Michael Sternbach

Hi Lois, The night before I read a post of yours for the first time, Nungali was in my dream, but he didn't look like himself, he looked like you! (No, folks, I'm not making this up.) Can you explain what may have happened?

Some truth in that. LOL But what is more important here than the sender is the receiver.

I agree to this. There are no ultimate truths. The history of science demonstrates this: Whenever a "final" answer was found, it opened up a Universe of new questions. Established religions do claim having ultimate answers and defend them by saying: "Don't ask any stupid questions!"

I beg to differ. A truth is a truth is a truth - no matter who utters it. Whatever is true is not a creation of the ego but comes from the source of truth. If we were to dismiss all the works of literature and art provided by morally questionable individuals, there wouldn't be all that much left. LOL

That's because Taiji, at least in the Old Yang style, typically goes for the eyes, the neck etc. Yes, practicing it does have health benefits, but moreover, it's still a self defence art, it hasn't been watered down to an (unhealthy) sport. In a real fight, it can be as devastating as Kenpo Karate. What you are showing are sport events. Rough as they are, there are rules that totally dictate the dynamics of what is happening.

The Yang Cheng Fu form is watered down as far as martial applications. Yes, it is the basis for most modern Yang style Taiji. However, the Yang Lu Chan form (mostly practiced in Taiwan nowadays) is quite martial, with a number of fa-jing strikes. The other elements of the Old Yang style are quite martial as well, at least in my teacher's tradition.

I can't follow you here. If the East was so steadfast in its spiritual/traditional world view, why was it swayed by Western innovation at a much faster pace eventually? Also, the Catholic Church lost some of its fierceness in its fight against occult tradition after the Renaissance, with the awakening of modern science which is the child of Hermeticism (although a "rebellious" one).

Regarding several topics that have been raised here: The Greek philosophers and natural scientists inherited a lot of their knowledge from ancient Egypt and, to a lesser extent, Babylonia. Later, for neo-Platonism and Hermeticism, the cultural melting pot of Alexandria played a key role. Despite the reputation of the European middle ages as a dark epoch, there was a "small renaissance" occurring with the influx of that kind of knowledge as passed on by the Arabs via Spain and Sicily, and revolving around minds like Roger Bacon, Raymond Lull and Albertus Magnus.

Then again, the 6th and 7th chakra are closely linked to one another. For example, the Tibetan system (which knows only six chakras) seems to see them in unison. The same may essentially hold true for the Chinese system in which the Upper Dantien first if all connects to Yintan (the Third Eye). But Baihui (corresponding with the crown chakra) isn't far removed physically as well as energetically, and the Dantien aren't identical with the chakras anyway. One difference being that unlike the Dantien, the chakras don't store subtle energies.

In that case, you have ended the discussion before it even started. Leaving open a whole bunch of questions, such as: What makes the Buddha and his teachings the highest system? More fundamentally, do you believe that enlightenment can be attained systematically? Sort of like getting on a train with a number of precisely mapped and scheduled stations to pass through? What do you think then is the meaning of the Zen Buddhist proverb that, if you meet the Buddha on the street, you should kill him? Well, not that I would personally be in a hurry to end rebirth anyway... But: Yet unpredictability doesn't equal complexity! Complexity only leads to further complexity. Thus, simplicity is the both the key and the goal. So there is not a way to stay in a social environment and yet cultivate yourself to a high level? Yes, it can be challenging at certain stages. But it is even possible to use your social relationships as a mirror of yourself and an aid to your cultivation. It is the very purpose of having relationships, metaphysically speaking. This may have been true in the past. But nowadays there is extremely detailed instruction on DVDs available, with every aspect, i.e. of a form thouroughly explained and demonstrated. You can rewatch it as often as you need to, whereas live instruction cannot be simply rewound. You can also film yourself in order to become aware of the mistakes you are making. There are even instructors offering that you send them your video for their review and corrections. Some of them maintain that their autonomously training students progress faster than their present ones. That makes sense, as training is always something to be done by yourself anyway, essentially. But if that's what you choose to believe, then it will be so - for you. Oh, it's an aside, but did you notice that all the martial arts you mention are based on Daoism rather than Buddhism? Hmm... By then I might have a surprise for you! If you will find it pleasant or not will depend on you though, and you definitely shouldn't wait up for me, because... Best wishes, Michael

There is a remedy right for the kind of fear you are describing in the system of the 38 Bach Flower Remedies: Aspen (no. 2). How it would be available depends on where you are. Be free to PM me for further information.

And an anime. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmFORlbmSmY The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram is shown at 16:00.

Moreover, I find the Golden Dawn's Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram very effective.

Visualize a protective energy ball all around you that automatically keeps everything away that is not in your best interest. Do this a number of times every day for several minutes.

Nice introductory post, Zetta! Good advice, especially for beginners. I am still looking for somebody who would explain the difference between "iterating" and "reiterating" to me. Not that it would matter much... Anyway, to show you what a fun forum TDB can be, I'm going to reiterate/extend/comment on what you have already said. Alright? So did I! With me it was the Thoth deck that first caught my attention. Said to be far too complex in its symbolism for a beginner! Therefore it intrigued me all the more!!! Well, that was a long time ago, and I'm still alive and arguably more or less sane. In fact, the Thoth turned out to be something like an intro to all of Western esotericism (I had some knowledge of the Eastern systems already at the time). It introduced me to Astrology, Alchemy, Magick, Kabbalah, Mythology and other fascinating fields of study. I soon became familiar with other Tarot decks as well, of course, including the unavoidable Rider Waite. Even though the Thoth and some of its derivates are still my preferred decks - especially for reading. Um, so what did you start out with? The Palladini strikes me as quite a different deck from the RWS, not least it's simpler in its symbolism. Maybe useful for some stark beginners? The Universal seems to be very close to the regular RWS - but yes, the colours are more vivid, and the style is less cartoonish. Not too much of a leap for your RWS fixated clients, I would hope. Thank you for reminding me, that book has been on my reading list for quite a while already. What intrigues me most is its integration of different metaphysical systems into Tarot, not least due to Benebell Wen's Chinese background. Your recently awakened interest in Daoism wouldn't have anything to do with it, by any chance? Yep. Even Grandmaster Crowley advises us not to slavishly stick to text book meanings. Tarot's language is just too differentiated and subtle for such an approach. So it's important to follow one's intuitive and psychic impressions when reading. I couldn't agree more. Rather than going with the well intended advice of some smart aleck, choose a deck that you really resonate with, beginners! The Internet makes it easy to have a preliminary look at countless samples. I am a regular poster on Aeclectic, but I was not as aware of Instagram as a source for Tarot related materials, although I find some of the cards I am posting there. Of course I had a closer look now - and really found loads of colourful, lovely posts by you! Keep them coming - I will drop in again. Best, Michael

Simply because the Alchemists have always been philosophers of nature.

Why shouldn't transmutation of chemical elements at low energies be possible? True, mainstream scientists haven't incorporated them into their world view yet, but neither do they acknowledge psychic phenomena, or even the existence of non-physical aspects of living beings. Talking about living beings, they perform transmutations all the time. http://www.life-enthusiast.com/biological-transmutations-a-1271.html

That makes sense. Without polarity, there is no current flowing.

Hi Zetta, Welcome to the forum! I agree with you that Tao and Tarot have much in common. That is not the least reason why I inspired the creation of the "Tarot Bums" subforum on this website: http://thedaobums.com/forum/420-tarot-bums/ May I suggest that you start a thread on the comparisons between the two systems? I am also involved with psychic work, especially remote recognition of psychological and physical problems. So I imagine that we will have plenty of things to talk about with each other. Best wishes, Michael

Well, in most basic terms: Mercury = Entropy = Chaos Sulfur = Ectropy = Structure On every (internal or external) level.

Sounds interesting. Kaplan's book is on my reading list since some time. What is the book with the Abraham Abulafia writings called?

Proton hyle = prima materia = Mercury

I would read Waters to mean the Soul of the World (Anima Mundi) or Mercury, underlying Creation - thus not created themselves but eternal.

My main use of that scheme lies in assigning hexagrams to the Court Cards of the Tarot, as described in the Book of Thoth, which can be downloaded here: http://keychests.com/item.php?v=zuygcpnchav For exploring these connections, I started a thread entitled "The Court Cards and the I Ching" on Aeclectic Tarot last year: http://tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=226380 I am planning to go further into the topic on my blog (link on the bottom of this post), so if you are interested in this, be free to subscribe as not to miss out on those posts. One could also think of using Crowley's scheme for performing the Golden Dawn's Middle Pillar exercise, substituting the trigrams for the sephiroth. Hope this helps.

Of course, anything connected to Aleister Crowley tends to kindle controversy, and I expect that my posting of his system of Daoism-Kabbalah correspondences here will do so too.