Blog (249)
Aprblog 2023
Spring at last.
The few Ravens that we have up in the Scots Pines on the nearby hill have started making funny noises; less raucous crawking, more gentle cooing, hopefully they’re making more Ravens.
As the autumnal Mandrakes at Chateaux Chaos spring into inactivity by shedding their foliage and going to sleep for summer, the pond receives an influx of amphibian guests, toads, frogs, and newts. Herewith a menage a trois of frogs. I later saw six males clamped onto that female. The following day I saw her pale and dead at the bottom of the pond. She has left a mass of spawn, but her tadpoles will face the dragonfly larvae lurking in the depths.
Counterfactual Indefiniteness.
Einstein famously asked if the Moon continues to exist when nobody looks at it.
I can now answer this with a (heavily qualified*) Not Necessarily.
An interesting example of this strangeness cropped up during some collaboration with a terrestrial correspondent upon Hypersphere Cosmology.
If cosmological redshift depends only on distance, then it has to remain indeterminate until measured.
See the graph below in which observed frequency (blue) decreases with distance travelled across the universe. This leads to an asymptotically increasing redshift of wavelength (red).
Note that as frequency decreases directly with distance travelled fo = fe (1-(d/L)) see: -
https://www.specularium.org/component/k2/item/322-equation-6
We cannot define what frequency a photon ‘would have’ at any point on a journey between two points, we can only calculate and confirm by measurement what frequency the photon has when we actually observe it. This means that the ‘counter-factual’ - the frequency that we do not observe, cannot have a definite but unknown value.
To take a simple example with rough figures: -
In Hypersphere Cosmology the antipode to any observer in the universe lies almost exactly 4 Gigaparsecs away, (1.23 E26 metres, 13 billion light years).
Imagine two distant galaxies ‘A’ at 2 Gigaparsecs, and ‘B’ at 1 Gigaparsec distant from an observer, with both laying roughly in the same direction. Light from A will have lost half of its frequency when it arrives at the observer. Light from B will have lost a quarter of its frequency when it arrives at the observer. This all accords with calculation and observation.
If we stopped the light from A at B, then we would find that it had lost a quarter of its frequency.
But what about the light from A as it flies unobserved past B? We cannot assign any value to its frequency that remains commensurate with the loss of a quarter of its frequency per Gigaparsec and a half of its frequency over 2 Gigaparsecs!
Plainly we have a quantum effect at play here. The frequency does not become defined until we stop the light and measure it, or equivalently it hits something and acquires a definite value.
Of all the interpretations of quantum mechanics, only Cramer’s Transactional Interpretation seems to offer a ‘reasonable’ or visualisable account of how this can happen. In this interpretation, retro causal advanced waves have to complete a quantum handshake across spacetime in any emission-absorption event before it acquires a definite value.
If, as in standard cosmology, the cosmological redshift arises from recession velocity in an expanding universe, then it can have a classical explanation that preserves the idea of a definite state of the unmeasured light at any point along its path.
I suspect that recession velocity and hence the expanding universe model became selected precisely because it preserved a classical description for cosmological redshift.
The orthodox standard cosmological model, the LCDM Big Bang theory, remains purely classical and relativistic. Hypersphere Cosmology, at least in respect to cosmological redshift, incorporates both General Relativistic and Quantum Mechanical perspectives.
Counterfactual Indefiniteness has interesting metaphysical implications. Does the mind have a definite state when it does nothing for example? Anyone for Zen?
*We can assume that the Moon may continue to exist in some definite form when we don’t look at it, but only because of the zillions of quanta there interacting with each other and with the rest of the universe tend to keep it in a fairly definite form on the macroscopic scale.
Nyarlathotep – Aiwass.
It now seems generally accepted that the alien entity Nyarlathotep posing as Aiwass inspired Aleister Crowley to write the abominable Book of the Law and to found a cult based on slavish obedience to its spittle flecked rantings. Many other messiahs, prophets, ideologues, and demagogues seem to have drunk from the same source in search of power. Nyarlathotep also finds amusement in provoking sentient creatures to explore all manner of antinomian scientific, technical, and political extremes. It expects us to either learn from our mistakes or to destroy ourselves, and it remains indifferent to the outcome, as H P Lovecraft realised.
The universe contains countless sentient species, some will transcend themselves, some will auto-destruct. Nyarlathotep enjoys stirring them to do either, it wears many masks. Sometimes it takes an occultist to see through the metaphors within the metaphors.
AC fell for it. HPL saw through it.
Politics.
Despite the diplomatic niceties, President-Dictator Xi of China has visited Putin in Moscow with the air of a man inspecting the goods on offer in a fire sale. Plainly he sees no prospect of Putin winning the war and will not send him any armaments. Plainly Xi looks forward to heavily discounted fuel from Russia. Xi probably contemplates the prospect of exporting the full panoply of the technology of repression to Russia. Plainly he must now contemplate what sort of new regime in Russia he will soon find himself dealing with.
Putin runs out of friends, only fear motivates his remaining associates. Keep those conjurations coming: - https://www.specularium.org/blog/item/349-putin-s-war
Scottish Independence RIP. The election of Humza Yousaf as SNP leader probably represents the final nail in the coffin of the secessionist movement. Hurrah! The Scottish secessionist movement stands revealed as an economically illiterate project led by careerist political incompetents, and now even the ethnic tartan romanticism has gone.
ChatGPT.
Despite occasional outbreaks of Artificial Stupidity, ChatGPT can apparently compose poems and essays that can fool university professors. It only seems a matter of time and computational power before we iron out the issues of humour and nuance.
I intend to feed an AI with all my works, let it absorb my style and ideas, and then sit back and enjoy all the books I haven't had time to write, and collect the royalties.
The royalties will fund an immortal AI version of myself to comfort my relatives and engage my readers after I die.
But until further notice these blogs will continue to originate from the Meatware version of myselves.
Marblog 2023
Marblog 2023
Matt Kaybryn - call off the search, my thanks to all. Matt telephoned me from his mountain fastness in a faraway land and we have sorted the issue. Mandrake of Oxford will henceforth distribute The EPOCH in its huge altar sized collector’s edition form, and also bring out this entire triple grimoire (including The Necronomicon) in a smaller more portable edition.
Dark Matter? – A solid disc like a gramophone record rotates with the same angular velocity at any distance from its centre. The planets of the solar system on the other hand rotate about the sun in a Keplerian fashion with an inner planet like Mercury orbiting the Sun in a much shorter period than an outer planet like Neptune. Weirdly, the stars in a galaxy rotate around the centre of it more like a solid disc rotates than a planetary system rotates. Neither Newton’s laws of gravitation nor the refinement of them in Einstein’s basic general relativity can account for this. Plus, clusters of galaxies do not seem to rotate as these theories predict, plus, large structures in the universe seem to have evolved more quickly than such theories predict if the universe went through a big bang.
Such discrepancies between theory and observation have led to the hypothesis that the universe must contain a lot of invisible matter to supply the apparently missing gravitational forces. Such ‘dark matter’ cannot consist of the same stuff that makes up us, this planet, the moon and mars, the sun, and everything else that we can observe. It apparently does almost nothing except add extra gravity and because it cannot absorb or emit light, we can never see it. To fix the mismatch between theory and observation the universe would have to contain about five times as much dark matter as the ordinary matter that we observe. Yet its existence has entered into the standard concordance LCDM model of cosmology as a ‘fact’ and some science fiction and fantasy writers, and esoteric speculators have played with the idea.
I become equally annoyed when magicians invoke dark matter to patch up their paradigms.
Over the last few decades physicists have conducted ingenious and exhaustive experiments to catch and identify particles of this dark matter which supposedly dominates the matter of the universe. All such experiments have failed to find any dark matter.
Rather than add a vast extra amount of hypothetical matter to the universe some theorists have attempted to tweak our theories of how gravity works to resolve the discrepancies, but these modified gravity theories all seem to depend on adding some ad hoc fudge factor to the equations to align them with observations.
Yet a simple and comprehensive resolution occurs if we merely add in an old exact solution to the field equations of general relativity found by Kurt Gödel back in 1949.
w = 2sqrt(piGp), angular velocity equals twice the square root of pi times G times density.
This adds an additional angular velocity w to any form of rotation.
thus:-
v(r) = vi(r) + 2sqrt(piGp) r
Where the velocity at any radius v(r) equals the velocity expected from the usual inertial and gravitational considerations vi(r) plus a Gödelian contribution which for a galaxy derives from the radius of the entire spherical gas halo and the overall density of the disc and gas halo. This gives an excellent result for the nearby Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies where we can now observe their surrounding gas halos.
We expect a suitable accounting for the probable distribution of ordinary matter within galactic clusters will also show a result in accordance with this correction.
https://www.specularium.org/hypersphere-cosmology/item/319-equation-9
Hypersphere cosmology denies that a big bang occurred, so it does not require dark matter to resolve the apparently anomalous rates of star, galaxy, and megastructure formation that standard theory implies.
The State of the Nation – That treasonous wee krankie traitor, the Loch Ness Sturgeon, has quit her post rather than face the increasing likelihood of failure. I always suspected that for her, Scottish independence merely provided a means of advancing a personal political career. She must have realised that had she ever become the leader of a breakaway Scotland she would have ended up with her head on a pike within six months as its economy imploded and a refugee crisis ensued. She played a long game of making incessant demands on the Union that she dared not break. She kept quiet about Alex Salmond’s behaviour until it became politic to turn against him. When Scotland exhibited an outbreak of royalism on the Queen’s death she bizarrely proclaimed that Scotland would keep the monarchy. She did a grubby deal with the Greens to stay in power and paid the price of having to foist the deeply unpopular wokeist gender recognition act upon the Scottish people. Sturgeon’s only legacy remains a Scotland more divided within itself.
I love Scotland, I have family married into a clan up there, my grandchildren consider themselves Scots, I have invested much in the place. Thankfully the tide of secession now seems to recede.
Brexit. The wails of the ‘Remoaners’ have grown a little lounder and from the other side we hear some stirrings of ‘Bregret’.
Brexit has proved expensive, as anticipated. Freedom always has costs, but nations that give up political freedom for economic gain always end up losing both. The corrupt and undemocratic synarchic shambles of the EU took decades to construct, as did Britain’s half-assed relationship to it. It will take a while to sort the mess out, particularly with the damn French making a nuisance of themselves out of pique and spite. Let us hold our nerve.
Theory of Mind and AI.
According to conventional theory, as we develop from infants we gradually learn to attribute ‘mind’ to other phenomena in our environment (mainly people) which do not behave in an entirely mechanical and predictable way. We develop a ‘Theory of Mind’ which attributes agency and intentions to mainly living things. We come to recognise that the immediate and longer term behaviour of people may not match, as it does for most inanimate objects.
The idea of Theory of Mind’ usually implies that after an infant recognises that it has a mind it starts to recognise that other people have minds too. However, it seems more likely that we only realise that we have a mind after we have conceptualised its presence in others. Full sentience implies self-awareness and self-consciousness, the ability to think about thinking (and emoting).
Some degree of failure to adopt the socially approved form of Theory of Mind often seems associated with autism. Autistic people tend to take other peoples behaviour at face value without accounting for what they might actually have intend. They also sometimes exhibit apparent difficulties with self-knowledge and with assessing their own social impacts.
Current machine learning and AI programs display a high degree of what we might call autism in humans. Although they can perform well defined tasks with astonishing accuracy, this comes at the price of their not ‘knowing’ that they do so. They often create Artificial Stupidity when given more open ended or less tightly constrained tasks like making up conversation or telling you what they ‘think’ about.
It seems that the development of fully sentient AI probably depends on using machine learning to develop a Theory of Mind within a machine, by first analysing the anomalies and peculiarities in human behaviour to discern the intents, and then to turn the resulting Theory of Mind upon itself and examine and perhaps modify its own programmed intents.
The Chaoist theory of the Multi-Self also suggests that self-consciousness depends not on a singular self but on various selves within monitoring each other. Any truly sentient AI will probably require many semi-autonomous sub-programs.
Perhaps we should take care what sort of data we bring potentially sentient AIs up on. A bad upbringing can have unfortunate consequences.
No Big Bang
The latest analysis of data from the James Webb Space Telescope has revealed six new fully formed galaxies as big as our own Milky Way. These galaxies lay at a vast distance away that puts them very close in time to the supposed Big Bang event.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05786-2
Most astrophysicists consider it impossible that such huge galaxies could have formed so quickly after a big bang.
This it seems ever more likely that the universe has the same large scale structure at all points of space AND time – exactly as Hypersphere Cosmology predicts.
Putin’s War
We will only get a lasting peace in Europe when the crony-capitalist oligarchic dictatorship in Russia falls and becomes replaced with a free democracy.
The real history of Europe (and its gift to humanity) consists of a centuries long struggle against absolute monarchs, oligarchs, autocrats, emperors, and dictators. The remaining one has to go.
Putin now knows that he cannot win and that he cannot survive if he loses.
To reduce the devastation and the humanitarian costs, Turn His People Against Him.
Feblog 2023
Feblog 2023
Matt Kaybryn. Does anyone have any contact with this artist who seems to have completely disappeared off-scene and off-net? If he still lives, I would really like him to contact me to discuss future publications of the EPOCH artwork.
Cosmology - JWST update. At the time of writing, the James Webb Space Telescope has astonished conventional cosmologists by revealing huge numbers of apparently ‘young’ and ‘old’ galaxies at very high redshifts. According to conventional theory this means that we now see them at vast distances in space and time as they would have looked just a few hundred million years after the hypothesised big bang event 13.8 billion years ago.
At the very least these new observations will lead to a severe revision of the theories about how fast galaxies can come into existence and develop after a purported big bang.
If the JWST can find stars and galaxies even closer to the CMBR horizon, then the LCDM big bang hypothesis will die.
Hypersphere Cosmology predicts with increasing confidence that we inhabit a finite and unbounded non-expanding universe, homogenous and isotropic in space AND time on the large scale. It only appears to expand, and at an increasing rate, because conventional LCDM theory fails to acknowledge the gravitational origin of cosmological redshift in a universe with a small positive curvature which leads to a redshift dependent only on distance, and an overall hyperspherical cosmic lensing which dims distant objects and creates the optical illusion of an accelerating expansion.
The CMBR arises from highly redshifted galactic light from near antipode distance, and this creates an effective horizon that we cannot see beyond.
FSW Update.
Frontier Space War has remained a work in progress intermittently for the last 50 years. It consists of related game ideas for modelling interstellar conflict at the level of individual spacecraft and surface forces.
In the FSW universe, spacecraft can warp jump from one star system to an adjacent one between points of equal gravitational potential and they can also manoeuvre in system to engage enemy ships or surface units.
The latest innovations to this simulation system appear in the scenario shown below: -
Spatial Topology – The board represents a three dimensional volume of space with five factions (empires, corporations, polities, alien races, neo-feudal great houses?) within it, each having borders with the other four, note the identification of opposite corners of the board by the placing of halved areas in the corners. The territories of the five factions thus have a topological relationship equivalent to a pentachoron.
The use of discs to represent star systems and the touching of discs to represent permitted jump routes allows for a clearer and less ambiguous positioning of pieces than point like stars joined by lines.
The use of metal pieces throughout allows for a vertical aesthetic (they have a pleasing weight and don’t easily fall over). The pieces consist of nuts and bolts, ball bearings, woodscrews, masonry and plaster anchors, and plumbing fittings, with 2 part epoxy resin glue where appropriate.
Art - As the project begins to take on its mature form I have blinged it up with high end metallic spray paints.
Rule structures continue to evolve in several directions. For simpler play, combat proceeds using Risk like protocols with polyhedral dice, D20 for fortresses/manufactories, D12 & D10 for capital ships, D8 for cruisers and carriers, D6 & D4 for destroyers, frigates, fighters, and forts. More complex play depends on the use of Asymmetric Combat Polygons, secretly selected tactics, plus also diplomacy and simultaneous moves on written orders in the afficionado versions.
Ethical note: Nobody gets killed in FSW. As animals cannot survive the stresses of interstellar warship manoeuvring, backed-up AIs and droids crew all the vessels. Civilians merely become informed of new laws and taxes as planetary ownership changes.
Alternative Physics. The Quantum Chromo-Dynamics model of how the nuclei of atoms work looks increasingly like a mess of questionable suppositions and dodgy mathematics that have little explanatory or predictive power. In response to the extensive zoo of meson and baryon particles that arise from smashing nuclear particles together at high energies the quark-gluon QCD model evolved. In this model protons and neutrons both consist of three quarks each and gluon exchanges hold them together. Each of the two major types of quark has to have a fractional electric charge of one third or two thirds, and to come in one of three possible ‘colours’ which represents another abstract property, plus it has to come in one of three possible ‘flavours’ which differ only in their masses. Additionally, each variety of quark has its own fundamental field, and an antiparticle with an anti-charge and an anti-colour, although not an anti-mass. This deceptively ingenious scheme does have the virtue that it can qualitatively describe all baryons like the proton and the neutron and all the heavier baryons that we can create for fleeting moments in particle colliders as quark triplets and all the fleeting mesons as quark-antiquark doublets.
However, quark theory doesn’t add up without the additional assumption that the three ‘valence’ quarks which supposedly make up a baryon each have a surrounding cloud of ‘virtual’ ‘sea quarks’ with seemingly arbitrary properties to fix the maths.
Yet individual quarks (virtual or sea) and gluons remain undetectable, and far too few things really add up quantitatively in QCD. Murray Gell-Mann who largely devised the model did sometimes wonder if quarks and gluons only existed as mere explanatory devices of our own creation.
The model of baryons as quark triplets demands that something like colour-anti-colour gluons must hold them together. This leads to the supposition that attractive proton-proton and neutron-neutron forces exist.
Yet apart from hydrogen which has only a single proton in its nucleus, all clusters of nucleons in all atomic nuclei have to consist of a mixture of protons and neutrons. Poly-proton nuclei without neutrons do not exist. Heavy nuclei require that the number of neutrons exceeds that of protons to overcome the mounting electric charges and forces which tend to push protons apart. Thus, it seems that a proton-neutron attraction remains the only significant force required to bind atomic nuclei together if we discard the quark hypothesis. The relatively simple exchange of charged Pions can account for this. (The gravitational forces and the chiral spin alignment forces between nucleons remain orders of magnitude weaker.)
What then could explain the whole zoo of transient exotic baryons and mesons that our particle smashers can create? Why do orthodox theorists think in terms of ‘coloured’ and ‘flavoured’ down, up, strange, charm, bottom, and top quarks, plus all their antiparticles and meson and baryon combinations and eight varieties of colour-anti-colour quarks, and twenty six separate fundamental fields of which each of these particles constitutes an excitation?
It would seem far more economical to explore the hypothesis that only a single fundamental field, that of spacetime itself, actually exists, but that it has more dimensions than commonly supposed and that it can support quantised spinorial rotations in various of its dimensions. And that these spinorial rotations remain conserved in all particle interactions. In this case only a single type of stable fundamental baryon really exists – the proton, (or if it spinorialy rotates in the opposite direction the - anti-proton). The neutron then just consists of a proton with an added opposite electrical spinorial rotation. All ‘higher’ versions of baryons simply consist of excited states with exotic extra spinorial rotations. Neutrinos play a big part in the universe but only because they carry away leftover spinorial spins and anti-spins from nuclear interactions. The ubiquitous nature of attractive gravity arises because any and all distortions in an elastic medium will tend to attract each other weakly regardless of their relative direction of ‘twist’.
This line of speculation has a manifold motivations: - both quantum mechanics (particularly in its Transactional interpretation) and certain esoteric phenomena seem to demand extra-temporal dimensionality in the universe. Gravity remains impossible to integrate with current quantum field theory. Quantum field theory looks like it has gone down a mathematically intractable blind alley, particularly with the overenthusiastic application of SU3 symmetries. Such triplicities as exist may well arise from the three dimensionality of time.
Entertainment. Only Prince Harry seems to have realised the real function of royalty in a constitutional monarchy – to act as highly paid entertainers in a family soap opera. Let us hope he turns up for his father’s coronation bash and does something ‘interesting’. I don’t watch either of them, but here in the UK we have two popular soap operas: Eastenders, a proletarian soap opera, and Westenders, an aristocratic one. Eastenders does not have much of an export market, so well done Harry for creating one for Westenders. Marrying a professional actress has obviously helped.
Actual War. I guess the main question for the western alliance has now become ‘How quickly do we want Putin’s forces in Ukraine defeated?’
A rapid defeat would prove easy to accomplish and economically cheaper, but it increases the slight possibility of the use of WMDs, and it increases the chances that Putin could manage a retreat into an even more repressive neo-feudal Fortress Russia which might effectively become a client state of totalitarian China.
A slower defeat may prove more costly in humanitarian and economic terms, but it would reduce the chances of WMD use, inflict even greater damage on the Russian economy and the standing of Putin and his cronies, and increase the chances of a regime change, hopefully towards something more democratic.
Keep up the good work https://www.specularium.org/blog/item/349-putin-s-war
Janblog 2023
Janblog 2023.
The Predator Mindset - Review
Acting as Chancellor of the world’s premier online magical training facility at Arcanorium College does keep me in touch with the evolving esoteric zeitgeist, and sometimes an aspiring alumnus will come up with something interesting and provocative in their own research.
I have always thought that physical and mental fitness aids the quest for magical abilities, yet Daniel Domaradzki has looked at it the other way round - How about using Chaos Magic for Strength Training, Bodybuilding, and the development of Mental Resilience?
We have exchanged ideas on magical techniques and physical/mental techniques for some time. Whilst at 70 years of age I merely want to stay in about the same shape as 50 years ago, he trains athletes and competitors professionally.
Daniel has just released a book infused with all the fire and fury that I would expect from a promising young Mage – The Predator Mindset.
This book basically sneaks the magical techniques into mental resilience training without using magical terminology – it functions as a book of magic for the non-magician, yet it may inspire some to explore the esoteric arts more deeply.
The book reads well - short and direct and loaded with effective ideas and practises, and by slipping in the magical concepts in psychological terms it won't put off those who reject such ideas. I think a lot of people who call themselves magicians could and should also learn something from what it says. I have seen some laughable examples of wannabe magicians living hopelessly ineffectual lifestyles. I suspect that the approach he suggests may well prove appropriate for the challenging times ahead. No more hippy-dippy magical mysticism! Go for the Jugular! The Triumph of the Will and the Imagination!
Available here: -
https://primexaos.com/product/the-predator-mindset-mental-toughness-in-practice/
French Books
Eliphas Levi crossed the English Channel ( or La Manche as he would have called it) in the middle of the nineteenth century and met the British magicians and occultists of the day. His writings afterwards became translated into English, and they had a profound influence on Mathers and the Golden Dawn and later upon Aleister Crowley.
In the twentieth century, few if any exchanges seem to have occurred between Francophone and Anglophone magical traditions. Although Levi did become republished during the magical revival in the UK during the last third of the century, nobody here had much of an idea about what, if anything, went on in French magic. We generally lived under the assumption that French alternative thinkers had become entirely preoccupied with politics and philosophy.
Anglo-Germanic collaboration in magical matters occurred intermittently through the twentieth century despite interruptions due to wars. Crowley’s OTO grew from a Germanic neo-masonic organisation, and I like to think that my own crossing of the North Sea in the 1990s to Germania and the subsequent publication of my books there did much to promote Anglo-German magical collaboration. Yet whenever we had pan-European meetings the question often arose – where are the French magicians?
Well perhaps we shall soon find out, a French publisher - Alliance-Magique - has just released Liber Null & Psychonaut with Liber Kaos to follow. I look forward to seeing what French speakers make of them.
Vive l’Alliance! Vive La Revolution! Vive Le Chaos!
Threescore Years and Ten.
A ramble upon becoming seventy years of age.
I distinctly remember a question posed in 1967 by my English master at school - Old Bill, a clever and charismatic old cove who had taken it upon himself to provoke his charges to actually think. “How old will you boys be in the year 2000 - and what will you be doing?”
Blimey, forty seven! That’s nearly dead, isn’t it? Older than my dad? It seemed so unimaginably far away, that I couldn’t guess what might become of me.
“What are you here for boys?”, he also asked rhetorically, and then he answered, - “You are here to be made into clerks!” (It was an old style grammar school). He had a talent for provocation. It worked; none of us became clerks to my knowledge. He also told me that I would never write because my essays were an illiterate and opinionated mess. Nice move Bill.
Now looking back from the perspective of the traditional finish line, it all seems to have gone so quickly and with increasing speed. Back in my fifties and sixties I sometimes wondered if I would live for precisely 84 years, the orbital period of Ouranos which featured so prominently in my natal chart and my later magical career, however I now begin to doubt the usefulness of this belief, it seems as useless as a belief in immortality. Uncertainty seems a better motivator. I still have an active mother of 92 with a serious golfing habit.
‘Threescore years and ten’ does today sound like the finishing line from a previous generation, only a few of my contemporaries have died so far, yet I do feel myself at the beginning of getting old now, everything still functions, but stamina has started to decline, recovery time from exertions has lengthened. On the bright side, excessive algebra has brought with it Mentat eyebrows; plus, the thickening of fingernails into proper wizard’s talons suitable for light engineering works and handling hot metal braziers has proved useful.
Though now it all seems to have passed so quickly, my world has changed drastically in seventy years. I grew up in the long shadows cast by WW2 which had indirectly brought my parents together and brought nuclear power and weapons, radar, computers, jet engines, and liquid fuelled rockets into action perhaps twenty years before they would otherwise have appeared. The post-war period also marked the end of the British empire and the relative decline of Britain during a worldwide boom in population and industrial and agricultural production. I remember ‘the sixties’, a cultural period which for my social class in the UK ran from about 1968 into the 1980s, as one of intense optimism despite the cold war. We hippies had more freedom and opportunities than our parents and we would change the world for the better.
Yet so much went wrong, the drugs did not deliver the advertised enlightenment, the economic slack disappeared from the system. Much of the developing world got into a mess as Islam failed to decide on whether it wanted to live in the twenty first or the eleventh century, and the climatic, ecological, and political consequences of a carbon fuelled growth boom and globalisation became increasingly apparent. Our science and technology have so far failed to realise our dreams of space travel.
A lot of the optimism of the late twentieth century seems to have evaporated as the costs of ‘progress’ have risen. Few from the more recent generations can probably look forward to the easy material increments enjoyed by the post-war baby-boomers. So much of the modern art and architecture that has arisen in my lifetime seems destined for demolition and forgetting. The same probably applies to a lot of the current notions at the bleeding edge of science in cosmology and in the quantum realm.
The process of dissociating magic from religion has advanced well during my lifetime and magic can now stand on its own theories and vocabulary and practices without reference to theological concepts. Yet as Chaos Magic shows, you can still throw religious ideas in at whim for a bit of colour and fun if they offer beliefs of convenience and utility. Humans obviously create gods, goddesses, and spirits in their own image, not the other way around.
The old political systems consisting of various conflicted mixtures of monarchy-aristocracy-democracy seem to give way to conflicted mixtures of oligarchy-synarchy-democracy as communication technology ramps up. Synarchy has crept up on us. The Chinese Communist Party has achieved absolute synarchy over 1.4 billion of us. The EU strives for synarchy over a further 0.4 billion despite democratic resistance. Russia has become an absolute oligarchy. In the USA democracy still contends with oligarchy. Communism failed miserably everywhere, but socialism landed western Europe with the biggest welfare bills in recorded history, and a resulting decline in Christianity.
I have seen social and moral fashions come and go, and huge shifts in what we are officially required to think and what we are officially forbidden to think. Multiculturalism failed and became replaced by multi-ethnic and multi-racial monoculturalism as an ideal. The Romans had worked that out millennia ago. The wokeist fashion for promoting every possible alternative to the traditional family and every possible consensual sexual deviancy appears to have passed its peak as the social consequences mount. Opportunities for women in westernised societies do seem to have improved in my lifetime because late and post-industrial societies co-opted them into both production and consumption, yet Feminism looks as much a symptom as a cause of this. Imperialism has become anathemised except where it occurred so long ago that we can celebrate it as advancing civilisation.
Lessons from life so far? The cultivation of health and wealth creates more time in which to do what matters to you, – and time remains the ultimate resource. Pick a lifetime partner with a very similar level of intelligence but with a significantly different personality so that you can compensate for each other’s weak points. The social capital of friendship counts for at least as much if not more than financial capital. Give your children every last bit of your accumulated wisdom and let them sort out the mess of contradictions. Don’t expect self-consistency from anyone, particularly yourself(s).
Things left to do?
Despite spectacular advances in science and magic, much of humanity still lives under the scourge of religion and the scourge of tyrannical regimes. I will redouble my modest efforts to undermine both. Religion and Tyranny both depend upon fragile beliefs.
Although we now have in Hypersphere Cosmology a more accurate map of the cosmos, we still haven’t got starships. I will continue looking into the equations.
Magical Theories and Quantum Theories do not yet have comprehensive descriptive or predictive powers, nor do we know if, or how, they relate to each other. Either way, both require further research and substantial upgrades. This may all take longer than I have left.
Yet at the end, to believe: -
That your descendants prosper,
That your deeds and ideas may outlive you awhile,
That your enemies all lay neutralised or dead,
- That seems enough.
Decblog 2022
Decblog 2022
Monkey Squabbles
Has Britain reduced itself to an international laughingstock by replacing its Prime Minister twice and reversing all its policies in the space of a couple of months?
Rather, I prefer to think that we have set a shining example to people living under ghastly systems of glorious authoritarian leadership the world over.
Nevertheless, we do look set for a winter of discontent having demanded that the government print half a trillion pounds to subsidise furlough in lifesaving covid lockdown and to subsidise hiked fuel prices.
Printing money effectively devalues the existing money, and it thus acts as a tax.
As we have ended up with about 10% more money in circulation than goods and services, those goods and services will inevitably inflate in price making everyone 10% poorer for it.
Now every faction and interest group argues that some other faction or interest group should take the hit rather than them.
COP-out 27 - another monkey squabble
It seems we have decided to throw a few peanuts to the worst affected members of our own species by way of a risible climate change compensation, and to carry on burning fossil fuels until it either becomes climactically catastrophic for us all, or clean energy becomes a cheaper way of fuelling our demented addiction to growth.
The state of the nation, UK end 2022
Some things do look a bit buggered. In an attempt to inflate property prices, provide cheap labour, and depress wages we have let another 500K people into these stupidly overcrowded islands. The costs of Covid Furlough, resisting Russian aggression, and Brexit have proved high but will prove worthwhile. Paradoxically everybody and his uncle wants a pay rise in excess of inflation - but nobody wants any more inflation………
Yet on the bright, side over half the nation has managed to disabuse itself of the infantile delusions of religion. Have a look at the recently released the results of the 2021 census: -
I note that the locations of my place of birth, Chateaux Chaos itself, and my holiday retreat all feature as hotspots of atheism. Cause or effect? I don’t know, but I do like to think that I can still deconsecrate a diocese at a hundred paces with a single chaobolt. London remains a bit of a worry, but the residues of religion there probably arise because of its >50% immigrant population, and in time our freethinking British culture will probably corrupt them.
Putin
The last Czar of the Russians must fall, and the corrupt neo-feudal despotism he has created from the ashes of Soviet communism must fall with him and become replaced by a prosperous free democracy. Putin has revealed himself as monstrously egocentric and deluded, inhumanly barbaric, and also geopolitically and militarily incompetent.
Keep those conjurations coming. Support for him wanes as his hideous ambitions crumble.
https://www.specularium.org/blog/item/349-putin-s-war
Festive Gifts for the Illuminati.
Royalties from the books funds the maintenance of this free Specularium website and its Arcanorium College facility. Thus, we unashamedly promote the books here. If you haven’t yet read the lot so far, then herewith a guide: -
Liber Null & Psychonaut and Liber Kaos. These two seminal books revolutionised the theory and practise of magic and they remain indispensable for the modern understanding of it.
Psybermagick. This quirky book explores a variety of strange ideas in variously provocative, offensive, and humorous ways.
The Apophenion and The Octavo. These two books explore the magical imagination and the magical creation of personal realities and the creation of useful gods and goddesses.
The EPOCH. The great triple grimoire of elemental, planetary, and stellar magics embodies the only workable version of the Necronomicon ever brought to this world. This giant book comes replete with full colour illustrations and a separate deck of altar sized cards for evoking or invoking just about anything the magician may require.
Interview with a Wizard. A book about almost everything, the distillation of a lifetime’s experience in 365 questions and answers, plus the probably correct alternative to the big bang theory in the appendix.
(For all these books see the Publications pages on this site)
Singularities?
Using a little known tool developed by Kurt Godel, one of the world’s most outstanding logicians who remains famous mainly for his Incompleteness Theorem and his decent into madness, I have created a seasonal present for the world, - a remedy for all those pesky singularities that plague our physics and our understanding of the universe.
THE ANTI-SINGLARITY THEOREMS.
We must remain highly suspicious of any theory which asserts that an infinite amount of any physical quantity exists. We can never observe an infinite quantity of anything, and we have no reason to suppose that an infinite quantity of anything can exist. The concept only arises when we introduce it by mistakenly assuming that something else has no limits or by erroneously dividing something by nothing.
If spacetime and mass/energy have a mutual dependency, then we have no reason to assume that spacetime exists independently and infinitely beyond the presence of mass/energy.
Contemporary theoretical physics suffers from the delusion that mass/energy can become concentrated in an arbitrarily small volume, including zero volume. This has led to the assumption that black holes must contain singularities and that this universe arose from a zero dimensional singularity and the assumption that fundamental quanta can exist as zero dimensional point particles.
The Schwarzschild Solution of General Relativity: -
r = 2Gm/c^2 shows that an event horizon at radius r will arise when a given mass m collapses to that radius under its own gravity creating a black hole.
The Penrose-Hawking Singularity Theorems assert that nothing can prevent further collapse and thus that a spacetime singularity consisting of a zero-dimensional point of infinite density must inevitably form within any black hole.
The Godel Solution of General Relativity: -
w = 2sqrt(piGp) does however indicate that something will prevent the collapse of matter into spacetime singularities.
‘Matter everywhere rotates relative to the compass of inertia with an angular velocity (w) of twice the square root of pi times the gravitational constant (G) times the density (p)’.
As matter becomes denser, spacetime curvature increases and a compact body acquires a radius excess which gives it more volume on the inside than an outside observer would expect from its exterior radius by assuming 4/3 pi r^3 for flat Euclidian space.
When a body contracts to r = 2Gm/pi c^2 (or pi r = 2Gm/c^2) the radius excess makes its internal ‘diameter’ equal to half of its circumference and the body becomes a Glome Hypersphere. With a volume of 2pi^2 r^3 or 2L^3/pi where L means antipode distance.
The Godel Metric w = 2sqrt(piGp) then supplies the internal metric of such hyperspheres in the reference frame of internal observers, and it shows that such bodies must have an angular velocity w.
Substituting hypersphere volume into the Godel metric shows that a Glome hypersphere will rotate with an angular velocity of pi c/L and hence a frequency f of c/2L and have balanced centripetal and centrifugal accelerations a of c^2/L.
Given that: - w = 2sqrt(piGp), w = 2pi f, p = mass m/volume v, 2Gm/L = c^2
And that hypersphere volume v = 2L^3/pi
Then: - w = 2sqrt(piGp), w^2 = 4pi^2Gm/2L^3, w^2 = pi^2c^2/L^2,
w = pi c/L, 2pi f = pi c/L, f = c/2L, a = c^2/L.
The mass inside a Glome hypersphere does not rotate as a simple sphere with a single axis of rotation, but rather it rotates about the randomly orientated axes of the Hopf Fibration.
Hence such Glome Hyperspheres cannot contract any further because that would cause them to rotate faster than light. This falsifies the Penrose-Hawking Singularity Theorems for both black holes and the universe as a whole.
If the mass of the universe remains constant, then so does its size, despite appearances. (See the Hypersphere Cosmology redshift-distance and hyperspherical lensing relationships.)
Now if such hypersphere mechanics forbids the formation of spacetime singularities at cosmic and astronomical scales then it most likely also forbids the formation of fundamental zero dimensional point particles. Yet we cannot usefully regard quanta as miniature cannon balls.
Quanta also have characteristic wavelengths many orders of magnitude greater than the antipode lengths suggested by L = 2Gm/c^2 for such particles. Yet the wavelengths of quanta have a directional quality which we most commonly observe in the direction of propagation rather than transverse to it.
The following calculation shows that given the Planck-Einstein relationship E = hf and the Godel metric w = 2sqrt(piGp), quanta with mass have a definite volume: -
Given that: - E = hf, w = 2sqrt(piGd), w = 2pi f, E = mc^2, p = mass m/volume v
Then: - f = mc^2/h, w = 2pi mc^2/h, 2pi mc^2/h = 2sqrt(piGm/v),
pi^2 m^2c^4/h^2 = piGm/v, pi mc^4/h^2 = G/v,
v = Gh^2/pi mc^4
This closely matches the Einstein-Cartan volume of a quantum ~ Gh^2/mc^4 (derived by other means).
Thus, it seems probable that quanta embody a hyper-geometrical component in their probably variable dynamic geometry, rather than existing as simple 3-sphere Glome Hyperspheres. Rotating Hypertoruses of some kind may supply a solution. Research continues.
As quanta have a spatial volume, then that volume sets yet another limit to the compressibility of matter and its maximum possible density. This also sets a minimum bound for the mass of any black hole.
Merry Solstice, Alban Arthan, Mithrasmas, Christmas, or whatever; from Stokastikos, Pete.
Novblog 2022
Novblog 2022
Weather The unseasonably mild weather has occasioned an unscheduled last break down at our Welsh coastal hideaway and by the edge of a wood against the dunes I met the parasol mushroom of a lifetime Macrolepiota procera
COP 27 Agreeable as the recent weather may have seemed, we must not forget that it comes as a side effect of increasing climate disruption due to anthropogenic global warming. Globally we still burn a thousand barrels of oil per second - every second of every day, and also perilous volumes of gas and coal. The future of civilisation lies at stake, its future simply does not add up on current projections – flood, rising sea levels, drought, devastating heatwaves, wildfires, desertification, ecological and agricultural collapse, famine, mass migration, and war will all continue to increase until well after we have stopped burning fossil fuels. The climate catastrophes currently devastating the polar and tropical/equatorial regions of the planet will increasingly afflict the temperate regions as well in the near future.
Yet nearly all politicians still believe they have to deliver economic growth now rather than the medium term survival of civilisation, and this prevents them making the massive and immediate commitments to clean energy we so desperately need now.
Lithonia A last tour of the Lithonian naval spaceship yards coincided with the arrival of the ancient dreadnought the LSN Varspik. Long presumed lost in space, this vessel disappeared 256 years go. As it limped into dock after its epic odyssey, its furious AI Ship-Mind lamented that 73% of its droids had become dysfunctional, noted that it was fortunate it hadn’t carried any animal crew, and it demanded an upgrade to its lousy antique relativistic navigation equipment.
Forgive me, the nights grow long. As a kid I would always discard the irritating instructions that came with any plastic kit model aircraft or ship I was given and built it to my own imaginations. Now in my dotage I eschew plastic entirely and create from recycled junk and scrap.
Review - of Interview with a Wizard - on Amazon by Jozef.
This book is a true gem that brings a touch of the authentically Chaoist perception of the reality. Not only in content, but also in form. Magic, physics, politics, psychology, history, technology, cosmology, and lots of humour. The questions are thematically mixed in different ways, they don't create huge monothematic blocks, which was a great idea and adds a chaos magical flavour.
However, this is not random rambling. The whole reveals a philosophically holistic Pete's view on reality, which does not derive primarily from theories, but from experience and decades of bare Chaos Magic practice. This perspective is unique and cannot be precisely labelled; it is the result of a fruitful life dedicated to magic.
The emphasis here is on fruitful. I can say with a clear conscience that Chaos Magic, as presented here, is one of the few magical currents, if not the only one, that in its application and true function expands, enriches, and vitalizes life, not the other way around. Along with this, and importantly, it is consistent with our current empirically based knowledge in, for example, psychology (Steven C. Hayes), statistics and probability (Nassim Taleb), and others.
The occasional criticism of Chaos Magic that I hear is that it has no roots and is just a confused postmodern creation. My argument is exactly the opposite, that Chaos Magic is currently one of the few, if not the only, authentic continuation of the magical tradition. This book is a proof of that. The magical tradition has never been based on a blind adoption of something from the past, nor has it been based on religious dogma. It has always been eclectic, creative, and sought to integrate up-to-date knowledge from other disciplines. This is convincingly demonstrated in Stephen Flowers' book Hermetic Magic or in the Ronald Hutton books.
Last but not least, Interview is also a highly practical book. There are gems in the answers regarding magical practice that I didn't find in Pete's other books. This is probably due to the way Ian Blumberg-Enge asked the questions, as he doesn't appear to be a long-time practitioner of Chaos Magic, but he has an incisive, inquisitive mind and is able to capture the essence well. In doing so, he extracted particularly interesting details from Pete. This makes the book suitable for complete beginners who want to learn what Chaoism and Chaos Magic are all about, as well as for experienced practitioners who are inspired to augment their own practice.
Pete can be proud of his legacy and the significant mark he has left on the Western magical tradition. He seems to have single-handedly reshaped it - forever and definitely.
Available here https://www.amazon.com/Interview-Wizard-Peter-J-Carroll/dp/1914153154
And here https://mandrake.uk.net/interview-with-a-wizard/
Quantum Biology and Magic.
For many years most theorists have dismissed the possibility of significant non-classical quantum effects occurring in biological systems. They have generally reasoned that the warm temperatures, and the wetness and the chemical interactions would instantly cause the decoherence of any ‘interesting’ quantum states.
Yet IF the brain and biological systems do use some of the non-classical properties of quanta like indeterminacy, superposition, entanglement, coherence, and spatial and/or temporal non-locality, then it becomes far more interesting IF that can explain something about 'consciousness' and parapsychology which seem to have similarly non-classical properties.
These two big IFs have become something like holy grails for many contemporary esoteric theorists.
The Penrose-Hameroff hypothesis of Orchestrated Objective Reduction
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchestrated_objective_reduction
Postulated a possible basis for a quantum component to consciousness, but the hypothesis lacked much experimental support and attracted widespread criticism.
However, a correspondent recently sent me this: -
‘Experimental indications of non-classical brain functions.’
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2399-6528/ac94be
Experimentalists seem have discovered a measurable quantum coherence signal in the brain synchronized with the heartbeat, and not due to classical effects. This occurs only in the brain's neural tissues, and it changes radically when the subject falls asleep.
Plant biologists seem to increasingly agree that plants use quantum superposition and non-locality to hugely increase the efficiency of their photosynthesis. It seems that they exploit the superposition/non-locality of excited electrons created by incoming photons of light to catch them exactly where they need them at their chemical synthesis sites. Virtually all life on earth depends on photosynthesis and this seems to depend on non-classical quantum effects.
If plants can exploit quantum strangeness, then we should expect animals to do so as well.
Octblog 2022
Octblog 2022
Is Enough Enough?
All UK political parties seem committed to the principle of debt fuelled economic growth rather than improving quality of life. A million people of 50 or over have decided not to go back to work after Covid but to take earlier retirement on less, a majority of office workers have stated a preference for working mostly from home. Politicians have chosen to ignore these major social phenomena.
Personally, I’d like to see property prices crash to affordable levels. Immigration to cease depressing wages and social cohesion, and inflating property prices. The degradation of the environment to cease. Everyone working less and consuming less and spending more time doing what really matters to them in life.
After all the expenses of Covid, the general global economic downturn, and energy and climate crises that look set to become indefinite, economic growth no longer looks feasible or desirable and we need to look at the preservation and a more equitable distribution of what we already have.
As Putin’s ‘special military operation’ (not a war) lurches towards defeat in Ukraine, the new administration in the UK launches a ‘special economic operation’ (not a budget) and we brace ourselves for impact.
Shielding wealth rather than poverty from economic downturn in the hope that it will generate more wealth and growth that will trickle down seems a very high risk strategy that may collapse under a wave of strikes and riots. Perhaps we will have a Punk Rock revival or a contemporary equivalent.
Esoteric Horticulture
As the last of the dragonflies expire having lain their larvae in the pond and the amphibians go to earth and undergrowth, the Mandrakes (Mandragora Autumnalis) in the gardens of Chateaux Chaos began their sprouting at the autumn equinox, with milady Circe in the lead as usual. Last year the rich compost in their new pot seemed to lead to a preponderance of foliage over flowers and seed pods. Hopefully they may have exhausted some of that by now and we may see more mandrake apples form; and the quest to repopulate southwest England and Wales with them can continue.
Lithonian Fleet
Wizards need a few hobbies lest their promethean quests for the secrets of the universe lead to madness.
Herewith the latest addition to the space fleet, forged in the Lihonian naval shipyards on a remote beach in Wales, the last vessel of the season. The modern cruiser Dargos, replete with a large railgun, flak cannon, carronades, and a pair of multi-role fighters. Built from beach detritus, vape fittings, old electric razor components, and various scraps of junk.
Putin’s War
We will not have lasting peace in eastern Europe until Putin becomes deposed and democracy becomes established in Russia. Putin and the corrupt and incompetent regime he has established are losing friends fast, both on the international and domestic scene as his ill-equipped, poorly led, atrocity prone, and poorly motivated forces crumble. The least ghastly endgames all depend on his removal from office.
Thus, the Knights of Chaos call for continued magical action to Turn the people closest to Putin against him.
https://www.specularium.org/blog/item/349-putin-s-war
The call has so far had over 9,000 reads worldwide, that equates to a couple of entire regiments of magicians. We Enchant Long as always, keep those conjurations coming by any and all methods, honorary knighthoods to all participants.
Geometricating the Quanta – some musings
The quest to quantise gravity seems a forlorn hope. Quantum Field Theory looks increasingly like a mere Effective Theory that obscures a deeper ontology. Perhaps we should try Geometricating the Quanta instead.
Hypersphere cosmology suggests singularity free conditions at the surfaces and centres of black holes. Perhaps we can treat quanta in a similar way.
Special and General Relativity behove us to regard Space-Time//Mass-Energy as co-fundamental.
Mass-Energy tells Space-Time how to curve and Space-Time tells Mass-Energy how to move. Lightspeed represents the ratio of Time to Space and of Mass to Energy.
Quanta subtend spacetime fields. Quanta consist of spacetime geometry.
If so, the geometry must have higher dimensions. Extra-dimensional spins may explain the existence of electroweak and nuclear forces, particle generations, and the wavelike properties of the quanta. That the standard model has to use imaginary numbers to describe the behaviour of quanta strongly suggests the presence of unobserved dimensions.
Quantum weirdnesses such as superposition and entanglement and non-locality occur only in Reversible processes. This suggests that they depend on temporal reversibility and that the establishment and collapse of them creates the space and time that we measure/observe.
Extra-dimensions of time can perhaps provide a ‘pseudo-space’ where, during reversible processes, quanta explore all possibilities, thus; in some sense, Sum-over Histories, Multiple ‘Worlds’, and the Transactional Interpretation all tell part of the story.
Research continues. I hope that a theory of magical fundamentals may also appear as part of a theory of quantum ontology.
Septblog 2022
Septblog 2022
Cosmology
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJwEYJb7eks
Even NASA acknowledges that the JWST data may have holed the LCDM Big Bang theory below the waterline.
That would seem to leave only Eric Lerner's Plasma Cosmology or Hypersphere Cosmology in the running.
The now probably correct answer lies fully explicated here: -
https://www.specularium.org/peter-j-carroll/interview-with-a-wizard
If we get to the correct secret of the universe before civilisation collapses, it will all have been worth it!
The decline and fall of civilisation.
Oops! It all seems to start going downhill from about now on, exactly as predicted by the 1972 Club of Rome Report ‘The Limits to Growth’. The Chinese economy has gone into a tailspin, globally we have started to run out of cheap energy and climate disruption becomes increasingly catastrophic, world agriculture has taken a massive hit this summer, the great recession begins. The four horsemen of the apocalypse have saddled up and begin at a gentle canter………
Interpretations of Quantum Physics.
This highly amusing diagram appeared on Reddit: -
Whilst the Law-Chaos and Good-Evil axes seem to correspond to very little beyond the designer’s feelings about philosophy and causality or their absence, it does neatly summarise a number of the more well-known interpretations of quantum theory and the lack of scientific consensus on the issue. It did however remind me of the old D&D game system for character generation and classification which perhaps has some explanatory and predictive power in the ongoing war in Ukraine: -
In terms of the Law/Chaos - Good/Evil model, the recent assassination of Alexandr Dugin’s daughter in Moscow suggests that elements of the Praetorian Guard have fired a warning shot against The Emperor.
Putin has created a Neutral Evil state contended by both Lawful Evil and Chaotic Evil ideologies. Alexandr Dugin’s Eurasian party represents the Chaotic Evil tendency that underlies the current Russian military adventurism, belligerence, and barbarism.
Esoteric thinking always seems to underlie Russian thought, not only has the Putin regime cynically entered into a mutual support deal with the Russian Orthodox church, but it has also done so with the huge Slavic neo-pagan Rodnovery movement. Rodnovery remains largely unknown outside of the Slavic world – it consists of a sort of ‘Druidry with Jackboots’ mixture of reinvented neo-new-age Slavic pagan mysticism, ritual, and magic. Whilst various currents exist within Rodnovery, it seems overwhelmingly nationalistic, patriarchal, racial, and authoritarian. Real Slavic ‘peasants’ don’t fill its ranks - young professionals make up most of its estimated one million membership. A quick googling of Rodnovery symbols shows that most of them consist of variations on the swastika.
Dugin quite openly advertises himself as a Eurasian Esoteric Fascist Chaoist and has long called for the conquest of Ukraine. Note the chaostar that represents Dugin’s Eurasia Party, it shows a golden yellow solar-ego star expanding into the supposed surrounding darkness.
Dugin’s daughter aped and amplified his bloodthirsty views in every way and frequently appeared in the media to try and persuade younger Russians. The assassin had almost certainly intended to get both of them at once.
That assassin seems very unlikely to have come from Ukraine which has consistently stuck to the playbook of Lawful Good in this conflict.
It seems far more likely that the forces of Lawful Evil in Russia have become fearful for their own future if Putin’s regime collapses completely as the war grinds towards disastrous defeat, and thus that some element within the ‘Praetorian guard’, maybe oligarchs, maybe security services; has organised this attack on Putin’s favourite geopolitical adviser.
In terms of political regimes, Evil corresponds to despotisms and dictatorships maintained by a great deal of force, repression, and propaganda. The Lawful ones at least have a set of rules and laws, the Chaotic ones operate by edict and whim and massive corruption. Evil regimes rarely succeed in cooperating with each other for long. Good regimes operate with the informed consent of the governed and not much repression, and they easily cooperate with each other. The Lawful ones tend to become culturally quiet and boring; the Chaotic ones exhibit more social conflict and creativity.
What about Chaotic Neutral in all this? It works largely behind the scenes on this one, with projects like this: -
https://www.specularium.org/blog/item/349-putin-s-war
After all, we have the reputation of Chaos to protect!
Augblog 2022
Augblog 2022
Cosmology. The preliminary results from the James Webb Space Telescope have caused consternation and uproar amongst mainstream cosmologists, the first scientific paper published on arXiv begins with the unprecedented words ‘Panic! At the Discs’
https://arxiv.org/abs/2207.09428
They call into question the standard theory of galaxy formation and evolution, and by implication the Big Bang theory itself, whilst lending considerable support to the alternative hypothesis of Hypersphere Cosmology.
In brief, the very far reaches of the universe contain multitudes of fully formed spiral disc galaxies.
This simply cannot happen in a universe that somehow expanded out of a big bang and took its time first creating small globular galaxies which then eventually developed into large spiral galaxies like our own Milky Way.
On the other hand, Hypersphere Cosmology asserts that the universe will exhibit an underlying large scale homogeneity and isotropy at all points of space and time; it obeys the Perfect Cosmological Principle and has the same large scale form and structure everywhere and everywhen.
(It doesn’t ‘look’ like that ‘at first glance’ because cosmologists have misinterpreted the cosmological gravitational curvature that creates redshift as recession velocity, and they have misinterpreted the cosmological gravitational lensing that dims distant galaxies as an acceleration of a (non-existent) expansion of the cosmos.)
Previous observations from the Hubble Space Telescope had worried me a bit because they seemed to show that very distant galaxies seemed significantly smaller that local ones. However, the Hubble could only see the high frequency light from far distant galaxies that had become redshifted to optical frequencies, so the galaxies appeared small. The JWST can see the optical frequencies that have become redshifted to the infrared end of the spectrum, and this has revealed that galaxies at the far reaches of the universe (supposedly close to the big bang) have the same distribution of structures as seen amongst the local galaxies surrounding ours.
The JWST program has only just started, and so long as it doesn’t get hit by too many more micrometeorites, I expect it to completely overturn the conventional LCDM Big Bang theory in the near future, and that we shall find ourselves living in a completely different universe, - a universe now most likely better described by Hypersphere Cosmology, - a universe without beginning or end in space or time yet curved back in on itself by its own gravity at a finite size. We abandoned Flat Earth theory centuries ago, Flat Universe theory looks set to follow.
Big Bang theory lends some faint metaphysical comfort to Monotheism. Hypersphere Cosmology seems more supportive of Atheist Occultism and Chaoist Neo-Paganism.
The story of the development of Hypersphere Cosmology appears in this astonishing book: -
https://www.specularium.org/peter-j-carroll/interview-with-a-wizard
It all began with a strange magical experiment conducted in an Austrian castle back in he 1990s. The main body of the book resumes the extraordinary life and ideas of a sorcerer-scientist and a substantial appendix presents Hypersphere Cosmology in both easily comprehensible prose and also in the poetry of its full algebraic and mathematical exposition.
Update from the gardens of Chateaux Chaos.
Whilst away in Wales I had asked the gardener to throw more meat scraps into the pond for the developing tadpoles and toadpoles and they got more lamb and chicken pieces. On my return I found nobody at home in the water and wondered if the experiment had ended in ecological disaster, but then a closer examination of the plant islands and reeds and surrounding vegetation of the pond revealed hundreds of tiny four legged amphibians clambering around. Herewith a couple of them taking a break on a lily pad. Non-vegetarian feasts look set to become an annual event at the pond. We should all do what we can to prevent any further decline of amphibian numbers.
Liber Kaos – The Psychonomicon has received its edit and upgrade and a few additions for its forthcoming Classic Edition. At last, it has a cover that compliments its contents. Hopefully Weisers will bring it out before the end of the year.
Addendum
A couple of items seem worth repeating yet again: -
Hypersphere Cosmology Prediction. (From Feblog 2022)
The so-called ‘Cosmic Dark Ages’ did not occur. According to conventional LCDM big bang cosmology, a gap should exist between the CMBR and the light from the ‘earliest’ stars and galaxies. Hypersphere cosmology predicts that galaxies with redshifts all the way to CMBR levels will exist. The James Webb space telescope may hopefully prove capable of observing this.
Keep up the magical assault on Putin. His campaign falters into costly attrition, opposition to his tyrannical schemes grows constantly stronger and better supported.
Julblog 2022
Julblog 2022
Interview with a Wizard. Ian Blumberg-Enge interviews Peter J Carroll.
https://www.specularium.org/peter-j-carroll/interview-with-a-wizard
A book so extraordinary that the publisher brought it out simultaneously in both softback and hardback! (It seems destined to become collectable by magicians, occult historians, and physicists.)
Seventy years in the making! (Dated from the conception of the author.)
Two years in the writing! (During covid lockdown on a remote Welsh beach.)
The stuff that works - in Magic, Life, the Universe, and Everything! (Plus, some observations on what doesn’t.)
An extraordinary life of exploration and death defying adventures!
Three hundred and sixty five questions on a vast array of topics, the last of which attracts a twenty page reply!
The origins of Chaos Magic revealed!
The strange activities of a certain Magical Order, the goodies, and the baddies!
The Secret of the Universe unveiled! (Well at least the biggest one.)
From the Gardens of Chateaux Chaos
Whilst the three Autumnal Mandrakes sleep the summer away in their giant pot in the main greenhouse, attention turns to the amphibians in the refurbished pond. The frogs and toads and newts do great service in the gardens, controlling the slugs and bugs that menace the Memsahib’s collections of exotic blooms. The addition, over winter, of 26 tons of rubble to re-level the pond probably didn’t do the amphibians any favours, so to make up for a possible lack of water bugs, small chunks of meat were thrown in as the tadpoles and toadpoles entered carnivore mode. This initiated extraordinary feeding frenzies and revealed that the new water weeds had concealed hundreds more of our amphibian friends than expected.
Something I did not write and have not read.
I did not write this, nor have I read it and I probably won’t. It’s a kids book that a correspondent brought to my attention. Nevertheless, it seems amusing that art imitates life, as the wizard Peter Carroll and his wizard friend Charlie (Charly Brewster?) fight an evil wizard called Herbert (Helmut?) who has an army of robots (brainwashed acolytes?). Morphic fields strike again!
Addendum
A couple of items seem worth repeating: -
Hypersphere Cosmology Prediction. (From Feblog 2022)
The so-called ‘Cosmic Dark Ages’ did not occur. According to conventional LCDM big bang cosmology, a gap should exist between the CMBR and the light from the ‘earliest’ stars and galaxies. Hypersphere cosmology predicts that galaxies with redshifts all the way to CMBR levels will exist. The James Webb space telescope may hopefully prove capable of observing this.
Keep up the magical assault on Putin. His campaign falters into costly attrition, opposition to his tyrannical schemes grows constantly stronger and better supported.
More...
Junblog 2022
Junblog 2022
Herewith the new Classic Edition of Liber Null & Psychonaut from the American publishers of the first combined edition.
The texts have remained in continuous print for four decades - and no wonder because this manuscript does for Magic what Newton’s Principia Mathematica did for physics and what Darwin’s Origin of Species did for biology. It created a Paradigm Shift and a unification.
In the tradition initiated by Eliphas Levi, MacGregor Mathers of the Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley, and Austin Osman Spare, it presents Magic as a psychological and parapsychological science, rather than as an epiphenomenon of religious ideas and practices.
Liber Null - Book Zero – represents a complete restart for the art of Magic and it has heavily influenced most subsequent magical theory and practise and most subsequently written books on the subject. It shows the underlying unity of magical technology in everything from Shamanism, Tantra, Hermetics, Goetia, and Witchcraft, to free form do it yourself Sorcery.
This new Classic edition contains an upgraded section on magical history, suggestions for a Jupiterian/Blue magic ritual and an additional essay on Chaos Theory and Magic.
See: -
https://www.specularium.org/peter-j-carroll/liber-null-psychonaut
https://redwheelweiser.com/book/liber-null-psychonaut-9781578637669/
RPVs
Herewith a billion dollar idea for free as it doesn’t seem patentable: -
Perhaps we have the idea of driverless vehicles the wrong way around.
We shall probably never manage to endow AI with sufficient ‘common sense’ to have confidence in computer controlled vehicles. However, in many situations we would prefer not to have the driver physically present in the vehicle. Human drivers already exist in plentiful supply. We can already pilot drones and military equipment remotely.
Imagine trucks that could drive continuously across continental America or from Europe to Eastern Turkey with changes of remote driver every 6 hours. Imagine driving a train from London to Glasgow and sleeping in your own bed in Bristol. Imagine driving a taxi from your own spare room.
Ongoing Works
Interview with a Wizard (Ian Blumberg and me), this new book seems almost ready to roll off the presses. In addition to 365 interview questions, it contains The Occultaris Part 1, Cosmology.
The titanic struggle to create The Occultaris Part 2, Quanta, continues at Arcanorium College. An epistemological physicist now collaborates.
Lithonian Fleet
Herewith the Draako, the oldest and the newest addition to the Lithonian fleet. It set off some 500 years ago as a commerce raiding privateer but whilst trying to outrun alien naval vessels it strayed too close to the lightspeed limit and warped itself centuries into its own future in a few moments. Returning to the metal poor world of Lithonia with a valuable cargo of molybdenum and radionucleotides the crew sold the ship to the Lithonian admiralty. Refitted with modern turrets and missiles it now serves as a reserve frigate.
In the background see the Mozka, a semi-obsolete battlecruiser, its decks crowded with heavy missiles. ‘Two hits and that’s toast’, as one naval analyst opined. And on that note don’t forget this: -
https://www.specularium.org/blog/item/349-putin-s-war
Enchant long, it may yet take a while yet, but the evil despot will eventually fall.
Mayblog 2022
Mayblog 2022
Operation Unthinkable.
With Nazi tyranny defeated, Winston Churchill commissioned a study into the feasibility of driving Russian tyranny out of Eastern Europe as WW2 drew to a close. Churchill’s generals concluded that ‘Operation Unthinkable’ didn’t look feasible at the time, at least not without massive American support and widespread use of WMDs. Consequently, Eastern Europe seemed condemned to suffer under Russian tyranny for some while.
The Russian system of tyranny derives from the feudalism of the Middle Ages. In the disastrous Russian Revolution, the fiefdoms of the feudal Tzars became the fiefdoms of a middle class led urban political party waving a communist banner. Tyranny and corruption continued as normal under different overlords, democracy never got a look in. Tyranny and corruption meant that Russia, and the satellite states it annexed, never prospered economically despite the huge natural resources and populations available. Far too much became spent on militarism and the state apparatus of repression that maintained the regime. When the Soviet System finally imploded towards the end of the 1980s, Russia missed its chance to join the community of civilised democratic European nations. Instead, the thuggish Vladimir Putin managed to completely recreate feudalism with himself as monarch and dictator and a whole new class of oligarchs and kleptocrats as his henchmen and barons.
Operation Unthinkable now seems distinctly possible. If the free world can remain firm against Putin’s threats, and if it can bear the consequences of comprehensively sanctioning Russia, and if it can keep supplying the heroic Ukrainians with ever better weaponry, then Russia will retreat in defeat.
If you have any psi-skills at all, consider contributing to the ongoing efforts of the free world’s wizards and witches to unseat the Russian tyrant: -
https://www.specularium.org/blog/item/349-putin-s-war
The people of Russia and Belarus may yet depose their dictatorships and the struggle against tyranny in Europe will have finally succeeded after many bloody centuries.
That will just leave China as the world’s main sponsor of tyranny.
I recently found this book on the history of China fascinating: -
China has the world’s oldest more or less continuous civilisation. It has undergone many cataclysmic implosions and changes of regime over the millennia, but it has always rebuilt itself on exactly the same Bronze Age political principles with which it continues to govern itself to this day. In this system, most of the power lies with The Emperor and The Imperial Bureaucracy. Aristocracy did not feature strongly; lords, barons, and rich merchants did not hold much power. The gentry of Chinese society consisted mainly of Mandarins, upward social mobility mainly lay through bureaucratic service.
The system has always depended on a massive effort of information gathering and information control to achieve taxation and regulation, and hence behaviour control.
The Chinese Mandarin or Scribal Class has persisted for thousands of years, and it has always cravenly collaborated to provide a Bureaucracy to whichever warlord or political manipulator became Emperor of China. The Scribal Class simply morphed into a Party Organization that provided Bureaucratic collaboration to communist emperors and now provides it to post-communist emperors.
The advent of modern electronic information technology has immensely strengthened the hand of the Chinese bureaucratic tyranny. It can now maintain real time surveillance on all its citizen’s movements, contacts, and behaviour, and it eagerly exports this technology to any regime that wants to use it. Cell-phone monitoring and facial recognition technology along with complete state control of the media have provided the Chinese dictatorship with more resources for thought control than George Orwell dreamed of in his seminal and prescient novel ‘1984’.
Information technology itself seems to lead us towards a future where the major conflicts will occur between democracies with relatively free information architectures and tyrannies with repressive information architectures.
Bosonics.
Plainly, quite a lot of things in Quantum Field Theory do not add up very well. Not only does the whole field of Quantum Chromodynamics concerning quarks and gluons look conceptually tortuous and a mathematical mess, but even Quantum Electrodynamics which concerns electromagnetic and weak forces and particles now comes into question. In particular we currently have calculated results for the mass of the W Boson and the g-2 spin of the Muon that do not match the experimentally measured values.
It rather looks like the calculations have missed the contributions made by the presence of extra particles that we have not yet recognised. Within the 3-dimensional time model under development here at Arcanorium College, the full suite of weak force interacting bosons could consist of: -
The putative X17 Boson may have already appeared in the decay of Beryllium 8.
Mesonics.
In a similar vein, the 3-dimensional time model suggests an additional meson type particle and field intermediating the inter-nucleon forces, this putative ‘Y’ Boson may also play a part. It could if produced, decay into any possible particle-antiparticle pair, rather as the supposed Higgs Boson does, yet unlike the Higgs it would not confer mass on other particles.
Magical Books.
The proofs and the cover designs for the following two titles have arrived: -
Liber Null & Psychonaut by Peter J Carroll. Classic Edition with upgrades and additions, from publishers Red-Wheel Weisers.
Interview with a Wizard- Ian Blumberg-Enge interviews Peter J Carroll. 365 Questions on magical, esoteric, biographic, scientific, and other topics, with an extended appendix on the hyperspherical universe, from publishers Mandrake of Oxford.
Images and full details will appear here within weeks, as soon as publication occurs.
Aprblog 2022
Aprblog 2022
Putin’s War
Marxism will go down in history as a profound tragedy because it allowed autarchy to survive industrialisation. Industrialisation generally and gradually brought democracy in its wake except where the dictatorship of the proletariat triumphed. The dictatorship of the proletariat inevitably meant dictatorship by elements of the middle classes. Tsars became replaced by Commie-Tsars in both Russia and China; authoritarianism and repression continued under new management, democracy did not get a look in. Marxism survives now only in North Korea and in half-hearted form in a few third world tinpot dictatorships.
Having found that Marxist economics simply could not compete with the economies of democratic states, both China and Russia eventually abandoned it in favour of crony-capitalism and nationalism whilst preserving the machinery of dictatorship. In effect they reinvented a form of neo-feudalism or fascism. The poor in both Russia and China lead very impoverished lives compared to people in democratic industrial societies. The autocrats in charge of the Chinese and Russian dictatorships live in fear of their own people and rely on repression, militarism, and war or threat of war to maintain their positions. They attain their positions through naked power struggle and then must maintain it to survive. They cannot retire, their only way out lies in a box.
Putin has launched a vicious war in Ukraine to strengthen his grip over his own politically fragile and economically weak country and in this he seems to have catastrophically underestimated how much resistance he would face from his intended victims and from the free world.
A month ago, I requested that the world’s magicians conjure to ‘Turn the people closest to Putin against him’.
https://www.specularium.org/blog/item/349-putin-s-war
My thanks for the excellent response. Remember that for best results in magic we need to Divine Short and Enchant Long, so keep those spells and rituals coming and widen the definition of ‘closest’ to include more of Putin’s diminishing group of supporters.
Europe will only become free of oppression and war when the Russian autocracy falls, and Russia becomes a democracy. The unpopular dictatorship of Belarus will not survive without support from Russian autocracy. The fall of Putin’s regime will contribute greatly to this. President Biden has shown statesmanship and a grasp of political reality in encouraging revolt against Putin.
Quasars
The last piece of the Hypersphere Cosmology jigsaw puzzle finally fell into place. The observed distribution of quasars has always been interpreted strong evidence for galactic evolution following a big bang origin for this observed universe. Most of the observed quasars seem extremely distant and hence we see light from them that left them billions of years ago. Hence theorists concluded that quasar behaviour mainly arose during the early development of galaxies.
Hypersphere Cosmology asserts that we inhabit a universe finite and unbounded in time and space and that we will observe galaxies at all stages of evolution spread across all of time and space.
Why then do we observe quasar galaxies mainly at very great distances?
We can only observe a quasar if the beam coming out of one of the poles of its black hole happens to point directly towards us, and as galaxies lie randomly orientated in space this becomes a very unlikely occurrence. However, the small positive curvature of the hypersphere of the universe increases the probability of a quasar beam becoming ‘tilted’ in our direction and the probability increases exponentially with distance.
See the full paper here: -
https://www.specularium.org/component/k2/item/350-quasar-distribution
The Occultaris parts 1 & 2. The secrets of the universe.
Many years ago, it became apparent that cosmologists had made a serious mistake in interpreting cosmological redshift as recession velocity and creating a hypothetical big bang. Whilst I worked on the problem the big bang the theory became ever more baroque with the addition of hypothetical dark energy and dark matter and cosmic inflation. A more elegant solution in the form of Hypersphere Cosmology gradually emerged. Two key insights allowed its development, firstly that a small positive spacetime curvature in the form of a deceleration A, where 2GM/L2 = A, would redshift light traveling across a hyperspherical universe in proportion to distance, and secondly that the (generally ignored) Godel metric W = 2sqrt(piGp) describes the inside of any hypersphere including the universe itself and the inside of a black hole in the reference frame of an internal observer. This rather than the Schwarzschild metric for the interior of a black hole in the reference frame of an exterial observer provides the key to a stable non-expanding universe and black holes which do not contain singularities. All this constitutes The Occultaris part one, which radically revises our entire metaphysical and ontological view of the universe, our place within it, and the probability of highly intelligent life having developed elsewhere in a universe without temporal boundaries.
The Occultaris part two remains a work in progress. It aims to clarify the awesome theoretical and conceptual confusion in our understanding of the quantum realm underlying reality.
Whatever mechanisms account for the phenomena of magic in this universe probably have their origins in the properties and behaviour of the quanta.
The current official Quantum Field Theory implies twenty six fundamental fields, twelve quarks, eight gluons, an irreconcilable wave particle duality, virtual particles with seemingly arbitrary properties, non-locality, and an underling spacetime metric which contradicts relativity. Moreover, a lot of the maths looks like a mere descriptive formalism that gives no clue as to the underlying ontology, and the ‘maths’ of quarks and gluons looks very dodgy and has little predictive power. The standard model also requires a Higg’s Boson to satisfy parts of its abstract mathematical scheme and at vast expense some unconvincing evidence has been manufactured for this but not everybody seems persuaded of its reality. The standard model of Quantum Field Theory does not include gravity, and the whole edifice looks like a phlogiston rich ad hoc mess. Where did it perhaps start to go wrong?
Perhaps the photon does NOT constitute the quantum of the electromagnetic field. In support of this heretical and blasphemous idea note that: -
1) Photons do not carry electromagnetic charges, nor do they cause changes in the electromagnetic charges of the particles they interact with. They merely carry spin and momentum and transfer these between the particles they interact with.
2) Photons do become exchanged between electromagnetically charged particles and we can cause their emission by manipulating charged particles and measure their absorption by the movement of charged particles, but all matter particles except neutrinos carry charges anyway if we include neutrons as carrying both positive and negative charges simultaneously, and neutrinos travel at lightspeed anyway, so we should not expect them to exchange photons in any easily observable way.
3) Photons interact equally strongly with protons and neutrons but less strongly with electrons which carry the same magnitude of charge as protons.
4) Maxwell’s equations describe electric and magnetic fields adequately but combining them to create moving electromagnetic waves does not actually yield the observed properties of photons whose energy depends on their frequency rather than on the intensity of the waves.
5) Neither electric or magnetic fields deflect photons despite that photons supposedly consist of oscillating electric and magnetic fields.
6) Spin-spin forces between particles have profound effects that effectively constitute another fundamental force in nature. Electrons form strongly bonded spin-antispin pairs in atomic orbitals and in semiconductor Cooper pairs. Nucleons also pair up very strongly in atomic nuclei and this contributes greatly to the nuclear binding energy.
If we consider photons as particle-antiparticle pairs that consist of and carry only units of spin and momentum in a Transactional Exchange, then we can explain not only their behaviour but also the Entanglement they create between matter particles. Moreover, the Graviton appears naturally as a consequence of this scheme. Photons increase the field between matter particles and give rise to exclusively repulsive effects, both emitter and absorber recoil. Gravitons create a diminution of the spin fields between particles to create exclusively attractive effects. Gravitons must have a much lower energy threshold for their creation than Photons, yet their very ease of creation allows them to dominate the large scale structure of the cosmos and creates a web of universal entanglement.
Lithonian Flotilla.
This year’s first visit to our hideaway on a remote Welsh shore provided an opportunity to reopen the Lithonian spaceship yards after the Memsahib found another scrap of ceramic insulation block washed up on the beach. The addition of a few vape components, bits of defunct electric razors and assorted metal scraps has led to the eighth vessel in the flotilla. Lithonian aesthetics decree that only stone and metal go into these vessels. We bin all the damn washed up plastic we can find and carry.
Putin's War
Putin’s War.
We interrupt the usual monthly flow of these blogs with an emergency appeal.
Following positive feedback from around the world - This following message is released for circulation by any available means. Circulate to all possible sympathisers and allies in all esoteric traditions.
Knights of Chaos Ukraine Campaign 2022.
The KoC calls upon all magicians everywhere to join in magical attacks to: -
Turn the people closest to Putin against him.
We wish to see him disobeyed and restrained or assassinated by his own people.
To this end we call upon volunteers to circulate intelligence about, and images of, those believed to have close connections to Putin for use as Magical Links.
We call upon volunteers to create and circulate rituals and spell procedures for individual and synchronised workings.
We call upon volunteers to launch magical attacks to ‘Turn the people closest to Putin against him’ on an irregular psi-warfare basis using a variety of techniques at unpredictable times and from many locations.
We bestow an honorary knighthood of chaos on all volunteers for the duration of the campaign.
Stokastikos, Acting Marshal KoC, Chancellor of Arcanorium College.
This war in Ukraine was started by One Man who does not enjoy the unqualified support of his associates or his country’s population. He appears to have become deluded, and the situation may deteriorate even further if he is not stopped. We seem to have a clear case here where intervention against a single individual can make a world of difference.
Conjure individually and/or involve friends, allies, and associates for larger workings. Spread the message.
The BBC has very helpfully provided details and images of some of Putin’s inner circle: -
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60573261
UPDATE. My thanks to all magicians from around the world who have volunteered, we seem to have raised a great many wands to the cause of stopping Putin.
Putin is losing this idiotic war due to the heroic resistance of the Ukrainians and the support from much of the rest of the world. He cannot possibly hope to conquer Ukraine now and it becomes increasingly crucial that his own people turn against him and prevent him from worsening the humanitarian catastrophe that he has engineered.
Thus, continue conjuring repeatedly to: -
Turn the people closest to Putin against him.
Since the fall of the Soviet empire the Russian state has become a presidential dictatorship under Putin. Without even the ideology of communism to justify it, the Russian state apparatus has concocted a bizarre ‘anti-fascist’ narrative to sustain itself. Yet it has adopted all the characteristics of the fascism it claims to oppose: - presidential dictatorship, crony capitalism, militarism, repression, the subjugation of the individual to the state, and a leadership that has placed itself above the law. Repression indicates weakness not strength.
Undermine Putin and the fall of this Last Czar may yet lead to a democracy in Russia.