More evidence for a 2012 apocalypse?

2nd Mayan Tablet Linked to 2012 Apocalypse

I don't think that there will be a literal end to the world on December 21st, 2012. I think that the Maya were probably using metaphor to describe the cycles of time as they saw them. The cycles of nature are evident all around us and were more important to our ancestors than they are to us now. The imagery of large-scale destruction followed by rebirth shows how seriously our ancestors took the cycles that govern our existence as well as how closely they were paying attention to the world around them.

I can only hope that we enter some kind of golden age at the end of next year. However, Nature teaches us that destruction and creation are two sides of the same coin and one begets the other.

Scientific Mediumship and Weird Stuff in the Desert

Can Mediums Really Talk to the Dead?

This is a transcript published in the Noetic Now Journal that discusses the scientific efforts to determine whether mediums can really talk to the dead. I found it very interesting, especially the part about certifying that the mediums tested have actual ability. This is definitely something to keep an eye on in my opinion.

Why Is China Building These Gigantic Structures In the Middle of the Desert?

I'm not even sure what to say about this particular story of strange structures in the Chinese desert. There seem to be as many theories as there are strange designs cut into the sand. Theories range from targeting grids for weapons to a device like the HAARP array in Alaska. I think that it's probably something mundane relating to satellites but the designs are very eerie indeed.

Magical Squares

I had been exposed to magical squares before but only recently have I come to understand their history or their significance. For those of you that don't know what magical squares are there is a decent explanation here.

I'm following author Renna Shesso and making a distinction between magic squares and magical squares here. A magic square is a recreational thing whereas a magical square is used for, well, magical purposes. An example would be using a magical square as a talisman or to produce an abstract sigil. Magical squares have deeper astrological and mythological significance which make them something special when compared to any old arrangement of numbers that do neat math tricks.

The book Math for Mystics by Renna Shesso is an excellent resource for starting out in the area of magical mathematics. I've found it to be helpful in showing me why certain things are the way they are in occult lore and I'm not even finished with the book yet. I will certainly keep reading because this book has shown me that math can be so much more than just equations and frustrations. If you are looking to incorporate numbers into your practice or are curious why certain numbers or geometric figures are so prevalent in occultism then I highly recommend checking out this book.

I'm certainly looking at the world in a new, more numerological way now. Math has a deeper, more esoteric side and I'm loving what I've learned so far. The prospect of using the planetary squares to make talismans or for other mystical purposes opens up new avenues of magical exploration and thought. I encourage anyone interested to explore this fascinating facet of metaphysics alongside me.

Broadening Our Horizons

Lately I've been looking into areas of mysticism that I normally wouldn't consider digging into. An example is sacred geometry. I recently picked up a book about sacred geometry and numerology and I've been slowly working through it. I was inspired to look into the subject because it's not something I've been exposed to a lot. In occultism there are a lot of geometric figures and sacred numbers but it isn't always obvious why those are important. I felt that I owed it to myself to gain a deeper understanding of why those things are fundamental to certain practices.

This brings me to something I feel is important in all areas of life whether you're interested in mysticism or not. We should always be broadening our horizons and learning new things. We should always be striving to experience and understand things. Life is about learning and we should never stop learning. Sometimes this means getting outside of our comfort zone or forcing ourselves to tackle something that is difficult for us. In the end we will most likely benefit from the experience of learning a new skill or studying a new subject.

I've found that everything is connected and not just in a mystical sort of way. In academia, fields of study tend to blend into one another. In the sciences everything interweaves to paint a bigger picture of how physical reality behaves. If you study something long enough it's likely it will lead you in unexpected directions. This being true, it's only a matter of time before your studies or practices lead you to something you normally wouldn't bother with or even consider. This is part of gaining a deeper understanding and should be embraced.

Follow your intuition the next time you're shopping for books or looking for a new hobby. You might be surprised at what you're lead to.

Halloween Linkdrop

I post a lot of links on my blog. I also save a lot of links with the intention of posting them and commenting on the stories in more depth. Sometimes I just don't get around to it though, life being what it is. So what I'm going to do is post a list of some of the links I've had stored away so that other seekers of the strange can enjoy them if they haven't seen them already.

What if E.T. thinks we're evil?
The aliens have landed: Amazing footage shows 'little green men walking about after UFO touchdown'... but why does it always happen in Siberia?
Fantastic Flying Folk!
"Creature" filmed in Brazilian rainforest
The real-life Blob: Is mysterious translucent jelly found in Cumbrian Fells from outer space?
Sally Morgan challenged to prove her psychic powers on Halloween

Hopefully you enjoy these stories I've been collecting for a few weeks. I'm really interested to see if anything comes from the Sally Morgan test. Happy Halloween!

The Book of Aquarius

I'm going to keep it short and sweet this week. I found this book online a few weeks ago and have been going through it in some of my spare time. I'm not quite finished reading it yet but I wanted to go on and pass it along.

The Book of Aquarius is an alchemical manual claiming to reveal the secrets of the Philosopher's Stone. A lofty claim but I suspended my disbelief and prejudice long enough to start reading it. It should be enjoyable to anyone interested in alchemy. Be sure to let me know if you succeed at the process the author gives. I may end up doing a deeper breakdown of the material once I finish the whole thing.

Are spirits real?

Spirits are a staple of mysticism and magic all over the world but our modern society tends to regard spirits as fantasy and delusion. This view of spirits and the spirit world tends to come down to the assumption that they just aren't "real." Of course when we say "real" here we mean it in the materialist sense of physical existence, strings and pulleys, visible causation.

What about the mind though? It should come as no surprise to any mystic or magician that the mind is the fundamental tool of the occult arts. The mind is also how we perceive and interpret our world. I think most people would agree that the mind is very real even though it's rather hard to quantify in the materialist sense. Does something happening in the mind or being perceived solely through the mind make it any less real? The mind has a level of "real" all its own.

Most spirit communication relies on an altered state of consciousness or a level of trance in order for it to take place. These very altered states that make working with spirits possible are the same things that make spirit communication seem so improbable to most people. We've been conditioned to believe that our minds are fallible, cannot be trusted, and are prone to leading us astray. All of this may be true to a point but it cannot be absolutely true as we experience everything through our minds and most of us have come to a consensus about things that are true and real despite being perceived through the mind. The fallibility of perception and the mind is an easy way to explain away things we don't want to exist or are difficult to accept while still relying on our perceptions to understand the more desirable parts of our reality or the things that just can't be ignored.

So do spirits need to have an objective material presence to be considered real? I would say not considering that the very label of "spirit" has connotations of an incorporeal existence in the first place. We've just been conditioned to accept anything not solid, material, and objectively verifiable as being false. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, this skepticism toward unverifiable claims or experiences. However, belief in objectively unverifiable phenomena or the belief that phenomena that happen solely in the mind are still real are not threats like they seem to be perceived in some arguments and debates.

In my opinion, just interacting with an entity or intelligence that could be considered a spirit, whether it exists outside of the mind or is just an expression of the mind, makes the spirit real. Charging a spirit with a task and then reaping the desired outcome makes the spirit real. Whether the outcome was coincidence makes no difference from a pragmatic perspective. This isn't going to satisfy staunch materialists but those are the types that usually aren't going to delve into this area of study in the first place.

Believing in a spirit world or in the existence of spirits does not undermine empirical evidence or scientific achievement. The very unverifiable nature of spiritual phenomenon, how illogical it seems to be, means that science and those that tout it as a superior epistemology shouldn't be all that concerned with it anyway. Whether it's "real" or not doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. People will continue to have experiences with spirits, work with spirits, and espouse the existence of a spiritual world whether the materialists like it or not. Hopefully this musing has given you something to think about.




I think it should also be noted that it's been one year to the day since I started this blog. Thank you to everyone that stops by to read my posts. It's the readers that have kept me going with this project whenever I'd thought I'd run out of things to say or when I wondered if it mattered at all. My only hope is that whatever I have to say gets others thinking about these subjects and maybe inspires them to take the information further.

UFO Alert in Missouri

The strange, glowing object that put Missouri on "UFO alert" this week

I'm not really much of a fan of the extraterrestrial hypothesis as an explanation for UFOs these days so I'm just going to get that out of the way before I continue. My impression of this is that it's some kind of secret aircraft being tested. Why populated highways would be chosen to test it I'm not really sure.

Thinking back on previous UFO tales I'm curious whether there were any radiation readings taken after these encounters. I wonder whether there were any radiation burns on the witnesses or any strange markings on the vehicles. I'm also curious if there are any military bases nearby that could support the secret test flight hypothesis. Maybe if this "UFO alert" continues we'll get some more interesting stories and pictures to scrutinize.

It may be pessimistic to say but I'm not confident that we'll ever really know what's going on with this case, much like most other UFO cases.

Spontaneous Human Combustion in Ireland and Wi-Fi Refugees

Spontaneous human combustion is one of those things that never seems to go away no matter how many "rational" explanations you throw at it. There are a lot of different theories as to what causes the phenomenon but no one seems to be able to explain it beyond a doubt. I bring up spontaneous human combustion because the first case documented in Ireland has apparently occurred.

'First Irish case' of death by spontaneous combustion

In other weird bodily phenomena we have those that claim extreme sensitivity to electromagnetic radiation. This seems quite similar to the phenomenon of electric or magnetic people to me except that instead of manipulating electrical devices or having objects stick to them these people become ill in the presence of electromagnetic radiation. Some have even gone so far as to seek refuge from EM radiation in the "Quiet Zone" that surrounds a major radio telescope.

'Wi-fi refugees' shelter in West Virginia mountains

I find both spontaneous human combustion and sensitivity to electromagnetic radiation to be interesting facets of the human condition. It suggests to me that we are more susceptible to the sea of energy around us and perhaps have something of a literal inner fire inside of us. We are biological beings but it would be ignorant to say that we are not also electromagnetic creatures. Our brains and nervous systems operate with electrical signals, we can look into our own behavior using machines that record our electromagnetic impulses, and our free will can apparently be usurped by moving a magnetic field over certain areas of our brains.

I think that there is some correlation between electromagnetism and the spiritual energy that so many mystics talk about. Perhaps they are just two different interpretations of the same thing? Maybe this plays into spontaneous human combustion somehow? There is a theory that SHC is caused by an uncontrolled awakening of the Kundalini energy within an individual. Hopefully this will give you something to chew on until my next post.

The Power of Belief

The Dark Side of the Placebo Effect: When Intense Belief Kills

There is a lot of New Age emphasis on thinking positively and believing in things to make them real. While a lot of this moves into the realm of visualizing yourself as rich and famous there seems to be a darker side to belief. Whether we think of it as a mystical technique or simple biology there is little argument that what we believe can affect us on a physical level. The placebo effect is a popular example of belief affecting biology. What about when placebo goes bad?

Depending on the specifics and the depth of belief, the nocebo effect can actually be deadly as is argued in the book discussed in the link above. As little as we understand the placebo effect we understand nocebo even less. Obviously there are ethical problems when it comes to testing the nocebo effect so it may be a long time before we get much understanding of it. I don't think we need to know the specifics to utilize the effect though.

Jumping back to the mystical side now, if we can cause bodily changes with our beliefs then this seems like a very useful ability worth cultivating. I think that anyone that has experimented with the vaguely-named practice of energy work can understand how a belief in an action can produce a physical sensation. This seems most useful in the form of the placebo rather than the nocebo, but these are just two sides of the same coin. If we can actively affect how our biology works with our belief then could we affect other aspects of the physical world? It might be something worth experimenting with.

What you could take away from the above article as well as this article is that what we believe has real consequences. Regardless of how superstitious or illogical a belief may be it can still have an effect on us. I have a feeling this applies to less superstitious and more logical beliefs as well in the sense that they could limit our potential in mystical or spiritual pursuits.

Magnetic Children and Zombies in Ireland

I'm just going to make a quick post with some interesting links this weekend. Hopefully everyone is enjoying themselves. I should have something more in-depth up next week.

Serb Cousins Share Same Strange Attraction

I'm wondering if this isn't just a case of sticky skin. I've seen a lot of these "magnetic people" but I never see where they've been tested for actual magnetism. This kind of thing usually just disappears after it's reported. If these people really do have this ability then it should definitely be studied more closely.

Did Zombies Roam Medieval Ireland?

I thought this was just a new spin on ways of keeping vampires from rising by using the buzzword "zombies" but apparently this find is unique for a few reasons. The whole thing is interesting because it shows that stopping the living dead goes back farther than we thought.

Mind-Altering Substances and Spiritual Experience

The use of mind-altering substances in mystical experience has been with us probably since mankind first discovered these substances. I have no experience with mind-altering substances other than alcohol so I will be using that as the primary example. What I have to say most likely applies to substances other than alcohol but that is for you to decide.

Moving through the various literature or communities that discuss metaphysical or mystical experiences you will probably come across those that feel that entheogens and mind-altering substances are tools for experiencing spiritual reality. You will probably also encounter those that feel one should never use these substances because they will hinder ones abilities and progress or they will simply trick the person into believing they are having a profound experience when it was really nothing but the effects of a psychoactive substance. There are more complexities such as the legality and availability of certain substances, the culture that comes along with them, and the possible risks to health but for the purposes of this post I'll focus on the question of whether using substances makes an experience less real than not using substances.

Again, I speak only from the perspective of using alcohol but alcohol is considered to be psychoactive so what I say should be relevant to those that use other substances. I find that using alcohol for mystical purposes simply makes it easier to enter certain states of mind. If I am drunk then I am drunk whether I am being mystical or just watching TV. There is a certain baseline to the experience of drinking alcohol. Alcohol typically affects memory and motor function and usually will not make you experience profound spiritual truths without a little effort on your part. This has been my experience at least.

What I am trying to convey is that simply being inebriated has a character of its own just as being sober has a character of its own. One can choose to perform mundane activities or mystical activities in either state and aside from the obvious effects on memory and motor function there will not be a lot of difference in the experience. I have found that alcohol makes it easier to access the states of mind required for mystical experience, probably because of alcohol's famous ability to lower inhibitions all around. Alcohol also allows a person to relax which is, in my opinion, a fundamental prerequisite for altered states of consciousness.

Broadening the example a little bit we could ask the question: Does a mind-altering substance cause you to have a mystical experience or does the substance allow you to have a mystical experience? I'm sure there are as many opinions as there are people that possess them. I think that if a person has experience with a substance outside of a mystical context then they will be able to tell when they are simply under the influence and when something a little more out of the ordinary is going on. Just as we notice a difference from everyday consciousness when drinking alcohol because we are sober most of the time we will begin to notice when something goes beyond the effects of a substance if we have enough experience with that substance to know how it normally affects us.

This is not to say you should run out and buy drugs or alcohol because they might help you into altered states of consciousness. I'm writing this only to give my perspective on the entheogen debate. One does not have to use mind-altering substances to have spiritual experiences. I have had profound experiences while absolutely sober and to date nothing I've experienced while intoxicated has compared to my sober experiences. I only observe that alcohol helps me reach a calmer, more receptive state faster. It does have its drawbacks in that being inebriated can be distracting to ritual or other relatively complex mystical contexts. There seems to be a "magic" amount that gives you all the benefits with few of the drawbacks and this is probably different for everyone.

There you have it, my views on the use of mind-altering substances in a mystical or spiritual context. I could go on about the symbolism of alcohol or whether using these substances will actually hurt your spiritual progress but those are perhaps topics for another time. I do feel that some people probably should not use mind-altering substances because of personality flaws that could make them more susceptible to addiction or other problems. Not everyone is capable of controlling themselves and even the best of us can still fall prey to substance abuse so before using mind-altering substances for any reason, mystical or recreational, one has to examine themselves closely.

Ultimately the decision of whether to use or not is up to the individual and they must take responsibility for their choices and their actions. I'll say again that you can have intense spiritual experiences whether sober or intoxicated. For some people the use of mind-altering substances may be something they wish to explore. For those that want nothing to do with it then more power to you. I'm a firm believer that there are several paths to any destination and that all roads eventually lead to the same place.

Hang on to your feet.

Human foot washes up on beach near Vancouver for 11th time in four years

While not necessarily paranormal, I have a feeling Charles Fort would have found it amusing. I certainly do in a morbid kind of way. It brings to mind thoughts of portals to other universes through which a human foot occasionally slips through. Or maybe it's a reality glitch which causes a severed foot to spawn in that area every so often?

In all likelihood the explanation is probably much more mundane, but this whole thing is just odd enough for me to put it up here. Enjoy.

The Devil's Hole and the Story of Mel Waters

Mel Waters and the Devil’s Holes

The story of Mel Waters and his mystery holes is a modern legend. (Go on and get the snickers out now because there are lots of funny phrases in that link). This story has all kinds of bizarre elements that flow together in a way that makes you want to believe this story whether it's true or not. It also ties together everything from UFOs to government conspiracies to spiritual experience brought about by bizarre creatures. If this is a total fabrication then it's as engaging as any fiction I've read.

There's really not much to be said about the story that you can't get from just reading it. It's fascinating and really does make one wonder if holes like this exist in isolated places on the planet. Are they alien constructs from the distant past? Geographic features as old as the earth itself? Where do the holes go and why do they have such bizarre properties? It's very fun to think about.

So regardless of whether you believe Mel Waters' story or not I do think it is worth the read. It's as good as any science fiction you'll find and it does a good enough job of blending the fantastic with the mundane that there is still a part of you that wonders "Could this have really happened?" It's almost enough to make someone want to go looking for odd spots on Google Earth in an attempt to find the Devil's Hole(s).

Enjoy the tale and let me know what you think about it.

Scorpion-shaped UFO seen in the skies over Los Cristianos, Spain

Scorpion-shaped UFO seen in the skies over Los Cristianos, Spain [photos]

There's something that bugs me about the look of these photos but I can't quite put my finger on what it is. I also think that it's a little suspicious that no one but this subscriber to the UFO Global Reporting Center saw this unique UFO. I know that I tend to be very skeptical of UFO photos and videos but that's because I just don't like hoaxes.

What do you guys think? Is this the real deal?

Orange goo in Alaska is fungal spores.

Orange Goo At Alaskan Village Found To Be Fungal Spores, Not Eggs

The orange goo in Alaska that I posted about here and here that was initially thought to be the eggs of an unknown species has now been determined to be rust fungus spores. It is not known if these spores are from a currently known species of rust fungus though.

It's a pretty anticlimactic conclusion from a paranormal standpoint but it is cool that this could still be a previously unknown species.

Otherkin

I don't usually get intentionally involved with otherkin. This is not because I have a prejudice against the belief but because the otherkin community, much like a lot of related communities, tends to create a great amount of drama and I just get burnt out on that after a while. However, I do end up encountering those that identify as therians or otherkin by virtue of the subjects I'm interested in and the circles I travel in. Without making any attempt to flatter or offend I'll muse a little on the topic of otherkin.

The majority of otherkin I encounter are of the belief that they are other than human in soul. The dominant theory I come across is that they have been reincarnated into a human body when they originally inhabited the body of another species. I'm not perturbed by this sort of belief and I'm unconcerned if the people around me subscribe to it. To each their own. I believe some relatively strange things myself.

I do occasionally encounter individuals that claim to mentally shift. They claim that their mentality or mind will shift from that of a human to that of their original species. This is an interesting concept to me but this is another belief that doesn't really bother me one way or the other. I seem to recall reading about other types of non-physical shifting at some point but I can't say I remember them right now. This idea of shifting could probably also be elaborated on a lot if the particular otherkin claims to have multiple souls residing in the same body (as I have seen before in the past).

Then we get some people that claim to be able to physically change their form. I almost immediately disregard these claims for a number of reasons, chiefly because it seems to defy quite a few physical laws to an extreme degree. Most of the time when confronted with this kind of belief I'll just listen to what the other person has to say and I may ask questions. I would like to see them physically transform, of course, but I'm not going to demand they do so as that would be rude even if they are capable of doing it.

In some cases it's not really a total transformation from human to animal that is claimed but simply an augmenting of human senses or abilities that would seem to coincide with what the otherkin's original form would be able to do. I think we're all capable of some extraordinary feats when we set ourselves to them and whether one attributes this to the human mind or having been some other species in a past life doesn't seem to matter from a practical standpoint.

Something that I do see more than one would think is a belief among otherkin that eventually some great event will occur and everyone will assume their "true form" again. This may be tied to some story of war on the astral planes, the veil between worlds becoming thinner, or variations on these themes. I don't see this as much different than a belief in the Rapture or the Apocalypse and in comparison it's not necessarily that "out there."

My final thoughts on the subject of otherkin are that they have beliefs just like anyone else. Some of the beliefs are more "out there" than others, even within the otherkin community, but given the whole of world beliefs they really aren't that strange. I think some people may take it too far but this can be said of anything that people are wont to do. Overall, otherkin are (currently) people just like anyone else and are susceptible to human foibles just like the rest of us regardless of what species they may have originally been. With this in mind I try not to treat otherkin any differently than people that identify totally as human and I hope you'll attempt the same should you encounter anyone that claims to be otherkin.

UPDATE: Orange Goo in Alaska

Mystery almost solved: Orange goo near remote Alaska village ID'd as eggs of unknown species

The mysterious orange substance that washed up in Alaska (story posted here) has been identified as the eggs of an unknown species. I find this interesting because normally these kinds of things have a pretty mundane explanation that quickly comes to light but this time is a little different. This is an example of the answering of one question giving rise to another question.

I'm curious as to whether we'll ever know what this unknown species is.

Some weird news articles to tide you over.

Until I have time to write something with more substance I thought I'd share with you some interesting news articles I've come across over the past week.

'Vampire' stalks Siberian livestock
The Army's Bold Plan to Turn Soldiers Into Telepaths
Orange Goo Washing Up In Alaska Village Of Kivalina

Enjoy.

UPDATE: Crashed UFO found?

Following up on this post, it appears as if we may never find out what that strange object on the bottom of the ocean is.

UFO found on ocean floor?

The article says that the team that found the object have no plans to explore it further. If it is actually a crashed extraterrestrial craft it could have incalculable value but if it's just a natural formation then it would probably be a huge waste of time and resources.

It seems that what I was afraid of will be the case: This will be one of those very interesting things that falls by the wayside and that never has any definitive answers, essentially making it a permanent mystery. I'm sure this lack of further exploration will fuel the fires of conspiracy theory.