It has been thought initially that the lamps may have been fed by underground source of petrolatum, oil and other naturally occuring fuels. While others such as Athanasius Kircher merely ascribed the lamps to be the trick of the devil trying to sway people the worship and praise of false Gods. But, even the bible gives mention to a perpetual lamp. In Exodus 27:20 “And you shall command the children of Israel, that they bring you pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always.”

H.P. Blavatsky and Willy Schrodter also wrote a great deal on these perpetual lamps. Curiously both of them had a recipe for said perpetual lamps and Blavatsky even went as far as to decree “We may add that we have ourselves seen a lamp so prepared, and we are told that since it was first lighted on May 2, 1871, it has not gone out.” Now of course we have no way of knowing where this lamp may be and if it is still alight today but below you may find the recipe for such a lamp, as transcribed by Willy Schrodter.

Take:
1 1/2oz. flowers of sulphur
1 oz. burnt alum

and place them in a subliming pot after a thorough mixing. Place a similar pot mouth to mouth with this and seal the join well with potter’s cement. The pot with the mixture inside is set on a coal fire so that it becomes red hot for approximately one hour, and the sublimed fixed mass is taken out to be pulverized in a mortar. Half as much pure borax by weight is added to the resultant powder and the whole is then reduced to a similar powder in the mortar. This powder is placed in a shallow glass or porcelain basin and is covered with the most highly rectified spirit of wine (ethyl alcohol). The basin is now placed on hot ashes, held over a coal fire in a small caldron, and the spirit is allowed to evaporate slowly. When the mass runs thick like oil, a little of it is removed and laid on a red-hot sheet of copper. Now if the mass runs like wax without smoking, it is ready; but, if it still smokes, more spirit must be poured into the basin and evaporated as before, and the process is to be repeated until the samples no longer emit smoke when tested. The product is then ready.

A wick is now made, about 2 inches long and as thick as the piggest piece of quill. The material used is asbestos or white fibrous gypsum (steatite) bound with silk thread. The prepared mass is then placed in a strong glass made for the purpose, the wick is inserted and the preparation left standing for 24 hours in hot sand. The wick is the pulled up and a sufficiently large lamp chimney is made for it so that it is only slightly exposed at the top and the perepetually burning sulphur mass pours onto it, and the glass is placed in hot sand until the sulphur mass melts and collects around the wick. Finally, the lamp which has been prepared in this way is lit with a light and placed in a place where it will not be disturbed. It will then go on burning without ever going out.

Surprisingly, with the excpetion of the asbestos all of these items can still be purchased from a metal smithing or jewelery maker supplier. The science of it is not that completely unfounded. I should warn the reader though that if you plan to attempt this, inhaling, or handling asbestos has been known to cause mesothelioma and I will refer you to our terms of use.

The purpose of the perpetual lamp may have served as a two fold purpose, one to act as a ight for the deceased to walk through the valley of the shadow of death and the other as a testament to the importance of the deceased.

If you are interested in reading or learning more about these perpetual lamps I will refer you to my sources.

• A Rosicrucian Notebook: The Secret Sciences Used by Members of the Order
• Isis Unveiled (Volumes 1 and 2)

Such is the case with the copy of the Picatrix that I recently acquired from Ouroboros Press. For those who do not know; the Picatrix is a fantastic resource on Astrological and Talismanic magic. While it is a bit of a dry read the information presented within is priceless. In a similar way to Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy one may learn the appropriate way to summon the spirit of any of the stellar systems. However, if you are looking to use the book beyond a practical reference and resource you may have difficulty getting your hands on some of the ingredients required. Requests for rites are so outlandish that it makes you wonder how a spell or invocation could not work as is demonstrated in the final excerpt of the invocation of mars.

“Then you use the incense and then repeat the invocation as you are bowing and kneeling to him. When you are done, sacrifice a tiger or wildcat and burn him as we have mentioned before and eat its liver then all your requests will come true.”

Despite this there are gems of wisdom that don’t require the consumption of an animals liver. Some of them even seem to have a bit of basis in a more scientific approach. Such as this formula to get rid of fleas.

“There is also a charm that Kothamy said he tried for killing fleas is by taking colocynth seed with quicklime and the root of the Egyptian cucumber. Grind them and add some stinky red comfrey. Melt plenty of salt in water and soak the mixture in that water, then spray it around the beds and the house and you will never see any fleas again.”

While this volume of the Picatrix does not contain the complete works of Ghayat Al-Hakim it definitely has more than enough information and history to give you insights into the past. If you are bold enough to do the magic within then it provides you with all the proper knowledge needed to succeed in your summons.

If you are interested in picking up your own copy of the Picatrix then stop over at Ouroboros Press , and you may want to do it sooner than later since every book published at Ouroboros is a limited edition.

We decided to kick off the holidays with a new site design. Hope you enjoy it and excuse the mess while we tidy up. That, said should you find any thing majorly wrong please feel free to use the contact form to drop us a line. As always we thank you for your patronage; and have a safe and Happy Halloween.

Since you are here why not learn The Meaning of Halloween

To perform a crystal healing one would have themselves or their patient lay down, for several minutes and begin a meditative breath. One may optionally play ambient music to further calm the patient.

1. Crown Chakra (white/clear)
2. Third Eye Chakra (Violet/Purple)
3. Throat Chakra (Blue)
4. Heart Chakra (Green)
5. Solar Plexus Chakra (Yellow)
6. Sacral / Naval Chakra (Orange)
7. Root / Earth Chakra

Where they are placed depends upon the chakra; a particular stone would be used such for each chakra such as amethyst for the third eye.

To begin two clear quartz crystals are placed , one above the head, and another below the feet. These would be used to balance and align the chakras and other stones, for optimal vibrational healing frequency.

As the crystals are placed they are pressed gently, but firmly and the healer imagines them merging with the chakra, each stone will help to strengthen the particular core chakra and to help relax the patient.

This technique is worked from the root chakra to the crown chakra. With each stone placement the hands are either flicked or blown upon to release any cumulative energy the stones may effect. This method ensures that each chakra and stone correlation are pure and untainted.

The patient will then relax with the stones for another 15-30 minutes and at the end the stones will be carefully removed in a similar manner to their placement so as not to disturb the patients equilibrium.

Unfortunately, medical science has yet to prove any genuine medical benefit from crystal healing aside from the relaxing meditation and the patients own psychological effects. Now this is not to discount crystal healing but to merely point out that it should not be used to cure any major ailment or disease.

This whole operation may leave an outside observer with a simple question of how on earth could this heal anyone or if you are like me you are left to ask how can you feel crystal vibrations or where on earth did someone get the idea for this?

To which I can only say quartz crystals are not without their practical application. quartz crystals are used in the following applications; communications, navigation, radar, sensors, guidance systems, fuzes, atomic clocks, astronomy, & geodesy, mobile/cellular/portable radio/ telephones & pagers, computers, crt displays, disk drives, modems, watches, clocks, tvs, cb radios, pacemakers, GPS, and many more similar applications.

In all of these applications quartz crystals are valued for their unique vibrational frequencies, as well as the fact they offer, stability (with time, temperature, acceleration and radiation), low noise, low power consumption, small size, fast warm up, and they have a low life-cycle. But how are these quartz crystals used in practical application?

The quartz crystal first got noticed back in 1880 when the Curie brothers Pierre and Jacques discovered when mechanical pressure is applied to a crystal unit, electricity is generated on the surface, otherwise known as the piezoelectric effect. The most basic application is in simple ignition systems for stove. When a button is pressed a spark (electricity) is generated and light�s the pilot light. But besides this application of the quartz crystal it did not get it’s first real job until 1917 when the crystal was used in sonar devices.

Since then the Quartz crystal has been grown artificially and developed into crystal oscillators. There are four types of oscillators SPXO Simple Packaged X�Tal Oscillator, TCXO Temperature Compensated X’tal Oscillator, VCXO Voltage Controlled X’tal Oscillator and the OCXO Oven Controlled X’tal Oscillator which are used in all of the technologies I mentioned before.

It is from this modern and practical application of the quartz crystal that I believe many spiritually minded folks got the concept and idea that all crystals function on vibratory frequencies. So it is not a hard leap to imagine that one day someone was discussing information on how Crystal Oscillators function and the next someone runs with the idea that they can perform healings with crystals. It can be concluded then that there may have been a little information lost in translation. Despite all of this the one thing I can neither confirm nor deny is if crystal healings do in fact have a benefit for the soul. Since there is no quantitative or qualitative method to measure such a thing we can only surmise maybe it does or maybe it doesn’t. That said should you be curious enough to attempt or to receive a crystal healing please, don’t have any presuppositions that it can cure physical ailments. Just simply admire it for what it is, many beautiful and semi precious gem stones covering your body, while you meditate.

For more information
* Quartz Crystal Devices
* A History Of The Quartz Crystal Industry In The USA
* Quartz Crystal Oscillators

We all make mistakes but how often do we do them intentionally?

Day 189: Do something stupid
Perform and intentional mistake. The mistake or stupid act can be in regards to anything big or small. We learn from our mistakes but how much will we learn if we intentionally make mistakes? Will we be more conscious of the learning process, more entertained, or oblivious since the mistake was intentional? Whatever the mistake be careful and attentive with it. Who know something positive might just come out of this stupid act.

Before I begin with day 188, I must defer you to our Terms and Conditions .

�Hugs are part of everybody life for me. I�ll hug all sorts of people- I don�t worry about it looking unmanly or whatever. I think physical human contact is one of the things that makes living worthwhile.�
~AJ McClean

Day 188: Give someone a hug
You may or may not have the opportunity to hug someone but you will need to make one. You can hug one person or as many people as you want. It cannot be someone you know though. Some people are very sensitive to being touched and will react adversly to a positive thing such as a hug. be very mindful of who you choose to hug.

You may also consider setting up something as cheesy as a free hugs booth. Where anyone can get a free hug no questions asked. Why a hug? Human contact makes most everyone feel better. We are social creatures by nature and a well timed hug can really change someone’s mood and make them feel better.

Before I begin with day 187, I must defer you to our Terms and Conditions .

â��Cows are my passion. What I have ever sighed for has been to retreat to a Swiss farm, and live entirely surrounded by cows – and china.â�� ~Charles Dickens

Day 187: Milk a cow
This could be a bit challenging for some people, but if you sincerely want the opportunity you can make it happen. Milking a cow is easier than it sounds, at least if you have never done it before. When you are there pay attention to what you are doing, and your surroundings. This is just a fun activity that allows one the opportunity to experience farm life first hand.

Before I begin with day 186, I must defer you to our Terms and Conditions .

“Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things.” ~The Sound of Music My Favorite Things

Day 186: Write down a list of your favorite things
Write down a list of your favorite things. Are they foods, objects, activities, places? What reoccurring items in your list do you have? Why do you suppose you like the things you do? Are these things associated with favorable experiences or odd coincidence?

Think about why you have what you have in your list and after you are done with the list add something you don’t like. Rewrite your list again and add the item you don’t like in the middle. Run through your reasons of why you like these things. With the item you don’t like make up a reason why you do like it. Rewrite the list one more time. You may find by now that you actually do like the item you disliked.

Before I begin with day 185, I must defer you to our Terms and Conditions .

“Sir, excuse me sir! Can’t you see that I am reading and have headphones on?! I don’t want to talk to you.” ~ Anonymous Bus Patron

Day 185: Take a ride on public transportation
You can meet the most interesting folks on public transportation. You can also meet people you don’t want to meet. One bus ride could very well change your life. Pick up a local schedule for the bus, T, or subway. Pick a destination and time. Get on and ride. You may want to bring a book to read or music player. The way you ride is up to you. The ride itself is the experience.

Before I begin with day 184, I must defer you to our Terms and Conditions .

Plays have served a major role in society. Plays range from topic from Greek tragedies, to the works of Shakespeare and even more contemporary works like Rent.

Day 184: Memorize a part in a play
Depending upon the play and the part you pick this task could be difficult or easy. Since there are innumerable plays, one may consider a classic work by Shakespeare, or something more contemporary like Tiny Alice. Whatever you decide get yourself a copy of the play of whose lines you would like to learn. Set to memorizing the lines of your chosen role.

This task may seem quite daunting and pointless at first but it does have a purpose. One you will appreciate more after you have learned your new role.