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
Spirituality
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
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”
Real Tarot (Not Just “Coping”)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've just begun reading Dean Radin's Real Magic, and I can already see that it aligns with my own view of rational metaphysics that has evolved over the last fifty years of study and practice, both anecdotally in the public arena and experimentally in private. As I’ve often said, I’m inclined to believe … Continue reading Real Tarot (Not Just “Coping”)
The Tarot Court and the Magician’s Creed
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here and there in the esoteric literature I've encountered what I'm calling the "Magician's Creed," a set of four postulates that every practitioner of the occult arts should adopt and apply diligently: "To Know, To Dare, To Will and To Keep Silent" (Scire, Audere, Velle, Tacere). This morning I recognized that these stipulations … Continue reading The Tarot Court and the Magician’s Creed
Stillness of Mind: An Evolutionary Quest
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I continue to draw inspiration from revisiting James Ricklef's Tarot Reading Explained, and in his description of the mental and emotional attributes of the King of Cups I found a brief mention of the "Zen practitioners whose pursuit of enlightenment values meditation and stillness of mind." I'm not a Buddhist, but that stillness … Continue reading Stillness of Mind: An Evolutionary Quest
Boundaries and Barriers in Psychic Self-Defense
AUTHOR'S NOTE: When it comes to psychic self-defense, the "buzzword-du-jour" is boundaries. The mystical ways to do this are mostly statements of intent: affirmations, invocations, prayers, etc. We are encouraged to set wards against the subliminal intrusion of those who have the ability to harm us, whether intentionally or accidentally, if we allow them unimpeded … Continue reading Boundaries and Barriers in Psychic Self-Defense
Scrubbing Tarot of its Myths, One-by-One
AUTHOR'S NOTE: For the last fifteen years I've been on a quiet crusade to liberate the practice of tarot from the numerous popular myths about what should and shouldn't be done before and during divination with the cards. I last wrote about it at some length in a 2020 essay titled "The Myths of Tarot: … Continue reading Scrubbing Tarot of its Myths, One-by-One
The Reversed Hanged Man: Transcending Forced Idleness
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've just encountered another instance of the reversed Hanged Man in a tarot reading, and decided to revisit my past assumptions about it. There are three ways to approach it: practical, psychological and spiritual. In divination I usually consider its practical implications first and its psychological impact next, while spiritual consequences are not … Continue reading The Reversed Hanged Man: Transcending Forced Idleness
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 