SLIPKNOT is leaving. For recovery?

(Rock Feed) Clown reveals future of [burnt out] Slipknot

Mythic, literary origins of Christianity?

(MythVision TV) The shocking moment a Christian scholar realized "Jesus" was mythic (audio corrected)

• Phenomenology (philosophy)
• World religions

Are we guilty of 'magical thinking'?

(Theory of Samsara) Are we guilty of "magical thinking"? Well, awakening (enlightenment) isn't some kind of "blessing"

• Dalai Lama: Why 'praying' for peace to God [has never and] will never work #fypシ 

To the edge: Magadan (Eli from Russia)

(Eli from Russia) Nov. 8, 2025: Russia's region with darkest history: Magadan, Russian Far East

Visiting Russia's weirdest capital, meeting Mari people, Mari El Republic

Welcome to the Mari El Republic of Russia. The Mari are Finno-Ugric people, one of the most ancient peoples of Central Russia. For centuries, the Mari have preserved their original pagan religion and, in this regard, they can be considered the last true pagans in Europe.

Did Europe devolve from indigenous ways?

What happened to Indigenous Europeans?

Figurine of West's Mother Goddess

(Claudia Ayuso) Oct. 30, 2025: There’s an unknown chapter of European history that’s no longer told in our books. [The gatekeepers removed it so that no one would know.]

Research suggests that thousands of years ago [in prehistory] — long before recorded history — the Indigenous peoples of Europe built unique, rich cultures. But then something changed — dramatically. Out of that shift emerged the Europe we know today: patriarchy, biblical genocide, violence, sexism, empires, kings, and bloody conquest — a legacy of settler colonialism that shaped today's world.

So what happened? Have traces of that earlier world survived?

• 
  Matrilineal
• Neolithic (Stone Age)
• The Neolithic Revolution
• Neolithic in the Near East
• Sudden arrival of people from the Steppes
• Sacred Earth-based spirituality
• Veneration for Nature
• Sexual equality
• Settled agriculture
• Males married out.

God's wife, beloved Asherah

Does anyone remember the Western God's wife? And by "God" is meant the Judeo-Christian "God" of the Bible: Her name was the Western Goddess Asherah.

Marija Gimbutas or Marija Birutė Alseikaitė-Gimbutienė (1921–1994) was a Lithuanian archaeologist and anthropologist known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of "Old Europe" and for her Kurgan hypothesis, which located the Proto-Indo-European homeland in the Pontic Steppe. More

Special thanks to: Sylvia Linsteadt, Kristian Kristiansen, Iosif Lazaridis.

ABOUT: Origin Story is an optimistic series about humans on Earth. Subscribe and catch all episodes: @claudia-ayuso. Stay in touch: claudiaayuso, originstory.earth, originstoryearth.substack.com

• Claudia Ayuso, Oct. 28, 2025; Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

LIVE: West Hollywood's Halloween Carnival

(KTLA 5) Revelers take over the streets for West Hollywood's Halloween Carnaval 2025

(Telemundo English) LIVE: West Hollywood hosts its iconic Halloween Carnaval (Carnavale)

LIVE: West Hollywood hosts Halloween Carnival

(Telemundo English) Started streaming Oct. 31, 2025: The spirit of Halloween is on full display as West Hollywood hosts its iconic Halloween Carnival. #Hollywood #Halloween

What is American Halloween (Hallow's Eve)?

Scare away the bad spirits with spooky items.

Halloween is also known as All Hallows' Eve [9] and All Saints' Eve [10]. It is a celebration observed in many countries on October 31st, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day.

It is at the beginning of the observance of Allhallowtide [11], the time in the Christian liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints ("hallows"), martyrs, and all the faithful departed (souls) [3][12][13].

In popular culture, Halloween has become a celebration of horror and is associated with the macabre and the supernatural [12][14], the gory, gruesome, magical, and morbid.

It's time for some divination games.

One theory holds that many Halloween traditions were directly influenced by Celtic harvest festivals, particularly the Gaelic festival Samhain, which are believed to have pagan (pre-Christian European) roots [15][16][17][18].

Some theories go further and suggest that Samhain may have been Christianized as All Hallows' Day, along with its eve, by the Church [19][1][20].

Other academics say Halloween began independently as a Christian holiday, being the vigil of All Hallows' Day [21][22][23][24].

Celebrated in Ireland and Scotland for centuries, Irish and Scottish immigrants brought many Halloween customs to North America in the 19th century [25][26]. Then, through American influence, various Halloween customs spread to other countries by the late 20th and early 21st century [14][27].

Popular activities during Halloween include

• trick-or-treating (or the related guising and souling),
• attending gaily feted costume parties,
• carving pumpkins and turnips into spooky jack-o'-lanterns,
• lighting bonfires,
• apple bobbing,
• divination games,
• playing pranks,
• visiting haunted houses and attractions,
• telling frightening stories, and
• watching horror flicks and Halloween-themed films [28].

Some Christians practice the observances of All Hallows' Eve, including attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead [29][30][31], although it is a secular [32][33][34] or even demonic and Satanic celebration for others.

Historically, many Christians abstained from meat on All Hallows' Eve, a tradition reflected in the eating of traditional vegetarian foods on this day, including apples, potato pancakes, and soul cakes [35][36][37][38]. More

Pagan origins of Adam and Eve story

(Historical Rabbit Hole)

Adam and Eve as kundalini energy (Artofit)

Is there a Buddhist parallel to this popular Western story of a Garden, a first human couple, a Wisdom Tree, and a tricky shapeshifting Serpent? There is. One need only look at the Agganna Sutta, "A Buddhist Genesis," a discourse given by the Buddha "On Beginnings."

But first it may be better to question the Sumerian, Jewish, Christian version -- made silly by its oversimplification over the millennia. The Christian version makes next to no sense, the Jewish interpretations a little more sense, and the much older Sumerian roots from texts like the Epic of Gilgamesh the Enūma Eliš. All of these are creation myths rooted in some kind of history.

Sadly, many readers misunderstand the Buddhist version of "Genesis." The Buddha is in no way explaining how life began. It is preexisting. He is merely explaining how it came to Earth and how karma (deeds) impacts the environment. As people become so, too, the world declines. We are not evolving so much as devolving from a Golden Age (Satya Yuga), and it is all cyclical. It happens again and again.

This is an echo of the older Vedic (Hindu) and Shramanic (Jain) versions, and that is because "Buddhism" does not begin with the historical Buddha. He is constantly referring back to previous buddhas (Great Heroes or Ford-makers as Jainism calls them, avatars and sages in the Old Vedic Religion that became Brahmanism and much later Hinduism).

But here's some insight in these themes from Urgyen Jigme (Mel Pine) in Melting Pot Dharma inspired by Amie Zor in Adam & Eve (& the Self):

Adam, Eve, and Mara (Buddhist story)

Don't touch that fruit! - But I need wisdom!!

At their pure inner core, all beings know that they are not separate from one another. In that state of mind, it is as if they live in a Garden of Eden, where they have no need for shame, no need to differentiate friend from foe, good from evil, and no need to imagine a creator god to oversee their behavior.

They have no expectations that their lives should be other than they are. 

It's all me. I created everything. - Even us?

But something in our nature likes to delude us into forgetting this oneness [or unity] of all things and into believing that life should be fairer than it is.

We give that demon a name, Mara [Death, the Obstacle to Enlightenment], to help us identify it.

Suppose that, a very long time ago, the first two human beings evolved from earlier beings. We’ll call them Adam and Eve. Their inner core, or Buddha-nature [or natural state of only dreaming and soon to awake], was pure, and they had no fear of other beings, no sense of good and evil, no self that was separate from other beings and from whatever force brought them into being.

Adam and Eve did have a sense, though, that one of the trees in their garden bore intoxicating [entheogenic] fruit that they should stay away from.

That was the Tree of Duality. Looking for an opportunity to trick Adam and Eve into believing they were distinct separate beings, Mara [the Deceiver] took the form of a snake to talk with them.

No beings had ever lied to Adam and Eve, and they had no way of knowing that the snake was not really a being, so they listened as the demon Mara told them how much fun it would be to become intoxicated on the fruit of the Tree of Duality.

Zarathustra, Iran (Persia)

So Adam and Eve ate the fruit and became drunk with duality. They began to see the world as a conflict between good and evil [as taught in the novel Near East religion of Zarathustra called Zoroastrianism].

They decided that only a cruel god would create such an unfriendly place, so they invented the god of the Old Testament and then hid from him.

Because Mara had taken the form of a snake, they feared and despised all snakes. They made distinctions everywhere: friend and foe, human and animal, smart and dumb, handsome and ugly, strong and weak, rich and poor. They began to see old age, sickness, and death as unfair, as burdens, as suffering.

Four prophets: Mani, Zoraster, Buddha, Jesus

They thought child-bearing was punishment. So that was how Mara, for thousands of years to come, deluded human beings into forgetting that they could return to the Garden of Eden.

Every parable is supposed to have a moral. I’d say the moral is: Some believe in an original sin that requires salvation. Other believe in a delusion that requires awakening. — Mel Pine (Urgyen Jigme)

Apollonius of Tyana is God; Alan Watts' Bible

The Fascinating World of Lost Medieval Cities: Buddhist Angkor Wat, Cahokia, USA...

• Who is Apollonius of Tyana?
• VIDEO: Ancient rock art reveals animals believed to be extinct long before humans walked earth

Alan Watts reveals that Christian/Jewish religions are made up

• Alan Watts (alanwatts.org); Eds., Wisdom Quarterly, April 3, 2025

Where did Celts really come from?

(Up Close - Documentaries) Where did the Celts really come from?

Ancient meditation? Celtic god Cernunnos

Who were the Celts? Were they the meditator depicted above (Irish Zen Buddhism. : r/aiArt)? Buddhism has arrived in Ireland to be sure: Buddhists open first Zen center in Ireland (Buddhistdoor Global). American Roshi Brad Warner went from Los Angeles to check it out: Brad Warner's visit to Zen Buddhism Ireland (Zen Buddhism Ireland). But long before that, it was an Irishman who became the world's first Western Buddhist monk: Venerable U Dhammaloka, the original Dharma Bum. See: thebuddhistcenter.com/dublin.

Reconstruction of Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave, Stuttgart, Germany, c. 530 BC

• Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Full Pink Moon: Coachella Uposatha

Will pink full moon be visible in Pakistan (ancient Gandhara) April 13? | Buddhism in Pakistan

April 2025 Full Pink Moon: When to see the micromoon this weekend

(KHOU 11) April 10, 2025: The Full Pink Moon rises on Saturday, April 12th, 2025, as a rare "micromoon" and Paschal Moon, which matters a great deal to the world's Christians and Astrotheological "Pagans" who celebrate the great rebirth/resurrection now called "Easter." Was it once the worship Esther (Eostre, which gives us the sexual word estrus)? Here’s when to watch it and why it matters for Easter celebrators.

Full moon observance

Moon over Buddhist Burma, Shwedagon Pagoda

Buddhists the world over celebrate the "sabbath" or "lunar observance" (uposatha) according to the four phases of the moon, the planet's cyclical timekeeper. Of these four phases, the full moon phase is of particular importance. Many who may only observe the Eight Precepts and intensive Buddhist practice once a month will choose this phase for their observance. It is a great way to make regular skillful (wholesome, good, profitable) karma. This will be great merit for the future because "karma is everywhere we're going to be." What is the uposatha observance and how does one fulfill it? That is a good question to ask Theravada monastics in the area. They are all over the United States now. May we suggest Western scholar-monk and Pali-to-English translator Bhikkhu Bodhi at the Buddhist Association of the United States (baus.org/en) in Carmel, Upstate New York? It is also New Year's Day on Monday (Moon-day) in Theravada Buddhist Sri Lanka and Buddhist Bangladesh (which still has two thriving albeit tiny Theravada Buddhist communities surviving in Chittagong and the Hill Tracks).

• KHOU 11; April 10, 2025; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

When Jesus Christ was a PAGAN God

Mithras is Mitra is Maitri is Maitreya is Messiah, ancient origins of a Teacher (Friend) to Come

(Caesar's Messiah) Jesus Christ, the Pagan Sun God - Origin of Christmas - Pagan Parallels

Was Jesus originally a Pagan god? | The Christ Series

(Spirit Science) April 2, 2025: Why is it that before Jesus [the Christ, the Annointed One, the Nazarene] ever existed, stories about his nature existed for thousands of years?

• 00:00 - Intro
• 01:41 - The pattern revealed
• 02:39 - The original Godman
• 06:18 - The connection to the stars
• 09:26 - Was there even a Jesus?
• 10:45 - When Jesus was born...
• 12:51 - Therapeutae [Buddhist Theras in Theravada?]
• 15:15 - But then...

Long before Christianity, the blueprint was already written. This episode of The Christ Series explores the ancient Mystery School traditions of the Mediterranean world — spiritual schools [based around an entheogenic, psychedelic, hallucinogenic drug, according to Greek philologist and Bible scholar Dr. Ammon Hillman] that centered on dying and resurrecting godmen, sacred rituals of rebirth, and the quest for [ego death and] inner transformation.

• Eleusinian [hallucinogenic drug] Mysteries
• The Chemical Muse: Drug Use and the Roots of Western Civilization (Dr. Ammon Hillman)
• Christspiracy: The Spirituality Secret

Egyptian gods Osiris, Anubis, Horus

From baptisms for Osiris in Egypt to Dionysus in Greece, Mithras [a Maitreya/Messiah figure once worshiped on the Vatican grounds in the Holy See in Rome] in Persia, and Attis in Asia Minor, the core themes now associated with Jesus that were already part of a much older spiritual tapestry.

The idea of a "divine incarnation" (avatar) is not unique to Jesus or Christianity but is found in Hinduism with Krishna, Buddhism with Svetaketu* (descending from the Tusita heaven or celestial space world to be reborn as Prince Siddhartha) [Setaketu was the Bodhisatta (the Buddha-to-be) reborn in Tusita in his penultimate rebirth. Sp.i.161; MA.i.103], Zoroastrianism with Saoshyant, and the Egyptian solar deity Horus, who daily vanquishes darkness (Set).

Dive into how early Jewish thinkers, especially in Alexandria, encountered these traditions and began weaving them into a new story — one that would become Christianity. But what emerged in those early days was not the rigid religion we know today. It was something mystical, symbolic, and deeply personal.

Mystery school drug use in ancient times

The Chemical Muse (Hillman)

In the city-states that gave birth to Western civilization, entheogenic and/or psychedelic DRUGS and substances were an everyday element of a free society. Often, drugs were not just available, but vitally necessary for use in medicine, religious ceremonies, and war campaigns. Their proponents and users existed in all classes up to the emperor. Citing examples in myths, mysteries, medicine, and literature, Dr. Hillman shows how drugs have influenced and inspired... More

• The Buddha is always spoken of as a kshatriya as if the Shakyas (Scythians) were part of the Old Vedic Religion or Brahminism

(Spirit Science) Did Jesus have past lives? (Yes) | The Christ Series

*World's first reincarnation story

Maya's dream (Setaketu Bodhisatta)

Before the Future-Buddha Shakyamuni was reborn on earth, he was reborn in a higher sensual heaven (the Kama Loka or "Sensual Sphere" world called Tusita or "the Joyful") as its ruler, Svetaketu (Pali Setaketu). There is a story in the Vedic Chandogya Upanishad that is the first time rebirth/reincarnation is mentioned in the Vedas and perhaps in all of the known writings in human history. In this story, Svetaketu returns home from studying. His childhood friends ask him what he learned about the afterlife, to which he replies that it was not part of his curriculum. They ask Svetaketu's father, and he also does not know, so they ask the king, who claims to have known all along and explains the concept of reincarnation. He adds that it is a common belief among the kshatriya (warrior, noble, administrative class) and from this belief, they draw their power (courage in battle) [2]. More

(Spirit Science) The Apocalypse is on its way ✨

• 💠 From mystery to mastery — begin a Lightbody Activation: spiritverse.academy/light...
• Six Spirit Science tagged products: Tao Te Ching: The Virtual Way, The Hermetica: Rebirth of Wisdom...
• Spirit Science, April 2, 2025; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

How to offend Irish friends in Ireland

🇮🇪 What are 7 things sure to OFFEND most Irish people in Ireland? ☘️ (Diane Jennings)

(Diane Jennings) Happy St. Patrick’s Day! If celebrating today, make sure you don’t accidentally offend an Irish person. From the ultimate crime of saying "St. Patty’s Day" (seriously, it's Paddy!) to disrespecting Guinness, tea, and our right to complain, here’s what not to do.

Ever wonder why we side-eye people who mispronounce Irish names like Caoimhe or Dún Laoghaire? Or why ordering a Guinness and drinking it immediately is a massive mistake? This is a survival guide to keeping Irish people on your good side. What’s the worst offense on this list? 🍻 Let me know in the comments! #irishvideo #irishpeople #irishgirl ▶ Patreon:  dianejennings

Fat Thursday: preparing for Lent

The Polish way of praise with fat and flour, fried and coated with sugar to not lose weight

Fat Thursday in Poland is a Catholic celebration of Lent-fasting by fattening up first to be closer to G

Catholics get a Hindu tika for Ash Wednesday

Fat Thursday (French Jeudi Gras, not to be confused with next week's Maundy Thursday, ahead of Mardi Gras) on the Catholic Calendar takes place on the Thursday ahead of Ash (Tilaka) Wednesday (the official start of Lent) in February, right before the 40-day period of Lent. That’s February 27 this year.

• There's a Buddhist "Lent," too, called Vas

And yes, it’s exactly what readers may be thinking — a time to indulge. Clear the kitchen and pantry in preparation for FASTING. That’s what Lent is all about, abnegation, austerity, asceticism as watered down as can be and still called a sacrifice and abstention.

• 

  I'm going to kill this Lamb (of God) and eat him

  Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday") is coming, the time of year all Catholics become ducks and stuff themselves (Foie Gras) until, loving the Lamb of God, they demand Veal (made of baby Cow) and then go back to eating baby Lambs, chopped

What is Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday)? The REAL history and tradition explained, New Orleans and Rio

As the lean season of Lent draws near, food becomes central to many peoples’ thoughts. There’s nothing like a fast (intentional cleansing starvation) to get us thinking about food, particularly those forbidden treats loaded with calorific ickiness.

If donuts were the first thing that came to mind, then that mind is on the right track because this holiday, originating in Catholic Poland, is about stuffing our faces with Polish donuts, known as pączki, and a few other exotically named sweet treats. Pancakes come to mind.

Every Fatso knows calories don't count today.

History of Fat Thursday

Though the exact origin of how this holiday came to be founded is unknown [though the eating up of all the forbidden foodstuffs of the next forty days seems like a pretty convincing explanation], the Polish tradition of consuming donuts is very much known. It dates as far back as the 1500s.

On the religious side of things, Fat Thursday is the last hurrah before the fasting period of Lent, wherein devout Catholics give up many indulgences in the 40 days leading up to Easter, the pagan Day of Rebirth (Resurrection and fertility), when the world springs back to green life after winter.

Roman Catholicism is as far from Christ's message as Protestantism

The Lost Teachings of Jesus Christ the Church doesn’t want us to know

Traditionally, Catholics abstain from meat and alcohol during this period, as the idea is to give up things one is addicted to, loves, abuses, can’t give up even though one knows one should, in order to focus on the meaning of Easter.

Fat Thursday is known as Tłusty Czwartek in Poland. For those who doubt, the "fat" part of the name refers to the fried sugar crust of different types of pączki (pronounced \poonch-key\ or \pots-ski\) consumed by Poles all over the European country.

The Pope is dying, and all we're worried about is will he get his Angel Wings? We'll get ours.

.

Is that where the US jelly doughnut comes from?

The most traditional form of pączki is a fluffy donut filled with rosehip jam and dusted with powdered white sugar that looks like cocaine and the contents of a bloody nose on toast.

However, there are many variations now when it comes to fillings. Essentially, this day serves a dual purpose, as it allows Poles to indulge guilt-free in their favorite confectionery, while also carrying a religious meaning.

Celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans | National Geographic instead of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

• Rio Carnaval: Fat Tuesday in Brazil: Carnival in Rio (Portuguese Carnaval do Rio de Janeiro) is a festival held every year before Lent that is considered the biggest (and probably the sexiest and most decadent) celebration of Carnival in the world, with two million people per day on the streets, first celebrated in 1723 (wiki).

Guilty sexy Catholics party for Rio Carnival

Some even refer to the day as International Polish Donut Day, and the average Pole will eat two or three today, which translates to about 1,050 empty calories (if anyone is counting, though we’re not)!

If the thought of consuming donuts scares an eater (because of the gluten, fried oil, toxic white sugar, strange fillings, rancidity and carcinogenic acrylamides from heat exposure), the recommendation is to eat just one gluten-free one with a better sweetener (agave, coconut blossom powder, erythritol, monk fruit, birch xylitol, or herbal stevia, because not eating a donut on this day means bad luck for the rest of the year, according to fat Polish tradition.

Another traditional Polish dessert that is extremely popular on this day is faworki, in some places, also known as Angel Wings. Faworki are thin gluten dough ribbons, fried until crispy and sprinkled with powdered white sugar. More

• National Day Today, 2/27/25; Recovering Catholic Madison, Ashley Wells, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly