Silly Season
Even though I haven’t lived in the Uk in over 25-years, I do know what an election there feels like and having spent almost two decades in the US, which the UK now seems to want to emulate in terms of political campaigning, I feel sorry for all of you Brits. The silly season is about to start – has already started. You will now be subjected to a bunch of young, immature and inexperienced men (yes – still mostly men) telling you what you want to hear in order to curry your favor and your vote. Later, once elected, they will forget what they said and do what they want anyway. Isn’t it time to just put an end to this nonsense? In a world I created, this is
Read More »In Search of Charisma
Charisma. It’s a word I hear used about people from time to time. People have a charismatic personality and people follow them. Charismatic people seem to have a knack to walk through life with a smile on their face. Confident, assertive and bold. I had a boss a few years ago in Houston who was charismatic. He was Dutch and I guess in his 50’s. He had a deep hypnotic voice and he took good care of himself. Women swooned and men followed without question me included. You felt good in his company and his energy somehow rubbed off on you as enthusiasm. Looking back, I really don’t know what he did exactly except build and maintain relationships. He offered little direction as a boss but commanded great loyalty. He
Read More »Bastions of Light
I am researching a lot of old alchemists for my next little book and the stunning parallel in all of their lives was their sheer brilliance. University at 13 or 16 already full of alchemical knowledge, books published or completed at around 20 including Agrippa’s three huge volumes on magic. Traveling around Europe and the Middle East, writing a ton of books and manuscripts. The question is how? Just exactly how can a boy of 16 in the 14th Century possibly have accumulated so much knowledge? How can they have learned to write, read, speak multiple different languages, know the philosophers and so on? It’s just utterly amazing. I realize that there was no TV or internet and so time could be spent on contemplation and so on but back
Read More »A Frustrating Time
It has, in retrospect, been a very frustrating week. However, today marks a Super moon, Equinox and Solar Eclipse so maybe certain difficulties should have been anticipated? The solar eclipse was pretty much of a non-event here with it being only a partial eclipse. We did go out and take a look though. Being Spring Equinox, the good news is that we are now heading towards Summer and that can’t be bad can it? For those expecting some end of the world, apocalyptic-type event – well, I did warn you that nowt would happen….except that your wishful thinking would be dashed again. No. I simply have been wildly unorganized and time seems to have slipped through my hands like water. So much to do, so little time to do it.
Read More »The Only Constant is Change
“Everything changes and nothing stands still” Herakleitos; c. 535 BC – 475 BC I just left another Facebook group called Mystic Development. This week, I have probably bailed out of 6 or 7 groups even including the fan page for Hull City AFC. The reason is, and call me what you will for saying this, the stupidity of some people is giving me blood pressure problems. Yes, I know I am supposed to be nice and not call people stupid and such but sometimes you just have to call a spade a spade and have done with it. There is no malice intended. The social media has given everyone an equal platform to talk, let off steam, lecture and give their opinion. It really shows too. The problem is that few
Read More »Attention
I have recently been reading a book on magic. To be honest, it has proven to be a dire read indeed promising much but delivering nothing. Except, that is, for one thing. Throughout the book the author talks about energy following thought. I haven’t yet finished the book so maybe it will still surprise me but I doubt it. It seems to be a lot of promises to reveal something without ever revealing anything very much. However, the ideas that energy follows thought is a really interesting and different way to talk about attention. The person who wrote the book plainly knows his stuff but simply choses not to really give anything except broad brush content. Magic he says is about energy and energy follows thought. For me, magic is
Read More »I Hated School
There is a lot of talk these days about bullying at school. I just, for example, read a story in my local paper about an actress from Beverley who recounts her experiences of bullying. Was anyone not bullied at school? Looking back, I recall the cruelty of other kids too. We moved from west Hull to Willerby – a far posher place, when I was 9 or 10 and feelt very out of place. I was different too. I wore my heart on my sleeve, I was interested in ghosts, occultism, spirituality and uninterested in sports. I loved music (still do) and followed T.Rex long after that was considered cool. I self taught to play guitar and was always in a band of some sort. Somehow this combination attracted the
Read More »Humanity’s Death Wish
Humanity seems to have a death wish. Not a day goes by without reading someone’s idea that the world is about to end, Jesus is coming back, revelation is about to happen, the planets are all aligned and so on. Even some people that I respect in magical circles seem to be looking for some kind of end. Why? We do not seem able to learn the most basic of lessons as a species. Throughout known history, people have looked to end times and seen signs and portents of doom all around them. It never happened and yet people keep on keeping on seeing signs and looking for signs of the end times. Sorry, I do not get it. Why? Don’t we ever learn? These days, there are entire websites
Read More »Allergic to Beer?
Woe is me! I am forced to conclude that I am allergic to something in beer. I love beer, especially Czech beer, but it hates me. Last night, I had four glasses of beer with a friend. This morning, I am dizzy, throbbing headache, my right eye is swollen up and my sinuses too and I have a sore throat on that side too. In short, I feel pretty crappy to say the least. I have been getting this sort of reaction to most beers this last few years but this time is the worst. If I drink wine, whiskey or anything else, I am fine so it really is beer. My father suffered the same fate. The older he got the more beer seemed to dislike him. A pint of
Read More »Haunted by Past Actions…
A few weeks ago I went to the medical center. The lady behind the reception counter asked me for my ID (a repeat prescription). It was a nice day and I was in a good mood so with a grin as broad as can be and in an exaggerated big and bold voice I said “What? ID? Surely my word should be enough?” Now I said this even as I searched visibly in my back pocket for my passport. The woman looked at me with a look of derision and scorn. “ID is required,” she says. “Yes, I am looking for it,” says I puzzled. The look on her face says it all. “You do know I’m Joking with you right?” says I. The look says all I need to
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