Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Ted Andrews, (here's some more info,) writes about connecting with animals. He also writes about some other stuff, you know, like faeries and spirits. While some of the subject matters and most of the book covers make me a little scared, (sci-fi cover syndrome,) I really enjoy his work and it rings true with my experiences. If you're into animals, birds, bugs, shape-shifting, the animal medicine cards, shamanism, or the like, and you haven't checked him out, you should.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Santa Clauses on strike on "Buy Nothing Day"
A group of Santa Clauses were on strike on one of Vienna's main shopping avenues in honor of "Buy Nothing Day," an international initiative to counter consumerist attitudes ahead of the Christmas season.
"Today is Buy Nothing Day, allow yourself a break," ten Santas, in full garb with red felt jackets and fake beards, told shoppers on Vienna's Mariahilferstrasse.
"People are rushing by and do not have a relaxed look on their face at all. I am doing much better," said one Father Christmas, lounging in a deckchair.
Instead of the usual presents, the "striking" Santa Clauses doled out advice about environmentally safe washing products and energy-saving lamps, and encouraged people to spend time with their families rather than just buy expensive gifts.
The jolly old men's offer to cut in half the credit cards of passing shoppers did not have any takers however: "Nobody has been that radical yet," said Heinz Hoegelsberger, who organized the event.
"Buy Nothing Day" is held every year on the day after the American Thanksgiving, when people in the US traditionally head for the shops.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Monday, November 20, 2006
Tree of Life
"This tree is from an analysis of small subunit rRNA sequences sampled from about 3,000 species from throughout the Tree of Life. The species were chosen based on their availability, but we attempted to include most of the major groups, sampled very roughly in proportion to the number of known species in each group (although many groups remain over- or under-represented). The number of species represented is approximately the square-root of the number of species thought to exist on Earth (i.e., three thousand out of an estimated nine million species), or about 0.18% of the 1.7 million species that have been formally described and named."
Friday, November 17, 2006
Study: Human Hands Emit Light
Human hands glow, but fingernails release the most light, according to a recent study that found all parts of the hand emit detectable levels of light.
The findings support prior research that suggested most living things, including plants, release light. Since disease and illness appear to affect the strength and pattern of the glow, the discovery might lead to less-invasive ways of diagnosing patients.
Mitsuo Hiramatsu, a scientist at the Central Research Laboratory at Hamamatsu Photonics in Japan, who led the research, told Discovery News that the hands are not the only parts of the body that shine light by releasing photons, or tiny, energized increments of light.
"Not only the hands, but also the forehead and bottoms of our feet emit photons," Hiramatsu said, and added that in terms of hands "the presence of photons means that our hands are producing light all of the time."
The light is invisible to the naked eye, so Hiramatsu and his team used a powerful photon counter to "see"it.
The detector found that fingernails release 60 photons, fingers release 40 and the palms are the dimmest of all, with 20 photons measured.
The findings are published in the current Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology.
Hiramatsu is not certain why fingernails light up more than the other parts of the hand, but he said, "It may be because of the optical window property of fingernails," meaning that the fingernail works somewhat like a prism to scatter light.
To find out what might be creating the light in the first place, he and colleague Kimitsugu Nakamura had test subjects hold plastic bottles full of hot or cold water before their hand photons were measured. The researchers also pumped nitrogen or oxygen gas into the dark box where the individuals placed their hands as they were being analyzed.
Warm temperatures increased the release of photons, as did the introduction of oxygen. Rubbing mineral oil over the hands also heightened light levels.
Based on those results, the scientists theorize the light "is a kind of chemiluminescence," a luminescence based on chemical reactions, such as those that make fireflies glow. The researchers believe 40 percent of the light results from the chemical reaction that constantly occurs as our hand skin reacts with oxygen.
Since mineral oil, which permeates into the skin, heightens the light, they also now think 60 percent of the glow may result from chemical reactions that take place inside the skin.
Fritz-Albert Popp, a leading world expert on biologically related photons at The International Institute of Biophysics in Germany, agrees with the findings and was not surprised by them.
Popp told Discovery News, "One may find clear correlations to kind and degree (type and severity) of diseases."
Popp and his team believe the light from the forehead and the hands pulses out with the same basic rhythms, but that these pulses become irregular in unhealthy people. A study he conducted on a muscular sclerosis patient seemed to validate the theory.
Both he and Hiramatsu hope future studies will reveal more about human photon emissions, which could lead to medical diagnosis applications.
By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Monday, November 13, 2006
a tiny fragment of Enochian knowledge...
In the year of 1581 through the extraordinary efforts of Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelly, the secrets that were lost with the patriarch of the Bible known as Enoch were returned to those who thirst for the knowledge of Light. Dee kept close records of their intensive work. Although some of Dee's work has been lost, much of it is to be found in Sloane Documents 3188, 3189, 3191, 3677, and 3679. These documents are to be found at the British Museum in London.
One of the most important breakthroughs in the rediscovery of these lost secrets was an entirely new language. This language contained its own grammar and syntax. It is an Angelic language often referred to as "Enochian."
Dee and Kelly used great care and effort when receiving the lost knowledge of Enoch. The dictating Angel was the Great Angel Ave. Many hours were spent bringing forth the information by Dee and Kelly. Often times sessions would last 8 to 10 hours a day. Some of the material was actually dictated backwards by the Angel so as not to invoke dangerous forces of power.
The beginnings of Enochian Magic were coming into place, but the information was just information. It was not a system of any usable value. Thus, for the most part, it remained dormant, undefined and unusable. Then, over 200 years later, this body of raw knowledge that Dee & Kelly painstakingly uncovered was given form and life by the genius of S.L. MacGregor Mathers. Under the tutelage of Mathers, the Second (Inner) Order of the Golden Dawn began working the most powerful system of magic the world has or may ever see.
Years later in Chicago, a disgruntled Paul Foster Case (after being expelled from the order by Moina Mathers) ,would lead a quiet crusade to convince fellow students that Enochian Magic was "volatile and dangerous." Case would even go so far as to have it sliced and diced out of all Inner Order Teachings of a group he founded called the "Builders of the Adytum." Others would follow in Case's footsteps, claiming Enochian was too dangerous.
Without entering into the debate on the "dangers" of Enochian Magic, when used with caution and in accordance with Second Order Teachings, it is not only safe, it is utterly effective in the physical world, and illuminating in the area of Spiritual development!
THE ENOCHIAN TABLETS
Dee and Kelly were the pioneers who blazed the trail. Along the trail of forgotten and lost knowledge were the Four Watchtowers of the Universe. These Watchtower Tablets were adapted by Mathers to represent the Four Elements of Fire, Water, Air and Earth.
There is a definite hierarchy to each of these tablets. The hierarchy in its highest form is not to be found on the Tablets, but comes from the study of the Qabalah. It is the Divine Name of the Element in Hebrew that first must be intoned and invoked. The reason is that the Hebrew represents the Celestial influence and governance and the Enochian hierarchy represents the Assiac or material governance.
In each tablet there are three Secret Holy Names of God which are extracted from the horizontal cross bar of the central cross of each Tablet. In all there are twelve Holy Names on four Tablets which infer a serious connection and bridge between the Macrocosm and the personal Microcosm of one's own "sphere of sensation."
These Names are invoked during the four Elemental Grade Ceremonies (initiations) by the Hierophant of the Golden Dawn in the Outer. Through the power of the Secret Names the general nature of the element involved in the initiation is filtered through the Tablet into the "Aura" or sphere of sensation of the advancing candidate. The result is the establishment of a magical link and affinity with the element of the Initiation. This serves to empower the candidate in that new elemental powers are now available to him or her.
This process depends on a trained and empowered Hierophant, and can, in fact, be performed in full Temple "astrally" to allow the elemental link to exist for members who live hundreds or even thousands of miles from a Temple.
THE ELEMENTAL KINGS
The Elemental King is extracted from a spiral whirl around the Central Cross to be found on each Tablet. There are four elemental Kings in all, one on each tablet. When the Adept invokes the three Secret Holy Names of God, the King is also automatically activated. In addition, the King may be invoked as a specific force. The King is always invoked when lower elemental forces on the Tablet are to be utilized.
THE SENIORS
There are six Seniors on each of the Four elemental Tablets. This makes a total of 24 Seniors in all. The Seniors follow the King in the Order of Hierarchy. The Seniors are found in the Book of Revelations as the 24 Elders who bow down before the Throne of God.
The Seniors act as a kind of funnel for the specific forces of a particular planet. The King relates to Sol. The planetary forces of the Seniors is configured and transformed within the specific elemental Nature of the Tablets.
In all workings where the King is invoked, so are the Seniors in that
they work in a kind of collaboration with the elemental King. There are rituals such as the Consecration of an Elemental Tool when the power of the Seniors are called upon. This allows the elemental Weapon to receive in the charging phase the Planetary powers through the elemental nature of the planet. Later when needed by a trained Adept, the tool can then project this force for the purpose of magical and alchemical workings.
CALVARY CROSS ANGELS (SEPHIROTIC CROSS)
There are four Sephirotic Crosses on each Tablet. They are often referred to as Calvary Crosses. There is one cross in each sub-element. Thus, on the Fire Tablet, there are four sub-elements of Air, Water, Fire, Earth. There is a cross in each. On a colored depiction of the Tablets these crosses are white, which like the Seniors denote a spiritual nature rather than an elemental one.
There are two angels per cross. One calls forth a serviant angel and the other is used to command the angel. These angels are only invoked when the Adept wishes to work with a specific subservient angel.
KERUBIC SQUARE ANGELS
These angels work under the Angels of the Sephirotic Cross. These Angels help to regulate and balance the forces employed. They may be utilized for pyramid working and other important elemental considerations. They are formed from the first letter in each file above the Calvary Cross and are permutated to provide (4) in total per sub-section.
TABLET OF UNION
The Elemental Tablets are introduced one at a time in the Grade Initiations of the Golden Dawn. There is an important Initiation that is not depicted on the Qabalistic Tree of Life. It is the Portal Initiation. It is attributed to the top point of the pentagram which is Spirit. Thus, in the Portal Initiation of our Order, the Tablet of Union is introduced as it represents the building Spirit or actuating glue between the elements.
The highest name of Spirit in this Tablet is EHNB. This is the purest Spiritual force and is only invoked when some empowering is required from the direct force of spirit. The Tablet of Union is placed on the center Altar to act as the central hub from which the Elemental Tablets are spokes.
CONCLUSION
This only reveals a miniscule amount of information on Enochian Golden Dawn methodology. In fact, much of the body of the Second Order Enochian Work remains unpublished and safely in the hands of the College of Adepti.
Enochian Magic requires a solid and firm foundation in the study of the Qabalah, Geomancy, Tarot, Alchemy, and Astrology. It is not a toy but a powerful system that should be employed with the same caution a prudent person uses who would handle a loaded gun.
The above information is only a tiny fragment of Enochian knowledge. It is not complete, but rather given for the purpose of general understanding. It is vital that to fully actualize Enochian forces and powers, one must transform through Outer Order Grade Initations and beyond. There are some very good books on Enochian out on the market. However, some are extremely incomplete and over-simplified so a to attract more readers and sell more books. These books (many crammed with faulty information) are extremely dangerous in the hands of the novice. If not dangerous, then completely ineffective.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Monday, November 06, 2006
The Wizard People
The Cribbage Match
This is one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen... sirius-lee
I strongly recommend downloading the entire program and watching it several times... in a row.
This is one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen... sirius-lee
I strongly recommend downloading the entire program and watching it several times... in a row.