Fire Walkers #2

Written by Robert Bruce Baird


They stood in two rows beforerepparttar altar, and beating time withrepparttar 146068 jingles ofrepparttar 146069 staffs and batons in their right hands, chanted, ensemble,repparttar 146070 'hridaya' sutra. This finished, they went and settled onrepparttar 146071 seats prepared for them atrepparttar 146072 two sides ofrepparttar 146073 area. The abbot in his robe came to our side and sat facingrepparttar 146074 altar. And another, very nice gentleman, who was a kind of second abbot, came and thanked us for being present. {The honor of energy and soul amongrepparttar 146075 rituals of all disciplines is more than Robert's Rules of Order or any polite and pernicious etiquette.}

In a moment, another, smaller group of Yamabushi arrived and were ceremoniously challenged atrepparttar 146076 entrance by two Yamabushi guardians. In a kind of Noh play dialogue...the newcomers, through their leader, were askedrepparttar 146077 meaning ofrepparttar 146078 term Yamabushi andrepparttar 146079 reason for each ofrepparttar 146080 elements ofrepparttar 146081 costume. The replies were given with great force - as though an actual battle were taking place {It is my opinion that much ancient art and frescoes showing battles are of this nature and that many battles were avoided by use of such display of force.}, and inrepparttar 146082 end, when they had proven themselves,repparttar 146083 new group was admitted to sit withrepparttar 146084 rest, after ceremonially circumambulatingrepparttar 146085 pyre.

A little Yamabushi now got up, with a long bow and a sheaf of arrows, and at each ofrepparttar 146086 comers pretended to shoot an arrow intorepparttar 146087 air. {Wererepparttar 146088 comers aligned withrepparttar 146089 points on a compass likerepparttar 146090 sabbat rituals, with their fires surrounding?}

Next, another Yamabushi got up with a sword, and, after praying beforerepparttar 146091 pyre, waved it atrepparttar 146092 pyre and returned to his seat. The abbot stood beforerepparttar 146093 pyre and read a sutra from a piece of paper which was tucked intorepparttar 146094 pyre. And thenrepparttar 146095 stage was set forrepparttar 146096 great event.

It began with two Yamabushi bearing long, flaming faggots, one at either side ofrepparttar 146097 pyre, reaching in, low, and settingrepparttar 146098 pyre aflame. (Biblio and notes: 'Campbell wrote in his journal: 'It is most remarkable that inrepparttar 146099 Goma fire sacrifice that we were about to witness, elements ofrepparttar 146100 Brahminical Soma sacrifice, as well as ofrepparttar 146101 much later Tantric Buddhism ofrepparttar 146102 great medieval period were synthesized, and colored, moreover, withrepparttar 146103 tincture of Shinto. Hanging aroundrepparttar 146104 sacred area were strings bearingrepparttar 146105 jagged paper offerings characteristic of Shinto--not white, but colored.')

It went up with a great belch of smoke, which billowed heavily torepparttar 146106 left (our left) and completely engulfedrepparttar 146107 Yamabushi. Since I was taking pictures, I was glad that the; breeze leaned in that direction—{Smoke is easily moved andrepparttar 146108 Yamabushi were so gracious that they made it possible for him to see and take photos, too.} thoughrepparttar 146109 air seemed, actually quite still. Rather soon, that side ofrepparttar 146110 area cleared andrepparttar 146111 smoke curved around back ofrepparttar 146112 pyre and over torepparttar 146113 right, and then, rapidly, it engulfed our part ofrepparttar 146114 area: remaining, however, only for a moment, it was, presently, back where it had been atrepparttar 146115 start {Whererepparttar 146116 Yamabushi would imbue their energy through smoke to fire and then logs, perhaps.}. It was a terrific mass of smoke, full of sparks and blazing fragments, and when it came around our way again {Picking up energy ofrepparttar 146117 four primary forces atrepparttar 146118 cardinal grid points.} it burned a couple of neat little holes in my blue Dacron suit--which has been my chief suit throughout this journey. There was a great chant in progress that reminded me more ofrepparttar 146119 noise ofrepparttar 146120 Navajos than anything I've ever heard {And he traveled widely as a scholar observing with an open mindrepparttar 146121 spiritual and rich cultural heritage shared in similar ways throughout every region ofrepparttar 146122 world.}, andrepparttar 146123 general atmosphere was a bit exciting. One ofrepparttar 146124 young men insiderepparttar 146125 area came over and said something to Haru, who then pointed out to me a Yamabushi who was sitting about eight feet off my starboard bow. 'That'srepparttar 146126 one,' he said, 'who is makingrepparttar 146127 smoke go round.' I looked, and suddenly realized what I was witnessing. The chant was filling allrepparttar 146128 air. The smoke, definitely, was circulating inrepparttar 146129 clockwise direction (Joseph illustrates this with a rightward pointing swastika in his journal {The swastika is adapted by Gurdjieff from a Tibetan symbol and mandala of great antiquity.}): and this Yamabushi, with an attendant beside him, sitting on his shins, was moving his hands, pushing, conjuring, and pulling, like a cowboy turning a steer with a rope--onlyrepparttar 146130 rope couldn't be seen. I was so surprised I felt a sudden thump inside me, and I began taking photos of this little man, like mad. Four Yamabushi with water scoops, meanwhile, were dipping water ontorepparttar 146131 sides ofrepparttar 146132 fire--ostensibly to keeprepparttar 146133 flames under control, but perhaps also to give a bit of mechanical assistance torepparttar 146134 magic.

After a while, whenrepparttar 146135 smoke diminished andrepparttar 146136 flames increased, my Yamabushi began, ceremonially, tossing little stacks of wooden tablets ontorepparttar 146137 fire, on whichrepparttar 146138 votive prayers of individuals inrepparttar 146139 congregation had been inscribed... When allrepparttar 146140 packets had been thrown in,repparttar 146141 pyre was pulled apart andrepparttar 146142 logs were dragged over to a pit onrepparttar 146143 right side ofrepparttar 146144 area over which they were placed, as a log lid. Beneath,repparttar 146145 flaming coals and smaller wood then was put so that tongues of flame leapt up betweenrepparttar 146146 logs--and many ofrepparttar 146147 people ofrepparttar 146148 congregation, removing their 'getas' and 'zori', prepared to walk across. The nice gentleman who had welcomed us would berepparttar 146149 first to go. The wizard was at one end ofrepparttar 146150 pit conjuring a power to cure intorepparttar 146151 fire and coolingrepparttar 146152 flames: his assistant was atrepparttar 146153 other end, doingrepparttar 146154 same. And so, since I had seen, through his work onrepparttar 146155 smoke, that he was a true master of fire, I caughtrepparttar 146156 fever and began to decide that I might walk across too.

Fire Walkers # 1

Written by Robert Bruce Baird


DERVISH: - Whirling and ecstatically altering their conscious and soul full interconnections with all around them. These people ofrepparttar Middle East are a lot like Native dancers and dream dancers fromrepparttar 146067 whole ofrepparttar 146068 world and deep intorepparttar 146069 dark recesses of human existence on earth. Needless to say their behavior has little relevance forrepparttar 146070 western academics of such soul-denying professions as those who do NOT know how to actually cure people or whyrepparttar 146071 soul is important in that process of wholistic balance in human lives-and JOY! The quotation fromrepparttar 146072 book 'Wonder Child' isrepparttar 146073 kind of thing we should read over and over again until we know why it makes 'common sense' versusrepparttar 146074 constant bombardment of manipulative messages and fear-mongering to dividerepparttar 146075 human family.

In our entry onrepparttar 146076 origins of language (Ogham) we mentioned 'Huna' and Max Freedom Long's work withrepparttar 146077 chants and mind-altering effects ofrepparttar 146078 Hawaiian language. Here we see him engaged in somethingrepparttar 146079 'real' world we live in, can seldom observe, and most scientists would hesitate to hold forth their 'expertise' and try to explain.

“Max Freedom Long gives a detailed account of how his mentor, Dr W. T. Brigham ofrepparttar 146080 British Museum, was taken onto fresh boiling lava near a volcano on Kona Island by three Kahuna - local magicians. They instructed him to take his boots off as they would not be covered byrepparttar 146081 Kahuna protection, {The 'protection' needs more conscious soul to connect with or throughrepparttar 146082 staterepparttar 146083 Kahuna [perhaps Druids are their teachers according to my Wiccan high priestess] generate with their discipline and understanding.} but he refused. As he watched one ofrepparttar 146084 three walk calmly ontorepparttar 146085 lava flow,repparttar 146086 other two suddenly pushed him and finding himself onrepparttar 146087 hot lava, he had no choice but to keep on running torepparttar 146088 other side. Inrepparttar 146089 course ofrepparttar 146090 150-foot dash, his boots and socks were burned off. The three Kahunas, still strolling barefoot onrepparttar 146091 lava, burst into laughter as they pointed outrepparttar 146092 trail of bits of burning leather.

What does go on in a fire-walk? Dr White expressesrepparttar 146093 widely held view thatrepparttar 146094 walkers are in an exalted state of mind which suppresses pain. Yet there are fire-walks without trance or ecstasy. Neither is there any evidence to suggest that damaged tissues heal up so rapidly that they are not noticed (a process sometimes observed among Dervish, Hindu, Balinese and other body-piercing devotees) {Including piercing with swords.}. In The Crack inrepparttar 146095 Cosmic Egg (1973) by J. C. Pearce,repparttar 146096 author suggests thatrepparttar 146097 firewalk is a classic illustration ofrepparttar 146098 creation of a new reality (albeit temporary and local) in which fire does not burn {But why did Brigham’s boots burn?} inrepparttar 146099 familiar way. As long as this reality is maintained all is well, butrepparttar 146100 history ofrepparttar 146101 fire-walk contains many accounts of gruesome fatalities and shocking damage to those whose faith is snapped {Brigham was not a 'faithful'.} so that they were plunged back intorepparttar 146102 world where fire burns. The magical state of affairs in which flesh, and sometimes other material, is immune to fire is created, it seems, byrepparttar 146103 person who officiates at fire-walking ceremonies. Leroy's Muslim writhed onrepparttar 146104 ground in agony as soon asrepparttar 146105 Maharajah announcedrepparttar 146106 end ofrepparttar 146107 proceedings. It was explained torepparttar 146108 bishop thatrepparttar 146109 man had takenrepparttar 146110 burning upon himself. In 'Women Called Wild', Mrs Rosita Forbes describes a fire-dance ceremony in Surinam, presided over by a virgin priestess, among descendants of African slaves who had intermarried withrepparttar 146111 local Indians. The priestess was in a trance forrepparttar 146112 duration ofrepparttar 146113 fire-dance, and if she had emerged from it unexpectedly,repparttar 146114 dancers would no longer have been immune fromrepparttar 146115 flames. We have to agree with Dr Comey that psychical and psychological theories alone do not account for what happens {Unless you are more than just a psychic likerepparttar 146116 Kahuna, Druids and Yamabushi.}, and that some physical phenomenon takes place…

{This isrepparttar 146117 crux ofrepparttar 146118 lack of 'thinking' that goes on inrepparttar 146119 paradigm which tries to say it is 'open-minded' and able to observerepparttar 146120 real world. What is psychic if not physical? Are they saying cellular phones are able to communicate through 'magic'? Just because you can't see 'protection' or conscious attunements that make each part ofrepparttar 146121 body able to absorbrepparttar 146122 fire's energy and translate it to other specific uses doesn't mean it isn't real.} … which has not been understood or explained.

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
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