Shamanic spiritual techniques for transforming consciousness

Shamans and shamanic techniques are found in all cultures around the world. Ethnologists have managed to define five characteristics of shamanism:

One who enters and leaves altered states of consciousness at will. One who can travel through inner world in his altered state of consciousness. Journeys that are undertaken to obtain power and knowledge, and to help other people. The reality experienced by the shaman is different and hidden to others. In these different states of consciousness, the shaman interacts with power animals, teachers, spirits, demons, and spirits of the dead. This list enables us to distinguish between shamans and others who practice spiritual techniques such as astral travel. For example: Priests do not travel in altered states of consciousness. Mediums contact spirits, but usually in the form of possession, and they generally do not journey. Mentally ill patients can interact with spirits, but usually as victims. Meditators enter altered states of consciousness but they do not journey. Those who do similar things to shamans are witches, sorcerers, magicians, etc. Historically, shamanism is essentially a rural activity, while magicians are usually urban based.

One activity of the shaman is to act as Psychopomp or guide persons recently dead in their journey to the spirit world. If there are problems or obstacles to this the shaman has techniques to fulfil his or her task. The shaman is often a healer for the community by removing spirit intrusions in the individual, or return things stolen. The shaman has spirit guides who are often in the form of animals, and these work for him - possibly this is the origin of the idea of witches familiars.

Shamans work through visions in a dynamic manner - they can change and manipulate consciousness. Shamans are not only able to forsee the future, but also to change the outcome. As an example, shamans can find out where food or game is located for the community, or averting threats to the community. This is a vital difference between shamanism and clairvoyancy.

There are many techniques for entering altered states of consciousness - drugs, hallucinogens, dancing or monotonous music. Traditionally, potential shamans exhibit behavioural patterns that mark them out for training by the local shaman. Experienced Shamans are able to enter and leave these states without any external aid.

Levels within the Shamanic world

Vital to the shamanic world is a structure within which the shaman can work and move. There are many variations, but central to all systems are the four directions and associated elements (Fire, Water, Air and Earth), with a vertical axis that is divided into three levels or worlds. At the centre there is either a Cosmic Tree or Mountain that is used to gain access to the worlds. There are many names and descriptions for these worlds, but a basic guide is:

Upper Guides and teacher, 'Gods'. Middle Confused, trapped, or destructive spirits. Dead humans, black magicians. Records of past lives and future trends. Lower Power animals, allies or familiars. Psychologists have analysed drug induced experiences which parallel shamanic knowledge, and are worth mentioning in this context.

Dismemberment Experiences
Hell fire visions. The four main experiences in chronological order are as follows:

1. 2. 3. 4.

Feelings of cosmic unity and ecstasy. Feelings of enormous and endless pain and suffering, hopelessness and engulfment. Intensified pain and suffering, explosions, destruction by fire, torture, sacrifices, battles, sexual and sadomasochistic orgies, the experience of dying. Feelings of rebirth and release. These experiences are analogous to the passage through the birth canal, and are thus initiatory. We are discussing visionary or internal experiences, and should not be confused with activities found in some cults.

Birth Death and rebirth, the dying gods - Jesus and Osiris, for example. World Tree & Mountain The Holy City Jerusalem, the Tree of Life, Mount of Olives, Mount Meru, Mount Olympus. Four Directions Four Elements, Four Evangelists, Four Children of Horus Teachers Gods and Goddesses

Power Animals and levels

Power animals are archetypes of the species, therefore they are indestructible and eternal. Power animals are wild; tame animals or pets have no real power. Insects are generally symptoms of diseases. There are exceptions such as scorpions, spiders and bees. Power animals who come to the shaman are generally friendly. There is a reciprocal relationship between the shaman and the power animal that is equal but in different dimensions. The shaman brings energy and the experience of human life, while the animal brings power, protection and the ability to perform actions more efficiently. Power animals fall into four main types or elements, and this depends upon the direction they are called from:

Fire Lions, tigers, wolves, panthers Water Fish, whales, otters, seals, dolphins Air Eagles, falcons, hawks Earth Lions, tigers, wolves, panthers Access to inner worlds is usually through a gate, cave, spring, or the roots of a tree. The entrance is found by an inner descent until a terrain is seen, which can be countryside, jungle, desert or water. Nearby an animal should be found. The animal may be in a distressed condition, so it may be necessary to give the animal appropriate food and drink. If the animal is agreeable it will accompany or guide the shaman through the landscape, possibly to lead to other animals who can help. (Courses on Shamanism give the impression that finding just one power animal is an incredible achievement, but my experience is that successful shamans have a whole range of animals who assist them.) In the early stages it is vital that the shaman returns exactly the same route. After a few practice runs, the animal can appear to the shaman during normal states of consciousness if necessary, or if the shaman wills it.

Benefits of power animals include increase in luck, positivity, lack of depression and loneliness, and protection from accidents and illness. Some power animals can stay with a shaman for months or years, while others either change on a regular basis or take the shaman to another power animal. Change is a sign of progress. It is important that personal experiences with power animals are kept private in order to preserve power and strength, or the animal may leave.

Different Cosmic Models in Shamanism

The Qabalistic Tree of Life, with its many version and structures is a very useful model for shamanic work. The purpose of using the Tree of Life is not only to explore cosmic realms, but to create balance and order between polarities such as Male and Female, into wholeness. The technical term is Tikkun or Rectifications, where the highest points of the cosmos are united to the lowest (our physical world). The sephiroth on the Tree of Life can be considered to be archetypes of the elements, and thus can be explored using shapes or symbols:

Earth Yellow square Water Silver crescent (points up) Air Blue circle Fire Red triangle Akasha Purple oval or egg shape There are fourteen combinations of these elements that can be placed on the Tree of Life. Tattwa (element) journeys are possibly by visualising the combination of two element symbols so that the shaman is able to walk through them as if by a gate. This journey can be done with a power animal (ensuring the elements are harmonious with the animal). First signs are of smoke of fog, which will disappear to reveal a scene. Symbols seen during the journey can be related to circumstances within the life of the shaman. Once complete, the journey should be ended by returning back the same way and closing the 'door'.

Other Gateways and the Tarot

In addition to the Tattwas or elements, we ascribe the planets to the sephiroth. Use can also be made of the 22 Tarot Trumps as astrological gateways to other worlds. One can also work through the Court Cards and Minor Cards, but it is probably better to visual the Tarot in sum to maintain coherence and wholeness within the awareness. Otherwise, one would have to make 78 different journeys which few have the time and resources to achieve. Care should be taken not to commence such actions during adverse lunar tides. In addition to these exercises, it is advisable to practice the use of mantras or words of power from a spiritual tradition, but these are beyond the scope of this essay.

Beyond the Tree of Life is the 'Void' or Nothingness that is above all descriptions, beyond opposites, and certainly beyond ethics and values. God apparently is indifferent to the circumstances and human condition. It would appear that the role of the shaman is to fill this gap and create an ethical framework. We are discussing the 'Fall'.

The shamans have played an essential role in the defense of the psychic integrity of the community. They are pre-eminently the antidemonic champions; they combat not only demons and disease, but also black magicians... In a general way, it can be said

that shamanism defends life, health, fertility [and] the world of 'light', against death, diseases, sterility, disaster and the world of 'darkness'... What is fundamental and universal is the shamans struggle against what we could call the 'powers of evil.

Mircea Eliade, 1964 With the development of instant communications, and the WWW, clearly the definition of 'community' extends to the whole world and beyond, and not simply a village or surrounding area. We can also consider that developments of scientific research have extended our boundaries from the furthest limits of the universe down to subatomic particles. Our spiritual knowledge is now unrestricted.

We now look at the structure or heirarchy of the Worlds, although notions of one being 'better' than another have to be abandoned. Balanced access to all worlds using the appropriate cosmic model over-rides favouring one method over another, or one particular level over another. In other words, the vision of 'reality' mirrors one's own level of psychic or spiritual development. In these circumstances it should be obvious that changes or developments in spiritual awareness will undoubtedly indicate changes in the model.

As a general guide, the Upper, Middle and Lower worlds can be characterised thus:

The Void in the Levels

Upper Yang or masculine, active, intellectual, expansive, abstract. Pastel colours, floral smells Middle Encountering evil. Processes of action and its consequences; past lives, the progress of departed humans and spirits, finding lost objects Lower Yin, female, passive, concentrated, concrete, focused on feeling. Deeper, primary colours, earthy smells At each level there is also a directional aspect.

Invoking and Evoking Spirits

Invoking is a vertical procedure, bringing power down from higher levels. Evoking is horizontal, creating an artificial element to obtain knowledge, or produce changes in the world, or meet spirits from other worlds or universes. The danger of mediumship or channelling is like having an open house policy: anyone or anything is invited without discrimination. Spirits in this context are usually of a low quality, who rarely bring new or interesting knowledge.

...unlike the shaman, ...the medium cannot control his spirit, and is at its mercy or at that of any other dead person who wishes to possess him... Mediums and 'possessed' persons ... represent the aberrant shamanic tradition.

Mircea Eliade, 1964 The point or principle of shamanic work is to enhance the evolution not only of the shaman but the community he represents, rather than gain control of, or power over others. Wealth is unlikely to accrue. Unlike meditation techniques, where the emphasis is on quieting the mind and senses, shamans need high arousal, either through drums or monotonous sounds, or walking with the eyes unfocussed.

Chakras and Shamanism

There is a Golden Dawn technique named the Middle Pillar technique, which is basically a visualisation of the Tree of Life imposed around the body of the shaman, with the Middle Pillar centred through the body, the Crown sephira at or above the head, with Malkuth at or below the feet, surrounded by a brilliant white light. Advanced techniques involve visualising a column of Tree of Lifes above and below the shaman, with which he can ascend or descend.

Use of the will or unity of desire in a visualisation can create changes that will manifest in the material world. Spiritual practises should be performed in secrecy and in solitude, although there can be benefits in spiritual association with another shaman of like mind. Sacrifice is an important aspect of any magical act. This means that we have to create space within the environment for the action or change to take place. Unconscious desires will always subvert intention, so it is necessary to dissolve both the desire and it's opposite in order to create space. What is necessary is to destroy the polarity that exists, in order to create asymmetry. In other words, once the magical has been performed, it is vital to forget everything and return to the normal waking state. Speculation about the possible results will weaken the process. The concentration is on the goal, not the process, or how it may occur. This is because it is up to the powers of nature who know far better how to fulfil the magic. Once achievement results it is also important that the gains are consolidated. We might get a million pounds, but we may also have the unwelcome interest of the tax man! We have to use the results of a magical action immediately, or the same processes that brought the manifestation will take it away.

Exploring the Cosmic Realms

Once the four directions have been created and maintained within the awareness of the shaman, a natural and dynamic balance of these elements is formed. A framework or structure is also created with the awareness of the shaman in which to work. With the horizontal components set up, the vertical aspect can be explored. For ascensions, we begin from a high point, atop a mountain for example, having set the directions. Alone, or with a power animal, fly up to the Upper World to find a teacher in human form. After seeing clouds and space, a membrane has to be passed. Above this there will be many levels. Look for a human - if there is none, keep going up. Once met, question the person to see if s/he is your teacher, ask for a name, verify it, and then seek advice.

The process is always to go to a teacher, never inviting them to come to the shaman. On many occasions it is advisable to check with a God/dess before embarking on a magical act. To do this:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Ascend to the Upper World, see the colours fade to pastels. Ascend through the colours of the rainbow, starting with red through to indigo, and then into white light. Merge or expand with the light, which will detach the ego from selfish desires. The God or Goddess may be seen as gigantic figures. Ask for their assistance, share in their experiences, learn as much as is possible. Ask the God or Goddess the results of the intended magical action. Answers will be either visual or silent verbal messages. One can consider the God and Goddess as aspects of one's own higher self, which is why only respect is necessary.

Healing and Shamanism

The shaman must be powerful (full of power) during healing practises, otherwise there is a danger of being invaded by the spirit that is being removed. A space needs to be created in order to place the spirit away from the patient. Healing is developed by repeated practice and working with power animals. Also a strong and clear mental map of the spiritual realms has been created.

Removing Spirit Intrusions

In spirit vision, a tunnel associated with the patient can be located in the Middle World. Parasitic intrusions are usually seen as large, repulsive insects, slimy snakes, or sludge. The shaman washes, sucks, or pulls out the spirit, and puts it in a neutralising medium, such as water. The power animal may help with the process.

Extracting intrusions means that energy has been removed from the patient. The original, lost energy has to be located and replaced within the patient, otherwise the intrusion can return. Dealing with the reason or cause of trauma may also be necessary, which could originate from a previous life. Since energy cannot be lost, merely misplaced, it follows that there could be place where all these lost pieces of energy are stored. The technique is as follows:

There is a golden hall full of millions of locked boxes, guarded by a gatekeeper, who may be asked for permission to enter to look for the lost energy. Once the box has been located (this should be an automatic process) and opened, the pieces may actually jump out, and it is possible that the shaman will see the cause of the loss of energy in the first place. The energy piece(s) may be perceived as a light, crystal, box or previous form of the patient. These pieces have to be taken back through the colours of the rainbow, starting with indigo through to red. This process should purify the pieces, and they are then blown back into the patient. If they pieces refuse to return, they have to be forced, unless advised otherwise by your spirits.

To summarise, remove the intrusions from the patient's tunnel. Locate the missing energy in the Hall, bring it back through the colours of the rainbow, and place back in the patient.

Reincarnation and Shamanism

Sometimes it is necessary to find the cause of suffering or problems within a previous life. Using power animals is the best way as animals often have access to missing information anyway. Curiosity is not a good reason for doing this process, as some very traumatic experiences can result. One reason for doing regressions is in order to create a greater sense of wholeness within one's life, where reconciliation will create freedom for the operator. Past lives are located within the Middle World, so a journey through a horizontal tunnel or cave is necessary, with your power animal/s in attendance. The tunnel will glow with primary colours starting with red going through to purple, and finally white. Questions can be asked when one arrives at a previous life: what is my age? Where am I? My parent's names? My sex? Etc. Previous lives are not necessarily presented in chronological or sequential order, and only particular aspects may be emphasized. The best method is for the shaman to order the power animal to go to the life relevant to the problem at hand. It is usually fairly easy to move backwards and forwards within a life, to move to the moment of death and beyond. Once the work is done, return via the way you came. It is possible that some people who appear in a previous life may also be in this life, but within different relationships, or even different sexes.

One philosophical result of these processes is the realisation the we are everything else, or that we have been everyone else at some point. Apart from death, the other major cause of trauma is birth, so this may be explored as well.

Psychopomp in Shamanism
A vital function of shamanism is to be a guide or helper of the dead. Many people who die are not necessarily aware of where they have to go, and so they can become trapped in the Middle World for a variety of reasons. A human spirit sometimes needs the extra energy a shaman and power animal can provide in order to complete the journey.

To help the dead, enter into a tunnel with a power animal, or ask a guide to take you to where the deceased currently resides. Another method is to think oneself at the place of the deceased. At the place, tell the deceased that you are there to help them. A period of time may be necessary to prepare for the journey. When the time is right, there may be a white light, or the deceased

may meet already departed relatives and friends. The shaman may also have to escort the deceased to a bridge, or to a ferry boat, or whatever symbolism is appropriate to the belief system of the deceased. Crossing over with the deceased is obviously not a good thing, even if permitted.

Those who suffered from a violent death may be found trapped in a region which has no colour, only black and white. The introduction of colour will assist the deceased, and it is possible that this action will aid others trapped there. There can also be a problem with faulty ideas and conceptions of what Heaven is actually like, so some people think they have arrived when of course it is an illusion.

The true secrets of Exorcism

I am an exorcist, I have been doing exorcisms for many years for many people in a variety of circumstances, but the paradox is that exorcism is so much a fundamental part of my life, that I had forgotten that is what I do!

Just about the first thing Punditt said to me when I entered his small office on Brighton seafront over twenty years ago was that I had a spirit problem. He would regularly place a hand on the afflicted part of my body (I was feeling no pain, so I had no idea if it was true or not), then he would blow on it, and that would be that.

Childhood experiences of Spirits

I remember as a child being scared of spirits. My father was the caretaker of several schools, and I had the run of the place after school hours. The very long corridors were terrifying - I would run like hell down them, fearful of the spirits I was aware of all around me. Naturally I never told anyone, and it did not prevent me from doing well academically. I had a similar experience years later when i was living at Mentmore Towers doing work study so I could do the TM-Sidhi course. I was doing building work in a long corridor, and the feeling of being surrounded by spirits was overpowering.

However, after many years in the TM Movement, I had all but given up on the notion of spirits, so I had my doubts when Punditt informed me of my problem. Despite my misgivings, I continued to see Punditt, and he undoubtedly helped me.

The proper use of alcohol in developing consciousness

One of the more controversial aspects of my training is the extensive use of alcohol, and for this I have to acknowledge the influence of the TM movement on this. One of the things I learnt was that to be a good student, one has to do what the Master does. Maharishi sits down all day in front of a camera and talks, which is patently not something people in TM could do. So when I got to know Punditt better, and he started to give me alcohol to drink, it was this notion of the student doing what the Master does that persuaded me to drink.

After a while, the sociable drink became an important aspect of parties at my flat, where there was curry cooked by Punditt, lots to drink, music and sometimes dancing. The music was of course Qawali, the Sufi music from Pakistan.

The Chilla
During this time I had done my chilla - forty days visiting a graveyard, and I was regularly visiting the graveyard with Punditt in any case. There is a profound silence at graveyards that is comforting. Most of the time I was not aware of spirits, although Punditt was evidently conversing with them. As a recent post makes clear, it was only recently that I came across the concept of chilla, and its purpose - exorcism. I decided to look deeper into the literature. The term for exorcism is Zar, or Spirit, a word that sounds like Seir or Prince in Hebrew. Methods of exorcism involve music, dancing and alcohol. It seems that Punditt was giving himself regular opportunities to exorcise spirits from me and my friends. Since there was curry, music and drink just about every evening, I must have had a lot of spirits to be exorcised from me.

A particularly powerful preparation for being an exorcist is the chilla, but as you know, I was unaware of what the visits every day for forty days was about. At some point, I do not remember exactly when, Spirits would come into my awareness, and it was clear that I had to do something about it. By now, I had read books on ritual magic, so I knew about invoking and evoking spirits, and the use of the magic circle. None of these techniques worked, and I was getting desperate. One particularly persistent spirit was getting on my nerves, and it was while I was waiting for a bus to visit Punditt at Churchill Square, the main shopping area in Brighton, that I got the answer. Nothing else had worked, so in desperation, I decided to incorporate the spirit within me rather than trying to keep it out. Success!

We are Spirit
Philosophically and conceptually, we are the All, we are Everything, so we are all aspects of Spirit. In fact, Punditt never distinguished between Spirit and Spirit, or ones own spirit or spiritual development, and external entities. The fact that in English spirit is ambiguous is interesting. So, there is the technique of Zar or exorcism. The exorcist integrates the problematic spirit into himself, which could well mean that the spirit has to be removed from the sufferer, and that is where it goes. There are other, secret techniques, but what I want to get across is that all spirits are aspects of our spiritual path, whether we like it or not.

Jesus famously did chilla in the desert, and as a result the devil met him, a terrifying experience. That Jesus did chilla shows that he was following an ancient practice. However, meeting Satan is doubtful. Either the chronicler was ignorant of the practice of chilla or he wanted to make some religious point, that Jesus was greater than Satan (whose name means Tester in any case); in any case, the original meaning has been lost. I was tested continually (I still am), but that does not make me greater than Satan!

From then on, Jesus became famous as an exorcist, casting out spirits. In one well-known incident, he cast out spirits that went into a flock of pigs nearby. The pigs panicked, and they ran into the sea where they drowned. Pork is of course a forbidden food so why were pigs the tended and reared?

It may well be that casting the spirits into pigs is part of the demonisation process that Christianity maintains to this day.

The tradition of Zar seems to be maintained by women in Islamic countries. There is a party of food, alcohol, music and dancing, and prayer, just like the parties in my flat. Having attended Zhikr or Dhikr regularly in Brighton, that too has a tradition of prayer, singing and dancing - but not the alcohol. Could it be that the purposes of Zar and Dhikr be not so far apart as we might think?

Spiritual Healing from Black Magic in Islam

You do not have to a Moslem to suffer from Islamic black magic. The truth is that Arabic sources of magic are the basis of many western practices, so an Islamic approach to removing black magic is entirely appropriate.

When I met Punditt Maharaj for the first time, I was entirely unaware of Islamic magic - I was in my early twenties, and I had been meditating, doing siddhis, yoga, hatha yoga, pranayama, since I was fourteen, and I was vegetarian and teetotal. Despite all this spiritual work, I was still not happy, and not fulfilled.

Black magic is not always obvious

Punditt told me told me I had spirit and black magic problems, which at the time I did not understand - where were the symptoms? Nevertheless, he healed me and my friends, and he also began to teach me his knowledge and powers. Doing black magic to someone is easy and takes very little effort. In contrast removing black magic takes a lot longer, and requires a lot of prayer and study. I am very lucky to have the blessings of Punditt Maharaj and his Punditts, and his Spiritual Guides.

As the only white person, an Englishman, to be entrusted with this profound and deep knowledge from Asia, it is my responsibility to help mankind and find people who can continue this knowledge in an unbroken chain that goes back centuries. I now have my own group of Adepts who help me with the spiritual work and healing that is so vital, even in the 21st century.

Spiritual Healing and Teaching is the Key

Healing and teaching are two sides of the same coin one cannot be done without the other. If one is not healed, new knowledge cannot be assimilated successfully. New knowledge requires healing. The remarkable aspect to learning and healing is that it can be so painstaking and tedious. For long periods nothing seems to happen, and it is here that strength of patience and faith in ones own abilities is so important. Everything is inner-led; looking for external cues results in failure. The development of the Stoic Nature is very important, but that does not mean that emotions are suppressed. Far from it. Punditt was often showing extremes of emotions suppression of feelings are not good. To be a Punditt is to be alive, human, spiritual, emotional, passionate, free of fear and other negative emotions.

I learnt many healing techniques while with Punditt Maharaj, and I have developed many more since. Research is continuing, as Healing is not just to make whole, but to bring about greater spiritual progress, not just for you who is being healed, but for the healer.

Distance Healing
Healing can be done from a distance - what is required is the willingness for the patient not just to be healed, but to progress further in the spiritual work that we are all here to undergo in this life.

The healing works at so many levels that it is difficult to define. I have had to deal with spirit intrusions, haunting, black magic, mistakes in previous lives, the list goes on. What is difficult to say at the start of any healing how the healing will progress, and what techniques will be used. Sometimes the techniques are related to the culture or belief system of the area, or patient. Many of the techniques are secret, while it may be that a new method has to be used to help the patient. The result is an outflowing of knowledge and revelation for patient and healer.

Psychic Protection with Obsidian Crystals

The healing powers of obsidian have been recognised for centuries:

Obsidian is a very protective stone, and is excellent for removing negativity. It is also excellent protection against psychic attacks. In particular obsidian protects the gentle from abuse. It is a very grounding stone, and very healing. Physically it benefits the stomach; intestines, muscle tissue, and can rid one of bacterial or viral infections. It sharpens and focuses internal and external vision, and helps get in touch with buried issues before they explode. Obsidian is related to the root chakra.

The association with the stomach area is particularly interesting since even with the removal of larvae from the naval area, the stomach is not necessarily strong enough. In the light of the comments concerning dark matter, these healing properties are most apt.

Rules of Spiritual Development

Never confuse spiritual levels: contact dark matter spirits (spirits who represent dark energy) at the level of dark matter. Spirits that appear as dark matter but are found in light matter are masquerading. To differentiate between light and dark matter, the ability to clairvoyantly see the blue light on black of mudshadows is vital. Premature connection to dark matter is incredibly painful and can manifest as physical illness or disease.

Use quartz crystals from us to purify your body and surroundings.

Use obsidian crystals to purify the connection to dark matter. Obsidian creates filters and maintains connections to dark matter. Obsidian devours mudshadows and other entities masquerading as dark matter/energy.

Using Obsidian Crystals

The obsidian should be kept with the user at all times for protection, and works best in conjunction with the quartz crystals.

Working with Dark Magick

Modern physics estimates that only 10% of the matter in the universe can be seen. The rest is referred to as dark matter. Even though dark matter has mass, therefore weight, the particles that are believed to comprise dark matter such as neutrinos have no mass so it is currently undetectable.

Modern magicians have quite rightly derived inspiration from the latest physics theories, such as M Theory, but since none of these theories fully incorporate an understanding of dark matter, we have to conclude that magic and spiritual systems are only functioning in 10% of the universe!

This is an intolerable situation since the magician or spiritual seeker should be master or mistress of the universe. Even if we believe, as is the case, the magickal and spiritual universe is far greater than anything envisaged by science, the idea that 90% is unavailable is unimaginable. What has gone wrong, and how can we rectify the situation?

One particularly fruitful source has been the Voudoun loas. Approached the right way, the Loas are friendly and helpful, totally unlike their reputation. The problems with Loas are the black magicians and those who imprisoned them. Although we associate the Loas with Voodoo, West Africa and Caribbean countries such as Haiti, they originated in ancient Egypt. Something happened to shift the geographical location westwards. The Loas are in fact part of the missing dark matter. They are cousins of the Goetia who have also been mistreated and misunderstood. Also related are the Tarot spirits of Liber 231 whose origin is Egyptian, and were rediscovered by Aleister Crowley, and can be contacted using the system of divination discussed in my book The Tarot and the Magus. Do we see a pattern developing? In the Golden Dawn system, we find tarot at the pinnacle, along with the Enochian magic. The tarot and Enochian are intimately related. So where does Enochian fit into this? Enochian is the most powerful system of magic known, and it could be that the Enochian spirits were used to control the Loas.

Now, the Loas, Spirits of Liber 231, the Goetia and Enochian are all related, and constitute a major part of the missing dark matter in the universe. They have all been denigrated, disempowered, controlled, weakened, and otherwise demeaned in the eyes of the world. In some respects this is easy to do, since we cannot see dark matter! How would we know since we cannot even see them or understand their world?

Returning back to the 10/90 split between the two types of matter in the universe. Assuming that neither the twain shall mix, there would nevertheless be an attraction between the two. The visible 10% that would be attracted to the invisible 90% - and that is the spiritual experience, the desire to travel towards the Unknown. At the junction point between light and dark matter it is possible for light forms to masquerade as dark forms, but since they cannot know the reality of the dark, they are mere parodies of the power and beauty that lies within the dark matter. What are these parodies? Step forward the archons, mudshadows, and all other kinds of degenerate forces. Since they operate at levels close to that of the dark matter, they have the power to appear to be dark matter operatives, and they have the appearance of those powers, but it is all illusion. The proximity of these entities predatory to human beings so close to the dark matter results in them being used as lens to view dark matter, obscuring our view, and ensures that we see however dimly only in ways that these entities allow us to. Coupled with the fact that the Beings of dark matter are by definition almost invisible, it is not surprising that we are in the situation of not knowing.

Over a period of time working intensely with crystals it is possible to reach a stage where the archons and mudshadows are so weakened around the magician that dark matter starts to shine through. Shine is probably not the best word to describe this process, but once the association with dark matter grows closer, the mudshadows do not appear as transitory black shadows; they have light blue neon glowing patches on black which tells the viewer that they are not dark matter at all. Dark matter stays dark. With experience it is possible to see blue patches on black floating in the air.

Carlos Castaneda did not have the power to fully penetrate to dark matter, but he got close, so we have to read his writings knowing that they are filtered through masquerading entities.

Obsidian Power crystals of Dark matter/energy

My own research has found that obsidian rather than quartz has a particular association with dark matter. The ancient Mexicans were Toltecs, who used obsidian extensively. The Ancient Egyptians used obsidian in talismans, which had to be imported from Ethiopia. Coming closer to the present day, John Dee used an obsidian mirror to skry the Enochian system. This is particularly significant since Enochian is the most powerful system of magic yet discovered, and within the system are multiple levels of universes that are still largely unexplored. Pat Zalewski, author of Golden Dawn Enochian Magic says: I prefer small, jet-black obsidian balls, which also have an extraordinary effect that not only alleviates tension, but generally gives the whole system a shot in the arm.

When I first created and worked with quartz crystals, I made several sets of Enochian magick crystals with the intention of offering them on my website, but for some reason they never felt right, and it was not until I realised that dark matter was the key, and the connection between the crystal and dark matter makes the difference.

Sex Magick
A pair of quartz and obsidian crystals used in sex magick creates beings similar to the mudshadows, which allows the user to maintain extended periods of contact with the junction point between light and dark matter. These entities are not anti mudshadows, they perform a different function, and create an environment where mudshadows and other negative entities cannot function.

Healing energy of the Punditts

Punditts do nothing! What a shock headline. It is true. They do not have to, working at high spiritual levels where action does not happen. It is only at the lower levels that ritual and action have any import. Doing nothing does not mean laziness - on the contrary. Being a Punditt means very little rest. There is always action, things happening, but invariably this happens in heightened levels of awareness at deep levels of consciousness unavailable without. In Sanskrit, the 4th level of consciousness is turiya, which exists beyond waking, dreaming and sleeping, becomes a permanent reality. For me, this means that I can be at work during all three normal states of consciousness, and I give and receive knowledge and healing, working with spirits who come and go constantly. I also have to get on with my life, so this means that for most of the time there is nothing to show that anything is going on. It is true that in the early days, performing spiritual work needed great effort, and I had to do rituals of sorts to get me into the states of consciousness where actions happen automatically. Working with Spirits means to become Spirit. I am reminded in the Bhagavad Gita where Arjuna asks Krishna what are the characteristics of someone in a higher state of consciousness, and Krishna answers that you cannot tell!

All this means that it is very difficult to quantify how and what I do, so I thought I would take things from a different angle, and relate what my teacher Punditt often did.

Materials used for Healing

People would often come to Punditt for help, and he would consecrate an object, put it in an envelope, seal the envelope and hand it to the person who would keep it for a period of time. Sometimes after a month or two, the envelope would be returned to Punditt, or he would tell the person to throw it into running water or burn it, and flush the ash away. Some of the envelopes contained a small piece of thread, or paper, or other materials, such as a feather, or stone. There was also times when he was not feeling well, and he needed a drink, and I had to pour the drink out; it had to come from my own hand, so clearly I had healing properties from an early time, even though I did not feel any different, nor could I tell the difference. There were other times

when I had too much to drink, and I was ill. As soon as I gave him the signal, he would stop for a second, then urge me to drink more! Once I did this, I immediately felt better. Almost every morning when I met Punditt he would ask me what I ate for breakfast or evening meal. He could transform the food after I had eaten it! In the early days he was a smoker, and it was noticeable not just to me but my friends that the smoke felt very different than normal smoke. Even so, he stopped smoking soon afterwards as he knew none of my friends smoked.

Consciousness gives the power of consecration

Since consciousness is everywhere, consciousness permeates everything, it is possible to charge and consecrate any object, and it can be done merely by thought - if you are already in a high state of awareness.

Finding knowledge and information about a person or situation remotely is easy. I can say that now, but it was not the case in the early years. These days, I can tune and charge crystals I have given people around the world remotely. During the tuning I often get information, and I can change the situation, in other words, I heal remotely. Following on from this is the ability to find lost objects 'treasure', retrieve them, and put them where they should be. I can also do the converse - filling empty gaps that have appeared for whatever reason.

My friends have known for years that I do not employ any kind of protection - I do not use pentagrams, hexagrams, magical weapons, magical circles, etc, etc. How can I? Work continues 24/7 so I would have to stay closeted up in the sacred space in a room, never going out! Not employing any protection does not mean that I am not protected. What happens is that my protection comes from spirits and other entities who keep an eye on me. Some of my protectors are Punditts and Holy Men who are now in Spirit - the Hidden Masters. Studying magical systems to learn how to use them is a good idea, but I have a better method. I open so magicians and occultists can attack me, and when they do, I learn their techniques. It is like the automatic updates I get on the computer for computer viruses. I am always up to date. It is a wonderful system - I do nothing, and I get all the information I need. Brilliant.

There are times when information about events are required - I need to know the cause of these events, which can be illness, bad luck, misfortune, accidents, delays, etc. Usually within a minute or two I see the spirit who caused the situation, then I can do a deal with the spirit, who will tell me what really happened, why it happened, and what can be done to remedy the situation. The spirit very often appears demonic, but it it is angry at the way it has been treated - who likes being ignored? When the situation is dealt with, the spirit is not only happy, but very helpful in the future.

Healing can happen anywhere

Here is an example of a healing. I was in the pub ages ago with a friend, who happened to mention that he had to make an appointment with his osteopath. I asked where the pain was, and he pointed to his shoulder and neck. I said nothing, and carried on chatting about other things. A minute later, I felt my shoulder drop, and his shoulder also dropped. I immediately asked him about the pain, and he was stunned to realise that it had gone. It turned out that he had another pain in his back, and I also fixed that silently, without fuss. He knew I could do things, but he was rather impressed. He rang me the next day to tell me that he bumped into one of his enemies the next day, who was double up with pain, and had a walking stick, and it seems that his problems appeared at the same time that my friend was cured. Now, all I concentrated on was healing, not where the problem came from, and I certainly was not concentrating on sending the problem to the source.

Do less and accomplish more. Very early on in my apprenticeship Punditt warned me not to pick up coins lying on the ground, particularly when they were outside the office door when we arrived to open. Over the years I lost count of the pennies found and

disposed of. If there was a five pound note, he would keep it! Energy is energy - it is transmutable. These days, I find objects charged with energy that is often problematic. It is easy at higher levels of consciousness to transmute and change that energy, often moving the energy from one object to another.

Enemies come and go, but they never seem to land the killer punch. It is very interesting. It is as if they are being worn down by their own actions. Here is a common example. A friend of mine was in a trashy temporary job in a hotel. For some reason a manager took a dislike to him, and put him on a warning, and there had to be a disciplinary meeting. It was supposed to happen the next day at 10am. I told my friend not to worry. Next morning he was there before 10am. Time passed, a hour went by, and after a longer delay, another manager came up to him and apologised saying that this manager had not turned up, and nothing was going to be done. A result! My friend did not want the job anyway, and found something else the next week, but it is always good to have a clean record.

Healing is such a vast area, and I am always finding new methods. Spirits who do psychic surgery are very good, and what is more, no fake blood and guts are necessary. All the work of Punditts is done in consciousness, and our work is done with Spiritual Powers. These Powers are glimpsed vaguely in western magic as the Holy Guardian Angel, singular, but we have many Powers who help us. How this works will be in another article.

Healing Experiences of the Shaman at work

The Shamanic cosmological model contains the four elements and four directions which enable us to access Dark Matter. Shamanism does not use the Tree of Life as a model, but symbolism is important. Below are common experiences of Shamans that can be extended when exploring Dark Matter.

The definition of shamanism is varied, but the importance of the shamanic work within a community cannot be over-emphasised. Mircea Eliade's definition of Shamanism is a Technique of Ecstasy.

Magicians are not shamans, but shamans can be magicians

The shaman specialises in altered levels of consciousness or trance that enables him to travel through the spiritual realms in order to perform actions to benefit the community. Shamans are able to communicate and command spirits; rarely will a shaman allow himself to be possessed by spirits. 'Shaman' is a Siberian word, but shamanic experiences have been recorded throughout the world. Shamanic techniques are far more sophisticated and safer than astral travel.

Religious experiences in Siberia include a Great God or Creator, whose name often means Sky or Heaven, or having the characteristics of luminosity or loftiness. White Light or Master of the Sky is another epithet. This God has several 'Sons' or 'Messengers' subordinate to him who live in the lower heavens. Their number is usually seven or nine. These Messengers watch over and help human, and shamans are the link between the two. Later, as knowledge and power degraded, there appear to be division between the Messengers.

Finding the Shamanic Vocation

The shamanic life often begins with a spiritual crisis or 'separation'. Shamans are recruited by either hereditary transmission or spontaneous calling. Traditionally, those who become shamans by their own free will are not as powerful as those who are recruited and trained. The training is carried out by two methods; ecstatic (dreams, trances etc), or traditional.

Whether or not shamanism is hereditary, signs of potential ability from puberty include: nervousness, desire for solitude, being absent minded or dreamy, even epileptic fits. Many latent candidates sleep excessively. The person may be instructed by a spirit in a dream of his vocation. However, the person still has to prove to the spirits of his abilities through various tests. In other words, the process may take some years before the person is accepted as a shaman within the community.

The spirits give the initiate prophetic dreams, or carry him to the underworld in order to be instructed by deceased shamans. Someone going through this process may exhibit sudden changes in moods; from irritability to normality, or melancholia to agitation, for example. The prospective shaman may try to extend his powers more as a mean of personal survival, but this result in abilities to protect society at large. Symptoms of shamanism may be similar to mental disorder, and care has to be taken, but the shaman is considered to be one who has cured himself of all his maladies. In other words, the vocation of the shaman is to cure his own illness. For some shamans, perfect health is attainable only as long as shamanism is practised. Shamans are often very intelligent, they have a supple body and unbounded energy. In some cultures, the shamanic vocabulary is three times that of the tribe. We may consider that because they were ill, and then cured themselves, shamans have the theory and practise of illness and its cure.

The experience of dreams and ecstasies is the signal for the elder shamans to begin teaching the student. The main structure to an initiation is of suffering, death, and resurrection.

Initiations follow this general pattern:

Dismemberment of the body Renewal of the internal organs Ascent to the sky and dialogue with the gods and spirits Descent to the underworld and dialogue with spirits and souls of dead shamans Visionary revelations The process of the emergent shaman is characterised by him becoming meditative, seeking solitude, sleeping a great deal, appearing absent minded, and having prophetic dreams.

Some traditions maintain that each shaman has an eagle or mythological bird that cuts the shaman's body in pieces and gives them to the evil spirits to eat. The gives the shaman the power to control disease in the future. Once the spirits depart the bird reassembles the body. We can consider that the body parts have either been 'cleaned' or replaced. The eagle lives in a great tree, where she lays her eggs depends on the quality of the shaman. Other shamans 'travel' across deserts, ascend a mountain where they enter a cave. The initiating shaman or spirits then cut up the bodies and cook them in a giant cauldron. Then, either the waters or a blacksmith reassembles the body. Some shamans experience torture by the demons (who are actually shamans). The shamanic experience is often undergone by the initiate sleeping in a graveyard or on the grave of a saint. In some cultures, quartz or a piece of bone, or other item is placed within the body of the shaman when his body is reassembled.

Enlightenment follows, which the initiate experiences as a luminous light (inner light) within his body which enables him to see in the dark, perceive the future or hidden events, and the secrets of others. The experience is often in terms of height or depth, ascending a tree or flying as a bird. In Tantric, Buddhist or Christian traditions the initiate contemplates or visualises himself as a skeleton. To summarise, the shaman's body is dismembered and reassembled often using fire (cooking).

Shamanic Powers in the Past

Historically shamans were capable of physically flying through the air. Interestingly, the origin of the first shaman is associated with the outbreak of evil, either in society, or that the shaman was too proud to recognise God. God had to intervene in the form of an eagle. The result was that 'good' and 'evil' shamans were created. In the beginning, initiatory death and resurrection was the criteria for creating a shaman, not teaching by spirits and elder shamans.

Spirits who choose the Shaman

There is a big difference between the spirit that chooses the shaman, and the assistant spirits who are subordinate to the shaman. There may be strong sexual elements involved in the development of shamanic powers. In dreams or visions there may be sexual intercourse between a spirit and the shaman, and it is this that transmits the power. There are also many stories of ordinary people having sexual relations with spirits.

Shamans often meet, or are initiated by souls of dead shamans. The ability to see spirits, whether awake or in dreams is a sign of shamanic ability. The ability to see the dead implies that the shaman is dead to the world too, which is why he has to undergo the dismemberment and resurrection process described above. It may be that the dead soul 'possesses' the shaman, and the experience is of soreness within the body. The souls of the dead act as a guide to the shaman when he travels in spirit through the cosmic regions. The vision of spirits actually seems to equate with magical power, and they appear in frightening forms; humans with animal heads recall the 72 Goetic spirits, or the Godforms of Ancient Egypt. If one experiences such a spirit, it is vital that no fear is shown, for the perception of them implies power over them, and in fact they will become helpers. Spirits can appear in animal form when they assist on shamanic journeys. In today's technological age it is quite possible that spirits are more likely to have an AK47 than a sword or spear. Spirits appear to a talented shaman without any effort, but for other shamans work is required. The shaman does not pray or make sacrifices to his spirits, but he can suffer if the spirits are displeased. Because the shaman is already 'dead', he can transform himself or identify himself with his spirits. This can also be taken to mean that he is able to unite or return to nature. In other words, the shaman becomes spirit in order to travel to other realms.

Secret Language of the Spirits

Shamans learn a secret language to communicate with spirits. The language can represent the sounds of animals. The shaman knows the language of nature, and as such, he has the freedom to travel throughout the worlds. The shaman has to be initiated by an animal, often a tiger or eagle to learn the language. The initiation can happen in dreams or the animals may be physically real. Physical pain can be a sign of spiritual initiation, and the pain or ache can actually have a personality or even move around the body.

Healing with Spirits

The cause of illness is considered to be the theft or rape of the soul. The shaman has to find the spirit, capturing and forcing it back to the patient. In other cases the patient is possessed by an evil spirit, or a magical object has been placed in the body sometimes is a combination of the two. The shaman has to remove the cause. There is a common root in that it is a requirement of the shaman to return things to their original state. Only a shaman can undertake this work as he has already been through these experiences. From this perspective shamans are infinitely more qualified to treat disease - how many western doctors have experienced the diseases they treat? The resourcefulness and bravery of the shaman is quite remarkable as he makes his healing journeys. The shaman has to discover the cause of the illness; the spirit, its type and place in the hierarchy in the universe, who caused the spirit (another shaman, or self-inflicted), and how strong the spirit is. The shaman's spirits are sent out to find out the situation, and then the shaman has to fight it himself, which can often mean taking the spirit within himself, and therefore suffer just as much if not more than the patient. The denouement is usually an ascension into the heavens to negotiate with the guardian spirits. Danger is present at all levels. Some shamans are able to suck or pull objects out of the body. They may even appear to

perform an operation complete with blood. These objects are usually thrown into water to neutralise them, or be carried off by spirits. However the shaman heals for the individual or society, he is bringing the universe back into equilibrium.

Cosmology allows spirit travel

There are three levels: Sky, Earth and Underworld, connected by a central axis. The shaman uses the axis to communicate or move through the worlds. Some spirits or gods are able to use this axis as well, but usually only shamans or holy men can do it. There is a Centre or Sacred Space, which can actually be within the shaman. The axis is represented by pillars that reach up to the Pole Star. At the basis is a stone altar. A snake is often associated with the pillar. Other symbols are a mountain, pyramid, temple, royal city, tree, bridge, stair or ladder. These symbols are cosmological or universal, while personal or microcosmic experiences are of a tent or house with a hole in the roof, so that everyone is connected to a universal centre.

Visions of a personal house can be very revealing to a shaman: a man living in a small house may actually believe he is in a mansion, or his workplace may be seen. In other words, the distortions and expansions between reality and the inner man reveal much about how he actually sees himself. Comparing the ability of the shaman visualise his own awareness as a world view of the cosmic mountain with his vision of other people's 'home' show an extraordinary ability, especially when we realise that individuals are unaware of the vision. It is also worth noting that the symbolism is constant throughout the world as long as we take into account cultural differences. To put things simply, humans live in their homes, while shamans have the whole cosmos to reside in.

Trees are particularly strong metaphors: the branches reach to the heavens, the trunk connects to the earth, with the roots extending to the underworld. There are birds (divine beings) in its branches; the leaves, flowers and fruits symbolise humans or branches of knowledge, which is reflected below. The trunk is usually indivisible, which indicates that unity is actually only experienced on this level of earth, despite appearances to the contrary. Trees are symbols of life. One connection that may be considered is the magical staff or wand carried by a shaman (and, for that matter a magician).

Generating heat
One characteristic of shamans is the ability to control or create heat. Healers have the ability to generate heat in the hands or at the point of healing, but shamans can work with fire.

Vedic techniques and Shamanism

The Rig Veda includes many shamanic techniques: to call back a soul, the priest addresses the dying man: "Although thy spirit have gone far away to heaven or ... the four quartered earth, we bring back that (spirit) of thine to dwell there, to live long." Another prayer - "May thy spirit ... come back again to perform pious acts; to exercise strength; to live; and long to see the sun. May our progenitors, may the host of the gods, restore thy spirit; may we obtain for thee the aggregate of the functions of life". In other texts, the priest has to summon back various organs from the cosmic regions. The instability of the soul is known, and there are warnings not to wake the sleeper suddenly in case he loses his soul. The siddhis mentioned by Patanjali include the ability to leave the body at will, and even to enter the body of another. Knots, bonds and nets are used to capture spirits, and to cause black magic.

Other myths and symbols

Shamans sometimes meet a funerary dog when he descends to the underworld. Shamans can turn themselves into dogs or wolves. Horses are used by shamans to reach ecstasy by travelling through the air. The horse is an image of death, so it enables the shaman to enter other worlds. The hobby horse is a reflection of this. Eight legged horses are common in shamanic myths, again connected to funerals.

Blacksmiths and their wives are venerated. Smiths are masters of fire and transformations, and often initiate shamans. Blacksmiths are also able to construct chains used to imprison evil spirits. The beating of metals can be compared to the dismemberment of the shamanic body. Working of metals also indicate alchemical processes.

Heat
Burning is considered to be a sign of contact with spirits.

Bridges across the Worlds

Once, all people had easy access to the three worlds. Dead souls and shamans have to cross a bridge in order to reach the underworld. Crossing bridges are dangerous - the impure will find the bridge reduced to a knife edge, with many evil spirits waiting to pounce. Initiates cross easily. Some magical rites attempt to create or build a bridge or ladder, and there are parallels in Arthurian legend, Islamic and Christian religions, where the bridge is as narrow as hair, or a sword bridge. The person has to pass through a narrow space guarded by demons. In some cases the shaman is unable to get back.

Ladders for ascent and descent

A common motif - Jacob's Ladder where he falls asleep on the sacred stone at the centre of the world; Mohammed sees a ladder rising from the temple in Jerusalem, with angels either side. Other cognate examples are seven rung ladders (Seven Heavens), columns of smoke, rope, sunbeams, or a rainbow. Sometimes an arrow is used to pull the initiate upwards.

CARLOS CASTANEDA

Before Don Juan

the Wanderling

When I first met Carlos Castandea I was a newly employed teenager just a few short months out of high school. Castaneda, while admittedly higher ranking in the overall scheme of things and some ten years older than me, was not yet the cipher of an undergraduate student lost among the hundreds enrolled in the anthropology department at UCLA of his early years. Nor was he close

to the later controversial figure he was destined to become. Matter of fact, as far as his academic career was concerned, he was really not much more than a vacuousfaced student enrollee at Los Angeles City College struggling along with everybody else to hammer out the 60 units of general education requirements needed for an AA degree. It was still about a year so before he would transfer to UCLA and many more after that before he would meet the nearly white-haired Yaqui Indian shaman sorcerer he calledDon Juan Matus at the Greyhound bus station in Nogales, Arizona --- the powerful shaman sorcerer that eventually became the focus of Castaneda's dozen or so books and that made Castaneda rich and both of them famous. Before our meeting little did either of us know we were on a collision course. I had gone to work for a seemingly innocuous little aerospace firm with a huge reputation about six or seven miles north along the coast from the little southern California beach community where I lived. The company was located in what was then not much more than a small oil refinery owned industrial town called El Segundo right next to Los Angeles International Airport. I had been hired as a trainee technical illustrator for an even smaller offshoot of the company that helped design and build the high altitude breathing equipment for the then super-secret U-2 spy plane --- which basically meant I got paid for my drawing ability.(see) After I had been there a respectable length of time and got to know a few people I began hanging out with a small,

sort of loose-knit but quasi-exclusive group of people that fancied themselves artists much as I did of myself. Nearly every Friday after work we would meet in some small out of the way place, order some wine, beer or coffee and talk art, philosophy and politics late into the night just like artists and beat poets did, we thought, in the West Bank sidewalk cafes of Paris. A couple of miles from my job was the Mattel Toy Company. Some of the people in the group knew some people at Mattel who also fancied themselves as artists and some of them joined us as well. One of the people that used to show up at those get togethers was Carlos Castaneda, who just happened to be working at Mattel at the time. Now, most people, especially those who know little or nothing about Castaneda's pre-Don Juan background, find themselves at a total loss as to why Castaneda would even bother to show up at our small, unprestigious, under-the-radar, and unheralded group of so-called artists. Over and over it comes up: Why would a person in their right mind, of such stature as Castaneda, entertain the possibility of participating in such a group of nobodies? The answer is quite simple. First, as mentioned in the opening paragraphs at the top of the page, at the time of the meetings Carlos Castaneda was NOT the Carlos Castaneda he came to be AFTER he met the mysterious and powerful Yaqui Indian shamansorcerer he came to call Don Juan Matus. Secondly and most importantly, in those pre-Don Juan days, Castaneda likened himself as an artist --- and truth be told, our group was openly receptive to artists that had not made it simply

because none of us had. As for Castaneda being an artist, it is weaved throughout his early personal history and background. According to his own words, on Monday, July 24, 1961 in a conversation with Don Juan and published in Castaneda's third book Journey to Ixtlan (1972), Don Juan admonishes him for never assuming responsibility for his acts and Castaneda writes:

He (Don Juan) dared me to name an issue, an item in my life that had engaged all my thoughts. I said art. I had always wanted to be an artist and for years I had tried my hand at that. I still had the painful memory of my failure.

Castaneda was a Peruvian. Most people I knew at the time with a Hispanic background were of Mexican descent. For me, to be a person from Peru was kind of odd and the fact that he was piqued my interest. The most of what I knew of Peru circled around the hidden city of Machu Picchu that I had learned from a very good friend of mine who had been there.

Four of five years before those artist meetings, because of an impending divorce, my dad had sent my younger brother and me to live with our grandmother on our mother's side in a small suburban beach town southwest

of Los Angeles, California. The summer had just ended and I was just about to enter high school for the first time while my younger brother was starting the seventh grade. Like many kids in those days we had a number of what my grandmother used to call chores that we were expected to do around the house. One of those chores was cutting the front lawn. My dad, after visiting one weekend and watching me struggling to cut the grass with an extremely ancient and dull push-type hand mower, went to Sears and bought a power mower for me to use. The first thing my brother and I did after our dad left was build a small cart and haul the mower around the neighborhood cutting lawns for money. Around the corner and up the street was a house built on a lot that was on a small hill that was at least five feet above sidewalk level. Because the house had a perpetually unkempt lawn that always seemed in need of mowing I thought it was a perfect place to earn a few bucks. However, the other kids in the neighborhood told me a scary old mummified man that sat staring out the window all day long and hated kids lived there and they warned me if I was smart I would never get any closer to the place than the sidewalk.[1] One day in the need of some cold hard cash to go to the movies or indulge in some other equally important pastime, and, after having gone to almost every house on the block trying to drum up some lawn cutting business with no success, I forced myself to climb the stairs to the porch of the mummified man and knock. A lady barely

looked out from behind the door and told me she was just the housekeeper and worked there only a couple of days a week. About cutting the lawn I would need to talk to the owner, but he couldn't come to the door, I would have to come in if I wanted to to talk to him. She took me to a room that was just to the right of the entry way that looked out over the street and sure enough, sitting in a chair looking out the window was the mummified man. As it turned out the mummified man wasn't mummified at all. Actually he was hooked up to some sort of breathing apparatus attached to an oxygen tank, plus, on-and-off throughout the day he had IVs stuck into his arms and wires attached in various places for monitoring equipment to record his heart rate, blood pressure and other vitals. So said, for the most part, because he was so hooked up to machines and couldn't move he basically just sat there all day long and either read books and newspapers or looked out the window. The man himself, although seemingly tall, was stocky for his height, slightly heavyset, raspy voice with a short, almost military style haircut. His skin was dry and wrinkly as though he had been badly burned in many places, and he had. He was a onetime merchant marine. During World War II the Liberty ship he was serving on was traveling in a convoy and positioned amongst the other ships in the rear corner on the starboard side that he called "coffin corner," said by experienced hands to be the most easy picking location for submarines in a convoy. Everybody on board was nervous, not because of the position, but

because previously another crew member, an able-bodied seaman by the name of Olguin (possibly Holguin) had always been with them. Word had it that any time Olguin was part of the crew and the ship was in coffin corner, because of his karma or good luck or whatever they would not be attacked. The legend was alive because not one of the several voyages he had been on and traveling in coffin corner had his ship been hit or even come under attack. On this trip Olguin was either not in the convoy or assigned to another ship. Partway into the voyage a wolfpack started picking at the edges of the convoy and my friend's ship torpedoed. In order to save himself he had no choice but to jump overboard, landing in an area with oil burning along the surface of the water, the fire scorching his skin as he plunged through and returned for air. He spent months in recovery and rehabilitation. A few years after he was released he moved into the place he was in now. He said in all the years he had lived there I was the first kid in the neighborhood to actually come up on the porch and to the door, let alone come in. He wasn't too concerned about the grass one way or the other, but he could use, he said, a reliable errand boy a couple of days a week to go the post office, pick up and deliver packages, go to the drug store and library and do minor shopping for such things as vegetables and freshly ground coffee. Hence started what turned out to be a very interesting friendship between me, a ninth-grade freshman just into high school and the older, heavily scared, barely able to move ex-merchant marine.

Every wall in the room that he sat in day after day, except for the wall with the picture window, was completely covered with bookshelves, stacked shelf after shelf, row after row, from floor to celing, each shelf stuffed with book after book. Along the floor beneath the window were boxes filled with even more books and on the wall space next to the window was what I would call the only picture in the room, an old movie poster simply thumbtacked to the wall. On the wall space next to the window on the other side was what looked like a few framed certificates or dipolmas and a couple of plaques. He told me he had been all over the world. He had seen the pyramids in Egypt, the Olmec, Mayan and Aztec ruins in Mexico and Central America. Easter Island all by itself in the Pacific and Angkor Wat in jungles of Cambodia. He had been to Machu Picchu high in the Andes of Peru by climbing the Inca Trail and explored Stonehenge on the Salisbury Plain in England. Machu Picchu and Peru always seemed to be in the forefront of his thoughts, speaking fondly of both quite often. One reason is because he knew Hiram Bingham, the explorer that discovered Machu Picchu. He claimed they were more than just passing acquaintances, but actually friends. During WWII Bingham gave lectures on the south sea islands to members of the Navy. My merchant marine friend had traveled extensively throughout the South Pacific, including, as mentioned, Easter Island. Somehow the two met along the way and Bingham used him as a source for some of his lecture materials. My friend even had a signed first edition copy --- with a rather lengthy

handwritten personal acknowledgement --- of Bingham's book, LOST CITY OF THE INCAS: The Story of Machu Picchu and Its Builders (1948), that Bingham sent him a few years into my friend's recuperation period. Bingham even wrote in the acknowledgement that he hoped the merchant marine would have "a quick and full recovery." Every day I came by we would talk about some place he had been to, Peru or otherwise. Our discussions on any one place could run over a period of weeks or sometimes just last the few hours I was there. Sometimes we would pick up where we left off and other times we would go off on some tangent discussing someplace else right in the middle of what we were talking about and not come back to the first topic for weeks. Each time we talked he would have me get down several books related to the place and we would look at pictures and go over the differences and the similarities of what different authors had written compared to what he had seen and experienced. He had lots and lots of books on Atlantis by Edgar Cayce, Ignatius Donnelly, and L. Sprague de Camp as well as a complete set of the Lost Continent of Mu books by James Churchwood. He told me when he was around my age he had become driven, actually obsessed with Atlantis and Mu. He began traveling the world to find or substantiate both places. But, the more and more ancient places he visited and more and more educated he became the more and more he became convinced neither place ever existed. In his quest, both pro and con, besides all the Atlantis and Mu books in

his library, he had collected reams and reams of books, material, research and explanations that debunked nearly every single aspect of either continent or their civilizations that anybody could ever pose, except possibly one. Weeks, possibly months after his ship had been torpedoed somewhere in the Atlantic he was found all alone strapped with heavy ropes to a piece of debris floating in the middle of the ocean, and except for being unconscious and heavily scared from the burn marks, which had seemingly healed, he was in pretty good shape. Everybody said it was a miracle, that his burns must had healed by the salt water. How he had made it in the open ocean without food or water nobody knew. Most people speculated he had been picked up by a U-boat and ejected at a convenient time so he would be found, although no record has ever shown up to substantiate such an event, nor did he recall ever being on a submarine, German or otherwise.[2] The day he told me the story about being found he showed me a delicate gold necklace that had what looked like a small Chinese character dangling from it. He said one day in the hospital while being given a sponge bath he was looking in a hand mirror at his burn marks when he noticed he had the necklace around his neck. He never had a gold necklace in his life. When he asked the nurse where it came from she said as far as she knew he came in with it as it was found amongst the few personal effects he had with him. She said typically they would not put any jewelry on a patient but some of the staff thought that since he was so scared by the burns that he might like a

little beauty in his life so someone put it around his neck. He told me he had no clue where it came from or how it came into his possession, but for sure he didn't have it on before he was torpedoed. He said everybody always admired it and it appeared to be very ancient. [3]

I told the story about the necklace in an abreviated sort of way to the artists one Friday, interjecting a strong emphasis on Machu Picchu because it was located in Peru and Castaneda was in the group that night. The mention of Machu Picchu perked up his ears it seemed, so I continued with the only other Peru "story" I was able expound on at any length. I had learned the story from a book given to me by a friend of my Mentor, the person I did study-practiced under. Although my mentor told me he had studied under a maharshi in India he never specifically gave me his name. His friend told me he had studied under the venerated Indian holy man theBhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. To fill me in on Sri Ramana she had given me several books on him, one of which had the following story:

A couple from Peru was visiting the ashrama of Sri Ramana Maharshi one day and he was enquiring about their day-to-day life, and their talk turned to Peru. The couple began picturing the landscape of their homeland and were describing the sea-coast and the beach of their own town. Just then Maharshi remarked: "Is not the beach

of your town paved with marble slabs, and are not coconut palms planted in between? Are there not marble benches in rows facing the sea there and did you not often sit on the fifth of those with your wife?" The remarks of Sri Maharshi created astonishment in the couple. How could Sri Bhagavan, who had never been out of Tiruvannamalai since a boy, know so intimately such minute details about their own place? Sri Maharshi only smiled and said:

"It does not matter how I can tell. Enough if you know that abiding IN the SELF there is no Space-Time." (source)

NOTE: A second equally interesting incident, cast in in a similar vein, and involving the Maharshi but a little too long to go into here, can be found by going to: THE MEETING: An Untold Story of Sri Ramana.

Castaneda was totally fascinated by the story of Sri Ramana and the Peruvian couple, especially the spacetime part, and wanted to know both the name of the author and the name of the book the story came from. I told him I couldn't recall at the moment, but at the next get together I would bring the information. The next time I saw him I gave him a note with all the info on it he requested. He thanked me and except for a brief interlude a year or so later when I saw him from the distance across the seating area at the Nogales Greyhound Bus Station on the

exact same day and time he alludes to of having met Don Juan Matus for the very first time, that was the last I ever saw him. The interesting part of it all is those artist get togethers happened over a period of time before Castaneda, to my knowledge, ever thought of Don Juan Matus. I say so because IF Castaneda was working on the development of the Don Juan character at any time before he purportedly met him at the bus station in Nogales he never said anything about it. I would think our artist discussions after work would have been the perfect forum to bring him up --- yet he didn't. Why? Castaneda just didn't seem to know about such things. If Don Juan Matus was a total made up work of fiction it seems to me, since the timing was perfect, some rudimentary form of Don Juan would have come up in our discussions --- and it was a perfect place to do so as nobody in the group leaned toward the literary side of things so there was no chance any idea Castaneda may have had or presented would have been appropriated or stolen. Even if Castaneda carried a staunch predilection toward holding his cards close to his vest during those early years of our discussions, you would think by now at least, some sort of rough drafts of primitive Don Juans' and his beliefs would have surfaced if he was indeed working on any pre-Don Juan ideas. Additionally, although Castaneda's wife Margaret Runyan confirms that her husband made frequent field trips to Mexico in the time he was supposedly apprenticed to Don Juan --- and while she has

publicly dumped on him pretty hard in many areas, she has NEVER reported that Castaneda was working on the Don Juan idea or talking Don Juan philosophy before the Nogales meeting. To my knowledge nobody has come forward to state equivocally that Castaneda was expounding a proto Don Juan philosophy anytime before he supposedly met the Shaman. However, at those meetings, besides the necklace story and the Machu Picchu story, on a minimum of at least two occasions, I know I told a story about my uncle taking me when I was a young boy to a very special cave deep in the desert --- a story that ended up, after thirty years passed, so remarkably close if not verbatim, to one Castaneda told in one of his books. Where Castaneda's cave was I don't recall. My cave, if it was in Arizona, New Mexico, or Mexico itself I'm not sure primarily because like most of the excursions I went on with my uncle they were seldom to one place during one trip and time and travel was almost always convoluted. I do know we had met a strange old man who went with us part of the way and that we had gone to the cave for a special time. That special time was either the summer solstice or fall equinox. After traveling over some pretty rough non-road roads we got to the point we could go no further by truck so we simply left the old man and the vehicle behind and continued into the mountains on foot --- all so we could be at the cave to see the sunset. My uncle told me the cave was one of three caves, all carved out and man-made, positioned along the ridgeline in such a way so that when

the sun went down on special days it would would set directly on the very tip of the tallest mountain miles across the valley. We ourselves were miles and miles from any road or habitat that I knew of and because it was too dark to travel we had to stay the night at the cave. In the middle of the night, seemingly out of nowhere, we were confronted by an emaciated man. My uncle and the man got into a heated argument and the next thing I knew the man was gone, like he had disappeard into thin air. I am certain Castaneda was in attendance for at least one, possibly both of the times I told the story. The only reason I bring it up is because in Castaneda's eighth book Power of Silence (1988) in the section entitled THE MANIFESTATIONS OF THE SPIRIT: The First Abstract Core he describes, at least up to the appearance of the emaciated man, an almost exact scenario --- carved out cave and all --- that transpired between himself and Don Juan. So, what am I saying, that Castaneda copied my story? Could be. Or it could be, unrelated to anything I said, that he himself was taken to one of the seasonal caves by Don Juan Matus or the old man or both. So too, although such an occurrence seems to be highly remote, he could have, after hearing the story and getting wrapped up in the various events as they unfolded, searched until he found one of the caves or someone who could take him there.[4]

In closing, it should be noted, unconnected with me or any of the above, Castaneda did meet up with my uncle sometime prior to that bus station meeting while traveling in the desert southwest on his infamous Road Trip with the former Pothunter turned anthropologist colleague Bill during the late spring, early summer of 1960. In Zen, The Buddha, and Shamanism I bring up the relationship between my Uncle and Carlos Castaneda as follows:

In later years, because of that association and my uncle's knowledge of Sacred Datura and peyote as well as other halluciogens, he was interviewed by Carlos Castaneda, apparently on a Road Trip in the process of gathering information for future use in his series of Don Juan books. In 1960 or so Castaneda was an anthropology student at UCLA collecting information and specimens of medicinal type plants used by the Indians in the desert southwest when the two crossed paths. My uncle had field searched thousands and thousands of plants, herbs, and mushrooms, even to having had several previously undiscovered species named after him.

THE WANDERLING'S JOURNEY

Let Me Travel Through the Air Like a Winged Bird

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the Wanderling

The Buddha said "If a monk should frame a wish as follows: 'Let me travel through the air like a winged bird,' then must he be perfect in the precepts (Sila), bring his thoughts to a state of quiescence (Samadhi), practice diligently the trances (Jhana), attain to insight (Prajna) and be frequenter to lonely places."(source)

After what could be called nothing less than a NOT so successful foray into a more formalized Zen practice under the venerated Japanese Zen master, Yasutani Hakuun Roshi, followed then by a stint in the Military and more study practice under my own spiritual guide and Mentor and the somewhat obscure American Zen master Alfred Pulyan, I ended up living on the island of Jamaica. Because of the continuous sultry heat and overwhelming humidity typically encountered along the lower coastal plains of the southern part of the island I chose to set up housekeeping above the mosquito zone somewhat absconded high among the cliffsides of the Blue Mountains, nearly a mile above the island's capitol city, Kingston, facing out over the Caribbean. One day a young girl living in the small village close to where I lived got hit by a car on the mountain road. The vehicle took off leaving her injured and

unconscious in the scrub brush of a muddy ditch alongside the weathered asphalt. The girl's parents, like most of the locals, were poor. Being poor they were not able to afford a regular doctor, so instead they opted for a less expensive, local solution. That solution included me, because I knew the parents, and another village member making a sling hamock suspended between two poles placed on our shoulders and carrying her slung front-toback between us on what turned out to be an all day rugged journey high into the mountains of Jamaica. Our goal, to find a nearly hermit man of spells called an Obeah. Some things I recall seem as though they just happened, others are blurred and long lost. One thing I remember for sure about that night was, even though I helped carry an injured girl up perilous trails high into the mountains, because I was a white man, the Obeah would not let me enter his hut...and at first refused to have anything to do with me. I sat outside in the dark basically just poking the fire with a stick and watching the light flicker amongst the trees. As the night wore on something in the light off my eyes must have caught his attention because I felt him staring at me. Eventually he came over and tipped my chin up looking into my eyes glowing dimmly in the flame-lit darkness. Mimicking almost the exact same thing that happend to me as a ten year-old boy at Pendejo Cave with the Native American spritual elder, the Obeah squated down without changing or losing eye contact, peering at me with an astounding set of eyes that seemed to shine deeply from within with a mysterious, intense light of their own, and said, in his heavy Jamaican patois, "You have felt the breath of the Dark One." "Yes, once," I said, "many years ago," refering to an incident in the military when I literally felt the boney fingers of the Shadow of Deathbrush across my soul. "Why didn't he take you with him," the Obeah asked? "I don't know," I responded, shrugging my shoulders. Then the Obeah said:

"In ancient times far away a young maiden came upon a starving prince sitting beneath a tree. Bringing him gruel, he lived. You see what he sees. There are other things planned for you."

The Obeah poured a warm tea-like broth into two small bowl-shaped cups without handles. He took one and gave me the other, gulping down the liquid while motioning me to do the same. (see)

He asked me what I liked about Jamaica. I told him things like the weather and the people. Then he asked again what I liked about Jamaica. But now I wasn't able to answer. It was like my mind had grown so huge that trying to focus on something as minuscule as a few words to string together into a sentence had become an impossible hardship. As I struggled to form something at least semi-comprehensible the Obeah asked, "What about the old man in a far away place a long time ago that constructed bird-like contraptions in order to fly even as you did as a child?" Da Vinci was the answer, but I couldn't form the words. Finally I told him about my Totem Animal, Cathartes Aura, the huge six-foot wingspan condor-like vultures Jamaicans call John Crows, that glide and soar for hours, riding the thermals, never flapping their wings.

(click image)

That the Obeah seemed to like. Soon a cool breeze fell across my face even though it came from a direction from across the fire. The Obeahman took a vessel of water and tossed it onto the flames. A huge cloud of steam burst forth followed by a thick cloud of smoke. I jumped back and turned away, stumbling to the ground while covering my face and eyes. Then it got cold, very cold. The breeze began to blow harder and I could no longer feel the ground underneath me. It felt as though I was moving very fast, yet as far as I knew I was still on the ground by the fire. I moved my arm away from my face just barely squinting my eyes open. For an instant I was still in the billowing white smoke, then suddenly I broke through to clean, fresh air. The smoke was no longer smoke, but clouds high in the night sky. I wasn't on the ground,

but hundreds of feet in the air, soaring through the night, arms along my side, wind in my face, stars over my head. With absolutely no effort I was able to swoop down the darkened mountain gullies and high into the air, eventually passing above Bamboo Lodge recognizable along the mountain road even in the dark because of a large empty swiming pool. Then, just barely above the treetops I picked up speed and headed toward the lighted streets and tall buildings of New Kingston. Soon I was even higher in the air over Port Royal, Lime Cay, and the Caribbean. Then somehow the exhilaration began to fade. I turned back toward the mountains as a creeping apprehension seeped into my thoughts. Then nothing.

(click image)

(click image)

Around ten the next morning a couple of Jamaican kids found me unconscious in a ravine about a mile from Bamboo Lodge and miles from the Obeah's hut, naked, all scratched up, and in the bushes, as though I had crashed through the trees or something. The kids apparently went to their parents or adults and told them there was a naked white man in the gully all beat up. Since I was one of the few white men in the area the adults must have assumed it was me and told Benji, the Bamboo Lodge groundskeeper. After discovering for sure who it was, he brought some shoes and clothes and took me home. Everybody in the village area knew what had happened.(source)

CASTANEDA'S JOURNEY

The shaman-sorcerer and author of a dozen best selling books, Carlos Castaneda, in his first book, THE TEACHING OF DON JUAN: A Yaqui Way To Knowledge (pp. 127-8), cites his own momentous taste of flight, of which some is presented below. Notice the similarity in Castaneda's personal experiences and outcomes to those presented previously, above, by the Wanderling:

"My legs were rubbery and long, extremely long. I took another step....and from there I soared. I remember coming down once; then I pushed up...and glided on my back. I saw the dark sky above me, and the clouds going by me. I jerked my body so I could look down. I saw the dark mass of the mountains. My speed was extraordinary....suddenly I knew it was time to come down...and I began descending like a feather with lateral motions....the next thing I remember is the feeling of waking up. I was in my bed in my own room. I sat up. And the image of my room dissolved. I stood up. I was naked! The motion of standing made me sick again. I recognized some of the landmarks. I was about half a mile from don Juan's house, near the place of his Datura Plants."

Almost everything about Castaneda is rife with controversy. He has both strong advocates and strong detractors. Whether what he wrote is true or untrue, whether he made it all up or some of it up, experienced it himself or described the experiences of others and attributed them to himself, the controversies do not seem like they are going to go away any time soon. I can, however, speak for myself and to my own personal experience. My experience was quite similar in scope to how Castaneda presents his and BOTH of our experiences are similar in extent to the Zen and Buddhist related experiences cited below. However, while the end results of both of our experiences are closely related to the outcome of the Zen and Buddhist experiences (i.e., ability to fly), they are quite different in their initial execution --- as neither were ever contingent on the more spiritually instilled supernormal perceptual states of Siddhis mastered at the level of an Arhat like the Buddhists and others are. Both Castaneda's experience and my experience were initiated in a "non-siddhi" like fashion: a "warm tea-like broth" in my case and Sacred Datura in Castaneda's case, applied rather

than drank after being mixed thereof into what could be called none other than a Flying Ointment similar to what is found in witchcraft and other ancient occult practices. [1]

Even though an analogy is drawn --- as well as differences outlined --between the various Zen, Buddhist and other experiences below and the ones presented above regarding myself and Castaneda, it should also be noted there is a HUGE but glaring difference separating my experience and any cited by Castaneda. In THE TEACHING OF DON JUAN, pp. 172-74, Castaneda relates that through an indoctrination process totally guided by the shaman-sorcerer Don Juan Matus, who had learned his art from a Diablero, Castaneda's human form gradually gave way to a crow's body, which inturn, as a crow, gave him the ability to fly.

"I could repeat every word don Juan had said. I followed each one of his directions. He said that my body was disappearing and that only my head would remain...; the head is what turns into a crow. He ordered me to wink...; I must have winked, because he said I was ready...; . He commanded me to feel the legs and observe that they were coming out slowly. He than said that I was not solid yet, that I had to grow a tail, and that the tail would come out of my neck. He ordered me to extend the tail like a fan, and to feel how it swept the floor...;. There was one last thing I had to change...; to accomplish it I had to be docile and do exactly as he told me. I had to learn to see like a crow...; it was not until don Juan directed me to see laterally that my eyes were actually capable of having a full view to the side."

No such transformation even came close or remotely transpired to me under the auspices of the Obeah, a difference that slides my experience directly into the Zen and Buddhist camps of Siddhis and away from any aspects of the areas touched on by Castaneda. So how could all of this come about? In the opening quote found in AUSHADHIS: Awakening and the Power of Siddhis Through Herbs, it is written:

In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Chapter IV, verse 1 it is stated that the supernormal perceptual powers of Siddhis CAN be reached through the use of certain herbs, replicating on the short term a mind-strength ability and potential execution of powers similar to or equal to that of a person versed in Siddhis garnered via the highest levels of Spiritual Attainment.

According to the precepts as presented by Patanjali in his sutra, although the Wanderling was NOT versed in Siddhis or their application at the level necessary to produce the results that transpired at the time of the incident, the warm tea-like broth brewed and administered by the Obeah had within itself, via the experiece and ritual of the Obeah, the capability to act in its stead. For futher clarification on the Wanderling's experience, how all of it can come about and how it is related to Aushadhis as well as the supernormal perceptual states of Siddhis please see:

DID THE WANDERLING FLY?

TALON AND SCRATCH MARKS FROM THE GIANT BIRD

BUDDHIST JOURNEYS

Throughout Buddhist history there have been many instances of Buddhist and Zen adepts that have exhibited the extraordinary capability of flight, most often cited through the use of a Siddhi power known in Sanskrit as the Vayu Gaman Siddhi. Utilizing the latent power implied within the context of the Vayu Gaman Siddhi it is reported a person can become capable of flying in the skies and traveling over great distances in very short durations of time. The Jain scriptures speak of Jain ascetics who could fly from place to place in a few seconds. Swami Divakarsuri and Swami Pragyasuri have been such accomplished ascetics. Although there are several occasions of individuals flying reported in the Sutras of classical Buddhism and Zen, the Venerable Pindola Bharadvaja and the Zen monk Ying-fung, both cited below, are probably the two most commonly mentioned. Not all are males, however. It was only AFTER her full Realization that Queen Chudala first began to observe any manifestations of Siddhis within herself. It is written that prior to Attainment she would often see women Siddhas (perfected masters) moving through the sky on the way to rendezvous with their sage husbands. It was only post event, during her fully Enlightened state that she began exploring the various potentials of Siddhis and perfecting her own ability of flight. Swami Vishuddhanandji (d. 1937)(sometimes spelled: Vishuddhananda, Vishudhanandaaka; aka: Gandha Baba, Perfume Saint), although not Buddhist, is well-known for his supernatural powers related to the use of Siddhis. The Swami is said to have been an adept associated with the mysterious Gyanganj (Jnanaganj) hermitage somewhere in Tibet -- a secret place of great masters. He demonstrated his abilities, apparently siphoning his powers from the grounding source of the Vayu Gaman Siddhi, in Varanasi in front of hordes of people on several occasions during the 1930s. In doing so it became readily apparent to both the spiritual and laypersons alike that it is not a myth.

Some time ago twenty-two western Buddhist teachers met with His Holiness The Dalai Lama to discuss a variety of Buddhist related issues. The conference was organized by Lama Surya Das, a native of New York who is now a teacher in the Tibetan Nyingmapa tradition. Each of the teachers had practiced for at least a dozen years in either Japanese or Korean Zen, the four major Tibetan schools, Thai or Sri Lankan Buddhism, or the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, a Western school based on Great Britain. There were laypeople, monks and nuns, psychologists, scholars, essayist, translators; some had meditated in caves, others had Western doctorates. Most were actively teaching Buddhist meditation, not only in the West, but in Asia, Russia, and countries like South Africa and Brazil. In response to questions on PSYCHIC POWERS SUCH AS FLYING His Holiness concluded:

"As far as I know, zero Lamas today can do that. Some meditators living in caves around Dharamsala are HIGHLY REALIZED and possibly capable of such attainments." (source)

My own Mentor and spiritual guide studied in India under the grace and light of the Enlightened sage Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. Although throughout his life Ramana never exhibited even the slightest interest in Siddhis, occult abilities, or psychic powers to outsiders, he had a fully conscious bilocation experience he rarely discussed wherein he was translocated from his ashram in a matter of minutes to a devotee many, many miles away. Arthur Osborne, Ramana's biographer writes in Ramana Maharshi And The Path of Self-Knowledge (York Beach: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1995, pages 96-97): About a year after his first meeting with Sri Bhagavan, Ganapathi Muni experienced a remarkable outflow of his Grace. While he was sitting in meditation in the temple of Ganapati at Tiruvottiyur he felt distracted and

longed intensely for the presence and guidance of the Bhagavan. At that moment Sri Ramana entered the temple. Ganapathi prostrated himself before him and, as he was about to rise, he felt the Maharshi's hand upon his head and a terrifically vital force coursing through his body from the touch; so that he also received Grace by touch from the Master. Speaking about this incident in later years, not Ganapathi Muni, but the Enlightened sage HIMSELFSri Ramana Maharshi said:

"One day, some years ago, I was lying down and awake when I distinctly felt my body rise higher and higher. I could see the physical objects below growing smaller and smaller until they disappeared and all around me was a limitless expanse of dazzling light. After some time I felt the body slowly descend and the physical objects below began to appear. I was so fully aware of this incident that I finally concluded that it must be by such means that Sages using the powers of Siddhis travel over vast distances in a short time and Appear and Disappear in such a mysterious manner. While the body thus descended to the ground it occurred to me that I was at Tiruvottiyur though I had never seen the place before. I found myself on a highroad and walked along it. At some distance from the roadside was a temple of Ganapati and I entered it."

A second equally interesting incident, cast in in a similar vein, and involving the Maharshi but a little too long to put here, can be found by going to: THE MEETING: An Untold Story of Sri Ramana as well as it's prelude page,SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI: The Last American Darshan.

Ying-fung was a Zen monk who had received instruction from Zen master Nan-chuan. From his meditative practice, Ying-fung attained some supernatural powers. Once he saw two armies fighting each other. In order to

stop the fight, he FLEW over the battlefield and the soldiers became so distracted looking at him flying they forgot to fight. He did many unusual things like this. To show his miraculous power, he died standing on his head and nobody was able to overturn him. His sister was a nun, who came and scolded him, "Old brother, when you were alive you did not behave according to the rules. Now when you died, you still want to show off and confuse people." After saying this, she touched the body lighly, and it fell down immediately. (source)

Venerable Pindola Bharadvaja is one of the Buddha's sixteen disciples named in The Amitabha Sutra. Under the Buddha's auspices he attained the holy fruit of Arhat. Once when in a jubilant mood, he said to the faithful, "Do you think flying in the sky is magical? I will show you some spectacular acts." He then jumped up into the sky, FLEW all around and performed many miraculous acts. The faithful were all impressed and praised him without ceasing. The Buddha was very displeased upon learning of this incident. He asked the Venerable to come forth and admonished him, "My teaching uses morality to change others and compassion to save living beings. It does not use magic to impress and confuse people. You have MISUSED magic today. As punishment you to stay in this world to work for more merits and to repent for this misbehavior." The Venerable did not in his lifetime enter Nirvana. (source)

By the age of twenty-five, Kunga Legpa had gained mastery of both mundane and spiritual arts. He was accomplished in the arts of prescience, shapeshifting, magical display, and the PSYCHIC POWER OF FLYING. Returning home to visit his mother in Ralung, she failed to recognize his achievement and judged him merely by his outward behavior. 'You must decide exactly who you are,' she complained. 'If you decide to devote yourself to the religious life, you must work constantly for the good of others. If you are going to be a lay householder, you should take a wife who can help your old mother in the house.'

DID JESUS FLY?

People, especially those seeped in traditions and cultures of the West, read the examples of flying I have cited above and often discount the possibilities as being unreliable because they are either foreign to them, as in the Buddhist or Indian examples, or stem from the occult --- aspects of which are typically not afforded much credibility. However, the Bible, depending on how Luke 4:29-30 is interpreted, indicates Jesus, in all his mortal glory prior to the Resurrection, flew on at least one occasion. The Bible also speaks of at least one other person that came to be known for accomplishing just such a feat as well --- the person being one Simon Magus who shows up in Acts 8:9-24.

Tjitze Baarda, a professor in Semitic languages, earned a PhD at the Free University of Amsterdam. His doctoral dissertation was a two-volume study of the text of the Gospel of John by the fourth century Christian muse and theologian Aphrahat. During his research Baarda noticed a somewhat large discrepancy between what Aphrahat presented in his works related to a confrontation Jesus engaged in at Nazareth as found in Luke 4:16-30 and what has been traditionally presented in the Bible. In the narrative, Jesus returns to Nazareth and goes to the synagogue on the day of the sabbath. Soon a confrontation develops between Jesus and those at the synagogue. Luke 4:29-30 typically relates the outcome thus:

"And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. "But he passing through the midst of them went his way."

Like with Aphrahat, when reading the verse, if you think about it, the final outcome of the incident is not clear --- with no clear explanation forthcoming.

The traditional verse seems to indicate that Jesus simply "passed through their midst," it is supposed, by just walking away unmolested through the crowd. Considering the terseness of the verse, that is, why a mob that was so riled up that they would force Jesus out of the city and up to the top of a hill with every intent of casting him down --- but instead, just allow him to walk away is questionable. However, Baarda, in his research of Aphrahat's works, as well at a number of other sources, discovered quite a different translation that opens up a fuller explanation of events. Aphrahat's translation, garnered from a number of ancient texts, states that Jesus was indeed, thrown off the cliff by the mob and "flew," unhurt, down to Capernaum --- a city located twenty to thirty miles away from Nazareth. Aphrahat's verse of the events reads:

"They stood up and they led Him out from the town and brought Him by the side of the hill where the town was built in order to cast Him down. They cast Him down from the height into the depth and He did not fall and was not hurt/harmed. "Through their midst He passed and He flew [in the air] and He descended [from above] to Kapharnaum."

William L. Petersen (1950-2006), formally of the Department of Religious Studies, Pennsylvania State University inTC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism (1996) writes: The causal reader is inclined to dismiss Aphrahat's account as his own overly dramatic invention. But Baarda knows both the ancient and modern sources too well to fall into this trap. In 1881 Theodor Zahn had already noted the reading, when he set about reconstructing the text of the Diatessaron. Basing himself on the Armenian version of Ephrem's Commentary on the Diatessaron, Zahn determined that a similar reading probably stood in Tatian's second century harmony. Baarda then turns to Ephrem's Commentary and presents evidence from both the Armenian version and the Syriac text (discovered only in 1957 and published in 1963). In no fewer than nine instances in the Commentary Ephrem either directly states or obliges one to infer that Jesus was, indeed, cast from the precipice by the mob and "flew," unhurt, down to Capernaum.

The other person in the Bible said to have exhibited an ability to fly was Simon Magus, a Samaritan from a village called Gitto. He first shows up in Acts 8:924:

"But there was a man named Simon who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the nation of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. They all gave heed to him, from the least thought him greatest, saying "This man is that power of God which is called Great." And they gave heed to him, because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip (i.e., Saint Philip the Evangelist). And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed. Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit; for it had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, "Give me also this power, that any one on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." But Peter said to him, "Your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity." And Simon answered, "Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me."

The Bible states in Acts, as cited above, that Simon Magus previously practiced magic, constantly amazing the citizens and nation of Samaria with his abilities. Among his various skills, as documented by a number of ancient scribes and recorders, was the ability to make himself visible or invisible at will, pass through rocks as if they were clay, throw himself down from a mountain unhurt, loose himself when bound, animate statues, make trees spring up. He could also throw himself into fire without harm, appear with two faces, and ascend by flight into the air --- all, in one form or the other, well known supernormal perceptual states known in the ancient world, and still to this day, as Siddhis. Following an unknown passage of time after the events in Acts 8:9-24, Simon Magus, according to Stephan A. Hoeller in Jung and the Last Gospels (1989), received a supernal summons to speed to Rome and flies through the air from Aricia arriving at the gates in a cloud of dust. Hoeller also writes that previously, when confronted with Peter's opposition in Judea, Simon Magus simply rose into the air and flew away. While in Rome, although he had been baptized into the Christian faith by Phillip, contrary to the beliefs of the faith, did mighty acts of magic. Because of his powers he was as enthusiastically received and considered by many as a god, and as a god, honored with a statue erected on the river Tiber, between the two bridges --- a recognition of such magnitude that it, except for being a god, as a non citizen, could not have been done even with the full approval of Caesar and the Senate of Rome. Tradition holds, as recorded in the Clementine Homilies and preserved in Christian literature, that the disciple of Jesus, Peter, came into Rome and engaged in a series of mystical debates with Simon Magus in an effort to undermine any claims of godship by him. In the final chapters of the Acts of Peter the disciple and Simon Magus agreed to engage in a contest to win the faith of the Roman citizens. The following is found in the Acts of Peter XXXII, translated by M.R. James:

"So then this man standing on an high place beheld Peter and began to say: Peter, at this time when I am going up before all this people that behold me, I say unto thee: If thy God is able, whom the Jews put to death, and stoned you that were chosen of him, let him show that faith in him is faith in God, and let it appear at this time, if it be worthy of God.

For I, ascending up, will show myself unto all this multitude, who I am. And behold when he was lifted up on high, and all beheld him raised up above all Rome and the temples thereof and the mountains, the faithful looked toward Peter. And Peter seeing the strangeness of the sight cried unto the Lord Jesus Christ: If thou suffer this man to accomplish that which he hath set about, now will all they that have believed on thee be offended, and the signs and wonders which thou hast given them through me will not be believed: hasten thy grace, O Lord, and let him fall from the height and be disabled; and let him not die but be brought to nought, and break his leg in three places. And he fell from the height and brake his leg in three places. Then every man cast stones at him and went away home, and thenceforth believed Peter."

Legend implies that Peter specifically challenged Simon to fly through the air, and when he easily did so, flying over the temples and hills of Rome to the amazement of the crowd, Peter just as easily caused him to fall to the ground though prayer. In the version quoted above Simon Magus broke his legs in three places and retired in shame, dying some time later. A second version states that Simon Magus was killed on the spot by the fall. A third version, not favored by Christians --- but the most plausible given Peter's known tendencies toward doubts --- states that it was actually the disciple and NOT Simon Magus who broke his legs in the attempt to imitate him. Nowhere in any of the versions, however, is there any hint or suggestion that Simon Magus did not fly. The church of Santa Francesca Romana in Rome claims to have been built on the spot in question where Simon Magus crashed to earth, affirming in a sense that Simon Magus could indeed and DID fly.

Why all the fuss about giant flying creatures, giant birds, and giant feathers, and all somehow and in someway related back to the Wanderling? Basically, my uncle stated many times that he felt the reason for my destiny and fascination regarding all aspects of giant flying creatures went back to an incident that involved the fly over of a giant airborne object that I witnessed as a young boy. The object, of an unknown nature and an unknown origin, was seen by literally thousands of people along the coast of California barely three

months into World War II. Eventually to be called the Battle of Los Angeles or as I call it the UFO Over L.A., the incident is mostly forgotten now except by maybe myself and a major chronicler of the event C. Scott Littleton whose critiques of my eyewitness accounts of the event are explored in Littleton Vs. The Wanderling. Anyway, as the story goes, during the early morning hours of February 25, 1942 the whole city and surrounding communities were in an uproar as thousands of rounds of anti-aircraft shells were expended in an attempt to pull down whatever it was in the sky that night. The slow moving object, said to be as big or bigger than a Zeppelin, was caught in the glare of the searchlights from Santa Monica to Long Beach and seemed impervious to the the constant barrarge of shells. It eventually disappeared out over the Pacific after cruising along the coast and cutting inland for a while. The huge object was never clearly explained and was basically hushed up without response from the authorities. One of the most interesting aspects of the whole event was the downstream outflow put into motion seemingly by Karma and conditions. Somewhere along the way I met a man who said he had experienced the northern most flight path of the object as it was crossing over the mountains into the Los Angeles basin. Years and years after the event, doing some research on what he had to say I stopped in a small park in the San Fernando Valley just north of Los Angeles. While there, totally unrelated to anything I was doing, I just happened across a man of great Spiritual Attainment by the name of Robert Adams, a man who had met and studied under the great Indian holy man Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi.]

SHAMANISM

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PRESENTED BY ...the Wanderling

The word shaman, used internationally, has its origin in manch-tangu and has reached the ethnologic

vocabulary through Russian. The word originated from saman (xaman), derived from the verb scha-, "to know", so shaman means someone who knows, is wise, a sage. Further ethnologic investigations shows that the true origin for the word Shaman can be tracked from the Sanskrit initially, then through Chinese-Buddhist mediation to the manch-tangu, indicating a much deeper but now overlooked connection between early Buddhism and Shamanism generally. In Pali it is schamana, in Sanskrit sramana translated to something like "buddhist monk, ascetic". The intermediate Chinese term is scha-men. (source)

Shamans are individuals with the ability to heal, work with earth energies and 'see' visions. A Shaman can be, but are not always, a Medicine Man or Medicine Woman. There are also those who practice Shamanism pulling their power from the dark side called, among other things Diablero, brujo, and sorcerer. The essential characteristics of Shamans are mastery of energy and fire as a medium of transformation. A Shaman may exhibit or concentrate on a particular specialty such as control over fire, wind, magical flight, shape shifting, or divination using stones, bones and other items --- usually used in conjuction with a Shaman's circle. In contemporary, historical or traditional shamanic practice the Shaman may at times fill the role of Medium, Priest, Magician, Metaphysician or Healer. Personal experience is the prime

determinant of the status of a Shaman. For the most complete and comprehensive exploration on the internet of all those roles of a Shaman as well as others see Shamans and Shamanism, by Jose Maria Poveda, translated into english from his book Chamanismo. As mentioned above, the term 'Shaman' comes to the English language from the Tungu language via Russian. Among the Tungus of Siberia it is both a noun and a verb. While the Tungus have no word for Shamanism, it has come into usage by anthropologists, historians of religion and others in contemporary society to designate the experience and the practices of the Shaman. Its usage has grown to include similar experiences and practices in cultures outside of the original Siberian cultures from which the term Shaman originated, even to backtracking its use historically. For example, when applied to the healing and spiritual parctices of indigenous cultures long eradicated in the mists of time such as the early European tribes. There seems to be for many, a great amount of confusion with the use of, and the mixing up of, what a Shaman is or isn't and what Shamanism is or isn't in relation to certain spirituality aspects of Native Americans and other North American indigenous cultures. A clarification of much of what that controversy involves is explored and discussed at length in a paper titled:

WE DO NOT HAVE SHAMANS The Case Against "Shamans" In the North American Indigenous Cultures

The distinguishing characteristic of Shamanism is its focus on an ecstatic trance state called State of Flow in which the soul of the

Shaman is believed to leave the body and ascend to the sky (heavens) or descend into the earth (underworld). It is a commonly held belief that Shamans in their practice make use of spirit helpers called Familiar Spiritswith whom he or she communicates, all the while retaining control over his or her own consciousness. So too, the same is said of the Shaman and the use of an Ally. The ability to consciously move beyond the physical body is the particular specialty of the traditional Shaman. These journeys of Soul may take the Shaman into the nether realms, higher levels of existence or to parallel physical worlds or other regions of this world. Shamanic Flight, is in most instances NOT an experience of an inner imaginary landscape, but IS the Shaman's flight beyond the limitations of the physical body and it's ability to fly. (see)

THE ZEN-MAN FLIES

(click)

While most Shamans in traditional societies are men, there are women Shamans as well, going under a variety of words and terms from Curandera, to Bruja, to Medicine Woman, to Shaman, to Sheshaman. Traditional Shamans developed techniques for lucid dreaming and what is today called the 'out-of-the-body experience'.

These methods for exploring the inner landscape are being investigated by a wide range of people. Some are academics, some come from traditional societies and others are modern practitioners of non-traditional Shamanism or neo-Shamanism. Along with these techniques, the NDE or Near Death Experience have played a significant role in shamanic practice and initiation for millenia. Shamanism is classified by anthropologists as an archaic magicoreligious phenomenon in which the Shaman is the great Master of Chaos Magic. In most tribal myth collections the Shaman is often intertwined with a remarkable joker, a jester of sorts, who is at the same time a serious figure, a transformer of the world, or a culture hero called the Trickster. There is extensive documentation of this in ethnographic studies of traditional Shamanism. With this renewed interest in these older traditions these Shamanic methods of working with dreams and being conscious and awake while dreaming are receiving increased attention. As noted in this article, the 'call' to Shamanism is often directly related to a Near Death Experience by the prospective Shaman. Among the traditional examples are being struck by lightening, a fall from a height, a serious life-threatening illness or lucid dream experiences in which the candidate dies or has some organs consumed and replaced and is thus reborn. Survival of these initial inner and outer brushes with death provides the Shaman with personal experiences which strengthen his or her ability to work effectively with others. Having experienced something, a Shaman is more likely to understand what must be done to correct a condition or situation. Post-Shamanic: While shamanism may be readily identified among many hunting and gathering peoples and in some traditional herding societies, identifying specific groups of individuals who might be called Shamans is a difficult task in more stratified agricultural and manufacturing based societies. A society may be said to be Post- Shamanic when there are the presence of Shamanic motifs in its traditional folklore or spiritual practices indicate a clear pattern of traditions of ascent into the heavens, descent into the nether- worlds, movement between this world and a parallel Otherworld, are present in its history. Such a society or tradition may have become very specialized and recombined aspects of mysticism, prophecy and Shamanism into

more specialized or more "fully developed" practices and may have assigned those to highly specialized functionaries. When such practices and functionaries are present or have replaced the traditional Shamans found in historical or traditional Shamanism the use of Post-shamanic is appropriate. Knowledge of other realms of being and consciousness and the cosmology of those regions is the basis of the Shamanic perspective and power along with the ability to create White Light Shields to ward off predatory inorganic and other negatives. With this knowledge, the Shaman is able to serve as a bridge between the mundane and the higher and lower states. Few indeed have the stamina to adventure into these realms and endure the outer hardships and personal crises that have been reported by or observed of many shamans. Carlos Castaneda who, under the Yaqui Indian Shaman-sorcerer Don Juan Matus, wrote close to a dozen books outlining his harrowing experiences and adventures that outlined just such hardships as he rose from apprentice to full-fledged Shaman. Castaneda, as well as his teacher, Don Juan, and Don Juan's teacher Julian Osorio and his teacher's teacherElias Ulloa, had equally harrowing experiences, including Near Death Experiences and meeting the inorganic being the Death Defier.

A major aspect of the Shaman often overlooked as to its potential is the Power of the Omen. According to Castaneda "When a shamansorcerer interprets an omen he knows its exact meaning without having any notion of how he knows it. This is one of the bewildering effects of the connecting link with intent. Sorcerers have a sense of knowing things directly. How sure they are depends on the strength and clarity of their connecting link."

CLOUD SHAMANS

the Wanderling

"For instance, there are Cloud Shamans who turn into clouds, into mist. I have never seen this happen, but I knew a Cloud Shaman. I never saw him disappearing or turning into mist in front of my eyes, but I chased him once, and he simply vanished in an area where there was no place for him to hide. Although I didn't see him turning into a cloud, he disappeared. I couldn't explain where he went. There were no rocks or vegetation around the place where he ended up. I was there half a minute after he was, but the Shaman was gone." (see)

As he reached toward the end of his series of books, Carlos Castaneda, in The Active Side of Infinity, writes that sometime before the eventual meeting between the Yaqui sorcerer Don Juan Matus and himself, an anthropologist colleague, quoted above and sometimes called Bill and sometimes left unnamed, told him what he knew about Cloud Shamans.

Several months before the colleague ever told him anything about Cloud Shamans, Castaneda had a similar experience in the desert between himself and the mysterious bio-searcher called the informant. At the time ofTHAT experience Castaneda had never heard of a Cloud Shaman, hence there was no connection between the experience and the phenomenon. Regarding the incident, the following is presented in The Informant and Carlos Castaneda:

"Only a few weeks earlier, the informant, cloaked by shimmering desert heat waves, simply seemed to evaporate into the rocks and sagebrush without a trace, leaving Castaneda without a source."

Later, while Castandea was waiting in the infamous Greyhound Bus Station in Nogales, Arizona, on that fateful day he reportedly met Don Juan Matus for the first time, Bill, the colleague he just returned with from the Road Trip -- and the same person who told him about Cloud Shamans in the first place --was with him. Looking out across the depot Bill noticed an old man he recognized sitting on the other side of the room. The following is what Castaneda writes his colleague Bill said about him:

"I think that old man sitting on the bench by the corner over there is the man I told you about, I am not quite sure because I've had him in front of me, face-to-face, only once." "What man is that? What did you tell me about him?" Castaneda asked. "When we were talking about Shamans and Shamans' transformations, I told you that I had once met a Cloud Shaman." "Yes, yes, I remember that," Castaneda said. "Is that man the Cloud Shaman?"

"No," the colleague said emphatically to Castaneda. "But I think HE is a companion OR a teacher of the Cloud Shaman. I saw BOTH of them together in the distance various times, many years ago."

It is quite clear by the contents of the above conversation that Castaneda and his colleague had, at one time, prior to being at the bus station, discussed Cloud Shamans --- most likely, if not the specific conversation cited in the opening paragraph at the very top of this page, at least a similar one or ones left unrecorded. The two had traveled weeks together throughout Arizona and New Mexico visiting "all the places where he (the colleague) had done work in the past."[1] Apparently, even though Castaneda met the informant somewhere or someplace along the way during those travels with the colleague Bill, at the time of the conversation in the bus station it seems the colleague was unaware of the incident in the desert when Castaneda and the informant were bio-searchingSacred Datura and he, the informant, "simply seemed to evaporate into the rocks and sagebrush without a trace." It appears as well that same incident, the disappearance of the informant, occurred sometime BEFORE any conversation came up regarding Cloud Shamans because Castandea comes across as being quite oblivious to the whole thing. He is not amazed, he is not surprised, he does not report it. It is as though Castaneda's opinion of the incident, knowing nothing of Cloud Shamans or their capabilities at the time, had not thought of the incident in a "Cloud Shaman" type context, the phenomenon being more or less explainable somehow on the conventional level. In connection with the above, the colleague, Bill, in reminding Castaneda about Cloud Shamans, is drawing an inference about their conversation regarding Cloud Shamans from the discussion recorded in the top of this section --- NOT relating it to any connection with the desert incident where the informant just disappeared in front of Castaneda eyes (because Bill didn't know about the incident in the desert). What he seems to be trying to impart is, when he says:

"I think he (that is, the old man in the bus station, whether it is Don Juan Matus or not) is a companion or a teacher of the Cloud Shaman" and that he

saw "both of them together in the distance various times, many years ago"

is that the Cloud Shaman AND Castaneda's bio-searching informant are one and the same person. He is also saying that the Cloud Shaman-comeinformant and the "old man," Don Juan Matus, know each other, that is, they are friends or companions --- only at the time of his conversation with his colleague at the bus station Castaneda isNOT putting all the concepts, the incident in the desert, the existence of Cloud Shamans, and the informanttogether. However, the colleague IS. Having caught up with the informant in the field while traveling with Castaneda on their Road Trip throughout Arizona and New Mexico, then seeing the "old man" in the bus station --- an old man that until the exact moment he saw him sitting there on the bench, regardless of his abilities, doesn't seem like someone the colleague was overtly concerned about one way or the other in a very long time, and surely a person he never thought of on the Road Trip --he suddenly remembers seeing "both of them together in the distance various times, many years ago" and realizes that the Cloud Shaman he saw with the "old man" AND the bio-searcher, that is the informant, are one and the same person. At that moment in time however, and for years to come, it doesn't really matter as the "old man" is not yet known by any of the players as being anybody that will become somebody of any stature in their lives, most of all Castaneda. Interestingly enough, a FULL thirty-one years later, in The Active Side of Infinity, the eleventh book in his series of Don Juan books, Castaneda finally brings up Cloud Shamans and, without necessarily implying any lack of understanding pertaining to any of the situation as outlined above, writes:

"The relationship of the old man to the Cloud Shaman was never voiced by my friend, but obviously it was foremost in his mind, to the point where he believed that he had told me about him."

The plain fact is, Castaneda's colleague Bill, the friend Castaneda is refering to in the above sentence, knew the bio-searcher, that is the informant, long before he ever met Castaneda. Throughout the years following World War II there seemed to be nothing BUT a continually overlapping, intermingled, and interwoven background between the two --- a background covered fairly well in The Pothunter as well as in an article exploring the Omen like aspect to it all. When the colleague told Castaneda he intended to go to "all the places where he had done work in the past, renewing in this fashion his relationships with the people who had been his anthropological informants," the informant was one of the people he had in mind to meet up with. The desert southwest is a huge, vast and sometimes magical and mysterious place. However, as large of a place as it is, it is not unusual with those of similar or like pursuits such as the bio-searcher and Castaneda's archaeologist colleague to have found themselves in similar or like areas here and there at the sametime in relation to their pursuits. For example, Fajada Butte in Chaco Canyon is an area that could easily attract the two of them to be in the same place at the same time. Fajada Butte is thought by the indigenous population to have special powers when it comes to various medicinal plants that grow in and around and on the butte. The expansive canyon area contains many charted and uncharted ruins and petrographs as does the butte itself, which is known for the astrological Sun Dagger. The butte has various rooms along the upper edges thought to be associated with the dagger, many filled with chards and other ancient artifacts.[2] Taken together all things that would be an attraction for either of the two men. As a freelance archaeologist in the field Bill went to where the action was, and where the action was it was not unusual to find the informant. The two originally met at Meteor Crater in Arizona just after World War II. Bill was doing work of an unknown nature in the Canyon Diablo scatter field surrounding the impact site for Dr. H.H. Nininger the founder of the American Meteorite Museum, the first meteorite museum in the world. Around that same time the bio-searcher was doing minor archaeological work related to the ruins associated with the little known ancient Native American pit houses thought to be of ceremonial nature located along the the southwest rim of the crater. A few years later the two of them crossed paths a second time at the infamous fused glass debris field associated with the Roswell UFO, an object of unknown origin that came down near Roswell, New Mexico, in July of 1947. At the time of that meeting --- and well before the Cloud Shaman circumstance between Castaneda and the informant --- a very cloud shamanlike event, which was witnessed by Bill, transpired between the informant and

some military personnel at the site AND may very well have been the same incident cited at the top of the page wherein Billsays:

"I chased him once, and he simply vanished in an area where there was no place for him to hide. Although I didn't see him turning into a cloud, he disappeared. I couldn't explain where he went. There were no rocks or vegetation around the place where he ended up. I was there half a minute after he was, but the Shaman was gone."

Although basically unknown or unhearlded now, at the time of the suspected crash at Roswell a ripple effect had been created that flowed throughout the whole loosly knit underground and fringe elements of the archaeological and anthropological community that had arisen in the desert southwest shortly after World War II. Initially, almost anybody with any sort of intellectual moxie or curiosity in the area showed up on the scene in one fashion or the other to see what they could find out. Some of those same people, like Bill, had personally observed the mysterious flying objects called Foo Fighters during the war that paralleled or followed aircraft and had been seen over and over by aviators on all sides of the action. Others that had been wending their way toward the desert environs of Arizona and New Mexico had been in the Los Angeles region participating in the war effort, either in a civilian capacity or for the military. Some had either witnessed first hand the giant airborne object of an unknown nature that came to be known as the UFO Over Los Angeles early in the war or knew somebody who had, so something like the incident in Roswell would do nothing but pique their interest to such a point they had to go. According to Roswell Incident Updated, because of the bio-searcher's intimate knowledge of indigenious plants of the desert southwest he was called in to assist the noted scientist and meteorite hunter Dr. Lincoln La Paz in the investigation of the downed object. One of the military investigators, also assigned, apparently didn't like the bio-searcher's unorthodox methods and because of a disagreement over some debris found at the site, had him taken, under guard, to the vehicle he arrived in and told to stay there. When the military investigator returned to the truck he found the bio-searcher gone, and the guard assigned to watch him having no clue where he went or what happened to him. A search of the area showed no sign of the bio-searcher in

the vicinity, as though he simply disappeared or vanished, the desert and the surrounding environment somehow swallowing him up without a trace. (source) See also Footnote [4] at the bottom of The Informant and Carlos Castaneda as well as Footnote [6].

POWER OF THE SHAMAN:

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Where Does It Come From, How Does It Work?

"I do not deny that White Light Shields are protective. I simply maintain that Shamans channel what I call heavy voltage. Ordinary people may NOT

have the power to draw upon sufficient "voltage" to produce the desired effect." (source)

PRESENTED BY the Wanderling

PROLOGUE:
In the fall of 1991, in the remote part of an ancient mountain range, high above the tree line, a group of modern day hikers stumbled across the body of a man frozen to death in the snow, fully dressed in clothes of a tribal nature, his body nearly intact and almost perfectly preserved. Incredibly, tests showed the man had been frozen 5000 years years before, sometime between 33503140 BC. After a rather intensive investigation over a period of years by a team of scientific experts from a variety of fields, it was concluded that the man appeared to have been a Shaman, presumably dying of exposure when caught out in the open during a mystical retreat on the side of the treacherous mountain. Several associated facts presented themselves for such speculation. Like many shamans from many cultures the body was tattooed; his weapons, consisting of a roughlyhewn bow made of yew, several unfinished arrows, and an

all wood dagger, resembled dummy weapons associated with shamans in other cultures; he carried amedicine bag containing, among other things, a leather thong on which was threaded two pieces of a common birch fungus Piptoporus betulinus which contains polyporic acid C, an effective antibody, especially against stomach microbacteria, which would indicate, if not a specific knowledge of herbs and natural ingredients, at least a general acceptance of their use. A similar fungus, also closely associated with the birch, Amanita muscaria, is not only hallucinogenic but has been used by various shamans cultures as an aid to ecstasy before the dawn of history. It is possible that, if not authentically hallucinogenic, the ones the frozen iceman carried, could at least have been believed to be so; he also carried with him, and unusually so, a copper-headed axe. A very rare object for the time, and because it was metal, for the most part quite valuable in those days, marking him as an individual of high status. Last, an item not discussed at any length in the numerous reports on the frozen man was a net he carried, an object not typically found in hunting as much as used to trap spirits and seen in various forms as adream catcher and such. Taken together, the fact that he carried only what HE needed and not a variety for wider shamanistic use, again underscores his mountain sojourn as having a more "mystical retreat" aspect to it. And finally, while it is true the frozen man's location was somewhat close to ancient trade routes and trails which ran through passes nearby, he was NOT actually on one. Aerial photographs of the area show that the site he was

found is not in easily accessible terrain, thus it is thought unreasonable he simply strayed there from one of the passes. The body was well above known trails, high in the mountains above the 10,400 foot level, and alone it seems, suggesting the possibility that he had traveled there to be closer to the gods. The problem most people had with the situation was not that the man might have been a Shaman, because a preponderance of the evidence seemed to implicate nothing other than that, but where he was found. Not in the tundra of Siberia or the ancient ice path of the Rocky Mountains in North America, but the Oetzaler Alps between Austria and Italy, a location that eventually became modern day Europe, an area NEVER thought of in the present era for any sort of a background in things Shaman or even of tribal people. Yet there he was, a 5000 year old frozen Shaman right in the heart of Europe.[1]

INTRODUCTION:
Shamanism is truly an ancient cross cultural world-wide phenomenon, albeit sometimes lost to those of the modern era in the murky reaches of time, as the above story on the Iceman might attest. For many of us though, there remains a thread, however slight or however tenuous, whether it is linked to Early European Tribes, Native American Tribes, African Tribes, or elsewhere, that ties us to that past. As things have unfolded in my life the viability of that thread has been made clear, not just by me on my own, but by those who

have never lost touch with their specific cultures or beliefs. In my adult years my practicing backround in things Shaman is primarily based on Obeah, the Shamanistic beliefs found in some of the countries in and around the Caribbean. However, in earlier years, as a very young boy, I traveled, as will be mentioned below, somewhat intensively with my Uncle in similar "circles" throughout various indigenious cultures of the desert southwest. It is admitted I am unable to speakspecifically to or of Shamanistic beliefs of ALL Shaman related cultures. I can however, because of my background of having been apprenticed to a Jamaican man of spells called an Obeahman for many years, speak of where the power of the Shaman he exhibited, and from which I learned, is drawn. From that same experience I can speak as well of the results of what happens when that "power" is used, misused, or implemented, and where I learned, regardless of what culture a Shaman resides, the "power" of the Shaman "comes from." For the most part and for those most truly involved, in the end Shamanism is a calling. How does one know if they have a "calling?" It is not so much YOU that determines such a thing, but the "selection out" that occurs from or by another Shaman that senses an innate ability that is somehow radiated or felt. You yourself may not even know per se' although your whole life you may have had "this feeling." It just needs to be focused and that is what another Shaman can do. That is what happened in my case and to countless others like me throughout the centuries.

ANIMAL TOTEMS: Your Selection or Their Selection?

My Father's brother, my Uncle, spent nearly sixty of his eighty-four years in the desert southwest, having moved to the Taos, Santa Fe, New Mexico area sometime in his twentys. I was quite young when my mother died and when my Father remarried he brought my Uncle in to "oversee" me. My Uncle had been married at one time as well, but, although he maintained a loosly related association with his wife, he was for all practical purposes, divorced. The woman he was separated from was a Native American of the Little Shell Plains Ojibwe and a fourth levelMidewiwin, a secret Ojibwe Medicine Society. She was a very powerful curandera that I had met only in passing, and initally, for the most part, she never payed much attention to me one way or the other, although I sensed something very extraordinary or "different" about her. She reminded me of a lightning or thunderstorm raging in the distant mountains. You only felt safe because you weren't there, although you knew if you were, the storm had the power to wash you away or destroy you by the might of it all. One day, when I was around ten years old or so, I went for a hike deep into the desert unescorted. When my Uncle discovered I was gone he went looking for me. During my walk I happened across the carcass of a dead rabbit and was fascinated by it for some reason. When my Uncle found me after cresting a small hill he saw me squatted down with the carcass. Joining me quite comfortably in a circle with the rabbit were three what were, because of this incident, to eventually become my Totem Animal --VULTURES. From what he was able to discern from his initial vantage point I was neither afraid of them nor were they remotely afraid of me. As well, and he swore this to be true --- although I have absolutely no recollection of it and construe it as a possible total misinterpretation of facts --- that the vultures and I were sharing meat from the carcass between us. When my Uncle told his estranged wife about the incident she suddenly was very interested in me. You see, for some reason, in today's neo-Shaman environment there has been a stress placed on finding one's "power animal." The contemporary neo-Shaman workshops blind people to the fact that real animals are also spirit and power, and every bit as important, or even more so, than than a spirit guide that appears in some vision. The medicine woman knew that.

Where there is carrion lying on the ground, meat-eating birds circle and descend. Life and Death, seemingly two, become one. The living attack the

dead, to their own profit. The dead lose nothing by it. They gain as well, by being disposed of. Or they seem to, IF you must think in terms of gain and loss. --Adapted from "Zen and the Birds of Appetite"

During those years my Uncle spent a lot of time traveling in and about some very isolated sections of the desert and interacting with the indigenous populations thereof because of various, as he called them, "art" related ties he had with them. During many of those travels I went along. It was on one of those trips, at the suggestion of his wife, as a very young boy, I was introduced to things Shaman: We were on one of our excursions deep into a remote part of the southern New Mexico desert to visit a very strange man my Uncle was somehow associated with. After arrival the two sat together in the shade outside the man's shack and talked for a good part of the day while I either played with the dogs or sat in the cab of the truck fiddling with the radio. Just as we were leaving the man came up to me and handed me a huge long black with white feather, the biggest, longest feather I had ever seen. It was nearly as wide as the span of my hand and it's length was as long as I, a ten year old boy, was tall. Tied to the quill shaft, which was much, much bigger around than any piece of schoolroom chalk, was a small, double strand of leather string with ten colored beads attached, one for each of my years he said. He told me the feather once belonged to a very magnificent bird that was very important to his culture and the desert's well being, but now it belonged to me. Soon my Uncle and I were on the long dusty road back, and, as kids are wont to do on occasion, I was leaning out the window, flowing the feather in the wind as we sped along. Suddenly the feather was whipped out of my hand and I watched it as it blew high into the sky, caught first in the turbulance from the truck, then by the desert breeze itself, only to disappear from sight

altogether. True, it was only a feather, but for some reason it's loss affected me in a deep, sad sort of way. The next morning my Uncle and I got up and went out to the truck to do a few errands. Laying alone in middle of the pick-up bed near the back of the cab in a very fine smooth layer of dust was a long black with white feather, with a small, double strand leather string with ten colored beads tied to it's quill. Left in the dust also, were what appeared to be several very large, clear footprints of a huge bird along with scratches and talon marks on the tailgate as though, if even for a short time, a giant avian had roosted or landed there. (see)

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What is trying to made apparent in the above is that I did not select the feather. It was given to me after I had been selected out. The feather was a very rare and important symbol, a giant feather as long as I was tall, of which I immediately lost. However, and this is the point I wish to make clear, I saw the feather fly high into the sky to be gone I thought, forever to the desert winds, only to somehow, mystically, reappear overnight placed carefully in the back of the pickup truck where it would be sure to be found by either myself or my Uncle the next morning. If you follow the links regarding my Uncle and the Obeah you will see later both the original feather and a present day heir to that feather, my Totem Animal, played very important roles in my experiences of things Shaman. See footnote [2] A couple of quick comments regarding the giant feather, estimated to have been nearly as large as a wing feather from the twenty-five foot wingspan Teratorn type bird Argentavis Magnificens, with a feather length of 1.5 meters (60 inches...that is, FIVE FEET) and a width of 20 centimeters (8 inches). When the feather was first given to me, even though it was of a huge size, I, as a young ten-year old boy with a vivid imagination, did not fully grasp

the ramifications of it all. For me at the time, it did not seem impossible that a bird could not be of any size, so a feather as long as I was tall did not seem at all that improbable. It was only into high school and beyond that it came to me that I had been in the presence of something truly remarkable. I never saw the bird the feather came from, nor have I ever seen a second or other feathers of such large size, but for a bird to have required such an enormous feather in the first place, it would have to had been truly a giant creature. For the Shaman to have imparted something so rare, meaningful, and valuable to me, a mere ten year old boy with then no history or background, speaks volumes. To learn the fate of the feather, that is, what happened to it, please visit Meditation Along Meteor Crater Rim. See also the home of the ancient ones of the desert southwest, Pendejo Cave, and tales of the sacred Native American site The Sun Dagger. For those who would question the validity of the existance of a feather of such size in the first place, as stated in the closing sentence of the Legend of the Giant Bird:

The loss of the Buffalo would have a devastating effect on the migratory habits of birds of such size. Not everybody makes the connection, but it is pretty simple stuff, without the herds, migration became very difficult and many of the young birds as well as some of the adults died on their way south. We are talking twenty-five foot wingspan Teratorn type birds, animals so huge they couldn't hunt in woodlands or heavy foilage. They needed large open area suchs as the Great Plains or the Argentine Pampas to navigate and hunt.

In any case, by the time I was old enough for high school my Father had divorced and remarried and my Uncle had long ago gone back to the Taos, Santa Fe, New Mexico desert he loved. It was during those high school years I met a person that had studied under a venerated Maharshi in India, and he, like his teacher before him, was Enlightened. It was he who introduced me to things Zen. Years later I was to travel to and live in Jamaica where through a series of events I met a Shaman man of spells called an Obeah. It was under the auspices of the relationship between the Obeah and myself, after he looked deeply into my eyes and saw that the Shadow of Death had brushed

across my soul, that I truly learned of Shamanistic "power," what that power could do and where that power "came from."

The Wanderling's Journey

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THE SHAMAN'S POWER: From Whence Does It Come?

An Ally is a power a man can bring into his life to help him, advise him, and give him the strength necessary to perform acts, whether big or small, right or wrong. This ally is necessary to enhance a man's life, guide his acts, and further his knowledge. In fact, an ally is the indispensable aid to knowing.
Carlos Castaneda, "THE TEACHINGS OF DON JUAN: A Yaqui Way to Knowledge."

"I do not deny that White Light Shields are protective. I simply maintain that Shamans channel what I call heavy voltage. Ordinary people may NOT have the power to draw upon sufficient "voltage" to produce the desired effect."
Gloria Feman Orenstein, "Toward an Ecofeminist Ethic of Shamanism and the Sacred."

Carlos Castaneda apprenticed under a Yaqui Indian Shaman named Don Juan Matus that Castandeda refers to interchangeably as a sorcerer and man of knowledge. In lineage his teacher's teacher was a Shaman-sorcerer known as a Diablero, an occult spell-master with evil powers said to have the ability to shape shift. There is some controversy if Don Juan Matus was a real person or a composite of several different people, but one or several, most agree Castaneda's observations regarding Shamans and Shamanism still remain valid. In his works Castaneda writes that a sorcerer's power, that is, a Shaman's power, is "unimaginable." He goes on to say in a copyrighted interview in Time Magazine (March 5, 1973):

"The full use of power can only be acquired with the help of an "ally", a spirit entity which attaches itself to the student as a guide. The ally challenges the apprentice when he learns to "see," as Castaneda did in the earlier books. The apprentice may duck this battle. For if he wrestles with the ally - like Jacob with the Angel - and loses, he will, in Don Juan's slightly enigmatic terms, "be snuffed out." But if he wins, his reward is "true power the final acquisition of sorcery membership, when all interpretation ceases."

However, Castaneda had written previously in his first book THE TEACHINGS OF DON JUAN: A Yaqui Way Of Knowledge (1968):

The idea that a man of knowledge has an ally is the most important of the seven component themes, for it is the only one that is indispensable to explaining what a man of knowledge is. In my classificatory scheme a man of knowledge has an ally, whereas the average man does not, and having an ally is what makes him different from ordinary men. An ally is A POWER capable of transporting a man beyond the boundaries of himself; that is to say, an ally is a power which allows one to transcend the realm of ordinary reality. Consequently, TOHAVE AN ALLY IMPLIES HAVING POWER; and the fact that a man of knowledge has an ally is by itself proof that the operational goal of the teaching is being fulfilled.

In reality, the "full use of power can only be acquired with the help of an 'ally'", that Castaneda speaks of, like the use of medicinal plants, drugs, or herbs (Aushadhis) --- which he used intially, but denied the necessary use of later -- is a second level of use between the Shaman and the actual power source, the same source the "ally" would draw upon for power. The key here is, in relation to the 1973 interview, and what most people miss when they start discussing an "ally" is "a spirit entity which attaches itself to the student." A STUDENT, not a full fledged Sorcerer or Shaman. While what Castaneda is trying to impart from his first book rings true "... a man of knowledge has an ally, whereas the average man does not, and having an ally is what makes him different from ordinary men," the "having an ally" should really read "having power." People think that an ally is an entity of some sort, when in reality it is an euphemism --- a euphemism for the POWER of THE POWER OF THE SHAMAN. Castaneda actually says so when he presents in his first book that "An ally is a power" and "...to have an ally IMPLIES having power." However, and this is the clinker, either you have it or you don't, it is NOT implied or garnered from another. The true Power of the Shaman is not divisible, the power and the Shaman are ONE. It is not held and shared with or by an ally then metered out in some fashion. However, ally or no, Sorcerers and Shamans using powers to call up answers, predict the future, facilitate or induce spells, or garner assist or knowledge

from planes other than the conventional were thought to have a spiritual servant, a "familiar spirit," in obeisance from other realms. The word "familiar" is from the Latin familiaris, meaning a "household servant," and was intended to express the idea that Sorcerers and Shamans had spirits as their servants, ready to obey their commands. Having a "familiar" as a servant is a far cry from a ally as outlined above. Just the same, the punchline is Sorcerers and Shamans "were thought to have familiars." That doesn't mean they HAVE one, only thought to have one. Basically what you have here is a word-based description shaped around the phenomenon. It is a verbal explanation by the layperson to make sense of how any unexplained form of the Power of the Shaman manifests itself. (see) In the essay Starwars, Castaneda, and the Force, discussing the Shaman and any potential allies they may or may not have, meet, or battle, the author writes:

"Tests and trials are commonplace in the quest for knowledge: a prerequisite in fact. One such trial occurs when the aspirant sorcerer (shaman) has accumulated enough personal power to meet the entity referred to as the ally. This encounter cannot be avoided it is a mandatory, transitional event. Allies are essentially shapeless and featureless forms all differing and quite terrifying. The aspirant must confront the ally, grab onto and overcome it."

Any of you that are familiar with the massive trials and tribulations faced by the Buddha as he reached toward Enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree battling the three Daughters of Mara and a host of other demons will recognize the same elements in the statement above. Once defeated, as done so by the Buddha, they no longer are, although the power remains, albeit as it were, inherited. Jose Maria Poveda in his rather extensive book on shamanism, citing another, offers in his very first chapter something similar to the following:

"Dont allow yourself to be directed by an identity that calls itself your guide. Why? Because invoking infinity is much larger, much more satisfying, more valid for the experience of the soul than being directed by an external entity."

"Because invoking INFINITY is much larger, much more satisfying, more valid for the experience of the soul than being directed by an external entity." By 1998 and Castaneda's last book allies are beginning to take a back seat and he goes on to write in The Active Side of Infinty speaking of INFINITY and the importance of INFINITY:

Infinity is everything that surrounds us: the spirit, the dark sea of awareness. It is something that exists out there and rules our lives. My steps and yours are guided by infinity. The circumstances that seem to be ruled by chance are in essence ruled by the active side of infinity: intent. What put you and me together was the intent of infinity. It is impossible to determine what this intent of infinity is, yet it is there, as palpable as you and I are.

Of course the infinity of which Castaneda speaks is synonymous with the "emptiness" refered to in ancient texts as Sunyata, and it is not just "out there" as Castaneda implies. Sunyata is the WHOLE, encompassing, encompassed and THE encompassing. The majority of the people reading this will probably be familiar with the meaning of the word limousine. A limousine is usually considered something like a large luxurious automobile usually driven by a chauffeur. The word limousine is a french word and there is really no english equivalent. That is, if you call it anything else, a town car or whatever, it is either a limousine or it isn't. In the same sense, for those of us who speak english there is no single, specific word that encompasses the full the meaning of the power of

the Shaman. There is a Japanese word, like many words that have come to us through other cultures such as patio, tomato, karma, carburetor, and kayak, which have no other real specific english equivalent, that has become assimulated into our language. The word of which I speak is Joriki. Joriki roughly translates into: the power or strength which arises when the mind has been unified and brought to one-pointedness. This is more than the ability to concentrate in the usual sense of the word. It is a dynamic power which, once mobilized, enables us even in the most sudden and unexpected situations to act instantly, without pausing to collect our wits, and in a manner wholly appropriate to the circumstances. One who has developed Joriki is no longer a slave to his passions, neither is he at the mercy of his environment. Always in command of both himself and the circumstances of his life, he is able to move with perfect freedom and equanimity. The cultivation of certain supranormal powers is also made possible by Joriki, as is the state in which the mind becomes like clear, still water. There is another word, Siddhis, from the truly ancient, ancient language Sanskrit that hasn't fallen into the everyday lexicon that carries with it a similar meaning. There are differences, however. If you have ever focused the sun to a pinpoint on your skin using a magnifying glass and felt how quickly and powerful the burning sensation is, that is more like Joriki. Siddhi is more like the power of ocean waves. You may be able to stand against a mild wave or two, but even giant mountains are eventually turned to nothing but sand or even less by their power. In the end the Power of the Shaman is akin to a longer reach or extension of the Shaman, focused through his own abilities or level of expertise. That level of expertise can vary from being very minuscule and tiny to beyond scope --- with the results depending on the abilities, will, and intent of the individual. Jeffery Ellis, a Buddhist-Shaman of some reknown and co-founder of The Toltec Mystery School in Boulder, Colorado, writes in his book DreamingAwake:

"Power is one of the first barriers the warrior (Shaman) must pass in becoming a Man of Knowledge. Power is intoxicating. Magic and Siddhi create a drunkenness that is very tricky to sidestep. What you wish for comes true, like Aladdin and the Genie."

THE "POWER"

There is an axiom that goes: This being present, that arises; without this, that does not occur.

Which is elaborated on from very ancient texts: Acts do not perish, even after hundreds and thousands of years. On meeting the right combination of conditions and time, they bear fruit.

Vasubandhu the great Indian Abhidharma master wrote: Material and mental elements uniterruptedly succeed one another in a series, a procession that has action as originating cause

He continues to write, and this is the punchline: The successive moments of this procession are different; therefore there is an evolution or transformation of the series.

The successive moments are different, that is they are not the same. If they were the same they would not be different. On a fine grain level the differences are practically imperceptible. On a coarse grain level the differences manifest themselves more readily. Take those differences and place them into their operating field of conditionsand the evolution or transformation compounds itself. Conditions? The word conditions is an english word used in context from the Sutras for the Sanskrit word Pratyaya which means (roughly): "the pre-existing conditions thatallow primary causes to function." Which basically means if the conditions are absent, then the causes are prevented. Conditions are the milieu, stage set, or playing field where acts or impulses unfold. They can be

increased by other conditions, decreased by other conditions, or replaced by other conditions to accelerate or postpone results in the stream of events. Which means that conditions can, but not necessarily DO modify. They arise primarily on a broader scale from causes in the distant past. When conditions do manifest themselves they are for the most part not defined, that is, they are undefined or spent, meaning they cannot create or impact figuratively further downstream responses. However, even though they are spent, they are still extremely powerful in how they impose themselves on the immediate circumstances in which they are operating. To wit: Any shift in any fashion in the conditions up or down or across the stream relative to the causewill impact the resultant outcome of that cause.

It is IN those areas of conditions that the Shaman operates, where small yet powerful well aimed Shaman directed impluses ever so slightly nudge the conditions which inturn modify the outcome. Sometimes the flow from the past is so strong that little can be done except to stand fast, but there are also times when the flow CAN be diverted in almost any direction. (source) And that is true, sometimes the flow IS strong or stronger relative to the Shaman, but that is where the knowledge of the Shaman comes in. Often they must bide their time and wait, other times their abilities and power can overcome the "flow." Remember, from the quote above: ANY shift (that is ANY shift no matter how large, small, or imperceptable), in any fashion in the conditions up or down or across the stream relative to the cause will impact the resultant outcome of that cause.

It should be noted that on the scientifc side of things, no matter how complex any system may be or appear to beAND, even though it may not be able to be determined or known, they rely upon an underlying order. To that extent very simple or small systems and events can cause very complex behaviors or events. This latter idea is known as Sensitive Dependence On Initial

Conditions, a circumstance discovered in the early 1960s by Edward Lorenz the scientist usually credited with the discovery of the Butterfly Effect --making reference to the fact that small, almost imperceptible happenstances or events, over time, can have huge and momentous consequences. Shamans and others of the same propensities or ilk develop the abilities needed to use the key that allows them to interact with conditions, thus allowing a change that would otherwise NOT transpire or occur in the normal flow of events if they had not interceded. However, Karma-wise, the resultant outflow from that or any change does not fall on the back of the Shaman IF he is acting in the stead of another person. It is as though the Shaman does not exist and is in effect merely an extension or limb of the person perpetrating the change. The person wanting the change or perpetrating the change catches all the resultant outcomes from that change. See: Good and Evil In Zen Enlightenment and attendant links. Some people would argue quite stringently that Buddhism and Shamanism are for the most part nowhere related and to draw an anology would be creating a thin line. However, the coincidence of characteristics and striking similarities between Buddhist adepts and ShamansShamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstacy. For example, the abilities of the Arhat relating to the sixfold knowledge of the worthy ones that includes not only the ability similar to the Cloud Shaman to appear and disappear at will, but also the oft cited case in Buddhism and Zen by theVenerable Pindola Bharadvaja where the venerable Arhat was adomished by the Buddha for flying and performing miraculous acts infront of the faithful. Somewhat interesting is the fact that the word shaman, used internationally, has its origin in manch-tangu and has reached the ethnologic vocabulary through Russian. The word originated from saman (xaman), derived from the verb scha-, "to know", so shaman means someone who knows, is wise, a sage. Further ethnologic investigations shows that the true origin for the word Shaman can be tracked from the Sanskrit initially, then through ChineseBuddhist mediation to the manch-tangu, indicating a much deeper but now overlooked connection between early Buddhism and Shamanism generally. In Pali it is schamana, in Sanskrit Sramanatranslated to something like "buddhist monk, ascetic". The intermediate Chinese term is scha-men. (source)