SORCERER’S

GARDENby Shawn Wierck

Cultivating Awareness, Inorganic Life, and Immortality

Henry Fuseli - The Nightmare (1781)

For Sation Amok, Always An Angel

Tell All the Truth but Tell It Slant

Tell all the truth but tell it slant –

Success in Circuit lies

Too bright for our infirm Delight

The Truth’s superb surprise

As lightning to the Children eased

With explanation kind

The Truth must dazzle gradually

Or every man be blind.

1. Emily Dickinson

One is displaying no great trust in science if one cannot rely on it to

accept and deal with any occult hypothesis that may turn out to be correct.

- Sigmeund Freud

Everything possible to be believed is an image of truth.

- William Blake, Proverbs of Hell

PROLOGUE – EXIT THE CAVE

In Plato’s Cave men and women are bound with chains to face a wall. They are bound in such a way

that they can not face each other directly. Behind them lies the entrance to the cave and their only

source of light. Whilst they are awake, these persons observe only the shadow of who and what they

are. Ever present, this play of dark and light constitutes their reality, though it is only a reflection of the

greater truth. Outside the cave there is a path on which other entities of varying size and form travel.

These beings cast a diminished or sometimes grossly distorted shadow on the wall that is visible to

those persons in the cave. Unlike their own shadows, these come and go. They are visible at times in

great clarity and at others only in clumsy proportion. They are dismissed, more often than not, as unreal

fantasies of the mind’s creation. Fearing the unknown, rather than the unknowable, the persons inside

seek comfort in that which is most immediate; an impoverished circle of half-light. From time to time,

however, the bonds are broken. Seeking freedom from constraint, a person may eventually loosen the

ties that bind. Turning toward the light, the individual will glimpse a new world that is as substance to

shadow. They will experience sound where before there was only echo. The nature of the greater truth

will be self-evident. Those of a timid nature will return time and again to darkness, sheltered reason

and ignorance. The adventurous will take a moment to share with their closest companions a breath of

what they have seen and then venture forth into the brighter light of possibility.

“The whole thing is so patently infantile, so incongruous with reality, that for one whose attitude to

humanity is friendly, it is painful to think that the great majority of mortals will never be able to rise

above this view of life.”

- Sigmund Freud

WHAT SORCERY ISN’T

Sorcery isn’t sleight-of-hand. It isn’t a stage performance, playing pretend or an overactive

imagination. An introductory psychology course will tell you that forty-eight percent of the population

will experience some sort of abnormal psychology in their lifetime. Even though mental illness (at this

ratio) must be considered quite normal, sorcery is not schizophrenia, delusion of grandeur or drug

induced psychosis. It isn’t witchcraft or Wicca; with their focus on ritual, spells and incantation.

Sorcery isn’t self-hypnosis, day-dreaming or creative visualization. It isn’t a vampire or gothic cult. It

isn’t a role-playing game or a form of escapism. Sorcery isn’t a religion or a means by which you may

communicate with the One God or gods. It isn’t necromancy or death worship. It won’t make you rich,

famous, or popular. Sorcery has nothing to do with tarot, palm reading, or astrology. All of these things

are interesting in their own right. If you wish to learn more about them, however, you will need to

search elsewhere.

Hora Inmensa

Only a bell and a bird break the stillness…

It seems that the two talk with the setting sun.

Golden colored silence, the afternoon is made of

crystals.

A roving purity sways the cool trees,

and beyond all that,

a transparent river dreams that trampling over

pearls

it breaks loose

and flows into infinity.

2. Juan Ramon Jimenez

PERCEPTUAL CHOICES

We came from primates, which evolved from a small rodent-like mammal that existed first as a lizard

which crawled out of the ocean, after being a fish, descended from single cell aquatica. And, as a

handful of species do so today, it is unlikely that man was the first animal to intentionally devour plants

which induce altered states of consciousness. Even among homosapiens, we know not who was the

first shaman, the first rhythmic dancer, the first dreamer. Though these techniques have been lost,

changed, and expanded over time – they belong to an art best ‘dubbed’ sorcery. This art has been with

us since the beginning of time and change. In its broadest definition, sorcery is the ‘mastery of

awareness’. And so, life itself is sorcery, as all beings master some indefinable aspect of awareness in

order to find birth, growth, and sentience.

It is said that our gifts never fail us, but that sometimes we fail to utilize our gifts. Our fundamental

core is forgotten when, being more than just perceivers, we are caught up in the act of our perception.

So, too, with thoughts and feelings. “Alert, waking consciousness, your ordinary state, your cultural

trance, is when we all dream the same dream, more or less, and call it Reality.” (Robert Masters)

Always, though, there are evolutionary forerunners among us that do more, dare to be more. These men

are the mystics, the shamans, the saints, prophets and seers. “The most beautiful thing we can

experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.” (Albert Einstein) Having gone

forth, they return with words that ring of truth and motivation, asking us to do more, be more. These

words form a transcendental body of knowledge and can be frightening as they lead us away from the

known and toward a seemingly unfathomable mystery. In the end, it must not be our fear that drives us,

but our love for life which opens a way.

A person becomes an initiate to the art of sorcery from the moment they realize that choice affects

perception. The German term “umvelt” recognizes that species differ in their perceptual choices. A bat

and a giraffe experience very different worlds. On a perceptual spectrum they overlap, but each also

experiences things that the other simply cannot. Each species places emphasis on certain aspects of

awareness, but by bringing these into focus other things must remain outside the field of perception.

Sorcery is predicated on the belief that as perceivers, we have rashly limited ourselves and are caught

up in our perception. Though it is unlikely that we will ever gain the dogs acuity of smell, match the

bats use of sonar or the sharks ability to sense electromagnetic fields, it is the task of sorcery none-the-

less to develop the perceptual abilities that are latent in mankind. The unknown, but knowable, is

eternally present. And, by virtue of being human, there are faculties which we are uniquely positioned

to explore. The energy required for the expansion of our perception, however, may not be available to

us. So long as we uphold values propagated by the culture at large, our umvelt will continue to bind us.

In order to see beyond the shadows reflected on the wall of the cave, we must be willing to put a stop to

the world as we know it. All of the energy that is at our disposal is poured into our notion, and the

actions, of our normal waking world. Reaching into the unknown requires its own amount of energy.

Thus, in order to acquire enough energy to bring about a change in our manner of perception and

consciousness we must eradicate unnecessary habits in order to free-up and re-deploy the energy that

they consume.

Our cultural trance is very much like a ‘grade B movie’. Scenes pass by; comedy, tragedy, and drama.

Emotions, thoughts, confusions, and perceptions come and go. We sit staring like bedazzled toddlers,

not quite knowing how to make sense of the jumble that is before us. Fallible reason offers solace to

the fear that we may not have complete control over a stable and comprehensible world. We strengthen

the ties that bind by maintaining a constant internal dialogue - a private conversation telling ourselves

that the world is such-and-such or so-and-so. This narrative we blend seamlessly with our ability to

daydream, such that all of our energy is alternately employed in either constructing a comprehensible

world or escaping from it. EKG readings taken during the course of sleep demonstrate that our mind is

more active during the creation and participation in dreams than it is while we are fully awake.

Daydreams are much the same in that they engage all of our available mental energy. If we aren’t busy

giving a play-by-play of the current situation or involved in the creation of fantastical daydreams in our

own mind’s eye, then it is likely that our attention has strayed back to some recent or far flung event

that we are driven to re-examine in hopes of new found revelation. The majority of a waking day is

thus spent lost in memory, lost in an imagined future, or lost behind a screen of inconsequential self-

dialogue in a present that is already a moment past. The ability to reason with the help of internal

dialogue, the ability to create and bring forth with the mind’s eye, and to re-capitulate on past

endeavors are not, of course, without their uses. For each there is a time and place. When a riddle is at

hand, by all means, bring reason to bear. Creativity and imagination have been the driving force behind

the greatest of mankind’s achievements. And only by examining the past can we maintain a sense of

continuity, learn from our mistakes and gain a sense of purpose. Unfortunately, in this Age of Reason,

these faculties have been put on overdrive. They continue to demand our attention when no longer of

any use. If we are to reclaim the energies available to us, then we must place a yoke on these activities

when it becomes obvious that they have become an indulgence. An Eastern Zen master queries his

student with the ancient koan, “What is between two thoughts?”

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us a universe, a part limited in time and space. He

experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical

delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal

desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this

prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in

its beauty.”

3. Albert Einstein

SENSATE SORCERY

Assume that everything you do is necessary – and then watch is become otherwise. To relinquish

routine and clear the mind of conscious thought is fundamental to the mastery of awareness and the

discovery of latent perceptual faculties available to us. Only through the exercise of will can we

relinquish reason in favor of instinct. Instinct allows us to perform actions which defy reason. Just as

love may not be defined by logic, sorcery cannot always be described by science. Thus, as we delve

into the possibilities of perception, there may not always be concrete methods or techniques to follow.

Acts of sorcery take place here and now, therefore paths would often lead away from a destination

which is already close at hand.

Without reminder of some ancient reminder or plan of some future plan, it takes effort of will to center

oneself in the present state of here and now. To shut off the internal dialogue is to free the mind of self-

centered thinking. “Beyond our becoming, there is our being.” (The Upanishads) From the vantage of a

clear mind the burdens of self-importance are lessened. Energy that would otherwise be spent

portraying our self to others in a particular fashion may be conserved. A falling off of our mode of

existence in which “I” is the all important agent enables us to take our rightful place in the universe as

a mystery among mysteries. After the dissolution of ego we may find that we are caught up for the first

time in the spirit of evolution, in the evolution of our spirit.

The following maneuver won’t necessarily lead to the desired mental state, but is worth consideration

if you are having difficulty in clearing the mind of conscious thought. The task of constantly recalling

whether you are breathing in or involved in breathing out may enable you to keep your mind clear.

With exception, men will find it helpful when clearing the mind to widen the scope of their attention to

include the entire field of perception ... while women may find it helpful to focus on a particular focal

point or aspect of perception. These actions attempt to directly counter the manner in which men and

women generally dissipate their available energy, as men are known for greater serial processing

(focusing on one issue deeply) while women are more accustomed to processing ideas in a parallel

fashion. Which is to say that men usually have only one thing on their minds while women are more

likely to be mulling over two or three things simultaneously. This biological difference is somehow

related to the activity of the corpus collosum, the intermediary between the left and right hemispheres

of the brain.

AUDITORY SENSE

The fact that we have two ears and only one mouth might lead to the notion that we should talk less and

listen more. This is especially true for those attempting to practice the art of sensate sorcery. Years ago,

while working at a summer camp, I was chaperoning some teenagers having a ‘sleep together’. With

hormones raging around me, I could sense that the natives were plotting and restless. The situation

came into check after I announced, “I can hear a mouse fart and a butterfly sneeze from across the

room. Nothing is going to happen. Go to bed.” Being a very light sleeper, it was only partially a boast.

The moral of the story being that each of us may be either more or less acute with a particular sense

than those around us. What one person might consider extra-sensory perception may be quite ordinary

or perceptually available to another. For example, 20/20 vision is considered excellent, but there are a

great many persons that have 20/15 vision or better. A person may improve their hearing simply by

quieting the competing noise of self-dialogue that normally occupies us and by devoting that energy

instead to the task of delving into the depths of the available auditory input. If allowed to run on auto-

pilot, the mind filters out a broad range of sounds and attempts to muffle those sounds which are

incessant, such as the hum of an air conditioner. We unconsciously fixate on a narrow band width of

sounds within the range that is available to us. With little more than a desire to do so, we may expand

the range that is within our conscious perception. The sounds that insects like crickets and cicada make

are (in fair weather) ever present to an open ear. Give yourself a moment to locate the hum and chirp

that these critters make and you will likely be able to hear them even while indoors. Turn off the

television and the air conditioner and you may find yourself listening to the creaking of trees or the

approach of a storm. From birds to barking dogs, the outdoors are a symphony of sound. Hearing may

be turned inward as well. A person’s stomach can be heard to rumble, embarrassingly so, from across

the room. Other bodily functions may be distinguishable to the attentive listener, such as the rushing of

blood through capillaries in the inner ear. A practical task of sorcery concerns the ability to sense one’s

own heartbeat unaided. In the beginning it may be easier to cheat by laying down on your side such

that one ear is pressed against a pillow. By focussing on that ear, after a moment you should be able to

distinguish the rhythm of your own heartbeat. With a bit of practice you will find that it is relatively

easy to detect your own heartbeat in a full upright position. The next step, as with gaining conscious

awareness of the normally autonomic respiratory system, is to realize that you may affect the rhythm of

your own heartbeat. Attempt to become more relaxed while aware of the heart’s rhythm, and your heart

will begin to slow. This type of awareness is more akin to a physical sensation than to hearing. But it is

also possible to sense the ‘level at which you are hearing’. Which is say that you can gain conscious

awareness over the decibel range on which you are focused. As you begin to sense the outer limit of the

noises that are within your current perception (sometimes accompanied by a ringing in the ears) you

will uncover the ability to shift your range of perception to include noises never before heard, such as

the whisper of the wind through the sky or the vacuum pop created every time that a flea hops.

Scientists just recently discovered that elephants have been having whole conversations that we were

entirely unaware of. They emit deep bass rumbles that are just beyond are normal range of hearing, but

which other elephants can hear for miles around. I believe that there is a mostly sub-conscious parallel

in human beings. Though most of us attempt to avoid being caught in the act of actually speaking to

ourselves out loud, it is not uncommon for our near constant internal dialogue to evoke sympathetic

motion in our vocal cords and breathing. By way of example, concentrate on the subtle sympathetic

vibrations which frequently accompany our ‘internal’ vocalization of the “hmmph” sound or the

internal utterance of the word “wow”. When saying the word “wow” the breath tends to be released in

a prolonged or full manner. Say it a few times in your own mind once for each time that you exhale

until you get the flavor of it and are able to notice the manner in which each repetition affects the force

and the duration of the exhalation. Then contrast this internal dialogue with the statement “cool” or

“huh” (as with sudden comprehension) and notice how the latter leads to a shorter and more abrupt

exhalation. Even though we are only talking to ourselves, we may be setting our vocal cords aflutter

and affecting noticeably the manner in which we draw and release our breath. A person needn’t be

overweight and wheezing in order for you to hear the manner in which they draw and release their

breath. A carefully trained ear can pick up the subtle distinctions which indicate various mind sets as

well as common ‘sub-auditory’ vocalizations like single word utterances. With practice you may gain

insight as to what those around you both think and feel. This ability isn’t mind reading or telepathy, but

may give that impression and is still quite amazing. At the very least, perhaps you will learn to

distinguish the quickening of breath that comes to persons of the opposite sex which are inarguably

attracted to you.

Another interesting aspect of auditory perception is the ability to distinguish whether or not

what you are hearing is the truth or at least believed to be true by the person speaking. Though this

ability comes naturally to some, knowing that it is possible to do so may enable you to better

discriminate in the future. It’s unfortunate that we can’t carry about electrodes and administer galvanic

skin response tests. Though I seem to have lost the aptitude, I was rather blessed with an innate lie

detector throughout my teenage years. Whenever one of my friends would begin to lie about something

or even to just fabricate a story… a strange thing would happen to me. I could listen to an entire

sentence, I would know that they were speaking English, but otherwise couldn’t repeat a word that had

been uttered. I would, however, be absolutely certain that they were making something up. At this

point I would always say the same thing, “I have no idea what you just said, except that it was a bunch

of bullshit!” And I never missed the mark.

Though I think that we are far removed from matching the bats use of echolocation (unless you

count screaming “HEY” into the Grande Canyon), it has been my experience that we may improve

greatly upon our ability to listen. As bats create a mental ‘picture’ of their surroundings through sound,

we may ‘picture’ the rise and fall of the wave that comes to us as sound. If a blind man can begin to

make up for his lack of sight by gaining acuity with his other senses, then it follows that a man with

full sight can do the same.

OLFACTORY SENSE

Though it is unlikely that we will ever match the canine’s ability to smell that a person has an internal

cancer, it isn’t difficult to determine with olfaction that a person has poor dental health or

gastrointestinal difficulties. In the same vein, a person’s diet may strongly influence their personal

scent. Though for us it may be a ‘weaker sense’, smell alone has been known to break apart what may

otherwise have been a match made in heaven. A person’s diet also affects their very ability to smell,

especially diets which are high in fats and oils. When these stores are depleted (and pores are no longer

clogged) there is a return of olfactory acuity with the accompanying ability to better track down the

next nutritional resource (or the nearest fast food restaurant). Greater olfactory acuity is also useful in

the tracking and selection of a potential mate. It is commonly claimed that cats in general have a sense

that humans do not, known as the “taste-smell” sense. A male lion can often be seen snuffling in great

lungfulls of air past the jackobson’s organ at the back roof of their mouth in a behavior known as

‘flehmen’. Though we may not have a clearly differentiated jackobson’s organ with which to compete,

it is quite possible to smell with ones mouth and to taste the air. A greater range of olfaction is possible

by supplementing the input from your nose with that gained by air simultaneously passing over the

taste buds. In other words, try smelling with your mouth open and inhale through both mouth and nose.

Men cannot help but notice (and I am sure that the reverse is true as well) that women have a different

smell about them as they pass through life stages such as sexual maturity and menopause. Sub-

consciously, at least, olfaction must surely play its part in detecting the sexual readiness of a potential

partner. It is likely that sub-conscious olfaction is the mysterious force behind pheromone detection,

such that women who often share each others company will come to be almost precisely synchronous

in their monthly cycle of ovulation. With just slightly expanded olfactory perception, it is possible to

consciously detect the metallic “taste-smell” scent of the blood which accompanies that special period

of time. Heightened olfaction and early warning might prove useful at a time such as this, a time which

can be fraught with danger for a man as never before! Though we cannot compete with dogs who are

able to smell the world as well as we see it (by mentally mapping different scent trails) or ants which

are capable of recognizing ten thousand other individuals by scent alone, there is a trick or two

available to those of the trade. As a shark can pluck the scent of a single drop of blood from the ocean,

so too, can we pick a single scent from the air stirring around us. Nine-tenths of a sharks brain is

dedicated to it’s sense of smell, it is primed for encountering that single drop of blood. We may

heighten our own sense of smell by keeping in mind the scent which we are searching for. It is easier to

smell a bowl full of oranges after we have seen them and they are on our mind. Thus, vision may allow

us to ‘zoom in’ on the scent of a person or object.

PHYSICAL SENSE

Temperature, hunger, sexual gratification, discomfort and sickness are the only physical sensations that

most persons pay any attention to. A physical sensation of being centered within oneself can be of great

benefit and eventually leads to the natural adoption of a more healthful posture and diet. As a person

becomes more aware of their bodies positioning and the messages that these positions send to others,

the language of the body will also become more apparent.

As with breathing and respiratory control, it is possible to gain some degree of conscious control over

otherwise autonomic circulatory functions. After verifying that it is possible to slow or otherwise affect

the heart beat, it won’t come as a surprise that a person can intercede in the rate of blood flow. Indeed,

any act of volition which causes the movement of an extremity changes the amount of blood which is

flowing to or from that region. Arctic mystics practicing an art known as Tumo have been known to

dry wet towels wrapped around their naked persons in below freezing conditions by generating heat at

the skin’s surface through mastery over the circulatory function. An amateur feat that most persons are

capable of with little or no practice involves placing a thermometer in each hand and, by act of will,

causing one to become hotter than the other by focusing on that idea and the accompanying sensation.

Another feat of physical sorcery is the art of fire-walking. In some cases a person works him or herself

up to a state of excitement such that their palms and the souls of their feet begin to sweat, thereby

producing a protective film of moisture which separates fire from flesh. Familiarity with leverage,

along with control over respiratory functions and blood circulation are responsible for many of the feats

accomplished by a master of Tai-Chi or any other martial art. Thankfully, the intricate knowledge of

the energies at work in man necessary to the “touch of death” maneuver (popularized by Bruce Lee)

will remain beyond reach for most. A person with this skill holds life and death in their hands by their

ability to both heal and hurt a person on the point at which they are weakest. While several different

strikes are likely to kill a person on contact, it is also possible for a sorcerer to enter into a physical

altercation which is then followed by a sustained mental attack which leads to another persons gradual

death through a downward spiral of sickness and lack of recovery. Unless ones enemies are truly evil,

the karmic repercussions of this type of action must be horrific. Being actively engaged in sustaining

this type of psychic pressure may also be dangerous to the self. Some energies are necessarily devoted

to healing the hurt that you will be simultaneously causing yourself. And the battle can turn the other

way if you pick a fight with a person more energetic than yourself. At the opposite end of the spectrum,

and within most person’s reach to one degree or another, is the ability (with touch) to heal. Through

massage and physical contact combined with good will we may heal both our self and others. The

value of touch is inestimable, as demonstrated by studies in which babies which were fed and changed

but otherwise received no physical coddling simply expired by way of “failure to thrive”. By putting

the mind to rest and increasing vigilance over respiratory and circulatory functions we may guide both

our self and others to alleviate headache and stress. It is possible with increased physical awareness to

decrease the amount of time that it takes for a wound to heal. With an awareness of the bodies

processes, these processes begin to fall under the sway of conscious control. A person that is cut may

intend the faster deposition and formation of platelets that will stop-up the blood flow. By intentionally

decreasing the amount of blood flowing to the injured area, the platelets are given a chance to line up

and lock together. In the same fashion a person may intend that it takes less time for the flesh to knit

back together and reduce the incident of infection by intending the arrival of white blood cells. These

maneuvers, it must be reminded, are purely in the domain of sensate sorcery and not necessarily

supported by the state of current medical or scientific understanding. That is because these actions do

not require methodology so much as the awareness that it is possible for them to be performed and a

willingness to try.

Interestingly enough, there are other physical maneuvers which may be performed as an extension of

circulatory and physical control. Though not well known, the lips commonly become engorged with

blood (and are fuller) when a person becomes aroused or finds a morsel of food particularly delectable.

Advertising interests are quite aware of the effect this has on us (at least subliminally) and this is the

reason that women in magazine advertisements wear lipstick not only on their lips, but also a good

width around them. A person aware of this fact may be able to use it to their advantage by pouting the

lips at times and directing greater blood flow to them in hopes of eliciting a more sensual or

sympathetic response. With a bit of practice the reverse may also be accomplished, such that blood

flow may be redirected – and parts of the body which are engorged with blood may be made to quickly

become flaccid. This is an ability which could save men (who must give speeches) no small amount of

embarrassment, as well as women on a cold and nippy winters day. Also quite useful to men who

awaken in the middle of the night and hope to take aim south of the border while making water. As an

extreme example of mastery over physical control with regard to sexual function, it is worthy to note

that both men and women may be brought to experience orgasm without the need for any sort of

physical manipulation. A majority of men have experienced this first hand due to the occurrence of

‘wet dreams’. As with many other sorceric acts, this feat only requires the knowledge that it is possible

(even while awake), the intent to make it occur, and a degree of focused single-mindedness along with

strong imagination. Orgasm, erection and ejaculation may each occur independent of the other two.

Being male myself, it is comforting to know that if I found out that the world was going to end in ten

seconds, though I might not have time to raise the flag, I could still set off the fireworks!

A heightened sense of physical acuity is naturally manifest in some portion of the population. This has

led, at times, to interesting and seemingly impossible achievements. There have been several recorded

cases of persons who are able to ‘pick cards’ by weight. Though the difference in the amount of ink

used to print the King, Queen, Jack and Joker in a deck of playing cards versus the amount used to

print one of the lower cards would seem infinitesimal to most, the variance may be detected by perhaps

one person in ten thousand by weight alone. Extreme physical acuity occasionally allows an individual

to have a stronger sense of the electromagnetic field which all persons and objects radiate. Awareness

of this field enables a shark to ‘see’ a person that is hiding behind a large rock. They have pits under

their jaw which allow them to better focus on this field of perception. It would be difficult for us to

define the density and outline of an object with our eyes closed by way of its electromagnetic signature

as a shark does. Many of us do, however, have some sense of this field on a much larger (though less

noticeable) scale. The iron deposit in a birds beak which allows it to faithfully circumnavigate the

globe each year exists in our nose as well. This deposit of iron is a bit larger in men than women and

helps to give us a mostly subliminal sense of location and direction. It is rumored also to be the cause

of why men always think that they know where they are going and why they refuse to stop at a gas

station to ask for directions until long after they have become hopelessly lost!

An idea comparable to that of the electromagnetic signature is that of a vibrational tendency. All things

vibrate at a particular speed or frequency and that motion defines their very existence. Transformation

from solid to liquid and from liquid to gas (or vice versa) is caused by a shift in a things vibrational

tendency or ‘V.T.’. Trying to observe a persons V.T. isn’t like glimpsing some multi-hued and

nefarious aura. It involves an impression of their current ‘speed’, the degree to which their energy

seems centered or distracted, and the total amount of energy available to them, both mental and

physical. V.T. isn’t just heart rate, stored energy and state of mind, thought it does encompass these. It

can also be witnessed in the slight tremble of an outstretched hand that is held forward in order to gage

steadiness. It concerns the whole of a person and all the complexity of their ever-shifting

electromagnetic field. As with all things physical, this is a field over which a sorcerer may seek

influence.

The last focus of sensate sorcery will be that of sight. Since it is often considered our most

advanced sense, we will explore it in greater detail (and with greater repercussion) than those already

discussed.

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

Nocturnal animals can see better in conditions of limited light than we do. A hawk can see a

mouse from a mile up. Various animals see things beyond our range of perception, such as the kitty-

wake bird that can see the ultraviolet urine trail of the small rodents that it tracks. Prey species have a

greater width of perception, while Jackson’s chameleons may look at two different things at the same

time. Still, no other species of animal can match the combined range of color and degree of acuity that

is available to us. Among all the creatures on planet earth, we are uniquely situated to delve into the

possibilities that the faculty of sight has to offer.

As with lips that become engorged with blood when a person sees a delectable treat or becomes

aroused, a persons pupils also grow larger when seeing something of interest. The eyes are expressive

in other ways as well. If a person glances in a particular direction when speaking, that direction tends to

indicate whether what they are saying is being created or recalled; truth or fiction. In this, and in other

ways, the eyes are truly the mirrors of the soul. Though you can fool some of the people some of the

time, especially when it comes to looking someone eye-to-eye, you can’t fool all of the people all of

the time. Though eyes may tell us something about another person, our own eyes tell us more about the

world than any other sense. Vision tends to dominate the manner of our existence. ‘I see what you

mean’, expresses the idea that we tend to visualize a person’s words in order to better understand them.

We say, ‘Where do you see yourself in ten years?’, rather than, ‘Where do you hear yourself?’ And

also, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words.’

“Seeing is believing.” But, in some cases, you’ll not see it until you believe that it is even

possible. With this is mind, we will examine experiences outside the range of most person’s perception.

Though I have a degree in psychology, this definitely doesn’t mean that I am sane. And so, while I set

myself up as an expert on the subject, please feel free to doubt freely. But know this, if you pursue the

visual aspects of sensate sorcery for any length of time, you will likely be able to corroborate for

yourself the existence of the following phenomena. Having examined this account in advance may

allow you to have a conceptual framework upon which you can measure your own experiences. And

with forewarning, this information may allow you to maintain an untroubled state of mind while facing

the enigmas which will come to surround you.

Babies dream of eyes, and mouths, and ears

floating

always mothers and fathers faces

a matrix of watchers

a drifting netherworld of perception

with rumbling clouds

and creaking tree vibrations

soft

womb-like

there is innate knowledge

and instinct

we are children still

in throes of maturation

our blood is thick

our remembrance is strong

and then – gone,

oh to remember.

THE MATRIX

An open hand can be cruel or kind, not so with an open mind. There is a pattern – ever changing. In

this age it is sometimes called the matrix. It plays across every surface and in the depth of every thing.

It is always present, but not always seen. Like an evolving snowflake, it exists without linear repetition.

A particular pattern can be seen again in memory alone. The matrix of this here and now is both new

and original. Like a penetrable wall across perception, we swirl with it as if in the wake of a great

vortex. A swirling vortex that is, in fact, an emanation. This isn’t just another creation myth, but a

phenomena that you may witness with your own sorceric sight. The matrix is the command, the

rendition. All things exist within it and it stretches forever from ever. Nothing can be taken or lost from

it. Here now, it holds us immortal. As the light from a star or a volcanic eruption can be witnessed a

few days after the fact from a particular point in space and again a thousand years hence at some other

point much further out, so too, does our light shine forth for what must approach eternity. Some blind,

some bedazzled, many will never see that the matrix is our doing and our undoing. With greater or

lesser lucidity, we may dance and shift along with it, through the vortex of time and space.

When we look at a living and breathing plant we see (more often than not) the color green. Yet, green

is the color that it is not. It absorbs every color into itself except the color that is reflected back. A thing

is black because it absorbs all colors. We see, in a manner of speaking, at the speed of light. Because

light is what we see. Slow down or speed up your sense of vision and you begin to change the range

and field that is within your perception. Hallucinogenic drugs have been shown to increase the activity

of the LGN center in the human visual processing system. In other words, the brain takes in a greater

amount of visual information than is usually available to us. And so, some of the things that you see

while experiencing an altered state of consciousness due to drug use or (more preferably) meditation

aren’t just hallucinations, but items of perception of which you were previously unaware. Other options

exist with regard to increasing the activity of the LGN. Though illness and trauma or even a length of

fasting may bring about a perceptual shift, proper meditation and the use of controlled dreaming

practices are the preferred method. With sensate sorcery we can begin to broaden the range of

perception that is available to us. With greater sensitivity to the subtle energies which surround us we

can begin to pick out the thread that is continuously weaving the fabric of space-time and creating the

matrix around and before us. Like the many layers of an onion, other aspects of awareness that we were

entirely ignorant of may be brought into focus. While watching the evolution of the matrix is sure to be

pleasant in a kaleidoscopic fashion, other experiences and visual impressions may cause the neophyte

sorcerer to wonder if they are losing their marbles. Without having heard that such experiences are

possible, a great many would step back from their endeavors at this point or even consider seeking

professional psychiatric help. But psychologists and psychiatrists make sick persons well, they bring

people that are having trouble back to a state of normalcy. Sorcery, however, is in the tradition of

Creative Psychology – whose task is to lead perfectly normal and healthy individuals toward a state of

super-health and well being. Even so, some persons will be better prepared for examining the different

layers of this onion than others. For a person that is truly Roman-Catholic (for example) the following

information won’t be much of a departure from their current system of belief. You see, Roman-

Catholics believe in both angels and demons; that these dualistic entities are here on earth and affect us

on a daily basis in a multitude of ways. Sorcerers don’t get lonely.

If ever you thought that you were alone in an otherwise empty room, you were quite mistaken. A host

of entities surrounds each of us at every moment. Slow down the range of your perception and a legion

of inorganic beings, each with individual awareness, will shift to the onion’s surface. Something about

us attracts the attention of inorganic life as moths to a flame. We are candles burning at both ends,

magnificent firework explosions for beings whose consciousness spans time immeasurable as

compared to our own brief existence. Before explaining a method by which you may come to traverse

this plane of perception, it would be fitting to prepare you for what you may come across. If your

experiences are anything like your peers, it is likely that you will eventually encounter a half dozen

different types of sentient beings. During these shifts of perception you must strive to maintain an aura

of confidence and a sense of clarity, resolve and well-being. You need only view the Discovery

channel or step out into the real world in order to be reminded of the fact that the universe can be a

hostile place. Except during periods of rest, you are either the hunter or the hunted. Mankind spends a

great deal of time as top predator. With this in mind, you must be prepared to step back from facing a

spider on its own web. After all, there are places that we aren’t meant to go and sights that we aren’t

meant to see. This point aside, the vast majority of the beings that you encounter will have either no

interest in harming you or no ability to do so directly.

My sanity had to leave

when I began to believe

the one Little Voice that said,

‘I am not your own

from elsewhere I was sown

a place outside of your head.’

The first mistake

all of me it would break

and leave me confined to my bed.

Heed – do not the same

if you are to continue being sane

listen to all as one

or be twisted until dead.

-

“There are self-existent dragons and there

are worms that are changed into dragons.”

4. Yuan Kien Lei Han

“Yea, we are day and night beset with millions of devils, when we walk abroad, sit at our board, lie in

our bed, legions of devils are round about, ready to fling whole hell into our hearts.”

- Martin Luther

INORGANIC LIFE

There is, generally speaking, more danger is being unaware of the host of entities that surrounds us

than in being fully aware of their presence. Would you change your aims and your thinking patterns if

you knew without a doubt that your ancestors could see your every action and hear your every thought?

If they do not judge you, then it is because they know exactly who you are (at all times) without having

to do so. Beings that you have never known in this world have your interests at heart as well. In a

sorcerer’s world karma is instantaneous. Contemplate some hideous thought and a hideous face will

shoulder in and join the entourage that previously surrounded you. These are our ‘guardian angels’,

except that the bent of their character matches our own. We reap what we sow with every action or

obsession. If we center ourselves and attempt to live in a zen or christ-like manner, then the entities

around us will be positive and benign in nature. The entourage that surrounds us contributes to our

perception of the world, at a subtle level, as being either cheerful or macabre. Persons whom we meet

subconsciously sense the presence of the multitude around us and it affects their perception of us as

being either honest or sly, likeable or uncharismatic. A larger entourage means that more energy is

available to us and we exert a correspondingly greater influence over the thoughts and actions of others

with our presence. It becomes advisable, on more levels than one, to ‘surround yourself with happy

thoughts’. Free up the mind of selfishness and obsession. Let go of ego attachments and the belief that

you are superior to those around you because of this reason or that. Resist compulsion and seek to de-

value the items that are in your possession. “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole

world, and lose his own soul?”

Inorganic life is as diverse as organic life, with endless variety in size, shape, and temperament. There

are several types, however, which are either more abundant or easier to observe. Following is a brief

profile of the entities which are most ‘visibly’ prolific in their interactions with mankind. The name

given to each type of entity is only vaguely appropriate. If another culture of sentient entities were

attempting to label mankind they could end up calling us ‘Bi-pedal Flesh’. In our profile they might

mention that we seem to spend one third or our time engaged in seemingly purposeful activity and

another third at apparent rest. These profiles must be taken in a similar vein.

Full Ephemeral Figure - It is likely that there is at least one, if not several of these, nearby. These

entities tend to position themselves as organic beings would in the same surroundings. Our life is lived

in a flash compared with their much lengthier existence. Thus, they tend to lean casually against a wall,

stand nonchalantly or even sit on the floor rather than take a seat on furniture which will be moved

innumerable times during the length of their stay. Some of these entities attach themselves, at least for

a time, to a particular person and follow the drama of that person’s life as it unfolds. Others are

attached to a particular building or location and are apt to stay put while persons come and go around

them. As with human beings, most of these entities prefer to roam freely, staying put for a while when

something catches their fancy and then moving on when it seems that some other pasture might be

greener. The veil that hides them from our sight is one-sided. At all times they see both their world and

our own. This might be why they seem to be more patient and intelligent than the average person. They

seem alert, but in a casual and relaxed manner. There are, however, exceptions. From time to time an

agitated full ephemeral figure manages to gain someone’s attention for a moment in time, adding more

fuel to campfire ghost stories. As we may shift the range of our perception in order to see them, on

occasion one of these entities may bodily shift into our normal perceptual range. These entities needn’t

always be agitated in order to make this type of shift, but this is often the case. My first experience with

this type of entity came when I was very young. I awoke in the middle of the night and crawled out of

bed to go pee. I walked into the unlit bathroom and saw, plain as day, a gentleman wiping his hands on

the bath towel. My heart leaped into my throat. I turned on the light and he was gone. I turned the light

off – and there he was again. Three dimensional as myself, though seemingly made of mist or smoke,

he finished up with the hand towel and turned to look in my direction. I quickly turned the light back

on and left it on.

Many years later a friend and I were walking along the gravel back roads of the small town that I grew

up in. As we reached a point in the road that was parallel to the railroad tracks, the bell started to toll

and the flashing crossing arms started to lower. We both looked up simultaneously to see the full

ephemeral figure of a frightened deer running along the tracks under the bright light of a full moon. A

moment later a train came along in fast pursuit. We can only hope that the nocturnal flight of that night

has since given way to roaming with hooved friends in greener pastures.

Floating Faces - With human-like features, for the most part, these apparitions float ear-to-ear at

approximately arms length across our entire field of perception. A person is likely to have just a few

full ephemeral figures nearby, if any at all, but we are surrounded at all times by more than a dozen of

these other entities. Our state of mind seems to affect this type of entity even more strongly than the

full figure variety. Full figures occasionally move about and shift positions, but don’t often arrive at or

depart from a location. Floating faces, however, seem to pop in and out of view at the speed of thought.

While full figures take interest in our thoughts and actions, floating faces seem more attentive to our

emotional energies. The type of emotion that we radiate is dependent upon our current mental health

and emotional well being. Some of these entities bask in the presence of kindness and humility, while

others feed off of hostility and perversion. Thus, our entourage is representative of our innermost self

and the percentage of healthful versus macabre thoughts that we indulge in. Some of these entities lose

interest rather quickly, while others stay with us through times that are both pleasant and unpleasant,

cheerful and morose (though rooting for us to gravitate in one direction or the other). And so, these

entities, too, might be thought of as our guardian angels. Or, for persons of a more troubled nature, the

monkey on their back. Occasionally, someone that we know may seem very close at hand though

actually residing a great distance from us, and appear as a floating face while interacting with you.

Eyes Alone - The eyes of all that have ever been peer down at us still. Eyes of entities that were never

organic in nature look to us as well. These eyes may appear close to you and loom larger than your own

or watch on from a great distance, out by the clouds or the sun. As part of us remains alert to signs of

danger from the external world even as we sleep, so too, does a part of us remain dreaming even while

we are awake. And so, the eyes hovering around you may belong to an entity that you would otherwise

never meet or to the dreaming soul of a person that you currently know. Floating eyes at a close

proximity usually indicate direct interest or interaction at a personal level. Eyes seen at the distance of

clouds usually appear in large number and seem to comprise a veil across perception, as if lining the

wall of the vortex that we ride in. This type of entity is more likely to appear to the neophyte sorcerer

than the previous two, though full figures are the most common phenomena experienced by the average

non-sorcerer. Though these entities are ever-present, our perception of them (as well as their interest in

us) is usually short-lived and sporadic.

Distinguished Presence - A friend and I were visiting a local state park in the late evening hours when

both of us were suddenly overcome by the sensation of a dark and foreboding presence. We fled from

the location almost immediately and later discussed the entity that we had come across. The incident

registered in both of us as a dual phenomena. We both sensed a cruel masculine presence detaining a

fearful feminine presence. Some days later we mustered our courage and went back to the park, but the

presence was gone. I later learned that just a week or two prior a group of six men and women were

sitting by their campfire and drinking beer when, all at once, they looked up at each other, jumped to

their feet, hopped into their vehicles and fled from the same park. Perhaps the only thing that we had to

fear was fear itself. Only a couple of times in my life have I had the unpleasant experience of backing

down and running from a fight. Though I regret both instances, I can’t say in either case that the

adversarial relationship would have been beneficial or have led to a positive outcome if I had stuck

around. A distinguished presence, more generally, is a presence for which there is a measuring stick.

There are identifiable personality traits that make sense in an earthly context. This presence has no

physical or ephemeral form, there is nothing to see or hear. None-the-less, ideas and feelings may be

communicated directly. The presence may be entirely inorganic or it may originate from a person or

animal that has passed on or still exists among the living. When there is a great love between two

persons or they share a blood relationship – a person may feel another’s presence from a great distance

and experience the other person as being very close at hand for a short duration of time.

Physical Ephemeral - These entities are fond of habituating statuary, dolls, pictures, and the knots

present in wood paneling. Cognizant of the fact that these items draw our interest and focus our

attention, they take up residence therein. Each time that our attention is drawn to the eyes of a favorite

stuffed tiger, for example, the entity is able to bask in the glow or our attention. This is harmless to us,

for the most part, as we constantly pour energy out of our eyes as light from the sun or heat from a

flame. Related to this group, if not one-in-the-same, is the physical ephemeral entity which seems to

actually bend or arrange the physical formation that it inhabits. Rather than being just a spot on the

wall, the wall itself may seem to shift and bulge outward at times with features that may appear quite

human. I find this group of entities particularly interesting for their ability to not only bridge the gap of

perception which separates physical from ephemeral but because they can influence to a degree the

shape and nature of the material world or, at least, our perception of it.

Dark Spots – These entities are just as they sound. They are the ameobas of the ephemeral world. They

may flit around a room much as the white reflection caused by the face of a wristwatch being struck by

sunlight. Ranging in size from approximately a golf ball to a softball, they seem to glide along walls in

an unpredictable manner. Their movement, however, leaves no doubt as to a sort of sentience. They

aren’t shadow so much as a miniature void which is creating an absence of light.

DREAMING ENTITIES

All of the entities previously profiled, with the exception of ‘physical ephemeral’, may be

encountered in a dream. Due to their inherent nature, however, some types are more commonplace on

the dreaming plane than others. Full ephemeral figures, for example, are generally drawn more strongly

toward the physical material world than the world of dreams. Floating Faces, on the other hand, are

equally attracted to the emotions we emanate as individuals regardless of whether we are dreaming or

awake. It is quite common to encounter them in either realm. Due to the shift of perception that takes

place, the hazy veil and semi-conscious state that exists between dreaming and awake may be the best

vantage from which to observe them.

Our range of awareness is much more fluid in the world of dreams, and so, the number and type of

entities that we may encounter is significantly greater while we are dreaming than that which is

available to us while we are awake. The contextual information which helps us to make sense of the

physical world is no longer binding when we are asleep and adream. Differences between the following

entities and ourselves make it very unlikely that you will ever encounter them while you are awake.

Other Dreamers - Most of the persons that you encounter in your dreams will be figments of your own

imagination. They aren’t completely illusory, however, as each is a very real manifestation of a

different aspect of your innermost self. They may represent your fears, your hopes, your darkest sub-

conscious perversions or your most sagacious potential. As we sleep, it is quite common to don an

assortment of masks and become unrecognizable to ourselves. This self-involved puppet theatre gives

credence to the idea that each individual person is actually a community of selves. After this

realization, while awake you may come to experience the sensation that those around you, yourself

included, are simply ‘different faces of the same god’. Though this is a metaphysical possibility in an

organic world, the same sensation in a dream should remind you of the fact that the conversation that

you are having is with yourself. Not everything that you experience ine your dreams is entirely

fantastical. Barriers that exist while we are awake begin to crumble as we lose consciousness. Whether

dreaming or awake, we exude an electromagnetic pulse, an unending signature which reports every

aspect of our being. When the walls are down, through sleep or sorcery, the energies of two persons

may encounter one another in a manner which leaves distance nothing to measure. In our dreams we

are often drawn to persons that we have already met in the physical world. We may also encounter

persons that we have never before met while awake. It can be disheartening to know that some of the

persons that we have just met we may never meet again. Have you ever fallen in love in a dream?

Unfortunately, if you are like most persons, you wouldn’t remember it if you had. We lock away our

dreams from our conscious self, though now and again they may surface or we find a way to keep them

fresh and available to conscious recall. It happens on occasion that two persons share the same dream,

awake, and together are able to corroborate the details of that singular event. For the most part,

however, if you are skilled or lucky enough to remember a dream in which you encountered another

dreamer, it is likely that that person will forget.

Persons that have passed on don’t necessarily let that little inconvenience stop them from further

dreaming, though a slight shift in there magnetic signature will likely leave no doubt as to their now

incorporeal nature. The bonds that tie one soul to another may be strong enough to find (in dreaming)

sanctuary beyond the hazy grasp of death. Many animals, especially mammals, dream quite regularly.

Taken together, don’t be surprised if you discover yourself sharing a dream with a beloved pet which

has recently passed on.

Shape Shifters - These are entities whose apparent form isn’t actually tied to any organic (physically

related) construct. Any shape they appear to possess is illusory as their true form is simply an energetic

configuration. The form that they choose isn’t necessarily a predisposition, but rather, suits their

current purpose. While dreaming, most of us habitually envision ourselves as human-shaped. Shape

shifters may do the same, even taking the appearance of persons that we know by coming into

alignment with our expectations. They may also observe unobtrusively in the guise of an inanimate

object such as a street lamp, a book, or a clock on the wall. While entities encountered in the waking

world communicate indirectly with ideas, feelings or gestures - dream entities may also communicate

with the spoken word. Very few have anything of interest to say, as most are simply attracted to the

energy that we radiate. The legendary succubus is a shape shifter of sorts. This entity basks in the

emotionally charged aspects of interaction. They elicit our involvement by entertaining our interests in

procreation and horizontal athletics. They may fixate our attention to such a degree that upon

awakening we find ourselves unable to move for a short duration of time. Dreams involving copulation

take on a whole different flavor when the dreamer realizes that their partner may be more than

appearances would suggest. Though shape shifters are quite pervasive, more often than not the

individuals that you encounter in your dreams will be other dreamers or fantastical persons created by

your own overactive imagination. Easily distinguished from a true shape shifter, there is a somewhat

similar dreaming creature that I will temporarily dub a ‘grimalkin’. These ephemeral creatures do have

a true form which is humanoid in nature and are only partly successful in taking on the appearance of

something else for any duration without noticeable distortion.

Overt Presence - While the entity dubbed ‘distinguished presence’ (normally encountered in the

waking world) lends itself easily to personification, the typically dream related overt presence is more

difficult to describe. Its existence is so far removed from our ordinary range of perception that aside

from a very atypical dream, you will likely never encounter one at all. If one of these entities takes a

passing interest in you, it will be a ‘dream’ that you can not forget. Some dreams have such a strong

sense of realism that they are unaffected by the veil which keeps most ordinary dreams from our

conscious recall. Once, a long time female companion and I were sleeping next to each other – each

dreaming our own dreams. The sudden appearance of one of these entities awakened us both to the

same dream - a dream in which we sensed both it and each other. We both experienced a sense of its

vastness. I could tell that it’s power was greater than my own, yet I was unafraid and confident in my

ability to find calm and strength in the center of my being. My companion knew fear in the face of this

entity and that fear was magnified until she was certain that something terrible must come to pass.

Then, as suddenly as it came, it was gone, and we both awoke. “Night Terrors”, as described by a

recent textbook on child psychology, provides evidence for the impact of the overt presence. (Kalat)

Psychologists distinguish between nightmares and night terrors in the following manner; a nightmare is

an unpleasant dream, but a dream none-the-less, while a night terror creates a sudden arousal from

sleep accompanied by extreme panic. Night terror almost always occurs during sleep stage three or

four, not during REM sleep. Fairly common in young children, frequency tends to decline with age.

Children have very fluid awareness. They have not yet developed a shield to protect against the

energies that surround and bombard us. This combination may leave them vulnerable on unfamiliar

ground. As adults, we have learned to erect mental barriers and to avoid conscious recall of this

territory altogether. When we sleep without dreams, we are not far from death. It is not uncommon for

us to stop breathing for up to ten seconds while we are asleep. Then we remember not to die, not to let

go completely. At this juncture, even the dreaming body comes apart at the seams. Disintegration of the

ego and the individual self means a necessary break in memory. In this way, several times each night

we die and are reborn to self and consciousness. It isn’t difficult to imagine why a child encountering

an incorporeal, impersonal and predatory entity which hovers near to this field of perception would

come straight awake, remember little, and be quite terrified.

Climb High Hickory

As I stand on this edge of the sky

looking down into the forest below and around

conjuring images of dusk and youth

early voyages across empty gravel paths

bordered on both sides by grasping trees

tentacles of life on a breezy night

whipping and whispering of deeds and words

deaths and loves long past –

I remember running from these giant wooden entanglements

because of what I saw dangling from the branches

jumping limb to limb, the monkey men, my ancient brethren

but these wild things were unreal fantasies of my own creation

how could I know that I was running

from the freedom of acceptance to the security of bondage

until I stood naked to myself on this edge of the sky

I did not realize I was of this ancient breed

that I, too, could swing in the branches

dangle from the limbs and be one of the shadow men

I did not understand that these ancient figures

were my grandfathers come

calling my name and reaching with their leafy structures

so that they might lift me

from an overly trodden path

to new heights.

5.

AWAKEN FOLLY

Coming awake is akin to remembering the physical self. Within the first few minutes of waking from

dreams there is a dramatic shift from subconscious to conscious thought. Almost immediately we begin

to perform and lay out the script or template that we will follow for the rest of the day. Most templates

tend to include the same general categories. We make future plans; plans concerning today, tomorrow,

next month or even years from now. We recollect recent history to history long past; on Monday we

may recall what happened at our job last Friday or we may recall a particularly joyful or painful

experience from ages ago. When not involved in an imaginary future or reminiscing about the past, we

tend to keep a verbal play-by-play of the current situation or whatever ideas come to mind. We

converse and argue with our self with regard to every opinion and perception that passes our way. We

don’t awaken from a dream ready to debate and make an elaborate speech. Verbalization requires a

great deal of effort. The shift from the sub-conscious to consciousness is a result of energy allocation.

We start with a minimal awareness of our surroundings followed by simple and often repetitive

utterances. Many persons actually sing themselves awake. Not by singing a song from start to finish,

but by repeating whatever verse comes to mind until a greater degree of lucidity has been attained.

Once you realize that this is how you are managing to wake up, you may feel a bit foolish. Trying to

wakeup without these rituals, however, can be very difficult. If you are paying attention to the internal

dialogue to the degree that you begin to silence the script that you would normally follow, you may

counteract its usefulness such that you begin drifting back to sleep and dreams.

Following the same poorly written script, each day we place ourselves in similar situations. We play

through our usual feelings and reactions and are held back by the same fears and inhibitions. Without

intentional and directed effort – our emotional, mental and spiritual wellbeing remain unchanged.

Though ignorance isn’t bliss, it is comforting to remain within the parameters of the status quo. In

some persons, however, there will arise a hunger for new kinds of emotion, knowledge and purpose.

These persons will want to write a new script, adopt or improvise a different template. Wishing to

move forward, they will bear in mind that we arrive at a destination only by understanding and

factoring in our current position. Self-study is the cornerstone of future growth and development.

Therefore, allow your everyday self to indulge in its current rituals, but endeavor to observe them just

the same.

It is an art to realize that though we are actors and perceivers, we may perceive without being caught

up in our perceptions and act without being caught up in our actions. Self-study involves stepping away

from the immediacy of the self. We may step back from thoughts and emotions, almost as if the

physical body were only a puppet. For now, don’t worry about taking the strings of the puppet into

hand. The task isn’t to be the puppet-master or to cut the strings to the puppet, but to simply move

away as if part of the audience – observing the various and often comical machinations of the puppet.

In this way the observer becomes the observed.

This type of vigilance doesn’t require you to silence the internal dialogue or to behave differently than

you normally would. The only difference is that you section off a part of yourself to take mental notes

in an impartial manner. With a bit of practice, no matter the earthly drama which unfolds around or

inside of you, there can be a place in your mind that remains calm, unperturbed and watchful. Start by

assuming that everything you do is completely necessary – and you will be able to watch as it becomes

otherwise. As an observer, it is your job to recognize that each thought is absolutely significant;

defining who and how you are at this moment. Each thought is also utterly insignificant; very likely

having less effect on the world than each individual breath that you exhale. If you are able to see each

thought and action as both important and unimportant, then you have reached the vantage of which we

speak. From this vantage the burdens of self-importance are lessened, the over certainty of the ego is

yoked and we may take our rightful place in the universe as a mystery among mysteries.

Being drawn from complacency to increased wakefulness needn’t leave you sitting cross-legged in

meditative wonderment. When, “..the world, while still persisting, has lost its validity; one still has to

do one’s share in it but, as it were, without obligation, in the perspective of the nullity of all action …

decisions (you) must continue to make in the depths of spontaneity unto death – calmly deciding ever

again in favor of right action.” (Buber) Cognizant that the manner in which he or she moves through

the waking world either strengthens or loosens the ties that bind, the sorcerer strives to balance activity

and passivity, self and other. Those who practice the mastery of awareness will discover that in the

absence of self-importance the only way to deal with the external world may be in terms of ‘controlled

folly’. A short dialogue from the works of Carlos Castaneda will serve to clarify. After being asked to

explain what is meant by controlled folly, his teacher slaps his own leg and replies, “I am happy that

you finally asked me about my controlled folly after so many years, and yet it wouldn’t have mattered

to me in the least if you had never asked. Yet I have chosen to feel happy, as if I cared that you asked,

as if it would matter that I care. That is controlled folly.” (Castaneda) Seeing that no one is really going

anywhere and seeing that nothing is more important than anything else, the practitioner becomes

connected to his fellow man only through his controlled folly. “Thus a man of knowledge endeavors,

and sweats, and puffs, and if one looks at him he is just like an ordinary man, except that the folly of

his life is under control. Nothing being more important than anything else, a man of knowledge

chooses any act, and acts as if it matters to him. His controlled folly makes him say that what he does

matters and makes him act as if it did, and yet he knows that it doesn’t, so when he fulfills his acts he

retreats in peace, and whether his acts were good or bad, or worked or didn’t, is in no way part of his

concern.” (Castaneda) And from the work of Martin Buber we hear, “This is the activity of the human

being who has become whole: it has been called not-doing, for nothing particular, nothing partial is at

work in man and thus nothing of him intrudes into the world.” When you abandon the fallible construct

of reason and can give pause to the incessant internal dialogue, then you have begun to practice the

sorceric task of self-remembering: the absolute not-doing of being caught up in the drama of the

waking world.

An old story tells of a troubled king who, while at market, had several philosophers imprisoned for

arguing in the streets. Back at the castle these philosophers were chained and brought before the king.

He said to them, “You have one night to think and agree upon a think which will bring me joy when I

am feeling troubled and will cause me to remember my sorrow even though my heart may be glad. If

you fail to do so by this time tomorrow, then your lives will be forfeit.” The philosophers convened for

long hours in the dungeon below. Near morning they had instructions sent to a local metal smith whom

was well known for his skill in fashioning jewelry. When the philosophers were brought before the

king the following afternoon a courier arrived as well. One of the philosophers hailed the courier,

stepped forward and presented the king with a simple gold ring whose inscription read, “This Too Shall

Pass”.

“I choose whether or not to see I always am what I choose to be.”

-

FOLLY PAST

Each and every second of our lives we are involved in making a choice. Though we can choose to be

willing victims of circumstance, we may not choose to avoid making choices all together, because in

every moment we are reaffirming our decision to remain powerless. It is said that we are ten percent

what happens to us and ninety percent what we make of it. Our choices and reactions are what define

us. They explain who we are and determine the manner in which we tend to exist. Each moment we

decide how to occupy both our mind and our body. We pick and choose the range and depth of our

daily emotional content. For us, each moment holds the promise of both sorrow and joy.

Too often, however, we allow past habituations and occurrences to affect our perception of self. Who

we are today needn’t be the result of things which occurred in the past that were beyond our control.

We can clear our mind of regrets and stop obsessing over things which might have gone differently.

The drama which unfolded yesterday or years ago needn’t affect your current state of mind or your

sense of self-worth. When you feel that you have gained some proficiency with the task of unattached

self -observation, such that a part of you can remain separate and watchful without being harsh or

judgmental, then it may be time to regain energies that were lost due to past folly. Time to loosen the

ties that bind past baggage to the present moment.

The task is to step away from the cultural hypnosis to which we can be unwittingly engaged and toward

an intentional goal-directed self-reflection. We have the ability to remember an amazing amount of

information, even bits of experiences that have never before entered into our conscious perception or

recall. By starting with the present moment or recent past and working toward your earliest memories –

you may be surprised at how much you can remember and just how far back you can go. Though most

persons won’t be able to remember much prior to the age of four years old, some may have select

memories prior to their second year of life. When we take into consideration that a single

undifferentiated cell once contained all of the information needed to create the myriad of forms and

functions that are contained in each unique human body, it becomes easier to believe in the possibility

that each experience records itself to some degree or another on the neural matrix that continues to

reconfigure itself in the electrochemical gray pulp that we refer to as our cerebral cortex. That first

undifferentiated cell (formed when sperm contacted egg) not only contained blue prints for future

growth, but also recorded hundreds of thousands of years of evolution. Darwinian scientists support the

notion that physiogeny recapitulate phylogeny, which is to say that the fetus goes through stages in

which it has both vestigial gills and a prehensile tail because man crawled out of the ocean after being a

fish and walked bipedally on land only after climbing through the trees with four feet and a tail. If a

single cell can know both who you will be fifty years from now and who you were five hundred

thousand years ago, imagine what a whole brain full of memory cells might be capable of. In memory

we might find the exact nuance of pitch and the wave form of a voice from a conversation long past, a

blossom exhibiting a specific blended shading of color among the several thousand colors which can be

distinguished, the scent of another person – a signature which can be duplicated by memory alone, as

the same person (even) over time undergoes a subtle distinction.

Forays into the past shouldn’t be casual, but refined – or you risk losing yourself to the past. As an

example, let us consider the habit of talking to oneself. At some deeper level there is an ideation, a

realization, an observation or perception. Thoughts and perceptions stream through our minds in great

number. It has been found that women especially (with greater parallel as opposed to serial processing)

may have several thoughts going through their mind simultaneously. Not all of our thoughts and

perceptions make it from the subconscious to the conscious. Much energy is spent classifying and

filtering out excess information. When something does make it to conscious consideration, we tend to

further classify the experience by assigning basic verbiage. For example, when a person sees something

red on top of a stove they might go through the following protocol: First they will experience a

generalized apprehension or fear condition. Then, they will assign basic verbiage, “Alarm, I see red.”

We are further habituated to apply advanced syntax and to complete a grammatically correct internal

utterance. “The stove could be hot. I must be careful not to burn myself. The red lid that is lying on top

of the stove looks much the same as a hot burner.” Accompanying the thought or perception (and

requiring further energy expenditure) is the emotional charge that is present or later attached to the

utterance. We tend then to further cross-reference both the original conscious ideation and the

following utterance, as well as making necessary corrections in syntax or word choice. We then deposit

the utterance into memory along with any response which may have been made to the utterance. “I

musn’t burn myself like I did that one time…” (The conversation may branch off or continue on with

the same subject almost indefinitely.) Depending upon the degree of obsession with regard to the

person or the particular subject, persons may even find themselves repeating the same utterance

verbatim, ad infinitum. (IE: “Don’t burn yourself. Don’t burn yourself…” How many times do we

repeat to ourselves that we should or shouldn’t do a particular thing? The next step for some persons,

though I’m sure that all of us do it at some time or another, is to repeat the utterance aloud. To recap,

first there was a subconscious thought, it became conscious, we attached basic verbiage, arranged

advanced syntax, made a complete internal utterance with a corresponding emotional charge, and may

have even repeated it internally several times before saying it aloud. To this we must now add the

external auditory perception of our own voice – and the corresponding memory deposit containing

acoustical information. Thus, we manage for the majority of our waking lives to squander all of the

energy that is available to us by being lost, not to the here and now, but to the moment that has just

passed. Imagine how much further energy we might waste with a particular preoccupation – by

continually running through mind or re-experiencing some unfortunate moment or incident in our

personal history. It is worse than simply being stuck in the loop of some computer program, because

our mind is like a disk drive that is continually both reading and re-writing itself. Our preoccupation

generates an accumulation of useless and repetitive data. To past baggage we add even more baggage

by further charging the preoccupation with our current vitality and emotion. Our energies are being

poured into the past rather than reclaimed from it. From this type of activity we must achieve

separation. Recapitulation should take place from the vantage of non-judgmental and relaxed

observation. Feel and experience the memory to the fullest extent possible, then seek equanimity.

Though some memories may be unpleasant, only step away from those which you are comfortable

laying to rest. Once the negative emotional charge has been diminished, from every experience may be

drawn strength or wisdom. If it didn’t kill you, then it can make you stronger. If you are being honest

with yourself, not all of your memories will place you in a favorable light. It is our nature in being

human to behave in ways which can be considered petty, greedy, obsessive, compulsive, irrational and

self interested (along with a dozen other ill-sounding adjectives). It isn’t our task to balance the scales

of justice in an attempt to determine whether we have been naughty or nice. Just be sure not to rose-tint

your personal history through selective recollection. It is more important to sever ties that bind you to

past unpleasantries than it is to pat yourself on the back for selfless deeds.

‘Without black, no white - without night, no day…

between evil and good there is only the Grey.’

-

Begin the task of recapitulation by making yourself comfortable. Sit or lie down in a symmetrical or

semi-fetal position with eyes closed. Preferably the location will be quiet and dark. Focus on slowing

your breathing and heart rate. Seek ‘that which is between two thoughts’, clear your mind. Then gently

pursue, as if tickling along a trail with a feather. At times, in order to succeed, it will be necessary to

keep the goal in the back of your mind without actually struggling toward it. When you can’t think of a

word that you are trying to say, all of the stumbling in the world may not bring it to mind. Instead, keep

the goal ‘small as a grain of sand floating on the silken scarf’ that is your mind. Be mindful always of

which way the breeze blows, whether you are breathing in or out. Without rush or agitation, the

subconscious mind goes to work drawing you, without apparent effort, closer to your goal. Relaxing

the mind is important when stretching the mental muscle. The idea is to gain insight into the

experiences which seem to make you the person that you are today. To forgive yourself for

indiscretions and imperfections. To sever the ties that bind you to unhealthy concerns or

preoccupations. To view your life (in effect) as flashing before your eyes, such that you needn’t wait

for some near-death experience to expose your true regrets, fears, or unfulfilled fantasies. In stretching

the mental muscle and improving recall you will also be coaxing your conscious and subconscious

‘brains’ to work together. The eventual goal will be to improve dream recall, which is only a step away

from gaining access to the subconscious mind while you sleep in the sorceric act of lucid dreaming or

‘dreaming awake’.

Consider the following topics for recapitulation, choosing the ones that interest you the most.

Conversely, the ones that you would least like to explore may turn out to be most fruitful as far as

gaining insight and knowledge of self. You might delve into recollections concerning things that you

have written or read, songs that you have heard or sung, persons that you have met or conversations

that you have had, extended and immediate family, pets, lovers or enemies. Perhaps you will attempt to

recall all the times that you have experienced love or lust, jealousy, anger, sorrow or loss, contentment

or joy. Work, school, church, activities, or sports. Achievements, regrets, hopes or prayers.

Conversations that you have had with yourself. Specific images or sounds. Dreams, spiritual moments,

drug-related experiences, meditation, deja-vu, experiences involving birth or death, unexplainable

phenomena, memorable storms or holiday celebrations.

Bring back from these recollections pieces of self that were lost in the past. Reclaim all of yourself by

remembering all that you have seen and done. When you feel that you have had a degree of success in

this task, you may attempt the recollection of experiences which have never before entered the

conscious mind. These experiences are your dreams and have shaped your person as surely as the

external world. Even dreams that took place years ago, as with ordinary events, still remain stored in

memory. Evidence of this exists with recurring dreams, which many persons have experienced at some

time or another. A similar dream or dream locale may come to mind several nights in a row or on

several different occasions years apart. When attempting to recall dreams that you have had it will be

easier to start with dreams that have already made it to the conscious mind. These are dreams that were

particularly vivid or dreams which you remember because you awoke suddenly in the middle of having

them. From there you will discover that it is possible to bring to conscious recall dreams that may have

taken place years ago but which have never before come to mind. In doing so, you will be gaining

knowledge of the dreaming self.

“Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely

insane every night of our lives.”

- William Dement

DREAMING FOLLY

While relatively few persons will gain some semblance of control over the perpetual folly that takes

place in the waking world, fewer still will manage to awaken to the folly of dreams. Freedom in the

waking world is brought about by no longer being caught up in one’s own actions and perceptions.

Acting without great attachment to action and perceiving without single-minded devotion to a

particular band-width of perceptions; these are the ‘not-doings’ of being caught up in the waking

world. Freedom in the world of dreams is brought about, similarily, by not being caught up in one’s

own

imagination. Toward this end, sorcerers of antiquity developed the art of the ‘waking dream’,

‘dreaming awake’ or lucid dreaming as it is referred to today.

When you awaken to the fact that you are currently engaged in a dream, you are remembering (and

experiencing) the dreaming self, the self in you that dreams. This self is usually under complete control

of your sub-conscious mind. In a waking dream the sub-conscious and conscious mind begin to

overlap, yet you remain asleep and continue to have the rapid eye movements which characterize the

dreaming state.

One moment you are surrounded by persons and things, then you suddenly realize that all of it is but an

unwitting choice of perception – dreaming folly. It is not unusual for the excited initiate to awaken

from both sleep and dreams after coming to this realization. If it is your intent to do so you may,

however, remain asleep. The realization that you are dreaming is often one that is quite fleeting and

passes as quickly as it came. A small portion of your mind may continue to view the remainder of the

dream somewhat more objectively. Or a larger portion of yourself may rise up and cause the dream to

disperse altogether. If you do continue to remain ‘adream’ all things previously seen or heard may

disappear entirely. The dreamer then finds their self surrounded by an infinite stretch of blackness.

Says Havelock Ellis in ‘The World of Dreams’, “It is the charm of dreams that they introduce us into a

new infinity. Time and space are annihilated, gravity is suspended, and we are joyfully borne up in the

air, as it were in the arms of angels, we are brought into a deeper communion with Nature.” And

brought to a greater understanding of our own nature, I might add. After escaping from some of your

own delusions you will find that on this plane of existence the body is not physical or solid, but

luminous, ephemeral or energetic. Science has advanced to a state of viewing all matter as energy.

Atoms formed of neutrons, protons and electrons. Quirks, quarks, ‘charms’, and dark matter. Miniature

solar systems of free-floating energetic bodies in orbital mimicry of the heavens. Having awakened to

the self in you that dreams, your dreaming senses will begin to fall under conscious control. The

domain that surrounds you will be physically empty, but energetically full. As you stand awake at some

place and time in the waking world, so too, do you exist dreaming in a world of dreams and dreamers.

There are places to go where you will be alone and places where you will have to be blind in every

sense to miss the energetic manifestations which will surround you. There will be new rules to follow,

such as ‘Why walk when you can fly?’ The degree to which we fixate on the waking world is almost

absolute, such that we commonly behave in the dreaming world as we would in the waking one.

Waking to the world of dreams allows us a new freedom, the freedom to explore the vastness of an

entirely different and unique domain. In dreams we can be at both our best and our worst, doing things

that we wouldn’t have the courage or audacity to do while awake. We may awaken the Beast,

unfettered by moral dilemma or fear of reprisal. We may awaken to the evolution of our spirit, our

inner child, or to our most sagacious potential.

The Aborigines believe that before all else there was the Dream Time, a time during which all things

were created. Aborigines share their dreams with each other and excel at dream recall. In their dreams

they interact with other dreamers and entities which may be friendly or hostile. Especially significant

are dreams in which they interact and achieve communion with an animal spirit. Children are taught at

a very early age that how they behave and react in the world of dreams is as important as how they

react to and behave in the waking world. If they encounter an entity which they find frightening then

they are expected to turn toward and face their fear. In dreams we practice, recapitulate and learn. In

dreams we may experience things beyond our wildest imagination, energetic configurations outside our

waking perceptual focus. None-the-less, our reactions to these dreaming events shape the very essence

of our personality and being. You are, whether dreaming or awake, 10 percent what happens to you and

90 percent what you make of it. Welcome to dream karma. Every action that you take in the world of

dreams has as much influence and significance (if not more) on the state of your soul or overall mental

health as any action that you take in the waking world. And so, if you believe that after death you will

simply cease to exist and that there will be no continuation or reckoning, then feel free to run rampant.

Dreams will be your playground. Almost every person there will bend to your will. Your hedonism

needn’t have any bounds. You may use drugs in dreams, lie, cheat, steal, rape, pillage, plunder and kill.

Live like a king and make others bow before you while you play God.

Free will. It is our greatest asset - and liability.

The first fully lucid dream that I am able to recall occurred shortly after reading LaBerghes book titled

‘Lucid Dreaming’. Something struck me as being odd, though I don’t remember what, at which point I

remarked “This must be a dream!” On previous occasions this realization caused me to immediately

wake up, but on this occasion I was able to stay with the dream for a short duration. I knew at that

moment that anything that I saw or heard would likely be of my own creation and so I chose to see a

beautifully kaleidoscopic rainbow pattern and to hear a cascading choir of angelic song. Knowing that

for the moment I could choose to feel any way that I wanted – I made a conscious decision to feel

absolute joy. A moment or two later I woke up to the sound of my own laughter… and stayed in a

remarkably good mood for several days.

Many of the lucid dreams which followed were only partially lucid. I would realize that I was

dreaming, but the elements of the dream would remain. It was partially lucid in that I was able to

maintain some small awareness of the dreaming state and exercised some degree of conscious control

regarding my course of action in the dream. I went through a phase in which I was disgustingly self-

serving. My new-found partial control coupled with a complete lack of sensitivity brought out the

Beast in me. Having a strong sexual appetite (or nature), I spent a great deal of time forcing my will on

those around me. I grabbed. I pinched. I stripped bare and had my way with many a maiden fair. This

went on for some time until I realized that one of two things was taking place. Either the women were

of my own creation (different aspects of my own sub-conscious personality) and so I was raping

myself… or on some occasions the women were not of my own creation (but were the dreaming souls

of other entirely real persons) and so I was committing rape against another living person or entity.

Upon reflection, I didn’t find either possibility particularly appealing. And so the seed was sown for a

lucid dream conscience.

With our ordinary consciousness we can aspire to experience and master the entire gamut of human

alternatives. Everything which can be known or chosen by us as human beings is within our limited

reach. When we awaken to our dreams we may pass beyond human alternatives and delve into the

possibilities that exist for us as energetic beings. With the body as an object among objects we tackle

the known, as energetic beings we are capable of tackling the unknown in its far vaster scope. Should a

person have no urge to explore, if standing at the gate between two worlds is enough for them, then

they still will have replaced 10-15 years of utter folly (ordinary dreaming) with 10-15 years of

conscious life. Before beginning to summarize the various techniques employed by lucid dreamers it

will be useful to digress to a sorceric explanation of awareness.

THE ASSEMBLAGE POINT

The unfocused awareness that we are born with is quickly harnessed into attention; the ability to focus

on particular phenomena, particular emanations. At any one time our perceptual focus is engaged by

only a small portion of the emanations that surround us. From this portion we are able to assemble a

coherent picture of the world that lies before us. Sorcerers, seeing that attention may shift to include

other bands of awareness, call the current location of our attention ‘the point at which we have

assembled’ or our ‘assemblage point’. We are coerced from an early age to assemble on particular

bands of awareness. Our peers beckon us to fixate on the same emanations that they do, in part, by

teaching us to practice an increasingly complex internal dialogue. The habit of this dialogue serves to

hold steady our assemblage point. In this way our arbitrary species specific umvelt (our cultural trance)

is passed on and adopted. In most persons this state of being remains the status quo and the ability of

the assemblage point to shift remains in the background for the duration of our lives unless it is brought

about by deliberate training or accidental trauma. The intentional shifting of the assemblage point is of

central importance to the practice of sorcery, indeed, all sorceric practices are geared to this end.

Stopping the internal dialogue breaks the self-absorption of the ego with the waking world and frees up

the energy that we pour into our words. This practice of controlled folly conserves energy and lessons

the rigidity of a fixated assemblage point. Sorcerers, noticing that the assemblage point is naturally

displaced to various positions during the course of sleep and dreams, also employ the use of lucid

dreaming as an aide to heightened awareness.

The concentration needed to be aware that one is having a dream is distinct from that which is needed

to deal with the physical world. The ability to have conscious dream awareness is a path, among many,

reaching toward the energetic self. As a small portion of our self monitors the environment around our

body even while we sleep, so too does a portion of our self dream even while we are fully awake.

Reaching the energetic self from a state of wakefulness isn’t brought about by doing some technique so

much as the not-doing of being fixated on the waking world.

TRICKS OF THE TRADE

It may be useful is discussing the techniques used by dreamers to draw a distinction between various

overlapping and related phenomena. Hypnagogic imagery refers to the auditory and visual segments or

fragments which most usually accompany a persons initial descent from wakefulness to dreaming

sleep. They may range from simple sounds and flashes of color to metamorphysizing pictures or

lengthy verbal utterances. They are not yet dreams in that they seem to spring forth spontaneously from

the subconscious and lack the continuity of an ongoing story. We will define an ordinary dream as

being any dream in which the dreamer is responsible for creating all of the dreams elements

subconsciously and upon awakening has no conscious recall of anything that transpired. A lucid dream

is any dream in which the dreamer gains at least temporary conscious knowledge of the fact that he or

she is actively dreaming while their body is asleep. A lucid dream may be only partially lucid such that

the dreamer gains no particular control over the dream or is unable to maintain dream lucidity (with the

dream lapsing back to the ordinary). Or a dream may be more fully lucid such that consciousness of the

dreaming state is maintained for a longer period of time and a greater degree of control is exercised

over the course of the dream or the dreams elements. Apart from hypnagogic imagery, ordinary dreams

and lucid dreams - we must also differentiate ‘real dreams’. Real dreams are frequently accompanied

by an overpowering sense of realism. The dreamer has no doubt that what they are experiencing isn’t

an ordinary dream. The dreamer may or may not awaken to the fact that they are dreaming during a

‘real’ dream. These dreams are real because dreaming takes place in a world of dreams. At times you

may dream alone, but at other times the dreaming world will demand your attention. When the essence

of two entities overlaps their shared dream will be much more real than the dream created by a solitary

individual. The interaction that takes place between self and other creates a tension or energetic torsion

which may shock a dreamer from the stupor of an ordinary dream to an experience much more

profound. A –fully- lucid dream is also a ‘real’ dream in that the dreamer is no longer creating

dreaming elements, but is experiencing the actual content of the dreaming world, whether or not they

experience themselves as being alone or in the company of another individual at that time. To top off

any confusion you may have regarding these four types of dreams (hypnagogic, ordinary, lucid and

real), each of them may occur without recall upon awakening. Hypnagogic imagery and ordinary

dreams are most easily lost to the subconscious depths of the mind. Lucid dreams are ordinarily

remembered upon awakening due to the fact that the conscious and subconscious mind overlap for at

least a short time during the dream. However, when the dream ends there is no guarantee that you will

recall your dreaming lucidity. Real dreams are easier to remember than ordinary dreams, but not

necessarily easier to remember than a lucid dream (unless the real dream was accompanied by

lucidity).

In an interesting cultural case study, “The Temne, a people inhabiting Sierra Leone and the Guinea

Coast of West Africa… (in their) cosmological vision four worlds are distinguised: the visible world

inhabited by human beings, the world inhabited by the spirits, the world inhabited by the ancestors, and

the world inhabited by witches. The last three worlds are regarded as towns that surround ordinary

people (at all times) although they are invisible. Only certain people, possessing two ordinary eyes and

two invisible eyes, can penetrate the darkness of the invisible worlds.” (An excerpt from James R.

Lewis’s ‘The Dream Encyclopedia’.) Having a lucid dream is akin to opening your ‘invisible eyes’, the

eyes of your energetic self. These eyes may be encouraged to open by cultivating different types of

awareness while in the waking world. Different types of meditation may be used to supplement

controlled folly. The three types of meditation which follow will better prepare you for experiencing a

lucid dream.

BREATHE EDEN

From time to time evoke a relaxed posture in whatever position that you choose. Personally, I prefer

lying down with my eyes closed. Begin to focus all of your attention on your breathing. Each time that

you exhale imagine as fully as possible that your exhalation is making the area immediately around you

a warmer, greener, more lush and tropical place. With each breath attempt to expand this ‘sensual

jungle paradise’ outward, expanding your sphere of influence as far as possible. The only aspects of

awareness that should pierce the shroud of your imagination are natural ones such that the whispering

of the wind or the chirping of insects will add fuel to the harmonious garden that you are shaping.

Attempting to mold the world in this way will help to draw out the subconscious self which creates its

own world each night in dreams.

MIND OF MOEBIUS

Awareness is a fluid enterprise. Much like an ameba, it is able to stretch first in one direction… and

then in another direction altogether. We necessarily leave behind potential aspects of our perception

when we shift our focus to include other incoming bits of information. The Moebius meditation isn’t

about expanding that field of perception, but rather, it concerns a narrowing of that focus. The task is to

close your eyes and to clear the mind of all thoughts. It is a new experience for some to fall silent

without falling asleep. When the world is only a void or a vacuum in your mind, then it is time to

gather every bit or your awareness and perception into a singularity, a tiny point of immensely bright

light. All that you are should be fed into that floating pulsar until there is only the point of light

surrounded by the void. When you have accomplished this degree of focus then you will be ready to

exercise the fluidity of your awareness. With every ounce of your being you will attempt to trace the

path of the Moebius Strip. Your consciousness should ride the strip as if it were a roller coaster. The

Strip, unlike most 3-dimensional objects, has only two sides. It has only one edge and one face, both of

which run uninterupted along the construct. The exercise will be of greater benefit if you can

experience your whole self as moving along the surface. A lesser degree of success can be achieved by

imaging the Strip as a small construct just before your eyes with a point of light correctly tracing the

correct path. Either way, you will find that the exercise is more difficult than you might imagine it to

be. It’s easy to ‘fall off’ or lose your place on the strip without a great deal of fluid and focused

awareness.

FACING THE DOUBLE

Wherever you happen to be, imagine yourself as clearly as possible as being a short distance away

from where you actually are. If you are sitting in a chair then imagine that your dreaming self is

standing a few feet in front of you, facing your current position and looking right back at you.

Alternately, you may imagine that your energetic self is floating with legs crossed a few feet behind

you at shoulder height and is looking over your shoulder. Whatever you see or hear should take just a

moment longer to react to as the information must travel first to your ephemeral self who will then pull

the strings to activate the puppet that is your physical body. This meditation works to evoke a sort of

dual awareness that is reminiscent of a scene from the works of Carlos Castaneda in which his teacher

Don Juan explains that, “..his double is dreaming him at the same time he is dreaming his double”. In

other words, if ever your dreaming self is looking down on your physical body asleep in bed, your

physical body is also dreaming of you in return.

For most persons lucid dreaming is a veiled faculty, an ability unknowingly possessed. As it turns out

this is the case for adults even more so than it is for children. Just as infants are born able to swim and

then quickly forget how if the ability is not exercised, children are natural born lucid dreamers. In a

study by Deborah Armstrong-Hickey (from DeCastles ‘Our Dreaming Mind’) 63 percent of ten year

olds average at least one lucid dream per month, 58 percent of eleven year olds, and 36 percent of

twelve year olds…etc. It appears that the ability to both have and recall lucid dreams declines with age.

A survey by Jayne Gackenbach indicates that only 20 percent of adults average one lucid dream per

month. Only 60 percent of the adult population claims to recall having had a lucid dream at least once

in their life time (demonstrating that lucid dreams aren’t always remembered for any length of time

since 63 percent of ten year olds were having at least one per month!) For the purpose of these studies a

‘lucid dream’ was any dream in which there was even partial awareness of the dreaming state.

Gackenbach also reports that approximately 13 percent of the dreams recorded the morning after in

dream journals have lucid content. And so, if it is your goal to achieve dreaming lucidity then you may

wish to work on improving dream recall by keeping a journal of your dreaming experiences. Just keep

a pad and pen by the bed for when you awaken in the middle of the night or the wee hours of the

morning. You’ll notice that talking to yourself causes dreams and dream fragments to flee immediately

from conscious recall. Clear your mind and stay lying down with your eyes closed, then ‘tickle as with

a feather’ if you wish to remember. James R. Lewis, author of ‘The Dream Encyclopedia’ says, “Even

people who remember their dreams every night only remember the last several dreams they had

immediately before awakening. Dreams from the early and middle periods of sleep are permanently

forgotten.” While I don’t agree with the ‘permanently’ part, he does bring up an interesting

phenomena. It is the case that later dreams are easier to recall. It is also the case that dreams are stored

in memory a bit differently than things that take place in the waking world. When, for example, we are

recalling a story that we have been told (aside from major plot twists or the climax) it is a simple matter

to picture the events as they unfolded from start to finish. When attempting to recall a dream things

somehow work in reverse. In order to remember approximately how a dream began it is usually

necessary to begin at the end of the dream and then work your way backwards. As for dreams being

permanently forgotten… I can’t say how many times I have suddenly gained recall of a dream which

took place years ago and that never before made it to conscious recall. I have also had dreams that took

place years apart but which were identical in theme, scenery or location. Dreaming déjà vu is usually

quite accurate. Though lucid dreams are more likely to occur after a few hours of sleep, they may also

occur during the first few hours of sleep or even immediately after the very first dream begins. It is

more likely than not that almost every dream that you have ever had is somehow expressed in your

long term memory, though normally available only to the subconscious mind.

If you decide to keep a dream journal consider keeping track of all things dream related. From

hypnagogic imagery (images and sounds that occur while passing from waking to sleeping) to

hypnopompic imagery (images and sounds that occur while passing from sleep and dreams to a state of

of wakefullness). From partially lucid dreams to fully lucid dreams. From ordinary (self-created)

dreams that you are able to recall to real dreams (in which there seem to be actual outside influences).

In order to gain lucid acuity, attempt especially to record instances in which you experience only

partially lucid dreams. These are dreams in which you were at least temporarily aware of being a

dreamer but had little control over the dreaming environment or your own actions. While undertaking

outlandish maneuvers (like flying or breathing under water or other actions not possible in a physical

world) your movements may have been choppy or only moderately successful. You may find yourself

settling for one outcome instead of another more preferable outcome. You may be unable to perform

some action that you know you could (such as floating up to the clouds). It may take great effort to

perform an action that you know could be easy. You may fly for a short duration and then find yourself

falling. These dreams are partially lucid because you have gained a measure of control, but are still

facing a degree of opposition. After recording these instances, resolve to conquer your inhibitions and

to succeed where you may have faltered. From David Fontana’s book ‘The Secret Language of

Dreams’, “Lucid dreaming is achieved by an act of will, but not by an act of teeth-gritting

determination. Like any creative activity, it is most readily achieved by a mind that is concentrated,

motivated and persistent, but at the same time light and playful."

Whether or not your attempts at lucid dreaming meet with immediate or delayed success, keeping a

dream journal will undoubtedly give you insight into your own personality. Dreams shed light on our

hopes and fears, our noblest goals and our most base perversions. Even without lucid dreaming you

will undoubtedly have both ordinary and real dreams. So long as you are able to recall them, they will

reveal a wealth of information. An example would be a particularly telling dream which was, for me,

very real. As if pulled from a scene out of Siddartha (the book), I was sitting cross-legged in a wooded

locale next to a meandering river. A kindly looking shorter gentleman with a balding crown introduced

himself to me and instructed me to choose one of his daughters at my leisure (and for my pleasure).

The first woman stood before me smiling, she was blonde and easily the most attractive of the three. If

I had to give her a name I would have called her ‘Beauty’. The second woman standing before me was

brunette and held a dour smile. Her eyes shone with playful argument and reason, her name would have

been ‘Intelligence’. The third woman had black hair and a slightly wild or unkempt look. She turned

away from me and went to her hands and knees by the river urging me to mount. Her I would name

‘Animal Lust’. Unlike Siddarth Guatama Buddha, I did not put my palm to the earth and dissipate the

Maya Man and the illusion that was before me. I chose the latter of the three women – and in doing so

gained insight into my most personal self, a taste of my own true nature. (I am fond of women who are

straight forward, somewhat animalistic, and don’t require me to make the first move. As an aside, for

some reason, I don’t normally develop romantic feelings for a woman until I have dreamed of her!)

Carl Jung once wrote, “I want to know for what a man is preparing himself. This is what I read out of

his dreams.” Without lucid dreaming the subconscious mind will continue to plod toward wholeness,

but with lucid dreaming you may be able to dance and fly toward fulfillment. For Jung the dream is a,

“…meeting point between all that the individual had been in the past and all that the individual might

be in the future.”

If willpower alone doesn’t seem to be doing the trick, you may wish to explore the potentials of self

hypnosis. Self-hypnosis is a matter of mind-over-mind. When one person hypnotizes another the

subject is implicitly agreeing to agree upon whatever the hypnotist says. They are also agreeing to do

just about anything that the hypnotist suggests so long as it is within there power to do so. The person

is, you might say, surrendering the better part of both their will and judgement to the hypnotist. Self-

hypnosis is a bit different in that you partition off a lesser part of yourself to give instructions while the

greater portion of your being agrees implicitly to follow these instructions. While it may sound a bit

like intentional schizophrenia, the technique may be useful in several different ways. The goal of self-

hypnosis should be decided in advance such that once begun the greater portion of yourself may

proceed as the subject rather than the hypnotist. This ‘division of self’ is responsible for persons being

able to localize pain such that a person skilled in self-hypnosis may undergo surgery without the need

for anesthesia. Understanding how hypnosis works may make it more difficult for some persons to

become hypnotized for fear of ‘surrendering their will’. These same persons should have no difficulty

hypnotizing themselves, however, after learning the procedure. It is usually estimated that 90-95

percent of adults may achieve some level of hypnosis, with 25-40 percent capable of being led into a

deep sonambulistic trance. Persons that can be hypnotized this deeply may be commanded to sleep or

even dream at will. Persons who do not make for good candidates are the mentally handicapped and

children under the age of ten or twelve. These persons lack enough focused attention for the hypnotist

to ‘capture’. The hypnotists job is to shut down or short circuit the subjects ability or desire to persist in

the exercise of reason (and consequently, the internal dialogue). By way of example, the hypnotist

usually request that the subject closes his or her eyes and focuses solely on the sound of their voice.

The hypnotist uses a smooth and monotone voice as well as a rehearsed script or several scripts

skillfully pieced together. They begin with suggestions so as not to arouse resentment. They might start

by saying, ‘I want you to take a deep breath, hold it.. and let it out’ He then guides the subject to

breathe more slowly and deeply. This decreases mental activity and puts the person into an altered state

of relaxation not unlike that which precedes a persons going to sleep. The hypnotist gradually moves

from making suggestions to making statements of fact. ‘You are now more relaxed. Your limbs are

beginning to feel heavy. You have no desire to move them whatsoever. The darkness is soothing. It

makes you want to just slump down in your chair and let go further.’ A stage hypnotist usually begins

the show by running through a few test exercises which facilitate his choosing the most suggestible

subjects. The suggestions that the hypnotist gives are timed to coincide with whatever bio-feedback he

is able to pick up. If he sees that your eyelids are drooping or beginning to blink more often then he

says, ‘it’s becoming more difficult to keep your eyes open’, etc. When you are hypnotizing yourself

you won’t need to be practiced at reading another person’s body language. The suggestions that you

make will coincide exactly with your current state of relaxation. If you are a person capable of

achieving a sonambulistic trance then it will be possible for you to enter into a lucid dream directly

from a state of self-hypnosis. The only procedure is to bring yourself closer to the world of dreams by

becoming increasingly relaxed. When you get close enough you will either enter into a lucid dream or

lapse into the ordinary dreams which accompany normal sleep. If this procedure gives you any

difficulty, self-hypnosis may yet avail your cause. After entering into the deepest state of relaxation

possible, give yourself a clear and explicit directive to have more lucid dreams more often. This is

known as a post-hypnotic suggestion and may prove quite useful.

If the idea of self-hypnosis just doesn’t rub you right, then consider making a waking suggestion. Just

before releasing yourself to sleep, re-iterate your desire to experience a lucid dream. Make plans to take

some particular action in the world of dreams. As a child I went though a phase during which I had to

contend almost nightly with nightmares. Like most boys, my nightmares generally revolved around

large animals, a monster or beast. In order to combat these nightmares I intentionally went to sleep

thinking about all of the super powers that I would like to possess; like being invisible, able to fly or

stop time. This pre-sleep imagination enabled me to take control more often of the dreams that

followed. After these self-suggestions more of my dreams tended to be pleasant or benign. Similarly,

by imagining yourself becoming lucid in dreams before going to sleep it is likely that you will increase

the odds of your actually doing so.

By effort of will you may also attempt to focus on the hypnagogic imagery and sounds which precede

the initial stage of dreaming sleep. The task is to pay attention to your ‘slide to the underside’. The

conscious internal dialogue that we maintain begins to shift and give way to the subconscious

conversations that the conscious self will not remember. It is especially useful at this time to clear the

mind of all thought… then anything that pops into your head will be from the subconscious and

recognized as such. To maintain lucidity from the passage between awake to dreaming, there must

remain a small seed of unperturbed consciousness. In order for sleep and dreams to come, the seed

(initially, at least) must not be too large, nor can it be sending out roots in order to grasp or affect the

events unfolding around it. If the seed of consciousness can be maintained while the rudimentary

hypnagogic images shape themselves into more fully formed images, then dreaming lucidity will be

achieved.

Since a portion of the mind continually monitors the environment surrounding the physical body even

while asleep and adream, there are physical maneuvers which may be employed toward the end of

gaining lucidity as well.

Arm Raised – For this maneuver a person should be tired, but not unduly so. Prior to going to sleep the

person lies flat on their back with one arm raised off the bed from the elbow up (the forearm is raised

vertically while the elbow still rests on the bed). The person asserts to themselves that though it is

alright to fall asleep, that they will maintain the 90 degree angle of the arm raised in the air. When a

person accomplishes the task of dreaming with their forearm raised, they will have successfully forced

a greater degree of lucidity (or consciousness) to accompany them into the world of dreams. They will

be remembering the physical self even as they dream and will gain greater knowledge of the dreaming

state.

Sitting Position – Many persons attempting to experience a lucid dream have success with the

maneuver of sitting upright. A person need only resolve to fall asleep while remaining in an upright

position. The difficulty that one has in keeping the arm raised or remaining in an upright position

usually occurs with the onset of the hypnagogic imagery, the shift from conscious to subconscious

mind. Persons may find themselves distracted to the point of not being able to fall asleep or of being

continually reawoken as their arm or head begins to fall. Others may simply lose focus and drift into

sleep after allowing their arm to fall back down. Persons who are having a difficult time falling asleep

with their arm raised shouldn’t have as much difficulty falling asleep, if they are truly tired, while

sitting upright with their back against a wall. Use pillows as necessary to support the lower back and

neck. The uniqueness of the sitting position is likely to work itself into the dreams which follow to

such an extent that the person is forced to remember the physical self and realize that they are

experiencing a dream.

State Checking – Steps may be taken during normal wakefulness in effort to affect your sleep and

dreams. The aim is to increase the likelihood of asking yourself, “Is what I am currently experiencing a

dream?” Some persons attempt to make a habit of asking themselves this question throughout the day

in hopes that this ‘script’ will eventually carry over into their dreaming lives. You may take this

exercise a step further by purchasing a cheap watch (or an expensive one as suits your tastes) which

emits a small beep or chirp every hour on the hour. Every time that you hear the beep you must make

the effort to briefly pause, gather your wits, concentrate your powers of discrimination and then ask the

all important question, “Dreaming or Awake?” Picking up the habit and successfully carrying it over

into the world of dreams isn’t completely foolproof. We spend so much time treating dreams as if they

were a physical (waking) reality that we may continue to believe the illusion even after the pause of

self reflection. However, the likelihood of answering correctly the ‘dreaming or awake’ question grows

exponentially after we remember to be aware of it as an issue of contention. If it is possible for you to

do so, set a watch to make the single beep every 90 minutes throughout the day. The significance of the

90 minute interval is that it roughly equates to the lapse of time that takes place between REM

(dreaming) periods of sleep. Most persons pass through around five dreaming sessions each night. Each

dreaming session is generally longer than the one that preceded it. A person may also use a wristwatch

with an alarm function to wake themselves every 90 minutes throughout the night. Upon awakening it

is likely that they will remember at least a portion of the dream that was interrupted, thereby increasing

dream recall. One Eastern belief suggests that this is more than just a rude awakening. Some persons

believe that the spirit leaves the body in its nightly travels and that if a person is startled or awoken too

quickly that the spirit may become confused or lost and unable to return to its physical form.

Personally, I always find waking up to an alarm clock harsh enough once per night and wouldn’t

subjugate myself to this type of treatment. But death or a ‘loss of spirit’ aren’t likely to result. Even so,

persons now have the option of utilizing a clock which awakens them with soft and pleasant sounds or

a soft glowing light that grows ever brighter. Not being a morning person, I can appreciate taking a few

moments to shift from dreams to the waking world. As an interesting aside, the artist Dali referred to

his work as “hand-painted dream photographs” and would sleep with an intense light on in order to

heighten the visual intensity of his dreams.

If you find losing a bit of sleep or wearing a wristwatch abhorant, then you may attempt to form a state-

checking habit without their aide. Once every one and half hours or so throughout the day try to

examine one or both of your hands in great detail while asking yourself, ‘Are these my physical hands

or my dreaming hands?’ It isn’t enough to just remember to ask the question, it must be followed by a

detailed inspection. The reason being that in dreams we often have difficulty duplicating the minute

intricacies of a physical object. Like trying to read a book in your dreams, the words are liable to shift

and jumble around on the page. A few seconds of examination will make it difficult for you to ‘explain

away’ any variation that you may see from one moment to the next. Just as waking preoccupations

eventually make their way into our dreams, so too, will an intentionally formed habit of state-checking.

If you do not wish to be a creature of habit, then there is a variation on this theme which doesn’t

require any intentional preoccupation. A person not used to wearing jewelry can dress themselves in

either a ring or a necklace just prior to going to sleep. A ring may be preferable if you wish to avoid

dreams in which you are being strangled or choked, but also isn’t quite as effective. It is likely that at

some point during the night the jewelry will affect a dream that you are having. The trick will be to

remember the actual cause rather than explaining it away or incorporating it into the dream without

further attention. Just as when your clothing or bedding become too tight, hot or restrictive – your

inclination will be to assume that the dream itself is the cause of your discomfort. If this isn’t working

for you, then try supplementing the tactic by wearing a piece of “dream jewelry” while you are awake..

in the same place that you wear the real physical jewelry while you are asleep. Throughout the day

periodically recall the position of the imagination jewelry, envisioning it in as much detail as possible.

Before going to bed mentally remove the imagination jewelry and put on the real thing. As you come to

recall the presence of the imagined jewelry in the waking world, so too, may you increase your recall

of the real physical artifact amidst otherwise ordinary dreams.

Another way to influence your dreams with an item from the waking world would be to go and and

purchase (or mail order) a ‘dream mask’. The DreamLight, as it is called, consists of a mask that covers

the eyes with built in flashing red L.E.D. lights that activate with the onset of REM sleep. After

incorporating the flashing red lights into your dreams as UFO’s or cars going past on a busy road, it is

likely you will remember that the effect is from the mask and that you are dreaming, thereby inducing

lucidity.

If you goal is to increase dream recall and lucidity then you may also choose to suffer the

inconvenience of causing yourself to rise from bed several times each night out of natural necessity. By

drinking ‘pee water’ (water whose only purpose is to cause you to rise from bed several times each

night in order to piss) just before going to bed, you are assured that you will need to rise to full

consciousness at least once during the night. Your need to relieve yourself will introduce itself without

fail into the dream. And so, when you dream that you need to take a piss, you will have the opportunity

to realize that you are in fact dreaming. This practice may be more trouble than it is worth, especially

for men – who become engorged when they dream and upon awakening will need to find some way to

make water south of the border. (Time to practice the control of blood flow!) Women, also, become

engorged with blood in the nether regions during dreaming but won’t have a particularly difficult time

relieving themselves thereafter. Members of at least one Native American Indian tribe used a similar

trick to achieve wakefulness throughout the night and so that they would rise (of necessity) early in the

morning before a war party could sneak up on them unawares.

What you must not do is drink any sort of alcoholic beverage before going to bed. While one drink may

help some persons to fall asleep, any more will wreak havoc on your ability to have pleasant or normal

dreams what-so-ever. Drugs and alcohol taken when a person should be going to sleep lead toward

‘..the dark and tasteless after hours that constitute premature bliss on more hellish days’. The dreams

that result will very likely be unpleasant or even nightmarish. While a person might make some

argument for the use of drugs in the waking world, drugs do no belong in the world of dreams. In

dreams, all states of mind and being are already readily available. They await only personal preference

and the choice that we must make with free will. The ability to recall that we may exercise this option

in our dreams may be strengthened by our resolve or determination (willpower). We may increase

willpower through the practice of ‘clear-minded’ meditation. Lengthening the amount of time spent in

meditation is akin to stretching the mental muscle. Meditation also conserves energy such that it may

be redeployed as the energy which is required to change the course of our dreams.

AWAKEN DREAMS

Sleep researchers suggest that there are four different levels of dreaming sleep. As the night goes on we

tend to dream less deeply. Which is to say that we are more likely to awaken during later dreams, more

likely to recall them, and more likely to achieve lucidity (conscious recognition of the dreaming state)

after we are fairly well rested. While dreams which are ‘super real’ will likely be remembered no

matter when they occur, our best chance of unmasking ordinary dreams is more toward the waking

hour. And so, persons attempting to have lucid dreams should sleep-in whenever possible. During these

later dreams it becomes easier to take notice of the abnormalities which should indicate a dreaming

state of mind. Math becomes very difficult in dreams, as does reading or telling the time. Numbers and

words tend to shift and change. It is unlikely that you will ever read an entire paragraph while you are

dreaming. Items tend to metamorphosize into other items. A person that you are speaking to one

minute.. is someone else entirely in the next moment. Scenery and location can change or shift without

so much as a blur. To the dreaming mind these things make perfect sense and need no explanation. But,

if by some chance you begin to register some small amount of disbelief, the dreaming mind steps in

and creates a perfectly believable (if not logical) explanation. We are great storytellers. And in

dreaming it is as if we have agreed to become hypnotized, to suspend disbelief and to believe

everything that we are telling ourselves. Sometimes the conscious mind is able to break through this

façade and we find ourselves saying, ‘it simply cannot be so’. At this point most persons exit a dream

that has been shattered by reason to a state of wakefulness. The option exists, however, to remain

asleep and to continue to dream. Simply reengage your interest in the elements of the dream or actively

engage in the creation of new elements. If a dream begins to lose cohesion you might also try spinning

like a top or a figure skater. The experience of twirling is so far removed from what your physical body

is experiencing that it is likely your interest will be rekindled. Alternately, you can envision yourself

becoming as thin as mist.

Sometimes the trick to having a lucid dream isn’t remaining asleep so much as realizing that you aren’t

really awake. It is toward morning that persons are most likely to experience a ‘false awakening’. Back

when there were B.B.S.’s (Bulletin Board Systems) and long before the World Wide Web, I created a

text adventure game by the name of ‘WHOA!’ The game began with a young man being rudely

awoken by his mum and progressed into a very strange world where dogs wore clothing and all of the

people did not. The game ends when he realizes that he hasn’t really woken up and that everything he

experienced was only a dream. Deprive yourself of sleep or set an alarm clock for way too early in the

morning and a false awakening will be more likely to occur. Unless the entertainment value far

outweighs showing up late for school or work, this isn’t actually recommended. It is possible to realize

the situation for what it is when it does arise and realize during a false awakening that you are actually

still dreaming.

The last chance to achieve dreaming lucidity each night occurs during the transition from dreaming to

awake. Though we awaken for a very short duration several times each night, the last transition (after

which we arise for a new day) may be the most fruitful. As the dreaming schema (story line) loses

validity and cohesion the dream begins to break down into separate components or elements. Persons

become only faces or voices. Scenery changes into simple shapes or flashes of light. If you have had

little success in gaining lucidity during the hypnagogic (awake to dream) imagery, then perhaps you

will have more success in gaining lucidity through the examination of your hypnopompic imagery as

you are coming awake. After the seed of your conscious mind has begun to sprout, simply allow the

dreaming elements to persist for as long as possible.

Finally, there remains yet one more alternative for those that have failed to achieve lucidity by

every other means. Though undoubtedly the most difficult path to follow, a rare few will have a natural

affinity for this course of study. It is possible to gain lucid dreaming awareness while transitioning

from the unconscious state (wherein there is little or no brain wave activity) to the subconscious and

dreaming state. This is somewhat akin to remembering ones own birth, as the person passes from a

state of near death to one of conscious (although it be subconscious) life. This claim isn’t far removed

from the truth of the matter as it is not uncommon for a person to stop breathing during unconscious

sleep for up to ten seconds at a time - before some small seed of the conscious mind tugs hard enough

to cause the body to breath, and to live, and to resist the pull of sleep, which has been called “death’s

little sister”.

(END TEXT)

(The followin are just notes on an uncompleted portion of the text.)

DEATH DEFY

To practice against the folly of dreaming is as close to practicing against the 'folly of dreamless sleep'

as one can get.

Dreamless sleep is as close to death as we can come, it is much the same as a temporary coma, with

little or no brain activity beyond maintaining our respiratory and circulatory and other repair functions.

When we sleep without dreams we have quite literally come apart at the seams. The ephemeral self, or

soul, has detached from the body and has experienced a very real dissolution. A small spark of life, like

that which exists in every fertile seed, is almost all that remains as a beacon for calling the self home

again. Our energetic essence is in constant flux, it swells and recedes. Our attachment to this earthly

plane simply cannot be maintained for any great length of time. It has been said to those seeking

immortality and escape from the grasping hand of death that if they would refuse His calling then they

should practice by attempting to refuse the call of Death's little sister Sleep for a period not less than

seven days. Perhaps a particular meditative state might enable a person to accomplish the feat of

cheating Sleep for that length of time or longer.

It has already been discussed that all sorceric practices are geared toward one end; the displacement

and fixation of the assemblage point upon different bands of perceptual awareness. To increase the

fluidity, mobility and staying power of one's assemblage point and to improve one's mastery of

awareness - the element of being which allows us to claim sentience. One of the greatest feats that a

sorcerer can undertake is to seek an extension of that coveted sentience, repreive from the absolute

folly of death. It is said that only two things are certain in this life; taxes and death. That there are no

survivors here. And that no one gets out alive. Sorcerers, however, view the human condition as being

both a great gift and a great opportunity. The physical form is the eggshell of an egg. By practicing the

art of manipulating awareness a sorcerer is sharpening his egg-tooth, intent. With impeccable intent a

sorcerer aims to maintain a strong degree of cohesion - even after the physical shell has lost its

usefullness.

Many will find only oblivion at the end of their days. Everything that they are will be thrown back into

the void and disintegrate utterly and completely. The only thing that will remain is an image of their

being in the memories of those that still live and had contact with them. Having never heard of sorcery

or taken part in any sort of religious practice or lifestyle, even ‘devout’ atheists may experience

something else entirely, however, a continuation of their consciousness. Some will be so caught up in

the act of perception that they won’t even realize that they have died. Infallible reason will continue to

offer solace in their self-delusion of living in a comprehensible world. Idiosyncracies will be explained

away and they will exist almost perpetually in a dreamlike state. Some will know that they have passed

on and feel compelled to stay here, near to persons and places that they know. Others will experience

realms that are idyllic or even hellish in accordance with the bent of their character. Some will be

whisked away by beings more powerful than themselves to a place not of their choosing, others to

places so beautiful that they couldn’t have been imagined. Most will gravitate toward beings of similar

character as themselves. Some will choose rebirth almost immediately. Some will feel compelled

toward rebirth or have little or no choice as the matrix takes from them what it needs in order to form

the continuing weave. Most will lose almost all of the energy that was once at their disposal. Some will

find reserves of strength and energy they never knew they possessed. Their whole lives will flash

before their eyes and in that moment the Eagle will devour their experiences and the energy that

accompanied them. Being devoured by the Eagle will be a pleasant experience for pleasant persons and

unpleasant for others. This may be experienced as becoming part of a greater thing than onself, joining

with an all powerful and all-knowinusg presence.

At the moment of death we grow just the smallest amount lighter. The electric current that is carried in

our mind and body jumps out away from the body. Perhaps it immediately dissipates, perhaps it hangs

together.

Some will gravitate again to the world of dreams without a physical body to go back to. Others will

become not much more that the eyes which line the wall of the matrix, the vortex which creates and

uncreates everything around us. Others will become full ephemerals, ‘haunting’ the physical and

waking world, an insatiable interest in the living.

Imagine what you can become in a dream, and you will begin to understand the myriad of forms that a

person may attain after death.

The Void / The Birthing Abyss / ETC.

(Unfinished chapter concerning what happens when we lose both conscious and subconscious mind.)

where does all of this lead, the ultimate act of sorcery, the mastery of awareness.. is in choosing to hold

rather than relinquish the gift that you have been given,

Try staying awake for seven day (sleep is death’s sister)

- Tibetan Buddhism posits that learning to control the dream state also prepares an individual (through

practice) to determine where the soul or consciousness goes after death of the physical body. I posit

that it leads , in fact, to greater control of the ephemeral self in an ephemeral world, etc.

- For my part I would say that the whole lot of it is just plain old folly. Wasted time. Here and Now

gone. The folly of waking like merges with the folly of dreams Unless the Sleeper Awakens and the

Waking Dream. A sorcerer reaches toward the totality of their self by recalling not only conscious and

subconscious minds but also the field upon which they originate. The plane toward which the

reintegrated gravitates.

- Sorcerers maintain that everything that we do as men is the work of the ‘Tonal’. The tonal begins at

birth and ends at death, it is the organizer of the world. When dreaming or awake we concern ourselves

with the tonal alone. The field from which it originate is not dealt with us at all. This field is referred to

by some as the ‘Nagual’. “..All possible feelings and beings and things float in it like barges, peaceful,

unaltered, forever.” Then the glue of life binds and clusters some of them together into the organized

chaos of the area where beings hover, the tonal.

- And so, “.. the shell must be broken in order to liberate our being. It must be broken from the inside at

the right time, just as creatures that hatch out of eggs break their shells. If they fail to do so, they

suffocate and die.” A sorcerer that manages this feat is said to have unfolded the wings of his

perception and to have gained the totality of himself. A sorcerer with enough energy claims knowledge

as power by intending the shift of his assemblage point from the center of reason to the center of will,

and as his world collapses, the mystery of the nagual unfolds. Several times each night we pass from

the utter folly or dreaming or the controlled folly of lucid dreaming into the nagual. Though most

persons will never remember this journey, it is here each night that the cluster that we are disintegrates

and later reforms, here that we die and are reborn. Deep sleep, the place beyond dreams; a coma of

death for the ordinary man, but for an impeccable sorcerer- here lies opportunity. Having mastered the

art of self-remembering while both awake and adream, there is some chance that he may carry his self-

remembering over into the nagual. Remembering the self in you that is going to die is the not doing of

the mortal self. What a sorcerer does in journeying into the nagual is very much like dying except that

due to his master over awareness his cluster does not disintegrate entirely completely, but expands a bit

without losing its togetherness. Thus, the absolute liberation of the sorcerer is at hand when he may

practice against death. The gift of the nagual is difficult to accept, but a sorcerer may chose to forever

keep the awareness that he has been given. Like the plumed serpent Quetzacoatly of Toltec legend, he

may rearrange the cluster of his existence to take on any form. Time and space would no longer limit

the beings that he could contact or the worlds to which he could travel.

- Sorcerers of antiquity had different terminology than we do today. There was no ‘matrix’, etc. Matrix

as defined in the old Abbot’s Self Pronouncing Dictionary, as meaning ‘the womb; a mold; the five

colors black, white, blue, red, and yellow from which all other colors are formed’. The nagual used to

be referred to as the ‘Great Eagle’ and it was said, “To die and be eaten by the Eagle is no challenge.

On the other hand, to sneak around the Eagle and be free is the ultimate audacity.”

• “I proclaim”, says the Buddha, “that in this fathom-sized, feeling-afflicted ascetics body dwell

the world and the origin of the world and the annulment of the world and the path that leads to

the annulment of the world.”

Devil, God, and Sorcerer

for those that experience

the injustices of life,

love that does not last, and death.

Neither remorse nor sorrow

stain gloves that curl and uncurl

to fist and claw.

Where his eyes look – shadows pass

things are harmed or die,

color is lost,

and chaos reigns supreme…

God has much pity –

for those that experience

the injustices of life,

love that does not last, and death

Neither pride nor honor

stain gloves that uncurl

to open and praying hand

Where his eyes look – light shines forth,

things blossom or are born,

color is gained

and order reigns supreme…

A Sorcerer, by predilection, either has

or doesn’t have pity –

for those that experience

the happenings of life, emotions that don’t last,

and the disintegration that takes place before reintegration.

Neither hope nor unfulfilled wish

stain gloves that curl and uncurl

toward the Devil and God.

Where his eyes look – there is space between

light and darkness, nothing dies or is born

color is translucent,

and the immortal reign supreme.

This is an unfinished work i'm afraid... but I thank you for your interest.