G. Michael Vasey's Blog: The Wacky World of Dr. Vasey, page 110

Inner Journeys – The Foreword By Dolores

The foreword for my first book – Inner Journeys: Explorations of the Soul (Thoth, 2005) was kindly written by Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki. For those of you that have never seen it, here it is…….

When one enters a school for spiritual training there will always be a time of apprehension. What will it be like, what will I be asked to do, will I be able to cope? In actual fact 90% of students find all their questions answered within a few weeks and settle down to their studies with varying degrees of enthusiasm punctuated by the odd moments of boredom. Studying the occult is like any other study, you have good and bad days, some parts are interesting and others make you want to throw your papers out of the window.

But until now there have been few people who have actually sat down to write about their experiences, their hopes, fears, visions and disappointments while undertaking such a course. That is why this book is so important for both SOL students and those working in any spiritual school or Order.

The writer is a man whose life from an early age has been inexorably drawn towards spiritual study. Throughout the book you share with him the early days of family life and college and his struggle to pinpoint and control the psychic talents within him. He takes the reader through all his trials and tribulations, the highs and lows of his search, the training he eventually undertakes, and the way in which he finally found his path.

For those beginning the SOL or any spiritual course, read this before you start. It pulls no punches, it tells you frankly that you will find it often tedious and boring, but you will also find it at other times uplifting and exhilarating.

Those with no real insight have the idea that in ancient times every temple student lived a life of exciting ritual alternating with divine visionary experiences. In point of fact their lives were very like ours, full of humdrum tasks lightened by the relatively few exciting bits. A study of the occult is still like that and this book makes that clear. It is honest, down to earth, and very practical and this makes it a valuable tool for those following in Michael’s footsteps as he makes his way towards his goal. I recommend it to all SOL people past, present and future. This is what you can expect from the course, and from your training. The author has my vote of confidence and thanks for an important addition to the SOL reading list.

Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki,

Director of Studies- SOL

The book, of course, is still available from Thoth, Amazon.com, other online booksellers and from me……

 

The Last Observer Reviewed….

Please do consider liking this Facebook page – its my new book and first novel due out in the summer from Roundfire Books

Here is some of what author Anthony Peake has to say about The Last Observer…

Gary tells a classic tale of mystery and suspense but weaves within it a series of themes that would be at home in any modern physics text book. He masterfully uses his own extensive knowledge of modern magical rituals to create a tale that is both mysterious and intriguing. However the mystery soon gives way to something far more sinister and terrifying, a terror that explodes into a finale of epic proportions in which the fate of the universe itself is at stake.

Once started this book cannot be put down and once finished you may just find yourself checking the shadows to catch a glimpse of the Lord of the Elements.

Anthony Peake

.Anthony Peake, author of Is There Life After Death? The Extraordinary Science of What Happens When We Die and many

other books.

Dumb and Dumber?

I notice more and more that I tend to write about a few themes on this blog. At times, it is as if I am repeating myself but each time in a different way and maybe with a little more depth. I guess this is my personal journey of discovery and I am sharing it with you all but I do apologize if occasionally you think I keep beating the same drum….

This post may fall into one of those themes too which is I am losing it! Life is so complex and so fluid with so many interactions and things to do and recall that I honestly sometimes wonder if I am losing it altogether. Recently, I have had this feeling a lot. Surely, life should be simpler than this?

I sometimes hanker after living in another century when ‘productivity tools’ didn’t exist and, as a result, we could all be so much more productive! It is after all only 5-6 years ago when all phones were largely dumb meaning you could call and you could text but not much more. Now, we are all connected to the net 24 by 7 just via our phones (Thank you Mr. Jobs!). It may even only be a decade or so and mobile phones were so bulky only the wealthy could afford a servant to carry them around…. the world was simpler then.

So imagine being say…John Dee. OK, I understand that for many life was brutal, short and painful but, if you were born into the right family, you could really dedicate your life to the study of magic and alchemy. No distractions like movies, websites, world news, bank accounts, fashion, vacations, etc and passwords or phone numbers to remember…. These days finding an hour to focus on reading a book can sometimes be challenging! So yes, I do feel overwhelmed at times. By comparison to John Dee, I can only know a lot about a little as there is simply now too much to know, too much to analyze, and too much to follow.

Just recently I read a story about how we are all getting dumber. Yes, that’s right – dumber. The article stated that a Roman would be intellectually our superior and could probably out argue in terms of logic most specialists today. So not only did John Dee have more time and less to learn but he probably had a sharper intellect too!

So, recently I have come to a conclusion… I can only do so much, deal with so much and I am only a dumb human so I decided to chill out a bit. You know, relax about it and let fate do its work. Let’s see how that works out….

The Measurement Problem

As a small boy, I recall quite often thinking and imagining that in reality, I was sat on a chair in a small room looking at a TV screen and controlling myself through a set of knobs and levers in front to me. In this dreamlike imagining, there were rows upon rows of these small rooms or booths each with an occupant managing their virtual life. Remember, I was thinking and dreaming this in the mid 1960′s before color TVs, computers, virtual reality and The Matrix movie. I mentioned this also in Inner Journeys: Explorations of the Soul. Additionally, at that age, I had not widely read any books and quite honestly, other than Watch with Mother, I hadn’t seen much TV either (in black and white on a box-like monstrosity of a TV with curtains and a dot when you switched it off!).

Of course, in the last couple of decades, it would appear that I am not the only one who had those feelings of how life really was. We had the Matrix movies, Vanilla Sky, Groundhog Day and many. many others including my favorite – The 13th Floor. More recently, there has been growing interest in Quantum physics on the part of the non-scientist and writers like Anthony Peake have argued for somewhat similar type realities as well based on, not just science, but also other evidence. Its almost as if we are anticipating some kind of breakthrough – a shared view of what reality might actually be.

I have written enough already about how much of this has been known to occultists or natural philosophers for more then the last 2000 years. So I won’t dwell on it again here.

I was thinking a few days ago that to some extent, it all comes down to the issue of how energy or vibrations becomes solid particles via observation. This is known, I think humorously, as the measurement problem. According to Wikipedia, in quantum mechanics, wave function collapse (also called collapse of the state vector or reduction of the wave packet) is the phenomenon in which a wave function—initially in a superposition of several different possible eigenstates—appears to reduce to a single one of those states after interaction with an observer. Let’s dumb this down a bit and say that a word – a vibration of a certain frequency (sound) is a waveform that can collapse on observation into some reality.

Now, compare that with this…

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.

God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day

or this….

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Makes you think right?

The word? Light? – energy vibrating at a certain frequency collapsed by an observer in ‘God’?

And has anyone read Paul Foster Case’s Occult Fundamentals and Spiritual Unfoldment, Vol. 1: The Early Writings ? His opening lesson, written a few decades ago and therefore using some fairly antique language, describes exactly the same idea.

Once again – there is nothing new in the world but I also think that here, we are arriving at the truth behind real magic…. you see a magician, a real magician, has solved the measurement problem. The real magician is the observer we might call God for lack of a better word these days.

Interestingly, this whole thesis is what drove me to write my upcoming novel – The Last Observer (Roundfire books, summer 2013)in which an ordinary man is abruptly dragged into the middle of a violent struggle between black and white magicians who both seek to use his extraordinary powers of imagination and observation. He soon learns that reality is not at all what it seems before being called upon to play a decisive role in determining whose reality will prevail.

Perhaps my boyhood imaginings – amazing if you really think about it – are more accurate than originally might have been thought. Which begs the question – where did these thoughts in a small boy come from?

Thoughts?

Thoughts and Prayers Wanted

Many of you will know that Sue Vincent, my co-author on the Mystical Hexagram as well as a good friend, has been suffering from a severe digestive tract problem for some time, and has been living in considerable pain, while she waits for an exploratory operation. Yesterday, while traveling back from a walking weekend in the North of England, she had to stop the car just off the M6 motorway in Cheshire and call for an ambulance. She is now in Crewe hospital and was being assessed for emergency surgery last night (Tuesday 27 March).

Please keep Sue in your thoughts and prayers and send her some healing light.

Many Thanks.

Prague and Magic

One might think the Czech Republic would be teeming with occultists, mystics, and magicians. After all, at one point in history it was the center of the Universe for alchemy and magic and even John Dee spent time here along with Edward Kelley. The Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II, was extremely interested in the occult and gathered many alchemists and occultists in Prague in the 16th Century. Apparently, however, Dee and Kelley didn’t impress the Emperor and instead found favor with a Bohemian Count instead.

Rudolf patronized natural philosophers including the astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler. He was also the earliest recorded owner of the mysterious Voynich manuscript. Rudolf even performed his own alchemical experiments in a private laboratory. According to Wikipedia, when Rudolf was a prince, Nostradamus prepared a horoscope which was dedicated to him as ‘Prince and King’. Rudolf gave Prague a mystical and magical reputation that persists to this day, with Alchemists’ Alley on the grounds of Prague Castle a popular tourist attraction.

Rudolf II

Then, there is the Golem brought to life by the Rabbi of Prague, Judah Loew ben Bezalel to defend the Prague ghetto from anti semitic attacks. Wikipedia again has the story..



To protect the Jewish community, the rabbi constructed the Golem out of clay from the banks of the Vltava river, and brought it to life through rituals and Hebrew incantations. The Golem was called Josef and was known as Yossele. It was said that he could make himself invisible and summon spirits from the dead. The only care required of the Golem was that he can’t be alive on the day of Sabbath (Saturday). Rabbi Loew deactivated the Golem on Friday evenings by removing the shem before the Sabbath began, so as to let it rest on Sabbath. One Friday evening Rabbi Loew forgot to remove the shem, and feared that the Golem would desecrate the Sabbath. A different story tells of a golem that fell in love, and when rejected, became the violent monster seen in most accounts. Some versions have the golem eventually going on a murderous rampage.

The Prague Golem

The rabbi then managed to pull the shem from his mouth and immobilize him in front of the synagogue, whereupon the golem fell in pieces. The Golem’s body was stored in the attic genizah of the Old New Synagogue, where it would be restored to life again if needed. According to legend, the body of Rabbi Loew’s Golem still lies in the synagogue’s attic. Some versions of the tale state that the Golem was stolen from the genizah and entombed in a graveyard in Prague’s Žižkov district, where the Žižkov Television Tower now stands. A recent legend tells of a Nazi agent ascending to the synagogue attic during World War II and trying to stab the Golem, but he died instead. When the attic was renovated in 1883, no evidence of the Golem was found. A film crew who visited and filmed the attic in 1984 found no evidence either. The attic is not open to the general public.

Then there is the more recent master of magic Frantisek (Franz) Bardon who wrote several books on magic. He was born and lived in Opava close to the Polish border and worked as a stage magician in Germany and the region before WWII. Persecuted by the Nazis who, apparently were intent on using his magical skills to their advantage but he refused, he almost died in a concentration camp. Unfortunately, he was equally popular with the Communist regime after the war and did eventually die in Brno Castle prison.

Frantisek Bardon

Despite this rich occult history, I have found the Czech Republic to be sadly lacking in anything mystical or magical. Perhaps communism took its toll or perhaps I simply haven’t found it yet (I have lived here 7-years tho!), but compared to Britain, where in the right place at the right time, you can FEEL the magic, the Czech Republic seems rather rather lacking. Yes, there is lip service played for the tourists but anything truly and deeply esoteric seems to have long gone.

My Heart

This is my heart

It is yours

Symbol of my love

Also yours

Please don’t break it

Or ever lose it

Just let it beat

Next to yours

From Poems for the Little Room 2012, Lulu

And The Truth Will Set You Free

So we are told.

Who better to obtain said truth from than a young child? This weekend we took Deni to the fair. I was joking with her that the two skeletons that were gyrating in front of the ghost train were her ‘friends’. The response?

“Daddy, they obviously your friends as they are your age.”

Hmmmmmm.

As if that were not enough I am planning a US holiday this summer. I told Deni that she would see some really poor fat people there. Her response?

“Oh so that’s why you are so fat …because you lived in America.”

Yes, the truth will set you free……..

Fast Food for the Soul

The world is full of hype isn’t it?

All around the internet you will find articles such as ’15 ways to be happy’, ’10 ways to lose weight’ or, ’3 reasons to quit smoking’. Why do all these hyped articles involve numbers? What is it about listing a small number of things that appeals to readers? I’ll tell you. Time and efficiency. Why would I read an essay if I can get 12 short statements? ‘The seven habits of effective people’ – another example. Everything must be boiled down to the bare bones and presented quickly. It’s fast food for the soul!

The problem is surely that being eternal, why would the soul want fast food? In fact, its the body and maybe the ego that wants instant gratification. The soul probably doesn’t care as it wants nothing but to exist in love. The soul most likely is in no particular hurry to learn seven effective habits. It’s already engaged in assimilating the seven planets/metals in the Great Work.

What I am trying to say is that we have a tendency to want and want it now. That is what books like The Secret play on. want something? Get it now through the cosmic ordering system! Instant gratification with no effort.

Magic, true magic, on the other hand, takes effort. It takes a lot of effort. It takes years and years of practice, meditation, patience and understanding. Yes, change your self and change your reality but it’s not instantaneous. Food for the soul is good cuisine prepared with attention to detail, with love and with care.

A person I have been emailing recently from a Bardon forum told me after a first round of correspondence “why do you set goals for yourself?” He explained that you can fail to meet goals and become despondent and stop trying. Better to do the work with no particular expectations. The less you expect the more you achieve. For me, that was an alien concept…. Do something without goals or expectation? Yes…. I understand now, do it for the love of doing it and expect nothing.

Quite the opposite to the modern trend of I want it and now.

Playing Dad

Being a dad has its moments. To me, it always has felt like a dad needs to be able to maintain a mental list of immediate and future ‘to-dos’. “Dad, can you do this?” is asked even as you are still trying to do what was asked of you not 1 minute ago…. “In a minute” is my standard response, so much so, that when I ask my daughter to do something that is exactly what she tells me!

Being a dad also seems to always involve building things. Quite honestly, I have never been good at building things and so I often find myself dreading Christmas when, invariably, there are legos, toys and goodness knows what to build…. all while being asked “Is it ready yet?”.

It’s moments like these when I can’t help an unfavorable comparison to my own father. Not only could he build things, he actually invented things for us kids. I recall many times hearing strange sounds from his workshop and then being surprised by things like; a working Dalek (I kid you not… it was based on a small tricycle so you peddled it sat on a seat, it had a working ray gun and an arm that could grab and hold things and…. you could see using a periscope type mirror arrangement), a working and functional ghost detector just like the ones from the ghostbuster movie for my son Paul (It was based around a light meter and it really functioned!) and I could go on and on. My dad was the dad – he really was.

He also had a super sense of humor (some would say wicked!). I recall him going out of his way to tell us a story about witches flying on broomsticks one Halloween. These witches would sit outside naughty children’s windows and their presence could be detected by the knocking of their broomstick on the window. Sure enough, our window was later subject to strange knocking sounds that we finally discovered was my Dad with a large wooden clothes line prop…..Then, there was the spider trick. My Dad loved making spiders out of tangles of fishing line. He would then rig the thing so that when a door was opened or, you got into bed, spider would descend onto your unsuspecting head….. Neville the devil they called my Father!

But I digress.

I realize I will never be my father. I have to be me. I have to find ways to be a good and memorable Dad in my own way. Maybe I have succeeded maybe I haven’t. But I do try. I do work my way through the to-do list eventually, I do build things (even of maybe they don’t work so well) and I do play but I hope I also encourage and try to make my kids think. I hope they remember me as someone who stretched them a bit and got them interested in something…. I hope I can give them a sense of the magic of life too. How unique they are and how they have all the gifts and talents they could ever need to succeed. all I can do is try to prepare them for life.

I think the rest is probably up to them.