Apech

They over did the meringue.

Love the monkeys.

THIS!!!! To which I would add non-duality and oneness/unity are not the same concepts. So if you go wandering about the spirit world merging with that mistake in your head it will end in disaster.

Hopefully communing with angels will be nicer than Christmas with family.

Hard work!!!!! get out of here

a masochists dream a nightmare for you and me while he snores sweetly.

Apart from Buddhist yidam practice with which I am familiar, I used to be interested in Ancient Egyptian magic. To the AEs the whole of the universe is composed of the 'souls' of divine beings. So the earth and sky and wind and sun are all souls = baw of the gods. So everything that exists ca be said to be composed of sekhem or divine power. This is like an infinite field of spirit in which entities of all kinds exist. These entities are called Neter (or Netjer) a word which means 'power wrapped in form' - or more simply 'that which is wrapped' where wrapped = cloaked. This is a very general term applied to all types of spirit beings from creator gods like Amen-Ra to minor underworld demons. They were all called Neterw. Conversation with, and interaction with these Neterw is essential to the Egyptian system. And again they have a broad range of types and applications. There are those which are causal powers like the creation Ennead, there are those which are subtle beings which include ancestor spirits for instance and there are those which relate to physical existence (for instance the Sons of Horus and the main organs of the body). When I worked with these deities I tended to focus on the wisdom gods and the guides - i.e. Thoth and Anubis. Thoth acts as a kind of oracle or more simply directs your vision and thought in particular ways, Anubis is a psychopomp - a guide through the inner planes of existence. There are specific exercises which the Egyptians practiced, one of which was to identify each part of the body, legs, spine, arms and so on with a set of deities in order to purify the body and let it dissolve into the void (Nun), the same was done with the head - which became what is called the 'Head of Mystery' which is a structure formed from planes of awareness. The ultimate purpose of this work is to transform yourself into an 'akh' - which is a spiritualised immortal self which is capable of all action and has perfect freedom. This really is taking your place among the gods. There is also astral magic relating to the fields of the sky = Nut - which is about the influence of the cosmos on our world. Its a big subject but depends completely on the interaction with entities at all levels.

a road to nowhere requiring boots with good souls wandering freely. (less of the old please )

Don't change your mind about that though, will you.

This is not the Buddhist Sub so perhaps we should lift this topic back to the OP about working with subtle level beings. This occurs in all kinds of systems. But in most the deity or whatever is regarded as a real, separate entity. While in Buddhism the sugata yidam is ultimately your own buddha nature which is not different to the dharmakaya. This is specifically what Guru Rinpoche was talking about - why? because it is the practice that leads to liberation. Just because it is possible to compare this to theurgy or conversation with angels and so on - does not mean that all practices which superficially share some characteristics are the same.

I thank you'd you for that post even though you keep changing your mind

Hitchens on George Eliot:

Another battle won. But let us take to the streets The fight continues.

"for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." "There is a fable that when the badger had been stung all over by bees, a bear consoled him by a rhapsodic account of how he himself had just breakfasted on their honey. The badger replied, peevishly, "The stings are in my flesh, and the sweetness is on your muzzle." The bear, it is said, was surprised at the badger's want of altruism."

You misunderstood me. I meant that if what you were working with as a yidam was just a kind of empty image then it would not be of value. I am not saying the ability to visualise is not important. By the way why do keep quoting Daskalos when talking about Buddhist practice.

Have you ever considered that it is you who don't understand?

Not exactly encouraging though is it? PS. Just to add - you seem to be basically Christian and so why the Buddhism? That's what he is saying ... what you are doing is disrespectful one way or another.

Semantics; syntax. What! What? there's a tax on sin? and semen have ticks?

Does your bed have another side which you could get up from?

Hi, I quickly read that article a couple of times and can't find any reference to using jesus or LaoTzu as a yidam. Perhaps I misunderstood your point. I don't disagree that you can do some form of practice with other persons or deities but the point I was making is that the result will not be the same. You do some kind of practice as you describe and get a result - which you also describe. This is not Buddha-dharma which is where the term yidam comes from. This has nothing to do with 'my team' or whatever expression you want to use - it has to do with the intent and activity involved. Given the context of the term yidem there is no need to appropriate it for your own use.

Without Cubans we wouldn't have Cuban heels :

If someone said that to me I'd punch them on the nose.

Really - how do you know that? Perhaps you mean migrants. This is the problem - there are different groups all mixed together - genuine refugees + economic migrants + terrorists + riff raff. Never mind we can rely on the leaders of our western democracies to sort out this mess.

What is?