An Unpardonable Offence – new short story by Alex Sumner
An Unpardonable Offence
You don’t need a Kindle device to read Kindle books! CLICK HERE FOR A FREE KINDLE READING APP!
An Unpardonable Offence: New Short Story
Filed under An Unpardonable Offence, Books, Pilgrim's Progress, Site Update
Usborne Guide to the Supernatural World
Aah childhood memories… This fuelled my interest in the occult, even before I got involved in Dungeons & Dragons! It was the Mysterious Powers book that first told me that such a thing as astral projection existed. Looking back it’s remarkable how “adult” these children’s book actually were.
The Usborne Guide to the Supernatural World was first published in 1979 and comprised of three smaller, separately published books by Usborne, all under the ‘Supernatural Guides’ banner; Haunted Houses, Ghosts and Spectres; Mysterious Powers and Strange Forces; Vampires, Werewolves and Demons. They were written and edited by Eric Maple, Lynn Myring and Eliot Humberstone.
The books were ostensibly aimed at the younger market but were packed full of odd facts and stories from around the world, many of which certainly play to a wider audience. The books began with an overview of the subjects they covered and then proceeded to travel not only through time but also around the world, demonstrating the beliefs and superstitions of different cultures throughout the ages.
Whilst the books on ghosts and mysterious powers were very interesting and packed with information on the likes of hauntings at Borley Rectory (‘the most haunted house in…
View original post 135 more words
Filed under Uncategorized
What is the best song to get an out of body experience?
Answer by Alex Sumner:
“OOBE” by the Orb. Actually a very clever piece of music: the sounds are inspired by accounts of aural phenomena which take place during out of body experiences.
Other songs could include People Can Fly or indeed – anything – by Astral Projection.
Filed under Supernatural
Alex Sumner Turns To Crime
You may notice a change in appearance regarding my website. It’s to do with the fact that I shall shortly be releasing new material, which shall less to do with occult fiction and more to do with crime fiction. For more news, watch this space! And please subscribe to my website if you have not already done so.
Filed under Site Update
How To Predict The General Election 2015, part two
Following on from my previous post regarding the nature of the problems facing the next Government of the United Kingdom, I now turn to predicting the winners / losers specifically. This I have done by looking that the birth charts of the leaders of six main parties, and comparing the transits made with the horoscope for the election. I use this information to calculate whether they will be celebrating or not come close of polls on Election Day, and hence infer the fate of their party therefrom.
David Cameron – Conservatives.
David Cameron
Cameron (9th October 1966, London) has a lot of favourable influences going for him that day, mainly thanks to the planet Jupiter. This is sextile his natal Sun, Venus and Mercury, signifying it is a good time for new opportunities, making a good impression, and for promoting himself and his ideas. The one warning sign, however, is transitting Saturn square to his natal Mars, which suggests he will not be victorious outright.
Ed Milliband – Labour.
Ed Milliband
Milliband (24th December 1969, London) will also be experiencing Saturn squaring his natal Mars – like Cameron. Unlike Cameron, however, the planet Jupiter is not so conspicuous. The minor planets such as Venus and Moon suggest he will experience some transitory good news on the day of the election, but this will not last into the new Parliament itself.
Nick Clegg – Liberal Democrats.
Nick Clegg
Clegg (7th January 1967, Chalfont St Giles, Bucks) has a rather nasty T-formation caused by a transitting Mars / Uranus opposition square to his natal Sun. Clegg will be the subject of much anger, also the forces of change will be proving difficult for him to make any headway. Also, Saturn transitting his natal Moon signifies that it will be a good time for Clegg to be alone, and to realise his flaws and weaknesses.
Nigel Farage – UKIP
Nigel Farage
Farage (3rd April 1964, Downe, Kent) will be having an auspicious day come May 7th. Transitting Saturn is trine to both his natal Sun and Mars, suggesting he is mature, responsible, and projects confidence: also he is able to meet his responsibilities. Moreover, transitting Jupiter is also trine to his Sun, signifying new visions of the future and new inspirations are likely to come along – an increase of good fortune. However: transitting Saturn opposes his natal Venus, suggesting he would do well to rid himself of delusions when it comes to close partnerships (such his relations with other members of UKIP).
Natalie Bennett – Green Party
Natalie Bennett
Bennett (10th February 1966, Sydney, Australia) has quite possibly the most disappointing chart of all the leaders of the major parties – not because it is particularly disastrous, but because it is totally unremarkable one way or the other! The only transit of interest is that Uranus, representing the forces of change, are in opposition to her natal Moon, signifying that she will be disappointed by the result of the election. The day will be pretty much a non-event for her.
Angus Robertson – SNP
Angus Robertson
“Duh, Alex, I thought Nicola Sturgeon was leader of the SNP?” Yes, but she’s not standing in the Westminster Parliament! The leader of SNP’s Parliamentary Party, however, is Angus Robertson MP (28th September 1969, Wimbledon, London), who is confirmed as the director of the SNP’s 2015 general election campaign. I have therefore decided to use his details rather than Sturgeon’s. As it happens, Robertson’s chart has a lot of good points to say about it: Jupiter is sextile his natal Jupiter, showing that he will find it easy to work with his own natural talents for ensuring success. Moreover, transitting Saturn is sextile a natal stellium of Sun, Mercury and Uranus, indicating that he has a more mature grasp of his own capabilities, and projects a more responsible, perhaps serious, and self-assured personality to others. Progress he makes during this transit period is likely to bring him rewards in his career, whilst the forces of change are generally working in his favour. The only warning note is transitting Saturn square to his natal Venus, suggesting that he will have a tough time working on improving his manner as well as the things that he offer to others in partnership.
Conclusion.
I shall therefore put my neck on the line and make the following predictions as to the result of the election:
- The Conservatives will be the largest party in Parliament, but without an absolute majority. David Cameron will stay on as Prime Minister, this time of a minority Conservative government, not a Coalition.
- Labour will be the second largest, but will experience a loss of seats, mostly to the SNP, but also to UKIP.
- The Liberal Democrats in general, and Nick Clegg in particular, will collapse.
- Both the SNP and UKIP will see significant gains in the numbers of their seats. The SNP will find it difficult to hold the balance of power though, as the other parties will be reluctant to work with them. UKIP will go through a period of reform where they are forced to jettison the more extreme elements of their party.
- The Green Party will be neither better nor worse off after the election than before.
Filed under Supernatural
How To Predict The General Election 2015, part one
After having successfully predicted a Con-Lib Coalition, and the retirement from politics of Gordon Brown (remember him? Yeah, me neither!) back in 2010, I return with my prognostications for the next British General Election, which has today been confirmed as taking place on Thursday 7th May 2015.
In drawing up a chart I have selected 10pm that evening (British Summer Time) as the “birth time,” as that will be the moment the polls close – and hence seal the fate of the election. For the place of birth I have used Westminster, i.e. the location of the Houses of Parliament. A chart drawn up using these data looks like this:
Chart for the moment the polls close (10pm BST) on 7th May 2015, @ Westminster UK
It is therefore possible to forecast the influences which will affect the new Government – whichever it happens to be – to wit:
The Government itself (Sun)
Government will try to effect Judicial reform, and to enact further measures which encroach upon the Church of England, e.g. by extending gay marriage rights. Both the Judiciary and the Church of England (nb: both represented by Jupiter) will be upset by this, and try to resist the Government’s efforts.
The People (Moon)
Material prosperity will generally stabilise (Moon in Capricorn in 1st House). However there will be public unrest regarding foreign relations (Moon opposition Venus) – i.e. a general opposition to seeking peaceful solutions to disputes which arise with foreign countries – in particular, Russia, China and North Korea.
The Armed Forces (Mars)
The Armed forces will be very active during the term of the new Parliament: but War does not seem likely. Instead, military personnel will be key to helping combat a major epidemic. There will be at least one strike in the Ambulance service where the Army is called upon to operate the Ambulances.
Bankers (Jupiter)
Bankers will continue to resist the Government attempting to scrutinise their activity – this will lead to an impasse, as the bankers will find themselves in a strong position.
The Press (Mercury)
The Press will play a key role in stirring up public opinion against Russia, China and North Korea (Mercury square Neptune). There will be a major initiative to curtail Press abuses through increased regulation (Mercury opposition Saturn).
BUT… who will the new Prime Minister be? And who will form the new Government? Stay tuned for part two!!!
Filed under Supernatural
How does one stop the mental chatter (such as the narration of their dreams and random songs) from running through their head all night w…
Answer by Alex Sumner:
- Lead a healthy and vigorous sex life – full of Love, and free from any negative emotions such as guilt, etc. Seriously, there are scientific studies which show a positive correlation between having good sex and having a good night’s sleep immediately afterwards.
- Meditate before going to bed. Mentally review the events of the day like a movie going backwards before your mind’s eye, going back as far as you can go. This has the result of “releasing” memories of the day just gone so they don’t need to be processed by your dreaming mind. Adepts of the tantric arts could do this meditation whilst carrying out the preceding step.
- Observe regular sleep patterns – not just the right amount of sleep (i.e. 8 hours for young/middle-aged adults) but following the body’s natural circadian rhythms as well.
- Do not go to bed drunk or high on drugs.
- Do not eat foods which are hard to digest soon before going to bed. If you do have an evening meal, try to eat it early enough that it fully digested before you attempt to retire. The old saying about eating cheese before going to bed is a superstition: what matters is whether or not your digestive system will disturb you during the night.
- Undergo regular psychotherapy or similar, so that your sleeping mind is not plagued by old neuroses.
- Live in Peace with all beings. More especially, do not get into conflict with others, and try to resolve the arguments that you gotten into peacefully. Not only will you get a good night’s sleep, you will also help make the World a better place.
Filed under Supernatural
How To Create Your Own Tarot Deck, part two
This is a sequel to a post I wrote last year. So I finally went and did it: I put my money where my mouth is, and used one of the sites mentioned in my previous post, makeplayingcards.com, to convert a set of tarot cards I had designed into an actual deck. It will not be commercially released, for two reasons: firstly, it is far too derivative of other well-known decks, so there would be a rights issue if I tried to do so; and secondly and more importantly, I don’t claim to be a great artist.
Tarot trumps. Copyright Alex Sumner 2015
The Majors and the Court Cards I created from the BOTA deck, which is deliberately printed black and white for the purpose of colouring in – as one learns about the colour correspondances of the Tree of Life. I didn’t paint the actual cards, but large scans thereof, which I then re-scanned once finished. The pip-cards, on the other hand, were mostly done with Photoshop (except for the suit of Cups). Incidentally, the pip-cards on the BOTA deck are a bit of a let-down compared with the art-work of the rest of the deck. I ended up photoshopping scans of the Rider-Waite: not only re-colouring them, but also altering the background imagery to suit my own particular interpretation of the symbolism.
Wands. Fire. Atziluth. King Scale. The Spiritual Experiences of the Sephiroth.
Copyright Alex Sumner 2015
Cups. Water. Briah. Queen Scale. Archangels.
Copyright Alex Sumner 2015
Swords. Air. Yetzirah. Prince Scale. Choirs of Angels.
Copyright Alex Sumner 2015
Pentacles. Earth. Assiah. Princess Scale. The Gods as they are ensouled in the material universe (or in other words, “the Planets”).
Copyright Alex Sumner 2015
Ten out of the seventy-eight cards ended up being original compositions, not based on any pre-existing tarot card. For the back, I printed the text of the invocation used in the Golden Dawn at the start of every tarot reading, for the practical reason that if I put it there, I wouldn’t forget it!
Back view. Copyright Alex Sumner 2015
I have to say that the emotional satisfaction of getting this project completed – which is no small thing, subjectively speaking – is the exclusive advantage of this method of acquiring a new tarot deck. It is neither a costly nor timely method. Quite apart from the effort in trying to assemble all the images necessary, the website I went with, makeplayingcards.com , outsource their manufacturing and distribution to China. Not only did this add considerable time to the shipping, I discovered they stopped work over the Chinese New Year period, which of course is a major holiday for them.
Filed under Supernatural
BBC News – Sir Terry Pratchett, renowned fantasy author, dies aged 66
Sir Terry Pratchett
So, farewell to Sir Terry Pratchett – an author whose books I certainly enjoyed (as did millions of others). Speaking as a writer myself, Pratchett to me is a perfect example of an author who achieved superstar status by working steadily and sticking through tough times at the start of his career before eventually achieving his destiny. He is therefore a far more realistic model of success for aspiring writers than e.g. the J K Rowlings of this world.
Speaking as a magician, Pratchett holds a special interest for me in that it is quite obvious from a careful reading of his Discworld novels that he knew perfectly well the kind of pretentions that occur within the real-life Neo-Pagan, Occult, and RPG communities, and often subjected them to good-natured ribbing. Or – if you are a fluffy-bunny type without a sense of humour – he harshly mocked them and subjected them to cruel and merciless satire. 😉
BBC News – Sir Terry Pratchett, renowned fantasy author, dies aged 66.
Filed under Comment
Sol Ascendans - The Website of Alex Sumner 
What the Stars have in store for… HRH Princess Charlotte of Cambridge
Their Royal Highnesses the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge with Princess Charlotte
Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, second child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and fourth in line to the British throne, was born at 0834 British Summer Time on the 2nd May 2015, at the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, London, England – 51°31′2″N 0°10′23″W. A horoscope calculated with these data gives the following:
2nd May 2015, 8:34 am (British Summer time).
Sun Taurus, Moon Libra, Asc Cancer.
What immediately strikes me in this horoscope is that there is so much militating in Princess Charlotte’s favour to grow up, fall in love and have a happy and successful marriage.
Taurus (Princess Charlotte’s sun-sign) is the sign of people who tend to get married for life: moreover, Moon in Libra suggests she will feel romantic and personable. Of this Sun-Moon combination, other astrologers have said:
Other famous people with this Sun / Moon combination include: her own first cousin once removed Zara Philips, Catherine De Medici, William Shakespeare, Bertrand Russell, and many more.
More tellingly, Princess Charlotte’s Moon is in the Fourth House – the house of the home and family – signifying that a secure family and home-life is what will make Charlotte most comfortable. Her Caput Draconis (signifier of destiny) is also in the Fourth house, implying that this is the direction she will want to seek in her life as an adult.
With Cancer as rising sign, she will appear to be a sensitive, slightly shy person… but only outwardly. In reality she will actually enjoy a life of public engagements, and draw great strength from being in charge of whatever situation she might find herself in (Sun in 10th House / Cauda Draconis in Aries also in 10th House).
Leave a comment
Filed under Comment, Supernatural
Tagged as astrology, Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, Duchess of Cambridge, Duke of Cambridge, Horoscope, princess charlotte