Category: Paranormal

From New Dawn 161 (Mar-Apr 2017)

A recent issue of New Dawn delved into the secretive world of the Aboriginal shaman or “clever man” as he was known to his people. Briefly mentioned by Bruce Stringer in his article ‘Cleverman’ (in New Dawn 159) was the use of quartz crystals in the life and work of these powerful figures. Quartz crystals played a role in shamanic initiation ceremonies and in healing. 

In his book Aboriginal Men of High Degree, Australian anthropologist A.P. Elkin describes meeting Aboriginal people “of high degree” who are the equivalent of what we know in other traditions as “medicine men” or “shamans.” He reports that crystals played a prominent role in the beliefs of these “clevermen.” Elkin says they would carry quartz crystals on their person, and the Wiradjeri shamans spoke of quartz as being solidified “sacred powerful water” which was to be sprinkled on initiates. The process was symbolically described: “The water spread all over the postulant and was completely absorbed. Then feathers emerged from the latter’s arms, which grew into wings in the course of two days.” 

Ronald Rose in his 1957 book Living Magic relates the dramatic initiation of two young Aboriginal boys. At a moment of great emotion, a vision of an old man showed them “a large, bright crystal that stole light from the dawn and dazzled their eyes.” Soon the boys felt strange things moving on their bodies, “things that felt like snakes and spiders… He thought he felt the sharp stab of fangs in his leg and it went numb.” One of the boys trembled, perspired and tensed up; he failed the test and was led away. The other one sank into “a state of repose that was almost sleep.” In this trance-like state, the boy saw strange and wonderful things. The clevermen conducting the initiation seemed to walk into eucalyptus trees; they melted into the trees and a moment later appeared on the other side. Then the clevermen “…produced from within themselves great numbers of gleaming quartz crystals… Each old doctor (cleverman) formed a small pile of crystals beside him. These, too, were part of his power, symbols of the sacred water that each had acquired during his making as a clever-man. With these the doctor could perform miracles: the crystals warned him of the approach of enemies, he was assisted by them in making his cures, he could project one or more into an enemy and thus kill him.” 

The same Aboriginal tribe, the Wiradjeri, believed that a supernatural being known as Baiame sung “a piece of quartz crystal into their forehead so that they will have X-ray vision.” Along with this power also come an ability to “fly.” 

Aboriginal clevermen, as well as shamans and seers in different parts of the world, valued quartz and other crystals as power objects to spiritually connect them with the other ’worlds’. 

Through the eyes of modern science, we now understand a lot more about crystals and how they could be useful in the context of a different approach to reality such as that lived by our ancient ancestors. The work of researchers such as Nicholas Pearson, author of The Seven Archetypal Stones, helps explain how a subtle energy field is generated by a crystal’s lattice. Each different type of crystal produces its own orderly energy field, which is broadcast into the immediate environment. What we don’t know is the exact nature of the crystal connection to other dimensions and ’worlds’ nor how to truly harness the full power as revealed in the stories recorded and written down from the time when human communities lived inside different reality frameworks.

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From New Dawn 161 (Mar-Apr 2017)

The mineral kingdom has fascinated humankind since its earliest days. Archaeological evidence suggests that early man used stone tools and revered unusual rocks and minerals, sometimes even adorning themselves with it. The lives of humankind, both ancient and modern, are inextricably linked with the mineral kingdom; we live on a planet comprised of hard rock and stone, and many a modern convenience makes use of the gifts of rocks and minerals in order to support comfort, health, and innovation. Apart from the utilitarian applications of mineral substances, we continue to use crystals, minerals, and gemstones for adornment and to confer spiritual gifts as well.

These spiritual powers embodied by stones are owed to the innate perfection of minerals. Minerals are defined as highly ordered, solid substances with regular compositions of inorganic origins. All minerals are innately crystalline, thanks to their high degrees of order and symmetry. Rocks, on the other hand, are aggregates of one or more minerals, and are thusly crystalline on one level or another. (There are notable exceptions to this crystallinity. Materials such as opal and obsidian lack the order required to be crystals; they are thus referred to as mineraloids.) Although ancient people may not have been able to effectively analyse the structure, composition, and other characteristics of precious stones, they still knew them to be special, if not somehow sacred. 

Through the ages different cultures employed rocks, gems, and crystals as tools for healing, talismans to draw positive influences into their lives, and as material embodiments of Divine Law. The messages embodied in the crystal kingdom resonate with us at a very primal level, and the modern art of crystal healing is carrying on this deep attraction to crystals even today. The average book on crystals and gemstones will enumerate the properties of stones, perhaps even hundreds of stones, but they seldom dig deep enough to really show how and why crystals work. This missing link has always been what drives me forward in my research.

Archetypal Roles of Rocks

Wherever humankind encountered precious and common gems alike, these sacred stones are usually described with startlingly similar themes. For example, obsidian, a natural glass formed when lava cools too quickly for crystals to grow, is found in regions worldwide where there has been volcanic activity. Ancient people prized this mysterious stone for its predisposition to break into sharp edges, as well as for its characteristic reflective properties. As a result, no matter where or when obsidian has been used by ancient people, the same archetypal roles are evidenced in the archaeological record. Cutting edges, such as knives, spear points, and arrowheads abound, while obsidian mirrors have been unearthed in locations as far apart as the Anatolian peninsula and Central America.

The widespread, cross-cultural uses of gemstones hint at their spiritual teachings and healing qualities. Continuing with the example of obsidian, its sharp, incisive quality translates to being very protective; it is an ideal stone for the spiritual warrior. More importantly, it helps the mind to become as deft as the sharpest blade, for it engenders the ability to cut through illusion, fear, and doubt. The reflective nature of the obsidian mirror reminds spiritual seekers that we must confront the world for what it truly is. This can mean honestly looking into the recesses of the mind where the shadow self lies in wait. The obsidian mirror also awakens the inner vision to look beyond material reality. In doing so we are brought closer to the threshold between ordinary consciousness and the abode of all things spiritual. At this liminal zone is where we receive spiritual initiation; only then can we cross the boundary between worlds.

Obsidian confers these teachings through the symbolic language of form and application through the aeons that it has co-created with humanity. In a similar fashion, many crystals relay their teachings throughout the world’s history. It would be difficult to overlook the common themes that disparate cultures attributed to stones such as rock crystal, jade, carnelian, diamond, or emerald. The mineral kingdom speaks a language so fundamental that it transcends the boundaries of language, age, and culture. Only by cross-examining the same stone from many perspectives can we really see just how universal its gifts truly are.

Our ancestors learned to speak the language of stone through trial-and-error. The curative powers of gems may have been reliant upon the doctrine of signatures, wherein the appearance or other quality of a substance bears a resemblance to a condition or body part that it is thought to heal. Myths surrounding rocks and minerals also provide much insight into the lessons and healing qualities embodied within the mineral kingdom. Today we can take the best and most consistent of these messages and apply them to our personal relationship with our most beloved crystals.

How Crystals Work

The world in which we live is awash in vibration. Living tissue, inanimate rocks, and everything in-between produces its own signature energy field. These fields are comprised of electromagnetism, and they expand in all directions at once at the speed of light. Some of these energy fields are well documented by science, including the electric and magnetic fields produced by the heart and brain (which are the primary measurable elements of the human aura), as well as the deleterious energy fields produced by some electronics and other modern conveniences. However, every single substance, action, or thought has its own energy field. These fields are carriers of information, and they interact with one another whenever they meet.

Crystals are special among material substances because of their high degrees of order, symmetry, and coherency. A crystal is defined as a solid substance with regular composition and a symmetrical arrangement of its constituent molecules, atoms, or ions. This internal framework is known as a crystal lattice. The lattice, and therefore its components, is responsible for the physical, chemical, and optical properties of a crystal. The subtle energies are naturally determined by the crystal lattice, too.

Crystals of all sorts are capable of reflecting, refracting, transducing (or translating), storing/retrieving, receiving, transmitting, amplifying, and cohering energy or information. Each of these is a function of the crystal’s inner, geometrical arrangement. Because crystalline materials, such as rocks and gemstones, exhibit such high degrees of perfection, they produce orderly energy fields. This means that rocks and minerals function as solid-state oscillators, as their crystalline structure and unique compositions enable them to resonate at an exact range of frequencies, thereby broadcasting this energy wherever they are placed.

The human energy field is subject to change according to mood, diet, environment, mental and emotional habits, and even the people around you. Our energies fluctuate measurable, and I would wager that our subtle energies – those that cannot yet be measured by science – change even more readily. This means that our state of being can be easily influenced by all those factors to which you are exposed. Crystals, however, only ever broadcast their fundamental signals. For this reason, they can entrain our own energy fields through the regularity and consistency of their own energies.

This means that wearing, carrying, or even being near your favourite crystals promotes positive changes at the immaterial, energetic level. These changes can first be experienced as subtle shifts in mood, perception, or as changes on the spiritual or intuitive level of our makeup. Wherever there are positive changes at these levels, there are also shifts in our biochemistry. Positive psychological states rely upon different hormones than negative ones; changes in our biochemistry have demonstrable effects on our physiological process, too. Thus, crystals and gemstones offer help on virtually every level of our being.

In order to understand the depth of a stone’s gifts, one would need to learn how to interpret its composition, morphology, formation process, and other properties. These properties often run much deeper than others, such as colour, which accounts for only a small fraction of a stone’s net effects. In sifting through these properties, you’ll find that silica has an expansive quality, where iron is grounding; you will also experience chrome-bearing gems as uplifting to the heart, while manganese-rich minerals might soothe emotional trauma. Minerals belonging to the cubic crystal system are earthy and stabilising, whereas triclinic crystals can help you reinvent yourself and see from an entirely new perspective.

Although few crystal teachers, healers, and writers have explored this topic at any great length to date, you can look for connections as you experience the energy of crystals firsthand. In my college years, I spent several years working at an earth science museum; it housed an impressive mineral collection, and the director allowed me unprecedented access to its specimens for personal study. At that stage in my life, I had been collecting rocks and minerals for over a decade, but my primary interest in them was spiritual. Although I’ve always been a science fan, this opportunity granted me a deeper understanding of mineral science.

I began to notice that when I read books on crystal healing, authors from radically different backgrounds would often describe gemstones with similar structures or compositions with strikingly similar language. I noticed trends among these decidedly unscientific works, and it helped me uncover that there are patterns presented by the composition, geometry, and other properties intrinsic to each stone. Even when we look into the distant past, ancient people often attribute properties to stones that can be explained by these scientific properties, even though they had no way of determining where the stones were from or what their crystal system might have looked like.

Moving Towards a Deeper Relationship with Stones

Although there is a rich history of using gemstones and a model to explain the mechanisms for their use based on their scientific properties, the honest truth is that there is no one-size-fits-all list of crystal properties. Even two specimens of the same mineral species will have minor variations on a microscopic level, just as no two snowflakes are alike. The same holds true for human beings. We are all undergoing our own growth processes, each one complete with its own obstacles, lessons, and rewards. It is simply unrealistic to expect that you will have identical results from using lapis lazuli as I will. Although there are outcomes that are more or less universal, we may experience these gifts in radically different ways. Even though the overall energy of lapis remains unchanged, our energy field may implement the positive changes catalysed by this gemstone in unique ways.

At the end of the day, the very best way to learn about what your stones offer is to sit back in a quiet place and explore them. Get to know them visually as you inspect them from every angle. Feel their surfaces and sense the weight of the stone in your hands. Close your eyes and tune in to the energy of your chosen crystal, and you may be surprised at what you find. Perhaps your inner awareness will speak to you in visual symbols that can be translated to understand the gifts your stone offers. Maybe you’ll be subtly guided to place the stone somewhere on your body. Whatever comes, don’t judge it; simply allow it to unfold.

Only by getting to know your stones on a personal level can you really grow and benefit from the mysterious energies they emit. For this reason, when I wrote The Seven Archetypal Stones, I chose to focus on a select few gemstones. As I spent time getting to know those seven rocks and minerals, I allowed the spiritual experiences I had with them guide and shape my research into their archetypal roles and teachings. The stones themselves inspired the exercises contained within the book; each one helps you apply the stone’s energy in order to ground the spiritual lessons in a practical way.

Ultimately, all spiritual practice should have a practical outcome. Crystal healing should be no different. Only by forging a deeper relationship with these crystalline beings can we truly apply the lessons that they have in store for us. Learning that herderite supports your spiritual evolution or that chrysoprase heals a broken heart might point you towards finding the right stone for your life. However, unless you can truly learn to appreciate the stone’s effects and apply them in a pragmatic way, they are nothing more than idealised definitions. By forging a relationship with your crystals you invite them to revitalise and reorganise your very being. By connecting more deeply to the mineral kingdom, we allow the stones of the earth to change the fabric of our lives for the better.

Nicholas Pearson’s The Seven Archetypal Stones: Their Spiritual Powers and Teachings is available from all good bookstores.

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From New Dawn 169 (Jul-Aug 2018)

Have you ever had a dream or nightmare that indicated a health problem which was compelling enough for you to take the message seriously? In our new book Dreams that Can Save Your Life: Early Warning Signs of Cancer and Other Diseases, we suggest you ask two questions to get you started on your quest for more information. Is the dream about a health concern of my own or someone else’s? Is the dream a warning about a real physical illness or is it a metaphor for an emotional issue in my life?

The inspiration for the book came from dreams warning of breast cancer reported by two close friends of mine. As a holistic radiologist who was one of the original researchers in MRI of the knee and shoulder 30 years ago, I published a scientific paper on ‘Warning Dreams Preceding the Diagnosis of Breast Cancer’ in 2015. My co-author Kathleen O’Keefe-Kanavos had breast cancer warning dreams about 20 years ago and was a participant in my study. I will provide background information on dreams and cancer in the first half of this article, and Kat, as friends call her, will provide details about her amazing dream guidance in the second half. 

My first friend, a cardiac physiologist-turned-meditation teacher, was awakened by a very vivid dream of being in an operating room having breast cancer surgery by a woman surgeon. The dream was so disturbingly real that she immediately went for a mammogram despite not feeling a lump or having any symptoms. The radiologist reassured her that the mammogram was normal, but she wouldn’t leave until an ultrasound was performed against the radiologist’s advice. She pointed to where the cancer was in the dream, and the radiologist was shocked to find the cancer. She later had surgery by a woman surgeon who she recognised from the dream.

My second friend, a physician, had two nightmares in one night, first about a serial killer, and then one showing her that she had breast cancer. She also had no symptoms and was told by the radiologist that her mammogram was normal. However, she was not reassured and said she knew she had breast cancer from a dream. They looked at the mammogram again together focusing on the area of her breast where the cancer appeared in the dream and found a subtle suspicious lesion that had been overlooked in the first interpretation. 

A biopsy showed that it was cancer and the dream had been correct. 

After hearing these two experiences, I found out that a third friend had a similar breast cancer dream that unfortunately was dismissed by her physician. Even though she pointed out that she also had pain in her breast near the sternum, the doctor concluded it was normal breast tissue on physical examination and did not order a mammogram. This was a tragic mistake, as she eventually died of metastatic breast cancer that was not discovered until it was too late. 

That story prompted me to do an international survey involving 18 women whose dreams warned of breast cancer to learn more about this unusual phenomenon which I had never heard of before.

The results of this study showed that the most common characteristics of warning dreams were (in descending order of frequency): a sense of conviction about the importance of the dream; more vivid, real or intense than ordinary dreams; an emotional sense of threat, menace or dread; the use of the specific words breast cancer/tumour; and the sense of physical contact with the breast. In more than half of the cases, the dreams were shared with consulting doctors and led directly to a diagnosis. Guides sometimes appeared in the dreams in the form of deceased family members, healthcare professionals in white coats, or in the unique case of my co-author Kat, Franciscan monks in hooded robes.

Shortly after the study was published I started hearing stories about other types of cancer dreams from my friends. One of my high school classmates shared that she had disturbing nightmares about blood in the toilet every night until she finally felt compelled to get a colonoscopy. A tiny, but aggressive, pea-sized colon cancer was discovered that had already spread to the lymph nodes requiring surgery and chemotherapy. Fortunately, she made a full recovery thanks to the early warning from the dream. If she had waited until there actually was blood in the toilet, it probably would have been too late. 

Another friend, a retired MRI technologist, told me about a puzzling dream that was more difficult to interpret. Her dream was about giving birth, but as a post-menopausal woman, she knew that was impossible. She wondered whether it might be just a metaphor for a creative project she was giving birth to as an artist. However, she asked for a clarifying dream the next night and was taken to see a headstone surrounded by daisies accompanied by a voice that warned she would be pushing up daisies soon if she didn’t act on the previous dream. Despite her having no symptoms, the gynaecologist found an endometrial cancer of the uterus on ultrasound which was cured by a vaginal hysterectomy, symbolically delivering the tumour through the vagina as foreshadowed in the life-saving dream.

I told many of these stories in a TEDx talk in 2016 that got censored despite being based on my scientific research. However, you can still watch the talk at www.larryburk.com. In the talk, I recommend keeping a dream diary and sharing any warning dreams with your doctor. I’ve been personally working with my dream diary for over 30 years and have had many precognitive dreams that came true including one about my father’s kidney cancer. 

In 1987 I had a dream about having a brain tumour diagnosed on a CT scan which shocked everyone because I looked so healthy. I recorded the dream during a rare visit by my parents who lived in a different city. A week later my father was diagnosed with a kidney tumour on a CT scan, and we were all shocked because he seemed so healthy. I realised that I must have intuitively sensed the presence of the tumour during their visit and translated it into a dream about myself, as I am named as a junior after my dad. The kidney has some of the same anatomic structures as the brain with a cortex and medulla, and it was located on the same side of the body. 

Now if I have a health-related dream, I always ask for a clarifying dream as to whether it is about me or someone else like my friend did to clarify whether her giving birth dream was about a real physical illness or a metaphor. I recommend you do the same and start keeping your dream diary today. My co-author Kat will next share her remarkable dream story with you and some important tips about remembering and interpreting your own dreams. 

My name is Kathleen O’Keefe-Kanavos, co-author and one of Dr Larry Burk’s research patients. I am a three-time breast cancer survivor whose dreams diagnosed my cancers all three times when the medical community and the tests on which they relied missed it. 

My guided dreams with Franciscan Monks as spirit guides/guardian angels caught the attention of Dr Burk, along with the attention of the Dr Oz Show (‘The 6th Sense: Shocking Premonitions’), and George Noory’s Coast to Coast Radio Show on which Dr Burk and I were both guests. The monks were a big hit to the audience because they were incredibly entertaining with their feather, but to me, they were life-savers. 

The year is 1998, in Boston, Massachusetts. A guided dream from the previous night involving a Franciscan monk has sent me scurrying to my doctor’s office for an examination. This is the first of many medical visits we will have over the next three months. 

When Dr Wagner enters the examining room the theme song from ‘High Noon’ plays in my head because he resembles the late actor Gary Cooper. “I can’t feel anything on or around your breast, Kat. Perhaps you felt a fibrous tumour sensitive to your menstrual cycle. Let’s do another mammogram and keep an eye on it. You’re only 43, too young for breast cancer, you know. Go home. I’ll call you with the mammogram and blood test results. And, I’ll see you in six months,” he concludes and snaps my chart shut. 

If he isn’t worried about this invisible hard spot, why am I? After all, he’s the doctor, right? But the voices from my dream world refuse to be silent in my waking world and nag my every thought. “Go back to your doctor,” they keep saying.

My life has always been active and healthy. But three mammograms, three blood tests, three physical exams, three yellow copies of healthy mammogram reports over a three-month period, and three recurrent lucid diagnostic and prophetic dreams with stern Franciscan monks would send me scurrying back to my doctor many times. After my final healthy mammography report, I had this life-changing and life-saving dream lead by Franciscan monks. 

While enjoying my dream, it suddenly stops, like a frozen computer screen or a TV show put on pause. In the centre of my dream a pop-up window appears, also like on a computer. The window expands into a door, and a spirit guide/guardian angel dressed as a Franciscan monk in a long, brown, hooded robe complete with a knotted-rope belt, leather sandals, and a raised hood hiding his face steps through the Sacred Dream Door. It looked like St. Francis of Assisi has just graced my dream. This dream has happened before. “Come with me. We have something to tell you,” he says and leads me through the dream door.

Am I dreaming in a dream, I wonder, but obediently followed him into a room I call the Room Between Realms, a place that is neither of the living nor the dead. It is a parallel universe of consciousness. Waiting for me are two other monks, one of whom takes my hand, places it on my right breast, and says, “You have cancer right here. Feel it?” I did. “Go back to your doctor tomorrow without an appointment and ask for a different set of tests.”

I start to cry in the dream and tell the monk that the doctors won’t listen to me tomorrow any more than they did yesterday, or at any of the other appointments over the past three months. “They just keep giving me the same tests over and over and tell me I’m healthy and to go home. If I really do have breast cancer and you want me to live, help me.” 

The monk reaches into his enormous sleeve, pulls out a white feather no larger than one that escapes from a pillow at night and glides to the bedroom floor, and hands it to me.

“Use this feather as a sword to verbally fence with your doctor, and you will win against his arguments and scientific facts. You need exploratory surgery. If you present your case to the doctor as though you were an attorney standing before an incredulous judge who dislikes you, you will win,” he says, then turns and walks out of my dream. 

As the Sacred Dream Door closes behind him, my previous dream begins again where it had stopped, as if someone had taken it off pause. Time had stood still while the monks from beyond time and space delivered their life-saving message on the esoteric dream-plane.

There is more dream detail in the book, but the dream is proved right with pathology reports that state I have stage 2 aggressive fast-growing breast cancer with one affected lymph node. If I had been given an MRI three months earlier my treatment might not have involved multiple surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. 

This is a perfect example of how a dream can be used for the early detection of illness.

Dream journaling is important to our waking world. One thing that made the dreamers in Dr Larry Burk’s Research Group and subsequently the dreamers in the book so successful in using dreams to guide and save their lives was the fact that they journaled. This allowed them to return to their dream journal and track their dreams, and progress from dream guidance. 

Our dreams may be repeated to us in different ways in order to be better understood. We have recurrent dreams until we understand a dream’s message. By using signs, symbols, a guardian angel, deceased loved one, or a voice, our dream may give us the same message many different ways until we understand it. Journaling can help connect the dots, so the message jumps out at us often creating an Aha-moment. 

If you are struggling to remember your dreams, the seven-letter acronym SO DREAM may help. 

S = Set Your Intention. This is the dream part of the Law of Attraction. A simple request like “Tonight when I dream I will remember it and it will be about .” You fill in the blank. 

Write your intention on a piece of paper and place it under your pillow to sleep-on-it, a play on words that holds profound dream meaning. By doing this, you are showing your inner self, through your eyes considered the windows to the soul, what you intend to do: take a dream from the abstract fifth-dimension of sleep and bring it into the concrete third-dimension of life by turning it into written messages. 

O = Organise yourself before sleep to better record your dream upon awakening. Put your dream journal, pen, or recording device such as a smartphone (and a flashlight, if necessary) beside your bed. If your dream awakens you, it may be telling you to write down or record relevant information before you forget it. Hunting for pencil and paper may cause you to forget your dream.

D = Dream! Studies have shown that all living things dream, including you, because you began to dream in the womb at seven months. Dreaming is the first step in training your brain to remember dreams.

R = Remain in your same sleep position when you first awaken to Remember and Record your dream. Moving around may cause your dream to dissipate. 

E = Emotion which refers to those parts of the dream, or snippets, that Elicit Emotion that sticks in your mind and creates a physical response, such as rapid breathing or cold sweats. 

A = Add to your dream by asking, “What colours, sounds, words, people, animals, plants, signs, and symbols did I see? What names and phrases did I hear?” If more of the dream returns during the day, jot it down on a piece of paper or record it on your phone to add to your journal later. This can help you with dream tracking; keeping track of dreams, messages, and images to see if they come true.

M = Meaning. What do the small emotional dream parts known as snippets mean to you? Dreams are as individual as the dreamer. Pictures, forms, creatures, colours, lack of colours, people, and phrases are all part of your individual dream language. It is one of many ways we communicate with ourselves. 

Finally, give your dream a title, even if it’s The Dream Without a Name, so if part of it returns during the day, you will know where to add it to your journal.

Our dreams often use a play on words to speak to us. This play on words can be in picture form because a picture can be worth a thousand words. “Washing your hands” of a situation, “kicking something around” in the dream are examples that come to mind for working out a solution or ridding yourself of a problem. 

So, tonight, dream your intention and remember that everyone dreams, but some dreams save lives. 

The authors’ book Dreams that Can Save Your Life: Early Warning Signs of Cancer and Other Diseases is available from all good bookstores.

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From New Dawn Special Issue Vol 11 No 4 (Aug 2017)

They’re out there, moving stealthily in the darkness. The black magicians, the occult terrorists, Satanists, Mansonoids, Mindwarpers, Cattle Mutilators. “Nights black agents” as the Bard called them. They’re calling down curses on their enemies, sticking pins in Voodoo Dolls, summoning the mighty devil Choronzon to fall upon the earth and afflict it with madness, chanting to invoke the 777 servitors of Beelzebub. Well, yes. But let’s not lose our heads about it. The first and foremost thing to learn about evil is that it generally exists only in your own alarmed imagination.
– Robert Anton Wilson, ‘Don’t be afraid of Black Magick’, Gnostica, Feb-Mar 1977

The above quote is a great place to start when talking about psychic self defence. Too many people today are just plain paranoid and this is not, I repeat, not the state of mind to start contemplating psychic self defence. It is all too easy to stand in the position of being so self righteous that we attribute psychic attacks to all those who disagree with us. This in itself can be a form of psychic attack, known as a ‘Belief Attack’, and occurs when we project so much paranoia and fear that it returns to haunt us. The more we fight it, the stronger it gets.

It is important to be objective before you start attributing certain experiences to psychic attack. The first stage of critical examination should involve examining your own mental and emotional state, and of those around you. If, after some thought, you still feel something is wrong then, and only then, should you consider that you might be under psychic attack. 

With these clarifications in mind, it is true that psychic attacks are more prevalent than we think. Traditional systems of magic believed all diseases were a form of psychic attack. While we may not accept this today, certainly diseases of sudden and unexpected manifestation, uncontrollable headaches, nightmares, loss of ‘luck’ and other maladies, may have a psychic origin. These things in themselves do not mean you are under attack, however, in combination, and in the right situation, they are perhaps indicative.

The Law of Association

The simplest explanation for how psychic attacks work is found in what is known as the Law of Association. The most erudite definition of this is found in Real Magic by Isaac Bonewits, where he states that “if any two or more patterns have elements in common, these patterns interact through these elements, and control of one pattern facilitates control over the other(s), depending, among other facts, on the number of common elements involved.” 

In simple terms, if two or more people are in contact (or have been in contact) an ‘astral link’ exists between them. This link may be used by either party to influence the other. It is also possible to create an astral link through the use of objects that have, in the past, been in contact with the other party – common examples would include hair, nails and clothing. The Law of Association gives us a basic idea of how a psychic attack may be accomplished, but things are never as simple as they seem. There are four distinct forms of psychic attack.

Psychic Static

This form of attack could probably be best understood as unconscious thought projection. It usually originates from someone you have known for quite a while, and is more intense when this person is under stress. Many cases of poltergeist activity can be attributed to psychic static, and traced to a teenager with emotional problems. In cases of psychic static, the originator usually has no knowledge of what is happening, the force being projected unconsciously along the primary astral threads or links the unknowing perpetrator possesses. This form of attack commonly causes headaches and minor mental disturbances, while in extreme cases poltergeist activity and sympathetic emotional reactions (including pain) have been noted.

Psychic Draining

This sort of psychic attack happens when you open up to far too many people. The result of such unreserved openness is a feeling of exhaustion and loss of energy. This form of psychic attack occurs regularly, far more than we care to admit. There are more emotional and psychic ‘vampires’ than we realise. These are professional victims, those who demand our constant emotional attention and assistance. Certainly, there are also deliberate psychic vampires (gurus and cult leaders are good examples) but these are few and far between. Far more prevalent is the professional victim who whines for assistance, affection and help, draining you of every ounce of energy.

Psychic Attack

Full frontal psychic attack is very unusual, but does occur. It is usually committed by someone you know or have at least had some contact with. Psychic attack by someone unknown to you is unusual, but possible (as long as they have something which connects you to them). Full frontal psychic attack can range from the simple nuisance attack to curses that can bring about disease and death.

Psychic Atmospheres

Psychic atmospheres come in two forms. The first is the classic haunted house or location. When you enter these locations or environments you are linked to them. Usually this attack is impersonal, that is to say, you have no personal connection to the situation, but this is not always the case. While this category borders on haunting and is not always considered a psychic attack, if you are living in a haunted house and find it is becoming a nuisance then this may be the explanation.

The second is what can be best described as systematic attack. To fully appreciate this we need to consider it in some detail.

Living in a World Possessed!

I have deliberately chosen an exaggerated paragraph heading as it is important to consider how alien the Gnostic really is to the fallen world. Once you are on The Path of Transfiguration your very substance is in a state of transformation, a state which is opposed to everything the Demiurge, the World of the Archons and by extension, the physical world system (including governments, churches etc.), stand for. When Jesus said you should expect persecution, he was not joking! When you start to be reborn, your energy is like a beacon, a flashing light warning the fallen system, the Archons, Memes, demons and fallen angels to take a special interest. I am not suggesting you should always be looking over your shoulder – paranoia does not help in spiritual transformation – however you must be aware that you are now a stranger in a war torn land and the earth is no longer your home. There are many skills you need to develop to deal with this; some as outlined below are psychic and occult in nature, others are more psychological. Both have their place.

Since the physical world is a fallen kingdom, the Demiurge has dominion over it. In the New Testament when St. Paul says, “Satan is the God of this world,” he is speaking literally. It is therefore of no use to expect justice, equality and perfection in our daily lives. While we must fight against injustice and hatred there is a limit; the baseline must be – does it interfere with my spiritual life? It is of no value spending your whole life fighting ‘City Hall’, and losing your soul. Within the fallen world there are many ‘little tyrants’, meaningless individuals who believe that by climbing to the top of their little dunghill they have made it. They will fight to the death to get to the top, and then fight to the death to stay there. It is self defeating for the Gnostic to constantly do battle with these ‘Gods in their own mind’ type people. You could spend every day of your life fighting them and still there would be more. 

It is important for the Gnostic to be brutally realistic with themselves. Too often we fight against some injustice not because it is really that unjust but because our ego hurts. The bottom line is that we do not wish to lose face. In many cases the actual loss incurred by simply ignoring a petty tyrant is far less than the time and effort lost in the battle that would result if you challenged them. 

There is a difficulty here; we must control the ego, we must be prepared to backdown, to lose face in the eyes of the world. This is a most difficult thing. There is a time for battle and a time for retreat. There is a time to ‘go quietly on the earth’, and another to ‘rage against the night’. The Gnostic must be able to decide what strategy to use in which situation. There is no value spending your life fighting against the world – judgement has already been passed, the earth is dead. Your task is to transform, to be Transfigured – not to try and save everybody else. 

As part of this strategy the Gnostic needs to learn to keep his own counsel, to keep separate from the world. Avoid meaningless acquaintances, cultivate only those who share (or at the very least) have a strong sympathy for your belief system. The less ‘psychic links’ you have, the less you are open for them to be abused. Be cunning – use your mind as well as your psychic skills.

Techniques of Psychic Self Defence – Cutting the Cord

There are many simple techniques for dealing with unwanted connections or links, both ritual and psychic. A very simple technique uses a chair (or a partner) and some string or cord. You enter a meditative state and visualise the person with whom you have an astral link sitting in the chair in front of you; a cord or piece of string can be run from yourself to the chair (or partner). Spend some time contemplating the nature of the link you have with this person, consider the emotions involved, go over times when you meet them, try and make the link as real as possible. If you are working with a ritual partner get them to ‘role play’ the other person – make the experiences as real as possible. If you wish to combine technology with the experience, use photographs, videos or tape recordings of the person. After a period of time you should begin to sense the link; as you sense the link becoming stronger, focus the link on the cord. (The cord should be tied firmly to the chair or held firm by your partner). Sense all your connection entering the cord.

After you feel your whole relationship in this cord, use a ritual dagger (or a pair of scissors if you prefer) to cut the cord. As the cord is cut, state firmly that the connection to this person is severed. Visualise the psychic connection, that glistening white line of light, being severed between you and them forever.

A variation of this technique is to visualise the cord and see it as representing all unwanted connections, name it ‘acquaintances and business partners’, ‘distant family members’ and disconnect accordingly.

The Dome

This is a simple visualisation technique that can be used to create a protective psychic environment. Imagine a Dome, a bit like an inverted test-tube. It should surround what you need to protect – yourself, your home, whatever. Try and experience what the Dome you have visualised is like, notice its colour, textures, smell – everything you can. Interact with the Dome; using your imagination tell it what you want it to be. It should be weightless and unobtrusive. It should repel forces that are not sympathetic to your environment, but otherwise not have any other task. If it is surrounding you, notice it moving when you move. Make sure you (and the Dome) are clear about what has to be accomplished. If you feel you are under regular psychic attack, then visualise the outside of the Dome as a reflective, shiny surface, bouncing back any destructive forces. Remember to check the Dome often and recharge it!

The Bell

Visualise a bell between your hands. See it clearly and make yourself aware of all the senses connected to it. Move the image to your Solar Plexus and sense it extending a field of energy to all parts of your Astral body. Programme it to ring if you are psychically attacked, and react with a shield of light. If a psychic attack occurs, you should hear the sound of the bell and a shield of light will surround you. Another variation to use is to visualise a laser that shoots down energies that are unsympathetic to your development. The adaptations are endless.

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