Darkness: What Is The Dark Path?

The Dark Path Defined

To being with, let me state that I do not follow or practice the Dark path, but have encountered it and been associated with those that do practice the Dark path. One must keep in mind that there are balances to be kept, which does allow for the Dark path. Also, the Dark path is not all about evil and doing wrong as suggested by our ever so popular media. This article is an attempt to answer the question that people have asked me, "What is the Dark Path?"

The definition of a Dark path has always been a little cloudy and hard to put down. One reason for this is because the Dark path is an individual one that each person defines how they operate and what actions they will partake of in accordance to his or her own views. However this doesn't help the curious or the potential initiates looking into what this path actually consists of. It doesn't give them the answers in a clear format from which to base their start or exit from. I hope that I can help give a very basic view of what Darkness truly means.

The definition that I like to give my view of the path is simply this; It is a path that teaches and works through self empowerment in to accomplish self realized and or individual goals. Seems simple enough right?

No, alright then in Guardspeak: You gain power to do what you want.

Breaking this down we can see that the goals we make are for ourselves to accomplish using the power and means that we have acquired to see them through. Power is gained for the benefit of the self to secure our needs and wants. It is used as the individual sees fit. This power is not gifted from others but gained and owned once again by the self.

Darkness is about living life on your own rules and in your own ways to accomplish whatever it is you want in life. Accomplishments can range from caring being gave to the sick, to yes, ruling the world. Two completely different paradigms it would seem but yet the Dark path allows for both. It is this broad based thinking in regards to Dark pathed spirituality that confuses many people. However once again in breaking it down, the common theme in it is that it is an empowered conscious movement of the self to fulfill its own unique goals.

Embedded in this theme of self empowerment is the aspect of being the individual. Not necessarily standing out of the crowd but not maintaining a sheep herded mentality. Those of the Dark must be able to break out of herded restraints and moralities in order to fulfill what they wish at times. They seek not to unify themselves completely with any organization but to stand apart when needs be to fulfill any greater objective they might have.

Below are some of the personal meanings of practicing the Dark path shared with me by some followers of the Dark path:

The ends will always justify the means so long as at the end your position is one of advantage and not of liability.

Power is what keeps those at the top in charge.

Might is the arm that will crush those that are not strong enough to defend against it.

If you cannot be unpredictable then you cannot win for any real length of time.

I might protect myself and others that I cherish with pre-emptive attacks.

I might disguise my movements and slide behind another who will then take the brunt of an enemies attack for me.

I seek those that will advance my position, and court those that will sustain it.

Friends are allies, but allies will not always be friends.

I understand that sometimes gains cannot come before a loss.

I understand that sometimes gains might end up meaning a decline before the end hits.

Life is a gamble, you play the cards as luck is most often made by those with greatness rather than greatness coming from luck.

I use what works be it spellcraft, be it direct energy manipulation, or even rites of invocation.

I understand that limiting yourself on any level especially in terms of energy most often means an inability to act when a new situation appears.

I am both a fist and a treaty, yet each one acting as a sword which slices through my opposition.

I am of the Dark and it is that alone in which I follow.

In conclusion, it is my hope that this article has presented a good understanding about what the Dark path is and what is associated with it.

Thinking Of Upgrading Your Sprint Phone To A Smartphone? Think Hard!

Use Caution If You Are Considering Renewing Your Sprint Contract And Upgrading Your Device!

Having been with Sprint for over five years I speak from some experience as a customer. I become eligible to upgrade my device on August 01, 2012. I enjoy checking out the options available prior to the eligibility date and have been online for a couple of days "checking things out."

One of the options that will become available to me is to upgrade to a smartphone. In the past I have not had a smartphone. I have had the standard phones as well as what Sprint calls a "feature" phone, but not a smartphone.

With high expectations (which have now been shattered) I started looking around. I found numerous smartphones that would become available to me for free upon renewing my contract with Sprint for two years.

My first concern (there is a major second concern, so read to the end) is that I noticed that Sprint was offering to waive the activation fee, online, for a new phone for new customers or for existing customers that added a line. I read the fine print and found that this did not cover customers who have been loyal to Sprint over the years who were considering renewing their contract. In other words unless I am a new Sprint customer, or added an additional line I am going to be charged a $36.00 activation fee. Now this fee is for a number that is already activated, my current number. I have, in the past, activated my phone myself by going online, therefore, no Sprint employee had to be paid to do this.

I popped into the Sprint forums and have read hundreds of posts about this $36.00 activation fee and 99.9% were loyal Sprint customers who felt this fee is very unjust. Many have left Sprint for other providers due to this single issue. It seems that Sprint will not, under any circumstances, waive this $36.00 activation fee.

Losing so many customers over a gain of $36.00 does not seem to be a good business model at all. To gain $36.00 in revenue, they are losing vast numbers of customers who were paying into the hundreds of dollars a month for service with Sprint.

My decision on renewing a contract with Sprint just based on this first concern is leaning towards not renewing my contract and going elsewhere.

There is more, however! If you are looking to upgrade to a Sprint smartphone your monthly rates will go up an additional $10.00 per smartphone device you add to your plan. That is correct! This is even if you have one of the "unlimited" data plans currently with Sprint. Unlimited does not cover smartphones. The $10.00 a month charge is for data use and data use alone. Sprint justifies this additional charge because "on average" a smartphone user will use "up to" ten times more data a month. This leaves the current Sprint customer astonished that suddenly their "unlimited" plan has been deemed as limited in some way.

In the background, behind this window I am typing in, I have the HTC EVO 4G LTE phone up on the Sprint website. A great phone, a great smartphone. Retails on Sprint without a contract for $549.99. If you upgrade you can get it for free. All the best features are on this phone that one could hope for that I can see. This phone ships with the Android 4.0 OS as well. Great battery life for talking and standby. I could go on, however, suddenly this upgrade I was hoping to make is becoming an unreality. Should I go this route, my Sprint bill for two lines will go up with the additional one time activation fee as well as this new "data" usage fee monthly.

The information contained in this article is NOT on the Sprint webpage where you view the devices that Sprint offers for sale online. You have to wait and get into the "fine print" of your plan to see the additional charges that you will have should you choose, as an existing customer, to upgrade your device to a smartphone and upon renewing your two year contract. Even if you have a smartphone and upgrade, your bill will go up as stated.

Therefore, please do be aware of "hidden" charges that Sprint has become so well at squeezing into their contracts but not openly displayed or discussing on their website sales pages.

Animal and Human Nature, The Western Conflict

Animal Nature

Humans' relations to animals and our participation in the world bring forward our innermost instinctual selves, the highest in the order of our biological senses and being and the core element of our consciousness. Traditional peoples around the world have incorporated this sense into their relationship with animals, as they see all animal species as having equal rights to life and a place on Earth.

The ones who live in contemporary cultures have largely disassociated themselves from their natural instinct for affiliation with other forms of life. The once sacred Earth Community that nurtures human life has become "outside", a place filled with malevolent natural forces that must be controlled or otherwise guarded against. Fear, control, and exploitation of the "outside" or the other as enemy is deeply embedded in the psychology of Western society. To this end, much of modern science and technology has been mobilized to guard against or to war against the other, be it a mountain, a forest people, a religion, or the world of insects. From ideas in books and film, through education, government, and science, the message and therefore the practical belief, has been one of fear and the need for domination and control of nature - its plants, animals, insects and even its microorganisms.

Even the word "beneficial" is a judgment call based on modern conditioning with regard to the natural world. We love our pets as long as they conform to deeply entrenched attitudes about animal nature. But usually we project upon animals the worst of who humans are. Anthropomorphic projections upon animals are reflected in everything from cartoons children view to commercials for the latest tennis shoes. Animals must serve humanity or be done away with; after all, it says so in the Bible. We have been conditioned to act, think, and project prejudicially toward animals, and as for the insects, we lack both the emotional and intellectual appreciation that would bring forth any true appreciation for their role and importance in the natural order.

Animals raised for food are given little thought at all. They are certainly not the focus of prayers, dance, art, or ceremony as they were in earlier times. So called "wild animals" are confined to lead desolate lives in zoos apart from their homes, the real sources of their natural being. We say we do this for their protection, their own good. We have simply become adept at rationalizing our "bio-phobia", our basic fear of nature. Ask "What good is it?" and "How can we further our plans?" These questions and their underlying orientation form the basic foundation for the modern Western worldview of humanity as well as nature.

We have little awareness that globally there is the equivalent of a biological "holocaust" in play, and that every day the Earth experiences the extinction of hundreds of microbiota, plants, insects, and animal species. The biodiversity of live is dwindling and with its loss, we lose the biological web of life upon which we depend, we incur a real but largely hidden danger; in the life of the land or this planet lies our human lives. We ignore these relationships at our own peril.

In contrast, Native cultures usually look at all species as sharing a circle that is inclusive of all life, a circle that embraces science, art, community and spirit.

Native cultures have much to teach non-Native cultures from their inclusive vision of life - about listening to the "noise of the infinite in the small." All animals including insects are necessary for the biological functioning of the biosphere and the survival of all living things. The known benefits of the honeybee, the earthworm, silkworms, lady bug, various beetles, ants and spiders balance out their perceived harmfulness to humans.

An entire species may be condemned to extinction if humans deem its behavior or appearance unacceptable. This is the prevailing modern Western cultural attitude towards animals. In many ways this attitude has also characterized Western attitudes towards Indigenous cultures that have traditionally afforded kinship to the entire animal world.

For Native people, knowledge of animals was important to all aspects of their lives. Learning about animals was a lifelong task integrated in every aspect of tribal life. Practical knowledge included characteristics of animal behavior, anatomy, feeding, patterns, breeding, and migration.

Techniques of hunting and fishing ranged from simple to complex and required long periods of teaching and learning, but these skills were always learned in the context of detailed understanding of the natural ecology of tribal homelands.

Native hunting combined great creativity and flexibility with complex rules of conduct and acts of spiritual significance. Through long apprenticeship and experience the hunter came to know his prey, where and when to hunt and the topography and weather conditions most appropriate for hunting. He also knew the myths, songs, rituals and history that were woven into the context.

Author note: Some people will try to understand the relationship between humans and animals by going to zoos or places like Disney Land or Disney World which have animals that people can interact with. Knotts Berry Farm is another such place. This will not show any type of "natural relationship" between humans and animals.

Teddy Redsun - Native American Hip Hop Artist Focusing On Tribal History And Children

Teddy Redsun Native American Hip-Hop Artist

Teddy Orii (Redsun) is a rare Cherokee Native American music artist. He performs hip hop music for a vast audience, focused on children interaction at his concerts and Native American tribal history. This is done without the use of profanity. Redsun also loves to incorporate motorcycles in his live performances.

Redsun is in the process of writing a series of children's books that will focus on bringing a better understanding of the Native American culture, present and past. The overall scope of the books will be to present an optimistic message and create focus on his music which is hip-hop and appropriately "clean" for young children to view and enjoy. You can view some samples here of the artwork and text to be incorporated in these books.

Redsun has performed at the Cherokee Heritage Center Amphitheather, Creek Nation Casino Native Fall Music Festival, and L.A. Music Awards (he was honored as the Best New Artist in Southern California.) He has further performed at CBS studios, maintains a live concert venue, does shows at elementary and junior high schools, as well as various festivals and churches in several states.

Delving into the featured video at the top of this page, Tribes....To me this is a top rate performance and message to the youth of a nation. The music video is attractive to the younger generations due to the presentation in hip-hop style. Tribal history is presented in a fashion that makes it very informative and most interesting, inspiring further research, perhaps, by our youth.

Redsun has a great library of music as well as several music videos and I have yet to find one that does not resonate with my heart.

The question was raised by several to me about is Redsun a member of the Cherokee National Historical Society. Yes, he certainly is a member.

The EPK video, which you can view HERE, is a great video in which you can hear Redsun give his thoughts and reasons for doing what he does and the style in how he does it. There is also some great "live" music concert footage included in this video as well.

What is Malware? - How to detect and avoid using Malwarebytes

Malware can kill your machine!

There are times that your antivirus software will not detect all things that can hop aboard your computer while surfing online. You can pick up things from visiting a reputable website without that website having anything to do with what your system picks up. Hackers will plant malicious programs on various sites through Javascript ads and other various means. One of the biggest threats today is malware.

An example that may help give a better perspective on this is what my wife and myself went through a couple of years ago. As AT&T U-verse Internet subscribers, we got the paid for version of McAfee antivirus software for free, included in our internet subscription. To us, that sounded wonderful, as we had always ran the AVG free version of antivirus software in the past. So we both installed the McAfee and went about our business..after uninstalling the free version of AVG.

Within a matter of weeks both of our systems picked up malware that got by the McAfee antivirus software. With my wife's system, total loss! Had to replace her system. With my system, I had to have Dell work on it, as it was under Dell warranty still. The hard drive was trashed.

We got both systems back online and once again, I picked up some kind of malware. I contacted McAfee and they did a remote session with my laptop in an attempt to troubleshoot the matter. After various attempts they downloaded a free version of a software program called Malwarebytes on my machine and scanned my machine. Within minutes, Malwarebytes picked up what McAfee could not find, isolated the malware and solved the problem. What this showed me was that I needed to do two things, install Malwarebytes on all my systems and let McAfee go. I reverted back to the AVG free version for my antivirus protection.

For the next few months my wife and myself encountered no additional problems. We then invested in two licensed versions of Malwarebytes for our main machines, and I keep the free version of Malwarebytes running on my three lab computers.

Two years has come and gone, and none of the machines have had issues since we started running Malwarebytes in tandem with AVG's free version of antivirus. We surf the web tremendously and visit more than the average amounts of sites in the course of a day as we both do various work online that requires such.

Malware is designed to take control of your machine and from my experience, I can vouch that it does the job very well!

If you would like to visit CNET (safe download site), you can download the free version of Malwarebytes by clicking the link. Also, from the CNET site, you can download the free version of AVG antivirus, that I run alongside Malwarebytes.

Warning for Job-Hunters! Beware Of Those Amazing Internet and Email Scammers!

Keep An Eye Out For Internet Scammers!

Within the past several years, I have gained several certifications in a new field of employment that I am having to enter due to a previous on the job injury that deemed I could no longer do what I have done my whole life.

I have pursued IT courses in the computer and network areas of employment by going back to school at my young age of 55. So far I have received the CompTIA A+ certification as well as the ComptTIA Network+ certification and am working on my certification for Microsoft Windows 7 Configuration.

After receiving the two CompTIA certifications, I did an updated resume and posted it to LinkedIn, Monster as well as Craigslist, in hopes of getting some prospective leads for jobs. Needless to say, the job opportunities began pouring into my email inbox! I was delighted to start with until, over a period of time, I realized that the majority of those whom where contacting me were nothing more than scammers, criminals if you will! Scams after scams I received!

They are good at what they send you as well. The email will have a legitimate logo and email address on it, and the logo will even link to a legitimate site, that one would think would verify the email and source of the email. Not true. These all still were scams..

One offer I received was very legitimate sounding, wanting me to format seven laptops, install the O/S and various other programs on them as well as clean them. I was asked to bid on the job, which I did. Next thing I get are two certified checks in the mail, via Fed Ex, that was over the amount of my bid. I was asked to deposit the checks and then to pay the person via USPS the difference so that the laptops could be delivered. Well, needless to say, I went online and check on how to tell if such checks were fake, and sure enough, they were fake, lacking certain markings, interwoven threads and such. I have those checks still sitting here on my desk. Scam again!

Another offer was for a technical assistant, pretty much the same scenario... however I received a Postal Money Order for over the amount with instructions to deposit and Western Union the difference to another. Scam!

This list goes on, but I have learned from it. First of all, never deposit such things in your bank account as they initially be accepted by your bank and your account credited. It is further down the road that you will be notified that such items were fake and you will be held responsible at that point and out a good deal of cash as well.

Take the time to research, with is very time consuming when you get a rather large volume of offerings. I have learned that simply typing the name of the email contact into a Google search will take you straight way to forums and articles about this being a fraudulent scam.

You can also Google the particular payment document such as a Postal Money Order or Cashier's check to see what to look for if it is fake.

The whole scenario will leave you gun shy without a doubt. Last week I was contacted by a legitimate person wanting work done, and I had to screen him to make sure he was not a scammer. Lucky for me, he understood and did not take it the wrong way. I went out on the call and made a few dollars and hope for some referrals.

Lastly, be sure to report any such things to the proper authorities such as the FBI and the USPS. Remember to keep any and all emails you have received from the scammer as well as the payment documents including the envelope that contained them that was sent to you, as they will need to be turned over to the authorities.

Now, I am still seeking employment, and continuing to get bogus offers and sift my way through them. Hopefully the God/Goddess of Tech will smile upon me and send me a solid lead/job, and I can stop sifting through the offers!

What Are Otherkin?

Be Careful Of The Creation Of A Monster

There is something very destructive in the occult community for which I call a biased authentication. Commonly this aspect is put into place in the Otherkin community. Before I get started let me state that I have nothing against that community on the whole. Are there such beings that in the depths of their soul they are not human? I believe so, I also believe that the human soul can adapt and evolve or devolve in conjunction with it's experiences. If we are to get technical the only pure humans that are in existence are the newly born who by all means are without the taint that they will soon be exposed to.

It is good to get second opinions in regards to some spiritual matters that you have called into question. Those that are otherkin usually do so however simply because an individual agrees with something you have said or want to have said about you doesn't necessarily make it true. I have witnessed in communities an aspect of which I frown upon. Many times you get those that have in numbers proclaimed otherkin who by virtue of the group they are in all agree with each other that they are indeed what they say they are. That because they hold common traits with each other, dream the same types of dreams, hold the same kinds of lifestyles, think the same way, that they are indeed created of the same stock.

At first glance this doesn't seem so bad. However some groups gather numbers by allowing each other to be accepted for what they want to be accepted for. Rules are put in place because those at the top who make the rules see a need to order the structure by which others are eagerly wanting to participate in. We must see that some leaders use this as a form of control. The aspect of otherkin is allowed for in reference to people being able to be influenced by some level of manipulation towards an objective of the head figures.

Let me give an example. An individual who knows a few folks feel more than human tells them that through some means that first individual has gleamed their secret and is in fact one of the creatures that these others want to be. Thereby through his authentication they are otherkin. They have received acknowledgement for who and what they are. Some of these folks that want to be something more so much they need only the flimsy say so of someone else to confirm it for them. Also because they are afraid of being seen as crazy they will not want to discuss this aspect with very many. So they are locked into a social circle with a very small group in order to learn more about themselves. This gives the figure head quite a lot of influence. If they are knowledgeable enough and have a certain means of showing that off their rule will more or less be law.

This is the start of something very dangerous to those that are starting out. We see the verge a small cult like status being accomplished. The initial members will be very loyal because without the group consensus of what they are they will no longer have a place within that community towards the mindset that they have received and now fear being without. As the membership grows you gain more and more people acquiring the mindset that they too are special that they too have more power than the woefully pathetic humans that are below them. As more individuals amass more voices are heard towards the story line that the initial individual made. If someone disagrees they can simply be cast out fast enough so long as they are denounced properly to give everyone else an idea of the wrath at going against "home."

Do you see the monster that is made?

Biased authentication for aspects such as this are too easily manipulated and abused for other's self gains. They are not accurate on any level besides perhaps directing you towards more understanding for your own aims. Self authentication on something like this I feel is much more important. Who cares what someone else says you are? Particularly those of the various Pagan Paths, you needn't the permission of anyone to pursue who you are and how you want to work.

*What are "otherkin"?

These are non-human souls that are born into human bodies. Some of those would be faeries, werewolves, angels, demons, vampires, etc., that fall within the defines of the otherkin communities. Some believe that actual fairy tales were just otherkin in their natural form. This is but a short definition and one can browse the net to find out much more.