Julian Assange/Raoul Wallenberg

For some reason when I was reading the account of the Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, the name Raoul Wallenberg kept intruding on my consciousness.  Apart from the link with Sweden occasioned by the court case, I couldn't think of a reason why I would associate Assange with Wallenberg, but when I looked at the pictures of the two people, I could see a distinct similarity.

I have been convinced of reincarnation as a possibility for some time, and websites like return of the revolutionaries are intriguing., particularly when someone who resembles an earlier person has memories of a previous life.

I don't claim any psychic powers to deduce whether reincarnation is a fact, but it worries me that Wallenberg was a person who fought for the freedom of people who were being oppressed by the Nazis, and was disappeared, possibly by the Russians, although they have always denied this.

Assange is fighting for freedom of information.  I hope he is well protected from being disappeared, especially in light of the extremely violent comments made by various American politicians calling for his assassination.

A strange thing...

I promised my mother I would make lunch today.  We'd decided not to have a traditional roast dinner, as I don't much like them and I'm not good at cooking them.  When I went down to the kitchen to cook, my mother was making the Christmas cake, and so I couldn't prepare lunch in the little galley kitchen.  I sat at the kitchen table in the adjoining breakfast room, to peel the potatoes and chop onions.

We were chatting away, when one of the plastic storage jars in the cupboard behind me shot out of the cupboard like a bullet from a gun and hit the floor 12 feet away, in the galley kitchen.  I was so stunned I just sat there for a moment. 

I have tried to find a logical and scientific explanation, but have so far failed.  The contents of the storage jar were not under pressure, it was about a tablespoon of plain flour.  In any case, the lid didn't come off, it was still sealed.

My mother does live on a busy road which gets a lot of traffic, including lorries and buses, but I don't see how this could have pushed the jar out of the cupboard.  If the rattling from the road had dislodged the jar, I feel sure it would have just fallen off, not shot across the room.  Other things in the cupboard, including some teetering stacks of tins and packets were not dislodged.

It's certainly a bit odd. 

Alien ship on the Moon?

This story has been attracting some attention, and it's quite intriguing. While the testimony seems completely unbelievable, there is no doubt that there is something odd showing up on images which come from Apollo 15.  The images can be independently verified, which is what makes it interesting.

It appears that high-resolution images show a large object on the surface of the moon which does not look natural or man-made. Whether, as the person quoted in the article has said, there were covert trips to the moon, and whether the videos provided are real or faked, I have no idea.

I find the idea of covert trips to the moon problematical. Surely the thousands of astronomers and radio hams around the world are unlikely to have missed an American/Soviet spacecraft flying to the moon and back?

For some reason that I do not understand, the US seems to have an obsession with conspiracy theories and secret government. Maybe they are right and we aren't being told important things, but I find it hard to believe the claims that people like David Wilcock make, that the government is in possession of technology that would make the use of fossil fuels obsolete etc.

Apparently sane people say insane things all the time... but conversely, apparently insane people - like David Icke for example - don't always get things wrong.

Some of the people on the comments for this site clim that some other images disprove the photographs, but it seems that those were not so detailed because of the resolution. It's intriguing certainly.

Day before Disclosure

This film, by Norwegian film maker Terje Toftenes, is now free to watch here. There isn't a lot that's new, but it is quite nicely done, and there are some interesting snaps etc.

I have always been fascinated by the possibility that we have been visited. I don't like the current skepticism which seems to regard even considering this possibility as being hopelessly deluded. I believe that - as in most things - there is a spectrum which ranges from people who are mistaken in what they have seen or believe, through people who have seen something which can't be explained, to people who really are deluded or who are using the interest in Ufology for their own gain.

Unfortunately, the progress in special effects and computer assisted design mean that it becomes ever more difficult to assess whether films are real and accurate depictions of what they purportedly show, or fakes. That there are fakes is undeniable... that there is a possibility that some of them are not fakes is what is interesting.

Just to add to the confusion, I do believe that this subject is not treated scientifically by government or the scientific community. If people dismiss reports, refuse to record them, or suppress them, it is impossible to make a scientific assessment of the evidence. It seems inexplicable to me that some of the more famous cases do not appear in the official record because, even if they turn out to be attributed to weather balloons, satellites, delusion, the fact that the have been reported should lead to a record being created, and often hasn't, even when people involved have reported things which - if true - would be matters of national or even global security.

Problematica: Starchild

Interesting video about the results of testing of the so-called "starchild" skull. I think it is clear from the composition of the audience that this is not an academic, scientific rendering of the facts around the starchild skull. It is interesting however to wonder what the response will be if the claims made in the video are borne out by reputable scientific investigation of the artefact.

Unusual events relating to fish and animals

This is where I am going to collected links to items on fish disasters and similar.

December 2009
Thousands of starfish washed up in Norfolk.

August 2010
Like this one in Bolivia.

Spheres

I have read a number of articles about mystery spheres - everything from enormous stone spheres in Croatia to small spheres in Peru.

This is where I am going to collect links to anything I stumble over on the internet about spheres.

This story is about spheres in South Africa.

Reincarnation

This is going to be a page of links about Reincarnation stories which appear to have some evidence behind them. I will add links as I find them.

The stories I find most interesting are the ones in which a person not only has a memory of a previous life but also looks like the person they say they remember. It is going to be interesting to see if the children who remember past lives actually look like the person they say that they were.

Reincarnation from World War II
There is an American boy called James, who believes he was a pilot in the second world war, shot down by the Japanese.

Martin Heald memories of Richard Seymour.  Part One.  Part Two.

Reincarnation from 20th century
Child remembers previous life, other family.

Reincarnation from previous centuries
Four cases from Australia, where the hypnotist takes the women to see the places where they say they lived.


Reincarnation of Paul Gauguin and his wife Mette.


Reincarnation from US Civil War
Jeffrey Keene, a retired firefighter, who believes that he is the reincarnation of General Gordon.

Ian Stevenson's work
Video about reactions to Ian Stevenson's work.

Michael Newton's work
Michael Newton is a hypnotherapist who has come to specialise in past-life regression. His website is here.

Work of Joseph R. Myers
Joseph Myers' page of photographs and possible links was the first place that I came across the idea that a reincarnated person might look like the person they claimed to have been in a previous life. Some of these cases, particularly those involving a husband and wife, are pretty convincing.

Echoes of the past

I have always had an interest in reincarnation, since I had an experience myself in which I remembered flashes of a life before my life. I am perfectly prepared to accept that many people would consider that a delusion, and be unable to even contemplate the idea of reincarnation.

It's not a subject that is unknown, even for christians, as despite the best efforts of Constantine to eradicate reincarnation from the bible, there are still numerous references to reincarnation there. Jesus identified St John the Baptist as the reincarnation of Elijah, for example.

A few years ago, I encountered the idea that a reincarnated person might look like the person they claim to have memories of being. Intellectually I find this an interesting idea: how would this work exactly? How would the facial and other characteristics of the person magically transfer to someone who wasn't related to them? What was the role of DNA? When do babies become people? All those things, wrapped up into one.

I have stumbled over a number of sites which claim to have found a link between a person and someone else, and often the resemblance is remarkable. What is even more remarkable is that from time to time, someone has provided pictures of a couple of even a group of people, who all seem to resemble people from another time. One such website is return of the revolutionaries, which I have no doubt you will explore if you have an interest in reincarnation, and which you probably would not otherwise.

However, one of the people on that website who caught my eye was Michael Jackson, because the person he is alleged to have been in a past life is relatively obscure. Charles Dassoucy, was known as the Emperor of Entertainment in his time, was friends with Moliere, and a host of other people, and was successful.

I thought it was interesting, but I wasn't much convinced by the argument that Michael Jackson was trying to return to his previous caucasian incarnation with surgery. I just try to keep an open mind, and I wasn't convinced or skeptical, but balanced somewhere in the middle.

Tonight, I saw the "Who do you think you are?" from the US version of the show, featuring Brooke Shields. I thought her ancestry was fascinating, particularly on her father's side. He was born from an Italian family, with connections to the aristocracy. In the course of the programme, Brooke went to Rome, to trace back the origins of her Italian ancestry, only to find that her Italian ancestor actually came from France.

It was the only frustration of the programme: there was obviously a fascinating and involved story about how he came to move from rural France, freeing an Abbott who was a relative, and fleeing around Europe with him, eventually ending up in Rome, but there wasn't the time within the hour of the programme to flesh out that story.

Brooke visited the small house where the parents of her ancestor lived, and then set off again to research her Royal connection, through Christine Marie, who was born in the Louvre, the daughter of Henri IV of France.

At the end of the programme, I googled Brooke Shields, in case there was additional information that wasn't on the programme, and saw that she had been great friends with Michael Jackson. I thought for a moment that it was an odd coincidence that Michael Jackson should have supposedly been French in a previous life, and Brooke Shields should have French Ancestry.

Then I looked up Charles Dassoucy in Wikipedia, and discovered that one of his patrons had been Christine Marie, Brooke's ancestor. I thought that was an interesting coincidence.

I was intrigued, and thought I would look up the people around Charles Dassoucy and see if I could recognise someone as beautiful as Brooke Shields... I didn't think she would be too difficult to spot.

The obvious first person to look at was Moliere, whose picture you can see here.




Hold on a moment... doesn't he look amazingly like Andre Agassi, first husband of Brook Shields?



I looked for a picture of Christine Marie, Madame Royale, to see if Brooke Shields resembled her at all.



I couldn't see any strong resemblance between Brooke and her ancestress, but when I looked at Steffi Graf, second wife of Andre Agassi... well, call me deluded, but I do think that there is a resemblance.



I've searched for a beautiful contemporary who might resemble Brooke, but haven't found one yet.... I'm entranced by the idea, and how reincarnation might work, particularly in the case of groups of people.

Links to indigo children

This page is designed to be a continually updated list of indigo children. I'm not sure I understand what is meant by indigo children, actually, so this is a selection of links to pages about unusual children in general.

This is a Russian boy who claims to have lived on Mars.

This is an American girl who is a genius for painting and poetry. I must admit I assumed she must have been brought up in a fundamentalist faily, but it appears that this is not true.

A science of reincarnation?

It's an open secret that I consider it possible that reincarnation may be a fact, which is something I have written about before.

Today, during a surf around the outer reaches of the internet, I found a page which purports to link a group of revolutionaries from the American revolution, with people living and connected today.What I find particularly interesting is that the website includes an idea that, if scientists can suspend their disbelief long enough, a scientific investigation into reincarnation might be possible, comparing DNA from people purported to be reincarnated, to see if there is something in the DNA to link a reincarnated person with their previous incarnation.

I find it an intriguing idea. Conventional wisdom on genetics and heredity suggests that we inherit our eye colour and many other traits from our genetic parents. If our facial appearance is roughly the same from incarnation to incarnation, and the two incarnations are not related, how might that work? Can you even consider it as a possibility without being ridiculed as a scientist?

It is certainly striking that often when one member of a couple looks similar to an historical figure, their partner in this life looks very like the partner in the other life. The most famous example of this is Vladimir Putin, wife and dog, and the famous painting of the Marriage of Arnolfini... I was going to put a link to one of the many pages showing the resemblance of all three to the painting, but there are too many crazy and potentially damaging pages out there... I will let you find it for yourself.

I find it fascinating as a mental exercise to consider how this might work in practice... what would the mechanism be? According to the man who wrote the above-linked website, people can vary in sex, religion and colour between incarnations, and a proof that reincarnation is real would mean an end to racism, and end to nationalism and an end to a lot of prejudice between people of different religions. I'm not sure he's right, but it's a fascinating suggestion.

To thine own self be true

I stumbled upon this page, and this quote from Thomas L. Masson: "Be Yourself is about the worst advice you can give to some people".

On the surface it appears to be funny and true. But underneath, it isn't. I believe that people are basically good, kind, honest and courageous. I believe that each of us carries a spark of God, or good if you don't find references to God comfortable.

As a Quaker I believe that if we are still, and listen to that inner guide, we will find our true selves, the person we are meant to be. I believe we are all unique and that we do all have our own paths to follow. We have freedom to change that, to become something different. But inside there is always the person we are meant to be.

Everyone and anyone can ignore the inner guide. Whether you are aware of it, or unaware of it, it is there. We cover it up with concerns about the trivia in our lives... when we are selfish or hurtful or greedy you can be sure that we are stopping our ears to the promptings of our inner guide.

Being still and quiet and listening is all it takes to discover it for yourself. I believe that trying to find harmony between the person you are and the world thinks you are, and the person you are meant to be, is the way to happiness. And that's what being yourself means to me.

So even if you have been selfish or violent or greedy until now, trying to be the person you really are inside, the good and the true, is still good advice.

The full quotation from William Shakespeare reads: "To thine own self be true, and it must follow as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."

Do you think that when you exhibit negative parts of your character to other people that this is the real you? Does anybody? I don't think so. I believe it is what Jesus means when he says "Love they neighbour as thyself". Many people think it has the one meaning, that you should love other people and treat them the way you would like to be treated, and it does carry that meaning for some people. But much more important, much more relevant to many people is the idea that they should learn to love themselves, and it then follows that to be loved one has to be lovable, and to do the things that allow us to love ourselves.

It is easy to see that if we are behaving selfishly, violently, greedily, we may obtain what we seem to be after, but how do we feel, inside? Better, pleased with ourselves? I think not... generally we feel worse about ourselves when we behave badly.

Listening to that inner guide teaches without words, without preaching, without sermons. Try it. Do something nice for somebody else, and see how good it feels.

Drumstick pencils

I decided to revive Miss Pendragon's Miscellany as a place to file all those things I trip over while surfing.

This morning I was looking to see if I could find anything like these tumblers, which my sister liked very much when she saw them. That whole website is stuffed full of amazing stuff...but you need to be pretty well off to consider shopping there.

In searching for those I found these, and then on the same site, these drumstick pencils. I think they combine everything I am looking for in a gift for a man: they're practical, inexpensive, and have a touch of whimsy which indicates you think they are more than averagely interesting... the sort of person who doesn't simply write things with a pencil, which would be a boring sort of gift, but who may burst into song or percussive music at any moment . Potentially, a rock star.

It is quite a lot to pay for a pair of pencils, £4.95....