Nungali

... Like my overthoughtout response to what is mind? I was wondering if anyone got that joke Did you like my response to "What is still mind?" ? I was going to add ; when you cant achieve still mind just do the next best thing? Q. What is the next best thing to still mind? A. making up snappy koans and answers to try to show one has still mind. Or (now) as well; occupying youself with contemplations like "what is still mind?" Maybe balance it with Underthinkers Anonymous ... a few on Taobums seem to be members (or should be) maybe you could ask them about it?

Cheers http://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/1291131680_two-thumbs-up.jpg

Sincere condolences ... I have compassionate empathy for you ... in other words; IT SUCKS DOESN'T IT?

One successful operation. (Note. my version of 'application' not 'text book application') Logging protest camp, very sensitive area, a suspicious person turns up to camp, he is quizzed as to identity, he admits he is forestry inspector and wanted an undercover look, says logging operation the most disgraceful wanton vandalism and environmental destruction he has seen. Local indigenous VERY upset, sacred power site ... scarred trees detected, Indigenous VERY concerned; " In the dreamtime, bad thing happened, people broke 'law', bad energy got loose, protector called up, big fight in sky, goodfella he chopped up badfella , bits fell to earth, 'clever men'; sealed them up so they wouldn't grow back together again. That's what is about to be damaged ... the seal. Things getting hectic, full-on, bashings and violence, F this S ! Assistant and I told others to clear the front line one night , give us space. We did our 'thing' which included marking the large roadblock pipes buried upright in the road (that would NOT have had a chance of stopping the logging bulldozer.) with several seals. We did some other stuff, like a warning sign about the spell and what would happen if you disturbed it. Next day some of the protesters are really pissed of with what we did <shrug> .. Alarm - its on, a platoon of loggers, vehicles , etc comes down the road behind a giant logging bulldozer. get to pipes, dozer stops, gets out discussion, a few freakouts, driver heard to say " I have had truck tires let down, rancid piss bombs, but I don't want this s*** this is BS. I have had enough. " And left ... ... but okay Great! Not offering this as any sort of proof of anything ( a veve might have worked as good) but that is what we did ... and that was the result. I have other reasons as well that have convinced me the system worked ... but lately, years later, a lot of 'things' seem to work without a 'system' ... but that's MY secret .... until I can make some money out publishing the secret long lost 'Nungalicon.' Ps. the next day a stop work order was slapped on logging in the area ... now its protected. [One thing I do think about is ... when the Buddhists subdued the Demonic entities in Tibet, they pinned the giant mother down by building temples on the 'pressure points' ( of landscape and momma demons body), seems the Chinese have destroyed or dismantled a LOT of those temples ..... Can their http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/photo/2009/09/28/20090928-CHINA/30527006.JPG deal with the http://www.exoticindiaart.com/tantra/an_assembly_of_wrathful_deities_hv40.jpg ? ]

Like belief in Jesus as a literal character (unless I have the researchers hat on - which doesn't fit very well) I feel it doesn't matter. If the analogy and the system works for you then it has a reality and a validity. Parts of it seem arse about however IMO (but I fixed that ... for myself). It has worked for me in the past ... a LOT better than some other well documented and 'unfaked' systems. Wherever THEY might be? ... < sniffs back through old medieval manuscripts, Arabic antiques, Alexandrian archives, Magi machinations and Avestan Avatars >... I DO find correlations between it and the 40,000 year old native shamanic local traditions though so if we wanted to examine the question in light of such mundane aspects as time-lines then ... who was first? My shamanic teacher meekly raises his hand.

, (maybe one someone should tell him that if one closes their eyes ... it sounds like he is 'slapping around the unemployed' ... as they say The little 'ego orgasm' at the end is quiet cute .

ZHONGYONGDAOIST: I am still having trouble working this thing. A long answer directly posted in quote box can disappear, I can’t seem to come back from google and my own files without something happening to posts. If I try to copy and paste quote box to MS word it leaves out your quotes and hence references, when I do post into quote box from MS word it can go wacky. So … I will try this … italics = Nungali BaguaKicksAss and Nungali Oh … we are in the same boat J … snug. That’s what I get for complacently agreeing with Kickarse and not being specifically picky about exact meaning. (But she has this giant sword you see and …) I don't wish to derail this interesting thread and I appreciate both of your fascinating contributions to it, but the following exchange leads me to believe that neither of you understands the position of the Golden Dawn in the Western Esoteric Tradition and the unique and important contribution that it makes to it: Agreed, that I don’t understand it enough. (I am certainly not going to answer for K.A. ) “Certain mindsets require certain ceremonies ... or are invented by them.. 'GD style magic stuff' is quiet Emperor / mars / martial / forcing style ... one can (again, depending on the mindset and development), approach the subject and/or practice from an Empress / Venus / persuasive style ...( or just drug them with a magic potion so they cant help themselves { venes, venenum, venom, poison, charm, magic philtre } no offence to Venusians, but anyone who has been 'shot with Cupid's arrow' will agree, or those who have had another shot with cupids arrow with their name on it.” ‘GD style magic stuff’ (note commas … not the right words, but it would take too long to explain here) that in this case I am using a ‘magical pop culture’ understanding to quickly and slackly get across a point to others whose scholarship and understanding are not as deep and thorough as yours. I apologise if I offended anyone by using this base understanding and the GD as any sort of scapegoat. The following is a quote from the Fourth Book attributed to Agrippa as it appears in Barrett's The Magus: Then, with all these things provided, let the exorcist and his companions go into the circle. In the first place, let him consecrate the circle and every thing he uses; which being done in a solemn and firm manner, with convenient gesture and countenance, let him begin to pray with a loud voice after the manner following. First, by making an oration or prayer to God, and then intreating the good spirits; but we should read some prayer, or psalm, or gospel, for our defence in the first place. After those prayers and orations are said, let him begin to invocate the spirit which he desireth, with a gentle and loving enchantment to all the coasts of the world, with a commemoration of his own authority and power. Then rest and look round to see if any spirit does appear; which if he delays, then let him repeat his invocation, as above said, until he hath done it three times; and if the spirit is obstinate and will not appear, then let the invocator begin to conjure him with divine power; but so that all his conjurations and commemorations do agree with the nature and office of the spirit, and reiterate the same three times, from stronger to stronger, using contumelies, cursings, punishments, suspension from his power and office, and the like. (http://www.sacred-te...magus/ma245.htm) Yes, that all seems good to me. I think a clearer understanding of my view on these things depends on defining terms and processes that have developed since this was written … too much for here and too off topic … maybe I could relay that via PM? But basically I would add to the above, in way of further explanation, especially for the end bit; I might be sweet as pie to my dog … a few times … then if he doesn’t listen I will swear at him like a drover … he gets that! But I have seen some people have total control { actually it doesn’t seem like total control … maybe ‘symbiotic relationship’? } based on no harsh words at all … maybe this is sort of what B K A is suggesting? I chose The Magus because it would have been more readily available and thus influential during the 19th Century than the original. It can be seen within its wider context here: http://www.esoterica...ppa4.htm#chap12 I will note that I am familiar with Wierus' statement that Agrippa did not write the Fourth Book, but I am also aware that he then stated that it was otherwise worthy to be included with his teachers own works, a judgment without which I would be much more hesitant to cite the Fourth Book, and I am sorry that I cannot now readily reference that now. (Too big a memory, too many books!). Maybe you need ‘magic memory theatre’ (see my last post in What is Mind) ? A far too influential example of these types of 'rude evocations' can be found at the end of the process of the Goetia, which can be reviewed here: htp://www.esoterica...omon/goetia.htm With this type of information available to people several centuries before the inception of the Golden Dawn, why should such 'rude evocations' be blamed specifically on the Golden Dawn? Okay, maybe they should not be … only for the bad reason I gave above. And more importantly what about them can be specifically tied to some aspect of the Golden Dawn ritual system? And by 'ritual system' I mean the Golden Dawn initiatory rituals and the magical procedures derived from them and not some ancillary material, such as the rituals of the pentagram and hexagram. I would like to explore the origin of those rituals, I don’t understand enough about that …. but too off topic for here. The Golden Dawn ritual system provides a specific context for ritual within a very powerful formal system. Within that context it is possible to perform a wide variety of traditional material, some rude, some sweet as honey, it depends on the operator and the needs of the operation. Agreed. This ritual context also changes the meaning of certain aspects of tradition that may appear within it, and so it is not possible to make superficial comparisons. Well it IS possible but it does remain superficial. By the way medieval evocation is the Western counterpart to Daoist military magic, of which Thunder Magic is the fundamental component. So such martial 'rudeness' is not limited to the West. Even the name 'evocation' comes from an ancient Roman military rite in which the Gods of a besieged city were 'called out' of that city and invited to join the Roman side. Thanks for the extra info. Comments like that help me to understand things in a bigger perspective … that is a very interesting piece of info IMO. Finally I wish to make clear that in general based on your posts I find both of you interesting and well informed, but based on the above I see no reason to think that you are well informed about the Golden Dawn, I would come to the same conclusion about my comments, they were off hand and not meant to be detailed or accurate analysis of the G.D. system I could be wrong about this and welcome correction, I am only basing this on the above exchange and some things BaguaKicksAss has posted before. Nungali you are new here, but you are obviously an interesting and valuable contributor to the Tao Bums. BaguaKicksAss, has of course shown her value here many times before. ‘Flattery’ will get you …. Everywhere! J (joke). There is so much to write and clear up, again too much for here, briefly a few ideas; I can see view that ‘dragging a demon’ or forcing them from their domain into one that is partially attached to yours, ‘imprisoning’ them into a triangle and spotlighting and, firstly, politely asking, then if the answer isn’t sufficient, quizzing demanding and maybe even threatening them with or actually applying torture could reek of Guantanamo Bay style evocation. However, I find this useful ; “Therefore fear not the Spirits, but be firm and courteous with them; for thou hast no right to despise or revile them; and this too may lead thee astray. Command and banish them, curse them by the Great Names if need be; but neither mock nor revile them, for so assuredly wilt thou be lead into error” {and I find the rest of that document at LEAST useful }. At the same time I see the symbolic (and magical imagery ) value of an analogy of a psychological process (taking one view that ‘daimonic entities’ are either fractured or previously unacknowledged or hidden parts of the psyche or unconscious); The circle is a symbol of the conscious self and the symbols in the circle the conscious self’s analogies and metaphors of perceptions by the unconscious, it is ones ‘field of operation’ whose circumference, although defined, may be unknown (or its extent as yet unrealised) - we could say also it is a symbol of ‘Nuit’. Daimonic entities based on interior subjective awareness are then ’projected’ outwards into (outside of the circle .. which actually contains the hidden unconscious, subjective and internal) a triangle, a symbol of Saturn, or we could say a; condensation of Nuit into the ‘Mother of Heaven’ or Mater Coeli , a structure and form to ‘constrain’ pressurise and even ‘cook’ * elements of the unconscious to be known, understood or whatever as an external and objective energy. In this case ‘cooking up a demon’. [ I realise this is only one view … I hold other views on this process, such as a possible external source of daimonic entities ]. It goes on and on … but I feel I am going way off the thread topic … so, maybe a split or a PM ? * Why cook? Why put things in triangles or pyramids? Cooking (and smoking) is a way to make food more ‘civilised’ and in some cases (gentle heat and light) to preserve it, to stop it going bad and be invaded by other life-forms that will break it down. Many cultures ‘cook’ their babies ( give birth on hot sand, ‘smoke’ them, etc.) adolescents ( boys being initiated and buried in an ‘earth oven’ – heads exposed) older men and youths – as a type of ‘top up’ (sweat lodges, Turkish Baths, sauna) or a continual top up (Japanese hot bath .. note; this is not to do with washing … the correct tradition here is to wash very well and rinse BEFORE the bath ). [ First level initiations (and ‘top up’s) like these are about ‘cooking’ and ‘civilising’ the members of the tribe or society, a pre-initiate is born a ‘natural’ person, initiation makes them a cultural person (within that culture), they then learn the ‘way’ of that culture and society and how to take their place in it … they are ‘cooked’ to make them ‘culturally civilised’. (The next level of initiations are different, they are about making a cultural person, not back into a natural person, but a supernatural person; the ‘gruesome’ stripping off of flesh to the bone and the replacing of the bone with iron bones and replacing the flesh (Siberian Shamanism), the piercing and inserting of crystal rods (Australian Aboriginal) and a host of ‘diamond bodies’ and other types of trasformative practice.] With the first ‘cooking’ practice and the above view … the triangle has the possibility to open things up on a whole new level and see the ‘internal’ demons being possible candidates for further evolution and taking more evolved and responsible roles in the practitioners psyche … you lift up the base, the point of the pyramid rises and hopefully, visa versa. Much more could be written about this approach in Goetia I feel, but again this may not be the place for it. Thank you for your contributions. They help me to bring clarity to my ideas … a bit like being ‘forced’ (albeit very nicely and with choice) into a triangle. I hope the kafuffle under the tree didn't disturb your nap?

As you will , my potential friend who does not share my desire to bond ... unfortunately you are not going to clear up my flawed terminology (I even tried to use Arabic to get my point across as I thought the problem might be a language barrier). It is probably pointless to agree with you and seek clairification. < Both leave the shade of the tree and continue along the road in opposite directions, one looking angry, the other sad. .... The End.> Thank you.

Interesting in that the root of the word mind relates significantly to memory and you used the analogy of theatre. A 'magical memory theatre' is an old concept and way of using memory , as a storage and retrieval system of information, that gave some amazing results. See ; memory theatre of Giulio Camillo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giulio_Camillo (I think it was Camillo who could spend all night at a high society party, drinking eating and conversing and at the end of the night could recite every word of the conversations he had, had heard - and remembered who said what and repeat it all … backwards, if one desired, as well ... .

. Mind is an English word that, like many other English words, struggles to be defined by the English language without adopting words from other languages that have a plethora of terms to describe stages and processes of internal centred and generated (or perhaps external) cognitive processes, spiritual states, mental states and hierarchies that English tries to sum up in one term. In this case the word seems to originate (like most ‘mainstream’ religions, and Indo-European cultures) in the old Avestan language and culture as ‘men’; ment , mental … mentor, etc. … to men again, re-men, remember. Often traced to more of a meaning related to memory or the use of memory in the cognitive process. . Yes and no. It’s a loaded question, two parts - two separate questions in one sentence requiring the same answer for both. Especially since the question is asked before mind has been defined. I think the question is best rephrased by replacing ’mind’ with ‘consciousness’ and removing the ‘or’. We all are conscious. Consciousness has many ‘levels’ that we can access. We all have a level that is ‘located’ in us that we all relate to as our own, so yes to the first part of the question. We also have a level that is ‘non-local’ hence ‘everywhere at the same time,’ i.e. one … or ‘singularity’, so yes to the second part of the question. And therefore bound to get an absurd answer

I have read your meaningless post. Is it meaningless or is it you did not understand it? It has meaning but you need to read below the surface and read it carefully if you DO want to understand it ... otherwise ... okay , think of it what you will. I did not invite you to be a Muslim. That is correct, you did not, I agree with you. So your statements are funny On one level they are funny ... actually they are two type of 'funny'. But were you not taught to look deeply, for 7 levels of meaning? .I said a very simple thing: Do not whatever you are doing in that graveyard. And I thank you, and I will be obedient to your instruction. Since you asked I have not been back to the Pit section ( the graveyard of dead and finished things) of the tao bums forum and I have not read the posts again about " Jesus a fictional character ? “ and I have not read where you were arguing with alwayson again. My friend the graveyard is an analogy for the Pit. Try to read deeply, on more than one level. You are torturing earth bound spirits of that graveyard in order to satisfy your Nafs which is already strong. I do not know what you mean by that word as my ignorant and limited understanding of the Koran has not led me to understand what the Nafs actually is, so I am not sure what you mean by that; do you mean a general concept of the self, my psyche generally and all of its parts as some type of undefined conglomerate, perhaps you mean my ego … but in what sense of ego, the modern western sense , the new age sense, Freudian meaning , or the soul. I assume you mean my Nafs is in an unrefined state? My ego is as some understand it as a base consciousness. Or do you mean in its root form as ‘Nephesh’ or Nefesh … Nafesh … Nafs? A type of instinctual animal soul? I guess you are saying I have a strong ego , in the negative sense Ahhh … that may be it? You are saying I am on an ‘ego trip’ ? Stop telling Sufi stories because you do not have the pure heart necessary for the nur of them. How can I stop telling them when you help me write them? Does a dusty mirror not reflect some of the nur ? Is it not better to some nur , even a little than ظلام If you want to clean the rust and debris in your heart, pray to Allah. Of course. The descending to Hell issue: Good luck and peace to you as you will need in Hell Hell is a تشابه جزئي .. or of the pit here in tao bumsاستعارة please forgive me if I translated wrong as I . I hope I did not write 'my mandarin needs candles' or something else wrong. Hi Z, I was just about to answer, its late here and an old friend just appeared out of nowhere so I will answer you later. I have been reading some of your threads in this part of site and enjoyed them ... I haven't responded as yet as you requested that the reader read some Plato ... so I am catching up, thanks for your response and input

I do not disagree with Isimsiz Biri in this matter. So he is not bound ... there ... that should set him free! I release him from your binding spell!

< Looks around for the appropriate hat to wear … AHA! – the turban ! > My Brother, Peace be upon you. Why do you speak to me so? For what else can I answer you with but; I was trying to do the very same thing you were … you should read my last post carefully. I might accuse you of the very same thing … as I saw you there myself … you were foolishly battling with a ‘lost soul’ were you not? My sin was I arrived too late, I wandered in to see what was there, I saw suffering and distress and my immediate reaction was, I intended to offer succour. I saw you there and I tried to call out but you could not hear me … I was not allowed to speak. You were trying, you were saying “Breathe in from your nose slowly. Breathe out from your mouth real slowly with a haaaa sound. Focus on One Point (dantian) Persevere. You can do it.” Admirable , but more appropriate to offer that advice to a brother fellow believer who is having a crisis in spirit or of faith (in that case, I see how you would be a rock and persistent, I saw how you stood firm, you kept insisting “You can do it”). But that man was not of your own faith, I think you know what went wrong initially and how you let yourself end up where you did? A different approach earlier might have stopped it from all 'going to hell’ . So I came back to the graveyard (thread) and wrote of my experience as it seemed relevant, I did write I had been to ‘The Pit’. Or this all could have been acted out as a Sufi story. It would go something like this; “A Brother of our Order was leaning against a tree by the road in the shade, another brother came along the road, and not recognising the first and being tired from the heat of the day also took rest in the shade, the first recognised him though and turned to the second brother and said “I have just come from the graveyard, a place where old dead things are left lying around. I did a meditation there.” The other said, “Dear sir, Whatever you are doing in a graveyard, is useful neither for you nor for those earthbound spirits. “ The first answered, My Brother, Peace be upon you. Why do you speak to me so? For what else can I answer you with but; for the very reason you were there also my brother … I saw you there. Would you like to help me write a Sufi story? I hope so, as you and I are part of it. All we need to do is figure out who of us is Mullah Nasudin ...and who is the confused spectator ... or who is the spectator and who is the spectre perhaps? I hope you want to help write the story because it is already written and you helped me write it. It goes like this; “A Brother of our Order passed by a graveyard, he sensed souls and spirits in distress, … “ And around and around it goes like a snake swallowing its own tail … until it finally ends with the first brother saying , “Enough! I have work in Heaven and I have work in Hell. For I have one eye fixed on the glory of Hallaj and the other on the Peacock’s Angel. How did YOU end up there my brother? A different approach earlier may have stopped both of you descending … and dragging all those other souls with you. My faith is in God but my birth Yezidi, what is your reason for descending to hell?” Now THAT would have made a good Sufi story! Focus on One Point , Extend Ki, Keep Weight Underside, Have ‘No Mind’. Breathe. Persevere. You can do it. Live your tradition. Peace.

Literalism! It doesn't matter if Jesus is 'real' or not ... the whole dynamic of such an event is not based on 'reality' it works just as well if Jesus is 'real' or 'a fictional character'. Why waste your time? If you believe that should be enough ... if you believe then you are wasting your time trying to prove a ' literal reality ' you should be doing something about and with the dynamic reality you feel in yourself. If you believe in some other religion, prophet, or magico/mythical system and you give THAT literalistic reality .... you will be trapped in ignorance like any one else that does that. The spiritual and religious world is about symbolism and analogy ... to try and 'prove' it has literal mundane existence seems, IMO to short circuit the whole process , before long ... people obsessed with this approach will end up father away from being spiritual and religious and possibly devolve into a qlippoth of an empty dogmatic fundamentalist shell that oppresses society and the human spirit of light, life love and liberty.

Just did a meditation in the graveyard. Phew ... just got back from a visit to hell ( a bit like it was last visit ... before I even heard of taobums ). Its true ... there ISNT a separate hell for all the different religions (why would there be ... that would make hell a better place, Hell's not about being a better place). 'The Pit" ... who are those poor souls trapped down there ? It looked like I couldn't post in the pit, a shame ... I wanted to post ; O Lord, deliver me from hell's great fear and gloom! Loose thou my spirit from the larvae of the tomb! I seek them in their dread abodes without affright: On them will I impose my will, the law of light. I bid the night conceive the glittering hemisphere. Arise, O sun, arise! O moon, shine white and clear! I seek them in their dread abodes without affright: On them will I impose my will, the law of light. Their faces and their shapes are terrible and strange. These devils by my might to angels I will change. These nameless horrors I address without affright: On them will I impose my will, the law of light. These are the phantoms pale of mine astonied view, Yet none but I their blasted beauty can renew; For to the abyss of hell I plunge without affright: On them will I impose my will, the law of light. Sorry , if I wrote about something 'up here' that I am not supposed to mention ... hey, I'm new here <shrug> it was broken before I got here.

Just bought it <looks towards the letter box> ...sigh ... long wait .

Longer response via pm, but for here; Maybe .... the 'imaginative function' is a powerful tool. Hand up ... Egyptophile here ! (Or I should say both hands up and palms to the east?) a small little smidge of such matters Oopps ... forgot about that. ... I was just googling 'chod rite' and that site came up on the first few pages on an university or similar address. they do ... but after a time that approach causes all sorts of merde to break out ... like any thing that is squashed under the carpet Ha! Had to put my glasses on to check ... RUDE evocations ... okay ( Phew! ... nude Victorian GD magicians evoking nekkid - YOIKS! ) Certain mindsets require certain ceremonies ... or are invented by them.. 'GD style magic stuff' is quiet Emperor / mars / martial / forcing style ... one can (again, depending on the mindset and development), approach the subject and/or practice from an Empress / Venus / persuasive style ...( or just drug them with a magic potion so they cant help themselves { venes, venenum, venom, poison, charm, magic philtre } no offence to Venusians, but anyone who has been 'shot with Cupid's arrow' will agree, or those who have had another shot with cupids arrow with their name on it

But where you SURE you were actually in a fencing class? A friend of mine had a Datura with his GF back then . In the morning , in the middle of his shower she slipped in with him and , according to him, they had the BEST SEX EVER! He rang her at work later and she said "What on earth are you talking about, I went home last night." Worked with a guy that was bareknuckle boxing champ of an outback town, (used to fight in the cattle yards with the punters sitting on auction seats) ... he was a master of drunken boxing ... (the double secret ... its not that he is pretending to be drunker than he is that's the trick, the trick is , he IS that drunk and can still do it! )

Hopefully it should reappear in a day or so .

Thanks ... still learning to drive this thing. Where is the disappeared for no reason bin?

O M G !!!! I just spent over an hour answering you and rewriting what I wrote more correctly ... set the curser a line up to correct spelling and hit the space bar ... gone! What is going on here ???? Lost ..... Maybe I will try again by coping to MS word and pasting in reply in one go ? When I am not feeling so gutted by that!

No, but I am considering getting this ... The True Grimoire ... it looks like an intelligent work on the subject . Thanks for the link. Do any of you guys read Patrick Harpur?

Was that a typo? Loa? Mine was Simbi la Flambau (sic ?) fire serpent;t great for me as here in Oz Rainbow serpent is a major' general creation totem' (and personal totem spirit , also Nugali lizard ) When I returned home from the Voodoo ceremony, in another part of the state, I had a physical vision of a sunset with a giant snake with an open mouth thrashing about in lava like clouds and all sunset red and orange - blew me away! Which loas did you encounter ... did you draw up their veve ? (A bundle of personal spiritual questions aren't I ? )

I have always wanted to try this; http://www.karateblogger.com/stari/articles/Tinbei.htm But no teacher here. The machete form and the ‘short spear’ version; which I have heard can be spear head one end and a lump of coral club on the other end, part of the art is twirling and changing ends. - Probably a vid of it somewhere. Via vortex? Yep, you like weapons. I would love to work with spear a bit, I have never done it. Long pole, never, but looks interesting. Love the idea of shark tooth sword (I have seen them before but not used ... except in an old movie where the invaders had metal swords) , I linked above to a form with a turtle shell shield and coral club. I am attracted to the Halberd as well, interesting in light of its position and use in field battle tactics as well. The three section staff; not that I was much more than a blundering idiot (but tying to work with a real usage for me as opposed to 'form' or 'demo' ... stiff foamies handy for this, but not ones that bend), I found, like nunchuks, that it is best to hold on to them and not go all twirly and flashy ... I notice in demos the 'twirly flashy' (please excuse my lack of correct terms) bit is when distance is large, when an attack closes in, the technique changes . ( Yeah ... I backed off a couple of attacks that way and with full extension but partner then stuck end joint with Bo and it whipped back at me nastily). What do you see as pros and cons of three section staff? Ah ... there is the thing I was thinking about with Kama ... people who not only train with the weapon but use it everyday in work. They have a special way ... once I trained eco on beach at dawn (forms have a lot of scuffing sand towards opponent with the oar or feet ... even hands when down low ... form originates with fishermen from a sandy island ...so they say) , the beach Lifesavers were in the distance (who row surf large with long oars boats), they were really checking it out. Throwing ... yes, I am very rusty with that ... knives and tomahawks (I won a bit of money from betting (on myself) tomahawk throwing actually - off a Krav Magra guy who was in the Israeli Army ... he said to me "In Israel, in Krav Magra we train martial arts with weapons too, it is always the hand gun ... sometimes sai, but that is to strengthen the wrist ... for handgun. Throwing isn't shown in many of the forms but some do it in Sai, where you start with 3 , one in each hand and one in belt at back, at the beginning moves one is thrown and then the spare drawn. We practiced aiming at feet, nasty. Then discovered (because of its prongy springy nature) if it hits the ground at the right angle (not point) it flips up wildly towards the shins, body or face ... ummmm best not try that. Errrmmm ... I knew this would happen ... I have never trained in Chinese martial arts , the closest I have got is Okinawan. So I am unfamiliar. Is this like the difference between (and again please excuse my lack of technical terms) using the weapon and doing all those things I have been talking about ... and all the other internal things that are going on (like, to divide it up; one time with sword, visiting senior says 'Forget everything I said yesterday, today it is all about timing and rythem' and the next day 'forget everything I said yesterday, today its all about relationships.' and all those exercises of holding composure in the hara, while sitting, then moving, then being attacked, then moving and defending and being attacked with weapons and still maintain composure ... and doing that while attacking with a weapon by maintaining what you learnt in sitting meditation and instruction ; breathing, extending ki, absorbing all through hara, no mind, visualising weight underside, spherical awareness, blending with opponent/ partner ? That stuff? Ha! If it is you guys can just say; requires Nei li(內力) which acquired from the practice of NeiKung(內功). No doubt there are things I missed ... unless I totally missed ?

Totally diff aspect; Voodoo rite in graveyard (not Haiti but in Australia) First time at voodoo ceremony ... very impressed, went off wonderfully, great ritual experience, powerfully magical, put a lot in context afterwards ... but after the rite someone goes "Let's go down to the cemetery ." I am all; ' Here we go! Hope they don't spoil a great night ... I am going to go because I hate what some people do in cemeteries ''' gonna keep an eye on these voodoo dudes. Wonderful as well, they cleaned the graves, straightened some headstones. tidied up and put some flowers on neglected looking graves, good on em! Nice 'meditation'.