Tag Archives: second attention

The Flaw with Words

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Those of us attempting to access the essence of nagualism must accept an outrageous premise; even though the teachings of don Juan are now available in print, the silent knowledge that underlies those teachings remains completely beyond the power of the written word. The Toltecs insist that anything truly “of the spirit” must be actualized as a personal experience rather than simply written or talked about as an intellectual concept. – Tomas, Creative Victory

For years I have included in my blog posts, “Don’t believe a word I say, have your own experience!” Having spent the past couple of weeks contemplating my decade’s long journey in awareness on the Toltec path got me to thinking about – once again – recapitulating these teachings; it seems as though most of them have become superfluous for me. While there was a time when much of these practices were necessary, it is now time to actualize the fact that power is and power moves.

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My Cat Taught Me Everything I Know

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Curiosity

The first attention, the attention that makes the world, can never be completely overcome; it can only be turned off for a moment and replaced with the second attention, providing that the body has stored enough of it. Dreaming is naturally a way of storing the second attention. – Carlos Castaneda, The Eagle’s Gift

Zeus is my hero. He was born 9/18/18. Look at those numbers… 9-9-9. I almost named him Nueve, Spanish for nine. He is a stalker, a dreamer, pure love, a survivor, an innocent, a Panther,  an explorer, and an overall chill cat. Since the Covid Pandemic was announced last March my assemblage point became fixated in first attention; the Tonal. And then, an avalanche of repercussions were launched from the pandemic which all served to further fixate the position of my assemblage point. Rooted. Unmoving. Inflexible. Flight or Fight? I chose to rail against the machine. To battle the predator. Until, of course, the day on the river.

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Switching Gears

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I now understand why it is so difficult to be able to trust in the flow of life because in order to do so, we must make a conscious choice to not allow our minds to control our every moment, our every thought. When we take a stand to be in our power, we come to recognize that our power isn’t really ours, per se, but belongs to the flow of the universe that is guiding us, providing for us, and orchestrating our life’s events with or without our approval or consent. ~ Lorraine Voss, Becoming Awareness

So what to write now? Writing a book of non-fiction is as big of a distraction as any, one that anchors the writer into patterns and stories that have, in the case of my book, already been recapitulated. While writing this book I had to recount decades of experiences and information. There was no other choice than to reconnect to the energy of all those stories. In such an arduous undertaking, there was little time for being present for dancing along new lines of awareness. Continue reading →

balance through our double

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You’re thinking that the double is what the word says; a double, or another you. I chose those words in order to describe it. The double is oneself and cannot be faced in any other way. – Don Juan, Tales of Power

When we exist in a state of balance, life-force energy moves through our bodies easily and unobstructed but when we are in states of imbalance, the energy within our chakras, the wheels of energy that reside within our bodies, become blocked which prevents us from vibrating in alignment with the universal life-force around us.

When one enters into a state of dream, or second attention, the double, also known as the astral body is accessed. It is when we enter into stillness and silence that we are able to make this connection, allowing us to see and become aware of the things that prevent us from moving forward with discovering or fully living our life’s purpose. When we become aligned with our double we become open to the energies that are essential for both effective action and manifestation of our goals and dreams because it is here that we are immersed within the entire body of conscious energy to which we are all directly connected. When we are able to focus our attention in this realm of existence we discover that our thoughts begin to take form. We are now aware that the entire creation of the cosmos is an act of creation and that we, ourselves, are creators.

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The Mastery of Stalking

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The very first principle of stalking is that a warrior stalks himself, don Juan said. He stalks himself ruthlessly, cunningly, patiently, and sweetly. There are four steps to learning it: Ruthlessness should not be harshness, cunning should not be cruelty, patience should not be negligence, and sweetness should not be foolishness. These four steps have to be practiced and perfected until they are so smooth they are unnoticeable. ~ Carlos Castaneda, The Power of Silence

All warriors who are interested in strengthening their link with intent must practice this. Stalking is not limited to those with a predilection of stalking, it is applicable to dreamers as well. Don Juan said, A warrior needs focus. Heightened awareness is like a springboard. From it one could jump into infinity. He stressed, over and over, that when the assemblage point was dislodged, it either became lodged again at a position very near its customary one or continued moving on into infinity.

As committed warriors we must diligently stalk the dream into infinity. When Silvio Manual screamed Intent!! Intent!! Intent!! he was able to move himself and others into a state of heightened awareness; to open the portal of intent. This was not because he screamed the words, anyone can scream the words. It was because he had become a master of stalking and intent and could move his assemblage point at will. Continue reading →

We’re Called Seers Because We See

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Don Juan explained that, like everything in this universe, the path of sorcerers is evolutionary. For that reason, a nagual is always forced to refer to the teachings in new ways. As a consequence of that strategy, nagualism as a total system of practices is divided into breeds or cycles. ~ CC, Encounters with the Nagual

According to Don Juan, there were ancient seers, old seers, and new seers and he believed that massive changes in energy are happening now that inevitably cause the emergence of a new cycle of warriors. Carlos referred to these current day warriors as Modern Seers or The Seers of the New Era. I like the term New Seers of a New Era and as this term too shall evolve, I find myself drawn to simply Warriors of Freedom or even more simply, Seers. When all is said and done, it all comes down to seeing. When we align with intent there is no reason anymore, there is only seeing. Hence the word Seers.

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Seeing

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If we were able to transcend interpretation and face pure perception without prejudice, the impression of a world of objects would vanish. In its place, we would witness energy as it flows in the universe. Under such conditions, the chain of other people’s thoughts would no longer have the smallest effect on us and we would not feel obliged to be or do anything. Then our senses would have no limits. That’s seeing. ~ Carlos Castaneda, Encounters with the Nagual

I have more questions than answers when it comes to this. And I am discovering that there really are no answers when dealing with silent knowledge, at least none that come close to what it means to be in a state of seeing from a point of pure perception. What I do know is that when the assemblage point radically shifts from its fixated location and we are forced to perceive in a new manner it takes a lot of energy to stabilize again. And for warrior travelers it is even more difficult because where the average man attempts to rebuild and reconstruct their reality exactly as it was, the warrior recognizes the radical shift as the very gift they’ve been striving for. To reconstruct their “reality” as it was, would be a repetition of a pattern instead of an act of creation.

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Nagualism and Buddhism

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Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it. ~ Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha

Just because I say it, please, don’t believe it. Have your own experience, form your own perceptions, encounter your own knowledge and explore your own awareness!!!

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