NeoWayland's Lexicon

ad hominem

❝ Ad hominem (Latin for "to the person"), short for argumentum ad hominem, typically refers to a fallacious argumentative strategy whereby genuine discussion of the topic at hand is avoided by instead attacking the character, motive, or other attribute of the person making the argument, or persons associated with the argument, rather than attacking the substance of the argument itself. The terms ad mulierem and ad feminam have been used specifically when the person receiving the criticism is female.❞

➢ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem

See also

opposure,

TCoL № 1

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ad ignorantiam

❝ The fallacy ad ignorantiam, or an appeal to ignorance, occurs when someone argues that something must be either true or false because it hasn’t been proven to be one way or the other. In other words, a particular belief is said to be true because you do not know that it is not true. The issue typically has to do with something that is either incapable of being proven true or false, or has not yet been proven true or false.❞

➢ Logical Fallacies 101: Ad Ignorantiam from SES

See also

TCoL #7

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adult

Advanced Bonewits Cult Danger Evaluation Frame

ABCDEF

One of the best tools to evaluate groups or leaders, particularly those that seem a little off. I first ran across this marvel in Adler’s Drawing Down the Moon. Pre world wide web, I can’t tell you how many copies I made for minister and priest friends who were looking for a little help with awkward situations.

See also

politics

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aesthetic attraction

❝A form of attraction in which the person finds the other aesthetically pleasing, in a way that they would enjoy looking at or drawing them, but not performing any romantic or sexual activities with them.❞

➣ www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=aesthetic%20attraction

See also

crush,

romantic attraction,

sensual attraction,

sexual attraction,

squish

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agape

or agaph

A selfless love, a self-giving love, self sacrifice that requires no reciprocation. Call this the "just because" love. The appearance of agape is often used to cloak possessiveness. Christianity places a great deal of store by this love, although it can easily mask codependency and some really questionable behavior. One of the Greek words for love.

See also

love

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Age of Wonders

Today is the Age of Wonders, the most amazing time in human history, with marvels and miracles far beyond any other time.

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agency cost

agenda, secret

agora

1. a popular political assembly.
2. the place where such an assembly met, originally a marketplace or public square.
3. the Agora, the chief marketplace of Athens, center of the city's civic life.

➣ dictionary.reference.com/browse/agora?s=t

✧

❝ Agorism is a political philosophy founded by Samuel Edward Konkin III and developed with contributions by J. Neil Schulman that holds as its ultimate goal bringing about a society in which all "relations between people are voluntary exchanges – a free market." The term comes from the Greek word "agora," referring to an open place for assembly and market in ancient Greek city-states. Ideologically, it is a term representing a revolutionary type of anarcho-capitalism or free-market anarchism. Schulman integrated the idea of counter-economics into Konkin's libertarian philosophy, which is the advocacy of untaxed black market activity, which agorists say will lead to development of private defense force sufficient to protect private property and liberty from the state to the point where such protection is strong enough to overthrow the state.❞

➣ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agorism

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agrarian culture

aioli sauce

❝What is commonly referred to as aioli sauce is actually a mayo flavored with a generous amount of garlic. In southern France, precisely in Provence where aioli (spelled "aïoli") originates, it was just lots of garlic pounded with a mortar and pestle and emulsified with oil, no eggs or acid added. Nowadays, aioli is pretty much synonymous with garlic mayonnaise.❞

➣ What is Aioli? What is Aioli Sauce? from Allrecipes

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aipim

air 🜁

  🜁

One of the four classical elements in ancient Greek philosophy and in Western alchemy. One of the five hermetic elements in Western occultism.

In a standard Tarot deck, air is symbolized by the Swords. This is probably because of the association between arrowheads and knives. In Gaelic myth, there is the Sword of Nuada. In the Grail romances, there is the Sword.

Gemini, Libra, Aquarius are the zodiac air signs.

Corresponds with one of the four best known states of matter, gas.

See also

cardinal points,

Grail talismans,

noscere,

sanguine

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airts

airts, 4

airts, four

alb

❝a linen vestment with narrow sleeves, worn chiefly by priests, now invariably white in the Western Church but can be in a color in the Eastern Church.❞

➣ www.dictionary.com/browse/alb

✧

❝The alb (from the Latin albus, meaning white), one of the liturgical vestments of the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Methodist churches, is an ample white garment coming down to the ankles and is usually girdled with a cincture (a type of belt, sometimes of rope similar to the type used with a monastic habit, such as by Franciscans and Capuchins). It is simply the long, white linen tunic used by the ancient Romans.

As a simple derivative of ordinary first-century clothing, the alb was adopted very early by Christians, and especially by the clergy for the Eucharistic liturgy. In early Medieval Europe it was also normally worn by secular clergy in non-liturgical contexts.❞

➣ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alb

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allies

The closest meaning would be totem, but that is not exactly accurate. They are spirits manifested in this world, but the link isn't because of clan or kin.

I share part of their world, and they share part of mine. Sometimes more than I am comfortable with. I don’t converse with them as much anymore, but I can still feel them. Do they exist separately or are they my own subconscious creations?

See also

bear,

Bear,

coyote,

Coyote,

raven,

Raven,

useful fiction

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allies not servants

My version of what Starhawk called “power with instead of power over.”

See also

The Broken Wisdom of Muppets Take Manhattan’s Pete,

Golden Rule,

parity test,

politics,

power with vs. power over

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alter versus altar

Alter means change or to make different. This word is a verb.

An altar is a unusual place or physical structure between the celebrant and the Divine bridging the sacred and the mundane. It’s a focus of worship, often where sacrifices are offered. This word is a noun and is used in a religious context.

These two words are not the same. Please remember that.

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alternative vote

❝An electoral system whereby voters rank candidates in order of preference. In the event that one candidate fails to achieve a sufficient majority, the candidate with the fewest number of first-preference rankings is eliminated and these votes redistributed, the process being repeated until one candidate achieves the required majority.❞

➣ www.lexico.com/definition/alternative_vote

CGP Grey does an excellent job explaining in his video the biggest advantages of alternative voting.

While voters might not get their first choice, most are more likely to get an acceptable result.

The parties have to pay much more attention to the voters and their desires than to the paymasters.

People vote for who they want, not against those candidates they don't want.

See also

first past the post voting,

politics

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aluminum oxynitride

transparent aluminum, ALON®

❝ALON® or Aluminum Oxynitride is an amazing and unique transparent advanced ceramic that is polycrystalline (made from powder) with a cubic spinel crystal structure. In the popular media and in the Star Trek community, it is commonly referred to as Transparent Aluminum. Surmet is the only company globally, that manufactures ALON®.❞

➢ ALON® Optical Ceramic from Surmet

✧

❝Transparent aluminum starts out as a pile of white aluminum oxynitride powder. That powder gets packed into a rubber mold in the rough shape of the desired part, and subjected to a procedure called isostatic pressing, in which the mold is compressed in a tank of hydraulic fluid to 15,000 psi, which mashes the AlON into a grainy “green body.” The grainy structure is then fused together by heating at 2000 °C for several days. The surface of the resulting part is cloudy, and has to be mechanically polished to make it optically clear.❞

➢ The Wonders of Transparent Aluminum from Make:

✧

❝Bullet-resistant glass has some clear drawbacks, namely, that it doesn't bar all bullets and that piling on the protective but heavy material merely slows the vehicle in question. So what can save the lives of soldiers and civilians under fire?

Researchers think the answer may be transparent aluminum armor, a finely polished ceramic alloy that's both lighter and stronger than traditional bullet-resistant glass.

Known commercially as ALON, transparent aluminum armor is made of aluminum oxynitride, a combination of aluminum, oxygen and nitrogen. Before it can end up as a hard transparent armor plate, it begins as a powder. This powder is then molded, subjected to high heat and baked, just as any other ceramic is baked. Once baked, the powder liquefies and then quickly cools into a solid, which leaves the molecules loosely arranged, as if still in liquid form. The resulting rigid crystalline structure of the molecules provides a level of strength and scratch resistance that's comparable to rugged sapphire. Additional polishing strengthens the aluminum alloy and also makes it extremely clear.❞

➢ How Transparent Aluminum Armor Works from HowStuffWorks

See also

From Star Trek to reality - transparent aluminum from teknologi

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amateur radio

❝Amateur Radio (ham radio) is a popular hobby and service that brings people, electronics and communication together. People use ham radio to talk across town, around the world, or even into space, all without the Internet or cell phones. It's fun, social, educational, and can be a lifeline during times of need.
…
Although Amateur Radio operators get involved for many reasons, they all have in common a basic knowledge of radio technology and operating principles, and pass an examination for the FCC license to operate on radio frequencies known as the "Amateur Bands." These bands are radio frequencies allocated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for use by ham radio operators.❞

➢ What is Ham Radio? from ARRL

My late stepfather was a ham for decades.

See also

American Radio Relay League,

CQ Amateur Radio magazine

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American chestnut

Castanea dentata        Ecological tragedy

❝The American chestnut (Castanea dentata) is a large, monoecious deciduous tree of the beech family native to eastern North America. The American chestnut was one of the most important forest trees throughout its range and was considered the finest chestnut tree in the world. However, the species was devastated by chestnut blight, a fungal disease that came from introduced chestnut trees from East Asia. It is estimated that between 3 and 4 billion American chestnut trees were destroyed in the first half of the 20th century by blight after its initial discovery in 1904.Very few mature specimens of the tree exist within its historical range, although many small shoots of the former live trees remain. There are hundreds of large (2 to 5 ft diameter) American chestnuts outside its historical range, some in areas where less virulent strains of the pathogen are more common, such as the 600 to 800 large trees in Northern Michigan.❞

➣ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_chestnut

✧

❝The American chestnut tree (Castanea dentata) once dominated the eastern half of the U.S. Because it could grow rapidly and attain huge sizes, the tree was often the outstanding visual feature in both urban and rural landscapes. The wood was used wherever strength and rot-resistance was needed.

In colonial America, chestnut was a preferred species for log cabins, especially the bottom rot-prone foundation logs. Later posts, poles, flooring, and railroad ties were all made from chestnut lumber.

The edible nut was also a significant contributor to the rural economy. Hogs and cattle were often fattened for market by allowing them to forage in chestnut-dominated forests. Chestnut ripening coincided with the holiday season, and turn-of-the-century newspaper articles often showed train cars overflowing with chestnuts rolling into major cities to be sold fresh or roasted. The American chestnut was truly a heritage tree.

All of this began to change at or slightly before the turn of the century with the introduction of Cryphonectria parasitica, the causal agent of chestnut blight. This disease reduced the American chestnut from its position as the dominant tree species in the eastern forest ecosystem to little more than an early-succession-stage shrub. There has been essentially no chestnut lumber sold in the U.S. for decades, and the bulk of the annual 20-million-pound nut crop now comes from introduced chestnut species or imported nuts.

Despite its decimation as a lumber and nut-crop species, the American chestnut has not gone extinct. It is considered functionally extinct because the blight fungus does not kill the tree’s root system underground. The American chestnut has survived by sending up stump sprouts that grow vigorously in logged or otherwise disturbed sites, but inevitably succumb to the blight and die back to the ground.❞

➣ History of the American Chestnut from The American Chestnut Foundation

✧

❝Once, their creamy June bloom so festooned the eastern hardwood forests that they looked from afar “like a sea with white combers plowing across its surface,” wrote the naturalist Donald Culross Peattie. That annual exuberance of the American chestnut began fading from the landscape around 1904, when a blight imported on Asian chestnuts began rampaging from Maine to Georgia. By the 1950s destruction was complete.

Of literally billions of chestnuts growing in the tree’s historic range when the blight hit, only dozens of pre-blight survivors struggle on in the wild today. Far more numerous are chestnuts that sprout from the roots of felled forest giants, only to die in a decade or two from the deadly fungus that may never go away.

But now comes the best hope in over a century for restoring the species that once comprised a quarter of all eastern hardwoods, with economic and environmental values unmatched by anything in today’s forest. A modest but historic planting of several hundred little chestnuts has completed their first full growing season in the wild on U.S. Forest Service lands in Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

Researchers say they are strong performers, reaching three to seven feet, some flowering at an earlier age than normal. That’s the merest wisp of what Peattie described; “But we’re excited,” says Meghan Jordan of the American Chestnut Foundation (ACF), which supplied the trees. “This means that our goal after 25 years has moved from breeding a chestnut that can survive to working on landscape-level restoration.”

The little trees represent the sixth generation of a breeding program begun by the 6,000-member ACF in 1989. Only hundreds of latest-generation nuts have been available to date, but this fall’s harvest was 13,000, and the numbers will grow geometrically.

With this latest hybrid, unofficially dubbed the “Restoration” chestnut, breeders feel they have a tree with enough of the Chinese chestnut’s natural blight resistance to have a shot at surviving; but also a tree that is virtually indistinguishable in form, growth rate, and wood quality from a pure American chestnut.❞

➣ Revival of the American Chestnut from American Forests

See also

ecology,

keystone species,

Red Queen hypothesis,

third law of ecology

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American social behaviors

changes post World War Two

After WWII, certain American social behaviors shifted. Some of it was good, some of it was bad.

Art showing casual or everyday nudity was moved out of the direct public eye. Female nudes were increasingly sexualized. Male nudes were shown from the back if at all, and an exposed phallus was enough to instantly label the work as cheap “porn.” Some politicos and public figures started demanding that classical art and art done in the classical style be covered. The human form alone was no longer seen as artistic and suitable for the masses, except perhaps in some better erotica. Self-appointed elites congratulated themselves on their elevated tastes and took every step they could to “protect” certain artworks from the grasping claws of bourgeoisie desire.

Unless you were “elite,” casual outdoor nudity was steadily vilified especially among the same gender. By the 1980s, a revealed nipple on a nursing mother was shameful. People assumed a man with exposed genitalia was a rapist of women and innocent children. Anything that showed the merest hint of fur, too much skin around the groin or anything near a woman's nipples was considered nearly obscene.

Adult nudity became something to be ashamed of and hidden away. At the same time, women’s bathing suits started showing more skin and highlighting the “naughty” parts, even as those same parts were covered. Toddler nudity on private property or at the beach was sometimes tolerated, but as the child learned to talk they were expected to cover themselves.

The extended childhood thing was post WWII and mostly American. I’d argue that it was mostly urban too, at least for the upper class and emerging middle class. It gave us the Baby Boomers, the less said about that generation the better. I suspect extended childhood and overindulgence were compensations for the horrors of war and the Depression's hardships.

Before the world wars and especially before the child labor reforms, many kids had jobs. Some married young. The age of consent was lower, much lower. Until the sexual revolution, boys and men were expected to do the right thing by the women and girls they were involved with.

As the Baby Boomers came of age, they sought to separate sex from the consequences. Sex was something you did removed from any long term relationships. Orgasming became the goal, not enjoying the other person and certainly not family and children.

It was the ultimate hedonistic narcissism, selfish pleaure without without last names or long term commitments and shielded from responsibility. Just sex for the sake of sex.

Sharing sex with someone special is great. Sex without attachment is a bad thing and will mess you up emotionally, especially if it is the only strong passion in your life.

Sex should always be a gift shared with certain adults that you care for and who care for you. Advocates of the sexual revolution forgot that.

Before WWII, homosexuality was officially Frowned Upon but tolerated in some circumstances. Afterwards male homosexuals were crammed into the closet. Lesbians were occasionally acknowledged, but only as wanton sluts who needed a Real Man to set them straight.

See also

Frank Answers About Swimming Naked,

fur,

The Guide to Getting It On,

skinny dipping

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https://lexicon.neowayland.com/aa/#closeting

American sweetgum Liquidambar styraciflua

Redgum, Red Sweet Gum, Sweetgum, Sweet Gum, Sweetgum Tree

❝Deep, glossy green star-shaped leaves mark the Sweetgum. Leaves turn yellow-purple-red in the fall, and stay on the tree quite late. Its shape is pyramidal, becoming more rounded with age.❞

➣ American sweetgum from the Arbor Day Foundation

✧

❝This Tree prefers to grow in bottom lands and hardwood forests. It can get up to 100 feet tall. The leaves are shaped like a star and have toothed edges. The seeds are shaped like a ball and covered with spikes. The wood is good for building furniture and buildings. It would have a good building material for the fort and excellent fuel to make fires. The early settlers and soldiers in Fort Smith had very little in their lives to consider a luxury. This tree helped relieve some of that hardship by offering a kind of candy. Settlers and soldiers could peel back the park to expose the liquorish flavored sap so they could chew it like gum. This is why it has the name sweetgum.❞

➣ American Sweetgum Tree (Liquidambar Styraciflua) from National Park Service

✧

❝Liquidambar styraciflua, or Sweetgum, is a large. valuable, forest tree frequently found in wet river bottoms, in swamps that frequently flood, and on drier uplands (except the high mountains) throughout North Carolina. It is often the bane of some homeowner’s existence because of its troublesome fruit. In Michael Dirr's entry for Sweetgum in his widely recognized Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs, it states “This lovely tree would be on every gardener’s wish list were it not for the woody, spiny, capsular, 1" to 1 ½" diameter fruit, which abscise through fall and winter.” Its common name, Sweetgum, refers to the aromatic gum that oozes from wounds to the tree. An alternate name, Redgum, may come from the reddish-brown heartwood found in logs greater than 16 inches in diameter.

Sweetgum is a deciduous tree that may grow 80 to 120 feet tall with a diameter of 4 feet or more. On most sites, the tree averages 60 to 80 feet high and 2 to 3 feet in diameter. The tree has alternate, palmately lobed leaves with toothed margins that mature into a star shape. The bark is gray-brown with irregular furrows and rough, rounded ridges. Small, bright yellow-green (tinged with red) flowers mature on stalks in spring. The tree produces a spherical, spiny fruiting head, known as a gumball, which is composed of numerous tiny capsules, each bearing one or two-winged seeds. The tree has a shallow root system and should be planted in spring because roots take 3 to 4 months to recover from the shock of transplanting.

Sweetgum usually grows in a very straight form which makes it a good species for lumber, furniture, musical instrument components and veneer. The beautifully glossy, star-shaped leaves turn bright red, purple, yellow, or orange in the fall (USDA hardiness zones 6 and 7) and early winter (USDA hardiness zones 8 and 9). On some trees, particularly in the northern part of its range, branches are covered with characteristic corky projections. The trunk is normally straight and does not divide into double or multiple leaders and side branches are small in diameter on young trees, creating its pyramidal form. Other attributes of the Sweetgum include the ability to fix nitrogen in the soil and provide large areas of shade. This tree requires full sun to partial shade. It tolerates clay, sand, loam, acidic, and well-drained soils. It has moderate drought tolerance.❞

➣ Liquidambar styraciflua from North Carollina Extention Gardeneer

✧

❝Sweetgum is perhaps one of the most adaptable hardwood species in its tolerance to different soil and site conditions. As is characteristic of most hardwood species, it grows best on the moist alluvial clay and loamy soils of river bottoms, but its growth rate is commercially acceptable on a wide range of Piedmont and Coastal Plain soils.

Throughout the Piedmont Plateau, sweetgum makes good growth on the river and stream bottoms and shows considerable potential on many upland sites. In the Carolina and Georgia Piedmont, for example, it is exceptionally competitive with other tree species on a wide range of soils with a site index for loblolly pine of 75 (at age 50) or greater.

In Maryland, sweetgum rarely makes acceptable growth on clay or gravelly clay upland soils and is rarely found on well-drained, sandy soils. Best growth rates are obtained on alluvial swamp sites and on imperfectly and poorly drained soils having a high clay content.

In the lower Mississippi Valley, site quality for sweetgum increases with the amount of exchangeable potassium in the soil and decreases as clay percentage increases. The best sites are those with medium-textured soils without a hardpan in the top 61 cm (24 in) and with moderate to good internal drainage. In the Mississippi Delta, sweetgum is most common on silty clay or silty clay loam ridges and silty clay flats in the first bottoms, which are very moist, but not too poorly drained. Along the eastern border of the Mississippi River, sweetgum is occasionally dominant on the loessial soils of the alluvial flood plain. It is characteristically dominant on the relatively impervious Alfisols of the Illinoian till plain, including the very poorly drained Avonburg, Blanchester, and Clermont silt loams.

➣ Sweetgum from U.S. Forest Service

In Arkansas, sweetgum balls are spraypainted with glitter and used as Christmas ornaments. My dad and mom introduced the Arizona-Louisiana branch of the family to the custom. I still have some with Mom's boxed decorations.

See also

ecology,

keystone species,

Red Queen hypothesis,

third law of ecology

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Amerind Amerindian, Native American

❝According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Amerindians are the aboriginal peoples of the Western Hemisphere. Inuit and Aleut peoples, however, are frequently excluded from the category of Amerindian as they are considered closer genetically and culturally to other Arctic peoples than to Amerindians.

Amerindian is a portmanteau of American Indian. Amerindians are also known as aboriginal Americans, indigenous Americans and Native Americans. The Encyclopaedia Britannica states that the ancestors of Amerindians crossed a land bridge from Asia around 30,000 to 12,000 years ago when sea levels were low enough for that to be possible. These ancestral groups were nomadic, relying on hunting and gathering for sustenance.❞

➢ Who Are the Amerindians? from reference.com

I don't really like the word “Indian” for American indigenous peoples, and I think “Native American” is misleading. Amerind is the best compromise I've seen, although I prefer specific tribe names.

See also

Diné - Navajo,

The Hopi Tribe,

Indian boarding schools,

'Indian' or 'Native American'?,

piñon pine,

powwow

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amulet

❝An amulet is a magical object the purpose of which is to avert danger and evil influence from its possessor. It is a protection device, as distinct from a talisman. The latter is intended to attract some benefit to its possessor, whereas the amulet acts as an occult shield to repel.

Pliny tells us that amuletum was the country folk’s name for the, cyclamen, which people planted near their homes in the belief that its magical influence prevented any poisonous drug from having power to harm. Amber was anciently called amuletum also, because it was believed to be an averter of evil influence and infection.

The word amulet is probably derived from the Latin amolior, meaning “I repel, or drive away”.❞

— Doreen Valiente, “AMULET”, An ABC of Witchcraft: Past and Present
 ☞ www.doreenvaliente.org

✧

❝Early amulets were natural objects whose unusual shapes or colors attracted attention. The magical properties of such objects were presumed to be inherent. As civilization advanced, amulets became more diverse. They were fashioned into animal shapes, symbols, RINGS, seals and plaques, and were imbued with magical power with inscriptions or SPELLS…❞

— Rosemary Ellen Guiley, “amulet”, The Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft and Wicca

✧

❝In the premodern world, amulets were often associated with the spirit entities that were seen as freely populating the world. They were seen as the home to spirits, and often as a protection from the actions of evil or mischievous spirits (demons). Amulets could thus protect someone from illness, injury, impotence, or various mental disorders deemed to be caused by demonic possession or obsession. Relative to the social order, amulets were seen as providing protection from the wrath of neighbors, arrest, unfavorable decisions in court, and downturns in business.

In the West, a magical strain remained after Christianity came into dominance, especially at the popular level, and sacred objects were frequently viewed as having talismanic value. In some European cultures, concern with the protection from the veil has been strong, and amuletlike objects designed to protect one from the evil eye remain popular. However, Protestants attacked many of the magical elements remaining in Roman Catholicism (including the assigning of amulet-like efficacy to sacred objects, such as the relics of saints). Later, during the Enlightenment, amulets were largely relegated to the dustbins as superstitious objects and driven out of mainstream use.❞

➣ Amulets from The Free Dictionary

See also

pendant,

talisman

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An Aoine

An Chéadaoin

An Déardaoin

An Domhnach

An Luan

An Mháirt

An Satharn

analysis-synthesis

“And yet it moves.”

anima

❝According to Carl Jung's early work, this refers to a person's innermost, largely unconscious being. In contrast the persona, is conscious and externally directed. 2. Later in Jung's life, used to reflect the universal archetype of the feminine manifestation within the male psyche.❞

➢ ANIMA from Psychology Dictionary

✧

❝: an individual's true inner self that in the analytic psychology of C. G. Jung reflects archetypal ideals of conduct

also : an inner feminine part of the male personality❞

➢ www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anima

Positive traits include (but not limited to) patience, compassion, consideration, tenderness, love, nuturing, and intuition.

Negative traits include (but not limited to) uncertainty, moodiness, insecurity, hypersenstivity (especially being "triggered"), cattiness, and vanity.

See also

animus,

persona

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animal rights

animal welfare

animism

All things possess a Divine nature because the universe is the Divine made manifest. But there are individual spirits. Granted, these spirits may be little more than human projections, but I choose to perceive and honor them as if they were separate.

1. the belief that natural objects, natural phenomena, and the universe itself possess souls.
2. the belief that natural objects have souls that may exist apart from their material bodies.
3. the doctrine that the soul is the principle of life and health.

➢ www.dictionary.com/browse/animism?s=t

✧

❝The term animism is derived from the Latin word anima meaning breath or soul. The belief of animism is probably one of man’s oldest beliefs, with its origin most likely dating to the Paleolithic age. From its earliest beginnings it was a religious belief that a soul or spirit existed in every object, even if it was inanimate. In a future state this soul or spirit would exist as part of an immaterial soul. The spirit, therefore, was thought to be universal.❞

➢ www.themystica.com/animism/

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animus

1. a usually prejudiced and often spiteful or malevolent ill will
2. basic attitude or governing spirit
3. an inner masculine part of the female personality in the analytic psychology of C. G. Jung

➢ www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/animus

✧

❝in analytic psychology and coined by Carl Jung, this refers to an archetype imbued by masculine characteristics and/or the unconscious male side of the female psyche.❞

➢ ANIMUS from Psychology Dictionary

Positive traits include (but not limited to) assertiveness, positivity, rationality, thoughtfulness, courage, power, objectivity, honor, and wisdom.

Negative traits include (but not limited to) negativity, ruthlessness, coldness, destructivity, opinionated, brutality, and recklessness.

See also

anima,

persona

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anorgasmia

❝Anorgasmia is the medical term used for regular difficulty reaching orgasm after ample sexual stimulation, causing personal distress. Anorgasmia is a common occurrence, affecting many women worldwide.❞

➣ Anorgasmia from MedAmour

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answer honestly

When asked answer honestly, but don’t volunteer information. Don’t correct anyone else when they are talking about their beliefs, but don’t be afraid when they are spreading misinformation about yours.

Don’t call another out unless it’s to prevent greater harm. Try to address the behavior and not the person.

See also

“Ask me no questions, I’ll tell you no lies.”,

falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus,

Ro3 № 4,

veritas

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anthropic principle

My version is lifted shamelessly from Babylon 5, “We are the Universe trying to understand itself.”

In cosmology, any of several similar explanations for the nature of the universe, and for the values of its fundamental constants, that states either that the universe is as it is because otherwise we wouldn't be here to observe it, or that the very presence of intelligent life constrains the universe to be as it is.

• weak anthropic principle - conditions that are observed in the universe must allow the observer to exist
• strong anthropic principle - the universe must have properties that make inevitable the existence of intelligent life

See also

biophilia hypothesis,

First Truth,

Gaia hypothesis,

pantheistic,

What Is the Anthropic Principle?

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aphelion

❝the instant when a planet is furthest from the Sun❞

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apogee

❝the instant when the Moon is furthest from Earth❞

See also

Moon

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aquaponics

❝The most simple definition of Aquaponics is the combination of aquaculture (raising fish) and hydroponics (the soil-less growing of plants) that grows fish and plants together in one integrated system. The fish waste provides an organic food source for the plants, and the plants naturally filter the water for the fish.❞

➢ WHAT IS AQUAPONICS? from The Aquaponic Source

✧

❝Aquaponics (/ˈækwəˈpɒnɪks/) refers to any system that combines conventional aquaculture (raising aquatic animals such as snails, fish, crayfish or prawns in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic environment. In normal aquaculture, excretions from the animals being raised can accumulate in the water, increasing toxicity. In an aquaponic system, water from an aquaculture system is fed to a hydroponic system where the by-products are broken down by nitrifying bacteria initially into nitrites and subsequently into nitrates that are utilized by the plants as nutrients. Then, the water is recirculated back to the aquaculture system.

As existing hydroponic and aquaculture farming techniques form the basis for all aquaponic systems, the size, complexity, and types of foods grown in an aquaponic system can vary as much as any system found in either distinct farming discipline.❞

➢ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaponics

Aquaponics works viably on a small scale. However it takes time and effort, much more than the average person in a home setup may be willing to give.

I do see it on a small commercial scale, especially in areas with inclimate weather or restricted water. If the costs can compete with trucking in fresh vegetables and fish, it could do very well.

See also

greywater,

water

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Aquarius

Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship (ADF)

❝Ár Ndraíocht Féin (pronounced - arn ree-ocht fane) in Gaelic means “Our Own Druidism”, is an independent religious fellowship of neo-Pagan Druids founded in 1983 by P.E.I (Isaac) Bonewits, a former Archdruid of several groves in the Reformed Druids of North America. Ár Ndraíocht Féin has no direct links to the ancient Druids but is a reconstruction of Druidic and Indo-European Pagan rituals and religions. Organized into groves, many of them named after trees, the ADF integrates religion with alternate healing arts, ecology-consciousness, psychic development and artistic expression. They have eight seasonal High Days (equivalent to the Wiccan Sabbats) and they conduct regular study and discussion groups in addition to a wide range of artistic activities.❞

➢ Traditions from Controverscial.Com

✧

❝ADF is working to combine in-depth scholarship with the inspiration of artistry and spiritual practice to create a powerful modern Paganism. We're researching and interpreting sound modern scholarship (rather than romantic fantasies) about the ancient Indo-European Pagans — the Celts, Norse, Slavs, Balts, Greeks, Romans, Persians, Vedics, and others. Upon these cultural foundations we are working to build a religion that these ancient people would appreciate and understand yet one which has depth and power for modern people. We're developing genuine skills in composition and presentation in the musical, dramatic, graphic, textile and other arts. We're bringing together people trained in ritual, psychic skills and applied mythology to bring the remnants of the old ways to life. We're creating a nonsexist, non-racist, organic, flexible and publicly available religion to practice as a way of life and to hand on to future generations.

Since our founding in 1983, we have succeeded in building the foundations of this vision's reality. We have local congregations, called groves, in many cities throughout the U.S. and Canada, along with a handful in other countries. Within those groves we are designing powerful magical and religious ceremonies to bring the blessings of the gods and goddesses to our world. Our groves offer regular public worship of the old gods, serving as centers of Pagan organizing in many localities. We offer our people the full range of religious and social activities including weddings, funerals, child blessings etc. — along with ways of enriching the soul.❞

➢ What is ADF?

The ADF repudiated Isaac Bonewits over accusations and allegations of sleeping with underage girls. I do not know if there is any validity to the accusations, but I do know that Bonewits contributed to modern neopaganism and scholarship. In a world that overlooks the transgressions of Elia Kazan, Winston Churchill, John Lennon, Isaac Newton, Richard Dawkins, and Virginia Woolf because of their contributions, maybe Bonewits' scholarship deserves some consideration.

I’m not suggesting that anyone make him a pagan saint or consider him a personal role model. But he did contribute.

See also

Traditions: An interview with the ADF Archdruid (Part I),

Traditions: An interview with the ADF Archdruid (Part II),

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Arbor Day

❝Arbor Day is an annual observance that celebrates the role of trees in our lives and promotes tree planting and care. As a formal holiday, it was first observed in 1872, in Nebraska, but tree planting festivals are as old as civilization. The tree has appeared throughout history and literature as the symbol of life.

The idea for Arbor Day in the United States originated in Nebraska City, Nebraska. Among the pioneers moving into the Nebraska Territory in 1854 was Julius Sterling Morton from Detroit. He and his wife, Caroline, were lovers of nature, and the home they established in Nebraska was quickly planted with trees, shrubs, and (fl)owers.

Morton was a journalist and soon be- came editor of Nebraska’s first newspaper. Given that forum, he spread agricultural information and his enthusiasm for trees to a receptive audience. His fellow pio- neers missed their trees and needed them for windbreaks, fuel, building materials and shade from the hot prairie sun. A visit to Nebraska today wouldn’t disclose the state was once a treeless plain, yet it was the lack of trees there that led to the founding of Arbor Day in the 1800s.

Morton wrote and spoke about environmental stewardship and the interrelated- ness of life. He encouraged everyone to set aside a specific day to plant trees.❞

➣ What Is Arbor Day?

Arkansas Arbor Day - third Monday in March - state tree is pine

Arizona Arbor Day - last Friday in April - state tree is palo verde

Colorado Arbor Day - last Friday in April - state tree is blue spruce

Louisiana Arbor Day - third Friday in January - state tree is bald cypress

National Arbor Day - last Friday in April

Nevada Arbor Day - last Friday in April
state trees are single leaf piñon and bristlecone pine

New Mexico Arbor Day - second Friday in March - state tree is piñon

Utah Arbor Day - last Friday in April - state tree is aspen

See also Arbor Day Foundation Statement on J. Sterling Morton

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archaeoastronomy

❝The modern scientific study and theorization of memorialized constructions, prior to telescopes, by worldwide students of the sky, including writings and symbols engraved in stone, related to their observations of the Sun, stars and constellations with the placement or carving of paired gnomon and target alignments,comets, rhythms of the 5 visible planets, lunar eclipses, phases and standstills,or an anomaly such as a localized total solar eclipse, a planetary occlusion by the Moon,a planetary conjunction, a supernova, an asteroid, a meteor or an unidentifiable object.❞

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archate

❝to initiate force; to use violence against someone who isn't being violent; to start the fight; to throw the first punch; to attack without a credible imminent threat of being attacked; to bully or govern❞

➢ steemit.com/anarchy/@dullhawk/archate-new-word

With apologies to movie purists, “Be nice until it's time not to be nice.” Tit for tat.

But there are exceptions to every rule. Exceptions that you can only invoke at your own peril and at the risk of undoing everything that you believe is right and just. There are times when playing by the rules just invites your own destruction. There are times when certain people game the system, just so no one can honorably oppose their moves.

Depending on circumstances, I'm no longer willing to rule out initiating force. But I'm still smart enough to accept that initiating force could (and probably will) invite total catastrophe.

See also

non-agression principle,

non-aggression principle,

politics,

Pagan•Vigil FAQ,

Zero Agression Principle,

Zero Agression Principle

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Aries

Arizona monsoon season

Officially June 15 to September 30

For my purposes, the Arizona monsoon season begins at the summer solstice and ends at the autumnal equinox.

❝During the monsoon or summer thunderstorm season, Arizona experiences more severe weather than many other states. On some occasions, a severe storm may spawn a microburst, but more often high winds, dust, and severe downpours result in flash floods.

Prior to 2008, the Phoenix area monsoon season was considered to start when there were three consecutive days that the dew point averaged 55 degrees or higher, but in 2008 the National Weather Service decided to take the guesswork out of monsoon start and end dates.

After all, since monsoon season is a season, most people should not be concerned with whether or not a particular dust storm is defined as monsoon storm or not.

Beginning in 2008, the National Weather Service established June 15 as the first day and September 30 as the last day of the state's monsoon season, allowing visitors and residents alike to be more concerned with monsoon safety and less concerned with technicalities of the season's start and end dates.❞

➢ Arizona Monsoon Season from TripSavvy

The Official Definitions™ are always needlessly complicated.

During monsoon season, Arizona residents learn quickly to pay attention to rain, especially if they are around washes or slot canyons.

See also

solstice,

equinox,

monsoon,

Something I did not know,

Insane Flash Flooding…,

Arizona Flash Flood

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Arizona Strip

❝The Grand Canyon isolates the Arizona Strip from the rest of Arizona, making it among the most remote and rugged public land in the lower 48 states. With nearly 4,000 miles of unpaved roads in this spectacular remote region, this distinctive part of Arizona has a special appeal to many people.❞

➢ Dixie Arizona Strip Interpretive Association (DASIA)

✧

❝The Arizona Strip is the part of the U.S. state of Arizona lying north of the Colorado River. The difficulty of crossing the Grand Canyon causes this region to have more physical and cultural connections with southern Utah and Nevada than with the rest of Arizona.❞

➢ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_Strip

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Arizona time

Time in northern Arizona is complicated. Technically Arizona does not do Daylight Savings Time. But the Navajo Reservation does, mainly because it spans four states. The Hopi Reservation does not do Daylight Savings Time, but it's surrounded by the Navajo Reservation.

Now to make things even more interesting, the Arizona Strip in northwestern Arizona is cut off from the rest of the state. The only way to reach it is to drive into Utah (which does do Daylight Savings Time) and drop back into Arizona. Across the western border of the Arizona Strip is Nevada, which also does Daylight Savings Time.

Complicated.

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as a rule, absolutes don’t

My quick and dirty answer to people who give a “moral absolute” to life or the practice of magick. The long answer is that while there are some absolutes we accept in the physical sciences, there are other things that we used to call absolute which later proved anything but (i.e. exceeding the speed of sound). Usually these absolutes are highly dependent on local conditions (speed of light in a vacuum uninfluenced by gravity). Every moral absolute I’ve ever encountered depends on cultural or religious assumptions that probably aren’t shared by all people present.

See also

dualism,

mostly,

politics,

scientism

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Ásatrú

❝Ásatrú (Icelandic, "Æsir faith") is a modern revival of the pre-Christian Nordic religion as described in the Norse epic Eddas.

Ásatrú is an Old Norse word consisting of Ása, referring to the Norse gods, and trú, "troth" or "faith". Thus, Ásatrú means "religion of the Æsir." The term was coined by Edvard Grieg in his 1870 opera Olaf Trygvason, in the context of 19th century romantic nationalism.

Generally synonymous terms for Asatru include Germanic Neopaganism, Germanic Heathenism, Forn Sed, Odinism, Heithni or Heathenry.❞

➢ Asatru from ReligionFacts

✧

❝A modern day Icelandic poet, Goði Sveinbjorn Beinteinsson, promoted government recognition of Asatru as a legitimate religion; this status was granted in 1972. Since the early 1970's, the religion has been in a period of rapid growth in the former Norse countries, as well as throughout Europe and North America.❞

➢ Asatru: Norse Heathenism from ReligiousTolerance.org

✧

❝There is some question regarding how closely Odinists have actually managed to recreate these beliefs, and of whether Germanic mythology ever qualified as an organized religion as it is understood today. Many Asatruar go to great lengths to link themselves with the past, such as taking on a Nordic "baptismal name" like Heimgest or Gunnar. Presumably when there are more than a dozen Asatruar widely known by these names, patronymics will be introduced. When more than four can actually agree on something, you get a group known as a "Black Metal" band kindred, which will then scream about Odin as if they have swallowed boiling grease. Possibly they have.

According to the neo-Druid Isaac Bonewits, some practitioners of Asatru are "mesopagan," meaning that they try to make their practice as close to the old form as possible with no intentional (but some unintentional) modern influences, while others are neopagan. Practitioners typically prefer to be called heathens rather than pagans. If you really want to piss these people off, call them neopagans — within the community, this is often a snarl word used in the same way as "cafeteria Catholic", associated with Wiccans and other "fluffy" groups. However, most neopagans accept them as a slightly kookier branch of the big neopagan tree.

It's worth noting that not a whole lot is really known about how the Norse people worshiped, so despite their hatred of the term, practitioners of this religion can be most aptly named neopagans.❞

➢ Asatru from Rational Wiki

✧

❝Ásatrú (ancient Nordic mythology) is based on the old religion of Germanic Northern Europe and is popular in Scandinavia and Germany. They believe in two groups of gods: the Æsir (associated with kingdom, order, and craft), the Vanir (associated with nature and fertility), opposed by the land of giants. The Æsir or Asa gods are the by far most prominent group, with the Vana gods, stemming from even earlier polytheism, being absorbed into their realm. You are probably familiar with many of their deities, such as Odin (king of the gods, god of wisdom and death), Thor (god of thunder and warriors), Frey (nature) and Freya (fertility). The 12th-13th-century Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson wrote extensively about the mythology in the Prose Edda, which made it possible to preserve a wealth of information to the present day.

• Regrettably, a number of white supremacist prison gangs have decided to "adopt" a racist form of Asatru as their religion, and it is these groups that are more likely to be written about - even though the Southern Poverty Law Center notes that no more than 15% of Asatruers as a whole fall into this category. It should be noted that there is no real support in the Norse lore for the idea of "racial purity" even among the Gods, several of whom married or mated with Giants - their traditional enemies.
• In recent years, Asatru has become something of a subset of Heathenry, which is often used as an umbrella term to cover the various Norse/Icelandic/Saxon-based faiths. These include Odinism, Theodism, Vanatru, and Forn Sed among others.❞

➢ Useful Notes / Neo-Paganism from TVTropes

See also

Brosatru

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ascending node

☊   ☊

❝the point where a planet crosses from the southern to northern portion of its orbit❞

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Ashkenazi, Ashkenazim

❝Jews of central and eastern Europe, or their descendants, distinguished from the Sephardim chiefly by their liturgy, religious customs, and pronunciation of Hebrew.❞

➢ http://www.dictionary.com/browse/ashkenazi?s=t

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Asimov's Laws

Fictional rules developed by Isaac Asimov for artificial intelligences. First mentioned in the 1943 short story “Runaround,” these rules defined his robot stories and inspired other writers and many science fiction fans.

• First Law - A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
• Second Law - A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
• Third Law - A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

✧

❝In his short story "Evidence" Asimov lets his recurring character Dr. Susan Calvin expound a moral basis behind the Three Laws. Calvin points out that human beings are typically expected to refrain from harming other human beings (except in times of extreme duress like war, or to save a greater number) and this is equivalent to a robot's First Law. Likewise, according to Calvin, society expects individuals to obey instructions from recognized authorities such as doctors, teachers and so forth which equals the Second Law of Robotics. Finally humans are typically expected to avoid harming themselves which is the Third Law for a robot.❞

➢ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics

One interesting variation came from the DC Comic series Shadowpact (#9 Three Laws Safe, March 2007).

• First Law - The lives and safety of innocent bystanders will always be protected.
• Second Law - The lives and safety of you (the superhero) and members of your team will be protected to the extent that it does not conflict with the First Law.
• Third Law - The lives and safety of all opponents will be protected to the extent that it doesn't conflict with the first two Laws.

Now obviously I don't think pagans are superheroes running around fighting Ancient Evils and villianous threats. But the morality is worth some thought.

See also

politics

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ASIN

❝The Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN) is a 10-snwc alphanumeric unique identifier assigned by Amazon.com and its partners for product identification within the Amazon.com organization.

ASINs are implemented in multiple local region editions of Amazon, including the United Kingdom, French, German, Italian, Canadian and Japanese storefronts. Although ASINs used to be unique worldwide, global expansion has changed so that ASINs are only guaranteed unique within a marketplace. The same product may be referred to by several ASINs though, and different national sites may use a different ASIN for the same product. In general, ASINs are likely to be different between the country sites unless they are for a class of product where the ASIN is based on an externally defined and internationally consistent identifier, such as ISBN for books. (Where the ASIN is the same across sites, it is likely to be because the 3rd party creator of the product information was careful to quote an existing ASIN when creating the product in second and subsequent countries, or the subsequent product creation offered exact duplicate information and long enough after the initial creation to allow indexes to have been updated. Also, ISBNs can vary between countries for the same book if a separate print run or edition was published for the country.)

Each product sold on Amazon.com is given a unique ASIN. For books with 10-digit International Standard Book Number (ISBN), the ASIN and the ISBN are the same. The Kindle edition of a book will not use its ISBN as the ASIN.❞

➣ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASIN

See also

ISBN,

ISSN

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“Ask me no questions, I’ll tell you no lies.”

Usually attributed to Irish playwright Oscar Goldsmith in 1773. It was probably an English proverb before that.

I'm sworn to veritas.

Everyone has their core ideas they don't want to look at closely. Which means that if I am asked a direct question, I can choose not to answer but I can't lie. I can change the perspective, I can change the premise, but if I answer I have to share truth. People don't like it when truths conflict with their beliefs, even if it's not their truths.

So I come off as weird because my perspective isn't usually the same as theirs.

See also

answer honestly,

falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus,

Ro3 № 4

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aspen

Populus tremuloides, quaking aspen. State tree of Utah.

❝Aspen are medium-sized deciduous trees, commonly 20 to 80 feet in height, and 3 to 18 inches diameter. Trees more than 80 feet tall and larger than 24 inches diameter are occasionally found. Their bark is smooth, greenish-white, yellowish-white, yellowish-gray, or gray to almost white in color. The green color is from chlorophyll in the bark. Their bark may become rough and fissured with age.

Aspen leaves are are thin, firm, and nearly round, 1 1/2 to 3 inches diameter. They are pointed at the apex and rounded at the base, with many small rounded to sharply pointed teeth along their margins. Aspen leaves are smooth, bright green to yellowish-green, dull underneath, until they turn brilliant yellow, gold, orange, or slightly red in the fall. The leave's small stem (petiole) is flattened along its entire length, perpendicular to the leaf blade. The flattened stem allow the leaves to quake or tremble in the slightest breeze; hence, their name. The leaves of young sucker aspens may be much larger, sometimes 7 to 8 inches long.

Aspen trees usually do not live more than 150 years, though they may persist more than 200 years. It grows on many soil types, especially sandy and gravelly slopes, and is quick to pioneer disturbed sites where there is bare soil. It grows best where soils are moist and sunshine is plentiful. Aspen is intolerant of shade, and does not compete well with more shade-tolerant conifer species.

Quaking aspen is an aggressive pioneer species. It readily colonizes burned areas and can persist even when subjected to frequent fires. In the Central Rocky Mountains, the extensive stands of aspen are usually attributed to repeated wildfires. It may dominate a site until replaced by less fire-enduring but more shade-tolerant conifers.❞

➢ How Aspens Grow from U.S. Forest Service

✧

❝The Quaking aspen is native to northern Arizona and is considered by many to be the most widely distributed of any North American tree. They generally grow at an elevation of between 6,000 and 8,000 feet in the West. Aspens can reach 100 feet tall and 2 feet in diameter but are typically less than 60 feet, with a diameter of 12 inches. The largest recorded aspen is in Oregon and is 136 feet tall, with a circumference of 10 feet.

Aspens are prized for their beautiful fall color. The turning of the aspen leaves marks the coming of winter in the extensive stands of aspen on the San Francisco Peaks. If you are visiting the NAU Arboretum in early October, look north and you may be able to see the yellow-gold leaves at the middle elevations on the San Francisco Peaks. Thousands of local and out-of-town visitors enjoy this spectacle, each fall.

Aspens generally occur as well-defined groves in the forest. In most cases, these groves are clones of a single tree, making the trees genetically identical. Depending on your definition of what a single organism is, a large aspen grove may be one of the largest organisms on earth.❞

➢ QUAKING ASPEN from NAU Arboretum

See also Arbor Day

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Asperger syndrome

❝Asperger syndrome is one of several previously separate subtypes of autism that were folded into the single diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with the publication of the DSM-5 diagnostic manual in 2013.

Asperger syndrome was generally considered to be on the 'high functioning' end of the spectrum. Affected children and adults have difficulty with social interactions and exhibit a restricted range of interests and/or repetitive behaviors. Motor development may be delayed, leading to clumsiness or uncoordinated motor movements. Compared with those affected by other forms of ASD, however, those with Asperger syndrome do not have significant delays or difficulties in language or cognitive development. Some even demonstrate precocious vocabulary – often in a highly specialized field of interest.❞

➣ Asperger Syndrome from Autism Speaks

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asperitas clouds

❝Asperitas (formerly known as Undulatus asperatus) is a cloud formation first popularized and proposed as a type of cloud in 2009 by Gavin Pretor-Pinney of the Cloud Appreciation Society. Added to the International Cloud Atlas as a supplementary feature in March 2017, it is the first cloud formation added since cirrus intortus in 1951. The name translates approximately as "roughness".

The clouds are closely related to undulatus clouds. Although they appear dark and storm-like, they almost always dissipate without a storm forming. The ominous-looking clouds have been particularly common in the Plains states of the United States, often during the morning or midday hours following convective thunderstorm activity.❞

➢ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperitas_(cloud)

✧

❝Pretor-Pinney described the formations as “localized waves in the cloud base, either smooth or dappled with smaller features, sometimes descending into sharp points, as if viewing a roughened sea surface from below. Varying levels of illumination and thickness of cloud can lead to dramatic visual effects.” Asperitas clouds tend to be low-lying, and are caused by weather fronts that create undulating waves in the atmosphere.

In layman’s terms the clouds look downright apocalyptic — these are the clouds you’d expect to see on Judgement Day, or in the lead-up to an alien invasion. One look at these clouds and you know something very bad is coming.❞

➢ Earth’s newest cloud is terrifying from The Verge

See also Asperitas

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Association, The Law of

astronomical dawn

❝Astronomical dawn is the time when the geometric center of the Sun is at 18 degrees below the horizon. Before this time, the sky is absolutely dark.❞

➣ Twilight, Dawn, and Dusk from timeanddate.com

See also

civil dawn,

dawn,

nautical dawn

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astronomical dusk

❝Astronomical dusk is the instant when the geographical center of the Sun is at 18 degrees below the horizon. After this point, the sky is no longer illuminated.

In the morning, the sky is completely dark before the onset of astronomical twilight, and in the evening, the sky becomes completely dark at the end of astronomical twilight. Any celestial bodies that can be viewed by the naked eye can be observed in the sky after the end of this phase.❞

➣ Twilight, Dawn, and Dusk from timeanddate.com

See also

dusk,

nautical dusk,

civil dusk

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astronomical twilight

❝Astronomical twilight occurs when the Sun is between 12 degrees and 18 degrees below the horizon.❞

➣ Twilight, Dawn, and Dusk from timeanddate.com

See also

civil twilight,

The Differences between Civil, Nautical, and Astronomical Twilight
from Digital Photo Secrets,

nautical twilight,

twilight

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athamé

- the ritual blade

❝The black-handled knife that is the traditional witches’ weapon. It is used for drawing the magic circle and for controlling and banishing spirits.

The use by witches of a magical weapon of this kind is very ancient. A picture upon a Greek vase of circa 200 B.C. shows two naked witches engaged in ‘drawing down the moon’, that is, invoking the powers of the moon to aid in their magic. One holds a wand and the other a short sword. Evidently the magical knife could have evolved from this sword.❞

— Doreen Valiente, “ATHAMÉ”, An ABC of Witchcraft: Past and Present
 ☞ www.doreenvaliente.org

✧

❝Often referred to as the athame (pronounced a-tha-may) in Wiccan traditions, the magic knife is not used for cutting but for the directing of energy and manipulation of power. In some branches of Paganism, a sword is used in place of the athame. The traditional athame is double-edged and although the tip is usually pointed, the edges of the blade are often dull. After all, it's a ceremonial knife rather than a practical one. Commonly linked with the element Fire, the athame is a phallic symbol and is often used to represent the God. The athame is used for casting a circle or for the direction of energy.❞

➣ Craft Tools from PaganWiccan.about.com

✧

❝One of the common altar tools. Traditionally, it's a double bladed knife with a black handle. Sometimes they can be difficult to find, so many modern Wiccans will use any kind of knife or blade as their athame. The athame represents the element fire (or air, in some traditions) and is often used to cast the circle. Athames are not used for cutting or other mundane tasks, though they can be used to cut the cake at a Handfasting. Pronunciation: a-THAW-may or athem-AY.❞

➣ http://www.angelfire.com/az/XxWinTerSouLxX/wiccandictionary.html

✧

❝It is a dagger used in rituals, primarily to focus and concentrate power. It is a phallic symbol and as a cutting tool a divider, and thus represents The God. Magic swords are another version of the Atheme and are popular in fantasy novels and myth. One example is Excaliber, which King Arthur uses via "divine right". Another is Stormbringer, as used by Elric in the stories written by Micheal Moorcock. Note the dual imagery. Excalibre was used as a force for order, Stormbringer drank souls and was a force for Chaos. Tools are only as good as their user.❞

➣ http://www.crystalinks.com/paganism.html

After study and experimentation, I'm pretty sure that the athamé owes more to high ceremonial magick than any pre-Gardnerian witchcraft tradition and probably is closer to a ritual sword than anything else. But sometimes the best symbol for a thing is the thing itself. I've experimented with something based on a Roman gladius, but really don't like the feel.

Still, for most purposes, a blessed pocket knife will do as well.

See also

A selection of athamés,

boline

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atheopaganism

❝godless paganism, paganism without gods❞

➣ “Atheopaganism: An Earth-Centered Religion without Supernatural Credulity” by Mark Green

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attitudes on nudity

attitudes on sex

Attraction, the Law of

audere - To dare.

Act with courage. Question everything. Traditionally associated with water, change, and courage.

See also

4PM,

Four Powers of the Magus

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augmented reality

Augmented reality puts a computer-generated overlay between you and what you sense. There's been some very interesting work done (separately) by Alphabet and Apple, among others.

The novels Daemon and Freedom™ by Daniel Suarez have an interesting take, right down to a hero's quest.

❝On the spectrum between virtual reality, which creates immersive, computer-generated environments, and the real world, augmented reality is closer to the real world. Augmented reality adds graphics, sounds, haptic feedback and smell to the natural world as it exists. Both video games and cell phones are driving the development of augmented reality. Everyone from tourists, to soldiers, to someone looking for the closest subway stop can now benefit from the ability to place computer-generated graphics in their field of vision.

Augmented reality is changing the way we view the world -- or at least the way its users see the world. Picture yourself walking or driving down the street. With augmented-reality displays, which will eventually look much like a normal pair of glasses, informative graphics will appear in your field of view, and audio will coincide with whatever you see. These enhancements will be refreshed continually to reflect the movements of your head. Similar devices and applications already exist, particularly on smartphones like the iPhone.❞

➢ How Augmented Reality Works from How Stuff Works

See also

virtual reality

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augury

1. The art, ability, or practice of auguring; divination.
2. A sign of something coming; an omen

➣ www.thefreedictionary.com/augury

I've no gift for augury, but there have been times when people have begged me to tell their future.

If divination reveals the future, I've not found the means. I have found that tools like Tarot spreads, runes, and even gazing into a moon bowl can grant certain insights. For me, these techniques work as a way to focus meditation and contemplation.

The answers are already there, I'm just not usually paying attention.

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aunts & grandmothers

“The men may sit in council but the aunts and the grandmothers shape lives.” Measure a culture by the attention it pays to those not a part of the official leadership structure. Especially the women.

See also

politics

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autarky

❝Autarky refers to a nation that operates in a state of self-reliance. Nations that follow a policy of autarky are characterized by self-sufficiency and limited trade with global partners. The definition of autarky comes from the Greek—autos, meaning "self" and arkein, meaning "to ward off" and "to be strong enough, to suffice." A fully autarkic nation would be a closed economy and lacking any sources of external support, trade or aid. In practice, however, no modern nation has achieved this level of autarky, even when subjected to punishing sanctions. This is because the global supply chain has made true economic isolation difficult, so any policy of autarky is a matter of degrees rather than a complete isolation.❞

➣ www.investopedia.com/terms/a/autarky.asp

✧

❝ Economic self-sufficiency. That is, a country has autarky when it does not need to engage in any sort of international trade. Rather, it produces all of its goods and services within the country. Autarky is rare in the modern world, but some examples include Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge and India prior to 1991. Most analysts see autarky as economically inefficient, though some governments pursue the policy to encourage local industry or more rarely to keep their people from perceived threatening influences. ❞

➣ financial-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/autarkic

✧

1. a perfect condition of life in which no aid or support is needed
2. sufficiency of the necessities of life
3. a mind contented with its lot, contentment

➣ www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/autarkeia.html

See also

economics,

politics

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Authority Figure™

Someone with power from expertise, experience, an institution, or society. Unfortunately there is a real difference between legitimate authority and claimed authority. A label is a lousy basis for authority. Assume all authority is illegitimate until and unless proven capable. Social and instituional authority are especially prone to inability.

If you don't question what a book or Authority Figure™ tells you, you aren't doing your part. Ask questions. Question the answers. Question your questions.

See also

The Authority Problem,

On Pagan Leadership,

politics

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autodidact

❝a person who has learned a subject without the benefit of a teacher or formal education; a self-taught person.❞

➢ www.dictionary.com/browse/autodidact

One of my hats. I'm going to brag here.

I've a wide range of interests with eclectic depths. I majored in television and film production. I spent a short time in a Methodist seminary. Along the way, I picked up management, accounting, law, motivational speaking, auditing, and teaching. That's just what I needed professionally.

In my own time I studied art, architecture, graphic design (back when that meant cutting things out on a light table), history, comparative religion, government theory, psychology, economics, practical politics, the craft of debate, paganism, magick theory, anthropology, literature, political theory, stage magic, web design, and medicine.

I'm not an expert by any means, but experts (Wayback Machine) can let complexity interfere with practicality and understanding.

I am a philosopher in the old sense. I groove when I think about thinking. I look for the hidden connections between disciplines. I take the working ideas from one field and see if I can find ways to make them work in another.

Think of me like a non-specializing specialist, a term lifted from an Asimov story.

See also

autodidacticism,

philosophy

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autodidacticism

❝The process or practice of learning a subject without a teacher or formal education; self-education.❞

www.dictionary.com/browse/autodidacticism?s=t

See also

autodidact,

philosophy

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autosome, autosomal

❝any chromosome other than a sex chromosome❞

➢ http://www.dictionary.com/browse/autosomal?s=t

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awen

❝Awen is a Welsh, Cornish and Breton word for "(poetic) inspiration". In the Welsh tradition, awen is the inspiration of the poet bards; or, in its personification, Awen is the inspirational muse of creative artists in general: the inspired individual (often a poet or a soothsayer) is described as an awenydd.❞

➢ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awen

✧

❝In Druidry, we learn often hear the word, awen, being used, but what exactly is awen? Loosely translated from Welsh, it means flowing spirit, or flowing inspiration. Awake to our own energy, and stretching out towards the energy of nature around us, we begin to see just what awen is. It is an opening of one’s self, of one’s spirit or soul, in order to truly and very deeply see. When we are open, we can receive that divine gift, inspiration that flows, whether it is from deity, nature, or whatever it is that you choose to focus on.

For awen to exist, there must be relationship. We cannot be inspired unless we are open, and we cannot be open unless we have established a relationship, whether that is with the thunder, the blackbird or a god. It is cyclical in nature; we open and give of ourselves and in doing so we receive, and vice versa. Letting go, releasing into that flow of awen allows it to flow ever more freely, and we find ourselves inspired not only in fits and bursts of enlightenment or inspiration, but all the time, carrying that essence of connection and wonder with us at all times. There is, of course, a line to be drawn, for we can’t be off our heads in ecstatic relationship with everything all the time.❞

➢ Awen by Joanna Van Der Hoeven

✧

❝By far the most popular meaning of the Awen is three rays of light.

The number three is a very sacred number not just in Druidry but also in Celtic culture.

The meaning of each ray of light has different meanings in culture.

• Some believe that they represent three divisions of the soul (mind, body and spirit)
• Others believe it represents the three realms we inhabit (land, sea and sky)
• Also underworld, middle world and upper world
• Love, Wisdom and Truth
• Nature, knowledge and truth

So as you can see, there are many meanings for the Awen.

Interestingly the three words for Druidry that illuminate darkness are nature, knowledge and truth.❞

➢ The Awen Celtic Symbol – The Three Rays Of Light
From Ancient Times from Irish Around The World

See also

Tree of Life,

triskele

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