Wheel of Wonder April 26, 2015

For Alchemists, there are many different ways of acquiring and exercising their knowledge.  According to a modern Alchemist who joined me today on Wheel of Wonder, at its core, it is a symbolic language, shown through statuary designs, corporate logos (all variations on the cube) palmistry and its relation to Astrology and the planets and constellations it interprets/represents.  Aubrey, The Alchemist I spoke to, also relates Alchemical knowledge less to changing a base metal like Lead into Gold, like some sort of primitive chemistry, and more to learning through the language of symbols, quantum theory, and achieving greater knowledge about oneself into an evolution of the spirit, to a point like that of the ascensionist paradigm.  I've posted about the idea of ascension elsewhere on this blog, and Christopher Penczak is a well known writer on this subject you can link to from the margin.  IT was an interesting idea though, that some approaches to Alchemy have nothing to do with physically turning a base element to gold at all.  Instead the focus is on self-achievment  from a lesser, unrealized self, to a spiritually awakened one!  I'll post the second half of my interview with Aubrey on this site soon.  KAOS is also on Free Radio America now, so you can catch up on today's episode there.  What music did I play?  Check Spinitron.com look up KAOS and today's date, and you can learn that too!  To check out Aubrey's ideas check out this YouTube link, or look up You Tube's "The Modern Alchemist Channel."

The Picture above is from a website called Alchemy Lab Art

Thank you to every listener who supports Independent Media and Upcoming Guests on Wheel of Wonder

I heard one of the DJs on KAOS say that the $11,000.00 goal of the KAOS fundraiser was made!  Thank you new and renewing members!  We Love you!  Neither myself or the community radio outlet that I bring people Wheel of Wonder through are commercial operations, help from student activities at The Evergreen State College, and people pledging their membership dollars are all that keep KAOS, the independent radio station alive and broadcasting.  Soon I'll have a profile on Free Radio America, as will the other KAOS broadcasters and, if you haven't been able to hear Wheel of Wonder (because say, you live in Australia, Europe, or an Asian Pacfic country, or there's a terrible time zone difference) streaming or broadcasting, you'll still be able to catch the show at your convenience for a few days after the broadcast.  I'm pretty excited about that, as far as I know, I'm still the only Pagan Radio Show on the FM dial in America.

Here are some of the upcoming guests On Wheel of Wonder, and also an idea of who has been on the show recently:

Aradia, modern nature and magic loving electronic band.  April 12, 2016

Lori D, DJ Local Miss Mellisa and Fred from "Free Jazz with Fred" during the fund drive week, some on Wheel of Wonder, some when I substituted for "Celtic Echoes" on KAOS

Aubrey, a modern Alchemist, sharing information and philosophy Sunday, April 26, 2015

Malachi Wavebreaker returns to Wheel of Wonder to share poetry from his new book: The Sojourner of Mutable Fire:  An Illustration in Quantum design Malachi picks up his epic narrative poetry from where he left off, this time from the perspective of the feminine principle referred to in The Voyager of Cardinal Water Just in time for the Beltane show on May 3, 2015

Wheel of Wonder April 12, 2015

This week on Wheel of Wonder, I'm happily giving over the second hour of the radio broadcast to the Interview and Music of Aradia.  This week will seem a little bit Electronica for those who listen to the broadcast regularly, a natural selection of subject and philosophy that follows that for me is the New Age movement.  This movement, along with a few neo-pagan others offers a unique welcome to spirituality in the information/computer/space age.  Interesting information I found on the New Age Movement from religioustolerance.org :

The New Age Movement is in a class by itself. Unlike most formal religions, it has no holy text, central organization, membership, formal clergy, geographic center, dogma, creed, etc. They often use mutually exclusive definitions for some of their terms. The New Age is in fact a free-flowing spiritual movement; a network of believers and practitioners who share somewhat similar beliefs and practices, which they add on to whichever formal religion that they follow. Their book publishers take the place of a central organization; seminars, conventions, books and informal groups replace of sermons and religious services.
Quoting John Naisbitt:

"In turbulent times, in times of great change, people head for the two extremes: fundamentalism and personal, spiritual experience...With no membership lists or even a coherent philosophy or dogma, it is difficult to define or measure the unorganized New Age movement. But in every major U.S. and European city, thousands who seek insight and personal growth cluster around a metaphysical bookstore, a spiritual teacher, or an education center." ₁

New Age beliefs:

A number of fundamental beliefs are held by many -- but not all -- New Age followers; individuals are encouraged to "shop" for the beliefs and practices that they feel most comfortable with:

	Monism: All that exists is derived from a single source of divine energy.
	Pantheism: All that exists is God; God is all that exists. This leads naturally to the concept of the divinity of the individual, that we are all Gods. They do not seek God as revealed in a sacred text or as exists in a remote heaven; they seek God within the self and throughout the entire universe.
	Panentheism: God is all that exists. God is at once the entire universe, and transcends the universe as well.
	Reincarnation: After death, we are reborn and live another life as a human. This cycle repeats itself many times. This belief is similar to the concept of transmigration of the soul in Hinduism.
	Karma: The good and bad deeds that we do adds and subtracts from our accumulated record, our karma. At the end of our life, we are rewarded or punished according to our karma by being reincarnated into either a painful or good new life. This belief is linked to that of reincarnation and is also derived from Hinduism
	An Aura is believed to be an energy field radiated by the body. Invisible to most people, it can be detected by some as a shimmering, multi-colored field surrounding the body. Those skilled in detecting and interpreting auras can diagnose an individual's state of mind, and their spiritual and physical health.
	Personal Transformation A profoundly intense mystical experience will lead to the acceptance and use of New Age beliefs and practices. Guided imagery, hypnosis, meditation, and (sometimes) the use of hallucinogenic drugs are useful to bring about and enhance this transformation. Believers hope to develop new potentials within themselves: the ability to heal oneself and others, psychic powers, a new understanding of the workings of the universe, etc. Later, when sufficient numbers of people have achieved these powers, a major spiritual, physical, psychological and cultural planet-wide transformation is expected.
	Ecological Responsibility: A belief in the importance of uniting to preserve the health of the earth, which is often looked upon as Gaia, (Mother Earth) a living entity.
	Universal Religion: Since all is God, then only one reality exists, and all religions are simply different paths to that ultimate reality. The universal religion can be visualized as a mountain, with many sadhanas (spiritual paths) to the summit. Some are hard; others easy. There is no one correct path. All paths eventually reach the top. They anticipate that a new universal religion which contains elements of all current faiths will evolve and become generally accepted worldwide.
	New World Order As the Age of Aquarius unfolds, a New Age will develop. This will be a utopia in which there is world government, and end to wars, disease, hunger, pollution, and poverty. Gender, racial, religious and other forms of discrimination will cease. People's allegiance to their tribe or nation will be replaced by a concern for the entire world and its people.

The ideas of the New Age movement are for some, another great guide toward how to live an enlightened life, evolving in the mind and spirit to create a better world.

Wheel of Wonder April 5, 2015

Often it seems, that in this Post-Modern world, that which can't be scientifically proven is often considered "untrue" or "delusional"strangely, even the post modernists viewpoint can't be proven as real, especially since the post-modernist viewpoint only believes in the concrete and hypocritically that nothing is definite, everything can be disagreed with or proven wrong.  This does not leave much room for spiritual experiences in the Human lifetime, but having a Spirit is something amazing that we have going for us, it gives some the strength to work through the hard times and evolve into a greater, or even more compassionate existence.
I would say that personal divine experience, as reflected by some of the writings of Christopher Penczak, and its near relation of working with archetypal energies, walking in recognizable form as expressed in the writing of Emma Rostel--Orr, could even fit into a post-modernist spirituality.  As would that feeling some neo-pagans get in ritual, that "cone of power" extending outward and upward from the sacred circle, or the inspiration that Druids attribute to "The Awen." Human spirituality also helps us reach a common ground in our belief systems, that help us to work together better as a species, even, an evolving species. Otherwise, in a post modern world of only concrete experience, our understanding of our place in the universe, our connection with the spirit of all living, seems alienated from us, and sometimes hope for improvement can die with it, and the feeling that we're in all of this alone can lead to depression and loneliness.  How do you see/keep spirituality alive in this post modern world?  We'll explore this a bit this week on Wheel of Wonder, and I hope it will inspire you to seek important answers in your lives as well, a spiritual human is an awakened traveler, on an amazing journey!