Today marks the 10 year Anniversary of the untimely death of Jeff Buckley. On May 29th, 1997, Buckley dove into the Wolf River, a tributary of the Mississippi River, only to surface as a beautiful ghost.

At the time of his passing, I had only heard tales of his music and live performances from friends and clients. Oddly enough, time and again I went to record stores and wound up holding his CD in my hands, studying the covers — staring into his face. Still, each time I left the store without purchasing his music.

Once, after giving a Psychic Reading to Maynard James Keenan (the vocalist for the magickal music group Tool), he told me he was going to see Jeff play at the Troubador. I wanted to go, but for some reason, didn’t — much to my lasting regret.

Buckley Virgin: On June 4, 1997 I was at a KROQ concert with Nancy Berry (the former Vice-Chairman of Virgin Records) and several of her friends. A friend of Nancy’s, a singer named Christopher Shinn, offered to give me a ride to an after party at the Chateau Marmont, which I accepted.

On the drive back, Chris told me his favorite singer was Jeff Buckley. I felt at that point the Universe was definitely conspiring to get me to buy Buckley’s CD, and made a mental note to get it immediately, after Chris continued raving about it. In the car, Chris put on Jeff’s debut album, Grace, and played the track So Real. By the end of the song I was in tears, completely blown away by the sheer beauty of not only the music, but the power and sincerity of Jeff’s mighty, angelic voice. After the song was over, Chris said, “Yeah, it’s a real shame he’s gone.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. When I asked Chris what he meant, he explained that Jeff had mysteriously “disappeared”, and no one had seen him since he went swimming on the night of May 29th, (1997). I was devastated twice that night.

The next day I went out and bought a copy of Grace, and played nothing else (except for a little Satchel and Pigeonhed) for months. His music is that good.

Getting back to my story, 6 days after I first heard Jeff’s music, his lifeless body was found, floating on the banks of the Mississippi River, near Beale Street. The music world went into a period of mourning. Anybody who was familiar with his music was absolutely devastated by the news. The legend of Jeff Buckley was born.

There is much left to my story, but I’ll post the amazing details on my Magickal Forum as soon as I can.

For those of you who don’t know Jeff’s music, please visit Official Jeff Buckley Site for more about his life, and his music.

All I can say now is, Jeff — wherever you are, thank you for the music, the beauty that you shared with all of us, stuck down here without you.

“Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!” (Shakespeare)

(- Horatio, Hamlet (V.ii.370-371).

Sometimes people ask me what it’s like to be Psychic, or how I first knew I possessed this ability. Rather than go into my whole history (which will be published in book form at some point), I thought I’d give you a little glimpse into how I pick up what I call “Psychic Signals”.

Psychic Intuition vs. Prophecy: First, it’s important to note (especially for the skeptics out there), that being Psychic rarely comes with the alleged “Nostradamian” delusions of impending doom that many have come to associate with Prophecy. I’ll leave my experiences with true Prophecy for another post.

Psychic Signals: To illustrate the most recent example of a Psychic Signal I received recently, I’ll share a story with you that happened to me recently.

Receiving a Psychic Signal: Preliminary Psychic Event – All of my Psychic Signals start with what I term a “Preliminary Psychic Event”; in this case, the PPE occurred on May 11th, 2007 when I went to listen to an in-store performance by Dntel (aka Jimmy Tamborelli, of the music group Postal Service).

As I hung out in the store, I wandered over to the Experimental Music section checking out the John Zorn section. I then moved to a section and noticed the name of an artist I’d heard of before, but had never checked out, whose name was Derek Bailey. I looked through the collection of his CD’s and mentally noted him in my mind as someone worth checking out at some future time.

Secondary Psychic Event: On May 18th, 2007 (7 days later), I went to Border’s Books at Vine and Sunset and started reading a musical biography of an old friend (a famous experimental jazz guitarist) who was murdered. While reading the book, I discovered that my deceased friend had gotten married on May 18th — the day I was reading his biography. I took another mental note.

Random Psychic Elements: Sometimes, other seemingly unrelated influences come up that seem to act as an Emotional Intensifier (to what eventually becomes what I term, The Final Psychic Signal, or Psychic Culmination Event). In this case, the Emotional Intensifier it turned out to be music.

Specifically the artist whose music I’d been listening to, almost exclusively for the last two weeks, which turned out to be the late, great Elliot Smith. As some of you may know, Elliot died as a result of two stab wounds to the chest. (The circumstances of his death have never been completely solved, and neither was the death of my other deceased friend/guitarist.)

Psychic Sifting: This takes place when my subconscious mind starts creating what I call a “Psychic Sediment”. It seems that the two (seemingly separate) Psychic Events get mixed in with what I term, “Random Psychic Elements”. Then what happens, is I become aware that my mind continuously repeats certain thoughts, much like a tape loop, which I call “The Psychic Loop”. Here’s an example of the experience of the PL.

“Electronic music (Dintel gig) … Derek Bailey (experimental guitarist) … music … experimental music … musician … guitarist … Elliot Smith … death by stabbing … knives … blood … May 18th (murder of friend) … death … electronic music … Derek Bailey …” Hopefully, you see what I mean.

Psychic Signal (Final Culmination): Saturday, May 19th, 2007, I went to a coffee shop and picked up the Los Angeles Times newspaper. I happened to look down at the bottom of the page to see news that shocked me, but shouldn’t have.

For there, at the bottom of the page I read words which punched me in the face. I read the news that another old friend had died! That friend was Rod Poole, an English experimental guitarist, whom I hadn’t seen in several years. Here are the circumstances of his untimely death: He was stabbed with a knife — murdered in cold-blood. He was killed in front of his wife, on May 13th, 2007.

Five days later, (May 18th, 2007), I received what I term The Second Psychic Event), while reading about the murder of another old friend, who also happened to be an experimental music guitarist.

As I read the entire article devoted to Rod’s untimely passing, I came upon this section of the article, which read:

” … Poole was a highly unusual guitarist, equally drawn to the distorted sound bombs of Jimi Hendrix and the spontaneous microcosmic tracings of [get this …] Derek Bailey. [Greg Burk, Author, (LA Times)” [Read the rest of the article here, or at the LA Times.]

So there you have it. A tiny glimpse into the mind of a Psychic, and how I received intuitive information that carried a great deal of detail. It’s not like I just had a “bad feeling” that something was going to happen. Every detail of the impending death of my friend was contained in the Psychic Loop! Experimental music; guitarist; death; stabbing; murder — even the date of May 18th — it was all there in the Psychic Loop that had been playing in my head for up to two weeks. This is an example of a complete Psychic Reception of what became documented in a public newspaper in less than 24 hours, after receiving the Preliminary, Secondary and additional Random Psychic Events, plus the additional elements that created the Psychic Loop, which resulted in the Psychic Culmination Event — the prophecy made reality.

Preventing Tragedy Via Psychic Signals: Now all that remains is to wonder if I could have prevented the death of my friend. That is the part that baffles most critics of Psychic Phenomena. There are those of you who would like to ask me, “If you knew about your friend’s death, why didn’t you/couldn’t you prevent it?” Good question. The answer is simple. And only God knows it.

In time, maybe Psychics will learn to piece together the information we gain and be more able to prevent tragedies from occurring. Doctors know there are diseases — and sometimes even know the traits and signs of those most likely to afflicted with an illness — yet, still there seems to be no surefire way to predict and avoid death. At such moments, I just simply accept my Psychic ability and the emotions that sometimes attend it. I am humbled by the fact that the Universe deems to show me the interconnectedness of all beings, things and states, and I am thankful for that knowledge and spiritual experience.

After reading this post, I’m sure there are some of you who will start to recognize that you have been getting Psychic Signals for a long time, without realizing it.

Psychic Signals or Synchronicity: There are others of you who may decide to term these type of occurrences as “Synchronicity”. Call it what you will, Carl Jung was a Psychic who used the Tarot and Occult Symbology in his writings. I believe that Jung’s terming of Psychic phenomena as “synchronicity” was a way of protecting his professional standing in the more respected field of Psychology, which is understandable, considering the common attitudes of society regarding anything hinting of the Supernatural.

Condolences: In any case, an old friend — a respected young musical pioneer is gone from the earthly plane of existence. I hope you will all take the time to say a prayer for the soul of Rod Poole. Listen to his music. Learn from it. Enjoy it. It is his legacy to us all.

Anniversary of the Waco Texas Tragedy: Today is the anniversary of two separate tragedies, one of which exists as a mirror image of the other — I am speaking of The Waco Texas Tragedy that occurred on April 19th, 1993, which involved The Branch Davidian Church. The church was founded by David Koresh (Vernon Wayne Howell).

Anniversary of the Oklahoma Bombing: The other tragedy which occurred on the same (April 19th) in 1995, when American soldier, Timothy McVeigh bombed the Oklahoma Federal Building, in Oklahoma City, crime for which he was later executed on June 11, 2001.

According to historic interviews with McVeigh, the bombing took place as his personal protest against what he felt to be the US Government’s involvement in the incident at Waco, Texas.

Astrological Ramifications: I find it interesting, but not surprising that so much violence tends to occur during the Astrological time period under the rulership of Aries, the sign of the Ram. Aries the (also known as Ares) is the Roman God of War, Bloodshed and Violence.

Beginning in 1993, there has been an increasingly numerous amount of massacres of innocent people in the United States, due to the personal religious and social philosophies of eccentric individuals like Koresh, McVeigh and others.

In the meantime, let us remember the innocent and the fallen who were unwitting victims in these national tragedies.

Within the last several weeks, listeners of my Psychic Podcast heard my predictions regarding the violent chaos that would present itself before April 19th, 2007 — when Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto would all be in retrograde motion. Unfortunately, my predictions have proven all too true.

Today, in respect of all the victims of the Virginia Tech Massacre, I offer this healing invocation, from Liber XV, from The Holy Books of Thelema, written by the Master Therion:

“Unto them from whose eyes the veil of life hath fallen may there be granted the accomplishment of their true Wills; whether they will absorption in the Infinite, or to be united with their chosen and preferred, or to be in contemplation, or to be at peace, or to achieve the labour and heroism of incarnation on this planet or another, or in any Star, or aught else, unto them may there be granted the accomplishment of their wills; yea, the accomplishment of their wills. AUMGN. AUMGN. AUMGN.”

May those of you who have been personally been touched by this tragedy, be comforted during your time of mourning. My thoughts are with you all.

I have done a great deal of magickal research regarding recent events, and I will be posting some important Psychic and Astrological information regarding this situation within the next several days. I look forward to hearing your personal opinions and comments on the Magickal Forum.

Today, I celebrate the birthday of my favorite poet, the late great Isidore Lucien Ducasse. The poet is more commonly known by his nomme-de-plume, Le Comte de Lautreamont. The picture accompanying this post is the only one of Ducasse known to exist. There is another photo, but it is unknown which of the two pictures is the true representation, however, my feeling is that this picture is that of Ducasse.

The Biography of Ducasse: Isidore, of French parentage, was born on April 4th, 1846 in Montevideo, Uruguay where his father was stationed at the French Consulate.

There is little known about the life of this singular poetic genius, although there does exist, a brief but concise biography.

The Death of Ducasse: Isidore died at the young age of 24, on November 24th, 1870, due to unknown causes. However, it has been suggested by an acquaintance of the poet, that he had been ill shortly before his untimely death. After death, his body was unclaimed, and was reported to have been interred in an unmarked pauper’s grave in Paris — a sad and tragic end for such a tremendously talented poet.

The Birth of Maldoror: The master work (and only complete one) written by Ducasse is the famed, Les Chants de Maldoror, which was published several years after his death. He tried in vain to get the work published during his brief life, but it was considered too blasphemous at the time.

The Literary Legacy of Ducasse: In 1927, there was a renewed interest in the writings of Ducasse, based upon fragments which were published by Surrealists, Phillipe Soupault and Andre Breton. The latter, proclaiming Ducasse as no less than the Patron Saint of Surrealism.

Today, there is continued and growing interest in the work of Ducasse by a number of artists, such as musical groups “Current 93“, “Coil“, and myriad other writers, poets and of course, Psychics such as myself.

Links of Interest: Here are some Magickal Literary Links to other sites and pages dedicated to Isidore Lucien Ducasse, one of the most original poets who ever lived. May his words anoint and startle you with their mad brilliance, as he did me, the day I was blessed to discover the genius of this poetic master. Visit my Memorial Page for the Poet, and send him a birthday message, which I’ll post on the page.

Maldoror on MySpace: The Spirit of Maldoror currently lives on MySpace, where he is regularly Channeled by the Trance Medium, Altatheria. Visit Maldoror’s Psychic Page to read his new poems as they are released from the aethyrs.