Psychic artifice

[Wargod's bastard]

I have read from a series of posts here and have frequently read reference in various basic literature on both pagan religions and the occult and New-Age spiritualism that there are a series of materials in the world especially valuable for psychic or spiritual ritual or communication.

Among these materials are:
Gold
Quartz
Water
Silver
Obsidian (apparently a psychic deadener? I have an orb of this in my room - is that perhaps why I seldom dream, I wonder)
Iron (also commonly referred to as a deadener for sorcery - but that's all I have to go on)
Various shapes, regardless of material

My question becomes, would there be any particular value to constructing perhaps special meditation chambers or other larger-scale advanced devices for the purpose of enhancing one's ability to communicate with, be protected from, or draw out spiritual or psychic forces? In example, I have read water referred to as a psychic conductor, and it certainly has a very high place almost universally in any spiritual tradition. Additionally, when taking psychedelic drugs as a means of opening this communication with other worlds, several accounts (including Pinchbek's own) relate varying experiences based on surroundings, light, music, and similar stimuli.

What might the interactive effects of materials typically ascribed to different traditions be? Would something beneficial to communing with this world be an impediment to communing with others?

Perhaps orchestrating some more elaborate ritualism? For example, utilizing some breathing apparatus and submerging oneself in water for the duration of the trip - as simple as a bathtub, advanced as a liquid sensory dep-tank. Or perhaps go the other way and use the water to transmit some healing chords through the water (assuming they still work through non-air mediums; I assume they do). This could even go so far as to adapt the natural shamanistic trend - engaging in such communion by carting a device out into a very strong natural environment, or maybe just surrounding your bathtub with hanging plants that are renowned for protective properties while you go under with scuba gear. Heck, were someone patient and wealthy enough, they could cause some elaborate device to be grown/built over a long period, incorporating the living things of the world into its very structure. Although I suppose I may be letting my juvenile reading habit of fantasy and science fiction creep in here...

If someone has any recommendations for literature covering the subject in addition to their opinions, I would much appreciate it.

[Transcix]

Nothing but yourself is *necessary* for psychic or spiritual communication or for meditation... you could set up a specific meditation environment for yourself if you want, but it's only a different way of doing it, no better or worse.. you could describe the RHP (Right Hand Path) approach to meditation as taking full advantage of helpers - tools or ritual - compared to the LHP approach that simply tackles it plainly. In every instance that a helper is not present to aid a particular facet of the experience, so the potential for you to learn how to do it yourself is greater, while on the other hand it is more difficult to truly grasp the lesson.

Personally I don't use anything... I wore some protective amulets for a time, and go figure, they were used against me.. it is not good to give your power away to your tools, but sometimes it is the wisest way to proceed if you simply need to do so in order to actually succeed at your task. When not needed, however, I consider helpers to utterly obstruct as opposed to compliment, but then again I am LHP... I'll walk into some new-age or magick store and be amazed at how people attribute their abilities to do certain things onto possessing and using certain instruments, it's just silly..

And just to mention, it is also the LHP as opposed to RHP that is more open towards drug use.. I put drugs in a different category than the things you mentionned, because they change you from the inside out... but the drug experience is sort of like stripping away beyond sobriety some of your ego tools if you can put it that way, revealing your truest self.. it is actually difficult, which allows for greater opportunity of accomplishment than otherwise.. whereas the things you listed are easy, which reduces the opportunity of accomplishment. :)

[Wargod's bastard]

I suppose that is part of what I am curious about. I read about people who take drugs, get so radically altered, and then are either siezed by or at least encounter some hostile other. Given that such drugs, I understand, debilitate the ego and therefore also our ability to protect ourselves without practice, I wondered if some simple measures to keep from getting seized like the proverbial kitten by a mastiff would be worthwhile.

Of course, at this point I liken lots of psychedelic drugs to cracking dried cement in a truck with dynamite. Hazardous, to be certain.

[brucedc1]

You should check out info on John C Lilly for info on Isolation tanks, and the cautionary tale of the death of Psychonaut D M Turner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.M._Turner

Bruce

[Isaiah Mpski]

What a Baptism.

[drew hempel]

There's a new article on http://kurzweilai.net about gold nanoparticles curing cancer. Science is Freemasonic Alchemy.

[Transcix]

I suppose that is part of what I am curious about. I read about people who take drugs, get so radically altered, and then are either siezed by or at least encounter some hostile other. Given that such drugs, I understand, debilitate the ego and therefore also our ability to protect ourselves without practice, I wondered if some simple measures to keep from getting seized like the proverbial kitten by a mastiff would be worthwhile.

Of course, at this point I liken lots of psychedelic drugs to cracking dried cement in a truck with dynamite. Hazardous, to be certain.

I suppose you could find some objects to protect you during an entheogenic excursion, although I honestly don't know what. Foreign entities can harass you during an entheogenic experience as well as during sobriety, and the scenario is always the same in the sense that you only ever allow the perpetration to happen in the first place. Per universal Divine and Galactic law, and moreover per the very nature of creation itself, you are able to successfully defend against any threatening entity. In fact, one is essentially immortal and moreover invulnerable save for their own proper choices, and in this vein astral battles are nothing more than a fad among beginer occultists, as two individuals who realize their invulnerability can neither win nor lose.

I could imagine, however, that entity contact can become an irritation if it happens too frequently and you are simply trying to focus on something entirely else, in which case I could understand the use of a protective object... still, there would be something about you that is attracting entities your way. Admittedly, one factor that attracts entities could be the drug you're on, and some drugs are simply better or worse in this sense and in terms of your state of being and ability to handle situation. Certainly, some drugs are just not suited for entheogenic exploration. If you are unable to maintain a state of awareness removed from frequent entity contact if you so desire, then you're either on a cumbersome drug in this regard or your state of being is not sufficiently self-realized. It is risky to blame it on the drug, I should add, because more than likely it's you who is the ultimate cause, despite how easy or hard the drug makes it (in the sense that there are no degrees of invulnerability, so when you're there then you're there).

[ielectric]

Per universal Divine and Galactic law, and moreover per the very nature of creation itself, you are able to successfully defend against any threatening entity.
...


you might even try healing the entity. it is not a threat to you, but it is probably a threat to itself. you are asking it to help you by a) proving you are a victim b) giving you the opportunity to defeat the threat you believe in c) giving yourself the chance to help a brother out.

peace