#OLMEC MOMENT

[stirringwinds]

Do u have any headcanons about Rome or the other ancients

i do! here are some of them:

Rome is the Italybros' father, not their grandfather. Children are sometimes bittersweet omens for nations; your beginning is a harbinger of someone else's end.

When he was still a republic, the Battle of Cannae during the Punic Wars against Carthage was the moment Rome most feared dying for real. As the Carthaginian general Hannibal proclaimed; "I swear to arrest the destiny of Rome with fire and steel"—that put some real fear into young Rome's heart.

Persia (aka the Achaemenid Empire) is at least 3,000 years old—they and modern Iran are the same person. Another ye olde helltalia, like China.

Germania's real name is not Germania: he is one of the many Germanic nations that existed; as historically, Tacitus' concept of "Germania" is more of a Roman construction—they didn't see themselves as a single unified "Germanic" cultural or political entity. So, Tacitus' Germania? Much like Herodotus: father of history, father of lies, perhaps...

Yao's earliest memory is of walking along the Yellow River. It's one thing he has in common with many other ancient nations; rivers feature heavily in their earliest sense of being: Rome (the Tiber), Sumer (the Tigris and the Euphrates), Ancient Egypt (the Nile) and Olmec (the Coatzacoalcos, in modern Mexico) being some examples. Yao thinks of the Yellow River as being both life and death; the fertile silt on the banks that would be the lifeblood of his civilisation, but also the source of devastating floods throughout his history.

Yao rather respected Rome, Persia/Iran and India a lot more than his other neighbours; Rome being called da qin（大秦）or "great qin". Almost a sort of "oh, there's another empire at the opposite end of the (then) known world just like me." Bit of a difference from how at various points, Yong-soo and Kiku got much less flattering names. Today, many things have crumbled under the sword of time, but there's still Roman glassware he has from that long-gone time of the Silk Road that linked Rome and China—as well as all the other cultures in between—together.

#hetalia #hetalia headcanons #hws rome #hws china #hws carthage #hws iran #hws persia #hws germania #hws india #hws ancient egypt #hws olmec #hws sumer

[embermoonsworld]

Olrox Headcanons

.Olrox was the son of a Tetechutin, a high lord of Aztec culture (he seems too regal and sophisticated to have just been a commoner. Another tell he was probably royalty or nobility is his emerald earring as only royals/nobles could wear them).

.Though polygamy was common among Aztec nobility, his father was loyal only to his mother. This is what inspired him to be a loyal, devoted partner.

.He was young when the conquistadors came, about in his mid to late teens.

.He blames Montezuma for his empire's downfall because he foolishly let the invaders live instead of killing them on sight. He believes it would've saved them so much trouble.

.He and his family kept their titles as a result of the conquest and the implementation of the Spanish order (because the Spanish king saw it as a way of pacifying the local nobles). However, the rest of his people were forced into hard labor under the Spanish encomtenda (landlord). He hated every moment he was forced to bear the Spainards but kept it in for the sake of his remaining family.

.He saw many friends and family members die either by warfare or disease. He suffers survivor's guilt as a result. This also began his greatest fear- losing loved ones and feeling helpless to stop it.

.Olrox was turned in the year 1533 and was between his late 20s-early thirties.

.His sire was an incredibly ancient and powerful Olmec vampire (Olmecs were the ancestors of the Aztecs and lived thousands of years before they did). He/she was a priest/priestess of the god Quetzalcoatl in their human life and, for whatever reason, made a pact with the serpent deity to become a vampire. Olrox then made a similar pact when they turned him and that's why Olrox is so powerful- his sire was very powerful and very ancient, at least 1500-2000+ years old.

.Olrox slaughtered the encomtenda and other local oppressors that had indentured his people, freeing many of the Aztec slaves as well, some of them following Olrox and being turned by him. After that, he began traveling the world. He would cross paths with many so called vampire hunters. Well, you all know how that fared for them.

.After two centuries, Olrox had long become the lord of the vampires in the Americas, (possibly being one of the first vampires in the New World). His reputation is what possibly drove Julia Belmont to hunt vampires in America.

.His feathered serpent form is the result of his sire's pact with Quetzalcoatl.

.He met his Mohican lover at least a decade or so before the Native American was killed by Julia.

.His lover refused to feed on human blood, only animal blood. Olrox respected his wishes. Olrox even followed his example by splitting his feedings between animals and humans.

.Olrox protected his lover on the battlefield when he fought in the Revolutionary War.

.Olrox is bisexual but leans more towards men. Homosexuality was frowned upon in Aztec society and for a long time he struggled with it.

.His favorite color is purple.

.His favorite flowers are orchids.

.His favorite food was tamales.

.His eyes were light green even as human. According to him, he got the color from his mother.

.His preference for feeding on the rich stems from his deeply ingrained grudge against rich white men. Although, he equates rich white men to diseased vermin at times since they brought plagues to his people.

.He would never feed on women, children or the elderly. He's not that cruel.

.In vampire society, he's attained the status of an aristocrat. He understands that power and wealth is what drives the world and plays the game if just to survive and keep from ever being powerless or enslaved again.

. It's not that he hates money and wealth, it's that he hates corrupt people using money and status to harm others.

.In his 250+ years as a vampire noble, he's accumulated an insane amount of wealth, power and influence. He gets his wealth mainly from his own trading company and has many trade partners all over the world (most of them vampires). You won't find him complaining about his massive bank account.

.He's come to love British tea and began trading in it. He was PISSED when one of his shipments was ruined in the Boston Tea Party.

.The earrings he wears are relics from his Aztec culture and from his days as a human, as is his obsidian dagger.

.He's acquired a taste for fine wine, as well as all the finer things in life. He's also more than a bit vain, dressing in only the finest clothes and using only the most expensive soaps and oils for his skin and hair. He was born into wealth and luxury after all. He also detests getting dirty but still will if he has no other choice.

.The ghostly skulls he summons in battle come from the Spirit World as he can open portals to the realm.

.He knows a lot of spells and magic and is quite the mystical scholar.

.He has a large python and a jaguar as pets back home.

.He still enjoys eating regular food very much, like most vampires do.

.He's very much an avid reader, and has taken a liking to English literature.

.He'll admit: he loves European fashions and loves the way silk and satin feels against his skin. He will NOT however in this, or any lifetime, wear a powdered wig! You won't catch him staked with one on and whoever came up with them was obviously mentally retarded.

.He goes back to Mexico every year to visit and honor the graves of his loved ones on Dia Del Los Muertos.

.He took his lover's body back to Stockbridge and buried him in a spot that held sentimental value to the both of them- like underneath a favorite tree or by the river where they spent so much time together.

.Olrox combs his hair at least one hundred times.

.One of the hardest parts Olrox went through when he first became a vampire was learning to eat and talk without stabbing his lip or tongue with his newly acquired, lethally sharp fangs

.Olrox doesn't feel the need to drain humans dry when he feeds- he can get by perfectly fine on a small, safe amount. To him, such an act is quite barbaric, not to mention a gluttonous waste. That is, of course, unless said human truly pisses him off.

.He abhors slavery and sympathizes with slaves- he knew what it was like to have his people become enslaved. All of his subjects follow him willingly because he inspires great loyalty in them as well as ruling them with fairness and compassion. He's even freed a number of human slaves across the globe as well.

.Olrox is a very devoted, passionate and affectionate lover. His significant others or lovers would experience unparalled romance and pampering at the Aztec vampire's side. He loves to cuddle and is very "touchy-feely.'' The sex is also out of this world!!!

.Olrox doesn't like to be referred to as an "Aztec'' as that was a term coined by the Spanish. His people were really called the Mexica (that's how Mexico got its name).

.He is either immune or is at least resistant to sunlight (we've seen him out in daylight twice- once when he went to the Abbey and once when he stood in front of a window with sunlight streaming in).

.He's read the Bible, but considers it preachy and hypocritical. He once laughed at the thought of it making him "burn up."

.He is disgusted by the practice of devil forging because he feels it's an abomination as well as completely disrespectful and inhumane to the souls of the deceased.

.He has a soft spot for children and goes out of his way to protect the human children in the vicinity of his home from other vampires, robbers, monsters etc.

.Deep down, Olrox knows undeniably that if they had met other different circumstances, if he (Olrox) had never had his previous lover, if the Belmont family were not so adamantly sold on killing vampires, Olrox would've definitely pursued Richter as a love interest (the boy is a pretty, feisty little thing after all).

.He lives in a large manor somewhere in New England, possibly close to Stockbridge, because that's where his lover was from and by living there, he feels like he is keeping some part of him alive.

.The beads Olrox wears in his braid belonged to his lover. They are tokens he kept to remember him.

.His style of flirting includes teasing and provoking the object of his affections with touches or jibes. He loves to see them get riled up and display great fire and passion. That's what he loves the most about his potential lovers- a fiery spirit.

.If he takes a fancy to you, good luck trying to shake him; baby boy will stick to you like a shadow.

#castlevania olrox #castlevania nocturne

[mrsterlingeverything]

Olmec moment

[willigula]

At the British Museum I saw a beautiful Egyptian fresco of the scribe Nebamun hunting birds (c. 1350 BCE). The fluid style startled me, it was so at odds with more formal Egyptian art we are used to seeing. Some time later I saw a painting of Minoan women gathering saffron on Santorini that was even 300 years older, but in an exquisite humanist style that might not be seen again for thousands of years. Most recently in the Portland Art Museum I found this Olmec figure of a man from 900 BCE that predates Hesiod & Homer but looks more modern than Archaic Greek art, and may be more comparable to work from Zhou dynasty China. All this art seems more advanced than what followed, & I wondered what inspired these brief flourishing moments?

#art #history #egypt #crete #mexico #minoan #olmec

[beardedmrbean]

Okay I go to point it out that yes it sad that I have never seen what my direct ancestors look like in ancient and medieval times. And probably never will

But this post I found probably point out a issue I been noticing https://www.tumblr.com/ainomica/686212780028739584

Wait

Are

Late Gen x leftists

And millennials

Using

Pop Culture

As the basic

For

Human warriors

Knowledge?

Oh that explains the black Vikings shit

Yes let say that black peoples were deadass part of some of the most prolific slave traders and rapists in human history? Ooookay!

But let me use my Chimera republic as example of my fantasy au

Though btw the chimera republic is basically fantasy USA strong arming all of the Americas into an empire. Yeah the Americans (or perhaps prime chimerans) are tongue and cheek about but allow the cultures and languages to exist

But let me set up a story-wait best anon

But I think the issues is a lot of people view history from pop culture. No metroplation blacks

Just because pedo land aka Hollywood don’t glorified African warriors at the moment. Doesn’t mean their ( unless they’re pos like the Dahomey) stories shouldn’t be told

Do social media make everyone have the mentality of a bitter 15 year old or something?

>The analogy between Samurai and cops is also appropriate because they used to "break in" new swords by killing peasants who were outside past curfew.

So much samurai stuff is just BS myths, undoubtedly the "insult" thing was abused regularly, I'm not sure how bad the insult needed to be but still.

Class stuff in that post is still pretty much spot on to my knowledge, but a lot of the legends and such are actually myths.

This guy was funny, because he wasn't doing a bit. I think the idea behind the Vikings and Celts came out of the need to cry about dreadlocks belonging to black people and evidence proves those two groups also had a hairstyle like that, so obviously that means they were black somehow.

This is another fun one, USJW is a joke blog

Aztecs and Olmec's are in the mix in this one

Yes let say that black peoples were deadass part of some of the most prolific slave traders and rapists in human history? Ooookay!

Everyone is guilty, sooner we can accept that the sooner we can stop blaming everyone else.

But let me use my Chimera republic as example of my fantasy au Though btw the chimera republic is basically fantasy USA strong arming all of the Americas into an empire. Yeah the Americans (or perhaps prime chimerans) are tongue and cheek about but allow the cultures and languages to exist

Look up the Ottoman Empire, they were good about that occasionally, at least on paper they were. Achaemenid (Persian) Empire too, long as nobody rebels and everyone pays their taxes you can keep your language, culture, and religion. Again it was like that on paper, reality is it's own thing.

But I think the issues is a lot of people view history from pop culture. No metroplation blacks

probable, of course then people start to emulate them and that's when it gets bad, emulate Uncle Phil instead

Just because pedo land aka Hollywood don’t glorified African warriors at the moment. Doesn’t mean their ( unless they’re pos like the Dahomey) stories shouldn’t be told

Both should be told, truthful dahomey type people stories would be good as well as folks that didn't sell off their fellow Africans to Arabs and Europeans.

Problem is

way way back we just don't know, nobody does for sure, and less way back the slave trade kicked into high gear and folks were gettin sold to people in the MENA region.

Might need to just go off of mythology or oral tradition stories, searching for all this stuff gets rough because you look up Africa and you get Egypt and the rest of northern Africa.

Do social media make everyone have the mentality of a bitter 15 year old or something?

Twitter made it so people could only digest information in tiny doses, which meant nuance was lost, which in turn created a lot of ignorance, which human nature when it comes to pride makes admitting ignorance difficult, which made people's ability to actually hold a conversation where differing viewpoints are brought into play vanish.

Same with Facebook except the difference is there's only so much text you can add to a minions meme.

Reddit is good for creating a echo chamber, but at least you can put a lot of text down but living in a echo chamber tends to make one believe that their opinion is the majority one when reality may be totally different.

I do not envy mental health professionals, things are going to get worse as worse for them in the coming years.

#zoomer huey anon

[artifacts-archive]

Bird Vessel

Olmec

12th–9th century BCE

Incised designs indicate the lines of the feathers on the wings and tail, the borders of the beak, and the circular eyes. This young raptor appears completely birdlike but has human ears extending from either side of the rounded head. The ears have contours and stretched lobes with depressions that indicate ear ornaments. Eagles and other birds of prey were powerful symbols in Olmec art, where they marked the realm of the sky and the precision of a hunter. The inclusion of humanlike ears here may indicate the intent of the artist to convey a moment of co-habitation or transformation from human to animal.

source

#Olmec #pre Columbian #artifact #vessel

[araminakilla]

Day 66: Vive la France!

Found new images of the third movie thanks to the instagram account of Paramount Pictures France, it also says that the movie comes out in August 24th, which is amazing that the movie premiers two days before the original release date in Spain, but maybe is an accord for using Paris as a location.

Anyway, time to analyse these images

Tad & Mummies with Jeffsoni (Beljeff?) on that strange bathtub that does a good job of being a boat, going fast as to reach land.

I'm sorry, I can not see Paris and not think of Miraculous Ladybug, so even if it's impossible I can at some point expect for Ladybug and Chat Noir to appear and deal with our heroes' predicament, thinking at first that they are akumas or something like that.

About the expressions, Tad & Mummy are looking at something and being worried about it, perhaps there are upcoming boats on their way (or said boats are from Victoria Moon and/or agents Pickles and Ramirez) while Jeffsoni seems to be happy as Jeff would usually be in this kind of dangerous situations while Ramona, iconic "I don't have time for this nonsense" Ra-Amon-Ah is with an almost boring, unimpressed face, but we know that some seconds later she will be full "Ahhh!" mode with the explorer and the incan. Although it's interesting to see her like this, almost like a foil to Mummy who goes easily scared by dangerous situations.

Next we have a scene that we already saw in the trailer. Tad telling Sara that everything is fine as the structure of wood behind him is a about to collapse. Basically, one of ten pictures taken before disaster. I'm just grateful it is not the olmec pyramid the one to fall.

Then we have Tad in Egypt with the same little black pyramid artifact that Sara is holding in the official poster, only that this one is releasing a white light, indicating that maybe he is close to the emerald tablet or something.

In this image I'm not sure if this is the moment when he is all alone about to cross that bridge or if the others are next to him but in an offscreen way.

And if they are not there, were they could be? A fight took place or they parted ways for another reason? We will see in the following weeks.

And last but not least, this picture of Mummy holding a jar of green slime with eyes on it. I remember seeing this kind of jar in Halloween celebrations, but why Mummy has one is a mystery. Maybe he purchased one when Tad was in Mexico, as he has many things Tad wouldn't have or use when the explorer returns to his apartment in the trailer.

Also, he is talking most likely to Tad in this scene. Not gonna lie, this pose that Mummy is doing and how he is expressing himself in this image is... really great if we think about it.

We generally see him as anxious, scared, goofing around and just plain comic relief. In this one, he looks confident, like he has things under control about his life. A similar attitude that he had at the end of the first movie when he is seen commanding the guards, not so much of the same energy of the second movie when he bragged of being the "Great Conquistador of Peru"

A similar energy, but not the same. I love all the details found in his bracelets, collar, crown and feathers. The animation really has improved.

Hope that at the end of the movie Mummy adquires character development and starts to feel more confident about himself and the world he decided to live in: The living world.

A world that was taken from him and now he is reclaiming it as well as his own happy ending and found family.

Bonus image

An adverisement found in a cinema. Looks like the movie is slowly starting to appear in the merchandising aspect. Good for them.

#I wanna see a Mummy Ramona and Belzoni interaction so bad now #I saw them together in that picture and I can't get the thought out of my mind #tadeo jones #tad the lost explorer #tadeo jones 3 #tad the lost explorer 3 #tadeo jones analysis #tadeo jones theory #tad stones #sara lavroff #mummy (tadeo jones) #ramona (tadeo jones) #Ra-Amon-Ah #tad 3 countdown #tadeo jones meta

[news-wtf]

Chavis Marmol, a 42-year-old sculptor who has never owned a car and travels by bicycle, came up with the idea of dropping the nine-ton carving onto a blue Tesla 3 in Mexico City using cranes.

Inspired by the colossal head carvings of the Olmec, considered the first known major Mesoamerican civilization, it sits on a lot owned by a boutique hotel in the Roma district that teamed up with Marmol.

A video released by the Colima 71 hotel shows the moment when the head was released and the car's roof gradually caved in, though not before its batteries had been removed.

"My idea was to make a piece to troll Elon Musk," Marmol told AFP by telephone from Spain, adding that it would be "incredible" if the multi-billionaire Tesla boss saw it.

"Look what I do to your lousy car with this wonderful head. This is bigger than you and the rampant technologies," he said, his comments coming a year after the electric carmaker announced plans to build a huge factory in northern Mexico.

The idea for the artwork became reality following a conversation between Marmol and the hotel's artistic director, Ana Margarita Ongay.

"He very casually told me: 'my dream was always to put an Olmec head on a Tesla.' And at that moment I told him, 'well, let's do it,'" she said.

[thissmallplace]

Hello! Hope you're doing well!

Just saw that you had rebloged an ask meme a few days ago and even though it may be a bit late for that, was wondering whether you wanted to answer 7, 11 and 14 for Thunder in the Land of Sun?

Hey! Hello! I'm doing well. I'm happy to talk to you! I hope you're doing very well, too. It's not late at all.

7.What is a fun fact about a thing you need to research?

I have to research a lot of interesting things about the Olmec and Aztec civilizations because Thor is going to meet with some gods from those cultures. I am Mexican so it's not so difficult to remember what I learned about my national history at school, but I still need to brush it up a little.

11. What’s going through each character’s head in this moment?

In my fic Thor is grieving. It is set after TDW and AOU, after he lost both Frigga and Loki. It is just heart-wrenching to see your loved ones die, you don't truly recover. And Thor is never given time to actually grieve. He is aware that he has been trying to keep busy, not to allow himself to face the excruciating pain of his loss because it hurts so bad he is afraid of it. He is looking for a place where he might be able to grieve without alarming his friends.

As for the others, Steve is worried about Thor and he doesn't know how to help him. His friendship with Thor has just kept growing stronger. I think Natasha's friendship with Thor is going to become closer in my fic because Thor is always trying to seem strong and stoic, but Nat is too good at reading people, even if they are gods, and she knows Thor is suffering.

And Loki is watching Thor from Asgard. And he is wishing he could go and show Thor he is alive.

14. What do you like about this WIP?

I like the idea of exploring Thor's relationships, old and new. I want to talk about his friendship with The Avengers and with Sif and The Warriors Three.

I also want to explore his relationship with other gods, particularly with the Olmec and Aztec gods. Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl have always sounded to me a lot like Loki and Thor. And, of course, I want to write about Thor's most important relationship which is the one he has with Loki. There is going to be a lot of Thor and Loki in my fic.

#thor odinson #thor #my fic #fic: thunder in the land of the sun #ask meme for when you are stuck on a writing project

[princewillco]

Life is short, and if we enjoy every moment of every day, then we will be happy no matter what happens or what changes along the way.. #olmec #foundationcigars #nicaragua #tobacco #cigar #cigars #cigarporn #quotes #quotestagram #quotesaboutlife #life #lovemyself #pic #ig #igdaily #insta #instagram #instame #instadaily #instamood #instalike #instalove #like #love #follow #mimicigars (at Mimi.cigars) https://www.instagram.com/p/CokaqzCPBr0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#olmec #foundationcigars #nicaragua #tobacco #cigar #cigars #cigarporn #quotes #quotestagram #quotesaboutlife #life #lovemyself #pic #ig #igdaily #insta #instagram #instame #instadaily #instamood #instalike #instalove #like #love #follow #mimicigars

[m39]

Doom WADs’ Roulette (2003): The Brotherhood of Ruin

You know what? After what I experienced with Scythe’s Fire and Ice, I think even Doomguy himself would like to take a vacation from hell spawns. Somewhere interesting, like some pyramids or something. Not the Egyptian ones, these were already visited a couple of times. But what about some ancient American shit left by Aztecs, or Olmecs, or Toltecs, or Mayans, or any other Mesoamericans that build these pyramids. I mean, what’s the worst thing that can ha-

Suddenly, your phone starts ringing.

Excuse me for a moment.

You pick up the phone.

Hello?

...

What’s that?

...

The demons are there too?

...

And the pyramids have demonic murals built on their walls?

...

The demons didn’t build them?

...

Okay, then. Thank you for the information. Have a nice day.

You put the phone down.

...

Poop.

#4: The Brotherhood of Ruin

Main author(s): Kristian Aro

Release date: 2001 (original release)/February 1st, 2003 (database upload)

Version(s) played: ???

Required port compatibility: Boom

Levels: 7

There is something interesting about The Brotherhood of Ruin. Not only in terms of its theme (that I mentioned above) but also in its release. While it is on the list of the Top 100 WADs of All Time in the 2003 roster, and it was uploaded to the database the same year, you might notice that something feels off when you take a look at the textfile and the date of making at the bottom of the title screen. And if you dig further and check out other websites that reviewed this WAD, you will find out that it was originally released around 2001, only later to be uploaded to the database in 2003.

Why was this WAD placed in the 2003 roster then? Maybe because it was completely unknown before the 2003 upload? Maybe there was no more room for the 2001 roster so the list’s main contributors put it in the 2003 roster due to the database upload? Or maybe-

Okay, you know what? That’s enough. If I’ll keep thinking and ranting about TBoR’s upload day we will be stuck here for ages. Let’s just take a look at the WAD itself now.

Since this WAD was actually released around 2001, I’ll partially try to go easy on it.

The Brotherhood of Ruin looks really damn good. I tend to be a sucker for some ancient civilizations’ architecture, and even though I’m not really that interested in Mesoamerican architecture, I was still fully amazed by it in this WAD.

For some of you, however, it might end up as somewhat of a chore to look at since after like the first two levels (at best), you have basically seen everything: temples, pyramids, valleys, underground systems, and other locations among stuff mentioned in wiki article about Mesoamerican maps. It’s the only style that you will see in this WAD.

Now look, as I said before, I like me some ancient architecture, so the theme of The Brotherhood of Ruin didn’t really feel monotone to me, but even I can notice that it might bore some people who aren’t into this stuff.

Changing the subject, the new music is pretty enjoyable to listen to. It really fits into this WAD’s theme, even the ones that weren’t created by Paul Corfiatis and two of these were borrowed from Heretic or Hexen. My favorite track is probably from MAP03, with MAP07 right behind it.

This WAD tends to slightly focus more on switch hunting, but I don’t think it ever goes too far. The maps tend to be medium-sized to big-sized, but honestly, if you will check every room clockwise style (or something familiar) on each fork, you won’t spend that long in each level, even if it is your first time playing it.

I would also be happier if the doors that require keys were showing more colors (for the lack of better words) to stand out from the normal ones. I think that only some of these tend to do that.

The Brotherhood of Ruin is somewhat of a medium challenge to finish. It can kick your ass in some places, but there is nothing that goes too far. I think I got numb to the hard challenges after WADs like HR, AV, and Fire and Ice map... that I beat days ago the third time.

This WAD has some dirty tricks in its sleeves, with ambushes and monsters having the high ground. But the hardest part was in the red key area in MAP07, where after grabbing the key, you end up sandwiched between two Arch-viles while they resurrect two Hoovies that you just killed. Other than that I can’t remember anything harder from this.

And I think that’s all what I can say about The Brotherhood of Ruin. Despite its problems, it’s another good WAD worth checking out. And the Mesoamerican theme only helps.

Not gonna lie folks, I’m really enjoying what the 2003 roster is offering so far, and it’s only four WADs by this point.

Now I do realize that the next WAD on the list is actually somewhat of a Frankenstein’s Monster of a PC port of Doom 64 with the subtitle Absolution (or just TC). But I’m gonna have to sadden you folks; I’m not going to review this fan-made port next. The reason for this is really simple: Doom 64 is an original game on its own with many of its mechanics being different from the Classic Doom. Plus, the Absolution port adds some additional monsters and levels. Describing all of this stuff would take forever, and I don’t like to take a very long time on a WAD or one of its episodes.

So here is the plan: Originally I was planning on making a month-long break from reviewing WADs, mostly due to reaching the end of Doomworld’s Top 100 WADs of All Time, not to mention the WADs that became addons for Bethesda’s Unity port of the Classic Doom. Now, I’ve decided to shorten the break to two weeks, and then review Doom 64 first (the 2020 port to be exact, not including the Lost Levels that came with the port), then the Absolution fan port and its added features. After that, I’ll take another two weeks of break. Then, I’ll start looking at the first Cacowards’ WADs (I won’t cover only the best 10, I can promise you that).

Anyway, that’s all I have to say for now. See you next time.

Bye!

#doom #Doom WAD #review #doom mod #Doom 2 #2003 #doom 2003 #the brotherhood of ruin #doom The Brotherhood of Ruin #Doom WADs’ Roulette

[elizabro]

I keep having random sharp flashes of a dream or possibly a memory...just a very strong emotion and surge of abstract thought and imagery like a brief moment of time travel and it's happened like 10 times. it's so weird I feel like somebody is trying to telepathically communicate with me

#maybe something akin to microsleeps? #I am very sleep deprived and I spent 5 hours early this morning #jam packing the entire preclassic and classic period of the ancient maya and olmec into my prefrontal cortex!!! #I'm a sad girl. I know for a fact I got 3 questions wrong on the test #1 of which I knew but had a moment of incompetence

[vintagegeekculture]

Given that; out of left field; Mattel somehow bought the rights to Sun-Man to use in their collector-targeted MotU Origins series, any chance of a post on the history of Olmec Toys? Seems like your kind of thing!

I was not aware of these figures at the time, but since becoming aware of them as a pop culturephile, I think they're fascinating because they have that truly weird, brightly colored infusion of the time black culture in the US was dominated by electronic and synth, a sense of the psychedelic and futuristic. Remember Space Sumo, the telekinetic ninja? Say what you like, this stuff is acid weird and clearly the product of a distinct vision.

You see the movement that produced Sun Ra most clearly in music. In fact, it's kind of a shame that Sun Ra never got an animated series. for many reasons. First of all, I can imagine it looking less like Filmation and more like avant-garde Soviet Bloc animation like "Son of the White Mare." Also, it should have got a show because...boy, what would that soundtrack have been like? Afrika Bambaata, arguably one of the 20 most influential Americans of the late 20th Century, was at the very moment these figures came out, sampling German bands to create his space rock with themes like the Ancient Egyptians had the secret of telepathy and television. They collected the ambition and total unearthly weirdness of prog rock, the future sounds of synth, with true African soul and rhythms (Sun Man dresses in the colors of the Ethiopian flag).

George Clinton did stage shows dressed as a wizard while creating space music the Silver Surfer would appreciate, and Earth, Wind and Fire dressed like they just came through a Stargate or a Pyramid Ship (they were not a disco group, incidentally, it bugs me when people say that - they were around at the same time as disco, but they were soul and R&B and it does a disservice to their classic appeal to call them that). Even the most traditional and staid of old school R&B guys like Quincy Jones, at this moment, did an album like the Dude, where he combined bossa nova with acid trip space stuff.

For these reasons, Sun Man always had a sense of identity different from He-Man, who was inspired by Frazetta and the paperback boom. He was easily the most unique of the He-Man imitators, who tended to act like He-Man was the first western ever made and they were making the second. It's kind of a shame that Sun Ra never got playsets. Can you imagine what they'd be like? I can imagine his Castle Grayskull right now: a Sphinx with glowing red eyes for lights that when you push a button the eyes flash and it says "WHO DARES TRESPASS ON THE SPHINX?" And the goal of the set is to steal the jewel on his forehead that amplifies mind powers. How about a pyramid that functions as a starship, too? The inside would look like Ming's Throne Room from the 1980 Flash Gordon. I would love to design creatures as well, how about a flying lion that shoots lasers from its eyes, or some African elk thing with horns like an Irish Elk that runs through space. He should have a spaceship powered entirely by good vibes and soul named the Arkestra, after Sun Ra's band, the Sun Ra Arkestra.

Oh that reminds me, I suspect the character was named after psychadelic electronic pioneer, the incredible Sun Ra, who as you might expect, dressed like a space wizard.

#sun man #afrofuturism #r&b #acid rock #he-man and the masters of the universe

[fefeman]

I think something 'Les mysterieuses cité d'or' do very well regarding colonialism is how it handles Mendoza (and by extension his two sidekicks Pedro & Sancho).

Like, there are other interesting things to say about this show, in good or bad (their take on the Olmecs is plain bad), but this one is important in my opinion. Mendoza is the only European that is present in every episode (and his underlings are basically just here to echo him.)

See, a lesser show would have made Mendoza a purely heroic figure, a Spanish adventurer who stands against colonization because he has the moral compass his fellow Spaniards lack. Or at least, try to smooth over his relation to the conquistadors by making him "neutral who eventually turn around".

But the thing is, Mendoza is, unquestionably, a bad person when the series starts.

The above is a scene of him manipulating a kid who just lost his adoptive father into following him to the new world. A kid he saves as a toddler, yes, but from who he also stole a golden medallion that was the kid's only connection to his real father. And Mendoza has no qualm about blackmailing the kid and using the medallion to force his hand into following him. We later learn he's fine with abducting a teen to bring her to Pizzaro. That he has worked for Magellan and ferried peoples from Spain to Lima at least once (perhaps more). We learn he's fine with destroying a village's livelihood if he can get some gold out of it.

He's not the one doing the killing or giving the order, but he has definitively benefited and participated in the invasion of the Inca territory and doesn't seem to feel bad about it.

And the show is aware of this. Two of the 3 main characters, Tao & Zia instantly don't trust him, and only kinda accept his presence because he is necessary to their survival & can't really shake him off (and they do try). The third one, Esteban, feels he owe one to him for having been saved as a toddler but also has no illusions that Mendoza only cares for golds.

And no character is framed as wrong for not trusting him. When he sabotages an Inca ambush so he can steal the Spaniards canon & présent it as a gift to get on the Inca's good side, he's immediately seen through and he only doesn't get killed because, as said above, Esteban feels he owe him one and the Inca are chummy with the kid. Later in the series, when Pedro & Sancho break the hospitality the Maya gave them, he tries to deflect the blame on only them, but he can't find anything to say when the leader tel him "they were just less patient & less discreet than you, you were planning to do the same."

His whole character arc is about greed. He's obsessed with Gold like all Spaniards in this show, and he's only a bit better at hiding it.

And toward the end of the first seasons, you HOPE he might get better. For a few episodes, he feels genuinely guilty of having thought of gold before the well-being of the children. He feels bad for not considering Zia mourning her father. When Pedro & Sancho (as said above, the symbols of his worst traits) say they should leave the kids behind and go get some gold, he threatens to kill them (he never threatened to kill anyone before) if they don't help rescue the kids. He reveals he genuinely cares for them.

And yet he fails. In the last episode of Season 1, he leaves the kids behind to put some gold aside so he doesn't go back home empty-handed. Sure, there wasn't an immediate danger, and he couldn't help them, but it was an important moment for them, and he cared more for gold. Even the priests mention that he has no business asking them "why didn't you follow everyone" when he did the same.

After all this character growth, he's still too greedy to be a truly good person.

It's a more nuanced take about colonialism than a lot of western shows that approach it. Mendoza is, in the show, the most moral of the Europeans. He is the best you can be as a Spaniard if you have any involvement with the conquistador. And that's not enough. As long as he expects to get something out of the new world, he can't be a good person. And how can he not do that, when he explicitly came there for greed.

#les mystérieuses cités d'or #the mysterious cities of gold #Juan Carlos Mendoza

[yamayuandadu]

A hidden world that never was: witch cults, matriarchal prehistory and contemporary conspiracy theories

As regular readers of this blog might already know, a particular woe of my online activity over the course of the past year were constant reminders that discussion of history, mythology and religion online is often dominated by dubious, outdated or outright fraudulent claims. Worst of all, this is generally not the result of misguided theories which seemed sound when they were first formulated – there were plenty of these in the history of modern historiography after all, as eventually many research methods are replaced by even better ones (even these of 19th archaeologists whose ideals are not completely baffling to us often relied on excavation methods which would rightfully shock everyone if employed today), and more and more blanks in our understanding of the past are filled. For example, it used to be unclear to researchers if classical Maya predate the Olmec due to insufficient material, while the importance of the Hittite civilization in the ancient Middle East was severely underestimated due to scarcity of discoveries prior to the last 100 years or so. Even properly identifying all the trading partners of well known ancient civilizations with a large corpus of primary sources, such as Sumer or Egypt, can be described as a long, arduous and arguably still ongoing process, with many mistaken assumptions made in the past. The claims which I will attempt to describe here - the so-called witch cult hypothesis, as well as its close relatives, the claims about universal matriarchal religion (the “myth of matriarchal prehistory,” as Cynthia Eller called it) and the foundations of certain new religious movements – cannot be simply described as examples of these, though. As I will demonstrate, they're simply pseudohistory, firmly entrenched in a modern phenomenon which can be referred to as “conspirituality.”

Our journey through the world of historical misinformation begins in the 18th century. The age of enlightenment largely put an end to a fixture of earlier european history, the witch hunts, and historians started to present them as an abuse of power by the church and senseless, baseless violence, while the people who perished in them started to be rightfully seen as innocent victims claimed by what was essentially a historical equivalent of phenomena such as satanic panic, NWO/reptilian conspiracy theories or the sadly very politically relevant at the moment Qanon movement. Modern researchers, especially Norman Cohn, pointed out that there was also a strong antisemitic component to many witch trials, and even the terms used appear to often intentionally demonize or mock Judaism, and reports of the purported witches' activities often mirror the medieval blood libel, rather than any known descriptions of religions of antiquity. Cohn also notes that adapting the idea that witch hunts were linked to blood libel and similar accusations does make for a coherent chronology, while the various “witch cult” and “pagan survival” theories have a glaring issue – they seldom answer any questions about events taking place during the entire time period between the adoption of christianity and times in which witch hunts occurred, different for individual countries. 19th century sadly changed the approach to the history of witch hunts – as the new philosophical movements born in that era aimed to often undermine or subvert the age of reason and its accomplishments (flawed as they were, obviously), the consensus on the past witch hunts likewise started to be challenged. A number of figures regarded as very conservative back then, let alone by modern standards, like Karl Ernst Jarcke, a fanatical monarchist, started advancing the idea that witch hunts were a war waged by the church and its righteous supporters on a nefarious cult, similar to the secret societies common in conspiracy theories advanced by his peers. As the 19th century was also the time when nationalism in the modern sense was born, the theories of Jarcke and his followers had a notably xenophobic flair to them – the “witch cult” was introduced to Germany by slaves and other undesirables, who based it on the religion of ancient Greece, and especially Hecate worship (read: on medieval christian criticisms of it – I debunked some claims present here as well in my Hecate article from last year; also note the idea of Hecate being the goddess of a “pan-european witchcraft cult” remains popular with modern neopagans and wiccans, despite its nefarious origin and inaccuracy) and aimed to overthrow rightful authority of the monarchs and the Catholic church (this was also meant to serve as a rather blunt attack on their liberal contemporaries, presented as godless and anarchic). Similar claims were also advanced in England by Karl Pearson, a mathematician and eugenicist who for some reason decided to dabble in pseudohistory. His notable claim was that Joan of Arc was a priestess of a hidden, malevolent “matriarchal religion” - an accusation so outlandish it would likely even shock her earlier accusers, and one of the few pieces of pseudohistory discussed here I haven't seen adapted by any modern purveyors of it.

While Jarcke  is the earliest figure I opted to bring up here, the one whom I'd actually consider worthy of being referred to a the father of the discussed network of puzzling hoaxes and misconceptions was Charles Godfrey Leland, a late 19th century American author. While seemingly a relatively progressive person for his time in some regards (he was an abolitionist – not a high bar, though), he had no real issue with altering, falsifying and entirely fabricating claims (or even artifacts) and publishing them as result of genuine fieldwork. His “impressive” accomplishments include altering a number of Algonquian tales he published as genuine oral tradition merely compiled and translated by him. His aim was seemingly to provide evidence for an outlandish theory that the beliefs and religious practices of the people forming the historical Wabanaki Confederation were derived from Vikings, an example of the ignoble tradition present in early American scholarship aiming to strip indigenous peoples of their history and accomplishments (its main legacy is the so-called “mound builder myth”). His another particularly harmful contribution was the fabrication known as “Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches,” which he presented as a genuine religious text shared with him by a purported informant in Italy, who was herself a witch. Needless to say neither the work itself nor even the informant appear to be real, and “Aradia” is quite clearly an attempt to sell similar lies as these formed by Jarcke and his ilk to a new audience. Leland wasn't the first to attempt that –  famous French historian Jules Michelet tried to put a progressive spin on witch cult conspiracy theories over 30 years earlier (rather puzzling decision, considering he was the exact kind of person Jarcke reviled and equated with his made up satanic conspiracy – a lifelong secular and republican activist) – but he was the first to present his work as anything other than speculation, and the first whose work gained widespread attention (Michelet's witch-related ventures were treated as an oddity disconnected from the rest of his career). “Aradia” presents a fanciful account of a hidden society of witches venerating the eponymous “Aradia,” a daughter of Diana and Lucifer (sic). Leland claimed that the rituals described in the book probably are a remnant of Etruscan religion, at the time barely researched and still somewhat mysterious today; however the book also claims that Aradia was a medieval figure involved in the struggle between feudal peasants and local landowners – consistency is not its strongest suit. The author also chaotically speculated about his own claims, providing us with such smash hits as equating the biblical Herodias with largely extrabiblical Lilith. There are many well documented instances of religious syncretism in antiquity, some of them even involving historical or semi-historical figures, but none line particularly well with these made by Leland. Rather importantly, none of his claims line up particularly well with the medieval accounts related to purported witchcraft, or any confessions obtained during witch trials. None of them fit with archaeological records, either. They do line rather well with what one could expect from a 19th century hoax prepared by someone with only a vague sense of dedication to uncovering historical truth, though. To a a modern reader claims such as the existence of entire networks of “heathen villages” in Italy are easy to recognize as belonging to the 19th century tradition of “noble savage” literature. Similar ideas were further developed by Margaret Murray from the 1910s onward. Murray made history as the first woman to teach Egyptology professionally in Britain, and was an accomplished archaeologist, but her expertise in one field doesn't exactly balance the fact that ultimately most of her academic work was centered on pursuing increasingly puzzling lies and promoting them to the general public from a position of scholarly authority. Like some of the figures discussed in earlier sections of this article, she claimed that well known accounts of witch hunts were in fact the persecution of a “pan-european religion,” a claim which raises many red flags for anyone even vaguely familiar with history of ancient religions. A particularly heinous aspect of Murray's work was dismissing the fact that many aspects of witch-related texts, including the fact their gatherings were referred to as “sabbaths,” were simply rooted in antisemitism – it's virtually impossible to deny it, considering sometimes even the term “synagogue” was used as well. In her writing there was room for a large scale organized religion unknown to historians, but there was no room for even just attempting to address a very real legacy of religious intolerance. Instead, she created fanciful etymologies for terms blatantly intended to demonize Judaism to disconnect them from their very real legacy of still socially relevant hate. Note this is not something that was only noted in very recent times – Norman Cohn, who was the first author to write extensively about the similarities between religious persecution in ancient Rome, medieval witch hunts, blood libel and totalitarian purges was almost Murray's contemporary! A concept invented by Murray which gained particularly wide recognition among all sorts of fans of dubious claims was the idea of “horned god.” Using disconnected, inconclusive evidence, she claimed that every single horned male figure from every single system of beliefs – Pan, Amon, the Minotaur and other Minoan depictions of bulls, the “master of animals” seals recovered from various Indus Valley Civilization sites, Cerunnos and more – represent a single figure, which was also the central god of her made up witch religion. Naturally, the deities in mention aren't really connected with each other, and fulfilled very different roles in very different societies and time periods. It is possible to make some generalizations about different gods and point out certain archetypes do repeat quite often across mythologies – for example many middle eastern mythologies featured a warlike goddess often with femme fatale characteristics, there are examples of unruly storm gods fighting dragons in a wide variety of cultures, plague-repelling gods serving as afterlife officials are widespread in east Asia, and so on. However, any claims about universal deities worshiped all over the world from the neolithic to present times are nothing but hyperdiffusionism, a long discredited pseudohistorical theory seeking to find a common origin for a given aspect of many cultures. Murray's later followers for some reason ignore some notable aspects of her creed – the firm belief a race of fairies inhabited Britain and shared the faith of the witches, but eventually went extinct, the notion that some English kings died as ritual sacrifices, and the claim Joan of Arc was a witch and adherent of the religion she claimed to “research”. I feel like it's very important to underline that to Murray the existence of fairies and gnomes was more plausible than the existence of religious prejudice still widespread among her contemporaries, which tells you a lot about what sort of person she was. Due to limited interest in relevant topics among more credible historians, Murray's views went unchallenged, and she even managed to secure a spot for them on the pages of Encyclopedia Britannica – her confabulations were only removed in the 1960s, after the damage was done. Murray's baffling works inspired many further writers. Among them, a particularly notable example was Robert Graves – while his main interests and theories differed from Murray's, he was undeniably inspired by her idea of “forbidden” religious remnants and universal deities going back to the stone age. He also embraced the idea of a hidden witch cult existing in England in historical times, though unlike Murray he saw it as matriarchal. Graves was a poet and writer by trade, and for all intents and purposes pretty successful one at that – it's probably his writing style to which the lasting popularity of his works can be attributed. Sadly, their worth as texts about history of religion is dubious at best. The core idea behind Graves' writing was the existence of an universal goddess figure possessing three aspects, which he usually referred to as virgin, mother and crone, though he was not very consistent about it. This figure, in his mind, united the legacy of ancient Greece and Celts and their art (he did not address the much more significant similarities between the culture of ancient Greeks and their eastern neighbors, though – sorry, Carians, Phrygians, Phoenicians etc., you're not cool enough for mr. Graves). He further spread these ideas with his retellings of Greek myth published in the 1950s. A particularly prominent victim of Graves' theories was Hecate, whose modern popular perception was shaped largely by him and later writers who embraced him, and not by historical sources. It's worth noting that Graves' goddess theory was likely in part a way to essentially “mythologize” his encounters with his many lovers, and thus provide a religious justification for having multiple “muses” (some of them teenage) – at least one of them was appalled by this. He notably claimed that contacts with the “triple goddess” were the only source of “true” poetry, and thus she and her many guises were the ultimate muse. It's rather notable that there was pretty clearly no room for female artists in his vision, even though he claimed it to be a celebration of femininity – women were presumably meant to be inspiration, but not authors themselves. Graves' vision of the ideal world was so matriarchal it looped back into being grotesquely misogynistic. While I can think of a few positive things to say about Leland (committed union supporter and abolitionist), Murray (genuinely accomplished archaeologist before she sacrificed her career on the altar of pseudohistory) and even Graves (seemingly entertaining writer – if only he admitted basically all his works are fantasy perhaps he could be remembered as a Tolkien-like figure!), I fail to see a single positive thing about the next person whose legacy I will discuss, Gerald Gardener. His moral conduit was questionable at best, he claimed to possess degrees from universities which did not exist, and his work was nothing but layer upon layer of fiction. Gardener was even more of a disciple of Murray than Graves – indeed, he even knew her personally. He took her theories to the logical extreme, by basically making them into religious dogma – the new religious movement of wicca. While he claimed to merely present what he learned from a “surviving coven” of genuine witches, the inconsistent nature of his writing, his participation in fringe esoteric movements long before his “discovery” and the fact he relied mostly on sources like Murray's books, Leland's “Aradia” and the works of Aleister Crowley are evident, and make it easy to disregard all of his statements as pure fiction. It doesn't exactly help his case that he kept revealing new fragments of purportedly ancient doctrine as he saw fit merely to gain the upper hand in arguments between him and his fellow practitioners of invented religion, claiming them to be law. He adopted Murray's horned god, but elevated his consort to the rank of a full blown divinity, something not found in Murray's writing. His arguably most notable successor was Doreen Valiente. Her main contribution to wicca was forming a new version of the Charge of the Goddess, a prayer or hymn to the “great mother” - a composite wiccan entity similar to Graves' triple goddess (and outright conflated with the latter by some wiccans and other neopagans – as far as I can tell the first to do so was a contemporary of Gardener, Robert Cochrance, who claimed the term is “genuine” rather than an invention of a 20th century writer...). Both Gardener's and Valiente's versions of it and other, newer ones are responsible for spreading false information forcing various disconnected goddesses into the “great mother” or “mother earth” mold. Particularly grating examples include Hecate, who was described by Greeks as a virgin goddess and Inanna, Ishtar and Astarte who were at times associated with sensual love or even fertility (the extent of that has been sometimes overestimated in the past, though – a specific myth depicting a figure as seductive is not quite the same as an association with fertility in religious worship) but were not mother goddesses in any meaning of this term.

A notable episode from Valiente's life was her participation in a neonazi movement, specifically in the organizations National Front and Northern League. The association between nazism and conspirituality of the sort discussed here wasn't new – indeed, at least some nazi officials showed interest in investigating it in hopes of constructing a “truly aryan” religion, so it should come as no surprise that early wiccans likewise often had far right sympathies. Ultimately an argument can be made that the entire field is basically a hyper-conservative fantasy, which I will discuss more later. Sadly, despite her far right sympathies, Valiente remained a celebrated figure in certain circles focused on intentionally obscuring history for the rest of her life, and she can be arguably credited with making wicca into the global phenomenon it is now. It's also worth noting that while some contemporary neopagans sneer at followers of, say, ufo-oriented new age groups, Valiente and her peers embraced that as well, and Atlantis and ley lines feature prominently in her writing. Valiente was also well aware that much of Gardener's writing was completely made up (or plagiarized –  for example from a Rudyard Kipling poem of all things), even his grimoire, “Book of Shadows” - instead of exposing it she aimed to “improve” his works and continue the hoax. As a side note, it should be said that some other pioneers of wicca were likewise people of dubious moral character – while not a neonazi, Alex Sanders stole from and defecated in a library, for example. However, the history of this specific brand of pseudohistory doesn't end here! While in the 1960s and 1970s the theories of Graves and Murray were debunked over and over again by credible, experienced scholars, a brand new type of pseudohistorical ideas arose, influenced in part by works like Graves' “White Goddess” - the so-called “goddess movement.” However, while it definitely has Graves' fingerprints all over it, it would be doing my readers a disservice not to introduce its other component – the philosophy devised by TERFs. Of course, everyone on this site is vaguely familiar with this movement – back when we were teenagers, all of us probably had the protective BYF scripture listing this acronym among groups meant to stay away somewhere on our blogs. However, few people fully comprehend how utterly incomprehensible to a normal person TERF beliefs are. Mary Daly, the original “TERF theologian” of sorts (a catholic theologian btw – in case if you're curious how come that you reasonably often hear about TERFs allying with religious fundies...), had a basically cult-like view of reality and society, akin to some sort of feminist extreme gnosticism – a false world existed, and a real world within had to be revealed. The “false” world, material reality, was referred to her as “necrophiliac” and the way to reveal the true world within required de facto genocide, or at the very least purchasing her book containing made up “rituals” meant to unlock secret potential within. Supposedly, this would restore some nonexistent primordial matriarchy, and give women back the ability to procreate through parthenogenesis (no, really). This is obviously similar to the doctrine of a millenarian cult, which I feel needs to be discussed more, though this is not the time and place for it. Being a TERF (arguably the original one), Daly naturally also had many charming things to say about trans people, for example comparing transition to the deeds of doctor Frankenstein and in a weird act of projection presenting transition as a cultic behavior. As a small digression I feel like it's worth noting that in sharp contrast with Daly, the inventor of sex reassignment surgery and arguably father of modern LGBT activism as a whole, Magnus Hirschfeld, was a kind, rational man, whose meticulously researched writing was centered on bringing up historical examples of LGBT people, as well as positive experiences of his patients achieved thanks to his revolutionary work, to argue for tolerance and equal treatment in society. Sadly he's just a forgotten piece of historical trivia, while the ravings of Daly and her followers and derivatives keep influencing generation upon generation of teenagers.. Anyway, back to the goddess movement – from incomprehensible spiritual ideals like these of Daly, mixed with the writing of Graves and with some wiccan influence, the idea of “primordial matriarchal religion” arose. As history likes to repeat itself, once again a formerly credible and accomplished archaeologist opted to sacrifice prominent position in a genuine field for study to instead pursue mirages – enter 1950s bronze age research superstar Marija Gimbutas. Gimbutas was undisputably a very talented archaeologist, and her findings greatly enhanced our knowledge about neolithic and bronze age Europe. However, her interpretation of own finds leaves much to be desired, and today is often honored more by neopagans and charlatans than by historians and archaeologists. She argued that Europe was once a realm of peaceful, matrilineal and economically just societies worshiping an universal mother goddess, whom she eventually started to describe in terms borrowed from Graves' books, adapting even his idea of three forms. She claimed this idyllic reality ended with the “Kurgan invasion” from the eurasian steppe, which “tainted” Europe with warfare, patriarchy and indo-european languages (based on archaeological finds it is hard to say if people speaking indo-european languages started appearing in Europe and the Middle East gradually or not and there's evidence of warfare long before the bronze age and the arrival of steppe-based nomads in Europe, and burials do not support the notion of an universal matriarchal – or as Gimbutas argued, “egalitarian” - society; it's also called into question if every archaic female statuette is a cult object). Today it is evident that  at least some of her work was a severe case of seeing what she wanted to see in the past, rather than what actually was there. Personally I do not see Gimbutas as a malicious figure, unlike most of the other people I brought up in this article, though it is evident she responded to criticism and newer evidence not by revising her theories, but by turning them into what essentially constituted self-parody (despite claiming she merely believed the neolithic cultures of Europe were lacking hierarchy and thus perfectly equal, she basically embraced Graves' rhetoric, as I noted before), and as such much of her work aged poorly and is mostly lauded by people with questionable ideas today, as I already pointed out. Some of them allege that any criticism leveled at her amounts to a nefarious conspiracy. It's important to mention that while Gimbutas was for the most part simply a misguided scholar who took criticism poorly in her final years (not an uncommon sight), some offshots of the goddess movement have nothing to do with genuine study of the past, but stay more than true to their TERF legacy, especially the so-called “dianic wicca” of Zsuzsanna Budapest, characterised as such even by other wiccans, who usually defend even the most questionable aspects of their movement (such as, well, falsifying history). This is a feature, not a bug. The idea of the “myth of matriarchal prehistory” espoused by the goddess movement was thoroughly debunked in the early 2000s by Cynthia Eller in her book of the same title. She correctly presents the goddess movement as the product of dubious scholarship seeking to produce an all-encompassing philosophy, and notes that the goddess myth is at best an “ennobling lie” - a concept formed by the philosopher Kwame A. Appiah (probably my favorite contemporary writer) – essentially, a founding myth meant to provide some group with dignity or enforcing positive values. Appiah argues in favor of maintaing some ennobling lies on a case by case basis. Eller argues in favor of rejection of this specific ennobling lie, considering pseudohistory a burden to feminism, rendering its ideals easy to dismiss. She also notes many foundations of the goddess movement simply consistute poor research practises – veneration of female figures didn't necessarily translate to equal treatment of living women, while interpreting every ancient work of art as a cult object is an antiquated idea.

Sadly, Eller's publication is obscure (I only stumbled upon it myself because I saw it mentioned in relation to Appiah's ennobling lie concept), while another work influenced by the goddess movement appears to be held in high esteem by users of goodreads, amazon, and many other sites connected in some capacity to literature, and as a result influences online perception of history of religion to a considerable degree – Barbara G. Walker's “The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets.” Walker wrote about knitting before deciding the world needs her bizarre conspiratorial rehashing of basically all the bizarre ideas described in the previous sections of the article – she also added a plenty of weird ideas of her own. A particularly funny example of a misconception popular in the discussed circles and spread further by Walker are attempts to present the myth of Marduk and Tiamat as triumph of patriarchal forces over an earlier mother goddess – Enuma Elish was hardly an old myth by the standards of ancient Mesopotamia, and it was based on earlier tales, in which the equivalents of Tiamat – Yam, Illuyanka etc. - are male, and often act disrespectful towards both male and female authorities. It does tell us a lot about Babylon, of coure– as it morphed from city-state to an empire, Marduk absorbed traits of many gods, including the dragon-slaying ones; but there's no hidden matriarchy to uncover there, and Tiamat is absent from earlier texts and from any which are not derived from the Enuma Elish itself. Funnily enough this bizarre approach to Tiamat was also lauded by a person from a completely different ideological movement, online demagogue and self help guru Jordan Peterson. I actually tried to make it through Walker's book, and while it wasn't the most soul-crushing experience I can think of (out of the authors I mentioned here, Daly easily wins in that category), the bizarre stupidity of some entries almost made me wonder if it's a joke of some sort. Some choice tidbits to my knowledge unique to Walker's writing include describing sufism as “tantric goddess worship,” arguing Amaterasu's name contains a made up universal term for motherhood, claiming Japanese imperial house only became patrilineal in the Kamakura period, and asserting Ahriman was an actively worshiped deity from which the “power” of zoroastrian magi was derived. Walter also appears to have a peculiar obsession with describing mixing menstrual blood with wine and other beverages and consumption of such mixtures (that's her explanation for every mythical drink or potion...) – the frequency with which this motif shows up in her confabulations almost made me think of these deviantart galleries filled with poorly edited screencaps of cartoon characters engaging in some bizarrely specific uncanny activity. There's plenty of footnotes in “Woman's encyclopedia,” which might give it an air of authority, but it's easy to see many of the sources are themselves dubious (Graves, Murray and friends), or don't actually confirm what Walter claims they do. Where does this book's popularity come from, considering the fact it's blatantly wrong and it's not hard to notice if you have even just a passing interest in history of religion? Probably from the way it's advertised – this is sadly a problem with much pseudohistorical data: it's cynically sold to people as “exciting,” “forbidden knowledge,” “declassified secrets” and so on. This is partially why they became such a huge part of the modern world – lies often have great PR. How does all of this tie to the currently politically relevant extremist movements? This might not seem obvious at first, but the link is direct. Pseudohistory by design makes one more susceptible to other similarly shaky ideas, and the movements whose history I described here on top of that often appeal to, or even intentionally reach out to, demographics generally not fond of “conventional” conspiracy theories, associated with militias, nazis or christian fundamentalists – to lgbt teenagers, suburban essential oils enthusiast moms, instagram yoga instructors, tech startup hipsters et cetera. As the news demonstrated for the past few months, these demographics too are susceptible to certain aspects of present day doomsday conspiracy cults, eg. Qanon: the Wayfair conspiracy was spread largely by teenagers on tiktok; many Qanon marches, often with overt anti-vaccine messaging, attracted politically moderate stay at home suburban moms; extremism researcher Marc-André Argentino coined the term “pastel Qanon” to refer to this phenomenon. Generally speaking, many people who embrace Qanon were already believers in conspiracy theories before – nephilim, NESARA/GESARA, blood libel, Rothschild conspiracies, new chronology, ancient aliens and more; the demographics which only started to show up in spaces related to the aforementioned doomsday cults seemingly lack connections to such theories most of the time, barring maybe ancient aliens, but I propose that what makes it easy for Q ideas to reach them is widespread acceptance of various “hidden religion” pseudohistorical ideas in even rather progressive circles – this too is “conspirituality” which ultimately feeds the conspiracy monster. Note that the anti vax movement didn't spread just among extremist evangelicals, but also among adherents of various alternative spiritual paths – simply put, among wiccan hippies and similar demographics; and currently, based on research of conspiracy experts, anti-vaxers are almost synonymous with Q adherents. Many articles were also written about the spread of such conspiracies in various “wellness” or yoga communities, which often also feature elements drawn from authors I discussed in the earlier parts of this article. As a matter of fact, at least two people involved in violent incidents come from “wellness” or “alternative spirituality” circles: the “Q shaman” you most likely saw in photos from the recent assault on the American Capitol, and a less known extremist: Attila Hildmann, a German celebrity vegan chef, wellness guru... and also, as of late, neonazi, anti-vax activist and Qanon influencer. A few months ago, Hildmann, whose first name was arguably prophetic, called for destruction of a variety of artifacts held in Berlin's museums as connected to nefarious forces present in Q mythos – some 70 pieces, ranging from ancient Egyptian art to contemporary paintings were defaced, though thankfully no lasting damage was seemingly done. Worth noting that Hildmann appears to also be a believer in a certain prominent strain of pseudohistory centered on the Canaanite storm god Baal Hadad – I will discuss it in detail in my next longer post, stay tuned. What binds together all sorts of pseudohistory – both the genre of it I debunk here and the more “classic” sort – is the belief in a hidden, usually primordial, world to which the initiated few have access, which grants them superior understanding to that possessed by normies. The truths offered by this world are unchanging and an ancient relic, revealed long ago and preserved, rather than developed  – therefore progress and modernity are an enemy, and so is the scientific method. This is naturally an atithesis of how cultures actually function – as demonstrated by Kwame Anthony Appiah, cultures consist out of change - therefore “conspirituality” is an anti-culture of sorts, actively pushing its adherents towards more and more false beliefs, and ultimately sometimes towards actual doomsday cults. A good example of this, outide of the aforementioned Qanon phenomena, is the fact that many adherents of ideas dicussed in this article gleefully embrace lies sourced from XIXth century extremist protestants, like the notion that Easter is derived from Ishtar, an etymologically incoherent argument advanced by fanatically anti-catholic pamphlet “The two Babylons.” I sadly see no easy solution to this problem. The rise of currently prominent version of conspirituality was in no small part spearheaded by social media algorithms and sensationalist tv shows like Ancient Aliens, and it's hard to offer an alternative to them to people who are simply interested in history and religion, as false ideas are often providing copious amounts of material for free, while genuine research is hidden behind paywalls difficult to afford even for some institutions, let alone individual private citizens. I am merely a hobbyist sharing what I find interesting myself to show that real history is always more fascinating than nefarious conspiracies aiming to replace it, but without coordinated large scale effort it seems impossible to emerge victorious in the battle against them. Naturally, that doesn't mean trying is pointless, and I plan to continue for the foreseeable future. Further reading:

Europe's Inner Demons: An Enquiry Inspired by the Great Witch-Hunt by Norman Cohn

The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory: Why An Invented Past Will Not Give Women a Future by Cynthia Eller

Jason Colavito's blog

Conspiracy theories debunkers and extremist ideologies researchers on twitter: Mike Rothschild, Marc-André Argentino, Amarnath Amarasingam, Travis View, Mark Pitcavage

Coverage of the Berlin museum attacks: BBC, The Guardian, DW, Artnet News

#pseudohistory

[alaura5675]

Warning contains spoilers for The Owl House Season 2 Episode 5: Through the Looking Glass

I literally cannot stop screaming about Luz and Amity. My sweet beans!

Em and Ed being supportive siblings, and Ed going on a date with them, (all those golden guard fics are gonna definitely increase)

Just the twins and Gus being we’ve been knew to Luz

Also Gus just being his awesome self and gaining a frienemy is just my heart. Its so weak to all this fluff Dana has be giving us

Unfortunately we need to discuss the “first” human. While discovering the Echo mouse records everything they’ve eaten. We have seen a glimpse of the first human who had traveled accidentally to the demon world.

Their name Philip Wittlebane apparently in the 1600s donated his diary to the library.

artfulstar also found this in the teasers

And in animation we don’t believe in coincidences

So at this point i honestly believe that Emperor Belos is this same human and has found a way to live for 400 years. If time is tracked the same

And here’s the big kicker we’ve already noticed a lot of the christian missionary converting the pagan wild witches in the 1st season

But the fact of the matter is the way Wittlebane is dressed and the diary enters are written remind me of first account documents written by European colonizers. And around the 1600s in US history was when Spanish colonizers had already taken large amounts of land in modern day México. And the beginning of English colonizers here In the Modern day US.

And while im not entirely familiar with the indigineous cultures of the Aztecs, Mayan, and Olmecs. There was a strong sense of spirituality in the cultures and people called “Brujas” by the Spanish colonizers, the spanish word for Witch.

And Highly recommend reading Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya discussing the struggle of catholicsm and the indigenous culture in the early 1900s México.

But my point is the Spanish when they came to the Americas literally destroyed the spiritual and cultural centers of the Aztecs and Mayans and built on top of it catholic churches. And vilified anyone who didn’t practice Catholicism. Queen Isabella and her husband who i can’t remember, married and combined large parts of modern day Spain into one country on the Iberian peninsula . And started the Reconquista, that killed thousands of people who were muslim, as a majority of the peninsula practiced Islam’s beliefs, and Jewish people were killed and was spread to “their” colonies as well. Which gave them big support from the Catholic church at the time.

But where am i going with this, Well a lot of things. One Belos’s castle sorta reminds me of an ornate catholic church, the window glass murals, the gold detailing, and all the robes everyone in the coven wears.

Then there’s the fact that Belos took over the way people practice magic and made it so only he and his followers could do all magic. Which is similar in how the catholic church erased indigenous history, and forced people to speak their own language. And withheld knowledge and created a cast system. And the vilifying of the local religious beliefs and killing witches

And what i want to say is i think Dana Terrace is awesome for creating show discussing the horrible and long last effects colonialism has done to the word and still severely effects the indigenous people around the world.

And the fact of the matter is more shows and stories and actual FUCKING HISTORYbooks need to be showcasing the importance and ongoing consequences effecting people.

I can even give you an example right now, I lived in Hawaii for 10 years. Because my dad wanted to retire here and I was a child so had no choice. And some of you may be going, what living in hawaii must be so fun…

Let me tell you shit, Hawaiians literally need tourism to keep there economy going. Because the US took there means of culture and history to keep cultivating their land and sustain themselves.

The US sends homeless people to Hawaii because the weather conditions are better, however a majority of homeless people here are still native Hawaiians

Their is literal law stating that if you have 25% native blood you are able to gain a home for free. However most people will never see that as Homes are being bought by people like Mark Zuckerberg for millions of dollars. And Retirees who want to live near the beach.

The economy as i said is based in tourism but all the hotel chains are US companies. So none of the money is reinvested in the local population.

As well as that most people here are working at minimum wage will never afford million dollar homes.

And it sucks and i get that people want to come over and visit. But you have to understand not just here but in the mainland US. This land belongs to the indigenous people and that means respecting the land and protecting the culture. And Hawaii is one of the fortunate places where the language is still known. Its in the process of being taught in schools and being revitalized.

But the fact of the matter is today July 10th, 2021. There is a water shortage here in Hawaii due to influx of tourists coming in. It takes a literal month for cargo ships to arrive. And the tourism isn’t gonna stop its the height of the summer.

The Hiltons, Wailea all the hotel groups will be getting the water for there lawns. And everyone here enjoying there trip won’t notice a thing.

The people who live here are gonna suffer…

Anyways sorry for the rant a little upset at the moment. The Owl House is awesome please watch it and yeah…

#lumity #spoilers #the owl house #history #colonialization #catholiscism #hawaii #hawaiian culture #tourism #sucks #mexican #mexican history