Tarot, Symbolism & The Ancient Art of Magick

My maternal family name is Engineer, and one of the stories my grandmother passed down to us was about my great-great-grandfather, Burjorji Hirjibhai Engineer, who is also the author of the book Karamate Khuda, also there are several versions of this book, of which we were not aware until recently.  Two of the physical copies of which we still have in the family.

He was also the author of the book ‘Sachitra Trikan Gyan Darshak Granth’ (“The Illustrated Guide to Knowledge of the Three Realms of Time – Volume 1.”) all of them written in Gujarati, the later was written much after he fell into a coma for 3 days and later awakened to tell and write stories of the unseen world.

Most of his books contain healing prayers one can recite to remove ill effects of planets, several personal troubles and remedial prayers for good health and illnesses that maybe troubling you. Not only was he psychic, but many a events which could see he foretold and came to pass. There are testimonials within the book from people that have benefitted after reciting those prayers and after visiting him.

Just holding that old copy of the book, is a rather extraordinary feeling. The physical condition of the book is very delicate, but It is a reminder of someone whose life and experiences I know only through the stories my mother and grandmother told us.

I never had the opportunity to meet him, but my grandmother spoke about him as someone with an extraordinary intuitive ability. She told us many stories about how perceptive he was, although, as with any family stories passed down through generations, I have always believed that we should remain open-minded and discerning about what we hear.

This one story, of what I previously mentioned, stayed particularly strongly with me.

My great-great Grandfather once went into what appeared to be a three-day coma. During this time, she said that he continued to breathe and his family noticed that the only movement in his body was his toe kept moving while he almost lay lifeless, but breathing.  

On the third day, he regained consciousness and apparently described what he believed had been a journey to the realms, including details of what he had experienced and seen in the unseen world.

Whether an experience such as this is understood spiritually, psychologically or as something we simply do not yet fully understand, I found that story fascinating and have often thought about it.

And the same story repeats with my mum’s uncle Jehangir Burjorji Engineer who was also believed to have strong psychic abilities.

I remember visiting him when I was young, he had an interesting persona about him, he dressed stylishly, always in a white shirt and a worn-out beige linen blazer or a worn-out cotton jacket, sometimes stained, and chewed on the betel leaf — paan, he took delight in often reading our palms, we were just children then.

He predicted various futuristic events for my sister and I and those predictions also came to pass.

The one memory of visiting him at his home was that his place looked like a museum, filled with small artefacts, It smelled dusty and musky most times, as he lived alone.  

Old teak wood antique furniture, was all over the house, picture frames with old photo’s when he was young, peeling paint off the walls, huge cupboards made of Sal wood with ornate mirrors and designs, and there I remember I saw the biggest spider I had ever seen in my life!!, with its head the size of a tennis ball and legs like long wires, as it creeped away with stealth behind the large cupboard.  I have never been able to forget that.

I don’t claim that these family connections made me psychic. What they did was make me curious and naturally drawn to the occult sciences.