War of 1812 Bicentennial

A primer on America's most bumbling, most confusing, and most forgotten conflict
by James M. Lundberg
SOURCE: Slate

Anton Otto painting depicting the victory of the USS Constitution over HMS Guerriere in the War of 1812 Painting by Anton Otto Fischer. Courtesy the Navy-Naval Historical Center.

This year marks the 200^th anniversary of the War of 1812, a fact that may elude all but the most committed enthusiasts of America's more obscure wars. Don’t expect coverage to compete with or even register alongside the steady drumbeat that has accompanied the 150^th anniversary of the Civil War. It's hard to imagine a flurry of 1812 books flying off the shelves, or the New York Times commissioning a blog series about the conflict. Like Avogadro's number or the rules of subjunctive verbs, the War of 1812 is one of those things that you learned about in school and promptly forgot without major consequence.

There are plenty of reasons for this. The War of 1812 has complicated origins, a confusing course, an inconclusive outcome, and demands at least a cursory understanding of Canadian geography. Moreover, it stands as the highlight of perhaps the single most ignored period of American History—one that the great historian Richard Hofstadter described as “dreary and unproductive ... an age of slack and derivative culture, of fumbling and small-minded statecraft, terrible parochial wrangling, climaxed by a ludicrous and unnecessary war.”

Historians of the period and of the war may resent Hofstadter’s summary dismissal, but it offers some clues as to why neither is the subject of much popular interest. The very things that put Hofstadter off—the bumbling diplomacy, the bitter infighting, the ineptly executed war effort—force us to confront a vision of the United States that doesn’t generally fit our understanding of its origins. The war plays out as a disappointing second act to the Revolution, with the nation suddenly at the whim of Europeans and Indians and riven by internal dissent, and the heroes and heirs of 1776 acting without the pluck and ingenuity that we expect of them. How are we to commemorate that?

Uneasily, to be sure. But while Hofstadter was right in many ways, his broadside fails to register the war’s central place in the national story. The Revolution was supposed to have been a discrete event, one that created the indisputable fact of the American nation. Revisiting the War of 1812 reminds us that the nation remained incomplete in the early decades of the 19^th century. The peculiar story of America’s second war with Great Britain is generally forgotten, but it was essential in affirming the legacy of the Revolution and the nation that it made.

The war was rooted in the tenuous diplomatic relationship of the United States with the traditional European powers. As much as Americans liked to see themselves as being providentially free from the wars and “entangling alliances” of the Old World, maintaining such freedom proved exceedingly difficult amidst the near constant war between France and Britain. When Napoleon’s reach for European hegemony renewed hostilities between the two countries in 1803, both sides implemented policies that denied American rights to neutral trade, making commerce with either an act of allegiance to one nation and hostility to the other.

For the full article, click here.

Visionary Art Gallery

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The Seven Wanderers in Western Esotericism

SOURCE: Clavis

The seven classical planets held distinction to ancient astronomers because they were the only stars to wander from the common circular course of the rest of the celestial sphere of constellations. These seven were known as planets, a name derived from the Greek word ‘planetes’, which means wandering.

Traditional attributes have been assigned to these seven bodies in western esotericism wherein they have been portrayed figuratively accompanied by iconographical elements, as well as with sigils and signs that represent them graphically.

The planets are often depicted as a variety of classical deities from the Roman, Greek and Latin traditions, but also may exhibit aspects of older stellar gods from Babylonian or Chaldean traditions. These in turn populate the so-called magical images of the planets, which are to be found in various early astrological, hermetic and magical texts. These gods are often accompanied by zodiacal symbols over which the planets hold rulership according to the principles of astrology, thus Leo the Lion is associated with the Sun. The Sun and the Moon, incidentally are held to be the King of Day and the Queen of Night respectively and this royal designation is carried over into alchemy where the planets also rule over the seven metals.

The days of the week are also assigned specific planets.

For the full article, click here.

Music for your edification: Motion Sickness of Time Travel - The Dream

A beautiful track from a new album recently released by Rachel Evans, known by the moniker, Motion Sickness of Time Travel.

Elysium

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This is the ceiling of Elysium in the Little Castle at Bolsover. This room was one of two Closets adjoining the Bedroom of Sir William Cavendish. The decoration of the two Closets convey very different messages. This ceiling depicts Elysium ~ the heaven of the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece. This room may have been decorated to symbolise physical love. The other Closet called Heaven symbolising divine love.

In the 17th Century a ‘closet’ did not mean a cupboard or wardrobe or even a euphemism for a toilet. It was a small room where you could retire for private conversation, card and board games and dressing.

Bedchambers in Country Houses and Royal Palaces in this period were much more public spaces than they are now. A landowner of Sir William Cavendish’s status might have received visitors in his bedchamber whilst his outer garments were put on.

Seekers of Truth: Sir William Crookes

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Sir William Crookes (1832-1919)Sir William Crookes (June 17, 1832- April 4, 1919) was an esteemed British physicist and chemist who ventured into psychical research in 1869, primarily to investigate mediumship. He is most remembered for his investigations of Daniel Dunglas Home and Florence Cook. While he expected to discover fraud, Crookes came away from his investigations as a believer in mediumship and related psychic phenomena.

"When I first stated (in the Quarterly Journal of Science, October, 1871) that I was about to investigate the phenomena of so-called Spiritualism, the announcement called forth universal expression of approval," Crookes wrote in his 1904 book, Researches into the Phenomena of Modern Spiritualism. "[It was said] that 'if men like Mr. Crookes grapple with the subject, taking nothing for granted until it is proved, we shall soon know how much to believe.’ These remarks, however, were written too hastily. It was taken for granted by the writers that the results of my experiments would be in accordance with their preconception. What they really desired was not the truth, but an additional witness in favor of their own foregone conclusion. When they found that the facts which that investigation established could not be made to fit those opinions, why – ‘so much the worse for the facts.’ They try to creep out of their confident recommendations of the enquiry by declaring that ‘Mr. Home is a clever conjurer, who has duped us all.’"

Over a period of some three years, ending July 2, 1873, Crookes had 29 sittings with Home and observed many different phenomena, including levitations, phantoms, a floating accordion playing music, luminous hands, luminous clouds, and communication from invisible entities. A number of his fellow scientists were present at some of the sittings, but few of them would go public with their observations. Alfred Russel Wallace, co-originator with Charles Darwin of the natural selection theory of evolution, was an exception.

Crookes became convinced that Home was no charlatan and that some form of "psychic force" was taking place through him. "There is a wide difference between the tricks of a professional conjurer, surrounded by his apparatus, and aided by any number of concealed assistants and confederates, deceiving the senses by clever sleight of hand on his own platform, and the phenomena occurring in the presence of Mr. Home, which take place in the light, in a private room that almost up to the commencement of the séances has been occupied as a living room, and surrounded by private friends of my own, who not only will not countenance the slightest deception, but who are watching narrowly everything that takes place," Crookes further wrote.

From 1872 to 1874, Crookes studied Florence Cook, whose mediumship involved the materialization of a spirit calling herself Katie King. Because darkness and a materialization cabinet were required, there was much suspicion that Cook was changing costumes in the cabinet and impersonating a spirit. However, Crookes reported observing both of them at the same time, thoroughly examining Katie King, and photographing her. "...to imagine, I say, the Katie King of the last three years to be the result of imposture does more violence to one’s reason and common sense than to believe her to be what she herself affirms," Crookes stated.

The scientific community was shocked by Crookes’s endorsement of Home and Cook. As a result, he came under attack by many closed-minded scientists – those who shared Sir David Brewster’s attitude that such phenomena were completely opposed to scientific law and therefore there was no explanation other than that Crookes had been duped. Various theories were offered as to how he had been deceived. It mattered not that Wallace had observed Home’s ability as had a number of other scholars and scientists, nor that Dr. Charles Richet, an esteemed French physicist and winner of the 1913 Nobel Prize in medicine, also witnessed Katie King materializations and, like Crookes, concluded that they were genuine.

For the full article, click here.

Easter Island Heads Have Bodies!

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Excavations of the bodies have been going on for many years, you can find out more from the Easter Island Statue Project.  It’s generally accepted that the statues were made sometime between 1250 and 1500 AD. There is controversy surrounding why the bodies are buried. Was it time and erosion, or were they buried on purpose?  Aliens?   The soil surrounding the bodies for so long has preserved interesting carvings (petroglyphs, or rock markings).

New England: Icons and Inspirations

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No preppy’s coffee table collection is complete without an oversized art book about New England. As Americans, it’s a place we look to for its history, its landscape, its inimitable style, its cuisine. I just added New England: Icons and Inspirations to my burgeoning collection. If I have one guilty pleasure, it’s stockpiling luxury tomes from the likes of Rizzoli, Assouline, Taschen, and teNeues. This lavish tribute, guided by Tommy Hilfiger, distills the essence of the region through stunning photographs of Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. Whether a classic weather vane, a barn, or a lighthouse, the diverse images that make up this beautiful book are a stunning reminder of the inspirations and influences that are New England.

What is Qi?

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According to Taoist teaching and philosophies, chi is the life force that fills and vibrates through all beings. It is found in all cultures and faiths.

For instance, in India, it is “prana” meaning life or “shakti” meaning energy or power. In Japan, it is known as “ki” while in Africa, it is known as “ashe.” Mallory Fromm defines life as the presence of chi while death is the absence of chi.

Taoism Has Different Types of Chi

Since chi is life force or energy, it is natural that it would have different forms and types. According to Chinese Medicine practitioners and qigong experts, chi is classified according to particular actions or parts of the body. According to the book Web That Has No Weaver, chi is of five main types – Organ Qi, Meridian Qi, Nutritive Qi, Protective Qi and Qi or the Chest or Ancestral Qi.

Stephen Chmelik offers a different and broader classification in Chinese Herbal Secrets. According to him, chi is of three main types – parental, acquired and inherited. Parental chi is the health that one is born with, acquired chi is energy derived from foods, drink and environment while inherited chi is the "essential you.”

Taoist cosmology basically classifies chi into yin-chi and yang-chi. While yin represents the basic feminine qualities, yang represents fundamental masculine traits. According to Chinese Herbal Secrets, everything contains both yin and yang and they are always changing.

Qigong (pronounced chee-gung) is a part of Chinese medicine, which uses movements, breathing and meditation to increase the flow of chi as well as improve overall health conditions.

According to MedicineNet.com, qigong is, “A component of traditional Chinese medicine that combines movement, meditation, and regulation of breathing to enhance the flow of qi (an ancient term given to what is believed to be vital energy) in the body, improve blood circulation, and enhance immune function.”

Qigong exercises and healing focus primarily on improving the flow of energy through the body and bring about a harmonious balance. In order to learn qigong exercises one would need to find an experienced teacher or a good video or book.

According to Chinese Herbal Secrets, there are different types of routines and traditions within qigong however, all of them will aim concentrate on controlling and strengthening the chi or qi.

For the full article, click here.

Music for your edification: Carbon Based Lifeforms - VLA

This track is a one hour long soundtrack to your inner excursions. Whether meditating, brainstorming, or seeking inspiration, listening to can help you.

Artist: Carbon Based Lifeforms
Track: VLA (edited drone extension)
Album: TwentyThree

What is Akasha?

The term "akasha" (or "akasa") appears frequently in theosophist, occult, New Age, pagan, Hindu, and Buddhist sources. The underlying concept of akasha, or aspects of it, have been studied, analyzed, labeled, fictionalized, and represented in academic and popular culture sources for more than a century, based on a vast number of people trying to understand this fundamental aspect of existence, and particularly the bridge between the material and the spirit.

Akasha (or aspects of it) has born labels such as aether, vril, the face of the waters, the force (yes, in Star Wars), Chaos, the Soul of the World, the nebulous Almighty, the living fire, the Spirit of Light, Magnes, the Sidereal Light, the sacred fire, the Antusbyrum, the Elmes-fire, the lightning of Cybele, the burning torch of Apollo, the od, the psychod, the ectenic force, the psychic force, galvanism, the burning bush, and the Astral Light.

Akasha, the ancient Aryan term, still used by Hindus and Buddhists, is the omnipresent, transcendent, eternal source of all energy. It is an unconscious force directed by a will to manifest in active, material form. It is the bridge between spirit and matter. Akasha is the primal element that is the primal source of the other four elements of Fire, Earth, Air and Water.

In Aryan tradition, Akasha is the all-pervasive life principle, a universal medium in which everything is contained. It fills all space and permeates all matter.

According to Madame Helena Blavatsky, "the Akâsa is the eternal divine consciousness which cannot differentiate, have qualities, or act; action belongs to that which is reflected or mirrored from it. The unconditioned and infinite can have no relation with the finite and conditioned. The Astral Light is the Middle Heaven of the Gnostics, in which is Sophia Achamoth, the mother of the seven builders or Spirits of the Earth, which are not necessarily good, and among which the Gnostics placed Jehovah, whom they called Ildabaoth. (Sophia Achamoth must not be confounded with the divine Sophia.) We may compare the Akâsa and the Astral Light, with regard to these prototypes, to the germ in the acorn. The latter, besides containing in itself the astral form of the future oak, conceals the germ from which grows a tree containing millions of forms. These forms are contained in the acorn potentially, yet the development of each particular acorn depends upon extraneous circumstances, physical forces, etc."

Akasha is derived from the Sanskrit word “kash” which means radiating or shining. It is one of the five elements in Hindu philosophy and is often described as a form of atmosphere or ether.

Warriors: Joshua Barney

by Hugh Howard
dated: May 3, 2012
SOURCE: historynet.com

Barney sketched the design for what he called a "row-barge," part of the "flying squadron" he created to defend the Chesapeake Bay against the redcoats. (Left: Library of Congress. Right: U.S. Navy/National Archives)

JOSHUA BARNEY was happiest, as he once put it, when faced with "the point of the bayonet or the cannon's mouth." But in 1813, as his nation entered its second year of war with Great Britain, the longtime sea captain commanded neither ship nor sailors. Instead, he strode his wife's farm in Maryland in the unaccustomed role of gentleman farmer.

Barney was a handsome man, with a face weathered by the sea and sparkling eyes that, according to one observer, were "full, liquid, and…peculiarly expressive." He had led a grand life and could boast of a large circle of influential friends on both sides of the Atlantic, having known Ben Franklin, Marie Antoinette, James Monroe, and Dolley Madison, among others. His adventures had begun when he was 12 and signed on as a hand on a Chesapeake Bay pilot boat; at 15, he became the skipper of a merchantman when its captain (Barney's brother-in-law) died at sea. Early in the Revolutionary War, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the infant Continental Navy. Over the next eight years he by turns sailed on American frigates and brigs, captained privateers, and four times found himself a British prisoner of war. In the 1790s, during France's series of wars with the British, he donned a French navy uniform as capitaine de vaisseau du premier, once more ready to fight the redcoats he had come to hate.

More recently, following the American declaration of war on June 18, 1812, the 53-year-old had secured Privateer Commission Number One from President James Madison. Funded by Baltimore merchants, he outfitted the 206-ton, 98-foot schooner Rossie. With a hundred-man crew, Barney sailed the waters off Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, then the Caribbean, eluding Royal Navy warships to harass British commerce. In three months, the speedy Rossie took some 20 vessels and 217 prisoners while capturing or destroying 3,698 tons of goods worth an estimated $1.5 million.

On his return home, though Barney had hoped for a navy commission, the winter of 1813 brought him none, in part because other navy veterans claimed more years of service. But Barney's military mind didn't remain idle. On the Fourth of July in 1813, he dispatched to Washington a proposal for the defense of the Chesapeake Bay region, complete with pen-and-ink sketches in his own hand. Thanks to that plan, Barney would soon find himself back in uniform and ready to fight. Indeed, when the British marched on Washington in 1814, he was to lead a desperate stand in an attempt to save his nation's capital—and earn the admiration of friend and foe alike.

BARNEY'S PLAN for defending the Chesapeake region was thorough. He described a newfangled flotilla of "a Kind of Barge or Row-galley, so constructed as to draw a small draft of water, to carry Oars, light sails, and One heavy long gun." Knowing that American coffers were at a low ebb, he cited the modest cost; as many as 50 such barges, Barney promised, "will not cost more than One half the price of One frigate." His battle strategy seemed sound too: When deployed with a few swift schooners and a floating battery armed with cannons, the flotilla of vessels could harass the British force in the area, which already numbered 11 ships of the line, 33 frigates, and 38 sloops of war, along with support ships.

For the full article, click here.

The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram

This is not your typical Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP). But this is a much better one.

The LBRP is a ritual to unlock your spirit, which is your eternal, immortal, highest self. The real you behind the veil, in the Unseen World.

The LBRP sets order of motion in your own personal microcosm and aligns your planetary bodies to their correct positions while establishing stronger links to your own microcosm and the universal macrocosm.

This version of the LBRP helps you to:

• Balance your qi and corrects imbalances
• Invoke your spirit (i.e. eternal self)
• Reclaim your (i.e. your spirit's) authority over your temporal aspects
• Understand the divine nature of your own human nature
• Unification yourself with your solar self, the inner hero within you

Be warned. Popular versions of the LBRP invoking Biblical "archangels" may actually make you vulnerable to attack from negative Qilopthian forces.

Be wary of systems that demand you devote yourself to "service" or that put you under the thumb of any order, group, god, or universality. You are your own person. You have divinity within you. Your own spirit is your will to create and achieve, and your own spirit can lead you.

The alchemical iconography of the LBRP is this, “A golden child holding the most glorious rose of the universe”. The break down is:
1. Rose
2. Thorn
3. Golden child
The LBRP is made up of the three symbols of the origins of humanity and from which all other sacred geometry.
1. Triangle
2. Pentagram
3. Cross

These three symbols correspond to the three planetary origins of humanity.
1. Mars - Triangle
2. Venus - Pentagram
3. Sun - Cross

These three symbols and their planetary correspondences relate to the three great implements of Humanity that were used to defend and drive off tyrants, monsters and magically, warded off spirits.

1. Mars - Spear
2. Venus - Shield
3. Sun - Breast Plate

The three implements relate to the three major principals of humanity.
1. Mars - Father
2. Venus - Mother
3. Sun - Child of promise

These three major principals are finally brought to their originating energies.
1. Father - Masculine
2. Mother - Feminine
3. Child - Self

So in a full correspondence the 3 essential natures of humanity go like this;
1. Thorn-Triangle-Mars-Spear-Father-Masculine
2. Rose- Pentagram- Venus-Shield-Mother-Feminine
3. Golden child-Cross-Sun-Breast Plate-Child of Promise-Self

The capacity of the spear (Mars energy) in the LBRP is a “passive” one… a hedge of thorns that pierces as deeply in equal response to the force that is applied against them aggressively… in other words the attacker is responsible for the force they came at the magician with, and the thorns stays in as long as the aggressor decides to keep applying force. This mars energy doesn’t attack, but offensively defends. The pain stops when the attack stops and the extent of the injury will depend on the strength of the attack.

The shield (Venus energy) is the love of a mother to want to shield her child from harm. The mother gives a shield. The child carries his mother’s love with him to keep him protected. The father gives his spear, the tool with which the child will deal death to those foolish enough to attack. The shield is in a passive role of defense as it poses no threat to anyone unless that person attacks and breaks themselves against the shield and punctures themselves against the spear. Venus is the Rose which carries the thorns of Mars and grows around and in front of the great child of promise the child of Mars and Venus, who is you, to protect you and keep you safe. The planet Venus actually traces the Banish pentagram around the Sun in its yearly orbit.

The Sun energy within the LBRP is the life giving force to yourself and all other summoned, invoked or evoked intelligences you bring to your own microcosmic universe. Because this is the union of Mars and Venus, like cupid the breast plate combines the mystery of love and war, beauty and strength, a function work of art that defends. This is also seen as the Solar plexus and the heart center. The Solar Center is the guard and the heart center the treasure… the greatest treasure of who you are. The life force you share with the world and the center through which you are most emotional vulnerable. The golden solar armor radiance of the solar plexus helps defend the heart center from a plethora of spiritual, human and planetary influences. In days past magical breast plates had twelve gemstones corresponding to each zodiacal and planetary influence directed and purified to the heart center and shielding against impure influences.

The LBRP affirms that you are indeed a child of both Mars and Venus; you are “love” on the earth as a Cupid in your own respect. You have within you the mystery of Love and War, as granted to you by your spiritual parents. You are the living embodiment of the twin pillars of Beauty (Venus) and Strength (Mars).

“For Beauty inspires Strength and Strength supports Beauty”.
As a child of promise you contain within you the divine spark of Prime Creator and you are the great “promise” of humanity’s continued survival and freedom. We ALL possess this quality. That is why we ALL matter and each of us is vital and divine.

This solar nature/child of promise/higher self is the energy that energizes the Rose of Venus and keeps the thorns of Mars sharp. The LBRP is a ritual in the highest order that both teaches us and empowers us in the deepest mysteries of magic, life/death, love/war, beauty/strength and personal authority/freedom. This “child of promise’ is YOUR intelligence on the Sol/Solar/ Tipareth planetary realm. This IS the divine nature inside you.

It is important to perform the LBRP with this level of understanding, and without invoking the demonic names in the popular version of the LBRP.

All solar intelligences are symbolized by the cross. The cross implies the location of “center” and the divining lines of influences as well as roads of power flowing in and out. This is true about the symbolism of the encircled equal armed cross which denotes the earth or physical plane. The center of this intersection is the “primal hill” where the king/queen (solar representative on the earth) stands as the channel of life energy on the material plane and surveys his or her four quadrants of their kingdom. In magical symbolism are the four quadrants or elements of his or herself and astral realm.
When performing the LBRP you are attaining to the great reflection of the earthly cross, which is encircled showing that the physical plane is restricted by time and space (Saturn) and the grand solar cross of the Solar realm which is the center of the universe and whose arms reach out in all directions for all eternity. The “Celtic” cross is a primal example showing an encircled cross with the arms reaching past their bounds showing the all reach and freedom powers that the true solar divine nature transcends all limitations.

Performing the LBRP

Step 1 (Earth cross and Solar Cross)
Stand and for a moment contemplate your divine nature, that you are King or Queen of your own personal life/kingdom upon the material world. Below your feet and around you is a circle that shows your sphere of personal influence. Under your feet lines splay out in front and behind you and to your right and to your left and stop at the circle. This places you as the center of your own earthly kingdom.
Also yourself to feel “slightly” contained and “grow” to surpass this “idea” of limitation. Allow your astral body to grow up and out of this world with your feet still on the physical realm but your astral body expanding to outer space and beyond until the Milky Way galaxy is a tiny speck of light under your feet.

Step 2 (The grand cross)
Now that your astral body is a universal presence just above your head in the softest but most brilliant white pulsating sphere of energy you can at this at imagine. This is the Uranian/Uranus, The Starry Crown or Crown of Heaven. Touch this sphere with your “power” finger (the pointer finger of the hand you write with) and draw the this power down to your head by touching your third eye which floods your astral head with divine light and invokes your “higher genius” as your vibrate the name “Uranus” and say “The glory of heaven” draw your finger down the front of your body to your groin and let the line of divine white light descend down your feet to the tiny light that is the milky way galaxy and to the center of the earthy encircled cross you made earlier and past that into infinity.
Vibrate the name “Terra” and say “shall be made real on the earth”.
Now touch your right shoulder with your power finger and divine light beams out from your heart center through your right shoulder and into eternity and vibrated the name “Mars” and say “may terrifying strength uphold benevolence”.
Now with your “power finger” touch for left shoulder as divine light beams out through your left shoulder into infinity and vibrate the name “Jupiter” and say “May benevolence temper terrifying strength”.
Now extend both arms and feel the divine light flow through and out your arms and down through your feet.

Step 3 (The Formulation of the holy breastplate)
You have now made the solar/grand cross and are in reflection of the earthly cross of your personal kingdom.
Allow your upper body neck to waist and shoulder to shoulder to covered with a” liquid gold” that take a shape like a breastplate. Your heart center and solar plexus shine so bright the radiance makes the breastplate glow like the sun.
Starting in the first quadrant at the left side of your neck and in a circular path down to your right breast first say Aries and see a gem of intense red, then say Taurus and see a gem of deep green then say Gemini and see a gem of beautiful mother of pearl white.
Now under your right breast to your navel say Cancer and see a sparkling crystal white, now say Leo and see a brilliant citrine gem, now say Virgo and see a bright green gem.
Now from your navel and up to your left breast say Libra and see a piercing blue gem, now say Scorpio and see a dark puce gem and now say Sagittarius and see a crystal blue gem.
From your left breast up to the left side of your neck say Capricorn and see a luscious black gem. Now say Aquarius and see a speckled black and red gem. Lastly say Pieces and see an icy blue gem.
The Zodiac gemstones by quadrants.

Quadrant 1
1. Aries-Intense Red
2. Taurus-Deep Green
3. Gemini- Mother of Pearl

Quadrant 2
4. Cancer- Sparkling crystal
5. Leo- Burning citrine
6. Virgo- Bright green

Quadrant 3
7. Libra- Piercing blue
8. Scorpio- Deep puce purple
9. Sagittarius- Crystal blue

Quadrant 4
10. Capricorn- Luscious black
11. Aquarius- Red and Black speckled
12. Pieces- Icy blue
This creates the zodiacal solar right that beams out their influences to others around you and also absorbs their influences into your heart center. This practice will filter and purify the output and intake of these influences.

You can if you wish, circulate these colors in a clock wise direction assuming that 12 o’clock is located at the nap of your neck. These colors whirl and beam out like the rays of the sun in a prismatic way.
With your arms held in the cross and the zodiac colors whirling around your heart center feel all this energy, which is not meant to overwhelm but enliven and vitalize you vibrate the name “Sol” and say “may I be brilliant and bold in all that I do”.
Now bring your hands together, completing a powerful energy circle and allow this light to dim just a little.

Step 4 (Roses and Thorns)
In each of the cardinal directs trace the green banishing earth pentagram. Assume the “goddess” posture or “star pose” and vibrate the name Venus. Feel the undying love of our great mother Venus, holder of the most sacred symbol of our race (the pentagram), the five pointed rose of humanity.
Sharply and with feeling thrust both hands forward so the finger tips touch making a triangle while you step forward with you left foot. This is the “God posture” or spear tip. Vibrate the name Mars, the great father of our race and thorn of the rose of humanity, the lover and protector of Venus. Feel his anger at all those who would harm her or his children and charge the pentagram with that energy.
Before you should now be a large glowing fiery green pentagram cracking with red lighting energy.

Step 5 (Calling the four winds)
Facing east says “Before me is Erus (vibrate the name Erus)”. Erus is the spirit of the eastern wind. He is sweet and cheerful. He appears as a young boy dressed in gold and yellow clothes a few sizes too big for him, mop top blonde hair and sometimes a big foppish hat.
Now say “Behind me is Zephyrus (vibrate the name Zephyrus)”. Zephyrus is the spirit of the western wind. He is bold and wise. He appears is a very attractive tall man with long well kept hair and scholarly blue and white robes with a knowing smile.
Now say “To my right is Notus (vibrate the name Notus)”. Notus is the spirit of the southern wind. He is kind and brave. He appears as a very athletic middle aged man with a broad genuine smile. He wears an open face iron helmet and a tattered red lion cloth.
Now say “To my left is Boreus (vibrate the name Boreus)”. Boreus is the spirit of the northern wind. He is ancient and strong. He appears as a large and extremely muscular strong man of advanced age. His long grey and white hair is wild and wind whipped. He is usually naked except for leather sandals and sometimes draped with animal skins.

Step 6 (The Pentagram and Six Rayed Star)
Now that you have the banishing pentagrams charged and the four winds called now is the time to once more assume the goddess/star posture. AROUND your heart center a banishing pentagram is traced in beautiful fiery green and is allow growing large until it is big enough to out your own body being held in the goddess/star pose. Say “I am within the embrace of my mother Venus, keeper of the sacred pentagram and tender to the cradle of our race”.

Now again AROUND your heart center see the golden six rayed star of sol over both your heart center and say “Within me shines the radiance of Sol, for I am the center of my own universe, a reflection of the most sacred and most high”!

Step 7 (The grand swirlings)
It is in this moment that a number of things happen.
1. The zodiac ring around your heart center beginnings to spin clock wise extremely quickly and projects energy outward.
2. The keepers of the Four Winds (Erus, Zephyrus, Notus and Boreus ) begin to create a cyclone of whirling energy around you in a East to South to West to North direction.
3. The Crown of Heaven above your head begins to swirl in a clock wise direction getting even brighter. The Pentagram around you and the six rayed star inside you beam like the sun and become so bright it’s almost blinding.

Allow this to continue for only a short time. No more than say a minute or two. Allow this energy to fizzle like a sparkler fizzles and allow things to become quite once more.

REPEAT “Step 2” and ONLY the prayer hands/hand closing current of “Step 3” to close out the ritual. So essence The grand cross the vibrations and intonations (sayings) and the final hands coming together over the heart center after letting the body experience the grand cross momentarily and it’s intonation of “My I be brilliant and bold in all thing I do”.

The performance of the LBRP in this manner can bring about an amazing increase in psychic awareness, powerful protection and astral sense development. Also, fear of supernatural/spiritual intelligences all but vanish and profound contact with higher level intelligences and spiritual influences will take place.

Belief Versus Knowledge

by Frater Achad of the A.'.A.'.
SOURCE: The Hermetic Library

The lamen of Frater Achad

[Achad was born Charles Stansfeld Jones. Click here for his bio. - aaa]

It has been written that "In all the world there are only two kinds of people – those who know, and those who do not know; and this knowledge is the thing which matters." However sweeping this statement may appear it is little short of truth from the stand point of Religion in its real sense.

Knowledge has been defined as "A clear perception of a truth or fact, erudition; skill from practice." Also "to know, viz.; To perceive with certainty, to understand clearly, to have experience of."

On the other hand, Belief is an "Assent to anything proposed or declared, and its acceptance as fact by reason of the authority from whence it proceeds, apart from personal knowledge; faith; the whole body of tenets held by any faith; a creed; a conviction."

In regard to religion it will doubtless at once be evident that a great deal could be said on the subject of Belief, it being, one might almost say, the principle on which most, if not all, Exoteric Religions are based. It will also be evident, though perhaps in a lesser degree, that all these various religious beliefs, held by masses of people in all lands, must have arisen in the beginning out of the Personal Experience of a few who had somehow obtained a direct perception or knowledge of certain facts in regard to "The Absolute", "God", or at any rate some Being or Beings of a distinctly higher order than themselves, and that these revelations were then given out by them to others, coloured to a certain extent by their own personality and limited by the horizon of their own intellectual sphere. To what extent these "revelations" or "inspirations" can be relied upon and whether it is better to accept them as taught or to rely upon our own experience, are matters I shall endeavor to treat of in this brief essay.

The first thing that strikes one in attempting to deal with the subject – at any rate in the writer's own experience – is how little we really know and how rapidly, if unchecked, our beliefs tend to accumulate.

The beliefs accepted in our early childhood undoubtedly have a strong influence upon our minds, especially in early life, but apart from these, as soon as we begin to look around us and attempt to think for ourselves, fresh beliefs rapidly creep in upon us. These gain strength and to some extent, often to a great extent, modify our ideas and even dominate our actions.

Those who have a natural aptitude and desire for religion soon begin to read books and possibly to attend lectures on the subject. Something that one has heard or read strikes us as being original and fascinating, it seems to us this new idea must be true, and almost unconsciously we find ourselves believing it.

For the full article, click here.

Ten Beautiful Train Stations

SOURCE: Flavorwire

A few weeks ago we set out on a virtual adventure to find the most beautiful train stations in the world. Our imaginations were set adrift by the romance of train travel and we were left daydreaming about frolicking in exotic indoor botanical gardens, dancing with whirling dervishes, and having high tea in colonial era waiting rooms before catching the Orient Express to Constantinople. The more we learn about one of the greatest ways to travel the world, the more we can’t believe that this enchanting mode of transport was predicted to be replaced by what was supposed to be a sexier, more efficient alternative: air travel. If you’ve flown anywhere lately you know that the airport experience today is a far cry from the much more civilized approach to globe-trotting represented by the drop dead gorgeous constructions we’ve rounded up here.

Antwerp Central Station — Antwerp, Belgium

30th Street Station - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique — Maputo, Mozambique

Union Station — Washington D.C.

Flinders Street Station — Melbourne, Australia

For the full article, click here.

Hypnotism

by William Q. Judge
SOURCE

William Q. JudgeWhat is the hypnotic force or influence? What really happens when a hypnotic experiment is performed? What is proved by it? What force is exerted that, after making a man sleep, rouses him to a false wakefulness in which he obeys a suggestion, seems to lose his identity, becomes apparently another person, speaks a language he knows nothing of, sees imagined pictures as real ones? How is it that in this state his physical body follows the operator's suggestion and becomes blistered by a piece of paper which possesses no blistering power, sneezes when there is no actual titillation of the olfactory nerves, shivers over a hot stove, and perspires if it be suggested that a block of ice is a mass of fire?

All this and very much more has been done in hynoptic experiments, just as it was done many years ago by mesmerizers, electro-biologists, and wandering fascinators of all sorts. Then it was outside the pale of science, but now since physicians renamed a part of it "hypnotism" it is settled to stay among the branches of psychology, theoretical and applied. The new schools, of course, went further than the first did or could. They added a species of witchcraft to it by their latest claim to be able to externalize and localize the nerve-sensitiveness and hence mental impressionability of the subject; to put it in his photograph or within a glass of water, so that if the former be scratched or the latter touched, the patient at once jumped or screamed. This is the old way of making a wax image of your form and sticking pins in it, whereupon you pined and died; men and women were burned for this once. This, while interesting and important if true, possesses the interest of a nightmare, as it suggests how in the near future one's picture may be for sale to be blistered and stabbed by an enemy, provided the extraneous localization of sensibility is first provided for. But the other experiments touch upon the great questions of identity, of consciousness, of soul and of personality. They raise an issue as to whether the world be physical and mechanical, as Descartes thought, or whether it is fleeting and a form of consciousness existing because of thought and dominated by thought altogether, as the Theosophists modern and ancient always held.

Professor James of Harvard has published his conclusion that experiments in hypnotism convince him, as they have convinced many, of the existence of the hidden self in man, while the French schools dispute whether it is all due to one personality mimicking many, or many personalities wrapped up in one person and showing one phase after another. Facts are recorded and wonderful things done, but no reasonable and final explanation has been made by the modern schools. Except here and there they, being ignorant of man's hidden real nature and powers, or denying the existence of such, see no cause for alarm in all these experiments and no danger to either society or the individual. As the true evolution of man's inner powers at the same rate and time concurrently with all other racial and planetary evolution is not admitted by these schools, they cannot perceive in the future any possibly devilish use of hypnotic powers. The Theosophist, however, suggests an explanation for the phenomena, points to similar occurrences through history, and intimates a danger to come if the thinking world does not realize our true nature as a being made of thought and consciousness, built in and on these, and destructible by them also so far as his personality is concerned. The danger is not in knowing these things and processes, but in the lack of morality and ethics in the use of them both now and in the future.

For the full article, click here.

What Is Occultism?

by Helena P. Blavatsky
SOURCE

I BELIEVE Occultism to be essentially a reincarnation of ancient paganism, a revivification of the Pythagorean philosophy; not the senseless ceremonies and spiritless forms of those ancient religions, but the Spirit of the Truth which animated those grand old systems which held the world spell-bound in awe and reverence long after the spirit had departed, and nothing was left but the dead, decaying body.

Occultism asserts the eternal individuality of the soul, the imperishable force which is the cause and sustaining power of all organization, that death is only the casting off of a worn-out garment in order to procure a new and better one.

So death, so-called, can but the form deface,
The immortal soul flies out in empty space,
To seek her fortune in another place.

Occultism, in its efforts to penetrate the arcana of dynamic forces and primordial power, sees in all things a unity, an unbroken chain extending from the lowest organic form to the highest, and concludes that this unity is based upon a uniformly ascending scale of organic forms of being, the Jacob’s ladder of spiritual organic experience, up which every soul must travel before it can again sing praises before the face of its Father. It perceives a duality in all things, a physical and spiritual nature, closely interwoven in each other’s embrace, interdependent upon each other, and yet independent of each other. And as there is in spirit-life a central individuality, the soul, so there is in the physical, the atom, each eternal, unchangeable and self-existent. These centres, physical and spiritual, are surrounded by their own respective atmospheres, the intersphering of which results in aggregation and organization. This idea is not limited to terrestrial life, but is extended to worlds and systems of worlds.

Physical existence is subservient to the spiritual, and all physical improvement and progress are only the auxiliaries of spiritual progress, without which there could be no physical progress. Physical organic progress is effected through hereditary transmission; spiritual organic progress by transmigration.

Occultism has divided spiritual progress into three divisions—the elementary, which corresponds with the lower organizations; the astral, which relates to the human; and the celestial, which is divine. "Elementary spirits," whether they belong to "earth, water, air or fire," are spirits not yet human, but attracted to the human by certain congenialities. As many physical diseases are due to the presence of parasites, attracted or produced by uncleanness and other causes, so parasitic spirits are attracted by immorality or spiritual uncleanness, thereby inducing spiritual diseases and consequent physical ailments. They who live on the animal plane must attract spirits of that plane, who seek for borrowed embodiments where the most congeniality exists in the highest form.

Thus the ancient doctrine of obsession challenges recognition, and the exorcism of devils is as legitimate as the expelling of a tape-worm, or the curing of the itch. It was also believed that these spiritual beings sustained their spiritual existence by certain emanations from physical bodies, especially when newly slain; thus in sacrificial offerings the priests received the physical part, and the Gods the spiritual, they being content with a "sweet-smelling savour." It was further thought that wars were instigated by these demons, so that they might feast on the slain.

For the full article, click here.

The Sacred Fire

SOURCE

Zoroastrian Fire TempleThe splendor of fire has been throughout history the central symbol of Zoroastrianism. In this article I will talk about some of the history and the symbolism of the Sacred Fire of the Zoroastrians.

Fire was a sacred symbol long before Zarathushtra's revelations. The sacredness of the hearth-fire was an Indo-Aryan custom before the division of that civilization into the Indian and the Iranian peoples. Fire is celebrated in the Vedas and a sacred fire is part of Hindu ceremony even to this day.

It is natural to revere fire, for it is one of the primal elements of nature (in modern terms, it is "plasma", one of the four states of matter) and it is one of the things which makes civilization possible. It drives away the cold and the wild beasts, cooks food, burns away trash and uncleanness, sheds light in the darkness, serves as a signal to travellers, and brings people together around the hearth. It is LIGHT, WARMTH, and ENERGY.

Most religions use fire in some way; the ancient Jews had an ever-burning fire on their own altar, and Christians always have candles on their altars at their services, as well as candles burning before their icons. Zoroastrianism has made fire its central symbol, the ultimate icon of a God who is also Light, Warmth, and Energy.

Zarathushtra, in his prophetic revelation, gave Fire a new meaning. It is not just the fire of the hearth, or of a specific god, but a universal fire, and a metaphysical fire. The Zarathushtrian fire now has an ethical and theological meaning. It is the fire of justice, the symbol of the Divine Attribute of ASHA. Its purifying properties are now extended to the ethical world, and fire becomes the means by which the wrongdoers will be purified in the afterlife. It is also a fire of intellectual illumination. As Zarathushtra says in the Gathas, Yasna 31.3, "The happiness You grant has been promised... through Your mental fire and righteousness." (Ali Jafarey translation) The words for "mental fire and righteousness" in Avestan are mainyu athra-cha asha-cha which literally mean "through mind, through fire, and through ASHA (righteousness)." Thus when Zarathushtra talks about fire, one of his meanings is inner illumination, the fire of enlightenment through which God gives knowledge and courage to human beings. One prayer which devout Zoroastrians say every day (excerpted from the Gathas) says: "Who will, O wise One, give me protection, when the deceitful threatens to harm me, other than your Fire and Mind?" (Jafarey trans.) Fire is therefore a primal unifying force between God and humanity.

For the full article, click here.

Documentary: Wagner's Dream

A new documentary by Susan Froemke. The stakes could not be higher as visionary director Robert Lepage, the world's greatest singers, and the Metropolitan Opera tackle Wagner's Ring cycle. An intimate look at the enormous theatrical and musical challenges of staging opera's most monumental work, the film chronicles the quest to fulfill Wagner's dream of a perfect Ring.

For more information, click here.

Warriors: Travis Manion

SOURCE: The Unknown Soldiers

1st Lt. Travis Manning"As a warrior, he strode like a giant across the battlefield of the eastern portion of Al Anbar Province."

That quote was uttered five years ago by Gen. John Allen, who now leads U.S. troops in Afghanistan. He was speaking about a Marine under his command in Iraq, 1st Lt. Travis Manion, who made the ultimate sacrifice on Apr. 29, 2007.

After heart-to-heart conversations with 1st Lt. Manion's mom, dad, and sister, phone calls with Marines who witnessed his many acts of courage, and visits to some of the places where Travis revealed his true character, it's clear that the general's quote was not hyperbole. This Marine was a real-life giant.

Travis spent most of his childhood in the Philadelphia suburb of Doylestown, Pa. One summer day in a pizzeria, Travis walked in to grab a slice with one of his best friends, who is African-American. The man behind the counter served the white customer, but ignored his black friend.

"My brother told the restaurant owner he'd never be back," Ryan Manion Borek, Travis' older sister and lone sibling, recently told students at Parkview High School in Lilburn, Ga.

Travis and his college roommate, future Navy SEAL Brendan Looney, were U.S. Naval Academy students when terrorists attacked America on Sept. 11, 2001. Despite knowing the risks they would face upon graduation, the popular, good looking Navy athletes never wavered from their ultimate goal: defending the United States during a time of war.

"They were focused," Travis' mother, Janet Manion, told me. "They knew how to have a good time, don't get me wrong, they could party like the best of them. But when it came time to do the serious stuff, they knew how to get serious."

On Dec. 4, 2006, with his second Iraq deployment just days away, Travis took in a Philadelphia Eagles game with his brother-in-law, Dave Borek. As they left the stadium celebrating a victory, Dave joked about tripping Travis, so the resulting injury would prevent him from going back to war.

Even though he knew Dave was kidding around, it was time to discuss "the serious stuff."

"Hey, Dave, if I don't go, they're going to send someone else who isn't ready," Travis said. "If not me, then who..."

For the full article, click here.