The other week I visited the new Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth.   In my lifetime, I have visited three historic ships; HMS Victory,  HMS Warrior and the Mary Rose.  This would be my second visit to the Mary Rose.  The first time I was just fourteen. 

As I gazed around in awe at the beautiful wreck, I noted that the old girl's bones were looking a lot better since having been sprayed for so many years with the `Peg' solution, in order to halt her decay,

The hollow sound of my own footsteps on the wooden decking caught my attention, and it took me back to  my first visit to see HMS Victory.

I had a very unusual experience when walking around that ship.  I can only describe it as an overwhelming feeling of Déjà vu.  It wasn't your usual run-of-the-mill Déjà vu though; I was able to guide my mother and father around the ship, knowing instinctively where everything was - the cabins, the galley, the gun decks, the stores, I knew where they were located.  Almost thirty years later and I still wonder to this day, if I could have been experiencing past life memories.

Sceptics, psychologists and scientists etc., would say that I must have subconsciously picked up and stored this information from elsewhere; TV, books, school lessons etc., and I wouldn't rule it out but I can't help but doubt it.  I went back to HMS Victory five years ago and was still able to find my way around almost instinctively.

My second experience with an equally fascinating and historic vessel, was to be the Mary Rose, in the purposely built museum.  I had no feelings of Déjà vu or (possible) past-life flashbacks this time, but it did have quite a profound effect on me.

It's a strange feeling looking into the empty, bony, eye-sockets belonging to what was once a living, human being.  Inside the museum there is an exhibit containing a wax work model of the man that this skull belonged to.  The model was so eerily life-like that it gave me quite a startle when I first saw it.  There stood the man, reconstructed by expert facial anthropologists and forensic artists with such incredible skill. He really was so incredibly life-like that I expected him to move at any second.

The Mary Rose was a warship belonging to the English Tudor Navy of King Henry VIII.

She had served for 33 years, fighting in several wars against Brittany, France and Scotland.

Exact details of her last moments are sketchy but it is known that on 19th of July 1545, she was engaged in an attack against the French fleet. 

The theory goes that the ship was actually undamaged. She is thought to have fired from one side and then turned very sharply to fire cannons from the other side.  Well, she had an extra set of cannons installed on the lower deck near the water line.  The combination of the combined weight of her massive crew and heavy cannons made her lean over too far, allowing the Solent to spill through the lower gun hatches.

In minutes she was sinking to the murky depths of the Solent, close to the Isle of Wight.  

According to contemporary records, only 35 men survived the disaster. Henry VIII is said to have watched with horror, from his castle in Southsea, as the disaster unfolded.  It is said that the cries of the trapped and drowning men and boys could be heard from the mainland.

Over four hundred years later, in 1971, she was discovered and in 1982, the Mary Rose Trust, managed to salvage her.

The Mary Rose captured both the imagination and the fascination of the public and historians, alike, throughout the world.  It was a beautifully preserved time capsule; furnished like an Aladdin's cave, full of amazing Tudor artefacts.

For her time and throughout many decades the Mary Rose was one of the biggest ships in the English navy.  An early example of purpose-built warship and the first to feature gun ports, through which poked heavy guns.

Anyway, I thought it best not to dwell on this poor man's fate; after all, I am of the opinion that reincarnation or at the very least, some form of afterlife, is a likely concept.  So I moved on and soon became engrossed in the other, marvellous historic exhibits.

I would definitely recommend that you visit the Mary Rose Museum.  Not only is it crammed packed with items from 16th century Tudor England, it is also housed in a magnificent building, fashioned in such a way reminiscent of a great ship itself.  They've done an incredible job and it's worthy of our support.

Here is a link for the official Mary Rose website:-
http://www.maryrose.org/

All for now..

Matt Cage

A devout Christian, it troubled Cayce, at first, that he was a conduit for this mysterious voice, which later became known to him as `the source'. Over time, it became clear that the voice had only good intentions as it (is claimed), diagnosed and prescribed remedies for thousands of sick and diseased people; many of whom conventional medicine of the time, had failed them.  It is reported that many of these diagnoses were performed with only the patient's name and or address, with stunning degrees of accuracy, verified by medical practitioners of that time, and many of the remedies have been proven accurate in more recent years. 

This man had no knowledge of biology or medicines and often asked advice from a doctor, in order to understand many of the medical terminology in the readings.   Prior to him developing this gift he had been an insurance salesman and a photographer.  A cynic or hardened sceptic might wonder if Cayce benefited financially from his gift. It is documented that he asked for no fees but accepted donations.  A shy man, uncomfortable with being the focus of attention it appears that Edgar Cayce's sole motivation was fuelled by his passion to serve God, and his desire to help people.

Many of Edgar Cayce's predictions have come true.

He predicted the 1929 Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression.
He predicted the death of two presidents.
The rise and fall of Hitler
The Collapse of the Soviet Union
Blood as a diagnostic tool
There was a race of people called `The Essenes'
Pole shift.  Yes, it's already begun if you look into it.

Okay, he got some wrong.  The source' did say though (paraphrasing), that predictions of the future are changeable; the outcome depending on the actions of mankind.  You can't argue with that, but you can find out more about his wrong predictions, here.

Here are more links for further investigation.  I have included a link to the Sceptic's Dictionary's view of Edgar Cayce as they do their homework and are usually fair.  Don't forget to research their claims though, as you would with anything.  Read both sides to the story and then make your own mind up.

http://www.edgarcayce.org/edgar-cayce1.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Cayce
http://www.edgarcayce.org/
http://skepdic.com/cayce.html

And of course we have to give the Edgar Cayce's A.R.E. a mention.  This is the non-profit Association for Research & Enlightenment, founded in 1931 by Edgar Cayce himself. It's aims are:-

"to explore spirituality, holistic health, intuition, dream interpretation, psychic development, reincarnation, and ancient mysteries—all subjects that frequently came up in the more than 14,000 documented psychic readings given by Cayce"

Members of A.R.E. can access the entire set of 14,306 readings - including the ones in which he metioned the Sphinx and the Hall of Records.

http://www.edgarcayce.org/

In which pyramid or temple are the records mentioned in the readings given through this channel on Atlantis, in April, 1932?

As given, that temple was destroyed at the time there was the last destruction in Atlantis.

Yet, as time draws nigh when changes are to come about, there may be the opening of those three places where the records are one, to those that are the initiates in the knowledge of the One God:

The temple by Iltar will then rise again. Also there will be the opening of the temple or hall of records in Egypt, and those records that were put into the heart of the Atlantean land may also be found there - that have been kept, for those that are of that group.

In the early 1970's, cavities were discovered by the Egyptians from Ain Shams University in Cairo and Stanford Research Institute, US, using ground-penetrating radar. Further cavities were discovered in 1977 by the SRI and funded by the US National Science Foundation.

The following website, although sceptical of Cayce's claims, presents details of all of the discoveries (several passages excavated) made in and around the Sphinx, in more recent years.

http://www.catchpenny.org/chamber.html

And that's unfortunately about it, so far.

Rumours and conspiracies can be found aplenty with claims of cover-ups and spin.  There's also a rumour that a secret excavation is underway right now (June 2013):-

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread569896/pg1

You can't blame them for being guarded with their treasures/history, but the mystery continues to tantalize us with little clues from time to time and makes us yearn for answers.

So to conclude, Edgar Cayce said that the Hall of Records beneath the Great Sphinx would be discovered before the end of the 20th century.   If those cavities discovered in the 70's are in fact the Hall of Records, then you have to say, he was right.

Denham Crow 2013

There is a small village in North Lincolnshire called `Flixborough'.  Although it is a beautiful and quaint little village, sadly it is more memorable for a terrible disaster in 1974, when a chemical plant called `Nypro' exploded, killing 28 people and seriously injuring 36.

Just a few years before this terrible event, my uncle, a gamekeeper on a nearby warren there, had an experience which chilled him to his very bones.

Uncle Steve (now sadly passed) was a bold and fearless man and thought nothing of tracking armed poachers in the dead of night, through the inky darkness of the fir wood. 

He used to laugh at the notion of ghosts, UFOs and tales of alien encounters.  But the chilling experience he would have one day, would fuel a subsequent passion for the paranormal, which would stay with him for his entire life.

It had been snowing heavily, at least for a week before this day On December 27th, 1970.  The snow was a few of inches deep and the only tracks being his, rabbits, and other creatures of the wild.

He noted in his diary that there was a very slight albeit cold wind, on that day, blowing towards him. 

I can picture him, head covered by a trilby hat replete with a pheasant's feather, tipped downwards and revealing only his raven black beard.  Oh yes, and he had a 12 bore shotgun under his arm. 

It was different in those days.

And he was a gamekeeper.  It has to be said though, that if this was today, and you chanced upon him whilst on a lone walk in the woods, you would be forgiven for walking the other way.  You would have been wrong to have done that though.  Although he was fearless and strong, he was a man of nature with a passion for all living things. He would have given you a firendly nod as he passed you by and if you had paused to make conversation, he would have welcomed it.

After arriving at the warren, Steve checked on the pheasants and then decided it was too bitter to hang about, and so decided to make his way back home again. 

It was still light.

When turning to come home, he had planned to follow the road, towards the River Trent, But about 30 yards down, he felt an inexplicable urge to turn round and go back towards Flixborough and then turn on to `Wood Bottom' at an alternative spot.  He always stressed, when telling this story, that `to this day' he had no idea why he changed his mind.

Close to this location and on his route, there is a concrete rail bridge, which is still stands and is in use, to this day.  He had only walked a few yards, approaching the rail bridge, when he suddenly felt very uneasy and felt the hair on the back of his neck, stand up.

What happened next is documented in his diary.  I have paraphrased it here but the details are accurate.

Steve was approaching the bridge, adjacent to the Nypro chemical plant, when he was suddenly pulled backwards by his coat with such incredible force that he was thrown to the ground!  Thinking it was a poacher, he jumped to his feet and spun round with his 12 bore shotgun raised, ready to scare the attacker with it. But he was very surprised, not to mention a little unnerved, to see that there was no one there!  No footprints in the snow apart from his own - and there was nowhere for anyone to hide.

Steve wasn't one to mince words and suffered fools rather poorly.  His temper raised at this unwarranted attack by an unseen assailant, he swore at the empty space in front on him before turning around. He quickening his pace and continued under the bridge and eventually he arrived at the first track, before turning towards the river.  All the time, he felt that "something was on me; following me; watching me".

A few minutes later and he was pulled over again.  Once again he swung round, cursing loudly with gun ready but of course, once again there was nothing there, just the sense of something `very powerful and terrifying'.  It felt almost like it was "breathing down my neck".

Once he got back onto his feet, he picked up his pace further; although resisting the urge to break into a run for fear of showing this invisible force, how fearful he was.

He continued a little further and for the third time, it pulled him backwards, throwing him into the snow and sending his gun and hat flying into the snow. 

By this time he was done with any notion of fighting and picked up his hat and gun and broke into a sprint.

Still very shaken and out of breath, he staggered to his aunt’s house in the nearby village of Burton, where he was told that he was `white as sheet', and as though he had `seen a ghost!'  Steve didn't drink alcohol but his aunt made him sit down and drink a glass of brandy, in hope it would calm his nerves.  I remember her telling me that she had never seen him in such a state, with his hands shaking as he held the glass.

On the anniversary of the attack, for many years, Steve went back to the spot; taking a dog once; knowing that animals are sensitive to these things, but there was nothing but the tranquility and  peace of a beautiful place.

What could it have been?  A poltergiest? A demon?  An alien?  an inter-dimensional being? Why was it so aggressive to Steve?  Was it a precursor; a warning of the terrible events to come in the Nypro disaster?  Was it good?  Or was it evil?  Plenty would have an opinion on it but without further evidence or hard science, we will never know.

Flixborough does have quite a history though.  Mentioned in the Domesday book as `Flichesburg' the parish was home to the discovery of an Anglo Saxon settlement by archaelogists during the late 80's and early 90's.  These ancient places are frequently mentioned in folklore and in modern day accounts of paranormal events.

For those interested in more details about the Nypro Disaster, I can recommend no better place to visit and pay respect than the The Glebe Blog.  This is first-hand accounts of being amongst the horror of that terrible day.

Matt Cage & Denham Crow - June 2013

All works copyright of Matt Cage & Denham Crow 2013, with exception of certain photos which are attributed to owners, below. (If it works right!  Apologies if not.)

Many thanks to Youtube uploaders:-

Apollo 11 Moon Landing 1969 - beanz2u
Pogle's Wood - macbabb

The Importance Of Being Earnestly Sceptical

By Denham Crow

Before I begin my little talk on why I believe that any one who is interested in elements of the paranormal should also be a sceptic, I want to clear up a few misconceptions which some people have with the word `sceptic'.

Definition of sceptic according to Oxford English Dictionary:-

• a person inclined to question or doubt accepted opinions.

Some people think that a sceptic automatically dismisses anything outside the realms of known science.  Whilst there may be sceptics who do work in this fashion, a good sceptic does not dismiss an idea or suggestion without further thought or investigation.

Here at LightOfSirus, we believe that it is very important to investigate all claims of phenomena, as thoroughly as possible.  Simply put, we believe that energy is wasted on believing in something which may not be real.

Although there are some things which cannot be proven or disproved such as the existence of God.  We'll leave that subject for now, suffice it to say that many scientists are seriously considering the theory of Intelligent Design.

So how do you work out what is fact and what is fiction - at least in the media?

You cannot blame a nation for its naivety during a time when the radio or newspapers were the only source of information available.  If such a thing happened today, we would waste no time in turning on the TV or radio, logging into Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc. and would soon, with a little common sense, be able to work out whether it was real or not.

But even then, it's not easy..

The Camera Never Lies

Oh but it does!  Just the other year, using Photoshop, I created a photo of my brother holding a world record fish.  I had superimposed his head to replace the original fisherman's head.  My brother had the picture on the wall of his office and it fooled most people.

Similarly, I created this photo of a ghost in five minutes using an app for my phone:-

And yet still, I see newspaper reports on ghosts and suchlike, where if the journalist had researched the claims in more detail, online, someone will have given the game away somewhere, and they would have seen that the photo had been created with an app or in graphic manipulation programs such as Photoshop.

We are in search of the real but we are hindered by the proliferation of fakes, which only serves to muddy the waters.  On the other hand, we cannot hate the fakes.  After all, they often bring us relief from worrying current affairs.

`See - it's not all bad'.

Or `It probably won't happen - honest!'

Or `In every lifetime a little rain must fall'

Other weather related cliches are available.

I'll blog again one day soon when it's raining.

Peace & Light

Day Dee

(These views are mine and not necessarily shared by all at LOS).