Daniel Moler: news

Daedalus Thread News!

6:03 PM

“I thought of a labyrinth of labyrinths, of one sinuous spreading labyrinth that would encompass the past and the future and in some way involve the stars. Absorbed in these illusory images, I forgot my destiny of one pursued. I felt myself to be, for an unknown period of time, an abstract perceiver of the world.”

- Jorge Luis Borges, The Garden of Forking Paths

Hello Threaders, I wanted to send out some recent updates going on in my world! Enjoy the quote from Borges above, it’s from one of my favorite stories that helped inspire the creation of The Daedalus Thread.

I am knee-deep in the writing process of my latest book, scheduled for completion next year. It is a fiction work, and no it will not be a sequel to RED Mass, as some have inquired in the past. Once the first draft is complete and I enter editing mode, I will start talking more about it, posting marketing material, etc. I’d like to get an agent so if anybody out there has one that specializes in magical, urban fantasies, let me know.

Here are some of the exciting new developments spiraling at The Daedalus Thread:

NEW PUBLICATION!

My latest article, "An Agonizing Reappraisal," was recently published in the most prestigious printed publication on the shamanic arts, The Journal of Contemporary Shamanism, Volume 7, Issue 2. The Journal has been around for quite sometime, and is the center of the online Society of Shamanic Practitioners. This article was previously published and has caused a lot of intriguing feedback, some negative and some positive. On the negative, I’ve gotten a lot of lashing comments about my attacks on the new spiritual paradigm, and on the positive I have been invited to speak at an international plant medicine conference (an invitation which I respectfully declined).

DON'T WALK IN WINTER WOOD, the Italian Edition

This came out a while ago, but I’m just now getting around to adding it to my Books section. I contributed a story to the role-playing game Don’t Walk in Winter Wood, and the creator Clint Krause implemented the production of an Italian edition to it. So, I have now been published in Italian (never thought I would say that). Check it out on Amazon!

ORACLE

This past year I started a comic book project I have been wanting to work on since I was a kid. So, you can imagine this is a great passion of mine! It’s called ORACLE, a sci-fi epic for all ages. I am planning on producing an issue per year (or more, if time allows). You can read all of Issue #1 right here! I have the entire story written, now it’s just a matter of drawing it all out! Once the New Year rolls around, I will be starting work on the cover and first pages of Issue #2, which will feature a guest appearance by Sojourn, a creation of my childhood friend, and fellow writer, Aaron Conaway!

THE MYSTIC PATH

My beloved Autumn and I have been under an intense study this past year as well, in the mystical Qabalah. The Qabalah is based on Jewish mysticism, but has evolved through the Western Mystery Tradition, into being a template of consciousness navigation. We have been outlining this study in blog posts while undergoing an intense series of bi-weekly meditations, called a Pathworking. This is roughly a two year process and you can view all the craziness on my Mystic Path section. Get on your thinking caps for this one (or eat some mushrooms)! Check it out here!

Thanks for checking in! I appreciate each one of who takes the time to click on and tune out to one of my musings. Be sure to check out my list of favorite sites for other creative goodness!

In Gratitude,

Daniel Moler

news

Something For Americans To Remember

11:00 AM

With all of the hell re-surging in Iraq due to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the possibility of our re-involvement, there is something I would like to remind the American people before they start drawing their lines of opinion regarding the people of that troubled region.

I saw this video posted a few weeks back on Facebook, and the person posting it commenting "Word" with a host of others praising this soldier's harsh criticism to the Iraqi policemen.

I understand what he is doing. In war, this is the way you talk, the way you get a point across in the static of bullets and treachery. I don't fault him at all. He is doing his job and doing it well.

I fault the people here at home with their "Hell Yeah"s and the "Right On"s. It's the same attitude when Bin Laden was killed. It's the mob mentality. People of America, shut your mouths please. War is war, your opinions and judgments have no place to the people involved on the ground. We are talking about a region of the world where one war is replaced with another like an assembly line from Hell itself. Right on their own doorsteps, where every family is a widow in one way or another to the atrocities of bloodshed.

Before stating your opinions of the people over there (which truly have no value; only facts have value) please take into consideration this excerpt from Dexter Filkins' book The Forever War (p.73-74). You may begin to understand why it may be so hard to retain Iraqi cooperation when it is needed:

"Some days I thought we had broken into a mental institution. One of the old ones, from the nineteenth century, where people were dumped and forgotten. It was like we had pried the doors off and found all these people clutching themselves and burying their heads in the corners and sitting in their own filth. It was useful to think of Iraq in this way. It helped in your analysis. Murder and torture and sadism: it was part of Iraq. It was in people's brains.

"Sometimes I would walk into the newsroom that we had set up in The New York Times bureau in Baghdad, and I'd find our Iraqi employees gathered round the television watching a torture video. You could buy them in the bazaars in Baghdad; they were left over from Saddam's time. The Iraqis would be watching them in silence. Just staring at the screen. In one of the videos, some Baath party men had pinned a man down on the floor and were holding down his outstretched arm, while another official beat the man's forearm with a heavy metal pipe until his arm broke into two pieces. There was no sound in the video, but you could see that the man was screaming. None of the Iraqis in the newsroom said anything.

"I tried to recall these things when I got impatient with the Iraqis. Sometimes, when readers from America sent me e-mails expressing anger at the Iraqis--why are they so ungrateful? why can't they govern themselves?--I considered sending them one of the videos."

agriculture

My Own STATE OF THE UNION

9:39 AM

news

RED MASS Book Signing a Hit!

10:05 PM

news

RED MASS Available for Purchase on CreateSpace!

6:01 PM

news

RED MASS: Ready for Publication!

5:19 PM

news

RED MASS News: Closer to Self-Publication!

10:26 AM

After a year of sending off queries to literary agents and big-time publishers, I figured out how many hoops I would have to jump through in order to get someone to even consider looking at my submission. I promised myself I would give it a year...not to get a "Hey, I'll publish you!" response, but to at least get a non-templated response with some actual feedback or criticism. I got none. Even talking to some agents (the Book Doctors from Pitchapalooza) they explained the game of agentry in which I would have to go out of my way, devoted full-time to kissing some stranger's ass to even get them to think about looking at my work. I work full-time. I'm a full-time parent. Plus, I have a life I'm not willing to give up to hit the "big time." So, I said forget it.

After much research I'm going to go with CreateSpace as a self-publisher. It is by the far the cheapest option (if you do the formatting and cover yourself, which I am) and you get automatic distribution on Amazon (the largest in the biz). Its only fallback seems to be Amazon's buy-over of recyclable ISBNs, which prevent one from moving to other distribution channels and can cause all sorts of headaches. So, I purchased my own ISBN (thank you Mom and Dad) and Red Mass is already registered as a book in the database.Of course, as with most self-publishing, I will be responsible for the marketing.

I've spent the past week formatting the text to CreateSpace's uploading specifications (a major bitch) and now working on the final formatting specs of the cover (even more of a bitch). But I think within a week or so the product will be fully loaded into CreateSpace. They will take a few weeks (or maybe months) to review and make sure it's not pronography or anything, then send me a draft copy for my own review. After that I send whatever changes I do or do not have and then.... TA DA!!! I'll have a book!

I'm in discussions to have another distribution channel through Shaman's Market (http://www.shamansmarket.com) which will be a perfect audience for Red Mass. Also, the owner of Aquarius Books (http://www.aquariusbooks.com) Barbara Criswell has talked with me about doing my first book-signing/release party. Much in the works.

Will keep updating when I can. In the meantime, here is a preview of the back cover. Cheers!

art

Tripland, Episode 3

8:48 PM

consciousness

"The Universal Heart" published in Sacred Hoop!

4:27 PM

community

Won't Back Down

10:27 AM

culture

"Chemo or Cannabis: How Would You Like to Treat Your Cancer?" Published in Cannabis Culture!

8:10 AM

I wrote an exclusive interview with Len Richmond, director of "What if Cannabis Cured Cancer" and it has been published in Cannabis Culture Magazine. I want to thank Rob "Sage" Amerine and Connie "Crash" Humiston for opening the door and giving me the opportunities that lead to this publication. I could not have done it without them. Here is the full interview (or follow the link): http://cannabisculture.com/v2/content/2011/01/27/Chemo-or-Cannabis-How-Would-You-Treat-Your-Cancer

It is one thing to kill a cancer cell, but the real question wracking science’s collective brain is: can you survive the treatment?

This is the central concern regarding how we approach cancer, the plague of modern times. Len Richmond’s documentary “What if Cannabis Cured Cancer,” narrated by Emmy award-winning actor Peter Coyote, is a well-researched account of the chemical benefits of the cannabis plant. Interviewing a multitude of doctors and researchers across the world, “What if Cannabis…” explains how certain compounds in cannabis, including THC, attack only cancer cells while actually protecting healthier ones. And here is the real kicker: with incredible results! However, its healing effects are not limited to just cancer. Cannabis contains compounds that work holistically with the entire human body on such conditions as epilepsy, bipolar disorder, glaucoma, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, neuropathic pain, depression, leukemia, and more.

The documentary also outlines the misinformation campaign by both government and media as to the ill effects of cannabis on users. For instance, it is an eyebrow raising revelation that not a single recorded death has ever been attributed to cannabis, while it remains a Schedule I drug—along with heroin and meth—under the Controlled Substances Act.

But, it’s not just the plant that’s having a tough time in the world. Len Richmond has tried earnestly to get the medical community to be involved in the amazing amount of research he’s uncovered in his film:

“I contacted the John Wayne Cancer Institute,” he says. “To offer researchers a chance to look at my film. The PR guys said I had to write to the individual researchers. So, I got all their information, emailed them, and offered them a free copy of the documentary. There was not a single response. Weeks later, I sent a follow-up email, again offering a free copy of the film and asking “Are you really so sure that you're right that you're not even open to entertaining an alternative point of view?’ Well, then I got a response: ‘Don’t you email us again! We’re not interested!’ It’s crazy! Chemo therapy is hurting people. It makes me angry. It’s a scandal, the way cancer is being treated in this country as a profit-driven industry. “

Despite having sporadic acceptance in the mainstream medical arena, Richmond’s film is gaining an enormous amount of success in the medical marijuana community. People are excited about the evidence contained in his documentary, and with good cause. “What if Cannabis…” creates a convincing argument on how and why marijuana should be seriously considered as a cancer-curing agent. To get a little more to the heart of the issue, I talked to Len from his home in L.A. for an in-depth look at how the film came to be:

Len, why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself?

Well, I’m a sixties hippie who, among other things, marched against the Vietnam War. I started smoking dope in the sixties, of course. I remember how I first started, I was dating this woman because I was trying to be straight and fit in. On our first date, she held out a joint. I told her I didn’t wanted to do anything that might make me lose control, but she said, ‘This stuff will change your life, it will open your mind! You'll discover things about yourself.’ I thought, ‘What?’ I couldn’t understand the concept at first. But, of course, she was right! A few months later I came out.

I later moved to London to be with a boyfriend and started writing sitcoms for BBC and British television. There was one particular sitcom that I decided to put all of my sixties radicalism in it, marijuana, making fun of religion, and gay liberation. It was called “Agony” because it was about a “Dear Abby”-type of advice columnist who could fix everyone else’s problems but could never fix her own. It was very popular, very funny, and was one of the first shows to depict the main characters smoking marijuana casually and celebrating healthy gay relationships. Later, CBS bought the rights to it and broadcast an American version called “The Lucy Arnaz Show” but it was terrible. The CBS writers took out everything that made Agony so good: the gays, smoking pot, the radicalism, the left wing politics. It was soon after that I got heavily into the Gay Liberation movement. I started promoting gay rights – and getting laid a lot.

What inspired you to make “What if Cannabis Cured Cancer”?

My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and wouldn’t let the doctors do anything to her. Of course, this freaked me out, along with the rest of family. But, she did a lot of research and found various herbs that she felt would help her. So, after four years of treating herself, by focusing on a vegan raw food diet and using anti-cancer herbs like Mistletoe, she had actually shrunk her tumor! I was amazed! So, I got inspired to make the documentary film “Everything Bad is Good: Healing Yourself in a World of Medicine Gone Mad,” where I interviewed people who had cured themselves of cancer with natural remedies. This is when I started to really get into the idea of natural healing outside of the medical world. Through my research on this film, I stumbled onto a few cases where marijuana was used as a curing agent and just dug deeper. As I soon discovered, there was quite a bit of evidence beginning to surface.

Some of the things going through my mind were, ‘Am I going to get attacked? Are people going to want to destroy me because I'm raining on their parade? There is a whole industry and makes a good living off the drug war.’ Well, it’s been exactly the opposite! People are complimenting the research . . . the evidence is there! I've become a bit of a working class hero taking on the establishment. My early hippie dreams of making a better world are coming true!

For instance, just the other day I was emailed an old article titled “Smoking Marijuana Causes Testicular Cancer.” I started investigating the research done on the study and even the doctor was who hired to conduct the study said don’t read too much into it, the results aren’t conclusive, the amount of people in the study were so small it is difficult to even pinpoint a correlation, and of course we don't know if the control group was telling the truth about their past drug use. But that's not the way the press reported it. And, of course, the study was funded by the folks who wanted to prove that pot is bad for you.

In your film, it is discussed that the primary compounds in cannabis that work as the curing agent are the endocannabinoids. Can you tell me a little bit about endocannabinoids and how they may be able to treat cancer?

The first guy I interviewed for the film, Dr. Jeffrey Hergenrather, started treating patients with cannabis and they started to get better. And what he told me was, whether you smoke marijuana or not you have marijuana-like substances in your body. It is naturally in your body, you are born with it, and it is called the endocannabinoid system. I thought, ‘What? I need to find out more about this!’ Endocannabinoids are found in our nervous and immune systems and have an almost identical structure to cannabinoids found in cannabis. These two compounds act as a sort of lock and key for each other in your body—a chemical reaction—that becomes beneficial, forming into modulators of good health. Endocannabinoids act as tumor regulators, mood regulators, anti-depressants, anti-inflammatories, and the list goes on.

What is being discovered is that some people do not have enough endocannabinoids in their system. You see, you get a massive dose of endocannabinoids in your mother’s milk, if you’re breast fed. It’s one of your immunity boosters as a baby. What Professor Robert Melamede (in the film) believes is that there are endocannabinoid-deprived people and there are endocannabinoid-endowed people. Those that are endocannabinoid-endowed have healthy systems, are more adaptable to change, and therefore are more open-minded. In the same way, those that are endocannabinoid-deprived have weaker systems, therefore more fearful of change to their environment. So, endocannabinoids are not just interesting in how they can heal the body, but are also indicators into how one lives their life! This is a whole new field of information I didn’t even get to touch on in the film. But I will in my next.

Here is the main reason we need cannabis. We are overwhelmed with toxins in our environment: chemicals, pollution, even our own thoughts. The endocannabinoids that we are born with need help. The cannabinoids and endocannabinoids find each other and are like, “Oh . . . Hi bro!” and they hook up and are stronger in fighting diseases. It is a more protective way to survive from all the things that are in an onslaught against us. Cannabis stimulates your survival mechanism. Really, cannabis smokers can be the luckiest, happiest people on Earth!

What I remember from the film, and what you have eluded to here, is that endocannabinoids are holistic as well. They are not just for fighting tumors, correct?

For one thing, they are mood lifters; they lift you out of depression. When you’re not busy being depressed, it helps you to survive. So, endocannabinoids are all about survival. The threat, I guess, is all the pharmaceuticals we would put out of business. If you can do so many healing things with this one plant, it’s an enormous threat to our pharmacy system. Almost every drug I’ve researched comes with an enormous amount of side-effects, some of them even fatal. You put yourself in the situation of a catch-22. Get rid of such-and-such symptom but accept the risk of a host of others. The only side-effects with marijuana are you may lose a little short-term memory for a while and you may bump into some things while walking around at home.

Amidst the compelling evidence, why is the mainstream media not jumping on this? And why in the media, is the reporting on the research is mild at best?

We have to acknowledge there's a lot of fear out there about cannabis. People are afraid of losing control; particularly religious people. They have to control everything in their life, or the house of cards falls apart. Marijuana is a threat, it’s unpredictable. And, cannabis makes you question why you wouldn’t want to do anything that doesn’t make you happy. It does get you to leave jobs, leave marriages, to make moves and changes in your life that you aren’t usually willing to make.

Other countries seem to be where the cutting edge of research is being done on cannabis treatment of cancer. Is cannabis a big legal issue in other countries or is cannabis seen as a viable alternative?

It’s much more accepted in Spain, than many other countries. It’s not really treated like a criminal offense; they are very liberal about it. Italy, on the other hand, is a whole different story. I have a friend in Italy who has cancer, but can hardly get marijuana at all because he is scared of being arrested. Most of the countries are still treating it like a serious criminal offense. I can say most of the foreign orders I get for my film are from Canada. They are a huge pot-smoking country. I also get a lot of overseas orders from the Netherlands, obviously.

One direction for the pro-cannabis movement is to get cannabis removed from the Controlled Substances Act. What is your perspective to getting this done?

One thing I am going to do is to get copies of my film to members of Congress. I got Americans for Safe Access (ASA) to agree to hand-deliver them to one hundred Congressmen and Congresswomen; they are just waiting for the right time, what with the latest election and change in seats. My hope is that there is a Congress person out there who knows someone with cancer—a relative they love— and it becomes a life or death issue, instead of just an issue about an illegal drug. Basically, I think that if we can get one well-known person who has cancer to treat themselves with cannabis instead of chemo and they survive and prosper, then maybe that will begin to wake the country up. But, you know, it probably has to be a celebrity or nobody will give a damn.

Do you see the recent failure of Proposition 19 in California a set back?

No, because a fair number of pro-marijuana people didn’t want Prop 19 to go into effect. It criminalized some things that weren’t criminal before. Such as, there was a bit in there about having to get written permission from your landlord to smoke cannabis in your rented home. I don’t want to have to ask permission from a landlord to smoke in my own backyard!

One sentiment expressed in your film is that if cannabis is legal there is less money in it. So if it is more lucrative when illegal, should it ever become legal? Given what the pharmaceutical industry could do to such a product, would you even want it to become legal?

Look, I’ve been busted for smoking pot in England. I’ve been arrested, fingerprinted, and photographed. And at that time even the police woman who arrested me said if I wouldn’t have smoked on the street, I wouldn’t have been arrested. ‘Do it in your own home,’ she said. I don’t want a police woman, who has no idea of the benefits of cannabis to tell me how to conduct my medical treatment. The people who are rabidly enforcing cannabis laws are scared little people. Marijuana gives them the perfect excuse because they are fearful of freedom and change and use us as a scapegoat. So, yes, I say please legalize it. It would be nice to have that paranoia gone. I think it will definitely be legalized before too long because a lie can’t live forever.

Really?

Yes, because the older generation will soon be gone. And I say this as a member of the older generation. 7 out of every 10 people I know smoke pot. And not just the kind of person who you would think smokes pot, but neighbors, coworkers, normal people. It’s like the gay lib thing . . . come out, come out, wherever you are!

What other kinds of activities are you involved in regarding the issue of cannabis legalization?

Just using my film. Getting the documentary out there; getting it to lawmakers and the establishment medical community. Now I have a weapon I can use. I’m not really the kind to go out and picket with signs. My film is my weapon I use to affect change.

“What if Cannabis Cured Cancer” can be purchased on Amazon.com and followed on Facebook.