Tag Archives: quora.com

January 4, 2019 · 1:33 pm

What is your source of occult information? – Quora

Alex at home, studying.

(A2A) Donald Michael Kraig’s “Modern Magick” was my first serious book on practical occultism as well. It is an ideal book for beginners because (a) it contains a lot of suitable material to get you started; and more importantly (b) it also has an extensive bibliography which will clue you in as to where to go and what to read to pursue your studies further.

Other books I generally recommend:

(For beginners):

(More advanced):

(Even more advanced):

“The Greek Magical Papyri In Translation” (H D Betz), “Transcendental Magic – its Dogma and Ritual” (Eliphas Levi), “Light on Yoga” (BKS Iyengar), other books by Dion Fortune, Israel Regardie, Crowley, S L MacGregor Mathers, primary texts on Adam McLean’s Alchemy website / Joseph H Peterson’s website, etc, etc, etc.

Source: Alex Sumner’s answer to What is your source of occult information? – Quora

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December 7, 2018 · 10:35 am

How can you do a tarot reading on yourself? – Quora

(A2A) In the tradition with which I am familiar, it is unusual not to do tarot readings for oneself, because: firstly, Tarot is most importantly a tool for self-discovery; and secondly, you can only ultimately learn the real meanings of the cards through practice. A real Tarot reader ought to know what the Tarot cards mean without having to refer to the Little White Book all the time.

You can use any decent Tarot spread like the Celtic Cross, but you should Use ALL the tarot cards at once: don’t resort to the vile practice of removing some of the cards from the deck, and don’t interfere with the cards once you have dealt them. In other words, don’t resort to any of the practices that hucksters use to cheat rubes who come to them for fake readings. Be brutally honest with yourself – that’s how you achieve objectivity.

Whilst you may chose to go to another person to read your Tarot cards for you, I find the idea of insisting on someone go to another person for a reading is deceitful: it encourages slavish dependence at best, and charlatanism at worst.

Source: Alex Sumner’s answer to How can you do a tarot reading on yourself? – Quora

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October 30, 2018 · 12:52 pm

What does dreaming about demons but not scary mean? – Quora

A Demon

(a2a) On the quest to become a fully-realised individual, every one of us, sooner or later, comes to realise that we each have a Dark Side, and the only way to become whole is to face up to it. It remains Dark, because it represents what we most hate about ourselves. Ironically however, it is also a source of strength. Hence the journey to wholeness involves integrating the Dark Side – or making your Demons work for you, instead of against you.

Luckily for you, dreaming about demons but in a non-scary manner would suggest that you are confident about facing up to your inner darkness, and are already well on the way to becoming a well-rounded individual.

Source: Alex Sumner’s answer to What does dreaming about demons but not scary mean? – Quora

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October 27, 2018 · 10:37 am

Do you believe in tarot card readings? Have you ever had one? How do you believe that would work? Did you gain insight from the reading? Did you do it more than once? With different readers? – Quora

Tarot

(a2a) I rarely go to other people for Tarot readings (I’ve had about two in my entire lifetime) – usually it is me giving readings for them. So if I wanted a Tarot reading, the first person I would think of going to is myself. The cards make me think of things which I would not normally consider, and hence because I am forced out of my habitual thought-patterns, this helps to spark my intuition. The Tarot cards really work as Keys to Unlock my own insight, and stimulate my psychic awareness.

I also find that if I have a question bothering me, and I do a tarot reading on it once, that provides closure on the issue, whatever the particular outcome of the reading happens to be. I strongly advise against the temptation to attempt to have more than reading or consult more than one reader attempt to answer the exact same question – you would be losing objectivity by hearing only what you want to hear.

Source: Alex Sumner’s answer to Do you believe in tarot card readings? Have you ever had one? How do you believe that would work? Did you gain insight from the reading? Did you do it more than once? With different readers? – Quora

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October 26, 2018 · 10:18 am

How do you astral project from a lucid dream state? – Quora

Astral Projection

(a2a) If you can lucid dream already, you are so close to full astral projection. You just need to be able to do three things:

Firstly: take control of your lucid dream. Not only do you need to be aware you are dreaming but you can alter the content of, and move about in, your dream at will.

Secondly: you have to do something which in New Age speak is called raising your level of vibration. In practical terms this means invoking divine energy, e.g. through the chanting of divine and angelic names, meditating on and filling yourself with the qualities of the place on the Astral Plane you wish to visit, etc.

Thirdly, after you’ve done that, you then project to somewhere you -know- is on the Astral Plane. This could be done by deliberately flying as far away from Earth as possible – which signifies getting away from content created by your own brain, until you reach astral phenomena which exist objectively. Alternatively, try dissolving everything you see into Whiteness – and when you think you can’t dissolve any more, dissolve -that- as well.

In occultism, the most popular method is to project through a Magical Symbol as if it were a Doorway – this has the effect of taking you away from your own mind, to a place on the Astral Plane which the Magical Symbol represents. “Tattva” symbols are commonly used to take one to a place associated with Elemental forces, but you could theoretically use a whole host of symbols, such as astrological or Qabalistic symbols, or even Tarot cards.

Apas (i.e. Water) tattva

It is always sensible to remain cautious: be open to what you see and experience but don’t necessarily believe it; ask for a Guide to accompany you when you project, and always make the beings and things you encounter show bona fides that they are telling you the truth. Then when it is time to leave, thank your guides, and retrace your steps back to your physical body here on Earth.

Source: Alex Sumner’s answer to How do you astral project from a lucid dream state? – Quora

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October 19, 2018 · 9:16 am

Alex Sumner’s answer to Was Elijah taken by God or aliens on a fiery chariot into heaven? – Quora

Elijah and his “Chariot.”

Neither. In this case, “Chariot” (Hebrew: “Merkavah”) refers to a type of mysticism, kind of like proto-Kabbalah. In other words, he astrally ascended to heaven in a state of perfected consciousness, whilst his physical body probably just died normally. This is not dissimilar to the Yogic concept of “Mahasamadhi,” which is how great sages end their physical incarnation whilst in a state of perfected meditation.

Source: Alex Sumner’s answer to Was Elijah taken by God or aliens on a fiery chariot into heaven? – Quora

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October 8, 2018 · 10:27 am

Alex Sumner’s answer to As someone interested in Alchemy, would you recommend any book? Why would you propose those book in particular? What did they taught you? – Quora

For a beginner, I would recommend “The Alchemist’s Handbook” by Frater Albertus. Although the spagyric work it describes is only introductory, it does do a good job of acquainting the student with the basic terminology.

Also, one should read up on Hermeticism. Freke & Gandy’s “The Hermetica” is an introduction, although I prefer GRS Mead’s edition of “Corpus Hermeticum.”

Splendor Solis

After one has read these, one is then ready to move on to the more advance stuff such as:

– all of which I would also recommend.

Source: Alex Sumner’s answer to As someone interested in Alchemy, would you recommend any book? Why would you propose those book in particular? What did they taught you? – Quora

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October 2, 2018 · 12:03 pm

Alex Sumner’s answer to How can I know my exact birth time if I know I was born between 12.30 pm to 2 pm on 24 Dec 1984? – Quora

A person born in December 1984 would be 33 going on 34 years old in 2018, would have had one Saturn return, and be coming to the end of his third Jupiter-cycle.

The method used in western Tropical Astrology to narrow down your birth time is called “Chart Rectification.” This consists of looking at major events in a persons lifetime, and then comparing them with transits made by (e.g.) Saturn and / or Jupiter to that person’s natal chart.

If a major event corresponds to a planet transitting a -known- feature of the Natal chart, we may ignore that event for the purpose of Chart Rectification.
If however a major event does not correspond to such a feature, that is evidence that one has discovered a previously unknownfeature of the Natal chart – such as the exact position of the Ascendant or Mid-Heaven. We can verify this to see whether the position of the Ascendant would fit in with the known-facts (given the data supplied in the original question, the Ascendant can be narrowed down to a range of 22º 30′ – the maximum amount by which it would change position in ninety minutes).

For example: if one experienced a major life-affecting illness, AND that particular time did not correspond with Saturn transitting anywhere or anything else in your chart, that might show that Saturn was transitting your Ascendant at that time. Alternatively, if you experienced major good fortune in your public life, and Jupiter was not transitting anywhere or anything else in your chart, that might show that Jupiter was in fact transitting your Mid-Heaven.

By thus working out the precise moment of your Ascendant and / or Mid Heaven, it is then possible to work out your exact time of birth by back-calculation.

Source: Alex Sumner’s answer to How can I know my exact birth time if I know I was born between 12.30 pm to 2 pm on 24 Dec 1984? – Quora

See also:

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September 5, 2018 · 4:03 pm

How do you explain Kundalini Awakening to a rational person?

This was originally on Quora.com, but it was removed because they didn’t like me linking to an external website.

Give the so-called rational person a copy of Wilhelm Reich’s The Function of the Orgasm: Sex-Economic Problems of Biological Energy (The Discovery of the Orgone, Vol. 1) and explain to them that Kundalini awakening is similar in purpose and function to the release of “orgone” which Reich describes as occurring when a neurosis is abreacted.

You might also point out, however, that a traditional Yogi would view the process in far more spiritual terms than Reich would ever have countenanced: for example, a Yogi would not say neurosis so much as karma, and moreover would see the whole process as a spiritual one, whereas Reich only viewed it as a psychiatric one.

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July 27, 2018 · 11:41 am

I can’t afford to buy a proper Tarot deck. Can I make my own?

This too used to be on Quora.com but got taken down because they didn’t like me linking to an external website. 😦

I can’t afford to buy a proper Tarot deck. Can I make my own?

Alex answers:

It is theoretically possible to make your own tarot deck: I myself have done so. However, get this: the cost of finding an online company and getting them to turn my designs into a finished deck was approximately $45 – but that didn’t include any value placed on all the hours I had spent painting the designs, scanning them and editing them with Photoshop, etc. (I suppose could have cheated and just used pre-existing designs which are floating around the internet as pirated copies, but it would still cost me money to print them out).

Bear in mind however, that, Amazon is currently selling copies of the Rider Waite Deck for less than $20, so you must be really poor if you can’t afford that!

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