http://dennisgeorgerudolph.com
Recently a good friend of mine agreed to write a review of The Psychic Experimentalist, a collection of articles and essays from the last couple of years. I'm amazed that he liked it as much as he did, and consider his words true praise. I hope you agree...
A few weeks ago Dennis George Rudolph published a collection of his tirades online as what he called a "free ebook". The title of this volume is The Psychic Experimentalist. To call it an "ebook" may be a bit of an exaggeration, as it weighs in at a mere 45 pages... maybe more of an "epamphlet". Most, but not all, of the essays that constitute this screed have been previously published as blog posts. Although I am acquainted with the author, I only got around to reading it recently. Once I started telling him what I thought of it, he asked to write this review. I'll try to be kind.
It attempts, rather directly, to change the perspective of the reader in a way that enables the reader to see beyond the words to something-or-other beyond them. The author particularly enjoys the "finger pointing to the moon" analogy from Zen, and yet the words themselves seem to point in all kinds of different directions. One moment he seems to be raving about the oneness of everything, and the next he's saying that reality is incomprehensible beyond models of reality. He capitalizes words that he feels have some "cosmic" importance, then tells us again to "look beyond the words" as if that's easy to do when you're laughing at his preposterous inconsistencies. Sometimes it's hard to tell when he's joking, or whether he considers his pretentious "jokes" to be significant somehow.
In the self-serving bio at the back, which he tacitly admits he wrote, he never mentions his Wiccan priesthood, his background teaching shamanism and European Faerie Tradition, or his experimental blues death punk band in the 1980s. Nor does he mention whether or not he went to any college beyond a couple of semesters at the Calvary Chapel Bible School... and he doesn't even admit to that! He says he's a minister without mentioning that he was ordained by the Universal Life Church when he was 14, after reading about them in Abbie Hoffman's Steal This Book. When I confronted him with this he told me he had also been ordained by another church as well, although he couldn't remember its name. This dubiously eclectic background is ignored while he emphasizes things he'd rather people notice.
His logic is inconsistent at best, his stories are erratic, and the quotations he chooses are so contradictory I almost wonder if he's somehow laughing at himself while raving about the futility of "belief systems" and such. The way he capitalizes words in the middle of sentences is intended to make some kind of point, I know, but I'm not sure they don't just bring up the reader's own preconceptions about "All That Is" or whatever pompous crap he's ranting about.
Sure, I laughed out loud reading it, and I told him I was laughing with him, not at him. I think he wanted to believe me, however much he harangues me about not truly believing anything. So would I recommend this book? Sure, if you want to spend some time having your mind turned inside out and shaken out over a cosmic dustbin. Honestly, I don't agree with everything he says, but then again he doesn't ask for agreement, so I guess that's okay. He seems sincere while asking people to disagree with him, so how could I not question this stuff? That's what he wants!
Anyway, the price is right, it's free from his website http://dennisgeorgerudolph.com . I'm glad I finally read it, even if it's hard to tell whether its a complicated joke masquerading as a true sutra, or a true sutra camouflaged as a complicated joke. Just get it, read it, and decide for yourself.
I wonder if he's going to have the balls to print this. And I wonder if he really thinks anyone will believe he didn't write this review himself.
http://dennisgeorgerudolph.com/
Copyright 2010 by Dennis George Rudolph. All rights reserved.
http://dennisgeorgerudolph.com
There are a bunch of Tarot layouts for yes/no types of questions, and I’ve experimented with some of them… and yet, it seems there are other tools more suited to the simple yes or no, especially if it’s concerned with “guidance”.
If your question is about personal guidance, you are probably thinking about it in some variation on, “Should I do this, or that?” or, “Should I do this or not?” Really, you are the Final Authority on your own destiny, so it truly is up to you. Your feelings are a guidance system for you. What feels right for you usually is right for you.
Usually. Of course, no one here is endorsing any illegal or unethical behavior, so stay legal and ethical bla bla bla… Common sense will usually guide you well on basic ethics, and as to legal issues… I wouldn’t feel good about actually recommending lawyers, but they’re the only ones legally allowed to handle “legal” issues. I wonder who made up that law.
You can think about it like being at a crossroads. If you think about going in one direction, and it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t right for you. If you find you feel great about it (and it doesn’t violate any of the ethical or legal strictures mentioned in the previous paragraph), it’s probably a great idea.
Occasionally you may find yourself unsure of how you feel about a possible decision. In that case it’s sometimes useful to flip a coin. “Heads I do this, tails I do that…” Then, before you look at the coin, you may notice that you’re hoping it came up a certain way. There’s your guidance, and it doesn’t matter which way the coin came up. Don’t bother to even look at which way the coin came up, it doesn’t matter any more. Your feelings have given you the answer already.
Is this approach infallible? Of course not, none is. If you wish something was a certain way, but deep down you know it would be harmful or destructive in the long term, your deeper feelings are likely correct for you. If it involves harming someone, violating a trust, or feeding a genuine addiction, you probably already know what's best and you're just waffling to look for more "guidance".
And if your feelings really are confused, a Tarot layout may help you sort out the issues; they’re probably deeper than a simple yes or no.
A pendulum can be helpful, too, and that’s a subject for another free eBook soon. Personally, I use the pendulum a lot… it’s especially useful when I’m looking for something I’ve maybe misplaced. It’s also useful for those yes or no questions that are about something other than guidance… more on that in the book, soon.
What about the yes/no Tarot layouts that are out there? They work a bit like the coin toss, & beyond that the cards that come up can help clarify the underlying issues. The only real possible hazard is in letting any oracle make decisions for you, like William Shatner’s character in the “Nick of Time” episode of The Twilight Zone, enslaved to a fortune telling machine. You are in charge of your own life, always. The Tarot, the pendulum, any other similar tool you use are there to clarify, not dictate. They are meant to serve you the way map and compass serve a traveler. The traveler doesn’t follow the dictates of either tool…
“Uh oh, the compass needle’s pointing north. Better go that way.” “The map is showing two roads from here to there… why doesn’t it tell me which one to take?”
… They are your tools, not the other way around. They are there to assist your intuitive knowing, not replace it.
***
As a bonus, I want to pass on a gift I received from Robert Anton Wilson in 1997. This is as legitimate as any spiritual "title" out there, so here you go…
By the authority vested in me by the Paratheo-anametamystikhood Of Eris Esoteric and the Chapel of St. Hedwig:
Reticular, vesticular, testicular… you are now a duly authorized and authoritative POPE and are now infallible in all matters pertaining to your life, and no one else’s!
Congratulations, your Holiness. As the Principia Discordia says, “A Pope is someone who is not under the authority of the authorities. Thou art Whole.”
No matter what anyone says, you have all the freedom, and responsibility, regarding the decisions in your life. This is your power, and yours only! Enjoy it wisely.
http://dennisgeorgerudolph.com
Tarot is a 78 card oracle with a rather uncertain history. The earliest Tarot cards showed up in Italy during the Middle Ages, and in the centuries since then they have been used for games as well as divination. “Scholars” and other writers have speculated on… um, researched… the origins and original purposes of the Tarot for a long time now, and out of these “studies” some unquestionable and well documented "facts" emerge:
Tarot was the original expression, in pictures, of the Eleusian Mystery Teachings.
Tarot originated in Egypt as an encapsulation of the ancient Egyptian Mysteries.
Mediaeval cabbalists hid their Mysteries in the symbols of the Tarot to preserve the esoteric teachings from the Inquisition.
Gypsies brought the Tarot to Europe from Egypt.
Gypsies brought the Tarot to Europe from India.
Marco Polo brought the Tarot to Europe from China.
Tarot was invented as a game of amusement long before it was used for esoteric understanding or divination.
Tarot is the origin of ordinary playing cards.
The ordinary playing card deck is the origin of the Tarot.
The Tarot hides the Mysteries of the Holy Grail.
The Tarot hides the Mysteries of the Knights Templar.
The Tarot hides the Mysteries of (name of your favorite Mystery tradition here).
I think you get the idea. Some of these speculations may have something to them. Reading about such things is entertaining, and can even expand your understanding of the practical use of the Tarot, the subject of this blog.
(Side note to advanced Tarot scholars: If I have included your favorite theory in this list, rest assured that I am well aware of how True it is. I only included it with all those obviously false notions so as not to offend the benighted souls who have yet to see its Truth.)
Now, the language of Tarot is symbols, the same as the language of your unconscious, the same as the language of dreams. Your unconscious deals in symbols, feelings, ambiguities, and things indirectly hinted at. It responds to synchronicities and “coincidences”, and searches for meaning in apparent patterns. Part of the mind’s symbolic understanding seems to be inborn and hardwired in, while another part seems to be cultural and learned.
Lifeforce Tarot reading takes all of these things into account in a practical way that enhances intuition and bridges conscious and subconscious minds.
http://dennisgeorgerudolph.com/
Copyright 2010 by Dennis George Rudolph. All rights reserved.
