Lost Treasures of the Maya

The great cities of the Maya stand like sentinels within the vast jungles of central America. But despite more than a century of intrepid archaeology, most of the ancient Maya world has remained unseen and unexplored.

Videos, three episodes, almost three hours:

https://ihavenotv.com/series/lost-treasures-of-the-maya

Levels of the Kukulkan Temple

There have been lots of things happening in my inner life since the Maya seers made their presence known in my dreaming practices. In the beginning, everything was quite overwhelming as Maya culture is truly and deeply rich in the broadest sense.

Over the years, however, things are getting clearer and the inner mysteries of the Maya are slowly revealing themselves...

The three levels

There are three general levels or stages on the Path to Freedom according to the Maya teachings (known to me) which lead to the complete Maya worlds that eternally exist outside this Earth and beyond normal human (and astral) perception. The Maya Jade world is one of such realms.

Three levels as per Toltec terminology are the first, second, and third attention (lots of info on those in the books penned by Carlos Castaneda).

In modern terms, this translates to:

• the physical reality of our everyday life (manifested reality), 
• the subtle reality accessed via dreaming and numerous other means (symbolic reality), and 
• the transpersonal or eternally perfect reality way beyond the reach of physical senses and astral dreaming body (illuminated reality).

At first, I was not really aware of the fact that these three levels or general stages (of dreaming, more info on these levels here >>) on the Path to Freedom were reflected in the very construction of the main Temple in our Lineage, El Castillo, the Chichen Itza pyramid.

Modern technology reveals that indeed there are three pyramids in one, nested like nested dolls one inside the other:

(image source: https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2017/01/22/underneath-chichen-itzas-pyramid.html)

(image source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3943598/Mexican-experts-say-original-pyramid-Chichen-Itza.html)

In the video below the animation is clearly showing the inner structure (sorry for the dorky commentator):

Maya more warlike than previously thought

Evidence of extreme warfare from Classic period disputes role of violence in civilization's decline

The Maya of Central America are thought to have been a kinder, gentler civilization, especially compared to the Aztecs of Mexico. At the peak of Mayan culture some 1,500 years ago, warfare seemed ritualistic, designed to extort ransom for captive royalty or to subjugate rival dynasties, with limited impact on the surrounding population.

Only later, archeologists thought, did increasing drought and climate change lead to total warfare -- cities and dynasties were wiped off the map in so-called termination events -- and the collapse of the lowland Maya civilization around 1,000 A.D. (or C.E., current era).

New evidence unearthed by a researcher from the University of California, Berkeley, and the U.S. Geological Survey calls all this into question, suggesting that the Maya engaged in scorched-earth military campaigns -- a strategy that aims to destroy anything of use, including cropland -- even at the height of their civilization, a time of prosperity and artistic sophistication.

The finding also indicates that this increase in warfare, possibly associated with climate change and resource scarcity, was not the cause of the disintegration of the lowland Maya civilization.

"These data really challenge one of the dominant theories of the collapse of the Maya," said David Wahl, a UC Berkeley adjunct assistant professor of geography and a researcher at the USGS in Menlo Park, California. "The findings overturn this idea that warfare really got intense only very late in the game."

"The revolutionary part of this is that we see how similar Mayan warfare was from early on," said archaeologist Francisco Estrada-Belli of Tulane University, Wahl's colleague. "It wasn't primarily the nobility challenging one another, taking and sacrificing captives to enhance the charisma of the captors. For the first time, we are seeing that this warfare had an impact on the general population."


Total warfare

The evidence, reported today in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, is an inch-thick layer of charcoal at the bottom of a lake, Laguna Ek'Naab, in Northern Guatemala: a sign of extensive burning of a nearby city, Witzna, and its surroundings that was unlike any other natural fire recorded in the lake's sediment.

The charcoal layer dates from between 690 and 700 A.D., right in the middle of the classic period of Mayan civilization, 250-950 A.D. The date for the layer coincides exactly with the date -- May 21, 697 A.D. -- of a "burning" campaign recorded on a stone stela, or pillar, in a rival city, Naranjo.

"This is really the first time the written record has been linked to an event in the paleo data sets in the New World," Wahl said. "In the New World, there is so little writing, and what's preserved is mostly on stone monuments. This is unique in that we were able to identify this event in the sedimentary record and point to the written record, particularly these Mayan hieroglyphs, and make the inference that this is the same event."

Wahl, a geologist who studies past climate and is first author of the study, worked with USGS colleague Lysanna Anderson and Estrada-Belli to extract 7 meters of sediment cores from the lake. Laguna Ek'Naab, which is about 100 meters across, is located at the base of the plateau where Witzna once flourished and has collected thousands of years of sediment from the city and its surrounding agricultural fields. After seeing the charcoal layer, the archaeologists examined many of Witzna's ruined monuments still standing in the jungle and found evidence of burning in all of them.

"What we see here is, it looks like they torched the entire city and, indeed, the entire watershed," Wahl said. "Then, we see this really big decrease in human activity afterwards, which suggests at least that there was a big hit to the population. We can't know if everyone was killed or they moved or if they simply migrated away, but what we can say is that human activity decreased very dramatically immediately after that event."

This one instance does not prove that the Maya engaged in total warfare throughout the 650-year classic period, Estrada-Belli said, but it does fit with increasing evidence of warlike behavior throughout that period: mass burials, fortified cities and large standing armies.

"We see destroyed cities and resettled people similar to what Rome did to Carthage or Mycenae to Troy," Estrada-Belli said.

And if total warfare was already common at the peak of Mayan lowland civilization, then it is unlikely to have been the cause of the civilization's collapse, the researchers argue.

"I think, based on this evidence, the theory that a presumed shift to total warfare was a major factor in the collapse of Classic Maya society is no longer viable," said Estrada-Belli. "We have to rethink the cause of the collapse, because we're not on the right path with warfare and climate change."

'Bahlam Jol burned for the second time'

Though Mayan civilization originated more than 4,000 years ago, the Classic period is characterized by widespread monumental architecture and urbanization exemplified by Tikal in Guatemala and Dzibanché in Mexico's Yucatan. City-states -- independent states made up of cities and their surrounding territories -- were ruled by dynasties that, archaeologists thought, established alliances and waged wars much like the city-states of Renaissance Italy, which affected the nobility without major impacts on the population.

In fact, most archaeologists believe that the incessant warfare that arose in the terminal Classic period (800-950 A.D.), presumably because of climate change, was the major cause of the decline of Mayan cities throughout present day El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and Southern Mexico.

So when Wahl, Anderson and Estrada-Belli discovered the charcoal layer in 2013 in Laguna Ek'Naab -- a layer unlike anything Wahl had seen before -- they were puzzled. The scientists had obtained the lake core in order to document the changing climate in Central America, hoping to correlate these with changes in human occupation and food cultivation.

The puzzle lingered until 2016, when Estrada-Belli and co-author Alexandre Tokovinine, a Mayan epigrapher at the University of Alabama, discovered a key piece of evidence in the ruins of Witzna: an emblem glyph, or city seal, identifying Witzna as the ancient Mayan city Bahlam Jol. Searching through a database of names mentioned in Mayan hieroglyphs, Tokovinine found that very name in a "war statement" on a stela in the neighboring city-state of Naranjo, about 32 kilometers south of Bahlam Jol/Witzna.

The statement said that on the day "... 3 Ben, 16 Kasew ('Sek'), Bahlam Jol 'burned' for the second time." According to Tokovinine, the connotation of the word "burned," or puluuy in Mayan, has always been unclear, but the date 3 Ben, 16 Kasew on the Mayan calendar, or May 21, 697, clearly associates this word with total warfare and the scorched earth destruction of Bahlam Jol/Witzna.

"The implications of this discovery extend beyond mere reinterpretation of references to burning in ancient Maya inscriptions," Tokovinine said. "We need to go back to the drawing board on the very paradigm of ancient Maya warfare as centered on taking captives and extracting tribute."

Three other references to puluuy or "burning" are mentioned in the same war statement, referencing the cities of Komkom, known today as Buenavista del Cayo; K'an Witznal, now Ucanal; and K'inchil, location unknown. These cities may also have been decimated, if the word puluuy describes the same extreme warfare in all references. The earlier burning of Bahlam Jol/Witzna mentioned on the stela may also have left evidence in the lake cores -- there are three other prominent charcoal layers in addition to the one from 697 A.D. -- but the date of the earlier burning is unknown.

Mayan archaeologists have reconstructed some of the local history, and it's known that the conquest of Bahlam Jol/Witzna was set in motion by a queen of Naranjo, Lady 6 Sky, who was trying to reestablish her dynasty after the city-state had declined and lost all its possessions. She set her seven-year-old son, Kahk Tilew, on the throne and then began military campaigns to wipe out all the rival cities that had rebelled, Estrada-Belli said.

"The punitive campaign was recorded as being waged by her son, the king, but we know it's really her," he said.

That was not the end of Bahlam Jol/Witzna, however. The city revived, to some extent, with a reduced population, as seen in the lake cores. And the emblem glyph was found on a stela erected around 800 A.D, 100 years after the city's destruction. The city was abandoned around 1,000 A.D.

"The ability to tie geologic evidence of a devastating fire to an event noted in the epigraphic record, made possible by the relatively uncommon discovery of an ancient Maya city's emblem glyph, reflects a confluence of findings nearly unheard of in the field of geoarchaeology," Wahl said.

###

The study was supported by the National Science Foundation, USGS, Fundacion PACUNAM, National Geographic Society, Alphawood Foundation, Middle American Research Institute at Tulane University and University of Alabama.


___________________
Source:
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-08/uoc--mmw080519.php

Dark Side

The role of the Prince of Darkness and the Dark Side (including Flyers, demons, black death defiers, etc.) in Nagualism:

In 'The power of silence' book there is a conversation between Castaneda and Don Juan about the use of energy and the old man mentions something about the 'dark side' and Carlos tries to sell his Prince of Darkness trip.

Here is what Don Juan thinks about the whole 'dark side" deal:


"Then there is an evil side to man," I said jubilantly, "you always deny it. You always say that evil doesn't exist, that only power exists."

I surprised myself with this outburst. In one instant, all my Catholic background was brought to bear on me and the Prince of Darkness loomed larger than life.

Don Juan laughed until he was coughing.

"Of course, there is a dark side to us," he said.

"We kill wantonly, don't we? We burn people in the name of God. We destroy ourselves; we obliterate life on this planet; we destroy the earth.

And then we dress in robes and the Lord speaks directly to us. And what does the Lord tell us?

He says that we should be good boys or he is going to punish us. The Lord has been threatening us for centuries and it doesn't make any difference. Not because we are evil, but because we are dumb.

Man has a dark side, yes, and it's called stupidity."

- Power of silence, p.263, by C. Castaneda

* * *

I just love how respected Don Juan turns the tables and goes directly to what seems to be a major issue for many people on the paths of Sorcery and Nagualism: assuming full responsibility for their dreaming and everyday life.

It is so easy to point fingers instead of sitting down just once and answering one question with complete honesty without deceiving: 

"What am I trying to avoid by NOT assuming full responsibility for my progress in dreaming and daily life?"

STUPIDITY - THE REAL DARK SIDE OF HUMAN BEINGS:

Nagualist vs Sorcerer

Having spent all of my adult life on the path of Sorcery and Nagualism and having made a lot of mistakes along the way, I would like to share a few notions on the differences between Sorcery and Nagualism, from a pragmatical point of view.
I will quote some precepts from the books by Castaneda and I will assume that you are acquainted with the general terminology from his literary works.

I am speaking from directly validated experiences, not only on an academic or intellectual level.
Needless to say, what follows are only my (biased) subjective thoughts based on personal and transpersonal experiences. Nothing absolutely correct can be found herein.

Opinions and experiences always vary...


The goal?

"My benefactor was a sorcerer of great powers," he went on. "He was a warrior through and through. His will was indeed his most magnificent accomplishment. But a man can go still further than that; a man can learn to see. Upon learning to see he no longer needs to live like a warrior, nor be a sorcerer. Upon learning to see a man becomes everything by becoming nothing. He, so to speak, vanishes and yet he's there."

"I've told you already," he said. "Seeing is not sorcery. Yet one may easily confuse them, because a man who sees can learn, in no time at all, to manipulate an ally and may become a sorcerer. On the other hand, a man may learn certain techniques in order to command an ally and thus become a sorcerer, and yet he may never learn to see."
- From 'A Separate Reality

I chose the above quote for a particular reason. Don Juan, himself able to see the energy essence of all things, was indeed a warrior and sorcerer as well (according to the books by Castaneda).

Sorcery in this context translates to magical skills of assemblage point manipulation, acquiring an ally from the inorganic realm, and employing its energy and knowledge at will. All of these skills can be acquired by mastering the art of dreaming.

And the art of dreaming presented by Carlos Castaneda only deals with the astral level spirits or beings (limited and conditioned beings):
- the friendly inorganic beings (of whom the so-called dreaming emissary is a projection of),
- black hand death defiers (written about in 'The Art of Dreaming', one was labeled 'the tenant' and 'the woman in the church').

Nothing new thus far, right?
Well, what Carlitos does not share in his books is that these beings are low-astral level spirits, hardly as superbly conscious and powerful as he presents them.

I have already written about this subject elsewhere on this Blog, but let me restate a few things:

• They are low-astral level beings, which means that they are not free and have no regard for the true well-being of others not even when it serves them. 
• They are cold, self-serving, manipulating, and self-centered beings that are always on the hunt for more energy. 
• Their true state of consciousness is not high or deep enough to be self-sufficient or liberated and so they need energy from the outside, from all sorts of unsuspected beings who encounter them in dreaming.
• Since they are not free, they manipulate, exploit and deceive dreamers, if possible.
• They only care about power and energy (of others).
• If you let them take the initiative in dreaming (or in a waking state, via their projection as dreaming emissary), meaning, if you let them speak first, they can convince you of anything, hypnotizing you with their low-astral level (emotional and mental) energy, pulling you into their dream. It feels great but it yields no progress along the path to freedom, no progress at all, in my experiences.
• And if you really do master the art of dreaming, these astral beings can not really harm you and can, in fact, help you with their energy and information. 
• They can shift or move your focus of attention (your assemblage point) and firmly fix it anywhere, which is truly useful.
• They can inform you about pretty much anything you want to know, both in dreaming and in a waking state (via dreaming emissary), which is quite useful.
• They can help you see the essence of energy flow in the universes.

In short, sorcerers (or magicians, to use an alternative term) that don't let these spirits trick them, employ these spirits at will, commanding them to shift or move the assemblage point, to answer questions in dreaming or while awake, even to see the energy essence of everything...

...and that's all there is to it, I am afraid.

These skills are as exciting as they can get, but can not really bring help to attain Total Freedom.

Sorcerers that depend on these low-astral level spirits are by default limited by them. These spirits are not free and they only care about power and energy, hence they will never be free.

If we (dare to) follow this line of thought to the conclusion, we can see that sorcerers that bind themselves to these spirits can not progress on the Path to Freedom and will never be free, either.


Nagualism, on the other hand, aims at complete Freedom (and is not limited by low or high astral level beings).

Freedom in the context of Nagualism (as presented to me by a Maya Nagual) means freedom from dependence on anything or anyone, freedom from inner and outer oppression, conditioning and limitations (not merely freedom to retain awareness after death or to perceive all that is possible to - that is a domain of astral sorcery).

True Nagualism is transpersonally oriented, meaning, way above personal (physical, astral, or emotional and mental levels of existence) and bestows upon a dreamer completely different insights,
insights that can not be received from inorganic beings or dreaming emissary. These insights are absolute, perfect, eternal in nature. In short, they originate in the Nagual.


On a more personal note, after decades on the path of sorcery, meaning years and years not moving forward from the astral level dreaming, a Maya Lineage of Seers took me under its wings and helped me move on from limited practices of astral sorcery.

Maya Lineage of Nagualism I know seems to be a complete Path to Total Freedom. Mayans themselves are a testimony to that Freedom, as far as I can see: they are living far beyond the astral level of existence and are completely free from those astral beings (inorganic beings, black death defiers, demons, flyers, etc.). Their level of existence is a complete, total, and eternally free world, populated by a high number of free and immortal individuals. They still exist, far beyond this Earth and astral levels...

...and far beyond the reach of sorcery dreaming fueled by inorganic (astral) energy.

As far as dreaming practices are concerned, a dreamer of this Maya Lineage (and I am sure our Lineage is not the only one) doesn't have to deal with the aforementioned deceptive spirits AT ALL.

Maya Dreaming tasks are constructed in such a way, that a dreamer is guaranteed a safe and conducive environment for her/his learning: inner planes of the Kukulkan Temple, the Chichen Itza pyramid:

Chichen Itza, an entrance for dreamers of our Maya Lineage

Final remarks

So, to sum up, differences between a Sorcerer and a Nagualist, from my experiences, are as follows.

Sorcery (lineage of antiquity):

• aims at magical feats in dreaming, 
• its main goal is to perceive all that is possible, 
• it is after immortality,
• it advocates accumulation of energy and power, 
• it employs so-called magical passes, designed by black death defiers to generate dark power,
• depends on astral level spirits and their energy (inorganic beings),
• tolerates the manipulative and deceitful spirits and uses their energy and knowledge,
• is limited by these spirits as they are not free,
• limits itself to the personal level and can not attain true transpersonal (transcendental, perfect) levels of awareness, 
• can not lead to complete and total freedom,
• does provide a dreamer with a lot of energy/power and information.

Nagualism (a Maya Lineage):

• operates far beyond the astral level of existence,
• its main goal is total and complete freedom (of which immortality is a by-product),
• it integrates life energy and awareness energy,
• doesn't require inorganic energy for dreaming,
• offers Words and Movements of Power with the aim of accessing the Nagual body and integrating It into organic energy and vice versa,
• employs integration of organic energy into awareness,
• is guided and protected by perfect God-form, Kukulkan,
• its aim is the attainment of the transpersonal (above reason, above astral/emotional perception) or perfect, omnipresent, the absolute state of awareness - NAGUAL.

What Path are you on?

Types of spirits and beings

There is a lot of confusion around spirits that we encounter on our path to Freedom. Some are friendly (kind of), some are downright negative and present a real danger in dreaming (and, at the same time, an opportunity to grow), and some spirits are benevolent, helpful, and, for the lack of a better word, perfect.

In this blog post, spirits and beings will be listed as per their state of awareness. Some are really free and most of them are not free at all.

Freedom in this context means freedom from dependence on anything or anyone, freedom from inner and outer oppression, conditioning, and limitations.

Spirits or beings in this list are divided according to a simplified map of planes of existence they dwell in:
- low-astral level,
- high-astral level,
- beyond astral level or truly spiritual/transcendent/perfect/absolute.

Astral level (both lower and higher) in this context means the realm that is full of illusion, deceptive spirits, the struggle for power and energy, manipulation, delusions of grandeur, and astral glamour.

Dreamers caught in this reality lack the necessary depth of insight into a deeper, absolute reality, possess maybe a lot of energy but rather low self-awareness, and are indulging in overly emphasized emotional perception and accumulation of detailed mental information.

They are usually ungrounded and have great difficulties assuming full and complete responsibility for their own mess in dreaming and everyday life as well. They (might) excel at the astral level of dreaming which is supported by the dark energy of inorganic beings that are themselves limited and self-centered power-seeking spirits.

You might have made this connection on your own: apparently, the lineage of sorcery presented by Carlos Castaneda and taught by the respected Don Juan Matus mainly operates at that, astral, level.

Truly spiritual/transcendent/perfect/absolute (beyond astral level) in this context means realms where perfect beings dwell. There is no struggle for power or energy found there, for spirits that live and breathe there are completely free from any kind of mental, emotional, energy or physical limitations. They are truly and forever FREE and full of compassion, unconditional love and are always willing to assist anyone and contribute to those dreamers that desire total and complete Freedom.

On a more personal note, after decades of pointless struggle and dreaming in the astral realm following the teachings of Castaneda and respected Don Juan (and not really seeing that their lineage has been manipulated (not supported!) by low astral level dark beings called the black death defiers), I was accepted into a Maya Lineage that offers teachings completely above astral level.

This Maya Lineage (among others) teaches Nagualism that aims at complete Freedom, whereas Castaneda (among others) lineage teaches sorcery and aims at the accumulation of power/energy.
The difference is obvious, isn't it?

What do you think?


The spirits and beings

According to the simplified map of the state of awareness beings possess, they are:
- spirits of dead people,
- spirits of advanced dead people called black witches,
- low-astral level spirits of our ancestors,
- low-astral level spirits also called inorganic beings (by Castaneda),
- low-astral level spirits called black hand death defiers (again, Castaneda wrote about one of these spirits in the book "The Art of Dreaming"),

- higher-astral level spirits also called djinn or demons or ghouls (various cultures label them differently),
- higher-astral level beings, basically parasites, called the Flyers (by Castaneda),
The state of awareness of astral beings and spirits listed thus far is limited; they are not free, not free at all.

Spirits or beings that are, in fact, free (beyond the astral/mental level of existence):
- higher beings, perfect spiritual beings called Angels,
- higher beings, perfect spiritual or divine beings in various God-forms (demi-gods, goddesses, gods - we can find those in most cultures here on Earth),
- higher beings perfected through the path of Nagualism, completely free individuals, not incarnated here on Earth, living in total worlds, Maya seers, Maya Naguals,
- other higher-perfected spiritual beings (Masters of Wisdom, for example).


Details:

Spirits of dead people, spirits of ancestors - these are easy to handle in dreaming. They have low awareness and are limited by their attachments and aversions while some might be rather advanced (shaman ancestors, for example).

Black witches - these beings are more difficult to deal with. They have certain spiritual (meaning, beyond reason and astral level) experiences that make them more powerful. They are full of anger, hate, pain.

Low-astral level spirits are also called inorganic beings.
These beings are well known to a dreamer familiar with the work of Castaneda. Their state of consciousness has been presented in his books as superb and their powers likewise. The lineage Castaneda belongs to is heavily dependent on these beings and their energy, and it is still trying to move out of the low-astral level realms, it seems.

Viewing these beings from the outside of the Toltec lineage of sorcerers of antiquity (limited to mere low-astral level, meaning, full of illusion, greed for power, trading energy, etc.) and from a more unbiased standpoint, however, these beings are hardly superb in any way.

They are low-astral level beings, which means that they have little or no regard for the true well-being of others, they are cold, self-serving, manipulating, and self-centered beings that are always on the hunt for more energy. Their true state of consciousness is not high or deep enough to be self-sufficient or liberated and so they need energy from the outside, from all sorts of unsuspected beings.

Since they are not free, they really don't care about others. And if you let them take the initiative in dreaming, they can convince you of anything, hypnotizing you with their low-astral level (emotional and mental) energy, pulling you into their dream. It feels great but it yields no progress along the path to freedom, no progress at all, in my experiences.

Carlos Castaneda wrote extensively about these spirits and although he prises them quite a lot, the reality is that these inorganic spirits are NOT FREE and are only after energy and power, so they can not really help to a Nagualist on her/his way to Freedom.

They can, and do, however, support a dreamer in his/her astral dreaming travels, hence they have been perceived as friendly. For example, these astral spirits can supply energy for astral level dreaming, they provide information both in dreaming and in waking hours as well (through their projection called 'dreaming emissary').

"Whenever you interact with inorganic beings as a follower instead of a leader, you just hand over your energy to them without getting anything from them. It's a complete waste of time. You could literally keep having dreams like that for the rest of your life and not actually get enough inorganic energy from them to do anything, and nor would you actually learn anything either. It's like thinking that if you drink enough alcohol you will eventually become sober."
- John O'Neill

These inorganic spirits, low-astral level beings, however, are can be left behind for good as soon as a Nagualist (someone on the complete Path to Freedom) menages to advance out of the astral level of existence.

If you will, see also a blog post on the Astral Glamour - a serious problem, here >>


Low-astral level spirits called black hand death defiers.

Black death defier - just a drawing

These spirits are ice-cold, self-centered ego-maniacs driven by their relentless quest for power. Carlos Castaneda ended up as one of them since his whole lineage is heavily influenced by them and since he lacked the necessary depth of self-awareness (in other words, he did not progress beyond the astral (emotional) level of awareness in his life on Earth...and he is still trying to...).

That, of course, means that respected Don Juan Matus (Castaneda's teacher) was a part of the black death defiers' schemes as well. Their whole lineage, dating back several centuries (as per Castaneda books) was under the influence of these dark low-astral level beings.

The dark death defiers quest for power and energy is, of course, projected through Castaneda's books as well, since he was and still is one of them. It took me decades to detect what they do and how they do it! Really dark strategies they employ.
There is no respect, no compassion, and no freedom of choice in their lives and so they offer none to those blind and naive dreamers that happen to open up to them...

These low-astral level beings have got nothing to contribute to someone on the Path to Freedom, only troubles...
...AND, let's be frank, a perfect situation to wake up from!

The reality is that our own low-astral level delusions (quest for power, immortality, control over others, and indulgence in feeling and mental understanding, etc.) are only reflected by these spirits on the outside. In all honesty, they are not to blame, or as it is said:
don't blame the clowns if you keep visiting the circus.

I got rid of them, in dreaming, only after my Maya Nagual has helped me move on beyond the astral level of existence.

I have written a blog on the subject of Black death defiers: how to deal with them, here >>



Higher-astral level spirits also called djinn or demons or ghouls.

Paimon - just a drawing

These beings are way more powerful than all lower astral level beings combined, for most of them were Divine Celestial Angels once.

Most of these spirits were demoted, as it were, by the Church. Newer religions often degrade and demonize gods and spirits of previous traditions, and that's what happened to the beautiful Astarte, Goddess of fertility in the ancient Middle East - she "became" demon Astaroth, one of 72 spirits from Goetia, for example.

These spirits are mostly ex-angels, now Earthly-bound beings (meaning, they are connected to the negative side of human Earthly experiences) that are quite difficult to deal with. Not because they are evil but because their presence reflects and influences our own inner disharmonies (hate, fear, anger, greed, guilt, shame, jealousy, pain, etc.).

These spirits "stimulate" a dreamer's mental body, infusing it with messages, images that might indeed contribute to the overall progress of a Nagualist to complete freedom - IF and WHEN one wakes up enough and really really starts to deal with his/her own inner disharmonies. Until then, well, it can be a rough ride. For sure, these spirits are not to be taken lightly.

Again, I have really moved on from their influence, in dreaming, only after the Maya Nagual has helped me (along with other higher beings: angles and various god-forms).

That's one of the possible ways to be freed from them: call upon the even higher power, the Absolute power, Compassion, Unconditional Love, Peace. People left to their own personal devices will have hard times getting away from these spirits...

And the same goes for:


Higher-astral level beings, basically parasites, called the Flyers.
Castaneda has spoken about these troublemakers and that indeed they are: making troubles. I have encountered several of them and nothing really worked permanently, they kept on coming for more.
I tried stopping the internal dialogue, entering samadhi at will, visiting the worlds in dreaming that are beyond the reach of these parasites, etc...to no avail.

As they are higher-astral level beings, they are more advanced in comparison with the "friendly" spirits mentioned above and so it is harder to handle them.

What to do, then?

Well, in my case, I first had to acknowledge their existence and recognize them. Their influence is indeed negative, they take energy and at the same time trigger disharmonies inside of a dreamer.

After I isolated their presence (there were three of them), I saw that I can not do much on my own,
they were too clever and too fast for me. So I turned for help in the opposite direction, beyond the astral level of existence.
I called for help, for specific help, the highest-ranking angel, the chief of the fiery ones (in Hebrew called Seraphim), the one angel named Seraphiel, the Prince of Peace. He responded immediately and did his magic.....and the Flyers can not reach me anymore, neither in dreaming nor in waking state.

The truth is that it is difficult if not impossible to move beyond the astral level of existence and certain beings that dwell therein, in dreaming, without help from above.

And the true Nagualism (not the astral level one, i.e. the dark-influenced Castaneda lineage), the one Incas and Mayans are on, integrates Higher beings.

These beings are numerous and are perfect, free, omniscient, omnipotent and they want nothing in return for their help. They are not some power-hungry self-centered spirits from the astral level (Castaneda admired so much) but truly Spiritual and Unconditionally Loving Perfect Beings.

Let us take a look at them. First, there are angels:


Higher beings, perfect spiritual beings called Angels

There are various levels of these Perfected Beings, who dwell in higher realities, far beyond the reach of little drama queens from the astral level.

In dreaming, I have worked with Archangel Gabriel and Seraphiel. They are so powerful that the only body that can withstand their presence is the Nagual body (or the Light Body, the Spiritual body). Lower bodies (mental, astral, etheric and physical) can not cope with their high vibration...

...and neither can spirits from lower or higher astral level.

In my opinion and indeed in my experiences, there is no way (known to me) that can enable one to really progress beyond astral level (and out of the limitation of the astral level sorcery lineages, i.e. the one Castaneda wrote about) and beyond the "friendly" manipulators, and beyond black death defiers and demons and flyers ...

...APART from opening up more and embracing higher power, and upgrading perception to integrate beings from Above, angles and also:



Higher beings, perfect spiritual beings in various God-forms (demi-gods, goddesses, gods - we can find those in most cultures here on Earth).
In our Maya Lineage, the most important God-form is The Feathered Serpent, Kukulkan, known in other advanced cultures as well::

"...The Plumed or Feathered Serpent was a prominent supernatural entity or deity, found in many Mesoamerican religions.

Kukulkan / Viracocha / Quetzalcoatl 

It or he was called Viracocha in the Inca and earlier cultures of Peru and Bolivia, Quetzalcoatl among the Aztecs, Kukulkan by the Yucatec Maya, and Gucumatz and Tohil among the K'iche' Maya, for example.

The double symbolism used in its name is considered allegoric to the dual nature of the deity or person, where being feathered represents its divine nature or ability to fly to reach the skies and being a serpent represents its human nature or ability to creep on the ground among other animals of the Earth, a dualism very common in Mesoamerican deities.

...

Quetzalcoatl was a bringer of knowledge, the inventor of books, and associated with the planet Venus. And the corresponding Mayan god Kukulkan was rare in the Classic era Maya civilization. However, in the Popol Vuh, the K'iche' Feathered Serpent god Tepeu Gucumatz is the creator of the cosmos.

...

So, it could be that the Plumed/Feathered Serpent concept is one that represents a being, person or people of a very high state of mental consciousness.

That the Plumed and Feathered Serpent story is found in various parts of South and Central America, as well as Mexico, is, of course, intriguing, especially if the varied groups involved were not in contact with each other..."
(Foerstet B., 2016; Plumed Serpent: Ancient Bearded Gods Of The Americas)


There is a total world, populated by advanced Mayans, the Nagual world, where advanced practices of dreaming, shape-shifting, and non-being (and other skillful means, not known to me) are being taught and practiced, and where the Maya Naguals and the Maya Creator God, Kukulkan, dwell.

That world can be accessed only by those dreamers who have already mastered the 7th Mayan tasks of dreaming and can, therefore, fully operate in their Light or Nagual body, which has integrated enough organic energy to withstand the high vibration there. That complete world is called The Maya Jade World.

My Maya Nagual has taken me there a few times, only in the jaguar form (as that form is more suitable). I can enter the Jade World on my own now but, to be honest, rarely do I manifest the necessary will and openness to go there...

That world is far beyond the astral level and its beings and can initially be entered only with substantial help from the Maya. The skill of the astral level dreaming (i.e. the one Castaneda wrote about), supported by his "friendly" inorganic beings and black death defiers, is not enough to enter this level of existence. Inorganic energy is simply not enough.

There is no struggle for power there, no trading, meaning, everything there is shared for free, beings there do not lie, they are loving, immortal, open and warm beings, bend on the compassionate offering of help to everyone that happens to visit their perfect and eternally liberated world (yes, it is possible to visit that world, even for those that are not Maya).

The Kukulkan himself is present there from time to time and shares his wisdom, love, knowledge, and magic freely. He is a perfected being, liberated forever, free from lower mental, astral (emotional), etheric and physical limitations of human and other conditioned beings and spirits.
His presence is so powerful, enlightened and purifying that even the Nagual dreaming body has difficulties absorbing the love and wisdom.

Once in direct contact with the God-form Kukulkan, a dreamer's perception is transformed completely (well, my was) and all astral level dreaming and sorcery are seen as they are: more or less ego-fueled power-driven endeavor (speaking about my experiences here) and just a stage on the path to complete Freedom.


Higher beings perfected through the path of Nagualism, completely free individuals, not incarnated here on Earth, living in total worlds: the Maya Naguals. 
I can not share much about these beings since I only "know" two, my Maya Nagual, named Maytri-pta (he said it is ok to share his name here) and the Nagual woman, A.

From what I have gathered thus far, these Nagual beings, I encountered five thus far, are way beyond even what well-respected Don Juan has attained.

They are masters of healing, dreaming, manifestation, shape-shifting, and loving-kindness - masters of the third attention (as per Don Juan's terminology). And they are immortal and free, way and far beyond the astral level beings and Naguals from sorcery lineages that operate at that level.

There is a Maya social structure, they have leaders, Naguals, who take gentle care of their huge cities manifested in dreaming as total worlds (The Maya Golden City is or was one of those, see my blog post here >>). This is also seen in the revealed history of the Maya people: their rich culture flourished in separate dynasties, huge city-states, each under a different Maya king/priest.

There are various levels of the Maya system or levels of existence, according to personal and transpersonal attainment. The Maya dreaming tasks reflect those levels, in my opinion.

Strangely enough, my Maya Nagual seems indifferent to what I do with his gifts and support. He is fully aware of what I write here for example, even now, but he doesn't say much (it seems that to write about Maya is enough...).
I don't know, maybe in the future, this will change. That's one of the perks of being free, it seems: complete unpredictability.


Other higher perfected spiritual beings (Masters of Wisdom, for example).
When I think about it, it seems awfully vain to think that only Maya and Maya Naguals abide at the top of the human and non-human evolution and that only Nagualism has all the answers.

Nagualism might be close to my heart, but that in no way suggests that it is the only correct Path to Freedom. In fact, what my Maya Nagual has gifted me with thus far (the art of non-being, for example) is very much in harmony with what ancient Mahamudra and Dzogchen Masters teach.

And the loving-kindness, compassion, love, respect of others, happiness, and service to others - all of that has been, is and will be what truly spiritual (not astrally driven) Masters of Wisdom shine so brightly.



Conclusion

As we can see, there are lots of spirits and beings that can be encountered in dreaming. For someone on the Path to Complete freedom (a Nagualist, not sorcerer or magician), astral beings and all the magical feats that can be attained in dreaming, are only steps to perfection and Freedom.

And what that perfection encompasses depends on the individual and her/his freedom of choice. For me, for example, meddling with the lower-astral level beings (the "friendly" ones, or the dark ones) and residing in their level of existence, well, for me that is not freedom...

...but for someone else, that might be real and true freedom.
I can respect that.

Therefore:
may all sentient beings attain happiness and freedom according to their will.

:)

Dreaming Awake (III.)

Dreaming Awake includes entering a lucid dream or dreaming of a separate total world vastly different from our own in an easy and straightforward manner: by willing it even while the physical body remains wide awake.

There are numerous advantages to dreaming that way.

If you will, see previous blogs on the subject of Dreaming Awake (II.) >>  and Dreaming Awake >>

Integration of pure spiritual awareness and organic or elemental energy, which is the hallmark of the Maya Lineage I belong to, manifest in various ways...

...sometimes along the lines of:


Dreaming awake in everyday life

I was taking my daughter to a jazz ballet performance in a nearby town. We drove there only to find out that there was some festival going on and all the usual parking places were full. Nothing new, nothing surprising or even remotely shocking - just a normal day in the life of a dad. I was relaxed and at ease.

My daughter expressed her doubts about us getting to the City Theatre on time and she was right. There was no way we could get there on time.

So I turned on google maps and mindlessly followed the instructions. We walked and talked... and then walked some more.

After some time, at vaguely known parts of the town, "I" (in fact, there was no identity in the first place) spontaneously started to enter (or become) a curious state: everything started to feel not absolutely real and yet strangely close-up-and-personal, and people awkwardly devoid of aliveness. It was as if all of them were fast asleep, only me and my daughter seemed to be awake.

The predominant "feeling" of the whole experience was of the complete order (like a diamond is constructed: perfect symmetry), everything made perfect sense within. There were also perceptions of freedom, detachment, and immediate awareness of being in the right place at the precisely correct moment.

We were still looking for the correct direction and while previously I was meekly following the female voice from my smartphone, I now just let go and, still intending to find the City Theatre, and walking amongst those semi-alive people (all of whom were just standing there, motionless), I found the correct way in no time.

All sensory input was processed way above reason, and as if I was privy to some all-knowing source, or better yet, as if there was nothing but the source, we quickly found the right door (in a strangely empty reception hall), up the stairs past some more semi-alive motionless people straight to the correct dressing room.

* * *

What was going on?
What actually happened to me?
Why was my daughter the only person that was perceived as fully alive?
What are the potentials of such a dreaming state?

Well, my current understanding might be expressed as follows:

I have been focusing on spiritual awareness (above reason, far above astral planes of existence and power-seeking beings that dwell therein) for longer periods of time employing the skillful means the Maya Nagual showed me (invocation, visiting the Maya total level of existence where Kukulkan dwells named the Jade World, staying at the Maya City of Pyramids, the safest place of them all, etc.), and finally being free from the limitations and conditioning of the astral level beings (both lower and higher ones) - all of that contributed to the integration of the Light Body and the physical one. The process has obviously been quickened exponentially.

In practical terms that translates to ever-increasing moments when the Nagual body simply overlaps (or integrates with) the physical one, not merely in intended dreaming awake sessions or while fulfilling the 7th dreaming tasks of the Maya, but spontaneously and effortlessly even in everyday life situations.

The astral dreaming body was left behind or outgrown, as it were, and now the focus of this stalker is resting upon the Light or Spiritual or Nagual body, both in terms of the dreaming and stalking practices and also in the practices of the arts of non-being and shape-shifting.

Organic energy or material elements which this physical body is made of is being integrated into the spiritual awareness, and vice versa.

In time, I am told, this will result in complete integration which means that all the potential of dreaming in the Nagual body will manifest on this Earthly plane, meaning, none of the material limitations (gravity, the solidity of object, nutrition needs of the physical body, etc.) will remain in effect.


If you will, see previous blogs on the subject of Dreaming Awake (II.) >>  and Dreaming Awake >>