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There's obviously a difference from situation to situation, and a humongous difference between theory and practice. However, what I will say to adress your points is, yes. What I've seen in my life is that it's generally best to do just 1 practical action. All the thinking, planning, feeling, strategizing etc, honestly, for manifesting something in this physical world, is not that needed. People who actually create the life they want to live, every single one of them, take massive practical action on a daily basis, even without a long term plan, even when conditions are not ideal, even without any strategy. However, I've met tons of people who are super smart, intellectual, have all the right plans and strategy, but they have nothing to show for it, as they don't take practical action on it. So yes, as a general advice, I would say for 99.9% of people, if you want to help them live and manifest their dream life, it's actually a better piece of advice to "just go for it", than to plan, wait, get conditions perfect, prepare, plan, strategize. Just get going, 1 step at a time, that's what's king in this physical, material world. Just take the first practical step. Just DO the thing. Then the rest will naturally follow. Whereas thinking and planning endlessly doesn't work. It's actually a trap for most, especially white, middle class people. Try to interview all the strongest, richest, happiest, most materially succesful or most powerful spiritual people you know, I'm sure you'll find all who make it, who rise above the inertia of average, they would all agree, that action is king, even without a plan. The few people (remaining 0.1%) who I would advise to just use their head a bit before starting, is people from poor or lower class backgrounds, or most non-white people. Many of these are master-doers, but mostly get themselves into trouble, whereas white middle class people are experts at thinking and analyzing, but always remain wage-slaves to "the man" and argue that "I could if I wanted to", yet never do it. This is also where we find the most incels. And I take that the vast majority of people on this forum are white, middle class people. Hence the tailored advice "just do!". Ofc you can let me know your concrete situation and I could tailor advice to you personally, whether you should plan or do

Hi Lala . I'm 'all for' three in one ! " Oh, pilot of the storm who leaves no tracelike thoughts inside a dream.Heed the path that led me to that place with yellow desert stream.My Shangri-La beneath the summer moon, I will return again.Sure as the dust that blows high in June, when movin' through Kashmir. "

if you are having a dream, and in the dream you are hungry, and then you wake up, is the hunger real? After you wake up, are the brick wall and breakfast and hungry man in the dream real or not?

Bora Ring The song is gone; the dance is secret with the dancers in the earth, the ritual useless, and the tribal story lost in an alien tale. Only the grass stands up to mark the dancing-ring; the apple-gums posture and mime a past corroboree, murmur a broken chant. The hunter is gone; the spear is splintered underground; the painted bodies a dream the world breathed sleeping and forgot. The nomad feet are still. Only the rider's heart halts at a sightless shadow, an unsaid word that fastens in the blood of the ancient curse, the fear as old as Cain. - Judith Wright. Analysis (ai): The poem reflects on the loss of an indigenous culture and its rituals, which are now only hinted at through the enduring landscape. It depicts the disappearance of the song, dance, and story, leaving only remnants like the grass marking the dancing ring and apple-gums mimicking the corroboree. The hunter, spear, and painted bodies are all gone, their memory reduced to a dream.The poem echoes other works by Judith Wright that explore similar themes of loss and cultural displacement. It is representative of the post-colonial era, where the impact of European colonization on indigenous cultures was deeply felt and reflected in literature and art. By capturing the remnants of a lost culture through evocative imagery, the poem serves as a reminder of the fragility and resilience of human traditions. (hide) Analysis ( Nungali ) : Not really, and dated information . It is not ALL memory reduced to a dream . During the time Judith writes of, the tradition survived underground , yes a lot was lost , but a lot is coming back again . I am sure many Daobums have seen at least film of some Aboriginal ceremony and painted bodies, and some of them still hunt and spear , some even make stone tools and use them , I have seen it and also posted video here of it . We still have Bora rings and some are still 'active ' . You are not supposed to enter them ..... But they hold the 'memory' of what has gone on in them before , one can imagine how it was done in the old days ... The deep drone of the music, the rhythm of the sticks and the stamping feet , the high wailing singing ... the entrance ( These images are in the public domain - already published ) song; The other types of power centers here have various purposes ; the energy of the Bora ring is suitable for initiation , other places for birth, often pools . There is one near my place , in some areas they are common . Other centers are for 'travel' that are more like 'vortices' and seem to relate to fire energy or at least lightening and connect underground through quartz seams . We have one here up on the back ridge . It all links together with 'lines' . Once an indigenous elder staying here 'mapped' it for me - verbally . Interesting as he had not been here before , had arrived after sunset and come straight inside . Later he sat on the floor closed his eyes and described the environment energetically , which also coincided with the the physical landscape .

I have come to see the psyche not merely as a mind in the psychological sense, but as a layered energetic system populated by subtle forces. At the heart of this view are the subconscious emotional and mental currents, and deeper still, two complementary unconscious currents that I’ve come to think of as the Shiva aspects and the Shakti aspects. The emotional and mental currents we’re all familiar with, but the Shiva and Shakti currents are less obvious, so I will go into some detail about them. They can be recognized through many vivid symbolic pairs: Wildfire / Fireplace The dynamic blaze that consumes and transforms. The hearth that holds the fire safely, giving it purpose and warmth. Fish / Fishbowl The darting, elusive vitality moving through hidden depths. The clear bowl that contains, supports, shapes, and protects its motions. Cat / Dog The graceful, sensitive, easily startled nature that seeks comfort. The loyal guardian that stays close, watching over and calming. Fearful / Protector The trembling instinct that recoils from perceived danger. The steady presence that stands firm, offering safety. These pairs are not idle poetry. They illustrate how the unconscious houses instinctual forces that must evolve together. The Shakti aspect represents a dynamic, vital current — the drive toward life, transformation, emotional vitality, subtle creativity. The Shiva aspect provide containment, the instinctive intelligence that knows how to protect, restrain, channel, and nurture what would otherwise be chaotic. In each pairing: The dynamic life-force is untamed, vital, transformative. The caring containment is protective, shaping, enabling that energy to flourish without harm. They are co-arising: the wild needs the safe space to exist meaningfully; the container finds purpose in cradling the life within. If one seeks only to awaken the dynamic energy (as in a blind kundalini pursuit), without fostering the complementary instinct to contain and guide it, imbalance is inevitable. The system can flare into anxiety, delusion, or emotional overwhelm. This is why so many teachings stress that cultivation is not merely about amplifying energy, but purifying and preparing the mental and emotional channels first, so the deeper forces can safely develop. To purify the emotional and mental currents tangled by personal history, they must be witnessed and brought into greater flow. They are the first terrain of inner work, and through methods such as shadow work, dream exploration, deep feeling and understanding etc, their dysfunctions can be gradually resolved. Only then can the deeper unconscious forces, the Shiva and Shakti layers, find their ground. Importantly, it is the Shiva aspect that must awaken the Shakti aspect, otherwise containment will not occur, and the Shiva aspect in its turn has to first be activated by the flowing current of the emotional and mental currents. Recently, my dreams have begun to show me that when these two deep unconscious instinctual layers find each other and start to mature in their interaction, something new emerges. In symbolic terms, this is represented as a smaller, independent vehicle that will one day travel on its own. This resonates with images from Daoist Neidan (inner alchemy) where an alchemical child is born - an autonomous subtle body that eventually can separate from the main system. This smaller independent vehicle or child is the fruit of a long interplay between mature containment (Shiva) and vitality (Shakti). But the picture does not end here. Overseeing all of this is the witness self, the faculty of clear seeing that stands apart from the energies it observes. This witness is the part that learns to trust that the humble, instinctual containment field is capable of guiding the system more wisely than the anxious grasping of the conscious mind. It slowly informs the conscious mind, which may then serve as the executive agent, ruling not by force but by insight. In the end, I see the conscious mind, gently taught by the witness, becoming the wise steward of the system - allowing these deeper layers to do their work, neither interfering unnecessarily nor abandoning responsibility. Thus the entire architecture of psyche - subconscious, unconscious, witness, and conscious mind - becomes integrated. Each layer performs its unique role, culminating in a new life, an independent vitality born of the interplay between our deepest instinctual forces. A compact visual map (Divine / Mother/ Highest Source) ↓ Witness Self (objective seeing, clear awareness) ↓ Conscious Mind (steward) (makes decisions based on witness insight) ↓ ----------------------------------------------- | | Emotional Stream Mental Stream (Subconscious patterns & biases) ↓ ---------------------------------------------------------------- | | Dynamic Vital Force Containment Field (Shakti aspects) (Shiva aspects) - wildfire, fish, cat, fear - fireplace, fishbowl, dog, protector ↓ Interplay gives rise to: Smaller independent vehicle (new independent ‘entity’ directed by the conscious mind)

Intro by me, Surya (not a part of the substack) So, in the winter months, I had a chat online with this wonderfull fellow, about Jung and myth. He invited me to his substack, where he once in a blue moon shares his writings. I have decided to share this with you for several reasons: - to spread his writings - in the hope it is of interrest to you as well - perhsaps start a discussion here Cheers! Follow Your Bliss: Joseph Campbell’s Path to the Transcendent Liam James Jul 10 READ IN APP For Joseph Campbell, following your own personal myth provides a framework for personal growth and helps us live lives in tune with our nature. You find your myth by following your bliss. Discover Campbell’s teachings on following your bliss to reach the transcendent below, with help from Brazilian football and Oasis. All the Campbell quotes below are taken from Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation. Pledge your support Mythic figures as guides Mythic figures can serve as role models in a given area. Campbell explains: ‘…the gods represent the patron powers that support you in your field of action. And by contemplating the deities, you’re given a kind of steadying force that puts you in the role, as it were, that is represented by that particular deity.’ Myths represent a society’s values and provide directions and frameworks for living well, something Campbell held valuable. ‘I don’t know how it is now, right this minute, when so many new possibilities have opened up for life. But in my experience it has always been the model that gives you the idea of the direction in which to go, and the way in which to handle the problems and opportunities that come up.’ But even then, in the mid-to-late 20th century, he hints at a lack of myths to represent the diversity of human experience. The ‘new possibilities’ Campbell refers to in the last century are dwarfed by contemporary risks and opportunities ushered in by technological advancements and AI, rendering the myths of old even less applicable and new myths harder to imagine. He makes the same point later in the text: ‘Life has changed in form so rapidly that even the forms that were normal to think about in the time of my boyhood are no longer around, and there’s another set, and everything is moving very, very fast. Today we don’t have the stasis that is required for the formation of a mythic tradition.’ So while the myths of old may offer some guidance, we need some new way of relating ourselves to the transcendent through myth. Read the article I wrote on Campbell below to learn more about the transcendent: Becoming Transparent to the Transcendent: Joseph Campbell on Realising Your True Nature Relating yourself to transcendence Campbell distinguishes myth from Eastern traditions as a way of relating yourself to transcendence: ‘Of course, in trying to relate yourself to transcendence, you don’t have to have images. You can go the Zen way and forget the myths altogether. But I’m talking about the mythic way. And what the myth does is to provide a field in which you can locate yourself. That’s the sense of the mandala, the sacred circle, whether you are a Tibetan monk or the patient of a Jungian analyst. The symbols are laid out around the circle, and you are to locate yourself in the center. A labyrinth, of course, is a scrambled mandala, in which you don’t know where you are. That’s the way the world is for people who don’t have a mythology. It’s a labyrinth. They are battling their way through as if no one had ever been there before.’ So myth gives you direction, unscrambling the labyrinth. But if the old models don’t fit, what can we do? Share Bliss as a model for life Campbell suggests following bliss is a reliable model for reaching the transcendent: ‘In this way, your bliss becomes your life. There’s a saying in Sanskrit: the three aspects that point furthest toward the border of the abyss are sat, cit, and ananda: being, consciousness, and bliss. You can call transcendence a hole or the whole, either one, because it is beyond all words. All that we can talk about is what is on this side of transcendence. And the problem is to open the words, to open the images so that they point past themselves. They will tend to shut off the experience through their own opacity. But these three concepts are those that will bring you closest to that void: sat-cit-ananda. Being, consciousness, and bliss.’ He continues: ‘Now, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve been thinking a lot about these things. And I don’t know what being is. And I don’t know what consciousness is. But I do know what bliss is: that deep sense of being present, of doing what you absolutely must do to be yourself. If you can hang on to that, you are on the edge of the transcendent already.’ Campbell studied in Germany and Paris, and returned to America just three weeks before the 1929 Wall Street crash. But this apparent disaster proved auspicious, as it allowed him time to pursue his bliss: ‘…I didn’t have a job for five years. And, fortunately for me, there was no welfare. I had nothing to do but sit in Woodstock and read and figure out where my bliss lay. There I was, on the edge of excitement all the time.’ The edge of excitement is a great place to spend your life, and Campbell’s experiences there inform his philosophy for life: ‘So, what I’ve told my students is this: follow your bliss. You’ll have moments when you’ll experience bliss. And when that goes away, what happens to it? Just stay with us, and there’s more security in that than in finding out where the money is going to come from next year’. I recently started rereading Jonathan Wilson’s Inverting the Pyramid, and found this to resonate with the teachings of Campbell and Jung: ‘That tension – between beauty and cynicism, between what Brazilians call futebol d’arte and futebol de resultados – is a constant, perhaps because it is so fundamental, not merely to sport but also to life: to win, or to play the game well? It is hard to think of any significant actions that are not in some way a negotiation between the two extremes of pragmatism and idealism.’ Campbell’s clearly on the ‘play the game well’ side, but his point is that this idealistic philosophy is the most practical too; more ‘secure’, to quote him. The blissful ideal itself becomes the practical guide. Discovering your myth through bliss For Campbell, bliss is a guide that will help you discover your myth: ‘Your bliss can guide you to that transcendent mystery, because bliss is the welling up of the energy of the transcendent wisdom within you. So when the bliss cuts off, you know that you’ve cut off the welling up; try to find it again, and that will be your Hermes guide, the dog that can follow the invisible trail for you. And that’s the way it is. One works out one’s own myth that way.’ The idea that it is one’s own myth is key for Campbell; earlier traditions can give clues, but they are only clues: ‘As many a wise man has said, “You can’t wear another person’s hat.”… You’ve got to find the wisdom, not the clothing of it. Through those trappings, the myths of other cultures, you can come to a wisdom that you’ve then got to translate into your own. The whole problem is to turn these mythologies into your own.’ The Holy Grail Campbell references an Arthurian myth, where the Holy Grail partially reveals itself to the knights assembled in the banquet hall. It doesn’t appear in its full glory, and is covered with a radiant cloth, before it withdraws, leaving the knights in awe. Gawain, Arthur’s nephew, proposes that the knights go in quest of the Grail to behold it unveiled. Below is Campbell’s response: ‘Now we come to the text that interested me. The text reads, “They thought it would be a disgrace to go forth in a group. Each entered the Forest Adventurous at that point which he himself had chosen, where it was darkest and there was no way or path.” You enter the forest at the darkest point, where there is no way or path. Where there’s a way or path, it is somebody else’s path; each human being is a unique phenomenon. The idea is to find your own pathway to bliss’. Leave a comment What if you don’t know what your bliss is? ‘I don’t know what it is that makes me feel alive I don’t know how to wake the things that sleep inside I only wanna see the light that shines behind your eyes’ Acquiesce – Oasis I’m realising my teenage dream tomorrow and seeing Oasis live – a band that millions of us worldwide love for the way they awaken that very feeling of blissful transcendence and liveliness within us. And while it’s probably optimistic to try and discern too many deep truths about the human condition from Oasis lyrics, particularly those related to the psychological teachings of Campbell and Jung, there is a light-hearted connection to make between the opening lines of Acquiesce and the points I’ve made earlier in this article. The point is, we may not know our bliss – what makes us ‘feel alive’ – but there’s often some hint: some fleeting moments of curiosity or sparks amid the dull listlessness of life that can orient us towards the transcendent. Campbell would advise looking out for these. In Jungian discourse, uncertainty is often just a lack of self-knowledge, and can be approached with inner work that deals with the unconscious Jung would probably go a step further than Campbell and advise using active imagination and dialoguing with both emotional sides – the general feelings of ennui and the transient moments of interest or joy – to explore them more, gain self-knowledge, and expand the personality. Summary For Campbell, bliss – that ‘deep sense of being present, of doing what you absolutely must do to be yourself’ – is a pathway to the transcendent. Following bliss puts you on a mythic path, offering an alternative model to that of Eastern traditions. And if you don’t know your bliss, you can look to Jung’s teachings on working with the unconscious to unlock the energy stored there. Thanks for reading The Creative Awakening Playbook! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Pledge your support The Creative Awakening Playbook is free today. 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The Tablet of the Covenant is based upon the Babylonian epic of Atrahasis (Ziusudra in Sumerian). It is a tale of the early days of earth, when mankind was still young, and the gods were upon the earth. It is the tale of mankind's corruption and the subsequent cleansing of the world by the flood weapon of the gods. It is the story of a man, favored by the gods, who built a great ship to escape the floodwaters that doomed the earth. It is believed by many scholars to be the source of the biblical tale of Noah and his ark. The Tablet of the Covenant ('The Epic of Ziusudra') When the gods instead of man did the work, bore the loads, the gods' load was too great, the work too hard, the trouble too much, the great Anunnaki made the Igigi carry the workload sevenfold. An their father was King, their counselor warrior Enlil, their chamberlain was Ninurta, their canal-controller Enuggi. They took the box of lots, and cast the lots; the Gods made the division. An went up to the sky, and Enlil took the earth for his people. The bolt which bars the sea was assigned to far-sighted Enki. When An had gone up to the sky, and the gods of the Abzu had gone below, the Anunnaki of the sky made the Igigi bear the workload. The Gods had to dig out canals, had to clear channels, the lifelines of the land. The gods dug out the Tigris river bed and then dug out the Euphrates. In the deep they set up the Abzu of the land, and roofed it as the mountains. They were counting the years of loads; for 3600 years they bore the excess, hard work, night and day. They groaned and blamed each other, grumbled over the masses of excavated soil: 'Let us confront our Lord the chamberlain, and get him to relieve us of our hard work! Come, let us carry the Lord, the counselor of gods, the warrior, from his dwelling. Come, let us carry Enlil, the counselor of the gods, the warrior, from his dwelling.' Then Gibil made his voice heard and spoke to the gods his brothers, 'Come! Let us carry the counselor of the gods, the warrior, from his dwelling. Come! Let us carry Enlil, the counselor of the gods, the warrior, from his dwelling. Now, cry battle! Let us mix fight with battle!' The gods listened to his speech, set fire to their tools, put aside their spades for fire, their loads for the fire-god, they flared up. When they reached the gate of the warrior Enlil's dwelling, it was the night, the middle watch, the house was surrounded, the god had not realized. It was night, the middle watch, E-Kur was surrounded, Enlil had not realized. Yet Kalkal, Enlil's gate master was attentive, he had the gate closed, he held the lock and watched the gate. Kalkal roused Nusku. They both listened to the noise of the Igigi, then Nusku roused his master, made him get out of bed: 'My Lord, your house is surrounded, a rabble is running around your door! Enlil, your house is surrounded, the Igigi are running around your door!' Enlil had weapons brought to his dwelling. Enlil made his voice heard and spoke to the vizier Nusku, 'Nusku, bar your door, take up your weapons and stand firm in front of me.' Nusku barred his door, took up his weapons and stood in front of Enlil. Nusku made his voice heard and spoke to the warrior Enlil, 'O my Lord Enlil, your face is sallow as tamarisk! Why do you fear your own sons? Send for An to be brought down to you, have Enki fetched into your presence.' He sent for An to be brought down to him, Enki was fetched into his presence, An King of the Sky was present, Enki King of the Abzu attended. The Great Anunnaki were all present. Enlil got up and the case was put. Enlil made his voice heard and spoke to the Great Gods, 'Is it against me that they have risen? Shall I do battle with them? What did I see with my own eyes? A rabble was running around my door!' An made his voice heard and spoke to the warrior Enlil, 'Let Nusku go out and find out the word of the Igigi who have surrounded your door.' Enlil made his voice heard and spoke to the vizier Nusku, 'Nusku, open your door, take up your weapons and stand before me! In the assembly of all the gods, Bow, then stand and tell them, "Your Father An, your counselor warrior Enlil, your chamberlain Ninurta, and your canal-controller Enuggi have sent me to say, who is in charge of this rabble? Who is in charge of this fighting? Who declared war? Who ran to the door of Enlil?"' Nusku opened his door, took up his weapons, went before Enlil. In the assembly of all the gods he bowed, then stood and delivered Enlil's message. Then Gibil, leader of the Igigi revolt, made his voice heard and spoke to Nusku, 'Every single one of us gods declared war! We have put a stop to the digging. The load is too excessive, it is killing us! Our work is too hard, the trouble too much! So every single one of us gods has agreed to complain to Enlil.' Nusku took his weapons, went and returned to Enlil. There Nusku delivered the answer of the Igigi. Enlil listened to his speech. His tears flowed. Enlil spoke guardedly, addressed the Sky King An, 'Noble One, take a decree with you to the sky, show your strength while the Anunnaki are sitting before you, call up one rebellious god and let them cast him for destruction!' An made his voice heard and spoke to the gods his sons, 'What are we complaining of? Their work was indeed too hard, their trouble was too much. Every day the Earth resounded with their groans and cries. The warning signal was loud enough, we kept hearing the noise, but we ignored them! They have every right to revolt and complain to the house of Enlil!' Enlil was enraged with his father's answer. Then far-sighted Enki stepped in and offered a wise solution to the trouble. Enki made his voice heard and spoke to the gods his brothers, 'Why are we blaming them? Their work was too hard, their trouble was too much. Every day the Earth resounded with their groans and cries. The warning signal was loud enough, we kept hearing the noise, but we ignored them! There is an answer to this problem. Noble An, call forth Belet-ili the Womb-goddess into your presence. When Belet-ili the womb-goddess is present - Let her create offspring, let her create a mortal man so that he may bear the yoke, the work of Enlil, let man bear the load of the gods!' They called up the goddess, asked the midwife of the gods, wise Mami, 'You are the womb-goddess to be the creator of mankind! Create a mortal, that he may bear the yoke! Let him bear the yoke, the work of Enlil! Let man bear the load of the gods!' Nintu made her voice heard and spoke to the great gods, 'It is not proper for me to make him. That work is Enki's. It is not proper that I should make a mortal slave. I shall create a co-worker, a co-creator, but I will not make a slave! This is the work of Enki; he must make everything pure! If Enki gives me the clay, then I will do it.' Enki made his voice heard and spoke to the great gods, 'Wise Mami, mother of the gods your sons, your wisdom is noted and shall be made to pass. On the first, seventh and fifteenth of the month I shall make a purification by washing. Then one Anunnaki God should be chosen for sacrifice, and the gods can be purified by immersion. Nintu shall mix clay with his flesh and blood. Then a god and a man will be mixed together in clay. Let us hear the drumbeat of his heart forever after, let a ghost come into existence from the gods' flesh, let her proclaim it as his living sign, and let the ghost exist so as not to forget the slain god.' They all answered, 'Yes!' in the assembly, the great Anunnaki who assign the fates. On the first, seventh, and fifteenth of the month Enki made a purification by washing. Geshtu-e, a pure young god who had intelligence, they slaughtered in their assembly. Nintu mixed clay with his flesh and blood. They heard the drumbeat forever after. A ghost came into existence from the gods' flesh, and Nintu proclaimed it as his living sign. The ghost existed so none would forget the slain god. After she had mixed that clay, she called up the Anunnaki, the great gods. The Igigi, the great gods, spat spittle upon the clay. Mami made her voice heard and spoke to the great gods, 'I have carried out perfectly the work that you ordered of me. You have sacrificed a god together with his intelligence. I have relieved you of your hard work, I have imposed your load upon man, but only as a co-worker, not a slave. You would have bestowed noise and woe upon mankind, but I have undone the fetter and granted freedom!' They listened to this speech of hers, and were freed from anxiety, they fell down and kissed her feet: 'We used to call you Mami but now your name shall be Mistress of All Gods.' Far-sighted Enki and wise Mami went into the Room of Fate. The womb-goddesses were assembled. Enki trod the clay in her presence; Mami kept reciting the incantation, for Enki, staying in her presence, made her recite it. When she had finished her incantation, she pinched off fourteen pieces of clay, and set seven pieces on the right, seven on the left. Between them she put down a mud brick, she made use of a reed, split it open so that it was sharp, to cut the umbilical cords, she called up the wise and knowledgeable womb- goddesses, seven and seven. Seven created males, seven created females, for the womb-goddess is the creator of fate. Enki paired them two by two, he paired them two by two in her presence. Mami made these rules for people: 'In the house of a woman who is giving birth the mud brick shall be put down for seven days. Belet-ili, wise Mami shall be honored. The midwife shall rejoice in the house of the woman who gives birth and when the woman gives birth to the baby, the mother of the baby shall sever the cord herself. A man shall cleave unto a woman, a boy to a girl. A girl shall be ready by the sign of her bosoms, a young man, by the beard upon his cheek. In the gardens and the waysides they shall cleave unto each other, a wife and her husband shall choose each other.' The womb-goddesses were assembled and Nintu was present. They counted the months, called up the ninth month as the term of fates. When the ninth month came, she slipped in her staff and opened the womb. Her face was glad and joyful. She covered her head, performed the midwifery, put on her belt, said a blessing. She made a drawing in flour and put down a mud brick in the center of it: 'I myself have created it, my hands have made it. The midwife shall rejoice in the house of the priestess. Wherever a woman gives birth and the baby's mother severs herself, the mud brick shall be put down for nine days. Nintu the womb-goddess shall be honored. She shall call the womb-goddess "Mami". She shall honor the womb-goddess, shall lay down the linen cloth, and when the bed is laid out in their house, a wife and her husband shall choose each other. Inanna shall rejoice in the wife-husband relationship, in the father-in-law's house, celebration shall last for nine days, and they shall call Inanna "Ishtar" On the fifteenth day, the fixed time of fate, she shall call upon the womb-goddess and Inanna for blessings upon the child.' Enlil was very pleased with the work of far-sighted Enki and wise Mami. The new mortals grew quickly and soon they took hold of tools, made new picks and spades, made big the canals so as to feed the people and sustain the gods. 60 times 3600 years had passed, and the country became too wide, the people too numerous. In those days the Anunnaki sent the Watchers to the Earth, they took for themselves wives of the daughters of man, and begat children of great stature and renown. The holy sons and daughters of the Anunnaki Watchers became the leaders of the Land. In those later days, the country was as noisy as a bellowing bull. The God grew restless at their racket, Enlil had to listen to their noise. Enlil organized his assembly, he addressed the great gods, 'The noise of mankind has become too much, I am losing sleep over their racket. Give the order that the suruppu-disease shall break out, let Namtar put an end to their noise straight away! Let sickness: headache, suruppu, asakku, blow in to them like a storm!' The gods gave the order, and suruppu-disease was unleashed upon the people of the land. Namtar put an end to their noise straightaway. Sickness: headache, suruppu, asakku, blew into them like a storm. Now in those days, in the city of Shuruppak, there was one Ziusudra, a son of the Anunnaki, a leader of the people, whose ear was open to his god Enki. He would speak with his god and his god would speak with him. Ziusudra made his voice heard and spoke to his Lord, 'How long will the gods make us suffer? Will they make us suffer illness forever? Oh Lord, the people are grumbling! Sickness from the gods is consuming the country! Since you created us, you ought to cast off this unholy sickness.' Enki listened to his speech then made his voice heard, speaking to his servant Ziusudra, 'Call the elders, the senior men! Start an uprising in your own house, let heralds proclaim, let them make a loud noise in the land: Do not revere your gods, do not pray to your goddesses, but search out the door of Namtar. Bring a baked loaf into his presence. Make the flour offering reach him, may he be shamed by the presents and wipe away his punishing "hand."' Ziusudra took the order, gathered the elders of the city to his door. Ziusudra made his voice heard and spoke to the gathered elders, telling them all that Enki had told him. The elders listened to his speech; they built a temple for Namtar in the city. The Heralds proclaimed, they made a loud noise in the land. They did not revere their gods, they did not pray to their goddesses, but searched out the door of Namtar, brought a baked loaf into his presence. They made the flour offerings reach him, and he was shamed by the presents. Namtar wiped away his punishing 'hand'. The suruppu-disease left them, and sickness left the land. The gods went back to their regular offerings. In time the land became noisy again. Enlil once again organized his assembly, and addressed the gods his sons, 'You are not to inflict disease on them again, even though the people have not diminished - they are more than ever before! I have become restless at their noise, sleep cannot overtake me because of their racket! Cut off the food from the people, let vegetation be too scant for their stomachs! Let Ishkur on high make his rain scarce, let him block the below, and not raise flood- water from the springs! Let the field decrease its yield, Let Nissaba turn away her breast, let the dark fields become white, let the broad countryside breed alkali, let the earth clamp down her womb so that no vegetation sprouts, no grain grows. Let asakku be inflicted on the people, let the womb be too tight to let a baby out!' The Anunnaki listened to the decree of Enlil, they cut off food for the people and did all that was ordered of them. That first year the land produced no vegetation, the land produced no grain. The people sought in vain for food. When the second year arrived, they had depleted the city storehouses. When the third year arrived, the people's looks were changed by starvation. When the fourth year arrived, their upstanding bearing bowed, their well-set shoulders slouched, people went out in public hunched over with the pain of starvation. When the fifth year arrived, daughters would suspiciously eye their mothers. Mothers would not open their doors for their daughters. Daughters would watch the scales at the sale of their mothers into slavery. Mothers would watch the scales at the sale of their daughters. When the sixth year arrived, they served up daughters for their meals, they served up sons for food. When only a few households were left, their faces covered with scabs like malt, people stayed alive by taking the life of others. Now in those days, Ziusudra again approached Lord Enki, Ziusudra made his voice heard and spoke to his Lord, 'O Lord Enki, how long must the people suffer at the hands of the gods? How long will the Anunnaki punish the children of men and the children of gods? Why are we made to starve? Why has Ishkur ceased his rain, why has he ceased his fertile flood? The people are eating one another, none are safe. Happiness is no longer in the land.' Enki listened to his speech, and as before, Enki ordered Ziusudra to do just as he had done when Namtar sent sickness to the land. Ziusudra followed his orders, called the elders to his house, and gave them the orders of Enki. The people built a temple for Ishkur in the city, made offerings to him, and Ishkur was shamed by the presents. Ishkur withdrew his 'hand' from the land. He made mist form in the morning, and in the night he stole out and made dew drop, he opened his clouds and released the rains. He delivered to the field a harvest of its' produce nine fold. The drought left the land and the gods went back to their regular offerings. Now Enlil was furious with the Igigi, he convened the assembly and made his voice heard, speaking to the gods his sons, 'We, the great Anunna, all of us, agreed together on a plan. An and Ishkur were to guard above, I was to guard the earth below, where Enki went, he was to undo the chain and set us free, he was to release the produce for the people, he was to exercise control by holding the balance. But Enki has instead bestowed upon mankind, the secrets of our heavens, he is the one who has caused knowledge to increase, he has corrupted mankind. Enki is to blame for our woes.' Enlil made his voice heard and spoke to his vizier Nusku, 'Have Enki fetched for me! Have him brought into my presence straight away!' Enki was fetched for him. He was made to wait before the assembly. The gods grew anxious as he sat. In the gods' assembly worry gnawed at Enki, he grew anxious as he sat. They were furious with each other, Enki and Enlil. Finally the warrior Enlil addressed Enki, 'We, the great Anunna, all of us, agreed together on a plan. An and Ishkur were to guard above, I was to guard the earth below. Where you went, you were to undo the chain and set us free! You were sent to release produce for the people! You were to exercise control by holding the balance. But instead, you have given wisdom to the people, you gave them forbidden knowledge. Your creations have despoiled the earth. You agreed to a different plan, you betrayed the gods by teaching man to shame the gods, you caused that Ishkur should release his rains, that Namtar should stay the sickness, against the holy will of the gods. Therefore, since you imposed your loads upon man, you bestowed noise on mankind, you slaughtered a god together with his intelligence, you must now use your power to create a flood. As your punishment, it is indeed your power that shall be used against your people! You agreed to the wrong plan! I will have it reversed! Let us make far-sighted Enki swear an oath to this end, that his power shall inundate the earth and wipe away all life.' Enki made his voice heard and spoke to his brother gods, 'Why should you make me swear an oath? Why should I use my power against my people? The flood that you mention to me - What is it? I do not even know! Could I give birth to a flood? That is Enlil's kind of work! Let him choose destruction, let Enlil choose his champions. Let his envoys march ahead, let them pull loose the mooring poles, let Ninurta march, let him make the weirs overflow.' The assembly listened to his speech, but they did not listen to his plea. The gods gave a specific command. Enki was forced to swear the oath, and Enlil performed a bad deed to the people. Now Ziusudra sought his master day and night, but could find him nowhere. He spoke to him, but he would not answer, for Enki was sworn to silence. Instead, Enki came to Ziusudra in a dream and instructed him to go to the temple, put his ear to the wall and listen for his god.

I was always a minor dabbler in occult and mystical things, casually reading and adopting different magical ideas, but then a spirit got ahold of me and I stumbled into serious belief, yet, I did not know what to believe. I started searching and what I found led me to pain and madness. I found myself living out ideas that evolved on their own, and started overlaying my daily waking awareness mixing with dream and fantasy. I would act out in response to the hallucinations. Eventually these fantasies would break, and I'd wind up in a deep depression. This has been going on for 20 plus years, and after this last psychosis, I think I have broken this curse, because all of the ideas and experiences culminated in a total breakdown. Crossing my fingers.

Dear friends, Some time ago I shared the post below on another thread. I stumbled upon it again recently, and I felt it could potentially help a lot of people. That's why I'm reposting it now with some edits, as well as an "update" at the end of the original post. Here's the original post. ORIGINAL POST I will share in 4 points:1) Intro 2) My experiences with evil spirits 3) My experiences with black magic 4) My proposed explanation integrating viewpoints on evil spirits and black magic (Buddhism, Sufism, Martinus, Hinduism etc)IntroIn my opinion, this is an extremely important topic, that is extremely ignored, belittled and misunderstood by the vast majority of cultivators. Especially those with a western background. Also, even by high level masters who simply don't know about this particular area or haven't trained and studied it.My experiences with evil spiritsI have personally suffered many extreme and terrifying experiences, and no matter where I sought help, I was belittled, ridiculed, ignored or misunderstood.I have seen books flying out of shelves. I have seen bagpacks and other physical items dragged back and forth on the floor. I have experienced "wind" indoors, even though it was a closed off room with no windows. I have seen shadowy/smoke like figures physically moving around, experienced physical touch even though no physical beings are there and much more.When I sought help from a hindu monk, he advised me to start japa of my guru mantra when it happened. I did it... Didn't work.When I sought help from a high level "shamanic" qigong master (you would think spirits would be a walk in the park for a shaman), I was belittled and told "not to pay attention to this illusion I am experiencing". There's nothing illusory about physical objects being thrown around by an unseen force. It's pretty much as concrete as it gets. Almighty God bless him, and bring him to clarity and allow him to actually help people with his powers of qi.When I sought help from another qigong master specialised in healing, he told me to say a prayer and do a mudra. When it didn't work, he explained it away saying that "you're just not powerful enough to do it yet, you need to cultivate more. Be my one-on-one student for 2-3 years, meet me on on a weekly zoom meeting priced at 1.600 dollars for an hour, and then in a couple of years, you will be able to do it".This healing qigong master stated that I have a very loving and very spiritual energy, and that's why troubled spirits get attracted to me. They seek help and healing from me. That's why it worsens when I travel to new places or stay overnight at places that are not my house. The troubled spirits in that place see me and come to get help.I actually believed him, and met him 3 times, wasting thousands of dollars. It didn't work! And on top of that, the clairvoyant things he told me about me and my health were flat out wrong (he said I had weak sexual energy, ejaculated in seconds and drank a lot of alcohol which damaged my liver). I am at a very advanced level of sexual qigong and lovemaking, haven't touched alcohol in more than 10 years and make love for hours daily without ejaculating with very strong erection power.So after 3 meetings, I realized he was simply a semi-psychic (he did say correctly that I had a spine injury, although there were so many other things wrong about his psychic reading), yet pretty good healer (I could feel my back getting better when he gave healings), but most of all he was just thirsty for money. So, of course I stopped seeing him. Dear God, bring him to the straight path, let him let go of his greed for money and selfishness, and instead lead him to the straight path, that he may use his gift of healing for good.I then spoke with a highly clairvoyant sufi master, who did a check on me (for free). He related my entire life story regarding troubles with spirits (without me telling him anything), and he also stated that it's because I have a lot of "light" (noor) inside my soul. This is because of all the prayers and mantras I say each day (since I was a child). He said the spirits are troubled where they are (in "bardo" or "barzakh" as it's called in Islam), and seek my help.He said I should visualise putting up spiritual sign posts around my aura, my house, or anywhere I go that says "I am sorry, I cannot help you. I myself need help, that's why I pray to the light and get that light into me. Please don't come to me, I am in no position to help you, I myself need help, that's why I pray so much. You should yourself pray to the light, then you will get help".I tried it for some time, and it helped in my own house. However, when I went to new places, it didn't work. God bless this man, he is extremely loving, knowledgable and powerfully clairvoyant.When I sought help from another sufi (via the internet), he for free did a "spiritual check" on me. He stated that yes, I have some low level evil spirits around me. He gave me (for free!) a one week program of readings of salawaat (prayers to the prophet), and reciting "bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim" (the bismillah, "in the name of God) many hundreds of times in a day. Then blow on water and drink it.I did it for 7 days, and it worked! It was from his heart and soul he wished to help me. He did it for free.I sent him 100 dollars and said that it worked, and asked if I could keep training with him. I must have paid him only a few hundred dollars, yet I spent 6-9 months corresponding with him via email. He would give me different salawaat, dhikr (name of God), verses of the Qur'an and du'a (prayers). Whenever I did a program (e.g. 7 days, 11 days, 21 days), he would tell me how it went. He would give me feedback on the energy, without me telling him anything. He was very good, he helped me a lot, and he didn't ask much in return. However, after 6-9 months, because he wanted to remain anonymous, I felt that to be a bit weird after so long, so when I had completed a big program, I stopped corresponding with him. We haven't been in contact since.What became my go-to after training with this last sufi guy is 5 verses from the Qur'ran. Ayatul kursi (Verse about the Throne of God), and 4 verses called "the 4 qul". They are the last 4 verses of the Qur'an, and they all start with "qul" which means "say". It's Surah Nas (verse of Man), Surah Ikhlas (verse of Unity), Surah Falaq (verse of the Daybreak / rising sun) and Surah Kafiroon (verse about the Unbelievers).You recite each 11 times (11x ayatul kursi, 11x surah nas, 11x surah ikhlas, 11x surah falaq and 11x surah kafiroon). Then you blow on your right index finger, and visualise your hand coming down from the sky, and drawing a protective circle around the 4 corners of your home, and then finally around yourself, or the room that needs extra protection (e.g. bedroom, prayer room).This has been my go-to for more than 6 years. It has been the only thing that worked for me in this area. If you want to keep your house energy pure, you say 21x ayatul kursi, blow on a glass of water, and sprinkle it around your house. The combination of these two readings saved my life.God bless this man who helped me without demanding anything in return!Unlike these chinese qigong masters, just wanting money and doing nothing to help.Lately when I'm learning Sri Vidya, I feel that some of the mantras and rituals from Sri Vidya will eventually be able to give spiritual protection on an even higher level. There are 2 specific "deities" or energies generated from mantras and rituals for the navel chakra (Durga) and third eye chakra (Varahi) which specifically combat negative spiritual energies, including black magic, evil spirits, the evil eye etc.All of the above are my experiences and solutions for evil spirits so far.My experiences with black magicI have worked for the army in my country. One of my functions was as a translator and interpreter. I have been deployed several times to a UN mission in West Africa.On one of my deployments, there wasn't much work. We only worked from 6 in the morning to 2 o'clock in the afternoon. The rest of the time we we're pretty much on standby.Being stranded in a war zone, there's not much to do. So I spent all my free time reading, studying and practicing (mantras, meditation and qigong).I was in a very good spiritual state at the time due to so much practice, so I was seeing auras and energies most of the time.One time, we were training the local special forces to save hostages. The only building we could use was a big fancy hotel, yet no tourists (because of the war). So to survive, the owner of the hotel rented it out as a brothel.One day, in a break between exercises, I saw one of the prostitutes sitting on the other side of the courtyard (they just sat around and waited for the 3-4 hours that we and the local soldiers used it as a training compound). When she saw me, she started whispering something, and I saw a small cloud of black energy generating in front of her face. Then she did something with her hands, and started blowing towards me. This sent the small black cloud of energy across the courtyard towards me. It just landed in the outskirts of my aura, it didn't go in (thank God!). So nothing happened to me.When I was back in my room later that day, I meditated. Then I understood she was trying to do some black magic on me. Maybe she was trying to seduce or attract me. For a prostitute in a war zone, hooking up with a soldier deployed from Europe could be her ticket out of the warzone to a better life. Luckily, the energy wasn't powerful enough to penetrate my energy field (which was pretty charged at the time due to so much spiritual practice). And as I meditated, the cloud was just destroyed and disappeared from my field.One of the local maids cleaning my place actually put my tooth brush up in her vagina when she was cleaning the bathroom. She thought I didn't know, as I was sitting in the living room. I guess it's a primitive form of African black magic. If you ingest some of the fluids (spit, sweat or sexual fluid) of someone (especially if they say mantras while doing it), you can become more partial to liking that person (becaues you will have some of their energy inside your physical body). I bought a new tooth brush!Another woman working in the restaurant spat in my food and stirred it around to hide it. I ordered a new pasta You need to be very careful in many places of Africa, the Middle East, South America and certain parts of Asia. It's rampant with black magic and desperate people. Luckily they are usually not powerful practitioners, but you can still catch something if you're not protected and observant.My second experience is with my girlfriend. She comes from the Middle East, i.e. the vast majority of her family still lives there. When we got together, it was made public, her ethnicity in our European country as well as her family and relatives in her home country in the Middle East became aware of it. As soon as this happened, she started to fall sick.She would get wrist tendonitis, elbow tendonitis, sore knees, sore lower back, her vision would suddenly drastically reduce, she would get nauseous for no reason, got rashes, stomach ache, started to suddenly lose weight and appetite. For no reason!It just came suddenly out of the blue. She would suffer for some time and recover. Then a new problem came back. This continued for about 6 months. Before we made our relationship public, she wasn't sick even once. After we made it public, she kept continually falling ill again and again.After 6 months of this story of suffering and disease, once when I was meditating, I saw a cloud of red and black energy entering our house. It went to my girlfriend. Then it went into her wrist.That same evening, she started complaining that the wrist tendonitis was coming back.I was very surprised. I was praying and meditating, trying to understand what had happened. A few days later, I got a dream, where I saw planet Earth from above. Then I saw her country in the Middle East (Kurdistan). Then I saw clouds of red and black gathering and forming, and then they travelled to Europe to our country.When I woke up, I understood that God had heard my prayer, and given me this dream to let me know that someone in her home country was cursing her.That started an 8 month period of fighting this magic.First I consulted this qigong healer about it (the psychic one, who told me correctly about my spinal injury, but wrongly about alcohol, sex etc). He to my great surprise said that someone was putting black magic on my girlfriend, and that she should practice his "small universe" meditation to transform the energy.I was surprised he went straight to Black Magic as an explanation, even though I didn't tell him about my dreams and visions. We tried what he suggested, but it didn't work.Then I went to a hindu tantric, who has mastery over spirits, done sadhana (spiritual practice) in graveyards, and done many tamasic tantric rituals to control these spirits (e.g. animal sacrifice, bathing in blood, smearing yourself with your own filth and urine etc). When I spoke with him, he asked me to send a photo of my girlfriend.After 2-3 days, he called me and said that there is black magic on her. We should just worship and pray to God like normal, remain vegetarian, avoid alcohol, and when he visits our country, he will put a kavach (shield/armor) on her. From that day we spoke, everything stopped. So he did something remotely. After a few nights, I had a dream where I saw this swami doing something. A beam of energy went to the Middle East, where I saw someone had buried a charm inscribed with mantras and signs under the plot of one of my girlfriend's family's buildings. The beam from the swami went in and neutralized the black/red energy.I would again highlight that he did all this for free. It seems again that this phenomenon that spirituality costs money and is a business is mostly related to chinese qigong traditions. Sufis and hindus have helped me completely free of charge, just from their heart.It was about 2-3 weeks where it was completely gone, but then it returned.I tried many different sufi methods, prayers, Qur'an, tasbih (prayer beads). It was always the same. It would make it go away, but after a certain period of time, it would return.Later, after I had done a specific reading of a passage from the Qur'an about Moses fighting the black magicians of Farao, the black magic completely stopped. It took me a month, and you have to recite late at night. Then I finally had a dream where I saw this black magician in Kurdistan. Every new moon, or on specific astrological days, he goes to a kind of basement or cellar underground. Here he conducts terrible black magic rituals, involving animals, kidnapped orphans and other terrible things. That's why it's all black and red energy, because it's dirty and bloody what he does. It's someone from my girlfriend's family who's jealous of the part of the family that's gone to Europe.Then I saw him get hit with my one month program of Qur'an, and he lost all of his powers. All the energy drained from him, he became thin, weak and pale.After this it was about 6 months where we were completely free from this black magic. I thanked God and actually thought it was over. I felt kind of bad that it seemed my Moses-reading had damaged him, but I didn't mean to hurt him, I just wanted to protect my beloved girlfriend. It hadn't really hurt him, just taken away the energy he had built up and the evil spirits he was working with.After 6 months, he decided to start to try again, and start from the bottom to build up his energy (he was the most powerful black practitioner I've ever seen). But this time the things he sent were really weak. We just read some Qur'an and du'a, and it stopped.Finally, after starting Sri Vidya one and a half years ago, and we did a 41 day Varahi tarpana. Now we've been clear of black magic for about 1 year. I feel like we have built our spiritual protection so strong now, that we're mostly safe.My proposed explanation integrating viewpoints on evil spirits and black magic (Buddhism, Sufism, Martinus, Hinduism etc)I've highlighted a bunch of my experiences above. Now I'll try to make sense of it and provide an explanation.I'll use an idea of different dimensions of reality to try and explain why people misunderstand each other when it comes to black magic and evil spirits.For simplicity I'll just use the following terms:1) Physical (shared physical world, objective reality, different beings interact with each other in an objectively verifiable sense).2) Energetic (shared energetic world, objective albeit non-detectable reality for untrained people, objectively verifiable by people with their energetic senses open)3) Mind (inner, individual world, unique to you, subjective reality, there's no one else here but you)4) "Astral" (objective and shared reality with different beings interacting with each other through energy and mind)Buddhism:A big problem is that many Buddhists will brush these kinds of things off and say "it's all just mind". Someone even told me "spiritual beings viewed with ignorance, are demons", "spiritual beings viewed with wisdom, are devas". That sounds great philosophically, but it's a completely useless viewpoint when shit gets serious. Books are flying around your room, or your girlfriend is falling sick. It's not something mental, it's concrete and physical. You need to do something.Just like an intruder in your home trying to steal your stuff "it's just mind, it's just illusion". Yes, fine illusion when he slaps you in your face and rapes your family. You need to take practical action and protect yourself and your family.So all this "it's all mind" is great for a meditator going inwards, but it's not useful if you have a concrete, practical problem. Just like feeling hungry "it's just an illusion in your mind", no, you need to eat something.I feel like the misunderstanding is because the buddhist meditator is talking about "mind", whereas the person talking about problems with black magic and evil spirits is talking about the astral, energetic and physical dimensions.It's true that you can meet "darkness" in your own subjective mind, but this is not the same as the objective, shared reality in the astral, energetic and physical dimensions.Some people who are also generally confused and vague in their life experience will not have the ability to discriminate between "mind" (their own fears) and "astral" (a real, verifiable, shared and objective reality). These are the people that buddhists in general target when they say "it's all in your own mind", because they think it's just imagination. For these meditators getting lost in their own subjective minds, it's a great piece of advice. However, for people truly experiencing objective problems in the astral, energetic or physical domains, it's ridiculing, belittling and just not helpful advice.SufismSufism states that there are unseen beings living in an astral, objective dimension. They also differentiate between the subjective mind or ego called "nafs" and the astral world called "malakut" or world of light (angels are called malai'ka, or powerful beings of light).HinduismAlso differentiates between your own subjective mind, and the astral world.MartinusAlso differentiates between inner subjective world (mind, you and your own mind), and inner objective world (spiritual world, your soul and the soul of others).ConclusionI am sure buddhism also discriminates somehow between inner subjective and inner objective world, I just don't know the correct terms. Maybe someone can help me out?The reason that these qigong masters failed to help and just tried to extract money from me, is simply because even though they're master healers, the just haven't trained in and studied the astral world. They know about the physical, energetic and mind, they just don't know about black magic and evil spirits in the astral.The sufis who helped me, they knew about energy and astral, so they could easily see what was happening and what I should do. They had trained in this and understood it.Similarly, the tantric swami had knowledge and power to help us quickly. The black magician was just very powerful, so he could break the spell from the swami and start his black magic again after a couple of weeks by repowering his buried charm through rituals.Mostly when people belittle or ridicule black magic and evil spirits, it's just because they themselves didn't have karma in this area, so they don't know about it. That's why they brush it off as unimportant and not necessary, because it wasn't important to them in their cultivation. However, if you have karma in this area, there's no escaping it. You need to read, study and understand about it, then you need to train in it (mantra, meditation, ritual etc). Then you will master it and be able to go beyond it and continue your cultivation undisturbed.All traditions have sections of their teachings dealing with this, it's just not all masters who've studied this section of their tradition. Because they didn't need it, they state that no one else needs it (wrong assumption and bias to think everyone is like you and need the same as you did. Wrong. We're all different and unique, we need different things).God bless you all! UPDATE SINCE THE ABOVE ORIGINAL POST On top of our spiritual cultivation, we've employed some very basic truths in our everyday lives, which is usually taught at the basic level in most traditional spiritual teachings, albeit largely ignored or misunderstood by western people (myself included, that's why I'm emphasising it now): 1) "Conceal your blessings" (this is as to not invoke a feeling of lack in others, which could trigger jealousy, envy, evil eye or black magic - practically it just means not to talk about your succes in love, money or spiritual journey publicly (e.g. insta & fb) and even to your loved ones, close friends and family members. We just share it with each other, me and my girlfriend, celebrate our sucess and give thanks to Almighty God) 2) "Certainty" (Yaqeen in arabic) consisting of 3 points 1) everything is from God, 2) it's for my highest good, 3) it has a message for me, about something I need to change. For me the message was simply to accept that "evil" is indeed a part of God's creation, and evil spirits and black magic is real. I always shunned it off and looked down upon it as mere superstition. Nope, it's real! So take it seriously and take mindful precautions, it's simply a test from God. Don't lose your certainty, your faith, have full trust in God and do your daily spiritual work 3) The best spirituality you will find is free or very low cost - all the people and healers I splurged money on failed to deliver and actually help us. The people who had true love, compassion and heart were the most powerful, they helped us completely for free or at very low cost. All these commercial gurus are simply fitna, illusion, they're a Golden Calf or temptation from the straight path. Truth is hiding in plain sight, simple, yet most profoundly powerful. Be a good human being, trust God, have heart and mercy for your fellow human beings and the animals, and you'll be showered with a tsunami of power and protection directly from the Lord Most High. 4) The importance of "local" spirits - each place you go to have a Kshetra Palaka (Local Protector) or TuDi (Earth King/God) who are the Spirit Kings of that place. Further, there are also local spirits living in that location. If you do cultivation there without permission/friendship with the local Spirit King, you can start to get into spiritual trouble. This is a big part of traditional Hindu sadhana as well as Daoist cultivation. After each hindu ritual you give Bali Dhana (spirit charity offering) to the local spirits and the Kshetra Palaka, or in the case of Daoist magic or cultivation you say the An Tu Di Shen Zhou (Pacify Earth Spirit Mantra). It's even one of the Daoist Ba Da Zhou (8 Great Mantras) to be said daily. So be aware if you travel to new locations - make sure to include the local Kshetra Palaka or TuDi to be in harmony with the spirits of that place. 5) The importance of spiritual lineage (sampradaya). When you're part of a true, authentic spiritual lineage, you will also have much more spiritual protection and power. If you call upon your guru or master with the appropriate mantra and mudra, it's the combined energy of thousands and thousands of years of people doing spiritual practice coming to help you spiritually. A complete game changer!