Recent Posts
- Night Magick
- Paranormal: My Life In Pursuit of the Afterlife
- Ghosts Caught On Film
- Shadow World: True Encounters With Beings From the Darkside
- Ghost Hunting True Stories of Unexplained Phenomena From the Atlantic Paranormal Society
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Currently I am reading True Police Stories of the Strange & Unexplained. Look for a review soon.
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Night Magick
Posted April 20, 2012
When I was a kid, way before Harry Potter was even a thought, I always had a desire to have some sort of magical power. I read many books about different kinds of magick, mostly Celtic magick and Norse magick.The one thing that bothered me about many of the books I was reading was that they dealt with things such as love spells and other “simple” spells. Most of the books on magick were more like self-help books than actual magick, or they dealt with what I like to call wishful thinking. What I wanted was REAL magick. I wanted to have powers, I wanted to become invisible, to fly, and summon all kinds of spirits to do whatever I wanted.
Well, of course I never actually did get any kind of magical powers, but there is one book on magick I discovered years ago. For some reason this book has always stayed in the back of my mind, even all these years later, and it’s probably been close to 15 years since I found it.
Back before I had Internet access I used to call up local BBSs with my computer. If you don’t know what a BBS is, it stands for Bulletin Board System, you would dial in with your computer and you could chat with people, post messages, and share files. One BBS I used to visit had a bunch of text files on magick. One text file was about something called “Night Magick”. The name itself just sounded interesting. So I downloaded the file and printed it out with my terrible printer that always made the text look faded. I read the book, which was actually not a book, but a stack of cheap quality printer paper. And I was fascinated, it was everything I was looking for in a book on magick.
It has been awhile since I last read the book so my memory of it isn’t perfect. But basically Night Magick deals with the dark side of the world, and by dark side I don’t mean evil. The world is split into both light and dark, or yin and yang. Night magick draws its power from the dark side.
The thing that always fascinated me so much about the book was that it dealt with everything from dreams, astral projection, immortality, psychic abilities, and what the author refers to as “Night Powers”. Night Powers was what really amazed me: Weather control, invisibility, thought control among others. These are what I thought of as real powers.
I remember I had a dream not too long after I first read the book. I dreamt that I was at my local library looking for an actual printed edition of “Night Magick” and I found it. I can still remember the dream all these years later, I can see the shelves in the library and I can see myself pick up the book. I can even remember what the book looked like. It’s strange how some dreams just stick with you like that. The thing is that there never was an actual printed version of “Night Magick”, it’s only ever been available in an electronic version.
I am not actually a practitioner of magick, and have never been, but this book has always stuck with me for some reason. I have often wondered about the book, if the magick in the book would really work or not, or if it is just a work of fiction created by the author. I am a skeptical person, but I have an open mind. I won’t just dismiss something because I think it sounds too incredible, I like prove to myself if something is real or not. But I know deep inside I am still that same kid that craved magical powers and I want to believe that yes, this magick is real.
The book was written by Phillip D. Williams, and you can get the book from www.nightmagick.com for free. You can also read a half finished autobiography by the author at the site, but unfortunately it has remained unfinished for quite a long time. The book is very interesting to read so you should check it out if you have any kind of interest in magick.
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Paranormal: My Life In Pursuit of the Afterlife
Posted April 9, 2012
Paranormal: My Life In Pursuit of the Afterlife
Dr. Raymond Moody
Dr. Raymond Moody is the author of quite a few books on the paranormal, most of them dealing with life after death and near death experience (NDE). His most well known book is Life After Life and his books have sold over 20 million copies. He is also one of the people who helped make “near death experience” a household word (in some households at least). Much of his work also made NDE less of a taboo subject for doctors. Dr. Moody’s research and publications caused doctors to realize that NDE was something real and allowed them to more easily discuss the topic with their patients.
Paranormal: My Life In Pursuit of the Afterlife is an autobiographical book about Dr. Raymond Moody’s life and how he came to be involved with researching life after death, or life after life as he sometimes calls it.
The book begins with Dr. Moody’s own personal NDE as the result of his attempted suicide. Dr. Moody explains that he was ill and in a deep depression at the time of his attempted suicide. He feared life more than he feared death and after researching what happens after you die for so long, Dr. Moody understood what it would be like to die. He kind of leaves you hanging here until near the end of the book where he fully explains his own NDE.
The book continues on with an account of how Dr. Moody first got into the field. He details his research that he conducted by interviewing people about their NDEs and some of the criticism he faced (much of it from his own father). He also tells about some of the fears that he had about what people in the medical field would think of him.
The book mostly deals with Dr. Moody’s research in life after death, which was quite interesting, but what I found most interesting about the book was the other topics that Dr. Moody explored later in his career. One of those topics being past lives.
Dr. Moody tells a story about a woman at one of his lectures who asked him a question about past lives. Dr. Moody dismissed the question since he had never thought about past lives and didn’t really believe in them. Later, he had the chance to do a past life regression with a friend of his. Dr. Moody says he was placed in a hypnotic state where he relived many past lives of his own. He makes the point saying that this isn’t proof that past lives are real, but it is a possibility.
Where the book really gets interesting is where Dr. Moody begins talking about his research involving a psychomanteum and grief counseling. I’d say it was the most fascinating part of the book, but what bothered me is that the way he explains it seems almost too simple. If you read the book you will probably know what I am referring to. But basically throughout the book Dr. Moody makes it a point to say that his research doesn’t actually prove that there is life after death, just that there is a possibility, he seems almost skeptical and doesn’t jump to any conclusions. But now he is dealing with actual apparitions like it is nothing special. Again, you have to read the book to see what I am talking about, but I was a little skeptical of this part. I’m not saying I think Dr. Moody is making anything up, just that I think it would have been nice if he had added a little more detail about this topic.
Overall My Life In Pursuit of the Afterlife was interesting to read. It was the first book that I read by Dr. Moody and I enjoyed it. If you are interested in the topic of life after death, past lives, psychology, or just want to read about how a man made a career out of a topic that many people don’t even believe in, then you should check out this book. His other book, Life After Life, is also highly recommended by many people and something that I plan on reading in the future.
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Ghosts Caught On Film
Posted April 5, 2012
Ghosts Caught On Film
By Dr. Melvyn WillinGhosts Caught On Film: Photographs of the Paranormal by Dr. Melvyn Willin is a collection of photographs of supposed evidence of ghosts and other paranormal phenomena. The book itself is rather well done. It is a smaller hardcover book, wider than it is tall. The pages are glossy and the photos are mostly color, except of course where the original photos are black and white. Along with each photo is a description along with some history and possible explanations of the photo.
Dr. Melvyn Willin does a good job of presenting the information about the photos and what a possible explanation could be. Rather than jumping to the conclusion that yes, it is a ghost, he presents the information and lets the reader decide.
A great example is the photo titled “A Spirit of Faith” in which we see an operating table surrounded by doctors with what appears to be a spirit rising from the body on the operating table. The problem is the spirit looks too good. Dr. Willin points out the fact that the image looks doctored, as if a crucifixion image was added using a technique called double exposure. He also points out that he has been unable to find the alleged hospital where the photo was taken or even the doctors that were supposedly there. But ultimately he leaves it up to the reader to decide whether the photo is real or not.
The main point Dr. Willin wants to get across to the reader is that they should come to their own conclusions about each photo. Dr. Willin doesn’t spend the entire book trying to debunk all of the photos.
If you have spent any time viewing paranormal images on the Internet, chances are you have seen some of these photos before.
There are the typical blurry photos where you see something in the background that could possibly be a ghost.
There are the photos containing faces that appear in strange places (possibly just a result of matrixing), and there are the older black and white photos that supposedly show things such as ectoplasm and fairies (from one of the more well known and debunked photos of the “Cottingley Fairies”).
There are some that you may not have seen before though. One of the more interesting ones is “The Belmez Faces”, photos of faces that kept appearing on a concrete floor, even after the floor was destroyed and redone.
Ghosts Caught On Film: Photographs of the Paranormal is the kind of book you leave on your coffee table and use it to spark some conversation when you have guests over. The book is interesting and it can be a lot of fun to discuss the photos with others. It is definitely worth checking out.
There are other books similar to Ghosts Caught On Film; there are actually two more books called Ghosts Caught on Film 2 and Ghosts Caught on Film 3. Although they are not from the same author and I haven’t had the chance to read them yet.
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Shadow World: True Encounters With Beings From the Darkside
Posted April 5, 2012
Shadow World: True Encounters With Beings From the Darkside
By Brad SteigerShadow World: True Encounters With Beings From the Darkside is a collection of reports that Brad Steiger has collected over his many years as a paranormal researcher and author. The reports are from everyday people who have had some kind of experience with the paranormal. The book Shadow World deals with beings that are from what Steiger calls the “shadow world.”
The reports in the book are categorized by the type of “shadow being” that is involved. There is what you could call your typical ghost, or spirits of the deceased, phantoms, animal spirits, and the most malevolent beings called spirit parasites, and quite a few other types as well.
If you’ve ever read any of Steiger’s books before then you will be familiar with the style of this book. Each reported event is described in detail with firsthand accounts and interviews. Some of the events are quite spooky while others are just plain strange.
One particular event that was rather interesting was near the end of the book. A father hears a knocking on his door, upon opening the door he sees his daughter who has been missing for many years. Is it really his daughter or a spirit mimic out to cause him pain? Or perhaps it’s a benevolent spirit trying to help him…
If you enjoy reading reports of paranormal events then you really should read the book Shadow World. This book is hard to put down. It’s the kind of book that will make you put off doing the laundry until the morning, just so you don’t have to go down into a dark basement.
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Ghost Hunting True Stories of Unexplained Phenomena From the Atlantic Paranormal Society
Posted April 5, 2012
Ghost Hunting True Stories of Unexplained Phenomena From the Atlantic Paranormal Society
By Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson
with Michael Jan FriedmanJason Hawes and Grant Wilson don’t need much of an introduction. They are well known as the hosts of the show Ghost Hunters. It should go without saying that if you aren’t a fan of their television show then most likely you won’t enjoy this book.
I however really enjoy their show, I used to watch it all the time but I haven’t seen the last couple of seasons so I am not sure what their current status is (although I have heard that Grant Wilson is leaving the show).
I bought this book when it first came out (which was in 2007), so it’s been awhile since I first read it. I do remember really enjoying the book though. The book contains some of the history of TAPS as well as some background on Jason and Grant. The book tells how Jason first got involved with the paranormal and how he and Grant met.
The rest of the book is a collection of TAPS investigations. Some of the earlier cases that didn’t appear on the Ghost Hunters show are detailed. Many of the cases that did appear on the show fill up the majority of the book. Most of the cases are interesting to read about and they include details that didn’t make it to the show.
If you are a fan of the television show Ghost Hunters then you should probably check this book out. Obviously if you aren’t, then this book most likely won’t interest you.
