"The Earth Path" by Starhawk

"Phantom Parks: The Struggle to Save Canada's National Parks" by Rick Searle

Interesting Links:
Utne Reader
David Suzuki Foundation
New Scientist
Discover Magazine
The Medical Post Online
Ad Busters!
New Internationalist
Mother Jones.com
Salon.com
NOVA On-line
The Book of Zines
Killing the Buddha
London Review of Books
American Council on Exercise
Runner's World
The Great Illusion


Recent reads:
"A Deepness in the Sky" by Vernor Vinge

"Celtic Folklore Cooking" by Joanne Asala

"Power Spellcraft for Life" by Arin Murphy-Hiscock

"Reinventing Medicine" by Larry Dossey

"Wicca: A Year and a Day" by Timothy Roderick

"The Science of the Craft" by William H Keith

"50 Years of Wicca" by Frederic Lamond

"The Magical Life" by Vivianne Crowley

"Which Witch is Which?" by Patricia Telesco

"Perdido Street Station" by China Mieville

"Cyberhenge: Modern Pagans on the Internet" by Douglas E. Cowan

"An Ye Harm None: Magical Morality and Modern Ethics" by Shelley Rabinovitch

"Crystal Ball" by Sibyll Fergusen, revised and expanded by Witch Bree

"Gaia Eros: Reconnecting to the Magic and Sprit of Nature" by Jesse Wolf Hardin

"A Century of Spells" by Draja Mickaharic

"Evolutionary Witchcraft" by T. Thorn Coyle

"Witching Culture: Folklore and Neo-Paganism in America" by Sabina Magliocco

"Kundalini for Beginners" by Ravindra Kumar

"Ka: Stories of the Mind and Gods of India" by Roberto Calasso

"Magical Tattwa Cards" by Dr. John Mumford

"WitchCraft Today (Expanded edition)" by Gerald B. Gardner

"Self-Initiation for the Solitary Witch" by Shanddaramon

"The Second Circle: Tools for the Advancing Pagan" by Vanecia Rauls

"Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard" by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart

"Black Magick Woman: The Sinister Side of the Song of Solomon" by Janet Tyson

"Everyday Moon Magic" by Dorothy Morrisson

"Advanced Witchcraft" by Edain McCoy"

"Handfasting and Wedding Rituals" by Raven Kaldera and Tannin Schwartzstein

"Joing Hearts and Hands: Interfaith, Intercultural Wedding Celebrations" by Rev Susanna Stefanachi Macomb

"Handfasted and Heartjoined" by Lady Maeve Rhea

"Handfasting: A practical Guide" bu Mary Neasham

" Goddess in the Grass: Sperpentine Mythology and the great Goddess" by Linda Fourbister

"Theories of the Chakras: Bridges to Higher Conciousness" by Hiroshi Motoyama

"The Knife Thrower" by Steven Millhauser

"Schizophrenia: A Very Short Introduction" by Christopher Finn and Eve Johnstone

"Schizophrenia: The Facts" by Ming T. Tsuang and Stephen V. Faraone

"A Community of Witches" by Helen Berger and Colleagues

"American Gods" by Neil Gaiman"

"Scherzo" by Jim Williams"

"Goddess in the Grass: Serpentine Mythology and the Great Goddess" by Linda Fourbister

"The Forest of Souls" by Rachel Pollack

"Wiccan Roots" by Philip Heselton

"A User's Guide to the Brain" by John J Ratey, MD

"A Goddess Arrives" by Gerald Gardner

"A Community of Witches" by Helen Berger

"Nature Spirits" Selected lectures by Rudolf Steiner

"Fatal Majesty" by Reay Tannahill

"Myths to Live By" by Joseph Campbell

"The Secret Life of Germs" by Philip M Tierno Jr, PhD

"Adam, Eve, and the Serpent" by Elaine Pagels

"Whiteout: Melt" by Greg Rucka illustrated by Steve Lieber

"Whiteout" by Greg Rucka illustrated by Steve Lieber

"Queen and Country-Operation: Crystal Ball" by Greg Rucka illustrated by Leandro Fernandez

"Tunnel in the Sky" by Robert Heinlein

"The Sex Chronicles" by Zane

"The Black Man's Guide to Good Health" by Reed, Schulman and Shucker

"The Withdrawing Room" by Charlotte MacLoed

"Queen and Country-Operation: Morningstar" by Greg Rucka illustrated by Brian Hurtt

"The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2000" edited by David Quammen

"The Bourne Identity" by Robert Ludlum

"Gerald Gardner: Witch" by J.L. Bracelin

"Queen and Country-Operation: Broken Ground" by Greg Rucka illustrated by Steve Rolston

"The Ferryman Will Be There" by Rosemary Aubert

"Philosophy of Wicca" by Amber Laine Fisher

"Wilderness Tips" by Margaret Atwood

"Origins of Modern Witchcraft" by Anne Moura

Tuesday, October 01, 2002

Eegads - It's been over two months. In all fairness, more than half of those two months were spent out of the country and away from my computer... but nonetheless...

I've been contemplating death a lot recently. I mean what and when is death? Is it the end of the physical body? The mental body? Is it when brain function ceases? When the heart stops beating? When we are no longer aware of who we are? Are there different kinds of death? In some ways we are constantly dying and being reborn as we slough off old cells and generate new to replace the old. Cell death is preprogrammed. In fact for some cells, their life span is fixed. Scientists can look at specific cell lines and tell exactly when they should die. It's when these cells don't die that problems in the cell's function start to manifest. What if we all have a pre-programmed lifespan and if we somehow cheat that lifespan, that is when our machinery starts to go off kilter. I'm thinking mainly of the mind here. The body, at least after the age of about 30, is in a constact state of decay. Our muscle mass decreases, our bone mass decreases, we start to loose brain cells, the immune system starts to falter etc... The ultimate end - death of the physical body. It may be through disease, or it may be just that the body stops working one day. And why is aging treated like a disease anyway? I mean what's wrong with growing old? Okay - let's phrase it differently. What's wrong with aging? In some cultures, the old people of the society are the respected elders of the society, their wisdom sought after. They are looked after and honoured. When did modern Western society turn aging into a disease that needs to be cured? Something that should be avoided as best possible? Anti-aging creams, memory boosting potions, facelifts, tummy tucks... Buy it all, it will make you young again. It's a marketing ploy really. But when did it start? Which advertising genius first thought to take advantage of people's fear of growing old to make their millions? And why are so many people afraid of growing old - never mind looking old (I've already pretty much decided that that's a marketing/societal thing)? Why has man searched for so long for that elusive elixir that grants immortality? And why would one want to be immortal anyway? I think you get more out of life knowing it's immortal, knowing that you will age, knowing that life is a constantly changing cycle, knowing that you will never feel like you did yesterday, and will never know what you feel like tomorrow. And maybe that's why many are so afraid of death. You can't know what it is like. You can speculate, and cultures and religions from time immemorial have done exactly this, but you can never KNOW. And would you want to? I mean really? Do you really want to know what death is before you experience it? Maybe. I mean pregnant women ask about what childbirth will be like, why not ask what death will be like? Both are monumental events in the cycle of life (not to exclude other events, of course). Maybe we should know what death is, so we'd be less afraid of it. More accepting of it. And that way, we could pull the carpoet out from under the cosmetic industry, the "magic potions" industry and other sectors that make their livelihood from our fears. They could be discovering their death as we are discovering ours. Now there's a rambling thought...

Amanda 10:23 PM
E-mail your comments to: ramblingraven@cosmic-muse.com