Apech

Sounds like it would be good to speak to a chiropractor. Do you think they all would do this Atlas thing? Why do you want to X-ray your spine? No wisdom I'm afraid just some knowledge from lots of reading and plenty of meditation!

The ka. The Egyptian's saw the person as comprising a number of entities and one of these was the ka. The ka was represented as a pair of upraised arms in a gesture which may mean an embrace, a greeting or an act of worship. The ka of a person was derived ultimately from the creative power (Atum or Ra) and was inherited from generation to generation. There is a benign serpent god called "Neheb-kau" whose name means either "Uniter of kas" or "Alloter of kas" depending on whose translation you read. This winged serpent existed in the primeval waters and was later associated with the Nile inundation, it was also believed to have magic powers from eating seven cobras. This Neheb-kau can be best understood as being the continuum of power itself, an aspect of Atum (the complete one) who brought the world into being through his bodily substances. This serpent-power has the kas of all potential beings held within itself. As the process of creation develops, these kas become embodied into actual beings alive on the earth. So the individual ka of a person comes originally from the power that brought the world into being. The ka is often translated as 'double' because it was shown on tomb illustrations as being a figure identical to the deceased, sometimes with the ka symbol on their heads but although you will often come across the term 'double' it is undefined and not all that helpful. However it is true to say that the ka was closely connected with the body. After death the deceased is said to "go to his ka", although the physical body has ceased to function the person still 'exists' in the form of the ka. The ka, unlike the ba which is free to move about and leave the tomb, remains close to the mummy. In order to survive it requires food and other offerings. These offerings are sometimes called ka because of this connection. In life also there are special instances of the ka. Most significantly the Royal Ka which the king receives at coronation. Here the ka is that special power or charisma that authority gives to people. You can, for instance see it operate in politicians, who on achieving high office cease to be the rather forgettable and unattractive figures they formerly were and fed by the worlds attention, seem to take on some extra sparkle (see early and late pics of Margaret Thatcher if you don't believe me). So in life the ka can be enhanced and strengthened, although better through inner working rather than the pursuit of worldly power. Also in life the association with the body is very strong and this has given rise to the idea of an internal and an external ka. But actually these are the same thing. The heart, which to the Egyptians was seen as the centre of one's being, the mind, character and personality, was called the 'ka in my body". "...for you are the ka that was in my body, the protector who made my members hale." (Ch. 30b BoD trans. Faulkner) We know from the Shabaka Stone (Memphite Cosmogeny) that the heart (together with the tongue) was seen as the 'command and control" centre of the being. And we can say from this that the ka has the same function in a disembodied state. So as well as being a vital energy, the ka had a co-ordinative and forming function. A specific energy field which during life supported and co-ordinated vital functions in the body and after death persisted on a finer level than the gross physical body. As the ka is passed down through one's parents (although ultimately from the creative power itself) it carries with it a kind of energy signature, that is a specific set of vibrational energies which are specific to the person - which is what makes us each unique in character. This 'spark' is transmitted through sex and you could say the nature and condition of your ka is determined by the sexual chemistry of your parents. However, after being born the ka is affected by interactions with the world and can be boosted or damaged by circumstances. It can be strengthened and enhanced by internal working. Equally it can be damaged by one's own deeds or words. In the funerary rites it was considered essential to protect, preserve and reenergise the ka following death, in order to attain a successful after life journey. For this reason special priest called hemu-ka (ka servants) made offerings to the blessed dead. This was part of what is known as the reversion of offerings. Food and other offerings were made through a specific formula known as "hotep di nesu" or the king's offering, these were made (usually) to Osiris with the plea that this god made the same 'good things' available to the person's ka in the Netherworld. When this ceremony had been completed the actual offerings were then shared out between priest, ka priests and others so nothing was lost or spoilt, hence the 'reversion'. Ka priests were able also to contact the kas of particular ancestors such as great kings or figures such as Im-hotep the architect of Step Pyramid to seek advice and so on. But principally the idea was to ensure enough energy was available to the ka in order that it could carry out the tasks and transformations needed after death. Although this energy was provided symbolically by food offerings, obviously it was understood that the ka could not actually eat, as eating is a function of the physical body. So what were they doing? The answer is that the attention of the priests and family fed the ka. In the same way as the attention of people in the worldly situation, feeds the famous, so by remembering the dead their ka is supported and energised. A clue to this I idea that you energise other beings through remembering them can be found in the tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor, although this applies to a god and not to a ka. The sailor in question finds himself marooned on a desert island and encounters a huge serpent. After recovering from his shock he finds that the serpent is the god of the Island and is actually very kindly. The serpent magically produces everything he needs. After a while the sailor is about to be rescued and turns to the serpent and says - how can I repay you, you saved my life and clothed and fed me, but you are a god and have everything you need. The serpent replies that if the sailor wishes to repay him then he should ensure that the serpent is remembered. This remembering of the god is about worship. The serpent is saying that the service men do for gods is remembering them. So while the man has depended on the god/serpent the god/serpent will depend on the man. This reciprocity between man and gods and man and the blessed dead is a hallmark of Egyptian religion. Its a 'you do something for me and I'll do something for you' relationship. Remembering, and particularly remembering a name had a magic significance for the Egyptians. This reciprocal relationship between men and gods is expressed most clearly in Utterance 269, of the Pyramid Texts - a censing prayer: "The fire is laid, the fire shines; The incense is laid on the fire, the incense shines. Your perfume comes to me, O Incense; May my perfume come to you, O Incense. Your perfume comes to me, you gods; May my perfume come to you, you gods. May I be with you, you gods; May you be with me, you gods. May I live with you, you gods; May you live with me, you gods. I love you, you gods; May you love me, you gods." (AE PT trans. R.O. Faulkner). What the Egyptian writers were pointing to here is that the world as we perceive it is drawn out of the continuum of power (Atum). Before the world is drawn into existence all forms of existence are so mutually interpenetrating that they cannot be said to 'exist' in any real sense but lie dormant. However when the forms of existence, men or gods do come into being then they do so in reciprocal relation to each other. Without a man to 'remember' the god, there is no god, but without a god to create him there is no man. This is strikingly illustrated in the mythology around the formation of the Egyptian temple, where it is described how the ancient ancestor spirits climbed out of the primeval waters on to the first hill and then called into existence the god that created them. This paradoxical relation between perceiver and perceived is very important. In this way we can understand that our ka is produced and maintained by the attention of self and others. So the task for the ka-priests was to maintain the attention on the ka for sufficient time for the transformations to happen. Once the akh had been formed it becomes self sustaining. The risk to the ka then was that its energy was depleted and that it would be drawn back whence it came into the abysmal waters and reabsorbed into the Neheb-kau. If this happened then it was not possible for the person to complete the task of forming an 'akh' which is an imperishable effective spirit, as this 'akh' is formed by the interaction of the ka, the ba and the body. The link between the ka and heart extends to the issue of 'evil' or impurity. The heart is weighed in the balance to see if the individual is free from impurities and similarly the ka. In Chapter 105 of the Book of Dead the deceased appeals to the 'ka of his lifetime' and purifies it from all the bad things he has done or said by using the 'amulet on the neck of Ra', this amulet is Maat (Truth or Order). "Greetings to you, my ka, [of] my lifetime! Lo, I have come to you, having appeared and being strong, ba-mighty, and powerful. I have brought you natron and incense, that I may purify you therewith and purify your sweat therewith. Every evil statement I have made, every evil deed I have done, (they) will not be reckoned against me; for I am that amulet that is around the throat of Re and is given to the horizon dwellers. When they thrive, I also thrive, and my ka thrives like theirs, and my ka is fed like theirs." (Ch. 105 BoD trans. Assmann). The horizon dwellers are the akhs. Everything I have said here about what happens after death applies equally to the living. The following is a summary of ka working. 1.Every person receives at conception a 'bundle' of energy which forms their signature energy reflecting their character, personality and being and which protects their body. 2.This ka has been handed down through the ancestral record from the original creative power until now. 3.The ka is affected by the individual's words and deeds, and adversely affected by 'evil' words and deeds. 4.The ka may be enhanced through the attention of self and others, in a worldly sense and through internal working. 5.During life the right food and attention will enhance the ka. 6.On death, or during certain practices the individual will go to their ka, that is exist as a ka and not as a body. After death this is a vulnerable period and there is a risk to the continuation of the ka. 7.The 'ultimate' task is to integrate the ka, ba and 'body' to form the 'akh'. This is the goal of Egyptian Mysticism.

Hi AK since your post I have tried to read a bit about the transpersonal shadow and I think there is a link. However I find Jungian thought a bit figurative compared to Egyptian where the shadow would be an actual entity. The Shade The shade or shadow (shewt/Swt or shewit/Swyt) is an important part of being identified by the Ancient Egyptians. In his 'Middle Egyptian' James P. Allen says: "The shadow is an essential adjunct to the body, since every body casts one. Because the shadow derives from the body, the Egyptians believed it had something of the body - and, therefore, of the body's owner - in it. The representations of gods are sometimes called their 'shadows' for the same reason." The Egyptologist Lanny Bell in 'Temples of Ancient Egypt' says: "The shade was both an emanation from a deity and a reflection of divine power (light); it was drawn as a silhouette of the body, and it symbolised divinity's in dwelling of an object or being ..." When the deceased enters the underworld he is said to begin a new life among the shades. The shade is also said to accompany the ba when it emerges from the tomb to see the rising sun. It was illustrated as a black silhouette. The derivation of the word shu (Sw) is connected with words which mean 'empty' and 'sunlight'. The air-god Shu is also interpreted as a light filled emptiness. From this we can come to Swyt as the absence (emptiness) of light. As the Egyptians placed great emphasis on the need for 'food', offerings to sustain the dead person on his underworld journey, this emptiness (shu) normally has negative connotations. Nayler illustrates this nicely in his translation from the Pyramid Texts of King Unas: "If emptiness (shu) flourishes, Unas cannot take his food. If Unas flourishes, emptiness cannot take its food." Despite this negative interpretation the Shade as a part of personality was not a negative but an essential element in the make up of the being. So how can we understand this? To the Egyptians everything originally emerges from the dark watery vastness called the Nun. Indeed the waters of Nun were seen as surrounding and permeating all existence. These waters are the source of renewal because they have the power to dissolve away 'exhausted' form and to renew it, making it fresh and new. We can understand the Nun as being the un-being or void. Its waters are the underlying nature of all things. Much in the same way as we know our bodies are mostly composed of water, all things have this same nature of being composed of voidity. By extension we could say that everything has a void-nature. As conscious beings we can acknowledge that we have another side. A side which embodies our nature as being empty of form. Just as every form in existence casts a shadow, everything has a light and a dark side. A visible and a hidden aspect. As a 'ba' we demonstrate our nature as god-like, as divine and as radiant and as capable of assuming a manifest form. The reverse of this is our shade. Our hidden-ness, our un-formed and mysterious side. The two sides complement and support each other. Which is why they emerge together to greet the sun.

Thanks for the links Amer - indeed it does look good - especially http://www.atlasevolution.com/. Can you tell us more about the treatment and what happened. I would be very interested. I have been looking at the neck vertebrae for some time and methods to release chi (or sekhem) into the head. This is because the Egyptian system places great emphasis on connecting the head to the body. I have put a short bit about the Shew (Shade) in the articles section of here. Ah thanks found this now!

I reach out to you as you pass by my window flying or falling.

In the first video it says he practices Sakhya Buddhism which is one of the four main sects of Tibetan Buddhism. The main practice is called 'the path and its fruit'. Otherwise he will be doing vajrayana sadhana on a particular yiddam - we don't know which. Sakhya Buddhism is a powerful lineage counting amongst its history the great Sakhya Pandita who is known as the Tibetan Leonardo because of his wide scholarship in all the sciences and arts. Far from being secret (although its higher teachings will be) it has many centres in UK and probably US as well. Its head is HH Sakhya Trizin. I have attended some of his teachings and he is very impressive.

Its important to distinguish between reincarnation and rebirth. Reincarnation is the Hindu concept of the transmission of the 'self'/'soul' or atman between different incarnations. This does imply that the atman somehow travels from body to body but of course the atman is not a physical entity. The idea that the universe we experience is composed of object separated by empty space is the product of an old fashioned scientific view. Modern physics views space as a continuum which interacts with the objects (mass) within it - see general relativity. There are no gaps in nature, as the philosopher Whitehead put it. So the atman can transmit without the need to jump any perceived gap because that gap is only a projection of perception anyway and the atman is not bound by the limits which the physical world appears to have. Rebirth, the Buddhist view is different because they do not accept that the atman is a real entity. In Buddhism it is the flow of consciousness which is continuous. This is compared to lighting one flame from another. In other words the candles may be different but the fire is transmitted. With this consciousness comes some aggregates including memories and so on. Another analogy would be a stream or river. The water flowing is the same but it appears in different places at different times. Again in Buddhism the world is beginningless. As they say 'Samsara has no beginnning but has an end (Nirvana).' The time measured by modern science is just one cycle or phase. The significant number is the total of sentient beings. This includes animals, insects, bacteria and so on and so is vast. Vast enough to be for practical purposes infinite. Karma - is not really about good or bad which are relative concepts. Karma is cause and effect in action. This means that every act has consequences. Everything you do has some kind of result. To simplify, if you do harmful things to others then this will result in more harm. Helpful things will result in more helpful things. The aim is to liberate yourself from the cycle of existence which results from confused actions. To do this you need benign conditions and these arise from the consequence of 'good' or beneficial acts. Theoretically it would be possible to free oneself even in the conditions resulting from harmful acts but this would be very difficult. The mechanism of karma is not immediately obvious because it is possible to observe harmful or selfish people getting a lot of luck and so on. This is because actions create karmic 'seeds' which only ripen when the right situation arises. Rather like a seed of a plant only grows when the soil, moisture and sunlight is right. If you see a lucky successful person who may still exhibit selfish or harmful behavior you can think that this person during previous births has been generous to others and so on.

"People turn to Spirit when their foundations are shaking, only to discover that it is Spirit that is shaking them." Anon.

Not all Islam or Muslims are like this. There is a lot of genuine spirituality in Islam e.g. Sufis and so on. There are different paths and as someone reminded me on here recently it doesn't do to mix them. But it is overtly political and controlling to define another's religion as wrong or evil. Individuals relate well despite differences, for instance Jews and Muslims lived side by side in Palestine before the creation of Israel. But as soon as governments and fundamentalist ideologies get involved things fall apart and the shooting starts. One of the most interesting things about fundamentalist Christianity is how many things they hate. A religion founded on 'love thy neighbour, love they enemy' becomes 'hate gays, hate muslims'. How does that happen? Don't they read the New testament? The same is true for Wahadi Islam.

These accounts seem from what I have read of them to deal with people who have undertaken 'powerful' practices without having understood what they are doing or what was happening. Moving energy/chi in your body and so on can produce quite dramatic results including the ones that they mention. In fact these stories are probably very good illustrations of why you shouldn't have 'power' as the goal without understanding and compassion. I wonder why their teachers didn't help them? Is it possible that they too were subject to the same forced approach. We all seek effective techniques and practices and I quite agree that there is no point messing around. But all practice has to be approached at a level and speed which is assimilable to the individual. Good teachers understand this. Obviously it is in the interest of mainstream religion whether Christian, Islamic or other to demonize anything which is not within their control and leads to individual empowerment (in the true sense) and realization. So I think both the initial teachers and the 'exorcisers' are at fault and left some very confused individuals.

Wool is so itchy! Note to self - new underwear in silk tomorrow.

looks more like Herring than it looks like a shark's fin breakfast is circling.

Scary things in jars! Is that a pickled gherkin? Or something far worse?

"This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man."

Time to wash the sheets That stain looks like Africa The mark of darkness. (Errrr! )

Just to add to this thread on the neck and so on. The attached image is of the serpent Neheb-kau feeding the person and restoring his (sexual) energy. This serpent was benign being associated with the flood of the Nile and was said to cure snake bites. His power was derived from his swallowing seven cobras which are related to the neck and probably stood for the cervical nerves which govern the upper body. This image was also shown on what is known as the hypocephalus a circular text placed behind the head of certain mummies. This was all about the Eye of Horus appearing as a flame which burn out impurities. There is an obvious correlation to Kundalini and so on and the use of energy. I would still like to know if anyone knows of a relationship between the neck and the seven stars/ or even the seven chakras etc.

The word doubt comes from words meaning 'to be of two minds'. If you are in a state of doubt then you have two opposing ideas in your mind with which you have established a certain attachment/indentification. This might be your spirituality versus scepticism for instance. Analysis through comparison of ideas is healthy while being passively confused by opposing and unexamined concepts is unhelpful. So I would suggest that when you have doubts about your practice then you test them as actively as you can, when you find you are passively engaged in practice you challenge this also to see if it is working. This will put you into an active stance instead of a passive one. In real spiritual work confidence is gained by a pragmatic testing of what you do to see the results. For instance you meditate and notice that you feel a little different afterwards - this proves that there is some effect. Step by step you test things to build more and more confidence. The same goes with establishing a relationship with a teacher - you test it at first (in a friendly way) until you feel that your pupil/teacher relationship is one in which practice and results can mature properly. If you are working alone then you have to do the same with your practice. Give it time but test it, without urgency, is it working? If not are you doing it right and so on.

Here is my answer: Through his experience, the sage becomes aware that all things change, and that he who seems to lead, might also, in another situation, follow. So he does nothing; he neither leads nor follows. That which he does is neither big nor small; without intent, it is neither difficult, nor done with ease. His task completed, he then lets go of it; seeking no credit, he cannot be discredited. Thus, his teaching lasts for ever, and he is held in high esteem. When the consistency of the Tao is known, the mind is receptive to its states of change. It is natural for things to change, sometimes being ahead, sometimes behind. That which once seemed full, may later empty seem, yet still be unexhausted. That which once seemed straight may seem twisted when seen once more; intelligence can seem stupid, and eloquence seem awkward; movement may overcome the cold, and stillness, heat, but stillness in movement is the way of the Tao. From The Tao Te Ching A Translation by Stan Rosenthal No idea how to vote - everything changes/nothing changes ... you decide.

would make a nice drum if I could, would keep it real not using cymbals.

flow fast between us like a charismatic sun for we are planets.

Where is Way's house then?

Forget the housework and keep your shoes on.

Those are absolutely stunning photos. Thanks for letting us see.

I'm looking for some authentic information on the assemblage point as per Castenada's books. Is there a Daoist equivalent in the sense of a point for gathering lines of attention which can be shifted and so on. Is it the middle Dan tien? Any links to Toltec shamanism on this? Thnx.