The Necronomicon

I first heard of a book called the Necronomicon in 2004 when someone on a pagan forum asked if anyone there knew anything about it and whether or not it was real. Naturally curious I did some Googling and eventually ascertained that it was the fictional creation of author H.P. Lovecraft developed for use in his stories.

The Necronomicon was never actually written, but instead was meant to be a common point of background for Lovecraft’s stories “to give a verisimilitude to his fictional world, a veneer of plausibility that imbued his tales of cosmic terror with a grounding in the plausibly real”. It was first mentioned in the The Hound, written in September 1922 and published in February 1924 in Weird Tales. Lovecraft did write a fictional history of the book, adding to the book’s mystique.

A Vanishing Diagnosis?

A Powerful Identity, a Vanishing Diagnosis

From The New York Times

By CLAUDIA WALLIS

Published: November 2, 2009

It is one of the most intriguing labels in psychiatry. Children with Asperger’s syndrome, a mild form of autism, are socially awkward and often physically clumsy, but many are verbal prodigies, speaking in complex sentences at early ages, reading newspapers fluently by age 5 or 6 and acquiring expertise in some preferred topic — stegosaurs, clipper ships, Interstate highways — that will astonish adults and bore their playmates to tears.

My Weight Loss Blog

I’m not sure whether I’m being brave or stupid doing this, but I’ve started another blog to document my weight loss progress (starting today). I figure if I go public I’ll feel compelled to stick at it. It’s worth a try anyway — something’s gotta change regarding my health and fitness — I kinda grew waaaaaay too much over the “festive season”.  Anyway, click on the banner if you’re curious …although you won’t see any scary photos, LOL.

Missed opportunity…

I really should learn to listen to my intuition or inner “knowings” more often and act on them. Yesterday, around midday, I drove third son and his girlfriend to the cinema at the local Westfield shopping centre then came home — the intention being to go and pick them up again later that afternoon, around 4 to 4:30pm (public transport between our home and Westfield is rather slow so I didn’t mind driving them). While driving them to Westfield I had this niggling feeling that second son would go there after work and be able to drive them home. This was in spite of the fact he’d told me in the morning that he planned to drive straight home from work that day and had no intention of going anywhere else.

Later in the day this feeling of “knowing” that second son would be at the same shopping complex was very strong — especially around 4:00pm — and I seriously considered phoning him to find out. But, I second guessed myself, thinking he wasn’t really there and would be driving in heavy traffic at that time so a phone call could be inconvenient and possibly dangerous — he’d have to find somewhere to safely pull over to answer his phone, or he might even risk answering while driving — he’s only had his license for just on 5 weeks. The feeling got stronger, but still I resisted the urge to make the phone call and instead got into my car at 4:10pm, after third son called to say they were ready to be driven home, and ventured out into the beginnings of the peak hour traffic, collected the “kids” at about 4:25pm and was home again 35 minutes later — the traffic was substantially heavier on the return journey.

Second son drove into the driveway 5 minutes after us. Yes, he had decided to go to Westfield afterall, and yes, he was there at the same time so I could have safely phoned him at 4pm — in fact he left there only 5 minutes after I’d picked up third son and his girlfriend. BUGGER! I could have saved myself a 50 minute round trip in crappy traffic!

Hematite Dragon

While on a family holiday over the Xmas/New Year period I bought a little dragon carved out of hematite. I didn’t realise, until I got it home and read the information card that was slipped into the package by the saleswoman after I’d purchased the dragon, just how appropriate the qualities of hematite are for me at this time, especially after all the over indulgence of the “festive season”, and also being the beginning of the new year with the resolutions being made — although not often kept — at this time of year. Even the “healing” qualities are spot on for my needs!

HEMATITE A grounding and protective stone, it harmonizes mind, body and spirit. Prevents negative energies from entering the aura, restoring peace and harmony to the body. Supports timid women, boosts self esteem, willpower, reliability and confidence. Removes self limitations and helps overcome addictions and compulsions. Treats over eating, smoking and any form of over indulgence. Brings attention to unfulfilled desires and helps coming to terms with mistakes, accepting them as learning experiences. Enhances memory, concentration and focus. Useful for the study of mathematics and technical subjects. HEALING, circulation, anaemia, leg cramps, iron absorption, red blood cells, spinal alignment and fractures.

Not a very exciting blog post, I know, but I just felt like sharing.

Another excellent edition…

Well, another month has passed and once again I’ve just completed many, many, MANY hours of work  as  SOL’s Website Manager, putting together the latest Axis Mundi – the free online newsletter for Spheres Of Light (SOL). The screen-shot below shows just a small portion of our wonderful newsletter (click on the image to go to the newsletter).

Gemini/Sagittarius Full Moon ~ 2/12/09

Last night I performed a simple ritual under the Full Moon, then took some photographs to try to capture a glimpse of Her beauty…

And the winner is… !!

I happened to watch the “Good News Week” Season Finale (a comedy show on Aussie TV) last night and was pleased to see they gave their 2009 GNW Award: Religion to Danny Nalliah (see here and here for my previous blogs about Danny).  Unfortunately he couldn’t be there on the night so a member of the GNW comedy team graciously accepted it on his behalf. The trophy was a giant hand holding a  tomato sauce bottle …a reference to the rather mixed up idiom “Fair shake of the sauce bottle” used by Australia’s Prime Minister earlier this year.

The nominees for this category were…

• Pope Benedict the 16th for re-instating a bishop who’s a Holocaust denier, and posing the question: “In the C20th, what contributed most to the emancipation of women?” Answer: The Washing Machine
• The Scientologists for claiming their Church “had been subject to relentless ridicule and misinformation” and calling for religious vilification to be a prison offence.
• Catch The Fire Ministries leader Danny Nalliah for blaming the Victorian bushfires on the state’s abortion laws and claiming that Parliament House is being cursed by baby-sacrificing witches.
• The Islamic extremist magazine “Jihad Recollections” which among many wonderful things, contains fitness tips for terrorists.

I was so glad to see this prestigious award go to such a deserving recipient.

Dragons’ Breath & Rainbow Pyramids

This article, which I wrote about a recent Spheres Of Light meditation, also appears in the November edition of the Axis Mundi. I created the artwork below, featuring a dragon’s eye inside a pyramid. I have to admit though, it’s not totally an original work as I used a photo of a clear crystal pyramid (which I found here) and a picture of a dragon’s eye (found here). But I’m quite pleased with the effect I achieved by combining the two and adding colours etc to make it “mine”.

“The Watcher” – a vision from my meditation.

Even immediately afterward, I always find it difficult to remember all the details of what happened in my meditations, and of course writing this up a day later made it even harder, but I’ve tried my best to record at least some of the events from a SOL group meditation I attended last Sunday in a beautiful, secluded natural bushland setting.

It’s Beltane again…

…so I thought I’d post another of my artworks to celebrate the occasion. This one was done using coloured pencils on cardboard, and features an alien couple enjoying the great outdoors during the equivalent of Spring time on whatever planet they’re from …and yes, I know there’s snow-capped mountains in the background and no leaves on the tree, but that’s all part of “Spring” on their planet. As usual it also reflects my own inner turmoil and feelings of alienation and “difference” at the time.