Legends of Giants, Dwarfs, Fairies, Water-Sprites and Hobgoblins by Villamaria (1877)

The destiny of the soul. A critical history of the doctrine of a future life - W. R. Alger (1878) A Book of Ghosts - S. Baring-Gould (1904)

Ghost land, or, Researches into the mysteries of occultism - W. Britten (1876)

The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits (1992)

Historic ghosts and ghost hunters - H. A. Bruce (1908)

How to Speak with the Dead; a Practical Handbook - Sciens (1918)

In ghostly Japan - L. Hearn (1900)

Scottish Ghost Stories - E. O'Donnell (1911)

Some Haunted Houses of England - E. O'Donnell (1908)

[clementinecompendium]

Book List: Maestromind

For the "siren" archetype; a villain with mind control powers through music.

Every Brain Needs Music: The Neuroscience of Making and Listening to Music by Lawrence Sherman, Dennis Plies

Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us by Susan Magsamen, Ivy Ross

The Aesthetic Brain: How We Evolved to Desire Beauty and Enjoy Art by Anjan Chatterjee MD

How Music Works by David Byrne

Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks

Music: A Subversive History by Ted Gioia

This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You by Susan Rogers, Ogi Ogas

Why You Like It: The Science and Culture of Musical Taste by Nolan Gasser

Every Song Ever: Twenty Ways to Listen in an Age of Musical Plenty by Ben Ratliff

Why You Love Music: From Mozart to Metallica--The Emotional Power of Beautiful Sounds by John Powell

The Psychology of Music: A Very Short Introduction by Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis

On Repeat: How Music Plays the Mind by Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis

Music, Math, and Mind: The Physics and Neuroscience of Music by David Sulzer

Emotion and Meaning in Music by Leonard B. Meyer

Musical Emotions Explained: Unlocking the Secrets of Musical Affect by Patrik N. Juslin

The Science-Music Borderlands: Reckoning with the Past and Imagining the Future by Elizabeth H. Margulis (Editor), Psyche Loui (Editor), Deirdre Loughridge (Editor)

The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory by John Seabrook The Billboard Guide to Writing and Producing Songs that Sell: How to Create Hits in Today's Music Industry by Eric Beall

On Music Theory, and Making Music More Welcoming for Everyone by Philip Ewell

The Oxford Handbook of Music and the Brain by Donald Hodges (Editor), Michael Thaut (Editor)

The Science of Music and the Music of Science: How Music Reveals Our Brain, Our Humanity and the Cosmos by Michael J. Montague

How to Listen to Jazz by Ted Gioia

The Musical Human: A History of Life on Earth by Michael Spitzer

The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature by Daniel J. Levitin

MUSIC AND THE MIND by Anthony Storr

This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel J. Levitin

Philosophy of the Arts: An Introduction to Aesthetics by Gordon Graham

Art, Aesthetics, and the Brain by Joseph P. Huston (Editor), Marcos Nadal (Editor), Francisco Mora (Editor), Luigi F. Agnati (Editor), Camilo José Cela Conde (Editor)

Philosophies of Art and Beauty: Selected Readings in Aesthetics from Plato to Heidegger by Albert Hofstadter (Author, Editor), Richard Kuhns (Author, Editor)

Aesthetics: A Comprehensive Anthology (Blackwell Philosophy Anthologies) by Steven M. Cahn (Editor), Stephanie Ross (Editor), Sandra L. Shapshay (Editor)

The Cambridge Handbook of the Psychology of Aesthetics and the Arts by Pablo P. L. Tinio (Editor), Jeffrey K. Smith (Editor)

Of Sound Mind: How Our Brain Constructs a Meaningful Sonic World by Nina Kraus

The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century by Alex Ross

[orbis-1223]

Navigating Preschool Admissions: A Parent's Guide for 2025-26

It is said that a child is born with 100 billion brain cells. According to the World Health Organisation, childhood and adolescence are critical stages of life for mental health. This is a time when rapid growth and development occur in the brain.

Importance of Early Childhood Education:

The age span between 2-6 years is an impressionable period during which brain development happens rapidly. This makes it imperative that children receive the right information, which may be retained throughout their lives. This is the time when children should be given the right environment where they can absorb the necessary skills and concepts.

Over the last few years, early childhood care and education have seen a sudden rise. Preschools have mushroomed in every neighbourhood. One reason for this could be the nuclear family concept. In earlier times, the joint family setup allowed siblings and cousins to grow up together holistically. Today, a similar environment can be found in a preschool setup, which helps in nurturing children holistically. Understanding the pivotal role that preschool education plays in shaping a child’s early experiences, the crucial task of choosing the right school cannot be undermined.

Understanding Different Education Philosophies:

To understand the importance of early education, let us take a look at the history of early education and the trailblazers in the path of early learning:

Jean Jacques Rousseau: The Swiss philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau believed that education should be about offering opportunities to children to create their own experiences. His book Emile, written 250 years ago, still holds relevance today and might offer valuable insights to educators.

Friedrich Froebel: According to Froebel, “Play is the highest expression of human development in childhood for it alone is the free expression of what is in a child’s soul.” Froebel believed that play is never futile. Through play, children explore, connect, and express. Learning from the Froebelian approach, we at The Orbis School have adopted the play-way method in our preschools, providing children with a free and engaging space to flourish.

Maria Montessori: Founder of the ‘Montessori method’, Maria Montessori provided the world with an education system that believes a child learns through an enriched, supportive environment under the guidance of trained staff and caregivers. In her book Dr. Montessori’s Own Handbook, she writes, “The technique of my method, as it follows the guidance of natural physiological and psychical development of the child, may be divided into three parts: Motor education, Sensory education, and Language.”

Reggio Emilia Approach: After World War II, in a small village on the outskirts of Reggio Emilia, many young men had died. The community decided to build a school different from the usual education system—a space where children would be respected and taken seriously. In a Reggio school, adults and students work in partnership. The Reggio approach involves parents in various projects, helping them understand how learning happens. A typical Reggio school's hours will be 9:00 am - 3:00 pm.

Tarabai Modak: Also known as the ‘Montessori Mother’, Tarabai Modak made significant contributions to the preschool education system in Maharashtra, especially in tribal areas.

Choosing the Right Kindergarten for Your Child:

With the fast-paced life we are all living, and when time is of utmost value, enrolling your child in a quality preschool setup will provide them with the right nourishment for their brain development. A school and teacher’s utmost responsibility is to respect the human dignity of each child and bring out their inherent and unique potential.

It is, therefore, imperative that teachers and parents work in tandem to make the home-to-school transition smooth and stress-free!

When choosing a kindergarten for your child, look for a quality environment that supports your child's basic needs and has a curriculum that promotes holistic development.

At The Orbis Schools, we hold the child’s dignity and well-being in the highest regard. As we approach the new academic session, we welcome you to plan a school visit and explore the learning culture on our premises.

Children must and should get opportunities to play, learn, and grow in a safe and comfortable environment, so that they can explore, learn, and—well, just be children!

Hurry up for admissions!

[aioleis]

The Oxford Handbook of Kant Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) is a towering figure of Western philosophy, someone whose work continues to exert an influence across all areas of the discipline. His work is characterized by both breadth and unity: he writes powerfully about mind, epistemology, metaphysics, logic, mathematics, natural science, ethics, politics, religion, history, aesthetics, education, and more. And across those areas, he is concerned to work out and defend a view of human beings and their place in nature according to which our own reason enables us to discover and uphold the laws of nature and freedom—that is, to think for ourselves. The newly commissioned essays which make up this Handbook collectively present a picture of where the study of Kant’s philosophy finds itself, at this point in the twenty-first century. They are organized around the four questions which Kant said unite all interest of our reason: (1) What can I know? (2) What ought I to do? (3) What may I hope? and (4) What is the human being? Their aim is to help students and scholars of Kant’s philosophy think for themselves about the topics about which he wrote with such insight. Visit >

[biboyang-animation-22096791]

Post2 Session 2-Medium specificity

Medium specificity can interpreted as the unique and appropriate capacity of an art form associated with the ability of an artist to manipulate the unique nature of a particular medium, such as a painter should focus on literal flatness and abstraction illusionism and figuration. However, with the development of technology, the concept of medium specificity was seen as less and less valuable. This blog will discuss if the medium specificity is necessary and offer my opinions. As a kind of media, games integrate various media. After many years of development, games have been loved by more and more people. Therefore, the success of games also makes many people think that media specificity is unnecessary.

According to the article of Sjol, J, medium specificity was definitely significant and he was opposed to the idea of conceptualizing and digitizing media because digital media conceptualized as purely digital information regardless of its material essence, is not materialism and tenable. Medium specificity is necessary no matter what kind of medium has its particularity, even though it is film or animation. As far as the art of film is concerned, we should not be confused by the content of the film and we are not only to define the film in the material plane, but we also could focus on history or culture, which is a privilege that belongs to movies. Medium specificity could help people to make better use of their advantages in creating artwork and create more distinctive artwork.

In my opinion, I agree with the idea that medium specificity is very significant because it still plays an important role, even though it is no longer as widely discussed as it once was. Media is a significant basis for artistic creation, for example, the media particularity of film is closely related to film philosophy, which is why the art of film is quite valuable.

In conclusion, medium specificity is still a very important status. However, with the development of age, we should give more interpretations to the medium specificity.

Reference:

Sjol, J. (2023) ‘A Diachronic, Scale-Flexible, Relational, Perspectival Operation: In Defense of (Always-Reforming) Medium Specificity’, JCMS : Journal of cinema and media studies, 62(5), pp. 99–121

Black, D.A. (2001). Internet radio: a case study in medium specificity. Media, Culture & Society, 23(3), pp.397–408. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/016344301023003007.

Carroll, N. (2019). Medium Specificity. The Palgrave Handbook of the Philosophy of Film and Motion Pictures, pp.29–47. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19601-1_2.