Zhongyongdaoist

Look no further than: There are only superheros behind those masks. Ask anyone. Really.

Yes, this is the Cosmic Taiji Pole, the "pole" that unites our "planet earth" with the "height of Heaven" as functional unit. Jerry Alan Johnson's "One to Ten Exercise" is one way of doing this which also aims to draw energy up from the center of the earth, and unify the Energies of Heaven and Earth in the Three Dan of the Personal Taiji Pole. I have seen this in other Chinese Meditation systems too. Ideas like this show up in the West, but that is too complex to get into now. And yes, it is a good idea not to get too wrapped up in this, though the experience of wrapping can be used for unwrapping, but first you have to understand what is really going on, and that lands us deeply in the land of Mercury and the Magician, and maybe leads us to the Theater of the World.

We had a very interesting member here who posted under the name "Traveler" who posted this is how one of his earliest posts here begins: His mention of the Golden Dawn is very interesting and ties in with this matter more than most people with a superficial acquaintance with it teachings might imagine. Jerry Alan Johnson has a Chakra system as part of his teaching and he has two sets of three "trans-personal chakras", three above the head and three below the feet, or perineum if seated. He doesn't elaborate on their use in his published books, but he does have an exercise that uses them as part of form of protection.

by such speech and such rhyming, 'tis a spelling truly Frightening! But one that I am only too happy to make light of. (of which to make light?) I suppose no one really wants to hear about floppy hats, lemniscates and infinity symbols do they?

Actually there is not much difference between Western and Indian treatments of Mercury because they are based on the same Hellenistic materials, which in turn come from Babylonian/Chaldean ideas. In short Indian horoscopic astrology is largely based on Western astrology. You can check this out in the Wikipedia articles on the Yavanajataka, which is now little messy because while it introduces some new research by Bill Mak on dating the Yavanajataka it then continues with material that looks like it is based on David Pingree's original earlier dating. Be that as it may even Mak has to confess that, ". . . there has been no explicit description of the planets or the Zodiac in the entire Vedic corpus . . ." (JOURNAL OF INDIAN AND BUDDHIST STUDIES, Volume LXII Number 3, p. 1102). Beyond that the discussion is interesting, but short and so I cannot say more. I have only recently discovered the reference to Mak's work, though I have known about the Yavanajataka and Pingree's translation since the early 1980s and I will be looking more closely into the issue as I have time. For an extremely interesting discussion of the Babylonian/Chaldean origins of Greek/Hellenistic astrology you can't beat Jean Seznec The Survival of the Pagans Gods, where, in the early part of the book, he argues very capably that the characters of the astrological Planets reflect the character of the Babylonian/Chaldean Gods and not the Greco-Roman Gods for which they are otherwise named. He then continues to chart the course of their survival through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, something which will come as quite a surprise to the modern neo-pagan. It did to me and I'm not even a neo-pagan. I've always considered myself more of a born again heathen.

The Magician reversed. Is there a whole deck of those ? Some of us know how to find things by ourselves: The Tarot of the New Vision

Remember to crack the bones and eat the marrow.

Herbs can be extremely powerful and helpful, but most Westerners are so far out of balance that suggesting that doing a little peppermint tea will help would be laughable if they didn't have the serious problem that they do almost nothing to address the real underlying issues and the imbalances remain. The lack of result from such unsatisfactory methods gives the false impression that herbs don't work, which is not laughable, it is tragic. Westerners should be given stronger herbs that taste awful and cannot be put in food and are hard enough to choke down in teas in pill form, that way powerful herbs that can address the real issues will be able to get inside and do some good. What people will find is that as their underlying imbalances change their taste in food will change and their diets change with them. Once the deep seated imbalances are taken care of it is possible to maintain balance by diet alone, but trying to get to that state merely with diet is almost impossible. I base the above on a good understanding of theory and a couple of decades of hard won practical experience, but I don't have time to go into details.

No, unless he was alive long before the Mongol invasions, otherwise only a little over 800 years: Mongol Conquests

Unfortunately, yes and no. The problem is that "philosopsher's stone" is in a sense an outsider's term, not an insider's term. Inside alchemy there is a rich technical language which alchemists used to describe complex processes and which different schools used in somewhat different ways, so that in one text from one school it refers to the beginning of the operation and in others the middle and the context and the words around it determines what exactly is being talked about. Interestingly it almost never refers to the end of the operation. In some schools it could mean "energetic phenomenon" in the sense in which you probably mean "energetic phenomenon" and in others, no, it is not. It is "overdetermined", in other words there are too many possible things that it could mean for any single definition to be given. Also there are problems with the very notion of "energetic phenomenon", again a very informal phrase in which a term "energy" is standing in for traditional terms like spirit, pneuma, qi, shen, "philosophic mercury", etc., so that your whole inquiry as framed can go off into so many different directions as to, as I said before, require many long posts just to get an understanding of the basic terminology, and I don't have time for that. Oh, also people tend to bring into the discussion a "model" of reality that is nothing like that which the alchemists, or for that matter any traditional culture had, and judge anything from that perspective without ever making that perspective explicit in the discussion. It is a sure recipe for miscommunication and wasted time, and I have even less time for that. You can see in some of the replies how different the interpretation can be, some of what has been said is relevant and some isn't. Good luck in finding out which.

The details are complex, but it was considered something that only some one who was truly WISE, the real Philosopher could achieve, thus the Philosopher's Stone. Turning "base metals into Gold" and "mundanes into Immortals" was because both people and metals were thought to have an inherent perfection, an end to which all striving was truly aimed, but only foolishness, the opposite of Wisdom kept them from realizing. Metals were considered to be "living things" and their "inherent" perfection was Gold, which was "incorruptible", it did not tarnish, etc., and for people it was immortality, the cure of all diseases, including aging, was considered to be the "natural state", the truest expression of "real human nature". Since at the root of all things was a fundamental unity, there was a "medicine of men and of metals" which would achieve this "end" of "perfection" in both people and metals. That's the quick simple answer, more would require very lengthy posts just to explain the terminology on a basic level, much less explain how it was understood on a deeper level. Edit: Tidied things up a bit.

The traditional name for Qi Deviation is: The term zou huo ru mo (Chinese: 走火入魔; pinyin: zǒuhuǒrùmó) literally means "walking fire entering demon". (Wikipedia article on Zou huo ru mo) The implication given the use of "mo" that a demon or evil spirit is involved may cause some people to respond with superstitious fear, still consultation with a real medical Qigong practitioner may be useful and you may learn some things or have somethings that you have already learned confirmed to you. Walking qigong is an established practice: Walking Qigong and you may have been unwittingly doing qigong for years. I suspect it is much older that is written about in the article cited above, still it may be a good idea to have someone experienced look into the matter, among other things it might be possible to remove the marks, and still maintain your achievements. Especially if, as it sounds like may be the case, one palm is acting as to absorb qi, or has that capacity, you may be picking up undesirable qi that could over stress your own system. Edit: Correct some wording in sentence beginning, "The implication given . . ."

I assume Grim is referring to a type of "stigmata" appearing at Pericardium 8: Acupressure Treasures: Lao Gong -- Pericardium 8 A developments that can appear there from self-cultivation. Qi is often projected from this point in the palm. Its relationship to the Pericardium links it to the Yellow Court and thus indirectly to the Middle Dan. The Pericardium meridian is special and linked to the Yellow Court which develops from it as one progresses, just as the Three Burners Meridian is the root of the Three Dan. I noticed that there are other responses while I was writing the above. The description Grim has given sounds more like the result of a Qi Deviation then a purely healthy Qi development of the Lao Gong points. An ordinary acupuncturist might not be able to properly interpret it, but some other people here may have some suggestions. Edit: Added "art" to the end of the Wikipedia quote which had somehow been cut off.

It's Waldo, the theme of which is the ill effects of "broadcast power", the replacement of wired electrical power distribution with broadcast power, as envisioned by Tesla, which apparently has bad effects on the human nervous system. Waldo and Magic, Inc., were available in a single volume and thus and both have the theme of the reality of magic and thus easy to confuse.

I'm afraid that I have to disagree with you on the history because I have made a special study of Confucian cultivation and it goes back at least to Mencius, and many people think even earlier to Confucius disciple Yan hui, and possibly to Confucius himself. Mencian Confucianism was marginalized by a version dominated by Xunzi's interpretation from the time of Hanwudi on until the early Song when its revival resulted in what is now called Neo-Confucinism. In second chapter of his PHD thesis Daniel Burton-Rose traces the early developments of this type of cultivation in the Song. You can download it here: Daniel Burton-Rose Phd thesis Throughout the second chapter he refers to the Neo-Confucians as "Song Classicists", but if you know your Neo-Confucians you know that this means Confucians. These people went so far as to not consider Xunzi a real Confucian. The repudiation of Confucian cultivation took place in the early Qing Dynasty when scapegoats had to be found for the fall of the MIng. You might find my posts in Confucian Qi gong interesting. This is obviously a very abbreviated account, but all that I have time for now.

I'm sorry to be so long to get back to you on this, but I have been kind of busy and preoccupied. so which is it? While I think the person you should really ask is the person who wrote it, my interpretation of the text would be, both. If we look at the whole quote: Two things are being talked about, the "pre heaven jing, qi and shen" and how when they meet the mind "naturally cultivates yuan qi", this is really rather more a state of emptines, which is why "it may seem like something has been taken away", but then there is the "trace of the Dao", which is "post natal heaven qi moving through the various meridians". It is this movement of the post heaven "Qi" which "often manifests", so to me it seems like he is talking about two different, but complementary processes, one which seems more like "emptiness" and the other a slightly noticeable movement of post heaven qi that arises spontaneously in response to the "mind naturally" cultivating yuan qi and it is this spontaneous motion which is the trace of the Dao. At least that is how I would interpret what he says. When I asked SillyBear about the Dao De Jing in relation to this he specified Chapter 14. You might want to check out the original post. Edit: Added "about" to "being talked about" and italicized Dao De Jing.

Thanks again for your original post and responses. I am very interested in the historical aspects of this, aside from any practical aspects. I am intrigued by your observation that the terminology changed in the the Medieval period, as I have mentioned the Neiye terminology is jing, qi and shen and I am tempted to postulate a possible connection to the change and the Neiye. I am too busy now to do more, but I hope to return to the topic at some point and explore it in more depth, in particular because I see it as having possible correlations with Confucian self-cultivation and the Mencian branch of Confucianism which was revived from the Song dynasty on.

Thanks, I appreciate your response. Definitely an interesting take on Chapter 14 and I will review your original post in its light. Though I like the idea of tracing these things back to the Dao De Jing, I can't see this quote convincing someone who is not already open to the idea. Are their any others like this?

Good post, it should be required reading. Can you give some quotes that illustrate how Laozi uses "xi, yi, and wei" in the Dao De JIng as you mention here: I find these things seem also to be in the Neiye, in what becomes the later terminology of jing, qi and shen, so the connections are clearer, but there are people who deny that Laozi intends this type of meditation at all, it would be good to have some quotes to throw at them. I liked this so much I posted it here: storing up energy in your consciousness I hope you don't mind. Edit: Corrected some spelling.

As far as I am concerned the idea of "storing up energy" begins with some bad metaphors and analogies and goes downhill from there. I was going to write something to that effect when this silly fellow beat me to it and saved me a lot of time and trouble: Thank Dao for silly fellows.

I don't particularly care for him or his attitudes, but since you're not getting any response here, this is where you can read about his most recent name change:

Thanks Daeluin, that provides the necessary information. I couldn't quite let go of this and had already been thinking in terms of some sort of power display that was at once not potentially harmful like setting newspapers on fire, or giving people electric shocks, but enchanting and delightful, something very Daoist. This I can actually comment on, but I don't have time now. I will try to get something up in a day or so, if someone doesn't beat me to it.

I see dawei has already addressed this some what. Creating thought forms is more a technique for beginners, though they can have many uses, and a creative practitioner can use them for a wide variety of purposes, but it is too complex to describe here. Their visibility can indicate several things because their are different ways that "things" can become "visible" to a group of people, in some techniques they are only visible to people, but they will all describe the same thing, in others they can be photographed. Does Wan Liping actually use the word conjure? And if so is he using it in a technical sense or informally? If he is using conjure technically, then it implies that they are spiritual beings of one sort or another, but it can be used informally in which case they could just be condensations of energy of one sort or another. Thanks Son of the Gods for sharing his interesting technique. This brings up the question of whether the spheres are small and float around or large and in particular places, such as the six directions and the center such as SOTG describes. More information is needed, but it looks like this involves more speculation then I have a wish to indulge in, so I will bow out of this discussion.

Yes, I have to second this, more information is needed, for example in his books on Daoist magic Jerry Alan Johnson describes a technique for creating "thought forms", the more usual Western term for something which might also be called a "mental sphere", by someone writing trying to translate a Chinese term for a mental construct used for magical purposes, or Wang Liping might be talking about who knows what else. So a little clarification like a quote that describes these in more detail would be helpful.

It was in point of fact the mainstream, the reduction of philosophy to the modern academic discipline is purely a modern phenomena, a creation of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. As for differences between Plato and Aristotle the case of the most famous, in his own day at least, thinker of the First Century BCE Posidonius: Eclecticism and a tendency to seek a synthesis and emphasize similarities was the order of the day, not differences as has been a tendency since the Renaissance. Regarding Agrippa: Agrippa's “To the Reader”, part of the Introduction to his own version of his Three Books of Occult Philosophy, must be taken as his “official” account: I analyze it in considerable detail here: [TBOPB1C00] Agrippa Book One Introduction Where I address most of the issues that I have bolded above as best as I can in a forum format. As far as Plato goes, you have probably never heard that he was the Son of Apollo born of a virgin, nor about his third eye. Regarding his virgin birth: Does any of that sound familiar? Oh yeah, that Jewish carpenter fellow. The earliest extant source for his virgin birth account is Apueius of Madauros a Second Century CE Middle Platonist, who among other things was prosecuted for practicing magic: Plato's third eye is mentioned by Clement of Alexandria, and is the subject of an essay by the Renaissance Platonist Marsilio Ficino, about which Michael J. B. Allen writes Here: Marsilio Ficino on Plato's Pythagorean Eye The point of ancient philosophical magic was rather more in line with the Religious Daoist's teachings regarding becoming a deified immortal free from reincarnation, rather than life extension, but that did not stop there from being a Western Alchemy with many similarities to Eastern alchemy, that was well established in the Hellenistic period. As should seem clear from the above, I could go on and on, but I have taken up enough space here and given a thumbnail sketch which I hope is helpful.