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The version in Astral Dynamics is more complete than the web version, so if you've already got the book, don't worry about the other one


Paul

It's probably energy blockages in your face that need to be cleared.  I had similar problems in my toes and ankles when I would enter any deep trance state.  Try doing some regular meditations (not in trance) circulating energy through the painful area.. A few days of focusing on the specific area that hurts will go a long way to clear the blocks.


Paul

There are a lot of ways to meditate - clearing the mind of all thoughts being one way.  Simply contemplating on a subject, going over it in your mind, is a type of meditation, whether you're sitting alone in the lotus position, or washing dishes, or whatever daily task you need to do.  I like to meditate while driving or riding in cars, personally.  Clearing the mind of EXTRA thoughts is an important skill, though, so that you can stay focused on one thing, and hopefully gain some insite on it.  

So anyway, meditating on nothingness is one way to go about it; typically a classic Eastern method.  But concentration is an important aspect of being able to meditate effectively.


Paul

A common definition of magick is along the lines of "The ability to cause change in comformity with Will."  A brief explanation...  Every act of creation starts out as divine potential, and goes through a series of phases or planes, downward until it becomes an actualized event.  The human mind, which consists of spiritual substance, has the ability to move up and down these planes of existence, and to alter them according to its Will.  Magick is the practice of raising one's consciousness to a plane above its normal state and building up the energies and giving it appropriate form, so that it can manifest as the magician wants it to as an actualized event.  In brief


Paul

I'm not sure what you mean by "think the correct things."  Energy doesn't just increase instantly according to wishful thinking, if that's what you mean.  Beliefs and thoughts allow energy to pass and increase in proportion to how much is available at any given time, but they don't just make it increase exponentially.  

Noting how marijuana releases stored energy, if there's not a substantial amount of energy raising done to balance it out, excessive use *will* leave you drained and less sensitive when sober.

You're right, though, that we normally have a relatively small amount of energy, compared to what we're capable of.  Regular energy raising, chakra work, and other energy body development increases our ability to absorb and retain energy, just like regular exercise makes our bodies more capable of of sustaining work.


Paul

<if it does effect a person in a negative way, learning and understanding should help. ritual or energy work before or after may help. i've been having some sleeping troubles lately, so i tried taking a long shower before bed. maybe when you are stoned your at a greater risk for astral attachments that drain energy>

It's not so much that you're at a greater risk, but that you're more sensitive to what's always going on around you.  Every time we have any kind of *feeling*, what we're doing is experiencing a type of energy.  When something is more pleasurable than another thing, we're feeling the energy more strongly, usually because there's more of the energy to feel.  The dopamine that's released when you smoke pot triggers the release of stored energy, which makes you feel good, regardless of what you're doing.  

The more energy that's being circulated in your body, the more sensitive you are to all things energetic - just like the more blood that's flowing in a certain body part, the more sensitive to touch that body part is.  Being that energy exists on the same plane that your subconscious demons and complexes exist on (as well as a lot of spirits, egregores, and thought-forms), you're also more sensitive to all these entities.  People with strong insecurities or fears that they normally keep repressed (or even if they normally act on them) generally tend to be paranoid when they get high.  

That said, though, smoking weed can be a valid meditative technique, IMO, as long as it's kept as a sort of "sacrament," and isn't done all the time.  Substances have their own "spirits" attached to them, as well as the overall spirit of addiction.  If you get to the point where you're convinced that whatever substance you're using is important, or worth giving up something else in your life, then that substance is no longer a tool, but it has power over you.  

Happy smoking


Paul

The 72 names that you're referring to are actually one Name of Seventy-Two.  The Name is taken from 3 verses in the Hebrew Bible; Exodus 14:19-21.  Each verse contains exactly 72 Hebrew letters, and they're combined to form 72 triplets of letters which all together make up one Name.  In order to make the triplets, you take the first letter of the first verse, the last letter of the second verse, and the first letter of the third verse, which gives you the first triplet in the Name.  You continue in the same manner, taking the second letter of the first verse, the second from last letter of the second verse, and the second letter of the third verse, etc, etc...

Using Divine Names for meditation and magickal purposes isn't to be undertaken lightly – it requires both the ability to concentrate for long periods of time, and a relatively deep understanding of the mystical meanings of each letter.  Each Hebrew letter represents, among other things, one basic state of change.  Combining the letters in various ways creates specific concepts of abstract potential, which can be channeled into the world through meditation on the Names or through pronouncing them.  

While it's true your Higher Self recognizes what the letters mean, the same can be said about everything else in the world.  However, it takes a conscious understanding of the letters and Names in order to make use of them.  Your Higher Self already knows the meanings behind the letters – that's not the point.  Looking at the Tree of Life, your Higher Self is Tiphereth, and the letters are created from the astralstuff of Yesod.  They're subconscious ideas that in order to be channeled into Malkuth must be recognized and understood by the conscious mind.  I don't mean to be critical, but this is typical of why I don't care for the Kabbalah Centre.  They water down truths and make them more "pleasant" for people, in order to sell books and merchandise and make people believe they have abilities that in reality take real effort to gain.

If you're interested in learning about meditations dealing with Names of God, I recommend "Meditation and Kabbalah" by Aryeh Kaplan.  It should be noted, though, that it's definitely *not* light reading, and you should probably read "Jewish Meditation" and "Meditation and the Bible", also by Kaplan, before getting into it.  There's an entire division of Kabbalah that focuses on the ecstatic/meditative methods dealing with letter permutation and Divine Names, but it's really not something that can be of use if only dabbled with.  Also, while I'm plugging Kaplan, his commentary on the Sepher Yetzirah is *the* best one out there, and makes it readily understandable to the student.  The Sepher Yetzirah is probably the oldest Kabbalistic text in existence, and deals explicitly with the Hebrew alphabet and its role in Creation.  

So anyway, 99% of the time, it's really not a matter of simply looking at the letters.  They must be understood, and meditated on individually, and when they are, one can see the essential role they play in everything in the world.  </end rant>


Paul

The first thing you may want to understand about the Kabbalah is that it's not a religion.  It's specifically the mystical branch of Judaism, though you don't need to be Jewish to practice it.  The Kabbalah encompasses all real religions, as it describes the way God interacts with man and man with God.  Its most basic concept, as has been pointed out, is the Tree of Life, which details the 10 emanations of God, and can be thought of as a ladder of ascent, reaching from gross physical reality to the highest form of God.

If you're looking for spiritual growth, I doubt there's any legitimate system in the Western world that can offer what the Kabbalah can.  I also doubt that there's any legitimate spiritual system that won't lead to Kabbalistic references at some point.  In order to understand it, though, there needs to be a real commitment, but it's highly rewarding.  I've only been *seriously* (as in, for a few hours every day) studying for a year, and my entire life has benefited immensely from it.

Anyway, if you're just starting out, and aren't Jewish, I actually don't recommend that you start with Judaic material.  The Judaic Kabbalah is a complete system in itself, and while it offers probably more in-depth understanding than does any other system, it involves at the very least a basic understanding of Hebrew and a lot of terminology that will probably confuse you to begin with.  Hermetic Qabalah, in my opinion, is a bit easier to understand at first, so you can do a search on Colin Low and read some material at his web site if that's what you're looking for.  And I personally recommend you stay away from the Kabbalah Centre and its people - if you're looking for authentic QBL, that is, and not watered down New Age stuff.


Paul

Crowley was definite an odd fellow.  He claimed to be the prophet of the New Aeon, as well as the reincarnation of Edward Kelley, and the Beast spoken about in the Revelation of John.  The most important contribution to the occult world that he made (in my opinion) was the "creation" of Thelema, which is more or less a religion emphasizing that every individual has a True Will to perform, and when you're performing your True Will, nothing can stop you from achieving your goals.  He wrote a LOT of books and assorted works, which I believe most of them can be found somewhere at sacred-texts.com or various other places on the Web.

That said, he was a heroin addict, a "sexual deviant," and to be honest he kind of gives me the creeps.  Opinions on him vary from one end of the spectrum to the other, but I don't think anyone denies that he was a very talented magician and added a lot to the occult movement of the 20th century.  Some go so far as to claim he's responsible for the "occult revival" that we've witnessed in recent years.  

As to what the documentary said about him, magickal evokation of spirits is fairly common work among magicians.  Though I don't believe it's accurate to say that he gave them a "part of his life force."  From what I've heard about him (which isn't too terribly much), he worked heavily with the Enochian hierarchy of angels - Enochian being (on all accounts) the most powerful system of magick currently available to mankind.

But anyway, he's made some very important contributions, but like I said, he's kind of creepy.  Do as the other members here have suggested, and perform a web search on his name, and then read some of his works and decide for yourself what you think of him.  What I've talked about above is mostly just things I've read and heard from people.  See for yourself


Paul

Look man, don't get all riled because you think I'm not answering your questions.  I am answering them.  Psychic abilities come as SUBTLE manifestations of SUBCONSCIOUS impressions.  Everything energetic is subconscious, and everything subconscious is subtle.  If you want any  kind of psychic abilities and skills, you're going to have to stop with all the "I can't stop being nervous" crap, do some serious introspection and soul-searching, and perhaps a large amount of prayer.

When you're always nervous and second-guessing yourself, you could have every kind of psychic ability and impression and not even realize it for what it is.  Trusting yourself is THE biggest part of developing any kind of real psychic talents.  If you feel you can't do that, then you're right, I suggest you throw NEW away, never come back to these forums, and lock yourself in your bedroom for the rest of your life.

I know you think that your situation is totally alien to me and unique unto yourself, but the truth is, that attitude is very common among teenagers and you're going through the same thing that most teenagers do.  If you want to escape it through psychic abilities, then you're not going to get very far in your escape.  You can't gain psychic abilities with the attitude of "I can't do this."  You just can't.  It's not going to happen.  Ever.

If this sounds harsh, then, well, yes, it sounds like it's supposed to.  You probably think I'm just being mean, or repeating the same thing over and over, but I'm not.  You're asking me the same questions, and they all have the same answer, which is that no one can answer it for you but yourself.  If you want to develop your energy body, then stop doing the exercises all together for a while, and figure out just what it is that's making you so nervous and unable to trust your intuition.  Yes, it's hard, I'm aware.  Everything in life worth doing is hard.  That's just how it is.  

Again, if you really CANNOT do this, then you're incapable of living in a society where self-objectivity is necessary for life, and again, you should lock yourself in your bedroom and never see the light of day again.  I say this because EVERYONE has the ability to be introspective and figure out just what it is that's keeping them from trusting their own intuition.  Hopefully your paranoia won't keep you from living a happy life.


Paul

In my understanding, the use of awareness hands, or paint-brush and pencil-stirring analogies, are all for the purpose of developing the mobile body awareness and tactile imaging skills needed to move energy around.  Most people who've never done anything with energy or meditation, if you tell them "move your awareness to your foot," they'll either just start thinking about their foot, or won't know what to do.  Once you're capable of feeling the energy and moving your awareness around, I don't really see the use of awareness hands as necessary.


Paul

Linear time is related to the Knowledge of Good and Evil, because we only experience time as a change of the state of our present experience, if that makes any sense.  The most basic notion of time is "I was happy, now I'm not happy"...  that is to say, we go through various states according to the degree that our present state is different from our past.

God, on the other hand, does not change, and so is beyond time.  The Kabballah teaches that the highest form of God is the Ain Soph, or Limitlessness, which is Nothingness.  Nothing, in essence, is what comes before Everything.  If you have a blank slate, it is the highest form of potential; and as infinite potential is how we can think of God.

So anyway, linear time is a concept associated with the sephira of Gevurah (Severity), which has to do with the restrictive force that defines the expansiveness of Chesed (Mercy).  In other words, time is part of the force that allows us to be separate from God (and everything) so that we can change and grow, eventually reuniting with God through love.  The separation occurs so that we may experience the love that brings us back together.


Paul

I'm not really that fond of Berg, personally.  Admittedly, I haven't read his books, but from what I know of him, he seems to be more in it for the money than anything.  His website sells a watered down and "new agey" version of the Kabballah... along with "Kabballah water" and T-shirts and hats and so forth.  But again, I haven't read a lot of his work, so I could be wrong.

I recommended Low's site because it has a large amount of information and is beginner-friendly.  In-depth study of Kabballah, though, depends largely on personal revelation.


Paul

Well, according the system I use, the base chakra is associated with Malkuth on the Tree of Life.  Malkuth is the physical realm, and I associate it with the Ego (Selfish instinct).  A good friend of mine experienced similar feelings of intense fear when working with Sandalphon, who's the archangel of Malkuth.  Several other people I've spoken with have reported similar experiences.

I don't know if you're familiar with the Tree of Life Kabballah in general, though you may want to read up on it if you're not.  Malkuth, in my experience, has to do with all fear-based emotions (anger, jealousy, etc..) and is the root of them.  I can see how working with the base chakra while relatively deep could stimulate those feelings.

I don't really think there's anything that's actually causing the fear, except for the energies themselves.  You're just experiencing the energy, rather than sensing some real danger.  It usually freaks people out, but I guess that's the point.


Paul

Oh, and if you needed to read up on Kabballah, you could do a web search on Colin Low and go to his site.  He's a Hermetic ceremonial magician, and publishes just about all of his work on the web.  Pretty good stuff, though he tends to ramble.

Look man, as I've been saying all along, you're worrying far too much.  If you skip a step or exercise and can do the next one okay, then it's all good.  The purpose of the step-by-step process is to make it easier for you to get from one step to the next, and so on.  You don't have to be able to do everything perfectly in order to move on - you just have to be able to do the next step.  I completed NEW in a week, and was doing the two-part storage circuit for a month or more before I moved on to the full-body circuit.  If you can do the next step, then do it.  If you can't, keep doing the one you're doing.

Even without you explaining to me your life story, I've got a good idea of what you're going through.  You couldn't name a problem in your life that at the least, thousands of people haven't gone through as well.  There are various ways to try to escape reality, and fantasies and wishes of psychic and magickal abilities are just one.  I'm not being hard or critical of you; I'm just being truthful.  

I keep saying this, but you really need to believe me when I say it, but if further development scares you, then you need to get over whatever it is that's making you afraid.  If something is "premature," then you'll have to deal with a little more static than if it was right on time.  That's all.  You're not going to die or be permanently crippled, man.  If something is going to be rough on you, it's most likely going to be in the mental and emotional sphere of your life, and to be honest it doesn't seem like you're all that happy in those areas to begin with.  

If you want to email me with details that you think may be helpful in giving you further advice, then that's cool; my email is intuitiveheresy@yahoo.com.  If you don't want to, that's cool too.  I really think you'll be fine (regardless of problems you're facing) if you just try to chill out and take life in stride.


Paul

We control the imagery we see all the time - it's just our imagination.  The vision screen, as Robert Bruce calls it, is energetic, and can be built up by working on the brow chakra.  The reason we see it so clearly when falling asleep is that our conscious, waking-state minds usually have priority over the energetic, subconscious images we develop on the screen.  There's a lot of "static" and a big difference between what we can see with our physical eyes and what we can visualize.

When you're on the verge of falling asleep, you're momentarily going into a trance.  Purposely accessing a trance state (where your body goes to sleep but your mind is awake) gives you better access to clairvoyant and subconscious abilities.


Paul

If it happened while you were going to sleep, it was most likely a piece of hypnagogic imagery.  It's slightly related to clairvoyance, because you see the image on your "vision screen," which is where clairvoyants see energy and images, etc.  It's a common occurrence when you're drifting between awake and asleep.  It's kind of like you're beginning to dream before you're completely out; similar to being in a trance state.  The image itself is most likely from your memory somewhere, bubbling up from your subconscious to make an appearance.


Paul

You can't make a spoon bend or role an object, because telekinesis isn't as common a psychic ability as some people here would have you believe.  In fact, it's relatively rare for a person to be able to do it.  I hate to be the guy that goes around crapping on everyone's dreams here, but it's just not a short-term goal that you should be going for.  The people who have the ability to do it, don't go around doing it for no reason, any more than a martial arts master goes around kicking the crap out of people just because he can.  And they certainly don't go around giving vague instructions for an ability that can't be learned in a short-to-medium amount of time.


Paul

In my opinion, the people talking about levitation and similar things are repeating ideas they've heard or seen elsewhere.  The elements, though, can be used and worked with via energy work.  They're used as basic "types" of energy, each having specific qualities which work toward specific goals.  Most ceremonial magicians work with elements and elementals at some point in their "career."  Though it's not the same as drawing energy from a flame, or water, or ice, or what have you.  It's more programming the energy psychically with the qualities you want it to have, if that makes sense.


Paul

I don't think it's that Mr. Bruce is ignoring these aspects of energy work.  I think NEW is simply geared more to getting the person to the point where they can work and experiment with energy themselves, and go with whatever system they're comfortable with.  He doesn't seem to be in the business of providing elaborate systems and paradigms for people to use, so much as teaching them the techniques to understanding and creating their own.


Paul

Well, yes, in essence everything is the same, in the grand scheme of things.  I don't know about you, but I'm personally not evolved enough to say "I am one with the universe."  I still have to get up and go to work, and have to call this thing I'm typing on a computer, and the thing I'm sitting on a chair.  I can't just say "It's all part of me" because my senses show me that it is, in fact, distinct from me.

The terms "mystic" and "occultist," while they deal with a lot of the same material, do in fact have different connotations (and denotations).  It's like equating a carpenter with a steelworker because they're both in the construction business.  As I said, though, the terms do overlap a good bit and cover a lot of the same stuff.  


Paul

There's a good deal of information on the Web about Kundalini, though most of it is Eastern style-oriented.  I haven't found anything that's all that helpful with it, though (admittedly I haven't looked very hard).  Kundalini energy is slightly related to sex magick, though not in the way you're probably thinking.  All magick deals with energy, and all energy is related to Kundalini.  Sex magick is, more or less, using sexual stimulation and release in order to attain gnosis.  Or in other words, it's associating a sex act (an act of creation) with a specific magickal goal in mind, and using the focus and energy released to power that goal.  Doesn't really have a whole lot to do with Kundalini, really.


Paul

The goal of a mystic is in essence, union with the divine.  Often they take the path of leaving the world behind in order to reach toward God.  An occultist, or magician, seeks to draw the divine down into our world in order to accomplish tasks or fulfill desires, or what have you.  There is a lot of overlapping, and I personally am not sure you can really be successful at either and not also achieve some degree of success with the other.


Paul

Sorcery, as I've heard it, is used to describe a magician that only practices what's sometimes called "low magick."  Meaning, someone who's only interested in gaining worldly benefits by way of magickal deeds.  I've only briefly conversed with/read from one person who calls himself a sorceror (and actually knew what he was talking about), and I got the impression that he was pretty insecure and had a chip on his shoulder.  He worked a lot with herbs and incenses and oils, and was interested in "Do this, this, and this, and this will happen."  Very results-oriented, which isn't really a bad thing.

As was said, though, there's not really any one way to define the term.  Anyone who likes can take it on as a title, if they feel it suits them.


Paul

< Don't you think that Chaos magick idea is a bit strange? That's like saying " I'm going to fill my car's tank with orange juice and it'll work ; I just need to believe it ". Magic is like any other cience.>

Well, belief is an important part of magick, though it doesn't really seem to matter what system you use, as long as you believe it to be true.  Chaotes are usually focused on results.  Whatever works, is true, because it worked.  Working in different paradigms gives you access to different energy systems and egregores, but all of them are made out of basically the same stuff and are capable of doing what they exist to do.

Magick is generally referred to as more of an art than a science, and I tend to agree.  A painting is no less a work of art than a sculpture, or a drawing, or whatever.  If the end result is what you envisioned before the working, then any method you use to get there is valid.


Paul