www.thepowerteam.com

   In "Biblical times" it was common for people to perform miraculous fetes in the name of one's god(s) or church. The more powerful the god the more powerful the fete. This was known as Charismata. Churches that are apart of the Charismatic movement believe in the manifestations of the holy spirit, that is, the Charismata of old today. Some examples of this is deliverance and speaking in "tongues." By achieving these, for lack of better words, unique characteristics, these individuals and organizations are able to sway followers into their herd.
   The Power Team is an organization body builders whose claim to fame is their charismatic abilities of strength. They travel to various churches performing amazing physical fetes, like breaking bricks and bending bars, in the name of Christianity. This Power Team preaches that their abilities come from their belief in God, despite the immense training I'm sure their prowess entails. Unfortunately for them, the Shaolin Monks (and numerous others) have been performing these same spectacles and much more for the past forty years. Does this mean that I should be swayed to Buddhism because of their more powerful charismata?
   All of this relates back to the same psychodrama I have spoken of before. People believe they are filled with the presence of the holy spirit and start spouting out gibberish. By giving it a name doesn't make it any less ridiculous. True, Pagans are known to speak spells and ceremonies in different languages and even some Roman Catholics give service in Latin, but these are official and learned languages, not made up. Likewise, being able to break a brick with your hand requires physical and mental training, a state of psychosomatic presence that allows for your breakable body to become very unbreakable. Don't get me wrong, these fetes are still amazing, but understand the science behind it, and perhaps the spiritualism... just remove the religious mumbo-jumbo already.

(image from cnho.wordpress.com)
  I watched the movie UFO-The Greatest Story Ever Denied by Jose Escamilla with my wife the other night. I found the movie entertaining and interesting with plausible evidence to the existence of Aliens on Earth. However, the thing that caught my eye immediately were these things called "Rods," "Air Rods," or "Roswell Rods." Scientists are unsure exactly what they are and one has never been caught. But along with other possible UFOs or creatures, they have been caught numerous times on video and in stills. Now the rod, as pictured above, appears to be a shaft with fin/wing type appendages coming off of it and it gyrates through the air at remarkable speeds. These objects are also somewhat transparent and cannot be seen by the naked eye. Skeptics have unsuccessfully attempted to debunk these creatures, like so many other "spottings."
  No one is quite sure what these objects are. Some believe that they're alien probes, others believe they're some sort of unexplainable electromagnetic malfunction with equipment (oddly enough paranormal teams are accustomed to electromagnetic disturbances during supposed hauntings). Jose Escamilla believes them to be living creatures that we have yet to identify, along with numerous moving circular or amoeba like creatures that have been caught on NASA footage. Little else is declared about these Rods and Escamilla doesn't like to speculate too much about what he really does not know. In the video the first one I saw had what looked like three sets of "wings" and it flew across the screen, spun and darted off into the distance. The first word that popped into my head was "Seraphim," which is a title for a certain rank of angel in different mythologies. The main account that I'm aware of, the Seraphim are believe to have six wings, two that cover their face, two that cover their feet, and two I guess for flying. So the Rod doesn't exactly look like that, but is it possible that ancient civilizations where aware of these creatures and made up a mystical story about them like they have so many other things?
   The movie itself is far from new, but it is enjoyable as I had earlier stated and I'd recommend you all to see it. The director, Jose Escamilla, made the movie for free in an attempt to inform the public. He is also working on his next movie specifically on these Rods called Roswell Rods. I can't wait! Escamilla is also taking donations for the movie at his site roswellrods.com to help cover the expenses of filming. If you're as intrigued by this as I am, please check out his site.

References: roswellrods.com, The Cryptid Zoo

  After a long anticipation and years of hard work, I have finally published my first book on lulu.com. It is no secret to my readers that I was raised in a baptist family, Illuminati represents the spiritual journey I undertook to find my place in the cosmos. Not to lead anyone on, it does not actually express any of my personal ideals nor does it have any defined truths. What Illuminati has to offer the reader is to-the-point, factual studies of what the truth is not. Unfortunately this far on my journey I can only offer are nots... If you have the means to read my book I would greatly appreciate, all feedback is always welcome. If you like what you've seen on the Sentient Sentinel and Witchmoot so far, I promise my book won't disappoint. Thanks.

FIND BRANDON'S NEW BOOK HERE!

   Scientists claim that whoever lives the next sixty years will be offered a chance at immortality. Man's struggle with his own mortality may be near an end... as if it ever could be. We are impermanent beings once apart of a well balanced ecosystem that requires us to die. Death is life. Life is death. If no one ever died from the time of creation, we would be stepping on top of one another and all starving. Our planet is already overpopulated.

   This idea to me is frightening, because we have already gone too far with our artificial lives. Due to technological advances we have hindered our natural evolution. For most of history people died by the age of thirty, at the latest! Today, Americans are estimated to live into their seventies and eighties (LiveScience), some even breaking the triple digits. That is over double and sometimes triple the norm. This is good right? Medicine has brought us longer lives.

   I hear people constantly complaining about arthritis, cancer, unknown pains, age pains, so on and so forth. If we all lived to be no later than thirty years old, sure we'd still experience pain, but the onset of diseases like Alzheimer's would not happen. Our bodies are not designed to live as long as people think we deserve to live. They simply cannot handle it. The everyday pains your experience is because your body is breaking down, slowly, but surely. And what do you think a midlife crisis is from? Man needs change. And wondering where life is supposed to leave you at 30 or 40 is perfectly understandable, since you shouldn't even be alive at all.

   No matter how smart we think we are, no matter how advanced science comes, our physical bodies in this existence will never be permanent. There will always be death, and no matter how unnatural the means, it is very natural. I would rather live thirty amazing years, full of passion, then seventy in pain and agony. True, there are plenty of people out there who claim to live long and wonderful lives. But there are plenty more who have not. We live longer, but we're more unhealthy. We have not only grown weak as a species, but we grow weaker the older we become. Individuals appreciate things more the less of it they have, including life.

   We'd also have less population issues, and for those of you that think more the merrier... how many people are starving to death right now because we, the humans of this planet, cannot even support ourselves. When there are too many coyotes in a certain area, they kill off all of the game. Because of this, the coyotes starve until they reach an equal number for their habitat again and the smaller animals replenish themselves. Well, we've grown far past our habitat's means. We import, we destroy, and we multiply.

(dailymail.co.uk)
   Last hump day, Wednesday 7th October, 2009, an ominous halo was reportedly seen by millions of Moscow's inhabitants looming over the Russian capital. The sighting was said to look like “a scene from the film Independence Day” by the United Kingdom's Mail Online, but Meteorologists from all over claimed it was no more than an “optical illusion” and Moscow's very own Vesti24, who published a mobile phone video of the halo submitted by an eyewitness, released an official statement to Russia Today claiming “several air fronts have passed Moscow recently, including an inflow of cold air from Arctic, and they combined to produce such a phenomenon.”

   Still in a bit of disbelief myself, I decided to do some research of my own. As amazing as this occurrence is to me, it is far from supernatural, and in fact, is some what of the norm. These clouds are call fallstreak holes or punch hole clouds. According to the Cloud Appreciation Society, these halo shaped holes appear in cirrocumulos or altocumulus clouds when the water temperature in the clouds is below freezing but the water has yet to freeze due to the lack of ice nucleation particles. When a portion of the water does finally freeze it sets off a chain reaction, due to the Bergeron process, causing the water vapor around it to freeze and fall to the earth as well. This leaves a large, often circular, hole in the cloud.


(xearththeory.com)

   This explanation for fallstreak holes is still a theory (just like gravity is still a theory because scientists are far from setting up any sort of legitimate universal scientific truth) and a site I found called xearththeory.com has it's own unique explanation for such phenomenon. Exchanging Earth Theory (xearththeory.com) claims that fallstreak holes are created due to electromagnetic fields aka electricity, and are similar to the Northern Lights (aurora borealis) and lightning. They offer no direct explanation for these electric charged clouds, but from my understanding, explain that it is no different from an electric wire in a bowl of water, which visually creates a ring around the wire followed by ripples.

   Whether the result of some odd freezing effect or electromagnetic fields, fallstreak holes are certainly a sight to behold. This is just another example of nature's true beauty, regardless of scientific or spiritual design. Don't forget to take time to appreciate the world we inhabit, which shouldn't be too hard at this point-in-time for those of you in a fall-changing area. Here in Michigan it is the best time to see the changing of the leaves as the Stag becomes the fallen and Lupercus is free to roam.

  References:
- Wikipedia: Moscow
- Pictured: The Independence Day-shaped cloud hovering in the skies over Moscow
- “UFO halo” in the sky baffles Muscovites
- February Cloud of the Month
- How are Punch Hole Clouds (Fallstreak Holes) formed?