Nature's God, Chapter Nine, Part One

Week Nine: Chapter Nine “Cherry Valley” (Part 1) pg. 159-169 Hilaritas edition

By Gregory Arnott
Special guest blogger

This chapter sees the climax of Sigismundo’s character arc in Nature’s God but before we get to that we’ve got to wade through the gore and confusion that was Cherry Valley.

Cherry Valley should stand, not as a memorial to patriotism, but rather as a reminder of mankind’s inhumanity towards man. Because this chapter deals so much with Miskasquamish, RAW’s main American Indian character, it is worth noting that historians are conflicted on how much the loyalists had to do with the civilian massacre at Cherry Valley on November 11, 1778.

The troop that attacked Cherry Valley consisted of loyalists, British soldiers, members of the Seneca, and Mohawk tribes of the Iroquois Nation under the command of loyalist Walter Butler. According to Butler he had little to no control over the indigenous people who were with his group. Historians seem to agree that it was the Seneca members of the raiding party who turned on the civilians. The Seneca’s anger was caused by the destruction and burning of their settlements by American settlers...an eye for an eye. Butler’s command was undermined by conflicts with Joseph Brant, leader of the Mohawk tribesmen. The division between these two leaders allowed for the massacre of 30 civilians, along with 14 soldiers, and Colonel Alden, the American commander of Cherry Valley. Curiously, one survivor of Cherry Valley, a Lieutenant Colonel Stacy says that he was about to be killed but appealed to Brant, indicating that he was a freemason, and Brant had his life spared. Brant would also capture 70 people from the survivors of the initial attack.

The Colonial forces had been warned up to three days before the raid by Oneida allies; however, the commanding officer Colonel Ichabod Alden didn’t take the reports seriously, keeping his command outside of the central fort. That is probably why his name is on the list of casualties of the initial raid. Indeed, the British and Indigenous forces didn’t have the firepower to breach the fort but swept around it, attacking the nearby settlements.

Cherry Valley did more than drive Colonel Muadhen, who thought he’d seen it all, into Bible-babbling catatonia. The colonists were horrified at the massacre and General Washington commissioned the Sullivan Expedition that spent the next year trying to drive the Iroquois completely out of New York. Eighty villages were attacked and razed over the next year by Colonial forces as a part of the Frontier War that raged along the Revolution. An eye for an eye. Funny how we’re not even good, as a species really, at proportionate response and some still believe in that dreadful equation.

Sigismundo, a colonist of the Northwest Territory, is having his own conflict with a native resident. Miskasquamish has pushed Sigismundo towards something of a breaking point; it is appropriate that during their tense conversations they sit by sulphurous water. Alchemically, sulphur represents the “heating” of the work...the rising action. Sulphur is also used in Afro-American Hoodoo to cross, jinx, or banish enemies and obstacles. “I hope you know...this means war.”

Their conversation also seems to play with European/Indigenous relations as well. Sigismundo tells Miskasquamish the story of Christ without identifying him and in the terms of Miskasquamish’s cosmology. Contrast this to the historical missionary efforts to forcefully convert the American Indians and erase their cultural understanding of the universe. Sigismundo also insists that he has the right to live in Ohio because he took the time to build his house there and hasn’t acted aggressively to his new neighbors. Right now, there is a small movement to rename the capital Columbus to something more suitable, like Flavortown. Many Ohioans and the folks in the peanut gallery are upset by this “erasure of history.” I wonder how many of them know where place names like Chillicothe, Cuyahoga, or Ohio came from and what they mean. We are left with the question, to whom does the land belong?

If we consider Wilson’s The Trick Top Hat, which to me seems to be a pretty earnest depiction of his version of a utopian United States, Miskasquamish is probably going to be disappointed in his property dispute. Neighborhoods in The Trick Top Hat are regulated thusly: if a neighbor annoys you by living eccentrically, loudly, outside the Homeowners Associations rules, etc. you may lodge a complaint. Government officials will try to talk with the neighbor, see if they can find them a more appropriate neighborhood- usually to one of the LaGrange floating cities where eccentrics are flocking during the novel. However, if the neighbor chooses to remain and they’re not directly affecting the rest of the neighborhood, there’s fuck all anyone can do about it. So, while Miskasquamish is worried about the moral depreciation of his neighborhood with a Reverser present, well...let’s just say “there goes the neighborhood.”

Miskasquamish’s confusion upon seeing the gun makes sense only at the end of this chapter. His naivety is almost offensive during the sequence as surely a man who had travelled so far during the pre-Revolutionary period and Revolution would have encountered firearms. Sigismundo’s display of the weapon also parallels the ultimate outcome of many colonial-native relationships and the Cherry Valley massacre. Sigismundo’s display of superior technology is troublesome to this reader and reflects the history of the Americas all too well. That said, RAW gives Sigismundo a moral “out” by having Miskasquamish note he never directly threatened his body with the gun...if that is much of an out. Miskasquamish takes this away from Sigismundo’s stories about the Builders and his interactions with the Neapolitan; all the Europeans are mad. Considering history, I’m not sure is Miskasquamish is truly “paranoid.”

Parallel to Seamus’ sickness as witnessing the maraschino-hued carnage of Cherry Valley runs the miraculous recovery of Paddy the Dog back on the Babcock Estates. Considering how Seamus saw himself through the eyes of the English, it is darkly appropriate that there is now a character dubbed “Paddy the Dog” trotting around his old stomping groups. Little Ursula has inherited her mother’s gift and while we see no evidence in the first part of the chapter, her nigh-resurrection of Paddy, who might also be a reference to Joyce’s departed Paddy Dignam, might have a sympathetic effect on Muadhen across the pond.

Miskasquamish returns to Sigismundo dressed as a woman; a reference to some native Tribe’s gender nonconformity and reminiscent of the gender swapping tradition found in shamanic traditions such as the Nat Pwe of Thailand. After appearing to Sigismundo, who asks no questions, they proceed to smoke and travel to strange new worlds.

From Eric: “Some witch music for this chapter. https://youtu.be/Nz5DLO8fclA ”

Monday links

Not a good guy, believe it or not. 

The Nature's God reading group will return soon. 

The Myth of the Kindly General Lee. An Adam Serwer article from 2017, but more relevant than ever.

When I was a young education reporter in Lawton, Oklahoma, I once did a short piece about a contest by students at Robert E. Lee Elementary to write essays on what they admired most about Lee. (Lawton is a military town, so it did make sense to name schools after generals -- my son wen to Eisenhower High, and there is also a MacArthur High.) Most of the kids who won were Black, so we ran a photo of a bunch of Black kids holding up the little Rebel flags they had won. The school closed years ago. 

Hugh Crane on Twitter.

Much of the "violence" at protests comes from police. There's a lot of this on Twitter.  

Advice from Scott Adams.

This year's 'Best Novel' Hugo ballot has really good finalists

I'm "attending" this year's all-online World Science Fiction Convention in New Zealand and for the first time in many years I have read all of the novels on the Hugo ballot (I'll vote in as many categories as I can become well informed -- the deadline is July 15.)

The Best Novel finalists -- six novels, all by women -- is a very strong collection of titles. I'd be happy to see an award go to any of my top four; I am particularly hoping the Hugo goes to one of my top two. Here are my rankings:

1. Middlegame, Seanan McGuire.

An utterly absorbing fantasy novel about artificially created twins, a young man very good with words and a young woman good at math and chess. Unusual and complex but very well put together.

2. A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine.

Galactic empires are not a new subject, but this novel, by a historian of Byzantium, focuses not on the military but on the cultural hold an empire such as the Roman Empire has on is neighbors. I liked this novel so much I gave myself a name according to its naming system: Eight Apricot.

3. The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Alix Harrow.

Like the McGuire, this has a book within a book, and in fact it's an extended metaphor on the idea of books as gateways into other worlds. A fresh and vivid first novel.

4. Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir.

Muir is from New Zealand, but this nomination does not seem like home cooking; it's an original and vivid book that earns its nomination. It revives the sword and sorcery genre, although the elements of horror are so vivid you might not notice at first. The ending seemed a bit force and unsatisfying to me.

5. The City in the Middle of the Night, Charlie Jane Anders.

A vivid depiction of an unusual world with excellent aliens. I did not think the narration worked particularly well as a story, and for me it didn't so much end as peter out once a book length had been reached. This just won the Locus Award, however, so many readers disagree.

6. The Light Brigade, Kameron Hurley.

This title, kind of a mash up of The Forever War and Slaughterhouse Five, did not work particularly well for me.

Lester Grinspoon has died

Dr. Lester Grinspoon, the Harvard psychiatrist who did so much to advance rational discussion of marijuana in the U.S., has died at 92. (If you are new to this blog, I am talking about freedom and rational public policy, not "everybody must get stoned.")

Here is a tribute by the excellent Jacob Sullum. You can also read the tribute by Keith Stroup at NORML. 

Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons'

A Creative Commons recording of The Four Seasons by the Wichita State University Chamber Players. 

Gregory Arnott's excellent Nature's God blog post Monday discusses the history of magick, something I know nothing about, and inspired some great comments. I thought for today's post, I would say something about Antonio Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, mentioned in the chapter Gregory covers. (I had a tough work week, working seven days in a row. On the seventh day, yesterday, I finally read the chapter and then listened to a Trevor Pinnock recording of The Four Seasons.)

As Maria falls asleep, she thinks of the "thirteen Weeks in each of the four Seasons, Vivaldi's Four Seasons music running through her head, and the thirteen at the Last Supper, and the sun, which is One, moving in eternal circle through the 12 Houses, one plus 12 being thirteen..."

I would point out that the structure of Vivaldi's work also fits the "one plus 12 being thirteen" that Maria thinks about. It's a work about the cycle of one year, but it consists of 12 movements, three for each season. (Three movements are the normal structure for a concerto, and The Four Seasons is a collection of four violin concertos.)

The Four Seasons itself has an amazing history. Vivaldi, who died in 1741, was pretty much forgotten for more than 150 years (it's not really likely Maria would have known his music) but eventually The Four Seasons underwent an amazing revival. Wikipedia cites the numbers: "The World's Encyclopedia of Recorded Music in 1952 cites only two recordings of The Four Seasons – by Molinari and Kaufman. By 2011, approximately 1,000 different recorded versions have been made since Campoli's in 1939."

If you have a library card, you can likely to listen to dozens of recordings on the Freegal or Hoopla Digital streaming music services. Or you can listen to the recording by John Harrison and the Wichita State University Chamber Players, released to everyone under a Creative Commons license.

Thursday links

Antislavery activist Hans Christian Heg, who died in battle fighting the Confederacy.

PQ on "Reading the News Inside Finnegans Wake" 

Scott Armstrong deletes his blog, Slate Star Codex.  I like the New York Times -- I'm a paid subscriber, an effective form of fandom when newspapers need money -- but I hope the relevant editors and reporters change their minds about this. Here is Reason's coverage. Here is Scott Greenfield's take.  There's also an online petition.  (I signed.)

Protesters destroy statue of anti-slavery activist. Not an isolated incident, I see a lot of this stuff on Twitter.

Jim O'Shaughnessy (the RAW fan on Wall Street) makes a donation.

Reasons to cheer up. 

Maybe Day Is Coming!

July 23rd 2020

www.maybeday.net

Possibly! Potentially! Probably!

By Bobby Campbell
Special guest blogger

Actually, most definitely, but in keeping with the spirit of the day perhaps there should remain an air of mystery.

I'm happy to say that the virtual organization of a collaborative digital RAW event is coming together quite nicely.

On July 23'rd we're on schedule to release:

NEW TRAJECTORIES  

A digital zine powered by the negative entropy of Maybe Logic.
Featuring art & philosophizing by a cavalcade of RAW exegetes.
Very much a throwback to the old Maybe Quarterly days.
(Also, there's still time to submit, hit me up, RGC777@gmail.com)

Mike Gathers, of rawilsonfans.org, is prepping a microbook on the 8 circuit model.
I just got my first look at it today and it is substantial!

RAW VISIONS 2020

A series of neuro-electrifying video presentations.
I'll be releasing a talk called "LIVING IN A RAW WORLD"
We've got PQ discussing Finnegans Wake and the I-Ching,
Brenton Clutterbuck on Chasing Eris, and I believe we'll also be hearing from Steve Fly, Prop Anon, and maybe more!

Also! Just moments ago I recruited Tom Jackson to moderate a zoom panel conversation with as many of our co-conspirators as possible.

And finally, we've got a mini Maybe Logic Academy reunion already starting to gather over at the Only Maybe Arts Lab:

https://onlymaybe.boardhost.com/

Which will also be the main social venue for the event. A place to cuss and discuss the possibilities of what may or may not be :)))

Try the new audiobook

Want to try the new Cosmic Trigger 2 audiobook before you buy it?

Click the above video from Hilaritas Press to hear Chapter One, narrated by Oliver Senton.

Chapter 8, Nature's God reading group

Week Eight: Chapter Eight “My Lady Greensleeves” pg. 139-147 Hilaritas Press edition

By Gregory Arnott
Special guest blogger

After asking Oz for confirmation, I am confident in saying that the structure of this chapter is taken from Crowley’s Liber Aleph. This is ironic for a chapter dealing explicitly with Maria’s initiation into a Wiccan coven as Oz pointed out that Liber Aleph was written as a series of letters from father to son. (Specifically from Crowley to Charles Stansfeld Jones, better known as Frater Achad, his “magical son.”) The intermittent Latin titles are used throughout Liber Aleph and Robert Anton Wilson uses the same device in Masks of the Illuminati. The biblical phrase for He is like a refiner’s fire also appears prominently in the earlier novel. The tone of this chapter, specifically the ecclesiastic sounding “yea, the…” repetition, is also taken from Crowley’s Holy Texts.

Here is my Google-assisted hack-job translation of the titles, considering the action that happens following each title I believe my unwieldy versions make some sense:

The Hardening of Man
On the Danger of Alternative Love
On the Four Equal Virtues
The Female Formula
The Crazy Love
The Great Works of the Microcosmic Star of Which there is Four
The Secret Horror
The Delicate Powers of Art and Love
Hold, Illegitimate Vigor

The coven that Maria is initiated into is more-or-less an anachronism with the language taken from post-Gardnerian Wicca. Bear with me and for any neo-pagans who might be reading, I’m not trying to be offensive.

The fact that the language is so strongly influenced by Crowley’s writings is appropriate. As Kenneth Grant and other writers have related, during the Twilight of the Magicians, the lingering years of the two great English occultists of the 20th century, namely Aleister Crowley and Austin Osman Spare, an eccentric customs-officer named Gerald Gardner was lurking around in their company.

Gardner, who follows in the grand tradition of magic by being a goddamn liar, claimed that his Wiccan practices were derived from a coven that had kept pre-Christian religion alive. He had mostly made up his practices from stitching together elements of the, now discredited, anthropological studies of Margaret Murray about a supposed witch-cult, Freemasonry, and ceremonial magic. In fact, the three degree ceremonies presented by Gardner for the purpose of Wicca were penned by, wait for it....Aleister Crowley.

Curiously, RAW’s use of terms such as “women’s mysteries” and the “burning times” doesn’t appear to be ironic. I believe this is curious when we consider how much hostility towards some late-twentieth century academic models of femininity RAW displayed in his writings, especially since both of those terms are complete, artless bullshit. The concept of “women’s mysteries” bastardized the study of pre-modern religion and tried to replace the complex mythological development of goddesses such as Demeter, Sekmet, Selene, and Isis into a group of gentle Montessori teachers whose feminist, pre-agricultural utopia was ruined by the arrival of phallic gods. Given that there is nary a drop of historical evidence for these gentle matriarchal societies and that the historical record of how these goddesses were apprised and worshipped is much more ambiguous didn’t stop the believers from trying to rewrite history. (Though Crowley doesn’t spend the time moralizing like later witches, it is worth noting that according to his structure of history the first Aeon was matriarchal and was subsumed by the agricultural-phallic second Aeon. We are now in the third Aeon where the focus is on the development of the complete person, the child, and individual sexual dimorphism seems to be the rule of the day.) Perhaps even more annoying is the use of the idea of “the burning times” which, forgive me, is such a stupid fucking concept my ears bleed anytime I hear someone utter it.

There was no “burning time” that modern covens suffered through and survived underground as they watched legions of innocent believers of the “old religion” burn at the stake. Historical evidence, known as far back as the turn of the twentieth, indicates that pretty much every witch hunt was either a power-play by ruling/ecclesiastic authorities or the result of hysteria. The excellent Swedish film Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages presents a compelling and intelligent examination of these phenomena- even better, watch the version with William S. Burroughs narrating.

In conclusion, this chapter is made up, not that big of a revelation in a novel, almost whole cloth from twentieth century notions that couldn’t have existed because ceremonial magic hadn’t come along to create them yet. The notion of the four elements was around at the time but the codification of what those elements mean “spiritually” wasn’t wholly accomplished until a bunch of old Rosicrucians got together to combine the works of Paracelsus, Agrippa, the Qabalah, and Tarot into one system of magic. A study of the Tarot will reveal how many of our romantic notions (for example, that the modern playing deck is derived from the cards smuggled from ancient Egypt) are entirely erroneous. Indeed, before Moina and MacGregor Mathers codified the Qabalah to to the Tarot, building on the work of Eliphas Levi, any use of it for divination or meditation would have been no more sophisticated than basic cartomancy. Even the pentagram, today used as a symbol of neo-paganism, wasn’t imbued with its microcosmic significance until the Golden Dawn came along to create the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram and their study materials.

Yes, there are examples of the four elements, the four apostles, the four faces of Ezekiel’s angels throughout history, but to say that there was a working system of knowledge, linked with similarly initiated members throughout history is as romantic and ahistorical a notion as the existence of Sigismundo Celine, Old Kyte, and Maria Babcock. And blimey, I haven’t talked about anything that actually happens in the chapter -- I guess that’s a sign that it’s time for me to get to bed before I become any crankier and end up with a crudely fashioned crystal tipped wand through my throat or a mail order athame through the heart.

The stuff about the I Ching is mostly accurate in that Leibniz was obsessed with the similarities between the Hexagrams and his notions of binomial numbers and Calculus, however it would still be almost a century before writers began to connect the I Ching to Western Mysticism. The pioneer of this connection? You guessed it, Aleister Crowley.

From Eric: A soundtrack for our “Study-Group or Coven or whatever this was called” (Nature’s God, pg. 142). https://youtu.be/nwn2zd8ROlQ 

My own musical offering: https://youtu.be/zE4yQxRvWGU

The 'lost' forward to the new 'lost' RAW book

Adam Gorightly

Discordian historian Adam Gorightly, who deserves a lot of credit for making the impending publication of the new Robert Anton Wilson book, The Starseed Signals: Link Between Worlds possible, has posted a new article shedding more light on the book.

Adam had originally intended to publish the 1970s RAW manuscript at RVP Press.

"However, at some point in this cosmic caper, RVP had a falling out with the RAW Trust, and the book deal fell through — as book deals sometimes do — in the wacky world of publishing," Adam explains.

The bulk of Adam's new post is the original foreword he wrote for that abortive effort, and it sheds a lot of light on the background for the upcoming book:

Starseed Signals was dashed off over a two-week period in early 1975, a burst of energy supplied by the sudden turmoil and controversy surrounding his friendship and collaborations with the infamous Dr. Timothy Leary, who RAW perceived as one of the most brilliant, yet misunderstood minds of not only his generation, but of any.

During this period—as Leary sat caged in prison on trumped up drug charges—he and RAW conceptualized a book project entitled A Periodic Table of Energy, a scientific system of neuro-psychology based on eight evolutionary circuits, or steps, through which humanity progresses, with the latter circuit propelling WoMan to the stars, the ultimate evolution, our union with the infinite and quest for immortality.

Read the whole thing. 

Listen to Irish radio's 'Ulysses' adaption

I recently learned it is possible to obtain a podcast of Ireland's public broadcasting system radio adaptation of James Joyce's Ulysses.

"The definitive adaptation of the novel is widely considered to be RTÉ's full dramatised production – originally broadcast in 1982 to celebrate the centenary of Joyce's birth, and totaling 29 hours and 45 minutes in duration," says the website for RTÉ.

According to Tom Lennon on Twitter, this is a Ulysses broadcast Robert Anton Wilson "recorded to videotape and revisited often."

Available here and also on many podcasting apps.

Protests, fnords, etc.

By DeviantArt user thsgys via  @Jimthediamond

Above is a photo posted on Twitter by Pipzi Williams (@lordfanny1723) with her haiku:

in the gap between 

the words 'riot' and 'police'

i saw the fnords

You can also read a related essay at the Zen Pagan by Tom Swiss,  which explains fnords and Discordianism and says, "Am I saying that a joke religion is the best way to understand these times? Yes. Yes I am."

The 'lost' RAW book will be out soon

The view from Rasa's window as he toils on The Starseed Signals. That's Mount Shasta. 

[When I spotted the news about the planned publication of The Starseed Signals: Link Between Worlds, l naturally wanted to know a lot more, so I contacted Rasa and he immediately agreed to take a few questions. While some details about the book apparently won't be revealed until it comes out, i.e. the identity of the writer who agreed to write an introduction, this may answer sombunall of what Robert Anton Wilson fans want to know. For example, it's clear Hilaritas Press is trying to get it out soon, maybe even the next few weeks.

There has been some discussion about the overlap between Cosmic Trigger and The Starseed Signals. On Twitter, Charles Faris, one of the very few people who has read Starseed, wrote, "Happy to say that I’ve read it and it’s freaking awesome. I am beyond excited that it’s going to be published. He goes through the same territory from a completely different perspective. It’s great."

Richard Rasa,  usually known only as Rasa, is listed at Linked In as "metaprogramming director at the Robert Anton Wilson Trust." While Wilson's daughter Christina Pearson is the trustee of the trust, Rasa handles much of the day to day work and serves as the editor at Hilaritas Press, the publishing imprint of the trust. For more on Rasa, see my 2016 interview . He is an artist and graphic designer, is a former rock musician, and currently leads the band Starseed.

Rasa lives in Weed, California, near the Oregon border. (The town is named after its founder, Abner Weed.) -- The Management.]

What can you tell me about "The Starseed Signals: Link Between Worlds"? Does it read like a completed, full-length book? 

Rasa: The Starseed Signals: Link Between Worlds is a full completed book, about 360 pages. There are two interviews we hope to add to the end of the book, which will bring the page count to about 400 total. It is a completely finished work, and reads in RAW’s typical style. We think it was written in the latter half of 1974. I loved reading it, fully appreciating that this was a finished RAW title that few had read, and delighted to realize that it did not disappoint. I wondered about your next question, did RAW have a reason to not publish it, or did he just not find a publisher for it, and it fell by the wayside? That’s a mystery. 

Is it known why the book was never published?

Rasa: Adam Gorightly surmises that RAW intended the book to be an aid in the defense of Timothy Leary, who at the time of the writing was in prison, a victim of persecution by the Nixon administration and the politics of the day. When Leary was released from prison, that need subsided. Readers of Cosmic Trigger know that Bob and Tim were onto similar Sirius investigations simultaneously, as described in Cosmic Trigger: Final Secret of the Illuminati. The Starseed Signals goes deeper into that topic, but also touches on a wide range of subjects that interested both Bob and Tim. It also contains RAW’s reporting on what was actually happening to Timothy Leary and his friends around the time of his incarceration. People curious about the controversies surrounding those days will be eager to read this take from RAW. 

The book was given to an agent to try to sell to a publisher in 1975, but that never materialized. I suspect that RAW decided to rethink the whole project, maybe to take the focus off of the trials of Timothy Leary and present what was going on at that time more from his own personal perspective – and then that idea materialized in Cosmic Trigger. Just a guess. There is a little bit in The Starseed Signals that was edited and then made its way into Cosmic Trigger, but The Starseed Signals is an entirely different book.

How did it come to the attention of Hilaritas?

Rasa: Discordian Historian Adam Gorightly has previously described how he acquired the manuscript. Friend of Discordian founders Kerry Thornley and Greg Hill, Dr. Bob Newport rescued Hill’s archives from “death-by-dumpster,” as Adam poetically describes it, and some years later, Dr. Bob passed the archive onto Adam. Adam approached a publisher about the book, and the publisher contacted RAW’s daughter, Christina, Trustee of the RAW Trust, who agreed to work with that publisher. That was in 2010, and I suspect Eris had a hand in the publisher essentially dropping the ball for the next six years or so. In 2016, after the creation of Hilaritas Press, Christina finally got her first look at this unpublished RAW title. After taking a good look at what the publisher had created, and in comparing it to RAW’s original typewritten manuscript, we decided that Hilaritas Press could do a much better job at preparing the book for publication. It then took some years, and a fair amount of money paid to lawyers, for the RAW Trust to get out of that original contract with the publisher. Hilaritas Press reconstructed the book from RAW’s original typewritten manuscript, and actually uncovered some segments that the first publisher had simply left out, presumably because they were too hard to decipher. 

The first page of The Starseed Signals, with quotations from John Stuart Mill, George Washington and Friedrich Nietzsche. (Adam Gorightly Facebook post.)

Will the publication resemble the recent reprints by Hilaritas, e.g. cover by Amoeba, extra material contributed by other writers? 

Rasa: Yes, the cover is being designed now by Scott McPherson’s amoeba company. We sent Scott a copy of the book to read before he started his design work. That makes Scott only one in about half a dozen people who have ever read this book. There will be an introduction added to the book (being written now, in fact) – that writer to be announced. There will also be an editor’s note about the publication that will probably contain some of the paragraphs I’m writing for you here, along with more details.

What is the current publication schedule?

Rasa: I’m always hesitant to give dates because there are always last minute issues that can delay us for weeks at a time, but the best guess at the moment would be the beginning of July, maybe a month from now. I’m usually overly optimistic, but that doesn’t seem too wild a guess. 

Wednesday links

Alan Moore and Adam Curtis on RAW-related topics.

Adam Gorightly on RAW's Starseed book (scroll down to read his comment).  

RAW Semantics on writer Phil Laut (RAW was a fan, too.) 

Douglas Rushkoff on the progressive "circular firing squad."  He pointed to it recently on Twitter, so I'm pointing to it, too.

Many people aren't listening, but you should wear masks.

Happy Bloomsday

Actor Barry McGovern Reading from Ulysses on top of James Joyce Tower and Museum, June 16, 2009.

Happy Bloomsday to everyone.

Here is a Guardian article on how it is "Zoomday" this year. And here is a piece in the Los Angeles Times.

Nature's God reading group, Chapter 7

Sigismundo in the wilderness. (Image by Bobby Campbell. Used by permission, more information about Bobby's work here.) 

Week Seven: Chapter Seven “The Wilderness Diary of Sigismundo Celine” pg. 113-138 Hilaritas Press edition

By Gregory Arnott
Special guest blogger

I’m not up to doing a blow by blow commentary on this chapter, the prospect is too daunting. As Bobby Campbell said when we began the reading group “a shocking amount of the most virulent RAW quotes come from Sigismundo's wilderness journal.” There’s a lot herein and much of it is best contemplated upon- preferably, in some sort of silence.

My favorite excerpt is one of the more famous ones: “You are precisely as big as what you love and precisely as big as what you allow to annoy you.” As someone who allows themselves to get annoyed way too often, I can testify that this is true, or seems to be to me.

Re: fleas

“I found that my long abstinence from magical practices had injured my powers. I resumed elementary drill and soon got back to my old form. For one thing, my protection against mosquitoes had worn off. I spent a night motionless, offering my body to them and concentrating on the thought that they were equally divine with myself. I forced myself to love them, so that in union with them the apparent differences between us might vanish in   ecstasy. I compelled my body to accept, to welcome and even to long for their bites, as being acts of love whereby I nourished their lives. In the morning, though badly bitten all over, there was no inflammation whatever; and from that time on they never bit me at all.

I soon recovered the powers of Pratyahara and Dharana. My mind became still; the impact of impressions ceased to obsess me, I became free of the illusion of the reality of material things. All events became equally indifferent, exquisite phrases in an eternal symphony. (Imagine listening to Beethoven with the prepossession that C is a good note and F a bad one; yet this is exactly the stand point from which all uninitiates contemplate the universe. Obviously, they miss the music.)”

The Confessions of Aleister Crowley

From Eric Wagner: "This seems good for the solstice." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY1p-FmjT1M&feature=youtu.be

Hilaritas to publish 'Starseed Signals'

Image from a short Timothy Leary work, Starseed: Transmissions from Folsom Prison.  

Hilaritas Press will publish Starseed Signals: Link Between Worlds, a never-published Robert Anton Wilson book written in 1974 apparently exploring the ideas of Timothy Leary. The "lost" book has been known about for years thanks largely to Discordian scholar and author Adam Gorightly  and there was a previous attempt to publish it that was never completed.

The announcement came as part of a discussion on Twitter and the dialogue is worth reproducing. (Prop Anon is a New York City writer, musician and activist wrapping up a biography of Robert Anton Wilson. Hilaritas Press is the publishing imprint of the Robert Anton Wilson Trust. I don't know Neurophere but there's a website.)

PROP ANON @PropAnon Jun 10

Robert Anton Wilson made the case for Abolishing Prisons in his unpublished book STARSEED SIGNALS
RAW hung out w Black Panthers & got the idea from them
Shout Out to Adam Gorightly for locating the book
Maybe one day it will be published
#RobertAntonWilson
#AbolishPrisons

Neurosphere @neurolobster Jun 10

wait what? Unpublished RAW???


PROP ANON @PropAnon Jun 11
Wilson wrote a book called "Starseed Signals"
in 1974. It focused on the work of Timothy Leary. In it RAW advocated the immediate release of his buddy
Much of the work was recycled into later writings like Cosmic Trigger when the book wasn't published
But there's stuff in there

The Robert Anton Wilson Trust @TheRAWTrust June 13

The RAW Trust's Hilaritas Press will be publishing "The Starseed Signals: Link Between Worlds." We don't know the exact date, but it's coming up fairly soon!

It turns out that only a little in The Starseed Signals made it into Cosmic Trigger, so a lot of "new" RAW to read!!

PROP ANON @PropAnon June 13

Replying to
@TheRAWTrust

@neurolobster
 and
@RAWilson23
That's great news

That's about all I know at this point. I've never seen the manuscript. More in my earlier blog postings about the "lost" book, here and here.

Seanan McGuire's 'Middlegame'

I have been reading the novels on the Hugo Awards final ballot, and I very much enjoyed Seanan McGuire's Middlegame (I was unfamiliar with her work before). It's a long fantasy novel with a complex structure. Many of the sections are out of order chronologically (it starts with a scene that finishes toward the end of the book) and there are excerpts from a fictional children's book that seems at first to have little to do with the main narrative. It all comes together wonderfully and in fact it's a gripping read -- it was a compulsive reading experience. Along with a couple of other nominees, it would be a fine winner.

But I also mention the book because there are details at the end that are either a nice, subtle shout out to Robert Anton Wilson fans or just meaningless coincidences. The climactic scene takes place on June 23. (All of the scenes are carefully dated.) It takes place on a farm in rural Ohio (RAW once lived on a farm in Ohio, as Christina describes in in the just-issued Hilaritas edition of The New Inquisition.) One of the main characters is Erin -- one letter removed from "Eris" obviously -- who is blonde and beautiful, as Eris is usually depicted by modern artists. Erin is the embodiment of order but her ability to resolve a key crisis depends upon the fact that she can recognize chaos, because once she was paired with it.

By another synchronicity I just finished reading a chapter in a book about coincidences. Scott Adams' book Loserthink: How Untrained Brains Are Ruining America is a self-help book purporting to show how dumb ways of thinking hold people back. I'm enjoying the book. Chapter 8 has a section on most coincidences are meaningless and you shouldn't put any stock in them most of the time:

Coincidences happen all the time. But we humans are wired to put meaning on coincidences, and when we do we are often engages in loserthink.

To be fair, sometimes coincidences do mean something. If the police are investigating a domestic murder, and the surviving spouse booked a flight out of the country right before it happened, that might not be a coincidence at all. But the far more typical situation is when we think a coincidence means something and it doesn't. We are surrounded by coincidences. Most mean nothing at all. 

Chapter 8 in Adams' book is called "Thinking Like a Scientist." Although it probably means nothing at all, I am also reading The New Inquisition by Robert Anton Wilson. It's all about how sombunall scientists engage in a kind of "loserthink" and cites the existence of synchronicities as an example of some scientists excluding evidence outside of their reality tunnels.

An online reading group for 'Under the Volcano'

Eric Wagner and Gregory Arnott have formed a reading group on Facebook to read Malcolm Lowry's classic novel, Under the Volcano.

Everyone is invited to join the new Facebook group for the reading group and participate.

Modern Library's list of "100 Best Novels" places Under the Volcano at No. 11, and it's amusing to take a moment to glance through the list; Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov, a book I really like and which was the subject of a reading group on this blog, comes in at #53. On the Road by Jack Kerouac, a book I dislike, is No. 55. One of my favorite writers, Sinclair Lewis, comes in at No. 68 with Main Street.

The Kindle version of Lowry's book is only $1.

Ten years of 'The Oz Mix'

Oz Fritz in the studio with the band Achilles Wheel 

By Eric Wagner
Special guest blogger

On June 11, 2010, the blog The Oz Mix manifested from the mind of Oz Fritz. I find the fact that this long running blog started the day after RAWIllumination an interesting synchronicity. I had known Oz from his participation at the Maybe Logic Academy. Oz works as a music producer and engineer, and he had a lot of interesting comments at MLA drawn from his experiences in music as well as in conscious brain change. We had a read through of Rafi Zabor’s The Bear Comes Home, and Oz had wonderful, rich comments about that novel.

 In his blog he has reflected on his many interests, from Pynchon to Kabbalah to Deleuze. I remember one interesting piece on Led Zeppelin. While reading it my mind wandered in the Tolkienian space of Zeppelin lyrics, and when my mind returned to the article, I thought it a blog by Michael Johnson. I became confused as I read on and realized my mistake. Or perhaps Oz sent me to a universe next door.

 I always find Oz’s writing interesting, and I appreciate his insights. Thank you, Oz. (Pay no attention the to magus behind the curtain.)

Ten years of RAWIllumination

Writing on my Chromebook as Neko, my Siamese, keeps me company. 

[I had not even noticed that today marks the 10-year anniversary of RAWIllumination.net, my blog devoted to Robert Anton Wilson and also Robert Shea. Eric Wagner, evidently more observant than I am, noticed the anniversary and wrote the following piece. (That very first posting from me on June 10, 2010, has a comment Eric posted.) Thank you, Eric, and thank you everyone who has befriended me or posted a comment or participated in some fashion. -- The Management.]

By Eric Wagner
Special guest blogger

On June 10, 2010, the blog RAWIllumination.net manifested from the mind of Tom Jackson. New posts have appeared almost every day for the last decade. He has done original research, interviewing Robert Anton Wilson’s editors and many other people. Tom writes very well, and he has brought his journalistic professionalism to a field which all to often features ego, sloppy writing, and contentiousness.

That lack of contentiousness seems a key feature of this indispensable blog. Most fan spaces fall victim to factionalism and name calling. RAWIllumination has practically none of this.

Tom has provided a space for reading groups of Bob’s books as well as related texts like Nabokov’s Pale Fire and Kerman’s The Beethoven Quartets. The rich discussions in these groups have enriched my life, as have all the other, widely varied, posts and comments at RAWIllumination.

Tom has built a community with frequent comments by some very interesting people. I have checked out the blog almost every day since it began. I think I missed a few due to family hospitalizations, but checking back in always brought me comfort and relief.

I have felt a void in my life since Bob’s passing in 2007. This blog and this community have helped to fill that void. Thank you, Tom.

Nature's God, Chapter Six (Part Two)

Memorial for Chevalier de la Barre

By Gregory Arnott
Special guest blogger

As the historical personalities are introduced throughout the chapter RAW often lists their birthdate and contemporary positions in society. (John Hancock’s is incomplete- aside from being a smuggler he was also a famous lush before signing the Declaration of Independence.) To your humble guide (b. 1990, sun in Gemini, moon is Aries, Capricorn rising), this somewhat reductionary approach serves a purpose as we watch their actions and their opposite and opposing actions throughout the chapter.

Through Seamus’ speeches to his men we see how Thomas Jefferson (33 year old planter, attorney, architect) and Thomas Paine (39 year old teacher, sailor, customs agent) became the Great Architects of the American Experiment. Colonel Muadhen’s Irish flavoring speaks to how we all have our own ideas of how America was shaped, usually in favor of our ancestors. Muadhen’s experiences also ground the romanticism of the Revolution and the high ideals of the Founders in the lived experience of the men who somehow won the war. I recently read a Bertolt Brecht poem that asked variations of the question “Did Caesar conquer Gaul alone?” These “great men” direct the course of history, which as Muadhen’s “Sinister Italian” noted, is not usually very merciful to those who make it. This point is hammered home in Muadhen’s final scene where he tries to rouse his men after victory at Monmouth- despite the patriotic fervor and winning the day, his speech is drowned out by the screams of wounded and dying soldiers.

Across the Atlantic we observe John Adams crusading around the Continent to secure funds for the Colonist’s cause and Benjamin Franklin having a grand time in Gay Paris. Adams seems to be a model of Wilson’s “right man” who is able to bend the world to his will by sheer virtue of believing that his model of the world is the only legitimate model. It seems like a missed opportunity, especially considering the highlights of the mutual career of the Batty Babcocks, that Wilson didn’t include any of Adams’ correspondence with his wife Abigail- a woman who wielded a great amount of influence for her time. Franklin meanwhile entertains many different ladies while waiting for King Louis XVI’s decision. During his time in Paris he is brought face to face with the most famous heretic of the age.

Voltaire, as Wilson notes, was nowhere near as controversial when he returned from his Swiss exile. Rather than imagining that this change is because of acceptance of his ideas, the reader should be aware that this is because most people didn’t particularly care about his ideas anymore. Once the most potent thinker in the world, Voltaire would be cast aside as a curiosity by most of the world. Regrettably, most of the world would also abandon Voltaire to textbooks and literature surveys and, as noted in the beginning of the chapter, most of the Enlightenment ideals that influenced America did not come from the French philosophes but rather the milquetoast philosophy of John Locke. If the United States had been more influenced by Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau I believe our country would look a lot better right now. But we didn’t and to our disadvantage most of what the world took from the Enlightenment was a sense of being better off than we were without the rigorous skepticism and humanism that grounded the philosophy of the time.

As Voltaire makes his way into Paris we are reminded of the case of Chevalier Francois-Jean de la Barre, whose execution was observed by Sigismundo, his father, and Herr Zoessor in The Earth Will Shake. Because his writings were used as evidence of La Barre’s atheism (he was accused of desecrating a cross) Voltaire did take a great interest in the case and did as much as he could to fan outrage over the incident. This account points out that Voltaire’s letters on the subject of La Barre are not great historical documents as they were written as polemics. Today the date of La Barre’s execution, July 1st, is celebrated in France as “Chevalier La Barre Day,” a holiday for those who oppose religious tyranny. In light of Reichsfuhrer Barr’s insidious integralism I think we’ll be celebrating this year. Honestly, I just can’t believe we’re still dealing with the Roman shtik in 2020.

But Voltaire’s dinner conversation after his initiation as an Entered Apprentice would indicate that I shouldn’t be in disbelief. It is fascinating to read Franklin, Voltaire, and Condorcet’s speculative conversation and predictions in light of the past 250 years of history; one of my favorite parts of The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles is how RAW delivers this type of historical voyeurism throughout the three books. Voltaire, despite the pageantry of being initiated as an Entered Apprentice, is still on his way out the door and doesn’t appreciate what he sees in the room, Franklin has an insouciant but generally hopeful attitude, while it is left for the Marquis de Condorcet to rhapsodize about the world of tomorrow.

Condorcet was as optimistic, good, and talented as Wilson portrays him; he was beloved of the French people and considered an embodiment of the Enlightenment. He wrote an early treatise against slavery and was later an early member of the Revolutionary movement which he hoped would lead to a rational society. Like many other philosophes he was gravely disappointed in the results and later had a warrant issued for his arrest by one of the shifting governing councils. The sentiments and ideas that Condorcet relates in this chapter are taken from his work Sketch for the Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Spirit which was published posthumously. Condorcet truly believed that scientific progress would lead to equality, liberty, and fraternity; what makes this vision of Utopia especially poignant is that he wrote it while in hiding from the authorities. He was captured and jailed- two days later he was found dead in his cell. He either committed suicide with smuggled poison or was murdered extrajudicially as the people would not have stood for him to have been executed.

His proposed future was drastically altered by a force he might have been unaware of but Wilson makes sure to note: Adam Smith’s problem child capitalism shows up to make sure progress will follow wealth instead of knowledge. Weishaupt's machinations could be seen as a furthering of concentration of power muddled in conspiracy and guesswork. There are always snakes in the garden. For invisible hands and heads these forces leave magnificently obvious signs of their sweeping scythes and strangling. As MacGregor’s simp Brodie-Innes said, “it doesn’t matter if the Secret Chiefs exist, merely that the world operates as if they do.” Too bad the Secret Chiefs ended up emulating Dennis Hooper’s Frank Booth instead of Trismegistus.

One gardener who goes through extraordinarily elaborate pains to prove the existence of the snakes is another Marquis, this one Divine and imprisoned. As I have noted before, de Sade is often still misunderstood as a madman, devil, or pervert, while he may have been all of these he was also privy to a sanity that would break most people entirely. De Sade’s screed against the Powers That Be is just as relevant and damning today as it was when he was stuffing the manuscript in a crack in the Bastille’s wall. Paolini’s excellent Salo is a prime example of the material’s ability to shock and condemn- unsurprisingly, de Sade’s life isn’t going to get any easier and his masterpiece won’t be published until after his death.

And we have one more snake in the guise of Dr. Fritz Cyprus who proposes that the Dark Ages were just lovely and that the Church really should be in charge of society. (Cyprus, a malignant German, might be an ancestor of Professor Hanfkopf from The Widow’s Son.) Wilson points out the dark side of Romanticism, to elaborate; while the works of the pre-Raphaelite artists were astounding they did introduce a strain of Catholicism and regressivism into English Decadence that would lead to it being quite a bit more fatal than the French version. The connection between antirationalism and fascism is incredibly relevant to today as we watch a large part of the country cheer a wanna-be dictator on to further insanity. The chapter closes with another antirational figure who just thirty years ago, despite lacking a penis, did all she could to set back progress and equity.

Away from all of this a Neapolitan musician is sitting under a tree meditating in Ohio. We’ll sample the fruits of making one’s mind into a mirror next week as we begin Book Two of Nature’s God with “The Wilderness Diary of Sigismundo Celine.”

From Eric: “ I thought this would make a nice soundtrack for this chapter. https://youtu.be/j1EI4kwr1kw”

My own musical offering this week, for Lady Maria Babcock/Sarah Beckersniff, the world would have been better would you have lived, dove sta memoria: https://youtu.be/vZtkVj3JPaw

Nature's God, Chapter 6 (Part One)

From Fanny Hill; or, The Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (illustrated by Franz von Bayros)

Nature’s God Week Six: Marquis de Sade and Other Libertines (pg. 71-108 Hilaritas edition)

By Gregory Arnott

Special guest blogger

Like the end of the separate Parts of The Earth Will Shake and The Widow’s Son, Book One of Nature’s God closes with a panorama of the historical events that surround our four protagonists. This gives the book an epic scope and allows RAW to make his riff/commentary on history and progress. I doubt that I need to point this out to any of us but this chapter is of course written somewhat in the style of “The Wandering Rocks” from Joyce’s Ulysses. (I say somewhat as, despite the headlines, Wilson doesn’t really ape newspaper writing and instead writes in his regular, suggestive style.)

Chapter 6 covers five major story lines, in my opinion (or I’m going to make an arbitrary division because it would be incredibly difficult to write about all this otherwise): the publication of A Moistness in the Wind, the efforts of the men we now call the Founding Fathers to further the American Revolution- especially the pugnaciously honest and self-assured John Adams, Colonel Muadhen’s direct experience of military service and lionizing mortals, the return of Voltaire to Paris which is juxtaposed with the imprisonment of de Sade, and Sigismundo in Ohio meditating and experiencing all phenomena as real in some sense, unreal in some sense, meaningless in some sense, real and meaningless in some sense, unreal and meaningless in some sense, and real and unreal and meaningless in some sense. And this paragraph is made of two sentences.

Maria’s rather innocuous letter to London Gazette and the actions of Weskit Fitzloosely, while fictional, reflects the complicated history of the press in England. It was often the actions of drunks and pornographers that pushed the borders of decency and championed true freedom of the press. For example; The Yellow Book was the most popular periodical in 1890s London, it published the artwork of Aubrey Beardsley and John Singer Sargent, contributors included Ernest Dowson, W.B. Yeats, Max Beerbohm, and Baron Corvo. Yet, when Oscar Wilde was brought to trial he carried a yellow bound book with him- most likely a copy of Huysmans or Pierre Louys, and although Wilde had never contributed to The Yellow Book, because Beardsley’s (who detested and even feared Wilde personally) sumptuous illustrations had graced both Wilde’s Salome and The Yellow Book the periodical was inextricably linked to deviance, buggery, and indecency. A valuable publication was snuffed out. Luckily Arthur Symons is in the corner, rubbing the shoulders of his prize-fighting pornographer Leornard Smithers who fearlessly puts out The Savoy. Smither’s provides work to the members of the Decadence Movement when other publishers fear Victorian prudishness and public opinion and The Savoy remains to this day a jewel case of gemlike parts of English prose and art. A more contemporaneous example, in relation to Maria’s publication, would be the downright humorous publication of John Cleland’s Fanny Hill; or, The Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure. Cleland wrote his pornographic masterpiece while in debtors prison and promptly found himself back before a judge after the initial publication of his manuscript. There Cleland whittled and wailed his way out of a conviction and according to one biographer was rewarded a pension by the court to prevent further writing. Meanwhile, Fanny Hill went merrily along being published by the pirate press by the boatload- no one really knew what to do about it.

Maria, under her borrowed-from-Jonathan-Swift nom de plume of Beckersniff, ironically asks if anyone more civilized than “the Methodists, the Howlers, and the Ranters” believe in God as a physical being versus a spiritual concept. I say ironic since it was the Protestant dissenters who really began the underground printing tradition in England. Going back to Tyndale’s Bible in the early sixteenth century and continuing to John Bunyan’s writings (written while imprisoned for his preaching more often than not) in the late seventeenth century and beyond to Blake in the eighteenth, Protestant religious nutters have had a lot to do with freedom of the press. This is something I’m sure most of today’s fundamentalists would regret if any of them were literate or capable of having even the most rudimentary grasp of history/reality. Oh well- ignorance and dragging the world back to the Dark Ages are bliss, as they say.

We are told that, like Fanny Hill, Maria’s “little volume” proliferated in pirate editions and that seven copies remain in libraries around the world today. Two of the libraries are interesting: one is the collection of Gershon Legman. Legman was a folklorist who specialized in erotica and wrote The Rationale of the Dirty Joke, a book the author of Playboy’s Book of Forbidden Words would surely have appreciated. The second library is of course Miskatonic University. The subject matter of A Moistness in the Wind, as I mentioned before, harkens back to Wilson’s first published essay in Krassner’s The Realist. The material in the excerpts seems to be an anachronistic rewrite of the original essay with some of Hargrave Jennings material thrown in for extra flavor. (In the spirit of Wilkes I will relate that my wife pointed out a few evenings ago that there seems to be no purer happiness than that of a man who is having his penis touched. I couldn’t argue in most circumstances, but she’s never had to endure that supremely awkward part of a physical.)

Return to blogging about Twin Peaks

Actress Sheryl Lee, who portrays Laura Palmer, Maddy Ferguson and Carrie Page in Twin Peaks

I am still surprised no evidence has surfaced that Robert Anton Wilson watched Twin Peaks, or was interested in it; there are so many reasons why I assume he would have liked it -- the artistry, the surrealism, the occult aspects.

In any event, I have finished by recent Twin Peaks binge watching; I re-watched the original two seasons and the  move Fire Walk With Me and finally watched the third season that originally aired on Showtime in 2017. I loved the third season.

Laura Palmer haunts the third season much like she haunted the first two seasons; there are flashback scenes but also new scenes filmed by actress Sheryl Lee. 

Here is one of those silly synchronicities I like to share. Just after I finished the third season, we got an advertising magnet in the mail for a local insurance agent, one of those things people send you hoping you will stick it in the fridge and call them.  The name of the blonde insurance agent was Jennifer Palmer.

My wife gave me the magnet, remarking that the blonde lady obviously was Laura Palmer's daughter. Actually, it's a better coincidence than my wife realized; The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, a tie-in book connected to the original series, was written by Jennifer Lynch, David Lynch's daughter. 

I enjoyed the third season very much, while wondering what the heck somebody would make of it if they had not seen the original series; has anyone reading this had that experience? 

One of the pleasures of the new series is that many of the original characters return, and you get to see what have become of them 25 years later. Lynch also indulges his interest in music and there are many complete performances in a bar, including one great scene when a folk singer performs and the viewer suddenly realizes it's a famous rock star. (Well, I'm sure many fans knew who it was right away, but I didn't until I heard the distinctive voice.) Some of Lynch's greatest surrealistic images and scenes appear in the series. Lynch directed all of the episodes and I had the feeling Lynch took his time to do the series his way. The series was announced in 2014 but didn't air until about three years later. 

One of my favorite episodes was Number 14, and I was startled to notice Beatles references in it. There's a scene where James Hurley, a character from the original series now apparently working as a security guard, hears a story from fellow guard Freddie Sykes, an Englishman, that explains why Freddie came to Twin Peaks. At about 38:26, Sykes describes "waking up the next morning" when he "got out of bed, dragged a comb across me head, went downstairs and had a cup," before saying, "Just kidding about that part!" He's quoting from the Beatles' song "A Day in the Life," but stops  before the line, "Somebody spoke and I went into a dream."

The connection between the Beatles and dreaming recurs a few minutes later, when Laura Palmer's mother walks into a bar, which is named the #9 Bar, recalling both "Revolution Number 9" but also John Lennon's solo hit, "#9 Dream." a song which supposedly came to Lennon in a dream.

Sykes, by the way, describes moving to Twin Peaks after a vision from The Fireman. By coincidence, The Fireman is a pseudonym Paul McCartney has used for several solo albums. The Fireman is actually a duo of Paul McCartney, and John Higgs' pal, Youth.  (Here is an interview of Youth by Mr. Higgs.) 

I probably shouldn't drag John Higgs into this blog post, but in my Beatlemania, I like to believe that everyone in England has only one degree of separation, at most, from a Beatle, and Mr. Higgs proves my ridiculous delusion "is" "true."

If you do watch Twin Peaks, don't forget to read Gregory Arnott's article on the show. 

Saturday links

Composer David Lang on Hadrian's Wall last year. (Context).

Jesse Walker quotes Kerry Thornley (on police behavior).

What works in reducing police violence.

Adam Gorightly's movie, "The Hill and the Hole,"  now on Amazon. 

Erik Davis' June Blast.  Erik explains, " I just posted my latest round-up of news, links, and reviews at The Burning Shore, including a new analog synth comp, The Acid Diaries, and the film In Pursuit of Silence."

Timothy Leary documentary in the works.

Cosmic Trigger II audiobook released

Hilaritas Press has announced the release of a new audiobook: Cosmic Trigger II, narrated by Oliver Senton, who portrayed RAW in Daisy Campbell's production of the Cosmic Trigger Play.

While I welcome all Hilaritas Press announcements, Cosmic Trigger II is a book I'm particularly fond of. I know that most RAW fans would likely prefer the first Cosmic Trigger. If you like audiobooks, you don't have to choose, because there's an Oliver Senton-narrated audiobook for it, too.  (I now have both audiobooks on my phone.)

You will want to read the whole announcement, because as with many other such announcements, a particular highlight is Christina Pearson's contribution, which includes memories about what life on the farm was like, when her family tried going back to the land in Ohio:

On the homestead our family lived in an old ramshackle 2-room house, where we took our baths in a big tin tub (see picture!) that would get pulled out and put on the floor in the kitchen, and filled from the hose attached to the kitchen sink), and used the outhouse out back for going to the bathroom. (imagine telling your 6 year-old daughter she needs to go poop in the outhouse while it was 19 degrees out and icy! Yep . . . we just cried so us kids ended up getting a chamber-pot (read pot with lid) we could use inside the big house to keep from freezing our little rear-ends off that winter . . .)

John Higgs to appear at online event Friday

John Higgs

Announcement from the Cockpit in London: "PESSIMISM IS FOR LIGHTWEIGHTS! #JourneyToNutopia presents more positivity in another open conversation about future narratives that challenge the inevitability of global dystopia. Fri 5th Jun 7 p.m. with special guests
John Higgs and Salena Godden."

Tickets are one pound and the event will be held over Zoom; more here.

Thanks to our British correspondent Nick Helweg-Larsen for the tip.

News from fandom

"Uncle Hugo's, the long-established Minneapolis sf bookshop, was burnt down -- along with its next-door mystery sibling Uncle Edgar's -- in riots on the night of 29/30 May. DreamHaven, another specialist genre bookshop a mile away, was broken into and vandalized (several attempts to start fires failed) but defended and later boarded up by local fans."

Ansible, June 2020

More here. 

Nature's God, Chapter Five, Part Two

Traditional depiction of Washington at Valley Forge

Week Five: Chapter 5 “The Light Sings Eternal” (pg. 59-70 Hilaritas edition) Part II

By Gregory Arnott
Special guest blogger

In Chapter Five we immediately encounter George Washington, toking peacefully in his tent. This has been brought up in the comments, previous posts, and in Eric’s Introduction to this volume but the other prominent example of a stoned Founding Father is found in Thomas Pynchon’s Mason & Dixon. (Another pop culture reference to the patriotic pastime of pot smoking comes from The Firesign Theater’s Everything You Know is Wrong which RAW references at the beginning of Cosmic Trigger.)

In Pynchon’s novel Washington is not presented on the battlefield but in the years before at his home in Mt. Vernon- like Benjamin Franklin, who appears earlier, there is the typical Pynchonesque-shiftiness to the character, and his appearance is used to combine humor, drugs, and social dissection. It is Dixon, who had spent time in South Africa observing the Transit of Venus, who recognizes the scent after Washington has spoken to a slave churlishly, upsetting the surveyor. Washington, to smooth things over, begins to pass the pipe.

The character who makes this scene fascinating is Gershom, a black Jew enslaved by Washington. Although he is told to go prepare hog jowls for the white gentlemen’s oncoming munchies, he instead takes the pipe and joins in their conversation. As the foursome consume more cannabis, Gershom--whose name is perhaps a reference to that most impressive academic scholar of Kabbalah, Gershom Scholem--seems to take the reins of the conversation. The scene culminates with Martha, who “smelled the Smoak” and figured the boys would be hungry, bringing in a plate of desserts out of Scooby Doo.

Dixon’s discomfort with Washington mirrors his earlier disgust with the racist tyranny in South Africa and clearly links it to the depravity of the Colonies. The presence of Gershom gives a place in the circle with the three white dudes who are generally celebrated by history, further subverting the scene Pynchon has created.

While Pynchon may have read Nature’s God, RAW points out in the Appendix of Illuminatus! and in Sex, Drugs, and Magick that Washington’s enthusiasm for cannabis is on the historic record. And further study indicates that he was growing it for “medicinal” purposes and was influential in the spread of hemp across the Americas.

During their smoke sesh Washington gets a little spooky, as one is wont to do, and begins discussing plates with mysterious inscriptions, unearthed in the distant frontier. The narrator of the novel, Reverend Cherrycoke, steps in to note: “[t]here remains a residue of Belief, out to the Westward, that the mere presence of Glyphs and Signs can produce magickal Effects,- for the essence of Magic is the power of small Magickal Words, to work enormous physical Wonders.” This connection between mystery and the (then) West is present in both Mason & Dixon and Nature’s God and, as I noted earlier, ties into the traditional American theme of wilderness as the land of subconscious wonders/terrors.

James Moon is promoted to Colonel by Washington after he refuses to recant that he has witnessed a rock fall from the sky. Later, when he is transformed back to Seamus Muadhen after his out of body experience, Washington confides in him that he had encountered a strange man in a glowing craft who predicted the future in detail.

I could find no mention of this exact incident but it does sound similar to the encounters with sky people documented by writers such as John Keel and Jacques Vallee. I believe that this is an extrapolation of a story that I imagine many of us encountered in storybooks: Washington’s Vision at Valley Forge.

The general account goes that Washington was overheard by a young man telling an officer about praying in the woods near Valley Forge when an angel appeared before him and accurately predicted his success, presidency, and events of the country's first few decades. This is usually reduced to a “see big historical guy pray good have faith” gibberish but it actually began as a piece of Civil War propaganda. The tale was presented by “99 year old” Anthony Sherman who related it to a journalist, Charles Wesley Alexander, who published the story in 1861. Naturally, this is all bullshit and Alexander penned it himself to bolster the Union during the fledgling year of America’s bloodiest conflict.

I found an account from the Roswell Daily Register that recounted the story above along with another that claimed Washington would occasionally get advice and encouragement from “little green men” on the frontier during the Revolution. The story goes on to say that Washington believed them to be an advanced, eccentric Indigenous people. If anyone knows of other stories about Washington encountering the uncanny I would love to hear them or be pointed in the right direction.

Before Seamus meets with Washington he is convalescing with the wounded Marquis de Lafayette who is very bothered by the Quakers’ speech patterns. I have two things I’d like to say about the Marquis’ predicament: firstly, that his fear that he was in a British prison and that they were trying to drive him mad is a rather blatant reference to what had happened to Sigismundo at the hands of some nefarious parts of the Marquis’ own government. My second point isn’t so much of a point but a personal anecdote about why I was able to perfectly picture the look on Lafayette’s face. This is because of a Christmas dinner I had with my Uncle’s mother’s relatives who were from Germany and exclusively German. At the time my maternal grandmother, who was still alive but had Alzheimer’s, was under my care most of the time during weekends and holidays and was well enough to get out of the house. While my family talked to the relatives through my Uncle’s mother, I tried to be game by loudly mispronouncing German authors/beers and smiling and nodding with them when they would correct or repeat the name. After a while I looked across the table at my grandmother who was sitting, her first fork of food halfway to her mouth, in wide-eyed confusion at what I’m sure seemed like a moment when the world stopped making any sense. I did love her very much.

Lafayette also muses on Voltaire’s Micromegas, an excellent short story that is often pointed to as an early example of science fiction. Micromegas is about a giant being from a planet orbiting Sirius who travels about the galaxy until he comes to Saturn. There he meets another gigantic being, although smaller than Micromegas, with whom he is able to converse about many subjects. Eventually the two come to Earth where they wade in our Oceans and decide the planet must be uninhabited before meeting a boatful of scientists and philosophers to whom Micromegas promises a book answering all of mankind’s questions. The book is found to be blank after his departure. Fitting and quite like some “real” encounters people have claimed to have had with space beings.

To return to James, he’s shot and split into a trinity of selves: a body, James Moon, and the old Seamus Muadhen. The truth of masks is transcended and James is cast aside as an imposter to please the British. Oppression runs deep and, aside from nationality/race, this dialogue could be replaced with a variety of characters from a variety of backgrounds during a variety of times. In light of yesterday’s first part of this post I will close with the following:

“Once we were all stars and we’ve been making Punch and Judy puppets of ourselves.”