Babalon Explains II - Mahakali, Kali the Asura and Kali Yuga

A mistake I often see being made by bands trying to explore Hindu mythology is the conflation of Kali, Mahakali, the goddess of war, and Kali, the pudgy, big nosed demon king of sin. It's the latter who's associated with Kali Yuga, not the former. But it gets very confusing beyond the name - both are associated with war, are considered extremely powerful (for a goddess and a demon respectively) and both their names have somewhat vague origins. But lets separate the two in a digestible way-

Lithograph by an unknown artist of Maha Kali

Kali, or Mahakali (literally "Great Kali" in Sanskrit,) is a Hindu goddess who's ranking is somewhat polemical. Hindus generally agree she's important, the question is how important. Some place her as the Hera-style counterpart to the all important destroyer, Shiva, a personification of "ultimate power," the most powerful of the Mahavidyas (an order of ten Hindu gods, the Great Wisdoms, see that Maha again? Maha.) and the very agent of change in Shaktism. Others interpret Shiva's consort to be Parvati and see Parvati as the most important one.

That being said, - Mahakali is a dark-blue/black (Kali in her case derives from the Sanskrit Kāla meaning black) skinned goddess associated with war and change. She's considered a powerful source for good, unironically, even though she wears a necklace of 108 severed heads. I wish I could get away with that. Where's my fucking LiveAid?

Kali the Demon by Ravi Varma

Kali the Asura - or the Demon, is a different story altogether. First of all, why are they both named Kali? They aren't but the difference in Sanskrit is so minute as to be hard to capture in English. Broadly, Kali the Asura is pronounced with two short vowels, how you'd pronounce both the names in English more or less, while the Goddess is pronounced with an elongated A and I (had it explained to me as "Kaa-lee" but can't confirm.) The demon's name traces its root to the Sanskrit "kad," meaning to hurt or suffer.

Kali Yuga, loosely the "Age of Kali" theoretically was,is and will will be the last and worst age of four before the fulfillment of a complete cycle of the world. The yugas theoretically were, are and will be - the Satya Yuga, the Treta Yuga, the Dvapra Yuga and finally, Kali Yuga. The Satya is considered the best age, an age of truth, enlightenment and a consensus that Legion is the best Deicide record. Meanwhile, Kali Yuga is said to be an age of lawlessness, confusion and pain, where people refuse to admit that Disney making 86789421 movies in every franchise kills any chance for them to be memorable.

It is named for the asura both because it is said he will rule the world and because it is said to be an age of unbridled conflict, violence and sin. Kali the Asura represents this faithlessness and sin, a tangible embodiment of the disconnect between humanity and dharma. The vedas denote his abodes as gambling, prostitution, money and slaughter.  So ostensibly he's the Hindu god of joy as well but hey, what do I know? We're near the end and I still didn't get a Live Aid

Walpurgisnacht and Why It’s Not a Pagan Holiday

A while ago I made a post in which I blatantly said that Walpurgisnacht is not a pagan alternative to easter and gave a short explanation. But what's the background behind Walpurgisnacht? Why do we associate it with European paganism and where does it originate?

Well, as you could guess from the name, Walpurgisnacht (Val-purgis na-ch-t, a contraction of the German "Sankt Walpurgisnacht, Saint Walpurga's Night/Eve) is a holiday to celebrate the Anglo-Saxon missionary Saint Walpurga. Much as "missionary" would imply, reality is far less sexy than the story of her being anything but an evangelist.

Born to Richard of Wessex and Wuna of Wessex, Walpurga was the youngest and only girl of three. Both her parents, her uncle Boniface, and her brothers, Willibald and Winnibald, would all go on to be canonized as saints by the Catholic church for their roles in the Christianization of Francia (modern day Franconia and Württemberg in Germany.)  When Walpurga was 11, Richard did the pious thing and left his wife and daughter to go galavanting in Rome with his elder sons. But, seeing as neither he nor Wuna were super into the whole having a daughter thing, they entrusted the young Walpurga to the head nun of Wimborne Abbey.

Fate is a tricksy mistress however and ,en route to Rome, Richard caught a bad case of not being alive. His sons, not deterred by Richard's clocking out permanently, completed their journey to Rome. The two grew ill themselves, but they both survived. Fate not having the foresight to curtail their evangelical masquerading. Willibald would continue his pilgrimage all the way to Jerusalem and back, but Winibald's near deadification would lead him to stay in Rome and eventually remain in Italy as a monk.

Meanwhile, over in England, Walpurga was busy with typical nun-erisms and making the "force of habit" joke for 26 years as she acquired her education. Scholars disagree about when and where the force of habit joke stopped being funny. However in 737, Saint Boniface would recruit Winibald and Willibald to assist his conversion efforts in Germany. Walpurga also joined in, ostensibly because the 700s were thin on the ground vis a vis interesting things to do. Winibald arrived in Thuringia (central Germany) and was ordained therein. Meanwhile, Willibald was ordained by Boniface upon arriving in Eichstätt,Bavaria (south-eastern Germany.

Well so far so christly, but why is Walpurga famous? We're getting there. Walpurga was sent to Germany by Abbess Tetta in 748. On the way, she was said to preform miracles by prayer. Most notably she was said to pray away a storm which threatened to derail their whole mission. Divine providence not extending to women even if they are enlisted by saints. Speaking of which, her enlistment by Boniface is considered the first time a woman was called upon to act as a Catholic missionary. She also spent her time in Germany chronicling her brothers' lives and travels, making her arguably the first female author in Germany and England.  These were the sources of her fame and why she was canonized.

But this doesn't explain the Walpurgisnacht mixup. There are many theories on the matter, but I think the most plausible one is that it's a simple mixup, based on different May Day rituals. Walpurgisnacht falls on the 1st of May and the 1st of May has been a holiday for many European cultures over the years. Both Christian and Pagan.

Most famously, the first of May is the date on which Beltane, a Celtic holiday which heralds the coming of summer, is celebrated. Ancient Greece also celebrated the coming of summer on May 1st, calling it the Protomaios. The Protomaios was said to celebrate the final victory of summer over winter (boooooo) and the return of life to nature, allegorized in the resurrection of Adonis. It is theorized that in pre-Christian Germany, May Day was also raucously celebrated, and thus Christendom took the holiday and gave Walpurga an association with driving away "evil" spirits. So the holidays were mixed up, and the end result was the mishmash we see today of Walpurgisnacht

Unsolicited Recommendations 8

Yeah yeah it's been a while bla bla bla unexpected delays yada yada "been meaning to get to this," personal anecdotes, placating lies and vague descriptions. Lets get kicking-

Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles-

So a part of me realized that the grand majority of entertainment I talk up here is really, really depressing. So I thought, as a truce between us, Ill offer up one of the funniest movies I know. Blazing Saddles is a 1974 Mel Brooks film that really has it all.

First of all, it's hilarious. Not in the "typing LOL but staying straight faced" way but in the neighbor annoyingly "must straighten my face when it comes back to me in public" kind of way. Not only is this one of Mel Brooks' finest hours, but the writing credits include Alan Uger and Norman Steinberg of Family Ties and fuckmothering Richard Pryor himself.  The cast is a tour de force of 70s cinema, boasting Gene Wilder and all kinds of people wikipedia assures me were popular.

Second of all...  actually there isn't a second of all.  93 minutes of top tier funny unlike anything else.

P.S, Word to the wise- if you're like "oh Mel Brooks, Gene Wilder, Alan Uger, family movie," I'd caution against. Miss. Stein (Robyn Hilton,) will have you fielding some very awkward questions.

Collin de Plancy's Dictionnaire Infernal

Ever wonder where all those classic illustrations  of demons in the Ars Goetia come from? No? Well fine, start wondering.

And now wonder no longer, they originate in the work of the 19th century French demonologist Colin de Plancy's seminal Dictionnaire Infernal. The illustrations were done by the one, the only, the person who's name I learned while researching this - Louis Le Breton.  His works were either based on or were made in conjunction with one M. Jerrault. The trail ends there as we don't know who M. Jerrault was and if he had any contact with Plancy . Therefore McLovin Jerrault's input is hard to ascertain

Beyond the illustrations for 69/72 of the demons,  the book's descriptions give interesting insights into demonology, the occult world, and Plancy's journey from being somewhat secular to fully embracing fire and brimstone Catholicism. One can even read a hint of fear in his later writings, which for a man who commissioned a painting of himself chilling out with Satan is a big transformation.

The Mukden Incident

The Mukden Incident

Truth is just another lie to fabricate

a twist of tongue or a twist of fate?

My, my, the hour grows ever late

My, my, your hour grows over late

Things fall, dice roll as they may

If there's a will, there's a railway

Pretext, subtext in implied subscripted context

It's what I hear - not what you say

It's what I hear - not what you say!

Mukden

Your map of Japan is quite nice

But mine ends in Guangzhou*

The ways to tomorrow are infinite

But your tomorrows are finite and few

It's what I hear - not what you say!

Mukden

*This is a reference to a Bismarck quote that says, in part albeit representatively "Ihre karte ist ja sehr schön, aber meine karte von Afrika liegt in Europa" or "your map of Africa is nice but my map of Africa begins in Europe." The slight reframing is done to make sure it makes sense in context.

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Author's Note-

In my writings, one of the things I try to do is see the world through the mind's eye of someone who did something which, while interesting, is something I either wouldn't want to or couldn't do. The former has many examples - Khronos eating his kids to save himself, Alexander the Great striking down Cleitus to defend a drunken misjudgment of honor, and indeed, today's protagonist. An unnamed figure in the Imperial Japanese military orchestrating an incident in order to force China into the second Sino-Japanese War that would become part of WWII.

Is this glorification? I certainly don't think so, but Ill grant you- in a world where the Bay of Tonkin Incident and the Gliwice Provocation took place, false flags are a hard topic to touch on in a measured way. Especially as the phrase has been co-opted by conspiracy nutcases and used by satirical Pinocchios like Alex Jones in a "guilty until proven innocent" kind of way. That being said, I am of the belief that trying to inhabit that mind-space exploratively can lead to profound insights. If you gaze into the abyss, and the abyss also gazes into you, then perhaps the glimpse will shake you from a fear of its fathoms.