Posted On Monday, October 17th, 2011 By Chris Walden
I’ve been watching with a mixture of thoughts and emotions as the dialogue continues about… well… everything. I’ve realized that I am a collection of contradictions that seems to me a poor fit with every camp. Since people become confused when you don’t wear the right ribbon on the right day, or say “I don’t know… I can see the other side” at the wrong time, I felt I would try to explain some of my contradictions. I hope that you will have compassion with my condition. First, I have a broad and active imagination. This means that it is possible for me to think about things that may not be fully supported by the known facts. It makes me a voracious reader of fiction and sends me on flights of fancy. This causes me to have hope when the prescription is doom. My imagination also causes me to stray from the path with just about anything. I find it very difficult to take a single point of view on many things because I can often think of circumstances that don’t apply, or questions that make it difficult for me to settle. My imagination makes me change my mind and Continue Reading
Posted On Sunday, April 10th, 2011 By Chris Walden
Yesterday I received a phone call to consult with me on the concept of astral projection. There is an investigation where it might be relevant and I was on their list of people who might know things. As it turned out, I do know some things there. I know a lot of theory of astral travel and have done some exercises, though I don’t think that I’ve really achieved much there yet. It’s on my “to do” list. Consultations like that don’t happen terribly often. It’s not something that I advertise. Usually it’s people who know me who have a particular experience or concern that they need to discuss with someone who will take them seriously; and I do. Sometimes I wonder if I’m falling further and further down the rabbit-hole, as I get closer to these things. I have friends who are tolerant, but confused by my interests, though the majority who discover that it’s not just a casual curiosity are pretty intrigued by it. However, few dare to go much deeper. But, once you know things, you can’t unknow them– at least I can’t. My world view has changed. The other day, I was out with a friend. Continue Reading
Posted On Monday, March 14th, 2011 By Chris Walden
I take a bit of heat from time to time because of my interest, and especially my experimentation with the paranormal. I’m not going to go into all that right now, but I did want to share an interesting story I found. (It was originally published in Fate Magazine in 1981.) Anyone, of any viewpoint, even one grounded in science and logic, and let the goals and what they know to be “the truth” get in the way of honest examination.
Posted On Sunday, March 13th, 2011 By Chris Walden
I got really busy after my time at the Museum of the Weird and forgot to share that with you. It was terrific meeting people and talking about the strange artifacts. Hands down, people seem to be most fascinated by the ghost stories in the Driskill and the tales of the strange events surrounding the human skeleton that is on display. Ghosts are always a favorite on The Shadow Hour, so it didn’t surprise me to see people interested here as well. The ghost fad on television — and it is a fad, that’s always the way with television — has opened a lot of people up to the idea of ghosts and made it a lot easier for people to share their own stories, ideas and curiosities. It’s no longer “silly” to talk about ghosts. Perhaps with this new openness we’ll be able to make some progress in understanding how to make use of these opportunities. I also enjoyed the chance to openly perform some of the mind experiments with open-minded people. We did some interesting tests in thought reading and I experimented with a type of psychometry — reading things from objects. I did this latter experiment deprived Continue Reading
Posted On Monday, February 28th, 2011 By Chris Walden
There has been a lot of weird. I didn’t watch the Oscars. It’s just been harder for me to care about movies for a while. In stead I pulled out an old episode of Doctor Who with Tom Baker and watched it with my daughter. Hmmmmmm… watch a show about a hero who conquers evil by using his intellect or a show about a lot of Hollywood people wearing clothes that cost more than my house and patting each other on the back… which should we watch? Tonight, and several nights this week, I’m going to be at Museum of the Weird in Austin, Texas. I love this place. Steve Busti always does a great job of helping me to get my news together for The Shadow Hour, and is just generally supportive about everything. I also give him a hand with artifacts where there is question as to whether they are safe for display. I’ll be giving people some behind-the-scenes information about the museum and leading willing participants through some thought experiments. It’s always great to work with strangers who have a genuine interest in paranormal phenomena. I get useful feedback and many things actually work better than when Continue Reading
Posted On Saturday, February 26th, 2011 By Chris Walden
The other night I went to San Antonio and performed a number of thought experiments with a group there. Everyone was great and it was a really successful evening. After something like that, even when there is a long drive back, I get pretty wired, so I went and hung out in a pub close to my home for a while. Because this is Austin, Texas, it’s pretty easy to get live music, and I was not surprised to find a band playing there that evening. It was the Lee Person Band, and they did some great covers of everything from Prince to Led Zeplin. Because this is Austin, there were other musicians in the audience and I got one of those cool things that happens where someone will step in and join the band for a little while. I didn’t catch the names of the performers — sorry about that — but it was terrific to see how they stepped in and out. An excellent guitar player stepped in during Sharp Dressed Man. They guitar switched from one to another without missing a beat and the dynamic of the new musician really changed the direction of the song. Later Continue Reading
Posted On Wednesday, December 15th, 2010 By Chris Walden
Holidays aren’t always as simple when you’re a little outside the mainstream. You see things in the season and the traditions that others don’t see. You sometimes have awkward encounters with people who misunderstand. What exactly do you do when Aunt Sally looks at you across the mashed potatoes and says “Are you still worshiping the devil, dear?” We’re going to talk about that on The Shadow Hour tonight. If you think you’re going to have to deal with that, join in and maybe call with your own stories of being a Christmas misfit. Personally, I find this time of year to be wonderful. Sure! There’s a lot of hurry and craziness as people begin the holiday panic. But there is a reason so many different traditions meet in December. There’s just something about the shorter days and longer nights, the sometimes bleak weather that cries out to remember our blessings and our fellow humans. To me it’s well summed up in Charles Dickens’ classic tale, A Christmas Carol. This story is pretty well abused as so many people try to reinterpret it and give it a different spin. I don’t think it needs much spin, though. If you look Continue Reading
Posted On Sunday, December 5th, 2010 By Chris Walden
I have really neglected my writing here, primarily while I spend some time trying to see my path clearly. For those who are curious and/or care, here is a little bit of what is going on with me. First, my paranormal program The Shadow Hour, continues. Mark Faulkner has joined me as Assistant Producer and, while he is still learning the ropes, he has already been of great benefit by helping to broaden my perspective of what we are doing. He is also immensely supportive. Doing a show like this can be a bit of a drain sometimes and it’s helpful to get a perspective from outside my own head. If you’ve never listened to The Shadow Hour, it is a straight look at people and questions of the paranormal. Recently we became a part of Fate Radio, LLC. There is still a lot of growing going on with this venture, but if you’ll hang with us I expect some interesting things. Secondly, I hope to participate in my first mystical fair in January. I have done readings and helped people explore psychic tools for a while now. This will be the first time that I actually set up a Continue Reading
Posted On Saturday, November 6th, 2010 By Chris Walden
For those who have to create historic ephemera, here are some postal marks that I’ve adapted from real documents. Enjoy! To use them, do a Save Image As in your browser. All images have been reduced for viewing, but should download at actual size. Each image has a transparent background so you can put them on anything. Clicking an image will let you view it.
Posted On Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 By Chris Walden
Recently someone asked me for some advice on a Tarot deck for her daughter who had just developed curiosity about the subject. Many people become curious about the Tarot. It is a very accessible way to connect to the unseen world for divination or even magickal purposes. I know writers who have used the amazing story-telling aspects of the Tarot to help dig them out of a situation of writer’s block. Many beginners put a lot of stock into the choice of their first deck. Quite honestly, it is like the choice of your first almost-anything. You really don’t know what you need until you have some experience with it. Therefore you should not aim for anything that is too exotic. Get cards that will let you grow accustomed to the symbols and become comfortable with reading the story that is before you. Variations on the Rider-Waite deck are probably the most widely used version of the Tarot. Originally published in 1909, these cards are the ones that are immediately recognizable to most people. If you are looking for a deck to start with, the Quick and Easy Tarot deck shows the meanings right on the cards, both standard and Continue Reading