I was checking out an old non-denominational cemetery looking for unusual gravestones and symbols on tombstones. Always of interest are the Masonic symbols. This cemetery has numerous headstones etched with them. One symbol might take a bystander aback, like the gravestone pictured above. Some stones have pentagrams!
Pentagrams are widely recognized as occult, Wiccan or pagan symbols. When the upper point is aimed upward, it is considered positive. If it is used as a symbol of diabolic intent, then the point is aimed downwards. On some stones are these downward pointed pentagrams. To the casual observer, there would appear to be satanic symbols in the cemetery.
However, all is not as it might first appear. Around this pentagram are the letters OES. This stands for the Order of the Eastern Star. It is a Masonic fraternal organization where both men and woman may join. This is apparent in the tombstone pictured above, where both spouses have their own symbol. The husband has the traditional Masonic symbol of the compass and level. The wife has the pentagram with the letters O E S in the rays of the pentagram. Unlike the diabolic inverse pentagram, this pentagram symbolizes the Star of Bethlehem, the “star in the east” which appeared at the birth of Christ. Here the ray points down towards the birth site of the Christ child in Bethlehem.
Another intriguing tombstone (pictured below) has the same Masonic symbols representing the husband and wife. But underneath is a rare sight. It is a plaque stating “IN HOC SIGNO VINCES”. The meaning is “with your standard you shall have victory”. It shows a cross tilted in a crown. This symbol is associated with the Knights Templar Freemason organization. This organization differed from most other Masonic associations in that they required belief in Christianity and not just a Supreme Being.
Images of pentagrams and Knights Templar conspiracy theories give some religious folk reason to scorn Masons. I think this comes from a misunderstanding of what they are all about. Or more likely, some religion people don’t want any competition from any fraternal organization that is non-denominational. Such institutions might encourage people to think for themselves and we can’t have that happening, can we?
My mother died a year ago, at the same time this late August. She had cancer of the pancreas. Which is pretty much a death sentence. She did not realize this until the biopsy, after which the doctor gave her two weeks to live. And that diagnosis was right on target…two weeks later she passed away.
People are justifiably terrorized by cancer. It is the most awful thing imaginable. I saw my mom turn yellow with jaundice, her bowels stopped moving, and she began to suffer unrelenting pain. To see your mom in torture is the most horrible experience I would not wish on anyone. But every day people face this fate along with their families.
Both my father and mother had a legal document created where they could deny extreme measures to prolong life. When my mom was in the hospital, they wanted to put her on life support. My dad gave them this document. Nothing was going to save her life, and both my mom and dad had the courage to accept her death.
We will all die, our only hope is that is comes peacefully. My mom was actually fortunate in that she had only a brief time with her disease. My father is a practical man. He experienced WWII in Europe as a child and saw many horrible things during the war, much death. My mom’s passing was harder then anything he knew, having to endure his beloved wife’s lingering death. And he had to hand over the document to end her life without extreme measures. That is a hard thing, a tough thing. Yet he did not want to see her suffer any more. Dad is a strong guy.
My father is an agnostic. He neither believes or disbelieves in a spiritual existence. Being a practical man, he said he will only know for sure when his time comes. Yet, my father told me that he believed mom visited him a week later after her death. He saw a pillar of light that slowly moved around him, with the scent of lilacs. Not being a person susceptible to illusions, I take this experience seriously.
The purpose of my blog, its mission statement, is to encourage people to hope in a spiritual existence, regardless of anyone’s religion or theology. All the stories I tell are true, names are changed in respect of privacy. If only one ghost story is true, if only one out-of-body experience is true, it means the spiritual world is not an illusion, but an objective reality. That is a comforting thought.
In 1888 the United Ancient Order of Druids (U.A.O.D.), a fraternal order, erected a monument in the Forest Home Cemetery outside Chicago. This cemetery, in the past know as German Waldheim Cemetery, was one of the few non-denominational cemeteries in the Chicago area, attracting an eclectic mix of graves sites, including masons, gypsies, radicals and atheists. I revisited the UAOD monument for a closer look, wanting to examine the symbolism of the monument.
The picture above was taken from a rear view; all photos I have seen of this monument are from the face view of the druid at the top of the pillar. You can see the concentric rings in the form of stone logs surrounding the monument. Within the rings are gravestones, which I assume were members or family of members of the fraternity. Several stones around the monument have Masonic symbols on it, as pictured below.
Mason Gravestone Symbols
Druid Monument All Seeing Eye
There is an image on the pillar (pictured left), of an eye in an upside down triangle, sort of the reverse of the image of the great seal on our dollar bill, the All Seeing Eye. Looking at the details of the druid atop the pillar, I’m not sure what the symbolism stands for. The druid has a sickle over his right shoulder, and holds a staff with the head of a cherub at the tip. He stands with a foot on four stacked stones. The druid’s expression is curious…sort of melancholy. Perhaps the druid, in empathy, is expressing the emotions of those who will visit their departed loved ones here.
Druid Monument
Looking at the dates of the gravestones circling the druid, nobody has been interred here for a long time. This curious monument is a part of a history long past, an organization that may have in time become forgotten, except for this monument as a reminder. A dramatic monument is a good way to keep their history alive when all their members are gone. After all, I am writing about this in 2010, 122 years after it was erected.
I took many pictures of the monument with the hope a few would turn out well. It was an intensely hot and sunny day. In one photo below, I captured an orb. It is a photo of the statue from the shaded side, and at first I did not notice it. But then it caught my eye. Orbs are almost always captured as the result of a camera’s flash reflecting off of dust or raindrops. In the sunlight a flash was not happening. Daylight orbs are pretty rare. For sure it could just be an optical affect. Yet we have bright purple orb in the shadow of the druid. The romantic in me likes to imagine there is still a spiritual energy around this wonderful monument, and I caught a glimpse of it.
Here are some curious ghost stories from an elderly lady who is also a devout Pentecostal Christian. Generally Christians don’t believe in ghosts, or consider ghosts to be an illusion, the work of Satan. Despite the protests of theologians, Christians still experience encounters with ghosts as much as anyone else.
Lisa might be something of a natural medium. Some people seem to have a special sensitivity to the spirit world. Nobody knows why or how. Religious beliefs don’t seem to be a factor.
On occasion Lisa would see a young woman in her home, always at a distance in another room or in a hallway, who would move out of view and vanish. Curiously, this apparition would appear to be coughing or gasping for air. Sometimes Lisa would just hear a quiet gasping alone. Her family thought she was just imagining things. Out of curiosity, she sought out information about whoever previously lived in her home. She discovered that the previous occupants had a daughter that lived in the basement, and she suffered from asthma. This young lady died in this house.
Lisa also saw a young man in the church she attended. Nobody else saw this young man, only she did. She would talk to this young guy, and apparently he would talk back to her. Her sister worried about Lisa, thinking due to Lisa’s old age her sister might be getting dementia. To please her sister Lisa would not be too obvious about it in church. Eventually Lisa and her sister asked the pastor about this. Why would there potentially be a ghost in a church? Looking into this, the sisters discovered that before it was a church, it was a lounge. A long time past the lounge was bought and remade into a church. And there was a story that a nice young man had been shot dead in this lounge.
We could dismiss her visions as hallucinations or an overactive imagination, except that these visions revealed knowledge of things that were previously unknown to her and others. Did Lisa actually encounter the spirits of the dead, or did she have premonitions that were recreations of the past? Or was the Devil present in her home and church?
Here we go again. The new moon was at its peak August 10 at 03:09 UTC. A powerful 7.3 magnitude earthquake hit the pacific island nation of Vanuatu at 05:23 UTC, only a couple of hours later. In addition, the moon was at perigee later the same day at 17:57 UTC. This major earthquake was followed by numerous aftershocks.
Vanuatu appears particularly vulnerable to the tug of the sun and moon. The earthquake struck at a depth of 27 miles/35 kilometers below the earth. Perhaps the moon’s influence on the ocean’s tides can trigger earthquakes, but I doubt tides would cause a quake so deep underground.
I don’t personally believe 2012 is the end of the world. Yet, these celestially inspired earthquakes do make me wonder. Famed psychic Edgar Cayce predicted major earth changes in the future as the Earth shifted on its axis. Let’s hope he was not accurate, but there is always the possibility he was. Nothing we can do about it anyway, so why worry?
Are spirit guides a good idea? Or is channeling spirit guides actually contacting dangerous entities and should be avoided? The answer may not be entirely clear. We have examples of channeling with both productive and disastrous results.
Another open question is when channeling, are we actually contacting an objective disincarnate spirit or our own inner self, higher self or subconscious. Does it make any difference? Individuals who had contact with spirit beings, real or imagined, had an impact on history.
Esther Hicks is the famous author of The Law of Attraction and a leading motivational speaker on the topic of the law of attraction. Her knowledge of the topic is profound with surprising depth. She is known for her spirit guide Abraham who inspired her. Abraham led her to personal fame and fortune as well as inspiring many.
Hicks was introduced into spirit guides by a book by Jane Roberts, author of Seth Speaks. Jane Roberts was a writer and spirit medium that introduced channeling to a wide audience. Roberts was introduced to channeling thru experimenting with a Ouija board. Eventually she came into communication with her spirit guide…Seth.
Channeling and communication with spirit guides is denounced by organized religion. Yet religion seems to be inspired by spirit guides too. The difference is when religious revelations are written down into scripture, it makes all the difference. Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Church of Latter Day Saints wrote the Book of Mormon after contact with the angel Moroni. Now Mormonism is a world religion. Was this channeling turned into a religion?
Judaism and Christianity were inspired by contact with what could be called Spirit Guides too. They stood the test of time because their adherents had the good sense to write down these experiences into scriptures. Scripture could be described as “safe” channeling for the masses. Instead of trying to do it your self, just accept someone else’s experiences as truth. Still, scriptures without profound truths at its core will not endure. Where did these profound truths come from? Divine revelation, or from human reason?
For some thoughts, I will consult an unusual source, a famous magical grimoire, The Sacred Magic of Abramelin The Mage. This manuscript was written in the 15th century, seemingly inspired by an Egyptian mage, and is considered one of the great books of magic. This grimoire proclaimed all other magic in error except its own method. It viewed all attempts at contacting spirits as making pacts with demons. What it introduced was a new concept…developing a relationship with your Guardian Angel.
This idea was influential on the modern occult movement. The Abramelin operation took 6 months to complete. During this time the adherent followed rituals of prayer, piety, purification and asceticism, attempting to enter a heightened state of consciousness. At the end of this period of time the adherent attempted to contact their Holy Guardian Angel.
It appears the Abramelin method of contacting one’s angel (or higher self) is to essentially become like an angel. The specific rituals seem almost besides the point, what matters is that one “vibrates” at the same frequency as the spirit being one seeks to communicate with. If an angel will not lower itself to communicate with an un-evolved personality, then one has to raise one’s self to the angel’s level.
This seems to make sense with channeling, regardless if it is real or only in our mind. We channel who we are. If someone dwells in the depths of hostility and negativity, they will contact entities/subconscious thoughts that share these spiritual vibrations. Richard Ramirez, the infamous Night Stalker serial killer could be an example of channeling extreme negativity with horrifying consequences.
Maybe the way to contact the angelic world is to think like an angel. History is filled with saints, prophets and mystics of all religions who performed miracles with angelic assistance. Was it because they attained a state of existence that mirrored the Divine? Which is a problem for the average individual. It’s not easy being a saint. Most of us don’t have the inclination. How can anyone accomplish this great task?
Here is my suggestion for the average man or woman to perform the Abramelin operation without going into seclusion for 6 months. Mirroring the divine is not a matter of piety and religious fervor. Religious people can be quite evil in their devotion to their doctrines. Angels are beings of love. The path of the angel is the path of love. Not only love for spouse, family and friends, but love for all humanity, all living things.
To love all things unconditionally does not come naturally, but we can train ourselves. Pay attention to the merit in all individuals. Develop empathy. Recognize the value in everyone. Spend some time talking to the lonely old neighbor, and actually listen to him or her. Be positive towards others, offer encouragement and help without expectation of reward. Be a blessing to the world. Do this often and consistently, and you will begin to vibrate like the angels themselves. Watch for the results that follow!
Inception will be considered a classic sci-fi film along with films like Blade Runner, The Matrix and 2001 A space Odyssey. Often such classics are not immediately appreciated when they are first released, but I think Inception has this instant recognition. Classic movies are few and when one suddenly appears it is a joy we wait years for.
The zero gravity fisticuffs scene in Inception was a cool homage to the Matrix. Yet this scene was done with physical special effects and not strictly CGI. There was a hallway set that actually rotated. Give me human stunt work over CGI anytime. That gave the scene gravitas and believability. And that is what makes Inception way different then the Matrix. Where the Matrix was strictly sci-fi speculation, with Inception we are dealing with actual reality. Dreams.
Dreams are real, we all dream. Lucid dreaming is real. Even animals dream. Science does not understand why dreams are essential to cognizance, but we’d die without dreaming. We often don’t remember our dreams, but when we do, they can affect our awakened state of mind. I have been influenced by some of my dreams when I recall them. If Inception is about planting ideas in the subconscious, such things happen daily in reality. We dream about our worries, our hopes, the nightmare from the scary movie we watched a few nights ago. Advertising and marketing are skillful at planting subliminal messages into our subconscious. Inception happens everyday.
The true premise of the movie is the ability of another sentient consciousness to enter our dreams and communicate with us. Can this actually happen? Not with current technology. But our dream state can open us to communication with other sentient beings. Not physical beings, but separate consciousness nevertheless. This happens so often nobody really notices.
The Bible often tells of God speaking to his prophets in a dream. King Solomon was spoken to in a dream with the famous question, what would you want if I granted you any wish? The living often encounters the dead in their dreams. It usually is only a dream, but once in awhile it may be a true encounter with the deceased, to comfort the living. I know stories of a dream immediately preceding someone’s death, or just after and the individual died and they were unaware of the death. Crisis apparitions. Many had premonitions of the future in their dreams that came true. And not only holy spirits may visit our dreams.
Our dreams may on occasion lead us into a supernatural experience. Since a dream is only a dream we can’t take all dreams seriously…unless it offers information we could never possibly know. When we dream, we may not always be resident in our personal subconscious but transcend the world of time and space. We don’t need the movie technology of Inception to accomplish this.
The ending of Inception leaves the open question…is Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Cobb awake or is he still in a dream? I’ll offer this alternative speculation. What if Cobb’s deceased wife Mal was right all along? What if she accurately understood they were still stuck in limbo? Perhaps it took more then one “death” to free anyone from limbo? The whole movie could be Cobb’s dream from the beginning, as he remains stuck in a dream coma while his wife is now awake and with her children. If so, then Cobb’s totem would not be an accurate test of a dream, since this would all be his own dream. Totems only work in another’s dream. During their last conversation together in limbo, Mal asked Cob how real would it be that he is a dream spy being chased by goons? Director Nolan at least gave some credence (in Cobb’s mind) thru his projection of Mal that she might have might been right jumping off that building.
On June 24 Lillian was out to buy her weekly lottery tickets. Lillian is an elderly mom living in Chicago. She was going to cash in a Lotto ticket worth $3 and buy her weekly $5 worth of Mega Millions and Lotto.
While she was at the convenience store, she heard a voice that said “Play 7 9 0”. She looked around and there was nobody near her. The voice was not in her head, but clearly audible as if someone was talking next to her. She thought it very strange.
At the cashier, she bought $5 worth of tickets. But instead of playing her usual lottery, she asked to play the Pick-3 game, where three numbers are chosen. She bought 5 Pick-3 tickets, all with 790 played straight. The cashier asked if she was sure she wanted all 5 tickets with the same number, since that was apparently unusual. Yes, Lillian wanted all the same number.
These tickets were for the mid-day drawing, and she was shocked when later the winning numbers were 7-9-0. Each ticket was now worth $500! Wow. The odds of winning are 1,000 to one, but what are the odds of picking 5 tickets with all the same number based on a tip from a disembodied voice?
Lillian decided to give all 5 winning tickets to her adult children. With the bad economy some of her sons and daughters were in some financial trouble. They needed the money more then a long retired mom, which was not exactly true, but what gives a mom more joy then being a blessing to their children?
My good friend Ted told me this story Friday night, the first time I heard of it. He said he argued with his mom on the phone, that he didn’t want the ticket and she should keep it for herself. But Lillian insisted. All of her five children were getting one of the tickets. It made Ted’s mom happy to be able to help her kids.
I discussed this event with Ted and his wife. What did Lillian think about what happened? Ted said she was as baffled as everybody else. She had not clue how or why this occurred. Ted had asked her mom if the disembodied voice was male or female. She said it was neither. Which is intriguing, since angels are said to be genderless.
Ted’s mom had incidences in her past where she sensed a family member was in trouble or dying. He said Lillian seems sensitive to these things. Was this disembodied voice her own psychic intuition speaking to her? Or could it really have been an angel whispering in her ear, giving her a gift? The fact that she gave away all of her winnings might be a clue. Had she decided to keep the money for herself, this disembodied voice might not have given this suggestion to begin with. But because it was for her family’s benefit, perhaps this was really a blessing from an angel, for reasons and purposes we can’t comprehend. It really is a mystery.
The connection between earthquakes and celestial events is starting to be noticed even in the media. Below are two headlines that mention the solar eclipse and an earthquake in the same headline. July 11, 2010:
Earthquake Follows Solar Eclipse A 6.2 magnitude earthquake has struck Chile - only hours after a total solar eclipse touched part of the country. The quake was centred 77km east northeast of Calama, the US Geological Survey says and struck at a depth of 99km just after midnight (12.11pm Monday NZT). A total solar eclipse touched Chile only hours earlier as it crossed the South Pacific on Sunday night. The eclipse, which was only visible from small sections of land, including Easter Islands, ended over southern parts of Chile and Argentina.
6.2 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Chile Hours After Solar Eclipse The quake which struck at 8:11 pm hours after a total solar eclipse touched part of the country had a depth of 56.7 miles and was centered about 50 miles east-northeast of Calama according to the U.S. Geological Survey said.
When buying lottery tickets, people often use lucky numbers. Maybe it is a combination of birth dates and other significant dates, or other numbers that have a special meaning. How often do lucky numbers win? Quick pick numbers have exactly the same chance at winning as hand picked numbers. That is why people often turn to the simple lottery quick pick and let the system choose random numbers.
With the quick pick, the winning numbers will appear in a random lottery ticket machine somewhere sometime, and one has to be at the right place at the right time to get that winning ticket. Instead of trying to pick lucky numbers, how about trying to pick a lucky time to buy your quick pick lottery instead?
Here is the official Occult View’s system of picking lottery tickets using magical timing. It combines dice divination with Solomonic magic. I can’t guarantee success, but it can’t do any worse then any other system.
STEP 1: THE DICE
For this procedure we need a set of three dice, which are new and have never been used. These dice will be used only for dice divination. We will transform the dice into talismans. The dice should be dice made of wood or bone. Organic materials retain etheric patterns far better then plastic. Dice made of wood should not be too hard to locate, bone dice would be a more difficult challenge.
We need to charge the dice with the power of the heavenly bodies in the night sky. This operation is done on a clear night, and best also under a full moon. Place the dice and a small pouch or a cloth outside or on a window shelf exposing the dice to the rays of the moon. According to your belief system, offer a prayer to God, request angelic intervention, or ask the Universe Itself to bless your dice and imbue them with the power of the stars and planets. Do so with full conviction.
The dice will be charged with the celestial influence during the course of the night. Before sunrise, gather the dice, place then in the pouch or wrap them in the cloth, and thank the Universe for their blessing. NEVER let the dice be exposed to daylight. The rays of the sun will erase the subtle celestial patterns retained by the dice. Place the dice in a little trinket box some place away from the sun. These dice will be used only for divination.
Again, organic materials retain these subtle cosmic influences best. Even better would be if we crafted our own dice from wood or bone, which is possible if one has some crafting talent and the tools. The process of creating your own dice, and then charging them would be quite powerful. A standard process in the old magical grimories (such as the Key of Solomon) is the manufacture of one’s own magical implements. The more effort and time spent in making your own tools, the more powerful they become.
STEP 2: DICE DIVINATION
Based on numerology, certain numbers are associated with each of the traditional planets. If possible perform this divination outdoors under the night sky. But it can be done indoor as well. Outdoors draw a circle with chalk about 2 feet in diameter. In this circle sketch out the magic square and sigil of Jupiter, which governs matters concerning money. This pattern is shown below. If indoors, draw this pattern on parchment.
SQUARE AND SIGIL OF JUPITER
Holding your dice in your hand, ask the Universe for its help, to know the best time to accomplish your task. Your task is to know the luckiest time to buy a lottery ticket. Ask aloud and focus on the night sky, and visualize the power of the planets and stars invested in these dice. Remember, the Universe wants to help you…all you need to do is ask. Then cast the dice into the circle/square you drew. If a die leaves the circle, then it is not counted. Add up the numbers of the dice inside or touching the circle, and compare the total to the chart below. This number represents one of the traditional planets. Don’t forget to erase the chalk drawing.
PLANETARY NUMBERS
STEP 3: PLANETARY HOURS
Below is a chart taken from the grimorie, The Key Of Solomon. It is used for magical timing in the operation of magical rituals. It was assumed there were correspondences between the planets and the purpose of an operation. For our purpose, we are using this chart to pick the lucky hour to head out to the local convenience store or gas station and purchase a quick pick lottery ticket.
Each day of the week has a different planet assigned to each hour of the day and night. The hour to buy the ticket is based on the planet. For example, if your dice chose the moon and it is Monday, then buy a ticket either at the 1st hour or the 8th hour during daylight, or the 3rd or 10th hour of nighttime. These hours will tend to be when luck is on your side.
PLANETARY HOURS
However, there is an additional wrinkle to these planetary hours. Not every daylight or nighttime hour is exactly 60 minutes. During the summer the days are longer and so the daylight “hours” are longer then 60 minutes. During the winter the night is longer, and the daylight hours are shorter then 60 minutes. Determine the actual length of a day or night and divide by 12 and we have our actual planetary hours. Here is a website calculator that can help: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/sunrise.html
You can “right click” and print out these charts, fold them and keep them with your celestially charged dice, so they will be handy when the time comes for consulting the Universe. Good luck!
Magical Timing Update:
If anyone thinks magical timing is completely foolish, check out this story below about a woman who won multiple millions over the years.
“The odds that Joan Ginther would hit four Texas Lottery jackpots for a combined nearly $21 million are astronomical. Mathematicians say the chances are as slim as 1 in 18 septillion — that’s 18 followed by 24 zeros.”
Her winnings from scratch-off tickets were $2 million in 2006 and $3 million in 2008, and $10 million last month (2010). Plus Ginther split an $11 million lottery jackpot in 1993. What are the odds? Just about impossible. Yet it happened. And it was not by using lucky numbers; scratch-off tickets are all about being at the right place at the right time. Did Joan Ginther have an uncanny knack, consciously or subconsciously, of magical timing? It can’t be mere chance.
Here are some curious ghost stories from an elderly lady who is also a devout Pentecostal Christian. Generally Christians don’t believe in ghosts, or consider ghosts to be an illusion, the work of Satan. Despite the protests of theologians, Christians still experience encounters with ghosts as much as anyone else.
Ted’s mom had incidences in her past where she sensed a family member was in trouble or dying. He said Lillian seems sensitive to these things. Was this disembodied voice her own psychic intuition speaking to her? Or could it really have been an angel whispering in her ear, giving her a gift? The fact that she gave away all of her winnings might be a clue. Had she decided to keep the money for herself, this disembodied voice might not have given this suggestion to begin with. But because it was for her family’s benefit, perhaps this was really a blessing from an angel, for reasons and purposes we can’t comprehend. It really is a mystery.
When buying lottery tickets, people often use lucky numbers. Maybe it is a combination of birth dates and other significant dates, or other numbers that have a special meaning. How often do lucky numbers win? Quick pick numbers have exactly the same chance at winning as hand picked numbers. That is why people often turn to the simple lottery quick pick and let the system choose random numbers. 
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