Topic: The Magickal Web

In our podcast with Phil Stanley, he stated that many Westerners have a misunderstanding when it comes to conceptual study and the Buddhist path. In fact he says that as a collective, we Westerners are fairly clueless about the importance of intellectual study, and naively think that such teachings as Zen’s “just sit” and Dzogchen’s “self-liberation” is all there is to the path. Obviously this is a general statement and certainly differences exist between individual practitioners, but it piqued my curiosity about how we Westerner’s approach, understand, and view study on the Buddhist path. As I sat down to write this post my mind raced in several directions, so instead of discussing one single topic I thought I’d share a few brief thoughts related to Buddhist study in the West. Consider this post more of me wondering “out loud”. I hope this will spur even more conversations, posts, and podcasts, and so, please share your wondering and thoughts as well.

During the Middle Ages, the Witches Sabbat was recognized as the midnight gathering of diabolists who would endeavor to renew their contract with Satan through blasphemous rites and orgiastic rituals. While this period of history is riddled with affluent superstitions, the event of the Witches Sabbat stands out as a remarkable ritual expression that still serves to inspire fear in the religiously conservative and morally proper.

I am writing this urgent message because I was once a witch. I lived by the stars as an astrologer and numerologist casting horoscopes and spells. I lived in the mysterious and shadowy realm of the occult. By means of spells and magic, I was able to invoke the powers of the "controlling unknown" and fly upon the night winds transcending the astral plane. Halloween was my favorite time of the year and I was intrigued and absorbed in the realm of Wiccan witchcraft. All of this was happening in the decade of the 1960’s when witchcraft was just starting to come out of the broom closet.

The Molly Ivins that I can’t square with the news of her death was a sparkling diamond of a woman, ready with the quick laugh, who would never let the bastards get her down. That went for the good old boys in her beloved Texas, the state of the president they sent to Washington—and even for the cancer cells that long had been attempting to end her life.

Best-selling author and columnist Molly Ivins, the sharp-witted liberal who skewered the political establishment and referred to President Bush as "Shrub," died Wednesday after a long battle with breast cancer. Ivins was 62.

Christians have it backward. If you're worried about your child obsessing over magic, it's not Harry Potter you should guard against; it's the Bible.

Jodie Evans, a long-time radical activist, is the nominal founder of Code Pink, but she has had plenty of help from a cadre of other radical women. (Evans was briefly famous during the 2003 gubernatorial recall election in California when she helped engineer the Los Angeles Times story about alleged past sexual harassment by Arnold Schwarzenegger.) Along with Evans, Medea Benjamin, Diane Wilson and the radical Wiccan spiritualist known as “Starhawk” helped create Code Pink. These women have close working relationships with the leaders of the other principal radical anti-war groups, including ANSWER (“Act Now to Stop War and End Racism”) and United for Peace and Justice, which is led by longtime socialist and Fidel Castro devotee Leslie Cagan.

You're a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, a worldwide organization dedicated to reenacting medieval times. What is it about European life 1,000 years ago that fascinates you?

The small concrete room smells of urine. In the corner, a young woman lies on a metal cot, moaning softly and vomiting up blood. A former Buddhist nun, she is recovering from an operation on her stomach to fix internal injuries caused by beatings from Chinese guards. Her roommate, Lhundrub Zangmo, speaks in a whispery monotone. Zangmo's head is no longer shaven, and her straight black hair falls over her tight sweater emblazoned with the words The Coolest Boy. But even though she has left the clergy, Zangmo remains deeply religious. She has plastered the walls of the tiny room with photos of Buddhist deities and the Dalai Lama, leader of Tibetan Buddhists.

Therapists, physicians, massage therapists, body workers and energy workers need to be interviewed and checked out just like your roofer! I don’t know about you, but finding a good roofer is might- near- impossible for me.