M.J. Rose

Stephen hawking says that heaven is a fairy story – what do you think?

Noted physicist Stephen Hawking calls heaven “a fairy story”

“There is no heaven; it’s a fairy story,” says Stephen Hawking. In an interview published in the Guardian on May 15, the renowned physicist said he does not fear death and dismissed the notion that there is life after it:

“I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I’m not afraid of death, but I’m in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first. I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.”…

Continue reading on Examiner.com, here.

If you have not yet had the pleasure of tuning in to the incredible podcasts from Radiolab, I highly recommend you do. This week on Radiolab we hear the incredible story of the miraculous mechanical monk:

A Clockwork Miracle
(Radiolab)

In 1562, King Philip II needed a miracle. So he commissioned one from a highly-skilled clockmaker. In this short, a king’s deal with God leads to a creation that, to this day, remains in perfect working order at the Smithsonian…where Jad pays it a visit.

When the 17-year-old crown prince of Spain, Don Carlos, fell down a set of stairs in 1562, he threw his whole country into a state of uncertainty about the future. Especially his father, King Philip II, who despite being the most powerful man in the world, was helpless in the face of his heir’s terrible head wound…

Click here for the complete article and to listen to the podcast.

The website Occult Underground includes a biography of occultist Dion Fortune as well as several links for Fortune’s books including Psychic Self Defense, The Machinery of the Mind, and The Mystical Qabalah…

Enjoy!

(From Occult Underground) “Dion Fortune (December 6, 1890 – 1946), born Violet Mary Firth, was a British occultist and author who was born at Bryn-y-Bia in Llandudno, Wales. Her pseudonym was inspired by her family motto “Deo, non fortuna” (which translates as “God, not fate”).

She reported visions of Atlantis at age four and the developing of psychic abilities during her twentieth year. She attended courses in psychology and psychoanalysis at the University of London, and became a lay psychotherapist at the Medico-Psychological Clinic in Brunswick Square.

Her first magical mentor was the Irish occultist and Freemason Theodore Moriarty. In 1919 she was initiated into the London Temple of the Alpha et Omega before transferring to the Stella Matutina order.

She wrote a number of novels and short stories that explored various aspects of magic and mysticism, including The Demon Lover, The Winged Bull, The Goat-Foot God, and The Secrets of Dr. Taverner. This latter is a collection of short stories based on her experiences with Theodore Moriarty. Two of her novels, The Sea Priestess and Moon Magic, became influential within the religion of Wicca, especially upon Doreen Valiente…”

For Fortune’s complete biography and links to her ebooks click here.