kio

Like what Kar3n said, try moving from the perspective that your body is a relaxed, empty vessel. Like a cup with no water or a sheet of paper with no writing or drawings. The more you relax, the better your energy will flow. Increased perception comes with patience and practice. Don't give up early! One thing that might help speed up the process is meditating on the 5 senses.

Way of the future, to bring with it the present, for experience.

Hey there Doors open and close due to awareness of the door. You can only dwell on experience after experiencing. I've learned throughout the years from using psychedelic mushrooms that one of the most important lessons a 'psychonaut' or 'shaman' needs to realize is not to dwell on these 'mystical' experiences. Because you've entered this 'higher' state of mind, the continual dwelling on the experience continually connects you with this higher state and ungrounds the person. My advice: Take a week to contemplate it, but after this stop thinking about it entirely. It will take quite a while to completely integrate the experience, so dwelling on it is pointless. And that's fine. You can focus on other areas of your development.

I second the request for FraterUFA to start a new topic of discussion, defending the perspective that: I have had the most success after abstaining from masturbation and sexual desire. These are 'rooted' in the physical. If the point is to 'create' a 'solar' body, then it follows that the energy of creation (sexual energy) should be sublimated to the place of spiritual/energetic vitality (solar plexus) in order to form the body. After that, it seems to be a matter of visualizing what form the body takes. This is the step in the process I'm at now. Last time I noticed a significant moment in development, it felt as if my physical/etheric body had a thin layer of energy surrounding it that could be molded into different shapes. During this moment, I played with different designs for my body -- one was a version of myself as a warrior, one was my favorite anime character (Naruto Uzumaki ), and the other was a mountain lion.

I can't remember the source, but it was from some Reiki manual which suggests the origin of Reiki itself is from the civilization of 'Mu', which predates Atlantis. Either predates it, or presupposes it -- meaning that it was an energetic/astral civilization before it was manifest on Earth. That's the only thing I've ever heard about 'Mu', thought it might be relevant. Personally, I'm skeptical of this information. Edgar Cayce also writes about Lemuria and at times calls it Mu. http://www.edgarcayce.org/_AncientMysteriesTemp/mu.html

Full lotus is so kool though The koolest of all asanas!

My goal is to reach the full lotus, so before I meditate I do a number of 'yin' yoga stretches to increase the flexibility and openness in my hips, lower back and legs. I usually burn sage and use it to purify my energy channels while I'm doing yoga. It's one of the most relaxing things I've ever done in my life.

if you cut the lingual frenulum you are cutting an important nadi/meridian that runs through there.

The wheel of life turns a simple blessing inward as art comes to life

I have no corrections, because I agree with the idea of creating a strong foundation. But just for the sake of argument, because it's a slow Saturday morning Shaktipat is a popular technique involving the 'induction' of a particular experience/perception/energy from teacher to student order to speed up the student's evolution/involution. When we consider the practice of herbal formulas (not to be defined as 'drugs' or 'stimulants', and treated as 'medicine' and in some cases 'sacred') as a type of Shaktipat, and use them in a similar fashion, I see no contradiction between them and proper foundation buidling practices.

Hey there futuredaze, excellent write-up. I've been through two heavy 'sessions' with psilocybe mushrooms in the last two years when I started taking these things more seriously, but before these there were about three or four occasions in high scool and early college in which I took small doses just for the visual effects. I recently came across some more, and intend to have another ceremonial dose in the near future. So it will be interesting to talk about it here first The day after my most recent session -- July of 2014 -- the group I was with began talking about how the Mushrooms act very much like a Philosophic Mercury. In the alchemical tradition I study (hermeticism), Philosophic Mercury is the universal water which dissolves the 'body of gold' like ice melting in warm water, so that the alchemist can extract and work with the 'seed of gold'. It was brought up that the Ego may be the vessel or 'body of gold' which the Mushroom dissolves, allowing the subconscious mind to be 'worked' on. And from personal experience, I very much agree. After my first experience with this dissolution, before I started studying alchemy, I came across the psychedelic concept of the death of the ego, in which the psychonaut realizes that his ego is an illusion, and allows it to destroy itself. And now to relate it to Taoist concepts... If I understand them correctly, this is an influence on Shen, the principle of the Mind. And of course, if you re-organize your mind, you reorganize your relationship to reality. And in my opinion, one's realtionship with reality is their relationship with the Tao. PS: The only thing I would suggest to those reading, that wasn't covered in the original post, is to always have a Sitter during psychedelic practices. A Sitter isn't just one of your friends, it's someone who is familiar with the particular substance. If you intend to take psilocybe mushrooms, don't ask someone to sit for you that has only done LSD or DMT and never psilocybe. The effects are very different.

Thanks for the reply. I know of a few traditions that use herbal formulas to support their meditation practices, and certainly respect the idea that an unintoxicated/unsupplemented approach to be the best for development. In the system I practice, herbal formulas are used to 'bridge the gap', so to speak. The supplements for meditation are used to expose the student to the necessary state of mind for the practice. Afterwards, the student is required to reach that state on their own through the recollection of the internalized memory. Sort of like a life-hack It would be interesting to try an herbal formula to induce a state of mind in which the student could go straight from waking consciousness into lucid dreaming.

If there is succubus/incubus leaching off your jing, you need to physically and spiritually purify and protect your home, especially your bedroom. Sleeping on the side wont matter, they'll just suck from the feet or flip you onto your back while you're asleep. Or they'll subtly incourage you to masterbate and feed off the ejaculate. This is something I've very recently had experience with. Not sure if the problem is solved yet either (so any help on the subject would be much appreciated). In Ayurveda, sleeping on the right side is said to increase Pitta ('fire', hot, light, intense, penetrating, pungent, sharp, acidic) because the exit of the stomach is on the right side, and digestion is forced to increase. If you go to bed on a full stomach, and sleep on the right side, the stomach will most likely empty before the food is properly digested -- which is not recommended. Sleeping on the left is said to increase Kapha ('water', heavy, slow, steady, solid, cold, soft, oily), the digestion is slowed or stopped because of where that places the exit of the stomach.

I've been practicing 'dream yoga' on and off for a number of years now, and have had only a small amount of success -- most probably proportionate to my efforts... Interesting write-up though, thanks for sharing. I've never considered trying to induce certain types of dreams. I'm curious to know if the Tibetan methods include the use of certain herbs or herbal formulas, like Valerian, Vervain or any other herb listed in popular 'lucid dream inducing herbs' list?

From just a superficial skimming, there is a quote from Paracelsus on the Quintessence extracted from Blood, but a whole chapter dedicated to the creation of a Mandragore, or a Lesser Homonculus, as Heliophilus calls it. It also appears that the author quotes quite a bit from Paracelsus.

Through an adaptation of the Principles within the Singularity. For example, Mercury. In order for 'Mercury' to manifest itself as a substance, it needs three qualities. It needs to follow the law of the Trinity -- the number of manifestation. This also applies to the concepts of Sulphur and Salt. So realistically there is... the Mercury of Mercury, the Sulphur of Mercury, the Salt of Mercury; the Mercury of Sulphur, the Sulphur of Sulphur, and the Salt of Sulphur; the Mercury of Salt, the Sulphur of Salt, and the Salt of Salt. In this case, what noonespecial said is quite valid: Remember that the 'three princinples' of Mercury, Sulphur and Salt have no physical correspondence, and are merely an alchemical interpretation of the 'Holy Trinity', much like the 'Three Treasures' of the Daoists. It's a very common mistake, and a very grave error to assume 'Mercury' means something like alcohol, 'Sulphur' as something like an oil, and 'Salt' as something white and crystalline (although this one is more in line with reality than the others). In practice, it very much depends on what path you're working, and what matter you're using as a magnet, and how you adapt that magnet within the path you're working.

I just received The Green Book in the mail, but have only had the chance to skim through it. So far, on a very superficial level, it seems Heliophilus takes different vegetable processes, explains their basics and applies them to work with Blood, but through indirect expression rather then a direct step-by-step explanation of the blood-work.

Contained herein is all the advice you'll need: AlchemyForums.com haha, I dig. I agree, either trying to extract the Primordial Spirit from matter, or shake off its Central Salt, or working with fixt Spiritus Mundi, depending on which path you're working.

His theory falls apart when it comes to practice because he doesn't have an accurate understanding of alchemical theory.

I've been meaning to look into Rubaphilos' work, so thanks for the recommendation

Hey everyone, Thanks for the link to the publishing house, I just bought Alchemy Rising: The Green Book by Heliophilus. I've read a lot of modern alchemical rubbish, but this is the first author I've seen to have a chapter on specifically on First Entities -- which is an actual alchemical preparation, rather than the common spagyric tinctures, essences, & so-called 'plant stones'. Also in my five years book buying, it's the first time I've seen or even heard of 'The Plant Phoenix'. So overall, it looks like it might be a good investment. If I remember, and people are interested, I can give a reveiw on it down the road.

No problem. Something to keep in mind is that Shamans these days also have to deal with Government, which basically means they need to make an income to keep their lands, temple, and way of life, as well as supporting their families (yes, shamans have families too). It's the same reason why temples and churches take monetary donations -- general upkeep, utilities, taxes, etc. The commercial side is only there to get the attention of the people and let them know where this kind of healing can be found. And if you're still not convinced, listen to this: Imagine listening to this while doing Ayahuasca! (it was beyond magnificent when I heard her sing under the influence of mushrooms ) In the end, it's up to you. I'm just throwing out my opinion.

Hello there I have the same Dream! My friend went to the Shipibo Temple of the Way of Light (twice I think) and highly recommends it. The link to their site should fill you in on all the details. When I finally save enough money for the trip, this is where I will be going: http://templeofthewayoflight.org/ In the appropriate, ceremonial environment with a trained professional, I couldn't agree more Best of luck to you on your journey!

Hello Everyone, I thought I would throw out an opportunity for those interested in potentially having professional english translations of eastern alchemical texts. This is the original post from another forum: Translation Suggestions I am very interested in having more English translation of Eastern alchemical texts available to the public, however, my knowledge of these alchemical texts extends only to the ones already available in English. So, to the point: if there are any texts out there that you know of which would be a wonderful contribution to the Western understanding of Eastern Alchemical practices (internal and/or external; theoretical and/or practical), that you would like to see professionally translated into English, it would be my pleasure to add them to the pool of texts to be considered on the other forum (alchemyforums.com). Either that, or you can join the other forum and become involved first hand with the submissions

Thanks for the suggestion LaoZiDao.