Theory now discussed in the Fortean Times Paranormal Handbook

I was in Borders Bookshop this lunchtime and something suggested that I look round the magazines. I was on my way out of the shop and I had absolutely no reason to go over to this section, but I found myself walking towards the rows and rows of magazines. I was quite frustrated because in Speke they have moved all the sections and I had no idea what I was looking for. However as my eyes scanned the rows of magazines they alighted on a new booklet entitled The Fortean Times Paranormal Handbook. I just had this feeling (Daemonic?) that this was of importance. I casually picked it up and noticed that it had a chapter on "Life After Death". I turned to this section simply to see what I could learn from this. I noted that this section was written by Bob Rickard, the "Founding Editor" of FT and the guy who reviewed Daemon in the April edition.

I scanned through it and towards the end Bob was discussing the suggestion by physicist Ron Pearson that consciousness itself is a sub-quantum phenomenon. I then glanced at the final paragraph of the article, the summing-up section and I nearly jumped out of my skin. Bob had writtten the following:

Many of these exciting new notions are summarised by Anthony Peake, to which he has annexed an extraordinary and equally promising discussion of the evidence for each of us having a dual consciousness; one he calls the Eidolon, which experiences life for the 'first' time and which locates itself in physical space; and the other he calls the Daemon, which has lived through the 'life' experience many times and which locates itself in quantum 'non-locality'. The analogy here is of a hologram, an image in which each part contains the whole. Further Peake attempts to account for much of the phenomena experienced during NDE's as imperfect recollections of encounters between the two types of consciousness. If he is correct in suggesting that the Daemon is as much rooted in the quantum world as the Eidolon is in the physical world, we may indeed be on the way to an explanation of both the nature of consciousness and its independence from the physical body - Indeed, to a new theory of death and how it may be survived!

Wow!

I am so excited about this because this is not the FT magazine which is only in the bookshops for a month .... this £7.99 "Magbook" will be in all the major newsagents - including ones at airports - for the whole Summer and maybe even longer. This could be the big breakthrough.........

Thanks Bob!

Fortean Times reviews "The Daemon"

Today was for me a re-living of the day I walked to my school to pick up my "A" level results at Wirral Grammar School for Boys. In those days they were posted on the door of the headmaster's office. As you walked towards the notice that held your future life in its bland page you could see the reaction of others; delight or despair.

This was nearly 36 years ago but I had exactly the same sense of trepidation mixed with excitement as I entered W.H. Smiths at Lime Street Station in Liverpool. I knew that today was the day that the latest edition of Fortean Times would be found on the shelves. From a distance I spotted the new copies, picked one up, and held my breath.

I knew that on the review pages would be a review of my second book, "The Daemon, A Guide to Your Extraordinary Secret Self". This would be my first ever review in a major international magazine and I was scared. Would they hate it, or even worse, give it a really small review?

I turned to page 57 and my heart almost leapt out of my chest when I saw that not only was it the first (and therefore major) book for review but the review filled the whole page and part of the next. I ran my eyes down to the crucial score - FT always mark books out of 10. They really do not pull any punches, last edition there were two books given 1. There is was - a 9 out of 10. I have never seen a 10 out of 10 review (but they must exist) so this was much higher than I expected. As I approached the shop I had decided that I would be really pleased with a 7!

The coda underneath the 9 score read "(A) fascinating exploration of the Near-Death experience."

I then paid for the copy and jumped on the train. My joy turned to elation as I read what Founding Editor, and one of my all time heroes, the great Bob Rickard had to say about my work. The review, which runs to a page and a quarter, is a wonderful synopsis of the whole ITLAD/CTF theory. Indeed it is probably the best precis that has been written. But what was even better that Bob genuinely seemed to like what I had written. Like you guys here on the Blog (and on the FORUM) Bob was using the itladian terminology that we know and love. "Bohmian IMAX" got a mention. He had even managed to mention the itladian movies "Groundhog Day", "It's A Wonderful Life", "Vanilla Sky" and "Jacob's Ladder".

I sat back into my train seat with a smug smile on my face that must have looked very peculiar to my fellow commuters!

I would like to both thank and congratulate Bob Rickard for an excellent description of my work, a description that is bound to attract many more readers.

In the final section of the review Bob writes the following:

Despite the subtitle 'A guide to your extraordinary secret self', The Daemon is not a self-help book, at least not in the usual meaning of that term. It is something far more exciting; an intelligent and and imaginative thesis, a tentative step towards understanding what happens to us at the moment of death. In doing so, Peake seems to be shining a light on our equally mysterious inner life.

Copies of this magazine (number 248) appeared in the newsagents and bookshops this morning (3rd April). In the UK this is stocked by all the major multiples such as W H Smith, Borders, Martins etc as well as most medium and large newsagents. It is also available internationally via the large multiples. The UK cost is £4.25 and the review appears on page 57.

I would like to thank Bob for a great review and allowing me to re-experience the day of my "A" level results ..... even to the better than my wildest dreams outcome of both!!!

Aleister Crowley

One of the most frustrating things that has occured subsequent to the publication of ITLAD has been how it has been pointedly and deliberately ignored by the UK magazine Fortean Times. I have read this magazine religiously since the late 1970's. I can reasonably argue that I am one of its longest and most faithful readers. Indeed having read Charles Fort's The Book of the Damned in 1969 I am a long-time Fortean.

When ITLAD was published in July 2006 I was sure that if no other magazine reviewed it at least my favourite one would - after all my book contains cover to cover Fortean material, all of which have been regularly featered in FT over the years. A copy was sent and my publishers heard nothing. I phoned the Review Editor and spoke to her personally. In no uncertain terms she told me that they were not interested and that they had "done Near-Death Experience to death". I tried to explain that my book was much more than a re-hash of NDE material. She again reitterated that she was not interested. My publicity guy has spoken to them recently and sent another copy. Still no interest. All very sad. And like a faithful puppy-dog I still buy the magazine every month and still enjoy it!

Apologies for the above tirade - needed to get it off my chest - but there is a link with Fortean Times with regard to this posting. In this month's edition they have a series of articles 'celebrating' the 60th anniversary of the death of the notorious Aleister Crowley. I have not fully read the articles but this stimulated me to look him up in my copy of Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained. I have been aware of Crowley and his work for around forty years but I have never gone into any detail. Imagine my surprise therefore to discover that he would have been in total agreement with regard to my Daemon-Eidolon Dyad. In 1904 his mistress, Rose Kelly, claimed to have received astral communications from the Egyptian god Horus. Crowley subsequently performed a magical ceremony and 'the god' spoke to him. This voice identified itself as a being called Aiwass. Aiwass spoke for three consecutive days and dictated Crowley's The Book of the Law. As things developed Crowley became convinced that this being was no other than his own 'higher self' communicating with him - in our terminology his Daemon.

In my next book - due out in June '08 I will be discussing the evidence for the Daemon-Eidolon Dyad. I am frustrated in some ways that I was unaware of this Crowley link. However this allows me to look into this event in more detail and maybe write an article about it.