In the comments section of the I Lost Touch with Reality post, Christopher Bradford wrote the following:
Good stuff.....but I think you're concept of wrong being impossible isn't complete. That is only a truth if you live without context; if we're looking at the broad picture it is also impossible to do anything that is Right. Morality is a social matter, based on community, and that includes the spiritual community--the disincarnate beings we relate with. If we choose to disassociate from community and dissolve into the source, we can be free of concerns of right and wrong.....but only then. When we choose to relate to other beings we are in community, and the moral standards of the community we identify with determines the moral polarity of our actions. Ha. Basically what I'm saying is the idea of there being "no wrong" only applies to those beings who've ceased to interact with the other beings....or have imagined that they do. Even sociopaths are aware a given action is "wrong"....they just don't give a shit. Same thing applies to good/bad. Morality frankly is a "truth", as it is a on I Lost Touch with Reality
I totally agree with Chris...except for this.
On this plane, from the standard human perspective, he is totally correct. However, when you get above all that and see the vastness of the great unfolding and the perfection inherent in all things, it doesn't hold true. I do not have a degree in philosophy so I cannot share this directly. Instead, allow me a few examples.
Example 1:
In my life prior life, the very bad thing happened and on top of that a group of people punished me for the deeds of another (as far as I can tell). The rationale for this decision was deliberately and willfully hidden from me. This drove me flipping crazy. I became angery (in truth angrier) and obsessive. This boiled and roiled within the pressure cooker of my own mind. That pressure propelled me to see the Perfection, the Unfoldinging, and the Wholeness of all things. This is the greatest gift I can imagine. For all the pain and suffering of those ten years, I have obtained a peace that many never obtain in this life.
In the short term view of the moment, what they did was indefensible and wrong. In the long term view, they did no harm at all but contributed to my unfolding.
As part of that, I have learned that I am totally sane (in a crazy way) but I cannot deal with the passive-aggressive and the secret keeper personality type. I actually can handle the more clinically mentally ill much more easily. So, I simply set clear boundaries as soon as I see these behaviors. It has worked quite well. I very politely demonstrate it can stop or the other can leave. Either way, I am totally fine.
Example 2:
In 1980 a drunk driver killed a young girl. No one can defend this wrong. No one. However, from that her mother, Candy Lightner founded MADD saving tens of thousands of lives. This tremendous unforgivable tragedy created a focal point for nation-wide revulsion at lax laws and needless deaths. Society unfolded just a bit because of this. In the long term view, no harm was done. Life does not end, souls are immortal.
I realize that this is easily said when it isn't you. However, I feel the same way about the wrongs of others I have suffered previously documented here.
Example 3:
Judas betrayed the Christ (oh Judas is so evil so bad) but without Judas the Christ mythos totally falls apart. Without Judas, there is no sacrifice. The power of that moment sustains Christianity to this day. Did he do right by doing wrong or does the unfolding continue regardless? In my view, it is the latter and probably the former as well.
Conclusion:
Yes, we can do wrong by violating the rules of society as we know them. This can be spiritually, emotionally, intellectually or physically damaging in the short term to both the wronged and the person who performed the grievous act. In the longer term, all that so called damage contributes to the unfolding in just the same way all the mercy we bestow on each other does. The latter is just easier to see.
I do find a certain irony here. I have long argued that magicians have a responsibility and just because they do things magickally doesn't mean their actions are immune from 'rightness' and 'wrongness'. We have to be careful in what we do, how we do it and the ripple effect. As soon as I point out that long term wrong is impossible, people come out and tell me I'm wrong for that too!
Though, I must admit, Christopher can tell me I'm wrong all day long. He has such a kind and eloquent way of doing so.
Friday, July 5, 2013
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Totally Embarrassed Myself
Posting by phone.
A couple of months ago I attended a class by Coyle and Duquette. Lon interrupted the class to ask my opinion on things goetic and what they were teaching because " you have successfully done this." Cool. I have to admit to an ego boost for Lon to stop a class and ask for my opinion.
Just 45 minutes ago and after three hours of classes Lon asked me to do the closing lbrp. Again I was taken by complete surprise, especially since I haven't done one in a year. I did it. Unfortunately I forgot half the ritual! As anyone would be I was totally embarrassed! Mortified.
On my way home from Sacramento, I pulled off the freeway, onto a frontage road and did it right while focussing on where I was a half hour prior.
I find myself driving through Stockton and I am hit with the vision of perfection!! I laughed and all is well. Everything is so cool. Just after, I look up. The street sign is Wizard street. Thank you universe!!
A couple of months ago I attended a class by Coyle and Duquette. Lon interrupted the class to ask my opinion on things goetic and what they were teaching because " you have successfully done this." Cool. I have to admit to an ego boost for Lon to stop a class and ask for my opinion.
Just 45 minutes ago and after three hours of classes Lon asked me to do the closing lbrp. Again I was taken by complete surprise, especially since I haven't done one in a year. I did it. Unfortunately I forgot half the ritual! As anyone would be I was totally embarrassed! Mortified.
On my way home from Sacramento, I pulled off the freeway, onto a frontage road and did it right while focussing on where I was a half hour prior.
I find myself driving through Stockton and I am hit with the vision of perfection!! I laughed and all is well. Everything is so cool. Just after, I look up. The street sign is Wizard street. Thank you universe!!
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
I Lost Touch with Reality
When I first had my visions of perfection, I was a bit euphoric. I remember that someone criticized that perspective and said that I had obviously lost touch with reality. For some odd reason I recalled those comments today and these thoughts followed.
Before my visions, this is the reality I experienced.
P.S. I am still an insomniac but Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep, is totally cool and helping me out with that.
Before my visions, this is the reality I experienced.
- I was confused by other people's behavior
- I thought that behavior always denoted a wrong doing by my part
- I believed an argument was pretty much always appropriate
- I believed that there were good and bad people and events
- I was angry, oh so angry
- I believed there was a right way and a wrong way.
- "God" and "The Gods" were mysterious and possibly dangerous
- Christians were pretty much irresponsible
- Evangelists were immoral
- I and everyone else needed to do personal alchemical work
- I was often difficult to approach.
- I was a seeker
- I needed help to grow. So did everyone else.
- Serious spiritual work was always necessary.
- Demons could hurt you.
- I was obsessed with the very bad thing.
- Passive-aggressive people fueled the obsession.
- I suffered from PTSD
- I am sure there was more along those lines.
- I know that everything is perfect.
- Our souls and reality continually unfold and that process is perfect.
- Everything is whole and complete.
- Non-duality is not about the third thing it is the absence of the illusionary thing. For instance, there is only good. There is no bad.
- I am happy.
- It is impossible to do anything wrong.
- "God" and "The Gods" are totally cool.
- No one needs to do spiritual work. Things will just take longer if you don't.
- Evangelists are immoral but that is okay.
- I am a mystic/magician/teacher/healer.
- Everyone grows regardless
- Demons are our friends.
- I am friends with a disciple of Christ.
- I understand when an issue is about me or someone else or both.
- I don't argue with anyone.
- I have clear vision and see the cause and effect others miss.
- I omit passive-aggressive people from my life.
- If you want to be a jerk, that is totally cool. You're still perfect.
- Jerks are just God cleverly disguised as assholes.
- From time to time, I am euphoric.
- I smile a lot.
- Life is totally wonderful.
P.S. I am still an insomniac but Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep, is totally cool and helping me out with that.
Friday, June 7, 2013
Healing Visions
The more healing work I do the more I am aware that certain ailments look the same to my astral vision.
PTSD looks like we are made of white light and wrapped in black cloth. The trauma rips away part of that material letting the light shine through. It is my theory that the 'black cloth' is the barrier that keeps our souls from shining through before we clear up the dross. Severe trauma rips that cloth away and exposes our souls before either we our the world can handle that power. This accounts for a great deal of acting out not to mention extreme internal difficulties.
Less severe emotional trauma is a bit more specific to the event. There are color patterns involved but these are more individualized.
Bipolar folks have very fast 'sticks' of energy that move in odd patterns within the astral cranium.
These patterns allow me to do better work as I don't have to spend as much time trying to figure things out. For instance, I learned today of a possible new symptom. Some time ago, I posted that I was working with a person that had an aneurism. After a bit of a break, I was asked to look in on some odd behavior this his wife thought may be depression or an increase in his confusion. I saw strange wisps of thought or etheric body rising as if some part of him was leaving to another world but that energy was weak. We didn't know what to make of it. So, I stopped the work. I am quite cautious. We have since learned that this person tried to poison himself. I know now that a similar vision may be a sign of a serious health risk. If I see that again, there will be an immediate appeal to see a physician.
Tech
From time to time, I am asked about my sharing my tech. I would but frankly I have no idea how to teach or copy this for anyone else. For the most part, my tech involves getting myself out of my own way. The less angst and doubt one has the better one does at this sort of thing. Speaking of which...
Posting
I haven't been posting much. Part of that reason is that I am deliriously happy and content. For all of you out there doing the difficult work, know that there is a pay off. You can get here too by rigorously following your path.
PTSD looks like we are made of white light and wrapped in black cloth. The trauma rips away part of that material letting the light shine through. It is my theory that the 'black cloth' is the barrier that keeps our souls from shining through before we clear up the dross. Severe trauma rips that cloth away and exposes our souls before either we our the world can handle that power. This accounts for a great deal of acting out not to mention extreme internal difficulties.
Less severe emotional trauma is a bit more specific to the event. There are color patterns involved but these are more individualized.
Bipolar folks have very fast 'sticks' of energy that move in odd patterns within the astral cranium.
These patterns allow me to do better work as I don't have to spend as much time trying to figure things out. For instance, I learned today of a possible new symptom. Some time ago, I posted that I was working with a person that had an aneurism. After a bit of a break, I was asked to look in on some odd behavior this his wife thought may be depression or an increase in his confusion. I saw strange wisps of thought or etheric body rising as if some part of him was leaving to another world but that energy was weak. We didn't know what to make of it. So, I stopped the work. I am quite cautious. We have since learned that this person tried to poison himself. I know now that a similar vision may be a sign of a serious health risk. If I see that again, there will be an immediate appeal to see a physician.
Tech
From time to time, I am asked about my sharing my tech. I would but frankly I have no idea how to teach or copy this for anyone else. For the most part, my tech involves getting myself out of my own way. The less angst and doubt one has the better one does at this sort of thing. Speaking of which...
Posting
I haven't been posting much. Part of that reason is that I am deliriously happy and content. For all of you out there doing the difficult work, know that there is a pay off. You can get here too by rigorously following your path.
Friday, May 31, 2013
Astral Temple
Magicians are trained to create an astral temple. The exercise is to imagine a place filled with the symbolism that you believe aligns the universe with the purpose/location of your temple. For instance, if the temple is in Yesod, a sephira associated with the moon, one may have nine pillars within an open air amphitheater. It may be on an island surrounded by water. The moon may hang in the sky permanently full. The altar may be covered with a purple cloth. This is a valuable exercise.
You are told that once you form this place, you can go there to perform magic. I suppose you can, if you are particularly good at forming a lasting place on the very fluid astral using nothing but your imagination and will.
The problem with it is two-fold. First, you have to visit that place very frequently. The reason for that is that the new magician's imagination is usually pretty weak. One is basically constructing the place afresh every time out. Secondly, what happens if you haven't been there a while? You have to stop and think. What did I build? What is there? Oh no, what did I put there? Do you have to do that when you go home every day? Likely not. Can you remember the layout of your first apartment even though you haven't been there in twenty years? Probably. Why does this happen? Those places are real. The temple you built is not. It does not exist anywhere but in your head. Deep down you know that and your temple is just one more thing you have to overcome in order to succeed. It should be said that particularly talented or sufficiently experienced folks can do this.
Did you ever wonder where this exercise came from?
I have no way of proving this but I think some magician understood his/her sense of place. Having a sense of place in this world is reflected in others, or vice versa. Having achieved a sense of presence here, I found my place on the astral. My place is in Yetzirah, the formative world. It is exactly where I need to be to do magick. My every talent converges on that place. I am fully at home there.
My place does not contain any false symbolism. In fact, in contains almost none of the symbolism I have been taught or read about. I did not imagine this place. I haven't added to anything that was there. Yet everything is alive with purpose. This is just as real as anyplace on earth. When I am present there, I am unstoppable.
I suppose there is another such place in Briah. From there, I would think the barest thought would create on this plane. Someday, I hope to find out.
Artificially creating an astral temple is a worthy effort. It should be understood that this is a temporary home at best. Find yourself and you will find a pre-existing place on the astral that yours.
How do you find yourself? Strip everything away. Everything. In all my years as a magician, I have never been satisfied when I successfully added something to my life with magick. Presence is achieved when there is nothing false left. Rid yourself of everything.
You are told that once you form this place, you can go there to perform magic. I suppose you can, if you are particularly good at forming a lasting place on the very fluid astral using nothing but your imagination and will.
The problem with it is two-fold. First, you have to visit that place very frequently. The reason for that is that the new magician's imagination is usually pretty weak. One is basically constructing the place afresh every time out. Secondly, what happens if you haven't been there a while? You have to stop and think. What did I build? What is there? Oh no, what did I put there? Do you have to do that when you go home every day? Likely not. Can you remember the layout of your first apartment even though you haven't been there in twenty years? Probably. Why does this happen? Those places are real. The temple you built is not. It does not exist anywhere but in your head. Deep down you know that and your temple is just one more thing you have to overcome in order to succeed. It should be said that particularly talented or sufficiently experienced folks can do this.
Did you ever wonder where this exercise came from?
I have no way of proving this but I think some magician understood his/her sense of place. Having a sense of place in this world is reflected in others, or vice versa. Having achieved a sense of presence here, I found my place on the astral. My place is in Yetzirah, the formative world. It is exactly where I need to be to do magick. My every talent converges on that place. I am fully at home there.
My place does not contain any false symbolism. In fact, in contains almost none of the symbolism I have been taught or read about. I did not imagine this place. I haven't added to anything that was there. Yet everything is alive with purpose. This is just as real as anyplace on earth. When I am present there, I am unstoppable.
I suppose there is another such place in Briah. From there, I would think the barest thought would create on this plane. Someday, I hope to find out.
Artificially creating an astral temple is a worthy effort. It should be understood that this is a temporary home at best. Find yourself and you will find a pre-existing place on the astral that yours.
How do you find yourself? Strip everything away. Everything. In all my years as a magician, I have never been satisfied when I successfully added something to my life with magick. Presence is achieved when there is nothing false left. Rid yourself of everything.
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Thought Forms - No You Didn't Go Far Enough
I have written about thought forms over the years. Creating and using thought forms should be a consistent expression of your magickal output. If nothing else, just reading the list of what you've asked for reveals how you've gown and the depth of your fishing. The interpreting the results of your thought forms should be a staple of your mental input.
As a quick review, I used to ask questions like, "Show me where the conflict with X is happening elsewhere in my life." When I saw the reflection, I often found a core issue within that I was really fighting about." I may have asked, "Show my talent when it comes to..." and again, I'd be given some insight. "Show me another person in my life that behaves like X," allows you to start matching personality types. "Show me a solution to this problem." That one is a little more dangerous. Just because you see a solution does not make it a viable option. This sort of question does help with creative problem solving. Especially if you take the image of your thought form, strike with a hammer so it splits into many other duplicates and you get lots of varied results. "Show me what to do to get my boss to like me," is a very practical question to ask. The potential list is of things to ask is endless.
Notice, all of these asked for information. You can use them to bring things into your life as well. I missed one type of question that I feel has serious potential and I am going to share that with you before I even try it myself, which I will.
In truth, this idea was likely born from the T. Thorn Coyle/DuQuette class I posted about a couple weeks back. There we raised our own private little demon. It was spooky. This was because the spirit took an unpleasant form. Had I remembered, I would have told the spirit to assume an affable shape. Once I did a week or so later, I was amazed at the wonder of what I saw. There truly is light within our darkness.
I have long stated that our biggest troubles contain our biggest answers. Those troubles are the blinds that keep us from finding ourselves. No more.
"Show me my true self hiding in that muck."
You won't regret it.
As a quick review, I used to ask questions like, "Show me where the conflict with X is happening elsewhere in my life." When I saw the reflection, I often found a core issue within that I was really fighting about." I may have asked, "Show my talent when it comes to..." and again, I'd be given some insight. "Show me another person in my life that behaves like X," allows you to start matching personality types. "Show me a solution to this problem." That one is a little more dangerous. Just because you see a solution does not make it a viable option. This sort of question does help with creative problem solving. Especially if you take the image of your thought form, strike with a hammer so it splits into many other duplicates and you get lots of varied results. "Show me what to do to get my boss to like me," is a very practical question to ask. The potential list is of things to ask is endless.
Notice, all of these asked for information. You can use them to bring things into your life as well. I missed one type of question that I feel has serious potential and I am going to share that with you before I even try it myself, which I will.
In truth, this idea was likely born from the T. Thorn Coyle/DuQuette class I posted about a couple weeks back. There we raised our own private little demon. It was spooky. This was because the spirit took an unpleasant form. Had I remembered, I would have told the spirit to assume an affable shape. Once I did a week or so later, I was amazed at the wonder of what I saw. There truly is light within our darkness.
I have long stated that our biggest troubles contain our biggest answers. Those troubles are the blinds that keep us from finding ourselves. No more.
"Show me my true self hiding in that muck."
You won't regret it.
Friday, May 24, 2013
Throw Some Emotion Into It
I have never met a magician that didn't go through a period of doubt. Is this stuff in my head? Am I making it all up? If it is real, that doesn't mean I'm doing it right. If you are the magician that has never had these thoughts you are either very fortunate or something else.
What many do not realize is those thoughts hang on for a long time. So do every day thoughts, distractions and random detritus of the mind. All of these things interfere with the magick. These are barriers that you may not be aware are there. One tends to think that if you can just push them away for the moment of magickal release, you've done your job. You likely have but not to your fullest potential.
So how do you clear those thoughts long enough to reach that potential? Have fun. Have fun like you did on that vacation day when you didn't have a care in the world. Nothing from outside that moment disturbed your excitement about being the coast, in Europe or the forest. Remember that fun? Hang on to that fun with the intensity of making love, not fucking, not sex, but making love. Total focus, total desire, total release.
Oh but Robert, you're a magician, you know you're supposed to keep your emotions out of it. Hogwash. Total hogwash you Victorian Vicar! If you want it, your ritual or meditation should include time to SEE the result in vivid detail. Where does it happen? What time of day? Who (if anyone) is there? You need to include time to LISTEN. When it happens what is said, by whom? Are there birds singing, dogs barking, a noisy fish tank? Take time to TOUCH, are you sitting on a couch, outside in a cool breeze, or in a hot steamy kitchen? What is the fabric like on the couch? Does the cool breeze bring a slight chill? How does all that steam feel in the air? Take time to SMELL. What is cooking in that kitchen, what scents are carried by that breeze, is that a cat? Take time to TASTE. This may be hardest because we are not always in a situation where we are eating but other things stimulate the sense of taste. It is also very closely related to smell. Has the place just by cleaned with Lysol? Is there some heavy household air freshener in the room? Those taste like metal on my tongue. Some perfumes even have a little taste. There is one more, how does success feel to you emotionally in the situation? Savor that feeling. Hold onto it as the ritual or mediation builds to sweet release.
Then enjoy that post coital bliss. You've just released all that built up pressure and anxiety the situation produced in an explosion of magick that will make the changes you desire. Smile.
Some people will say this is putting restrictions on the ritual. You aren't giving the magick room to work by giving it all that grounding detail. Again, hogwash, my pedantic prestidigitator! The astral doesn't work like that.
One of the reasons astral visions are so easily debunked by the scientific community is that what appears on the lower astral doesn't appear exactly like it does in the mundane but there is a metaphorical link. For instance, you may see something as buried on the astral but in the physical it is in the bottom of a long forgot junk drawer. A car accident can manifest as an argument with a stranger.
So, when you work as I described above, none of what you see may happen but when you suddenly feel like you did in the vision for no reason at all, you may have just learned your magick worked. Or, you find yourself in such a scene in real life and suddenly the metaphors of you situation make sense. That experience is more powerful than the magick most people do.
The trick to the above is that it is one way of being totally present in the situation. It is work do all that but the concentration needed not only banishes distractions but focusses us on our sense of place, which is very important in magick and spirituality.
I am here. Right now. I am a force to be reckoned with.
What many do not realize is those thoughts hang on for a long time. So do every day thoughts, distractions and random detritus of the mind. All of these things interfere with the magick. These are barriers that you may not be aware are there. One tends to think that if you can just push them away for the moment of magickal release, you've done your job. You likely have but not to your fullest potential.
So how do you clear those thoughts long enough to reach that potential? Have fun. Have fun like you did on that vacation day when you didn't have a care in the world. Nothing from outside that moment disturbed your excitement about being the coast, in Europe or the forest. Remember that fun? Hang on to that fun with the intensity of making love, not fucking, not sex, but making love. Total focus, total desire, total release.
Oh but Robert, you're a magician, you know you're supposed to keep your emotions out of it. Hogwash. Total hogwash you Victorian Vicar! If you want it, your ritual or meditation should include time to SEE the result in vivid detail. Where does it happen? What time of day? Who (if anyone) is there? You need to include time to LISTEN. When it happens what is said, by whom? Are there birds singing, dogs barking, a noisy fish tank? Take time to TOUCH, are you sitting on a couch, outside in a cool breeze, or in a hot steamy kitchen? What is the fabric like on the couch? Does the cool breeze bring a slight chill? How does all that steam feel in the air? Take time to SMELL. What is cooking in that kitchen, what scents are carried by that breeze, is that a cat? Take time to TASTE. This may be hardest because we are not always in a situation where we are eating but other things stimulate the sense of taste. It is also very closely related to smell. Has the place just by cleaned with Lysol? Is there some heavy household air freshener in the room? Those taste like metal on my tongue. Some perfumes even have a little taste. There is one more, how does success feel to you emotionally in the situation? Savor that feeling. Hold onto it as the ritual or mediation builds to sweet release.
Then enjoy that post coital bliss. You've just released all that built up pressure and anxiety the situation produced in an explosion of magick that will make the changes you desire. Smile.
Some people will say this is putting restrictions on the ritual. You aren't giving the magick room to work by giving it all that grounding detail. Again, hogwash, my pedantic prestidigitator! The astral doesn't work like that.
One of the reasons astral visions are so easily debunked by the scientific community is that what appears on the lower astral doesn't appear exactly like it does in the mundane but there is a metaphorical link. For instance, you may see something as buried on the astral but in the physical it is in the bottom of a long forgot junk drawer. A car accident can manifest as an argument with a stranger.
So, when you work as I described above, none of what you see may happen but when you suddenly feel like you did in the vision for no reason at all, you may have just learned your magick worked. Or, you find yourself in such a scene in real life and suddenly the metaphors of you situation make sense. That experience is more powerful than the magick most people do.
The trick to the above is that it is one way of being totally present in the situation. It is work do all that but the concentration needed not only banishes distractions but focusses us on our sense of place, which is very important in magick and spirituality.
I am here. Right now. I am a force to be reckoned with.
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