M.J. Rose

It was England’s biggest peacetime witch trial: The Trial of The Lancashire Witches. And it was brutal…

Does it have relevance today?

Illustration from James Crossley’s introduction to Pott’s Discovery of witches in the County of Lancaster (1845) reprinted from the original edition of 1613.

The Ascent of the Blessed, detail from a panel of an alterpiece of the Last Judgement.

A few years ago, we focused on reincarnation related content here, so for old time’s sake let’s revisit that theme. The personal account below was written by blog editor Emily, and below that is an introduction to an interesting article about near-death experiences. Enjoy…

The tunnel and angel image above was on the cover of a book in my mother’s bookshelf when I was a child. I was fascinated by the imagery, not because we were religious and believed in angels, we were not and did not, but because I had what I thought was an out of body experience at the age 12, and my own experience eerily mirrored this painted scene.

While the imagery was not an exact match, the tunnel was there, the enticing light, and the human-like beings paired with their angelic guides. In my memory of the experience, I felt an almost overpowering sense of togetherness and belonging – this is a feeling that is commonly reported by people who have had similar bizarre “dreams”- although I was completely alone. I had no guide. It was just me, or rather, a bodiless version me, floating near the lip of an otherworldly tunnel until I was suddenly joined by two beings – the tall one made entirely of light, and the other, a vibrant and almost beaming version of our family friend David, who had very recently passed away. I was so incredibly happy to be with them and I could imagine staying there forever.

But I was just a visitor. That was made clear by the fact that I was peering in at them as if from the edge of a well, and I was not allowed to dive in.

I spent just a few moments at the edge of infinite light and love, and was utterly packed with euphoria, despite the overwhelming fearsome panic that a person would be smacked with after being inexplicably hurled through space. Where I had been was no purgatory of dark nothingness, in fact, it was so much muchness that mere worldly life seemed a bit like a shoddy miniature at a theme park in comparison. As a result, the experience has a vivid permanence for me, even nearly thirty years later, like a sort of hot brand in my mind, and I have been fascinated with OBEs and near death experiences ever since.

I have no explanation for what happened to me (was it a dream? A loss of oxygen to the brain in my sleep?…) nor have I been able to completely interpret the very matter-of-fact message that was communicated to me by our friend David and his tall being of light: “Be thankful for your head and your lungs,” they said to me, in unison, as if by telepathy.

I am still trying to figure that one out…

But I digress…

Is this proof near-death experiences ARE real? Extraordinary new book by intensive care nurse reveals dramatic evidence she says should banish our fear of dying

By Penny Sartori

“As a nurse, I’m always cheered when I see a patient who appears to be making a good recovery. That certainly seemed the case with 60-year-old Tom Kennard, who’d been suffering from sepsis after surgery for cancer.

After a couple weeks in the intensive care ward, he was well enough to be moved from his hospital bed to a chair. Moments later, however, he suddenly slumped into unconsciousness.

There was no doubt at all that he was out cold. He responded neither to my urgent questions nor to the painful pressure of my Biro on his fingernails. 

Worse still, his skin became clammy, his oxygen levels dropped and his blood pressure plummeted — clear signs that his condition had become critical.

As I quickly gave him extra oxygen, I called out to the other nurses in the intensive care unit. Four of them immediately flocked to Tom’s bedside, and we gently helped return him to his bed as we called for a doctor urgently.

He was still unresponsive when the doctor arrived, followed a few minutes later by a consultant.

Indeed, Tom didn’t regain full consciousness for another three hours.

Yet, during those three lost hours, he had apparently gone on a life-changing journey…”

Read the rest here at the DailyMail.

Seeing old photographs of these long lost theme nightclubs make us so very happy. Those were the days…

The awesomely insane Heaven and Hell nightclubs of 1890s Paris

(http://io9.com)

“In modern times, you can find a stray cabaret or goth club in most modern metropolitan areas. But back in the late 19th century, your options were limited, albeit merrily deranged.

Paris of the 1890s had several supernatural nightlife options, each of them with marvelously outlandish gimmicks. In the 1899 book Bohemian Paris of To-Day by William Chambers Morrow and Édouard Cucuel, the authors visit several of the City of Lights darker drinking destinations, such as the Cabaret du Néant (“The Cabaret of Nothingness”) in the neighborhood of Montmartre.

At this gothic nightspot, visitors pondered their own mortality as they drank on coffins and were served libations (named after diseases) by monks and funeral attendees. Recalls Morrow:

Large, heavy, wooden coffins, resting on biers, were ranged about the room in an order suggesting the recent happening of a frightful catastrophe. The walls were decorated with skulls and bones, skeletons in grotesque attitudes, battle-pictures, and guillotines in action. Death, carnage, assassination were the dominant note, set in black hangings and illuminated with mottoes on death […] Bishop said that he would be pleased with a lowly bock. Mr. Thompkins chose cherries a l’eau-de-vie, and I, une menthe…”

For the rest, and many wonderful photographs, click here.