Category Archives: Comment

March 31, 2011 · 1:42 pm

Site Update: March 31st 2011

A preview of the artwork for my forthcoming book, Licence To Depart, can now be glimpsed at my website.

Also, as it appears to be Satanism week over at the Daily Telegraph, I thought that Journalists might be after a pundit to talk knowledgeably about the dangers of Exorcism *cough* I mean Demonic Possession. With this in mind I have re-vamped the Press page.

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March 27, 2011 · 12:39 pm

Royal Wedding: Anarchy and the Occult

Sometime last year I went on the radio – the BBC World Service no less – to explain that astrologically speaking there is something wrong with the date that Wills and Kate have chosen for their wedding. The main concern I identified was that on April 29th 2011, Saturn – the planet of Death, delays and restrictions – was opposed to Venus, the planet of Love. It so happened that on the same radio programme there was an astrologer from India who claimed that Saturn was not important in Jyotisa, and that rather the day itself was “75% auspicious.”

Some time later I related this incident to an Indian astrologer I met at a swanky dinner party – he looked non-plussed. “Of course Saturn’s important!” he said. “What the hell was this guy talking about?”

Anyway, that is by the by. In the news today I read that a bunch of anarchists are planning to “curse” Wills and Kate’s big day, because they object to such an ostentatious display of extravagance at a time when there are widespread cuts in public expenditure. Yesterday there were protests in central London: today the ringleader revealed his “cunning plan” to the Daily Express:

The anarchists behind yesterday’s riot are also preparing to “curse” next month’s wedding with a bizarre plot in the shape of a giant occult symbol.

They aim to occupy five destinations to represent a five-pointed star or pentacle, a symbol revered by Satanists;* the Hilton Hotel in Park Lane, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace, in a bid to stretch police lines and throw William and Kate’s big day into chaos.

They hope to get the ceremony abandoned or at least moved. Yesterday was said to be “phase one” of the plot.

* My emphasis.

Ok we should bear in mind that this is the Daily Express not the Daily Mail, so I am prepared to allow them some lee-way in the standards of their reporting. I have explained about the Pentagram before. Before we get concerned about the ceremony being moved, we should bear in mind that this would not be a complete disaster in itself. In another blog post I have explained that there is in fact one date later in 2011 which is actually far better than April 29th, astrologically speaking. If the Royal Wedding were postponed until Friday October 7th, this would actually work out as being far more auspicious for Wills and Kate. However: let us assume that the Royal couple intend to press ahead with April 29th, and that these anarchists also intend to press ahead with their bizarre “Satanic” plot. Are the Satanists likely to succeed?

Looking at the situation from the point of view of a magician, I would have to say, “almost certainly not.” Even if the date does get moved, the Satanists would be in no position to take credit for it. The first and most obvious point is that the ringleader has blabbed all to the national press! There is a reason why Silence is one of the four powers of the Sphinx – it is one of the sources of a magician’s own power. By opening his big mouth he can now be assured that the combined will-power of millions of well-wishers who want the wedding to go successfully will be directed against them.

Secondly, this whole business of going to such extravagant lengths is far too histrionic. I can just about imagine how a Pentagram might be used in a magical ritual to disrupt the wedding, although a ritual conducted in private somewhere would be far simpler and just as likely to succeed as trying to deploy ones minions across central London. Also there is the question of just how much depth of thought they have put into the preparation for this bizarre pentagram working. If they think that deploying themselves in a pentagram-arrangement across the capital is just going to work all by itself, then of course they are prey to the worst kind of superstitious rubbish.

As I noted above with regards to the Saturn-opposition on April 29th, Wills and Kate are likely to have a tough time of it that day without a bunch of Satanists trying to shove their oar in. If there is any disruption on the day it will ultimately be due to a prior disposition of the planets, not a bunch of unwashed agitators pretending to be great and mighty sorcerors.

Yet it is the knowledge of the astrological situation on April 29th which conversely provides the key to a way out for the happy couple from their troubles. The essence of the Hermetic tradition is that by raising ones consciousness to a sufficient degree one can transcend the crossed-conditions of Fate, for which the planets of astrology are their outward symbols. The methods of overcoming the planets are nothing less than the rituals of e.g. the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Hence: we know that Saturn is badly placed on April 29th, thus one way to overcome this would be to cast the Supreme Banishing Hexagram of Saturn ritual, in order to counter-act that planet’s effects.

In conclusion therefore: I, Alex Sumner, volunteer to use my occult powers to ward off the effects of these anarcho-satanists and thus ensure that the 29th goes well for the Royal couple. 🙂

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March 11, 2011 · 12:11 pm

Lilith Day: March 19th 2011

"Lilith" (1892), John Collier

The Moon will be at Perigee in relation to Earth on Saturday March 19th 2011 – the closest it has apparently been for 19 years. In fact the Perigee will coincide with the March Full Moon. Now, Mental Health Practitioners in the UK’s NHS swear blind that a Full Moon always draws their most troublesome clients out of the woodwork. And guess what? The forthcoming Lunar Perigee is causing a whole load of whack-jobs to spout forth on public internet forums about all the kinds of disaster that are going to happen, e.g. tsunamis, earthquakes (“the one in Japan was just a warning” etc), the apocalypse, dogs and cats lying down together, etc.

Astrologically speaking however we are in for a far more intriguing though less dramatic time. “Lilith” the so-called Dark Moon is conjunct the Sun and opposite the Moon – on the cusp of the Sun’s entry into Aries at the Equinox. “Lilith” as an astrological phenomenon is a relatively recent innovation, although it has over 100 years on Ophiuchus. It is the one of the two foci upon which the eliptical orbit of the Moon is based, the other being within the Earth’s sphere itself. Hence, when the Moon is at perigee, Lilith will always be 180º (Opposition) to it (conversely when at apogee it will be in conjunction).

Lilith may be said to be the “Dark Side of the Moon,” i.e. it represents the hidden, repressed or unconscious aspects of what the Moon represents to the conscious. Because of the conjunction with the Sun, one may speculate that babies born next Saturday – or indeed events – will have the habit of exposing that which is hidden to the light of day, and not necessarily in a way that one would find desirable.

“The Owls Are Not What They Seem…”

As to who Lilith was, it appears that since the time of the Old Testament she was identified as some sort of “night demon” – the name “Lilith” is etymologically similar to the Hebrew word for night. Indeed, other semitic cultures referred to night-demons by similar names. Lilith is mostly mentioned in the Talmud and Dead-Sea Scrolls where, either as a generic term or as a person, she was held responsible for things like abortions, nocturnal emissions on the part of males, leading men astray etc.

However: the idea that Lilith was Adam’s first wife before Eve does not actually date back to the time of the Old Testament, but much later – the eighth to tenth centuries AD. However one should also note that the Zohar itself is not older, so there is as much to say that the Lilith-as-first-wife myth is a traditional belief as is the Qabalah.

A curious fact is that the Hebrew word for “Owl” is “Night-bird” and thus etymologically similar to “Lilith” as well. This has led some to speculate that references to Owls in translations of the Old Testament are actually referring to Lilith. Not wishing to stir up the Conspiracy Theorists too much but the Cremation of Care ceremony in Bohemian Grove takes place in front of a large Owl-like statue. Just sayin’ 😉

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February 15, 2011 · 1:35 pm

Celebrities Discover Thelema Without Realising It

Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera, Eminem, P Diddy, and Snoop Dogg have managed to discover “Thelema” quite inadvertantly. It is almost as if Aleister Crowley has come up behind them and shouted “Surprise!” Not that they are practising occultists (with the possible exception of Gaga) – they have stumbled across the principles without realising.

I should hasten to add that by “Thelema” I do not mean “Crowleyanity” – I doubt any of the above subscribe to Crowley’s dogma in the literal sense, even if they have read any of the Great Beast’s books. They perhaps do not even know that it is “Thelema” they are practising. What appears to be the situation is this: each one has found his or her “True Will” and is Doing it, and achieving great success thereby. However, the irony is that what is actually their True Will they have identified with “God,” perhaps out of ignorance. Hence they profess belief in God which seems to explain their success, but it does not follow any conventional theology.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal by Neil Strauss,

Before they were famous, many of the biggest pop stars in the world believed that God wanted them to be famous, that this was his plan for them, just as it was his plan for the rest of us not to be famous. Conversely, many equally talented but slightly less famous musicians I’ve interviewed felt their success was accidental or undeserved—and soon after fell out of the limelight.

In a separate piece Strauss mentioned research that belief in God helped liver transplant patients’ chances of survival, and other scientific studies on the power of belief. The fact that people without conventional religion can yet be saved by the power of their beliefs suggest that none of these are actual pieces of evidence for the existence of God but, like Pascal’s Wager, are arguments in favour of the desirability of believing in God.

What therefore is happening? If Belief by itself is powerful, that would tend to suggest that it is actually these people’s own Will which is looking out for them. Identifying the Will with God may not be an insincere move on their part – besides it probably serves to make it a powerful experience for them.

Incidentally: it is a little appreciated fact that the concept of “True Will” is yet another thing which Aleister Crowley “borrowed” from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. In “GD” terms “True Will” is what happens when the Lower Will (represented by Tiphereth) is successfully integrated with the Higher Will (represented by Daath). The former is the everyday Will, the latter is that which aspires to the very highest – hence True Will is when one is able to integrate this aspiration into one’s mundane consciousness. Finding one’s True Will is the natural task of every Adept.

I therefore suggest that if one aspires to the kind of success that these people have, it may be wise to adopt the kind of religious self-belief that these various people adopt – not in a cynical fashion, but in an attempt to discover in truth ones part in the Divine Plan. Who knows? Perhaps one of these celebrities might one day acknowledge their debt to the occult? 😉

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February 12, 2011 · 1:30 pm

Reading This Blog Post Will Cause You To Become Possessed

By frequenting a website which deals with the occult, you are liable to become possesed by evil spirits. So say exorcists in Poland, according to Nasz Diennik, which is described as an ultra-conservative Catholic paper. Apparently,

[a]ccording to exorcists quoted by the daily, such websites have an increasing influence on younger viewers, who may find themselves becoming possessed by Satan himself.

Understandably concerned about the souls in their care they may be, I cannot help think that this smacks somewhat of desperation on their part.

You see,  the official line from the Catholic Church is that they recognise full well that most of what would hundreds of years ago have been called “demonic possession” is in fact mental illness. Thus nowadays the reality is that the Church will not in fact authorise an exorcism if a medical condition can account for the aberrant behaviour.

My personal view is that if people become mentally ill – or indeed even possessed – after visiting a website, it is because they had a predisposition to do so. Whether the website caused or exacerbated the condition is open to question (by which I mean “fanciful speculation”).

You may, however, be wanting to question the motives of these Polish exorcists by speaking out at this time. Let’s look at the evidence:

By candidly admitting that most alleged cases of exorcism are only instances of mental illness, the Church is effectively doing its Exorcists out of a job! Perhaps these Polish priests are feeling unappreciated?

One could even argue that it is in these priests’ own interest to gild the lilly somewhat when it comes to alleging there is evidence of infernal manifestation at large in the world today. Perhaps they have seen the latest Hollywood blockbuster The Rite and wish to ride on the coat-tails of its publicity.

Or one can take a slightly less  cynical stance by remembering the old saying: “To a person with a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” In their case it would be: “To a fully-trained exorcist, every problem looks like the work of Satan.”

Knowing this to be the case I should not be surprised if this very website gets accused by some church-man of dabbling in the occult and being the pawn of beelzebub. Hey! I don’t dabble in it at all! I go at it full on!

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February 11, 2011 · 1:40 pm

Voodoo Economics Part 2

The Sumner family Brain-cell has worked out a cunning plan for how the Witches in Romania can get back at their government. One of the Witches needs to get herself put on trial. She then offers to demonstrate to the court that she is genuine. Assuming the Judge is gullible, he says yes, whereupon the Witch delivers the punchline: “I predict that I will be found guilty and convicted.”

Remember the proposed new law threatens to punish fortune tellers if their predictions turn out incorrectly, this will cause the Judge’s brain to explode as he tries to work out the paradox. Moreover, the Witch will not be stuck in an endless Groundhog Day loop or pantomime of “You’re guilty! Oh no you’re not! Oh yes you are” etc because of the double-jeopardy rule.

Another witchy problem solved by Yours truly! 😉

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February 8, 2011 · 3:48 pm

Voodoo Economics

News today that after the Witch population of Romania attempted to put a hex on the government there for making witchcraft taxable, the legislature is retaliating by proposing a new law. If passed, it will punish soothsayers and fortune tellers if their predictions don’t come true. Needless to say this has grossly offended the local Witch population, with one even exclaiming of the proposed new law: “I will fight until my last breath for this not to be passed.”

Now let’s examine this in more detail. On the one hand, the Romanian government is saying to these women that they have to pay income tax whereas they did not before – if their predictions are correct. However, if their predictions are false they can be fined or sent to prison! Trial by ducking stool would be fairer than this.

Moreover though, consider this. The advice of a professional racing tipster or stock-market analyst is just as much conjecture as that of a Witch – with the possible difference that one conjecture is less superstitious than the other. However, neither the tipster nor the analyst goes to jail if he makes a mistake – so why should the Witch?

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February 4, 2011 · 3:02 pm

Catholic Church upsets Wiccans; Daily Mail upsets Harry Potter Fans

Independent Roman Catholic publisher of pamphlets, “The Catholic Truth Society,” has come up with a “helpful” guide on how to bring witches and wiccans to Christ and His Church. It is called Wicca and Witchcraft: Understanding the Dangers, and is written by a former witch who was apparently saved for the Lord. I note that from the blurb it tries to answer why young people are attracted to Wicca – as if it is only a youth fad and of no interest to adults!

Honestly! As every pagan knows: no witch would ever disgrace herself by writing such an egregious book attempting to convert teenage Christians to Witchcraft.

Inevitably though, the cauldron of controversy surrounding this story has been stirred up by Nazi propaganda rag and Britain’s most anti-Pagan newspaper, the Daily Mail – in a piece entitled How to cure a witch: Catholic Church issues guide in Britain to turn the tables on Harry Potter. Now examine this headline once again. First of all there is the absurdity of the Daily Mail turning the issue from Christianity vs Wicca to Christianity vs Harry Potter (why? what has the Mail got against Harry Potter?). More sinisterly though, there is that word – “cure.” The CTS talks about evangelizing and prosetylising, the Daily Mail talks about “curing.” IMHO, if the Catholic Church wants to retain any semblance of credibility it should dissocciate itself from the Daily Mail which seems to be pursuing its own incoherent anti-pagan agenda.

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January 21, 2011 · 4:14 pm

Enochian Magic In Tamworth – update

Plate found in Hopwas Woods, Tamworth

This is a follow-up to my post Enochian Magic In Tamworth. The local paper has finally seen sense and published pictures of the various artefacts found in the local woods, including the plate inscribed with Enochian Letters. Apparently the site, Hopwas Woods, has been a hotbed of occult activity – apparently 27 years ago there was an infamous incident of some occultists dancing naked in a clearing and smoking cannabis!

Tut tut tut! I cannot condone this sort of behaviour! Getting caught by the police and not hiding your stash, I mean. Obviously I’m not about to condemn skyclad rituals, and I can hardly condemn use of da Herb. Anyway – the group that got their collars felt (metaphorically speaking) was called the “Order of the Silver Star,” though whether this was anything to do with Thelema is not indicated.

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January 16, 2011 · 12:16 pm

Ophiuchus – The Real Deal

Proposed symbol for Ophiuchus

Recently across the interwebby-type thing there it has been suggested that a new constellation – Ophiuchus – be included within the Zodiac. Actually some people have been saying this for around 16 years or more, however the most recent publicity to the notion has been generated by a statement by the Minnesota Planetarium Society – so it is rather cheeky that they claim to have only recently discovered it. Obviously time does not pass so quickly in that part of America!

The argument is that because Ophiuchus is in the same general vicinity as the other constellations which make up the Zodiac (nb: not “Horoscope” *) it should be added thereto. IMO, however, Ophiuchus should not and probably won’t be included in conventional Astrology – and with good reason. The rationale of Astrology is that it is the direct continuation of the ancient Pagan religions in unbroken succession from their heyday thousands of years ago into the present day. It has millenia of established practice behind it, and it provides both the language and the vocabulary of the Hermetic tradition. Hence – the only extent to which any constellation or heavenly body can be included in astrology – whether existing or a new candidate – is that to which it is reflected in ancient practice, and ancient mythology – which after all makes up the archetypes of the collective unconscious. Whilst there are various myths and legends surrounding Ophiuchus as a constellation in the general sense, it has no established mythology as an astrological entity. One cannot, for example, say which planet rules it, which planets are exalted in it, what planets are in their fall or detriment in it, what Element it should be, or whether it should be Cardinal, Fixed or Mutable.

Needless to say, this has probably whipped straight over the heads of the Minnesota Planetarium Society who, being astronomers, are not thinking about this from an astrological point of view.

Therefore, as an astrologer myself, I would recommend simply ignoring the current talk about there being a new sign of the Zodiac. And to the Minnesota Planetarium Society, I say: “G’Ophiuchus Yourselves.”

* The reason I say “not Horoscope” is because there is only one Zodiac – but there are currently 7 billion different Horoscopes. The Zodiac is what is in the sky, but the word “Horoscope” refers to an individual’s astrological chart generally, and their first-house marker (Ascendant) specifically.

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