Current playlist:

Throw Your Hands Up -TeddyBears

If You Want Me -TeddyBears

Raghupati -Spanda

Rama Raghava -Spanda

Dance Like A Monkey -The New York Dolls

Black Capricorn Day -Jamiroquai

That's The Way Love Goes -Jamiroquai

It's Alright -Nuyorican Soul

Black Gold of the Sun -Nuyorican Soul

Return Of th'Loigar -me

UFO Over Waterloo -me

Rites On Pluto -me

Get Me Out Of Here -Jet

Hole -Glare

Truth -Glare

Clampdown -The Clash (as covered by Glare)

In The Waiting Line -Zero 7

Another great bit to chew on...

"Life is

Beauty

Terror

Knowledge"

"A crucial part of following Tao is seeking knowledge.  All the efforts of self-cultivation are meant to make us a fit vehicle for that search.  Sometimes what we learn is not pleasant.  With learning, we glimpse life as it really is., and that is difficult to bear.  That is why spiritual progress is slow: not because no one tells us secrets, but because we ourselves must overcome sentiment and fear before we can grasp it.

There is an underbelly of terror to all life.  It is suffering, it is hurt.  Deep within all of us are intense fears that have left few of us whole.  Life's terrors haunt us, attack us, leave ugly cuts.  To buffer ourselves, we dwell on beauty, we collect things, we fall in love, we desperately try to make something lasting in our lives.  We take beauty as the only worthwhile thing in this existence, but it cannot veil cursing, violence, randomness and injustice.

Only knowledge removes this fear.  If we were shown the whole truth, we could not stand it.  Both lovely and horrible details make us human, and when knowledge threatens to show us our follies, we may realize that we are not yet ready to leave them behind.  Then the veil closes again, and we sit meditating before it, trying to prepare ourselves for the moment when we dare to part the curtain completely." -Deng Ming-Dao

I've decided to keep a seperate blog of my poetry.  I recently tried to compile everything and found it quite frustrating.  I figure it will be much easier to keep it as it's own seperate entity.

I have 2 new ones on there now and will soon begin the arduous process of digging up older stuff and posting it there as well.

Check it out:

http://compendiumesoterica.blogspot.com/

Hi all!

Time for the Jackal-riffic low-down:

I have secured permanent employment (found a new job) that seems to provide the necessary balance of regular schedule and a modicum of interest/challenge.  So, Spike will have his vittles and a roof over his head!  :)

I may treat myself to a "major" purchase for me...a new watch.

I'm still stumping through Colin Wilson's The Occult.  AMAZING book....epic, really.  For anyone who want's to know the REAL documented history of occult movements, read this!  His style is a bit rambling, but there's so much information, he squeezes anecdotes and sidebars in wherever he can.  I'm on the section about Crowley now....poor, stumbling bon vivant!

I'm beginning to feel the stirrings of movement in the ground and it radiates my motivations to "GO DO!"  I'll be hitting a few galleries on Saturday to get some inspiration and shapes and colors swirling in my head.

When I least expected it, Spanda is back on for the Gift of Light Expo, March 16-17....better get my tabla chops back...soon!  :D  But, I'm still reaching out for a new project....it'll come in time.

Whelp...onwards and upwards, my fascinating friends!

Have a theosophtastic weekend!

-Jackal

I would like to take this day devoted to the heart and reclaim it for the REAL heart.  True balance and wholeness is a direct result of our spiritual state, which CAN NOT be separated from our physical selves (until death).  Cultivating our higher selves, therefore, intimately involves our body.  Part of exercising awareness can be found in Taoist energy-work.  Following is today's entry from a book I've been meditating on:

"Spirituality is not just a mental activity.  It is also an expression of energy.

The source of this energy is physical, rooted in the basic chemistry of the body.  Self-cultivation refines this energy for spiritual attainment.  Enlightenment, for a follower of Tao, is therefore a psycho-physical achievement: It is a state of being rather than mere intellectual understanding.

Once the energy is awakened through special exercises and meditations, the follower of Tao knows how to draw this energy upward.  The force begins from the genitals and rises up the spine.  On its way, it nourishes the kidneys, nerves, and blood vessels.  When it passes the base of the skull, the nervous system and the lower parts of the brain are stimulated.  Reaching the crown, this river of energy opens the entire subconscious potential of a human being.  Descending downward, it nourishes the eyes, the senses, the vital organs.  Cascading toward the navel, it returns us to our original state of purity.  From there, it returns to the loins again, ready to be drawn into another circuit.  Just as all existence operates on a continuum between gross physical matter and the most subtle levels of consciousness, so too does the follower of Tao utilize all parts of the body, mind, and spirit for spiritual devotion."  -Deng Ming-Dao

Once you can meditate into a state of awareness of your own energy, try this circulation exercise.....my gift to you today, you wonderful collections of universal power.