Dear Brothers & Friends, 

Welcome to BROTHER BEASTUS 𖤐 GRIMOIRE!

As I’m writing this here in Vancouver, Canada, the region is under an ‘atmospheric river’ of 15cm or 6in. of rain. That sounds bad—and indeed the rivers will run high, but we’re quite ready for it.

I’m excited that we’re already halfway through October—as I know many of you are too. I think of this as a season of renewal and reinvestment in ourselves.

Ireland’s ‘Cave of Cats’ Is it the Birthplace of Samhain & Halloween?

Oweynagat (pronounced “Oen-na-gat” and meaning “cave of the cats”) located in County Roscommon, Ireland was…

…considered by the ancient Celts to be a passage between Ireland and its devil-infested “otherworld.” Oweynagat was the birthplace of the Samhain festival, the ancient roots of Halloween, according to Irish archaeologist Daniel Curley.

[At the site,] festivalgoers also made ritual offerings. Those gifts were directed to the spirits of Ireland’s underworld, says Mike McCarthy, a Rathcroghan tour guide and researcher who has co-authored several publications on this site. That murky, subterranean dimension, also known as Tír na nÓg (“Teer-na-nohg”), was inhabited by Celtic devils, fairies, and leprechauns. During Samhain, some of these demons escaped via Oweynagat cave.

“Samhain was when the invisible wall between the living world and the otherworld disappeared,” McCarthy says. “A whole host of fearsome otherworldly beasts emerged to ravage the surrounding landscape and make it ready for winter.”

Thankful for the agricultural efforts of these spirits, but wary of falling victim to their fury, the Celts protected themselves from physical harm by lighting ritual fires on hilltops and in fields. To avoid being dragged deep into Tír na nÓg by the devils, they disguised themselves as fellow ghouls, McCarthy says. Two millennia later, young children the world over follow this tradition on Halloween.

National Geographic: Inside the Irish ‘hell caves’ where Halloween was born [Apple News]

Human Hearts as One: Listening to Stories Slows Down & Speeds Up Group Heart Rates Together—Even at a Distance

Stories bring people together. Now, science shows that they also make our hearts beat faster and slower together even if we’re kilometers apart.

The Hill: Heart rates sync up when listening attentively to stories

Satanic Coloring Book

Here’s a great gift for yourself or a loved one! This is a beautifully drawn colouring book Kickstarter project from illustrator Jason Lenox that is already fully backed, which is good because you know it’s going to happen—and the other good news is that you can still purchase.

I chatted with Jason, and he told me the project has taught him:

how big the satanic community is [and] how much all types of Satan folk are rallying around it, regardless of group affiliation in the Satanic community.

The book has an interesting origin story, and Jason has talked about it on several podcasts listed below.

Kickstarter: Satanic Coloring Book

The Geekiest: ‘Diabolic Geeks’

The Ghost Writers: ‘Jason Lenox’

Black Mass Appeal: ‘Satanic Small Businesses’

PodQuest: ‘Jason Lenox Returns’

Telescope Named After Administrator Who Tacitly Approved 1960’s Gay Purge of NASA Will Keep Its Title

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is not only designed to replace its famous predecessor, Hubble, but to outperform it as well. Once it launches, this new space telescope is poised to become a big household name in everyday scientific discovery in the 21st Century.

Unfortunately, that name is tainted by a NASA leader who tacitly allowed an LGBT purge in the agency in the 1960’s.

NASA decided against changing the name, and despite vowing to hold a transparent review process has not revealed the reasoning behind the choice to honor a less-than-honorable man with the name of a very important, historic telescope.

Inverse: Webb telescope name change: Why astronomers are upset with NASA

‘World’s Oldest Porn’ is Queer & Gender Non-Conforming

You could say that these 3000 year-old stone carvings in a cave in what is now China have queer and gender-nonconforming meanings, and it would be provisionally true except that sex and gender are 21st Century concepts.

Yes, the carvings appear to show third-, two-spirit-, or other nonbinary-gendered people, and yes, there are sexual matches apparent between the various genders.

However, it might be more accurate to say that 3000 years ago whoever carved this art lived in a community where people had no apparent shame about their sexuality and that they lived openly, freely, and in harmony with their bodies and with nature. All this without much concern at all for sex or gender as such. Maybe they didn’t get caught up in our modern traps. (I’m sure they had their own.)

To me, the real lesson here is our common humanity across both time and geography.

Pink News: The world’s oldest porn was queer and gender non-conforming AF

Seen & Heard

• Losing Our Tails: Our ancestors lost their tails about 25 million years ago, and now scientists have early genetic science about how it may have happened. Smithsonian Magazine: Why Humans Don’t Have Tails

  

• Another Gay Magazine Ends Print: After nearly 50 years, Gay Times (UK) goes online only. Gay media need serious help. Pink News: Gay Times ends print magazine after nearly 50 years

  

• ‘Penis Fish’ Invade California Beach: These worms caused quite a stir when thousands washed up on a beach in California in 2019. They’re eaten as a delicacy in Asia. IFLScience: Thousands Of ‘Penis Fish’ Washed Up On A Californian Beach, And People Loved It

Please enjoy the Full Moon 🌕 this Wednesday and stay safe everybody! 

From my grimoire to yours…. Infernal Blessings!

BROTHER BEASTUS 𖤐 SINCE 2016