Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Reinventing Diet: Going Back to the Stone Age

The human diet has been a huge topic of debate for hundreds of years. We have all the technology, methods, and harvesting to feed the entire world yet why can’t we figure out what to eat. A larger percentage of the problem can be attributed to misinformation and corporate interest in human consumption. Lets break down the body’s needs and the diet to fulfill it.

There are three components to our dietary make up. We receive calories from the holy trinity of food: carbohydrates, proteins and fats.

Our bodies are equipped with mechanisms that tell us when we have had enough of these two types of calorie but it has zero mechanism to tell us when we have had enough carbs. Carbs, including sugar, are nothing but raw energy that our body either uses immediately or turns directly into fat. Since our body can never tell us when we have had enough carbs, we will just keep eating and eating. This is why we see such a large percentage of obesity in Americans. We have been told, from a young age, to consume large amounts of grain carbohydrates as a part of our diet. Grains wreak havoc on the body’s processes and are mostly stored as fat.




The CARB Conspiracy

The body has many processors, timers, and mechanisms. You may wake up in the middle of the night to find you need to make an emergency trip to the bathroom. When you are frightened, your heart beat rises and your blood is flooded with chemicals that cause you to react. When you eat a meal, your stomach tells you when you are full (even though you may not listen!). The body also has a mechanism to tell you when you have eaten the required amount of certain types of food. There is a mechanism for fats and proteins…..but none for carbs! Your body will never tell you when you have had enough carbs and that is why you need to pay special attention to this energy source.

http://www.sleepwarrior.com/health-dangers-of-bread-pasta-and-rice
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/why-grains-are-unhealthy/
http://nourishedkitchen.com/against-the-grain-10-reasons-to-give-up-grains/

For the most part, this pyramid should be completely turned on its head. The largest part of the pyramid, the base, should either be completely eliminated or moved to the pinnacle. When humans were in the hunter/gatherer stage of development, they ate very little grains. When civilization began to develop agriculture, grains were very important for poor people to remain alive. Grains don’t run when you try to cut them down. They are cheap and readily available (and tasty, I know). If you must eat grains, avoid refined grains, white grains, and white potatoes. Sugar is the at the far end of the carb spectrum and can be considered the physical reincarnation of Satan. You can get your sugars from fruits and honey.
If you have a sweet tooth and find yourself gorging on fruits, be careful! The sugars (especially dried fruits) in fruit will rot your teeth and cause all sorts of problems in your body. Don’t overdo it!

Fruits and Vegetables

The largest portion of your carbs should come from fruits and vegetables. Anyway you can find to get more RAW fruits and vegetables, the better. I suggest getting 3 servings of raw greens a day (by all means, get as much as you can). Greens should always be eaten with FAT, as many of the vitamins and minerals they contain are fat soluble. Dense leafy green foods include kale, spinach, dandelion, collard greens, mustard greens, and chards. Green smoothies are a great way to get the greens down the hatch, especially if you are not a fan of vegetables. Get a blender, add water or milk (whole milk, coconut milk, or soy) about two cups. Try to add as much greens as you can with a high concentration of kale. Kale is extremely good for you and the fiber in kale absorbs many times its own weight in toxins. The next step is to add fruit. I use a blend of avocado, strawberries and bananas. Acidic fruits may not work so well. Berries are very friendly to the smoothie. Be weary of over-blending as it oxidizes and destroys valuable nutrients.

Green Smoothie Recipe:
• 1 Avocado
• 6 Strawberries
• 1 Banana
• 1 cup chopped fresh spinach
• 2 cups chopped fresh kale
• 2 cups whole milk
Blend until smooth and drinkable.

Proteins

The LORD has given us certain us every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. - Genesis 1:29

Protein can be somewhat of a complex subject as many people argue over the finer points of veganism and acidic blood levels caused by the consumption of animal protein. As with all your food, protein should be consumed from the widest variety of sources possible. Nuts and seeds in a wide variety provide many, if not all, of the essential fatty acids. They are usually high in omega fatty acids and contain a very high anti-oxidant and vitamin content. Some fruits and vegetables contain smaller amounts of protein and can assist in rounding out the diet plan. It is my personal belief that everyone should eat at least one animal source of protein a day. The body likes long chain, complex amino acids. Eating fish 3 times a week should be an absolute minimum for any vegetarian/vegan/etc (though I know you probably won’t), and for any meat eating heathen. This will eliminate the need for ingesting fish oil pills and is a much healthier solution. The fish oil industry is very suspicious and dirty. Don’t trust them, just eat real fish. Vegan enthusiast may argue that the consumption of animal proteins leads to an acidic PH of the bloodstream, but with enough raw fruits, vegetables, seeds, and nuts the body will be at the perfect PH. Taking 2 table spoon doses of apple cider vinegar with a large glass of water also helps with this.

Fats

Many people that believe in eating a healthy diet avoid this one component of food that they need the most: FAT! We use fat as direct energy and it also provides insulation to the cells of the body. Just like carbs and proteins, fats should be consumed from a wide variety of matter. Plant fats do not contain cholesterol and even saturated plant fats have been shown to decrease cholesterol. Coconut oil is a super food that should be a major part of everyone’s diets. High in lauric acid, it unarms fungus, bacteria, and viruses in the body and promotes healthy bodily functioning. It is also excellent for digestion and delivers a solid punch of energy with any small meal.

I recommend 1 tablespoon of coconut oil with meals to aid in digestion (may be unnecessary in high fat meals). Saturated animal fats are not the bad guys that they have been made out to me. The cholesterol contained in these fats is the back bone to the hormone molecule.

The French Paradox

“The French Paradox is the observation that Frenchmen suffer a relatively low incidence of coronary heart disease, despite having a diet relatively rich in saturated fats.”

Did you know that Americans have some of the world’s highest rates of heart disease, obesity and diabetes? This has nothing to do with the consumption of fat! Consumed fats are not reformed into body fat. They are burned, used to insulate cells or passed out of the body. Consuming fat will not make you fat. That is the job of sugar and carbs.

With these things said I offer a sample daily diet:

Wake up:
1-2 large cups of luke warm->warm water to encourage regularity

Breakfast to slowly awaken the metabolism to a high rate of burn for the day(listen to the body, do not eat whole pieces of fruit if you are urged to slow down):
• 1 apple (wait until hungry and move on to next fruit)
• 1 banana (wait again until hunger returns)
• 1/2 grape fruit

2nd Breakfast (brunch)
• 2 hard boiled eggs
• ½ grapefruit

Lunch
• 4 celery stalks (for salt)
• Dense green salad
• 2 tablespoon Hemp seed
• Small bunch of grapes

Afternoon snack
• 2 table spoons of apple cider vinegar (raw, unfiltered, organic) with 2 teaspoons of raw/local/organic honey in half a cup of warm water
• Mixed raw nuts
• I cup of plain kefir

Dinner
• 12 ounces of grilled tilapia
• Large dense salad
• Steamed broccoli
• 1 sweet potato

Desert
• Pineapple
• Mixed raw nuts

This is a very loose example of a daily diet. Feel free to add smoothies, different salads, and other foods. Pay attention to your body’s dialogue. Eat slowly…listen…and enjoy.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Alejandro Jodorowsky: Psychomagic

The shaman, Jodorowsky, expounds on his revolutionary psychological breakthrough. The symbol facilitates healing with depth.

"The psychological mechanism that transforms energy is the symbol."

-Carl Gustav Jung

We can use the symbol for many purposes. We use it to create the future, dicipher the present, and heal the past. When we have done the healing work, we become more centered in the present, giving us leverage on creating the future that we desire.

Jodorowsky makes a priceless contribution to the human understanding. I wish we had him sooner.

Pt. 1 of 6:

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Stephen's Purple Drink - Sangre del Arbol


The cabbage has been a staple in western diets for thousands of years. Packed with Vitamin C and K, it was seen as a commodity in fighting scurvy and hangovers on the turbulent sea. Its phytonutrient make up make it an excellent antioxidant and destroyer of cancers. Notice the fractal tree of life pattern in the manifestation of this beautiful spirit, concealing the secrets of immortality.



Cabbage can be consumed raw, cooked, dried, pickled, and salt cured. For those wishing to avoid the unpleasant side effects of digesting cabbage fiber (excessive wind), juicing may be a preferable method. Cabbage juice is high in chlorine and sulfur (secret element of the alchemist) which clean and heal the mucus membranes of the intestines. All healing in the body takes place from the inside out. By investing healing energy in the digestive tract, we can proactively fight disease and fatigue. I recommend drinking at least 2 glasses a day, 4-5 if you have poor intestinal health or ulcers. Purple cabbage is higher anthocyanin (found in all purple/red/blue plants) which makes its nutritional content higher than green cabbages.
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=19

Stephen's Purple Drink

Tools:
Blender
Fine mesh strainer (wide brimmed - you can find at target)
large bowl
small bowl

Ingredients
Shredded Purple Cabbage
handful of chopped carrots
2-3 celery stalks

Fill blender a little more than 3/4's of the way with shredded purple cabbage, add handful of cut carrots and celery. Fill blender 3/4's full of clean, fresh, unadulterated water (preferably blessed with loving intention). Blend on high for 1 min. Pour mesh into strainer and strain into bowl. Place small bowl onto cabbage mesh and slowly add pressure. The juice is ready to drink. May store for approximately 3 days.

This recipe can be modified into a powerful cheap pro-biotic formula. Just fill the blender full of cabbage, add 3/4's blender of water. Blend for 1 min and let the mix sit at room temperature for 3 days. Strain off the pulp and you have your formula. Consume 1/2 cup with equal parts water 2-3 times daily. Word to the wise, this stuff stinks! You might want to take mix outside when drinking and mixing. More formula can be made by adding a cup of pro-biotic juice to fresh juice and let it sit for 24 hours. Probiotic recipe taken from Chris Gupta: http://www.eregimens.com/therapies/Diet/Cultured%20Cabbage.htm

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Prayer and the Co-creation of Reality


Excerpt CXXIII from In Memoriam by Lord Alfred Tennyson

There rolls the deep where grew the tree.
O earth, what changes hast thou seen!
There where the long street roars, hath been
The stillness of the central sea.
The hills are shadows, and they flow
From form to form, and nothing stands;
They melt like mist, the solid lands,
Like clouds they shape themselves and go.
But in my spirit will I dwell,
And dream my dream, and hold it true;
For tho’ my lips may breathe adieu, I cannot think the thing farewell.


This giant mound of land and water rolling through space finds no peace in the pitch of night. Round and round it goes, illuminated by a ball of burning hydrogen. The consciousness of earth, expressing itself through man, is entangled in a web of illusion. The financial crisis rounds the herd into a ghetto of depression. Rogue flu strains creep into every corridor of space. War looms on every edge of the earth. Every waking moment is spent in terror of what plague God will caste upon us next. What is taking place in minds and hearts of men is that which threatens to destroy us. We must take our attention back and direct it in any way that we can use it to create a future for ourselves that is independent of central control. We don’t need legislation or even an army to do this. All that we need is our hearts, minds, and the will to act.

I am regretful to hear people have given up on prayer. These scarred and tattered souls have lost touch with the mystical roots their ancestors had worked so hard to preserve for the future generations. There is a general lack of enthusiasm for the spiritual realms in pop culture. The old truths have lost relevancy in a routine of redundant work, errands, and stress. The minds of the youth are so dominated by popular media that one can often find the moral of last night’s South Park episode dictating the philosophical medium of the average high school teenager.

Some manage to break through the sphere of local consciousness and relate to the free thinkers of the day. “God is dead,” declared Nietzsche. Many people seem to take this as an exclamation of the vacancy of spirit in the physical experience. Darwin’s theory portrays a random sequence of events leading to an existential existence where instant gratification is purpose. Still, others attempt to explain God through the rational faculties of the intellect, citing prayer as a selfish endeavor: “ One could not possibly change the will of God through prayer.” If God knows every atom at every place at every time in the Universe, then how could the individual dictate their will to God (a philosophical contradiction)? Others tell me that they have no use for prayer any more. Maybe it was due to the fact that they did not achieve the results they were seeking.

There has been a loss of heart in our generation. Technology, modern comfort, and socializing have taken the place of contemplation, meditation, and the search for ultimate truth. We don’t even have time to think anymore. Families disintegrate all around me, including my own. Families that can maintain the congenial binding, have little time to pay attention to the development of the soul and creation of a loving community. Most of free time that we have falls prey to shallow entertainment and consumerism.

Enter stage right, the new paradigm: 2011, the year before the Mayan end date. According to late Ian Lungold, 2011 signals the beginning of our next great lesson in the classroom of cosmic consciousness: co-creation.

The calendar can be visualized as a pyramid, with each cycle promoting an overall lesson. Each lesson is proportionally smaller than the proceeding lesson, forcing consciousness to experience the volume of the cycle in a smaller time frame. You can see by the diagram that we are currently in the Galactic Cycle in the lesson of “ethics”. Ethics is not a contract that you sign in school to guilt trip you out of cheating; it is the understanding of karma, unity, and civility. For the ruling Anglo-American civilization, this lesson will be an especially hard lesson to learn and will result in pain and upheaval. Not only will conspiracy come to light in this time period but the intentions of the controllers will be exposed and confronted. The ugliness and pain of this experience will be eclipsed in the year 2011 when man learns that he/she is a co-creator of the Universe; a living, breathing tapestry that responds and aligns to every thought and emotion we generate. Daniel Pinchbeck cites Rudolf Stiener in his book, 2012: The Return of Quetzecoatl, with the following prediction: the entire population of earth would be completely enlightened by the end of 2010. When I first read of this “prediction”, I was astounded. There is no way, even half of earth’s population could be anywhere near enlightenment by 2011. After researching the Mayan calendar, and having teachers such as Ian Lungold, I am beginning to think differently.


As the economy continues to collapse and the overlords make their final asset grabbing free for all, more and more people turn towards prayer. It is likely that most of the prayers whispered in the lonely night of material disintegration will be directed more toward intervention and less toward creation. One might say, “Oh Lord, Jesus, please pay my mortgage…I need a miracle. I will do anything if you get my mortgage paid this month. I’ll never stare at a woman’s ass again. I’ll never eat Twinkies. I’ll help my mom clean her garage…anything, Lord!!!” These sorts of people have a skewed vision of who or what God is and will have very little luck getting anyone to intercede on their behalf. The mystic understands that God is not a person that is there to throw us a bone in times of need or smite us under his thumb. Thankfully we have true champions of spirit such as Gregg Braden blazing the torch of enlightenment for us to follow suit and create a world of our own.

In his book, The Isaiah Effect: Decoding the Lost Science of Prayer and Prophecy, he explains the quantum connection between the self and the exterior world and that our thoughts and emotions play an important part in the experience that we create for ourselves. He also tells of his miraculous experiences such as witnessing the healing of physical wounds right before his eyes, missing space and time, and Native American rain dances.

We are literally connected with our external world. There is no difference between what is inside your head and what is going on around you. The mind is projecting a hologram of fluxuating energy that is designed to respond to every thought and emotion that the individual can create. Scientist have recently discovered that we can change reality by mere observation.


Dr. Quantum, The Double Slit Experiment
What the Bleep Do We Know!

Mr. Braden hypothesizes a new model of prayer. This model is new in a sense that it is unknown to the west, but in reality has slipped through the reflections of antiquity and safely landed in the present. The four suits of modern playing cards, the Tarot, and the four lettered name of God encompass this model for prayer. The formula follows as such:

THOUGHT + EMOTION = FEELING
FEELING + ACTION = DESIRED RESULT
(Thought + Emotion) + Action = Result

I have stated in earlier blogs the connection between Tarot and the ancient formula for prayer. Fire is thought, water is emotion, air is action, and earth is the final outcome

Gregg tells a story of traveling into the Himalayan mountains to find a monastery where he could learn secret teachings to bring back to the world. Finally arriving at the monastery, he begins to petition a meeting with the abbot. After winding down halls of chanting monks and wading through puddles of yak butter, he meets the abbot. He asks, “if you had one thing to tell the modern world, what would it be?” The abbot responded, “You must feel your prayers.” Feeling? Really? That’s it? That’s what I have been missing all this time? Yes.

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. " Mark 11:24

Usually, our prayers consist of thoughts assigned to some arbitrary emotion. We may unknowingly couple our prayers with fear, worry, anxiety, etc. These emotions consist of lower vibrations and even though they do strengthen the power of the prayer, we may be unknowingly attracting outcomes that inconsistent with our desires. The single most powerful emotion that one can attach to any prayer is gratitude. The vibration emitted by the emotion of gratitude signals the universal energy to shape into the picture that we have formulated. It is like creating a mold for the future, and the Universal energy flows into the mold, solidifying into your own creative intention. In everything we do, we must be grateful. When we wake up in the morning, we must be grateful to live to see another day unfold. We must be grateful when we put on our cloths, grateful when we eat our breakfast, and when we get into our cars.

When we practice prayer and gratitude, the aura is bathed in light streaming from the chakras opening crown, heart, and root chakras to create a flow. When our energy flows, we are healthy, happy, and content. Stagnation causes disease and emotional problems. The ability to maintain a center of gratitude will also increase our ability to manifest destiny. Some may have difficulties maintaining any level of gratitude due to the severing of the emotional body from waking consciousness.

Connecting to the emotional body is easier said than done. From the time we are born, we learn to repress our emotions just to be able to function. Bright lights, cold air, strange people, being ripped from our mother and smacked on the ass violate everything we have known to be. These catastrophic events are repressed in the psyche, initiating a cycle of habitually detaching from emotion; debilitating our ability to see the self as it is. We live in a patriarchal paradigm that values pride, patriotism, sacrifice, and the masculine display of power. By reconnecting to our emotions in a healthy way, we change the paradigm from within, manifesting a world in balance of male and female.


Reconnecting to the right brain is embracing the feminine aspect of our being. Honoring the feminine has more to do with being nice women and girls. It is an acknowledgement to the female within, the right side of the brain, the emotional experience. The Return of the Divine Feminine prophesied by so many indigenous tribes and pagan systems of faith is none other than the return of right brain thinking, balancing the dominating left half and initiating an understanding of co-creating reality.

Though many people say “grace” over their food, they neglect the single most important element to our survival: water. Why say grace over water? Water is a symbol of the feminine, emotional energy. The Star card from Crowley’s Thoth deck depicts the energy of the star spiraling energy out as water flows from a cup. This card is representative of the Aquarian age, a water sign with water as its identifying symbol. Maybe this indicates that the study of emotion and how it affects our future time lines may become very important in the years to follow as we enter the Aquarian age. Understanding water as a metaphor for emotional energy, we can visualize the thought of our prayers as the form into which the liquid emotion flows and solidifies.

According to Dr. Emoto, water is the most receptive of the elements. He conducted a study on the effects of thought/emotion on water. Water that is structured well forms hexagonal liquid crystals. Dr. Emoto found from hundreds of trials of independent experimentation that when the crystal freezes, the form developed is dependent on the thought/emotion projected onto it.


The structure of water dictates your body’s ability to use it in ways that benefit normal functioning and longevity. Danny Vitalis and Dr. Leonard Horowitz give much more background to this science and the practical application. ( http://technorati.com/videos/youtube.com/watch?v=V_hvLvS2dgY, http://www.drlenhorowitz.com/) Connecting to water is to connect to the emotional body. “As above, so below. As within, so without.” –Hermes “Thoth” Trismegestis

Dr. Phil says, “The Universe rewards action!” (Don’t persecute me for quoting Dr. Phil, he’s not half bad) When we act on our prayers, the Universe (the inner self) will go out of its way to bring us opportunities and situations that will manifest our desired result. Although the outcome is usually different than we imagined, it will more often than not, exceed our expectations doing everything it can to bring us abundance and prosperity. The Universe doesn’t want us to be miserable, living in a day to day struggle to feed our children. It wants us to be full of joy and wonder at creation. We live in heaven, but our collective psychological underdevelopment perpetuates a living hell: a prison. Our technology continues to advance at an exponential rate enabling us to travel into space, yet we cannot solve the riddle of unhappiness.

Taking all of these points into consideration, a simple prayer would go something like this, “Thank you (Jesus, God, Allah, the Universe, self) for my new job. I am thankful for the ability to maintain financial independence, care for my family, and purchase a new house”. Repeat the prayer often so that it sinks deep into the unconscious. I am not the type to formulate my prayers into words, so experiment, research, and gather your results. It only takes a few successes to convince the subconscious of a new reality pattern and open the flood gates of personal creation. Now take action! Your new job could very well land on your lap, but it would have a much better chance if you search for the job, schedule an interview, and then show up. Baby steps…baby steps…


Accessing the 5th Dimension

As far out as this may seem, it is not impossible. In fact, you access the 5th dimension on a regular basis in your dreams and day dreams. We live in a three dimensional world and perceive a fourth dimension of time so that we may pinpoint a place in space-time with four coordinates: x, y, z axis’s and time. The fifth dimension lies right outside of time: the realm of thought. This mind is a powerful template of creation, communication, and problem solving. How many times have you been trying to solve a problem, or remember the name of a particular someone and you just can’t seem to grasp that which is just beyond the reach of your cognition? Then during some completely unrelated activity, the thought suddenly jumps into your head with no effort. This is because the mind works in a non-linear (outside of time) fashion as a hologram of information and experience. It is much more than it seems being that the unconscious (that functioning that you are unaware of) makes up for 99% of the total mind.

This exercise was written by Dr. Bruce Goldberg as a relaxation technique (functioning no different from shamans and wizards of old) and can be found on his website: http://www.drbrucegoldberg.com/Exercise1.htm .

Dr. Goldberg is one of the world’s leading authorities on past and future life regression, time travel, and the super conscious mind tap. All of his books are excellent and available on the website. You may use this exercise by reading through and quickly memorizing the major points to the technique and then meditating in silence or to some soft music. If you are not comfortable doing this, you can record yourself reading the script on the computer and play it back to yourself in a meditative state.

Sanctuary Exercise

Sit back, breathe deeply, and send a warm feeling into your toes and feet. Let this feeling break up any strain or tension, and as you exhale let the tension drain away. Breathe deeply and send this warm feeling into your ankles. It will break up any strain or tension, and as you exhale let the tension drain away. Breathe deeply and send this feeling into your knees, let it break up any strain or tension there, and as you exhale let the tension drain away. Send this warm sensation into your thighs so any strain or tension is draining away. Breathe deeply and send this warm feeling into your genitals and drain away any tension.
Send this warm feeling into your abdomen now; all your internal organs are soothed and relaxed and any strain or tension is draining away. Let this energy flow into your chest and breasts; let it soothe you and as you exhale any tension is draining away. Send this energy into your back now. This feeling is breaking up any strain or tension and as you exhale the tension is draining away. The deep, relaxing energy is flowing through your back, into each vertebra, as each vertebra assumes its proper alignment. The healing energy is flowing into all your muscles and tendons, and you are relaxed, very fully relaxed. Send this energy into your shoulders and neck; this energy is breaking up any strain or tension and as you exhale the tension is draining away. Your shoulders and neck are fully relaxed. And the deep relaxing energy is flowing into your arms; your upper arms, your elbows, your forearms, your wrists, your hands, your fingers are fully relaxed.

Let this relaxing energy wash up over your throat, and your lips, your jaw, your cheeks are fully relaxed. Send this energy into your face, the muscles around your eyes, your forehead, your scalp are relaxed. Any strain or tension is draining away. You are relaxed, most completely relaxed.And now float to your space, leave your physical body and move between dimensions and travel to your space, a meadow, a mountain, a forest, the seashore, wherever your mind is safe and free. Go to that space now. And you are in your space, the space you have created, a space sacred and apart. Here in this space you are free from all tension and in touch with the calm, expansive power within you. Here in this space you have access to spiritual information and energy. Here is the space where you can communicate with your spirit guides. Your flow is in harmony with the flow of the universe. Because you are part of the whole creation you have access to the power of the whole of creation. Here you are pure and free. This is your personal sanctuary.

Stay here for a few minutes and when you are ready let yourself drift up and back to your usual waking reality. You will return relaxed, refreshed, and filled with energy. And you will return now, gently and easily. Open your eyes.

Creating Reality from the Sanctuary

The sanctuary is now your access point to a stable environment in the 5th dimension. This sanctuary is as every bit as real as the world around you. The more practice you put into accessing this space, the more the energy will stabilize and create a conduit of spiritual power for you to use at your disposal.

New age philosophy has been making mainstream ripples with the publication of The Secret. The Secret suggest that if you want something bad enough, you will physically attract the like. Although this is a good start to understanding the mechanics of intention, it is not an absolute formula for success.

The book explains the phenomenon as the Law of Attraction. Although there is a spiritual law that says, “Like attracts like”, there is no such Law of Attraction. This pseudo-law is actually part of a broader concept called the Law of Abundance, which takes more than whimsical wishes into account. Karma, literally translated as action, has an equal and opposite reaction (thank you Newton). By creating good karma, one can start a flow of positivity in their direction. The more good karma is created, the stronger and speedier the flow of abundance. Remember, once this flow is created, bad karma flows back just as fast and sharp. You can create good karma by having grace on people less fortunate than yourself. This includes volunteer work, donating to a charity or church (I would suggest you make sure you know exactly how your money is being used), or just helping someone in need. Helping people without telling them where the help came from can also be a very rewarding pursuit. If you are worried about doing good deeds for the sake of good karma, get over yourself. Just start helping out the people around you without expecting anything in return (money, recognition, or even a thank you) and let your new positive emotions do the work for you.

Here, we will learn how to create the “like” in the fifth dimension and let the Universe attract the physical equivalent while sowing good karma in this dimension.

Before entering a meditative state and journeying into the sanctuary, list a few adjectives and characteristics of the person/place/thing that you wish to attract into your life. This could be physical appearances, personality traits, job descriptions, pay range, color, shape, etc. Now that you have an idea of exactly what you want to attract, you may enter the dimension of the spirit world. It is not necessary to go through the deep relaxation techniques on every visit to the sanctuary. Your mind will become familiar with the routine and automatically go into a relaxed alpha wave state with little effort after practicing the relaxation technique a few times. Just begin meditating, take a few deep breaths , go to your sacred space of peace and meditate there for a few minutes.

Journey to your shamanic sanctuary and proceed with the following. Begin to visualize the physical appearance of your desired object. Try to really bring out the details of all the senses, how does it feel, how does it smell, etc.? Imagine this object as having all the attributes that you desire. After you have built the form of the desired object, fill the form with an emotion of gratitude. Feel gratitude for having this special object in your life and how it has enhanced your health and happiness. Really try to feel the energy flowing from your heart and surrounding the object. Hold this sensation/visual for a moment or two. Now shrink down this image and place it in your heart. Imagine the object in your heart turn to light and then slowly seep into every cell of your heart. and begin to radiate throughout your body. It encompasses your whole body, then bleeding into the aura and then the entirety of the Universe. The light is now radiating from your heart out to the furthest corners of the Universe, pulsating and breathing with life. After a moment or two of pulsing light from your heart, slowly return to the sanctuary. Thank your guides (God, Jesus, Allah, Universe) for helping you manifest your desires and guiding you through the dense earth plane.

Stay here for a few minutes and when you are ready let yourself drift up and back to your usual waking reality. You will return relaxed, refreshed, and filled with energy. And you will return now, gently and easily. Open your eyes.

This is a new day in your life. You can take control. You can change the channel. You are creating reality.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Dalet Part 2: Mega Memory




The visual cortex of the brain is, without a doubt, one of the most powerful tools that we have been given in this life. It amazes me that I did not have even one class on how to use this potentially enlightening gift in any of my classes in preschool. If you want to make your child smart, you would introduce them to this side of their intelligence as early as possible. Crowley said that children should be instructed in the symbolism of Tarot as early as possible, and for good reason.
Linking visualization with memory is the key to hyper expansion of the memory. Anything that you are trying to memorize (names, directions, study sheets) can be compacted into series of pictures, animations, or symbols. It has been theorized that the Occipital Lobe can receive information directly from the pineal gland, and that we are realizing hidden dimensions of awareness inside the mind when utilizing this phenomenon. Many of us in the in the ever growing circle of mystics, understand the all pervading energy of the symbol. By awakening the mind to the language of symbols, you automatically begin to awaken dormant patterns of observation and integration. Memory becomes expanded and information in the nether regions of the mind comes to light with ease never before imagined.

I remember engaging this forgotten asset of the mind for the first time in middle school. My English teacher was submerging us into the world of poetry. Gently guided into a meditative state, we were told to visualize our minds as a chalk board. The board is full of everything that is buzzing in our lives: jumbled emotions, worries, hopes, etc. We were instructed to wipe the board clean with a few giant sweeps of an imaginary eraser. I remember breaching the familiar feeling of clarity, though I had not experienced it at this intensity. From this primordial stepping stone, we ventured into a shamanic journey of colors, sounds, and textures. We were told to just let images regarding these sensations to fill our minds. She spoke the color BLUE, and I was overwhelmed by the smell of the ocean, the sand at my feet and the cool breeze of the water on my face. Eventually, these images given to me by my own mind would become my first poem.


This powerful lesson was to become a jumping point for my research later in life.
Jumping ahead to my first band….

I have not always been a very versatile musician. Most people who have tried to play heavy metal understand that it can be quite confrontational. Jazz musicians usually don’t have a hard time picking it up, but I barley played guitar and was 17 at the time and had not been playing for more than a few years. I was having trouble remembering a particular rift, when my good friend and past band mate, Alex Bois, gave me a very thoughtful suggestion. He said, “See the riff as an airplane.” What the hell was he talking about?! Eventually, I saw that the shape of the riff on the guitar fret board and it really did take the form of an airplane. From that point on, I was able to visualize all the riffs as different shapes and symbols and never had a problem remembering anything.



Jumping forward again to the present, I came across the work of Kevin Trudeau. I purchased his tapes on Mega Memory for 1 cent off Amazon.com and I’m sure it is still cheaply available. Kevin’s system depends mostly on the development of an exaggerated analogous narrative. He walks the individual through a guided meditation of a ridiculous story that seems to have no relativity unto itself. It becomes undeniably clear after several repetitions of the narrative, that the eccentricity of the story is the mechanism for memory. According to Kevin’s method, the more exaggerated you can visualize your metaphor, the easier it will be to remember. Kevin’s guided visualization was something along the lines of:

[You are climbing the Statue of Liberty. You walk to the top and step the edge of the crown and throw a hundred purple pennies down to the ground. You jump from the statue and land on the back of a red bus. The bus spins around the corner and runs over an old man dressed as a ring master...etc]

Though the narrative was longer and more detailed but you get the point. The visualization was repeated about 3 times and then we were asked to remember specific details of the journey. The details are much easier to remember when you can SEE them, as if they were a past experience.

The mind cannot perceive the difference between what is imagined and what real.

I employed this technique throughout the remainder of my college experience and saved countless hours memorizing mundane facts about whatnot, and who done it. I remember memorizing the 7 step problem solving model by creating a cartoon character in my head that went through a series of exaggerated metaphorical actions. Worked like a charm.

Here is a graphic representation of my visualized narrative for the problem solving method in a simpler form. In reality, the narrative would be much more colorful, detailed, and animated:


Match the visuals to the corresponding number on the problem solving model:
  1. Define and Identify the Problem
  2. Analyze the Problem
  3. Identifying Possible Solutions
  4. Selecting the Best Solutions
  5. Evaluating Solutions
  6. Develop an Action Plan
  7. Implement the Solution

The development of the narrative with several walkthroughs of the visualization is all it takes for memorizing mundane facts in accordance to the educational curriculum. There are countless other applications for this technique. So get out there and do some exploring!

VISUALIZE REALITY AS YOU EXPERIENCE IT. And be creative.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Channeling the Beyond

I am an IT professional by day. There is no need to let my coworkers have a glimpse into my world. It is a bit frustrating not being able to share my experiences, findings, and wonders with the people in my general vicinity. I feel like I am learning so much every day and there is really no one to tell, so I’ll keeps it tight with the blog and forum community. ‘Big ups’ to Red Ice Creations and the Synchromysticism Forum for doing their part in contributing to the great awakening and integrating the network of mystics and researchers.



The story begins with the end…of an evening that is. I had just come home from an enlightening Kabala class where I managed to gain some rewarding insights and tie together some angelic symbolism. I got home around ten o’clock and promptly medicated myself. I was feeling the inspiration and decided to hang out in my room and think about the events of the day. My recent musical purchase of Ragas by Ravi Shankar was dancing about my room with unique melodic phrases and rhythm counts of other worldly timing. The CD has instruction and lecture by Ravi on what exactly Ragas are, how to count them, and the phrasing concepts; a great purchase for any student of music. He then demonstrates these techniques in long story telling bouts of Indian musical tradition.


I was walking about the room; maybe even thinking of finding another activity to wind me down, when I heard the most curious suggestion coming from the voice of the sitar. With elegant and beautiful tonality, the sitar was coaxing me to take a seat on the floor and invest my time in some meditational exploration. Now the sitar was not metaphorically or intuitively giving me suggestions; it was literally giving me explicit instructions. The melody had become a voice, or what I was interpreting as voice and speech. Of course, the thought crossed my mind that this could be an illusion, maybe even part of my own psyche breaking through to me or my higher self finding a mode to guide me. Whatever this voice was, I decided to go with the program.



In earlier days, I would have never given a second thought to meditating while under the influence. How can you focus, when your mind is flowing in several directions at once? However, I had just finished reading A Magick Life: A Biography of Aleister Crowley by Martin Booth. Crowley had used drugs religiously in conjunction with meditation and magical ritual, even contacting the ‘secret chiefs’. This is not something that I suggest anyone should practice unsupervised, especially trying to contact any ‘secret chiefs’. Marijuana is a hallucinogen and therefore visualization is heightened under the influence. Visualization is the key to accessing the wisdom of the ‘third eye’ so all hallucinogens play an important part in my personal development; I do, however, stress moderation and balance.

After making these virtual check points in my mind and deciding to engage the voice coming from the other end of the line, I assumed the half lotus position and began to relax. All the while, the voice is instructing me on my posture and breathing speaking in beautiful rhythmic patterns, weaving a tapestry of love and comfort. The voice sang, “Six deep breaths. Now we begin, with three breaths in and three out.” The first gift of the creator was the breath, and so we can connect to the life force through yogic breathing, learning to coordinate the diaphragm with the upper chest. It can be compared to filling a glass of water and then emptying the glass of water in the same fashion. In my practice, yogic or circular breathing is used as a warm up to settle the mind and connect with the inner self. So there was no surprise that the voice was asking me to begin this way.

Even while I was taking the breaths, the voice was encouraging me every step of the way. On completion of the six breath, the voice exclaimed the emotion of joy and the music coincided with a raise in vibration and speed of the tabla player.

The next step given to me was a fascinating technique for the illumination of the third eye. I had worked with the chakras before, but this technique was a little different. I was instructed to imagine a small flame in the center of my head or even the symbol of a flame. Still, my posture was under constant ‘observation’ by this disincarnate entity, and I made several adjustments or alignments during the course of the experience. Each time, the adjustments were to make my spine straighter, shoulders back, navel in, and move the legs around to support the structure. I even stretched my back muscles periodically then returned to the straightest posture I could manifest.

Now that I was fully illuminating the third eye, I received my next instruction. While holding the flame or symbol (whichever is easier, I found the symbol easier while I was focusing on other things) in position, I was told to pulse sheets of white light down my body. Starting at the crown, let the light paint your body from all directions, going all the way down to the root. This process was repeated a multiple of times. Each time, bliss and ecstasy beamed from my heart and mind and brought me closer to the true nature of being.


At this point, I was beginning to catch glimpses of movement in this light world I had created from the depths of my mind. One can always think that they will remain brave in the face of other worldly events, but until you are right there standing at the doorway, you have no idea how you are going to react. I remind you, I was a little high. The anxiety was starting to hit me and I had to back down. I was assured that this was ok, and even expected. While I sat for a moment and contemplated the events that had transpired, the voice was in constant communication with me, sending words of encouragement and joy.

During my little break, I had the idea to try some of my long distance healing work. The thought sparked a reaction of glee from the sitar and the tablas let out a trilling drum roll to initiate the next lesson. I began to visualize a friend of mine, who had been put on a kidney transplant list due to the fact that her body had gone auto-immune and attacked her kidneys, leading them to cease function. My idea was to rub the kidneys between my fingers (of my chi body), infusing them with light. I thought that maybe I could ignite them, like the spark of an engine, to get them to ‘turn over’. As I began feeding light into the kidneys, the suddenly turned to mush, and then a sand like substance, slipping right through my hands.

I was surprised and perplexed. Did this mean that there was nothing I could do for her? The voice grabbed my attention and addressed the situation in my heart, “Love is the center of all healing”. I was then instructed in a mudra for the heart chakra, “Fold the hands over the heart.” Later, my brother told me that this was ‘the mudra’ for the hearth chakra. My lessons in Peruvian shamanism had given me an understanding of the role unconditional love plays in healing. There are multiple healing modalities that do not utilize unconditional love at all, and that’s ok. It is not necessary. For my path, I believe that unconditional love will come into play with a lot of my work and that my guides want me to make a habit of accessing that vibration.


I do not live in unconditional love. I shift moods. I am sometimes cynical, dark, and/or brooding. The lesson is to access unconditional love in the moment. No matter what you think or feel about the person you are working with, you must find a way to unconditionally love them in that period that you are working with them. *(thanks to my teacher Maya Phoenix for making that clear)

At one point, I had an emotional rift with the friend of mine that I was working on, and needed to reset my energy if I was going to address her situation. I found the green center of glowing light deep in my chest and began to expand upon the feeling. Love is a vibration that you can tune in on at any time. Just imagine you are holding a small pet (puppy or kitten) or an infant closely to your chest. Do you feel that? Expand!

From here on, I started to lose my concentration. The length of my day and the intense focus had left me exhausted. I wrote down my experience in my magical journal and tried to go about the rest of my night. My problem was….I had left the phone off the hook. If you ever encounter an unexpected channeling session, be sure to close it out properly. I heard voices for the rest of the night that were quite annoying. I assumed that my ego had taken over. This had happened to me before many years ago on a mushroom trip. I tried to animate a voice in my head, give it a life of its own and it proceeded to fuck with me relentlessly. I would compare the post channeling experience to this. So remember to ‘hang up the phone’ to establish personal boundaries with disincarnate entities.


I am not going to try to actively channel beings. The experience was great, but not something I want to make a habit of. I will take the techniques that I learned and continue to practice them. I was a little freaked out to even listen to the Ravi Shankar CD again. Thankfully, I enjoyed it without any recognition of other worldly voices.



Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Tarot Deck 2: The Minor Arcana


In my personal studies of the Tarot, I have found the Minor Arcana to be the hardest to translate into meaningful interpretations. The symbolism is complex and vague all at the same time. The Rider-Waite deck is the hardest for me to translate as most decks give a one word summary of the meaning and the Rider-Waite uses only pictures. What I believe Waite was trying to accomplish (though I have not read his Tarot research), was to use certain scenes from daily life, medieval times, and mythology to describe the broad meanings of the card based on a specific formula. Anyone who owns other esoteric decks such as Crowley’s Thoth Deck or The Golden Dawn Magickal Tarot will notice that the cards of the Minor Arcana contain astrological symbols. These symbols may even confuse the reader as they do not always seem to correspond with the written interpretations of the card. I have written on this subject previously in my blog but I will go through all the symbol systems involved to clarify.

The Minor Arcana is the second deck of the Tarot, the court royal cards being a separate deck all together. There are 40 cards in the deck all together. The number 40 has a long history of symbolism found throughout the Bible and ancient cultures. The great flood was accompanied by 40 days and nights of rain, Jesus walked the desert for 40 days and nights, and the Israelites wandered the desert for 40 years. According to Ernest Busenbark in his book, Sex, Symbols and the Stars, the number 40 may had been attributed to turmoil and hardships followed by a renewal as it coincides with the cycle of human gestation being 40 weeks or 10 twenty eight day months (18).


The tetragrammaton is the four lettered name kept sacred to Judaism and paganism across the world and is encrypted into various components of the Tarot. This ‘holy’ or ‘sacred’ name has often been described as a representation of the four elements. The four fold nature of being, as articulated by Carl Jung’s quaternary, are intellect, intuition, emotion, and sensation (http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=1722). This can be seen as we think thoughts, feel emotions, use instinctive decision making combining thought and emotion, and sense the world around us. The four suits of the Tarot, the four elements (fire, water, air, earth), and the four fold nature of being are all symbolically equal. The Tarot in conjunction with Kabala, describes each of these natures further by inscribing the Tree of Life in each of the four worlds. The Tarot is graphically and symbolically describing what the written tradition of Kabala has been teaching at least since the 10th century.



The symbolism is completely holographic with the existence of each of the four worlds in each separate world:




This allows for many levels of information to be encoded into the symbolism as we apply Kabala to Tarot, as it was meant to be. There are other symbolic relationships engrained into the tree itself, such as pillars, triangles, paths, etc. Any understanding of these will further advance your study of Tarot and your ability to draw information from the spreads.

SYMBOL KEYS

Each card of the Minor Arcana contains a NUMBER that represents the SPHERE on the Tree and a SUIT which represents the mode of being or ELEMENT. There is one more system of information added to the Minor Arcana that is not easily perceived. It contains the entire Zodiac, though in a different format than the Major Arcana.


Each house of the Zodiac contains 3 sub houses called decans or decantes. Decan means ‘division or ruler of ten’ as the whole Zodiac is 360 degrees and each decan is 10 degrees making 36 decans. Extracting the 4 aces from the 40 cards gives us 36 (40-4=36). The ace of each suit is not represented in the wheel because the ace is considered to be the pure emanation of that element. For example: the ace of cups can be seen as the pure emanation of emotion (water) in its highest form; love. It is rather simple. As we move into the 2 or Chockmah, the card takes on the symbols of the decan and house.

Venus in Cancer with Chockmah in Briah is a very balanced energy. It is the love that we can understand as we live in a dualistic reality. Venus represents love, art, the mother, and the divine feminine. We know that Cancer is a water sign, making it compatible with Venus (love, female, water). Cancer is a motherly, protective shell as illustrated by the crab. Chockmah is the first split off of Kether, and it still holds stability of divine energy. Combining all of these concepts, love is weighed as a balanced force, not like the duality of good and evil but the idea of active and passive.

THE FORUMULA

For you math majors:
(Decan + House) + (Element + Modality) = Minor Arcana

A great site to get to initiate an understanding the role Kabala plays in Tarot is:
Raven’s Tarot Site
http://www.corax.com/tarot/

I believe this book is essential to beginning Tarot studies, especially to those people serious about studying Crowley’s Thoth Deck:
Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot
By Lon Milo Duquette

The Book of Thoth
By Aleister Crowley

Good Reading:
http://www.alphaorion.com/MinorArcana.pdf