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Pardon me while I repost those links. . .

Theodora Lau's Handbook of Chinese Horoscopes. (A good book for Eastern Astrology).

Susan Miller's website is a fairly robust example of the Western model.

-FL

Hm.

I forget sometimes where I came from myself. --The world really is pretty locked down. I started out the son of an engineer and a big fan of science. Did the model rocket, and build your own radio thing as a kid. At a party many years later, somebody brought out a Chinese divination system based on an old game, and proceeded to do readings for people. It was unlike anything I'd ever chanced across before; all I'd seen of the esoteric was the newspaper horoscope section which I'd always found to be entirely silly; a clear example of vague information being used to trick people into seeing more than was there. This system, however, crossed some kind of line. It was starkly accurate to the point where each person was quite shaken by the accuracy and depth at which it worked. I came away from that rather stunned.

Of course, I knew it was possible to manipulate things like cards and tiles and such, and so I decided to investigate further. It wasn't an immediate process, over the next several years, I met at random people who were similarly tuned to this kind of stuff, and I'd grill them. --One of the first people I met was a girl who was good at palm reading; who at one party was reading palms. After reading one guy, she turned to her boyfriend, white in the face and said, "That guy had NO life-line. I didn't want to tell him." The next night that guy, in his 20's, died in his sleep from heart failure. --I walked through dozens of episodes like that, both happy and sad, but never really had any direct experiences.

I also started reading. Carlos Castaneda began that, and from there, the other important books showed up on my reading list as necessary. The interesting thing with Castaneda is that one slowly comes across the notion that intent shapes experiences in a very practical way. --Which is really pretty obvious. "I intend to experience a bowl of Cheerios. I go and prepare one and thus my intention is realized." The neat part is that you learn that it works without the need for a discernible linear physical approach. --And that was when I started meeting teachers who could do some of the *really* intense stuff. Those who I call, "Powerful People". --My last girlfriend was one of these, and she has no interest in the esoteric world at all, but she is able to shape reality in the most uncanny of ways. She has experiences which are TOTALLY off the map which she doesn't understand. By the time I met her, I'd accumulated an encyclopedic knowledge of this kind of material and was able to explain and help her through many of her experiences. She's the kind of person who finds herself jumping into a car and driving off willy-nilly because she feels a strong urge and then finds herself an hour later standing at the center of a fresh crop circle.

My own level of awareness has increased a great deal over the years. I know and feel stuff I shouldn't; it seems that having enough iron in your diet is an important component, meditation helps a lot, but that for the most part, one's genetic make-up appears to play a large role. I've seen and done some pretty weird stuff, but some of the people I've met experience things in a far greater capacity than others by default. But in terms of sculpting experiences and knowing why the world is as it is. . , anybody can do that.

Simple steps to take. . .

Chinese and Western astrology are considered sort of entry points, because they offer easy evidence that 'something is up'. I like Theadora Lau's book on Chinese astrology. It was one of those early, "You have GOT to be kidding me!" works; I'd recommend her work; it's cheap and easy enough to find. Also, Suzanne Miller's Astrology website here, http://www.astrologyzone.com/ is a good representative of the Western model. Carlos Castaneda's books, despite their flaws, are also a fun read, so even if you get nothing out of them, (though I don't see how that is at all possible), it won't be a waste of your time. (Those books are wher

Newspaper astrology? No thanks. That's pointless. The real thing is actually useful. Of course, you wouldn't know this if you don't explore it first. --The practice of the true skeptic is to examine first and render a decision afterwards. --And if you had looked properly and honestly then you wouldn't be able to dismiss things so easily. This stuff is entirely testable, but it's the kind of testing which is best done for oneself. There's an amazing world out there, far bigger than many realize, and it's open to anybody who bothers to put their boots on and step outside. One of the better sites is this one. --Extremely comprehensive and free. --Though, I find Asian astrology to be often more robust in certain ways.

Interestingly, most who start off with a cynical view are actually incapable of exploring openly. There's a weird knee-jerk auto-response programmed into many people which makes them react with a gut-felt loathing and embarrassment which keeps them from learning how the world really works; from finding their own power. Thus it's a huge challenge to be a real skeptic; most just pretend and use the label to justify allowing their programmed fears to control them. It's easier that way, but self-defeating. It takes work to break out of the bonds, which is why they're called bonds.

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