What I am Reading Right Now...

I have some book reviews to do, but until I get around to that, I felt like sharing what I am digesting right now. 

LightQuest: Your Guide to Seeing and Interacting with UFOs, Mystery Lights and Plasma Intelligences by Andrew Collins. Collins is by far one of my favorite authors. This actually is similar, but different, to my blog entry from back in May about rethinking reality. Where I focus more on the role of DMT, he focuses on plasma. Where we meet is around Paul Devereux and his Earth Light work. Anyways, Andrew starts with Roswell, and moves on to Marfa and then the English Countryside. Slowly and clearly making the case against physical nuts and bolts ET's and for something very different. He does an amazing job, bringing things to light that have not be published elsewhere. I find that every time I read one of his books, I learn a good number of things I had never heard about before. This is not always the case, and for him to do such consistent work in the fields he writes about is impressive. Being about halfway through this book, I would highly recommend it.

The Omega Project: Near-Death Experiences, Ufo Encounters, and Mind at Large by Kenneth Ring, PH.D. This is a re-read. Granted the first time I read it was about 20 years ago, and it has always stuck with me as a phenomenal and groundbreaking piece of work. I decided to see if a re-read would hold up, and what I am finding is that I am even more impressed by this work than I was originally. Ken started out just working on Near Death Experiences, but has expanded here to include UFO Encounters. When I first read this, I was sold on the 'nuts and bolts' ET hypothesis of UFO's, partly because of the rather good work of Budd Hopkins. As Dr. Ring shows that there are a lot of similar factors to people who have NDE's and UFO encounters, it pushes against the purely physical idea, and the first time I read this, it really hurt my brain trying to figure these connections out. Now, they make a lot of sense, and I see from this perspective that he was way ahead of the curve. A definite must read for anyone serious about this phenomenon.

Lost Star of Myth and Time by Walter Cruttenden. Also a re-read, although from a much more recent time. I started to re-read this to prepare for the interview I did with Walter at the end of September. That interview can be found here. I didn't get through the whole thing in time for the interview, but  I am greatly enjoying the re-read. In short, it deals with the cyclic nature of time, a rise from a dark age, to a golden age, and back again, the evidence for this, as well as the common belief in so many cultures of this cycle, it's connection to the precession of the equinox, and the theory that we may be in a binary star system that drives said cycle. Awesome book, and I was very happy with the interview we did.

Lost Cities of Africa and Arabia (The Lost City Series) by David Hatcher Childress. Haven't gotten too far into this one yet, but like all of David's work, this one is entertaining from the beginning. It records his travels around Africa in search of lost cities and legends. This series has a nice balance of fact with legend with travel stories. David has no problem going off on wild speculation, and in this case, it's usually entertaining. He does a good job differentiating the facts from theory and speculation. 

Earth in Upheaval by Immanuel Velikovsky. After finishing Worlds in Collision a short while ago (full review will be up eventually) I immediately starting reading this. Velikovsky will clearly be proven wrong on some points, but overall he seems to be more right than wrong. The scientific establishment doesn't like that at all. To this day, over 50 years later, they still seek to distance any new discoveries that support his theories with a buffer that makes him sound wrong, even if he wasn't. This one is more geological than Worlds, since he was criticized for referring to myths in that volume. Haven't made it very far yet, but I have high expectations. 

Gateway to Atlantis: The Search for the Source of a Lost Civilization by Andrew Collins. Yup, I am reading 2 Andrew Collins books currently. Three actually, but I haven't picked up The Cygnus Mystery: Unlocking the Ancient Secret of Life's Origins in the Cosmos in a while, so that doesn't count right now. I will get back to it eventually. This is Collins attempt to find atlantis based on information in ancient maps, legends, and, of course, Plato's writings. His end result is that it was in Cuba to some extent. A good piece of work I am about halfway through. All his evidence is well supported and fleshed out in great detail. Anyone with an interest in Atlantis, as well as lost civilizations, should find this a damned interesting read.

Daimonic Reality: A Field Guide to the Otherworld by Patrick Harpur. This is also a re-read, because as blown away by it as I was the first time through, I failed to remember it in any detail.  Harpur approaches the paranormal by shifting how we view reality. It is an impressive piece of work. Comprehensive as well, and he is likely, to some degree, right about how we interact with this phenomenon. Highly recommended. 

The Way Toward Health: A Seth Book by Jane Roberts. As much as I tend to be VERY skeptical of channeling, Seth has always been an exception. Detailed and specific, and when we look at what we have learned scientifically in the last few decades, and how Seth claimed things worked, he seems to have been accurate. Jane was always skeptical of her channeling, and as to whether or not Seth was really what he claimed to be or if it was just a part of her own mind somehow. I think the wealth of information, though, speaks for itself. This is not all light and love like a lot of New Age channels. This is very real and down to earth. However, this is by no means their best work. This was actually dictated while Jane was dying in the hospital. A good portion of the book is her husband Robert's notes about her condition and such, with short little spurts of dictation. The quality of material is still there despite Jane's state. If you have read most of the other work, this is interesting, if a little sad. You can really feel for what Robert is going through watching Jane deteriorate. If you are not familiar with Jane's work, go read something else, like Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul, which is a good place to start...

The Confessions of Aleister Crowley: An Autohagiography. Yet another re-read. I first read this over 20 years ago, and found so much that I loved about Crowley. Re-reading it I find myself feeling the same level of respect all over again. This book had a HUGE effect on me, and Crowley's work and view on things has always been a inspiration to me. He was such a unique individual, and had such a huge effect on our culture, not that most people realize it. In fact, most people have no idea what Crowley was really all about, and if you are one of those people that thinks he was just some evil, black magician or Satanist, you really need to read this book and understand just how fully wrong that idea is.  What is also remarkable is how relevant some of what he has to say is to today's world...

Last one for now, and yes, I know, I read a LOT of stuff at the same time. I tend to bounce back and forth depending on my mood and what I feel like learning about.

Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, the Powerful Forces That Put It in the White House, and What Their Influence Means for America by Russ Baker. The man behind the WhoWhatWhy.com website, this book is awesome. Russ started working on it after hearing Bush Sr. say that he had no idea where he was during the assassination of JFK. Russ finds out just where he was, why he doesn't want anyone to know, and builds from there to show just how much influence the Bush's have had over our history, going back to WWII and beyond. Everything is notated and you can find every bit of information he refers to. There is little speculation, just following the facts. Russ Baker is what a news reporter should be. His website and this book both attest to that. You will find here information about the JFK assassination that you have never heard about before. You will see how interconnected the Bush family has been to our government for longer than most of us have been alive. It's actually a bit disturbing...

Ok, that is the mass of stuff I am working my way through right now. I have Velikovsky's book to review eventually as well as Laird Scranton's The Velikovsky Heresies: Worlds in Collision and Ancient Catastrophes Revisited, which I can say right now, I recommend if you have read any of Velikovsky's work. 

Book Review: "Jadoo" by John Keel

I had wanted to read John Keel's Jadoo: The Astounding Story of One Man's Search into the Mysteries of Black Magic in the Orient for a very long time. Out of print, and sometimes hard to find, I finally picked up a reasonably priced copy of it. Running roughly 250 pages, it is one hell of an interesting read. Keel is known, of course, most famously for The Mothman Prophecies, and overall as a UFOlogist. But this book is before all that. Published in 1957, this was his debut, and chronicles his life traveling around the Middle East in search of unusual stories. He delves into the secrets of snake charmers and mystics. He learned the rather interesting Indian Rope Trick. He searches for a Yeti in the mountains near Tibet. He does all this by the seat of his pants, with almost no money, and encounters plenty of problems. It's a very entertaining read, and through it all, despite his overall skepticism, he finds some truly unexplainable things out there. At the same time, you can really feel what he is describing, from the squalor of certain areas, to the majesty of others. It's a look at another culture that you don't often see from our world. 

This is a home movie that he took of the snake charmers he talks about in the book...

Kind of interesting that it exists, especially since he had to sell all his equipment to have money to live on shortly after this. Would love to see more footage from the events in the book.

In short, if you like Keel's style, his frank, and humorous approach, you will like Jadoo, and I would highly recommend tracking down a copy.

2012

December 21, 2012 is the date the world ends. You have most likely heard this before. So says the Mayan calendar. So why should they know, and why should we care. Actually, there are hints of this date in various ancient cultures, but the Mayan calendar is special. It is more accurate than any other calendar, till very, VERY recently. As far as we can tell anyways. As we advance, we then notice that they were already there, we just aren't advanced enough to see it. So how did the Mayans get to that level? In all likelihood, they didn't. The Mayan's didn't really invent much. They never even invented the wheel. The calendar was passed down and kept, as were many other books and records which were destroyed by the Spanish. So...
Who gave the Mayans a calendar of such an advanced nature? Evidence, of which there is a good amount, suggests that it was a very advanced culture that existed on this planet before the end of the last so-called Ice Age. More on that in a moment. The one thing all ancient cultures share that was passed down to them is very advanced astronomical knowledge. The Zodiac and all long count calendars come from this culture, as well, seemingly as some architectural knowledge. Most ancient cultures seem to devolve, which is often overlooked. The best pyramids and such, were built first, then the art was lost. But that is not this point. Evidence of where the structures were built gives us more of a clue as well. Research has shown that most, if not all, major ancient structures, all over the world, point to, at very least, the last two positions of the north pole.

So does that mean the magnetic north pole? Yes, but there may be more to it. We know that they point to the old pole, and we know where that was because of the magnetism left in rock. This is accepted by current science. What is not accepted is a physical pole shift, yet evidence points to that, too. If you look at an accurate map of the last ice age, there are two interesting things... One, Siberia, which is now frozen, was ice free, and as a matter of fact, temperate, during the last ice age. The Mammoth’s that were found there led to the misconception that they were cold weather creatures, which they are not. Two, also ice free, was lesser Antarctica. Now, logically, how could that be? Two areas that are pretty frozen now, were ice-free during the ICE AGE? It does make sense, if you tip the globe so that the Hudson Valley Pole is the North Pole. Siberia moves south, and lesser Antarctica moves north. Ice builds up more on land than on water, hence the large Ice cap that covered North America and Europe back then. New geology has discovered that the ice caps, when they melted, melted internally first. They even have a name for the large lake that it formed. Then, one day, the whole glacier collapsed, and all that water came rushing out, causing not only worldwide flooding, but also earthquakes and volcanic activity as the huge weight of the ice suddenly dissipated. Again, that part is slowly becoming accepted science. But a pole shift is snubbed. Why? Well, when evidence was being discovered back in the late 1800's that suggested a worldwide flood, the last thing that the fledgling science wanted to do is announce that they found evidence of the biblical flood. That would give the bible thumpers the ability to say that the bible was now scientifically proven, so what do you need science for, it's all in the bible. So, using the evidence available, they came up with the ice age theory. It works to an extent, but it has many failings, and does not explain many things that a flood does. And this war between science and the bible continues to this day, as I am sure you have noticed. Sadly, science lends that same attitude to anything ancient. They reduce them to simple, stupid, superstitious beings. When new data reveals that they knew what they were talking about, that, and only that piece is accepted. Basically, it's a mess. And it's not likely to get any better any time soon.

So what does this have to do with 2012? Well, the calendar starts after the end of the last world, interestingly, just around the time the last Ice Age ended. Aka, the flood. The Hopi Indians, who also acknowledge the 2012 date, say that this world will end in Fire, just as the last ended in Water. The calendar, the alignment of buildings, these may be warnings to us, from 10,000 years ago. Perhaps from a culture who saw their end coming, but didn't know what to do about it. So, then, how would they know ours?

Well, the one thing I think we can assume that they had, was very advanced astronomical knowledge. So, using that, would there be something that could happen that such knowledge would be able to predict. Obviously, yes, but there are so many factors.

"In 2012 the plane of our Solar System will line up exactly with the plane of our Galaxy, the Milky Way. This cycle has taken 26,000 years to complete. Virgil Armstrong also says that two other galaxies will line up with ours at the same time. A cosmic event!"
From http://www.2012.com.au/unlimited.html

Ok, so what? Let's look at two other things. One, Fire. Over the last few years, when the Sun is supposed to have entered it's 'quiet' phase, it has actually been more active than ever. And now it is coming out of it's 'quiet' phase and we are seeing sunspots and solar flares bigger and more severe than anything we have seen before. Perhaps it's a coincidence. I do, however, believe that the peak of this cycle is around 2012.

The other odd thing. The entire solar system is getting brighter. This is a scientifically accepted piece of information that science cannot explain. I think it is not a stretch to connect this to the activity the sun is going through. We are also aware that lately there have been a bunch of gamma ray bursts coming from the center of the galaxy. Possibly nothing unusual, but maybe it is all connected. If the Sun blasts us with enough energy that it completely disrupts our magnetic field, it could cause a shift, like pushing to magnets against each other, the stronger wins. We also know that the magnetic north pole is moving, very quickly, towards Siberia. Again, science has no idea why or how, but at this juncture, I think it is worth a serious look to see if what is happening in our solar system and galaxy could be related to the 2012 date, since things seem to be increasing in that department as time moves on. And if it is related, and we know the ancients knew they astronomy if nothing else, could it cause a pole shift, and what would happen if it did. Since science buried any evidence that does not support the ice age theory, and ignores evidence of past pole shifts, we are not in a good position to know what would happen, nor how fast.

This is, of course, all speculation. I do think it is worth looking at, and keeping an eye open about, though. Too many things add up. Unfortunately, most of the time when 2012 is brought up nowadays, all you get is new age crap about new levels of consciousness being ushered in... And at that point, why not just call it The Rapture... Not that I don't have a spiritual bend, but it has a far more grounded notion of reality behind it. Just tossing out random happy nonsense about world peace happening suddenly, is not spiritual to me. It's escapism in a sense...
"...We will have gone beyond technology as we know it. We will have gone beyond time and money. We will have entered the fifth dimension after passing through the fourth dimension. Planet Earth and the Solar System will come into galactic synchronization with the rest of the Universe. Our DNA will be "upgraded" (or reprogrammed) from the centre of our galaxy."
Also quoted from http://www.2012.com.au/unlimited.html

That is the typical stuff that people spout on about when talking of 2012. The actual information that we have is very limited, and only through extrapolating what we do know can we see if any of it makes sense. Someone recently stated that the world will end at 11:11 on December 21st, 2012. And how did he deduce this? Well, he sees 11:11 everywhere, and he has been studying 2012. Oh, and it sounds nice. Very scientific stuff. Can't imagine why scientists don't take people like that seriously. Honestly, if he is seeing 11:11 everywhere, that probably has a personal meaning that he is overlooking, instead deciding that the universe must be telling him when the world will end... Ug.

Ok, so to sum up. When will the world end? Who knows, time is only an illusion anyways, it all happens at once, in every direction, but our consciousness and brains filter it and can only process so much at once. Hence, time flies when you are doing a lot, and drags when you are bored. Go figure. Anyway, the 2012 date, of any prophecy, may have science behind it. Ancient science that we don't understand yet. I doubt in that case, if the date itself is the point, as much as the time period. Things could happen tomorrow, or maybe we will get through all this without Florida moving to the equator... The one thing you can be sure of, if something does happen, we will not be ready for it. Our world will end. Is this what happened last time? Is that why they perished? Is that why we have so little of their world left? And what would remain in 10,000 years of us, if all this were to fall.......