silent thunder

Attempts to wake before our time are often punished, especially by those who love us most. Because they, bless them, are asleep. They think anyone who wakes up, or who, still asleep, realizes that what is taken to be real is a ‘dream’ is going crazy. R. D. Laing

Swimming. I'd recommend swimming.

barnacle

not laugh, but this made me smile pretty wide... my kinda celebratin!

Murder the innocent, eat their body, drink their blood... seems perfectly normal doesn't it? And really, did they 'murder' Yeshua? I mean, he was 'the son of god' and he preached such. So he knew and was aware that he was the son of god and would not die for eternity. So technically did he really give up his life for our sins? Since, he was destined to rise again on the third day, hence it being 'good friday' when he was offed. Seems like he didn't so much give his life for our sins as give up his three day weekend for our sins, which doesn't seem so terrible now does it. Let's celebrate!

get round the fire with a glass of strong ale and tell us a story from beyond the pale bury some seeds and expect some strong branches I'll tend to the flame, you can worship the ashes...

Picked up our first of three Milkweed bushes for this year's Momma Monarch Migration. I remain hopeful, though reported sighting numbers are very grim.

My wife and I had been hiking along a rising bluff of cliffs overlooking the Pacific ocean far below, in Big Sur when we were met on the path by a man veritably glowing with energy and joy walking the other way. The man gazed at us with a wide smile, almost as if recognizing us, then said unprompted "when you get to the fork up ahead... go left! ... it's magical! unbelievable!" Then he continued on downhill behind us walking as if dazed, and was gone. We smiled and chuckled a bit, me wondering if he was lit up on entheogens of some sort. I logged his prompt and wished him well, then we continued our hike. When we got to the fork, we flowed left and then eventually came to rest from the uphill climb in a grove of Trees. It was a perfect morning for me. Cloudy and cool with a light breeze. The unforgiving California Sun masked by a marine layer. We wordlessly agreed to come to a rest after the long uphill trek and sat down. After settling in place and after soaking in the enormous view of the Pacific Ocean, I looked up and was struck by several dozen Monarchs flitting about between the branches of the trees we rested beneath. The Sun had begun peaking through the thinning haze, and the flutterby's were enjoying the warmth of the emerging sunshine. And as my eyes rested on the space between the trees it really struck me, I'd never seen that many Monarchs flying in one small spot. We normally remain silent on our walks so I pointed up and smiled and my gal smiled seeing so many flitterers about us. And then it happened. Eyes seeing but not yet perceiving what they saw shifted, and as realization settled in awareness my mouth gaped open, I gasped audibly, stood up as my heart cascaded upward and outward with the realization... that there weren't just a few dozen monarchs flitting in the emerging sunshine. The trees we sat under, were Eucalyptus... this is California I realized and we had come to rest in a grove where the Monarchs return to hibernate, lay eggs and then pass on. This is what the man had been reacting to and urging us toward. There were so many Monarchs resting in the trees that only the trunks were visible. What I had assumed to be heavily leafed branches were the bodies of millions upon millions of resting Monarchs... so thick they dragged the branches down with their weight and utterly obfuscated the tree upon which they slept. My spirit expanded, samadhi enveloped awareness in the entire hilltop, the cliffs, the trees and the settling gut sense that this same pulsing of Monarchs, Sun, Eucalyptus Grove, Wind, Cliffs and Ocean had breathed this action countless times throughout the history of this plane... and here I was, rising in spirit among it, fully aware and wholly saturated in effortless gratitude that such a possibility as this arises in nature and I am part of it. I don't know how long we rested in silence in this grove. Eventually we came back to our bodies, and headed down to our campsite. The next day we hiked a different path, without even bringing it up, there was an unspoken realization that to do so, would run counter to the gift we'd been offered to be a part of... but that meeting has never left me. As is my wont... I began researching Monarchs and that's when I came to learn about this relative immortality that they seem to express as a species. In one year, four to five generations of Monarchs are born, travel and then lay eggs. Eggs hatch in about 4 days. The larva feed I forget how long before forming the Chrysallis that houses their transformation. Then once the Chrysallis is complete, a sack within their body releases enzymes that dissolve and liquify the caterpillar body... and the alchemy of transformation begins is earnest. 10 or so days later, the Monarch pushes its way out of the shell and emerges to continue the course. Monarchs live an average of six-eight weeks, before laying more eggs and perishing. But an astounding thing happens each fourth or fifth (i forget exaclty) generation. The Monarchs of this generation exhibit an immortality of sorts as they outlive all the previous generations combined and make the entire return flight to the ancestral nesting grounds in California or Mexico. They live four or five times longer than their predecessors! And return unerringly to a place they've never been... to where their great great grandsires left generations ago. In perspective, if a human lives 80 years. That would be like me, living 320 years and traveling back to my ancestor's farm in Trondelag Norway coming home to where my great great grandmother was born. Riveting to mull the mechanics behind it... do they eat a different food? Do they have a significantly different physiology? Metabolic rates, even basic perception... I've long had the suspicion that what science calls 'Instinct' is the ability to recall Ancestral Memory. To be able to recall Great Grandma's memories as if one's own, allowing simple expression of the seemingly mystical process. I have no interest in immortality myself and would turn it down if tacitly offered. To contantly witness the passing of any who share a connection would be a seemingly unbearable burden I'd not wish on anyone. But this Monarch longevity certainly seems significant, as it relates to 'relative immortality' and Alchemy and all the myriad Taoist practices and philosophies I've studied and followed. Long, healthy, vibrant life. What are the ramifications and implications to other species? i wonder while i wander. The alchemy of dissolving one's body entirely! (Or in my case, my mind processes). Literally liquifying and then reforming from a walker to a flyer itself seems the peak of alchemy and a great link to Taoist notions of inner alchemy and longevity. What must it be like, to experience the liquification of one's own physical body? Is it as painful as my experience with mind has been? Or is it blissful, like the emanating waves of ecstacy that regularly roll out of my abdomen and cascade out across my physical and subtle form? For the past five years, my internal and external life have been in complete challenge, disarray, upheaval, chaotic flow and incredibly painful loss and hardship. Yet they have also been the most liberating, expanding and rewarding, internally. Dozens of those closest to me have died... and my own process of inner inquiry has led to a now unstoppable process of dissolution and as yet... unkown destination. For some time I described the process as the feeling of constantly unfolding. Like a lotus, ever opening... old petals peeling off effortlessly while a ceaseless unfolding of new ones occured. It seemed to fit the feeling, but was unsatisfying. And then one day when researching the Monarchs Alchemy I realized why... I was misperceiving the process. In reading how the caterpillar releases a sack from within itself that literally digests the body into liquid... I had a piercing and revealing insight that I had been mis-describing my experience as unfolding. My new self was not unfolding... my old manners of perception, my old mind was dissolving! This subtle shift opened up magnitudes of blocked and sealed energetic flows in an instant of realization and abject familiarity and intimacy. vajra! In a flash I understood why the experience of the butterflies and my mind and body's reaction to them would not let go of it. There was a clue within! A clue to my very human, modern process, revealed in the ancient interplay of Monarchs. I have not been experiencing an unfolding, that is to come. I'm approaching it now, the reforming as what is to come... but the process has been one of dissolving of my former way of interacting with life. Total dissolution. Loss of all connection. Complete withdrawal. Loss of inertia or gravity for all former pursuits. Unpleasant in the best of it... painful and disorienting in the extreme in the worst. I now see why some of my teachers tried to shoo me away from the process. It's far from pleasant, yet I wouldn't put the toothpaste back in the tube now, even were that feasible. All of life is Alchemy to me. I started this incarnation as a sperm and egg. My Mum ate food that became a human. I eat food that becomes human... yet no where inside my human form, is a human element. My form is made of the same elements as Monarchs, only the arrangements differ. Like the sacred tones of the solfeggio scales, arrange in myriad, uncountable melodies and harmonic patterns. Alchemy playing out right now, while I type this... remnants of last night's meal transforming into blood cells, bone cells, hormone secretions... all without a thought from me. Alchemy as I inhale what was exhaled by countless beings, plants and clouds before me. Alchemy as the skin I used to consider the defining edge of my simple self, transforms into the very intimate connection, bridging me to all that is from this chair, to the center of every galaxy. Such simplicity is overwhelming and intoxicating... and in the face of all this interplaying Alchemy the one thing that keeps resurfacing is... allow release simply be Such a trust is growing out of this simple observation. A radical trust that I can eat 10,000 fish and never turn into a fish. I am what I am and am intrinsically woven into and through all else of form and non-form. This is it. I am this. It is natural.

The Bar Kays - Holy Ghost (extended)

Remember when we killed our Savior? Yea man, talk about a good friday. We should celebrate. Which is followed closely by Passover. When god needed to be reminded which babies not to kill.

если душа человека ещё способна создать красоту, это значит что мы не погибли if a person's soul is still capable of creating beauty, this means that we have not perished

I have respect and love for you both in your respective remote lives and am mighty gladdened to hear you're both well. Riders of the Storm! Thanks for checking in. p.s. Those mushrooms are gorgeous... they look like Pine to me, but I'm terrible at that game.

The people of Turkey have a deep love of their feral felines... I enjoyed this documentary on the relationship of Turkish street cats and their human coinhabitants.

Whichever you resist most...

Most successful? Or most successfully exploitative?

True Story!

Ah, ok, some of those authors are heavy hitters... so you've got quite a bit of reading under your belt already. For me, Dr Yang's Roots of Qi Gong was instrumental in familiarizing with foundational concepts, theory and basics of practice in Daoism and Qi Gong. If you're reading JAJ, then you'll likely find Roots of Qi Gong to be a very simplistic beginner's manual (I sense I have misinterpreted your initial quesion). You may get some mileage from Wang Liping's offerings. They are quite practical and have considerable depth in my experience (most of his offerings lie beyond my current process). I'm not familiar with Thearch's work, I'll look out for it and based on your sharing, I'd welcome any titles that have particularly resonated with you. Peace /|\

DDJ, as many translations as you can get your paws on... Dr Yang Jwing-Ming: The Roots of Chinese Qi Gong Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine Those are my top three starters Then I'd add... Wang Liping: Ling Bao Tong Zhi Neng Neigong Shu Wang Liping: Daoist Internal Mastery Zhuanzi (again as many translations as you can get) Jerry Alan Johnson: Daoist Internal Alchemy - Neigong & Weigong Training Fritjof Capra: The Tao of Physics Scott P Bradley: The Indifference of Birds (Zhuangzi commentary) and for flavor, several books on Classic Chinese Poetry with a broad overview of multiple poets.

Moment settles in. Web adorned with dew drop gems. Echoes morning's fire.

The gentle man in this article had an idea to log the great and significant trees along the Welsh border as a personal project of love. 13 years later, he's about done. What an amazing process this must have been for him... and for the Woodland Trust. Good on ya and thank you Mr McBride!

So a few weeks back the inner voice was quite direct, clear and insistent and it said unmistakingly, 'start making herbal tinctures'. So I put some thought into it, spoke a bit at work about it, but no one there is into this and I let it go. Well a few weeks have passed and this morning my gal woke up and said "I was making herbal tinctures in my dreams last night... it was quite vivid. I think we should start". So, message backed up by secondary source... got it. Time to act. I've cursorily explored methods for making it and it seems quite a direct and simple process, but figured I'd post here and appeal to anyone who may have some experience already in making alcohol based herbal tincture infusions. I'm planning on starting with a brandy or vodka base, but expect to play about a bit for a while before settling into what alcohol works best with what herb mixtures. The process for making the tinctures is surprisingly simple, what to me is thick as weeds pun intended is the plethora of potential herbs and mixtures of herbs to use for various properties to play with... here's where any existing experience would be very welcome. Anyway, just a light topic, if anyone has info on good herbal guides, or remedies they've got from family recipes, I'd be chuffed for any offered info.

Hey Seeker91. Welcome to the Bums mate. Glad you found your way here. My wife is Aphantasiatic and does not form mental imagery and it has not impeded her progression in cultivation, sensitivity, nor insight. In several ways I find, in my life with her that it is a boon and comes with many benefits. (So don't fret, you're not broken but wired in your own way and it's an advantage in some aspects as far as I've seen in my 32 years following her about ) As for the finger damage... I was semi-crippled for years with an ankle issue (almost had my left foot amputated). While the foot is not the same as it was before my issues with it... in my experience, the energy always finds a way. Keep at your cultivation and trust you derive from source, just as all the manifest does and that you're never separate from source. Every path leads to the mountain top, so long as we don't stop for too long along the way.

*take notes* any chance there's an english translation of said? *mumbles* Man i love this place!