Cracked Views on Mysticism

    A recent article from the popular humor website Cracked.com was titled “7 ‘Ancient’ Forms of Mysticism That Are Recent Inventions.”

    I took a deep breath and braced myself for a semi-humorous anti-religion smear - because though I love the website and visit it daily, any time an article pops up on any topic having to do with something touchy (politics, religion, etc) it not only tends to lean strongly in one direction or the other opinion-wise, but they also stir up a lot of bad feelings. That, and the trend lately seems to be for Numbered Lists of ‘Facts’ (usually more along the line of facts + opinions) to make the front page as the three main articles of the day.

    The “7 ‘Ancient’ Forms” addressed were Yoga, Tarot, Satanism, Ouija boards, Ninjitsu, Friday the 13th (though I’m not sure how a superstition about a date qualifies as a Form of Mysticism comparable with a religion), and - drum roll please - The Viking Religion.

    I laughed a little as I read - this was an extremely sarcastic article, in which the writer C. Coville  (who’s profile declares “preachin' Jesus and blowing up meth labs”) did her best to compare the systems examined with things like Dungeons & Dragons and angry teenagers rebelling against the church. Though I did smile at times, there wasn’t much humor to be found. I nodded at the dates and facts she presented, having come across most of the same things on my own during my reading and research this past year, I couldn’t help but sense a strong dislike of ‘New Age’ systems. What surprised me (though it shouldn’t have, especially coming from a white, Christian woman in the US military, with the website like http://www.godgirlsguns.com) was the venom dished out against reconstructionist religions, especially Asatru - for example, the caption beneath a rather famous depiction of Odin calling him a hobo seemed a little much.

Really?

Still, one person’s opinion is just an opinion. Facts are facts, and how you react to them and treat them individually are what’s important.

No Rockets, No Red Glare

A bit of a discourse from my usual subject matter, but I felt I had to address this.

    This past 4th of July, I had dinner with my dad - a thankfully much less awkward encounter than I thought it would be, with lots of laughter and good feelings all around. After we had dinner, he had to rush home to pack and rest up (being that he had to get up and get on the road around 4 am the next day), leaving Warden and I to our own devices for the evening. There weren’t actually any fireworks shows within a convenient driving distance (go figure) but we decided that some sparklers would be good enough for two people, since all we were going to do was cook hot dogs and marshmallows over a fire.
    We hit Meijer’s first - “no,” we were told, they “don’t sell sparklers. Sorry.”
     I insisted we go to Krogers instead: I distinctly remembered my friends’ parents purchasing fireworks (whoo black cat!) there when I was in high school. Again, no - and this time, we were told, it was illegal for them to sell sparklers. A quick run to a Rite Aid down the street (since we both figured maybe the drugstore would have some) was fruitless.

    In the next neighborhood over, we heard the occasional pop and whistle of festive explosions going off: but in our own yard, we sat quietly beside the fire, considering the holiday and where it is today.

Thinking of what we’d been told at Krogers, I did some googling.