Tibet's Living Dead

Being that Halloween is just around the corner, I thought it would be an appropriate time to discuss the living dead, in particular, some of the notions of the living dead found within Tibetan society. 

Among Tibetans it has been known to occur that some individuals who have died miraculously return to life after sojourning within the intermediate state (bardo) between the present life and the next. Refered to as “Dālōk” (‘das log), these individuals, generally viewed to have acquired sufficient virtue in life to warrant their return to the land of the living, come back to life principally to share what they have learned within the bardo. Typically, the Dālōk relay the teachings they have received from the various deities, accomplished masters and celestial Buddhas encountered while in the intermediate state, as well as warn individuals of the hells seen and the human actions that caused them to be populated.

Sometimes, however, it is believed that during an individual’s death rites (which can last up to 49 days) the deceased person’s body is animated not by the returning dead person but by a negative or evil spirit bent on causing harm. Such a being is called a “Rōlang” (ro langs). Tibetans often speak of four types of Rōlang, each with its own particular method of destruction (though more universal methods of destroying a Rōlang can also be found).

Not only can a corpse be taken over by an evil spirit, it can be taken by a living individual skilled in consciousness transference through a practice called “Tōng Jūk” (grong 'jug). Tibetan stories portray Tōng Jūk as a practice that can be utilized for both religious and nefarious ends.

Thanks For The Support!

I have just been made aware that over the last few months several book purchases have occurred through my Amazon affiliate links.  I would like to thank all those who have made a purchase through one of my links for their support. While the return is small, the appreciation is great!

Magically Cleaning And Protecting Your Home

Methods for magically cleaning and protecting ones home vary widely between magical traditions and oftentimes among the practitioners comprising those traditions as well. Some of the methods are complex and involve intricate rituals and diverse accoutrements, while others are simple and involve few trappings. The procedure for magically cleansing and securing a dwelling delineated below is a very simple method of clearing negative energy from ones home and securing it so that negativity is prevented from entering into ones place of residence.  The method itself is an adaptation of certain other clearing/protecting practices that best suit my particular needs. If you find it useful … great … if not, there are a plethora of other methods to choose from.

What you will need…

Clearing/Banishing material:

1) Small black candle (I like tealite candles).

2) Small portion of sage incense.

3) Small dish/cup containing banishing oil (make your own oil, it’s easy).

4) Plate to hold the black candle, sage incense and dish of banishing oil.

Protecting material:

1) Small white candle (tealight or other).

2) Small portion of dragon’s blood incense.

3) Small dish/cup containing protection oil (again, no need to buy – just create your own).

4) Plate to hold the white candle, dragon’s blood incense and dish of protection oil (I reuse the plate used for the banishing material).

Procedure:

The procedure starts with a banishing of negativity from the home. Initiate the banishing in a room at the highest level of living space and work your way down to the basement/cellar (if you have one). At your beginning point light the black candle and sage incense and say, “By fire and air I purify this room of all negative energy and malevolent entities” (or something equivalent). Then dip your finger into the banishing oil and “anoint” some inconspicuous spot in the room (I say “inconspicuous” because the oil tends to leave an unsightly oil smudge. I prefer to “anoint” the top of the door frame, which prevents the oil smudges from being seen).* Proceed in like fashion throughout your entire house/apartment. When finished, find some central location and say, “By fire and air I purify this entire house/apartment so that every space, dark corner and crevice is free of negativity.” Afterwards, you can remove the banishing material from your plate.

After your banishing is complete and you have removed your banishing material from the plate, load your plate with your protecting material and return to the point at which you began your banishing. Light your white candle and dragon’s blood incense and say, “Having banished all negativity from this room, I now establish a wall of protection so that no negative energy or malevolent entity may enter here” (or something equivalent). ). Then dip your finger into the protection oil and “anoint” some inconspicuous spot in the room.* Proceed in like fashion throughout your entire house/apartment. When finished, find some central location and say, “Having banished all negativity from this house/apartment, I now establish a wall of protection around my home so that no negative energy or malevolent entity may enter.”  -  Il est fini.

*If you prefer not to “anoint” a spot in the room, simply dress each candle with their corresponding oils prior beginning the procedure and dispense with the anointing portion of the procedure entirely.

Set Your Watch For A Reality Check

As some of you may be aware (if you have been reading my posts), I am interested in dreamwork, especially lucid dreaming. As such, I am always on the lookout for techniques for inducing lucid dreams. A few weeks ago I wrote about the possibility of using binaural beats to stimulate the onset of lucidity (read that post here). Today, I would like to offer a technique that came to me the other day while scavenging through my cluttered desk. While I was searching for something in the clutter of a desk drawer I came across and old wrist watch that I had bought for my daughter years ago. This is not a typical watch that can be purchased at Walmart, however. It is a watch specifically designed to aid individuals with timed reminders, such as medication taking, bedwetting issues, etc. The specific watch that I have is called “VibraLite 3.” There are other versions of the VibraLite at varying prices. Below is a product description of the VibraLite3 taken from a seller’s web page.

The VibraLITE3 vibrating watch provides a great silent reminder. It features an auto restart countdown mode that vibrates at any time interval you choose (e.g., every two hours). The watch vibrates for approximately 20 seconds, and then automatically resets itself to count down again. Easily pause the countdown timer when a reminder is not needed, and restart it without having to program your interval again! Works great when a silent alert is desired at fixed intervals. You may choose sound and/or vibration or even turn the alarm off without resetting the countdown timer

So, how do I see this watch as an aid to lucid dreaming? Wear the watch with a reminder alarm set to any desired interval, say for example an hour (my preferred interval). Every time the alarm goes off, perform a reality check (of course pause the timer when sleeping and whenever necessary). Hopefully, the timed repetition of reality checks will increase your chances of a reality check while dreaming. Moreover, chances are that at some point the watch itself will enter your dreams and signal for a reality check.

*I am not affiliated with VibraLite nor do I receive any compensation for the sale of VibraLite.

Dreamwork with Mugwort

Recently, I came across an herb that has a reputation for being a dream enhancer and, as such, might be of interest to anyone working with dreams. The common name for this herb is Mugwort or more scientifically Artemisia vulgaris. Mugwort is native to Eurasia and Africa but has become naturalized to North America. Within the United States Mugwort can be found in weedy and uncultivated areas, such as waste places, roadsides, and river banks, especially in the eastern coastal regions.

Historically, Mugwort has been used for a variety of purposes. It has been utilized in beer (instead of hops), smoked in lieu of tobacco, used as a food preservative and a “medication” to assist in abortions (just to name a few of its many uses). My interest in Mugwort, however, rests solely with its reputation as a dream enhancer. Those who have worked with Mugwort claim that this herb has the ability to cause vivid dreams. However, they warn that “vivid dreams” does not mean “pleasant dreams” and caution would- be- users that nightmares will also be intensified. While I am relaying a cautionary note about Mugwort, I should perhaps mention that Mugwort oil contains small amounts of Thujone, a neurotoxin that can cause seizures and death in large doses (Thujone has gotten a bad rap as the dangerous component in Absinthe). Due to its long history of safe internal use by humans I am fairly confident that Mugwort poses no significant risk when ingested infrequently and in small dosages (I am neither a doctor nor a specialist in neurotoxins, if you decide to experiment with Mugwort, you do so at your own risk. Please become informed about this herb prior to consumption.)

There are several methods to work with Mugwort. It can be made into a tincture, eaten or smoked. If you are concerned about the safety of taking Mugwort into your body, many claims have been made about Mugwort’s ability to cause vivid dreams by simply placing a leafy branch of the herb near you or under your pillow while you sleep. Indeed, many people suggest making a small dream pillow filled with Mugwort.

Just in case you are wondering, the answer is “no.” I have not worked with Mugwort…yet.  I have been trying to find it growing locally, but have had no success as of this writing. If I don’t end up finding some growing around my hometown, I will surely buy some seeds to be planted next spring.

In closing, I would like to mention that there is an interesting report about the use of Clary Sage in dreamwork. You can read the blog post here.

*If you have any experiences with Mugwort that you would like to share, please feel free to leave a comment.

Entrain Your Brain To Lucid Dream

Lucid dreaming is conscious dreamwork. It is the conscious awareness that one is dreaming while in a dream and the directing/exploration of that dream. I would lucid dream quite frequently as a child, although I had no idea what I was doing. It was not until much later that I became informed about lucid dreams and actively sought to cultivate them. Unfortunately, by this time lucid dreaming was something that rarely (and I mean RARELY) occurred. Even after reading many fine books on the techniques of lucid dream induction, I found myself unable to induce lucidity in the dream state with any large degree of success. Today, I am lucky if I have one lucid dream within a year’s time.

Unsatisfied with the rate of lucidity I have so far achieved, I constantly look for new ways to induce a lucid dream. Recently, I discovered a new technique (well , new to me anyway) for inducing a lucid dream. It is a very passive technique and requires only that you relax while listening to a recording of a sound file containing binaural beats. Binaural beats are “sounds” that are ‘heard” in the brain as a result of listening to two minutely different sounds in each ear (headphones are necessary when listening to binaural beats). It has been fairly well established that one’s brainwaves tend to become entrained or synchronized to the frequency of the binaural beats that is being produced by the two similar sounds. Since binaural beats can be produced to mimic the entire spectrum of human brainwave activity, binaural beats can be used to entrain the brain to operate at any of the four (or 5, see postscript below) levels of brainwave activity – namely, beta (active brain), alpha (resting brain), theta (dreaming brain), delta (dreamless sleeping brain).

Many claims have been made as to what can be achieved through the application of binaural beats and their scientific usefulness is hotly debated.  Personally, I tend to see some validity in the claims that binaural beats can be used to enter a state of calm or meditative state, since binaural beats can be produced that mimic a calm or meditative mind (i.e., a mind in the alpha range ≈ 8-12 Hz). When it comes to lucid dreams, however, I am a little less certain. Most binaural beats designed for lucid dreaming that I have encountered are formed with beats that range from roughly 2Hz to 12 Hz, which mimic brainwaves that occur during dreamless sleep (delta), times of dreaming (theta) and restful contemplation (alpha). I am less clear as to how such binaural beats can induce a lucid dream, since they simply entrain a brain to enter states that it already does naturally. If one does not naturally become lucid when he/she enters such states, such as when falling to sleep and upon awakening, how is causing the brain to enter these states through binaural beats going to elicit a lucid response. While I have my doubts about the effectiveness of binaural beats to induce a lucid dream, I have been working with them for nearly three days now. So far, there have been no lucid dreams.

Postscript

Some research into lucid dreams have suggested that lucidity in dreams occurs when a dreaming brain (theta range ≈ 4-7 Hz) is accompanied by a synchronization of the majority of the brain at the uppermost beta level(≈ 40 Hz) and higher, sometimes called the gamma level. With this in mind I will be creating my own binaural beats recording starting at a low alpha frequency and then dropping down into the theta range. After several minutes of theta (dreaming) I will catapult the frequency to gamma in the attempt to become lucid (I wonder if it is possible to create dual binaural beats so that a brain can be entrained to theta and gamma frequencies simultaneously?) Anyway, if you are interested in lucid dreaming, you may want to experiment with some binaural beats. I am a hard nut to crack. Your success may vary.

Planetary Magick by Denning and Phillips

For any of you who have an interest in planetary magick, you might be interested to know that Llewellyn has just released a reprint of Denning and Phillips' Planetary Magick. I received my copy yesterday and plan to work through the book over the next several weeks. I am sure I will have something to say about this work in the near future. Anyone experienced with this book and the system of magick it presents? If so, please feel free to leave a comment.