Brian Longo

Manifestation 5 #manifesting #manifestation #visualization #lawofattraction #loa The Occult Decade: Popular Esoterica and the Rise of Cults in the 1970s The 1970s occupy a singular place in the cultural history of the paranormal and the fringe religious. The utopian communalism of the late 1960s counterculture had begun to curdle into disillusionment, mainline denominational religion was losing adherents among the young, and a decade of economic anxiety, Watergate-era institutional distrust, and Cold War unease created fertile ground for alternative belief systems. Into this vacuum poured a remarkable convergence of popular occultism — astrology, witchcraft, Satanism, psychic phenomena, ancient astronaut theory — alongside an unprecedented proliferation of new religious movements, several of which would curdle into the authoritarian and, in the most infamous case, murderous structures now generally labeled "cults." This article surveys both curren...

Hannaford Canned Apricots Packed In Pear Juice #fruit #healthy #nutrition The History of Apricots as a Food Ancient Origins in Central Asia and China The apricot, botanically known as Prunus armeniaca , is believed to have originated in the region around northeastern China and Central Asia, near the foothills of the Tian Shan mountain range, thousands of years before it spread westward. Wild apricot trees still grow in these regions today, and archaeological and genetic evidence suggests the fruit was being cultivated and consumed by early agricultural communities well over four thousand years ago. In China, apricots held a place of importance not only as food but also in traditional medicine, where the fruit, its kernels, and even the blossoms were used in various remedies and tonics. Apricot trees also carried symbolic weight in Chinese culture, often associated with medicine, education, and endurance, since the trees could s...

Hannaford Canned Sliced Peaches Packed In Pear Juice #fruit #health #nutrition The History of Peaches as a Food Origins in Ancient China The peach (Prunus persica) traces its origins to China, where archaeological and genetic evidence suggests the fruit was cultivated as far back as 6,000 to 8,000 years ago along the Yangtze River region. Wild peach species native to the area were gradually domesticated by early farming communities, who selected for larger, sweeter, and juicier fruit over many generations. In Chinese culture, the peach became more than a food source; it developed deep symbolic meaning, representing longevity, immortality, and good fortune. Peach blossoms and peach-shaped pastries remain associated with these themes in Chinese art, literature, and festivals to this day. Ancient texts, including early agricultural and medical writings, reference the peach as both a nourishing food and a symbol woven into mythology, such as the legendary peac...

Saint Jude Manifestation Candle #lawofattraction #manifesting #loa Saint Jude Thaddeus: The Patron of Lost and Desperate Causes Among the communion of saints venerated within the Catholic tradition, few figures occupy so paradoxical a position as Saint Jude Thaddeus. He is, by most historical accounts, one of the least documented of the Twelve Apostles — a man whose recorded words in scripture amount to a single verse, and whose biography survives largely through later tradition rather than contemporary testimony. And yet, of all the apostles, Jude has become one of the most fervently invoked in the modern devotional landscape, his name synonymous with hope in the face of hopelessness. This apparent contradiction — obscurity in the historical record paired with immense popularity in lived religious practice — is itself worth examining closely. Identity and the Problem of Names One of the persistent difficulties in reconstructing Jude's biography is the...

Manifestation 4 #manifesting #manifestation #visualization #lawofattraction #loa Shadows at the End of History: Occultism and Cult Movements in the 1990s The 1990s occupy a strange place in the history of Western esotericism. On one hand, the decade is often remembered as an age of technological optimism — the dawn of the internet, the end of the Cold War, the sense that history itself had reached some kind of settled plateau. On the other hand, it was a period of intense spiritual searching, millennial anxiety, and fascination with the unseen. As the calendar counted down toward the year 2000, occult and New Age subcultures flourished alongside a handful of new religious movements that would end in tragedy. This piece surveys both threads: the popular occult currents that shaped 1990s culture, and the cults whose activity during the decade left a lasting mark on how the public understands the line between fringe religion and danger. The Occult Goes Mainstre...

Manifestation 3 #manifesting #manifestation #visualization #lawofattraction #loa The Occult Undercurrent: Popular Esoteric Movements and Cult Phenomena of the 1980s The 1980s occupy a peculiar position in the modern history of the occult and new religious movements. It was a decade that opened in the long shadow of the 1970s' spiritual experimentation and closed in the grip of a moral panic so thorough that it reshaped law enforcement training, daytime television, and the popular imagination for a generation. Between these two poles, a genuine and diverse landscape of occult practice, New Age spirituality, and high-control religious groups flourished, intersected, and, in several notorious cases, collapsed into violence or scandal. This article surveys the major occult currents of the decade alongside the cults and new religious movements that dominated headlines, with attention to the cultural anxieties that bound the two phenomena together in the public ...

Neruda On The Park - Cleyvis Natera #fiction #books #novel #dominican #nyc Neruda on the Park by Cleyvis Natera Published: May 2022, Ballantine Books (an imprint of Penguin Random House) Genre: Literary fiction, multigenerational family drama Overview The novel is a multigenerational story set primarily in New York, with flashbacks to the Dominican Republic, centered on a fictional neighborhood called Nothar Park that is predominantly Dominican. At the heart of the story is the Guerrero family, who must confront the pressures of gentrification when an aging building in the neighborhood is slated for demolition to make way for luxury condominiums. The Story Eusebia Guerrero, her husband Vladimir, and their adult daughter Luz have called the neighborhood home for two decades, and the coming demolition threatens the community they've built there. Eusebia responds by secretly plotting a campaign of sabotage to try to halt the const...