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Making Changes, Getting More Sleep
Nov. 8th, 2023 12:11 pmLooks like it has been a while since I last posted. Today seems like a good day to do a quick update.
Over the last month many changes have happened in my life.
To start with I put my second time through the Dolmen Arch on hold so I could explore Step One of Bardon's Initiation into Hermetics. What came out of that is fascinating.
I must say I really enjoyed the practices in IIH. Reading ahead though I saw I had already developed some degree of capability in the skills being taught in the future steps.
Which got me to thinking.
Instead of adding another course to my daily schedule it made sense to go ahead and use the IIH as a source of etheric and spiritual alchemy exercises. The Soul Mirror and Bardon's works which support it are quite good. Focusing on both positive and negative aspects of our personality.
After a bit of contemplation I went ahead and resumed my review of the DA. In doing so I made another switch. For a while I have been struggling with choosing a pantheon. While my original choice worked well enough the fit wasn't quite there across the board. So given my fascination with the Welsh language and Welsh myth being central to the DA I switched my DA practices to the Welsh pantheon.
With all these changes a feeling of everything being as it should swept over me. My practices have taken on a depth I would not have predicted. It feels like the DA is a brand new course in some ways.
Switching to Coelbren for divination is another change I made. Wow, for whatever reason I feel quite aligned with the Coelbren now. Currently, I am meditating through the alphabet and having quite a bit of fun.
While all that has been going on I also made a rather dramatic discovery. Computer programming and too much time in front of a computer have been in large part responsible for decades of insomnia. At the moment I am limiting my use of a computer to about 3 hours per day a few days a week. Though still experimenting with what I can tolerate. My sleep has vastly improved making me very reluctant to add more screen time than required to my day.
Along with reducing screen time I also deleted my tech and occult blogs. The articles are archived in a few places but as of right now I have no web site and a very idle VPS.
I am not sure if I will put something back up on a web site. One motivation for blogging was the business potential of a blog. If I can't physically tolerate the needed screen time it may be time for me to find another way to participate in the money economy.
Finally, my Aikido training has brought me back to my energy path. We are working very deliberately with energy and physical techniques in class. Finally, after a few decades of not knowing what to do with this ability I have a way to practice and further develop it. Practicing healing wasn't doing it for me and meditations after a few years got to a so what point.
Now though some very interesting ideas have emerged which I am working with sensei on. Curiosity as a force and alignment. When I am in proper physical alignment the energy flows quite readily. My hands also become more than end points for the energy to flow to and from. Like when I did healing work my hands can be present to sense. The added dimension is sensing with a curiosity full of life and delight, without expectation.
As I am embracing and practicing integrating the energetics, imagination, and alignment in my Aikido experience something else happened. What my sensei calls "martial imagination" dropped away. Instead of being attached to the idea of the martial applications of Aikido I am present and engaged in the dynamic of harmony between myself and my partner.
I think I am developing my experience of Aikido to be a moving dynamic meditation with a definite etheric component!
And that is what I have been up to lately. Time to take a break from the screens. If you comment it may be a while before I see your comment given my limited time online. I will get to it eventually!
Over the last month many changes have happened in my life.
To start with I put my second time through the Dolmen Arch on hold so I could explore Step One of Bardon's Initiation into Hermetics. What came out of that is fascinating.
I must say I really enjoyed the practices in IIH. Reading ahead though I saw I had already developed some degree of capability in the skills being taught in the future steps.
Which got me to thinking.
Instead of adding another course to my daily schedule it made sense to go ahead and use the IIH as a source of etheric and spiritual alchemy exercises. The Soul Mirror and Bardon's works which support it are quite good. Focusing on both positive and negative aspects of our personality.
After a bit of contemplation I went ahead and resumed my review of the DA. In doing so I made another switch. For a while I have been struggling with choosing a pantheon. While my original choice worked well enough the fit wasn't quite there across the board. So given my fascination with the Welsh language and Welsh myth being central to the DA I switched my DA practices to the Welsh pantheon.
With all these changes a feeling of everything being as it should swept over me. My practices have taken on a depth I would not have predicted. It feels like the DA is a brand new course in some ways.
Switching to Coelbren for divination is another change I made. Wow, for whatever reason I feel quite aligned with the Coelbren now. Currently, I am meditating through the alphabet and having quite a bit of fun.
While all that has been going on I also made a rather dramatic discovery. Computer programming and too much time in front of a computer have been in large part responsible for decades of insomnia. At the moment I am limiting my use of a computer to about 3 hours per day a few days a week. Though still experimenting with what I can tolerate. My sleep has vastly improved making me very reluctant to add more screen time than required to my day.
Along with reducing screen time I also deleted my tech and occult blogs. The articles are archived in a few places but as of right now I have no web site and a very idle VPS.
I am not sure if I will put something back up on a web site. One motivation for blogging was the business potential of a blog. If I can't physically tolerate the needed screen time it may be time for me to find another way to participate in the money economy.
Finally, my Aikido training has brought me back to my energy path. We are working very deliberately with energy and physical techniques in class. Finally, after a few decades of not knowing what to do with this ability I have a way to practice and further develop it. Practicing healing wasn't doing it for me and meditations after a few years got to a so what point.
Now though some very interesting ideas have emerged which I am working with sensei on. Curiosity as a force and alignment. When I am in proper physical alignment the energy flows quite readily. My hands also become more than end points for the energy to flow to and from. Like when I did healing work my hands can be present to sense. The added dimension is sensing with a curiosity full of life and delight, without expectation.
As I am embracing and practicing integrating the energetics, imagination, and alignment in my Aikido experience something else happened. What my sensei calls "martial imagination" dropped away. Instead of being attached to the idea of the martial applications of Aikido I am present and engaged in the dynamic of harmony between myself and my partner.
I think I am developing my experience of Aikido to be a moving dynamic meditation with a definite etheric component!
And that is what I have been up to lately. Time to take a break from the screens. If you comment it may be a while before I see your comment given my limited time online. I will get to it eventually!
