Cosette
@cosettepaneque.bsky.social
🔮 Divination • Ritual • Deathcare • Education 🦘 Cuban-American-Australian 🏹 She/her linktr.ee/cosettepaneque
Is Hekate the World Soul? It's a popular interpretation of the Chaldean Oracles, but scholars disagree. In my latest article, I explore the fragments and the debate. #PaganSky #WitchSky
Crossroads to cosmos: Hekate in the Chaldean Oracles
Explore Hekate's role in the Chaldean Oracles, the debate over her identity as the World Soul, and how evolving scholarship can reshape our understanding.
cosettepaneque.com
Some blogs write themselves... to 5,000 words. Let's kill some darlings.
I am terrible at math. So naturally, my studies led me to Nicomachus of Gerasa, best known for an arithmetic textbook. New blog explores what numbers mean for magical practice, written by someone who still counts on her fingers. #PaganSky #OccultSky
Nicomachus of Gerasa: number as the mind of the gods
Nicomachus of Gerasa turned Pythagorean number into theology. A maths-averse Pagan explores perfect numbers, number gods and sacred proportion.
cosettepaneque.com
I've had Oberon Zell's Millennial Gaia on my altar for years, but I'd never read Lovelock. In my latest blog, I look at where the two Gaias meet and where they part ways. #PaganSky
Gaia: the goddess, the hypothesis, and the living Earth
A look at Gaia, the hypothesis and living Earth. How Lovelock's science and Oberon Zell's Pagan vision arose independently, and what each says about the Earth.
cosettepaneque.com
The Corpus Hermeticum gave the Western Mystery Tradition its living, listening cosmos. Following my posts on Pythagoras, Empedocles, and Plato. #PaganSky #OccultSky
The Corpus Hermeticum: a living, listening cosmos
Explore the living cosmos of the Corpus Hermeticum, gnosis as transformation, and Isis as revealer, shaping ceremonial magic and the Western Mystery Tradition.
cosettepaneque.com
This week, I've had an unusual spike in new followers on Instagram – 50 and they are all fake accounts.
A new study says we might biologically max out around 150–194 years. But at what cost? More years doesn't mean more good years, financially, physically, or emotionally.
Longevity: Humans Could Live for Up to 194 Years, Researchers Say
A new study suggests that DNA mutations may limit human life span to 146–194 years, even under favorable conditions. The findings could help broaden understanding of the aspects of aging that may ultimately prove impossible to reverse.
healthline.com
Archaeologists have found 120+ Roman inscriptions deep in a Spanish cave dedicated to "the Lady" (Domina). #PaganSky
Cave sanctuary in Spain has highest number of Latin inscriptions anywhere in the Roman Empire — and many of them mention mysterious 'Lady'
Researchers found 120 ancient inscriptions referring to a mysterious goddess known as "the Lady" in a cave in Valencia, Spain.
livescience.com
A lovely piece on letter writing as a spiritual practice, one that asks for presence, patience, and a kind of full-hearted attention we've mostly lost in the age of texting and scrolling.
Writing letters is a spiritual practice for our age of speed | Psyche Ideas
Handwritten letters seem like a remnant of pre-online life, but they connect us to ourselves and each other like nothing else
psyche.co
Nature is beautiful. Nature is also devastating. If we really believe that we are part of nature rather than separate from it, we have to find a way to belong to this nature, not an idealised version of it. #PaganSky
The beautiful and devastating nature we belong to
What does it mean to be part of nature when nature includes suffering, predation and death? A Pagan and animist reflection on belonging without romanticising.
cosettepaneque.com
FDA cleared a blood test for Alzheimer's in symptomatic adults as young as 40, 97.6% accurate in trials. Australia's not far behind: TGA approved pTau blood tests in August.
FDA approves first Alzheimer's blood test for Americans as young as 40
In a move that could help drastically slow the advancement of Alzheimer's disease (AD), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared C2N Diagnostics' PrecivityAD2 blood test for patients as young as 40 who have shown some potential cognitive symptoms of the condition.
newatlas.com
I'm currently in the middle of PhD research that is showing unequivocally that this is not even close to a thing. Women are still massively underrepresented in the curriculum and almost every teacher I interviewed raised the manosphere's influence on male students as an explicit blocker.
Richard Chirgwin@rchirgwin.bsky.social · last mo.Canavan really is a piece of work ... womensagenda.com.au/latest/femin...
Google's AI Overviews are handing out racist "safety advice" depending on the ethnicity in the search, danger warnings for some groups, tea and small talk for others. Google says it's working on it.
Facebook Is Drowning In Islamophobic AI Slop Calling for Violence Against Muslim Americans
A viral phenomenon is sweeping Facebook, with AI-generated content boosting calls for Islamophobic violence in Dearborn, Michigan.
futurism.com
"The map is never the territory." A grounded piece on Tibetan Buddhist approaches to preparing for death, mindfulness, tonglen, and letting go of the idea of a perfect death.
Buddhist Practices to Prepare You for Death
Death is a journey into the unknown. Like any journey, it goes better if you’re prepared. Andrew Holecek shares teachings from Tibetan Buddhism to help.
lionsroar.com
This is a fascinating article exploring "pet-keeping" in non-human animals.
Do Monkeys Keep Pets? Study Finds Widespread Primate Interactions With Other Animal Species, From Mice to Deer
This social behavior might reveal the evolutionary roots of traits that underlie pet-keeping in humans, scientists say, from caregiving to tolerance and curiosity. But it's not the same as a person keeping a cat or a dog
smithsonianmag.com
A new lawsuit accuses Elon Musk's xAI of training its Grok chatbot on real child abuse images. First case of its kind against the company.
Elon Musk’s xAI used child porn to train Grok models, lawsuit says
xAI accused of training Grok on real and AI-generated child pornography.
arstechnica.com
I’ve gathered ten practical lessons from ancient Egyptian religion that modern Pagans might find useful, from caring for divine images and making ordinary offerings, to amulets, purification, and writing to the dead. #PaganSky
Practical lessons from ancient Egypt for the modern Pagan
Explore ten practical lessons from ancient Egyptian religion for modern Pagan practice, from offerings and prayer to amulets, ancestors and ritual.
cosettepaneque.com
Omaha police shocked two students with electric shock gloves this year, one in special ed. Superintendent begs police to stop. A torture expert says the gloves have "no legitimate law enforcement purpose."
Horrified School District Pleads Police to Stop Using Electric Shock Torture Gloves on Students
Administration officials at one Nebraska school district are pleading with local cops not to torture students with their new shock gloves.
futurism.com
A rich essay on AI, religion, and the mythologies Silicon Valley didn't invent so much as inherit. Recommended for anyone thinking about tech and belief together.
Digital intervention: why critical AI studies needs the study of religion
In the years since the November 2022 release of ChatGPT, “GenAI” (generative artificial intelligence) has become a cultural obsession, fueling […]
tif.ssrc.org
A thoughtful piece on the disappearance of mourning dress in the West, and what we lost when grief stopped being visible.
Visible Mourning Rituals: The Clothing of Grief
Bereavement clothing in the Christian west is a thing of the past. Do we need to return to some form of visible expression to grieve?
talkdeath.com
A bookseller hid an AirTag in a rare book shipment and tracked it to an Amazon facility where workers scan and destroy books for AI training. Historical, intellectual, sentimental value, gone, so the words can be "content."
Amazon Caught Destroying Rare Books to Train AI
An investigation by 404 Media found that Amazon bought a shipment of rare books so it could scan and destroy them to train AI.
futurism.com
I’ve reviewed Emma Quilty’s ‘Witch Power,’ a valuable Australian contribution to contemporary writing on witchcraft, feminism and politics. There’s much here I admired and some arguments that left me unconvinced. #PaganSky #WitchSky #BookSky
Exciting and provocative: ‘Witch Power’ by Emma Quilty
Emma Quilty’s Witch Power brings feminist theory, anthropology and lived witchcraft together in a sharp examination of power, politics and practice.
cosettepaneque.com
New blog post: the Red Hall in Bergama, a Roman temple built for Egyptian gods that nobody can quite agree on: Isis? Serapis? Hadrian himself? I went for Isis, prayed, and came home with a lotus pendant I still wear for her. #PaganSky
The beautiful and mysterious Red Hall of Bergama
Photos and reflections from the Red Hall in Bergama: an ancient Roman temple to Egyptian gods, its history, its mysteries, and my visit there to honour Isis.
cosettepaneque.com
For Dying to Know Day, I toured Fawkner Memorial Park: burial operations, what happens inside the crematorium, and what Right of Interment means. #DeathSky
Dying to know: burials and cremations at Fawkner Cemetery
Behind the scenes at Fawkner Memorial Park for Dying to Know Day: a burial operations tour, a look inside the crematorium, and what Right of Interment means.
cosettepaneque.com
New on the blog: a devotional starter guide to Athena. Correspondences, altar ideas, practical devotion, and more. #PaganSky #HelPol
Honouring the goddess Athena: cunning, skill, and gleaming eyes
Honouring Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom, strategy, and craft. A devotional guide with correspondences, altar tips, rituals, and practices for modern worship.
cosettepaneque.com
The real shame in those Fauci hearings is Sen. Moreno & Co. What a waste of time and taxpayer money.
A 50-something-year-old man on public transport speaks loudly on the phone about the end of his relationship with his 20-year-old girlfriend. She cheated on him, has mental health issues, and he just kept so much inside, poor, poor man. He's glad it's ended. "We are not children," he said. Um, hmm..
One of the wildest takes on #TheOdyssey is that it's important because boys need heroes and good role models.
I wanted to love Christopher Nolan's #TheOdyssey. Instead, I liked it, and kept wishing I believed in its world a little more. Check out my review. Spoilers are clearly marked.
The Odyssey: a world I wanted to believe in
Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is ambitious. My review explores its adaptation of the tradition, production design, and why I wanted to believe in it more.
cosettepaneque.com
My latest blog is a review of 'How to Die in the 21st Century' by Hannah Gould, an accessible Australian introduction to dying, funerals, grief, and death literacy. #EndOfLife #DeathLiteracy
‘How to Die in the 21st Century’, a gentle primer
A review of Hannah Gould's How to Die in the 21st Century, an accessible Australian introduction to death, dying, funerals, and end-of-life planning.
cosettepaneque.com