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Is it true Nungali, did you abandon your trusty row boat for one of these new fangled devices? (and that you can invoke the wind via the Wind god if need be to keep up propulsion?)

As far as I understand, to get into Master Wang's retreat now, the process is as follows: You need to attend one of the basic seminars with one of his students, Nathan is one of them, and learn the basic skills there, mastering sitting for three hours. After that, they'll tell you where Master Wang's next retreat is. Master Wang no longer holds retreats for beginners, so there's no real public information. You need to keep in touch with someone who knows Master Wang personally, and then you can find out the next date. And most likely, there won't be any more public beginner retreats. Another option is to go to Dalian, where Master Wang lives, stay there for a while, and then you can attend a retreat; he regularly holds retreats there for advanced students.

We could discuss this in depth if you wish but perhaps in another thread? The Egyptians were very keen in alliteration and puns. In this they saw both a kind of poetic expression but also resonances in meaning. So in the phrase the repeat of the ‘kheper’ root and sound indicates a kind of continuity between the three ‘levels’. Khepera is the sun as a scarab beetle. The morning sun. The morning recapitulates the creation of the universe itself. Kheper means ‘to be, become, evolve’ and kheperw refers to the things created ( like the ten thousand things of Daoism). What is implied is that the creator, the act of creation and the resulting creations all reflect each other as they all partake in a continuum of energy/awareness.

Khepera kheper kheperw (Xepera xeper xeperu) The creator creates the creatures.

I'm so old. How old? I saw this in a movie theater. .. and there was a piano player who played along w/ it.

Nothing if not helpful.

‘good morning it is nice to meet you’ = vai-te embora filho de puta.

Please don't discriminate the styles of Taiji. The principal of fajin is the same in all the styles. Just pay close attention in the video. When the master, at the left, moves his hands forward, he was performing Fajin.

Yes ! '' Good morning I am trying to find 'Apech' can you give me his address please ? '' '' Surname ?'' '' Oh .... I dont know . '' '' Well, who is he, someone famous ?'' '' Well, yes, he is a famous Daobum ' '' ''I am sorry , a famous what ? '' '' A fellow Daobum . '' '' Eh ? Well ... ummm ... what does he look like ? '' '' He is this white cat with a smug look on his face .'' '' Ohhhhhh ... I see, you have lost your cat .'' '' No no no ... he is a man that lives in Portugal but he is also a white cat Daobum ... and I need to find him '' '' Why ? '' ''Well , some time back I asked him a question and he didnt answer it the way I wanted him to , so I said I would come here and MAKE him answer the question, one way or another .... so not having any means or even a passport or visa , I rowed here in a little rowboat from Australia to find him .'' '' You rowed here all the way from Australia to Portugal in a rowboat to find a white cat daobum man that lives somewhere in Portugal to make him do what you want ?'' '' Yes ! Finally ! '' '' Very well Sir, if you care to wait here for a moment I can get the right people to help you and they will take you where you need to go .'' ''Thank you ! Finally! '' .......

Yup. That is why I would disagree with Damo. The context is if you do ZZ ONLY in the beginning expecting to get results, you will not get results. But if you do it along side other important developments, it serves a good reference point to gauge improvement, until ZZ transforms to take off on its own as a stand alone cultivation.

Ummmm no . I am in Portugal now , and I have found a small town . Why would I need any type of boat . And look, there is a post office , They will know where Apech lives ..... I hope someone in there speaks English .

FYI Some might think that Zhan Zhuang is an advance level in Kung Fu. However, Zhan Zhuang is lowest level in Kung Fu practice. It was recommended to start with ZZ before anything else in Kung Fu.

Saw this, and it felt a bit like gatekeeping. It's the most powerful form of qigong out there, and is not locked behind an academy paywall and a guru-like teacher. I switched now to just standing and nothing else on energetics. 40mins in ball holding pose, as recommended in Marc Cohen's book Inside Zhan Zhuang. My body becomes more supple, looser as the time progresses, not harder or stiffer. An important part of that is body scanning and allowing knots of tension to release. There are experiences when tension and hardness suddenly dissolve, after which the body feels light and soft. I would advise trying it for yourself. If you feel stiffer and more stuck, as Damo intimates, then switch to wuji or moving forms. But don't take his word as gospel, without trying for yourself.

I started with that stance, and really didn't get that much out of it. A shoulder injury from sparring didn't help. Changed to another, things started to happen, and have moved through a system of standing positions since then.

Yes please! I'll create a dedicated thread this evening. Thank you Apech

Their translation is ok metaphysically speaking. I don’t know about books on Egyptian magic because I am self taught from source texts but I’ll have a think about it. What particularly are you interested in?

de nada

They feel different. After a while, you function different. A shitload of proper practice. Jindan = The reversal of Water, also called the replenishing cycle. In the wuxing, if you move backwards from water you get metal. It is an important step, but in the quest for Celestial immortality it marks the end of the intermediate level of practice. It can also be used for other purposes, leading to develop powers. The way to navigate through the process is to see phenomena as signposts, and continue with the practice. Some of these signs means that the focus of practice must change, a teacher is invaluable here. Otherwise, one might spend years on aspects that are "good enough". I have years of experience on that one.

Flying Phoenix moving and static mediations are a gateway to Inner peace, energy and spiritual growth.. No thought required, just move slowly or stay completely still, the posture is the meditation and focal point....

It may be better to think in terms of parallel timelines/processing. The current timeline work is mainly to avoid the millennia of dictatorship that was likely to emerge jointly from Earth, Moon and Mars.

I really love working with yarrow stalks and the i-ching as well, I easily trace out while in the thick of working the formula. I don't know who Terry Dunn is or what Flying Phoenix, though I heard of FP mentioned on this forum before. I enjoy the artistry/design of the Thoth deck very much, I find it the definitions of each card is framed differently, not only in the symbology but the interpretations as well. I like how the Thoth deck flows well between the qaballah, using Liber 777 as map. I wouldn't say my knowledge of tarot is expert level, though I've been using and studying it for nearly a decade. I believe that any mage should be at the very least aware of various entities and egregores connected to whatever tool he or she is using. Who created the system, grimoire, etc. how do former students or practitioners fare? Know the tree by its fruit kind of thing. I would even carry that over to various eastern lineages and the egregores and entities associated with them...even installed LDT's vs. building your own, I understand the controversy in that statement as well. maybe too well... While I enjoy the literature of HP Lovecraft and I can appreciate the esoteric grimoires associated with and built upon that mythos I have not touched that magick deeply in any sense or the tarot deck you mentioned above. Simply because those entities are of very dark forces-that lay recessed deep in the subconscious mind or deeply "asleep" "somewhere" waiting for those who seek it. If you open those kinds of energies, you better be able to work them, work through them, or banish them. It's similar to doing qlippoth work, I'm not certain there is any true benefit to it (for me personally at least). A good friend of mine did some very heavy work with the Necronomicon (and other qlippoth work) and a few associated grimoires and it brought him to some very dark places. It took him a year to dig himself out of the mess he created. I know a few people who have had a lot of difficulties from going too deep, too dark and suffering for it. Some forces are meant to stay in the subconscious realm (or whatever realm they reside), once you release them it can be very difficult to put them back there. Psychosis from occult practices is a very real condition, it's easy to spot in others, but it can be very difficult to recognize those symptoms in yourself, especially for a lone wolf like me. I have The Shadow Tarot by Linda Fiorio and while appreciate the work she put into that system, I simply have no desire to fuck with my psychology or endure heavy dissociative epics in my life. Maybe if I was not a mother or had nothing left to lose or nothing else to do. But, I have a very serious commitment to maintain relative sanity because I have young children to care for and I can't be bringing extremely dark forces into my house or life. It doesn't mean I'm a scaredy-cat/chicken, etc either...I've done a ton of heavy shit that I'd rather not get into on this forum, but ultimately I question if it was truly beneficial or resulted in positive outcomes, or any of the outcome are worth the effort and risk. I recognize Shadow work being beneficial, understanding the darker elements of reality is important, but I cannot allow it to consume my life. I have other "stuff" to do and accomplish. I've learned that when I'm ready to do something, I'll do it without hesitation. I don't do things for clout, I don't have anyone to impress. I'm certainly no "edge lord." I have over 100 decks, I collect them. Most of them I don't use for divination. My first rider deck is what I use the most, especially for divination, or pathworking/astral travel to tarot realms. Another favourite deck of my is Elemental Tarot, Caroline Smith, which is not traditional in any sense. Some decks I find will always give me a darker tone, sometimes morose feelings. If that happens I put the deck away and stop using it for divination, the Secret Tarot did this. Honestly, I've worked with most Goetia and my experiences were mostly pretty profound, though I did not follow the Solomonic tradition/instruction verbatim and I was pretty unorthodox in my practice. I agree with your statement regarding Goetia, though not all of them were previously gods, a few are of a different order entirely (In my experience)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Uu0l7SNlIfA&si=89buvtCFVeU4i8oo

If you get good at this, I suggest practicing in a small room with a mattress against one wall. If you get displaced by a healthy fajin, a brick wall just won't do...

Yes, that is the best way to learn and practice them in the beginning, and to teach them, one at a time - clear and consistent. Eventually the techniques must come alive, adapt and respond to the circumstances, and one must be able to flow into any other. If you try to use a technique and your opponent neutralizes, you need to adjust and continue without interruption or it's over. This is the nature and part of the utility of tui shou. And the solo forms, 2 person forms, and tui shou drills are an encyclopedia of techniques, combinations, and adaptations waiting to be investigated but it really helps to have a good partner.

He turned up with his Mum ( who is a local indigenous elder ) for the festival that is going on here at the moment . So we slipped a session in . But being a 'hippy peace festival' I decided to slip off somewhere private , so we went into a clearing in the bamboo grove , Wow, flashbacks . I havent trained in that bamboo grove for years ! he is keen to do some sword so we did that . Sword in bamboo grove is very interesting, once you are out of any cleared space into the thicker parts , you can only do vertical cuts and thrusts between the bamboo. and to avoid a cut the other can move away from the 'gap' between bamboo culms, very 'tactical' game . It also gave me a chance to demonstrate one of teachers points about footwork ; he had a very distinctive style of a sort of deliberate lift up put down of the feet . No sliding feet around , making arcs , etc . Why ? because in the real world the ground is nothing like a dojo or gym floor ... or even a grass lawn . ..... I caught my foot on a bamboo stump and 'faltered ' .... slash ! .... me 'dead' .

Hello fellow DBs My name is Steve Clougher; I live in an unusually beautiful and peaceful part of the square world under the Southern Cross. With a loving wife, a feisty cat and fourteen chickens, who eat a lot. Plus 100 sparrows, who eat my chickens' food, without moderation. My mission is to learn how to teach moderation in eating to sparrows, after succeeding in which I will turn to teaching it to myself. I've just discovered nei-leh, which is exciting. Sorry. I'll try harder to sound calm and tranquil. For sixty years, nearly, I've studied and meditated: I Ching, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Gurdjieff and his pupils, are my loves. Enough about me, i hope.

All those old men prophet types of the Bible were first magicians and demonologists, then found the one God, duality to non-duality like us all.

that is for me the aspect in me which feels seperation from everything around me. in good meditations i do experience myself as connected with everything around me and in those moments i feel like i am connected to my true self. when i am in my small self, i often feel restless and i always feel like i am driven by fear. but when i am feeling myself as the soul, the situations in which i just felt fear, dont scare me and there is trust and surrender did that clarify? i dont knwo right know how to clarify best

I am still here arguing with some old timers. Arguing with the same old things. I hope I'll never win. If I do, then, there is nothing to do here anymore.

Yup. And then there's "long jin" (chang jin 长劲) and "short jin" (duan jin 短劲) for all of the above. When a high level master shows what looks, to a less-than-clueful observer, either fake, staged, or magical -- that's the short jin. The difference in explosive power between the "regular" long jin and the top level short jin I would liken to the difference between regular powder explosion and nuclear explosion. The first one relies on a rapid chemical reaction (combustion) of an explosive material like gunpowder or TNT. The second one involves nuclear fission, where atomic nuclei are split into smaller fragments, releasing immense energy. (Bear with me, these are only metaphors, I don't mean short jin can split atomic nuclei... ...or can it if it's very short? )

A good way to view these jins, is that they are basically permutations of yin yang within the human body. Shapes and flavours of power. There are the primary 4 peng lu ji an, and the 8 of we include cai lie zhou cao. And alot more practiced by various lineages. We train these main jins, and extended Jins, to cover all the ways energy can transform. So meeting any force from the opponent, we have the Jins available to navigate, use to deal with incoming forces in a variety of ways. The purpose is to smoothen the Jins and their relationship to one another seamlessly, so the practitioner becomes free to allow changes in Jin and energy to transform to their advantage. We do not train a Jin, to insist particular jins in a fight. We train it so it is "available" to be used when the opportunity arises, and skillfully navigate between them, shape the forces to the is ideal for the situation. And how masters seem to able to use the jin they want to use, is NOT because they insisted on it. They responded with the right Jin at the connection, and transform/ guided the forces to the conditions ripe for the Jin of their choosing. It happens quickly, so it seems they use the jin they wanted. No. They created the conditions for it still following the principles of taiji Quan. They will tell you if the conditions are not there, the particular jin will not arise.

In addition to the eight specific techniques, 掤, 捋, 挤, 按, 采, 挒, 肘, 靠 (peng, lu, ji, an, cai, lie, zhou, and kao); there are other types of 劲 that can be described and were an important part of my training. They were collectively referred to as 發手 or 八 大 勁. The formal and descriptive names of the methods are below in Hanzi with the short, informal names we used in English. Some may object to the use of the word strength, substitute whatever you prefer, it's the English word my teacher most often used when discussing them. 1. 靈 蛇 吐 珠 (纏 絲 勁). Coiling strength 2. 葉 底 藏 花 (按, 才履 寸 勁). Pushing strength 3. 隨 步 探 珠 (波 浪 勁). Wave strength 4. 禦 步 擒 龍 (螺 旋 勁). Revolving strength 5. 移 形 拿 穴 (認 穴 陽 勁. Striking vital point 6. 陷 陣 破 敵 (靠 打 陰 勁). Covert strength 7. 如 封 似 閉 (分 合 勁). Integrated strength 8. 引 進 落 空 (折 疊 勁). Folding strength These are related to the fajin methods you describe but not as firmly related to specific techniques; rather they are more descriptive of combinations and categories of energies that are important in playing tui shou and in martial applications. I don't know if you've come across these in your training or study but thought I'd share as they are very valuable concepts and methods and worthy of deep exploration.

Is this your blog @Surya? When I recently bought a new chess set, I selected one with HUGE pawns. The designer of the set is a chess master himself and I believe designed them with this in mind.

These physical parts of the body, and gestures are used to train the "flavour" of Jin/power, force transformations. But in application, you use the flavours of these jins in a reasonable position. You do not try to insist the body part. In application, your goal is to express the jins cleanly. And that has little to do with the body position. The body parts might be used to recall the feeling of the Jin, but you do not really use the body part in an obvious way in application. Again to emphasize, body positioning, classical forms is important to "develop" the various jins and their relationships in the body, and relationship to one another. But when you apply it, you only apply the flavour of the Jin, not often the body positions. An actual fight does not allow you to do that. It is not wrong to use the body positions in application, but to assume the kung fu of the jins can only come out in particular body positions is a big mistake in understanding how jins work. Wang Yong quan's son once got a student to hold his finger, and he expressed all the jins individually with just that one finger onto the student, peng lu ji an cai lie zhou kao etc. To help the student understand what Jin really is, that it can all be expressed perfectly in just one finger, not bound by any particular form or position. To teach the distinction between training. And application of kung fu.