Devils In My Details é a mais nova brincadeira dark, malvada e perversa de Nivek Ogre e seu projeto solo: ohGr. Esse cara, tem um nível altíssimo de criatividade nas construções sonoras. Aliado, claro, com a liberdade de criação que tem fora do Skinny Puppy.

O álbum é simples e direto. E é justamente por isso que o Ogre sempre esteve na frente de todos os outros que se julgam góticãos por aí. A produção é tão bem feita, que no mínimo se tem de ouvir três vezes o trabalho para começar a entender a idéia.

ohGr é como os livros que permanecem na vida. Não importa quantas vezes você já tenha lido e relido. A cada investida, uma nova descoberta. Que o diga os dois primeiros CDs que até hoje não ficam datados.

ohGr - Devils In My Details - Nota: [87,50]

http://www.ohgr.org/

http://www.devilsinmydetails.com/

Boreli

5/9/8 19:00-21:00

Don't mind me as I beam with self-satisfaction over my opening hurricane set.  I can't help myself.  Especially when the dj before me ended her set with "Hurricane." =)

Also, at least one person was happy I played Love Reign O'er Me.  I mean, one *other* person, who's not me.  I think I've spaced it out enough...
Note I wrote "spaced IT out enough," not "spaced out enough."
...and "it" refers to my playing of "Love Reign O'er Me."

Speaking of space outs...

The astrology report would have been shorter if I'd been organized enough to spare you all the rifling through papers, but then, after 7 years of this kind of thing, I imagine if you're still listening to me, you're at least slightly entertained with my studied unprofessionalism. It's damned near academic.

Wie für immer, thanks fer lissnin’! And thanks for the requests, even more so. How could I have managed to work in Temple City Kazoo Orchestra's Also Sprach Zarathustra without having the Skinny Puppy to segue into?   *How*?   I couldn't have.

And ***now*** the final question is: Can I get this finished up and get out of here before the next rain band hits town?

Currently listening:
Electric Aborigines
Awesome Color
Released April 29, 2008

The astrological “weather” report:
For real, you should always go to alabe.com for your astrological weather needs.  The link is there in the column on the right, somewhere. or just type alabe.com into the url box.

Here are the paragraph fragments I brought in to read, which I *did* read, before I meandered off into semi-circular rambling:

We've made it to the final sprint of some of the more challenging astrological weather that we've been striding through these past couple weeks...  Monday is when things really start to take a turn for the better, and by next Friday, we' still have the usual good day/bad day stuff that's part of life all the time, but definitely (at least up until Mercury turns retrograde on the 24th!) we've got a solid couple weeks of more pleasant atmosphere (despite what the actual weather may be doing!)

Right now, however, the moon is void of course, and it will be void till 3:11AM. Even if you've inadvertently scheduled that most important first date for tonight, though, so long as you avoid making any important first moves---approach it as a more routine event---I know that can be difficult for a first date, but during a void moon, it's the wisest approach, and things should be alright. This means you'll need to also suspend any decisions about who you think the person it till you guys have another date, when the moon's *not* void.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That was all I had written down.  Then I got all peripatetic talking about aspects, most of which you'll find at alabe.com (I'll add them here, later, but if you're reading this before Sunday, the aspects at alabe haven't changed (except for the info about the moon), so go there).

The big news is Jupiter begins direct motion Monday, September 8, and so does Pluto. That's not mentioned at alabe.  they just give you weather of the moment there... Oops! I think I forgot to tell you Pluto begins direct movement at 11:13PM Monday night...  well, there you go, now you know!  Anyways, by Tuesday morning, things will definitely be on a more positive spin.

After the void moon tonight (over at 3:10am Saturday morning when it enters Sagittarius), it next goes void in the middle of the day, 12:42PM-1:44PM, Monday, just as Jupiter is finally getting going in the right direction.

Oh, and I noticed the last aspect the moon makes Monday before it goes void at 12:42PM (after lunch) is a conjunction to Pluto, and I commented that something was probably gonna blow up for somebody, somewhere, and if it happens to you, hopefully it'll be a good explosion...  and then to give an example of something exploding in a positive way, yes...  I played Caltrop.

/astrological “weather” report

As a member of proto-industrial legends Skinny Puppy, Dwayne Goettel was instrumental in steering the band's output away from its dance music roots and closer toward a more industrial and unique sound. Having replaced Wilhelm Schroeder (aka Bill Leeb) in 1986, Goettel was recruited for his knowledge of samplers and synthesizers, something that would become an integral part of Skinny Puppy's music.  Although Goettel's first album with the band, 1986's Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse, was neither a critical or commercial success, by 1988, Skinny Puppy was being recognized as the originator of a new musical style, comprising one part Kraftwerk and one part Bauhaus. As their fame grew, the band's lifestyle started to change too. Partnerships with Ministry's Al Jourgensen and Paul Barker led to an increasing incidence of heroin abuse, particularly on the part of Goettel, placing a great strain on relationships within the band.    By 1990's Too Dark Park -- arguably Skinny Puppy's finest effort -- the band had split into two camps, with Goettel and cEVIN Key on one side and Nivek Ogre on the other. Although still technically a functioning band, by 1992, it had become obvious that a working relationship was unlikely. Goettel immersed himself in his new project, Download, to be joined later on by Key.  Sessions for The Process demonstrated just how far apart the trio had drifted, and the resulting album proved to be Skinny Puppy's last. Meanwhile, Goettel completed work on the first Download album, entitled Furnace. Sadly, escalating heroin abuse took it's toll before the album could be released, and Goettel was found dead at his parents' home, on August 23, 1995. - Jim Harper (allmusic.com)

“Having the human body as a canvas is extremely powerful, intense, complex and unique”

Multi award winner in European Make Up and Body Art competitions, Nelly Recchia moved to Los Angeles where she collaborates on music videos and promos (Britney Spears, Madonna, Marilyn Manson, Skinny Puppy) editorials, commercials, and fine art photography. Nelly’s work is achieved only by the magic of her brushes and hours of hard work. None of the body paintings are the result of computer manipulation. Nelly Recchia’s artistry is technical yet emotional, dark and delicate, soft but strong.

Warning: This site contains Nudity you must be 18 years of age or older to view.

> Website

“Having the human body as a canvas is extremely powerful, intense, complex and unique”

Multi award winner in European Make Up and Body Art competitions, Nelly Recchia moved to Los Angeles where she collaborates on music videos and promos (Britney Spears, Madonna, Marilyn Manson, Skinny Puppy) editorials, commercials, and fine art photography. Nelly’s work is achieved only by the magic of her brushes and hours of hard work. None of the body paintings are the result of computer manipulation. Nelly Recchia’s artistry is technical yet emotional, dark and delicate, soft but strong.

Warning: This site contains Nudity you must be 18 years of age or older to view.

> Website

"Having the human body as a canvas is extremely powerful, intense, complex and unique"

Multi award winner in European Make Up and Body Art competitions, Nelly Recchia moved to Los Angeles where she collaborates on music videos and promos (Britney Spears, Madonna, Marilyn Manson, Skinny Puppy) editorials, commercials, and fine art photography. Nelly's work is achieved only by the magic of her brushes and hours of hard work. None of the body paintings are the result of computer manipulation. Nelly Recchia's artistry is technical yet emotional, dark and delicate, soft but strong.

Warning: This site contains Nudity you must be 18 years of age or older to view.

> Website

Today, I feel compelled to call the public's attention to the upcoming release of a screen musical titled Repo!: The Genetic Opera. Articulating an explanation as to why anyone should care about any screen musical is a daunting task, but if anyone can carry out that task, I can.

I trust that the majority of individuals who posses a reasonable familiarity with contemporary cinema have experienced the exhilarating sensation of utter astonishment induced in a film's audience when that film introduces a certain actor, song, or oblique reference in a context in which he, she, or it seems gloriously out-of-place, the sensation inspired by a young Clint Eastwood's small role in Revenge of the Creature, or by David Duchovny's voiceover work on the video game Thirteen. I project that Repo!: The Genetic Opera will embody the quintessence of this feeling. The following trailer will corroborate my assertion:

Less than a second into the preview, we observe that this rock opera is produced by Twisted Pictures, the enterprise responsible for gore-porn franchise Saw. Repeat the end of that sentence to yourselves: "this rock opera is produced by Twisted Pictures, the enterprise responsible for gore-porn franchise 'Saw'".  Even before the girl from Spy Kids appears, I'm shitting bricks.

Astoundingly, former child star Alexa Vega is the member of this cast least likely to elicit an audible " 'the fuck?". Anthony Stewart Head of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame attempts growling vocals and dons on a glowing helmet. Andrew Lloyd Webber's ex-wife and originator of The Phantom of the Opera's lead female role, Sarah Brightman, conceals an alabaster face with a goffik hood. Nivek Ogre of seminal industrial band Skinny Puppy, singing opposite venerable horror player Bill Moseley, has someone else's face paper-clipped to his. Though this was difficult for me to determine at first due the black wig she wears, the woman who conducts a drug deal with a man as he is ensconced within a dumpster is, in fact, Paris Hilton, whose appearance in this film nearly seems the result of some divinity's sense of humor, as I can't conceive of any reason for which anyone would involve themselves in Repo! The Genetic Opera beyond genuine interest or desperation, neither of which I imagine to be an influence on that particular wealthy heiress. Moreover, as goth as I am, I must note that David J and Daniel Ash of Bauhaus contributed to sound production.  

I suppose most would consider me remiss were I not to provide some elucidation as to this movie's plot, but I'd rather just refer my readers to more absurdity: 

Check out that overdubbing on Paris. Hopefully, that this picture is only screening in a few theatres will prevent related merchandise from being sold at Hot Topic, so that I can still love it and be cool at the same time.

-Gothicus Maximus

Skinny Puppy is an influential industrial band, formed in 1982 in Vancouver, Canada. They are known as pioneers of industrial rock and electro-industrial, genres in which they may be seen to have spawned "a litter of like-minded bands".

More clips:

Goneja

Totality

Pedafly

Links: Official page, MySpace page, Wikipedia page.

Skinny Puppy - Dead Lines (Vancouver 1986 Live)

Skinny Puppy - Dogshit (Too Dark Park backing film)

Skinny Puppy - The Choke & Brapping (Horst 1986 Live)

Skinny Puppy - Convulsion (stage screening)

Skinny Puppy - Last Call (Horst 1986 Live)

• 1975. One of my earliest memories is of a peculiar experience I had while having my nappy changed. My changing mat was on top of a chest-of-drawers in a small room that looked straight on to the upstairs landing of our house in St.Albans (where I was born). Halfway through being changed the phone rang (or someone knocked on the front door, or something) and Mum left me for a couple of minutes. As soon as she was out of sight, I heard something very big and heavy and invisible come charging down the landing towards me (maybe it was one of the Wild Things, Mrs. G?).
• 1976. Doggy was a cleverly named stuffed toy Great Gran (who was completely brilliant) gave me for my first Christmas - he went everywhere with me, and I slept with him every night. Doggy accompanied me well into my teen years (though not to the same extent), by which time he had no eyes, one ear and all his fur had fallen out. My Mum threw him away one day. R.I.P. Doggy.
• 1977.
• 1978.
• 1979.
• 1980. My Sister was born when I was five. On the way to the hospital, Dad bought me Batman and Superman action figures - the kind with tons of joints and capes made from actual fabric. When I was playing with them in the hospital room later that day, Superman took a dive from a filing-cabinet and his arm fell off. That's what I remember about my sister being born.
• 1981. I think my fear of dogs (cynophobia)can be traced back to a friend's wayward teenage brother, who was always threatening to set their dog on me, even though I was only little.
• 1982. We used to have these incredible street parties on Wynchlands Crescent. One end of the road would be blocked off, and all the adults would set up drinking tents cleverly disguised as colourful marquees. The kids would have chalk-drawing competitions on the pavement (I even think I won one once), and clowns came and made balloon animals. I have no idea what occasion we were celebrating (if any) - I'll call Mum and ask.
• 1983. When I was eight, we moved from Hertfordshire to Nottinghamshire with Dad's job (he worked for Elstree Studios which is where they made the Star Wars movies, Jim Henson's Labyrinth - which is one of my favourite movies along with, oddly, Takashi Miike's Audition - and The Muppet Show, amongst other things).
• 1984. One day, when I was about nine, Mum and Dad were going to town shopping for the day. It was just after Christmas and I had a little money to spend, but I couldn't go for some reason (probably school), so they asked me if I wanted them to buy something for me with my money. I didn't have anything in particular in mind (and probably didn't have enough for the Soundwave Transformer toy I always wanted and never did get), so I told them to get something they thought I'd like. When they got back, I was utterly dismayed to find they'd bought me a motorbike toy that zoomed across the floor when you pulled out the little rip-cord. I had a total tantrum, hurt both their feelings, and still feel bad about the whole thing to this day.
• 1985.
• 1986. My appendix nearly burst when I was eleven because my doctor said the excrutiating pain I was suffering with was caused by nothing more than 'wind' (that's 'gas' to you Americans). I still don't trust doctors.
• 1987. My school years were the worst years of my life. We moved about a lot, for reasons not apparent to me at the time, and I'd gone to eleven different schools by the time I was ten, which made it difficult to have settled friendships with anyone. Secondary school (eleven to sixteen) was worse. A kid with a weird accent that doesn't listen to pop music tends to get picked on a lot.
• 1988. My first computer was a Christmas gift from Mum and Dad to my Sister and I - it was a Sinclair ZX Spectrum +3 (the one with a disk drive). After years of wanting a computer, I freaked out like someone in a clip from America's Funniest Home Videos. One of the first games I got was Magnetic Scrolls' 'The Pawn', which I have on my PC now and still haven't finished.
• 1989. My Mum and Dad got me Bolt Thrower's 'Realm Of Chaos' (one of the greatest death metal albums of all time) tape for Christmas when was I was sixteen and they actually let me play it on the stereo in the living room on Christmas day. Much like anyone, we often had family to stay for Christmas, and my Gran (my Mum's Mum) thought Bolt Thrower had a "good beat".
• 1990. I was a member of the Napoleonic Association for a little while. You know the type of thing - we got dressed up in period costumes and re-enacted Napoleonic-era battles. I was a standard-bearer. The flag-pole fit into a tube that I had to strap on like a belt and which rested dangerously in my groin area (I tried googling for the proper term but couldn't find an answer). I remember trying to march up a hillside like this, once. The standard was extremely heavy, and the hill was rather steep. The combination made it a struggle for me to keep the whole ensemble upright and I was slowly pulled forward, which caused me to stick my bum out awkwardly, much to the crowd's amusement. I was rescued by a fellow soldier quite quickly, but, lamentably, not before my pride suffered.
• 1991.
• 1992. My first job after school was a YTS (Youth Training Scheme - which is supposed to mean you get practical, paid, work experience at the same time as going to college, but which, for me, meant being treated like a dog, often working six days a week for fifty quid a week, and not getting to go to college) position at the local Way Ahead record shop/ticket office in Nottingham, which was mostly known as a rock and metal shop (although I did pick up Front Line Assembly's 'Tactical Neural Implant' and Skinny Puppy's 'Last Rights' LPs - yes, actual vinyl LPs - while working there). I got to meet quite a few bands (Love/Hate, Bang Tango, Electric Boys, Danger Danger, Enuff Z'Nuff, Napalm Death and Carcass are the ones I can remember) when they did signing sessions, and also got free tickets to most gigs at Rock City, so it wasn't all bad.
• 1993. My cousin Steve used to come up from Southampton to Nottingham at the weekends sometimes. One particular Friday night I thought I'd take him to Rock City (he was a huge AC/DC fan and had never been to a rock club). I had crazy long hair at the time and had been going to Rock City for a couple of years (one of the benefits of working at the record shop was getting tickets in a way that didn't require me to prove my age), so I had no problems getting in. Steve, on the other hand, had short hair (he was in the Vehicle Corps of the Army, at the time) and was a new face, so the bouncers took him to one side to check his I.D. In a moment that will live with me forever, Steve pulled out his tank drivers license and the deflated bouncers had no choice but to let him in. The rest of the night was a complete success, and Steve went ballistic when I got the D.J. to play 'Highway To Hell' for him.
• 1994. My parents' second divorce when I was nineteen truly broke my heart (I didn't find out about their first divorce until the second was inevitable).
• 1995. After my parent's divorce, I wanted to stay in Nottingham (my Mum and Sister moved to Cornwall to be near my Mum's family - I'll always regret not going with them) and ended up living with my Dad at my future step-mum's place for a while (which was as bad as you're imagining). One day, my Dad brought a tape home for me. Apparently my Dad and his mate had been having one of those 'my son's into that weird goth stuff' conversations a couple of days earlier and my Dad's mate had given him a demo tape of his son's band for me to listen to. It came with a note about a gig at the Cookie Club (which wasn't then where it is now) in Nottingham. I played the tape and liked it, so I went along to the gig and met my Dad's mate's son, Mike. It turned out that Mike and I had a lot in common - because of where our Dads worked we'd lived in the same places and moved to Nottingham for the same reason - and we hit it off instantly. I spent one of my favourite periods of my life, so far, hanging out with, and roadie-ing for, Mike's band Manuskript. We travelled all over the U.K. for gigs and I got to meet tons of really cool people and bands (Die Laughing, Night Moves, The Horatii, Redemption, Children On Stun, Gethsemane, Vendemmian). A lot of water's gone under the bridge since then, but Mike and Paul are the only people I've lost contact with whose friendship I wish I still had.
• 1996. One particular Manuskript gig sticks in my head more than others. It was in Glasgow (I think the place was called The Cathouse) with James Ray's band The MK Ultra. Why was it so memorable? Well, it turns out that James Ray and I had similar jackets (well, they seemed similar to him in his highly inebriated state, anyway) and when he claimed my jacket (which a friend had painted Death, from Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics, on the sleeve of) instead of his at the end of the night we nearly came to blows. I did get my jacket back after a long argument, but not before discovering an old tobacco tin containing a picture of a goat in the pocket of James'.
• 1997.
• 1998.
• 1999. Until I came to America, I'd rarely been without work. During one summer of unemployment, I decided I needed to figure out a career, thought web design looked promising and maybe I should teach myself HTML. I bought myself a book out of my next dole checque, and so began my web design career (which is on hold at the moment, thanks to America's insane immigration red-tape).
• 2000. I got my first professional job as a web developer when I was about twenty-five. The experience was not a good one. My boss was an impatient, unreasonable and impractical Irishman with a very short fuse. Things went further downhill when Lee, who I'd become good friends with, left for pastures new. I found out a few months later he'd been killed. Lee's replacement at work, Phil, casually remarked, one day, about how his American friend's friend, whose name was Lee, had been killed in a car accident. Turned out that, although Lee and Phil didn't know each other, Phil's American friend had been friends with Lee.
• 2001. When I'd finally had enough with working for the mad Irishman, I was lucky enough to walk straight into another web design job. It was a huge improvement over the last place, although the company was run by Christians who, upon discovering I wasn't religious (I'm not anti-religion, I've just never thought about it much), thought that must mean I was a Satanist.
• 2002. Began my DeviantART page On June 14^th. A quote from my stats page: "safetycopy has 1,465 page views total and his 34 deviations were viewed 1,498 times".
• 2003. The strange story of Mr. and Mrs. G. One day, Mr. G pops along to his local metal CD shop to inquire about a particular band (I forget who it was now). "I've no idea," says the man at the counter, "but you should check out this website called Glitzinet - if those guys don't know..." So, Mr.G hits the website, finds the info he needed and decides to hang out in the forums there more often. Then, along comes Mrs. G, drawn to the website by equally coincidental circumstances. After much forum foreplay, Mr. and Mrs. G become "email buddies" (yes, that's actually what we cagily called it at the time), eventually move to ten-hour phone calls and fall deeply in love. After carrying on like this for a couple of months, Mrs. G invites Mr. G over to America - they couldn't stand being separated any more. In a most uncharacteristically certain move, Mr. G marries the lovely Mrs. G and they still live happily ever after.
• 2004. For a while we lived in a not-so-charming carriage house in Kentucky, sharing the space with shadow people and strange scrabbling sounds in the roof. We eventually decided enough was enough when we were plagued by very boisterous killer spiders (that actually came at you looking for a fight) and a black snake fell through the study roof (we found out too late it was illegal to kill these snakes).
• 2005. I played Neocron and Anarchy Online until I was bleary-eyed, L downloaded so much music we didn't know what to do with it all. We all look back on this time fondly simply because our internet access now is coal-powered. Eventually, the money ran out, the fight for my naturalization dragged on, and we suffered the worst of all humiliations - we had to move into my mother-in-law's place, where we remain, hoping we'll get everything sorted one day.
• 2006.
• 2007. William Gibson was my favourite author for ages and I feel a bit guilty that I prefer Haruki Murakami these days.
• 2008. Apparently, wood is the traditional gift for a five year wedding anniversary. 'Nuff said.
• 2009. ?

May 4th, 2005

I'm already falling behind schedule. sickness plus the book i'm reading getting interesting equals less time for movies.

an american werewolf in london:

i liked this movie. it had sweet non computer special effects. it was written well, and acted well. however, i'm a sucker for classic monsters, such as werewolves, so others might not like it as much.

an american werewolf in paris:

i guess this is supposedly a sequel, but has nothing to do with the other one at all. except it has werewolves. this was enjoyable too. different than the prequel. this one was less about the dude becoming a werewolf, and more about action. but i didn't get bored with it, like i do with most action movies, so i guess that's good. the highlight of this movie is the killer 90's soundtrack.
check it:

Bush
Refreshments
Better Than Ezra
Cake
Suicide Machines
Skinny Puppy
Caroline's Spine
Phunk Junkeez

there were others, but i didn't know who they were, so i didn't bother listing them.

***get your own copy of the werewolf in paris soundtrack! and listen to it while perusing through other movies with male bondage!

scott

One of the most ubiquitous symbols in the world, I am told, is the swastika. I already knew this at the time that I went to India, however I was not prepared for the full onslaught of the images popularity.

The Holy Cow

Stepping off the airplane at Delhi 'International' (the state of this airport being a whole different question), I was immediatly greeted by a cow standing in the parking-lot festooned in fantastically gaudy decorations of every description. Its important to note that this cow JUST HAPPENED to be there. It wasnt a gimmicky government tourist promotion, it just happened to be there, munching on some random debris at the Delhi airport. Thatshow India is. I was surprised and fascinated by this creature. However it was almost impossible to actually look at, because other than being categorized in my mind as "decorated cow", I had almost no mental tags to hang on anything I was seeing. The result, as anybody who has ever experienced culture shock knows, is sort of a polymorphic entity of very little discernible quality. The overall effect is something akin to that achieved by the special suit worn in the PKD inspired movie "A Scanner Darkly". A ever changing panoply of uncertain design. 

One thing that did stand out for me, however, was the bright swastika, emblazoned on the holy cows forhead. Since then, I have seen little swastikas hiding all over the place, mostly incidental occurrences that make very little lasting impression. Well, these are some of the answers to my question "What's up with the swastika, anyhow?"

The swastika is everywhere (!)

The symbol can be found almost everywhere in the world, from neolithic times. It was used by groups as divergent as the Indo-Aryans, the Persians, North American Indians, and the Greeks. The swastika symbol was discovered by that most dubiously motivated of treasure hunters, Heinrich Schliemann when he was digged at (or rather straight through) the site of ancient Troy. Swastika symbols are also present in Bronze and Iron Age designs of the northern Koban culture, and Azerbaijan, as well as of Scythians and Sarmatians among many others. In many of these cultures, the swastika doesnt seem to have any really special significance, merely being one among many of various common geometric designs.

The symbol still survives today in many cultures including the above mentioned Indian, as well as the Basque and the Latvians (see upper right mitten, from this weaving book on traditional mitten patterns) as well as many others. In most cultures, the swastika is, and has been seen as, a symbol of good luck. Some argue that there is a difference between the left facing good luck swastika (often call a sauvastika, pronounced like swastika but with a thick 'count dracula' accent) and the right facing "evil" swastika. However, it seems less than clear that this distinction holds up across space and time.

Swastika origins - Basket weaving?

The origins of the swastika are a lot harder to pin down than its ubiquitous nature. One theory that seems to have a lotof sense to it is the "basket weaving culture" theory. According to this school of thought, the swastika pattern will arise independently in every culture that weaves baskets, due to the nature of the weave. "The swastika is a repeating design, created by the edges of the reeds in a square basket-weave." Beginning at the bottom of the basket, each arm must turn in conjunction with its partners at 90 degrees. Looking around for various baskets in my house, I notice that most of them have employed some method to obscure this obvious physical necessity at the bottom center of the weave. Whether this is unconscious, or fully conscious on the designers part, I could only hazard a speculative guess. However it is telling to note the degree to which the swastika pattern hits the modern western mind with ill-ominous (omens) overtones. Its unfortunate association with the Nazi Party occurs much to the chagrin of many Hindus, buddhists, and suchlike peoples worldwide.

Swastika origins - a Heavenly Sign?

Another theory, put forward in part by Carl Sagan, advances the idea that the swastika may have been first identified as a comet, streaming past. (Sagan, Carl; Ann Druyan (1985). Comet. Ballantine Books, 496. ISBN 0-345-41222-2.)

Each of the arms may have been jetting gas as it streamed towards the sun. A silk from the Han Dynasty which appears to depict various comets in ages past shows a very distinct swastika pattern on one particular comet. Sagan hypothesizes that the jets, seen from an axial view, would easily resemble a comet. Presumably then, a common comet seen by many peoples in the neolithic period could be an origin for the swastika pattern. Or perhaps the same or several comets seen in various epochs. The exact identity of these is probably best left to those who professionally identify heavenly bodies.

Swastika Origins - Owls?

Finally, it seems that various bird tracks (especially that of the owl) form a swastika pattern, which neolithic people seem to have payed a lotof attention to. Their renditions of various bird tracks appear in clay and on paintings back into the neolithic period, and sometimes appear to merge into swastika symbols. Owls are said to have "zygodactylous" or "semizygodactylous" (outer toe reversible) feet that can leave swastika like foot-prints in loose dirt or sand. An ancient chinese legend tells of the inventer of writing Ts'ang Chieh, who used animal and bird tracks to invent the original symbols, including one that looks much like a swastika.

Joseph campbell directly links the swastika with bird tracks, giving an instances where the two are directly correlated on a single item.

 Cultural "Cross"-contamination

Probably, some combination of the above theories is the truth of the matter. At any rate, reinjection of meaning from other formerly unrelated symbols seems pretty common. For example, the 'bird feet' symbol could impregnate the 'comet' symbol with its own meanings when the former had lost most of its meaning of reference. Likewise, a culture coming across a similiar symbol to its own in a second culture it had contacted or subsumed might easily assume the foreign symbol as having the same referant as its own. We know this happened quite often. The Greeks for example assumed every foreign god was actually one of their own in disguise, and every foreign nation was born of one of their own heroes. Thus the Persians, a name etymologically unrelated to anything in Greek, become the sons of Perseus. Likewise, the Romans seeking to emulate everything Greek, reinvented their pantheon in perfect Greek form.

It seems possible to me that the Christian cross is a minimalist echo of the ancient form, a subset of the overall swastika group. In fact, crosses like St. Brigid's cross seem to intimatly link the two. This cross is used in ireland, and may represent a cultural fusion of the swastika and cross traditions. It is often woven in Ireland to celebrate the coming of spring. No surprise there, as weaving is a traditional symbol of coming harvest, and thus fertility. As you can see, the cross nicely illustrates the weaving culture theory of swastika origin, while at the same time claiming to be a Christian symbol.

In the memeslush world in which we live, its notsurprising to see other groups happily grabbing on to the swastika. One example is the "Church of the Process" which uses a "Process cross" as its symbol.

Skinny puppy, of course, uses a variant of the process cross on their album "The Process".

There is a new book out on the swastika, which I have not read. A review is available here http://marketoutthere.wordpress.com/2008/05/15/b000ot7xu2/

It is, of course, always necessary to review the source of such material. Anything academic, especially if it is in any way connected to the Nazis, 9/11, or aliens, requires one to keep a close eye on the authors motive.