Where The Buffalo Roam.... The Lakota, the Buffalo Field Campaign, and the Return of the White Buffalo

[Check out some of the books, albums, and soon movies produced by Mythos Media and our various media partners.]

“Only when the last tree has died,
 the last river been poisoned,
 and the last fish been caught
 will we realize we cannot eat money. ” -Cree Indian proverb 

"They made us many promises, more than I can remember, but they never kept one; they promised not to take our land, and they did." - Mahpiua Luta "Red Cloud" Oglala Lakota

You can feel the poisoned earth, bottled up and ready to explode. There is no questioning it. You can feel the anger of every poisoned tree, flower, wolf, and bison. You can feel the strangled roots of Mother Gaia rising up through the cracks in the concrete. We have raped her, stripped her of her resources, and broken and bound her with our barriers and walls and fences. We have sullied and tarnished her with toxic wastes and carbon emissions. We dump the excrement of our civilization into her rivers. We have tarnished her wildlife with our city streets and our pavement. Slowly, but surely, the woodlands turn to concrete. In the name of Progress, we destroy our own back yards. We have sold our children's children out forever. There may be no "seven generations from now," anymore. We are on the eve of destruction, and it has been brought on by our own hands.

Before the meat that you eat is slaughtered, the animals that end up as your dinner are squeezed into a compact and overcrowded area of demolished forest, herded together and packed in wall to wall. They are fed on the excrement and remains of other animals, and they are made sickly and feeble. They are shot with man-made growth hormones and chemicals, toxins that no human should consume. They are thoroughly poisoned, a decision that is overseen and supervised by our Commander In Chief, who in his infinite wisdom has seen it fit to appoint the former vice president of Monsanto to the position of senior advisor to the commissioner of the FDA. And now, media mogul and founder of CNN Ted Turner has struck a deal with the Montana department of wildlife: In return for providing a ranch on which to "quarantine" Yellowstone buffalo, Ted will be paid in bison to stock his "Ted's Montana Grill" restaurant chain. Cha ching.

We are told that we are free. 

We are not free. We are those cattle. We are being fattened for the slaughter.

Little Steps Towards Personal Truth, pt. 1

"Kether is in Malkuth. And Malkuth is in Kether, but after another motherfucker." - William Clark

Before I explain to you what that means, I'd like to preface this deviation from my recent political meanderings with an apology. I fully realize that most people are put off by terminology like "occultism", "Hermeticism", or "magic(k)". I will try to remedy this prejudice by making all of my personal examples as clear and concise as I can. As with everything, your mileage may vary. Given that a personal foray into the murky realms of Western Esotericism, alternative psychology, and general semantics is more in keeping with the general workflow of this site than others, it isn't entirely out of place. But I am fully aware of the risk this poses to the overall sociopolitical agenda I have been working towards in the last few months. I could potentially alienate people from me by talking about this. The tendency for the overwhelming amount of humanity is to fear that which they do not understand, and that is unavoidable. There is, as the theologist Alan Watts once argued, a strong societal taboo against knowing one's self.

So be it.

I am a magician. I have been for at least a decade now. I will be coming up on my 26th birthday in 2013. I have been formally crashing my way through the harrowing, awe inspiring and sometimes frustrating world of the occult since I was 16 years old. It is a rewarding path, and I have found it to be ultimately responsible for jumpstarting much of my personal growth as an individual. When I look back on the larval state of my entire being at that tender young age, some of the stupid blunders and mistakes I have made (and often continue to make) are greatly humbling. I owe much of the progress I have made from a clueless, morbidly self-obsessed and disaffected suburban kid into a self-actualized creative person to the serious work I have done with self-integration and individuation: A four-fold process of personal evolution that is psychological, spiritual, physical and psychic in nature. In addition to this, I have come to learn that the universe itself provides the initiatory catalysts, the teachers, and the guides that we need. But only when we are ready for it. "Ask, and ye shall receive. Seek, and ye shall find." The teacher comes when the student is ready.

Portland Trimet Rapes The Poor

[Check out some of the books, albums, and soon movies produced by Mythos Media and our various media partners.]

"Pack The Max!" public demonstration, Portland, OR 9/1/2012

“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” -Plato

I walked to the 5 star Hilton resort after today's action in an attempt to write this entry with no time constraints. The air conditioning there is better than at the public library in downtown Portland, and all things considered the half hour to an hour time limit on the computers at the library are pesky when you actually have something to say. I got in through the front door past the doorman, which I viewed as at least a partial success considering that with a five o' clock shadow, bloodshot eyes and a t-shirt reading "10 WAYS TO PISS OFF A COP," I thought they would have stopped me there. So far, so good.

There were a number of suits circulating throughout the lobby there in what looked like some sort of business convention. I moseyed over to a computer and sat at it, meaning to log on to the internet to publish this piece. The screen informed me that, given no access code from the front desk, I would need to swipe a major credit card and pay to the tune of 40 cents a minute for internet access. This clearly would not do.

I stepped up to the concierge then, and cleared my throat assertively. "EXCUSE ME, Miss. I need the access code for your computer, immediately."

She smiled awkwardly. "Are you a guest, sir?"

"No, but I am a very well-respected and well known member of the Portland community."

"Well, what do you need to use the computer for?"

"I'm a writer, you see. I am paid by a certain special interest group. I recently attended the Republican National Convention, and I have to write a very important piece by a deadline today. My assistant, who is unfortunately not with me at the moment, lost my laptop during a rushed last-minute official business procedure of sorts... And it is ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE that this article is written by 6:00 PM, Pacific Time today. I am, after all, a professional...."

No Gods, No Masters: Anarchy In Theory and Practice

[Check out some of the books, albums, and soon movies produced by Mythos Media and our various media partners.]

Photos by Marjorie Hoover

"Even if the world was to end tomorrow, I would still plant a tree today." -anon

A timeline of my involvement with OPDX movement.

30 DAYS, so far.... Former Runnerup for Mayor Cameron Whitten on Hunger Strike*

[Edit: I am now offering a personal call to arms to anyone in the Portland area, homeless or not, to join us in our solidarity. If you yourself do not live in Portland, but know of those who do, spread this message and tell them to bring those who are down and out and disenfranchised to us. This is OUR public property. Our tax dollars support the agenda of city hall. Tell everyone you know who is homeless in the area of Portland to come to our relief camp, where we will have food, shelter, and companionship for those who truly need it. Tell your friends. Spread this around. Let us do our best to make these council men understand that thousands of people in Portland need homes, and that for every 20 empty houses there is one homeless individual. This problem could very easily be solved, and it is testament to human greed and stupidity that it has not been. TELL YOUR FRIENDS. THIS IS OUR PUBLIC PROPERTY, WE HAVE A VOICE.]

"Do not go gentle into that good night/Rage, rage against the dying of the light."- Dylan Thomas.

 Speaking with former candidate Cameron Whitten is a humbling experience. He is soft spoken, but lucid, and shows surprising insight for his age. Quick witted and fluent in answering all of my questions, his eyes are dark and piercing. He wears the look of a pugilist in his last few rounds with a formidable adversary. He is now on day 30 of a hunger strike to help raise support for lifting a ban on the use of tents for homeless in Portland to use in inhabiting the city.

"THIS STRIKE is to increase awareness towards the need for decent housing for the poor, the dispossessed, and the entire working class", Cameron says. He has indicated to me that his strike is not exclusively a product of the Occupy Wall Street movement: he views it as its own thing, outside of Occupy, although many activists from Occupy Wall Street inluding himself are present for the vigil.

"I'm really trying to bridge the gap here and find the common ground between the people and Occupy, on the one hand, and the governing institutions on the other. This strike is about utilizing my ability to petition our leaders directly."
 

Whitten, pictured above

Whitten is 21, certainly a young age to have already made a serious attempt at election for Mayor of Portland. He sports a black "Suicidal Tendencies" baseball cap, which makes me hope that it isn't a highly unsettling bit of foreshadowing. A high school honors graduate and registered student of Portland Community University, calm yet assertive, Cameron seems to be alert and on the top of his game. The mood is not just a bit solemn, for many of us know that Cameron has gone a month without food now and could be close to physical and emotional collapse. Even so, he is undaunted, stating simply: "I am doing this to work for a change in how our City Council handles the issues of housing for the poor, the disposessed, and the middle class, post recession."

Debunking the New World Order Mythology

"When you define the power elite as somebody else, I regard that as a loser's script. I define the power elite as myself and my friends. " -Robert Anton Wilson
By Rusty

I am fully aware of how unpopular writing this will make me. So be it. And let's not pretend I really have very much popularity in "real life" anyway, when most people just seem to look at me with a puzzled or quizzical expression or blank stare and ask me "So, what is it you REALLY do for a living?"

Nor do I have many real friends in "make believe internet land", where most people tend to think I am either some weird kind of legend, an honest-to-god alter ego cultivated by a completely insane person, or worse. So it goes. Please continue to keep an open mind as you read this, and remember to not believe anything just because I say it. It is entirely possible my agenda is diametrically opposed to yours and I am feeding you a line of bullshit. You MAY want to operate under the assumption that this is true of everyone, all of the time, unless this notion causes you to feel powerless and to slip further into self-sabotaging paranoia. As you will.

Lately, the hive mind has been crackling with transmissions via blogs and social networking regarding fascism and corporate police states, abuses of power, and notions, some of which are realistic and some of which clearly aren't, as to who is responsible. Listen: What I am about to tell you may sting, but there is no "New World Order" other than you. You, yourself. You are the New World Order, you are the conspiracy, for better or for worse. Allow me to explain.

The Hopi Indians predicted that there would be a fifth age. This new age they termed the age of "spirit" or of "ether". According to their timeline, and also the timeline of the Mayans and the timeline of the Hindu peoples, December 21, 2012 is roughly the spot in which the current age we are inhabiting transitions into something radically different.

The Hindu people termed the age in which we currently live to be the Kali Yuga. Traditionally, this is viewed by many people to be negative but in the grand scheme of things it is a stepping stone or transitional period to a new age. The Kali Yuga itself refers to a period in which humanity is preoccupied with greed, spiritual ignorance, superstition, bigotry and emotional poverty. Conquering seems to be the overall goal, and multiplying and replicating without any real motive other than to grow and to consume (much like a cancer) seems to be the overriding value of human conduct.

Enter 2012. Many are already aware of the Mayan prophecies concerning a new era, but some may be unaware of the correlation between this and what the Vedic scriptures considered to be the dawn of a new "Golden Age" for humanity. This new age was predicted to be the end of the Kali Yuga or the age of iron and the beginning of the new Golden Dawn of enlightenment for humanity.

Alternately, we see the Hopi Indians predicting much of the same, although there is an admonition and a warning: We collectively as a species can choose to make this "new age" one of enlightenment, one of freedom and beauty, or we can choose to further descend into bickering, extremely polarized left or right wing political ideology, petty in-fighting and bigotry (religious or otherwise.)

An Epitaph for the American Dream

An Epitaph for the American Dream

by Rusty Shackleford. For Bill.

"PAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!" -Oz, the Great and Terrible.
"99% of magic is misdirection." - Common knowledge.

(Edit: Since writing this entry, I recently discovered a Mother Jones article informing me that the Republican/Tea Party Governor of Florida, Rick Scott, founded a company called SOLANTIC that specializes in drug testing, among other "public services"... Could it be that this legislation stands to benefit the people who are passing it financially? Hrmm... Jigsaw falling into place.)

Recently, as many of you may have heard, Florida senators successfully passed a bill requiring welfare recipients to receive mandatory drug screenings. It is doubtful the legislation will stop there. In what seems to me to be an instance of VERY OBVIOUSLY blatant racial discrimination and discrimination of the haves towards the have-nots, they are now finding another way to invade all of our lives and rob us of more of our privacy. One gradual erosion of civil liberties at a time. The cruel and hilarious irony of the situation is that although at the moment these measures are now only being taken against those who have already slipped through the cracks, it is only a matter of time before all of our privacy and civil liberties will be up for grabs.

Think of it like this: What if your healthcare provider (if you even have one, and you probably don't) suddenly decided to take it upon themselves to barge into your house and force you to piss in a cup, clip your hair, ransack your apartment or home and search for anything mildly incriminating. Any evidence that you had engaged in anything mildly incriminating (and most of you have, or know someone who has) would then be immediate grounds for them to discontinue your healthcare. Alternately, say you yourself or someone you knew suffered from some sort of drug related addiction or health problems. Ironically, many of the same persons I have heard complaining about people on welfare using drugs have had similar issues themselves. Imagine, then, you yourself or someone you love ODs and they are dying. They are now in a position of life or death. Now imagine the doctor in charge tells you, "Sorry, new ER policy: We are no longer allowed to treat this person because they have a history of drug use and their healthcare won't allow it." What if a doctor in an ER refused someone a life saving preventative measure to keep them from dying because of drug use? What if your healthcare provider suddenly decided that it didn't have to insure you if you had a history of drug use?

Sound extreme? It is.

Machiavellian Social Metaphysics, pt. 1

By Rusty

An Analysis of Machiavellian Social Metaphysics: Being the first step towards constructing a Bible of Self Empowerment. (Pt. 1)

"Learn to be cruel, learn to be dry, learn to survive."

-John Fowles, The Magus

I have to apologize to you, the reader, for my typically highly self-indulgent and subjectively personal narratives and style of writing. I've had a few skeletons to clean out of my closet (or perhaps more accurately, dead hookers to clear out of my crawlspace) and you will be happy to know that I have found Christ and a new wonderful antipsychotic that is the chemical equivalent to a full-frontal lobotomy. This has given me a new and heightened sense of clarity. So I would like to take a break from my typically rambling and deliberately insulting style of derivative prose to deliver to you a bit of neatly encapsulated and summarized sociopolitical philosophy based upon the writings of Machiavelli, excerpts from Robert Anton Wilson's "Prometheus Rising" on "How To Brainwash Friends & Robotize People", and William S. Burroughs' "Revised Boy Scout Manual" among others. My plan is to work through this piece in installments, as I see fit and when I am properly motivated (send Peruvian cocaine, preferably uncut with flesh-eating chemical agents, to Rusty Shackleford, C/O Modern Mythology and/or JC).

A careful reading of Machiavelli can provide us with a better understanding not only of modern day politics on a global level, but also a way of formulating strategy to be more highly effective as a sociopath (er... "Extreme Individual.") Also, it is worth noting that I have never, nor would I ever advocate a violent or hostile takeover of the state or federal government and that all of the information here is provided for *aherm* "educational purposes". Moreover, I am providing this information as a means of pulling back the curtain on certain global hegemonies and power structures. As with anything, a hammer can be used to build a house or bash a human being's skull in.

So, without further ado:

"It is indeed true, however, that after one has conquered a rebellious territory a second time, it will be less easily lost, for the ruler, using the rebellion as his excuse, will be the less reluctant to establish himself solidly by PUNISHING DEFECTORS [emphasis mine], uncovering suspects, and strengthening his position wherever it is weak." -Machiavelli.

EPISODE TWO: STILL BI WINNING!

Thus continues the descent of Rusty Shackleford. This is the most recent installment I received from him. He's becoming increasingly... Well. See for yourselves. -JC


NOTES ON "MY" FRIEND DONALD:
My Friend Donald just left. "I" "think"(?) He *IS* permanently scarred after watching "me" "write" "shit like this" for like "six"

(an "arbitrary" "unit" ov "measurement",)

"HOURS",

(which *IS* another "arbitrary" "unit" ov "measurement" that relates to
another "illusion", that which *IS* called "Time" and "IMAGINED" as a "FOURTH DIMENSION" by "SOME CREDIBLE SCIENTIFIC ASSHOLE CALLED 'EINSTEIN'"(TM!),

[who incidentally also happened to be called "retarded" by his "teachers" at a young age...]

and which does not "Really" "Exist" in any sense other than "being" "imaginary" (?).... And iT's "too late" [or "early", depending upon how "YOU" "see" iT, for thee "writer" to get into trying to "talk" about that anyway])....

[NOTE thee "BROAD FUCKING FINGER QUOTATION MARKS" USED to denote concepts as "inauthentic" (like this blog "RUSTY SHACKLEFORD"(TM!) *IS* "writing", if "you, thee reader" can call this "WRITING".... ) or "imaginary constructs" & "made out of words" and thus BULLSHIT/beLIEf systems (BS).]

How to Become a "BI-WINNER" (TM)

Several nights ago, I started receiving rather incoherent text messages from Bradley the Buyer. Except he told me he wasn't Bradly The Buyer anymore, now he was "Rusty." 

"Ok...Rusty," I said, "What's going on, and are you ready to start writing for Modern Mythology?"

"Yes. I am living it."

"Um. What's the piece?"

"It is Fully Retarded in practical terms. This will be a success story and cautionary tale!" 

"We're already dead anyhow," I said. And I know this because I have the logs, not because I actually remember. "Time is like an optical illusion."

"I mean really, who injects bath salts, without even knowing what it is is? Who is already manic? THIS GUY. But really the downside is an illusion, while we are on the subject of illusion, the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom and I have become stronger through living hell I am a walking Encyclopedia of pharmacological data. Say what you will about Hunter Thompson but he was clearly Bi-winning!"

And thus began what was supposed to be a story for this blog, but which became something altogether different. Well. That was around midnight. I'm not making any of this up, by the way.

At 1am he told me he was writing for me. Again. Ok, I said. Must be operating in BenzoDiazaVision, some kind of infinite loop. Maybe he would provide an article of subcultural analysis, maybe highlighting the myths of--

At 2am, I was his editor. He was rambling about shooting "bath salts." I thought, "they aren't paying me enough to do this. Wait. They aren't paying me anything, anymore." Things were getting ugly, on the other end. We had to wait this out. I was too sober to follow his thoughts. Bath salts? Why does he keep talking about bath salts? 

At 3am, I was listening to Dirt for the 10th time and the opiates kicked in. I thought, maybe Rusty has really tapped a cultural vein. Maybe he's onto something. I'd best actually read the 100 text messages and pages of seeming gibberish that were clogging all my digital devices. I also finally googled "bath salts + drugs" and...was horrified. There's a news story that begins about a guy who did this shit and carved up his face with a knife "...but not everyone is so lucky." LUCKY? What the fuck happened to the other people?

I don't know what to tell you folks. I was wrong. I don't know how to spin this. It's like a theater with one actor on stage playing all the roles - badly - and there's just a couple in the audience, fingering each other under the seats, and a guy passed out and possibly dead on smack. (Tito?) And you. Staring in slack-jawed confusion. 

Here are the transcripts. (PDF) In full, though he claims that this is "Only the Preface." Make of them what you will.

Note: Here is the Porcupine Tree video, to which this document refers.