Brewing A War to End All Wars...

I'm not sure now at what point I began to see the realities of yet another war to end all wars, and possibly the last, but that is what is on my mind this morning. Well, that and a returned rent check because of a postal error. That's another story and I feel World War 3 is likely to happen before I get evicted for nonpayment of rent, especially since I've already handled that little tornado of disquiet.

That's right. Now I remember -- or at least have an inkling of where this all began -- with the European Union (EU) and Britain leaving the EU (Brexit) and the treaty of Lisbon which began with CFS, Sweden health care system, and the people waking up to realize that they have been lied to, cheated, and treated like dirt.

What did not work in the USA -- and is still going on -- was the Food & Drug Administration's (FDA) push a few years ago to brand and regulate natural supplements and organic farms and ranches that is happening now in Sweden and other EU countries. With their socialized medicine and government tied to the EU, and with Brexit looming with catastrophic repercussions in the 250-word paragraph of the Lisbon Treaty, the Swedish government is poised to classify natural products as drugs. That is what nearly happened in the USA a few years ago and hit the brick wall of the American people waking up and saying loud and clear, "NO!" as they pushed back against the move to regulate natural products as drugs. People don't mind (mostly) the government regulating drugs, but to regulate natural products, essential oils, vitamins that actually contain usable and bioavailable vitamins and minerals, and the tools of naturopathic and holistic medicines is never going to happen as long as the people (awake, anesthetized, and asleep) have a breath in their bodies and a tiny spark of fire in their bellies. Mess with drugs -- it is to be expected -- but do not mess with the only (relatively) safe food and plant-based products available to the public. This move to classify food and natural, organic plant-based products as drugs was the first step on the road to Monsanto's genetically modified organisms (GMO) and world-wide government control of what goes into the food and water supply around the world, which is why California, home of much of the organic farming industry's food, is experiencing the severest drought in recent memory (recent because the weather control departments in our government have only been tracking such things since the 19th century (that's the mid-1800s) when more control over the world's populations in the industrialized nations began.

The drought in California has been manufactured by weather control under the government's jurisdiction. "But we don't have the technology to control the weather," you will say. Oh, yes, we do, but the average American doesn't buy into the whole chemtrails as weather control scenario because the government has sold most of the population on the belief that claiming the drought has been manufactured is the product of science fiction, fantasy, and conspiracy theorists just waiting for their chance to be beamed up into outer space by nonexistent extraterrestrials. After all, X-files was just a TV program and Mulder was just a character on a show. None of what was portrayed on The X-files was real. Things like that don't happen in the real world.

George Soros doesn't fund terrorists or back the plan to exterminate all white people from the face of the planet either. Isn't he white? Soros's color isn't the issue. What is at issue is Soros's connections through his charitable endeavors to promote everything but charity and peace. After all, many Caucasian/white billionaires throughout history have created and funded the enemies of civilization and peace only to be killed by their blood-thirsty puppets. Maybe Soros will go the same way.

The Roman Catholic Church promoted Mohammed from a simple man to the head of the Arab peoples and helped him to formulate the writings that became the Quran. The Jesuits had to help Mohammed because he could neither read nor write. His lack of literate abilities only add to the belief that God, or Allah, spoke directly through Mohammed as the prophet of God. It is no surprise that Mohammed's early writings were peaceful or that his later writings were bloody-minded and focused on war. If you can't win the people's minds with peace then the only option is to foment war to drive the people back into the arms of God and peace. You'll find that same system of beliefs in the movie, Constantine, based on the graphic novels (comic books) of the same name and the failed TV series, Constantine, where Gabriel, the archangel, one of God's chief messengers and warriors, plans to bring Hell on Earth in order to remind people that they owe all to God, the creator of the Universe.

As people become more secular and move farther from faith and handing their lives, souls, and trust to God, the only way to bring them back to their senses and remind them to whom they owe all is to make them afraid, very afraid of what lies outside the protection of God. Terror with a capital T.

Throughout history this same scenario has been dragged to the center ring so that all eyes would be focused in the right direction -- the direction of control, the direction of slaves looking up to the master. The master is always the same, carried through the pure blood lines that have always controlled the world through money, through religion, and by means of terror, and the master will not be put aside for peace or prosperity or self-determination. The master will have his due. That is why the master created GOD. It is easier to control the rabble, the sheep, the slaves, the people if they can go nowhere, do nothing, and believe nothing except in the ultimate POWER OF AN INVISIBLE GOD. That's where Mohammed and Islam and the murderous jihadis come in. They are the instruments of the master herding the sheep back into the fold.

That brings us to World War 3, the war that will not end all wars unless something changes -- or someone intervenes. And we're back into science fiction, fantasy, and conspiracy theorists.

I learned this first hand from my mother. How do you keep the truth from destroying you? Attack the source of the truth.

Isn't that what Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tale, The Emperor's Clothes, was about? Two conmen convince the emperor and everyone among the emperor's staff and servants that the only reason they couldn't see the marvelous new clothes they were fashioning for the emperor to wear was that they were unfit for their position. Everyone's eyes told them the emperor was naked and the conmen tailors were stealing the gold meant to buy the finest cloth, thread, and jewels for embellishing the emperor's new clothes, but they were afraid if they said what their eyes revealed they would lose their place in the governmental hierarchy because being unable to see the magical garments meant they were unfit for their positions. The only one not affected by the fear of being revealed as unfit for their jobs was a little boy who loudly said, "The emperor is naked as the day he was born." What little boy is unfit to be a little boy -- or girl? Not a single one.

So where are our clear-eyed boys and girls unafraid to speak up and say the truth? They're all around us, branded as liars, fantasists, unable to tell the difference between science fiction and scientific fact, and conspiracy theorists. The conmen are still looting and selling lies as truth, making certain to remind everyone that speaking out will only result in being branded a liar and a conspiracy theorist unfit for society who must be demonized, ridiculed, and gotten rid of. The penalty is far worse in today's world because the reward for speaking the truth when ridicule fails is an unplanned suicide or traffic accident or murder by government stooge or any one of the many ways in which all of those conspiracy theorists and wo/men who questioned authority have died. Look around and count the bodies. They number far more than the mountains of heads the Muslims piled up as they raped, pillaged, and beheaded their way across Europe heralding the Dark Ages.

Who is being ridiculed, demonized, and branded nowadays? Putin/Russia, China, and Iran for starters. What if it's all the same game the emperor's tailors played as they pillaged the emperor's wealth while selling him and his people a bill of goods? What if Russia, China, and Iran are the little boy who spoke out and said the emperor was naked? The easiest way to be sure is to follow the money -- the looted money.



Even some of those who know the truth can be -- and have been -- hoodwinked or else they are falling in line with the plan because they benefit in some way. If the truth can be told, the truth can also be bought and sold and the seeds of lies sown that will eventually bear poisoned fruit. Look at what is happening with Whole Foods. The GMO labeling law in Vermont is being circumvented by Whole Foods backing the Monsanto-backed federal legislation in violation of the State of Vermont's right govern their own people within their own borders. According to The US Constitution, each state is guaranteed the right to determine the laws within its own borders.  The Monsanto-backed federal law if enacted would trump the US Constitution and Vermont's right to legislate within their own borders. Make all the jokes you want about people who carry a well-thumbed pocket version of The US Constitution or the US Constitution for Dummies book because if you do not know the law of the land you will end up like all of the people governed by the naked emperor fearing the ridicule, demonization, and threats to your livelihood, family, and life while the conmen -- agents of the masters -- rape and pillage everything you hold dear.

Is no one to be trusted? Not if they can be bought. It is obvious Whole Foods can be bought -- and has been bought for a long time.



You won't need to watch your back. The destroyers, the conmen, the emperor's tailors are coming at you head on and they are gearing up for the final countdown to the war that will end all life as you know it.

If it all comes down to nuclear war and nuclear winter, you might want to consider moving.



If you read of my death by suicide, gas leak, home break-in, or anything other than old age within the next year or two, you'll know that I finally hit the limit of the government's tolerance and have been murdered. If no autopsy is done or my organs don't show some serious damage, destruction, or meltdown, that will be proof. So far, I don't think that anyone human (earthling) has the technology to destroy the human body from within and I do not have cancer or any other chronic, long term diseases. Not even an STD.

That is all. Disperse.

The Fear Agenda

What if the Islamic State was created to sow fear as part of a bigger plan to exterminate a big chunk of the world population, like say 6 billion people? A much smaller population would use fewer resources and could be easily fed and would be much simpler to control. What if Mohammed was led down the garden path to give people something to believe in and thus be easily manipulated and that as a result Mohammed's writings and actions became more and more violent? What is the use of creating a religion to control population if you don't end up with death and destruction? 

A population forcibly converted to a way of life that destroys books and knowledge and allows only the writings of Mohammed and his adherents would seriously limit revolution and anything that would get in the way of world domination. Such a world would also keep ideas like truth and freedom and individual rights out of the mainstream and keep people docile and less inclined to revolt against the world order using jihad as a means of exterminating any group that has its own ideas. 

Did you ever wonder why there was such a surge in creativity and art and science and ideas after the repression and constant struggle with the Ottoman Empire and why the Renaissance exploded into the world with an almost deafening sound? Exploration increased. Routes were discovered to the East and the spice markets of India and China that didn't go through avenues where marauding Muslims exacted their toll in death and destruction. 

Think of how the world would look now if there had been no Islam and no jihads and no Ottoman Empire. Maybe it is time we saw history the way we were taught and consider that more was lost during the Dark Ages that books and science and art and creativity and that was the purpose. 

Time to wake up, Coppertops. We've been had. 

Three pillars of the New World Order: Vatican City, London City, and Washington, D.C. Did you know that all of these cities are not part of the states or the country where they exist and are separate entities? The Vatican is the head and heart, London is the bank, and D.C. is the military arm. I think it's time we stopped criticizing conspiracy theorists and paid attention. We don't have to agree with them, but we should listen and stop to think about whether or not they could be onto something. 

Qaddafi, Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, Hussein, Islam, and various terrorists throughout history have been created by someone else -- or some government or entity with a hidden agenda that did not have humanity's best interests. Jesuits were present when the New World was being discovered and explored and their main mission was to destroy all writings and religions they found. Much has been lost due to their diligence and thoroughness. That anything escaped the fires is amazing and a miracle. The Romans and the Roman Catholic church that grew up in the ashes of the Roman Empire to spread its influence wherever Rome did not reach, especially with the discovery of the New World, has been a force to be reckoned with. What was not burned is hidden away in the catacombs and in the bowels of the papal palace in the Vatican and is kept safe in the autonomous country of Vatican City. 

Saddam Hussein spent billions of dollars uncovering and restoring ancient ziggurats and architecture because he believed he was fulfilling prophecy and his work must be completed before the End of the World. The Last Days have been preached since the 4th century AD. Several points in history were emphasized and the prophecies of the End Times has been rebooted with each major milestone, like the end of the first millennium (1000 AD) and again as we neared the 21st century. Jesus did not come down in clouds of glory and faithful Christians continue to wait. 

Since its inception in the 6th century, Islam -- and Mohammed -- have predicted the apocalypse, the End Times, and believe that they must cleanse the world to make ready for the coming of glory and the end of the world. They are motivated by the same seeds of fear they sow with blood and beheadings. Listen to Dr. Bill Warner's lectures on the real causes of the Dark Ages and how Islam fought the world to a standstill -- until some intrepid adventurers decided to find another route to India and China and the Antipodes (end of the world) by sailing west where the Ottomans did not control the seaways or the land routes and there would be no pirates and bandits. 

Fear has been the motivating force for these terrorists, fear that the will end before prophecy can be fulfilled. 

The emperor Constantine and the Council of Nicaea decided what would go in the book that defined and illustrated the religion of Jesus Christ, born of Mary in the line of David, the first great king of the Jews. All writings that did not agree with the path chosen to save the world -- and control the world's population -- were left out and everything else was chosen because it upheld the party line. Even then the doctrine of the Apocalypse was preached and written about and the End of the World and the Return of the Christ was believed to be imminent. Christianity must make the world ready for the coming glory and cleanse the world of sin, which is where the Jesuits come in and where the role of the Roman Catholic Church expanded. Fear of an eternity spent in the fires and torments of Hell motivated the believers to murder and torture and repress the people -- and to decimate the population. 

In Roman times, decimation was lining up the troops and killing 1 out of every 10 men to punish the troops. The Latin word for 10 is decem and is the basis of the decimal system and decimate. 

It wasn't enough to keep the population in check and so plagues were released. All throughout the Middle Ages there are stories of hooded and robed men walking through towns and hamlets and cities carrying a lantern on a pole that gushed smoke. Edgar Allen Poe even wrote a story, The Masque of Red Death, that illustrated those anecdotes and created the first horror fiction. 

There is a scene in the movie version of Masque of the Red Death starring Vincent Price where hooded men wearing robes of different colors meet on a hilltop after spreading various plagues. Millions died in the plagues of Bubonic Fever (the Black Plague) among others. 

When Mohammed had his vision and created Islam and the worship of the moon god Allah, his vision of the future was peaceful. As time went on, Mohammed's visions became more violent until the result was a tide of massacre and enslavement across the Middle East and Africa and Europe, sparking the Christian crusades. The forces of Islam and Rome were like millstones grinding the people between them and decimating the world population further, but the extermination of the people didn't go far enough, which is when the plagues began ravaging the world. Nothing like a well timed virus or bug to weaken people sufficiently to keep them from fighting so hard against extinction. 

It may well be that the Vikings were another player on the field, led by greed and the riches of the rest of the world and the promise that their death in battle would be their ticket to the halls of Valhalla where they would feast and drink for all eternity in the company of Odin and Thor and the Norse gods. 

I've always wondered why the story of Odin is so similar to that of Jesus Christ. Odin was crucified and died and came back to life just as Jesus did. The only difference is that Odin lost his eye in payment for the knowledge he gained. 

The 9 realms of the Yggdrasil (world tree) are also similar to the 9 worlds of the Maya and yet there was no communication between or knowledge of the other's culture and beliefs. I'd call that a huge coincidence that two such different cultures could have such similar beliefs. Belief is the name of the game and it's partner is knowledge. What one group believes can be changed by interaction with another group with similar -- or even different -- beliefs. It can change everything. 

In their raids on the rich lands and kingdoms of the south, the Vikings were exposed to Christianity and their natural curiosity led to more than the riches the people bestowed on the Roman Catholic Church. The raids led to knowledge and changes for the Vikings and their world. 

It seems no different in our modern world that fear drives people to war and war destroys the lives and future of millions of young men and women and children, further decimating the world population. New forces have been called up to exterminate humanity: religious wars, wars of aggression, wars of liberty to throw off the yolk of oppression, and new boogeymen can be called up and created at need. The call is not in the name of God, but in the name of liberty and freedom and democracy. 

When all else fails, new viruses concocted in order to turn them into weapons of mass destruction (Ebola, AIDS, bubonic fever, Sarin gas, souped up smallpox and anthrax for starters, and even the 10 plagues of Egypt for starters) to decimate the world population further, especially since the Zero Population Growth program didn't work in 3rd world countries where people with less education and fewer resources have nothing else to do with their time than make babies. Contraception was unknown and not a favorite among the people. It's more fun to make babies than waste a man's seed in a rubber tube or take a pill to keep a woman from getting pregnant. The Roman Catholic Church had already programmed the people to make babies for God and not waste a man's seed like Onan did when he spilled his seed on the ground after he married his brother's widow. Committing sin is not a good idea -- and will not increase the numbers of believers (see The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson). 

Islam teaches that a man should have many wives and concubines and produce as many children as possible to honor Allah by increasing the numbers of his followers. I think that is the problem with using religion as a tool of fear. Religion teaches obedience and honoring the word of God. Nothing spreads religion faster than priests and evangelists than by giving birth to them. More babies means more fighters and more Christians and unbelievers (kafirs) can be killed. It's ultimately a numbers game. Christians, especially of the Roman Catholic variety, and Muslims are the same in that regard. 

Of course more children does not meet the goals of world domination when the goal is to to decimate the population. More babies means more people to exterminate. Time to beef up and prepare to fire the biologic weapons again. If bacteria and viruses have babies more will die. 

One good thing about plagues is that plagues don't recognize their victims by religion or culture or nation. They cut down everyone indiscriminately. 

Well, not everyone. Nature built in a fail-safe. Plagues kill everyone but a small percentage, usually about 1%, of the population and the immune system musters its own forces to battle the invaders -- antibodies that are resistant to further attacks. That is how smallpox was eradicated, by injecting or exposing people to weakened strains of smallpox or by rolling the dice and introducing live bacteria from someone already infected (usually pus from a sore or blood from the dead and dying) into the healthy. Some will die, but the ones that live will produce their own biological soldiers (antibodies) that can be used to treat new cases and protect those who have not been exposed before. Eventually, the process was made simpler by creating a vaccine that could be easily introduced into children to protect them from contracting the disease (or plague) by scratching the skin or by injecting the serum into the body. 

Many bacterial diseases have been stopped dead in their tracks by vaccinations, but saving people has never been the goal. Saving the right people is a good idea, but since the rest of the world must be decimated, the diseases and plagues for which there are antidotes vaccines will have to be boosted and made more virulent so that more people will die. 

I'm sure the deaths of the natives of the New World were a potent illustration of what happens when an unprotected population exposed to a disease to which invaders were already immune was an object lesson the Powers That Be would never forget. The poor savages would not have died in vain since they gave new life to the 10 plagues of Egypt and demonstrated how best to get rid of 86% of the world population. 

As new terrorist attacks blossom with their deadly toll and war rages on, it would be in humanity's best interest to pay attention and heed history. There is nothing new on earth, just a modified application of old techniques boosted for future release. It may not be God visiting plagues and war and senseless death on believers and unbelievers alike, but a force closer to earth and closer to humanity seeking to gain control of mankind. Think conspiracy theory on a global basis and ignore the criticisms and name calling that dog the footsteps of the visionaries. There is more to the story and you have only begun your journey down the rabbit hole -- for now.

That is all. Disperse.  

Pruning the Tree

 

As I was choosing an illustration for this post I vacillated between burning books and the word propaganda on fire or covered by a blindfold. Censorship also briefly suggested images and illustrations, but it is all thread from the same cloth and that cloth is control. 

Knowledge is power and knowledge can be shaped, blotted out, censored, burned, changed, and altered in so many ways. One of the main ways to shape knowledge is to eradicate it and nothing has offered more opportunity and latitude than religion. Oh, you say to yourself, she's one of those. Probably an atheist or a heretic. She wants to control what we think and how we think. 

No, I don't. That is the agenda, the game plan of whoever wants to blot out how many people pay attention to what I say, what I write, how I express myself. Yes, I want to offer you knowledge. I want to change your mind about certain things, some issues, but I do not want to force you to change your mind. I do know want you to unlearn what you know or court a case of amnesia. I want to offer you a choice to believe or not to believe. It's up to you. 

Currently in US politics, Donald Trump is tearing up what should be the usual mud slinging, back biting, and lie fest that is the heart of politics. Every election the politicians parade their platitudes and promises for the people so that voters may make an informed decision, what is seen by the people as a clear choice for change. That rarely happens because the puppet masters will never let that happen. Those few individuals who see the strings and tell people they are being lied to and played will discredit the whistle blower, sometimes to the point where the whistle blower is branded as insane and dangerous, and everything will go on as usual according to the rules of the game. The whistle blower will fade into the background and may shine for a moment in a TV documentary that paints the whistle blower as someone who was honest and truthful and painted black. Viewers will feel bad for the 15 minutes of fame allotted and promptly forget why they cared at all. After all, handling the bills, raising children, preparing food, earning the money to pay for all that life requires -- and what will put them on an equal footing with the Smiths and the Joneses -- takes all their energy. You buys your ticket and takes your chances is the old saying. But there was never a chance. The game was rigged -- is rigged. You never had a snowball's change in a volcano -- and you never even knew it. 

The people most affected by Trump's center ring bombastic display aren't the people or the voters, but the career politicians and the people who have bought and paid for them -- who have always bought and paid for them. Trump will continue to put on a show and will rattle the powerbrokers' and politicians' cages and will do their best to discredit him and, failing that, will put out a contract on him. Men like Trump with plenty of money and a message that could actually change the game must be erased. They must be silenced at any cost. It is worth the risk if killing Donald Trump would not end in making a martyr of him and igniting a holy war but by sending the message to other whistle blowers that the result of being right so publicly and getting so close to ending the game will be death. 

I have called Trump a clown, a side show act, and he is both, but I see now that he is something else. He is the reason that the game was created in the first place. 

No, the game is not about politics or who becomes President of the United States (POTUS). The game is control of knowledge. Control of truth. Control of the mind of the people who don't know that this is all a game and that the real prize is who remembers what and for how long. 

In the past, the game has taken the form of witch hunts and burning witches at the stake -- or by drowning, dismembering, cutting out their tongues, and other methods that end with the destruction and eradication of the witch. 

Did you know that witch is the word that remains, but the original word meant wise woman? Someone who had knowledge. And the someone didn't have to be a woman and was often a man (shaman, witch doctor, healer, teacher, etc.) Is it any wonder that witches are portrayed as comic figures, ugly women with long hooked noses, warts on nose and/or chin or cheek with long hairs growing out of them? Are you surprised that witches were consorts of the Devil, Satan, Lucifer and that they sold their souls for power, for magic, for a way to cheat death? 

But, you will say, there have been beautiful witches and their beauty masked the evil beneath the illusion. Yes, I will answer. They were beautiful on the surface, but vile, hideous, ugly creatures beneath the skin. Their beauty was a mirage created to make sure you continue to look over your shoulder and distrust anyone with a pretty face -- or hard, muscular body -- and perpetuate the fear of magic and power and EVIL because Satan is everywhere and lies until you sell your soul. Fear is a powerful motivator. It has been used since the Creation. 

Didn't Satan lie to Eve and talk her into defying God and eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and didn't she use her feminine charms and pretty face (and sex) to entice Adam into sin by sharing the Forbidden Fruit? That may be the true origin of the evil behind the pretty face and figure and the beginning of Lucifer's evil plot to destroy mankind. This is a game that has been going on longer than anyone thinks. This is the first fruit of the Propaganda Tree. 

The story of Adam and Eve is a cautionary tale that is all about propaganda and lies. There is no truth in the story and religion has been used to hide the truth and perpetuate the lie that underpins all of society. 

There are religious beliefs that aren't about Adam and Eve and First Sin and the punishment visited on all of Mankind because of Adam and Eve's Sin or Lucifer's trickery. There remains a version of the First Sin and women have borne the brunt of the Sin. 

The Greeks passed the baton to Zeus's creation to punish Prometheus for giving fire to Mankind. It wasn't fire Prometheus gave and it was not Pandora's curiosity or opening the box that let loose all the evils into the world, save the bright spark of Hope that was left after evil was unleashed. Zeus orchestrated that First Sin but setting up a game where Pandora, a woman, was bound to follow her nature, the nature Zeus instilled in her when he created her and baited his trap with her to destroy Mankind because they knew too much after Prometheus gave them Fire, rescuing them from ignorance and an existence closer to the beasts from whence they sprang. God wasn't such a friendly and caring Father then and Prometheus was rewarded for his betrayal of Zeus by being chained to a rock in Tartarus (the punishment zone of Hell in Hades's underworld kingdom) where an eagle attacked Prometheus and devoured his liver day after day for eternity. Since Prometheus was immortal, his liver grew back so the eagle could continue to feast on him without end. 

The real point to these stories of First Sin is not the sin because that is a hoax. Part of the reason is to destroy knowledge, to keep Mankind from being more than a beast. Mankind was -- and is -- created in the image of the gods and given the power to determine his own fate and increase his own knowledge by accepting that there is more to know than what is parceled out. 

In a way, the story of Adam and Eve and Pandora and all the other women who have been burdened with atoning for the sin of wanting to know more is the story that I have lived all my life. Born female, I was not allowed to show off my intelligence or make a man or boy feel inferior because I was born to be the weaker sex. I was not meant to rule and I was certainly not meant to use my knowledge to make anyone's life better, especially not my own. If God had wanted me to rule or to lead the way to enlightenment, he would have made sure I was born male. I was born to be punished, to atone for the First Sin for all eternity because I in the guise of Eve enticed a man to share the knowledge I took from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and an eternity of suffering is all I can and should expect for my crime. 

Crime and Sin are useful tools in the Game. People usually tend to have second thoughts about committing the crime of chasing knowledge if they know the result will be punishment. It didn't stop Prometheus, but I would say Prometheus didn't know how Zeus would react and Adam and Eve certainly didn't know that their god would cast them out of the garden and force them to suffer for the rest of their lives. Adam and Eve had been God's favorite children and they were nothing after he cast them out. 

The one thing that God could not take from Adam and Eve -- or their children -- was the knowledge they gained from eating the Forbidden Fruit. That they would keep, little good would it do them. No, they must beg God for his forgiveness, which he would never give because they disobeyed Him and learned for themselves. 

The Audacity of creatures little better than beasts to believe they could possess knowledge -- and use it. How arrogant. How sinful. How evil. 

The Great Lie didn't stop with casting Adam and Eve out of the Garden and it didn't soothe Pandora's heart when she realized that through her evil and death and sin came into the world. Not even shining Hope could change that. She would live her life knowing that she destroyed her fellow beings and condemned them to a life of suffering and death and chaos. 

I doubt the outcome would have been better if Adam or some other nameless, faceless being Pandora called mate had been the sinner. Can't have the male of the species carrying the burden of shame and sorrow since they weren't equipped for suffering, not since it had been declared by their respective gods that they were the strength and power of the world. No, the weaker, more sentimental female was the better choice, especially since the female would never be allowed to lead or control power -- center stage. 

The real point was not to make Mankind suffer, but to destroy the knowledge of good and evil. Parents believe that knowledge in a child is akin to allowing the child to play with matches or use sharp objects. Since Mankind was cast in the role of child of the gods, Mankind cannot be allowed to make use of the knowledge gained without setting limits and erecting boundaries. Too much knowledge could end with Mankind deciding his and her own fate. That cannot be allowed. 

I used to see religion as a means of preserving knowledge that must remain intact. I was wrong. I see religion as a brake on knowledge, a way to decide what knowledge will be sanctioned for use and what knowledge will be suppressed. In order to put the brakes on knowledge that knowledge must be destroyed. Religion provides the perfect means of stopping too much knowledge. Holding back the water by erecting a dam or blowing up enough material to halt the flow of the river or knowledge. 

Throughout history wars have been the means of destroying knowledge. From war came the saying that the winners write the history and it is not far wrong. Sometimes the wrong person won the war, but it didn't matter as long as the accumulated knowledge was destroyed. Books were burned. Libraries were destroyed and pulled down. Possession of books and knowledge was a crime and sinners were tortured and killed. No religion is free of taint in this regard. Religions have pruned the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil throughout the lives of Mankind. 

The Roman Catholic church destroyed the writings of the people they conquered and suppressed the knowledge by murdering priests and teachers. Death by Jesuit priests. Oh, you thought the Jesuits were teachers and advanced knowledge. They did, but only knowledge that they deemed safe. The Vatican vaults contain knowledge that has been suppressed since Emperor Constantine declared Christianity the State Religion in the 4th century. 

Islam destroys any books and knowledge that is not the Quran and the writings of Mohammed's followers. Nothing else in their estimation is worth reading or knowing and is certainly not worth saving from the cleansing fire. At least the Roman Catholic church saved the books and knowledge even though they denied it to the world at large. 

Protestant Christianity continued the war on knowledge through witch trials while promoting the publishing of the Bible so that the average man who didn't know Latin or Greek could read Jesus's words for himself. Wise women -- and men -- were murdered in order to promote the Protestant version of religion. I should say versions since there are as many versions as there are Protestants that see the Bible and its teachings in light of their own conscience and beliefs. All those who do not accept their versions will be hanged or burned at the stake, but destroyed to prune the Tree of Knowledge. 

Those same Christians in the newly minted United States of America pruned the Tree by destroying the knowledge the savages had and by removing their children, taking away their culture, cutting their hair, making the wearing of native dress illegal, and forcing the children to learn the ways of the civilized world in the name of Religion. 

The Nazis burned books and murdered rabbis and priests and anyone who didn't accept the Nazi Party Line. The Mongols were supposed to have destroyed libraries and books and teachers in their wars against the Chinese. Every change in the Chinese dynasties was heralded with the destruction of the writings and teachings of the dynasty they destroyed. The Chinese often rewrote the knowledge to reflect their control and power. Every continent, every country, every people on this planet has warred on the neighbors and pruned the Tree of Knowledge. Nothing remains of the Truth -- or at least very little remains. 

The Smithsonian destroyed evidence of the giants in the Americas and giants became evil cannibals whose sole purpose was to destroy Mankind. The Smithsonian took their booty and sank it to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Like the Vatican, they keep some artifacts and some knowledge hidden deep in their underground vaults. 

The Tree of Knowledge has been assaulted innumerable times during the existence of Mankind as soon as people learned enough to question their gods and chose to decide their own destiny. No one is immune to participation in the game. All have played a part either as the victim or the power broker exerting control. The Tree of Knowledge is no longer recognizable in its original form because I doubt anyone exists that ever saw it. The knowledge of the power brokers is as fractured by the rats gnawing at the roots and pruning as the rest of Mankind is. We are all diminished no matter how we struggle to find the Truth. 

Every Dark Age, every Age of Deceit, every perversion of innocence, and every Lie and Sin committed against the Tree of Knowledge begins with Religion. Every technological marvel has been stolen and hidden and kept from the hands of the gods' children so they don't hurt themselves and it has been a very long and very painful childhood that never ends. And it will never end until the Destroyers of Knowledge are seen for who and what they are and they are stopped. It's no wonder that the old saying is that in order for the child to reach adulthood that child must kill the parent. How else are we to learn. 

That is all. Disperse.

Review: Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross

Was there a female pope as has been claimed in several historical books about her reign or is Pope Joan merely a hoax perpetrated on the Catholic church for some unknown reason? Donna Woolfolk Cross took what little she could find and turned the information into a novel.

Pope Joan is a historical novel about Joan from Ingelheim, a young girl who hungered for learning and was denied by her father, and the time in which she lived, because she was female. A Greek teacher recognized her intelligence and refused to teach Joan's brother John unless Joan was included, and this pattern continued until fate offered her a chance to change things by assuming her brother's name and gender. John was massacred during a Viking raid on the day of Joan's contracted marriage. Since she was the ward of a local landowner, whose wife was jealous of Joan's relationship with her husband, Joan had to go and in a way that would destroy all her hopes of a different life as an educated woman.

The 9th century was the darkest of the Middle Ages. Few people, even among the clergy, could read or write and women were meant to cook, sew, clean, and bear children, as many children as their bodies would accommodate. Many women, from the age of 14, were given in marriage and were pregnant every year. Many children were stillborn and even more never grew up to become productive citizens. It was believed that a female who could read and write used up all her fertile energy and could not bear children. It is the reverse of the modern joke that men have only enough blood in their bodies to run one brain at a time, except this was no joke, but the way society perceived women as chattel and baby factories.

Donna Woolfolk Cross uses her research skills and her background in writing nonfiction to infuse Pope Joan with as much fast as was available and considerable fictional skills to bring the times and Joan to life. The longing to be able to read and write and knowing the only obstacle in the way is one's gender is one that will resonate with many women even in today's world. To be hampered by biology is unthinkable to someone who hungers for more -- more books, more languages, more learning, and more life as a being with reason and intelligence. In this, Cross has hit all the right notes, even down to the internal war of wanting physical love at the peril of being unmasked as a fraud.

Pope Joan is a novel that encompassed the historical truths while offering a glimpse of the sacrifices made in the name of equality and knowledge. Pope Joan is the story of female empowerment at a time when women had no power and the only way to realize such lofty dreams was to hide what they were in order to choose knowledge and freedom. Many women throughout this period, and in other times in the history of the world, have donned masculine disguise to hide their perceived inadequacies and prove that the only inadequate thing about them is the society in which they live. Although Joan lived more than a thousand years ago, her story is as powerful today as it ever was.

The Catholic church has long denied the existence of a female pope, even while many of the popes who followed her acknowledge her existence and her contributions. I find it most telling that it was not until after Pope Joan's sex was undeniably proven that future popes must be publicly examined in order to prove they are male. There was no need before Pope Joan since no other woman had made it so far.

Cross's historical novel is as wonderful as it is shocking and all the more timely when women's rights and place in society is at peril. How many women in today's world are willing to sacrifice everything to realize their dreams? After reading Pope Joan, they may find the sacrifice worth the prize. With solid historical details and an understanding of the complexities of the human heart, Pope Joan is an outstanding novel for our times.