Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Instructions to the Stone Shepherd: an excerpt from The Book of Forests





There is a monastery which guards in its keeping a man that was turned to stone, many ages ago. His name was and is Tomar, and the story of how he was turned to stone is still told today. Tomar is kept by the monks, in alliance with the Stone Shepherds who have the ability to communicate with stones. There Tomar is consulted frequently by the wise, through the mediation of the Stone Shepherds, and has grown into a figure of far reaching influence. He remains in the very place where he was frozen, outdoors in a spot that has now become a walled off grove of about 5 acres. In this setting he is exposed to the elements, so that eventually he will be more quickly eroded away to nothing, as opposed to if he was kept preserved indoors. Thus he is being allowed to fade in due time, as is his wish. What follows here is a lesson given by the stone man Tomar at the request of the Stone Shepherd Iaril Dualqua, to pass on to her students.

Here are some of the words of Iaril describing Tomar.

" I was shown through a gate in a thick wall of red stone that opened to reveal a dense sycamore forest spanning out before me. From there I was instructed to follow a dirt path cutting through the forest floor, and so made my way silently and alone deep into that grove. This being my first time here I did not know what to expect. It was then I glimpsed up ahead a solitary statue of a man walking through the trees, frozen in midstep, as if he might suddenly resume his pace and slip away at any moment. As I got closer I found his stone expression was plain and hard to read. However the shifting, almost dancing presence I began to pick up on felt as active as a school of fish. He knows I am here and already I am slipping away into this song of motion. Overhead I notice several large ravens looking down over the scene from the tree tops; ravens from the temple on the mountain top judging from their size, and I wonder what draws them here. Again I turn my attention back to Tomar, and we make introductions through a series of light orbs that I see in my minds eye, until I can picture him as the flesh and blood human he once was, though many other shifting forms he takes as well: a bear, a serpent in a tree, a red orb, a melting shadow filled with stars of many bright colors. His cadence tells me that he is an explorer and seeker of hidden things, and, perhaps as a result of that, he is also a leader. He is eager for news of my travels, and we talk for some time of the changing currents of the world, as the ravens look down on us from above, listening intently to our exchange. Finally when introductions have finished, I present my question. I seek a lesson to bring back to my students, to teach them ways to become more functional as a group mind. The answer comes first as a series of sounds and images; the bells of the monastery, wind streaking over a vast cold plain, a wave reaching the shore exposing a variety of shells, voices chanting in darkness contrasted by flickering candlelight. Then the response comes and I start to write swiftly in my notebook."

These are the lessons that were given to Iaril by Tomar for her students.

In order to move forward, you must find more dynamic ways to facilitate deeper exchanges and collaboration, in such a way that extends beyond just a sharing of ideas, but includes exchanges of pure consciousness energy. With each passing year those of you on this path are becoming more and more luirecognizant. One of the next great thresholds you as a community will have to cross is when you start to consciously and intentionally harness luirecognizance to exchange energy, ideas, and healing. In doing this you are faced with the task of cultivating your awareness of subtle currents, and also with purifying your minds to accommodate the presence of others. You can start to develop practices that allow you to explore this in small groups of people you trust.

What I am about to pass on to you is an exploration of 6 subjects that are relevant to the process of becoming more luirecognizant. Each subject is followed by several engagement lessons you can do as a group with several others. The idea is that your small group will spend a period of 5 days exploring and discussing each subject: six subjects, five days on each subject with a break of at least two days before moving on to the next subject. During the 5 day sets you will also do the engagement lessons, most of which are repeated everyday over the course of the five days, but that is just a recommendation. Review the whole thing and decide how you may want to space it out, or you may pick and choose which ones seem most interesting.

In addition, your group will do synchronized group meditations throughout the sets of 5 days. Here it is recommended that you do the group meditation on 3 of the 5 days (the 1st, 3rd, and 5th days), but of course you can decide how you want to use it. So to begin we will go over the synchronized group meditation.




Synchronized Group Meditation::

For this you will choose an exact time when everyone in the group will be able to participate. It does not require that everyone be physically present in the same place, but they will all need to be tuned in at the same time. In arranging this, the group should choose or create a meditation, and also choose an intention focus, something they wish to manifest through their coming together. Ideally the meditation should correspond to the intention focus. The six subjects that I will be explaining can also serve as focus intentions because they represent priorities in becoming more luirecognizant. Here is how the synchronized meditation plays out. The amount of time spent on each segment may be determined by the participants.

1 At the appointed time, everyone begins with a period of stilling the mind, of deep breathing and preparation.
2 Next they will do the meditation they have chosen.
 3 This is followed by a period intention focusing. Here they will vividly call to mind the intention and imagine how it might play out.
4  After this there is a period of luirecognizantly sharing and transmitting to the other participants. Send out a message luirecognizantly to the others, sharing anything you feel is of importance, or simply extend your blessing.
5 Finally, listen in order to receive the transmissions from the others.
Then the session is over, although afterwards they may choose to share their insight with one another in person.

Now, here are the six priorities that should be given attention by those seeking to become more luirecognizant. The sections are titled: Purify, Imagination, Symbolic Thought, Talking to Plants, Stillness, and Healing Signals.


 Purify::

As you increasingly harness the ability of consciousness energy to exchange with others, the more and more you begin to comprehend that you are not as alone in your minds as you once were. This becomes especially true once you begin intentionally opening yourselves up to others in receiving and transmitting subtle communication. Those that seek this road are faced with the task of purifying their minds so as to allow others deeper down their mental corridors.  Therefore set forth the intention to cultivate the gardens of your mind into a place of vibrancy; a place you want to welcome others into, rather than a vault of horrors that must be hidden at all costs. This may seem like an impossible task, but may be more straightforward than you realize. The easiest place to start is in the deliberate choosing of what you put into your mind, and what subjects you give attention to. You must evaluate the core essence of everything from the narratives you buy into, to the people and expressions you are immersed in. This is the approach of purifying the mind by purifying what you put into it. The other approach would be to deliberately choose your thoughts: what is called thought tuning, where you choose your subjects and statements based on resonance. It may help to choose your thoughts as if others were listening. In a conversation, you tune the statements you are about  to make in your head before saying them outloud. Why not always filter your thoughts as if they were public? Either way, the further down the road of luirecognizance you go, the more you will become aware of the degree to which your thoughts are already being received by others, and vice versa. You will have to face up to the level of transparency that has in fact always existed.

So begin to practice thought tuning, or rather subject tuning. Become aware of the subjects you activate and concern yourself with throughout the day. Notice when you move from one subject, one train of thought, to the next, and critique the quality of these. Pretend that each subject/train of thought that you activate is like bringing up a subject in a conversation among others. Evaluate the quality of that subject, and whether or not it benefits the discussion. The idea is that you want to ultimately be comfortable with the notion of many forms of consciousness, including other people, visitors if you will, freely coming and going. It is like cleaning house before receiving guests. You want to clean up your mental space so that luirecognizant exchanges do not jeopardize your integrity.  In short, the task of purification can be simplified by focusing on two things: 1 what you  put into your mind, and 2 what subjects you give your attention to.




Engagement:
1 Imagine a museum of you. Place in this museum notable things from your life, or things that currently interest you, or have commanded your attention recently. At the start of first day, conceptualize this museum. Add subjects you intend to concern yourself with in the day ahead, and imagine what they might be as displays in a museum. Imagine people entering the museum. What kind of people are they? What do you hope they will get out of the experience? What do you imagine they will actually get out of it?

 2 Now, as you continue throughout your day, make note of some of the major subjects you are giving your attention to. What has stood out to you the most and  commanded the most of your attention? As you recognize these, add them to your museum. Everything that you consume/put into your mind goes on display in the museum. Likewise, the subjects you activate and the thought processes you engage in go on display. You don't have to exhaustively keep track of everything, but the more the better. As you become aware that you are focusing on this or that subject, stop and imagine how it might translate as display in a museum, and how visitors might interact with it.

3  Take moments here and there to deliberately think about interesting things. Then imagine them going on display in your museum, and as always, imagine the people who view them. Likewise, set out into your day with the intention of putting interesting things into your head. Thus you imagine yourself in the role of a gallery curator: a curator of thoughts.

4 At the end of the day visit your museum and review its contents, and the visitors therein.


 Imagination::

The imagination is how we create with the mind, so it is instantly relevant to our ability to understand and interact with others.  All forms of subtle communication occur through the conduit of the imagination, therefore we should practice using the imagination. By exercising the imagination it is basically like exercising your consciousness muscle. The more  lucidly you can visualize and interact with imagined people, places, and things, the more consciousness you are summoning. The more consciousness you are summoning the more energy you are bringing to bear, which means you have a higher vibration, which is by definition more integrative. Therefore it is naturally easier for other forms of consciousness to interface with you and vice versa.
Imagination is nothing less than your ability to shape and manipulate consciousness, and thus also your ability to overcome interpersonal blocks and barriers. In addition, practicing active imagination will also have a purifying effect because of how it raises your vibration. A simple way to practice is to create things in your mind: people, places, and things, that have a soothing effect on your current state of mind. For example, you may imagine yourself standing in a redwood forest, or riding on a ship, or breathing fire, or releasing golden particles from your heart space; anything that activates a sense of soothing and releasing. This can also include keywords or phrases, like poetry. Let’s call these things charms. Call to mind an image of the person you are trying to communicate with, then by overlaying that image with any combination of "charms", you can augment the conduit through which you activate your awareness of that person. So let’s say instead of just visualizing that person who you are trying to connect with, you imagine them standing in a redwood forest, with golden particles emanating from their heartspace. In doing this you encode more layers of meaning into the part of your mind that registers awareness of that person, therefore allowing more subtleties to flow through.

Engagement:
1 Come up with a list of "charms" that resonate with you. Let these be within the categories of people, places, things, and keywords or phrases (for the keywords and phrases you may have multiple words for each entry on your list). Think of at least 5 charms for each of the 4 categories. When this is done go back over your list and practice imagining each thing on the list with increasing clarity and vividity.

2 At the beginning of each day (5 days), think of someone you want to connect with. Ideally this would be someone you've met personally, but it will also serve to use someone you've never met, or even some completely fictional character.  Then throughout the day, once an hour in fact, call to mind an image of that person as clearly as possible, and combine that image with 4 charms; one from each category on your list. So for example, you might imagine the person you are connecting with in a redwood forest (place), sitting by a campfire (thing), and that man from the fishmarket is there (people), and add to this image the keywords: winter, ring, dawn (keywords or phrases). Repeat this once an hour throughout the day, but each time change up the combination of charms that you use. If need be, keep the list on hand for reference.

3 In addition, throughout each hour, take little moments here and there to imagine the 4 individual charms you have chosen to work with that hour. Imagine them isolated ( for example just the redwood forest, or just the campfire), or imagine them in varying combinations (such as the campfire plus the keywords: winter, ring, dawn). Again, do this as often as you can think to.

4 At the end of the day, one last time call to mind your awareness of that person who you have been focusing on, using any charm combination of your choosing. Now conduct in your imagination a dialogue with that person. Ask them questions and receive their answers. Receive their questions and give your answers. Share with them things you think may interest them and see their responses.
The next day you will repeat the process but with a different person.

Symbolic Thought::

An essential skill to develop is the ability to translate abstract energy and energy exchanges happening in your consciousness into visual imagery, sounds and music, or other sensory based expressions. Doing so will greatly expand your capacity to work with energies that are on the borders of comprehension. You will greatly expand your capacity to receive luirecognizant exchanges by translating the liminal into symbolic representations via imagery and sound that embody to the core essence of the energy of that is being accessed.  For there is really no such thing as reading minds, or sending thoughts. What happens is you sync up with the core vibration of what is being accessed.  And because that vibration functions like a blueprint, it then in turn generates thoughts that can be similar, if not nearly identical, to what the other person is having. By stripping away the words or other symbols you use, and attempting to feel your way into the core essence of the thoughts, you invite a flood of new images and associations. Therefore you are not locking yourself into one symbolic representation of what is really an abstract essence. In changing up the symbols through which that essence is recognized, you attain a greater comprehension of the essence itself. It will also train you to focus your attention into the borders of awareness; the liminal tides of thoughts and knowings that are just on the edge of what language and symbols can translate, yet can be approached through near approximations, which is what abstract art seeks to achieve.

Engagement: 
1 Interpret art. Look and art, specifically abstract art, and try to translate its meaning. As you do, relax and let your mind flow freely down the pathways of associations that arise. Listen to your mind. Follow your associations and feel what the art evokes in you. Try to extract as much information from it as possible. This can be done with visual art or with music. Do this with other people and compare your associations.

2 Do aesthetic studies. Put together collections of art that seem to express the same message and essence. Make 5 collections, one for each day. Try to be as specific as possible, as if these works were translated from very similar core essences, yet manifesting in outwardly different ways. There should be a sense of synchronicity between all the pieces you have put into each collection.

3 Next, make art! Make abstract art. Make art that embodies the essence of the collection, the aesthetic study, you are working with on that day. It can be minimalistic but should also have enough detail to give it a symbolic quality.

4 (If you have time, this is an optional extra). Make symbols; glyphs and characters, or what is known to some as light language, that attempt to approximate the essence which you are working with that day. Feel the information that is encoded within. See how it not only embodies an essence, but also has an uncanny sense of specificity, just as all language and codes do. Ask others to look at these symbols and come up with meanings they might represent, and see if those interpretations are at all suggestive of what you were trying to capture.

4 With a friend, practice sending and receiving those essences luirecognizantly. Do this by activating your awareness of an essence that seems to be coming through to you from them. Now further reel in this energy by allowing images, sounds, or perhaps even words, to emerge in association with what you are tapping into. Try to feel your way into the thought vibration that is emerging in you in connection with your awareness of them. Let the experience become more vivid as you explore a flood of images that match that essence. Afterward you both compare what was going on in your head, and try to identify anything that seems to be rooted in a common essence.

 Talking to Plants::

Practice luirecognizantly communicating with plants, stones, and water. It might be said that encoded in the core vibrations of plants, stones, and water are essences that are very potent because they set a tone of balance and integration. The expressions of nature embody the expression/state of being you should embody when entering into a luirecognizant  exchange. At the very least spend time with a tree, a stream, or crystal, and contemplate its expression. Then when you seek to open your mind and heart for someone else to enter, be of that pure essence. This practice may extend to fire, animals, nature spirits, oceans, or other nature objects such as stars. What you choose to include I leave to your discretion.

Engagement:
1 Sit with a plant, stone, or source of water and contemplate its essence, and what it would be like for you as a person  to embody that essence.
2 Listen to what these things are communicating. Yes, talk to the trees! For the 5 days keep a journal and record the messages and insights of the nature objects you are working with.  Ask questions and record the answers you recieve. Do this as if consulting an oracle.
3 Use the nature objects to relay communications between you and other entities; like a messenger that runs between you and the higher self of the entity you are sending a transmission to. Use the nature objects to relay messages to the higher selves of the other participants in your group. So, applying this concept, send out a broadcast via the plant, stone, or water, and ask it to relay that message out to the higher self of anyone that needs it. Likewise, use the nature object to receive messages that may be coming through to you from others.

   Stillness::

Practice the ability to pause thought; what is known as stilling the mind, or calming the mind, or meditation. Here, the mind does not just include the head space, but also the major nervous centers of the body; specifically the head space and the heart space, but may also include the stomach, solar plexus, or crown areas, or any combination of energy centers. Meditation is the most common conduit for practicing this. In order to achieve this there are some significant hurdles in conceptualization that have to be overcome in order to grasp the mechanics of how thought stopping works, and how it is defined. Most likely each person will have to create their own definitions and understanding. In thought stopping you are not suppressing thoughts, as in trying to hold them back, instead it is more like freezing all mental/nervous activity; becoming so still as if to become energetically invisible. When you become more balanced and coherent, you literally become more still. Look at people who are in an erratic discordant state. See how their focus constantly darts around. They cannot be still. They seem unable to hold their attention on any one point of focus for an extended period of time. The ability to be still is synonymous with ability to concentrate, and it is anything but passive. To concentrate your attention literally means to bring in all your many scattered shifting points of focus into one place: the moment. By being still, you hold your attention in one place for as long as possible, thus becoming more concentrated; more potent on account of there being more consciousness energy pooled into the same spacetime. This concept of achieving stillness does in fact include being literally physically still. Once you can feel the minutiae of nervous activity, you can become motionless right down to a micro level of micro movements and impulses. If you cannot achieve stillness, then you are just a puppet on strings being pulled this way and that. Stilling the mind is about not being pulled by reactionary currents. You may be thinking," but what if an important idea is trying to come through while I'm meditating?"  Yes, as you clear the fog of your mind, it is the perfect opportunity for more interesting things to rise to surface. But meditation is about creating a space where you are attempting to release all thought. So come to an agreement that those sudden revelations will still be accessible when your meditation is over.

The first premise of how to meditate is deep breathing. If you achieve nothing else, deep breathing alone will do a lot, if not most, of the work to bring you into a state of balance and coherence. The second premise is to let thoughts go, not matter how interesting or relevant they may seem. Let it go. Stay in a state of pause for a long as you can until you start to be pulled into some train of thought, then let it go, and hold yourself in stillness and balance for a long as you can. This may be as short as 10 or 20 seconds until you realize that you are thinking again, then bring yourself back to stillness. As you become more practiced you can increase the span of the pause. As you do this, try to really feel the buzzing activity of your nervous system, and try to feel your way into a state of coherence and stillness by focusing your awareness into the body regions that feel like they in a state of nervous disarray. Simply by focusing your awareness on these regions, they will start to balance out. Consciousness=Energy=Integration=Balance. The third premise is to be perfectly still, as if to become invisible to avoid detection by some predator. You may have seen the way deer or other animals attempt to become invisible through absolute stillness. This includes freezing the mind, lest  the sound your very thoughts give away your presence. It may help to pretend to be a stone statue. Last but not least, it should go without saying that researching the subject, hearing what experienced meditators have to say about it will benefit you greatly, as there is a vast accumulation of knowledge and wisdom pertaining to this subject.

engagement.
The engagement for this section is simple. Do 30 minutes of meditation both in the morning and evening for 5 days.

 Healing Signals::

Seek mastery of all subtle signals and emanations  you give off at any given time. This covers everything from mastery of body language, to mastery of nervous systems impulses and urges, to mastery of emanations and aura, and anchoring the energy body/lightbody. Seek to increase your awareness of the signals you are sending in social contexts. Seek to increase awareness of the signals others are sending, and how you respond to them in turn. This requires self awareness on a level such that many uncomfortable things about yourself, and many ugly things hiding beneath the surface of your expressions, will become clearly visible. If seeing yourself with this level of clarity, feeling the true depths of what is contained in your presence, makes you uncomfortable, then you must find a way to be a neutral observer. By becoming an empowered shaper of your own energies, you will never have to look away, because you know you can change what you see. In fact you already are changing what you see. Simply by holding it in your concentrated awareness, those expressions are being infused with more energy, and so they begin to heal.

engagement:
This engagement requires that you learn several stories that you can tell to a group. It is suggested these be drawn from world mythology, but of course they can be any story; they may even be of your own making. You will need to learn five different stories, as you will be telling one story on each of the 5 days.

1 Use storytelling as a context for feeling the signals are sending and also receiving. Gather the group together and tell the story that you have prepared. As you do, really try to feel the signals and emanations you are giving off, almost as if you are transmitting the expression of the story not through words, but through energy. Then when you listen to the others tell their stories, focus not so much on the story itself, but on feeling the signals they are giving off.
2 Sit in silence with 1-3 other people. Sit within close enough proximity that your auras intermix. Spend this time communicating in silence just through emanations and energy exchanges. Do this for 30 minutes. 


This is where Iaril’s notes end.