Llewellyn Publications's Blog, page 92

Pluto began its retrograde motion in Capricorn on Friday, April 12, and will continue “backwards” until September 20. Just like any other retrograde planet (including that trickster Mercury), periods of retrograde are periods of “re:” renewing, reflecting, restarting, etc. Instead of being viewed negatively, these retrograde periods are a positive time to slow down (especially now as Pluto begins its retrograde motion) and possibly make some necessary changes.

Pluto, ruler of Scorpio and the eighth house, symbolizes renewal, reincarnation, and the deepest parts of our selves, so now is the time to reflect on any sources of frustration in your life caused by these things (or a lack of). Are we not facing our inner selves, and confrontation of the past or of certain habits needed for a fresh start? Now is not the time to start new projects but rather to finish up any Pluto-related goals or business left unattended. Pluto in Capricorn also provides us a time to set goals related to ambition and career; perhaps these goals themselves are what need to be re-evaluated (again with the “re”).

In her book Cosmic Karma, author and astrologer Marguerite Manning offers the following explanation of Pluto in our charts:

While Pluto demands that we get the life-changing makeover we promised [the universe] to get, it also insists that the only real path to our transformation, and everybody else’s is complete and absolute destruction. That’s why we we’re getting all the power to begin with. According to the Pluto principle, we can’t really create anything new without first eliminating the old. In fact, it’s that very principle that makes natal Pluto more than just our astrological authorization to life-changing power. It’s our promise to the universe that, one way or another, we will create a powerful new us…

Pay attention to what house in your chart Pluto stations retrograde in, as that is where you will be most impacted (depending on the house, the focus of your re-assessments could be money, relationships, career, etc.). Use this time to gain insight and grow, making plans for the changes you will make when Pluto goes direct in September.

In 2001, Rachel Pollack published a spread in the Llewellyn Tarot calendar. I fell in love with it immediately and have loved it for over 10 years now.

It is a unique spread that uses all the Major Arcana cards. It gives you an overview of your spiritual journey and provides so much insight.

Although the Tarot calendar is now out of print, luckily Rachel also wrote an article about it for the Llewellyn Journal (which has tons of great articles, so if you haven’t yet, do go explore). Here is the link:

http://www.llewellyn.com/journal/article/2009

 

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Tess Dawson, author of The Horned Altar.

The primal nature of ancient divination texts 3,200 years old often strikes a modern reader with distress. In our sanitized environment we see rare but normal events as gory. Revolted, we turn a blind eye. Ancient people could not look away; deformed animal births heralded omens. We can learn still today from ancient wisdom, if we are willing to take a deep breath and examine nature’s horrors.

In 1928, archaeologists rediscovered Ugarit, a Canaanite city nestled near the turquoise Mediterranean in what today is Syria. Archaeologists uncovered about 2,000 tablets here. Ancient scribes wrote them in cuneiform, a system of writing where a scribe presses a wedge-shaped reed against moist clay.

Scholars have translated half of the tablets, and in those tablets we find stories of Canaanite deities, ritual “Cliff’s Notes,” holidays and civil celebrations, and rites of magic. The most complete and least scarred divinatory texts detail omens of malformed animal births. The city of Ugarit relied on livestock raised in small pockets of the city as well as in the outskirts and incorporated villages. As such, people found themselves closer to their food sources than we usually allow ourselves today.

We only hear about malformed animal births on television or in limited places where we encounter animals. Zoos and farms don’t publicize these events; if the general public finds itself dismayed by animal dung, it finds itself traumatized with these rare occurrences. However, in ancient times, these events made the headlines. Priests from city temples would examine the animal and, relying on a cause-and-effect system codified and preserved on the tablets, they would make predictions. The rarity of the event heightens its importance; an omen would affect the whole kingdom. These portents include famine, uprising, divisiveness, absolutism, divine disfavor, victory or defeat, and the wellbeing of livestock and crops.

We have options for practicing this divination: observing a malformed animal on television, at a farm or zoo, or even in seeing a specimen at a museum or an antique shop. Where you see the animal and from where it originated gives indicators to whom the omen applies. Alternatively, a modern charash, a practitioner of Canaanite magic, will create a system of cards for this oracle, and use them only in dire need.

Some ancient portents:

A fetus with the shape, texture, or heft of stone means that many people will die.
A fetus with the shape, texture, or heft of wood signifies the death of livestock.
An animal lacking nostrils indicates famine.
An animal without a spleen foretells of childless leader.
A male animal without testicles predicts crop failure.
An animal lacking its right ear warns of being conquered.
An animal lacking its left ear heralds victory over enemies.
An animal with two tongues signals divisiveness.

This uncomfortable method of divination gives a gritty reminder of the dangers faced often in the ancient world, and it reminds us of nature’s realities, of survival, community, life, and death in our world today.

Our thanks to Tess for her guest post! For more from Tess Dawson, read her article “Perfumed Dawn: Canaanite Magic Experiences a Revival.”

It was decades ago when I moved into one of the rooms of a two-bedroom apartment with Scott Cunningham (for more about what I learned about Scott over the following years, see my eBook, The Magical Life of Scott Cunningham, available through the Kindle Store [LINK], Kobo [LINK], Nook Bookstore [LINK], Sony [LINK], and iTunes [through the store in iTunes]). One night, Scott was out with some friends. I was at home, reading, when I heard pounding at the door. I went to the door and opened it. It was a friend of mine, a highly intuitive woman I’ll call Linda (and no, that’s not her real name). It was clear she was in a panic.

She threw her arms around me, begging for help. Linda was one of the most self-controlled persons I had ever met, and this was a total break from her normal personality. Something had obviously terribly upset her. She wanted to know if this apartment was magickally protected. I assured her that it was—both Scott and I regularly performed protection spells. That seemed to allow her to relax and I had her sit in a large chair while I made some tea. She wasn’t whimpering, but she was clearly fearful and crying. After she had calmed a bit I asked her what was going on. She told me she was under psychic attack.

Rule 1:

Assume Non-Magickal Causes

to Perceived Magickal Events

Many times, people look for supernatural causes to quite ordinary events. Losing one’s job, for example, doesn’t mean there is an evil magician out to get you. Becoming ill doesn’t mean there is a curse on you. Therefore, rather than jump to conclusions that you are under some sort of psychic attack, assume rather that spiritual phenomena, although a possibility, are the least likely of possible causes of something happening. This doesn’t mean you should not perform regular protective spells. In fact, having protections in place is a reason why it is safe to make such assumptions.

I asked Linda what happened and why she thought she was under a magickal attack. She told me she had broken up with a lover who was a magician and that he had sent a demon or something evil after her. I told her, again, that we were protected here, and asked why she thought she was under attack. Usually when I ask this question I’m informed of the results of such an assumed attack, results that could have been caused by a wide variety of things. That’s why Rule 1 is so important. If something normal is at the root of what a person thinks is a psychic or magickal attack, the best solution may be far more common than using magick. If a person thinks they’re under attack because they have come down with a terrible headache, they may need to see a doctor before getting magickal aid.

To my surprise, Linda didn’t share some result. Rather, she stated that there was an ugly demon that kept coming after her. She saw it everywhere.

Drugs such as alcohol and large amounts of marijuana have the quality of being hallucinogenic: they can induce the mind into making up things from nothing. Other drugs, such as LSD, have the quality of being psychedelic: they cause the mind to mutate things that are already there. Thus, a door knob might appear to turn into something else. I needed to know if this was potentially a psychedelic or hallucinogenic experience. I asked Linda if she had ever seen it before, and if so, where. She told me she had never seen anything like it, not even in her wildest dreams. This eliminated it from being a psychedelic experience. So I asked her where she did see it. She told me it had followed her from her work to her home. This was highly unusual. Hallucinations don’t usually follow a person from one location to another. I was starting to believe that this actually was a magickal attack.

Rule 2:

Magickal Attacks Are Rare,

But that Doesn’t Mean you Shouldn’t Prepare

In spite of the fears that some people try to spread about psychic or magickal attacks, the truth is, they are very rare. The reason for this is simple: they take a lot of work! Not only does the magician need to have a lot of information and training, he or she has to be able to actually perform the ritual or spell and be effective at it. Mumbling badly pronounced Latin or Hebrew while waving your wand in the air isn’t going to bother anyone, especially of the focus of an attack regularly performs defensive and protective rituals.

However, merely because it’s unlikely that something couldn’t happen doesn’t mean it won’t happen. As a result, I decided to reset my banishings. I had Linda sit in the center of the room while I banished using the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram and the Banishing Ritual of the Hexagram. I felt sure that this would be more than enough to stop any focused attack toward Linda.

In my experience, most non-physical attacks are not caused by people who consciously do rituals or spells or recite curses. Rather, they’re simply exteriorizations of the angry energy of someone who feels they have been hurt or wronged. This type of very uncontrolled attack is rare, but far more common than a well thought out magickal attack or spell. That doesn’t mean they’re necessarily ineffective.

The performance of the rituals, combined with the tea, helped Linda calm down. We spent some time talking, and she returned to her usual outgoing personality. It was then that I noticed it. Something was…wrong.

While the regular performance of protective rituals and even just basic magick does have positive results outside of yourself, it can also change you, increasing your sensitivity to very subtle energies. The first thing I noticed was the silence. Yes, there were cars going by, but the typical chatter of birds and the buzz of bugs that most people would have filtered out of their awareness, was gone. I didn’t say anything to Linda as I wanted to keep her calm. Suddenly, I felt the hairs on my arms raise. Something was here, and it was inside the banished circle!

Rule 3:

Don’t Get Cocky, Kid!

Although the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP) was originally formulated in the late 1800s, and has since become a standard banishing ritual, its sources go back to much earlier times. Many people think it’s really all you need in a way of banishing. That’s like saying all one needs is shoelaces to be completely dressed! One of the problems with it is that to the best of my knowledge, until my Modern Magick, the description was somewhat incomplete. People often see it as a circle of protection, floating around you at about waist height. You literally make a circle around yourself during performance of this ritual. That’s the way I viewed it back then. What a mistake!

Since that time I’ve always taught that you visualize the circle expanding above and below, forming a gigantic sphere that completely encases you. I didn’t understand this back then.

I allowed my senses to expand. I felt a presence had already entered the room and was behind us! I spun to look at the area where I felt it. I focused my attention on it and saw it.

The attacker was only about two feet in height. It could easily have walked under the circle I had created. I still remember its appearance. It was a large, colorful sphere, but all over the sphere were spikes that were sharp and oozing poison. A lipless maw split it from side to side, opening to reveal razor sharp teeth dripping some sort of fluid. At either side were muscular legs, like the hind legs of a long-haired dog, ready to leap and attack its prey. I had no doubt this thing was meant to do harm, and my cockiness had allowed it in!

Rule 4:

Don’t Waste Your Time Doing Rituals

When Something Simpler Will Do

I had Linda stand behind me, with me in between her and it. No, this was not some sort of cowboy macho scene. I wasn’t worried about my safety because the thing was after her, not me. My being between the two made it more difficult for the thing to attack Linda.

We walked backwards to the door, and Linda opened it. Then we walked back to a side of the room. Linda stayed behind me. She said she could sense the thing but couldn’t see it. I performed what might be the simplest type of magick ever. I said in a commanding voice, “Get out!” The thing made a sort of hissing sound. I repeated my order for it to leave. It slowly started to move in the direction of the door. I kept Linda and myself at the opposite side of the room from her attacker. Every time it slowed its exit I repeated the command, sometimes adding divine names from the LBRP. When I did, it would hiss some more.

Eventually it left the room. I shut the door and repeated the LBRP, only this time I allowed the circle to expand above and below to form a full sphere of protection.

Linda stayed a few more hours. We talked. I explained what I did. She became totally calm and her self-assurance returned. When Scott came home he said hello and went to his bedroom. I went to the front door. Birds made occasional chirps and insects buzzed. The thing was gone. Linda was able to go home.

The next day, as I had instructed her, she called her ex and had a long talk with him. It released his anger and rage, the parts of him that gave energy to the thing.

It never bothered her again.

Whether you read professionally or not, you will probably find yourself at some point facing ethically challenging situations. One way to minimize troublesome on-the-spot moments is to determine your ethical guidelines ahead of time. This is helpful, but no matter how thorough and careful you are, you might find someone at your table asking something you never even thought of.

Ethical considerations are shaped by your philosophy about the cards, the purpose of readings, and your role as a reader.

 

Type of Advice

Some readers will never give medical, legal, or financial advice because they are not doctors, lawyers, or financial advisors. Most readers, although not all, would agree that these are good boundaries. But beyond that, each reader must determine how far those boundaries go.

What if a querent has three different medical opinions (or investment strategies) from three different medical practitioners (or financial advisors) and wants to know which one is the best for them?

What if a single doctor gives the querent two very different solutions to a health problem and leaves it to the querent to decide which one. Would that be outside the ethical bounds of a reading?

Some readers will not read about a situation regarding someone else who is not present. For example, a querent wants to know if her spouse is cheating.

Less clear is if the querent wants to know what to do to help a friend or support her daughter or improve communication with her boyfriend. These are less directly about the other person, but still do touch on their lives.

 

Confidentiality

Many readers say that their readings are absolutely confidential. Before deciding that is your boundary, make sure you consider:

What if the querent is a danger to themselves (is asking about self-destructive behavior or suicide)?

What if the querent is inquiring about something illegal or has confessed to a crime?

What if the querent is a danger to others?

 

Telling All

Where is your boundary in terms of telling a querent what you see? Do you tell them everything you see whatever it is? Are there some things you won’t tell no matter what?

Death is an extreme example, but let’s say you do think that the cards can predict death. If you see it, do you say it? What if you don’t usually think the cards can predict death, but you just know that’s what’s on the table in front of you?

What if someone asks about their children, and you see illness or some sort of accident?

What if someone asks about the 65 applications they’ve sent out while in their 12th month of unemployment and there is no positive outcome?

 

Minors

 

Will you read for people under a certain age? What age?

Will you read for people under a certain age if their parents give permission?

Will you read for people under a certain age if their parents are present? If so, are there things you wouldn’t reveal or say in order to protect the minor’s privacy?

 

Ethical boundaries are important but rarely the black and white lines we would wish them to be. Knowing what you believe to be right in these areas will make a good foundation. Time and experience will help you build those complex boundaries. But life being what it is and people being what they are, you should probably plan on a lifetime of learning about the complicated questions of your own personal code of tarot ethics.

Sleep. Is it your friend or your enemy?

I know I’m far from the only one who suffers from the occasional monster of insomnia and I’ve been seeing more and more articles on the importance of sleep lately. Mehdi René’s 6 Tips for Waking Up Early and Getting Sh*t Done reminded me of something I already felt in my body…going to sleep and waking up late was not helping me. But aha! There are ways to nudge a messy sleep habit in the right direction and thanks to René I’m on my way. The 30 Day Sleep Challenge by Katja also reminded me not only how important sleep is (more important than food? Yes!), but also how I can positively influence the quality of my sleep, which mirrors the quality of my health.

A litte over a year ago I was on a terrible run of insomnia that haunted me throughout that winter. It was the first time the beast was a consistent visitor and I was absolutely miserable. I finally found relief in the spring, but unfortunately if you’re reading this and looking for the magic pill I don’t have any one single solution that did the trick for me. It was actually a combo of factors that came together as a supportive solution. I think that’s the ultimate trick; instead of looking for the single generic pill, find your combo team for a personalized slumber remedy. So what was mine?

Melatonin: My doctor recommended I take this supplement, which is a hormone that helps regulate sleep cycles. Once I was “back to normal” I stopped taking this, but when I swing into a bad state I know it’s in my cabinet, ready to back me up.
Valerian Root: I started taking a sleepytime tea on occasion as well, but this would relax me so deeply that I sometimes was left feeling groggy for a while the next morning, so it wasn’t a consistent practice.
Yoga: Practicing in the evening would help to deeply relax my muscles and calm my mind (racing thoughts be gone!).
Sun Lamp: This is a special lamp that I purchased from a medical equipment resource. By sitting in front of it for a certain amount of time every day I benefited from the light therapy during the darkest days of the year. While this helped my mood, I felt like it also helped my sleep.
Essential Oils: I applied a calming blend of essential oils every night. My blend contained tangerine, orange, ylang ylang, patchouli, and blue tansy. Uplifting and calming at the same time. Plus I smelled totally awesome!
Cutting out light: I bought blackout curtains. I covered my alarm clock and any other seeping light. This helps so much.
Eliminate night-time distraction: We fostered our cat out to someone while we started the process of moving. It might sound unrelated , but when you have a cat walking all over you at night or banging on a closed door after you’ve thrown her out for waking you up in the first place, you might understand! But maybe it’s not only pets. I also fixed the settings on my phone so I wouldn’t get text or other noticed while I slumbered.
Get on a regular sleep schedule: When I do this my sleep improves. When I don’t I feel ill. I’ll admit I’m on the backswing for this right now, but I’m determined to set it right again.

I can’t say I fully understand how each of the above elements has worked for me or what it does exactly, but that’s true of a lot of things! Sometimes you can just “feel” that there’s a positive effect happening. Trust that and continue on.

My next goal is meditation. And I mean consistent meditation. I tend to have racing thoughts and I find it entertaining to follow them wherever they go. Admitting is the first step! Yes, I let it happen and sometimes even encourage it. I think this is why I haven’t yet succeeded at a meditation practice. I like my drunken monkey too much. He’s fun to watch! But I know it’s not helpful and by the time it becomes a problem, it’s already habit and is near impossible to break. So whether I’m traditionally sitting in lotus on a pillow and chanting OM, following my breathe and coming in tune with my body, watching a candle flame for single minded focus, or taking a daily walk for a moment of spiritual contemplation, it will be a break from the frazzle I knot myself into day by day. I can do that much for myself! I’m sure I can. What about you?

I love books. My house is more like a library with a bedroom than a home with books. So I read lots of books. And the truth is, some of them are not very good. Okay, some of them are really bad. Some of them have me thinking, “Well, that’s several hours I’ll never have back again!”

But when it comes to non-fiction books, there’s an added dimension to this. Even if you think a book is not good, reading it and correcting errors in your mind proves you know more than the author. To my way of thinking that’s a great thing. Every book you read either adds to the knowledge you possess or proves you have a great deal of knowledge already. So in reality, when it comes to occult and magick books, none of them are ever “bad.” They all teach you something new or reveal what you already know.

However, it is rare for a book to be 100% fantastic all the way through or 100% terrible. Let me give you a couple of examples.

I have a book that makes the amazingly bizarre claim that Tantra, a spiritual system that developed in ancient India, is actually from inhabitants of a distant star. This is not only factually false, it’s also insulting. It assumes that we poor humans are morons incapable of developing a magnificent spiritual system on our own. Stupidest. Concept. Ever. However, there are some exercises in the book that are really good. I consider them a treasure I found hidden in a pile of garbage.

I remember reading another book on spirituality. One of the problems I have with some books of this type is that they use all sorts of terms without defining them. As a result, the books are meaningless tripe that seem to have good messages but ultimately say nothing. In the middle of this book, however, there was a technique for a group meditation that was specific and quite good. It focused on how to develop and direct group energies. I consider it aAnother treasure found within a pile of garbage.

Treasure Within Other People’s Treasures

Just because something is “not my cup of tea” doesn’t mean it’s bad; it just means it’s not for me. Some people prefer one author or another. That doesn’t mean one author is bad and another good, it just means that people have preferences.

This morning, I started looking at the combination Tarot deck and book set, The Celtic Dragon Tarot Kit.

 

The art, by famed fantasy artist Lisa Hunt, is etherial and dreamy. It shows passion and insight with several nice little twists such as the magician being a woman. This would be a perfect deck for lovers of Game of Thrones. The King of Wands, for example, has a small dragon perched on the king’s hand as if it were a falcon. It reminds me of scenes of Daenerys and her dragons.

So lots of people love and use this deck regularly. It’s clever, beautiful, perfect for fans of Game of Thrones or for anyone who likes dragons.

But I’m not a dragon guy.

I don’t have anything against dragons. They’re just not for me. I wouldn’t regularly use this deck—not because it is in any way “incorrect” or “bad,” but simply because it’s not my style. If you have any interest in dragons this could be your cup of tea. It’s just not mine.

So why do I have this deck and keep it around? Because there are treasures that I like that can be found within the treasures someone else likes. In this case my treasures are found within the book that comes in the kit, A Guide to the Celtic Dragon Tarot by D. J. Conway with illustrations by Lisa Hunt. Naturally, the book includes information on the symbolism of each card and their divinatory meanings. Personally, I think it’s great having a full book accompany a deck as it can go into far more detail than the (in)famous “Little White Booklet” that is normally all you get with many decks.

For me, however, the treasure is to be found in chapters five and six.

Chapter Five provides four Tarot spreads. The first is an expansion on the famous Celtic Cross spread. It shows how to add extra cards to this reading to obtain added specifics. There is also a fascinating technique for determining how the effects of past lives is affecting you now. This spread doesn’t reveal how to deal with those issues, it merely reveals them. If the cards told you what to do it would be disempowering. By giving you more information and letting you come to your own solution it is empowering. As Conway writes, “This layout requires much introspection.” Indeed it does, and it can be quite fruitful.

My favorite is the fourth spread. It’s called “Path to a Goal.” For me, it’s related to flying a plane.

The Problem with Flying a Plane

I’ve flown to Hawaii from California to give workshops on several occasions. You may think that modern jets simply get a bearing and fly in the correct direction. But that’s not the way it works. Due to winds and other issues, planes are constantly pushed off their desired courses. It may take a while to show up, but every so often the pilot (or the computers) have to make adjustments and change course. If you don’t do that, the plane could end up in the wrong location. Even a one degree error could result in the Los Angeles to Hawaii flight ending up in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

This means that for the pilot to achieve his or her goal of landing in a specific airport in Hawaii, two things are needed. First, you need feedback. How close are you to the desired flight path? Second, you need to be able to make adjustments so you’ll end up at your goal.

There are two things that people with specific goals often fail to do. Sure, they make great plans to achieve goals, but they don’t listen to feedback and make adjustments on the way to the goal. That would be like a cross country driver thinking, “Hmmm. It’s late at night and I’m tired. The road is straight. I can shut my eyes and just keep the car going ahead…” Generally, the result of such a decision in not a positive one.

So let’s say you have a goal and are on your way to achieving it. How do you become aware of the necessary feedback so you can make adjustments to get on the right course? One way is to use this wonderful spread. It’s simple, direct, and elegant.

Chapter six includes fifteen simple magick spells using the Tarot and candles. This is an excellent addition to my section on the same subject in Tarot & Magic.

So although I don’t regularly use the Celtic Dragon Tarot deck, I know that some people will consider it a wonderful treasure. And within their treasure I found some treasures that I will and do use.

I have found treasures in products that I think are other people’s treasures, and I’ve found them in books that, well, I wouldn’t otherwise recommend for anyone. So even if someone tells you that a book is bad, I would suggest that you at least go through it. You never know what treasures you may find or where they may be hiding.

Have you found a treasure in some book that otherwise you would have ignored? Share it in the comments section.

 

 

Sasha Graham, being a true Tarot Diva, knows how to incorporate tarot into a good time.

 

If you want to bring in some beautiful and vivacious new energy into your, consider inviting over some of your friends, crack open a few tarot decks, and see what fabulous wisdom is revealed. Here are some tips from Sasha for the best Tarot Sleepover ever:

A Tarot Diva’s Guide to the Ultimate Girl’s Sleepover

http://www.llewellyn.com/journal/article/2193

To celebrate the release of his new book, Haunted Route 66, author Richard Southall jumped in the car and took a road trip along The Mother Road. Southall kicked-off the tour in Chicago, and after hitting six bookstores in six day, joined six other authors for a “Great American Road Trip” event in California, only miles from the end of Route 66.

While on the road, Southall documented the sights, scenes, and spooky stories.

CHICAGO

The trip from Pittsburgh to Chicago was uneventful but a bit overwhelming in a wonderful way. Just after checking into the hotel, we asked the front desk clerk about any Route 66 landmarks close by. We were fortunate to find that less than a quarter mile from the hotel was one of the great landmarks of the Mother Road…. Dell Rhea’s Chicken Basket. The restaurant has been in business since 1928 and was one of the greats to be found at the beginning of Route 66. In 2007, Dell Rhea’s Chicken Basket was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and has been featured on the television show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.

We called and were glad to find that the restaurant was open on Easter. The food was wonderful and the service was splendid. When I told the waitress of the reason that I was going on Route 66, she told me that there is a ghost story associated with the restaurant.

Back in the 1950s, a man by the name of Bob worked at the restaurant; he would often be found in the basement of the restaurant drinking. One Sunday night, Bob had an accident and cut himself with either a beer bottle or glass and bled to death. As there was no windows or exits from the basement, nobody could hear his cries for help in his last moments of life. Since that time, strange things happen occasionally. The waitress said that while working after the restaurant was closed, she heard a man ask for help from the basement area. She was alone with a manager, and there was nobody in the basement at the time. She added that, once, there was a small basket in the center of a table that she saw moving of its own accord for a few seconds. It was not on the edge of the table, there was no wind, and nobody was near the table.

The book signing at Barbara’s Bookstore was very successful, and many people in the audience shared their own stories. One attendee told me some of his own accounts of paranormal events in the area, and reminded me that the bookstore is close to another area that I covered in Haunted Route 66…The Country House. Finally, another attendee talked about many of the other sites in the Chicago area.

I set the alarm for 5:30 am, got my luggage packed, and headed out toward St. Louis.

 

ST. LOUIS

I left Chicago earlier than scheduled as I realized that Tuesday would be the only day that I could take in any of the sites that had made Route 66 famous. Between Chicago and St. Louis, I took a brief detour to visit the famous Gemini Giant, a twenty-five foot statue that has become an icon along Route 66.

As I have discovered so many times on this book tour, visiting a place in real life is so entirely different that simply seeing it on television or reading about it in the book. To actually be there in person was a mixed blessing—although it is world-renowned as a mecca along Route 66, I noticed that the restaurant associated with the Gemini Giant was abandoned and for sale.

As I pulled up to Left Bank Books, I noticed an authentic Celtic establishment named Llyewlyn’s Pub and Restaurant. Noticing the irony of a restaurant with so close a name as to Llewellyn Publications, I couldn’t resist having dinner there. The waiter introduced me to a manager who told me that there were indeed ghost stories associated with Llyewlyn’s Pub. She said that the building where Llyewlyn’s sits now actually housed a number of apartments in the past, and that on more than one occasion, when she or other employees went to the attic, they could hear the voice of a little girl speaking, often saying “Hello.”

After dining at Llewlyn’s, I crossed the street and entered Left Bank Books. After the signing I spoke with several individuals who told me of their own ghost stories.

Early Wednesday morning, I packed my bags and prepared to go five hours to my next destination…Oklahoma City.

 

OKLAHOMA CITY

Full Circle Books is an enormous bookstore in central Oklahoma City that caters to all literary tastes. It was a perfect place to spend an evening with the heavy rain that fell outside.

There were several people who decided to drive through the downpour to visit the bookstore that evening. Some were there as part of a discussion group that meets weekly at Full Circle Books, while others were enjoying a coffee in the small cafe or were reading next to one of the several fireplaces placed throughout the store. I was lucky enough to speak with a number of these people throughout the book signing. They were a wealth of information in regards to Oklahoma City history and some of the legends and lore that surrounded the city.

However, the biggest surprise of the evening was when I noticed a small television crew enter the bookstore in search of “the author of Haunted Route 66.” Robert Burch of OETA television introduced himself to me in front of a very warm fireplace near the book signing table. I was informed that he was putting together a story on hauntings and the paranormal for a story that was going to air in late October 2013. As he realized that he would likely not have the opportunity again, Mr. Burch wanted to interview me that evening.

Once the book signing and interview were completed, I bid my farewells to the Full Circle Bookstore and prepared to go to my next destination at Bookworks in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As I left Oklahoma City in the pre-dawn morning, I thought about the people I had met at Full Circle Books and found myself smiling as I drove through a moderate rain on the interstate.

 

ALBUQUERQUE

Arriving to Albuquerque ahead of schedule, I took the opportunity to drive by the Kimo Theater, one of the many locations featured in the book.

The people who showed up for the book signing were there for a variety of reasons. Some were there because they had their own paranormal experiences in and around Albuquerque, while others attended the signing because of their love for the Mother Road.

While speaking with the locals, I learned of a ghost story associated with the Church Street Cafe in Old Town Albuquerque. The building that eventually became the Church Street Cafe originally built in 1709 as a private residence and turned into a restaurant in the early 1990s. It is said that the ghost of a woman by the name of Sara Ruiz started to appear when the building was being renovated into a restaurant.

 

FLAGSTAFF

I was seated near the coffee shop in order to have enough space to accommodate the people who had come to peruse the bookstore and wanted to have their copy of Haunted Route 66 signed. Some of the people who had originally entered the coffee shop just for their cup of java came to the table while their order was being prepared. While the aroma of fresh coffee permeated the area, I heard people talk about their own paranormal experiences in the Flagstaff area. When I showed them different places that I had researched for the book, many of them recognized the areas as places that they had visited themselves or had heard about through word of mouth. The bookstore was literally two blocks from the Comfi Cottages, the site of one of the hauntings that I had written about in the book.

As the sun was setting on the city of Flagstaff, I went to my motel satisfied with so many people that I had met at the bookstore and looking forward to my final destination…a 500 mile drive from the Barnes and Noble in Flagstaff, Arizona to Autobooks-Aerobooks in Burbank, California.

 

CALIFORNIA

I left Flagstaff before dawn to ensure that I had enough time to get to the book signing in California. The weather turned out to be absolutely beautiful; there is nothing like driving through the desert and watching the sun rise to make you feel alive.

Upon arrival, I met with the manager, who was one of the nicest, most down-to-earth people that anybody could meet. She was very friendly and her knowledge of antique and vintage cars was second to none. After getting a feel for the store, I had an opportunity to browse down the aisles to see what kind of books that Autobooks/Aerobooks sold; it had anything and everything printed about cars. If you wanted the history of a particular make of car, or if you wanted a hard-to-find Chilton manual, this store had it.

As soon as I checked into my hotel room and changed clothes, I drove to Autobooks/Aerobooks. There, I participated in their Great American Roadtrip book signing that featured seven authors (myself included) who had written a total of nine books on The Mother Road.

While some of the customers were quite remarkable in and of themselves, I really was blown away by their knowledge and love of hard to find and impossible to forget masterpieces of machinery. When things were slowing down, I listened to several of the other authors tell of their own personal experiences of the Mother Road. Although Route 66 was constructed of the same asphalt and took the same path, the stories I heard were as unique as the people telling them. After driving Route 66 firsthand, I could now count myself as one of the people who had an opportunity to see what had made the 2,440 mile drive so spectacular. Now that I have driven it (and in six days, no less), I feel it is more important than ever to introduce others to this experience.

As the book signing was winding down, several of the authors encouraged me to drive to the Santa Monica Pier, the official end of Route 66. I contemplated my 4:30 am wake-up call in order to make my flight back home, and decided to head back to the hotel. Although I didn’t get a chance to go there this trip, it will only give me that much more of an incentive to come back one day. Perhaps, I will start at the Santa Monica Pier and work my way back to Chicago….however, that will be another story for another day. Until that time, I will be content with the memories of the people I met and the places I visited while doing the Haunted Highway tour of Main Street, USA.

The New Moon in Aries occurs tomorrow, April 10 at 5:35 am EDT (9:35 am GMT), at 21 degrees. New moons signify a new cycle, new beginnings, and rebirth.

This New Moon, along with the Sun (also in Aries) will highlight the fiery Aries qualities of enthusiasm, action, and impatience, as well as first house themes of ego, self, and first impressions. This New Moon period is the perfect time to examine how you perceive yourself and your goals. Do you feel like you need to be more proactive in setting and achieving your goals? Or perhaps not giving yourself enough time to follow through with your plans? Now is the time to find your self-confidence! This New Moon period is the perfect time to set goals related to health and personal well-being, such as goals for weight loss, smoking cessation, education and learning, etc.

Keep in mind also that Saturn is retrograde until this summer and Pluto turns retrograde on Friday, so you may find yourself being extra retrospective or reflective of where you see yourself now and how you see yourself achieving your future plans.