I discuss the life of Lewis Carroll and his interest in the paranormal. What do we know about his library and his associations? How much (if any of this) affected his writing?
My Alice in Wonderland retelling is called Down the Treacle Well. The book trailer is below.
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Filed under Books
(Mar. 21- Apr. 19)
Happy birthday Aries! It’s your turn to shine this month.
You are a cardinal, fire sign— passionate, independent, and competitive. Aries know themselves and have a strong sense of self-worth. Leadership comes naturally. Possessing personal magnetism, you often attract others to projects and causes without much effort. Many Aries are physically active incorporating sports into their lives.
As the first sign in the zodiac, Aries are newborns in a sense. Interestingly, Aries retain their youthful nature even as they age. Often more trusting or naïve than others, you will also tend to forgive quickly.
Aries are known for being adventurous, outgoing, and daringly bold. The negative side of Aries can be a reckless impulsiveness where consequences are not thought out or considered. There may also be a tendency to commit too fast to projects and not finish what is started.
Your symbol is the ram with large, curved horns. The ram represents Aries unyielding determination.
Your ruler is Mars. Mars was the Roman god of war. Mars is also associated with virility and fertility.
Mar’s energy is masculine and is associated with the physical. Aries tends toward impulsiveness. You hold strong opinions, crave adventure, and love competition.
Have you ever wondered what astrology has to say about your past lives?
Filed under astrology
Starting the week with a blessing from John O’Donohue’s book, Anam Cara (Soul Friend). I discovered his work several years ago during the Covid crisis. Diving deep into Celtic wisdom and honoring nature seems appropriate as spring takes hold and St. Patrick’s Day festivities happen next weekend.
Filed under spiritual
(Feb. 19- Mar. 20)
Happy birthday Pisces! It’s your turn to shine this month.
You are a mutable water sign, capable of diving to the deepest depths of emotion. Pisceans can adapt to changing circumstances and situations. Staying fluid and being able to almost shape-shift when required is not a weakness but a strength. Deeply compassionate and sensitive, Pisces often brings healing to events and people around them. Contemplation and a deep engagement in the search for inner truth comes naturally.
Since Pisces is the last sign in the zodiac, it has traversed all the signs and experienced many lessons. In all these situations you experienced hope and joy, fear and pain. All of these are deeply understood and felt by you, Pisces. This is what makes Pisceans so sensitive and vulnerable. Pisces needs to remember to stay grounded in the 3D world.
Your symbol is the two fishes seen in pairs in the gorgeous illustration above. The two fishes represent how Pisces’s attention is divided between fantasy and reality.
Your ruler is Neptune.
Neptune’s energy is feminine and associated with changeability and illusion. On the positive end, Neptune can be a source for dreams and creativity. But Neptune can also function as deception or delusion.
Have you ever wondered what astrology has to say about your past lives?
Filed under astrology
EVOLUTIONARY ASTROLOGY
Evolutionary Astrology is where the past becomes a steppingstone, not a millstone.
So, what is it exactly?
Many seekers over millennia have sought out and used the tools of astrology. In modern times, a birth chart reading provides insight into the personality or psychology of the individual. But behind that chart lies another chart, hidden from all but the most ardent of explorers. This is what evolutionary astrology endeavors to parse, the blending of the psychological with the metaphysical to produce a kind of elevated psychology. Perhaps this could be viewed as a sacred level of psychology–the psychology of our evolving consciousness.
Whether as a literal reality or metaphor, evolutionary astrology uses the idea that we have all lived before. Through those lives, we faced lessons and challenges. We learned and grew, and we continue to confront challenges in this incarnation. This is an astrology that honors the individual and individual difference. As a sacred esoteric tool, it empowers each one of us with the free will of choice. Throughout life, an individual makes choices amongst a vast field of archetypal astrological possibilities and always an individual retains free will. We evolve through incarnations based on our choices.
What evolves lifetime to lifetime is consciousness. Exploring the evolutionary chart will reveal past-life situations and dynamics but the focus of evolutionary astrology is to evolve consciousness through understanding, healing, and releasing. The seeker enters the realm of the sacred—the deep, the mystical, the past. Together, astrologer and client go in search of pattern and archetype. We uncover triumph and failure revealing both treasure and wound.
It is important to remember that this analysis employs a symbolic system and is not literal. It is not possible to tell if someone lived in the 14th Cent. Florence or fought in the Boer War. The chart will not reveal personal past-life connections to people in our current lives. These areas may be best explored with psychics or mediums. An analysis using evolutionary astrology will uncover situations and experiences an individual has likely faced many times in the past and these are the issues that are active in this incarnation. The proof of evolutionary astrology is borne out by the presence of these issues in one’s life today.
Are you ready to find out about your past and get a taste of what your soul yearns for in this life?
For $100, payable through PayPal, you will receive your own personalized report along with your birth chart. This is NOT a computer-generated report but a detailed, specific analysis uniquely for you, written by me. Want to see a sample? Contact me through himalayaspencerellis@yahoo.com for more details and scheduling information.
Let’s make 2024 your year!
Filed under astrology
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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My visionary works are Into the Land of Snows and Timeless Tulips. Elephants Never Forgotten is Sci-Fi.
Filed under Books
By Ainslie MacLeod
In this popular book, psychic Ainslie MacLeod outlines a system of soul evolution that fascinates and provides fodder for deeper exploration. In his system, the soul progresses through ten levels or ages on earth. The first stage of existence is lived out in simplicity, isolation, and naivety. We are brand new souls trying to understand the very basics of incarnation. A soul will spend 5000 to 6000 years in each stage reincarnating as necessary until progressing to the next level.
Briefly, here are the levels and their characteristics:
Level 1: isolation, simplicity, naivety
Level 2: fundamentalism, nationalism, discrimination
Level 3: church, conformity, conservatism
Level 4: morality, aspiration, hypocrisy
Level 5: ambition, materialism, exploration
Level 6: social justice, uncertainty, introspection
Level 7: complexity, creativity, innovation
Level 8: activism, liberalism, sophistication
Level 9: spirituality, self-improvement, healing
Level 10: altruism, inertia, compassion (you will need to read the book for the explanation of inertia here, but is does make sense)
Anyone reading this, no doubt has decided which level they think they are currently have achieved. Our soul’s perspective on life goes through massive shifts about halfway through the process. The way MacLeod uses the term “old souls” is clarified in the book to be associated with qualities representing more peaceful, more empathetic individuals who are more accepting of differences and more open to questioning belief systems. The author goes as far to say that political beliefs are an indicator of someone’s level. (To me that means, I could easily draw a line to define the US red/ blue political split above.)
Exploring MacLeod’s system further, we find that each soul expresses through a personality that was created on the astral plane before incarnation. There are ten soul types. Reading through these, you can choose what resonates with you as a primary. You may also be drawn to a secondary. Some people have several which overlap and influence. You can sign up to take the soul type quiz on the author’s site here: https://ainsliemacleod.com/soul-type-quiz/
Soul Types: (and percentages of the population)
Although most of us have no conscious memory of past lives, our past lives form the basis of our daily existence in all kinds of ways. We gravitate toward the familiar. Talents and skills spill over. So do limiting beliefs, phobias, and fears. Unexplained physical ailments from past lives often carry over. Even events in our current life can trigger traumas of the past. A good portion of MacLeod’s book covers this terrain. The cases he presents are intriguing.
Some of the material will sound familiar to those who have read many sources on past lives. There is something to be gained from trying the mediation exercises at the end of the chapters to see what can be gleaned for the individual. This is a book that makes you wonder about your past and what you might be bringing forward. Why you like certain things and not others. Why certain cultures call to you. Why you like such and such music or art. Patterns that you repeat. Why you have an ache or pain, or what about that scar… It will also make you think about that friend or family member who can’t heal or break out of a cycle. It’s about plunging deeper into the unseen and life. Many libraries have the book, go find it. MacLeod has been interviewed by Oprah. The book is great fodder for conversation if you can find a person willingly to dive deep with you. I hope you do!
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Filed under Books
The chill of autumn has arrived along with its spectacular color pallet. Yards are sprouting pumpkins and skeletons; witches hang from brooms. Time to pull sweaters from closets we haven’t seen for a year and sip warm cider from mugs. This time of year calls for the dark and scary (truly, it’s the only socially acceptable time to talk of death).
I’m going to combine two interests here, Japan (because in the spring I’ll be traveling there) and all things creepy because Halloween beckons. Come, we venture to the exotic land of the rising sun. At the base of Mount Fuji, is a forest called innocuously enough the Blue Tree Meadow (Aokigahara), or the Sea of Trees. Lovely, little tourist area of dense forest which flourishes upon a lava bed dating from 864 CE. The forest is known for its profound silence part of which is undoubtedly due to the sound absorbing properties of the area’s volcanic rock. The conifers and cypress trees must also suppress sound. Perhaps it was this uncanny quiet of the forest that first linked Aokigahara with the traditional ghosts of Japan: yūrei. If only it were that innocent…
In Japanese culture, the spirit or reikon, leaves the body when someone dies and goes to an in-between state awaiting funeral rites in order to be reunited with the ancestors in the afterlife. If everything is done correctly, the reikon journeys to the afterlife and becomes a guardian of the family it left behind. Sometimes, however, things don’t go well for the reikon. If the proper rites are not carried out, or if sudden or violent death occurs, the reikon’s journey is disrupted. Even strong negative emotions (revenge, jealousy, hatred, etc.) around the time of death can act to pull the reikon back to the physical world as a yūrei. The yūrei continues to haunt until the appropriate rituals are completed or the emotions that fuel the ghost are resolved. By legend, Aokigahara is full of these persistent spirits. A likely reason for this is that ubasute, or the practice of leaving the elderly, sick or infirm out in mountain or remote locations especially during famine conditions may have been practiced here as late as the 19th century.
In more recent times, Aokigahara has become associated with suicide. The 1961 novel, Tower of Waves by Seicho Matsumoto popularized the area when he became Japan’s best-selling and highest earning author of the 1960s. In 2010, 200 suicide attempts were recorded with 54 suicides. To curb the association with this grim activity, the police no longer release data regarding suicides. Signs have been posted to discourage it. However, every year searches are made, and bodies are recovered.
The two Hollywood movies that have been made about the forest are The Sea of Trees (Matthew McConaughey, Ken Watanabe, Naomi Watts) and The Forest. Both are good and might deserve another viewing. Happy Halloween!
To find my books, click on the link below.
Filed under Halloween
CHALLENGE!
Recently I’ve been playing with a function on a software program that allows you to put in certain astrological parameters and find a famous person who matches your chart. Fun stuff!! My best match was a writer I know well and while I was surprised at how well the details matched, I wasn’t shocked at all. It made me smile in that small knowing way. Anyway, the first person who guesses my best match (no more than 5 guesses per person, please), will win a print copy of Timeless Tulips, Dark Diamonds. Sorry, US mailing addresses only, unless you want an E-copy of the book. Contest ends Sep. 15. Challenge on! Comment below. My secret match will be revealed then if no one guesses correctly. BTW- Charles Dickens and I are NOT a match.
Let’s turn to Charles Dickens, whose chart I chose to briefly examine because everyone knows something about him and his work. Who didn’t read at least one of his novels in school? Writing during the height of the Victorian era, Dickens created some of the best-known fictional characters of all time and experienced a level of popularity seldom seen with a writer. His work continues to be read and produced today. Some of his widely recognized works are: A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop, and Bleak House. Dickens was also a social critic who pushed for children’s rights, educational improvements, and social reforms.
Evolutionary astrology begins with the premise that we all have lived many lifetimes and 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. Dickens’ south node is in Pisces (4th House). Let’s begin there because it reveals much about what his soul has been through.
With the south node in Pisces, Dickens would have had an understanding that our true nature lies beyond the transitory existence of the physical body and the day-to-day reality. The world may have been experienced as dreamlike or a projection into the matrix. This was probably a key source of inspiration in his writing. Oftentimes, someone with this nodal pattern suffers from a loss of self because Pisces is associated with the boundless where the line between self and other doesn’t exist. Dickens may have had lives in monastic settings engaging in deep spiritual practices including meditations, rituals, fasting, and other aesthetic pursuits. This by itself can cause a loss of connection to the real world. Everyday life may seem strange and harsh. Some examples of the lower expression of the Pisces energy might be someone who falls into addiction or someone who allows others to determine their life path for them. These people don’t live fully in the three-dimensional reality as successful individuals. The higher manifestation of this energy allows an exploration of inner realms and transcendent states which fuels heightened levels of creativity, imagination, and psychic ability (in some cases). Certainly, with Dickens his creativity and sheer volume of work indicates he was using the Piscean energy well.
An interesting biographical detail that can be tied to Dickens’ past life in Pisces, was his membership in The Ghost Club. This paranormal investigation and research organization, founded in London in 1862 devoted itself to studying ghosts, hauntings, and psychic phenomena. Considered to be the oldest paranormal research organization in the world (although not always continuous), predates the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) by two decades. Dickens’ fictional work featured ghosts in A Christmas Carol and The Signal Man, and probably in other works as well.
Charles Dickens south node was found in the fourth house of home and family. Here family must be viewed in a broad context of kinship groups extending to family, clan, or tribe. His past life suggests a pattern where the family defined much of his existence. Family business, expectations, norms, reputations, all limited his life in some way. Some of those restrictions may have been severe. The residual effect on Dickens would have made him very loyal to those he perceived as “family.” This loyalty may or may not have been deserved. It is a remnant from the past where radical commitment and identification to the clan was required. It is possible that feelings of familiarity with people in his current life were rooted in the past. The legacy of the south node in the fourth house suggested that he was likely to have deep but complicated relationships with his family of origin.
Dickens struggled through a tough childhood. Although up to the age of eleven, biographer John Forster describes his life as idyllic, things changed when his father went to debtor’s prison. Charles left school and worked in a boot-blacking factory under miserable conditions. In his creative life, he drew heavily on his experiences of hardship, poverty, and social inequity. Very few details were known of his early life until a biography he had collaborated on was released after his death. Dickens was ashamed of his early life and did his best to hide it. Nevertheless, his loyalty to the family was shown through the provisions of his will. He provided well for all his family members, a wife from whom he had separated, several friends, and all the servants he employed.
Much more analysis could be done on his chart. Interesting to note the strong square to the nodal axis with Neptune indicating the need to release limiting beliefs, religious views, or philosophies. While Dickens was considered Christian, he seemed to despise organized religion. This is certainly an area for more exploration.
This is just a brief glimpse into evolutionary astrology. If you are intrigued about what your own chart might reveal, contact me below. Clients continue to report surprising correlations and stories about how evolutionary astrology reports have helped them. Be aware my fall schedule is filling fast. This is going to be one INTERESTING ride into the new year. Several key astrological aspects are being triggered bringing in fast change.
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Filed under Books
The index of articles from this blog are now posted as a page. Find the listing here:
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Filed under Blogging
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