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If you believe you are imagining it, you probably are. The same goes for if you think you are really doing it.  Belief has a lot to do with this.  If your energy is put into thinking that you are making this feeling up, you will stop feeling it.  If you just give up your disbelief, it will grow stronger, and be undeniable.

I'm not really an "air magician" as you put it, but I do work with the elementals in much the same way as angels.  I find that if all else fails, a few well worded prayers in the direction of this element will result in a bit of serendipitous inspiration to do something, usually very non sequetur that ends up solving my problem.  Don't know if that helps, or is anything like what you were looking for, but it is my experience, and I can share little else.  

In short, what it comes down to is that it is irrelevant what we are doing energy work for to your life, only what purpose you will put the knowledge you gain from your own work, energy or otherwise.  Selfish or selfless, the choice is not only subjective to the person looking at it, but the choice is yours alone to judge.

Two things I could think of.  First read both books together.  Whereas AD presents a lot of really great theory, MAP provides the same theory in a structured format to get it to practical use.  Second, try different ways of doing MBA.  I couldn't do it like Robert Bruce described in Astral Dynamics myself, as I have stated in other posts.  What worked for me is a mixture of self hypnosis and relaxation techniques from other books I have read from my personal library.  Don't be afraid to mix systems.  If you only do one thing at a time, it will take a lot longer.  On the other hand, if one thing at a time works best for you, you will get a lot better at that one thing.

This is going to sound silly as hell, but, when it comes to getting into that "hypnotized" state of mind for reading the cards, crystal gazing, or flame watching, my favorite tool is a Slinky.  Plain old toy, had it since I was 8 or 9, and when I picked it up again after finding it in high school, I first noticed the effect it had on a friend of mine.  He stared at the thing bouncing back and forth for 30 minutes.  Later, when he was gone, I noticed it had the same effect on me.  Decided to use it for scrying one day, been hooked since.

I grew up on a farm, and still farm, so I feel I can address your issues a little here:

Anyways, as far as organic food goes, if tomorrow the world switched every means of farming over to organic methods, millions would die. It is the non-organic methods that have allowed humanity to increase it's size drastically (and that doesn't mean your waist size). Also due to these methods it takes less land to produce a higher quality/quantity of said food. Organic food costs more because the percentage of surviving crop is far less then those protected through chemical means. Though these means of food production may be unhealthy, there's always this to remember: there are more people today then there ever has been, and people live longer now then they ever have.

With organic methods, crop yields can be as high as 85%, comparable to non-organic methods.  The reason for this is because there are organic pesticides/insecticides that can be used to keep pests out of the crops.  Therefore, both the price issues you raise and the yield vs. land issue is not an issue.  The issue that comes into play is PRESERVATIVES.  This is the reason that I still farm.  The higher cost for organics is brought about by the fact that it is harder to keep food fresh without preservatives being pumped in, by the way, most of the preservatives being used in the mass market in America today are formaldehyde derivatives, and I don't know about you, but I do not want to be embalmed before my time.

As far as meat goes, we were meant to eat it, there's a reason we're omnivores. You don't need incisors or canines for eating lettuces. One problem with meat today though is that cows are pumped to the gills with antibiotics so that they live longer, grow fatter, and thus produce more profit. Those antibiotics remain in the meat and traces of them are being consumed every time you eat a Big Mac. As far as killing them goes, our methods just remove the entire hunting process. No matter how it's done the animal is still KILLED. It doesn't matter how it's done or how much thanks and praise you give it's deceased carcass, it still died for the purpose of providing you with food so you can continue living.

Couldn't agree more.  Love my steak dinners!  However, I am a little worried about the life these animals had.  The meat you eat is made up of whatever the animal it came from metabolized.  I never exactly did meat farming, but I have done a lot of vegetable farming in my life, and that is what the cattle are metabolizing, soooooo....
Also, it is the fact that some cattle ranches are organic and feed appropriately to that distinction that even more of the organic vegetable yields don't reach grocery stores, driving prices up.
In accordance with your quantity/quality point, I will say this.  Talking to a friend who does do mainstream cattle farming (not enough money involved in organic ranching to get him to switch over), pound for pound, most organic meats are of better quality.  The reason is that the additives in the non organic feeds metabolize as fats, or cause metabolism to occur at a slower pace, resulting in the animal not getting the most out of the food it eats.

Concerning how much we make, the more technology there is the more strain it puts on humanity. Now with computers all across the world and being integrated into everything, the job market has shifted. No longer can you make a living working at a local store or as a school janitor because it doesn't require any education. When one job takes 3 days of training and the other takes years of college and thousands of dollars in fees to perform, who do you think will be payed more?

I find it easy to agree with the logic of this statement, but not the blatantness of the practice.  While a person who works harder at getting the job they have will make more, that has always been the way and is nothing new.  Doctors and lawyers have been the favorite whipping boys of the lower and middle class for ages because of this very reason.  However, we are currently entering a society, especially in America, where unless your parents come from this type of background, you can't afford to go get the training because of rising tuition costs.  It follows logically to me from this, that if those in charge are getting rich off of the labors of others, say, like Wal-Mart projecting $70.9 billion in first quarter next year, workers there could have a raise that would get them off of the welfare programs, or at least affordable health coverage.

On outsourcing businesses, they only do it to a certain extent. If they could get away with it, every corporation in America would outsource, but if they did that no jobs would remain in America and then they'd lack consumers and in turn bring their own downfall. And ya'know, why should millions of poor Asians be allowed to have jobs  ?

I'm all for letting people work, but if I have to give up a job for it to go overseas, I would grump a lot less about it if the person getting the job get a comparable wage to what I would have had, but in the majority of cases, that isn't happening.

greatoutdoors wrote:

In your posts I see you eagerly accepting advice that is practically guaranteed to lead to nothing but grief, then saying thanks but no thanks to advice that could actually be helpful.

I would like to point out that my advice was against that road, however I understand if it did not come across as such, sometimes I over abbreviate my point when my son is begging for attention. I do after all want to give it to him! (NO, he is NOT one of the mistakes I was referring to, and NEITHER is his mom. Those are some of the great things that happened since I, as greatoutdoors points out, stopped trying to find the "easy way" and started applying myself to my own life!)

Also,

If you are looking for an emotional rudder or as good a road map as we are likely to see, there's no shortcut. It's called study and meditation. Of course, there's been a few million people on that path ahead of you, and likely as many more behind, but there's always room for one more. And if you never find the ultimate TRUTH, at least in the search, you had a purpose. There's something to be said for that.

As I have said elsewhere, I am not a Christian, but I will give that an AMEN.

Hope you don't mind, I'll take all of these one at a time and give an opinion based on what I have read and seen from others. (Not a practicing magician, you see...yet)

Flight/levitation

I don't believer this is possible physically, but entered popular concepts of magical people from stories presented about OBE and astral travel from the time that all these things were under the control of one tribal master and thus all fell under the banner of magic.

Weather control

I think this one is possible.  I know that I have had quite a few people who spent time with me that were into the occult say that I have some natural talent and the only thing I can think of that makes me believe this is how the weather seems to follow what I want sometimes.  If I want to see raindrops, as I have lately, it takes a while, but eventually it starts raining, and more often than normal, until about a week after I get tired of it.  So yes, I definitely agree that this is legit.

Prescience

I've seen my mom come up with some winners in this category, so I am a believer.

Change of appearance (changing into someONE else)
Change of shape (changing into someTHING else)

I include these both as one because as I understand it, both of these fall into the category of Glamor magick.  If it does work (still skeptical on this one) I believe that it has less to do with actually changing the subject whether it be alive or not, and more to do with making certain things about that object, that are already there, more or less noticeable to the target onlooker(s) through a sort of "mind trick" as mentioned in your last part.

Curses (Causing bad things to happen)
Charming (Causing good things to happen)

Again, both of these fall into the same category, so I put them together.  I do believe that these things can be done.  I live in Southeast Louisiana, Voodoun capital of America, so I have had opportunity to see practices for both of these ways of magick, and, outwardly, I can say that the processes seem very similar, at least in a Voodoun ritual.  If it is the same way for the practitioner, I cannot say as I am not an adherent to any religious philosophy and they refuse to teach the "nonfaithful", which is as it should be!

Extended/eternal life

I have read into the philosophies of Alchemy and other paths that pursue this and haven't been able to find anything more than circumstantial evidence to back this up, so I remain skeptical of it.  However, the fact that some of the more recent Alchemist famed to have uncovered the Philosopher's Stone (most notably Nicloas Flamel) have no record of death, is a bit peculiar.

Pyrokinesis (fireballs etc)

In my opinion, pyrokinesis is one in the same as telekinesis.  My reason for saying this is simple.  Flames are caused by three things, oxygen, fuel, and heat.  Heat is caused by the excitement of atoms, causing them to move in an accelerated pace.  In pyrokinesis, therefore, my hypothesis goes that if you can mentally induce the acceleration of the atomic structure of an object enough, enough heat will be produced to cause it to be fuel, as anything can burn if it gets hot enough.  I am a little skeptical of telekinesis, but only very little as you can probably tell from the fact that I have though this much about it.

Mind-reading

I refuse to believe the mind can truly be likened to anything so simple as a book.  However I do believe in empathy, the nonphysical means by which one can tell the emotional state of another.  If this "sense" is heightened, who know what is possible?

*wave* "These aren't the droids you're looking for" (Mind control)

This is the crux of Glamoury magicks, from what I can tell.  Mostly, it employs very simple techniques from mesmerism and modern hypnosis to carry out its work.  At least in the form that I have read.  The only material I have read on this, admittedly is from "To Light A Sacred Flame" by Silver RavenWolf.  I do recommend that book if you would like to learn more of that technique.  It seems sound, though I am loathe to try it as I feel that a person's perception of the world should not be messed lightly with.

...I've found out two things for sure, there is a better way.  Less painful.  Although pain is a great motivator and teacher, don't discount it.

Second, and more pertinent to your question, I found out unequivocally that the truth is highly different from one person to another.  If I answered your question and told you what I learned, it wouldn't do you much good.  Sorry.

My earlier point is that you must do the work and discover your path, find out what blocks it, and work to overcome that.  The best way to do that is to first learn your own thoughts on what is right and what is wrong.  I did that through a painful procedure of first looking at what I found to be wrong, then doing those things to find out what made them wrong, or if it was just other people with no idea saying what I should do.  I also found out that other people were right in a lot of cases!

Ultimately, you have to go through the pain yourself, though.

Listening to you sounds like deja vu from my own internal dialogs not that long ago.  From when I graduated to two years later, I had those kinds of questions.  I decided the only way through it was to question everything, even what I thought in the most extreme way I could to discover what I really think is the best way.

The way I decided that the best way to discover the truth of what is right and what is wrong was to go do all the things I thought were wrong, find out if they were really and why.  I still have personal nightmares at things I did over the year I tried this, but it worked.

I'm not saying this is the way for you, just that it worked for me, and you should question not whether things are right or wrong, but why you think they are.  Hopefully you won't do this in any extreme way like I did, it leads to pain.

But there are a lot of things I should read!! I guess I can really begin to focus on it about a year from now, then I have finished high school!!!

If your are still in high school, now is the perfect time to start practicing the energy techniques.  I know this is going to sound stupid because it wasn't that long ago that I was in school and thought that the mentor I had teaching me was full of the metaphorical brown stuff, but trust me, you have more time to dedicate to this than you ever will again until retirement age!!!

Take this opportunity to learn your energy body and personal philosophy.  Forget about AP, OBE, applied magicks, and every other specialized school of occult practice for now and concentrate on the universal basics of self knowledge.  As the inscription on the door to the Delphi Oracle said, "Postulate, know thyself."  Right now, you have questions about your own beliefs, and that is what you need to work out before you can be "disciplined" in anything.

Just a little friendly advice from someone who wanted to do it all, be damned the opinion of those who came before me. [/quote]

Sorry about that, the verse I was thinking about was in Rev 1:4

John,
     To the seven churches in the province of Asia:
  Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits[a] before his throne,

A better quote would also be Exodus 37:23, which reads:

They made its seven lamps, as well as its wick trimmers and trays, of pure gold.

This could be thought of as a cryptic allusion to the alchemical process of turning the base soul we are all born with into the spiritual gold we are capable of being, and a road to that is through the perfection of the chakras (AKA kundalini awakening if I am thinking of this right).

Of course, I am more Gnostic than anything, so you would be right to think of another popular idea I meet up with a lot in my hometown:
"Even the Devil can quote Scriptures if it will suit his purpose", and come to your own conclusions.  Talk it over with your priest, minister, pastor, or whatever the title is for your brand of Christianity.  I promise I won't be offended.

Ok thanks, one more thing.

Is Kundalini derived from the devil, being a strong Christian, I do not want to do anything against God's word.

I put some thought into this, although I am not exactly a Christian, and came up with this.  There is one part in the Bible where, I believe it is Jesus, tells the people to worship in the seven churches of Asia.  

If it was Jesus, it is important to note that at that time, there wasn't exactly a boom in Judaism going on in Asia.  If it wasn't Jesus, then I am pretty sure it was OT where I read this.

Like I said earlier, there wasn't exactly a boom in Asia in Jewish teachings. I took this line to mean "church" as a spiritual center, and in most Asian teachings, the seven spiritual centers are the Chakras, and their "worship" or concentration and learning of them will lead to kundalini awakenings.  From that line of thinking is how I think of meditation and energy work in general in Biblical terms.

I will try to find the verses where I read this for you. In the meantime, I hope this helps.

The way you are talking about sounds a lot like what I have heard my friend describe his hypnosis training sounded like in the beginning.  He says he can relax very deeply after one of those sessions, maybe I could try that.

Thanks![/quote]

About three months ago I started with Astral Dynamics and have recently moved into using Mastering Astral Projection.  I should have known better than to expect something different because I was using the same technique, but I have a slight problem when it comes to doing any of the exersises.

Relaxation.

I can't do it this way!  I start by doing the relaxation by tensing the muscles in small groups, then relaxing them, and inevitably, I end up with nerve-wracking cramps all up and down my legs, arms, and the most annoying ones, the ones that cause the toes to separate.

Does anyone out there know a better/different way to get to the deep relaxation point?

It is different for everyone.  I have been using the NEW techniques for a month now, and I can definitely feel the energy moving, however I haven't had a successful OBE (or at least that I can remember, but I suppose it adds up to the same thing).  My wife on the other hand had a successful spontaneous OBE the first time she used the NEW system.  

My guess is it follows the Law of Readiness: When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.  OBE is a way of learning, so unless you are ready, in my opinion, you won't be successful.