Alex Sumner's Blog, page 51

Alex Sumner: Nobel Laureate

Back in 2009, I called into question Barack Obama’s winning of the Nobel Prize, on the grounds that he had only been in office for two weeks before nominations closed. The point being that according to Alfred Nobel’s will, the prize was meant to be awarded for work in the past year. I also pointed out that if the Nobel Committee were wiling to award so much money to someone who hadn’t actually done anything, then I was prepared to do nothing for world peace, whilst charging a considerably smaller rate for my services.

Now, at long last, the Nobel Committee have taken me up on my offer and awarded me the Noble Peace Prize! I shit ye not: they say they have awarded it to the EU, but the EU say they are accepting it on behalf of their 500 million citizens: which includes me!

May I just say that so long as the Nobel Committee pay for my air-fare, board and lodging, I will be happy to fly to Oslo to accept the Prize on the EU’s behalf.

Filed under: Comment, Rant Tagged: humour, nobel peace prize

On Astrology

“Help! I’m stuck!”

Astrology is an Art, and more importantly, the continuation of a tradition which stretches back to ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt – and times and places even more remote.

Anyone who makes a casual study of Astrology might surmise that since (for example) the planet Venus is said to represent love and relationships, and Mercury represents communication, and furthermore that the Roman deities bearing the same names were the Goddess of Love, and the Messenger of the Gods respectively, then modern Astrology is somehow connected with ancient Roman mythology. And they would be entirely correct! In ancient times, the people of the day did not believe that the planets were named after the gods: they believed that the planets were the gods. Therefore, by noting the movements of the planets, they sought to understand how their gods affected their daily lives.

Astrology, therefore, is really the direct continuation of the old Pagan religions, from ancient right into modern times. Therefore, in order to really understand Astrology, one ought to consider it not from a “scientific” (in the modern sense) point of view, nor from a psychological or even a “New Age” point of view: but instead ask – “how would the ancients have viewed it?”

Fortunately, one ancient sage named Hermes Trismegistos spoke with refreshing clarity on the subject. He said:

Nay more, if we must boldly speak the truth, the true “man” is e’en higher than the gods, or at the [very] least the gods and men are very whit in power each with the other equal. For no one of the gods in heaven shall come down to the earth, o’er-stepping heaven’s limit; whereas man doth mount up to heaven and measure it.

That is to say: the “gods” are the planets of astrology. Although they influence the earth, they cannot “over-step heaven’s limit” i.e. stray outside their regular course, but man can, through the use of his reason and other faculties, take account of their influence, and eventually overcome them.

Thus to the ancients in general – and Hermes Trismegistos in particular – Astrology is neither deterministic nor fatalistic. Instead, properly understood, it is the key to achieving true Free Will: by learning about what influences are affecting one’s life, one can learn to escape from them, and thus rise “higher than the gods.”

This, incidentally, is why one should be cautious when you hear about an Astrologer talking about “bad luck.” If I were to say that such and such a thing would lead to ill-fortune, the very fact that I have warned you about it gives you the key to escape it.

THE FUTURE IS NOT CARVED IN STONE – WE ALL HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE IT IF WE WANT.

Filed under: Occult Tagged: astrology, Hermeticism, paganism

Happy Solar Return To Me

Jack Daniels Tenessee Honey

OK, doing a solar return chart for myself, to see what the forthcoming year has in store for me. Lemme see…

The ruler of the Ascendant is Mercury, indicating I will be mainly concerned with Mercurial things like writing and tarot cards, etc
The moon is in the third house, which is all about communication and writings…

Hey wait a minute, this is crap! The stars are telling me I’m going to have exactly the sort of year that I would have expected to have! What’s the bloody point of doing all this astrology lark if it tells me what I know already?

Hang on, there’s more:

The Sun is in the fifth house, which my crib tells me is all about pleasurable emotions, love affairs and the arts; and
The Sun is also trine Jupiter, which when Retrograde signifies spiritual growth and mysticism

Aha! This is more like it! Not only am I going to get laid, I shall become even more spiritually advanced than I am now, if indeed that were possible. This calls for another shot of Tenessee Honey. Cheers everyone!

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: humour

Lindsay Seers: Nowhere Less Now

© Lindsay Seers 2012

I have decided that the Universe is a giant work of Art. The identity of the Artist, however, defies easy definition. Even the phrase “identity of the Artist” is problematic in regards to the language in which it is expressed, for at least three reasons, viz: “Artist” is in the singular, whereas it ought to be in the plural. Or then again it ought not. Secondly: “identity” is presented as something which can be spoken of with certainty. But identity with what? Identification of a particular soul with a particular body with a particular name at a particular point in the space and time continuum? A soul which transmigrates, a body which contains and is connected with every other thing in the Giant Cosmic Hologram, a name which can be changed easily by deed-poll or just by adopting a different email address? And don’t get me started on wibbly wobbly timey-wimey stuff!

So there I was in Kilburn, at the Tin Tabernacle in Cambridge Avenue to see the art installation “Nowhere Less Now” by Lindsay Seers. Immediately, though, I am asking myself: at what point did I first step into the “Art?” The nature of Conceptual Art is of course that the thought-form in the Treasure House of Images constitutes the real art, whilst its manifestation on the plane of Malkuth merely represents a later- (though not necessarily end-) result of the Evocation. It quickly became apparent that everything about the event was to some extent the manifestation to visible appearance of this original idea. Moreover – like a magician not revealing how the trick is done until after it is performed, the full subtleties were only revealed after the fact – woe betide anyone there who was not immediately alert to the small details from at least the moment that they entered the door!

However there was another twist ending – in the complementary book I was given on leaving the building. The book went into more detail about the event, so of course the Art did not end when I left the Tin Tabernacle: it continued whilst I was reading and appreciating the contents of the book. So in a certain sense it does not end! You, who are reading this blog post now, or whenever, are effectively in a small way discovering one particular end- (later-) result of the artistic process, which effectively makes me an unwitting actor in the Universe of which Ms Seers is the great architect.

Moina Mathers, née Bergson

But what, I hallucinate that I hear you ask, is the event actually about? Or perhaps, I’m not hallucinating – the voices are real people from the past / present / future / alternative realities / etc. Very generally speaking: a remarkable series of coincidences, which might better be described as Synchronicities, but might best of all be described by an as-yet-uncoined word which is free from the reductionist implications of Jung’s notions of the collective unconscious. Ms Seers explores these “widgets” in a completely unique manner, not dissimilar to a Magician or Shaman conjuring up spirits from the past / present / future / alternative / etc – and then presents the results of these magical explorations in an environment purposely designed for the task. Ms Seers, a self-confessed admirer of a certain Mina Bergson, does not however limit herself to the conventions of the Golden Dawn when performing her magick but instead takes a more pragmatic (from her point of view) approach to performing ritual. Thus to communicate with the spirits of dead ancestors she in effect shapeshifts to become them – one of whom apparently was an initiate in one of the very first Masonic orders for women. To contact possible future incarnations of a certain Individuality she performs an impromptu ceremony, and starts receiving “intuitions” from one such Person… The event thus becomes a Visionary Non-fiction dialogue across the Vortex, with the linear nature of time, person, identity, and cause & effect artfully blurred.

I shall end this review, at least in the current time-stream, with the following anecdote.

Saturday 22nd October 2011. A day I noted in my magical diary as starting with an interesting Lucid Dream in which I was rising on the planes and becoming the Chief Adept of a Rosicrucian order, and continuing with me experimenting with Manifestation. I seem to recall that I wanted to Manifest meeting new and interesting people that day, or some such.

Certain people claim that Cats are the Illuminati because of their innate superiority. I on the other hand claim that the Illuminati are Cats – because it is so difficult to herd them. At times like these, therefore, there is only one thing a hard-working Magician can do, and that is to tie up my sorrows in a bag along with a heavy-brick and drown them in the nearest pint of beer. But not today! The trains that day being considerably further up the creek than usual, I had to leave the pub early, otherwise I would never get home.

So there I was, on a train I would not normally be taking, and I looked round and saw the lady next to me was reading S L Macgregor Mathers’ edition of the Key of Solomon. I therefore decided to break the first and second rules of commuting by train and introduce myself as Alex Sumner, the World’s Greatest Expert On The Occult. (NB: not talking to people on the tube is the first rule; the second rule is that if you do have to talk to people, don’t go round introducing yourself as Alex Sumner). “I have a particular interest in the work of Macgregor Mathers,” I explained later. “And I am putting together an installation featuring people with heterochromatic eyes,” this mysterious lady replied. “And I just noticed that your eyes are heterochromatic!”

Given that the Art occurs when the Concept is formed, I suppose in a small way I had actually become an actor in the process a year in advance of most people, defying the laws of space and time in the process – which I’ve got to admit made the event in Kilburn feel all the more special. Of course – it could just have been Coincidence.

“Nowhere Less Now” runs until 21st October 2012. Recommended.

Filed under: Occult Tagged: Art, Artangel, Lindsay Seers, Mina Bergson, Moina Mathers, Tin Tabernacle Kilburn

Books for Beginners

Recently I asked the question:

What book(s) would you recommend to a complete beginner on magick? Shameless plugs only if genuine.

I now present some of the answers I received.

Wicca

Enchanted: Titania’s Book of White Magic comes recommended from Facebook fan Diane J Reed, who says:

 I absolutely love this book … (it’s out of print, so you have to get a used copy). The book is just gorgeous and only deals with “white” magic used for good purposes, but the photography is so beautiful it will make you drool.

I personally am not cognisant with this work, but Titania Hardie, the author, describes it as being within the Wiccan tradition. Whilst on the subject of Wicca, another FB fan, Philip Dean Fox, recommends Witchcraft: A Beginner’s Guide by Teresa Moorey, and two books by Susan Bowes: Life Magic – The power of positive witchcraft. and Notions and Potions: A safe, practical guide to creating magic and miracles. Meanwhile, another FB friend, Adrien, recommends Christopher Penczak’s The Inner Temple of Witchcraft: Magick, Meditation and Psychic Development (Penczak Temple).

Hermetic Magick

Oliver St John recommends Hermetic Qabalah: A Foundation in the Art of Magick by, er, Oliver St John. He assures me:

 I still use my own copies for reference, tables, correspondences and other information stored all in one place and easy to find. When I started out I had to have 6 books open at once to find all this stuff.

Oliver also makes the point that:

… plugs to one side, it is a really good question. Where on earth do we start? The milestones like “Complete Golden Dawn” and Crowley’s “Magick” are useless to a complete beginner. I would recommend getting a grounding in at least the basics of astrology and setting up a horoscope. It amazes me how many occultists don’t know the first thing about astrology.

Indeed! Several months ago I gave myself the task of doing a short ten-minute talk to members of a highly secretive branch of the Illuminati (nb: they are not secretive at all! They just don’t want it publicly known that they have a scruff like me as one of their members!) outlining a number of basic reference works for people who might, for all I know, be complete beginners to the mysteries. I remember that many years ago I read a remark by Israel Regardie about the first Knowledge Lecture of the Golden Dawn, recommending to just get any old book on astrology to look up basic terms thereon – so that is exactly what I did, and what I recommended in turn to the members of this order. As it happens, when I went into Waterstones that fateful day, the first book on the subject which I picked up was Teach Yourself Astrology.

Apart from that, there are a few other old favourites that I would personally recommend, e.g.

The Hermetica, by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy;
The Middle Pillar, by Israel Regardie (edited by Chic & Tabatha Cicero);
Several of the works of Dion Fortune, especially

Sane Occultism;
Psychic Self-Defence; and
The Mystical Qabalah.


A Textbook of Theosophy, by C W Leadbeater; and
The Art and Practice of Astral Projection, by Ophiel.


Filed under: Occult Tagged: chic cicero, Christopher Penczak, dion fortune, israel regardie, Oliver St John, ophiel, peter gandy, tabatha cicero, Teresa Moorey, timothy freke, Titania Hardie, wicca

Invoking Mercury for Ebook Marketing (slight return)

Just over a month ago I had the idea to launch my latest novel, This Is Not A Fairy Story, on a day I calculated would be good for invoking Mercury – see here for my original post on the subject. Today, given that there is a grand trine between Mercury, the Moon and Jupiter, I would like to share with you what has occurred since then.

Setting my alarm for about an hour before sunrise on August 22nd 2012, I was thus ready to begin a ritual invocation of Mercury exactly at sunrise. My ritual consisted of:

The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP);
The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Hexagram (LBRH);
The Bornless Ritual;


The Supreme Invoking Hexagram of Mercury Ritual – using the names ARARITA and Elohim Tzebaoth, Raphael, Tiriel, and Taphtartarath. Incidentally, I found the position of Mercury at which to do my conjurations using Star Walks on my iPhone. Obviously I did not use Apple’s Maps.
The Assumption of the God Form of Thoth. Whilst meditating wearing this god-form, I visualised the kind of thing I actually wanted to achieve as a result of this ritual.
Thereafter I finished the meditation and “un-assumed” the God-Form. I gave a licence to depart, and magically cleaned up the place of working with the LBRP and LBRH once again.

I then went around the rest of my day’s business as normal – or at least it started out normally…

Mercury, in Astrology, is the planet of Communication. That day, I was invited on Facebook to a “Like Each Other’s Author Page” event. A couple of days later I was invited to another. And then another. And then another. And then I surfed the wave and created one myself. And then…

Quite simply, starting from the day I invoked Mercury, my author page on Facebook rapidly went from just under 500 “likes” to well over 900. It was the greatest acceleration of growth on Facebook I had ever experienced. Admittedly my sales proved to be only slightly above average for the time of year, though this is not to be sniffed at.

So, there you have it! Proof that Facebook is affected by Astrology generally, and Mercury in particular!

Filed under: Occult, This Is Not A Fairy Story Tagged: astrology, facebook, Mercury

Scientists rave about cure for depression!

Well, this has cheered me up!

Earlier this year I reported that researchers in America got mashed up and off their faces conducted serious research into LSD being used for psychotherapeutic purposes. It now appears that scientists in Britain have got in on the act as well. Moreover, they are not just confining their studies to Tabs but expanding it to Es and Shrooms as well. It is alleged, for example, that whilst under the influence of Ecstacy (MDMA), patients are more amenable to forms of psychotherapy.

Now, your humble blogmaster has been saying for some time that psychoactive substances ought to be seriously investigated to see if they have a medical application, rather than being banned outright (e.g. see here). The circumstances surrounding the genesis of the study by Imperial College, referenced above, highlight just how difficult this is to achieve in practice. Whilst it is theoretically possible for scientist to use controlled substances such as LSD, MDMA and Psilocybin for research purposes, in practice they are restricted in doing so by (a) serious risk of damage to their careers and (b) funding bodies not willing to fund research. Case in point: the lead researcher for Imperial College is none other than Professor David Nutt, who has already been sacked from the UK Government’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs for daring to suggest that alcohol and tobacco are more harmful than LSD, ecstacy and cannabis.

Admittedly it was the last government that sacked Professor Nutt, although the current government does not appear to have any more liberal views on drug research. Tellingly, funding for research into psychoactive substances in both the Unites States and Britain does not come from any public sources, but from private institutions such as the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Substances (US) and the Beckley Foundation (UK).

The irony is that researchers may indeed come up with compelling evidence that currently controlled substances have a therapeutic use, which is impeccable from a methodological point of view (i.e. it is controlled, double-blinded, peer reviewed and all the rest); and yet it still will not lead to any change because Government policy is decided on politcal grounds, not on science.

Filed under: Comment Tagged: Ecstacy, LSD, Psilocybin

Holiday Reading & Ebook Marketing

Happy equinox! Today I am going to take a break from strictly paranormal or occultish type ruminations and concentrate more on a topic relevant to authors.

According to a new study, thousands of people – in Britain at any rate – only ever read a novel when they are going on holiday! For those of a statistical bent, the total sample was 8600, drawn from visitors to the website TripAdvisor (i.e. who may therefore be expected to by travellers and holiday-makers), whilst the percentage of people admitting to being holiday-only readers was 23% (or approximately just under 2000).

Although this survey has not, to my knowledge, been peer-reviewed, and the fact the methodology may be open to question, I beg leave to report that from my own personal experience I do find that my own sales do go up slightly in August each year: I have noticed this both this year and in 2011.

So, if you will indulge me for a moment: let us postulate that the conclusion drawn by the survey is true. This suggests an excellent method for authors to make use of this information, to wit, specifically time your promotional campaigns to coincide with the school holidays. Typically the most obvious would be the long summer break, but in fact, all of the holidays have potential in this regard, given that a number of people will want to jet-off on each occasion, e.g. people who depart around Christmas either to go skiing or for winter sun.

Hence, to afford other authors the opportunity of testing this theory out, here are the school vacation dates for 2012 until summer 2014.

2012 / 2013

Autumn Half-term: Monday 29th October to Friday November 2nd 2012
Christmas: Monday 24th December 2012 to Friday 4th January 2013
Spring Half-term: Monday 18th to Friday 22nd February 2013
Easter: Friday 29th March to Friday 12th April 2013
Summer half-term: Monday 27th May to Friday 31st May 2013
Summer break: Wednesday 24th July to Friday 30th August 2013


2013 / 2014

Autumn half-term: Monday 28th October to Friday 1st November 2013
Christmas: Monday 23rd December 2012 to Friday 3rd January 2014
Spring half-term: Monday 17th to Friday 21st February 2014
Easter: Monday 7th to Monday 21st April 2014
Summer half-term: Monday 26th to Friday 30th May 2014
Summer break: Wednesday 23rd July to Friday August 29th 2014.

Source: Southend Borough Council. Dates arranged by other local authorities may vary. Authors wanting to promote their books outside the UK should check local vacation dates themselves.

Filed under: Comment Tagged: ebook, marketing

Alex Sumner: Media Pundit

Halloween is fast creeping up on us! In this video resumé I appeal to the world’s television and radio producers, journalists and creators of online content, offering my services as a Media Pundit. I can provide expert opinion for your forthcoming Halloween stories! And I am willing to do so free of charge (in return for publicity for my work as a novelist, that is). Please use the Contact Alex page to send me a private message.

(NB: This is a repost of a video I made last year for last Halloween, so I thought I’d do it again this year!)

Filed under: Occult Tagged: CV, hallowe'en, journalism, journalist, Media, radio, Resumé, samhain, Television, TV, Youtube

Occult-related crime training in South Africa

Detectives in South Africa have decided to get with the plot of my first best seller The Magus and train-up specialists in “occult-related crimes.” According to a police memo there will be two such specialists per province (i.e. 18 in total, given that there are 9 provinces) who will be investigating, in particular

“… muti murders, curses intended to cause harm, vampirism, spiritual intimidation including “astral coercion”,  rape by “tokoloshe spirits”, poltergeist phenomena, voodoo,  black magic and traditional healers involved in criminal activities.”

Well! Who would have thought that vampirism is such a serious problem in South Africa! Seriously, though, Pagans in South Africa have been vocal in expressing scepticism of the police-initiative, pointing out the potential for  abuse. Significantly, though, tasking police-officers to deal with occult is not actually a new phenomenon: apparently there was actually an Occult Crimes Unit in the country’s police force which attained some notoriety during the last days of Apartheid.  Eventually it was disbanded for discriminating against certain beliefs. Presumably therefore South African Pagans are not just concerned about the new initiative out of political correctness, but because it resembles very much a return to the bad-old days of state repression.

Anyway: such concern for occult-related crime has not translated to the United Kingdom, which is not to say that it doesn’t occur. However, if there’s anyone from Scotland Yard reading this: if you need an independent expert or anything, my hourly rates are quite reasonable.

Filed under: Comment, Occult, The Magus Tagged: Crime, Muti, South Africa, Tokoloshe