Fire Walkers #2Written by Robert Bruce Baird
They stood in two rows before altar, and beating time with jingles of staffs and batons in their right hands, chanted, ensemble, 'hridaya' sutra. This finished, they went and settled on seats prepared for them at two sides of area. The abbot in his robe came to our side and sat facing 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 among 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 at entrance by two Yamabushi guardians. In a kind of Noh play dialogue...the newcomers, through their leader, were asked meaning of term Yamabushi and reason for each of elements of 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 in end, when they had proven themselves, new group was admitted to sit with rest, after ceremonially circumambulating pyre. A little Yamabushi now got up, with a long bow and a sheaf of arrows, and at each of comers pretended to shoot an arrow into air. {Were comers aligned with points on a compass like sabbat rituals, with their fires surrounding?} Next, another Yamabushi got up with a sword, and, after praying before pyre, waved it at pyre and returned to his seat. The abbot stood before pyre and read a sutra from a piece of paper which was tucked into pyre. And then stage was set for great event. It began with two Yamabushi bearing long, flaming faggots, one at either side of pyre, reaching in, low, and setting pyre aflame. (Biblio and notes: 'Campbell wrote in his journal: 'It is most remarkable that in Goma fire sacrifice that we were about to witness, elements of Brahminical Soma sacrifice, as well as of much later Tantric Buddhism of great medieval period were synthesized, and colored, moreover, with tincture of Shinto. Hanging around sacred area were strings bearing jagged paper offerings characteristic of Shinto--not white, but colored.') It went up with a great belch of smoke, which billowed heavily to left (our left) and completely engulfed Yamabushi. Since I was taking pictures, I was glad that the; breeze leaned in that direction—{Smoke is easily moved and Yamabushi were so gracious that they made it possible for him to see and take photos, too.} though air seemed, actually quite still. Rather soon, that side of area cleared and smoke curved around back of pyre and over to right, and then, rapidly, it engulfed our part of area: remaining, however, only for a moment, it was, presently, back where it had been at start {Where 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 of four primary forces at 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 of noise of Navajos than anything I've ever heard {And he traveled widely as a scholar observing with an open mind spiritual and rich cultural heritage shared in similar ways throughout every region of world.}, and general atmosphere was a bit exciting. One of young men inside 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's one,' he said, 'who is making smoke go round.' I looked, and suddenly realized what I was witnessing. The chant was filling all air. The smoke, definitely, was circulating in 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--only 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 onto sides of fire--ostensibly to keep flames under control, but perhaps also to give a bit of mechanical assistance to magic. After a while, when smoke diminished and flames increased, my Yamabushi began, ceremonially, tossing little stacks of wooden tablets onto fire, on which votive prayers of individuals in congregation had been inscribed... When all packets had been thrown in, pyre was pulled apart and logs were dragged over to a pit on right side of area over which they were placed, as a log lid. Beneath, flaming coals and smaller wood then was put so that tongues of flame leapt up between logs--and many of people of congregation, removing their 'getas' and 'zori', prepared to walk across. The nice gentleman who had welcomed us would be first to go. The wizard was at one end of pit conjuring a power to cure into fire and cooling flames: his assistant was at other end, doing same. And so, since I had seen, through his work on smoke, that he was a true master of fire, I caught fever and began to decide that I might walk across too.
| | Fire Walkers # 1Written by Robert Bruce Baird
DERVISH: - Whirling and ecstatically altering their conscious and soul full interconnections with all around them. These people of Middle East are a lot like Native dancers and dream dancers from whole of world and deep into dark recesses of human existence on earth. Needless to say their behavior has little relevance for western academics of such soul-denying professions as those who do NOT know how to actually cure people or why soul is important in that process of wholistic balance in human lives-and JOY! The quotation from book 'Wonder Child' is kind of thing we should read over and over again until we know why it makes 'common sense' versus constant bombardment of manipulative messages and fear-mongering to divide human family. In our entry on origins of language (Ogham) we mentioned 'Huna' and Max Freedom Long's work with chants and mind-altering effects of Hawaiian language. Here we see him engaged in something '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 of 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 by Kahuna protection, {The 'protection' needs more conscious soul to connect with or through state 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 of three walk calmly onto lava flow, other two suddenly pushed him and finding himself on hot lava, he had no choice but to keep on running to other side. In course of 150-foot dash, his boots and socks were burned off. The three Kahunas, still strolling barefoot on lava, burst into laughter as they pointed out trail of bits of burning leather. What does go on in a fire-walk? Dr White expresses widely held view that 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 in Cosmic Egg (1973) by J. C. Pearce, author suggests that firewalk is a classic illustration of creation of a new reality (albeit temporary and local) in which fire does not burn {But why did Brigham’s boots burn?} in familiar way. As long as this reality is maintained all is well, but history of 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 into world where fire burns. The magical state of affairs in which flesh, and sometimes other material, is immune to fire is created, it seems, by person who officiates at fire-walking ceremonies. Leroy's Muslim writhed on ground in agony as soon as Maharajah announced end of proceedings. It was explained to bishop that man had taken 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 with local Indians. The priestess was in a trance for duration of fire-dance, and if she had emerged from it unexpectedly, dancers would no longer have been immune from 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 like Kahuna, Druids and Yamabushi.}, and that some physical phenomenon takes place… {This is crux of lack of 'thinking' that goes on in paradigm which tries to say it is 'open-minded' and able to observe 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 of body able to absorb fire's energy and translate it to other specific uses doesn't mean it isn't real.} … which has not been understood or explained.
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