So I am here, with you, now.
This is the beginning of at least a series of posts, sharing and expressing insight and inspirations from life, through the personality of who I am now. From the point of view of a Yogi Shaman.
As it is with each of us, the Shaman and Yogi sit silently and still long into the night by the Fire, serene and at peace, ever fulfilling their sacred duty in this world of sharing and living the miracle and joy of being given the gift of life. Knowing always that the sacred fire they watch is a reflection of the fire within themselves and within each and every being and moment of life - driving us forward, giving us hope and giving us every coming breath. They are the fire and the fire is them. We are the fire.
The Fire is of course a metaphor for the One from whom all metaphors come and just whom they are describing. And each of us is a worthy and deserving perspective and expression of the One Reality. These installments of wisdom are my pearls to offer unto you, my fellow family. Not because I feel I have some thing to teach you, but rather because I am grateful for the lessons life has taught me thus far. I do it so that I may help in my own way, to give thanks and give back, for life teaches us all the same lessons, merely revealing them at different times. All with whom I have interacted have taught me the greatest lessons - Life, Nature, and Each Other are our greatest teachers.
I also have decided to share my thoughts with a desire to use it further develop my life - to bring more meaning and purpose in to yours as well as my own - by utilizing this not only as a tool and actual practice (sadhana) of self exploration and introspection, but of creativity and proper expression. In due time, I have no doubt (and all hope and faith) that the fruits of these offered actions in service will bring at the very least more joy in to my life as well as other avenues for sharing the light of the torch that is to change the world.
I pray that my perceptions (and after all, that is all they are) touch you meaningfully, move you, bring you insight, and at the very least remind you occasionally of the beauty and miracle of life, at least amuse you pleasantly.
With the kindest regard and well thought intentions
Friday, January 20, 2012
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
A Question about DMT
A fellow psychonaut told me they had tried DMT several times, but had it recently and said she was told by her sitters that she started speaking in a strange language, dancing wildly and having convulsions. Knowing that I have an interest in these things and experience with traditional plant medicines and ethnopharmacology, she asked me if I could tell her some thing about what probably happened with her. Given that the substance in question is controlled in many countries, including the U.S., I share this information with the hope of promoting responsibility and safety. Although this chemical is ingested in several different ways by many aboriginal tribes of people across the globe as a sacrament and medicine (it is legal and even protected as a religious rite in Peru, Brazil, Colombia, most of Europe and many of these peoples' countries), I do not condone any illegal activity. Either way, be properly informed and safe. :)
My Response:
Hi,
It is a good thing you had sitters, as it is exactly the kind of experience that people have sitters for - if you were not conscious of your physical body or environment you could have gotten hurt. Let us be grateful for the way things are.
It is a good thing you had sitters, as it is exactly the kind of experience that people have sitters for - if you were not conscious of your physical body or environment you could have gotten hurt. Let us be grateful for the way things are.
DMT is produced in the pineal gland in high quantities at birth, while dreaming, and at death. One can also stimulate the gland by traditional techniques like extended periods of fasting, meditation, yoga, mantra recitation, and trance induction through prolonged drummng and dancing. Some Native American tribes self mutilate in ceremonies to induce visions and communicate with their ancestors and the Great Spirit. Several African tribes that I'm aware of will drum and dance around a fire for more than 42 hours without food or water, inducing trance possession by spirits, gods and ancestors. some will fall unconscious and say they are taken into the sky by strings of light where upon they speak to their Big brothers in the sky. Some Native Americans call their ancestors Star or Sky people.
Interestingly enough, a very common theme and motif of DMT experiences (and deeply psychedelic experiences in general, particularly those induced by Tryptamines, like DMT) is contact with aliens or super intelligent often 'spiritual' beings, either in the sky or underground in a very large dome of some sorts. *
Trance possession is most often the goal of tribal ceremonies and celebrations. Indigenous tribes of the Amazon use DMT in snuffs (as well as brews) which induce such possessions and glossolalia. thats the term for the trance induced language stream. glossolalia is also used to describe speaking in tongues exhibited by experientalist christians that accompanies their spasms and fainting. I think the tribal experience something way more authentic, but still, the natural human urge and tendency for altered consciousness is acted upon.
You should, though, practice caution. Especially if theres any history of mental illness in your family. These are extraordinaryily powerful compounds that change our brain chemistry and perception profoundly, however temporary. In a tribal setting it's not uncommon for the shaman's apprentice to be shot into a psychedelic state for up to weeks at a time, through such compounds or naturally, a state which in this society would be considered schizophrenia. this isnt to frighten you, though. thousands of people are taking psychedelics at this moment. dont be scared, but be safe.
* For further and in depth information, Consult
Super Natural by Graham Hancock
DMT - The Spirit Molecule by Rick Strassman MD
My Purpose
This blog is intended to harmoniously merge several ancient forms of practice and mind set that seem to me to be some of, if not the most, potentially powerful and necessary to be adopted in to the modern life style to reacquire the proper relationship between oneself, others, our environment and the universe. Bodies of knowledge, insight, and guidance that not only have long known what science is only now beginning to question and prove, but that are accessible and adaptable to modern lifestyle and demands, and may be what our future as a species depends on.
Though at first they seem distant from each other in time and space, and at a quick glance maybe even seem contradictory or just simply incompatible, but this is simply not the case. Mystics, prophets, shamans, healers, teachers, wizards, witches, magi, saints, philosophers, alchemists, recluse and sages of all lands, cultures and times have peered into the depths of reality and have brought back essentially the same thing; We are One, God is One, All is love and in truth, anything is possible.
Therefore, within this blog will be knowledge, wisdom and techniques left to us by all our ancestors across all times and lands. In service of all, for the benefit of all. Bless!
Though at first they seem distant from each other in time and space, and at a quick glance maybe even seem contradictory or just simply incompatible, but this is simply not the case. Mystics, prophets, shamans, healers, teachers, wizards, witches, magi, saints, philosophers, alchemists, recluse and sages of all lands, cultures and times have peered into the depths of reality and have brought back essentially the same thing; We are One, God is One, All is love and in truth, anything is possible.
Therefore, within this blog will be knowledge, wisdom and techniques left to us by all our ancestors across all times and lands. In service of all, for the benefit of all. Bless!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Thoughts: 2012, Death, and the Rebirth of Cosmic Consciousness
Sitting alone quietly in this normally boisterous home adorned with the mainstays of traditional Christmas decoration on the afternoon of New Years Eve allows me to breathe and think like I usually have not had the chance to. I stayed up late with my mom last night making jewelry while she fixed some pajama pants, spending some time together because she was going to her boyfriend's family's New Years gathering out of town. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation played, and we put on Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein after that. We laughed through both and silently enjoyed each other's company while we worked.
This morning I was slow in waking and waited an unusual couple hours to sit for my morning (it was noon) meditation, part of it because my mom was being picked up soon and I was waiting to say goodbye to her before I sat down in stillness. Since then, I steeped rosemary to put on my scalp, to enliven my roots and hair follicles, as well as to stop the slight itching and dryness of my scalp created by the dry, late-to-arrive-to-south-Florida crisp and colder air. I simply felt an urge to make it, so I did. Making it I am pleased by thoughts of the dream like memory of reading of spell craft some where of the benefits of the rosemary scalp infusion and its particular use during spring or on the New Year. Making it only because I felt urged to, and not because of the memory, I smile to myself, happy to feel that Spirit is guiding me, my actions and even my magick, connecting me through time to the knowledge of the ancestors and silently aligning my life rhythms to that of the stars and the cosmos at large; As Above, So Below - So Within, So Without.
The time awake before my meditation and Kriya was actually spent of facebook, looking at all the posts people were putting up. I actually have noticed over the last few days that I spend a considerable amount of time (relative to how much time I spend on the computer to begin with) doing this. My thoughts actually feel quite similar to what I feel when people watching at a store, mall or airport, except that watching status updates I can see what people I know are thinking because they shared it, rather than guessing or hearing the thoughts of strangers, or simply watching their actions and body language. Here, people can put their minds on display, so to speak. I think this is rather interesting. The way we communicate and share experiences is changing, whether it's leading to a superficial world void of real interaction between people, or a hyper spacial leap of the collective human mind-spirit into virtual or supra-reality wherein everyone IS everyone else and reality is literally created by our thoughts in real time, is hard to say. But it's New Year's Eve 2011, and here's to all the crazy, impossible and wonderful things to come in 2012! The Big One. We're here.
Seeing all these posts from everyone has made think quite a bit, graciously allowed by the silence and calm of the apartment, the atmosphere aided by two sleeping cats. I'm sure a good amount of today's philosophical bend and musings have been spurred by merely being alone right now and the end of a year, and really, in many ways, the end of an era. Being at the end of a year, the edge between this year and the next is like tipping forward at the brink of the plunge into the mystery of what 2012 will bring. On every level, from the most personal and intimate unfoldments of mine and our lives, including emotion struggles, growth and transformation (and here's to revelation!) and family drama, to the largest changes coming to communites, countries, the human species and the planet. We can either be overwhelmed by uncertainty and fall in fear and hysteria into the dark depths with doubt, OR we can dive head first into the Abyss, full of grace, faith and courage, putting everything on the line, reaching for our innermost calling and desires, riding on HOPE we did not know we had and thought we ran out of long ago, plunging fast towards redemption, fulfillment and satisfaction.
Sincerely, for a long time I have felt like I - like we are all - running out of time. Even if NOTHING HAPPENS BY THE END OF 2012, we all stand at the end of another year, facing time, the temporal and ephemeral nature of life, and our very own mortality with no nothing to protect us. Yes, even if NOTHING HAPPENS after Dec. 2012, WE WILL ALL REACH OUR OWN DEC 21 2012. Unlike the elements of earthly erosion like heat, wind, water, and ice, Time is the one element of life and this reality that will find us no matter where we are or how we live. Time allows us to experience life - be born and begin a journey, feel things, think things, choose things and, eventually, to bid farewell in gratitude for the journey, and walk through the door with the great EXIT sign through which all living beings must pass - Death. The great equalizer of men, the liberator of life, He who speaks not. Let us think of Death now, as this year comes to its own, so that we may also think of LIFE, embracing the Year 2012, hoping for the best, and acting accordingly, being grateful for the life we have, knowing that Life cannot exist without Death, nor Death without Life, and that WE ARE BLESSED TO BE ALIVE!
As a last thought for you, during my breathing today I notice the rise of a thought - "no one should be alone on the holidays." From this arose many intermingled and actually contradicting feelings, from the warmth and security created by the concept, touching the ancient genetic tribal desire for family, safety and a full belly, to the compassion and sadness for those who do not have family or friends with which to share these days, to my own immediate circumstance of being physically alone (my younger brother in Orlando with his dad/my step dad, my dad living in WA, and my mother leaving for the celebration) and the impending possibility of me not really being with anyone tonight at midnight (my companion, Maria being made to work tonight - she works at a night club). Since then Maria has told me she doesn't have to go in after all, which made me quite happy. THIS, though, is what lead me write this paragraph. Although I have several options of what I could do tonight and be some where full of people having fun, it really didn't and wouldn't have meant anything for me if I went and didn't have at least some one I was truly close to by my side. I don't mean some one to even be romantically involved with or anything, but someone that I care about deeply, and who I know cares about me the same way. Is that not (it could be said) what the entire human condition and experience revolves around? It doesn't matter how many people are around us, but rather who is around us, not only to help us resolve and release what we do not want in our lives any more but to also Welcome and Embrace what we do want in our lives INCLUDING THEM! We kiss and hold each other's hands as we walk through the threshold of this year's death to the birth of the next and our own rebirth, inviting each other to help CO-CREATE the life and reality we deserve and want for our selves and others!
We can do anything! We simply need to ACT ACCORDINGLY.
In the year to come we are going to be given great opportunities for POWERFUL CHANGE and GROWTH. We MUST take advantage of that and live our lives fully, helping one another always, and aligning all our actions for the greater good. For Freedom, Peace and Prosperity.
HAPPY NEW YEAR! HAPPY AND JOYOUS 2012! MAY WE LIVE THE BEST WAY WE KNOW HOW, FOR OUR SELVES AND EACH OTHER!
To All my Family and Friends, I love you. May you always have plenty, may you always be healthy, may you always be happy.
This morning I was slow in waking and waited an unusual couple hours to sit for my morning (it was noon) meditation, part of it because my mom was being picked up soon and I was waiting to say goodbye to her before I sat down in stillness. Since then, I steeped rosemary to put on my scalp, to enliven my roots and hair follicles, as well as to stop the slight itching and dryness of my scalp created by the dry, late-to-arrive-to-south-Florida crisp and colder air. I simply felt an urge to make it, so I did. Making it I am pleased by thoughts of the dream like memory of reading of spell craft some where of the benefits of the rosemary scalp infusion and its particular use during spring or on the New Year. Making it only because I felt urged to, and not because of the memory, I smile to myself, happy to feel that Spirit is guiding me, my actions and even my magick, connecting me through time to the knowledge of the ancestors and silently aligning my life rhythms to that of the stars and the cosmos at large; As Above, So Below - So Within, So Without.
The time awake before my meditation and Kriya was actually spent of facebook, looking at all the posts people were putting up. I actually have noticed over the last few days that I spend a considerable amount of time (relative to how much time I spend on the computer to begin with) doing this. My thoughts actually feel quite similar to what I feel when people watching at a store, mall or airport, except that watching status updates I can see what people I know are thinking because they shared it, rather than guessing or hearing the thoughts of strangers, or simply watching their actions and body language. Here, people can put their minds on display, so to speak. I think this is rather interesting. The way we communicate and share experiences is changing, whether it's leading to a superficial world void of real interaction between people, or a hyper spacial leap of the collective human mind-spirit into virtual or supra-reality wherein everyone IS everyone else and reality is literally created by our thoughts in real time, is hard to say. But it's New Year's Eve 2011, and here's to all the crazy, impossible and wonderful things to come in 2012! The Big One. We're here.
Seeing all these posts from everyone has made think quite a bit, graciously allowed by the silence and calm of the apartment, the atmosphere aided by two sleeping cats. I'm sure a good amount of today's philosophical bend and musings have been spurred by merely being alone right now and the end of a year, and really, in many ways, the end of an era. Being at the end of a year, the edge between this year and the next is like tipping forward at the brink of the plunge into the mystery of what 2012 will bring. On every level, from the most personal and intimate unfoldments of mine and our lives, including emotion struggles, growth and transformation (and here's to revelation!) and family drama, to the largest changes coming to communites, countries, the human species and the planet. We can either be overwhelmed by uncertainty and fall in fear and hysteria into the dark depths with doubt, OR we can dive head first into the Abyss, full of grace, faith and courage, putting everything on the line, reaching for our innermost calling and desires, riding on HOPE we did not know we had and thought we ran out of long ago, plunging fast towards redemption, fulfillment and satisfaction.
Sincerely, for a long time I have felt like I - like we are all - running out of time. Even if NOTHING HAPPENS BY THE END OF 2012, we all stand at the end of another year, facing time, the temporal and ephemeral nature of life, and our very own mortality with no nothing to protect us. Yes, even if NOTHING HAPPENS after Dec. 2012, WE WILL ALL REACH OUR OWN DEC 21 2012. Unlike the elements of earthly erosion like heat, wind, water, and ice, Time is the one element of life and this reality that will find us no matter where we are or how we live. Time allows us to experience life - be born and begin a journey, feel things, think things, choose things and, eventually, to bid farewell in gratitude for the journey, and walk through the door with the great EXIT sign through which all living beings must pass - Death. The great equalizer of men, the liberator of life, He who speaks not. Let us think of Death now, as this year comes to its own, so that we may also think of LIFE, embracing the Year 2012, hoping for the best, and acting accordingly, being grateful for the life we have, knowing that Life cannot exist without Death, nor Death without Life, and that WE ARE BLESSED TO BE ALIVE!
As a last thought for you, during my breathing today I notice the rise of a thought - "no one should be alone on the holidays." From this arose many intermingled and actually contradicting feelings, from the warmth and security created by the concept, touching the ancient genetic tribal desire for family, safety and a full belly, to the compassion and sadness for those who do not have family or friends with which to share these days, to my own immediate circumstance of being physically alone (my younger brother in Orlando with his dad/my step dad, my dad living in WA, and my mother leaving for the celebration) and the impending possibility of me not really being with anyone tonight at midnight (my companion, Maria being made to work tonight - she works at a night club). Since then Maria has told me she doesn't have to go in after all, which made me quite happy. THIS, though, is what lead me write this paragraph. Although I have several options of what I could do tonight and be some where full of people having fun, it really didn't and wouldn't have meant anything for me if I went and didn't have at least some one I was truly close to by my side. I don't mean some one to even be romantically involved with or anything, but someone that I care about deeply, and who I know cares about me the same way. Is that not (it could be said) what the entire human condition and experience revolves around? It doesn't matter how many people are around us, but rather who is around us, not only to help us resolve and release what we do not want in our lives any more but to also Welcome and Embrace what we do want in our lives INCLUDING THEM! We kiss and hold each other's hands as we walk through the threshold of this year's death to the birth of the next and our own rebirth, inviting each other to help CO-CREATE the life and reality we deserve and want for our selves and others!
We can do anything! We simply need to ACT ACCORDINGLY.
In the year to come we are going to be given great opportunities for POWERFUL CHANGE and GROWTH. We MUST take advantage of that and live our lives fully, helping one another always, and aligning all our actions for the greater good. For Freedom, Peace and Prosperity.
HAPPY NEW YEAR! HAPPY AND JOYOUS 2012! MAY WE LIVE THE BEST WAY WE KNOW HOW, FOR OUR SELVES AND EACH OTHER!
To All my Family and Friends, I love you. May you always have plenty, may you always be healthy, may you always be happy.
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