Newtopia Magazine
Features
Mama Ndolo’s Garden
For many modern people, a garden is a personal statement. It shows the owner’s relation with the earth like a wardrobe shows the wearer’s relation to society. The exploding growth of the gardening business suggests a popular dream, and the dream is of nature and culture growing together. Evan Eisenburg comments that, “For some people, … Continue reading
Symbolist Art and the French Occult Revival: The Esoteric-aesthetic vision of Sâr Péladan
Editor’s Note: Paper presented at the 3rd ESSWE Conference, Lux in Tenebris by Sasha Chaitow, founder of the Phoenix Rising Academy History has not been kind to Joséphin Péladan. Usually consigned to a footnote or a few lines in scholarly overviews of Rosicrucianism or the French occult revival, as a historical figure his defining characteristic … Continue reading
Calling Orwell, Now More Than Ever
(c) 2014 by Glenn Brigaldino Thirty-three years ago while traveling across parts of Canada, I spent a few muggy summer days in Winnipeg, a city that struck me as being a down and out place. It was coincidence that in a downtown book-store I came across an 840 page collection of George Orwell (1903-1950) writings. … Continue reading
Unequal Springtime
Here we are, its early spring 2014 and a harsh winter is now behind us. A good time for a reality check on how inequality is doing. Yes, just as springtime progresses unequally, growing numbers of people will find themselves choking and short of breath ahead of the monthly bills and payment deadlines while the … Continue reading
The Devil’s Environment
When the harmattan wind blows south from the Sahara, it spreads a veil of dust over West Africa and out to the mid-Atlantic. This is a drying wind off the desert, which often seems to suck the moisture from any living thing in its path. At times it rises to gale force, with heat like … Continue reading
For the Burly Q, It’s Back to the Future: The Re-Emergence of Burlesque in L.A.
Note: Only the stage names of the performers and producers are being used for this article, a long tradition in burlesque. Things were chaotic in the graffiti-covered storeroom at the Three Clubs lounge, and Bootsy Sterling, private eye, was drinking in as much as she could. Standing between cases of beer and piles of bar … Continue reading
Navigating the Grand Cardinal Cross: Daily Astrological Observations for March 15-April 15, 2014 (Pacific Standard Time)
For a lucky few Saturn’s long station has brought respect, and honors for those who earned it through long dedication and hard work. But for many this has been a trying and tiring time. Saturn stationary retrograde has occupied 23 degrees Scorpio since February 11. 22 degrees arrives appropriately enough on March 22 as Saturn … Continue reading
Spiritual Teachers of the Opposite Sex
In longstanding Daoist tradition it was necessary, or at least helpful, for spiritual teachers and students to be of the opposite sex. So we commonly find female masters guiding men, and male masters teaching women. Some legends say the Yellow Emperor sought wisdom from “the Dark Lady” on Tai Mountain. Then Emperor Yu took instruction … Continue reading
Domesticating the Local Beasts
When we talk about animals being “tame,” it could simply mean that we have decent, neighborly relations, rather than fear-filled mutual hostility. Maybe domesticating animals began with simple friendliness, as with the Russian beekeeper whose son said, “He liked bees, and they liked him. He would go to the hives without his shirt. He wasn’t … Continue reading
Doggie in the Window
First of all, I can readily state that I have never owned a dog. It is sometimes said there are ‘dog people’ and ‘cat people’, but personally I have never had a cat either. As a kid, we did have cats but those were ‘our’ cats and when I left my childhood home after high … Continue reading
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