HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: cortese@hepxvt.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese)
Subject: Re: Hair etc.
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Date: 6 Apr 92 23:24:27 GMT

In article <1992Apr02.163410.2689@demon.co.uk> Leo Smith <shaman@cix.compulink.co.uk> writes:
>...what is the function of hair - long hair...
>
>... to act as a way of distributing the body scents?
>
>If so combing it will bring out all the nice new fresh ones.
>
>I don't think the association of hair and sex magic is a coincidence
>either: I think you don't need to look much beyond pheronomes (have I
>got that right?) for the link....
>
>Maybe hair also plays some further role in subliminal communication
>as well.

There's at least a bezillion theories as to why we still have
body hair in places like our armpits and nether regions.  The
pheromone bit plays a large part in these.

There are also a bunch of theories with which I disgree about
why we have such prolifically-growing head hair.  Lots of (male)
anthropologists say it's *SEXUAL*.  (5th century Chinese men probably
said the same thing about deformed feet, and anthropologists
who should know better nowadays have said that about breasts(!) if you
can believe it!)  The ACTUAL answer (I'm not humble about this one) is
far more obvious.

Have you ever seen a bald man after he's done jogging?  The air above
his head is actually WAVERING from loss of heat.  There are just tons of
little veins and arteries all over your scalp; that's why scalp wounds
bleed like pigs.  And when there are that many blood vessels that close
to the surface, they give off a lot of heat.  Bald men and men losing
their hair have to wear hats even when it's not too cold out back home,
because they lose so much body heat when it's even just nippy, more if
there's a breeze.  Head hair acts as an insulation from loss of body
heat from the head, the part of the body most fully and reliably
supplied with LOTS AND LOTS of blood, aside of course from the heart,
which is buried deeply enough in the body for heat loss not to be a
problem.  

It isn't really needed for trapping body odors; your head just doesn't
stink as much as the other hairy bits do.  It also grows MUCH more
prolifically, and doesn't stop at a relatively fixed length like other
body hair does (I KNOW it keeps on growing, but it does do so slowly).

Sounds good to me!

Blessings,
Janis
From: CSMSETS@mvs.oac.ucla.edu (CSMSETS)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: Are there any pagans in Orange County?
Date: 13 Apr 92 15:57:28 PDT

>Northern California is not completely wonderful for people with non-
>mainstream values. There are active hotbeds of Xtian conservatism,
>KKK chapters, redneck farmers, and country-western radio stations all
>over the place. It's safest for pagans, or indeed for any sane person,
>along the coast (including the eastern edge of the Bay), in large cities
>and near university campuses, both Cal State and UC.

Hmmm, I always thought the same about O.C. Anyways.....I don't know
about posting on general purpose public boards. You may get some
strange responses. If ya want, send me E-mail, I think I have a list
of bookstores/Magick supplies shops in southern california (most
in the L.A. area, but I do have some listings for I think Long Beach,
San Diego, Pasadena, etc...). And the phone book is always good.
       --Ed
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
From: amadeus@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Susan Harwood Kaczmarczik)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: warfare and women
Date: 12 Apr 92 14:59:46 GMT
Organization: University of Texas at Austin


In article <1992Apr10.000517.4385@samba.oit.unc.edu>
shava@hermes.oit.unc.edu (Shava Nerad Averett) writes:
>Paul Harvey writes:
>>>the goddess of war later on. If you think about, does "goddess" of war
>>>make any sense?
>>
>[Shava grins a mighty grin, and thinks about her bow-hunting days, and
>her double barrel lady's shotgun with the nice ironwork bits.]  Yes, 
>it does.  If some bozo came after my kids, I would be a pacifist in
>my heart.  I would shoot the bastard to keep the peace.

I just thought I'd mention that the deities of slaughter and war in
both the Irish and Welsh pantheons are female (the Morrigan in
Ireland; and Aeron in Wales).  There are also many other aspects of
these deities; the Morrigan includes Badb, Nemain, Macha, for
instance.  And actually there were no male battle deities; gods like
Lugh came much later on and were never accorded domain over war and
battle.

This whole retrospective attempt to make "women's societies" more
peaceful and perfect than big bad evil patriarchy (with which I have
quite a few problems, never fear) really doesn't seem to be useful.
Of course, Utopian fantasies rarely are.

Did mankind worship some form of goddess first?  Probably.  Was
lineage traced through the mother for many centuries?  Undoubtedly.
Have we gotten ourselves unbalanced as a species?  In my opinion, yes.
But fantasizing about how wonderful things were before, *however* they
were before, isn't going to change a damn thing.

Goddess of war not make any sense.  Snort.


-- 
-----Susan Harwood Kaczmarczik-------------------------------*<:-)-------------
"Queens never make bargains."  -- The Red Queen, _Through the Looking Glass_
-----amadeus@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu--------------The University of Texas @Austin---
From: knox@spruce.gsfc.nasa.gov
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: Jesus was a pagan and lonely wiccians
Date: 9 Apr 92 23:19:31 GMT
Article-I.D.: spruce.1992Apr9.191932
Reply-To: knox@spruce.gsfc.nasa.gov
Organization: NASA/GSFC code 923

In article <1992Apr9.044507.3901@ulowell.ulowell.edu>, rickheit@dragon
(Erich Rickheit KSC) writes:
.....
|> 
|> This book sounds like the attack of the Episcopagans. "All gods are
one God,
|> all goddesses are are one Goddess, there is one Initiator, thank you
Dion
|> Fortune." 

Aw sh*t.  "Episcopagans" was so useful for refering to public neopagans
heavily into high ceremony, as in "You think this is elaborate, wait
'til 
you meet the High Church Episcopagans."  Now here's a different usage 
cropping up in Usenet's pagan sandbox.  ("Is too." "Is NOT."  "IS
TOO!")

The Great Goddess is wonderous in her diversity, multiplicitous in her
unity, and confusing as . . . well . . . comparative mythology, maybe?

-Nathair bheag
From: shaman@cix.compulink.co.uk (Leo Smith)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: dowsing
Date: 7 Apr 92 20:34:53 GMT
Reply-To: Leo Smith <shaman@cix.compulink.co.uk>
Organization: Gated to News by demon.co.uk

krikket@meltdown.chi.il.us (Doug Krick) writes..

>How would one create an aura-dowsing rod???

Why would you want to? You have a nice human body which is
*specifically designed* to detect auras and other paranormal
phenomena.

Why not use your middle finger instead?

:-)
From: cortese@hepxvt.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese)
Subject: burning gay guys
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Date: 13 Apr 92 21:36:41 GMT

I have tracked down so far one reference and am currently digging
through all others.  The reference is Monica Sjoo's _The Great Cosmic
Mother_, but I *KNOW* I saw it elsewhere, too.  It may have been in a
book I borrowed from my friend Sally.  It had a direct church guy's
quote that it was done to "kindle a flame foul enough for a witch to
burn in."  I CAN STILL SEE IT IF I CLOSE MY EYES.  I skimmed Walker's
Encyclopedia on it, and am on my second go-round.  I'll let you guys
know what comes of Sjoo and Mor's reference list.

Blessings,
Janis
From: cortese@hepxvt.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese)
Subject: Re: New Age/Christian Survey -Help!-specifically the responses to the 
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Date: 16 Apr 92 22:50:25 GMT

In article <205019@unix.cis.pitt.edu> mlbst25+@pitt.edu (Monica L Boyle) writes:

>Again, I will not try to defend the church's homophobic, chauvenistic 
>practices, for they are going to be the down fall of the church.  I just
>wanted to clear up the matter of whether or not the followers were sheep (not
>at all) and whether or not the leaders were money hungry (only in Rome).
>

This does seem to be an area of great misunderstanding, and may be
regional.  I also was "raised" as a Catholic, meaning I attended 12
years(!) of Catholic school, but my parents were as K-Mart Catholic as
you could get, and had no qualms about disagreeing where they saw fit.

Back home (Philadelphia), you would be hard-pressed to find a sheeplike
Catholic.  the priest in our theology classes in high school used to
talk lots about birth control being undesirable, but never realized that
90% of the people in class were on the pill.  Almost to a person, EVERY
CATHOLIC I KNEW BACK HOME WAS OF THE K-MART VARIETY.  You know -- people
who stop by the drugstore on the way home from mass.  Most of them think
that the pope is a nice old guy who is a little confused about modern
life and leave it at that.

HOWever, I am now living in SoCal, and the atmosphere in Catholicism is
different.  I have only met about four Catholics out here, and ALL FOUR
were 110% Catholic, who hung on every word the pope said and practiced
the rhythm method when married (or as my SO's mom calls it, Roman
Roulette), and abstinence when single because it was a sin not to.  (Or
else, in the case of one man: he screwed around all he wanted, but not
with Catholic women.  It seems he wants to have his cake and eat it,
too.  Have a blast when single, then go crawling to the nearest virgin
for purification.)  

But, I digress.

Anyway, in my experience, DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU ARE, Catholics are not
sheep.  You will never find a fundie Catholic, and they are quite happy
to embrace science and evolution and the big bang etc.  (Personally, I
think that this is because they were so embarrassed at the Middle Ages
and they way they mangled science that they have learned their lesson
and now just stay the hell out of the whole thing.)  

But, I might be wrong . . .

Blessings,
Janis
From: loren@wmkt.wharton.upenn.edu (Loren Miller)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: Worship of the Greek gods
Summary: which led to ...
Date: 6 Apr 92 23:21:42 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Wharton Marketing

In article <1992Apr1.184049.28268@cbnewsm.cb.att.com> mls@cbnewsm.cb.att.com (mike.siemon) writes:
>Roman history from the assassination of the Gracchi down to
>Octavian's consolidation of power was a steadily intensifying
>and increasingly brutal civil war with short pauses to deal
>with rebellious allies, slaves or provinces.

Kind of like La Cosa Nostra, eh?
-- 
+++++++++++++++++++++++23
Loren Miller              LOREN@wmkt.wharton.upenn.edu
Shoes are the most basic prerequisite for liberty
From: emarsh@hernes-sun.Eng.Sun.COM (Eric Marsh)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: alt.pagan survey
Date: 13 Apr 92 23:17:44 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mt. View, Ca.
NNTP-Posting-Host: hernes-sun

In article <1992Apr10.225821.1332@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com> billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson) writes:
>emarsh@hernes-sun.Eng.Sun.COM (Eric Marsh) writes:
>
>: >What does a person's religion have to do with whether they are a pagan
>: >or neo-pagan anyway?
>: 
>: Well, if you go by my dictionary and pagan == !judeo-christian-(islamic?)
>: then religion does have a significant factor in determining whether
>: one is pagan or not.

>Yes and no. As you yourself posted, a person could be an atheist and still
>be pagan. As such - religion is not involved. Also, why couldn't a person
>be Judaic, Christian or Islamic and still be pagan? What do you call a  
>person who practices the Christian faith but also practices Witchcraft,
>for example? Or an Islamic person who also believes in other gods?

As I understand them, Judism/Christianity/Islam are exclusive sets.
These religions proscribe that an adherant does not behave in the
manners that you have described.

>Bill

Eric
--
*  Eric Marsh   ---   email: emarsh@sun.com / standard disclaimers apply  *
*  DoD # 1332                                    dragbike pilot for hire  *
*  986cc Ninja street scooter   ----   GS1260 Suzuki Pro-Stock drag bike  *
Newsgroups: alt.pagan,sci.skeptic
From: tcjw@rs1.tcs.tulane.edu (john wirta)
Subject: Re: "experiments"
Organization: Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 06:22:22 GMT
Nntp-Posting-Host-[nntpd-22650]: rs1.tcs.tulane.edu

WHY IS EVERYONE FLAMING MY ARTICLE ??

I was only attempting to point out that it is better to defend your beliefs
to a skeptic should he wish to know of them.  And if that means giving a 
demonstration of magic (experiment was a bad word, means there is a chance
it won't succeed) fine.  Why would I want to change a skeptics views?  I
don't care what a skeptic's views are, if he wants to question the existance
of magic then I will do my best to prove the existance of magic to him.  I
will not go out and attempt to make every fella on the street a believer in
magic.  I also agree that it is necessary to have effective proof of magic's
existance, if you don't, then get some before you try to prove it to anyone
else.

		Hope I cleared my view up,
			-Enki
From: cortese@hepxvt.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese)
Subject: Re: Warfare and women
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Date: 14 Apr 92 18:03:28 GMT

In article <1992Apr14.064304.25424@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> pciszek@isis.cs.du.edu (Paul Ciszek) writes:
>
>cortese@hepxvt.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese) writes:
>
>>It's not that men are fucked-up, but when they try to deny the
>
>Why, how veryvery KIND of you to say that.
>

When we state our opinions and those opinions are even slightly critical
of men in general, we are accused of saying "All men are pigs."  When we
state explicitly that we don't think that all men are pigs, we get
accused of calling all men pigs.

What the fuck do you people want anyway, and give me one good reason why
I should care?

Janis C.
From: amadeus@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Susan Harwood Kaczmarczik)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: sp
Date: 16 Apr 92 12:58:08 GMT
Organization: University of Texas at Austin


In article <4463@radian.UUCP> markbr@radian.UUCP (markbr) writes:
>Since you *say* you spell like that due to disability, I apologize. *But*,
>this was your first appearance, you didn't say anything, and we have had 
>several people show up in this newsgroup in the past months who spelled
>abominably, and had equally lousy grammer, and, when flamed by *other*
>people (I kept quiet), *defended* their writing with no excuse other than 
>what was effectively laziness. Until you spoke up, I was assuming that
>it was another ignorant idiot, *not* a disabled person. Remember, all
>we can see is your words.

So, Mark, by misspelling grammar, does that make you a disabled person
or another ignorant idiot?

There's nothing like making yourself the net.police in charge of
spelling and then sending yourself down in a ball of flames.

I *hate* spelling flame wars; they are so incredibly stupid.  

>Again, my apologies.
>
>	mark Silverdragon

-- 
-----Susan Harwood Kaczmarczik-------------------------------*<:-)-------------
"Queens never make bargains."  -- The Red Queen, _Through the Looking Glass_
-----amadeus@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu--------------The University of Texas @Austin---
From: bn566@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Ward Chanley)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: Jesus was a pagan and lonely wiccians
Date: 9 Apr 92 00:50:34 GMT
Article-I.D.: usenet.1992Apr9.005034.7230
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, (USA)


The Summerland is a Wiccan term
for the realm of Spirit, the Astral 
Plane, where incarnate souls go when 
they dream, where discarnate souls await reincarnation.
-- 
"Imagine a war in which everyone won..."
Pet Shop Boys, "DJ Culture"
-----------------------------------------
Ward Chanley - bn566@cleveland.freenet.edu
From: wt0b+@andrew.cmu.edu (William Henry Timmins)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: Warfare and women
Date: 15 Apr 92 17:30:39 GMT
	<29EB1E70.23266@noiro.acs.uci.edu>
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

>What the fuck do you people want anyway, and give me one good reason why
>I should care?

I love you.

Don't let them get you down.

-Me
[Pooh Bear incarnate.]

A boring day is better than a bad day. Which is better than an awful
day. Which is better than getting shot repeatedly.

Look on the bright side! You could be dying faster! :)
From: pharvey@mipos3.intel.com (Paul Harvey)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: Worship of the Greek gods
Date: 2 Apr 92 00:05:28 GMT

In article <92091.121551IO81409@MAINE.MAINE.EDU> IO81409@MAINE.MAINE.EDU (Ailsa N.T. Murphy) writes:
>like i said before, show me an ancient people, and i will show
>you a bunch of marauding murderers ...
>someone show me a society that was all-good, instead of arguing
>that the romans were all-bad.

A society that was all good? Hum. Well, I'll assume by all good you mean
a society free from warfare, (since good and bad are subjective). 

Most paeolithic peoples, (100,000 to 12,000 yrs ago), did not know warfare. 
To be fair, the population density was much lower and the climate was more 
hospitable. Stone age peoples did not really have the concept of possesions,
so warfare, (essentially the organised stealing of some else's possesions for 
the good of the state), did not make any sense. Stone age people actually had 
it pretty good, except that an accident, (trauma), would probably kill you and 
childbirth was very dangerous. (I guess no MTV either, but the all-week parties
would have been killer)

The three neolithic centers, (Mex,Iraq,SE Asia), were agriculture based. Perhaps
the increased population and the drying climate forced them to begin domesticating
plants. Unfortunately, when you grow grains, you have to store them for later use
and you have to develop the land, so now you have to protect these "possesions"
from marauding tribes and you need a structured society to manage the whole
process, and while you're at it, you may as well steal some of that good land
from the neighboring tribe and take their grain stores and ... Obviously, at
this point, peacefull cultures didn't survive. Of course, these warrior cultures
would have probably considered the kind of mass death and destruction capable
with modern warfare to be revolting, just like we consider killing all men,
neutering all boys, and distributing all females as booty to be revolting. (My
how times have changed.)

Some people claim that the early Greek goddess cultures were free from warfare.
(They probably had war, but were peacefull relative to the "barbarians")
The theory goes that the early Greeks were a female dominated society. Women
were seen to have the power of fertility, and fertility was very important in
the wheat fields. Early Greece was somewhat isolated from the rest of the world 
by the sea and mountains, so there was less need to defend against marauders.
But, eventually, the men got tired of worshiping all these women, and they
discovered warfare, a power that few women have ever grasped. Through warfare
they were able to steal power and to subvert women. They no longer had
to consult with the chief woman for a bride, they could set sail and steal back
Helen and pick up some more booty while they were at it for themselves. This
change is actually recorded in stone artwork, as Athena, the top diety, became
the goddess of war later on. If you think about, does "goddess" of war
make any sense?
From: cortese@hepxvt.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese)
Subject: Re: Worship of the Greek gods
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Date: 14 Apr 92 23:06:53 GMT

In article <12624@pogo.wv.tek.com> rosst@pogo.wv.tek.com (Ross Taylor) writes:
>In article <29E6093F.5262@noiro.acs.uci.edu> cortese@hepxvt.ps.uci.edu (Janis
>Maria Cortese) writes: 
>>... Then there's stuff that you can live well with
>>but is a pain in the ass, and would get you killed in very short order 
>>in a less techie society, like myopia. 
>
>
>Of course the same has been true for over one million years.  Back then
>people were complaining that the use of pebble tools was allowing people to
>survive who had shrunken canine teeth and worthless claws.  For shear
>ugliness, those defectives who had no hair on their bodies and wore the hairy
>skins of animals had to be the worst.

I think you're stretching this a bit far.  Read Morgan's theory on just
WHY we lost our body hair (that we made a halfway attempt at adjusting
to an aquatic environment) before you talk about wearing animal skins.
I can give you a reference if you want; I have to get to the computer
catalogue here first.

Blessings,
Janis

Newsgroups: alt.pagan
From: cortese@hepxvt.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese)
Subject: Re: Worship of the Greek gods
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Date: 10 Apr 92 21:31:44 GMT

In article <1992Apr10.055934.23834@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> pciszek@isis.cs.du.edu (Paul Ciszek) writes:
>pharvey@mipos3.intel.com (Paul Harvey) writes:
>
>>The stone age was no "Garden of Eden", there was life and death and infant
>>mortality and all the other opposites. Stone age people had a more varied diet 
>>than we do today, certainly more varied than neolithics. For example, the 
>>Native SF Bay Californians had easy access to salmon, trout, oysters, clams, 
>>whale, deer, abalone, seals, birds, elk, onions, berries, acorns, seaweed, 
>>tule reed, ... Food gathering required only an hour or so per day, most
>
>SF Bay was one of the more hospitable spots on earth.  In a documentary I saw
>a reconstruction of a camp in scandinavia that had been used during the last
>glaciation.  Apparently the local animals were virtually the only resource
>available to these people; their dwellings were made entirely out of parts
>of animal bodies.  *These* folks had no onions and seaweed.
>Even a non-health-concious american, on the other hand, might begin the day
>with Rice Crispies and bananas, hit Taco Bell for lunch and consume maize
>from the new world and various spices from who knows where, and for dinner
>consume plants and animals that did not even exist in paleolithic times.
>In the course of a month, s/he will probably eat a little something from
>most areas of the world, irregardless of season.  We seem to grow taller,
>have sturdier skeletons, and live longer too.
>

We also have clogged arteries, hypertension, heart conditions, all sorts
of awful diseases that should have been bred out like cystic fibrosis,
spina bifida, tay sachs, leukemia.  Not to mention the others that don't
exactly kill you but just make your life miserable like diabetes,
scoliosis, and sciatica.  Then there's stuff that you can live well with
but is a pain in the ass, and would get you killed in very short order
in a less techie society, like myopia.

Take your pick.  Today's society is not eradicating defects.  It's
allowing these defects to continue so we get less healthy.  And I'm not
talking about things like virus diseases like smallpox.  I'm talking
about genetic and structural problems that can make a person untenable
in a less techie society.

And I think you're little discourse on "sexist pig" is a little out of
place, don't you?  Men and women HAVE been treated completely
differently in the past; no one is saying we're the same.  We're saying
that we're NOT; that's the whole point.  We're treated grossly
differently, and we shouldn't be.

Regards,
Janis C.
From: nc313127@wvnvms.wvnet.edu
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: missing monday?!?!
Date: 8 Apr 92 16:31:51 GMT
Organization: West Virginia Network for Educational Telecomputing

Does noone like Monday's

Yesterday, according to what I have seen had no entries.
Was there some holiday i don't know about? or does everyone just avoid that
day?

Blessings(even on a monday)
Azure