tumoessence

Cloud, I will from a limited perspective of one who has never done ceremonial magic but who has studied western magic and Bardon in particular, and travels the path of the first pillar. His Book on Magical Evocation gives a great sense of the intent of evocation, and its ethics, ethics for the practioner's sake. In bardon's path a magician learns to master the elements and the fluids, dynamics of yin and yang forces within himself and can get and do most things through his own abilities. If a person evokes or invokes a being through ceremony without that kind of training then the magician becomes dependent on that being to reach his aims. if a being is doing things for you or you borrow its aura, by bathing in the echoes of the ceremony, giving the sense that its abilites are yours and that you are evolving through the process, then unbewknownst to you, you get into debt to that being. I think all ceremonies attract beings of one sort or another. This is called a pact in Bardon's book. No contract on parchment written out in blood. This dependency takes the form of a too close connection to that being, and getting closer over time. The opposite of Liberation which is the aim of Magic in Bardon's view anyway. In Bardon's view beings evoked from the spheres are individual entities in their own right. For an opposing view there is this guy, a Crowley, thelemite writing very lucid books these days, just came out with a book on Soloman's magic. I can't remember his name but his view is that these beings are aspects of your own mind, or of Mind and can be safely ordered around. But even in his training I think you have to be able to operate from the standpoint of this mind that these beings are aspects of. Maybe not such an easy thing. Lon Milo DuQuettte is the guys name, just checked it out. So for a more clear insight other than my ramblings read Bardon's evocation book and DuQuuette's new Solomanic book as contrasts and let the interval play out in your mind for a while then see what insights evolve in yourself.

I have a question for all of you guys and the women of course who may have an inight. Is there mention in taoist or yogic sexual practices especially ayp about prostate orgasm. Specifically is the prostate orgasm a stepping stone to the transformation of the sexual energy or could it be a sidepath? Especially the physical stimulation of the prostate. I know that Michael Winn mentions that any organ can have an orgasm, It seems that through the taoist and ayp approach, there is more of an energetic stimulation of it. I am interested in your direct experience especially from aneros users who are also doing energetic practices. Maybe I should do a close read of Plato's book.

Check out Gnosticism by Kurt Rudolf. I looked at a copy today and thought of your post. It looks like it covers history as well as social aspects.

Trunk, Thanks for the reply. I will definetly do the massage. My original thought was that the prostate orgasm would satify enough that I could practice retention more consistently and have a more consistent jing transformation practice. Otherwise I feel like I have a rollercoaster rythym in the practice where I am not inspired or don't feel like I have anything to practice with. As always I get a lot from your site. Thanks for the great work. Bill

I have been been in the Sacramento heat where we're having 108 - 110 degrees. My house has no cooling for now. Luckily my kids are away and don't have to go through this. I have been doing the spinal breathing from ayp with the enhancement of cool up and heat down. I have also been eating raw fruits and veggies 95% with lots of green smoothies. It has been really good, and haven't had such a bad time of it.

I really think that the key to mainfesting is coming to a point where there is no internal subversion to what you want. That all of you wants it and there is no "yes but...I am not good enough, its not service oriented, what will people or God think. Then the outer world can fall into place. Also I think we need to be in the habit of genuinly giving in our daily life. Otherwise there may be an unforeseen price extracted from our manifesting. I agree with Yoda that it must generate bliss. But isn't this service? Especially thinking of my kids. Will a trip to hawaii inspire my eight year old in a way I can't plan to go on and become a great marine biologist? The consequences of following our bliss in the moment cannot be foreseen. Also I think I need to feel gratitude and reverence for nature also, or wherever we see as the origin of all that is good. My whole family are away in Vienna where my wife is from so I'll be putting in a lot of work and play in this area. Bill

Peregrino I have read her books and they are definitely worth reading. She communicates a type of non dualism that is the heart of the New Thought Christian movement of the nineteenthe and twentieth centuries. Her books are great for their new light on manifesting but also are really consciousness raising. They are meditations to read. Bill

I don't remember the title. In fact it may have been an interview that I read in a magazine. Let me research my memory banks and other resources. It may take a few days. I am getting old.

In one of Maezumi Roshi's books he recommends circulating the orbit around before sitting practice.

Lozen, Thank you for the links. I really like reading about the Gnostics, which is after all about Gnosis. There are even Lost Gospels found in China, there is a book called the Jesus Sutras that tell the story. THe founder of Manicheism, Mani teaches of primal light and dark powers, and I have seen two traditional references to him as Lao Tsu reincarnated. I will have to try and lay my hands on them. Also the Gnostic idea of the demiurge the false Creator is very liberating. Not to mention the honoring of the Feminine. Bill

There is a book called the Anatomy of Movement. Really good

Look at the website for classical tai chiclassical tai chi there on the main page is a demonstration of internal discipline. Try integrating that into your form or order their intro dvd where more details are given. This is a lost element to form practice. Then there is Master Tu in San Jose in Ca, the guy who pulls trucks with his nuts. But I think that tai chi nei gong should be relaxed in the abdomen and not a hard style qi gong. There is also a martial qi gong system in Qi Gong Emowerment by Liang I think his name is. Check out the table of contents for the book at Amazon

But nice guys finish last! Doesn't that count for something?

I got into blending and am transitioning to raw as a result of a few posts a while back on this forum. I got my k- tec blender. I think that to do apricot seeds you should take the kernal out of the the shell then toss that into the mix. I love the seed idea that comes from Dr Wu, but my body and taste buds prefer the phytos from dark leafy greens. Also too much avacado and too much oil can bog me down. The greens are really energizing as well. I learned of the benefists of blending dark leaves fromraw family from their book green for life. Apparantly their health after five years of raw was slipping backwards. The woman of the family did some research on greens and primate diets, chimps eat a variety of over a hundred greens in a year. and consumed mass quantities, to quote the coneheads, into their diet with great results. I am not affiliated with them, but but I do find their site very inspiring. Also, frederic pentenaude's site.

I know about that Ego of his first hand. It might be better to study with his students, but who knows?

Lozen, Have you thought of training with Vince Black since he's in Tucson. A great practioner of internal chinese MA. I am sure he does rolls as part of his Bagua school.

Matt, I thought you might chime in on this topic. I remember that you had studied with Glenn recently. I thought you might comment on his practices especially in the light of the above discussion. I had the impression that Glenn had gotten deeply into emptiness practices and samadhi lately and was wondering if you could comment on it. Bill

From what I heard from close students was that he died sitting up in meditative posture, eyes open, and that he knew for years that he would go out early. I don't think they are posting that kind of info on any sites related to him.

Sean A taobum get together is very appealing to me. I am using some of my family karma credits to go to the Glenn Morris new and improved chi kung workshop that he is not teaching since he recently passed on. It will be taught by the umma tantra teachers who were students of his, but I am very intersted in Santa Monica in September, and would like to meet you, Trunk if you are out of your cave.

I want to go to his Santa Monica workshop as well as get the dvd's

I think part of the problem in manifesting is trying to manifest big things right off the bat. I got blown away by how fast I have manifested some simple things. Now I want to try going for some larger situations and things, but I think that they have to harmonize with my life theme as I understand it in the moment. Everything has to be in charactor so to speak. I wanted to upgrade my tv mostly for watching dvds and videos. I generated feelings of how it would feel having the new tube then let it go. I almonst didn't care about it. A week later I was intalling cabinets in someones home and I noticed a tv in the garage that looked like what I imagined the new tv would be like and thought whether that would be my tv. At the end of the day the homeowner offered me the tv and a video player.

I like Tom and Penlope Pauley's work. They talk about the right way to ask when to let go and how to plant seeds in the world that help bring things to us if its for our greatest good. richdreams.com

I know we've talked about this from a different angle, but if its purpose you want then have kids. In the meantime follow your heart and concentrate on the essentials of what you want, then give of that. But we often don't appreciate how much time we have until we have kids or something equally dramatic happens to us. I think in this era we create our purpose, just like we give meaning to life, not discover it exclusively. If you don't know what your purpose is make one up, until you create the next one. Most like the one you make up is the one you're given. And don't forget to have fun. My kids remind me of that.

Pietro, Erics book does talk about Bardon, but I don't know if he really practiced his work otherwise he would have been more cautious about using ceremonial magic. He was heavily intp Crowely and the GD system. Ceremonial is a short cut way to borrow power on credit. Sometime someone comes to collect.

Bardon's book Initiation into Hermetics is actually a whole course on Hermetic practice. There are ten steps in the book with many skills developed with one of them being astral projection. What I find unique about his curriculum is that he has you develop a deep emptiness practice that is introduced in step one and is to be deepened in every step. It is the only practice that is carried on through all the steps. Astral projection is taught in step nine, but there are incremental steps of projection leading up to it. Working with the elements ensures that the astral body is customized energetically so to speak, organized to support the witness consciousness. There is no Bardon organization, the practitioner is left free in that regard. There is no dogma but a basic theory. Practice with the elements is introduced to bring about an elemental equilibrium in the astral body the psyche, and then work with in the psychic environment. The elements correspond to the senses so a great mastery over the physical and astral sense is deveoped. It all helps to do the above mentioned energetic organization. Many book and teachers market by introducing advanced practices early while withholding the beginning steps. The advanced practice is ineffective because of the lack of a foundation. The student is stuck to the teacher or organization looking or waiting for the lost key or next piece of "advanced" info. In reading Bardons books you can see how many organizations fail in introducing the most basic skills of focus and energetic awareness. Of particular interest to me as a tai chi and chi kung practioner is the skill of condensing and volatizing the elements. You can get a deeper picture by looking at Rawn Clarke's commentaries on the book at www.abardoncompanion.com or at www.lava.net/~pagios by William Mistele Good stuff