Results and their role in the magical process

We always get results. We don't always get the results we want. In magic, we are told not to lust for results, but conversely we look to results to prove that magic is effective, and that our magical process works. The reason we are told not to lust for results is because if we do, the obsession we put toward that desired result removes the obtainment of it from us. And I think there's some truth to that reason. I've known people who've become obsessive and let that obsession consume them, which has stopped them from recognizing opportunities that were coming their way. At the same time, you need to know what result you want to achieve in order to create a magical process that will (ideally) get you that result. It is also helpful to be as specific as possible in defining and describing the result. A vague description of a desired result isn't very helpful or useful. For example, if your result is: "I want a job", that's fairly vague. On the other hand if you state: "I want a teaching position, where I make at least 60,000 a year and have opportunities to advance in my school district.", then you have a more specific result that you are aiming for.

Developing a specific result allows you to develop a specific magical process to help you achieve that result. Here are some questions to keep in mind as you define your result:

1. What is the result I want?

2. What are additional details I can include to make the result more specific? Additional details should include anything that you would consider important or helpful.

3. Why do I want this result? How will it benefit my life to achieve this result?

4. Is there any part of this desired result that I don't agree with or feel resistant toward? If there is part of me that feels resistant to it, why do I feel that way?

5. How will I feel once the result is achieved? What will I do with the result?

All of these questions can help you not only develop a specific result, but also determine if it's a result that you can achieve. If you discover that there is resistance toward the result, it's a good idea to spend some time looking at the reasons for that resistance, to determine if the result is something you really want.

Would you include any other questions? If so what would you include?

Phenylalanine and Epinephrine - Taylor's Report

Phenylalanine: Appeared as an Emperor. He explained that he provides information and instructions to other neurotransmitters. He's one of the more common NT's and can cross the blood-brain barrier. He showed me a network and his role in that network was that of an overseer of sorts. Epinephrine otherwise known as Adrenaline appeared as a yellow cloud with flashing eyes. He explained how he stimulated the body, and how pain and other sensations could activate him and help him activate the body to handle whatever needed to be experienced.

My partner Kat also had some intriguing experiences. She's going to start posting on here as well.

Book Review: Sorcerer's Stone by Dennis Hauck

This is an excellent beginner primer to Western Alchemy and its tenets. The author does a good job of presenting and explaining the symbolism of Western Alchemy, and the relationship of the planetary and elemental energies to alchemy. More importantly, he emphasizes the importance of doing internal work and explains how Western Alchemy can be used for internal work. This is an excellent starter book for anyone who wants to learn about the fundamental basics of alchemy.

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Endorphin

Endorphin is a guy in a jogging suit. The symbol he gave me is a fleshknot that has a tripod base, with each part of the tripod rising to twist around the other two parts. He causes pleasure, notable in runner high, but also in meditation and experiencing something new, but he also opens doors of possibility. At the same time endorphin warns about being overused because it can cause addiction. The sensation of endorphin is a tingling feeling...and also a feeling of flow. Book Review: Taoist Yoga by Charles Luk

I found this book to be an insightful read into Taoist internal alchemy, however I'd also say that anyone reading it needs to have at least a couple years experience to even begin to get the concepts discussed. What I found was that the book provided greater clarity about some of the different exercises I'd already done, but I also realized that if I didn't already have experience with those exercises, I probably wouldn't get what the author was discussing. It's a useful book to have for an intermediate to advanced Taoist meditation practitioner. 5 out 5

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Melatonin and Tryptophan

Melatonin always appears as a dark skinned woman. she's the polar opposite of serotonin, but also  does similar activities in terms of balancing the neurochemistry of the body as well as a person's emotional moods. She's also helpful in cases of insomnia. She and serotonin can be worked with simultaneously in order to help with situations such as insomnia, where there might be too much serotonin and not enough melatonin or in cases of waking up, where serotonin can be upped while melatonin is decreased.

Tryptophan appears to me as a pregnant sleeping Empress. She aids in Digestion and is consequently a force for change in neurochemistry. People may wish to work with her to get help with digestion issues or sleep issues.

Book Review: The Sorcerer's Secrets by Jason Miller

In this book, the author presents practical ideas and strategies for people who are just starting out in their magical practice. This isn't a 101 book, but its safe to say it's a 102 book that also offers some insights to magicians with more experience. What I appreciate the most is that the author takes the time to focus on considerations such as finances and explains that while magic can help, it's also important to learn practical mundane skills.

I also appreciate the author's choice to draw on a wide variety of sources that fall outside the traditional bibliography usually found in books. The author illustrates the importance of developing a well-rounded strategy by exposing readers to alternative sources.

There are two reasons this book gets a four instead of a five, however. One reason is because the author doesn't address the value of doing internal work as a practical and strategic solution. while knowing how to do practical magic to solve a problem is important, being able to identify your participation in the problem and making changes is even more important, and more practical. The other reason is that while the author does draw on non-traditional sources, he doesn't address the topic of innovation and how it can be used to develop practical magic.

All that said, this is an excellent book to read, and one I'd recommend to someone just starting out.

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The illusion of control

I've been doing some internal work lately and one of the issues that has arisen has been about control, specifically the control a person has in his/her imagination vs the control s/he has in reality. If a person feels that s/he has no control over circumstances in his/her life, there can be, sometimes, a tendency to utilize imagination to create scenarios where a person has complete control, but when you replicate those scenarios in life, you find out you actually don't have that much control. I'm one of those people who's had that realization at times, and when this happens its usually a good indicator that I'm reacting against the lack of control I felt I was dealing with. Problem being that even when I acted out the scenario I still didn't have control and if anything it was emphasized how little control I had, in regards to myself. I recognized this particular pattern of behavior recently when I started examining how I've used imagination to provide a feeling of control as it pertains to my sexual identity. And I've realized that this issue goes to the core of my sexual identity, back to when I was raped, because I had no control then. It's replicated itself in the relationships I've been in, but until now I never fully acknowledged how much my tendency to fantasize has come about as a direct result of my initial experience, and a desire to have control as a safety mechanism to protect me from having such an experience again.

Yet no fantasy can really replace life or the experience of it...and there's much less control in the experience of life, and under the right circumstances much less need as well for such control. In fact, it seems to me that the need for control is a result of the lack of self-control a person has (something which is his/her own responsibility), though it can also arise from a situation where a person was made to feel s/he had no control. As I continue to do my internal work and take responsibility for the different dysfunctions of my own life, I find that I need less control of anything else, because I have control of my responses and as long as I have that, then control of anything else ceases to matter. Or rather, more to the point, by taking control of my choices and actions, I can choose how to handle situations and be grounded in that, regardless of how things turn out. In the end the only control you do have is that which you exert over your actions, and your ability to consequently navigate through situations by understanding what you can choose to contribute or not to them.

What do you think?

Book Review: Wonders of the Natural Mind by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

I highly recommend this book as an excellent introduction to the Bon tradition of Tibet. In this book the author explains what the Bon tradition is and how it differs from Buddhist beliefs and practices. The author explores in depth the foundational beliefs and practices of the Bon tradition while also explaining how they can be meaningfully applied to the life of the practitioner. What I like is that its also clear that this tradition has its own perspective on emptiness, which I found useful for getting a new perspective on it. Overall, I recommend this book for anyone serious about doing internal work.

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Short notes

A Note about Definitions and Meaning My post about definitions could easily also apply to the word models. The word models is used a lot in magic theory. There is the spiritual model, the psychological model, the model for this or the model for that. But I don't think definitions are really models. I do think models are metaphors that attempt to categorize magic, whereas I think definitions are less about categorization and more about making meaning, or maybe even making connection through meaning. You can't really have connection if some kind of meaning isn't involved and definitions are all about meaning, the establishment of it as the way to understand what's around and within.

A Note about Immanion Press

I'm still involved in Immanion Press. At one point, in the winter, I gave some serious thought to leaving Immanion Press as the managing editor and heading for the hills as it were, but then the divorce happened and I figured that was a big enough change in my life. The purpose of Immanion Press, as it applies to occult books, is to publish the books other publishers won't touch and/or reprint what's out of print. And I think we've published some great books by some great authors and I hope we continue to.

What isn't realized, I think, is that for all intents and purposes Immanion Press is volunteer run. I don't really get paid for doing the editing, layout, or managing of other editors. It's a lot of work and it's mostly a labor of love, save on those occasions when it can become a labor of hate.

I won't be at the Esoteric Book Conference this year representing Immanion Press. Lupa will be there, and you can buy books from the press through her. I have mixed feelings on how much I will represent the esoteric book line in the future, since I no longer do any of the distribution for it, beyond my own books. I'll still do the managing editor part, but I figure it's time to focus on myself a bit more, which includes finishing some writing I've been working on, so I actually have a justifiable reason to show up at a conference.

Review of Sacred Kink by Lee Harrington

What I most enjoyed about this book was Lee's efforts to provide detailed information about each path and create a framework for people from multiple belief systems to engage in the incorporation of kink to their spirituality. Lee's expertise as both a sex educator and spiritual teacher shows through in this book time and time again. He provides excellent examples and also useful definitions for understanding each path. I found a lot in this book that I know I can apply to my own spiritual practices and I think anyone else would find a similar treasure trough.

5 out of 5

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Book Reviews

Beyond Culture by Edward T. Hall I've always found Hall's books to be interesting and relevant to my life from business to spirituality and this book has lived up to that same expectation. In this book Hall, discusses inter-cultural communication patterns and raises up concerns about the tendency to focus toward using external resources as opposed to examining and utilizing internal, behavior skills. I find this relevant in an age where more than ever the focus is on using technology to communicate, with all the inherent problems that brings, especially when relying on text only to interact. This is a useful book for exploring cross cultural communication and examining the increasing role of technology in communication.

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Laban for All by Jean Newlove and John Daley

I was thoroughly impressed with this book. The authors did a thorough job of explaining the system of Laban and its relevance to dance, but also bringing it down to the level of an utter novice, such as myself. They also provided detailed descriptions of exercises that are easy to follow and do and quite rewarding. Where this book really shines however, is in the theory of movement that Laban created around space and time and other elements he deemed significant to truly understanding the body. I feel, as a result of doing the exercises, that I have a much closer relationship to my body and a much keener appreciation of movement.

5 out of 5.

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Managing Depression with Qigong by Frances Gaik

The author presents some useful evidence to prove that Qigong works to manage depression. What I would've liked even more was integration of Qigong exercises into the book. There was an appendix with some exercises, but it felt like the exercises were incorporated as more of an afterthought than anything else. This is a useful book for people who wish to make a case for alternative health practices, but isn't as geared to the lay person as I would have hoped.

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3 out of 5

The Taoist Soul Body by Mantak Chia

In this book Chia presents an advanced technique for Taoist inner alchemical work. While overall the information is good and in-depth, there are times were its clear Chia recycled content from previous books in order to fill out the book. Also some of the instructions are a bit more vague than they should be given the type of work involved. That said, if you've learned previous techniques it won't be hard to puzzle out what he means. The main thing to avoid is visualizing the work. You need to really experience it, and that's where the vagueness of the instructions is less than helpful. The technique in this book is worth reading and can be very helpful for body purification and health.

4 out of 5

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Radio show and book review

On Sunday at 4:30pm PST - 7:30 EST, I'll be doing the sex magic radio show with a guest co-host. We'll be discussing the practical aspects of sex magic, but also examining the balance between pleasure and practicality. Review of Spiritual Cleansing by Draja Mickaharic

This book isn't explicitly for the magical practitioner, so much as its for a lay person, but nonetheless I was impressed by the thorough attention to detail and focus that the author provided. The author covered a variety of techniques and its fair to say that even experienced magicians could get a lot out of this book. What I liked the most was that it was very easy to follow the instructions provided. I'd recommend this book to any practitioner as a resource guide for magical and psychic cleansing techniques.

5 out of 5

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Update on experimental work

I've been continuing to integrate Laban into my morning daily moving meditation. The body movements take up the focus of the thoughts, and a rhythm is created, out of time, out of the tightly monitored world, into a place where all that matters is the rhythm of movement and the stretching of the body. My spatial and kinesthetic awareness of my body and how it moves has changed in what I would consider to be subtle ways. There's more awareness of my core and how each movement comes from the core than there was before. The benefit, beyond feeling healthier, is a sense of being more in touch with my body, and more able to connect with it for that deeper meditative work. I've also been continuing to work with the time strand editing technique, using it edit different connections to places, people, and situations and I'm seeing some changes in that direction, with the connections I have. I haven't applied it as much as I could to business interactions, but I will give it a try and see what happens.

Review of Magical Techniques by Draja Mickaharic

I just discovered this author's works recently and already I'm impressed by the depth and breadth of his writing as well as his attention to detail. Magical Techniques provides information on lesser known magical practices and tools that can be used by the magician to aid and enhance his/her workings. From his chapter on how to make chalk, to how to use feathers, to magic with orgone accumulators, there's something for everyone. He also provides some good anecdotes, both his own and of other people and how they used the different tools he discussed. This book is a definite must for the practical magician.

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5 out of 5

Building up sexual energy in Sex magic

When you read most books on Western sex magic, one of the discoveries you make is that there's a lot of focus on polarities, with a belief that men embody the active principle and women embody the passive principle. In other words, the women are supposed to lay there passively, while the man generates and directs the sex magical activity. Personally, I don't really buy into polarity model or the belief that a man has to be the active principle and the woman has to be the passive principle. But something I've experimented with has involved being the passive partner...not even so much in terms of physical activity but rather in terms of supplying the sexual energy that is then directed by my partner. But the word passive is actually misleading, because I'm still playing an active part...it's just that I'm not directing the energy toward the goal we've decided to focus on. So what is my role then in sex magic?

I use Taoist breathing techniques, while I'm having sex. I use the breathing techniques as a method for circulating my internal awareness, chi, energy, etc. So when I'm doing sex magic, I'm basically circulating the energy between myself and my partner, building it up again and again as I continue the breathing and other activities. She takes the built up energy and focuses it on the goal. She's in the director's role, if you will, but my own role is far from passive...I'm not directing the energy, but I build it up, so it can then be directed by my partner.

In my approach I suppose both people (or more) are engaged in some activity. There's no real polarity at work. If anything, it moves past such labels as male or female into a place where what matters is what each person is doing with the sexual energy. There's collaboration involved, really, because each person needs to know what the other(s) are doing, in order to play his/her part effectively. And this approach, this attitude, this perspective works well for me. We do the sex magic, we get the ball rolling and life changes.

Magic Experiments Radio show re-started

I've re-started the magical experiments radio show. In this show I discuss process and magic with my occasional co-host and magical partner Kat. I'll be doing these radio shows about once every 2 weeks, so keep an ear out for them.

Book Review: The Secret Pulse of Time by Stefan Klein

The Secret Pulse of Time is a very interesting book that looks at time from a number of angles, most notably cultural and neuroscience angles. I found it to be a refreshing read because it didn't focus on the conventional approach, which is usually physics, but actually delved into other disciplines and there take on time. The author also provided some excellent examples to back up what he was discussing. I found some of his thoughts on information overload particularly relevant, especially with the advent of social media. I highly recommend this book.

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Sex magic, grounding, and body work

Last night I got into a conversation with a friend of mine who does a fair amount of work in the sacred sexuality scene. We discussed, among other things, a tendency for many sex magic workers to not use proper grounding or shielding because they wanted to let all the sensations in. We noted, in the end, that it seemed more about the sex and less about the magic. Today a post I read prompted me to think how easy it is to separate sex from actually sitting with the body, and why that in itself may also be an issue for ungroundedness and too much focus on sensation. I find with sex magic that there is a very real difference between sex magic and sex. I'll be the first to admit I love sex. I enjoy sex for the sensations and pleasure and the opportunity to please someone. And sex for sensation's sake is great. I love having great sex and focusing on the sensation.

Sex magic, OTOH, is different. It's a deliberate choice to raise spiritual energies, work with entities, do energy work with partner(s), and do a variety of other activities that ultimately are focused on some kind of magical work. And while there are many sensations to be experienced, focusing on the sensations is actually a distraction from the magic. I find that sex magic practitioners that focus on the sensation generally tend to be very scattered. I probably wouldn't work with them precisely because of that.

This isn't to say that sensation can't be used as a tool for sex magic, for it certainly can. I find BDSM useful for that reason, because I can actually have the person I'm topping take all those sensations and focus them into a journey/experience that produces the desired change. And even plain ol' vanilla sex sensations can be used for the same purposes, provided the people understand that it's not so much about feeling the sensation as it is about directing it.

When sensation becomes the reason to do sex magic, it isn't sex magic. It's just sex with a superficial layer of spirituality dashed on top as a way of adding a spiritual dimension to it. There have been and are plenty of gurus who in fact have done just that in order to get laid.

When I go into a sex magic situation, while I may enjoy the sex, it isn't the primary reason for being in that situation. The primary reason is to raise energy using sex and do something transformative with it. At the same time, I know that at some point the magic will finish up and I need to ground myself. Also throughout the experience, I need to use the appropriate shielding and energy work techniques to not only focus what I'm doing, but not introduce any undesirable energy into the working, no matter how good it might feel at the time.

Now let's bring this back to the body. Another I've noted is that many people use sex to escape sitting with the body. The sensations experienced during sex don't necessarily put you in touch with your body, so much as allow you to escape from really being with it. Why? Because sex is really about experiencing an altered state of mind and body. While the pleasure and sensations can actually be used to put you in touch with your body, they can also be used to as a distraction from your body.

I find that the body, when it comes to sex magic, and even sex in general, is both one of the greatest distractions, in terms of sensation, and also one of the greatest tools for grounding yourself. Using breath work during sex, for example, can help you focus on the magical work, but can also help you get rooted in your body so that you fully feel it, both during and after sex.

Sex alone won't help you feel comfortable with your body, though it may help some. Ultimately what helps for embracing the body is learning to sit with it and experience all of it, the pains and pleasures, the changes that result as you age, and also getting into some kind of physical activity, besides sex, that gets you out of your head and into your body. I've found that becoming comfortable with your body really enhances everything you do, because you are intimately aware of how your body responds to your surroundings. It grounds you and makes you more aware of the present.

Review of Cosmic Fusion by Mantak Chia

I found this book to be useful in terms of understanding Chia's approach to Taoist inner alchemy work and integrating more of the practices into my own work. At the same time, it seemed like this was just a much more convoluted version of the Fusion of the five element techniques, with a lot of extra and somewhat unnecessary steps included. I found that I needed to boil away a lot of the extra steps and once I did so still was able to achieve the desired and expected results for doing this practice. I'm not sure the material presented in this book warranted an entirely new book. It's still useful material and worth learning in order to refine your inner alchemical work.

3.5 out of 5

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Changes to the website

You may have noticed that over the last month I've changed the Magical Experiments blog into the the Magical Experiments website. These changes have partially arisen due to changing life circumstances and also because I'm getting more active again in my magical work. I've changed the wordpress theme for the site, to reflect these changes. I'm now offering Tarot readings. I use the Elemental Hexagon Deck, which uses the periodic table.Check out the page on Tarot readings to learn more.

I'm also offering tele-classes. The first one will be on Inner Alchemy and is an eight week course where I'll be teaching some of the methods and practices I've developed for doing internal work, as well as also teaching some Taoist breathing practices. To learn more about this class visit the classes pages.

I'm excited about the future of my own practices. Work continues apace on the new book, and I've also got a few other projects I'll be revealing at some point. I thank all of you for your support.

Review of Malice by Chris Wooding

I was intrigued with the title and layout of this book from the start, but once I started reading it, I couldn't stop turning the pages to find out what would happen. The inclusion of the comics format also really enhanced the story and drew me in further. I'm really impressed with this author's work. while it's written for young teens, adults who enjoy fantasy and SF will also like reading it. I'm already looking forward to the next book and enthusiastically recommend this one to anyone who wants to read an engrossing story.

Review of The Hidden Brain

Review of The Hidden Brain by Shankar Vedantam Proponents of mindfulness and conscious intent may be disappointed when they read this book and realize just how much our unconscious dictates and influences our decisions. The author isn't afraid to tackle tough issues, such as how the hidden brain influences people's thinking about racial and gender issues, as well as how the group mind can actually harm you as opposed to help you. I found this to be a fascinating read because the author presents some compelling evidence that supports his claim and shows just how much the unconscious effects everyday life and decisions. I recommend this book as a refreshing and eye-opening perspective on how we make decisions.

5 out of 5

Review of the Eight-Circuit Brain

Review of the Eight-Circuit Brain: Navigational Strategies for the Energetic Body by Antero Alli With this book, the Eight-Circuit Model has turned into a practical system can be meaningfully applied to making changes in one's life. The previous books on the subject, while providing a good diagnostic perspective, never really moved beyond that. Antero incorporates a lot of physical activities into the eight-circuit mode, which removes it from the purely abstract conceptual realm and creates a workable system that can be used for successful internal work and change. The author is clear and concise in his explanations and the exercises are easy to follow through on. I highly recommend this book to anyone.

5 out of 5

Book Reviews of 3 books and a link

Metaphors We live By by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson This is a very interesting book, which explores the role of metaphors in the English language and argues that the majority of communication is done in metaphors. In particular the authors explore space and time metaphors which makes for some rather interesting insights to how American culture handles space and time. I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys linguistics or wants to explore how language use impacts everyday life. This is a dense read, so you'll need to spend some time working with it, but you'll get a lot out of it.

5 out of 5

The Dance of Life by Edward T. Hall

In this book Hall explores how different cultures approach and integrate the concept of time into their lives. He explores in depth how the cultural differences can impact peoples interactions with each other, as well as how we can be more aware of the cultural differences as it pertains to temporal awareness. I felt that this book wasn't as dynamic as his previous works. I still got a lot out of it, but it did seem like he was rehashing a lot of his earlier work. I'd still recommend it, because he a lot of interesting perspectives to raise.

4 out of 5

Eyes Wide Open by Marianna Caplan

This book raises some tough questions about cultivating spiritual discernment for your own spiritual journey as well as what questions to ask your spiritual teachers. The author's experiences with the various forms of spiritual charlatanry that occur with teachers is evident in how she explains the symptoms and issues to look out for. I found this book very useful for analyzing my own spiritual journey and looking at how I've presented myself to others in a spiritual context. It gave me some valuable tools for evaluating my own journey as well as evaluating people who might claim to have spiritual authority.

5 out of 5

Humans have hidden sensory system

The E-book of Pop Culture Magick is now available

Immanion Press is slowly but surely publishing many of its book as e-books and this includes my own writing. Pop Culture Magick is now an e-book. You can go here for more information. I think the move to e-books is a good idea, though I'll admit I'm too much a lover of books to really see myself reading e-books. I hope there's print, through the rest of my life.

Review: Towards an Archaelogy of the Soul by Antero Alli

This has to be my favorite of Alli's books so far, because it's the most practical of what he's written. In this book, he explains what paratheatre is and how it works, as well as letting others write case studies of their own experiences using this technique. What I like the most is that it combines concepts of acting with magical practices to get the best of the two different disciplines. I've already found implementing the concepts to be very useful in my own practices and recommend this work to anyone who wants to take a new approach to their ritual and ceremonial magic practices. Readers will find the material easy to approach, but the real gem is found in applying the concepts actively to your own work.

5 out of 5

Are you a Traditionalist?

A reader asked me yesterday, after I posted my review of Evola's book on Buddhism, if I agreed with Evola's  traditionalist views in other areas, because I liked Evola's work. When I posted the review to Amazon, I'd noticed traditionalism come up as a possible tag, first time I ever came across the word actually. Let me just say that assuming I'm anything based on what I read is at best an erroneous assumption. It's true I like Julius Evola's writing. And if we were to research Julius the person, we would find out he was a fascist and I guess a traditionalist as well (maybe they are even one and the same!). But I'm not interested in Evola's political beliefs and don't find them relevant to my practice. Nor, really, am I concerned with labeling his spiritual practices or my own as traditionalist.

In fact, I'm not really interesting in trying to label my own practices either. The most I've ever done is to label myself as an experimental magician, an even that label is one I rely on less these days. What's really important afterall is not the label, but rather what one is actually doing.

So for me, Evola's writing, which I like because he's a good scholar and offers some intriguing perspectives on what he writes about, whether it's Buddhism or Tantra, or Hermeticism, or an article on time magic, is important because I find it relevant to my spiritual practice. Frex, the book on Buddhism offered some useful insights into early Buddhist texts and practices, and proved helpful in my emptiness working.

But even though I like his works, it shouldn't be assumed that I'm a traditionalist or anything else that Evola was. I am, after all, not Julius Evola (last I checked). Nor because I've read Edward Hall and liked his work, should it be assumed I hold to his political beliefs or his approach to anthropology or anything else. Liking someone's writing doesn't mean you agree with all of it or that you hold the same beliefs as someone.

But really what I'm saying is this: Labels are at best an illusion crafted to provide us and others the security (a false one) of being able to say this person is this or that. But what if I'm not?

I read what I read because I find it important to cultivate an awareness of a wide variety of perspectives and beliefs so that I can see how those perspectives inform my spiritual and indeed, overall life. So am I a traditionalist? Likely not.

But I am me...and I do enjoy learning and applying what I learn toward living a better life. I hope you do as well.

Review of The Silent Language by Edward T. Hall

In this book, Hall explores the intricacies of time and space from a cultural studies perspective. Although this book is a bit dated, the information is still very relevant, and what Hell offers is an examination of how much our perception of time influences our cultural and everyday interactions. For example, learning just how tightly time is wound for Americans as opposed to other cultures is quite insightful to the workaholicism that pervades American culture. Hall touches on some aspects of space as well, though you'll find more of his thoughts on it, in the hidden dimension. What I most enjoyed about this book is an exploration of time from a social science perspective as opposed to a hard science perspective.  I definitely recommend it to anyone interested in understanding concepts of space and time.

5 out of 5 stars

Review of The Doctrine of Awakening by Julius Evola

The Doctrine of Awakening by Julius Evola As always, I find myself intrigued by the depth of exploration that Evola brings to any of his books. In this book he discusses the earliest Buddhist texts and makes some persuasive arguments against how Buddhism is currently perceived. The analysis of the texts and techniques as well as instructions on the techniques makes for a very insightful read. I got a lot out of the book and undoubtedly will get even more when I re-read the book.

This book isn't for the casual reader. Evola's writing is very dense and heady. You will likely need to re-read some of his passages to fully grasp what he is conveying, but once you do grasp, your understanding will be solid. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Buddhist mysticism or meditational practices.

5 out of 5

Time Magic: Thiede

Today I painted the seal and sigil for Thiede. You might note in the painting the inclusion of an A, which is done purposefully to denote the alter ego of Thiede as Aghama. Thiede is the other guide for time. His purpose is to help a person understand concepts of space as they relate to time, as well as help practitioners with abyss journeys in time. Thiede can be thought of as an entity that helps the magician with the act of transmuting his/her understanding of time and space in relationship to the self and one's place in the universe.

Speaking of space, reading the hidden dimension which focuses on how different cultures use space differently, one of the realizations I came away with was that how space is organized can also speak something to how people conceive of time and how they organize time through space. I think that the perception of time is organized by how we use space, both in terms of navigating spaces to get somewhere, but even in how we set up our homes, offices, and public spaces. The one problem which can arise would be that a cultural definition of space would limit our understanding and appreciation of time...and you can see that in some ways with the rather linear approach to both time and space that is cultivated in how space is navigated and organized. For instance, I notice a lot of straight lines in how businesses and homes are laid out. A straight line is linear, direct and quick to navigate as opposed to a more circular or meandering route. The spatial dynamics in the public areas of my home tend to be straight lines, but in my own room, it's actually a circular and my sense of time feels different, more like a bubble, and less like a line with a specific deadline. I wonder if I were to change some of those straightlines, if some of the stresses would shift and change as a result. It might be something I give a little try, by moving one piece of furniture a different way, just to see how it changes the space of the room and my perception of time in it.

Review of the Hidden Dimension by Edward T. Hall

This is a fascinating book which examines concepts such as territoriality, smell, touch, thermal heat in the context of space and how different cultures organize and interact with space. The author also examines how intercultural issues with space contribute to a lot of the conflicts that occur with people. Reading this book has presented me some new perspectives about space and how I interact with others in my own space, as well as ways to respect the space of other people better. Cultural space is explored in particular depth to show how even the living spaces of different culture varies due to how people in a given culture interact with space. Overall a very insight and revealing book about the relationship of space to how we live and interact.

Book Reviews

Review of Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell This was a very interesting book that I'd recommend to anyone because it examines how success is achieved or not achieved based on cultural and historical legacies that people have access to. The premise of the book provides an intriguing look at how success is achieved as well as a ways to look at one's own heritage to capitalize on historical and cultural traits which can help a person find meaningful success. I definitely recommend reading this as an example of how a person's sense of individuality is ultimately based off a collective history and heritage as opposed to the myth of the rugged individual.

5 out 5

Seeking the Spirit of the book of Change by Zhongxian Wu

In this book, the author presents an explanation of the divinatory system of the i-ching and classic Taoist techniques for understanding and utilizing that system. The case studies he provides are very helpful for understanding how the divinatory system works, but be warned, you do need to have more than a basic familiarity with the concepts he discusses to get the most out of this book. While I definitely could understand what he was writing about, I know I'd need to do more research on the i-ching before being comfortable with this divination system. That said, this book does provide an excellent read and opportunity to learn more about the i- ching

5 out of 5