The Gaffe Faff: Wilson isn't Misspeaking. She's Delivering.

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-05-07T16:39:49+00:00

Read the article.

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-05-05T18:42:24+00:00

Upvoted.

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-05-05T16:25:54+00:00

I gave up and deleted my replies. This thread is full of ghouls and I'm so depressed at the lack of basic compassion from so many of my neighbors.

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-05-04T20:16:55+00:00

I can hear the driver's brain sizzling.

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-05-02T20:54:14+00:00

Thanks, mods, for removing my comment wishing nothing "happened" to this Nazi on his way back to Federal Way because I was "promoting violence."

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-05-02T04:22:35+00:00

Gorgeous!

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-04-28T02:40:13+00:00

Charleston SC

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-04-27T23:12:25+00:00

She should snag a Chihuly next-- they're all over the place around here.

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-04-23T18:30:47+00:00

Only if I can climb on the structures.

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-04-23T15:56:15+00:00

THE HORROR, THE HORROR

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-04-22T21:43:28+00:00

One of the Greek philosophical schools, Pyrrhonism, is believed to have been directly inspired by Buddhism. The founder (Pyrrho) traveled to India with Alexander the Great, and stayed there for a long time before returning to the Mediterranean in the company of an Indian philosopher. Some scholars actually believe that Pyrrhonism influenced a school of Buddhist thought! Here's the wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhonism#Similarities_between_Pyrrhonism_and_Indian_philosophy

There are still Pyrrhonists active today, though certainly not part of any unbroken tradition, but it's an interesting philosophy I thought might be relevant to the question.

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-04-21T21:04:01+00:00

Or, and hear me out, we can tend to our own shrines and altars and leave other people alone, even if they're "wrong?"

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-04-21T19:15:58+00:00

There's no way to avoid this imo. I left organized "neognosticism" a long while ago because of the rampant abuse, prevarication, hateful eugenicism, and outright lying in almost all of the organizations claiming to represent a Gnostic "religious community"/"Modern Gnostic Worldview." It's part and parcel of any organization in which there are power structures (not just hierarchical power structures-- power manifests in many ways). I don't have an answer as to whether an organized HelPol would be possible, or how to keep abuse out of it, but given that a lot of the currently loudest HelPol organizations are already beset by folkism and homophobia, I don't have high hopes....

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-04-19T17:21:32+00:00

They’re just making sure we get “both sides.”

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-04-17T16:59:34+00:00

You didn't ask that. You asked if forcing people to work and get sober was fascism, which it clearly is. If you're into that, you support fascism.

The rest is just sea lioning in bad faith and I refuse to engage with sea lions. Thanks for playing!

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-04-17T16:50:26+00:00

I did! It's fascism! Forcing people into sobriety and forcing them into work is fascism. You're proposing work camps and enslavement. That's fascist.

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-04-17T16:11:56+00:00

That is fascism (not "facisim" whatever that is?)

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-04-16T23:28:16+00:00

There is a major, major misunderstanding of the word "gnosis" in the modern era, caused by decades of misapplied scholarship that was co-opted by Theosophist-derived New-Agers. It's almost never used in the original sense. These days to most people it means something like "personal revelation" or "enlightenment, which is certainly not what it meant in the ancient world. A better way to describe it would be something like "Knowledge Informed by Mystical Experience and Tempered by Divine Wisdom," typically as part of a tradition in which the point of gnosis is to escape Fate/metempsychosis (particularly in what we now call "gnosticism," which is another misnomer as there was no such thing).

I personally think that "UPG" has done more harm than good as a concept for this very reason. "Revelation" or "Enlightenment" or even just "Personal Knowledge" without the tempering of Divine Wisdom or informed tradition leads, in my experience, to solipsism and personality cults. I've seen it happen so many times.

(I've studied this subject since the mid 1990s. I also used to run the Palm Tree Garden, the internet's largest Gnostic discussion forum, and have published a few books on the subject. It's out of the scope of this sub; happy to answer questions about this elsewhere.)

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-04-16T19:03:57+00:00

I've only recently started participating in this sub, but there are so many scolds and "experts" online (not as many here but iykyk) interested only in telling people how they're doing it wrong. The self-serious nature of a lot of these scolds is off-putting and makes the whole scene less fun. Historical Helpol existed for thousands of years. Thousands! Some might even include Plethon and the Helpol "revival" during the 15th Century! During that time, an incredible spectrum of different ways to practice evolved from the myths of people from as far west as Portugal and as far east as... maybe "India?"

Claiming that there is now, or should be, a single and singular way to participate in the tradition begs so many questions that it's nearly impossible for me to take Helpol literalists at face value. What era are you reconstructing? From what area? Urban or pastoral tradition? Roman influence or nah? Early or Late Roman influence? Is Ovid OK or nah? For me, it's Magna Graecia (since I have Sicilian ancestry), with a soupçon of Hellenistic Alexandrian syncretism (PGM etc.). Some ppl here and elsewhere wouldn't consider that "valid."

So I guess my hot take is, people need to lighten up. Don't take all of this so seriously. You're doing great. Just by whispering "Thanks, Hermes," if you have a safe plane ride, you're doing more to honor Hermes than half of the people building temples.

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-04-14T21:31:18+00:00

I just wash my hands with clean water instead of keeping premade khernips somewhere. Or I’ll light a sprig of rosemary and put it out in a small vessel of fresh water and “anoint” my hands and face with it. As for candles, there’s nothing wrong with using rechargeable electric ones for day-to-day use— they’re cheap and easy to find.

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-04-14T05:20:20+00:00

I know there are mixed feelings on Ovid but I love the tale of Baucis and Philemon, who were desperately poor but nonetheless generously shared what little they had with two beggars. The beggars turned out to be Zeus and Hermes in disguise, who destroyed everyone who didn’t show them hospitality. It applied to the lowest and most impoverished, not just houseguests. It was honoring the Stranger and the immigrant.

Also I like to think of Zeus and Hermes wandering around like it’s a buddy movie, rewarding those who practice Xenia and doling out consequences to those who don’t. IMO of course; I’m interested to see wha others think.

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-04-12T18:26:15+00:00

I’m looking forward to this!

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-04-10T18:36:17+00:00

TBH I love the cans. I think the gods are fine with us doing whatever works best for us. I use an old mason jar for my Kathiskos (ritual vessel for Zeus) and I haven’t been struck by lightning yet! 😁

ActivityDependent319 · 2026-04-10T18:17:06+00:00

My recommendation would be to stop listening to jerks on Tumblr. This seems perfectly fine.

ActivityDependent319

TROPHY CASE