Brazilian Stonehenge

Brazilian Stonehenge - Currently the site discovered at Amapa, Brazil is considered to have been erected between 3000 B.C. and 1600 B.C., so considerably more recent than Stonehenge. However research believe the sophisticate construction demonstrates a strong understanding of astronomy and was possibly used to help pinpoint the Winter Solstice.

Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena

66 Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena provides examples of various opitical illusions and visual phenomena. The illusions are split into categories including motion & time, luminance & contrast, colour, geometric & angle illusions, space / 3d & size constancy, cognitive / gestalt effects, and speciality with faces.

Cosmic collision reveals dark matter

Yet more evidence that the physical world we see and believe we understand is only a portion of what is "out there", scientists believe they have evidence for the theory of dark matter. According to observations, scientists calculate that the Universe is comprised of only 5 percent "normal" matter, the rest is dark matter (25%) and dark energy (70%). According to reports, the collision between two clusters of galaxies actually split dark matter and normal matter, so that their energy signatures can be observed. source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14453775/

'Mind control' over muscle power

According to a BBC news report, researchers at Hull University have shown that muscle is "over-activated" if concentrated on (ie. via visualisation) while working those muscles. source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/health/4861268.stm

Indonesia Shamanism, Legends & Superstitions

These articles are part of the Indotalisman website and are written mostly by Luxamore. While there are other articles on magic and the occult on this site, these articles are more unusual and details various Indonesian occult practices and beliefs which are not well known in the West.

Articles include:

• Superstitions of Indonesia
• The Legend of the Dewadaru Tree
• Buluh Perindu - The Enchanted Grass
• Indonesian Shamanic Methods of Fasting & Austerities
• Kujang - the Talismanic Sickle
• Ilmu Khodam - the Occult Art of Acquiring and Directing Spirit Servants

Some of the other articles are also worth reading through.

Wikibooks - Lucid Dreaming

The Lucid Dreaming Wikibook offers a free source of information on Lucid Dreaming, as well as being wiki-based so that anyone can contribute to it. Included are sections on Dream Recall, Induction Techniques, Using (Lucid Dreams), along with a glossary, appendices, further reading, and a frequently asked questions section. This is worth checking out, and if you have experience in Lucid Dreaming you can contribute to it.

Quotes on Art & Music

These quotes originally appeared in a newsletter from Meditiation Mount.

All audible musical sound is given us for the sake of harmony, which has motions akin to the orbits in our soul, and which, as anyone who makes intelligent use of the Arts knows, is not to be used, as is commonly thought, to give irrational pleasure, but as a heaven sent ally in reducing to order and harmony any disharmony in the revolutions within us. Rhythm, again, was given us from the same heavenly source to help us in the same way; for most of us lack measure and grace.
from Timaeus by Plato

From the knowledge of Art arises divine knowledge and such knowledge leads to enlightenment. This liberation is truly the essence of the knowledge of Art. He who realizes this attains freedom.
Vastu Sutru Upanishad

"I thank my God for graciously granting me the opportunity of learning that death is the key which unlocks the door to our true happiness."
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

“I believe in God, Mozart and Beethoven, and likewise their disciples and apostles; - I believe in the Holy Spirit and the truth of the one, indivisible Art; - I believe that this Art proceeds from God, and lives within the hearts of all illumined men; - I believe that he who once has bathed in the sublime delights of this high Art, is consecrate to Her for ever, and never can deny Her; - I believe that through Art all men are saved.”
Richard Wagner

Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.
André Gide

Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.
Leonardo da Vinci

After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.
Aldous Huxley

EverCrack Open Source Cryptanalysis Engine

Perhaps a little unusual for an occult blog, but nonetheless this could be useful to some people. EverCrack is a set of tools to decrypt / decode various ciphers, including Caesar, Substitution, and Matrix cyphers, along with a Ciphertext Language Identifier. There are various books and manuscripts that include text encoded fonts (alphabets) uncommon to the reader, and perhaps without any real explanation. The text is often English language, yet using characters which are unknown to the reader the message can be considered encoded. It can be difficult to figure out the message without knowing which English letters are represented by the symbols that have been used. While at first glance it may seem difficult to use the online cypher cracker tools if the characters are not English letters, it can actually be quite simple.

Example:

The following is some 'encoded' text in a font which is non-English, but we will work on the assumption that it is English language words using non-English characters.

Step 1:

Convert all the characters into English language, working from A to Z to represent each of the characters as we go along. We end up with:

abc dccaefg hi ajh kclmhfnoeaecm em oepc abc qhfanqa hi ajh qbcdeqno mrsmanfqcm ei abclc em nft lcnqaehf shab nlc alnfmihldcu

This is the slowest part, as it means checking that a letter isn't doubled up. What we have done is create a simple substitution cypher. It could be represented in a similar way using numbers, however this wouldn't decode properly in the online cypher cracker. The first 4 words would like like this:

01-02-03 / 04-03-03-01-05-06-07 / 08-09 / 01-10-08

You will probably notice it is easier to have the words represented by letters...

Okay, so we enter the encoded text, using English letters into the substitution cypher cracker, and in seconds we get the following:

[1] the meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances if there is any reaction both are transformed

[2] the meeting of two personalities is live the contact of two chemical substances if there is any reaction both are transformed

Words: 21
Decodes: 2
Time: 1

Okay, so we have two very similar decoded answers. As the cracker hasn't been programmed with grammar routines, it is purely decoding possible words, and giving us the options. In this case it isn't too difficult to see that the first result was the correct one.

The longer the encoded text, generally the more accurate the result will be. However, the decoding is limited by the dictionary, and if the encoded text contains a lot of words which are not in the dictionary (perhaps Hebrew words relating to the Qabala, Enochian Angels, or Egyptian Gods) then the decoding may also fail also. What could be done then is to try the process on groups of words, and do part of the decryption manually... It would also be possible to use an expanded dictionary using occult and esoteric words that may occur in such texts.

Way of the Dreamer

Tonight I had a read over a few of the articles by Robert Moss on his website, Way of the Dreamer. There is some really good articles there, and I believe he has some excellent concepts and techniques when it comes to dreaming. I like his concept of active dreaming as it makes a lot of sense to make practical use of our dreaming in our spiritual development. The information provided on the site is clear and concise and gives enough pointers to immediately put some of the suggestions into practice. For those who find the articles of interest, Robert Moss has several books, which may well be worth reading.

Warrior of the Light Online

Warrior of the Light Online is a monthly publication by Paulo Coelho. If you are interested in the philosophies and ideas of Paulo then this may be of interest to you.

As of writing the current article is entitled "I am not happy." To me it is a sage bit of advice for those who follow a practical spiritual path. I especially like Paulo's statement at the end, "better forget this idea of seeking happiness at any cost and look for more interesting things like unknown seas, strangers, provocative thoughts, risky experiences."

For some reason this reminds me of a quote from certain Artchetypal entity of pop culture, Tyler Durden: "I say never let me be complete, I say may I never be content, ... I say evolve, and let the chips fall where they may..."

Walking The Path

Walking The Path is the blog of Paulo Coelho. The blog has been set up as "During the months of March, April, May and June, Paulo Coelho is traveling to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in 1986. He is also holding surprise book signings - announced one day in advance - in some cities along the way, to have a chance to meet his readers."

Anyone walking their own spiritual path or who has been inspired by the works of Paul Coelho may find this blog of interest.

Living in the Now

The following article has some interesting concepts related to being in the Now: Tiny Amazon tribe challenges theory of language

The interesting part of this article is to me is "Because of their culture's ingrained emphasis on referring only to immediate, personal experiences, the tribesmen do not have words for any abstract concept, from colour to memory and even to numbers. There is no past tense, he says, because everything exists for them in the present. When it can no longer be perceived, it ceases to exist."

There are a couple of brief articles on Wikipedia about the Piraha, Pirahã people and Pirahã language.

A Word of Caution

I was recently contacted by someone who got a little more than they bargained with when in search of a "spell" they wanted to use with good intention. They met someone in a chat room who professed to be able to help, and it would seem they were covertly 'hypnotised' using NLP techniques. Part of the process involved the person offering to become the person's "master" and teach them what the person desired.

I would suggest caution with anyone, particularly a stranger who offers to be a teacher. In most esoteric circles I have moved it is considered bad form to offer to teach someone, let alone to bed their "master". This is not to be confused with someone who advertises themselves as a teacher, or recruiter for a group. However, those teachers and groups with good boundaries, who are genuinely involved in occult practices tend not to need to recruit through means such as verbal offers of becoming someone's teacher or master.

The issue in the situation I mention has little (I believe) to do with teaching or the occult. It has to do with power and control. It isn't even particularly "magical", although naturally someone using NLP for seduction and control type purposes may well like the illusion that they are a powerful magician capable of controlling someone psychically.

If looking for a teacher, look within first. Use your intuition. Learn from other's (external teachers) as you need to, but carefully maintain your boundaries, and stay conscious and aware of what any "teacher" is requiring from you. Self-responsibility, Self-growth, and Self-reliance are important traits in occult work. While group work and connection with others (the dance of Self with Other) is an important aspect of personal evolution in itself, it is also important to respect your own boundaries, as well as those of others.

While often exploration of the occult is dangerous, it is still worth being as 'safe' as possible, and be weary of the motivations of others towards us. The lure of power-over can be strong, and is often mistaken for being powerful.

Mayan Oracle

For something a little bit different... this site provides a Mayan Oracle based around the Mayan calendar. You can get an oracle reading for your birth date, or for the current day.

Today (18th May 2006) is:

Yellow Planetary Sun
Blue Western Castle of Burning
Earth family- Polar Clan- Fire
I perfect in order to enlighten
Producing life
I seal the matrix of universal fire
With the planetary tone of manifestation
I am guided by the power of elegance
I am a polar kin I extend the yellow galactic spectrum

Creative Shadow Work

"The Shadow describes the part of the psyche that an individual would rather not acknowledge. It contains the denied parts of the self. Since the self contains these aspects, they surface in one way or another. Bringing Shadow material into consciousness drains its dark power, and can even recover valuable resources from it. The greatest power, however, comes from having accepted your shadow parts and integrated them as components of your Self." - from John Elder

The Creative Shadow Work page has a collection of articles pertaining to the Shadow. It is well worth looking through this site, and considering some of what is said regarding the Shadow, and why it is so important to actually work through the Shadow processes as part of one's own personal evolution.

The Gospel of Thomas

In the past I could never have considered that I would find an interest in quotes, stories, and symbolism from the Judaeo-Christian tradition. However, over the past years I have learnt a new appreciation for some of the gems within that tradition. In part, learning how to decipher some of the stories using Qabalistic concepts adds a new dimension and understanding to what has become moralistic fairy-tales.

Last year I got in contact with a someone I had known a long time ago, when I was involved in more left hand path directions. That person had long since moved on from where he was back then also, and during some dialogue suggested I read The Gospel of Thomas if I had not done so - although suggested that the Coptic language version was more beautiful than the English, lucky for some who can read ancient languages!

Re-reading through the Gospel today I found several quotes which interested me. I have included them below, although I recommend reading through the entire text if you feel so inclined.

• Jesus said, "Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the All.
• Jesus said, "If those who lead you say to you, 'See, the kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty."
• Jesus said, "Recognize what is in your sight, and that which is hidden from you will become plain to you . For there is nothing hidden which will not become manifest."
• Jesus said to them, "If you fast, you will give rise to sin for yourselves; and if you pray, you will be condemned; and if you give alms, you will do harm to your spirits. When you go into any land and walk about in the districts, if they receive you, eat what they will set before you, and heal the sick among them. For what goes into your mouth will not defile you, but that which issues from your mouth - it is that which will defile you."
• His disciples said to him, "Show us the place where you are, since it is necessary for us to seek it."
  He said to them, "Whoever has ears, let him hear. There is light within a man of light, and he lights up the whole world. If he does not shine, he is darkness."

Ayahuasca

The link to this National Geographic article on Ayahuasca was sent to me via a mailing list I'm joined to. It certainly makes for interesting reading, and the video that accompanies it is worth watching also. It is interesting to note the current interest (particularly via "media" sources) in the Shamanic ritual, which while it uses an hallucinogen to induce trance states, ultimately looks within to bring about change.

Elemental Rain Dialogues

I was sent an interesting link tonight, for an article entitled "Elemental Rain Dialogues". It details "a system used to potentize various materials in water in order to spray them on crops and in the atmosphere for the purpose of enhancing moisture in a dry climate regime." The processes are alchemical, and what really struck me was the sentence, "Alchemically substances which can elicit reactions must be used in polarities in order to make use of the power of the dynamic present between the poles of substances in relationship."

The Middle Pillar - Transpersonal Psychology

The chapter on Transpersonal Psychology, from Israel Regardie's book The Middle Pillar, is available online at Psychosynthesis Online. Regardie does a reasonable job at describing Roberto Assagioli's Psychosynthesis model as it applies to occultists. Regardie states: "In magic, this is the spiritual discipline of the Great Work and reunification – the second half of the solve et coagula formula of alchemy. It represents our goal to 'become more than human,' or in less mystical terms, to become the best possible human being we can be, evolving to our fullest potential." This is a great recognition of the value of Psychosynthesis to occultists, and the alchemical nature of Assagioli's teachings.

Vegetarianism and Magick

Over the years I've met a variety of people who claim that one needs to eat a vegetarian (or vegan) diet to continue their spiritual evolution. While it certainly sounds 'nice' that one is moraly and ethically advanced by not consuming another 'intelligent' life form, I find it difficult to agree.

The concept that humans are the most advanced beings who have a moral, ethical and spiritual obligation to 'protect' the animals doesn't stack up if you actually practice magic and experience non-ordinary states of being. For example, as many indigenous cultures discovered, plants too are powerful teachers (allies). The fact that plants do not move around, show emotions, or communicate on a physical level relegates them to a lower rung on the hierarchical ladder (from a generalised Western perspective).

I am not suggesting that the current treatment of animals as a commodity (large scale farming) or as entertainment for humans (zoos, pets) is acceptable or spirituality enlightened, for it certainly isn't, and a lot needs to change. What I am suggesting is that sentience isn't solely confined to the physical plane, so to make a judgement as to the state of advancement of a being solely by its physical attributes is flawed, and mainly due to the intellectualisation of spirituality, rather than through the experience of spirituality.

I have found it relatively easy to work with plants using trancework, my main work being with cactii. It isn't even necessary to consume the plant to be able to communicate with the powerful spirit behind it. Through this experience I would find it difficult to justify eating plants as a 'superior' means of sustenance over meat, nor is it necessarily 'less violent' (as some people claim).

For me, it is the awareness and intention behind our actions. If we eat out of necessity, with respect that something else must die for us to survive, then we are already living a 'more spiritual' existence, as any increase in our awareness is part of our spiritual journey. As our body is an important part of our total being (the physical aspect of our Self - 'thick spirit' some say) our diet should be based around considerations of our health, and if that dictates primarily vegetable and plant material, then that is okay, as is more meat, when that is necessary for our well-being.

The arguments are long and endless as to what is 'right' and 'wrong' but ultimately it is through personal experience that we can transcend this 'right' and 'wrong' and find what we need. Life (and hence magic) is not black and white.

Culdean Trust

I was recently contacted by someone trying to find information on the "Culdean Trust". They had seen my book view of Islands of the Dawn and were trying to track down a contact address for the Trust. Looking into it, I found that the spelling was Culdian rather than Culdean.

The Culdian Trust publish a book called The Kolbrin, and copy of which is also available to read online at http://thekolbrin.com/. There is also another version sold through Amazon.com which seems to be a different version, and not "authorised" by The Culdian Trust who claim to be the current protectors of this information.

All in all this looks like an intriguing book with a history shrouded in mystery, speculation, and claims from two camps - one claiming that it is undoubtedly "authentic" and one claiming that it is undoubtedly a "fraud".

As it is available for free online, and there is no suggestion that one need become a Culdian Trust member then to me it is once again a case of read it if it interests you, and if you learn something useful then great.

Quantum computer works best switched off

Just when you thought things couldn't get any stranger, scientists have created a computer which works best when switched off... well sort of anyway. Basically it has to do, once again, with the weird quantum world. Something to boggle your brain. Read about the Quantum computer works best switched off.