Some of you may be familiar with the name "Oliver Haddo." It's the name Aleister Crowley used (he used lots of pseudonyms) when he wrote a few items. The source of the name, however, is from a book entitled The Magician by Somerset Maugham, author of such books as Of Human Bondage, The Moon and Sixpence, and my personal favorite, The Razor's Edge. Maugham had met Crowley in Paris, and supposedly didn't like him. Yet, he modeled the antagonist of his 1908 book The Magician, Oliver Haddo, after Crowley. According Richard Kaczynski, Crowley read the book and recognized himself as Haddo. He recognized things he, himself, had said…and a lot more. Crowley wrote a review of the book using

There are laws against theft. In fact it seems as if as long as humans have formed groups, the standard has been to make theft illegal. Theft, according to my dictionary, is "the action or crime of stealing." And by posting that, I just committed a theft. What? Somewhere, an individual or group of individuals spent their time to come up with that definition. Somewhere, an editor made sure grammar and appearance were accurate. Somewhere, a typesetter entered that information. Somewhere, another editor looked over everything and gave a final "ok." Somewhere, a manager oversaw the entire project. Somewhere, a printing company took ink and paper and turned all of that information into

Have you ever noticed that there are people who want to tell you how to breathe, usually beginning by telling you that the way you are breathing is all wrong? I don't know about you, but I've been breathing all my life without their instructions, and have been very successful with it. There are many ways of breathing, and all of them have certain good and questionable qualities. So in this post I'm not going to tell you how to breathe. Instead, I'll show you some of the ways we breathe, their advantages and disadvantages, and give you the choice. Personally, I think the ideal thing is to practice all of these methods and be able to choose the one you need at any particular time. This

You may not be aware of it, but research shows that you dream every night. In fact, you have several dreams each night. However, if you’re like most people you may not easily remember them. Ease at dream recall improves with practice over time. Be patient with yourself! However, here are some tips or tricks that can help you to remember your dreams: 1) Every night, as you fall asleep, repeat silently to yourself, “I will remember my important dreams when I awake.” This "programs" your unconscious to remember your dreams. 2) If you awake during the night and recall a dream but would rather go back to sleep, take a tissue or piece of paper, ball it up, and throw it into the middle