Cat Pillar

Wow, so much information in this thread, I'm gonna have to come back to this later and dig through it. All this talk is rekindling my interest in Hermeticism and Western magick...although I'm not sure how it would gel with my current Neigong practice. Something I'll probably look into working with a year or two down the road.

Look at it this way...lighting candles, chanting spells, drawing sigils and seals, is simply another tool or vehicle with which to explore inner realms and the nature of reality. You do realize that "meditation" or trance states are extremely important in the practice of ritual magick, right?

If you want to do basic quotes, the syntax is as follows (just replace the parentheses with brackets - [ and ] ). (quote name='Seth Ananda') blah blah blah (/quote) You can also check syntax by using the "Quote" button in the lower right-hand corner of posts. The reply page it brings up will show the syntax used for how the quote will display. If I'm doing manual quotes I ignore the timestamp and post options, though.

Great posts, Theurgy! Thank you for sharing your perspective on Chaos Magick. If I may ask, what do you practise these days? Your point about the limited shelf-life of initial results is a really good one, and applies to more than magical systems. The same thing is talked about in meditative traditions as well, the point where it seems like no progress is being made. This will separate the devoted from the dabbler, as it takes perserverence and dedication to push on even when it feels like there's nothing gained by doing so.

I hadn't read this before, I'm about half way through and loving it. Thanks for sharing!

Welcome, AlchemistGeorge! I like what you said about consistent practice...that is definitely one of the most important aspects!

Thanks, HE! I've been looking for good stretches to open up the hips. I'd love to try Stillness-Movement in Full Lotus some time.

I'd say grounding practices are something you should look into. I have the same problem with being stuck in my head a lot, and I also have difficulty with physical practices. That being said, physical exercise is one of the best ways out of your head. I don't do it nearly enough these days, but physical exercise is the simplest (not easiest, as you and I both know!) way to ground yourself.

I could stare into people's eyes for hours if they'd let me. Most people get uncomfortable after a few seconds, unless it's a staring contest. There ya go! Want a chance to look deeply into someone's eyes without freaking them out? Challenge them to a staring contest!

Glad you bumped this, SereneBlue! The main article was great!

Although I don't practice Chaos Magick, I have Liber Null/Psychonaut and Condensed Chaos by Phil Hine (which I believe is essentially Oven Ready Chaos, just the print form of it.) They're both good reads. I still want to read The Illuminatus! Trilogy.

Yeah, I think this is an important point. Using discretion when investigating a path or technique is important. Always do your research, and make sure you know what you're getting into. I've been fortunate so far in that I haven't run into any problems with the techniques I've tried, but most of what I've practiced have leaned more towards water paths and "letting go" type practices. When I first investigated Taoist cultivation methods I was really interested in fire paths because of the promise of quick results, but intuition led me elsewhere.

Ah, weird! I've never run into that error before.

What do you mean by limitation? Do you mean the fact that you can only vote up a post once?

I was really awkward in high school and didn't have many friends. Of course, I was also suicidally depressed, which doesn't help your social skills much. In my adult life though, I find that I don't have too much trouble with interacting with people as long as I keep my insecurities out of the equation. Or rather, when I just interact with people openly and naturally, I find that it's not hard to get along with them. I certainly don't find myself short for friends these days. Based on the reviews I've read, I think I naturally tend to use a lot of the techniques Carnegie talks about. Just the kind of personality I express, I guess. And Twilight Sparkle FTW.

The lotus has never been something I've been able to pull off, but it would be interesting to me to find out what effects it has on practice. Maybe I'll start working on it, increasing my flexibility is something I've been wanting to do for awhile.

I don't think solids or gases are closer to Tao, and the idea of "closer to" Tao doesn't make sense to me.

I've only read "Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body" but it's very good material. It was one of the first books on Taoist practices that I read. He's highly respected as a teacher.

This article has helped clarify some things, thank you. That was potent.

I'm not very flexible and a bit overweight, so sitting cross-legged or in lotus is very difficult for me. My legs go numb pretty quickly. I generally do Stillness-Movement sitting in a chair with my back straight, and I get heat generation while doing it. Sitting that way while not doing Stillness-Movement does not generate heat.

Thanks for the clarification, Mokona. Edit: I second thelerner's recommendation of Rawn Clark's work. He's done a great job of making Bardon's pathworking more accessible to the modern aspirant. It can sometimes be hard trying to work directly from IIH.

I was temporarily distracted from practicing Stillness-Movement by some Direct Path work I was doing, but since I'm done with the heavy lifting on that I look forward to picking the practice back up again. REALLY looking forward to November.

That Doctor Whooves episode was great! They made an animation for it, too...it's pretty decent.

I would go further and say that physical matter isn't real in the first place.

I like this, very good point.