Feng Shui Does it Work ?

Some years ago while learning Tai Chi at the Yellow Dragon Centre. The Master was experimenting with Feng Shui and I had the following experience. Being of a skeptical nature, though interested, I was not convinced by Feng Shui and it seemed a lot of effort.My friend had been told by the Feng Shui Master that the position of the door is of upmost importance in the Feng Shui of a building and had set about altering the angle of the front door. To the Yellow Dragon centre. In no way was this alteration aesthetically pleasing and my friend was having problems getting the door to shut properly in its new position.after some time the Master arrived to inspect the work,he turned to me and asked what I thought,I didn't really have to reply it was obvious from my face that I thought my friend had completly ruined a perfectly good front door and for What ? The Master took the tools made some adjustments the door clicked shut and the job was finished.The Master turned to us and said "you wait and see this new door position will be much better for attracting wealth and business.No sooner had he said this than the telephone rang It was my employment agency who had given me a sucession of unfullfilling temporary jobs. "We have a wonderful opportunty for you" they said "its a temporary post but with a good chance they will take you on permanently" the Feng Shui Master smiled.

Communion with UFOs at Bear Mountain

In the summer after I graduated I spent three months working at camp "Kiwago" upstate New York for "Camp America". Our camp was situated by a beautiful lake in the shadow of "Bear Mountain" which I later learned was a sacred mountain for the Alogonquin Indians. I had been at camp for a month or so when I had my first weekend off and was given the opportunity to visit New York City. I naturally jumped at the chance and while wandering the streets of Manhattan a thought came into my head that I should buy a particular book that I remembered people reading on the bus while I travelled to school a few years earlier. I particularly remembered the book had an strange image of humanoid figure on the front cover (which i now knew was a "grey alien") I also remembered the book was printed with the spine on the wrong side. Imagine my shock when literally moments later I turned a corner to see the same image postered from top to bottom across what appeared to be a shop front.I tentatively pushed the door of the shop open to find it seemed to be the haunt of some skateboarders and DJ's (both interests in which I shared) they were also seemingly obsessed with ufo's and alien abduction.I proceeded to have great chat about all sorts of underground things things like Genesis P'Orridge and T.O.P.Y and they gave me some tips on where to check out in New York,including a bookshop a few yards down the road where I could purchase a copy of the book "Communion" which I packed away in my bag for a rainy day.A couple of weeks later, back on camp after the kids were asleep, I lay down on my bunk in my log cabin and reached for the copy "Communion" which I had purchased.Once again my jaw dropped as I read the first few pages of this apparently true story of an alien abduction, the events of which took place upstate New York in a log cabin in the vicinity of Bear Mountain.

Click the links for more of my experiences at Bear Mountain  

Eckankar-and-justified-ancients-of-mu

Enter the Wu Tang

Dreams Become Reality at the Old School House (Part 1)

As a young boy i was always very concious of my dreams but it was always the reoocuring dreams that made the most impression on me.One in particular I could never fathom. In this dream I was in the weirdest of environments and my senses were overwhelmed by the strangest combination of lights and sounds, while I was a surrounded by the oddest looking people.I remember trying to descibe the dream to my parents and brothers. I used to say " I had that dream again ,the one where I was inside the "kalidescopic play house puzzle" and there were people dressed like florence and dougal from "the magic roundabout"   ( my childhood bedroom had a magic roundabout lampshade and curtains  , with an otherwise white and orange theme)  I soon learnt to cease mentioning my dreams as nobody was really interested. 

Many years later while at University I was a huge fan of the rave scene and in particular the underground tekno parties of London.On one occasion I ended up at a particularly memorable party. A neighbour Derek C was djing at a party in The "old school house"  of Spiral Tribe infamy  in north london. It was here in the midst of a full on rave that my Flatmate "Chris Genius" introduced me to a graffiti artist named  Wayne "Snooze" and his girlfriend "Super Mandy". At that moment time seemed to stand still and I felt as though I had been struck by a a bolt of lightning . I realised I was experiencing one of my earliest childhood dreams. Even by todays standards Chris, Wayne and Mandy's style cause heads to turn. Both Chris and Wayne are well over 6ft tall and at the time had long dreadlocks, while Mandy is short, has wonderful curves and sports the coolest Afro in town, of course as a young child from a white suburb of Bristol their features, faces and fashion ( they were  both wearing old school addidas three striptracksuits)  were alien to me , as was the concept of a rave. Within days Mandy and Wayne had move into the same house at Clays Lane shared by myself , Kris and my other good friend Johnny Jedi and all four were to have a huge impact on my life.

Click the links for Part 2 and more Lucid Dreams

The Aztek ,The Knights of The Jaguar and strange experiences in the Valley of the Dawn

Back in the early Nineties while while studying Psychology at East London University, I spent the weekends submerging myself in the London underground Techno subulture. Particularly memorable were the Zero Gravity and Nuclear free zone parties where I heard DJ Aztek play a number of times. Some years later I had a dream where I was back in zero gravity and again the Aztek was on the wheels of steel, but this time as he mixed his mesmerizing tunes he assembled a silver telescopic contraption with spinning metallic windmill like blades that caught the lights in a magical and enchanting way. The music in the dream was as haunting as the lights were entrancing. So imagine my suprise when I heard that same music a few weeks later coming from my radio one friday night on Pete Tongs "essential selection" during the slot dedicated to his "essential new tune" The shock was compounded as he named the tune and the artist "Knights of the Jaguar" by DJ Rolando The Aztek Mystic . The story was to take a further twist as it emergered the record had been given a full international release by Sony which subsequently led to the a well document a legal dispute between Sony Corporation,and the artists record label "Underground Resistance" which have a proud and fiercely independent history and had apparently refused permission for the record to be lisenced to Sony. I had to wonder could this mixup really have anything to do with the activities of a beautiful but rather choatic young lady I had met recently at a friends club "Afrodisia". The relationship wa brief affair full of passion, laughter and tears. We had spent one particularly memorable night out in Dalston at  Simon "Abrantee" Boteng's birthday bash where was DJ'ing  with his 90% Crew. She explained she just got back from Japan where she had been on a intercultural exchange. We shared a love of Detroit techno and dancing and she proundly told me how recently she had been asked by a japanese friend of hers who worked for Sony to do some translation work for a meeting with none other than Mad Mike head honcho of Underground Resistance!
Later that year I too was on an intercultural exchange in Brazil and following my 5 month work placement i decided to do some travelling. Not far from the Capital of Brazil and closer still to the Geodesic centre of Brazil lies a small town known as the Valley of the Dawn.This community was started by a former truck driver "Tia Neiva" who having suffered from a period of Mental ill health from which she could find no help from conventional counsellors/psychiatrists decided to take the experiences at face value and entertain the notion that she was being contacted from extra terrestrial/other dimensional forces.The entities that were contacting her labelled themselves as "The Jaguars" and claimed to be Highly evolved spirits who had experienced multiple reincarnations. They had, in at least one of their lifetimes fought in incredibly violent battles and committed horrifically violent acts however they had eventually been united under their leader "Pai Seta Branca"who himself was an earlier incarnation of the St Francis of Assisi and had become united behind the teaching of the Christ and the Prophets.The Valley of the Dawn in its physical dimension attracts all sorts of visitors having become something of a tourist attraction .Indeed the day I visited it was also visited by some Tibetan lamas who had recognised it as an authentic spiritual tradition .Over the years it had maintained it original objectives started by "Tia Neiva"of providing support to the homeless , poor and trouble stricken. and holds elaborate ceremonies during which its adept enter trance and channel messages to those present.Like all the tourist I took my place to watch one of these ceremonies. and took a step back as they asked for volunteers and just at that moment who should I bump into but the Brazillian girlfriend of one of my Capoeira group from back in London "Steve" she called out drawing everyones attention to me "what are you doing here" "are you going to Volunteer" "no no" I said and anyway the medium probably dont speak english, not a problem she said the mediums don't speak english but the jaguars can speak any number of languages, so forward I went to receive my message from the Jaguars .The message was clear, I apparently had very serious karma ,due to very violent deeds commited in a previous life. Upon my return to the uk I was warned to be very careful ;where I live ,with whom I live and to make a similiary considered decision in regards to what religion I practise. As I left the valley I bought a post card with an artist impession of one of the most formidable Jaguars "Mestre Lazarus".
Next on my trip across Brazil was a visit to Bahia and the city of Salvador the capoeira academy of my capoeira teacher's master in Brazil so a smile crosssed my face when I saw on the paper and name and address Mestre Lazarao - Rua de Jaguaracy! 
I trained with Mestre Lazarus and his  "Guerreiros dos Palmares" for a couple of weeks, staying in a nearby a guest house and one day I returned to my room to find I had been robbed.The main items stolen were a "Bad Boy Capoeira" t-shirt and the last of my Wagamama t-shirts ( these were the unoffical t -shirts of my kung fu school at the time ) we had no official t-shirts but gifted of a box of wagamma t-sirts ) sadly the t-shirts stolen from me in Brazil were intended as presents for my Mestres Lazarao. The circumstances surrounding the discovery of the robbery were quite interesting, My friend and I had been sitting meditating in our hotel room when my rucksack mysteriously fell over , I found this strange so checked it to find I had been robbed of above items. We notified the hotel that we were leaving and the reasons why ( we suspected an inside job) . By the time we had reached the end of the road we were arrested and accused of leaving without paying,
We were taken to the police headquaters and questioned and at one point left to sweat while the authorities went away to check our stories.While alone in the police commisioners office, I noticed the huge Bible on display with its ornate writing and images and found to my amazement it had been left open at the Story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead and an amazing image of Lazarus. The police commisioner soon returned. Only the intervention of lawyers from AFS Brazil and the real life from Mestre Lazarao avoided a night in the cells.
The final twist to this tale came when after return to my host family we took a trip to Rio and visited the corcovada the famous statue of "Christ the Redeemer" it was a rainy day so there were not many people about but a group of young local boys seemed to get excited when they saw me and they approached me. My host parents tried to encourage them to go away, thinking we might be robbed ,but the boys were insistent. It seems they had spotted my Underground Resistance "Knights of the Jaguar" T shirt and had associated it with the Rio "Funk" scene they wanted to freestyle some raps as they seemed almost certain I was some kind of A&R from Sony and might be able to sign them up for the rich and famous lifestyle of an international rap star.

The 23 Enigma

The Number 23 is probably best know as part of the Nike branding for Michael Jordan the inspirational basket ball player who wore the number 23 for the Chicago Bulls and then the Wizards. Le Bron "King" James another big time baller who wears the 23 has followed in Michael Jordans footsteps staring alongside that Wascal Wabbit in Space Jam 2.

 "W" is the 23rd letter of the Alphabet.

When David Beckham chose the number 23 on his Real Madrid Shirt his explanation was in homage to Jordan.

Since then the Bulls 23 has been worn by a new wave of "good girls gone bad" , including Rihanna and more recent Miley Cyrus who with Juicy J and Wiz Khalifa produced "Mike will made it ..23" .

Could there be a deeper significance behind the 23 ? A growing number of people believe the 23 acts as a signifier of mysterious forces at work. Jim Carey suggested as much in his movie "The number 23."

In the early nineties an infamous band of new age travellers, revolutionaries and teckno shamanic ravers known as Spiral Tribe incorporated the 23 as part of their symbology. Apparently they discovered the significance of the number 23 after experiencing strange synchroncities in connection to it. Following "Castlemorton" the UK's largest ever illegal "Free Rave" The Spiral Tribe were hounded by the state and charged with Conspiracy. After the introduction of the criminal Justice Bill they left the UK to achieve some peace.
Prior to Spiral Tribe it was KLF  who had noticed it, before that it was Psychik TV and Thee Temple ov Psychik Youth/ TOPI who propogated the meme of  23 Synchronicity and Sex magick . but where did they get it from?  

70's cult Novelist Bob / Robert Anton Wilson and his co author of the "Illuminatus" trilogy Robert Shea, wrote extensively  on the phenomena but even they were not the first to ponder the 23 Enigma referencing  the earlier "23 Skiddoo" in Aleister Crowleys "Book of the law".