The world or cosmos is multidimensional, a spectrum of many worlds. In most shamanic tradition we have upper, middle and lower worlds. In some mythic-shamanic traditions we have five, seven, nine, or more worlds, often arrayed around a central tree or axis, the axis mundi. Other names for these nonordinary realms are "spirit world," "otherworld," "faery world," and "dreamtime." In esoteric and theosophical traditions we usually hear of seven levels of consciousness, such as the etheric, the astral, the mental, and so forth. In the Indian and Tibetan traditions as well there are many levels or realms of consciousness, sometimes arranged in a circle on a wheel. In the shamanic traditions, and in the experiences of contemporary neoshamanic practitioners, with or without mind-moving substances, experiences of visiting other worlds are quite common. Also, of course, they are accessible via dreams. Alternatively, the person may feel that the veils, barriers or screens between worlds can become transparent or porous, so one can see and be in both the ordinary and the spirit world at the same time (and in the same place).
And for the amount of time I spend listening to Terence, that’s saying something.
"This is a struggle between novelty and habit . . . [Your culture] is the greatest barrier to your enlightenment, your education, and your decency . . . Cultures are virtual realities made of language."
The 13 Moon calendar is a replacement for our current Gregorian calendar, which the proponents of the 13 Moon system claim is out of harmony with nature and contributes to our destruction. “The 13 moon calendar,” they claim “is a positive, concrete act demonstrating the move from fear to love, from chaos to harmony, from war to peace.”
(In the words of Robert Anton Wilson, “the Gregorian calendar, the standard Occidental system, dates everything from the alleged birth of a comic-book super-hero I regarded as fictitious. He supposedly had a virgin for mother, a pigeon for father, and cured the blind by throwing dirt in their eyes.” As well, it is “interrupted by an artificial minus-to-plus changeover to commemorate the god of a single weird cult.”)
The particular system that I was recently introduced to, called Dreamspace, was created by Jose Arg’elles.
The calendar is loosely based off of the Mayan calendar. Instead of months, we have moons – 13 of them instead of 12, since the Moon rotates around the Earth 13 times in one year. Each moon consists of 28 days, which comes from the 28 day female menstruation cycle (menstruation comes from the Latin word for “month”, which is closely related to the Latin word for “moon”) and the average between the time it takes for the Moon to move around the earth (27.1 days) and the period between new Moons (29.53 days).
Another unit of the calendar is the Solar-Galactic Cycle – 52 years during which no two days repeat.
On the 13 Moon calendar, your birthday corresponds to your Galactic Signature, which can be found and decoded here. The signature involves three components: a color, a tone, and a seal. It places you into an Earth family, a color family, a tribe and a clan.
The Dreamspace calendar is often criticised for its loose base on the Mayan calendar. “Amongst many criticisms levelled at it, it is pointed out that the interpretation merely co-opts an ancient tradition by recasting it in New Age terms, unknown, unused and undocumented among the Maya. Many of Dreamspell’s influences come from non-Mayan sources, such as the I Ching and pop psychology. What’s more, Arguelles’ calendar is based on a different day-count than the traditional Mayan calendar.”
Regardless of the criticism of this particular system, its more esoteric components and linking with the 2012 “doomsday” prophecies, a Moon calendar, which inarguably strengthens our connection with natural cycle, certainly seems superior to that which we currently employ. (The Gregorian calendar, as I understand, is actually a Solar calendar meant to stay in sync with the seasons. Yet the Moon goes through its cycles much more frequently than the seasons, which to me strengthens its appeal over a solar calendar.)
I’ll be looking more into this and other alternative calendars in the future.
For more information, I recommend reading the self study pilot program as an introduction. As well, there’s more here.
Moon One - July 26 to August 22
Moon Two - August 23 to September 19
Moon Three - September 20 to October 17
Moon Four - October 18 to November 14
Moon Five - November 15 to December 12
Moon Six - December 13 to January 9
Moon Seven - January 10 to February 6
Moon Eight - February 7 to March 6
Moon Nine - March 7 to April 3
Moon Ten - April 4 to May 1
Moon Eleven - May 2 to May 29
Moon Twelve - May 30 to June 26
Moon Thirteen - June 27 to July 24
Dali - Friday
Seli - Saturday
Gamma - Sunday
Kali - Monday
Alpha - Tuesday
Limi - Wednesday
Silio - Thursday
The fundamental reality of the universe is a continuum, a unitive field or fabric, of both energy and consciousness, that is beyond time, space and all forms, and yet somehow mysteriously within them, simultaneously transcendent and imminent. In traditional Asian religions, this unitive field is variously referred to as Tao, or Atman-Brahman, or Tantra (the "web" of "fabric") or the "jeweled net of Indra." Some Native North Americans refer to it as Wakan-Tanka, the all-pervading Creator Spirit. In the traditional Anglo-Saxon religion of the British Isles, it was called the wyrd, an invisible network of magical forces. In theistic religions like Christianity, this oneness corresponds to what is called the Godhead, i.e., beyond the personal deity. In the systems language of postmodern science it is seen as an infinitely complex system of interrelationships, or "web of life." At the level of the planet Earth, this integrated whole is referred to as Gaia -- the name of the ancient Greek Earth Goddess that has become the name of the whole Earth considered as a purposive intelligence living superorganism.
Sometimes one needs to return to the real world and escape all the concrete.
I spent last night at the shelter in the Arboretum. It was surprisingly cold out, even though the weather report said it wasn’t supposed to get below 37F and I was sleeping in a 30F bag. I didn’t encounter the cougar that I hear lives in there, but a few owls did come out. Surprisingly I also heard people walking around in the middle of the night.
Ayahuasca (which translates to either “vine of the dead” or “vine of the spirits”) is a hallucinogenic tea, native to South America and used there for shamanic healing purposes since pre-history. Also known as caapi, hoasca, yagé, natéma, mihi, kahi, pinde, and dapa, the brew is made of the bark of the vine Banisteriopsis caapi (which itself is also known as Ayahuasca) and (most commonly) the leaves of Psychotria viridis. Psychotria viridis is what contains the dimethyltryptamine (DMT), making the mixture hallucinogenic, but the DMT, when consumed orally, is made inactive by monamine oxidase (MOA). Thus the bark of the Banisteriopsis caapi is used for its MOA inhibiting property, allowing the DMT to take its course.
Most interestingly, DMT is almost identical in structure to Serotonin, a neurotransmitter produced throughout the brain and responsible for “higher functions of behavior, such as planning and other time-related events.” Serotonin is eventually deactived by the same thing that deactives DMT, MOA. So, one could consume only the bark of the Ayahuasca vine (or any other MOA inhibiter) and receive a similar psychoactive active to that produced by DMT. (Apparently some antidepressants take this route.)
Terence McKenna, in many of his recordings, fondly referred to the Ayahuasca brew as “brain soup”, since nothing in it is not naturally in your body.
As another interesting aside, there is DMT in your body right now (the human body naturally produces it), yet, in the United States, it is illegal to possess without a DEA license. Go to jail.
The first 100 pages or so of the book goes over the scientific, medical, and psychological properties of the tea, providing for more knowledge on the brew than I thought possible to know. The rest of the book is devoted to various first-hand experiences with Ayahuasca – all of which are excellent. I recommend the book highly for anyone remotely interested in Ayahuasca, psychology, or medicine.
TV encourages mass passivity, burns images permanently into our brain that are chosen by an elite few and trains people to accept authority. Television limits and confines human knowledge. It accelerates our alienation from nature and leads to its destruction. Television homogenizes those who watch it, making the population more efficient cogs in the economic system, making the population easier to control. Television is inherently antidemocratic--furthermore it aids the creation of societal conditions which produce autocracy, and it dulls our awareness that this is happening. Television, as a technology, is inherently biased towards these effects--they cannot be eliminated by better management or better programing. Oh, and it causes cancer too.
