My Astral Experience Last Night…

This photo is of the lake at the back of our house. Last night I projected there by visualizing it!

 There are several different ways of getting into the astral and having a conscious out-of-body experience (if you are not familiar with OBEs or astral travel, read this).

With some techniques, you can project out of your body and directly into the room that you are in. Or you can learn how to wake up in a dream (and I don’t mean to have a lucid dream where you become aware of the fact you are dreaming, but to actually ‘wake up’ from a dream and find yourself consciously in the astral). Another way is to visualize a place, and if you can hold that visualization as you fall to sleep you can project directly to that place.

I rarely have any success with this technique of visualization, but last night I was actually able to visualize the lake at the back of my house and project directly there for the first time!

Earlier in the evening I had gone for an ‘awareness walk’ around the lake. I focused with all my might to be in awareness of the present moment; feeling the cool air on my skin, opening up my hearing to all the sounds of the evening, looking at the beautiful scenery before me, feeling each step and noticing the texture of the ground I was walking on – using all of my 5 senses to anchor myself in the present moment and escape the relentless thinking of the mind. If thoughts came and took me away, I would let them go and focus on the present moment again.

I really made a lot of effort to be conscious and aware, and it obviously paid off! Later that night in bed, after a couple of hours of sleep I woke up and turned over, when I caught myself thinking and the thoughts beginning to appear as dream images in my mind. Because I had been pushing for awareness earlier, my conscious was active enough for me to gain awareness of the dream images before I had fallen into a full-on dream. So I seized the opportunity and started to purposely visualize my earlier walk around the lake. I tried to incorporate all my senses into my visualization and re-create in my mind the walk in as much vividness as I could, and to really put myself in the scene. Before long, I actually merged into the visualization, and I WAS in the scene – actually walking around the lake at the back of our place!

It was pretty cool. I took a little jump and started floating in the air, then came down and continued walking around the lake. It was just beautiful. I actually had planned to investigate some specific things the next time I got out-of-body, but I was so taken with how lovely it felt to just be in the astral that moment in that beautiful scene, I just walked around and took it all in!

Actually, I think I may go for another awareness walk right now….

The Sky ~ A gift of the present moment.

I love the sky. It is so beautiful, like a giant canvas; a stunning piece of art-work that is forever shifting and changing… the deep blues… the brilliant colors of the sunrises and sunsets… the soft clouds… the shimmering moon and sparkling stars on the backdrop of night… lightning bursts bringing the sky to life… the sky, always amazing, always changing.

I often look at the sky and contemplate. That piece of sky that I am looking at in that moment will never be the same again…in the next moment, the view as I saw it will be gone forever, something that can never be witnessed again as I had witnessed it. Sometimes that thought just seems kind of profound. It’s like receiving a priceless gift in return for simply paying attention.

I like to be still and just watch the sky; to watch the clouds slowly drift above me. If I really ground myself in the present moment, it feels like I step right out of time, and as I watch the clouds drift by it’s like I am witnessing time drift by. And the clouds never stop moving. Like time, it never stops. Slowly, constantly drifting by. To step out of it and whiteness this can feel surreal.

There is a lot to learn from the sky, I find anyway. How rarely do we even look up and notice it? Yet to do so at times can be profound. Try it. Look up, be aware, and pay attention, and take it in. It’s a feeling that I can’t really describe.   It’s just beautiful.

An introduction to Gnosis!

A new round of courses by the Gnostic Movement started this week, and they have also launched a new course called “An Introduction to Gnosis”.

I’m really excited about it, it looks great! If you are interested in checking it out too, it only started yesterday so it’s not too late. Just entroll here, then send an email to helpdesk@gnosticweb.com to advise them of your late enrollment and they will manually add you.

The course is free too, as are all of the Gnostic Movement’s courses… true spirituality should never be for profit!

I am a Gnostic. What does that mean?

When I tell people that I am a Gnostic, I often hear “Oh you mean Agnostic“. No, I mean Gnostic.

So what is a Gnostic anyway?

I think this movie trailer sums it up quite nicely! (I actually bought the full DVD and it is excellent).

Being Thankful.

Thanksgiving has just past – my very first one here in America!

In Australia we don’t celebrate this holiday, as this is traditionally an American holiday based on American Indian appreciation and to give thanks to God for the harvest and express gratitude to others for our many blessings.

This is an interesting and very worthwhile thing to do – to give thanks to God for our many blessings. But what does it mean to give thanks to God? How do we show we our gratitude and appreciation all that we have been given in life? Do we think about God? Do we pray?

For me, to really show gratitude for this life and everything in it is to live in the present moment, to really live. By this I mean to open up all of our five senses and really take in all that is life.

For example; when we eat our meals (Thanksgiving or otherwise), to be present and conscious as we do so; savoring the flavor, the taste, the texture, and being present for all of it. How often do we eat on the fly? Quickly scoffing something down so we can move onto the next task. Perhaps we consume our food in a total daydream, completely unaware and sometimes even surprised when we find our plate already empty before we even knew it – or we find ourselves so full that we could burst, because weren’t present enough to realize we should have stopped long ago. Maybe we eat while we are doing something else, like watching TV or being in front of the computer, and do so in an unconscious mechanical fashion. Where is the gratitude in that?

Or when we walk down the street – to be present and aware, taking in everything around us – to see the trees and hear the sound the leaves make as the wind moves through them – to feel the wind and the sun against our skin, to look into the eyes of passers by and smile, feeling love for humanity. To me this is gratitude. How often do we rush from place to place, lost in our thoughts and paying no attention to the reality around us? How often is the destination more important than the journey? How often do we really look? Listen? Feel? Smell? Because if we don’t, where is the gratitude in that? We often take for granted these simple things, but these simple things are SO valuable and should be savored. Just ask the blind man, or the man in a wheel-chair, or the man confined to prison.

When we take a shower which can be such a wonderful pleasure, how present are we? To feel the water running over our skin, to take in the scent of the soap and to really feel the texture of the lather over us, to really enjoy every moment of this luxury… or do we spend our time thinking about all we have on for the day, about what we are going to wear, replaying conversations we had the day before, fantasizing about conversations we should have had or are going to have, stuck in a daydream of thoughts.

We are given this amazing life, but just how present are we for it? How are we living it?

For me, showing gratitude is to live in awareness, to be present and conscious of everything around us and of every precious moment; making the effort to break free of the perpetual daydream that clouds us from reality and to really live this precious life we have been given.

Prayer is a wonderful thing, but if we just forget ourselves after we have given thanks to the Divine for what we have, and don’t pay attention to this precious moment we are in, then it seems to me we are not following through on our words, and our words are just empty.

I believe this is what giving thanks is all about – not just giving it, but living it too!

Power of Gnostic Practice – Energies of the ego and analysis of the ego

I wanted to share with you this amazing powerful teaching given by Edith Pritchard of the Gnostic Movement. Edith describes the effects of the egos upon us, and describes a practice called the analysis of an ego (which is a extract from the meditation of an ego, a cornerstone of Gnostic practice).

Egos are energies that drive thoughts and emotions, like anger, negativity pride, jealousy, sadness etc. Generally when we think of the term ‘ego’ we relate it to pride. However in this context pride is just one of many different ego states.

This teaching looks into the cause of our mysteries, sufferings and pain, the source of our problems. It explains what takes away our peace and happiness, and how to glean the information we need to be able to work to towards achieving lasting peace and happiness within ones self.

This valuable teaching is knowledge of ourselves. Understanding of oneself leads to a deep and profound knowledge, which is Gnosis. The word ‘Gnosis’ is a Greek word for knowledge, but it is not like book knowledge that you get from reading or studying something external (which is information). Gnosis refers to knowledge through experience.

The is the type of knowledge that the ancient Gnostics practiced for centuries, an inner knowledge that allowed them to experience amazing things. It leads not only to a knowledge within ones self, but to the knowledge of the All, and we use this knowledge for a Spiritual transformation.

Enjoy the lecture and the guided meditation practice, which includes the powerful mantra ‘Gate Gate Pāragate Pārasamgate Bodhi Svāhā‘, used for quietening the mind.

(If the video doesn’t load for you properly, you can also watch it HERE)

more about “Power of Gnostic Practice (Week 6) – …“, posted with vodpod

The truth about Judas Iscariot?

This is one of my favorite books of all time; Flight of the Feathered Serpent by Armando Cosani.

It is a fascinating book, which portrays Judas Iscariot – the ‘traitor’ who gave Jesus away – in a very different light to that which history has led us to believe. It also contains a profound spiritual message the reveals the secret potential within us all.

This is what is written on the back cover:

One of the great spiritual teachings of any age, imbued with a rare wisdom found only in the most revered of sacred texts, but what is its origin?

It begins with the true story of a journalist in the Second World War. His life changes inexplicably after he meets with a mysterious man, who leave him with a series of profound writings – one being a first-hand account of Judas’ life with Jesus and the events leading up to the betrayal.

The writings also contain extraordinary insights into the lives of Judas, Jesus and the Disciples which astonishingly seem to correlate with the recently discovered Gospel of Judas.

Could these be the teachings of Judas Iscariot and his account of his relationship with Jesus? Could this be Judas’ attempt to clear his own name, in a miraculous effort to change the world’s perceptions and help humanity in its spiritual quest?

It seems I’m not the only one who loves this book – The Flight of the Feathered Serpent won 1^st place in the category Religion: Christianity, in the USA Book News National “Best Books 2009″ awards.

An award very much deserved!

Here is a trailer that has just been released about the book. I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who is yearning for spiritual truth, it truly is an amazing read.

Which Wolf Wins?

One evening, an old Cherokee Indian told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, “My son, there is a battle between two wolves inside us all.

One wolf is Evil: It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.

The other wolf is Good: It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather:

“Which wolf wins?”

The old Cherokee simply replied:

 

“The one you feed.”

 

~ author unknown

Practical investigation challenge: Using the mantra “ISIS” for clairvoyance.

A while back I made a post about mantras, and how certain mantras can temporarily activate psychic faculties.

This week some of the Gnosticweb students are are putting their abilities to the test with a practical investigation challenge: Using the mantra “ISIS” for clairvoyance.

Clairvoyance is the ability to ’see’ into the higher dimensions and perceive things that you cannot otherwise see physically. It is a faculty of the third eye chakra, which is situated between the eyebrows.  ‘ISIS’ is an effective mantra for stimulating this chakra, and thus temporarily activating clairvoyance.

I have placed a piece of paper with ’something’ on it into an envelope. And the challenge for this week is to practice the mantra to stimulate the chakra, with the aim of clairvoyantly ’seeing’ what is in the envelope.

Last time we played this game, the mystery ’something’ was an orange star, and some students got some really promising results! This time it is something different.

This is a great opportunity to look into the effects mantras can have on us, and how psychic faculties work. So I thought I would open up the challenge to all of you as well! Can you ’see’ what is on the piece of paper in the envelope?!

I have made a sound file of what this mantra sounds like, which is available for free download from the “Mantras for Awakening Psychic Faculties”  post. Just click on the “ISIS” link in the post to take you to the download page.

So that you can get the full effects of this mantra, try to do it daily for at least 20 to 30 minutes. If this is too long for you at first, you may like to start off with at least 10 minutes and gradually increase the time each day by a few minutes. If you can do longer that’s great, but it’s important not to force the practice, so only continue for as long as you feel comfortable. Otherwise you will build up a resistance to doing it.

If you are able to do this practice more than once a day that would be good too!

It is ideal if you are able to do the mantra out loud, but if you can’t because of your surroundings, you can say the mantra internally in your mind.

On Saturday the 24th I will reveal what is inside the mystery envelope, and you can see how you went! But in the meantime if you have any feedback or questions, please feel free to post in the comments section below. The discussion can be really helpful for everyone

Good luck and all the Strength in your investigations!

 

(If you are interested the free courses offered by Gnosticweb where you can learn lots of cool practices like this, you can register ‘Here‘)

What actually goes on at a Gnostic Center?

Curious about what a Gnostic Center is like and what actually goes on there ?

There will be workshops streamed on ‘U Stream’ LIVE from the San Francisco Bay Area Gnostic Center, every Monday and Thursday, 7:30pm US pacific time. 

Monday’s broadcasts are of the Power of Gnostic Practice Course, Thursday’s are of the Course in Dreams & OBEs. These will be broadcast every week until December 15th.

You just need to click HERE at the time of the broadcast and you’ll see a video of the event playing!

 

(More information about Gnostic Centres of the Gnostic Movement can be found here)