Silence
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@Veronica said
"I mean this with a certain amount of awe,
You guys seem to do a heck of a lot of drugs.
I am blown away every time I hear the talk, and I have been to many Dead shows, so I know the talk.....
You take these things into you, willingly lovingly, and they deliberately fU ck with your programing, intentially.It just seems like a huge lie to me, a lie that eats away the flesh, and I guess I just love flesh to much to want any part of it."
"I am the Snake that giveth Knowledge & Delight and bright glory, and stir the hearts of men with drunkenness. To worship me take wine and strange drugs whereof I will tell my prophet, & be drunk thereof! They shall not harm ye at all. It is a lie, this folly against self. The exposure of innocence is a lie. Be strong, o man! lust, enjoy all things of sense and rapture: fear not that any God shall deny thee for this. "
- AL II:22
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I know,
I know....But seriously, I see things already,
All on my own,
My little package just doses me up,
No cost, no expense.I am naturally loose and laid back,
Lucky me I suppose.I am not begrudging anyone anything.
I also strongly believe that those
Strange drugs
Are absolutely not any type of compound
Easily found. -
"The drugs were indeed revealed".
I don't think this is cypher for "only eat and drink and don't go further than what you were born into."
Just saying, listen to her.
I doubt nuit nor nature has a need for us to be "programmed", and I believe thinking anything of the sort leads to only neurotic thinking that these sorts of sacraments from Nuit herself breaks the set of.
Point made, and expressed from the kind waves of Nuit Herself through my fingertips. No joke. Wake up, if you haven't yet.
A "Thelemite" implies you follow the book of the law, and the words and ways of it's first and True prophet. It's not like he didn't know what would happen years after he breathed a certain way or ate at a certain time. See, these things were revealed to him through these drugs, and by someone in active knowledge and conversation with their Angel.
If you haven't actually merged with thy Angel and ascended upon the edge of Light and Darkness and seen other holy guardian angels, you don't know, and I mean you don't know. This is why when I see statements of social neurosis, I must respond.
The more you know.
Frankie
93
93/93 -
You can believe and do what ever you want,
For me
I have no desire nor need to consume these strange drugs
They were revealed to me,
If you want that type of flowery language.When I turned my life over,
To Her, my angel
My life changed,
I changedAnd I have never had my angel tell me to blindly follow.
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@Faus said
"Since most drugs are not strange anymore, consequently the book implicitly forbids their consumption. Interpretation can work both ways.
(Yes, I am trying to be annoying)"
That's not a bad point.
The prophet himself, who we are supposed to look toward for "comment," makes interesting points himself when he says (and I paraphrase) that once the substance has been regularly consumed, it is assimilated into the person, and then is when it is no longer strange.
Hashish is strange until you have a habit. Addiction to heroin can be avoided if you keep to an oath to only do it once. Brandy is not the same alcohol as tequila is not the same alcohol absinthe is not the same alcohol as Jagermeister is not the same alcohol as wine. But there is a clause in there about sweet wines and wines that foam (foaming wines are usually considered immature wines, and sweet wines are not sophisticated, so there's something of a metaphor involved as well).
Be sure not to become the habit or addiction, Do what thou wilt, love under will.
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It's a little obvious when the Prince-Priest and Prophet of the Lovely Star mentions these sacraments in the commentary, then tells us where else to read about them in his work.
Just saying, people avoid things they tend to be afraid of.
This is because these "things" hold untold amounts of unknown knowledge, and blind humans are prone to fear anything unknown to them. Add this to the weird, confused, schizophrenic social stigma patterns attached to natural drugs alone, (the actual ones "revealed", and by "strange", it does not specify "unknown", just "other-worldly"), amidst all the crap man has attempted to poison himself and his brother with, (the actual "programming" drugs you mention, miss Veronica,) and you've got a bunch of scared kindergarteners afraid of using the colored pencils.
"Are they too sharp?"
"They look longer than crayons."
"Teacher says they're OK, but I dunno, I ain't seen 'em around before."
"I hear of a kid like us who got hurt by one of them because he tried to stab himself with it. This is too much for me."
"Maybe you're a bunch of fvcking cowards that need to grow up and learn to use adult tools".Well done, kid number five. Well done. Not surprising coming from the number whose sacred geometry is the balanced microcosm, the pentagram.
But you know, there's the content ones just knowing what they know and being as wise as those who taught them, never more. This eventually spells unwisdom in the span of an Aeon. We must not forget the blissful and sacred Aeon of Isis that manifested before the accursed Aeon of the Dying god.
Nature spends too much time dying just to communicate with us, and I mean the human and various "humanoid" races living in our Universe(s), not mentioning how it confuses Her when Her own people aren't dying to communicate with Her. It's as if Hadit were to lose concentration for one moment away from his lady Nuit. Say he had a thought to himself about concealing himself, maybe away from his Nuit for even a fraction of any span of time. It would be the beginning of constant destruction in the universe, and is caused by a lack of communication.
We must all take a lesson from kid number five, and remember that we are all Nuit's children, and Mother Nature's children at that. Add that to the fact that we are all children of the new and rising morning beyond the Aeons of our Universe(s), and it's a damned sin to not take active communication with the plants that show and tell what you have not yet seen nor known.
They, being the spirits of the plants, and the spirits in communication with them in the Universe, need for younger children to take some of the experience from them, communion with them, and it is the only way to survive the true evolution of spiritual matter.
G'night. (Flop... toot-toot
, re- FLOP! Aahhhhhhhh...) -
@Takamba said
" The prophet himself, who we are supposed to look toward for "comment," makes interesting points himself when he says (and I paraphrase) that once the substance has been regularly consumed, it is assimilated into the person, and then is when it is no longer strange. "
Well, actually you made a very good point out of my annoying remark. Once habit is formed, there is no more change, only inertia. Good Alchemy is the enemy of inertia.
TM
There is fear of drugs, and there is the fear of not having drugs. Fight your fear, freedom is above any minor sacrament.
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Another idle thought... at root, "strange" means "foreign." So it means: Don't buy any local stuff.
@Takamba said
"sweet wines are not sophisticated"
Except when they are, of course
Say, a certain Santa Ynez region 2001 late harvest viogniere from one of our favorite wineries (Lions Peak).Mostly, though, I just wanted to tramp muddy boots through here to compliment your post, Tak. Some seriously interesting thought, that.
"Be sure not to become the habit or addiction"
Which, of course, is nearly impossible to do if you're a stranger to the stuff at the time you consume it. (Wow, that can so be generalized to how to live life in general: Follow your promptings to "take" one experience after the other that seems foreign to you.)
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"his is because these "things" hold untold amounts of unknown knowledge, and blind humans are prone to fear anything unknown to them. Add this to the weird, confused, schizophrenic social stigma patterns attached to natural drugs alone, (the actual ones "revealed", and by "strange", it does not specify "unknown", just "other-worldly"), amidst all the crap man has attempted to poison himself and his brother with, (the actual "programming" drugs you mention, miss Veronica,) and you've got a bunch of scared kindergarteners afraid of using the colored pencils. "
I didn't refer to any programing drugs.
Drugs and alcohol will Fu ck with your programming......is what I said.They can make you loose consciouness, piss your pants, and engage in behaviors that are not life affirming....that's the type of programming I am talking about....
And if you take too much, or too long you Fu ck up your livers programming of getting the poisons out of you. I have watched druggers die, and have watched some of them get old...No Mother would ever want her child to be an addict. Lessons can be learned in other gentler ways.
This thread, like so many others has deteriorated into you tooting your love of drugs and how for you that is how you experience Her, it, whatever.....
Do what you want, but don't try and tell me I am asleep, or not in Her service if I Don't take drugs,
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To All: We, allegedly, are not the only critters than enjoy a good trip.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkCS9ePWuLU
Jim,
I like the "strange" means "foreign" concept. Crowley mentions that to a point, something about Hashish being more in tune to the Arab and some other mentions of substances and particular peoples (I don't recall what). The concept of experiencing "foreign" spirituality has always appealed to me (but that's just me, I guess - ever the explorer). -
@Takamba said
"To All: We, allegedly, are not the only critters than enjoy a good trip.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkCS9ePWuLU
Jim,
I like the "strange" means "foreign" concept. Crowley mentions that to a point, something about Hashish being more in tune to the Arab and some other mentions of substances and particular peoples (I don't recall what). The concept of experiencing "foreign" spirituality has always appealed to me (but that's just me, I guess - ever the explorer)."The key to this particular passage in Liber AL is concealed in the lyrics of Robert Hunter, in the song "Truckin'," where he hints at the resolution of this mystery with the profound words: "what a long, strange, trip it's been." I spent three weeks on LSD listening to the song on repeat, and I'm fairly certain that the "Doo Dah Man" is a concealed reference to the Higher Self, whose manifestation is supposed to occur after a certain "bust" on "Bourbon Street." It would then appear that Jerry Garcia is the Second Incarnation of Christ, and through my contacts in the Sirius star system, I have firm reason to believe that he will return a third time in the form of a rare flightless bird.
He also mentions playing cards, a veiled reference to the Tarot: "Sometimes, the cards ain't worth a dime..."--obviously a clue as to the correct order and value of the Japanese alphabet. If I had more acid I could solve it once and for all, but my Spirit Guide (an astral Saint by the name of Alphonso) insisted that I feed my stash to the dog, which beast immediately began speaking in tongues. I transcribed the dog's oracles for posterity, but I believe them to be in some strange dialect. By an application of the principles of cryptography, I hope to eventually take my proper place as Flightless Bird #3, whereupon I shall lead mankind to Bourbon Street. There we shall drink the sacred whiskey sacrament (this much the dog made clear.)
I have renamed the dog "Abraham," in honor of his chosen place as prophet of the peons. Together we will end wage slavery.
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@Mephis said
"
@Takamba said
"To All: We, allegedly, are not the only critters than enjoy a good trip.www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkCS9ePWuLU
Jim,
I like the "strange" means "foreign" concept. Crowley mentions that to a point, something about Hashish being more in tune to the Arab and some other mentions of substances and particular peoples (I don't recall what). The concept of experiencing "foreign" spirituality has always appealed to me (but that's just me, I guess - ever the explorer)."The key to this particular passage in Liber AL is concealed in the lyrics of Robert Hunter, in the song "Truckin'," where he hints at the resolution of this mystery with the profound words: "what a long, strange, trip it's been." I spent three weeks on LSD listening to the song on repeat, and I'm fairly certain that the "Doo Dah Man" is a concealed reference to the Higher Self, whose manifestation is supposed to occur after a certain "bust" on "Bourbon Street." It would then appear that Jerry Garcia is the Second Incarnation of Christ, and through my contacts in the Sirius star system, I have firm reason to believe that he will return a third time in the form of a rare flightless bird.
He also mentions playing cards, a veiled reference to the Tarot: "Sometimes, the cards ain't worth a dime..."--obviously a clue as to the correct order and value of the Japanese alphabet. If I had more acid I could solve it once and for all, but my Spirit Guide (an astral Saint by the name of Alphonso) insisted that I feed my stash to the dog, which beast immediately began speaking in tongues. I transcribed the dog's oracles for posterity, but I believe them to be in some strange dialect. By an application of the principles of cryptography, I hope to eventually take my proper place as Flightless Bird #3, whereupon I shall lead mankind to Bourbon Street. There we shall drink the sacred whiskey sacrament (this much the dog made clear.)
I have renamed the dog "Abraham," in honor of his chosen place as prophet of the peons. Together we will end wage slavery."
"--obviously a clue"
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@Mephis said
"I spent three weeks on LSD listening to the song on repeat, and I'm fairly certain that the "Doo Dah Man" is a concealed reference to the Higher Self, whose manifestation is supposed to occur after a certain "bust" on "Bourbon Street.""
After three weeks on LSD listening to this song on repeat, of course you are failry certain that the Doo Dah Man is a reference to the higher self - that two missing fingers prove that 0=2 - that Nuit won't follow one who doesn't come - and that the electro-sensorial color of Cherry Garcia ice cream is the punch line of every joke.
If the shit was any good, each of these notions surely "just crossed your mind." (One week should have done the job, but why not try three.)
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@Mephis said
"
The key to this particular passage in Liber AL is concealed in the lyrics of Robert Hunter, in the song "Truckin'," where he hints at the resolution of this mystery with the profound words: "what a long, strange, trip it's been." I spent three weeks on LSD listening to the song on repeat, and I'm fairly certain that the "Doo Dah Man" is a concealed reference to the Higher Self, whose manifestation is supposed to occur after a certain "bust" on "Bourbon Street." It would then appear that Jerry Garcia is the Second Incarnation of Christ, and through my contacts in the Sirius star system, I have firm reason to believe that he will return a third time in the form of a rare flightless bird.He also mentions playing cards, a veiled reference to the Tarot: "Sometimes, the cards ain't worth a dime..."--obviously a clue as to the correct order and value of the Japanese alphabet. If I had more acid I could solve it once and for all, but my Spirit Guide (an astral Saint by the name of Alphonso) insisted that I feed my stash to the dog, which beast immediately began speaking in tongues. I transcribed the dog's oracles for posterity, but I believe them to be in some strange dialect. By an application of the principles of cryptography, I hope to eventually take my proper place as Flightless Bird #3, whereupon I shall lead mankind to Bourbon Street. There we shall drink the sacred whiskey sacrament (this much the dog made clear.)
I have renamed the dog "Abraham," in honor of his chosen place as prophet of the peons. Together we will end wage slavery."
I can tell you've been there.Brilliant
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@Jim Eshelman said
"
@Mephis said
"I spent three weeks on LSD listening to the song on repeat, and I'm fairly certain that the "Doo Dah Man" is a concealed reference to the Higher Self, whose manifestation is supposed to occur after a certain "bust" on "Bourbon Street.""After three weeks on LSD listening to this song on repeat, of course you are failry certain that the Doo Dah Man is a reference to the higher self - that two missing fingers prove that 0=2 - that Nuit won't follow one who doesn't come - and that the electro-sensorial color of Cherry Garcia ice cream is the punch line of every joke.
If the (****) was any good, each of these notions surely "just crossed your mind." (One week should have done the job, but why not try three.)
"Excellent point. Not to mention that every night/day one doses L or psilocin, one has to double their dose from the previous day, thus making day three four times the dose of day one. In other words, if you dosed five hits on day one, one would dose three hundred and twenty hits on day seven to have the same effect.
A lot of those confused or even a little intimidated by psychs take maybe half a hit, wait till way past the forty-five minute mark of any dose making one trip harder, and eating more just to extend their trip. A true waste of acid and money.
Oh, and I can put down any and all substances immediately for any length of time and have proven so dozens of times. Check one of my journals of this on this very forum.
My favourite experiences comprise a night of ten to twenty "hits" or "tabs" of real L, all at once, immediately combining with at least an eighth of mushrooms, preferably a quarter or more, all one a night of no tolerance. DMT, the simple and original tryptamine of awareness itself, is good to throw in on this, an oral dose of maybe forty to fifty milligrams taken at the same time as the other tryptamine. Terrence McKenna calls eating a little, then waiting, then eating a little more "psychedelic dottering", where one never gets past an elementary level. (Noticed I pronounced the "T" in elementary, unlike any and all morons on television.)
Any and all ideas expressed above are entirely TRUE, and of my own aware and sober discretion. I have power over anything I actually think about. I'm a big kid, and I don't fear little kids.
Hail unto Nuit, Hadit, and to the Prophet of the Lovely Star!
Frank
93
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@ThelemicMage said
"
A correction to the above statements:
DOB, a synthetic amphetamine indeed, is not "mixed" with acid, as common in hippie-speak from those who do NOT know.
LSD is rarely laced with anything. There are rare instances through the seventies and eighties of pills mixed with speed, and that was maybe one in a hundred thousand instances.
I've eaten L, in paper form, recently, through the past three years since DOB has been getting popular, and I am very aware of what goes into my body, not just physically, but psychically. Of the many, many times I've eaten L, it's never, even been cut with anything but paper or water.
DOB is sold "as" L, not used to cut it. Really though, find me a hippie cutting L with some nasty () like that, and I'll show you one that isn't around anymore. The Dead Family doesn't take that () lightly, and those who try such things are weeded out:.. One is likely to wind up, sitting comfortably on a couch amongst "friends", when a straight gram of crystalline LSD in powder is blown in their face from the hand of a good man or woman. They never come back. Check insane asylums, there's a few who have tried to muck up our work, and they don't come back.
"A correction for the above statements:
Despite your apparent depth of knowledge on the subject you missed one crucial detail. I never said that LSD is laced or mixed with DOB. Your knowledge and personal experimentation with the subject is admirable, but don't assume that I haven't studied the subject in depth. In other words, don't approach me as an inferior, or as one "unschooled," as I am what is considered a Grateful Dead "initiate" (did you check the avatar?) and have also studied chemistry in college. Don't lecture me in a condescending manner over something I never said or implied. It insults my intelligence. I get really annoyed by people who speak as though they are the ultimate authority on the subject, especially when they talk about Family matters online and in a haphazard manner. It is this sloppiness and arrogant attitude expressed by certain members of the Dead and Rainbow families that irritates me. I have moved in both circles extensively. In addition I am an archivist and student of the Grateful Dead, both from a Musical and anthropological perspective (their main archive is in Santa Cruz, near where I live) so please show a slight degree of deference by at least reading my post before you wax critical.
Furthermore, I doubt the Family would appreciate you speaking so openly of their internal doings online. I've met so many like you who flout your connection to the Family as a display of your experience and superiority. If you were an Initiate of a Magical Order would your superiors appreciate you speaking of internal affairs?
That being said, no hard feelings. Just show some respect and a little common sense.
My opinion on the subject:
In my schoolboy days I ate reams of the stuff. I found it an intriguing and beautiful molecule. However, now I find that it is often a distraction and used as a "shortcut" along the Path. I take it rarely, if ever, and I highly disapprove of its traffic and sale and the manner in which it is used. LSD activates certain areas of the brain that are most likely activated during Samadhi. In one who is unbalanced or underprepared, this is apt to lead to negative psychological manifestations. Thus there should be, I think, more control and structure surrounding its use, i.e. in organized ritual work or psychotherapy. I have watched several close friends visit the mental institution myself. More than a few remained there a long time, and some were not the same after release.
One of the major problems with the "60's" generation is the fact that these compounds were used in a haphazard and unstructured way. In the United States we lack a firm basis in established shamanic tradition. Psychedelics should be approached as a sacrament, and respected accordingly. The "benign neglect" of the hippie era
Personally, I found it to be an intriguing compound, with vast research potential, but until the prohibitive nature of our country's laws are loosened, and until pure, lab-quality material is made available for research and eventual psychiatric therapy, I generally abstain from this and all other synthetic compounds. I "eat organic" so to speak. I have also evolved past the "Dead Family," who are an excellent organization of people in their own right, but there is a certain preoccupation with psychedelics--a competitive, irreverent preoccupation--to which I was once privy, and I've moved beyond this. I've taken enough of the stuff to last a few incarnations; I'd rather work to establish a system where it can be administered in a clinical or ritual setting. The Grateful Dead provided such a setting at their shows, and Furthur seems to be holding the torch at the moment, but both of these are minor--though brilliant--accomplishments from a cultural perspective.
We should be working toward studies and clinical research, much like the recent research done on DMT in New Mexico. There was an excellent documentary done on the subject, and a book written, both called "The Spirit Molecule."
My final analysis: I rarely, if ever, take synthetic psychedelic compounds, due to impurities and sloppy chemistry and the general lack of structure in the surrounding culture. Organic psychedelics, such as ayahuasca, peyote, and the various forms of mushrooms are much more grounding, and are well suited for ritual work or psychotherapy.
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@redd fezz said
"Someone served up a weird article on what happens to people who talk too much about their alien / otherworldly experiences. Someone shuts 'em up and they develop asthma.
Check it out:
Aleister Crowley Freemason Aliens & Angels
www.savefile.com/files/3218327Actually, let me cut to the chase and save you some time (the first few pages are a waste of time):
@from the above article said
""Where do you think they come from?" I asked.
Doctor Vallee gave the Gallic form of the classic scientific Not- Speculating-Beyond-The-Data headshake.
"I can theorize, and theorize, endlessly," he said, "but is it not better to just study the data more deeply and look for clues?"
"You must have some personal hunch," I insisted.
He gave in gracefully. "They relate to space-time in ways for which we have, at present, no concepts," he said. "They cannot explain to us because we are not ready to understand."
I asked Grady McMurty if Aleister Crowley had ever said anything to him implying the extraterrestrial theory which Kenneth Grant, Outer Head of another Ordo Templi Orientis, implies in his accounts of Crowley's contacts with Higher Intelligences.
"Some of the things Aleister said to me," Grady replied carefully, "could be interpreted as hints pointing that way." He went on to quote Crowley's aphorisms about various of the standard entities contacted by Magick. The Abramelin spirits, for instance, need to be watched carefully. "They bite," Aleister explained in his best deadpan am-I-kidding-or-not? style. The Enochian "angels," on the other hand, don't always have to be summoned. "When you're ready, they come for you," Aleister said flatly.
(The Enochian entities were first contacted by Dr. John Dee in the early 17th Century. Dr. Dee, court astrologer to Queen Elizabeth and also an important mathematician, has been controversial from his own time to ours, some writers regarding him as a genius of the first rank and others as a clever lunatic. According to two interesting books, "The World Stage" and "The Rosicrucian Enlightenment," both by a most scrupulous historian, Dr. Francis Yates, Dee was almost certainly a prime mover in the "Illuminati" and "Rosicrucian Brotherhoods" of that time, which played a central role in the birth of modem science. The alleged UFOnaut from
Uranus which communicated with the two Naval Intelligence officers gave a name, AFFA, which is a word in the "angelic" language used by the entities Dee contacted. It means Nothing. George Hunt Williamson also got some words in "angelic" from his Space Brothers, remember.)"The outstanding quality of UFO contactees," Jacques Vallee said at this point, "was incoherence. I now have grave reservations about all physical details they supply," he said. "They are like people after an auto accident. All they know is that something very serious has happened to them." Only the fact that so many cases involve other witnesses, who see something in the sky before the "contactee" has his/her strange experience, justifies the assumption that what happens is more than "subjective."
"Largely," Doctor Vallee summarized, "they come out of it with a new perspective on humanity. A religious perspective, in general terms. But all the details are contradictory and confusing." He regarded green men, purple giant men, physical craft with windows in them, etc., as falling into the category psychologists call "substitute memory," always provided by the ingenious brain when the actualexperience is too shocking to be classified.
I asked how many in the room had experienced the contact of what appeared to be Higher Intelligence. Grady and Phylis McMurty put up their hands, as did two young magicians from the Los Angeles area, and myself. Jacques Vallee, curiously, looked as if he might raise his hand, but then evidently changed his mind and did not. I said I inclined to believe the Higher Intelligences were extraterrestrial, and asked what the others thought. Grady McMurty -- Caliph of the Ordo Templi Orientis -- said, in effect, that the theory of higher dimensions made more sense to him than the extraterrestrial theory in terms of actual space ships entering our biosphere.
The two Los Angeles magicians agreed.
Tom, who had been a witch for five years and hadn't raised his hand when asked for contactee testimony, said that the Higher Intelligences are imbedded in our language and numbers, as the Cabalists think, and have no other kind of existence. He added that every time he tried to explain this he saw that people thought he was going schizophrenic and he began to fear that they might be right, so he preferred not to talk about it at all. Tom-who is a computer programmer by profession, a witch only by religion later added a bit to this, saying that all that exists is information
and coding; we only imagine we have bodies and live in spacetime dimensions.Doctor Vallee listened to all this with a bland smile, and did not seem to regard any of us as mad.
(A few days later, in discussion with the former Vacaville prison psychologist, Dr. Wesley Hiler, I asked him what he really
thought of Dr. Leary's extraterrestrial contacts. Specifically, since he didn't regard Leary as crazy or hallucinating, what was happening when Leary thought he was receiving extraterrestrial communications? "Every man and woman who reaches the higher levels of spiritual and intellectual development," Dr. Hiler said calmly, "feels the presence of a Higher Intelligence. Our theories are all unproven. Socrates called it his daemon. Others call it gods or angels. Leary calls it extraterrestrial. Maybe it's just another part of our brain, a part we usually don't use. Who knows?")Since everybody in the room at this point had either had the required experience, or was willing to speculate about it and study it objectively rather than merely banishing it with the label "hallucination," I went into my rap about the parallels between Leary and Wilhelm Reich. "The attempt to destroy both Dr. Reich and Dr. Leary reached its most intense peak right after they reported their extraterrestrial contacts," I said. "I keep having very weird theories about what that means..."
Grady McMurty nodded vigorously. "That's the $64,000 question," he said emphatically. "For years I've been asking Phylis and everybody else I know: why does the gnosis always get busted? Every single time the energy is raised and large-scale group illuminations are occurring, the local branch of the Inquisition kills it dead. Why, why, why?"
Nobody had any very conclusive ideas.
"I'll tell you what I think," Grady said. "There's war in Heaven. The Higher Intelligences, whoever they are, aren't all playing on the same team. Some of them are trying to encourage our evolution to higher levels, and some of them want to keep us stuck just where we are."
According to Grady, some occult lodges are working with those nonhuman intelligences who want to accelerate human evolution, but some of the others are working with the intelligences who wish to keep us near an animal level of awareness.
This is a standard idea in occult circles and it can safely be stated, without
exaggeration, that every "school" or "lodge of adepts that exists is regarded, by some of the others, as belonging to the Black Brotherhood of the evil path. Grady's own Ordo Templi Orientis, indeed, has been accused of this more often than have most other occult lodges. I have personally maintained my good cheer and staved off paranoia, while moving among various occult groups as student or participant, by always adhering rigidly to the standard Anglo-Saxon legal maxim that every accused person must be regarded as innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. This obviously spares me a lot of worry, but the more guarded approach is very well argued by Isaac Bonewitz, the author of Real Magick."Paranoid magicians outlive the others," Isaac says.
Somehow the conversation drifted away from Grady's concept of "war in Heaven." Several times, Grady tried to steer us back there, but each time we wandered on to a different subject. Tom said later that he felt a presence in the room deliberately pushing us away from that topic...
Dr. H. -- the psychiatrist whose bad acid-trip had started the Crowleymas party off so jumpily for me -- dropped by the next day, to thank me for "talking him down" from his anxiety attack. He also, it soon appeared, wanted to tell me about his accelerating experiences with magick. It had
started over two years earlier, after an intensive seminar at Esalen. Dr. H. suddenly found that he couldsee "auras." (The aura of the human body, known to shamans and witches since time immemorial, has been repeatedly rediscovered by scientists, most of whom were thereupon denounced as "cranks." Franz Anton Mesmer called it "animal magnetism," in the 16th century. In the 19th, Baron Reichenbach called it "OD." In the 1920s, Gurvich named it "the mytogenic ray." Wilhelm Reich rediscovered it in the 1930s, called it "orgone energy," and was destroyed by AMA bigots who charged that he was hallucinating it. Kirlian photography has now demonstrated beyond all doubt that this aura exists.) Dr. H. soon found, further, that he could use the aura as a diagnostic tool in analyzing new patients. This experience, Leary's books, and a lecture by me on Crowley's magick, led him to further experiments.On a beach in Sonoma County, after taking LSD the day before and programming an opening of the self to higher beings or energies, Dr. H. (no longer under the direct influence of the drug) had an experience
with Something from the sky. "It wasn't exactly a Higher Intelligence," he said carefully, "or, at least, I didn't receive that aspect of it, if it was Higher Intelligence. To me, it was just energy. Terrible energy. My chest was sore for hours afterward. I thought it would kill me, but I was absolutely ecstatic and egoless at the peak of it. If the chest-pain weren't so intense, it would have been a totally positive experience."(MacGregor Mathers, Outer Head of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and the first occult teacher of such worthies as Aleister Crowley, poet William Butler Yeats and novelist Arthur Machen, once recorded a meeting with the Secret Chiefs. These ambiguous entities, known in several schools of occult training, are variously believed to be discarnate spirits of the great Magi of the past, living Magi who can teleport themselves about as easily as you or I telephone a friend, "angels" in the traditional sense, or merely "beings we cannot understand." In any case, Mathers noted that the meeting, although pleasant, left him feeling as if he'd been "struck by lightning" and he also suffered chest pains and extreme difficulty in breathing. Dr. Israel Regardie has also noted that Alan Bennett, who was Crowley's chief teacher for many years, developed asthma, a chest disease. Crowley developed asthma himself as his contacts with the Secret Chiefs occurred more often; and Regardie finally "caught" asthma for several years after studying with Crowley, a condition which was only cured when he went through the bioenergetic therapy of Wilhelm Reich.) [As an interesting synchronistic aside here, Brother Whitley
Strieber, the alleged Space Alien Abductee and prolific author on such topics, also suffers from quite a touch of asthma. Coincidence...? -B:.B:.]"
"Costochondritis
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I wanted to reply to the subject of Silence. I imagine that drugs were part of the experience of the OP in regards to this but I can't be sure.
Kasper wrote on page 1:
"have you heard about KNOW, DARE ,WILL ,KEEP SILENT? It depends who you're telling and why. Most of the time it is spiritual pride i.e. ego boastfulness but when you are in a genuine crisis and need help and have to discuss it then it's different."
I think if you have a mystic revelation and you talk about it to friends, family, coworkers, strangers...it is their thoughts that affect your experience.
If you perform a working and don't keep silent, it is those same people that affect the outcome. Successes or failures.
For instance, when I was younger and entering the job market I found that I absolutely could not tell my family about any interview or employers without it being a complete failure. When I realized this and I kept silent about the jobs I was interviewing for I literally had a dozen opportunities at once.
Personally, I've found by expressing my desires to people, the desires seldom manifest. -
You know all this talk of drugs is interesting, but I can't help but feel they are often used outside of the ritual context, even by aspirants and initiates. I went through a phase in college and consumed many hallucinogens, tried them all. Had some remarkable xperiences, all positive. I had apprehension of taking these substances while in high school, I suppose it was fear mongering from my parents, telling me I would get stuck. So, for whatever reason college years (18-23 years old) was it for me. While it gave me a kick back into my practices, I realized that these drugs while effective as tools on the path at times. Can also be completely meaningless if individuals take them as a way to simply get "high". Ironically, I tripped without having a "babysitter" and that made it better, albeit this isn't great advice for first timers. But then again my pursuit wasn't about any "high" but better understanding what's on the other side of that veil of awareness. It gave me a kick in the right direction, but that's about it. I think it's wise to take these spiritual experiences and to have the context ingrained that these drugs are "tools" for awareness and can be used as such by any individual who would like to start down the path. The trick is learning how to find this awareness that are caused by such substances, without using them at all. That's the trick IMHO, and using these drugs in excess in my view can create a crutch of sorts when yoga, meditation, ritual magick, should replace the simple ace of swallowing some esoteric chemical to expand awareness artificially.