I read widely. Always have.

I love books.

All kinds of books.

I read everything from Stephen King (a great writer) to Cormac McCarthy (a very great writer), from George RR Martin (read all the Game of Thrones books one after the other – have yet to see the tv series) to Dickens, who wrote the best book I’ve ever read – David Copperfield.

Perhaps my favourite contemporary book is Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, voted the Booker of Bookers – being the best Man Booker prize winner ever written.

The book is magnificent.

But when I decided to get serious about my spiritual development, and as part of my research into intuition, I made a decision to forego my usual reading habits and concentrate on more esoteric fare.

I don’t have time to read Donna Tartt’s Goldfinch and The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Not both of them. It’s either one or the other. They’re both weighty tomes. And I simply don’t have the time. Whilst I do try and make each moment in my day count towards something productive, I’m not superhuman.

So here is what I’m currently reading, and what I have on my Kindle to read in the near future –

• Supernormal, by Dean Radin
• Jung’s Map of the Soul, by Murray Stein
• Varieties of Religious Experience, a study in Human Nature, by William James
• The Rig Veda, translation by Ralph Griffith
• Light on The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, commentary by BKS Iyengar
• The Divine Plan, by Sri Aurobindo
• The Bhagavad Gita
• The Holy Science, by Sri Yuteswar Giri
• Unveiled Mysteries – I Am Discourses; the Saint Germain series, by Guy Ballard
• Walking the Noble Path, by Thich Naht Hahn

There’s some heavy duty reading in amongst this lot.

And a bucketload of wisdom.

The Queensland University of Technology has asked me to continue on as an Adjunct Professor in their Creative Industries faculty for a further three years.

So this week I’ll be in Brisbane, holding a master class for film students, and judging the student “pitches” for their productions next year.

I’m driving up, and last night I stayed in Goodiwindi, a small country town on the border of New South Wales and Queensland.

I love Goondi, as the locals call it. It is a quintessential Queensland bush town.

This morning before sunrise I went for a walk with a new compact camera – the Sony RX100 M3. It’s a terrific little pocket sized camera, and if I were to walk the Camino tomorrow, it would be the only camera I’d take. Small light, and terrific images.

Here are some shots I took on my walk this morning:

The second of the two books on Vedic Astrology that I’m studying is a text book – a course – for those interested in becoming practising astrologers.

It’s very technical, and very complex.

And I find it absolutely fascinating.

The book is called: The Art and Science of Vedic Astrology – The Foundation Course. Written by Richard Fish & Ryan Kurczak.

The essence of Vedic astrology comes from the ancient scriptures that underpin Hinduism – The Vedas, in particular the Rig Veda, and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali – which is the source of yogic philosophy and practise.

I’ll quote from the introductory chapters of this book, which looks at Vedic astrology in overview. Again, remember that the book is written for aspirant astrologers –

Vedic astrology is a spiritual discipline. It shares its roots with Yoga and Ayurveda. All three are sister sciences with one ultimate aim: to provide the proper structure in the physical world to allow the clarity of Self-Realization to flow freely into material creation.

Yoga provides physical and mental practices to tame the mind and the restlessness of the body. Ayurvedic lifestyle regimens harmonises the individualised mind/body constitution for optimal physical functioning. Vedic Astrology reveals the map and timing of habits and tendencies that may manifest in our life experiences. All for the purpose of elevating our awareness above the pull of the unconscious influences that can keep us bound to sorrow, grief, and repeated needless suffering. 

Vedic Astrology is best practised by a person whose awareness is clear and whose intuition is highly developed. To this end, yogic meditation and lifestyle, which facilitate clarity of awareness, is recommended. 

Mastery provides a means for greater Self-Awareness. The more one learns about the planetary movements through the heavens, and the relationship between sky and Earth, the more inclined one is to perceive that consciousness is a seamless whole.

The purpose of Vedic Astrology is to promote Self-Realization. It encourages awareness of one’s essence of being as superior to the transient phenomena with which most people identify, such as circumstance, personality and the body. 

It teaches, “Here are the trends of your life, the life experiences you sustain through behaving in the same ways repeatedly. If you keep living in the same way, here is an estimate of how your life will unfold. Now that you know the patterns, you can change them, because the patterns are not you.” 

The ultimate goal of Vedic Astrology is to reveal the manifest nature of reality, as it is, beyond hopes, dreams, or delusions. 

Okay – cut to eighteen months ago, before I walked the Camino. If someone had told me then that I would one day be writing a blog espousing the spiritual nature of Vedic Astrology, you know what I would have said to them? I would have said: “What’s a blog?”

If you’re interested, here are links to the two books:

This will be the last posting on Vedic Astrology. While I find it absolutely fascinating, I’m sure that most of you don’t. You probably think I’m weird taking it as seriously as I do.

But the more I read, the more fascinated I become.

Do I believe that a Vedic astrological birth chart can predict your future? Do I believe that the cosmos has an influence on each of us? Do I believe that there’s a sun behind the sun – the Central Galactic Sun – that controls all?

All I can say is this: it was only five hundred years ago we believed the earth was flat.

We know nothing.

As I begin to count down to my departure for the U.S., it’s pleasing to be able to report that the film continues to attract investment.

Another couple of investors came on board this week, and they join a growing list of people who are now supporting this project, excited to be a part of something quite unique.

The film is gathering a momentum which is becoming quite infectious.

After Dallas I’ll be meeting with a prominent distributor. I spoke to him on the phone this past week, and he wants to meet me in part because he said there’s never been a film made on the subject of intuition.

I know that. I’m amazed that intuition hasn’t been dealt with before in a meaningful way on film.

Where does Dallas fit into all of this? I really don’t know at this stage, because I don’t know what’s going to happen.

All I know is that I arrive into Dallas on the afternoon of November 23rd, the date the Indian astrologer told me was most beneficial for me, from a Cosmic Ray perspective, that is.

As per his instructions I’m going to catch the free shuttle into town, I’ll then ask around for a cheap motel, and make my way there, and then for the next fifteen days I’m going to dance the light fantastic with my Cosmic Rays!

The astrologer, Dr. Bhatt – a billionaire – and his equally rich friend Pradeep – have been sending me daily instructions on the free WhatsApp app. So already I have a list of things to do and people to see.

And these guys are well connected. Remember they count as their best friends Bikram Choudhury of Bikram Yoga fame, and Deepak Chopra.

So I’m not going to be lounging around in my dirt-box digs waiting for things to happen – on the contrary, it promises to be a very busy time.

Oh, and let’s not forget that I have to be open to staying for the next thirty days if really good things begin to happen, and then thirty days after that, up to a maximum of eleven years!

But for the moment let’s just say it’s fifteen days. During that time, we could well end up with a separate stand alone film.

If so, then I’ll call it THE TEXAS COSMIC RAYS EXPERIMENT.

So we’ll see.

Irrespective, it’s an exciting time coming up. Already I have interviews lined up with some terrific people – and so that four weeks looks like it’s going to be jam packed.

There’s only one thing that scares me –

The astrologer Dr. Bhatt said I have to make sure that I “expose” myself to the Cosmic Rays while I’m in Dallas. Remember this is in late November and December. It will be cold.

He said I have to lie in a banana chair each day for a minimum of thirty minutes, in my swimwear or underpants.

Now, that’s scary…

The more I read about Vedic astrology, the more intrigued I become.

I’ve been using two books for initial research: Astrology of the Seers: A guide to Vedic/Hindu Astrology, by Dr. David Frawley. And The Art and Science of Vedic Astrology, by Richard Fish and Ryan Kurczak.

Both books look at Vedic astrology from a western perspective. The first book does so in overview, and is regarded as one of the most authoritative texts on the subject. The second book is more technical, and quickly becomes very complex – but is equally as fascinating.  Let me run through it in broad strokes –

From Frawley:

“Astrology is the original science or system of knowledge devised by human beings. – through which the ancient rishis, or seers, were able to comprehend the structure and movement of the universe. It was the science of fate or destiny, used for understanding events on earth, which were seen as originating in the heavens. Astrology shows the cosmic source for the forces working in any field of endeavour.”

“The spiritual cultures of Egypt, Babylonia, India, China and Mexico were founded on the cornerstone of astrology.”

“Time is the original power that rules the universe; all things originate through time. The world is time, and the creation and destruction of the entire universe is present in any moment. The laws of time structure all things.”

“The gods are personifications of time. The first gods of time are the Sun, the Moon and planets that direct the movement of time through this solar system. The gods of the planets are the gods of time. The planets reflect the powers of the cosmic intelligence that rules all things through the force of time.”

“According to modern science, time is not a mere empty continuum. It is a force field determined by the gravity of the objects within it, the foremost of which for us are the Sun and the Moon. The planets possess large magnetic and energetic fields. Though the planets appear in the distant sky, their energy fields are present on Earth, responsible for the formations of the earth life, and our own bodies and minds.”

“Each planet in its orbit both gathers in and gives out forces, transmitting a particular wavelength of energy necessary for the order of the solar system. The movements of the planets determines the nature of the different phases in which we live. It sustains the forces that direct the play of our lives.”

“The Earth, by the movement on its axis, determines the day. The Moon, by its orbit around the earth, determines the month. The Sun, by the earth’s orbit around it, creates the year. As lords of time, the planets are lords of karma, or destiny. We are living in an ocean of cosmic influences transmitted by the planets.”

“The book of life is the book of time, which is the book of the stars…”

 That’s a little starter. I’ll keep posting excerpts from both books –

In less than a month now, I’m heading off to Dallas Texas to stay in a cheap motel for fifteen days, without money, because an Indian astrologer told me to.

Am I nuts?
I don’t think so.
But others might not agree.

I’ve posted his prediction on this site before, but if you haven’t seen it, here it is:
The Prediction

Let me give you some background as to how all this came about:

The astrologer is Dr. Bimal Bhatt. He’s a highly successful businessman, operating out of Bombay. He’s a lawyer, has a doctorate in business management, he owns 145 companies and has interests straddling property development, media, finance, and banking With his business partner Pradeep Vakil, they’re now moving into online gambling – a venture which they say will make them “trillions.” And I believe them.

They’ve made their fortune by following their astrological charts. Dr. Bhatt is an accomplished astrologer, having studied Vedic astrology for the past 35 years.

I’ve known these two gentlemen for many years now. I met them through a mutual friend, and when they came to Australia a few years ago to seek out business opportunities, my wife and I hosted them.

They are delightful crazy men.

And even though they’re enormously wealthy, they’re also deeply spiritual men. In India the two are not mutually exclusive.

When I decided to start my intuition film in India, I contacted Bimal to let him know I was coming. He asked for my exact time and place of birth, which I duly provided. He said he was going to do my astrological charts.

I then promptly forgot all about it.

I’ve never taken astrology seriously. I’ve always been bemused by those that do. In the same way I’m bemused by people who buy Lotto tickets. Astrology for me has always been inexorably linked to the backs of newspapers, sitting alongside the comics – or to the kind of dog-eared women’s magazines you find in dental surgeries, providing such broad cheesy generalisations that they lack any semblance of credibility.

Laughable, really. And for the gullible.

So when I met with Bimal in Mumbai, and he said that he’d done my charts and was going to read me out the results the following day, I was singularly unimpressed. But I felt obliged to go, and decided at the last moment to set up the camera, even though I didn’t think I’d get anything of value from the sequence.

The reason that Bimal had asked for the details of my birth so far ahead of my arrival in India was that it takes him a long time to work it all out. I didn’t realise how complex the process is. He’s developed a computer software programme to help with what he calls the “mathematics” of astrology, but even so it still takes time.

So I sat in his office and he delivered me his reading, and it stunned me. Something shifted inside me. For a start, he began by telling me what had happened in the previous fifteen years of my life. All this was in my charts.

He was unerringly accurate. Chillingly so. He told me the kind of stuff that only my wife would know – stuff you’d never unearth with Google, or on Facebook. Very personal things that you’d only know by peering into my heart.

That for me immediately established his credibility. So I was then suddenly anxious about what was in store for me in the future. If he’d nailed my past so accurately, what was lying in wait for me in the next twelve years?

A marriage breakup?
Poverty?
Major health issues or an early death?
A bad review for my next film?

As it turned out, none of the above. On the contrary, it couldn’t have been better –

I would do something that would benefit mankind in a big way.
Fame and immense wealth would come as a result.
I would be treated like a king.
I would be greatly admired and respected, and have no enemies.

Bimal himself was relieved that the news was good. (Not good, great.) Later he told me that mostly he gives out lukewarm or bad news. But these charts were… well… off the charts!

Evidently I’m in the same cosmic realm as Steve Jobs.

The kicker to all this though is that I have to go to where the cosmic rays are most beneficial to me, at the time when they shine their brightest. That’s Dallas Texas, from November 23rd, for a minimum of fifteen days.

Why do I have to stay in a cheap motel, have no money, and eat cheap food? Because as Bimal says, when you have nothing, you gravitate to something.

I’d prefer to see it this way: having nothing makes you more alert. More sensitive to opportunities around you. It heightens your senses. It’s a more primitive state of being. It’s a survival state.

When you’re hungry you seek out food. When you’re cold you seek out warmth. When you’re poor you seek out money, to survive. There’s no room for laziness, or complacency. You have to make things happen. Everything around you is more vivid. More real.

It’s life and death

I’ve since been doing some research into astrology. It’s fascinating.

I’ll give a brief starter here, and do another post later with more info – but basically what I’ve discovered is this: there are two kinds of astrology – Indian or Hindu / Vedic astrology, and Western astrology.

Indian astrology is called Vedic because it’s believed to come from the Rig Veda, said to be the oldest written book on the planet, composed most probably between 1500–1200 BCE. It’s the earliest of the four Hindu religious scriptures known as the Vedas, which form the spiritual and religious underpinnings of Hinduism.

An earlier form of Indian astrology though dates back to roughly 5000 BCE.

How does Vedic astrology differ from Western astrology?

This is where it starts to get complex, and technical. But basically Vedic astrology is based on a “fixed star” zodiac. One’s birth chart is a snap-shot of planets over the place of birth at the exact time of birth.

Western astrology in contrast uses a “moving star” system. It’s based on the movement of the equinoxes, and is constantly moving away from the Vedic fixed star position of the stars. What this means is that if an astrologer does a person’s charts using the Western system, it will be fundamentally different to a chart using the Vedic system.

Which one is better?

Well, the Vedic system has been around a lot longer, and it’s studied in Indian universities as a science. Wealthy folk in India have their doctors, their dentists, and their astrologers. They seek advice from their astrologers when deciding on important business matters, wedding partners and dates, when and where to buy a house, and health issues.

Vedic astrology and Ayurvedic medicine come from the same source of learning, and both are legitimately regarded in India, and elsewhere.

In the next post I’ll go into some detail about Vedic astrology. The more I delve into it, the more I believe there’s some very real substance to it.

I’ll leave you with this: I was on my walk last night, and I was listening to music. On Pandora, up came John Lennon’s Instant Karma. Remember, the Beatles went to the sacred city of Rishikesh in India at the height of their success, and they studied under a revered yogi. The chorus to Instant Karma is:

Well we all shine on,
Like the moon, and the stars, and the sun.
Yes we all shine on,
On and on and on, on and on and on…

I’m constantly surprised at how we allow fear to dictate the direction of our lives.

Very soon I’m going to Dallas, Texas, because an Indian astrologer in Bombay told me to go. He said that my cosmic rays would be most beneficial for me in Dallas, commencing November 23rd. Here is his prediction for me:

The Prediction

He said I had to go without money, take the free airport shuttle, find a very cheap motel, eat cheap food, and wait for the cosmos to deliver.

Now, it turns out that Dallas is Ebola Central.

I got a call from my gorgeous sister Angela the other night. She’s a hospital administrator – one of the most senior in the state of Queensland. She was nearly hysterical. She said: Are you crazy? Bill – listen to me. You will DIE! Why are you doing this? Just because some crackpot Indian told you to go? Don’t be STUPID Bill. If there’s one place in the world you don’t want to go right now, it’s Dallas!

I just laughed.

I told her I had a greater chance of dying from a gunshot wound in Dallas than I did of Ebola. And anyway, I said, you’re more at risk than me because you work in a hospital.

Yes, she said, but it’s Dallas!! Bill, you have to take antiseptic wipes, do NOT sit on any public toilet seats, wear a mask when you go out, if anyone even LOOKS like they’re going to sneeze on you, just turn and run away…

She gave me a list of health precautions.

I’ve been following the Ebola situation for quite some time now – while it was still contained in Africa. The UK Guardian was reporting on it very early on. Almost twelve months ago now I posted an article on Facebook which I tagged: Should we be worried?

I know the risks.

And still I have no qualms about going to Dallas.

Why?

Because I refuse to live in fear.
I refuse to be intimidated by fear.
I refuse to be limited by fear.

Fear cripples us. And it brings out the ugly side in some of us. Fear can breed discrimination, it can breed hatred, it can be the spark for violence.

But perhaps the most insidious aspect of fear is that it shuts us down. We retreat into our caves, we adopt a very primitive survival stance, and we not only hide, but we put up barriers to keep the fear at bay.

So we stay huddled in our cold dank caves, terrified. Meanwhile the world turns, the sun shines, the birds sing, and we’re oblivious to the beauty that waits for us outside our cave.

Because we’re afraid.

When that astrologer told me that I had to go to Dallas, immediately – immediately – I knew I had to go. Without hesitation.

Not because I want immense wealth, although hey, I wouldn’t knock it back – but because that’s what my stars have directed me to do. If I’m going to live an intuitive life, then I have to trust my intuitive responses. And my intuition – my PGS – told me to go.

I’ve never believed in astrology. Astrology for me has always been those cheesy predictions on the back of newspapers. But astrology in India is different. It’s a very ancient science. It’s a complex science. As the astrologer said, it’s mathematics.

I actually believe in this ancient science.

So when the Ebola outbreak occurred in Dallas, I just smiled to myself. I thought: ok, now the cosmos is really testing my resolve. Most people would bail at this point. Should I?

Nup. Why should I?

Why should I huddle in my cave?

As for my wife Jennifer, who’s going to accompany me – she’s equally unconcerned. We just laugh at those that tell us not to go.

We refuse to live in fear.
We’re getting on with our lives.

Plus we have a film to make…

I have a younger brother. His name is Bob, he’s eighteen months younger than me, and we’re very close. Always have been.

Yesterday he and his son Rupert walked into Roncesvalles, having just completed the first stage of their Camino Frances.

It’s a remarkable achievement for both of them, because Bob has had some medical concerns in the past, and Rupert is still recovering from an horrific accident in which a speedboat propeller nearly severed his foot.

When I was talking about walking the Camino, several years ago now, I tried to get Bobby interested. I suggested that we both do the pilgrimage together. He wasn’t interested. He said it would kill him. So I did the walk on my own.

And then his son Rupert one day watched The Way, the Martin Sheen film. And everything suddenly changed. He urged Bob to watch the film, and together they then began to talk about walking the Camino together.

I knew Bob was serious when he phoned one day to say he’d bought boots.

And then he started haunting Katmandu sales, and calling me up asking me about mid layers, and SIM cards in Spain, and whether Osprey was better than Deuter etc.

I knew the signs. He was gone. He’d been bitten by the Camino bug, and there was no stopping him.

Bob is a vet in Brisbane, Queensland. He has his own very successful practice, and he was able to juggle his schedule so he could take some time off. Rupert has just been accepted into Medical school, and so this is a period before he starts to knuckle down and bury himself in text books for the next six or seven years.

At 3 am this morning I couldn’t sleep because of jet lag, and also because I’d been thinking about them all night, wondering how they were going. Because they’d both been so busy, they hadn’t trained much and I was worried about them. Also I was concerned about Rupert, and his foot.

So on the off chance that he might answer, I called Bob’s mobile. And he answered. They’d just arrived in Roncesvalles and Bob sounded so happy. I hadn’t heard him sound that happy in years.

He and Rupert had made it over the Pyrenees, and while he said he was tired and sore, he said they could both go home tomorrow and feel that they’d achieved something majorly significant.

And they have.

I’ve always said that the Camino infuses you with a special energetic magic that washes away past traumas – physical and psychological.

I love them both dearly, and I’m so proud of them.

Buen Camino Bobby!!

Something I've been meaning to do for some time – I've begun writing a book on photography on the Camino.

It's a practical guide called Photo Camino.

It will discuss the particular challenges facing anyone wishing to take photos on the Camino.

The book will give advice on what kind of camera to take, how best to handle issues such as weather, weight and bulk, what kind of lenses to take, protection of gear and images, power management, backup and workflow, security and theft, and how to maximise photographic opportunities on the Camino.

I don't think it will take me long to write this book. Now having walked two Caminos I have a very good understanding of the unique problems facing a photographer.

I think there's a need for a book like this. And I humbly believe I'm suitably qualified to write it.

I'll let you all know how I go!

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