Aetherous

On the subject of "the sacred secretion", and where these ideas come from in history...

I've been reading The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor; it mentions something about this.

It's in a writing entitled, "Naronia" which was published in The Light of Egypt in 1889. The book I'm reading includes the Naronia writing. Here is the part that's relevant to us in this thread:

Quote

The esoteric aspect of the Naros is known to the occult Initiates as the Mystery of Naronia, and refers to the expansion and contraction of the human constitution. As a sort of illustration let us take the motion of the tides, the ebb and flow. When the Sun and the Moon occupy the same plane in reference to the Earth, we have the high spring tides, etc. It is the same upon the mental plane, with the human brain. The brain of man, magnetically, expands and becomes illuminated by the Luni-Solar influx, from the new to the full Moon, at which time this magnetic force is at its maximum. It is high tide, so to say, and those who have the care and experience of lunatics will verify the fact, that they become perfect astronomical calendars of the Moon's increase and decrease of light.

Let us take a step further, and we then come to the real dominions of Naronia. SHE is the CYCLE of the SOUL and enacts upon the spiritual plane of human existence, a similar series of events to those of the Naros upon the mundane sphere of life. Hence, we can trace a perfect analogy between the motions of the luminaries in space and the revolution of purely psychic entities within the odylic sphere of man.

 

Each year of life, the Earth, in her orbit, transits the point in space which she occupied at a person's birth, or in other words, the Sun returns to the same sign and degree of the Zodiac that he occupied in the horoscope. In this transit, the Solar force renews the life energies of the Soul and regalvanizes them with additional force (we are speaking spiritually, understand). These germs of new forces are Virtues, Powers, Potencies and Deific attributes of the great Solar Orb. They are spiritual ovums, or seeds of human possibilities, and if consciously nourished and cherished will evolve powers and states within the Human Soul, which correspond in their action to our hidden spiritual attributes. If unnoticed, uncared for, they remain until other forces polarize them, and then pass onward down their cycle.

When the Moon, in the course of her motion, arrives at the same place during each month, she impregnates these seeds and endows them with magnetic life; therefore, in an occult sense, she confers upon humanity the powers and possibilities of magical forces. It is this Luni-Solar influx of Naronia within the human constitution, then, that controls the real foundation and basis of spiritual development and occult power.

The book I'm reading also mentions that Blavatsky wrote about the cycles of Naronia, but in doing a quick Google search, it seems she was only talking about the exoteric aspect of a 600 year cycle, and not about the yearly or monthly cycles for spirituality.

I'm sure with this info, people could find out more about where the ideas come from.

20 minutes ago, ilumairen said:

And I don't believe the death penalty is effective as a deterrent. 

Right? I can't imagine someone who is planning to kill another thinking, "Maybe I shouldn't, because I could be executed if they caught me".

3 hours ago, lifeforce said:

My last post here. If anyone wants to contact :

[email protected]

Looking forward to your return if you ever make that choice.

6 minutes ago, Fa Xin said:

Aetherous, were your results different from what you thought they would be?

When I was a kid, I was told that I was roughly 50% German, 25% Finnish, and 25% Norwegian, with a tiny 1% being other things...even French, and gypsy. So I always thought we were mostly German in our ancestry.

It is interesting, since my family's last name is taken from Germany, yet in the true results I'm only 5% Germanic Europe.

I was most surprised that my sister's percentages were different from mine. We're both legitimate children of our parents, that much is clear, but it's interesting how siblings' DNA can differ. That being the case, perhaps DNA isn't the clearest reflection of one's ancestry. My parents had theirs done, as well...if I recall correctly, I think my dad's side had some things from Europe that don't show up on mine.

6 hours ago, silent thunder said:

Interesting.  We're crossing over heavily in central Norway with Hedmark.

My norse almost all hails from Nord-Trondelog along the coast, but the second most featured is in Hedmark.

I've found solid records placing one family line from my Father's Mother in Stange Parrish in particular, on the South-Western portion of Hedmark.

 

I haven't signed up for the thing where you can do further research, but I plan on it. I wouldn't be surprised if we found out our ancestors were neighbors. 

I had my DNA done this winter. Now you can know more about me than even I did for 95% of my life:

It's cool to know where you come from...I think it helps us get our bearings in life. Instead of walking around being unsure of who your ancestors were, you're able to identify with them and those cultures and history to some extent.

It's interesting to look at your siblings' DNA results.

1 hour ago, Phoenix3 said:

I have seen multiple qualified chinese medicine professionals and they have all said I have a yin deficiency and I’m experiencing ‘false fire’, which apparently means my yin levels are low.

This is a subject that Chinese Medicine practitioners debate with each other. TCM seems to point toward yin deficiency often, but other practitioners say that might be a mistreatment and that yin tonics are way over-prescribed.

Despite what you insist about your symptoms, I still question your diagnosis, and highly encourage you to never diagnose yourself. You don't have the ability.

That being said - stick to what your practitioner says above all else. The one that sees you in person is able to actually diagnose, and they're responsible for the treatments...people on the internet aren't.

Best of luck.

17 minutes ago, dawei said:

2. TO Luke... did you really type his name 3 times, or copy the first and then paste it twice ? 

I thought he was saying it like this:

2 hours ago, ilumairen said:

I'm curious if the individuals posting here believe punishment is meant as a deterrent to crime, as "justice", and/or some variant of factors. 

 

I'm curious how population density is understood to effect both crime and the punishment thereof. 

 

And I'm also curious on individual ideas regarding rehabilitation, and how individuals came to their ideas. 

I'm interested to know your thoughts on these questions, since you've read "On Crimes and Punishments" (I haven't).

3 hours ago, Phoenix3 said:

They’re warm, but not as warm as my legs or other parts of the body.

I think if you had actual yin deficiency, they would be HOT to the touch (because one aspect of yin deficiency is "five center heat").

So there is likely another reason why you are getting dry mouth at night, etc. Chinese Medicine is complicated - often times even practitioners don't quite get a perfect diagnosis (although most people will still benefit from the treatments, even when it's not perfectly understood...luckily it works that way). It's important to keep seeing the same practitioner, so they can discern when one strategy hasn't been working well enough, and switch to another option...and if they don't do that, after some time of working with them, then ask around to find someone who is more thorough.

So anyway, my recommendation is not to be obsessed with increasing dampness and moisture in your body, and to not diagnose yourself. Don't think "I have _____(yin deficiency, or whatever other pattern)_____". You're not qualified to know, and when a practitioner tells you a diagnosis, that only applies to that day, and hopefully their treatment addressed it and changed it (or at least worked on it). Sometimes you can get a diagnosis, walk around after the treatment thinking you still have the diagnosis, when really it changed right then and in truth you no longer have it; it's useless to go around thinking you have a pattern, especially when what you think is likely wrong.

There are a multitude of reasons why dry mouth/thirst at night could be happening besides not taking in enough sweet/moist.

Here's one possibility (of many): at night, the yin increases and the yang decreases. It might be the case that the body has all the moisture it needs, but those fluids aren't flowing to where they should. For instance, if the spleen is weak, it won't transport the body fluids up to the mouth. Yang is function and movement, so we could say the spleen yang weakens at night time.

So if that were the case, adding more moisture through tons of sweet and dampening foods would further weaken the spleen's ability to metabolize fluids: the dry mouth/thirst might get even worse.

I'm not going to give advice on what to do, but I encourage you to work with your practitioner and not people on the internet. You can get a lot of misinformation about Chinese Medicine from these people.

7 minutes ago, windwalker said:

ask a victim....

Some victims want the perps to die, some want them to be imprisoned, some forgive them, some don't presume to have a say, etc.

It ultimately doesn't matter what victims want. With the justice system, they'll get whatever they get from the process...the system doesn't really cater to their wishes. When it's not making mistakes, it's set up simply to maintain law and order.

1 minute ago, windwalker said:

Can you show societies that don't have this stigma.....

No... but maybe Norway, given what we've learned in this thread.

1 minute ago, windwalker said:

Would you agree to have a pedofile living next door to a school yard,  as you've said

they did their time and now should be "normalized" 

I don't think pedophiles ever become normalized/rehabilitated. Unfortunately for them, but necessary for society, there must be a strong social stigma about them.

And aside from them, I don't think anyone gets rehabilitated from doing time. It's the individual's choice to rehabilitate themselves (if they're able to make that choice).

13 minutes ago, windwalker said:

Its called closure , people can adapt to all  kinds of life it becomes normal.

On the other hand death is also normal but an end point.

 

For those who killed my relative,  death is good and allows

a finality to it.  closure.    

 

If the end point is death,  why not help those who've 

caused others to reach this point reach it.  

The purpose of justice isn't to give victims closure.

I personally view the death penalty as unnecessary. If the convict is imprisoned so as to prevent them from hurting others again, then justice has been done. Victims might want revenge, or for the perpetrator to suffer as they've suffered...but that's not the purpose of justice. The purpose is to maintain order in society.

It's not good to have people working in prisons, just trying to make a living, who as part of their jobs are forced to participate in the executions of humans. It's not our right to decide when someone else lives or dies, and it harms us to do so, whether we know it or not.

In a self defense situation, such as in war, in the right circumstances - that's a time to kill. But when we have a choice whether to do it or not, where it really doesn't make a true difference either way in terms of outcomes, then we shouldn't choose to kill.

I think it's just a fact of life that in society that there will always be certain people who commit serious crimes, and have to go to prison. That being a fact, it's society's obligation and responsibility to ensure they're taken care of and not abused during their time. I don't mean pampered, or potentially allowed to escape like in Norway...but for instance, they should be protected from being raped, kept safe from the violence of other inmates, be fed meals that are at least somewhat nourishing and healthy, be able to see a doctor, have books to read, etc.

In US prisons, inmates don't get rehabilitated. You don't go to prison and come out a better person. In most cases, you learn how to become more of a criminal.

In some cases, a person can rise above their circumstances, and do well for themselves. I believe in supporting felons...they did their time, and if they are trying to do well in the normie world, they should be treated like anyone else. Until the point comes where they screw up. Our society has a super huge stigma against felons...I found this out when doing job searches, and realizing that for me as someone with a clean record, it's hard enough to find a job, but for a felon, 98% of jobs are simply off limits to them. I can't imagine how hard it must be to rise up again once you get on society's bad side.

I worked with someone previously who had 5 felonies for marijuana. He was one of the nicest guys, and was good at his job.

On the other hand, more in line with the types of crimes for this thread, this past year I heard about the Chris Watts case (don't look it up if you want to maintain your peace of mind). Some people need to be kept away from society for the rest of their lives.

16 minutes ago, Phoenix3 said:

I’m suffering from Yin deficiency so much that I have false fire symptoms almost every night, and my mouth is always dry every night, yet I always get recommended food which take away moisture! My body needs dampness, not to remove dampness from it!

Are the soles of your feet hot, or cold?

Just now, silent thunder said:

I hear what you're saying and when in a certain frame of mind, can even agree with it.

 

But it doesn't last anymore.  That mindset cannot self sustain.

The food for it has grown thin and lacks potency.

 

In the center of the wheel, there is no centrifugal force, no inertia.

I don't mean any offense in saying this, but I don't think your view is advanced or the product of attainment in any way, as you seem to have attempted to portray it to be. I view you as a normal person having normal ideas, and you've simply chosen a somewhat moral relativist position for the time being. As you advance in wisdom, you'll come back to a more refined position of objective right vs wrong.

Just now, silent thunder said:

 

829 pages and counting of folks who all consider they have a bead on what is 'objectively right' and yet there is not much agreement... aside from everyone considering they are right.

The fact that people disagree doesn't mean that objective right and wrong are unknowable, or non-existent.

12 minutes ago, silent thunder said:

it sure would, but who determines what is right?

It's a good question, because we often think we're right in our thinking when we're in fact not completely right.

But on the other hand, I'm not a moral relativist at all. Right and wrong definitely exist in an objective way, and while questioning our perception is good to a certain degree, there's a point at which it becomes a bad thing.

If we truly know what's right, not coming from a place of ignorance, then we should act. Here's an example:

If we are walking downtown, and see a rich man beating up a homeless person who is on the ground, our initial instinct might tell us that the rich man is wrong and to help the homeless man. We could second guess ourselves and think, "Perhaps the homeless man was trying to mug the rich man, and the latter is simply defending himself". We could third guess ourselves and think, "Perhaps if I get involved, I might get injured or killed, so I should mind my own business"...and fourth guess ourselves, thinking about how beating others up isn't a bad thing in certain cultures and contexts...ad infinitum.

Or we could see that one man who is probably already in poor health is on the ground being beaten by someone else, and could act. Even if it was a case of the homeless person trying to mug the rich man, and the rich man being correct in defending himself, it's still a good action.

And we didn't overthink it, or pseudo-philosophize about whether we are capable of determining right or wrong, or if right and wrong even exist.

So yeah - basically, self doubt is good up to a certain point, but it's bad after a certain point. It's good to take action in doing the right thing in this world.

It sounds like you want some structure and guidance. For those things, it helps to find a tradition/teacher to practice from, where their end goals are aligned with yours.

How can we attain enlightenment by practicing random things that don't necessarily lead to that goal? Being unenlightened, we don't know how the goal is attained, or the way toward that goal...so we need a reliable guide's help if we truly want to be doing anything other than wasting our time.

This forum is a good jumping-off point. It helps (as I'm sure you're already aware) to do forum searches and see everything people have discussed about various path, to do Google searches, read books, attend local events, ask people you know who are part of different groups...basically be a seeker, leaving no stone unturned, and try to find the true path to enlightenment.

Then once you've found the way, do what it takes.

Even once you've found a tradition to be part of, you can still do whatever techniques help you on the side. But I would discourage the attitude of thinking we can achieve anything worthwhile without learning from others.

If you don't find a tradition or teacher...if you're genuinely seeking the truth, I think you will learn it in various mysterious ways.

I found that getting craniosacral therapy (Upledger type) helped the shaking be much less. If you have the means, try it out and practice a couple of hours afterward. At least for me, there was a world of difference, and standing was a piece of cake.

Also, if I practice standing, I've noticed that if I just relax more...as well as have alignment where my weight is traveling through my knees, rather than bending my knees (and having my bodyweight get stuck in the quads)...those two aspects help to decrease the shaking. The relaxation has to be complete: mental as well as physical. It helps to some extent; I think this is why craniosacral therapy was so effective IME.

I do think shaking is related to spontaneous movement, and even if it's just happening in the legs as a result of isometrics (or the simple act of standing), it's causing subtle movements to happen throughout the entire body. I don't think spontaneous movements are something to be encouraged or sought after, because they can easily cause aberrations in qi flow. It's better if qi flowing is smooth and normal.

Oh and...I think many people have pelvis and sacrum misalignments, due to how their muscles have positioned themselves from lifestyle and various injuries, which cause one side of the body to be shortened or lengthened compared to the other, which can cause issues when doing a practice that utilizes both sides of the body equally. It's my personal view that zhan zhuang (standing) doesn't improve this postural abnormality, but further entrains it into our nervous system...so I think it's good to get this corrected, if we're serious practitioners. Muscle Energy Technique by PT Tom Ockler (someone who is able to practice that style of MET) is the way to go to fix this issue. Chiropractic is not the way to go for this.

25 minutes ago, Zork said:

Thank you for pinpointing the real problem: no one knows wtf they are talking about but still participate.

...exactly.

21 minutes ago, Zork said:

As i said if you don't already have orbit you are not practicing neidan in the first place.

Where did you learn neidan?

With the tiny bit I know, it strikes me as non-traditional and non-textual to say that it requires "having the orbit".

Are you my college Algebra professor, come back to haunt me?

1 hour ago, Starjumper said:

People with a warrior spirit, which is more about ethics than fighting, are perfectly fine to cultivate power to kill some bad guy; and the other guy is always the bad guy, isn't he?   We selfs are always the good guy, right?  At least that's the attitude one must have in order to be a warrior - which is why the game of ethics is important.

That's our instinctual reaction - the main character (ourselves) is always the one to root for. There's something about human psychology, for instance, if we watch a movie or read a book where the bad guy/antihero is the main character, the one we tend to project ourselves onto, we can find ourselves hoping that they don't get caught.

Considering this aspect of our nature, perhaps it's helpful to view ourselves not from the first person perspective, but as best we can from the third person perspective, in an equal way to any other "character". Then we might have greater insight into ourselves.

This is going beyond neidan discussion - but I think that in order to actually become good, before anything else we have to be super clear about the ways in which we're not good. The bad person believes they're good, the good person knows the ways in which they're bad.

...

Also - does neidan really have anything to do with "power"?

1 hour ago, ilumairen said:

 

Choosing your post because I know and trust you. Sometimes internal things occur, and they're curious happenings. There are people here with information I don't have, and yes, some people with lots of words and aspirations..

 

Sometimes I wonder about the power seekers, and then I settle back into it really doesn't matter.. either a foundation is there or it isn't. 

Please say more if you want.

Because external alchemy is too much work!