Dan is correct when he states that gazing is the quickest path to sorcery knowledge; mainly because the eyes–due to their configuration–literally intake and project their own light; with the latter constituting a maneuver in awareness, while the former an indwelling tabulate on fixation.
Any proper exercise in regard to developing awareness almost always requires some sort of externalization through the ocular element, alongside a kinesthetic constituent to anchor the body. This I will not argue with you about; no matter how much you try.
Generally, there is no point to any exercise if you can force silence ALL THE TIME; meaning, you wouldn't need any techniques or practices at all—you merely possess foreknowledge of possibility; akin to how occult powers manifest in transience once you have sufficiently diligent work of developing the energy body. Sometimes someone has to show you the possibility...but that is another topic altogether.
All your techniques are basically the same in this respect; except I see a huge gap in your proprioceptive understanding.
Have you noticed how Don Juan cracks his joints, contorts his spine, and pendiculates his upper extremity?
This sort of extrication is heavily implicated in your "group" situation; since all the apprentices within your literature had someone else dislodge their interpretive apparatus for them—a luxury you cannot afford.
Tensegrity and (especially) silence alone might lead to this, as stated in the third paragraph; but I am a man of immense efficiency—here to accelerate development.
So... I've come here to show you a non-inventory-laden auxiliary practice specifically tailored to your situation.
This one practice alone can build the energy body. You want to fall asleep standing, no? What I am offering is even more excruciating than a darkroom; at least, initially.
I suggest, as a prerequisite, to get an exercise band and make a regular practice of band pull-aparts, face pulls, etc, to get a proper understanding of external rotation...and overall fix your posture. To deny the mechanisms of the body is folly. You can even temporarily sleep on the floor...though your lady and/or male friends won't like it.
As for the practice:
Get a sticky note. Draw a penis... a dot or whatever—this isn't religion. Place it on a wall in front of you at eye level or above.
Stand normally in front of it; the distance from which you do this does not matter. As a beginner: focus on the position of your hands. Focus on the drawing. If you alternate back and forth, you will notice all associations begin to cease. This is a good initial benchmark for someone who doesn't understand what lack of internal dialogue means.
Then, you can begin to force silence and extend that feeling until your nose figuratively bleeds; with open eyes on the drawing. If the drawing does not seem to disappear into the wall; return to the excision of associations or keep forcing silence; because you aren't doing it correctly.
You do not move your body a single inch during this procedure; let whatever happens happen. Pain is a very good teacher. Barring physical ailments or limitations; if you can't stand for 1-3 hours; what the fuck can you do?
You are not even a human being yet.
Depending on your level of silence; you can begin to see things in the wall—very similar to the already-expounded upon darkroom practices. This, however, can be achieved anywhere through gazing; it does not build the energy body.
However, once your body stops fighting you, you will begin to feel floaty and relaxed. There are numerous faulty and unfaulty explanations on why the Double likes this; but we can just say it does.
It will swarm you.
The swarm will carry throughout the day.
All your other practices will improve.
Eventually, you can trap that feeling in your bodily awareness quasi-permanently—calling it forth as needed.
You cannot learn the pendiculating or contortions of the spine until you get to this level.
22 Comments
Could be true.
All we can realistically ask of people is that they practice.
What they practice is more important.
If the technique doesn't have obvious magical results that go beyond what meditation systems can do, they won't get anywhere no matter how hard they believe they are working.
That's the history of our community. Endless failure caused by either pretending, or not realizing what to emphasize. With not a single person learning anything real enough to lead to all of it, until recently.
Or if someone did succeed, then they're a bastard for not actually motivating other people to follow their lead.
There's the internet now! So there's no excuse for keeping it to yourself if it actually worked.
It's like coming across a huge warehouse of food that's been forgotten, when you live in a city of starving people. And you just take enough for yourself, and move on.
Unfortunately success isn't a guarantee people will keep practicing. They might finally get serious, realize what sorcery actually is by seeing the real magic it produces daily, and figure out they aren't going to get the social rewards that motivated them all along.
Thus even if they really do practice, and the right techniques, there's still no guarantee they'll get all the way to where Carlos told us to go.
We're missing something, but I surely can't figure out what it is.
Possibly magical companionship?
>Possibly magical companionship?
I am interested on how you plan to achieve this without it devolving into a complete shitshow.
It would require more people to get further along, unfortunately.
And without that social reward, it seems that most people eventually become less serious once they realize what sorcery really is, and how much daily effort it takes to make progress.
Possibly because all they were after in the first place, was a church.
And because forcing others to perceive whatever level of magic you've achieved, so that you can recruit magical companions, was even out of Carlos' reach.
I suppose you could even say the lineages never managed to get that far, based on them having to rely on the Nagual's blow for teaching.
Carlos had hoped energetic mass would do the job. It's never been tried.
But even Cleargreen's customer base is growing too small to sustain them.
Fortunately the knowledge that it works and how to make it work for yourself, is likely to remain on the web forever.
Yes. We probably need some grand maneuver too, like rescuing Julian or something. Or some common goal, like bringing magic back into the world.
But I'm beginning to think we need to engage in shared dreaming and shared recapitulation. So I think you're right. We need to move further along.
There never seems to be enough time, but I know that's a lie. If we really want something, we'll make time. I was practicing this morning, and made good progress in a short amount of time, and then before I knew it, I laid down and my internal dialogue returned with a vengeance. My mind can come up with some pretty good excuses on why I should "postpone" my practice time, or cut it short. Or I just pass out.
I got trouble over suggesting we rescue Julian.
He's "evil" along with the Allies, in the cleargreen church system.
Perhaps he's the equivalent of Judas?
Or maybe it's because you're supposed to disdain real magic.
But I've got Cholita around, so Julian doesn't worry me. He might even help her become more normal.
Unfortunately, we have people with bad motivatins hanging around. Someone is downvoting those they perceive as being their enemies.
You don't see it in the ratings. Someone who gets voted below zero, is only visible to the mods.
But they can at least erase an upvote by downvoting the person.
If a practitioner manages to turn their own wheel of time, then then the entire bundle of emanations become available to them, and they can move to any reality and time available within that whole bundle. The dark sea of awareness becomes accessible, and the other beings that exist within that whole bundle become accessible. The “older” ones, the ones closest to the source of all awareness, are the ones best available for companionship.
Or at least, I would think they’d be the best magical companions. They’re beyond the social, and yet you can socialize with them!
They also are closest to the source of all awareness, and have “been around” the longest, so they would possibly most familiar with the *intent* of the sorcerers of Ancient Mexico, as progenitors of the intent that led to that intent.
That's an interesting alternative to holding inspiring church services weekly!
I suppose now I understand why I got attacked by 3 Jehovah's witness witches, when I finally picked up Cholita at LAX a month or two ago.
Jehovah's witnesses are always assigned the task of going out to recruit new members. They even give classes on how to answer any question or negative statement their victims make.
The church somehow realized this fulfills a need of their followers to feel superior to others, because they're following a "spiritual" path.
And despite the burden of it, it motivates them to remain serious.
They were taking their magic black book around to promise eternal life to anyone who follows their book, and eternal damnation to those who don't.
Dressed in all white.
I started to wonder who was the "evil witch" in all that.
Cholita, or them?
Cholita doesn't make any promises. So there's no worry about whether she can keep them.
As someone recently reminded me, it always comes back to intent! 😁
Why focus on the hands and not on the legs for example?
Why understanding of external rotation is needed?
>Why understanding of external rotation is needed?
I suppose you could do this with horrible posture, but it sort of defeats the point. There are people who maim their own bodies in the pursuit of altered consciousness; that is obviously not what I am proposing here. I deeply care about the physical well-being of other people. Or rather, people hurting themselves without purpose is far more insidious than any intended malice.
>Why focus on the hands and not on the legs for example?
The hands produce superior silence. You can verify this experientially. There may be an esoteric reason—but I see no point in expounding upon it here
If you're talking about efficiency isn't it Silvio Manuel, the bloke who just looked down and to the right and could switch to his energy body instantly. Why do I gotta draw a Penis lmao. Next thing I'll be downloading shitty sex apps like Pure 🤣
Silvio Manuel’s awareness was lodged “somewhere else,” permanently. No fun for him. Learning is fun. You don’t want to get to the finish line in 2 seconds, do you? What does the Bible say? Sell your soul; gain the world? I am merely a barterer. The Aztecs would understand what I mean.
>Why do I gotta draw a Penis lmao. Next thing I'll be downloading shitty sex apps like Pure 🤣
It seems like you are still stuck in associations....
I don't need your "advice".
That, my friend(non pejorative), is not up to us to decide. Just for transparency, this person edited their comment. First message was: "I don't need you advice." Who said this is about you?
Absolutely, I do.. not ...
need your advice. Lmao.
Don't take it. The universe does not care.
It's like worshipping an idol, lol. Ancient idols really look like a penis. Religions and sects use similar techniques to enter a trance – repetitive movements, words of prayer, looking at a crucifix, a statue of Buddha, or a photograph of a guru. It's almost the same everywhere. But most people only reach the green zone.
Here's Gazing examples, supposedly from all of the books.
*** Gemini Notebook ***
Question: find places where the practice of gazing is explained. Should be leaves, but also moving water or stones, or any other thing to focus the eyes on while stopping the internal dialogue.
AI response: Gazing is one of the most powerful practical techniques taught in the sorcery tradition to shut off the internal dialogue, disengage the ordinary attention, and successfully "stop the world" so the second attention can emerge. Don Juan explains that physical objects like branches, leaves, stones, and moving water are simply devices used to trap and focus our attention. By bypassing our internal dialogue, we break our dogmatic certainty that the world is only what we are taught to perceive.
The specific practices and mediums for gazing detailed in your books include:
In The Second Ring of Power, la Gorda reveals that don Juan made all of his apprentices gaze at dry leaves for years to train their second attention.
How it Stops the Mind: Because dry leaves are abundant and easily accessible, they are the perfect tool to quiet thoughts. Without active thoughts, the attention of the daily self (the tonal) fades, allowing the second attention to hook onto the leaves, causing the world to stop.
Gazing at Moving Water (The Dangerous Hinge)
Gazing at moving water is a highly effective but intensely volatile technique. Don Juan tells Carlos that water is his personal "hinge".
The Danger of Water: La Gorda warns that she and her companions are terrified of water. Because of its natural fluidity, running water can aggressively gather the second attention and carry it away with no way of stopping it. Don Juan notes that Carlos once nearly disintegrated his physical body during a water-gazing session.
Gazing at Rocks and Stones
Rocks are incredibly ancient, stable structures, making them powerful focal points.
Pebble and Crystal Pressure: To instantly shut off the internal dialogue before dreaming, the "dream emissary" instructs Carlos to press small crystals, pebbles, or metal pins tightly between his fingers. Creating a sharp, almost painful pressure in the hands acts as a physical circuit breaker that silences the mind and guarantees a perfect entrance into dreaming.
Gazing at Trees (Sweeping and Merging)
Gazing at trees expands the limits of spatial awareness and forces the assemblage point to become highly fluid.
Zuleica’s Essential Rules for Gazing
Zuleica provides two foundational rules to protect the practitioner's energy body:
*** end of ai response ***
Zuleica's advice for how to treat the objects you gaze at reminds me of two things.
Cholita's gazing technique. I wish I had a picture of what she gazes at, but she finds a dry leaf that curled up into a near perfect ball, and hangs it under her outdoor umbrella using invisible fishing line. The angle of her lounge chair makes it easy to look directly at the leaf ball. Since the dried leaf ball is very fragile, you can see there's some respect or affection for it.
But it also reminds me of Carlos telling Ellis (Amy) that she needs to get a job as a hotel maid, and when she's cleaning she needs to talk affectionately to her broom and other cleaning supplies.
Then of course there's the talking to plants thing, from one of the first books.
Or, Nestor's ability to view the mold marks on plants, which tell him what the plants are good for.
Those are all attempts to stream Silent Knowledge, using a chosen "presentation method".
Silent Knowledge can flow in endless ways. It's not just videos in the air, or text materializing from a pomegranate dot.
It's a mini reality stream. You can enter into them on a good day and everything looks just as normal as you could hope for, even though an instant before, you were gazing in your practice room.
Talking to objects, or merely having a little affection for them, can turn those into the presentation method.
And of course, talking to your broom is a not-doing.
Tested this exercise last night.
It works really well as a silence meter.
I used the eight quartz stones in my hands to help force silence and it surely helped.
Great exercise to do just what op said, help beginners notice what silence is.