The company that sponsored this was Weyerhaeuser Timber Co. Their work took place from the late 1800′s to 1930′s as technology improved so too did their harvesting methods. These trees were so large that you could live in their trunk, dwarf teams of horses and men and still inspire awe hundreds of years later. Below is a collection of photographs sampled from Darius Kinsey’s archive.

While it is indeed a testament to man’s ingenuity and will it is also a testament to his lack of foresight a lesson our fellow humans still have yet to learn.

• Photo Archives of Darius Kinsey
• Cathedral Grove-Big Trees Pictures and Politics
• Douglas Fir of Oregon
• Kinsey Photo Archive

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

The idea is something out of science fiction. The action is both atrocious and miraculous. In 1940 surgeons Sergei Brukhonenko and S. Tchetchuline had removed a dog’s head and kept it alive with tubes attached to its neck and what is described as the first artificial heart and lung machine. The blood has been chemically treated to keep from clotting. Utilizing an arterial pump the blood is transfered into a reservoir with a steady flow of oxygenated blood. The head lives on for hours and reacts to external stimuli. When given honey the dog head would happily lick it up, and treats were given that passed through the esophageal lining.

The tablets were translated by Dr.Doreal. Dr.Doreal has a connection with the Great White Lodge or mystic masters that presumably exist upon the ethereal planes. The tablets themselves are said to be created by Thoth the atlantean from a substance made from alchemical experimentation.

“His writings consist of twelve Tablets of Emerald Green formed from a substance created through alchemical transmutation. They are imperishable, resistant to all elements, corrosion and acids. In effect, the atomic and cellular structure is fixed, and no change can take place, thus violating the material law of ionization.

Upon them are engraved characters in the Ancient Atlantean language; characters which respond to the attuned thought waves of the reader and which release much more wisdom and information than the characters do when merely deciphered. The Tablets are fastened together with hoops of a golden colored alloy suspended from a rod of the same material.”

You can order a copy of the tablets translated by Dr.Doreal here or read them online here. From the description of the tablets, they seem about as tangible as the gold plates of the mormons. In other words there is no tangible evidence of either of them. If this were not enough, little to no information can be found on Dr.Doreal. Not even a first or last name.

Now this can mean one of two things, the first is that Dr.Doreal is in fact fictitious and started his own cult. After all the brotherhood is on over 1500 acres in Colorado. Or it could in fact mean that Dr.Doreal is of the Great White Brotherhood. Given his description and the description of the tablets could very well be a high possibility.

Regardless it seems that the famed White Brotherhood of esoterica remains intangible. The Brotherhood holds as much realism and esteem as Santa Claus, or the Easter Bunny, that is to say it is probably only a dream. However since the true brotherhood is said to exist in higher dimensions; we were damned from the start to never find empirical evidence. So ultimately whether they are real or imaginary remains in your hands my dear reader.

Pokemon has single handedly managed to attract thousands of kids, teenagers, and young adults into its unique paradigm. What is it about the show and video game that make it so popular? As many people know the name of the anime means pocket monster. This is our first allusion to the some deeper meanings into its creation. If one watches some of the episodes one will see a recurring theme. The theme is of animal/monster like creatures creating bonds or sharing the world with humans. While most of the pokemon bare a purely fictitious existence. The idea of people paying respect to these creatures is somewhat reminiscent of the religious practice of Shintoism. More specifically it relates to the type of Shinto known as Folk Shinto. Folk shinto is comprised of numerous folk legends and beliefs based upon divination, and spirit worship.

Some pokemon are taken directly from Japanese myth and legend and incorporated into the show. The few that truly embody this are

Magikarp Magikarp is a fish type pokemon, modeled after the carp. In china there is a legend that when the carp is able to swim to the top of the waterfall it will turn into a dragon after its its difficult struggle. The Magikarp also evolves into a Gyrados which is a dragon type Pokemon.

Ninetales is another pokemon that references a chinese legend of a nine-tailed fox spirit and also the Japanese legend of Kitsune. Kitsune is a fox spirit which is able to transform and take shape of a human. This very legend of a Kitsune was actually used in an episode of pokemon. The gist of the episode was that a 200 year old nine-tales attempted to seduce one of the male characters on pokemon. The reason it attempted to seduce him was because it was lonely.

Spiritomb known as the forbidden pokemon because it is made of a 108 wicked souls. The souls were sealed in an odd keystone because of their unholy acts. This is of interest because in Buddhism a bell is rung 108 times on New Year’s Eve to correspond to the 108 wicked thoughts. Also a mala or buddhist prayer beads will typically have 108 beads for repetitions.

These are just 3 of over 480 pokemon, each one has its own unique abilities and history to it. Yes the storyline and game do encourage people to learn about strategy, respect, and basic social interaction; but it is curious to know the possible origins of the Pokemon universe. It is also easy to understand now how some people have attributed Pokemon to devil worship.

Another popular daytime cartoon that is seemingly steeped in magic and the Occult is Yu-Gi-Oh!. The premise of Yu-Gi-Oh! is a boy and his friends use a card game of skill and strategy to battle each other and their friends. Yu-Gi-Oh the protagonist receives an pendant from his grandfather. The pendant called the millennium necklace was found on an archaeological excavation in Egypt. The story continues and we find that Yu-Gi-Oh’s necklace contains the spirit of an ancient pharaoh. The pharaoh himself used to battle against the “evil” wizards, in a similar way to the card game Yu-Gi-Oh plays. In fact one learns that the duel monster battles the pharaoh had have been brought back in the card game Yu-Gi-Oh plays. So anytime during the show one will see this ancient Pharaoh taking possession over the young Yugioh fighting his battles for him.

The show eventually goes on to reveal different demons and monsters in the cards. Many of these entities have surely been based upon our own mythological demons and monsters. The most interesting correlation I have found with Yu-Gi-Oh; is that it closely resembles Aleister Crowley’s dealings with spirits when he went to Egypt. Crowley wrote a book while in Egypt called The Book of Law or Liber AL. The book was said to have be divined to him by his Holy Guardian Angel or the ancient spirit Aiwass in a series of trance visions. If one watches Yu-Gi-Oh long enough one will see for themselves the numerous pentagrams, seals. One may even see the unicursal hexagram which Crowley adapted while in the Golden Dawn. Now is this just a product of extremely good research or did the writers have a much more intense purpose in mind. One could even theorize that the story line in Yugioh actually mirrors the same purpose with the creation of the real cards. A point which Yugioh numerously refers to as the spirit of the cards. There is no chance with him, only a matter of faith.

These aren’t the only two shows that have ties to religion or the occult. In fact there are several more. The point of interest is that those who practice these things either help influence modern media or are influenced by the Occult. As I said earlier it is really no surprise that some devout religious persons would get worked up about these shows. If for no other reason than they may actually be correct in their assumptions. This does not dignify their zealotry but rather provides a point for one to contemplate.

Different spiritual paths have different color systems. The Kabbalah or the Jewish mystic tradition has different color representations for the different spheres of the sephiroth. Each sephiroth represents a different place in one’s spiritual consciousness or evolution. For example Malkuth the bottom sephiroth on the tree of life is citrine, olive, russet, and black. The colors representing the gross material plane. So the colors would be arranged like this.

1. Kether white
2. Chokmah gray
3. Binah black
4. Chsed blue
5. Geburah red
6. Tiphareth yellow
7. Netzach green
8. Hod orange
9. Yesod violet
10. Malkuth citrine, olive, russet, black

The first color being the pinnacle of the tree malkuth being white, representing purity.

The kabbalah isn’t the only spiritual system to use color Santeria also makes use of colors in its candles. Some colors used in Santeria are

• white
• black
• red
• purple
• blue
• green
• yellow
• pink
• orange
• brown

unlike the kabbalah though these colors are a little more intuitive to what the colors mean. For instance black candles are used in black magic, while white candles are used in contacting the higher divine essences.

Colors are also ascribed meaning in dreams. The colors and meanings given to dreams are also the same given to read auras. These are rudimentary descriptions and some colors are often combinations of primary colors. An example of a combination description is the color pink.

• red is anger or lust
• blue is sadness or sometimes spirituality
• black is evil, darkness, death or mystery
• white is purity, goodness, hope, faith
• violet is deep spirituality, royalty, sometimes insanity
• green is health or balance
• yellow is cowardice, or intellect
• pink is love
• orange is motivation, sometimes hidden rage
• brown is practicality or nature

With colors taking such a prominent position in culture, how then are these meanings and purposes given to colors? It perhaps all directly correlates to our vision and ability to see and perceive color. It is really an amazing process if you take the time to think about it. The human eyes can only perceive a very small part of the visual spectrum. We can’t see ultra-violet light or infrared light but we know it is there. What would we give for meaning to these “colors” if we could see them. Our desire to give meaning to colors comes from our need to understand our surroundings, the process or ways that we can even see are simply astounding. For a moment look at an object near you pick out a color. Stare at it. Why is the object that color ? Yes, you can come up with a scientific meaning or reason why the object that color. The real question still remains what is color and why do we perceive it? Unfortunately I don’t have an answer but it does give something for retrospection during meditation.

Further reading:
* The great color legends

ABRACADABRA
ABRACADABR
ABRACADAB
ABRACADA
ABRACAD
ABRACA
ABRAC
ABRA
ABR
AB
A

It was believed that by writing the word in decreasing to increasing letters it would aid in the efficaciousness of the talisman. The talisman was said to be worn around the neck and it would help cure disease. This was originally stated by Serenus Samonicus a roman medical physician.

This same principal of talismanic magic was often applied with other words. Example the cure for the plague could be

PLAGUE
PLAGU
PLAG
PLA
PL
P

At the origin of this word it very well could of cured people of minor illnesses. If for no other reason than by use of its subconscious placebo effect. The process of the decreasing word would act as a signal to the subconscious; meaning that as the word decreases in size so too does the severity of the illness.

Museum curator and Egyptologist E.A. Wallis Budge had this to say about Abracadabra,

“… the formula is based upon something which is much older, and that in any case the idea of it is derived from an older source. Many attempts have been made to find a meaning for the formula, but the explanation put forward by Bischoff, Dr E, in his “Kabbalah” is the most likely to be correct. He derives the formula from the Chaldee words Abbada Ke Dabra, which seem to be addressed to something like the fever and to mean something like “perish like the word”. “

Now if we delve into some Occult base texts; further use of the incantation Abracadabra can be found in the Key of Solomon; in the conjuration of the sword.

“I conjure thee, O Sword, by these Names, ABRAHACH, ABRACH, ABRACADABRA, YODHE VAU HE, that thou serve me for a strength and defence in all Magical Operations, against all mine Enemies, visible and invisible.”

Here the word is used to give empowerment to the magician before final use of the tetragrammaton IHVH. It is perhaps the instances of these two things that may have inspired Aleister Crowley to adopt and change Abracdabra to his own word Abrahadabra.

Abrahadabra he said though was attained using kabbalistic meditations and exercises. Crowley said that Abrahadabra is the “establishment of the pillar or phallus of the Macrocosm…in the void of the Microcosm.” Crowley’s word made its debut appearance in the Book of Law in which he wrote on a trip to Egypt in 1904. The real reason for the change though is that the word supposedly represents the Chaldean for the goddess Set.

Even though Abracadabra in modern society now represents a gibberish word; it is quite apparent that there is more to the word than adding mood to a magician’s trick.

Reference:
* “The Key of Somolomon“
* “-The Magus_” By Francis Barrett
* “The Book of Law” By Aleister Crowley
* “Making Talismans: Living entities of power“
* “Three Books of Occult Philosophy“