The Highs and the Lows

Through our years of work, we can't move always in a straight line up into higher states. It is not possible, nor is it even truly desirable. All processes in the Universe move according to the Law of Octaves, and our Work is no different. Sooner or later we will hit an interval, things will slow down, our mood will grow darker and our energy may seem depleted.
At these points in time, we have to allow our new conscious habits to kick in. It is through these habits that we will find our way through the interval and emerge back into the flowing, endless cycle of the Work. If we are caught in a dark interval without the aid of our habits, we could be trapped in that state for years or even for the rest of our lifetime.
These conscious habits can't be developed during the interval! If they haven't been set in place before then, it's too late. The habits must be developed, practiced and refined during the high states, the spaces where everything seems available and possible (and it is.)
At the highest peak, be aware of the dark valleys coming up in the horizon and prepare.
At the lowest valley, remember the habits, abide by them (no matter how difficult it may seem) and keep your eyes on the higher peak that already can be seen in the horizon.

Light

There is no life but light.
Light passing through filters.
Light taking shape.
Light growing brighter, light growing dimmer.

Light and it’s absence create form.
This is the male and female principle.

Experiment: Reading in Spirals

Select a a short passage from a book randomly.
Read the passage three times out loud.
The first time you read it read as you would ordinarily.
The second time read it slower. Put all of your attention on it and understand what you are reading as you are reading it.
The third time read the passage extremely slowly. Take your time with each word. Feel the sound and shape of each tiny letter, each word and each phrase, as if they were musical utterances. Imagine that the true content of the passage only exists in the silence between each word.
Record your observations.

Experiment: Grand Cycles 1 - 3 vrs 4

Draw three circles on the ground, this is easy to do at the beach by drawing in the sand, but there are ways to do it in other settings. You could use string.
Place four stones evenly distributed along the outer ring, place three along the inner ring, two around the innermost ring, and one in the center.
One person stands on the outer ring and the second on the inner. They will face each other to start with.
One stone from the outer ring must line up with one from the inner ring, this is your starting point.
Set a metronome to keep pace. Establish contact then start the metronome. The person on the outer ring moves counter clockwise and the person on the inner ring moves clockwise.
The person on the outer ring will keep track of their pace. After six beats at the starting point the pace keeper will say next and both parties proceed to the next stone in their path.
They remain there for six beats then the pace keeper calls out next and they move on. Eventually their orbits will bring them into alignment again. Each time they are in alignment, the contact must be clearly reestablished.
Try making this rotation at least three times before calling a stop.

Waiting By The River

There are times when we find ourselves surrounded by human robots. Even individuals we thought of as being willful and in control may suddenly become toasters on a rampage. We ourselves may find that we want to respond to toaster aggression with the same.
These are the moments when staying extra composed counts the most. Just when you are convinced that there is no point in doing spiritual work, when you feel that communicating with your inner being (alien) is a load of tripe, that’s when you must work your hardest to stay at the right end of the leash. Walk your dog (or toaster). Don’t let it walk you.
I want to make it clear that it does no good to get into a direct conflict with yourself, trying to dominate your toaster/dog self will only increase the struggle. Be gentle with yourself, be calm the way you would with a child you love. If a baby is crying it does no good to yell at it, it will only cry harder. The best tactic is playful distraction. "Look at the pretty butterfly!" or "Would you like a popsicle?" works better than assuming the roll of a drill sergeant.
When you’ve managed to disengage yourself from those terrible inescapable woes you can go and wait by the river which eventually will carry away the bodies of your enemies. Your foe, both internal and external, will meet the sea eventually. Instead of drowning with them, make sure to walk, sail or surf.

The Kingdom

The voyaging "I", the eternal self, lives within the apparent self.
Often the eternal is locked within the apparent like a princess in a tower. We play the part of the dragon during the natural entropic course of existence. Like a terrifying reptilian watch dog we hold our own immortal essence at bay. Through effort we play the part of the prince whose devotion to True Love frees the princess from sleeping death. When the dragon becomes a prince and unites with the princess they inherit the kingdom, usually in a far off land...

Experiment: Refracting

Nothing under the sun is new. Energy is not gained or lost, it merely changes shape.
Choose a fairy tale. Rewrite the tale, actively incorporating elements of your own history, dreams, reflections, etc. Make it at least half a page long.
It may depart drastically from the original story line. In fact it may be completely unrecognizable. Your objective is to process the essence of that old tale through your modern light processing machinery. The essence of the tale should be refracted through you as a sun beam through a kaleidoscope. Give it a new shape. Make it be new and completely transformed through the power of your attention.

Experiment: The Wind Blew From Everywhere

This experiment has three steps to be completed on three consecutive days. Record your observation of each step.

1- On the first day write three short poems revolving around the words "the wind blew from everywhere".
The order of the words needn't be maintained. The words may appear in any arrangement whatsoever. You may even play with the words themselves, rearranging the letters to form new words. Use them like a handful of blocks to build three different structures. Be unattached to the outcome, don't worry if they are good or bad poems.
The poems themselves are unimportant. Give it your attention and effort without being critical. Set a timer and take no longer than seven minutes on each poem.

2- On day two find three objects, one that complements each poem.
These objects may relate to the poems concretely or abstractly, but make an effort in the direction of the abstract. You may have something on hand, search for it outside, or find it in your recycling bin. You may even make something, as long as you have all three objects ready by the end of day two.

3- On day three you will select three areas of your home to place the poems and the objects which complement them.
They should be placed in areas where they will be respected by others. If you share a residence place them in areas where they will remain unharmed by those with whom you co-habit,
including pets.

All three mini-installations may be placed in different areas of one room if you prefer. You may leave them up longer if you wish, but keep them in their respective locations for at least three days.

Experiment: Gibberish

For this experiment you will need a partner.
Sit across from your partner and set a timer for 10 min.
Take a moment to establish contact. Let the energy flow in silence through your mutual breath and attention.
After a short period of time start a conversation in gibberish.
Do not use real words. You can use any syllable or any other kind of sound not normally used in your English or any other language that you know. Make an effort to communicate and truly somehow express "meaning" even through your rational mind has no meaningful referent for the sounds you are producing.
Maintain the being to being connection and let the vocalizations flow uninhibited for the duration of the ten minutes.
When the ten minutes are over, allow the gibberish to die out and maintain the contact a bit longer, letting the silence and the breath create a tangible space around you.

Experiment: Finding Your Marbles

Obtain 100 marbles and two jars of equal proportion.
Place all of the marbles in one jar. Label this jar "potential".
Label the second jar "actual".
Each day move one marble from the "potential" to the "actual" jar.
If you miss a day, empty the"actual" back into the "potential".
Keep track of the number of marbles you accumulate in the "actual" before you break.

Experiment: Rewind

Before falling asleep at night, lie in bed for a few moments and recount your day.
Rather than recalling the events from beginning to end, play them backwards from the end to the beginning.
This can take a little while, so get into bed twenty or thirty minutes earlier than usual.
Take note of how difficult or simple the experiment is for you. Keep a record of any instances of jumbling the order of events.
Continue this experiment for 3 days.
Journal about your overall observations.

Turning the appetite

In the drowsy lifeless state common and popular in human beings on this planet, it can be challenging to even want to become alive. Wandering around as zombies, gnawing on each other's carcasses, it is difficult to remember that anything else ever was, or ever could be possible. Why would we want anything else? Why change and throw a wrench into the great decaying carnage processing machinery of life as we know it? Of course no one is entirely immune to zombiefication, although some have stronger immunity than others. Occasionally those who work against the common clock of carnage will slip back into the first stages of the disease.

If you feel yourself slipping or if you are deep in the throngs of zombiefication and suspect it, do the opposite of what you want to do. If you feel like sleeping, get up. If you feel like watching TV, turn it off. If you feel like going out, stay in. If you feel like staying in, go out.

Other suggestions for fighting off the stupor:
Mow the lawn in your pajamas.
Eat a bowl of cereal in the car while its parked in the driveway.
Take a shower in your underwear, (socks too).
Put cookies in a soap dish, soap in a crayon box, crayons in a vase, and a flower behind your ear.
Stand on your head and sing row row row your boat backwards.

Unless of course you already do these things.
In that case:
get a job, drink coffee on the way to work, and shout obscenities at other drivers.

The key is that the appetites of zombies keep them zombies. Eating magic beans instead of death may turn the appetite. There is no guaranteeing what your magic beans will look like, but it is certain that they will not look like your usual zombie fare, and initially you will not like the taste.

Feeding Demons

Feeding demons is akin to feeding stray cats. Having coaxed you into feeding them once, they know that they will be capable of doing it again and so return. If you bend to their fancy repeatedly, they grow larger and stronger. Soon they no longer need to ask, they have grown bigger than any other aspect of self which you may have hoped to develop. They run the show. In short, beware of demons. They come to us as small hungry things, things that, seemingly, it wont hurt to indulge. They are likeable and it can be hard to pin point them as undesirable guests. In fact, in some societies their presence is welcome, and anyone wishing to navigate by another presence from within, something other than the demonic presence, will appear to be moving against the culture surrounding them. If we have embarked in some work which feeds this "something otherwise" we will find ourselves frightfully alone in a world run by demons. (But press on assured that it is a worthy work, and there are others.) We will find that the methods of feeding which are acceptable to those around us will be unacceptable to us, as unacceptable as a cat's dinner would be to a song bird. You are what you eat, and you are what you feed. Therefore be careful in deciding which appetites are worthy of your nature.

Many Shades of Space

There is really only one space that we occupy, it is our relationship to the flow of energy through ourselves and the space which gives the space shape. Lying in a catholic hospital with your finger nearly severed, blood dripping down your arm, your nervous system informing you via screaming pain that something has gone drastically wrong, you may feel despair, fear, anger, or more likely a sensation that escapes definition but is none the less extremely unpleasant. The crucifix hanging over the bed seems awful, the entire mood is sinister. Now if you have found and gained proficiency in a technique for coping with extreme pain through a mystery school, or on a Lamaze video and remember to apply it, the mood will be different. You see the crucifix objectively, your attention is being directed in a particular direction by the technique you are employing and the space takes on different qualities. It begins to seem like you'll be okay, this place is okay. Now the nurse hooks you up to an IV pumping morphine, the doc stitches you up, and Jesus looks friendly hanging up on that cross. This is a really nice place. You feel watched over and not only are things okay, maybe this is a good experience. The mood has evolved yet again. In a situation like this, the senses are heightened and the shifts can be dramatic and noticeable. It's a microcosmic example of what is happening on a much grander scale.

Experiment: Meeting the Stranger

Set your timer for five minutes.
Sit or stand in front of a mirror.
Relax your face and establish contact with yourself.
Be with yourself the way you would with a partner in Contact Tag.
Let go of any judgements and be heart to heart with the stranger in the mirror.
Gaze into your eyes and face with a soft focus, placing your subtle attention on the Being in front of you.
We are accustomed to placing ourselves under the magnifying glass of critical attention. It’s a habit, so take care not to slip into the usual inner dialogues.
The purpose of this experiment is to look at the stranger, (the stranger that appears to be "you") without trying to identify or categorize him/her.
The aim is to be fully present with this stranger.

Surviving The Radiations

Invocational work is the act of willfully opening to these radiations. It is a corrosive process. The more we allow the radiations to pass through us, the more the current will flow. It is like a crack in a dam. Little by little the pressure of the water widens the crack until it comes to a critical point at which the force of the water has gained enough access to overcome the obstacle, and it crumbles. What eventually becomes of the invocant? Clearly the apparent self will not survive as such. What aspect of self can be developed that would survive this unavoidable biological death? Something must be cultivated to prevent this line of work from being a movement backwards to the liberation of annihilation. What must be done to make invocational work come to fruition as a creative progression?

Dream Work

Obtain an inexpensive spiral bound notebook to keep a journal of your dreams. Write as much as you remember each time you awaken. If you remember nothing at all, keep a record of that as well by writing,"I choose not to remember my dreams at this time." Be sure that the entries are dated, including the year. It can become very confusing as the years pass to have three or four journals with passages dated "March 15th". It is better to assume that you will keep this practice for an extended period.

Invocation

An exchange occurs between that which is invoking and that which is being invoked.
Invoking is a mutual interaction. A pulse of sound/light upon encountering an obstacle will be trapped bouncing back and forth between it's origin and the block. With each bounce, a residue is left behind. Eventually it may gather enough "weight" to cause a movement. The pulse begins to assume the shape allotted within the dark matter. The dark matter is slowly transformed by the pulse.

Experiment: Overacting!

For one or two hours you will be playing yourself.

This experiment should be done while you are with friends and family. While you are with them, be yourself...but exaggerate yourself slightly.
Not enough for them to notice anything... (if they do notice something, just act "normal")... just enough that your distinctive qualities are put in high relief.

Imagine you are the main character in a movie. Pour yourself into the role. Play your part as you would ordinarily, but on this occasion be aware of it and amplify your tendencies. Afterwards record any perceptions you had during the experiment.

Fallen

The possibility for true creation can only be realized by the fallen.When we were one we were still, we fragmented to create the possibility of life. To move, to dance, to create new channels through wich we, as shards of light, may flow. But to do anything here, we must first recover from forgetfulness, recall our infinite nature, invoke our presence.
Our rational linear minds are not all of who we are. These minds are designed to help us navigate this terrain, but they make poor captains. Unfortunately, during the confusion we experience after the fall, we go into "auto pilot" and the poor mind tries to run the whole show, and eventually believes that it is the whole being. It is not. It is part of a highly sophisticated technology for traversing through time and space.

Experiment: Rabbit Hole Basics

Set your timer for five minutes. Pick an object and look at it. Weave a series of associations that branch out from the object.
For example I might look at a rose, the rose makes me think of my grandmother, my grandmother makes me think of quilts, quilts make me think of Quakers, Quakers make me think of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village, that makes me think of Salem Massachusetts which makes me think of the psychic wiccan I saw on TV who finds lost children,…
Say each word or phrase aloud as it comes to you. You can use the same volume you would use if you were talking to someone in the same room. In other words, not too loud, not too soft.
Watch the timer as you go. The goal is to subtly bring the associations back to the object in five minutes.
To continue the example from before:
lost children make me think of lakes, lakes make me think of boats, boats make me think of sailors, sailors make me think of prostitutes, prostitutes make me think of the color red, the color red makes me think of roses.
You don’t want to bring things full circle long before the five minutes are up, or long after. Try to bring it to a wrap 45 sec before or after the timer sounds.

Experiment: Contact Tag 1

Set a timer for five minutes.

Sit across from your partner close enough that your knees are nearly touching. Relax your face by rubbing your palms together and placing your warmed hands over your face for a moment. Gaze gently at your partner. Your eyes should be in soft focus. To help this along you may touch the fingertips from each hand together in front of your face and slowly move them into the periphery allowing your gaze to follow.

Sit there with your partner for the five minutes. Don’t smile, speak or laugh. Just be present with each other.

If one of you does break into a smile, laughter, tears, etc., acknowledge the break by saying "break". Then resume the exercise.