Ellis Nelson's Blog, page 9

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If you have been a follower of this blog for a while and are interested in becoming an advance reviewer for the release of my new middle grade novel, DOWN THE TREACLE WELL, please send me a message via himalayaspencerellis(at)yahoo.com. Put ARC in the subject line. I have a limited number of e-copies available for reviewers.

What’s a Treacle Well?

In which I discuss the origin of ‘treacle well’, a 7th c. saint, a miracle, and how it relates to Lewis Carroll and Alice in Wonderland.

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A hundred years in the future, twelve-year-old Nigella receives a shipment from her deceased grandfather. Her inheritance is a herd of micro-elephants. While a lot of her friends have micro-pets, Nigella is at a loss on how to care for them. Why are her micro-pets so different from everyone else’s? What was her grandfather up to? With the help of her best friend, Kepler, the girls set off on an adventure to discover the truth.

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DOWN THE TREACLE WELL

BOOK BLURB:

While visiting a museum in England, Ben and Kyle experience the extraordinary. Gazing at the Alfred Jewel, an ancient Anglo-Saxon artifact, they watch as it spins, contorts, and evaporates from its case, taking them with it. Whisked back to Victorian England, the brothers are shocked to find themselves sprawled on the floor before Mr. Charles Dodgson, also known as Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland. They soon learn that the famous author’s muse, Alice, is missing. Alice has used the Alfred Jewel to enter Wonderland and, by so doing, has upset the time continuum. The only way for the boys to return home is to locate Alice and return her safely. But Wonderland is a strange and dangerous place…

Foreseeing the Future: Evangeline Adams and Astrology in America

By Karen Christino

Evangeline Adams has long been an enigma in the world of astrology. Once she was a household name. Nowadays she is known to only a few. Her reputation in certain circles looms large but was it deserved? Karen Christino’s book goes a long way to demystify the woman who was the most famous astrologer of the early 20th century.

Evangeline Adams was a pioneer popularizing and legitimizing the practice of astrology so that it permeated American culture. That legacy was well-deserved. Other parts of her reputation, especially for forecasting may have been more a product of her ability to expertly market herself.

One of the most fascinating parts of the book for me involved Evangeline’s early beginnings. She was born in 1868 into a family of means. Her father died young having lost much of his wealth to speculating on an investment before its time (Perhaps this was a dose of Aquarian/Uranian energy which Evangeline inherits?). The family relocated to Andover, MA where Evangeline was surrounded by an extraordinary community of thinkers. With her mother economically independent, Evangeline grew up benefiting from an education separate from the men’s Andover Theological Seminary but very similar in content. The conservative Christian culture emphasized the development of character, mind, and spirit. Eva was able to attend lectures, debates, concerts, clubs, and art exhibitions. It would have been a stimulating place for anyone devoted to a life of the mind. Socializing, dancing, and frivolous activities were frowned on. Andover was a place devoted largely to training ministers for the serious work ahead of them. Luckily, Eva thrived in this setting.

It was also here that she met some very important people in her life. Her Sunday school teacher, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, became a role model for a woman who could write for a living and remain unmarried. Through Phelps, Eva was introduced to some of the progressive ideas of the day— feminism, spiritualism, and homeopathy. Dr. Lewis Whiting and Eva became friends during a period of illness. Eva was able to ask Whiting deep philosophical questions and the homeopath seemed to recognize a certain spark in the young woman. Whiting later provided Eva with a referral to Dr. J. Heber Smith in Boston. What’s really interesting about this time in history is that doctors were overwhelmingly homeopaths. There were homeopathic hospitals and institutions. If you saw a doctor, it was likely a homeopath. And many homeopaths were well-trained astrologers. J. Heber Smith included, except that he didn’t openly advertise that. Eva went for a reading and that changed her life. The details of the reading are outlined in the book having been written down by Eva some 40 years later. No doubt many people have had (and will have) similar experiences to what Eva encountered on her visit to her first astrologer. From there, Eva goes on to study astrology with Smith who acts as her first astrology teacher. She later studied with Catherine Thompson who had a wealthy clientele in Boston. From Thompson, she learned the power of getting testimonials, using media for publicity, and how to cultivate a successful astrological practice. This was where Eva developed her people skills to counsel clients.  Eva eventually ended up with access to a homeopathic mental hospital where she used charts and patient histories to correlate astrological placements and ailments. She followed medical students on rounds at the Westborough Insane Hospital. This gave her insight into medical astrology others didn’t have.

The earliest legend of Eva’s forecasting goes back to 1899 and involves a fire at the Windsor Hotel where she was living. Eva had done a reading for the hotel owner, Warren Leland, the day before the fire that had predicted some kind of imminent tragedy. Leland gave an interview that credited Eva with the prediction and the NY papers picked it up. Leland died within 3 weeks of the fire so clarification of exactly what was said was never corroborated beyond the initial report. While Leland talked to one reporter, Eva talked to many. She was a consummate self-promoter. She made sure the story made it into British papers and she used the tale throughout her life. There is no doubt that her business grew as a result.

Eva’s business was based in NY City and the law there forbade “pretending to tell fortunes.” Three separate times, Eva was arrested for fortune telling. It was the 1914 case which had become legendary. An undercover policewoman was sent in to receive a reading and Eva was consequently charged. The case was heard in a city court (so nothing can be said about how the NY State laws would function). Eva was viewed as a sincere, educated, white woman who showed the court that she consulted various books and had developed skills in interpreting astrology. The charges were dismissed. Judge Freshi found that “…not every astrologer is a fortune-teller.” Astrology therefore was NOT automatically fortune telling. Eva later claimed that the case established astrology as a legitimate science. Again, the notoriety of the story allowed Eva even greater visibility and her reputation and business grew.

Eva continued to grow her business, write astrology books, and market herself. She consulted in person and had a mail order business. She toured and gave lectures, and by 1930, she was called “America’s most famous astrologer.” In the 1930s, she had a radio show that was carried nationwide three times a week. Called “Your Stars,” the show had the potential to reach millions. In 1931, Eva had produced booklets for each zodiac sign which went on sale at Woolworth Department stores. She died in 1932 at the age of 64.

Evangeline Adams’ influence on the history of astrology in the US was tremendous. She innovated methods to practice astrology and initiated marketing strategies to successfully promote her business. The book emphasizes how dedicated she was to the art and occult science of astrology. She had a genuine interest in helping her clients using the techniques she employed. Her direct client work must have reached thousands including many celebrities and notables of the day (J.P. Morgan, Tallulah Bankhead, Joseph Campbell). Through radio and the print media she touched the lives of the public bringing astrology into the homes of millions. America was now primed for the astrologers who were to follow in her footsteps. Newspaper and magazine horoscopes would eventually become standard fair (even today, as online sources open new markets which Evangeline would no doubt be the first to employ). Making astrology available to the masses moved astrology from small occult circles into mainstream, middle-class America where it remains today. During her lifetime, Evangeline actively encouraged the study of astrology, and it influenced the next generation of astrologers. Her written materials and books continue to have influence as they are republished periodically.   

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GOING TO WONDERLAND

Very soon I’ll be producing video installments to introduce people to the world of Lewis Carroll and Wonderland. Much of the material formed the background for the book that will be released in November (Down the Treacle Well, Tuxtails Publishing). Join me as we go on this adventure of discovery. Here are some photos from the studio I’m currently setting up.

ALICE & SCIENCE

Through the Wonderglass: Alice in Science and Medicine, in the Victorian Age and Beyond 

GHOST HUNTING AT THE STANLEY HOTEL

I’m not a big Stephen King fan but I’ve known for decades that Estes Park, Colorado is home to the inspiration for his writing, The Shining. It’s alleged to be a very haunted place and consequently easily made my list of places I wanted to visit. But for decades, we merely drove by the stately hotel on our way to Rocky Mountain National Park.

That changed this year when my husband booked us overnight at the hotel and signed us up for the nightly ghost tour. Fun stuff.

Like many of Colorado’s commercial starts, the Stanley wouldn’t have happened without the tuberculosis epidemics of the late 19th and early 20th century. The founder of the magnificent Colonial Revival hotel perched on a hill at the gateway to the Rockies, FO Stanley, suffered from consumption and was told to go West to seek his cure. By this point he was already rich and successful from the photography business and steam powered automobiles. Arriving in Colorado in 1903 in poor condition, he spent a summer at high altitude and recovered his health. So much so that he vowed to spend every summer back in Estes Park. However, the rough Rocky Mountain town was not up to snuff for the wealthy East Coast inventor, entrepreneur, and architect. He felt it necessary to add hotelier to his resume.

Over the next few years, FO and his wife went about building a huge edifice with all the modern accoutrements necessary to rival the hotels back home. The elegant Stanley Hotel boasted electric lights, telephones, ensuite bathrooms, a staff of uniformed servants, and a fleet of automobiles for guests. It’s been joked that Stanley had two things that a good hotelier needs—deep pockets and no children. The Stanley opened its doors to its East Coast clientele but never really made money. FO sold the hotel in 1930 to a Denver businessman.

By the time Stephen King and his wife spent their famous night at the Stanley in 1974, it was showing its wear. Nevertheless, the deserted hotel being prepared for closing for the season, sufficiently creeped out the horror writer and he walked away with the outline for a blockbuster book. The Shining would revitalize Stanley’s folly at the foot of the mighty Rockies.

And now I’m there, too!!

The Stanley is a pretty and well-maintained place. Lately, hotel management has been making a concerted effort in making it more of a destination vacation spot. They host concerts in their own hall, magic shows, and…seances. At least what they are terming “theatrical seances.” These seem to be small audience, scripted (?) events. I think they’d do better to try something more authentic (but that’s just me). There are several restaurants and a café on site. Also offered are a choice of rooms and locations around the sprawling grounds. We stayed in the main building on the 4th floor. The King’s were in Room 217 (and that suite is dedicated to Stephen King). If you stay in the hotel, all the floors are open to you, and we walked all of them. Surprisingly, the hotel feels light and airy. Remember, we were there in May when the Rockies are kind and in full tourist season swing and not closing for a long winter sleep.  

A group of about twenty of us gathered for the ghost tour at 8pm on the lowest level. Our guide gave us a brief history of FO and the hotel before we set off to explore the grounds. We were taken into various external buildings, underground levels, and through parts of the main building that are normally off-limits to everyone else.

It seems that individual guides chose what to include or how to structure their tours. Our guide showed us lots of photos taken by previous guests and other guides in the recent past. I would have expected misty images and floating orbs—that kind of thing. Instead, there were actual pictures of what looked like real, solid people in places they shouldn’t be. A red-eyed girl looking through the railing of a staircase. An indistinct dark form of a person standing between two real people. What to think of those? Stories of the different locations were imparted. A vagrant dying in the basement. An Irish Earl fond of pinching the ladies. All along we were encouraged to snap photos. Sadly, I caught nothing but a misty light anomaly in the theatre. Who knows? I was never scared even though we were plunged into darkness often enough. Several guests were creeped out by the haunted mirror. Still, an amusing way to spend an evening. The theatre does have a certain energy about it.

(room where Mrs. Stanley held seances & Molly Brown played pool violating societal rules)

I highly recommend a stay at The Stanley if you get the chance. It is pricey but the history and views are wonderful.

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When fourteen-year-old Lydia travels to Amsterdam with her parents, the last thing she expects is the weird incidents that plague her stay. Curtains flutter mysteriously, and unexplained shadows move through the kitchen unnerving her. But Lydia is more concerned with the potential move to upstate New York. She dismisses the odd occurrences blaming them on jet lag and the various symptoms of her migraine disease.

When Lydia’s father lands a new job and the family moves to an area first settled by the Dutch, the bizarre happenings continue. Suffering from migraines has never been easy, but now Lydia has to contend with what she may have inadvertently brought home with her.

DREAMTIDINGS OF A DISGRUNTLED STARBEING

by Linn Aspen

Thirteen-year-old Klara is a modern teenager living in a complicated family situation. Her mother is fixated on herself and making sure her son gets everything he wants. Klara’s father recognizes some of the imbalances in the family but refuses to make any change. Luckily, Klara has an escape. She looks to her star family for emotional sustenance.

This is a highly creative and thoughtful work of young adult (YA), visionary fiction. Klara is a star seed from a distant galaxy. In her dreams (or are they dreams?), she has contact with beings of superior wisdom and knowledge. They give her access to understandings she doesn’t possess in her everyday reality. Of course, living in the 3D world and reconciling the idea of being a star being is difficult for a teenager. Klara soon attracts help from adults who share ideas from Hinduism, Q’ero Shamanism, and Quakerism. All these traditions offer support for Klara as she negotiates the difficult dynamics of her family and the increasingly dark times with her brother. In this way, the book familiarizes the reader with several esoteric wisdom traditions without preaching but making each of them relevant to the spiritual crisis the character faces.

I especially enjoyed the parts of the book that dealt with consciousness, reincarnation, the holographic universe, the interconnectedness of all things, and the idea of a feedback loop. Many of these ideas emanate from ancient tradition and yet modern science is starting to recognize them as well. The Arturian Gate by which Klara takes incarnation reminded me of the “well of forgetting” in some esoteric writings. Similarly, the comemeya necklace activated by thought resonated as a stand-in for the chakra system or perhaps just the heart chakra. There are discussions of Edgar Mitchell, the Schumann resonances, and the idea of an emerging upgrade in human consciousness. Dreams, alternative realities, parallel realities, vibratory fields, beings existing in other dimensions. There are many discussion points opened by the book for seekers to explore.

Ultimately, Klara comes to grips with self-acceptance for where she is in her journey and what forgiveness looks like in the moment. A wonderful book to open hearts and minds reminding us of what our time on earth is all about.   

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My visionary works are Into the Land of Snows and Timeless Tulips. Elephants Never Forgotten is Sci-Fi.

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The Past Lives of Lewis Carroll

I’ve just finished the edits on Down the Treacle Well, which will be released this fall. Reflecting on the book, I was reminded that its first glimmers had their start in reading a biography about Lewis Carroll. I was intrigued by the real history behind Alice in Wonderland. It wasn’t until after I read the biography below that I read through Carroll’s works.

So I came to Wonderland as it were through the writer, finding him more engaging than the Victorian tale— at least, initially. I’ve also been doing more evolutionary astrology and it seemed natural now to combine the two.

Why not look at the Rev. Charles L. Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) through the lens of evolutionary astrology to get an even more personal understanding of the author who so inspired my new book!

First a little about the man born as Charles Dodgson in 1832. Dodgson was born into a line of English military officers and clergymen. His father was gifted in mathematics as was he. While the father found a home in the high Anglican Church, the son spent most of his life teaching at Oxford. The world would also come to know the son as the writer of one of the most recognized English language works of all time. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was published in 1865. Through the Looking Glass followed a few years later. Adopting the pen name Lewis Carroll, Dodgson became famous for his fantasy works and a category of writing known as literary nonsense (Jabberwocky, The Hunting of the Snark).    

What can evolutionary astrology tell us about Dodgson’s past lives? Evolutionary astrology begins with the premise that we all have lived many lifetimes and that we evolve spiritually through the many lessons we encounter along the way. To understand the themes associated with anyone’s past lives, we must look to the south node in the birth chart. Carroll’s south node is in Aquarius (2nd House). Let’s begin there because it reveals much about him.

The Aquarian South Node:

With the south node in Aquarius, his past life experience was one where he was an outsider, a rule breaker. Aquarius’ modern ruler is Uranus, known for lightning-fast change and rebellion. It rocks the predominant paradigm to bring about the future. He was part of that energy of evolution or revolution. In some sense, he would have challenged conventional reality and its power structure with new ideas and new ways of doing things, perhaps just by being himself. Being different often threatens the existing power structure. He may have often felt lonely and as if the world was against him. The Aquarian south node has strong themes of individualism and thinking for oneself. He would have questioned what other people easily accepted at face value. His chosen path would have formed by deep questioning and a reliance on individual expression. He would have sought and found his own truth. Guided by this, Carroll in his past lives found the courage to define his own story. He may very well have found himself at home in subcultures unfamiliar to the general public.

The danger in this nodal pattern is that the rebel lifestyle with its outsider association can become an identity that outlives its utility. Did he continue to identify with the ideas and causes that labelled him a rebel? Even if that wasn’t a problem, there was a risk in him becoming so caught up in ideas that he became too far removed from other people and life.

Human societies do not tolerate differences well. Sometimes, an Aquarian-type individual can exist within the establishment and adjust enough to get along. However, there are many times when society imposes conformity in all sorts of ways. Past lives where the soul retains memories of persecution, confinement, or torture may lead an individual to dissociate from feelings. There can be a preference for thinking over feeling. The disconnect from feeling can create a wedge in relating to others.

How does this connect to the life of Lewis Carroll?

In anyone’s chart, the south node is our comfort zone. It is what we know and what we are most familiar with. Generally, we tend to stay fixed in this energy and repeat these patterns over and over.

With Carroll’s life, many of the Aquarian markers were present. He has a brilliant mind and loved to engage in fantasy writing, word play, mathematical puzzles and games of all kinds. He lived alone and never married. While he had wide social circles, he spent considerable amounts of time by himself—often walking alone miles and miles every day. Carroll identified as a Christian and rose as a high as a deacon in the church but never assumed the role of clergyman. To this day, no one knows why he refused to take his final ordination. It should have cost him his position at the university and yet he alone was allowed to stay on having refused the requirement. Choosing an academic life, he rejected his father’s path of parson by remaining a bachelor teaching don in residence at a college. Although this arrangement was typical for the time for academics, we might view this as a subculture of society because most of Victorian society did not eschew marriage and family. Lewis Carroll also went on to produce a highly distinctive and individual body of literary writing. So unique was his work that it continues to influence our culture today. His writings are still widely read in their original form. Lewis Carroll societies exist around the world. Not as well known, but certainly Aquarian, are the many inventions he created over his lifetime. He created several practical devices, ciphers, games, and even proposed alternative forms of parliamentarian representation.     

The South Node in the Second House:

Recall from above that Lewis Carroll’s south node was located in the second house of his chart. That gives us insight to the kinds of life experiences he had in his past lives. The second house is generally associated with money, self-worth, and values. It is the house that indicates how resources are made available to us in life. Was a person wealthy or poor? Prone to sudden reversals of fortune? All of those are second house concerns. In Carroll’s chart, Uranus (the planet of surprise or sudden upset) is conjunct his south node. This indicates that his resources were vulnerable to unexpected changes. We can easily imagine that challenges to physical or spiritual survival affect the soul. Especially where the repeat of such stress shows itself many times. This is when the soul can become fearful—full of self-doubt and insecurity.  

Situations of having to fight for daily survival focuses our attention on the basics of life. Dreams and aspirations go by the wayside. Life becomes a compromise where existence is the only goal.  The soul becomes weary feeling cheated out of life. Human dignity is degraded in this experience. Doubt in our own abilities and in the world’s ability to provide reigns. Failure can feel fated if all we know is deprivation.       

How does this connect to Carroll’s life?

The Rev. Charles Dodgson was living a quiet academic life when he happened to meet a neighbor of his. That neighbor was the college dean’s wife, and they became good friends. Oftentimes, he and another college friend took the Dean’s children out for the day. On one of these occasions, Dodgson crafted a particularly enchanting tale that one of the children, Alice, begged to have written done. Eventually, Dodgson complied. He also went on to share the story with another friend who encouraged him to seek publication because his own children became very fond of the tale. The publisher immediately liked the book and once it went to print, it became an immediate success. Dodgson became Lewis Carroll. He didn’t spend years as a frustrated, unpublished author. He became an overnight success such that Queen Victoria became aware of who he was and wanted his next book dedicated to her. The money flowed as well. His fan mail quickly overtook his ability to reply. Uranus had touched him, and a series of events led to a complete reversal of his fame and fortune. For a generally shy and reserved man, this probably came as quite a shock and brought its own struggles. Wealth or poverty brings countless changes.     

What we have examined briefly here are the way patterns of past lives tend to repeat in one’s current life. That was certainly the case with Lewis Carroll. His soul’s challenge was to move toward the opposite energy of Leo (8th House). To move away from patterning and familiarity takes an enormous amount of insight, dedication, and hard work. However, that was the task set for that incarnation. This is just a brief glimpse into evolutionary astrology. A complete analysis of relevant aspects would give us far more detail into the situational and personal dynamics of his previous lives. However, this gives a taste of the kind of information that can be gleaned quickly from a chart.   

If you are interested in what your own chart might reveal, contact me below. Clients continue to report surprising correlations between evolutionary astrology reports and their current life experiences. This is going to be a highly transformative time as we enter the summer. Several key astrological aspects are happening bringing in fast change. Understanding the full context of these changes in light of one’s own personal karmic history is often beneficial.

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