Mormons Still "Baptizing" Jewish Holocaust Victims

"The Baptism" by Piero della Francesca, 1442.

Want proof of the emotional impact of religious ritual? This week saw the resurgence of a powerful conflict that reaches deep into the beliefs of two religions. At a press conference in New York, it was revealed that Jewish and Mormon leaders are still intensely at odds over an ongoing Mormon practice of "baptizing" Jewish victims of the Holocaust by using Mormon stand-ins to convert the deceased Jews to Christianity.

A Jewish Holocaust-survivor group wants the Mormons to stop. "We ask you to respect us and our Judaism just as we respect your religion," Ernst Michel, honorary chairman of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors, wrote this week to Mormon leaders. "We ask you to leave our six million Jews, all victims of the Holocaust, alone. They suffered enough."

Leaders of the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) say they’ll alter their genealogical database to reduce the chances of Holocaust victims being “baptized,” but there are no guarantees.

Reuniting in Heaven

Mormons believe the only way families can be reunited in heaven is for all members to be baptized, making them Christians. So, for more than a hundred years, Mormons have used family genealogies to retroactively baptize deceased persons from all over the world, from all religions. The Mormons do this by having living Mormons stand in as a proxies for the deceased persons and immerse themselves in baptismal pools. Then the Mormons regard the dead people as Christians, regardless of what their religions may have been when they were alive.

Jewish leaders say the practice is especially upsetting when applied to Jewish Holocaust victims, who were murdered because of their non-Christian religious beliefs. They want the Mormons to stop baptizing the Jewish victims and "to implement a mechanism to undo what you have done."

Mormons Refuse to Stop

Mormon leaders say nobody ~ Jewish or otherwise ~ has the right to demand that the Mormons change their posthumous baptism practices.

"We don't think any faith group has the right to ask another to change its doctrines," Mormon Elder Lance Wickman told reporters this week in Salt Lake City. "If our work for the dead is properly understood ... it should not be a source of friction to anyone. It's merely a freewill offering."

Jewish leaders persuaded Mormon leaders in 1995 to limit the proxy baptisms for Holocaust victims. Mormons supposedly removed about 42,000 names from the database. But since 2005, independent researchers monitoring the Mormon genealogical database say a number of the names have been placed back on the database along with new entries of Jews from Holland, Greece, Poland and Italy.

Click here for the complete Associated Press article.

Don't Look Now, But Paranoia's on the Rise

Don’t look over your shoulder, but paranoia is on the rise. Depending exactly on how you define paranoia, up to one in four people now experience fears that once were thought only to be associated with schizophrenia.

"We are now starting to discover that madness is human and that we need to look at normal people to understand it," said Dr. Jim van Os, a professor of psychiatry at Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

Paranoia is defined as the exaggerated or unfounded fear that others are trying to hurt you. That includes thoughts that other people are trying to upset or annoy you, for example, by staring, laughing, or making unfriendly gestures.

According to a report in LiveScience:



Surveys of several thousands of people in Britain, the United States and elsewhere have found that rates of paranoia are slowly rising, although researchers' estimates of how many of us have paranoid thoughts varies widely, from 5 percent to 50 percent.



A British survey of more than 8,500 adults found that 21 percent of people thought there had been times when others were acting against them. Another survey of about 1,000 adults in New York found that nearly 11 percent thought other people were following or spying on them.



Dennis Combs, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Tyler, has been studying paranoia for about a decade. When he first started conducting paranoia studies, mostly in college students, he found that about 5 percent of them had paranoid thoughts. In recent years, that has tripled to about 15 percent, he said.

"People walk around with odd thoughts all the time," said David Penn, a professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina. "The question is if that translates into real behavior."



Post-9/11 Fears Fueling Paranoia

The post-9/11 atmosphere and the war on terror also have increased levels of paranoia in the West, some experts said.
"We are bombarded with information about our alert status and we're told to report suspicious-looking characters," Penn said. "That primes people to be more paranoid."



Traumatic events can make people more vulnerable to having paranoid thoughts. Since the attacks, Penn said Americans have been conditioned to be more vigilant of anything out of the ordinary.
While heightened awareness may be good thing, he said it can also lead to false accusations and an atmosphere where strangers are negatively viewed.


Click here for the LiveScience article.

Drawing by John Sieger.

"Did You Hear the One About . . . "

A man buys a slave and a little while later wants to return him. The seller wants to know why and the buyer says because the slave is dead.

"By the gods," answers the slave's seller, "when he was with me, he never did any such thing!"

You might recognize this joke from a 4th Century AD joke book as reminiscent of the popular Monty Python sketch involving a man returning a dead parrot to a pet shop. The 1,600-year-old Philogelos: The Laugh Addict is one of the world's oldest joke books. Many of its 265 gags prove that sex, dimwits, nagging wives and flatulence have been topics of jokes for centuries.

According to a Reuters report:

In many of the jokes, a slow-witted figure known as the "student dunce" is the butt of the jokes. In one, the student dunce goes to the city and a friend asks him to buy two 15-year-old slaves: "No problem," responds the dunce. "If I don't find two 15-year-olds, I'll get one 30-year-old."

In another, someone asks to borrow the student's cloak to go down to the country. "I have a cloak to go down to your ankle, but I don't have one that reaches to the country," he replies.

The manuscript is attributed to a pair of ancient comedians named Hierocles and Philagrius. Little is known about them except that they were most likely the compilers of the jokes, not the original writers, according to Reuters.

Other one-liners in Philogelos may baffle a modern audience, such as a series of jokes about a lettuce, which only make sense in light of the ancient belief it was an aphrodisiac.

Click here for the Reuters article.

This post appears on my Ancient Tides blog.

A Cure for Doomsday Anxieties

Believe me, I’m not obsessed with apocalyptic, end-of-the-world, doomsday, end-time prophecies. But it was just eight years ago next month when a lot of people were trembling with fear as one millennium was about to end and another begin. And even if the world didn’t actually explode or implode as we entered 2000, we were certain to suffer mightily due to the dreaded Y2K.

It’s starting again. Here and there, more and more, we see references to 2012, the year the Mayan calendar ends, coincident with a number of other events that are certain to spell doom. Stay tuned for the Rapture. Just pray you’re not Left Behind.

All of this is why I encourage you to visit this website:

A Brief History of the Apocalypse

“Chicken Littles have been crying doom since ancient times,” writes the site’s author, Chris Nelson, who says he started the site “to debunk end-time prophecy by listing hundreds of failed doomsday predictions, allay the fears spread by end-time preachers, and demonstrate that doomcrying is nothing new.”

It’s a fascinating read ~ beginning with the year 2800 BC and extending to the present ~ with page after page of well-documented prophecies, many of them rather bizarre.

There’s probably no better way to fend off the anxiety that’ll be mounting until December 21, 2012, than to review the hundreds of failed predictions.

You might want to bookmark A Brief History of the Apocalypse for future reference.

Number 8 ~ HOLDING TOGETHER (UNION)

Holding together brings good fortune.
Inquire of the oracle once again
Whether you possess sublimity, constancy, and perseverance;
Then there is no blame.
Those who are uncertain gradually join.
Whoever comes too late
Meets with misfortune.


What is required is that we unite with others, in order that all may complement and aid one another through holding together. But such holding together calls for a central figure around whom other persons may unite. To become a center of influence holding people together is a grave matter and fraught with great responsibility. It requires greatness of spirit, consistency, and strength. Therefore let him who wishes to gather others about him ask himself whether he is equal to the undertaking, for anyone attempting the task without a real calling for it only makes confusion worse than if no union at all had taken place.

But when there is a real rallying point, those who at first are hesitant or uncertain gradually come in of their own accord. Latecomers must suffer the consequences, for in holding together, the question of the right time is also important. Relationships are formed and firmly established according to definite inner laws. Common experiences strengthen these ties, and he who comes too late to share in these basic experiences must suffer for it if, as a straggler, he finds the door locked.

A Creationism Round-up: Alive and Well in America

The Rebuke of Adam and Eve, by Domenichino, 1626

Researchers recently correlated American belief in creationism to American understanding of evolution and found that, among 34 countries, America ranks number 33. Only the people of Turkey know less about evolution than we do, as a nation.

Culprits in our ignorance about the basis of evolution are our poor understanding of biology ~ especially genetics ~ plus a widespread literal interpretation of the Bible, as well as the fact that science in our schools has become highly politicized.

“American Protestantism is more fundamentalist than anybody except perhaps the Islamic fundamentalist, which is why Turkey and we are so close,” said study co-author Jon Miller of Michigan State University.

Findings were based upon data collected between 1985 and 2005 in 32 European countries, the United States and Japan. According to LiveScience, adults in each country were asked whether they thought the statement “Human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals,” was true, false, or if they were unsure.

The study found that over the past 20 years:

• The percentage of U.S. adults who accept evolution declined from 45 to 40 percent.
  
• Yet the percentage overtly rejecting evolution also declined, from 48 to 39 percent.
  
• It was the percentage of adults who were unsure that substantially increased, from 7 to 21 percent.
  

Of the other countries surveyed, only Turkey ranked lower, with about 25 percent of the population accepting evolution and 75 percent rejecting it. In Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and France, 80 percent or more of adults accepted evolution. In Japan, 78 percent of adults did.

Influence of Christian Fundamentalism

The analysis found that Americans with fundamentalist religious beliefs ~ defined as belief in substantial divine control over all things worldly ~ were more likely to reject evolution than Europeans with similar beliefs. The discrepancy is due to differences in how American Christian fundamentalist and other forms of Christianity interpret the Bible.

While American fundamentalists tend to interpret the Bible literally and to view Genesis as a true and accurate account of creation, mainstream Protestants in both the United States and Europe instead treat Genesis as metaphorical, the researchers say.

“Whether it’s the Bible or the Koran, there are some people who think it’s everything you need to know,” Miller said. “Other people say these are very interesting metaphorical stories in that they give us guidance, but they’re not science books.”

Click here for the complete article in LiveScience.

In other recent creationist news:

• A recent survey found that 12 percent of U.S. high school biology teachers present creationism or intelligent design in a positive light in the classroom, despite a federal ruling against it. In a 2005 case in Pennsylvania, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones called a school district's policy of teaching intelligent design "breathtaking inanity." Click here for the article.

• A Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2005 shows 42 percent of U.S. residents saying they hold strict "creationist'' views that "living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.''  Click here for the article.

• A new survey in the UK found that 29 percent of teachers surveyed via email think creationism and intelligent design should be taught as science. Half of the surveyed teachers said they think excluding these ideas from the classroom would alienate students from science. Click here for the article.

• The Creation Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, is packing them in, with now more than a half-million people touring its Old Testament displays since it opened in May of 2007. Click here for the article.

Believing in creationism at the expense of evolution is not simply a matter of education. Eugenie Scott, director of the National Center for Science Education in California, told LiveScience it goes deeper, and is a function of our country's culture and history.

“The rejection of evolution is not something that will be solved by throwing science at it,” Scott said. "There needs to be more addressing of creationism from these more moderate theological perspectives. The professional clergy and theologians whom I know tend to be very reluctant to engage in that type of ‘my theology versus your theology’ discussion, but it matters because it’s having a negative effect on American scientific literacy."

Click here for the LiveScience "Top 10 Creation Myths," showing the beliefs of several cultures regarding how life on earth began.

Hypnosis Proves Strong Mind/Body Medicine

Depiction of a 19th Century school of hypnosis.

Hypnosis ranks alongside the placebo as among the most potentially effective mind/body medicines. The hypnotic trance, however, empowers the mind to control the body and can modify the messages the body sends to the mind.

“It has been used to counter the nausea of pregnancy and chemotherapy; dental and test-taking anxiety; pain associated with surgery, root canal treatment and childbirth; fear of flying and public speaking; compulsive hair-pulling; and intractable hiccups, among many other troublesome health problems,” according to an article this week in the New York Times.

Among the doctors the Times interviewed was Roberta Temes, a clinical hypnotist in Scotch Plains, N.J., who explains that hypnosis cannot make people do anything they don’t want to do. It can succeed only in helping people make changes they desire.

She’s the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Hypnosis, and points out that you may not even have to be face to face with a hypnotist to benefit medically. She said hypnosis can be helpful even if done with a cassette tape or CD, or by telephone. Some good CDs and tapes are available online at The Hypnosis Network.

While not everyone is easily hypnotized, nearly everyone can slip into a therapeutic trance, Dr. Temes told the Times. One of her patients, Dr. Susan Clarvit, a New York psychiatrist, thought she could not be hypnotized — she believed she was too scientific, too rational a person.

“But I was desperate,” Dr. Clarvit said in an interview. “I was pregnant with my second child and too nauseated to be alive. Dr. Temes asked me what I held most often, and I said a pen. She hypnotized me so that when I held a pen I had an overall feeling of wellness. I held a pen all the time, even while driving, and didn’t feel nauseated.”

Under hypnosis, Dr. Clarvit was given a posthypnotic suggestion that linked holding a pen to feeling well. Such suggestions enable people to practice a new, desired behavior after being brought out of the trance.

As with any other profession, some hypnotherapists are more talented than others. Dr. Temes said word-of-mouth may be the best way to find someone practiced in hypnosis for the kind of problem you’re trying to solve. Also helpful is the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, at www.asch.net, which maintains a referral list of therapists, both certified and not, by location and specialty.

Click here for the New York Times article.

Scientists Find Huge Black Hole, Even Larger Star

Astronomers have located the largest stellar black hole yet, and it is locked in orbit with an even larger star. The black hole is 16 times the mass of our Sun and its close proximity to its even bigger companion star may prompt new thinking about how the universe's stars live and die.

Super-massive black holes weigh thousands to millions of Suns and are thought to reside at the heart of all galaxies, including the Milky Way. Stellar black holes, resulting from the gravitational collapse of a single star, are more modest in weight, on the order of 10 solar masses.

Jerome Orosz, an astronomer from San Diego State University, and his team pointed their telescope in the direction of an X-ray source in the spiral galaxy Messier 33, which is 3 million light years away. There they found a stellar black hole and a companion star that passes directly in front of it on a three-and-a-half-day orbit, eclipsing the black hole's X-ray emissions. This allowed the team to calculate the pair's masses more accurately than usual.

The black hole was found to weigh 15.7 solar masses, making it the biggest stellar black hole ever found. It still pales in comparison to the size of its companion star. At 70 solar masses it is the most massive star found in a binary system with a black hole.

"This is a huge star that is partnered with a huge black hole," said co-author Jeffrey McClintock of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics. The discovery is even more remarkable because current astronomical models have difficulty predicting anything greater than ten solar masses.

The research appeared today in the British journal Nature.

Click here for the article.

Human Brain Contains a Specific "Hate Circuit"

Researchers have identified what they describe as a “hate circuit” in the human brain. "Hate is often considered to be an evil passion that should, in a better world, be tamed, controlled, and eradicated,” Semir Zeki, lead author of a study detailing the research, told Cosmos magazine. “Yet to the biologist, hate is a passion that is of equal interest to love."

By showing people images of hated ex-lovers or colleagues, and simultaneously scanning their brains, researchers identified areas of activity that constitute the “hate circuit.” It is distinct from brain activity related to emotions such as fear, threat and danger, but it shares a part of the brain associated with aggression, researchers said.

"Like love, hate is often seemingly irrational and can lead individuals to heroic and evil deeds," said Zeki. "How can two opposite sentiments lead to the same behavior?"

The study reports that the "hate circuit" includes structures in both the cortex and sub-cortex of the brain and has components that are important in generating aggressive behavior. It also involves a part of the frontal cortex that has been considered critical in predicting the actions of others, probably an important feature when one is confronted by a hated person.

The subcortical activity involves two distinct structures, the putamen and the insula, the researchers said. Both structures have also been found to be activated by romantic love, said Zeki.

"The putamen could be involved in the preparation of aggressive acts in a romantic context, as in situations when a rival presents a danger," he explained. "The insula may be involved in responses to distressing stimuli, and the viewing of both a loved and a hated face may constitute such a distressing signal."

A distinction from romantic love is that hate can be directed at entire groups of people, as is the case with racial, political, or gender hatred, said the researchers.

Click here for the Cosmos article.

Number 27 ~ THE CORNERS OF THE MOUTH

The corners of the mouth.
Perseverance brings good fortune.
Pay heed to the providing of nourishment
And to what a man seeks
To fill his own mouth with.

In bestowing care and nourishment, it is important that the right people should be taken care of and that we should attend to our own nourishment in the right way. If we wish to know what anyone is like, we have only to observe on whom he bestows his care and what sides of his own nature he cultivates and nourishes. Nature nourishes all creatures. The great man fosters and takes care of superior men, in order to take care of all men through them. Mencius says about this:

If we wish to know whether anyone is superior or not, we need only observe what part of his being he regards as especially important. The body has superior and inferior, important and unimportant parts. We must not injure important parts for the sake of the unimportant, nor must we injure the superior parts for the sake of the inferior. He who cultivates the inferior parts of his nature is an inferior man. He who cultivates the superior parts of his nature is a superior man.

(Mencius lived from 389 to 305 BC.)

Summary of Predictions:

Obama Winning by Slight Margin,

Palin Has Hurt McCain's Chances,

Uneasiness Heading Toward Inauguration,

Saturn/Uranus Making Predictions Very Difficult

From 1864 drawing by Thomas Nast for Harper's Weekly.

For this final Election Astrology post prior to Tuesday’s election, I’m summarizing my findings from following a dozen or so astrology blogs for several months.

Culling comments from the blogs was difficult because some of the astrologers clearly used astrology as a basis for propounding their own political preferences and opinions, which can get tiresome. Also, most of the astrologers' political postings dropped off significantly during October, as financial turbulence became the subject of more astrological scrutiny. Besides, almost everything that was going to be astrologically charted regarding the presidential election had been done by the conclusion of the Republicans’ convention in September.

As you can see, much of what the astrologers have said tracks well with what mainstream political analysts and pundits are telling us daily in print and broadcast. The difference is that the astrologers have consistently been saying it earlier.

Most of them saw big trouble for McCain in September when he selected Palin, even though the media and GOP was going wild over her. Her chart has some real trouble spots in it. Most of the astrologers saw something negative due to happen in October. Some were uncertain, others suspected it might be financial, and a few such as Ray Merriman nailed it early and well.

So here are the major conclusions I found:

Barack Obama will win, probably by a small margin. 

I have not found any astrologer still seeing John McCain winning on Tuesday.

An Obama victory was seen as early as May – even when he was battling through the tough primary against Hillary Clinton – when a panel of seven prominent astrologers used various astrological methods of analysis, and then announced their predictions at the United Astrology Conference convention in Denver. Actually six saw an Obama victory and one said it was too close to call between Obama and McCain, but that Clinton was not in the picture.

McCain’s campaign has sustained two powerful blows in the past two months.

One was his selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate. Her birth chart – at least as much as can be gleaned from a questionable time of birth – has been a major wound to McCain's chart. The second blow has been the nation’s economic troubles, which have played directly into some of his chart’s weaker areas. Here’s how Charlene Litchenstein summed it up:

Had I made my prediction in September, I would have predicted John McCain to win, despite the drag that Sarah Palin had on his astrology birth horoscope. I do think that if he had chosen someone more compatible with his birth chart he would have had a stronger candidacy overall with a victory that could not be hampered by any outside event. This is based on the assumption that the shocking event I saw a few weeks ago is the economy and stock market and we are done with any further surprises before the election. . . I predict Barack Obama to win in a very close election - closer than it should be considering the state of the economy.

Saturn-Uranus Opposition is complicating everything.

I’ve discussed this in an earlier post. Here’s how Benjamin Bernstein, writing for the Organization for Professional Astrologers, put it:

Even those who called it for Obama, however, noted an extraordinary synchronicity: Uranus and Saturn make an exact opposition on Election Day! Uranus rules shock, unpredictability and surprise, thus throwing a "wild card" energy into the mix. However, this aspect can also be interpreted as revolutionary new paradigms (Uranus) overcoming the old order (Saturn). Since the outermost planet (Uranus in this case) always has more power, I interpret this aspect as favoring the candidate who more truly represents change (Obama). . . The power of the "wild card factor", created by the Election Day Saturn-Uranus opposition, cannot be underestimated.

Concern about the period leading to Inauguration Day in January.

An ominous tone was set as early as March, when financial astrologer Ray Merriman – highly respected for his work with banks and other institutions – wrote this twist on the Saturn-Uranus opposition, since echoed by several other astrologers:

. . . But it is not so easy to choose who will win, for with Uranus, anything can happen, and surprises are more than likely the order of the day. As an extreme, under this signature, there can be no certainty that the candidates selected to represent their parties even make it to election or inauguration day. Something disruptive is always a possibility, especially with Saturn and Uranus in hard aspect, complemented by Pluto about to move back into Capricorn at that time (November 26, which is between election day and inauguration). I am not predicting assassination, for these symbols can mean many things. But the last time Saturn and Uranus were in opposition, and Pluto was involved, was in the mid-1960’s. Both political and racially-motivated assassinations stung the USA deeply during that time.

Ultimately, the strange and powerful opposition of Saturn and Uranus gives the astrologers an “out.” It is such a rare alignment of contradictory behaviors that it has hampered everyone’s ability to predict with precision.

“It's the single most screwed-up election from an astrological perspective in decades,” says Robert Hand, one of America’s leading astrologers.

After the election, I’ll select a handful of astrologers who seemed to have made the most consistently accurate calls and will follow them as we head toward Inauguration Day to see what they’re saying.

Take One Antibiotic and Go To Bed

For years I’ve considered the so-called ‘placebo effect’ to be one of the greatest confirmations of mind-over-matter power. The idea that the placebo is the most successful healing drug in recorded history says more about medical science than almost any other phenomenon.

Still, I’m alarmed at an article in yesterday’s New York Times stating that half of all doctors in the U.S. routinely give their patients placebos. We’re not talking sugar pills here. We’re talking prescribing antibiotics, sedatives, headache pills and pain-killers to patients when the doctors know full well these drugs have no effect on the patient’s illness.

Antibiotics seem to be a favorite, and doctors prescribe them for a wide range of viral infections even though antibiotics have no effect on viral matters, only bacterial ones. Plus, antibiotics are dangerous. Period, end of story.

For example, an American doctor, William Schreiber of Louisville, Kentucky, danced around the obvious ethical implications. First he told the Times he didn’t believe the study’s results. Then, when asked how he treated fibromyalgia or suspected psychosomatic illnesses, he admitted: “The problem is that most of those people are very difficult patients, and it’s a whole lot easier to give them something like a big dose of Aleve. Is that a placebo treatment? Depending on how you define it, I guess it is.”

I suspect that the "whole lot easier" response is typical for half of his professional peers. But a sugar pill is one thing. Antibiotics and sedatives are something else entirely.

Click here for the New York Times article.

More Halloween: The Haunted Lizzie Borden House

Here's the bedroom where Lizzie's mother was murdered.

Today’s Los Angeles Times has an article about ghostly occurances at the bed & breakfast in Fall River, Massachusetts, where the infamous Lizzie Borden allegedly killed her parents with an ax in 1892.

The building is a rambling, eight-bedroom manse. Built in 1845, it was one of the finest homes in Fall River, a then-thriving community known for its textile mills. At the murder scene, Lizzy’s father, Andrew Borden, a wealthy banker, was struck 10 times. His wife, Sarah, suffered 18 blows.

Investigating police thought a broken hatchet found in the basement was the murder weapon. Although Lizzie (in photo below), who was 32 at the time, is by legend the murderer, a jury found her innocent.

The LA Times article follows a stay in the B&B by Karen Zorn of Maryland and her boyfriend. Zorn won for $405 on eBay a night’s stay in the bedroom where Lizzie’s mother was hacked up. The couple checked into the room on August 4, the 116th anniversary of the murders.

"We went up to the room and it was freezing cold. It was the coldest room in the house by far. And that kind of spooked us out," Zorn told the LA Times. "As the night wore on, other weird things started happening. At one point, my boyfriend went into the room and he claimed there was a lamp in there rocking back and forth that had turned itself on."

But that wasn’t the end of it.

"We were sitting in bed talking about the creepy things that had happened,” Zorn continued. “And I said, 'What do you say if anything else really freaky happens we just get up and leave?' And he said, 'OK.' And just as we said that, the bedroom door swung open. We began to scream. Everybody in the house could hear us."

The couple left immediately for the nearby Best Western.

Click here for the Los Angeles Times article.

Incense As Antidepressant

Saturday I visited a new New Age shop near our home in Oregon City and perused shelves crammed with statuary, crystals, books and beaded things. Wanting to support the brave couple who’ve opened the shop in these dire times for retail, I bought some incense.

I’m not a big user of incense, but I thought a whiff of something mysteriously fragrant would be good in my office on autumn evenings. I bought a scent called Nag Champa, which I’d never heard of, but turned out to be a decent choice.

All of this is why this morning a Science Daily article caught my eye. It seems scientists from Johns Hopkins and Hebrew University have determined that some incenses (not necessarily Nag Champa) help alleviate depression and anxiety.

The specific focus of the research was incensole acetate, a resin found in the Boswellia plant that also goes by the better-known name of frankincense.

"We found that incensole acetate, a Boswellia resin constituent, when tested in mice lowers anxiety and causes antidepressive-like behavior,” said researcher Rapheal Mechoulam. The compound significantly affected areas in brain areas known to be involved in emotions, as well as in nerve circuits affected by current anxiety and depression drugs.

“The discovery of how incensole acetate, purified from frankincense, works on specific targets in the brain should also help us understand diseases of the nervous system,” said Gerald Weissman, editor of the journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. “This study also provides a biological explanation for millennia-old spiritual practices that have persisted across time, distance, culture, language, and religion – burning incense really does make you feel warm and tingly all over."

I can only hope these findings lead to treatments more aromatic and less pharmaceutical.

Click here for the Science Daily article.

Take Away God and Churchgoers' Fears Grow

The low-hanging fruit in recent US presidential election years is studying the differences between liberals and conservatives ~ what makes them tick. For example, I posted a recent University of Nebraska survey concluding that conservatives generally are more fearful than liberals.

Now there’s new research at Northwestern University on this same topic, complete with interesting findings. And one big caveat …

The survey was conducted only among active churchgoers. To my way of thinking, that skews the findings unless that one huge condition is fully taken into account. In other words, you can’t make broad categorical statements about the research’s liberal/conservative findings ~ they only apply to the type of person who's compelled to attend church.

However, the main question asked of these churchgoers was indeed provocative:

“What if there were no God?”

• “Political conservatives envision a world without God in which baser human impulses go unchecked, social institutions ~ marriage, government, family ~ fall apart and chaos ensues,” says Dan McAdams, a professor of human development and psychology at Northwestern, who co-authored the study. 

• Liberals, on the other hand, envision a world without God as barren, lifeless, devoid of color and reasons to live. “Liberals see their faith as something that fills them up and, without it, they conjure up metaphors of emptiness, depletion and scarcity,” McAdams said. 
  

“While conservatives worry about societal collapse, liberals worry about a world without deep feelings and intense experiences,” he told Science Daily. The study's findings may shed light on why conservatives prefer more authoritarian leaders while liberals do not.

“What’s clear is that it is their political and not religious orientation that underlies the different psychologies of political conservatives and liberals,” says McAdams.

Click here for the Science Daily article.

Number 43 ~ BREAKTHROUGH

Breakthrough. One must resolutely make the matter known
At the court of the king.
It must be announced truthfully. Danger.
It is necessary to notify one’s own city.
It does not further to resort to arms.
It furthers one to undertake something.

Even if only one inferior man is occupying a ruling position in a city, he is able to oppress superior men. Even a single passion still lurking in the heart has power to obscure reason. Passion and reason cannot exist side by side ~ therefore fight without quarter is necessary if the good is to prevail.

In a resolute struggle of the good against evil, there are, however, definite rules that must not be disregarded, if it is to success.

First, resolution must be based on a union of strength and friendliness.

Second, a compromise with evil is not possible; evil must under all circumstances be openly discredited. Nor must our own passions and shortcomings be glossed over.

Third, the struggle must not be carried on directly by force. If evil is branded, it thinks of weapons, and if we do it the favor of fighting against it blow for blow, we lose in the end because thus we ourselves get entangled in hatred and passion. Therefore it is important to begin at home, to be on guard in our own persons against the faults we have branded.

In this way, finding no opponent, the sharp edges of the weapons of evil become dulled. For the same reasons we should not combat our own faults directly. As long as we wrestle with them, they continue victorious. Finally, the best way to fight evil is to make energetic progress in the good.

The Perfect Beat to Save a Life

I’m not making this up.

Researchers at the University of Illinois Medical School have identified a song that has the perfect beat for performing CPR . . . Stayin’ Alive.

Yes, doctors and medical students in the study found they performed the ideal number of chest compressions at the optimum rhythm while listening to the 1977 Bee Gees hit from the movie Saturday Night Fever. 

According to Dr. David Matlock, the study’s author, the American Heart Association recommends 100 chest compressions per minute, which is more than most people realize. The doctors and students listed to Stayin’ Alive on their iPods while performing CPR on mannequins. “It drove them and motivated them to keep up the rate, which is the most important thing,” he said.

It seems some people in the American Heart Association have been aware of the Stayin’ Alive phenomenon for a couple of years now and have used it in CPR classes. The AHA’s Dr. Vinay Nadkarni of the University of Pennsylvania said there’s also a song by the group Queen with a similar beat, “but it didn’t seem quite as appropriate.”

That song?

Another One Bites the Dust.

Click here for the Associated Press article.

Is McCain 'Mercurial'? 

Possible Troubles for Obama?

And What About the Retrograde "Shadow" Effect?

It’s difficult to follow astrology blogs when you’re not an astrologer. It’s like looking at a maze of equations scrawled across a blackboard when you don’t know calculus. It means I have to find clues to determine the validity of some of the claims being made, usually by checking the comments other readers post and by comparing the readings to news reports.

In the few weeks remaining, I'll be focusing on some fascinating election horoscopes from several of the respected professional astrologers I've been watching. For today’s Election Astrology, I’ve picked two astrologers with large followings and who seem to command considerable respect among their peers.

• Nancy Sommers, who writes Nancy’s Blog, which attracts hundreds of comments every time she posts something and who has accurately predicted a number of aspects and behaviors regarding this presidential campaign.

• Ray Merriman, a professional financial astrologer of long standing whose analyses are followed by several financial institutions and whose posts now contain more campaign analysis due to the impact of the current financial troubles.
  

Angry McCain, Calm Obama

Two days before last Wednesday’s presidential debate, Nancy presented a detailed reading of both McCain and Obama related to the specific time of the debate. (If you’re interested in the complex details, click here.)

She wrote: “ … It is this aspect that will be under a great deal of pressure during and after the debate, suggesting McCain will be very agitated, angry, and unhappy.” Then, following a detailed explanation, she wrote: “ … While McCain seems to be at some kind of nadir for the mid-October debate, Obama will be at his zenith." And she concluded: “In the face of McCain’s crankiness, Obama will once again demonstrate calmness and strength, with an extraordinarily appealing and compelling quality that pervades his presence.”

Pretty accurate, and consistent with several post-debate polls.

New Problems for Obama?

So here’s her take on the weeks leading up to the November 4 election.

• On McCain: “In addition, there are two further aspects that are specific to the 6:25 PM chart that suggest a very trying, depressing time for McCain that began in late September and continues to be very potent through October 19, slowly diminishing over the week or so thereafter.”
  

• On Obama: “There is, however, some stress that develops for Obama from around October 16 through October 25, due to Saturn’s transit semisquare his Mercury (2Leo20) and quincunx his Ascendant (18Aquarius03). Perhaps, it is just the weightiness of the times adding to the sobriety and thoughtfulness (Saturn) of his demeanor. But it seems likely he may lose some of his sparkle during this period and become more fatigued and off his game. A cold or laryngitis is possible that will encumber him in some way. Alternately, the increasingly vituperative attacks from the Hate Talk Express may begin to do some damage. It may be that his wide lead shrinks a bit during these ten days.”
  

This should be quite easy to track via the headlines.

Retrograde Shadow Period Could Be Critical

In his current Weekly Market Preview, Ray Merriman says the election could be strongly influenced by something astrologers recognize ~ but don't always take into account ~ known as the “shadow" periods of the current Mercury retrograde:

Many astrologers believe that the Mercury retrograde principles pertain not just to the time Mercury is actually in retrograde motion, but also during the times that it is in the Mercury retrograde “shadow” periods. This may be a critical point in forecasting this year’s election, for sometime between September 3 and 15 McCain held a 4-point lead over Obama. But since that time, the polls have switched 2-12 points in favor of Obama, depending on which poll you follow.

If the momentum shifts back to McCain after Mercury returns to direct motion (October 15), as the classical principles of Mundane Astrology would suggest, then McCain may still have a chance to pull this out. But if the valid zone of recovery includes the Mercury retrograde “shadow period” as well, then the momentum change in favor of Obama would continue to grow through October 30. Conditions and/or sentiment wouldn’t return again to the pre-shadow period until the end of the month.

In this case, it would be too late for McCain to come back, barring some new and sensational revelation. In fact, Obama would be more likely to win in a landslide, just as the last Senator from Arizona to run for president experienced in 1964 (Barry Goldwater). The 1964 election was the last time we were within the orb of the Saturn-Uranus opposition.

So, watch the daily news. According to this, we should see some shift in poll numbers, favoring McCain. Unless, of course, the Mercury retrograde shadow continues to fall across his campaign.

By the way, Madam Lichtenstein just began what promises to be a fascinating look at election day. Her first installment discusses November 4 itself, and next she'll tie it to the charts of McCain and Obama specifically. She's good, so this should be interesting!

Welcome back, Sunspots

I've drawn a circle around Sunspot 1005 on this NASA photo.

Sunspots have begun reappearing, perhaps signaling the end of a puzzling drought in solar activity. A new spot ~ called 1005 ~ appeared on Saturday, the third spot in three weeks.

The Sun this year began one of its 11-year solar cycles and since the beginning of the year had been nearly spot free. 

The amount of activity in a solar cycle influences earth’s power grids and satellites, and can be potentially damaging. Sunspots also are believed to have profound effects on Earth's climate, as explained in this earlier post.

Solar physicists are split on whether the coming months will produce a small number of sunspots or if the activity will dramatically increase. The faster sunspots return, the more severe solar weather will be in the coming decade, according to New Scientist.

Click here for the New Scientist article.

A Real Halloween Find

To get you in a Halloween mood . ..

In Cornwall, England, archaeologist Jacqui Wood discovered in her own yard the remains of what appears to be a ritual area for witchcraft. A series of pits have revealed swan skins dating back to the 1600s, human hair and fingernail clippings, bird claws and perhaps most revealing of all, an old cauldron. (Photo shows Wood with a fragment of the cauldron.)

Go to my Ancient Tides blog for more of the story.

Superstitions May Have Evolutionary Value

Seemingly silly superstitions may still be with us because they have evolutionary value. While they may be considered the linking of peculiar and irrational ~ if not just plain incorrect ~ causes and effects, they are far from worthless, according to recent research.

Harvard evolutionary biologist Kevin Foster worked with Hanna Kokko of the University of Helsinki to develop a complex computer model to compare scenarios where animals linked two events, such as the sound of rustling grass and the approach of a predator. But they also examined scenarios connecting less-dangerous situations, such as the sound of rustling grass and the wind.

The model showed that mistaken beliefs ~ superstitions, for example ~ can accompany similar beliefs that may save lives.

“It’s worth carrying many mistaken beliefs just to ensure you get the important ones right," said Foster. Even if an animal is often frightened by rustling grass caused by wind, if that causes it to avoid a predator in the grass on just one occasion, it may be enough to save its life. A relevant human example is that of a primitive tribe using a whole range of medicinal plants even if only very few work as an effective treatment, he said.

Though the model is purely theoretical at this stage, "it does make a number of testable predictions," Foster says. "The goal is to produce a logical framework to start to understand the evolution of superstition."

Click here for the Cosmos Online article.

Number 23 ~ SPLITTING APART

Splitting apart. It does not further one
To go anywhere.

This pictures a time when inferior people are pushing forward and are about to crowd out the few remaining strong and superior men. Under these circumstances, which are due to the time, it is not favorable for the superior man to undertake anything.

The right behavior in such adverse times is to be deduced from the images and their attributes. The lower trigram stands for the earth, whose attributes are docility and devotion. The upper trigram strands for the mountain, whose attribute is stillness. This suggests that one should submit to the bad time and remain quiet. For it is a question not of man’s doing, but of time conditions, which, according to the laws of heaven, show an alternation of increase and decrease, fullness and emptiness. It is impossible to counteract these conditions of the time. Hence it is not cowardice, but wisdom to submit and avoid action.

Election Day Remains Strangely Uncertain

The County Election by George Caleb Bingham, 1851

More than any other aspect of this extraordinary presidential election year, it’s Election Day itself ~ November 4th ~ that intrigues me as I survey my group of astrologers.

The dozen or so professional astrologers I’m watching can’t seem to get a collective fix on that day, except that there’s something seriously volatile about it. (These astrologers as a group, by the way, have been substantially on-target regarding the current world financial crisis.)

As a layman, not an astrologer, I’ve learned this: Saturn and Uranus move into direct opposition early on November 4. Saturn relates to conservatism and status quo, while Uranus is creative and revolutionary. This 180-degree alignment occurs rarely ~ only twice before in the past 100 years ~ and can spell trouble.

Nearly four months ago, I posted comments from writer Barry Orr, who had found that many astrologers were saying this about Election Day:

• The election will be postponed or canceled due to national emergency; or,
  
• One or more candidates will leave the race; or,
  
• Fraud or data problems will produce a rigged race.

Here’s a sampling of what the astrologers are now saying as Election Day approaches.

From Terry Lamb at Astro-Pol:

This is the situation I have been most concerned about with the Saturn-Uranus opposition becoming exact on Election Day. The forces of the status quo are pitted against the forces of change, and it could get nasty. Oppositions are aspects of separation, and separation breeds fear. Fear breeds conflict (and greed). These are factors in the behavior we are seeing to prevent the sea change in government that is desired, expected, and should occur. This is what could delay the outcome of the election.

Lynn Hayes at Astrological Musings sees this:

In any case, the astrological signatures suggest that the election once again will not be settled on Election Day. Mercury changes signs that day, moving from Libra where it is all about collaboration, to Scorpio where our thoughts become more intensified and interested in matters of power. Scorpio also signifies things that are hidden, and perhaps ballots (Mercury) could be lost or stolen (Scorpio).

By the way, she just today began an interesting two-part explanation of the Saturn-Uranus opposition.

And another astrologer I’ve not been following ~ a certain Madam Lichtenstein ~ has this to say:

But transiting Saturn also will oppose Uranus on Election Day. This can bring powerful, unpleasant surprises. It also will conjunct Saturn which indicates that a major cycle is closing and a new one is beginning. When people go through a Saturn conjunct Saturn it is called their Saturn Return. In this case it is the Presidential Saturn Return. During the return phase we want change NOW but it either doesn't happen or, if it does, it is not what we want or expect. It is a time of great learning. Further transiting Saturn will square Venus which can create some sore losers. Stress and tension without any resulting harmony.

If you're curious and want to read more, just do a Google search on “Election Day” with the word “astrology” and you’ll get tons.

Narcissists Aren't the Leaders They Think They Are

Narcissus, by Michelangelo Caravaggio, ca. 1598.

Narcissists are most likely to step in as leaders ~ such as politicians or power brokers ~ but that doesn't mean they are the best leaders. Recent studies concluded that narcissists don’t actually outperform others in leadership roles.

They do, however, tend to be egotistical types who exaggerate their talents and abilities, and lack empathy for others.

"A person with high self-esteem is confident and charming, but they also have a caring component and they want to develop intimacy with others," lead researcher Amy Brunell, a psychologist at Ohio State University at Newark, told Live Science. "Narcissists have an inflated view of their talents and abilities and are all about themselves. They don’t care as much about others."

"It's not surprising that narcissists become leaders,” she said. “They like power, they are egotistical, and they are usually charming and extraverted. But the problem is, they don't necessarily make better leaders."

• In one study, 432 undergraduate students completed surveys that measured various personality traits, including aspects of narcissism. The students were put in groups of four and told to assume they were a committee of senior officers of the student union. Their task was to elect next year's director. Students who scored higher on narcissism were more likely to say they wanted to lead the group. They were also more likely to say they did lead the group discussion and said they were more likely to be viewed as leaders by the other group members.

• In a similar study, more than 400 students were told to imagine they were shipwrecked on an uninhabited island and had to choose 15 items from the ship that would best help them survive on the island. Those who scored highest on narcissism again showed the most desire to lead the group discussion, rated themselves as leaders, and were viewed by other group members as the leaders. The researchers compared the 15-item lists with one prepared by an expert who has taught survival skills to the U.S. military. Narcissists did no better than their less self-centered counterparts at choosing survival items.

• A third study involved more than 150 business managers enrolled in an executive MBA program at a large southeastern university. The managers were grouped in fours and told to assume the role of a school board deciding how to allocate a large financial contribution from a fictional company. The MBA students who rated highest in narcissism were most likely to emerge as group leaders. The results held even when other personality traits, such as self-esteem and extraversion, were taken into account.

Wall Street traders could also have a high dose of narcissism, Brunell suggested. "There have been a lot of studies that have found narcissistic leaders tend to have volatile and risky decision-making performance and can be ineffective and potentially destructive leaders."

Click here for the Live Science article.

Ancient Bowl Links "Christ" with "Magician"

Depiction of Jesus's first Biblical miracle, transforming water into wine at the wedding in Cana.

The recent discovery of an ancient bowl bearing a reference to “Christ” could be the earliest known reference to Jesus Christ. Researchers think the meaning of the words engraved on the bowl ~ Dia Chrstou O Goistais ~ could link the bowl and the Christ reference to supernatural practices.

Researchers say the phrase translates to either “by Christ the magician” or to “the magician by Christ.”

The bowl dates somewhere between the late 2nd Century BC to early 1st Century AD and was found during an underwater excavation of ruins in the harbor of Alexandria, Egypt. A team of scientist led by renowned French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio discovered it near the submerged island of Antirhodos.

The bowl is very similar to one depicted in two early Egyptian earthenware statuettes that are thought to show a soothsaying ritual.

"It could very well be a reference to Jesus Christ, in that he was once the primary exponent of white magic," Goddio, co-founder of the Oxford Center of Maritime Archaeology, said. He and Egyptologist David Fabre, a member of the European Institute of Submarine Archaeology, think a "magus" such as mentioned in the Matthew gospel could have practiced rituals using the bowl.

"It has been known in Mesopotamia probably since the 3rd millennium BC," Fabre said. "The soothsayer interprets the forms taken by the oil poured into a cup of water in an interpretation guided by manuals." The magus or medium then goes into a trance when studying the oil in the cup.

"They therefore see the divinities, or supernatural beings appear that they call to answer their questions with regard to the future," he said. A magus might have used the engraving on the bowl to legitimize his supernatural powers by invoking the name of Christ, the scientists theorize.

Click here for the complete Discovery News article.

The bowl, found submerged in the bay of Alexandria, with the engraved words translating to either "by Christ the magician" or "the magician by Christ."