Extra Strength Gamma-Ray Burst Detected on the Summer Solstice

A record-breaking gamma ray burst from beyond the Milky Way temporarily blinded the X-ray eye on NASA's Swift space observatory on 21 June 2010. The X-rays traveled through space for 5 billion years before hammering into and overwhelming the space-based telescope. "This gamma-ray burst is by far the brightest light source ever seen in X-ray wavelengths at cosmological distances," said David Burrows, senior scientist and professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State University and the lead scientist for Swift's X-ray Telescope (XRT).

A gamma-ray burst is a violent eruption of energy from the explosion of a massive star morphing into a new black hole. This megaburs, named GRB 100621A, is the brightest X-ray source that Swift has detected since the observatory began X-ray observation in early 2005.

Although Swift satellite was designed specifically to study gamma-ray bursts, the instrument was not designed to handle an X-ray blast this bright, "The intensity of these X-rays was unexpected and unprecedented," said Neil Behrels, Swift's principle investigator at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "Just when we were beginning to think that we had seen everything that gamma-ray bursts could throw at us, this burst came along to challenge our assumptions about how powerful their X-ray emissions can be."

More information here

The model is the ultra-luscious Nick Ayler!

Betelgeuse-We hardly knew ye!

Note-the spacing is a bit off to say the least for this article! I tried to work with HTML code as much as I can which isn't much and got it a tad better-but still not right-apologies to reader!

Betelgeuse is a semiregular variable star whose apparent magnitude ranges between 0.2 and 1.2, the most for any first magnitude star. It is the ninth brightest star in the night sky located between 520 and 640 light-years from Earth.

Classified as a red supergiant, Betelgeuse is one of the largest and most luminous stars known. For comparison, if the star were at the center of our solar system its surface would extend past the orbit of Jupiter, completely engulfing Mercury, Venus, the Earth and Mars.

Betelgeuse is probably only between six and eight million years old. Its mass is so high- between 15 and 18 times that of our Sun-that it has evolved very rapidly as all massive stars do. For instance, our Sun may live about 10 billion years, and lower-mass stars than the sun can live from 15 billion to around 1 trillion years for the very lowest mass stars (around o.08% the mass of our sun).

Betelgeuse is the second brightest star in the constellation Orion (only behind Rigel AKA Beta Orionis). Betelgeuse marks the upper-right vertex of the Winter Triangle and center of the Winter Hexagon.

Recent ground-based infrared measurements of the disk of Betelgeuse gave a mid-infrared angular diameter of 54.7 (plus or minus 0.3 milliarseconds) in November 1999, slightly smaller than the typical visible-light angular diameter. These measurements ignored any possible contribution from hotspots, which are less noticeable in the mid-infrared, but factored in some limb darkening, whereby the intensity of the star's image diminishes near the edge, as the photospheric gas gets thinner.

It is difficult to define the precise diameter of Betelgeuse as the photosphere has no 'edge.' Instead the gas making up the photosphere gets gradually thinner with distance from the star.

On 9 June 2009, Nobel Laureate Charles Townes anncounced that the star has shrunk 15% since 1993 with an increasing rate. He presented evidence that UC Berkeley's Infrared Spatial Interferometer (ISI) atop Mt. Wilson Observatory had observed 15 consecutive years of stellar contraction. The average speed at which the radius of the star has been shrinking during the period is around 210-219 meters per second (m/s).

Despite Betelgeuse's diminished size, Townes and his colleagues, Edward Wishnow, pointed out that the star's visible brightness, or magnitude, which is monitored regularly by members of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO), had shown no significant dimming over the same time frame.

The distance to Betelgeuse is not known precisely. The measurement of the optical parallax from space yield a distance estimate of 495 light-years, while parallax measurement using radio emission gives a longer estimate of 640 light-years. Assuming a compromise distance of 570 light-years, the star's diameter would be about 950 to 1,000 times that of the Sun! If the Sun were the size of a beach ball, Betelgeuse would be the size of a professional sports stadium!


Betelgeuse has most likely exhausted its supply of hydrogen and is currently generating energy by the thermonuclear fusion of helium into carbon and oxygen. On the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, the star has moved off the main sequence and has swelled and cooled to become a red supergiant.

The future fate of Betelgeuse depends on its mass, as it probably contains more than 15 solar masses, it will continue to burn and fuse elements until its core turns to iron, at which point Betelgeuse will explode as a type II supernovae. During this event the core will collapse leaving behind a neutron star remnant some 20 km (the size of a city!) in diameter-in other words very very dense! However, if Betelgeuse is at the lighter end of estimated mass, it may instead contract to become a white dwarf.


Considering its size and age of 8.5 million years, old for its size class, Betelgeuse may explode within the next 1,000 years. Perhaps it has already exploded, and because we are around 570 light-years away, we just haven't gotten the news yet!


The stars unusual name spawned the 1988 film Beetlejuice, and script writer Michael McDowell was impressed at how many people made the connection. He added they had received a suggestion the sequel be named Sanduleak-69-202 after the former star of Supernovae 1987A. In August Derleth's take on H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulu Mythos, Betelgeuse is the home of the 'benign' Elder Gods. There has been much debate over the identity of the red star Borgil mentioned in the Lord of the Rings, with Aldebaran, Betelgeuse and even the planet Mars touted as candidates. Professor Kristine Larsen concluded the evidence points to it being Aldebaran, as it precedes Menelvagor (Orion). Astronomy writer Robert Burnham, Jr. proposed the term padparadaschah, which denotes a rare orange sapphire in India, for the star.



Jeff Wells notes in his most recent post at Rigorous Intuition, "Hey hey, We're the monkeys": "It [Betelgeuse] appeared above, completing the constellation of Orion, as the first homogines appeared below, creating the evolutionary branch that differentiates us from chimpanzees. Australopithecus was obolesced by increasingly sophisticated models of symbologic acuity, able to connect the dots of the night sky into pictograms of their world. And in due, deep time, Orion became our superlative, celestial representation."

The first gentleman pictured is Craig Horner-thanks to Michael for bringing this guy to my attention-much appreciated! The last gentleman pictured is the super-hot and gorgeous Anton Antipov-unfortunately I don't know who the others are. I am going to continue with the Kabbalah series, and just need some time to gather information. I will try to post about other subjects in between as much as I can. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!
PS- can anyone tell me how to get a different template than the ones blogger provides? I am so tired of seeing the background for this blog. If it isn't too difficult to change, I would like to see something like I see at different blogs that I link to. If it is difficult -maybe I shouldn't even try with my 'puter skills-LOL!

Light: Connecting Principle of Creation

In Kabbalah, the 10 Sephirot are the emanations of the Divine attributes of God. The Ein Sof (limitless) is the unknowable, undifferentiated, infinite Divine essence. The 10 emanations of the Sephirot enable the Creation to know God, and become God's attributes that reveal divinity. They are also channels through which all of Creation is continu0us and God is the only true existence. A "Chain of Progression" (Seder hishtalshelsus) of interpenetrating "Worlds", including the Four Worlds (Atziluth, Beri'ah, Yetzirah, and Assiah-more on these in next article) links the Ein Sof with the physical world.

Each of the Sephirot consists of a "light" (an "ohr") that is vested in a "vessel" (a "kli"; plural keilim). This light is simple, pure and undifferentiated, as it originally flows from the Ohr Ein Sof ("The Light of the Ein Sof"), God's infinite light. It represents Divine revelation in the world. It is associated with the Kabbalistic Divine name of Ban. The differentiation between the 10 Sephirot, each with its own particular characteristic, arises from each of their different spiritual vessels. The light adapts itself to each vessel, to express the particular nature of each vessel.

Kabbalists read their mystical teachings into exegetical interpretations of scripture and Rabbinic literature. This arose from their belief that Kabbalah forms part of the Oral Torah inherent in the revelation at Mount Sinai. Consequently, in Jewish tradition, each verse and concept can be interpreted in the fourfold Jewish method of Pardes , with the metaphysical interpretations of Kabbalah and Hasidic philosophy forming the Sod (secret) level of meaning. In this way, Kabbalah interprets a second meaning in Talmudic legislation and use of the term for "vessel" (kli).

In the Hasidic sense a vessel is an object that can serve a useful purpose, even if it may not resemble a physical receptacle. This term is used frequently in discussion of the laws of Shabbat . In Jewish mysticism, typically, these narratives are given metaphysical interpretations, which relate "kli" to its Kabbalistic meaning.

In Hasidic philosophy, the plural fourfold levels of meaning are viewed as uniting in a higher essential source of explanation that describes Divinity. Jewish mysticism views such alternative, spiritual interpretations of Torah as stemming from more revealed Divine realms in the Chain of Worlds.

Light: Connecting Principle of Creation

In addition to the 10 "lights" of God contained and transmitted by the Sephirot, Kabbalah also describes a more primordial light that shines from the Ein Sof (Infinite) itself. This light, the origin of all Creation, and all lower lights, is called the Ohr Ein Sof ("the light of the Infinite" or otherwise, itself "The Infinite Light").

The Kabbalistic and Hasidic teachers asked the question of how there can be a revelation of God, in the Ohr Ein Sof, before Creation. They reasoned that before Creation, there could not be a being to behold a revelation of Divine light. The Ohr Ein Sof is a form of Divine self-knowledge, and through God knowing Himself, He created everything, with its subsequent historical unfolding, God its ultimate purpose in the innermost Divine Will.

Because the Ohr Ein Sof is itself infinite, it couldn't be responsible for the creation of Worlds. Any direct creations of the Infinite Light would be of infinite number, and would not be actual creations at all, as the would remain totally nullified ( "bittul") to the Infinite Light, and would have no independent self-awareness. Instead, it is only through the restrictions of the Sephirot and the descending "Chain of Progression" (Seder hishtalshelmus), that the Worlds could manisfest.

As the Divine Light descends through the chain of worlds from the Infinite to our finite realm, the creative flow of Divine light encapsulated in the Sephirot, undergoes countless restrictions, diminutions and veilings, to progressively hide Divinity. In Kabbalah these are called "Tzimtzum" (Constrictions-plural "tzimtzumin").

However, after the new teachings and doctrines of Isaac Luria (The "Arizal"), in Lurianic Kabbalah, these innumerable Tzimtzumin of the descending chain of Worlds are called the "Second Tzimtzumin." Isaac Luria taught the new concept of a "First Tzimtzumin", based on earlier allusions in the Zohar. As Lurianic Kabbalah became almost universally accepted in the Jewish development of Kabbalah, in modern times if the term Tzimtzum is used without qualification, it will invariably refer to the first, cosmic ultimate Constriction taught by Luria.

In Lurianic Kabbalah, the Tzimtzum concealed the Ohr Ein Sof, which resolved the dichotomy between the Infinite Light and the possibility of creating finite Worlds. Without this raidcal leap of a concealment of the Ohr Ein Sof, even the progressive, gradual concealments of the Chain of Worlds, the problem would not be properly overcome. Only a second, new light, extremely diminished, and of a different quality than the Ohr Ein Sof, could become the creative source of all reality. This new light, a "thin" illumination from the Ohr Ein Sof, called the Kav ("Ray), shone into the "Vacated Space" (this goes back to the concept of the "Ari", that at the beginning of Creation the Divine "withdrew" a complete tzimtzum from a "Chalal" ("Vacated Space"), to allow Creation to take place), and was a light that was adapted to the perspective of the subsequent creations on their own terms. It could relate to a finite creation (Divine Immanence), rather than the infinite Primordial light (the ultimate Divine transcendence).

Interpretations of this in Kabbalah and Hasidic philosophy, are careful to avoid literal, spatial, geometric understandings of the Vacated Space and the Kav , as such dimensional understandings relate only to our physical world. Nonetheless, circular diagram representations of this, strictly metaphorical, are used in Kabbalah to represent the process. In the first, a black circle is broken only by one thin, vertical, straight line that descends from the surrounding white into the centre of the black circle from the top. Here the surrounding white represents the Chalal vacated "space", and the thin white line represents the "thin" illumination of the Kav, derived from the Ohr Ein Sof, but able to illuminate into the Chalal on its own terms.

This representation is then augmented by a second, similar diagram, where the successive, unfolding Five Worlds, each with the original circle as a series of concentric circles. The descending chain of Worlds proceeds in the diagram towards the centre of the circle, representing our lowest physical realm. Each successive World and Sephira is a successively smaller concentric circle, representing diminished, more constricted Divinity.

The same Kav line is still shown connecting the outer Ein Sof to the centre of the circle, as the light of the Kav is the origin of all Creation after the Tzimtzum, towards the circles centre. The utilization here of concentric circles, or spheres is also significant, as with each subsequent lower step, the light "encompasses" (sovev-"surrounds") that level of "immanent" ("mimilei-"filled") creation. Each of the Sephirot comprise both an encompassing light vested in its immanent vessel. Each World similarly incorporates its own relative level of Divine transcendence, illuminating its own level of Divine immanence. An image of the interpenetrating Worlds of the Kabbalah and the light of the Kav is pictured below.

Light: Connecting Principle of Creation

Ohr ("Light") in Hebrew or plural Ohros/Ohrot "Lights" are very important terms in the Kabbalistic tradition. Light, along with the human soul-body relationship are the two main metaphors for understanding Divinity in the Kabbalistic tradition. The metaphorical description of the spiritual Divine creative flow, using the term for physical "light" we perceive with the eye, comes from analogous similarities. These include the intangible physicality of light, the wonder it inspires and the illumination it gives, its apparently immediate transmission and constant connection with its source.

Light can be veiled (Tzimtzum-constrictions in Kabbalah) and reflected ("an ascending light from the creations" in Kabbalah). White light divides into seven colors, yet this plurality unites from one source. Divine light divides into the seven emotional sephirot, but there is no plurality in the Divine essence. The term "Ohr" in Kabbalah is constrasted with Ma'ohr, the "luminary", and Kli, the spiritual "vessel" for the light.

Of course, using light as a metaphor for the metaphysical "beyond" can only go so far. Human beings must use these analogies to spatial and temporal phenomenon to understand a spaceless and timeless eternity because that is all most of us know or have experienced.

Once these images are grasped, Kabbalah stresses the need to attempt to transcend them by understanding their deficiencies. Among the limitations of the central metaphor of "light" are the physical inability of the luminary to keep its radiance, the fulfillment of purpose light gives the luminary, and the categorical differentiation between the light source and its light. God created our world, the universe, the Sephirot and so on to infinity by an act of His will. God was not forced to create the Universe or Mankind, and the emanation of Creation did not complete some aspect of God He was lacking; the Godhead was already the Alpha and the Omega- timeless, spaceless and perfect beyond the ability of mere words to describe.

The distinction between the Divine light (beginning with the "Ohr Ein Sof" , which is the primordial "Infinite Light", and subsequently the emanation of the 10 Sephirot) and the Divine esscence (the Ein Sof) appears only relative to Creation. From God's perspective, Scripture states "For I the Eternal, I have not changed."

From the persepective of God's self knowledge, the emanations remain completely united and characterless to their source. This answers early Rabbinic criticism of dualism in Kabbalah. The term in Kabbalah and Hasidic philosophy fo this nullification is Bittul. In daily spiritual life (Dveikus) it inspires the mystical humility of nullification of the ego.

The Ein Sof (literally: "Without End/Limitless/Infinite) is the Kabbalistic term for the Divine essence. Kabbalah describes 10 Sephirot (The 10 Divine emanations or attributes), that reveal the unknowable Godhead to the creations and channel the creative life-force to all levels of existence. Big "however" here- these 10 attributes of God do not represent the Divine essence (the "Luminary").

This difference triumphed over criticism that the Kabbalists were trying to introduce a plurality of gods into the monotheism of Judaism. Kabbalistic texts use great caution to emphasize this difference, and warn against anthropomorphizing the subtle descriptions of Kabbalah in human terms. To avoid such heresies, the historical transmission of Kabbalah was traditionally restricted to direct teaching in close circles.

Light: Connecting Principle of Creation

One of the things I forgot to mention in the previous article, is the fascinating property that if one could travel at the speed of light-or ride on a beam of light-time would stop completely. Time would cease to exist for the traveller. For light time has no meaning. If it takes light 2.3 million years to travel from the Milky Way Galaxy to the Andromeda Galaxy-from the ray of lights perspective the trip happened instantly-literally taking no time at all.

As physical objects in our universe travel ever closer to the speed of light, time begins to slow down tremendously the closer one gets to light-speed. If humanity ever manages to build a starship capable of travelling at a very significant percentage of the speed of light, using a matter/antimatter propulsion system for instance, travelling at 99.99999.... percent the speed of light, not only are the stars within our galaxy within reach of the passengers of such a ship in the typical human lifespan but travel to the furthest galaxies in the universe could be conceivably possible within such a lifespan due to time dilation.

The Aura, Light and Spirituality

From page 165 of Michael Talbot's The Holographic Universe: "One mystical phenomenon that appears to involve the ability to see reality's frequency aspects is the aura, or human energy field. The notion that there is a subtle field of energy around the human body, a a halolike envelope of light that exists just beyond normal human perception, can be found in many ancient traditions. In India, sacred writings that date back over five thousand years refer to this life energy as prana. In China, since the third millenium B.C., it has been called ch'i and is believed to be the energy that flows through the acupuncture meridian system. Kabbalah, a Jewish mystical philosophy that arose in the sixth century B.C., calls this vital principle nefish and teaches that an egg-shaped bubble of iridescence surrounds every human body.

Many cultures believe the aura of an extremely spiritual individual is so bright it is visible even to normal human perception, which is why so many traditions, including Christian, Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, and Egyptian, depict saints as having halos or other circular symbols around their heads. In his book on miracles Thurston devotes an entire chapter to accounts of luminous phenomena associated with Catholic saints, and both Neumann and Sai Baba are reported to have occasionally had visible auras of light around them. The great Sufi mystic Hazrat Inayat Khan, who died in 1927, is said to have sometimes given off so much light that people could actually read by it."

And from pages 288-89 in the same book, Talbot talks of how consciousness is not only more fundamental than matter, but how consciousness actually "projects" the physical world: "Because everything unfolds out of the irreducible totality of Brahman, the world is also a seamless whole, say the Hindus, and it is again maya that keeps us from realizing there is ultimately no such thing as separateness. Maya severs the united consciousness so that the object is seen as other than the self and then as split up into the multitudinous objects in the universe," says the Vedic scholar Sir John Woodroffe. "And there is such objectivity as long as [humanity's] consciousness is veiled or contracted. But in the ultimate basis of experience the divergence has gone, for in it lie, in undifferentiated mass, experiencer, experience, and the experienced."

"The same concept can be found in Judaic thought. According to Kabbalistic tradition "the entire creation is an illusory projection of the transcendental aspects of God," says Leo Schaya, a Swiss expert on the Kabbalah. However, despite its illusory nature, it is not complete nothingness, "for every reflection of reality, even remote, broken up and transient, necessarily possesses something of its cause." The idea that the creation set into motion by the God of Genesis is an illusion is reflected even in the Hebrew language, for as the Zohar, a thirteenth-century Kabbalistic commentary on the Torah and the most famous of the esoteric Judaic texts, notes, the verb baro, "to create" implies, the idea of "creating an illusion."

DNA & Light

From one of Jeff Wells' many excellent articles at Rigorous Intuition- "Are You Being Served?" : "One work in particular resonates with this alien DNA argument. Entitled "What A Human Being Is," it depicts a twisted double strand that looks remarkably like a DNA molecule. This was about 50 years before Francis Crick and James Watson won the Nobel prize for the discovery. Aliens talking? Remote Viewing? These sorts of "coincidences" are just the sort of thing that orthodox Ufologists routinely ignore to their peril.

As well, on the RI forum thread, "Attack Ships on Fire" smartly noted that along with the DNA-like double helix, "there appears to be a prism effect happening near the base...[of the picture] another odd connection/premonition about DNA being able to emit photons of light."

The picture Jeff is referring to is by artist Af Klint ca. 1910, pictured below. I would highly suggest reading both of Jeff's articles that are linked in my article. Thanks again everyone for all of your thoughtful and intelligent comments! I hope to have the next article here pretty soon.

Light: Connecting Principle of Creation

I have been thinking of light in relation to the Universe and the Kabbalah lately. Light is so fundamental to our very concept of reality that it is hard to imagine a world without light. From the Book of Genesis to the Special Theory of Relativity, light plays a STARing role. And how many times have you heard of light as a metaphor for good and darkness as a metaphor for evil? Or how about having knowledge as opposed to being "kept in the dark"?

The speed of light in a vaccuum is presently defined to be exactly 299,792,458 metres per second: In other words -pretty f^%$ing fast! The property of light that led to Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity is that it can NEVER go faster than itself. In a vacuum, light will always travel at a constant speed, even between particles of a substance through which it is shining. If you have a spacecraft travelling at 99% of the speed of light and it flashes a light beam ahead of it, the light isn't now going at almost twice as fast-it is still travelling at 299,792,458 metres per second.

However, even though you can't make light go any faster than its fixed speed you can bring it to a total standstill! Two independent teams of physicists have been able to bring light to a total stop by passing it through a strange state of matter called a Bose-Einstein Condensate of the element rubidium.

Some theories as to the physical and metaphysical nature of light follow: In 5th and 6th century BC India, the Hindu schools of Samkhya and Vaisheshika began to develop theories about light. According to the Samkhya school, light is one of the five "subtle" elements (tanmatra) from which emerge the "gross" elements. The atomicity of these elements is not specifically mentioned and it appears that they were actually taken to be contiguous.

The Vaisheshika school posits an atomic theory of the physical world on the non-atomic ground of ether, space and time. The basic atoms of those of earth (prthivi), water (pani), fire (agni), and air (vayu), that should not be confused with the ordinary meaning of these terms. These atoms are taken to form binary molecules that combine further to form larger molecules. Motion is defined in terms of the movement of the physical atoms and it appears that it is taken to be non-instantaneous. Light rays are taken to be a stream of high velocity tejas (fire) atoms. The particles of light can exhibit different characteristics depending on the speed and that arrangement of the tejas atoms. Around the first century BC, the Vishnu Purana refers to sunlight as "the seven rays of the sun."

Indian Buddhists such as the Dignaga in the 5th century and the Dharakirti in the 7th century, developed a type of atomism that is a philosophy about reality being composed of atomic entities that are momentary flashes of light or energy. They viewed light as being an atomic entity equivalent to energy, similar to the modern concept of photons. Well ahead of their time, they saw all matter as being composed of these light energy particles. The Rigveda posits that light consists of three primary colors: "Mixing the three colors, ye have produced all the objects of sight!"

I hope to be back soon with more. I am kind of stumbling in the "dark" with how to proceed with this series-but when I feel that I am finally totally flummoxed, a great comment or link from one of my readers/blogfriends "lights" my way! To my straight men and lesbian readers-sorry about all the beefcake lately- I am quite sexually frustrated right now- so please bear/bare with me-my uhh SortofSO/FB is in Europe right now acting as an escort for a very wealthy man until about the first of August-so it might be "Hunkalicious" at MFM for awhile! Until meeting him in April, I had no idea how incredibly creative and life- sustaining the act of intimacy could be. When we touch, I feel as if a supernovae's worth of "electric light" is going through my body and soul. He has also earned a place in my memory banks with the rather memorable (to me anyway) statement "Devin, not all private jets are luxurious, some are real clunkers!" Heavens forbid any man who has touched my soul to fly on a "clunker" of a private jet! With much love to anyone stopping by, Devin AKA Vayu (will explain the "vayu" soon).

The gentleman above is the stunning Nick Ayler. Lordy- what perfection! The gentleman for the "Keter" article is the Awesomely Astounding Anton Antipov. Anton and Nick remind me that God not only doesn't "play dice" but also allows a heavenly- sublime -ethereal- profound-beauty to echo through some of His MenCreatures!

Keter: The Crown

Keter is the topmost of the sephirot of the Tree of Life. Keter means "crown." Keter is on the middle axis of the Tree and directly above Daath, Tiphereth, Yesod and Malkuth.

From Inner.org: "The sefira of keter develops into two partzufim (personaes). Its external partzuf referred to as Arich Anpin ("the Elongated Face"), corresponds to the superconscious power of ratzon (will) in the soul. Its inner partzuf, referred to as Atik Yomin ("the Ancient of Days") corresponds to the corresponding power of ta'anug (pleasure) in the soul).

The seven lower sefirot of Atik Yomin are enclothed within the partzuf of Arich Anpin (thus introducing pleasure as a primary motivational force driving the will). The three upper sefirot of Atik Yomin, which are not enclothed within Arich Anpin represent the unadulterated superconsciousness pleasure of emunah (faith)--deriving from one's essential rootedness within Divinity.

The meaning "crown" corresponds, in particular to "the head of nothingness," the source of Divine pleasure in the soul. The "crown" symbolizes the spiritual power to receive and integrated into one's consciousness the pleasure of Divine revelation, as our sages express with regard to the world to come: "the righteous sit with their crowns on their heads and receive pleasure from the radiance of the Divine Prescence" (Tractate Kalah Rabati 2:3)".

Wikipedia: "Keter is so sublime, it is called in the Zohar "the most hidden of all hidden things", and it is completely incomprehensible to man. It is also described as absolute compassion, and Rabbi Moshe Corovero describes it as the source of the 13 Supernal Attributes of Mercy.

Keter, although being the highest Sehphira of its world, receives from the Sephira of Malkuth of the domain above it (see Sephirot). The uppermost Keter sits below no other Sephira, although it is below Or Ein Soph which is the source of all Sephirot.

According to the Bahir:

The first Sephirah is called the Crown, since a crown is worn above the head. The Crown therefore refers to things that are above the mind's abilities of comprehension.

Additionally, all of the other Sephirot are likened to the body which starts with the head and wends its way down into action. But the crown of a king lies above the head and connects the concept of "monarchy", which is abstract and intangible, with the tangible and concrete head of the king.

13 Supernal Attributes of Mercy

Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, in The Palm of Devorah, discusses ethical behaviour that man should follow, related to the qualities of the Sephirot, in order that man might emulate his creator. Through discussion of a line in Micah, 13 attributes are associated with the Sephira Keter:

Whos is God lik you, who pardons iniquity and forgives the transgressions of the remnant of his heritage? He does not maintain His anger forever, for He delights in kindness. He will again show us compassion, He will vanquish our iniquities, and You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Show faithfulness to Ya'akov, kindness to Abraham, which You have sworn to our fathers from days of old. (Micah 7:18-20)

Non-Jewish Practices

In The Mystical Kabbalah, Dion Fortune describes Keter as pure consciousness, beyond all categories, timeless, a point that crystallizes out of the Ein Soph, and commences the process of emanation that ends in Malkuth.

The name of God given to it is Eheieh, the archangel that presides over it is Metatron, the order of angels that reside in it are the Holy Living Creatures (the Chaioth ha Qadesh), and its mundane chakra is said to be the First Swirlings of the cosmos (Primum Mobile, Rashith ha Gilgalin).

As pure formless consciousness, it is often compared with the Sahasrara chakra, in Indian Shakta Tantra.

In Aleister Crowley's Liber 777, Keter is associated with the Four Aces of the Tarot deck, White, Brilliance, Poseidon, Brahma, Wodan, Zeus, The Trinity, Almond in flower, Diamond, Elixir Vitae, Dao, and Death (not a complete list of te 777 associations).

It is said to have a negative aspect, the Qliphoth Thaumiel.

Keter is also indentified with the planet Neptune, the Atma in Theosophy and Raja Yoga, and the Khabs am Pekht in Egyptian mysticism."

More here and here and here .

Chokhmah: Wisdom

Chokhmah is the topmost of the sephirot of the right- hand column as Binah is at the top of the left-hand column. It is derived from the Hebrew word chokhmah which means "wisdom." It is to the bottom right of Keter, and under it are the sephirot Chesed and Netzach. The right-hand column of the three sephiroth is also known as "The Pillar of Mercy", while the left-hand column of Binah, Gevurah and Hod is known as "The Pillar of Severity."

Chokhmah usually has four paths going to Keter, Binah, Tiphereth and Chesed. Some Kabbalists place a path between Chokhmah and Gevurah.

In Jewish mysticism, it denotes the first intermediate step between Keter and the rest of the sephirot, channelling Or Ein sof through the rest of them.

Chokhmah is the first power of conscious intellect within Creation, and corresponds to tzelem Elokim ("the Divine Image") and the right hemisphere of the brain.

In its highest form, Chokhmah possesses two partzufim ("faces" or "features"): the higher of these is referred to as Abba Ila'ah ("the higher father"), whereas the lower is referred to as Yisrael Saba ("Israel the Elder"). United, these partzufim are referred to as Abba ("father").

In the soul, Chokhmah is associated with the power of intuitive insight; the feeling one gets with "aha!" or "eureka" moments when insight zaps across consciousness like a bolt of lightning. Wikipedia: " The partzufim Abba Ila'ah is associated with the power to spontaneously extract such insight from the superconscious realm, whereas the partzufim of Yisrael Saba is associated with the power to subsequently direct it into consciousness.

The "wisdom" of Chokhmah also implies the ability to look deeply at some aspect of reality and abstract its conceptual essence till one succeeds in uncovering its underlying axiomatic truth. These seeds of truth can then be conveyed to the companion power of Binah for the sake of intellectual analysis and development.

The word Chokhmah itself may be broken into two words- koach ("potential") and ma ("what is"). Thus Chokhmah means "the potential to be." This aspect of Chokhmah describes the state of Chokhmah in relation to the sefira of Keter. As Chokhmah emanates from Keter, the first dawning of the "Infinite Light", as it "appears" in an obscure and undefined state that is a virtual non-being. Thus the verse states, "and Chokhmah emerges from nothingness" (Job 28:12, see Zohar II, 121a, Zohar III, 290a, commentaries). The light of the Ein Sof becomes unified in the world of Atzilut though clothing itself first in the sefira of Chokhmah.

Chokhmah is related to the phallus and the straight line. It is variously attepted to relate it to different chakras in Indian mysticism. One attempt at reconciliation is that both Chokhmah and Binah are united in the Ajna chakra, which is where both Shiva and Shakti, subject and object are united.

In Aleister Crowley's Liber 777, Chokhmah is represented as The Four twos of the Tarot, Illuminating, Thoth, Vishnu, Joy, Odin, Uranus, Athena, God the Father, Man, Amaranth, VIAOV, Star Ruby, Lingam, Hashish, Phosphorus, Musk, and Yang (not a complete list).

Its opposite or Qlippothic equivalent has the name Chaigidel."

More here and here and here

Binah: Understanding

Binah is the second intellectual sefira on the Tree of Life. It is directly below Keter on the left-hand column, across from Chokmah and directly above Gevurah.

There are usually four paths to Keter from Binah: to Keter, Chokmah, Gevurah, and Tiphereth. Some Kabbalists place a path from Binah to Chesed also.

In relation to the human body, Binah could be alternatively related to the left eye, left hemisphere of the brain or the heart.

Binah represents deductive reasoning or davar mitoch davar- understanding one idea from another. Whereas Chokmah is intellect that does not emanate from the rational process (it is either inspired or taught), Binah is the rational process of thought which works to develop an idea completely.

Binah is also associated with the feminine principle. This association with the feminine goes back to ancient times. Classical Jewish texts state Binah yeterah natun l'nashim ("an extra measure of Binah was given to women").

In its highest form Binah possesses two partzufim (faces/features): the higher of these is referred to as Imma Ila'ah ("the higher mother"), whereas the lower is referred to as Tevunah ("comprehension"). Together, the two are referred to as Imma ("the mother"). In the correlation of Binah with Shakti: and Chokmah with Shiva, Shakti is the animating life force whereas Shiva is dead, a corpse, without here energy.

Binah's Qlippothic or negative opposite name of the Tree of Death is Sathariel.

More here and here and here.

Daath: Knowledge

Daath is a most interesting sephirot-not that any are boring! In most mystical systems Daath is not counted as one of the sephirot. This is confusing sometimes because it is on -or perhaps in is a better analogy- the Tree of Life. Instead Daath is said to be a "hidden" sefira. It is all ten sephirot united as one.

However, sometimes Daath is seen to be the First or Crown Sephirah instead of Keter. From this viewpoint, Daath is the reflection (from the perspective of finite creation) of the infinity of Keter.

For this reason Daath is placed on the middle axis of the Tree of Life; directly beneath Keter. It corresponds to the tzelem Elokim (the "image of God embedded in Humanity") and to the cerebellum-the "posterior brain."

Because all ten sephirot in the Tree of Life are united as one in Daath, the three sephirot of the left-hand column of the Tree, that would normally receive and conceal the Divine Light, share and reveal it instead. The sephira are no longer distinguishable from each other.

In a perfect world, the Divine Light would always be shining through its Creation; the Light is indeed there-but not all humans can see it. Whether the Divine Light of Creation is concealed or revealed through Daath does not take place in Daath itself. It only seems that way from the human perspective with Malkuth. The revelation of the Divine Light can only occur in Malkuth (our world).

People who become self-giving like the Light are able to perceive it, and for them the tremendous Knowledge of Daath's light seems "revealed." However, humans who are self-centered can't perceive the Light, and for them its Knowledge seems "hidden."

More here

Chesed: Mercy/Kindness

Wikipedia: "Chesed is the fourth sefira on the Tree of Life in the Kabbalah of Judaism. It is given the association of kindness and love, and is the first of the emotive attributes of the sefirot.

It sits below Chokhmah across from Gevurah and above Netzach. It is usually given four paths. To Chokhmah, Gevurah, Tiphereth, and Netzach (some Kabbalists place a path from Chesed to Binah as well).

The first three of the Ten Sephirot, are the attributes of the "intellect," while Chesed is the first sephira of the attribute of "action."

Chesed translated as "kindness", is often thought of as being synonymous with niceness, but the connotation of Chesed is much deeper. Chesed can be properly described as an act that has no "cause."

Chesed is proactive-it is the initiator of interaction, and must therefore be the first in the sephirot of action. Chesed deals with the level of the visible and, in the chain of social dynamics, is the primary spark that initiates subsequent action."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesed

Gevurah: Severity/Judgment

Gevurah sits below Binah, across from Chesed, and above Hod in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. Most often, it has four paths leading to Binah, Chesed, Tiphereth, and Hod (some Kabblists also draw a path from Gevurah to Chokmah).

Gevurah is the fifth of the ten sefirot (not counting the "hidden" sefira Daath), and second of the "emotive" attributes in Creation.

Wikipedia: "Gevurah is usually understood as God's mode of punishing the wicked and judging humanity in general. It is the foundation of stringency, absolute adherence to the letter of the law, and strict meting out of justice. This stands in constrast to Chesed.

Gevurah is associated in the soul with the power to restrain one's innate urge to bestow goodness upon others, when the recipient of the good is judged to be unworthy and liable to misuse it. As the force which measures and assesses the worthiness of Creation, Gevurah is also referred to in Kabbalah as midat hadin ("the attribute of judgment"). It is the restraining might of Gevurah which allows one to overcome his enemies, be they without or from within (his evil inclination).

Chesed and Gevurah act together to create an inner balance in the soul's approach to the outside world. While the "right arm" of Chesed operates to draw others near, the "left arm" of Gevurah reserves the option of repelling those deemed undeserving. (Even towards those to whom one's initial relation is that of "the left arm repels," one must susequently apply the complementary principle of "the right arm draws near)."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gevurah

Tiphereth: Beauty

Tiphareth is the sefira that integrates Chesed (Compassion) and Gevurah (Severity or Overpowering). Without Tiphareth, Chesed and Gevurah would be unable to manifest the flow of the Divine Ray of Creation; there must be balance between the two sefirot in perfect proportion and Tiphareth unites and harmonizes these conflicting forces and creation is birthed by this act.

Tiphareth has a kind of converting energy in relation to the other sefirot between form (Yesod) and force (Keter). When one crosses over the Middle Path via Tiphareth one reverses polarity. This is exactly mirrored by actions in the physical world of three-dimensional reality through the law of conservation of energy and mass; when energy/mass is transmuted a "sacrifice" is necessary for a new form/force to come into being.

Wikipedia: "Tiphareth is unique amongst the Sephirot as it is connected to all the other Sephirot (except Malkuth and Daath) via the subjective paths of the unconscious...Tiphareth is the middle of the Tree. Five Sefirot surround it: above are Chesed at the right (south) and Gevurah at the left (north); and below are Netzach at the right, Hod at the left and Yesod directly below. Together these six comprise a single entity, Zer Anpin, which is the masculine counterpart of the feminine sefira Malkuth. In certain contexts, Tiphareth alone represents all the sefirot of Zer Anpin, so that the entire Tree appears with only five sefirot: Keter, Chokmah, Binah, Tiphareth, and Malkuth."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiphereth_(Kabbalah)

Netzach: Victory/Eternity

Wikipedia: "Netzach is paired with Hod and composes the third group of sephirot, the "tactical" sefirot, meaning that their purpose is not inherent in themselves, but rather as a means for something else.

Understanding the attributes of Netzach and Hod gives us a new perspective into understanding what is happening in the world. No longer do we merely look at face value, and attempt to understand it as such, but we must look at it also in terms of a means to an end.

These sephirot mark a turning point. Where the first two groups of sefirot deal with God's intrinsic will, and what it is that He desires to bestow upon man, these sephirot are focused on man: What is the most appropriate way for man to receive God's message? How can God's will be implemented most effectively?"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netzach

Hod: Splendour

Wikipedia: "Hod in the Kabbalah of Judaism is the eigth sephira of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. In the Hebrew language it can mean "majesty" or "splendour" and denoting "praise" as well as "submission."

Hod sits below Gevurah and across from Netzach in the Tree of Life.

All the sephirot are likened to different parts of the body, and Netzach and Hod are likened to the two feet of a person: right foot and left foot. Feet are usually only the means of a person's activity. While the hands are the instruments of action, the feet bring a person to the place where he wishes to execute that action.

In a mystical sense, in which the Tree of Life is supposed to be a roadmap to "consciousness," Hod is where form is given by language in its sidest sense, being the key to the mystery of form. (Perhaps this may be an adopting of the point of view of the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan), our unconscious desires come from Netzach, and are given form in the symbolic realm by Hod, manifesting unconsciously through Yesod to Malkuth."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hod_(Kabbalah)

Yesod: The Foundation

From Wikipedia: "The sephirah of Yesod translates spiritual concepts into actions that unite us to God.

It is often associated with the Moon, because it is the sphere which reflects the light of all other sehphiroth into Malkuth, and it is associated with the sexual organs, because it is here that the higher spheres connect the earth.

It plays the role of collecting and balancing the different and opposing energies of Hod and Netzach, and also from Tiphareth, above it, storing and distributing it throughout the world. It is likened to the 'engine-room' of creation.

The archangel of this sphere is Gabriel, and the Cherubim is the Angelic Order."

Yesod is also associated in the soul with the power to contact, connect and communicate with outer reality-meaning Malkuth in this case. The foundation (Yesod) of a building is its "grounding" its union with the earth (Malkuth).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yesod_(Kabbalah)
http://www.inner.org/sefirot/sefyesod.htm

Malkuth: The Kingdom

From good ole Wikipedia: "Malkuth, or Shekinah (me wrt language "witchery" shock 'n awe?), is the tenth of the sephirot in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. It sits at the bottom of the Tree, below Yesod. This sephira has as a symbol the Bride which relates to the Bridegroom.

Unlike the other nine sephirot, it is an attribute of God which does not emanate from God directly. Rather it emanates from God's creation when that creation reflects and evinces God's glory from within itself."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malkuth

The Boy From Mars!

From Pravda: http://english.pravda.ru/

Moscow-Russia-A boy named Boris Kipriyanovich, or Borishka, lives in the town of Zhirinovsk of Russia's Volgograd region. He was born on January 11, 1996. Since he was four he used to visit a well-known anomalous zone, commonly referred to as Medvedetskaya Gryada-a mountain near the town. It seems that the boy needed to visit the zone regularly to fulfill his needs in energy.

Boriska's parents, nice, educated and hospitable people, are worried about their son's fascinating talents. They do not know how others will perceive Boriska when he grows up. They say that they would be happy to consult an expert to know how to raise their son.

Being a doctor, his mother could not help but notice that the baby boy could hold his head already in 15 days after his birth. He uttered the first word 'baba' when he was four months old and started to pronounce simple words soon afterwards.

At one year and a half he had no difficulties in reading newspaper headlines.

At age of two years he started drawing and learned how to paint six months later.

When he turned two, he started going to a local kindergarten. Tutors immediately noticed the unusual boy, his uncommon quickwittedness, language skills and unique memory.

However, his parents witnessed that Boriska acquired knowledge not only from the outer world, but through mysterious channels as well. They saw him reading unknown information from somewhere.

"No one has ever taught him," Boriska's mother said. "Sometimes he would sit in a lotus position and start telling us detailed facts about Mars, planetary systems and other civilizations, which really puzzled us," the woman said.

How may a little boy know such things? Space became the permanent theme of his stories when the boy turned two years old. Once he said that he used to live on Mars himself. He says that the planet is inhabited now too, although it lost its atmosphere after a mammoth catastrophe. The Martians live in underground cities, Boriska says.

The boy also says that he used to fly to Earth for research purposes when he was a Martian. Moreover, he piloted a spaceship himself. It took place in the time of the Lemurian civilization. He speaks about the fall of Lemuria as if it occurred yesterday. He says that Lemurians died because they ceased to develop themselves spiritually and broke the unity of their planet.

When his mother brought him a book entitled Whom We Are Originated From by Ernest Muldashev, he got very excited about it. He spent a long time looking through the sketches of Lemurians, pictures of Tibetan pagodas, and then he told his parents of Lemurians and their culture for several hours non-stop.

As he was talking, his mother noticed that Lemurians lived 70.000 years ago and they were nine meters tall. "How can you remember all this?" the woman asked her son. "Yes. I remember and nobody has told me that, I saw it," Boriska replied.

In Muldashev's second book, In Search of the City of Gods, he looked through pictures for a long time and recollectedx a lot about pyramids and shrines.

Then he claimed that people would not find ancient knowledge under the Great Pyramid of Cheops. The knowledge will be found under another pyramid, which has not been discovered yet. "The human life will change when the Sphinx is opened, it has an opening mechanism somewhere behind the ear, I do not remember exactly," he said.

Boriska is one of so-called indigo chidren. They start to appear on Earth as a token of the forthcoming grand transformation of the planet.

The boy says that the displacement of Earth's poles will cause two catastrophes. Only a few people will survive, he said.

"No, I have no fear of death, for we live eternally. There was a catastrophe on Mars where I lived. People like us still live there. There was a nuclear war between them. Everything burnt down. Only some of them survived. They built shelters and created new weapons. All materials changed. Martians mostly breathe carbon dioxide, if they flew to our planet now, they would have to spend all the time standing next to pipes and breathing in fumes," Boriska said. "If I am in this body, I breathe oxygen. But you know, it causes aging."

Specialists asked the boy why man-made spacecraft often crash as they approach Mars. "Martians transmit special signals to destroy stations containing harmful radiation," Boriska replied.

The boy has deep knowledge of space and its dimensions. He is also aware of the structure of interplanetary UFOs. He talks about that like an expert, draws UFOs on slates and explains the way they work. Here is one of his stories: "It has six layers. The upper layer of solid metal accounts for 26 percent, the second layer of rubber-30 percent, the third layer of metal-30 percent, and the last layer with magnetic properties-4 percent. If we give energy to the magnetic layer, spaceships will be able to fly across the Universe."

Boriska has a lot of difficulties with school. After an interview he was taken to the second grade, but soon they tried to get rid of him. He constantly interrupts teachers and says that they are wrong. Now the boy has classes with a private tutor. (LOL-from me about the last sentence!).

It has been awhile to say the least since I have posted anything. Hopefully, now I am somewhat on track (at least 50 percent ;-) with at least TRYING to keep things up on at least this blog. I will try to dig up more about this fascinating story from Russia as I can. Peace and best to anyone stopping by! The image is of fourteen year old Boris Kipriyanovich.

Strange Angels: Conclusion

This is a good point but we would have to know a lot more about Mr. Hingley, and his attitude towards his wife's religious convictions, her former church (was it his also?), and the couple's attitude to the place of the woman in the home before deciding that this was the main trigger or focus of the experience. Could her experience have been a metaphorical externalization of worries about the value and authenticity of organized religion? Bob Rickard and John Michell commented that "Jean Hingley was a deeply religious woman who saw continuity, not difference, between her faith, the psychic experiences she had experienced since childhood and her alien encounter."

Of course, all of this commentary assumes that Mrs. Hingley hallucinated. The strange 'alien fairies' she encountered had no physical or otherworldly reality, only a symbolic significance peculiar to her. If this is the case, the irony is cruel, because she appears to have completely missed the allegorical message as far as we know.

Before going any further, there is a morass of 'fortean politics' that is revealed to us. We can have a great deal of sympathy-even enthusiasm for the psychosocial interpretation of fortean paranormal phenomenon. This is because it sometimes is more fortean than forteans and as unabashedly sceptical and ill-informed as a man like Professor Richard Dawkins is on matters of religion. It is a given of fortean scholarship that one can, given enough intellectual gymnastics, have it both ways, or any way you like as long as you let the possibility of the reality or at least a small trace of true strangeness to remain roaming about the world. The psychosocial faction is always very articulate and truly insightful when giving its special combination of prosaic explanations and symbolic, social, or psychological interpretations of events as reported, or events-as-psychologically reconstructed.

On this path, however, the apparent focus of study, that is, the witness or experiment of the event, may disappear. This is because very few psycholsocial theorists ask the witnesses themselves, what they think of such 'alternative' analyses of their experiences. Of course, some witnesses may have passed on (Jean Hingley died in 1982). This can make verification as difficult for these analysts as it is for the die-hard belivers of government cover-ups of UFO crashes and retrievals who have a knack for relying on death-bed testimony.

Sometimes visionaries and channels of otherworldly realities are just crazy, and it is only a question of their abilities to use public relations and the character of their times and culture as to whether their strange ideas are made to have any practical effect. 20th century history gives us some negative examples of this with men who had a liking for grand parades and odd facial hair. Perhaps souls such as Jeanne d' Arc and Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes could be considered visionaries on the more positive side.

The ground-breaking work of psychologist R.D. Laing, maintains that visionary psychosis is the outcome, not the cause, of a misunderstanding of the capability for perceiving other realities. The Jungian psychoanalyst Anne Baring seems to agree with this when she writes: "There are many kinds, levels and degrees of visionary experience. Such an experience. Such an experience is an encounter with the numinous and can be overwhelming and terrifying as well as exalting and inspiring. The line separating the visionary, the genius and the psychotic is very fine. All three have a psychic threshold which is permeable to deeper levels of experience, to non-ordinary states of consciousness. A culture may confirm or deny the validity of this kind of experience and it may be the fear and denial of it which may actually drive certain people into psychosis who in other cultures would be confirmed and supported in their calling as a healer and spiritual guide to the community...There is [in our society] no deep and sacred relationship with life, no sense that the life of the individual has meaning and value beyond achieving a position of power and influence in society...If William Blake had lived today, he would undoubtedly have been classified as insane and given drugs to bring his visions under control or get rid of them altogether.

"What is missing and has been repressed for a long time in Western culture is the connective principle of soul. It is the feminine principle that carries our deepest longings, our deepest instincts. It is, in essence, the root of the visionary imagination. It is this special faculty of the imagination that seeks relationship with the invisible, that can connect us with the unseen face of spirit. Like the thread of Ariadne, it can guide us through the bewildering labyrinth of life. We know that if we are deprived of sleep for too long we become disoriented. Perhaps it is the same if we are deprived of the visionary imagination".

Sorry it took me so long to get the conclusion to this series here! The idea and most of the information for this short series came from "The Fortean Times Random Dictionary of the Damned" compiled by the Hierophant's Apprentice, in issue number 234 from May 2008 of the Fortean Times magazine. Thanks again for all of your thoughtful, creative and intelligent comments! Peace and be well anyone stopping by or passing through.

Strange Angels Part Two

The 'conversation' between Mrs. Hingley and the entities went on as oddly as it had started. They seemed to state in a fairly obscure way that they 'came from the sky,' the three beings flew to a picture of Jesus on the wall and began talking about "Jesus and his welfare, Tommy Steele (widely regarded as Britain's first teen idol and rock and roll star), the place of the woman in the home, the Queen, children, babies, and back to Jesus again." The beings seemed to observe the room for a bit longer and she asked them if they would like something to drink. They asked for water, which Mrs. Hingley got for them, also thoughtfully adding holiday mince pies to their order! When the ever solicitous Mrs. Hingley tried to show them how to smoke a cigarette, they fled outside, with wings closed-but didn't leave behind their mince pies:-).

Through the window she observed "an orange glowing thing" parked in the garden (presumably the same craft she had spied earlier); when the "fairies" boarded, it took off towards the north. The whole incident had lasted about an hour.

Once the "fairies" had departed Mrs. Hingley "jumped" onto the floor, where she lay in agony. Finally, she managed to get into a chair. A tall figure robed in white appeared by her television set for a minute or two, then faded out of existence-as if the days events hadn't been enough already! At about 5 p.m., she felt "sufficiently recovered to make tea for her husband."

This case also presented some fascinating physical trace evidence: snow on the garage roof had melted away, and there was an 8ft (2.4 m)- long impression in the snow on the lawn in the garden. The impressed snow melted quickly "and grass would not grow there for more than a year afterwards." Other strange 'evidence' after the "fairies" departure included the radio and TV not working, cassette tapes that the beings had handled were scrambled, a 5-8 (12.7-20 cm)- diameter circle was etched into the glass back door, and Mrs. Hingley's gold wedding ring had turned white on the outside.

Mrs. Hingley herself suffered physical ailments from an aching jaw, horrendous headaches, blackouts, and sore eyes for weeks after the encounter. Mrs. Hingley also developed a 'wild talent' (moreso than she already possessed it appears from the reports) after the encounter. She now had telepathic powers! Albert Budden reports she was able to 'scan' others and obtain private information at times...The investigators [Stephen Banks, Martin Keatman and Andy Collins] were amazed when Jean suddenly told them the central details of an unrelated case they were working on."

It was in 1988 that Budden came to the conclusion that Jean Hingley had had a close encounter with an 'Earthlight' in an area of high electromagnetic activity, and that this had caused her to hallucinate. But let's say for the sake of argument that Budden is correct. What then caused the physical evidence? The original aftereffects she suffered. Her telepathy? Note: not that I am saying only an otherworldly encounter could have caused these!

In 1995 Budden published a book that painted Mrs. Hingley as a poorly educated orphan. HOWEVER-it also noted that she was a sharp-witted, intelligent, down-to-earth, and sensible woman. She had been judged to be trustworthy enough to have fostered a number of children. She had also had 'psychic' experiences all her life-her encounter with the "fairies" had just deepened her talent. The initial investigators also knew that she was very religious (as opposed to the States it would be a fairly uncommon sight to have a picture of Jesus in the living room). Andy Collins noted that, from her description, the winged 'aliens' had a strong resemblance to the fairy that those same aliens had so rudely and rather mockingly ("Nice?") shaken from the Christmas tree; he also reported that "a few days after the encounter the Christmas tree vanished from the living room. Two days later it reappeared in pieces in the back garden, without its ornaments...These gradually reappeared, over several days, just outside the garden.

It was discovered during the course of the investigation that Jean Hingley had been a member of a local, semi-fundamentalist church and had had a dispute with a group of people who went there also not long before the encounter. Other researchers noticed that the 'alien fairies' showed no respect-even derision-for the most important people and symbols of the most widely celebrated time in the Western church's calendar. The beings would continually bring the conversation back to Jesus ("and his welfare"). The similarities between the floating aliens and the Yule fairy (itself interchangable with an angel, according to one's belief structure) atop the Christmas tree, seems to allude to the Christmas spirit itself was showing how artificial-even inane it had become. The Christmas tree disappeared or was made to disappear and came back in pieces without its gaudy decorations. A commenter on the case who had noted Mrs. Hingley's selfless dedication to being a good hostess to the fairies, and the discussion about the Queen and the role of the woman in the house (even managing to make tea for her husband after this incredible experience) has said "it's hard not to see some manifestation of repressed domestic anxiety at play" here.

To be continued...

Strange Angels Part One

There has always been a middle-ground between the yin/yang, yes/no, believer/skeptic debate in the field of paranormal studies (and thankfully so!). This "middle-ground" crowd would explain things like angelic visitations, UFOs, ghostly encounters, near death experiences (NDEs), and the whole host of otherworldly phenomenena by "natural" or "technical explanations. Things like NDEs, UFO encounters and the like would be explained by many in this group to be electromagnetic effects on the temporal lobe of the brain. Sightings of UFOs are usually explained by "Earthlights." Even sightings of ghosts are explained by physical attributes in the enviorment. NDEs are explained as the increasing anoxia in the brain as it starts to "die." I think it is wonderful that there is a group of people-laymen and scientists alike, who try to explain some of the mysteries in our world through "logical" means. I don't believe that everything can be explained away by resorting to scientific reasoning. I do think there is a "magical" aspect to our reality for lack of a better word that will never be "solved" - but that is just me. I would like to fall on the cautious and skeptical side when discussing most paranormal things -even though I know it must seem to many who read my blog that I believe in everything!

I think it would be helpful to look at a case that seems to bridge ufological and faery/elf territory-as so many of them do it seems. Some of these encounters appear to mock our notions of physicality, dimension and space-time. This case is highly unique to say the least maybe sui generis would be a better word for it! We can look at this case through our own eyes-and decide to completely dismiss it-or perhaps think something did indeed happen. We can also look at this case through the eyes of a Mr. Albert Budden who came to the conclusion this this was a case of a woman who had a close encounter with an "Earthlight" in an area of high electromagnetic activity that consequently led to a hallucinatory experience.

This very strange case involved a Mrs. Jean Hingley and occurred on 4 January 1979 in Rowley Regis, England. It was 6:30 in the morning and Mrs. Hingley's husband had just left for work. It was still dark outside. From the kitchen, she observed a large, orange glowing sphere that hovered over the carport in the left hand corner of the back garden. Mrs. Hingley opened the door to get a close look and "three beings rushed past her into the house. As they did this, she felt herself float away from the floor, hovering a few inches above it." From then until the entities left, her feet did not touch the floor.

She heard a commotion from the living room and drifted above the floor into it. She saw two of the creatures shaking the Christmas tree so roughly that the fairy on top fell off. When the beings saw her gaping at them they turned and said in unison: "Nice?" Even though she was partly paralyzed by the encounter, Mrs. Hingley finally managed to say Bruce Forsyth's catchphrase: "Oh, it's nice to see you, to see you nice." Bruce Forsyth was a British showman and entertainer and apparently had many catchphrases that "caught on."

Things got even more bizarre when she asked them where they were from. In answer to her question they flew around the room, "eventually landing on the sofa...and jumping up and down on it like naughty children. She told them sharply to stop, which they did." That was the end of Mrs. Hingley's attempts to control events. Anything else she tried to do to reign in the situation earned her a shock to the middle of her forehead by a laser-like paralyzing light beam that was emitted from the beings' helmets.

The bubble helmets with their constantly glowing light on top (when not zapping the unfortunate Mrs. Hingley) and the beings' faces are almost the only feature that ties in with other descriptions of UFO occupants. A few researchers wondered if the archetypal nature of Mrs. Hingley's account of their appearance put a shadow of a doubt over her claim to have had not the slightest interest or knowledge of the UFO phenomenon.

"They had large eyes like 'black diamonds' with a glittering lustre, set into wide white faces with no nose to speak of and a simple line for a mouth." A "close-fitting" hood hid any possible ears the creatures may have had. Their arms and legs ended in tapering points, to which they could make objects adhere to. Their legs were a silvery green color (this despite them being called "blue fairies" in some of the ufological data); when they flew, the legs hung down stiffly, 'as do some terrestrial insects'; the forelimbs were clasped together. The whole area around the creatures' bodies was surrounded by a halo. But these were not even the most extraordinary characteristics the beings possessed. This title was claimed by a pair of oval wings! These "looked as if they were made of thin, transparent paper covered with dozens of multi-colored dots." These appendages didn't seem to contribute much to the "fairies" ability to fly-only fluttering slightly or even folding up when they were aloft.

To be continued...

Is There A Way Out? Part Seven

Before going back to Stanislav Grof and other people and things I would like to post some more of Ken Wilber's thoughts from No Boundary: Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth: "So successful was the mapping of nature that, to this day, our lives are largely spent in drawing boundaries. Every decision we make, our every action, our every word is based on the construction concious or unconscious, of boundaries. I am not now referring to just a self: identity boundary-important as that certainly is-but to all boundaries in the broadest sense. To makea decision means to draw a boundary line between pleasurable and painful things and then move toward the former.

The simple fact is that we live in a world of conflict and opposites because we live in a world of boundaries. Since every boundary line is also a battle line, here is the human predicament: the firmer one's boundaries, the more entrenched are one's battles. The more I hold onto pleasure, the more I necessarily fear pain. The more I pursue goodness, the more I am obsessed with evil. The more I seek success, the more I dread failure. The harder I cling to life, the more terrifying death becomes. The more I value anything the more obsessed I become with its loss. Most of our problems, in other words, are problems of boundaries and the opposites they create.

Thus we suppose that life would be perfectly enjoyable if we could only eradicate all the negative and unwanted poles of the pairs of opposites. If we could vanquish pain, evil, death, suffering, sickness, so that life, joy, and health would abound-that, indeed, would be the good life and in fact, that is precisely many peoples' idea of Heaven. Heaven has come to mean, not a transcendence of all opposites, but the place where the positive halves of the pairs of opposites are accumulated, while Hell is the place where are massed all the negative halves: pain, suffering, torment, anxiety, sickness...

Progress, after all, is simply progress toward the positive and away from the negative. Yet despite the obvious comforts of medicine and agriculture, there is not the least bit of evidence to suggest that, after centuries of accentuating positives and trying to eliminate negatives, humanity is any happier, more content, or at peace with itself. In fact, the available evidence suggests just the contrary: today is the "age of anxiety," of "future shock," of epidemic frustration and alienation, of boredom in the midst of wealth and meaninglessness in the midst of plenty...

For in seeking to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative, we have forgotten entirely that the positive is defined only in terms of the negative...In just the same way, all of the opposites share an implicit indentity. That is, however vividly the differences between these opposites may strike us, they nevertheless remain completely inseparable and mutually interdependent, and for the simple reason that the one could not exist without the other.

The inner unity of opposites is hardly an idea confined to mystics, Eastern or Western. If we look to modern day physics, the field in which the Western intellect has made is greatest advances, what we find is another version of reality as a union of opposites. In relativity theory, for example, the old opposites of rest vs. motion have become totally indistinguishable, that is, "each is both." An object which appears at rest for one observer is, at the same time, in motion for a different observer. Likewise, the split between wave and particle vanishes unto "wavicle," and the contrast of structure vs. function evaporates. Even the age-old separation of mass from energy has fallen to Einstein's E=mc^2, and these ancient "opposites" are now viewed as merely two aspects of one reality, a reality to which Hiroshima so violently bore witness.

It is for all these reasons that Alfred North Whitehead, one of the most influential philosophers of this century, set forth his philosophy of "organism" and "vibratory existence," which suggests that all the "ultimate elements are in their essence vibratory." That is, all things and events we usually consider are irreconcilable, such as cause and effect, past and future, subject and object, are actually just 'like' the crest and trough of a single wave, a single vibration."

Thanks for all of your thoughtful and intelligent comments! I hope everyone stopping by has a wonderful weekend and week ahead!