noonespecial

Dotted lines is more appropriate...actually thats a great description And yes, the Yazids and the Druze have really kept the gnostic flame alive, and even the Shia if you look in the right places.

I think its two fold, I KNOW there are healing energies that can be harnessed from the 'ether', and if the operator is skilled enough to narrow down the energy to a specific frequency and act as a conduit to channel that energy into a metal or even a rock or piece of paper, the amulet will have an effect, and at best only a small one if the magus is not the one actually using it (how many times has that energy been stepped down? Even then, can the recipient of the amulet channel that frequency harnessed by the magus). And on a lower level, and probably the more historic one, I beleive they do act as a placebo to give one 'confidence' against disease during the times of plague and bravery in times of war, etc and on even a lower level to get one laid or destroy an enemy...unfortunately, this is more than likely what the majority of modern dabblers are interested in.

Oh man this is a sticky subject, I dont think there is any unbroken line from egypt or sumeria until now, if there is, you will surely find it in the middle east under the guise of sufism and not europe with any golden dawn offshoot including crowley and wicca.

To learn and add to 'THE' experience.

Placebo? if not how does one think these work 'scientifically'

Perhaps if he was riding the bus to the temple :-)

I'll give it a shot. An Adept is one who has separated, purified and unified the disparate parts of their own being (conscious and unconscious), therefore fixing the dysfunction between them - allowing reintegration with the Higher Functions (Godhead/Universal Mind, etc) without the usage of ritual, drugs, or any other sort of props. In theory an Adept can access the Anima Mundi with his eyes open while riding the bus to work, turning the function on and off like a light switch. However, this whole process is guarded by a distinct and ancient intelligence, therefore it takes the guidance of an Adept (one who has been through the process) to become an Adept, because the very nature of this dysfunction is that which makes us think we do not need to change ourselves, we just need more money, more of this, more of that. This dysfunction is actually everywhere we look, in politics, our neighborhoods, relationships...because it is an inherent part of our basic nature. Therefore, becoming an Adept has nothing to do with sorcery, magic(k), becoming rich, evocation or opening the siddhis (psychism). In fact a true Adept would have no need for any of the aforementioned things, although they may be side effects, or even distractions during the process.

Hi UFA, I spent about 4 years on the course work in BOTA and it really prepared me for what was to come. PFC was great, I forgot about him. The question is, did pop-occultism produce him, or did he produce a form of pop-occultism, I define the term as anything that is 'readily visible and available' - usually groups that accept candidates without any screening.

I dont think anything in the pop stream of the last 150 years has come anywhere close to producing an adept. They cant even define what an adept is.

Prayer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GmUj0cucfc

I dont think the daoist would see himself as anything but nature.

And then as soon as the hermit visits the city for groceries he finds himself drunk at the brothel. No gain was made at the monastery.

Awesome drawing.

This is great man. First, cause I never thought of the connection to the verse in regards to the Lucifer verse, and secondly, because as far as I can tell being perfect like God has nothing to do with flexing power or being self-righteous cause you are 'so good' but is absolutely about humility.

Once you make a connection with the higher functioning (like a plant to the sun) you cease to worry because you are happy where you are (like a plant...he has to be due to his roots), and when you are happy where you are and take little move (like plants), time slows down, you become like a plant, those little moves turn into huge things because you have patience like a plant.

No way!

I didnt say pick them all. lol

Aha! Got it, sorry I am the type who needs things clearly explained.

But that flower is going to die and putrefy so why not just pick it and put it in a vase.

What does that have to do with anything? We here to discuss, not drop quotes about how discussing things is not enlightenment.

Perhaps the 'strong-person' is the conscious mind; that which classifies, divides and judges (if we are honest with ourselves is this not the most natural, automatic process), the aspect of mind which inherently disbelieves. The method of disarming this strong-person? Prayer, meditation, ritual, evocation, repetition, communal living (which removes the need for 'that' survival mechanism or at least lessens it) etc. edit: On a less esoteric tip, things that do not require cognition, dance, freestyle play of music, drawing, et al.

Hi Michael, it's a bit tricky to reply to that post with the quotes and all, briefly, in simplest terms we can say, "There is no resurrection body unless there is first a (corrupt) body" - likewise, and I think this applies to all of the above, Jabir writes, "Our stone is one, one medicine, to which we add nothing, from which we take nothing away, only removing that which is superfluous." So the problem we are dealing with is a dysfunction (that which is superfluous) inherent in the physical world (harkening back to the Fall of Adam), I would imagine removing these 'filters' inherently fixes the Soul which is caught between Matter and Spirit. edit: Also I agree the soul/noetic body is a blueprint, but it remains just that, a blueprint, and must be manipulated from Malkuth/Matter or else it is tossed into the fire for the 2nd death (to put it Biblically), meaning it is not the eternal part of man.

You got it!

Hi Michael, The Corpus Hermeticum says the same thing, that is, the body is the tomb of the soul, but like verse 3 in GOT speaks to, it is conditional on the person, and their understanding - that is, there is some sort of hidden value in our temporal limitation that the mundane world is not privy too, you mentioned Lead, but Lead cannot be transmuted into Gold, its like growing a tree from donkey sperm as the saying goes. So what must lead really be? Malkuth in Kether, Kether in Malkuth but in different manner. Likewise you mentioned the astral body or OOB experience, the very concept of body is dependent on the physical world, therefore the soul is an amalgamation of the interaction between spirit and matter, so the body may be its tomb but it is also its womb, the question being do we point the Soul towards Spirit for the Second Birth or towards Earth to die be buried with it's Tomb.