AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm now into the second of two books that cover the experiments of parapsychologist Dr. Dean Radin in the field of paranormal activity. The impression I'm getting is that many scholars, theoreticians, educators and practitioners of conventional physics and psychology exhibit the noxious symptoms of mental flatulence when they try to justify why … Continue reading Mental Flatulence: Academics Behaving Badly
Practical Mysticism
Mental Gender, the Tree of Life and the Tarot Trumps
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In presenting the seventh "Great Hermetic Principle" of Gender (as an active/passive mental polarity rather than a biological duality), The Kybalion describes the masculine principle as the domain of the Will, which is dynamic and energizing, and its feminine counterpart as uncommonly responsive and generative in that it welcomes the motivating impulse of … Continue reading Mental Gender, the Tree of Life and the Tarot Trumps
Empowerment as “Mental Induction”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: There is no concept more widely endorsed in the divination community than that of peppering (aka empowering) a sitter with encouragement during the conduct of a tarot reading. We don't merely want to hand our clients relevant information about their future circumstances, we attempt to make them feel like they are (or will … Continue reading Empowerment as “Mental Induction”
The Diviner as Middleman – Sharing the Burden of Proof
Ted Striker (Robert Hayes): "Surely you can't be serious."Dr. Rumack (Leslie Nielsen): "I am serious . . . and don't call me Shirley."- from the movie Airplane! AUTHOR'S NOTE: After many years away from it, I'm now re-reading The Kybalion, a learned text on esoteric philosophy. In one of the early lessons the author insists … Continue reading The Diviner as Middleman – Sharing the Burden of Proof
“Do You Believe in <Pick One>?”
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm not entirely sure what motivates them beyond an opportunity for mindless chatting (which is never in short supply online), but I often see people asking in the global occult community "Do you believe in <tarot, astrology, magic, astral travel, mediumship, etc>?" Giving them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they experienced an … Continue reading “Do You Believe in <Pick One>?”
The Principle of Mentalism: It’s Not That Easy
"The All is Mind; the Universe is Mental"- The First Hermetic Principle (from The Kybalion) AUTHOR'S NOTE: The premise that we can obtain anything we want by "thinking it into existence" is an alluring notion that has been co-opted by the Law of Attraction crowd in what looks suspiciously like auto-hypnosis with its roots in … Continue reading The Principle of Mentalism: It’s Not That Easy
Data-Driven Reality and the “SWAG” Default
AUTHOR'S NOTE: As a teenager in the '60s I read a 1963 science-fiction book by Daniel Galouye titled Simulacron-3 that described a computer-generated city in which the inhabitants "thought" they were conscious beings but were in fact only figments of the programmer's imagination, fictional participants in a market-research simulation (an early take on the ideas … Continue reading Data-Driven Reality and the “SWAG” Default
The Thing About Fences (or “If You Can’t Trust Your Mother, Who Can You Trust?”)
"Before I built a wall I’d ask to knowWhat I was walling in or walling out"- from Mending Wall by Robert Frost AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've written about Frost's poem in relation to tarot reading in the past, focusing on the idea that "good fences make good neighbors" even though Frost didn't believe it himself. At … Continue reading The Thing About Fences (or “If You Can’t Trust Your Mother, Who Can You Trust?”)
Programmed to Receive: Psychism and “Blind Faith”
"Relax," said the night man. "We are programmed to receive."- from Hotel California by The Eagles AUTHOR'S NOTE: In Real Magic, his fascinating and - for this metaphysical maverick - highly influential 2018 book, parapsychologist Dean Radin mentions that in common discourse the tenets of psionics (including psychism) are subsumed under the neologism psi (pronounced … Continue reading Programmed to Receive: Psychism and “Blind Faith”
Divination As Ritual Practice
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A recent r/occult sub-reddit thread explored whether divination is only superficial fortune-telling or whether it can take on a deeper, sturdier and more intense ritual form. Tarot and the I Ching were the main focal points. When I began pursuing Golden-Dawn-based study and practice in the late '70s after having worked with predictive … Continue reading Divination As Ritual Practice
