On Thu, 09 Nov 2006 20:21:53 -0800, James wrote:
>
> alienseer23 wrote:
>> On Fri, 27 Oct 2006 20:38:55 -0700, James wrote:
>>
>>> So JP,
>>>
>>> Have your questions been answered? What's your story/background?
>>>
>>> Peace.
>>
>>
>> Sorry it took me so long to answer your question...I have been a busy
>> busy man.
>
> Not a problem JP, we all have busy lives ... mine has been spent for the
> past month trying to get UNIX servers to emulate other hosts, and it has
> been a very learning experience for me.
>
>
>> You wanted to know my story/background...so I'll try to be brief,
>> assuming you don't want to know the story of my life, I'll stick to the
>> spiritual/magickal stuff.
>>
>>
> That would be good.
>
>> I was raised in a very positive Catholic environment, I know, oxymoronic
>> to most...positive and Catholic in the same setting, but it is true. I
>> never experienced the whole Big Catholic Guilt Trip, the burning in hell
>> diatribe, or any of the like; mystery, forgiveness, love and God, that
>> was about it. I was strongly rooted in this path, enough so that I was
>> considering entering into priesthood, I held this for several years as a
>> young man. I have always been inclined towards the spiritual in this
>> respect. Political problems in the church which arose later led me away
>> from this desire.
>
> I don't have the same ideas that some people have regarding the Catholic
> life. True, some people fit the sterotype, but that is all it is .. the
> sterotype. Many more Catholics I've met in life have been very positive
> and pretty much guilt-free. Politics and religion really don't mix very
> well, no matter whether at the higher or lower level,
Everyone I work with is profoundly anti-Catholic, literally everyone. They
are all also very politically minded people. Funny, no matter how one
stacks it up, when politics and religion come together in any way at all,
it seems, there is just bad blood...stereotypes spring forth and emerge
from within people...self-fulfilling funniness.
> and it's a shame
> that it wrecks peoples outlook/faith, but sometimes that can also be a
> positive experience for them.
I have found that it is good to have the tower shaken down from time to
time. It helps people keep a fresh perspective. For me, it was a very good
thing, with only a faith in faith, I suppose you could call it, I was
freed from the blinders of absolute dogma, left to discover the Truth as I
might find it...unfettered. I recommend this exercise to everyone. For me,
I ended up returning to what I abandoned, or I felt abandoned me; but I
returned with more than I left with, and was able to, IMO, retain a deeper
faith and understanding. There is no conflict now, also something I
recommend to everyone, reconciliation advancing towards peace.
>
>> When I was very young, I had a vision of a blue skinned Mercury, I saw
>> him on a tree top in my back yard, he was creating tornadoes. We had an
>> extensive conversation, I was assured I would not have a "boring" life.
>> The problems with the church I mentioned which caused me to abandon my
>> consideration for priesthood also caused me to leave the world of
>> Catholicism entirely behind, without getting into what happened (nobody
>> was molested, so don't even go there), suffice to say that my
>> world-concept was rooted in the Church, and I had enough reason to
>> really need to get away from it. Without the Church, and the
>> world-concept that went along with it, I was really left without a
>> foundation, I needed to discover what was actually real for myself, so
>> I decided to make it my job to get involved with every major faith and
>> religion I could find, and discover the location of what I had lost. I
>> decided to start with LaVey,
>
> This sounds familiar to me. Not the Mercury, that is interesting; the
> LaVey side seems to be fairly common to people who were on the other
> side of the coin for the next choice in seeking.
>
>> since he seemed to represent the opposite side of a coin I was very
>> familiar with. I learned that black-magick works, and has consequences.
>> The idea of social and personal liberation appealed to me, but I left
>> that system quickly behind, major holes in it's basic assumptions. The
>> name Crowley seemed very important to me, for no apparent reason I was
>> drawn to his work, and would read his stuff at any opportunity, but did
>> not practice his brand of product for many years later. My immediate
>> interest was the study of sacred dream, and psychic dreaming. I
>> followed this direction, with a general interest in Native American
>> Shamanism for a number of years.
>> And then one fine day I met a teacher. He was primarily interested in
>> Wicca and basic Earth Magick, had studied under a traveling Shamanic
>> Pipe carrier for about a decade, was well studied and practiced in such
>> systems as the Golden Dawn and Thelema, to name a few familiars,
>> accomplished psychic and good friend. I found him at the peak of a
>> rather disturbing lack of reality, and, using basic energy
>> transference, gave me a foundation of 'the real'. I spent a number of
>> years following his advice and direction, with a strong emphasis on
>> Circle construction and execution, basic magickal tool construction,
>> energy work, and various psychic exercises. The majority of this
>> learning was of a practical and not so much of a book or system based
>> nature. More in the tradition of a shaman handing down learned wisdom,
>> than an initiate in any order. This was a major catalyst in my magickal
>> carrier, with the seeking of, and cultivation of vision and the
>> acquisition of knowledge on a first hand basis. At this time in my life
>> I received a vision in rune-script. I had not been introduced to, and
>> was not familiar with the Runes in any way up to this point, so I was
>> very intrigued when there was a strong coherence to the message in the
>> runes. This rune-word remains an integral part of my path, and it's
>> message still pierces the heart of my learning and vision.
>
> That person sounds very interesting. I've always met teachers or
> aspirants along my seeking, and many things they triesd to teach me is
> hard to say, whether I was not too hard-headed to listen to them when
> they tried to convey messages.
Of course we all are very hard headed. We need to follow things thru on
our own. A good teacher, IMO, simply points, or tricks us into going in
the right direction. Letting someone else construct your reality for you
is a dangerous and ill-advised path. Although, 2 or 3 or more, working
together, and sharing and comparing notes, can build a better mousetrap,
it's true.
>
>> IT was during this time, also, that I had an encounter with a UFO. We
>> formed a tri-partisan circle with another close friend and quickly
>> became one of the more powerful and active groups in our area.
>> Accomplishing much together, we all advanced greatly on our paths. Tho,
>> this did not last, as my original teacher disappeared mysteriously one
>> day, totally out of the blue. I continued my practices alone. A few
>> years later, I was directed to his location thru a familiar spirit,
>> and, finding him practicing more advanced magick and living with
>> someone concerned with Angelic magick, I moved into the house, which
>> served as a sanctuary to many concerned with magick. There I stayed for
>> a good few years, mostly shaking off a rather
>
> I likewise stayed with roommates from several backgrounds, but one of
> the tightest knot group of roommates were ones who were all (or mostly)
> Wiccan and Cermonial Magick inclined. These ones I still think of
> often, since I lost contact with most of them years ago due to my
> disappearing tendencies (i.e. get up and move without telling anyone).
Yeah, I think I can relate. We all have to expand outward, journey outward
individually and gather, and then we all return, bringing with us
whatever we may have gained, and the community as a whole thrives in this
time. We gain exponentially on the leave, acquiring freedom and solitude
of vision, gaining time to assimilate and cultivate, and we gain apon the
return, from taking from the pool of experience and wisdome. This is
typical in mage type households. I believe it is in the blueprint of our
habits. Although...I have spent about the last 9 years or so flying solo,
with my daughter in the wing when possible. My fiance is interested in
Magick, and wants me to introduce to her other world visions than the
straight Catholic paradigm. 9 years, a long time to cultivate.
>
>> bad curse concerned with the Abyss. This description of these linear
>> events does nothing to truly describe the depths of what actually
>> occurred, nor the scope of what I was learning. While in this house I
>> had a number of dream-visions which outlined some rather intense events
>> which unfolded over the course of the next several years. I experienced
>> alot of intense magickal works while living in this house, and some
>> rather interesting psychic phenomena, witnessed a magickal/psychic
>> mini-war, and furthered my interest and work in manafestation and
>> visualization. Astral travel, temple construction, past-life
>> regression, evocation, elemental conjuring, Angelic magick, archtypical
>> worship and study, astrological prediction, I-Ching study and practice,
>> psychic defense, familiar and totem work, dream-walking, Kabbalah, and
>> a number of other areas were heavily practiced and studied during this
>> time. It was during this time,
>
> Wow // wish I'd met you during that time, that would have been very
> interesting.
>
I would say it was a very interesting time. There was a good period in
time when studies and works occupied not the majority, but the totality
of my time. Now I seem to be reentering into that modality of thought
and lifestyle, now that my daughter is old enough to let and encourage
more freedom, more time for her to build on her own, than rely on me to
build for her. No work is ever finished.
That house...it was a nexus, but it went down in flames, too intense, not
enough foundation. You need a sturdy foundation.
>> also, I became an ordained minister with the Universal
>> Life Church.
>> This title may be scoffed at by some, but my original teacher and I
>> took this
>
> There were a few friends of mine who ordained me as one, which was
> mostly a joke, but there have been times where I've honestly offered to
> marry or absolve people of sins after my proclomation of being an
> ordained minister of the ULC of Modesto, CA.
I have a a friend who is ULC, preformed a marriage for one of our close
friends. Alot of people see it as a farce, in a way it is, but only in
that people need a legal status or a piece of paper to preform acts of
unification, and reconciliation. ULC papers are good ta have.
>
>> seriously, as he held the papers until he deemed me properly
>> accomplished to receive the title according to his teachings and
>> standards. We formed a church, which got squashed by the
>> ultra-conservative town we lived in. I also met a guy who thought he
>> was Jesus, Lou...strange guy,Lou. I moved about a lot for a few years,
>> until I ended up in a town in Ohio, and ran into an old frined,
>> concerned with techno-shamanism mainly and a new group calling itself
>> the Order Satori. With some rather interesting knowledge about me that
>> they should not have logically had, I decided to join this group and
>> learn what I could from them. Concerned with Thelema and Enochian
>> Magick on the whole, with a heavy dose of Hindu mysticism and lore.
>> This was an interesting experience, and I learned a lot, experienced a
>> lot, and picked up the Tarot, finally. It was durring this time that I
>> began to familiarize myself on formal level with Crowley's work.. and
>> the system, of Enochian mysticism. Frater Serpentis Satori's group was
>> a rather powerful one, and he has gone on to apparently be published
>> with a book entitled Thelemic Alchemy and formed his own group called
>> The Order of Micheal's Grail. His web sight can be found here
>
> You know, as you mention all of this, over the past couple of weeks I've
> wondered why in various homes I've had, why I didn't try to construct
> temples. I guess a couple of them would have been ideal, if they
> weren't fairly public party houses. The settings otherwise would have
> been very ideal, espeically where two or three of the roommates would
> probably have been interesting in helping/practising.
Astral temples don't interfere with party-vision. A few small tokens in
the room can be enough to ground something amazing. It really is nice to
have a devoted room, tho.
I lived in a house where we would use the dining room, and I brought home
a lady friend, while a spur-of-the-moment Enochian scrying exercise was
taking place. Bad time. Very intense circle. She tried to willfully tamper
with it, and cause a breach...she didn't know what Enochian circles were
capable of. She learned.Quickly.
>
>
> We all have our odd experiences. A couple friends I met in college were
> experienced in shamanism and encountered odd spirirts that pretty much
> scared them but also helped them. These same people would tell me
> certain things at times that helped me out or proved to be personally
> true. One girl I met early in college had her eyes turn from blue to
> yellow one day.
> She was apparently interested in LaVey and some sort of dragon/gate
> thing. That was one person that I wish I could have helped, helped to
> steer her away from people she might've been better off not getting
> involved with. But ironically, she showed up and became a roommate of
> a friend of mine. Unfortunately she carried a grudge against me, and
> somewhat of a good reason for, but it is really too bad, she was a
> pretty cool girl but went through some rough shit.
Yeah, I've known a few cool girls slip to the Emperor's evil influence.
But, we all need to walk our own paths in totality. She had a bad time,
tho, when she left me and moved in with a good friend and his family. An
old gypsy bloodline...old and unbroken. When they found out what she was
into, well...she lost all her toys.
You have to be careful the spirits you let enter your circle, and the
demons you let fester in your mind. Fear is no good ally. Not in the end.
>
>> I did alot of work with the Tarot during this time, and also did a
>> number of on-the-fly psychic readings for many many people. I moved to
>> my home town, then, becoming a father, and discarding everything I
>> decided not to be beneficial to my family, I continued to practice, but
>> left behind Crowley.
>> With time, I leaned more towards Buddhist thought and Eastern
>> philosophy in general, tho I still maintain a connection to the Church,
>> I see no problem maintaining this faith, and holding close the
>> mysteries, while holding a place in the general world of magickal
>> practices. I would not, in any way, consider myself mainstream
>> Catholic...nor does the Church, tho they have told me they see no
>> problem with my spiritual path (a rather unexpected and not so common
>> view, the Church where I live is profoundly open-minded and liberal,
>> especially for a Catholic institution). A common theme in my path is
>> that of the unfolding of prophetic dream and vision, and that of
>> certain conversations had in these types of dreams, and the wisdom and
>> insight gained from this. All of my scholastic type of studying has
>> been done in a non-formal fasion, that is to say, I am self-studied. I
>> have devoted alot of my energies studying physics and the human mind. I
>> am currently going to college (after a very extended break) and chasing
>> down
>
> It is never too soon or too late for someone to go back to school. I am
> a perpetual student myself.
I would like to write a thesis on the effects of occult practice and
religious symbolism and practice on the psyche. Basically stating that
systems of ritual or ceremonial magick, systems that require intensive
visualization, and infer deep meaning on the visualizations, and promote
the use of archtypes can be used to actively heal or treat psychological
illnesses, and cause the psyche to raise the level of conciousness, and
alter the world one lives in towards some goal of self-knowledge and
perfection. It is my intention to draw the line of parallel in detail,
filling in all of the gaps.
What about you? What do you study?
>
>
>> a degree in psychology with the hopes of entering into psycho-therepy.
>> There are huge holes in this background, and in my story as told here
>> in general, but that is about as good as it gets. I hope I have
>> answered you question well enough.
>>
>> JP
>
> Very well, and very interesting.
Thanks, it was a trip.
> Thanks much for sharing, you sound
> like an interesting character here.
Well, I'm just me, it's the things that seem to happen around me and to me
that were/are interesting IMO. I'm just trying to make sense of it all.
> And congrats on the .. engagement,
> was it?
Yeah> We got engaged last Saturday, and Thank You!
We are very excited and hopefull...gonna be a good year.
