Monday, December 16, 2013

Metabolism VIII - Mother Letters, Elements and Consciousness


The mother letters are then associated with the structures of consciousness as laid out in the early phases of the Metabolism of Time in the following way*.

Alef represents the blood and the interstitial fluids which supply much needed nutrients and oxygen to the cells of your body to complete their metabolism (and respiration), and on the mental level, Alef represents the flow of time which provides the supply of ''events'' into your cell which you need to complete the metabolism of time.  The main trinity of this in the Metabolism of Time diagram are the Altered Future (the blood-time proper), ''reducing the future'' (which corresponds to the way the cell membrane filters out components of the blood that it does not need via gates and receptors) and changing the future (which corresponds to the way in which cells release back into the blood various products and their ''waste''').   In the diagrams of Felix this is represented by the third circle which bounds the other two, and corresponds to the cellular membrane.  The ''Experience of the Moment'' occurs within the cytoplasm itself, and represents the bridge between the third sphere and the second sphere.

THE THIRD SPHERE - FEELIX IN CONSCIOUSNESS

THE CELL MEMBRANE


THE FUTURE OF THE METABOLISM OF TIME


Mem represents the cytosol and the organelles - this is the location where the main functions of the cell are performed.  Nutrients are processed by various organelles, chemical messages are interpreted and responded to, threats that have somehow passed the cell membrane are phagocytosed and destroyed (hopefully!).  On the mental level, Mem, then corresponds to your immediate environment and your sensation of your body within that environment.  The objects that surround you in your environment could be likened to stuctures, messages and nutrients, etc, within the cell, which you are operating on and processing.  Since Mem and the Organelles also relate to the planets, the environment around you is planetary (in the astrological sense) and those objects have planetary qualities if you look below the surface appearance**. The main trinity of this section are the ''Experience of the Moment'' (the events that occur in the cytoplasm - nutrients, messages, etc), Analysis of the Moment (the way those events are interpreted by the cell), and Reaction to the Moment (the choices of the cell in response to those events).  The Innner Mind which occurs at the bottom of this trinity corresponds to the nucleus (the nuclear membrane) of the cell.

THE SECOND SPHERE - FEELIX IN PERCEPTION

CELL DIAGRAM SHOWING CYTOPLASM WITH ''PLANETS''
THE PRESENT IN THE METABOLISM OF TIME

Finally, Shin represents the genetic material and this is seen in its triple -headed flame in the form of DNA (two strands) + mRNA (one strand) - on the mental level this relates to your own ''memory'' but not just the memory of this particular physical incarnation but all of the incarnations of this line of the Tree of Life, down to things like coral and sponges and perhaps even to the atoms themselves.  When stimulated by the events of the ''present'' (cytoplasm), the self delves into the ''past'' (genes/chromosomes) in order to retrieve information in order to deal with those events, in the same way the DNA unwinds to present information that allow proteins to be transcribed that deal with the present moment of the cell.  This memory is ''inside'' you but *not* just inside your brain but in the very fibre of your being***.  Your cells have memory not just your brain.



THE FIRST SPHERE - FEELIX IN HIS ''REACH''


DNA + mRNA - THE THREE FLAMES OF SHIN


THE PAST IN THE METABOLISM OF TIME

Complete List of Cell Correspondences to Metabolism of Time

  • Altered Future - Blood
  • Reducing the Future - Receptors on Cell Membrane
  • Changing the Future - Products (and waste) of cell reduced back into the blood
  • Experience of the Moment - Environment of Cytoplasm
  • Analysing the Moment - Processes by which the cell manages and interprets new events in the cytoplasm
  • Reaction to the Moment - Processes through which the cell responds to change
  • Inner Mind - Nuclear membrane
  • Remembering the Past - DNA unwinding to produce mRNA for protein transcription
  • Forgetting the Past - DNA rewinding after transcription
  • The Altered Past - DNA in chromosomal form
Do not forget that these cellular correspondences also match up to the physiognomical correspondences outlaid in the first section of the Metabolism of Time and various ideas are incorporated into the design of the images.  For instance:



This is the image of the Ignorant Fool which corresponds to ''reducing the future'' and ''serotonin'' for reasons explained in that section.  This also corresponds to the receptors and transporters in the cell membrane.  The image shows the way in which the ''membrane'' selectively filters the blood for contents, excluding pollution in the form of waste or microbial threats, etc and only allowing components through which are useful.  Similarly the mind receives tremendous quantities of information from the future every moment but this information is filtered because otherwise the consciousness (cell would be overloaded).


*It may have been more appropriate to reverse the phrasing and say that the cell represents the mother letters as opposed to the mother letters represent the cell.  For me the two ends of manifestation, nous and ''matter'' are intrinsically linked.

**Do not make the mistake to think that the planetary ''objects and events'' are orbiting your sense of your physical body as the Sun.  The Sun is represented by two things, the nucleolus which represents your ''reach'' but also the mitochondria (the esoteric aspect of which will be covered in future posts).  Your actual sense of the physical body itself is rightly associated with the Moon as the genetic material itself but this contains within it the whole twelve signs of the zodiac as well.

***This is a highly important technical point and where the Saadia Tree clearly differs from the Ari Tree.  The Ari, as is traditional with the later Kabbalists associates Shin with the top-most horizontal as it states ''create the head with fire'' - but if you look closely at the text it could be refering to the sexual organ (see Kaplan commentary on this section of SY, its in Ch.3).  This is my preferred reading and also connects better with the idea of the DNA being closer to the true ''mind'' as opposed to the brain - it also connects more with the ideas of molecular developmental biology - more on this later as well.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Metabolism VIII - Mother Letters, Elementals and Cellular Structure

The cellular nature of the body (and consciousness) can be considered threefold - the nuclei of the cells where the genetic information lies, the membrane-bound cytoplasm that surrounds them and finally the interstitial fluid and blood they are collectively bathed in.


NUCLEUS, CYTOPLASM + ORGANELLES (THE BLOOD SURROUNDS AND SUPPLIES THESE)


These three can be related to the mother letters and elements in the following way.
  • Alef - Air - Future - Blood - Mother of the Elements/Mothers
  • Mem - Water - Present - Cytoplasm - Mother of the Planets/Doubles
  • Shin - Fire - Past - Nucleus (DNA/Chromosomes) - Mother of the Zodiac/Simples
AIR/ALEF


Alef and Air are related  to the blood supply - this is where the oxygen reaches the cells, it is the Ruach (Kingship of Alef) or breath spirit that maintains their life*.  This is also directly related to the future as it is the blood, which brings the future to the cells in the form of their shifting chemical environment.  Alef then as Mother of the Blood, can be said to be the Mother of the Elements all together.




MEM/WATER



Mem and Water are related to the cytoplasm as it is mostly a little bubble or bag water with some organelles suspended in it.  This is directly related to the present as it is the environment of the cell which constitutes its own present.  Mem as the Mother of the Cytoplasm can also be said to be Mother of the Organelles (the little globular structures inside the cell) and also Mother of the Planets.




SHIN/FIRE


Shin and Fire is related to the the DNA and chromosomes as the triple headed nature of the Shin indicates the triple nature of DNA (i.e. the double helix of DNA with the single stranded mRNA being produced from it)**.  This is directly related to the past as it is the store of genetic information which constitutes the information which has come from the past and which is unravelled in order to produce information to deal with the current present environment of the cytoplasm.  Shin as the Mother of the DNA/Chromosomes can also be said to be Mother of the Zodiac.






*Structure of Alef similar to structure of haemoglobin, Alef composite value of 26 (two vavs and yod) indicates links to iron (atomic number 26) and its role in haemoglobin.  ADM the word for Adam is literally Alef, breath attached to DM or ''red earth''.



**



DNA transcribing RNA

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Metabolism VIII - Stoicism and Unification



Why is stoicism so important to me in my practice of QBL?

The only practice that has been used in my own unification of the dimensions, my genetics and consciousness is Stoicism (or various Eastern approaches to a very similar subject).  As discussed previously (in the sections on Strategic Drama - Control) there are two apparent worlds which one has to contend with on a daily basis in order to maintain mindfulness of ones own consciousness - the ''internal'' world of thoughts, and the ''external'' world of phenomena (which includes a great deal of social interaction).  These two worlds cause distractions that lead one away from consciousness, the first various thoughts (selfishness, fear, desire) and the second social transactions  (criticism/abuse/praise) and into the ''fallen'' delusional state of Malkuth where one considers oneself to be a physical object looking through its eyes at other physical objects, rather than the ''rectified'' state of being a mental object experiencing mental objects within an awareness of your own larger consciousness. This Inner Light is the true reality and you are in it right now.  You are always in the Inner Light.

This internal world of thoughts relates to the DNA within the nucleus, the external world to the cytoplasm which surrounds it.  Actions within that internal world in response to phenomena in the external world can be clearly likened to the way in which DNA, when stimulated by a change in the chemical environment of the cytoplasm, unwinds and reveals information which become proteins.


DNA within Nucleus
Nucleus within Cytoplasm

Stoicism, to me, always implies a return to the ''place''.  When a social transaction causes you to get angry or jealous or afraid that emotion is being produced by *you* not by the words themselves.  If one believes it is the words that are producing the emotional experience then one is as deluded as someone who thinks they look ''through'' their eyes or that they directly experience physical light.  For the will to be trained one must be one's own judge in these matters.  Similarly a social transaction which takes the form of praise or compliments is as likely to induce delusion as the negative.  Those who cannot be their own judge will experience life as a rollercoaster of ups and downs, pulled this way and that way by other people who are equally deluded*.



The Cell Membrane


This ''division'' between an external and internal world is also a delusional state - its useful for discussing technicalities but must be discarded.  Both of these worlds are contained within the larger sphere of one's consciousness.  This is a fact.  The events that occur within the phenomenal ''external'' world are directly related to the thoughts of the internal world and vice versa. 

The devil is of course in the details.  Its nice to learn heart-warming tropes about universal consciousness but if you want to practice *medicine*, either on yourself through tikkun, or on others through tikkun, or ideally both simultaneously you will need to knuckle down and learn the ''details''.  The details of the system are not easy to master but in order to get the most out of the methods outlined in this blogos one must not only get their philosophical position and their personal practice in order,  but also learn the ins and outs of the ''QBListic physiognomy'' for only then will you be able to truly penetrate to the heart of the ''messages'' you are '''receiving''.

''Bridle your mouth from speaking and your heart from thinking. And if your heart runs, return to the place.'' SY 1:8 Gra Version

This ''place'' is the consciousness we have been describing and your awareness of it (at all times) - the mouth speaking, and the heart thinking show how one ''falls''.  This place, when experienced, is the unification, both in the sense of Achad (unity) and Yechad (singularity).  The physical, spatial and observational dimensions that you exist as the centre of extend to infinity in all directions, you are the point at infinity and it is you that loses sight of that because you have not become Stoic.  It is not easy to live in this place.  It is a completely different environment to the ''fallen'' delusional state and one must get used to it.  Run and Return, Run and Return.  But Return**.



*The sad thing from a physicalist point of view is that this tossing and turning, these emotional upheavals lead to a surge in cortisol levels, a drop in the efficacy of the immune system and therefore physical sickness.  I see people making themselves angry, afraid and then sick all the time.  In this sense Stoicism at the very least is preventative medicine.

**Return, Teshuvah was an alternate name for Binah in the Early Kabbalah.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Parmenides and Anaxagoras

''Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.'' Plutarch

  • Beyond your Perception lies the rest of your Mind.
  • You may think that beyond what you can see or hear lies the rest of the physical world but that is not true.  You only directly experience consciousness.  You never directly perceive the physical universe.  Therefore at the limits of your perception lies the ''Beyond'' of your Mind.  This is what is ''outside the cave.''  Thinking that you look through your eyes at the world, or that the mentally constructed objects you experience are actually the objects themselves is the equivalent of the Fall.  It is why ''Malkuth'' is pendulant to the rest of the Tree of Life.
 ''Appearances are a glimpse of the unseen.'' Anaxagoras
  • Assuming the physical universe exists you are a point of consciousness within your larger Mind which is ''in'' (potentially) the physical universe.  Your consciousness is ''in'' your subconscious and unconscious Mind which is (potentially) within a physical universe.  Any discussion of the physical universe falls under the general heading of ''doxa'' or opinion for it is never directly experienced.
  • You do not move.  There is, in fact, no movement within consciousness.  The perceived content of your psychic cell shifts according to (potentially) physical signals but you do not.  You always remain in the centre of your psychic cell at the centre of your conscious experience of your consciousness.

"Nor is it divisible, since it all alike is. Nor is there any more of it here than there, to hinder it from holding together, nor any less of it, but it is all a plenum, full of what-is. Therefore, it is all continuous, for what-is touches what-is.'' On Nature, Parmenides

  • The undifferentiated universal substrate of consciousness is Mind.  The objects you experience are mental objects.  There is no separation, no size, no movement.  Everything around you is composed of your mind.

 "The decision on these matters depends on this: either it is or it is not. But it has been decided, as is necessary, to let go the one as unthinkable and unnameable (for it is no true path), but to allow the other, so that it is, and is true. How could what-is be in the future? How could it come-to-be? For if it came-to-be, it is not, nor is it if at some time it is going to be. Thus, coming-to-be is extinguished and perishing unheard of.'' On Nature, Parmenides

  • Consciousness is Immortal. The objects percieved around you are constructed of Inner Light.  You never directly experience physical light.

Friday, September 6, 2013

Metabolism VIII - Physiomancy, Endocrinomancy

In response to Patrick Dunn's competition for most interesting kind of divination I decided to post details of how to use the system of physiognomy I have been exploring on this blog as a system of divination.

http://pomomagic.wordpress.com/2013/08/15/a-contest/

One message that I constantly keep reiterating is that the world we experience is our own consciousness of the world and not the world directly.  I know this seems obvious but it is very easy to slip back into the idea that the world that you experience is 'physical' rather than 'mental', that you look through your eyes rather than ''at them'' (or rather the 'visual cortex') from somewhere else inside your mind.  With this idea of your consciousness saturating your experience, your perceptual 'sphere' can effectively become a crystal ball and the events and people you encounter within that crystal ball can be read as omens and portents.

Normally I use this concept as the basis for my pathwalking which occurs in the 'physical world' rather than in astral meditation.  I call the symbol(s) ''down'' and then walk a 'real path' in the 'physical world' and read the symbols off the path.  Perhaps I am looking to explore the path of Gimel (the rich man who runs to the poor and correctly attributed to Jupiter) I will open a 'gate' in the shape of the letter, step through it and then walk the path that opens.  Two things then happen - one, my consciousness applies a kind of Gimel filter over my experiences of that path so that events, people, symbols on the path that pertain to Gimel stand out for my contemplation and two, people or events are 'summoned' to the path and my interaction with them allows me to practice using the letter, in the case of Gimel this may appear as ways in which I can use my wealth and power charitably and philanthropically (random giving of charity achieves little to nothing, charity is a skill and must be learned to be used strategically - this was a lesson of the Gimel path).

Instead of the more focused approach of pathwalking one can effectively use the same basic idea to open up the 'perceptual sphere' to any symbols in the same way that one would read tarot cards, one reads the symbols that occur in the perceptual as they randomly walk a path.

There are all kinds of natural symbols that one can experience from the mythical black cat crossing your path, to some genuine dispersing ravens as opposed to those seen in meditation/visualisation and any occultist worth his salt has a large library of symbolism to interpret messages from the anima mundi.  Since physiognomy is my own area of relative expertise I want to focus on the interpretation of the people one encounters, in the act of divination, in the percpetual sphere.

As stated earlier in this blog the people you meet in your life have two aspects to them, one that they are an individual experiencing the world from the centre of their own 'sphere of sensation' and two that they are a messenger present in your sphere.  You could look at it like this - an Arien is a spirt of Aries, a Martial spirit by default but also composed of various spiritual forces as assigned to that person in their horoscope - if they showed up randomly in a 'reading' drawn from the natural world, one could interpret them like one would interpret 'The Emperor'.  Or for instance, if one suddenly encounters a Taurean along the path, then this individual could be 'read' in the same way one would read the Heirophant card.  Many advanced astrologers can tell simply by looking at a person the underlying mixture of their horoscopes.

My own system of physiognomy is based on a rather advanced understanding of endocrinology but is very similar to the alchemical system of humours.  Looking at an individual I can tell from the quality and type of their skin, the way fat is distributed around the body, their bone structure, etc what the 'dominant' hormonal genetic influences are or the genetic 'pathways' that are particularly pronounced.  This reading effectively turns that individual into a symbol/representative of one (or two) of the physiognomical characters I have outlined earlier on this blog and as such is read in much the same way as a ''card would be read'''.  At a deeper level one can then ''commune with these spirits'' and interpret what they say at the sod (kabbalistic ''secrecy'') level as opposed to the literal meaning of what they say.

http://hermeticlessons.blogspot.cz/2013/06/strategic-drama-v-masks-and-metabolism.html

http://hermeticlessons.blogspot.cz/2013/06/strategic-drama-v-masks-and-metabolism.html

Friday, June 7, 2013

Metabolism VII - Masks and Metabolism II


This post will endeavour to explain how the physiognomic characters operate as a 'chemical message' inside your cell* and how your own physiognomy causes you to operate similarly inside the cells* of other individuals.  So for example lets say you are 'visited in your cell'* by a Mime character (typically presenting the mask of the Lover).


THE MIME - CORTISOL

This Mime figure is effectively acting like the hormone cortisol.  A typical Mime will be busy multi-tasking and handling stress because this is the environment/tasks they are naturally designed for.  If you are 'visited' by one then you are probably in a high stress environment for whatever reason - maybe because you operate in an environment of high stress occupied by Mimes or maybe they have brought that environment to you.  Because of the behaviour of the Mime (busy running around handling all kinds of tasks) they will probably induct in you a 'stress response' (they will stress you out)and your own cortisol levels will rise and thus you will begin to take on the qualities of the Mime (ultimately your 'mask' will be distorted if this continues).  A lot of the stress response caused by the Mime is ultimately sourced in love and caring - they are not purposefully stressing you out but doing it because they care about you/the environment.

Thinking about this from a cellular consciousness approach then - this individual mime is in your spheres of perception/reach and as such this is exactly how a chemical messenger will operate in the cytosol and edge of the nucleus.  Once inside the 'cell' the 'message' will cause its change.  This is happening continuously in your environment in the sense that you are most likely encountering all kinds of chemical messengers/people in the day to day pursuance of your life.



THE JAY - ADRENALINE

Lets take another example.  Imagine for a moment you are visisted in your cell* by a Jay.  The Jay is the physiognomic character associated with adrenaline.  As previously discussed they tend to be lithe and have bird-like faces (again note the owl form of this as well as more obvious beaky forms) - they don't like to be forgotten, so can have an obsessional creepy edge to them, and they have difficulty controlling their tempers - in fact with this description it is obvious that many people interpret this type of person to be threatening.  Following me here then, you will see that since a Jay has a threat-like quality to their transactions in your cell they will induct an adrenaline response in you - you will feel threatened and therefore consciously or unconsciously edgey, nervous, defensive etc.  A lot of atheletes, etc have a Jay-like quality to them and if you are in this environment there is probably going to be a lot of competitiveness - again something which stimulates adrenaline and may not necessarily be something you need to avoid.

Stoicism is the key quality of control necessary to handling the messages from the blood-time.  It may be that your environment has become *too* stressful therefore steps must be taken to cut off the flow of cortisol (remember that the blood-time contains elements both 'good' and 'evil' or advantageous and disadvantageous), similarly perhaps your environment has become too threatened and one must cut off the flow of adrenaline messages.  The cell* has machinery** to deal with presences in the cell which are problematic to healthy metabolism - itis up to you to use them.

*Your psychic cell which consists of Feelix and his spheres of reach, perception and thought.
**The organelles of the psychic cell are actually structures that operate in thought and knowledge, some may actually be visisble to the 'naked eye' others are invisible.  More on this later.

QABALISTIC EXTENSION

  • Imitative magic and Godforms can be used to somewhat experience the viewpoints and hormonal moods of physiognomic characters other than your own.
  • Sympathetic magic can be used to draw certain 'messages' from the blood-time, i.e. one can 'summon a mime'.  This will be dealt with in much detail later on.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Metabolism VII - Masks and Metabolism

'The Aspirant is led to look backwards.  First he must acknowledge his debt to evolution through which has been perfected the instrument wherein his mind works and gathers material.  Then, through meditation, he is led to see himself as not only self-conscious - as one who recieves impressions - one who criticises and watches - one whose will is interefered with - one who is misunderstood - one to whom others are personae or masks - but standing outside himself he now becomes one who endeavours to sense how his mask appears to others - sees himself as part of the consciousness of others, as one who impresses, one who is criticised and watched, one who interferes with the will of others, one who misunderstands.' Israel Regardie, the Complete Golden Dawn

The cellular consciousness described in the Metabolism of Time descrives the second sphere, the sphere of perception as relating to the cytosol of the biological cell.  The cytosol, mainly fluid*, contains within it various structures (the organelles) and also various components entering the cell from the blood - chemical messengers/hormones, oxygen, sugar, proteins (+ other forms of nutrition) along with potential hazardous microbes.  Remember that Feelix (your awareness of your own physical body which is experienced as being towards the centre back of the perceptual cell) is related to the chromosomes in the nucleus.



Our percieved experiences of the moment overlap, therefore the 'cells' membranes overlap as well - but only in a perceptual way.  An individual who enters my sphere of perception is an object in my 'cell' as I am an object in theirs.  Individuals then can be considered as chemical messengers/nutrients/threats which enter the cell. 

  • Individuals encountered could conceivably be considered nutrition in the form of providing social nutrition (positive/negative) as previously outlined during the metabolism posts, particularly the sections on masks.
  • They could also be a 'hormone' giving you a chemical message from their position in your cytosol (percieved experience of the moment) - we can expect that particular 'hormone' to be the one associated with their physiognomic character. 
  • They could also be percieved as a threat i.e. the individual is actually acting like a virus** or intracellular bacteria.  Similarly you are something like this in the cell of the person you are interacting with - either providing a message, social nutrition or acting as a threat.

You not only recieve *information* from the 'blood' you also *are* information in the blood.  Typically that information, if you are mentally and physically healthy, corresponds to your physiognomic character.  i.e. a Prisoner (or pancreas) character represents the info corresponding to the hormones of digestion and energy release (insulin and glucagon) how this plays out socially has been described both in the physiognomic character scetions and the masks.  This is the way in which you discover one aspect of your true nature - not only as a fragment of celestial consciousness experiencing time, but also as a *word* in the blood of the universe.  You recieve but you also transmit.



Advanced technical application involves memorising/classifying the physiognomic characters yourself and observing the changes caused by healthy and unhealthy metabolism of social nutrition.

'He will reflect on words, and the power of words.  He will catch himself weaving them - twisting their meaning - decieving himself and others with them. He will catch himself under obsession to them - he will see how they fix and make possible the recall of events and emotions, and with this knowledge he will become aware of how his words effect other people.  As he begins to realise the tremendous miracle of words, he will begin to grasp why the Order reiterates the importance of silence.  The true magician must understand his tools, and in periods of silence, he must contemplate words as one of them.'

Israel Regardie, The Complete Golden Dawn.


*Meditate on the substrate of thought which constitutes one's perception of one's environment as having a fluidic nature (more on this later in the advanced qabalistic practice I am building towards but the cytosol is very much the 'Mem' section of the system).
**Think back to the section on how masks are altered by the effects of attention from other people, and how the fluctuation in the mask is linked to the metabolism of time's double spiral structure.  Viruses reprogram DNA to act in different ways.  Similarly certain individuals attempt to reprogram others, often pathologically.  Intracellular bacteria such as yersinia pestis (plague) also effect the normal functioning by interfering with the metabolism of the cell.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Theatrical Ritual

'The "Third Method is the Dramatic," perhaps the most attractive of all; certainly it is so to the artist's temperament, for it appeals to his imagination through his aesthetic sense...


...In the third, identity is attained by sympathy. It is very difficult for the ordinary man to lose himself completely in the subject of a play or of a novel; but for those who can do so, this method is unquestionably the best.'


Ch.1, Magick in Theory and Practice, Aleister Crowley


Thursday, April 25, 2013

Metabolism VII - The Alchemist

You are the control centre at the middle of your own reality but the only real way you can tap into the controls is through the use of your Mind. Felix the Perfect Helix and his three spheres is an effective map of this personal reality and by fixing this map in your mind it is possible to open up the information contained inside the 'nucleus' as well as unlock the gates to the various different magickal, mental or psychic powers that are contained within the 'cell'. These different powers come with lessons.



We posit since ultimately all functions of the body, such as the production of various hormones and pheromones, the control of blinking etceteras, are ultimately under control of the Mind, it is possible to tap into these forces at will and via will. It is your Mind after all!  Climb your spine and clasp it!




These powers/controls are locked away from your normal consciousness (ego) into the realms of your 'subconscious' because most people are not responsible enough to consciously look after things such as digestion and sweating, and if we were to consciously manage such processes it wouldn’t leave that consciousness much time or concentration to do anything else. It is best that way, for if the functions of your body are being controlled by your subconscious then it leaves your consciousness able to concentrate on other things, such as the accumulation of the Flux (attention, food, etc) necessary to keep it going, and keeping your guard against outside threat.




The practical upshot of this condition is this, if one can take control of one’s own consciousness in totality, at least temporarily, it is possible to switch on certain functions and actually use them to your own benefit.   Bear in mind that the body is a massive storehouse of potions, chemicals, electricity, power - even biological weapons - and you are the owner of this incredibly flexible Alchemist.*

*Control* must be taken before it is possible to undertake any of the techniques of Strategic Drama that we are about to discuss. You will achieve no real success in this field except through stoicism in the social world, and meditation in the inner world. Since the secret of success is being able to imagine the moment, desire and motive result in the formation of poor shadows, not exact mirrors because desire and 'motive' are in essence a form of time-travelling. You must mirror the moment and in order to do so your mind must be clear.  You must focus yet let go.  Do not push - but pull.  Think with the back and bottom of your brain not the front. Imagine a fluid floating around inside your head. Tip your head back and feel it slosh to the back and bottom. Now think.




Once control has been taken however one of the simplest routes to accessing the Alchemist of your body is with the power of your imagination, as the magi and alchemists of old were prone to use. If the correct mind-state can be achieved you can simply will a person towards you and they will correspondingly make the move. The sphere of perception acts as a kind of 'interface' between the will and the body.  This maybe works because the Alchemist generates the pheromones of attraction for you, in the same way you can generate those for anger. Moods collect in the air around people, most of us can sense the chemical mist. If one person comes back from work in a bad mood, all those around them are plunged into a bad mood, unless the forces of 'good mood' can prevail. Or maybe your Alchemist changes the bioelectromagnetic field of your body in order to attract the person; maybe it is some form of ''energy'' or even spiritual etheric link - all is Mind after all and these are words to label the fluctuations within the One thing.

If memory or ambition blinds us however our senses can be dulled and eventually masked. Memory and ambition bring us out of tune with the moment and propel us into the past or the future.  By judging the character of the moment incorrectly one can inadvertently generate the wrong kind of chemical effect.  It is certainly possible to make mistakes here.



The word is the most basic form of transmitting a mood or feeling other than simple gesture. By saying something harsh you can make someone feel bad to his or her stomach, his or her body producing all the chemicals they need to make them feel really miserable and in agony, like their arm has been torn off.   You can make people physically sick with your words and actions - either by causing stress to the point where the cortisol surge shuts down the immune system or sending people into paroxysms of self-doubt and mental agony.  You can say all these destructive things and not even really mean them.  You can say something with nowhere near the intensity that it is interpreted with.  You can also say and do the opposite - and heal merely with words and kindness.  A happy person is less likely to get ill and more likely to fight illness.

How much do we believe in words and how much more in action? This is why all good actors, and we do not mean stage actors, can stimulate the same effects as words with merely a look in their face. They may be so good they are not even conscious they are doing it anymore, but every single look they give seems to mean so much. Saying that you’re angry or in love in well-chosen words is one thing, looking like you mean it is something entirely different. The word or action in order to produce feeling in a different person is a direct influence of mind on matter. A thought conveyed into a word or action stimulates the chemical senses of another person in order and changes their thoughts, the position of their body and even the concentration of hormones in their blood.

However - it is actually surprisingly difficult to simply ‘will’ a person towards you and have them come, to ‘will’ them to do something and have them do it - and by will I mean that these effects are achieved without speech or action but simply by thought. The first difficulty comes in attaining the right mind-state and control of that mind, then focusing what one wants to happen on the environment is very difficult to do without losing yourself in 'desire of result'. This is why for countless generations we have used ‘focuses’ to transmit our will on to the world, ancient magicians used wands and staves for example. The wand, or rather, the knowledge of that wand tied them into reality, grounded them into the moment, if you like, so they could channel their ‘will’ into it.  The 'real' caduceus wand though is your spine and your brain stem.

Here is where it will get weird.  The person in front of you that you are willing to do something, or trying to heal, etc is not so much objectively real (although we assume they are) as they are an ''apparition'' or even 'spirit' in your Mind - and this is one of the secrets of Magick. The Astral Plane that is referred to does not only mean that sea of images that one enters in deep meditation but also the world which one interacts with when fully conscious. The people in the world around you are the ‘spirits’ of the ‘astral plane’ and one can summon them and bind them as magicians of old did.  The mistake remember is thinking that one looks through their eyes rather than at their eyes.  You *never* directly experience this 'physical world' you presume exists.

By pulling a certain face you generate a certain emotion, maybe humour, despair, anger (as discussed earlier). Making people laugh is more about your movement and personality than it is the sharpness of your wit. Some people laugh at their own jokes and suddenly other people laugh with them, don’t they? They mirror the moment they wish to unveil.  Of course people can see that you’re doing it, which means of course you are clearly responsible for that piece of Strategic Drama and the consequences of pulling that face will be felt.

The *trick* is to pull that face in your mind, if you wish to intimidate someone, imagine a tall, powerful version of yourself towering over them, or shout and bellow at them *in your mind*, if you wish to seduce  imagine you are telling them how beautiful they are, etceteras. You must do this while continuing to interact with the environment in a completely normal way.  You will find that thought is the more powerful of the three.




Feelix in his perceptual sphere is a reflection of the structure of the Alchemist in that it is a structure of the cell in its representation of the nucleus in the cytoplasm.  This reflection is very similar to the physiological diagram of the homunculus, a diagram where the human brain is turned into parts of the body, revealing huge hands and feet because of all the brain space devoted to these functions. This is the true secret of the Mask; most people are limited to their knowledge of words, some of actions and gesture and words/actions are limited to the physical, lingual, social, psychological and economic limits of the Conflux however. The power of your thought and your dreams - if you can control them - are not bounded by these rules however.

With some knowledge of physiology, anatomy, genetics and biochemistry you may understand that certain places in the body are responsible for the production of certain chemicals and hormones, substances which if used correctly can greatly enhance physical power, sexuality, concentration, etceteras. Oriental mystics from Japan, China, India, focus on points on the spinal column, the seven chakras and imagine them glowing in their mind. If one is correctly prepared with meditation, this can lead to some interesting physical responses in one’s own body (if one concentrates on the chakra above the head, a pleasant feeling of being lifted up may result, the heart, euphoria, and focusing along all the chakras, can lead to a feeling of rotation, one may even begin to swirl around on the spot, like you were mapping the helix with the movements of your spine). Obviously the sex organs can generate pheromones and attract the opposite sex if they are concentrated on, the adrenals can be stimulated for adrenaline or emotional control. If one thinks about love, the feeling comes from the solar plexus, if one thinks about sex the feeling comes from the genatalia and in between them, for some reason, in the adrenal medulla, is the power of lust. The chakras of other people may be touched in this way imagine the third eye/pineal gland of someone else to be glowing and they may turn to look at you. We all know instinctively that someone is looking at us, don’t we, how does that work? What may happen, although beginning in the mind, concentrating on the back of a brain, our look is translated into chemical messengers, electrical fields, whatever, that are released from our body and sensed by the other person’s Alchemist. Since every chemical medium is a proton/electron network formed into the shape of a molecule, what is essentially happening, when anything happens regardless of will or no, is a mind tapping into the Flux. 

Or in fact only the Flux is happening.



*All matter is essentially a condensed form of Mind.


Wednesday, April 10, 2013

The Tree of Life - Alternate Names for Kether



You cannot conceive the many without the one.
Plato, Dialogues, Parmenides



Within most texts explaining the mysteries of the QBL you will see oblique and opaque references to something called 'God' as if we all know what this means. The etymological beginnings the word God or a God in its true meaning refers to spirit or a spirit – not necessarily a wise, omnipotent, all knowing all loving being. However the QBL provides us with many words to “know” this God more completely and avoid the often poorly understood common usage of the word: En Sof, the Limitless; El, the Mighty; and Adonai, Lord, amongst many many more*. God in its general use is often seen to be an ineffability an unknowable force beyond human, beyond sense, beyond reason and as such, beyond discussion. We may come to the something called “God”, this “spirit” with many names through an understanding of its works, its creation – and in the QBL these works are undertaken through and with the Sefirot.

From reading the Sefer Yetzirah this essay recognizes the ten Sefirot as not only the tools and processes of creation but also as a map of the absolute directions of existence – spatial, temporal and observational. The ten Sefirot are the ten directions of the five polarities of the hypercontinuum of the universe – up-down, east-west, north-south, beginning-end and good-evil. This essay on the alternate names for Kether will avoid spurious references to God and instead use the rich literature of QBL to describe Spirit and its mode of operation within manifestation, the Sefirot – we will use and provide explanations of the meaning for God names, alternative names used in core texts, the Sefirot as universal directions of existence, and the letters as the pathways we take within it to provide the most precise meanings we can.

In the Sefer Yetzirah, the Sefirot are described as depths and the letters as infinite so although our essay will attempt to provide a comprehensive but concise account of the metaphysics behind the system, it must not be taken as fact or as all that is known and the student who would follow his own path should use texts like these only as guidelines for his own journey into the mysteries.



Crown/Keter – A crown sits on the head of a king as a sign of his majesty and influence; to crown a work is to perfect it. A king without a crown is bereft of recognition in his kingdom; a crown alone is ring of rare metal and precious stones enclosing nothing. In the Early Kabbalah (i.e. Bahir), the Sefirot were all called Keter (Keterim) – that is, per the Sefer Yetzirah, ten crowns of nothingness.



Existence/Ahyeh – Keter is known by the God-name of Ahyeh or existence. We have in Keter then the simplest concept of being or doing – existing. Taken in its fullest context we have the idea of Keter as all existence, and therefore the universe – creation itself as the crown of “the King of creation”.




Nothingness/Ayin – When we look into the universe we see immense reaches of nothingness, untold billions of leagues of empty space, distances so vast that even light itself takes epoch-smashing amounts of time to cross – so much so that when we look into space we look back into time at the light from the stars that has journeyed millions of years to reach and show us what once was. Since space and time are so intimately linked it is not only space that is mostly empty, but time itself as well.



Absence/He’der – Within this boundless ocean of emptiness we do observe little islands of form and matter but further observations, penetrating into the nature of matter itself, reveal tiny particles of opposing and neutralizing charge orbiting each other, from their perspective, at yet more vast distances of empty space. Indeed, were one atom a football pitch, the nucleus would be a ball on the kick off spot, and the opposing electrons would be peas circling around the lines of the edge of the pitch itself! Nearly all of the field is empty! Our islands of matter within the empty cosmos have been shown to be hollow and empty themselves, spheres of absence punctuated by the tiniest flickering sparks that oppose and neutralize.



Obliteration/Hefsed – Atoms are composed of protons, neutrons and electrons. The charges on protons and electrons are opposed and cancel out within the stable atom or molecule, but the mass of a single atom concentrated within the nucleus, the tiny football in the gulf of atomic absence, is composed of titanic energies which when released can destroy whole cities and worlds. When one is heading with love towards the highest of the worlds the Kabbalists counsel one to withdraw in fear and trembling for fear of being obliterated; the core of the Earth is a super dense sphere of molten uranium which no man-made vehicle could penetrate without being ripped asunder.



Darkness/Hoshekh – In Lurianic Kabbalah, Keter is said to be the light of En Sof (a limitless expanse) concentrated to a single point within a hollow sphere. Concentrating atoms into an ever increasing density leads to a monstrous magnification of the forces of gravitation, and ultimately to the phenomena known as a black hole. Built in the imploding core of a supermassive star which gives light by crushing matter, black holes are so powerful they bend both space and time and even swallow light. At the very core of our galaxy, the primum mobile itself, there may well be clusters of giant black holes, their rotation and their swirling gravitational pull dragging the stars into their familiar spiral arrangement. Black holes themselves look white because we can only see them by the light they suck in – light itself travels along grooves in space-time caused by the gravitational maelstrom caused by the interaction of all celestial bodies.



Unity/Achad – Keter is one, the unit, the basis of mathematical reasoning which is the crown of the intellect. Keter is the everything that did not come from something, and will always be what it is forever; it fails to know even nothing as its father for as we have seen, the stuff of it is nothingness, and it operates within nothingness – the nothingness is the one. This everything certainly contains some things but these things by virtue of there being from the one thing that is everything are united in that one thing. It is impossible for us to take our existence outside of the existence we are within and look at it, but if we could we would surely see only the tiniest spark and this is all. From within this existence that is our existence, we simply see it streaming off in all directions; spatial, temporal and observational.


Thought/Machashavah – The oneness of Keter that serves maths, serves the mind as well for 1 is not so different from I. Keter is said, by Isaac the Blind, to be “thought” – it is the idea of one, i.e. Me, that the self depends on – as Adam Kadmon, the essential self awareness which is the true identity of man and the fifth and highest world, the tip of the Yod; as Arikh Anpin, the partzuf of Keter, the “Long Suffering One” who experiences all the countless identities within the one thing, and suffers as we suffer.




Alef, Yod and Qoph – These letters by virtue of their numerical oneness (1, 10, 100) take from and lend to the idea of Keter. Alef, the silent inbreath before speech, the airiness that blows leaves, the ox that symbolizes work about to be done. Yod, the closed hand, a sign of concealment, or as a fist, force about to be unleashed – with the fingers closed the five dimensions are clasped tight. Qoph the back of the head, that which we cannot see, and that part we rest upon when we close our eyes to the darkness of the self that cannot be known, when we close our eyes on the great concealment.



Keter is the sefira that symbolizes both everything and nothing. It is everything that it is existence, the cosmic crown of universal perfection, the unity that binds all form to the singular master and the building block of both mathematics and identity. But it is also nothingness, the emptiness that gives the form of things their structure and power, the darkness of our acknowledged ignorance that separates the tiny sparks of matter and knowledge that are scattered within the limitless cosmos.



*Enlil --> Ellil --> Eli --> El --> Al --> Allah

Monday, March 25, 2013

Metabolism VII - Control and Stoicism

"A sage once came to one of the meditators and asked that he be accepted into their society. 

The other replied 'My son, blessed are you to God.  Your intentions are Good.  But tell me, have you attained stoicism or not?. 

The sage said 'Master explain your words.'

The meditator said 'If one man is praising you and another is insulting you, are the two equal in your eyes or not?'

He replied 'No my master, I have pleasure from those who praise me and pain from those who degrade me. But I do not take revenge or bear a grudge.'

The other said 'Go in peace my son.  You have not attained stoicism  You have not reached a level where your soul does not feel the honour of one who praises you, nor the degradation of one who insults you.  You are not prepared for your thoughts to be bound on high that you should come and meditate.  Go and increase the humbleness of your heart and learn to treat everything equally until you have become stoic.  Only then will you be able to meditate.'"  Isaac of Acco

The maintainence of poise then is not just a factor of internal self-control, learned from the restraints and the observances it is also a matter of maintaining that poise in a social environment where your activities are constantly being judged and responded to with negative and positive attention.

Many people, including respected magi in the blogosphere have made the mistake that maintaining stoicism equates to a repression of feeling and suggested that if you have no link to external desires and the satisfaction of them then there is no point in existing.  On the contrary stoicism results in the identification of the will, and with discipline the magnification of it.  Desire pulls one in various different directions throughout the day, by being stoic one increases ones sovereignity in the world. 

Why would you want to be exposed to the careless off-hand comments of random individuals some of who may be hurting from their own problems and projecting their internal poison on to the outside world?  Stoicism does not mean you become armoured it actually means you identify the source of all of your emotional experience.  One lesson I teach in theatre is how to get angry technically.  Some actors believe that they need to think of some memory or experience they have had in their life and then link that to their performance.  I teach them to close their fist, curl their lips, tense their body and breathe shallow and fast.  Suddenly everyone in the class is furious.  I then tell them that if you can make yourself angry that easily, then you can make also make yourself happy as easily.  If I respond to criticism or praise it is my choice.  The emotional body is not repressed.  It is held.  This is poise and it is the manner of a King.

As one withdraws ever more into the mysteries of the self, it is true that you realise that the objects of the outside world are as shadows, but this is simply the first step.  When one has left the cave, and experienced the Sun, i.e. pure consciousness and will, then when one returns to the cave those once-husks now glow with the colour of the Mind, not with the shadow of the physical.  Manifestation is not drained of meaning by the pursuit of Stoicism, it is vivified by it.




"Real sharpness comes without effort. No growth without assistance. No action without reaction. No desire without restraint. Now give yourself up and find yourself again. There is a lesson for you. You need practice. I can teach you to fight with the Green Destiny, but first you must learn to hold it in stillness." Li, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Metabolism VII - Skill and Attention


The people of this world require social nutrition in the form of attention - they require praise for work done well and criticism for work done badly.  As outlined in Conflux - Masks certain types of behaviour are manifested by different physiognomic characters in order to complete their metabolism.  A Lover will seek out physical attention by lightly touching people, an Immortal will seek out attention by restating the group/team position and/or goals, an Angel by engaging in intense conversation about love or death, etc.  The responses to their behaviour are both negative/positive and these responses have an effect on the Mask to distort it (to consider this in the simplest possible way think about how saying something nice to someone makes them smile and saying something mean makes them frown) - with extensive bursts of one type of attention producing corresponding extensive distortions.  Attention which reaches the levels of abuse (both positive and negative) is that which results in distortion of the mask (and corresponding behaviour) to one suited to a different physiognomic character.  The natural state is in equilibrium where the character will seek positive or negative attention and when they recieve it either seek out the opposite for a while or simply withdraw from the need for social nutrition while they 'digest' and return to their natural state.



In terms of moral obligation here an individual is part of this system of social nutrition and should give and take both positive and negative according to their own needs whilst staying true to their underlying physiognomic character.  There are times when it becomes necessary to either stave off a Master Player (an individual who is aware of this system and uses it to manipulate people to their own baleful will) or to use it in the form of healing an individual who has had their mask distorted for one reason or another.

A working knowledge of the underlying theory is necessary for advanced applications - one should feel that they have comfortably identified the different archetypal characters which reveal the the nature of the physiognomic character they are attempting to work with so that they have knowledge of the type of behaviour which is naturally suited to this individual.



As detailed in the various sections positive and negative attention have the stated effects on individuals when they recieve it but there are ways to magnify the impact of attention by building individual bursts of attention into attention structures.  For instance say one encounters someone who is deeply sad for a reason, who has had their mask distorted negatively and who needs to be built back up in order to restore the equilibrium.  One can provide a continuous stream of positive comments (compliments, praise, heartfelt and uplifting advice, etc) but this will have a rapidly reducing effect over time.  Imagine now that you have just achieved something really good and everyone is giving you compliments, but then there is one person who criticizes - oh how we hang on to that negative comment amongst the positive!  The negative here is magnified by its position amongst the positive, gaining in strength by the contrast.  One can use this principle of contrast and magnification and build a structure.  If someone really needs a boost a more effective way, although seemingly strange on the surface, is to provide a small string of positives, one negative and then one strong positive at the end - the negative providing the contrast provides a springboard for the last positive.  One can reverse this principle, applying a stream of negatives, one positive and one strong negative at the end - if someone needs bringing down (which obviously happens as often as people need bringing up).  These are two really simple attention structures that allow one to magnify the effects of attention increasing the yield of said attention over time.



A Master Player is essentially a fevered ego, a mask that has been distorted into a kind of parasitic state where it will feed on attention to maintain its warped state - either reinforcing its negative distortion by seeking out hatred and criticism, or its positive distortion by seeking out compliments.  Typically on some level the Master Player is aware of the system I have outlined above, they know what they are doing to get what they want, they know what works and what doesn't work and so typically they will be aware of someone attempting to use those same principles to clear the fevered ego and will fight against it and/or retreat.  In this situation, depending on how advanced the skill of the Master Player is or how severe their distortion one must use a third principle amongst the negative and the positive and this is called the neutral (pause or silence).  Attention has the characteristics of a drug and one can become hooked on it - in general or for from an individual (see Masks for more clear examples of distorted behaviour in this sense) - with the correct use of the pause or silence one can use the force of the dependency itself to bring the problem to the surface.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Metabolism VII - Control


BASIC DIAGRAM OF ANIMAL CELL

You are the control centre in the middle of your own reality, as the DNA in its nucleus is the control centre in the middle of the cell.  This does not mean you have total power over the cell as it is constantly recieving information, and nutrition from the blood, along with potential threats.  This flow (time) contains challenges that must be met.

You can alter the mood and atmosphere of your percieved environment, the cytoplasm of the cell, by your gestures, your facial expressions, your words, and even your thoughts, in a similar way to the way DNA unwinds to release information which is then transformed into proteins.

REACH
PERCEPTION
THOUGHT

Direct physical action relates to the sphere of 'reach', communication or speech (proteins) to the sphere of perception, and thought to the sphere of consciousness.

As cells are joined by the interstitial fluids and the blood, so your actions, words and thoughts can influence other cells of consciousness.  This blood, or prana, can be considered astral.

Finite Players play within boundaries, infinite players play with boundaries - Finite and Infinite Games, James P. Carse.

CELL MEMBRANE

 The modes of action offered by the structure of consciousness will now be referred to as Strategic Drama, and although there are many strategies we will generally be talking about protection and healing.

The first step in accessing the power contained in cellular consciousness is Control.  Control is ultimately control over the physical body (which is likened to the DNA at the command centre of the cell) - and control in these areas lead to a development of Will.  Control is necessary in order to avoid distortion of the natural mask of the physiognomic character from the various ups and downs presented as a challenge every waking day on Earth.  Control does not mean repression by any means.  It is developed by 'stopping' certain behaviours to begin with (for you must know what the part of you is that can 'stop' behaviour) - it leads through observing particular behaviours (making oneself do something) and ultimately leads to 'poise.' 

Poise is a medium-tension state where individual action is based on reasonable responses to incoming stimuli.  When lost, poise should be the first thing that is recovered - without poise you are not exercising will.  Medium tension feels like the body is being held but not constricted, held and not abandoned.  In disciplining the 'physical body'*, one is effectively beginning in the disciplining of the mind.

The disconcerting side-effect of taking control is a feeling of disembodiment - that nothing matters anymore.  This is because by engaging in 'stopping' yourself you are withdrawing the mind from the illusion of materiality.  Thinking about it qabalistically if you imagine that the power of control in you is the microcosmic version of the divine will then if one withdraws completely one is only left with only will and no willed phenomena - therefore there is nothing to matter.  Through control one can entirely drain the manifest of meaning but in so doing one finds the source of meaning - your own mind.  Once control is taken then one can invest meaning or love, if you like, in that which they want to as opposed to being compelled to invest it randomly by the whims of chaos or other, perhaps baleful, wills.





*The experience of the physical body is a structure in consciousness at the centre of the cell.  This experience is a mental construct as much as the perception of the environment is.