OCCULT VIEW

King Solomon

There has been a recent excavation in Jerusalem dating back 3,000 years to the era of King Solomon. This excavation, a wall, seems to support the Bible’s account concerning the historical reality of King Solomon.  Solomon was reputed to have been the builder of the original Jewish temple. Some scholars regard the Bible’s version of this history as myth and Solomon as legend. But behind legend often lies a version of truth.

Here is one of the stories about this discovery:    King Solomon’s Wall Found - Proof of Bible Tale?

If the reign of King Solomon was a historical reality this is meaningful not only for historians, scholars and religious believes but for occultists too.  According to the Bible and the Qur’an, King Solomon was considered to be the greatest king the world has known. He was given divine wisdom by God Himself. Solomon ruled a united Jewish kingdom and built Solomon’s Temple. Solomon was renowned across the known world and great tributes where offered to him and his counsel was sought by all.

“And there came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of
 Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his
 wisdom. “(1 Kings 4:34)

The stories about Solomon go even further. Legend holds the Wisdom of Solomon included not only knowledge of the physical world but also the invisible world of spirits.  It was said Solomon commanded infernal spirits (the Jinn) and used their services to build the Temple. He possessed a magic ring, the Ring of Solomon with which he performed spectacular supernatural feats. Hard to believe for sure, yet Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions record these.

Key of Solomon Pentacle

The most renowned of the ancient magical grimoires is attributed to King Solomon, the infamous Clavis Salomonis, the Key of Solomon. This grimorie has been a cornerstone of occult thought, containing instructions for summoning and gaining the services of angels and thereby the obedience of infernal spirits. In occultism, King Solomon is a Big Deal, the George Washington of magic. It is not likely Solomon himself actually wrote the Key of Solomon but some believe the grimorie was inspired by his heritage.
 
If King Solomon was indeed a historical figure, could there be any grain of truth to these more fantastic stories?  If legends and myths can be half true, perhaps Solomon’s occult legacy is also partially true.

The bible said Solomon was offered almost supernatural wisdom by God. When offered a wish in a dream, Solomon asked for wisdom, not fame, fortune or long life.

“And God said to him, Because thou hast asked this thing,
 and hast not asked for thyself long life, neither hast asked
 riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies,
 but hast asked for thyself discernment to understand judgment;
behold, I have done according to thy word: behold, I have
 given thee a wise and an understanding heart, so that there
 hath been none like unto thee before thee, neither after thee
 shall any arise like unto thee.” (1 Kings 3:11-12)

This enlightened request by Solomon suggests he already had the wisdom he asked for, God having foreknowledge of what was to be. It is possible Solomon was born that rare individual, a genius. In real life we’ve had these blessed individuals throughout history and their impact has been gigantic. Consider how Galileo or Einstein changed the world and how their genius was baffling, incomprehensible, seemingly near divine. If the Bible is believed, Solomon might have had the genius of Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo combined in a savvy politician.

King Solomon summoning demons

The construction of Solomon’s Temple, like Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids, was reputed to be partially a supernatural feat.  Merlin was credited for creating Stonehenge and ancient astronauts or refuges from Atlantis are said to have built the pyramids.  And so Solomon’s Temple was said to have been built by the spirits he commanded.  Of course Solomon did not literally summon demons to physically create the Temple.  But the story could be a metaphor to explain his genius.  From the distance of time the results of cleverness can seem almost  supernatural. The Wisdom of Solomon could have been a historical reality.

The story of Solomon’s wisdom speaks to a central point of occultism.  The purpose of occultism is to gain hidden knowledge thru personal experience.  It is not based on simply accepting revealed knowledge through scriptures, as interpreted by organized religion.  Occultism is an attempt to learn spiritual truths directly yourself.  One reason occultism is despised by religion is this personal dimension threatens the power structure of religion. The goal of the occultist should be the same as King Solomon‘s…wisdom and enlightenment.  If this path is pursued for other reasons it may fail.  But if like Solomon we seek enlightenment first, everything else will follow in due time.

The 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Chile was one the most powerful in recorded history.  The Chile earthquake hit on Saturday February 27 at 06:34 GMT.  A curious coincidence was the earthquake occurred just before the full moon’s perigee.  Perigee is when the moon is at its closest point to earth.  The moon’s distance to the earth varies during its orbit and sometimes is at its closest (perigee), sometimes  at its furthest (apogee).  Perigee was 15 hours after the earthquake, on February 27 at 21:41 GMT.  At the same time the moon was waxing 99% full.

Adding to the strangeness was a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that hit Japan a day earlier at 20:31 GMT Friday.

The moon affects our tides.  The tides are strongest when the moon is full, lined up straight with the earth and sun. The result is something called a spring tide, which is when the tides are highest. When the moon is at perigee its gravitational strength is also nearly 50% greater. 

Did the moon’s gravity trigger the Chile earthquake?  It seems like an awfully strange coincidence.  There have been theories that when the planets line up in our solar system, it will create disastrous earthquakes and earth changes.   This has never happened since the planets are too far away for their gravity to have an influence on the earth.  The sun and moon are a different story, as their influence on our tides show.  When the conditions are just right, perhaps the stress of tidal forces on our crust can trigger the earth to shake.

Update:  Thursday March 4th a 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan, described as “This is the biggest quake to hit this region in more than a century,” according to the director of the Central Weather Bureau’s Seismology Center.

My mother died half a year ago and shortly after her death our family experienced some curious events which I’ve written about.  Since then my father’s home has been quiet.  If mom lingered around home for a few days after her passing, it seemed she had passed beyond to her final rest.  That the deceased remain for a short time after their passing is a widespread belief in many cultures and it appears there may be some truth to the idea.

However, my father recently told me an unsettling story.  It was a Friday night and dad was asleep in his bed.  Around midnight something stirred him.  He heard voices.  In his bedroom.  Half asleep, half awake, he was alarmed thinking these voices were someone in his house.

In the dark of his room he listened.  There were many voices but he could not make out any words.  It was something like a murmur. They were not talking to him but to each other.  And he recognized these voices.  He heard mom’s voice.  And the voice of his sister’s husband who had died a couple of years ago.  He heard the voice of his long since  past mother and father and deceased aunts and uncles. 

I asked dad if he heard the voices of anybody living.  No, he only heard the voices of the dead.  As he fully awakened the voices faded away.  Dad wondered about the meaning of this. It was eerie.  Of course it could’ve been just a dream, but does anyone recall having a dream which was only audible and not visual? 

Dad recognized these voices could have been a trick of the mind, recalling memories past.  Yet, our subconscious is open to contact with other realities, maybe only in our mind or maybe not, perhaps making a connection with the realm of premonitions, revelations and contact with spirits. 

I wonder what this means.  I imagine my father is sensitive to this higher reality, which he seems to be.  He had a few paranormal experiences in his lifetime, which is more then most people ever have.  If the dead were talking, they were not in his room, for the chance of all his family being ghosts hanging around his bed is not possible.  Instead, in his subconscious he may have traveled to where they were in the afterlife. He was there where they were, and not the other way around.

One thing I don’t want to consider is his dead family were calling to him, that they expect father to join them shortly.   In that was the situation I’d much prefer this was simply a dream.  I don’t like these omens.

Is it safe to build an airport runway over a cemetery?  Not safe in terms of flight safety, but in terms of bad karma, bad mojo, and bad luck.  Here in Chicago our O’Hare Airport has acquired a historic cemetery that was in the way of building a new runway.   They will pave a new runway over it. The news article is below:

Chicago begins removing graves from St. Johannes Cemetery

If you use a Google satellite map for St. Johannes Cemetery you will see this tiny cemetery surrounded by the vast O’Hare Airport.  Soon it will vanish.
Here is a quote from the article:

“That heavy equipment should not be in that cemetery in the first place because that is consecrated ground,” Karaganis said. “The only people who know where area markers and the religious headstones are the members of the church. So we’re hoping the appellate court will cease the damage and religious sacrilege being done at St. Johannes.”

I can understand an airport not wanting a small patch of cemetery blocking their plans.  However something about this strikes me as wrong.  Call me superstitious, but removing the graves from consecrated ground sounds a lot like inviting trouble of the spiritual kind.  Who knows if all the graves will be accounted for?  The desecration of a cemetery may not seem like much of a concern.  Yet, desecration has led to the haunting of cemeteries such as the infamous Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery.  In Ireland and Iceland, roads have been diverted around a fairy mound or a sacred tree.

I don’t know if I’d want to be on the airplane that is taking off over a former cemetery.  Sort of like whistling in a graveyard.  Hopefully superstition is only superstition and all will be well.  Regardless, let’s keep an eye on this particular new runway.

Werewolf in the Tarot

After the earthquake in Haiti many Haitians were forced to live outside. Among their challenges, many of the Haitians feared the lougarou, shape changing entities they believed roamed the night. Forced to live outdoors they needed to protect their children who slept vulnerable outside from the lougarou, Creole for ‘loup garou’, which is a French term for werewolf. Here is a quote from a story on NPR:

Port-Au-Prince Journal: Lives Filled With Fear

At night, the men stay up to keep watch on the camp. They look out for thieves and mythical, murderous creatures known in Creole as lougarou. - But their fear was so real. The folk tale is that these demons can change shapes — and that they kill children in the night. The lougarou have been part of Haitian mythology for ages, but the fear is greater now, perhaps because so many people are sleeping outside.
“Before sleeping at the night, I pray and I put my bible under the pillow of my children so that I can keep the lougarou, the fiends, away from them,” Joseph told me.

Another story about the Haitian lougarou:
‘Wolf-men’ lynched in Haiti’s ruins

human werewolf

It is amazing that anybody in the 21st century would still believe in literal “werewolves”. The Haitian lougarou is not strictly a werewolf, but a shapeshifting fiend that can take many animal forms. According to the beliefs these fiends prey on children, making them ill if not stealing them away outright.

Human predators are not a superstition. The werewolf, the loup garou, could easily be a metaphor for human criminality. The legend of the werewolf describes spiritual evil of the human kind when a man can become nearly a beast.

It is not commonly recognized, but if we look at the Tarot we can see a werewolf in the cards. Yes, there are werewolves in the Tarot! Where are they?

The Moon Card

The werewolves are right there howling under the moon in the Moon Card of course. The Sun card and Moon card are twin cards that represent two sides of our psyche. The sun symbolizes our daylight conscious mind. Beneath the sun are two human twins. The moon symbolizes our nighttime subconscious mind with two canines, a dog and a wolf, baying at the moon. The twins and the wolves are the same beings representing two aspects of our psyche, the conscious and the subconscious.  Man and wolf.

We are a combination of both the sun and moon; we need both. The sun alone is consciousness without intuition, without our connection to our inner self. The moon alone is a slave to our uncontrolled emotions, fears, and desires, resulting in unbalanced behavior. The tarot suggests we need a balance between the moon and the sun, our Ying and Yang.

I recall reading one of the defining differences between humans and apes is the intensity of our emotions. Apes are completely ruled by their emotions. Humanity is governed by our rational minds…most of the time. But beneath our intellect still exists our animal nature. Without balance it can emerge and we can become something like the wolfman.

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg slammed those who have an open mind about the reality of UFOs.  In his column’s “opening shot” he wrote about those who deny global warming as being plain stupid.  I agree.  He ridicules those who see a snowstorm as proof that global warming is a fantasy.  I’ve heard the same thing from global warming deniers.  “Look at all that snow” the deniers say, ”Where is global warming?”  Obviously the deniers don’t understand or ignore that the ice caps are melting, the true evidence of global warming.  His article:

http://www.suntimes.com/news/steinberg/2038672,CST-NWS-stein10.article

However, as an analogy, Mr. Steinberg compares those who ponder the reality of UFOs as having the same mentality as the global warming deniers.  He dismissively pooh-poohs UFOs with this quote:

 “But those other people. Jeez! The basics of physical reality elude them, and they form world views based on their patchwork misunderstandings.  Every flash in the sky is a friendly UFO blinking out “Howdy” and the arguments against it being so — the vast tracts of space to be crossed, the enormous spans of time required — mean nothing to them. “

Well now!  I don’t think Mr. Steinberg understands anything about the topic of UFOs.  While there is inconclusive proof of UFOs, they remain a possibility.  Outside of the mentally ill does ANYBODY look at EVERY flash in the sky as a UFO?  That is setting up a straw man.  The concept of extraterrestrials may or may not be reality, but the possibility exists.  Outside of visitors from other worlds, there is also the possibility UFOs could represent spiritual entities, beings that have coexisted with mankind since we‘ve evolved.  Mr. Steinberg’s dismissive view of Ufology is not much different then the attitude of the global warming deniers he criticizes…an opinion based on ignorance of the topic.

A better analogy would’ve been to compare the global warming deniers to those who believe in the literal reality of Noah’s Ark   Perhaps half the American population accept this story as literal truth.  If so, how did the kangaroo get to Noah’s Ark?  It had to swim across an ocean.  Then once on the continent it had to survive a trek across a landscape filled with hungry dinosaurs, since fundamentalists believe the dinosaurs lived before the flood.  And why bother to return to Australia?  Why not just settle down around Mount Ararat? 

I like this conspiracy theory.  Perhaps the true reason behind global warming denial is the intention to warm up the planet so the snow and ice on Mount Ararat will melt, revealing the location of the ark!  The lack of logic fits, I suppose.

Accepting that the paranormal might have a basis in reality is not a sign of ignorance.  There is a difference between denying science, and understanding that science does not have all the answers yet.

Update:  Mr. Steinberg had an excellent article about  religious tolerance.  I agree with him 100% .  Maybe he is not so terrible, regardless of his sour view of UFOs.     Tolerance a virtue in my worldview

There was a story in the news about a cat living at a nursing home.  This cat could sense when one of the residents was about to die and would snuggle up to the individual before their death.  This cat’s predictions concerning who was going to pass away were so uncannily accurate the staff clearly understood its significance.  The story is below:

 Cat knows when it’s time to go

This really is an amazing story.  Does this cat have paranormal abilities?  There have been many stories of animals displaying premonitions or who can seemingly read thoughts.  Examples include pets that seem to know when their owner is about to return home, even at an irregular time.  Animals have heightened senses of hearing, sight and smell, which we humans don’t share.  Do our pets also have a heightened sixth sense as well?  Has animal life evolved a psychic sensory system which humanity has mostly lost?

Animals were a focus of prehistoric man’s caves paintings, which were believed to be for spiritual purposes.  Shamanism recognized power animals as spirit guides. Ancient Egyptian gods were animals or human/animal hybrids, like the cat god Bast or the raven-headed Ra or ibis-headed Thoth.  Medieval Christianity believed pets could be familiar spirits, the devil’s imps in disguise. 

Spellcaster with her cat

Today the concept of an animal familiar spirit is viewed differently.  Many including pagans and Wiccans believe animals like cats have psychic abilities and are sensitive to the Invisible World.  They can see what we cannot, including spirits.  By developing a bond with their “familiar” the practitioner of the mystic arts can make use of the animal’s innate abilities for their advantage.

Cats seem to possess an extra sensitivity in this regard, which might explain why cats figure so largely in the legends of witchcraft.  Can a cat see into the spirit world?  It is said cats have the ability to see the dead.  This cat which sensed when a nursing home resident was about to die shows this idea may not be just myth.  

This story of the “death cat” also reveals something equally remarkable, the connection of the animal world with humanity in terms of an emotional connection.  Why would a cat care if someone were about die?  But this cat seemed to.  The bond between human and their pets can be as deep as human relationships.  On a spiritual level this suggests that animals are not merely walking robots, but beings with their own merit, with emotional and spiritual lives; that animals have souls.

During out-of-body near-death experiences individuals reported approaching a ‘tunnel of light’.  At this gateway where they would leave behind physical existence, the near-dead often reported being greeted by their deceased loved ones waiting for them at this tunnel.  And some said they were not only greeted by their dead family and friends, but also by their dead pets.  This is a comforting thought for any of us who have lost a beloved pet.

Consider this passage from the Bible where Jesus said, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.” If God does not forget even a single sparrow, then all animals are as eternal as God’s memory.

The New England Journal of Medicine:
A Day in the Life of Oscar the Cat: David M. Dosa, M.D., M.P.H.

I asked Arlene from the blog Winterspells.com if she would like to share any of her paranormal experiences with my blog.  She offered a story below about her experience as a psychic healer.  Her story is about psychic assault and is filled with interesting details.  I heard stories concerning hostile entities and how these negative entities don’t seem to give up easily.  Banishing astral nasties seems to require steadfastness over a period of time, and calling on a higher power, as defined by our belief system.  It seems nearly every spiritual tradition recognizes some sort of  “dark side” which can sometimes make unwelcome contact into our lives.

Here is her story:

In the mid 1990’s, I had a client Mr. D who bragged about coming from a famous, old Mafia family. But his braggadocio was only a front, for he was traumatized by a terrible childhood event. After years of constant nightmares, he finally had to deal with the deep seeded fears caused by his inability to move past the harrowing events of his childhood.

 When Mr. D was five years old, his “Mafia Uncle” had a girlfriend that he often brought with him to Mr. D’s house.  One day, Mr. D went downstairs to the recreation room and saw the girlfriend lying in a strange position on the pool table. Blood was dripping out of her mouth and pooling the floor beneath her. The Uncle saw Mr. D standing there, frozen in terror, and immediately threw him into a closet, locked the door, and threatened to kill him if he ever told anyone about what he had seen.

This story sounds dramatic and almost too clich?d to be true, but I work with what people give me. Even if this story sounds like the plot of a film noir, there is a reason the client created it, holds onto it, believes in it, and allows it to hamstring his life. Even as a metaphor, it has power over him, and it is my job, not to judge, but to break the power of the images, freeing the client’s energy, so he can move on with his life. And there is also the possibility that this incident actually did happen.

(For a clairvoyant, it is sometimes unclear whether an image is literally true or if it was created in the client’s mind. The power of obsessive thought forms can interfere with clairvoyant accuracy)

Mr. D and I had a particularly powerful energy healing session in which the (now deceased) Uncle’s spirit was jettisoned out of Mr. D’s energy fields. I thought he was sent to God’s light, but that night, I began to have violent and lurid nightmares. I never had dreams like that before.  After decades of meditation practice, I have a pretty thorough knowledge of my own mind and subconscious, so I knew my psychic space was being invaded by a stranger’s emotions, ideas, and images. These dreams were not my material!

In all my years of healing work, this had never happened before. In a half sleepy state, I called on my guides to reveal to me who the intruder was, and was shocked when a small, slightly distorted caricature of a wiry, balding, middle aged Italian man, wearing a three-piece suit, popped up before my mind’s eye and began threatening me, raising his tiny fists, and screaming. I shouted at him to go! And, thinking that was all it took, went back to sleep.

I had the same violent nightmare for three more nights. During the day, I suffered panic attacks. I kept dropping things and was feeling very out of sync. I finally confided my problems to a friend who was open to these things. She told me to make some Holy Water and flick it around the house, read some psalms, and order the spirit to depart. I also created a Magic Circle and did a protection ritual, more assertively commanding my allies to take this spirit out of my space and send him to his next highest level of evolution. After doing all of that for another three days, the attacks ended. He was gone!
In the end, this was a fairly easy situation to deal with. In the future, I would deal with psychic attacks that were far worse.

Arlene has a report on psychic self defense at her blog.  Check them out:
http://www.winterspells.com
Winterspells: A Magical Life in Faery Witchcraft

http://www.gothicfaerytales.com
The Darker Side of Faery Tales

Follow her on Twitter as: ArlenedeWinter.

Supreme Illuminati

The Supreme Court ruled that corporations have the same rights as living human beings when it comes to free speech. Therefore corporations should have no restrictions on spending money to influence the political process. The Court ruled that a piece of paper and those who control that paper (which is essentially what a corporation is) can spend unlimited corporate dollars on political advertising. To avoid bad PR, this funding can be disguised through front groups.

In my opinion, this is a disaster for democracy. Big Business already has overwhelming power with its lobbying. Now it can spend to directly influence voters, promoting its narrow interests. When it comes to American voters, an interested party does not need to persuade 50% of the population, only about 5-10%, the usual margin of victory. Access to unlimited advertising resources can decide nearly any election at will.

This could be the end of a working democracy in America. It is not hard to manipulate and frighten Americans to act against their own self interest. When true democracy fails who will be in charge? We will have the new Illuminati…invisible individuals pulling the strings, answerable to no one.

Conspiracy theorists like to imagine the Illuminati is secretly in control of the world. Because of the Supreme Court ruling we will soon have a true, reborn Illuminati governing events. Corporations (domestic and foreign) will now freely, secretly collude, pool their resources and choose our leadership. The Supreme Court gave our new Illuminati the keys to near dictatorial power. And we won’t know who they are! Politicians will be subservient slaves to this international corporate Illuminati.

With global big business controlling elections and thereby government, we will enter a period of government by oligarchy, where CEOs, billionaires and foreigners (under front corporations) decide policy. Who will stop them? Politicians? The voters? They haven’t yet.

This happened recently. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian billionaires became oligarchs. Russian president Vladimir Putin finally put an end to the oligarchs with strong arm tactics, and put the Russian government firmly back in control.  In the future America may need to do the same.  America will need a political strong arm, our own Putin, to replace the neo-illuminati.

Edgar Allen Poe

It appears the famous Poe Toaster has given up his yearly visit to the original grave marker of Edgar Allen Poe.  Every January 19 for six decades the Poe Toaster visited the grave in the dark of night to leave three roses and half a bottle of cognac.  Below is one of many new stories concerning this:

Nevermore? No mystery visitor on Poe birthday. For first time in 60 years, no one leaves roses and cognac at writer’s grave

After the holidays of December I always looked forward to January 19, the birthday of Poe, and reports of the Toaster’s annual pilgrimage to Poe’s grave.  It seemed like an unofficial holiday for fans of the macabre.  It added a bit of mystery and intrigue to the cheerless month of January.  Who was the Poe Toaster?

Nobody knows.  We can only make a few guesses about the Toaster’s motivations.  The Toaster visited the grave of Poe from at least 1949 if not earlier.  That was a lifetime of paying respects to Poe, a steadfast accomplishment.  This was not done to gain attention, but a unique way to honor an author who at did not get the recognition he deserved in his lifetime.  Did the Toaster realize this simple act of appreciation would eventually remind the world to remember Poe every year on his birthday?  It did exactly that.

It is suggested the three roses left at the grave are for Poe, his wife and mother-in-law who were also buried there.  As for the half bottle of cognac, what does that mean?  Poe died from drinking at 40.  Cognac is an ironic but strangely meaningful gift for Poe.

I had a good friend pass away from cancer a decade ago.  My friend had his own problems with drinking, which he usually (not always) had under control, thanks to his wife who would give him endless grief if he veered off the rails.  Yet he and I shared good times over some Goldschlager.

When my friend died he was cremated and his ashes scattered.  I don’t have a place to visit to offer my respects; I wish I did.  If I did, I could see myself leaving a miniature bottle of Goldschlager at his grave along with flowers as a personal gesture.  I know he would have appreciated it.  Perhaps the Poe Toaster was thinking the same thing, that Poe’s downfall was also his passion.

Why has the Toaster stopped this tradition?  Eventually the Poe Toaster’s act of respect gradually turned into a media circus. A note said that the original Poe Toaster had passed away in 1998 and handed the task to his son. In the era of reality TV and celebrity wannabes doing anything to get on television, I really respect that father and son wanted to maintain their privacy.  It seems the 200th anniversary of Poe may be the last visit by the Toaster.  I don’t blame the son for not wanting the hassle anymore.

The Poe Toaster is now part of the story of Edgar Allen Poe.  Will we ever see the Toaster again?  I think others will take his place who have no relationship to the original.  Wannabe toasters, pretend toasters.  Maybe next year we’ll see three of four new Poe toasters trying to leave flowers and cognac.  Is that a bad thing?  Others can be inspired by the Toaster’s example.

I want to thank the Poe Toaster for bringing some light into the world every January 19.  I raise a class of cognac and toast the Toaster.  If I knew where he was buried, I would visit to leave a rose and perhaps a bottle of cognac as well.  Salute!