Say what??????!
Techno's addition from his reply, but enhanced.
Olmecs before Toltecs. In the middle there were these sorcerers.
A well dressed double!
Good thing Colorado Carlos never saw this pic! But which copy would he be?
I suppose, once you have real magic you now have a tool.
I'm a big fan of tools. I never got sucked into the 18V power pack collection, but I used to have any "old school" tool you might name.
Possibly that's why when Little Smoke guided me through darkroom gazing, the first thing I realized was, "It's a tool!"
It's a "lie detector" type tool.
You tell yourself you can get silent, and you're a powerful genuine Indian sorcerer who can see.
It fools the chicks at the biker bar.
Well... really it doesn't.
But they figure you're so screwed up, maybe they can keep you permanently. They just have to accept your "hobbies".
When you apply Little Smoke's lie detector tool to your amazing sorcery prowess, the darkness just stares back at you as if to say, "no you aren't".
You can still run around with a bandana like Rambo and change your name to "Harvey Swift Turkey", but now you know the truth. You haven't learned anything at all.
But let me tell you a secret about tools.
Tools are STACKABLE!
It's easier to explain this with computers, but I'll try the most basic analogy.
Some company wanted to help an African nation, so they donated a bunch of computers to them.
This was at least 30 years ago.
It failed.
Some guy came along and said, "You idiot! They don't need computers when they can't even make screws! Don't you know that technology has to be stacked on top of existing technology before it's useful?"
And he gave them lathes.
It worked! They started fixing old machinery junk, and pretty soon their economy had it's own real activity going on.
Likewise, we have the tool of darkroom, which gave rise to the tool of seeing.
The tool of seeing gave rise to "double technology".
We know about the double now. How it behaves and where it comes from.
So we can go back to look at figurines from the magical cultures of Mexico and South America, and get "tips". Hints. New ideas for new techniques.
These are obviously not Olmec. Even though they seem to have the rubber caps.
But one description says they have "bangs". So I suppose that isn't rubber.
And I don't believe they're Toltec.
But between Olmec and Toltec (which lead to the lineages) there has to be stuff in between.
Figurines in between!
Mayan for sure.
Be on the lookout. I have no idea what these are.
But how cool is it to look at something like this, and not have the standard academic explanation.
Instead, you KNOW what that is, and by studying it you can learn to do brand new, amazing magic!
Am I going off the deep end here?
No. Carlos gave us this task. Constantly.
I got the privilege of a Carlos guided tour of the Museum in Mexico city, but many others got tours of other historical magical sights.
So he wanted us to do this.
Possibly he enjoyed the search himself at one point.
Keep your eyes open!!!
I also know for a fact that Carlos went searching for magic.
I did the same, once Little Smoke scared me into heightened awareness.
Carlos found none.
I found none.
Hundreds of "spies" in here, found no real magic on the internet. Just a bunch of empty promises, and people too lazy to stop and look into their "system".
But at one time, in Mexico, real magic was common.
Let's bring that back!
51 Comments
Those images are of items found in Guatemala…there are other things like that found throughout South America, but never see the light of day.
Damn...
So is there an expert out there who would say, "That's old school Mayan art"?
Meaning, to someone interested in that topic, it's obvious what those are?
I tried the museum web page, but after several links and a big pop-up, I had to give up for the day.
One of them looks like a woman, based on the giant earrings that the Olmec women are portrayed with.
so whether she's pregnant, or has her double in the middle, is not easy to determine from that one.
The other is a guy, so unless they were modifying their pronouns back then too, seems likely that's his double.
And already, there's some info for anyone who can bring out their double.
That sorcerer seems less powerful than the Olmec figurines.
He doesn't have as deep of an understanding of the double, in my opinion.
Here's some fun speculation!
that's the value of artifacts to us.
Is that the "Frame of the Energy Body" surrounding the double in the male figure?
Does our technique strike the upper half of the Frame, more at the top than at the bottom, so that the top is wider than the bottom?
Most of the descriptions i have seen about these types of art pieces are culturally biased, speculative about a ‘notion of the soul’ .
Yet, i’d be tempted to gaze at such item, in silence to reach the place where one can relive or witness what’s stored in that position of the assemblage point. What incredible sophistication! I am in awe of what those people accomplished.
When you visibly see Cholita walk through a solid wall, then run out again when you try to get too close, and she's glowing in green or very light blue, you give up the "notion of a soul" in favor of a "double".
Her light blue version can float up into the air, like an Angel. She likes to show off with that one.
But the dark green one is for hunting. When she's on a mission that night.
Unfortunately, that version doesn't have enough "mass" to follow me most places where I wish I could take her along.
Yes, you can use an artifact to do a "re-run"!
You can literally relive the guy who made the statue.
I don't believe it's even difficult!
It's likely fully automatic.
EXCEPT, you have to be out at the deep deep orange zone. Very far end, almost into the purple.
I only get out there once a week at most.
And when I get there I play a bit, realize none of it matters, and end practicing.
It takes hours to get out there.
So that's one of the main hurtles with sorcery.
Juann has taken the route of exploring more in the "pink" region, which is the abundant "safe magic" area.
Unfortunately for me, we need someone to go all the way along the curve.
So I'm sort of "required" to do that, or I lose the help I get.
I get to drive by the bar with go-go dancers.
But I'm not allowed to go inside for more than a few seconds.
Or no more fee gas from the charge card of infinity.
Couldn’t you just go to peru or some of those old ancient megalithic sites and “ re- live” how the city functioned?
Maybe magic was so normal back then that ppl were using it to build cities and walk through walls instead of having doors?
Yes you could.
But the amount of effort to learn to do that would be astounding.
It's almost like saying, "Can't you just dig a tunnel through that mountain. You have a good shovel."
Don't fantasize your magic.
How long you been doing that?
Don't you want the real thing?
Maybe you could specialize in picking up traces of the past from objects.
We could use a specialist in that area.
I often plan to drive to where I used to hunt for native American relics in the sand, as a 9 year old.
There was a site down south that the Luiseno occupied 10,000 years ago.
I thought maybe I could hunt using seeing, and then pick up a trace of the owner of the object.
I went there a month or two ago.
It was covered over. A huge city had sprung up around the old reservation.
I got as close to where I knew the old reservation had been. It was a huge casino.
I went inside, and stood in the inner lobby area, surrounded by bars.
I turned to my right, and a line of men riding on horses charged at me, only to meet a line of other Indians on horses. They passed right through me as they went to meet the others on horseback.
They were playing a game. Except they were just ghosts. 75% transparent.
A bartender asked me if I was ok. I just have looked startled when they passed right by.
I asked, "Where's the reservation?"
An old man on a bar stool who had been talking to the bar tender said, "you're standing in it! Welcome home."
You bring up a amazing point. Like building skills trees
So if this kind of skill could be specialized, so could advanced healing and disease diagnosis and stuff?
Having ppl with those skills would help solidify energetic mass right.
I don't know about the healing. Elias was a healer.
And he sure seemed to heal Julian.
So I guess, yes. That could be done.
But it would have to be a young person, because the loss to learning to move the assemblage point all the way along the J curve, quickly, would be impossible to calculate.
And maybe you wouldn't bring out the double, if you stopped to do that.
It would be a little like, your friends are going on a road trip to las Vegas.
You agree to stay home and guard their beach house.
Is that adequate compensation?
amazing………I guess these things were within reach of many ppl of those cultures………..because there was no money, no computers, no internet, no social media, no light pollution, no books, no schools, no dogma, no individual property, no skyscrapers, no cars, no employment, no restaurants, no fast food, no hospitals, no clubs, no mortgages, no stock market, no technology etc. Oh, what about smart phones…………..because of all these development, societies have moved to the external rather than the internal. :-(
Cleargreen came out with 4 videos over the course of January 2022, a series titled:
The Lineage of Carlos Castaneda.
Need to create a free account to access the page, and play the videos.
Here's what that page looks like behind the login.
Their registration process goes like this, as I remember. You signup for their email newsletter at the very bottom of the page below...and then they email a login/password to you:
https://www.castaneda.com/meet-carlos-castaneda
Good find!
I think Jadey has an account, unless they have different kinds.
I'd be curious to see if it explains the Olmecs in there.
However, that cartoon guy could do that too, because the lineage is named quite far back, with a few amusing stories.
I made the initial map of don Juan's world, and have a larger version, but once I started looking for "everything" that could be put on a map, I realized it was a huge job.
Months of work.
If anyone wants to complete that map, I can send them the GIMP file.
I had in mind to estimate ALL locations also. Like for instance, figure out where that restaurant where Carlos ate with Silvio and don Juan, having been pushed into HA for the first time.
Might just be the Mexican version of a Denny's, and obviously on the same main road leading to the mask makers house.
That sort of detail is in fact possible from what we already have.
There's a park over in Olmec territory where they liked to practice. And yet, most of the activity is where the Yaqui Wars ended, on the bus route leading south out of Riverside county. You have to cross all of mexico from west coast to east coast, to go that far!
We have lots of work for anyone that wants to be known as a "historian" far into the future.
Long after you're dead, if it's a very good job.
They don't actually have alot to say about the Olmecs.
It's basically a remake of video series they've made before, such as this one-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1eLoZ2UMlk
It'll probably turn up on this same Youtube channel soon.
I can't really afford to look at stuff like that, it could alter my current course. So thanks for the info, that spares me from needing to look.
But it's strange they don't discuss those Olmec statues.
Carlos liked the one people believe represents a wrestler, and I still haven't understood why. I guess it's the shoulder thing. Don Juan was always stretching his shoulders too.
It does indeed produce amazing results in the red and orange zone, but for me, no more so than any tensegrity pass.
Mashing energy for example, is nearly a "god damned miracle" when you've seen the results enough times to "reskim" that aspect more.
It's a trick to make the double's feet visible. And to notice that he actually moves along like he was pushing himself with something, perhaps a tentacle.
Views of the double are "ignored" by the mind. So it's particularly tricky to enhance that aspect of the skimmings.
It's "dark" in some odd way.
But any tiny piece of the double copying your movements, if you force yourself to pay attention visually and stop ignoring it, makes it easier the next time.
In some ways, it's a different problem, than moving the assemblage point.
Altering our filters perhaps, would be a good description.
They don't comment on the "wrestler" specifically in these recent videos, but I do remember a previous one where they talked about it.
They said Carlos liked it because it represented to him the great effort required to reach the energy body.
I was trying it out last night. Works as a "framing" technique, to induce more of "the double's eyes".
Perhaps I'll put it into a picture about Carol Tigg's straw and digeridoo techniques.
Once you can venture into the second attention like it was a real place (still having to avoid furniture though), you can try out the dumbest things, to see what effect they have on what you see around you.
At the blue line, you're just trying to get ANYTHING AT ALL TO FUCKING HAPPEN!
I'm channeling the spirit of an angry beginner.
Once you get to the green line, you're trying to enhance the colors or mini flashes of visions.
You can try that very technique out. The shoulder position. Gaze "over" it.
At the red zone you're trying to crystalize, enhance, or increase the amazing reddish and purple magic you see all over the room.
You have a tool! Surrounded by sights, in an absolutely dark room. So anything you want to test, can be tested against whether it alters the sights.
In the orange zone, you're trying to "focus" phantom rooms on your wells, please IOBs so they do tricks, or crystalize your floor, to give you a magical place to walk around in.
In that state, you can again try out the wrestler statue.
My take on it was, it's rather "lobster strike" like.
It takes that shoulder energy, and pushes it out into the room, so that you can "brighten up" the phantom manifestations.
An analogy.
You have a little pile of pebbles and you're sitting on a large rock.
Not much to do. You might toss a few rocks at the dirt, but it won't be entertaining.
If instead you have a big pond in front of you, tossing small rocks takes on a new meaning.
They cause ripples in the pond, and "stuff" comes out of hiding.
This type of "play" in the darkroom is how you move from "Shit, look what's going on", to "I'll go exploring tonight at that metal tube junkyard I found last night."
That evolves into Carlos and Carol Tiggs traveling together in dreaming and bring us back stories of other worlds.
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DAMN . now that you say those are the doubles it look slide the thing that wake me up next to me was like that in face characteristics but was transparent or matched the environment colors ... at first I thought was alien matched that description also .
Both you and monkey guy have battles going on with the IOBs.
I think it's the power plants. Don Juan always said those damage you.
The double won't attack us.
I don't know why some end up wrestling it, but possible that's just because it comes out for them, in some odd way. Perhaps mixed with an IOB.
When you bring it out yourself, it's you.
You won't attack yourself!
I don take drugs . I dont even smoke cigarettes. comes out for them who they ?
I thought you told me you did! Unless it was prescription.
Monkey guy has the same problem though. Conflict halfway into dreaming.
I have done when I was like 23-4 and only two times . its been years .my strongest experiences happened when I wasn't taken anything . I dont think drugs work years after taking them .
No, you'd have to do them over and over to produce any damage.
A few times is said to be "good for you" these days.
🤣 I soup them up then once a week .
You can get FAR higher by moving the assemblage point.
It's sad, but I believe ALL native american shamanism needs power plants these days.
They probably wouldn't even believe that makes less cool things happen.
I hope I'm wrong, but I did visit reservations with my father to study shamanism as a child.
They were all drinking devil's weed tea, probably because shrooms don't grow here. Too dry.
And the peyote in my area went extinct in by the early 1900s.
Used to grow east of me, just 60 miles.
All gone.
I m not in usa but in Europe. there is a big problem with drug abuse everywhere. wha is a nature's medicine has become a solution these days. everybody smoking weed at least... the eassy way .its in e reason we have so many crazy people they take drugs in some the assemblage point moves and does bot return because its not done with their will and their own effort and they can't return .
I suppose I never thought of it that way, but the damage from drugs does in fact have to be a semi permanent shift of the assemblage point.
I'd guess you could judge where on the J curve they got pushed, by the details of their hallucinations, if any.
Pot moves you to the green line, but horizontal shifts there are fairly benign.
Oddly, horizontal shifts at both the blue and red, are NOT benign.
That needs some investigating!
It's a pity Dr. Whale is so dishonest.
It might actually be possible to do what he's pretending to do. Assemblage point medicine.
But it might take a lifetime to actually create that branch of medicine.
the only reason in my opinion of drug use by a sorcerer is just to unlock a door not to make someone sorcerer .I do have studied a lot the drugs but I'm not a user in fact I despise even weed . also the effects to people varie and I remember Don jhuan mention it that the plant like you or not . some just smoke weed and go bananas and others smoke tons qnd has no affect on them. I'm guessing the Dummer the person the simpler the inner dialogue the less affect . I seen very smart people going paranoid with weed and all they did not blame it theh said they bipolar but I feel its not they prefer to say its a mental issue than internal dialogue going wild etc
Long time cannabis user, occasionally done other stuff, just to loosen the AP up a bit (before I even had heard of AP mostly).
I probably have a small permanent repositioning of assemblage point, because as soon as I'm in darkness I can see colored dots which I can verify with my youngest child, and puffs can come within 5-10 minutes. Just today in daylight, in less than a minute of gazing at the eye floaties against the blue sky I was seeing purple clouds starting to pulse in. I recap and do Tensegrity everyday and do my best on inner-silence everyday, but I don't think my experience is common only a touch more than 3 weeks into darkroom?
However, getting past the very beginning is ... difficult. Mostly from fear (that's the damage part I think). Only managed to actually scoop the puffs twice in the past three weeks! The Cannabis has been a crutch helping with inner silence that is now a stumbling block, or, rather, has been a stumbling block for a while. However, one of the many reasons for joining the sub and getting a Reddit account is to get past that.
I'm sticking with it no matter what, because I need inner-silence as much as I can get, and Tensegrity and recap are so good for that, and dark room is a great yardstick.
Actually that's what I expected of others.
I've been surprised when it takes longer.
My theory is mysterious and not something to be spoken outloud.
On why it takes some much longer.
I'll whisper it..
It has to do with how much time they say they're putting in.
The theory is, "Lying bastards!!!"
I believe you'll find that Juann shares my theory.
But his might be more nuanced. Like, they're putting in some time, but it's daydreaming or thinking about their day. And they're just sitting there pretending they're "forcing silence".
for people not learning fast enough, keep this in mind.
It used to take me 30 minutes every single time, just to get the puffs going.
My theory (I'm an optical engineer of sorts) was that the eyes have to get used to the darkness first, and maybe the puffs were just errant color balancing algorithms in the eye, which had no information to work with. The purple color seemed to be "proof" to me, since the color elements in the eye are bi-color, and not strictly RGB as they are in digital cameras.
Orange is the opposite of purple in that system.
So maybe, beginners don't realize, that 30 minutes in darkness is a given. Never will you see a puff before that.
But these days, the puffs wake me up. they surround my body, and "insist" I get up.
Which kind of eliminates that theory.
New theory: Those are the double. If he's too far away, it takes him 30 minutes to check back in with what you're up to.
Then you get the puffs.
So as you advance, he become intrigued, figures out your schedule, and waits in the room, invisible to you, for you to start.
>Cannabis has been a crutch
Pseudo ephedrine (the real stuff), two of the small red tablets, plus one Ibuprofen.
Doesn't work forever. It's probably only good for 3 days as a "before practice assist".
Pot keeps you trapped at the green line. Gets you there faster, but makes it very hard to move down.
Scooping a puff is moving down.
And ALWAYS do some tensegrity. If you don't, you aren't doing darkroom. All this is just Tensegrity in darkness.
Tensegrity brings out the double.
It really does trap one there. I go much farther when I manage to arrange to have the cannabis many hours prior and it wears off before dark room. The times I got to scoop puffs I was well clear of the effects of the Cannabis.
The other issue is that I keep starting darkroom hours later than I should ideally, for staying awake, and if I keep having that happen I may try that cocktail once or twice, or maybe some coffee. As you said, probably only works for a few days though.
Thank you, as always, for the great suggestions and ideas. Intent!
Someone else found another figure on an old laptop:
I suppose what's happening there is that the figurines we're seeing on museum pages which get posted here, are slightly more "topical" than the entire spectrum of Olmec figurines.
And maybe limited to one or two producers.
They're "slick", whereas those new ones are rather course.
There are some matching that less well finished (glazed and burnished) style in the known Olmec ones. Meaning recovered at those large city digs.
A typical Olmec "finish" seems to be burnished clay with a yellow ochre wash.
And some are actually carved Jade. Very expensive! The jade came from hundreds of miles to the south.
The other ones just now brought up, are from more remote outlets?
But still seem Olmec to me, because of the style and the earrings. Those large earrings are common on the female Olmec statues. And that flat head with long ears style.
I wish there was a clearer picture of that one.
It looks to me like his double has some guards and magical items, and the positions around him might be significant to us.
Sort of like don Juan's description of the male sorcerer surrounded by his female guards, holding weapons and shields. Or the implications of the old seers buried under the rock, each having 3 inorganic beings. And then "propelling" them at strangers to scare them to death. I always visualized each sorcerer surrounded by his 3.
That arrangement of multiple IOBs around a single sorcerer, actually starts to "come up" as a topic out at the deep orange zone!
It's not just fanciful. It's somehow linked to the intent of the Olmecs, so it starts to manifest when you get to the "free skimming" levels.
Or perhaps, your IOBs "teach" it to you by doing it.
I don't recommend anyone get more than 1 inorganic being. It's not very useful for learning fast. It would be like having 3 math teachers, and randomly alternating between each, with each having their own text book and different math specialty.
But multiple inorganic beings do seem to "assume the correct positions" when your double is highly present.
As if they will follow you as guards, when your double separates and goes out to war.
Yes, sorcery is super duper cool!
Imagine you are sitting on your bed in the darkness, see the double in the distance climbing a mountain road, and you manipulate the air to entice him to "come back".
And your inorganic beings immediately surround him when he's arrived.
Lily likes to be on the left, Fancy on the right, and Mystery literally flies above my head, like a lookout.
By the way, mystery got tired of me calling her a "him", and made well sure I knew that was not the case, last night. I had to apologize to her. Literally.
I suppose if the double, now surrounded by his allies then opened a doorway and left the room, they'd go along with him.
That's what you screw up, when you think you're going to save some time and bring in outside stuff.
The whole, "I used to do XXX and now I use that in my darkroom to speed me up" is frustrating!
I've tried to root it out by pointing it out in each case, but that didn't work so I switched to explaining more carefully that you CAN'T LEARN SORCERY. But we get an endless flood of new people, who don't read past posts. And don't believe you can't learn something. It makes no sense to think it comes from the air, just because you moved your assemblage point. And if it moves back, the knowledge is lost.
As a suggestion to consider, when we create some kind of "entry task" for the subreddit, it might be a good idea to pick out at least 2 posts that cover important topics, and require reading those. Suggest, "there might be a test later on."
But not actually have one.
So people at least gain some common sense.
Using outside techniques is a little like going into the forest to look for wildlife, but you have some cat repellant stashed in your pocket. House cat problems at home, and you forgot about it. And it's leaking.
Kiss the cougars, jaguars, tigers, and mountain lions goodbye. You won't be seeing any of those.
But if you'd just removed the cat spray before you headed for the hills, you'd get to see everything.
Looks like there are others in an exhibit at the MET museum
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/684338
So the one I thought was a woman, is a male.
Which makes that his double?
BUT, there a second "double" on the front plate.
I've theorized lately, but not proven, you can make a miniature "creature" from one puff, and there's still enough free energy for the double to become full sized.
The "puff" creature can use an IOB for it's consciousness.
I suppose I have to add that to the post pics.
Here you can see better detail - check out the arms
https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/artefacts/host-figurines
Truly wtf moment! Check this out
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-mayan-ceramic-figurine-classical-period-in-the-teotihuacan-style-250-84976318.html
I'd suspect Brujo world influenced. But Lily won't let me go in.
‘Teotihuacan-Style’ yet, found in places like Western Guatemala.
Guatemala? Now I have to think about those guys too?!?
People always on the move…
Were you reading in the subreddit long enough ago to see the underwater caves with 30,000 year old signs of inhabitants?
How did we all get fooled into admiring the middle east and Asia for magic?
Is it racism? "Those darned wet backs" sentiment?
Cholita calls them that too. She's from Mexico City, upper middle class. Says the ones who leave are the trouble makers Mexico doesn't want.
Which by the way, is a WORLD CLASS old city. Mexico City.
Simply amazing if you ask me.
Carlos was importing art from there. It's still a place where any antique shop or old church might have an old Spanish masterpiece rolled up in the corner.
But instead we're all obsessed with dusty old Egyptian pyramids filled with dead people who didn't want to give up their possessions.
Looking for magic in the dirt when it's right in front of our faces.
And close enough to drive to.
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Not an expert, but majored in Art History (I know, I know) with a focus on art and literature from the Americas prior to the Spanish "arrival".
The objects pictured are called "host figurines" as someone already noted in the comments. They are categorized as "Teotihuacan-style" even though they are from Teotihuacan. They were found far from Teotihuacan, so archeologists wanted to be cautious. This cautiousness has a double edge. On the one hand, it's good science. On the other, it's a remnant of Western conquerors being unwilling to view the peoples inhabiting the Americas as capable of cultural, architectural and philosophical achievements that rivaled or exceeded their own. The extent of the trading network in Meso- and North America is understandably difficult to believe, but the evidence is there and it is overwhelming. It turns out that North and Mesoamerica were in constant, busy trade with one another, and South America was not as cut off from the exchange as so far believed. Please note that it was requested an "expert" weigh in here, so I'm doing my best to represent expert opinion even though I am not one. OP posted 2 years ago, so hopefully this will be helpful to everyone interested in the background of these figures and the backdrop of the Americans at their time and before and after.
Some table-setting is required here before looking at the figurines.
The power of the Olmec was gone for four hundred years by the time the Teotihuacan rose as a people. They were contemporaneous with the Maya. The aesthetic in their respective work is distinct but both influenced one another. The primary difference between the Teotihuacan culture and the Maya is the former leave no evidence of a writing system. Trading between the two was abundant, and the influence of both people spread all over Mesoamerica. There is an outdated picture of these cultures living in isolation that continues to be taught in universities and in popular depictions of the Maya, Aztec, Inca. Look at the historically abominable film Apocalypto. You have a depiction of the Mayan world as a city surrounded abruptly by people living in very basic conditions in the woods. That simply isn't the way it was for the Maya, Teotihuacan and much of the rest of Mesoamerica. This would be like people 2,000 years from now digging up New York City and assuming everything immediately outside of it was simple farms living on well-water.
It may sound to members of this sub that what I am discussing isn't relevant to your interests, but please consider what the research shows:
-Mississippean power centers in at Cahokia (near St. Louis) were actively trading with the so-called Floridian cultures in the South, southwest well into Mexico and as far North as Canada. Cahokia supported a population as large as London at the same time. It is commonly known they had no wheel. It is a mistake to say this was a shortcoming. They had no beasts of burden. A wheel therefore would be useless.
(a) The mounds at Cahokia are power centers, but not in the sense that London is a center of authority where the elite make decisions that effect the non-elite. A mound is built entirely by stacking packs of earth on top of one another. Each pack of earth added to the mound is accompanied by a short utterance or line of a song. Eventually you have a humming concentration of power with a powerful person residing and commanding from the top-center of the mound.
-Macaws were discovered with human bones in a ritual burial inside of the Chaco Canyon complex 2 hours north of Albuquerque, New Mexico. They were accompanied by jewelry sourced to Central Mexico. The trading network between Chaco and Central Mexico was very strong.
(a) I don't think that a lot of Chaco enthusiasts really understand the improbability of it as a place to build. There is no water in the immediate area. The location is arguably the worst place you would ever want to build. For example, the wood used to reinforce the brick at Chaco was run by teams of men on foot like a baton race, one to the next, over about a hundred miles.
(b) The precision of the architecture and its interplay with astronomical cycles has been well-documented. What isn't emphasized enough is the utter impossibility of Fajada Butte. It is beyond all probability that someone randomly stumbled on Fajada Butte, climbed it on just the right day and time to see the "dagger(s) of light" created by the position of the sun and the precise accident of rocks deflecting and directing it. No. You can walk and wander in the desert as long as supplies allow and the discovery of the Butte is one of the most anomalous moments in history.
(c) Chaco to me exemplifies the most common element in pre-Columbian art, which is to find the way that is the most difficult to create something and then deliberately choose to use that when plenty of shortcuts are available. Also, there is the practice of self-destruction in all of the art of the Americas. With the Nazca you see the painting of beautiful, intricate pottery which are ritually smashed on the ground. This occurs in Mesoamerica, in Chaco and in the Mississippian cultures.
-DNA evidence shows Maya-Polynesian contact in both Mesoamerican and South Pacific locations. I still see a commitment to the narrative that it was a one-way exchange with Polynesians arriving in the Americas, but I find it hard to believe that with such a solid and lasting exchange the Maya wouldn't dispatch ambassadors to the west. Or did the Maya initiate the exchange with a seafaring culture we don't know about? I doubt this, but I admit I like it.
Now let's look at these figurines.
-Interesting that not only does the figurine here feature an inner-character behind the false chest-covering, but the chest-covering itself has its own character to hide. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/684338 It's a weak character, seemingly, at least in comparison to the stash of characters held within the actual body of the seated figurine.
-And then you have obvious Teotihuacan motifs jammed in with one another. https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtefactPorn/comments/ucls4u/teotihuacanstyle_ceramic_host_figurine_250600_ad/
What do these figurines mean? What are they portraying?
I don't know. That I know I don't know is why I felt qualified to reply to the original post. There is no such thing as a real expert on these figurines.
Every interpretation sounds pretty stupid:
-These are merely decorative and clever figurines created with a whimsy similar to Russian nesting dolls
-The figures within and their headgear are actual family crests which would be commonly known far and wide from Teotihuacan when they were created
-These are gifts of evil, each containing a unique curse!
-They depict inorganic beings . . . with a face and headdress and distinctive shoulders?
The truth is, we (anybody, I mean) don't know much about Teotihuacan except that it is beautiful and astonishing. We know a lot more about the Olmec because they had a proto-writing we are able to read on a surface-level without much nuance. It's controversial. There is an unconscious urge to suppress an abandoned language.
Interpretation is interesting so far as one revels in self-projection. The Olmecs and exactly zero studied ancient civilizations deserve it. So don't you do it or let your friends!
The truth is that the people commanding these monuments were tyrants and were willing to exercise their power with a title and in public upon the public, as many as they could influence by force. What has that to do with anyone interested in a life of poetry and magic? These are people interested in creating tributes to their dying long before their time, creating cataclysms in their sudden ruins declaring, "Look at me, I died" to the public who may or may not gasp in shock upon hearing the news.
-I recently visited the Bottle Creek mounds up the Tensaw River. It completely surprised me. I was expecting a few "random" mounds and instead our guide brought us to a huge trading center, midway between Cahokia and the Floridian cultures to the South like the Shell Mound off Tampa. The mounds can only be reached by boat, and the same was true at their height. The population was anywhere between 3,000-6,000. The site has never been thoroughly excavated. Jean Lafitte visited long enough to steal sacred effigies that disappeared back in France. The entire area is now completely covered in thick brush with lots of poison ivy.
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No need to worry about that. There's an AI now which knows much of what humans know about this topic.
I like to question it on this.
It's deficient in modern information on obscure locations in Mexico, such as Fort Ortiz where Zuleica's home was located.
But on past history of the Olmecs or Mayans or trade with up north, it's well versed.
I lived a few years in Beijing as a kid. Sightseeing is inevitable. Once we visited a pagoda temple housing a super-sacred object . . . a tooth of Gautama Buddha himself! An actual tooth. The temple was very pretty, no doubt, but even at my young age I though it was pretty silly to house and venerate a tooth.
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Buddha never left northern India.
You can ask ChatGPT.
So it was a lying temple.
The chinese endlessly made up stories, such as the Buddha brought kungfu to China, or that he was seen on the road in Asia while at the same time somewhere else.
All made up.
Buddhism is a criminal enterprise which has captured much of Asia, running prostitution and huge corrupt land deals which influence elections and take advantage of wealthy, senile old Asian men who want to buy their way into heaven.
I'm pretty sure they also use blackmail in Japan, offering underage prostitutes to wealthy Businessmen in Tokyo, and then holding that over their head when they need some help.
Worse, Buddhist meditation is nothing but delusions.
And results in egotism of the highest order.
All I can say about Buddhism is that the whole arrangement of monks begging for food as a karmic favor to those who donate is a bit too rich.
I highly recommend the Chinese classic Journey To The West which skewers religious hypocrisy whether from Buddhists or Taoists, and renders Heaven as a petty bureaucracy, which the hero Monkey goes to war against and nearly succeeds in conquering except the party is spoiled by . . . you guessed it . . . Buddha himself.
Going to return to my lurker status on this sub as I feel my comments are becoming a distraction from the members' common focus.
Actually I love to watch NetFlix Asian movies where the Buddha is topical, and the higher up monks have super powers.
They just don't seem to get translated as often as you'd hope, so they're still obscure.
Jackie Chan even stars in one!
You get to see what the magical mythology is over there, which is normally not something a westerner can ask about.
In a movie I saw last week, two serpent women fell in love with humans and Jackie Chan was sent to drive them back to their realm since relationships with humans are forbidden.
One of the serpent women commented that after 2000 years of meditation, she didn't learn as much as she did by falling in love with a human.
Jackie battled them with his Buddha man powers, and almost died.
In the end, they'd done so much wrong that Jackie was required to destroy them.
But then the heavens opened up, the streaky "light of God" shone down, and Jackie commented that the Buddha's mercy was beyond anything we could imagine. The Buddha let the spirits live, assuming they'd learned their lessons.
Of course, the real Buddha was just a Gandi type figure. A mediocre yogi such as they have in every neighborhood in India.
An ordinary Yogi who came up with a daring gimmick.
To claim that the caste system was not divinely inspired despite the writings in the Vedas, and that all who followed him got their status in his group based on when they joined up with him.
He created a seniority system for India, something in effect all over Asia.
Then he undoubtedly taught them the same old non-functional meditation techniques Buddhists have to this day.
Internal dialogue substitutes.
Any modification to the internal dialogue will shift the assemblage point a little.
Which is sure to cause "things" to happen, especially when you are sitting still with your eyes closed and liable to doze off halfway.
But it's nothing any woman can't do in a nice soothing bathtub, if she puts her mind to it.
It's odd how you can't explain that to Buddhists, and they instantly realize the truth of it.
It clearly shows they don't have any advanced knowledge of reality at all.
If someone with better magic than we have came along and explained it, we'd all jump ship without hesitation!
Even don Juan would have.
Because we actually do have real magic, so hearing there's others with the real thing and it's different than ours, or even better, is always good news.
There just never really is.
Carlos spent two decades searching, with full access to any famous guru.
And I spent one, with access to the internet and the ability to travel anywhere.
That's what tends to happen, once you realize magic is real.
I'm not so sure about now.
With this subreddit, anyone who makes Castaneda's magic work isn't alone.
So no need to go looking for others.