Messages

I would not worry too much about mutts who just make threats.  

In my neck of the woods, if someone has it in for you, he'll just burn down your cabin or shoot you, not waste time and energy making threats.

Yeah, I know, "magick" does look a tad pretentious.  

But until there is a more useful term to distinguish what I do from stage magic--illusions and whatnot--I will continue to hold my nose and use it.

Wondeful book!  
His distinction between archaic revival folks and New Agers is most helpful, even though some might say it is merely another manifestation of the dualistic fallacy.

Up here, someone breaks into your home, you shoot them.  Someone breaks into your neighbors home, you call the troopers.

I think the same principle applies to matters metaphysical.

Suggested reading:

Plant Spirit Medicine, by Eliot Cowan

In the shamanic paradigm, you simply take a shamanic journey (how to do this is well explained in many sources, I'd recommend info from the Foundation for Shamanic Studies), and your guide--aka power animal--will contact you.

In many traditions, agate is considered a protective stone.  In terms of exactly what will be protected, we  go by the doctrine of signatures and apply it to the chakras.  Thus, carnelian agate confers physical protection, blue lace agate confers psychic protection and so forth.

I can't add much to the above--psychic abilities increase with use.  

However, I have read that maybe 10 percent of the population has zero to negligible visualization abilities, which are essential to shamanic work.  This should not be a problem, since shamanism is only one of any number of different types of spiritual healing.

Oh, and I strongly advise against  messing around  with a ouija board, lest it mess around with you.

Edgar Cayce recommends lapis, and I always use it myself.  You do not want to let it touch your bare skin, however--it is best when set in silver.

If you like the thing, I'd just smudge the sucker and be done with it, maybe park a nice blue lace agate next to it, to be on the safe side.

In the shamanic paradigm, BTW, a power object does not have to have any intrinsic power (although, of course, many do--particularly quartz crystals and lapis).  It may just be a personal object that has such strong associations that by meditating on it, one's own personal power is increased.  As a rule, a shaman's medicine bag contains all sorts of power objects, and in time, some of them do lose power, in which case they are best given away--in which case they may well regain power for the donee.

The quick answer is, no way--hell--as a literal reality--is a myth, created a long time ago by the pristhood as a means of crowd control.

If you don't believe me, maybe you will believe the pope--John Paul II, that is--who during a papal audience in 1999 told those present that hell is not a place per se, but the condition of being apart from God, which is a self-chosen condition.

When someone makes me get angry

I beg to differ.  No one can "make" you get angry.  At most, they may offer you an invitation.  It is your choice whether or not to accept.

Back to topic--anger is merely another manifestation of fear.  I suggest you look within yourself, find out what you fear, and transcend that fear.

When someone makes me get angry

I beg to differ.  No one can "make" you get angry.  At most, they may offer you an invitation.  It is your choice whether or not to accept.

Back to topic--anger is merely another manifestation of fear.  I suggest you look within yourself, find out what you fear, and transcend that fear.

The eyes are the windows to the soul, and an observant person can tell a lot about someone else by observing his or her eyes.

The most obvious instance of this I can think of offhand, is seeing the light come back into a client's eyes after I do a soul retrieval.

Altered-state work is working in an altered-state.  

"State" refers to brain wave status--whether one is in beta, alpha, whatever.

"Work" can be many things--doing the "work" in terms of transformational psychology a la E. J. Gold, or "work" as in doing work for a client--a past-life reading, or entity-release, or psychic reading, whatever.

A lot depends on how you define "path."  If your path is Gurdjieffian transformational psychology, you aspire to be "awake"--often, when you are "asleep," you don't know it--because you are "asleep."

I think everyone who is enlightened sometimes forgets that he or she is enlightened, and lapses into some sort of fear-based nonsense, anger or regret.

Still, for me, the whole "path" thing is a tad too linear to be relevant for spiritual/intuitive matters.

I assume that shamanic journeying counts as meditation--anyway, for that, I get supine, put on the headphones for the sonic driving, put my arms in the "bear" healing posture, and go from there.

Hi from another newB--I share your feeling of being at home--I have over 12,000 posts on various other boards, feel most comfortable here.

If you have any questions about shamanism, feel free to PM me, or whatever.

A few suggestions--Practical Candle Magick by Ray Buckland; anything by Israel Regardie or Alistaire (sp?)Crowley; The Way of the Shaman by Michael Harner; Plant Spirit Medicine by Eliot Cowan.

Spend a few years reading and absorbing them and clarifying your intent, and you should be ready to get started.

Yes.

As I practice it, "magick" is merely causing a change in physical reality through non-physical means.

This includes psychic healing, entity release, and a whole raft of other things.

"Magic" is what Houdini did.

I would strongly advise against any "summoning" for such a trivial purpose as idle curiosity.

Verily is it written, thou should not call up that which thou cannot put down.

I couldn't get past the second sentence.

For me, time is too precious to waste it reading fear-based, superstitious rubbish.

I prefer to waste my time reading entertaining rubbish.

I love Hebert's fiction, but I must totally disagree with his idea here.  Psychism, like any other ability, is developed by practice, practice, and more practice.  Then maybe a break for some cookies and milk, reading, meditation, and more practice.

Mostly, hard times just produce hard people.

I have done past life readings for clients, as well as exploring my own, for over twenty years and have never encountered a past life coming back to "haunt" one--still, I hesitate on principle to write off anything as impossible.

My guides inform me that this African was a discarnate entity.  I have seen many of them( the first time was over fifty years ago), and they run the gamut from confused but harmless to really nasty to outright insane.