Acoustics, Health & Sufism

and then there was Gingeng....

2009-04-28T15:49:00.001-07:00

planting baby ginseng rootlets

2009-03-09T13:37:00.000-07:00

I can't wait for spring, I've got lots of medicinal weeds to plant: Yarrow, St Johns Wort, Valerian, Nettles, Bergamot, & Hoy Basil. ( I hope to write about the benefits of Holy Basil later on). But, yesterday in the mail I got my 28 little 2 year old baby Ginseng Rootlets!

Since it was almost 60 degrees outside I hurried to get them into the ground, since they need the cold snap to properly induce them to sprout. They will take about 3 or 4 more years to mature, so this is a long process. Once they are set and start to grow, all I gotta do is watch them, hopefully this year or next I will start to get seeds from these plantings and I can truely start a cycle of growing and harvesting. There is a large market for selling gensing roots and seeds. This is the area before I dug:

Ginseng likes 75% to 90% shade, anywhere bloodwort and Jack 'n the Pulpits grow are perfect places for ginsengs. After a little snow removal and some digging:

Aftre saying zikr and some prayers over them, like Ya Hayy, Ya Muhyi & Ya Razaq I staked out where I planted them with chop sticks. It seem appropriate...

uyghur children song- tanbur

2009-02-09T06:34:00.000-08:00

cani dilden fani

2009-02-03T04:34:00.000-08:00

dragon dream

2009-01-23T16:25:00.000-08:00

a very cool dream with obvious elements, these only come around once in a while, well at least in my experience..

Fighting a dragon that has been and still hiding in dark places; haunting, conniving, and plotting tricks. It has a voice that is mesmerizing and can turn invisible at will.
...
We are fighting and moving in a dimly lit building, rooms and large windows look out into other open rooms that are darkened. The dragons talks, but I can not recall or understand what it says. The battle consists more of maneuvering around from room to room, using the walls as blinds.
...
I rise high into the night sky, so I can force the dragon out into the open and to meet me one to one. I focus my intention and imagine an image of the Qabalistic Tree of Life projected onto my body and being. I intone loudly the Name of God, Tetragrammaton.
...
As the beast finally approaches in an invisible swoop, as it arcs back towards me either I or it transforms the dragon into a small swallow. I catch the bird with a piece of cloth and cover it, holding it tight. It tries to tear and rip the covering, but I do not let go.
...
The bird becomes docile and I send it on it's way with another "evil" person to go and live out their lives peaceably in some other local far away. Banished, but happy.

dreaming

2009-01-14T04:31:00.000-08:00

working through various techniques, finding certain ones that resonate and others that lack what I need. Some patterns that I've noticed since I've been rigorous in keeping a nightly journal is that it seems to be not uncommon to have occasional periods of little memory of dreams. I will have two or three days on nights filled with heavy dream recall followed up by one to three nights of very little. What does seems fairly necessary is to continually intend throughout the day to be aware of the dream-like nature of waking life. While my lucidity has been far and few between, what has been arising with much more frequency is morning false awakenings. Some mornings I have been dreaming for an hour, a dream that I am in bed... it is very strange. It is as if I am wake, but unaware... Since it is a change, I will take it as indicative of something, hopefully progress.

Other things I have found necessary is an energy practice coupled with visualizations, such as floating or being out of the body and also, very necessary has been physical exercise. I can't stress enough the need for a physical practice, what ever it is. I have found the 5 Tibetans very useful, since they incorporate working with the chakras and their composite energy it seems to help in grounding.

This is the status of life!

2008-12-19T19:02:00.000-08:00

Mevlevi Sema Vermont 2008

2008-12-15T08:50:00.000-08:00

Some pictures of this weekend's Mevlevi Sema in Putney, Vermont. This group has been holding a public turn now for maybe 25 years? Quiet things happen in quiet place with sufis, you have to be paying attention and awake or things will slip by and the doors of paradise close while you were heedless.

Met old friends, made new friends, some new folks discovered doors to perception they didn't knew existed. Enjoyed talk, food and company.

Because of the ice storm the area had in recent days, the electricity has been scanty. Right at the moment when the Quran was recited the lights went out, leaving only candles burning. I thought it was planned, but after a few minuets when we musicians needed to continue with the music, we were unable to see! Allah knows best, so we made do.

Performers, including myself on Ud
Fred Stubbs - Ney
Shanteri Baliga - Voice & Bendir
Noah - Ney
Mehmet Ali Sanlikol - voice & ney

Returning to the Motherland

2008-11-30T16:04:00.000-08:00

My shaykh, Shaykh Taner Ansari just published a new set of translations, 2 in 1 book. Secret of Secrets by Abdul Qadir Geylani and, for the first time in English, Guidance to Mysticism by Ahmed er Rifai.

So, including my shaykh's there now are at least three translations of Geylani's Secrets of Secrets, Al Baz has a good literal version by Muhtar Holland & there is one by Shaykh Tosun Bayrak. I have looked at them all. They all have something to offer. Shaykh Taner's transcription is done in a manner so that is it like you are reading it in Arabic, meaning that his approach to the grammar is such that it preserves as much as possible the word order.

Below you will find my reading of chapter one, "Returning to the Motherland."

Human beings can be looked at from an outer and inner perspective, the outer being common to all. We all have the same parts, some in different proportion, but all the same laws apply to everyone. Eating, sleeping, gravity, etc. Outwardly we are all the same, in a manner of speaking. Inwardly we are very different from each other because we each have access to various degrees of knowledge and experience, in the sense of what we bring back with us on our journey back to our Source.

The inward path contains levels, we attain or reach them through proceeding through the spiritual laws (sharia) & traversing a spiritual path (tariqa). By diligently applying these concepts it is possible to attain inner knowledge, known as Marifa. Humility is a key factor in attaining this high state of gnosis. According to Hz Geylani in this there are three degrees of deeds that need to be done called jannas or paradises.

Alem-i mulk ~ paradise of the material world or Ma'wa

"Near the Lote-tree beyond which none may pass Near it is the Garden of Abode.(Ma'wa)" Surah 53:14-15

Alem-i malakut ~ paradise of the angelic world or Naim

"Their Lord doth give them glad tidings of a Mercy from Himself, of His good pleasure, and of gardens for them (Naim), wherein are delights that endure:" Surah 9:21

Alem-i jabarrut ~ paradise of the archangelic world or Firdaws.

"As to those who believe and work righteous deeds, they have, for their entertainment, the Gardens of Paradise (Firdaws)" Surah 18:107

These can not be known the bodily senses, but through gathering within - or experiencing the Reality of the knowledge of Sharia, Tariqa & Marifa. Somethings that my shaykh said in regarding to tasawwuf applies to understanding how to understand these ideas. First of all, he has on more than one occasion spoken about Sufism in terms of subtlety, "if your shaykh has to tell you the answer to a question, or tell you what to do, then the Sufism is done." I am paraphrasing here, I don't recall his exact words, but what does he mean by the "Sufism is done"? Let me give you another recent tid bit he has also said, and I quote. "the FIRST step to walihood (sainthood) is talking to the dead." Here Shaykh Taner implies that there are many, many steps in being a wali, and only the first one is talking to those who are on the other side. The point is - what is the point of Sufism? To know Allah. How does one come to know anything, for that matter? By interacting with it. So knowledge of Allah is realized through consciously approaching and interacting with Allah, which is done through the gate of one's heart.

On Tariqa, the seeker follows a path where he becomes open to the spiritual realm and he or she begins to see Allah's manifestations in the world around them. A channel of communication has been formally opened through the taking of the hand of one's teacher. By accepting this invitation onto the spiritual path, the student now is invited to see, hear, and speak with Allah in all the myriad ways that He manifests His Self and Will around His Creation. In doing so the gate to the next world is slightly now ajar and with Allah's permission, guides from the other side come to assist the student. The murid may or may not be aware of this "hidden" help, but nonetheless it is there. This is the reality of when someone of true knowledge attributes accomplishments to Allah.

Saudi Arabia has an all grrl rock band

2008-11-24T09:23:00.000-08:00

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Every herb is a Terrene star growing toward heaven

2008-11-19T18:26:00.000-08:00

"Stars, according to Paracelsus, are the forms and matrices of all herbs and every star in heaven, is no other, but a herb prefigured in a spiritual and catholic manner, representing the like of every vegetable in the earth. So every herb is a Terrene star growing towards heaven; and every individual star, is a celestial herb in a spiritual form, in nothing differing from herbs growing in the earth, save only in the matter: therefore stars by their excrements, and nostoch [a Paracelsian term for a slime], prenunciate all future diseases. "

(prenunciate (verb) : to pronounce and/or enunciate). Oswald Croll of Signatures of Internal Things, 1608. http://www.wierus.com/catalog/basilica/

Daath (Da'at)

2008-11-13T17:52:00.000-08:00

some info from wiki:

Daat or Daas ("Knowledge", Hebrew: דעת 'daʕaθ) in Jewish mysticism, called Kabbalah, is the location (the mystical state) where all ten sephirot in the Tree of Life are united as one.

In Daat, all sefirot exist in their perfected state of infinite sharing. The three sephirot of the left column that would receive and conceal the Divine Light, instead share and reveal it. Since all sephirot radiate infinite self-giving Divine Light, it is no longer possible to distinguish one sefira from another. Thus they are one.

Properly, the Divine Light is always shining, but not all humans can see it. The concealment or revelation of the Divine Light shining through Daat does not actually happen in Daat itself. It only seems that way from the human perspective within Malkuth. The perception of change can only occur in Malkuth. Humans who become self-giving like the Light become able to see it, and for them the benefits of Daat's Light seem "revealed". However, humans who remain selfish cannot see it, and for them its benefits seem "hidden".

M y reading of Splendor Solis

2008-11-08T19:04:00.000-08:00

My reading of the First Treatise from Splendor Solis or Splendour of the Sun.

I am in the process of being exposed to alchemical processes and their subsequent symbols, I have a lesson book on the way from Adam McLean on how to read alchemical texts, how to approach their inherent confusing methodology. I have started reading a famous alchemical text, Splendor Solis, which in it's own words, "which is described the hidden mystery of the old philosophers." ie; how to create the so called 'Philosopher's Stone'. This well known text also has wonderful enigmatic colored plates that supposedly have a life of their own, thru practice of projection and dream control one could, inshallah, have contact with a deeper guide...

I have always been drawn to alchemy, for what reason I can not rightly say, but outside of sufism, alchemy would be the next spiritual approach to understanding the nature of things I would have undertook, given a proper chance. I feel myself drawn back in because of my desire to understand two things as of late. One which is my desire to induce lucid dreams and/or out of body experiences, so far my experiments in obe's have been of slow progress. It seems that the area where I feel I have been most successful is within my dream retention. I attribute this progress in memory to some techniques related to alchemy that have broadened my dream recall - the other experiments I have tried in this area, such as supplements, LaBarge's techniques, Yogic breathing, etc have yielded only sketchy results. I believe this is because of my own tendencies and not the failure of the techniques themselves.

Secondly, because I am also working towards studying healing through herbal remedies. My opinion is that alchemical philosophy is one important facet to understanding how the essence of herbs work in inducing holistic cures within the human as a total being. My shaykh always says that all things have a soul, which I take seriously, so I have to explore and firstly I have to have a good foundation in philosophy. Alchemy, among other things, is a spiritual science that works with the living essence within all material.

So here below I will paraphrase what I understand from the First Treatise of Splendor Solis with the intention of returning later on sometime to see how my understanding has grown and changed.

"In the following treatise we shall discourse on the origin of the stone of the philosophers and art how to produce it." "The Philosopher's Stone is produced by means of the Greening and Growing Nature."

I can not but understand this at first without recourse to my own experiences and personal philosophy, I undertake this knowing that it is a limited way to begin, but until the text reveals what has to reveal to me I can not assume another way. Once something else shows itself to be closer to the truth, then I will cast aside assumption and embrace what Allah guides me herewith, inshallah.

Greening and Growing Nature speaks to me as a process of Surrender, for the most natural of actions in the animal, vegetable & mineral kingdoms is the acceptance of what is. Trees bend with the wind, cattle move where water flows, mountains make way for the quaking of the earth. (I suppose it is natural for a sufi to find Islam everywhere, is this the author intends? We shall see.)

"For that reason can Art produce extraordinary things out of the aforesaid natural beginnings such as Nature of herself would never be able to create. For unaided Nature does not produce things whereby imperfect metals can in a moment be made perfect, but by the secrets of Our Art this can be done."

Art, ie; process of Alchemy, Tasawwuf, 'for the performing the miracle of the One Thing', Insani Kemal - the Art of perfecting the human being to know itself. "He who knows his self, knows his Lord."

Art makes out of the ordinary something extraordinary, thru the process of intention. Nature of herself would never be able to create. What can the only truly human process of art do that 'nature' can not? Intend. Nature has no intention, it follows the command of Allah, that is all it can do. Humans, we know, are endowed with WILL. Will is nothing but intention. How much will one has, that is a whole other argument...

The Philosopher's Stone cannot originate in it's natural matter without the intentional agency of the Alchemist's Putrefaction, which according to the text Splendor Solis; consists of drying, trituration and calcination. This kind of Putrefaction is not a process whereby the moisture is destroyed, but the superfluous moistures are separated from the necessary moisture and the dry parts that are now ashes are then set aside.

In Sufism, the raw person with all their inhibitions, beliefs, assumptions, etc, - what we call NAFS, this nafs is cooked. It is how the human becomes acceptable to Allah. And sufis use one term, cooked! But those who have actually gone through this process understand that it is much much more than just that. Students of sufism feel pulverized, emptied, lost, and frequently moved to inexplicable tears. If this isn't a form of putrefaction then I don't know what is.

The totality of a personal human experience is symbolized by alchemy in the curcurbit, or a long necked flask, as seen below. Inside is placed all the datum that a soul accumulates to be distilled, cooked and decocted. This is the "Art" of extracting the essence so that the True Nature of Life is experienced in its fullest capacity by the human being.

next time:

EX DUABUS AQUI UNAM FACITE, QUI QUAERITIS SOLE ET LUNA FACERE ET DATE BIBERE INIMICO VINO. ET VIDEBITIS CUM MORTUUM. DEINDE DE AQUA TERRA FACITE, ET LAPIDEM MULTIPLICASTIS"

From two waters make one, whereby seek to make the sun and moon. And prepare to drink the wine of the antagonists. And you shall see with the Dead. Thereupon make watery-earth. And multiply the stone.

Solomon's Seal

2008-11-05T17:19:00.001-08:00

Solomon's Seal (polygonatum biflorum) is a medicinal herb that has diverse healing properties. It can be used as a herbal tincture (best use), salve, tea or supplement. As an alternative medicine, it gives relief, healing or mending to sports injuries and other acute injuries related to tendons, joints, ligaments, bones, bruises, connecting tissues, cartilage, osteoarthritis, etc. It also soothes and repairs gastrointestinal inflammation and injuries. It is effective for feminine issues, such as menstrual cramps, PMS, bleeding, and the like. Additionally, it is known to lower blood pressure, relieve dry coughs, and to increase concentration and mental clarity. from solomon's seal

The origin of the common English name of the plant is variously given. Dr. Prior tells us it comes from 'the flat, round scars on the rootstocks, resembling the impressions of a seal and called Solomon's, because his seal occurs in Oriental tales.'

Another explanation is that these round depressions, or the characters which appear when the root is cut transversely, and which somewhat resemble Hebrew characters, gave rise to the notion that Solomon 'who knew the diversities of plants and the virtues of roots,' has set his seal upon them in testimony of its value to man as a medicinal root.
Gerard maintained that the name Sigillum Solomons was given to the root partly because it bears marks something like the stamp of a seal, but still more because of the virtue the root hath in sealing and healing up green wounds, broken bones and such like, being stamp't and laid thereon.'
A decoction of the root in wine was considered a suitable beverage for persons with broken bones, 'as it disposes the bones to knit.' On this point, Gerard adds:
'As touching the knitting of bones and that truly which might be written, there is not another herb to be found comparable to it for the purposes aforesaid; and therefore in briefe, if it be for bruises inward, the roots must be stamped, some ale or wine put thereto and strained and given to drinke . . . as well unto themselves as to their cattle,' it being applied 'outwardly in the manner of a pultis' for external bruises. from Botonical.com

The picture above is a tincture of my own I have set aside, my garden is very plentiful in True Solomon's Seal. We shall see how it sets bones... Here is another good post about its benefits.

dreams of sufism & alchemy

2008-11-03T04:35:00.000-08:00

With my wife, looking to visit and pay our respects to another sufi shaykh, walking around a large building similar to a library in New York City. It is a busy place, full of people, stores, and lots of wooden furnishings. We take an elevator that has a large sliding wooden gate and get out at a tea shop/record store and by pass a dervish we knew, ignoring her. There are racks of cd's and books that we need to navigate around to get to the hall.

Outside, surrounded by many people, we reach the shaykh and he is talking with other people in a coffee shop, I had carried with me some Echinacea tincture that I made earlier to give to him as a gift. We are expecting two shaykhs of our order to arrive soon as well.

In a mist of clouds and smoke I see a large white marble tablet inscribed with the words from Hermes Trismegistus, the Emerald Tablet. There is other writings on it as well, some of which pertain to the making of herbal and alchemical tinctures.

I wait for my wife outside the library, she is helping a bride in a wedding.

Hermes Trismegistus

Ayat ul Asma Husna

2008-10-30T04:33:00.000-07:00

59:22 He is Allah, other than whom there is no deity, Knower of the unseen and the witnessed. He is the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate.

59:23 He is Allah, other than whom there is no deity, the Sovereign, the Pure, the Perfection, the Bestower of Faith, the Overseer, the Exalted in Might, the Compeller, the Superior. Exalted is Allah above whatever they associate with Him.

59:24 He is Allah, the Creator, the Inventor, the Fashioner; to Him belong the Most Beautiful Names, Whatever is in the heavens and earth is exalting Him. And He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise.

These ayats, among others things, have Qabbalistic qualities. I think that ayat number 23 corresponds to the seprioth on the tree of life. At least that is my opinion.... it would take some time to verify it correctly.

discovery...

2008-10-28T04:34:00.000-07:00

two things that will need verification.

1) I dreamt I was playing an odd instrument that looked like a huge wooden bullet. It was a monochord, had one string that was made out of loose hemp. It was played using your finger nail, like many kemence and other spike fiddles. On the finger board beneath the string was painted a picture of Chinese human body with the points of the chakras highlighted. These point coincided with the harmonic nodes of the string, meaning the place where crest and trough of the vibrating string meet. Guitarists know these places as where they can make a 'harmonic'. In the dream I realized that the chakras needed to be aligned or in tune with these nodes.... How exactly that would be accomplished I do not know.

2) I believe I have found the cure for insomnia. Really. No drugs either. Anyone can do it. The cure is simply to daydream. When you can't sleep, stay in bed and daydream of something that draws your attention away from thinking. Daydreaming takes your mind out of the realm of thinking and worrying and into the doorstep of true dreaming. It assists in stopping the chattering mind that produces norpinephrine, the neurotransmitter associated with attention and wakefulness. Basically I think you are activating the part of your brain that induces sleep with daydreaming, well thats my theory.

dreams, days of the week, & planetary influences

2008-10-24T16:08:00.000-07:00

Day - Ruled by - Monthly total of dreams (# of lucid)
for September and October:

Sundays ~ Sun ~ 8 dreams
Mondays ~ Moon ~ 6 dreams (2)
Tuesdays ~ Mars ~ 5 dreams
Wednesdays ~ Mercury ~ 13 dreams (2)
Thursdays ~ Jupiter ~ 8 dreams
Fridays ~ Venus ~ 6 dreams (1)
Saturday ~ Saturn ~ 4 dreams

Because of my sleeping habits I almost never am truly asleep before midnight, so all of these would have been the morning of the day noted. It would seem by this simple chart that Wednesdays are quite fruitful, but Mondays and Fridays, as I look back in my journal, those days as well have a lot of intense activity. It is interesting that the ludicity coincides with those days as well... I think I will continue to track these patterns and see what else bears fruit.

obe & dreams

2008-10-24T04:27:00.000-07:00

Most of my dreams lately have been overwhelming of water; clear pools, seas, beaches, water gushing out of buildings like a tsunami, or hard driving rain. I haven't really connected with the significance of this as of yet, it is escaping me for some reason. In time I suppose.

Other than that, my experiments with lucid dreaming & obe have been slow and quiet, with all that has been going on at home and work, there has been a lot of subsequent stress, which puts a damper on things, including sleep. So nothing of much to report.

In addition to keeping a record of dreams, I am continuing to practice imagining my body separate from its physical one and float up and around. It is still just in the imaginary condition though, I haven't had the break through of actually crossing the barrier between the physical and astral, so to speak.

The act of intention and keeping a finger on the pulse of the subconsciousness I believe over time will produce real results. I wonder, if any, connections there are to planetary cycles? I would like to look and see if these troughs and valleys of my dream experiences show any sort of astrological awareness...

Surah 91 - Ash Shams , The Sun

2008-10-22T04:20:00.000-07:00

In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful

By the sun and its brightness,
and the moon when she follows it,
and the day when it reveals it,
and the night when it enshrouds it,
and the heaven and He who built it,
and the earth and He who spread it,
and the nafs and He who perfected it,
and inspired it with what is wrong for it
and what is right for it.
Indeed, he is successful who causes it to grow,
and he is indeed a failure who stunts it.

A question that is ever present in my mind, is how can we know Allah, here and now? In this Surah, He is telling us how; By the sun and its brightness. Not only do we use our senses to see what is going on around us, but also we have our inner senses to discern what is happening inside: and the nafs and He who perfected it, and inspired it. Inspiration occurs inwardly, it comes down from Allah to the heart. In Tibetan dream yoga there is a teaching that every single phenomenon is a dream construction of the Universal Mind. It is no different in Quran, every single perception, inward or outward is of sign of Allah. I have nothing that belongs to me and me alone, all that I experience is Allah & Allah's.

Surah X::23

2008-10-21T04:24:00.000-07:00

Bismallah ar Rahman ar Rahim
In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Mercififul

23. He it is who makes you go on the land and the sea till, when you are in the ships and they sail with them with a fair breeze and they are glad therein, a storm-wind reaches them and the wave comes unto them from every side and they discern that they are overwhelmed therein; then they cry unto Allah, making faith pure for Him only: If only You would deliver us from this, we truly will be of the thankful.

24. Yet, when He has delivered them, behold! they rebel in the earth wrongfully. O mankind! Your rebellion is only against yourselves. You have enjoyment of the life of the world, then unto Us you return and We shall proclaim unto you what you used to do.

The unique quality of dreams

2008-10-19T06:57:00.000-07:00

I have noticed that there seems to be a unique quality to each and every dream that tends to fades upon waking. This quality is fairly inexpressible and yet key to accurately recalling the memory of that dream event. For example, a dream I had last night had a specific physical feel and sound to it that is almost like a signature. There was a shape associated with this experience that escapes description. As I draw my attention to the memory of it, my sense of it shifts and avoids being pinned down.

Tales of Immortality & the philosophers' stone

2008-10-10T19:23:00.000-07:00

As a completion to the history of Flamel, it may be entertaining, to quote an extraordinary account which is seriously narrated by Paul Lucas in his " Journey through Asia Minor."
I was at Bronosa, in Natolia, and going to take the air with a person of distinction, came to a little mosque, which was adorned with gardens and fountains for a public walk; we were quickly introduced into a cloister, where we found four dervishes, who received us with all imaginable civility, and desired us to partake of what they were eating. We were told, what we soon found to be true, that they were all persons of the greatest worth and learning ; one of them, who said he was of Usbec Tartary, appeared to be more accomplished than the rest, and I believe verily he spoke all the principal languages of the world. After we had conversed in Turkish, he asked me if I could speak Latin, Spanish, or Italian. I told him, if he pleased, to speak to me in Italian ; but he soon discovered by my accent that it was not my mother-tongue, and asked me frankly what country I came from ? As soon as he knew that I was a native of France, he spoke to me in as good French as if he had been brought up at Paris. ' How long, sir,' said I, ' did you stay in France ? ' He replied he had never been there, but that he had a great inclination to undertake the journey. " I did all in my power to strengthen that resolution, and to convince him that France was the nursery of the learned, and its king a patron of the sciences, who defrayed the expense of my travels for collecting, notices of antiquities, drawings of monuments, correcting maps, and making a collection of ancient coins, manuscripts, &c., all of which he seemed to approve civilly. Our conversation being ended, the dervishes brought us to their house, at the foot of the mountain, where, having drank coffee, I took my leave, but with a promise, however, that I would shortly come and see them again. "
On the 10th, the dervish whom I took for an Usbec came to pay me a visit. I shewed him all the manuscripts I had bought, and he assured me they were very valuable, and written by great authors. He was a man every way extraordinary in learning ; and in external appearance he seemed to be about thirty years old, but from his discourse I was persuaded he had lived a century. " He told me he was one of seven friends, who travelled to perfect their studies, and, every twenty years, met in a place previously appointed. I perceived that Bronosa was the place of their present meeting, and that four of them had arrived. Religion and natural philosophy took up our thoughts by turns ; and at last we fell upon chemistry, alchemy, and the Cabala. I told him all these, and especially the philosophers' stone, were regarded by most men of sense as mere fictions. That,' replied he, ' should not surprise you ; the sage hears the ignorant without being shocked, but does not for that reason sink his understanding to the same level. When I speak of a sage, I mean one who sees all things die and revive without concern : he has more riches in his power than the greatest king, but lives temperately, above the power of events."
Here I stopped him : — ' With all these fine maxims, the sage dies as well as other people.' ' Alas ! ' said he, ' I perceive you are unacquainted with sublime science. Such a one as I describe dies indeed, for death is inevitable, but he does not die before the utmost limits of his mortal existence. Hereditary disease and weakness reduce the life of man, but the sage, by the use of the true medicine, can ward off whatever may hinder or impair the animal functions for a thousand years.' "
Surprised at all I heard, ' And would you persuade me,' said I, ' that all who possessed the philosophers' stone have lived a thousand years ? ' He replied gravely : — 'Without doubt every one might ; it depends entirely on themselves.' At last I took the liberty of naming the celebrated Flamel, who, it was said, possessed the philosophers' stone, yet was certainly dead. He smiled at my simplicity, and asked with an air of mirth : — ' Do you really believe this ? No, no, my friend, Flamel is still living ; neither he nor his wife are dead. It is not above three years since I left both the one and the other in the Indies ; he is one of my best friends.' Whereupon he told me the history of Flamel, as he heard it from himself, the same as I had read in his book, until at last when Charles VI., who was then upon the throne, sent M. Cramoisi, a magistrate, and his master of requests, to enquire from Flamel the origin of his riches, when the latter at once saw the danger he was in. Having sent her into Switzerland land to await his coming, he spread a report of his wife's death, had her funeral celebrated, and in a few years ordered his own coffin to be interred. Since that time they have both lived a philosophic life, sometimes in one country, sometimes in another. This is the true history, and not that which is believed at Paris, where there are very few who ever had the least glimpse of true wisdom.' "

from

Lives of Alchemystical Philosophers Based on Materials Collected in 1815: And Supplemented by Recent Researches with a Philosophical Demonstration of the True Principles of the Magnum Opus, Or Great Work of Alchemical Re-construction, and Some Account of the Spiritual Chemistry By Arthur Edward Waite, Francis Barrett Published by G. Redway, 1888

brain dream

2008-10-09T04:47:00.000-07:00

talking on the phone with another murid of my shaykh. Let me put it this way, I believe I was actually talking to this person in every sense. ( I will check with my teacher and contact this other person to see if she experienced anything.) We were talking about the problem of being able to share with another person the reality of an experience. I gave an example of eating dinner with my wife, how the telling of the story would be just a shade of the actual experience of it. The words couldn't replace the tasting, smells, sounds & emotions that were felt. I wondered out loud on the phone if it was because of the brain or was it the language. (The person on the phone is a native Italian speaker, her English is broken.) In the dream I am thinking that English is such a limited language to use in expressing Reality, and the person on the other side of the phone thinks this would make a good essay.

When I woke I thought to myself that it is the brain that lacks the capacity to express the Reality that the mind experiences.

Galantamine

2008-10-08T04:28:00.000-07:00

My order of Galantamine finally came a few days ago, I took 4mg of that along with 3 mg of Melatonine last night. The only thing I didn't do was follow up with an induction technique, I just wanted to see how this stuff settled in my system.

Had a lot of dreams! I must have dreamt for 4 hours, at least, I don't quite recall them, bits and pieces of them. I know I had a few "false awakenings", I remember thinking I had woken up and recorded a dream in my journal, but I didn't.

The feeling I had while falling back to sleep was one of 'slipping' into sleep, I had a clearer consciousness of the merge between the waking state and sleep. I can see how this supplement might be useful in inducing a waking dream, or WILD.

The wake-initiated lucid dream "occurs when the sleeper enters REM sleep with unbroken self-awareness directly from the waking state".^[28] There are many techniques aimed at entering a WILD. The key to these techniques is recognizing the hypnagogic stage, which is within the border of being awake and being asleep. If a person is successful in staying aware while this stage occurs, he or she will eventually enter the dream state while being fully aware that it is a dream. wiki.

The after effects are little more severe than the other supplements, I am more groggy this morning, and last night my stomach made all sorts of noises. Apparently these symptoms are common with Galantamine. The wear off time for it is 48 hours, the time it takes for it to be completely out of your system, so in order for your body to not become use to it, it is necessary to wait a few days before repeating it. I don't think I would get too far into a habit of taking this supplement more than once a week, maybe...

I think I am more successful in inducing a lucid dream more simply by the power of will and suggestion. When I am in the right state of mind, so to speak, and I lack any overt stressors, I think I would use the supplements to add to the intention techniques and not replace them. Seems obvious I suppose, but I need to see these things for my self.