Really impressed with the response my questionnaire has received thus far – close to twenty folks have written in out of the 130+ members listed on the Facebook group, which is statistically quite good for this sort of thing.
I strongly encourage you to take some time and answer the questions because I’m using the data collected from this to not only chart our course for 2015 but to begin planning the Starry Bull gathering, which a lot of folks seem really interested in.
I’d also like to hear from more people who do not consider themselves akousmatikoi but are still hanging out and participating with us, as that is an important perspective to consider when evaluating a group.
Also, people have shared some very personal stuff with me. I would encourage you to resend that in a separate e-mail if you’d like to discuss it further, since I have no intention of responding as the questionnaire is strictly for intelligence gathering purposes.
A number of you were curious about how I could run a cult on Facebook without being a member and wished to know more about me and my credentials.
I liked seeing that!
First it shows that the thiasos is expanding beyond just the readership of this blog and secondly the people that it’s attracting aren’t stupid.
From the beginning a dual theme has run through all of my writing – love the gods and question everything else.
You should never just take a person’s word on something, particularly over the internet. And if that person is in any kind of position of authority, making extraordinary claims or asking you to contribute time and resources then you ought to scrutinize the hell out of them.
Where did their knowledge and training come from? Do their historical and mythological assertions hold up? What’s their standing in the community like? How do they handle conflict and criticism? Do they spend all their time asking for money or talking about how great or persecuted they are instead of things like the gods and the tradition and what they’re actually doing for their community?
These are warning signs, my friends, that you ought to proceed with caution. They aren’t infallible guides – some of the best priests and magicians I know are entirely spirit-taught, meaning there’s no lineage to verify. Who doesn’t have crazy detractors online? Whoring yourself out doesn’t mean you don’t have the occasional nugget of wisdom to drop. And so forth. But if enough of these line up and your instincts are telling you there’s something fishy about a person TRUST THAT and don’t place yourself in a position of vulnerability with them. When in doubt, perform divination.
Getting back to me …
I’m a liar, a recreational drug-user, a high school drop-out with no formal training, my family was involved in organized crime and in all likelihood I have several undiagnosed mental disorders.
If there’s anything more you’d like to know about me feel free to ask.
I don’t do social media, so the easiest way to get in touch is through e-mail. If you prefer more real time interaction I don’t mind scheduling phone calls or Skype chats. I’m up for meeting folks who are in the area for tea, though we’ll have to get to know each other better for anything beyond that such as training, divination, spiritual work or ritual.
Keep in mind that I am a very busy man and you are NOT entitled to my time, even if you are paying me. No matter how important it is it may take days for me to respond to an e-mail. (Anything more than a week and you should probably confirm that I received it; apparently I have a hyper-active spam filter that eats about one out of every twenty messages I’m sent.) If this bothers you, save yourself the frustration and don’t write.
Tagged: thiasos of the starry bull
