Brasil
Ah Brazil! You have given the world so many things! Like Pele, Capoeira, Bossa Nova, Samba, thong bikinis, Cachaça, the Rio De Janeiro Carnival, etc etc. So, to say Obregado on behalf of the rest of the world, I, Alex Sumner, am now making my Ebooks available in your fair country!
Please note that they are only in English – I have not yet translated them into Portugese. Head on over to my Brazilian page for more details!
Novelist and writer on the occult Alex Sumner discusses “Ultra Zodiacal Astrology” with tweep @IrisSchouten. This is the astrology of constellations which lie outside the Zodiac: although they are not used in conventional astrology, certain traditions both ancient and modern assign them magical and spiritual significance.
Filed under Supernatural
Why? What have I done this time?
This is a response to Peregrin Wildoak’s blog post, What the (magical) world needs right now.
With all due respect to Peregrin, the idea that Shame is enough to solve the perceived evils of the Mind Body Wallet phenomenon is far too simplistic. IMO, the roots of the problem lie in deeply held cultural differences between practitioners of magic. To wit:
To illustrate my point, let me relate the story of a talk I recently went to, in which the speaker described how he went to Peru to learn the ways of Ayahuasca. One of the key points he mentioned is that the Ayahuasceros – the ones who know the true way to partake of the Vine of Death in a proper ceremonial context – are all, to a man, complete and utter scoundrels. “That is why I resolved to cut off all ties from my spiritual teacher at the earliest opportunity,” the speaker said.
The magicians in these parts of the world make no bones about charging money for their services. It is common for them if, someone comes to them asking for help, to use the old line: “Ah, a rival Brujo has placed you under a curse! Fortunately if you pay me enough money I will start a magical war with this sorcerer.” Then, when the client gets worse, he or she goes to the next magician who in his turn says that the previous magician, far from helping, himself put a curse on them – and for the usual fee, etc etc.
Moreover, such magicians view apprentices with suspicion. Far from being motivated by a sense of passing on a noble tradition, they recognise that any apprentice they train up is likely to become a business rival. Hence, whilst they may be willing to initiate an apprentice (for the right fee), they will quite happily try to keep them in a subservient position, or steal their power from them, lest they ever look like becoming as skillful a magician as they.
Most importantly though, they periodically curse the local inhabitants and make sure they know about it – so that they regularly propitiate him. And you know what? The locals just lap it up. Because they have no conception of someone like Jesus who healed people out of the goodness of His heart, or magicians who take it as a point of principle to give their services for free, the idea that a real magician should be anything other than an unmitigated rogue is completely alien to them.
There is a saying: “If you meet Buddha on the road, kill him.” Fluffy bunnies like to misquote this as “If you meet Buddha on the road and he gets in the way, kill him.” Many people say it means “kill him in your mind” but, given the reputation of spiritual teachers in South America, Africa, Asia, etc I say it means to literally kill him – because he is most likely to be an evil so-and-so who is up to no good.
Now let us look at Western consumerism. For a start it should not be called Western Consumerism at all, but just “Consumerism,” because it is the same in principle the world over. The only difference between a Brujo in the South American jungle and a New Age practitioner in the developed world is the technology to which they have access: however if you were to ask either of them whether it is right to charge money for what they do, they would both reply identically.
Marcel Duchamp invented the concept of Decommodification in 1917 when he announced: “This is a work of art, not a commode!” 😛
As far as I’m aware, the idea of true spirituality being free was established in Europe because of the influence of Christian morality generally. It has its roots in Rosicrucianism – i.e. that none of them should profess anything except to heal the sick and that gratis – and was enunciated in the late Victorian occult revival by magicians under the influence of Christianity, even if they chose not to practice it conventionally or at all – not just the Golden Dawn, but on the other side of the English Channel, by the Martinists as well. It strikes me that by Decommodifying spirituality, they anticipated the Conceptual Art movement of the twentieth century! Moreover – by making initiation free, it removes the threat of an initiator trying to exploit and cheat his initiates – and of the latter wanting to set up in competition with the former once they have served their apprenticeship. However, once a magician moves outside the hegemony of the Christian / Rosicrucian paradigm, there is no reason to suppose that they will adhere to the moral framework thereof, nor that shame will drive them back to it.
Filed under Rant, Supernatural
Bela Lugosi as Dracula
So, everyone knows that Dracula is the most awesome vampire ever in English literature. And before anyone dares to mention Ed Cullen, I should point out that he fails to qualify both in terms of “awesome” and indeed “literature
Dracula represents the fear of the outsider – fear of the foreigner. As a rich man he also represents the poor man’s fear that the upper classes are screwing him over. Given that he attempts to steal Jonathan Harker’s fiancée, he represents the fear of every man, that some stranger is giving your woman a far better time than you could possibly hope to achieve. He is, not to put to fine a point on it, Castration Anxiety personified.
Count Dracula is thus a perfect monster, but what he is not is a character. I say this because Dracula is aristocratic, rich, owns vast tracts of land, has a coterie of sexy lady Vampires with whom to share his enormous castle, and can snack on any of the local peasants whenever he feels hungry. Yet nowhere in Bram Stoker’s original novel
Winona Ryder
Francis Ford Coppola
But was this what Bram Stoker originally intended? I mean about searching for a lost love, not about Winona Ryder, obviously. I discussed my concerns about Dracula with my fellow members of the Illuminati in the pub one afternoon. After recounting all the details to them, I asked: “So why would he want to move to Whitby?”
Inspiration seized one of my drinking companions. “They do nice fish and chips there!” he said.
“What?” I replied.
“They do nice fish and chips in Whitby! That’s why Count Dracula upped and moved to Yorkshire.”
So there you have it! For all the delights that rural Carpathia has to offer, the one thing that they have not is tasty battered (locally sourced) cod with chunky chips served with le purée de petit pois. I must say that given that I like a Fish Supper every once in a while – as well as liking Fish & Chips – I can to a certain extent sympathise with the old Count!
Filed under Comment
Japan
People of Japan! You now have the opportunity to buy my books in your country! Why not head on over to http://www.amazon.jp now?
| Taromancer | Kindle only | |
| The Magus | Kindle | |
| Opus Secunda | Kindle | |
| Licence To Depart | Kindle | |
| The Demon Detective | Kindle only | |
| A Greater Power | Kindle only | |
| Shall We Kill The President? | Kindle only | |
As I believe the saying goes in your country: ( ^ _ ^ )
It’s getting to that time of year again when certain types of Christian pastor pop out of the wood-work and alternatively rail against the supposed pagan and / or satanic origins of Halloween, or more creatively try to put on their own alternate events. Mind you I did find it ironic that one town in Pennsylvania was putting on a series of events apparently without realising there is already a Christian holiday associated with the day (All Saints’ Day) – “Fall Family Fun,” anyone?
I would like to give away one of the “greatest secrets” of occultism at this point. It’s not actually a great secret as far as occultists are concerned, but it is to many Fundamentalist preachers judging from their ravings, and even to some of the fluffier types of pagans. It is this: many occultists are in fact Christians themselves. Not Christopagans, nor even Gnostic Christians, but actual Christians. They tend not to draw attention to themselves, but they are there. These are the sort of people who join organisations like the Martinists, the Elus Cohens, the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross and other Qabalistic organisations which are sympathetic to Jesus Christ.
These are the sort of people who point out that the Pentagram is the symbol of the Pentagrammaton (“Yeheshuah”), the Qabalistic-spelling of Jesus: hence each time one performs the LBRP, one is actually invoking Jesus in the four quarters without realising it!
In fact, given that Neo-Paganism is predominantly a movement dating from the latter half of the twentieth century, the vast majority of the members of the original Golden Dawn and its offshoots were themselves Christian, and sought to incorporate Christian symbology into their Qabalistic practices.
I appreciate this will probably sound like the most outrageous heresy to Fundamentalist Christians. I believe the common attitude amongst such people is typified by the following:
The extent of occult involvement is universal. Spiritual warfare is all around us, and if Satan cannot keep us from knowing Christ he will try containing us by drawing us into deception. The Enemy is a deceiver, liar, tempter, and devourer of human souls…..
[…]
Actually, occultists’ practices are a counterfeit of God’s power, and as such they do reveal some amazing things — but these things are not the ultimate truth. … [A]n increase in demonic activity is to be expected as a sign of the end times.
Pity the poor occultist! He or she is trapped in a real dilemma! If one invokes Satan, one is obviously Satanists, and if one invokes God, His Angels, or Jesus, etc – even in all apparent sincerity – one is still invoking Satan because the Father of Lies is pulling the wool over their eyes. One cannot win!
What these Fundamentalist Christians don’t realise – or they conveniently forget – is that Jesus Himself was accused of dabbling in the occult when He was alive! To wit:
And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.”
So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.
“Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”— because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Mark 3:22 – 30
Replace “Scribes” in this passage with “Fundamentalist preachers” and you basically have the entire plight of the modern occultist who nevertheless professes to be a Christian. Logic would suggest – and Jesus Himself explicitly states here – that one cannot perform something which is objectively good and still be in thrall to the powers of Evil. So to address the quote from “What is the occult?” I would say it is seriously unwise to accuse an occultist of being deceived by Satan, because one might just be blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, i.e. committing the unforgiveable sin.
Filed under Religion, Supernatural
Over here in Britain, everyone’s gone sex-mad and not in a good way. First there was a notorious story of a teacher who ran off with a 15 year old school-girl. Then there was the revelations about the deceased disc jockey Jimmy Savile who it is claimed had a fondness for girls who were not legally competent – either by reason of age or physical disability. Now the can of worms is well and truly open and it seems that every person in broadcasting, alive or dead, who ever had a peccadilo is having their past come back to haunt them.
What is wrong with Britain? And why is it happening now?
It occurred to the Sumner Family Brain Cell to look to the stars for guidance. The Jimmy Savile story first broke on 30th September 2012 in the form of publicity for a forthcoming reveal-all documentary. At the time, Venus, the planet of relationships, was in opposition to retrograde Neptune, the planet of deceit and shameful cover-ups. Meanwhile, square to both of them (and thus making a T formation) was Mars, the planet of widespread public anger. Venus was thus challenging Mars to stir it into action; Mars was challenging Neptune. If only one more planet moved into formation, then there would have been a Grand Cross, a pattern associated with all hell breaking loose.
The Grand Cross occurred on 3rd October 2012, when the Moon duly obliged. Coincidentally this was the same day that the exposé about Jimmy Savile aired on ITV.
Chart drawn up for 3rd October 2012, at 23.10pm
Let us postulate that this stellar configuration does indeed have something to do with the scandal then breaking. The question then arises, why should this involve Jimmy Savile in particular? And not some other seedy character with skeletons in the living room? For this I calculated Jimmy’s birth chart, and then looked at the transits made therewith by the chart for 3rd October 2012.
Outer ring: planets as at 3rd October 2012, 23.10pm.
Inner ring: natal chart of Jimmy Savile, 31st October 1929, Leeds (birth-time approximated).
As you can see, the four planets of the Grand Cross were transitting his natal Neptune. Venus – conjunction; Neptune – opposition; Mars (and Caput Draconis), as well as the Moon on the other side – both Square.
It is interesting also to note Savile would have been experiencing a “Uranus Return” – and the Sun was in opposition to both the natal and transiting planets. I notice that one commentary about natal Uranus opposite transiting sun is you will do things that may alienate people. So all in all, it seems quite natural for these revelations to have come out when they did.
Finally, it is worth noting that this was a deceased man we are talking about – yet the stars still seemed to be affecting him! An argument if ever there was one for leading a good moral life while alive, as dying is not necessarily a means of escape. As a wise man (I believe it was Lemmy from Motorhead) once said: your bones will turn to dust, your possessions will be taken by other people, your money will pass back into the system, but your reputation is the only thing you leave in this world which will still belong to you after your death.
Filed under Comment
Back in 2009, I called into question Barack Obama’s winning of the Nobel Prize, on the grounds that he had only been in office for two weeks before nominations closed. The point being that according to Alfred Nobel’s will, the prize was meant to be awarded for work in the past year. I also pointed out that if the Nobel Committee were wiling to award so much money to someone who hadn’t actually done anything, then I was prepared to do nothing for world peace, whilst charging a considerably smaller rate for my services.
Now, at long last, the Nobel Committee have taken me up on my offer and awarded me the Noble Peace Prize! I shit ye not: they say they have awarded it to the EU, but the EU say they are accepting it on behalf of their 500 million citizens: which includes me!
May I just say that so long as the Nobel Committee pay for my air-fare, board and lodging, I will be happy to fly to Oslo to accept the Prize on the EU’s behalf. 🙂
“Help! I’m stuck!” 😉
Astrology is an Art, and more importantly, the continuation of a tradition which stretches back to ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt – and times and places even more remote.
Anyone who makes a casual study of Astrology might surmise that since (for example) the planet Venus is said to represent love and relationships, and Mercury represents communication, and furthermore that the Roman deities bearing the same names were the Goddess of Love, and the Messenger of the Gods respectively, then modern Astrology is somehow connected with ancient Roman mythology. And they would be entirely correct! In ancient times, the people of the day did not believe that the planets were named after the gods: they believed that the planets were the gods. Therefore, by noting the movements of the planets, they sought to understand how their gods affected their daily lives.
Astrology, therefore, is really the direct continuation of the old Pagan religions, from ancient right into modern times. Therefore, in order to really understand Astrology, one ought to consider it not from a “scientific” (in the modern sense) point of view, nor from a psychological or even a “New Age” point of view: but instead ask – “how would the ancients have viewed it?”
Fortunately, one ancient sage named Hermes Trismegistos spoke with refreshing clarity on the subject. He said:
Nay more, if we must boldly speak the truth, the true “man” is e’en higher than the gods, or at the [very] least the gods and men are very whit in power each with the other equal. For no one of the gods in heaven shall come down to the earth, o’er-stepping heaven’s limit; whereas man doth mount up to heaven and measure it.
That is to say: the “gods” are the planets of astrology. Although they influence the earth, they cannot “over-step heaven’s limit” i.e. stray outside their regular course, but man can, through the use of his reason and other faculties, take account of their influence, and eventually overcome them.
Thus to the ancients in general – and Hermes Trismegistos in particular – Astrology is neither deterministic nor fatalistic. Instead, properly understood, it is the key to achieving true Free Will: by learning about what influences are affecting one’s life, one can learn to escape from them, and thus rise “higher than the gods.”
This, incidentally, is why one should be cautious when you hear about an Astrologer talking about “bad luck.” If I were to say that such and such a thing would lead to ill-fortune, the very fact that I have warned you about it gives you the key to escape it.
THE FUTURE IS NOT CARVED IN STONE – WE ALL HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE IT IF WE WANT.
Filed under Supernatural
Sol Ascendans - The Website of Alex Sumner 
XX Bishops
Two years ago the Catholic Church ruled out the Ordination of Women as Priests: now the Church of England has ruled out the female bishops. Now the thing is that Bishops are traditionally the successors of the Apostles: hence if it had been the case there were female Apostles, then it is theologically correct to have female Bishops.
In a blog post I wrote two years ago, I advanced an argument to say there is scriptural evidence that there were indeed female Apostles! Note that this is nothing to do with revisionism, but the correct reading of the original scriptures.
I do hope, however, that the Church of England can sort this out in-house. There is a distressing number of people saying that Parliament should now overrule the General Synod. I hope this does not happen. As I understand the term, Freedom of Religion is supposed to mean Freedom from Government interference in Religion. If this is meant to be a human right – as the UN Declaration on Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights, etc would suggest – then it ought not to be qualified by adding “… but only when you don’t do anything the Government disapproves,” otherwise it is not a real right at all.
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Filed under Comment, Religion
Tagged as Anglican, church of england, Female Bishops, Freedom of Religion, John Welby, Rowan Williams, Synod