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Three Lessons Learned During a Three Year Journey

If you’re one of a small handful of Bardonists who corresponds with me frequently enough that you have to read the same webcomics I read in order to understand the references to them I am constantly making in my replies to your emails, then you’re probably aware that the last chapter of Evelyne and the Occult came out today. As someone who really liked this webcomic and will certainly miss it, I wanted to write an article to honor the occasion. Magic is a major theme in Evelyne and the Occult , and as someone who’s interested in magic, I have a lot of thoughts about the magic featured in this webcomic. That said, this article isn’t meant to be a comprehensive list of all my thoughts about the magic practiced by the members of Moon Blade and Sun’s Edge (the two rival sects of witches in the webcomic). Rather, I just wanted to discuss three important lessons Bardonists can take from this webcomic. Some of you may have been reading this webcomic for a while now; if this is the case, th
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How Will the Implosion of the Titan Affect the Bardon Community?

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  This is a post I've been meaning to write ever since the Titan imploded, but didn't have the time to do so until now. You may wonder, after reading the title, what the implosion of the Titan has to do with Hermetics. The answer is... a lot actually.  If we examine the reasons the Titan exploded, most of them boil down to Stockton Rush ignoring safety precautions. Any quick glance around the Bardon community, however, will show that a large portion of Bardonists also ignore safety precautions. What do I mean by this? If you read the writings of Bardon, and the writings of adepts like William Mistele and Rawn Clark who have worked through Bardon's system, one thing you'll find is that they warn many times of the dangers of attempting practices you aren't ready for. If you're only on the beginning steps of IIH, don't attempt practices like astral wandering, which are taught at the more advanced steps. If you haven't yet worked through at least the first e
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Initial Thoughts on Suzume

Warning: This blog post contains spoilers for Suzume . Man, what a night it's been! As I write this, it is around midnight EST. Usually at this time I'm in bed asleep, but given how much I liked Your Name and Weathering With You , I just had to catch Makoto Shinkai's newest film on opening night. And of course while my memory of the film is still fresh, I wanted to share some initial thoughts on it. Hence, here I am still wide awake and writing. So, there are two parts of Suzume that I want to discuss. The first part is the way the dark energies arising from deep within the land were handled. Land is often used as a metaphor for the human being, since just as land has many layers, every human being also has many layers. In some spiritual traditions, there are myths about great adepts being buried deep within the land. For example, Christian Rosenkreuz is said to be buried deep within the land, as is Merlin. These adepts represent our true divine Self which is
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Exploring EIF: My Favorite EIF Story

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  Lately, I've been thinking a lot about EIF. What can I say? There are things I want to do in life, and I have to figure out how to do them. My time is running out. Everyone's time is running out. A cancer patient's time may be running out very quickly, but even a healthy person's time is running out. What I mean is simply that we all must die someday. And so I want to learn more about EIF, so that I may do the things I want to do in life before I die. They say the best way to learn about a subject is to teach it, so I'm going to try to teach EIF through blog posts. Hence this new series I am starting called "Exploring EIF." So, what is EIF? It is many things. It is a motto, a philosophy, a belief, an attitude which arises from the belief, a truth, a practice, and a way of life. I've found that reading stories about people who applied EIF is one of the best ways to learn what EIF is. In her book, Marie shares several stories about people applying EIF.
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On Inherently Positive and Negative Traits

On the Bardon Discord, this blog post was shared, leading to a discussion of whether or not traits can be inherently positive or negative, or whether one's situation determines if a trait is positive or negative.  Traits can indeed be inherently positive or negative. Krodha, vyāpāda, and narcissism are inherently negative. Any sort of drug addiction is also inherently negative. Compassion, assertiveness, prudence, and honesty are inherently positive. The key thing to know is that whether or not a trait is inherently positive or negative does not depend on what results it produces. A positive trait is an expression of one's essential divine nature (Ātman/Tathāgatagarbha). A negative trait, on the other hand, derives from the kilesas within oneself. One's essential divine nature is something that is objectively real. Kilesas are also objectively real. So there is nothing subjective about whether a trait is inherently positive or negative, as I've seen some people say. No
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On Being a Shit-Stirrer

Last night, some old friends of mine happened to be in my city for business and I had the opportunity to have dinner with them. Since a few of those friends were spiritual people, our conversation ended up turning to spiritual topics, and at some point the topic of Buddhadasa came up. One friend of mine said that Buddhadasa was an insightful teacher, but was unfortunately also a huge shit-stirrer, and that this is why he has such a controversial reputation. In response to this, another friend of mine pointed out that being a shit-stirrer isn't inherently bad, and that it can even be a good thing. In the case of Buddhadasa, it seemed that he was doing good by being a shit-stirrer.  I thought this was very interesting. I actually agree that being a shit-stirrer isn't inherently bad, and that it can even be a good thing. It depends largely on one's intent. Sure there are plenty of unwholesome reasons one could try to stir shit up, but there are also legitimate reasons to stir
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Just Cook: Part I

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  Note: The word "cook" can mean either preparing food for consumption by means of heat or being prepared for consumption by means of heat. Although the former use of the word is more common, I employ the latter use throughout this post. When you want to make a fried egg, you put a raw egg in a frying pan and you let it cook. Once it has cooked long enough, it will be a fried egg. Becoming a magician is similar. You just have to let yourself cook long enough.  A lot of Bardonists these days like to waste time. That wasted time should be spent on something important, such as cooking. Prayer is one way of cooking. Meditating is another way of cooking. If you find yourself with free time, don't waste it. Use it to cook. Go sit in your chair and watch your breath. When you inhale, watch your breath going in. When you exhale, watch your breath going out. When your mind has wandered from your breath, gently bring it back. That's all you need to do. You might think you'r
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