Seeking the Magic and Eternal Youth….of a Sort.
Tonight, I have had one of those evenings where I think back accompanied by music of the time. I miss Texas or I miss the life I had there. But then I had a thought. My memories of that time or indeed any time in my life are vague with very few clear memories. Knowing memory, even those clearer images may not be real at all but deeply tinted with a certain wishfulness or nostalgia. I have photos, the recollections of others – my sons for example as well however, the truth may be that my past is as vague and as unreal as my future because my memories are selective and easily reprogrammed by constant use. Life back then was as life now most likely and I look back
Read More »An Amazon #1
It has been a while since I felt that little thrill you get when Amazon places that small but oh so important icon next to your book image – Best Seller!!! But, it has happened again! Chasing the Shaman, my latest book, is (as of writing) #1 in new releases in Gaia Religions category! I’m very pleased and hope that it gets some attention now via the Amazon engine. For me, this is yet another bit of magic that proves the magic that I wrote about in the book….. And, if you have read my recent blog posts, you will know that the ‘magic’ continues… I’m now hoping to see a review or two (and hoping they are positive). Meanwhile, to buy the book in Kindle or paperback
Read More »Hunting Fire Dragons in Moravia
I’d read a rumor about a fire breathing dragon that flew around the Castle of Drahotuš near Olomouc. I’m sorry but I can’t resist investigating such rumors. So today, I and a friend set off to the Hell valley looking for the ruins of an old Castle and to see if we could find the dragon. We drove the 1 hour 20 minute trip from Brno in beautiful weather eventually arriving at Podhoři around noon. Then began the search for the Castle as it didn’t appear to be signposted at all. In the end, we asked a villager who gave us a circular route to get there and back. Hrad Drahotuš isn’t very well know to tell you the truth. It hasn’t been well preserved unlike its nearby
Read More »The Trigger for Chasing the Shaman
The idea fr my new book – Chasing the Shaman – a sort of follow on to my very first book – Inner Journeys – came from a startling and accidental meet up with a real live shaman here in Brno. Unfortunately, that first time when he scared me in an out of the way seating area beneath the Castle here, I didn’t have the guts to ask him what he was doing and why? And perhaps, more importantly, would he please teach me! I know some people will simply think I have a strong imagination – I do! – but I have been watching for signs of this guy for two Moons now – yes, Moons. He is constantly working with is stones and other objects in plain sight
Read More »The Castle at Dusk
In recent weeks, I find that being outdoors in nature is where I want to be. The sound of bird’s singing, the bats flying around, the trees… I find it all so intoxicatingly beautiful. The feeling it gives me is indescribable and yet, I am greedy for more. My favorite time is dusk and so I will slip out and take the 2km walk around the castle. I even have a favorite tree – a huge conker tree – that I will stop, touch and talk with for a while. I ask my tree some questions and tell it my troubles – whatever they are. Trees are such good listeners! Last night, it was truly magnificent timing as the Sun began to set. The sky was streaked with all colors
Read More »Chasing the Shaman – A New Book
Sometimes, things just come together. In the last week, I had an idea for a book. I wanted to write about magic like Sue Vincent and Stuart France or perhaps Alan Richardson does but in my own style. As some of you may know, I have been on the trail of a shaman here in Brno and it struck me that his activity – in my reality – was a piece of a chain of events that were truly magical and worth writing about. I assembled the book from various blog posts, correspondences with Sue Vincent, poems and of course a lot of new content and what emerged surprised even me. Back in late 2005, I got Inner Journeys: Explorations of the Soul published and it told the story of
Read More »Burning Witches
Tonight in the Czech Republic is know as Burning Witches. Pretty brutal name right? So, it’s 30th April and the day before Beltane and right there is a clue perhaps to the origin of Burning Witches. What people do is make an effigy of a woman suing two sticks and whatever else they can find and then they burn the effigy on the bonfire while celebrating with beer, wine and food. Of course, it is a pagan tradition in which the old woman of winter gives way to the maiden of springtime, rebirth and fecundity. What I find interesting is that it is similar to the broader slavic tradition of burning and effigy of Marzanna – the Goddess of winter – usually around the Spring Equinox. In the latter case,
Read More »The Joys of Spring
Winter is a fading memory Veles is once again defeated As life breaks forth The cycle has repeated The point of balance passed And Earth is bathed in light Life emerges and thrives After sleeping through the night The Mother expresses her joy In the play of vital life Sol rides his chariot higher Hoping to glimpse the maiden The Goddess of love Spied on from above The dance has begun Fertility and fecundity springs Maiden will become Mother Pregnant with potential To spawn another cycle Of life and death
Read More »Perun
How mighty thou art O’ God of the skies Endlessly chasing the horned God of lies An immortal cycle of endings and beginnings And this is the meaning of the World It’s the darkness stealing the fire at night And the first glowing dawn of light It’s the creation of many Tested in the fires Some are destroyed Others forged in steel It is an ever turning wheel The cycle of life And death To begin We must have an ending And somewhere There is balance In the shifting sands of time The fleeting balance Of a line in creation A crack of thunder A line of light as Perun makes all right
Read More »The Slavic World Tree Myth and the Hexagram
Several years ago, Sue Vincent and I wrote a book about the Hexagram. The book explores that symbol. “Not from some scholarly or deeply complex perspective, but seeing it as a representation relating to life and living. The forces and pressures that are associated with the hexagram are, after all the forces of life at both practical and Universal levels. By exploring and beginning to understand the symbol, we are able to learn and discover more about ourselves.” On the website for the book, I have occasionally pointed to how the hexagram is a key of sorts to help unlock deeper mysteries in many different occult symbols or methods. In the last few months, I have been exploring the Czech landscape – the slavic landscape to be more precise –
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