The greatest trick The Devil ever played was convincing the world that He did not exist.
–Charles Baudelaire (1821 – 1867)–

If ever our world needed a hero…MEOW is the time!  So…emphatically YES…as I’m guessing it is clear to you by now…if you read the “Who Is NAME!?” section of this site…

NAME! is MY PROtagonizer!!!

Not just any “old” hero, to me, NAME! is The Ultimate Hero…The One who, while saving the day, is simultaneously saving eternity!

Since at least December of 1974, we undeniably have been living in the unofficial, “Age of the Hero!”  It has probably been ongoing since the dawn of time, as I believe it is at the core of the “collective purpose” of our ever-evolving human consciousness…

But ’74 was when I got here and started my “empirical” appraisal!

My entire life has been “programmed,” from the beginning, with unending manifestations of the same story…over and over again. “The Hero’s Journey,” as coined by author and mythologist Joseph Campbell, is NAME!’s journey…because as far backward in history as I a can discern , it IS the human journey.

As a child, the stories of Jesus were my first “organized” exposure to this hero concept.  For sure, HE is a transcendent hero…I don’t think anyone would disagree with that!

But…my very FIRST memory in this life, at the age of three, is standing in a line that wrapped around the block…to see the FIRST Star Wars movie in 1977.

Thus, growing up, Luke Skywalker was always my favorite hero…hands down!

But who would Luke Skywalker be without Darth Vader?

More pertinent for my story…who is Darth Vader without the Emperor? Superman without Lex Luthor? Neo without Agent Smith? Harry Potter without Lord Voldemort…YOU KNOW…“He-Who- Must-Not-Be-NAMEd?!?!”

Jesus without The Devil?

No hero becomes a hero without THE villain that defines the core reason for that hero to manifest.  Think about it…the villain almost always gets the first scene in the story…

You know…to “set the stage”…to create the circumstances for the hero to evolve.

This became a VERY important realization, as I progressed through my inward journey, because in this way…every villain is also a “hidden” hero!

It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.

–Buddha–

After all, without the villain deciding to step outside of society’s norms, the hero would never have a reason to exist in the first place! Thus, Darth Vader, not Luke, is The Ultimate Hero of Star Wars…Luke still rocks though!

But undeniably indispensable, even The Emperor is a “hidden” hero of this most favored of…modern…Hero’s Journeys…which occurred “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”

Sooooooo…

Alfred: “Why bats, Master Wayne?”
Bruce Wayne: “Bats frighten me. It’s time my enemies share my dread.”

–Batman Begins (2005)–

Why is The Wetikó the primary antagonist of my personal Hero’s Journey?

Well…NAME!’s purpose is to reawaken the forgotten aspects of our human awareness.  To put it another way, NAME! guides me to “awaken” my own personal awareness of the Divinity within me.

As you will learn, NAME! is not only a champion of awareness, but also of Agape Love, transparency, cooperation and moderation in a world spiraling further towards individualism, secrecy, corruption, and greed.

Awareness…to the uninitiated…is an inconsistent and unreliable tool at best. But as it is with any training of the human mind, once I began to actively engage and attend to my level of awareness, it began to grow more consistent and expanded rapidly.

What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.

–Abraham Maslow–

However, given its shifting and amorphic nature, if I was going to remain cognizant of what I was learning about this important “new” awareness, I was going to need a powerful, ever-present, reminder to keep me from slipping back into the “fog” of our modern culture’s “shared” reality.

Cue NAME!, right?!?!

Nope!

My “discovery” of NAME! was still almost two years away, at that point…and would not have happened in the first place…had my own life’s journey not taken me into direct conflict with my personal potential to manifest evil…

So it was…at this particular junction in my life (May of 2011)…that I first Discovered The Wetikó…

The serendipitous synchrony of Divine energy, that would soon come to define and guide my journey, coalesced around this powerful archetypal evil and, ineradicably, It manifested into my reality as The Ultimate Nemesis imaginable!!!  Da da DAAAAAA!!!

I did not think, at the time, to even ask the question…nemesis of what…of who?

What I did immediately understand, however…in a moment so powerful it was like I had been struck by a bolt of lightening…is that suppressing awareness is the primary tactic of this villain…and thus, its domain was beyond my ability to comprehend.

…very important to the nature of my story, is the serendipitous, synchronous, spiraling Spiritual reality that slowly became discernible…

For it was only because of where I was at that moment in my life…and because of what I had already experienced in my first 35 years…that allowed for the sensation of horror which ensued to be EXACTLY what that version of me needed to experience at that time…in order to anchor my awareness into this VERY unfamiliar (but fundamental and OLD for all of humanity) way of discerning our, aforementioned, “shared” reality.

If the enemy cannot turn us from prayer by means of vain thoughts and sinful ideas, then he brings back into our minds good things we have been taught, and fills us with beautiful ideas, so that one way or another he may lure us away from prayer, which is a thing he cannot bear. It is called “a theft from the right-hand side.”
–The Way Of A Pilgrim–

It doesn’t want to lose it’s connections to me because it cannot replace me with another. Once a soul is disconnected…The Wetikó’s power is reduced forever. Thus, once all of us have completely removed the last of its hold…its control…over us, it will finally be defeated. Therefore, none of us is totally free until we are ALL totally free…I Love that part!

I must remove each of its tentacles of control myself…no one else can do it for me. Yes, of course I tried to pull them out as soon as I realized they were there! But that’s not how it works…

At least, I suppose I could say that that’s not how I decided it works for me. That would be way too easy and, in my experiences, nothing worth doing is EVER easy…how could it be if I expect to gain anything from choosing to do it?

The tentacles of The Wetikó are a fusion of the scariest types of restraints I’ve ever imagined.

Like something I’ve seen in a movie with aliens that have hook-laden suction-cups, combined with spiderweb-like smaller projections that seem to interweave and ensnare across multiple dimensions…it’s not good.

To make matters worse, it would seem that these energetic connections are effectively invisible, even though I could imagine feeling them. (They aren’t just black hoses!)

These evil restraints could be described as countless connections all over the body, but generally centralized and consolidating along and into the seven “traditional” energy centers, or Chakras, located in the body.

This is also something I could not see, nor conceive, at the time…never having studied the concepts of Chakras or the energy of the body…at that point in my life.

Yuck, in my mind, the tentacles undulate orgasmically, as they willingly accept the spiritual energy I submissively…unknowingly…offer to them.

“Resistance is futile,” to borrow from Star Trek: The Next Generation, at least until awareness is achieved.

After all, how can one fight against, much less detach oneself from, bonds designed to remain forever invisible?  It is, Divinely, one of the most disturbing images I can conjure…which is precisely the point!

Truth makes many appeals, not the least of which is its power to shock.

–Jules Renard (1864 – 1910)–

Delving further into my research behind the origins and history of The Wetikó, I was simultaneously learning more and more about it’s battleground, the temple I had… mostly….neglected my entire life, my own body.

This was a…vital…step because, perhaps the most important aspect of The Wetikó’s power, is that our life energy is the “food” that allows it to sustain its hold over each of us.

I began to imagine the thickness of the tentacles and the resulting strength of the connections being based on the type of energy being harvested and the degree of one’s purity and level of spiritual progress with that type of energy. (Meaning that progressing towards and increasing one’s spiritual purity equally and oppositely reduces the flow of energy to The Wetikó.)

That gave me a feeling of hope because, seemingly, I had complete control over my level of spiritual purity…right?!?!?

As I attempted to shed more and more light on this demon’s dark domain…the horror became overwhelming and a deep depression took hold, as I began to realize how little I truly controlled…and how LITTLE I truly “knew.”

If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called Research.

–Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)–

As Paul Levy’s brilliant books, “Dispelling Wetikó,” (2013) and “Wetikó” (2021) (Which I consider to be essential reading) Divinely illustrate, the horror of this demon is incalculably personal…manifesting as all forms of evil in my life, so as to keep me constantly “looking the other way” and ignorant of it’s true nature.

I discovered Its influence playing out endlessly throughout all of my personal relationships in life…most poignantly in my intimate relationships with women…when I was IN love with a woman; undermining the structure and capacity of every business environment to which I was exposed, especially bureaucratic and administrative systems; dismantling the fragile psyches of both the soldiers and military doctors with whom my full-time work in PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) research brought me into contact; and confounding countless college students…to whom I was exposed in my role as an adjunct professor…many of which were lacking essential critical thinking and organizational capacities that Wetikó-infested education policies have sapped at every grade level for decades. (Not to mention the helpless and anxiety-inducing state-of-mind the students often find themselves in, as a result!)

Ceaselessly it distracts me away from the knowledge of it’s existence…but more importantly…from the deeper treasures that it protects regarding MY true nature as a spiritual being…

At the same time, as Levy meticulously articulates, it’s reach extends far beyond what I perceive as the boundary of my physical body. THE Wetikó is more accurately described as simply Wetikó.  Like a trans-dimensional plague, It is simultaneously my personal tormentor and a metaphysical virus that has spread around the world…infecting and feeding upon most, if not all, human beings alive today.

Fractally macrocosmic of my internal battles, it’s influence on the world stage can be seen most obviously in our ethically corrupt systems of governance, healthcare, commerce, and entertainment. However, once I had further developed “eyes to see it,” Wetikó’s ubiquity was unveiled to me as truly representing all forms of evil…everywhere.

Dastardly egregious, Wetikó-laden, illustrations of imperialism can be found throughout history. But those of my “country,” the good ‘ol US of A…over the past 100 years in particular…poignantly represent the planet-wide scale of this evil.

Climaxing, or so I thought, in the events of 9/11.

But emphasizing that “it’s not over yet,” we’ve endured the crescendo of the declaration of a “War on Terror,” the two ensuing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the implementation of the Patriot Act, the formation of the Department of Homeland Security, the financial crisis of 2008, the 2010, “Citizens United,” Supreme “Corporation”/Court decision , and the continuing proxy wars in Syria, and elsewhere, designed to destabilize the Middle East…to NAME! just a VERY few “recent” events.

Of course, in 2020, “9/11-in-slow-motion” began and caused all of these previous events to pale in comparison!

Through my research, I would come to uncover that the “American Experiment” is only the most recent empire in a LONG history…going back thousands of years…of this most nefarious of Wetikó-influenced human “civilization” structures.

Counterintuitively, it seems to spread most effectively by interweaving itself into all forms of creative expression…especially finance, law, and religion…and stubbornly has survived the rise and fall of every “organized human collective effort” to date…while simultaneously being the primary cause of each fall along the way.

On a planet-altering scale, the “unintended consequences” of this morally and ideologically invalid Wetikó-worldview, or Wetikóview, have led to each and every one of US becoming the number one enemy of the state.

Intellectually mystifying concepts like a “War on Terror”…or a “War on Drugs”…or even a “War on Poverty,” ultimately target the citizens…finding endless ways to reclassify you and me as the enemy of wars conceived to never end.

As if that wasn’t enough, multiple century-spanning campaigns of social conditioning are purposely inflicted upon the unaware masses; “dumbing us down,” by modifying the education system into the “standardized” version we see today; entrancing and enticing us to grow up passive, apathetic, and reflexive to authority through tireless, non-stop advertising and media-based “PROGRAMS,” that take advantage of the malleability and susceptibility of the vulnerable human mind (Even specially targeting children to “get them early”)…

…and most disturbing, physically weakening our minds and bodies…by controlling and manipulating the agricultural, medical, and pharmaceutical industries…going so far as to poison us, en masse, through the distribution of debilitating chemicals, like the neurotoxin Flouride, in our food, air, and water supplies.

The sociological and psychological implications of The Wetikó are truly staggering, clearly observed in the, aforementioned, continuing downward ethical spiral of the various “entertainment” industries.

But, more intimate, is the incessantly myopic, competitive behavior of the population. As “Self-Appointed Guardians of The Status Quo,” we have been enchanted into thinking that it is correct to immediately suppress and stifle each other whenever someone “sticks their head up above the crowd” or tries to behave in a way that will draw attention to the ever-increasing “cracks” in reality.

We accomplish this suppression through myriad forms of dehumanizing and debasing behaviors like “perceived obsolescence,” a particularly nasty, “Wetikótactic,” that encourages us to express sarcasm and ignominy towards one another for not keeping up with the latest material trends…which themselves are often ridiculous, time-sucking activities that further serve to detach us from the wonder, beauty, and Divinity of the natural world.

We shamelessly…ignorantly…keep the illusion expanding. Men pridefully scoff at and chastise their friend’s crappy fantasy football team, or weak video game abilities…or simply because one chooses not to spend their time accumulating meaningless sports statistics…

…while women sink ever-lower in their own ways of undermining one another in the NAME! of “societal progress”…be it tanning or manicure salons, clothing, shoes, breasts, or lips. (Botox alone has seen a 797% increase, going from 786,911 injections in 2000 to 7,056,255 in 2016.)

Of course, how men treat women is even worse than how they treat one another.  And how women treat men…well…I’ll get into that in MUCH more detail later!

More perverse are The Wetikó’s influences towards an ever-widening income inequality around the world and the subsequent poverty it engenders, highlighted by the estimated 10.7% of the world’s population who live on less than $1.90 per day, and that an estimated 1 in 6 people on the planet do not have access to clean drinking water and other basic necessities…like access to sanitation (2.5 billion people!)…which leads to approximately one child dying every 20 seconds worldwide.

What can I do?!?!?!

What can ANYONE DO?!?!?!

And that is the turning point…the tipping point…the shift in momentum…

Because we simply decide to ask ourselves THAT question!

ONLY then…are we open enough to receive…

…ONLY then can the answer come TO us…

Be A Guardian…Be A Man Among Men

Be A Guardian….Be A Man Among Men

Or Be A Woman Among Women

Be A Guardian…Be My Friend

Mmmhmmm…Be My Freind

We’re A Part Of Something Special

We’re A Part Of Something Special

-Nahko Bear, “Wash It Away”-(Soundtrack For This Introduction Page)

It isn’t what we say or think that defines us, but what we do.

–Jane Austen (1775 – 1817)–

This vital axiom was alluringly articulated by actress Katie Holmes (In 2005’s, “Batman Begins”), as she portrayed Rachel Dawes, the catalyzing love interest behind another of NAME!’s major hero archetypes, Batman: “Its not who you are underneath, its what you do that defines you.”

Due to the scope of this evil, The Wetikó is beyond any one description or definition. Thus, it matters not what NAME! I give it or how I pronounce that NAME!, what matters is that I take the ACTION of NAMing it!

As often as possible, in as many ways as possible. To constantly shed light on it’s influence…which allows for the withdrawal of that influence…just as a snake’s venom is withdrawn from a wound…

As you will see, what became singularly empowering for me…ironically…was that The Wetikó, once I began to wrestle against it’s grasp…ever so slowly…begrudgingly, revealed itself to me and in doing so, ultimately, showed me how I could “defeat” it.

For it was in the struggle against this demon’s control, that I would eventually come to reveal, comprehend, and finally embrace my all-important, “authentic self”…NAME!…the only part of my consciousness that is impervious to The Wetikó’s influence.

Thus, as THE opportunity that I believe it ultimately offers to each of us, The Wetikó, by design, would serve as the allegorical alchemical “lead” I would unknowingly transmute…through researching what were, at first, seemingly unrelated clues that I discovered laying scattered across history…into the “gold” of NAME!, a 21st century incarnation of The Ultimate Nemesis of The Wetikó.

As the above image displays, NAME!’s primary hero archetype is Ophiuchus, “The Serpent Handler”…a historical figure so important that Zeus decided to immortalize him in the stars for what he discovered about the truth of human existence.

Ophiuchus was also NAMEd “Serpentarius” in ancient Rome, “Asclepius” in slightly more ancient Greece, “Imhotep” in even more ancient Egypt, and, some believe, even “Joseph” in the Book of Genesis (The most ancient part of the, for sure ancient, Old Testament of the Bible).

He is also considered to be the father/God of medicine and is the only constellation that is based on an “actual” human from history.

Condemned to death because he discovered the secret of immortality, the legend reveals that Zeus was compelled to kill Asclepius with a thunderbolt because Hades (a.k.a. The Wetikó), God of the Underworld, started complaining to his brother (Zeus) that the normal flow of souls descending into hell was decreasing, as the knowledge of immortality spread throughout humanity.

Ophiuchus…meaning “The Serpent Handler”…was the NAME! Zeus bequeathed to this hero’s eternal spirit amongst the stars.

Most illuminating for me, Ophiuchus is considered by many, to actually be the “hidden” 13th constellation of The Zodiac. While the majority of his body lays outside the plane of the, “wheel of twelve,” traditional Zodiac… Ophiuchus’ feet lay within what is known as, “The Ecliptic” or “Belt”…which is the apparent path that the sun travels throughout The Zodiac constellations each year.

As you can see, his left foot is firmly planted on the back of the scorpion depicted by the constellation of Scorpio and his right foot passes into the place in the sky that is, arguably, the most mysterious and unknowable part of our “Milky Way” galaxy…the center!

This is also the place where both Scorpio’s Tail and The Arrow of Sagittarius point…as if they are attempting to draw our attention to the incomprehensibly massive overflow of, “light,” information emitting from this distant, but deceptively Divine, center-point in space.

Incidentally, “Sag,” is as a half-human, half-horse “Centaur,” with bow and arrow at the ready, and is the next Zodiac constellation, on the “wheel,” after Scorpio.)

And, thus, there he has remained…a towering figure (Ophiuchus is one of the largest constellations in the sky.) of a man grasping, none other than, The Wetikó itself…in its most celebrated form throughout all of human history…as a serpent.

It seems that in being granted eternal life, Ophiuchus was allowed to be depicted in the stars as metaphorically retaining what he had learned in mortal life…so that he could guide us to Discover The Wetikó for ourselves!!!