Clips in this video from the documentary 'Maybe Logic - The Lives and Ideas of Robert Anton Wilson'.
(Robert Anton Wilson the writer of 'Cosmic Trigger' and co-writer of 'Illuminatus!')
Opening music excerpt: Astralasia's 'Seven Pointed Star (Astral Dub Seventh Dream)' (myspace.com/astralasia + astralasia.co.uk)
The following from Robert Anton Wilson in a 1977 article in Fortean Times Issue 23:
On 23 July 1973, I had the impression that I was being contacted by some sort of advanced intellect from the system of the double star Sirius. I have had odd psychic experiences of that sort for many years, and I always record them carefully, but refuse to take any of them literally, until or unless supporting evidence of an objective nature turns up. This particular experience, however, was especially staggering, both intellectually and emotionally, so I spent the rest of the day at the nearest large library researching Sirius. I found, among other things, that 23 July is very closely associated with that star.
On 23 July, ancient Egyptian priests began a series of rituals to Sirius, continuing until 8 September. Since Sirius is known as the Dog Star, being in the constellation Canis Major, the period 23 July - 8 September became known as the dog days.
My psychic Contact experience continued, off and on, for nearly two years, until October 1974, after which I forcibly terminated it by sheer stubborn willpower (I was getting tired of wondering whether I was specially selected for a Great Mission of interstellar import, or was just going crazy).
After two years of philosophic mulling on the subject (late 1974 - early 1976), I finally decided to tune in one more time to the SiriusEarth transmissions, and try to produce something objective. On 23 July 1976, using a battery of yogic and shamanic techniques, I opened myself to another blast of Cosmic Wisdom and told the Transmitters that I wanted something objective this time around.
The next week, Time magazine published a full-page review of Robert KG Temples The Sirius Mystery, which claims that contact between Earth and Sirius occurred around 4500 BC in the Near East. The 23 July festivals in Egypt were part of Temples evidence, but I was more amused and impressed by his middle initials, K.G., since Kallisti Gold is the brand of very expensive marijuana smoked by the hero of Illuminatus!.
The same week as that issue of Time, i.e. still one week after my 23rd experiment, Rolling Stone published a full-page advertisement for a German Rock group called Ramses. One of the group was named Winifred, which is the name of one of the four German Rock musicians in Illuminatus!, and the advertisement included a large pyramid with an eye atop it, the symbol of the Illuminati.
Coincidence? Synchronicity? Higher Intelligence? Higher Idiocy?
Of course, the eye on the pyramid was a favourite symbol of Aleister Crowley, who called himself Epopt of the Illuminati, and subtitled his magazine, The Equinox, A Review of Scientific Illuminism. And 2/3 equals .66666666 etc. Crowleys magick number repeated endlessly. Readers of this piece might find it amusing to skim through The Magical Revival and Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God, two books by Kenneth Grant, a former student of Crowleys (and note the initials K.G. again!). You will find numerous references, cloudy and occult, linking Crowley in some unspecified way with Sirius.
The actor who played Padre Pederastia in the National Theatre production of Illuminatus! informed me that he once met Crowley on a train. Mere coincidence, if you prefer. But the second night of the National Theatre run, the actors cajoled me into doing a walk-on as an extra in the Black Mass scene. And, dear brothers and sisters, that is how I found myself, stark naked, on the stage of the National Theatre, bawling Crowleys slogan Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law, under the patronage of Her Majesty the Queen.
As a fortean, I am, of course, an ontological agnostic and I never believe anything literally. But I will never cease to wonder how much of this was programmed by Uncle Aleister before I was ever born, and Im sure that last bit, my one moment on the stage of the National Theatre, was entirely Crowleys work.
If you look up Crowleys Confessions, youll find that he began the study of magick in 1898, at the age of 23.
